Entertainment

(NOTE LANGUAGE) As reported last week, Western movie veteran Sam Elliott isn’t a fan of Jane Campion‘s 12-time Oscar-nominated The Power of the Dog. In fact, he called it a “piece of sh**.” 

Elliott was speaking with on Marc Maron‘s WTF Podcast when he voiced his dislike for the movie, commenting the ranch hands were made out to be Chippendale’s dancers. He also appeared to resent the movie’s “allusions to homosexuality.”

“It just f**king rubbed me the wrong way, pal,” the veteran actor said of the film.

One of the movie’s nominated leads, Benedict Cumberbatch, plays Phil Burbank, a character who was a gruff cowboy on the surface, but clearly had repressed his homosexuality. In an interview that was part of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts series Film Sessions, Cumberbatch didn’t name Elliott, but called it an “odd reaction,” adding, “I’m trying very hard not to say anything about [it].”

The actor explained, “These people still exist in our world. Whether it’s on our doorstep or…someone we meet in a bar or pub or on the sports field, there is aggression and anger and frustration and an inability to control or know who you are in that moment that causes damage to that person and, as we know, damage to those around them.”

He added, “There’s no harm in looking at a character to get to the root causes of that. This is a very specific case of repression, but also due to an intolerance for that true identity that Phil is that he can’t fully be.”

Cumberbatch noted, “The more we look under the hood of toxic masculinity and try to discover the root causes of it, the bigger chances we have of dealing with it when it arises with our children.”

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Bill Cosby will remain a free man.

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a petition from Pennsylvania prosecutors seeking to reinstate the 84-year-old disgraced comedian’s 2018 sexual assault conviction.  

The justices declined to review last year’s Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision that led to Cosby’s release after he served just three years of a three-to-10-year sentence for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting former Temple University employee Andrea Constand in 2004.  The state’s high court ruled that Cosby’s due process rights were violated when the Montgomery County district attorney’s office brought the case against him based in part on a previously sealed deposition by Cosby, despite an earlier pledge by a different DA not to prosecute based on the deposition. 

The U.S. Supreme Court’s ejection of the petition Monday effectively ends litigation around the Cosby sexual assault allegations.

Cosby’s spokesman, Andrew Wyatt, issued a statement to ABC News thanking the high court on behalf of Cosby and his family.

“This is truly a victory for Mr. Cosby but it shows that cheating will never get you far in life and the corruption that lies within Montgomery County District’s Attorney Office has been brought to the center stage of the world,” the statement declared, in part.

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Footage of a young Ukrainian girl singing “Let It Go,” from Frozen, inside a bomb shelter went viral over the weekend — and caught the attention of one of the movie’s stars, Idina Menzel. 

“We see you. We really, really see you,” the Tony-winning actress and the voice of the movie’s Elsa tweeted, following her comments with the two hearts in yellow and blue, the colors of the Ukrainian flag.

According to the original Facebook post, the brave little singer’s name is Amelia, and amid the horrors of the Russian invasion of the country, her mother allowed a Facebook user named Marta Smekhova to record Amelia’s performance on Thursday. 

“From the first word in the [bomb shelter] came complete silence,” Smekhova notes. “…[E]veryone put their business aside and listen[ed] to a song by this girl who was just beaming light… even men couldn’t hold back the tears.”

The video of the little singer has been shared more than 108,000 times on Facebook as of Monday morning, liked more than 130,000 times on Twitter, and has gone viral on other social media platforms as well.

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Deadline reports The Many Saints of Newark star Alessandro Nivola has been tapped for a role in Sony/Marvel’s Kraven the Hunter, joining Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the titular character — a super-powered big-game hunter in the MCU. Details on Nivola’s role, other than he’ll be playing the villain, haven’t been revealed. Ariana DeBose, Russell Crowe and Fred Hechinger also star. Kraven the Hunter will be released theatrically January 13, 2023…

Johnny Brown, the actor, comedian and singer best known for portraying the housing project superintendent Nathan Bookman on Good Times, died Wednesday, his daughter, actress Sharon Catherine Brown, announced on Instagram. He was 84. A cause of death was not given. “Our family is devastated. Devastated. Devastated. Beyond heartbroken. Barely able to breathe,” his daughter wrote. Brown was a regular performer for three seasons on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In and also appeared in a number of other TV shows, including Maude, The Rookies, The Jeffersons, Archie Bunker’s Place, Family Matters and Sister, Sister, and in films including The Wiz, among others…

This Is Us star Milo Ventimiglia is attached to star in a drama pilot for ABC titled The Company You Keep, according to Variety. The pilot, based on the Korean series My Fellow Citizens, follows Charlie, a con-man played by Ventimiglia, and an undercover CIA officer named Emma, whose love affair puts them on a collision course professionally when he ramps up the “family business” so he can get out for good and she closes in on a vengeful criminal who holds Charlie’s family debts in hand…

Tim Considine, best known for co-starring on the television serials The Adventures of Spin and Marty and The Hardy Boys before playing the oldest brother on My Three Sons for five seasons, died Thursday in Los Angeles at his home in Mar Vista, his son, Christopher, told The Hollywood Reporter. He was 81. A cause of death was not revealed. Considine also appeared alongside his My Three Sons co-star Fred MacMurray in Disney’s The Shaggy Dog, and in The Clown, opposite Red Skelton. On TV, he appeared on Bonanza, The Fugitive and Gunsmoke, among others…

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The Batman beat expectations, opening with an estimated $128.5 million domestically. The film, which marks Robert Pattinson‘s bow as the Dark Knight, was only the second pandemic-era movie to score a $100-million opening weekend, after Spider-Man: No Way Home.

The Batman — also starring Jeffrey Wright, Paul Dano, Colin Farrell and Zoë Kravitz — added another $120 million from overseas showings, bringing its total opening take to 248.5 million.

Last week’s box office champ, Uncharted, slipped to number two, delivering an estimated $11 million in its second week. The video game adaptation, starring Tom Holland, tacked on an estimated $17.4 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $271.5.

The canine adventure Dog pulled up at number three, pocketing an estimated $6 million. Its domestic tally currently stands at north of $30 million after three weeks.

The aforementioned Spider-Man: No Way Home, also starring Tom Holland, pulled in an estimated $4.4 million, lifting its domestic total to $786.4 million after 12 weeks.

Disney and 20th Century’s murder mystery Death on the Nile earned an estimated $2.7 million over the weekend, Its four-week total now stands at just $37.1 million.

Rounding out the top five was Universal’s animated musical comedy Sing 2, earning in an estimated $4.2 million to bring its domestic total to $207.7 million. Since launching last December, the family-friendly movie has made an impressive $360 million at the worldwide box office.

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Oscar Isaac, star of Marvel’s upcoming Disney+ series Moon Knight, made his Saturday Night Live hosting debut over the weekend, and used his opening monologue to joke about what he described as his “full circle moment.”

Isaac revealed that his film debut, “The Avenger” — not The Avengers — was a home movie he “wrote, directed and starred in when I was 10 years old,” and brought clips from the film as proof. “It was shot on location in my buddy Bruce Ferguson’s backyard, in our hometown of Miami, Florida. I play a ninja assassin training to fight his nemesis,” he explained.

One clipped showed Isaac “acting his heart out” while his friend’s dad can be seen cleaning his pool in the background.

Another clip featured the Dune star playing dual roles, one of whom was licking blood off of a sword.

“Now you may be asking, Oscar, why are you using your monologue to show us old home videos? And the reason is, it’s important to encourage kids to be weirdos,” said Isaac, licking a bloody prop sword handed to him on stage. “Because every once in a while, one of those weirdos grows up to host SNL.”

Isaac also revealed that his full name is Oscar Isaac Hernández Estrada.

“I said to Hollywood, ‘You can pick two of these names.’ Guess what they went with? The white ones,” he joked. “I’m half Guatemalan, half Cuban — or, as casting directors call that, ‘Ethnically ambiguous.’”

“According to them, I can play anything from a pharoah to Timothée Chalamet’s daddy,” he added.

Saturday’s musical guest was Charlie XCX.

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The search for the next American Idol continued Sunday night, with host Ryan Seacrest and judges Katy Perry, Luke Bryan, and Lionel Richie leading the hunt.

Here are some of the night’s highlights, which include giving away the second out of three coveted Platinum tickets for the milestone season 20.

Kicking things off was 27-year-old Betty Maxwell, who some might recognize as Miss Georgia 2015 and Miss America 2016. Now, she’s after the American Idol crown, and after singing Kelly Clarkson‘s “A Moment Like This” and Carrie Underwood‘s “Jesus Take The Wheel,” she’s well on her way with a ticket to Hollywood. 

Leah Marlene, 20, from Illinois admittedly has some “questionable fashion choices” but the judges didn’t have to question anything when it came to whether or not they were sending her through to the next round. She performed One Direction‘s “Steal My Girl” and Katy even drew a comparison to former Idol contestant Catie Turner, who made it to season 16’s top seven.

Unfortunately, the same fate wasn’t in the cards for 17-year-old Skylie Thompson, who shared an original song called “Buckle Bunny” followed by a cover of Zach Bryan‘s “Oklahoma City.”  Although the trio of judges enjoyed her energy and performance, they ultimately sent home with an optimistic “not yet.”

Luke Taylor‘s deep voice took the judges by surprise. After having a few laughs, which included him singing “Frosty the Snowman,” Luke and Lionel voted him through to Hollywood. 

Kenedi Anderson, 17, took home a Platinum ticket, impressing the judges with her rendition of Lady Gaga‘s “Applause.” She had the judges praising her, even saying she was “born to be a star” and top ten material. 

Other notable auditions included, 18-year-old Kelsie Dolan, who was praised by the judges for hitting “no bad notes” after taking a swing at Kelly Clarkson’s “Piece by Piece,” and Adele‘s “When We Were Young.” 

Mike Parker, 27, sang his heart out as his family grapples with his mother’s health issues. He sung Deana Carter‘s “Strawberry Wine” and had Katy saying he’s potential “Top 24.” Also winning the judges compliments was Christian Guardino, singing Donnie Hathaway‘s “A Song For You” and Lady K, who took a stab at Katy’s song “Wide Awake.” Both had the judges saying that they’re “magic.”

The auditions continue when American Idol returns Sunday, March 13 at 8 p.m ET on ABC.

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Fede Alvarez, the director of the thriller movie Don’t Breathe and the successful Evil Dead reboot in 2013, is going to space with Ridley Scott for a new Alien film. 

Scott, the director of the groundbreaking 1979 original, who returned to the franchise to direct the Alien prequels Prometheus in 2012 and Alien: Covenant in 2017, is producing, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

According to the trade, this project won’t be thematically related to the existing movies, and instead a stand-alone feature meant to be an original for Hulu from Disney-owned 20th Century Studios. 

Meanwhile, FX is working on an Alien series set on earth decades in the future — before Sigourney Weaver‘s Ellen Ripley took her ill-fated trip on the mining vessel USS Nostromo in Alien. 

Some years ago, District 9 director Neill Blomkamp teased he was working on a direct sequel to James Cameron‘s classic 1986 sequel Aliens, hinting he would reunite Weaver with her Aliens co-star Michael Biehn, but that project apparently fizzled out, and 20th Century Fox’s subsequent sale to Disney in 2019 might have sealed its fate permanently.

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Modern Family vet Sarah Hyland and The Good Place star Jameela Jamil have been added to Peacock’s streaming spin-off of the Pitch Perfect movies. 

According to the platform, Pitch Perfect will see Adam Devine reprising his big-screen role as Bumper Allen, who reteams with Flula Borg‘s Piëter Krämer when one of Bumper’s songs goes big in Germany. 

Production on the series gets underway soon in that country, with Hyland reportedly playing Heidi, their assistant, who “secretly harbors dreams of being a singer-songwriter herself, and moonlights by performing original songs in a Berlin cabaret.”

Jamil will play Gisela, “Piëter’s ex-girlfriend and Bumper’s main rival,” who is “a bombastic and flashy up-and-coming German pop star [who] will stop at nothing to beat him to stardom.”

Another addition to the cast, Lera Abova, will play Anna, Piëter’s cool Berlin DJ sister.

Originally starring Rebel Wilson, Anna Kendrick, Elizabeth Banks and Anna Camp, with Devine and Borg in supporting roles, the three Pitch Perfect movies have made more than $600 million worldwide. 

The small-screen bow will be executive-produced by Workaholics vet Devine and Banks, the latter of whom directed Pitch Perfect 3. 

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Actor Antony Starr, known for playing the villainous Homelander on Amazon’s Emmy-nominated hit The Boys, will apparently avoid jail time after an allegedly drunken assault on a chef at a restaurant in Alicante, Spain.

The New Zealand Herald has confirmed a story that was first picked up by the city’s local newspaper La Información, which stated the 46-year-old actor was arrested Wednesday for punching, and possibly hitting, the 21-year-old alleged victim with a glass, which shattered.

The victim was said to be dazed and in need of four stitches above his eye. 

Starr was convicted but won’t face any jail time because he has no criminal record, according to Spanish law. Instead, he was automatically given a 12-month suspended prison sentence and ordered to pay $5,464.97 in fines within 72 hours. 

The New Zealand-born actor was in the city filming Guy Ritchie’s action movie The Interpreter, starring Jake Gyllenhaal. 

Starr can also be heard as Homelander in The Boys‘ animated spin-off, The Boys Presents: Diabolical, which premiered on Amazon Prime Friday. 

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