Grammys: Bruce Springsteen To Open The Show!

 LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Bruce Springsteen gets worked up during his three-hour set at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Tennessee on June 13, 2009

The 54th annual Grammy Awards will kick off in style with a rock ‘n’ roll legend – Bruce Springsteen!

The Boss will open up the show on Sunday night in Los Angeles, Access Hollywood has learned.



Springsteen – a 20-time Grammy winner — will perform “We Take Care of Our Own,” the first single off of his new album “Wrecking Ball.”

Grammy favorite Adele – who is up for six awards on music’s biggest night — will perform at the show, but will not be the opening act as was previously rumored.

Other performers on Sunday include Taylor Swift, Coldplay, Rihanna, Bruno Mars, Chris Brown, Paul McCartney and The Beach Boys.

The 54th annual Grammy Awards air at 8 PM on Sunday on CBS.

Bill Murray to CNBC: 'I think we ought to be personally responsible'

By Pete Kasperowicz

Actor Bill Murray on Friday said he believes Americans need to be more personally responsible for their well-being.

"I think we ought to be personally responsible," he said on CNBC's "Squawk Box" Friday morning. "I think if you can take care of yourself, and then maybe try to take care of someone else, that's sort of how you're supposed to live.

"It's not a question of asking other people for help or being rescued or anything like that," he continued. "I think we've sort of gotten used to someone looking out for us, and I don't think any other person is necessarily going to be counted on to look out for us.

"I think there's only so many people that can take care of themselves, and can take care of other people. And the rest of the people … they're useful in terms of compost for the whole planet, you know."

Murray said the United States is a "pioneer country," but that many seen to forget the discipline early Americans needed to have just to survive.

"Occasionally, it seeps in that they came in wagons from Illinois to Oregon or whatever. That they came in wagons and the wheels broke."

He said this image leads to thoughts such as, " 'Gee, that must have been hard for those women to push that wagon up that mountain.'

"And that's what they had to do," he said. "There was no option but to do it yourself, to have your own responsibility."

‪While Murray's comments were broad, they seemed to play into the message of Republicans, who have been looking to trim government and have spent the last year in the House arguing that people need to wean themselves off of government help.

But at the same time, Murray criticized both parties for their partisan bickering.

"They spend all their time just trying to destroy the other guy, not to work together, but to humble and humiliate the other so that they can't have success.

"It's not working to serve anyone anymore," he added. "I don't want to sound like a Rotarian, but if you're not some sort of common good, and you're only servic[ing] your sort of partisan alliance, you're part of what's destructive, you're destroying something."

Murray was also asked about actor Clint Eastwood's "Halftime in America" Super Bowl advertisement for Chrysler. Murray said he had not see the ad, but said it sounds similar to his message of  taking care of yourself and trying to help others.

"I think he's right. I think it's a very good message, and I don't know why anyone would try to politicize it," Murray said. "It really sounds like what I'm talking of, of taking your own personal responsibility, and when you do that,then you can work with other people."

When CNBC host Joe Kernen said Murray's comments seemed to hew to a scene out of the movie "Stripes," Murray laughed and said, "Thank you for relaxing me there."

'Conservative' Movies Make More Money Than 'Liberal' Movies

by Paul Bond

Patriotism and traditional values, like those displayed in "Thor," "The Artist," "Soul Surfer" and "Hugo," are what moviegoers want, says a group that will honor such films at an awards gala Friday.

This year’s annual report sells for $1,000 and the price includes tickets to the Annual Faith & Values Awards Gala at the Universal Hilton Hotel. The report praises such 2011 releases as Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Battle Los Angeles, Moneyball, We Bought a Zoo and Hugo while heaping scorn on the likes of Super 8, Red State, A Good Old Fashioned Orgy, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Bad Teacher and Happy Feet Two.

For two decades, that has been the message that Movieguide has been pushing, and on Friday when it celebrates its 20-year-anniversary with an awards show airing on The Hallmark Channel, the organization will present a 76-page report designed to back up its assertions.

The Movieguide report rates movies using more than two dozen criteria, such as whether a title promotes capitalism or socialism or if it promotes or denigrates biblical principles. Violence, sex, political correctness, revisionist history, environmentalism, feminism, homosexuality and more hot-button political issues are all taken into consideration.

This year’s report concludes that seven of the Top 10 films of 2011 scored high on Movieguide’s index and, therefore, qualify as films with “strong or very strong Christian, biblical, moral and redemptive content.”

Movieguide identified 91 movies in 2011 that scored high in “conservative/moral categories” and they earned an average of $59 million apiece. On the other hand, it identified 105 movies that scored high in “liberal/leftist categories,” and each of those titles earned an average of just $11 million.

The average movie scoring four stars from Movieguide earned $53.5 million while the ones that scored just one star earned $10.6 million.

Exceptions abound, of course, notable ones being The Hangover Part II and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1, hit movies that earned $581 million and $702 million worldwide, respectively, but are panned by Movieguide as films that promote “fringe worldviews” and “obscene behavior.”

“Most moviegoers want good to conquer evil, truth to triumph over falsehood, justice to prevail over injustice and true beauty to overcome ugliness,” Movieguide editor Ted Baehr writes in the report.

Friday’s awards gala, where the report will be made public, is hosted by Baehr, sponsored by the Christian Film & Television Commission and will be emceed by actor Dean Cain. Scheduled presenters include Joe Montegna, Corbin Bernsen, Kevin Sorbo and Pat Boone.

Nominees for Best Movie for Mature Audiences are:

The Artist

Captain America: The First Avenger

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Sarah’s Key

Seven Days in Utopia

Thor

The Tree of Life

The Way

Nominees for Best Movie for Family Audiences are:

The Adventures of Tintin

Cars 2

Courageous

Hugo

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never

Mars Needs Moms

Mr. Popper’s Penguins

The Muppets

Puss in Boots

Soul Surfer

Norway's TV 2 sold to Egmont

Danish media group Egmont has become the sole owner of Norwegian commercial broadcaster TV 2, Egmont and Norwegian media group A-pressen said, Norway Post reported. Egmont bought A-pressen's 50% stake in TV 2 for 2.1 billion Norwegian crowns ($348 million) in cash, the groups said in a joint statement. Egmont said that through acquiring TV 2, it makes a strategic leap towards more TV in its business.  ”As TV is a key element in our strategy, it was an obvious choice for us to purchase.

Today, Egmont makes a significant strategic leap towards more TV and more live pictures in our business. TV 2 is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Egmont,” said Steffen Kragh, CEO of Egmont. 

In 2010 TV 2 had the most profitable annual result so far, and the goal is to continue the positive development for TV 2The acquisition does not in itself cause changes for TV 2.

”Egmont guarantees that TV 2 still is an independent media house with a local Norwegian profile and that TV 2 continues to build good and close relations to the Norwegian people,” said Steffen Kragh.

Tom Cruise to Be Oscar Presenter

This year's Academy Awards show just gained some major star power with the announcement that Tom Cruise will be an Oscar presenter.

The announcement that the 49-year-old star was selected as a presenter was made Wednesday by show producers Brian Grazer and Don Mischer.

Cruise is a three-time Academy Award-nominated actor whose latest film, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, is the highest grossing of the MI franchise. He'll also be seen on the big screen this June in the highly-anticipated musical Rock of Ages.

Other Oscar presenters previously announced include Tom Hanks, Jennifer Lopez and the cast of the hit comedy Bridesmaids. 

Billy Crystal will host the 84th Academy Awards show on Sunday, February 26, live from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.

Katy Perry to perform at Grammys for first U.S. performance after split

By: Molly Sullivan

HollywoodNews.com: Katy Perry is getting back in the game after her split with Russell Brand was announced as it has been revealed that she will be performing at the Grammys this year.

Perry has reportedly been added to the list of performers as she will put on her first U.S. performance since her split with Brand, states UsMagazine.com. Perry is nominated for Record of the Year (“Firework”) and Best Pop Solo Performance.

Perry did perform at the Grammmys last year where she showed images from her wedding with Brand.

Will you tune in?

'Soul Train' creator Don Cornelius dead in apparent suicide

L.A. NOW Southern California -- this just in

'Soul Train' creator Don Cornelius dead in apparent suicide.

"Soul Train" creator Don Cornelius was found dead at his Sherman Oaks on home Wednesday morning.

Law enforcement sources said police arrived at Cornelius' home around 4 a.m. He apparently died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case was ongoing.

The sources said there was no sign of foul play, but the Los Angeles Police Department was investigating.

In a 2010 interview with The Times, he said he was excited about a movie project he was developing about "Soul Train."

"We've been in discussions with several people about getting a movie off the ground. It wouldn't be the 'Soul Train' dance show, it would be more of a biographical look at the project," he said. "It's going to be about some of the things that really happened on the show."

According to a Times article, Cornelius’ “Soul Train” became the longest-running first-run nationally syndicated show in television history, bringing African American music and style to the world for 35 years.

Cornelius stopped hosting the show in 1993, and “Soul Train” ceased production in 2006.

[Updated at 7:31 a.m.: Cornelius was 75 and had recently been divorced.

The sources say he was discovered by a family member early Wednesday morning, suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. He was rushed to a hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.]