Posts by Zach Dionne
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Insta-Rating: Which of Amazon’s Five New Pilots Might Be Most Worthy of Your Time?
Amazon has kicked off its second pilot season with five new shows for you to watch and vote on, including the site’s first two hour-long dramas. With people like Jeffrey Tambor, ‘The X-Files’ creator Chris Carter, ‘Afternoon Delight’ director Jill Soloway, and ‘The Wire’ writer Eric Overmyer in the mix, there was nothing we could do but compile a time-saving, least-to-most-promising list.
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George Clooney Is on a Prankster Warpath Against Tina Fey and Amy Poehler
At the Golden Globes in January, Poehler and Fey said ‘Gravity’ is “the story of how George Clooney would rather float away into space and die than spend one more minute with a woman his own age.” Now they’re enmeshed in a twisted prank scheme orchestrated by a 52-year-old man more committed to practical jokes than anything in his life.
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Stephen Colbert Had a Great Talk With the Freed Members of Pussy Riot
Also in the Afternoon Links: ‘House of Cards’ might last a lot longer than anyone dared to hope, a Paul Thomas Anderson/Philip Seymour Hoffman music video from 1997 has surfaced, and the longest ‘College Dropout’ oral history ever is now available.
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Add Prince to the List of Artists Ready to Dispose of the Old Music Industry
It’s refreshing to see a 55-year-old veteran of the music biz start making it up as he goes along and using the Internet as his ally.
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The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Air Guitar Champions
Flea hit the Peppers’ site to issue a lengthy explanation that could’ve been condensed to “Jersey is cold in January and the NFL needs to know stuff will sound good when 112 million people are watching.” Anthony Kiedis’s vocals were live, but the band mimed “Give It Away” along to a new studio recording jammed “from our hearts [and] very like in spirit to the versions we have been playing live the last few years.”
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Jonah Hill Will Reunite With Leonardo DiCaprio to Play Olympic Hero Richard Jewell
Also in the Afternoon Links: Netflix renews ‘House of Cards’ for a third season, Jerry Seinfeld gets testy, Action Bronson gets pushy, and Nas gets anniversary-y.
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George Clooney’s Famous Friends Took Bite-Size Paychecks for ‘The Monuments Men’
Stars like Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, and John Goodman worked for what Clooney calls “super cheap, like crazy cheap” in order to keep the WWII art history drama within a reasonable budget.
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The ‘Hunger Games’ Finale Is Missing a Crucial Philip Seymour Hoffman Scene
A Lionsgate insider says that while ‘The Hunger Games’ two-part finale has nearly all of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s work in the can, one “major, emotional scene” was left unfilmed. “Obviously, we’re going to have a couple of work-around issues but the movie will be creatively whole. His performances in both movies will be up to the best of his craft. We feel it will be a good tribute to him.”
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Why Would You Use Any Lawyer But Jamie Casino, Super Bowl King?
Also in the Afternoon Links: Zooey Deschanel and Prince duetted on ‘New Girl’ last night, the ‘Vanity Fair’ Hollywood issue is here (and its starry cover), and David Schwimmer’s heading back to TV.
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J.K. Rowling Revises ‘Harry Potter’ History, Says Hermione Wound Up With the Wrong Wizard
“I know, I’m sorry. I can hear the rage and fury it might cause some fans, but if I’m absolutely honest, distance has given me perspective on that,” Rowling tells Hermione actress/guest interviewer and editor Emma Watson in ‘Wonderland’ magazine.
