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Whitney Houston Was NOT Murdered, By the Way

Roger Friedman
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15
Whitney Houston Was NOT Murdered, By the Way

Over the holiday a private investigator no one’s ever heard of grabbed some cheap headlines by claiming that Whitney Houston was murdered last year. As we approach the one year anniversary of Whitney’s tragic death next month, let me reassure you: she was not murdered. There was no foul play. There may have been a lot of questionable judgments, and questionable people around her. But Whitney died as the police said, of drowning thanks to a heart attack brought on by her terrible cocaine addiction.

Just in case you’re wondering, an actual licensed detective and law enforcement person was on the scene that night. He was in the room shortly after Whitney died. And this is what he says to me, exclusively:

“I can only wonder what Mr. Huebl’s real motivation is by associating his name with the devastating loss of Whitney Houston after the fact. Planning on writing a book, sell a movie idea or just seeking fame, who knows. Hired by someone or not, if he had any respect for his former career in law enforcement he would turn over any intel he thinks he has valid or not to the BHPD. Let them vet the information to renew the investigation or involve federal authorities. It would have been the correct and ethical thing to do.

Considering the circumstances, everyone on the scene to include the paramedics, BHPD, coroner, hotel management and hotel security team provided the utmost dignity and professional support. The care taken in protecting the integrity of the investigation was skilled, cautious and through without self-hype.

With humility and heavy heart, I was there that night. Mr. Huebl’s is allowed his view of the world but really has no right to attach himself to this tragedy’s orbit.”

Indeed, unlike with some other celebrities, Whitney Houston was worth more alive than dead. Her death was the last thing anyone wanted, and there was nothing to gain by it. I shudder when I think of what happened to Whitney–her death is really a tragedy. But it was an accident, a confluence of the many bad things that had happened to her or she had brought to bear on herself. She will be in everyone’s thoughts this year at the Grammys, no doubt.

photo c2012 Showbiz411

Al Gore’s Current TV Sold For $500 Million to Al Jazeera

Roger Friedman
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7
Al Gore’s Current TV Sold For $500 Million to Al Jazeera

UPDATE:  All of this is probably moot this evening as CurrentTV has been sold to Al Jazeera for $500 million. They’re going to shut it down and start a new American based version of their own channel using CurrentTV as its foundation. Don’t know how my pal Joy Behar will fit into that– Al Jazeera is not a lot of laughs.

Al Gore’s Current TV cable channel–which I’ve never been able to find — is in danger of being dropped by Time Warner Cable. New York subscribers received a notice today that Current TV was one of many staples on the cable box — those channels where you’re not sure what’s going on and a few that are brand names–which aren’t financially feasible to carry anymore. Ovation, the arts channel, has already been dropped. Time Warner Cable is not owned anymore by Time Warner, they just have the name, and their service in the New York area has been a big problem ever since Hurricane Sandy.

Here’s the list of channels that could be gone very soon. I’m surprised about Starz, which carries decent original programming even thought they recently cancelled “Boss.” Not surprised about ShopNBC, where two guys hawk quartz watches in the middle of the night. And Lifetime! Not Lifetime! Also, the NHL isn’t even playing hockey. Who would be watching their channels right now? What are they showing? Ice? Melting?

The notice reads:

“Time Warner Cable’s agreements with programmers and broadcasters to carry their services and stations routinely expire from time to time. We are usually able to obtain renewals or extensions of such agreements, but in order to comply with applicable regulations, we must inform you when an agreement is about to expire. The following agreements are due to expire soon, and we may be required to cease carriage of one or more of these services/stations in the near future:

AAJ, Africa Channel, Africa Channel HD, Chinese Channel, Chinese Cinema, CNC World, Current TV, E!, E! HD, Ecuavisa, Encore, Encore HD, Encore Action, Encore Drama, Encore Love, Encore Suspense, Encore Family, Encore Westerns, GOL TV, GOL TV HD, Hallmark, Hallmark HD, Hallmark Movie Channel HD, Halogen, IFC, IFC HD, Jus Punjabi, KBN, LATV, Lifetime, Lifetime HD, Lifetime Movie Network, Lifetime Movie Network HD, Lifetime Real Women, Media Korea TV (MKTV), Music Choice, News 12, NHL Center Ice, NHL Network, NHL Network HD, Ovation, Ovation HD, Polski Radio, ShopNBC, Smithsonian HD, STARZ!, STARZ! HD, Starz Cinema, Starz Comedy, Starz Comedy HD, Starz Edge, Starz Edge HD, Starz in Black, Starz Kids and Family, Starz Kids and Family HD, Style Network, Style Network HD, Supercanal, Telemicro International, The Bangladesh Channel, TV Polonia, WE, WE HD, and Youtoo TV.”

 

“Les Miz” Beats “Django” for Number 2 on New Year’s Eve

Roger Friedman
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1
“Les Miz” Beats “Django” for Number 2 on New Year’s Eve

Which was a better way to celebrate the new year? A wild three hour comedy about slavery and the Civil War or a three hour musical about a student revolt in France in the early 1800s? If you guessed “Les Miserables,” you were correct. Tom Hooper’s magnificent spectacle edged back over Quentin Tarantino’s hilarious and serious “Django Unchained” on New Year’s Eve for second place to “The Hobbit.” “Les Miz” did about $6.3 million to the $5.1 for “Django.” The two films are big hits and having a lot of fun seesawing back and forth on the box office list. There’s an irony there too because Hooper’s Oscar winning success “The King’s Speech” was for The Weinstein Company, which has “Django.” Otherwise, the box office was steady as she goes, with “Jack Reacher” still in fifth place and getting beaten by “Parental Guidance.” “Silver Linings Playbook” added another million dollars plus last night, bringing it to over $28 million.

Marvin Hamlisch Mysteriously Stiffed By New York Times in Year End Wrap Up

Roger Friedman
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6
Marvin Hamlisch Mysteriously Stiffed By New York Times in Year End Wrap Up

Someone at the New York Times doesn’t like composer Marvin Hamlisch. Hamlisch was left out of any mention in this year’s “The Lives They Lived” special New York Times Magazine. He was also omitted from a video feature on musicians and composers who died in 2012 that included everyone from Dave Brubeck to Levon Helm and Davy Jones of the Monkees.

It’s not like the Times didn’t have notice about Hamlisch — who wrote the seminal Broadway hit “A Chorus Line,” won two Oscars, and is best known for “The Way We Were”– all around them. He was the subject of a big tribute on New Year’s Eve by Lincoln Center and PBS. More than a dozen stars performed his music. Not only that, he also was toasted at a beautiful memorial service earlier this fall at the Juilliard School by another long list of stars starting with Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, and Liza Minnelli– and the latter attended all of his pre-funeral gatherings at the Campbell home on Madison Avenue. Former President Bill Clinton even spoke at his funeral.

But someone at the Times either has complete amnesia or has some kind of weird grudge against Hamlisch. The strange thing is, when Hamlisch died suddenly this summer at age 67, this site was flooded with stories from his friends and fans about all his good deeds. There wasn’t a person who knew him, including his ex, Carole Bayer Sager, who didn’t literally sing his praises. Carly Simon, who sang Hamlisch’s “Nobody Does it Better,” was bereft.

But no Times, even though “The Lives They Lived” featured Brooke Shields’ mother. Good work.

Academy Members: Oscar Voting Extended Until January 4

Roger Friedman
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0

Attention Motion Picture Academy members: Oscar voting has been extended until January 4th, giving you an extra 24 hours. Too much confusion over the change to online voting, plus so many movies to watch! You can still use a paper ballot. Whew!I told you two weeks ago that Oscar voters were fretting about the new method of voting. Apparently they’ve conveyed these worries to the proper authorities.

Here’s the press release:

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has extended the deadline for members to vote for Oscar nominations by one day to Friday, January 4, 2013, 5.p.m. PT.  (The original date was Thursday, January 3, 5 p.m. PT).  Members may vote online or submit a paper ballot.  Any votes received after the deadline will not be counted.

“By extending the voting deadline we are providing every opportunity available to make the transition to online balloting as smooth as possible,” said Ric Robertson, Academy COO.  “We’re grateful to our global membership for joining us in this process.”

In order to accommodate the extension and maintain security, the online voting system will be closed for two hours only (5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. PT) on Thursday, January 3. The system will re-open at 7 p.m. PT on January 3 and remain available to members until 5:00 p.m. PT January 4.

“Les Miz” Soundtrack is Number 1, Anne Hathaway Has A Hit Single

Roger Friedman
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3
“Les Miz” Soundtrack is Number 1, Anne Hathaway Has A Hit Single

So. While we were celebrating the holidays, some people bought or downloaded music. And the result is that the soundtrack to “Les Miserables” is number 1, on amazon.com and on iTunes. So it’s number 1 both in physical sales and in virtual ones. “Les Miz” is beating Taylor Swift and all the other little popsters on the charts. Not bad. It’s a rarity for a single release to dominate all the number 1 slots, too– usually the top album on iTunes is something younger, while amazon buyers are older and want the CD. But it does seem like everyone wants “Les Miz.”

And to make it even sweeter, Anne Hathaway as a little bit of a hit with her version of “I Dreamed a Dream.” It’s number 25 on iTunes and 29 on amazon.com. Kudos to Republic Records/Universal Music for ‘getting’ it. Not every hit movie launches a hit CD– witness the “Twilight” movies, which should have sold bundles of CDs, but didn’t exactly.

Meantime, my favorite current CD, Van Morrison’s “Born to Sing: No Plan B,” is number 40 on amazon.com, somewhere on iTunes, and available to anyone who wants to hear some great, authentic soul performed by a legendary genius who has never heard of Taylor Swift or “Twilight.”

An Oscar Guide for Academy Members: Countdown to January 3rd

Roger Friedman
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1
An Oscar Guide for Academy Members: Countdown to January 3rd

The days are winding down to January 3rd, and the deadline for Oscar nominations ballots.

In 2012, we had too many good movies, and not enough great ones. But we had a surfeit of excellent work, to be sure. I’ve chosen 10 best films, but there were more. I would include several non fiction films on a best of list, like “Searching for Sugar Man” and “The Gatekeepers.” But we’ll leave those for the documentary category.

Picking one Best Picture isn’t easy in 2012. “Lincoln” and “Les Miserables” are big achievements. What about “Life of Pi”? Beautiful 3D but a little bit off the mark. “Argo” is a taut drama, but somehow it lacks individual moments. “Zero Dark Thirty’ is great, but it also many question marks surrounding it. Why embellish when you’ve got so much to work with? The Best Picture usually goes to the movie with the most heart– “The King’s Speech,” “The Artist,” “Slumdog Millionaire” fit that bill. “The Hurt Locker” was an exception to the rule, but it was pointedly topical.

“Silver Linings Playbook” may not be everyone’s choice. But it’s a charmer. It also deceptively brilliant moments, and little twists and turns that are unexpected. It’s a dramedy, too–a rare mixture of many successful ingredients. David O. Russell also gave us the single movie with a real beating heart. In the end, that always wins. When you give the audience a real lump-in-the-throat feeling, unmanipulated, that’s movie magic.

 

Best Film
1. Silver Linings Playbook
2. Argo
3. Lincoln
4. Les Miserables
5. Django Unchained
6. Zero Dark Thirty
7. Flight
8. The Intouchables
9. The Master
10. Skyfall

Best Actor
1. Daniel Day Lewis-Lincoln
2. Denzel Washington-Flight
3. Hugh Jackman-Les Miz
4. Christoph Waltz*_Django Unchained
5. Bradley Cooper-Silver Linings Playbook
6. John Hawkes-The Sessions
7. Jamie Foxx-Django Unchained

*some may put Waltz in supporting, but I think that’s a lead performance

 

Best Actress
1. Jennifer Lawrence-Silver Linings Playbook
2. Jessica Chastain-Zero Dark Thirty
3. Marion Cotillard-Rust & Bone
4. Helen Mirren-Hitchcock
5. Naomi Watts-The Impossible
6. Meryl Streep- Hope Springs

Best Supporting Actor
1. Robert DeNiro-Silver Linings Playbook
2. Philip Seymour Hoffman-The Master
3. Tommy Lee Jones-Lincoln
4. Leonardo DiCaprio-Django Unchained
5. Eddie Redmayne-Les Miz
6. Alan Arkin-Zero Dark Thirty
7. Javier Bardem-Skyfall

Best Supporting Actress
1. Anne Hathaway-Les Miz
2. Sally Field-Lincoln
3. Amy Adams-The Master
4. Jennifer Ehle-Zero Dark Thirty
5. Nicole Kidman- The Paperboy
6. Judi Dench-Skyfall

Best Director
1. Steven Spielberg
2. David O. Russell
3. Tom Hooper
4. Quentin Tarantino
5. Ben Affleck
6. Kathryn Bigelow

7. Paul Thomas Anderson

 

Football, Movies, Box Office: No “Silver Lining” for the Eagles, Just for the Movie

Roger Friedman
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1

It must have been a hard afternoon for Pat Solitano and his friends. The Philadelphia Eagles lost to the New York Giants, 42-7.  It would be a crushing defeat if not for the fact that Pat is the fictitious OCD dad played by Robert DeNiro so brilliantly in “Silver Linings Playbook.” He’s completely obsessed with the Eagles. If only they could have reciprocated this season.

At least the movie did great over the weekend, with $27 million in its till even though it’s still in limited release. Eli Manning scored five touchdowns for the Giants, which would have sent the Solitanos into a tailspin. That hurts! Hopefully “Silver Linings Playbook” will be more of a winner than the Eagles.

Meantime:  “The Hobbit” ruled the box office all weekend. But it Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained” that really had a silver lining, taking in $64 million since Christmas Day. “Les Miserables” is a little ahead of it and a little behind it at the same time with an overall total of $67.4 million. Bette Midler and Billy Crystal did ultimately triumph over Tom Cruise, with “Parental Guidance” finishing $800,000 ahead of “Jack Reacher” for the weekend.

Not to bury the lede, but “Skyfall” has just crossed the $1 billion line around the world. That’s yes, one billion dollars. My guess is they can bring back Judi Dench someway for the next one. Hologram? Ghost?

Bloomberg Rationalizes Random Killing. But I Knew Sunando Sen

Roger Friedman
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27
Bloomberg Rationalizes Random Killing. But I Knew Sunando Sen

UPDATE 9:15PM SATURDAY NIGHT: I’ve just read Erika Menendez’s statement that she pushed Sunando on purpose, that she “hated Muslims.” She’s crazy, of course, but well enough to be convicted I hope of this hideous crime. This is heartbreaking, that her racism and “insanity” could have resulted in such a tragedy. Sunando truly is the most inncent victim of a hate crime.

Six years ago this past summer I had to remove half century old glass slides from their protective holders and digitize them. They were pictures taken in the 1950s, of my my grandparents’ anniversary, and my parents’ wedding, circa 1956. The slides were used for a 3D Stereograph which no longer worked. No one knew what to do with those slides, how to make them into prints. I called several film labs downtown. Only one person volunteered that he could give it a try. His name was Sunando Sen, and he worked at the NY Copy Center on East 11th St. and Fourth Avenue.

For two or three weeks in the summer of 2006 Sunando and I worked on this little project by phone, email and in person. What do I remember of him? He was patient, mainly. He worked painstakingly to get the pictures right– photos of my parents, then 24 and 22, cutting their wedding cake, my grandparents glowing, great aunts and uncles all the age I am now. My great grandfather is all smiles. He made a relatively complicated procedure easy, and he was happy to do it. There is now an album of photos we thought had been lost to time and technology thanks to Sunando. I never saw him again.

On Thursday night, two nights ago, I took my twin nieces, age 12, to see “Mummenshanz” downtown at NYU. We took the number 1 train back uptown around 10pm. The train stopped a couple of times and the conductor announced, ominously, “There is no number 7 train service due to police activity.” A couple of women, maybe a little tipsy, tourists, asked: “What does that mean?” I said, and my nieces remember it, “It has nothing whatsoever to do with us. Don’t worry.”

It wasn’t until Friday that I realized what had happened: the police activity was about Sunando, who’d been pushed to his death from an elevated train platform by a crazy woman. It was an act of random violence, committed against someone I had actually, briefly, known. You think of these things as remote atrocities–school shootings or theater killings in Colorado, for example. Then a whole class of small children and their teachers are killed in a Connecticut town not far from where I grew up. And a man who was once so helpful and nice to me has been killed. All for no reason.

Mayor Bloomberg says to keep Sunando’s death in perspective and remember how safe the subway is. That’s nice; Mayor Mike spends the weekends in Bermuda. Here in the real world, on the ground floor, it’s not quite so easy.  Bloomberg doesn’t have to meet actual New Yorkers. He can just read about them. For him, we are fictional characters.

Sunando Sen was a real person. I knew him the way a lot of New Yorkers know each other. We pass through each others’ lives. Sunando didn’t tell me anything about his personal life, but he was surprised that I had this family, that I knew who everyone was from before I was born. I remember telling him stories about each one. Now I know from reading about him, Sundando had no immediate family. He had roommates, and they cared about him. But I’ll never forget what good care he took of my family six summers ago. A gentle man, may be rest in peace. I’ll try to keep it in perspective.

Box Office: “The Hobbit” Hits $200 Mil US, “Django” Beats “Les Miz” on Friday Night

Roger Friedman
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0
Box Office: “The Hobbit” Hits $200 Mil US, “Django” Beats “Les Miz” on Friday Night

The Friday box office put “Django Unchained” back at number 2, just beating “Les Miserables” for the spot. But both movies are booming, which is good for the box office and their respective studios. The Weinstein Company really needed “Django” to jump start its bottom line since “The Master” never took off and “Silver Linings Playbook” has been a slow and steady earner. All three movies will be up for Oscars certainly. Meanwhile: Universal, even with “Ted” and “The Lorax” finally gets their mass appeal Oscar nominee in “Les Miz,” the best of all worlds.

But “The Hobbit” has jolted back to number as kids took the box office back from adults. On Friday “The Hobbit” crossed the $200 million mark in the US. It’s a massive worldwide hit as part four of “Lord of the Rings.” Let’s hope the profits are divided more quickly and evenly than when the “LOTR” actors were filing lawsuits and going to the press.

And yes, poor “Jack Reacher” keeps getting beaten for fourth place by “Parental Guidance.” Tom Cruise suffering at the hands of Bette Midler and Billy Crystal. Every day a half a million dollar separates them. And then Tom has to suffer the indignity of a fake “girlfriend” on the cover of every tabloid. Read my review of “Jack Reacher” elsewhere on this site today.

One more thing: for some reason “Zero Dark Thirty” is struggling. Would a wide release have been the way to go? Oscar nominations on January 10th should help give it a push.

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