As a 23-year showbiz veteran with more than 70 credits under his belt, Milo Ventimiglia knows all about how Hollywood works. And he knows when a project is truly extraordinary. With This Is Us, he says he knows he’s part of something that’s very, very special, and it’s not something that can be taken for granted. (Click on the media bar below to hear Milo Ventimiglia)
This Is Us returns for its third season Tuesday, September 25 on NBC.
There are movies that are bad. And then, there are movies that are so bad, they’re good. As a camp classic, we think the much-maligned Showgirls fits into that second category. Elizabeth Berkley was the face (and body) of the movie, so she was the target for a lot of the film’s initial criticism. Even after the bad word of mouth that followed the film’s U.S. opening, Berkley decided that she would go and promote Showgirls in Europe, and a lot of people wondered why she would do that. When we spoke to her, she explained that, surprisingly, it made more sense to go than to stay at home. (Click on the media bar below to hear Elizabeth Berkley)
If you’ve never watched the movie before and want to see what you’re missing, Showgirls is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
Twenty years after the original series debuted, Charmed is getting a reboot this fall with a new set of supernatural sisters. Madeleine Mantock and Sarah Jeffrey star in the new version of the show, and they’re definitely aware of the original show and its impact on pop culture, but they’re looking forward to making an impact of their own. (Click on the on the media bar below to hear Madeleine Mantock & Sarah Jeffrey)
The new Charmed premieres Thursday, October 18 on The CW.
Gordon Ramsay might be one of the world’s premier chefs, but that doesn’t mean he wants to cook every day for his kids. Sometimes, he’ll order out for his kids, and sometimes, he’ll even stop at a burger stand — and like it! Ramsay told us about some of the guilty pleasures he’ll indulge with when he’s feeding his children. (Click on the media bar below to hear Gordon Ramsay)
Ramsay’s newest TV venture, a globe-hopping culinary competition called Uncharted, will debut on the Nat Geo channel in 2019.
Tom Cruise can’t resist coming back to Mission: Impossible. Over the course of 22 years, Cruise has made six of the Mission: Impossible movies. He told us why he loves the series so much — it’s a love rooted in nostalgia for the TV show, along with the immense challenge of designing the series’ trademark stunts and action sequences. (Click on the media bar below to hear Tom Cruise)
When it started out, South Park was definitely a product of its time. With its crude humor and DIY animation sensibilities, it felt like the cartoon equivalent of ’90s indie rock. Of course, the show’s indie feel was enhanced by the fact that the broadcast networks passed on it, leaving it to find a home on cable TV. Obviously, things worked out just fine for South Park and its creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone — more than two decades later, the show’s still going strong. But could they have launched the show in today’s media landscape? Parker & Stone think they might have had an easier time of it. (Click on the media bar below to hear Trey Parker and Matt Stone)
South Park’s new season premieres on Wednesday, September 26 on Comedy Central.
Avengers: Infinity War is a title many Blu-ray, DVD, and digital enthusiasts will scoop up. Aside from the title being one of Marvel’s best features, the disc is worth picking up on Blu-ray thanks to its in-depth look at the storyline’s epic battles on Wakanda and Titan.
“Beyond The Battle: Wakanda” and “Beyond The Battle Titan” offer up different looks at how the cast, filmmakers and special effects team worked in different environments to pull off these visually arresting sequences. The Titan confrontation between Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Thanos (Josh Brolin) is the centerpiece of the impressive Titan feature, as witness how the actors collaborate on their collaboration.
There are ten minutes worth of deleted scenes, one of which has Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) attempting to keep paparazzi way from Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). There’s also a bit more banter among the Guardians as they try to find Gamora (Zoe Saldana), and it’s a sequence set to Ace Frehley’s “New York Groove.”
The commentary track, which features filmmakers Anthony and Joe Russo and the screenwriters (Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeeley), features a deeper look into the story. One interesting fact discussed during the talk centered on Iron Man’s pivotal moment with Spider-Man (Tom Holland). Without giving away any spoilers, that moment was actually going to be much shorter, but the Russos decided to elongate the exchange for dramatic effect.
Avengers: Infinity War is an excellent movie and worth picking up just for the overall quality, but thankfully the Blu-ray has enough special features to make this a much more value added purchase.
Based on the Nick Hornby (High Fidelity) novel, Juliet, Naked centers on Annie (Rose Byrne), a woman whose boyfriend Duncan (Chris O’Dowd) has had a long standing obsession with Tucker Crowe (Ethan Hawke). The rocker drifted off some 25 year ago, and due to a simple twist of fate Annie befriends Tucker via a series of email exchanges.
Along with a great selection of music, most of which are performed by Hawke (including the Coner Oberst track “LAX), the movie also boasts a tranquil seaside location that’s absolutely eye catching. Click on the media bar to hear director Jesse Peretz (Our Idiot Brother) talk about creating the fictional town that serves as the backdrop of Juliet, Naked (the east Kent locales of Ramsgate and Broadstairs are prominently featured in the flick):
Though its bread and butter has been covering the music landscape, Rolling Stone has also been an iconic publication thanks to its dedication to hard hitting and culture defining journalism. HBO Documentary Films’ Rolling Stone: Stories from the Edge, hits Blu-ray and DVD on September 11 via Shout! Factory.
Narrated by Jeff Daniels and directed by Alex Gibney (Zero Days, The Armstrong Lie), the six part documentary features performances from The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Janis Joplin, and The Clash. Chance the Rapper, Bob Dylan, and John Lennon are also spotlighted on the project. Co-founder Jann Wenner described the documentary as a “love letter to the magazine.”
Special features include deleted scenes with extended interviews with Cameron Crowe, Ice-T, Gus Wenner, Jane Wenner, Janet Reitman, Matt Taibbi, and Victor Juhasz.
Glenn Close gives a riveting performance in The Wife, playing Joan Castelman, woman whose passion for writing and her husband Joe have been seemingly peaceful bedfellows for years. Their union takes a turn for the worse after Joe is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Based on Meg Wolitzer’s novel, the story also focuses on the origins of the couple (Annie Starke, Close’s real life daughter, and Harry Lloyd play the younger versions of Joan and Joe) as they form a seemingly indestructible partnership. “I think one of the things that intrigued me was, for example, why she never left him,” said Close. “I wanted every other woman to understand that. Working together around the table before we started work, we started to lay the groundwork of this relationship. The shooting of it was very organic and fab.”
During our interview with Close, the actress gives her thoughts on the complex relationship between Joan and Joe Castleman (co-star Christian Slater, who plays a writer in the flick, is heard in the background):
The Wife opens August 17 in New York and Los Angeles.
As a 23-year showbiz veteran with more than 70 credits under his belt, Milo Ventimiglia knows all about how Hollywood works. And he knows when a project is truly extraordinary. With This Is Us, he says he knows he’s part of something that’s very, very special, and it’s not something that can be taken for granted. (Click on the media bar below to hear Milo Ventimiglia)
