A-Team, The Movie! Coming to theaters in June. Bradley Cooper, Liam Neeson and Jessica Biel will try to revive the mythological 80′ TV show. While the TV A-Team were a bunch of ex Vietnam soldiers turned into escaping convicts, in the movie they are Iraq war veterans. The trailer sure brings back memories.
Will Ferrell made a stop on the Today Show today to promote his latest flick, Land of the Lost. Ferrell has been fulfilling his various promotional duties - the press-related racket that comes with being owned by Universal and even made a stop earlier this week to baptize Conan’s new Late Show, and proclaiming himself honorary 1st guest. Ferrell’s memorable entrance on the show featured him sitting atop a sedan chair while 4 men in loincloths carried him and the chair.
But back to Matt Lauer and his visions of stardom.
Lauer was not on hand to interview Will Ferrell (that would be too gauche), but Meredith Vierra was and true to her ever-inappropriate, stick 2-feet-and-elbow-and-a-car-in-her-mouth ways, she simply talked about Matt Lauer’s cameo with little regard for Will or the film. Whether this was calculated or not, the whole interview was about Matt Lauer.
For those of you egging for a real Will Ferrell interview and what components it should entail, check out this Daily Showclip from 2000.
I happened to catch the newly released soccer flick, “Rudo Y Cursi,” this weekend and while I’m no fan of soccer (much to the chagrin of my husband), I’m usually up for some Gael Bernal Garcia with a twist of Diego Luna. The former more than the latter, but no need to get choosy here.
The movie tells the story of two brothers - Rudo, played by Luna is the brighter and more motivated of the two and is determined to be a soccer star at all costs to himself and his family and then there’s Tato (nicknamed “Cursi”), the more likable of the two, and possibly the more talented, but also the more foolish one. Each of them has their own vice (for Rudo it’s gambling and cocaine; for Cursi it’s women and his short-sighted desire for fame in the form of becoming a singing sensation).
So while the movie is a cliche in its own right: And yet another variation on the theme of what happens when you take 2 neglected hicks and feed them into a world of overnight success and lavish attention on them, there is something deeper that the flick hints at which I think a lot about in my own career - the distinction between passion and talent.
The most successful people are the ones that can objectively (if that’s possible) look inward and package their talents in a way that makes them desirable candidates for the work they pursue. It may not reflect their passion, but it speaks to their ability to know their strengths. While Cursi is drawn to music, soccer is the device that allows him to pursue his passion and what makes him such a tragic figure is that he unabashedly takes for granted the very thing that enables him to follow his passion.
Grade-A actor and resident hunk Ryan Gosling has a new career these days as frontman and pianist for the band, Dead Man’s Bones. His deep, throaty voice lends itself to a brooding crooner style (hence the Leonard Cohen reference) and I’m digging G’s moxie in the video. He’s come a long way from the Micky Mouse Club. Then again, so have Brit and Christina A.
So without further adieu, here’s Ryan belting it out with his break-out single, In the Room Where You Sleep.
Paul Newman lost his battle with Cancer today at the age of 83. He will be sorely missed, especially by the bloggers here at Amaldo.com who loved his films, his salad dressing, and most of all his signature charm. The smoldering smile and kind-hearted giver went hand-in-hand.
What’s wrong with being an equal opportunity offender within the confines of comedy? If you asked me before I saw Tropic Thunder last night I might have answered, “Not much.”
Not the case anymore.
I went to see the much-anticipated Ben Stiller flick after a few months of heightened anticipation. I had read many enticing reviews, including David Ansen’s glowing accolades of Ben Stiller’s comedic rise to genius from his days on the Ben Stiller Show to his fall in The Heartbreak Kid to his present-day redemption.
I like Ben Stiller most of the time. I used to get annoyed with his shtick but ever since Zoolander (which people I either love or hate), I’ve been singing a different tune. It was a silly commentary on the fashion world, models, and the media that exploits every facet of pop culture. It was so over-the-top, it was hard to offend. Unless you’re a self-obsessed, dumb model, that is…Or just an incredibly dim-witted, kind-hearted model like Stiller’s Derek Zoolander.
So given Stiller’s penchant for poking fun at various groups in his work (and most notably “slow” people) and his 2-D labels, it’s not surprising that the President of the AAPD (Association of American People with Disabilities) came out denouncing Stiller’s portrayal of a character playing the part of mentally retarded individual, even going so far as to call out the film as “tasteless” and “offensive from start to finish.”I know what he meant because I, too, cringed every time I saw Stiller stutter in his “Simple Jack” character, wondering how this brand of cruel humor managed to see its way through the DreamWorks editing suite.
And I felt doubly ashamed and irate with Tom Cruise’s cameo as a money-grubbing, fat, and vulgar Hollywood Executive named Len Grossman.
Robert Downey, Jr.’s portrayal of a white man playing a black man was meant to be funny and self-deprecating because it was poking fun at someone who was pretending to be someone he wasn’t. It didn’t involve colors so much as one actor’s self-absorption and what he put himself through to be an artiste. The make-up and phony accent were all part of the gimick.
The joke ended there.
But with Cruise’s Jewish character and Stiller’s mentally disabled character there was no foil. There were stereotypes that were magnified and blown up at the expense of these groups. The joke was entirely on the people that comprise these groups.
I’ve never been fond of the mantra that it’s ok to insult and joke about a group if you’re a member. We all have the responsibility to uphold a degree of ethics and social responsibility in our work and our daily conduct. Besides, the majority of people attending such a mainstream flick aren’t necessarily Jewish nor Special Needs so you’re depicting these groups in an unfavorable light to a broader audience for the sake of what? To fuel the fire of discrimination and spread hate?
It’s quite possible I have a giant rod up my butt and just don’t “get it” but “it” seems like such infantile and low-brow humor that I’m not sure I ever want to get it. It makes me long for the comic brilliance of Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor - men who valued a level of sophistication in their cultural commentaries and knew that the best kind of laugh sometimes came with the price of of a tear in that it held a mirror to our own ignorance and short-comings. And at the end of the day we were better people for having listened to them and chuckled at our own expense - not someone else’s.
Beating all records for opening weekend known to mankind, The Dark Knight stormed into the box office with a fierce vengeance. Closing its 3-day weekend run with a cool $155 million (over $30 million more than its production cost), the film’s producer, Chuck Roven, went on to gush aboutHeath Ledger’s fatal performance as the villainous Joker.
With Oscar buzz all around mounting over Ledger’s portrayal and some going as far as to say, his “method acting” antics put him over the edge (who buys that, really?), no one’s arguing that Ledger’s the real draw in all this movie-going mania frenzy, even with Maggie Gyllenhaal replacing Katie Holmes and Katie giving some bogus excuse as to why her love for Tom Cruise Scientology prevented her from resuming her role in the follow-up sequel.
Last time I checked the Summer movie line-up however, this year has been a doozy as far as decent films in the theatres so maybe we could all use a little reality check here.
According to an article in this week’s Newsweek, Israeli TV is quickly becoming the hottest commodity to hit Hollywood since Ben Stiller did his Derelicte schtick in Zoolander. Not to nuke the fridge here, but with acts like Yael Naim picking up steam in MacAir commercials and shows like HBO’sIn Treatment (B’tipul) managing to muster a modest, but staunchly loyal cult following, it’s not at all surprising that TV and film execs are looking to Israel to provide them with some much needed fresh and original programming. Have you seen NBC’s and ABC’s Summer programming? There’s not one show among the bunch that’s not reality TV.
It’s telling of Israel’s rising popularity and perhaps indicative of its viability as a fixture in the entertainment industry that network TV had followed in the footsteps of HBO and chosen to add and adapt an Israeli show, Mythological X, (about love, nonetheless) to their Fall roster. (To sneak a preview of The Ex-List, click here)Loaded, a FOX-produced show about dot-com millionaires is also slated to air in the Fall.
But aside from the creative, engaging story lines that Israel seems to have the capacity to deliver, why has Hollywood looked to another country to fulfill what seems to be a gaping hole in the U.S. entertainment industry at present? To quote Joshua Alston, “Israeli shows are cheap”:
“In Treatment” premiered new episodes five days a week over nine weeks. “We’re used to doing 12 or 13 episodes per season,” says HBO executive Michael Lombardo. “The cost-effectiveness of the show is what enabled us to take on this huge commitment of 45 episodes.
“The relatively low cost will allow U.S. networks to try out Israeli formats and give them space to find an audience. “In Treatment” premiered to sluggish numbers that would spell trouble for a pricier show. But it built steam by the end of the season, and performed well enough relative to its cost that HBO will launch a second season this fall.
What may be considered “shoestring budgets” by U.S. standards is fueling the passion and stamina of Israel’s entertainment industry and in turn delivering a premium product at a bargain rate. And as long as this translates to the end result being more Gabriel Byrne, then I’m one happy gal.
Talk about having to expand your mental schema around inter-species relationships. In the film Wall-E (adorable Pixar-Disney flick, btw), the film’s title character, a robut named Wall-E, falls in love with Eve, who is another robot that inhabits the form of a a sleek, whitish veneered androgynous (suppository-ish) Apple-looking product. Now Wall-E is a junky, vintage object, but even he even reboots himself each morning with the sound of a Mac starting up, so it’s clear the old chap is a bonafide Apple product (maybe an Apple IIe?). All this Apple love is no coincidence as the film’s computer generated voices were the product of Apple. Did you happen to see the trailers too?
I can’t believe they turned Mama Mia into a movie. And what a cast: Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and more. I got a chance to watch the show a few years ago in Vegas, and though the storyline was as stupid as a musical storyline can be, I enjoyed listening to the to the immortal ABBA songs performed by the cast.
But now they turned Mama Mia into a movie. That’s unbelievable!
Another blond Hollywood starlet with ample assets has been possessed by the politician bug, at least virtually. Actress Scarlett Johansson has been exchanging emails with presidential hopeful Barack Obama. The connection? Her twin brother, Hunter, works for the Obama campaign after conveniently leaving his gig as Community Liaison for Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer a few weeks ago.
While all this background might explain how Obama and Scarlett were introduced, it doesn’t quite explain why the Dem candidate is garnering “advice” from the Hollywood hottie or why Scarlett is gushing about Obama’s prompt responsiveness to her emails all over the political site, Politico.
Kinda sheds new light on the whole “Yes we can” linchpin of Barack’s campaign.
Benicio Del Toro plays Che Guevara (The resemblance in the picture is unbelievable,) the Argentine who, together with Fidel led the Cuban uprising that brought Castro in to power, in a new movie. The 4 hours, Spanish speaking film was directed by Steven Soderbergh. The movie may be released in two parts titled “The Argentine” and “Guerrilla.”
“Cuba is less of an issue for me than Che,” said Soderbergh, “I think he’s great movie material is really what it comes down to. He had one of the most fascinating lives I can imagine in the last century.”
“Che” is considered a serious contender for the Palme d’or in the The Cannes film festival.
If you are fascinated by Che’s life like Steven Soderbergh, you might want to check the wonderful Motorcycle Diaries from 2004.
So, we went to see Iron Man on Friday. In Hollywood’s saturated political environment, where “We are to blame for all the bad in this world” George Clooney style, it’s hard to avoid the agenda even in a movie like Iron Man. But other than that, it is a very enjoyable movie; Robert Downey Jr, Jeff Bridges, GwynethPaltrow and Terrence Howard are doing a very good job. So, if you like the genre, you are up for a treat.
Oh, and a very important tip: Stay in the theater for the credits, and wait until the very end!!!! You’ll thank me later.
I want to know.
I want to know if George Clooney’s ass has some sort of a mythical flavor to it. Because, otherwise, I can’t understand why everyone who is someone in showbiz, have their tongue stuck in there for so long.
We all know Hans Christian Andersen’s tale about The Emperor’s New Clothes, and how the crowd realize the emperor is actually naked only after a small child cries out, “But he has nothing on!” Hollywood and the entire entertainment industry is exactly like that Emperor. They wear George Clooney because they were told that it is the most beautiful cloth, and only those who are smart enough can see it. They even compare him to Cary Grant…. But in the end, you know what; someone, maybe a child, or someone else in the crowd will figure it out and will cry: “But they have nothing on!”
No offense Clooney I really don’t hate you, it’s just thet much ado about nothing around you I dislike.
Have a nice weekend.
Before his death, Heath Ledger was working on a new movie called “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” a modern-day fantasy adventure involving a traveling theater company and a magical mirror. We now learn that three major actors have agreed to complete Ledger’s part in the movie. Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law will help the director, the great Terry Gilliam to finish the movie. “Since the format of the story allows for the preservation of his entire performance, at no point will Heath’s work be modified or altered through the use of digital technology, Each of the parts played by Johnny, Colin and Jude is representative of the many aspects of the character that Heath was playing.” said the film’s producers in a statement (Yahoo).
Now that’s a really nice thing to do, that’s how you honor someone, not by digging in their trash, or interviewing their masseuse.
Oscar ratings were dramatically down this year. This despite all the George Clooney pimping, the red dresses, and Sean Penn’s new arm candy. While the writers’ strike is rumored to be the primary culprit of ABC’s bad fortune in a year that was ripe with downer nominees, some fault needs to be shifted to the downright lack of charisma of the show’s host, John Stewart. Considering I had to wait till 10:50 PM before there was one comment that made me chuckle and that it’s all but erased from my memory, it can’t bode well for Stewart’s wittiness. Yeah, yeah, writers’ strike and there were 5 writers that had pitch in to write the telecast this year and they had fast turnaround given time restrictions, but isn’t Stewart a comedian after all? If Tina Fey can pull off of the more memorable SNL episodes to hit the tube in a long time, can’t Stewart work some magic? I always thought Stewart was a little bit of a whiny sissy anyways, but maybe he lacks that bitch is the new black factor after all…
Last night’s Oscars was as predictable and extremely boring (the Coen brothers looked like they really need some sleep.) No real surprises, no dramas. John Stuart may be a nice guy, but he is useless as a host, and the only true comic relief was that slippery something on the floor in front of the podium, that made almost every presenter to almost fall on their asses. Most of the winners, relaxed in their tuxedo and dresses, were almost indifferent in their acceptance speeches. The foreign actors were the only to give a genuine sense of excitement. Maybe the lack of surprises was the reason, maybe the long evening, but I think that the main reason for the dull event is that everybody was so busy being infatuated with George Clooney, that they forgot all about the Oscars. Don’t be surprised if next year, instead of the Academy Awards they’ll just have a St. George Clooney day.
The Oscars air tonight and since I’ve seen at least some of the films nominated, I have more of a vested interest in who wins and who doesn’t. The SAG and Golden Globes are usually somewhat of an indicator as to who will sweep, but as past years have shown, it’s not always a fool-proof litmus test.
But what about the other awards show of late?
Besides the fact that the Spirit (Independent Spirit) awards are the “coolest”- people get to actually show up in birkenstocks/tevas and it takes place along the beach after all in Santa Monica, there are the Razzies aka the “crappiest” (as my nephew would say) films of the year which were handed out just yesterday. At the top of the list was Eddie Murphy for worst actor, supporting actress, and supporting actor for his multiple roles in the flop, Norbit. Perhaps the most telling award was Lindsay Lohan picking up “Word Actress” for her role in I know Who Killed Me which may as well be called, I Know Who/What Killed My Career!
But back to the Oscars because while they might not be the hippest or funniest awards show, they are still the most prestigious for now and the ones that get the most play on national TV. Below is my list of this year’s winners. I’m not clairvoyant or anything, but I’d love to be a betting woman on these since I think I could accumulate some serious dough here…In bold is my pick for winner and with accompanying asterisk is my pick for “who knew” (either about the movie or why this person was nominated).
The question is not who will win an Oscar but if the event will ever take place. If to judge by Hollywood’s outspoken I know how to fix the world wannabe George Clooney, the Oscars will only happen if the Writers Guild of America and TV and film producers will reach an agreement that will end the writers strike, and he offers to help solving this issue: “When the strike happens, it’s not just writers (affected)… Our hope is that all the players will lock themselves in a room and not come out until they finish. We want this to be done. That’s the most important thing.” He told Hollywood.com. Oh come on George, you got your nominees, let go will ya? It reminds me a South Park episode from a couple of years ago, when a cloud of smug, carrying Clooney’s Academy Awards speech, was threatening to destroy society.
Daniel, Javier, don’t lose hope, Michael Clayton is not such a great movie…
And besides, Day- Lewis always wins!
Film star Heath Ledger died today of an alleged drug overdose. The 28-year-old who recently split with his Brokeback Mountain co-star Michelle Williams, with whom he shared a daughter, was found dead in his NYC apartment this afternoon by his maid, naked and unconscious. While sleeping pills are rumored to be the culprit and foul play has not yet been ruled out (but most likely will be), police are awaiting a formal autopsy before they make an official call.
A bizarre twist on all this: The deputy police commissioner originally cited that the apt. Ledger was found in was owned by none other than troubled former tween queen, Mary-Kate Olsen - no stranger to emotional foibles herself. The commissioner later retracted his comment when Olsen’s publicist went on record denying the twin owned the apartment.
Ledger had been cast as The Joker in the upcoming Batman movie and was already filming The Dark Knight with former Brokeback co-star, Jake Gyllenhaal’s, older sister Maggie. No word on how/if this role will be recast.
What’s wrong with being an equal opportunity offender within the confines of comedy? If you asked me before I saw Tropic Thunder last night I might have answered, “Not much.”
I want to know.
Before his death, 
Oscar ratings were 
The Oscars air tonight and since I’ve seen at least some of the films nominated, I have more of a vested interest in who wins and who doesn’t. The SAG and Golden Globes are usually somewhat of an indicator as to who will sweep, but as past years have shown, it’s not always a fool-proof litmus test.
The question is not 
