By Kurt Balingit
Adrien Brody will play hall of fame basketball coach Pat Riley in HBO’s upcoming sports drama series about the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980. As of now, the series is untitled but was ordered by HBO in December of 2019. It’s being described as a chronicling of the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers. The Showtime Lakers is one of the most revered and dominant teams in all of sports history.
Pat Riley coached the team to four NBA championships with his iconic style, confidence, and fast-break offense, he defined the era’s style of basketball. The show is based on Jeff Pearlman’s book “Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s.”
Brody won the Academy Award for best actor for his starring role in “The Pianist.” He also stars in Wes Anderson’s films, “The French Dispatch,” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel,”. Along with Brody, the show will have John C. Reilly playing Jerry Buss, Jason Clarke as Jerry West, Gaby Hoffmann as Claire Rothman, Hadley Robinson as Jeanie Buss, DeVaughn Nixon as Norm Nixon, Molly Gordon as Linda Zafrani, Rob Morgan as Earvin Johnson Sr., Spencer Garrett as Chick Hearn, Kirk Bovill as Donald Sterling, Delante Desouza as Michael Cooper, Stephen Adly Guirgis as Frank Mariani, Tamera Tomakili as Earletha ‘Cookie’ Kelly, and Joey Brooks as Lon Rosen.
by Emily Nagle
Coronavirus restrictions are gradually loosening across the United States, specifically for movie theaters. With cinemas slowly reopening – at reduced capacity – people are thrilled to be able to leave their homes and enjoy films on the big screen for the first time in a year, and the box office is flourishing, slowly returning to the active and prosperous state it was in before the ongoing pandemic.
Top 5 Highest Grossing Films for Weekend of March 12-14, 2021:
1. Raya and the Last Dragon
2. Tom and Jerry
3. Chaos Walking
4. Boogie
5. The Croods: A New Age
The highest grossing film for last weekend was Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon. Having been in theaters and available on Disney+ with Premier Access since March 5, this film continues to soar at the box office a week after its release, raking in $5,500,000 this past weekend. In total, the animated action feature has grossed $15,837,165 since its release.
Tom and Jerry, which had the most successful opening weekend of 2021 when it first rolled out to theaters and HBO Max on February 27, continued to thrive at the box office this weekend, grossing $4,100,000. The live-action/CGI film following the iconic cat-and-mouse rivals as they chase each other around the Big Apple has now made $28,200,000 in total.
Now in its second week of release, Chaos Walking grossed $2,250,000. This sci-fi action film stars Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley, and is based on Patrick Ness’ novel series of the same name. It has now grossed a total of $6,911,407 since its March 5 release.
Coming in at number four is coming-of-age drama Boogie, which made $730,000 this weekend. Written and directed by Eddie Huang, this film follows basketball prodigy Alfred Chin, also known as “Boogie,” who feels pressured by his parents as they make him focus on earning a scholarship.
The fifth highest-grossing film for this past weekend is The Croods: A New Age. This Dreamworks animated feature released on Thanksgiving in 2020, and has now been out for sixteen weeks. Over the weekend, it grossed $520,000, a slight decrease compared to the weekend before. In total, it has grossed $54,303,725 since its release nearly four months ago.
by Emily Nagle
Invincible Entertainment has signed with free streaming platform Glewed TV.
Glewed TV is a free, entirely ad-supported streaming service that can be accessed online, on iOS and Android, on streaming devices including Apple TV and Roku, or on any smart TV. Delivering professional produced content to the public since 2017, Glewed TV boasts thousands of hours of programming that’ll appeal to everyone no matter what kinds of shows or movies they’re into. Genres include sports, crime, comedy, travel, and much more.
This will add Invincible content to Glewed TV’s already diverse catalogue of digital content.
Eddie Huang’s debut film ‘Boogie‘ hit theaters last Friday, March 5th. I came into the theater with high hopes for the film and left with mixed emotions towards it. It’s a coming-of-age sports film with a plot similar to dozens of sports films before it. The character Alfred “Boogie” Chin (Taylor Takahashi) is an arrogant hotshot who has the talent to lead his team to success, if he could overcome his enormous ego and act like a team player. He dreams of someday playing in the NBA, but he must first land a scholarship at an elite college to begin that journey. He deals with the pressure that many teen athletes face, with parents with different views about what’s best for their son, on-court rivals and a girlfriend who unlocks emotions in him that he has never felt before. The only difference between Boogie and the protagonists of other basketball films is he’s an Asian-American.
This difference allowed for worlds to collide and for many Asian-Americans, it was something reflective of our own lives. As an Asian-American myself, the thought of a film set around a Chinese athlete BORN & RAISED in the United States excelling in sports had me anticipating the movies release the day Eddie Huang announced it’s production. The plot was there but the execution was not.
The majority of the film feels stale and under thought. There were numerous times in the film that the plot seemed scattered and many scenes seemed like they didn’t belong. This could be due to the fact of the passing of Bashar Jackson, better known as Pop Smoke, before filming ever wrapped up. Pop Smoke plays Boogie’s high school rival Monk. The role of Monk could have been recasted, but I find Eddie Huang’s decision to keep Pop Smoke as Monk admirable. It wasn’t an easy task keeping him in, but it was a great way to honor a talented young man taken away from us too soon.
There is little dialogue between the two characters and the way the film set the rivalry was rather awkward, with Boogie watching Monk from a distance with no interaction as he plays pick-up basketball games. In fact, many of the scenes had Boogie choosing staying silent over speaking up and standing up for himself, something that “high school big shots” excel at doing.
The film excelled in displaying Chinese culture and how first generation Asian-Americans live with the pressure of bettering their families. Boogie is not the average “model minority” asian many Americans are accustomed to and that’s what brings him his charm. He is the product of when Urban and Chinese culture collide. He listens to rap, talks with no remorse and lives his life in a way that breaks the asian stereotype. In the film, Eddie Huang makes it a point that asians in America have been reduced down to “Beef & Broccoli”, when we are so much more than that.
by Emily Nagle
Lady Gaga has shared a first look on social media at the upcoming biographical crime film House of Gucci.
The film is based on Sara Gay Forden’s 2001 book, The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed. It will tell the true story of the murder of Maurizio Gucci (played by Adam Driver of Marriage Story and Star Wars fame), the former head of the Gucci fashion house. Gaga will play Gucci’s wife Patrizia Reggiani, who was responsible for arranging his assassination. This will be her first film role since 2018, when she played an Oscar-nominated role as singer-songwriter Ally Maine in A Star is Born.
Currently in Italy for filming, Gaga snapped a photo with Driver in front of the snowy Alps with the caption “Signore e Signora Gucci #HouseOfGucci” and posted it to Twitter and Instagram. The image has gone viral, receiving 4 million likes in a single day, and fans have made created memes based on the stars’ outfits, including comparing them to Bernie Sanders, Catherine O’Hara from Schitt’s Creek, and Chris Evans from Knives Out.
House of Gucci will be directed by Ridley Scott and produced by MGM, and is slated for release on November 24.
By Kurt Balingit
MGM has announced that Michael B. Jordan will make his directorial debut with the upcoming film “Creed III,” the latest installment in the Rocky/Creed franchise.The film, set to be released in theaters on Nov. 23, 2022, will have a returning cast of Michael B Jordan, Tessa Thompson and Phylicia Rashad. It is written by Ryan Coogler (“Space Jam: A New Legacy”) and Zach Baylin (“King Richard”).
Jordan will remain the star of the film, playing Adonis “Creed” Johnson, son of the deceased boxing legend Apollo Creed from the original “Rocky” movies. Apollo Creed was Rocky Balboa’s (Sylvester Stallone) former rival turned close friend, who was killed in his fight versus Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) in “Rocky IV”. In “Creed II” Adonis was able to get his revenge by defeating Ivan Drago’s son Viktor (Florian Munteanu).
As Michael B. Jordan is set to direct and star in the upcoming film, he mimics his on-screen mentor Sylvester Stallone, who directed “Rocky II,” “Rocky III”, “Rocky IV” and “Rocky Balboa” in 2006.
Michael B. Jordan was excited to speak on the opportunity stating…
“Directing has always been an aspiration, but the timing had to be right,” said the director/star. “Creed III is that moment — a time in my life where I’ve grown more sure of who I am, holding agency in my own story, maturing personally, growing professionally, and learning from the Greats like Ryan Coogler, most recently Denzel Washington, and other top tier directors I respect. All of which sets the table for this moment. This franchise and in particular the themes of Creed III are deeply personal to me. I look forward to sharing the next chapter of Adonis Creed’s story with the awesome responsibility of being its director and namesake.”
Michael B. Jordan
Get Some Strange!
