Links: Cicely Tyson, Daniel Radcliffe, and "I Know Where I've Been"

• THR Cicely Tyson is still winning at age 95. This time it's the Peabody Lifetime Achievement Award. In the past seven years she's received a competitive Tony Award, a Kennedy Center Honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, an an Honorary Oscar. Talent + longevity is an unbeatable combination!
• Variety fine actress Keke Palmer (Hustlers) writes a guest column on the current moment and what it asks of us
• The Guardian We were not prepared for "chainsaw accident" and "Cate Blanchett" to be in the same headline. Thankfully she's fine.

more after the jump including Daniel Radcliffe's outreach to fans who are angry with JK Rowling...

Click to read more ...

Dead Men Share No Links

Top o the monday morning to you.

• NPR there's a new Marlene Dietrich exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery in DC so check it out if you're passing through or live there. They say it's "dazzling"
• /Film John G Avildsen (RIP). The director of cultural phenomenons Rocky and the Karate Kid has passed away at 81. He'll always be remembered for those two pictures but we have to also thank him for trash cult fav A Night in Heaven as well as launching the career of Susan Sarandon in Joe (1970)
• THR Comedy Actress roundtable with Emmy Rossum, America Ferrera, Minnie Driver, Kathryn Hahn, Issa Rae, and Pamela Adlon

More after the jump including controversy in Oscar's animation branch, Patti Lupone, Captain Underpants, Lambda Awards, etcetera...

Click to read more ...

Living in a Post-Credit World

By Spencer Coile 

Elizabeth Debicki as Ayesha in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

I work part-time at my local movie theater. Yes, it is as glamorous as it sounds. Working there has been pretty eye-opening, leading me to witness the best and worst of humanity (he said dramatically). Lately, though, as I am cleaning the theaters, I've become privy to an ever increasing trend: the post-credit scene. Between Kong: Skull Island, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (one of them features Elizabeth Debicki's Ayesha, pictured above) to even a fifteen-second long trailer to the third installment of the latest entry into the Grey world after Fifty Shades Darker, audiences have come to expect something once the credits begin to roll...

Click to read more ...

What are you up to this weekend?

This Memorial Day Weekend isn't on fire at the movies. Nobody much cares about Baywatch (which is neither exciting like an action movie or funny like a comedy, but can still be amply defined as an "action comedy") and a new Pirates of the Caribbean is getting only the usual flock of lemming moviegoers for an established franchise and no one else. This is, by a very wide margin, the worst opening for a Pirates sequels. Elsewhere in sequel land the news isn't much better. Alien Covenant is the least popular Alien film yet if you adjust for inflation (and dont count those Predator crossovers because why would you?). Will Wonder Woman turn things around next week for audience interest or is counterprogramming that Big Hollywood rarely does anymore what they actually needed to do this very summer?

In limited release, slightly better news. Two unconventional romcoms are performing pretty well: Israel's 'wedding without a groom' film The Wedding Plan and the unfaithful ole marrieds of The Lovers are still expanding to decent business.

Weekend Box Office (May 26-28)
W I D E	L I M I T E D
1.🔺 PIRATES (5) $62.1  NEW	1. 🔺 THE LOVERS $665K (cum. $1.3) (443 screens)  REVIEW
2. GUARDIANS (2) $19.8  (cum. $333.2) REVIEW	2. LOWRIDERS $539K (cum. $5.1) (334 screens)
3.🔺 BAYWATCH $18.1 NEW (cum. $22.7)	3. NORMAN $503k (cum. $3.0) (324 screens)
4. ALIEN (6)  $10.5 (cum. $57.3)  REVIEW | FRANCHISE	4.🔺 PARIS CAN WAIT $456k (cum. $860k) (70 screens)
5. EVERYTHING EVERYTHING $6.1 (cum. $21.5) REVIEW	5.🔺 THE WEDDING PLAN $311k (cum. $595K | 91 screens)
🔺 = new or added screens numbers from box office mojo

What did you see this weekend? 

Visual Effects & Makeup, the April Foolish Oscar Predix

In looking over the options for this year's visual effects and makeup and hair contenders, one thing is certain: we'll be drowning in sequels come Oscar time. Or at least come 'bake-offs' time when the these two branches whittle down the competition with screenings of clip reels of the work in question.

Some umbrella questions to consider...

Click to read more ...