Charles Bramesco
Snap Your Elastic Waistband In Time With Weird Al’s ‘Captain Underpants’ Theme Song
Serious question: does any single entertainer have such complete dominion over their chosen field as Weird Al Yankovic wields over the song parody? Skeptics may scoff that musical spoofery is a stupid thing to become really, really, virtuosically good at, but the point stands that Yankovic has completely and totally mastered his preferred art form. So when the producers behind the upcoming film adaptation of the Captain Underpants chapter book series needed to find a talent for their theme music, of course their choice was obvious. In no insignificant way, Weird Al Yankovic was born to write a peppy pop tune about tightened-whiteys.
Martin Scorsese’s Next Gangster Film Will Be a Different Beast Than ‘Goodfellas’
See a few of his movies, and you’ll start to recognize the Martin Scorsese style: quick zooms and jump cuts cribbed from the French New Wave, exhilarating tracking shots, the occasional expertly-deployed pop hit, brief breaks from reality straight out of Powell & Pressburger’s playbook. He’s forged an entire career out of synthesizing influences and making their techniques his own, but even as he’s established himself as one of the most distinctive auteurs currently working, he’s never gotten mired in his own aesthetic. He constantly challenges himself to try more (if you need proof, just look at Silence), and in a new interview, he confirms that he’s going for something different with his next picture.
Scientists Name New Species of Dinosaur After Zuul of ‘Ghostbusters’
We owe a lot to scientists — they cured polio, got us on the moon, and they‘re doing their darnedest to stop us from methodically killing the planet. But man, what a bunch of nerds. It seems like every time biologists discover a new species of animal and need to give it a name, they take the opportunity to bust out a reference to their favorite bit of geek-approved pop culture. Lest we forget the velvet worm named after My Neighbor Totoro, and we’d be remiss to overlook the euglossa bazinga, a rare bee with a Big Bang Theory catchphrase as its namesake. And it appears that now the nerds are at it again.
The ‘Avatar’ Sequels, Which Will Be Partially Underwater, Take on a New Lead
Here’s the first paragraph of an item that ran this morning on Deadline, reproduced in full:
The ‘Workaholics’ Boys Suit Up and Light Up in ‘Game Over, Man!’ Teaser
On the long-running Comedy Central slacker sitcom Workaholics, bros-for-life Anders Holm, Blake Anderson, and Adam DeVine made no bones about their affinity for recreational marijuana use. But for those fans who had their healthy sense of skepticism, suspecting that it may all be an act for the sake of creating an onscreen persona, the Workaholics boys are back to re-affirm that they really and sincerely do love getting high. Just to prove it to you, all three actors light up in the teaser for their latest on-screen outing, and what’s more, they’re releasing it on April 20 of next year. As in, 4/20. Which is a weed thing.
‘Beauty and the Beast’ Is Now the Highest-Grossing PG Movie of All Time
We‘ve only just entered May, but in the first few months of 2017, the year has yielded a surprisingly eclectic array of blockbusters. Survey the biggest earners to date, and you’ll see a socially critical horror flick from a first-time director, a spin-off based on a cross-property licensing deal within a corporate brand expansion, and a tough-as-nails superhero side project with post-apocalyptic Western overtones. The latest Fast and Furious installment looks most at home in the top five so far, but more unexpected still is that it’s been handily defeated by the year’s top earner, Disney’s handsomely mounted revival of Beauty and the Beast. And now, the unlikely box-office behemoth has claimed another record.
Gal Gadot Has Bulletproof Wrists in First ‘Wonder Woman’ Clip
For every superhero, there is a season — turn, turn, turn. As Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 hits theaters today following months of anticipation, America now turns our gnat-like attention spans to the next big super-release. In about a month, we’ll have another cape-free caper, with Wonder Woman scheduled for June 2. And while we’ve all had time to gape at the trailers and posters and Instagram posts from those on set, we still have yet to actually glimpse any in-context footage. Until now, that is!
Watch Mark Hamill Surprise Some ‘Star Wars’ Superfans For a Good Cause
For a guy whose entire acting career has been overshadowed by one role he played decades ago, Mark Hamill’s got a pretty good attitude. He loves Star Wars, and what’s more, he loves how much the people who love Star Wars love Star Wars. A regular fixture at conventions and other fan events, Hamill regularly gets in on the fun and mingles with his adoring public. And in a new video from Lucasfilms’ charity arm Force for Change, he gives a handful of diehard devotees the surprise of their lives.
Amazon Gives Free Prime (and Popcorn) to Residents of Manchester-by-the-Sea
This is a movies web site, so the focal point of this article will definitely be how Manchester by the Sea has benefitted the actual citizenry of Manchester-by-the-Sea, but let’s not bury the lede. Amazon gave everyone living there a free year of Prime membership, and we’ll get back to that in a moment, because the real story here is that they also gave everyone free popcorn. Because Amazon makes food now. Apparently, the internet super-retailer recently launched something called Wickedly Prime, a line of snacks, teas, and what their web site calls ‘sweet spreads.’ I’m not quite sure what, but an automated drone air-dropping a crate of Internet Food right at my doorstep feels like the first step towards something major.
In Good News for Sitcoms (and Workers’ Rights), the WGA Isn’t Striking After All
In case you weren’t aware, a pretty major situation has been percolating in the entertainment industry over the past month. Unsatisfied with the conditions of their work and continued employment, the Writers’ Guild of America went to the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers to renegotiate the terms of their collective contract. A bitter standoff summarily broke out, with the possibility of another writers’ strike — you may remember the last freeze-out, which stretched from late 2007 into early 2008 — looming on the horizon. Today brings a resolution to the saga of the last few weeks, and in true Hollywood fashion, everyone’s getting a happy ending.