Friday, December 19, 2025
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Trump Social Media Freak Out After Emails, Texts Tie Him and Cronies to Georgia Election Manipulation

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Donald Trump is blowing his stack on social media.

Revelations this morning on CNN that tie emails and texts from him and his group of cronies to 2020 Georgia election manipulation are freaking him out.

He still thinks his famous phone call to the Georgia Secretary of State looking for extra votes for the 2020 election was a “perfect.” So he’s calling Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis a “phoney” — a juvenile play on the word phony — and screaming like a stuck pig.

The brilliant and determined Ms. Willis knows what she’s doing. This week she will indict Trump and his pals including Rudy Giuliani, and it will be worse than his three other indictments and all other lawsuits.

Box Office: Barbenheimer Combo Hits $750 Million After Just 22 Days, But Newest Film of Week Opens in 5th Place

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The “Barbenheimer” express is booming along.

Last night, “Barbie” crossed the $500 million line and “Oppenheimer” hit $250 million. That’s just in 22 days of release. Cowabunga! The cross marketing of these films was absolute genius. The result is big bucks for everyone, especially the movie theaters. They’re no doubt selling popcorn and soda by the ton.

On the negative side, “The Last Voyage of the Demeter,” which cost around $60 million, capsized last night with just $1.9 million. This will be a total write off for Universal. No one knows what a Demeter is, and apparently no one wants to.

“Asteroid City” meanwhile is still playing in 63 theaters despite starting on Peacock streaming. It made $10,000 last night, which can be added to its total of $27.8 million. Even if the entire A list cast was paid scale, just the cost of shooting in Spain and flying everyone around first class, plus the hotels and food etc, the P&L sheet on this movie must be fascinating. One actor who has no lines told me he was there for six weeks!

Donald Trump — Barred from Attacking Jack Smith — Mocks Atlanta DA Fani Willis as “Phoney”

Now that Donald Trump is barred from attacking special prosecutor Jack Smith, he’s found a new target.

Trump has this morning gone after Atlanta DA Fani Willis, mocking her as “phoney.” Willis is about to bring charges against Trump and many of his cronies and associates over trying to steal the 2020 election.

Trump laughingly calls his famous phone call to Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia Secretary of State,

to find him 11,780 votes,

a “PERFECT PHONE CALL.” Raffensberger is just waiting to testify against Trump in court and has probably already done him in with grand jury testimony.

Soon Willis will be asking for a protective order also. As Judge Chutkan said to Trump yesterday in Washington, “Your First Amendment rights are not absolute.”

With “Oppenheimer” Booming, Universal Goes Belly Up with $750K Previews for Dracula On the Water Flop “Demeter”

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This will be the last voyage of the Demeter, whatever the heck that is.

Last night Universal unleashed “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” and it sank to the bottom of the ocean.

Previews brought in $750,000. Total budget is announced as $45 million, which means $60 million probably. No stars, no idea what it’s about, and terrible reviews. Rotten Tomatoes: 36%.

Universal is booming right now with “Oppeheimer,” closing in on $250 million, raves, and awards coming. So they can take on the chin. But this sounds pretty bad.

The movie is about Dracula at sea, chomping on people from Transylvania to London. I guess the ship is called the Demeter. It’s the worst title in movie history.

At least there will be no sequels.

Vampires — at least Dracula– are suddenly out of fashion. Who’d a-thunk it?

Broadway Review: The Shark Has Big Teeth, Dear in Comedy Satire of “Jaws” That Devours Spielberg’s First Big Hit

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“The Shark is Broken” is funny but is the play that satirizes the making of “Jaws”? The answer is yes and no.

Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon’s often hilarious comedy, “The Shark is Broken,” is the saga of Bruce the Shark not working while the main trio of “Jaws” actors sits around for 9 weeks in the water off of Martha’s Vineyard. We get three determined and spot on players, too — Shaw, son of the actor Robert, playing his father; Colin Donnell as a preening Roy Scheider, and Alex Brightman as a self-absorbed Richard Dreyfuss who’s just between “Duddy Kravitz” and “Close Encounters.”

Shaw has been working on this a long time. His father was a distinguished and anguished actor who died from a massive heart attack at age 51 in 1978 when Ian just nine years old. Robert Shaw was already a big deal from “The Sting” (1973) and “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” when “Jaws” was released in 1975. Robert Shaw left a legacy for his sons who were never old enough to really know their father.

Robert Shaw was a talented writer and theater actor, as well. You can tell Ian, now two years older than his father lived, has inherited these skills. In “The Shark is Broken” we’re watching him not only send up “Jaws” — a movie he undoubtedly could act out himself — but work out his life. The laughs — and there are many — are alternated with Ian’s attempts to recapture the highlight period of his dad’s career.

“The Shark is Broken” gets a lot of it laughs from being able to milk jokes that are set ups from the perspective of 1974, when they shot the film, til today. “Do you think anyone will be talking about this movie in 50 years?” “I suspect movies in the future will just be sequels or remakes or remakes of sequels” declares the the ’74 Shaw. There are also jokes about Nixon and the future of the country, etc. They get a big response.

Alex Brightman makes for a devastating Dreyfuss, who is easily and lovingly lampooned. Donnell – who strips down to a Speedo — captures Scheider’s serious no- nonsense side. Off stage we hear the voice of the very young Steven Spielberg trying to organize all these ego’s and the shark and crew.

Despite a late summer opening, the stars turned out last night for the opening: Christian Slater, Rachel Zegler (herself a Spielberg graduate), Marina Squerciati (from “Chicago PD”), Andrew Rannells, Nikki M. James, and a lot of actors enjoying theater and hoping for a quick end to the strikes!

By all means, go see “The Shark is Broken” for the laughs, which are many, and the really vivid background video screen of the rippling ocean and billowing sails of boats. Sharks are back, you know!

Trump Waves White Flag, Tones Down Attacks on Judge, Prosecutor On Day Before Crucial Protective Order Hearing

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Donald Trump has surrendered – for the moment.

Trump is waving a white flag today on his Truth Social. His two attack posts are toothless complaints about Joe Biden. Nothingburgers, really.

Facing a major hearing tomorrow on the DOJ’s request for a protective order, Trump is no longer savagely messing with Judge Tanya Chutkan, special prosecutor Jack Smith, or even the Department of Justice. His lawyers must have finally interceded and taken away his posting rights.

How long will this silence last? Will he ever be held in contempt of the court? I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.

Here are today’s rather sad posts:

Box Office: “Barbie” Toys with Crossing $500 Mil US on Friday Even with Very Slight Slowdown

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Look, the “Barbie” box office has to slow down eventually. Last night you could see the beginnings of it with a daily gross of $7.35 million.

But that was slight. Tomorrow, Friday. Warner Bros’s cash cow will cross the $500 million mark in the US. It’s well over $1 billion worldwide. The juggernaut will continue through Labor Day weekend at least.

Hasn’t everyone already seen it? Twice? But this like “Top Gun Maverick” or “Spider Man No Way Home” or “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Once the pinball is stuck bouncing around in the top of the game, the bell just keeps ringing!

Ka ching! Ka ching! Ka ching!

PS Barbra Streisand should consider changing the name of her coming book to “Barbie.” Guaranteed best seller!

Taylor Swift Dropping Her Biggest Re-recorded Album Yet, “1989,” In October in 4 Different Versions

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Taylor Swift has been on tour most of this year, selling out stadiums like crazy.

Still, she had time to finish the re-recorded version of her best selling “1989” album. It’s dropping on October 27th in four collectible versions.

This means its debut should be as big as “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” which debuted a few weeks ago with over 700,000 copies sold– and now closing in one 1 million. Taylor’s fans buy all the versions available at once when she releases music. “1989” will be no exception.

Pre-ordering has already begun, with a clever marketing gimmick: the versions are “only available” from now through this weekend, or “until supplies last.” Supplies won’t last long, trust me.

It’s been Taylor’s year! So far this year, Taylor has sold 9 million records of some kind!

Emmy Awards Set Jan 15 for Show, Joining Critics Choice for Blow Out Hollywood Weekend Deals Death Blow to Golden Globes

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The Emmy Awards will happen, after all.

But not until Monday, January 15th, 2024. That’s the day after the Critics Choice Awards on January 14th, making a blow out Hollywood weekend.

Moving the Emmys to that weekend also deals a death blow to the Golden Globes, which still don’t have a broadcast partner anyway. The Globes took the Sunday one week earlier– January 7th. But now if they find a partner, the Globes will be silo’d away from this huge awards fest coming the next week.

Of course, all of this is moot if the strikes aren’t over. But reasonable people and minds must prevail so that the strikes will be long in the past by then.

As for the Globes, since they were sold to Todd Boehly’s Eldridge Partners, there are more questions than answers. What happened to the Hollywood Foreign Press? Who would vote on the Golden Globes, and how? They might be smart to delay until February now since August is quickly disappearing. The big question is how this will affect travel for the HFPA members. Will they be spending lavishly on travel to film festivals?

Anyway, look for January 15th weekend to be a big party in Hollywood!

Review: Only In-Jokes in the Building as Steve Martin & Crew Let Meryl Streep Steal Season 3 of “Only Murders in the Building”

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I can’t be objective: I love “Only Murders in the Building.” I’ve looked forward to Season 3 and so far I’m not disappointed. (I have a lot of episodes on the press site, but I’m trying to watch the show in real time.)

Hulu dropped the first two episodes of Season 3 last night, and, of course, they are a lot of fun. Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez are back sniffing for clues in the murder of Paul Rudd’s Broadway actor, a flash forward that was offered at the end of Season 2.

Now Short’s Oliver Putnam has the chance to direct a Broadway play, a fake chestnut called “Death Rattle” (like “Death Trap”). Rudd is the star, Ben, whose real career is making Bruce Willis-type TV shows and movies. Martin’s Charles is cast in the play. and as we all know Charles had one big hit TV series long ago, which has kept him alive.

Episode 1 goes back to tell the story of Ben’s murder,e which doesn’t seem to fit the show’s premise– only murders in the building. So Ben dies twice, once on stage, and once in Amy Schumer’s apartment he’s subletting in the Arconia. Rudd continues to appear even though he’s dead, as Gomez’s Mabel imagines conversations with him.

The big twist this season: the addition of Meryl Streep, The Greatest Actress in the World, as a terrible actress who Oliver casts in the play. Only she’s not so bad. Streep has an audition speech that is pure Oscar, she’s mesmerizing. She’s also game to send herself up. At the first table read of “Death Rattle,” Streep — who is known for playing Polish, French, German, British, Italian, Australian, etc — tries out different inappropriate accents for her character. It’s hilarious. She also gets to sing, and dammit, you know she’s good!

There’s another little Easter egg in Episode 1, and believe it not, I have a slight connection to it. Charles — er, Martin — is very relieved when he thinks “Death Rattle” will close early. He says, a couple of times, he doesn’t think he’s up to the task of getting through 8 performances a week.

This sounded familiar to yours treuly. Back in 1989, I edited a monthly magazine called Fame. We were going to feature Steve Martin on the cover. I sent the legendary biographer Patricia Bosworth to interview him for the profile. They had lunch at fancy pants Sant Ambroeus on Madison Avenue. They had a great time and Patti turned in a terrific piece.

All was groovy until the fact checker checked Martin’s quotes with him. The gifted actor and comedian bristled when he heard that he’d complained about appearing at Lincoln Center Theatre the prior year in Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” with Robin Williams. Mike Nichols directed the 25 performances, and reviews had not been kind. Now, in retrospect, Martin told Bosworth that Broadway’s 8 shows a week schedule was too brutal for him, or anyone. The gist of his comments were, “How can be expected to do that?” He thought it was barbaric!

Martin insisted he never said it, and wanted the quote stricken. We panicked at the idea of removing it. But Patti had the tapes, and the transcripts. He certainly did say it, and the quotes went into the story. Thirty two years later, Martin — who went on to write and appear in the terrific Broadway musical, “Bright Star” — obviously remembered this and used it as fodder for Charles. I nearly fell off my chair as he declared the Broadway schedule for “Death Rattle” too severe!

“Only Murders” will go on to figure out who killed Ben. Of course, I’m sure it’s Streep’s Loretta. But that would be a red herring, and too easy. Much more about Ben is going to come out. They’ve got the very adept Ashley Park in there, from “Emily in Paris” and “Mean Girls” on Broadway. She also seems like a good suspect. And there’s also Ben’s assistant, played by Jeremy Shamos. And so on.

So buckle up. I can’t wait for next Tuesday!