Monday, August 15, 2016 at 7:45AM Another scorcher today so take it easy if you can. Here are three moments of celebrity chill to inspire you if you're stressed about the week: Naomi Watts drinking Watts Rose, waterfall gorgeousity with Luca Calvani, and a staring contest with Chris Hemsworth.
Sunday, August 14, 2016 at 10:28PM Tim here. You can't deny that Sausage Party does what it promises. It's a not-quite-parody and not-quite-satire of the Pixar-style premise of a secret world where inanimate objects have an elaborate culture unseen by humans. In this case, it's the life of a supermarket with Seth Rogen as the voice of a heroic hot dog and Kristen Wiig as the hot dog bun he loves. To this, add in a bunch of curse words and outlandishly filthy sex talk, and you've got a solid 70% of the movie. It's not mine to say whether this is good or bad: there's no point in telling people that what they're laughing at isn't funny, and Sausage Party's audience undoubtedly knows itself.
That audience would be anybody who has loved writers Rogen & Evan Goldberg's previous forays into sex-obsessed philosophy hiding in a thick cloud of pot smoke: Superbad, The Interview, or especially This Is the End, the duo's film that Sausage Party most closely resembles. The 30% that's not cartoon characters saying raunchy things is an extension of that film's agnostic theological commentary, and not even a necessarily bad one. [More...]
Sunday, August 14, 2016 at 3:00PM This weekend while Suicide Squad suffered one of the biggest superhero second weekend dropoffs ever and Pete's Dragon had one of the mildest starts for a Disney remake, Sausage Party was breaking box office ground for adult animation. The high concept comedy had the biggest opening ever for animated film meant for grown-ups, passing 2007's violent Beowulf (apologies for reminding you of its existence).
While Party is unlikely to repeat the animation for grownups Oscar nomination breakthrough that Anomalisa achieved last year, this strong box office opening shows that medium doesn't need to appeal to the kiddies to be commercially viable. The most popular toons often become so partly because they are equally embraced by adults - we love animation just as much, so the rarity of one aimed squarely at us remains perplexing. Sausage Party is on track to surpass South Park - Bigger, Longer, and Uncut's business, so maybe we'll at least get more bawdy animated comedies if not the type of character dramas that Anomalisa was trying to deliver.
TOP TEN
01 Suicide Squad $43.7M (cum $222.9M) Review
02 Sausage Party $33.6M NEW
03 Pete's Dragon $21.5M NEW Review
04 Jason Bourne $13.6M (cum $126.8M) Review
05 Bad Moms $11.4M (cum $71.4M)
06 The Secret Lives of Pets $8.8M (cum $335.9M)
07 Star Trek Beyond $6.8M (cum $139.7M) Review
08 Florence Foster Jenkins $6.6M NEW Review
09 Nine Lives $3.5M (cum $13.5M)
10 Lights Out $3.2M (cum $61.1M)
Limited releases were mostly quiet this weekend, with the biggest winner being the well-reviewed Texas crime drama Hell or High Water. Led by Jeff Bridges, Chris Pine, and Ben Foster, the film grossed $592,000 at 32 theatres for the weekend's per screen average of almost $19K.
What did you see this weekend??
Sunday, August 14, 2016 at 12:40PM Kieran, here. It was recently announced that Alicia Silverstone and Mena Suvari will headline TV Land’s new comedy pilot “American Women”. The project, produced by John Wells (“Shameless”) is set in the 1970s against the tumultuous and backdrop of the sexual revolution. Silverstone and Suvari will play best friends navigating marriage, divorce and motherhood.
Alicia Silverstone and Mena Suvari’s careers have sort of mirrored each other’s, which makes the almost the perfect pair of actresses to headline a vehicle. Both came out of the 90s, with charismatic turns in a high profile role that put them on the map (Clueless and American Beauty, respectively). Sadly, neither actress was able to find a film to match the attention and success of their star-making vehicles, though both have continued to work since their breakthroughs (Suvari more so).
Suvari, billed as the true lead of “American Women” especially could do a lot to change the perception of her and truly give her a front-and-center showcase for her talents. Though mileage varies for everyone where all things American Beauty are concerned (who’s MVP? how poorly or not does the film age?) Suvari absolutely nailed her BAFTA-nominated role (seriously. Look it up) as the flinty, deeply insecure suburban teenager, Angela.
And what of TV Land? It’s true that the network hardly conjures thoughts of quality and prestige television. However, the same could have been said just two short years ago about Lifetime before “UnReal”. Word is TV Land has been looking for a project for some time that will change the face of their network in a similar fashion. In this early stage where we know very little, “American Women” seems promising enough. Plus, it’d be great to see these two actresses get an interesting second act to their careers.
Are you excited for “American Women”?
Sunday, August 14, 2016 at 10:30AM Or so says its director. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game) tried to build up hype for his December release starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt:
Every generation has its love story. I feel like this is it.
There are certainly similarities with Titanic. Passengers is about two, well passengers, aboard a spaceship who accidentally wake up from an iduced time suspension, 90 years into a 120 year trip. Everyone else on board is still asleep when they discover that the ship is in danger. They try to save themselves and everyone else while falling in love. Sound familiar?
Lawrence and Pratt are arguably the two biggest movie stars in their age groups, so a commercial hit is expected. But will they capture the zeitgeist like Kate and Leo? Tyldum certainly hopes so. We will find out on December 21.
