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Vol. 27
No. 04
Pick Hits
At The Movies
The Rhythm Section
Stephanie Patrick (Blake Lively) veers
down a path of self destruction after a tragic plane
crash kills her family. When Stephanie discovers it
wasn't an accident, she soon embarks on a bloody quest
for revenge to punish those responsible. The Rhythm
Section is not a thriller about the hunt for a
terrorist, although that is the path Stephanie takes,
and it’s not a story about revenge, although justice for
her family is her initial motivation. Rather, The Rhythm
Section is the story of Stephanie’s attempt to reclaim
herself.
On DVD
Terminator: Dark Fate
Following the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Sarah Connor (Linda
Hamilton) experiences a terrible, life-changing loss. Years later, Skynet
deploys a powerful new Rev-9 Terminator (Gabriel Luna), deadlier
than any previous model, to hunt down and kill Dani Ramos (Natalia
Reyes), who is key to the new future resistance. Grace (Mackenzie
Davis), an augmented human super soldier, time travels to Mexico to save
Dani and is joined by a battle-hardened Sarah Connor. The three women are led to
a T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) from Sarah's past. His involvement
may prove to be their best hope to save not only themselves, but the future.
The Buzz...
Billie Eilish and Lil Nas X were the twin superheroes of
Grammy Night 2020, with her green hair and his pink cowboy hat as signs of
electric youth. Billie swept the top prizes. It was so poetic to see her accept
the Best New Artist award from Alicia Keys,
since Alicia won Best New Artist the year Billie was born.
If at first you don’t succeed, try again, at least if your name is Alayah.
Though she didn’t get a rose on last week’s episode of The Bachelor,
the beauty queen refused to take no for an answer. She popped right back on
Monday’s episode of the ABC dating show, telling Peter Weber
that he had been manipulated into sending her home. Peter, who was clearly
distraught after sending her home the first time, welcomed Alayah back into the
house with open arms and a rose.
LeBron James is speaking out following the shocking death of
Kobe Bryant. The Los Angeles Lakers superstar took to
Instagram to share a tribute to his friend and fellow NBA icon with a
lengthy message and slideshow of snapshots showing them smiling and laughing
together.
Ellen DeGeneres reflected on NBA star Kobe
Bryant's legacy in an uplifting speech given during Monday's taping of her
talk show. Ellen, who last sat down with Kobe in April 2019, struggled to
hold back tears as she urged audience members and fans of the athlete to savor
every moment of life.
Tom Hiddleston is hitting the gym like a superhero as he prepares
to reprise his titular role as Loki on the upcoming Disney+
series. “Prep is going really well. #Loki,” the 38 year old Marvel star jokingly
wrote in the caption for a video he shared on Instagram. In the clip,
Hiddleston is strapped into a harness, practicing a flying move through the air
before landing on a green cushion with a fall.
Peacock is rounding out the cast of its upcoming Saved by
the Bell reboot. Mitchell Hoog has been cast as Mac
Morris, son of Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), who lead the original
1989 series. Mac is described as “the handsome, charming, privileged son” of
California governor Zack Morris. Zack has grown up to join the state government,
and has now gotten himself “into hot water for closing too many low income high
schools and proposes they send the affected students to the highest performing
schools in the state, including Bayside High,” according to Peacock’s
description.
Paramount Pictures is looking to revamp its Transformers
franchise in a big way, with two simultaneous scripts now in active development.
Paramount’s most recent take on the franchise was 2018’s Bumblebee, which
was produced on a smaller budget than other Transformers films. That different
approach went over well with both critics and audiences, grossing $465 million
worldwide and opening up a new opportunity to continue the franchise, with the
studio now expanding the Transformers universe.
Christian Rivers has signed on to direct Into Thin
Air, a feature drama that explores the unsolved mystery behind the
disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
Amazon Studios has bought Uncle Frank, an acclaimed
drama about a closeted gay man forced to come out to his Southern family in the
1970s. The film debuted this weekend at the Sundance Film
Festival.
Andy Samberg’s Palm Springs has just broken the record for
the biggest sale in the history of the Sundance film festival by $0.69. A
joint announcement from Hulu and indie distributor Neon confirmed
the existential comedy was purchased for $17,500,000.69 in a sale brokered by
UTA Independent Film Group, which exceeds the record
set by The Birth of a Nation in 2016, sold for $17.5 million.
CBS has given a pilot green light to The Equalizer, a
reimagining of the classic series with Queen Latifah starring and
executive producing. The project, which had a big pilot production commitment
had been considered a shoo-in for a pickup.
Ray Romano is returning to his sitcom roots: The actor will guest
star on the Season 4 premiere of One Day at a Time,
reuniting him with Everybody Loves Raymond executive
producer Mike Royce.
Awkwafina’s incredible run of success continues, as the numbers for the
debut of her new Comedy Central show make for more than pleasant
reading. Episode 1 of Awkwafina is Nora from Queens has amassed 818,000
total viewers after three days of delayed viewing. |
