The 2008 holiday hit Marley & Me might not seem like an ideal candidate for a sequel since, uh, you know . But there it is, just sitting in my inbox: “Hear Marley Speak for the First Time in MARLEY & ME: THE PUPPY YEARS .” And it gets better .
When he’s not giving weather reports, bemoaning the debt crisis , and directing Duran Duran concerts , David Lynch is making music. Oh, and the occasional movie. His latest effort, a 14-track solo album entitled Crazy Clown Time (of course) features “dark” electronic pop songs on which he plays guitar, sings, and produces, with guest vocals by the likes of Karen O; it’ll be available in the U.K. and the U.S. on November 8. [ Deadline ]
When he’s not giving weather reports, bemoaning the debt crisis , and directing Duran Duran concerts , David Lynch is making music. Oh, and the occasional movie. His latest effort, a 14-track solo album entitled Crazy Clown Time (of course) features “dark” electronic pop songs on which he plays guitar, sings, and produces, with guest vocals by the likes of Karen O; it’ll be available in the U.K. and the U.S. on November 8. [ Deadline ]
What do Madonna and Movieline staff editor Louis Virtel have in common? August birthdays, for starters — which brings us to the jumping-off point for the latest episode of Verbal Vogueing . And that’s not all! This jam-packed NSFW edition features everything from #BannedChildrensBooks to the best Tim Gunn impression you’ve heard all day. Next. Level. Click through to check it out.
Hail Caesar! Again! Rise of the Planet of the Apes was the top choice for ticket buyers at the multiplex, becoming only third film this summer to lead the box office for two weekends in a row ( Thor and Transformers: Dark of the Moon were the other two). Outside of the strong runner-up showing for The Help , the frame wasn’t as kind to newcomers: Final Destination 5 disappointed, 30 Minutes or Less lived up to diminished expectations and Glee: The 3D Concert Movie couldn’t even crack the top- ten . Your Weekend Receipts are here.
Renny Harlin ( Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger, 12 Rounds ) is not the first director — or the second or third or heck, the 20th — you’d expect to direct a serious movie about a recent political conflict that resulted in numerous human rights violations, civilian deaths, and tenuous relations between Russia and neighboring Georgia. But that’s just what the genre veteran did in the Aug. 19 pic 5 Days of War , telling The New York Times he “wanted to shift to films that he said would ‘allow me to look at myself in the mirror’ in the morning.” Congrats, Renny! You’re that much closer to making up for Cutthroat Island . [ NYT ]
In 2007, a 19-year-old from Tennessee named Chris Crocker used YouTube to defend a mildly disturbed pop star named Britney Spears. His efforts didn’t quite sway her detractors, but the gargantuan amount of attention he received for yelling, “Leave Britney Alone” proved that YouTube was a startup starmaker — and you only needed a camera and a computer to plug yourself into its intergalactic Jumbotron. Now, a new documentary called Me At the Zoo about the platinum-topped viral phenom needs Kickstarter cash to finish production. Could your investment be worth it?
In his 1998 article about the crash of ValuJet Flight 592 into the Florida Everglades, William Langwiesche explains the concept of the “normal accident.” When 105 people die, the public wants answers — a story to make sense of what happened and determine who is to blame. The piece’s ultimate point is that allowances must be made, particularly in a world with as many working parts as ours, for disasters that are not only unforeseen but unavoidable. Laying out the complicated sequence of events that led to an oxygen tank explosion in the plane’s cargo hold, Langwiesche arrives at the conclusion that it may be more dangerous to take extreme measures to avoid what amounts to a series of benign human oversights combined with circumstance than to accept that the universe will occasionally and very casually line up against you. It’s a beautifully wrought and supremely rational argument whose logic might be a source of comfort if it weren’t so horrifying.
Colton Harris-Moore — a teen who spent two years stealing airplanes, boats and cars, evading authorities, and burglarizing homes — is picking up $1.4 million in restitution money to be paid to his victims from Fox for the rights to his story (though he’ll only collect if Fox exercises its options). Known as the ‘Barefoot Bandit” because he once committed a crime without shoes, the convicted Harris-Moore is in jail awaiting trial for an October sentencing which could land him 10 years in jail. The Oscar-winning scribe Dustin Lance Black was hired to write the picture. May I suggest a title? Barefoot in the Clink ? [ Deadline ]
Back in June, Sony released a controversial teaser poster for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo that featured a topless Rooney Mara and her exposed nipple ring. “I’ve already started to read posts about how hot Rooney [Mara] is with her nipple ring on full display. That’s enough to start my blood boiling,” wrote Women in Hollywood’s Melissa Silverstein in the wonderfully titled post The Pornification of Lisbeth Salander . “Lisbeth [Salander] is not supposed to be hot. That’s one of the reasons why we love her so much.” Responding to the general discontent for the first time, Mara doesn’t necessarily agree.