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.
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