Billy Bob Thornton

Greed is good. Sex is easy. Youth is forever.

Or so goes the tagline for The Informers, a new film adapted from a collection of short stories by Bret Easton Ellis. You may recognize Ellis's name from the posters of several films in the past decade, namely American Psycho and The Rules of Attraction (there's also Glitterati, if that ever sees the light of day). If you're familiar with his work, you'll know, loosely, what to expect from his latest venture: Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. There's plenty of all the aforementioned (hence the tagline), but, unfortunately the end result is more of a melodramatic mess than an examination of the excesses of the '80s.

Don't blame the actors, especially the more seasoned among them. A few — Kim Basinger, Mickey Rourke and to a slightly lesser degree Winona Ryder and Billy Bob Thornton — even give memorable performances in a movie that is anything but. The younger newcomers don't fare quite as well with the inane script that contains far too many storylines with far too many unlikeable characters. What's worse, the stories barely intersect, adding confusion on top of disdain.

Let me try to explain what goes down, when you read more

As some of you may know, Billy Bob Thornton was recently outed as a major douchebag. He showed up with his band the Boxmasters to a live radio interview, and because the interviewer mentioned in his introduction that Billy Bob was (gasp!) an actor and not, I don't know, a Rock God — he sulked, stopped answering questions like a normal person, and in general acted like a petulant, self-important baby. Check out Michael Ian Black's inevitable impersonation. (As if the original were not a parody of itself already!)

Waitresses who want to model. Models who want to act. Actors who want to sing. Is anyone happy doing the jobs they're in? Whatever the case, the actor-turned-wannabe-singer seems to be one of the douchiest strains of these hybrids. Take Billy Bob Thornton. I had no idea that this guy was a singer, musician, and according to him in this cringe-inducing interview he did with his band the Boxmasters — a "music historian."

Whatever Billy Bob might be, he's officially Douchebag Supremo in my book. Why? He gets furious with the affable and patient interviewer Jian Ghomeshi because Jian introduced him as an actor. His reaction? He stonewalls all Jian's questions with, "I don't know what you're talking about." His band looks embarrassed and miserable, he looks crazy, the interviewer looks baffled, and if you could see me — I look like I want to throw my shoe at the computer. Ugh! Quit taking yourself so seriously, Billy Bob. (Click here if you're a masochist and want to see BBT in all his DB glory for like 10 minutes.)

• WTF is going on in this Billy Bob Thornton interview? — I'm Not Obsessed
• Paula compliments Scott as he gets sent home on American Idol — BuzzSugar
• Jessica Stroup wants to be on Gossip Girl — Fox Pop Tarts
• Did Bruce Springsteen break up a 17-year marriage? — Lifeline Live
• Pink and Carey Hart are back together — Celebitchy
• Kim Kardashian would like to join the Twilight cast — Popeater
• Michael Phelps is enjoying his swimming exile — Deadspin
• Katie Holmes to participate in DC Memorial Day reading — Us Weekly

While I won't be heading down to the 2009 Sundance Film Festival this year, I will be sorting through the humongous pile of festival entries to share with you some of the films I think look most promising. From quirky documentaries to talented young filmmaker debuts to a potential runaway hit, Sundance is filled with entertainment possibilities. Here are today's selections:

Brooklyn's Finest
Directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day), Brooklyn's Finest just became this year's first sale at Sundance. Apparently "Senator Distribution nabbed North American rights . . . on Saturday night, 24 hours after its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. . . Senator says it will release the film in the fourth quarter for awards consideration." According to Senator president Mark Urman, the company "went into aggressive pursuit right after Friday's screening." Wow! All of this spells good things for the cop drama which features a stellar cast (Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes, Ellen Barkin). The plot is described as: "Three unconnected Brooklyn cops wind up at the same deadly location after enduring vastly different career paths." The guy responsible for the screenplay has a unique and intriguing story himself (you can read about it here). No clips available just yet, but now that it's been purchased I'm sure we'll hear and see much more about this film in the future.

Two more great-looking movies, with talented folks like Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Mickey Rourke, if you read more