hollywood q&a
By Adam Thomlison
TV Media
Q: In “A League of Their
Own,” one of the players on
the yellow team looks very
familiar. I think she was No.
3. Is she anyone of note?
A: Téa Leoni is pretty notable,
though no one was noting her
at the time — her character in
the 1992 sports-movie classic
“A League of Their Own” didn’t
even have a name.
Despite that, it wasn’t Leoni’s
first acting role. Her most no-
table prior turn was a brief run
in the short-lived (by soap stan-
dards) daytime drama “Santa
Barbara,” playing a character
named Lisa DiNapoli for a few
episodes in 1989.
After that there was another
unnamed bit role in the 1991
film “The Switch,” then “A
League of Their Own.”
We talk about the small size
of that role, but someone must
have noticed it, because her
star started to rise pretty quickly
after that.
It started with playing siz-
able female roles in a couple of
movies that didn’t spend a lot
of time on their female charac-
ters — “Wyatt Earp” (1994)
and “Bad Boys” (1995) — a
little ironic considering she got
them in part thanks to her place
in a feminist film classic.
In 1998 she had an even big-
ger role in the blockbuster sci-fi
hit “Deep Impact,” and her
fame was secured.
The roles continued to get
bigger from there, leading to
her current gig as the titular
secretary of state in CBS’s hit
drama “Madam Secretary,”
where she’s been for five sea-
sons (the upcoming sixth sea-
son will be its last, though).
Q: I vaguely remember an
action movie starring the
bad guy from the Karate Kid
movies, but I can’t remem-
ber anything else about it.
Can you help?
A: I don’t know if I’m helping
you by directing you towards a
movie most would say is better
forgotten, but you asked.
“Steele Justice” was re-
leased in 1987 and starred
Martin Kove as John Steele, an
ex-cop and Vietnam vet who
is determined to bring down
12 | Screentime
a former general in the South
Vietnamese army who is now a
rich and powerful drug lord.
If that sounds like just about
every other ‘80s action story to
you, you’re in good company.
When it was released, the great
New York Times film critic Janet
Maslin accused writer/director
Robert Boris of trying “to meld
‘Rambo’ with ‘Miami Vice,’
throwing in a touch of the Chip-
pendale’s calendar.” She further
said that the film “isn’t de-
signed as a comedy, but it does
earn high marks for inadvertent
humor.”
Kove was in the midst of his
success as Kreese, a.k.a. the
bad-guy sensei, in the popular
Karate Kid films at the time. He
exuded tough-guy charisma in
those, and studios were crying
out for tough guys, so it seemed
natural to give him a movie of
his own.
Giving him such a “Rambo”-
ish movie was a bit surprising,
though, considering he played a
bad guy in 1985’s “Rambo: First
Blood Part II” as well.
But he got it. He didn’t do
much with it, though — “Steele
Justice” was a flop at the box
office and did not get a sequel
(which was the only real bar for
success in ‘80s action cinema).
Q: Is “Lucifer” coming
back for another season?
I’m really into that show.
A: I’ve got ambivalent news
for you, which is fitting, I sup-
pose, for a show where you’re
supposed to be cheering for
the devil.
“Lucifer” has been renewed
for a fifth season, but it will be
its last.
There’s no word on when
the fifth season will air, but the
fourth only came out in May, so
it could be a while.
Back on the bright side, this
news means the show will get
a satisfying (or at least conclu-
sive) ending. “We’re thrilled
that ‘Lucifer’ fans around the
world have embraced this
series on Netflix, and we can’t
wait to give them the big finish
they’ve all been waiting for,”
said the official statement an-
nouncing the renewal/cancel-
lation.
Have a question? Email us at
questions@tvtabloid.com.
July 3, 2019 | East Oregonian and Hermiston Herald
ous Leslie Nielsen (“The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!”
1988) as fellow passenger Dr. Rucker, and his ex-girlfriend Elaine (Julie
Hagerty, “What About Bob?” 1991), Ted manages to land the plane,
but not before a whole lot of entertaining nonsense and zingers ensue
as chaos reigns in the air. The movie is an enduring favorite, and you
can stream it, as well as “Airplane II: The Sequel” (1982), now.
NEW ON NETFLIX:
“Point Blank”
Jessica Brown Findlay stars in “Harlots”
By Jacqueline Spendlove
TV Media
NEW ON HULU:
“Harlots” Season 3
Alfie Allen of “Game of Thrones” fame joins the cast of this period dra-
ma for its third season, which airs weekly and premieres Wednesday,
July 10. The series takes places in 18th-century London, and follows the
denizens of the city’s brothels — in particular, the Wells family, headed
up by Margaret Wells (Samantha Morton, “Minority Report,” 2002),
a madam and matriarch hoping to improve her situation. The new
season is set a year after the previous one, which ended with Margaret
being shipped off to America in chains. That leaves eldest daughter
Charlotte (Jessica Brown Findlay, “Downton Abbey”) in charge of the
brothel, and though her mother’s longtime rival, Lydia Quigley (Lesley
Manville, “Phantom Thread,” 2017), has been committed to Bedlam,
Charlotte has new enemies to contend with in the form of the Pincher
brothers: new pimps in town played by Allen and “Hamilton” actor Ash
Hunter.
“The Real Housewives of Orange County” Season 13
The one that started it all, the OG Real Housewives series delivers its
13th season for streaming on Sunday, July 7. Vicki Gunvalson is the
only remaining cast member who’s been in it from the start, and the
new season follows the drama and lavish goings-on of her and fellow
housewives Tamra Judge, Shannon Beador and Kelly Dodd, with Gina
Kirschenheiter and Emily Simpson joining the fray. The reality TV series
has spawned a heap of spinoffs, giving viewers a peek into the lives of
wealthy, mouthy and Botoxed housewives in Atlanta, New York City,
Beverly Hills, Dallas and more, as well as a number of international
versions.
“Gone Baby Gone” (2007)
This remake of the 2010 French action-thriller is available to stream
Friday, July 12. Marvel actor Anthony Mackie (“Captain America: The
Winter Soldier,” 2014) stars as Paul, an ER nurse who finds himself
in a mess of trouble courtesy of Abe (Frank Grillo, “Kingdom”), an
injured murder suspect who lands in the hospital. When Abe’s ruth-
less brother (Christian Cooke, “The Art of More”) kidnaps Paul’s very
pregnant wife and uses her as collateral, a desperate Paul is forced to
spring the wounded man from the hospital and keep him alive long
enough to make the trade. The two end up making an unlikely team
(the best kind!) as they’re pursued by rival gangsters and crooked cops,
with Paul stopping at nothing to save his wife and unborn son. Boris
McGiver (“House of Cards”) and Marcia Gay Harden (“Code Black”)
also star.
“Parchís: El documental”
This Spanish documentary looks at Parchís, an immensely popular
children’s music group that became a social phenomenon in the 1980s.
Between 1979 and 1985, the group of youngsters sold millions of
albums and toured the world, before disbanding and going about the
comparatively banal business of growing up and leading more or less
regular lives. The film features candid interviews and testimonies from
the now middle-age members of Parchís, who tell of their personal ex-
periences not just as part of the group, but in the years that followed as
they transitioned to adulthood following a mega successful childhood
in the spotlight. You can stream the doc starting Wednesday, July 10.
“Bonus Family” Season 3
Foreign series have found a comfortable niche on streamers in Ameri-
ca, and you catch watch the latest season of this Swedish drama start-
ing Friday, July 12. The show follows the ups and downs of a blended
family, headed up by Lisa (Vera Vitali, “Brimstone,” 2016) and Patrik
(Erik Johansson, “Walk the Talk”), who move in together with their
kids following their respective divorces. With two 10-year-old boys and
a 15-year-old girl thrown together, plus an ex-husband and ex-wife
still in their lives, there’s no end to the activity and contention in the
couple’s new (or, three seasons in, new-ish) home. Lisa and Patrik are
hit with some difficult news in the new season, while Martin (Fredrik
Hallgren, “112 Aina”), Lisa’s ex, is settling into life with a new partner
and a baby.
Oscar winner Ben Affleck directed his little brother, Casey (“Manches-
ter by the Sea,” 2016), in this acclaimed mystery thriller. The younger
Affleck is joined by Michelle Monaghan (“Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” 2005)
to play a pair of private investigators searching for a little girl who’s
been abducted from a rundown Boston neighborhood. The stellar cast
also includes Morgan Freeman (“The Shawshank Redemption,” 1994),
Ed Harris (“The Truman Show,” 1998) and Michael K. Williams (“The
Wire”), as well as Amy Ryan (“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of
Ignorance),” 2014), who received an Academy Award nod for her per-
formance as the mother of the missing child. The movie is well worthy
of its positive reviews, and Ben Affleck proved himself a laudable direc-
tor in his first feature-length effort. You can stream it on Friday, July 12.
NEW ON AMAZON PRIME:
“Airplane!” (1980)
This hilarious spoof comedy has a home on many a “Funniest Movie”
list, and the sophomoric humor and wonderfully silly slapstick gags
still hold up today. Robert Hays (“Starman”) stars in his first big-screen
role as Ted Striker, a traumatized ex-fighter pilot who is terrified of fly-
ing, yet must land a commercial plane when the captain falls ill, along
with the flight crew and several passengers. Bolstered by the hilari-
Casey Affleck and Ed Harris in a scene from “Gone Baby
Gone”