Breakdown (1997)
On a cross-country drive, in a desolate stretch of the Southwest, a nice guy (Kurt Russell) and his wife (Kathleen Quinlan) get stranded, and she goes missing. Director/co-writer Jonathan Mostow's R-rated thriller is a minor masterpiece of gritty, convincing, at times unbearably suspenseful action. While it was a sleeper hit when it came out, it has been largely and unjustly forgotten. But 13 years later, it holds up way better than so many flashier action flicks — though Russell's giant cell phone is good for a laugh, and of course the damn thing never works when he needs it most. —Jess Cagle
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
12 underrated movie gems
'CSI: New York' scoop: Lindsay Price is coming to the Big Apple
Image Credit: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic.comWere you sorry to say goodbye to Lindsay Price in Eastwick? Weep no more: We’re about to get her back! EW has learned that Price, who played Joanna Frankel in the short-lived ABC series, will guest star in an episode of CSI: New York in February. She’ll play Kate, a young woman who experienced a past trauma that she can’t forget. Her character ends up forming a bond with Det. Lindsay Monroe Messer (Anna Belknap) when her past returns to haunt her!
Price is joining the CBS procedural at an excellent time. Thanks to the addition of Sela Ward (Jo Danville), the seven-year-old drama is averaging 11.2 million viewers, up 25% over its year-ago time period. The show’s also been winning its time period each week in viewers and adults 18-49.
NBC scoop: Network ponders three-hour comedy block on Thursdays
Image Credit: NBCAfter the current – and very low-rated – installment of The Apprentice ends its run, NBC could go with a three-hour block of comedies on Thursdays.
Sources told EW that the Peacock may shake up the lineup, with 30 Rock possibly moving to 10 p.m., to make way for the return of the critically-beloved Parks and Recreation and the new comedy Perfect Couples, which has been described as depicting “the misadventures of three engaging couples as they struggle to find out what makes the ideal relationship — and how to maintain it through humorous trial-and-error.” NBC’s other cult faves – The Office and Community - would likely remain in their timeslots, while Outsourced could go at 10:30 after 30 Rock. NBC would not comment, but the possibility of a lineup change certainly piqued the interest of the competing networks. Says one high powered suit, “They’ve got nothing to lose at this point.”
There’s still a chance that NBC could move a Law & Order into the important 10 p.m. timeslot on Thursdays since it owns a piece of the legal franchise, but a three-hour comedy block would create buzz and provide good counter-programming to the stiff competition from The Mentalist and Private Practice. And this wouldn’t be the first time that NBC ran six comedies. During the 1990-91 season, then-NBC topper Brandon Tartikoff scheduled Parenthood, Working it Out, The Golden Girls, Empty Nest, Carol & Company and American Dreamer on Saturday nights.
Meanwhile, the current installment of The Apprentice has been a big disappointment for the Peacock. Though the network attempted to reboot the franchise to make it more applicable to the ailing economy, the show has hit historic lows this season. It ticked up on Nov. 11 (up 14 percent to a 1.6 rating/5 share among adults 18-49, and averaging 4.5 million), but NBC’s numbers were inflated because of an NFL game in Baltimore.
'The Event' scoop: Drama to relaunch in January
Image Credit: Dean Hendler/NBCUpdate, 11-15: NBC announced a new midseason lineup that includes The Event going off the air on Nov. 29 and returning Feb. 28.
Ratings for NBC’s high-concept drama The Event may be depressingly low, but the network (and the show’s cast) isn’t giving up. Members of the show’s ensemble told a crowd gathered at the Screen Actors Guild headquarters in Los Angeles Saturday that NBC will relaunch the show in January in an effort to attract more viewers.
“We will finish up with our first 13 and then there be a break, and then we’ll come back with a one-hour compilation clip show of the first 13 so everybody can catch up with story,” says Bill Smitrovich, who plays Vice President Raymond Jarvis. “I hope that will spark another increase in the audience.”
Since the drama’s premiere, the show has continued to trend downward in viewers and adults 18-49. The show’s most recent telecast attracted 5.4 million people and earned a 1.7 rating/4 share (each rating point represents 1.3 million people). The drama earned a full-season pickup by NBC.
“Ratings are one of the variables that we don’t have control over,” said Blair Underwood (President Elias Martinez), who also participated in the Event panel with fellow cast members like Jason Ritter (Sean), Sarah Roemer (Leila) and Ian Anthony Dale (Simon). “There is the crossfire competition from Dancing With the Stars, football, and the No. 1 comedy Two and A Half Men. Then, this is the type of genre show like 24 and Lost where viewership always picks up in the second season because people go back and watch during the summer or get the DVD. That builds an audience. And this show was sold in 200 international markets before it premiered here so there is incentive to keep the show going. We are in a good place.”
In the event The Event has to say goodbye in May, the producers have prepared short cuts to wrap up the storyline, explained Ritter. But no one thinks it will come to that. “We probably would have seen them start to come to a close. They would need the time to start doing those short cuts. But so far, so good. Ratings have not been the most ideal, but a lot of people are watching the show on their DVRs.”
Until then, exactly who are Simon, Sophia (Laura Innes) and Thomas (Clifton Collins Jr.) and where the heck did they come from? A few castmembers like Dale know the answer, but most of the others and Collins have been left in the dark. Instead, Collins has been doing some research and thinks scientific engineering may be at play here . “I’ve been doing a lot of research. I’m too intrigued,” he told the crowd. “So much of this is based on real stuff, which is why I go out there and study these things, whether it’s cloning or chromosome structures and gnomes and stuff of that nature. It’s really fascinating. I can almost see where its going. When [the producers] leak out certain things, they think I don’t know what it is but I do, because I’ve been studying.”
While Ritter thinks that Sophia and her kind may be time travelers from the future, other cast members have more (out there) theories. “I think Jason is like the second coming for the aliens,” sayd Lisa Vidal, who plays the President’s wife Christina. “He’s the second coming to this alien nation, this super human nation and there is something at stake. That’s why he is on the run. He’s like the alien Jesus.”
“That just feels right,” quipped Ritter.
For more on The Event: NBC execs say it won’t be a repeat of FlashForward
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Longtime Hollywood publicist shot to death in Beverly Hills - Los Angeles Times
Local HOME Breaking Crime L.A. News Apps Weather Traffic Obituaries Community Crosswords Comics LAT Events Local L.A. Now Politics Crime Education O.C. Westside Neighborhoods Environment Obituaries FindLocal U.S. Politics Now Top of the Ticket Science & Environment Obituaries Religion World Afghanistan & Pakistan Africa Asia Europe Iran Iraq Latin America Mexico Under Siege Middle East Business Money & Co. Technology Personal Finance Small Business Company Town Jobs Real Estate Cars Sports Lakers Clippers Dodgers Angels NFL Ducks/Kings USC UCLA Soccer High Schools Scores/Stats Entertainment Movies TV Music Celebrity Arts & Culture Company Town Calendar Envelope Books FindLocal Health Booster Shots Fitness & Nutrition Medicine Mental Health Healthcare Reform Breast Cancer Diabetes Living Home Food Image Books Parenting FindLocal Brand X Magazine Your Scene Cars Travel California Hawaii Mexico Las Vegas Europe Asia Australia Travel & Deal Blog Destinations Opinion Editorials Op-Ed Letters Opinion L.A. More Corrections Readers' Rep Photos Video Blogs Data Desk Comics Puzzles & Games Community Mobile Site Subscribe/Manage Account Print Ads Place an Ad LAT Store Jobs Cars Real Estate Rentals More Classifieds In the News: Lakers-bucks Ronni Chasen plastic bags banned Prince William engaged Earmarks Longtime Hollywood publicist shot to death in Beverly Hills Ronni Chasen, who had represented a host of producers, directors and composers for four decades, was found in her car, shot five times. Shocked friends remember a hard-working, caring person whose clients were family. 1 2 next | single page
From left, Jeff Sanderson, Freida Pinto, Ronni Chasen and Dev Patel attend the Fox Searchlight Pictures Golden Globe party at Craft in Los Angeles. Police are searching for suspects in Chasen's slaying. (Timothy Norris / Getty Images) Share Related 
Text Size la-me-ronni-chasen-20101117 The premiere party for the movie "Burlesque" was just the sort of glitzy Hollywood affair that Ronni Chasen, a veteran movie publicist, loved, and as she had for four decades, she worked the room with relish. As celebrities, including Jane Fonda and the film's stars Cher and Christina Aguilera, mingled around a rooftop pool, Chasen moved among the revelers with a songwriter whose work she was promoting."She was happy-go-lucky and gossipy and fun, just like she always was," said Jim Dobson, a publicist who crossed paths with Chasen around midnight.
Less than an hour and a half later, Chasen was dead, gunned down in her Mercedes in an assault that baffled police and made a woman who spent her career touting others, the talk of Hollywood. When word of the slaying broke, some studios canceled meetings and conference calls that had been scheduled to strategize their Oscar campaigns — Chasen's specialty. One publicist set up a reward fund and others closed their offices for the day.
"I'm devastated by this," said Academy Award-winning producer Richard Zanuck, who had worked with Chasen since 1982 and had talked to her earlier in the day about the awards season campaign for his movie "Alice in Wonderland."
Detectives with the Beverly Hills Police Department spent Tuesday trying to piece together the final minutes of Chasen's life and discern a motive for the killing of a 64-year-old single woman who, according to friends, had no enemies.
"She was not a drinker. She never did drugs…. She had solid, really nice people as clients who became sort of her family," said New York publicist Kathie Berlin, a friend of 45 years.
Chasen attended the movie premiere and after party with client Diane Warren, who wrote the song "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" for the "Burlesque" soundtrack. Sometime after midnight, she steered her new E350 sedan away from the W Hotel in Hollywood, apparently en route to her Westwood condominium. At 12:28 a.m., residents of Whittier Drive, a quiet, tree-lined street often used as a cut through between Sunset and Wilshire boulevards, heard gunshots.
Nahid Shekarchian, 33, said she was in her house on Whittier when she heard gunshots — "boom-boom-boom" — and opened the curtain of her upstairs bedroom to see a Mercedes crashed into a light pole. Shekarchian rushed to the car and peered through the shattered passenger's side window. She said she saw Chasen in the driver's seat bleeding profusely from her head and chest.
Another neighbor, she said, walked to the window and asked, "Can I help you?" Shekarchian said Chasen was breathing "very heavily" and did not respond.
Chasen was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center at 1:30 a.m., according to the Los Angeles County coroner's office. Coroner's spokesman Ed Winter said she sustained multiple gunshot wounds to her chest.
Shekarchian told police she didn't see anyone else in the vicinity. She said officers told her that the perpetrator might have been on foot.
Beverly Hills police fanned out across the Westside on Tuesday in search of clues. Officers were seen removing computer hard drives, compact discs and file boxes from her luxury high-rise apartment. Investigators also searched her company, Chasen & Co., in West Hollywood. Police declined to say whether any of Chasen's belongings were missing from the vehicle.
Beverly Hills Police Sgt. Lincoln Hoshino said the investigation remained open. Detectives were pursuing a range of possible scenarios, including one in which the perpetrator followed Chasen home from the hotel and another in which she was the victim of road rage.
"We don't know what the motive is," Hoshino said. "This is a fresh, active investigation."
Asked whether officers were reviewing video surveillance from businesses or the many mansions Chasen would have passed on her drive along Sunset, Hoshino said, "The department will conduct a thorough investigation and that will be part of it."
Investigators were questioning Chasen's friends and associates, many of whom had seen and talked to her in the hours before her death. Vivian Mayer-Siskind, a close friend for many years, said Chasen's employees told her that Chasen had called the office from her cellphone at 12:22 a.m. — six minutes before she was shot — leaving a to-do list for the following day on an answering machine.
"That was typical of Ronni," said Mayer-Siskind, referring to what she described as her tireless work ethic.
After hearing about Chasen's death from industry friends, Mayer-Siskind drove to the Beverly Hills police station to learn more. She later went to Chasen's office, where four staffers worked, to help write an obituary. By then, she said, the office was swarming with police, who were poring through Chasen's phone records, listening to her messages, going through her computer and taking photographs.
Chasen, born in 1946 in New York, started in the entertainment industry as a soap opera actress, Mayer-Siskind said. She began working for the publicity firm Rogers & Cowan in 1980 and later was a top publicist for MGM. She was best known for her awards season campaigns. She worked on campaigns for more than 100 movies, including last year's Best Picture Oscar winner, "The Hurt Locker," as well as "Cocoon," "Baby Boom," "On Golden Pond" and the 1989 Best Picture winner "Driving Miss Daisy."
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Facebook I am shocked and saddened to hear about the passing of Ronni Chasen. While attending UCLA in the early '90s, Ronni hired me as an intern to work alongside her at MGM studios. I then stayed on as a part-time staffer (I was still in college) when she opened up her own public relations' firm, Chasen & Company. Ronni quickly took me under her wing—picking me up in Westwood in her beloved vintage Mercedes before heading to the office, taking me to lunch at Neiman's, and introducing me to the film industry. Ronni was all about relationships—she spent hours on the phone each day with clients, colleagues, and media, and had a passion for her work that I had never seen before. On my 21st birthday, she surprised me with an introduction to Johnny Depp, a story I continue to tell to this day. To say that Ronni was in the business of public relations would be a misnomer. She helped people find the best in themselves and then share it with the world. There will never be another Ronni Chasen, and she will be missed. With gratitude to all she gave me, Colleen Holland (Co-founder, VegNews Magazine)
farflungempire at 7:46 PM November 16, 2010
Updates, details, analysis, names, addresses, see:
Homicide: Ronni Sue Chasen
http://kidpaparazzo.com
jackie2850 at 7:29 PM November 16, 2010If the killer was walking/standing it seems unlikely they would be able to hit her with 5 shots. They must have been driving on her right side, and stayed with her long enough to get off 5 rapid shots that went through her passenger window. That would also explain why she turned on a street to the left. Then, that leaves the question of a random or premeditated act...
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