Vatican Charmed by Potter

Leaks shed light on Holy See power struggle

(NEWSER) - The Vatican's already-battered image is taking a beating lately from a series of leaks that have exposed an ugly power struggle inside the Holy See, Reuters reports. "It is a total mess," says one source, who believes the leaks are part of a "mutiny of the monsignors" against Pope Benedict XVI's heavy-handed deputy, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. The leaks have brought to light an alleged murder plot against the pontiff and revealed that Bertone transferred an archbishop who tried to blow the whistle on corruption . More»

Vatican dismisses assassination outlined in letter

(NEWSER) - A bizarre plot to assassinate the Pope made headlines in Italy yesterday and may signal a new turn in a Vatican power struggle , the Guardian reports. A cardinal from Colombia notified Pope Benedict XVI's inner circle about the plan by delivering a letter from Cardinal Paolo Romeo, the archbishop of Palermo. In the letter, Romeo claims to have heard about the murder plot during several conversations with Italian businessmen in Beijing last November. More»

Yet Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo' gets acclaim, actor laments

(NEWSER) - Daniel Radcliffe is "slightly miffed" that none of the Harry Potter films have won an Academy Award, whereas children's movie Hugo was nominated for Best Picture and 10 other categories this year. "I don't think the Oscars like commercial films, or kids' films, unless they're directed by Martin Scorsese," Radcliffe tells the Radio Times . "I was watching Hugo the other day and going, 'Why is this nominated and we're not?' I was slightly miffed. There's a certain amount of snobbery." More»

More dope on boy wizard's battle with whiskey

(NEWSER) - Everyone's favorite boy wizard has made a startling confession: He sometimes acted in Harry Potter scenes drunk. "I went into work still drunk," Daniel Radcliffe tells Heat magazine. "I can point to many scenes where I'm just gone. Dead behind the eyes." He never drank at work, but was still reeling from earlier binges when he turned up on the set, says Radcliffe. "It was bad. I don't want to go into details, but I drank a lot and it was daily, I mean nightly," he adds. "I have a very addictive personality. It was a problem. People with problems like that are very adept at hiding it." More»

Daniel Radcliffe makes post-Hogwarts debut

(NEWSER) - The boy wizard is back—but this time, he's a 19th-century gentleman. Daniel Radcliffe is generally successful playing a spooked lawyer in The Woman in Black, a throwback haunted house thriller. What the critics are saying:

• The film "makes the most of its old-fashioned virtues," writes Manohla Dargis in the New York Times . It "isn’t especially scary, but it keeps you on edge, and without the usual vivisectionist imagery." For his part, Radcliffe "has the haunted eyes of the eternal mourner."