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Senin, 09 September 2019

‘It Chapter Two’ Star James Ransone on Those Character Twists and the Bill Hader Bond - Yahoo Entertainment

[Editor’s note: Spoilers ahead for “It Chapter Two.”]

Stephen King’s “It” notoriously clocks in at over 1,100 pages, more than enough material to power Andy Muschietti’s pair of horror outings (he’s already getting chatty about the possibility of a massive director’s cut). Nevertheless, for “It Chapter Two,” Muschietti and screenwriter Gary Dauberman crafted a fresh series of flashbacks that allow the sequel to include appearances from the first film’s young cast while rounding out the emotional stakes for their older counterparts.

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Most of the flashbacks build on storylines introduced in the first film, and were pulled directly from King’s text, like Bill and Beverly’s romance or Ben’s own affection for Bev. However, Muschietti and Dauberman’s sequel also makes one major change. Thanks to a key flashback to the Losers’ Club in their younger years, and a later emotional moment involving star Bill Hader (playing an older version of Finn Wolfhard’s Richie Tozier), “It Chapter Two” provides a definitive answer to a long-held fan theory.

While some fans have long speculated that Richie is bisexual, “It Chapter Two” firmly establishes that his sexuality — the revelation of which is his biggest fear, as illustrated during a flashback sequence involving terrifying clown Pennywise — is not strictly heterosexual, and that Richie is indeed interested in men.

Specifically, he has feelings for Eddie Kaspbrak (played by Jack Dylan Grazer and James Ransone), a crush that was apparently in full swing during the events of the first film. “It’s actually not really alluded to in the book,” Ransone said in a recent interview with IndieWire. “I read the book. It’s a big departure from the book.”

And while Ransone didn’t know about the change until he got to the table read, it allowed him to approach the material much like Eddie would have: without realizing some of the major revelations playing out in one of his oldest friend’s heart.

In King’s book, a subplot includes the revelation that an adult Richie got a vasectomy, which didn’t actually keep him from getting an old girlfriend pregnant, a horrifying revelation for the wisecracking Richie. Said Ransone with a laugh, “There’s a whole thing when the Losers’ Club gets back together in the book where it talks about Richie’s ‘super sperm.'”

Ransone said he benefited by bonding early with Hader, all the better to establish the pair as close friends (and maybe more) who have known each other for decades.

“Do you remember that Michael Mann movie ‘Public Enemies’? The one that he shot on like VHS?,” Ransone joked. “Hader and I met at an audition for that like 10, 12 years ago. I always really liked him, so when he showed up in Toronto, we got into it so fast. It’s like [talking about], ‘This is the darkest part of my life and my childhood,’ within 10 minutes.”

He added, “So as long as we were close, that’s all I care about, and that on the screen, those people actually look like they care about one another.”

For the actor, it heightened what he always hopes to find in his roles: real intimacy. “My opinion around all that stuff is, intimacy to me always transcends sexuality,” the actor said. “For me, personally, [sexuality] is not interesting to play or to think about, but intimacy will always be more interesting.”

“It Chapter Two” is in theaters now.

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https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/chapter-two-star-james-ransone-120002558.html

2019-09-09 12:00:00Z
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It Chapter Two is a bad horror movie, but it’s a pretty decent comedy - The A.V. Club

Illustration for article titled It Chapter Two is a bad horror movie, but it’s a pretty decent comedy — Photo: Brooke Palmer (Warner Bros.)

This post discusses the plot of It Chapter Two.

In her spot-on review of It Chapter Two, our film critic Katie Rife identifies a moment that stands out among the Andy Muschietti-directed sequel’s many deflating sequences: Eddie Kaspbrak (James Ransone) confronting the fluid-dripping leper that haunted him as a child, back again for a nostalgic scare of sorts as an adult. During the climactic moment of their showdown, Eddie manages to wrap his hands around the leper’s neck, and it looks for a moment like the beleaguered Loser might actually gain the upper hand over this memory. “The scene is grimy and unnerving,” Rife writes, “that is, until Muschietti drops in a brief blast of the cheesy AM Gold hit ‘Angel Of The Morning’ right when the terror is peaking, popping the balloon of dread instantly.”

The scene goes from creepy to comical in an instant; indeed, there was a loud collective laugh emitted from the audience at the screening I attended, as the film gave us permission to ignore our anxiousness and just revel in Eddie’s grotesquely absurd turn of events. Nobody was scared in the slightest, but we all had a good chuckle.

And that’s It Chapter Two in a nutshell: It’s a bad horror movie, but it works rather well as a comedy—or rather, a comic drama about adults trying to come to terms with their lingering childhood traumas. Plenty of critics have singled out the humor in the film as a welcome element amid the creepy clown shenanigans, moments of respite from the ongoing efforts of Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) to once more lure the former residents of Derry—the now-adult Eddie, Bill Denbrough (James McAvoy), Beverly Marsh (Jessica Chastain), Richie Tozier (Bill Hader), Ben Hanscom (Jay Ryan), and Stanley Uris (Andy Bean), called to return by their friend Mike Hanlon (Isaiah Mustafa)—to their bloody demise. At NPR, former A.V. Club film editor Scott Tobias approvingly mentions Chapter Two’s “comic insulation” while otherwise panning the sequel. Angelica Jade Bastién at Vulture cites the “comedy from Hader” as delighting even as it also saps the movie of any tension. Perhaps most succinct of all, io9’s Charles Pulliam-Moore bluntly notes the movie “really, really wants to make you laugh. And it will, sometimes unintentionally.”

A few moments Muschietti engineered to scare do the opposite, puncturing any mood of bleak horror and bringing audiences into the comfortable world of his characters’ one-liners and rib-nudges. With the exception of Beverly’s unsettling return to her old apartment, none of the Losers’ individual experiences with Pennywise can effectively generate shrieks of fear, but they do emit plenty of chuckles. Richie fleeing a goofy Paul Bunyan statue come to life is but one case of “that’s silly, not scary” misfires.

It’s hard to shake the feeling that Muschietti isn’t going for scares at all—that he did all he could with the first film, and the second one is about catharsis, not creepiness. This becomes especially apparent during the climactic confrontation with Pennywise, where a number of sequences in which the monster isolates various members of the Losers, and tries to bury them with their own fears, fall flat. This is best embodied by the film’s two MVPs, Bill Hader and James Ransone, as they are once more greeted by the three doors we saw in the first film, labeled “Very scary,” “Scary,” and “Not scary at all.” Thinking they’ve outsmarted the trap this time, the pair open the “Very scary” door, and are greeted by… an adorable little Pomeranian. Despite the “we’re all about to die” circumstance, they take a beat and admire the sweet little animal (a callback to an earlier line from Hader’s Richie), approving “aww”s and all—right until the pup explodes into a giant ravenous CGI beastie, like a sillier version of the “Large Marge” scene from Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. The idea that anyone is meant to take this seriously—or find it at all scary—is hard to swallow. But as a moment of comedy, highlighting the diminishing fears of a group of people realizing they don’t have to let their pasts destroy their futures, it’s endearingly whimsical.

Hader’s performance is the film’s highlight, probably because he’s playing the character most defined by their sense of humor. But Ransone deserves special recognition for playing the Saturday Night Live alum’s comic foil. Ransone, who previously laced straight-man humor into the horror of the Sinister franchise, is Hader’s underappreciated ally. His everyman anxiety plants the material in the broadly humorous territory that’s actually the film’s terra firma, rather than the nebulous clouds of fear that occasionally provide atmosphere. The two of them together—Hader feeding off the energy given out by Ransone’s long-suffering bundle of nerves, Ransone delivering wide-eyed beats of you’ve-gotta-be-kidding-me exasperation—transform It Chapter Two; rather than the listless horror that is supposedly the movie’s reason for existing, the pair turn the film into a much breezier and heartfelt (if supernaturally-minded) dramedy that has far more in common with Stand By Me than The Shining.

And that’s perhaps why the film initially seems like a letdown: It doesn’t fulfill its expected task of making you scared. But what it does do, gradually and with gently unexpected elan, is take viewers past what turns out to be a sideshow distraction of clown-based nightmares, and leads them into an often funny study of everyday struggles to make peace with the past. It’s just that all that slice-of-life stuff comes with blockbuster CGI window dressing and faux-jump scares dead set on undercutting their own spooks in favor of smiles.

Early on, when a bevy of supernatural grotesqueries come oozing out of a bowl of fortune cookies, the Losers fight them off, overturning plates and slamming them into walls, ending with Richie pounding a chair down into the middle of the table to destroy the remaining monsters. The film smash cuts to a horrified waitress looking in on their private room, where she sees no evidence of the magical monsters—and then a perfectly timed comic beat, complete with a “We’ll take the check” button of a punchline. If you’re expecting a horror show from It Chapter Two, you’ll be disappointed. But if you let It Chapter Two reveal itself as a comedy-drama about childhood and letting go—topics that are as much a part of the Stephen King canon as malevolent spirits and tortured-writer-stand-ins—you’ll find a film that’s far easier to enjoy.

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https://film.avclub.com/it-chapter-two-is-a-bad-horror-movie-but-it-s-a-pretty-1837937721

2019-09-09 11:00:00Z
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New Book: Bob Weinstein Urged Harvey to Get Help - Newser

(Newser) – Harvey Weinstein's brother knew about his "misbehavior" and urged him to get help two years before the movie mogul's downfall, according to a new book from two New York Times journalists who helped expose Weinstein's sexual misconduct. "You have brought shame to the family and your company through your misbehavior," Bob Weinstein wrote in a memo published in She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement. "Your reaction was once more to blame the victims, or to minimize the misbehavior in various ways. If you think nothing is wrong with your misbehavior so in this area then announce it to your wife and family." Bob Weinstein, his brother's business partner in Miramax and The Weinstein Company, told authors Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey that he saw his brother's problem as sex addiction and was eventually "worn out" by his efforts to intervene, Variety reports

The book discloses that former Weinstein Company accountant Irwin Reiter helped the journalists expose Weinstein's behavior toward women after raising concerns within the company had no effect, the New York Times reports. It also reveals that victims' rights advocate Lisa Bloom worked with Weinstein to try to discredit Rose McGowan, one of the first accusers to go public. "I feel equipped to help you against the Roses of the world, because I have represented so many of them," Bloom, who charged Weinstein $895 per hour, wrote in a December 2016 memo. Bloom outlined ways to damage McGowan's reputation, suggesting: "We can place an article re her becoming increasingly unglued, so that when someone Googles her this is what pops up and she's discredited." McGowan said Sunday that the email is "staggering" and she thinks Bloom should be disbarred. (Read more Harvey Weinstein stories.)

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https://www.newser.com/story/280184/new-book-bob-weinstein-urged-harvey-to-get-help.html

2019-09-09 10:10:00Z
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Trump calls out John Legend, Chrissy Teigen on Twitter, gets vulgar response - Fox News

President Trump late Sunday took to Twitter to identify his own success in criminal justice reform and called out celebrities for not acknowledging his efforts, namely singer John Legend and his "filthy mouthed wife" Chrissy Teigen.

Trump blasted the singer and his wife “for talking now about how great” the reform is, but not playing a role when it mattered. Trump signed the First Step Act into law last year that reduces mandatory minimum sentences in certain instances and gives judges more discretion. More than 3,100 inmates will be released under the act, which has been praised by both Republicans and Democrats.

Legend responded to Trump’s tweet by appealing to the First Lady.

“Imagine being president of a whole country and spending your Sunday night hate-watching MSNBC hoping somebody—ANYBODY—will praise you. Melania, please praise this man. He needs you,” he tweeted. A minute later he tweeted, “Your country needs you, Melania.”

The news channel was airing "Justice For All," a special on mass incarceration in the country and Legend was interviewed during the broadcast.

Teigen called the president a “p***y a** b***h” for tagging “everyone” but her in his tweet. Legend, in a tongue-in-cheek appeal, requested that followers not to retweet the vulgar comment as a hashtag.

Legend, 40, and his wife have been fierce critics of the president. The Grammy-winner called Trump a “piece of s***” and a canker sore on the country after the president’s criticism of Baltimore.

In an interview with USA Today, Teigen said, "I've actually been a big Donald Trump hater [or a long time]. I've been trolling him for about five to seven years now," she said. "I've been doing this forever, and I take pride in that."

Trump talked about criminal justice reform and how President “Obama couldn’t come close” to passing meaningful law. The president said he is tired of “boring musician John Legend” and his wife for touting the bill.

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"They only talk about the minor players, or people that had nothing to do with it...And the people that so desperately sought my help when everyone else had failed, all they talk about now is Impeaching President Trump!," Trump tweeted.

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2019-09-09 05:52:51Z
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Minggu, 08 September 2019

Ariana Grande Wants Mac Miller's Drug Dealer Convicted - TMZ

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Mac Miller's alleged drug dealer richly deserves time behind bars for contributing to the death of the rapper ... at least according to Ariana Grande.

Sources close to Ariana tell TMZ ... she believes Cameron James Pettit -- the 28-year-old feds believe supplied Miller with counterfeit oxycodone pills that contained fentanyl -- took advantage of someone suffering from addiction and should face harsh consequences for his role in Mac's death.

We're told Grande feels ANYONE who was involved in supplying Miller drugs should be charged and convicted for contributing to his death from an accidental overdose.

As we reported ... prosecutors arrested Pettit and allege he was one of three people who supplied Mac with the fentanyl-laced drugs. The other 2 are possibly a madam and a prostitute also associated with Pettit and Miller.

Our Ariana sources also say the recent arrest has brought some sense of closure to her, though she knows this isn't the end of the story until justice is served.

As for what that justice might entail ... law enforcement sources tell us Pettit could be hit with an enhanced drug trafficking charge resulting in death. This charge requires more investigation, which we're told is currently underway.

Pettit is currently facing a charge of distributing a controlled substance. He was taken into custody Wednesday and is being held without bond. He's set to be arraigned next month.

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https://www.tmz.com/2019/09/08/ariana-grande-mac-miller-death-drug-dealer-convicted/

2019-09-08 08:00:00Z
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Sabtu, 07 September 2019

Eva Longoria Details Being 'Bullied' By Desperate Housewives Co-Worker on Set: 'It Was Pure Torture' - TVLine

Eva Longoria experienced some desperate times on the Desperate Housewives set, and her embattled former co-star Felicity Huffman proved to be her savior.

Longoria was one of 27 individuals who penned a letter of support to a judge on behalf of Huffman as she awaits sentencing for her role in the college admissions scandal.

“There was a time I was being bullied at work by a co-worker,” Longoria wrote to the judge, without naming the alleged perpetrator. “I dreaded the days I had to work with that person because it was pure torture. Until one day, Felicity told the bully ‘enough’ and it all stopped. Felicity could feel that I was riddled with anxiety even though I never complained or mentioned the abuse to anyone.”

Longoria also recalled how Huffman consoled her after she was the only Housewives leading lady not nominated for a Golden Globe in Season 1. “I wasn’t devastated but the press made it a bigger deal than it was between the four of us actors and that did affect me a bit,” she wrote. “Felicity came to my trailer and said, ‘It’s just a piece of metal, that and $1.50 will get you a bus ticket.’ She then proceeded to tell me how talented I was and how I never needed an award to know that. I know I would not have survived those 10 years if it wasn’t for the friendship of Felicity.”

The actress’ full letter, obtained by NBC News, can be read here.

Huffman pleaded guilty earlier this year to committing mail fraud and honest services fraud in connection with paying $15,000 to have someone take the SAT in place of her and husband William H. Macy’s older daughter, which ultimately resulted in a 1420 score for her. Federal prosecutors have recommended the judge sentence Huffman to a month in jail and fine her for $20,000. Huffman’s attorneys are asking Huffman instead be sentenced to a year of community service.

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https://tvline.com/2019/09/07/eva-longoria-desperate-housewives-bullied-co-star/

2019-09-07 11:29:00Z
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Kevin Hart's Ride Lacked Critical Safety Features, Car Experts Claim - TMZ

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TMZ.com

Kevin Hart was riding in a death trap in the form of a tricked out 1970 Plymouth Barracuda ... so say car experts, who believe his ride lacked key safety features that would've spared him horrendous injuries as a result of his car crash.

Several owners of car customizing shops specializing in performance vehicles tell TMZ ... it's "highly unusual" for cars with 720 horsepower to be outfitted without a five-point harness and a roll cage.

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Joe Rogan commissioned Rad Rides by Troy to build his Hemi-powered 1970 Barracuda -- the same type of car Kevin had -- and folks in the shop tell us Joe's whip did indeed have a five-point harness and roll cage, and the shop's staff was shocked Kevin's was not similarly outfitted.

We reached out to SpeedKore, the company that customized Kevin's Barracuda, to ask about the car's safety features or lack thereof ... but they had no comment.

TMZ broke the story ... Kevin suffered 3 spinal fractures when his car crashed through a fence on Mulholland Highway in the Malibu Hills. He had serious back surgery where doctors fused 3 sections of his spine. He's now starring down months of rehab.

TMZ.com

Kevin's wreck shook Dr. Phil ... he showed us his classic, souped-up 1957 Chevy, which is equipped with lap belts but no safety harnesses, and he's now thinking about installing the harnesses and also plans to inquire about airbags.

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2019-09-07 08:00:00Z
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