First off, “fan fiction” refers to the drivel that fans of a franchise write to either show characters in situations the actual writers of the characters would never embark upon, or it’s a self-published or otherwise self-distributed book written by wannabe writers, which tends to demonstrate why the creator is not–and should not be–an actual, legitimate, published author. For Star Trek: The Next Generation–and now Star Trek: Picard–actor Brent Spiner, the title of his new book Fan Fiction seems intended as a play on words, a nod to his fans. Unfortunately it’s written as a piece of meta-fiction and dark comedy intended to blur the lines between fact and fiction, and it does it in a way that lands as more fan fiction than providing insight into the actor.
The most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, Muppetational event is heading your way.
It’s been 40 years sinceThe Muppet Showwrapped its now classic five season run back in 1976-1981, with its last episode guest-starring Singing in the Rain star Gene Kelly. One of the greatest half-hour series of all time and the greatest variety show format series ever is coming to the streaming platform Disney+ later this month. Everyone who was anyone in the 1970s was a guest on the show, from Vincent Price to Don Knotts, from Cloris Leachman, George Burns, John Cleese and Paul Simon, to Linda Ronstadt and Steve Martin, to Elton John, Julie Andrews, Gilda Radner, Shirley Bassey, Peter Sellers, Debbie Harry, Rita Moreno, and Madeline Kahn, to Roy Rogers, Dudley Moore, James Coburn, Roger Moore, Sylvester Stallone, Lynda Carter, Milton Berle, Christopher Reeve, Bernadette Peters, Ethel Merman, Bob Hope, Diana Ross, Johnny Cash, Harvey Korman, Carol Burnett, Dizzy Gillespie, Alice Cooper, and even the cast of Star Wars–more than 100 guest stars in all, and from every single corner of music, TV, and film. The show won four Primetime Emmy Awards and a Grammy (one of our favorite subjects–check out more about The Muppets here). Behind the scenes (and under the table and behind the curtain) it was Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, Richard Hunt, Jerry Nelson, Louise Gold, Kathryn Mullen, and Steve Whitemire working the real magic.
A reminder for fans of fantasy, comedic actors, Jim Henson, and his beloved Muppets: Celebrating the 40th anniversary of The Muppet Movie,Fathom Events is partnering with The Jim Henson Company and Universal Pictures to show the classic big-screen debut of the Muppets on more than 700 screens nationwide for two days, beginning tomorrow. Order tickets now before they sell out at the Fathom Events website here.
For two days only, The Muppet Moviereturns with screenings on Thursday, July 25, and Tuesday, July 30. The Muppet Moviewill play at 12:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. (local time) each day. Following the international success of the television show The Muppet Show, which at its peak aired in more than 100 countries, Muppets creator Jim Henson took a creative risk to have the characters star in their first motion picture. The result, directed by James Frawley, became a box-office hit, starring Kermit (performed by Henson), Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear (performed by Frank Oz), Gonzo (performed by Dave Goelz) and his chicken Camilla (performed by Jerry Nelson), Scooter (performed by Richard Hunt), and dozens of other favorite characters.
In addition to the Muppet performers, The Muppet Movie showcased a Who’s Who of 1970s comedy, with cameo roles by Dom DeLuise, James Coburn, Madeline Kahn, Carol Kane, Telly Savalas, Milton Berle, Elliott Gould, Edgar Bergen, Bob Hope, Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, Mel Brooks, Cloris Leachman, and Orson Welles.
Seven years ago the writers at borg came up with our top ten favorite fantasy movies (take a look at my list here). I’m happy to see that my list hasn’t changed much. Two of my top ten fantasy movies are returning to theaters nationwide for limited showings. First, Field of Dreams (my #6 favorite), is back next week, followed in July by The Muppet Movie (my #3 favorite). Celebrating its 30th anniversary, Field of Dreamswill be in theaters for Fathers’ Day, an opportunity to share the ultimate story of believing in yourself and trusting your instincts with a new generation. It’s scheduled to appear at more than 600 theaters. Then celebrating the 40th anniversary of The Muppet Movie,Fathom Events is partnering with The Jim Henson Company and Universal Pictures to show the classic big-screen debut of the Muppets on more than 700 screens nationwide.
Fathom Events joins Universal Pictures and Turner Classic Movies to bring Field of Dreams to theaters Sunday, June 16, for showings at 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. local time, and Tuesday, June 18, at 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. local time. Director Phil Alden Robinson′s re-write of W.P. Kinsella’s novel Shoeless Joe(reviewed here at borg), features three of cinema’s most fantastic characters coming together: reclusive author Terence Mann (James Earl Jones), baseball player Archibald “Moonlight” Graham (Burt Lancaster and Frank Whaley) and “Shoeless Joe” Jackson (Ray Liotta). It was nominated for six–and made three–of the American Film Institute’s lists of the top American films of all time, including being named the all-time #6 top fantasy film.
For two days only this July, The Muppet Moviereturns with screenings on Thursday, July 25, and Tuesday, July 30. The Muppet Movie will play at 12:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. (local time) each day. Following the international success of the television show The Muppet Show, which at its peak aired in more than 100 countries, Muppets creator Jim Henson took a creative risk to have the characters star in their first motion picture. The result, directed by James Frawley, became a box-office hit, starring Kermit (performed by Henson), Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear (performed by Frank Oz), Gonzo (performed by Dave Goelz) and his chicken Camilla (performed by Jerry Nelson), Scooter (performed by Richard Hunt), and dozens of other favorite characters.
A few big names are coming to theaters with throwbacks of a sort this summer, including Academy Award winner Anne Hathaway and Screen Actors Guild Award winner Lily James. This summer the second adaptation of the 1964 comedy Bedtime Story comes to theaters, followed by a comedic take on the alternate history genre featuring the music of The Beatles.
The Hustlefinds Hathaway taking on a role previously played by both David Niven and Michael Caine, with Rebel Wilson filling the shoes of a role played by both Marlon Brando and Steve Martin. Doctor Who and Veep’s Chris Addison directs The Hustle, remaking both 1988’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and 1964’s Bedtime Story. The comedy also stars Doctor Who‘s Osgood, Ingrid Oliver, and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs’Tim Blake Nelson, revisiting the story of a chance encounter between two con artists with strikingly different styles. It’s coming to theaters this May.
A month later Academy Award winning director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, 28 Days Later, Trainspotting) releases his next film, Yesterday, starring Himesh Patel(EastEnders) as a struggling singer who awakens one day to learn he is the only person that has ever heard of The Beatles and their music. This parallel universe divergence allows him to introduce and become famous today for all of The Beatles songs as his own, to not surprisingly huge success. Yesterday co-stars Lily James(Baby Driver, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Downton Abbey),Ana de Armas(Blade Runner 2049),James Corden (Doctor Who, Ocean’s 8), Ed Sheeran(The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug), and Kate McKinnon(Ghostbusters, Ferdinand).
Here are trailers for both The Hustle and Yesterday:
Tomorrow night Public Television stations will broadcast Sunday’s Kennedy Center ceremony honoring Bill Murray for his unique blend of comedy and social commentary. The Mark Twain Prize, first given to Richard Pryor in 1998, is the nation’s top honor for comedians. Everything’s coming up roses for Murray this week as his favorite team the Chicago Cubs gained their first win of this year’s World Series, and Murray was a trending topic for a photo he took in Scotland in 2012 wailing with a toddler–a photo mistaken for Tom Hanks by many.
The 2016 awards event features Steve Martin, Sigourney Weaver, and David Letterman, among several other celebrities mildly roasting the actor/comedian/golfer/celebrity and saluting his work. In the show Murray gives his own salute to one of his five brothers, the well-known character actor Brian Doyle-Murray. Two other brothers, Joel and John, are also actors.
So what’s Murray’s best work? Is it his classic comedy skits or Weekend Update work on Saturday Night Live? Or his assistant groundskeeper from Caddyshack? What about his Dr. Peter Venkman from Ghostbusters? You can’t forget his Army soldier John Winger in Stripes. Or how about his weatherman in Groundhog Day?
Murray is known for continuing to surprise us. Like when he earned an Academy Award nomination for his drama Lost in Translation, when he played Dustin Hoffman’s friend in the Oscar winning Tootsie, and when he gave us his own take on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol in Scrooged, portraying FDR in Hyde Park on Hudson, and a war hero in Monuments Men.
Few individuals have stood apart from their peers in their professional endeavors as much as maestro John Williams. Last week the American Film Institute presented Williams with its life achievement award, the 44th awarded and first for a composer. It’s certainly about time. With five Academy Award wins and 50 nominations, Williams holds the record for the most Oscar nominations of any living person. Three of his scores, for Star Wars, Jaws, and E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial, are on AFI’s list of the top 25 scores of all time. This Wednesday night the AFI award event will be televised, and guests honoring Williams include George Lucas, Steven Spielberg–both who owe the most to Williams for their individual successes–as well as Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Morgan Freeman, Drew Barrymore, Tom Hanks, Itzhak Perlman, J.J. Abrams, Bryce Dallas Howard, Will Farrell, Steve Martin, Seth McFarlane, and Daisy Ridley.
You may not remember the first time you heard a familiar tune from Williams, but for those more than 40 years old it was no doubt the theme from television’s Lost in Space series, featuring an end credit to “Johnny” Williams. He also provided the piano music for the Academy Award winning, and AFI recognized comedy Some Like it Hot. For everyone since then you can define your generation by your earliest familiarity with his music, whether it’s the Main Title to Star Wars, the Jurassic Park theme, or the theme to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Those whose introduction to Williams was Star Wars: The Force Awakens have plenty of great music to discover.
Williams is of a rare breed of American composer whose songs stick with you forever. He’s in an elite club with the likes of musicians Aaron Copland, John Philip Sousa, Leonard Bernstein, Irving Berlin, and George Gershwin. For more than 60 years Williams has set the bar for–and defined worldwide for moviegoers’ ears–our expectation for modern programmatic movie music.
Stepping aside from his success at major memorable themes, one of his greatest skills is his juxtaposition of opposites. Just listen in the Jaws soundtrack to the busy streets of Amity in the “Montage” and the cheery adventure theme from “The Great Shark Chase” among his well-known bass horror cues. Some of his most brilliant compositions are tucked away behind giant, epic scores, like “The Asteroid Field” from The Empire Strikes Back and “Escape from Venice” from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. And would modern audiences even know a march beyond nationalistic music if not for “The Superman March,” “The Raiders of the Lost Ark March,” “The March from 1941,” and “The Imperial March” from The Empire Strikes Back?
Stephen Hopkins, director of The Ghost in the Darkness, Predator 2, and the reboot of Lost in Space, and TV series House of Lies and 24, is bringing to the big screen the momentous race of Jesse Owens, the black track and field gold medalist who showed-up Adolf Hitler’s racist regime by winning in the 1936 Olympics. The cleverly titled Race stars Stephan James (Selma) as Owens, the role previously given to John Boyega, who instead left the production to take on the role of Finn in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Race co-stars Saturday Night Live alumnus Jason Sudeikis as Coach Larry Snyder, as well as Academy Award winners William Hurt and Jeremy Irons. Race is the kind of serious topic biopic the Academy traditionally looks for at Oscar time. If the film is the great drama that the story deserves, this could be a breakout role for both James and Sudeikis.
But can Sudeikis overcome his comedy acting past to drive this drama home? Many ex-SNL regulars have tried to break the SNL curse and jump into drama, including Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Steve Martin, Albert Brooks, and Eddie Murphy, along with other comedy talents like Michael Keaton, Eddie Izzard, Jim Carrey, Jamie Foxx, Will Smith, Robin Williams, and Jonah Hill. Will the Academy recognize Race a year from now? Murray, Aykroyd, Martin, Brooks, Hill, Smith, Williams, and Keaton have all been nominated for acting Oscars, but no ex-SNL actor has won an acting Oscar, and only comedic actors Foxx and Williams were able to make the switch from comedy to drama and take home the big prize.
It’s time to take your vacation, to call in sick, or do whatever you have to do. It’s Matt Groening’s The Simpsons. And it’s all 26 seasons, including the movie, in order. Oh my. It all begins today.
Take a trip back in time to 1989. And re-live every pop culture reference, every celebrity satire, and every angst-ridden moment since. Donut-eating Homer, big blue haired Marge, skateboard wielding Bart, unappreciated Lisa, and never-aging baby Maggie.
Re-live the first time you met Mr. Burns, Sideshow Bob, and Ralph Wiggum.
Experience again the Simpsons world voices of those now passed, like Phil Hartman, George Carlin, Paul Winfield, Johnny Cash, Gary Coleman, Dick Clark, Marcia Wallace, Rodney Dangerfield, Joey Ramone, Ernest Borgnine, Johnny Carson, Werner Klemperer, Larry Hagman, Audrey Meadows, Michael Jackson, Harry Morgan, and George Harrison.
Where else could you find all these celebrities in one place? Liam Neeson, Mark Hamill, Andy Serkis, Mr. T, Paul Newman, Ben Stiller, Drew Barrymore, Michael Keaton, Bette Midler, Brian Setzer, Richard Gere, Tim Conway, Martin Mull, Helen Hunt, Robert Wagner, Lenny Kravitz, Isabella Rossellini, Paul McCartney, Darryl Strawberry, Bob Newhart, Meg Ryan, Dustin Hoffman, Steve Martin, John Ratzenberger, Tom Petty, Kirk Douglas, Steven Wright, Rachel Weisz, Hugh Laurie, Eddie Izzard, Mel Gibson, Willem Dafoe, Robert Forster, Martha Stewart, the Dixie Chicks, Linda Ronstadt, Max Von Sydow, Donald Sutherland, Mandy Patinkin, Tony Blair, Little Richard, Gary Busey, Henry Winkler, Emily Blunt, Colm Meaney, Benedict Cumberbatch, Lady Gaga, Brent Spiner, Marisa Tomei, Kurt Loder, Gillian Anderson, Treat Williams, J.K. Rowling, Cloris Leachman, Sir Mix a Lot, Tom Arnold, Topher Grace, and Sting. Ruin anyone’s chance to compete with you at “Seven Degrees of Kevin Bacon” with this series, people.
It’s been a long time since a Bill Murray movie really clicked, an undisputed, resounding hit. Something that highlights why we first loved this actor who got his big break on Saturday Night Live, then was propelled to movie star with Caddyshack, Stripes, and Ghostbusters. Meanwhile he started a dramatic career, with hints of a serious guy even in Meatballs, as an actor in Tootsie, with the lead in a Dickens adaptation in Scrooged, and that all seemed to peak with his role again as another actor in Lost in Translation, which earned an Academy Award nomination.
Another not-ready-for-prime-time player, Steve Martin, took a similar path. Following SNL he was easily recognizable for one of the bigger cameos in The Muppet Movie, but had his break-out role for movie stardom with The Jerk. He had some snoozers, followed by funnier fare with All of Me, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. But his dramatic turn came with Roxanne, an adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac, and seemed to leave comedy behind with L.A. Story, Grand Canyon--which earned him an Academy Award nomination, A Simple Twist of Fate, The Spanish Prisoner, and Shopgirl.
Both Murray and Martin had mid-range successes and returns to all-out comedies, Murray with What About Bob?, The Man Who Knew Too Little, Rushmore, Get Smart and City of Ember. Martin with HouseSitter and Bringing Down the House. Will either of these guys return to all-out comedies?
Unless you’re a fan of his Wes Anderson films, you may be someone who thinks the last great comedy Bill Murray has done was Groundhog Day, 21 years ago back in 1993. But every time another comedy features Murray, loyal fans come back again to see what he has for us.
Might the next funny Murray flick be St. Vincent?
Look at the great slate of co-stars: an almost unrecognizable Naomi Watts, Melissa McCarthy, and Iron Man’s Terrence Howard.
