The Russo Brothers have posted an unusual letter to Twitter. They’re asking fans to keep their secrets and not risk letting out spoilers about the upcoming “Avengers: Infinity Wars.” What spoilers? Captain America dies? Someone dies? Everyone dies? Well, we don’t know. But we’ll keep their secrets. It’s the least we can do.
#ThanosDemandsYourSilence pic.twitter.com/dvyc26ju04
— Russo Brothers (@Russo_Brothers) April 3, 2018
To say that 38 year old actor/director/writer John Krasinski might have reached the pinnacle of his career with his latest “A Quiet Place,” at the outset might seem strange, but John himself admits it could be true as he said on CBS’s “Sunday Morning” yesterday. John noted, “I know this might be the highlight of my career, and I’m okay with that.”
He later explained that the unabashed kudos he’s getting for his latest film, which he co-wrote (with Scott Beck and Bryan Woods) and directed and which also stars his wife the multi talented Emily Blunt, is unexpected and rattling to him. But he’s earned all of it.
“A Quiet Place” is truly a revelation. A simple premise turns out to be an intense, exciting, poignant and ridiculously scary story. In a post-apocalyptic world, monsters detect their prey by sound. So whoever’s ieft has to be majorly quiet and in that quietness Krasinski shows how smart and adept he is. He’s a thoughtful filmmaker, so his telling of the story wastes not one second, frame or even one word, which are few and far between in the film; the characters rely on sign language and gestures. The sound /or lack of it is the major character here. And the cast is perfect. He’s the unnamed Dad, Blunt is the fierce tiger mother, Noah Jupe and Millicent Simmonds are their brave kids. Simmonds, who is a deaf in real life, is heartbreakingly affecting.
From the get go with the Title Cards saying what day it is Day 89 the disaster, the suspense builds and the subtle, clever storytelling pulls you in. Krasinski is right, Hollywood is tough and this kind of adulation might not every happen again for him. But for now, he’s earned it with “A Quiet Place.”
Paramount’s “A Quiet Place,” will be released this Friday, April 6th.
Broadway was booming this week, up $20 million since mid February when things looked bleak. Most every show is doing well, or well enough. “Chicago,” running since 1830, has a new lease on life thanks to Valerie Simpson’s guest shot.
This cannot be said of Jimmy Buffett’s “Escape to Margaritaville.” The jukebox musical was roundly panned when it open a couple of weeks ago. Since then, audiences — except for Buffett’s hardcore fans– have stayed away.
Last week “Margaritaville” made just $600,000 in a house that could yield $1,752 million if it sold out. Just 34% of the seats are filled. The show is playing at 60% of its financial capacity. You can hear the parrots crying in the balcony.
So many shows have died in the cold and forbidding Marquis theater in the Marriott Marquis Hotel. “Margaritaville” doesn’t belong there. It’s way too big even if it’s in a tourist hotel that should feed it some natural audience. Buffett’s musical should be scaled all the way down and playing over on West 50th St. off Broadway at New World Stages.
At this rate, the sun is going to set on “Margaritaville” well before the Tony Awards. In three weeks we’ll have a lot of different nominations announced from various groups. When this show strikes out, the closing notice will go up. And everyone can have one last stiff drink.
Jesus Christ Superstar was a superstar last night, beating “American Idol” with 9 million average viewers from 8pm through 10:30pm. “Idol” scored its usual 7.3 million last night, settling into familiar groove.
The NBC musical was live from Brooklyn with an ecstatic audience watching a hugely talented cast. John Legend, Brandon Victor Dixon and Sara Bareilles led the group, and they were all spectacular. This morning Legend’s people must be getting calls from Broadway producers who want him in their shows.
Dixon, as Judas, stole the show with the musical’s title number. He’s also getting calls today. He’s a rock star.
Meantime, the original soundtrack album for “JSC” from 1970 is sold out at amazon and on back order. Universal Music simply wasn’t ready for the demand. But it can be downloaded– and the album is number on iTunes. The soundtrack to the awful 1973 movie is number 12. But the one to get now is the new album with last night’s performers. That’s number 1 on amazon right now in pre-orders (avail April 27).
PS the “Roseanne” rerun scored just over 4 million viewers, bringing last week’s chaos back to Earth.
“Jesus Christ Superstar” is live right now on NBC, and the result is that the original box set– digitized– has shot up to number 12 on iTunes. So you can download it.
But if you want it physically–the CD set– you’ll have to wait. Someone at Universal Music goofed. According to amazon, the original version of the box set on CD and the 2012 remixed version are on back order. What? Didn’t anyone think to get ready for tonight’s show? Apparently not.
The good news is that the NBC recording is available on amazon, with John Legend, Sara Bareilles, Brandon Victor Dixon, et al. The production is quite terrific, from the actors and singers to the whole look of the show. What a pleasure to hear live music.
I don’t we ever appreciated John Legend’s voice so much. (His own songs are not this uptempo.) I neve realized he has a texture not unlike Ella Fitzgerald but he can sing rock too! Dixon, of course, and the great Norm Lewis, are Broadway stars. Barielles could get a hit single out of “I Don’t Know How to Love Him.” Back in 1970, Yvonne Elliman sang it on the album (She went onto stardom with the Bee Gees and “Saturday Night Fever”.) Helen Reddy had the hit single. (And PS I have the original box of vinyl, in pristine shape.)
Hollywood lost a real legend today with the death of Steve Bochco at 74. He created “Hill Street Blues,” “LA Law,” and “NYPD Blue” among other classic shows. Bochco changed television with his ensemble dramas and won 10 prime time Emmy awards. He will be sorely missed. He was a tremendous influence on everyone who worked with him and came after.
Bochco’s importance cannot be minimized. With just those three shows he changed the whole landscape of what award winning drama was supposed to look like. “Hill Street Blues” thirty five years later still holds up better than ever. In the case of “Hill Street” and “LA Law,” NBC relied on Bochco to fill their 10pm time slots with appointment TV in the way “Game of Thrones” or “Walking Dead” is now.
Bochco only used the best actors and directors, many of whom he met at Carnegie Tech, now Carnegie Mellon University. It was when he brought “Hill Street to GRant Tinker and MTM (Mary Tyler Moore) Productions that his star soared. And Bochco brought unforeseen value to MTM, which was famous up til then for their quality sitcoms. Bochco’s success propelled Tinker to the presidency of NBC. It was a heady time for all of them.
RIP Steve Bochco. Anyone interested in the history of TV in the 80s and 90s, and Bocho’s shows in particular should read his self-published memoir, Truth is a Total Defense, available on amazon.
Also read this very good piece about Bocho and his stem cell donor by Chris Gardner from 2014.
The number 1 album of the week is Jack White’s “Boarding House Reach.” The collection by one half of the rocking White Stripes sold 126K copies of CDs and paid downloads. It had just about no streaming, as streaming has become almost the sole province of hip hop, rap and modern R&B.
What makes White’s achievement all the nicer for Columbia Records is that it’s their first number 1 album since LCD Soundsystem’s self titled album sold around 85,000 copies upon release last September 1st. Prior to that. Arcade Fire’s “Everything Now” was released on July 28 and hit the charts at number 1 on August 3rd.
The Columbia label hasn’t been seen much on the charts otherwise, although other Sony labels like Epic and RCA have had a lot of action in the last year with Camila Cabello and Justin Timberlake, among others. Columbia had a huge run of luck with Adele’s “25” two years ago, but since then has struggled while releasing lots of catalog material by Barbra Streisand, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and so on. Nice to have some new music for a change!
Marvel founder Stan Lee has released four photos— called “Easter eggs”– for the upcoming release of “Deadpool 2” starring Ryan Reynolds.
One of them is a photo of Deadpool pointing a gun at the head of a teddy bear. This must be funny somewhere but seems odd considering the current gun control debate.
Lee’s site says: “The Marvel Cinematic Universe and associated films are full of “Easter Eggs.” It’s a huge part of what ties the movies together and gives them the depth and scope that they deserve. You can throw all of the explosions and fancy choreographed fight scenes that you want into the pot, but it’s definitely the small things that some hardly notice that makes the “true believers” feel like they are apart of a comicbook culture that ‘s living and thriving.”
The other photos are less alarming. Interestingly, the teddy bear picture isn’t on Marvel or Deadpool sites, just Stan Lee’s. All the other promo material for “Deadpool 2” is irreverent, funny, witty, glib, good stuff. But this picture– not funny and really inappropriate. Here are the other pictures:
The weekend box office has a lot of nice Easter eggs for everyone.
Steven Spielberg made a triumphant return to the top of the heap with “Ready Player One.” SS scored $41.2 million for the three day weekend, and a total of $53.2 million since Wednesday when previews began. It’s Spielberg’s biggest opening since “Jurassic Park” and “War of the Worlds.” In between he made Oscar fare like “Lincoln” and “The Post.” It wasn’t like he sloughing off!
The other nice box office news is that Taraji P. Henson led “Acrimony” to a $17 million weekend. Wow!
An Oscar nominee for “Benjamin Button” and the star of “Hidden Figures,” Taraji has spent the last few years having fun on Lee Daniels’ hit TV show “Empire” as the wily Cookie. But she is the real deal for movies and this proves it. “Acrimony” is a Tyler Perry movie, and the biggest one in five years that doesn’t feature his trademark Madea character. I haven’t seen “Acrimony” but Taraji looks pretty serious from the photo. In real life, she is so much fun and one of the nicest people ever. Bravo!
Good news part 3: Wes Anderson’s “Isle of Dogs” has made $5.9 million in 2 weeks in limited release. This wonderful, whimsical film deserves all the love it gets. I can’t wait for more people to see it.
Frank Stallone was more known to us in the 80s and early 90s before he faded into obscurity. He’s the brother of Sylvester Stallone.
Today Frank Stallone is being unanimously criticized for for this message he Tweeted about David Hogg, 17 year old activist thanks to the mass shooting (and killing of his friends) at Marjorie Stoneman High School in Parkland, Florida: “This David Hogg pussy is getting a little big for his britches. I’m sure someone from his age group is dying to sucker punch this rich little bitch. Watch him run home like the coward he is. He’s the worst rep for today’s youth headlining grabbing punk”
Frank Stallone doesn’t matter to anyone. He’s not important. (Sylvester Stallone, I assure you, doesn’t represent these ideas.) But there it is– what a segment of the population to whom Laura Ingraham appeals think about the brave, outspoken Parkland students who’ve actually spoken up about a mass murder that took place in front of their eyes. THEY do matter. These are Roseanne’s people, which is what makes the success of her show– and her idiotic, ill informed Tweets– so much more dangerous.
Internet archivists are reposting a newspaper clip from 1986 mocking Frank. He was accidentally hurt in a gun store during a demonstration and sued the owner for $1.2 million. He calls Hogg a “pussy” but Frank was the pussy, as it turns out. And this was in BEVERLY HILLS, not exactly the Wild West or mean streets of Brooklyn. LOL