Plus: Mayra drops in to talk about what went down in court today with Lindsay Lohan.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
TMZ Live: Lindsay Lohan, Gibson, and Favre - TMZ.com
10/22/2010 10:00 AM PDT by TMZ Staff We took your questions today on everything -- including OJ Simpson's appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court gets denied, Mel Gibson getting dropped from "The Hangover 2", and the Brett Favre investigation now lying in the hands of Jenn Sterger.
‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’: Always in motion is the future
Image Credit: Lucasfilm Ltd. & TMNo disturbance in the Force here! After a couple of mildly disappointing episodes set on Mandalore, Star Wars: The Clone Wars got back on track with a brooding, mysterious installment last night. “Assassin” is the first ep this season to dive deeply into Star Wars’ underlying mythology, and, most impressively, it didn’t have to be a Skywalker-centric episode to have some Joseph Campbell-worthy heft.
Like Anakin in Revenge of the Sith, though, Ahsoka found herself having unsettling Force-fueled visions. And just like the future Darth Vader, visions of Padmé’s death, no less! I guess it just shows how much Anakin and his obsession have rubbed off on his Padawan. In her dreams, Ahsoka saw the bounty hunter Aurra Sing—presumed dead after she lent her assistance to Boba Fett during his unsuccessful attempt to kill Mace Windu—assassinate Padmé, while the Senator was giving a speech.
Don’t know Aurra Sing? She’s one of the handful of characters—like Aayla Secura, or, well, half the Jedi Council for that matter—to appear in one shot of one of the prequels and somehow then become a major character in her own right. Appearing briefly as a spectator at the Boonta Eve Podrace in The Phantom Menace, Aurra captivated fans’ imaginations with her striking look: a shaved head with flowing ponytail, albino-white skin, a sniper rifle strapped to her back, and an antenna stuck in her cerebral cortex. Not enough to justify her multiple appearances in Dark Horse’s Star Wars comics and now the Clone Wars series, you say? Hey, Boba Fett does little more in the original trilogy than lurk around menacingly and get eaten by the Sarlacc, and look at the cult of personality that earned him!
But I digress. Aurra was the next in a now relatively lengthy line of bounty hunters hired to whack the Senator from Naboo, and we all know a death mark is not an easy thing to live with. Honestly, Padmé has had more bounties placed on her than a spice smuggler who’s ditched his cargo. But it wasn’t Nute Gunray seeking her head served up on a duranium platter. It was Ziro the Hutt, Jabba’s erstwhile relative and Star Wars’s answer to Divine in Pink Flamingos—or at least Ursula in The Little Mermaid. Hell hath no fury like a Hutt scorned, and Ziro wanted some payback against Mrs. Skywalker for landing him in the Republic pokey. I’m totally digging the prison ink he’s picked up so far while serving time.
Accompanied by Ahsoka, Padmé traveled to Alderaan (!) to attend a conference set up by Bail Organa. After 33 years (not counting that brief glimpse when Organa takes baby Leia home at the end of Revenge of the Sith), we finally got to see some of the planet blasted to space dust by Grand Moff Tarkin in A New Hope. Okay, maybe not that much. But we did get to hear a few bars of “Leia’s Theme” as Padmé’s starship flew over the planet that her daughter would one day call home. To reinforce the Padmé-Leia connection even further, the Naboo Senator was there for a conference on the refugee crisis precipitated by the war. As those of us who’ve read the myriad post-Return of the Jedi novels about our heroes’ later lives know, there’s nothing Leia loved to involve herself in more than some do-gooding regarding displaced peoples.
But back to Ahsoka. Miss Tano has come across as one mighty confident little Togrutan, so it was refreshing to see her open up to Padmé, let her bravado down for a moment, and express her uncertainty about her powers and her connection to the Force. She is just a 14-year-old girl, after all. I appreciated Padmé’s talk with Ahsoka about how she too had major responsibilities when she was 14—um, she ruled a planet as a Queen—and still felt insecure, as well. You think of a show like this as being geared primarily to boys, and yet what strong female characters it’s given us! Characters who can resolve disputes with either a blaster and lightsaber or discussion and compromise, even though they are human enough to be full of insecurity and doubt.
Anyway, Ahsoka foiled Aurra Sing’s Manchurian Candidate-like attempt at shooting Padmé during her speech, but the bounty hunter fled. In an attempt to draw her out, she arranged for Padmé to give another speech. Only this time, she’d send out a hooded droid to speak for, replete with red, pouting lips. Like a moth to flame, Aurra revealed her hand again, trying to finish the hit job she started. Only this time, Ahsoka was ready.
So it shouldn’t be difficult for you to tell that I loved “Assassin” like mynocks love power cables. Did you? Are you hoping that Clone Wars takes another trip to Alderaan in the near future? And, like me, do you intend, now that Outlaw has been cancelled, to start a petition for Jimmy Smits to voice Bail Organa himself?
‘Battlestar Galactica’ prequel: SyFy greenlights another Cylon spin-off, ‘Blood and Chrome’
Image Credit: Zoic Studios/SyFyBattlestar Galactica ended in March, 2009, and the prequel-spin-off Caprica has never had BSG‘s cultural prominence. (Or its ratings.) Now, it looks like Syfy is hitting the reset button on the Prequel Option: This time, more space violence! According to a press release from Syfy, the network has just greenlit a new two-hour pilot for Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome, set ten years into the first Cylon war (which would place it about four decades before BSG). The pilot centers on a young William Adama, played by Edward James Olmos in BSG and an adorably annoying child actor in Caprica. Right now, it’s still just a TV movie that might become a series… but let’s be fair, if this thing is half as good as Caprica, it’s going to get at least one season.
Blood & Chrome sounds like a purposeful step back into the political tension and breakneck Viper battles of BSG, which is exciting. Still, I’m worried that this means the end is nigh for the slower, more thoughtful Caprica. And as someone who’s fundamentally suspicious of prequels, I’m pessimistic about any young actor trying to inhabit the Adama character. (Wouldn’t it have been better to focus on someone else?)
But this is still exciting news … right, PopWatchers? What do you think? Does Blood & Chrome sound action-y enough for you? Or would you prefer a different take on the BSG mythos? And am I the only one who keeps confusing the title with Spartacus: Blood & Sand? Blood and Sand and Chrome, Oh My!
Kanye West's 'Runaway' rises
Kanye West debuted his long-form music film Runaway on Saturday night. It was a dreamy mini-movie with lovely, light imagery and a heavy message — roughly speaking, people aren’t open-minded; they don’t accept what they don’t immediately understand. Take it as a metaphor for how West feels about the acceptance of not necessarily his music, but his public behavior (epitomized by the West-Taylor Swift VMA moment), and you probably wouldn’t be wrong.
It told the story of a phoenix (played by model Selita Ebanks) who falls to Earth in front of West’s car. West, playing a version of himself, tried to introduce her to a world that mystified her, and was mystified by her.
(Warning: clip below contains a few possibly-objectionable words.)
The West-directed Runaway used a heavily-saturated color palette; bright oranges, fiery reds, and lush forest-greens dominated. He lingered over his imagery, frequently slowing down the motion for us to observe the phoenix’s most causal gestures. In one bravura sequence, he included a red-dressed marching band that pulled along a giant papier-mache bust of Michael Jackson in its wake.
West has said that Runaway contains nine songs from his forthcoming album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and supplies “visuals for all these songs that deserve videos.”
Late in Runaway, the phoenix speaks: “You know what I hate about your world? Anything that is different you try to change, you try to tear it down.” West’s visual and musical sophistication was constantly contrasted with images of the phoenix’s playful innocence, until she finally burst into flames and ascended back “to my world,” as she put it, leaving West’s character desperate, running down the road after her, left alone.
Runaway aired simultaneously on MTV, MTV2, and BET; each channel inserted their commericals into Runaway in a cruelly abrupt manner that marred the flow of West’s film.
In an interview that aired immediately after Runaway, West referred to Fellini and Kubrick as influences, and the languidly assured tracking shots and framing in some scenes bore out those influences. He also said the phoenix’s crash paralleled the “crash of my career.” Sometimes it’s best for an artist to just let the work speak for itself.
Given how controversial West’s every artistic gesture seems to have become, I have a feeling we’ll be in for a round of dismissals of Runaway as a pretentious piece. Instead, it deserves to be seen as a carefully modulated art-film made by a man on a mission.
Did you watch Runaway? What did you think?
Follow: @kentucker
Box office preview: ‘Paranormal Activity 2′ will attempt to scare its way into first place
Paramount Pictures will likely be trick-or-treating early this year, as the studio is expected to snag the top two spots at the box office over the weekend with its horror sequel Paranormal Activity 2 and the surprisingly potent Jackass 3D. The original Paranormal Activity is already considered a box-office legend. The 2009 haunted-house flick, which was made for a mere $15,000, built initial buzz by letting moviegoers “demand” local screenings through the film’s website. After four weeks of increasingly sold-out showings, the movie opened wide exactly one year ago and shocked pundits by conquering the weekend with $21.1 million (and simultaneously crushing horror competitor Saw VI). The Paranormal sequel won’t have the same element of surprise this time around, but Paramount has been careful to make sure the film doesn’t follow in the footsteps of, say, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, the 2000 sequel that cumulatively earned $26.4 million compared to The Blair Witch Project‘s $140.5 million. Here are my weekend predictions:
1. Paranormal Activity 2: $29.5 million
Paramount is aiming for the original movie’s $21.1 million wide-release opening, but this R-rated sequel shouldn’t have any trouble topping that figure. Rather than transforming the franchise into a mega-budget gorefest, the studio was adamant about replicating the first film’s formula: unknown cast, minuscule budget ($3 million this time around), and low-grade cinematography (this time via security cameras instead of a consumer camcorder). Based upon the massive turnout at the free midnight previews held last night (where the film played in 20 cities to reportedly standing room-only audiences), moviegoers seem eager to spend some more time with your typical angry suburban demon.
2. Jackass 3D: $22 million
Johnny Knoxville and his testosterone-loaded cohorts surpassed every expectation last weekend by nailing $50.4 million — the largest opening ever for an October release. While Jackass will likely lose a significant portion of its college-age audience to Paranormal Activity, the 3-D stunt extravaganza has performed well during the workweek (grossing $4.4 million, $4.1 million, and $3.4 million on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, respectively), so the movie should avoid a steep drop of 60 percent. A 55 percent decline is more likely for a weekend take of about $22 million and a cumulative tally of nearly $90 million. As a result, by the end of this weekend, Jackass 3D will have already passed the final grosses of both Jackass: The Movie ($64.3 million) and Jackass Number Two ($72.8 million). I’ll leave it to some sociology professor to determine what the success of these movies says about modern-day moviegoers.
3. Red: $12.5 million
Summit’s action comedy opened to a hearty $21.8 million last weekend, and considering its appeal to a somewhat older movie crowd, it should hold up decently during its second round. Expect a drop of slightly more than 40 percent.
4. Hereafter: $11.5 million
Clint Eastwood’s supernatural drama, starring Matt Damon, debuted last weekend in six theaters and managed to earn a per-site average of $36,720. It expands to 2,181 screens this weekend and will have to deal with mediocre reviews and competition from Red, which has also been skewing older. Hereafter should be able to top Eastwood’s last film, Invictus, which also starred Damon and opened at approximately the same number of theaters last year to the tune of $8.6 million, but it’d be a surprise if the movie registers much higher than that. Warner Bros. is hoping the $50 million film will be a slow burner — Eastwood’s projects often display encouraging stamina at the box office.
5. The Social Network: $7 million
Going into its fourth weekend, David Fincher’s drama (and guaranteed Oscar-player) is still being debated by moviegoers and journalists. (And even Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who said the film got his fashion sense absolutely correct but his motivation for inventing the website wrong). While Disney’s Secretariat could challenge The Social Network for fifth place, we’d put our (virtual) money on the latter.
Glee Producer to GQ Photo Critics: Get a Life! - TheImproper.com
By Samantha Chang, October 23rd, 2010
Glee producer Mark Salling doesn’t understand the hype over the racy GQ photospread of Glee stars Lea Michele, Dianna Agron and Corey Monteith, saying the situation is being blown out of proportion.
“Personally, I think it’s not a big deal,” Salling, 28, said Oct. 21, 2010 on a radio interview with L.A.’s 102.7 KIIS FM.
“Lea is 23 years old and has every right to do that. I mean, come on! We’re obviously not in high school. It’s tongue-in-cheek that we’re in high school.
People are starving, [Dallas] Cowboys are losing — there’s more important things to worry about in the world.”
Salling was responding to inflammatory criticism from the Parents Television Council, which slammed the sexy GQ photos as “near-pornographic pedophilia.”
‘BORDERS ON PEDOPHILIA’
In a statement released Oct. 20, the PTC expressed outrage at the over-sexualized photos of Glee’s 24-year-old stars Lea Michele and Dianna Agron:
“It is disturbing that GQ, which is explicitly written for adult men, is sexualizing the actresses who play high school-aged characters on Glee in this way. It borders on pedophilia.
By authorizing this kind of near-pornographic display, the creators of the program have established their intentions on the show’s direction. And it isn’t good for families.”
KATIE COURIC: ‘I’M DISAPPOINTED’
CBS News anchor Katie Couric, who watches Glee with her two daughters, ages 19 and 14, joined the chorus of people bashing GQ’s racy photo shoot. In an opinion piece on CBS Evening News Oct. 20, Couric, 53, said:
“As Seth Meyers might say on Weekend Update, ‘Really?!’ These very adult photos of young women who perform in a family show just seem so un-’Glee’-like. The program is already edgy in the right ways, these images don’t really — in my humble opinion — fit the ‘Glee’ gestalt.
I know there are a lot of bigger problems in the world right now, but still, as Mr. Schuester might say to the club, I’m really disappointed.”
DIANNA AGRON: ‘PARENTS SHOULD SUPERVISE’
While Michele and Monteith have not yet responded to the criticism, Dianna Agron offered a tepid apology in a blog post Oct. 21, saying that while she’s sorry to anyone she has offended, she also called on parents to supervise their children’s activities:
“In the land of Madonna, Britney, Miley, ‘Gossip Girl,’ other public figures and shows that have pushed the envelope and challenged the levels of comfort in their viewers and fans, we are not the first.
Now, in perpetuating the type of images that evoke these kind of emotions, I am sorry. If you are hurt or these photos make you uncomfortable, it was never our intention.
If your eight-year-old has a copy of our GQ cover in hand, again I am sorry. But I would have to ask, how on earth did it get there?
I understand that in today’s world of advanced technology, the internet, our kids can be subject to very adult material at the click of a button. But there are parental locks, and ways to get around this.”
Similarly, GQ editor-in-chief Jim Nelson fired back at critics, saying: “The Parents Television Council must not be watching much TV these days and should learn to divide reality from fantasy.
“As often happens in Hollywood, these ‘kids’ are in their twenties. Cory Monteith’s almost 30! I think they’re old enough to do what they want.”
Samantha Chang is the executive editor of TheImproper and a celebrity writer at Examiner.
‘Romeo + Juliet’ and ‘Moulin Rouge’ Blu-ray giveaway
American literature nerds, unite! Australian director Baz Luhrmann, known for his splashy and elaborate films like Romeo & Juliet, Moulin Rouge, and Australia, is working on an adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby. It’s been 35-plus years since Robert Redford, Sam Waterson, and Mia Farrow first brought Fitzergerald’s characters to life in Jack Clayton’s 1974 film adaptation — are you excited at the possibility of an update?
Luhrmann has reportedly held workshops with Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, and Rebecca Hall, and Natalie Portman and Amanda Seyfried are also rumored to be under consideration. But we want to know: Who would you cast in a Gatsby remake?
To help get your creative juices flowing, we’re giving away 10 copies of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge on Blu-ray. The films are courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, and are available while supplies last. In order to win, dust off your high school paperbacks, and give us your most thoughtful casting choices for the roles of Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway, and Daisy Buchanan.
Here’s how to enter:
1. Go to our Facebook page.
2. Click “Like” at the top of the page
3. Find the post on our Wall announcing the giveaway, click Comment, and list your casting choices for The Great Gatsby remake. (Note:
Commenting on this post won’t enter you in the giveaway; see the official rules after the jump.)
4. If you’re a winner, we’ll contact you via Facebook message to request your mailing address.
The giveaway starts NOW!
EW’S “BAZ LUHRMAN” BLU-RAY CONTEST OFFICIAL RULES (NO PURCHASE NECESSARY)
Open only to those to whom this or notice has been addressed, provided that entrant is a legal U.S. resident age 21 or older at the time of entry. Void where prohibited by law. Limited to one entry per Facebook account. The first 10 persons to post a qualifying comment on the related post on our Facebook wall (www.facebook.com/entertainmentweekly) will receive a Blu-ray of Romeo & Juliet & Moulin Rouge, which has an approximate retail value (ARV) of $40. Each contestant must answer the question posed in our Facebook post as directed, or their entry may be disqualified. Where Entertainment Weekly is not the sponsor, it cannot guarantee the availability of any of the items described. Sponsor not responsible for any damage to computer equipment related to participating in this promotion. Items being distributed are not transferable or redeemable for cash. Consumers who obtain items are responsible for any and all taxes. Promotion begins at 7:00 p.m. ET or EST on 10/22/2010 and ends at 12:00 a.m. ET or EST on 10/23/2010. Entertainment Weekly will contact the winners by Facebook message requesting their mailing address on or before 10/27/2010. Winners will have 24 hours to respond, after which time they forfeit their prize. Employees of Entertainment Weekly, Time Inc., Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, or any related companies are not eligible to enter or win. Anyone who has won a prize from Sponsor during the previous 90 days is disqualified. The winner(s) may be required to complete an affidavit or eligibility and waiver of liability before prize(s) can be awarded. For a list of winners, visit ew.com/winners seven days after the end of this contest.
Happy 25th birthday, Zac Hanson! My teen idol is all grown up!
Image Credit: Mark Mainz/Getty ImagesToday, my first true celebrity crush, Zac Hanson, turns 25. In 1997 when I first became obsessed with a fan of Hanson, I couldn’t imagine the day when Zac Hanson would turn 25, but I’m sure if I did, I figured I’d be commemorating it somehow. (An extra special unrelated 1997 nostalgia treat: Today I heard “We’ve Got It Going On” by the Backstreet Boys as I bought lunch. It’s like all the late ’90s teeny bopper cosmos are aligning today — I feel I need to dig out some butterfly hair clips to appropriately celebrate.)
In fact, the first issue of EW that I ever remember buying was back in the summer of 1997, when Hanson first graced the cover. I remember racing home, reading the article about a dozen times, taping the cover of the three awkward long blond haired boys somewhere on my bedroom wall, and making a promise to myself that one day I’d write about Hanson for Entertainment Weekly. (This is, in fact, a totally true story, and no, I am not getting misty-eyed out of nostalgia at my desk. I’m just dealing with seasonal allergies).
Just as Zac’s hairstyle has thankfully changed over the years and gotten more mature, so too has the sound of Hanson’s music. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly miss the days where I actually wore out my first copy of Middle of Nowhere from too much use, but I’m pleased that Zac and his brothers are still making music that’s better suited to my more evolved tastes. Need a refresher course in Zac over the years? Check out the little moppet playing the drums in 1997's “MMMBop” and then watch him in this spring’s buzzed-about dance-in-the-streets worthy “Thinking ‘Bout Something.” Do you miss old-school Hanson, PopWatchers?
PopWatch Rewind Week 10: ‘Poltergeist’
Image Credit: Everett CollectionWe’re here! It’s a week before Halloween, but the release of Paranormal Activity 2: Electric Boo!-galoo seemed like the perfect occasion to watch the 1982 ghosts-in-suburbia film Poltergeist. About a family being terrorized by a specter older than Arlen and scarier than Phil, the flick has given birth to endless quotable lines, childhood nightmares, and rumors of a curse. Directed by Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s Tobe Hooper, but kinda maybe really directed by 1941’s Steven Spielberg, it remains a classic of the genre and a good warning not to let your kids sit too close to the TV.
Darren Franich: The first 20 minutes are all slow-building suspense. There are dozens of perfect little details about family life, like the dad convincing the kids that the lightning isn’t so scary, or the wife smoking a joint while her husband reads a book about Ronald Reagan. Then these very subtle spooky things happen. Chairs move. A glass breaks. It feels like a movie powered by spooky suggestion — very Paranormal Activity-ish, in fact. And then a tree smashes through a window, grabs the young son, and tries to eat him. End of subtly terrifying portion of the film.
Keith Staskiewicz: To me it’s those tiny suburban details that make the movie: The Chewbacca poster, the potato chip bag under the pillow, the remote control dispute with the neighbor. I think it’s interesting that Spielberg had to choose between directing this and E.T. after he completed Raiders of the Lost Ark, because E.T. shares that god- and/or the devil-is-in-the-details philosophy. From the kids’ Halloween costumes to, again, the Star Wars memorabilia (thanks, Raiders producer George Lucas!), it adds up to really make you believe in this vision of childhood and family life. The only difference is that the invading force is befriending your children, not absconding with them into the TV.
DF: But also, in E.T., suburbia is a Calvin-and-Hobbesian wonderland. In Poltergeist, suburbia is built on the corpses of older generations; it’s just Hobbesian. Poltergeist feels like a pessimists’ inversion of a Spielberg movie. The force isn’t invading. It’s been there the whole time.
Look, kids, the ruins of the American Dream!KS I don’t think it’s an inversion. More of a flip-side companion piece. Poltergeist just shows the darker side of things. The family is still the central unit, and is still really what is at the heart of the film, but it just turns out that the American Dream is built on a sea of corpses.
DF: That strikes me as a gigantic difference. But this brings up the Big Question about Poltergeist: Who actually directed this thing?
KS: I view it as a Spielberg movie. I like Tobe Hooper, and looking over his filmography, I was surprised to find that there’s actually a bunch of great stuff beyond Texas Chainsaw Massacre that I usually forget about, like The Funhouse and Salem’s Lot. But I just see Spielberg’s hands all over this movie.
Fun fact! The movie on TV is "A Guy Named Joe," the inspiration for Spielberg's worst movie, "Always."DF: To me, Poltergeist is a Spielberg movie the way that A.I. is a Kubrick movie. The outline is there, but the particular treatment feels completely different, even purposefully oppositional.
KS: Except Kubrick wasn’t constantly on the set of A.I., unless he himself was a poltergeist. “Come play with us, Stevie!”
DF: If you’re telling me that this is a straight-up Spielberg movie, then you have to acknowledge that there are some things in the movie that feel utterly unlike pretty much anything else Spielberg has ever done. Like the coffins popping up out of the ground. Or the utter anarchy of the ending.
KS: I don’t see how the face-meltings and leg-chompings of Spielberg’s other movies are all that different from something like this.
"One minute! Just putting my face on!"DF: Let’s just agree that Spielberg built a beautiful Spielberg-movie house, and then a strange presence invaded that house.
KS: And that presence was Tobe Hooper, under a sheet, with holes cut out for eyes. Upon rewatching, I feel comfortable dubbing this one of my favorite horror movies of all time, and at least part of that is due to the great special effects. Sure, the face-peeling scene looks a little fake, but that didn’t stop it from freaking the heck out of us. And almost everything else holds up tremendously well, even now. Combined with The Thing, it really makes you yearn for the practical effects of 1982 over CGI werewolves. I miss the good old days of muppets and slime. Why is everything so digitalized now? I hate modernity. Where’s my cane? Who changed the TV from Murder, She Wrote?
Every house in the neighborhood comes with a free Sarlacc Pit.DF: Even when they open the door to the kids’ room and see everything flying around, the horrendous matte-ing doesn’t look any worse than current digital effects, really.
KS: Apparently they went all the way and used real skeletons in the pool scene because it was cheaper and more realistic than buying fake ones.
DF: This is reason number 50 million to love JoBeth Williams, who brings a believably gonzo level of playfulness, even kinkiness, to what could’ve just been a bland Mom role. I love how excited she is by the moving chairs: You believe that she’s a little bit bored, so a spooky chair is kind of fun. Craig T. Nelson is so good in this movie, too. Actually, between this and The Incredibles, he’s played two of the more interesting twists on the All-American father.
KS: The movie’s just so awesomely unrelenting: A half-hour of idyllic suburbia and cute family jokes, then it gets ramped up a notch, and once Zelda Rubinstein shows up it’s all screaming, strobe lights, flaming skulls, and frenzy. Your heart is in your stomach, which is in your throat. Then there’s a brief respite to trick you into thinking it’s the end of the movie, then: Clowns! Intestinal closets! Ghost spiders! Skeleton pool party! Imploding house! So many memorable images in a period of about 20 minutes.
DF: Zelda Rubinstein is my least favorite part of the movie. The reason I love Poltergeist is all the family stuff, and the presence of the ghost hunters just pushes it into this bizarre, semi-farcical quest. Like, you’ve got the little old lady teaching the children about the importance of being happy when you die. And then, an even littler old lady comes in and solves everything using sass and gumption. Even the cool special effects that we’re talking about aren’t really present in the Zelda part. It’s all just bright spotlights, and cloudy lights, and Zelda Rubinstein screaming “Go into the light!”
Note the Kim Jong-Il cameo.KS: Poor Carol Anne must have been totally confused by her parents’ inability to decide whether or not she should go into the light. “Go towards the light!” “No, wait, don’t go towards the light!” “Actually, yes, I changed my mind. Do, but then stop!” “Yes! No! Light!” I’d argue that Zelda brought a lot to the movie. The scene of her describing, in her helium twang, the circumstances of the unseen spectral realm, with the evil beast that presents itself as a child, was way creepier to me than if we actually got to see it.
DF: I definitely could’ve used less Zelda.
KS: But what about the curse? I can’t believe we’ve made it this far without mentioning the curse.
DF: Curse, what curse?
KS: You know, the Poltergeist curse. Many involved with Poltergeist have died under mysterious circumstances.
DF: Oh, pshaw! I don’t believe in such silliness. Do you, Keith?
KS: Aaaaaaaaaahh!
DF: Keith? Keith?
KS: …
DF: Keeeeeeiiiiiiitttthhhhhh!!!!!!
Next week: Having blown through our scary-movie quota a week early, we’ll be watching something a little more family-friendly for Halloween in the form of a hapless, bald-headed kid and his pet beagle/WWI flying ace. We’ve already ordered our copy of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and we’re going to wait all night in the pumpkin patch for it to arrive. We suggest you do the same.
‘The Game’ author Neil Strauss options book ‘Emergency!’ to Robert Downey and Sony Pictures
Neil Strauss, the journalist-turned-author of the popular dating book The Game, has sold the feature film rights of his book Emergency!: This Book Will Save Your Life to Columbia Pictures and Robert Downey’s Team Downey. The project is being considered as a possible starring vehicle for Downey. Allan Loeb (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps) is writing the screenplay.
The book traces Strauss’s three-year journey, where he traveled around the country equipping himself with the tools necessary to save himself and his loved ones from an uncertain future. According to the book description, “He moves his life offshore, and in the process, learns to survive in the wild, and remake himself as a gun-toting, lock-picking, plane-flying, government-defying survivor.” Sounds like the perfect starring vehicle for Downey, who’s currently in production on Sherlock Holmes 2. He’s producing the project with his wife Susan and Michael De Luca (The Social Network).
Box office update: ‘Paranormal Activity 2′ breaks R-rated midnight record with $6.3 million
The demons, and quite a few moviegoers, were out last night for the midnight debut of Paramount’s Paranormal Activity 2, which grossed $6.3 million from 12:00 a.m. screenings, according to studio estimates. That figure is the highest midnight gross for an R-rated film, besting Watchmen‘s $4.6 million take from last year. It also smashes the record for the largest October midnight opening, which was set all of one week ago when Jackass 3D collected $2.5 million. Paramount has been heavily promoting Paranormal Activity 2 as a “midnight movie,” and this early turnout practically ensures that the sequel will surpass its predecessor’s wide-release opening of $21.1 million.
Box Office Preview: ‘Paranormal Activity 2' attempts to scare its way into first place
'Paranormal Activity 2' Tops Friday Box Office - MTV.com
The follow-up to last year's runaway horror hit, "Paranormal Activity 2," kicked off its first weekend in theaters with a major haul. The creepy tale of a household dealing with unwanted spirits, told through grainy surveillance footage and like its predecessor was largely unscripted, pulled in $20.1 million on Friday.
Trailing behind "Paranormal" is last week's box-office busting debut "Jackass 3D. " The prank-fest, which landed about $50 million its first weekend in theaters, slipped to the second-place slot. Johnny Knoxville and his crew's latest array of cringe-inducing antics rang up nearly $7.6 million as it entered its sophomore session in theaters. Friday's haul's kicks the film's total estimated gross to over $73 million.
The spy thriller "Red" continued to pull in audiences and came in third in Friday's box-office race. The flick, which stars Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren and Bruce Willis as retired hired guns now dodging their former employer's efforts to keep them quiet, raked in roughly $4.5 million. The action picture's total gross is an estimated $33 million.
The Clint Eastwood-helmed ensemble drama "Hereafter" landed in fourth place. Exploring the lives of three people who are dealing with death and the afterlife in several ways, including the story of a psychic played by Matt Damon, the screen legend's latest turn in the director's chair made approximately $4.1 million on Friday.
David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin's "The Social Network," which tells the story of Facebook's rise from a Harvard campus curiosity to a social media behemoth boasting 500 million users, netted about $2.3 million on Friday. The movie's total estimated haul stands at around $67.9 million.
Check out everything we've got on "Paranormal Activity 2," "Jackass 3D." and "Red."
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‘Paranormal Activity 2′ summons $20.1 mil at the box office on Friday
So much for the sophomore slump. Paramount’s Paranormal Activity 2 frightened away its competition and registered a quite supernatural $20.1 million on Friday, according to early estimates. That number includes the $6.3 million the horror sequel earned from Thursday midnight screenings — a late-night record for an R-rated movie. Paramount had been cautiously forecasting Paranormal 2 to match the $21.1 million its predecessor grossed on its wide-release debut, but the sequel now seems headed for a weekend tally of $40 million. Not too shabby for a film with a $3 million budget.
Jackass 3D, also a Paramount release, dropped 66 percent from last Friday for an estimated grab of $7.6 million. While that may seem like a particularly steep drop, the stunt film’s business was front-loaded last weekend as Jackass enthusiasts stormed theaters on opening day. Jackass 3D should finish the weekend around $23 million, for a more sensible drop of about 55 percent. The gray-haired actioner Red landed in third place, falling only 38 percent for $4.5 million. In fourth place was Clint Eastwood’s drama Hereafter, which expanded into 2,181 theaters and grossed $4.1 million. The $50 million film, which stars Matt Damon as a psychic who communicates with the dead, will likely wind up with a bit more than $12 million for the weekend. And in fifth place, The Social Network kept chugging along with $2.3 million — a scant 32 percent drop from last weekend. Check back here on Sunday for the complete box office report.
1. Paranormal Activity 2 — $20.1 mil
2. Jackass 3D — $7.6 mil
3. Red — $4.5 mil
4. Hereafter — $4.1 mil
5. The Social Network — $2.3 mil
Box Office Preview: ‘Paranormal Activity 2' attempts to scare its way into first place
More Paranormal Activity 2 from EW: Katie Featherston exclusive Q&A
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