News

It is with great sadness that we bring you the news Jim Abrahams, the legendary writer-director who — alongside brothers Jerry and David Zucker — gave us such comedy greats as Airplane!, The Naked Gun, and Police Squad, has died at the age of 80. His son Joseph confirmed the news to THR, telling the outlet that his father passed away of natural causes at his home in Santa Monica earlier today.

James S. Abrahams was born in Shorewood, Wisconsin on 10 May, 1944. The son of educational researcher Louise M. Abrahams and lawyer Norman S. Abrahams, it would be fair to say that young Jim Abrahams didn't develop his love of comedy from studying his folks' vocations. Rather, it was the childhood friendship he formed with the Zucker brothers — sons of his father's business colleague, and classmates at Shorewood High School and then the University of Wisconsin in Madison — that helped Abrahams Jr. find his funny bone.

Jim Abrahams, one of the writers and directors behind some of the greatest and most quotable spoof and slapstick comedies of the 20th century — including Airplane!, The Naked Gun, and Hot Shots! — died Tuesday, Nov. 26, Variety reports. He was 80.

Abrahams’ son, Joseph, confirmed his death. No cause of death was given.

Abrahams spent the bulk of his career working alongside his two childhood friends, brothers David and Jerry Zucker. Jerry Zucker, in a statement shared with Rolling Stone, called Abrahams “our third brother.”

He continued: “He had a rebellious streak that drove him.

The world would have been a far less funny place without Jim Abrahams, who passed away today at the age of 80.

Abrahams is likely best remembered for his iconic collaborations with brothers David and Jerry Zucker. The trio’s live “Kentucky Fried Theater” shows eventually paved the way for their first film as screenwriters: The Kentucky Fried Movie. As directors, the Zaz comedy team that gave us all-time classics like Airplane! and Top Secret!, and they later penned the David Zucker-directed The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!

When it came to comedies with exclamation points in the titles, they really couldn't be beat.

Speaking of emphatic punctuation, Abrahams continued the absurd, rapid-fire comedic style he pioneered with the Zuckers in his solo directorial effort Hot Shots!, which was quickly followed by Hot Shots! Part Deux.

While the first movie began as a parody of Top Gun,...

One of the major contributors to the comedy film world, Jim Abrahams, has reportedly passed away at the age of 80. The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that his son, Joseph, confirmed that Abrahams died of natural causes at his home in Santa Monica. The renowned writer/director was best known as part of the trio Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker, which also consisted of David and Jerry Zucker. All three would produce the immensely beloved comedy Airplane! along with The Naked Gun movies.

The trio would break through by writing the sketch film The Kentucky Fried Movie, which was helmed by John Landis. The Zaz team would also write and direct the spy film parody Top Secret!, which starred Val Kilmer in his debut film role, as well as the Bette Midler and Danny DeVito comedy Ruthless People. The team would eventually go their separate ways, but Abrahams would keep directing with his own comedies,...

Jim Abrahams, the writer-director who with brothers Jerry and David Zucker turned the comedy genre on its ear with such zany efforts as Airplane!, Police Squad! and The Naked Gun films, died Tuesday. He was 80.

Abrahams died of natural causes at his home in Santa Monica, his son Joseph told The Hollywood Reporter.

The trio made their first mainstream impression by writing the sketch-filled Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), directed by John Landis in his prelude to Animal House, and they also combined for Top Secret! (1984), starring a young Val Kilmer, and Ruthless People (1986), featuring Bette Midler and Danny DeVito.

Without his childhood buddies from Wisconsin, Abrahams directed Big Business (1988), starring Midler and Lily Tomlin, and co-wrote and helmed Hot Shots! (1991) and its 1993 sequel, both starring Charlie Sheen.

Joke-filled and laden with sight gags and puns, the humor of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker, or Zaz as they came to be known, was fast,...

Welcome to this review of Aew’s Full Gear, which looks to be yet another huge pay-per-view for All Elite Wrestling – with plenty of title matches, including both women’s And men’s titles on the line. The Zero Hour portion of the show kicked off proceedings with a few pre-ppv matches that saw Anna Jay defeat Deonna Purrazzo, Buddy Matthews pick up the win in a 4-way match, and the godawful match that saw the “Costco Guys” Big Boom A.J. defeat Qt Marshall.

Match #1: Aew World Tag Team Championship 4-Way Match – Private Party def. Kings of the Black Throne (Malakai Black & Brody King), The Outrunners (Truth Magnum & Turbo Floyd) and The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens & Max Caster) The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:

Quen and Black went to a stalemate early on. Quen ducked The End kick from Black. Bowens tagged in and hip tossed Kassidy. The...

Actor Gabriel Macht is best known for his role as Harvey Specter in the legal drama Suits. The actor’s swagger and sophisticated performance received renewed interest last year when it debuted on Netflix and introduced Specter to a whole new generation of audiences. The response was so good that a spinoff show is currently in development.

Macht has prided himself in being a family man and has, in fact, taken a break from acting ever since the end of the series. However, even while filming he managed to keep his family close, with his wife Jacinda Barrett and his father Stephen Macht playing recurring roles. One rumor about his daughter Satine being a part of the series was debunked.

Who Is Gabriel Macht’s Wife And Who Did She Play In Suits? Gabriel Macht as Harvey Specter in Suits | Credits: USA Network

Gabriel Macht broke into the scene with...

Welcome to this review of 2023’s All Out pay-per-view, which once again emanated from Chicago and in particular the Now Arena. And we all know Chicago crowds can appreciate a good pay-per-view and this was a good pay-per-view! The pay-per-view kicked off with the usual Zero Hour, which saw The Acclaimed beat The Iron Savages; Hologram Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara defeat The Premier Athletes; The Bang Bang Gang beat The Dark Order; and Undisputed Kingdom steal the win in a three-way trios match. With that out the way, let’s see what went down on the rest of the show:

Match #1: Mjf def. Daniel Garcia The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:

Danny Garcia ambushed Mjf as Mjf entered the ring. Garcia was out for blood! Mjf finally stopped Garcia with a neck breaker. Mjf drilled Danny with a Ddt. Garcia regained some momentum after landing a lariat. Garcia...

Even 44 years after its release, Airplane! is still considered one of the funniest movies ever made, having entertained generations of fans, and forever ruined any earnest use of the word “surely” in a sentence.

A big reason why Airplane! works so well is its casting. While Paramount wanted to cast the biggest comedy stars of the day, floating names like Chevy Chase and Bill Murray, directors Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams and David Zucker instead opted to hire more dramatic actors in the lead roles, such as Lloyd Bridges and Leslie Nielsen. Keep in mind, this was back when Leslie Nielsen was still considered a dramatic actor.

Enlisting serious actors to play every single absurd scene completely straight is what made the movie hilarious. But casting non-comedians in a comedy did present certain challenges. For example, in order to get the right performance out of Robert Stack, of TV’s The Untouchables fame,...

Welcome to my review of Aew: All In London 2024, the second All Elite Wrestling pay-per-view from London’s Wembley Stadium. The show kicked off with Zero Hour which featured a 16-man tag match which saw Dante hit the cross over frog splash on Ariya to score the pin; Willow Nightingale & Tomohiro Ishii defeat Kris Statlander & Stokely Hathaway; and Dustin Rhodes pinned Matt Taven to grab the win in Another multi-man match!

Match #1: Aew World Trios Championship London Ladder Match – Winners: Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, and Pac The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:

It was bedlam outside the ring as all the teams brawled. Pac hit Austin with a pump kick. Brody King leveled Pac with a lariat. Colten dropkicked Brody. Pac wiped out everyone with a Sky Twister Press to the floor. The Gunns double teamed Pac and then ordered Juice to get the tables! Brody bulldozed the...

The Justice League. The Teen Titans. Heck, even the Outsiders. Most comic readers know these superhero teams from DC Comics, and can probably name at least a few key members, if not favorite stories.

But for a while in the 1980s, one team topped them all, rivaling even Chris Claremont’s X-Men run for comic shop supremacy: Legion of Super-Heroes won over readers with its futuristic space opera and its cast of unique characters.

The basic premise of the Legion of Super-Heroes is simple. 1000 years in the future, a group of superpowered teens take inspiration from Superboy and become heroes, most using powers they gained from their native planets. Like the best Superman stories, Legion tales tend to be optimistic and hopeful, certain that humanity can overcome its problems and work toward a better tomorrow.

But actually reading the Legion can be a bit daunting. Because of the future setting,...

The trailer just dropped for Mr. Throwback, a new mockumentary series starring Happy Endings’ Adam Pally, Saturday Night Live’s Ego Nwodim and… The Golden State Warriors’ Steph Curry?

Produced by David Wain, Mr. Throwback actually looks pretty funny for a show starring an NBA point guard in a prominent role. Come to think of it, there have been more than a few solid comedies featuring pro basketball players, such as…

5 Marques Johnson in ‘White Men Can’t Jump’

When we think of White Men Can’t Jump, we tend to think of Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson, and of course, Jeopardy! champion Rosie Perez.

But it also features former NBA player Marques Johnson as Raymond, an aggrieved victim of Billy and Syd’s hustle. Johnson later revealed that the character was based on real-life basketball player Reggie Harding, who died tragically in 1972.

4 Michael Jordan in ‘Space Jam’

Space Jam is a ridiculous movie,...

Welcome to this review of Aew’s new Dynasty pay-per-view, which was broadcast live from the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis, Mo and featured Excalibur, Taz, and Tony Schiavone on commentary… The PPV opened with the usual Zero Hour pre-show, so let’s get right into the action!

Zero Hour Match #1: Trent Beretta def. Matt Sydal The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:

Trent started out aggressively with a chop to Sydal’s windpipe. Matt rallied back with a dropkick and then a splash off the apron to Trent. Back in the ring, Trent nailed Matt with a brain buster. Trent yanked Sydal off the turnbuckles and planted him with a side suplex. Sydal dropped Trent with a question mark kick for a near fall. Trent sent Sydal soaring with a half and half suplex. Sydal blasted Trent with an Air Raid Crash. Sydal smashed Trent with the meteora,...

Exclusive: Pierre Morel, the veteran action director behind Taken, has been tapped to direct a feature based on the popular racing Nft Reactor Motors from the company of the same name, Deadline has learned.

The film will be produced by Morel, Mike Bundlie and Barry Levine of Abstract Entertainment, and Renee Tab of Sentient Entertainment.

Created by artist and Abstract co-founder Bundlie, Reactor Motors‘ storyline follows geophysicist Eva Mason as she accidentally discovers a new mineral she calls Reykium while researching geothermal energy in Iceland’s volcanoes. The mineral is energetically reactive to metal which she and her team convert into the future of clean energy race cars in hopes of making it globally available. Subsequently, her team’s racing wins catch the attention of an energy conglomerate that will do anything to acquire the Reykium engine.

“Pierre is the perfect director for Reactor with his...

Surely the making of one of the funniest movies ever made can’t be that serious…and it really isn’t! Ok, 1980’s Airplane! was a tough sell and there were minor clashes between the directors and Paramount and lawsuits from a rival studio threatened the casting of numerous stars. But there was also perfect against-type casting, clever workarounds to silly DGA regulations and a complete reinvention of the spoof movie, all of which made Airplane! one of the greatest comedies ever.. Oh, and there were fart machines, too!

And so let’s park the taxi, avoid the fish and check in on our drinking problem as we find out: Wtf Happened to this movie?!

Airplane! has its origins in the Kentucky Fried Theater, which the trio of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker (collectively known as Zaz) founded in 1971. One act the fellas grew fond of was dubbing...

Airplane! is one of the most enduring film comedies of all time, as its style of parody still inspires movies and TV shows, and it still manages to find new fans more than 40 years after its release. What some fans may know is that the movie’s plot — and even some of its character names and dialogue — was lifted straight from an old drama film called Zero Hour. Jerry Zucker, part of the Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker team that wrote, produced, and directed Airplane!, spoke about how they evolved the dead-serious Zero Hour into the uproariously funny Airplane! (Click on the media bar below to hear Jerry Zuker) https://www.hollywoodoutbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Jerry_Zucker_Concept_Airplane_.mp3 Airplane! is available on DVD, Blu-Ray, and most digital platforms.

The post ‘Airplane!’ Team Went From ‘Zero’ To Comedy Heroes appeared first on Hollywood Outbreak.

Welcome to this review of Aew’s Full Gear, which looks to be yet another huge pay-per-view for All Elite Wrestling – with plenty of title matches, including both the women’s And men’s titles on the line. The Zero Hour portion of the show kicked off proceedings with a few pre-ppv matches, so let’s see what went down!

Zero Hour Match #1: Roh World Championship Match – Eddie Kingston def. Jay Lethal The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:

Kingston clotheslined Lethal over the top rope, sending Lethal crashing onto the arena floor. Back in the ring they traded stiff chops. Lethal pulled Kingston out of the ring and sent the champ headfirst into the steel ring post. Lethal took Kingston down with a snap suplex. Lethal followed up with a beautiful overhead belly-to-belly suplex. Lethal executed the Lethal Combination. Kingston countered the Lethal Injection with a suplex. Karen Jarrett...

In The Lesson Tensions within Israeli society start to play out in a high school classroom. During a civics class the teacher, Amir Halevi (Doron Ben-David), proposes that the class come up with a topic of discussion. One of the pupils, Lianne Zarhi (Maya Landsman), wants to ban Arabs from the public pool. Amir doesn't react well to this and the situation in the classroom descends into chaos with Lianne leading some of her fellow students in a chant of "Death to Arabs." Amir find himself reported to the school board for badmouthing the Idf. The following day, Amir catches Lianne dancing with a loaded assault rifle in the schoolyard. He loses his rag and uses some intemperate language, comparing Lianne's fascistic views to Nazism. He is caught on camera. Selectively edited footage is posted online and goes viral.

Where The Lesson does well is with...

Welcome to this review of 2023’s Aew: Revolution pay-per-view, which emanates from the Chase Center in San Francisco, California and features nine matches across the Zero Hour pre-show and the main PPV itself – including a 60-minute Iron Man match main event. Can’t say you don’t get your money’s worth with Aew!

Zero Hour Match #1: Mark Briscoe & The Lucha Bros (Penta El Zero Miedo & Rey Fenix) def. Ari Daivari & The Varsity Athletes (Josh Woods & Tony Nese) The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:

Penta El Zero Miedo and Tony Nese began for their respective teams. But it quickly broke down as both teams entered the ring and began to brawl, three against three. Mark Briscoe hit a flipping neck breaker off the apron on Josh Woods. Mark Sterling jumped on the apron to distract Penta El Zero Miedo. Woods, Nese, and Daivari utilized quick tags to trap...

(Welcome to The Weekly Watchlist, a feature where we program everything you need to stream this week. In this edition: "History of the World, Part II" takes center stage, but we also offer up some silly comedies and less-silly historical epics to stream.)

The Series: "History of the World, Part II"

Where You Can Stream It: Hulu

The Pitch: Over four decades after the original sketch comedy movie "History of the World, Part I," legendary funnyman Mel Brooks is back to pay off on the tongue-in-cheek promise of that dangling subtitle. Nobody ever really thought we'd receive a follow-up to the 1981 film -- let alone one that's a whopping 40 years later, debuting as a series on a streaming service, and spearheaded by the same director who is now a sprightly 96 years young. But if we have no choice but to muddle our way through life in the year of our lord 2023, well,...

A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once won a pair of awards as did Rob Lowry for his music supervision on both Cha Cha Real Smooth and Do Revenge on Sunday at the 13th annual Guild of Music Supervisors Awards.

The ceremony, held at the Wiltern Theatre, celebrated outstanding achievement in the craft across film, TV, documentaries, games, advertising and trailers. It also honored Paul Williams with the guild’s Icon Award, and Pilar McCurry who was posthumously awarded the Legacy Award.

Everything‘s Oscar-nominated song “This Is A Life,” performed by David Byrne, Mitski and Son Lux, won the Best Song Written and/or Recorded for a Film category. The film’s music supervisors Lauren Marie Mikus and Bruce Gilbert also won for Best Music Supervision in the category of Film Budgeted $25 Million and Under.

Anton Monsted from Warner Bros’ Elvis won the Best Music Supervision for Film Budgeted Over $25 Million.

The music supervisors of “Elvis” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” have won the top feature-film awards at the 13th annual Guild of Music Supervisors Awards, which were handed out on Sunday night at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles.

Anton Monsted won the award for music supervision of a film that cost more than $25 million for “Elvis,” while Lauren Marie Mikus and Bruce Gilbert won for a film under $25 million for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” That film also won for the best song written or recorded for a film, which went to the Oscar-nominated “This Is a Life,” written by Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski.

Rob Lowry won the two other film awards, one for his music supervision of “Cha Cha Real Smooth” (Best Music Supervision for a Film Budgeted $10 Million and Under) and one for “Do Revenge: Abbey Hendrix, Jonathan Wellbelove – Apple – “The Greatest”

Best...

A standard direct flight from Incheon International Airport in South Korea to Honolulu clocks in at a little over 10 hours, and a lot can happen in the duration of that dawn-to-near-dusk journey. You could start and finish a medium-sized book or work your way through a season of a premium-cable prestige drama. Maybe you’d answer a lot of emails (depending on the Wi-Fi situation, which we’re told can be unreliable), get wildly drunk, or catch up on your sleep. Or, should you be a psychopath who works for...

Steven Spielberg's Amblin TV ("Falling Skies") will co-produce a TV pilot for a new 'Martian' science fiction drama series,"The Visitors", based on author Ray Bradbury's short story "Zero Hour", adapted in EC comics' "Weird Fantasy" #18 (1953):

"...'The Visitors' chronicles the race against the clock to defeat an unseen alien enemy out to destroy the world using our most precious resource (children) against us..."

Executive producers are Amblin’s Darryl Frank, Justin Falvey and Steven Spielberg.

Click the images to enlarge...

Federation Entertainment has boarded the anticipated Israeli series “The Lesson,” which is headlined by Doron Ben-David (“Fauda”) and Maya Landsmann (“Zero Hour”). “The Lesson” will compete at Canneseries on April 2.

Directed by Eitan Zur (“Asylum City”) and penned by Deakla Keydar (“Zero Hour”), the six-part drama revolves around Amir, a 43-year-old teacher, and Lian, a 17-year-old student, who engage in an emotional conflict in a fight for justice that bursts far out of the classroom.

The series explores the ripple effect of their violent clash from the classroom to the entire school, then throughout the community, to the media and into the complex political reality Israel is facing today. Leib Lev Levin, Alma Zak and Dvir Benedek round out the cast.

“The Lesson” was produced by Yochanan Kredo at Jasmine TV for the Israeli broadcaster Kan 11. The two leading actors, as well as the author and director, will be...

DC has announced their biggest summer crossover since Dark Nights: Death Metal: Joshua Williamson and Daniel Sampere’s Dark Crisis, which will kick off with a #0 issue for Free Comic Book Day. But exactly what Dark Crisis is remains a bit of a mystery beyond some lovely teaser art and a promotional video.

Dark Crisis looks like it springs right out of Williamson’s multiversal revision from Justice League Incarnate. In the fourth issue of that series, we get a reconfigured, welded-together history of the DC Universe that slaps every crisis – from the classic Wolfman/Perez joint, through Zero Hour, Infinite Crisis, 52, Final Crisis, Multiversity, Doomsday Clock, and the Metal Wars – onto one coherent timeline. Behind all of them: The Great Darkness, the nothingness at the start of time, furious about being forced into a truce with the Light.

But where is it all going? Every Crisis ends with a massive status quo shift,...

Tom Spezialy executive produced HBO’s “Watchmen,” one of the most acclaimed superhero television shows in recent memory. Now, he’s setting his sights on a Marvel character via “Silk,” Sony Television Pictures’ upcoming live-action series based on the Spider-Man character.

Deadline recently reported that Spezialy, whose credits also include “The Leftovers” and “Castle Rock,” has signed an overall deal with Amazon Studios. Part of that deal reportedly includes Spezialy serving as an executive producer and showrunner for “Silk,” which hails from Sony Pictures Television. The series is reportedly headed to Amazon Prime Video, which would make “Silk” one of the only upcoming Marvel-branded shows to not premiere on Disney+.

Spezialy will reportedly executive produce alongside Laureen Moon (“Atypical”), who wrote the “Silk” television adaptation, which is based on the Korean-American comic book superhero who is closely associated with Spider-Man. The series is also backed by veterans of recent Spider-Man...

On the surface, Cassie Bowden (Kaley Cuoco) is a very successful airline stewardess. The protagonist of HBO Max’s juicy, fun comedy series “The Flight Attendant” lives in New York City and has the primo routes in Europe and in Asia. But she’s also a drunk and quite frankly, a slut. And when she wakes up in bed in her hotel room in Bangkok, she discovers the man she spent the night with who had been her flight is dead with his throat slashed. It’s a delicious eight-season flight with Cuoco and the series earning nominations for the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild Awards and Critics Choice honors. And it’s expected to be a shoo-in for multiple Emmy nominations.

Over the decades, flight attendants have been depicted in movies and on TV from a Madonna to a whore and everything in between. Of course, the most...

Written by Andy Schmidt | Art by Kieran McKeown, Dexter Vines | Published by DC Comics

I’ve always loved the Crime Syndicate characters. They first appeared on the scene in Justice League of America #29 way back in 1964, created by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky. They were from Earth-3, a sort of Mirror Universe bad version of ‘our’ Jla, just without the Star Trek goatees. It was essentially a ‘what if our heroes came from a bad planet?’ What would they be like. Well, Ultraman (Superman), Owlman (Batman), Superwoman (Wonder Woman), Johnny Quick (The Flash), and Power Ring (Green Lantern) sure showed us. They were bad to the bone. They were also entertaining villains, and I collected all their appearances all the way up to their heroic sacrifice in Crisis on Infinite Earths. They have of course returned many times since, in various new incarnations post-Crisis, post Zero Hour, post Infinite Crisis,...

Written by Dan Jurgens, Andy Schmidt, Robert Venditti | Art by Various | Published by DC Comics

Ever since Crisis on Infinite Earths back in the 1980’s, I’ve always been a sucker for those big DC events featuring dozens of heroes and villains. Legends, Zero Hour, Convergence, Countdown, Infinite Crisis, and many others have come and gone before. Being honest, the story hasn’t always lived up to expectations with these events, but the novelty of throwing all these characters together usually makes up for that. I’m especially a sucker for using obscure or third banana level characters, or teaming up characters from different time periods. Hey, don’t judge me, I’m sure I’m not the only one.

Generations Shattered has had something of an odd history, coming out several months later than originally planned, due to Dan Didio’s firing and its original endpoint having to be...

Prominent Bhojpuri actress Akshara Singh on Tuesday slammed director Anubhav Sinha for his 'derogatory' remarks on the Bhojpuri film industry.

Anubhav Sinha had said reportedly made a statement about the Bhojpuri film industry in which he used the phrase 'nanga naach' (vulgar dance).

भोजपुरी में नंगा नाच होता है तो क्या आपके बॉलीवुड में पूजा होती है? @anubhavsinhaa proud to be a bhojpuri kalakar...

“Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue!”

There will be a 11:00pm Screening of Airplane at the Skyview Drive in Belleville (5700 N Belt W, Belleville, Il 62226) , Thursday September 24th at 11pm. The gate opens at 10:30. Admission is $10. . The Skyview’s site is Here

Airplane (1980) could have derailed the careers of everyone involved. For example, people under 40 may not even know that until this movie, Leslie Nielsen was strictly a serious actor in dramas both on TV and in film. Many may watch 1973’s The Poseidon Adventure for the first time today and keep waiting for Leslie Nielson – as the captain of the doomed ship – to get up from the dining room table wearing just his heart-covered underwear below the waist, or for him to make that first clueless remark. He never does. But from Airplane onward, he was strictly a comic actor and a good one.

ControversyKangana asked if Jaya Bachchan would have reacted the same way if something untowards happened to her children.Tnm Staff Actress Kangana Ranaut lashed out at Samajwadi Party MP and actress Jaya Bachchan for her remarks against people who are trying to tarnish the image of the film industry, and questioned whether her stance would change if her children were involved. Taking a personal dig at Jaya Bachchan, Kangana said, "Jayaji would you say the same thing if in my place it was your daughter Shweta beaten, drugged and molested as a teenage, would you say the same thing if Abhieshek complained about bullying and harassment constantly and found hanging one day? Show compassion for us also," Kangana said. In the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, Jaya Bachchan demanded the government to provide protection and put a ban on the unending bashing being faced by members of the film industry. "It...

What can you make out of Airplane! at 40 years old? Well, aside from a hat or a brooch or a pterodactyl? Written and directed by brothers Jerry and David Zucker, and Jim Abrahams, the 1980 parody of disaster films is frequently ranked among the best comedies of all time.

So, what is Airplane! about? Following the plot of the 1957 drama Zero Hour!, as well as inspired by the 1956 Canadian TV movie Flight into Danger, and famed disaster movie Airport 1975, Airplane! is a spoof film about a washed-up pilot summoned to greatness on a potentially doomed aircraft.

But that’s not important right now. What is important is that the trio of young creators, known as the Zaz team — also behind Wisconsin’s Kentucky Fried Theater sketch comedy team — crafted a style of machine-gun fast slapstick cinema which kickstarted a movie subgenre.

And surely one can’t forget the multitude of one-liners from Airplane!

(Welcome to The Quarantine Stream, a new series where the /Film team shares what they’ve been watching while social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic.) The Movie: Airplane! Where You Can Stream It: Netflix The Pitch: With a plot and characters borrowed from the 1957 film Zero Hour!, this classic spoof takes aim at disaster movies like […]

The post The Quarantine Stream: ‘Airplane!’ Is Still Incredibly Hilarious After 40 Years appeared first on /Film.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of one of the funniest movies of all time: Airplane! A parody of the disaster film genre (and an almost shot for shot parody of Zero Hour!), Airplane! follows the misadventures of Ted Striker, a former fighter pilot, who is chasing after his former girlfriend Elaine on a flight […]

The post Don’t Call Me Shirley! Airplane! Continues to Entertain at 40 appeared first on Cinelinx | Movies. Games. Geek Culture..

For years, Airplane! has turned up on many lists of history’s greatest film comedies — it’s No. 10 on the American Film Institute’s list of the best comedies ever made. The irony, of course, is that the plot and much of the film’s dialogue was lifted directly from a 1950s drama called Zero Hour, and [...]

The post ‘Airplane’s’ Leslie Nielsen: We Were So Serious, It Was Funny appeared first on Hollywood Outbreak.

Overwatch‘s 32nd and final hero is Echo, an omnic whose deep history goes back to the years before the events of the game. In fact, Echo’s story reveals a few things about the origin of the Overwatch team as well as her creator. She also sheds light into the making of the game itself.

If you’ve already played a few matches as the new damage dealer and want to know a bit more about the character’s history, here’s what you need to know about Echo’s backstory:

Where Is Echo From?

Since Echo’s creator, Dr. Mina Liao, was a Singaporean scientist, the omnic is also considered to be a citizen of Singapore. Echo makes up one of several Asian characters in the game, which also includes Mei, D.Va, Hanzo, Symmetra, and Genji.

What Language Does Echo Speak?

Echo speaks Singlish, an English-based creole language spoken in Singapore.

There’s a ridiculous amount of TV content out there waiting to be streamed during your downtime — and a lot of it won’t cost you one shiny penny.

TVLine already offers a premium streaming guide, which delivers a rundown of subscription rates, original series and select library content offered by established, new and forthcoming streamers. We also publish a monthly list of TV shows and movies coming and going on Netflix.

More from TVLineThe Blacklist Creator Explains the Midseason Premiere's Glaring Absence, Teases a Major Secret for [Spoiler]American Idol Video: Will Margie Mays and Jonny West Survive the New 'Duets' Round in Hollywood Week?...

Written by Various | Art by Various | Published by DC Comics

I seem to be reviewing a whole lot of 80 Page Giants of late, most of which have been appearing from DC. That’s not a complaint mind you. I’m still an avid collector of the DC Dollar Comics issues from the late 1970′s and early 1980′s, so something about DC and oversized comics just feels right. Besides, there is a very good reason for this one. One of DC’s most famous characters, or franchises if you are a corporate lawyer, is celebrated his 750th issue. Not all in one continuous run of course, but in the many volumes and stop starts of recent times, Flash has crossed the exclusive line of characters with a 750 issue run. That’s something to celebrate. So how do you celebrate? You pull in writers and artists old and new. Your Geoff Johns,...

Tracy Underwood, Svp of ABC Studios’ cable/streaming division ABC Signature, has been promoted to the newly created position of Evp Creative Affairs of ABC Studios. She will expand her responsibilities beyond ABC Signature development to include oversight of the scripted drama and comedy development of ABC Studios and ABC Signature, with all of the label’s development teams reporting to her.

ABC President Jonnie Davis, who had a head of drama and comedy development when he ran creative for 20th TV before taking over ABC Studios last summer, started considering creating a similar No.2 executive position at ABC Studios last fall when he first identified Underwood for the job.

“When I started at ABC Studios, I knew I needed a key senior executive overseeing the development of all of our projects, and almost immediately Tracy emerged as the perfect person for the job,” said Davis, to whom Underwood will report.

ABC Signature’s senior vice president Tracy Underwood has been upped to the newly created position of executive vice president of creative affairs of ABC Studios, where she will broaden her purview to oversee all scripted development of comedy and drama at ABC Studios and ABC Signature.

The promotion, which is effective immediately, puts Underwood in charge of identifying writers for potential projects and guiding ideas to fruition, among other tasks. All ABC Studios development teams now report to her. She will report to ABC Studios president Jonnie Davis.

“When I started at ABC Studios, I knew I needed a key senior executive overseeing the development of all of our projects, and almost immediately Tracy emerged as the perfect person for the job,” said Davis in a statement. “She really is a creative force in this company, with exceptional taste in material, deep relationships with writers and a keen eye for compelling IP.

CBS’ courtroom drama “All Rise” has had a change of showrunners.

“David Makes Man” showrunner Dee Harris-Lawrence will replace Sunil Nayar as co-showrunner on “All Rise” alongside creator Greg Spottiswood, a person close to production told TheWrap.

It’s not clear why Nayar left, but the person confirmed that he asked Warner Bros TV., which produces the series, to leave, and they released him. Nayar’s previous credits include “Revenge,” “CSI: Miami,” “Body of Proof,” “Oz” and CBS’ “The Red Line.”

CBS gave “All Rise” a full-season order in October along with “Carol’s Second Act,” “The Unicorn” and “Bob Hearts Abishola.”

Harris-Lawrence first time showrunning was with the first season of Own’s “David Makes Man.” She also executive produced for the Warner Horizon Scripted Television-produced drama, created by Tarell Alvin McCraney. Her other credits include CBS drama “Zoo,” NBC’s “Chicago P.D.,” ABC’s “Zero Hour,” and TNT’s “Saving Grace.

Matthew Byrd Nov 1, 2019

Overwatch 2 brings a host of changes to the game without leaving fans behind.

Overwatch 2 is real and it turns out that many of the rumors surrounding the game were true.

First off, the biggest draw of Overwatch 2 will indeed be PvE content. Overwatch 2 will feature a series of co-op, story-based missions that will seemingly focus on the Overwatch team getting back together to fight a variety of foes. Blizzard hasn't revealed the full details of this new mode, but it will take players across various maps in order to complete a variety of story-based objectives. Players will need to work together and use their characters' various skills to overcome some daunting challenges.

Speaking of skills, it sounds like Overwatch 2 will indeed introduce a new character skills system that will allow players to acquire new and upgraded skills for their favorite heroes. It sounds like this mode will affect the PvE content,...

Mike Cecchini Oct 8, 2019

The history of the DC Universe will become much more clear, as a comprehensive new timeline has been revealed.

There are big changes coming to the DC Universe. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, as DC continuity is always in flux, something recently illustrated in the pages of Doomsday Clock, which introduced the concept of a “metaverse” that allows for events of the past to shift as new stories are told. But still, superhero history can be tricky to navigate, and DC Comics is looking to clarify it all with a new timeline.

Comic book time is a historically fluid affair, operating on a “sliding scale” that allows characters to age only at the pace necessary for the story (if at all), and very few characters are tied to specific dates in history. DC Comics continuity has generally avoided “fixing” its characters to particular points of the past,...

Carmen Ejogo (Selma) and Isiah Whitlock Jr. (The Wire) are set as series regulars opposite Bryan Cranston in Your Honor, Showtime’s limited series based on the hot Israeli drama format (Kvodo). The legal thriller hails from Peter Moffat, whose BAFTA-winning Criminal Justice was the basis for HBO’s Emmy-winning limited series The Night Of, and The Good Wife‘s Robert and Michelle King. The series, produced by CBS TV Studios, is slated to go into production this fall in New Orleans.

Written by British TV writer-playwright Moffat, the 10-episode limited series rips through all strata of New Orleans society. Cranston stars as a respected judge whose son is involved in a hit-and-run that leads to a high-stakes game of lies, deceit and impossible choices.

Ejogo will play Lee Delamere, a smart lawyer at a moneyed law firm whose passionate pursuit of justice pulls her back into the New Orleans criminal justice system.

Juliette Harrisson Jul 30, 2019

With new Star Trek series Picard on its way, Juliette provides a rundown of what makes each of the franchise's captains special...

Over the next few years, Star Trek fans are going to feel like all their Christmases have come at once, as we’re flooded with half a dozen different Star Trek shows and spin-offs – no need to worry if you don’t like one, another will be along five minutes later! The one that has fans really excited, though, is the one that takes its title not from a ship or a division of Starfleet, but from the name of the main character: Picard. Star Trek fans tend to get very attached to the Captains that run the ships (or space stations) that are the focus of the series, and anticipation is high for the continuation of the iconic Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s story.

In preparation for this televisual event,...

“The supreme excitement of our time! Challenging the unearthly furies of an outlaw planet!” Big-budget space opera finally came to movie screens, in Technicolor and widescreen, in this irresistible kid magnet of a sci-fi extravaganza. Viewers are split on its worth, as the screenplay caroms between mind-expanding visions and puerile dialogue. But it’s the first show to capture the thrills on those pulp sci-fi pocketbook covers, and its visual poetry plays out like an intergalactic fairy tale.

This Island Earth

Blu-ray

Scream Factory

1955 / Color / 1:85 widescreen + 1:37 Academy / 87 min. / Street Date July 9, 2019 / 29.99

Starring: Jeff Morrow, Faith Domergue, Rex Reason, Lance Fuller, Russell Johnson, Douglas Spencer, Robert Nichols.

Cinematography: Clifford Stine

Film Editor: Virgil Vogel

Special Effects: David S. Horsley, Clifford Stine, Cleo E. Baker

Original Music: Henry Mancini, Hans J. Salter, Herman Stein

Written by Franklin Coen, Edward G. O’Callaghan from a story by Raymond F. Jones

Produced...

Jim Dandy May 31, 2019

Superman is key to the very fabric of the DC Universe, and Doomsday Clock is using Watchmen concepts to explore this.

This article contains massive Doomsday Clock spoilers.

Since its launch, Doomsday Clock has promised to answer all our questions about the post-Rebirth DC Universe, and in the process solve some problems left over from New 52 continuity. With the release of Doomsday Clock #10, a great many of those issues start to get resolved.

Doomsday Clock is the Geoff Johns/Gary Frank comic that is integrating the iconic characters from Watchmen into the DC universe proper. It attempts to be as complicated and geopolitically relevant as its predecessor, turning the original’s nuclear panic to a metahuman arms race and placing Firestorm, Russia, Black Adam and Khandaq, and Superman at the center of a rapidly escalating global conflict that, at the end of Doomsday Clock #8, had very nearly...

When former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke, now a 2020 candidate, bounded up onto a platform inside Trinkle Hall on the campus of William and Mary College in Virginia in mid-April, he may not have known he was bounding into a carefully planned ambush. Scattered throughout the audience, student activists were engaged in a coordinated, and ultimately successful, campaign to force the congressman to swear off donations from the fossil fuel industry.

The Sunday before O’Rourke’s planned visit to campus, activists involved with the local chapter of Sunrise Movement,...