Movie News & Gossip

LOS ANGELES - For most of the last century, the Disney 'toon heroine was as white as, well... Snow White, the studio's first feature-film superstar, who marked her debut in 1937's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."

It would take some 60 years for the Disney artists to begin painting their leading ladies with all the colors of the wind, including the American Indian Pocahontas (1995), the Chinese Mulan (1998) and the Hawaiian Lilo (2002).

LOS ANGELES - Dramas featuring "Twilight" star Kristen Stewart, Natalie Portman and "The Sopranos" co-stars James Gandolfini and Edie Falco are in the hunt for awards at the Sundance Film Festival.

Robert Redford's independent-film showcase next month includes director Jake Scott's New Orleans drama "Welcome to the Rileys," which co-stars Gandolfini and Stewart. Falco is among the cast of Eric Mendelsohn's suburban drama "3 Backyards," while Portman stars alongside Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Rainn Wilson in Spencer Susser's family tale "Hesher."

BERN, Switzerland - After more than two months in a Swiss jail, Roman Polanski will be placed under house arrest at his Alpine chalet on Friday, authorities said.

The 76-year-old director must stay in the house and wear an electronic bracelet as officials decide whether to extradite him to the U.S. for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl, the authorities said.

LONDON - When it comes to Hollywood stars, Britain's prime minister can't tell a Reese from a Renee.

Gordon Brown was asked in the House of Commons to congratulate Reese Witherspoon, who visited Parliament Wednesday in her role as a campaigner against domestic violence.

- Capsule reviews of films opening this week:

"Brothers" — Jim Sheridan's remake of the acclaimed 2004 Danish film "Brodre," has aspirations for "Deer Hunter" territory — a minor-key examination of the cost blue-collar families pay for war. Where "Deer Hunter" was epic in its reach, "Brothers" never really leaves the front yard. While Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) is held prisoner by the Taliban in Afghanistan, his wife (Natalie Portman), thinking he's dead, befriends Sam's brother, Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal). When Sam returns, damaged from a traumatic experience, his rage boils over. It's a simple story and "Brodre" had a lyrical quality, a poetry lacking in Sheridan's sleeker, more sentimental film. "Brothers" can't preserve the intimacy of the original, and the loosened characters slide into cliche despite noble intentions. R for language and some disturbing violent content. 110 minutes. Two stars out of four.

WARWICK, R.I. - Oscar-nominated actor James Woods settled a lawsuit against a Rhode Island hospital where his brother, Michael, died, a judge announced Tuesday, after a hospital executive apologized and agreed to start an institute in his brother's name.

The settlement, which also included an undisclosed sum to the Woods family, came in the fourth week of testimony at Kent County Superior Court in the wrongful death lawsuit against Kent Hospital for the 2006 death.

- In Jim Sheridan's "Brothers," it feels like the film's three young stars are playing house.

Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman and Jake Gyllenhaal have all previously played memorable teenage characters and each has maintained a youthfulness into their late 20s and 30s.

LOS ANGELES - The travel adventure "Up," the musical fairy tale "The Princess and the Frog" and the storybook adaptations "Fantastic Mr. Fox" and "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" are competing for top honors at the Annie Awards, exclusively for animated films.

Also in the running for best animated feature are the dark family tale "Coraline," which received a leading 10 nominations, and the Irish adventure "The Secret of Kells."