Tag: British Things (81-90 of 345)

Jun 6 2011 12:55 PM ET

Sarah Palin doubles-down on Paul Revere history

The battle over the midnight ride of Paul Revere refuses to die, four days after Sarah Palin told a Boston television reporter that the Revolutionary War hero “warned the British that they weren’t going to take away our arms” by “riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells.” While the Internet, political-media critics, and The Daily Showwhich created a specific Twitter hashtag for her — pounced on the former Alaska governor for her misstatement, the Wikipedia website for Paul Revere has become a battleground as some users, presumable Palin supporters, have attempted to edit the history to better accommodate Palin’s description of events.

On Sunday, Fox’s Chris Wallace asked her (video below), “You realize you messed up about Paul Revere, don’t you?” but Palin stuck to her guns. “You know, I didn’t mess up about Paul Revere,” she maintained. READ FULL STORY »

May 24 2011 05:55 PM ET

John C. Reilly: The leading man on National Character Actor Day

john_reilly

Image Credit: ZUMAPress.com

“I love that people can’t place me. They don’t know my name. That’s ‘mission accomplished’ in my world.” — John C. Reilly

Today may as well be National Character Actor Day. Reilly was born on this day in 1965, while across the pond, the Brits are celebrating the talent of Jim Broadbent, who was born May 24, 1949. They might lack the name recognition of brighter stars, but it’s their unmistakable mugs that instill an authentic Everyman quality into their eclectic collection of supporting characters. Broadbent is a legendary chameleon, slipping from Harry Potter to British period indie to Bridget Jones, and he even has an Oscar, for Iris. READ FULL STORY »

May 24 2011 03:05 PM ET

The Education of Ron Weasley: From doofus to romantic hero

Rupert-Grint

Perhaps no character in the Harry Potter universe came as far as Ron Weasley. Harry was always heroic, and Hermione was brilliant from the get-go, but Ron began as the designated doofus — J.K. Rowling’s veritable red-headed stepchild. Of course, Ron’s journey becomes as essential as any in the battle against Voldemort, and Rupert Grint has successfully managed to show every side of Ron through the years, from slack-jawed goober to romantic hero. READ FULL STORY »

May 19 2011 05:19 PM ET

Judgment Day: Hunker down for the looming apocalypse with these 'instructional' movies

judgment-day

Image Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

I don’t believe that the world is coming to an end on Saturday, but I’m a strong proponent in being prepared. Sooner or later, some doomsday alarmist is going to be right — I guess? — and it can’t hurt to be ready. While others might brace for the End by spending time with loved ones or in houses of worship, I’m preparing for what comes after the End by watching movies. There’s a lot that can be learned from Hollywood about what awaits the unfortunate survivors of a looming apocalypse, and I’d like to suggest the following mini-marathon to get your mind right. READ FULL STORY »

May 11 2011 02:55 PM ET

Princess Beatrice to auction off her Royal Wedding hat, social norms sold separately

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Image Credit: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

You know, a lot of people gave Princess Beatrice flack for the hat she wore to the Royal Wedding last month. Some called it “crazy”, while others claimed that if you go through its ring, you actually enter another dimension… of crazy.

Whatever your feelings were on the Philip Treacy creation, now is your opportunity to own it. Beatrice’s mum Sarah Ferguson visited The Oprah Winfrey Show, and in a segment featured in today’s episode, she told Winfrey the already-infamous hat would be placed on the head of the highest bidder on eBay. “She’s putting it up on eBay to auction it for UNICEF and for Children in Crisis,” the Duchess explained. READ FULL STORY »

May 5 2011 03:50 PM ET

Hugh Grant to get animated for 'The Pirates! Band of Misfits.' Hey, we'll take him any way we can get him.

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Image Credit: Felix Kunze/WireImage.com

Aaargh! After a two-year absence from the big screen, Hugh Grant has finally chosen his next project. But, unfortunately, we won’t even get to see him in it. Instead, he’ll lend his voice to the upcoming stop-motion 3-D animation flick The Pirates! Band of Misfits.

Sony Pictures confirmed to EW that Grant — alongside the likes of Salma Hayek, Brendan Gleeson, and Ashley Jensen (you can just go ahead and add this to animated movie casts we wish would appear in a live-action flick together à la Despicable Me), will appear in the film, which is slated to hit theaters in March 2012. While it’s never disappointing to hear that Grant will be in a movie (Heck, I’d take a Music and Lyrics sequel at this point. Pop! is long overdue for a reunion tour anyway, no?), it’s a bit of a bummer fans won’t actually get to see the handsome actor’s face. Jeez, just, look at it. READ FULL STORY »

May 5 2011 02:53 PM ET

'X Factor' judge Cheryl Cole: A crash course

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Image Credit: Ken McKay/TalkbackThames/Rex/Rex USA

Even though British pop star Cheryl Cole had been rumored as a judge on the U.S. version of The X Factor for weeks, now that she’s been officially hired, the overwhelming response to today’s news is still likely to be: “Cheryl who?” For the uninformed, she’s a past reality-show contestant herself (she’s part of Girls Aloud, an all-female quintet formed in 2002 on the British show Popstars: The Rivals) who became a solo sensation in 2009 with the release of her single “Fight For This Love,” which is still in heavy rotation on my iPod two years after it came out. Check out the video, in which Cole looks like a cross between Eva Longoria and Shania Twain: READ FULL STORY »

May 4 2011 05:45 PM ET

Anthony Hopkins and the fine art of 'phoning it in'

How many times have you walked out of a dark theater, disappointed by the performance of a favorite actor who clearly phoned it in? Take, for instance, Anthony Hopkins. Sir Anthony Hopkins, actually. He is one of the greats. Most famous for playing Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, the Oscar winner was a protégé of Laurence Olivier, and his performance as the undemonstrative butler in The Remains of the Day is, for my money, one of the most brilliant studies in the art of acting. But in between the roles that take your breath away, there are films like The Rite, The Wolfman, Instinct, The Edge, and Bad Company. As a hopeless fan, you can find something redeeming in all these roles, but you also wish you could ask, What happened there? Well, in Hopkins’ case, he was phoning it in. He said so himself, literally, in last week’s New York Times profile of Thor director Kenneth Branagh: “I phone it in a lot as I’m getting older.” READ FULL STORY »

May 2 2011 06:30 PM ET

Ricky Gervais shares thoughts on Osama, Obama, the Royal Wedding, and Steve Carell's departure on his blog

Ricky-Gervais

Image Credit: Jim Spellman/WireImage.com

In case you hadn’t heard, a lot happened over the past few days. From the Royal Wedding hoopla on Friday to the breaking news about the death of Osama bin Laden on Sunday, everyone from 24-hour news cycle anchors to tweeters shared their thoughts on this week’s historical moments. The Office creator Ricky Gervais is no different — the actor took to his blog to share his unique brand of insights on the events (oh, one can only dare to imagine what Karl Pilkington would think about all this…). READ FULL STORY »

Apr 30 2011 06:23 PM ET

The Royal Wedding is over! Is it safe to come out yet?

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Image Credit: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Don’t worry, folks, it’s almost at an end. After months of intensive hat speculation, commemorative plate production, cake experts, lip readers, total bludgeoning of the word “fairy-tale,” and Anglophilia bordering on Anglomania, we only have a few more days of stray headlines like “William and Kate’s Honeymoon Suite: Is There an Ice Machine?” and “What Dress Would Have Kate Worn in a Parallel Universe?” before we’re finally rid of this whole royally over-reported dealio.

I’ll admit, as an American male I have absolutely no idea what draws people to wake up at 4 a.m. to watch a rich guy and the girl he likes tie the knot. I mean, what did George Washington and Mel Gibson fight for if Americans are just going to end up fawning over the British monarchy and hand out a bunch of Oscars to The King’s Speech? The ceremony itself was lavish and pretty and occasionally sweet, but mostly twee and long. Even the people at the wedding were getting a little bored. Admittedly, the presence of a horse-drawn carriage and the two evil stepsisters from Cinderella did hint at those fairy-tale aspects everyone on morning television kept talking about, but it didn’t feel as once-in-a-lifetime as once every 20 minutes on Main Street, U.S.A. READ FULL STORY »

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