Entertainment [4]

By Paul Tatara CNN Reviewer

HEAD: 'Storytelling' at Sundance with Todd Solondz SUBHEAD: Controversial director hits themes head-on

A neck-and-neck presidential campaign was in its final months, Firestone was frantically recalling millions of tires, and flames were ravaging the western United States.

R&B balladeers top the charts. Punk rappers top the charts. Boy bands and Britney Spears top the charts.

It was the early 1980s, and Nashville was a sleepy place.

The chilly twilight of Saturday evening finds Sundance Film Festivalgoers getting ready for this year's awards ceremony. But among those who already have drawn perhaps more than their share of recognition is Pete Jones.

Director Miguel Arteta and writer/actor Mike White gained note and notoriety for Chuck and Buck -- their critically acclaimed low-budget feature film -- at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival.

Barbara Kopple is widely considered one of the finest living documentary filmmakers.

There came a time, Kirk Douglas says, when he didn't want to go on.

He is the Mrs. Olson of high-tech, the Maytag repairman of motherboards, the Mr. Whipple of the computer world. He's the latest hot commercial pitchman, with a jargon not unfamiliar to Bill and Ted of Excellent Adventure fame -- or his high school-age fans.

Gentlemen (and ladies), start your engines. This week's DVD releases are full of fast cars and thrilling action.

One of the greatest American comedies of all time comes to DVD this week: M*A*S*H, directed by the incomparable Robert Altman, perhaps the best antiwar movie ever made. We'll also check out the original Rat Pack Ocean's Eleven, the story of Army buddies who pull off a major heist in Las Vegas.

Richard Gere is reluctant to discuss the climactic scene involving the collapse of a bridge in his new film, The Mothman Prophecies.

The independent film community has been preparing for the Salt Lake City Olympics nearly as long as some figure skaters -- or at least since the Utah city began its bid to host the sports extravaganza.

They've been paying homage to show business for more than a half-century. But it wasn't until 1958 that the Golden Globe Awards truly went Hollywood.

London's longest-running musical, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats, is to close in May after 21 years and 9,000 performances.

Mandy Moore is blond no more.

You might figure Donald Bellisario would have welcomed the intense scrutiny the Supreme Court underwent during the presidential election standoff.

With the end of the 2002 Sundance Film Festival in sight, attendees are wondering when the cream will rise.

Philip Seymour Hoffman's first trip to the Sundance Film Festival was partly a family matter.

Nicole Kidman is on a roll. The Others and Moulin Rouge -- both released in 2001 -- were very different films that brought the former Mrs. Tom Cruise high acclaim. Her latest film, Birthday Girl, once again displays her astounding range.

With Charlotte Gray, Director Gillian Armstrong has made a glossy wartime soap opera that's oddly allergic to bubbles.

Scathingly funny and deliciously wicked, Gosford Park is without a doubt Robert Altman's best film in more than a decade. In fact, it's one of the best films of 2001.

Kevin Reynolds' film adaptation of Alexander Dumas' classic novel, The Count of Monte Cristo is an unexpectedly entertaining slice of old-fashioned swashbuckle, the kind of sweeping, periodically absurd picture that was cranked out on an assembly line in the 1940s.

The Mothman Prophecies, starring Richard Gere and Laura Linney, could be dismissed as a big-screen version of a combination of two TV shows: The X-Files and Early Edition. But while it employs the former's tone and the latter's plot twists, Mothman is actually a rather ambitious film that works more often then it doesn't.

Smash Mouth Smash Mouth Interscope Records

Jay's Journal of Anomalies By Ricky Jay Farrar, Straus & Giroux Non-fiction 216 pages

Money, Money, Money By Ed McBain Simon & Schuster Fiction 269 pages

I Am Sam is heartbreaking, uplifting, brilliantly acted, and profoundly moving. The fact that the story is utterly implausible has to be set aside. Fortunately for the movie, Sean Penn -- once again proving he's one of America's finest actors -- stars in the title role, and his performance makes the film.

Marching Through Peachtree By Harry Turtledove Baen Books Fantasy 416 pages

Black Hawk Down, the new film about the disastrous 1993 humanitarian mission in Somalia, isn't a documentary, but moviegoers might be forgiven for believing it is.

It's not unusual -- in fact, it's expected -- for the Sundance Film Festival to feature films with disturbing subject matter that resonates directly with some people.

The Andrew Lloyd Webber roller-skating musical Starlight Express is to close in London on Saturday after 7,406 performances and being seen by more than eight million people.

All week long, Sundance 2002 seemed to be searching for an identity. In the end, it turned out to be about exactly what the Sundance Institute has been promoting since its inception 20 years ago -- originality and diversity.

It was a beautiful night at the Golden Globe Awards for A Beautiful Mind, as the film won best drama, best actor, best supporting actress and best screenplay at the 59th annual edition of the laid-back Hollywood lovefest.

The first Lord of the Rings release, one of a series of three, was named best picture of the year Saturday at the American Film Institute awards -- offering what may be an early glimpse of likely Oscar contenders.

A long, divisive election for the Screen Actors Guild isn't over yet.

Eighties pop star Adam Ant, famed for his chart-topping hits Prince Charming and Stand and Deliver, has been charged with assault and possessing a firearm after an alleged incident in a London pub.

Eighties pop star Adam Ant faces assault and weapons charges after a scuffle in a London pub, police say.

The announcement Tuesday of Screen Actors Guild Award nominations failed to make Oscar predictions any more certain in an awards season that has yet to produce the usual front-runners.

Bond is back!

Eighties pop star Boy George began a new stage in his career as he launched the world premiere of his autobiographical musical.

Former CBS, NBC and ABC anchor Connie Chung made the jump from broadcast to cable news Wednesday, inking a contract with CNN to host an hourlong, prime-time news and interview show from New York.

Singer Aaliyah, who reached number one in the UK charts with a single released after her death, has been knocked from the top spot by George Harrison, who died in November.

Film director Robert Altman, fresh from winning a Golden Globe award, didn't even get a nomination Tuesday from the Directors Guild of America.

Elizabeth Wurtzel would seem like the kind of person who has it all. A talented writer, a graduate of Harvard, author of the bestsellers Prozac Nation and Bitch, she's had a lot of success though only in her mid-30s.

Britain's EMI Group's Virgin Records label is to pay U.S. pop diva Mariah Carey $28 million to end her recording contract.

Drummer Jon Lee from the Welsh rock band Feeder has been found dead in his U.S. home after apparently committing suicide, according to a British-based spokesman for the band.