Young Turks / Richard Newton

Richard Newton, an artist who would embed himself in various locations to find odd, ordinary images (moving and otherwise) that a wide spectrum of people could relate to, has a collection of his short films rolling tonight at Laguna Art Museum.

"Some Poets: Short Films from 1969-1987 by Richard Newton," begins at 7 p.m. at the Coast Highway museum.

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It's a good thing Lindsay Lohan blew off Morningside Recovery for the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage because the Newport Beach rehab may have closed with her in it!

Following an Orange County Superior Court judge's preliminary ruling that the Lido Village location violates city law, Newport Beach is now going back to court to force the closure of Morningside and six other rehabs.

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Stokes

Entertainment world polymath Christopher B. Stokes filed two civil lawsuits this month in Orange County Superior Court alleging that two entities, a Youtube channel and an online radio show, violated California law by committing defamation against his character.

Stokes--a music producer tied to B2K and Brandy, and a film director from House Party 4 and You Got Served--filed his May 2 lawsuits seeking at least $2 million in damages from Shadyatlien, the Youtube channel, and IP617FM.COM (a.k.a. IP617RadioTV), a Massachusetts-based enterprise.

The Anaheim Hills resident, a self-styled "entertainment mogul" who is the son of actress Irene Stokes, accuses the two entities of presenting the public "libelous material" that "defames plaintiff's character, broadcasts/transmits a falsified story, negatively portrays plaintiff's name/public image" in a "fraudulent nature."

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Un Plan Parfait (Fly Me To The Moon), the romantic comedy that sold out its Tuesday night French Spotlight screening and earned a repeat showing last night, was the big winner of 2013 Newport Beach Film Festival awards.

It won the juried Best Film, Best Actress (Diane Kruger), Best Director (Pascal Chaumeil) and Best Screenplay (Laurent Zeitoun and Youann Gromb) honors.

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See the update at the end of this post about Lindsay Lohan apparently spending three minutes in the Newport Beach rehab before resurfacing at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage late Thursday.

Lindsay Lohan is Newport Beach's now, bitches!

No, she's not here for the next 90 days to show off bikinis, nor shoot a movie, catch a rave or follow a band who has no interest in her.

The hot mess of an actress has checked into the Morningside Recovery drug rehab.

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Tropicalia

WHERE MY LATINOS AT?!

Wednesday night, they were being celebrated for their recent achievements in cinema at Newport Beach Film Festival's Latino Showcase through three spotlight films from Mexico, Chile, and Brazil at the Lido, Triangle, and Big Newport theaters, respectively.

While I wish I could have checked out all of the films, I set my sights on the Brazilian import Tropicalia. This was an after party-slash-red carpet night, but I was befuddled when I noticed neither the filmmaker for Tropicalia nor a producer were present for the screening; but I was greeted by the always cheerful volunteers and some ladies selling raffle tickets, so no matter. The vibe was low key, as I realized this film was being screened at one of the smaller theaters in Big Newport, not the massive space used for opening night.

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Renée George, whose short film Le Petit Nuage gets a repeat screening at the Newport Beach Film Festival tonight, sort of worked like Michel Hazanavicius in reverse. The Frenchman who wrote and directed the Oscar winner The Artist, came to Hollywood to make a silent picture set against the 1920s-'30s motion picture industry. George, who wrote and directed Le Petit Nuage (The Small Cloud) is an American who went to Paris to make a silent picture set in modern times in the most romantic city in the world. Oh yeah, George had worked on The Artist, too.

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You never know how these film festivals are going to play out. There have been years when it seems as if I've seen documentaries and action-sports films at the expense of feature-length dramas, comedies and other genres. This year, the opposite is true.

Based on past Newport Beach festivals, I can rest assured there has been a solid slate of docs for 2013. But I can only say with certainty that ... with only hours to go on this final day to change my mind ... Terms and Conditions May Apply is the best I have seen.

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Ben Rosenfield as Tim Buckley

It's pretty risky when Hollywood decides to tell a story about musicians, and instead of doing a straight-up documentary, they attempt to recreate the whole scenario. Sometimes the result is amazing, ala Almost Famous, and sometimes not so much (see: The Buddy Holly Story and The Doors). Greetings From Tim Buckley falls somewhere in between.

The film, directed by Daniel Algrant, is a dramatized snapshot of the tribute concert given for Anaheim's Tim Buckley in 1991.

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Tonight at 8 at The Triangle, the Newport Beach Film Festival debuts its Music Videos program, which is part of the three-year-old Music Series of features and documentaries that focus on musicians. Confession time: I had my doubts about the video program when I first heard about it. Who wants to see something shot for the small screen on the big screen, right? But after viewing a DVD screener graciously supplied by the festival's Bojana Sandic, I can honestly state my thinking was whack.

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