True Story

Hi, Hoe!

Johnny Depp, dressed as Jack Sparrow, surprised tourists on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland yesterday...



It looked like he was having fun and the tourists certainly seemed to enjoy it.

Of course, he wasn't there when I did that ride a few years ago....arrrrgh!

Jonathan Demme

Very sad news today...

Jonathan Demme, the Oscar winning director, producer and screenwriter and screenwriter, has died at age 73.

Born in Baldwin, Long Island, Demme has had one of the great filmmaking careers of his era, rising to prominence in the 1980s with his comedy films Melvin and Howard (1980), Swing Shift (1984), Something Wild (1986) and Married to the Mob (1988). He won his Oscar for directing The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and later helmed the acclaimed films Philadelphia (1993) and Rachel Getting Married (2008), along with many seminal documentaries such as the Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense, and Neil Young: Heart of Gold. 

Like more than a few iconic directors Demme cracked into features making exploitation films for Roger Corman, directing such films as Caged Heat, Crazy Mama and Fighting Mad for Corman’s New World Pictures. His first breakthrough was Melvin and Howard, not a box office hit but a film that was critically acclaimed. He established his eclectic, energetic style with Stop Making Sense, followed by the manic Something Wild, the Spalding Gray monologue Swimming to Cambodia and the New York comedy Married to the Mob. 

Demme followed that with The Silence of the Lambs, one of the last films for Orion which was released in February and was the rare film to win all five major categories — Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay for Ted Tally, Best Actor for Anthony Hopkins & Best Actress for Jodie Foster –even though the studio didn’t have a ton of money to spend on a campaign, and horror is almost always overlooked by the Academy. Demme followed with Philadelphia, an early film that focused on the hypocrisy and prejudice surrounding the AIDS crisis, which won the Best Actor Oscar for Tom Hanks, who starred alongside Denzel Washington.

He directed some great films, was highly respected as a director, and beloved for his ability to work so well with actors and creative teams on each of his projects.

He will be missed.

All the Kingsman

The first trailer for Kingsman: The Golden Circle was released today...



It's definitely got a bigger all-star cast (including Colin Firth's character who died in the original), but still looks as crazy fun as the first one.

Exciting!

The movie opens on September 22nd.

Erin Moran

Very sad news over the weekend...

Popular actress Erin Moran, a mainstay on TV from the late '60s to the mid-'80s and best known for her kid-sister role in the sitcom "Happy Days," has died. She was 56.

Moran was cast as Joanie Cunningham, the younger sister of Richie Cunningham, who was played by Ron Howard, a child actor who is now a famed director.The show aired from 1974 to 1984. It was set in 1950s Milwaukee and was a big hit with a catchy theme song and memorable characters such as The Fonz, played by Henry Winkler.

Moran played the same character in the early 1980s in "Joanie Loves Chachi," a short-lived spinoff with her "Happy Days" co-star Scott Baio continuing his role as Chachi Areola. She made regular appearances on the series "Daktari" in the late '60s and "The Love Boat" in the '80s. She made guest appearances on TV shows such as "The Waltons," "My Three Sons" and "Gunsmoke."

She had been the subject of tabloid reports that she and her husband were living in a trailer in Indiana since losing her home to foreclosure in California. While other cast members continued to act or direct, acting work dried up for Moran.

She definitely had a rough time after the 80's and it's sad that she wasn't able to get the help that she needed to turn her life around later in life. I'm sure she did the best she could with what she had available.

She will be remembered and missed.

X-iting!

FOX ordered a new season of 10 more episodes of the The X-Files to air later this year or early next year.

Squeeee!!

Snap shot

A behind-the-scenes effects video for Man of Steel was recently released. In it, they explain how they planned a lot of the complex battle scenes, including the one where Superman has to kill Zod...



It always amazes me how they can film something as simple as two people against a green screen and, after the effects are added, it becomes this vast realistic landscape with amazing visual scope.

Nice work, folks.

Recess is for babies

The trailer for the third season of Netflix's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt was just released...



"Thumbs are for hitchhiking and being Fonzie."

Hilarious.

Can't wait until the new season becomes available on May 19th!

True Story

Eggscellent

I hope you all had a nice Easter Weekend.

It's time

The first trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi was released today...



This looks pretty exciting and, obviously, takes place immediately after The Force Awakens.

Can't. Wait!!

The movie opens on December 15th.

Our only hope

As part of the Star Wars celebration that kicked off today in Orlando, a very special tribute to Carrie Fisher was presented...



I'm not crying....YOU'RE crying.

Smackdown

A new Transformers: The Last Knight trailer was released today....



Even though each of these films seems to be just like the previous one, I do have to give the studio some props....they really do a good job of keeping these movies visually entertaining.

Dialogue and any attempt at telling a story really just get in the way at this point.

A friend from work

The first trailer for Thor: Ragnarok was just released...



That looks Hela awesome!

The movie opens November 3rd.

The Guardian of Forever

That's purty.

Anger Issues

A couple new trailers were released over the weekend. The first is for War for the Planet of the Apes...



It looks as intense as the previous sequels, with even more ape-hating-man-hating-ape action.

This film swings into theaters on July 14th.



We also got a new Mummy trailer....



This was definitely a better trailer than the previous one and gives you a bigger vision of the overall story, which is nice.

She's a very angry Mummy for sure.

We'll see her rage into theaters on June 9th.