James Woods
Whether playing a hero or a villain, Woods is a master at making sleaziness seem sexy, and vice versa. Armed with a skinny frame, craggy features and explosive energy, this charismatic player dropped...
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BirthDate BirthPlace |
04/17/1947
Vernal, UT |
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Fourth woman caught up in James cheating scandal
March 29, 2010 12:15pm ESTThe Hollywood star walked out on James earlier this month (Mar10) after tattoo model Michelle McGee went public with claims she romanced the married reality TV star for 11 months - including a period when Bullock was shooting The Blind Side on location. A second woman came forward last week (ends26Mar10) with fresh allegations of infidelity levelled at James and a third woman, who initially made claims, has since retracted her comments, insisting she was never intimate with the TV mechanic. Now it has emerged there's a fourth potential mistress - but she intends to keep her alleged affair with James private. The unnamed woman has hired top lawyer Gloria Allred to protect her privacy from the tabloids. Allred, who currently represents two of the women involved in the Tiger Woods cheating scandal, confirmed last week (ends26Mar10) she had been appointed to represent the woman, described as a "beautiful model and businesswoman". In a brief statement issued on Monday (29Mar10), Allred says, "I can confirm that she has decided not to tell her story. I have no other comment." Bullock moved out of the home she shared with James in Long Beach, California shortly after news of the McGee affair broke in early March (10). She is said to be staying at her property in the Hollywood Hills.
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Photographer insists she didn't romance James
March 26, 2010 5:00am ESTReports suggested Brigitte Daguerre claimed she was the third woman to have a sexual relationship with James while he was married to Bullock. But she insists the story has gone too far. In a statement released online, she says, "I was not his mistress. We were friends. This thing has been blown (way) out of proportion and I wanna be left alone." Oscar winner Bullock walked out on James last week (ends19Mar10) after model and porn star Michelle McGee first made allegations the TV mechanic had been unfaithful. James apologised to his wife and his family for the "pain and embarrassment" the story caused, but then another woman, Melissa Smith, alleged she enjoyed a series of intimate encounters with James at his West Coast Choppers headquarters in California between 2006 and 2009. And now there's another mistress about to come forward. TV news show Extra claims the mystery woman has hired top attorney Gloria Allred to represent her. Allred currently represents two of the women who claimed to have had relations with Tiger Woods.
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Valentine's Day Review
February 12, 2010 8:02am ESTThough Garry Marshall hasn’t made a decent flick since 1990’s Pretty Woman he still apparently wields a not inconsiderable amount of clout in Hollywood. What else could explain the all-star ensemble of actors who gathered for Valentine’s Day? Among the major names found probing the turgid depths of the nearly 80-year-old director’s insipid rom-com are Julia Roberts Anne Hathaway Ashton Kutcher Jessica Alba Jamie Foxx Jessica Biel Taylor Lautner and various other prominent actors who either owe favors to Marshall or whose incriminating photos he holds in his possession. A slice-of-life tale unfolding in Los Angeles over the course of a single Valentine’s Day the film chronicles the romantic adventures of a diverse cast of characters at various stages of relationships and encompassing virtually every conceivable demographic category. Their ages backgrounds and perspectives often dramatically differ but they each share one trait in common: Almost without exception they are all ceaselessly painfully disastrously unfunny. Some temper their dishumor with a dose of the annoying like Kutcher whose dopey florist Marshall unwisely chose to anchor Valentine’s Day’s story around. Others add a dash of the preposterous like Roberts dressed in military fatigues in a laughable attempt to play a U.S. Army Captain on leave from the front. Still others add cloying sentiment to the mix like Bryce Robinson’s lovelorn 10-year-old whose grandparents played by Shirley MacLaine and Hector Elizondo ply him with nostalgic romantic tips pre-fabricated for maximum inter-generational cuteness. Whatever your preferred method of cinematic torture may be you’ll undoubtedly encounter it in this film. In addition to challenging the pain threshold Valentine’s Day offers a test of endurance as well its story requiring over two hours to satisfy the narrative demands of its swollen cast. If you didn’t despise Hallmark’s ersatz holiday before you certainly will after enduring this Bataan Death March of rom-coms.
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The Wolfman Review
February 10, 2010 6:56pm ESTAfter being cursed by delays The Wolfman Hollywood’s latest spin on the popular werewolf myth finally bares its ugly fangs in theaters this week. Predictably the film is a train wreck of a debacle -- one would expect nothing less from a notoriously troubled production that saw its original director Mark Romanek abandon ship just two weeks before the start of shooting -- but The Wolfman’s problems stem less from the late-game addition of helmer Joe Johnston who at the very least delivered a terrific looking film (its gorgeously eerie Victorian aesthetic evoking a palpable exquisite sense of dread is by far its best feature) than from the misguided efforts of its producer and star Benicio Del Toro. The Wolfman is the brainchild of Del Toro an ardent horror fan who conceived the film as an homage of sorts to the low-budget “monster movies” from the ‘30s and ‘40s that he loved dearly as a child. It’s fashioned as a loose remake of 1941’s The Wolf Man a film that both established Lon Chaney Jr.’s performance as the definitive take on the character and introduced aspects of the werewolf legend now considered sacrosanct. The notion that a werewolf can be felled by an item made from silver for example owes its origin to The Wolf Man. But Del Toro feels all wrong in the role of Lawrence Talbot the prodigal son of a 19th-century English aristocrat whose fateful encounter with a bloodthirsty lycan the same creature that brutally murdered his brother just days prior triggers his unwitting initiation into the accursed tribe of feral man-beasts. Del Toro's resume of low-key understated performances marked by a muttering often imperceptible delivery in films like Traffic and The Usual Suspects suggests a skill set better suited to playing another famous movie monster one significantly less loquacious than his character in this movie. Seriously -- the guy should have remade Frankenstein instead. Playing an American-bred (but English-born we’re told) character in an 1890 setting looking uncomfortable in period attire surrounded by such “proper” British actors as Sir Anthony Hopkins and Emily Blunt and fully annunciating all of his line readings for the first time that I can recall Del Toro appears hopelessly out of place in The Wolfman. Things only get worse unfortunately when Del Toro’s character transforms into the dreaded werewolf. Each time the moon is full the film transitions with increasing ridiculousness from a somber Victorian drama into a hard-core horror flick replete with grisly shots of torn flesh exposed spines and severed limbs. The first overly gruesome attack triggers a kind of nervous laugh more from the shock than anything else. The second invites an amused uneasy chuckle which soon snowballs into an outright belly laugh. And the effect soon spreads to the dialogue the outrageous gore rendering the film's mannered melodrama strangely hysterical. Of all the Wolfman players only Hopkins seems to get the joke reveling in his manipulative mischief as Talbot's inappropriately glib stoutly aloof father. If only he'd let his castmates in on it.
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Woods settles hospital lawsuit
December 02, 2009 4:00am ESTThe Casino star's younger sibling Michael passed away at the Kent Hospital in Rhode Island after reportedly suffering a heart attack, aged 49. Woods, who is executor of his brother's estate, filed a wrongful death suit against the medical facility in early November (09), claiming doctors didn't do enough to save Michael. A judge declared the case had been settled on Tuesday (01Dec09), with hospital representatives admitting mistakes had been made in Michael treatment. They also pledged to open an institute in the 49 year old's name and offered up $1.25 million (£780,000) which will be put towards reducing errors and improving treatment. Woods made a tearful statement after the case was concluded, telling reporters he's relieved hospital officials finally apologised and he's grateful something positive has come of his brother's tragic death. He says, "It was all I ever needed to see, one human being saying to another human being 'I’m sorry for your loss.' It makes it possible for me to go to my brother’s grave and ask if I’ve done the right thing.”
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Everybody's Fine Review
December 01, 2009 9:59am ESTWho’s fine? No one really but we all knew that right? Where does politeness stop and uncomfortable truth begin and what are the considerations we make before burdening someone with the unvarnished truth? Everybody’s Fine ponders these things in a somber and intelligent way that belies its generic holiday movie poster. Robert De Niro plays Frank an aging widower who spends his lonely days keeping his empty nest tidy and its surrounding foliage immaculate in the way the retired tend to do. He feels intensely the absence of his four grown-up children since the recent death of his wife and when they all back out of a planned holiday gathering at the family home he decides to pack up his bag and travel across the country to see each one as a surprise. As he goes from home to home he begins to realize some uncomfortable truths about the relationship he has with them and even worse that there’s a bigger secret they’re all hiding. This is a remake of a 1990 Italian film Stanno Tutti Bene the follow-up to director Giuseppe Tornatore’s triumphant Best Foreign Language Film Oscar winner Cinema Paradiso. The American interpretation is written and directed by Kirk Jones who previously showed a knack for arty yet accessible films with Waking Ned Devine which like Everybody’s Fine manages to successfully navigate that oh-so-thin line between saccharine sentimentality and genuine emotional resonance. Unlike Devine Everybody’s Fine has no comedic spoonful of sugar to make the discomfort of an all-too-real family dynamic go down. De Niro’s portrayal of Frank comes almost as a relief. After a lifetime of loud and brusque characters he settles into the retiree part like a comfortable old pair of slippers. Frank is easily as conflicted as any other person De Niro has played but in a much quieter way -- a dad sorta way. De Niro so entirely and naturally becomes Frank that it’s hard not to project your own feelings toward your father onto him. And I suppose that is the point. Frank’s children are played by Kate Beckinsale Sam Rockwell and Drew Barrymore who are given just enough development to explain their estrangement from their father -- but that’s all the roles require. They’re loosely defined enough for the audience to hopefully identify with at least one of them but only in the service of laying familial guilt at our own feet. It’s De Niro's eyes the audience sees through; it’s his movie and he owns it. Everything eventually leads to that question of whether or not to trouble the ones we love with our bad news. Everybody’s Fine is relatively taciturn with its conclusions but offers an important suggestion to consider the matter more closely in the audience’s own lives. And isn’t that what good art should do? This may not be the most uplifting film one could see this holiday season but it is one of the more thoughtful ones. Between the simple effectiveness of De Niro’s performance the lovely cinematography of Henry Braham (it is sort of a road-trip movie) and the interesting questions it raises Everybody’s Fine is a terrific choice for those who want something more in-depth from their Xmas viewing than tinsel and tired sentimentality.
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Woods suing hospital over brother's death
November 08, 2009 4:30am ESTThe Casino star lost his younger sibling Michael in 2006, when he passed away in the Kent Hospital after reportedly suffering a heart attack, aged 49. Woods, the executor of his brother's estate, filed suit against the medical facility earlier this year (09), and the case will begin at Rhode Island's Kent County Superior Court on Monday (09Nov09). A representative for the star refused to give any further details on the case, but the Associated Press claims Woods is seeking "justice" for his brother, who was also an actor.
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Woods set to testify at 9/11 trial
July 29, 2009 1:02pm ESTThe Oscar-winner allegedly testified at a deposition earlier this year (09) over his claims he saw several of the 19 Al Qaeda hijackers on his American Airlines flight from Boston, Massachusetts to Los Angeles a month before the 2001 attacks. According to the New York Post, Woods grew suspicious of the Middle Eastern men onboard after noticing they didn't order drinks or speak to attendants but seemed to be carefully monitoring the crew. He reportedly told a staff member, "I think this plane is going to be hijacked. I know how serious it is to say this. Now Woods could once again be called to testify at a hearing into the deaths of flight attendant Sara Low and passenger Barbara Keating, who were killed when American Airlines Flight 11 flew into the World Trade Center's North Tower in New York. A Manhattan federal judge has set 12 April 2010 as the start date for the case brought by the families of three victims, who are taking legal action against the airline and airport security. A third lawsuit has been filed by the relatives of hockey scout Mark Bavis, 31, who was on United Airlines Flight 175 when it hit the South Tower. Another 97 families refused to pursue legal action and instead accepted settlements from the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund, which divided up $500 million (£334 million) between the families.
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News, May 21: "Shrek 2" Hits Record Number of Theaters, Vincent Gallo's "Bunny" Comes to U.S., Online Bets Taken on Celeb Poker Players, More…
May 11, 2009 2:01pm ESTTop Story: The Green Ogre Takes Over Movie Theaters Shrek 2 is set to play in a record 4,163 theaters domestically this weekend, marking the first time a film has surpassed the 4,000-theater mark in its debut and beating previous record holder, last year's X2: X-Men United, Reuters reports. DreamWorks' head of distribution Jim Tharp said the number of theaters had been raised from just over 3,700 since the film's debut Wednesday, as more theaters were able to open screens for the release "This is unprecedented ... I've never seen a movie open in that many theaters," Paul Dergarabedian, president of Los Angeles-based audience tracking service Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. told Reuters. With an increase in theaters, Shrek 2 looks to rake in the box office booty over the weekend as well. Dergarabedian declined to predict just how big a success the sequel might be, but said $50 million in ticket sales for the three-day weekend "would not be out of the question."Bunny Comes to U.S. Actor/director Vincent Gallo's highly controversial film Brown Bunny, which was jeered at the Cannes Film Festival, will be released in U.S. theaters in late August, Reuters reports. Bunny follows a road trip by a motorcycle racer obsessed with a past relationship, and included an on-screen fellatio scene between its stars, Gallo and Chloe Sevigny. The film not only was poorly received at the French Riviera festival but also became the center of a media maelstrom after the eccentric and furious Gallo took on unenthusiastic critics. Picked up by the indie distributor Wellspring, however, the U.S. release has been edited from the original version.Bet for Your Favorite Celeb Poker Player Place your bets! Online bettors have a chance to prognosticate which of their favorite actors or pros will win at the prestigious 35th World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas, which runs May 22-28. Leonardo DiCaprio is near the head of the celebrity pack at 425-to-1 odds. Matt Damon is holding at 450-to-1, besting good friend Ben Affleck and actors Lou Diamond Phillips and Ed Norton, all with 500-to-1 rankings. James Woods recently pulled slightly ahead of that trio at 490-to-1. On the other end of the spectrum, long-time player Larry Flynt, stuck in a 700-to-1 long shot, is ranking lowest among the entire list of players. You've got until midnight to ante up at Pokertropolis.com, an online betting Web site. Seinfeld, Superman Make Second Online Film Jerry Seinfeld and his favorite superhero Superman have made another online short film for American Express, The Associated Press reports. Titled Hindsight is 20/20, the film is once again co-written by Seinfeld and directed by Barry Levinson, in which Superman and Seinfeld go on a road trip to Death Valley, Calif., in one of the comedian's classic cars. Hindsight can be viewed on the American Express Web site along with the duo's first short A Uniform Used to Mean Something, which debuted in March.Minnelli Closes AIDS Benefit With Garland Tribute Liza Minnelli closed her star-studded AIDS benefit at the Cannes film festival Thursday night with an a cappella rendition of the classic "You Made Me Love You" in a touching tribute to her mother Judy Garland. Reuters reports the event, emceed by Sharon Stone, raised more than $1.8 million for the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amFAR). Guests included jury president Quentin Tarantino; rocker Rod Stewart; actors Ashley Judd, Kevin Kline, Chris Tucker; Mexican heartthrob Gael Garcia Bernal and Miramax studio chairman Harvey Weinstein. "I screened Fahrenheit 911 and I got my first unemployment check from Disney," Weinstein said in reference to Michael Moore's anti-Bush documentary. "My resume is outside. Hopefully somebody needs domestic help."Sotheby's To Auction Johnny Cash Items More than 650 pieces from the estate of country music legend Johnny Cash and his wife, June Carter Cash, will be auctioned by Sotheby's Sept. 14 and 15, the AP reports. The collection, valued at about $1.5 million, includes guitars, banjos, handwritten lyrics, photographs, vintage black leather clothing, Grammy Awards and other keepsakes. The sale also features more than 50 instruments owned and played by both June Carter, who died in May 2003, and Cash, who died Sept. 12. Expected to fetch top dollars is a guitar that Cash designed estimated at $15,000 and seven of Cash's Grammy awards, which range in value from $5,000 to $10,000. A 1950s notebook handwritten lyrics to songs like "Cry, Cry, Cry," is estimated at $6,000.Amid Summer Reruns, Fox To Debut New Series The Fox network is bucking the age-old tradition of premiering new TV series in the fall and will instead launch new shows in June, August, November and January. According to the AP, the network's new year-round strategy comes out of necessity since Fox series have gotten off to rough starts the past two years because its schedule is pre-empted for baseball in October. Next month, when rival networks are in reruns, Fox will feature five new series, including Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie reality show The Simple Life 2 and Method Man and Redman new hip-hop comedy Method & Red. Next summer, Seth MacFarlane will start making new episodes of Family Guy, a cartoon Fox canceled then was stunned to see it become enormously popular on DVD.UPN Announces Three New Fall Series UPN, meanwhile, unveiled a trio of new original series for the fall TV season during its "upfront" presentation to advertisers Thursday in Manhattan, the AP r Go to our Box Office section for recent weekend movie analysis.
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Defiance Review
December 31, 2008 8:51am ESTAlthough most Holocaust-themed works present the Jews as victims this true story shows there were small bands who did manage to fight back no matter how difficult the challenge. Starting near the beginning of World War II the film focuses on three Jewish brothers who lead a small but effective resistance against the surging Nazi presence in the forests of Belarussia. Eldest brother Tuvia Bielski (Daniel Craig) returns home to find most of his family murdered. His only surviving siblings are his wild quick-tempered brother Zus (Liev Schreiber) prone to shoot first and ask questions later and his youngest brother Asael (Jamie Bell) whose gentle nature allows to him to act as a buffer between his two older siblings. Crux of the film is the conflict between Zus’ quest for revenge at any cost and Tuvia’s more measured desire to save lives. As they round up more and more Jewish outcasts the Bielskis form a community deep in the woods. But soon Tuvia must rise to the occasion and lead the 1 200 strong group deeper into hiding in order to survive the winter and the lurking Nazi threat. Daniel Craig gets back to his acting roots after two high-profile outings as 007. He’s strong resilient and complex as a man with a criminal past whose mettle is tested when he chooses to become an advocate for life over the prospect of turning into a killing machine. Schreiber is superb as well as the toughest of the brothers -- at least on the outside. His primal urge to survive at all costs by using whatever preemptive force is necessary is apparent throughout his well-detailed portrayal. And finally Bell who more than holds his own as the most innocent of the bunch and the one with the most to learn. Alexa Davalos Iben Hjejle and Mia Wasikowska add needed warmth and emotion as the three very different women or “forest wives ” with whom the brothers romantically bond during their years in hiding. Stand out in the enormous meticulously chosen cast is Mark Feuerstein as an intellectual and Viktor Panchenko as Isyyanov the leader of the People’s Army. Edward Zwick is known for intelligent historically based films like Glory The Last Samurai and Blood Diamond. Defiance follows suit shot on a rather large scale with lots of impressive action sequences buffering an intimate story. Zwick’s co-writer Clayton Frohman stumbled upon the Bielskis’ story while reading a newspaper obituary on one of them. Armed with exhaustive research and an unerring eye for authenticity the director does not present any of these characters as saints. They were flawed conflicted human beings caught up in a extraordinary situation which only highlights their indomitable determination and fortitude to walk out of that forest alive. James Newton Howard’s brilliant score with haunting violin solos from Joshua Bell deserve special mention among the talented artists who made Defiance come to life. This is a must-see movie and another towering cinematic achievement for Zwick his best since Glory.
