Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

VegasBeat — Timothy McDarrah: CineVegas Film Festival knows Jack

Let's hope the Los Angeles Lakers win it -- or lose it -- quick.

That way, Jack Nicholson won't have any conflicts June 18, the day he is scheduled to be in Las Vegas to receive the CineVegas Film Festival's Marquee Award.

The NBA playoffs are scheduled to run as late as June 20 (the full schedule is not finalized) and Jack's beloved Lakers are in the Western Conference finals. But odds are that Nicholson will be here, joining an esteemed group of Hollywood stars for various CineVegas activities.

Oscar winner Sean Penn will receive an award, as will directors David Lynch, Wim Wenders, Julian Schnabel and Bruce Connor.

Several films on the festival sked are already generating buzz. Among the most eagerly awaited flicks are "De-lovely," "The Notebook" and "D.E.B.S," which opens the festival June 11.

"D.E.B.S" is a comedy that stars Sara Foster as a plaid-skirted schoolgirl who is groomed by a secret government agency to become the leader of an elite national defense group. The plot twist: She falls for archenemy Jordana Brewster, and the resulting lesbian relationship complicates everything.

Nick Cassavettes' "The Notebook" follows a young couple who meet in their teens and are reunited after World War II. The youthful couple are played by Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling; their aged versions are played by Gena Rowlands and James Garner.

"De-lovely," directed by Irwin Winkler, is a "love story about the incredibly prolific and successful songwriter Cole Porter, who led two lives," according to the CineVegas listing.

Tickets are available to all CineVegas events starting Monday at the Brenden Theatres box office at the Palms, online at Cinevegas.com or by phone at (702) 992-7916.

Residents, however, can get a jump. At 10 a.m. Saturday a limited amount of Local Filmlovers Passes (good for nearly every film, tribute and premiere event) and tickets to individual screenings will be available.

The complete schedule is available starting today on the CineVegas Web site, www.cinevegas.com.

TV party

KVVU Channel 5 earned the most local news Emmy nominations of Las Vegas stations with nine nods, it was announced Tuesday.

Its morning show with Cher Calvin and Josh Talkington and their 10 p.m. broadcast with John Overall and Shelly Bruner both earned best newscast nominations.

The award ceremony for the Southwest Pacific region takes place June 19 in San Diego.

Key man

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, never one to shy away from the Hollywood spotlight, presented the key to the city the other day to Sandra Bullock.

She has been filming "Miss Congeniality 2" around town for the last few weeks.

The presentation took place at a private home that has a good view of the Strip. Bullock, who plays an FBI agent, is doing surveillance work in a scene shot at the home.

She told Goodman that she was gratified how easy it has been to film in Las Vegas, and he delivered his standard line about how the key opens the casino cages at night.

Bullock replied that she'd prefer if it could open the doors to some of the high-end stores at the Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian, where much of the filming has taken place.

Art start

Las Vegas has its First Friday art and cultural celebration. Now Henderson has a Third Thursday.

This week is the debut of the Water Street district festivities. The main event is the Henderson Art Association's "Potluck Show" reception at the Old Town Gallery, 10 W. Pacific Ave.

From 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday there will be live musical entertainment, snacks from Como's restaurant and local artists doing meet-and-greets throughout the area.

'2' tired

According to most reviewers, including this one, "Shrek 2," which opens today, is a typical sequel, meaning that it is not as good as the first.

However, there is plenty to keep grown-ups intrigued -- mainly, picking up on all of the many pop culture, movie and other sly social references woven into the script and the animation.

A cartoonish (literally) Joan Rivers on the Far Far Away red carpet was a highlight.

And the preview audience we saw the movie with at The Orleans the other night howled in recognition and delight when the donkey (Eddie Murphy) offered Robin Leach's signature "champagne wishes and caviar dreams" line when Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers) and wife Fiona (Cameron Diaz) went off to meet her parents.

Wayne star

Los Angeles entertainment reporter Sue Facter tells us that Kathleen and Wayne Newton attracted more attention than anyone else at the 11th annual "Race to Erase MS" gala at the Century Plaza in Los Angeles on Friday night.

Not that it is a surprise to anyone around here, but the Wayne-ster has achieved true icon status, as marked by the scores of other celebs who made their way over to talk to him.

Among the posse paying homage to the Stardust headliner: Tommy Hilfiger, "Las Vegas" star Molly Simms, Michael Chiklis ("The Shield"), Ray Romano, David Lee Roth and Natalie Cole.

VegasBits

Shopper: Anna Kournikova did some window shopping Sunday at Fashion Show mall. The one store that really caught her eye was Meital Grantz's Talulah G boutique. Kournikova, sporting the huge new teardrop pink diamond ring that boyfriend Enrique Iglasias recently gave her, bought "a ton of sexy lingerie and slinky T-shirts," Grantz tells us ...

Sports: Former all-star second baseman Chuck Knoblauch hit the Black Eyed Peas show at Green Valley Ranch Station Casino on Friday night, as did Toronto Raptors star Jalen Rose.

From Sun wires

Piano Man to write books: Billy Joel has agreed to write two children's books for Scholastic, the U.S. publisher of the "Harry Potter" novels.

The first book, "Goodnight My Angel," will be published in September. The picture book will be based on a song of the same name that came out in 1993, as Joel and supermodel Christie Brinkley were divorcing. Joel wrote the song for their daughter, Alexa Ray, who was 7 years old.

Vargas to replace Walters: ABC News on Tuesday appointed Elizabeth Vargas to replace Barbara Walters as co-host of the newsmagazine "20 /20," and hired British celebrity interviewer Martin Bashir for the show.

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