Actress Amber Heard has filed for divorce from husband Johnny Depp after just 15 months of marriage, several media outlets reported on Wednesday.

Heard, 30, filed the divorce petition in a Los Angeles court on Monday, citing “irreconcilable differences” with the 52-year-old Depp, the A-list actor who starred in “Pirates of the Caribbean,” according to a copy of the court documents uploaded online by celebrity news website TMZ.

Reuters could not independently verify the report. Representatives for the two did not return calls or emails seeking comment.

The couple got married in February of last year after meeting when they appeared together in the 2011 film “The Rum Diary.” The pair began dating after Depp split from his longtime partner, French actress Vanessa Paradis. Depp and Paradis are the parents of two teenage children, a boy and a girl.

Depp and Heard made global headlines last year when they ran into legal trouble for bringing their Yorkshire terriers, Pistol and Boo, into Australia as Depp was filming the latest “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie, breaching the country’s tight biosecurity laws.

Heard was charged with two counts of illegally importing the pets and one count of producing a false document last July. A magistrate judge in April filed no conviction for Heard but issued a formal order to stay out of trouble for a month or face a A$1,000 ($767) fine.

A videoed deadpan apology by Depp and Heard for the offence, gleefully dubbed the “war on terrier” and “terriergate” by the Australian media, later went viral.

Depp gained fame in the late 1980s after appearing in the popular TV series “21 Jump Street” and later starred in “Edward Scissorhands” and “Alice in Wonderland.” Depp stars in the sequel, “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” released in theatres on Friday.

Heard most recently appeared in the film “The Danish Girl.”

AT THREE billion downloads, Angry Birds – and its dozen or so editions – is the most downloaded mobile game of all time. I’ve contributed a few to this; Angry Birds Rio is my favourite title.

But much like the movie’s hero-turned-hermit Mighty Eagle, game developer Rovio’s halcyon days are behind it, with last year seeing a third of its staff cut and an operating loss of US$15 million (S$20.7 million).

With a production budget of US$73 million and a US$400 million ad blitz, The Angry Birds Movie is Rovio’s feature-film gamble via its in-house Rovio Animation studio and Hotel Transylvania makers Sony Pictures Imageworks.

Judging by its defeat of Captain America: Civil War to claim the top of the US box-office pecking order and takings of more than US$150 million worldwide so far, it’s a wager that may pay off.

Rovio is counting on fans of the puzzle games to be the movie’s built-in audience but it is newcomers who will be left confused.

For example, one of the pigs’ presents is a massive slingshot. Players will instantly recognise this as the device the birds will use to launch themselves at the boar baddies, but it makes no sense in the context of the story.

Likewise, at the movie’s climax – when the birds lay siege to the pigs’ citadel – Red and company discover their special abilities that are portrayed in the game. But with the exception of Bomb, there was no foreshadowing of these talents; they just happen for no rhyme or reason.

However, Angry Bird virgins may still find something to like about directors Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly’s flick.

The animation is a delightful throwback to Tex Avery and Chuck Jones cartoons. Characters are subjected to violence that would have otherwise been lethal, and there are amusing details like the pose-to-pose movements of Chuck – voiced by Gad of Frozen’s Olaf fame – Bomb’s burning-fuse “ahoge” and Matilda’s facial tics as she tries to keep a lid on her inner rage.

Also, the set design by Pete Oswald is pure eye candy – from the bird-feather motif on the tree bark of Bird Island to the Rube Goldberg-like skyscrapers of Pig Island.

The screenplay by Simpsons writer Jon Vitti proves less impressive. Older audience members might see the pigs’ invasion of the birds’ home and Red’s Cassandra-like warnings as an allegory for Manifest Destiny colonialism or Europe’s migrant crisis. Sudeikis himself said in a Heatstreet interview that he sees “the pig” as a personification of Donald Trump.

Instead of going the whole hog like Zootopia (2016) or Ernest & Celestine (2012) on this xenophobic subtext, the movie coyly stops short of making a statement.

The strongest thing The Angry Birds Movie has going is its joke-a-minute humour; it’s the funniest film I’ve seen so far this year. Children and kids-at-heart will enjoy the slapstick and scatological comedy; those who’ve seen the trailer would be familiar with the cringe-worthy pee-drinking scene.

For the adults, there are many clever avian and porcine puns – “cardinal sin” and “Pig Latin” come to mind, references to films like The Shining and Fifty Shades Of Grey, and visual gags like a pig eating a sausage.

The soundtrack is an eclectic mix of Heitor Pereira’s boisterous score and pop numbers like one-hit wonder Tone Loc’s Wild Thing and Demi Lovato’s cover of I Will Survive. Dinklage’s character even Rickrolls the audience at one point.

For wordplay and animation enthusiasts as well as fans of the game, this is a faithful adaptation that will make time fly. For everyone else, this illogical and narratively bankrupt cash cow is for the birds.

THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE (PG)

Action-comedy/97 minutes/Opens today

Rating: 3/5

The story:

Red (Jason Sudeikis) is a hot-tempered bird among a happy flock on an island.

After one meltdown too many, he is court-ordered to attend anger management classes, where he meets Chuck (Josh Gad), a manic speed demon; Bomb (Danny McBride), a bird who literally explodes when he gets upset; Terence (Sean Penn), a laconic giant who committed unspeakable crimes; and Matilda (Maya Rudolph), their New Age guru.

One day, a ship arrives with green pigs bearing gifts, led by Leonard (Bill Hader). Red is the only bird suspicious of the foreigners and seeks the counsel of Mighty Eagle (Peter Dinklage), a long-forgotten mythical figure.

Meanwhile, the pigs’ vessel turns out to be a Trojan Horse, and when the swine poach the birds’ eggs to poach them for dinner, it’s up to Red and his new friends to rescue their offspring.

andreteh@sph.com.sg

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IT LAUNCHED with a mission of just five years “to boldly go where no man has gone before” but, half a century later, Star Trek is a multi-billion-dollar cultural phenomenon adored by fans worldwide.

When the television show debuted in 1966, the concept was a three-season series following the crew of the starship Enterprise as they ventured into the galaxy to seek out new civilisations.

Little did NBC know it would snowball into a touchstone in entertainment spawning six shows with a combined 725 episodes and 13 movies, turning its stars into household names.

And the Star Trek phenomenon will boldly go on – fans can look forward to an upcoming 50th-anniversary film and a new television series.

The latest film, Star Trek Beyond, hits United States theatres on July 22 while the TV show is due out in January 2017 on CBS.

“To be talking about the 50th anniversary is insane. I was born the same year that Star Trek was,” veteran film-maker J. J. Abrams, the creative force behind the new “rebooted” trilogy, told a convention in Hollywood last week.

“I know how old I feel so the idea that this thing endures is incredible.”

The original series starred William Shatner, now 85, as the suave Captain James T. Kirk and Leonard Nimoy, who died last year at 83, as his stilted sidekick – a half-human, half-Vulcan science officer named Mr Spock.

Gene Roddenberry wrote the pilot in 1965, the same year as the first US spacewalk, and pitched the show as “a wagon train to the stars”, figuring that westerns were popular in Hollywood at the time.

Fans say Roddenberry examined earthly social issues with an unparalleled sensitivity, presenting television’s first truly multi-racial cast, and the first televised inter-racial kiss.

Korean-American actor John Cho, who plays Starfleet Officer Hikaru Sulu in the rebooted trilogy, said multi-culturalism is one of its “defining features”.

“I wanted to be a part of something I felt was an important, positive cultural contribution,” the 43-year-old said.

The franchise has attracted a devoted global cult and Trekkies are the only fan group listed by name in the Oxford English Dictionary.

Karl Urban, who plays ship’s doctor Leonard “Bones” McCoy – the role originally made famous by the late DeForest Kelley – said Beyond was more complex and yet more fun than previous episodes.

“We wanted to balance between paying respect and homage to what had been before – little inside jokes and references for long-time fans – and delivering new material that new audiences can appreciate,” said Urban, 43.

Beyond director Justin Lin added: “With these characters and themes, we can go anywhere, we can evolve and they are going to run into new challenges. And there should be no boundaries.”

NEW YORK – Jay Z has responded publicly one month later to his wife Beyonce’s album Lemonade that hints at his infidelity – and like her, he is doing so in song.

The hip-hop mogul, in his first new musical contribution of significant length in two years, offered a verse in a track released late on Tuesday by fellow New York rappers Remy Ma and Fat Joe.

The new mix of their song All The Way Up, pointed to the vast commercial success of Lemonade, which was initially released exclusively on his Tidal streaming service and hit number one on the US chart.

“You know you made it when the fact / Your marriage made it worth millions,” he raps, adding, if the allusion was unclear, “Lemonade is a popular drink and it still is.”

Music superstars Beyonce and Jay Z spotted at Changi Airport

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Twitter, Instagram, Reuters, AFP

He also mentioned the couple’s daughter, Blue Ivy, boasting that she is “showered in gold” and “looking like Pac in the tub,” a reference to late rap legend Tupac Shakur who famously posed under layers of gold in a bathtub.

Beyonce released Lemonade on April 23 and accompanied the album with a movie televised on HBO.

The tracks include Don’t Hurt Yourself, a collaboration with garage rocker Jack White, in which Beyonce rages against infidelities and announces a “final warning” to the unnamed partner that if he does not change he will “lose your wife.”

The film initially triggered a flurry of online speculation that Lemonade was an elaborate announcement of a divorce, but Beyonce is seen later in the film embracing a sullen Jay Z.

The verse may not be Jay Z’s only word on Lemonade.

Celebrity news outlets have reported that Jay Z is working on his own album in response, and also that he and Beyonce are preparing a joint release.

The couple – together worth an estimated US$1 billion (S$1.3 billion) – have not commented on potential upcoming releases.

Beyonce has embarked on a global tour.