What I've Seen, The Catching-Upining...
One of those mid-tiered movies that filmmakers lament aren’t being made anymore. I miss them sorely, and I wish that studios integrate them back in between the tentpole summer movies and prestige Fall films but hopefully if that does happen the films will be more far reaching and have more depth than “No Escape”.
Jack Dwyer (Owen Wilson) is moving his wife Annie (Lake Bell, “In a World”, “Wet Hot American Summer: 1st Day of Camp) and their two daughters (Sterling Jerins and Claire Geare) to Thailand for a new job after his own business went bust.
Almost immediately the family is thrust into danger when the Prime Minister is assassinated and the country undergoes a coupe. The main focus of attack by the rebels: foreign business people who have set up shop in their country. Marked for death Jack and his family with assistance from Hammond (Pierce Brosnan) a Brit who treats Thailand as a second home.
Reminiscent of “The Impossible” in that the film is dealing with not only the danger that the characters are in but also the emotional weight of being parents and having to be strong for your little ones and assessing how far you would go to save them.
Everyone does a fine job: It’s nice seeing Wilson and Bell, two primarily comedy actors, giving believable intensely dramatic performances.
I love that the film gives rhyme and reason behind the coupe and doesn’t solely act as if this is just “Third World” people acting animalistic. This is a film that boldly serves as a cautionary tale that of the sins of nations that try to swindle poorer economic regions will have those sins repaid. But I think that viewpoint is only seen if you are of that political belief. I think others may just simply take it as the action-thriller it’s billed as and nothing more.
It was the premiere. As I was heading into the actual theatre for the film I saw Pierce Brosnan’s son Dylan all 6ft plus and size Negative Zero of him (tossing his hair back every few seconds). I noticed him before I noticed Pierce who was standing a few feet in front of him. Dylan was hanging back in an alcove talking to younger guy. Didn’t realize until the photos went up online that it was his younger brother.
The Brosnan Men at the premiere
At home
Harvey Weinstein introduced the film’s directors and writers John Erick and Drew Dowdle (billed as the Brothers Dowdle).
Blurry pic of Weinstein
John Erick and Drew spoke of having the film idea for so long and just not having the studio to take it on. They talked about almost having it go but they lost funding on the day Owen Wilson was due to fly to Thailand to shoot. He promised them if they secured the funding he would free up his schedule to shoot the film.
*They said Brosnan’s agent contacted them and told them that Brosnan read the script and loved it but wouldn’t do the film (they explained why he didn’t want to do it). They embarked on what they called “Occupy Brosnan” to get him to join the film.
*They felt so lucky to get the child actors they did because they would have to do so much. They commended them. As well as Lake Bell who threw herself into the film 110% and wasn’t too “precious” about getting injured.
Then they walked off and remembered they had initially said they would bring the cast down. So the cast came down quickly, showed their faces and went on.
After the film I saw Owen’s oldest brother Andrew (the good looking Wilson from “Whip It”) with their mother and Ken Marino of “Wet Hot American Summer” who stood outside forever texting as if waiting for someone, anyone to recognize him.
I'll applaud any movie about a woman and starring a woman older than 22-years old. I hope one day Hollywood can bring more of those movies to the fore so that I don't have to great on a curve. "Learning to Drive" is enjoyable (if not a bit undercooked), but it's a film that you'd catch on Lifetime movie or OWN; it doesn't offer anything grand that would make one leave the comfort of their home to see.
Driving instructor by day and cab driver by night, Darwan (Sir Ben Kingsley) picks up Wendy (Patricia Clarkson) moments after her husband Ted (Jake Weber, "Medium")
tells her he wants a divorce. Distraught and distracted Wendy leaves behind a package in Darwan’s taxi. When he returns it to her the next day, Wendy decides to take driving instructions from him since she never learned due to her reliance on her husband.
As Wendy takes lessons in order to be able to visit her daughter, Tasha who lives in Vermont, she struggles with wanting Ted back or building up her own life.
Meanwhile, Darwan is being compelled by his nephew Preet (Avi Nash) to agree to an arranged marriage with the best friend of his mother, the shy Jasleen (Sarita Choudhury).
There are many good aspects to the film. You’re treated to Jake Weber’s bum (niiiiice), Patricia Clarkson breasts (niiiiiice), shirtless Avi Nash (NOICE!!!!)
, and oh yeah, there’s a good story about looking inward to assess your actions that may have resulted in the demise to your relationship and owning it which I think is an aspect media never delves into.
Clarkson and Kingsley are great together. This is their fourth film together “Shutter Island”, “Salesman” and Coixet’s “Elegy”.
The script was adapted from the screen by Sarah Kernochan from a New Yorker article. Kernochan could’ve built up a lot from that framework but the film is too surface-y. It merely touches on many things: the xenophobia Darwan has to endure, Wendy’s anger at the divorce, Wendy as a single woman, Darwan’s loneliness but never explored to create a complete picture. And just when you think it’s getting there the movie ends.
This movie is as listless as Zac Efron’s eyes are blue. I wanted to go inside myself and find my happy place, a place free of this film and its boredom.
I believe movies showcases universal themes and that it’s not gender specific, but there are some films that I think resonates more with specific genders. To me Reese Witherspoon’s “Wild” was a deeply WOMAN movie and spoke to a woman’s journey for sense of self. I think “We Are Your Friends” may be that for men….it delves into the pressure on men to make their mark on the world. Not that women don’t have that pressure , but I think it’s more self pressure than societal. So it’s about a search for self like “Wild” but not good like “Wild”. Like it’s not good at all.
Part “SLC Punk”, part “The O.C”, part SNL three-legged jeans ad,
“We Are Your Friends” is the directorial debut of Max Joseph of MTV’s “Catfish” (you know, that guy who isn’t the man guy? The guy who sits there with a camera angled at the main guy like he’s shooting B-roll despite the large MTV camera crew with them. That guy.)
Writing by Joseph and Meaghan Oppenheimer (??) “We Are Your Friends” is budget “Entourage” but centering on a DJ. Efron “stars” (because he’s the lead but he sure doesn’t shine as a star) as Cole. 23-years old and living in the poolhouse of his friend, his self-appointed manager Mason (Jonny Weston) Cole dreams of being a star DJ despite living in the San Fernando Valley. His friends wannabe actor/drug slanger Ollie (Fernandez) and the optimistic Squirrel (Alex Shaffer) share in the dream.
Cole meets world-famous DJ James Reed (Wes Bentley) and James takes him under his wing. Complicating the burgeoning arrangement is that is smitten with James’ assistant/girlfriend Sophie (Emily Ratajkowski, “Gone Girl”).
As Cole slowly joins James’ world, he and his friends have to decide if they want to continue following their joint dream or should they grow up and face reality.
Efron and Ratajkowski have the chemistry of tapioca and wet clay. It’s like watching two crash test dummies. And while this film may speak to musicphiles or specifically to DJs (A guy afterwards was raving to me how this film finally shows real DJing and how DJs use their music to move people (of course he was a DJ) so it works on that level. But I think that none of the club/party scenes in which we are to believe 1) Cole’s a good DJ 2) James is a good DJ 3) Cole’s music is good work. “Purple Rain” and “Begin Again” works because those big music moments work because the music is invocative and it is conveyed on-screen. You believe that audience is moved by Prince wailing “Purple Rain”. You believe that Adam Levine’s character had a hit with “Lost Stars”. Watching the music moments in “We Are Your Friends” is like faking an orgasm: a lot of show for no payoff.
I will give it props for dealing with the James and Cole up and down relationship in a realistic and mature way.
If the film had this BTS bit in it it would’ve at least made it a tad more interesting
It seemed obvious that it would go a clichéd route, but it made a turn. Bentley has gotten to be a better actor with age and and Weston as the acerbic, townie Mason are the highlights of this film.
Joseph isn’t a bad director at all, I think he used interesting visuals to tell this story (great use of animation, typography, hand held cameras), but it’s putting a lipstick on a pig.
The movie was a dud but the afterparty was LIT!
WB has been holding “We Are Your Friends” tour in several cities across the globe where they have DJs spinning. WB issued invites to the afterparty online so even if you didn’t attend the premiere you could still attend it. It was held at the Avalon a mile away from the TCL Theatre where the premiere was held.
I’ve never seen so many Los Angelenos walking. The ticket was first come first serve and their doors opened at 9pm, but the party wasn’t to begin until 10pm. The film didn’t end until well after 9:00 and of course people loitered
Shiloh Fernandez. He asked if anyone had a pen so that he could sign someone’s ticket. I gave him one. Never saw it again.
*Someone was setting up their cameraphone to take a picture with him and had the image reversed and Shiloh caught sight of his hair and said, “Why didn’t anyone tell me it looked like this?” and began running his fingers through it to tame it.
*Saw Max Joseph leaving. My friend thought the movie didn’ t work because Max was too old. I had to explain to him that Max is prematurely grey and is only 33-years old.
Max without the grey
so there was this long wait as they metered entry into the club because the VIP and their invited guests got first dibs, then the ones who weren’t at the premiere were already in. I told my friend that I was giving myself until 10:45pm and if I wasn’t in by that time I would leave. 11:10pm I tell him and another friend that I was going to bounce, his friend agreed that we would leave. Just as we were saying goodbye, security came over and began waving us in.
Almost as soon as we got in people began telling us that Efron and girlfriend Sam Miro had just left. Know who was still there?
Nev from “Catfish”
*He and his girlfriend danced/made out as the crowd dwindled. We left at nearly 1am and they were still on the floor.
I don’t know if “The Visit” will get M. Night Shyamalan out of directors jail in the minds of the general public but this film and his participation in FOX’s “Wayward Pines” has made me soften on him after so many of his horrendous films have left a bad taste in my mouth (uggggh, “The Happening!!!!!”)
Shyamalan has taken the “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” attitude and has partnered with Jason Blum of Blumhouse Production low-budget production house that has made its name by producing low budget horror films (“Paranormal Activity”, “Insidious”, “The Purge”) and even lower budget films through their sub-branch production house Bolt Production (the unfortunately ignored “The Town That Dreaded Sundown” and the limited release “Stretch”)
My dude Jason Blumhouse
*At the premiere of “Insidious 3”
and has returned the big screen after the dismal response to “After Earth” with his shaky-cam, POV film that embodies the same light moments as “Signs” did.
“The Visit” stars impressive young Australian actors Olivia DeJonge (“The Hiding”) and Ed Oxenbould (“Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”) as siblings Rebecca and Tyler
whose mother (Kathryn Hahn) sends them off to her estranged parent’s house as she goes on a cruise with her new beau. Never knowing their grandparents since her mother broke off all communications with them before they were born Rebecca wants to take the opportunity to get to know them as well as mend the relationship as she thinks this is truly the only way her mother could be happy. Rebecca, a burgeoning filmmaker, decides to do this by chronicling she and Tyler’s trip.
Very soon she and Tyler begin to notice that Nana (the Tony award winning actress Deanna Dunagan)
and Pop Pop (Peter McRobbie, “Daredevil”) are acting strangely. Rebecca waves it off as mere “old people stuff” but Tyler isn’t sure soon. As the days go by Rebecca joins with Tyler in suspecting that something more sinister is going on and attempt to find out what.
The film relies on the standard schlocky JUMP moments that are predictable, but what makes it better than the other films that Blumhouse has released is that it doesn’t take itself seriously . There is genuine comedy that is threaded through the film. It’s less “Sinister” and more “April Fool’s Day”. There is a sea-change in the third act that propels the absurdity further and that was a bit too heavy-handed, but overall it’s a good film and a welcome change from the dreary horror films of late.
Good on ya, M. Night
Z for Zachariah
Not my cuppa. Maybe I have too mainstream tastes, maybe I don’t appreciate nuanced, introspective storytelling. Or maybe I don’t like being bored out of my gourd despite very attractive people onscreen. IMHO the Z doesn’t stand for Zachariah but ZZZZZZZZZ.
In an unspecified time there has been an apocalyptic event Ann (Margot Robbie, the New Zealand version of Jaime Pressley) is whiling away her time on her family’s land. Alone after her parents and brother went off in search of survivors and never returned, Ann survives by living off the land. One day she stumbles upon John (Chiwetel Ejiofor) a man with more information about the devastation…a man who finally got too lonely to survive on his own and struck out to find others.
While Ann is just happy to have another person to talk to John is thinking of the future and his and Ann’s role as the new Adam and Eve. That is, until Caleb (Chris Pine) appears. Caleb who shares Ann’s spiritual beliefs while John scoffs at them as he tries to convince her to tear down her father’s chapel in order for him use to build a windmill.
I think what jarred me about the film is that it’s advertised as a post-apocalyptic film and to me, that fills my mind with images of action or dystopia, instead this is a movie with lovely pastoral settings and a contemplative mode. It’s an indie film that they promoted as a big budget film and I think that really took me out of the film because I kept waiting for something, anything to happen and it doesn’t. Instead I was left with watching a film where Ejiofor’s character essentially pisses his territory that is Ann. And Ann is shown in the first 20 minutes or so of the film as this very capable young woman (for some reason I remember her being 19. Maybe it’s just that she seemed that young.) and then everything that made her a strong character went out the window when the men appeared and she becomes an object.
Waste of a good cast
~While several shows have “leaked” (CBS’ “Supergirl”, FOX’s “Lucifer” and “Minority Report”, NBC’s “The Carmichael Show” and “The Blindspot”), Fox officially got ahead of the curve by holding screenings for several of their most anticipated shows: “Grandfathered”, “The Grinder” and “Scream Queens”.
Grandfathered
Out of all the shows that night this is the one I was most excited for and while it’s enjoyable, it’s just okay. I’m not sure if it’s one that will hold my interest for very long. John Stamos is a very good looking man but in recent years that’s all he’s played: the rakish handsome charmer who can’t settle down. “Grandfathered” potentially gives him more emotional currency and that will be something to look forward to.
John Stamos plays restaurateur Jimmy Martino who has carved out a successful, envy-worthy life out of owing the trendiest place and dating the hottest women. Jimmy gets the one-two punch surprise of finding out he’s the father of an adult son Gerald (Josh Peck) and a grandfather to Gerald’s two-year old daughter. Never told of Gerald by his mother Sara (Paget Brewster), Jimmy’s former flame, Jimmy isn’t sure how to include these people in the life he’s created for himself. The series will follow Jimmy’s journey to lone wolf to a man with a pack as he warms to the idea of being a father to Gerald who wants to learn how to be as suave as Jimmy in order to get the mother of his daughter, Vanessa (Christina Milian) to actually view him as boyfriend material and not just the one-time hook up between friends.
The full cast
Fine at Fifty (fifty-one, actually)
Josh as John
You’ve come a long way, Josh
The Grinder
This was truly funny, though the entire time I kept thinking how so much better James Marsden would be in the role instead of Rob Lowe.
TV lawyer Dean Sanderson (Rob Lowe) is just coming off a long-running law procedural “The Grinder”. Feeling like he’s at a crossroad in his life, he’s whiling away time with his brother, real-life lawyer Stewart (Fred Savage) and Stewart’s family-wife Debbie (Mary Elizabeth Ellis, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”), teenaged children Lizzi (Hanna Hayes) and Ethan (Connor Kalopsis, “Days of Our Lives”).
Watching Stewart practice law inspires Dean to take his TV experience as a lawyer to become a real lawyer to the consternation of Stewart and the joy of their father Dean Sr. (William Devane).
Rob Lowe plays clueless self- absorbed actor well, and again, Jimmy Marsden would’ve killed it especially after seeing him play a more intense version of that in “The D Train”. It’s great seeing Fred Savage in front of the screen again.
It’s a very funny show that deals in sibling rivalry and celebrity worship.
The local FOX station here hosted the night and everyone had gift bags. The reporter asked everyone to put their shirts on and stand up for a picture and as she was asking everyone if they were Team Fred or Team Rob Rob Lowe and Fred Savage entered the theater. My friends and I were in the last row on the lower tiered and although Fred could’ve just walked down the stairs to his seat he passed by shaking people’s hands and high-fiving them, he suddenly noticed that people were wearing T-shirts with his face on it
so stopped in front of us and said, “I’ve never seen these! I have to get a picture of this.” He whipped out his phone for a selfie; so on his phone is a picture of the two guys sitting next to me and my three friends sqeezing together to get in picture.
*Fred said he has been enjoying his time as a director and wasn’t considering returning to the front of the screen until the script came along and he couldn’t pass it up. Rob said that it is LITERALLY (a take on his “Parks and Recs” character) the best script he’s been offered since before and after “Parks and Recs”. He said that for years he has pitched series about actors and the feedback he always received was that no one could relate to actors and the studios would always want him to change the characters to dentists. He feels that society is obviously steeped in celebrity culture so it’s accessible and what he likes is that the show does the “very, very, very necessary work of taking down sacred cow of celebrity”.
*They shoot on the same lot of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” so they would love if Charlie Day and the other cast members appear on the show.
*A woman raved about the pilot and how in this day and age we need things that are funny and have heart. It was longer than that, she was very enthusiastic about it. Fred said, “That’s what I want on every poster. (to the studio people) Did you get that?
Rob: Where’s Fox publicity??
Fred: Forget critics, that’s what we want to hear.
*Fred still couldn’t get over the tshirts with his face on it. Rob took a selfie with the audience behind him.
Scream Queens
This show is a scream. It’s first season “Glee” and “Popular” funny. I don’t know if the plan is for it to be an anthology like “American Horror Story” or if they will continue building up on the mystery like they’ve done on ‘Pretty Little Liars”. All I know is that I’m looking forward to the rest of the episodes and I hope it stays as strong as the first one.
In this “Heathers” meets “Friday the 13th” show; Grace (Skyler Samuels, “American Horror Story: Freak Show”) is beginning her first year of college. Losing her mother at an early age and being an only child she wants to pledge to her mother’s old sorority Kappa Kappa Tau despite her father Wes’ (Oliver Hudson) apprehension.
What Grace doesn’t know is that there is a seismic shift going on at Kappa Kappa Tau as the new Dean Dean Cathy Munsch (Jamie Lee Curtis)
has decided she will not allow the bullying and racism that runs rampant in the sorority due to the leadership of Chanel Oberlin (Emma Roberts) and her minions Chanel #2 (Ariana Grande), Chanel #3 (Billie Lourd) and Chanel #5 (Abigail Breslin).
Mandating that the sorority has to be inclusive, the popular people forego the pledging the house instead leaving Chanel with Grace, her roomie Zayday (Keke Palmer), and social outcasts like the headbrace wearing Hester (Lea Michele) and the hearing impaired Tiffany (Whitney Meyers).
Grace hopes that this new era of inclusion will help reform the sorority that her mother loved, she’s warned away by barista/campus paper reporter Pete (Diego Boneta, “Rock of Ages”)
As Chanel and the Chanels try to come up with a plan to frighten the outcasts out of pledging their house, a killer comes on to the scene, coincidentally (or not) twenty years following a death at the Kappa Kappa Tau house.
Ryan Murphy and Co. always casts their show perfectly, a lot of time with people you wouldn’t expect greatness from. Somewhere, not even that deep within him lies a catty teenager in Ryan Murphy. It’s the only reason why “Popular” and Roberts’ Chanel are the leads: he just loves viciousness spewing from a beautiful person (Chanel calls the sorority’s housekeeper as “White Mammy”). Chanel is as mean spirited as “Glee’s Sue Sylvester, but instead of a tracksuit she’s in glam togs.
Rounding out the cast is Glen Powell and Nick Jonas as Chad and his minion Boone, the male equivalents of Chanel and her followers
; Nasim Pedrad (“Saturday Night Live”) as Gigi, an alum of Kappa Kappa Tau who is stuck in the 90’s and Niecy Nash as Denise the campus police (she’s not in the pilot ep, though).
It was obvious at the screening that the majority of fans were there for “Scream Queens” and I heard the groans of disappointment when it was announced that “Scream Queens” would be on last. The guy who sat next to me introduced himself by saying, “I have to warn you, I’m loud.” And I said, ‘That’s fine, we’re here to have fun.” That boy…. Anytime Ariana Grande or Lea Michele or Nick Jonas, or even Jamie Lee Curtis turned up he would say, “Yassssssss!” “Slay!!!” “OMG!”-ing over Nick Jonas and Diego Boneta So that emboldened others in my row (one of my friends included) to start interjecting like we were watching “Rocky Horror Picture Show”.
~Oliver Hudson loved his time on the show
and tweeted/begged Ryan Murphy to not fire him. But he also tweeted he is returning to “Nashville” and his “Nashville wife” costar Will Chase.
What I’ve Been Up To
Attended Q&As for "Mr. Robot" and "Kingdom".
If you don’t watch “Kingdom”, you should. I highly recommend it. Frank Grillo stars as Alvey Kulina a former MMA fighter who is now an owner of his own gym.
When he’s not training other fighters, Alvey is fighting his demons. A softie when it comes to the underdogs, Alvey’s girlfriend Lisa (Kiele Sanchez) is the business minded one of the couple who is doing her best to keep the gym afloat.
Needing a star fighter to back Alvey turns to Lisa’s former fiancé, the newly out of jail Ryan (Matt Lauria, “Friday Night Lights”) who is struggling to make his return to the ring.
There’s also Alvey’s two sons the once-promising Jay (Jonathan Tucker) who is an exceptional fighter but has burned too many bridges with his drug-taking, drinking and Nate (Nick Jonas) who isn’t the fresh out the gate talent Jay and Ryan are and who is struggling with his own secret.
Trying to get Ryan to focus, trying to make Lisa understand why he needs Ryan around and trying to not completely alienate his sons due to his actions in the past, Alvey has a new speedbump in his life: the return of his wife Christina (Joanna Going, “House of Cards”), the mother of his sons who left them all for a life of drugs. While Alvey actively avoids her, her sons-- especially Jay--fiercely wants their mother back in their lives.
*Nearly the entire cast of "Kingdom" turned out for their panel, the exception being Matt Laurie who was shooting. That was really a shame since I really wanted to hear his take on his character. It was no real loss as the moderator was Debra Birnbaum of TV Guide who is someone who usually vacillates between being a lazy moderator to being downright terrible. She was just lazy this time around.
They showed the season 1 finale and then played a teaser for S2 which features a heavily pregnant Kiele Sanchez whose character will be pregnant on the show (unnecessarily so)
and Nate texting what looks like the guy he hooked up with in the season finale.
*When asked how Kiele is able to play such a strong, no-nonsense woman in that climate Kiele says that her father was a jockey so she grew up around “deviants”. She said she booked the role right after filming “The Purge: Anarchy” with Grillo and said that the chemistry was really easy for “Kingdom” because she and Grillo got on immediately on the set of “The Purge”. They joked around how her baby will be confused because he’s not going to know if her real life husband Zach Gilford (“Friday Night Lights”) or Grillo is its father. She said she’ll just refer to them as “daddy” and “set daddy”.
*Nick said he met with “his team” after he and his brothers disbanded and declared he wanted to do something different. When the script came to him he fought really hard and he said he really had to convince the show’s creator and Frank Grillo as well as everyone at DirectTV that he would do whatever it took in that role. I don’t know if he knew we watched the episode where it’s finally revealed that Nate is gay because he never once said “gay”, instead saying “his secret”, “his struggles”.
*They pull a Stephen Soderbergh in that they film two episodes at once as Soderbergh does with “The Knick”.
*They talked about how they got their SAG cards. Frank did a Mentos commercials, Nick did a Chuck E. Cheese commercial, Jonathan was a child actor and booked alot of work before becoming eligible and balked at the initiation fee. JoAnna was on “Another World” and joined. She said even in years where she never worked she kept her membership active because she felt that if she struck out in film she’d always have the soaps to go back to, “And now they’re all gone away!” Kiele said she had the most boring story of them all. She booked a job and her agent paid her initiation fee.
After the panel I exited the side-doors after the panel and there were a throng of fans/autograph hounds there waiting for the cast. Now I know how Broadway actors feel leaving the theatre exit.
Their main focus were Nick Jonas and Frank Grillo cos Grillo plays Crossbones in the "Captain America" films. There are five possible exits to the building and I think people generally only know about two, so the autographs hounds were at the back exit and the front. I went to the front to see what was going on over there and there were only five autograph hounds. And by autograph hounds I mean the people with 20 glossies and the clipboard and Sharpie at the ready so they can get multiple autographs to sell online...these aren't regular fans.
You can see a clear path to the back of the building from the front so something registered with four of the hounds and they went to the back of the building leaving me and one of their own. Within a minute of their departure Frank Grillo strolls out the front. That lone hound got *everything*. I just hung back and said, "Frank, great panel." He replied with a, "Thanks, sweetheart." I'd like to say I replied indignantly, "Who're you calling "sweetheart", bub?" but there is something so powerful about Grillo that I acted like those girls who swooned over The Fonz. Yes, yes, I deplore society's general rule of what a "man" is and I reject "alpha male" posturing but there is something decidedly Alpha Male about Frank Grillo and I respond to it in a big way. I mean, I don't act the way I did when I met Tom Hardy, NEVER, but man...I've met Grillo twice (the first time at the premiere of "The Purge: Anarchy") and I still feel like I want to carry his jacket.
This dude
Grillo, the Man, the Dude has added another franchise under his belt. He's completed filming "Captain America: Civil War" and hottie is returning for a third installment of "The Purge 3", reprising his "Purge: Anarchy" role as Captain.
~Nick has as little personality as I always thought he had. Someone speculated he was downbeat because it was announced he and his girlfriend Olivia Culpo had broken up 3 days before the panel, but I just think he has the personality of soggy tissue.
I began chatting with a woman and her 11-year old daughter after the panel. She brought her daughter in hopes that she could get a picture with Nick since she was a fan. When Nick came out it was chaos and the little girl couldn’t get past the autograph hounds to get to him. One of the autograph hounds heard us talking about how she couldn’t see him and he gave her one of his signed glossies he had just got from Nick. I told her that was really nice of him because they usually sell it. She realized she could get money from it and asked me how much I thought she could get for it. Nick’s devoted fans!
*I spent the entirety of the "Mr. Robot" panel with a stupid grin on my face because I'm a Christian Slater fan from years of old so being in the same room as the star of "Heathers" and 1/2 of my OTP (I didn't want Winona to be with Johnny Depp, I wanted her to be with Christian!) was a big deal. And he's as funny, and off-kilter as the characters he's played. This just cemented my love for Slater. He's had some bumpy moments in his career and personal life but he has it together now and I'm very happy for him.
Rami was a bit of a surprise in that he's more animated than I thought he would be. Of course his speech pattern is the same as on TV with that kinda droning tone, the difference is that he also speaks with a clenched jaw. He almost sounds like Thurston Howell III. It's an affectation that Holly Hunter and Sean Faris share. I love it, personally.
*Went to the AMC theater to see "Man from U.N.C.L.E" and I was waiting for my friend in the lobby when I noticed Renee Taylor leaning up against a partition. She looks exactly the same as she did in "The Nanny". I don't even need to codify that with "but older" because she looks exactly the same. The only thing that stood out was that she was wearing hot pink and black tennis shoes and I thought that was cool. I'm looking at her thinking, "I thought she passed away" Obviously she didn't so I thought, "Joseph Bologna must be the one who passed away.".
A couple of minutes go by and I look at her again and there's Joseph Bologna so I was wrong on both counts. He was dressed like he was in Costa Rica complete with a straw hat. And I couldn't detect hair so either he shaved his head or all this time he's been wearing a toupe.
I watched them as they walked outside to the settee and lounge chairs because I wanted to see if they were the type of couple who had been together for 100 years but the husband still treated the wife as if they were still courting. Joseph flipped the cushion over on the settee and took a seat first. But she soon joined him.
*Also at the AMC but on the night of "Ricki and the Flash" Jon Lovitz was the concession stand looking pissed the line was long.
*I've known for maybe a year now that I lived in the general vicinity as model/DJ/Colton Haynes' ex-boyfriend J.erreth L.udwig (who appeared in an episode of "Teen Wolf" last season and someone on Twitter joked that J.erreth had more to do on TW than Colton did). I knew JL lived nearby because he Instagramm-ed the front of the apartment once and a few of the spots in the neighborhood. I’ve finally seen him not once, but twice two weeks ago.
The first time I saw him and his husband jovially walking, then a few days later I saw him jogging. I felt as if I was stalking him as if my reading his Instagram and Reddit feed willed spotting him into existence.
*Going to lunch with coworkers in Larchmont Village which is a Yuppie cum Hipster type area and one by one as we're driving by my coworkers say, "There's James Franco's brother",and for the life of us we could not remember Dave Franco's name for minutes. Poor Baby!Franco. He was standing beside a parked car talking to another dude.
A week later same area was at the same Greek restaurant (where a sliver of Baklava the length and width of an average female finger served with a baby teaspoon of ice-cream sets you back $8) as Sean Hayes (“Will and Grace”). He dyes his hair a light chestnut color and it does not work.
*Months ago I attended L.A Film Fest missing more screenings than I actually attended because on the weekend I think I have more time than I have so I arrived at the anniversary screening of “Love and Basketball” late missing the Q&A with the cast (Sanaa Latham, Omar Epps, Dennis Haysbert, Alfre Woodard) prior to the screening. I took my sweet time getting ready so the one screening I really wanted to see “Infinitely Polar Bear” starring Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana I missed because I would’ve had to get my ticket from the rush line and my friend called to tell me the line was massive because Ruffalo and Saldana were appearing. So my friend who called was a volunteer for the film fest and offered me a ticket to the premiere of MTV’s “Scream”. Long story short I saw Tyler “Javier from “Smallville”s Very Special Episode Subterranean” Posey.
Okay, long story. My friend text me that “my boy from “Teen Wolf” was there. She didn’t realize there were two Tylers and my Tyler is Hoechlin, not Posey but he’s a SV alum so I hoped to see him. By the time I got there they had already let everyone in, the lights were down in the theater. I saw these overly dressed up people coming down the aisle and one commented on the “great seats” they had because they were seated in the very first row and I wasn’t too far from them in the third row. Whoever escorted them down apologized and explained that their seats had been taken. One of the guys said, “That’s okay, I’ve seen it already.” So I knew they were associated with the show. One of the girls called him by name, “Amadeus” and I thought that was such a “Beverly Hills Teen” name. The show began and the credits rolled and a Amadeus was listed. People had taken the cast’s seats while they were doing press. After a few minutes I looked down my row and realized Bex Taylor-Klaus was three or four seats from me.
Bex is the Nancy McKeon looking gal on the left and Amadeus is behind her
My friend later told me that the tickets weren’t selling for the event so the coordinators were passing out tickets to “Scream” so I think the general public, not knowing those were reserved seats, just took them.
They get up afterwards, do their Q&A; some of the cast members seemed really annoyed by Bella Thorne who at one point called herself “the star of the show” and one of the guys then complimented the true show lead Willa Fitzgerald.
As soon as the panel ended I jetted to the lobby in hopes to see Posey. I’m stopped almost immediately by this guy who begins asking me about the panel. We begin talking about filmmaking, the other LA Film Fest events and how no one big really turned out for this panel. As we’re talking I glance at the windows and I see a tattoed arm and knew it was Tyler. He and a friend were coming back inside so either he didn’t stay for the screening or he ducked out for a smoke. He comes back in and heads back into the theater. I resume talking to the guy and after another five or ten minutes he reaches over my shoulder to someone and says, “Hey, thanks man for earlier” And I see the tattooed arm and whip my head around and there’s Tyler who says, “No problem, dude” or something to that effect and they do the bro/dap. Tyler has little Dylan Sprayberry with him so I knew that’s why he returned to the theater.
It’s like picking up your little sibling from a playdate. The guy resumes talking to me and I look at him in disbelief because he said that there were no celebrities there. I told him, “He’s the star of “Teen Wolf”” and he was just like, “Oh…as I was saying.” I don’t know he honestly wanted to just talk about the festival with me but he gave me he his business card and suggested with have coffee. Not after making me miss Javier from “Smallville”, buddy!
~We've long known that Tom Welling has a lot of random connections; the latest? He's friends with Chef Ben Ford (son of Harrison) through his girlfriend apparently and Tom appeared on the latest ep of Cooking Channel's "Man Fire Food" which featured Chef Ben cooking for his friends.
Of course Welling starved fans hit him up.
