Michael Keaton

There is something unpredictable, unnervingly explosive about Michael Keaton's performance in director Glenn Gordon Caron's "Clean and Sober"--"a lot of danger lurking about," as Caron puts it. That's not the screen image usually associated with Keaton, whose career as a comedic actor just one year ago seemed to have stalled on the same wise-cracking note.

In the world according to Barbie, the Mattel doll met and fell in love with Ken in 1961 on the set of a TV commercial. Over the decades, Ken has held some 40 jobs, including Olympic gold medalist and hair stylist. The two even broke up last decade because of Ken's reluctance to tie the knot. But according to Barbie's blog last year, this legendary couple has reunited. But in Disney/Pixar's "Toy Story 3," which opens June 18, Ken is a swinging bachelor who lives in a daycare center where Woody, Buzz, Jessie, Mr. Potato Head and the gang come to live after their beloved owner, Andy, heads off to college.

Holy Handprints: To kick off the Batmania countdown, Michael Keaton will leave his batprints in the courtyard of Mann's Chinese Theater today at noon. The actor repeats as Batman in the much-anticipated "Batman Returns," which opens Friday.

Like a fog-shrouded hill, "The Merry Gentleman" might slip by you unnoticed. Don't let it. This small gem of a movie is the first directed by Michael Keaton, who stars along with the exceptionally talented young Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald. We see in the film what Keaton has refined as an actor -- that ability to know exactly how to play each emotional note for maximum effect.

This uproarious comedy, a dazzling display of director Tim Burton's unique pop culture sensibility, is an irresistible treat in which attractive, homespun ghosts Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis wreak havoc on the relentlessly upscale new owners of their New England home. With Michael Keaton (pictured) as a decidedly weird "bio-exorcist" in the title role. Cinemax Tuesday at 6:30 a.m., Friday at 4:30 p.m.

The Left Coast Band, featuring Jon Whinnery on sax, Theo Saunders on piano, Putter Smith on bass and Kendall Kay on drums, performs at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A., 5:30 p.m. (323) 857-6000. Flagship Theatres offers fans of its Cool Weekend Late Shows series a post-Thanksgiving treat with free screenings of Tim Burton's "Batman," starring Michael Keaton, Friday and Saturday, University Village 3, 3323 S. Hoover St., L.A., midnight. (213) 748-6321.

Actor Michael Keaton, the househusband in "Mr. Mom," the cruddy afterlife creature in "Beetlejuice" and the caped crusader in "Batman," has filed for divorce, People magazine reported. "Michael doesn't comment on his personal life," Keaton publicist Paul Bloch said Tuesday in response to the report in this week's issue. Keaton, 38, and his wife, actress Caroline McWilliams, 44, were married seven years ago and have a 6-year-old son, Sean. McWilliams starred in the film "Nearly Departed."

Last summer's blockbuster is far from perfect, with a script not nearly as taut or illuminating as it ought to have been, but once Jack Nicholson's Joker (pictured) and Michael Keaton (in the title role) go to it, the Tim Burton film is pretty entertaining. There's a terrific assist from Anton Furst's production design (which owes as much to Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" as it does the comic strip) and Danny Elfman's ominous score. (HBO Sunday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m., 10:45 p.m.

Recently I was driving my two small children home when my car broke down in the middle of San Vicente Boulevard. I was so nervous, wondering how I was going to get both children out of their car seats with so many people honking their horns and driving around us. It was the most welcome thing for someone to appear out of nowhere, take charge of the situation and push the car to the side of the road, which is exactly what Michael Keaton did. ...

This is one fan who has not had a "change of heart" over the casting of Michael Keaton as Batman in the upcoming movie (Pat H. Broeske's "Man Behind the Mask," May 14). Keaton, as talented as he is, lacks the physical presence to make you believe he could intimidate criminals. Keaton isn't a wimp; he just doesn't project the toughness of a Sean Connery or Clint Eastwood. Jack Nicholson as the Joker, . . . well, maybe 15 years ago. The Joker is supposed to be very thin, something 'ole Jack hasn't been in a while.

Michael Keaton comes bounding into his office in Santa Monica with the same frenetic energy and intensity that he has brought to his movie roles for the last 20 years. "I've got to roll," he tells everyone as he briskly walks into his personal office and starts opening the mail piled up on his desk. "You can start any time you want," Keaton tells a reporter as he opens an envelope containing a script.

The Left Coast Band, featuring Jon Whinnery on sax, Theo Saunders on piano, Putter Smith on bass and Kendall Kay on drums, performs at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A., 5:30 p.m. (323) 857-6000. Flagship Theatres offers fans of its Cool Weekend Late Shows series a post-Thanksgiving treat with free screenings of Tim Burton's "Batman," starring Michael Keaton, Friday and Saturday, University Village 3, 3323 S. Hoover St., L.A., midnight. (213) 748-6321.

In case you haven't heard, the Democrats are holding their national convention starting Aug. 14 right here in Los Angeles--as close as they could get to Beijing without being obvious. Along with the Democrats comes a mob of impassioned, headline-stealing activists. And I don't just mean the Baldwin brothers.

MACK MOGUL: The latest rapper to move into cinema is L.A.'s Mack 10, whose "Thicker Than Water"--with Mack as star, producer, writer of the original story treatment and financial backer--began filming last week. And though it's his first time out, he says he's ready to challenge all the competition--including his pal Ice Cube. "I put my money and my word on it that this is the best [hip-hop movie] ever made," he says.

Leonardo DiCaprio is skipping from hotel to hotel in Los Angeles these days. He's footloose and edgy while he waits to decide just where to buy a house in Hollywood. There were reports that he had chosen a spot in Bel-Air, but he moves around a lot because he realizes that, as soon as his whereabouts are known, he'll be pestered by paparazzi and ardent fans. Hey, it ain't always fun being the world's most famous young man.

The Centennial Olympics were blamed for disappointing openings of four new pictures this weekend, including Michael Keaton's "Multiplicity." But it sure didn't hurt "Independence Day," which took in another $20.9 million. "ID4" should hit the $200-million mark today after 21 days in release, breaking another record set by "Jurassic Park," which arrived at the $200-million benchmark in 23 days.

Ron Howard's 1994 film is rife with the motion and commotion that characterize all newspaper films, and the kind of manic "get the story" energy is especially suited to knockabout comedy.