Hollywood celebrates its early years, with black-and-white silent film sweeping Academy Awards LOS ANGELES ― “The Artist,” a black-and-white homage to the early days of Hollywood, was named best picture at the 84th Academy Awards on Sunday. Directed by Michel Hazanavicius, it is the first essentially silent film to win best picture since “Wings” won at the first Oscar ceremony in 1929. Meryl St...

HOLLYWOOD (AFP) ― Flamboyant British comic Sacha Baron Cohen pulled a North Korea-themed publicity stunt on the Oscars red carpet Sunday, pretending to pour late leader Kim Jong-il’s ashes onto an interviewer. The “Ali G,” “Borat” and “Bruno” star, who had been warned against staging a stunt at the Academy Awards, turned up in full military regalia from his latest movie “The Dictator,” and clutc...

“The Artist” won five Academy Awards on Sunday including best picture, becoming the first silent film to triumph at Hollywood’s highest honors since the original Oscar ceremony 83 years ago. Among other prizes for the black-and-white comic melodrama were best actor for Jean Dujardin and director for Michel Hazanavicius. The other top Oscars went to Meryl Streep as best actress for “The Iron Lad...

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― The Oscar ceremony has much to prove Sunday, including whether a blockbuster-free field can draw a TV audience and if Billy Crystal’s host routine remains a crowd-pleaser. Brian Grazer and Don Mischer, the show’s producers, are laughing off the challenges: “Comedy is the direction we’re going in this year,” said Mischer. For Crystal, who returns to the ceremony after an absen...

SANTA MONICA (AP) ― When Adam Sandler’s bad, he’s really bad, according to voters for the Razzies, an Academy Awards spoof that singles out the worst movies of the year. Sandler received a record 11 nominations Saturday for the Razzies as star, producer or writer on three 2011 movies ― “Jack and Jill,” “Just Go with It” and “Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star.” That more than doubled the previous ...

Architecture 101 (Korea) Opening March 22 Drama. Directed by Lee Yong-joo. Seung-min (Kim Soo-hyeon and Uhm Tae-woong), a 20-year-old university student, meets Seo-yeon (Suji and Han Ga-in) while attending his introduction to architecture class. Though he falls for his female colleague, Seung-min does not know how to express his feelings, and ends up not talking to her due to a trivial misunder...

Leonardo DiCaprio likes his coffee smooth ― a light roast, nectar-like, no bitterness. Just ask Todd Carmichael and Jean-Philippe Iberti, who spent more than a year perfecting a blend to suit the palate of the Hollywood star. The founding partners of La Colombe, a Philadelphia-based roastery with cafes here and in New York and Chicago, paid repeated visits to DiCaprio’s West Hollywood abode to ...

H ollywood actress stars in romantic comedy thriller ‘This Means War’ Hollywood actress Reese Witherspoon said on Thursday it’s only natural for women to have wrinkles as they age, and she finds it wonderful to be an example of that on screen. During her first visit to Seoul the 35-year-old actress seemed unaffected when asked by a reporter whether she is “all right” with having visible wrinkl...

Kim Ki-duk, one of the best known South Korean auteurs overseas, started shooting his 18th film this month, according to production house NEW. The film, entitled “Pieta,” will star actor Lee Jeong-jin and actress Jo Min-soo. According to NEW, Kim thought of the initial plot of the film as he wanted to delve into the theme of evil, and whether or not “human beings have evilness as one of their in...

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The secretive Navy SEALs are coming out of the shadows for a new Hollywood film, with elite commandos cast in starring roles in a radical departure for America’s special forces. In “Act of Valor,” the select troops who call themselves “the quiet professionals” take a turn as leading men on the big screen, reciting lines from a script as they race to prevent terrorists from car...