17 Jul 2014

You're A Boomer If You Love These 10 Movies

Suddenly (in my mind’s eye) I am seeing thousands of faces smiling, thousands of heads nodding, “yes.”
All you readers out there . . . we all know where we heard those words in The Graduate; some of us may even remember the exact movie theater where we were sitting or the people with whom we shared the moment.

Boomers may be a huge demographic slice — years ago population experts noted that birth rates skyrocketed beginning in 1946 after the soldiers returned from World War II and stayed at high levels until a precipitous drop in 1965. Still, people born within that timespan share a lot of cultural icons. Among them: Movies we loved when we first saw them and will watch again and again on the TCM channel (or Netflix streaming).

I love going to the movies. And it may surprise the folks who know me as a life-long penny pincher that I splurge on the overpriced popcorn and other concession items. (My favorite theater has a tasty burger and fries combo.)

But I’ve drawn the line on paying an extra $3 for 3-D. I’ve also become much more selective in the movies I’ll see. If I’m going to spend $11.50 for a movie, I want to have fun and not be sent home depressed. That’s why I haven’t seen “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” just yet. I liked the first installment, but the previews for the second film in the series are just, well, too darn serious. Really it’s gloomy. It’s summer. I want to have fun.

In the upcoming Goosebumps movie, comedian Jack Black stars as spooky storyteller R. L. Stine, whose ghoulish creatures—previously confined to his bestselling children’s books—are unexpectedly brought to life by a teen neighbor (Scandal first kid Dylan Minnette). With the help of Stine’s daughter, Hannah (Israeli actress Odeya Rush), a race ensues to capture the author’s manic monsters from wrecking havoc on their small town. It’s a comedy-fueled horror (due Aug. 7, 2015) that promises to channel Goosebumps’ kid-approved brand of scary while pleasing grownup loyalists of the 1990s franchise.

The School of Rock star—who reunited on Goosebumps with Gulliver’s Travels director Rob Letterman—talked to Entertainment Weekly about getting into character as Stine in the live-action reboot and his own love of scary films.

New movies will appear on the service 8 months after theatrical release
Disney has signed a deal to bring its catalogue of upcoming films to Canadian Netflix users starting next year.

Netflix Inc. and The Walt Disney Studios announced a licensing agreement Thursday that includes live action movies, Pixar computer animated movies, conventional animated movies, superhero movies from Marvel and Lucasfilm, in addition to Disneynature and DreamWorks movies.

We’ve all been suckered into seeing a bad movie by a good trailer at some point in our life. Whether a film is award-worthy or awful, savvy movie editors and marketers will do their best to sell audiences on a movie in the two-and-a-half minutes they are given. If that means crafting a slightly misleading trailer that makes a “Wild Hogs” look like "Casablanca" then so be it. Movies are big business and marketing is a huge part of it.

Of course, it's hard not to feel disappointed when the actual film doesn't live up to the hype its trailer generated. Here are five movies that had amazing trailers but ended up being not so great.

After a strong, attention-grabbing opening, this rekindling-the-romance comedy all gets rather flaccid, resulting in a less than satisfying experience. Initially seeming like an edgier, crasser version of This is 40, it ends up as a cross between Date Night and Knocked Up as it becomes less about the stresses of modern living and more about couples behaving badly.

With Cameron Diaz wearing an outfit to rival her eye-popping debut in The Mask (and her displaying even more cheek than usual), this is a film that seems desperately to want to be this generation's There's Something About Mary. From genital mishaps to prolonged dog fights, its hard not to get the feeling that writers Jason Segel, Kate Angelo (Will and Grace) and Nicholas Stoller (Muppets Most Wanted) had the Farrelly Brothers comedy in the background while they wrote.

With Mike Cahill's second feature "I Origins" slated for a Friday release, we decided to take a look at some of the most intelligent indies out there. "I Origins" is the second of Cahill's films to win the renowned Alfred P. Sloan Prize at Sundance, given to films that successfully incorporate science and technology. The following films, with their highly abstract plots and difficult-to-follow-themes, are some smart indies that, quite frankly, make us feel incredibly dumb.

"Akira Kurosawa's Dreams," Dir. Akira Kurosawa

Singapore: An 11-year old Indian boy is a star in a Singapore movie, singing Peking opera tunes and speaking most of his lines in Mandarin.

Denzyl Dharma, who studies Mandarin as a second language in Singapore, plays Raja in the film, a boy from India who tries to fit into his new home in Singapore and stumbles on to a foreign art form - Chinese opera.

The Mandarin-English movie, 'Wayang Boy', will be shown in Singapore later this year.

Zach Braff’s new movie, Wish I Was Here, ends with the milquetoast, whiny protagonist (played by Braff, because who else could play this role?) proclaiming that it’s OK to abandon your dreams and just be a normal person. That might be the most controversial part of the most annoying movie of the summer. Whereas Braff’s last film, the equally irritating navel-gaze-athon, Garden State, famously encouraged its audience to “Let Go” as the credits rolled, this new weenie roast of a movie implores you to give up. Of course, there’s one guy out there who stubbornly continues to push his monotonous artistic agenda on a culture that has long since moved on: Zach Braff. Kickstarter and online donations will allow Zach Braff to keep making movies, even if most of us don’t want him to.

After a full day of splashing in the wave pool, relaxing in the lazy river and speeding down the slides at Nashville Shores, swimmers can sit back (or float around) and watch the blockbuster "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire."

Related: Drive-ins make all outdoors a theater

LOS ANGELES — What for years has been a whisper in Hollywood — the possible consolidation of major studios in the face of tough industry economics — has become a starkly real option with the disclosure on Wednesday that Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox made an $80 billion bid to acquire Time Warner Inc.

In the bid, which Time Warner rejected, Mr. Murdoch is said to have made clear that his 20th Century Fox and Time Warner’s Warner Bros., two of Hollywood’s six major studios, would be managed jointly, but kept essentially separate.

Actor and comedian Brad Stine, a conservative Christian whose new film “Persecuted” opens Friday, has achieved success as an entertainer, though he says he’s seen and experienced persecution at the hands of Hollywood elite.

Rather than overt discrimination, he said it’s common for Christians and conservatives in Hollywood to simply sense that something isn’t quite right — to feel that there is an unspoken disagreement or quiet hostility toward their worldview.

Black actresses are the latest group in Hollywood to discover what other A-listers, including Matthew McConaughey, Kevin Spacey and Jessica Lange, already have: some of the best roles right now are on the small screen.

Oscar-winner Halle Berry and two-time Oscar nominee Viola Davis are among the black female film stars making the move to television, following Kerry Washington's success on the hit ABC show "Scandal." Behind the camera, Oscar nominee Angela Bassett is making her directorial debut with a television movie, Lifetime's biopic of Whitney Houston.

Studios and networks alike are cutting back, while staples including Warner Bros. Television and Showtime return to the late-night scene.

Many in the entertainment industry trek from Hollywood to Comic-Con not for any panel in Hall H, not to see if there are any comic properties to snap up, but for the thriving party scene that has cropped up over the past decade.

ATTENTION A-listers, you may now attend movie premieres and awards shows without fear.

Vitalii Sediuk, the serial red carpet prankster whose violent intrusions have wreaked havoc on celebs from Los Angeles to Cannes, from Adele to Will Smith, is turning over a new leaf.

LOS ANGELES — Kevin Durant won two ESPY Awards, including male athlete of the year, and mixed martial arts star Ronda Rousey earned female athlete honors, becoming the first UFC fighter to claim a trophy in the biggest category at the show honoring the year’s best performances Wednesday night.

Durant also won best NBA player, ending LeBron James’ two-year reign in both categories.

The NBCUniversal network's marketing campaign focuses on the 35-year-old Brit, lead of a new medical drama, as its next potential breakout.

USA Network is heading in a more provocative direction — and it hasn't been shy about it.

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A Hollywood woman filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court against Starline Tours over an accident that disfigured her face last year.

Lauren Guerra alleges she was riding on the top level of the open, double-decker bus when she was injured in October 2013.

A trip to a Hollywood convenience store sent one man to jail for the second time in two days.

"You fall in that unique group of people, sir, and there aren't very many of them, but you have accomplished a feat," Judge John "Jay" Hurley said to Stephon Brown, 28, in first-appearance court Wednesday. "You've been arrested twice now in a 48-hour period for doing the exact same thing twice."

TRANSFER GOSSIP

Midfielder Sami Khedira, 27, is considering rejecting both Chelsea and Arsenal to remain at Real Madrid. Daily Express
Russian trio Zenit St Petersburg, Dynamo Moscow and CSKA Moscow are battling it out to land Everton midfield target Roman Eremenko, 27 from Rubin Kazan. Talksport

Updates from Thursday, July 17
Bayern Munich has officially announced an agreement has been reached for the transfer of Toni Kroos:

DONE DEAL: Toni Kroos will make an immediate switch to Real Madrid after the clubs reached an agreement.

FOOTBALL GOSSIP

Celtic are interested in £1.5m-rated forward Modou Barrow according to his Swedish club Ostersunds FK. Bolton Wanderers recently had a £600,000 bid rejected for the Gambian after he spent a week on trial at the Reebok Stadium. ( Daily Mail )

Hull City could loan £2.6m striker Nick Proschwitz to Dundee United for a year as a sweetener as they continue their pursuit of left-back Andrew Robertson. (Daily Mail)

Everton FC are monitoring Gambian striker Modou Barrow, says the Daily Mail .
The speedy forward plays for Swedish outfit Ostersunds FK in Sweden and is set to be watched by representatives from Hull City, QPR and Everton, according to club president Daniel Kindberg.

The 21-year old has already been subject to a failed £600,000 bid from Bolton Wanderers as interest begins to mount.

Hey there Upper Eastsiders, looks as if Chace Crawford is single again.

The "Gossip Girl" alum and girlfriend Rachelle Goulding have split, Crawford said on Wednesday when he phoned in from his hometown of Dallas to the Aussie radio show "The Kyle and Jackie O Show."

When asked if he was still with the model, who he'd been linked to since March 2013 -- or as they referred to her, "the hot chick" -- Crawford said no.

MARCUS Tudgay could be close to securing himself a new club, after being handed a trial by League One Coventry.

The 31-year-old striker was released by Forest at the end of the season, as new boss Stuart Pearce allowed all of the club’s out of contract players to leave.

Tudgay had made 47 starts and 21 sub appearances after initially signing on loan, from Sheffield Wednesday, in November 2010.

THURSDAY, July 17

Reggae Sumfest Dancehall Night

@ Catherine Hall Entertainment Centre, Montego Bay

Adm: $3,300 Pre-Sold / $3,500 Gate VIP $6,000

Featuring: Bounty Killer, Busy Signal, I-Octane, Assassin and more.

To publicize entertainment events, submit the event name, time and location in writing or by e-mail. The deadline for submissions is noon on Tuesday to run the following Thursday in the entertainment section. All items must include the name and phone number of the person submitting the information. No events will be accepted by telephone. Notices may be sent to Lifestyle Entertainment Calendar, Columbus Telegram, P.O. Box 648, Columbus, NE 68602 or e-mail to col.clerk@lee.net.

Friday, July 18

Production and programming execs Eric Tomosunas of Swirl Films and Leslie Glenn Chesloff of UP TV announced Wednesday their launch of Swirl Entertainment Group, a production company designed to focus on providing services for urban content.

Tomosunas founded Swirl Films in 2008 and has since produced more than 40 original productions. Swirl Entertainment Group aims to offer the similar services, including production of independent features and multi-camera content, casting and budget creation, talent relations and securing distribution.

CORAL SPRINGS, Florida, July 17, 2014 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- CORAL SPRINGS, Florida, July 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Companies in the digital entertainment sector prepare to announce earnings; others dive into EDM market & music app acquisitions: Tapinator, Inc. TAPM +1.45% , Glu Mobile, Inc. GLUU -0.92% , Apple Inc. AAPL +0.19% , Google Inc. GOOG -0.64% and SFX Entertainment Inc. SFXE +0.29%

Tapinator, Inc. (otc pink:TAPM) is pleased to announce that it has completed its first strategic investment initiative into Crossfader, an iOS music application that is designed to give its users the power to mix and match existing songs - to act as their own DJ, thereby allowing them to participate in the music creation process.

Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans star as Iron Man and Captain America
Avengers: Age of Ultron's psychopathic android villain Ultron has been revealed on the cover of Entertainment Weekly.

The news comes the week before 2014's San Diego Comic Con, where Marvel will have a huge presense that will likely involve the screening of footage to fans in attendance and the release of further press material - a teaser trailer or poster perhaps.

Do you have the balls to win? Visit Rama Gaming Centre in Mississauga to find out. Rama Gaming Centre is the new bingo and entertainment centre in Ontario that combines gaming fun with so much more.

Come in for a drink. Enjoy a meal on the patio. Meet with friends or colleagues. Watch a game on the big screen at Lucky Bar. Play one of the play-on-demand games or try electronic bingo using touch screen terminals. Of course, if you prefer the paper method, that’s still available.

LONDON — Entertainment One has acquired Paperny Entertainment, a producer of unscripted television content in North America.

Deal, which was inked with partners David Paperny, Cal Shumiatcher and Audrey Mehler, will see eOne ramp up its activity in unscripted production across North America.

Art

Heritage Museum of Montgomery County
Located inside Candy Cane Park at 1506 I-45 N in Conroe, the Heritage Museum of Montgomery County has numerous indoor and outdoor exhibits.

Frank Johnson, author of "Montgomery County Texas CSA," which is the most comprehensive history every written of the Confederate soldiers from our county, will be signing his books at the Heritage Museum on July 19 from 11a.m. to 2 p.m. His book will be available for purchase at that time.

Internet comedy is no longer just something kids make on their phones. Established comics are increasingly relishing the freedom and the direct connection of bypassing traditional TV and making online shows with a strong creative wallop.

BEIRUT: MP Marwan Hamade denounced Thursday Syrian President Bashar Assad’s inauguration speech as a “tragic comedy,” rejecting the credibility of the Syrian elections and their results.

“The speech is a failed attempt to continue the tragic comedy that Assad had started in the disfigured elections that he had carried out, and that were only conducted in a few areas,” Hamade said in an interview with Radio Orient.

The continuing power struggle between the Obama administration and congressional Republicans continued to play out on Capitol Hill Wednesday, with political drama both histrionic and historical.

The histrionics were provided by California Republican Darrell Issa. The chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee shut down a scheduled hearing into political activity in the White House without listening to testimony from any scheduled witnesses. He claimed that the administration’s decision to prevent David Simas, one of the president’s senior advisers, from testifying on Capitol Hill had rendered the proceeding pointless.

'Boatload of Comedy' runs from 17-26 July and features 20 stand-up comedians from abroad

Danish comedian Valdemar Pustelnik has loaded the bulk of the Bådteatret boat theatre in Nyhavn with 20 international stand-up acts, who will be performing for an English-speaking audience every night from tomorrow until July 26.

The live shows are all part of Copenhagen's brand new comedy festival 'Boatload of Comedy', which features comedians from Australia, Iceland, Canada, England and Germany among others, performing every day at 6 and 8.30pm.

SPRINGFIELD — This month's Laughing Latinos Comedy show will feature some new faces as well as comedians who have performed at the monthly comedy night before.

The headliner for the evening is Ruperto Vanderpool,a long-time stand-up comedian and actor who has been seen in movies like "The Cookout" produced by Queen Latifa. He's been on Urban Latino TV, BET's Comic View, Showtime at the Apollo and even NBC's Law & Order SVU.

Baileys Harbor — Midway through the captivating and exceptional Door Shakespeare production of "The Comedy of Errors," we're given a moving, beautifully played moment during which we're reminded that this most farcical of the Bard's plays — in which identical twins are continually mistaken for one another — is also a dress rehearsal for the much deeper and darker "Twelfth Night."

Luciana, sister to the pretty but histrionic Adriana, tries to persuade Adriana's husband, Antipholus of Ephesus, to pay more attention to his wife rather than gadding about in the streets and cavorting with the local courtesan.

A humorous slice of the Big Apple will be served in Denver this weekend as New York stand-up Aparna Nancherla headlines the latest Sexpot Comedy showcase at The Oriental Theater.

The July 18 show, which also features comics Sean Patton, Ashley Barnhill and Ian Douglas Terry, is a preview event for the second High Plains Comedy Festival, on Aug. 22-23.

Created by Gregg Zehentner (The Nut, himself), Pat Stango, and Clayton Gumbert, The Comedy Nut doesn’t seem to be much of a novel undertaking at first glance. A weird interviewer makes straight men feel sort of uncomfortable — that’s our premise, and it’s one that everyone from Martin Short's Jiminy Glick to Zach Galifianikis’s morose cynic in Between Two Ferns are very familiar with. What makes The Comedy Nut unique is a subtle lampooning of the trope we’ve all come to know and love.

How did you guys get your start in comedy?

EXCLUSIVE: Former The Daily Show With Jon Stewart executive producer/showrunner Rory Albanese is returning to Comedy Central and reuniting with Stewart and The Daily Show‘s Senior Black Correspondent Larry Wilmore. Albanese has been named executive producer of Daily Show‘s new companion late-night show, The Minority Report with Larry Wilmore, slated for January 2015 debut.

Laughter may be the best medicine, but it doesn't always pay the bills, alas.

Hence, the unfunny fact that Bloomington-Normal's lone full-time mecca for mirth, Laugh House, has closed its doors.

Temporarily, hopefully; forever, possibly.

Owner Mike Gardner isn't saying either way just yet … specifics are still being dealt with.

Recently, Taylor Swift wrote a tragically naïve, but cheerfully optimistic editorial for the Wall Street Journal. She concluded that the future of music is wrapped up in the cultivation of deeply emotional bonds between fans and performers. “There are a few things I have witnessed becoming obsolete in the past few years,” she noted, “the first being autographs. I haven’t been asked for an autograph since the invention of the iPhone with a front-facing camera. The only memento ‘kids these days’ want is a selfie. It’s part of the new currency, which seems to be ‘how many followers you have on Instagram.’”

Swift raises an interesting point: have selfies with celebrities replaced the demand for celebrity autographs?

Nadia Forde may be about to tell all about her friendship with Rory McIlroy after being approached to go on Celebrity Big Brother.

The model and singer could net herself a five-figure sum to appear on the Channel 5 reality show, the Herald can reveal.

The Clontarf native (24) has been approached by the producers of the show, who are said to be "extremely keen" to have her fill the last female slot as they finalise this year's celebrity line-up.

Talons drawn, the media have descended upon Chelsea Clinton. Again.

Not for her frizzy hair, now smoothed with a killer blowout, or for that preteen metal mouth, now braces-free and pearly white.

This time the attacks are over how much money she makes — for her network television fluff pieces and well-attended gigs on the lecture circuit — despite her stick-thin resume.

They’ve blown it again, big time. They just can’t help themselves.

During the Bush years, the open-borders movement won over bleeding hearts in the White House but alienated the American public with radical displays of La Raza (“The Race”) militancy, desecrated American flags and Che Guevara-shirt-wearing, fist-thrusting marches across the country.

Left-wing public relations consultants taught the amnesty mob to tone it down, turn the flags right-side up and stop threatening Reconquista.

IT'S been another busy 24 hours in the world of celebrity. Check out our picture gallery to see what some of the biggest names in showbiz have been up to.

IN today's celebrity picture gallery of the day Olly Murs features in a selfie on a plane alongside Two and a Half Men star Ashton Kutcher.

Elsewhere, Pixie Lott attends the Attitude Magazine Hot 100 party at Paramount Club in London.

NBA star Kevin Durant’s recent deal to become spokesman for the zero-calorie drink Sparkling Ice raises, once again, the question of just how much value celebrity endorsements bring to a brand.

One thing is clear, however. Although the terms of Durant’s deal with Sparkling Ice's maker, Talking Rain, have not been disclosed, celebrity endorsements do not come cheap.

Kama the Hawaiian pig has been surfing since the beginning of the year
His exploits shot him to fame and now he has attracted sponsorship from GoPro
Kama has his own Instagram which is filled with pictures of him and adoring girls in bikini's

Since he rode his board to fame six months ago, Kama the surfing pig has discovered the benefits of living life as a professional beach-bum.

He spends his days on the sands of Oahu surrounded by adoring bikini-clad girls, all desperate to nuzzle up to and hug Hawaii's legendary piglet, despite the fact he now has his own little miss piggy.

Despite goalkeeper Tim Howard’s best efforts—15 saves in a single match—the United States soccer team was unable to achieve its goal of FIFA World Cup domination. But, a look at Tim on a recent cover of Adweek makes clear that he has a shot at another kind of domination. For which brand, or brands, will he become celebrity spokesperson? That he already endorses a number of brands is beside the point. And that is that there’s a lot to consider when taking on this role in a post-mass media, on-all-the-time marketplace. While some may think that celebrity spokespeople are a thing of the past, I believe there is still a place for this branding tactic in our modern era. That is, if we take into account the evolving dynamics of our modern marketing era, which I’ll address in just a moment.

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