Review: 'Step Brothers' full of funny stuff

By Tom Charity
Special to CNN

(CNN) -- Stop me if you've heard this one before, but producer Judd Apatow has another hit comedy on his hands. This time it's "Step Brothers," an astute no-brainer that's also Will Ferrell's funniest effort since "Talladega Nights."

Will Ferrell, left, and John C. Reilly, right, play in-laws who find themselves at odds.

It's no coincidence that Ferrell is back with the "Talladega" team: "Anchorman" director Adam McKay and co-star John C. Reilly. All three share a story credit, while Ferrell and McKay are listed as co-writers.

In "Step Brothers," Ferrell is Brennan Huff, a 40-year-old virgin (probably) who still lives with his mom, Nancy (Mary Steenburgen). Reilly is Dale ("Call me Dragon"), the equally immature son of Dr. Robert Doback (Richard Jenkins). When Nancy and Robert get married, the new siblings make no effort to conceal their hostility.

These aren't middle-aged sad-sacks so much as overgrown teenagers -- Wayne and Garth with curlier hair. They wear Yoda T-shirts, dream of rock stardom and get their jollies over back issues of "Good Housekeeping." When Robert really has to get tough -- much too late, obviously -- he bans them from watching TV.

Review: Hard to believe in 'X-Files'

By Christy Lemire
Associated Press

(AP) -- The makers of the new "X-Files" movie have done themselves a disservice in coming up with the elongated title, "The X-Files: I Want to Believe." Really, it just invites a whole bunch of bad jokes which, unfortunately, are justified.

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson return as Mulder and Scully in "The X-Files: I Want to Believe."

It's easy to imagine how they might go: I want to believe another "X-Files" movie is necessary, 10 years after the first one came out and six years after the pioneering sci-fi series went off the air. I want to believe it's worth my time and money, even if I wasn't a fervent devotee of the TV show. And I want to believe that Mulder and Scully still have the same chemistry they once did -- a big reason the series developed a cult fan base.

Well, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson do slip comfortably back into the roles that made them superstars in the 1990s, but the movie itself from director and "X-Files" series creator Chris Carter never feels like anything more than an extended episode. It lacks the complexity and scope required to rise to a theatrical level; it doesn't challenge us in any new or exciting ways. The big mystery? Just a rehashed urban legend.

In deference to the show's many secrets and twists, we won't give anything away here. We'll just say the plot involves a missing persons case, severed body parts and some creepy hunts and chases through the snow.

In writing the script, Carter and longtime collaborator Frank Spotnitz have come up with a stand-alone story, one that doesn't require expertise in "X-Files" minutiae to follow, although they've also left some nuggets for loyal fans along the way. The title itself is one of them, sorta: It's the phrase on a poster that hung in Fox Mulder's office.

Departure of Ebert, Roeper 'end of an era'

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Richard Roeper, fresh off announcing that he was leaving the balcony of "At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper," may have put it best.

Earlier this week, Richard Roeper and Roger Ebert announced they were leaving "At the Movies."

Hours after word of his departure, he posted on his Twitter feed: "With all the old footage and the person-on-the-street interviews, it's like watching your own obit."

Or maybe an obituary for influential, well-informed film criticism on TV.

This week, Roeper and Roger Ebert both left the show, whose format has survived since its beginning on public television in 1975 to its latest incarnation through Disney-ABC Domestic Television, with Roeper hosting with a rotating partner in Ebert's health-related absence.

Fellow "At the Movies" founder Gene Siskel died of a brain tumor in 1999 and Roeper was selected as his permanent replacement in 2000. In recent years, Ebert has battled cancer and was left unable to speak -- even as he continues to churn out reviews.

Ebert's competitive fire and stalwart nature likely have something to do with that. The show started, after all, as a meeting of rivals: Ebert, the subtly pugnacious Chicago Sun-Times critic; and Siskel, his good-naturedly aloof crosstown counterpart at the Chicago Tribune.

"Two scrappy guys who made the criticism of the art a battle," said Dann Gire, president of the Chicago Film Critics Association and movie critic for The Daily Herald newspaper in Arlington Heights. "They were passionate, intelligent, knowledgeable people who tackled the art form as if it were a sports game. That is never going to be recaptured."

But ratings slowly eroded following the "Siskel & Ebert" heyday, falling by about 1.4 million viewers between 1992 and the Roeper-led "At the Movies" of 2008. The show drew 3.8 million viewers in 1992, 2.8 million in 2002 and 2.4 million viewers in 2008, according to data provided by Nielsen.

Spears child custody deal agreed

US singer Britney Spears and her former husband Kevin Federline have agreed their child custody settlement.

Ms Spears will increase payments to Mr Federline from $15,000 to $20,000 a month, according to the deal approved by a Los Angeles court commissioner.

The agreement also includes a one-off $250,000 payment by Ms Spears to Mr Federline's legal team.

Last week Ms Spears won a ruling allowing her more visits from her two sons, who are in Mr Federline's care.

For now, Mr Federline, 30, retains full custody, but Ms Spears may get expanded rights by the end of the year, her lawyer said earlier.

The singer will now have three visits a week from Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, with at least two overnight visits.

Nr Federline was awarded custody of his two sons in January

Ms Spears lost custody last year in October, and lost visiting rights in January when Mr Federline was given full custody.

The couple were married in 2004 and finalised their divorce last July.

The singer's father, Jamie Spears, was granted control of his daughter's assets in February after she was admitted to a psychiatric ward.

A hearing on Mr Spears' authority over his daughter's affairs is scheduled for 31 July.

BY-BBC NEWS

Ritchie says marriage is 'fine'

Film director Guy Ritchie has brushed off speculation about his marriage to Madonna in a US magazine interview.

The 39-year-old Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels director told People: "My marriage is fine as far as I'm aware of."

The singer and her spokesperson have repeatedly denied reports that the couple were planning a divorce.

London-born Ritchie told the magazine his marriage to Madonna had enabled him to look at the capital with fresh eyes.

"I was born there and I've seen it change and I know a great deal about it, I'm invested," he told People.

"I live vicariously through my wife, so I was once a spy and now I've become a tourist, and it's much more fun to live in London as a tourist than it is as a spy."

Ritchie was talking to People at a convention in San Diego, California, to promote his new film, London gangster picture RocknRolla, which is due for release in the UK in September and the US in October.

His two most recent films, Swept Away - starring Madonna - and Revolver, were panned by critics.

Meanwhile, Madonna, 49, is in New York rehearsing for her forthcoming world tour, which begins in August.

Ritchie's next film is a version of Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey Jr as the English detective.
BY-BBC NEWS

Stones ditching EMI for Universal

The Rolling Stones have signed an "exclusive, long-term, worldwide" record deal with music giant Universal, the record company has announced.

The contract covers future albums by the veteran rockers as well as their extensive back catalogue.

Their previous deal with EMI ended in March after 31 years together.

The Stones, fronted by Mick Jagger, had already released a live CD in March - recorded in New York in 2006 - with Universal in a one-album deal.

That album accompanied Martin Scorsese's documentary Shine a Light, which featured footage of two shows played in New York in 2006 as well as behind-the-scenes and archive material.

New recordings will be released through Universal's Polydor label.

BY-BBC NEWS

Hollywood's digital graduation

Click's editor Richard Taylor investigates how Hollywood is beginning to change the way it distributes and allows people to watch its films.

Film studios are beginning to embrace digital delivery

Two years ago Click reported on Hollywood's struggle to beat illegal downloaders.

At the time its primary impulse was to aggressively pursue the offenders inhabiting the so-called "darknet", the internet underground.

But the studios' will to sell and distribute its content digitally over the internet appeared to be half-hearted at best.

There were a few American-based sites offering poor-value packages which restricted how you could transfer the content, but that was about it.

BY-BBC NEWS