Christian Bale

Christian Bale was in Beijing on Monday to promote a movie about 13 young prostitutes set during Japanese army's brutal rampaging of China's wartime capital, known in the West as the "Rape of Nanking. " The Oscar winner and Batman star plays an American priest in the film "The Flowers of War," directed by one of China's best known modern directors, Zhang Yimou. It is an adaptation of a Chinese-language novel by contemporary writer Yan Geling about 13 sex workers in Nanjing who volunteer to replace university students as escorts for invading Japanese soldiers.

Christian Bale says he isn't concerned with what Chinese government censors approved or cut from his new film "The Flowers of War. " "I just do what I do," Bale said. "What happens after I'm wrapped is always out of my hands. It doesn't matter which country that's in. … Which scenes get chosen, which scenes get cut, that has nothing to do with me. " The movie marks Bale's return to the country where he launched his Hollywood career in 1987 with Steven Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun. " And while Bale didn't worry about intrusion into the filmmaking process, the government did...

Christian Bale says he isn't concerned with what Chinese government censors approved or cut from his new film "The Flowers of War. " "I just do what I do," Bale said. "What happens after I'm wrapped is always out of my hands. It doesn't matter which country that's in. … Which scenes get chosen, which scenes get cut, that has nothing to do with me. " The movie marks Bale's return to the country where he launched his Hollywood career in 1987 with Steven Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun. " And while Bale didn't worry about intrusion into the filmmaking process, the government did...

Britney Spears is ready to walk down the aisle for the third time. The 30-year-old pop star has agreed to marry her longtime boyfriend and former agent Jason Trawick . Trawick announced yesterday on "Access Hollywood" that he and Spears are engaged. The two have been dating since 2009. Spears was previously married to Kevin Federline , with whom she has two sons: 6-year-old Sean Preston and 5-year-old Jayden James . The couple divorced in 2006. Spears also briefly wed childhood friend Jason Alexander in 2004, but the marriage was annulled after 55 hours.

(Omission: A list of locations where "Batman Begins" is playing was omitted from the review of the film in yesterday's Living/Arts section. The film is playing at Loews Theatres Boston Common, AMC Fenway, Jordan's IMAX Reading, Jordan's IMAX Natick, and suburban theaters. Also, the reviewer's rating was omitted. Critic Ty Burr gave the film three stars.) In "Batman Begins," Christian Bale gives us the best Bruce Wayne that has ever graced the screen. He's grave, intense -- a tormented straight-arrow lacking any of the camp feyness of Adam West on the old '60s TV show.

Britney Spears is ready to walk down the aisle for the third time. The 30-year-old pop star has agreed to marry her longtime boyfriend and former agent Jason Trawick . Trawick announced yesterday on "Access Hollywood" that he and Spears are engaged. The two have been dating since 2009. Spears was previously married to Kevin Federline , with whom she has two sons: 6-year-old Sean Preston and 5-year-old Jayden James . The couple divorced in 2006. Spears also briefly wed childhood friend Jason Alexander in 2004, but the marriage was annulled after 55 hours.

I'll get to the point: The main, if not only, reason to see "The Machinist" is for Christian Bale's title performance, and even then you have to be a fan of hardcore martyrdom in the service of craft. As Trevor Reznik, a machine-shop tool operator who hasn't slept in more than a year, Bale is a frighteningly gaunt shadow of his usual self. His eyes are far back in his sockets, staring paranoically; his bones seem ready to break through skin. Every step seems like agony. The actor dropped 60 pounds to bottom out at 130, a feat that goes beyond De Niroesque transformation into the valley of...

There are lots of musicals that inspire and stimulate. Only one makes you want to rush outside to buy a newspaper, join a union and hug someone from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Such is the effect after the relentlessly cheery "Newsies," a musical based on a film of the same name, which opened Thursday at the Nederlander Theatre with heart, soul and a lot of vests, caps and too-thick Noo Yawk accents. The musical is based on the 1899 true story of child newspaper sellers, or newsies, in turn-of-the-century New York who go on strike when the...

In "The Flowers of War," when a lone Chinese sniper blows up himself and a pack of Japanese soldiers, the blast sends dust, debris, and fabric flying through the air. It's not that you notice the colors of the fabric - they're like fireworks. It's that you notice that you've noticed. The comely images in this movie - and there are many of them - call attention to themselves, as do most of the images in most movies by Zhang Yimou, - from "Ju Dou" to "The House of Flying Daggers.

One of the recognizable beauties at the Boston Tattoo Convention at the Back Bay Sheraton Boston over the weekend was Chanty Sok , who played Christian Bale 's girlfriend in last year's Lowell movie "The Fighter. " Sok, who was raised in Lowell, served as judge for the Miss Boston Ink Beauty Contest. With her for a close-up during the weekend was contest director Renee Larsh , and contest contenders Sarah Hauk , of Webster, and Brietanya Anderson , of Merrimac.

Christian Bale was in Beijing on Monday to promote a movie about 13 young prostitutes set during Japanese army's brutal rampaging of China's wartime capital, known in the West as the "Rape of Nanking. " The Oscar winner and Batman star plays an American priest in the film "The Flowers of War," directed by one of China's best known modern directors, Zhang Yimou. It is an adaptation of a Chinese-language novel by contemporary writer Yan Geling about 13 sex workers in Nanjing who volunteer to replace university students as escorts for invading Japanese soldiers.

(Omission: A list of locations where "Batman Begins" is playing was omitted from the review of the film in yesterday's Living/Arts section. The film is playing at Loews Theatres Boston Common, AMC Fenway, Jordan's IMAX Reading, Jordan's IMAX Natick, and suburban theaters. Also, the reviewer's rating was omitted. Critic Ty Burr gave the film three stars.) In "Batman Begins," Christian Bale gives us the best Bruce Wayne that has ever graced the screen. He's grave, intense -- a tormented straight-arrow lacking any of the camp feyness of Adam West on the old '60s TV show.

I'll get to the point: The main, if not only, reason to see "The Machinist" is for Christian Bale's title performance, and even then you have to be a fan of hardcore martyrdom in the service of craft. As Trevor Reznik, a machine-shop tool operator who hasn't slept in more than a year, Bale is a frighteningly gaunt shadow of his usual self. His eyes are far back in his sockets, staring paranoically; his bones seem ready to break through skin. Every step seems like agony. The actor dropped 60 pounds to bottom out at 130, a feat that goes beyond De Niroesque transformation...

Area movie fans can see the new biopic about Lowell boxer Micky Ward a day before it is available to the general public. A special benefit screening of “The Fighter’’ will be held Dec. 9 at Showcase Cinemas in Lowell. Tickets for the 300-seat screening and a pre-movie reception are $75 and benefit the Team Micky Ward Charities and Merrimack Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau. The movie features Boston native Mark Wahlberg in the starring role, Christian Bale as his brother, and Amy Adams as his girlfriend.

President Obama's sister Dr. Auma Obama will be at Wheelock College Wednesday talking about sports in society. Obama, who is a technical adviser at CARE International in Nairobi, has experience with programs that use sports to decrease child marriage and crimes against women, and to prevent HIV/AIDS . . . Amy Heidemann and Nick Noonan of the pop duo Karmin were spotted in the lobby of the Ames Hotel over the weekend . . . Former Sox ace Pedro Martinez...