Movie News & Gossip

LONDON -- The Dubai International Film Festival plans to stage its sixth edition this year despite the emirate being in financial meltdown and stock markets across the globe plummeting amid exposure to its debt crisis.

Putting on a positive front early Tuesday, festival organizers unveiled a glittering lineup of movies, including James Cameron's "Avatar," enough to make other festivals blue with envy. The lineup also boasts Rob Marshall's big-screen adaptation of stage musical "Nine" as its Dec. 9 opener.

LOS ANGELES - "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" gobbled up $140.7 million the first three days the vampire romance was in theaters, while gaining $258.8 million worldwide, according to studio estimates.

"New Moon" placed third on the all-time domestic chart behind last year's $158.4 million opening weekend for the Batman blockbuster "The Dark Knight" and 2007's $151.1 million haul for "Spider-Man 3."

Penelope Cruz had some preparation for her song-and-dance numbers in "Nine" - a karaoke machine.

"I own a karaoke machine! I like doing it when I'm alone because I get shy, singing, which is more pathetic to do karaoke by yourself," Penelope told Access Hollywood's Maria Menounos at the junket for the upcoming film, due on Christmas Day. "You can really stand up and get on top of the sofa and perform the number. I've been caught a few times."

NEW YORK - Sex. Drugs. Prostitution. Pedophilia. Rape. Pedro Almodovar has been able to translate some of the most delicate subjects to the big screen with grace and humor.

But the acclaimed master of Spanish cinema — who claims he has gone so far as to demonstrate X-rated moves on an actress to show how he wanted it done on film — still maintains some modesty.

- Capsule reviews of films opening this week:

"Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" — It's post-Katrina New Orleans and there are snakes in the water — none bigger than Terence McDonagh (Nicolas Cage), an exceptionally corrupt detective, who slinks through town snorting coke, smoking heroin, harassing women and brandishing a .44 Magnum stuffed in the front of his pants. "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" is a kind of remake of Abel Ferrara's 1992 cult classic "Bad Lieutenant," which was set in New York and starred Harvey Keitel in a similar role. Director Werner Herzog has summoned the sensational spirit of the original while making something fresh and gloriously insane. Cage dives headlong into the madness, and it's plain fun to see the actor give himself so fully to a character after several years of mostly forgettable action movies. The film keeps closer to the original's plot than one might want of a movie by a highly skilled director. And the ending feels like a forced, extra dose of Herzog mania. But it has a pulse, and it's a marvel to watch. R for drug use and language throughout. 122 minutes. Three stars out of four.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Penelope Cruz feels uncomfortable talking about nude scenes and says she has "an allergy to labels," but she becomes effusive when discussing her "dream year" with two special films about to hit theaters.

The first is Spanish director Pedro Almodovar's "Broken Embraces," her fourth collaboration with the filmmaker who helped make her a star, and the second is musical "Nine" from director Rob Marshall, which challenged her voice and her previously little-known dancing skills.

- In the most indelible scene of "Broken Embraces" ("Los abrazos rotos"), Pedro Almodovar's latest vivid melodrama, Penelope Cruz plays dress-up.

As an aspiring actress named Lena, she's testing wardrobe for a film. She quickly turns to the camera in one wig after another, each time flashing the megawatt smile of a silver screen goddess. It might be Lena's first movie, but Cruz has gotten the hang of this.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The director of "An Education" recently lamented, good-naturedly, that she was tired of producers thinking of her for stereotypically female projects.

"Everyone sends me scripts with these sweet stories," said Lone Scherfig. "I've done that already. I want to make a movie with chases and explosions. I want to blow things up."