Vol. 26
No. 01
Pick Hits
At The Movies
Escape Room
Six adventurous strangers travel to a mysterious
building to experience the escape room, a game where
players compete to solve a series of puzzles to win $1
million. What starts out as seemingly innocent fun soon
turns into a living nightmare as the four men and two
women discover each room is an elaborate trap that's
part of a sadistic game of life or death.
On DVD
Night School
Teddy Walker (Kevin Hart) is a successful salesman whose life
takes an unexpected turn when he accidentally blows up his place of employment.
Forced to attend night school to get his GED, Teddy soon finds himself dealing
with a group of misfit students, his former high school nemesis and a feisty
teacher who doesn't think he's too bright.
The Buzz...
Netflix released the first good news of 2019: the long awaited premiere
date for Stranger Things 3. The streamer took advantage of the New
Year’s Eve timing by dropping the sci-fi series’ Season 3 launch date in a
teaser video, just after the ball dropped. The short clip, broadcast by a local
channel in the fictional Hawkins, Indiana, and sponsored by the Starcourt Mall,
features footage of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve: 1985.
Nicole Kidman made a surprise appearance with her husband Keith
Urban on CNN’s New Year’s Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen
and shared a key bit of intel fans of Big Little Lies have
been eagerly awaiting. Cohen asked her when the second season will debut on
HBO and Kidman replied, “It’s looking like June. I think June.”
Don Lusk, an animator behind Alice in Wonderland,
Peter Pan, and many more classic animated Disney movies,
died Sunday morning, according to a Facebook post by Ed Asner’s
daughter, Navah Paskowitz-Asner. He was 105. Lusk’s 60 year career touched
countless classic works from Disney, where his career began in 1933.
Variety will honor actress Emily Blunt at the Palm
Springs International Film Festival on Friday, Jan.
4 as part of their annual brunch with the festival at the Parker Palm Springs.
The brunch is presented by AT&T.
James Wan's Aquaman more than conquered the Christmas box office
swim meet. The superhero tentpole finished Sunday with a shimmery global total
of $748.8 million, guaranteeing that Aquaman will fly past $900 million by the
end of its run and become the biggest Warner Bros./DC title
since Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises earned
$1.09 billion in 2012.
Avengers: Endgame came out on top in Atom Tickets’ ranking
of the most anticipated 2019 film releases. The survey by the social movie
ticketing app, whose backers include Lionsgate, Disney and Fox,
placed Captain Marvel and Toy Story 4 second and third,
respectively. Endgame, though, finished on top of several lists by “wide
margins,” the company said.
Comedian Louis C.K. has stirred more outrage after taking aim at Parkland
shooting survivors and gender identity concerns in a recent set at a comedy club
on Long Island.