The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies
The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies |
- Entertainment overload
- Holland Taylor on life, love and Charlie Sheen
- Actor Matthew McConaughey proposes to girlfriend
| Posted: 26 Dec 2011 10:49 PM PST With so much that we can watch and listen to, even celebrities who make the cut may not last. IT'S that time of the year when many attempt to redress the entertainment deficit they have accumulated over the months or even years, believing the holiday season to afford them the time to regain their cultural balance. However, there is something very different in the air this year. I find that, despite spending the most time I have ever done on music, movies and dramas in my life, I have still a serious backlog of them that I don't even need to stock up on anything new this year-end, which I usually do. Among the box sets I have spent a fortune amassing but have yet to open, let alone watch, are season six of British sci-fi drama Doctor Who, the latest season of a Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood, the hit US drama Mad Men Seasons 1-4, True Blood DVD Complete Set Seasons 1-4, and more than 10 movies I had missed at the cinemas and bought when they were released on disc. And that's just the Hollywood movies and dramas. There's also a bunch of music CDs, not forgetting that the volume is multiplied by three, as I am also a big fan of Chinese and Japanese productions. It's a good thing I have yet to really throw myself into the Korean juggernaut or the overload would reach epic proportions. Even so, my back-of-envelope calculations show that I would have to stop sleeping from now till after Chinese New Year for a fighting chance to finish watching what I already possess, while listening to my CDs in the background. One would think that with the recent technological advances such as the smartphone, Internet streaming of movies, dramas and music and the ubiquity of portable and car-installed DVD players on top of the by now standard subscription to cable TV in almost every household, everyone ought to be able to get up to speed on their entertainment fixes. While the ability to satisfy our entertainment needs on multiple fronts – often without sitting through commercials – means that we can spend more time on them, there are still only 24 hours in a day. Hence, there is only so much we can do, the capacity for multi-tasking notwithstanding. What has perhaps been more significant is the proliferation of movies, dramas and music in recent years as more entertainment companies come into the picture. Life was so much easier when there was only CBS, NBC and ABC in the Unied States, and competition in Hong Kong was only between the two main stations TVB and ATV. With the addition of other major broadcasters and hundreds of cable channels, many of which commission their own series, the market for movies and dramas has never been so saturated. In a huge market like China, regional broadcasters are just as active as the national television network CCTV in producing dramas and variety programmes. In Malaysia, a new cable provider to compete with Astro is in the works, offering the prospect of even more programmes for viewing. Increasingly, any personality worth his salt often sets up his own production house, adding to the churn. Then there are the crossover artistes, like Justin Timberlake, who is not content with only a singing career and has made his foray into movies. Many of us take our entertainment dosage quite seriously, as apart from the enjoyment, knowledge about entertainers and their work is one way to show that one is with it. Such knowledge is the fodder for small talk, and a way of bonding with friends, colleagues and family. Did anyone notice that I have left aside the mention of my unread books, some of which were bought digitally and are now waiting to be read in my smartphone or laptop? With so much competition for our eyes and ears, entertainers beware, because only programmes that are fresh, exciting and are able to rise from the heap, stand a chance of being watched, or at least, watched by enough people to justify the continuation of their series. Anna Paquin, I liked you from along time ago, when you were a child actress 18 years back in The Piano. You were also brilliant in the X-Men series as Rogue. But I am afraid that I will not be watching you in True Blood, a series about vampires and werewolves, despite the good reviews. The DVD set of the series I bought, often beckons to me, but the all-too-common theme has so far failed to spur me into action. It will probably go into the KIV drawer that holds the many box-sets I have not had the time to watch. Jon Hamm faces an uphill task in converting me into a fan, even though there are several points in his favour. Having been a copywriter, I am naturally interested in the world of advertising that Mad Men portrays. The many Golden Globe awards the series has received is also a deal winner. However, the fact is that competition is fierce. Given a choice between a rip-roaring sci-fi thriller like Doctor Who and the 1960s world of advertising, the sci-fi universe wins it for me every time. The HBO medieval fantasy series, Game Of Thrones, based on the bestselling fantasy saga of A Song Of Ice And Fire by George R. R. Martin, is one of the easiest dramas to follow, giving actor Sean Bean a new lease of life as a hero in the process. The reality is that for every Game Of Thrones that grips my attention, there are probably a hundred other series that I would have no time for. Glee, CSI, Bones, Chuck and even House have all had to take a back seat this year, and I fear, will join the graveyard of the unwatched in the future, even though they are still very entertaining. If enough of us are unable to watch them, the talented actors in them will have to seek new pastures or fall by the wayside. > In this column, writer Hau Boon Lai ponders the lives, loves and liberties of celebrities. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Holland Taylor on life, love and Charlie Sheen Posted: 26 Dec 2011 10:17 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Holland Taylor offers no apologies for never settling down, getting married or having children. The 68-year-old Emmy-winning actress, currently starring in her one-woman show ''Ann'' at Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center, simply never had the time. ''I always did think I would be married and settled down by now but maybe I ain't ready,'' she said, sounding a lot like the over-the-top mother of Jon Cryer she portrays in the CBS comedy ''Two and a Half Men.'' ''Then again, maybe I won't ever be ready.'' Taylor's career blossomed in her mid-30s and the New Yorker with Pennsylvania roots has been on a dizzying pace ever since, starring on the stage, in television and on film. Having a family just wasn't in the script. ''I'm very, very happy. I just never was the marrying kind,'' she said. ''I am a serial monogamist. I don't have multiple relationships at once. ''I've had a long life and a lot of relationships and not one of them do I wish - well, I take that back - there are a couple I could have done without,'' she added with a chuckle. Taylor's current love is ''Ann,'' which is based on the life of quick-witted, sharp-tongued former Texas Gov. Ann Richards. Seconds after a recent performance at the Kennedy Center, the audience was on its feet, cheering wildly for the show and its star. While the applause was quick that night, overall it was a long time coming for Taylor. The actress conceived the show nearly six years ago and has been researching it and writing it ever since. She admits to being captivated about the dynamic Richards, who died in 2006 of esophageal cancer. ''I had a lot of creative feelings about her,'' Taylor told Reuters. ''If I had been a painter, it would have been a painting. If I had been a composer, it would have been a piece of music. I had to do something with my feelings about this loss.'' Taylor said the idea of taking Richards' story to the stage ''came to me very suddenly.'' ''I was literally driving to work at my television show one day and I had to pull off the highway onto the service road,'' she recalled. ''I had the idea it should be a play because of her liveliness and her contact with the audience. ''She herself said, 'I was good as a candidate over the years only because I connect with people one on one.' I decided right then a play is how it should be done.'' NO LOOKING BACK Taylor has perfected Richards' Southern drawl and eerily looks like the the Texas politician whose energizing keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention elevated her to widespread prominence. The actress insists she brought Richards' story to the stage not because she could play the role but to celebrate the politician's life. ''She was not a person who looked back. Ever,'' Taylor said. ''She did not revisit things. She was rolling along, like a wheel that goes under and then over. Under and over. But always moving forward. ''If she fell, she fell forward. And that is not the way I am. I get very upset. I can get very waylaid. I get blue. I can become chicken little. ''And now when I do, I think, 'What would Ann Richards think of this behavior?''' During breaks in the show's pre-Broadway tour - it is playing now through Jan. 15 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts - Taylor will continue her role on ''Two and a Half Men.'' She is glad its former star, Charlie Sheen, survived his firing and public meltdown earlier this year and has moved on. ''It was painful for me to see him in pain and he did something very, very dangerous by first of all, obviously doing drugs to that degree is dangerous, but quitting very violently is very dangerous too,'' she said. ''And he went through really an amazing thing out in public. I just was terrified for him. I think everybody was. But he got through it alive which is all anybody wanted.'' Taylor said she would see his daily rants and described them as ''very scary.'' ''There were a few days there where I would open the paper, and I would be so frightened to see that something really terrible happened,'' she said. ''I'm glad he escaped that.'' Holland Taylor is in a good spot these days, healthy, happy and with more job offers than she knows what do do with. Just don't expect her to slow down anytime soon. With a laugh, she said she would ''commit an ax murder'' before attempting to conceal her age. ''It would seem so silly,'' she said backstage at the Kennedy Center. ''I really, truly genuinely struggled quite hard until I was in my mid-30s. ''I personally was at sea. ''But that's long gone. I'm doing OK. I'm better than OK.'' Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Actor Matthew McConaughey proposes to girlfriend Posted: 26 Dec 2011 05:08 PM PST LOS ANGELES, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Hollywood leading man Matthew McConaughey has proposed to his longtime girlfriend and the mother of their two children, model Camila Alves, the actor said in a posting on celebrity website Whosay.com McConaughey, star of such films as "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" and "The Lincoln Lawyer," posted a picture of him and Alves kissing near a Christmas tree on Sunday with the message "just asked camila to marry me, merry Christmas." WhoSay.com is a website that hosts many celebrity accounts. A spokesman for the actor confirmed that McConaughey posted the message but gave no further details. McConaughey, 42, and Alves, 28, have been a couple for several years. They have two children, Levi, 3, and Vida, who turns 2 next month. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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