She may be off American Idol , but she isn’t taking a career break. Far from it. Jennifer Lopez is off on tour with Enrique Igelsias these days. So she may be too tired or busy to read this at the moment, but it’s worth saying anyhow: today is J. Lo’s 43rd birthday! Send in your best wishes now! Life is pretty darn good for the actress/artist at the moment. She raked in millions through Idol , she resurrected her career and she’s getting hot and heavy with a much younger dancer named Casper Smart . Far from shabby! Other stars celebrating the anniversaries of their birth today include: Anna Paquin (30), Summer Glau (31), Barry Bonds (48) and Michael Richards (63). Almost all of them have gone their entire lives without ranting racist taunts at stand-up comedy shows attendees!
“Good morning, shooters,” came the tweet from @NRA_Rifleman . “Happy Friday! Weekend plans?” Funny you should ask. The tweet was soon deleted by whoever maintains the National Rifle Association-affiliated Twitter account, likely (but un officially) the reaction to an outpouring of protest over the insensitivity of such a query mere hours after James Holmes allegedly opened fire in an Aurora, Colorado, multiplex , killing 12 and wounding 50. Moreover, it was a stupid question because we know everybody’s weekend plans, curled up with the cultural imperative to “process” the event: To blame, to pray, to reflect, to understand . Was it linked to The Dark Knight Rises , whose feverish midnight showing served as the flashpoint of the massacre? Was it an outgrowth of generations of mediated violence — a gory cocktail of TV shows, video games and shoot-’em-up blockbusters? Was it just a 24-year-old nutjob wanting to hurt, maim and kill for no other reason than to simply do it? Whatever. It’s all those things and more and none of them all at once, because it doesn’t really matter. Not if we’re being honest with ourselves. The victims don’t matter. The shooter doesn’t matter. The motive doesn’t matter. All that matters is us, sitting here wringing our hands over the same nightmare we’ve seen and “processed” again and again and that has finally hit us where we always knew it would: At the movies. A confined space comprising hundreds of strangers in the dark, all vulnerable, oblivious to their surroundings. A literal sitting target in a nation where the National Rifle Association cheerfully greets 16,000 Twitter followers on the same morning that an actual, real-life American Rifleman murdered a dozen compatriots, injured 50 others and got us all talking once more about the omnipresence of gun violence — until no one can settle on accountability and we get bored and stop talking about it. Then it happens anew. Again, though, you know that story, and you know that we do nothing. So welcome to the new reality: You will never feel safe in a movie theater again. You will suppress fears and go anyway , because “I can’t let the [insert menacing perpetrator of violence here] win. You will go in groups that help you feel saf er . You will pass through metal detectors and spot armed police and/or part-time security sentinels roaming the multiplex lobbies and corridors. You will arrive early to get a seat close-by an exit, but then second-guess your position because Holmes is said to have entered through an emergency exit, and what if a gunman or other rampaging homicidal maniac enters behind you and you don’t see him? And eventually you will go back to whatever strategy you had before Aurora, because it’s easier to be complacent than paranoid. What choice do you have? Consider Jessica Redfield, who was shot and killed this morning at the movies. Redfield kept a blog where she described in eerie, devastating detail having narrowly missed last month’s shooting at Toronto’s Eaton Center: More people joined the crowd at the scene and asked what happened. “There was a shooting in the food court,” kept being whispered through the crowd like a game of telephone. I was standing near a security guard when I heard him say over his walkie talkie, “One fatality.” At this point I was convinced I was going to throw up. I’m not an EMT or a police officer. I’m not trained to handle crime and murder. Gun crimes are fairly common where I grew up in Texas, but I never imagined I’d experience a violent crime first hand. I’m on vacation and wanted to eat and go shopping. Everyone else at the mall probably wanted the same thing. I doubt anyone left for the mall imagined they witness a shooting. I was shown how fragile life was on Saturday. I saw the terror on bystanders’ faces. I saw the victims of a senseless crime. I saw lives change. I was reminded that we don’t know when or where our time on Earth will end. When or where we will breathe our last breath. For one man, it was in the middle of a busy food court on a Saturday evening. It would be her final post, and it once again raises the most crucial yet unresolved questions that face us every time this scenario erupts, whether at Eaton Center or Winnenden or Columbine or Utøya Island or Virginia Tech: What will it take for us to stop never imagining we’ll experience a violent crime first hand and accept the ever-increasing likelihood of that prospect? And if we accept it, what, if anything, will prompt us to change it? Not violent knife crime or violent bomb crime, either, but violent gun crime — the kind that took Redfield’s life and which even she acknowledged as an afterthought from her upbringing in Texas, where one representative’s answer to this morning’s massacre was not to address the crisis of gun violence but rather to actually lament , “[W]as there nobody that was carrying a gun that could have stopped this guy more quickly?” I’m not going to go spelunking through the murky logic of the pro-gun crowd or the phony, fleeting outrage of millions who sit by spinelessly, deigning to confront the gun scourge only after it has taken another 12 or 20 or 80 souls they never knew. I’m not going to dwell on the barbarism of a society that extols the Second Amendment as gospel but would just as soon argue against an uninsured gunshot victim’s constitutional right to health-care coverage. (And anyway, every one of those survivors receiving care in Aurora today surely has a full-time job with excellent benefits, right? Right? ) Furthermore, if decades’ worth of school shootings and hundreds of dead kids can’t force appreciable change, then why would one multiplex tragedy in Colorado result in anything different? Here’s why: Because you’ll never feel safe in a movie theater again. Call it a silver lining if you want (or can), or just call it cold, calculated industry politics, but Aurora transcends our familiar gun-culture stalemates in that very specific way: A billion-dollar industry long accustomed to treating its customers like shit without consequence has been jolted into recognizing a threat that it can’t just sweep under the rug. Elected leaders and civic bureaucrats and unions can get away with sabotaging education all they want , up to and including neglecting and ignoring the budding sociopaths who roam the halls and streets with guns. Missing the point is part of their DNA. Hollywood, meanwhile, can see the massacre’s ghosts aloft in a shadow lengthening hourly over its domain, and even if every person in America took in a movie tonight in solidarity, the reality of that act as a reaction against fear as opposed to the pursuit of entertainment — of cinema’s enduring spiritual thrill — compromises everything this billion-dollar industry is built on. Like those in the NRA, the captains of this billion-dollar industry also have a lobby in Washington. And when you see envoys for the Cinemark theater chain, the National Association of Theater Owners and the Motion Picture Association of America enacting their own solidarity , and when you see stock values drop and security costs surge (the latter of which, as noted, won’t actually help you feel any safer in a movie theater, but hey), you can expect that lobby to apply the same volume of muscle we’ve seen exerted by gun owners, retailers, manufacturers and the rest of the firearms lobby for years. Only then, when the forces collide, might we have some actual development in how we truly deal with gun violence. And even that is assuming both can be honest about the psychic ravages and legacies of violence , from which they have profited enough to be so powerful in the first place. Unless, that is, any of us feel like actually doing something worthwhile with all our fashionable defiance — actively diminishing and someday, generations from now, eradicating the kind of gun violence that actually followed Jessica Redfield from Texas to Toronto to Aurora and to which she was so inured that she never imagined it could happen to her. “I was reminded that we don’t know when or where our time on Earth will end,” she wrote. “When or where we will breathe our last breath.” It really shouldn’t be in a movie theater, but I guess we’d better add it to the list of possibilities. Wouldn’t want to disrupt those weekend plans, you know? Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter . [Photo: Shutterstock ]
‘On this record, I said, ‘Let’s leave the tricks to a minimum and let me wail, ‘ ‘ Ke$ha tells Rolling Stone about her ‘vulnerable’ album. By James Montgomery Ke$ha Photo: Getty Images
Aspiring sportscaster was killed Friday after escaping Toronto’s Eaton Centre minutes before a gunman opened fire in June. By Amy Wilkinson Jessica Redfield Photo: SB Nation
Michael Winterbottom, one of the most fascinating and idiosyncratic filmmakers of our age, makes so many movies that some of them creep into festivals very quietly and, just as quietly, creep out, never to be seen again. That wasn’t the case with The Trip , for my money one of the most intriguing pictures of 2011, a woolly exploration of middle-aged angst that featured Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon (as themselves) bickering and trading Sean Connery impersonations as they made their way through the English countryside. But two years before that, in 2008, Winterbottom brought a picture called Genova to the Toronto International Film Festival. The picture, a mildly engaging drama in which Colin Firth plays a father who moves his family to Italy after the death of their mother, never got a U.S. release, fading like the worn face of a stone saint on a medieval church. Fortunately, Winterbottom’s latest, Trishna , a retelling of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles set in contemporary India, hasn’t met the same fate. And though it’s a bit of an oddity, it’s an affecting curio suitable for both Hardy enthusiasts and Winterbottom fans alike. Freida Pinto is Trishna, the Tess character, who comes from an impoverished family living in a small village. Jay (Riz Ahmed), is her Angel/Alec (Hardy purists should be warned that the two characters have been condensed into one, perhaps a bit clumsily), a man who sweeps her away from her life of poverty, only to end up resenting and degrading her. Even if Winterbottom has taken what some might consider unforgivable liberties with the story, Trishna works: Winterbottom has a feel for the story’s landscape, including the hardscrabble beauty of the countryside, all yellow dust and scrubby trees. It’s both a place Trishna needs to escape from and it’s home — there’s no safety or freedom there, but it’s the only place she’s truly herself. Pinto gives a lovely performance here. No other role she’s been given — as the hero’s dream woman in Slumdog Millionaire, or as a Palestinian orphan girl in Julian Schnabel’s deeply disappointing Miral — has asked as much of her, and she greets the challenge boldly. In the barest terms of the plot, Trishna is a victim, a tragic heroine, but Pinto always lets you see the character’s immovable self-assurance shimmering beneath the surface — that’s the very thing that threatens her lover and tormentor, and brings about her downfall. In Winterbottom’s scenario, Jay’s sudden turn against Trishna isn’t believable or readable in movie terms — his love for her appears to be operated by a switch that turns off abruptly without cause or reason — but it makes sense in the grander scheme of the impossibility of love. The dialogue here is mostly improvised — this is a casual, hip-pocket approach to a revered classic — but Winterbottom keeps the story moving deftly. We might appreciate Winterbottom more if he worked less, but he’s unlike any other filmmaker on the landscape, trying something new just about every year. Some of it sticks and some of it doesn’t. But almost always, he gives us something worth looking at. Editor’s note: Portions of this review appeared earlier in Stephanie Zacharek’s Toronto International Film Festival coverage.
Trishna star Freida Pinto with IFC Films’ Jonathan Sehring. Photo by Nick Hunt/Patrick McMullan Co. After a long festival run beginning at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall and stops ranging from tests in Abu Dhabi, Tokyo, London, Rome, Hong Kong and Provincetown here in the U.S. Michael Winterbottom’s India-set Trishna will open theatrically beginning this Friday. The Cinema Society hosted an event in New York kicking off its run with a screening and party Tuesday night. So a little bit about the event, which was also co-hosted by Circa and fashion maven Rachel Roy. The IFC Films release is based on the tragic romance novel Tess of the d’Urbevilles . Freida Pinto ( Slumdog Millionaire ) makes a splash in the film, playing eldest daughter, Trishna, in a poor family from Rajasthan, India. She meets Jay (played by Riz Ahmed – Four Lions ), the son of a wealthy property developer who takes up managing the resort at his father’s request. He swoons after meeting Trishna and hires her to work at the resort, slowly winning her affections. Eventually he wins her over, but things go awry and let’s just leave it at that… Pinto introduced the film Tuesday at IFC Center in downtown Manhattan, seemingly embarrassed after IFC Entertainment president Jonathan Sehring told a quick story about his sons who called her ‘the most beautiful woman in the world’ when he told them she’d be at the screening. “I realized how embarrassing it is to listen to someone talk about you,” Pinto said laughing as he came on stage. “Everyone knows how hard it is to get an indie film going. I learned from my first director [Danny Boyle] not to say too much about a film so not to raise expectations…” Following the screening, the party carried on at roof-top nightspot Jimmy at the James Hotel, greeted by D’Usse Cognac. Guests included: Meg Ryan, Dana Delany, Zosia Mamet ( Girls ), Alex Karpovsky ( Girls ), Calvin Klein, Billy Connolly, Russell Simmons, Rachel Roy, Jess Weixler, Tom McCarthy, Carlos Leon, Drena DeNiro, Irina Pantaeva, Sante D’Orazio, Fern Mallis, Daniel Benedict, Genevieve Jones, Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia, Bettina Zilkha, CIRCA co-founder, Chairman & CEO Chris Del Gatto, and Cinema Society founder Andrew Saffir.
Hi! My name is Nicole and I’m from Toronto, Canada. I am fortunate enough to be writing my fourth Bieber experience. Justin was in Toronto for the MMVA’s on Friday June 15 th – Monday June 18 th , so my friends and I got a hotel for the weekend, which just happened to me beside Justin’s. On Saturday morning after checking in, we noticed a big crowd around a hotel, after waiting for about an hour, Justin walks out with Selena and gets in the car. He drove past us slowly with the window down, waving and saying hi to all of us, touching everyone’s hands. That night was Alfredo’s birthday, which was celebrated at a popular Toronto club, which we were also at, supporting DJ Tay James. After a great and unforgettable night out with the crew, we went back to the hotel to catch up on the loss of sleep we had. Sunday was the MMVA’s, which Justin performed at and did incredible. At this point, we lost hope in meeting Justin, and decided to just forget about it, and have an amazing night at Perez Hilton’s after party. We knew that the next morning Justin had an event in NYC, which is only a one-hour flight from Toronto. We figured Monday morning would be our last chance to meet Justin. We wanted to wake up super early, until none of our alarms went off, so we rushed to pack our bags, clean the room, and get ready. We went next-door to Justin’s hotel and waited about two hours, until we saw Bruce. We then saw Kenny and Alfredo bring down luggages and put them in a van. We knew something was up. A few minutes later, Justin and Selena come outside and put their stuff in their car. Selena jumped right into the car and so we thought Justin would do the same. All of a sudden he disappears and no one knows where he went. About 2 minutes later he walks out from behind the car and says hi to everyone, and tells us that he wanted to take a picture with every single one of us. After getting my picture, I told him about the Toronto Buyout my friends and I were having the weekend after, he replied with, “A buyout?! Buyouts are AWESOME!” with a huge smile on his face. He was saying hi to every single fan, asking them how they were, and ended it with a huge hug. As he was with other fans, my friend and I were just talking to Kenny, while waiting for Justin to finish. I’ve never experienced Justin this humble towards us before, out of all the encounters I’ve had with Justin. He was in such a great mood, even though he had a flight to catch, he was very focused on meeting us and making our dreams come true . Before he left, he shouted, “Did everyone get a picture? I want to make sure everyone got one before I leave.” How sweet of him! He was truly generous and thankful for us. I was also lucky enough to get meet & greets for Justin’s Believe tour, so Justin… see you in November! Thank you for everything that you do! -@NicoleCampea Read more: Hi! My name is Nicole and I’m from Toronto, Canada. I am…
Hi! My name is Nicole and I’m from Toronto, Canada. I am fortunate enough to be writing my fourth Bieber experience. Justin was in Toronto for the MMVA’s on Friday June 15 th – Monday June 18 th , so my friends and I got a hotel for the weekend, which just happened to me beside Justin’s. On Saturday morning after checking in, we noticed a big crowd around a hotel, after waiting for about an hour, Justin walks out with Selena and gets in the car. He drove past us slowly with the window down, waving and saying hi to all of us, touching everyone’s hands. That night was Alfredo’s birthday, which was celebrated at a popular Toronto club, which we were also at, supporting DJ Tay James. After a great and unforgettable night out with the crew, we went back to the hotel to catch up on the loss of sleep we had. Sunday was the MMVA’s, which Justin performed at and did incredible. At this point, we lost hope in meeting Justin, and decided to just forget about it, and have an amazing night at Perez Hilton’s after party. We knew that the next morning Justin had an event in NYC, which is only a one-hour flight from Toronto. We figured Monday morning would be our last chance to meet Justin. We wanted to wake up super early, until none of our alarms went off, so we rushed to pack our bags, clean the room, and get ready. We went next-door to Justin’s hotel and waited about two hours, until we saw Bruce. We then saw Kenny and Alfredo bring down luggages and put them in a van. We knew something was up. A few minutes later, Justin and Selena come outside and put their stuff in their car. Selena jumped right into the car and so we thought Justin would do the same. All of a sudden he disappears and no one knows where he went. About 2 minutes later he walks out from behind the car and says hi to everyone, and tells us that he wanted to take a picture with every single one of us. After getting my picture, I told him about the Toronto Buyout my friends and I were having the weekend after, he replied with, “A buyout?! Buyouts are AWESOME!” with a huge smile on his face. He was saying hi to every single fan, asking them how they were, and ended it with a huge hug. As he was with other fans, my friend and I were just talking to Kenny, while waiting for Justin to finish. I’ve never experienced Justin this humble towards us before, out of all the encounters I’ve had with Justin. He was in such a great mood, even though he had a flight to catch, he was very focused on meeting us and making our dreams come true . Before he left, he shouted, “Did everyone get a picture? I want to make sure everyone got one before I leave.” How sweet of him! He was truly generous and thankful for us. I was also lucky enough to get meet & greets for Justin’s Believe tour, so Justin… see you in November! Thank you for everything that you do! -@NicoleCampea Read more: Hi! My name is Nicole and I’m from Toronto, Canada. I am…
Hi! My name is Nicole and I’m from Toronto, Canada. I am fortunate enough to be writing my fourth Bieber experience. Justin was in Toronto for the MMVA’s on Friday June 15 th – Monday June 18 th , so my friends and I got a hotel for the weekend, which just happened to me beside Justin’s. On Saturday morning after checking in, we noticed a big crowd around a hotel, after waiting for about an hour, Justin walks out with Selena and gets in the car. He drove past us slowly with the window down, waving and saying hi to all of us, touching everyone’s hands. That night was Alfredo’s birthday, which was celebrated at a popular Toronto club, which we were also at, supporting DJ Tay James. After a great and unforgettable night out with the crew, we went back to the hotel to catch up on the loss of sleep we had. Sunday was the MMVA’s, which Justin performed at and did incredible. At this point, we lost hope in meeting Justin, and decided to just forget about it, and have an amazing night at Perez Hilton’s after party. We knew that the next morning Justin had an event in NYC, which is only a one-hour flight from Toronto. We figured Monday morning would be our last chance to meet Justin. We wanted to wake up super early, until none of our alarms went off, so we rushed to pack our bags, clean the room, and get ready. We went next-door to Justin’s hotel and waited about two hours, until we saw Bruce. We then saw Kenny and Alfredo bring down luggages and put them in a van. We knew something was up. A few minutes later, Justin and Selena come outside and put their stuff in their car. Selena jumped right into the car and so we thought Justin would do the same. All of a sudden he disappears and no one knows where he went. About 2 minutes later he walks out from behind the car and says hi to everyone, and tells us that he wanted to take a picture with every single one of us. After getting my picture, I told him about the Toronto Buyout my friends and I were having the weekend after, he replied with, “A buyout?! Buyouts are AWESOME!” with a huge smile on his face. He was saying hi to every single fan, asking them how they were, and ended it with a huge hug. As he was with other fans, my friend and I were just talking to Kenny, while waiting for Justin to finish. I’ve never experienced Justin this humble towards us before, out of all the encounters I’ve had with Justin. He was in such a great mood, even though he had a flight to catch, he was very focused on meeting us and making our dreams come true . Before he left, he shouted, “Did everyone get a picture? I want to make sure everyone got one before I leave.” How sweet of him! He was truly generous and thankful for us. I was also lucky enough to get meet & greets for Justin’s Believe tour, so Justin… see you in November! Thank you for everything that you do! -@NicoleCampea Read more: Hi! My name is Nicole and I’m from Toronto, Canada. I am…
Hi! My name is Nicole and I’m from Toronto, Canada. I am fortunate enough to be writing my fourth Bieber experience. Justin was in Toronto for the MMVA’s on Friday June 15 th – Monday June 18 th , so my friends and I got a hotel for the weekend, which just happened to me beside Justin’s. On Saturday morning after checking in, we noticed a big crowd around a hotel, after waiting for about an hour, Justin walks out with Selena and gets in the car. He drove past us slowly with the window down, waving and saying hi to all of us, touching everyone’s hands. That night was Alfredo’s birthday, which was celebrated at a popular Toronto club, which we were also at, supporting DJ Tay James. After a great and unforgettable night out with the crew, we went back to the hotel to catch up on the loss of sleep we had. Sunday was the MMVA’s, which Justin performed at and did incredible. At this point, we lost hope in meeting Justin, and decided to just forget about it, and have an amazing night at Perez Hilton’s after party. We knew that the next morning Justin had an event in NYC, which is only a one-hour flight from Toronto. We figured Monday morning would be our last chance to meet Justin. We wanted to wake up super early, until none of our alarms went off, so we rushed to pack our bags, clean the room, and get ready. We went next-door to Justin’s hotel and waited about two hours, until we saw Bruce. We then saw Kenny and Alfredo bring down luggages and put them in a van. We knew something was up. A few minutes later, Justin and Selena come outside and put their stuff in their car. Selena jumped right into the car and so we thought Justin would do the same. All of a sudden he disappears and no one knows where he went. About 2 minutes later he walks out from behind the car and says hi to everyone, and tells us that he wanted to take a picture with every single one of us. After getting my picture, I told him about the Toronto Buyout my friends and I were having the weekend after, he replied with, “A buyout?! Buyouts are AWESOME!” with a huge smile on his face. He was saying hi to every single fan, asking them how they were, and ended it with a huge hug. As he was with other fans, my friend and I were just talking to Kenny, while waiting for Justin to finish. I’ve never experienced Justin this humble towards us before, out of all the encounters I’ve had with Justin. He was in such a great mood, even though he had a flight to catch, he was very focused on meeting us and making our dreams come true . Before he left, he shouted, “Did everyone get a picture? I want to make sure everyone got one before I leave.” How sweet of him! He was truly generous and thankful for us. I was also lucky enough to get meet & greets for Justin’s Believe tour, so Justin… see you in November! Thank you for everything that you do! -@NicoleCampea Read more: Hi! My name is Nicole and I’m from Toronto, Canada. I am…
