Dreamgirls nabs 8 Oscar nominations

DAVID GERMAIN
Associated Press

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — The musical Dreamgirls led Academy Awards contenders Tuesday with eight nominations, but surprisingly was shut out in the best picture category after being considered a potential front-runner.
The sweeping ensemble drama Babel was close behind with seven, including best picture and acting honors for two newcomers to U.S. audiences, Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi.

Other best-picture nominees were Martin Scorsese’s bloody crime saga The Departed, Clint Eastwood’s World War II spectacle Letters From Iwo Jima, the road-trip comedy Little Miss Sunshine and the monarchy-in-crisis chronicle The Queen.

Going into nominations day, the best-picture competition looked unusually wide open, with no consensus on a favorite. With Dreamgirls, a Golden Globe winner out of the race, the best picture competition is even more up for grabs.

But front-runners in all four acting categories nabbed nominations and seem poised to come home with Oscars on Feb. 25: Helen Mirren for best actress as British monarch Elizabeth II in The Queen; Forest Whitaker for best actor as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland; and Eddie Murphy and former American Idol finalist Jennifer Hudson as soulful singers in Dreamgirls.

All four preceded the Oscar nominations with wins at the Golden Globes.

Oscar attention is a new experience for Murphy, whose fast-talking persona has brought him devoted audiences but little awards acclaim in his 25-year career. For Hudson, the nomination caps a speedy rise to stardom with her first film role, just two years after making her name on American Idol.

The best-actress category featured a 14th nomination for two-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep, padding her record as the most-nominated actor ever, this time as a demonically demanding boss in The Devil Wears Prada.

Joining Mirren and Streep as best-actress nominees were Penelope Cruz as a woman dealing with bizarre domestic crises in Volver; Judi Dench as a scheming teacher in Notes on a Scandal; and Kate Winslet as a woman in an affair with a neighbor in Little Children.

Other best-actor nominees were Leonardo DiCaprio as a mercenary hunting a rare gem in Blood Diamond; Ryan Gosling as a teacher with a drug addiction in Half Nelson; Peter O’Toole as a lecherous old actor in Venus; and Will Smith as a homeless dad in The Pursuit of Happyness.

Whitaker is expected to come away with best actor, though sentiment is high for O’Toole, who has been nominated seven times, losing each. An eighth loss for O’Toole, who nearly turned down an honorary Oscar three years ago because he hoped to earn one outright, would put him in the record books as the actor with the most nominations without winning.

This finally may be the year for another perennial loser, Scorsese, who’s tied with four other directors for the Oscar-futility record of five nominations and five losses.

The Departed marks Scorsese’s return to the cops-and-mobsters genre he mastered in decades past and is considered his best shot to finally win an Oscar, though a sixth defeat would put him alone in the record book as the losingest director ever.

Prim Oscar voters maintained their track record of ignoring over-the-top comic performances, snubbing Sacha Baron Cohen for his Golden Globe-winning role in the raucous Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

The comedy front did bring supporting nominations for Alan Arkin as foul-mouthed grandfather and Abigail Breslin as a girl obsessed with beauty pageants in Little Miss Sunshine, though the film’s three key performers, Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette and Steve Carell, were overlooked.

Ten-year-old Abigail Breslin became the fourth-youngest actress ever nominated.

The supporting actor category also includes Mark Wahlberg as a caustic cop in The Departed, his scene-stealing performance outshining his higher-billed co-stars including DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson and Matt Damon.

With five blacks, two Hispanics and an Asian, it was the most ethnically diverse lineup ever among the 20 acting nominees. After decades in which the Oscars were a virtual whites-only club, with minority actors only occasionally breaking into the field, the awards have featured a much broader mix of nominees in the last few years.

Black actors in particular have come into their own, with Oscar wins by Halle Berry, Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx and Morgan Freeman, and three of the four acting front-runners this year.

Asians and Hispanics still lag behind, though nominations for Cruz, Barraza and Kikuchi are signs that Hollywood is making strides toward greater diversity.

While Cruz’s Volver, from Spanish director and past Oscar darling Pedro Almodovar, was shut out for foreign-language picture, another Hispanic film scored well. Mexican director Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth had six nominations, including foreign-language film, screenplay, cinematography and score.

“If each one of them got nominated on their own, that would be great, but the fact that they all did ... that’s just too much for one little girl this early in the morning,” said Salma Hayek, an Oscar nominee for 2002’s Frida, who helped announced the nominees Tuesday morning.

Mexican filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu earned a best-director nomination for Babel.

Inarritu and Scorsese were joined in the best-director category by Eastwood for Letters from Iwo Jima, Stephen Frears for The Queen, and Paul Greengrass for the Sept. 11 docudrama United 93.

Dreamgirls looks as though it might follow 2002’s Chicago as a rare musical to win best-picture, but like last year’s music-themed Walk the Line it was a startling omission from the Oscar’s top category.

While Murphy and Hudson made it into the supporting categories, lead players Jamie Foxx and Beyonce Knowles and director Bill Condon were left out.

Three of Dreamgirls eight nominations came in a single category — for original song.

The year’s top-grossing movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, grabbed four nominations in technical categories, including visual effects.

Christopher Nolan's critically-acclaimed film adaptation of "The Prestige" received 2 nominations: Art Direction and Cinematography.

Dreamgirls, Babel win top movies at Golden Globes

By ERIC HARRISON
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Babel, a sprawling film about human connections in the global village, won the Golden Globe for best motion picture, drama in Los Angeles Jan. 15.
Dreamgirls and Helen Mirren also were big winners at the event held by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson won supporting acting awards for their work in Dreamgirls, which also won for best motion picture, musical or comedy.

Mirren won awards both for best actress in a drama and in a television mini-series or movie.

In accepting the award for The Queen, in which she played England's Queen Elizabeth reacting to the death of Princess Diana, Mirren said, "I just tried to make her as truthful to herself as possible."

Mirren also won for best actress in a television miniseries or movie for HBO's Elizabeth I. She also was nominated in the same category for her lead role in Prime Suspect: The Final Act for PBS.

Forest Whitaker won the best acting award for a film drama for The Last King of Scotland, a drama about the late Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. He and Mirren have won the lion's share of critic's awards and are considered favorites to win Oscars.

Hudson took the first award of the evening for playing Effie, a singer who gets pushed from the limelight because of her looks.

The American Idol contestant dedicated her award to Florence Ballard, the real-life singer with the Supremes on whom her character was based and whom Hudson said "never got a fair chance ... You will never be forgotten."

Growing weepy as she accepted the award, Hudson said, "Am I turning into Effie up here?" She said the award was meaningful because it made her feel "like a part of this community and it makes me feel like an actress. You do not understand how good that feels to say."

Other winners included Martin Scorsese, who won best director for his high-energy crime drama, The Departed.

"I wanted to make a picture in the old Warner Bros. tradition of gangster pictures," Scorsese said.

Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen won a best actor in a musical or comedy for his Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

The award for best foreign language film — a particularly strong category this year — went to Letters From Iwo Jima, Clint Eastwood's World War II drama told from the Japanese perspective.

"Not many people thought this was anything when it was on paper," Eastwood said in accepting the award. In an unusual move, Eastwood released two movies about the battle of Iwo Jima last year.

The other one, Flags of Our Fathers earned a mixed critical reception but the much-better received Letters From Iwo Jima revived the possibility of Eastwood winning a best-picture Oscar. He received Golden Globe nominations for directing both films.

In the new Golden Globes category of best animated film, the winner was Cars, a comedy with talking automobiles, from Disney-Pixar.

In TV, Ugly Betty won the award for best television musical or comedy and its star, America Ferrera, won for best actress in a television musical or comedy.

Kyra Sedgwick won best actress in a television drama for TNT's The Closer while the award for best actor went to Hugh Laurie, the star of House on FOX.

Alec Baldwin won the award for best actor in a television musical or comedy for NBC's 30 Rock.

Tom Hanks presented the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement to Warren Beatty, who won Golden Globe recognition as most promising newcomer 45 years ago.

Beatty, who hasn't directed a movie in nine years and hasn't acted in one since 2001, drew laughs for noting that Eastwood made two movies simultaneously last year, two years after winning the Oscar for best picture (for Million Dollar Baby) and then asking: "How do you think that makes me feel?"

"Of course I'm going to make another movie," Beatty added.

Considering the awards are determined by a mere 90 people — the Hollywood correspondents of foreign publications — the Golden Globes has achieved an extraordinarily high profile.

Its popular televised awards ceremony attracts top stars, partly because it is an effective marketing tool and partly because the freewheeling banquet is a fun party.

By contrast, the Motion Picture Association of America, which gives out the Oscars, is comprised of 5,800 voting members.

Oscar nominations will be announced Jan. 23. Awards will be presented Feb. 25.

10 things to know about the Apple iPhone

By Kevin Purdy
Greater Niagara Newspapers

What’s so great about a phone that it has every tech reporter wearing out their keyboard writing about it?

Part of the answer involves how many rumors, speculations and fake Photoshopped prototypes have been circulating among the Apple faithful for years. Something kept a tight secret for two years by one of the most-watched technology companies is bound to make waves when it hits.

But the simplest explanation is that Apple did what it has done with most of its other big product launches — introduced a bunch of features and ideas that were completely outside the realm of accepted thought.


What kind of features?

The fact that the iPhone can play music, take and display pictures, play videos, make phone calls, browse the Web and store contact and calendar information is almost the least-exciting aspect of the gadget. Other devices like the Blackberry and Palm Treo offer most, if not all, of these functions in their own “smart phones.”

What’s really impressing many observers is how it does all that, and how nice it looks while doing it. There is only one real button on the front of the device, and everything is controlled on a roughly 3.5-inch by 2.4-inch screen that is noticeably sharp.

Every function is controlled by an “intelligent” touch-screen version of the Mac OS X software. When you hold the device to your ear, it quickly changes to calling mode. When you turn it sideways to look at landscape photos or widescreen movies, it automatically flips the image for you.

The quick hits of the other gee-whiz stuff: full Bluetooth capabilities, wireless access, docking station included for connecting to iTunes on both Macs and PCs, ambient light sensor.


That’s cool, but is the phone function any better than what I have now?

One would have to ask a local Cingular customer how pleased they are with service to answer part of that question, although Cingular is noted for having some of the most vocal critics in the tech world. As for actual phone function, there are a few nifty improvements.

> Rather than having to run through voicemails sequentially by pressing a key, the iPhone lets you look at all the voicemails you have waiting and choose to listen by caller.

> The finger-scrolling and quick-find methods used throughout the interface are touted as offering an easier way to find and call contacts.

> When using the built-in Google Maps function, a tap or two on a nearby business or home pulled up in a search makes the call there.


How much will it cost?

Depends on how much storage space you want for all those songs, pictures, videos and personal data. The 4-gigabyte model is $499, while an 8-gigabyte phone is $599.


Does ANYBODY have doubts about this thing?

Yes they do. Here are a few complaints raised on well-read blogs and news sites covering Apple and gadgets:

> The basic idea of paying $500 (or $600) for a device with a big glass screen that could be more susceptible to scratches and breaking than the abuse standard phones go through. Many first-generation iPod Nano users can collectively groan on this topic.

> The unanimous complaint is tied to Cingular’s cellular Internet service, EDGE, which is considerably slower than the increasingly popular 3G standard. While the wireless Internet function somewhat makes up for it, it could make for slow e-mail and unbearably long downloads outside access points

> While Apple claims the device gets eight hours of battery life under normal use, reports clock the battery at just two hours while videos are played. Watching a few episodes of “The Office” on a plane, therefore, could leave a user without a powered phone.

> At the moment, only Apple software can run on the iPhone, so users can’t make up for anything Apple left out — including support for Microsoft Office documents and RSS readers


When can I trade my phone in for this?

The iPhone won’t be out until June, assuming the device doesn’t run into any manufacturing hold-ups.

Unless you’re a Cingular Wireless customer, however, switching to an iPhone could require paying hefty cancellation fees and signing a mandatory two-year service contract. Cingular is the exclusive service provider for the device, and has what was described as a “multi-year” agreement with Apple.


Didn’t Apple already help make a phone that could play MP3s and iTunes purchases?

Yes, but they’d probably appreciate it if you didn’t remember that. Cingular and Apple released a Motorola phone called the ROKR in 2005, but a basic cell phone that could only hold 100 songs and required being plugged into a computer to buy or change them caused only a momentary buzz before fizzling out.


Aren’t there other devices called “iPhones”?

Indeed, and one of their makers, Cisco Systems, filed a lawsuit against Apple Inc. on Wednesday in federal court. Cisco claims that it has held a trademark on the name “iPhone” since 2000 and used it as a brand on standard phones that can make calls over Internet lines.

David Beckham Set to Invade America

January 12,2007 LOS ANGELES -- David Beckham has conquered the rest of the world as the most recognized soccer player around. Now, he's beginning his march across America.

Taking the first step Thursday, Beckham announced a five-year deal to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy, starting this summer.

"Beckham Comes to America" flashed on video screens outside Staples Center, owned by AEG, the sports and entertainment company that runs the Galaxy.

Beckham's first task? Converting football, baseball and basketball-crazed Americans into soccer fans.

That could be his biggest hurdle since the United States is the last -- and largest -- market where Beckham's cult of personality has few believers. A superstar whose movements have convulsed Asian capitals and helped sell millions of European tabloids has been able to walk American streets in relative anonymity.

"There are so many great sports in America," said Beckham, the 31-year-old former England captain. "There are so many kids that play baseball, American football, basketball. But soccer is huge all around the world apart from America, so that's where I want to make a difference with the kids."

In Los Angeles, Beckham's mandate calls for raising the profile of an average team in a soccer league that has little respect overseas and less recognition than the University of Southern California football team.

"I'm going out there to hopefully build a club and team that's got a lot of potential," Beckham said. "I think that's what excites me."

On Friday, Beckham returned to his daily routine training with Real Madrid for nearly two hours. The British player smiled to reporters upon his arrival and left the training ground in the outskirts of Madrid without speaking to reporters about his new signing.

The Beckham effect was felt immediately: The Galaxy sold 1,000 new season tickets Thursday morning. Their season begins April 8.

The team averages 22,000 to 24,000 fans in its 27,000-seat stadium in suburban Carson, although attendance was down last season when the Galaxy missed the playoffs.

"They know we Latinos are filling the soccer stadiums. That's why they want to bring stars here," said Juan Munguia, a 30-year-old Mexican hotel cook. "I will go just to see Beckham."

Already in the works is a 2008 Galaxy tour of Asia, where Beckham is wildly popular. A new team logo will be unveiled this summer and the Galaxy's owner is nearing a deal to slap a prime sponsor's name on its jerseys.

"We will absolutely market the Galaxy as a global brand," said Tim Leiweke of AEG, the sports and entertainment company whose holdings include Staples Center -- where the city's resident superstar, Kobe Bryant, plays for the Lakers.

The Galaxy didn't say exactly what they'll pay him, but floated a figure of $250 million in salary and commercial endorsements over the five years of his contract. In other words, his move could be worth $1 million a week.

"David Beckham is a global sports icon who will transcend the sport of soccer in America," gushed Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber.

Beckham has not found much success since he moved to Spanish team Real Madrid in 2003 from Manchester United, where he won six league titles, two FA Cups and the Champions League title. He has no major trophies with the nine-time European Cup champions.

Beckham started only five of 25 matches for Real Madrid this season. He turned down a two-year contract extension from Real Madrid, where his fading skills left him on the bench. He'll start for the Galaxy.

"He's coming here to make a difference," Galaxy coach Frank Yallop said. "He's not coming here on vacation."

Off the field, all the pieces are in place for Beckham's entry into Hollywood:

--His deal was negotiated in a mere 10 days by major entertainment industry players Simon Fuller, creator of "American Idol," and Creative Artists Agency, home to some of Hollywood's biggest actors.

--He already has a soccer academy at the Galaxy's stadium complex in suburban Carson.

--He and Spice Girl wife Victoria count Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise as pals and have enough other high-profile connections to be out on the town every night.

--Becks 'n' Posh (Victoria's moniker in the Spice Girls pop group) have young sons with tabloid friendly names: Brooklyn and Romeo.

--The Beckhams are represented by Fuller, who could help deliver the Hollywood career that Victoria has long sought.

"It's not lost on them that it's the entertainment capital of the world and they know many people in the entertainment industry here," said Leiweke, president and chief executive officer of AEG and a personal friend of the couple.

Drawing paparazzi like movie stars, Beckham and his wife regularly find their way onto tabloid and magazine covers. With trendy clothes and rotating hair colors and styles, he's the epitome of the modern celebrity-athlete.

"He needs to maintain brand Beckham, and L.A. is the natural place to do that," said Neil Montgomery, a manager mulling Beckham's deal from a London pub. "They like glamorous people, and they're going to be fawned over."

In Madrid, where Beckham will play out his contract that ends June 30, school headmaster Andres Bayon said the move was a good one.

"In Madrid, he never functioned as a player, he was only a product of marketing," Bayon said. "He's over the hill now and any reserve player will do a better job than him. I think his wife has had a major influence on his decision."

Beckham's soccer skills are only part of the equation. His status as fashion icon, tabloid fixture and marketing giant have made him David Beckham Inc., a multinational corporation with links to Pepsi, Gillette, Motorola and Adidas.

Veteran publicist Michael Levine called Beckham's move "a great, great chance of a lifetime."

"No nation on the planet affects the culture of the world like America," Levine said. "You can say, `Look, I'm big in England, I'm big in this, I'm big in that.' If you want to dominate the world, you've got to dominate America in terms of cultural impact."

Gas-Like Odor Permeates Parts of New York City

Authorities were investigating widespread reports today of a strong odor similar to natural gas that permeated parts of New York and New Jersey during the morning commute.

New York City agencies and the United States Coast Guard were responding to numerous calls on emergency telephone lines. Fire trucks raced around in search of the odor.

The smell was reported from Manhattan’s midtown to Battery Park City, and strong odors were reported in Jersey City, said a spokesman for New York’s emergency management office, Jarrod Bernstein.

Some office workers were evacuated from their buildings, and a woman was taken away by ambulance, apparently overcome by the smell, New York 1 television reported.

Consolidated Edison, the natural gas supplier for the city, said it was investigating. PATH train service between New York and New Jersey was suspended.

There was no immediate confirmation about the cause of the odor. Mysterious odors come and go in the New York City area, sometimes never identified.

In August, a pungent smell wafted through Staten Island, alarming hundreds of residents. The City Department of Environmental Protection dispatched a hazardous materials crew, using equipment to test air quality for “volatile organic compounds,” which are emitted from a range of products from stored fuels to aerosol sprays to paint.

But the investigation into its source proved fruitless.

In a city scared of terrorism, pungent odors, sweet or sour, can raise vague worries about some kind of chemical attack.

In October 2005, an extraordinary sweet smell wafted from downtown Manhattan to the Upper East Side, Prospect Heights in Brooklyn and parts of Staten Island.

At that time, too, city authorities were rallied. The city’s Office of Emergency Management contacted the Police and Fire Departments, state emergency response agencies in New York and New Jersey, and the United States Coast Guard, which communicated with tugboats and container ships at sea to determine whether the odor was being detected there. The cause was not determined.

Source: www.nytimes.com