Because nothing says I’m not a stalker, I’m just doing my job like hiding behind a tree and perving on a hottie riding a bike, some intrepid paparazzi got these sweet shots of Victoria’s Secret model Doutzen Kroes out for a ride and giving us a good look at her great handlebars. Anyway, I know I make fun of these guys a lot, but I do appreciate their work. And here’s hoping this guy can catch Doutzen’s post-ride shower from the bushes next. » view all 12 photos Related Articles: Doutzen Kroes’ Bikini Body Is Unreal Doutzen Kroes Bikini Boob Grab Doutzen Kroes Bikini Pictures Megan Fox Cleans Up Pretty Nicely Photos: PacificCoastNews
If, like me, you file blog posts from a climate-controlled office in a well-governed, comfort-obsessed city, then the kind of war-zone reporting that Nation correspondent Jeremy Scahill does is hard to fathom and more than a little terrifying. So it was fascinating to hear Scahill tell the audience at a private screening room what unsettles him: the rapid-fire prattling that takes place on the 24-hour cable networks. ‘Dirty Wars’ Documentary: Journalism & Media Culture “In the [war] zones themselves, there’s a collegial, non-competitive atmosphere,” Scahill said Monday night at a Q&A session that followed a screening of his and director Richard Rowley’s must-see documentary, Dirty Wars . “People,” he added — and what he meant were war correspondents reporting outside “the bubble” of the embedded press corps — “want to make sure that everyone makes it in and out alive, and they encourage good journalism.” By contrast, he added, “Back in the states, when you go on cable television, it’s like entering the Twilight Zone where you have these pundits, that know everything about nothing” and ask “the most ludicrous, ridiculous questions” when they invite reporters like Scahill on their shows. “In general, the media culture is lazy,” he said. With the exception of a brief heated scene that shows Scahill tangling with NBC Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd, Dirty Wars is not specifically an indictment of the kind of in-the-tank news reporting that is found too frequently on TV and on the web, but, by example, it is. “This is a story about the seen and the unseen,” Scahill says at the beginning of the film, and, more importantly, it’s a story about doing the hard and often dangerous work required to drag the unseen into the light. In this gripping film, which will surely spark debate on those very same cable news outlets as its summer release date approaches, Scahill and Rowley leave “the bubble” of conventional war-reporting in Afghanistan to uncover a much darker and unsettling tale about U.S. military operations overseas. Through Scahill’s dogged reporting in dangerous territory that eventually includes Yemen and Somalia, Dirty Wars show how the conventional war in Afghanistan was eclipsed by a covert and, one could argue, reckless war of targeted killings and attack-and-grab raids quarterbacked by William McRaven, the commander of the Joint Special Operations Command from June 2008 to August 2011. Osama bin Laden’s Assassination One of JSOC’s success stories is the assassination of Osama bin Laden, and, in the aftermath, McRaven moved from the shadows to the spotlight, when President Obama appointed him Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) which oversees all of the military’s special operations. McRaven’s strategy of targeted kills has since been lauded in the media and in Washington, but Dirty Wars shows that some operations have been far from surgical. The documentary contains footage of dead infants and children killed in the strikes along with the grief-stricken and furious survivors one of whom refers to the attackers as “American Taliban.” Journalists are not safe either. President Obama is going to have some explaining to do when the film is released, and one of the movie’s more chilling sequences indicates that he pressed for the continued imprisonment of Yemeni journalist Abdulelah Haider Shaye after Shaye reported that the U.S. was involved in the 2009 airstrike on a Yemeni village. The carnage of that attack is particularly harrowing, as is the film’s recounting of the killing of the 16-year-old son of American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, the first U.S. citizen to be targeted for assassination without due process. Like his father, Abdulrahman al-Awlaki was obliterated by an unmanned drone, “killed not for who he was,” Scahill says in the documentary, “but for who he one day might become.” The Human Cost Of Military Operations One of the strengths of Dirty Wars is that it palpably conveys the human cost of these military operations, and, by the closing credits, the moviegoer is left with the distinct impression that the U.S. is building a reservoir of ill will overseas that could come back to bite us in the ass down the road. It could affect us here in other ways, too. After the screening, I asked Scahill — who’s also the author of the bestselling book Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army — if there was a chance of JSOC’s strategy influencing U.S. law enforcement techniques. He explained that while he didn’t think that “President Obama is going to authorize a hit against a militia guy in Idaho reading his survivalist ‘zine,” he did have “serious concerns over the use of drones for domestic surveillance.” But rather than play pundit, Scahill brought the discussion full circle: “I’m a firm believer that, above all, we have to have our facts straight,” he said. “The reality we face is bad enough, we don’t need to exaggerate. Let’s confront this on what we can prove.” Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
As mediocre as Identity Thief is, it didn’t cool my appreciation for Jason Bateman . For one thing, his work on Arrested Development was Sofa King good that he’d have to suck for a long time to lose me. For another, I don’t think we’ve seen the full extent of this guy’s talent, and, in GQ’s April-issue Q&A with Bateman, the actor lets drop that, in addition to a fruitful career as a director, he’d like to have a New York-based talk show down the road. Here’s what he tells GQ writer Brendan Vaughan: GQ: Jeffrey Tambor [who plays George Bluth in Arrested Development ] once compared you to Johnny Carson in the way that you play the straight man but with this dark center . When I read that, it occurred to me that you might be a good talk-show host. Have you ever thought about that? Jason Bateman: That’s interesting, I was just talking about that. Without getting too specific about it, because I can’t, I’ve thought seriously about it as recently as last year. Having just come back from doing a week of talk shows last week [to promote Identity Thief ], I was talking to Amanda about, in twenty years—when the girls go to college and we can finally move to New York, which is what I’ve been wanting to do forever—if television will have me, I would love to do that. Regis retired at what, 80? So in twenty years I’ll be 64. To host a talk show then, that would be a fun way to do the last bit. I like that idea. Bateman is quick-witted and outrageous — when Vaughan requests Hazelnut-flavored Coffee-Mate in his cup of joe, the actor tells him, “I think your vagina’s bleeding” — he’s thoughtful and, as an actor, he’s able to easily shift from funny to serious without grinding his gears. He’s also that rare child performer who carved out a successful second act for himself in adulthood, and that tells me he’ll be great at interviewing celebrities because he understands the brutality of show business. If he’s serious, he’d make a fine talk-show host some day, and NBC will probably be looking for one once it burns through all the talent it currently has. In the meantime, Bateman is working on his directorial debut, Bad Words , and when Vaughan asks him how he sees his career evolving as a hyphenate, he replies: “As opposed to Ron Howard’s career, which is exclusively directing and producing, no acting, and like [Jon] Favreau’s career and Pete Berg’s career, where it’s mostly directing—I think, more realistically, I’d like it to be more like George Clooney’s career or Ben Stiller’s career or Ben Affleck’s career as far as splitting the time between acting and directing. I’m so… I just vibrate at how excited I am about the complexity of the process, of making a fake world for an audience. It’s not a God complex, but that’s what directors are doing: They’re creating a fake world, and it is four-walled. It’s 360 degrees. When a movie is great, you don’t notice the effort. It is a real world that you’ve just watched. There’s no better job in the world than directing a film. I’m convinced of it.” Who’s bleeding now, Mr. Bateman? Photo credits: Peggy Sirota/ GQ [ GQ ] Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
It’s only Monday and James Franco is already having a good week. And that could translate to a good week for Florida rapper Dangeruss, too. Despite Franco’s much-maligned performance in Oz The Great and Powerful , the movie was the top performer at the box office this past weekend, earning $42.2 million domestically, and the blogosphere is already championing him for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his work as the drug dealer Alien in Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers . Meanwhile, that picture, which opens wide this weekend, racked up the best per-screen average of the year so far — $90,000 — in limited release at three theaters. So, how is that good for Dangeruss ? For one thing, the tattooed and dreadlocked rapper inspired the actor’s meth-dealing Alien character in Spring Breakers, which is a big reason the actor is in the spotlight again. Better yet, Franco directed Dangeruss’ “Hangin’ With Da Dopeboys” video below, which is featured on the movie’s heat-seeking soundtrack, and that could mean that the media soon stops referring to the rapper as an “underground” artist no matter how crusty he looks. Granted, the track and the video don’t exactly break new ground, but in this digital world, good enough is more than enough to blow up. Check out “Hangin’ With Da Dopeboys,” then compare Dangeruss to Franco’s Alien, who’s featured in the second clip. [ Huffington Post ] Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Jason Molina, a singer/songwriter most famous for his work with Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co., has passed away. He was 39 years old. As first reported by Chunklet, Molina died of organ failure brought on by many years of drinking. The star’s label, Secretly Canadian, confirmed the news – though not the cause of death – via the following Tweet: “Our friend Jason Molina passed away from natural causes on Saturday, March 16th in Indianapolis.” Molina garnered fame in 1996 when he released the album “Nor Cease Thou Never Now” under the name Songs: Ohia. He then performed under that moniker until his album “Magnolia Electric Co.” came out in 2003, at which time he changed his band name to Magnolia Electric Co. The artist continued to tour until late 2009 when health problems reportedly caused by his alcoholism forced him to leave the spotlight. We send our condolences to his family and loved one.
Actor-director Glenn Berggoetz is bringing his new film to Los Angeles on March 23, and this time, he says, he’s going to make more than $11. As Movieline gleefully reported in 2011, Berggoetz’s microbudget picture The Worst Movie EVER! earned the dubious distinction of selling a single $11 ticket during its opening weekend at a single theater in Los Angeles. But his follow-up, Midget Zombie Takeover , has already improved upon that. Berggoetz (he’s front and center in the above photo) premiered Midget Zombie Takeover at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Winchester, VA on Feb. 8, and, according to Box Office Mojo , the picture earned $2,755 — more than its $2000 budget and a 25,000-percent improvement over his last film’s opening. (The movie’s trailer is posted below.) In an email, the Denver-based filmmaker writes that the capacity crowd at the Drafthouse “went nuts” and that theater owner “Steve Nerangis told me he’s never heard so much laughing at a film in all his years of owning the theater.” Berggoetz adds that this initial reception and “nothing but great reviews since its release” have translated to cinemas booking Midget Zombie Takeover “not just as a midnight movie, but for multiple screenings” in some cases. He also notes that a theater in Phoenix is considering booking the film for entire week — the first time that his work has received such a lengthy showing. The moral of the story? Being known as the guy with the worst movie opening ever has turned out to be a pretty good thing for Berggoetz. “While I wouldn’t call the $11 opening weekend debacle a badge of honor, it soon became, and remains, a god-send,” he writes. “I still get inquiries from fans all over the world asking about the film, and it really led to me making some great connections.” Although Box Office Mojo reports The Worst Movie EVER! has earned only $10,194 since November 2012, Berggoetz says he got a book deal and speaking gigs out of the ensuing publicity. Last October, he published: The Independent Filmmaker’s Guide: Make Your Feature Film for $2,000 . As he puts it, “Had The Worst Movie EVER! done $110 its opening weekend, a lot of these doors (maybe all of them) wouldn’t have opened for me. So while that opening weekend was a complete bummer at first, I wouldn’t trade it for anything (other than a $20 million opening weekend).” And as he prepares to return to the city where he was humiliated in 2011, Berggoetz is confident that, this time around, he’ll be vindicated. “At this point there are more than 50 people who have contacted me online to say they’ll be attending the midnight screening on Saturday, March 23 at the Laemmle NoHo 7 in North Hollywood,” writes the filmmaker, who has clearly learned something about promotion and marketing since then. “So it looks like we’ll post our best L.A. box office numbers yet!” [ Box Office Mojo ] Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
What had happened is… In light of the recent lawsuit she filed against former friend Kim Zolciak involving the song they created for years ago, Kandi is keeping it all the way gangsta about why she had to file them papers! In an exclusive statement to HipHollywood , Kandi explained that she did want to file the suit, but had no other choice, saying: “It’s time for the whole ordeal to be over. I asked TuneCore to take the song down in December 2012. They did. Kim sent an affidavit to put it back up, which they did. TuneCore then informed me that in order for the song to be taken down permanently I would need to file suit to have it removed. I never wanted to go that route but after being told that it is the only way to get the song removed, I had no other choice.” Kandi penned the hit smash for Kim back in 2009, but has expressed several times over the years that she wasn’t properly compensated for her royalties. Kim also released a statement, claiming that Kandi’s actually been overpaid and the lawsuit is a publicity stunt, via TooFab: “This is nothing short of a publicity stunt, I find this lawsuit funny yet sad. Coming after me now and this song is 4 years old? I have in fact overpaid Kandi and have documents to prove it and my legal team will handle this accordingly.” Kandi however refuted those claims telling HipHollywood , “This is not a publicity stunt. I no longer wish for anyone to benefit from the work that Don Vito and I created.” Kim’s “RHOA” spin-off, ironically titled “Don’t Be Tardy,” premieres on April 16th. We’re sure this lawsuit will be a hot topic on the show, especially since fellow cast mate Phaedra Parks is representing Kandi. Isht is real… Kandi basically created a whole brand for Kim and the beyotch has been nothing but disrespectful. Can you blame her for the lawsuit? Get ya paper Kandi! BravoTV
The whole concept of pornstars always annoys me…only because I don’t think a girl is a star just because she fucks on camera for 1000 dollars…if anything she is the opposite of a fucking star…she’s gutter trash and that’s why she’s mistreating herself….not that I am against porn, I just think these girls are fucking delusional… I have also been to the porn awards a handful of times, and have seen a lot of these girls in action, including Puma Swede, who grabbed my balls and who is in fact a fucking monster looking woman… and they are 99 percent of the time disgusting looking, you just don’t realize it cuz you’re too busy jerking off to them getting face fucked like the nasty little trash they are…. Well MELISSA MAKEUP from instagram, a pornstar make-up artist I guess, has posted some before and after make-up pics of some porn chicks, proving that they aren’t all what you may have thought they were…if anything they are what you’d expect ghetto trash who get fucked up the ass for 1000 dollars on camera….would be…damaged, disgusting, not a “star”…in any fucking way….but we’ll all still jerk off to them and that’s ok… It’s an interesting project this Melissa chick has undertaken…awesome look into her industry…because despite me laughing at the before pics, I think she’s more into just showing off how good she is….and we can all agree that based on the before pics…she’s a fucking god….the same kind of god Kim Kardashian monster probably uses…. Smoke and fucking mirrors…..sure some aren’t that bad….but you can assume their souls are… PS – Melissa is also a fucking babe…but that could all be smoke and mirrors too.. Follow her on INSTAGRAM The names of the pornstars are in the name of the picture….and some of these girls may not be pornstars…but instead just look like them…and if that’s the case…they are probably the better looking girls…who I accidentally downloaded without researching their work.
