Category: News

I never knew much about Bill Paxton, other than he was an absolute gem as the bullying older brother, Chet, in Weird Science and obviously near-perfect in the should-be-iconic blockbuster, Twister. Rob Lowe, however, was very dear friends with Paxton, and so he is frequently mentioned in Rob Lowe’s podcast, Literally. Given the way that Lowe frequently talks about Paxton, who died of a stroke at the too-early age of 61 in 2017, I think he could best be described as a “colorful character.” I would also say, in the way that Lowe affectionately caricatures him, that Paxton was very Texan.

In this week’s episode of Literally with Rob Lowe, Lowe spoke to Jimmy Kimmel, but in the course of his conversation, Lowe got off on a tangent while speaking about how “quotable” his friend Bill Paxton was. To wit, Paxton’s last major role was Det. Frank Rourke — the Denzel Washington role — in the CBS television adaptation of Training Day. “Bill had never done a network TV show,” Lowe said,” and when Lowe asked him how it was going, Paxton gave Lowe one of his memorable quotes. “Well, yeah, Rob, we’re making widgets on this one. I wish the scripts were better.”

Lowe also spoke of a talk show appearance that Paxton once made on Jay Leno’s The Tonight Show around the time that Apollo 13 was released. “He was clearly playing to the Academy voters,” Lowe said. “He couldn’t give a crap about getting the audience to come to the movie. It was purely, he wanted those votes for that movie. He was like, “God, it’s Apollo 13. The technology that went into putting that rocket into space. I mean, COME ON. It’s the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,” he said, emphasizing “science” under the belief that it would get him more Oscar votes for a movie about space. “He thought that was the way in. There was science in the movie.”

Lowe also spoke about the 2010 Golden Globes and his “obsession” with the “box moments,” when the nominees are all pictured in a box on a telecast as the reader is being read. “My two favorite ‘box moments,’” Lowe said, “were Burt [Reynolds] losing for Boogie Nights where everybody thought he was going to win, he thought he was going to win, and his face! If he had an actual thought balloon, it could not have been more clear,” and his face would have said, “‘I knew these guys would f**k me.” That is his exact face, although he lost to a very worthy nominee, Robin Williams for his role in Good Will Hunting.

The other one, however was “my dear departed friend, Bill Paxton. When he was nominated for Big Love. Big Love was out, and he was opposite a lot of great people, including Dexter, the serial killer show on Showtime, and Michael C. Hall, who is great. And Michael C. Hall had bravely battled and won a lymphoma battle. Remember that?”

“So the show is off the year, come back, and he’s sitting [in the audience] and they got the box on him, and they go, ‘And the winner is … Michael C. Hall.’ Bill turns to his wife, and I can remember it because I’m a lip reader. Clear as day, he goes, ‘Aww. the cancer card.”

Lowe is not wrong. If you rewatch it, it’s fairly obvious that is what Paxton is saying at the 48-second mark.

“It was right before social media is what it is today,” Lowe said, “Because today, for sure [he’d have been called out] because you don’t get away with anything.”

For the record, Michael C. Hall very much deserved that award, having been nominated for an Emmy six times, including five times for his role as Dexter. He was also nominated five times for a Golden Globe in that role, although his only win was in 2010. This particular nomination and win came after the series fourth season, which was one of the best if not the best season of Dexter. Moreover, the voters wouldn’t have even known because Hall didn’t go public with his cancer diagnosis until that very Golden Globes ceremony in which he won, arriving with his wife at the time (co-star Jennifer Morgan) while wearing a knit cap to cover his head, after having lost his hair due to chemotherapy treatment.

Source: Literally with Rob Lowe

It feels like every few weeks, the pandemic box office faces another big test. Godzilla vs. Kong proved that HBO Max’s strategy of releasing movies at home and in theaters at the same time could work. Demon Slayer showed that the box office could still produce a sleeper hit. Over Memorial Day, A Quiet Place Part II illustrated that moviegoers were still anxious to return to theaters.

This weekend, however, F9, the latest installment in the Fast & Furious franchise, was meant to show us what the ceiling for the post-pandemic box office might be. The much-anticipated, long-delayed F9 would show us how much might was left in the box office, and provide us with. a status update on the health of the moviegoing audiences.

The good news is: F9 easily broke the pandemic box-office record, racking up $70 million over the three-day weekend. Many are saying this is great news, and proof that the box office is returning to health. F9 did, after all, fare better than Hobbs and Shaw, the Fast and Furious spin-off, which recorded a $60 million opening weekend before the pandemic. That’s true, but it’s also $28 million less than the opening of The Fate of the Furious, the last F&F movie, which arrived in 2017.

Is the $70 million opening a reflection of Fast and Furious fatigue, or is this as much as we can expect a blockbuster to earn during opening weekend right now? After a year and a half without movies, have moviegoers readjusted to a new reality where they expect to be able to watch movies at home? Right now, it’s hard to imagine any other release this summer besting F9. Disney has two blockbusters coming in July — Black Widow and Jungle Cruise — but both will also be available for home viewers on Disney+. How much will that cannibalize their box office prospects? It’s certainly cut into the theatrical profits for Cruella and Raya and the Last Dragon, both of which are considered successes despite earning less than $75 million because of those premium access grosses. Some of the other big titles (Space Jam: A New Legacy, The Suicide Squad) will be available for free at home on HBO Max. The two biggest titles remaining this summer that won’t be accessible to home viewers on the day of their release are Snake Eyes, the G.I. Joe movie, and Ryan Reynolds’ Free Guy, but I don’t anticipate that either will beat the $70 million opening of F9.

In fact, we may need to wait until September before the next major test for the box office, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, although even that film is an unproven MCU title and it’s still unclear whether it will also release simultaneously on Disney+. In other words, the next complete test on the health of the box office may not come until the October release of the next Bond film, No Time to Die.

On the other hand, maybe the $70 million opening isn’t because of the pandemic but a function of F9 itself? After all, critics weren’t as enamored with this one (60 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), and the B+ Cinemascore is down from the A for The Fate and the Furiuous and the A- for Hobbs and Shaw. After nine films (and one spin-off movie), maybe moviegoers are simply getting tired of the franchise, or at least are more willing to wait to watch it at home. Ultimately, however, $70 million is hugely impressive for an eighth sequel.

The overall box office, meanwhile, also hit another pandemic record, earning $97+ million for the weekend, led by F9. A Quiet Place Part II continues to perform well, earning another $6.2 million in its fifth week. That number should continue to trickle downwards, however, with its release on Paramount+ arriving on July 12th thanks to the new shortened 45-day theatrical window. It’s earned $136 million, so far.

The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard had a fall in its second weekend, falling to number three at the box office. It earned $4.875 million to bring its total to $25.87 million. Peter Rabbit 2 is hanging in there at number four, earning $4.8.5 million to bring its total to $28.5 million after three weeks, which is around what the first one earned in its opening weekend alone. Disney’s Cruella, meanwhile, remains fairly consistent, earning another $3.7 million to bring its total to $71 million.

The upside for F9, however, is that it should have at least one more weekend at the top of the box office. There are three new wide openers over the 4th of July weekend, although I doubt any of the three — Lola, The Forever Purge and The Boss Baby: Family Business — will be a significant threat to the second-weekend totals for F9. Black Widow‘s release on July 8th, however, should knock F9 of its perch.

Source: Deadline, Box Office Mojo

(WARNING: Massive spoilers for Loki will be found below, so get the heck outta here if you still haven’t caught up on Episode 3.)

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Through three episodes of Loki, we’ve learned a lot of things about time travel and the show’s titular antihero. We’re also starting to see that some of those things may not actually be what they initially seemed. But one thing that seems certain to stick is the reveal that Loki is bisexual.

In a scene where Loki and the recently-revealed Loki variant Sylvie chat while on a train, Tom Hiddleston’s Loki admits he’s encountered “a bit of both” when it comes to potential princes or princesses courting him over the years. It’s a confirmation of something fans have long suspected about the trickster god, and it caused considerable celebration last week after the episode aired.

And as one of the stars of the show detailed, the moment was certainly notable among those making the show as well. Though they tried not to “overthink” things when it came to actually getting the scene in the can. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, actress Sophia Di Martino, who plays Sylvie, said everyone understood the significance of the moment, starting with director Kate Herron.

“We knew it was an important scene and that representation was super important,” Di Martino shares. “And Kate was really hot on getting it into the show because people have been waiting such a long time for that. So we knew it was important, but we didn’t really overthink it. We sort of just approached it like we would any other scene and just enjoyed the chat. But I don’t think I realized how much engagement that scene would have and how excited and pleased people would be with it. It’s just wonderful to see how happy people are after watching that.”

That train scene turns out to be one that she read for ahead of snagging the role, which had its own complications because, at the time, Hiddleston was on stage in New York and Di Martino was pregnant in London. In the interview, she said a lot of secrecy was involved: she read the lines on camera and sent the recording to those casting the show, with the names Sylvie and Loki changed to “Bob” and “Sarah.”

The piece touches on a number of other things we’ve seen in the show’s first three episodes, including some other important reveals about the nature of the TVA and why Sylvie didn’t go back to get her crown (“she’s got more important things to do”). But it’s nice to know a moment that’s meant so much to some Marvel fans was given the weight it deserves, even if it’s ultimately just two Variants chatting on a train.

[via THR]

After the Clippers ran away with a big win in Game 3 to get into this series, the Suns came out eager to respond in Game 4, jumping out to a big first half lead, holding a 14-point advantage at halftime as the Clippers could not buy a bucket from three-point range, at one point going on a six-minute scoring drought in the second quarter.

Leading the way for Phoenix was Deandre Ayton, who was spectacular on both ends for a Suns team that desperately needed it with both of their backcourt stars looking out of sorts. Chris Paul continued to struggle with his shooting touch after more than a week off after testing positive for COVID-19, and Devin Booker’s dalliance with wearing a mask lasted barely into the third quarter of Game 4 before he took it off and chucked it away after missing a layup. After combining for a 10-of-40 night in Game 3, that duo wasn’t significantly better in Game 4, going 14-of-44 — although Booker started better and was able to get to the free throw line more effectively to get to 25 points.

As such, Ayton found himself needing to carry the load and he did so in a big way, scoring 19 points on 14 shots and hauling in an outrageous 22 rebounds in a game where neither team could shoot the ball.

In the third quarter, the Clippers turned their shooting woes around to claw their way back into the game, cutting the lead to one late in the period and trailing by just three going to the fourth. Reggie Jackson, as he has been all playoffs, was huge for the Clippers, having another 20-point game to provide L.A. with some needed scoring alongside Paul George.

George, like pretty much everyone in Game 4, struggled from the field at just 5-of-20, but had a solid third to help reel in the Suns, who went cold themselves. The Clippers star finished with 23 points and 16 rebounds — as seemingly everyone had a lot of boards in this one thanks to the numerous missed shots.

Ivica Zubac was also terrific for the Clippers with 13 points and 14 rebounds of his own, matching Ayton’s minutes almost throughout and giving the Clippers a needed presence inside as Ayton was feasting. The third quarter also produced the best moment of the game, which was Mike Breen’s call of “Kawhi Leonard is going CRAZY!” as the camera cut to a deadpan Kawhi in his luxury box during L.A.’s big third quarter run.

In the fourth quarter, the Clippers cut the Suns lead back down to one at 71-70 and then the score remained there for four minutes of game time as each team just completely shut down on offense (and, to give them credit, played some excellent team defense).

The drought was finally broken on an Ayton lob finish to mercifully put some more points on the board, which seemed to take the lid off the basket for both teams briefly.

However, things remained rough after that, with neither team able to mount any kind of run to take full control. The Suns were able to stay ahead, playing some incredible defense, but saw Devin Booker foul out in the closing minutes after a blocking call on Patrick Beverley was overturned following a review as their offense continued to stall out.

With a three-point lead, Mikal Bridges fouled Paul George with 13 seconds to play, with George hitting both free throws cutting the lead to one and Phoenix without one of their best free throw shooters. After the initial inbounds play got very dicey, with Cam Payne getting stripped out of bounds and there being no review on a play eerily similar to the one in Game 2 that got reviewed and overturned off of Devin Booker, Chris Paul got the ball and calmly knocked down both of his free throws to push the lead back to three.

The Suns chose to foul Paul George up three on the ensuing inbounds play and in a painfully similar spot to Game 2, he missed the front end. On the second, with George intentionally missing to give the Clippers a chance at a rebound and a tying three, DeMarcus Cousins was fouled by Dario Saric fighting for position and had a chance himself to make two to cut it to one with 5.8 seconds left. He made the first, but airballed the second. Chris Paul got the ball on the next inbound and got a foul call to go to the stripe — on a play the Clippers felt was a travel before a foul — and could only split his free throws, once again leaving the door open for L.A.

They again fouled Paul George immediately as he grabbed the rebound on the free throw miss, and this time, George hit the first and then purposefully missed the second again. The ball got batted around and eventually tipped out to Chris Paul by Dario Saric, with George fouling CP3 for one final time, icing the game for good finally in what became a somewhat hideous 84-80 win to put Phoenix up 3-1.

The shooting numbers for both teams were comical in Game 4. The Suns, who again won the game, were 4-of-20 from three (20 percent) and 31-of-86 from the field (36 percent). The Clippers were somehow worse in both areas at 5-of-31 from three (16.2 percent) and 27-of-83 from the field (32.5 percent). The difference though was really at the free throw line, where the Suns were 18-of-21 compared to 21-of-32 from L.A. — even considering some purposeful misses.

The fourth quarter was the worst of all of it, with the two teams combining for a 7-of-38 shooting quarter, with the shot charts just being a lot of blood.

It was not a pretty game, nor a particularly good one from most anyone outside of Deandre Ayton, for the Suns, but they got the win and that’s what matters. They will now head back to Phoenix looking to wrap things up and advance to the Finals with a win in Game 5. The Clippers, meanwhile, have to be kicking themselves. They took advantage of an awful Booker-Paul game in Game 3 and somehow got another gift from those two in Game 4 and could not capitalize on a perfect opportunity to even the series. George and Jackson were a combined 3-of-18 from three-point range, and their inability to figure out how to consistently get any kind of quality looks inside against Ayton and the Suns length was their ultimate downfall (along with free throw shooting). Now they have to regroup and figure out how to get a win in Phoenix, which will be rocking for Game 5, against a Suns team that will be feeling very good about themselves after gutting out a win in a game where they really weren’t close to their A-game.

The Phoenix Suns were in control for much of Game 4, taking a 14-point lead into halftime as the Clippers came out flat offensively and struggled to knock down outside shots, but much like Game 3, the third quarter saw L.A. come alive, making an extended run to cut the lead down to as little as a one-point game late in the period.

Midway through the quarter saw the Staples Center crowd reach a fever pitch, with Paul George hitting a tough midrange jumper to cut the Phoenix advantage to six points as L.A. started to really get it going on the offensive end. Mike Breen, the master of matching his call to the intensity of the moment noted that the crowd was going wild and ESPN made the incredible choice to cut to Kawhi Leonard showing absolutely no emotion in his box seats at that very moment, leading to an all-time great Breen call.

Breen’s emphasis on “Kawhi Leonard’s going crazy!” is just sensational, and gets a laugh out of Mark Jackson who enjoyed the joke about the ever-stoic Leonard just sitting there, taking it all in as the crowd is in total pandemonium. Breen isn’t known for his levity, particularly compared to contemporaries like Ian Eagle or Kevin Harlan, but when he does make a joke it is almost always a delight for that very reason because it feels so unexpected. Leonard provided the perfect opportunity and Breen knocked it out of the park.

Disc golf has become a wildly popular sport, at least in the world of niche sports, and that boom is partly because it was a thing people could play outside during the pandemic, gaining more and more popularity over the last year and a half.

On Saturday, the Professional Disc Golfers Association World Championships took place in Ogden, Utah where it turned into a battle between James Conrad and Paul McBeth down the stretch. McBeth looked to be in control, as when Conrad arrived at 18 he needed a birdie to force a playoff and found himself 247 feet out and needing a miraculous shot to have a chance at a world title. The result was absolute pandemonium in Utah, as he pulled off an impossible shot to send it to extra holes.

I am not a disc golf expert by any stretch, but I feel confident in saying this is a ridiculous shot. Also, look at that crowd! They are fired up for my guy’s heave. This seems like the basketball equivalent of a three-quarter court heave catching nothing but net to force overtime. McBeth had to watch that and hit a par putt from a pretty decent distance to force the playoff himself, and did so pretty calmly — which is impressive given what had just happened around him.

In the playoff, Conrad got the win on this short putt to close out McBeth in a wild turnaround from where he was on 18 needing a miracle just to have a shot to win his first world championship.

It’s an incredible finish and, honestly, makes me want to watch some disc golf in the future because that shot from Conrad was one of the wildest things I’ve seen in sports this year.

On Saturday, while much of America was enjoying yet another semi-post-pandemic summer weekend, Donald J. Trump held his first rally since losing a second term as president. He’s been lying low the last six months, which is to say he’s been living, it seems, alone in various resorts, peddling strangers with unhinged tales of a “stolen” election. But don’t call it a comeback. Indeed, arguably the closest thing to a big breakout wasn’t from him but one of his hype people, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who spent part of her time at the mic railing against her arch-nemesis in Congress, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

At the rally, in Wellington, Ohio — which was ostensibly to support White House aide-turned-representative hopeful Max Miller, who’s running against incumbent Anthony Gonzalez — Greene fell back on some good old fashioned Republican red meat. “I didn’t go to Washington, DC to make friends,” she said in reference to her being booted from committee assignment after another based on her dangerous rhetoric, which involved conspiracy theories and even threatening language. Then she turned her ire towards AOC, whom she used to harass before they became colleagues.

Greene called the representative “the little communist from New York City.” When the crowd launched into a kneejerk “love ‘er up” — although it’s not clear how Greene, much less Trump, can throw a colleague in jail — she joined in. “Yeah, lock her up, too. That’s a good idea.” She then questioned her patriotic bona fides, or at least did some dog whistling. “She’s not an American. She really doesn’t embrace our American ways.”

She then launched into a diatribe about the Green New Deal, which she confessed to not reading.

Greene’s comments soon came to the attention of its target, who took the time to clap back.

“First of all, I’m taller than her,” Ocasio-Cortez joked. For the record, the New York congresswoman is 5’4”, and Greene is a mere inch shorter. Still, the point remains. And besides, like she said, that’s just for starters.

Like a lot of Republicans, Greene knew what to say to get them worked up. She doesn’t do so well, though, when asked by reporters to give even a shred of evidence for her loony claims, as CNN’s Jim Acosta recently found out.

In 1991, Samuel L. Jackson’s turn in Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever, as Wesley Snipes’ crack-addicted brother, was considered so strong that the jury brought back a category — Best Supporting Actor, which had only been awarded thrice before — so they could show him some love. A few years later he landed his first Oscar nomination for his proper breakthrough, as Jules Winfield in Pulp Fiction. That, absurdly, is also the only time over his long and storied career he’s been honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

But that changes…well, early next year. According to Variety, the Academy has already decided who will receive an honorary Oscars at next year’s ceremony. And one of them is the MCU’s resident Nick Fury. Jackson will be one of four to receive Governors Awards for lifetime achievement in the motion picture industry. The others are Danny Glover, who will also receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, actress/filmmaker Liv Ullmann, and actress/performer/filmmaker Elaine May.

“Sam Jackson is a cultural icon whose dynamic work has resonated across genres and generations and audiences worldwide,” read a statement from Academy president David Rubin.

May — who broke through as part of a comedy duo with fellow future filmmaker Mike Nichols, and whose unique director CV is comprised of only four films: A New Leaf, The Heartbreak Kid, Mikey and Nicky, and the once-maligned cult film Ishtar — was hailed for her “bold, uncompromising approach to filmmaking.”

Ullmann, meanwhile — renowned for her work with Ingmar Bergman, and whose own directed film include the 2014 Miss Julie, starring Jessica Chastain, Colin Farrell, and Samantha Morton — was singled out for her “bravery and emotional transparency” and her plethora of “deeply affecting screen portrayals.” And Glover was praised for his “decades-long advocacy for justice and human rights reflects his dedication to recognizing our shared humanity on and off the screen.”

The awards will be handed out early, on Jan. 15. Of course, just because Jackson — or the other three future winners — will eventually have Oscars doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be awarded mightily for their work in the future.

(Via Variety)

It’s been a little over a year since G Herbo delivered his last album, PTSD, which was hailed as one of the top hip-hop releases from that year. Fast-forward to the present and the rapper is already gearing up to share his follow-up. Titled 25, it was recently revealed that it will arrive next week, on July 2. A trailer also accompanied the announcement and in it, G Herbo shares the inspiration for his new album.

“I ain’t never seen myself going this far in life, I always wanted to be somebody since I was a kid,” he says in the opening of the video. “I’ve seen death way too many times. I’ve been shot, been to jail, I done been broke and I took everything that came with this street shit … all the killing, fear … overcoming that fear.”

He adds, “Now that I’m ’25,’ I feel like I’m at the top of my game. All the bad sh*t I’ve been through, that’s why I am the way I am I always just kept my head high, staying 10 toes down … I know it’s light at the end of the tunnel.”

You can view the cover art and trailer for 25 above.

25 is out 7/2 via Machine/Epic. Pre-order it here.

At the end of 2020, Beabadoobee shared her debut album Fake It Flowers. The project certainly made an impression on listeners across the pond as it cracked the top-10 of the UK album charts. The full-length effort, which was a completely solo effort from Beabadoobee, arrived after a string of EPs that included 2019’s Loveworm and Space Cadet. The singer continued that streak this week with the release of her EP Our Extended Play, which she promoted through a performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

The Filipino-British singer took the stage to perform “Last Day On Earth,” which was produced and co-written by Matty Healy and George Daniel, of The 1975. Beabadoobee’s set was curated to look like a performance in the middle of a party, with the packed with people mingling with each other.

As for Our Extended Play, Beabadoobee revealed in a press release that she wrote it with her labelmates “on the countryside” and that it was an effort where she wanted to “experiment on the sounds and sonics even more and the EP to me has a feeling of togetherness to it… how we’re all in this joined as one.”

You can watch Beabadoobee perform “Last Day On Earth” in the video above.