Heaton + Basic Math = Painful TV

Terrence Malick's 'The Tree of Life' divides audience

(NEWSER) - Terrence Malick's much buzzed-about film, The Tree of Life, was screened for critics and reporters at Cannes today to prolonged boos from certain members of the audience. But others countered with enthusiastic applause for the film, which stars Brad Pitt and Sean Penn and is only the fifth film Malick has made in a nearly 40-year career, the AP reports. More»

The latest from Woody Allen, Gus Van Sant, Pedro Almodóvar, and more

(NEWSER) - Cannes kicks off on Wednesday, and the Daily Beast rounds up 10 of the most buzzed-about movies featured at the 64th annual film festival:

• The Tree of Life: From filmmaker Terrence Malick, the story of a Texas boy (played in adulthood by Sean Penn) torn between the worldviews of his father, played by Brad Pitt, and his mother, played by newcomer Jessica Chastain.
• Melancholia: Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier's version of an Armageddon story, which centers around two sisters (played by Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg) who are drifting apart.

Country singer is divorced—and dating the other woman's ex

(NEWSER) - Shania Twain’s husband cheated with Twain’s best friend—but the joke’s on him. Twain’s divorce from Robert “Mutt” Lange just became official, two years after the scandal, and Twain is “radiantly happy,” a source tells People . Why? Because the country singer is still dating none other than her former best friend’s ex-husband, Frédéric Thiébaud, and “things are getting really serious.” More»

Actor opens up about his work in Haiti

(NEWSER) - For the past five months—with only brief breaks for fundraising, testifying on Capitol Hill, and of course attending the Oscars—Sean Penn has lived in a tent camp in Haiti. Douglas Brinkley, who volunteered with Penn in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, talks to him about his experience for Vanity Fair :

• On Robin Wright: “She is a ghost to me now.”

Actor not pleased with critics of his Haiti relief efforts

(NEWSER) - Don’t get on Sean Penn’s bad side, or he might wish a very unpleasant death upon you. The actor responded to detractors who say his relief work in Haiti is just his attempt to take attention away from his divorce with the usual grace, the New York Daily News reports. “Do I hope that those people die screaming of rectal cancer? Yeah,” says Penn in an interview airing on CBS this weekend. “But I'm not going to spend a lot of energy on it.” More»