Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 11, 2019)
hollywood q&a By Adam Thomlison TV Media Q: Is “You’ve Got Mail” a Christmas movie? A: The definition of Christ- mas movie has always been loose, but is pretty hotly con- tested these days — see the ongoing debate (to put it mild- ly) about “Die Hard” (1988). The discussion seems to re- volve around a few questions: Does most of the action take place during Christmas? Is the holiday somehow central to the plot? And more controver- sially: Is it a feel-good, happy sort of story? (That’s where the action-movie entries lose points.) “You’ve Got Mail,” on the other hand, picks up most of its holiday points on this feel-good element. The 1998 Nora Ephron rom-com about two rival bookstore owners who find unlikely love on the internet (albeit a very late-’90s version of the internet that seems pretty quaint today), is a story about love’s ability to overcome material or practi- cal obstacles. That’s a pretty Christmas-friendly message. The movie is a little weaker on the other two questions. The Christmas holiday is in no way central to the plot. A couple of scenes do feature Christmas festivities, including a pretty charming carol-singing scene in which the characters have a jolly time of murdering “The Instrument Song.” If there’s a seasonal element that the movie does depend on, it’s “New York in fall.” There’s much talk about the romance of that setting. But, of course, this movie’s also about retail, and if you ask retailers, the Christmas season starts on Nov. 1, so maybe that’s a point in its favor. Q: Who does the voice of Frosty in “Frosty Returns”? It sounds so familiar. A: It’ll make perfect sense when you know: It’s John Goodman. Who else should play the magical, hulking nice guy in a feel-good story featuring a cast of comedy luminaries? The 1992 special, a followup to the classic 1969 Rankin and 12 | Screentime Bass cartoon, also featured “Saturday Night Live” alum Jan Hooks, ‘80s screwball-com- edy great Brian Doyle-Murray, “SCTV” star Andrea Martin, and standup comedy legend Jonathan Winters. The loaded comedy cast makes more sense when you know that this one actually wasn’t produced by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass, but rather by Lorne Michaels, the famous brain behind “Satur- day Night Live” (with “Pea- nuts” animator Bill Melendez on board to help with the cartooning bits). Q: What’s going on with those “Walking Dead” mov- ies? A: Apparently not a whole lot, yet. It was announced more than a year ago that the main char- acter on “The Walking Dead,” Rick Grimes (played by Andrew Lincoln), would be the focus of a trilogy of feature-length movies. This news came after his shock departure from the show, and so there was a lot of talk about these movies — more than the amount that always swirls around this buzz- generating AMC show. But the talk has died down a little now, and so far hasn’t been replaced by much action. It was said at the time that the movies would go into produc- tion before the end of 2019, but that hasn’t happened yet, and even Hollywood types take hol- idays at the end of December. The first installment in the promised trilogy doesn’t even have a name yet. The biggest revelation we’ve had so far is that it will get a theatrical release. Originally, it was assumed that the movies would premiere on AMC (the ‘M’ used to stand for ‘movie,’ after all) and would function like two-hour episodes of the show. But at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, it was announced that the first movie (at least) would screen in theaters. Have a question? Email us at questions@tvtabloid.com. Please include your name and town. Personal replies will not be provided. December 11, 2019 | East Oregonian and Hermiston Herald Late laughs The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon A new poster for the upcoming season of The Bachelor was just released and the slogan for this season is “Expect Turbulence.” When they saw, Spirit airlines was like, “Hey! Get your own damn slogan!” According to a new study, 50% of people don’t change their underwear every day. Yeah, HALF. So if you change yours every day, that’s great, but odds are the person who sat in your seat last night didn’t. I saw that Netflix and Nickelodeon are teaming up to make movies and TV shows for kids. Yeah, right now Netflix is competing with Disney to make sure your kids never go outside again. Apple just announced that they’re launching their most powerful laptop ever, the new Mac Pro, at a cost of $6,000. Six thousand dollars for something hot to sit on your lap, or as most guys call that, a bachelor party. Almost 70% of the country got hit with an arctic blast. You know it’s cold when they start describing the weather with flavors of Dentyne gum. Jimmy Kimmel Live We heard today from a gentleman named David Holmes of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine. He’s the guy who overheard Trump on that phone call with Ambassador Gordon Sondland. And the reason he overheard it is because the president’s volume knob was turned up to 11 that day. Well you know, the thing is, the human voice really reverberates from inside a tanning bed. Did you watch the Democrats debate last night? No, nobody did. Joe Biden didn’t do himself any favors. ... He referred to Carol Moseley Braun as the “only African American woman elected to the senate,” which came as a surprise to Kamala Harris, the female African American senator standing to his left. Well, that’s the thing about Joe Biden — he’s not afraid to say the wrong thing. You know, I’ve been watching the impeachment hearings. They went on for like 12 hours today. I’ve been watching in the morning at my house. I think it’s having an effect on my children. Last night, I asked my daughter if she wanted a bedtime story, and she just yelled, “Read the transcript!” The Democrats are slowly and methodically building their case against the president, brick by brick. Today, Mexico even offered to pay for the bricks. applications. According to the New York Post, President Trump’s childhood home has been taken off the real estate market due to a lack of interest. Incidentally, lack of interest in Trump’s childhood is what got us here in the first place. According to a new study, half of men say they would feel comfortable with a woman leading the government. “Just not that woman,” they said about every woman. Scientists have developed a new “shark proof” wetsuit material that they say will reduce blood loss from shark bites. Though it’s still not as effective as my favorite method: land. A bagel store manager in New York is receiving praise online after he drove seven hours to Pennsylvania to return a set of keys a customer left behind. Said the customer, “Um, I hate to tell you this but these aren’t mine …” Organization expert Marie Kondo has come out with a new line of 125 home and self-care products. She recommends buying them all, then throwing them in the garbage. According to sources, President Trump has abandoned plans to increase restrictions on vaping out of fear that it could hurt his re-election chances. Because right now he’s polling at 83% among high school dirtbags. During his testimony today, Gordon Sondland said that he was involved in efforts to pressure Ukraine because he and other diplomats, quote, “followed the president’s orders.” And then Trump said, “Look, I don’t know the president, I’ve never met the president …” According to a new poll, Mayor Pete Buttigieg now has a roughly 10-point lead over the Democratic field in Iowa. This is gonna look amazing on his college According to a new poll, only 41% of Democrats think former vice-president Joe Biden would be able to accomplish most of his policy goals as president. Late Night With Seth Meyers Said Biden, “Well duh, that’s why I don’t have any!” According to experts, Thanksgiving turkeys are best paired with red wine. That way, they’re more relaxed when you kill ‘em. Today was the third and final day of this week’s public impeachment hearings. “Finally,” said Devin Nunes, only to find his car wouldn’t start, his phone died, he had to walk home and he couldn’t stop stepping in buckets. Former vice-president Joe Biden’s campaign sent out a fundraising email yesterday asking supporters to evaluate his debate performance, six hours before the debate actually took place. Said Biden, “Damn! And with the election next week!” Authorities in Florida arrested a man on Tuesday who allegedly robbed a bank while wearing a “Make American Great Again” T-shirt. Said the police, “Could you describe the man? I mean, other than he’s white. We knew that already.” Weekend Update Lawyers for President Trump have filed an appeal to the Supreme Court to keep his tax returns secret. So you know they’re bad. This is like if your girlfriend asked to see your texts and you just threw your phone in the ocean. “Sesame Street” has turned 50 years old, which explains why Big Bird got Botox. Beaches in southwestern France have been shut down after mysterious bricks of cocaine keep washing on shore, prompting questions like, “Which beaches?” and “Where exactly?”
