Yo. Half the Empire was born from Kelly Rowland.
The erstwhile Child of Destiny has been tapped to play Lucious Lyon’s mother on the hit TV show this fall. Obviously, Rowland will be seen via flashback, since she is hella younger than Terrence Howard, her on-screen son.
Too bad Gladys Knight already guested as herself. If the powers that be needed to show mama Lyon in the present they could cast her ’cause Rowland looks quite a bit like the legendary singer, IMHO.
Photo: ThatGrapeJuice.net.
Harry of Wales, Luke Hemsworth....
Being the other brother in the family can be tough, handsome work.
Joining the ranks of the others now is Dylan Efron, younger brother of Zac and sporter of his own rock ’em, sock set o’ abs. He made his abstastic debut on his actor-brother’s Twitter last night, and that burn scent you smell? That’s the Internet feeling H-O-T!
I cannot help but wonder: What was mama Efron was eatin’ when she was carrying those two that made their abs so impossibly gosh darn responsive.
Photo: TooFab.com.
This split? This split may just break the Internet.
Kourtney Kardashian has dumped Scott Disick, reportedly once and for all, after almost a decade doing the on-off dance and three kids together.
Evidently, the split was prompted by his inability to get it and keep it together, and by his recent reconnection in the south of France with some chick he dated while he was on a break with Kardashian back in 2006.
Kardashian and Disick share 5-year-old Mason, 3-year-old Penelope, and 5-month-old Reign.
Photo: People.com.
Kalinda has left the The Good Wife, and someone’s gotta fill her void, right.
Well that someone is gonna be Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
Yes, the actor – who can currently be seen on TV’s Extant, another CBS property – has been cast on the Julianna Margulies-fronted show as a calm and experienced investigator that her Alicia Florrick hires.
I bet the powers that be will lay on the sexual tension between the characters thick. After all, Matthew Goode’s obviously flirty Finn Polmar will recur only on the show’s upcoming seventh season.
Photo: TVGuide.com.
And speaking of weddings à la patriotic, Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher also got married the Fourth of July weekend that just was.
The couple, engaged since February 2014 and parents to 9-month-old Wyatt Isabelle, reportedly made it official yesterday? last Saturday? Maybe last Friday?
Their reps haven’t confirmed.
Kutcher and Kunis first met when they got cast on TV’s That ’70s Show in the late ’90s.
Aww!
Photo: TheDishh.com.
Nothing like getting hitched to assert your independence!
Matt Dallas, the erstwhile star of ABC Family’s Kyle XY, and his fiancé, musician Blue Hamilton, got married recently (not exactly sure when, but I understand it was real recently), and both shared the happy news via their social media over the Fourth of July weekend.
Each groom took to his Instagram to introduce “Mr. & Mr. Dallas” or “Mr. & Mr. Hamilton.”
Sweet! And congratulations.
Photo: People.com.
They pretty, but they talk too much.
That (!) is the lesson from this weekend’s eagerly awaited Magic Mike XXL, the sequel to the summer 2012 pleaser of crowds, Magic Mike.
Actually, that little nugget of knowledge began to sink in while watching the movie, a rather terrible thing to have happen, for it completely takes ya outta the moment. And I do mean it gets in the way of enjoying all the T&A (thrusting and abs) that the marketing department behind the production have been selling us.
This is a movie about strippers – pardon, a movie about male entertainers. It ought to be fun and definitely not necessarily lesson-imparting.
Not that Channing Tatum & Co.’s second working of the pole ain’t a romp (at times). It absolutely is...when his back-from-retirement Magic Mike and his sexy bros are, in fact, dancing and shaking it, not when they’re trying to make us care about them. Ahem, we want pecs, not the rich inner workings of Big Dick Richie (Joe Manganiello).
See, much as it was the case with the original, helmed by Steven Soderbergh (who, btw, has remained involved with the bound-for-Broadway franchise, serving as an executive producer on Magic Mike XXL and as its invaluable cinematographer), this part deux suffers from a sort of split personality disorder. It obviously wants to be everything skinstastic it has been promising and an effective indie-esque story about getting yourself out of a funk (lemme just say things haven’t exactly turned into a Norman Rockwell painting for our protagonist).
That plot-against-thongs conflict was more easily overlooked three years ago because Matthew McConaughey was on board stirring things up for Mike (and Tatum). McConaughey’s oily Dallas owned the joint in which our guy danced, and, thus, he kinda owned the budding furniture designer by day, man o’ fantasy by night. Given the twangin’ actor’s Academy Award-winning McConaissance, Magic Mike XXL has to go sans Dallas (Alex Pettyfer’s newbie stripper’s gone, too), and without an antagonist, which is NBD since this one is all about this huge stripper convention in Myrtle Beach that, just like a siren, calls upon those good ol’ Tampa boys we made it rain for before.
Mike is lured back into the fold for one last hurrah, resolves outstanding animosities with the crew, especially with the more-fleshed-out-as-a-character Ken (Matt Bomer), and, because this is a sequel that requires more, more, more! and bigger, too, he recruits an old and special acquaintance played by Jada Pinkett Smith and tWitch to join in, as well as Amber Heard, Andie McDowell, Elizabeth Banks.
The result is yet another movie that’s not quite sure what it really wants to be, and an enjoyable-enough time at the movies.
For hot time, this one’s much too not for its own good, which so makes me doubt the possibility of a threequel titled Magic Mike 3-D.
My Rating **1/2
Photo: MTV.com.
Is it gon’ be from Mr. Worldwide to Mr. Vegas for Pitbull?
Heck yeah.
The Miami-bred singer is going to take on Sin City this September with the “Time of Your Lives” show, a seven-night residency at The Axis at Planet Hollywood that he also has dubbed “Convenient Amnesia” – because, “what happens in Vegas with a Miami guy never happened.”
Sounds like he means to have fun.
Dale!
Pitbull will get the party started on Sept. 23.
Photo: MTV.com.
Why?
That is the sad, crucial question that the clumsy Terminator Genisys begets.
Why did this Alan Taylor-helmed wannabe-blockbuster reboot have to even exist and why did it have to insist on being so complicated and awkward? Why did it have to effectively zap the excitement that would surround watching Emilia Clarke in like, anything ever again? I mean, her once-buzzy, seemingly inspired casting feels misguided now, which brings me to this follow-up Q: Will this – her just-a’ight take on Sarah friggin’ Connor – affect how we appreciate her on HBO’s Game of Thrones?
Nah. I revisited the show’s fifth season premiere after the poorly attended showing I caught, and it proved to be a good palate cleanser.
Why is this movie bumming me out this badly?
Terminator Genisys adds nada to the mythology that James Cameron birthed in 1984. If anything, this turkey jumbles it even further. If the goal was to restart som’in’ for millennials, rewriting time-travel canon at whim and with little to no regard for reason, then success, ’cause, y’ know...nostalgia and s--- (but really ’cause, y’ know...money!). If, however, the idea actually was to rework The Terminator and its earned sequel, 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day, while honoring ’em and take that story down a new and inventive road, well then, as the kids would say today: #fail.
The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, were a fairly perfect cinematic pair. They told the story they wanted to tell, and while the second one teased the possibility of more (we got...meh in 2003), that combo’s been quite widely acknowledged as a fantastic example of why less should’ve been more.
But, y’ know...Hollywood.
Terminator Genisys begins in the not-so-distant future, in 2029. Skynet’s sentient, and it already has judged humanity: The machines have killed about 3 billion people and, for all intents, won its war against man. As he always does, John Connor’s leading the Human Resistance, and as played by Jason Clarke (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), he is a towering presence that, unfortch, looks a tad outta place, like he belongs in a much different production because Clarke serves more Machiavelli than badass, which I guess works given the twist the movie’s trailers totally gave away leading to this weekend. As he also always does, John sends his most trusted ally, Kyle Reese (The Divergent Series’ Jai Courtney), back in time to protect his mother, Sarah Connor (the Clarke a.k.a. Daenerys Targaryan), but not before Skynet sends a T-800 cyborg to kill her, and not before Matt Smith can reveal the nature of his mysterious role.
Look, what follows is a proper scramble of everything we’ve known until this point about that original T-800 traveling back to the ’80s, about the original timeline, and, I think, even about this new timeline.
He skipped 2009’s Terminator Salvation, but Arnold Schwarzenneger is back for his fourth go as the Terminator/protector, and that is what truly makes this one count. Thank goodness for him. Emilia Clarke’s no Linda Hamilton, and as hard as he tries (and he tries hard), Courtney is no leading man.
In this one, Ahnuld plays Sarah’s beloved Pops because some unrevealed someone sent him back to when she was a kid to keep her from that moment on and prep her for the moment in ’84 when the original Terminator arrives in L.A. and for that of this movie’s Kyle’s.
Urgh. What’s next? Terminator VIctory: Rise of the Genisys of Salvation, in which a Terminator is sent back to kill Sarah Connor’s mom, and Ahnulder to protect her?
It’s all more convoluted than it has any right being, and way more ungainly than it needs to be. Pops is a protective old-school-dad type now, deadly but a papa bear, and his relationships with the surprisingly straight-manier Sarah and Kyle, especially, are set up for a brand of humor that hardly ever lands
End o’ the day, it’s a good thing Schwarzenneger’s still in this game. He is the welcome constant we need to put up with all these convenient alterna-timelines and what-is-Genisys? explanations that come outta nowhere and probably aren’t designed to go anywhere else than Yet Another Unnecessary Sequelville.
My Rating **
Photo: Paramount Pictures.
Not to say that the folks at Marvel have a woman problem, but, clearly, there is some sort of an issue.
Ava DuVernay, the Academy-snubbed director of Selma, spent the better part of the summer movie season so far being strongly talked about as the frontrunner to helm Marvel’s upcoming Black Panther starring Chadwick Boseman.
Alas, DuVernay has confirmed that she will not be calling the shots on the 2017 blockbuster.
“I think I’ll just say we had different ideas about what the story would be,” the director told Essence magazine in New Orleans today. “Marvel has a certain way of doing things and I think they’re fantastic and a lot of people love what they do. I loved that they reached out to me[, but i]n the end, it comes down to story and perspective. And we just didn’t see eye to eye.
“Better for me to realize that now than cite creative differences later.
“I love the character of Black Panther, the nation of Wakanda, and all that that could be visually. I wish them well and will be first in line to see [the movie].”
The key here is not that DuVernay said that she and Marvel did not agree on how the movie should play out. That really isn’t all that rare. The important takeaway here is that DuVernay has publicly acknowledged a truth a lot of filmmakers (like Alan Taylor or Kenneth Branagh) have come to realize after working with the studio: that Marvel has a very singular vision and that they are sticklers for it. If you wanna work with them, you better adapt.
Clear enough, yeah?
More than a woman problem, Marvel seems to have a problem with wanting good directors to do they good work that Marvel wants, not the good work of which these helmers are capable. There is a recipe that needs to be followed, and it has been a wildly successful recipe, but is it sucking the imagination outta all these Marvel movies? (Not to mention, why are the powers that be reportedly and seemingly turning to a black director for Black Panther and a female director for its planned female-hero-centric Captain Marvel movie? That reads a little...som’in’. Like, why should a black director helm a black-superhero movie and why should a lady director – would that be a ladirector? – oversee a lady-superhero movie?)
Anyway, I am ambivalent about either possibility for an answer. Indubitably, Kevin Feige, the mastermind at the top of the studio, knows what’s up, so I will trust that we will continue to be entertained for a good, long while. I would prefer not be put in the kind of situation that, as an audience member, makes me wonder what if.
That is no fun.
Photo: Variety.com.
Kinda love this.
Come Season 2 of TV’s biggest hit in ages, Empire, an Academy Award winner will be roaming about Empire Entertainment.
See, Marisa Tomei is joining the show in the fall, as a demanding, hip-hop-loving venture capitalist who gets all up in the Lyon family drama. Worry not, if you do not care for the actress – she is only recurring.
Tomei joins a roster of second-season guests that already includes Chris Rock and Alicia Keys and Lenny Kravitz.
Photo: TVGuide.com.
It was only a matter of time until someone expressed a thoughtful, beyond-personal opinion on Donald Trump’s self-made brouhaha.
And that person was America Ferrera.
The Emmy-winning actress wrote an open letter that The Huffington Post published yesterday, in which she thanked Trump for his racist remarks about Mexicans and Latinos in general, for “Remarks like yours will serve brilliantly to energize Latino voters and increase turnout on election day against you and any other candidate who runs on a platform of hateful rhetoric.
“You, Mr. Trump, are living in an outdated fantasy of a bigoted America.
“You may not reduce [Latinos] to drug dealers and rapists. We are moms and dads, sons and daughters. We are valedictorians and honor students. We are college graduates, bankers, police officers, entertainers, teachers, journalists, politicians and we are the future of America.”
Snap! And well put.
Click here to read Ferrera’s letter in its entirety. It’s a must.
Photo: Zimbio.com.
Once Upon a Time...there will be King Arthur.
Come the fifth season of the TV fantasy this fall, British actor Liam Garrigan (TV’s 24: Live Another Day) will be on hand as the knightliest of the Knights of the Round Table.
Garrigan’s character will be good and just, but also a master manipulator who can carry a good grudge to the grave...and beyond.
Oh dear.
Photo: Twitter.com.
As you probably and should know, Bryan Cranston is reprising his Tony-winning role as Lyndon B. Johnson on the Steven Spielberg-executive produced HBO adaptation of All the Way.
Now comes word that the Falcon himself, Anthony Mackie, will be on hand to tell that story.
Mackie has been tapped to play Martin Luther King Jr. on the production, which will chronicle a piece of American history that starts the moment JFK was assassinated; covers LBJ’s turbulent first year in office, which included some clever power moves to pass Civil Rights legislation in Congress; and concludes with a landslide re-election victory lap.
The MLK part is expected to be quite significant on the small screen, so that’s good for the Marvel stud.
Photo: ClutchMagOnline.com.
At long last, we finally have us a video to go with Rihanna’s “Bitch Better Have My Money.”
And it’s a doozy.
The 100-million-in-digital-sales singer has taken a page from the likes of, say, Lady GaGa, to deliver a stroylined opus, co-directed with Megaforce, that finally answers the question of who the bitch who better have her money is.
It’s her accountant, played by Mads Mikkelsen from TV’s Hannibal. And he done som’in’ he shouldn’t have, for RiRi is out for bloody, torturous, explicit revenge.
Here, have a watch.
Photo: EW.com.
Alright, Robin Thicke – you are on the comeback trail.
The somewhat-disgraced singer seems to be cooling it with the gimmicky pop that made him infamous and going back to the R&B that first made him famous (and kinda sexy) with the release of a new down-tempo sort of ditty, “Morning Sun.”
Talk about a return to form, something the needed to do post-Paula (and Paula Patton).
Although there is still some work to do now. No guy should refer to himself as “papi.”
That’s still an ew move, dude.
Photo: Complex.com.
Rooney Mara and David Fincher are finally set to reunite.
Not for The Girl Who Played with Fire, though.
The Oscar-nominated star-and-director combo from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is quite possibly getting back together for HBO. See, Fincher is going to helm the first season of the straight-to-series new drama Utopia, which Gillian (Gone Girl) Flynn is writing based on the hit British series, and Mara is thisclose to grabbing the starring role on it.
The Carol actress would play Jessica Hyde, and Utopia will center on a group of die-hard fans of an underground novel who find themselves in a pop culture thriller of their own when they learn that the author has written a follow-up in secret. As some start to seek it out, a twisted game of truths and untruths begins to reveal itself to them, sometimes with deadly consequences.
I say do it. Maybe this can help revive Lisbeth Salander.
Btw, what ever happened to Mara and Fincher’s Red Sparrow project? Is that still in the works?
Photo: TheFashionSpot.com.
Season 4 of Netflix’s House of Cards is gonna be a bit of a scream.
;)
Neve Campbell has joined the show as a regular, in a role that, of course, is being kept super-under wraps.
The Underwoods and their conniving drama will be back on the streamer some time next year, though, so we only have to wait, what...six-seven-eight months?
Totally doable.
Photo: HollywoodReporter.com.
