Word is spreading on social media that Aerosmith’s Joe Perry has collapsed on stage during a Hollywood Vampires show at Coney Island. He’s been taken to Coney Island Hospital. Various reports indicate he may have had a heart attack…
Keep refreshing…
update 11:28pm Perry is in stable condition according to various sources…
Who you gonna call? Not the old Ghostbusters. They’d been trying to work out a new chapter of their series when Harold Ramis died in 2014. I talked to Ivan Reitman a lot about it but then Ramis fell ill, and the rest is history.
Someone had the smart idea for an all-female cast version. Why not? The original “Ghostbusters” wasn’t “The Godfather.” It’s sturdy enough to take this route. A new generation, same song (Ray Parker via Huey Lewis). Paul Feig is very clever. What could go wrong?
I’ll take the stand that the new “Ghostbusters” is a lot of fun. You’re never going to recapture the novelty of the original — even with cameos from all the old stars. The surprise is over. But new productions of old plays are common on stage. There’s nothing so sacrosanct about “Ghostbusters.” Get over it.
The Feig movie basically retells the same story as the original, just updated to 2016. Ghosts are attacking, scientists with weird inventions must combat them. The squad this time is Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones. A Hemsworth is their Annie Potts (I’m never sure which one, but I think it’s Chris. Or Liam.) Andy Garcia and Cecily Strong are New York’s mayor and his aide de camp. Ed Begley and Zach Woods run a haunted house . This isn’t rocket science.
The good news is that the actresses are terrific fun, each enjoyable as heck. McCarthy and Wiig are better known quantities from “Bridesmaids” and their TV shows, and they’re solid as the central ‘straight men’ (comic– not preference). I adore both Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones, and they don’t fail to entertain. Neither does Cecily Strong. Lorne Michaels has a current crop of female superstars, and they are all unleashed here.
Hemsworth is very funny and self-deprecating although it might have been more interesting to have Paul Rudd in there instead.
Special effects? This isn’t “Avatar,” They’re fine. I saw the 2D version. “Ghostbusters” is about characters and fun, so it didn’t bother me that the whole thing looks a little cheesy. What bothered me was there was no story. With all these characters, there’s no flirting, no romance, no frisson. One more draft and maybe Wiig and Andy Garcia might have hooked up. Leslie Jones could have had one of her Colin Jost things happening. I was sure Cecily Strong’s mayoral aide and McKinnon’s inspectress gadget would at least wink at each other. But nada. Nothing happens. And so the film never feels like it takes off to a higher plane.
But Harold Ramis gets a lovely nod with a bust-wearing-glasses, and all the old actors roll through (you have to wait til the bitter end to see Sigourney Weaver). Begley and Woods fade away (the latter could have developed a crush on Jones). Dan Aykroyd has a drive by, and Murray has a bewildering cameo that ends nowhere. I really clapped when I saw Annie Potts– she could have been their den mother, the elder lady with all the secrets. (Next time, if there is a next time.)
This “Ghostbusters” also has a lot of product placements, notably H&M (which is the only name on a New York skyscraper) and 7-11. For some reason, when the scenes turn to Times Square, stores that don’t exist anymore like Woolworth’s and Bonds are featured. Was this a retro thing? I couldn’t figure it out. But it does say that I was getting a little bored toward the end so that checking for Easter eggs was on my mind.
Is it fun? Yes. Is it a good summer comedy? Yes. And it’s absolutely worth seeing these ladies go for it. They’re a hoot. So plug your ears to the nay-sayers. Don’t let them slime this film.
Box office conundrum over the weekend. “The Secret Life of Pets” scored over $103 million, $10 million more than estimates. HUGE hit for Universal. Animation box office record for original film.
Live action took many hits. “Mike and Dave” couldn’t scare up dates after Friday night. Their total is $16 million. That’s an airplane comedy. Zac Efron needed a more famous “brother,” I guess.
“Independence Day: Resurgence” still not near $100 mil– just $91 mil.
They wouldn’t let press into the showing of “Hamilton” tonight– just photographers. I don’t know why– totally random.
But the publicist has sent word there’s an all-star cast in the audience including Secretary of State John Kerry, Jane Fonda, Jennifer Lopez (did she bring Casper?), Charlie Rose, Spike (and presumably Tonya) Lee, Mariska Hargitay (probably with husband Peter Hermann), Marla Maples (formerly Mrs. Donald Trump), and Rosie O’Donnell–who’s seen the show so many times she could fill in on any of the parts on the spur of the moment!
At today’s matinee and tonight’s show, creator Lin Manuel Miranda received standing ovations upon hitting the stage.
I wonder what all this hoopla over today’s shows will do to the box office once people realize the three main stars are gone. I think the show will be just as good if not better. But I wonder if all this attention for this show won’t do some harm to it. I guess we’ll see over time.
PS Louise Mensch, former British conservative MP and stooge for Rupert Murdoch in the hacking hearings, now his employee in New York, was at the matinee. She tweeted from it with her kid. Can you imagine if she’d identified herself to Manuel and the cast? I wonder how much she paid for those hard to get seats.
If there are any updates, I’ll add them.
Uh oh.
Gabriel Sherman of New York Magazine has six more women besides Gretchen Carlson accusing Fox News chief Roger Ailes of sexual harassment. Sherman wrote the biography of Ailes last year (The Loudest Voice in the Room) that got Ailes’s PR chief Brian Lewis fired (and settled with an $8 million deal to keep quiet).
The women include, Kellie Boyle, 54, a former Republican National Committee field adviser and Marsha Callahan, now 73, a former model. They went on the record. Four others used pseudonyms.
Boyle says that back in 1989 Ailes told her: ‘You know if you want to play with the big boys, you have to lay with the big boys.’ She declined.
Callahan says in 1967 or 1968, when she was a model, Ailes said: ‘Sit on the sofa and lift your skirt up.’ I had to do these different poses. And then, I recall very clearly, he said he’d put me on the show but I needed to go to bed with him. I was a really shy girl, but I was a little cheeky so I said, ‘Oh yeah, you and who else?’ And he said, ‘Only me and a few of my select friends.’
So far, the stories don’t come from Ailes’ run at CNBC or Fox News– they’re all way in the past. That doesn’t excuse the behavior if true. But more contemporary stories will have more of an impact, if there are any. You never know, once alleged victims start talking– as in the case of Bill Cosby– the flood gates can open.
Stay tuned…
update: Ailes’s outside counsel sent this to NY Mag: “It has become obvious that Ms. Carlson and her lawyer are desperately attempting to litigate this in the press because they have no legal case to argue. The latest allegations, all 30 to 50 years old, are false.”
It’s been an animated summer, that’s for sure. “The Secret Life of Pets” took in approximately $38 million last night. The film will beat “Inside Out” as the biggest weekend gross for an original animated film. Ever.
For Universal Pictures, “Pets” is a much needed jolt in a soft year– after their HUGE year in 2015. “Pets” cost $75 million and already has taken in $30 mil in foreign countries.
The total weekend should come to $94 million. “Inside Out” did $90 million.
And these “Pets” are a franchise. Universal can get two more out of the package at least, not to mention ancillary merchandise, rides, books. etc.
Director Chris Renaud already has “Despicable Me” and its sequel, plus “The Lorax” under his belt, all mega hits. He’s the biggest thing in animation outside of Disney-Pixar. He’s got it made since, according to the imdb, he also lives in Paris.
So far this year we’ve mega hits “Finding Dory” and “Zootopia,” not to mention lesser hits “Angry Birds Movie” and “Kung Fu Panda 3.”
“Hamilton” plays a big performance tonight as the three leading Tony winners all depart the show including creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr, and Phillippa Soo. (Renee Elise Goldsberry and Daveed Diggs remain for the moment.)
On Stub Hub, there are 100 tickets from resellers. They range from $1,350 to just about $10,000. Someone apparently bought the pair in A 105-106 for $40,000.
The show won a total of 11 Tonys, and a Pulitzer, and has so many other awards we can’t count ’em. I’m so glad I got to see it back in February 2015 at the Public Theater on opening night.
That was a crazy night. The audience was wild. The backers all wanted to move to Broadway the next day. Instead, they waited until last August, which was a wise move for them and a bad one for every other new musical coming to town. You knew instantly that “Hamilton” was a phenomenon.
So, on to new things for the departing cast. And Brandon Victor Dixon, who “Hamilton” lost a job for in “Shuffle Along,” is replacing Odom. We will still be talking about “Hamilton” at least five years from now, maybe 10. Remarkable.
No one is buying much music this summer, that’s for sure. For the second week in a row, sales of CDs and digital downloads are record breaking low. And streaming isn’t that much better.
The new number 1 is Blink-182’s “California,” which sold 170,000 copies and another 15,000 streams. Blink-182’s new album comes to us via BMG Records, a standalone company trying hard to resurrect older acts (from the 90s). Kudos to them. This is the group’s 7th label since 1992. They’re like the Beatles to that generation. One of their albums is called “Enema of the State.” I am not kidding.
The rest of the chart is a nightmare for record execs with mortgages. Drake sold only 40 thou CDs and downloads, although he did score an extra 90K streams.
Maxwell, god love him, sold about 59K CDs and downloads, but only squeaked out around 2,000 streams. His “BlackSummersNight” Volume 2 is excellent. He’s the real deal. Pay attention.
Thanks to the Blinkers, the top 10 sold around 400,000 units. But most of it was them. From 11-50, Meghan Trainor (10.5K) on down, sold squat. The number 50 album sold 3,789 copies.
Maybe it’s the humidity. Last week’s number 1, by the Avett Brothers, fell 82% to number 12.
Paul Simon’s “Stranger to Stranger” has hung in there, by the way. Backed by his touring, the album is selling a little bit week to week but it doesn’t drop off the top 30. Simon mixes in the new songs with old ones at his shows. And the songs are damn good.
Last week, Lions Gate announced it was buying the Starz Channel and its library and TV shows. The effect on LGF stock hasn’t been so great. It’s hovered around $18.59 ever since. A year ago LGF was at $36.02.
Meantime, Lions Gate keeps releasing movies no one wants to see and shouldn’t have been made. Case in point: today, “Cell,” based on a Stephen King story, directed by Tod Williams (good movies– “Door in the Floor,” “Adventures of Sebastian Cole”).
“Cell” has a ZERO on Rotten Tomatoes. Twenty negative reviews, none positive. Saban Films, which also probably shouldn’t exist, owned by Haim Saban, made it and paid for it. Their most recent release was “A Hologram for the King” starring Tom Hanks, which made $4 million. Lions Gate had that one too through their deal with Roadside Attractions. (There’s a search party trying to find RAtt’s “Genius” right now. It’s made $1 million in 5 weeks.)
“Cell” has two great leads– Samuel L. Jackson and John Cusack. It doesn’t matter. It’s a soft cell at best.
The United States is getting a female president whether we like it or not. Showtime’s award winning “Homeland” is casting for some new characters as the show moves locale to New York. One of them is a newly elected female president. Her name is Elizabeth Keane. She’s 59 and described as “President-elect of the United States. Former junior Senator from NY. Bright, charming, lively – can be blunt. A natural politician.” Keane will a series regular.
Imagine the number of actresses lining up for that role. I’d get Melanie Griffith or Dana Delany. Either one would be perfect.
“Homeland” is also casting Keane’s chief of staff, who will be male and black. Also being cast is the 4 year old daughter of main character, Carrie. Her father was Brody, now deceased and played by Damian Lewis– star of Showtime’s “Billions.”
So even though the show is supposed to be set in New York, it does sound like Carrie (Claire Danes) and Saul (Mandy Patinkin) will be spending some time at the White House.
“Homeland” will return early next year.