Movie Review: Disturbia
Shia LaBeouf plays Kale, a teenager who punches his teacher and is sentenced to house arrest. Trapped in his home without X-Box Live or iTunes (yay, product placement), Kale must find entertainment in the outside world. Using binoculars, Kale spies on the neighbors around him, finding a new hot girl next door and a potential serial killer. Paranoia and mix to create a fun thriller, without ever reaching the level of it’s Hitchcock predecessor, Rear Window.
Carl Ellsworth’s (Red Eye) screenplay is not your typical teenage movie. It has smart characters and smart dialogue. While the story is sometimes predictable, and other times ridiculously contrived, Disturbia provides enough laughs and more scares than most of the horror/thriller films from 2006. Who would have thought that D.J. Caruso (Taking Lives) was capable of making an entertaining movie (Steven Speilberg apparently).
One must give credit to Shia LaBeouff, who delivers such an incredible charismatic performance that him stalking a teenage girl next door with binoculars somehow never feels creepy (as it should). Disturbia will have you laughing on the edge of your seat.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Tom Cruise Extorter Commits Suicide
Tom Cruise Extorter Commits Suicide
In a story that’s straight out of left field, “The Sultan of Sleaze” David Schmidt has apparently taken his own life. Authorities found his body in his home this past Friday.
The details of his death are still undisclosed, although according to George Rush of the Daily News gossip column, it wasn’t a huge surprise. Two weeks prior to his suicide, Schmidt had reportedly tried, and failed, to kill himself.
According to Rush, David called him often, as a cry for help. “I did something really stupid. I put a belt around my neck in the shower. Fortunately, it didn’t work,” Schmidt reportedly told Rush.
“He was phoning me every other day,” said Rush. “I kept saying, ‘You got to get yourself some medication.’ He said he was on some, but it just didn’t work for very long.”
Schmidt was under house arrest for attempting to extort $1.3 million from Tom Cruise. He reportedly had some wedding photos that Cruise didn’t want getting released. But after being arrested, and planning to plead guilty to the charges, it became too much to bear.
“I tried to tell him how much he had to look forward to, that there was some publishing interest in a book and he could use his time in prison to write his memoirs,” Rush said. “He had to wear an ankle monitor. He couldn’t leave the house, and there were liens on everything he owned. He was days away from getting stripped of everything.”
Police were worried something was up when Schmidt’s ankle monitor hadn’t moved in hours. They finally checked on him at 3pm Friday afternoon, and found him dead.
Paris Hilton’s Prison Mess
Paris Hilton’s Prison Mess
If you’re keeping score, it’s Judge 2, Sheriff 0. That’s right, Paris Hilton was ordered to go back to jail, and to appear in person for her court hearing on Friday. The sheriff who allowed Hilton to leave early has had his decision revoked by the judge who originally sentenced her.
So Paris spent this past weekend in prison, and there wasn’t much fanfare. She received a visit from her sister Nicky and her ex-boyfriend Stavros Niarchos III. Paris got to spend a little time with them yesterday, which has hopefully calmed her down a bit.
Miss Hilton was a basket case this past Friday when a judge ruled that she was to return to prison rather than serve out her sentence under house arrest. And the sheriff wasn’t too happy about being upstaged.
At a press conference last Friday, Sheriff Lee Baca stood up for himself and his department’s decision to free the heiress, noting that she was a low level offender. He wouldn’t comment on the “severe medical problems” that caused her early release, but did say that there needed to be a “a mental health court judge… to deal with cases just like this.”
And other reports seem to corroborate that Paris was indeed mentally unstable. “She cries all day,” reported a jail source. “She looks unwashed, she has no makeup and her hair is tangled. She cried audibly through the first two nights.”
But justice is tough, even for the rich. “This decision sends the message that no individual—no matter how wealthy or powerful—is above the law. Today, justice was served,” said the city attorney’s office.
As Paris continues her plight in jail, we’ll have the latest for you.
Rapper T.I. and His Girlfriend Expecting a Baby
Rapper T.I. (real name Clifford Harris) and his on again, off again girlfriend Tameka “Tiny” Cottle of the ’90s R&B group Xscape, are expecting another child together, the musician’s rep confirms.
Cottle, 32, recently posted the news that the couple are expecting a baby boy on her personal Myspace page, which has garnered many congratulatory comments from friends and fans.
This will be the fifth child for T.I., 27, and his second with Cottle. The couple are already parents to son King Harris, 3.
News of the pregnancy comes in the middle of T.I.’s house arrest sentence in Georgia for illegal weapons charges. The rapper was arrested last October for allegedly trying to buy machine guns and silencers. He was released on a $3 million bond until the outcome of his trial, which is still pending, but must be under home confinement.
– Jessica Herdon