REEL DEALS Award winners at the festival included the Best Narrative Feature, Dylan Kidd's ''Roger Dodger,'' which stars Campbell Scott, Scorsese ex Isabella Rossellini, Jennifer Beals, and Elizabeth Berkley. Best Emerging Filmmaker, along with a $25,000 cash prize, went to Eric Eason for the upper-Manhattan-set drama ''Manito.''
LEGAL BRIEFS Apparently, her psychic friends didn't see this coming. On Sunday morning, Dionne Warwick was arrested at the Miami airport for possession of less than 5 grams of marijuana. The 61-year-old singer was on her way from her Miami Beach home to Los Angeles when airport security screeners allegedly found 11 joints in her lipstick case. She was not taken into custody but was held long enough to miss her flight, until she signed an affidavit promising to appear in court to answer charges and caught the next plane. Of course, she could have followed the example of her cousin, Whitney Houston. Caught by security screeners in 2000 at a Hawaii airport with an alleged 15 grams of pot, Houston simply left and boarded her flight before the cops could arrive. She ended up pleading no contest to possession charges and paid a fine....
The recent James Brown lawsuit, in which a Los Angeles court found the singer liable for wrongful termination of employee Lisa Agbalaya but not for sexual harassment, pleased neither side, and both are filing appeals. Agbalaya, who had run Brown's West Coast office, lost her job when he closed the office, after she had rebuffed the 69-year-old Godfather of Soul's advances, she charged. Brown denied the harassment allegations and said the closing was strictly business. Now, Brown's lawyers are appealing the judgment, which required him to pay Agbalaya $40,000, or about one year's salary. Agbalaya, who had sought $1 million in damages, is also appealing, saying that the judge improperly barred evidence and misinstructed the jury....
SOUND BITES Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton had been expanding his Cape Cod home, building a new addition. But on Saturday, he lost the whole house to a fire. No one was at the West Barnstable, Mass., house when the fire started Saturday evening. Minutes later, another blaze was reported in a barn on someone else's property a mile away. Authorities are investigating both fires, which caused an estimated $500,000 in damages.
When you think of Rome's Colosseum, you probably think of Russell Crowe-style gladiators unleashing hell. But on Saturday, the ancient auditorium was the site of a peace concert, featuring performers and city mayors from around the world. Ray Charles opened the show with his signature ''Georgia on My Mind,'' followed by such international performers as Algeria's Khaled, Argentina's Mercedes Sosa, Palestinian musician Nabil, and Israeli singer Noa. The show ended with the mayors, in town for a World Bank forum, joining the performers onstage for a sing-along of John Lennon's ''Imagine.''
You Might Also Like
- DVD Review Gangs of New York (Jul 01, 2003) | Joshua Rich
- Movie Review Gangs of New York (Dec 20, 2002) | Lisa Schwarzbaum
- All About Gangs of New York
- Oscar Watch ''Chicago'' vs. ''Pianist'': EW's critics debate (Dec 27, 2002) | Lisa Schwarzbaum, Owen Gleiberman
- In the News Miramax wrote Wise's ''Gangs'' Oscar endorsement (Dec 20, 2002) | Gary Susman
- In the News Oscar voters decry Miramax's ''Gangs'' ad (Dec 20, 2002) | Gary Susman
