The actress made her first public appearance Sunday at the awards ceremony, where "Glee" also earned a win for best comedy series.

Glee star Lea Michele made her first public appearance Sunday at the Teen Choice Awards, where the Fox musical was honored as best comedy and the actress won for best actress, dedicating her win to late boyfriend and co-star Cory Monteith.

OUR EDITOR RECOMMENDS

'Glee' Honors Cory Monteith With Sweet Memorial Card (Video)

Fox's Kevin Reilly: 'Glee' Likely to End After Season 6

'Glee' to Write Cory Monteith's Finn Out, Sets PSAs, Charity Fund for Late Actor

Cory Monteith Death: 'Glee' Delays Season Premiere

Cory Monteith Death: 'Glee' Co-Creator Ryan Murphy on Tragedy, Tribute

'Glee's' Lea Michele: 'Cory Will Forever Be in My Heart'

"I just wanted to be here today to personally thank all of you and tell everyone out there how much all of your love and support has meant to me over these very difficult few weeks," an emotional Michele said from the stage at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, Calif.

"I wanted to dedicate this award to Cory. For all of you out there who loved and admired Cory as much as I did, I promise that with your love we're gonna get through this together. He was very special to me and also to the world. And we were very lucky to witness his incredible talent, handsome smile and his beautiful, beautiful heart. So whether you knew him personally or just as Finn Hudson, Cory reached out and became a part of all of our hearts -- and that's where he'll stay forever."

PHOTOS: 'Glee' and 17 Other TV Shows That Lost a Star

Michele's comments come nearly two weeks after the actress broke her silence following Monteith's July 13 death. Monteith, her Glee co-star for four seasons and boyfriend of over a year, died at the age of 31. An autopsy revealed that the actor died of "mixed drug toxicity, involving heroin and alcohol. The actress until Sunday had only issued a brief statement via Twitter thanking the legions of Glee fans for their support.

During Sunday's Teen Choice Awards, Glee's Amber Riley (Mercedes) acknowledged her late co-star while accepting the win for favorite comedy series. "Although we lost someone that we really love and that you guys love, too, we are very fortunate to come back to a show where we feel the love of family, and Cory was like a brother to us."

Fox entertainment chairman Kevin Reilly told reporters during the Television Critics Association's summer press tour that Monteith's Finn will be written out of Glee during the third episode of the show's upcoming fifth season.

"Cory's character will be written off and [it] will deal directly with drug addiction and the circumstances surrounding Cory's death," Reilly said, noting that the cast and creators of the series will film public service announcements about drug addiction. Additionally, proceeds from the third episode of Glee's upcoming fifth season will be donated to a new fund for the late actor. It remains unclear if Monteith's Finn will be killed off on the series co-created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk.

Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy recently told The Hollywood Reporter that the plan is to pay tribute to Monteith -- whom he described as an "older son" -- with a tribute during the show's third episode, assuming he and the producers "can get it perfect."  

PHOTOS: Cory Monteith's Career in Pictures

"The right thing to do for the show, at least at this point, is to have that character pass," Murphy said. "When we do the tribute episode to that character, we'll have to do it in a way where the castmembers will not have to re-create feelings of grief that they’ve had [following Monteith's death] -- but do it in an upbeat way. If we can do this responsibly and help young people through these feelings, that’s the best that we can hope for."

Murphy -- who noted he was taking cues for the show from Michele -- said his team didn't intend to tackle the tribute episode until after the cast gathered to remember their friend and colleague during a recent memorial. Production resumed on Glee's fifth season last week.

Glee's Darren Criss and Pretty Little Liars star Lucy Hale co-hosted the awards, where Glee co-stars Chord Overstreet and Blake Jenner also took home awards. 

Watch the video of Michele's emotional acceptance speech, below. Glee returns Sept. 26 on Fox.

READ MORE:http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/

'Bachelorette' finale: Des gets a proposal

Heartbroken Desiree Hartsock's voice cracked and tears flowed throughout the entire two hours of Monday's Bachelorette finale as she tried to soldier on down the romance path in the wake of Brooks Forester's exit last week.

The bridal stylist started off by giving roses to Drew Siegfried, 27, a digital marketing analyst from Scottsdale, Ariz., and Chris Kenney, 27, a mortgage broker from McMinnville, Ore., even though she had told host Chris Harrison at the start of the show, "I just want to go home, to be honest."

Drew confessed he was ready to propose. "I'm madly in love with her. There isn't one iota of hesitation or doubt," he told cameras. "I can't wait to finally follow through with it."

MORE: And the next 'Bachelor' is ...

But after only a few minutes, weepy Desiree sat him down in the Antigua sand and said, "I feel like maybe there's something missing."

He held her hand and said, "Um, I didn't see this happening."

The more she cried, the more stoic he got. "He said, "This hurts, this hurts a lot. I don't know when it will really sink in.' I guess… bye." He walked off down the beach. "I'm crushed," he confessed.

As former Bachelorette Emily Maynard pointed out on Twitter, "I know she probably had to, but why give a rose to any of them? She already said she wanted to be with Brooks. #Bachelorette"

And Harrison kept asking the live studio audience, "Will she become the first Bachelorette ever to go home alone?" Or, he said, "Who here thinks it's not too late for Brooks to come back into the picture?"

Next up, Chris. Suddenly Des seemed happier. She met him in a bikini top and black sarong, showing off her hot bod. While out on a catamaran, Chris told her that "going forward, I'll be there for you and I'll love you. You'll have a shoulder to cry on if you have to. You won't have to stand there by yourself."

They kissed and laughed and drank. "I'm going to trust my heart," vowed Des. They wound up on a bed and he gave her a journal. "I feel like I'm the luckiest girl alive," she confessed, crying. "How could I not have loved him from the beginning?" She toasted him, calling him "the greatest man I've ever known," and "a loyal friend."

Back in the L.A. studio, Harrison talked to last season's Bachelor Sean Lowe and fiancée Catherine Giudici and asked when they were getting married. "Soon," said Sean, but he said they weren't ready to announce a date. He also said, "I'm more in love with her today than when I proposed to her."

One final hurdle: Desiree's family. Yes, brother Nate, who ruined Desiree's romance with Sean, appeared to give Chris a final grilling. He kept trying to rile Chris, but Chris stayed cool. To Des, he asked, "Is he the one you want to spend the rest of your life with?" asked Nate.

"In this moment, yes," she said.

Chris picked out a ring, telling jeweler Neil Lane that he was so excited "on a scale from 1 to 100, I'm a 101."

While "Brooks" began trending on Twitter -- fans were still thinking he might show up -- the final moment arrived.

Desiree, in her long gown, waited for Chris on the top of a hill on the Caribbean island. "Chris is the man I can love for the rest of my life," she said. "I've been waiting for this my entire life." But she worried what Chris' reaction would be when he found out about Brooks.

Chris took her hands and said, "I couldn't be more happy." He recounted all their happy times through the season. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you. ... I want to be that rock that doesn't break for you."

He started to get down on one knee and she stopped him.

Surprised, he looked down.

"I have a few things to say, too," she said, crying. "I was torn apart by Brooks leaving. I loved him. Throughout the journey I was torn between the two of you. ... I feel like I couldn't see the one thing I always needed was right in front of me. ... I thank you every day for not giving up. I love you so much."

They kissed.

And THEN he got down on one knee and proposed. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes," she said through her tears. He put a ring on it.

READ MORE:http://www.usatoday.com

The Bachelor Reveals Its Newest Star

Although some may have thought Brooks Forester (who broke Desiree's heart in Antigua) was a possibility, fellow former suitors Zak Waddell and Juan Pablo Galavis were early frontrunnersfor the gig. While Desiree expressed her hopes for Zak, PEOPLE.com readers cast their votesfor Juan Pablo. 

Keep reading to find out which lucky guy will be the next one to hand out the roses. 

Keep up with your favorite celebs in the pages of PEOPLE Magazine by subscribing now.

Felicidades, Juan Pablo! The Venezuelan former soccer player and single dad will be the next star of The Bachelor! 

"It was hard to make the decision," he told Chris. "I'm going to find hopefully the person who is going to join me and my daughter. That's what I'm looking for." 

The in-studio crowd went wild for Juan Pablo, who turned 32 on Monday. 

When asked about what he's looking for as the Bachelor, the birthday boy said, "That mom for [my daughter] Camila and someone I can spend many years [with] together." 

The Bachelor, Chris said, will air in January.
READ MORE:http://www.people.com/

SIMON COWELL'S BABY MAMA I Didn't Cheat MY HUBBY KNEW EVERYTHING

Lauren Silverman -- the woman who is pregnant with Simon Cowell's baby -- is telling close friends she is outraged at her estranged husband's "shock" that Simon was banging her ... because she says he knew what was going on the whole time and he was doing the same thing. 

Sources close to Lauren tell TMZ ... Lauren is bitching that she hooked up with Simon partly because her estranged husband Andrew Silverman was cavorting around the world and partying with girls on various continents. 

What's more ... Lauren is telling her friends her relationship with Simon evolved right in front of Andrew and he never said he had a problem with it -- it was a tacit mutual understanding. 

Lauren is saying she would speak to Simon several times a day on the telephone and Andrew knew they were talking. 

Lauren says she visited Simon in England several times and Andrew had no problem with the trips -- and it was obvious what was going on. 

Lauren is beyond pissed that Andrew is now feigning shock, because she says he knew everything from the get go. 

As for their divorce, Lauren is telling friends, there are no real money issues. The real sticking point is their 7-year-old son. Andrew wants full custody but Lauren is saying no way in hell will he get that. 

In fact ... Lauren says she wants primary custody and will fight tooth and nail to get it. Although she admits that she sometimes travels, she says he is away much more than her and she is the better parent.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/

Black Sabbath brings the heavy metal thunder

BRISTOW, Va. — Black Sabbath still forges impressive heavy metal.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees (Class of 2006) took the stage here to flashing red lights and the sound of sirens, thundering drums and a devilish laugh — "Ha, ha, ha!" — emitted unmistakably by frontman Ozzy Osbourne.

Quickly, the band lit into War Pigs from the band's seminal 1970 album Paranoid, the beginning of a by-the-numbers tour through the heavy metal pioneers' past and present.

Over the next two hours, bassist Geezer Butler, guitarist Tommy Iommi and singer Ozzy Osbourne — three-fourths of the original quartet — and new drummer Brad Wilk (ex-Rage Against the Machine) leaned heavily on tracks hammered out more than 40 years ago. Also welded into the set: four new songs from the first Ozzy-fied Sabbath studio release in 35 years, the album 13, which hit No. 1 after its release June 11.

"Thank you for helping us finally getting a Number One record in America, man," Osbourne told the crowd early on. "We couldn't have done it without you."

MORE: Black Sabbath reunites for album and tour

As is common with so-called legacy acts, a few concert-goers skittered off to the restroom or concession stand when a new selection was introduced. But most listeners deemed the latest material — Age of Reason, End of the Beginning,Methademic and God is Dead?, all from 13 — to be of similar metallurgical makeup.

They performed in front of a backdrop that resembled the Batcave with four stalagtite-separated video screens. Butler tended his stage right territory, intently providing heart-stopping bass lines with the appropriate amount of sludge. Some of his fastest finger work came during the pounding two-fer Behind the Wall of Sleep and N.I.B., both from Sabbath's eponymous first album.

Meanwhile, Iommi stalked the stage with purpose. Like the others, dressed in dark clothing but primped in a black leather overcoat, the guitarist delivered dinosaur rock riffs aplenty.

And his swift shredding propelled an instrumental jam that turned into a solo for Wilk, who subbed for longtime drummer Bill Ward in the studio before the tour. His hard-pounding attack won over the crowd and he wooed any laggards with a pound-and-response routine to end the solo.

Osbourne, now as much an icon for his reality TV hijinks as his heavy metal bona fides, was commendable on vocals, if not as capable as in the past. He relied heavily on his teleprompter, as is common among singers these days.

When free to cavort, Ozzy led a virtual hard rock aerobics class, running in place and hopping and coaching the crowd to clap and wave their arms. Three times he took to his knees to bow before Iommi, as the guitarist threw forth transportive streams of notes. Several times he dunked his head into a blue bucket of water before tossing it on the audience near the set's end.

Speaking of the audience, there were the thousands donning black T-shirts with Black Sabbath and Ozzy designs in the packed 10,000-seat Jiffy Lube Live ampitheater. Thousands more watched from the lawn.

Ages ran from those in their 70s to pre-teens with their parents. "It was fantastic!" said Pat Harris, 27, of Waldorf, Md. "Ozzy and the boys were so crisp. Brad Wilk brought his A game to show us traditionalists not to worry about the future of the band. Hands down, the best show I have been to in three years."

This was just the third date of a global tour that includes more than a dozen North American dates, as well as stops in South America, Europe and ending in the U.K.

These heavy metal dinosaurs still walk the earth and, as evident here, are far from extinct.

READ MORE:http://www.usatoday.com/

Jack White's estranged wife files restraining order

The divorce proceedings between Nashville rocker Jack White and his wife, Karen Elson, have apparently turned sour now that a judge has granted a restraining order against the musician after claims he barraged his wife with harassing phone calls and e-mails in recent months.

In a Nashville circuit court filing requesting the order, Elson's attorney claimed White had been pressuring his wife into a settlement agreement over the parenting of the couple's two children.

"He has persisted in discouraging her from communicating with or taking advice from her counsel in effort to coerce her into acting against her and the parties' minor children's best interests, often by emails laced with profanity and calling wife derogatory names," the filing stated. "These communications are often threatening in nature and the wife fears for her and the children's safety as a result of this harassment."

This comes two years after the couple announced they were ending things amicably in grand style, throwing a party to celebrate the split.

According to the court filing, White recently urged Elson to contact their children's private school to have their son placed in a different class from the child of another entertainer whom White "feels has 'ripped off' his music."

The filing also states that White accused Elson of being disrespectful for attending the wedding of another entertainer whom he says also ripped off his music.

Circuit Judge Phillip Robinson granted the restraining order July 19, allowing White to contact his wife through e-mail only. A hearing on the case is scheduled for Aug. 29.

READ MORE:http://www.usatoday.com/

Ellen: 'It's official! I'm hosting the Oscars!'

Ellen DeGeneres often jokes around on Twitter, but she's not kidding now.

Moments ago, she tweeted: 'It's official! I'm hosting the #Oscars! I'd like to thank @TheAcademy, my wife Portia and, oh dear, there goes the orchestra."The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences sent out a release announcing the news from producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron.

"As a longtime friend, we had always hoped to find a project for us to do together and nothing could be more exciting than teaming up to do the Oscars," they said in a statement.

Ellen hosted the show in 2007 and got good reviews. USA TODAY TV critic Robert Bianco wrote: "A general aura of good feeling pervaded the evening, and much of it stemmed from the night's unfailingly sunny host, Ellen DeGeneres."

The Academy Awards will be broadcast live on March 2 on ABC.

READ MORE:http://www.usatoday.com

'Wolverine' Director Planning Unrated Version: Prepare For Even More Violence James Mangold reveals what exactly had to be left on the cutting room floor to guarantee the mutant movie a PG-13 rating.

When your primary superpower is stabbing people with six razor-sharp knives, it's impossible to make a "The Wolverine," the fifth film starring Hugh Jackman in the titular role of the hirsute berserker.

bloodless film. Director James Mangold discovered that while working on

And with Mangold's desire to do a back-to-basics film about the brawling mutant following 2009's unfocused "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," he knew that meant getting violent.

Will There Be An Unrated Version Of 'The Wolverine'?

"I was amazed that the trims we made to get a PG-13 were not devastating to the movie," Mangold told MTV News' Josh Horowitz. "The movie is mostly old-fashioned sword warfare — and arrows — so in many ways we dodged the kind of intense violence of guns."

The film is based on the character's first ever solo outing, 1982's "Wolverine" by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller. In the comic book limited series, Wolverine travels to Japan to reconnect with a woman that he's fallen in love with (Mariko Yashida) and gets caught up in a war between a clan of ninjas and the Japanese crime syndicate known as the Yakuza. Wolverine's claws clash with ancient katana blades in the story, just as they do in the big screen adventure. But not everything made the final cut, Mangold reveals.

The Wolverine

"Obviously when you get to the length we had, there will be some extras that people will see, in some kind of unrated version of the movie coming out." The film as it stands takes the hero physically further than any other; Jackman's jacked beyond belief and Wolverine's body count rises higher than ever before. The thought of an unrated version of this already action-packed adventure could send fans' minds reeling.

Wolverine finds himself tangling with foes in entirely new and unexpected locations, like on the outside of a bullet train and through the crowded city streets of Japan. His opponents prove to be as formidable as him, including the deadly Viper and Harada, an ally of the Yashida family and the leader of a clan of ninjas. Fans have wanted to see Wolverine throw down with ninjas on the big screen since Jackman's first appearance as the character back in 2000's "X-Men," and Mangold granted that wish. But, he promises, there's even more ninja-goodness where that came from.

"There's a larger fight in the ice village when he meets with Harada's men, that you will see parts of," reveals the director. "That actually wasn't about ratings. It was just about — I thought that except for the most die-hard lover of fights, [the movie] flows better emotionally the way it works [without the scenes]."

READ MORE:http://www.mtv.com

Amanda Bynes poses 'a substantial risk to herself and others,' is 'extremely paranoid' and has squandered money in 'very short amount of time,' parents say in filing for temporary conservatorship Lynn Bynes is asking for control of the former child star's personal and financial matters after she allegedly started a gasoline fire in a stranger's driveway Monday night.

ALO CEBALLOS/FILMMAGIC

Amanda Bynes is currently undergoing psychiatric evaluation and will remain under the care of doctor for two more weeks.

Amanda Bynes is a hyper-paranoid pothead who's blowing through her life's savings and "cabbed it" from New York to Los Angeles before lighting a neighbor's driveway on fire, her parents said in a petition to take control of her finances.

Parents Rick and Lynn Bynes were in court Friday seeking a temporary conservatorship, but the judge postponed any decision saying he first wanted a personal "dialogue" with the troubled actress.

Judge Glen Reiser said Amanda wasn't in a coma and there was no doctor with "a scalpel in hand" waiting for his ruling, so he wanted to take his time while she's undergoing a forced psychiatric evaluation that was extended Thursday to two weeks from 72-hours.

"This is not a case where there's an emergency right now, and because conservatorships of the person and estate involve liberty and property interests, there are a lot of t's we need to cross and i's we need to dot."

Bynes' parents Rick and Lynn Bynes agreed to return Aug. 9 after spelling out their grave concerns in a filing made public after the Friday hearing.

PHOTOS: AMANDA BYNES' BIZARRE ANTICS: IS SHE HAVING A MELTDOWN?

"We are deeply concerned that Amanda poses a substantial risk to herself, to others and to property based on recent events in her life," the petition to make Lynn her sole conservator reads.

BRUJA/JUAN SHARMA, PACIFICCOASTNEWS.COM

Rick Bynes appeared stoic in court.

They say they have no idea how Amanda, 27, traveled to southern California from New York last week or where she was staying prior to starting the gasoline fire in their sleepy Thousand Oaks, Calif., neighborhood that led to her forced hospitalization.

She was last spotted in New York on July 17 and arrived in Southern California three days later.

Her parents said she has no driver's license or formal identification and claimed she "cabbed it" across country.

"We believe she is essentially homeless," the filing states.

RELATED: AMANDA BYNES DONS BLUE WIG DURING NYC COURT APPEARANCE

They claim Amanda was "extremely paranoid" about being "watched" when she lived in their residence, covering smoke alarms with towels, taping windows shut and covering her car's dashboard with cardboard and tape out of fear that "cameras were watching her."

Amanda also has profound body image issues, calls family members including her young niece "ugly" and may be submitting herself to dangerous cosmetic procedures, the parents claim.

SPLASH NEWS

The Bynes family is being represented by Tamar Arminak, who is pictured arriving at Ventura Juvenile Court on Friday morning.

According to the filing, Amanda has written $63,000 in checks since May 3 and made bank withdrawals of $100,000 on June 4 and July 2 to fund her drug dependency and erratic behavior.

"We have received large doctor bills for purported services to Amanda from doctors that we do not know for unspecified services," they say in the filing. "We are informed and believe that a substantial amount of thi smoney is being used to pay for marijuana."

The parents claim Amanda had amassed $4 million in savings but has spent some $1.2 million in a "very short amount of time."

PHOTOS: CELEBRITIES WHO'VE FELT THE WRATH OF AMANDA BYNES

They are asking the court to give Lynn temporary control of Amanda's personal and financial matters, highlighting accounts that Amanda lit her pants on fire during the Monday night fire and injured her pet Pomeranian.

Judge Reiser said he didn't want to rush the issue.

He appointed Ventura County Public Defender Mary Shae as Amanda's lawyer and asked her to meet with the former Nickelodeon star and prepare a declaration.

SPLASH NEWS

A young woman believed to be Amanda Bynes is wheeled outside of a Los Angeles-area psychiatric ward where the actress is being treated.

"My assumption is that you would want an opportunity to speak to your client?" Reiser asked Shae

"Absolutely," Shae responded.

RELATED: AMANDA BYNES STRIPPED OFF HER PANTS AFTER STARTING FIRE IN STRANGER’S DRIVEWAY

Reiser also ordered an independent investigator to prepare a report. He said he had "every expectation" that Amanda would make it to court with Shae after her release from Hillmont Psychiatric Hospital in Ventura.

Lynn's lawyer Tamar Arminak said it was her understanding that Bynes had a habeas hearing at Hilltop set for Friday afternoon on the subject of her forced detention.

"So the situation might change?" Reiser asked.

"Drastically," Arminak said.

SELLEBRITY RICK / SPLASH NEWS

The burned driveway where Amanda Bynes started a fire Monday night.

The judge said if Bynes is released before the end of her current two-week hold, either side could ask for an emergency hearing.

PHOTOS: CHILD STAR MELTDOWNS

Arminak also said that Amanda's hospital did not allow her to give the former child star formal notice of the Friday hearing.

"The facility she is in monitors what goes in and out and they did not allow us to serve her," she said.

The judge asked Shae to help with matter or waive the requirement for five days of notice.

The judge also said Lynn Bynes also was obligated to serve all of Amanda's first and second degree relatives with her court filings.

"We'll have the luxury of two weeks in this case," Judge Reiser said.

BRUJA/JUAN SHARMA, PACIFICCOASTNEWS.COM/BRUJA/JUAN SHARMA, PACIFICCOASTN

Lynn and Rick Bynes appeared in court Friday morning.

RELATED: AMANDA BYNES' MOM FILES FOR TEMPORARY CONSERVATORSHIP

The Friday hearing was mostly procedural and did not cover the purported mental health issues at the center of the case - in large due to laws protecting against the release of private health information in a public courtroom.

Sources told the Daily News Thursday that Amanda's doctors "need more time" to understand the nature of her illness.

Celebrity website TMZ.com cited unidentified sources in a report saying Amanda has exhibited signs of schizophrenia in recent days.

Lynn's petition for the temporary conservatorship did not indicate that a diagnosis of schizophrenia has been made, a source to the News.

The "Easy A" actress has been on a downward spiral since a DUI arrest in West Hollywood last year. She allegedly tossed a bong out of a 36th floor Manhattan apartment in May.

She was charged with reckless endangerment, attempted tampering with physical evidence and unlawful possession of marijuana. 

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com

'The Wolverine' is born of Westerns, samurai

Superhero movies are famous for having do-gooders save the world from certain doom.

Not The Wolverine, though, and it's just one differing aspect of director James Mangold's movie (opening wide Friday), which has more in common withChinatown,Double Indemnity and The French Connection than The Avengers or Man of Steel.

Among the other non-traditional aspects: Logan/Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) has mysteries to solve when he ends up in Japan to say goodbye to an old friend; he encounters a host of women with their own secrets; and there's a distinct lack of mass populations in the crosshairs of a maniacal supervillain.

"It's essentially a character piece," Mangold says. "It's really about the fortunes, the loves, the losses and the issues of these characters within the film more than it's just about another doomsday plot of one kind or another. And that makes for a very different kind of film."

STORY: Somehow, Jackman has mutated into Wolverine
MORE: Rila Fukushima turns from runways to swordplay

Unlike a lot of what Mangold calls "spandex movies," The Wolverine draws heavily from martial-arts movies as well as Japanese cinema and samurai culture. The story finds Logan entering an ancient world he doesn't understand with strange rules, secrets and allegiances.

The qualities one associates with Japan — duty, family, honor and history — are all things the hero "couldn't give a rat's ass about," Jackman says. "The fish-out-of-water juxtaposition of having Wolverine there is fantastic."

The main theme is the character's immortality as a result of his mutant powers, which he doesn't see as a positive. When the movie catches up with him, he's isolated in wintry wilderness, having abandoned the X-Men, killed his love, Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) — to be fair, she had turned into a weapon of mass destruction in 2006'sX-Men: The Last Stand— and lost his mentor, Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart).

The fact that this torturing of a soul is not tackled in most superhero fare was appealing to Jackman. He also liked how Logan is given the chance to become normal, though that choice also is fraught with consequences.

"Pretty much everyone he loves dies — that's the curse of being this character. And in a way he wants to escape everything he's become," the actor says. "There's too much pain, too much damage, too much collateral damage everywhere he goes."

Exploring that kind of loneliness and alienation gives the story religious and mythical overtones, Mangold says.

"For a guy who never dies and who heals from anything, life becomes a series of losses in which you must keep going and persevere," he says. "The departure point of the story is a very dark place for Logan and in a way almost the predicament of a god — what is it like to have to go on forever?''

As in old-school noir movies, women turn out to be a problem for Logan — he's haunted by Jean in his dreams and falls for Mariko Yashida (Tao Okamoto), a member of one of Japan's most powerful families.

"His main kryptonite is women, really, which I always thought was really great and human about him," Jackman says.

Yet Mangold, maker of 2005's Walk the Line and 2007's 3:10 to Yuma, also wanted The Wolverine to have a Western influence. He kept talking with Jackman about the 1976 Clint Eastwood classic The Outlaw Josey Wales, enough so that the actor watched the movie as homework leading up to filming.

"He was constantly directing me in a way to keep it more and more internal," Jackman says. Logan is "tightly wound up on the inside but keeps it buried and restrained. It's not always easy. It's easier to fall into more of that ad-libbing, quippy side of Wolverine, but I think the intensity we're going for in this movie is one we haven't gotten before."

The Wolverine is not without certain superhero elements. The story's based on the classic 1982Wolverine comic-book miniseries by Frank Miller and Chris Claremont; the femme fatale Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova) is a mutant who spits green acidic mist and has a snake tongue; and there is seeding for the next movie in which Wolverine will appear, next year's X-Men: Days of Future Past.

But Logan is more modeled on Eastwood in The Wolverine than on a comic-book superman.

"He doesn't have a lot of gimmicks or gizmos, he doesn't live in a world of technology, he doesn't need technology,'' Mangold says. "It's just him and his claws and his incredible strength and ability to withstand pain and survive calamity.''

In many ways, Mangold says, "the character of Logan is a very, very palpable mythical fantasy for a lot of men and women, which is this idea of having a piece of you inside you that is primal, that is feral, that is like an animal — a kind of rage and primeval emotion about the pain you felt and the injustices that have been done."

NEWS SOURCE:http://www.usatoday.com

'The Wolverine' review: Looking sharp

The Wolverine

 Action. Starring Hugh Jackman, Rila Fukushima and Tao Okamoto. Directed by James Mangold. (PG-13. 120 minutes.)
Somewhere along the line somebody must have had a crazy idea, that maybe for once the Wolverine required a decent script, and shouldn't rely only on action, audience goodwill and the sight of Hugh Jackman with his shirt off. And so a team was assembled, made up of people who have made some very good movies.
Those movies are too many to list here, but for a taste: Director James Mangold made "Walk the Line" and "3:10 to Yuma," and screenwriters Mark Bomback, Scott Frank and Christopher McQuarrie made "Live Free or Die Hard," "Out of Sight" and "The Usual Suspects," respectively. This time out, nobody is slumming.
Within five minutes, it's apparent that the audience, and "The Wolverine," are in good hands. The movie, a sequel to 2009's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," begins with three gripping sequences, including a vivid one in which our hero survives the atomic bomb blast at Nagasaki. Of course he does - he's that kind of person. His hair and skin may be burned off, but he flexes and growls, and a moment later, everything has grown back.
Less immediately apparent than the quality of the action is the subtle and welcome change the filmmakers have wrought in Wolverine. Of the mutant superhero X-Men, he was always the sad sack, the depressive, the self-hating one, the one who didn't want to use his powers; but in "The Wolverine," he is less angst-ridden, and more angry and motivated, which activates the movie.

Straight-up action hero

At the start, he is drifting and haunted by nightmares, but he still has the gumption to pick a fight when he witnesses an injustice. In the best way, he is more like a straight-up action hero - no longer a miserable guy like Lon Chaney Jr.'s Wolf Man, but capable, dangerous and, when it's called for, sarcastic.
The clash between mutants and humans has been the relentless focus of previous "X-Men" movies. "The Wolverine" drops that exhausted subject in favor of something more clear-cut and immediate: The Wolverine is asked to travel to Japan in order to say goodbye to the man whose life he saved in Nagasaki. The Wolverine, who's not doing much of anything these days besides growing out his sideburns, agrees, and soon gets involved in a tangled and dangerous conflict over the old man's will. The old man skips over his own son and makes his granddaughter, Marika (Tao Okamoto), the richest woman in Asia.
A nice feature of "The Wolverine" is that it always stays with our hero, and his task is always simple and easy to grasp, despite whatever complicating machinations are taking place off camera. He saves Marika's life - as soon as people find out that she is about to inherit everything, armies of assassins pop out from everywhere - and he becomes determined to keep her alive. Why? Because he's a nice guy, and he likes her.
Unfortunately, the Wolverine is not the best relationship material at the moment. He can't go to sleep without having nightmares that cause him to leap out of the sheets, waving his adamantine knuckle blades, ready to kill anything that moves. Handsome or not, he is definitely a case for separate beds.
"The Wolverine" is the first film from the X-Men universe to show Jackman to full advantage. The actor has worked himself into a physical condition that is downright humbling, or inspiring, depending on your viewpoint, and his performance is in the best action tradition of strength and humor.
The action sequences are not perfunctory and, though they had to have been cooked up on a computer, they don't look like it. Or at least, they're imaginative enough that you don't have time to think of them in that way.

Train chase

For example, there's a chase on top of a train, a familiar action-movie trope last seen as recently as "The Lone Ranger," a few weeks ago. But the chase in "The Wolverine" takes place on a Japanese bullet train going 300 mph, which completely changes the dynamic. The scene is faster, quieter and more eerie, and the fighting requires different strategies.
"The Wolverine" shows that, while originality would be nice, a little novelty and enthusiasm in the presentation of the familiar can be quite enough. The bottom line is that audiences aren't stupid and will not settle for just anything, as the anemic box office for recent blockbusters is showing. "The Wolverine" deserves to break out from the pack.

NEWS SOURCE: http://www.sfgate.com/