Movie News & Gossip

- Cataclysmic disaster and apocalyptic doom, as foretold by Hollywood, have a way of bringing together broken families, revealing the unseen heroism of deadbeat dads and neatly disposing of their rivals.

This, too, is the micro-level drama of "2012," the latest nihilistic disaster flick to revel in the destruction of the planet. John Cusack plays the castoff father (Jackson Curtis), a failed novelist getting by as a limo driver. We greet him as he rolls out of bed, spilling his copy of "Moby Dick" as he rushes out the door, disheveled and late for a camping trip with his kids.

- Capsule reviews of films opening this week:

"Fantastic Mr. Fox" — With George Clooney, Meryl Streep and Bill Murray leading the top-notch voice cast, director Wes Anderson has found an ideal story and medium — stop-motion animation — to bring his cockeyed vision to the cartoon world. In the hands of "Rushmore" director Anderson, Roald Dahl's children's book about a poultry-thieving fox gets loving treatment and a distinct handcrafted style that sets it apart from the sleek computer-generated imagery dominating animation today. Clooney provides the voice of a fox whose capers against three evil farmers bring the mechanized wrath of the human world down on him, his family and a menagerie of neighbors. It's lightweight fun, yet the film succeeds on all levels, presenting cute and clever varmints to charm children while offering adults merry screwball humor that slyly stretches the film's family-friendly rating. PG for action, smoking and slang humor. Running time: 88 minutes. Three stars out of four.

LOS ANGELES - A California judge granted a temporary restraining order Tuesday barring Jennifer Lopez's first husband and his manager from distributing 11 hours of home video footage the singer-actress claims includes sexual situations.

Lopez claims ex-husband Ojani Noa is exploiting her private life with the footage and the proposed film, "The J.Lo and Ojani Noa Story."

- "Women In Trouble" follows a day in the life of 10 different females, united by their uncanny ability to look fabulous in their underwear while in the throes of emotional crisis. Imagine Russ Meyer directing a Lifetime movie and you get an inkling of the film's high camp, though that still might not prepare you for a full 90-minute session with writer-director Sebastian Gutierrez's Victoria's Secret School of Philosophy.

Gutierrez models "Women In Trouble" on Pedro Almodovar's more flamboyant comedies, going so far as to thank the Spanish filmmaker in the closing credits. It's one thing, though, for the Oscar-winning Almodovar to mix lewd humor with soapy scenarios and quite another for the writer of "Snakes On a Plane," "The Big Bounce" and "Gothika" to make the attempt. We'd understand if Almodovar doesn't appreciate the shout-out.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Twilight" shone at the nominations for the People's Choice Awards on Tuesday, with its three stars, Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner each in the running for a trophy at the event celebrating the most popular stars of film, TV and music.

The "Twilight" movie series, which enters its second installment on November 20 with the "New Moon" sequel, also won a nod for best franchise among its leading seven nominations.

- It's an unenviable task, making films about the war on terror for audiences that don't want to sit through dramatizations of the same bad news they get for real out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Less enviable is the task the key characters are charged with in "The Messenger": Providing word to people back home that a loved one has died in action.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - An arrest warrant has been dropped for actor Randy Quaid and his wife, Evi, who are accused of stiffing a Santa Barbara County hotel on a $10,000 bill.

Prosecutor Lee Carter says the warrant was recalled after the Quaids posted bail of $20,000 each last week.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - When an expanded list of 10 movies competes next year for the best picture Oscar, director Pete Docter hopes his "Up" will become the first animated film since 1991's "Beauty and the Beast" to vie for Hollywood's most coveted honor.

Award show trackers say Docter has reason to be hopeful because "Up," about an old man and a boy who float off to South America in a house tied to helium balloons, has earned wide acclaim from fans and critics, alike.