A24 Alex Garland is an author turned writer (author of The Beach, screenwriter of Sunshine, 28 Days Later, and Dredd) turned director of brainy-yet-visceral sci-fi like Ex Machina and Annihilation. In his latest, Men, a horror-sci-fi whatsit starring Jessie Buckley opening this weekend, Garland’s talent is as palpable as ever, but his inspiration feels a little thin. Buckley, who has a nice career going after memorable roles in Taboo, Chernobyl, Fargo, I’m Thinking Of Ending Things, and The Lost Daughter (the latter earning her BAFTA and Oscar nominations), plays Harper, a recent widow who has rented a house in the English countryside to try to forget her troubles back in London. Those troubles, we learn through a series of flashbacks, mostly… [Read More...]
Top Chef Houston Power Rankings, Week 12: Reel Big Fish
NBC-Universal Any week I get to use a ska-related headline pun is a great week for yours truly (PICKITUP PICKITUP PICKITUP…). And this week on Top Chef Houston, we were down to just five chefs (…again!). It’s the fiiiiinal chef doooooowwwwn. For this most-crucial-of-episodes-so-far challenge, Tom Colicchio tossed the chefs some Dramamine and told them to get their asses to the docks. They’d be tossing aside the usual Quickfire Challenge like an undersized flounder and taking to the high seas instead, where the chefs would literally fish for their suppers, eat what they catch, teach a man to fish, and other turns of phrase. They went fishing, you get it. In honor of the occasion… [Read More...]
Adam Sandler’s Commencement Speech Is A Must-Watch For Martin Scorsese Fans (And Everyone, Really)
Universal Pictures Adam Sandler completed 12 grades of school in less than six months. The man is an expert at education, which is why the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University asked him to deliver a commencement speech to graduating seniors. (I guess there’s no hard feelings to the NYU professor who told him to quit acting.) Sandler dedicated a portion of his speech to the parents in the crowd, including none other than Martin Scorsese (the legendary Oscar-winning director, who earned his bachelor’s from the university in 1964 and master’s in 1968, is very involved with NYU). “Parents, listen to me. You guys really messed up,” the Uncut Gems star said. “You might be supporting these kids for… [Read More...]
One Of The Kids From ‘Jaws’ Just Became Police Chief In Martha’s Vineyard
Getty Image In 1974, Jonathan Searle created mass panic when he and his brother pranked the beach-happy folks of Amity with a cardboard fin. Searle was a child actor with a notable role in Jaws, as the merry prankster pointing at his brother and frantically crying, “He made me do it!” as tons of local cops swarmed them following their hoax. Now 56, he’s taking on the Brody role for real in the same town where the movie was filmed. Searle has been named the Chief of Police for Oak Bluffs, a section of Martha’s Vineyard. “I’m finding the whole thing quite funny myself!” Searle said, although apparently not a single reporter thought to ask him whether he’d close the… [Read More...]
Johnny Depp Apparently Once Demanded Out Of Nowhere That His Agency Give Him $20 Million
Getty Image As the messy defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard continues, more of Depp’s former associates have been coming in to testify, including his ex-agent Tracey Jacobs. According to Deadline, Jacobs, who had represented Depp from the 1990s to 2016, took the stand in a pre-recorded deposition and told the story of when the disgraced actor randomly demanded millions from his agency. In the recorded testimony, Heard’s attorney asked Jacobs, “So Mr. Depp came in and said, ‘I want you to get $20 million for me?’” Jacobs replied, “Actually it was, ‘I want you to give me 20 million,’ The question was not asked as a loan.” UTA did not oblige. Jacobs said that UTA told Depp… [Read More...]
Amy Adams Is Coming For Her Oscar In Marielle Heller’s ‘Nightbitch’
Getty Image Six-time Oscar nominee Amy Adams is coming for her little gold guy in a film aptly titled Nightbitch, which is exactly what I’ve turned into as a result of Amy Adams never winning an Oscar. Deadline reports that Searchlight Pictures has secured the rights to distribute Nightbitch from Annapurna. The dark comedy/horror film is based on Rachel Yoder’s acclaimed debut novel of the same name. Amy Adams is set to star in Nightbitch with Marielle Heller (The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood) directing. Heller, who directed Oscar-nominated performances from Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant, and Tom Hanks, also wrote the adapted screenplay. Per Deadline, “Nightbitch tells the story… [Read More...]
Chris Pratt Stars In The Action-Packed Trailer For Amazon Prime’s ‘The Terminal List’
When he’s not galloping around the galaxy being a guardian, Chris Pratt has been consistently playing a big-time war dude, whether it be a real war or dinosaur war. The point is, this guy loves acting with guns. Now, he gets to do that in his own TV show! The Terminal List is an upcoming Amazon Prime series based on the novel of the same name by Jack Carr. The series follows Pratt as Navy Seal James Reece as he returns from a deadly mission and tries to piece together what exactly happened out there, and why he was the only one to survive. There are explosions, gunfire, and of course a scene of Pratt playing guitar. The series also stars Friday Night Lights’ Taylor … [Read More...]
‘Star Wars’ Probably Won’t Have New Actors Play Old Characters Again
lucasfilm Solo: A Star Wars Story is by far the lowest grossing Star Wars movie. The anthology film, starring Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo, Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, and Chewbacca as Chewbacca, made only (“only”) $392 million at the box office, compared to $1.056 billion for Rogue One; it earned less than 1983’s Return of the Jedi, even before adjusting for inflation. Solo also received indifferent-at-best reviews with a 69 percent “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, although the film does have its supporters. There’s a fun Star Wars movie in there, but a troubled production (and maybe the worst scene in the entire franchise) did Solo no favors. The underwhelming response to Solo changed the course of Star Wars, both… [Read More...]
Top Chef Houston Power Rankings, Week 11: Don’t Spit My Squid, Bro
NBC Universal This week on Top Chef, we were down to the top five chefs, so it was time to SHAKE THINGS UP. That meant the producers took the whole gang off to Galveston and dropped the winner of Last Chance Kitchen back into the competition. That winner was Sarah, and her arrival immediately… had the chefs settling back into pretty much the same pattern they had been in since episode four when Sarah first got booted (for not doppelganging hard enough). Bees in a mason jar this was not, but hey, it was worth a shot. At least the favorites are interesting. First stop in Galveston, which is an island, sorta, was of course da beach, for some gorgeous gulf seafood. For their quickfire challenge, which… [Read More...]
Hulu Drops The First Look At The Eerie New ‘Predator’ Prequel, ‘Prey’
Dan Trachtenberg’s upcoming Predator prequel is a few months out, but the internet has been blessed with a short (but still terrifying) teaser trailer for the film. Prey will take place 300 years ago as the Predator seemingly arrives on earth and stalks Naru and her camp with his beautiful face. The two will have to battle it out, but it’s clear that one of them definitely survives to star in several more movies, right? Here is the official synopsis: Set in the Comanche Nation 300 years ago, Prey is the story of a young woman, Naru, a fierce and highly skilled warrior. She has been raised in the shadow of some of the most legendary hunters who roam the Great Plains, so when danger threatens her … [Read More...]
Ninja Thyberg On Becoming An Adult Film Insider For Her Explicit Debut Feature, ‘Pleasure’
Neon If you thought Red Rocket was a warts-and-all depiction of porn stardom, then Pleasure might be its perfect complement. Whereas Sean Baker’s Simon Rex vehicle is an outsider picture, mostly depicting post-porn stardom and pre-porn stardom, largely from a male perspective, Pleasure, a debut feature from Swede Ninja Thyberg, depicts the machinations of the industry itself, as experienced by its 22-year-old protagonist, Bella Cherry, played by Sofia Kappel. While both films feature ingenue aspiring porn stars named after fruit, you could make a case that Pleasure retains the edge in boldness. The film opens with a closeup of Bella shaving her vulva in the shower and continues with countless erect penises, nary a prosthetic in sight (with no offense meant… [Read More...]
Everybody Clap Your Hands To The Charming ‘Cha Cha Real Smooth’ Trailer With Dakota Johnson
“Cha Cha Slide” is a staple of awkward middle school dances, and has been on the playlist for every bar and bat mitzvah I’ve ever attended (and as a Jew from New York, I’ve attended many). The DJ Casper song also inspired the title of Cha Cha Real Smooth, writer and director Cooper Raiff’s follow-up to the well-received Sh*thouse. Cha Cha Real Smooth is about an aimless recent college graduate (played by Raiff) who connects with a mother (Dakota Johnson) and her daughter (Vanessa Burghardt) while working as a bar/bat mitzvah party host. The plot may sound like it was “designed by an advanced AI to be the most Sundance dramedy plot ever conceived,” as our Vince Mancini … [Read More...]
The ‘Avatar: The Way Of Water’ Teaser Trailer Was Worth The Wait
After a decade-long wait, the sequel to the highest-grossing movie of all-time is finally coming out. The first Avatar: The Way of Water teaser premiered before screenings of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (along with numerous other Disney-adjacent trailers), and it’s now been released online. Say what you will about the “Dances with Wolves in space” plot, but Avatar was a dazzling, world-building spectacle, and Avatar: The Way of Water looks even more stunning. Will it make you “sh*t yourself with your mouth wide open”? TBD, but prepare to get wet (not like that, come on). Here’s the official plot summary: Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, Avatar: The Way … [Read More...]
‘Surgery Is The New Sex’ In The Eerie ‘Crimes Of The Future’ Trailer With Kristen Stewart
In case you were wondering if David Cronenberg still has “it” (“it” being defined as “weird as hell body-horror movies”), the trailer for Crimes of the Future begins with Viggo Mortensen commenting on Léa Seydoux looking at his organs. Later, Kristen Stewart says that “surgery is the new sex,” Seydoux slices open a guy’s chest and licks the wound, and there’s also a dancer covered in stitches and ears on his forehead. So, yeah, I think David Cronenberg still has “it”. “It’s set in a world where people have evolved to a point where we don’t feel physical pain,” Stewart told Screen Daily about Crimes of the Future. “Sex has changed quite a bit, and the … [Read More...]
Dave Chappelle And Chris Rock Exchanged Jokes About Their Onstage Attacks During A Secret Comedy Show
Getty Image Two days after he was attacked onstage at the Hollywood Bowl, Dave Chappelle joined Chris Rock for a surprise secret comedy show on Thursday night. The two comedians took the stage at the Belly Room in The Comedy Store where Kim Kardashian and Diddy were reportedly in the audience. Chappelle and Rock have been repeatedly linked over the past 48 hours thanks to both men having now experienced onstage assaults, and despite Rock’s reluctance to talk about his experience, he couldn’t resist delivering a brutal jab at Will Smith during the secret show. Via The Hollywood Reporter: “At least you got smacked by someone of repute!” Chappelle joked to Rock. “I got smacked by a homeless guy with leaves in his hair.”… [Read More...]
‘Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness’ Is A Poor Man’s ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’
Disney/A24/Ralph Ordaz It’s a shame for Doctor Strange 2 (aka Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, directed by Sam Raimi) that it’s opening while Everything Everywhere All At Once is still in theaters. Perhaps never before have we had such a stark illustration of the difference between what happens when a filmmaker-driven movie plays with an idea vs. what happens when a massive IP-driven corporate entity-produced franchise movie plays with that same idea. The idea, in both cases, is the multiverse; the idea that the universe consists not just of our present, visible reality, but infinite, slightly distinct realities running in parallel. What might happen when a character or characters travel between those parallel dimensions through a plot conceit? (Shoutout… [Read More...]
Daniel Radcliffe Is A Ripped, Hard-Partying ‘Weird Al’ In The ‘Weird: The Al Yankovic Story’ Teaser Trailer
You would have to (dare to be) stupid to not be excited for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, the “Weird Al” Yankovic bio-comedy starring Daniel Radcliffe as the spoof-master supreme. “Wearing the Hawaiian shirt is a huge responsibility that I don’t take lightly,” the Harry Potter actor (who had the only good take about the Slap) said about the Roku Channel movie. “I’m honored to finally share with the world the absolutely 100-percent unassailably true story of Weird Al’s depraved and scandalous life.” In the teaser trailer above, Radcliffe is a ripped, hard-drinking Yankovic, who in real life doesn’t drink and has never done drugs. “I’ve been around people that smoked dope, pot, Mary Jane, reefer. I enjoyed being … [Read More...]
Video Has Finally Emerged Of Olivia Wilde Being Served Legal Docs, And She Handled It Flawlessly
Getty Image Last week, former The O.C. star Olivia Wilde was served legal documents while on stage presenting at CinemaCon. The move left fans confused about who exactly was to blame for the ordeal: was it ex’s Jason Sudeikis’ idea? Or did his legal team do this without his knowledge? And where was the CinemaCom security?! While many answers are still up in the air, we finally have some footage of what went on. TMZ shared a new clip of Wilde being approached with the papers, saying “this is very mysterious.” She quietly opened the envelope, which turned out to be legal papers from Sudeikis. She handled the situation by quickly saying “got it” and moving on with her presentation. You can… [Read More...]
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