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Happy Birthday Maceo Parker, Key to James Brown’s Music. Most Brilliant Sax Man Alive

Roger Friedman
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Happy Birthday Maceo Parker, Key to James Brown’s Music. Most Brilliant Sax Man Alive

Happy Birthday to Maceo Parker, who turned 79 years young today.

Maceo, his name is known because James Brown shouts out so often on his dozens of hit records. Mr. Brown’s music (we were always asked to call him Mr. Brown) depended so much on Maceo blowing his sax or other horns that were available. The more I listen to James Brown over the years (and thanks to Sirius Soul Town for programming so much of it), the more I am in awe of the intricacies of the records And it’s Maceo who always sounds fresh and inspired, never old, always original. God bless.

 

Oscars News: Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes, Regina Hall Will Be Hosting Trio for ABC Broadcast March 27th

Roger Friedman
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Oscars News: Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes, Regina Hall Will Be Hosting Trio for ABC Broadcast March 27th

Variety had a great scoop earlier this afternoon. Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes, and Regina Hall will be the three hosts for the Oscars on March 27th.

The big announcement will come tomorrow morning on “Good Morning America.”

Variety says the Academy talked to men, notably Jon Hamm, but he dropped out.

These three women are eclectic choices. But they’re all capable, and at this point the idea is to get the job done without embarrassment. This trio should be able to do that and more. Schumer and Sykes are very funny. Hall is an accomplished actress who is doing comedy lately in a movie we saw via Sundance called “Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul!”

Why the Academy didn’t go for some of the names bandied about on Twitter is clear: they weren’t available. A lot of people wanted Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez from the Hulu series, “Only Murders in the Building.” Another group campaigned for Tom Holland and Zendaya from “Spider Man.”

But what we want or desire on social media isn’t necessarily practical. The Oscars are a month late this year. Actors are busy and have schedules. So you can’t just call people up and say Come on over. A lot of work is involved.

So we look forward to Schumer, Sykes, and Hall (sounds like a law firm) to get us through the three hours on March 27th. There should be five great musical performances, and plenty of entertainment for everyone.

The Oscars Make A Slight Move to Improve Popularity with Public Vote for Favorite Movie

Roger Friedman
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The Oscars Make A Slight Move to Improve Popularity with Public Vote for Favorite Movie

The Oscars are making a slight move to improve popularity.

Sort of taking a page from the People’s Choice, the Motion Picture Academy is reportedly going to let fans vote on Twitter for their favorite movie of the year. The film doesn’t have to have been nominated. It’s likely that “Spider Man: No Way Home” will win that vote, and that will make everyone happy.

The Academy is trying to reach out more to the public. Three Twitter users who cast their votes during between today and March 3rd, the deadline for the public vote will be selected — along with their guests — to have an all-expenses-paid trip to Los Angeles to present an Oscarat the 2023 ceremony.

Times change, and the Academy must change with them. No one who’s “old school” wants to do this, but it has to be done to make the Oscars more populist and inclusive.

The Twitter hashtag is #OscarsFanFavorite. Who knows? Maybe “House of Gucci” will beat “Spider Man.” You never know. @LadyGaga fans, get moving!

PS Already Zack Snyder’s Justice League is picking up a lot of votes!

 

“Juno,” “Up in the Air” Director Jason Reitman on Death of Dad Ivan Reitman: “I’ve lost my hero”

Roger Friedman
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“Juno,” “Up in the Air” Director Jason Reitman on Death of Dad Ivan Reitman: “I’ve lost my hero”

Jason Reitman, son of director Ivan Reitman, is not alone grieving his dad today. The “Ghostbusters” director is receiving hundreds of tributes on social media.

Jason writes: “I’ve lost my hero.
All I want is the chance to tell my father one more story.
He came from a family of survivors and turned his legacy into laughter.
Thank you for the kind messages. Enjoy his movies and remember his storytelling gifts. Nothing would make him happier.”

I know the feeling. I lost my dad a year ago December and it’s just terrible. Jason, sending all condolences.

I’m a little surprised that the Toronto newspapers didn’t make a bigger deal of this. The Reitman family has been hugely important up there. Ivan Reitman’s father Leslie and his mother Klara brought him to Toronto from Eastern Europe in 1950. They were Holocaust survivors. Klara was in Auschwitz. Leslie ran a dry cleaners and then bought a car wash in what was a run down warehouse district. They donated property to create a headquarters for the Toronto Film Festival. Neither the Globe and Mail nor the Toronto Sun mentioned that today, or that the corner is called Reitman Square.

Get with it, Toronto media.

RIP Ivan Reitman, Beloved Director of “Ghostbusters,” “Dave,” Producer of “Animal House,” Schwarzenegger, Bill Murray Hits

Roger Friedman
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RIP Ivan Reitman, Beloved Director of “Ghostbusters,” “Dave,” Producer of “Animal House,” Schwarzenegger, Bill Murray Hits

more on Ivan Reitman here

Director Ivan Reitman has died at age 75. It’s a shock and very sad news. Ivan was a hugely popular member of the film world as a director, a producer and father of Jason Reitman, whose “Up in the Air” he produced.

The reports say Reitman died in his sleep at his home in Montecito, California. But the Reitmans are from Toronto, and were well known property holders there and much respected.

“Ghostbusters” was the most famous movie he directed and produced, and of course, it became an institution. The new version directed by Jason, has been a hit for months. Reitman also directed one of the great satires of all time, “Dave,” as well as hits starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bill Murray. Ivan co-produced “Animal House,” the landmark 1978 comedy starring John Belushi and a group of actor who would go on to fame and fortune.

The Reitman family is legendary in Toronto. Ivan’s father and mother survived the Holocaust in Hungary. His mother was in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Reitman was born in 1946 and the fmaily and emigrated to Canada in 1950 as refugees. Ivan’s father bought a car wash downtown and adjoining land. That is now where the Bell Lightbox sits as the cornerstone of the Toronto Film Festival. In 201o, the block where the Lightbox stands was renamed Reitman Square.

Ivan Reitman was a wonderful guy, talented director, and great family man. He was a pleasure to know for everyone in show business. My condolences to his devoted family.

“Our family is grieving the unexpected loss of a husband, father, and grandfather who taught us to always seek the magic in life,” children Jason Reitman, Catherine Reitman and Caroline Reitman said in a joint statement. “We take comfort that his work as a filmmaker brought laughter and happiness to countless others around the world. While we mourn privately, we hope those who knew him through his films will remember him always.”

Mary J Blige Leads the Avengers of Hip Hop in Cool, Sophisticated, “Clean” Half Time Show

Roger Friedman
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Mary J Blige Leads the Avengers of Hip Hop in Cool, Sophisticated, “Clean” Half Time Show

Mary J Blige was such a success at the Super Bowl half time show that she right now has the number 2 single and album on iTunes.

Everyone in this “Avengers” of hip hop was spectacular including Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, and 50 Cent. And all of their albums have taken off on iTunes. not just Mary J.

But it was Mary J who just killed it, as the only woman she knocked the show out of the park. She was smart to perform her two biggest hits, “Family Affair” and “No More Drama.” There was no drama on stage, and none of these rappers cursed or used the N word. It was hip hop mainstream, and it worked like a charm!

To watch the video you have to click on the YouTube link below. The greedy morons at the NFL wouldn’t allow embedding of their videos on other sites– even though they’d get the same money from the ads.

WHAT I DON”T UNDERSTAND: an all Black halftime show, commercials mostly directed at the Black audience, which is all good. But Colin Kaepernick never got a job, or his career restored, or an apology. And he was right about everything.

Kanye Off His Meds and Off His Rocker On Instagram, Attacking Pete Davidson, Kim, Hillary Clinton, Jeff Bezos

Roger Friedman
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Kanye Off His Meds and Off His Rocker On Instagram, Attacking Pete Davidson, Kim, Hillary Clinton, Jeff Bezos

Kanye West is off his meds and off his rocker. It’s legitimately a sad story because it happens about once a year when Ye, who suffers from bipolar disorder, completely loses it and unleashes his unedited self on social media.

In this new episode, Kanye has been attacking his ex, Kim Kardashian, her boyfriend, Pete Davidson, and anyone who Pete likes which means Hillary Clinton. Kanye claimed Jeff Bezos “bought the Wall Street Journal” (he didn’t, he owns the Washington Post) and called Hillary Clinton “trash” because Davidson had gotten a tattoo of her on his arm.

Kanye’s posts have been so crazy that he put up a photo of himself holding a legal pad that reads: “No my account has not been hacked” with today’s date.

It was only two days ago that Kanye appeared at the end of the screening of his Netflix documentary and made outrageous claims about Apple Music offering him $100 million to put his “Donda” album on their service. (I’m assured that this is a total fantasy. And of course, “Donda,” with no advance, is simply on iTunes earning him the regular fees per play.)

Kanye has been dating Julia Fox (actress? model? I’m not sure what she is) and posting pictures of PDA wherever he can. But in his manic or depressed state he wants Kim back and says so in other posts Davidson, who is 16 years and a whole generation younger than Kanye, is trying to deal with the craziness. (Davidson knows a thing or two about all this since on “SNL” he’s declared that he deals with mental illness himself.)

Davidson posted a message to Kanye that Ye himself reposted about Kanye’s kids with Kim saying he hoped to meet them one day (it’s a little surprising that he hasn’t already). Kanye’s response on Instagram: “You will never meet my children.”

Meantime, Kanye has also been posting memes supplied by fans, of fake movie posters showing him vs. Kardashian and Davidson. He’s tried to include “SNL” player Michael Che in this fracas, but Che responded on Instagram with his first and ever post to the site: “Sorry, Ye, But I would never betray my friends.”

So this will just go on and on now until someone shuts Kanye down. If Russian invades Ukraine, he may take it personally. If the Rams lose to the Bengals, who knows what will happen? You have to feel sorry for those kids, who are now getting older and starting to grasp what’s going on here.

By the way, “Donda 2” is supposedly being released on 2-22-22. But who knows? It took most of last summer to get “Donda 1” out. And we still don’t know how that was accomplished, who took charge or organized it. DefJam allegedly just issued the album at one point because they couldn’t wait any more.

 

 

 

Box Office: Audiences Divorce JLo’s “Marry Me” with $8 Mil Settlement in St. Valentine’s Weekend Massacre

Roger Friedman
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Box Office: Audiences Divorce JLo’s “Marry Me” with $8 Mil Settlement in St. Valentine’s Weekend Massacre

Moviegoers definitely chose “Death” over love this Valentine’s weekend.

“Death on the Nile,” directed by Kenneth Branagh and starring Gal Gadot, took in a very respectable $12.8 million from Friday through Sunday. Pre-pandemic that might have been $18 million. But no one was in ‘de-nial” about this success.

Add that to international sales, and the worldwide total is $33 million.

The success of “Death” was at the expense of Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson. Their romcom, “Marry Me” was divorced by audiences with just $8 million in a very wide release- over 3.600 theaters. It was narrowly beaten by “Jackass Forever.”

“Marry Me” was also available at home, where it could be streamed on NBC Universal’s Peacock platform. But Peacock is no Netflix or HBO Max, so the demand there was probably as restrained as it was in movie theaters. The only thing “Marry Me” can hope for now is a Monday Valentine’s Day surge.

Luckily, “Marry Me” doesn’t have a very high budget. The whole look and feel of it is like a Hallmark or Lifetime movie writ large, with a $23 million price tag, maybe a bit more to accommodate Lopez’s eyelashes and recording studio expenses. But I don’t think there will be a clamor for a sequel.

The only other new movie this weekend was another crapfest vigilante movie starring Liam Neeson. “Blacklight” made just $3.6 million. No one born in the 21st century would believe that Liam Neeson was once an Oscar nominated big deal who made quality films. I guess he made some good money with all these garbage movies. But was it worth it? Could be not have worked with top directors?

A nice box office footnote: “The Beatles Get Back Rooftop Concert” has made $853,000 playing just four days in IMAX theaters. Sweet Loretta Martin finally got her own vindication!

 

“Spider Man: No Way Home” Closes in On “Avatar,” This Week Becomes Number 3 on All Time Box Office List

Roger Friedman
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“Spider Man: No Way Home” Closes in On “Avatar,” This Week Becomes Number 3 on All Time Box Office List

There is a way home, after all.

“Spider Man: No Way Home” is now a million dollars away from becoming the third biggest box office movie of all time. Sometime this week, Peter Parker and pals will reach $760 million and jump ahead of “Avatar” to rest comfortably in the vaunted slot.

The big moment should come Thursday, if not before.

And that will be where it stops because movie number 2, “Avengers End Game” is at $858 million.

But what a run for Jon Watts’ spectacular blockbuster of a comic book movie. Who’d have guessed it?

“No Way Home” is also Sony Pictures’ biggest hit ever in its history. The next highest Sony Pictures films on the all time list are “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” at number 36 and the original “Spider Man” from 2002 at number 37.

The enormous success of “No Way Home” is really a massive vindication and triumph for producer Amy Pascal, who reinvented the franchise after being eased out of her position as head of the studio. Her exit was a little messy, what with the Sony Wikipedia hack, but she took it in stride and rallied like no one before. Bravo to her!

 

 

Today Is Global Movie Day: Watch Videos from Cher, Halle Berry, Boon Jong Ho, Others on Love of Film

Roger Friedman
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Today Is Global Movie Day: Watch Videos from Cher, Halle Berry, Boon Jong Ho, Others on Love of Film

Today is Global Movie Day, sponsored by the Motion Picture Academy or aka the Oscars.

On YouTube you can watch videos from some of your favorite stars and directors talking about their love of film.

And later, you can get out to a movie theater and see “Belfast” or “West Side Story” or any of the other Oscar nominated films! Wear a mask! It’s no big deal!

Global Movie Day was established by the Academy for film fans around the world to celebrate their favorite movies and engage with Academy members and filmmakers on social media. People throughout the world are encouraged to participate by sharing photos and videos on their social media platforms and using the hashtag #GlobalMovieDay.

For the first time, five artists from five continents were selected to commemorate the day with an illustration inspired by their favorite movie genre, including animation/fantasy, drama, musicals and sci-fi. The artists are Jen Du, Maxime Manga, Magnus Voll Mathiassen, Giselle Matz and Camila Rosa.

Exclusive content across the Academy’s social channels from Zazie Beetz, Halle Berry, Jason Blum, Kris Bowers, Patricia Cardoso, Cher, Jon Chu, Ariana DeBose, Ali Fazal, Danny Glover, Eiza González, Tom Hanks, Aldis Hodge, Scarlett Johansson, Marc Maron, Marlee Matlin, Matthew McConaughey, Michelle Rodriguez, J.K. Simmons, Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith, Jurnee Smollett, Amandla Stenberg, Taura Stinson, Diane Warren, Marlon Wayans and Reese Witherspoon.
 

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