Today would have been DeForest Kelley's 92nd birthday. He passed away in 1999 and is remembered most for his iconic character, Dr. "Bones" McCoy, on Star Trek.
Dee, to his friends and Trekkies everywhere, was of course awesome on Star Trek playing foil to Spock, but he was well known in Hollywood before that role.
His filmography is intense. He has over 129 acting credits, the vast majority coming from the 1950's and '60's when he was the bad guy in Western movies. He acted with Burt Lancaster, Anthony Quinn and Henry Fonda among a few. He was also in television acting for a young Gene Roddenberry who then cast the veteran actor as the lovable snarky doctor in Star Trek.
He was also a poet, publishing 2 books.
His cameo in the pilot ep of Star Trek: The Next Generation as a grizzled very old Dr. McCoy who comments to Data about the Enterprise, "Treat her like a lady and she'll always get you home", still brings a tear to our eye.
R.I.P! We still miss you and the thought of Mint Juleps.
Courtesy Rebel Pepper A cartoon mocking Christian Bale's confrontation with Chinese security was posted on Weibo, China's Twitter-like service on Friday
By msnbc.com staff and news services
BEIJING -- "Batman" star Christian Bale was roughed up by security guards who stopped him visiting a blind activist living under house arrest in China.
Video footage of the scuffle was shot by a camera crew traveling with the Hollywood actor as he promoted a film he has made in the country.
He and the crew were stopped at a road checkpoint when government security guards wearing green army coats asked what they were doing and punched the camera. When Bale took out his flip camera to record, he was punched and shoved, exactly the same treatment the CNN crew received just a few months earlier when they tried to visit.
After the scuffle, the crew got back into their vehicle and drove off, but they were followed by a security van for about 40 minutes.
"I'm not brave doing this," Bale said on camera. "The local people who are standing up to the authorities, who are visiting Chen and his family and getting beaten or detained, I want to support them."
In a later interview on CNN, Bale said, “It’s amazing a superpower like China is actually terrified, of this man. It shows such an intrinsic weakness within the fabric of the country.”
We originally posted this on 7/20/11 and in light of the breaking news today that the LA County Sheriff's Department is re-opening the case it's super relevant!
Actress Natalie Wood was born this day in 1938. She died November 29, 1981.
How beloved was Natalie Wood by her Hollywood peers? Well, her pall bearers were: Rock Hudson, Frank Sinatra, Laurence Olivier, Gregory Peck, David Niven, Fred Astaire and movie director Elia Kazan.
Her funeral was attended by over 1,000 people and included Elizabeth Taylor and Gene Kelly.
In life she starred in over 50 major motion pictures including some of the best and biggest of all time: Miracle on 34th Street, The Searchers, West Side Story, Splendor in the Grass, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Rebel Without a Cause and one of our all time personal favorites, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.
She was nominated 3 times for an Academy Award and nominated multiple times for Golden Globes, winning twice.
Her death at age 43, remains an open mystery. Natalie was married a few times in her life and like Elizabeth Taylor two of those marriages were to the same man, Robert Wagner (Of recent Austin Powers movie fame.)
On the night in question, November 29, 1981, she was on her and Robert's yacht with fellow actor Christopher Walken and the boat Captain. She was found drowned the next morning, clad in a nightgown, jacket and socks. The official story is that she went outside late that night/early that morning to secure a dingy that kept banging against the boat, slipped, fell in the water and accidentally drowned.
Her sister, actress Lana, insists that Natalie would never go out at night like that and secure a boat. Besides, she had THREE other men on board that could have done that for her, including one (the Captain) that was on the payroll to specifically take care of that kind of thing.
The Captain insists to this day he saw and heard Natalie and Robert having a terrible fight on deck early that morning and that all of sudden Robert was alone saying, "she's gone." The implication here is that he threw her overboard or accidentally/inadvertently caused her to fall overboard.
The police ruled that because of the level of alcohol in her bloodstream (super high)and because they believed Wagner's story that is was an accident.
Christopher Walken has NEVER ONCE spoken publicly about that night. Wagner never said much either. His autobiography from a few years ago basically just says this:
According to Wagner, tensions came to the boil during a late dinner on the couple's yacht Splendor, which was moored off the island of Santa Catalina, near Los Angeles, after Walken suggested that Wood should star in more films instead of caring for two young children.
Wagner admits he lost his temper over the remark and smashed a wine bottle on the table, prompting Wood to go below to their cabin. He and Walken then went up on deck to cool down. At about midnight he returned to the cabin and discovered that his wife was missing. Then he realised that the yacht's dinghy had gone too. That's when he remarked to the Captain, "She's gone."
This implies that he thought maybe she had just taken the smaller boat to shore and left him. He was so drunk he might not have even known she was dead.
Her body was found by authorities later that day.
Her sister, Lana, as of March 2010, asked the LA police to re-open this "case" and reinvestigate. No word on that, but considering the LA police face thousands of homicides a year and this incident happened 30 years ago this November, we'd say it's over.
WRONG! Case re-opened 11/18/11
Sheriff's Office has "new information"
Lana's story is conveyed through this news article from a couple of years ago.
We'll never know what really happened that night unless Christoper Walken or Robert Wagner give some sort of tell all.
Until then, it's still up in the air...Lover's squabble that led to accidental death, drunken accident or deliberate murder...?
No, it's not THE OBVIOUS CHOICE - ALEX O'LOUGHLIN. It's Bradley Cooper.
We love Bradley. He's a local guy (Philly) and he's nice and we love the Hangover movies. BUT...he's no Alex O'Loughlin.
Alex is easily the hottest thing from Down Under ever. And the ladies know that the guys from Australia are the sexiest in the world.
Picture of Alex O'Loughlin from Fitness Magazine's top 25 fittest bods
Seriously. Alex IS the Sexiest.Man.Alive.
Alex has a HUGE fanbase. We caught on to his vampire series Moonlight about 2 years after it was cancelled by CBS. Damn! Thank God for Netflix!
He was then cast in the even shorter lived Three Rivers, again a CBS show.
And now he can be seen every Monday night at 10 on the new (and AWESOME) re-boot of Hawaii 5-0. Again a CBS show. So, this calls for a shout out to Les Moonves, head honcho at CBS WHO OBVIOUSLY KNOWS A GOOD THING WHEN HE SEES IT. Thanks, Les for keeping Alex on TV!
Once again, if you're not sure if Alex is sexy or not:
from his GQ Australia shoot convinced, now?
Does this do it? Because he had us at hello
Oh, and People has about 125 guys on the list so Alex might be there after all but he's not even top ten, so FAIL. And to boot, they put Ryan Gosling at #10. Really, People? So not cool.
UPDATE: Alex DID MAKE THE LIST! They even used the picture from above. WTG, People. At least you remembered him. Next year Number One!
Hollywood's hottest actor, Academy Award nominee Viggo Mortensen, turns 53 today.
Viggo starred in dozens of movies before hitting it big as Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings. He was The King in Return of the King. The movie that took 11 Oscars in 2004.
You've known Viggo since his fist movie "Witness" with Harrison Ford, or maybe you saw "A Perfect Murder" where he starred with Gwyneth Paltrow and Michael Douglas, or "Carlito's Way" with Al Pacino and Sean Penn or "Crimson Tide" with Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman or "Portrait of a Lady" with John Malkovich and Nicole Kidman or "GI Jane" with Demi Moore or "A Walk on the Moon" with Diane Lane and Liev Schreiber or "28 Days" with Sandra Bullock or "Hildago" with Omar Sharif or "A History of Violence" and "Appaloosa" with Ed Harris or "The Road" with Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall and Guy Pierce...
You kind of get the picture here. Viggo has been in everything with everyone and is highly sought after.
He will star next in "A Dangerous Method" as Sigmund Freud and has 2 other movies in the can, as well.
We've met Viggo, hugged and kissed Viggo and LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT.
One of the nicest guys you'll ever meet in the business, not to mention the most talented.
Did we mention he's also a published poet, musician, photographer and painter? All of the paintings in "A Perfect Murder" were his. And his photos are super-artistic. You can find ALL his books at Amazon.com HERE.
One of our favorite actors, John Lithgow, turns 66 today.
Everything John is in is great. He was utter perfection in "Third Rock", the most deliciously evil villain in "Cliffhanger" and an absolute riot in "Buckaroo Bonzai".
And the other 10,000 movie and TV roles he's been a part of.
Did anyone else love "Harry and the Hendersons"?
He's been nominated for the Oscar twice - and should have won - and has more than 20 other acting awards. He rocks.
A) It's a fucking classic B) We LOVE Lily Tomlin C) We Definitely Heart Huckabees
A little back story.
I ♥ Huckabees was a GREAT movie that came out in 2004. It stars Jason Schwartzman, Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin, Jude Law, Isabelle Huppert, Mark Wahlberg and Naomi Watts and is one of those films that really sticks with you (and you can quote from for the next 40 years.)
The plot involves...well you just have to see it. Existential Detectives, an environmental group, a department store model, crisis of conscious...well, it's all there.
There was a Bale-esque set freak out, years before there was THAT Bale freakout, and it centered around Lily Tomlin's disdain for the directors direction and the subsequent freak out of so-said Director, David O. Russell.
Footage is grainy at best but enjoyable nonetheless.
You can see Dustin Hoffman pacing uncomfortably, Jason Schwartzman taking it all in and one scared to death crew member who learned to duck fast.
BTW, this isn't the only "leaked" video regarding this particular movie production. In another behind the scenes look you can find Lily telling Dustin to "shut the fuck up."
God, we love her.
Bonus Huckabees scene - What happens in a meadow at dusk? Movie magic. Plus, a young Jonah Hill in his first movie role.
There was a 50th anniversary screening of Breakfast at Tiffany's the other night at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Jay Weston did a wonderful blog post about it and the film that you can read here: Jay Weston's Huff post blog
We've always loved this movie. A young George Peppard paired with the gorgeous young Audrey Hepburn in New York City and you can't really go wrong. Add Tiffany's jewelry store, Sing Sing prison, apartment parties, an orange tabby cat, the rain and let the romance run wild.
If you've never seen the movie, then surely you've seen THE ICONIC pics of Audrey in her skinny pants or LBD and for sure you've heard the song Moon River. A song written just for Audrey which became the Academy Award Winner that year.
Blake Edwards directed this film. Edwards of Pink Panther fame and of course, Julie Andrews real life husband.
One caveat...okay, two...Mickey Rooney does his best to ruin the film, not intentionally of course, but he does and two, they NEVER stop smoking. To quote Methos "It was the times."
Go and rent Breakfast at Tiffany's. It's a fun wild ride depicting those fun wild times. And you'll never forget the name Holly Golightly.
And it was about a girl in NYC light years ahead of Sex and the City that had more fun, style, grace and class in her small toe than those 4 annoying ugly sluts on the TV show ever had in their entire bodies or careers all put together.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to one of our favorite actors - OF ALL TIME - Bruce Campbell!
We just LOVE LOVE LOVE him.
Bruce is one of those "B" list character actors that makes every movie he is in SO MUCH BETTER. We consider him "A" list. Why Hollywood never made him the leading man we'll never know because he kicks ass and takes names doing what he does best...being Bruce.
He has a cult fan base like no other. We are all such LOYAL fans.
He has been on the USA TV show Burn Notice for the past few years, racking up legions of new fans. In fact, his character, Sam Axe, is so popular that USA gave him it's own TV movie, "Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe".
Everytime Bruce does a meet and greet rabid cult fan followers...like us...show up in droves. And he is so nice to his fans.
We got to meet him in Philadelphia a few years back and HE IS SO AWESOME in person. Nice, down to earth, unassuming and just pleasant.
His resume at IMDB is off the chart. He's been in hundreds of TV shows and movies. He is listed as actor, director, producer and writer as well. He is talented beyond belief.
His childhood friend, Sam Raimi, is one of the most respected Hollywood directors and you may know his little brother, Ted Raimi, as Joxer from the Hercules/Xena shows...of which Bruce starred in as well.
Sam directed Bruce in the cult hit "Evil Dead" which to date remains one of the most successful horror films of all time. The third sequel "Army of Darkness" came out in 1992 and was a commercial success. A special DVD called "Bruce Campbell vs The Army of Darkness: Boomstick Edition" and is one of our favorite collectibles.
Suffice it to say, if you like Bruce, you REALLY like Bruce. He is a Hollywood favorite.
The TV show western "The Adventures of Brisco County" is on DVD. RENT IT. Bruce is fantastic as the lead character, Brisco, on a mission to revenge his father. It was the best TV show Fox ever made.
The cult classic-inspired festival HAS RETURNED North Bowl in Philadelphia.
The festivities will begin on Friday, June 3 at the Theater of the Living Arts (TLA), at 4th and South streets, with a viewing of “The Big Lebowski” and music by Chipocrite. Doors open at 8 p.m. and the show will begin at 9 p.m. Admission to this event is $15 in advance and $18 at the door.
The festival will continue the next evening, Saturday, June 4 with a bowling party at North Bowl from 8 p.m. to midnight. This event will be 21+ and will include shoe rental and bowling for all guests.
Tickets purchased ahead of time for the North Bowl bowling party will be $25 ($30 at the door).
Tickets for both events can be purchased in advance from Ticketmaster.
Lebowski Fest is a celebration of all things related to The Big Lebowski. If you haven't seen The Big Lebowski, then we just don't know what to say...except WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, MAN? Like go see it.
The Omni Report, like abides, man! We're Achievers. And we really, really liked the rug...it liked tied the whole room together. But we sure as shit don't roll on Shomer fucking shabbos.
One of our favorite actors, EVER, Rutger Hauer, has gotten old. Really, really old. He just turned 67 in January and looks 167.
Where did the last 30 years go?
Rutger has starred in over 50 movies and some of them the best movies ever made including Ladyhawke, Blade Runner, The Hitcher and Batman Begins. He will steal any scene in any movie with his intensity. He's a GREAT ACTOR.
Ladyhawke...a great movie
Off the big screen, he's an awesome person too.
"Hauer is a dedicated environmentalist. He fought for the release of Greenpeace's co-founder, Paul Watson, who was convicted in 1994 for sinking a Norwegian whaling vessel. Hauer has also established an AIDS awareness foundation called the Rutger Hauer Starfish Foundation." Paul Watson as many of you know now runs The Sea Shepards.
A Dutch native, in 1999 he was awarded the Dutch “Best Actor of the Century Rembrandt Award”. He should have gotten at least 3 Academy Awards anyway. So overlooked!
He's kind of in the news today as it was announced he will be the new Van Helsing in Dario Argenta's Dracula 3D. Good lord! 30 years ago that would have been a Godsend, but now...
Also, they just announced there will be either a prequel or a sequel to the movie Blade Runner. Absolutely one of the best sci-fi films ever made.
Here is Rutger Hauer as Roy the Replicant in the ICONIC scene from Blade Runner. AWESOME Film making at its best.
TRENT REZNOR!! Unbelievable. All those years we rocked out to Nine Inch Nails we NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS thought Trent would be up for an Oscar and actually win! Trent wrote the music for The Social Network, one of the only Oscars for that movie. Awesome!!
James Franco totally sucked. We are so disappointed with him. He looked worse than stoned, he looked almost dead or corpse like. It was like he had the Peter Brady Syndrome, so when the red light came on he froze like a deer in headlights. TERRIBLE! His only good joke was about Charlie Sheen, who totally doesn't deserve to be mentioned at all. Anne Hathaway did her best but without her co-host helping out the entire program was just horrible. She sings pretty good though. It was great when she made fun of Hugh Jackman. Otherwise, the duo failed in every way. So sad!
The acceptance speeches were god awful, too. Except for Christian Bale for Best Supporting Actor. His speech was awesome. And Rick Baker winning Best Makeup for The Wolfman. That guy is a class act all the way. So nice! The Wolfman is a decent movie too by the way. Benecio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins. You can't go wrong with Anthony Hopkins...ever. He should have been there last night.
The stage was nice. That's about it. The show was dull and lifeless. Oh James, why did you let us down?!
Matthew McConaughey looked great as a presenter as did Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin. Reese Witherspoon, Penelope Cruz and Mila Kunis were hands down the best dressed actresses.
Best presenters of the night were Russell Brand and Helen Mirren for Best Foreign Film. They were great.
Kirk Douglas. A legend. A movie Icon. In his heyday, hell he was Spartacus! They should have left it at that. We're not going to say more. We just can't.
The Oscar winners we are happy about include CHRISTIAN BALE finally getting an Oscar. Forget The Fighter, for which he won, have you ever seen 3:10 to Yuma, The Machinist, Reign of Fire, Rescue Dawn, The Prestige, Terminator: Salvation or American Psycho? He is THE best actor of our generation.
Natalie Portman deserves it for Black Swan, but remember her movie debut in The Professional with one of our favorite actors, Jean Reno? Or what about V for Vendetta? She killed in that and should have gotten the nod that year. That's one of our favorite movies of all time.
Colin Firth, whatever. He's about as exciting as watching paint dry. Mark Wahlberg didn't even get the nom and if he did, he should have won. Melissa Leo proves once again, she has no class. We can't stand her.
Tom Hooper for Director? Are you kidding? Chris Nolan should have won for Inception. He's clearly one of the best directors out there. What did Tom Hooper have to direct, The King's Speech...paaleeese!
Without further ado, the Oscars went to:
1. Best Picture: "The King's Speech."
2. Actor: Colin Firth, "The King's Speech."
3. Actress: Natalie Portman, "Black Swan."
4. Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, "The Fighter."
5. Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, "The Fighter."
6. Directing: Tom Hooper, "The King's Speech."
7. Foreign Language Film: "In a Better World," Denmark.
8. Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, "The Social Network."
9. Original Screenplay: David Seidler, "The King's Speech."
10. Animated Feature Film: "Toy Story 3."
11. Art Direction: "Alice in Wonderland."
12. Cinematography: "Inception."
13. Sound Mixing: "Inception."
14. Sound Editing: "Inception."
15. Original Score: "The Social Network," Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
16. Original Song: "We Belong Together" from "Toy Story 3," Randy Newman.
17. Costume Design: "Alice in Wonderland."
18. Documentary Feature: "Inside Job."
19. Documentary (short subject): "Strangers No More."
20. Film Editing: "The Social Network."
21. Makeup: "The Wolfman."
22. Animated Short Film: "The Lost Thing."
23. Live Action Short Film: "God of Love."
24. Visual Effects: "Inception."
In honor of Trent's win, here's some vintage NIN. Turn it up and rock out!
NINE INCH NAILS: Head Like a Hole
"Bow down before the one you serve, you're gonna get what you deserve"
Last week at Paris Hilton's 30th birthday party, a drunken guy named Paz somehow got past security, crashed the party, drank Paris's liquor and then STOLE HER $2,000 BIRTHDAY CAKE. He literally just picked it up and when no one was watching, just waltzed out of the building with it.
We thought this story was hilarious because Paris Hilton is a self-indulgent scumbag that deserves to have her cake stolen.
The news this morning is that the stolen cake has shown up! And you'll never guess where...
A LOS ANGELES HOMELESS SHELTER where is was "eaten down to the last crumb."
"[It] was carved into 125 delicious slices and served to the homeless of downtown Los Angeles on white paper plates."
This guy Paz put the entire thing on Facebook. He even posted pics of the homeless dudes lined up for a piece.
This means he'll probably face felony theft charges..but man was that worth it!
Oh, and the cake...not only did it cost more than your monthly mortgage payment, it was a custom made absinthe laced cake. Just an extra hallucinatory bonus for the LA homeless!
Open note to Charlie Sheen: YOU, SIR, ARE NO ERROL FLYNN!
The actor compared himself to a fellow star. 'Like Errol Flynn, who had to put down his sword on occasion, I just want to say, "thank-you",' he wrote in the statement, issued to Us magazine.
Fuck you, Charlie. You are a piece of shit, self-entitled, delusional sicophant. Don't you EVER compare yourself to the great Errol Flynn who could act circles around you in his sleep.
You make us sick and to quote Joan Rivers: "You are an ass!"
Go back to your coke induced coma, your dime a dozen whores and never invoke the name Errol Flynn again, you stupid asshole. We cannot even believe what a disgrace you are to your father.
You gotta hand it to the Old Crone Joan Rivers. She's another one with a way for words.
This time she went off on Fox News. After having skewered Sarah "Blood Libel" Palin she was dropped by the Fox News morning show who had booked Joan to promote her new reality show. Fox simply said they were "overbooked."
When asked for her reponse to being dropped, Rivers quipped: "Fox News can go fuck themselves."
First off, CONGRATS to Ricky Gervais for completely making fun of the celebs right to their faces! Not only was he spot-on, but he didn't go too far and could have gone even farther.
Why shouldn't Johnny Depp and Angelina Joie be mocked right in the face? Alright, at least Angelina does alot to help people but still, they are just people who make movies. They aren't creating science or curing diseases and they take themselves way too seriously. The look on Depp's face when Gervaise called his acting less than 3 dimensional was priceless!
It actually was one of the best Globes in a long time. Many of our favorites got awards: Christian Bale, Katey Sagal, Steve Buscemi, Jane Lynch, Natalie Portman and TRENT REZNOR. Trent looks bloody awful. He cut his hair and gained about 100 pounds. Oh well, he still creates kick-ass music.
We are mad though that our James Franco got beat by Colin Firth. On any other year we'd be happy for Colin who is an awesome actor but not against Franco! Have you seen 127 Hours or Pineapple Express? The guy is brilliant! At least he is CO-HOSTING the Oscars with Anne Hathaway, who is also pretty awesome.
TV sets across America exploded when Catherine Zeta-Jones was interviewed followed by Sofia Vergara. WOWZA! Two of the most beautiful actresses back to back and both looked great. Sofia Vergara was hands down the Best Dressed of the night. Just look at her. She is so gorgeous.
Annoyance factor goes to Angelina Jolie who seemed unable to hold her head up or sit straight as she constantly had her head on Brad Pitt's shoulder. We get it Angelina, you two are in love...Now sit the hell up and pretend to be awake for the LIVE TV cameras...jeez!
Robert DiNiro received the Cecille B. Demille Lifetime Achievement Award. A no-brainer.
WTF's include: Annette Benning's hair and Al Pacino's hair...we're these two zapped by electricity just before show time? Also, Tilda Swinton's dress was so bloody awful, Joan Rivers will have to call in FEMA...it was ugly AND a disaster!
Honorable Mention goes to Robert Downey Jr. who gave the BEST presenters speech of the night saying: "I don't know if an actress can do her best work until she's slept with me." He was hysterical.
