Matthew Monagle
American Humane Disproves ‘A Dog’s Purpose’ Animal Abuse Video
With everyone’s feeds full of horrible news stories these days, you’ve probably already forgotten about the video of alleged animal abuse on the set of A Dog’s Purpose. Back in January, TMZ shared leaked footage of animal handlers aggressively dragging their canine star into a tank of water. The clear signs of the dog’s panic caused an internet firestorm, with star Josh Gad distancing himself from the project and PETA calling for an immediate boycott of the film. A Dog’s Purpose still performed well enough in its opening weekend, but the scandal no doubt cost it ticket sales at the box office.
Netflix Goes Sci-Fi ‘Groundhog Day’ in the First Trailer for ‘Arq’
I’m sure there’s a point at which movies like Groundhog Day and Edge of Tomorrow will lose their appeal to me, but that day is not today. A story that centers on a character forced relive a certain period of time — to repeat his or her actions until they get them just right — might be seeing an uptick in popularity due to video games, but how many times have wanted to have a moment of our day back so we could do it again? So this first trailer for Netflix’s upcoming film Arq pushes all the right buttons for me as both a fan of science-fiction and a fan of, you know, obsessing over moments of my life.
Eddie Murphy Gets Serious in the First ‘Mr. Church’ Trailer
Now that we have a little bit of distance from movies like Norbit and Meet Dave, it’s probably time to start thinking about an Eddie Murphy renaissance. In his day, Murphy has been an award-winning comedian, a movie star and a serious dramatic lead; a few bad decisions over the last decade should not be enough to unravel his talent as a perform
‘Star Wars’ Actor Kenny Baker Passes Away at Age 81
Sad news today for fans of the Star Wars films and Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits: Kenny Baker, the man who brought droid R2-D2 to life, has passed away at the age of 81. According to The Guardian, Baker’s passing comes after a long battle with an unspecified illness.
Kiefer Sutherland Says That ‘Flatliners’ Remake is Actually a Sequel
I know for a fact that I have seen the original Flatliners, but for the life of me, I cannot seem to remember what happened. I remember Julia Roberts and Kiefer Sutherland, and I seem to remember scenes where somebody fell out of a tree and died, but that’s about as much as I can muster. That’s not a knock on the movie so much as it is an indication of when it came out; all of those movies I stumbled upon at my local Blockbuster as a kid seem to blur together.
J.K. Rowling Says That Harry Potter is ‘Done Now’
A few weeks ago, Daniel Radcliffe gave a very diplomatic answer when asked if he would ever consider a return to the Harry Potter franchise. And while the actor admitted that he would never close the door to the possibility — for the right script and with the right people involved — it turns out he may not have a franchise to return to. As reported by io9, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling told reporters at the premiere of London stage show Harry Potter and the Cursed Child that her beloved character was done after the events of the play.
Morgan Freeman Joins the Cast of Disney’s Live-Action ‘The Nutcracker’
Earlier this week, we learned that Disney had officially cast Interstellar actress Mackenzie Foy as Clara in their upcoming live-action adaptation of The Nutcracker. You can now add another name to that cast: according to The Hollywood Reporter, Morgan Freeman is in talks to join the movie as the mysterious and whimsical Drosselmeyer. Fingers crossed that this means we will get a Morgan Freeman dance number in the new movie.