Trey Songz has already written a song about fear — literally. His track “Don’t Be Scared” soothes a hot chick who’s afraid of her carnal desire for some sweet, sweet loving. Of course, calming a girl into bed is easier than calming a girl while you’re both running from a blood-lusted maniac. But Texas Chainsaw 3D director John Luessenhop knew Trey Songz could handle the challenge when he saw the thrice Grammy-nominated R&B singer float down from the ceiling during the BET Awards and seduce Solange Knowles and the crowd; the next day, Luessenhop called his agent and asked if he could send him the script for the horror sequel — if Songz could control a stage, maybe he could command a screen.
And so Trey Songz (AKA “Mr. Steal Yo Girl” as he calls himself in his club banger “Bottoms Up,” AKA Tremaine ‘Trey Songz’ Neverson) stumbled into his unlikely starring debut in a slasher flick playing the boyfriend of Leatherface’s cousin, a brunette goth named Heather (Alexandra Daddario). Will Songz’ fans still swoon over his six-pack abs when they’re slicked with blood? Maybe — although on YouTube, commenters are threatening to storm out of the theater if he doesn’t survive. (We won’t spoil anything, but, um, have they ever seen a horror movie before?)
Not only is Texas Chainsaw 3D a first for Songz, Songz is a first for the Texas Chainsaw series: Its first MTV fixture-turned-cast member, its first black star, and the first male love interest to cross the color lines. Plus, it’s the first time in film history where someone dies because a Trey Songz jam on the stereo muffles their screams. We ask Songz about breaking ground in Hollywood — and if R. Kelly should follow in his…
Full Story »The best thing about the Die Hard Franchise (aside from the almost-perfect, couch-destroying original of course,) is the fact that when it comes to bad puns, these people have no shame. Die Hard 2: Die Harder; Die Hard With A Vengeance; Live Free or Die Hard. Brilliance. I can’t wait for Live Together Or Die Hard Alone, Live And Let Die Hard, Cowards Die Hard Many Times, and the teen spinoff I Am So Embarrassed I Could Just Die Hard.
[Releated: The Time Joel Silver Destroyed A $5K Couch During The Filming Of 'Die Hard' And WATCH: Bruce Willis Adds Gravitas (And A Little 'Die Hard' Confusion) To 'G.I. Joe: Retaliation' International Trailer]
Anyway, before we get to those inevitable classics, we first must get past the upcoming 5th installment in the never-ending story of cowboy cop John McClane, A Good Day To Die Hard. AGDTDH finds McClane going to Moscow just in time for a gigantic outbreak of terrorist violence, courtesy of an oily Russian who apparently just hates America a lot (boooo!).
Conveniently, McClane’s son happens to be there, and also happens to be an American spy, so naturally the two of them team up to put the kibosh on the terrorist’s plans. The third trailer is out now, and yep, it is explodey.
Yeah, buildings are damaged, wisecracks are made, and Ode To Joy returns as McClane’s theme song. But there’s no hint of yippie-kay-yay in this trailer, and that is in and of itself a miracle. Not as miraculous as the idea that McClane and his son wouldn’t be flattened into bloody wet pancakes when they fall into water like that, but a miracle nonetheless.
A Good Day To Die Hard opens on Valentine’s Day.
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Even as he anticipated the sunset of his filmmaking career recently, Quentin Tarantino is looking ahead to who he’d like to work with, and Johnny Depp tops the list. The Django Unchained director said he’d like Depp to star in a future pic, but will only cement plans once he’s written the perfect part for the Pirates of the Caribbean actor.
[Related: Quentin Tarantino Hints At Retirement And Getting High On 'Django Unchained' and Quentin Tarantino Wants You To Feel The Inhumanity Of Slavery In 'Django Unchained']
Tarantino told talk show host Charlie Rose that it would be “magical” to work with the 49 year-old actor, adding: “We would love to work together. We’ve talked about it for years. Not that we get together and talk about it for years, but from time to time.”
The two appear to have mutually high esteem for the other, according to Tarantino. But the key is finding the right moment.
“We’re obviously fans of each other,” he said according to Contactmusic.com. “I just need to write the right character that I think Johnny would be the right guy to do it with. And if he agrees, then we’ll do it, and then it’ll be magical.” Continuing, Tarantino shared that he hasn’t as of yet, “written the perfect character for Johnny Depp as of yet. Maybe someday I will, maybe someday I won’t. We’ll see.”
Tarantino also said he’d like to work with Meryl Streep and Michael Caine.
The filmmaker recently unveiled plans for a new movie, tentatively titled Killer Crow, which would again center on people rising up against their overlords, forming a trilogy with the current Django Unchained and 2009’s Inglorious Basterds.
[Sources: Contactmusic.com, Mid-Day.com]
It’s a Happy New Year for Hugh Hefner. No, the medical community didn’t introduce a colostomy bag that doubles as a Viagra injector. Crystal Harris‘ trick ass stayed around for their wedding last night! Hef, 86, and his engagement ring-collectin’ ladyslave, 26, tied the knot in a small ceremony at the Playboy Mansion right before Playboy’s annual NYE party. It doubled as their wedding reception, according to TMZ.
Can you blame Hef for going for the twofer on parties? The last time he put a ring on this fickle ho’s finger, she took it, jumped the wall and told everyone how truly disgusting it was having sex with a flaccid mummy on a Hoverround. And then she pawned that ring! Cold-blooded.
He must really need a titslicious bedpan attendant to work the midnight to 6 shift be in love to take her back and buy her another bauble. Either that or he has her family imprisoned in the secret dungeon under that grotto. Whatever works, Hef.
These pics are from Crystal’s Twitter and Instagram. Check out the one from the ceremony. Hef has an equally ancient friend standing up for him. It’s very Brothers Grimm, with the wizened warlocks and terrified-beyond-reason village slut being forced into marriage.
We can all agree that 2012 has been an excellent year for the movies, but the more salacious among us will note that it’s been an awesome year to perv out at the movies. Although we didn’t get another look at the Fassmember and all the conflicting feelings it brought up (Hotness! Confusion! Embarrassment at being psyched to see him naked in Shame when actually it’s really f***ing depressing!) there were some rather interesting trends that reared their heads that invite a closer look. Whether studios are getting braver or filmmakers are getting bolder is a debate for another time — and please don’t suggest that 50 Shades had too much to do with it. Let’s salute all the sexin’ that happened onscreen in 2012.
Hair Here, There, and Everywhere
Merkin-makers must have been counting their coins this year because going au naturel was all the rage, although I’m sure that the Brazilian waxers weren’t going hungry either. Neither of the leading ladies in Killer Joe kept their pants on the whole time, which wasn’t too much of a shock given director William Friedkin’s bold career. (Cruising, anyone?) The very first scene puts us — and Emile Hirsch — face to face with Gina Gershon’s lustrous bush* as Gershon throws open the door to the family trailer wearing nothing but a T-shirt.
Juno Temple is probably the most naked, though, as the uncomfortably young and dotty Dottie, who’s given to Killer Joe (the frequently shirtless Matthew McConaughey) as a retainer until her brother and dad can pay him for killing their mother. (Got all that?) I’m not sure if Dottie is psychic and…
Full Story »You can have your Top 10 lists stuffed with cold and corny prestige pics and all those “respectable” “films” headed for Oscar gold, but when I think back on 2012 I remember the movies that wrapped themselves around my heart and brain like a warm blanket made of light and sound and kick-ass jammin’ electric guitars and made me feel excited to be alive, dammit!
(I can also pinpoint with a wistful pang the precise moment when Tyler Perry broke my heart. Still love you, TP.)
These are the films, big and small, ambitious and soulful, heart-rending and bone-crunching, about lovers, fighters, time-travelers, masters, closet-dwellers, hermaphrodite basketball players and friends (forever) that made my year at the movies. Join me in celebrating these magical movie moments and let’s hope 2013 delivers even more awesomeness.
10. Moonrise Kingdom
Look, I’m not a robot. Wes Anderson’s nostalgic dip into childhood love pitched its twee kid romance tent in my heart and has stayed there all through the summer, fall, and winter. “What kind of bird are YOU?”
9. Looper
That perfect song at the end of Rian Johnson’s contemplative pic about selflessness and love disguised as a sci-fi time travel movie kills me every time. Also (SEMI SPOILER) the Rainmaker shot of Garret Dillahunt at the end is one of the most perversely beautiful images I’ve seen all year.
8. The Final Member at Fantastic Fest
Three men share a penis obsession that anchors this deftly executed, wry and surprisingly poignant documentary — but the delicate, deep-fried veal testicle served up mid-movie by the demented folks at Fantastic Fest made for a truly inspired moviegoing experience.…
Though a Paramount release, Flight did not take the trajectory of a typical studio concept plucked from an internal idea bin. Screenwriter John Gatins began working on what would become the feature starring Denzel Washington and directed by Robert Zemekis earlier last decade on his own. While still new to Hollywood, Gatins, who first hit the scene as a writer on sports pics including Summer Catch and Hard Ball, sobered up. He took that experience and his fear of flying, to quietly craft the story that would evolve into Flight.
The film, which debuted at the New York Film Festival in the fall and debuted in theaters in early November has cashed in with nearly $91 million at the domestic box office on a relatively modest budget – at least for Hollywood with a big star – of $31 million. On the Awards Circuit the film has won some attention including a Golden Globe nomination for Denzel Washington for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama and he may well be on the road to a nomination for Best Actor next month when the Oscar nominations are revealed. Gatins has also received some attention including Best Original Screenplay by the Broadcast Film Critics Association and a nomination from the Image Awards.
Flight’s plane crash makes for good imagery in a trailer, but it really serves as a set-up for one man’s personal struggle with addiction and denial, which forms the crux of Flight. Washington plays pilot Whip Whitaker, who successfully guides a plane that experiences a mid-air mishap to the ground, saving nearly everyone on board. He’s hailed for his heroism by the media, but what eventually percolates to the surface during the investigation is missing on-board alcohol and…
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Actor Charles Durning, who starred in the 1982 film Tootsie died on Christmas Eve in New York. His long time agent Judith Moss confirmed his death at 89, BBC reports.
In Tootsie he played the would-be suitor of Dustin Hoffman’s starring character.
Durning received Best Supporting Actor nominations in 1982 and 1984 for roles in To Be or Not to Be and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. He also won a Golden Globe in 1991 for Best Supporting Actor in the mini-series The Kennedys of Massachusetts along with a number of other critical accolades throughout the decades.
In 1982’s The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas starring Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds, he played the corrupt governor.
A veteran of World War II, he began his acting career in the ’60s at the New York Shakespeare Festival, first gaining notoriety in 1973 playing a bad cop in The Sting alongside Robert Redford.
“I never turned down anything and never argued with any producer or director,” he said in 2008.
“Not only was Charlie a World War II hero but he was also a hero to his family,” his stepdaughter, Anita Gregory said in a statement. “Charlie loved Christmas and if he could have chosen a time to pass, he would have chosen this day.”
Durning will be buried in a private ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
[Source: BBC]
If you and the fam headed to the multiplex to watch one of the season’s big new releases this week, chances are you caught Tom Hooper’s epic weepie Les Miserables or Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. (Or maybe the in-laws dragged you to Parental Guidance, in which case, my condolences.) We’ll get spoilery all over Django later, but for now let’s get to hashing out the answer to the question that’s been on every showtune-lover’s mind for months: Which Les Miz cast member totally nailed the live-sung suffering for the big screen (and whose warblings made us les miserables)?
I’ll start: Anne Hathaway? NAILED IT.
I’ll admit I was tres apprehensive at first listen when the trailers featuring her tremulous Fantine cry-singing hit the web. Watching the whole film, however, it’s clear Hathaway and Hugh Jackman are leading a masterclass in sing-acting for the entire Les Miserables cast, and in context the breathy imperfect perfection of Hathaway’s “I Dreamed A Dream” is downright heart-wrenching.
It’s been said before, but the Oscar already belongs to that hitch in her voice that hits as she’s choking on tears while wailing about her miserable prostitute life with Hooper’s camera all up in her face — one of the only performances in the film riveting and emotional enough to sustain those damned extended close-ups.
Runner-up for best performance in Les Miserables goes to Jackman, who wows in Jean Valjean’s pre-bath scenes with a filthy, feral energy that I honestly didn’t think he had in him. Pacing back and forth in the bishop’s chapel during “What Have I Done?” Jackman is riveting; you can see Valjean’s confused, broken mind…
Full Story »If you haven’t yet heard of Matthias Schoenaerts, a.k.a. the Belgian Brando, you’re going to start running out of excuses. The son of actor Julien Schoenaerts, Matthias is already a sex-symbol in his native Belgium. He made his on-screen debut alongside his father in the Oscar-nominated Daens and broke Flemish box-office records in Erik Van Looy’s Loft. But he really burst forth onto the world cinema stage last year with his gripping turn as the lead in Michael Roskam’s Academy Award nominated cow-hormone crime-epic Bullhead. Injecting testosterone into his thigh with all the flair of a young Robert De Niro, Schoenaerts tempered his young thug’s animalistic rage with an innate vulnerability that’s earned him comparisons to Ryan Gosling and Tom Hardy.
His reward: getting to star opposite perennial candidate for Most Beautiful Woman Alive Marion Cotillard in Rust and Bone, renowned director Jacques Audiard’s follow up to A Prophet. Audiard’s films — from the smoldering romance in Read My Lips to the frustrated aspirations of The Beat That My Heart Skipped — paint the underworld as an intrinsically human place where criminals can’t help but dream in the face of the harsh world in which they live. So, who better to play Audiard’s latest brute with a heart of gold than Schoenaerts?
And as the end result proves, the two are a match made in heaven. Rust and Bone, which is generating awards buzz, including Golden Globe nominations for Cotillard and the film in the Foreign Language category and populating 2012 best-film lists, charts the unlikely romance between an impoverished beachside bouncer moonlighting as an underground fighter and an orca trainer…
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