Best bets: ‘Wolverine’ claws way into theaters

Ever wonder how X-Men’s Wolverine came to be? “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” has the answers and a whole lot of Hugh Jackman to boot. If you’ve seen that leaked, unfinished version on the Web, you know that Liev Schreiber co-stars as Sabretooth, while other mutants include Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), Bolt (Dominic Monaghan) and Gambit (Taylor Kitsch). If this film succeeds, get ready for a whole lot more X-Men origins stories. In fact, “X-Men Origins: Magneto” is already in the works. (Opens May 1)

Jim Jarmusch returns with his first film since 2005’s “Broken Flowers,” “The Limits of Control.” Isaach De Bankolé stars as a mysterious loner with criminal intentions. The film co-stars Bill Murray, John Hurt, Gael Garcia Bernal and Paz de la Huerta. Two things you can always count on with Jarmusch: You’ll leave the theater really thinking about what you just saw, and the soundtrack is sure to be great. (Opens May 1 in limited release)

Best bets: ‘Wolverine’ claws way into theaters

Ever wonder how X-Men’s Wolverine came to be? “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” has the answers and a whole lot of Hugh Jackman to boot. If you’ve seen that leaked, unfinished version on the Web, you know that Liev Schreiber co-stars as Sabretooth, while other mutants include Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), Bolt (Dominic Monaghan) and Gambit (Taylor Kitsch). If this film succeeds, get ready for a whole lot more X-Men origins stories. In fact, “X-Men Origins: Magneto” is already in the works. (Opens May 1)

Jim Jarmusch returns with his first film since 2005’s “Broken Flowers,” “The Limits of Control.” Isaach De Bankolé stars as a mysterious loner with criminal intentions. The film co-stars Bill Murray, John Hurt, Gael Garcia Bernal and Paz de la Huerta. Two things you can always count on with Jarmusch: You’ll leave the theater really thinking about what you just saw, and the soundtrack is sure to be great. (Opens May 1 in limited release)

Japanese pop star Kusanagi arrested for indecency

TOKYO (AFP) – A pop star with ageing Japanese boy band SMAP was arrested for public indecency, police said, amid reports he was naked, drunk and acting erratically in a central Tokyo park.

Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, 34, was arrested early in the morning near the Roppongi nightclub district after a local resident alerted police, a police spokesman said.

Television stations reported the arrest by flashing bulletins usually reserved for earthquakes and other major events, while television helicopters filmed the park from the air after sunrise.

Public broadcaster NHK placed a breaking news headline over its live footage of a parliamentary session on Japan's measures to fight Somali pirates.

"What's wrong with being naked?" Kusanagi reportedly yelled at a police officer who approached him.

The incident infuriated Communications Minister Kunio Hatoyama, whose ministry has featured Kusanagi in its campaign to promote the 2011 start of nationwide terrestrial digital broadcasting.

"If the report is true, I'm immensely angry... I'll drop him off everything related to terrestrial digital broadcasting," he told reporters. "I'll never forgive him."

Boy band SMAP gained fame from the early 1990s and became hugely popular in Japan and elsewhere in Asia with a string of chart-topping hits.

Its members have used their fame to get roles in television dramas and movies, and Kusanagi has starred in films and featured in many commercials.

In South Korea, he is better known as "Cho Nan Kang" and liked for his good command of the Korean language.

SMAP, one of many successful pop groups formed by Japanese talent agency Johnny and Associates, is an acronym for "Sports Music Assemble People."

Tarantino back in Cannes with Almodovar, Campion

PARIS (Reuters) – Quentin Tarantino returns to Cannes as part of a group of familiar faces at the world's biggest film festival that includes Pedro Almodovar, Ken Loach and New Zealand's Jane Campion.

Tarantino, who won the Palme d'Or for "Pulp Fiction" in 1994, presents his long-awaited World War Two caper "Inglourious Basterds" starring Brad Pitt in the main competition line-up announced by festival director Thierry Fremaux on Thursday.

He will be up against previous Cannes winners including Ken Loach, who presents "Looking for Eric" starring Eric Cantona about a postman looking for life lessons from the former France and Manchester United soccer star.

Campion, the first woman to win the Palme d'Or with the 1993 film "The Piano," is showing "Bright Star" about the 19th century English poet John Keats.

Spanish director Almodovar, who has not won the top prize yet, brings an emotional drama called "Broken Embraces," which stars his longtime favorite Penelope Cruz.

The 62nd edition of the festival will open for the first time with an animated feature when "Up," a 3-D comedy directed by one of the creators of "Toy Story," kicks off proceedings at the opening ceremony on May 13.

The red carpet glamour, an essential component of the festival despite its emphasis on independent arthouse fare, will be supplied by stars including Cantona and Cruz, Monica Bellucci and Brad Pitt.

Fremaux acknowledged that the festival could not ignore the global economic crisis but he brushed aside talk of empty hotel rooms and cost-shy studios cutting back on attendance.

"We are all of us going to see a festival that will not be unaware that the world is in crisis," he told a news conference. "We are going to try to make a festival which continues to be what it is," he said.

"We haven't felt the slightest reluctance on anybody's part, anyone saying 'we have to watch out because of the crisis'. I would say that ... more than ever Cannes is the rendezvous for creators and the industry."

The number of past Cannes participants certainly gives a sense of familiarity to the films that will be judged by jury president Isabelle Huppert.

Lars von Trier, who won the Palme d'Or in 2000 for "Dancer in the Dark," is back with "Antichrist" a psychological horror film, while Ang Lee, whose "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was a hit at Cannes in 2000, shows "Taking Woodstock," about the 1960s music festival.

Hong Kong action director Johnnie To brings "Vengeance," which, for French audiences at least, will be spiced up by the participation of veteran Gallic rocker Johnny Hallyday.

Tarantino back in Cannes with Almodovar, Campion

PARIS (Reuters) – Quentin Tarantino returns to Cannes as part of a group of familiar faces at the world's biggest film festival that includes Pedro Almodovar, Ken Loach and New Zealand's Jane Campion.

Tarantino, who won the Palme d'Or for "Pulp Fiction" in 1994, presents his long-awaited World War Two caper "Inglourious Basterds" starring Brad Pitt in the main competition line-up announced by festival director Thierry Fremaux on Thursday.

He will be up against previous Cannes winners including Ken Loach, who presents "Looking for Eric" starring Eric Cantona about a postman looking for life lessons from the former France and Manchester United soccer star.

Campion, the first woman to win the Palme d'Or with the 1993 film "The Piano," is showing "Bright Star" about the 19th century English poet John Keats.

Spanish director Almodovar, who has not won the top prize yet, brings an emotional drama called "Broken Embraces," which stars his longtime favorite Penelope Cruz.

The 62nd edition of the festival will open for the first time with an animated feature when "Up," a 3-D comedy directed by one of the creators of "Toy Story," kicks off proceedings at the opening ceremony on May 13.

The red carpet glamour, an essential component of the festival despite its emphasis on independent arthouse fare, will be supplied by stars including Cantona and Cruz, Monica Bellucci and Brad Pitt.

Fremaux acknowledged that the festival could not ignore the global economic crisis but he brushed aside talk of empty hotel rooms and cost-shy studios cutting back on attendance.

"We are all of us going to see a festival that will not be unaware that the world is in crisis," he told a news conference. "We are going to try to make a festival which continues to be what it is," he said.

"We haven't felt the slightest reluctance on anybody's part, anyone saying 'we have to watch out because of the crisis'. I would say that ... more than ever Cannes is the rendezvous for creators and the industry."

The number of past Cannes participants certainly gives a sense of familiarity to the films that will be judged by jury president Isabelle Huppert.

Lars von Trier, who won the Palme d'Or in 2000 for "Dancer in the Dark," is back with "Antichrist" a psychological horror film, while Ang Lee, whose "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was a hit at Cannes in 2000, shows "Taking Woodstock," about the 1960s music festival.

Hong Kong action director Johnnie To brings "Vengeance," which, for French audiences at least, will be spiced up by the participation of veteran Gallic rocker Johnny Hallyday.

Schwarzenegger says his `Terminator' might be back

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Arnold Schwarzenegger might be back as the Terminator after all, despite his day job as California governor.

Schwarzenegger confirmed in a Webcast interview that his image might appear in next month's "Terminator: Salvation," the fourth movie in the franchise about a showdown between humanity and machines.

The governor says he made it clear he had no time to shoot new footage but that the filmmakers are playing with technology to insert his image from the earlier "Terminator" movies.

Schwarzenegger says he told director McG he will come to the premiere of the movie, which stars Christian Bale as leader of the human resistance against machine conquerors.

Bai Ling cranks up moonstruck life for "High Voltage"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Chinese-American actress Bai Ling really thinks she is from the moon, and that her grandmother lives there. Really, truly.

The actress, who stars in the action movie "Crank High Voltage" that opened on Friday, has made the admission before, and she insists she is not crazy -- just inspired.

"I'm not really in reality. I'm in my own universe and my mind is a million miles somewhere else," said Bai, who won a Golden Horse award, a Chinese-language film honor, for her supporting role in 2004 movie "Dumplings."

"Why I feel like I come from the moon is because my mother told me I was found somewhere," she said, explaining that at night she often sees the grandmother who raised her in the celestial sphere.

During a stay at a mental hospital in China as a teenager, after a difficult spell in the army, Bai said she told the staff that she was of sound mind.

"I went to the nurse, I said, 'Nurse I'm not crazy. I'm an actress, I want to get out of here, I'm doing a movie,'" she told Reuters in a recent interview.

As improbable as it may have seemed at the time, Bai truly was a budding actress. Soon after her release from the hospital, she was cast in a stage play, then went on to win roles in a number of Chinese movies in the 1980s.

So, as impossible as it may seem that she's from the moon and no matter what some moviegoers may say about her sometimes odd fashion choices, she is, nonetheless, a solid actress.

GIRL, CRANKED

Her character in "Crank High Voltage," Ria, is rescued from Chinese thugs by hit man Chev Chelios (Jason Statham), who is on the run from a Mexican gang boss and the Chinese.

The movie is based on 2006 action flick "Crank," which also starred Statham and earned $45 million at global box offices.

Both films come from co-directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. Neveldine, who rolled around on Rollerblades while filming, said Bai was the perfect fit for Ria.

"We loved that she was off the wall, and she's out there," he said. "For us, directing her was about reigning her in, and that's a great thing."

Bai's breakthrough Hollywood role came in 1994 action movie "The Crow." In 1997, she starred in "Red Corner," a film about China's justice system that was banned in that country.

She said she had to apologize to Chinese government officials for "Red Corner," which allowed her to eventually return to the country for movie work.

But she said that one embarrassing mark on her career cannot be erased -- paparazzi photos of her in public wearing clothes that have sometimes left her nipples exposed.

"Sometimes my nipples just popped out, they want to see the sunlight maybe," she said, wearing a turtle-shaped ring.

The actress had to learn English as an adult to make it in Hollywood, a feat that has eluded many leading foreign actors. She attributes her quick study to "pillow talk."

A fan of the opera, she said that she does not prepare for her roles, drawing instead on her openness to life and sublime experiences, like the sight of rain falling from leaves.

"I don't know what's normal or not normal, I'm totally functional in society and I'm totally enjoying being alive in this place and giving my gift to my work," she said.