Ken Russell, Director, "The Devils", "Tommy", "Women In Love". 1927-2011

LONDON (AP) — Ken Russell, an iconoclastic British director whose daring films blended music, sex and violence in a potent brew seemingly drawn straight from his subconscious, has died at age 84.

Russell died in a hospital on Sunday following a series of strokes, his son Alex Verney-Elliott said Monday.

"My father died peacefully," Verney-Elliott said. "He died with a smile on his face."

Russell was a fiercely original director whose vision occasionally brought mainstream success, but often tested the patience of audiences and critics. He had one of his biggest hits in 1969 with "Women in Love," based on the book by D.H. Lawrence, which earned Academy Award nominations for the director and for writer Larry Kramer, and a "Best Actress" Oscar for the star, Glenda Jackson.

It included one of the decade's most famous scenes — a nude wrestling bout between Alan Bates and Oliver Reed.

Reed said at the time that the director was "starting to go crazy."

"Before that he was a sane, likable TV director," Reed said. "Now he's an insane, likable film director."

Born in the English port of Southampton in 1927, Russell was attracted by the romance of the sea and attended Pangbourne Nautical College before joining the Merchant Navy at 17 as a junior crew member on a cargo ship bound for the Pacific. He became seasick, soon realized he hated naval life and was discharged after a nervous breakdown.

Desperate to avoid joining the family's shoe business, he studied ballet and tried his hand at acting before accepting he was not much good at either. He then studied photography, for which he did have a talent, and became a fashion photographer before being hired to work on BBC arts programs, including profiles of the poet John Betjeman, comedian Spike Milligan and playwright Shelagh Delaney.

"When there were no more live artists left, we turned to making somewhat longer films about dead artists such as Prokofiev," Russell once said.

These quickly evolved from conventional documentaries into something more interesting.

"At first we were only allowed to use still photographs and newsreel footage of these subjects, but eventually we sneaked in the odd hand playing the piano (in 'Prokofiev') and the odd back walking through a door," Russell said. "By the time a couple of years had gone by, those boring little factual accounts of the artists had evolved into evocative films of an hour or more which used real actors to impersonate the historical figures."

Music played a central role in many of Russell's films, including "The Music Lovers" in 1970 — about Tchaikovsky — and 1975's "Lisztomania," which starred Roger Daltrey of The Who as 19th-century heartthrob Franz Liszt.

"The Boy Friend," a 1971 homage to 1930s Hollywood musicals starring supermodel Twiggy, and Russell's 1975 adaptation of The Who's psychedelic rock opera "Tommy," were musicals of a different sort, both marked by the director's characteristic visual excess.

Russell's darker side was rarely far away. "Dante's Inferno," a 1967 movie about the poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti, played up the differences between Rossetti's idealized view of his wife and her reality as a drug addict.

Russell was even more provocative in his 1970 film "The Dance of the Seven Veils: A Comic Strip in Seven Episodes." It presented the composer Richard Strauss as a crypto-Nazi, and showed him conducting Rosenkavalier waltzes while SS men tortured a Jew.

"The Devils," a 1971 film starring Vanessa Redgrave as a 17th-century nun in the grip of demonic possession, was heavily cut for its U.S. release and is due to be released on DVD in Britain for the first time in 2012.

Russell told The Associated Press in 1987 that he found such censorship "so tedious and boring." He called the American print of "The Devils" ''just a butchered nonsense."

Critics were often unimpressed by Russell's work. Alexander Walker called him a master of "the porno-biography which is not quite pornography but is far from being biography." Pauline Kael said his films "cheapen everything they touch."

But admirers luxuriated in his Gothic sensibility — on display once again in "Gothic," a 1987 film about the genesis of Mary Shelley's horror tale "Frankenstein" replete with such hallucinatory visuals as breasts with eyes and mouths spewing cockroaches.

Russell said his depiction of a drug-addled Percy Bysshe Shelley was an accurate depiction of the time.

"Everyone in England in the 19th century was on a permanent trip. He must have been stoned out of his mind for years," Russell said. "I know I am."

Russell's fascination with changing mental states also surfaced in 1980 film "Altered States," a rare Hollywood foray for him, starring William Hurt as a scientist experimenting with hallucinogens. It was poorly received.

Later films included the comic horror thriller "The Lair of the White Worm" in 1989, which gave an atypical early role to Hugh Grant as a vampire worm-battling lord of the manor.

Russell also directed operas and made the video for Elton John's "Nikita."

Married four times, Russell is survived by his wife Elise Tribble and his children.

Funeral details were not immediately announced.

Noviembre 26 - "The Muppets" / "Arthur Christmas"

Criticamos la películas "The Muppets" y "Arthur Christmas". Con Marcos Rodríguez, Alberto Reyes, Jesús Velazquez "DJ Mista OZ" y Laura Pereira y Rafi Reynoso. Duración 59 Minutos 04 Segundos. Música por Max Les'Shyerar del Album "Live from Evereska Castle"

Noviembre 19- "La Piel Que Habito" / "El Testigo"

Criticamos la películas "La Piel Que Habito" y "El Testigo".Con Marcos Rodríguez, Alberto Reyes, Jesús Velazquez "DJ Mista OZ" y Laura Pereira. Duración 52 Minutos 58 Segundos. Música por Max Les'Shyerar del Album "Live from Evereska Castle"

"Dexter" renewed for two more seasons!

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - Okay, now Deb definitely has to figure out her brother is a serial killer.

Showtime announced Friday that it has renewed "Dexter" for two more seasons, begging the question of when, if ever, crack investigator Deborah Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter) will figure out her blood-spatter expert brother, Dexter (Michael C. Hall), is a murderer.

We're guessing not soon?

The news followed Showtime reaching a new, two-season deal with Hall. The new seasons, which will be the show's seventh and eighth, will consist of 12 episodes each.

The Emmy-nominated series began its sixth season in October and has delivered its fifth consecutive week of growth. Season-to-date, it averages 5.1 million weekly viewers on all platforms, including On Demand, replays and DVR, making this season the highest-rated so far.

"'Dexter''s enormous success is a real tribute to the great achievements of its cast, producers, and the powerhouse performance of Michael C. Hall," said Showtime entertainment president David Nevins. "Together with Michael, the creative team on the show has a very clear sense of where they intend to take the show over the next two seasons and, as a huge fan, I'm excited to watch the story of Dexter Morgan play out."

Hall added, "On behalf of the entire DEXTER family, we relish the invitation to delve ever deeper into Dexter's world."

Demi Moore to divorce Ashton Kutcher

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Demi Moore is ending her marriage to fellow actor Ashton Kutcher, she told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Moore, 49, and Kutcher, 33, were wed in September 2005, but the couple's relationship became tabloid fodder in recent months as rumors swirled about Kutcher's alleged infidelity.

"It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I have decided to end my six-year marriage to Ashton. As a woman, a mother and a wife there are certain values and vows that I hold sacred, and it is in this spirit that I have chosen to move forward with my life. This is a trying time for me and my family, and so I would ask for the same compassion and privacy that you would give to anyone going through a similar situation," she said in her statement to the AP.

The pair frequently used Twitter to communicate with each other as millions of fans followed along.

"I will forever cherish the time I spent with Demi," Kutcher tweeted Thursday. "Marriage is one of the most difficult things in the world and unfortunately sometimes they fail."

Moore said in 2007 that her May-December relationship with the star of "That '70s Show" and "Punk'd" — who is 15 years younger than Moore — "caught us both by surprise."

"If somebody would have said, 'OK, here is the prediction: You're going to meet a man 25 years old and he's going to see being with you and having your three kids as a bonus,' I would have said, 'Keep dreaming,'" Moore said in a 2007 interview with Vanity Fair. "I think it caught us both by surprise, and particularly him."

Kutcher became a stepfather to Moore's three daughters — Rumer, Scout and Tallulah Belle — from her 13-year marriage to actor Bruce Willis. Moore and Willis divorced in 2000 but remained friendly. Moore and Kutcher were photographed socializing with Willis, and the couple attended Willis' wedding to model-actress Emma Heming in 2009.

Moore and Kutcher created the DNA Foundation, also known as the Demi and Ashton Foundation, in 2010 to combat the organized sexual exploitation of girls around the globe. They later lent their support to the United Nations' efforts to fight human trafficking, a scourge the international organization estimates affects about 2.5 million people worldwide.

Moore can be seen on screen in the recent films "Margin Call" and "Another Happy Day." Kutcher replaced Charlie Sheen on TV's "Two and a Half Men" as is part of the ensemble film "New Year's Eve," set for release next month.

The Doofus-Milf romance IS OVER!!!!

Image-Evan Agostini

Karl Slover, one of the last surviving munchkins from the "Wizard Of Oz" 1918 - 2011

DUBLIN, Ga. — Karl Slover, one of the last surviving actors who played Munchkins in the 1939 classic film, "The Wizard of Oz," has died. He was 93.

The 4-foot-5 Slover died of cardiopulmonary arrest Tuesday afternoon in a suburban Atlanta hospital, said Laurens County Deputy Coroner Nathan Stanley. According to friends, as recently as last weekend, Slover appeared at events in the suburban Chicago area.

Slover was best known for playing the lead trumpeter in the Munchkins' band but also had roles as a townsman and soldier in the film, said John Fricke, author of "100 Years of Oz" and five other books on the movie and its star, Judy Garland. Slover was one of the tiniest male Munchkins in the movie.

Long after Slover retired, he continued to appear around the country at festivals and events related to the movie. He was one of seven Munchkins at the 2007 unveiling of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame dedicated to the little people in the movie. Only three remain of the 124 diminutive actors who played the beloved Munchkins.

"He has a genuine immortality," Fricke said. "Of the 124 little people, he's one of the handful who got to enjoy this latter-day fame, to have people know who he was and be able to pick him out of the crowd in the movie."

Slover is the first of the three trumpeters to herald the Munchkin mayor when he makes his entrance. Slover had been cast to play the second trumpeter but switched when another actor got stage fight during filiming, said longtime friend Allen Pease, the co-founder of the former Munchkinland Market Days outside Chesterton, Ind.

"Karl didn't know what stage fright meant," he said.

Slover was born Karl Kosiczky in what is now the Czech Republic and he was the only child in his family to be dwarf sized.

"In those uninformed days, his father tried witch doctor treatments to make him grow," Fricke said. "Knowing Karl and his triumph over his early life, you can't help but celebrate the man at a time like this."

He was buried in the backyard, immersed in heated oil until his skin blistered and then attached to a stretching machine at a hospital, all in the attempt to make him become taller. Eventually he was sold by his father at age 9 to a traveling show in Europe, Fricke said.

Slover continued to perform into his late 20s, when he moved to the United States, changed his name and appeared in circuses as part of a vaudeville group known as the Singer Midgets. The group's 30 performers became the nucleus of the Munchkins.

He was paid $50 a week for the movie and told friends that Garland's dog in the movie, "Toto," made more money.

The surviving Munchkin actors found new generations of fans in the late 1980s when they began making appearances around the country.

"It wasn't until the Munchkins started making their appearances in 1989 that they call came to realize how potent the film had become and remained," Fricke said. "He was wonderfully articulate about his memories, he had anecdotes to share."

Noviembre 12- "Immortals" / "Circumstance" / "Gun Hill Road"

Criticamos la películas "Immortals" "Circumstance" y "Gun Hill Road". Con Marcos Rodríguez, Alberto Reyes y Rafi Reynoso. Duración 61 Minutos 46 Segundos. Música por Max Les'Shyerar del Album "Live from Evereska Castle"

Billy Crystal named host for 2012 Oscars.

(Reuters) - Oscar organizers on Thursday brought back funnyman Billy Crystal to host the film awards after recent days of turmoil that led to the departure of one producer and his handpicked emcee Eddie Murphy.

Crystal, who has hosted the widely-watched Hollywood telecast eight times previously, announced his new job on Twitter with a post: "Am doing the Oscars so the young woman in the pharmacy will stop asking my name when I pick up prescriptions. Looking forward to the show."

Tom Sherak, president of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that puts on the Oscars, called Crystal "a comic legend and Oscar icon."

"I'm thrilled to welcome Billy back to the Oscar stage," Sherak said.

The announcement follows days of drama at the academy after producer Brett Ratner last week used the gay slur "fags" at a screening of his movie "Tower Heist," which stars Murphy.

His use of the word raised howls from gay rights groups and academy members. He apologized publicly on Monday, but his contrition failed to stem the firestorm. He resigned one day later. Murphy, who had been lured by Ratner to host the Oscar telecast, followed his boss out the door on Wednesday.

The academy responded by hiring "A Beautiful Mind" producer and Hollywood veteran Brian Grazer to replace Ratner, leaving the choice of a host to him.

"Like so many others, I've been eager to see Billy host again. It's very gratifying that he agreed to do it with (co-producer Don Mischer) and me at the helm."

Crystal, 63, first hosted the show in 1990 when "Driving Miss Daisy" was named the year's best movie, and the awards program was still easily topping 40 million viewers, making it the second-most watched U.S. TV program annually behind professional football's Super Bowl.

The comedian went on to host three more consecutive years, dropped out for two, then returned in 1997 and 1998 when "Titanic" was voted by academy members as the top movie and 57 million people tuned in. He last hosted the show in 2004.

The comedian has been among Oscar watchers' favorite hosts over the years and it seems like every year when hosts disappoint, as did James Franco last year, there have been calls for Crystal to return.

But even before Crystal posted his tweet -- as speculation mounted that he would return -- some Hollywood watchers were questioning whether he could connect with younger movie fans and TV watchers who, in recent years, have had more entertainment options than ever.

Viewership of the Oscar telecast has fallen below the 40 million mark in five of the past six years, rising above it in 2010 when 3D action-adventure "Avatar" was among the most nominated movies. When "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won best movie, the audience topped 43 million.

But Sherak does not think Crystal is too old to host. When asked that question by show business website TheWrap, he answered "No. Bob Hope did the Oscars in his sixties."

In fact, Hope was the quintessential Oscar host for 19 ceremonies, and an entertainer who, like Crystal, could not only tell jokes, but could sing and put on a top variety act.

The upcoming Oscars for the movies of 2011 will take place on February 26, 2012.

Eddie Murphy quits as Oscar's host!

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Eddie Murphy has bowed out of his gig as host of the Academy Awards, following pal Brett Ratner's decision to leave the show as producer because of an uproar over a gay slur.
The news of Murphy's departure came Wednesday, a day after Ratner quit as producer of the Feb. 26 show.
Ratner left amid criticism of his use of a pejorative term for gay men in a question-and-answer session at a screening of his action comedy "Tower Heist," which opened last weekend and stars Murphy and Ben Stiller.
Murphy's exit deprives Oscar organizers of a top star for an often thankless job that's tough to fill, since some past hosts have found little to gain from the gig and plenty to lose if they do a poor job as emcee of Hollywood's biggest party.
The two sides departed with cordial words, though.
"I completely understand and support each party's decision with regard to a change of producers for this year's Academy Awards ceremony," Murphy said in a news release from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. "I was truly looking forward to being a part of the show that our production team and writers were just starting to develop, but I'm sure that the new production team and host will do an equally great job."
Ratner had apologized for the gay slur, saying his comments had been "hurtful and stupid."
Murphy himself has a history of homophobic humor in his early standup years. His 1983 comedy special "Delirious" includes a segment in which Murphy jokes about being afraid of homosexuals and worrying that gay men are staring at his butt.
Academy President Tom Sherak bid Murphy farewell graciously.
"I appreciate how Eddie feels about losing his creative partner, Brett Ratner, and we all wish him well," Sherak said.
Still, losing Murphy is a blow to a ceremony that has struggled to pep up its image amid a general decline in its TV ratings over the last couple of decades and a rush of hipper awards shows that appeal to younger crowds, such as the MTV Movie Awards.
Oscar planners have sought to shorten the sometimes interminably long show and have tried new ways to present awards in hopes of livening things up.
They also have experimented with unexpected choices as hosts, which worked nicely with the song-and-dance talents of Hugh Jackman three years ago but backfired at last season's show, when perky Anne Hathaway was paired with lackluster co-host James Franco.
When the academy picked Murphy in September, it marked a return to the traditional funnyman as host, a formula that delivered some of the best-remembered Oscar pageants when Bob Hope, Johnny Carson and Billy Crystal ran the show.
Academy officials would not discuss the personnel changes or plans to replace Ratner and Murphy. Ratner's producing partner for the upcoming ceremony — Don Mischer, who co-produced last year's Oscars — remains on board for the show.
Any decision on who will replace Murphy as host likely will not come until Oscar planners make a decision on whether to bring in another producer to work with Mischer.
Organizers still have plenty of time. The show is more than three months away, and much of the work in staging it has to wait until Oscar nominations are announced Jan. 24, anyway.
There's also no great rush to name a new host. The academy did not announce Hathaway and Franco as hosts until the end of November last year, while the announcement on Jackman three years ago did not come until mid-December.

Noviembre 5- "The Rum Diary" / "Tower Heist" / PRQFF / Venganza Colectiva

Criticamos la películas "The Rum Diary" y "Tower Heist". Con Marcos Rodríguez, Alberto Reyes y Rafi Reynoso. Invitados especiales, Jesús Osvaldo Velazquez "DJ Mista OZ", Laura Pereira. Entrevistas con Sorimar González y Salvi Ortiz, de la serie "Venganza Colectiva", Jaime Santiago y Víctor González del Puerto Rico Queer Film Fest. Duración 59 Minutos 55 Segundos. Música por Max Les'Shyerar del Album "Live from Evereska Castle"

Andy Rooney, Journalist, commentator on "60 Minutes". 1919-2011

NEW YORK (AP) — Andy Rooney so dreaded the day he had to end his signature "60 Minutes" commentaries about life's large and small absurdities that he kept going until he was 92 years old.

Even then, he said he wasn't retiring. Writers never retire. But his life after the end of "A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney" was short: He died Friday night, according to CBS, only a month after delivering his 1,097th and final televised commentary.

Rooney had gone to the hospital for an undisclosed surgery, but major complications developed and he never recovered.

Rooney talked on "60 Minutes" about what was in the news, and his opinions occasionally got him in trouble. But he was just as likely to discuss the old clothes in his closet, why air travel had become unpleasant and why banks needed to have important sounding names.

He won one of his three Emmy Awards for a piece on whether there was a real Mrs. Smith who made Mrs. Smith's Pies. As it turned out, there was no Mrs. Smith.

"I obviously have a knack for getting on paper what a lot of people have thought and didn't realize they thought," Rooney once said. "And they say, 'Hey, yeah!' And they like that."

Looking for something new to punctuate its weekly broadcast, "60 Minutes" aired its first Rooney commentary on July 2, 1987. He complained about people who keep track of how many people die in car accidents on holiday weekends. In fact, he said, the Fourth of July is "one of the safest weekends of the year to be going someplace."

More than three decades later, he was railing about how unpleasant air travel had become. "Let's make a statement to the airlines just to get their attention," he said. "We'll pick a week next year and we'll all agree not to go anywhere for seven days."

In early 2009, as he was about to turn 90, Rooney looked ahead to President Barack Obama's upcoming inauguration with a look at past inaugurations. He told viewers that Calvin Coolidge's 1925 swearing-in was the first to be broadcast on radio, adding, "That may have been the most interesting thing Coolidge ever did."

For his final essay, Rooney said that he'd live a life luckier than most.

"I wish I could do this forever. I can't, though," he said.

He said he probably hadn't said anything on "60 Minutes" that most of his viewers didn't already know or hadn't thought. "That's what a writer does," he said. "A writer's job is to tell the truth."

True to his occasional crotchety nature, though, he complained about being famous or bothered by fans. His last wish from fans: If you see him in a restaurant, just let him eat his dinner.

Rooney wrote for CBS stars such as Arthur Godfrey and Garry Moore during the 1950s and early 1960s, before settling into a partnership with newsman Harry Reasoner. With Rooney as the writer, they collaborated on several news specials, including an Emmy-winning report on misrepresentations of black people in movies and history books. He wrote "An Essay on Doors" in 1964, and continued with contemplations on bridges, chairs and women.

"The best work I ever did," Rooney said. "But nobody knows I can do it or ever did it. Nobody knows that I'm a writer and producer. They think I'm this guy on television."

He became such a part of the culture that comic Joe Piscopo satirized Rooney's squeaky voice with the refrain, "Did you ever wonder ..." For many years, "60 Minutes" improbably was the most popular program on television and a dose of Rooney was what people came to expect for a knowing smile on the night before they had to go back to work.

Rooney left CBS in 1970 when it refused to air his angry essay about the Vietnam War. He went on TV for the first time, reading the essay on PBS and winning a Writers Guild of America award for it.

He returned to CBS three years later as a writer and producer of specials. Notable among them was the 1975 "Mr. Rooney Goes to Washington," whose lighthearted but serious look at government won him a Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting.

His words sometimes landed Rooney in hot water. CBS suspended him for three months in 1990 for making racist remarks in an interview, which he denied. Gay rights groups were mad, during the AIDS epidemic, when Rooney mentioned homosexual unions in saying "many of the ills which kill us are self-induced." Indians protested when Rooney suggested Native Americans who made money from casinos weren't doing enough to help their own people.

The Associated Press learned the danger of getting on Rooney's cranky side. In 1996, AP Television Writer Frazier Moore wrote a column suggesting it was time for Rooney to retire. On Rooney's next "60 Minutes" appearance, he invited those who disagreed to make their opinions known. The AP switchboard was flooded by some 7,000 phone calls and countless postcards were sent to the AP mail room.

"Your piece made me mad," Rooney told Moore two years later. "One of my major shortcomings — I'm vindictive. I don't know why that is. Even in petty things in my life I tend to strike back. It's a lot more pleasurable a sensation than feeling threatened."He was one of television's few voices to strongly oppose the war in Iraq after the George W. Bush administration launched it in 2002. After the fall of Baghdad in April 2003, he said he was chastened by its quick fall but didn't regret his "60 Minutes" commentaries.

"I'm in a position of feeling secure enough so that I can say what I think is right and if so many people think it's wrong that I get fired, well, I've got enough to eat," Rooney said at the time.

Andrew Aitken Rooney was born on Jan. 14, 1919, in Albany, N.Y., and worked as a copy boy on the Albany Knickerbocker News while in high school. College at Colgate University was cut short by World War II, when Rooney worked for Stars and Stripes.

With another former Stars and Stripes staffer, Oram C. Hutton, Rooney wrote four books about the war. They included the 1947 book, "Their Conqueror's Peace: A Report to the American Stockholders," documenting offenses against the Germans by occupying forces.

Rooney and his wife, Marguerite, were married for 62 years before she died of heart failure in 2004. They had four children and lived in Rowayton, Conn. Daughter Emily Rooney is a former executive producer of ABC's "World News Tonight."

Did you ever wonder...? RIP to a great writer!