ABC has announced that “All My Children” will wrap up on September 23, 2011. There was already an announcement about the end of “One Life to Live” for the third week of January. And don’t be shocked when they issue the death knell for “General Hospital,” to make room for Katie Couric. It’s just a watching and waiting game now, mostly to see how the completely unwanted replacement shows–the dreaded “Chew”–will do once they hit the air. As I’ve said before, the wholesale killing of the soap operas is a huge mistake and one that will resonate for years. Starting in the late fall, ABC daytime will be absent all of its tentpole personalities: Regis Philbin, Susan Lucci, Erika Slezak and the whole “One Life to Live” gang, and, of course, Oprah. That’s a lot of audience loyalty to throw out the window at once. On top of that, “One Life to Live,” which has received little support from ABC over the years. is doing great right now in the ratings. It’s the third highest rated of the six remaining soaps, beating both “General Hospital” and CBS’s “Bold and the Beautiful,” as well as “All My Children.” “OLTL” is doing so well, and building every week, that by its end in January ABC Daytime is going to have a lot of angry viewers to deal with. But Procter & Gamble and CBS got away with killing their shows, so ABC probably figures why not? Meanwhile there are reports–unsubstantiated–that ABC has turned down offers to sell the shows. If that’s true, it’s worse than stupid.
Tom Hanks Sends “Larry Crowne” to College, Gets an “Incomplete”
What the heck is wrong with “Larry Crowne”? Tom Hanks is a great actor and producer. He also directed a terrific film called “That Thing You Do.” But he isn’t a writer, and it shows in “Larry Crowne.” Nia Vardalos had a great idea with this movie–at 55, a guy who’s never been to college loses his job at a Wal Mart type place and has to take classes at a local community college. He’s divorced, and falls in love with one of his teachers.
That’s the whole idea. There’s nothing else. The idea is a concept, a pitch, to which no one apparently said, “And then what happens?” Because nothing happens. Tom is the guy, Julia Roberts is the teacher. The main character is developed a little. Julia’s teacher, unbelievably named Mercedes–and called “Mercy” by her pals–is an unconvincing drunk with a lout of a husband (the under-utilized Bryan Cranston).
Here’s what else is going on: Larry has black neighbors right out of a sitcom (Cedric the Entertainer, Taraji P. Henson), and a cute black school friend (Gugu Mbatha Raw). Mercy has a black best friend played by the ever great Pam Grier. And of course, these characters are the soothsayers. They’re the reality check for Larry and Mercy. It’s great that the movie employs so many black actors, but it would be swell if they weren’t all cliches. I’m still not sure what the story was about Cedric’s character–a guy who won $500,000 in the lottery and now holds a permanent tag sale on his front lawn. Taraji is completely wasted. Gugu makes a very strong debut.
“Larry Crowne” is only 99 minutes, but it could run fine at 45. There’s one story, and it’s told slowly as it is. Hanks and Vardalos came up with nothing even remotely interesting for the other characters in Mercy’s classes, or any backstory for Larry or Mercy, and no plot. Also, theirs is a sexless romance. For a midlife sex story, think of Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin in “It’s Complicated.” There’s none of that fun or wit in “Larry Crowne.” There are just innumerable missed opportunities for stories–like Larry never resolving his situation at work or having any thoughts about what’s happened to him. He just does what the script tells him to do.
At the end of the credits you will see “No animals were harmed.” And no stories were told. If Larry wrote this script at the community college I’m afraid he’d get an “Incomplete.”
PS “Larry Crowne” is a family affair. Hanks’s real life actress wife, Rita Wilson, appears in a blonde wig as a banker. I like Rita, and she’s cute in her scenes with Tom. Their son, Chet “Haze” Hanks, makes what I think is his feature film debut as a pizza delivery boy who gets to yell at Julia: “You’re hot!”
Oscar Movies First Half 2011: Woody Allen and Not Much Else
The first half of 2011 is coming to an end, and what do we have for the next Academy Awards? Not much, I’m afraid. The only real contender for a Best Picture nomination is Woody Allen‘s “Midnight in Paris.” The drum beats louder for this film every day, with Woody in contention for Best Director and Screenplay, and acting nominations possible for Owen Wilson and Marion Cotillard (Golden Globes certainly) and Corey Stoll, who plays Ernest Hemingway. Alison Pill is also memorable as Zelda Fitzgerald.
Other than Woody, though, it’s a bleak look back. Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life” is a mess, although Brad Pitt does very good work. The movie itself is not a Best Picture nominee; it’s incomprehensible. Then there are some miscellaneous acting achievements. Christopher Plummer is a Best Supporting Actor candidate in “Beginners,” a movie that’s been botched in its release. “Beginners” is just terrific, but I’d wager that most people have never heard of it. I also really liked Hiam Abbass in Julian Schnabel’s little seen “Miral.” She should be considered for Supporting Actress.
Mostly though it’s been a sad period in cinematic history. Will things pick up? We have to wait until July 22nd, when “Another Earth” and “Sarah’s Key” will make things more interesting, and July 29th when Dominic Cooper arrives in a spray of bullets and mayhem with “The Devil’s Double.” Until then: read a book.
Transformers, Larry Crowne: Will Bad Reviews Matter This Weekend?
This weekend’s two big movies are “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” (the title sounds like it’s missing “side” but maybe Pink Floyd would object) and “Larry Crowne.” They have respectively, 36% and 37% ratings on rottentomatoes.com–very bad reviews, the worst, really. Aside from Tony Scott having too much caffeine or sugar, the New York Times review is not very good. The rest are much worse.
Paramount is wisely just pushing “Transformers” as a product and will just try and make the most money it can over the five day holiday–from today through Monday. Internationally, “Transformers” will do great because it requires no language skills. In the U.S. I’m sure it will break some kind of record that no one cares about–best opening for a semi-coherent movie opening on a Wednesday in June but ending on a Monday in July.
“Larry Crowne” comes next. The affable Tom Hanks and the strident Julia Roberts are said to have no chemistry at all in what has been described by some as “embarrassing” or “like a Nickelodeon film.” But I do trust Tom Hanks. He co-wrote the film with Nia Vardalos, and directed it. It sounds like a straight PG movie, not even PG-13. But this weekend, with “Transformers” uninteresting to anyone over 20, “Larry Crowne” may overcome its saccharine provenance and bring in the adults who’d like to a movie in which nothing explodes.
On the other hand, the winner of the over 20 box office this weekend may be Woody Allen‘s “Midnight in Paris.” With $28.7 million already banked domestically, “Paris” is a big hit. It’s the only film from the first six months of 2011 with Oscar potential. And people love it. They just love it. They haven’t loved a Woody Allen film this much in 25 years. And it had great reviews, and great word of mouth. If “Larry Crowne” doesn’t make it, “Paris” will have been its downfall. And who could have anticipated that? No one. It’s not even in 3D!
Mark Ruffalo Hulks Up, Karen Elson Raves On
Mark Ruffalo was in New York last night on a furlough from making “The Avengers” down in New Mexico. Ruffalo and beautiful wife Sunrise came into the city from upstate New York (where they’re still fighting the freaking fracking) to see pal Tara Subkoff’s launch of her Imitation designer line at the Jane Hotel. Later Mark and Sunrise had dinner with Tara and Oscar winning “King’s Speech” director Tom Hooper. (By the way, the new Gitanes restaurant at the Jane Hotel–a former SRO that still by law houses some of its previous long term tenants– is terrific and not expensive.)
Mark is playing the Incredible Hulk and his alter ego David Banner in the Marvel all-star movie that includes Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson. “I’m the first to play both parts,” said Mark, the Hulk and Banner. For the Hulk, he says, it’s all stop-capture animation. He hasn’t seen the work he’s done yet, and his costume isn’t pretty.
“You’ll never see what I’m wearing on screen. But it’s the ugliest thing ever. It’s embarrassing.” The costume is really a technical tool that Ruffalo must wear while shooting his Hulk sequences. The Oscar nominated actor, by the way, says he was a little afraid of Samuel L. Jackson when he met him. “He’s
Samuel L. Jackson, for chrrissakes!” said Ruffalo.
Also at the Imitation party, where Subkoff showed off her very cute and Chaplinesque short silent film of a damsel in distress wearing Imitation: supermodel and singer Karen Elson, now ex wife of White Stripes singer-musician Jack White. Even though the pair have parted after six years and two kids, they are still good friends, Karen says. They even recorded a Buddy Holly song together for the just released tribute album, “Rave On.” “We had just separated but it was fine,” Karen said. “Jack may even play on my next album.”
If you missed all this– I know, I did–Karen and Jack recently had a party in Nashville to celebrate their divorce.
You can see Karen’s work–it’s really good– at www.karenelson.com.
Hollywood Memorial for Laura Ziskin: Over 1000 Attend
The memorial late this afternoon in Hollywood for Laura Ziskin was like a Who’s Who of players. Ziskin, really beloved, died on June 12th at age 61 after a seven year battle with breast cancer. She produced the “Spider Man” movies and twice ran the Oscars. Wolfgang Puck catered the party at Sony’s Studio 15,thanks to Laura’s great pal, Sony Pictures chief Amy Pascal. The event was lavish, reports Leah Sydney. “The place was decorated like a movie set, with video screens and slides of Laura from her various movies,” said one guest., Laura’s husband, the famed screenwriter Alvin Sargent, was composed and spent a lot of time comforting people, sources say. The entire event was branded for Stand up For Cancer, the organization Laura founded. Guests included all the top Hollywood agents, as well “Jerry Maguire” stars Renee Zellweger and Cuba Gooding, Jr., “Spider Man” star Tobey Maguire, Sally Field, director Sam Raimi, plus Warren Beatty, Sherry Lansing, William Friedkin, Mike Medavoy, Linda Obst, Sid Ganis, Peter Chernin, Arnold Kopelson, etc.
Australian country singer, Delta Goodrem, herself a cancer survivor, sang with a couple of musicians throughout the memorial. Hats were given out from Stand Up with Cancer” that read: “What Would Laura Do?”
Julia Barry, Laura’s daughter, spoke first: “The only thing my mom hid behind was her chic pair of sunglasses. My mom had unfaltering character, no pretense, no bullshit.” The theme of the memorial was Laura’s fearlessness. Just three weeks before she died, Laura had flown to Washington to help raise money for Stand Up for Cancer.  Sally Field spoke; Sally and Laura had their first production company together. “Laura was bold, inspired, tough, vulnerable and often frightened. She was simply my best friend.” Sam Raimi: “If Laura had produced this she would never have me follow Sally Field. We worked together for 10 years on Spider Man. We spent many hours at their home finding out what made [Spider Man] wonderful.” Emma Stone spoke about Stand Up for Cancer: “I wish I could say that Laura did not keep a list of the actors who did not participate in Stand up for Cancer. Just kidding. It will be published in Variety tomorrow,” she joked. Tobey Maguire choked up reading a letter from a cancer research. Alvin Sargent, the award winning writer of “Ordinary People” and dozens of other screenplays including “Spider Man”: “She always got what she wanted. She said I want I want. 9For the 2002 Oscars] she wanted Woody Allen and got him.” A video was shown of Ziskin and Sargent’s wedding from last year–after 25 years of living together.
Laura’s ashes will spread in the Pacific Ocean. On a personal note, I can tell you that when Laura produced her two Oscar shows, she was incredibly wonderful to deal with. Everyone at the memorial apparently spoke of Laura’s integrity, honesty and work ethic. Hollywood loses someone irreplaceable with Laura. Rest in peace.
Laura Ziskin produced: “Pretty Woman,” “The Doctor” with William Hurt, “What About Bob?” with Bill Murray (and wrote it, too), “No Way Out,” with Kevin Costner, “To Die For,” with Nicole Kidman, “As Good As It Gets” with Jack Nicholson, and the three “Spider Man” movies, among others.
Tawdry “Transformers”: Shia Says He Shagged Megan Fox
No wonder Paramount doesn’t want press at tonight’s New York premiere for the latest “Transformers.” Everyone is in trouble. The early reviews aren’t so good. And the principals are all in trouble. Shia LaBeouf, who’s always very polite and nice in person, has just told Details magazine that he and former co-star Megan Fox had an affair — even though she was engaged to former “Beverly Hills 90210” star Brian Austin Green. Shia–not so Shy-ya.
From Details: Asked if he hooked up with Fox, LaBeouf nods affirmatively. “Look, you’re on the set for six months, with someone who’s rooting to be attracted to you, and you’re rooting to be attracted to them,” he explains. “I never understood the separation of work and life in that situation. But the time I spent with Megan was our own thing, and I think you can see the chemistry onscreen.” When I inquire about Fox’s status at the time with her longtime boyfriend, Brian Austin Green, LaBeouf replies, “I don’t know, man. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. . . .”—repeating the phrase exactly 12 times with various intonations, as if trying to get it just right. Finally, he says, “It was what it was.”
OK. I hope Details writer Aaron Gell got that on tape.
Then, of course, there were the reports last week that Fox was fired from the franchise on orders from exec producer Steven Spielberg. Fox told a British magazine of Bay: “[Bay] wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is,So he’s a nightmare to work for but when you get him away from set, and he’s not in director mode, I kind of really enjoy his personality because he’s so awkward, so hopelessly awkward…He has no social skills at all,” she continued. “And it’s endearing to watch him. He’s vulnerable and fragile in real life and then on set he’s a tyrant.”
Only one media outlet is allowed into tonight’s premiere; they made some kind of deal to play nice. I’m sure we’ll see the results. Paramount chief Brad Grey is wisely staying away from all this tonight. He is a smart man.
Broadway “Spider Man” Defies Critics: $1.7Mil in Ticket Sales Last Week
“Spider Man: Turn off the Dark” is bigger than ever. Defying the critics and naysayers, the troubled Broadway musical is troubled no more. Having actually opened on June 14th, the Julie Taymor re-imagined show did $1.7 million in ticket sales last week. It was actually up by $500,000 from the week before. Go figure. This week, the show will do around $1.5 million. This means it’s really sold out, and people are coming not to see accidents among the cast. They’re really going to see the show itself, which is not so much changed but rearranged from its former incarnation. The only shows doing better than “Spider Man” are “The Lion King” and “Wicked.” Now maybe the “Spider Man” producers will settle their financial situation with Taymor, who stands to make money from royalties but is still due her upfront fees after all this time. And hopefully future producers will have learned a lesson from this nightmare: figure out your problems out of town, not on Broadway where the vultures circle daily looking for prey.
Lady Gaga Saga: Number 20 on ITunes, No. 8 on Charts and Less than 50,000 Copies
UPDATE: All the numbers are in. Lady Gaga‘s “Born this Way” has dropped to number 8 on the pop charts and number 20 on ITunes. The total for last week is just less than 50,000 copies. By contrast, Adele remains at number 1 with over 100,000 copies sold again last week. “Born this Way” has just completely dropped, like air running quickly from an inflatable ball. So weird. But the amazon thing really hurt. Lady Gaga’s fans feel that amazon bought those 440,000 copies at full price, so what’s the difference? The difference is, the promotion hurt the artist. It devalued her CD. Only amazon did well by that move. What’s worse is that there seems to be no big single to follow up “Born this Way.” I hate to think what that “Judas” video cost. Oh my. If you look at the “Judas” entries on YouTube, it would seem like there have been 85 million views of either the video or the song lyrics. But that didn’t translate into further CD sales. “Edge of Glory” remains the number 6 single on the Billboard and ITunes charts. PS The number 9 album this week from Weird Al, featuring a parody of “Born this Way.”
See “NYC Prep” Star Slash Lover In Our Video Player
My, do the kids ever grow up! It was only a year ago that Kelli Brooke Tomashoff graduated from high school was supposed to head off to Boston University. The nice girl who played herself on Bravo’s “NYC Prep,” a reality show, has found something to do this summer, however. She’s got a single called “Gave Up on Love,” which is pretty catchy. She just calls herself Kelli now. She can sing, maybe. And she’s cute. On top of that, she slashes her boyfriend’s throat in video, which can now be seen below. Kelli’s motto: If you can’t dress like an egg, you might as well kill someone. Revenge videos are in! Of course the boyfriend deserved it, he’s seeing someone else. And now (fictional) Kelli can give up on love. And start paying lawyers. The real Kelli is the daughter of wealthy New York parents who own a printing company in the city and a lavish estate in the Westhampton area. Kelli is obviously taking a page from the parents’ entrepreneurial playbook. Good for her!