WRITE-THRU SATURDAY AM: following Friday midday post:According to industry estimates, Warner Bros.’ Crazy Rich Asiansis still looking to best the studio’s shark movie The Megfor the top-spot at the weekend B.O., $21.6M to $20M. Crazy Rich Asians won Friday with $7M, to Meg‘s $5.9M.
Even if Saturday sends Meg over the top for the three day crown, it’s still a win for Crazy Rich Asians. Here’s the first Hollywood studio movie in 25 years about westernized Asians, made by… Read
Detroit native Stevie Wonder said he told Aretha Franklin to “say hello to my sister” in his final conversation with the dying Queen of Soul.
Wonder, speaking today on CBS This Morning, said he visited Franklin at her home two days before she passed. He choked up as he recalled the meeting.
"She wasn't able to speak back, but her family felt that she could hear me, and so I just said all the things that I've always said and told her to say hello to my sister," Wonder… Read
UPDATE, with video President Donald Trump “lost his one black friend” this week, said Bill Maher tonight – and he wasn’t talking about Aretha Franklin (though the Queen of Soul would get the HBO host’s respect soon enough).
Omarosa Manigault Newman, Maher reminded everyone at the opening of tonight’s Real Time with Bill Maher, was once on Trump’s side. “She lied for him,” Maher said, also recalling Omarosa’s classic “all detractors have to bow down” comment.
Maher… Read
Sorry To Bother You director Boots Riley has issued a long Twitter critique of Spike Lee’s new Black KKKlansmanfilm, attacking its politics and timing.
Warning: The article contains spoilers on Black KKKlansman and Riley’s tweets.
While allowing that Lee has been “a huge influence” on his career, Riley took issue with the fictionalization of the story, wherein police are made out to be heroes in the battle against racism. Lee’s film tells the true story of a black… Read
Sad news for those of you who have enjoyed the first five iterations of the Sharknado thing: Episode VI – It’s Come to This (fake title) is the last chapter in the toothy saga. But we’ll always have the memories. Come to think of it, that news seems just as sad.
Regardless, here is the final trailer for the final Jaws-meets-weather event, The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time (real title). Airing on Sunday, it wraps Syfy’s Sharknado Week of such awards-bait programming as Ni…Read
Actress Rosamund Pike claims she had a #MeToo moment when she was asked to strip to her underwear during an audition for the 2002 James Bond film Die Another Day.
The actress recounted the incident in an interview with the UK’s The Independent. She said she refused the humiliating request, but ended up anyway with the role of double-crossing spy Miranda Frost opposite Pierce Brosnan.
"On the day, I don't know how I got the resolve and strength of mind, but I just… Read
Amazon is working on a new DVR device for the streaming era that that would be a household’s hub for the company’s online video. Citing sources, Bloomberg reports that the gadget — known in-house as “Frank” — would push consumers to bypass cable and satellite TV while dinging TiVo’s market for digital video recorders.
Connecting to Amazon's Fire TV boxes using the same tech as its Echo speakers, the new device will allow users to record live TV and stream the video to a… Read
Nuri Bilge Ceylan's The Wild Pear Tree, which premiered this year in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, was selected as Turkey’s submission into this year’s Foreign Language Film Oscar race. It marks the fifth film from Ceylan chosen to rep the country, and the first since 2014’s Winter Sleep which won Cannes’ Palme d’Or.
Local media reports said 12 films were in the running for the slot and Pear Tree was chosen among film professionals and Culture and Tourism… Read
Presidential advisor Kellyanne Conway thinks the press has a fixation.
Friday morning outside the White House, she asked the news pack, "Why is everybody so obsessed with the president of the United States that they can't even begin or finish a sentence without mentioning his name five times.
"It's kind of weird," Conway added, comments captured by CSPAN.
President Donald Trump obsession is “infecting people on the news now who fancy themselves security experts,” Conway… Read
Mark Wahlberg and director Peter Berg have teamed on three real-life stories, the terrific Lone Survivor, Deepwater Horizon and the highly underrated Patriots Day. Now for their fourth collaboration with Mile 22, they have dumped the inspiring stories and gone for some nonstop down-and-dirty rat-a-tat action in the hope of starting a franchise a la the Jason Bourne movies their new Mile 22 most closely resembles.
Unfortunately the minute Walhberg’s character Jimmy Silva… Read
Netflix is still figuring out its way in the comedy talk show arena. The Internet network has opted not to continue with its two recent entries in the genre, The Break with Michelle Wolf andThe Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale.
Both shows were toplined by comedy personalities with successful track records, McHale as long-time host of The Soup on E! and Wolf as writer and contributor on Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. The Joel McHale Show…Read
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is set to get grilled by Black Mirror actor Maxine Peake at the Edinburgh International Television Festival.
The opposition leader and MP Corbyn is giving the Alternative MacTaggart at the festival, which runs August 22-24. He will give a keynote address before Peake oversees a Q&A. Previous Alternative MacTaggart speakers have included Russell Brand, Sharon Horgan and Charlie Brooker. Chewing Gum creator Michaela Coel is giving the MacTaggart… Read
