by tyler | May 25, 2023 | CNN, entertainment
She’s just a Barbie girl living in… the real world?
The new trailer for the Greta Gerwig-directed “Barbie” movie released on Thursday gives the first full look at Barbie (Margot Robbie) and Ken (Ryan Gosling) leaving Barbie Land to explore the “real world,” and we’re going to go ahead and say that today is “the best day ever!”
That is, until Barbie is seen having a full on existential crisis.
“Some things have been happening that might be related,” Barbie says to her pals, adding that she’s experienced a “cold shower” and falling off her roof, instead of her usual float.
That’s not even the worst part.
“And my heels… are on the ground,” Barbie says to her Barbie friends, who shriek and gasp at the sight of Barbie’s flat feet. It’s pandemonium, and it’s hilarious.
As Barbie tries to solve this problem, her first stop is to see Kate McKinnon’s “Weird Barbie,” who tells Barbie that she has to go to the “real world.”
“You can go back to your regular life or you can know the truth about the universe,” Weird Barbie says, as she lets Barbie choose the path of the pink pump, or the path of the human Birkenstock sandal.
And so, Barbie’s journey with Ken through the real world begins. “Barbie in the real world? That’s impossible,” a human named Gloria, played by America Ferrera, says.
Clips of Barbie’s flat-footed journey out in the world are shown as Cass Elliots’ “Make Your Own Kind of Music” plays in the background. We see Barbie get arrested, Ken attempting to perform an appendectomy on a human and Barbie running away from the villainous Mattel CEO played by Will Farrell, who is desperate to put her “back in a box.”
It was also announced on Thursday the artists who are featured on the movie’s soundtrack include Dua Lipa, Lizzo, Haim, Tame Impala, Nicki Minaj and one of the movie’s stars, Ryan Gosling – whose musical number did not appear to be featured in the trailer. Producer and DJ Mark Ronson is the Executive Music Producer for the soundtrack.
The “Barbie” movie will hit theaters on July 21.
by tyler | May 25, 2023 | CNN, entertainment
Arnold Schwarzenegger makes the natural progression from movie star to California governor to Netflix series with “Fubar,” which is basically a father-daughter version of his 1994 James Cameron movie “True Lies.” Marking the star’s series debut, it’s a slim idea stretched over eight parts (and possibly more), and with apologies to its military acronym, feels fouled up in mostly recognizable ways.
Here, father and daughter have both been concealing secret lives, a la “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” before being forced to team up by the CIA. Schwarzenegger’s Luke Brunner is actually on the verge of retirement when he discovers his daughter Emma (“Top Gun: Maverick’s” Monica Barbaro) was recruited years earlier, prompting him to delay his plans to pursue a quieter life and win back his ex and her mother (Fabiana Udenio), after years of lying took a toll on their relationship.
Emma is rather awkwardly walking a mile in in dad’s shoes on that front, dating the nerdy and clueless Carter (Jay Baruchel), who seems to ground her, although there is the little matter of all those bad boys with whom she interacts in her secret day job.
Executive produced by Nick Santora (“Reacher”) and Schwarzenegger, among others, the series takes advantage of Schwarzenegger’s inherent likability and gift for dropping sly one-liners while engaging in acts of violence (see “Commando”). Barbaro more than holds her own as an arresting super-spy – at least, when she isn’t squabbling with dad.
Still, there’s a nagging been-there quality to almost every beat of the show, not helped by the jokey nature of the banter among members of their crack team, which includes his office-bound wingman (Milan Carter), who Emma grew up calling Uncle Barry.
In a way, streaming has become the logical stop for marquee movie stars once they reach a certain age, as evidenced by the Taylor Sheridan-produced dramas spawned by “Yellowstone,” a stable that has attracted fellow tough-guys emeritus Sam Elliott, Harrison Ford and Sylvester Stallone. Schwarzenegger is such a good fit for attention-hungry Netflix that the service has also commissioned a docuseries about him, “Arnold,” which will premiere in June.
The existence of that second project, however, merely underscores the sense that “Fubar” isn’t bad as much as it’s just plain tired – an eight-hour “You might like” button for anyone who has recently consumed a movie from the star’s heyday.
Notably, a CBS reboot of “True Lies” was just canceled, though the combination of Schwarzenegger and similar material in the less ratings-pressurized confines of streaming should be more hospitable. With its cliffhanging episodes, this show gamely tries to pull viewers along, but the highlights primarily tend to come in its smaller moments, courtesy of Schwarzenegger and Barbaro, rather than the otherwise-generic plot.
As the title suggests, “Fubar” doesn’t take itself too seriously; still, if Schwarzenegger had to “be back,” to quote a certain relentless cyborg, it’s easy to wish the encore had come in something bit more inspired than this.
“Fubar” premieres May 25 on Netflix.
by tyler | May 25, 2023 | CNN, entertainment
Beyoncé is paying tribute to the late Tina Turner.
“My beloved queen, I love you endlessly,” Beyoncé wrote in a message on her website. “I’m so grateful for your inspiration, and all the ways you have paved the way.”
“You are strength and resilience,” she continued. “You are the epitome of power and passion. We are all so fortunate to have witnessed your kindness and beautiful spirit that will forever remain. Thank you for all you have done.”
Her message featured a photo of the pair holding hands and bowing at the 2008 Grammy Awards, where they performed Turner’s hit “Proud Mary” together.
Beyoncé had two Tinas in her life.
Tina Knowles, Beyoncé’s mother, posted video on Instagram on Wednesday of her daughter meeting up with her musical inspiration Turner to rehearse for that Grammys performance. Knowles wrote in the caption, “I remember this day like it was yesterday. It was the day that Beyoncé was to rehearse with Tina Turner for the Grammys.”
“We were both so excited and when she arrived and we were told that she was in the other (room) we all witnessed Beyoncé, turning into a five-year-old actually skipping across the floor to embrace her,” Knowles wrote. “I was the biggest fan and had my own story of when I met Tina in 1980. Beyonce always talked about the two Tinas that she loved and admired.”
Turner died Wednesday after a long illness in her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, Switzerland. She was 83.
Beyoncé was outspoken about how Turner had paved the way for her.
In 2005 at the Kennedy Center Honors, the younger singer took to the stage to honor the elder.
“Every now and then when I think of inspiration, I think of the two Tinas in my iife: that’s my mother Tina, and of course the amazing Tina Turner,” Beyoncé said. “I’ll never forget the first time I saw you perform. I never in my life saw a woman so powerful, so fearless, so fabulous. And those legs!”
Bey then got the audience to stand in honor of Turner before she launched into an energetic performance of “Proud Mary.” Turner laughed, smiled and grooved along with Beyoncé.
In her remembrance this week, Knowles wrote that Turner was “lovely” and “bigger than life” at the Kennedy Center Honors, but said the 50th Annual Grammys duet with her daughter three years later “was different.”
“She actually got to perform side-by-side with Tina Turner!,” Knowles wrote in the caption. ‘They had so much laughter those days and it is one of Beyonce’s best memories.”
“It was so powerful…I felt like a little kid,” Beyoncé said of the rehearsal with Turner for the Grammys at the time, during an interview on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” “Basically I told her how much she means to me and this is literally a dream for me.”
Knowles remembered that moment as Turner at her finest: full of life and giving the audience her all at the then spry age of 68.
“The world is a less better place without this legendary, gorgeous resilient woman,” Knowles said in her message.
“When I need to get my super strength together and know that I can overcome anything, I think of Tina Turner who started over in her mid 40’s and became the biggest super star,” Knowles wrote. “It always gives me hope that it’s not about the age it’s about the person. Today I celebrate this amazing, beautiful, resilient queen she will be sadly missed. She was ‘Simply The Best.’”
by tyler | May 25, 2023 | CNN, entertainment
An autopsy report by the LA County Medical Examiner states Stephen “tWitch” Boss, the amiable DJ for “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and dancer who rose to fame on “So You Think You Can Dance,” died by suicide in December without other causes.
He was 40.
No other conditions were listed in the report.
His death was met with shock because of the sunny disposition he displayed both on air and online.
At the time of his death, his wife, fellow dancer Allison Holker Boss, released a statement to CNN.
“It is with the heaviest of hearts that I have to share my husband Stephen has left us,” Holker Boss said in the statement. “Stephen lit up every room he stepped into. He valued family, friends and community above all else and leading with love and light was everything to him. He was the backbone of our family, the best husband and father, and an inspiration to his fans.”
Earlier this month, People magazine published an interview with her in which she said, “It’s been really hard because I can’t understand what was happening in that moment [he died].”
“Stephen brought so much joy to this world, and he deserves to be remembered as the beautiful man he was,” Holker Boss said.
by tyler | May 24, 2023 | CNN, entertainment
Not every acting experience has been great for Melissa McCarthy.
The “Bridesmaids” star tells The Guardian that the environment on one unnamed project was so bad, she was inspired to start her own production company with her husband, Ben Falcone.
“I did work for someone once who ran such a volatile, hostile set that it made me physically ill,” McCarthy said, adding, “My eyes were swelling up, I was absorbing all of this nuttiness.”
She declined to name the production she was working on.
“There were people weeping, visibly so upset by this one person,” she continued. “And I think that’s why the manipulation worked, because to get to me, this person would fire people I loved, which kept me quiet. It was very effective.”
McCarthy and Falcone now do a “crazy check” when they hire employees and strive to cultivate a healthy environment.
“You know, we were so astounded and grateful at getting to build our own little worlds, we were like, ‘We have to build the one we’ve always talked about, where everybody gets to have an opinion and everyone is really nice,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy stars in “The Little Mermaid,” which hits theaters May 26.
by tyler | May 24, 2023 | CNN, entertainment
A federal court in Central Islip, New York sentenced William Junior Maxwell II, also known as rapper Fetty Wap, to six years’ imprisonment and five years of post-release supervision for conspiracy to distribute cocaine on Wednesday, according to a news release from the US Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York.
The release stated that Maxwell was a “member of an organization that distributed more than 100 kilograms of cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, and crack cocaine across Long Island and New Jersey.”
Maxwell’s legal representative declined to comment.
The rapper was indicted and arrested in October 2021, along with five others, on drug trafficking conspiracy charges, and was subsequently released on $500,000 bail.
The “Wake Up” artist was taken back into custody in August 2022 after prosecutors said he violated the terms of his bail by threatening to kill someone and holding a gun during a FaceTime call in December.
Later that month, Maxell pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to possess and distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine, CNN confirmed at the time via the prosecutor’s office.
The US Attorney’s office’s news release on Wednesday said that according to court filings, Maxwell and the co-defendants distributed the narcotics between June 2019 and June 2020.
Prosecutors also outlined the scheme, stating in the release that the defendants obtained the narcotics on the West Coast and transported them using the United States Postal Service, and drivers with “hidden vehicle compartments,” across the country to Suffolk County for distribution.
It is also noted that five of the defendants used firearms “to protect their drug organization and distribution chain,” and that Maxwell was a “kilogram-level redistributor for the trafficking organization.”
