'Wall Street' sequel comes up short

Wall Street icon Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas)has been in prison for eight years for money laundering, inside trading and securities fraud. During his time behind bars, what was his family has dwindled down to an estranged daughter, Winnie (Carey Mulligan) who blames him for the death of her brother and wants nothing to do with her father. It is now 2008, Gekko is free and looking to get revenge. "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps": Michael Douglas won an Oscar for his portrayal of Gordon Gekko in the 1987 "Wall Street."
Gekko has been cooling his heels in jail. He re-enters society with the overwhelming desire to heal the relationship with his estranged daughter, Winnie (Carey Mulligan). Jake (Shia LaBeouf) is a young trader whose star is rising and whose heart is thumping for Winnie. He also yearns to avenge his mentor's death (Frank Langella) whose demise was caused by Bretton James' (Josh Brolin) ruthless business practices

Gekko is well placed to mutually aid Jake while pulling together all the film's plot contrivances.Viewers expected a cutting- edge financial procedural, but instead got something more like waiting in line at the ATM. The interesting stuff is lost amid an overly long affair.

Viewers commented: "The plot never got exciting," … "An embarrassment to the original," (many) … "Very slow," (many) … "Didn't have any anger that should have been pointed at corporations," (many) and "Bland. Nothing special."
"Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole": Based on the books by Kathryn Lasky, this animated children's epic tells of the young owl Soren (Jim Sturgess), who longs to live in his father's stories of owl warriors fighting against the evil Pure Ones.
An incident with his bother Kludd (Anthony LaPaglia) finds Soren searching with other brave owls for the Great Tree and saving the kingdom. This is only an average children's adventure (73 percent approval).
Viewers reflected: "Good versus evil again," … "Not fast paced enough for most kids," and "Beautiful animation." (many)
"You Again": In this "getting the lovers to the altar" construction, the building materials arrive early.
Marni (Kristen Bell) learns that her brother (James Wolk) is going to marry Joanna (Odette Yustman) who 10 years earlier was her bitter high school nemesis when she was a nerd and not the successful PR person she is today.Joanna's aunt (Sigourney Weaver), we come to find out, was the bitter high school rival of Marni's mom (Jamie Lee Curtis). Reliable grout for the comedy material is provided by the popular resurgence of Betty White whose observations glue together machinations of the warring tribes.
Kristen Chenoweth stands out as the wedding planner. This talent mixture should have produced something better than a disappointing 59 percent approval.

Viewers said: "Instead of being funny, they were annoying," … "I thought Betty White would make it funny, but she didn't help at all," (many) … "Enjoyable. Not as bad as the critics said it was," … "The critics were right, it's awful," and "Funny in parts."

"The Virginity Hit": This crass mockumentary follows the videotaping of four friends and their march to strip one of their ranks of his virginity. Some adolescent potty humor films, like "American Pie" or "Superbad" can be comforting because their filth feels sincere. "Virginity Hit" works too hard at being vulgar and misogynistic, discarding its sense of playfulness along the way.
Moviegoers reflected: "Terrible. The characters weren't the slightest bit funny," (many) … "That was sad," and "Usually I like these films but this one was just no good."
"Lovely, Still": Martin Landau and Ellen Burstyn, two Academy Award winners, star in a little film from director/writer Nik Fackler, whose gentle lighthearted romance becomes a noteworthy drama.The couple awkwardly sorts out their long forgotten dating schema in the gentle romance portion of the film. Hints surface and soon it deals with the insights and losses that accompany a long life's journey.Viewers said: "A good mixture of the funny and sad things about growing old," … "Tender. It was affirming," and "Predictable twist. Very slow."
Douglas, who also has daughter Carys with Zeta-Jones, recently revealed the family moved to New York so that 10-year-old Dylan could attend a special school.
'New York is where we live now. We lived in Bermuda earlier. One of our kids has some special needs and it was recommended he go to a special school in the New York area,' he said.
'Dyslexia runs in the family, even my brother has it. My son goes to a special school. We're old-fashioned parents, our kids have got British nannies and we get nice compliments from people. Our children make us proud,' contactmusic.com quoted Douglas as saying.
'We just want them (kids) to be good citizens of the planet. They're not spoiled or obnoxious. They're well-mannered, confident, pretty worldly,' he added.
Jacob Moore (Shia LaBeouf) is young, loyal and has a strong passion for green energy and a company that is working on turning sea water to energy. He is also an ambitious investment banker at Keller Zabel Investments on Wall Street. Jake's mentor and father figure is the owner of the company, Louis Zabel (Frank Langella). Rumors have surfaced that Keller Zabel is heavy in debt and Louis must go before the Federal Reserve to fight for the life of his company. Bertton James (Josh Brolin), partner of Churchill Schwartz investment firm, stages a hostile takeover and ruins Zabel

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Katherine Heigl Smoke Sticks

Movie queen Katherine Heigl smoked one. Now other alternative-seeking tobacco addicts want one. We have the lowdown on the e-cigarette: where you can get it, what you should expect to pay, what you should consider -- and why it'll save you money over regular cigarettes. Electronic cigarettes are apparently the latest trendy gadgets for smokers trying to quit. The official brand name for one is SmokeStik, and according to the Web site for the product, it works by recreating the entire smoking experience, including an exhaled “smoke-like vapor,” so would-be quitters do not feel as though they are missing out on their cigarette breaks. Apparently the SmokeStik (or eCig) contains no tobacco or tar and is free of over 400 other chemicals in traditional cigarettes that are known to cause cancer. It is also produces no ashes or stubs.

Katherine Heigl’s personal and professional lives collided while making her new romantic comedy “Life as We Know It.”
“I literally became a mother four days before filming began so the whole process of filming and my personal life it’s all on camera,” the actress, who adopted her daughter Naleigh with husband Josh Kelley in September 2009, told Access Hollywood Thursday night at the film’s New York premiere.
The e-cigarette industry has been expecting you. Since Heigl "lit up" her electronic cigarette on The Late Show with David Letterman, visits to e-cigarettedirect.com, which sells the Veppo brand, have increased by 10%, said Keith King, vice president of sales and marketing.Electronic cigarettes are battery-operated, tobacco-free cigarettes that allow users to inhale vapor either with or without nicotine. The vapor is free from tar, carbon monoxide "and hundreds of carcinogens that are found in regular cigarettes," said the e-cigarettedirect.com site copy.
E-cigs are being marketed by many as healthier, odorless alternatives to cigarettes, though few will make an official claim that it helps kick the habit. "I cannot say it's a quitting device," King told WalletPop, though "customers have used it as such."
We don't want to be the buzz kill, but the FDA has tested e-cigarette samples and found that they contained carcinogens and diethylene glycol, an antifreeze element. It is legal to smoke them in public spaces, although some states are reportedly pondering a ban.
Starter kits online generally range from $50 to $140. They usually include an e-cigarette, cartridges that contain the flavor and desired nicotine level, rechargeable batteries and a charger. Among the brands with search-engine popularity are V2, which offers an economy kit for $59.95 "to start upgrading your health" and standard kit for $74.95. ECigarette was one of the few we found that sells only nicotine-free e-cigs, beginning at $129 for the whole package. Dieter Fiebig, founder of ECigarettesUSA.com, wrote on the company website that his wife died of lung cancer at age 41 and perhaps she would have had a different future had she switched to a nicotine-free e-cigarette.
Whatever brand you choose, you can bet the Marlboro Man that you will save money. King used Veppo as an example. The $100 kit delivers the equivalent of 30 packs of cigarettes, he said. That's a little more than $3 a pack. From then on, consumers only need the e-liquid refills, which cost $28.99 and provide another 30 packs' worth. That's less than a dollar a pack. Either scenario amounts to far less than the $6 to $7 a pack cigarettes cost. Veppo also sells a disposable e-cigarette ($13.99) that contains the equivalent of 30 cigarettes. E-cigarettes are sold in stores, too; most manufacturers produce e-cigars as well.
E-cigarette makers are hoping they can exhale at some point after health officials give the product their full attention. Perhaps then could the industry convey a more certain message about the benefits. With the FDA watching like a grandmother ready to scold, the industry is performing a delicate marketing dance. Are e-cigs a lesser evil, healthier alternative or a life-saver? Nobody is saying for sure. Nobody is allowed to say for sure.
At least the e-cigarette already has an unofficial spokeswoman. Heigl, the former Grey's Anatomy regular who now specializes in big-screen romantic comedies from Knocked Up to the upcoming Life as We Know It (Oct. 8), told Letterman as she dragged on her SmokeStik that she tried cold-turkey, the patch, the gum and a drug called Chantix. None of them took.
I was watching an interview clip of Katherine Heigl appearing on the David Letterman show when she got to talking about the trials of giving up smoking. After listing the usual things such as patches and prescription drugs, she pulled out a curious contraption describing it as "an electronic cigarette".
I was convinced it was a joke, but after further investigation I discovered that this is indeed a legitimate invention that uses a battery to heat up liquid nicotine and allows the user to breathe in and out something that looks like smoke. Actually, though, it's harmless water vapour and has been proven to be safer for the user and those around them than tobacco.