The great Cecily Strong has announced the birth of her baby.
She writes that it was an “easy birth with a glorious epidural that I forgot I’d still have to recover afterward from what feels like was the Muay Thai fighter from White Lotus kicking the crap out of my cooch.”
Mazel tov!
When she feels better, Cecily can go back to the box of wine she always presented as Jeannine Pirro. Still hilarious!
Denzel Washington is going to have an exhausting weekend come May 18th.
After performing in “Othello” on Broadway at the Sunday matinee, he will leave the theater at 6pm and fly to the south of France for one day.
On Monday, May 19th, Denzel will walk the red carpet in Cannes for Spike Lee’s “Highest 2 Lowest.”
That should be at about 1pm New York time on Monday. If he stays for applause and kudos, he can back to Nice airport and fly back to New York in time to make Tuesday’s 7pm performance of “Othello.”
Can it be done? Yes, if he flies privately or in ultra first class where he can stretch out and take an Ambien.
“High and Low” was not announced this morning in the Cannes line up. The festival had to get a final ok from Washington. But “Highest 2 Lowest,” which will be shown out of competition, is a big deal. It’s based on Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 crime thriller, “High and Low.”
The new mvoie has an eclectic cast including beautiful American TV actress Ilfenesh Hadera, Jeffrey Wright, Ice Spice, and Rihanna’s rapper husband, ASAP Rocky.
Cannes probably wouldn’t make the deal with A24 unless they were guaranteed Denzel would do this crazy round trip. But it’s Spike’s first film since the great Oscar nominated “Blackkkklansman.” Can’t wait to see it!
Movies made by Scarlett Johansson, Bono, newcomer actor Harris Dickinson are going to the Cannes Film Festival.
“Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning” will be the big splash, along the films by Richard Linklater, Wes Anderson, and Cannes regulars like Joachim Trier, Julia Ducournau, the infamously boring Dardennes brothers, Kelly Reichardt, and Ari Aster, whose last film — “Beau is Afraid” — was the worst movie of the last 10 years.
If Ken Loach had made a film, it would be there.
There are a lot of first films including opening night.
Those, and many we know little about, could be the “Emilia Perez” or “Parasite” of this year, and really break out. That’s the way it is. Cannes is full of surprises.
The show starts May 12th on the Croisette. Look for a couple of additions to the list. I’m always excited about Linklater.
Scarlett’s movie stars June Squibb, age 94, who continues her marvelous career after “Thelma.” Dickinson recently starred with Nicole Kidman in “Babygirl.” Bono’s film is a chronicle of his stage show. Anderson’s “The Phoenician” may be a satire of Elon Musk.
Stay tuned…
OPENING FILM
PARTIR UN JOUR
Amélie Bonnin
1st film – Out of Competition
COMPETITION
THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME
Wes Anderson
EDDINGTON
Ari Aster
JEUNES MÈRES
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
ALPHA
Julia Ducournau
RENOIR
Hayakawa Chie
THE HISTORY OF SOUND
Oliver Hermanus
LA PETITE DERNIÈRE
Hafsia Herzi
SIRAT
Oliver Laxe
NEW WAVE
Richard Linklater
TWO PROSECUTORS
Sergei Loznitsa
FUORI
Mario Martone
O SECRETO AGENTE (THE SECRET AGENT)
Kleber Mendonça Filho
DOSSIER 137
Dominik Moll
UN SIMPLE ACCIDENT
Jafar Panahi
THE MASTERMIND
Kelly Reichardt
AIGLES OF THE REPUBLIC
Tarik Saleh
SOUND OF FALLING
Mascha Schilinski
ROMERÍA
Carla Simón
SENTIMENTAL VALUE
Joachim Trier
UN CERTAIN REGARD
LA MISTERIOSA MIRADA DEL FLAMENCO (THE MYSTERIOUS GAZE OF THE FLAMINGO)
Diego Céspedes
1st film
MÉTÉORS
Hubert Charuel
MY FATHER’S SHADOW
Akinola Davies Jr
1st film
L’INCONNU DE LA GRANDE ARCHE
Stéphane Demoustier
URCHIN
Harris Dickinson
1st film
HOMEBOUND
Neeraj Ghaywan
TÔI YAMANAMINO HIKARI (A PALE VIEW OF HILLS)
Ishikawa Kei
ELEANOR THE GREAT
Scarlett Johansson
1st film
KARAVAN
Zuzana Kirchnerová
1st film
PILLION
Harry Lighton
1st film
AISHA CAN’T FLY AWAY
Morad Mostafa
1st film
ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA
Arab and Tarzan Nasser
THE PLAGUE
Charlie Polinger
1st film
PROMISED SKY
Erige Sehiri
LE CITTÀ DI PIANURA (THE LAST ONE FOR THE ROAD)
Francesco Sossai
TESTA O CROCE? (HEADS OR TAILS?)
Matteo Zoppis, Alessio Rigo de Righi
OUT OF COMPETITION
COLOURS OF TIME
Cédric Klapisch
LA FEMME LA PLUS RICHE DU MONDE
Thierry Klifa
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING
Christopher McQuarrie
VIE PRIVÉE
Rebecca Zlotowski
MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS
DALLOWAY
Yann Gozlan
EXIT 8
Kawamura Genki
FENG LIN HUO SHAN (SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT)
Mak Juno
CANNES PREMIERE
AMRUM
Fatih Akin
SPLITSVILLE
Michael Angelo Covino
LA OLA (THE WAVE)
Sebastián Lelio
CONNEMARA
Alex Lutz
ORWELL : 2+2=5
Raoul Peck
DAS VERSCHWINDEN DES JOSEF MENGELE (THE DISAPPEARANCE OF JOSEF MENGELE)
Kirill Serebrennikov
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
STORIES OF SURRENDER
Bono
TELL HER THAT I LOVE HER
Romane Bohringer
A MAGNIFICENT LIFE
Sylvain Chomet
Jennifer Lopez is returning to the revived American Music Awards.
She’s hosting and “performing live” on May 26th on CBS, which had better take a hard look at what’s going on here.
JLo is an athletic dancer, but her singing has constantly been called into question over the years. CBS’s way out may be saying “performing” instead of singing.
The American Music Awards themselves are questionable. They weren’t even broadcast in 2024 as they were usurped by the Billboard Music Awards. Both shows are owned by Dick Clark productions, itself owned by the owner of The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Deadline, Billboard, and Rolling Stone.
The AMAs are not the Grammy Awards. They’re devoted to the best selling artists of the moment, and negotiated by record company execs, managers, and publicists.
Lopez, who had an acting success earlier this fall with “Unstoppable” on Amazon Prime, has been getting a lot of press for showing up at Broadway premieres dressed like she was going to the Oscars.
Delusional Donald Trump has “paused” the extreme tariffs against all countries except China.
For China, he’s imposed a 125% tariff. Apple’s Tim Cook must be so thrilled the supported Trump. Apple and its customers will suffer.
For the rest of the world, he’s still imposing a 10% tariff.
Trump has waved the white flag, surrendered as the country’s economy was tanking in every market. The NYSE had dropped almost 4,000 points since he started his wrecking ball. Now it’s up 2,400 points.
Meantime, there are reports that Kash Patel has been removed from running the ATF branch of the FBI because he never showed up for work.
Trump is a mad man, he’s out of control. He brought us to the brink of real destruction. Some people in Washington think he’s done it on purpose.
All this talk of “The Art of the Deal” is nuts. Trump did not write that book. Tony Schwartz wrote the book. Trump notoriously takes — and took — credit for things he didn’t do. We are living in insanity.
Trump, meantime, has spent most of his time golfing, and laughing at all of us.
I’ve never typed the word “Minecraft” so many times in a week. It’s like a drinking game!
“A Minecraft Movie” moved up to $185 million last night. The Warner Bros release will hit $200 million tonight or tomorrow. This is after just days in theaters — tomorrow will be a week.
David Zaslav must be brushing his teeth with Champagne. The movie cost $157 million. Worldwide sales are now over $300 million. This is the way Hollywood works, though. Everything is cyclical. “Superman” should be so lucky!
What even is “Minecraft”? Does it matter? Not at all!
The Library of Congress picks 25 recordings ever year to add to the National Registry.
This year, the choices range from the ridiculous to the sublime.
The soundtrack to a video game, “Minecraft,” would be among the former.
Among the latter, Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” Miles Davis’s “Bitches Brew,” my beloved “Koln Concerts” from Keith Jarrett, and the first — and best — album from the group Chicago.
See below.
NEWS: The Librarian of Congress has announced the annual selection of 25 recordings to be inducted into the #NatRecRegistry, chosen for their cultural, historic or aesthetic importance, to preserve the nation’s recorded sound history. pic.twitter.com/UmsSudeL1s
— Library of Congress (@librarycongress) April 9, 2025
Here’s the full list of this year’s inductees. Read more about the 2025 National Recording Registry.https://t.co/Ly7xXufF7w pic.twitter.com/yUfm7IL2nm
— Library of Congress (@librarycongress) April 9, 2025
Elton John and Brandi Carlile really have a hit record.
“Who Believes in Angels” will finish the week tomorrow at number 1 among all physical sales — meaning CDs and paid downloads.
The total should be upwards of 40,000 units. That’s a real accomplishment and the only number that matters.
The album has held firm at number 1 all week on iTunes and amazon.
“Who Believes in Angels” will finish sixth or seventh overall because there’s little streaming going on. Fans of these two fab singers want the product in hand. It’s not just a dip-in on Spotify.
Meantime, Sir Elton has declared peace with Madonna after decades of feuding. Madonna came to see him backstage at “SNL” this past weekend and they buried the hatchet — and not in each other!
Maybe the Middle East problems can be solved if Netanyahu hosts “SNL” and Hamas comes backstage!Here’s what Madonna had to say:
Marvin Levy has passed away at 96.
Steven Spielberg’s beloved and long time publicist was the dean of all Hollywood press agents, loved and respected.
Spielberg says: “Marvin’s passing is a huge loss for me and our industry writ large. There are many talented PR executives, but Marvin was one of a kind. For over 50 years, he was a deeply loyal and exceptional collaborator who was respected and appreciated by all those who were lucky enough to learn from his counsel. When it came to handling the press, he had no peer.”
Marvin Levy, you know, was a mensch.
Spielberg continued:
“To the media-and the world of exhibition, Marvin was the face of Amblin. We were opposite ends of the movie-making process. Every time I reached the end of production on a film, Marvin’s work had only begun. Through countless films, tv series, Amblin events, awards campaigns and our public relations strategy—this is where Marvin came alive. He loved his work—and was endlessly enthusiastic about our business. He was creative, innovative and respected for his knowledge and honesty. He was excited to figure how new and better ways to present films to audiences. As a result, he was the first and only publicist to receive an Academy Award. In awarding the honor, the Academy highlighted his “exemplary career in publicity that has brought films to the minds, hearts and souls of audiences all over the world.”
I’m a little verklempt. Through thick and thin, and the many, many Spielberg movies, Marvin was there for me at all times. He kept the trains running, as they say, which wasn’t easy when you think of how prolific Steven has been over the decades. He really helped me a lot on movies like “Minority Report” and “Saving Private Ryan.”
Marvin worked at Columbia Pictures with Spielberg on “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” in 1977. He soon left to work exclusively alongside Spielberg, first at Amblin Entertainment and later at DreamWorks Studios, and on and on right through “The Fabelmans.”
Marvin was honored with a Lifetime Oscar in 2018 and it was much deserved.
Condolences to his lovely wife of 74 years, Carol, his whole family, and many legions of admirers.
“Saturday Night Live.” It’s up, it’s down.
The ratings stay within 4 and 5 million.
This week’s show, with Jack Black hosting and musical guests Elton John and Brandi Carlile, was up from the previous week.
The show added around 250,000 viewers to 4.53 million. This was a recovery from the Mikey Madison week and a return to Lady Gaga’s area of 4.63 million two weeks earlier.
Top show this season was almost 6.6 million for John Mulaney and Chappell Roan. The most recent hit outing was Timothee Chalamet hosting and singing, 5 million.
The good news is that Jack Black’s movie, “A Minecraft Movie” is number 1. And so is the new album from Elton John and Brandi Carlile. The album, “Who Believes in Angels,” will be the top selling physical album of the week with 40,000 CDs and paid downloads.
This week comes Jon Hamm, promoting a new TV series, and Lizzo, trying to recover from terrible publicity.