You may not know his name, but anyone who watches movies and television knows the squat, tough-faced character actor Charles Durning, who died on Christmas Eve, according to his family.
The 89-year-old decorated World War II veteran had an award-winning career that spanned 20th Century entertainment, from the burlesque stage and theater to television and film, playing roles as diverse as society itself.
Durning was the gruff father smitten by Dustin Hoffman's female impersonation of "Tootsie," the Southern politician dancing on stage with George Clooney's Soggy Bottom Boys in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" and the corrupt cop caught up in the "big con" by Paul Newman and Robert Redford in "The Sting." He won Tony and Golden Globe awards and was nominated for Academy Awards two times as a supporting actor. He also received nine Emmy nominations and was honored in 2007 with a lifetime achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild.
He was always good in everything he did, but I really enjoyed him in Tootsie!
Jack Klugman, best known as messy sports writer Oscar Madison in TV's "The Odd Couple," died Monday at his California home, his son Adam said. He was 90. Klugman, who won two Emmys for his role in the early 1970s sitcom, also starred in "Quincy, M.E." as medical examiner Dr. R. Quincy from 1976 to 1983.
Some of the coolest spaceships ever filmed came from Gerry Anderson, who died today after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease. Anderson did more for space opera on television than almost any other single creator, launching space show after space show from the 1960s to the 1990s. But Anderson is probably best known in the United States for creating Space: 1999, a live-action show about the crew of a Moonbase who must survive after the Moon is thrown out of Earth's orbit.
Space 1999 is still one of my all-time-favorite Sci-Fi shows.
Here is the profanely-entertaining trailer for Heat, with Sandra Bullock...
And here is Identity Theft, with Jason Bateman...
These both look pretty funny, but I do hope that Melissa will also do some other fun comedies, one day, where she gets to play someone who appears to have taken a shower.
Although I enjoy jumping on a trampoline as much as the next guy, I don't think I'd have the nerve to do any of these tricky shenanigans....
Besides the usual "uh...no way" response most of us would have, I'd be afraid that I'd get so comfortable with it, that I might accidentally drop off of a parking structure after drinking and forget that there wasn't a trampoline down below to send me back up.
Ouch!
Also, someone posted this video on Facebook of Sandra Bullock confronting Chelsea Handler in the shower. It's pretty hilarious (if you want to see a larger version, click here).
Well, it's finally here. The first of the three Hobbit movies opens today. I am planning to see it on Sunday.
Peter Jackson posted a really fun new video blog today that covers final production on the movie and some of the hijinx at the World Premiere in New Zealand.
Also, here is a great behind-the-scenes video on the making of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and all the prep that has gone into it over the past year and leading up to the premiere.
The first trailer for the big-budget-Giant Aliens-vs-Giant Robots film, Pacific Rim, was released yesterday and, so far, it looks like it could be pretty cool.
When I heard of Killer Karoake, I knew instantly that it was something that I would never watch. It contains several signs of the apocalypse:
It's hosted by Steve O from Jackass.
It's Karaoke.
It's Karaoke while being tortured by snakes/spiders and a variety of other nightmare-inducing creatures.
It's kind of like my idea of Hell on Earth.
Of course, my evil friend Jessie sent me a clip of one of the contestants freaking out while trying to sing and reach into various boxes of live snakes and her reaction is much like mine would be...
This foreign prank show really took a chance with the possibility that unknowing participants might have a heart attack.
The producers let regular elevator patrons believe that the elevator they were in was breaking down and, when the lights go out, a freakish girl clutching a creepy doll suddenly appears in the elevator with them when the lights come back on.
Of course, it's very funny when it's not happening to you.