Expecting no more than light chit-chat about ballroom dancing, reporters in Tokyo were startled when actor Richard Gere launched into a condemnation of Europe's plans to lift an arms embargo against China. After promoting his new film, Shall We Dance? in which he co-stars with Jennifer Lopez, Gere grabbed a microphone to denounce plans by the European Union to lift the embargo imposed after China's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 1989.
The race-relations comedy Guess Who, starring Bernie Mac and Ashton Kutcher, debuted atop the US and Canadian weekend box office, according to studio figures released on Monday.
The remake of the Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn and Sidney Poitier civil-rights movie Guess Who's Coming to Dinner earned US$21 million to see off the challenge of Sandra Bullock's sequel, Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous, which opened in second place with US$14.5 million.
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The Ring 2 dropped to third with US$13.8 million followed by the animated movie Robots and family comedy The Pacifier. Hitch was in sixth spot followed by the Bruce Willis thriller Hostage and Ice Princess.
John Travolta's Be Cool was in ninth place with Oscar winner Million Dollar Baby closing out the top 10.
Neopets, the wildly popular children's Web site that lets kids nurture digital pets, is making the move from the Internet to the big screen.
PHOTO: AP
According to the Hollywood Reporter Warner Bros has closed a deal with Neopets to make CGI-animated features using 50 different pet species from the kids Web site.
The report said that the studio and Neopets have already firmed a concept for the first film and have begun talks with an animation director they would not name.
Created in 1991, NeoPets has a global following of about 25 million members who log on regularly to create and care for their own virtual pets.
PHOTO: AP
Cable channel USA Network has unveiled its remake of the hit 1970s detective series Kojak, which featured actor Telly Savalas as a lollipop-sucking detective, with Ving Rhames, an actor who has appeared in hit movies like Pulp Fiction and Mission: Impossible.
USA Networks hopes its new series will be a hit domestically and around the world with Rhames in the starring role. Rhames, like Savalas, is bald.
The two-hour long premier aired over the weekend and featured the new Kojak on the trail of a serial killer of prostitutes. But although the tough detective eventually got his man, he was less successful in capturing positive reviews. USA Today said the show was "for suckers only," while the Chicago Tribune said the show goes from "bald to worse".
Actress Cameron Diaz, who is on a protracted break from movie making, is keeping in front of the cameras with a new eco-tourism show on MTV.
Trippin', which debuted Monday on the popular music channel, featured Diaz and celebrity friends like rappers DMX and Redman, actresses Eva Mendez and Jessica Alba and pro surfer Kelly Slater as they head to environmentally sensitive spots around the world and seek to discover ways to preserve them.
Orlando Bloom has been tipped to play a young James Bond in a movie series designed to endear the suave British master spy to younger viewers, according to press reports Monday.
The series, which is backed by Miramax and DreamWorks would be based on a new series of young 007 novels which began this year with Silverfin.
In the book set in the 1930s, a teenage James Bond spends a holiday at a remote castle where he soon comes upon a mystery involving killer eels and an arms tycoon conducting dangerous genetic experiments.
In a blow to Michael Jackson's defense, prosecutors in his child molestation trial can introduce evidence of "past sexual offenses" by the pop star involving five young boys, a judge ruled on Monday. The decision by Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville means that jurors will hear testimony about a 1993 case that Jackson settled out of court for about US$23 million.
The artist best known for pickling a shark and slicing up a cow admits he's had some pretty silly ideas over the years. But Damien Hirst, the aging enfant terrible of the British art world, is optimistic that museums will still be showing at least some of his work in 200 years' time.
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
This Qing Dynasty trail takes hikers from renowned hot springs in the East Rift Valley, up to the top of the Coastal Mountain Range, and down to the Pacific Short vacations to eastern Taiwan often require choosing between the Rift Valley with its pineapple fields, rice paddies and broader range of amenities, or the less populated coastal route for its ocean scenery. For those who can’t decide, why not try both? The Antong Traversing Trail (安通越嶺道) provides just such an opportunity. Built 149 years ago, the trail linked up these two formerly isolated parts of the island by crossing over the Coastal Mountain Range. After decades of serving as a convenient path for local Amis, Han settlers, missionaries and smugglers, the trail fell into disuse once modern roadways were built
“Once you get there, you think, that’s a little embarrassing or revealing or scary... but ultimately, I learned that is where the good stuff is,” says Taiwanese-American director Sean Wang about writing indie breakout Didi (弟弟), which debuted at Sundance Film Festival Asia 2024 in Taipei last month. Didi is a heartwarming coming-of-age story centered on the Asian American experience. Not just a 2000s teenage nostalgia piece, but a raw, unflinching look at immigrant families and adolescent identity struggles. It quickly became the centerpiece of the event, striking a chord with not only those sharing similar backgrounds but anyone who’s ever
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not
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