Last week I asked you which Emmy nominee deserved a bigger movie career, and I decided that you answered Julie Bowen, because I want to like you. (P.S. Congrats to the madly talented Ms. Bowen on her win!) Now I'm asking a related, but opposite question: Which movie actress's new TV show has the best shot of survival? We rank the five most promising nominees after the jump. Please tell me where I go wrong.
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The "Circle of Life" remains unturned as The Lion King (in 3D) topped Moneyball to win the weekend receipt war for a second week in a row. Brad Pitt has nothing to be ashamed of, though, as his passion project notched the highest opening weekend for any baseball movie ever. In fact, a couple of big records were set this weekend. After the jump, we'll count down the biggest earners and lament the plight of Taylor Lautner.
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I apologize to married titans Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, who also share birthdays on September 25, but Will Smith turns the big 4-3 today, and I'm already jiving to the Wild, Wild West theme with my best Carlton dance. You can't not celebrate his birth. What's your favorite Will Smith moment on the big screen?
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In celebration of Brad Pitt's box office triumph in Moneyball, I say we formalize Tyler Durden's age-old battle of great hair with doppelganger Robert Redford. Join us as we pit the Spy Game duo's five most comparable hairstyles against each other -- and settle this winsome war once and for all.
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What did I tell you last week, Contagion? Enjoy your box office reign while you can, because Moneyball is destined to conquer. Lo and behold, viewers flocked to hear Brad Pitt's sabermetric-al wisdom, putting the movie at the top of the heap for Friday's tally. But is The Lion King (in 3D) shaping up to win its second weekend in a row? Check out Friday's numbers after the jump.
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I keep listening to club diva Luciana's new single, "I'm Still Hot" to make sure my ears aren't deceiving me -- yes, that is featured performer Betty White squeaking, "I'm still hot!" and "I left my Emmys in my beatbox!" and "I will get you sweaty because I'm the big Betty!" over the pounding thumps. Dear lord. At she didn't namedrop You Again. Listen to the 89-year-old legend croon like Ke$ha after the jump.
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All right, this week is done. How did that go for you, masked Nic Cage? [Stony silence] Yeah, I relate. So let's get to the Week in Review, where we can inventory the sidesplitting happenings for posterity. Box office results to come in the days ahead -- stay tuned, and we'll see you then!
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In this weekend's Killer Elite, Robert De Niro plays a special ops vet whose kidnapping sends his former partner Jason Statham out of retirement and into ass-kicking mode. So how did a New York City high school drop-out transform himself into one of our greatest living actors, who, 40-odd years after his film debut, earns applause in second-rate action thrillers for merely appearing onscreen?
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I notice something suspicious about the two genres in which Taylor Lautner has made a name for himself: He's wrong for both of them. As an actor, he's too stilted for leading romantic roles (a la Eclipse, or even Valentine's Day), and he's too unassuming for leading action roles (as in the new Abduction, where he narrowly avoids poking himself in the eye). Quite the conundrum. Even if his shirt-losing prowess is second to none, is it possible that Mr. Lautner hasn't yet discovered the subgenres best suited to his skills? I say yes! Here, Movieline looks into three new arenas for the budding thespian, who undoubtedly does not want to be known as the junior edition of the oversold Sam Worthington.
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Perhaps you recall Daniel Kraus, the author and filmmaker behind the WORK Series -- a quartet of documentaries that includes the underrecognized masterpiece Musician and continues Sunday with the world premiere of Preacher. Kraus sends word that this entry in his franchise of vocational voyeurism will the last for the foreseeable future, so do yourself a favor and tune in to the Documentary Channel at 8 p.m. You can check out the trailer here, too; I promise it runs laps around Machine Gun Preacher. [Documentary Channel]
Haters gonna hate, but really. Come on. Tell me this new poster for Adam Sandler's twin-sibling comedy Jack and Jill isn't coaxing you into the pillowy bosom of anticipation. Tell me its nuanced, dulcet comic strains don't seductively sing from the page -- that you do not tumble under the influence of Sandler's masculine grimace and toothy distaff gape, or that those hormonal pangs stirring within are attributable to anything besides the provocative tagline. Tell me your pen doesn't slip through quivering, perspiring fingers as it notes that singular release date on every calendar in the house, or that when those calendars have expired at year's end, the vacant wall space left behind will not be stuffed with the engorged genius of Sandler's marketing muscle. Go ahead. I'm waiting.
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"A year ago we took a trip to Sequoia National Park. I wanted to excite my daughter while being in such amazing surroundings. Being the Star Wars geek that I am (so is she), I told her that this is where the Ewoks live. [...] Maybe I'm a little wrong for lying to her and falsifying the pictures, but I don't care. She'll never forget the time she spent in the big woods with Ewoks." George Lucas would no doubt be appalled. [Wired via BuzzFeed]
It's here! And... it stinks. In fact, the Taylor Lautner action "thriller" Abduction was rocking that all-too-rare, Bucky Larson-esque 0-percent Rotten Tomatoes ranking ("Its Tomato score got abducted!", a witty reader advised me last night) Thursday night before a couple so-and-so's from a recklessly forgiving enterprise called "Urban Cinefile" give it a thumbs-up. But there remains plenty of bile to drizzle over your breakfast -- and the likes of Roger Ebert haven't even chimed in yet. In Movieline's grand, Friday-morning tradition, let's have a taste!
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You've got to hand it to the gang at Dreamworks -- they are really trying to promote the hell out of their $80 million robot boxing movie Real Steel. Earlier this week, the studio stuck the film's star Hugh Jackman into a WWE Raw ring in front of 15,000 wrestling fans who, it's safe to say, were not too familiar with the work of the Tony Award-winning Australian. A strained, scripted and shameless six minutes worth-of Real Steel-shilling ensued. Today, meanwhile, mega-scale shows of Real Steel marketing continue -- at LAX
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Happy Friday! Also in today's edition of The Broadsheet: Tyra Banks really wants a Modelland movie... Casey Affleck might be an angel... A Toronto darling faces an American remake... Spend your Halloween with The Thing... and more.
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