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Lol! Wieners & Woody in Apatow's 'Funny People'

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:28:45 GMT

FUNNY PEOPLE (three and a half stars) Serious laughs. Running time: 150 minutes.Rated R (crude humor, profanity, sex scene). At the E-Walk, the Kips Bay, the Lincoln Square, others. WOE betide the comic who dares to turn from wiener jokes to intimations of mortality. Yet in going for a rethink of "All That Jazz" with comedy instead of Broadway, Judd Apatow's "Funny People" turns out to be one of the most absorbing films of the year. Plus it has lots of wiener jokes. Comic actor George Simmons (Adam Sandler) has made millions doing crap comedy but doesn't feel good about his life. Or his death, which is approaching quickly thanks to a blood ailment. (Its technical term is OMD, or Only in Movie Disease, the kind where you don't have to spend time in bed or lose weight. You get some dark eye shadow, though.) Apatow, the writer- director of "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up," starts with a camcorder snippet he took nearly 20 years ago of his then-roommate, Adam Sandler, making prank calls in a prison-bare apartment. A third roommate, another comic, isn't famous. That's part of what "Funny People" is about. Apatow and Sandler's experience gives the movie its foundation. Ira (Seth Rogen) works at a deli and does stand- up on the side. One roommate (Jonah Hill) is another flailing comic. But the third (Jason Schwartzman) has mysteriously hit it big on a "Saved by the Bell"-ish sitcom. Now, he litters the apartment with his $25,000 paychecks and warns, of a girl Ira likes, that he'll sleep with her in 10 days if Ira doesn't. (By the way, remember this actress' name: Aubrey Plaza. She's awesome.) George (who is working pretty hard for a dying guy) stops by the comedy club where Ira performs to do a set, likes the way Ira mocks him and hires him to write jokes. Since George has no friends, Ira becomes his only confidante. There are benefits: "You want to f - - - these two girls?" George asks, of a pair of beauties he hasn't met, and then Ira proceeds to bonk both of them. Like magicians, comics go quiet when it comes to how the game works, but the profession has strange corners and weird vibes that Apatow explores with wit and honesty. Comics don't naturally laugh (they say, "That's funny" instead). They use funny as a club (both in the sense of a weapon used to beat down the uncool and in the sense of a private group that keeps out others - especially women). They get rich doing comedy that isn't funny. That George and Ira could bond instantly is a little unbelievable ("It's good to be excited," George tells his new assistant. "I used to be excited."), but so are a lot of things in comedyworld. Like, why does Andy Dick have a career? And what's he doing in this movie? Somewhere in the celebrity fog, George finds himself talking to the biggest star in music - a summit that reduces even Ray Romano to a looky-loo. Sandler is close to perfect as the kind of performer who is loved by millions and liked by no one. His ex (an adorable Leslie Mann) believes he's become a better person since he got sick. Has he? Whether we like this guy is beside the point, but he remains so guarded that Apatow never quite solves the problem of who comedians really are. Granted, it may be as unsolvable as health care. And after 21/2 hours, you need a great ending. Apatow doesn't have one. Still, Apatow has reached the place where they let you make the film you actually want to make, and he's earned it. If he hasn't quite reached Woody Allen's peak of comic melancholy, who has?

Michael Jackson's Death Latest in Hollywood Coroner's High-Profile History

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 07:21:17 GMT

From the death of Michael Jackson last month to screen goddess Marilyn Monroe in 1962 to hip-hop kingpin notorious B.I.G. in 1997 to the 1981 death by drowning of Natalie Wood and the 1994 murder of Nicole Brown Simpson, the Los Angeles County coroner's office serves as more than a medical examiner's office -- it's Hollywood's psychic stopover between glamour and the grave."The L.A. County coroner's office is the busiest office in the United States," said David Campbell, who worked there for 20 years, rising to the rank of captain of investigations and spokesman, before retiring in 2005. "On average, it'd be fair to say, 15 to 25 bodies a day would come into the coroner's office."

Michael Jackson is the latest star in its high-profile history to grace the L.A. county coroner's office.

"Not surprisingly, with Hollywood, they have some of the most high-profile and complex cases. They're the most technologically advanced coroner's office in the world," said Brad Schreiber, author of "Death in Paradise: An Illustrated History of the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner."

Jackson chef recalls doctor's role, final days

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 07:29:17 GMT

LOS ANGELES вЂ” On the day Michael Jackson died, his personal chef says her first hint of something amiss was when his doctor didn't come downstairs to get the juices and granola he routinely brought the King of Pop for breakfast each morning.

Kai Chase, a professionally trained chef hired by Jackson to maintain a healthy food regimen, recalled in an interview with The Associated Press the singer's final days. She also spoke about the role of his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, who is now the focus of a manslaughter investigation.

Chase said Tuesday that she had gotten used to seeing Murray coming and going from the mansion. The doctor usually arrived about 9 or 9:30 p.m. and would go upstairs to Jackson's room, and she said she would not see him again before she left вЂ” sometimes late in the evening вЂ” but understood he was staying the night.

In the morning, when she arrived for work, Chase said she would see the doctor coming down the steps carrying oxygen tanks. When Murray didn't come downstairs the morning of June 25, "I thought maybe Mr. Jackson is sleeping late," Chase said.

"I started preparing the lunch and then I looked at my cell phone and it was noon. About 12:05 or 12:10 Dr. Murray runs down the steps and screams, 'Go get Prince!' He's screaming very loud. I run into the den where the kids are playing. Prince (Jackson's oldest son) runs to meet Dr. Murray and from that point on you could feel the energy in the house change.

"I walked into the hall and I saw the children there. The daughter was crying. I saw paramedics running up the stairs."

At that point, Chase said, the small group that was gathered вЂ” the children, their nanny, a housekeeper and Chase вЂ” held hands and began to pray. As paramedics raced up to the room, Chase recalls, "We were all praying, 'Help Mr. Jackson be O.K.'

"Then everyone was very quiet."

At about 1:30 p.m. she said security guards told her and other staff to leave the property because "Mr. Jackson was being taken to the hospital."

When she came outside, she said, ambulances were in the courtyard and a crowd had gathered.

Chase, 37, who has cooked for other celebrities and comes from a show-business family, was hired by Jackson in March, let go in May, then returned on June 2. She said the pop star's focus was on fresh, healthy food for him and the children.

She said she prepared meals for the family and occasionally for Murray. She said Jackson was in training for his upcoming shows in London and told her: "You have to take care of me."

On most days, she said, Murray would bring Jackson the special fruit juice drinks Chase prepared for him, followed by granola with almond milk. For lunch, Jackson would eat with the children from a menu that included such things as spinach salad and chicken.

Murray sometimes joined them for dinner, which might be a seared ahi tuna. She said the doctor conferred with her about the 50-year-old pop singer's food and made sure that he ate.

The only oddity was the oxygen tanks. Chase said she never asked about the purpose of the oxygen and she saw no sign that Jackson was on drugs or was in failing health.

"Normally in the morning, he would bring oxygen tanks from upstairs downstairs, one in each hand," she said.

Authorities searched Murray's Las Vegas home and medical office Tuesday as part of an investigation that included raids last week of his clinic and storage in Houston.

With toxicology reports pending, investigators are working under the theory that the powerful anesthetic propofol caused Jackson's heart to stop, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. Murray told investigators he regularly administered the drug to help Jackson sleep, and had done so sometime in the early morning of June 25, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

Propofol is supposed to be administered only in monitored medical settings by trained personnel; the official told AP that Murray left the bedroom and returned to find the star unresponsive. Police have said Murray is cooperating and have not labeled him a suspect, and his lawyer, Edward Chernoff, has said the doctor "didn't prescribe or administer anything that should have killed Michael Jackson."

Like Murray, Chase said she was hired to accompany Jackson to London for his comeback concerts and the request was personally made to her by his 12-year-old son, Prince Michael II.

"Prince said, 'Daddy wants me to tell you he wants you to go to London with us,'" she recalled. "I said, 'Tell your daddy that I'm pleased and honored."

She said she had already filled out paperwork and submitted a copy of her passport to the Jackson staff and expected to leave for London on July 3.

On June 23, she said Jackson told her: "I'm packed and I'm ready to go." Two days later, he was dead.

It was the end of her dream job and an idyllic time in Chase's life, a time that had begun in March with a call from Jackson's assistant, Michael Williams. She was told that "a client" wanted her services as personal chef but she was not told the client was Jackson until she was hired.

"I couldn't believe it," she said. "I asked him if I was on 'Candid Camera.' I said, 'Am I being punked?'"

She said Jackson had seen her resume which included jobs cooking for Macy Gray and Jamie Fox as well as catering a fund raiser for President Barack Obama. She said he also knew she was from a multiracial background and her godfather was Redd Foxx.

But before she started she had to pass muster with three other people: the Jackson children.

"I came to the house and the first people I met were the kids. They started interviewing me," she said. "They told me: 'We're into healthy eating."

When they approved her, she went to work and "We developed a really great bond."

Most days, she said, Jackson made a point of having both lunch and dinner with the children, Prince, 11-year-old Paris; and 7-year-old Prince Michael II, known as Blanket, and each meal was preceded by Paris saying grace. After weeks of healthy food, she said she wrote Jackson a note with a suggestion:

"I said, 'What about doing comfort-food Saturdays? We could do barbecued chicken and corn on the cob, maybe Mexican food or soul food.'" She said he loved the idea, but as the concerts approached, healthy eating returned full time.

"He said, 'I'm a dancer,' and he wanted food that would not make him cramp up while he was dancing."

She now treasures little notes she received from the children and from Jackson and a present he gave her.

"One day he handed me a little gift bag and said, 'This is for you from me and the children.' He had given me an iPod Touch because the children told him I still had a Walkman. It had the 25th anniversary 'Thriller' album loaded on it."

She said she has visited with the children since Jackson's death and they are doing well. "They have so many cousins to play with."

As for Chase's future, she said Jackson encouraged her to write a cookbook and she has written one tentatively titled, "Fit for a King." It includes recipes she cooked for Jackson and the story of the time she worked for him.

'Idol' hopeful Alexis Cohen killed by driver fleeing police, cops say

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 07:57:13 GMT

TOMS RIVER — It started with a fender-bender in a nightclub parking lot and ended — police say — with the death of a former "American Idol" contestant in the resort community of Seaside Heights Saturday morning.Authorities outlined that chain of events at a news conference Monday on the alleged, alcohol-related, hit-and-run fatality of a Alexis E. Cohen, a 25-year-old woman from Allentown, Pa., who had twice hoped to compete on the nationally televised talent show.Now, Daniel Bark, 23, is on suicide watch at the Ocean County Jail here, distraught that he is charged with causing someone's death, said his Freehold-based attorney, David Glassman.

Bark, of Huddy Drive, Toms River, was arrested at 6 p.m. Sunday at his job at the Atlantic Highlands Foodtown, where he is a delicatessen clerk, authorities said. He was then charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident.

On Monday, shortly after Bark appeared before Superior Court Judge Wendel E. Daniels on that charge, Ocean County Prosecutor Marlene Lynch Ford announced her office had filed additional charges against Bark. They are: aggravated manslaughter by causing the death of another while fleeing from law enforcement officers; vehicular homicide; and eluding police.

Daniels set bail on those charges at $150,000, with no option to gain release by posting 10 percent of the amount.

Ford said at a news conference that Bark was stopped by Seaside Heights police about 4 a.m. Saturday and issued a number of motor-vehicle summonses, including driving while intoxicated. That was after he fled from bicycle police officers when he struck a parked car with his 2005 Mitsubishi Galant in the parking lot of Hemingway's, a popular night spot on the Boulevard in Seaside Heights, Ford said.

The prosecutor described the initial incident as a minor fender-bender. But instead of stopping for the bicycle officers, Bark fled on Dupont Avenue to Bay Avenue — where the fatal hit-and-run allegedly occurred — proceeding northbound in the southbound lanes, she said.

Guinea pigs break Potter's spell

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:49:49 GMT

A trio of animated secret agent guinea pigs has broken the spell of Harry Potter at the top of the US box office, according to early estimates.

G-Force, a Disney live action and computer-generated animation, took $32.1m (ВЈ19.4m) over the weekend.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has dropped to second place with a $30m (ВЈ18.1.m) haul in its second weekend.

Internationally, the movie - the sixth in the Potter franchise - has raked in $627.1m (ВЈ380.2m).The film opened with $79.5m (ВЈ48.4m) in the US last weekend.

Romantic comedy The Ugly Truth, starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler, took $27m (ВЈ16.3m) to make the third spot on its opening weekend.

Horror movie Orphan debuted at number four with $12.7m (ВЈ7.7m).

And Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs dropped from second place to fifth, with takings of $8.2m (ВЈ4.9m).

Comic-Con: Full 'Iron Man 2' Panel Report

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 15:23:38 GMT

"Iron Man 2" director Jon Favreau was nice enough to give the entire Comic-Con audience a heart attack Saturday afternoon in San Diego by showing two minutes of behind-the-scenes footage from the film. However, it took Robert Downey Jr.'s support and a quick round of happy birthdays to Favreau's son Max to get the real footage shown.

For those not interested in spoilers, skip the bulk of this piece, but for those of you who want an extensive walkthrough of the footage shown, continue reading!

In the second appearance of the Randy's Donuts shop on film today (the first being in Roland Emmerich's disaster flick "2012"), the "Iron Man 2" clip opened with Downey as Tony Stark in full costume, chilling in the famous donut statue and eating a box of frosteds. The crowd went nuts as the back of an eye-patched head came into view and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury announced, "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to exit the donut."

Inside Randy's Donuts, Stark and Fury have a discussion about Iron Man joining forces with the group Fury is assembling (The Avengers). "What if I told you I don't want to join your super-secret boy band?" Stark asked Fury, who responded by saying Iron Man going solo didn't seem to be working out so well for Tony Stark.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to get off on the wrong foot," Stark responded. "Do I look at the patch or the eye?"

The next scene showed Tony Stark in a court room arguing over whether he is obligated to turn in his suit, which was being labeled a weapon.

"It's a high-tech prosthetic," Tony said. "That's actually the most apt description I could make of it."

When the senator demanded Tony turn over the Iron Man to the people of the United States, Stark reiterated, "I am Iron Man. The suit and I are one. To turn over the Iron Man suit would be to turn over myself which is tantamount to indentured servitude or prostitution depending on what state you're in."

The first shot of Don Cheadle as Col. James Rhodes is seen as he approaches the bench against Tony. "Didn't expect to see you here," Tony said in an unhappy tone. He turned to the audience assembled in the court room, declaring, "The point is, you're welcome, I guess -- because I'm your nuclear deterrent."

Hidden Drug Stash Found in Jackson's House

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 08:43:24 GMT

Law enforcement sources tell us Dr. Conrad Murray kept a stash of drugs -- including the powerful anesthesia Propofol -- hidden in his closet at Michael Jackson's home.

Sources say when the LAPD first searched Jackson's home the night he died, they did not turn up Propofol or many of the other drugs that were in Jackson's house.

Dr. Murray talked to the LAPD the following Saturday and the information he supplied triggered another, broader search warrant. Cops returned to the house the following Monday and discovered "various drugs" secretly stashed in a closet in the guest room where Dr. Murray was staying.

Here's the amazing thing ...law enforcement sources say Dr. Murray himself told LAPD detectives about the closet when he was interviewed the Saturday after Jackson's death.

One law enforcement source says: "The drugs were concealed...they weren't obvious." Among the stash -- Propofol, the drug authorities believe killed Michael Jackson.