Brie Larson Posts Wrap Photo Of Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Next Upcoming – Captain Marvel

Brie Larson, Academy Award-winning actress, and star of Marvel’s first female-led superhero movie posted a captionless picture of the Captain Marvel clapperboard with a decorated calendar announcing that July 6 was the last day of shooting.

Of course, true to Marvel Cinematic Universe form, no secrets or hints were given away from this photo. However, the clapperboard is filled with autographs from what is assumed to be the cast and crew of the movie. So if you can find any Easter eggs in there, more power to you.

And since Marvel Studios won’t be making an appearance at Comic-Con in a couple of weeks, this may be the only kind of Captain Marvel news we get in a long time. We kind of saw a cameo of Captain Marvel in the post-credits scene of Infinity War, but other than that, we have nothing else to gnaw on.

Larson shared the news with a snapshot of the film’s clapperboard.

A post shared by Brie (@brielarson) on Jul 8, 2018 at 1:35pm PDT

In the photo, which the 28-year-old Oscar winner posted without a caption, the clapperboard — which appears to be signed by most of the cast and crew — rests on a calendar with the days marked off up until July 6, which is circled and the words “last day” are written below.

In the film, Larson stars as Carol Danvers, a U.S. Air Force pilot who gains immeasurable superhuman powers after an accident leads to her DNA mixing with that of an alien being, thus become the eponymous Captain Marvel.

The movie is set in the 1990s, meaning it predates almost everything fans have seen in all the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, except for some key flashbacks scattered throughout the 20 films.

Given its setting, fans will also get to see Samuel L. Jackson reprise his role as Nick Fury, however without his signature eye-patch, as the movie takes place before he suffered whatever injury caused the damage.

Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck directed Captain Marvel from a script from a writing team that included Boden and Fleck as well as Meg LeFauve,  Nicole Perlman, Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Liz Flahive, and Carly Mensch. The film also stars Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn, Samuel L. Jackson, Clark Gregg, Lee Pace, Gemma Chan, and Djimon Hounsou.

Several familiar characters from the MCU will be returning, including Samuel L. Jackson as S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury, along with Clark Gregg’s Phil Coulson and Cobie Smulders’ Maria Hill. Lee Pace will also reprise his role as Ronan the Accuser and Djimon Hounsou’s mercenary Korath.

News Source: deadline.com, etonline.com

Azad Hind News

Canadian super-producer David Foster Engaged with Katharine McPhee

The Singer McPhee confirmed her engagement to Foster on Twitter — by using a GIF of Ariana Grande

Katharine McPhee and David Foster are headed to the altar.

The former “American Idol” contestant and the Canadian musician confirmed their engagement on Tuesday.
Foster, 68, popped the question to McPhee, 34, while the two were vacationing in Italy, according to the former “Smash” star.
“He did it at the top of this mountain in Anacapri,” McPhee wrote in a text exchange she shared on Instagram. “Totally dark, only stars.”
This will be McPhee’s second marriage.

if only you saw the first 50+ pics it took to get to these two 🤦🏻‍♀️🇮🇹 || 📸 : @davidfoster

A post shared by Katharine McPhee (@katharinemcphee) on Jul 1, 2018 at 9:18am PDT

Congratulations are in order for Katharine McPhee.

The “American Idol” alum and actress is engaged to Canadian super-producer David Foster, her publicist confirmed to ABC News.

McPhee, 34, shared a text exchange on Instagram in which she shared that Foster, 68, proposed on a starry night atop a mountaintop in Capri, Italy.

“Thankfully he didn’t push me off the cliff,” she joked. “He said it was one or the other. And in the end he spared me.”

❤️💍😬 cc: @jaredeng

A post shared by Katharine McPhee (@katharinemcphee) on Jul 3, 2018 at 10:37am PDT

The two have known each other since McPhee’s “American Idol” days more than 10 years ago. They were photographed kissing at the end of last year.

McPhee most recently appeared in the CBS series “Scorpion.” She’s currently starring on Broadway in “Waitress,” the hit musical written by Sara Bareilles. Last year, she released an album of standards called “I Fall In Love Too Easily.”

One of the most successful producers in pop music, Foster, a 16-time Grammy winner, has worked with everyone from Madonna to Whitney Houston to Michael Jackson. One of his most successful productions was Houston’s cover of “I Will Always Love You.”

This will be the second marriage for McPhee, who was was previously married to Nick Cokas. They split in 2014 and were formally divorced in 2016.

As for Foster, this will be his fifth marriage. His previous wives include Linda Thompson, the mother of Brandon and Brody Jenner, and Yolanda Hadid, mother of Gigi, Bella and Anwar Hadid. Foster and Hadid divorced in 2017.

💍 pic.twitter.com/4huIH80Wr7

— Kat McPhee (@katharinemcphee) July 3, 2018

As RHOBH fans know, Foster and Hadid used to throw memorable dinner parties, which usually ended with jam sessions around the piano. One time Babyface even joined in on the fun and so did Andrea Bocelli. Seeing as Foster and McPhee are both talented musicians, can you imagine what their dinner parties will be like? Basically, guests should expect a mini-Broadway show.

It sure seems like McPhee couldn’t be happier with her current relationship status. She shared a photo on her Instagram Story Tuesday of Foster on a boat, and she captioned it with a bunch of hearts. Yeah, she’s happy.

🇮🇹

A post shared by Katharine McPhee (@katharinemcphee) on Jul 1, 2018 at 11:24am PDT

This will be the second marriage for McPhee, who was previously married to Nick Cokas from 2008 to 2016. Foster has been married four times before, most notably to former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Yolanda Hadid. He was also married to B.J. Cook, Rebecca Dyer, and Linda Thompson.

News Source: bustle.com, edition.cnn.com, abcnews.go.com

Azad Hind News

A Prequel to the “Purge” Series – The First Purge – Review

A prequel to the ‘Purge’ series, and the first one set in the inner city, is a threadbare exploitation film that still manages to pack a timely punch

In “The First Purge,” the National Founding Fathers of America — they’re the kind of fascists who pretend not to be — launch an audacious (or maybe it’s just sick) experiment in state-controlled chaos: a 12-hour zone of anything-goes bedlam in which the crimes you commit, from petty theft to brutal murder, are all legal. It’s an experiment that treats the people who participate in it as human lab rats, and those who designed it choose what they believe to be the perfect homicidal playground: Staten Island, the least sexy and most self-contained borough of New York City. If the experiment “works” (i.e., if it proves that there are enough people out there who seriously want to f— each other up), then the NFFA will take it national.

As the Purge begins, a cackling psychopath named Skeletor (Rotimi Paul), who has a shaved head, a crazed grin, a set of African tribal scars, and the popping eyes of a zombie, holds up a man at an ATM and goes nuts with his dagger. A drug kingpin named Dmitri (Y’lan Noel), who is cool, calm, and collected, has to fend off an attempted coup by one of his lieutenants, who has lined up a couple of ladies to seduce and purge the boss. The plan doesn’t work, and Dimitri winds up purging him.

It is, in other words (nudge, nudge), a typical night in the hood.

One of the semi-jokes of the “Purge” films, with their hooky set-ups, their mostly cruddy lighting and staging, and their “Clockwork Orange”-meets-Roger Corman graze-Z nihilism, is that they’re rooted in a preening sort of “sociology” that’s tuned into the zeitgeist but, at the same time, comes off as more than a little mindless.

That’s true of this prequel as well. It’s the first “Purge” film to be set in the inner city, and that allows it to play off the notion that the government is only too eager to trash the lives of African-Americans, in a way that echoes the social paranoia of the ’70s and ’80s, when the heroin and crack epidemics were believed by many to be the deliberate fallout of racist government policies — a way of narcotizing the underclass.

On Staten Island, where the action clusters around the Park Hill Towers housing projects, each of the Purge participants gets $5,000, with the price set to go up the more mayhem they commit. They wear video contact lenses that give them the look of iridescent-eyed aliens, and everything that happens is broadcast, with a kind of lip-smacking “Hunger Games” breathlessness, by the national news media. But if there’s a message buried in there somewhere, one that’s designed to power a B-movie for the age of Black Lives Matter, “The First Purge” isn’t without its own whiff of exploitation.

‘The First Purge’

Reviewed at AMC Empire, New York, July 2, 2018. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 97 MIN.

Director: Gerard McMurray
With: Lex Scott Davis, Y’lan Noel, Joivan Wade, Marisa Tomei, Rotimi Paul, Mugga, Patch Darragh, Luna Lauren Velez, Mo McRae.
Release Date: Jul 4, 2018

PRODUCTION: A Universal Pictures release of a Blumhouse Productions, Perfect World Pictures, Platinum Dunes production. Producers: Jason Blum, Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Bradley Fuller, Sebastien Lemercier, James DeMonaco. Executive producers: Steven R. Molen, Couper Samuelson, Jeanette Brill.

CREW: Director: Gerard McMurray. Screenplay: James DeMonaco. Camera (color, widescreen): Anastas N. Michos. Editor: Jim Page. Music: Kevin Lax.

WITH: Lex Scott Davis, Y’lan Noel, Joivan Wade, Marisa Tomei, Rotimi Paul, Mugga, Patch Darragh, Luna Lauren Velez, Mo McRae.

It’s likely that the film’s Purge-in-the-hood concept had more than a little to do with the success that Blumhouse, the franchise’s key production company, enjoyed with “Get Out.” Yet if a “Purge” film built around the lives of African-Americans seems a totally good idea, and is more than likely to prove a commercial one, coming from Blumhouse it only highlights the difference between the two films. “Get Out” was a thriller with a devious texture, rooted in social and psychological experience. “The First Purge” is a slipshod dystopian pulp comic book rooted in gangbanger clichés. It’s a threadbare “Boyz N the Hood” meets “Lord of the Flies.”

The latest, which indicates the creative forces behind the series have been running out of ideas, is set in an inner-city community on Staten Island where the newly elected (not Democrat or Republican) U.S. government, New Founding Fathers of America, has declared a local experiment largely among the poor and impoverished African American and Latino citizenry who are encouraged to sign up for the “Purge” and be paid a minimum of $5000 if they don alien-looking contact lenses and hit the streets where anything goes during those 12 hours.

The architect of this idea (Marisa Tomei) designed it as a moment where all morality is dissolved into a base desire to kill your neighbor. It is a social experiment disguised by a nefarious government whose real goal is to set the poor against the poor and rid America of those they consider undesirable. In just five years since this series began, the concept sadly is not as far-fetched as it sounds, particularly in a country currently detaining immigrants in detention centers and separating families from each other before deportation. (On its most basic level, The First Purge could be a wild idea pitched by some nutcase with a White House job.)

Storywise, the cast is led by drug dealer Dmitri (Y’lan Noel), who likes his life of simple crime and does not intend to hit the streets during the Purge. But circumstances turn him into a leader of the resistance especially when ex-girlfriend Nya (Lex Scott Davis), a community organizer, needs his and his gang’s expertise to help when her younger brother Isiah (Joivan Wade) foolishly signs up and immediately gets into some deep sh*t. Dmitri realizes he can’t sit back and watch as the live televised images show government troops and police moving in when things careen out of control.

The fact is that evil Chief of Staff Arlo Sabian (Patch Darrah, doing his best impression of an unfeeling D.C. bureaucrat) needs chaos for this idea to succeed and has secretly sent in mercenaries, the Ku Klux Klan and god knows who else to essentially provoke a race war. This dystopic vision of a hate-driven America was headache-inducing for me this time around, and a bit depressing. Maybe that’s because this little B-horror movie piece of sci-fi isn’t just a low-rent imitation of Clockwork Orange, but that it is now not entirely implausible after Charlottesville, the immigration crisis, and other facts of current life.

Or, maybe that is just what James DeMonaco, the writer-director of the first three movies, would have us think: that this is all more important than just a low-budget box office grab. He wrote this script too (but handed the reins to the workmanlike direction of Gerard McMurray) and does seem to want us to believe the have-nots in America’s poorest communities are ready to stand up and fight for what’s right against an increasingly corrupt government, which told them the American Dream was dead and that it was going to bring it back to life. Whether it is all an allegory in some ways for President Donald Trump’s MAGA — and a backlash to it — is up to the viewer to surmise. Some of the characters, such as Rotimi Paul’s psychotic neighborhood bully Skeletor, are so cartoonish it can be difficult to take any of it seriously, although I admit I was uncomfortable watching much of this exercise, which revels in pointless violence, needless and endless uses of the N-word and a showcase for the biggest, most easily available guns around lovingly photographed in vivid closeups — the NRA won’t be complaining.

The powers behind this may think this blood-fest is also some sort of message movie for our times, and indeed America has changed since 2013, but it seems that with the frequency these movies are being turned out that the Purge franchise also allows the filmmakers to get their rocks off with their own annual cinematic purge. If you have any doubt, stick around for the end credits that feature a commercial for a new 10-part Purge TV series (I thought it was a joke until I remembered Syfy and USA Network are indeed launching it for real in the fall). If you hoped The First Purge would be the last, think again; it’s coming right to your living room. Happy 4th of July.

‘BIG BANG THEORY’ Star KALEY CUOCO Marries KARL COOK – Wedding Ceremony

Good morning honey, I love you, and I’m sorry. I am still processing the greatest night of my life marrying the love of my life! I mean god damn that dress was amazing!

A post shared by Karl Cook (@mrtankcook) on Jul 1, 2018 at 10:32am PDT

Big Bang Theory star Kaley Cuoco married professional equestrian Karl Cook on Saturday. The pair have been dating since 2016. Cuoco announced the news via her social media late Saturday night. The pair was married in a barn wedding surrounded by family and friends, People reports.

I am so so so happy. Thank you @nadis_diamonds for making the greatest ring I could hope for. Absolutely brilliant. Thank you thank you

A post shared by Karl Cook (@mrtankcook) on Nov 30, 2017 at 7:30pm PST

Cuoco fan accounts posted videos of the reception, showing the pair’s intimate, self-written vows. Cook can be heard detailing his willingness to take care of any stray bugs in their home, and Cuoco speaks of the lack of words she has for how much she loves Cook.

I’m actually crying. Huge congratulations, @normancook and @mrtankcook!! Here’s to wishing you both a lifetime of happiness! 💕💗💗💕 👰🏼 🤵🏻 #kcsquared P.S. You definitely blew Amy’s dress out of the water. And so much more beyond. Damn, it’s STAGGERING!

A post shared by Kaley Cuoco 🐶🐴🦄🐰 (@kaleycuoco_love) on Jul 1, 2018 at 6:25am PDT

In an interview with People, Cuoco described the unique connection she and Cook have. “He lets me wake up in the morning and say, ‘I want to go and rescue rabbits.’ And he’s like, ‘All right, let’s get a coffee and let’s go.’ And that is him,” she said. “We are the same, our views are the same, our morals are the same, he is my perfect match.”

Cuoco wore a lace wedding dress and cape for the ceremony and changed into a lace pantsuit for the reception.

The couple were engaged in November 2017, they shared with fans via Instagram. In a video, a tearful Cuoco shows off her ring before Cook explains she had yet to say “yes” to his proposal.

Ok let’s party!!! #kcsquared 💋 💕

A post shared by @ normancook on Jun 30, 2018 at 11:18pm PDT

Cuoco is most known for her role as Penny Hofstadter on The Big Bang Theory, a girly-girl among a group of scientist friends. The show has been on for 11 seasons. She’s the second highest paid actress, only behind Sofia Vergara, and has started her own production company, Yes, Norman Productions.

Legally KCSQUARED 6-30-18 ❤️

A post shared by @ normancook on Jun 30, 2018 at 10:56pm PDT

“Legally KCSQUARED 6-30-18,” Cuoco, 32, posted on Instagram with a black-and-white photo portrait of herself and Cook, 27, in wedding clothes, kissing in a decorated, flower-strewn stable in Rancho Santa Fe, California, an unincorporated area north of San Diego, known for its celebrity residents. “KC squared” refers to the couple’s identical initials.

“Ok let’s party!!!” the actress, TV’s second-highest-paid behind “Modern Family” star Sofia Vergara, posted an hour later with a color photo of herself in a white lace, low-cut jumpsuit, and Cook in a tuxedo. Cuoco later posted a photo of herself and her new husband, their backs to the camera, standing at a railing with matching blue-jean jackets each reading “Together Forever” and “KC Squared est 2018.”

On Sunday, Cook — son of Intuit co-founder and retired CEO Scott Cook and businesswoman Signe Ostby, who runs the family’s Pomponio Ranch Stallions stables in San Gregorio, California — posted a photo of the couple kissing before a horseshoe-shaped altar made of flowers and other plants. “Good morning honey, I love you, and I’m sorry. I am still processing the greatest night of my life marrying the love of my life!” he wrote.

Cuoco wore a strappy lace wedding gown by designer Reem Acra, matched with a white lace cape. Tadashi Shoji designed her reception jumpsuit, per numerous outlets.

A multitude of Instagram videos showed the couple being married by officiant Briana Cuoco, 29, Kaley’s performer-choreographer sister, who wrote on Instagram Sunday, “Last night i got to marry my sister + my new brother in law & it was one of the best moments of my entire life. i WILL be posting about this night until the day i die. i love you so much.”

No words. #kcsquared

A post shared by Kaley Cuoco 🐶🐴🦄🐰 (@kaleycuoco_love) on Jul 1, 2018 at 7:44am PDT

Guests included Cuoco’s cast-mate and former boyfriend Johnny Galecki, 43, who posted an Instagram photo of himself and the happy couple, captioned, “Deepest congrats to the newlyweds. Love you both so much. . . . So moved by tonight.” Fellow cast-mate Mayim Bialik, 42, also attended, posting a photo montage and writing, “Yes we are thrilled to be at @normancook and @mrtankcook ‘s gorgeous wedding and it’s super fun.” Actor Wil Wheaton also posted from the nuptials.

Melissa Rauch, 38, sent her cast-mate her best wishes, posting the black-and-white portrait and writing, “The most tremendous congratulations to these beautiful newlyweds!!! Wishing you both a lifetime of love and happiness!! Love you guys!” Fellow “Big Bang” stars Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, and Jim Parsons, who is currently on Broadway in “The Boys and the Band,” did not post about the wedding on social media.

The pair’s star-studded wedding comes just days after Cuoco stepped out in a “bride” T-shirt while getting in shape for the big day. Days before that, she celebrated her bachelorette party with a pink-themed bash surrounded by family and a few famous friends, like celebrity stylist Brad Goreski.

Threw a little intimate gathering last night 🤷🏼‍♀️🤪 #kcsquared

A post shared by @ normancook on Jul 1, 2018 at 10:13am PDT

While speaking with ET in March, Cuoco insisted that no matter when or where she and Cook tied the knot, “there will be no animals left behind.” “Every animal we have will be part of it. It will be very special, very emotional and all the things that are important to us,” shared the actress, who owns dogs, horses and rabbits with Cook.

Animals have been a big part of the couple’s relationship. In the January 2018 issue of Sidelines, the couple said, “We have been each other’s true other half since day one and we can’t wait to spend forever together. Dogs, horses and all!”

“We met at Thermal in 2016 and the day we met I actually ended up asking her out to dinner. We went to dinner that night and we’ve been together ever since,” Cook revealed. “We met each other because of horses. Horses are a big part of our lives individually and together it’s amplified because it’s something we share and we can do it together.”

Cook and Cuoco started dating in March of 2016, six months after Cuoco announced her split from ex-husband Ryan Sweeting. The equestrian proposed on Cuoco’s 32nd birthday last November.

News Source: newsweek.com, cbsnews.com, newsday.com

Azad Hind News

Three Identical Strangers – A Documentary About Triplets

“Three Identical Strangers” – separated at birth with a dark twist – will open June 29 in the U.S.

“Three Identical Strangers” is an astonishing documentary, a look at how a feel-good, made-for-TV “separated at birth” story took on an unexpected, more sinister tone. Tim Wardle’s film works on multiple levels — from an underlying mystery to medical ethics to a rumination on the nature-vs.-nurture debate. Entertaining, thought-provoking and filled with surprises, it scores the equivalent of a cinematic hat trick.

For those who don’t remember the story, the tale began in 1980, when a pair of 19-year-old college students, both adopted, were understandably shocked when they were mistaken for each other on campus. A third triplet saw the two in the newspaper, and their fame mushroomed, as dutifully documented by clips of the trio appearing together on morning programs and “Donahue.”
At first, it was too good to resist — guys separated at birth, who shared all sorts of traits and habits. The story created the 1980s version of a media feeding frenzy, which — given the less-populated waters of the time — offers its own delicious sub-thread.

Here’s how the story goes: In the 1980s, 19-year-old Robert Shafran enrolled as a freshman at Sullivan County Community College in New York. There, Shafran recalled being greeted warmly by students he didn’t know — only to learn that he was being mistaken as a student named Eddy Galland, who transferred to a community college in Long Island. Shafran and Galland meet and soon discover they’re brothers separated at birth. And wait, there’s more.

With the reunion making headlines, Queens College freshman David Kellman soon discovers that Shafran and Galland are his brothers, too. Following the revelation, the trio then make the rounds of talk show circuits. Media marveled at the glaring similarities of the triplets: they were born on the same day, had the same birthmarks and IQs, each smoked too many Marlboros, and even lost their virginities at the same age of 12.

The three, moreover, instantly started hanging out together, parlaying their new-found celebrity into the sort of fast-paced, club-going lifestyle that New York could offer at the time.
Soon enough, though, questions began surfacing about how and why the three — Eddy, David and Bobby — were separated. And the answers to that prove unsettling, taking the story in wholly unforeseen directions.
In the process, what began as a novelty act veers into the realm of tragedy. Wardle has left no stone unturned in chronicling this story, and even with the voluminous video record that’s unearthed — and extensive interviews with the brothers, adoptive parents, spouses and others — some maddening gaps remain regarding what happened, and why.

THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS is the most amazing, incredible, remarkable true story ever told.

Exclusively in theaters June 29th. #ThreeIdenticalStrangers pic.twitter.com/MwjEzNhb7C

— Three Identical Strangers (@iiistrangers) April 12, 2018

Saying too much, frankly, risks spoiling the sharp turns that the narrative takes, but the result is sobering — inviting contemplation about the very nature of what makes us who we are, as well as the horrifying notion that people might have exploited children, with no say in the matter.
Everyone is in the market now for sensational fact-based stories, but it’s rare to run across one as enforced, with as many layers, as this one. In terms of a tale where the truth is not only stranger but more compelling than most fiction, “Three Identical Strangers” hits the jackpot.

News Source: edition.cnn.com, hellogiggles.com

Azad Hind News

Tessa Thompson is getting candid about her bi-sexuality – attracted to both genders

Thor: Ragnarok‘s Tessa Thompson is opening up about her relationship to singer Janelle Monáe, as well as her sexual identity.

In a cover feature for Net-A-Porter published Friday, the actress 34, spoke candidly about her bisexuality, addressing the rumors regarding her dynamic with singer-songwriter Monáe.

“Janelle and I love each other deeply. We’re so close, we vibrate on the same frequency. If people want to speculate about what we are, it doesn’t bother me,” Thompson said.

Rumors surrounding the pair’s relationship swirled with the release of Monáe’s Dirty Computer album, which was accompanied by a music video featuring Thompson.

The “Westworld” actress, 34, mentioned that she was attracted to both genders while talking about family dynamics during an interview with Net-A-Porter published Friday.

“I can take things for granted because of my family – it’s so free and you can be anything that you want to be,” she said. “I’m attracted to men and also to women. If I bring a woman home, [or] a man, we don’t even have to have the discussion.”

Rumors over Thompson’s sexuality were sparked following her involvement in Monae’s new album “Dirty Computer,” which came out in April. Monae recently came out as pansexual.

During the interview, she also spoke up about the difficulty of finding a balance between privacy and visibility.

“It’s tricky, because Janelle and I are just really private people and we’re both trying to navigate how you reconcile wanting to have that privacy and space, and also wanting to use your platform and influence,” she explained.

Although Thompson did not confirm a romantic relationship with Monae, she did say she loved her “deeply.”

“We love each other deeply. We’re so close, we vibrate on the same frequency. If people want to speculate about what we are, that’s okay. It doesn’t bother me,” she said.

When speaking about her familial support, Thompson described her household as free and accepting. “[In my family] you can be anything you want to be. I’m attracted to men and also to women. If I bring a woman home, [or] a man, we don’t even have to have the discussion,” she said.

“I want everyone else to have that freedom and support that I have from my loved ones,” she added. “But so many people don’t. So, do I have a responsibility to talk about that? Do I have a responsibility to say in a public space that this is my person?” she added.

This isn’t the first time Thompson has been outspoken about social issues. Appearing in racially-charged films including For Colored Girls (2010) and Selma (2014), Thompson also hinted at her own sexual identity by advocating for that of her character Valkyrie’s in Thor: Ragnarok, taking to Twitter to confirm the warrior’s bisexuality.

She’s bi. And yes, she cares very little about what men think of her. What a joy to play! https://t.co/d0LZKTHCfL

— Tessa Thompson (@TessaThompson_x) October 21, 2017

Thompson just finished filming Creed II, set to be released this year, and will appear in the new Men in Black spinoff in 2019.

News Source: people.com, usatoday.com

Azad Hind News

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
There’s Always a Bigger Dinosaur

Sometimes a movie gets so close to greatness you can taste it as strongly as the goopy spit dripping from the mouth of the dinosaur whose face is hovering directly above yours as you lie prone and helpless on the jungle floor. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a hell of a ride, an exciting, terrifying, and funny follow-up that will have you at full attention until it ultimately sags in its third act, drooping under the weight of promises it makes, but fails to follow through on. That’s what third movies are for, apparently.

Fallen Kingdom‘s basic plot has been somewhat unclear in some trailers, so I won’t spoil it. But the setup is that, following the new park’s destruction in the first Jurassic World, the now dinosaur-filled island has grown volcanically active. All the dinosaurs there are going to die in the impending eruption, effectively triggering a new extinction event, unless someone intervenes. Bryce Dallas Howard’s returning character Claire Dearing now works as an activist looking for any way to save the dinosaurs. And she’s wearing highly sensible shoes this time, as the movie deliberately conveys.GET ALL UPDATES AND NEWS HERE

The fifth ‘Jurassic’ movie is the first that pretends to be more than a ride. It’s the film’s dinosaur action that still rules, though maybe not enough

There’s a note of satire in the early scenes, as Claire talks to members of Congress on the phone and Jeff Goldblum (in his one meager appearance in this movie) gives a grandiose speech about life finding a way without technically uttering those exact words. A news ticker underneath makes a vague joke about the president being an idiot. But the movie’s social commentary lacks any real bite–unlike its CG stars–which serves to tangibly blunt its impact later on.

As Claire gets roped into a dubious rescue scheme, she of course can’t do it without on-again/off-again beau, the unstoppable “beefcake” (to borrow the movie’s own term) Chris Pratt as Owen Grady. Pratt continues to be utterly, inoffensively charming, while Grady is still a less funny version of Star-Lord. They’re both would-be white knights, too, although much like Gamora, Claire proves she’s plenty capable of fighting her own battles.

Anyway, all that story basically takes place in the first act, and from there, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom goes to some surprising places. Its biggest problem is that it simply doesn’t go far enough; there’s some fantastic setup in the first half for things that wind up going differently than you’ll hope, or events that they clearly wanted to save for Jurassic World 3. This movie’s climax almost goes in a fun new direction from what we’ve come to expect in this movies, but instead limply falls back on the familiar: a rain-drenched, pseudo-horror cat-and-mouse between a singularly dangerous dino and a handful of human characters. It’s well done, but we’ve seen it before, and Fallen Kingdom diverts its own great setup to get there.GET ALL UPDATES AND NEWS HERE

‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ Tops $700 Million Worldwide

The dinosaurs themselves have never looked better, from a briefly glimpsed underwater leviathan to Owen’s hyper-intelligent raptor pal, Blue. Fallen Kingdom frequently places its characters–and the camera–uncomfortably close to the CG beasts, and their every detail stands out wonderfully. The original Jurassic Park–which is 25 years old–holds up incredibly well today, but it’s amazing to see how far special effects have come.

“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” took another dino-sized bite out of the global box office.

Universal and Amblin Entertainment’s sequel opened in 17 additional international markets, picking up another $106.7 million. “Fallen Kingdom” — starring Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard — launched in North America this weekend with $150 million, bringing its three-day total to $256.7 million. The tentpole has already earned a massive $711.5 million worldwide, including $561.5 million internationally.

“Fallen Kingdom” bowed in Mexico with $12.3 million, Brazil with $9.2 million, and Australia with $7.9 million. The film also saw a strong holdover in China with another $32.4 million, bringing its total there to $202 million. “Fallen Kingdom” opens in Japan on July 13.

“Fallen Kingdom” is the fifth film in the “Jurassic” franchise. Its predecessor, 2015’s “Jurassic World” ended its box office run with a massive $1 billion internationally and $652 million domestically.

Disney-Pixar’s “Incredibles 2” also stayed strong overseas, earning $56.8 million in 28 markets. The superhero sequel brought in another $80 million in North America, taking its weekend haul to $137.7 million. Overall, the animated tentpole has a global tally of $485 million, already surpassing the entire run of its predecessor, 2004’s “The Incredibles.”GET ALL UPDATES AND NEWS HERE

“Incredibles 2” debuted in China with $21.2 million, making it Pixar’s biggest opening weekend in the territory. In India, the tentpole opened with $3.3 million. To date, top markets include Mexico ($23.5 million), China (21.2 million), Australia ($15 million), and Russia ($10.4 million). “Incredibles 2” opens next in France, the United Kingdom, Korea, Japan, and Spain.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Proves That Sometimes, Smaller Is Better

Meanwhile, “Ocean’s 8” got away with $26.9 million in 60 territories, bringing its overseas total to $70.6 million. With another $11.6 million in North America, the Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow heist movie has a global tally of $171 million.

The female-fronted spinoff opened in Russia with $2.7 million on 2,200 screens, as well as in Germany with $1.8 million in 789 locations. It also debuted in Holland with $1.2 million from 143 screens, and the United Arab Emirates with $1.1 million in 80 locations. The Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett-starrer saw strong holdovers in Korea ($2.3 million), Australia ($1.2 million), and France ($1 million). The next key markets to open are Spain, Italy, and Japan.

GET ALL UPDATES AND NEWS HERE

News Source: vanityfair.com, variety.com

Azad Hind News

2018 Film Scholars Revealed by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Glenn Frankel is writing a book about ‘Midnight Cowboy,’ while Keri Walsh is exploring actresses and Method acting from the 1940s to the 1960s

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has named Glenn Frankel and Keri Walsh as its 2018 Academy Film Scholars, a program designed to support new works of film scholarships. Frankel and Walsh will each receive $25,000 grant awards on the basis of their proposals.

Frankel is writing a book that focuses on the Oscar-winning best picture Midnight Cowboy, analyzing how the artists behind it contributed to a film that signified a shift in representation of sexuality in the 1960s. As Frankel’s third book researching the implications of cowboy films in American history, it will explore not only the historical implications of the film, but also the creative elements that led to its success, becoming a milestone in Hollywood’s acceptance of diverse and controversial subject matters, the Academy said.

Walsh, an associate professor in the department of English at Fordham University, is exploring what is critical and feminist about Method acting in Hollywood films. Her project is primarily focused on Method performances by women from the late 1940s to the early 1960s, illuminating their neglected and concealed work, and ultimately showcasing how it broadened women’s possibilities of acting.

“I am thrilled to support Frankel and Walsh in their research so that they may share their expertise for these timely topics that are not only significant to the film industry, but to society as a whole,” Academy Grants Committee chair Buffy Shutt said. “Their works illuminate the importance of diversity and inclusion in the history of film, something that is essential to remember as we look to further the Academy’s mission. We all look forward to seeing the outcome of their research.”

Frankel and Walsh will join 14 Academy film scholars who are currently working on projects and 17 other scholars whose works have already been published. Academy film scholars with projects in progress include Dr. Ellen Scott, Dr. Donna Kornhaber, Charles Musser, Emily Thompson, Stuart Liebman, John Belton, Harlow Robinson, Cari Beauchamp, Patrick Keating, Dan Streible, Thomas Schatz, Laurence Kardish, James Tweedie and Ross Melnick.

News Source: hollywoodreporter.com

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AMPAS: Jennifer Todd, the Elected Represent Producers on the Board of Governors

Winning a run-off election with Jason Blum, she brings the number of women on the board to a record 22

Jennifer Todd has been elected to represent the producers branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ board of governors. In the earlier round of board voting, she had tied with Jason Blum, and so the two then competed in a run-off election, with members of the producers branch casting votes.

With Todd’s election, all of the seats are now full on the 2018-2019 board of governors. Each of the Academy’s 17 branches are represented by three board members, and Todd will now serve a three-year term, repping the producers branch, along with incumbents Albert Berger and Mark Johnson, when she assumes the post July 1.

Also, with Todd’s election, there are now a record 22 women, one more than last year, on the 54-member board.

No stranger to the Academy, Todd co-produced the 2017 and 2018 Oscar broadcasts along with Michael De Luca.

As a film producer, her credits include the Austin Powers films, Memento, Across the Universe and Alice in Wonderland.

The producers branch run-off election was only the fourth time in Academy history that a tie occurred in the ballotting. Run-off elections were held in 2009 in the directors branch, 2015 in the writers branch and 2016 in the film editors branch.

News Source: hollywoodreporter.com

Azad Hind News

Jane Fonda on the way to honor with Lifetime Achievement Award: Michael Moore

The actress and activist will be celebrated at the Traverse City Film Festival, where several of her movies will screen

Jane Fonda will be honored with a lifetime achievement award at Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival, it was announced Wednesday by Moore, the festival’s founder, and president.

The award will be presented to Fonda during the fest’s 14th edition, which is set to run July 31-Aug. 5 in Traverse City, Michigan.

A seven-time Oscar nominee and two-time winner (for 1971’s Klute and 1979’s Coming Home), Fonda, who currently appears on the big screen in Book Club and opposite Lily Tomlin on the Netflix series Grace and Frankie, is known as much for her lifelong commitment to social causes as for her onscreen work.

“I can think of no other artist who has given more to her country,” Moore said in announcing the award. “What an honor for our festival audience to welcome and to be inspired by the work of this American icon. Her voice is as needed today as much as ever.”

Moore will personally host the actress, author, and activist at the festival, which will screen nearly 100 movies.

The event will present a 40th-anniversary screening of Coming Home, a screening of Julia and a free nighttime screening of Nine to Five projected on a 65-foot screen at the festival’s open space on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Beyond her acting career, Fonda currently chairs the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention and sits on the boards of Women’s Day Media Center, which she helped found, and V-Day: Until the Violence Stops. She established the Jane Fonda Center for Adolescent Reproductive Health at the Emory School of Medicine and has long been a leading advocate for environmental issues, human rights and the empowerment of women and girls.

The Traverse City Film Festival’s complete schedule of films and events will be announced June 29 at tcff.org. Tickets for this year’s edition are set to go on sale to the public July 21, but Friends of the Film Festival will be able to get early access to tickets with advance sales starting July 15.

News Source: hollywoodreporter.com

Azad Hind News