Dwayne Johnson just released via Instagram the first photo of Agent Hobbs in Fast 8. Johnson is reprising the fan-favorite role, slipping into the character after playing him in Fast 5, Fast & Furious 6, and Furious 7. The cast of this eighth Fast and Furious movie is led by Vin Diesel and features Charlize Theron, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Ludacris Bridges, Elsa Pataky, Kristofer Hivju, and Scott Eastwood.
Fast 8 has F. Gary Gray directing from a script by Chris Morgan. Universal Pictures is aiming for an April 14, 2017 theatrical release.
Je Suis Prete…HOME…TO SCOTLAND!! Thought we had left the French behind, huh? Well we did, but not the Fraser moto, Je Suis Prete {‘I am ready’}. And Starz’s Outlander season two episode eight will help you to know more about the Frasers than ever before. We get the privilege {that is debatable} of meeting Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Jenny’s (Laura Donnelly) Grandsire {grandfather to the rest of us}, Lord Lovet (Clive Russell). Should be highly interesting. Tulach Ard!!!
We start the episode, first things first, with an updated opening song that’s sung now without the French section. I believe I saw an interesting title card too, a glimpse of Lallybroch from a CAR window??? Hmmm… But I digress; to the episode. We are gifted a landscape view of the Highlands. I have certainly missed this character in the show. Claire (Caitriona Balfe) begins by bringing us up to speed on a brief summary of activity between leaving France and settling into life at Lallybroch. The book takes a long time to get us to this point, and a bit of me misses the details and journey. BUT a show is different from the book, so it still brings the story along and works well to keep us in the plot at the proper timing. The entire house is marveling at the first crop of potatoes grown at Lallybroch. Part of the fields were devoted to this crop on Claire’s advice. She knows that a famine will hit the land in a few years. It is also incredible to see Jamie and Claire affectionate again. France was so very hard on them both.
Since this is the first potato crop, the humorous conversation about what to do with them ensues. It is our cutey French transplant, Fergus (Romann Berrux), who offers up the first suggestions by boiling them and eating with salt and butter. Did you hear that? My stomach growled…snort. Ian Murray (Steven Cree) and Murtagh (Duncan Lacroix) enter with the post. In this collection of exciting items and letters, which included books and other friendly items from France, was a letter by none other than Prince Charles (Andrew Gower). And wouldn’t you know it, the little schemer signed Jamie’s name to a letter of intent to invade that brands him as a traitor to the English crown again. SHEESH, he was only pardoned for a few months! Nothing like being volunteered for treason. That hooked him right and proper; Jamie has no way out of it now. It carried the official seal and was distributed before Jamie even knew it. He MUST support the uprising now.
Jamie goes out of the house to think, and Claire eventually follows. What to do, what to do? They discuss running from Scotland, but Jamie keeps his voice of reason as always. Claire is afraid for Jamie because he is branded a traitor again. Jamie wants to fight for his country. He still thinks they can change the future. He enumerates all that Claire did to change other’s futures thus far. He says something that I have heard my own husband say many times, given he is a former soldier: Jamie wants to fight for his family, his home, and his country.
So now the mission becomes winning against the British. Lallybroch starts preparing for the task of joining the Prince. Jamie has to go into the Fox’s Lair to get Lord Lovet’s men for the army as well. All the Frasers have to band together to strengthen the Jacobite army. Naturally, Jenny is not in favor of this idea. She and Jamie have a nice war of words over Jamie going and asking for support. Level-headed Jamie convinces her, like he did Claire, this MUST take place; there is nothing for it now. When Prince Charles signed James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser to that decree, it set Jamie’s course for him.
Jamie is too cute sometimes. That night he warns Claire that his father was a Bastard to Lord Lovet. He asks her forgiveness for not telling her about it before they got married. Claire just smirks and says it doesn’t matter to her. It is so great to see them affectionate and loving again, all poison from France now fully extracted from their relationship. Jamie picks her up and carries her to the bed. Okay, I know I don’t have to say it, but just love a shirtless Jamie too. Terrible to see all the scars he has acquired along the way though, painful memories all.
Claire wakes in the early morning to find Jamie missing from the bed. She goes out of the room to look over the balcony to see Jamie sitting with the newest member of the Murray family on his lap. Ian and Jenny had a third child while Claire and Jamie were in Paris. Jamie doesn’t know that Claire is watching him from above, he is just whispering to the bairn in Gaelic. Miss the subtitles we got with the French, I would love to know what he is whispering to the little angel. Jenny comes out to see Claire, tears brimming in her eyes, watching the newest bairn with Jamie. It is truly a bittersweet moment given that they lost their daughter only months before in France. Such a wonderful scene in the book, I’m so glad they left it in the show, too.
The next morning there are more tears as they send off Jamie and Claire to see Lord Lovet. Jamie is leaving Lallybroch again. Man, he and Claire just can’t get a moment’s peace, can they?! Off they head to the castle of Lord Lovet. We get the gift of that amazing scenery again as they journey across the lands. While on the journey to Lord Lovet, Jamie lets Claire in on some family history…none of it good. Lord Lovet was a highly complicated man and tended to do things that would benefit him alone. He had stolen two of his three wives over his lifetime, he had tried to take Jamie’s mother before Jamie’s father could marry her, and the fact that he plays both sides against the middle on a continual basis. He supports the English when it suits him, and he supports Scotland when it suits him. Like I said, all about him in the end. Anyone else think he is a bit like the Duke of Sandringham, but with less charm? Might just be me…
Jamie and Claire, still with much of the road on them, are taken into the main castle hall to await Lord Lovet’s audience when all of the sudden Colum MacKenzie (Gary Lewis) comes out into the light from the windows. This is a new event that was not in the book. MacKenzie doesn’t talk to Jamie about these events in the book until a later time, but much of the content is the same. And another reason to have this meeting occur now presents itself shortly. Claire takes the opportunity to chastise him for any possible part he might have had in Claire being subjected to the witch trial in the first season. It is known by all that Laoghaire (Nell Hudson) was the one who put Claire in the wrong place at the wrong time so she would have a clear path to Jamie. Just then a surprising entrance is made by Lord Lovet himself.
And in an effort to get off on the right foot {said in all sarcasm} he comes in spouting about Jamie having wed a Sassenach wench. Great first impression there, Granddad!!! Jamie spouts back that HE had no need to steal a woman or rape to get his wife. Claire is told to go while the men chat about politics. This doesn’t go down well, but Claire does leave. While she is out walking about the castle she encounters Laoghaire herself, another action that is not in the book. It does make sense though because later story elements that involve Laoghaire need a clear line of sight. She asks Claire’s forgiveness for the witch trial, but Claire rejects her. Claire tells Jamie about the encounter and he is not forgiving of Laoghaire’s actions either.
They go down to dinner and talk more politics around the table. Jamie warned Claire upstairs to keep her mouth shut. The look she gave him was classic Claire, but she does heed his warning in this instance. Jamie is quite the orator but of course Lord Lovet and Colum continue to reject his request for soldiers. Lord Lovet does nothing that is not in his own best interest, and this means he will want something in exchange for involving himself in the uprising. While the conversation is going on Claire notices that Lord Lovet’s son takes a fancy to Laoghaire.
Lovet and Colum are hesitant given that they do not have the French support secured for the cause. The previous two uprisings have failed because there was no outside support. Lord Lovet’s son, Simon (James Parris), tries to speak in support of Jamie and gets humiliated by his father in the process. After they are back upstairs in their room, Jamie points out that he will have to get Lovet alone to find out what he wants in exchange for helping with the uprising. Colum keeps manipulating the situation when they are all together. Colum might not be physically strong, but mentally he is a force to be reckoned with.
Later as Claire is walking past Lord Lovet’s room she hears Lovet throw a woman out of the door and onto the ground. It is his Seer, Maisri (Maureen Beattie). Claire helps her up off the ground and asks if she is okay. Of course, the woman runs off scared so Claire couldn’t get any information out of her.
Next we see Jamie and Lovet conversing in his study, I’m assuming the next day. In his charming way, he starts insulting Jamie’s father for rejecting him. Brian Fraser wanted nothing to do with his own father. This is the only time we see the Old Fox show any semblance of injury. Lord Lovet wanted to make Brian Fraser his successor but was completely rejected by Brian. Jamie sees what Lord Lovet wants in return for support: the Lallybroch lands. The book explains this point ever so much deeper. Lallybroch is a particularly rich section of land that joins MacKenzie lands and Fraser lands. Both clans would love nothing more than to acquire that section of Scotland for themselves, hence part of the reason that Colum and Lovet are enemies and why Jamie’s parents’ marriage was so distasteful to both families.
Lovet then sinks to an even deeper sewer level by threatening Claire’s honor if Jamie does not sign over Lallybroch. Well, you can imagine how well that went down. Rise La Dame Blanche!! As we know by all events in the first season, Scots are highly superstitious people. Jamie evoking the White Lady again to save his wife seems a reasonable course. Claire is not happy about it but eventually sees it as a good thing. The way Jamie puts it to Lovet sure scared the devil out of him, and certainly deters him from attempting the proposed gang-rape he said would happen to her if he did not get his hands on Lallybroch. Jamie can spin a very convincing yarn…lol. Of course, throwing the alcohol in the fire to emphasize the effect was pretty smart too.
Claire points out that maybe if they get Simon, Lovet’s son, to support Jamie then they can win Lovet over. Claire devises a plan to use Laoghaire to entice Simon to stand up to his father. This gives Laoghaire a chance to redeem herself to Claire, and possibly Jamie. They execute the plan to stoke the fire of the infatuation that Simon feels for Laoghaire.
Claire has Simon show her to the chapel on the Lovet estate. They encounter Laoghaire on the way to the chapel, and Claire leaves them alone to talk while she continues to the chapel alone. In the chapel, she sees Maisri again and Maisri shares what she told Lovet when he threw her out of the room. She does tell Claire that some of the things she sees are possible to change. This gives Claire the hope that the loss of the Highland culture might still be stopped.
A gathering in the great hall is where Lovet puts it to Jamie straight out. Jamie is to either sign over Lallybroch or Lovet signs a separate degree to stay neutral in the Jacobite uprising. As Jamie considers the situation and is just about to sign over his lands, Claire gets up and makes a very convincing spectacle. She portrays the White Lady, mid vision, and Jamie plays it up VERY well. You would have thought they planned it, but this show is our heroine thinking quickly on her feet again. All eyes upon her, Claire says much the same thing as Maisri had said about the executioner taking Lovet’s head with an axe. Lovet pulls a dirk and goes to attack Claire, but his son stops him. You can almost see the lightbulb go off over Lovet’s head when Simon declared to all the room he was to join Jamie in the Jacobite cause. Simon gets ready to go with Jamie and Claire, and they all think they failed.
The next morning Colum tries one last time to get Jamie to give up the entire venture and go home. Of course Colum doesn’t know what Jamie and Claire do about the future. Claire then asks Jamie to say “thank you” to Laoghaire; he has no idea why. But because Claire asks, he does it. Claire doesn’t know that Laoghaire still has designs on Jamie.
As Claire, Jamie, and Simon leave, a band of Highland warriors crest the hill above them. This is Lord Lovet’s army, mounted and ready for the journey to fight in the cause. Lovet signed the pact of neutrality as an official renunciation of the war or support for the Jacobite’s, but then lends his men to the cause by way of his son. He plays both ends against the middle again. Lovet’s men go with his son, and Lovet heads home to say his son took the men of his own accord. Sly ‘ol Fox indeed.
Tim Rozon in ‘Wynonna Earp’ (Photo by Michelle Faye/Syfy/Wynonna Earp Productions)
Just like fans of the Syfy series, Wynonna Earp star Tim Rozon says he’s anxiously awaiting news on a season two renewal. The series, based on the IDW comic created by Beau Smith, has built up a passionate fan base but as of our interview on May 26, 2016, the official word on a second season had yet to be delivered. Rozon joked that the networks like to torture actors by keeping them in the dark, but he remains positive he’ll be able to step into Doc Holliday’s boots for another season. “Trust me, every project I’ve ever worked on, this is the one I want to work on the most,” admitted Rozon.
Wynonna Earp starring Rozon, Melanie Scrofano, Shamier Anderson, Dominique Provost-Chalkley, and Michael Eklund premiered on April 1, 2016 and airs on Friday nights at 10pm ET/PT.
Tim Rozon Interview:
Why do you feel so connected to this particular role? You’ve played other characters that you’ve been into, but what is it about Doc Holliday that’s special?
Tim Rozon: “I have, and I’ve been really lucky to do that. I mean, if you get to do this stuff for a living, you’re very lucky. You know what I mean? I feel super lucky to have it. Everybody’s different and every person is different and every actor’s different and everybody has different wants and needs, but I’m a kid who loved comic books my whole life. I’m also a science fiction fan and I’m also a Western fan. My dream was to be in a Western and my dream was to be in a science fiction show. This is a science fiction show based on a comic book where I play a Western character, and not only a Western character but I play the iconic Western character Doc freaking Holliday. It just was like my dream checklist all checked off at once. It was the greatest thing that could ever happen to me; I’m not lying when I say that. For me, it’s the best thing that ever happened.
It’s been amazing. When we got to go to WonderCon, we got to tour IDW first and the head of IDW, Ted Adams, was amazing and just touring IDW offices, meeting Beau Smith… Beau was one of the nicest men ever and he’s the guy who created Wynonna Earp. Being in the comic book, look, are you kidding me? This is my dream. I’m in a comic book fan. I have long boxes at home. I’m a comic book collector; I’m not joking. It’s just the coolest thing ever.”
And it was just announced the Wynonna Earp cast will be attending the 2016 San Diego ComicCon.
Tim Rozon: “Yeah. For me it’s like I’m going to Egypt, to Mecca. This is the San Diego Comic-Con. I was already blown away at WonderCon, so now to go to San Diego is everything. It’s literally everything. It’s the ultimate dream. It’s the big one. It’s San Diego f**king Comic-Con! I can’t wait.”
Doc is really stealing the show and has become a fan favorite. [Laughing] When’s he getting his own spinoff?
Tim Rozon: “Hey listen, for me it’s really an ensemble cast. It’s like I kind of had this conversation with Dominique who plays Waverly at the beginning. She asked me, ‘What do you think? Do you think people are going to like it?’ I said, ‘To be honest, I’ll tell you what I think, I think in a lot of ways I’m going to be people’s favorite, you’re going to be people’s favorite, Bobo’s going to be people’s favorite.’ I said, ‘The hardest job is Mel’s job.’ You know what I mean? Everybody kind of needs to like Mel.
People are going to love Doc and they’re going to hate Doc. A lot of people are going to have him as a favorite because he’s that different. Whereas poor Mel, everybody’s got to like Wynonna. I think she did an amazing job. I think no one will actually be able to steal the show because at the end of the day, she is still the show. It is Wynonna. It’s her holding it all together. And with such a good cast, I think would Doc be good if it wasn’t against Wynonna or if he didn’t have the chemistry with her? Or the brother/sister relationship he and Waverly have? I really like the relationship with Doc and Dolls, the two opposites. They play so funny together because of the performance of the other actors and the story, and the writing – it’s so freaking good. I think that’s why it is the way it is. I think it’s an ensemble piece.”
But back up a second… You said people are going to love or hate Doc, but I haven’t heard of anyone hating your Doc Holliday in Wynonna Earp.
Tim Rozon: “Well, listen, I don’t want anybody to hate him either. I’ve played the character one way and one way only since the beginning of the show: that’s hell-bent on revenge and that’s toward the Stone Witch. As we get closer to Doc finally dealing with that, he’s got blinders on. He’s got one vision and if anybody gets in his way, unfortunately Doc is not going to stop until he gets that witch. That’s all I’m going to say.”
While he was down at the bottom of that well for all of those years, what was he thinking about? Was anything else on his mind other than revenge?
Tim Rozon: “You know it’s funny because it’s the question everybody asks. I don’t know. Who can say? But for 130 years he was stuck down there. For me, he played it over and over and over in his head. I think Doc is that simple of a guy, just revenge, just anger. He wants revenge. I think if he had the choice of mortality – because right now he’s immortal – or in killing the witch, I think he knows which one he’s going to take. Because right now don’t forget we’re in the interesting situation where I believe he just shot the witch and then we saw he was injured himself, right? I don’t want to give away what happens or anything, but I’m just saying if he has a choice, he would take the witch’s death, even if that meant it was at the expense of his own.”
Tim Rozon as Doc Holliday in ‘Wynonna Earp’ (Photo by Michelle Faye / Syfy / Wynonna Earp Productions)
Can you talk about your fight scene with Shamier Anderson? That looked pretty hardcore.
Tim Rozon: “That was one of those scenes that I was dreading. Shamier Anderson is so good, he’s so physical, he’s so athletic, he loves that stuff. He’s so good at the choreography that I just knew he was looking forward to that for months. I was like, ‘Oh, my god, I’m going to just get toasted here. How am I going to do this?’ It’s a testament to Steve McMichael, the stunt coordinator, how awesome he was. We practiced this thing and Shamier was amazing with me. There was a stunt guy who was dressed up exactly like me and ready to go in and we never used him once. For me, that was one of my greatest accomplishments ever. You’ll see the scene and it’s two minutes long, trust me it was 10 hours. It is just Shamier literally beating the crap out of me and it was one of the funniest days I’ve ever had.
I need to say that the other actor Joris Jarsky who plays Whiskey Jim Byers and all the background performers, they were so amazing that day. They were so into it energy-wise that honestly me and Shamier really fed off them. We were just blown away. I couldn’t even hear the director say cut or action. We couldn’t. Everybody was just going that bananas and they were so into it that it really just was this thing and we just fed off it and we went for it. Stuff happens, yeah, you get hit here or there, but in the scene you don’t care about it. We just went for it and it was this amazing thing. When I finally saw it last week I was like, ‘It just looks freaking amazing.’ I was super proud and happy I did all of that myself. I did it all pretty much myself.”
Congratulations on surviving it!
Tim Rozon: [Laughing] “Yeah, I know, surviving it. Don’t get me wrong, Shamier was already probably at the gym the next day while I was taking Epsom salt baths.”
You speak absolutely nothing like your character. How did you come up with that specific cadence for Doc?
Tim Rozon: “I can’t explain. I don’t know. He was just there. Sounds cliché but I was just born to play this character. I can’t explain it. I can’t even do it for you now. It wouldn’t even be to. I can’t. It’s just I have that mustache, I put that hat on, I put my guns on, I walk out of my trailer, and boom, he’s there. Just there.”
What can you say about the evolving relationship with the Earp sisters?
Tim Rozon: “I can’t give anything away but I will say this, Emily Andras is amazing. She is the showrunner and the head writer on this show. She is going to take everybody on a voyage. Every storyline, no matter how you think it’s insignificant or small will get dealt with by the finale. Every storyline. It’s all coming. Everybody just needs to be patient and remember you’re in good hands because Emily Andras is genius.”
When you get your scripts are you always amazed at what’s in store for Doc?
Tim Rozon: “Of course.”
Has there been one in particular that’s blown you away?
Tim Rozon: “There’s been so many. I remember when I first got the episode with Dolls and you see him taking the drugs. His eyes change and I was wondering what’s going on with Dolls. There have been so many moments where I’m blown away because I’m honestly a fan of the show. It’s weird because I know I’m in it, but I’m such a fan of it. It’s crazy. It’s kind of like I get outside of it and I’m reading the stuff and I go, ‘What?!’ It’s weird because I’m more drawn to the other storylines. I’m a big fan of the Dolls/Wynonna relationship, too. I want to see something happening there because I find their chemistry actually really magnetic. I find it more of a physical thing than a sexual tension there all the time between the two of them.”
I see more of a sexual tension between Doc and Wynonna.
Tim Rozon: [Laughing] “Well, I didn’t say there wasn’t that.”
Is there anything at all that you can tease about the season finale without of course going into any specifics?
Tim Rozon: “I honestly, like I said, put your trust in Emily Andras and she will take you there. Listen, everything is getting resolved, everything everybody wants some way or another is going to be there. Then there’s a bunch of sh*t that’s going to happen that’s going to blow everybody’s freaking mind. That’s the finale. Let me tell you, there’s things coming and people are going to be ripping their TVs out of the wall. Oh yeah, it’s coming.”
As a fan of Westerns, why do you think they’re so few and far between?
Tim Rozon: “I honestly don’t know. My favorite book ever is The Shootist. They made a movie of it a long time ago with John Wayne. He played him and that’s is my all-time favorite book. I’ve seen the movie only once, but a lot time ago, but book-wise it’s the greatest. I’ve always been a huge Western fan. I don’t know why.”
Wynonna Earp has a Western vibe without going overboard.
Tim Rozon: “I’m the only cowboy, honestly. I mean don’t get me wrong, everybody is a cowboy in one way or another, and Wynonna is a cowboy at heart and definitely in spirit. To be honest I’m the only one really who’s a cowboy. Like an honest to goodness cowboy. It’s an interesting dynamic.”
What do you think about Doc Holliday’s adjustment to life in 2016? Is there anything coming up that you can tease that he has a hard time with? Has that been fun to play?
Tim Rozon: “Yeah, to be honest, for me it’s one of the funnest things ever. You know, Doc Holliday’s not scared of a gun fight, he’s not scared of a bunch of demon Revenants, he’s not scared of any of these things. But he has no idea what a tweet is and he’s mystified by a cell phone. He doesn’t know what to think. We kind of saw it in episode eight with him having fun with the car and the wipers, and there will be more of these things. These are all of the fun little moments to have.
I like the way Doc, he’s so serious and he’s dealing with the revenge, but it’s nice sometimes when he has these moments where he’s kind of vulnerable in the sense that he’s from the 1800s. He’s from 150 years ago. He’s stuck here now and he has no idea how to use windshield wipers in a car. It baffles him which is funny. He just got out of a massive fight with Dolls who he knows might or might not be some super creature or whatever because he doesn’t know, but he knows something is up with Dolls and he’s not scared to fight Dolls. Then again he gets in a car and he tries to use wipers and he’s petrified. That’s Doc Holliday. It’s awesome.”
* * * * * *
Here’s our interview with the Wynonna Earp cast from WonderCon:
Amazon Studios and IFC Films have unleashed a new trailer for Wiener-Dog, the new film from writer/director Todd Solondz (Welcome to the Dollhouse, Happiness). The story follows one particular Dachshund as she goes through a series of owners. The cast of the unusual comedy includes Ellen Burstyn, Kieran Culkin, Julie Delpy, Danny DeVito, Greta Gerwig, Tracy Letts, and Zosia Mamet. Wiener-Dog will be walking into theaters on June 24, 2016.
The Plot:Wiener-Dog is a dark, starkly funny story of a single dog and the many different people she touches over her short lifetime. Man’s best friend starts out teaching a young boy some contorted life lessons before being taken in by a compassionate vet tech named Dawn Wiener. Dawn reunites with someone from her past and sets off on a road trip. After leaving Dawn, Wiener-Dog encounters a floundering film professor, as well as an embittered elderly woman and her needy granddaughter—all longing for something more. Solondz’s perversely dark comedy offers an appallingly honest look at the American experience, brought to life by its all-star cast.
Sterling K. Brown, Ravi Patel, Yvette Nicole Brown, Lauren Ash, Craig Ferguson, Mandy Moore, Retta, Malin Akerman, Grace Helbig, Lamorne Morris, Scott Foley, Jay Pharoah, and Sal Masekela (Photo by Trae Patton / NBC)
NBC’s 2nd annual Red Nose Day raised an astounding $31.5 million in donations from individuals and corporations. The donated money will go to assist kids in need in the United States as well as some of the poorest communities around the world. The funds were raised during the two-hour special and in advance of Red Nose Day through fundraising campaigns including the sale of Red Noses at Walgreens stores.
Craig Ferguson hosted the U.S. Red Nose Day broadcast with celebrities including Elton John, Julia Roberts, Paul Rudd, Jack Black, Ellen DeGeneres, Tracy Morgan, Blake Shelton, Will Ferrell, and Zac Efron taking part in helping to entertain the audience as well as encourage people to donate.
Other celebrities who donated their time to help raise money for kids in need included Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson, Jay Leno, Celine Dion, Kobe Bryant, Anna Kendrick, Seth Rogen, Bono, Ellie Kemper, Blake Griffin, Connie Britton, Mel B, Bill Gates, Tyler Perry, Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, Vince Vaughn, Sarah Silverman, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Kristen Bell, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Rose Byrne, Chloë Grace Moretz, Steve Buscemi, Danny Trejo, Adam Devine, Jane Lynch, and Minnie Driver.
Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jeff Goldblum, Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown, Scott Foley, Dax Shepard, Johnny Galecki, Mayim Bialik, Jay Pharaoh, Ben Feldman, Trevor Noah, Iwan Rheon, Chris Hardwick, Yvette Nicole Brown, Lauren Ash, Retta, David Morrissey, Jon Daly, Margot Robbie, Kate Micucci, Malin Akerman, Adam Pally, Tony Hale, Sal Masekela, Lamorne Morris and Grace Helbig were also among the celebrities who lined up to support Red Nose Day, as well as The Walking Dead cast members Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Ross Marquand, Josh McDermitt, Steven Yeun, Christian Serratos, Melissa McBride and Sonequa Martin-Green.
Red Nose Day was created by writer/director Richard Curtis (Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral) who served as an executive producer of the US special. John Irwin of Irwin Entertainment and Lily Sobhani also executive produced NBC’s Red Nose Day.
More on Red Nose Day, Courtesy of NBC:
Red Nose Day is on a mission to lift kids out of poverty. It has raised more than $1 billion globally in the last 25 years, and in the UK become a cultural phenomenon. Red Nose Day launched in the U.S. in 2015 as a special day to come together, have fun and make a difference for kids who are most in need.
In its inaugural year in America, more than $23 million was raised for the Red Nose Day Fund, with the money now at work in all 50 states across America and 15 countries internationally through programs to keep them healthy, safe, and educated. Funds raised have provided children with everything from clean water and their next meal to life-saving malaria nets in Africa, to vaccines to protect against preventable diseases.
All money raised for Red Nose Day goes to the Red Nose Day Fund, which then distributes grants to charities that benefit children and young people living in poverty. Half of the money will be spent right here in America on projects close to home. The other half will be spent in some of the poorest communities internationally. In 2016, partner charities include Boys & Girls Clubs of America; charity:water; Children’s Health Fund; Covenant House; Feeding America; Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; National Council of La Raza; National Urban League; Oxfam America; Save the Children and The Global Fund.
Oscar Isaac in ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ (Photo Credit: Courtesy Twentieth Century Fox)
“You are all my children and you are lost because you follow blind leaders,” says En Sabah Nur (Oscar Isaac), the world’s very first mutant who has risen after thousands of years of lying dormant to bring about a new world order with himself as absolute ruler in the 2016 addition to the X-Men franchise, X-Men: Apocalypse.
After almost taking over the world back in ancient Egypt, En Sabah Nur was made dormant by the efforts and sacrifices of Egyptian warriors who recognized Nur for the false God that he is. Jump ahead to the year 1983 and En Sabah Nur is brought out of his ancient sleep by some misguided and foolish Egyptian locals and CIA operative Moira Mactaggert (Rose Byrne) who accidentally expose his resting place to the powers of the sun.
Back at Professor Xavier’s school for mutants, Jean Grey (Game of Thrones‘ Sophie Turner) keeps having nightmares of the end of the world. Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) tries to convince her they are just dreams. Xavier also has his hands full teaching new student Scott Summers/Cyclops (Tye Sheridan) how to handle his powers of optic force beams which he’s just developed.
Back in Egypt En Sabah Nur cannot believe what has become of the world and that ordinary humans are in charge. The extremely powerful mutant sets out to recruit a team of mutants to follow him, including a grief-stricken Magneto (Michael Fassbender). The mutants will assist him in his plan to annihilate mankind and create a new world order with himself as its king. With En Sabah Nur set to claim what he believes is his rightful throne, it falls to a handful of the X-Men – Jean Grey, Professor X, Raven (Jennifer Lawrence), Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Cyclops, Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee), and Quicksilver (Evan Peters) – to team up and work together to stop him from bringing about the apocalypse.
Overly long and lacking originality, X-Men: Apocalypse suffers from a slow start, an uninteresting villain, and a tired and overused plot. Yes, once again it’s X-Men vs. X-men to save mankind from oblivion. Yawn.
The true crime of this entry in the X-Men saga is the utter and complete waste of an extremely talented cast. Jennifer Lawrence seems to be doing a walk-through as Mystique who goes around saving lost and abused mutants from mean and dangerous humans while constantly telling everyone that she’s no hero. Even when she hears how Magneto has joined the wrong side, Lawrence seems to just gaze off out into space showing no real emotion or concern for the one character she’s supposed to still feel a connection to. The extremely talented actor Oscar Isaac is almost unrecognizable under the make-up and CGI effects as the villain of the film, En Sabah Nur, the most powerful mutant of all time. It’s a shame the actor is cast in such a one-dimensional role with no real personality except that of a pompous, powerful jerk.
The best performance in the film is given by Evan Peters as Quicksilver (Marvel’s answer to DC’s The Flash) who portrays the loner hero as a smart-ass but caring young man who’s looking to reconnect with what little family he has left. In the most creative and entertaining scene in the film, Quicksilver races through Professor X’s school trying to evacuate everyone inside after the school is attacked and begins to explode. Shot in slow motion, Quicksilver still manages while saving people to take a sip of someone’s soda and help a young pretty girl from being French-kissed by a goofball student. It’s the most entertaining sequence of the otherwise unremarkable film.
With a one-dimensional (and boring) villain, unimpressive fight scenes, and a redundant story, X-Men: Apocalypse is a forgettable and unnecessary installment in the superhero series.
GRADE: C
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of violence, action and destruction, brief strong language and some suggestive images
It’s no wonder Disney’s returning to Underland with Alice Through the Looking Glass, the sequel to 2010’s Alice in Wonderland. Considering Tim Burton’s film rang up over $1 billion during its theatrical release, a sequel was inevitable. Burton passed on directing (he’s keeping busy with Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children) but he remained involved with the 2016 film as a producer, and his influence is evident in the visual aesthetics of the sequel. James Bobin, director of The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted, took over the helm of the sequel which looks similar to Burton’s Alice but is curiously minus the whimsy of its predecessor. It’s also sorely lacking the spirit of a Lewis Carroll story, connecting to Carroll’s classic tales merely by the inclusion of the beloved characters who in this PG production are given very little to actually do.
Alice Through the Looking Glass starts off with Alice (Mia Wasikowska) as a sea captain who quickly proves she’s capable of outmaneuvering pirates. Back on shore, she reports in only to learn she’s been stripped of her captain title and her family’s home is being held hostage. The deal: sign over the ship and her ex-fiance, Hamish (Leo Bill), will allow her mother (Lindsay Duncan) to retain ownership of the Kingsleigh house. Alice is angry and frustrated at this turn of events, but forgets her current problems when she chases Absolem (now a beautiful blue butterfly) through a mirror and back to Underland. Once there, her old animal friends tell her the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) is feeling poorly and is no longer his kooky mad self. The Underland gang believe only Alice can free him from his self-imposed exile and return him to his happy manic self.
Alice takes on the challenge of saving the Mad Hatter by sneaking into Time’s mansion and stealing the magical chronograph which will allow her to sail back in time to discover what happened to the Mad Hatter’s family. Alice must journey back to the day when the Jabberwock attacked and the Mad Hatter’s family was believed to have perished. Of course, by stealing the chronograph from Time (Sacha Baron Cohen) she puts the entire world in danger, but her singular mission of healing the Mad Hatter is apparently far too important to worry about the possibility she’s causing the world to end with her actions. As she’s traveling into the past, she also uncovers the reason the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) hates her sister, Irana (Anne Hathaway), and the story behind the Red Queen’s gigantic head.
The story is far too serious for an Alice in Wonderland tale, and the actions of Alice are completely out of character. Screenwriter Linda Woolverton (who also wrote Alice in Wonderland) has taken beloved characters and squeezed every ounce of Carroll out of them, transforming them into unlikable and churlish caricatures. Alice may be fierce and loyal, but the film fails to give the audience any legitimate reason to cheer her on. Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter was a crazy fireball of energy in Alice in Wonderland, but the depressed Mad Hatter on the verge of death is a real downer storyline that could even scare younger viewers.
There’s not enough of the familiar, beloved Alice in Wonderland characters nor is there much humor or fun in what ultimately amounts to little more than a pale imitation/cash grab. Lewis Carroll enthusiasts will be hard-pressed to find much to enjoy and be entertained by in Alice Through the Looking Glass. And, audiences who ate up the original film and are hoping for another wonderful fantasy adventure in Underland will instead find themselves going on a two-hour trek into a CG world that’s strangely somber and gloomy.
GRADE: C-
MPAA Rating: PG for fantasy action/peril and some language
Luke Wilson as Bill and Carla Gugino as Shelli in ‘Roadies’ (Photo: Katie Yu / Showtime)
Showtime’s upcoming music-driven series Roadies has just released a new trailer. The series comes from writer/director/executive producer Cameron Crowe and stars Luke Wilson (Old School), Carla Gugino (San Andreas), Imogen Poots (That Awkward Moment), Rafe Spall (The Big Short), Keisha Castle-Hughes (Game of Thrones), Peter Cambor (NCIS), Colson Baker (aka Machine Gun Kelly), and Ron White.
The first season will also feature guest stars Luiz Guzman, Jacqueline Byers, Finesse Mitchell, Branscombe Richmond, and Tanc Sade.
Roadies will premiere on Showtime on June 26, 2016 at 10pm ET/PT. Season one of the comedy will consist of 10 one-hour episodes written by executive producer Winnie Holzman (My So-Called Life). Bryan Burk, J.J. Abrams, and Len Goldstein are also involved as executive producers. Pearl Jam’s manager Kelly Curtis is a producer.
The Plot:Roadies gives an insider’s look at the reckless, romantic, funny and often poignant lives of a committed group of roadies who live for music and the de facto family they’ve formed along the way. The series chronicles the rock world through the eyes of music’s unsung heroes and pays homage to the backstage workers who put the show on the road while touring for the successful arena-level group, The Staton-House Band.
Megalyn Echikunwoke (Damien) has joined the cast of the ensemble comedy Step Sisters, previously known as Ain’t No Half Steppin. Broad Green Pictures also announced The Middle‘s Ed Sher, Parenthood‘s Lyndon Smith, and Teen Wolf‘s Gage Golightly have signed up for Step Sisters along with Nia Jervier (Dear White People), Alessandra Torresani (The Big Bang Theory), Marque Richardson (All the Way), Naturi Naughton (Power), and Matt McGorry (How to Get Away with Murder).
Step Sisters is written by Chuck Hayward (Bent, One Big Happy) and will be directed by Charles Stone (Drumline). Lena Waithe, Matt Alvarez, and Benjamin Cory Jones are producing, with Josh Reinhold executive producing. Filming’s expected to get underway on June 1st in Atlanta.
The Plot:Step Sisters centers on an ambitious black sorority girl (Echikunwoke) who, in order to get admitted to the law school of her dreams, agrees to cross cultural lines and teach the exclusive art of black Greek stepping to a band of wild, party-obsessed white sorority girls whose charter is about to be revoked.
Summit Entertainment’s released the new official trailer for Deepwater Horizon based on the devastating true story of the 2010 oil rig disaster. Mark Wahlberg reunites his Lone Survivor director Peter Berg for the dramatic action thriller that’s set to open in theaters on September 30, 2016. The cast also includes Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin), Kurt Russell (The Hateful Eight), John Malkovich, Dylan O’Brien (Teen Wolf), and Kate Hudson (Rock the Kasbah).
Matthew Sand and Matthew Michael Carnahan (The Kingdom) wrote the script. Walhberg, Stephen Levinson, David Womark, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, and Mark Vahradian produced the film, and Jonathan King executive produced.
The Plot: On April 20th, 2010, one of the world’s largest man-made disasters occurred on the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico. Directed by Peter Berg, this story honors the brave men and women whose heroism would save many on board, and change everyone’s lives forever.
