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'Guardians of the Galaxy' director is fired
LOS ANGELES--Walt Disney Co. announced Friday that it was removing director James Gunn from the Marvel Studios sequel "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" after old tweets surfaced in which Gunn joked about such topics as rape, pedophilia, 9/11 and the Holocaust.
"The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James' Twitter feed are ...Read more
Late rocker Chris Cornell is getting a statue in his hometown
Late grunge rocker Chris Cornell will get a statue in his hometown.
Seattle's Museum of Pop Culture will erect the piece on Aug. 29 as a tribute to the Seattle-born Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman, according to a Friday statement from the Cornell family.
A life-size bronze statue of the '90s music icon is planned to render Cornell's ...Read more
Roseanne Barr explains, sort of, that racist Valerie Jarrett tweet in bizarre new video
OK, Roseanne Barr, you made your point. But at this late date, does it even matter?
The "Roseanne" star posted a bizarre, profane video to YouTube late Thursday that seems to be a humorous explanation -- or a 1,000 percent unhinged version, depending on your perspective -- of what she meant in the tweet that sank her rebooted career back in May...Read more
Jennifer Hudson, James Corden, Taylor Swift, Ian McKellen to star in 'Cats' movie musical
Jennifer Hudson, James Corden, Taylor Swift and Ian McKellen are among the A-listers who have signed on for a new film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's beloved musical "Cats."
Deadline reported Friday that Working Title ("Four Weddings and a Funeral," "Les Miserables" and "Mary Queen of Scots") and Universal Pictures will produce the movie ...Read more
At long last? Robin Weigert suggests 'Deadwood' reunion movie is closer than ever
With every passing day, the long-promised "Deadwood" movie looks less like a fantasy and more like reality.
In a new interview with The Times, actress Robin Weigert -- who famously portrayed Calamity Jane in the HBO western -- suggested that a "Deadwood" reunion is closer than ever.
"It's safe enough to say it's happening this fall," Weigert ...Read more
Now that Chance the Rapper's a media baron, we look back at his brawls with journalists
CHICAGO -- Chance the Rapper, the West Chatham-born and -raised rapper turned Chicago do-gooder, announced he's bought Chicagoist, and we believe a "welcome to the news business" is in order -- even if he has clashed with local media.
In a new track titled "I Might Need Security," Chance rails against Mayor Rahm Emanuel, over a smooth chorus of...Read more
Paramount Television President Amy Powell is fired over inappropriate comments
LOS ANGELES -- Paramount Television President Amy Powell has been fired after making inappropriate comments, the movie and TV studio's Chief Executive Jim Gianopulos told staff Thursday.
In a memo obtained by the Los Angeles Times, Gianopulos told staff multiple people raised concerns about Powell's unspecified comments last week, sparking an ...Read more
Def Leppard's Joe Elliott on music critics, streaming services and real punk rockers
Over a four-decade career as lead singer for Def Leppard, Joe Elliott has sung about sugar, passion killers, hypnosis, "magical mysteria," pyromania, being brought to his knees by love and riding on a nightmare machine.
But until recently, Elliott and band, which formed in Sheffield, England, in the late '70s, didn't think much of music ...Read more
Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman take 'Rodeo' on tour 50 years after its debut
How could a self-respecting rock musician truly rebel in 1968? This, after all, was after the Summer of Love, a time when musical and cultural conventions were regularly being upended.
For two founding members of L.A.'s pioneering folk-rock band the Byrds, the answer was simple: Head south and make a country record. So that's what they did, ...Read more
John Lithgow's latest stage isn't a stage at all: How theater is moving to your phone and car
Shhhhh. John Lithgow is performing his solo show, "Stories by Heart." The five audience members are riveted. Don't speak, don't fidget and, for God's sake, don't look at your phone. The actor appreciates your attention. He needs it. He is accustomed to performing this show for hundreds of people after a recently wrapped Broadway run.
The small ...Read more
Television Q&A: Am I seeing a new '60 Minutes' episode during the summer?
You have questions. I have some answers.
Q: Very often for many years I see that a "60 Minutes" program is "New" according to our on-screen guide. During many of the broadcasts the host will start some segments by saying "as we previously reported," which highly irritates us. I believe the guide service says these are "new" because CBS has ...Read more
'UnREAL' showrunner breaks down the finale and the show's move to Hulu
(Warning: This article contains spoilers about the series finale of "UnREAL.")
You could say "UnREAL" brought the heat with its series finale Monday.
The cult drama, a dark look at the underbelly of reality-dating competitions, started things off with a bang Monday when it was announced the series would move from Lifetime to Hulu for its ...Read more
'Mamma Mia' maestro Judy Craymer hopes lightning strikes twice for feelgood franchise
LONDON -- Judy Craymer still remembers the first time she heard ABBA.
Although she professes to have been more of a fan of David Bowie and heavy rock as a teenager, the Swedish pop group's melodies stuck with Craymer, and she sensed a visual connection in the music. "I always loved their videos -- because they were the first to do those videos ...Read more
Like its subject, Joaquin Phoenix's biopic 'Don't Worry' is funny and offensive
There's a sketch of two lumpy, misshapen heads side by side on a sidewalk, each with a panhandler's tin cup in front of him. The one with two eyeballs, looking at the other with one and an eye patch says, "People like you are a real inspiration to me!" It's signed CALLAHAN.
John Callahan was an irreverent Portland wiseguy who thought that his ...Read more
Review: Paramore has grown up, but it has never stopped reflecting the current moment
It's reassuring that even a band like Paramore -- well over a decade into its career, with a praised new album that radically reset its sound -- still feels the same anxieties that the rest of us do.
"Things keep falling apart faster than we can put them together," singer Hayley Williams told a sold-out Forum crowd Wednesday night. "I'm ...Read more
Gus Van Sant saw a kindred spirit in renegade artist
After making druggie love stories ("Drugstore Cowboy" and "My Own Private Idaho"), a murder comedy ("To Die For"), a political biography ("Harvey Milk"), a shot-for-shot remake of a classic ("Psycho") and sensitive drama ("Good Will Hunting"), Gus Van Sant decided to base his 17th feature on something different.
Van Sant based "Don't Worry, He ...Read more
'Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again' is an endearing, effervescent slice of amiable nonsense
Who doesn't love Abba? Only a percentage of silly boys, and they don't count.
For everyone else, the golden oldie Europop quartet, with their up-tempo dance tunes and heart-stricken ballads, are melodic tiramisu, sugar-sweet and irresistible. It's not entirely hard to see why. "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again," the sequel to the 2008 Abba greatest ...Read more
Bo Burnham: Why the stress of filmmaking beats the 'panic' of standup comedy
Now in theaters, "Eighth Grade" charts a few fraught weeks in the life of a graduating middle schooler played spectacularly well by Elsie Fisher. The film's writer and director, Bo Burnham, had zero experience as a onetime female adolescent. But "what the film's about, really," Burnham says, "if I had to be honest, is how I felt like her when I ...Read more
Review: Does 'Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again' improve on the original? ABBA-solutely!
Everything old is shockingly, stirringly new again in "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again," the rare sequel so unexpectedly enchanting that it plays less like a rehash than a reclamation. It may take you a moment to understand why, or how, this could be the case. The title alone feels like a winking admission that, as with nearly every Hollywood cash ...Read more
'Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot': Van Sant's spiritual bookend to 'Drugstore Cowboy'
Hard to believe, but it's been nearly 30 years (!) since Gus Van Sant made "Drugstore Cowboy," still one of the most definitive big-screen accounts of drug addiction.
The movie was an informed insider's account (based on then-unpublished novel by reformed addict James Fogle) of the way addicts organize their entire lives around addiction, ...Read more
Popular Stories
- 'Guardians of the Galaxy' director is fired
- Late rocker Chris Cornell is getting a statue in his hometown
- Def Leppard's Joe Elliott on music critics, streaming services and real punk rockers
- Jennifer Hudson, James Corden, Taylor Swift, Ian McKellen to star in 'Cats' movie musical
- Television Q&A: Am I seeing a new '60 Minutes' episode during the summer?
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