Celebrity News and Gossip

Here we have some of the lesser fashion from last night’s Billboard Awards. We’ll have more coming up for you shortly. Taylor Swift was the big winner and took home eight awards! She won for Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, and Female Artist of the Year among others. In this post we’re talking about some of the lesser celebrities and musicians, and who better to start with than engaged Canadian couple Avril Lavigne and Chad Kroeger? Neither of these two was nominated for anything, although Avril was a presenter. She wore her best black leather strapless mini-dress paired with ridiculous black gladiator shoes and a few extra applications of liquid eyeliner. She accessorized with stacks of rhinestone (I’m guessing) bracelets and a giant cocktail ring to balance out her huge pear-shaped engagement ring. These two look perfect for each other, don’t they?

Also in black we have Hayden Panettiere, who was unfortunately not accompanied by her hulk of a man, boxing legend Wladimir Klitschko. We’ve heard for weeks that Hayden and Wladimir are engaged and yet she hasn’t been wearing a ring. They were just spotted together last week, so I’m not suggesting there’s trouble, just that I bet Wladimir isn’t as gung-ho about getting married as sources would like us to believe.

Hayden is in Halston Heritage and that’s a gorgeous dress that flatters her but it’s a little conservative for this event. I love her styling! Check out the little gems in her hair and her very understated blush-colored makeup accented with green eyeshadow. She’s so pretty.

Jennifer Morrison is also in black, showing one of the trends of the night – see through gowns. She’s in a designer I’ve never heard of before, Kristian Aadnevik, and this dress is just awful. It looks like something out of the Fredericks catalog. It’s little more than lingerie with a mesh skirt overlay. Morrison rarely gets it right and needs a new stylist. Something nice – her hair and makeup are well done.

Here’s another see through dress, although this certainly isn’t the last of them – Emmy Rossum in polkadot Zuhair Murad. This long fishtail gown is too fancy and fussy, and it looks bizarre with the mesh paneling. Plus her matronly updo is dragging this look down. She looks hot despite all that though, and I really like her makeup.

Jenny McCarthy wore her best black cotton tank top with a blue cut-out glitter skirt paired with platform ankle boots. Trash to the E. This is actually a whole “look” by Tom Ford. Maybe he’s letting his interns design now that he has a baby at home.

Finally Chloe Moretz, 16, was cute in a Fendi minidress. This dress reminds me of some of Emma Watson’s looks and I really like the bold mix of patterns. It would have worked better with some neutral shoes, those clunky checkerboard shoes are overkill.

photo credit: WENN.com and FameFlynet

Here are the photos from last night’s Cannes premiere of Inside Llewyn Davis, the Coen Brothers’ new film about folk music (sort of). I had forgotten that this film was getting a Cannes premiere, and I bet it was extremely well-received – Cannes loves the Coens. The film stars Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund and the star is Oscar Isaac (as Llewyn Davis). So, obviously, the REAL star is Justin Timberlake. And by that I mean that the real star of the red carpet is JT’s wife Jessica Biel. This is what Biel wore to her first Cannes Film Festival red carpet as Justin’s wife. She wore a terrible Marchesa dress that looks like a swan went through a car wash. I almost feel sympathy for Jessica because of this terrible dress. But then I remember… she had her choice of frocks. She actually wanted to wear this. WHY?! Something nice: I’m glad that we’re no longer staring at those terrible bangs.

Here’s Carey Mulligan in Vionnet (that’s Oscar Isaac beside her). I don’t hate this, and I don’t love it either. It’s like a deconstructed sack dress, right? Totally shapeless. And weird.

Justin Timberlake with Carey… he didn’t walk the carpet with his wife. Because OMG, are we still doing this?! The jig is up. We know you’re married. We saw your stupid People Mag cover for your wedding. Just walk the carpet together. I will give Justin credit for one thing though – his tuxedo is beautiful. He’s one of the most best-dressed men at Cannes.

Kirsten Dunst was there to support her man too. Garrett Hedlund and Kiki didn’t walk the carpet together either, but I’m not as mad at them because they actually do seem to keep their relationship undercover for the most part. Kiki wore Michael van der Ham Fall 2013 and it’s very fug and old-ladyish.

Bonus Christoph Waltz! He’s on the jury this year, that’s why he’s there. I like his frames!

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Here are some new photos of Alexander Skarsgard leaving (or entering?) the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills on Saturday. I let my mind wander for a moment and imagined him meeting some sexy young thing for a sultry hotel tryst, but the real story is that he was probably doing a junket in the hotel. Alex has a bunch of new stuff coming out in the coming months – The East AND What Maisie Knew are getting limited releases in May, and “True Blood” is about to start. So Alex is probably doing nonstop press. As for his outfit… he looks comfortable, and that sweater looks especially soft (I want to rub myself on it), but his casual style is always lacking for me.

When Alex was doing press for What Maisie Knew recently, he talked about why he signed on for the movie – basically, it was a chance for him to work with a child actor and experience on-screen fatherhood.

There are no fangs for Alexander Skarsgard in his new movie “What Maisie Knew” and, without making too much of a pun, that’s the point. For the 6-foot-4-inch Swedish actor best known for his role in the HBO series “True Blood” as 1,000-year-old Viking vampire sheriff and local bar owner Eric Northman, this update of Henry James’ novel was intriguing precisely because it was a challenge.

As Lincoln, Skarsgard is a working stiff who marries Susanna (Julianne Moore), a rich, famous and bitterly divorced rock star. Lincoln doesn’t realize he’s merely a pawn in her custody battle for Maisie, the 6-year-old daughter she doesn’t want — but whom she doesn’t want her ex (Steve Coogan) to have.

“What got me excited,” Skarsgard, 36, said last week from Los Angeles, “was there’s a sweetness I was drawn to.

“I love how he’s being stuck with this kid and falls in love with her. Lincoln’s someone who doesn’t take care of himself or anyone else, and Maisie takes care of Lincoln and he grows in the process.”

James’ turn-of-the-century tale was written “as a reaction to what was going on with capitalism and industrialization as people were becoming more focused on their careers and neglected their kids.”

“To set it in modern-day New York — it’s interesting how relevant the novel still feels. You see that so much today, where parents will let the PlayStation or television or computer raise their kids.”

Skarsgard has yet to become a father but “I love kids, I want to have kids,” he said.

“I come from a very big household and dad” — Stellan Skarsgard of “Good Will Hunting” — “has two young boys with his new wife. Growing up, my cousins lived in the same house and there were six of us, so that’s what I’m used to.”

As for the buzz that Skarsgard will be the next big screen Tarzan, “It’s a phenomenal character but obviously a big film and it’s going to take some time at Warner Brothers” before Edgar Rice Burroughs’ king of the jungle is actually given a green light, he said.

[From The Boston Herald]

Alex is 36 years old right now, he’ll turn 37 in August. If he wants kids, I would say he should start soon, although Hollywood men make their own rules about this sort of thing. But how cute would it be to see Alex with a little Viking baby in his arms? It would be better than Chris Hemsworth’s pap walks, I think. So, who wants to let Alex get them pregnant? Come on!

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

CB & I went to see Star Trek Into Darkness this weekend! It was really good. I think we both liked it a lot. I think CB disagreed when I started bitching about the politics and economics of the Star Fleet though. Like, I just can’t see how a League of Nations-type Star Fleet justifies its expenditures purely for peaceful exploration purposes (hippies in space!). I can only see a NATO-type organization spending that kind of money under the condition that space will be militarized, like the Star Fleet as Earth-defense. You’d be surprised how that argument relates to Star Trek Into Darkness.

Anyway, it seems that many people agreed with the critics and STID “won” the weekend box office, although it didn’t make as much as box-office watchers were predicting. Analysts claimed STID would make $80-100 million opening weekend in North America, and it made $84.1 million IF you include IMAX showings which started on Wednesday. CB & I saw it on 3D, and it was good although I don’t think the 3D really added that much to the experience. That being said, it’s a big, enjoyable action/sci-fi movie and I’m sure it will rake in something like $600 million worldwide. STID cost $190 million to make, and God knows how much they spent to promote it. So it will make a lot of money, for sure, and everybody is really happy that the film is already so successful overseas. They’ll definitely make a third film.

The rest of this weekend’s box office: Iron Man 3 made $35.2 million in its third week (this is just in North American receipts), then The Great Gatsby with $23.4 million, then Pain & Gain with $3.1 million.

My mini-review of STID, with SPOILERS:

STID was a very enjoyable film and the plot was pretty cohesive, although there were some plot points which could have been better explained, especially in the third act when it seemed like (spoiler!) a bunch of civilians were killed in a Star Fleet catastrophe on earth and those lost lives were barely acknowledged. I also thought the political/military message got sort of convoluted – like, one character wants the Star Fleet to have “first strike” capabilities and I don’t understand why that’s a bad thing.

It also felt like there was supposed to be some strong emotional attachment to some of the characters (Kirk and that father-figure dude played by Bruce Greenwood) and it just seemed like… boring boy drama. Like, I didn’t care at all. I ended up thinking that Kirk was kind of dull and vanilla, but I guess that’s the problem with playing the lead character in these kinds of films – everybody else gets to be quirky and weird and Kirk only gets a few wisecracks.

Obviously, Benedict Cumberbatch was amazing, but I was expecting that. What pleasantly surprised me was how good he was at being a very physical villain. Like, he was BIG. And strong. And he was leaping around and doing crazy stunts and he managed to be delicious and creepy and scary and HOT all at the same time. It helped that this film was literally the best he’s ever looked on camera. His hair looked amazing. His extra muscle weight worked. His skin was lovely. They shot him from certain angles to make him look like he had a chin. It was great!

The real surprise for me was how much I enjoyed Zachary Quinto’s Spock. Quinto really kills it as Spock – he’s funny and interesting and immensely watchable. Spock is the real star! Karl Urban as Bones annoyed me, and I hate to say it, but Simon Pegg’s Scotty annoyed me too. I didn’t mind Zoe Saldana at all (shocking), John Cho (Sulu) was lovely and my candidate for WORST performance was Anton Yelchin doing an especially hokey Russian accent as Chekov. Alice Eve was a snooze, and if she gets with Captain Kirk in the next movie, they will be the most boringly vanilla couple ever.

Photos courtesy of WENN.