Image Credit: Ben Luener/AMCAll hail the return of the kingpin: Sunday at 10 p.m. on AMC, we begin the third season of the critically acclaimed drama Breaking Bad, which promises a whole new set of twisted twists for Walter White, a.k.a. Heisenberg, the terminally ill chemistry teacher who began moonlighting as a meth chef to support his family. Bryan Cranston, who has won two Emmys for his role as White, gives EW.com the goods on Bad‘s new season. [Your SPOILER ALERT begins here.] READ FULL STORY »
Archive: March 2010 (191-200 of 604)
Mar 21
2010
08:26 PM ET
Bryan Cranston dishes on season 3 of 'Breaking Bad'
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Mar 21
2010
01:40 PM ET
Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks talk about 'The Pacific'
Image Credit: David James/HBOThe second chapter of the ten-part HBO mini-series The Pacific airs tonight, wrapping up its portrait of the grueling WWII campaign on the island of Guadalcanal. (Click here to read Ken Tucker’s assessment of last week’s first installment.) I spoke with exec producers Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks a few weeks ago about the $200 million production, including why you won’t see any more naval battles, what helped to ring up the production’s mammoth price tag, and what it was like when Spielberg reunited with the kid from Jurassic Park. Here are the highlights.
EW: With Band of Brothers, you had the source book by Steven Ambrose, but there wasn’t that kind of definitive narrative history of a single company from the Pacific theater of World War II. How did you settle on these three real-life marines — Robert Leckie (James Badge Dale), Eugene Sledge (Joe Mazzello), and John Basilone (Jon Seda) — as your narrative engines for The Pacific?
STEVEN SPIELBERG: Unlike Easy Company in Band of Brothers, when all the stories existed, in this case we were looking for true stories of marines that knew each other, or where stories would intersect.
TOM HANKS: We said, look, there’s gotta be some great combat memoirs out there, as opposed to the overview books — tactics and maps and stuff. And by finding both Sledge’s book With the Old Breed and Leckie’s book Helmet for My Pillow, and realizing that Sid Phillips, who was Eugene’s best friend [and is played by Ashton Holmes], happened to be in Leckie’s outfit — that gave us three characters right there that converged. Basilone is a very well chronicled story.
We also had for awhile Flyboys by James Bradley, thinking that we were going make manifest a bunch of different areas [of the Pacific battle]. But it just became too problematic.
SPIELBERG: We got, I think, a very comprehensive sampling. But by no means the entire story. READ FULL STORY »
Mar 20
2010
09:44 PM ET
The 'Twilight' at Midnight Saga: On the scene for the 'New Moon' DVD release
Image Credit: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty ImagesI arrive at the New Moon DVD release party in Union Square around 10:15 p.m. on Friday. The line is half a block long. The three girls at the front of the line are named Tiffany, Catherine, and Valerie. They’ve been there since a little bit before 7. I ask them, “Team Jacob or Team Edward?” Neither; they’re sworn to Team Jasper, the Cullen sibling played by Jackson Rathbone. “He almost eats Bella, which is a huge plus,” says Valerie.
Because of the cruel whims of my vile EW.com overlords, I’ve become a minor expert on the Twilight fan experience. Valerie is voicing something that fascinates me about Twilight fandom: there’s a significant Twihard population that hates, hates, hates Bella. How weird is that? I mean, she’s the main freaking character of the series! Sure, Luke wasn’t the coolest part of Star Wars, but you’ll never hear a Wars fan hate on him, even if he says the most petulant line in movie history.
The girls also have some negative opinions about dividing Breaking Dawn into two movies. “They’re getting more of my money. I’m not okay with that,” says Catherine. Note to Summit Entertainment: It’s probably not a good sign when even the pubescent megafans think the two-movie split is a shameless cash grab. READ FULL STORY »
Mar 20
2010
03:32 PM ET
The health care vote: Is anyone else reminded of 'The American President'?
I know Popwatch isn’t so much the place y’all go for politics, but watching all the breathless coverage about the impending health care vote in Congress — Mitchell votes “Yes!” Altmire votes “No!” — just keeps reminding me of the 1995 Michael Douglas/Annette Bening romance The American President. In the pre-West-Wing-Aaron-Sorkin-scripted under-appreciated gem, Douglas plays widowed president Andrew Shepherd, who’s determined to pass a comprehensive crime bill, and Bening plays the spitfire environmental lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade, who’s determined to pass a comprehensive climate bill. When they first meet, President Shepherd makes a deal with Ms. Wade: Her bill needs 34 votes to pass, and if she lands the first 24, he’ll get the last 10.
This being a movie, the two subsequently fall in love, but what I keep thinking about is the montage of legislative scrambling as the White House and Wade’s lobbying firm work to secure enough votes for their respective bills. Both offices have giant tear-away signs counting down the number of needed votes; each new “Yes” vote causes someone to rip down a number with satisfying gusto.
I can’t be the only one thinking about this movie this weekend, right? I’m not alone in looking at this chart of undecided representatives and imagining giant countdown easels hanging in the White House and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s office, yes? It’s not just me? READ FULL STORY »
Mar 20
2010
09:11 AM ET
This Week on Stage: Who's a better drag icon, Dame Edna Everage or Valerie Harper as Tallulah?
ALL ABOUT ME: Michael Feinstein and Dame Edna Everage
Cabaret regular Michael Feinstein and campy Australian songbird Dame Edna Everage (the alter ego of Barry Humphries) join forces for a new Broadway show, All About Me, which opened this week to mostly middling reviews. “Aside from a few bright spots, All About Me is essentially two one-person shows glued together. Mediocrity ensues,” writes EW’s Jessica Shaw in her B- review. Valerie Harper wins praise for her portrayal of the tabloid-friendly mid-20th-century actress Tallulah Bankhead in the Broadway comic drama Looped. “Harper barrels gaily into the role, outfoxing any drag queen who might have coveted the part,” writes Lisa Schwarzbaum, but our critic finds that the problematic play itself focuses too much on peripheral nobodies and only earns a C-. EW’s Melissa Rose Bernardo was also disappointed by Pulitzer winner Suzan-Lori Parks’ new drama, The Book of Grace, “a plodding revenge fantasy” at Off Broadway’s Public Theatre that earns a C.
Meanwhile, I checked out the starry new cast of last year’s Tony-winning play, God of Carnage. I found the one-act comedy be “just as tart and hilarious” as it was a year ago. Jeff Daniels, who now plays the average-Joe role originated by James Gandolfini, may be a less-perfect fit, but Dylan Baker (who takes Daniels’ original role as a cell-phone-addicted yuppie) and Janet McTeer (who takes Marcia Gay Harden’s part) are standouts. And Broadway newbie Lucy Liu is “surprisingly nimble” on stage.
If you’re looking for some live theater, check out the EW.com Stage hub for up-to-date news and reviews; or consult this handy guide below, which includes links to all of our stage reviews of current shows. (Note: The reviews are typically of the show’s original casts.)
BROADWAY
The Addams Family — Musical; opens 4/8/2010
All About Me —– Musical Revue starring Dame Edna Everage and Michael Feinstein; opened 3/18/10; EW grade: B-
American Idiot — Musical; opens 4/20/2010
A Behanding in Spokane — Comedy starring Christopher Walken; opened 3/4/10; EW grade: B+
Billy Elliot — Musical; opened 11/13/08; EW grade: B+ READ FULL STORY »
Mar 20
2010
07:31 AM ET
'Caprica' recap: The gods might die, but the dogs remain
Image Credit: Eike Schroter/SyfyYesterday, Amanda Graystone smoked cigarettes. Lots of them. She got bored, so she turned on the window video. She slouched around all day. When the sun went down, she slouched around all night. Someone stopped by the house and told her some terrible news about a member of her family. She said she didn’t believe the news, but it was clear she did.
This all happened on last night’s episode of Caprica, the eighth episode of the season, but it also happened way back in episode 2. (The visitor was Agent Duram instead of Vergis, but they said the same thing: “There’s a murderer in your house.”) Viewers, I think that we’re reaching the critical mass point with Sad Amanda; it’s starting to feel less like believable grieving time, and more like pathological depression. The dead-brother visions feel like a double anchor – how many dead relatives does this lady have, anyways? READ FULL STORY »
Mar 20
2010
06:30 AM ET
'Simpsons' vs. 'Community': Who makes Hulu's face-off finals?
The Simpsons meets Community in a Final Four match-up in Hulu’s “Best in Show” face-off after defeating Castle in a battle EW critic Ken Tucker described as ”like comparing apples to baseball caps.” On the other side we have Burn Notice off a win over House, and Lost, which destroyed newcomer Parenthood in the quarterfinals, owning a resounding 70 percent of the vote. So who’ll win it all? The Simpsons has been around so long it’s synonymous with pop culture, but really, what show can match the hysteria of Lost right now, as it winds its way toward the series finale? The Island saga is the one to beat.
Mar 19
2010
06:59 PM ET
Wheelchair-bound actor blogs about 'Glee'
Image Credit: Carin Baer/FoxOver at the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation website, a wheelchair-bound actor named Zack Weinstein has up a blog post about Glee and — even more exciting — his upcoming guest role. He can’t give many details away about the episode, but Weinstein does offer heartfelt and moving testimony about the accident he suffered in his teens that left him paralyzed, and his refusal to let that reality end his dreams of becoming an actor. From the very beginning of Glee, I’ve appreciated the casual way they introduced a wheelchair-bound character like Artie, but I’ve often wondered if the fact that the actor who plays him, Kevin McHale, is able-bodied, makes it less of a triumph for diversity. (Indeed, around the time of the “Wheels” episode, some organizations outright objected.) Weinstein’s take is an honest inside account: He knows that Glee producers auditioned actors who used wheelchairs for the role of Artie. And he thinks that if McHale was the best fit in the end, then it doesn’t matter whether or not he’s able to walk. Take a look at Zack’s post and tell me: Do you agree?
Mar 19
2010
06:10 PM ET
'I'm Here': Spike Jonze's robot love story
Spike Jonze’s robot love story “I’m Here” (previously) is now online in its entirety. The 35-minute movie is very, very affected — but completely charming anyway. Robots Sheldon and Francesca have a pretty standard indie love story: He’s a bit geeky, she’s a manic pixie dream girl, they fall for each other. Aww.
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