Anghus Houvouras with this week’s disappointments from the entertainment world…
“Quentin Tarantino calls Police ‘murderers'”
This story is both disappointing and ludicrous. It’s odd on so many levels, like a layer cake made of embarrassment and iced with awkwardness. You have Quentin Tarantino, The ultimate white-guy-who-thinks-he’s-black talking smack about the Police, as if he has any real perspective on the issue. You have Harvey Weinstein trying to downplay the controversy like he’s Tarantino’s controlling Step-Father. Ludicrous displays like the Page Six report that Weinstein extending an olive branch by wanting to offer free screenings of The Hateful Eight to Police Officers and their families. Because what I think the offended parties want is the opportunity to sit down with their families and watch Kurt Russell and Samuel Jackson hurl obscenities at each other for two hours. Nothing like a nice family evening of hearing ‘motherfucker’ yelled out in Dolby Surround Sound 276 times.
Speaking of random numbers…
“Arnold Schwarzenegger to appear in revenge thriller 478”
Is that the name of the new movie or the number of times Arnold has starred in a revenge thriller movie?
“How much did each Avenger get paid for Avengers: Age of Ultron”
Based on the quality of the finished product, I’m going to go with ‘too much’.
“Rupert Murdoch blames Fantastic Four for Fox’s drop in earnings”
Well that’s just great. Now Murdoch won’t be able to afford Christmas Bonuses for his News Corp employees. Little Billy won’t get his Poe Dameron action figure all because Fantastic Four was an unmitigated financial disaster. Are you happy, Josh Trank? Not only did you deliver the Batman & Robin of the 21st Century and disappointed comic book fans, but now you’ve impacted Rupert Murdoch’s bottom line. How do you sleep at night, you monster?
“Luke Evans replaces Jared Leto in The Girl on the Train”
Good news everybody. We replaced the Academy Award winning actor who’s playing the Joker in one of the most anticipated movies of 2016 with the guy from Dracula Untold.
Witnessing Daniel Craig’s consternation over playing Bond has become more interesting than the actual Bond movies. There’s more raw drama in watching him answer questions about doing another 007 movie than in anything I saw in Quantum of Solace. If that’s not a reason for him to get the fuck out now, I don’t know what is.
“First trailer for Warcraft movie”
Never write off a movie based on the first trailer… except maybe this one. It looks like the bastard offspring of a sweaty tryst between The Seventh Son and John Carter.
See you next week.
Anghus Houvouras is a North Carolina based writer and filmmaker and the co-host of Across the Pondcast. Follow him on Twitter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=yHzlEE7WgV0
Originally published November 7, 2015. Updated November 29, 2022.
