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Looking Directly at Clash of the Titans Trailer Will Turn Your Eardrums to Stone
8 hours ago
· And here it is: The trailer for Louis Leterrier's Clash of the Titans. First thoughts? Too many clothes, as we've whined before. Really Loud Prog Rap Rock Metal Music! Less vertigo-inducing than Prince of Persia. Really Big Scorpion!!! Still waiting to be sold on Sam Worthington as leading man. Omg! Walnut-faced people! There's That Scorpion Again, Watch Out! And it looks Ok? That's about it for now. [via Ontd] »
Mya Talks with Movieline About Dancing with the Stars, Excruciating Pain, and Her Childhood Hatred of Performing
9 hours ago
Singer Mya's Billboard-charting history in R&B, pop, and hip-hop now seems like required briefing ahead of her newest venture: dazzling the over-animated judges on Dancing with the Stars. As the highest-scoring competitor of Dwts's ninth season, Mya seems poised to win it all with her seemingly shirt-allergic partner Dmitry Chaplin. Her success against contestants like Kelly Osbourne and Donny Osmond may not be a surprise considering her past in choreographed music videos ("Case of the Ex," "My Love is Like Wo," and the Grammy-winning remake with Christina Aguilera, Lil Kim, and Pink, "Lady Marmalde" spring to mind), but she is nonetheless thrilling to watch. Mya talked with Movieline to recount the near-perfect scores she garnered on this week's samba and quickstep, the impact of Savion Glover and Gregory Hines on her life, and her most intimidating "Lady Marmalade" co-writher. »
In Praise of Awards Season Camp
10 hours ago
Every Oscar season, pundits bemoan the preponderance of films that are so safe, they seem to have been designed with an awards blueprint in mind. You'd think then, that the chattering class would be excited by this year's crop of contenders; whether by virtue of the expansion of the Best Picture race or by simple coincidence, some of 2009's nominee hopefuls are over-the-top, outlandish, and, well, as far from Frost/Nixon as can be.
Yet I've read reviews and gotten in countless debates about movies like Precious, A Single Man, and even Inglourious Basterds where the films' wild natures seem to be held against them. Their fantasies are too campy! Their flights of fancy are too popcorny! It's funny, because I agree -- only I think those are good things. Here's a spirited defense of each movie's "excess is best" raison d'être: »
Twitter's 'Shit Precious' Mom Says' Optioned As Fox Sitcom Pilot
11 hours ago
Well, it's an exciting day indeed for the online echo chamber known as Twitter, as Movieline has learned that just hours after the announcement that Shit My Dad Says would be spun into laughtrack-enhanced gold by the creators of Will & Grace, a similar account -- Shit Precious' Mom Says -- has been snapped by the rival Fox network. Obviously, the title will be toned down if the pilot gets picked up to series, but the underlying premise of a sassy, pleasantly plump teen from the projects who lives with her extremely opinionated and overbearing mom should translate nicely to the small screen. [@shitprecmomsays] »
Lopez Tonight Ratings Ripple Late-Night White-Guy Status Quo
13 hours ago
Thanks to a cross-network premiere on TBS, TNT, and TruTV, comedian George Lopez's new talk show Lopez Tonight might be more watched in key demos (1 million viewers in the sacred 18-49 range on TBS alone) than The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Jimmy Kimmel Live. Add up the pull of all three networks, and that number beats the regular key-demo viewership for Conan O'Brien and David Letterman. You're checking the roof for vultures, right? Frankly, this debut ratings spike for Lopez could be worse news. Clip of Lopez interviewing Kobe Bryant, as well as placating analysis, after the jump. »
So What Is This Shit My Dad Says, Anyway?: A Movieline Faq
13 hours ago
By now, you've likely the heard the incredible tale of Justin Halpern: a 28-year-old guy who just happens to move back in with his parents in San Diego; then starts transcribing his 73-year-old dad's salty, irrepressible bits of grumpy wisdom and uncensored tough-love onto a Twitter account; then sees his followers grow exponentially as thousands upon thousands line up for a fresh, steaming serving of his father's hilarious spoken shit; then grabs the attention of Hollywood (forever on the lookout for the next scatological social networking phenomena); then finds his baby optioned by CBS and plopped into the hands of Will & Grace creators for adaptation into a sitcom pilot. It's an amazing story, and one that led Movieline's Pulitzer-prize-aspiring investigative department to compile this much-needed Faq on the man, the dad, and the Golden Shit. »
Buzz Break: Webmaster of His Domain
14 hours ago
· Jim Carrey has launched his official website -- apparently, with the help of Tim Burton's production staff.
· Matthew Weiner says Don and Betty are really, really done for on Mad Men: "It's so unambiguous to me that this marriage is over, but the audience seems to cling to the idea that they should be together because we want to believe in those things."
· Another week, another series low for Heroes.
· Ugly Betty, however, may get a ratings reprieve, as it's being moved to Wednesdays from its positively Siberian Friday berth.
· Fergie used to voice Sally in Peanuts cartoons (did we know this?). So, does she think ol' Sal had it bad for the proto-gay Peppermint Patty? "Yeah, I kind of got the feeling." »
Accused Letterman Extortionist's Defense: He Just Wanted to Sell a Script
14 hours ago
You know about Occam's Razor, right? The theory dictating that the best explanation for a situation is often the simplest one? That 700-year-old saw emerged today as the one accused David Letterman extortionist Robert "Joe" Halderman is paying big bucks for as part of his defense strategy, with his attorneys explaining that Halderman really was simply trying to sell Letterman a script about the host's dalliances with his staff when he asked him for $2 million. »
Letter From London: Raise a Glass to Cockney Vigilantism
15 hours ago
We know you Americans like Michael Caine, by the way you keep producing dire remakes of his films. Okay, The Italian Job wasn't horrendous (although personally I'm more excited about the forthcoming Bollywood version, which Indian film chiefs have promised will feature "lots of singing and dancing," in case we didn't know what to expect), but our own Jude Law should be thrown into movie jail for participating in your pathetic reimagining of Alfie, and Stallone should be made to stand in the corner and have his Hgh Club for Men Club membership revoked for what he did to Get Carter (which Caine briefly appears in, but my point still stands). But Brits love Michael Caine. »
Carla Gugino on Sex Appeal, Women in Trouble, and Her Sucker Punch Musical Number
16 hours ago
Carla Gugino's had great success as an actress -- she's a geek goddess after her Sin City cameo and her turn as Sally Jupiter in Watchmen, and she won raves on Broadway this year for Desire Under the Elms -- but she's thinking of starting a second career as a porn star. Just call her Elektra Luxx, the character she plays in boyfriend Sebastian Gutierrez's new movie Women in Trouble; it's a role that Gugino enjoyed so much that she's hoping to spin Luxx into a series of additional films. A little assertive, the slightest bit daffy, and rocked by news of an impending pregnancy, Luxx is a porn star on the brink -- and that's just where Gugino likes her.
I talked to the 38-year-old actress yesterday about Luxx's appeal, onscreen sex, and her much-anticipated reteaming with Watchmen director Zack Snyder on Sucker Punch, which Gugino was eager to discuss. »
Presto Disappearo!
16 hours ago
Cast and crew of ABC's heavily diluted Witches of Eastwick retread, Eastwick, have just learned that the network will not order more episodes than the original 13 -- meaning we'll soon be bidding a fond adieu to the series most likely pitched as Supernatural Housewives. Sadly, with it goes Paul Gross -- aka Constable Benton Fraser from Due South -- who seems to be rapidly morphing into his generation's Alan Thicke. Also axed by the network: Let's Dance, the Kathy Griffin-hosted reality show in which celebrities re-enact famous dance sequences from the movies. Apparently casting was a major hurdle, as the big top-hat number from A Chorus Line requires more than the severely limited number of Kardashians currently available. On a cheerier note, Christian Slater procedural The Forgotten (no cracks, please) stays with us, for another five episodes at least. [The Feed] »
Nude Twilight Starlet's PETA Campaign Probably Not Endorsed by Studio
17 hours ago
In one of the most persuasive anti-fur statement since the New Moon Wolfpack waxed its chests, Twilight Saga bit player Christian Serratos joined forces with PETA this week to launch a new campaign against animal consumption. But while it looks great and has drawn plenty of notice to both the film and the animal-rights activists since its unveiling Monday, Twilight's custodians at Summit Entertainment (not to mention its Mormon source novelist Stephenie Meyer) probably aren't as impressed by the Nsfw poster co-opting their chaste tween blockbuster. Click through to see it. »
What's On: Cheaper By the Dozen
17 hours ago
If Jon and Kate won't play ball, Tlc can always scrounge up a few Wife Swap rejects for a new reality series, just as they did with the Hayes family. We all know there are only two ways that the network's new series, Table for 12, will end. The multiples of the Hayes family record a few top 40s hits and open a theater in Branson or they watch as their parents' marriage falls into acrimonious disrepair, their mom adopts a hairstyle that looks like a pile of sticks and their dad starts draping himself in Ed Hardy printed tees. »
Omarosa's Mating Season
19 hours ago
It may sound hard to believe, but hall-of-fame reality villain Omarosa is having difficulty finding a man. Thus her new teaming with Donald Trump for Omarosa's Ultimate Merger, in which the reviled Apprentice witch will narrow 12 eligible bachelors down to one for the African-American-geared network TV One. "Omarosa is smart, witty and difficult, but all of those qualities will make for some very interesting entertainment," Trump said in a statement. The part in the pilot episode where she disengages her jaw to gulp the first castoff down in two bites is said to be particularly worth seeing. [Variety] »
Audience Cringes as Tracy Morgan Turns Carnegie Hall Blue
19 hours ago
Tracy Morgan's unusual methodology of writing a memoir, weeping on NPR, joining Twitter, preaching his affinity for anal sex and throwing Cheri Oteri and Chris Kattan under his steamroller all combined over the weekend for a revisionist punchline to the classic cornball joke, "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" And his ensuing blue streak onstage -- which reportedly prompted walkouts and complaints -- may answer the question, "How do you never get invited back?" »
Black Swan Next Rung in Winona Ryder's Comeback Climb
20 hours ago
· Winona Ryder is the latest actress to grab a role in Black Swan, perhaps better known as Darren Aronofsky's lesbian-ballet-psychodrama thriller previously boasting Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis. Meanwhile Fox Searchlight, which distributed Aronofsky's The Wrestler and can appreciate a quality comely-Jewess showcase like this when it sees one, is reportedly in talks to co-finance and distribute. [THR]
Matthew Weiner's feature debut is delayed, Len Wiseman pursues the apocalypse, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump. »
Second Thoughts
9 November 2009 5:30 PM, PST
· Jezebel has tracked down a rep for Emma Thompson, who had agreed to remove her name from the letter of Roman Polanski support hosted on French intellectual Bernard Henri-Levy's website -- but whose name is still there. The rep said Thompson had "requested that her name be removed when she said she would. We have asked for confirmation from them but have not yet received it." »
Danny Gokey Understands Poor People, Jesus on New Excruciating Single
9 November 2009 4:30 PM, PST
With so many viewers unfairly pigeonholing American Idol second runner-up Danny Gokey as self-important and holier-than-thou, Gokey himself is here to clear up the rumors and announce that he is universally important and holier-than-thou. His first single "It's Only" is flooding pink-and-purple fan blogs near you, and the results are unsavory. While Simon Cowell seemed to consider the 29-year-old singer a countrified Chris Daughtry, Gokey clearly considers himself a thick-belted hybrid of Tracy Chapman and Amy Grant. Because not only does Gokey invoke Jesus's name, he bemoans the strife of poor people all over the country. He preaches it after the jump. »
Which of These (500) Days of Summer Men Got Engaged This Weekend?
9 November 2009 4:00 PM, PST
Last night at the Behind the Camera Awards, before Joseph Gordon-Levitt went on to do a (500) Days of Summer pantomime with Zooey Deschanel, he was on the red carpet singing the praises of writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber. (Gordon-Levitt also told us he hasn't started preparing for his upcoming stint hosting Saturday Night Live, but he can't wait until that very first meeting with the writers.) Still, despite the fun and excitement of taking home an award, one of three men had an even more momentous occasion to celebrate this weekend. »
Why Did I Get Married, Too? Not Nearly As Hilarious As The Original
9 November 2009 3:20 PM, PST
Imagine if Precious had a sequel that brought back all you favorite characters -- Precious, her mom, Mrs. Weiss, Cornrows, Nurse John, and the rest -- only this time around, it isn't another harrowing story about a beaten-down soul who finds unlikely redemption in an inner-city classroom. Rather, they'd reunited for a wacky road trip aboard a runaway bingo bus in search of $1 million in buried bank-robber loot! And it's called It's a Precious, Precious, Precious, Precious World. Sound good? No? It sounds like an utterly ridiculous departure in tonality and subject matter from what made the first Precious so successful? »
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