Live Wire

Goats,nine years in the making,is a coming-of-age comedy that stars Vera Farmiga,Justin Kirk,Minnie Driver,Ty Burrell,David Duchovny and a buzzy young actor named Graham Phillips

Goats,

nine years in the making,is a coming-of-age comedy that stars Vera Farmiga,Justin Kirk,Minnie Driver,Ty Burrell,David Duchovny and a buzzy young actor named Graham Phillips. It had its premiere last week at the Sundance Film Festival The movies director,Christopher Neil,is Francis Ford Coppolas nephew. And,yes,Coppola gave him pointers.Francis has seen a number of different cuts, Neil said. He was enormously helpful in the area of editing. He challenged me to reshape certain parts of the story. He pointed me back toward aspects of the movie I had kind of forgotten. Goats centres on a colourful family of outsized personalities.

Ti West,

the director known for his work in horror films,says he was always intrigued by the horror section at the video store. It was my favourite because it felt taboo, he said. His new film,The InnKeeper,is a film about desk clerks at a soon-to-be-shuttered hotel who engage in some amateur ghost hunting,one tells the other to watch closely a video clip that purports to contain evidence of paranormal phenomena. Theres the image of a lone,stationary rocking chair on a dark porch. Tension builds,and the score swells,but what happens next is a surprise,one that challenges audience expectations.His movies take their cue from 1960s-era horror,when narratives were given time to unfold,and the scary element crept in slowly.

American Idol,

the reality shows ratings this season have been on such a downward trend that it has left some people wondering if it might finally have begun to stumble. So,it was gratifying for many fans and bloggers to see the show return to its old form during the auditions program aired last week as the producers highlighted some hilariously deluded performers and zeroed in on arguments among the judges. A good deal of the show was devoted to infighting between Jennifer Lopez and the two male judges,with Lopez hinting at one point that the male judges might be swayed by a womans looks as much as her voice. Lopez became visibly upset when the other two judgesSteve Tyler and Randy Jackson,turned down three female contestants in a row.