Penelope Cruz

Penelope Cruz Supports Almodovar Win for "Volver" at Gala

Hollywood's finest gathered at New York hotspot Cipriani's for the 2006 National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Annual Gala on Tuesday, January 9. Winners of the 2006 National Board of Review of Motion Picture awards included "Letters From Iwo Jima" for Best Film, Pedro Almodovar's "Volver" for Best Foreign Film, Martin Scorsese for Best Director, and a tie between Jennifer Hudson and Rinko Kikuchi for Breakthrough Performance -Female. The "little black dress" had a strong showing, with "Volver" star Penelope Cruz wearing a strapless black dress and Jennifer Hudson looking radiant in a figure-hugging black cocktail dress. Also wearing black was actress Rinko Kikuchi, whose honey colored mane shone brilliantly against the demure ensemble. Helen Mirren, dressed in a white long-sleeved dress and matching shoes, looked as regal as "The Queen," while Sarah Jessica Parker could have stopped traffic in a rouched bright red dress. Also making rounds on the red carpet was Clint Eastwood, Pedro Almodovar, Vera Farmiga, Annabella Sciorra, Ryan Gosling and Padme Lakshmi. Founded in 1909, the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures continues to support artistic expression in foreign and domestic film and aspiring film students with scholarships and educational programs.

Penelope Cruz would love to do a 'Moulin Rouge' type musical

Washington, Jan 9(ANI): Spanish actress, Penelope Cruz wants to try musical films some day to draw on the dancing skills she has learned. The 32 -year -old actress wants to stop doing drama genres and try out film adaptation of musicals like Catherine Zeta Jones in 'Chicago' and Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge'. My hope someday is to do a musical, like Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge! She was so great. I could use all my dancing, "ContactMusic quoted her, as saying. The 'Vanilla Sky' actress won the best actress for 'Volver' in the 2006 Cannes film festival for her role as Raimunda in the Spanish film, which was nominated for Palme d'Or at the festival.

Luc Besson writes, Salma Hayek & Penélope Cruz star in Bandidas.

By now you all know that I’ll watch anything featuring Salma Hayek. (Sorry, I have this thing . . .) When I asked to review Bandidas based exclusively on her participation, it was for a film that I had never heard of before. A little research revealed that Bandidas is a European multinational production that cost $35 million, was released overseas, and earned about half of its production costs before being shown exclusively in Cinema Latino Theatres on this side of the Atlantic. So for most of us in the States, the film is essentially a direct-to-DVD release. It was co-written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen; you should know the former very well. Besson also produced, which may explain the choice of the score’s composer, Eric Serra, a long time Besson collaborator. Bandidas was directed with enthusiasm and reasonable creativity by not one but two relatively inexperienced directors, Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg. I can’t help wonder if the very experienced Besson did more than he received credit for. Did the film deserve a wider release before relegated to disc? I think so.

Bandidas is a tongue-in-cheek western adventure set a little more than a hundred years ago in Mexico. When Besson is in a playful mood, he writes a tasty blend of the brutal and the comical; people die, but the adventure is suffused with humor. Witness The Fifth Element; I’d call that a sci-fi dramady. Wouldn’t you? Selfish and amoral Americans are plotting a land grab along the path of a railroad planned to link Northern and Southern Mexico. An American Bank buys a prominent Mexican Bank chain that’s holding mortgages on farmers’ lands that just happen to be along the rail route. Bank owner Don Diego Sandoval (Ismael Carlo) gladly signs the sales contract for the American representative, Tyler Jackson (Dwight Yoakam). Don Diego will not live to enjoy the fruits of the sale. Jackson is a merciless killer. He poisons Don Diego as he toasts the contract signing and the banker is dead before the ink is even dry. Jackson and his thuggish hired guns will terrorize the land owners, foreclosing on farm after farm and killing those that resist.

To suggest that Don Diego’s death upsets his daughter, Sara (Salma Hayek), would be an understatement. She escapes Jackson’s clumsy, unwanted attentions and vows revenge. No less furious is Maria Alvarez (Penélope Cruz), whose farm was seized and whose father Jackson shot. She too vows to fight back.

These two women couldn’t be more different. Sara comes from an affluent family; Maria is the daughter of a poor dirt farmer. Sara was sent to Europe for her education; Maria is uneducated. Sara is spoiled and refined; Maria is used to hard work and lacks any sophistication. Sara is ripe and voluptuous and experienced; Maria is thin and wiry and virginal. The women could not be a more unlikely pair to form a partnership and battle a common enemy, but that’s exactly what they do. They decide that the best way to fight back is to rob the banks that are foreclosing on their people and distribute the cash to the poor to help them retain their land. But how are two attractive young women going to learn the subtleties of the bank robbed well.

They seek the advice of Bill Buck (Sam Shepard in an extended cameo), reputed to be a very successful bank robber who has retired to Mexico. He reluctantly takes them on, and before you can say drop and give me twenty, he has them in bank heist boot camp. The ladies don’t know it, but his putting them through hell is less of a training exercise than it is a bonding process. He has four rules of bank robbing, and the most important is trust your partner with your life. The two women will come to trust one another.

Their first bank robbery motivates Jackson to send for a new type of investigator, one who seems to have been inspired by no less than Sherlock Holmes. Quentin Cooke (Steve Zahn) uses the latest and greatest scientific tools and logic - fingerprint detection, microscopic analysis, deductive reasoning - to solve crimes. Cooke parts from his fiancé, Clarissa (Audra Blaser), the daughter of the American bank president who hired Jackson, and travels to Mexico to investigate the heist. His role will evolve in unexpected ways after the lovely ladies kidnap him.

What follows are some elaborate bank jobs that would make Ethan Hunt proud. And ultimately, as the bandidas become more and more notorious, Jackson is compelled to force a confrontation.

In the hands of lesser performers, this film could have been an unmitigated disaster. But Cruz and Hayek are charming; their bickering is playful and fun. As a buddy film, they have great chemistry, something that becomes so very clear in their commentary. Yoakam is suitably sinister and arguably a little over the top. And Zahn manages to maintain a fine line between the silly and the dramatic. The directors use very clever tricks to cut between stunt people and Cruz and Hayek to create the illusion of their performing some of their own gags. This send-up of the western genre may be a bit silly, but it’s an entertaining send-up.

ACTRESS Penelope Cruz is shaping up well for finding love this year.

Cruz, 32, didn't seem to have a care in the world as she took to the Caribbean surf during a new year break with family and friends. Last year wasn't the easiest for the Spanish star, who broke up with her Sahara co-star Matthew McConaughey after a 12-month romance. She also saw former lover Tom Cruise wed Katie Holmes - and the bighearted star sent them 100 white roses as a wedding gift.

Penelope Cruz tired of "Sexy"

The 'Volver' actress says she is tired of all the attention surrounding her looks and would much rather be admired for her acting talents. Penelope, 32, said:"I don't pay attention to people calling me sexy. It makes me nervous when people start using labels. It's boring. "I don't understand why people tend to typecast you." Penelope's former love Matthew McConaughey, who she met while filming action adventure 'Sahara', recently said she deserves to win an Oscar for her performance in her latest film 'Volver'. Matthew, who is still close friends with Penelope, said:"She is going to get an Oscar nomination for Volver', or she should. She is so excited about that film. I really hope she gets the recognition she deserves."

Ricky Martin, Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek, gays?

National Enquirer has included them inside a list of not "confirmed famous gays" that it has elaborated in function of the sexuality of the celebrities. Ricky's sexuality is not defined as National Enquirer publishes. The publication has elaborated a... National Enquirer has included them inside a list of not "confirmed famous gays" that it has elaborated in function of the sexuality of the celebrities. Ricky's sexuality is not defined as National Enquirer publishes. The publication has elaborated a list in which the famous ones are located in function of its sexual preferences. The clever polemic is divided in three groups, heterosexual, homosexual and bisexual that have made its public condition and, lastly, celebrities that could be gays but that they have not recognized it openly... According to National Enquirer, Whitney Houston, Carmen Electra, Courtney Love, Cynthia Nixon (Sex in the city), Neil Patrick Harris are openly bisexual. Lastly, in the category of "heterosexual completely defined" they are Alicia Keys, Jake Gyllenhaal, Drea of Matteo, Armstrong, Taylor Throw Hicks, Stedman Graham and Queen Latifah.

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