Kim Basinger

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

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

Heartthrob Robert Pattinson tried to tame his unruly hair for the LA premiere of Twilight last night, though I prefer it when he lets it flow free. He posed with his onscreen love Kristen Stewart while thousands of fans screamed with excitement. The movie boasts another hot young thing, too, Cam Gigandet who is still Volchok from The OC to me. Wherever these kids go these days madness follows and Buzz sat down to chat with Robert about it all — check out part one and part two of the interview. Jennie Garth was joined by her husband Peter Facinelli, who is in the movie, as well as some of her 90210 costars. We'll see what kind of box office gold these pretty young things can rake in this weekend, but what do you say, do you have Twilight fever?

To see more from the premiere including Nikki Reed, Kim Basinger, AnnaLynne McCord, Jamie Foxx and others just read more

• Jewel eloped to the Bahamas, marrying her longtime boyfriend Ty Murray in a private ceremony yesterday. — People
• Clay Aiken's best friend, who was pregnant with his child, gave birth to a baby boy early this morning in North Carolina. — WRAL News
• Brad Pitt officially signed on as the lead in Quentin Tarantino's new movie, Inglorious Bastards. Simon Pegg, Eli Roth, and BJ Novak are also in talks to star in the movie. — BuzzSugar
• Season four of So You Think You Can Dance crowned a winner last night, what do you think of the results? — BuzzSugar
• Mariah Carey is planning a big party in the Hamptons this month to celebrate her wedding to Nick Cannon. — Page Six
• After 14 months and 150 shows, The Police's comeback tour came to a close last night at Madison Square Garden. — AP
• Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger will be back in court on Monday for another custody related hearing. — E! Online
• Candy Spelling is planning on writing a tell-all book. — ET Online

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Check out this interesting-looking cast.
This film project brings together some interesting folks: Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger, Ashley Olsen, Brandon Routh, Jon Foster and Lou Pucci are all set to star in The Informers, based on a collection of short stories by Bret Easton Ellis.

What's it about?
Well, in typical Ellis fashion (this is the man who penned American Psycho and Rules of Attraction), I'm betting on a healthy dose of rape, drug use and general depravity. Variety describes the plot thusly: "The drama is set over the course of a week in 1983, in the chillingly nihilistic world of Ellis' youth in Los Angeles. Seven storylines intersect, involving movie execs, rock stars, a vampire and other morally challenged characters."

Ashley Olsen? Really?
Molly thinks this is a mistake, that reporters on this story are mixing up Ashley and Mary-Kate. If this turns out to be true, it will be pretty amusing.

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• The Tudors Jonathan Rhys Meyers has checked into rehab. His rep says, "After a non-stop succession of filming....He felt a break was needed to maintain his recovery." Rehab is clearly the new black - People
• Joe Francis pleaded guilty to contempt of court Monday and was sentenced to jail for 35 days. He had it coming to him. - AP
• Milla Jovovich and fiance director Paul Anderson are expecting a baby in the fall. Congrats to them both! - People
• Kim Basinger denies that she leaked the voicemail where Alec Baldwin lambasts his daughter and says she wishes Alex would seek help for his ongoing aggressive behavior. - AP
• Rosie evidently offended some of New York's most accomplished women (and teenage girls) when she emceed the Matrix Awards yesterday by grabbing her crotch and yelling expletives. Good thing Donald Trump wasn't there. - Page Six

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Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger's messy (to put it lightly) relationship since their split in 2000 has been tabloid fodder for years. Until now, however, the stories of Alec's rage have been just that -- stories, and something I hoped was kept far away from their 11-year-old daughter, Ireland. Yesterday afternoon, TMZ got its hands on the tape of an enraged rant Alec left on Ireland's voicemail when she failed to pick up the phone at their scheduled time to talk. In the diatribe he lashes out calling Kim a "thoughtless pain," telling Ireland that she makes him "feel like sh*t," threatening to "straighten her out" and calling her a "thoughtless little pig." Click here to listen to the entire thing. In response, a judge ruled that Alec is temporarily banned from seeing Ireland. A further hearing will be set to proceed from here.

In response to the voicemail being leaked, Alec's publicist issued a statement to EXTRA:

"In the best interest of the child, Alec will do what the mother is pathologically incapable of doing ... keeping his mouth shut and obeying the court order. The mother and her lawyer leaked this sealed material in violation of a court order. Although Alec acknowledges that he should have used different language in parenting his child, everyone who knows him privately knows what he has been put through for the past six years."

As ridiculous as break-ups can be, it's heartbreaking that there is an 11-year-old in the middle. Hopefully all the members of this family can figure out the best way to handle this situation. And if Alec isn't already getting help for his anger issues, he should definitely look into that.

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