Pitt Film Booed, Audience Fells 'Tree'

CANNES -- Ending a prolonged waiting game, Terrence Malick’s "The Tree of Life" finally made its way to the Cannes Film Festival, where it was met Monday with scattered boos, an initial round of applause and then a growing chorus of appreciative reviews.

The Palais was packed full of press, who pushed and shoved to secure a seat for the 8:30 a.m. screening that marked the official bow of the movie, which the festival had originally hoped to screen last year only to be told at the time that it was not ready.

And even before the final credits rolled on the elusive director’s 138-minute meditation on the meaning of life, the rush to judgment began.

With the film’s final, ambiguous image still lingering on the screen, a number of vociferous boos rained down from the balcony, while scattered applause broke out on the floor of the festival’s main theater.

"Life," which Malick has been nurturing for years, defies easy categorization: At its center is the evocative tale of a family in Texas in the '50s: The disappointed, disciplinarian dad is played by Brad Pitt, while Jessica Chastain floats through the movie as the comforting and consoling mom. Sean Penn is seen, relatively briefly, in framing sections as one of their sons, grown up, troubled, and wandering through high rises in Houston...More

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Jackson Crashes And Burns in Last Game

In an embarrassing display that will have Lakers coach Phil Jackson happily saying "good riddance" to both his team and the NBA in general, Los Angeles frittered away its chance at extending its second-round series with Dallas on Sunday. Terrible defense, middling effort, lazy offense and a thuggish finish all marked Jackson's last game as an NBA coach. Lakers big men Andrew Bynum(notes) and Lamar Odom
(notes)
were both ejected after needless flagrant fouls, Dallas won 122-86, and even a deficit like that doesn't really showcase how one-sided this game was.

Ignoring years of evidence that points to the fact that the Lakers' offense is always at its best when it encompasses ball movement and the usual hallmarks of the team's triangle offense, Kobe Bryant(notes) came
out gunning to start the contest. Bryant was hitting to start, but he finished with 17 points on 18 shots in the loss...More

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Lindsay Cleans Up After the Dead

As a result of being found in violation of probation, Lindsay Lohan will be collecting trash, emptying trash bins, mopping floors and cleaning windows and restrooms at the L.A. County Department of Coroner's facility.

"She won't be handling any dead bodies but she'll certainly see them,” Coroner Assistant Chief Ed Winter tells People of the actress, 24, who also has been ordered to complete 360 hours of service at the Downtown Women's Center, a homeless shelter located in L.A.'s Skid Row.

Lohan must enroll in the two programs within a week and has a year to complete them, according to People.

The actress – who previously completed a DUI morgue program following her second drunk-driving conviction 2007 – remains free on $75,000 bail (she was sentenced to 120 days behind bars Friday)...More

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A Wafer Indeed, Blows It for Celtics

...With the Celtics and the lowly Washington Wizards locked in a close game with three minutes left in overtime, Wafer took a pass from Carlos Arroyo(notes) on the perimeter and cut through
the Washington defense for an open dunk. Except, instead of just putting it in like a normal person, Wafer decided it was time to score with style and tried to force the ball through the net with all his strength. It did not work, which Wafer didn't realize. So, like any champion, he decided to celebrate after the play. As Wafer congratulated himself, the ball bounced back out to Jermaine O'Neal(notes) near the block. Wafer, still not realizing he'd failed the dunk, turned to run back up the court and ran smack into O'Neal. Dazed by the blow, O'Neal fell away from the basket and dribbled as a reflex. This, of course, was a double-dribble, which gave the ball back to the Wizards. The Celtics went on to lose the game by one point, 95-94.

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Chris Brown Explodes Over Questions About His Explosions

Here we go again: The kinder, gentler Chris Brown hit a serious snag on his road to redemption today by reportedly flipping out on the set of Good Morning America. His fit of rage was allegedly set off by a series of questions regarding his physical altercation with Rihanna in 2009 (he was later sentenced to anger management classes and community labor in exchange for a guilty plea to assault). According to TMZ, Brown had an off-camera meltdown following his performance and interview with Robin Roberts, smashing a window in his dressing room with a chair and sending shattered glass falling onto the streets of Manhattan. Brown was also shouting so loudly backstage that he scared hair and makeup people and security had to be called.

Roberts first questioned Brown about a recent legal victory -- the restraining order that required him to stay away from Rihanna was softened -- but Brown attempted to bring the conversation back to his new album, F.A.M.E., which was released today. Roberts then used a query about the acronym behind F.A.M.E. -- Forgive All My Enemies -- as a launch pad for another Rihanna question.

"Definitely this album is what I want people to talk about and not this stuff that happened two years ago," Brown reiterated, awkwardly but calmly. Roberts later said that everything she asked Brown on camera was pre-approved by the singer before the interview...More

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Double Sheen Fail: Network Fires Star of Its Top Show by Text

Charlie Sheen has blasted his former bosses at "Two and a Half Men" after they fired him on Monday afternoon.

In his first interview since learning the news, Sheen told Access Hollywood's Billy Bush that his former bosses at Warner Bros. Television, which produces the show, did not contact him to break the news - he found out via technology.

"I got a text or something. Here's another thing -- these guys are such yellow cockroaches that they didn't even have the decency to call me. I put 5 bill[ion] in their cheap suit pockets and another half a bil' in what's-his-cheese's pockets and this is the... respect I get?" Sheen told Bush. "It's just deplorable and they should be ashamed of themselves!"

Sheen blamed his firing - not on his recent media onslaught - but on his former bosses not understanding the actor.

"Whatever. I guess if you can't process a guy, or realize his value, you must terminate him," Sheen told Bush. "That's real high-brow thinking, really evolved thinking. I don't know. It is what it is. I'm more worried about my children [Bob and Max] right now than any of this nonsense, you know."

Sheen confirmed to Bush that he plans to move forward with potential legal action against his bosses for breach of contract...More

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FOX Anchor Blows it on Ron Paul

On Tuesday, Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer asked Ron Paul to respond to the chorus of boos that greeted news the insurgent small-government Texas congressman had won the Conservative Political Action Conference's presidential straw poll for the second year in a row. There was just one problem with Hemmer's question: The vocal chorus of boos didn't come from last week's 2011 CPAC as the network claimed; rather those boos were from the 2010 conference. Paul supporters have claimed that Fox News—which some might expect to promote an establishment Republican over the anti-establishment Paul—intentionally aired the wrong footage to place Paul in a negative light against runner-up Mitt Romney...More

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Christina Goofs Up National Anthem

Perhaps she was too concerned with breaking Patti LaBelle's record for turning single-syllable words into entire paragraphs during the singing of "The Star-Spangled Banner," but noted ex-teen queen Christina Aguilera botched the national anthem something fierce before the Super Bowl. Aguilera started out all right, but she had a problem with the ramparts -- specifically, the "O'er the ramparts we watched" line, which she left out altogether...Video

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