Sharpening It

More details have emerged from the world of Machete, a.k.a. Lindsay Lohan’s would-be comeback vehicle.

According to this report, in the Robert Rodriguez-directed movie, Machete (Danny Trejo, reprising his role from the Grindhouse fake trailer, as you know), a former Mexican Federales, will be hired to assassinate a very corrupt senator (Robert De Niro), right.

But then, he’ll be double-crossed and pursued by a government agent played by Jessica Alba.

Lohan will play a gun-wielding socialite who comes to Machete’s aid, while Steven Seagal, in a comeback all his own, will play a drug lord from his past.

Production already has begun in Austin, Texas.

Photo: Yahoo.com.

Brangelina Score

I hate to say it because it makes me feel like a traitor to Team Aniston, of which I am a proud member (sorry, Jen!), but Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie looked H-O-T at last night’s premiere of Inglourious Basterds.

The couple looked so beyond in black, especially (sorry again, Jen!) Jolie in a form-fitting strapless black leather Michael Kors dress and Christian Dior heels.

Together, they never get points in my book, but there’s always a first for everything.

Photo: UsMagazine.com.

Dreamboy

Jennifer Hudson and her fiancé David Otunga welcomed bouncing baby son David Daniel Otunga yesterday.

I guess that serves as confirmation that, indeed, the singer was pregnant.

“The baby is beautiful and perfect,” said Hudson’s rep. “His parents are ecstatic.”

Congratulations, J. Hud!

Photo: UsMagazine.com.

She Is Woman, Hear Her Roar

Courteney Cox is moving to Cougar Town this fall.

The Friend is headed back to a TV near you to play a recently divorced mother looking to get her groove back.

Oh, and lest you think it’s going to be all about that kind of cougar, I’m pretty sure the title of the Bill (Scrubs) Lawrence-created show refers to a football team.

But, yes, Cox will be romancing younger (and a few older) men.

“I think it’s great to be a cougar, if that’s what it’s called,” she recently said.

I think the show looks pretty funny, but you be the judge:

“WTF” Redefined

The third season of this generation’s It soap opera, Gossip Girl, is just a bit over a month away, so that means it’s time for a preview:



Why is Serena losing her top?

Is Dan like, a total frat boy now?

Will Bluck make it through freshman year?

I cannot tell – but I’ll certainly be watching to find out and “XOXO” all about it.

Hot New Convenient Couple Alert!

Someone call the paparazzi.

That is, of course, unless Kathy Griffin already hasn’t.

The comedian stepped out yesterday with some new arm candy, one Levi Johnston, a.k.a. Bristol Palin’s baby daddy, whom she took as her date to the Teen Choice Awards.

An ace stunt to get her name in the papers and blogs today, the boy from Wasilla was a shrewd, if a little unfortunate choice on the part of Griffin, you know…since we have to mention his previous relationships to even talk about him.

And, also, is it just me or isn’t it a bit ironic that Griffin should take Johnston to an awards show that’s all about teens’ choice?

I’m just sayin’….

Photo: EW.com.

Establishing the Cruise Dynasty

Connor Cruise, Tom and Nicole’s son, has been cast in the upcoming remake of Red Dawn.

He will be playing the son of the mayor opposite Chris Hemsworth and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’s Isabel Lucas. Click here to see who’s playing who.

I cannot help but wonder if, you know…the young Cruise got the role because he’s the son of somebody. I can’t imagine he dazzled the powers that be that much with his silent cameo as a young Will Smith in Seven Pounds.

Although playing the son of a somebody should be a cinch.

Photo: TheHollywoodGossip.com.

Simply Irresistible, Pt. 54

If success really were measured in good looks, then we’d have to give up to Halle Berry.

I mean, look at her. She’s a stunner.

And now look at her partner, Gabriel Aubry. Hello!

If you’re curious, Google their cutie patootie of a daughter. Hello again!

I could just eat them all up….

Photo: People.com.

Just Because, Pt. 46

Eric Dane’s banging!

The Grey’s Anatomy star looked McSteamy, indeed, as he filmed the upcoming Valentine’s Day in Malibu a couple of days ago.

Something tells me this movie’s going to be a hit….

Photo: People.com.

She Never Could Have Done This in America

You gotta give it up for Sharon Stone. The lady has chutzpah. Still.

She may not be in (m)any movies these days, but at 51, La Stone is without doubt the argument for getting better and hotter with age.

The actress is on the cover of Paris Match, still-perky buxom a-blazin’, wearing a black leather corset, hot pants, and some fierce strap-up heels.

“When I entered [Alix Malka’s] studio, he told me he wanted to re-invent me. He got clothes sent to me, and I understood he saw me the way I am in reality, which many people I collaborate with don’t,” Stone told the magazine.

“In fashion, everything is organized by age. This is what you have to wear when you're 20, at 30, then at 40.

“I’ll never get into a mold. I won’t dress the way people want me to dress. What these photos represent is nothing surprising to me. My life didn’t change at 50. I didn’t change.”

If you got it, flaunt it. And having met Sharon Stone ever so briefly last spring, I gotta say she’s got it.

Photo: TVGuide.com.

Epicurean Personalities

I’d been craving for Julie & Julia for a while when I saw it a few of weeks ago, so now that I’ve seen the movie I can tell you I absolutely want seconds.

I so loved the movie I wouldn’t mind it if it snagged one of the 10 Oscar noms that will be in place next awards season. It’s that good and enjoyable.

Nora Ephron directs – from her own screenplay adapted from two books, My Life in France, Julia Child’s autobiography written with Alex Prud'homme, and a memoir by blogger-turned-author Julie Powell – Amy Adams and Meryl Streep, Doubt co-stars reuniting for a most delightful late-summer movie.

As if I had to say it, Adam plays Powell, a woman living in Queens, N.Y., in 2002, while Streep takes on Child, willing herself as only she could to grow eight inches to play the 6’2” super-chef.

The two never share any screen time (Child’s story unfolds in the early 1950s), but each actress makes do by delivering fully realized performances that are delicious on their own – it’s a bit like getting two flicks for the price of one! – and mix to make Julie & Julia a success.

Adams’ Julie is a frustrated temp secretary in post-Sept. 11 New York who, feeling unaccomplished on the eve of her 30th birthday (most of her girl friends are sharp-suited career women of power), embarks on an ambitious year-long culinary quest to cook each and every single one of the 524 recipes found in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Child, of course, is played with mouthwatering aplomb by Streep.

Now, I never saw the chef’s show, but I’m told The Actress did a terrific job capturing every intonation and every mannerism – as she would. And I s’ppose I could say that from this performance I have a good idea for the joy with which Child approach every aspect of her life. So job well done, and Meryl. See you at next year’s Oscars.

But I digress, and that’s because I’m already picturing myself watching the movie this opening weekend for the second time.

Julie & Julia lovingly intertwines the lives of two women who, though separated by time and space, are both at a loss until they discover that with the right combo of passion, fearlessness, support from their hubbies (Chris Messina for Adams, and the invaluable Stanley Tucci for Streep), and, yes, lots and lots of butter, anything is possible.

Since I saw the movie and as opening day approached, I’ve been reading that some reviews have been critical of the way Julie and Julia – but Julie especially – are portrayed in the movie, that as one of the original bloggers she’s a narcissist, to which I say hello! and hogwash.

Julie and Julia are really, truly real women. All each wants is to have her work mean something. They make few apologies for it, and that to me says they get it. They see the bigger picture, and they’re big enough to realize when they’ve done something they shouldn’t.

They learn from, buck up, have a sweet something, and keep going.

And they do so with great courage, great passion, and best of all, great food.

I can and do appreciate that quite a bit.

My Rating ****

Photo: Columbia Pictures.

Misbehaving at a Certain Age

It was only a matter of time until the great Meryl Streep played someone who is “a bit of a slut,” but that she does in the Nancy Meyers-directed It’s Complicated, opening this Christmas:



Streep juggles an affair with her now-married ex-husband (Alec Baldwin, who, yes, actually uses the phrase “OMG” in the trailer) and an architect played by Steve Martin.

And I say good for her.

Streep has never been better. And this is coming from someone who didn’t always get her.

She’s found a way to stay relevant in the public’s eye – sure, she’s not doing heavy dramas all that much anymore – and she’s still showing ’em young bitches how it’s done while making studios lots and lots of money. She’s golden, and best of all, I think she’s having fun, which is the most important thing.

So good for her, indeed. And count me in for It’s Complicated, too.

A Beauty No Matter What

First she rocked the unibrow (in Frida), and now Salma Hayek is going for the full-beard look.

So no, she’s not letting herself go (like anyone would if they married a billionaire) – she’s just working the, say, eye-catching look for her role in Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (out on Oct. 23), in which the actress co-stars as Madame Truska, the hirsute woman in a traveling freak show and girlfriend of the titular vampire (John C. Reilly).

The fantasy, based on a popular young-adult series of books, follows a boy (Chris Massoglia) who becomes an apprentice to Reilly’s vamp.

Hayek’s character sprouts whiskers every time she gets passionate with her bf.

“She needs to be very comfortable with herself, which Salma really is in real life,” said director Paul Weitz (About a Boy).

“I thought, of all people to have that problem, she’d be an interesting one.”

He got that right.

Photo: EW.com.

Bloody Queen

Attention, True Blood fans, both old and new: Evan Rachel Wood is headed to Bon Temps, and this is what she’s going to look like.

Wood will pop her True Blood cherry in the Aug. 30 episode playing Queen Sophie-Anne.

“Nobody’s ever entirely happy to see her,” said Alan Ball, the creator of the hit HBO series. “She’s very powerful, capricious, and most likely insane.”

I love her already – and I have about 17 episodes to go until I get to see her since I’m still catching up with the first season.

Btw, Queen Sophie-Anne is said to have “more than one secret agenda,” which the audience will slowly become aware of over the third season.

So I guess we’ll stay tuned.

Photo: EW.com.

Time of the Dad

In Sept. 25’s The Boys Are Back, a based-on-a-true-story movie directed by Scott Hicks (Shine), the I’ll-watch-him-in-anything-always Clive Owen plays Joe, a man ill-prepared to raise his two sons alone after the untimely passing of his second wife.

Without a roadmap for how to move on and forward with their lives, the three decide it’s best to leave convention behind, and lead a life based on a mantra of just saying yes.

But when things go awry, Joe is forced to step up and behave like a parent, and he must figure out how to do so without completely abandoning the joy shared in their new world.

Photo: Variety.com.

R.I.P. John Hughes

John Hughes, the director of seminal movies such as Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, passed away today. He was 59 years old.

The Michigan-born writer, director, and producer died suddenly of a heart attack while taking a morning walk during a trip to Manhattan to visit family.

Photo: RottenTomatoes.com.

Update 1: Click here for reactions from Matthew Broderick, Macaulay Culkin, and Jeffrey Jones (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’s Dean Edward R. Rooney), among others.

Update 2: Now click here to read what Molly Ringwald and Steve Martin said upon hearing the news.

Update 3: Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon, film critic Roger Ebert, Ben Stein, and Judd Nelson, among others, have added their voices in remembrance of John Hughes.

Jay Leno’s Firsts

NBC has announced that Jay-Z will be the first official musical guest on The Jay Leno Show, the talk show host’s new prime-time comedy series debuting on Sept. 14.

Not only that, Hova will bring along Rihanna and Kanye West onstage with him to perform “Run This Town,” from his latest album, The Blueprint 3, due out on Sept. 11.

Good for Leno, although, if it were my show, I would’ve gotten, well…you know.

Photo: Rap-Up.com.

Just Because, Pt. 45 Ah, to be a motorcycle sometimes…. Ryan Gosling channeled the rough rider within to straddle his outside of L.A.’s Silverlake Conservatory of Music yesterday. The actor currently is recording his debut album (out on Oct. 6), which will feature the conservatory’s children's choir. Too cute! And I hope it’s good….

Photo: People.com.

I Hope This Works Out Well

At this point, Lindsay Lohan has disappointed me so I’m not sure why I even bother anymore, but here I go.

L2 has been cast in Robert Rodriguez’s Machete, featuring Danny Trejo in the title character of a Mexican Charles Bronson-type gun for hire.

Movie fans may remember the character, for he first appeared on the big screen in a fake trailer for 2007’s Grindhouse.

Starring alongside Trejo will be Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Steven Seagal, Michelle Rodriguez, Cheech Marin, Don Johnson, and La Lohan.

Now, I wouldn’t trust Linds with a toy hammer these days, let alone an actual machete, but if Robert Rodriguez can trust her with a project called Machete, then I wish her the best of luck.

Machete is expected to hit screens next year.

Photo: SuperficialDiva.com.

Call Her “Lonely Girl” All You Want

Jennifer Aniston’s fine with it if people must insist on calling her a “lonely girl.”

I call that Girl Power, btw.

“I’m not going to ignore the pink elephant in the living room,” she told Elle for its September issue.

“It’s fine. I can take it. If I’m the emblem for ‘This is what it looks like to be the lonely girl getting on with her life,’ so be it.”

Aniston won’t be lonely on screen for long, though.

Aside from co-starring with Jason Bateman (in the upcoming The Baster) and Gerard Butler (with whom she’s shooting The Bounty), the actress will begin work on Pumas and in Goree Girls, a long-gestating project based on a true story about an all-female country band that played in a Texas prison in the 1940s.

So you see, she’s keeping well-accompanied and having lots of fun, and I’m sure she’s not missing out on anything by not having a relationship…or living one out in the spotlight.

And I like that.

Photo: Elle.com.