Bruce Willis

The last time Jonathan Mostow stood behind a camera, the franchise -- "Terminator" -- and the production budget -- $200 million -- scarcely could have been bigger. Following a six-year absence, the director is back in theaters with a much smaller property (an adaptation of a little-known graphic novel) and a fraction of his "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" price tag. All the same, Mostow's "Surrogates" has something to prove and, the director hopes, something to say about our addiction to technology.

More arts and entertainment coverage on the Web. CELEBRITIES Despite Globes, Rumer has it It was supposed to be Bruce Willis and Demi Moore's eldest daughter's coming-out party, her Hollywood-style debutante ball, broadcast live. Instead, that pesky writers strike emerged. But Rumer Willis, a.k.a. Miss Golden Globes 2008, has found a way to deal with her disappointment: Free stuff! Details at www.TheEnvelope.com. TELEVISION Nothing to TiVo? It's slim pickings. Dangerously slim.

No one winces like Bruce Willis. A man with a million-dollar grimace, the actor gets lots of opportunity to play to his strength in "Live Free or Die Hard," the latest adventure of ultra-violent Energizer Bunny John McClane: He's not exactly cuddly but he keeps on coming on.

The streets of Hollywood are littered with the corpses of R-rated action trilogies that once were, with their Terminators and Aliens and Rambos all hobbling around on canes and pulling oxygen tanks. So it's no wonder that as the release of the fourth "Die Hard" film, "Live Free or Die Hard," draws near, Bruce Willis finds himself reaching out directly to angry fans to avoid that fate.

When Hollywood madam Jody "Babydol" Gibson was busted eight years ago, word that police had seized her list of celebrity clients stirred intense curiosity in Hollywood -- and not a little worry. The much-anticipated disclosure of famous names never occurred, however. The evidence presented to the jury that convicted Gibson in 2000 of operating an international prostitution ring included phone books and other records in which, prosecutors said, she listed her customers.

ALL LOS ANGELES is a sound stage, its people merely extras. Most Angelenos get that, accepting that a certain amount of inconvenience goes along with living in Hollywood's 10-million-inhabitant back lot. Local filming benefits everybody, providing jobs and pumping money into the economy. But at what point do we cross the line from being accommodating to exploited?

Made with energetic flair and no small dose of violence, mercifully handled with discretion, "Hostage" exemplifies taut, confident filmmaking. Bruce Willis draws upon the full measure of his strong physical presence, his intelligence and his considerable emotional resources held in reserve.

Bruce Willis will pay a $21,000 fine for violating federal wetlands protection laws by clearing a half-acre island in a pond at his central Idaho home. Willis was cited in October for clearing the small island, installing a sprinkler system and adding topsoil to level depressions so sod could be laid. Environmental Protection Agency officials claimed he also dumped 10 cubic yards of fill material in a stream to provide access to the island.