Crazy Rich Asians, which exceeded expectations with a worldwide gross of $228 million (it made $171 domestically), hits Blu-ray and DVD on November 20, with a digital release set for November 6.
Based on Kevin Kwan’s bestseller, Crazy Rich Asians centers on Rachel Chu (Constance Wu), a woman who’s shocked to discover that boyfriend Nick Young (Henry Golding) comes from a ridiculously wealthy family. Rachel’s travel to Singapore to attend the wedding of Nick’s best friend leads to complications thanks to the family’s disapproving matriarch (Michelle Yeoh). Gemma Chan, Ken Jeong, and Awkwafina round out the ensemble. Although the film received a substantial offer from Netflix, director Jon M. Chu was determined to release the film on the big screen, and it ended up being the perfect gamble.
Special features on the Blu-ray include commentary from director Jon M. Chu and novelist Kevin Kwan, deleted scenes, a gag reel and the featurette “Crazy Rich Fun” (the DVD’s sole extra is the featurette).
Sara Paxton (The Innkeepers, Aquamarine) co-stars with Hugh Jackman in director Jason Reitman’sThe Front Runner. The political drama centers on Senator Gary Hart (Jackman), a rising politician who was favored to receive the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination until his affair with Donna Rice (Paxton) was exposed. Reitman received acclaim earlier this year with Tully(both Mackenzie Davis and Charlize Theron delivered excellent work), and releasing two first rate films in a year would definitely be a feather in his cap.
For Paxton, her road to The Front Runner began in synchronistic fashion. “A year before I got the script, I had been listening to this podcast in my car while I was driving and the story was about Gary Hart and Donna Rice and the whole scandal,” said Paxton. “I was like ‘this is a fascinating story, why didn’t I know about this? Why aren’t more people talking about this?’ And then when I got the script a year later, I was so excited.”
Click on the media bar to hear Paxton talk about the relevance behind The Front Runner:
Cedric the Entertainer’s new CBS show, The Neighborhood, would appear to be a show about race relations, since its premise finds Max Greenfield’s character moving into a predominantly African-American community in Los Angeles. However, Cedric the Entertainer told us it’s about much more than that, because it also takes on generational issues, especially when it comes to built-in biases that older people tend to acquire over the years. (Click on the media bar below to hear Cedric the Entertainer)
The Neighborhood airs Monday nights at 8/7c on CBS.
As we’ve seen over and over again, the comic book fans are always quick to criticize when a movie — or even a character within a movie — doesn’t live up to the expectations they had, based on the comics. Co-starring in Venom as Anne Weying, Eddie Brock’s fiancee (who — spoiler alert — becomes She-Venom), Michelle Williams was aware of the fans’ expectations, but felt she had it easy compared to her co-star, Tom Hardy.
Last week, Kelly Clarkson told us that each new season’s talent makes The Voice feel like a completely different show. Adam Levine is willing to take it one step further, though. Levine, who’s been on every season since the show’s inception, told us that every new combination of coaches changes the show in profound ways, because of the different kinds of chemistry that develop between him, Blake Shelton (who’s also been on every season), and the newer coaches. (Click on the media bar below to hear Kelly Clarkson)
The Voice airs Monday and Tuesday nights at 8/7c on NBC.
If Vegas is Sin City, what exactly might you call a Lake Tahoe establishment split between California and Nevada? The once majestic El Royale hotel, the centerpiece for ‘Bad Times at the El Royale,’ has fallen on bad times, and it’s about to get a little worse with the arrival of a group of strangers, each with a secret to hide amidst this stop over. And it’s safe to say the El Royale has some pretty interesting secrets of its own.
One by one, we’re introduced to the elderly, somewhat confused Father Flynn (Jeff Bridges), aspiring vocalist Darlene Sweet (Cynthia Erivo), smooth talking but sexist vacuum cleaner salesman Laramie Seymour Sullivan (Jon Hamm) and the mysterious bad ass hippie chick Emily Summerspring (Dakota Johnson), all seeking refuge for the evening in the mostly abandoned former Rat Pack hang in the late 60s. There to greet them is the hotel’s seemingly lone employee, the boyishly scatterbrained concierge Miles Miller (Lewis Pullman). After pleasantries (or not so pleasantries in Emily’s case) are exchanged and everyone’s true motives start to reveal themselves.
Writer/director Drew Goddard jumps around the timeline with ease, telling the story of the occupant of each room, giving a bit of their backstory and the darker history that brought each to this moment in time, converging together ahead of a storm that’s brewing. The fivesome soon become seven with the addition of the charismatically dangerous Billy Lee (Chris Hemsworth) and Emily’s troubled sister Ruth (Cailee Spaeny) and to reveal more would give away key plot points. Suffice it to say, some may find redemption at the El Royale, while others are just in for plain bad times, and allegiances are formed and broken in the fight to survive the night in this establishment that has even more secrets than its inhabitants.
Bridges headlines this stellar cast, giving a heartfelt performance as the not so holy man of the cloth, while Hamm also steals a few scenes early on. But the real finds in this film are the names you may not recognize. Cynthia Erivo wows not only with her voice, but the heart and determination she embodies as the often overlooked and fed up Darlene Sweet, while the fresh faced Pullman as the hotel’s overseer projects innocence lost in one of the film’s most prominent back stories.
Goddard captures the look of the era quite well, giving the film a stylish feel befitting of the time period. The story telling devices work, fleshing out each individual character and keeping the stakes high at every turn with the ultimate final conflict feeling fully earned and satisfying. The conflicts make you think, the characters engage and Bad Times at the El Royale leaves the viewer with a great two and a half hours of viewing.
Venom was the #1 film for a second straight week in a row as it made $35.7 million. A Star Is Born was a close second with $28 million with the Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong flick First Man managed just a third place debut with a mediocre $16.5 million. Here’s the top 10:
Venom – It’s made over $378 million worldwide and this weekend it takes in $35.7 million.
A Star Is Born – Feature takes in $28 million in its second weekend.
First Man – Astronaut feature has lukewarm debut with $16.5 million.
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween – Sequel to hit feature collects $16.2 million.
Smallfoot – Animated feature makes $9.3 million.
Night School– Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish makes $8 million.
Bad Times At The El Royale – Movie has a poor showing in its opening weekend with $7.2 million.
The House With A Clock In Its Walls – Cate Blanchett and Jack Black feature checks in with $3.97 million.
The Hate U Give – Drama takes in $1.76 million.
A Simple Favor– Comedy thriller, which has made over $83 million, makes $1.3 million
Gerard Butler (Den of Thieves) stars in Hunter Killer as Captain Joe Glass, a man who leads a group of Navy SEALs to rescue the kidnapped Russian president and hopefully put prevent World War III. Rounding out the cast are Gary Oldman (Dark Hour), Linda Cardellini (Mad Men) and Toby Stephens (Die Another Day).
“I loved it immediately,” said Butler. “Classic script. Great action. Very involved, detailed plot. Fantastic characters and heroes from all different walks of life. Between the Army, the Navy, the Russians – it was such a well put together story”
Click on the media bar to hear why Butler, who also produces the film, believes Hunter Killer is a timely story.
Hunter Killer, directed by Donovan Marsh (Avenged, Spud) opens nationwide October 26.
Will Smith thought he did good work as a bad boy, so he’s hoping to do it again. The on-again/off-again saga of Bad Boys 3 appears to be on again, so chances are looking good that we’ll see Smith and Martin Lawrence team up again for the buddy cop comedy. Smith wishes they’d hurry up and officially greenlight the project, though, because he feels like the window for him to make those kinds of movies might be closing one of these days. (Click on the media bar below to hear Will Smith)
Right now, the studio’s got Bad Boys 3 penciled in for January 2020 but, as we’ve seen many times with this project, that’s definitely subject to change.
We’ve heard from Ryan Gosling about how much work went into playing astronaut Neil Armstrong in First Man, and how seriously he took the responsibility of playing an historical figure. But did he get to have any fun making the movie? Absolutely! Gosling told us there were definitely some amazing, once-in-a-lifetime kinds of moments he got to experience while they were shooting. (Click on the media bar below to hear Ryan Gosling)
