Kirk Douglas passed away today, according to his son, Michael Douglas' social media, Variety reports. Michael says his father, "leaves a legacy in film that will endure for generations to come, and a history as a renowned philanthropist who worked to aid the public and bring peace to the planet."
He is best known for his role in Spartacus, which included scenes shot here on the Central Coast at the famous destination of Hearst Castle. He has also won an honorary academy award. Douglas was also a WWII veteran and former Broadway star. But beyond this career, Douglas did lots of philanthropic work. Variety reports that "Douglas and his wife Anne donated millions for the construction of the Kirk Douglas Care Pavilion at the Motion Picture & Television Fund for residents with Alzheimer’s. Funds were also donated to the Anne Douglas Center for Women at the Los Angeles Mission; the Center Theater Group’s Kirk Douglas Theater in Culver City; Sinai Temple in Westwood; and the Kirk Douglas Scholarship fund at Douglas alma mater St. Lawrence U. Survivors include his wife Anne; three sons: actor-producer Michael and producers Joel and Peter; and at least seven grandchildren. His youngest son, Eric, died in July 2004." Disney presents:
Hamilton. With The Original Broadway Cast. Filmed onstage at The Richard Rodgers Theatre. In A Theater Near You. October 15, 2021 That's what the tweets said coming from the official Hamilton and Lin-Manuel Miranda pages. It looks like Disney is taking on the screen adaptation with the original cast. Disney and Miranda are no strangers to working together, including working closely on the lukewarm Marry Poppins Returns film, but also having him help with a song featured in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. According to Variety, Miranda said: “I fell in love with musical storytelling growing up with the legendary Howard Ashman-Alan Menken Disney collaborations — ‘The Little Mermaid,’ ‘Beauty and The Beast,’ ‘Aladdin,'” Miranda said. “I’m so proud of what Tommy Kail has been able to capture in this filmed version of ‘Hamilton’ — a live theatrical experience that feels just as immediate in your local movie theater. We’re excited to partner with Disney to bring the original Broadway company of ‘Hamilton’ to the largest audience possible.” Hamilton debuted on Broadway in 2015 and won numerous accolades, including 11 Tonys and the Pulitzer Prize for drama. The groundbreaking new show premiered recently on CBS All Access streaming service, but they have now made the first episode of the show free for a limited time.
Now watch below the first episode, which was filmed in the heart of the Central Coast in the Santa Ynez Valley at Sunstone Winery. Take a look on YouTube only here! News broke this morning that NBA Superstar and Oscar Award Winner, Kobe Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash today. Cause of the crash is being investigated and the identities of the other passengers are yet to be released. However, multiple news outlets are reporting that Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter Gianna also died in the crash. They were reportedly en route to her basketball practice in Thousand Oaks in Ventura County. His Academy Award winning animated short film, Dear Basketball, had local Central Coast animator, Aidan Terry, work with him on the award winning film. You can read about that article written by Daniel Lahr here in the Santa Ynez Valley Star. Watch the award winning film below.
As I begin to write this, I think of the title for The Gentlemen, and then I think about who are they talking about? The whole cast of characters are bad and we are brought in to root for our anti-hero. They're all murderers and gangsters and that become very apparent in the opening scene. And the pace never lets up to the very end.
That is to say there is a lot of time jumping and some "fantasy sequences" as Hugh Grant's colorful character, Fletcher, is attempting to blackmail our main anti-hero, Matthew McConaughey's Mickey Pearson, as he has discovered the entire underground weed growing empire. Each of the characters, and actors, are unique and different. Collin Farrell's character, known simply as Coach, is a highlight, along with Hugh Grant. The film is filled with plot turns and twists enough to keep you guessing and leaves you with a very satisfying conclusion. This is for sure a dark comedy gangster film that modernizes the genre while still maintaining one foot in nostalgic cinematic premises. I am a fan of writer, director and producer Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes films with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, but this is a movie I feel that he was able to spread his wings and just be himself. He has his unique style of camera work as well as humor all throughout this film. If you're looking for a fun, dark and graphic comedy, this is a movie for you! But it can be a bit much sometimes, and even is borderline gratuitous. Some members of the audience in our theater couldn't stomach the constant blood lust and very graphic language and I saw two separate groups leave and not come back. But for me, it was a very fun ride! Rating: 3/5 Stars A titan of British comedy passed away yesterday. Terry Jones, actor, writer and director and member of the famous Monty Python troop finally lost his battle with dementia after four years, according to the BBC.
Fellow Python, and former Central Coast resident, John Cleese said: "It feels strange that a man of so many talents and such endless enthusiasm, should have faded so gently away..." He added: "Of his many achievements, for me the greatest gift he gave us all was his direction of Life of Brian. Perfection." Well, they're bad and badder than ever. Our (in)famous bad boys from 1995 are back and campier than ever. I sat there thinking they're just trying to say the name of the movie as many times as they could. Bad Boys for Life is an action movie that has the camp you'd expect to find from a 90's action movie. Complete with the constant "getting to old for this s**t" groans, James Bond style secret lab with apparently unlimited budgets and a bad guy twist that you see coming from a mile away.
I had someone ask if you need to see other Bad Boy movies to get what's going on here. Not at all. You don't need any backstory, because most of the movie is going back into their back story. Constantly looking back and not progressing anything. Where progress comes, it comes with groans. There's a death of a very familiar character and our villain is somehow forgiven for all of this because of the "big reveal" at the end. I had flashbacks of the "your mother's name is Martha too?" scene (and for those of you who saw Batman Vs. Superman know what I'm talking about). There's moments of fun action and stunt work, but most of the movie is lost in the sparkling gloss that goes over the entire movie. The humor is hit or miss and that makes it feel just worn out and tired, kind of like our stars (Will Smith and Martin Lawrence). This movie does work as a 90's action popcorn flick, but that was a long time ago and unfortunately, we've moved on. Rating: 2/5 Stars As we broke the news back when the first trailer dropped, we knew we were going to see a bit of the Santa Ynez Valley in the latest Star Trek installation. Now, as the first episode is less than a week away, and streams on January 23rd. Marketing is in full swing for the show and we're starting to get more glimpses of how much the show will feature the Central Coast. In a new feature on the show, we are treated with some additional footage that was shot at the Sunstone Winery Villa, and it appears a good portion of interiors and other part of the property were shot as well. Take a look and see for yourself. We may still be a ways away from having decaf Earl Gray tea made instantly just by asking it, but you can still visit the tasting room located on the property and get a sense of what it's like to really be at Captain Picard's retirement plan in real life. Watch this video below about the real Sunstone Winery and location in Santa Ynez, in the heart of the Central Coast. And watch Star Trek: Picard on the 23rd! What... was... that...?
That's probably what you'd be thinking when (or if) you see this movie. I decided to take the family to go see what appeared to be a fun family movie, and at very least, the kids will like to see the animals run around on the screen. Well that's not true either and they barely were able to stay in the same theater for this movie, but resorted to just jumping around on the chairs of a mostly empty theater. That about sums up the reaction to this movie. With the cast present and the money spent on this movie, there was so much potential! But it crashed hard. I had heard about a questionable scene that is at the end of the movie, which if you want to know, there is a creature with a blockage, and Dr. Dolittle reaches right up and removes the blockage. I mean, Robert Downey Jr., Antonio Banderas, Michael Sheen and Jim Broadbent have decent on-screen presence, but still can't hold this movie up. Big name actors lend their voices to the animals, including Emma Thompson, Tom Holland, Ralph Fines and Selena Gomez, but they're lost completely in this. Emma Thompson's Poly is maybe the only one you can connect with and is the sole voice of reason. Lots of questionable choices, but again I saw the potential of actually doing a proper steam-punk style Dr. Dolittle movie could be fantastic! Honestly, there really should be more in that genre, but this movie is a mess. Is it a kids movie? Is it an adult humor movie? I'm still not sure. It was a hard mess and even had times where my wife and I looked at each other like "what... was... that...?" You'll be scratching your head during and after viewing of this movie, and more than likely it won't even matter to your kids. There's much better stuff out there. Rating: 1/5 Stars "Fox" will be dropped from the studios' name with near immediate effect. Variety reports that Disney will be dropping the "Fox" name of 20th Century Fox, a name in the Hollywood Industry since 1935, to simple "20th Century Studios." Fox Searchlight Pictures is also getting the fox-less rebranding of simply "Searchlight Pictures." Variety goes on to say that "those logos won’t be dramatically altered, just updated. The most notable change is that the word “Fox” has been removed from the logo marks. Otherwise, the signature elements — swirling klieg lights, monolith, triumphal fanfare — will remain the same." No word on what, if any, changes will be made to 20th Century Fox Television and Fox 21 Television Studios names. However changes are already being made internally with e-mail addresses already switching to the new names, and new movies poster's and logos are being upgraded currently.
Variety also learned that Disney and Peter Chernin are ending Chernin Entertainment’s long-standing film production deal with 20th Century Fox. “I have nothing but praise for Disney,” Chernin told Variety. “They were gracious, classy and paved the way for me to continue to build the company however we want.” Chernin Entertainment’s most recent films have been financial disappointments. The Kristen Stewart thriller, and Central Coast local director, William Eubank's “Underwater,” debuted with only $7 million domestic opening weekend, and the animated comedy “Spies in Disguise” has grossed a only $116.7 million to date. Disney’s $71.3 billion purchase of 21st Century Fox in March 2019 included the 20th Century Fox film and TV studios, but not the Fox broadcast network or Fox News. Change to the name was seen as "inevitable" to help close the confusion on the name branding. Variety also notes that "Disney chief Bob Iger saw his compensation for 2019 drop to $47.5 million, a 28% decline from his 2018 pay package." "Disney’s leader earned $3 million in salary and a $21.8 million bonus, plus another $10 million in stock awards and $9.6 million in stock options, Disney disclosed in the company’s annual proxy filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Friday. The $47.5 million total includes the current market value of options and stock awards that won’t be paid out for some time and thus could lose value." |
AuthorDaniel Lahr, Archives
June 2023
Categories
All
|