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“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” Scores $145 Mil US, Tops Original Opening Weekend

Roger Friedman
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“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” Scores $145 Mil US, Tops Original Opening Weekend

Not a shock: “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2” had a huge opening weekend. Chris Pratt and friends took in $145 mil, which added to the international box office brings worldwide to $427 million.

In the US the weekend numbers beat “Vol. 1” by $50 million. The sequel may very well out gross the original. Marvel is happy, Disney is happy, Chris Pratt is happy. So is director James Gunn. Volume 3 is on its way. (So are 4 and 5, I’d guess.)

The rest of the box office was bleh, with Tom Hanks’s “The Circle” completely dying, and “How to Be a Latin Lover” hanging in there despite bad reviews.

Only 12 movies (including “GOTG2”) made over a million dollars over the weekend.

Interest in Julian Assange was minimal. Laura Poitras’s “Risk” made just $75,179 on 34 screens. But maybe new little studio Neon just wants it out there, hoping for awards consideration in the fall. They didn’t really promote it beyond that Lincoln Center screening.

“Baywatch” Star Pamela Anderson Attacks Director of Boyfriend Julian Assange’s Documentary: “This portrayal is a juvenile betrayal”

Roger Friedman
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“Baywatch” Star Pamela Anderson Attacks Director of Boyfriend Julian Assange’s Documentary: “This portrayal is a juvenile betrayal”

pam and julian“Baywatch” star, anti fur activist, and Hollywood faux intellectual Pamela Anderson is mad at Oscar winning filmmaker Laura Poitras. Poitras has just released her new documentary, “Risk,” about international troublemaker Julian Assange, who’s been living for the last 5 years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London rather than face arrest over releasing zillions of classified government and business files under the WikiLeaks rubric.

Anderson has become an unlikely BFF and possible girlfriend with benefits of Assange. She’s been seen coming and going from the embassy, giving the Ecuadorians a rare peak into tabloid life. She does not appear in “Risk,” and maybe she’s upset that Poitras didn’t even mention her. (I know I was disappointed.) Anderson is to Assange somehow as Dennis Rodman is to Kim Jong Un, but with different benefits.

Anderson has now made her feelings about the film clear, posting this message to Instagram (italics added):

Laura,
To a man who is uncharged,
detained,
and has given humanity so much,
not to mention your own access-
and you return the favour
like this?
It is shameful
You re-edited the documentary
to deal with your own personal romantic issues with an ex lover – is this ethical?
This portrayal is a juvenile betrayal.

Anderson claims Poitras “re-edited the documentary to deal with you own personal romantic issues with an ex lover.”  That’s a reference to Poitras’s stunning admission in the film’s voice over that she had a “brief relationship” with Assange’s incredibly erratic self exiled lackey, hacker Jacob Appelbaum. Appelbaum, like Assange, has been accused of sexual misconduct. Despite being removed from WikiLeaks, Appelbaum still accompanied Poitras to Cannes in May 2016 to help promote “Risk” and defend Assange.

Anderson, meanwhile, may not be having such an easy time with Assange. On Twitter she has recently posted a link to a HuffingtonPost article titled: “Why Sex With A Malignant Narcissist Is A Dangerous Power Play.”

On the website for her dubious Pamela Anderson Foundation, the one time star of great D movie “Barb Wire” further explains her position in a long Haiku, or free form essay. (Not to nitpick, Pam, but it’s “its gravitas,” not “it’s”):

I’d rather
dampen any romance rumours –
Lessen it’s gravitas –
I’m already at
a disadvantage – (perception)

It’s a distraction.
when so much is at stake.

I know I can be quite effective in this debate.

As a victim of sexual assault
I have authority to speak
on the matter.

Not as Julian’s ‘romantic interest’
but as someone with experience
and perspective –

and seeing –

the injustice of people
turning a serious political struggle
into a discussion
on male privilege.

I don’t think Wikileaks is sexist,
I think it is intellectually elitist.

And,
I have to say it a lot of this
‘feminist’ discussion is intellectually retarded.

“Risk”
the documentary is problematic –

If you take away the sexist angle and reframe it as power dynamics,
Let’s examine Laura’s relative role to the organisations and her subjects. Her wealth.
Her oscar.
Julian’s role relative to others in the organisation in terms of freedom and exposure to political persecution.
The narrow lens Laura has picked has been to please a narrow constituency.

Oh,
the trappings.

Sad –

The wrong Wikileaks and Assange will suffer from the flaws,
the avantgardiste acceptance of a penetration of their intimacy none of their adversaries accept,
will be nothing in the long term compared to the destructions inflicted by secrecy and it’s upholding by the powerful.
As a man making history,
Julian has accepted to confront himself to the judgment of others.
He has done it in accordance to his principles and will remain faithful to them, however painful and unfair it might be.
There will be a time in which Ms Poitras will realize how much wrong she has inflicted,
and how biased her approach has been to this asymmetric access to an intimacy others,
including Snowden,
have refused to expose in faith.
Her exploitation of this access and the judgmental lines that she ended drawing from it are both logic and sad for her.
Instead of realizing her chance,
trying to understand, she started judging those who had had the courage to expose themselves.
In spite of courage and humanity, bitterness and willingness to conform herself.
Fear.
Fear of the judgment of others.
Of what would have been said if she hadn’t distinguished herself. Maintained,
over solidarity and values,
her singularity.
Existed in the eyes of the other. Betrayal.
To survive at all costs.
Including dignity,
truthfulness, and the lives of others. Good luck Laura.
Good luck in your loneliness.
It is an epidemic
Even more so
In your opportunistic institution

You let us down..
.
Pamela

Kanye West’s Social Media Accounts Vanish– I Told You on Tuesday He’d Been MIA for Months

Roger Friedman
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Kanye West’s Social Media Accounts Vanish– I Told You on Tuesday He’d Been MIA for Months

I told you on Tuesday that Kanye West was MIA, missing from social media for months after being a constant presence.

And now, all his accounts are gone. Poof! All deactivated.

Kanye is thought to have had a nervous breakdown of some kind last winter following his wife’s Paris robbery. He walked off stage and didn’t return. He was seen in a family Christmas photo but has otherwise been silent.

Despite making babies and fashion shows and concerts, Kanye has been in a weird downward spiral since his mother’s sudden and unfortunate death in November 2007. He simply became more and more erratic and out of control. Social media is where a lot of this took place, with Kanye Tweeting hundreds of times in short periods of time.

I wrote on Monday that it was very curious he wasn’t coming to the MetBall, one of his favorite haunts. That on top of his social media silence added up to something not kosher.

Let’s hope he’s getting good help, and will come back even stronger.

Guardians of the Galaxy 2 Will Make Millions This Weekend Despite Bad Reviews and General Bewilderment

Roger Friedman
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Guardians of the Galaxy 2 Will Make Millions This Weekend Despite Bad Reviews and General Bewilderment

I have not seen “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2” although I really like the first one. Word on this one has been pretty bad. A friend who’s worked in film for years told me yesterday that he’d seen it and didn’t understand it. “I had to Google the first movie during this one to remind me what’s going on,” he said.

GOTG2 has an 83 on Rotten Tomatoes. But is that really 83? Among the 45 top reviewers, 15 didn’t like it. So that’s really 67.

But that’s the complication of Rotten Tomatoes. A lot of so-called reviewers will give “Fresh” designations to things they don’t like. A number of “GOTG2” reviewers used the word “bloat” or “bloated” in their positive reviews. Victoria Alexander of FilmsinReview.com wrote: “The best sequel in years. Though I didn’t understand the plot or the dialogue.” She assigned a Fresh standing, however.

Richard Roeper, of the Chicago Sun Times, also assigned a Fresh to GOTG2. But he wrote negatively: “Like many a sequel to a slam-bang, much-liked mega-hit, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 isn’t quite as much fun, not quite as clever, not quite as fresh as the original – but it still packs a bright and shiny and sweet punch.”

I don’t consider that a good review.

Nevertheless, GOTG2 will make its main money this weekend, looking at a $120-$130 million box office. Tonight– Friday– will be huge as it will include $17 million that came in last night.

One Direction, Two Stories: Niall Horan’s “Slow Hands” Zooms to Number 1 While Harry Styles’ Singles Struggle

Roger Friedman
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One Direction, Two Stories: Niall Horan’s “Slow Hands” Zooms to Number 1 While Harry Styles’ Singles Struggle

This morning the number 1 song on iTunes is by One Direction’s Niall Horan. “Slow Hands” is a catchy, bluesy shuffle. I mean, really catchy and well produced. Horan is the real singer songwriter from One Direction. When I attended my one One Direction show a couple of years ago, it was clear that Horan– strumming his guitar like a troubador– was the central musical talent in the group.

Niall’s success this morning is a counterpoint to Harry Styles’ troubles. Styles has lots of charisma and is one of the nicest chaps you could meet. The girls love him, too. But my sense is that he’s lost musically. His new “Sweet Creature,” dropped in the middle of the week, is just awful. And it’s his second flop in a row. “Sweet Creature” is number 17 on iTunes. Not doing a lot better is “Sign of the Times” at 15.

The latter single is barely getting fan attention. Today “Sign of the Times” drops to 27 from 19 on the Hits-Buzz Angle Song Revenue chart. No one liked it. “Sign” made $65,703 through yesterday for the last week. It’s over.

Someone asked me, “What did Harry Styles ever do to you?” I laughed. Nothing. He’s a nice guy! But he’s been saddled with bad songs, bad records. They’re not lighting a fire. My guess is Harry Styles debuts later this year in Chris Nolan’s “Dunkirk,” he’s really good, and takes off as an actor. Surprise! So far, his music doesn’t indicate big things.

Meanwhile, Horan’s single– and the one that preceded it, “This Town”– are really well written and well made, full of hooks, and hits out of the box. Now I’m curious to hear his album.

 

Goldie Hawn on Actor Children Kate and Oliver Hudson: “The fear was that they would be fearful that they couldn’t top us and that’s a heavy thing, their mom and dad, they’re big movie stars.”

Paula Schwartz
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Goldie Hawn on Actor Children Kate and Oliver Hudson: “The fear was that they would be fearful that they couldn’t top us and that’s a heavy thing, their mom and dad, they’re big movie stars.”
After a private screening Monday afternoon of their new comedy “Snatched,”  Goldie Hawn, 71, and Amy Schumer, 31, turned up to participate in a raucous conversation with a theater full of excited fans and mommy bloggers. The comic actresses play a mother-daughter duo in the comedy, which opens Mother’s day weekend. (Director Jonathan Levine and producer Paul Feig joined them at the event.)
Denise Albert and Melissa Musen Gerstein, co-creators of a multi-media mom-centric brand and event company known as the Moms, hosted the screening and following panel.
In “Snatched,” Amy Schumer plays a self-centered woman who is dumped by her rocker boyfriend right before they were set to take off on an exotic holiday. After all her friends turn her down, she persuades her ultra-cautious mother to take her boyfriend’s place on the non-refundable vacation. Comic hijinks ensue, including entanglements with oddballs and kidnapper.
Following are highlights from the 30-minute conversation:
Amy on meeting Hawn: I met Goldie on a plane and I just stared at her the way we would all do if we were on a plane with Goldie Hawn. And then when I got off (the plane) to go into the airport I went up to Goldie at the airport and said, “Hi, I’m Amy.”… I said I wanted her to play my mom in this movie and she was very sweet, but she definitely didn’t know who I was.
Goldie: We worked really hard to get this (movie) going… We wanted it to happen and eventually it did.
Goldie on whether she ever planned to return to the film industry after a 14-year absence:
You don’t really have a plan in this industry… Did I decide to return? No. What  I was feeling was kind of an itch to go back to doing films.There was the time for my children and I loved every second of it and still do by the way. But I was getting that itch and thinking what would it be like, I wonder if I (went back to making films)? And I said this to a couple of friends of mine, “I wonder if I’ll every do another movie to make people laugh again?”… It (this movie) came right at that time.
Amy on whether they have a mother-daughter relationship: I think we feel very connected to each, and I’ve loved Goldie my whole live like most of the people in this room. So you just pray that she would care about me too, and we connected early on and fell in love.
Goldie: And we have the same heritage….When you see someone you feel you’ve know your whole life, that’s the way it is. And a lot of it has to do with the fact that we’re both kind of Eastern European. We have similar backgrounds and that kind of thing.
Amy on her character in the film: I feel like I play who I was as a teenager, selfish and so entitled… I really wanted to make this movie as a love letter to my mom to say I’m sorry and also I love you.
Goldie on how children and Social Media: (In preparation for the Met Ball Monday evening, her daughter Kate Hudson posted images of her self wearing a pillow on her head:  Kate posted a picture of herself…. It’s so deeply funny we just laughed over it…Oliver has posted…Has anyone followed Oliver Hudson? I suggest you do.… He went over the grid and he’s deeply funny… and Wyatt is off making a movie, so the kids are just doing great.
Goldie: The fear was that they (her children) would be fearful that they couldn’t top us and that’s a heavy thing, their mom and dad, they’re big movie stars. How do you survive being that child?
Goldie: A big part of our lesson (to her children) was to get resilient… You want to go into the business then get resilient. You’re going to get shot down… You’re not going to get jobs… The key is that if you don’t have it get out… Don’t spend your life doing it so find out what else you love.
Amy: I was raised delusion-ally confident… My parents said you’re amazing, you’re the most beautiful, and I bought it. And it was too late when I realized they were lying to me.
Amy on not being pregnant: That’s right, my uterus is currently empty… I work very hard to not be a mom.
Amy on wanting to be a mother: I’m 35. I’m sick of thinking of myself. It’s like, enough Amy, who cares?… Yeah, (I want to be a mom).
Goldie on laughter getting you through hard times: We do laugh, and our family does and it’s kind of the way we survive … If you can’t laugh over things that are hard then you’re just going to live in sadness… This is how we are… We sit shiva. This is the kind of thing we do when our parents or grandparents pass, we laugh. We laugh together… You live for fun and you laugh for fun.
The director on whether the actresses did improv: Everybody had the opportunity to improvise… It was never dogmatic that they had to stick to the script and a lot of the more subtle nuanced moments came out of improv.
Goldie: In one scene the direction was simply, “Just freak out.” That was my direction and that’s what I did.
The event ended with Amy and Goldie dancing. Denise Albert just finished a year and a half of treatment for breast cancer and she’s started a “dance for the breast cancer challenge.” At the end of the event, both actresses got up, laughed and showed off their best moves.
Photo c2017 Showbiz411 by Paula Schwartz

Dept. of Fleeting Fame: “Kardashians” TV Show Ratings Tanking, Caitlyn Jenner’s Book A Bust

Roger Friedman
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Dept. of Fleeting Fame: “Kardashians” TV Show Ratings Tanking, Caitlyn Jenner’s Book A Bust

Is our long national nightmare over? The saga of the hideous Kardashian-Jenners is losing steam at last. People may finally be wearying of people who are famous for no reason.

First: Caitlyn Jenner’s book about going from Bruce Jenner, Olympic athlete to Caitlyn Jenner, trans heroine, has not rung up big sales in book stores. On amazon, “The Secrets of My Life” is stalled at number 296. The Kindle version is at 487.

Jenner’s own E! TV show “Life with Cait” was cancelled not long after it debuted.

More worrying for the Ks are the ratings for their mothership TV show. “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” finished at number 17 this past Sunday for total viewers out of the top 25 cable shows. The numbers week to week since its 13th season began in March are trending way down. And they are considerably off from last year. In 2016, the season premiere scored over 2 million viewers. Between 700,000 and 800,000 fans have tuned out.

What can Kris Jenner and company do? They’ve fabricated so many plot points at the expense of their “real lives” (if such things exist), there are potentially no limits. Of course, they could do what other TV shows do after many seasons, and kill off a main character. Maybe they could have a public referendum to make the choice. (I am kidding, but you never know.)

Another plot line not visited yet this season is what has happened to Kanye West, husband of Kim Kardashian. Or what’s happened to Kim’s face — no one comments on why she looks completely different than ever before.

But maybe the end is near for all these people. Their disappearance would be cause for celebration!

Broadway: “Hello, Dolly!” Breaks All Time Shubert Theater Records– Should It Get a Tony Award Or Is Money the Reward?

Roger Friedman
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Broadway: “Hello, Dolly!” Breaks All Time Shubert Theater Records– Should It Get a Tony Award Or Is Money the Reward?

Big announcement this morning: “Hello, Dolly!” with Bette Midler has broken the all time sales record for all Shubert Theaters in history and in the future, and for years to come. With a staggering $40 million advance, and premium ticket prices that are obscene, ne, grotesque–$525 at least– this version of “Hello, Dolly!” has transcended theater. It’s a beast.

The new record? They made $2.1 million in seven performances. Not 8, which is the Broadway norm. Just 7. And Bette Midler’s getting at least $100,000 a week to make that happen. Not bad!

And so the question becomes: does “Hello, Dolly!” deserve a Tony Award? Or is money the reward for this boondoggle? In the world of the Oscars, a movie this big would be considered a “studio” film or blockbuster. Think “Avatar” or “The Dark Knight.” Those movies generally do not get Oscars. Sometimes they get nominations. And a really great performance, like Heath Ledger’s, may be cited. But Best Picture? Never. Those nods go to humbler endeavors.

For “Hello, Dolly!” to win the Tony for Best Revival of A Musical seems overkill at this point. Wouldn’t it be better to give the gold statue to Lincoln Center for “Falsettos”? Or to “Miss Saigon” just for the helicopter and chutzpah? Something about this “Hello, Dolly!” avarice is unseemly. And it encourages future bloated money grabs. Broadway was never supposed to be this overt in pure greed.

PS And what happens when Bette Midler leaves? Eventually, she will. My choice: Queen Latifah. No kidding. Stay tuned…

Brad Pitt: “I could drink a Russian under the table with his own vodka. I was a professional”

Roger Friedman
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Brad Pitt: “I could drink a Russian under the table with his own vodka. I was a professional”

Brad Pitt’s cover story in the new issue of GQStyle is a mind blower. It’s an excellent Q&A accompanied by photos that show he’s still handsome but — I can’t believe I’m saying this– aged. And sure why not after everything that’s happened since last summer?

My own personal favorite revelation: he’s been listening a lot to Marvin Gaye’s famous divorce album, “Here, My Dear,” a bitter rebuke from the early 70s to ex wife Anna Gordy, sister of Berry. Gaye made the album to their divorce settlement, telling her in song ‘take my kids, take my money.’

But Brad also is disarmingly frank about therapy, alcohol, and drugs. He tells writer Michael Paterniti: “I could drink a Russian under the table with his own vodka. I was a professional.”

As for smoking pot, he observes: “Back in my stoner days, I wanted to smoke a joint with Jack and Snoop and Willie. You know, when you’re a stoner, you get these really stupid ideas. Well, I don’t want to indict the others, but I haven’t made it to Willie yet.”

Pitt opens up to promote his Netflix movie “War Machine,” but I don’t think he’s so open just because of that. It’s obvious he was ready to tell someone his story, and Paterniti was the lucky guy. Lucky GQ too! Quite a coup.

The actor reveals he’s been living either at a home owned by director David Fincher or in an art studio of Thomas Houseago in Los Angeles.

He says of his divorce: I was really on my back and chained to a system when Child Services was called. And you know, after that, we’ve been able to work together to sort this out. We’re both doing our best. I heard one lawyer say, “No one wins in court—it’s just a matter of who gets hurt worse.” And it seems to be true, you spend a year just focused on building a case to prove your point and why you’re right and why they’re wrong, and it’s just an investment in vitriolic hatred. I just refuse. And fortunately my partner in this agrees. It’s just very, very jarring for the kids, to suddenly have their family ripped apart.”

There’s lots more. And did I mention this is Paterniti’s first piece for GQ? I guess he’ll be back!

Doc Filmmaker Laura Poitras Says Julian Assange Has Nothing on Trump: “He’s an equal opportunity leaker”

Roger Friedman
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Doc Filmmaker Laura Poitras Says Julian Assange Has Nothing on Trump: “He’s an equal opportunity leaker”

Oscar winner Laura Poitras was already working on a film about WikiLeaks and Julian Assange when news of Edward Snowden broke. She switched gears, made “Citizen Four,” and won the Academy Award.

Last spring in Cannes Poitras showed a version of her Assange movie, “Risk,” which was met with acclaim. We learned a lot from her extraordinary access including that Lady Gaga had randomly turned up and interviewed Assange. “Who’s after you?” she asks rhetorically. Assange rattles off lists and lists of international crime fighting groups from the FBI to Interpol. Gaga observes, “So– a lot of people?”

But Poitras was smart. She sensed that Assange might play a part in the American election already underway. So she waited and watched as he dumped zillions of files about the Democrats and Hillary Clinton, and tried his best to upset the apple cart from his perch in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. He’s now been there five years, unable to leave without risking arrest and prosecution.

Poitras added a voice over, and some facts we didn’t know. Included among them: her access overstepped to the point where she says she had a “brief relationship” with Assange lackey Jacob Applebaum, who is now in exile in Berlin. Applebaum and Assange’s girlfriend, Sarah Harrison, each came to Cannes last year for the big screening. They seemed like Assange’s cult followers. In a word, they were nuts.

After Cannes, it seems like Assange closed the door to Poitras. Her updated film traces his possible connection to the Russians, and weaves in recent revelations about WikiLeaks interference in the election. But there’s no more hanging around in the Embassy. And there’s no reference at all to “Baywatch” star Pam Anderson dropping by for at home dates with Assange.

Still, Poitras’s “Risk” is powerful stuff. Unlike Snowden, Assange is not a sympathetic character. At least Snowden (and Chelsea Manning, who is named checked) is an American who was trying to do something patriotic. Assange comes off as a petulant trouble maker. But you won’t want to miss his escape through London into the Embassy, aided and abetted by his mom. Absolute genius filmmaking.

And what about the damage Assange did to Hillary Clinton? Doesn’t he have similar stuff on Trump? Poitras said after tonight’s Lincoln Center/Walter Reade Theater screening: “I don’t think so. Julian is an equal opportunity leaker. If has stuff, he releases it.”

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