Week in Review: More Jesse James Bombshells, Kim and Reggie's Breakup Replay, Dancing Disses

What do they say, that it's darkest just before the dawn or something like that?

If that's the case, maybe dawn's coming soon for Jesse James, whose reputation only took more slams this week as not one, or two, but three more women decided it was the right thing to do to claim past affairs with James rather than remain private figures.

Meanwhile, Sandra Bullock has largely remained off the grid, though she's been spotted more times than Carmen Sandiego. We like to think she was somewhere comfortable, surrounded by friends, cradling her prenup, and maybe watching that revelatory episode of Lost or voting for Pamela Anderson on Dancing With the Stars...

MONSTER BARRAGE: With Sandy out of the picture, paparazzi and their zoom lenses decended upon James' Long Beach bike shop, West Coast Choppers, and the house he used to share with his wife, necessitating a handful of calls to the cops to keep the horde under control. It didn't save James from avoiding an uneventful citizen's arrest, but no custom motorcycles were hurt in the making of this media frenzy. Which now includes reports of three women besides Michelle "Bombshell" McGee who are saying they slept with Bullock's husband. One of them has remained nameless so far, letting legal eagle Gloria Allred do the initial intros.

BALLS OF FÜHRERY: McGee has maintained that all those Nazi-themed photos were a stupid idea perpetrated by some "douche bag" photographer and not representative of her own viewpoint at all. And she's pretty pissed at having been dropped as the spokesmodel for Angry White Girl fashions due to all the controversy. Her ex, who wants custody of their 5-year-old, claims she's got a swastika tattooed on her tummy, which admittedly would limit her bikini-modeling options. (Another douchebag photo idea? Inviting James to pose for a Coney Island freak show-themed Playgirl spread.)

LYING LOW: Having already skipped The Blind Side's Berlin premiere, Bullock's also gonna pass on the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, where she's nominated for Favorite Movie Actress. She hasn't stopped by her friendly neighborhood divorce attorney's office, either.

TIMEOUT: Kim Kardashian has broken up with Reggie Bush again, once again determining that she doesn't want to slow her career down to accommodate the NFL star's off-season. It's only been a few days and talk of reconciliation is never off the table, but Kim's busy making the scene in Miami and already being paired with British soccer stars she's never heard of.

BALLROOM BLITZ: Could the judges (and the smattering of booers in the audience) have had any less love for Kate Gosselin as she made her Dancing With the Stars debut? She actually wasn't too horrible, although whoever dressed the attractive mother of eight apparently had a major vendetta against her. And her castmates really seem to like her. Not that it matters—this season is a hurtin' Nicole Scherzinger's to lose and Pam Anderson's to sexify.

FALLEN IDOL: Paige Miles is feeling especially slighted after being unceremoniously—unless you count Simon Cowell's brusque shrug as ceremony—booted from American Idol. She definitely deserved to go home, not being able to hit a right note to save her life the night before, but she leaves 10 only sporadically talented finalists in her wake. No wonder elimination night was all about analyzing the chemistry between duet performers (and more) Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato.

INFdaily.com

CROSSROADS: Did mentoring American Idol's worst batch to date make Miley Cyrus want to head for the hills as far as music is concerned? She tells E!'s own Marc Malkin that the album she's got coming out in June will be her last. "I just want to work in movies," she said. (OMG, it really is her Last Song!) And why wouldn't she? She already has a very red-carpet worthy date.

MY IMMORTAL: Good lord, Lost. Heavy stuff from scoop-spilling Nestor Carbonell as the untouched-by-time Richard Alpert. What's more, the island is the cork in the wine bottle! Tuesdays can't come around fast enough!

NOT LOST YET: E! Online's annual Save One Show competition doesn't officially start until Monday, but apparently you already have a few ideas...Are you the same ones who chose these two as your Top TV Couple?

ZERO HOUR: 24 will pack it in after the current season. Did they finally realize that CTU is the least secure national security agency ever?...In TV news that's not at all as important, The Hills peeps has also decided season six, premiering April 27, will be its last.

BECK 'ATCHA: Glenn Beck didn't think calling James Cameron the "Antichrist" merited the filmmaker calling him "an a--hole." Indeed not, Cameron really held back on that one.

YOU BASTARDS!: South Park killed the Kardashians Wednesday, but at least their demise was properly mourned, unlike poor Sarah Jessica Parker's.

FOREPLAY: Tiger Woods gave interviews to ESPN and the Golf Channel over the weekend, and plans to have his first Q&A session (emphasis on the Q) with the press when the Masters tees off next month. He should really just be happy that wife Elin never took Sandra Bullock's advice.

Courtesy of Interscope / Lauren Dukoff

BAD INFLUENCE: Donny Osmond thinks Lady Gaga and not-pregnant Beyoncé's murder-is-sexy "Telephone" video is bad for kids and the music industry should think twice about the sort of content they market so virally. So... It wasn't wrong of them to make it, it was just wrong of them to tell people they made it?

NICE!: Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher made it official, tying the knot in Paris.

LAST HURRAH? A frail Dennis Hopper received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, surrounded by pals such as Jack Nicholson, Viggo Mortensen and David Lynch. The 72-year-old actor is battling prostate cancer and is said to be too ill to undergo more chemotherapy.

FAREWELL: Robert Culp, who played Bill Cosby's tennis-playing partner in I Spy died at 79 after falling down outside his Hollywood home.

LEGALESE: David "Puck" Rainey of The Real World: San Francisco busted for DUI after seriously injuring himself in a single-car crash. He's still hospitalized, but at least his 8-year-old son, who was in the car with him, is already back home...T.I. completed the locked-up portion of his sentence on a weapons charge...Oprah Winfrey settled...Prince ordered to pay $3 million to a concert promoter after bailing on a huge show in Ireland...Sanjaya sings badly and drives quickly...Former member of K.C. and the Sunshine Band busted on suspicion of sexual conduct with a teenage boy...Whitney Port sued by a designer who claims The City star's new line is based on her creations...Justin Bieber's manager pleaded not guilty to contributing to a stampede at a Long Island mall...No trial just yet for Audrina Patridge's alleged stalker...Pete Doherty arrested for possibly supplying drugs to a woman who later died of an overdose. Sigh.

SPOTTED: Gerard Butler flirting at Nobu...Bearded Conan O'Brien pumping gas...Shia LaBeouf and others finishing the L.A. Marathon...Carrie Underwood dedicating a concert performance to a Kansas man who died in a truck crash while delivering equipment for Underwood's show...Taylor Swift and Cory Monteith bowling...Reese Witherspoon and her new man friend...Paris Hilton chatting with Nicole Richie and ex Benji Madden...at Trousdale...Bar Refaeli in her undies...Christina Aguilera catching a performance of Puppetry of the Penis in West Hllywood...Lindsay Lohan hitting the agave...Jennifer Love Hewitt with a new 'do...This sign on Octomom's lawn...The Twilight Saga: Eclipse poster.

Source:ca.eonline.com/

'The Hurt Locker': Box office bomb to best picture?

LOS ANGELES - Oscar attendees woke up to gloomy grey skies and cool temperatures this morning after a wobbly low pressure system that was supposed to hit the Baja, and not the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, veered north-east on Saturday. Los Angeles was soaked with heavy rains all day long. It was a bleak and depressing sight.

But things are looking good now. Clouds have dispersed with plenty of blue breaking in overhead. The Oscars organizers seem to be making good on their promises from Friday that Mother Nature will not rain on their parade today. “I just called God,” awards show co-producer Adam Shankman told a press conference about getting assurances that the red carpet walk-ins would do so in sunshine. Co-producer Bill Mechanic added that it would only “rain humour” today. Apparently, God is listening - and waiting for the storm of jokes from co-hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.

With the weather taken care of, here are some last-minute Oscar insights:

- BOX OFFICE: If Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker wins as best picture - and it stands a very good chance to succeed in its war with Avatar for top spot - it will be an historical moment. But that will be for the wrong reason, at least when it comes to box office revenues. Pardon the pun, but The Hurt Locker is a box-office bomb, despite being an artistic triumph. It would become the most unwatched and underappreciated best picture winner in decades.

In the 40 years of Academy Awards shows prior to this year - going right back to the triumph of Midnight Cowboy at the 1969 Oscar ceremony - no best picture winner has earned as little in its theatrical run as Bigelow’s powerful drama. Not even close.

The Hurt Locker has now taken in only $19.3 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo’s latest figures going into this weekend. For the U.S. and Canada, the take is $12.7 million, nearly 66 percent of that worldwide total. These are extremely low revenues for a major Oscar contender, especially one that is co-leader of the nominations race with nine. What it really means it that realistic war movies set in the Middle East continue to be box office poison in the U.S., in Canada and, indeed, in the entire world market.

At the other end of the spectrum, if Avatar wins, it will obviously set a different record. James Cameron’s sci-fi fantasy is already the all-time box office champ worldwide. It has generated an unimaginable $2.553 billion in ticket sales. Ditto for the North American part of those staggering figures, coming it at $714.5 million.

The question for Avatar is whether success is an aphrodisiac or a downer for the 5,777 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. But it is instructive to remember that the last time a box office record-holder was a big winner at the Oscars, it went home with most of the hardware: a record-tying 11 Oscars to be exact. That was Cameron’s Titanic, which took in $1,843 million, $600.9 of that in North America. Cameron really was king of the world for a moment.

Over the past 15 years, when $100 million-grossing pictures have become common, only one best picture winner has failed to crack that magic number. It was Paul Haggis’ melancholic Crash, which just narrowly missed with $98.4 million in worldwide box office, $54.6 million of that in North America. So - once again - The Hurt Locker would be an astonishing exception to the rule. Winning, however, could be a tremendous boost for the film’s DVD and Blu-ray sales, along with legal digital downloads.

- FEMME FATALE: Whether or not The Hurt Locker beats Avatar for best picture, Kathryn Bigelow is considered the favourite to win as best director. If she does so, she would become the first woman in the 82 years of the Academy Awards to take this prestigious prize.

Only three other women have ever even been nominated: Famed Italian filmmaker Lina Wertmuller was in the running for Seven Beauties; Australian-based New Zealander Jane Campion was a contender for The Piano; and American Sofia Coppola earned a nom for Lost in Translation. Obviously, none of them won, ensuring that category remained an all-male enclave. Until now, we think.

The embarrassing truth is that women do not get the same chance as men to direct movies, especially in the United States. According to statistics in The Los Angeles Times, women direct between 7 and 9 percent of major American movies - and that range has stayed static for the past 25 years.

- SEXISM: If there really is sexism in who gets to direct what in Hollywood, there is none in Oscar’s acting categories. The new debate over male and female categories is just stupidity and self-indulgence. Citing what they call gender biases, critics have called for an end to separate actor and actress categories. But, except in rare cases, men and women are not interchangeable in the roles they play. That is human nature, not sexism. There is no need whatsoever to get politically correct in this arena. Among many logical reasons, mainstream audiences generally give the male and female categories equal interest and weight. It depends on the movies involved, not the gender of the winner. I don’t get the sense that winning best actor means more than winning best actress. So the petty people just need to get over it and address real gender issues.

Personally, I would create a whole new category for actors/actresses, not take any away. The new competition would be for the best voice work in animation, along with best motion capture performances. These performers, who are crucial to the success of Oscar-nominated films such as Avatar and Up, are always overlooked, even if they are technically eligible. Academy voters seem uncomfortable with putting them into the traditional categories because they don’t see their faces on screen.

Meanwhile, if the Academy wanted to go co-ed on this category, that might more sense than lumping together the existing male and female categories.

- THE BUZZ: Last minute predictions are only speculation, just as early predictions of the probable Oscar winners were just guesses. Nevertheless, it is fun to speculate. And esteemed Los Angeles Times critic Kenneth Turan joined the fray today. He figures The Hurt Locker has closed in enough on Avatar that the best picture race is a toss-up.

But Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart) is still a clinch as best actor, he says. And early favourites Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) and Mo’Nique (Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire) are still considered the front-runners in the two best supporting actor/actress categories.

The only outsider Turan gives even a remote chance to is the 80-year-old Canadian legend Christopher Plummer (The Last Station), whom he thinks could edge out Waltz if the Academy voters did any last-minute second-guessing before sending in their ballots.

Otherwise, Turan thinks only Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side) is vulnerable among the favourites for the top personal awards. For weeks, she has been cited as the front-runner for best actress. She may, however, succumb to a late surge from Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia). Streep has the all-time record for most nominations in the acting categories - 16 overall, 13 of those as best actress. But she has won only twice and the last time was at the 1983 Oscars, when Streep earned best actress honours for Sophie’s Choice.

In other key categories, Turan predicts Kathryn Bigelow will win as best director over her ex-husband James Cameron for Avatar. And Canadian writer-director Jason Reitman (Up in the Air) should win his first Oscar, for co-writing the best adapted screenplay with his American collaborator Sheldon Turner. Together, they turned Walter Kirn’s novel into the much admired film. In the best original screenplay category, Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds) is battling it out with Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker) in what is considered a close race.

- SO SUE ME: Add another Hollywood lawsuit to the list of bizarro twists in this year’s Oscar race. On Tuesday, an American soldier who served in Iraq in 2004 when The Hurt Locker screenwriter Mark Boal was an embedded journalist there, launched a formal lawsuit in federal court. The suit claims that he has been cheated out of his share of box office revenues for the film.

Master Sgt. Jeffrey S. Sarver maintains he is the basis for the character played by Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner. He also objects to the portrayal, claiming he was falsely shown to be “a reckless gung-ho war addict.”

For his part, Boal has said he knew Sarver and admired him as a soldier. But he said this week he based the fictional character in The Hurt Locker on the stories of many soldiers whom he witnessed in action and then researched.

The weirdest thing about the lawsuit is that it involves a film that has failed to make big money. Usually, these kinds of actions are taken against $100 million box office hits. So it is almost pathetic, and funny, that Sarver’s lawyer Geoffrey Fieger is quoted as saying: “They’re going to owe him a whole lot of money and recognition.”

Source:torontosun.com/