Showtime’s House of Lies has signed up its first season three guest stars. The network reports Mekhi Phifer and Eliza Coupe will join the series in recurring roles as “high-powered business moguls.” The series is currently in production and will kick off season three on January 12, 2014 at 10pm.
Per the official announcement: “Phifer will star as ‘Dre,’ a successful entrepreneur and clothing company founder who hires Marty (series star and executive producer Don Cheadle in his Golden Globe® Award-winning and two-time Emmy®-nominated role) to help expand his empire, while Coupe will star as ‘Marissa,’ a wild-child internet company head and heir to a wealthy media family.”
Details on House of Lies:
House of Lies is the hit half-hour comedy series from the hit tell-all book House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Tell You the Time by Martin Kihn. It’s a scathing look at a self-loathing management consultant from a top-tier firm. Don Cheadle stars as Marty, a highly-successful, cutthroat consultant who is never above using any means (or anyone) necessary to get his way with and for his clients. Kristen Bell plays a razor-sharp, Ivy-League graduate who works on Marty’s team, along with Emmy winner Ben Schwartz and Josh Lawson; Dawn Olivieri is Marty’s acerbic ex-wife; Emmy winner Glynn Turman is his psychoanalyst father; and Donis Leonard Jr. rounds out the cast as Marty’s pre-teen son.
We’re just 30 days out from the season four premiere of AMC’s The Walking Dead and the popular zombie series is showing off a new interview video. Cast members Andrew Lincoln (‘Rick Grimes’), Danai Gurira (‘Michonne’), Norman Reedus (‘Daryl), Chad L Coleman (‘Tyreese’), Lauren Cohan (‘Maggie’), Scott Wilson (‘Hershel’), and Melissa McBride (‘Carol’) join executive producers Robert Kirkman and Greg Nicotero to talk about what Walking Dead fans can expect when the series returns on October 13, 2013 at 9pm ET/PT.
Justin Timberlake reunites with Jimmy Fallon for the latest edition of their Evolution of Dance series: “Evolution of End Zone Dancing.” With football season now underway, Fallon and Timberlake took time to showcase some of the best examples of touchdown dances possible. The dancing duo show off “The Ickey Shuffle,” “The Touchdown Robot,” “Taking a Selfie,” and “Butt Wax On Butt Wax Off,” and even throw up their hands for the “I Thought I Just Saw Aaron Hernandez” touchdown dance move. But my personal favorite has to be Fallon’s “Justin Timberlake (From N’Sync)” dance. Classic.
“Michael, what do you want to do?” asks Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar). “I want to fight,” replies Michael (Jeffrey Donovan). “Okay, brother, let’s do this,” answers back Sam (Bruce Campbell) as the three best friends prepare to face down James (John Pyper-Ferguson), leader of the terrorist organization that Michael Westen was trying to bring down, as well as James’ mercenaries in the series finale of the action/drama Burn Notice.
Ever since Fiona finally got through to Michael and made him realize he was getting lost in his mission to bring down James and was beginning to believe he could run the mercenary network himself, Michael, Fi, Sam, Jesse (Coby Bell) and Michael’s mom Madeline (Sharon Gless) have become the targets of James and his professional killers. To make matters worse, CIA contact Andrew Strong (Jack Coleman) – fearing blame and loss of his position with the agency because James once again eluded capture – has made Michael and his friends wanted by the authorities as criminals.
Seeing no other option, Michael, Fi, and Sam set out to take down James’ terrorist network by breaking into a communications base that contains hard drive evidence of all of the networks ops they learned about by grilling and terrifying a tech genius who once worked for James. Meanwhile, Jesse is protecting and helping pack Madeline at Michael’s request to get ready to leave town quickly in case the plan goes bad. Just as Michael, Fi, and Sam have gotten the evidence the CIA needs, James calls them to inform the group that he and his men have surrounded them outside the room they’re in. James tells them he also has men headed to Michael’s mother’s house to execute her, Jesse, and Mike’s nephew Charlie unless Michael surrenders, steps outside, and allows James to execute him.
Suspenseful, emotional, and action-packed, the Burn Notice series finale brings the show to a close with the most powerful and incredibly acted episode of the series run. Jeffrey Donovan deserves nothing less than an Emmy for his performance as Michael Westen, the wrongly blacklisted spy who this season starts to lose his way and almost losses his family and friends by going into deep cover to bring down a terrorist network. The scene where he tries to tell someone he deeply cares about (no, I won’t reveal it here just in case you haven’t seen the show yet) not to sacrifice themselves for the greater good is heartbreaking.
Gabrielle Anwar is once again tough and spirited as Fiona, the loyal and loving girlfriend who desperately wants to find a way out of their dire situation and with a little luck finally be free of the CIA and build a life with Michael. It’s difficult to imagine anyone else in the role of Fiona after Anwar’s wonderful performance and strong chemistry with Donovan. Bruce Campbell has had the best role of his career – he himself admitted this in a recent interview – as Sam Ax, the retired Navy Seal who’s always willing to do whatever it takes to help his best friend and surrogate brother Michael clear his name and help people. He’s the moral center of the show and by far the most likable character in the cast.
The spy action/drama series known for its top-notch action scenes and explosions goes out with a riveting car chase, a major shoot-out, countless breathtaking explosions, and a touching funeral. There are more exciting action and powerful performances in this one-hour final television episode than in most two-hour films.
With excellent performances from the entire cast, unforgettable action scenes, fantastic writing, a cast that has great chemistry, and an ending that is sure to please any and all fans of the show, the Burn Notice series finale brings the adventures of Michael Westen and his friends to a fitting and perfect end. To quote Jeffrey Donovan’s Tweet after the show’s final episode: ”My name WAS Michael Westen…Goodbye.”
Please do not let there be a special guest appearance by twerkster Miley Cyrus!
Robin Thicke – Cyrus’ twerking partner on the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards – will be on the road next year in support of his bestselling album Blurred Lines. Thicke announced he’ll be kicking off his Spring 2014 North American tour on February 21st in Atlanta, finishing up the brief tour on March 29th in San Francisco.
Thicke’s 2014 tour will include special guests Jessie J and DJ Cassidy.
Tickets go on sale on September 20th at 10am. And in addition to regular tickets and VIP packages, Thicke is partnering with Tickets-for-Charity to “offer fans some of the best seats in the house to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).” For info on those special tickets, visit www.ticketsforcharity.com. For more details on the tour, check out Robin Thicke’s official site.
Robin Thicke 2014 North American Tour Dates
February 21 Atlanta, GA Fox Theatre
February 25 Camden, NJ Susquehanna Bank Center
February 27 Washington, DC Patriot Center
March 1 Mashantucket, CT MGM Grand Theatre
March 2 Atlantic City, NJ Borgata
March 4 Boston, MA Agannis Arena
March 7 New York, NY Theatre at MSG
March 12 Detroit, MI Fox Theatre
March 15 St. Louis, MO Fox Theatre
March 20 Austin, TX ACL Live at The Moody Theater
March 21 Thackerville, OK Winstar Casino
March 23 Denver, CO Fillmore Auditorium
March 26 Seattle, WA WAMU Theater
March 27 Vancouver, BC Rogers Arena
March 29 San Francisco, CA Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
“You know what’s going to happen to you and your family if they find you?” asks Agent Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones). “You’re here to make sure that doesn’t happen, right,” replies Giovanni Manzoni aka Fred Blake (Robert De Niro), who’s now entered the witness protection with his family after informing on the mafia in the action comedy The Family.
The Manzoni family, now known as the Blakes, have been relocated to Normandy, France, and have been instructed to blend into society and not draw attention to themselves. This becomes difficult when Fred, his wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer), and their kids – Belle (Dianna Agron) and Warren (John D’Leo) – revert back to old habits and start handling their problems at school and in the town the ‘Family’ way. It’s not long before the mob boss, who’s never stopped looking for them (even from prison), gets a new lead and sends a hit squad to Normandy to find and execute the Blakes with extreme prejudice.
With a few laugh-out-loud moments and over-the-top violence, The Family is an uneven dark comedy which benefits from its A-list cast. Robert De Niro is perfectly cast as Blake, an ex-mob captain who partially regrets his informing on his mafia friends and desperately misses the mob life. He also yearns for attention and seeks a new cause to fight for, even if it’s only getting clear water to come out of his faucet instead of brown water. He plays the role with just the right amount of menace and humor.
Michelle Pfeiffer is great as Maggie, the ex-mob wife who struggles to keep her family together but still can’t resist the urge to go back to her tough, threatening ways whenever mocked or challenged by a neighbor or shop owner. Tommy Lee Jones is perfect as Agent Stansfield, whose job it is to keep the Blakes safe even though he can’t stand Fred and looks forward to the day he can kick the Manzoni family out of witness protection for the slightest violation. He and De Niro have solid chemistry, and some of the best scenes are with these two titans of film.
The editing and pacing are perhaps the weakest elements of the film as The Family drags in the middle, and the laughs disappear almost completely. The tone of the film is also an issue, with the violence in the early part of the film being played out for laughs, but near the end of the film when the hitmen reach Normandy, it becomes excessive and disturbing.
With a strong cast but having an uneven and slow rhythm to its pacing, The Family is a dark comedy audiences might want to wait for on Blu-ray or DVD. But if you plan on checking it out in theaters, be sure to only catch it at the matinee price. Otherwise, you’re grossly overpaying.
GRADE: C
The Family opens in theaters on Friday, September 13, 2013 and is rated R for violence, language and brief sexuality.
Like most years in recent memory, the 2013 cinematic landscape for American movies has been rather bleak for the first eight months of the year. I can count on one hand the number of films I’ll be actively trying to retain in my memory banks anytime in the future (Mud, The Spectacular Now, Drinking Buddies, and maybe Warm Bodies). Outside the good ol’ U.S. of A, a number of good projects have already surfaced but often in such a limited release that I tend to see them during the rest of the year-end catch-up session.
Well, while it’s also on a fairly select opening schedule, Short Term 12 has been generating a truckload of buzz on the festival circuit and having seen it, I now know why. The title refers to a short-term foster care facility. Grace (Brie Larson) and Mason (John Gallagher Jr.) work there with the largely teenage population and are also in a long-term relationship with one another. The stumbling block for moving forward is Grace’s inability to take the advice she gives out, as she’s locked everything behind some very sturdy walls. The arrival of a new foster kid (Kaitlyn Dever) triggers a response in Grace and … well, I’m not going to give everything away, am I?
First and foremost, what makes the movie such a tremendous success is the strength of the ensemble. Writer/director Destin Cretton has coaxed out the most intense, raw, and sincere performances of the year. It starts, of course, with Brie Larson. Normally relegated to supporting and typically standard roles, here she gets the chance to shine, and she does so like the brightest of lights. She and Cretton have created a woman who is covered in emotional armor and yet there’s such a tragically beautiful vulnerability that it takes only the smallest amount of movement or dialogue to tell volumes. I tend to hate the term, but saying that Larson is a powerhouse is perfectly fitting in this case.
Not to be outdone, the rest of the cast surrounds Larson with excellent turns, and there isn’t a misstep in the entire bunch. Of special note are two of the kids at the facility. The first is Kaitlyn Dever (showing her range with a character 180 degrees from the one she plays in The Spectacular Now), who starts out with your typical rebellious teen archetype but as the layers are peeled away, it’s a supremely moving performance. The other being Keith Stanfield who also takes a rather stock character but fleshes him out into a fully three-dimensional role. The ensemble as a whole is just top-notch, and I could spotlight each and every one of them, but I think you get the gist.
Focusing squarely on Cretton’s contribution, it’s not so much that he’s crafted the most complex script. Far from it, he’s working with the oft-visited notion of a damaged girl, capable of giving so much to others but unable to accept anything in return. In other hands, this could have ended up some benign movie of the week, but Cretton deftly balanced the tones and character arcs – resulting in this triumphant work of art.
Maybe I should knock the rating down a smidge for the convenient story structure, but the sheer impact of the performances and the manner in which the movie sinks its emotional hooks into you make it a movie-going experience of the highest order. Short Term 12 isn’t a film people should watch just because it deserves to factor heavily into the upcoming awards season; it’s simply a film people should watch.
GRADE: A+
Short Term 12 is rated R for language and brief sexuality.
Warner Bros is releasing Grudge Match on Christmas Day 2013.
The Plot:
Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone play Billy ‘The Kid’ McDonnen and Henry ‘Razor’ Sharp, two local Pittsburgh fighters whose fierce rivalry put them in the national spotlight. Each had scored a victory against the other during their heyday, but in 1983, on the eve of their decisive third match, Razor suddenly announced his retirement, refusing to explain why but effectively delivering a knock-out punch to both their careers. Thirty years later, boxing promoter Dante Slate Jr., seeing big dollar signs, makes them an offer they can’t refuse: to re-enter the ring and settle the score once and for all. But they may not have to wait that long: on their first encounter in decades, their long-festering feud erupts into an unintentionally hilarious melee that instantly goes viral. The sudden social media frenzy transforms their local grudge match into a must-see HBO event. Now, if they can just survive the training, they may actually live to fight again.
In a battle between Jason Statham and James Franco, I’m going to put my money on Statham being the last man standing.
In the new Homefront trailer, it appears Statham not only has Franco attempting to ruin his life but a pack of townspeople who aren’t thrilled about his presence in their neighborhood. Coming to theaters on November 27, 2013, Homefront was directed by Gary Fleder and written by Sylvester Stallone.
The Plot:
Homefront is an action movie about a widowed ex-DEA agent who retires to a small town for the sake of his 10-year-old daughter. The only problem is he picked the wrong town.
The Voice finalist Kris Thomas has debuted his first music video in support of his upcoming EP. The Memphis soul singer’s “Balloons” video was directed by Molly Secours and shows off Thomas’ gorgeous voice which won over The Voice coach Shakira as well as the show’s audience when he initially took to The Voice stage to taken on Whitney Houston’s “Saving All My Love for You.”
Commenting on his first single from the new album, Thomas said, “‘Balloons’ is a song all about the love and power of friendship. I’m so proud of this video. We put a lot of hard work, heart and soul into it and I feel it was a good choice considering it’s how I really feel about lots of people in my life.”
Showtime’s House of Lies has signed up its first season three guest stars. The network reports Mekhi Phifer and Eliza Coupe will join the series in recurring roles as “high-powered business moguls.” The series is currently in production and will kick off season three on January 12, 2014 at 10pm.
Stumble It! 
Please do not let there be a special guest appearance by twerkster 
