Actress Cate Blanchett and former conservative Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser are among prominent Australians who threw their support Monday behind the unpopular government plan to tax major polluters for the carbon gas they emit.
The good news for Russell Brand is that his animated comedy "Hop" remains the top movie for the second-straight weekend with $21.7 million.
"Arthur" _ Another inferior, unnecessary remake, Russell Brand's comedy at least is benign fluff that should please younger audiences unfamiliar with the 1981 comedy, even if purists who adore the original may hate this version. The movie is respectful of and faithful to Dudley Moore's original _ maybe too much so. The filmmakers tweak things to modernize the story and fit the persona of drunken, debauched, billionaire man-child onto Brand (not surprisingly, it's no stretch for the British comic with the party-boy past). Yet the alterations are mostly cosmetic, including the big one, changing the sex of Arthur's stern but loving guardian Hobson from a man (John Gielgud as Moore's butler in the original) to a woman (Helen Mirren as Brand's nanny). First-time director Jason Winer (TV's "Modern Family") stuffs this version with too many cute, cloying moments as Brand's Arthur grows up while finding true love with a penniless tour guide (Greta Gerwig) and avoiding an arranged marriage with a corporate-climbing executive (Jennifer Garner). Considering the crudeness of many remakes, this could have turned out much worse. PG-13 for alcohol use throughout, sexual content, language and some drug references. 110 minutes. Two stars out of four.
Cameras started rolling Monday on director Peter Jackson's production of "The Hobbit," following months of delays on the prequel to his Oscar-winning "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
All the great heroes are ageless. That's part of what makes them legends. Like Greek gods, they never die and never change. Of course, that's not true of our movie stars — and so, like it or not, when a star and the hero he plays are inseparable, sometimes our legends grow old.
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — The tragic romance "Atonement" was named best drama yesterday at a Golden Globes event that was deflated from star-studded revelry to dry, press-conference-style awards announcement because of the Hollywood writers strike.
