The secret is out. The world knows about Olivia and Fitz. And Scandal viewers are now left with one question as a result: Now what?!? Also: how much more can Olivia take? As Fitz notes in this teaser for Scandal Season 5 Episode 4 , our favorite Gladiator is taking quite the beating… and it doesn't appear as if it will be letting up any time soon. Ready for a bloody battle? Ready for a new series of twists, turns and shocks? Check out the official ABC teaser for “Dog-Whistle Politics” now and be sure to watch Scandal online any time you need to catch up
President Obama has sort of thrown his support behind Kanye West. With the rapper seemingly serious about a Presidential run in 2020 , the current Commander-in-Chief gave a speech at a fundraiser in San Francisco during which Kanye was set to perform. “A little bit later you’re going to hear from a guy who I hear has been talking about launching a potential political career,” said Obama, joking: “You may have heard about this. Kanye is thinking about running for Speaker of the House.” Obama went on to refer to President West as “Peezy” and then offered the following advice: First: “You gotta spend a lot of time dealing with strange characters who behave as if they are on a reality TV show.” And second: “Saying that you have a beautiful, dark, twisted, fantasy, that’s what’s known as off-message in politics.” HA! We love it. Kim Kardashian posted part of this speech on her Instagram page and now we're left to wonder: Will Obama really stump for Kanye in four years?
No these 23 celebrities aren't dead, though you probably thought they were. From teen heart-throbs to Academy Award Winners, these stars just haven't been doing much lately. Check out our slideshow below to find out who they are! 1. Pauly Shore Remember this guy? It’s been a while since we’ve seen Pauly Shore, and even longer since the comedien has starred in anything remotely well-known. Okay, maybe that’s an overstatement for Encino Man, Son-in-Law, and Bio-Dome, but you get the idea. 2. Amanda Bynes Seriously, what the heck happened to Amanda Bynes? She hasn’t appeared on any screen since 2010. She announced that she was retiring from acting back in 2012. She’s been dealing with some pretty serious personal problems for a while. 3. David Schwimmer Nothing can compare to David Schwimmer’s role as Ross on Friends, but we’re pretty bummed he hasn’t done much since then. He is, however, set to appear on a new series in 2016. 4. Alexis Bledel The Gilmore Girls star resurfaced for a reunion this summer, but otherwise, it seems like Alexis Bledel has been pretty dormant. She did make a few appearances as a not-so-Rory-like character on Mad Men, but we hoped she’d do so much more after Gilmore Girls ended. 5. Bridget Fonda Bridget Fonda has disappeared, but she’s still very much alive. The actress, known for her roles in The Godfather Part III, Single White Female, and Jackie Brown, hasn’t appeared on our screens in over 10 years. 6. Dave Chappelle Where have you been, Dave Chappelle? Though he returned to stand-up a couple of years ago, he seems to have fallen offf the map ever since he left Chappelle’s Show. View Slideshow
It’s nearly Thanksgiving, and here at Skin Central we are spankful for the hearty helping of nudes this week on DVD and Blu-ray. Kicking things off is the eye opening first season of Game of Thrones now available in collector’s edition. You can revisit Emilia Clarke’ s burning hot nude scenes in the Anatomy Award winning show, plus the lusty lesbo antics of Esme Bianco and Sahara Knite in glorious high-def. Winter won’t be the only thing coming! Also releasing is Tarantino XX : an 8-Film Collection from the lauded director featuring such classics as Patricia Arquette ’s patties in True Romance (1993) and Bridget Fonda ’s buns in Jackie Brown (1997). That’ll put some grind in your grindhouse! Finally, there is the Kris Kristofferson epic, Heaven’s Gate (1980), featuring the heaving hoots and hairpie of the incomparable Isabelle Huppert . See pics after the jump!
If Quentin Tarantino ‘s demonstrative hand gestures don’t distract you too much, here’s an interesting clip in which the Django Unchained director discusses the influence that crime novelist Elmore Leonard had on his formative years as a screenwriter and filmmaker, as well as his appreciation of actress Pam Grier. Rolling Stone posted this exclusive video , which is part of the bonus material included in Tarantino XX , a 10-disc Blu-Ray box set that collects the eight movies from the first 20 years of his career: Reservoir Dogs , True Romance, Pulp Fiction , Jackie Brown , both Kill Bill films, Death Proof and Inglourious Basterds . In what appears to be a Film Independent Q&A on Tarantino’s 1997 film Jackie Brown , which was adapted from a Leonard novel, the filmmaker explains that he used to read the writer’s books and “adapt them into movies in my mind,” asking himself: “How would I turn this into a movie?” He adds that engaging in that mental exercise, “years before I could ever afford to make a movie, really..helped me with my structure.” There’s also a curious moment at the end of the clip where Tarantino talks about wanting “to be Josef von Sternberg” to Pam Grier’s “Dietrich.” While I appreciate Tarantino’s appreciation of Grier’s talent, I think that line says more about him than her. Von Sternberg made the little known Marlene Dietrich a star when he cast her in The Blue Angel and then worked with her for five more films. Grier was hardly an unknown when Tarantino began working with her. Thanks to her roles in Coffy and Foxy Brown , Grier was already a cult icon. Tarantino merely reminded us of that. He also didn’t exactly make her a star. [ Rolling Stone ] Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
This week’s Low(brow) choice may have been a box-office-record-smashing mass-appeal hit, but it’s also a genre classic that sneaks a healthy dollop of wit and even subtlety into its comic-book storyline. On the High side: two swoony love stories from a modern master . With movies this good, labeling almost seems beside the point. HIGH: Wong Kar-Wai Blu-Ray Double Feature: Fallen Angels and Happy Together (Kino Lorber; $49.95 Blu-Ray) WHO’S RESPONSIBLE: Both films: Written and directed by Wong Kar-Wai. Casts: Leon Lai, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Karen Mok ( Angels ); Tony Leung and Leslie Cheung ( Happy ). WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: Fallen Angels tells a tale originally designed to be part of Wong’s Chungking Express , about a lovesick hit man (Lai), a mute guy with a talent for breaking and entering (Kaneshiro) and a girl named Blondie (Mok). Although, as with most films by this auteur, what happens to these characters is less important than how they’re lit and what music they listen to. In the ironically-titled gay romance Happy Together , Lai (Leung) and Ho (Cheung) travel from Hong Kong to Argentina in an attempt to repair their thoroughly dysfunctional relationship. It doesn’t help. (The Tony Leung Chiu-Wai of this film starred in John Woo’s Hard-Boiled and Wong’s In the Mood for Love , and is not to be confused with Tony Leung Ka-fai from The Lover .) WHY IT’S SCHMANCY: Wong and his frequent collaborator, cinematographer Christopher Doyle, create heartbreaking visual tone poems that are unique among contemporary movies. These aren’t the kinds of films where you ask “What’s it about?” or “What happens?” Instead, you have to let them take you where they want — on their terms and at their own pace. But if you’re patient enough, Wong will guide you into his characters’ hearts and heads, and the rewards are immeasurable. In this context, a glance, a pop song or even a color can speak volumes. WHY YOU NEED TO BUY IT (AGAIN): Not every director’s work makes a big leap in going from regular DVD to hi-res Blu-Ray, but Doyle is one of the great visual artists in film right now, and the crisper you can see his amazing images, the better. (All the more reason to get psyched about the upcoming In the Mood for Love Blu-Ray coming next month from The Criterion Collection.) This double-feature collection doesn’t skimp on the extras, either: Angels offers three behind-the-scenes featurettes and an interview with Dolan. Happy Together includes a making-of doc ( Buenos Aires Zero Degree ) and a 2008 conversation with Wong from the Museum of the Moving Image. LOW: The Avengers (Walt Disney Home Entertainment; $29.99 DVD, $39.99 Two-Disc Blu-Ray Combo, $49.99 Four-Disc Blu-Ray Combo) WHO’S RESPONSIBLE: Written and directed by Joss Whedon, from a story by Whedon and Zak Penn, based on the comic book by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby; starring Robert Downey, Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Clark Gregg. WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: Oh, like you don’t know: Loki (Tom Hiddleston) finally gets his hands on the Cosmic Cube that’s been bouncing through most of the previous Marvel superhero movies, and it takes the combined might of Iron Man (Downey), the Hulk (Ruffalo), Thor (Hemsworth), Captain America (Evans), Black Widow (Johansson) and Hawkeye (Renner) to save the planet from alien invasion. WHY IT’S FUN: Whedon gets the appeal of superhero comic books in the same way that Raiders of the Lost Ark demonstrated Lucas and Spielberg’s instinctual understanding of what made old-school adventure serials so fun. (For all the successes of the Spider-Man movies, for instance, you’d never know that the comic-book character was a one-liner-spouting sarcasm machine.) While Whedon never underplays the high stakes of the plot, he lets these characters be funny, bitchy and untrusting of each other before they bond through their shared adventures. It’s an epic, breathtaking pop thrill ride that doesn’t spare the smarts or the endorphins. WHY YOU SHOULD BUY IT: Seeing as how it’s one of the most successful movies ever made, The Avengers comes to home video in a number of different incarnations, including a four-disc set that includes a 3D Blu-Ray option. The extras themselves are plentiful, if not earth-shaking, and include a Whedon commentary, star-packed making-of shorts, a look at the visual effects, deleted scenes, a gag reel and a Soundgarden music video. And if you’re springing for the 3D set, you’ll get Item 47 , the first of a promised series of Avengers-related short films. Alonso Duralde has written about film for The Wrap , Salon and MSNBC.com. He also co-hosts the Linoleum Knife podcast and regularly appears on What The Flick?! (The Young Turks Network) . He is a senior programmer for the Outfest Film Festival in Los Angeles and a pre-screener for the Sundance Film Festival. He also the author of two books: Have Yourself A Movie Little Christmas (Limelight Editions) and 101 Must-See Movies for Gay Men (Advocate Books). Follow Alonso Duralde on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
They’re both behemoth British authors, but that does not necessarily translate into desire to pick up the other’s books for a read. On the eve of J.K. Rowling’s first post- Harry Potter series roll-out The Casual Vacancy , the mega-selling author of the fantasy series, which spawned a mega-multiple movie franchise said she hasn’t read fellow author E.L. James’ 50 Shades of Grey and probably won’t. The paperback version of 50 Shades managed to surpass the Harry Potter series as the fastest seller of all-time, though naturally the two literary blockbusters target different audiences. Rowling certainly hasn’t done bad with Potter , with an estimated net worth of $1 billion. “I haven’t [read 50 Shades of Grey ], have you?” Rowling told an interviewer from The Guardian , adding, “Well, if I’m truthful, it’s because I promised by editor I wouldn’t.” She quickly added that she was joking, but her editor did say, “Well, don’t read it,” she said. Asked further if she thought she was “missing out” on something, Rowling said, “Not wildly, no,” but added, “It could be amazing, but no I haven’t read it.” Rowling’s latest, however, moves into the adult-themed world that E.L. James’ wildly popular books have dominated of late. The Casual Vacancy reportedly takes on prostitution, drug use and class, according to The Guardian. “The worst that can happen is that everyone says, ‘That’s shockingly bad,’ she said about the pending novel. The Casual Vacancy will be available beginning September 27th. And as has been the focus of attention throughout the recent Summer, 50 Shades of Grey , of course, will now be heading to the big screen and speculation has been a constant over who will play the two leads. The debate and media attention may bode well for the forthcoming film version, though compared to the $2.3 billion Harry Potter franchise juggernaut, 50 Shades will have quite a hill to climb. The Casual Vacancy plot as described by the publisher’s parent company, Little, Brown Book Group: “When Barry Fairbrother dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war. Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?” [ Sources: The Guardian , Wikipedia , Box Office Mojo , via The Insider ]
Speculation and excitement have been building among Quentin Tarantino fans for the Christmas-day release (in N. America) of Django Unchained , starring Leonardo DiCaprio , Samuel L. Jackson , Jonah Hill , Christoph Waltz and Kerry Washington . But for those Tarantino fans just jonesing for a Tarantino fix ahead of that roll out, Lionsgate and Miramax are teaming up on a massive Quentin Tarantino Blu-ray disc boxed set. There may be a bit of sticker-shock for some, but the $119.99 list price includes eight film in addition to two bonus discs with five hours of extras, according to Home Media magazine. The box set includes titles Reservoir Dogs , True Romance , Pulp Fiction , Jackie Brown , Kill Bill Vol. 1 , Kill Bill Vol. 2 , Death Proof and Inglourious Basterds . Critics; perspectives on the filmmaker’s films and a feature containing interviews with stars and other filmmakers dubbed “20 Years of Filmmaking” highlight the bonus material. [ Source: Home Media ]
Debo’s gotta pay while Wells Fargo is straight chillin’. Tommy Lister took a plea bargain after the IRS and FBI investigated into the fraudulent mortgage schemes he’d been doing. Tommy “Tiny” Lister, a character actor who has appeared in nearly 100 movies including “Jackie Brown” and “Beverly Hills Cop II,” has agreed to plead guilty to a mortgage fraud scheme that cost banks $3.8 million. The 54-year-old actor entered the plea agreement Friday, the same day prosecutors charged him with conspiring from 2005 to 2007 to buy homes he could not afford and to withdraw more than $1.1 million cash in home-equity loans that were not repaid. Prosecutors accused Lister and five other people — a real estate agent, a mortgage loan officer, a bank manager, an escrow officer and an accountant — of using falsified records to help Lister unlawfully acquire four homes for $5.7 million. Lister, who lives in Chatsworth, defaulted on the loans. Banks later sold them at a loss of more than $2.6 million, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a news release. Lister was also accused of sumbitting falsified W-2 forms and a fake pay stub in his application for the home equity lines of credit. He agreed to plead guilty in federal court in Los Angeles to conspiracy to commit mortgage fraud, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. He has not yet entered a plea. We’re not saying he isn’t guilty as charged but it’s a shame that Freddie, Fannie, and all these other mofo’s can get away with thievery like this and we just bail them out. Source Images via WENN
Yasiin Bey, aka Mos Def , has been tapped to star in the upcoming Jackie Brown prequel Switch alongside actor John Hawkes. According to Variety , the outspoken “rapter” will star as the younger version of Ordell Robbie, originally played by Samuel L. Jackson . Set 15 years before the events in “Jackie Brown,” the story follows career criminals Ordell and Louis as they team up to kidnap Mickey Dawson, the wife of a corrupt Detroit real estate developer. Mos has proven to be one of hip-hops better actors, this season appearing on the series “Dexter” and having roles in The Italian Job , 16 Blocks and more under his belt. [ SOURCE ] RELATED POSTS: Mos Def Remixes “N*ggas In Paris” For The 99 Percent Mos Def Rehearses With Brooklyn Philharmonic [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO]
