Washington, Smith often play roles that don’t require racial consciousness

Though Will Smith is a bankable star, he does few films in which a black character is integral, such as “The Pursuit of Happyness.” More often than not, his roles aren’t race specific

They are three of the biggest stars in Hollywood. They are also black.

Denzel Washington, Will Smith and Tyler Perry are money machines, although each is unique in operation. As bankable entertainers, there are few who can match them for consistent box-office clout. That probably isn’t something that could have been said 20 years ago — or even 10 years ago.

Has Hollywood become more tolerant, more accepting, more open-minded? Or is it simply that its obsession with green makes it color-blind when it comes to backing a project? And do Washington, Smith and Perry represent a breakthrough, or are they isolated cases who have defied the odds?

As Black History Month unfolds, the film industry sees the aforementioned titans standing tall on top of a pile of dough. Washington’s recent “The Book of Eli” grossed more than $32 million in its opening weekend ending Jan. 17 and has since amassed more than $63 million. Smith is  the only actor in history to have eight consecutive films released that grossed more than $100 million each. Perry, a writer-producer-director and playwright, has raked in more than $400 million with his works and is a one-man cottage industry.

“I think they’d be the first to tell you that African-American actors have made strides in terms of movies and Hollywood,” said Glenn Whipp, a film critic for the Los Angeles Times, Variety, MSN and others. “I think it’s much like when Obama was elected president, people don’t pay attention to color and are able to see past it.”

Racial consciousness
Yet Kara Keeling, assistant professor of critical studies at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, said that, as far as Washington and Smith are concerned, some of their acceptance has to do with their parts.

“It’s important to look at the kinds of roles they’re playing and the fact that — with the exception of Tyler Perry — they’re playing roles that don’t require any sort of racial consciousness,” she said. “They don’t bring a racial consciousness to bear on the story in a way that disturbs the audience.

“On the one hand it is surprising that now we can all sort of identify with the black leading character whereas before the assumption was that it was only the white character that audiences could identify with. That transformation is an important one. But at the same time the kinds of films that cause us to reflect and look more deeply at race relations, we’ve seen less of those.”

Washington and Smith have carved out extraordinary careers by playing roles that usually aren’t race specific, that could conceivably have been played by stars such as Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis, Johnny Depp or any number of others.

Flights canceled, schools closed as Mid-Atlantic readies for 2 feet of snow

WASHINGTON - A powerful winter storm bore down on the Mid-Atlantic on Friday with as much as two feet of snow in store for the nation’s capital, where the federal government prepared to shut early.

Airlines canceled flights across the region and school districts closed for the day ahead of heavy, wet snow forecast from Virginia and West Virginia across Maryland into southern New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Washington residents scrambled for milk, bread and snow shovels ahead of the storm that was due to move across the region through Saturday.

“As you see, I’m in front of Whole Foods and half of the food is gone already,” Denise Wright said on a shopping trip for staples.

Michael Bloomfield, working at Logan Hardware, said snow shovels, ice melter and salt were selling fast. “Everybody’s been scrambling, calling us, ringing off the phone all day long,” he said.

The federal government, the region’s largest employer, told workers they could take Friday off as unplanned leave and prepared to shut offices four hours early.

Those who can work from home should do so, said Joan Morris, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Transportation. Across the region, state officials were deploying thousands of trucks and employees and had hundreds of thousands of tons of salt at the ready.

“This is not a good mix,” Morris said. “Heavy, wet snow with gusting winds is going to make it a very tough storm for us. I expect visibility will be very poor in spots, and we’ll have to deal with drifting snow.”

The National Weather Service issued a warning stretching from Baltimore to northern Virginia and parts of West Virginia. Total accumulations of 16 inches to 24 inches are expected.

The weather service warns that the mix of heavy snow and strong winds would make travel Friday night “very hazardous or nearly impossible.”

Virginia’s General Assembly canceled Friday’s floor sessions and committee meetings, the first time anyone could remember that the threat of snow had sent the whole legislature home. Officials urged people to stock up on supplies Thursday night and warned of a tough evening commute Friday.

Virginia Del. Tim Hugo was hurrying out of a Thursday afternoon committee meeting so he could get home to Fairfax County, a Washington suburb that’s supposed to get hit.

“I’m heading out of here now because I don’t want my wife stranded at home with 2 feet of snow in the drive,” he said.

Southwest Airlines canceled Friday afternoon flights at Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington airports. Amtrak canceled most trains heading south from Washington, D.C.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, who has been in office less than a month, declared his second snow emergency, authorizing state agencies to assist local governments. The assistance includes deploying National Guard soldiers and emergency response teams.

A mid-December storm brought about 20 inches of snow to many areas in the region. Between that and several smaller snowfalls, the region’s road crews have had plenty of practice in the past two months.

Maryland highway officials said they have spent about $50 million so far clearing and treating roads this winter. That’s almost twice the $26 million that had been budgeted.

The Virginia Department of Transportation said it already spent the $79 million budgeted for statewide snow removal and was tapping into emergency maintenance funds. Once that $25 million reserve is exhausted, the department said it will have to dip into other programs to cover its costs.

Attacks are the third major strike in one week against worshippers

Residents gather near a damaged vehicle at the site of a bomb attack in the holy city of Kerbala.

BAGHDAD - At least 20 people were killed and 75 wounded on Friday when two car bombs blew up in Iraq’s holy city of Karbala as hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims observed a major religious rite, hospital sources said.

The explosions were reported by local media sources as being near the Al Salam hotel in the Karbala suburbs, NBC’s Baghdad bureau reported. The blasts occurred at around 12:15 p.m. local time, an Iraqi police official told The Associated Press.

The attack on the final and most important day of the Arbain festival was the third major strike this week against Shiite pilgrims amid a political furor over the banning of candidates, many of them Sunnis, from a March 7 election. Police said the bombings occurred on the outskirts of the city 50 miles south of Baghdad. Details were sketchy as most officials were observing Arbain, which marks the end of 40 days of mourning for Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, who died in a 7th century battle at Karbala.

Overall violence in Iraq has fallen sharply, but Shiite gatherings remain a target for Sunni Islamist insurgents. Insurgents have also launched a series of coordinated suicide assaults on Baghdad since August aimed at undermining Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ahead of the election.

Banned under Saddam Hussein, Arbain and other Shiite religious events have drawn millions of Shiites not just from Iraq but also from nearby countries like Iran since the Sunni dictator was ousted in the 2003 U.S. invasion.

A bomb planted on a cart pulled by a motorbike killed at least 20 pilgrims on Wednesday as they streamed into Karbala. More than 40 were killed outside the capital on Monday as they began the long walk to Karbala.

Election ban
The attacks added to sectarian tensions that have been rising as a result of an election ban imposed on almost 500 candidates suspected of links to Saddam’s outlawed Baath party.

Sunnis largely boycotted the last national election in 2005 and their anger at their loss of power fueled a powerful insurgency. Renewed Sunni frustration could encourage insurgents like al-Qaida even though the wider sectarian war between Sunnis and Shiites has faded.

The ban on the candidates was suspended on Thursday until after the vote by an appellate panel.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day: a John Travolta shoot-’em-up that makes the City of Love look like a bad day in Baghdad.

Parisian producer Luc Besson (”The Professional”) has carved out a lucrative niche for himself with a string of touristic action thrillers borrowing even-handedly from Hong Kong and Hollywood. They include “The Transporter,” “District 13: Ultimatum” and last year’s hit “Taken,” in which retired spy Liam Neeson turned the French capital upside down to save his daughter from sex traffickers.

Besson has a story credit on the new “From Paris with Love” too, and it’s easy to imagine him scribbling it on the back of a napkin as he toasted “Taken” topping the box office charts.

This time, American counterterrorist Charlie Wax (Travolta) doesn’t have a personal motive to rampage around the Peripherique. It’s all in the line of duty, but the body count is astronomical. “About one an hour” is Charlie’s conservative estimate a day into the mission.

In place of the craggy, hard-boiled Liam Neeson, we get a bald, goateed Travolta in a yashmagh. (If you thought his Edna Turnblad in “Hairspray” was larger than life, wait until you see him here.) There’s not much to be gained from resisting JT in full showboat mode; he’ll eat you for breakfast and still have ample room for that Royale with Cheese (dieting doesn’t seem to be on his agenda).

Presumably, this is what Besson — and his protégé, director Pierre Morel — paid him for. Roping in junior diplomat Jonathan Rhys Meyers as straight man-cum-stooge, the three of them stand well back and serve him up scene after scene, all of which he scarfs down with relish, if not always in the service of a story that could use a more jaundiced eye.

Most irritating is the way this charismatic “ugly American” is given license to wipe out one immigrant minority after another: the entire waiting and kitchen staff of a Chinese restaurant, for starters (a front for a drug ring, it transpires), and then their Pakistani suppliers, plus any woman who has anything to say for herself.

A shootout in a warehouse full of naked mannequins is a cheeky steal from Stanley Kubrick’s early noir “Killer’s Kiss,” but Kubrick knew the difference between dummies and flesh and blood; to Morel, they’re interchangeable.

At least that keeps things simple. You wouldn’t want to have to think twice about a flick like this — or once, actually.

The action is free-flowing in the best Besson house style, but the twists are too telegraphed, and the climax feels oddly disjointed.

But it does have its moments. Best is the strain of black comedy that has Rhys Meyers following his partner up a spiral staircase, stepping over the bodies that keep flying down from the floor above, clutching a Chinese vase full of contraband cocaine for Wax’s personal amusement. Yes, Charlie do surf.

‘I want the terrorists to kill me as well,’ says man who lost two sons

KARACHI, Pakistan - Two bombs exploded in Pakistan’s largest city Friday, one outside a hospital treating victims from the earlier attack on Shiite Muslim worshippers. At least 22 people were killed and more than 50 wounded.

Police appealed for calm following the strikes in Karachi, which took place within two hours of each other.

The chaotic city of 16 million people has a history of religious violence and has been tense in recent weeks due to deadly clashes between rival political parties. In late December, a bomb killed 44 Shiites attending a procession in the city, sparking riots.The first blast targeted a bus carrying worshippers, most of them women and children, killing 12 and wounding 49, officials said. The bomb was attached to a motorcycle and detonated as the bus drove to a Shiite procession, witnesses said.

The second bomb exploded outside the entrance to the emergency ward at Jinnah Hospital, which was packed with victims and relatives of those killed and wounded in the earlier attack. Government spokesman Jamil Soomro said 10 people were killed and several others were wounded.

Shiites were also attacked in Iraq on Friday — the Arbaeen holy day that marks the end of 40 days of mourning after the anniversary of the death of Imam Hussein, a revered Shiite figure.

A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb alongside a crowd of Shiite pilgrims walking to a holy city south of Baghdad, killing at least 27 people and wounding 70, Iraqi police officials said. It was the third deadly bombing this week hitting a major religious ceremony in which hundreds of thousands of Shiites have been converging on the holy city of Karbala, where Imam Hussein was killed in battle in 632.

Shakil Adil / AP A mother who reportedly lost her son in one of the explosions is comforted.

In Karachi, Ashfaq Ali survived the bus attack, but lost two sons. He sat on the floor near a pool of blood.

“I will keep sitting here because it is my sons’ blood,” he said, half-wailing. “I want the terrorists to kill me as well.”

Pakistan’s Sunnis and Shiites generally live in peace, but extremists from the two sects have targeted one another’s leaders and worshippers. Al-Qaida and the Taliban are Sunni extremist groups and also despise Shiites, believing them to be infidels.

Most of the attacks in Pakistan by al-Qaida and the Taliban in recent months have been against government, security forces or Western targets. But analysts say their followers also take part in attacks on Shiites.