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Showing posts from June, 2023

Insidious: The Red Door's Ty Simpkins recalls "gross" vomit scene

Insidious star Ty Simpkins has revealed more about a particularly "gross" scene he undertook while filming The Red Door. After first being introduced to his character Dalton Lambert in 2010's Insidious, Simpkins is back for the upcoming fifth instalment, due in cinemas next week. Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy, Simpkins delved into the practical effects behind the eagerly-anticipated horror – including one stomach-churning scene where Dalton is vomited on. "It was very practical. I know there were SpaghettiOs in there and applesauce and I think some cinnamon was like the main concoction, I guess you can call it," he said while describing what went into creating the effects. "They had a hose attached to this dude's cheek and I think we did it three times with the vomit and I have pictures from that day. I was drenched in all this gross stuff, but it was fun. "I was very excited to film that scene and it was the last shot of a day, it was 3am an

Elemental and Spider-Verse both beat Flash at the box office yesterday

DC Films' struggling The Flash came in third at the box office on Wednesday, only its sixth day in theaters, Let’s be clear, up front: Wednesday nights do not decide the fates of giant, massively budgeted blockbuster movies. Nobody looks at the performance of their ginormous superhero movie or mega-expensive rom-com musical and says, “Whew, well, at least we won Wednesday night!” Even so, it’s probably pretty alarming to somebody at Warner Bros. to see that their brand new, very expensive superhero movie The Flash—which has now been in theaters for all of seven whole days—had already slipped to third place at the box office this Wednesday. Per THR, the Ezra Miller-starring superhero film came in behind Elemental (as lesser a performer as studio Pixar has ever put in theaters) and Sony’s Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, which is now moving into its third week in theaters, in terms of single-day receipts. Wednesday or no, that really isn’t something you like to see after spending

Pixar’s ‘Elemental’ Sets Hearts Aflame

“Elemental” is Pixar’s version of a romcom, complete with montages, heartbreak and tear-jerking confessions of love. “Elements cannot mix,” Cinder says in Disney Pixar’s June 16 movie “Elemental.” But in Element City, fire, water, land and air live amongst each other. The bright colors of the city and characters mold viewers’ eyes to the screen for the nearly two-hour-long runtime. Through Ember’s character, director Peter Sohn (“The Good Dinosaur”) demonstrates the struggles of being the first generation child of immigrants. Ember (Leah Lewis) continually faces feelings of guilt for desiring a life outside the one her parents built in their convenience store. This heart-punching commentary adds depth to Ember’s character through emotional vulnerability. Due to fire’s destructive nature, the flaming characters live in the city’s outskirts in their own Fire Town community. Sohn said the town is based on immigrant communities in an interview with NPR. The film opens with Bernie and his p

Raunchy Comedies Try for a Comeback in Theaters

Jennifer Lawrence’s ‘No Hard Feelings’ leads a raft of R-rated theatrical bets as studios look for fare that will stand out to moviegoers: “A difficult thing to do.” The first trailer for Sony’s sex comedy No Hard Feelings, hitting theaters June 23, includes star Jennifer Lawrence consoling an ex by declaring she hasn’t forgotten him: “Last night, I thought, ‘I miss that fucker.’ ” Moviegoers might share similar nostalgia, recalling a not-long-ago era when studio offerings centering on ribald jokes would regularly play theatrically — before going missing.  This summer suggests a possible changing of the tide. As audiences return to cinemas post-pandemic, studios appear to be using the next few months as a testing ground for the theatrical return of the R-rated comedy. No Hard Feelings, about an awkward teen whose parents hire Lawrence’s character to date him, will later have company from Lionsgate’s Joy Ride (July 7), Universal’s Strays (Aug. 18) and MGM’s Bottoms (Aug. 25). Such proje

What went wrong with Elemental—and where does Pixar go from here?

Pixar just had its worst opening ever. We have some ideas about why that happened, Even those who had low expectations for the box office prospects of Elemental’s release were surprised by its disappointing tally of just $29.6 million in ticket sales in the film’s opening weekend. That puts Pixar’s latest offering dead last among all of the studio’s debuts, even Onward, which earned $39 million when it opened just as the pandemic arrived in March 2020. Elemental’s poor performance has us asking the same question that’s likely being pondered right now in executive suites at Pixar and Disney: What went wrong? There’s more than one answer, and those answers may lead to even bigger questions. It might be tempting to attribute Elemental’s failure to lingering pandemic worries about returning to theaters. After all, the weekend’s top film, The Flash, also had a lackluster performance with just $55.7 million in ticket sales (though that title carried an entirely different set of baggage). Whi

After Reunion With Her Mom, Britney Spears Is Now Moving On To Her Sister

Britney Spears has made no bones about trouble she has had with varying family members. She’s blamed her parents and her sister in the past for the part they played in keeping her in a conservatorship. However, in recent months she’s made moves to make amends. First, her mother reached out to her and they reconciled. Now, it seems she has reunited with sister Jamie Lynn Spears as well.  In a new post, Britney Spears was the latest celebrity to rock out in Barbiecore pink. She shared footage of herself doing the activity she probably loves most – dancing of course – while on a boat with her husband Sam Asghari and other pals. While Jamie Lynn doesn’t appear to be a part of the festivities, Ms. Spears did caption the Instagram post with a comment about how she visited her sister on set.  Ms. Spears spending time with her sister is a big deal. Back in May, she reunited with her mom Lynne Spears, though the fans couldn’t help but stir up negativity. She later said Lynne just ‘showed up’ on

Snoop Dogg And Him Vowing To ‘Protect’ Her Eggs Is My New Favorite Thing

Game of Thrones was an unprecedented hit, making Emilia Clarke a star for her role as Daenerys Targaryen. GOT was so popular that the actress is still meeting fans of the show, including some famous supporters. Recently, rapper Snoop Dogg met the actress and expressed his support for her, even vowing to “protect” her eggs in a reference to her “Mother of Dragons” role. The HBO alum could not be more elated to meet the iconic hip hop artist, proving that the love is mutual. Clarke is currently very busy promoting her new MCU Disney+ series Secret Invasion. During a recent interview with eTalk for CTV, she was asked about her time with the 90’s icon, and she was clearly ecstatic to talk about it. She gushed about their meeting, revealing that Snoop vowed to protect her dragon eggs, and they even took an adorable photo together. You can see a TikTok of her reaction below. I love how excited she is, and what an incredible story! The two stars clearly hit it off, and based on his response,

Op-Ed: ‘Elemental’ is Pixar’s Best Love Story Since ‘Up’

Anyone who has lurked about social media this week already knows that Pixar’s Elemental suffered a big blow at the box office. Some are calling it a forced racial allegory, others are claiming it plagiarized Zootopia, and some don’t even know what to make of it. However, this writer can certainly say that it is one of the best emotional experiences to come out of Pixar since Carl met Ellie. While the film is horrifically plagued by misleading marketing, Disney and Pixar fans need to rush to get their tickets because this film hits way differently than ads and artwork would have you believe. Moreover, it’s a movie that will melt nearly every adult viewer in the audience. Pixar Gets Steamy in Elemental After an abysmal opening weekend, Elemental might be starting to pick up steam as far as reviews are concerned. However, people going into the theatre expecting a movie about inequality issues told through the basic elements of earth, fire, water, and air only pick up a small percentage of

Pixar's Elemental Mediocre Box Office. Why That Annoys Me

Pixar's Elemental is struggling at the box office, and that's a problem for a lot of different reasons. It may not be fair, but when the rubber meets the road, the box office take is what matters when a new movie is released. It doesn’t matter what the audiences that go to the movie actually think of it, or what professional critics think. What matters is if enough people spent money to buy tickets, and by that metric, Pixar’s new romance, Elemental, is already looking like a failure.  Elemental's Juneteenth opening weekend brought in less than $30 million, which is a record low for Pixar, at least when adjusting for inflation. It’s an infuriating result to see for a film’s opening weekend, because as I said in my Elemental review, it's actually a great movie in its own right. Its failure likely has little to nothing to do with its quality, and everything to do with business decisions that determined this result long before the movie arrived in theaters. Elemental Is Ev

Rewatching Grey's Anatomy: The Best Starting Points If You Want To Catch Back Up

With more than 400 episodes, here are the ones that kick off some of the show's biggest turning points. Grey’s Anatomy has been beloved by TV fans for the better part of two decades, and when you think back to the MAGIC days of Meredith, Alex, George, Izzie and Cristina, it’s hard to believe how many traumas, romances, medical miracles and natural disasters we’ve witnessed. It’s tempting to want to go back and rewatch all of Grey’s Anatomy’s heart-pumping drama — especially with all 19 seasons readily available to stream with a Netflix subscription — but with 420 episodes so far, that’s a pretty massive undertaking. We’re here to help by giving you the best starting points from all of the best eras of the Shonda Rhimes drama. Now, if those early days of Meredith and McDreamy, 007, and Cristina’s bad-assery are what you’re craving, by all means, hit play on Season 1’s “A Hard Day’s Night” and ride that wave through nearly two decades of episodes. However, if you’re more interested i

‘Elemental’ Box Office Debacle: Pixar Movie Opens to Record-Worst $29.6M

That's the lowest three-day weekend start in the history of the storied animation company when adjusting the opening of 1995's 'Toy Story' for inflation. Pixar’s movie about a rat with ambitions of becoming an acclaimed French chef started off its box office run at a slow simmer when opening to a less-than-flavorable $47 million in summer 2007. Pundits were quick to pronounce Pixar had botched the recipe in a rare miss. But skeptics were proven wrong when Ratatouille began boiling over on its way to earning $623 million at the worldwide box office. For decades, the revered animation studio that was backed by the late Steve Jobs before being bought by Disney could do no wrong, using the most unlikely scraps to turn out perfect stews again and again that became both commercial and critical hits at the box office buffet. That all changed in the past several years, capped by the dismal debut of Elemental over the June 16-18 weekend. The movie, a parable about immigration an

How ‘Elemental’ Breathed Life Into Fire, Water, Earth and Air

The film’s director and production designer encountered challenges and took a few wrong turns as they worked on anthropomorphizing the natural world. A woman made of fire falls for a man made of water. The filmmakers behind the new Disney/Pixar movie “Elemental” knew the story they wanted to tell. They just weren’t sure how the idea was going to work — or look. They encountered plenty of challenges and took a few wrong turns as they worked on this romance-adventure that anthropomorphizes earth, air, fire and water. The film’s director, Peter Sohn, said during an interview in New York that he remembered that when he was a boy, the chart of elements in science class reminded him of apartments. “Like these families of copper living next to helium, but don’t trust them because they’re gassy,” he said. But how do you get from the periodic table to the dinner table? Sohn took that early idea and applied it to the four elements of the natural world, merging the concept with an immigrant story

‘Indiana Jones 5’ Director James Mangold on ‘Pinch-Hitting’ for Spielberg

Before Indiana Jones entered director James Mangold’s life, Harrison Ford told him he was worried Indy was looking too old.  It was the fall of 2019, and Mangold had joined the team working on the film adaptation of “The Call of the Wild,” in which Ford plays a rugged frontiersman, to help with reshoots. In their downtime, Ford began confiding in Mangold about the fifth “Indiana Jones” movie, which had been bouncing around in development for the better part of three years. Steven Spielberg and screenwriter David Koepp had conceived a roughly five-minute opening sequence set during World War II, in which Ford would be digitally de-aged. Ford wasn’t sure it was a good idea. “Harrison told me he was nervous, because he felt like if people saw him younger, when they confronted Indiana in his 70s they’d be disappointed,” Mangold says, sitting on a cream-colored couch inside his sunlit office on the Fox lot in early June. At the time, the filmmaker had no reason to think he was auditioning t

'Indiana Jones' ad echoes throughout MTA subway stations

Subway stations across the city are advertising a new Indiana Jones movie through audible announcements over intercoms, prompting grievances from riders. Around every 10 minutes on Tuesday, a man’s voice loudly echoed across several station platforms proclaiming that “in 10 days, a legend will face his destiny,” as it promoted the upcoming film. An MTA spokesperson told Gothamist that multiple audio announcements and advertisements have already played in subway stations on several occasions over the last two years. The spokesperson also said service messages will remain to take priority and will be heard when needed. This isn’t the first time riders have heard advertising through subway announcements. In 2020, actress and Queens native Awkwafina promoted a new show by being the voice of the Flushing 7 line. Yet, chatter on Twitter showed that some riders are upset with the audio advertising. “I just heard a short ad for the new Indiana Jones movie played over the loudspeakers at my sub

Christopher Nolan, With ‘Oppenheimer,’ Aims To Capture “The Most Dramatic Moment In History”

“Like it or not,” declared Christopher Nolan at CinemaCon in April, “J. Robert Oppenheimer is the most important person who ever lived. He made the world we live in, for better or for worse.” Nolan expands on those ideas in a cover interview for the new issue of Wired, saying that the importance of Oppenheimer and his story is one reasons people should see his film, which releases on July 21. The director calls the film a “wild ride,” a reasonable assessment for a life story intertwined with what he sees as “literally the most dramatic moment in history.” He then repeats for emphasis, “In history.” Asked about AI and newer visions of Armageddon, Nolan tells Wired that he is less worried than most — optimistic, even — calling it a tool that even he, an “old analog fusty filmmaker” would use. “The whole machine learning as applied to deepfake technology, that’s an extraordinary step forward in visual effects and in what you could do with audio,” he said. “There will be wonderful things t

Diamond misses Padres payment; Rights reverting back to team

Diamond Sports Group told the Padres that it would not make its rights fee payment by tonight’s deadline, meaning that the media rights will revert back to the team, sources tell SBJ's John Ourand. MLB will produce the Padres' Wednesday game in Miami, with the same announcers -- who are employed by the team -- and many of the same producers and directors and camera operators, who work as freelancers. A source says MLB will stream the team’s games for free through Sunday. The league also plans to make the games available via outlets like Fubo, DirecTV, Cox and Charter. Station numbers will be released tomorrow. This afternoon, the Diamond board elected not provide funding for the joint venture between the Padres and the San Diego RSN. Bally Sports San Diego is not part of Diamond’s bankruptcy filing because the team has an ownership stake in the RSN. The team, in turn, informed Diamond that it would take its rights back. Diamond filed for bankruptcy protection around two months

Liverpool Forward Devastated Missed Out Next Season Champions League Excuse

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah said he is "devastated" the club have missed out on a spot in next season's Champions League and added "there's absolutely no excuse for this". Salah posted his comments on social media shortly after Liverpool's failure to finish in the top four was confirmed by Manchester United beating Chelsea. Liverpool will finish fifth and play in next season's Europa League "We let you [fans] and ourselves down," said Egypt international Salah, 30. Liverpool won seven of their past eight games in a late push for fourth place but, ultimately, could not make up for their inconsistent form for much of the season before that run. United only needed a point at home to Chelsea in the penultimate game of their season to confirm their Champions League place and join champions Manchester City, second-placed Arsenal and Newcastle United as England's contingent in Europe's top competition next season. "We had everythi

SHODAN Ethical Removed The Rogue AI Citadel Station Into Cyborgs Named Jeffrey Hammer

Sometime before SHODAN’s ethical constraints were removed and the rogue AI set about converting the people of Citadel Station into cyborgs, a researcher named Stacy Everson found a smoking gun hidden among the blinking servers of the spaceship’s library. Not an assault rifle or mini-pistol, but a decades-old email chain between her TriOptimum bosses and a psychologist named Jeffrey Hammer.  In the early stages of Citadel’s construction, Hammer suggested that each level of the station be designed in such a way as to induce stress and anxiety, so that experts could study their impact on the human psyche during space travel. “I always knew something was off about this place!”, wrote Stacy to a colleague. “We are just rats in a maze.” What Hammer calls stress and anxiety, I would call System Shock's tension and atmosphere. And while I’d dispute Stacy’s characterisation of Citadel’s residents as rodents, I can’t deny I’ve spent more than a dozen hours skulking, scurrying between holes i

Luis García Team Valencia 2-2 Draw Final Day off The Mestalla

A 2-2 draw at Valencia ensured Luis García’s team will not be among several sides fighting for survival on the final day, When the end came, Espanyol’s captain pulled his shirt over his face and sobbed, a member of staff taking him gently by the arm and guiding him off the Mestalla pitch and out of the first division.  “We didn’t deserve it to end like this,” Sergi Darder had said, which was just about all he had been able to say; three men needed to compose him and carry him towards the camera where, exposed, his voice cracked and his eyes stung. That and “sorry”, plus a promise to be back he knew was as hard to hear as to express. Then he raised an apologetic hand and, head covered, departed. “When we were closest, it was gone: it was cruel,” said his coach, Luis García. In the 93rd minute of the 37th week of the longest and tightest relegation battle anyone had seen, when someone’s grip finally failed, survival torn from their fingers, it was theirs. “We had fought so hard to have o

Liverpool will finish fifth and play in next season's Europa League

"We let you [fans] and ourselves down," said Egypt international Salah, 30. Liverpool won seven of their past eight games in a late push for fourth place but, ultimately, could not make up for their inconsistent form for much of the season before that run. United only needed a point at home to Chelsea in the penultimate game of their season to confirm their Champions League place and join champions Manchester City, second-placed Arsenal and Newcastle United as England's contingent in Europe's top competition next season. "We had everything we needed to make it to next year's Champions League and we failed," said Salah, who was part of the Liverpool team that won the tournament in 2018-19 and lost last year's final to Real Madrid. "We are Liverpool and qualifying to the competition is the bare minimum. "I am sorry but it's too soon for an uplifting or optimistic post." Liverpool started the campaign off promisingly by beating Manche