December 21, 2007

Slipping back into the big screen after his last effort in 2004's "Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid", Dwight H. Little has been appointed to direct "Tekken", an adaptation of Namco's bestselling video game of the same name.

A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Little appears to be no stranger to martial arts features, being the helmer of "Rapid Fire" and "Marked for Death" in early 1990s. Hired for the project, he thereby will carry out the duties from the script written by Alan McElroy, known for his recent works like "Wrong Turn" and "The Marine."

Having to face serious charges for allegedly shooting an acquaintance, Remy Ma might have to cancel her European tour. The problem arose after the request of the hip-hopper to travel Europe for a five-country concert tour has been denied.

On Thursday, December 21, in New York City, Manhattan State Supreme Court Justice Rena Uviller said that the 26-year-old rapper could not leave the United States because of her criminal charges. Uviller stood on her decision though Ma's attorney, Ivan Fisher, told her that the tour would gave earn Ma as much as 40,000 dollars which she needed because she weren't able to make any booking or recording contracts after her arrest.

Included on People's list of the Sexiest Men Alive of 2007 has led Patrick Dempsey to score a deal to be the new face of fashion house Versace's 2008 men's spring/summer line. And both achievements now earn him another title that is "Star of the Year."

The movie hunk, who's best known for his portrayal as Dr. Derek Shepherd on ABC's "Grey's Anatomy", was named People Magazine's Star of the Year on Thursday, December 20 after a stellar year, off and on screen.

More are coming to enlarge the "G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra" brigade. The Hollywood Reporter has brought up casting info stating Rachel Nichols, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and Said Taghmaoui have all joined the movie's lineup alongside previously-announced Sienna Miller and Ray Park.

Nichols, fresh from her role in "P2", is reported to play a skilled martial artist named Scarlett who specializes in hand-to-hand combat and counterintelligence. Akinnuoye-Agbaje, known as Mr. Eko in ABC's hit series "Lost", will portray ordnance expert Heavy Duty with Taghmaoui billed as Breaker, the team's communications specialist.

Kevin Federline is back on the single market again. The father of two is said to have ended his romance with girlfriend Nicole Narain.

Has been dating the Playboy Playmate since September, K-Fed reportedly is reluctant to embark on a serious relationship so soon after his divorce from Britney Spears.

Lining up a star-studded cast, filmmakers of "The Secret Life of Bees" have successfully got the likes of Jennifer Hudson, Queen Latifah, and Sophie Okonedo to all star in the project, an adaptation of Sue Monk Kidd's novel of the same name.

Story, set in 1964, follows a teenage girl named Lily Owens as she runs away from her father with her caregiver and only friend to a South Carolina town, where she is later taken in by an eccentric trio of beekeeping sisters. Hudson is set to play the caregiver while Latifah and Okonedo will become two of the three sisters.

Rivalry between two lauded features of "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood" takes a notch higher as both made a tie at Las Vegas Film Critics Society's Sierra Awards this year.

Each film gloriously collected three honors with "Country" snatching top prize of Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor for Javier Bardem, and Best Director for brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. "Blood", in the meantime, won leading star Daniel Day-Lewis the Best Actor while bringing Robert Elswit and Jonny Greenwood the Best Cinematography and Score trophy, respectively.

Convinced that her ex-husband Kevin Federline is exposing sons Sean Preston and Jayden James to marijuana, Britney Spears wants the siblings to be tested for drugs.

"Britney believes Kevin's been smoking pot in front of the kids," a friend of the pop singer told Life & Style. "She says she can smell it in the boys' hair and on their clothes when she has her visitation with them."

While rumors are mounting that Jamie Lynn Spears and her boyfriend Casey Aldridge "want to get married really bad," there comes a new speculation that the pair are no longer together. Life & Style brought out the claim that the parents-to-be are on the rocks.

The publication quoted a Spears family insider as saying that Jamie and Casey are not seeing each other.

Making a quick move after recently releasing the first poster for the movie, Lionsgate Films has now launched a teaser trailer for "The Forbidden Kingdom", which marks the first on-screen collaboration between Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

Starts off with a rather comical shot on Michael Angarano as Jason Williams, the trailer takes exciting turn on its final third, boasting arguably great martial arts sequences, particularly from Li in his role of enigmatic and skillful monk Lan Cai He.

Jessica Alba has followed up news of her pregnancy with a secret engagement.

The actress is said to have engaged to her on-off boyfriend Cash Warren.

Returning to his genre roots after his directing stints in three "Spider-Man" films, Sam Raimi is set to take helming duties in a supernatural thriller feature entitled "Drag Me to Hell", Variety has revealed.

A morality tale about the unwitting recipient of a supernatural curse, the project has already had its script written by Raimi and his brother Ivan Raimi. The prominent filmmaker will also serve as producer alongside Robert Tapert and Grant Curtis with production to begin early next year.

Being released by his records company earlier this year, Sony Music, DMX has signed a deal with Bodog Entertainment. According to the official site of the firm, the rapper will release his new album, "Walk With Me Now" and "You'll Fly With Me Later" with the online gaming company.

Regarding his joining Bodog, DMX released a statement. In it, he expressed his relief by stating, "I'm thankful for the fact that Bodog believes in me, that we share the same vision and the fact that they see in me the same thing I see. I'll show you [Bodog Music] how it's supposed to be done, and we'll get to where we're supposed to be. You got a dog for life."

Recently issued a denial over the widely-reported cheating allegation, Tony Parker is now aiming for legal proceedings. The basketball player has on Wednesday, December 19 filed a lawsuit in L.A. County Superior Court against X17online, suing the celebrity gossip Website for publishing such reports he claimed as false and the text messages that alleged he cheated on wife Eva Longoria with French top model Alexandra Paressant.

In his lawsuit, Parker alleged that X17 never contacted him, Eva, or either of their representatives before running the stories, and worse refused to retract them after being told the claims were false.

Fans of the cigar-smoking, red-bodied superhero should be more than delighted now that the first trailer for "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" has finally been unleashed onto the net by Universal Pictures.

Running way over two minutes, the piece arguably points out that everything has been made better than the first film installment back in 2004. Tons of monster are featured in along with arguably greater action sequences.

Young, famous, rich and pregnant Jamie Lynn Spears is aiming for respect as she's about to become a young mother. Hot on the heels of her shocking pregnancy revelation, the expectant actress is reported to have inked a deal with OK! Magazine to appear in a photo shoot with her baby when it is born. The deal reportedly worth $1 million.

Jamie, who didn't get paid for her recent interview with the publication concerning her pregnancy revelation, has struck a deal over her not-yet-born baby's pics. It's her mother Lynne Spears who arranged the deal with OK! hoping that the magazine would treat Jamie Lynn with the same respect that it showed Britney Spears earlier this year when she melted down during one photo shoot.

Michael Jackson's best selling album, "Thriller", has been announced to be one of the newest addition to the Grammy Hall of Fame by the Recording Academy on Wednesday, December 19. It was listed among the 70 recordings that will be added to the Hall of Fame, including Lynyrd Skynyrd's rock classic "Free Bird!", The Beatles' "Help!", and Willie Nelson's country hit "Always On My Mind".

"Thiller", which was released on December 1, 1982, is Jackson's sixth studio album and his most popular album. In fact, it was the record that made the King of Pop well-known. Guinness World of Records believed that it was the best selling album of all time as it said to be sold over 104 million units and is one of three albums that remained in the top 10 of Billboard 200 for one full year.

Completed the voting from its two randomly selected panels which each comprises of 2,100 members, Screen Actors Guild finally listed out nominations for the 14th edition of its SAG Awards on December 20, 2007 at the Pacific Design Center's Silver Screen Theater in West Hollywood.

Announced by actors Jeanne Tripplehorn and Terrence Howard, the substantial labor union made surprising decision by hailing road movie "Into the Wild" as the top contender with four nods in total. Trailing behind are "Michael Clayton" and "No Country for Old Men" which each score three mentions, including that in best supporting actor category.

Already becoming a father of one, Jack Black is about to be father for the second time. The funnyman's wife Tanya Haden is reportedly pregnant with the couple's second child.

No other details about the pregnancy though nor do the couple issued a statement about the report.

Josh Groban has just broken CD sales records with his Christmas album "Noel" on Wednesday, December 19. According to Nielsen SoundScan data, "Noel" became the first Christmas album that stays in the number one position on the Billboard Top Ten for four consecutive weeks selling 669,661 albums in this past week ended December 16.

Groban's album has succeeded in becoming the second Christmas album that spent a total of four weeks at number one tying with the record made by Elvis Presley's "Elvis' Christmas Album". Still, Groban has managed to surpass the old record made by Elvis' Christmas Album since though spending four weeks at #1, the latter album only spent three consecutive weeks at the peak position.

Jennifer Love Hewitt's recent response to media's criticism over her curvier body has indeed impressed Playboy Magazine bosses that they offered her a chance to bare all for the publication, which she, sad to say, immediately turned down.

Being approached by Playboy's boss Hugh Hefner to pose naked in an upcoming issue of the publication, the movie beauty was "flattered" by the offer, but turned it down.