Free Republic

Murphy is best remembered as the indispensable guitarist in the 1980 comedy classic The Blues Brothers; in the film, soul food chef Murphy and his waitress wife Aretha Franklin have a disagreement about him reuniting with the Blues Brothers, resulting in Franklin's iconic "Think" performance:

Aviva Drescher, who starred on Seasons 5 and 6 of “Real Housewives of New York,” said the show’s production team could sometimes go too far with their eagerness to liquor up the cast. She recalled the time a producer phoned ahead of filming and asked her to take a shot of alcohol with castmate Ramona Singer during a reconciliation scene at a restaurant. “I told the head producer, ‘I don’t want to do a shot. Can you just fill it with water?’ ” said Drescher, 47, who grew up with an alcoholic mother and says she had never taken a shot...

After Star Wars author Chuck Wendig called Star Wars fans white supremacists and The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson referred to them as manbabies, Star Wars author Paul Kemp believes certain Star Wars fans are “detestable.” Kemp has written a number of Star Wars novels including Lords of the Sith, Star Wars: The Old Republic – Deceived, Crosscurrent, Riptide, and more. Over the weekend, Kemp decided to attack certain Star Wars fans calling them “detestable human being[s]” if they use the terms “forced diversity, SJW, or politically correct, or whatnot.” Paul S. Kemp ✔ @Paulskemp 11 Jun Since I follow...

4th Update, Saturday AM after midnight post: Refresh for updates Incredibles 2 isn’t just a sequel to an animated film, it’s a sequel to an A+ four-quad movie and it’s acting like the latter pulling in everyone, largely adults with general audiences accounting for 57% of the audience. Note that parents are only repping 12% of the crowd per PostTrak with 31% kids. In the middle of the night we were spotting that Incredibles 2 was clicking to $175.3M and there’s a very good shot this all-audience pic is flying to $180M+. That figure alone is close to 70% of...

ItÂ’s been almost three weeks since ABCÂ’s abrupt cancellation of its flagship comedy series Roseanne following a controversial tweet by star and executive producer Roseanne Barr. And while there is still no official decision on a potential spinoff series, a lot of leg work has been done behind the scenes. I hear Barr is expected to sign an agreement that would remove her from the potential spinoff and prevent her from suing over it. Terms of the agreements are unclear but it may involve a one-time payment from production company Carsey-Werner to Barr in exchange of her relinquishing any rights...

John Travolta's new movie "Gotti" hit rock bottom faster than a cinderblock tied to a body being thrown into a river. "Gotti" has scored a zero percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes from film critics, a rare feat managed by only a few dozen movies. At the time of this writing, only 17 reviews have been counted for the film, so the film's fortune could change. But, as of now, all reviews of the Travolta film are currently are rotten. "That the long-gestating crime drama Gotti is a dismal mess comes as no surprise. What does shock is just how multifaceted...

Natalie Portman appeared on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and slammed her former Harvard classmate Jared Kushner. Colbert asked Portman, “You actually graduated in the same class as Jared Kushner, didn’t you?” Portman laughed and replied, “That is correct.” Prying further, the talk show host asked the “Star Wars” actress if she had any memories of Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s husband and President Trump’s senior adviser. She said that they had been “friendly,” but then alluded to the fact that the former classmates were no longer in contact. “Unfortunately it’s not very — there’s not a lot funny to say...

Updated with Nerdist statement: Chris Hardwick, the Nerdist founder and host of NBC’s game show The Wall, AMC’s Talking Dead aftershow and a regular emcee in Hall H at Comic-Con, has been scrubbed from the Nerdist website he founded after being accused of sexual abuse and “long-term abuse” by his former girlfriend Chloe Dykstra. Legendary Entertainment, which owns Nerdist Industries where Hardwick launched his career as a comic and podcaster, just released a statement. “Chris Hardwick had no operational involvement with Nerdist for the two years preceding the expiration of his contract in December 2017,” it reads. “He no longer...

What a feat — two canceled Fox shows this year made the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter, and now both have found new homes. Netflix has made a deal for comic book drama Lucifer, which will become a Netflix original starting with its upcoming fourth season. The Tom Ellis–starring Lucifer joins cult canceled comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which landed at NBC after the Fox cancellation. Netflix’s pickup decision comes just as the options on the Lucifer cast were about to expire at the end of day today. It follows a big #SaveLucifer campaign that has stayed in the social media...

Blakes 7 was a wonderful British TV show, filled with excellent actors, that ran on BBC from 1978 to 1981. Sort of Robin Hood meets Star Trek, with their emblem being the Star Fleet emblem, turned askew. A band of outcasts led by a revolutionary leader take on an entire corrupt Federation. Hmmm.

This is completely ridiculous and could end up hurting more than it helps. Netflix has reportedly banned workers from looking at each other for more than five seconds as part of its new anti-harassment rules. The new policy also bans the company’s film crews from asking their colleagues for their phone numbers, according to an article in the Sun. “Senior staff went to a harassment meeting to learn what is and isn’t appropriate,” an on-set runner told the Sun. “Looking at anyone longer than five seconds is considered creepy.”

Leslie Jones said she hopes that during the next season of “Saturday Night Live,” the show can avoid some of the constant political humor and Trump jokes. “I hope next year we can do more funnier stuff instead of a lot of political stuff this year, which we had to,” Jones told TheWrap in a phone interview. “There was so much stuff that was happening, there was no way that our show, with the responsibility that we have, would not to cover that stuff. It was just too important. But I do hope that next year will be a lot...

CANADAIN FOOTBALL LEAGUE WEEK 1 and JOHNNY FOOTBALL IS BACK!!!

Robert Mueller Asks Judge To Hide Russian Election Evidence From The Russians Godfrey Daniel! You've GOT to be kidding me. Do I smell a Hollywood comedy coming up after this is all over? "Dumb & Dumber" meets "Zero Dark Thirty"? The characters are a bumbling crusty-but-benign FBI agent who's always getting heat from his incompetent AG; an ugly female desk jockey who sends love twitters to our hero; an accident prone IT technician who is computer illiterate; an aging weed-smoking, ex-hippie detective who sees Russians everywhere (even in his sleep); and a clueless, sex-crazed blonde bimbo TV anchor who can't...

The superstar couple are struggling to get bums on seats and UK fans are being handed freebies and upgrades The superstar couple have thousands of unsold tickets for their UK dates, forcing them to cover large sections of seating in the stadium venues. Fans outside their Glasgow concert reported being handed freebies while others said they were offered upgrades for nothing. One wrote on Twitter: “If you are near Hampden Park go to the main parking lot they are giving out free tickets for the Beyoncé & Jay Z concert because of empty seats.” Another tweeted: “Met Beyoncé’s security in...

I've been a fan of Star Wars from the start. I was only four when the first movie came out, but I remember getting a watch with C-3PO and R2-D2 on it for Christmas in 1977. It's still the most memorable gift from my childhood. I have vivid memories of going to see the original trilogy, both in the original runs and in re-releases. I suffered through the prequels. And my siblings and I have introduced Star Wars love to a new generation through the new films and Disney World visits.

Movie criticism is a field dominated by white men, according to a new study by researchers at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. White critics wrote 82% of the reviews of the top 100-grossing films of last year, while critics from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds penned a mere 18% of the reviews of those movies. The study notes that doesn’t reflect the representation of these ethnic and racial groups in society — U.S. census data finds that individuals from these groups comprise nearly 39% of the population. The situation wasn’t much better when it came to the gender...

Racist harassment of 'Last Jedi' star Kelly Marie Tran and the 'Solo' backlash: Lucasfilm’s problem isn’t the movies, it’s trolls who want only the nostalgia of their youth, like "old Luke Skywalker hiding on an island from everything new," writes columnist Marc Bernardin. Fandom has always been an us versus them proposition. In the early days, it was because you loved something that the world at large found silly, be it comic books or Doctor Who. It was you and those who felt like you, against everyone else. Star Wars redefined fandom because it built a bigger tent than had...

While conservative commentator Candace Owens may not be surprised by liberal backlash against her, she certainly doesn’t intend to remain silent when she is targeted. The Turning Point USA communications director unloaded Sunday on producers of the Ellen Show who had “stalked and insulted” her repeatedly. Owens blasted Ellen DeGeneres, the star and host of the show, for the hypocrisy as she is a “woman who regularly champions bullying as one of her biggest societal concerns.” Owens concluded with a final shot at “all @TheEllenShow producers,” who “lay claim to the moral high ground” while hurling attacks at those who...

It’s been more than four years since Drew Barrymore gave birth to her youngest child, Frankie, but rude-AF body-shamers still think she looks pregnant. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the 43-year-old actress recalled a recent interaction in which a woman came up to her and told her that she looks pregnant, despite Barrymore giving birth years ago. The “Santa Clarita Diet” star told the story in a roundtable with other comedy actresses, such as Allison Brie, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Debra Messing. When “Divorce” actress Molly Shannon recalled an audition in which someone asked if she had gained...