by tyler | Sep 28, 2023 | CNN, entertainment
Sharon Osbourne is sharing her experience taking Ozempic.
The diabetes medication has taken off as a weight loss drug and during a recent interview with Piers Morgan, Osbourne described some of the side effects she said she experienced taking Ozempic.
“At first, I mean, you feel nauseous,” Sharon Osbourrne said. “You don’t throw up physically but you’ve got that feeling.”
She said she endured a few weeks “where I felt nauseous the whole time” and said she was also often thirsty, but had no desire to eat.
That lack of desire, she said is “why I keep saying you’ve got to keep this stuff away from younger people because they will go berserk on it and it’s not right.”
Osbourne said she’s lost 42 pounds and didn’t intend to drop that much weight. Noting that you “can’t stay on it forever,” she said it was time for her to stop and “I’ll probably put it all on again soon.”
Osbourne made the appearance on the show with her daughter Kelly, her son Jack and her rocker husband Ozzy Osbourne, who she said has been teasing her by calling her “Nancy Reagan” due to her extreme weight loss (Mrs. Reagan, the former first lady who died in 2016, was thin).
Her daughter Kelly, who added that she personally has issues with food, said she saw her mother’s experience as as positive given that her mother appeared to be more confident.
“Seeing the confidence and seeing how good my mum feels in her body I think it’s totally worth it,” the younger Osbourne said.
by tyler | Sep 28, 2023 | CNN, entertainment
SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher is gearing up to resume negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers next week.
Talks will resume between the actors’ union and studio representatives on Monday, two and a half months after the more than 160,000 members of the guild went on strike and one week after the Writers Guild of America and the AMPTP reached a tentative contract agreement.
“We’re happy WGA came to an agreement but one size doesn’t fit all,” Drescher told CNN on Thursday. “We look forward to resuming talks with the AMPTP.”
SAG-AFTRA negotiators will meet with several executives from AMPTP member companies to work out new television and theatrical contracts, according to the union.
SAG-AFTRA and the WGA have both sought contract changes related to streaming residuals and artificial intelligence. Actors are also asking for better relocation expenses for actors working out of state or country and limited long breaks between television seasons in order to give actors more stability while under contract.
The WGA has voted to authorize its members to return to work following the tentative agreement reached this week.
SAG-AFTRA has been on strike since July 14.
by tyler | Sep 27, 2023 | CNN, entertainment
Bruce Springsteen is following doctor’s orders and taking more time off from touring.
The rocker, 74, released a statement to X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday, in which he said he’s continuing to “recover steadily from peptic ulcer disease over the past few weeks and will continue treatment through the rest of the year on doctor’s advice.”
“With this in mind, and out of an abundance of caution, all remaining 2023 tour dates for Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band will be postponed until 2024,” the statement continued.
Springsteen had previously canceled several shows with the E Street Band last month and earlier this month.
Wednesday’s statement said that those shows, along with the concerts that were to be held during the rest of this year, will have rescheduled dates to be announced next week, “all taking place at their originally scheduled venues.”
“When the new 2024 dates are announced, those unable to attend on the new date who purchased their tickets through official ticketing companies have 30 days to request a refund. All tickets for postponed performances will remain valid for the newly announced dates,” the statement read.
Springsteen ended the announcement with a personal message, writing, “Thanks to all my friends and fans for your good wishes, encouragement, and support. I’m on the mend and can’t wait to see you all next year.”
According to the Cleveland Clinic, peptic ulcer disease “occurs when open sores, or ulcers, form in the stomach or first part of the small intestine. Many cases of peptic ulcer disease develop because a bacterial infection eats away the protective lining of the digestive system.”
by tyler | Sep 8, 2023 | CNN, entertainment
When it comes to horror, there’s really no substitute for atmosphere, and the murky doorways and long dark hallways that come with old European buildings in the 1950s. Enter “The Nun II,” a slick if familiar addition to the very fertile “Conjuring” universe that, by deftly expanding on the 2018 hit, appears destined to become another cinematic habit.
Set four years after the events of the original that introduced demon-fighting nun Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) and the handy Maurice (Jonas Bloquet), much of the action takes place around a French boarding school, where the demon nun Valak (Bonnie Aarons reprises her glowering role) has resurfaced.
The grisly pre-opening-title death of a priest alerts the Vatican that the evil Sister Irene had thwarted has arisen again (evil tends to do that when box-office success demands it), and she reluctantly agrees to the assignment. She’s unexpectedly joined by a headstrong young nun played by “Euphoria” and “Missing’s” Storm Reid, who turns out to be a plucky if somewhat underemployed sidekick.
Directed by Michael Chaves (a veteran of these films with “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It” and “The Curse of La Llorona”) from a screenplay credited to a trio of writers, “The Nun II” doesn’t trifle with the formula, which relies heavily on jump-out-at-you scares, vivid nightmares and spooky spectral visions.
Although the story goes through some late contortions to present Irene a plausible means of fighting back, these movies generally don’t hold together particularly well down the home stretch, when the mayhem begins in earnest. Then again, by that point they don’t really need to, having already delivered the requisite thrills.
Aside from providing steady employment for the Farmiga sisters (with Vera a mainstay of “The Conjuring” series), these movies illustrate both horror’s enduring power relative to other theatrical genres and how expanding the palette in terms of geography and chronology can add a sprinkle of freshness to basic haunted-house constructions, with a story that easily might have featured Vincent Price in decades past.
While the credits contain a small bonus scene, “The Nun II” needn’t remind us that its work might not be done. Because even if the film’s finish closes this chapter, it’s hardly a reach to assume that when dealing with a cog in a money-making machine, this isn’t so much goodbye as merely good night, Irene.
“The Nun II” premieres September 8 in US theaters. It’s rated R.
by tyler | Sep 8, 2023 | CNN, entertainment
Ian McKellen is beloved as Gandalf in the “Lord of the Rings” franchise, but he almost missed out on the role.
In an interview with Variety, the esteemed actor shared that he was not the first choice to play the character.
“I don’t think you’re ever the first choice. I certainly wasn’t the first choice for Gandalf,” McKellen said. “Tony Hopkins turned it down. Sean Connery certainly did. They’re all coming out of the woodwork now, and I hope they feel silly.”
Playing one of Middle Earth’s most famous wizards is just one of many memorable roles for McKellen. He next appears in the forthcoming film “The Critic,” playing Jimmy Erskine, “an acid-tongued theater reviewer who yields a corrosive influence over a struggling actress named Nina Land.”
McKellen is leaning into playing the villain.
“Often the devil has the best tunes and the best lines, and it’s fun to play an outrageous man who clearly has some emotional problems,” he told the publication.
The new movie is set to debut at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Its star believes in the challenging project.
“It was an intriguing script, tending toward melodrama,” McKellen said. “If the audience doesn’t believe in what we’re doing, then they might find some of the action a bit overwrought. It was a tricky balance to strike.”
The 48th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival kicked off Thursday and runs through Sept. 17.
by tyler | Sep 8, 2023 | CNN, entertainment
Actor Danny Masterson was sentenced on Thursday to 30 years to life in prison after he was convicted on two counts of rape earlier this year in a Los Angeles courtroom, according to Deputy D.A. Reinhold Mueller of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office.
Masterson received the maximum “aggregate” penalty for the crimes, Mueller said.
The “That ’70s Show” star, 47, was found guilty in late May on two of three counts of rape, and was taken into custody following the verdict. The jury was deadlocked on the third count.
Following his initial arrest in 2020, Masterson had pleaded not guilty to raping three women at his home in separate incidents between 2001 and 2003.
The sentence on Thursday stems from the second trial in the case, which began on April 24 and went to the jury on May 17. Masterson was represented by defense lawyers Shawn Holley and Philip Cohen. Deputy D.A. Ariel Anson and Deputy D.A. Mueller prosecuted the case.
Holley told reporters outside of the courthouse Thursday that they plan to appeal his rape convictions.
“We are very disappointed in the sentence the judge handed down today,” said Holley, reading from a statement. “Mr. Masterson did not commit the crimes for which he was convicted and we and the appellate lawyers who are the best and the brightest in the country are confident that these convictions will be overturned.”
The first trial began in October 2022, and a mistrial was declared the following month after the jury remained deadlocked, the District Attorney told CNN at the time.
Alison Anderson, the attorney representing two of the three accusers, told CNN in a statement on Thursday following the sentencing that her clients “have displayed tremendous strength and bravery, by coming forward to law enforcement and participating directly in two grueling criminal trials.”
“I applaud their courage for coming forward and participating in this process. My hope is that this sentence will somehow bring them peace and that their bravery will be an example to others,” Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement to CNN. “One of my top priorities is to ensure that Los Angeles will no longer be a hunting ground for Hollywood elite who feel entitled to prey on women.”
Masterson is best known for his role as Steven Hyde on “That ’70s Show,” which aired for eight seasons on Fox from 1998 to 2006, and co-starred Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Laura Prepon, Topher Grace and Wilmer Valderrama.
Kutcher and Masterson also starred in Netflix’s “The Ranch” beginning in 2016, but Netflix and the producers wrote Masterson off the show amid the rape allegations. At the time, Masterson said he was “obviously very disappointed” by the decision in a statement to CNN.
News of the allegations date back to March 2017, when journalist and former Village Voice editor Tony Ortega wrote on his site “The Underground Bunker” that Masterson was being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department.
A previous version of this story stated Masterson was convicted in June. He was convicted on May 31.
