Back in November, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Funny or Die regular Luke Barnett, who co-wrote, acted in, and produced the Christian film industry satire Faith Based, had signed on to star in a thriller called Teacher’s Pet. That project has since made its way through production, and our friends at Bloody Disgusting – along with director Noam Kroll himself – have confirmed that Barnett is joined in the cast by Clayton Royal Johnson (Stranger Things), Kevin Makely (Young Rock), Drew Powell (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Sara Tomko (Resident Alien), Josh Pafchek (Love, Victor), genre icon Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator), and newcomers Michelle Torian, Alexe-Anne Godin, and Makenna Ginn.
Kroll wrote a blog entry about the making of the film, complete with behind-the-scenes images, that can be read at THIS LINK. Kroll made his feature directorial debut with the 2012 drama Footsteps and has followed that up with the mystery thriller Shadows on the Road, the thriller Psychosynthesis, and another upcoming thriller called Disappearing Boy.
Teacher’s Pet tells the story of a malevolent new high school teacher with a sinister past who becomes disturbingly fixated on a brilliant female student. As he unveils his true sociopathic nature, the young woman is forced to navigate a treacherous battle of wits to survive high school.
Barnett plays the high school teacher, with Torian taking on the role of the brilliant female student.
Coming our way from Launch Releasing, Teacher’s Pet is produced by Launch founder and CEO Sheldon Brigman, as well as Richard Handley, Kayli Fortun, Brian Hanson, and Kroll. Barnett and Brigman receive executive producer credits alongside Kelby Thwaits and Charles Bunce.
When the project was first announced, Brigman provided the following statement: “We’re so excited that Luke is bringing his considerable creative talents to our film and team. We’ve been blown away by Luke’s approach to this complex character and can’t wait to bring this multi-layered and powerful thriller to audiences.“
Does Teacher’s Pet sound interesting to you? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
Anything with Barbara Crampton in the cast will have my interest, so I look forward to seeing how this thriller has turned out.
Martin Scorsese isn’t exactly known for his love of sports, once saying, “Anything with a ball, no good.” But he is now embracing the Super Bowl — well, a commercial, anyway. That’s right, Martin and his daughter Francesca Scorsese have their own Super Bowl commercial, leaning in to the TikTok videos that showed a (hip?) new side of Scorsese.
In the teaser for their upcoming Super Bowl ad for website maker Squarespace (which you can watch at the bottom of this article), Martin Scorsese is approached by Francesca while the maestro tries to develop a short film. One of the characters, he says, is a website…only Scorsese doesn’t know anything about them (or their character motivation). As for what his website will be about?: “A plea for intergalactic connection.” After quite a monologue about extraterrestrials, Scorsese tries to wrap his head around phrases like “domain” and “URL” and criticizes the font choices Francesca makes.
Finally, once all is settled, an excited Martin Scorsese says near the end of the Super Bowl teaser, “This website slaps, kids, doesn’t it? Is that slappin’ or what?”, a callback to the director and his daughter’s TikTok video where he tried to guess what Gen Z slang meant. That, too, is another video well worth checking out. On her father’s usage of slang, she told Vanity Fair, “Sometimes, he will use Gen-Z slang because he’s heard it, and it’s the funniest thing to me. I feel like hearing your dad say, “Oh yeah, that slaps,” or, “I’m so woke,” or whatever, it’s just so cringy to me. It just makes me crack up. He is from a different generation, so it’s a little—I wouldn’t say embarrassing to hear him say it, but it’s funny because it feels like he is really trying to stay current with my generation and with me.”
Francesca Scorsese has no doubt helped garner her father some younger fans (although Killers of the Flower Moon doesn’t exactly have the sex and drugs and wattage that The Wolf of Wall Street does), and their upcoming Super Bowl ad seems promising enough to continue Gen Z’s interest in his meme-worthy behavior. This might especially be true with the anticipated audience for Super Bowl LVIII, which may skew younger due to the draw of Taylor Swift being in attendance.
This might be Martin Scorsese’s first Super Bowl commercial, but he is no stranger to the form, helming ads for American Express, Apple, Dolce & Gabbana, and more. There, too, was The Audition, a short promoting a casino resort; more importantly, it marked the first time Scorsese worked with both Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio on the same project. Come on, give the man a Clio!
What do you think of the teaser for Scorsese’s Super Bowl ad? Does it slap? Let us know below!
Although everything has worked out in the end, Robert Downey Jr. recently recounted his original meeting with Christopher Nolan for Batman Begins, which never amounted to anything. When it came to his first big project, Nolan would screentest different people for his caped crusader. He knew he wanted Christian Bale for the role, but decided to also test film Cillian Murphy for it anyway. Nolan would reminisce with Murphy, “When we had our first conversation, I think both of us knew that you weren’t going to wind up playing Batman. But I really wanted to get on set with you, I wanted to get you on film. We did those screen tests very elaborately, on 35mm, with a little set. There was just an electric atmosphere in the crew when you started to perform.”
Similarly, Robert Downey Jr. recently revealed at a recent Q&A at Los Angeles’ American Cinematheque Theater that he met with Nolan for the part of Dr. Jonathan Crane, aka Scarecrow. According to People, Downey Jr. said Nolan just wasn’t feeling it with him. He expounds, “I’m pretty sure I heard about [this role] and I was like, ‘I’m Scarecrow.’ And then I remember meeting [Nolan] for tea and I was like, ‘He doesn’t seem like he’s really in on this interview.’” Downey Jr. continued, “And he was polite and all that. But you can tell when someone is kind of like, ‘It’s not going to go anywhere.’”
At this point in Downey Jr.’s career, he had been working steadily in projects, but would not yet be the draw that he became after Iron Man in 2008, which ironically was released the same summer as Nolan’s juggernaut sequel, The Dark Knight. Equally, that summer, Downey Jr. also co-starred in Tropic Thunder, which got him a Best Supporting Actor nod, although it went posthumously to Heath Ledger.
Iron Man started Downey Jr. down the path to superstardom as the Marvel Cinematic Universe gained steam. And while Murphy won the Scarecrow role, it wasn’t necessarily a big one. However, that was just fine to Murphy. He would work with Nolan on more projects, including the Dark Knight sequels, Inception and Dunkirk. Murphy stated last summer, “I have always said publicly and privately, to Chris, that if I’m available and you want me to be in a movie, I’m there. I don’t really care about the size of the part. But deep down, secretly, I was desperate to play a lead for him.”
As I get older, I find it harder and harder to find horror movies from the 80s and even 90s to qualify for a recommendation towards a best horror movie you never saw. First is the influx of all these great companies like Vinegar Syndrome, Arrow, and Severin Films, not to mention Kino and Scream Factory, who pull out all the stops finding the most hidden of hidden gems to clean up and release. Second, we have a ludicrous amount of streaming services, and the free ones typically can find these smaller movies that cost way less to license a streamable version. Between my generation recommending everything under the sun to their coworkers, friends, and family as well as newer generations being willing to stream something if its easy to find, the 80s is well represented, for better and for worse. The 2000s are CHOCK FULL of movies that came and went and don’t show up on physical media easily because they aren’t old enough or cool enough. Today we will look at a movie from 2008 that is way too fun and well done to be lost. Let’s look at why Splinter (watch it HERE) from 2008 is absolutely one of the Best Horror Movies You Never Saw.
When it premiered on Halloween night, 2008, not a lot of people knew what to expect with Splinter, well, except the ones that got to watch it on HDNet movies two days prior. And no, don’t ask me to elaborate on what HDNet Movies is. The director and uncredited writer Toby Wilkins read the original script and really liked the siege aspect of it but wasn’t crazy about the monster which he felt was overly generic and nothing to write home about. He and one of his friends were working on a parasitic horror film idea and decided that their monster could fit great in this tight, 82-minute story. He then decided that his creature would be different than other parasitic entities where the creature would not really understand how to use a human body properly or what it was supposed to do and not do. Like other movies in that very specific sub-genre, when the creature takes you over, there is a short amount of time that you are aware… or a long time if you are one of our characters.
Wilkins wasn’t super well known at the time as a director and the only other feature film he has under his belt is the following year’s The Grudge 3. That didn’t do well at all, but Wilkins has an eye for editing and special effects as his 19 editing and 30 special effects credits far outweigh his directorial output. In fact, his special effects resume is impressive with titles like Red Dragon, The Manchurian Candidate, and Scooby- Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. Let me tell you, in this movie it shows. The writers of the movie are Ian Shorr and Kai Barry with some uncredited changes and additions from Wilkins. Having influences and inspirations from 28 Days Later and The Thing are great, and it shows what they were going for with homage rather than just straight imitation. The Thing pun very much intended. Ian Shorr only has 10 credits to his name but 2 of them are the Marble Hornets movie, that’s Slender Man for those who may not know, and the Mark Wahlberg movie Infinite from 2021. Barry has even less to his name with today’s movie, Juko’s Time Machine, and The Operative.
The movie opens with Magnet Releasing and there’s something about that symbol that fills me with hope from my Blockbuster days. Typically, on these smaller budget straight to DVD releases this was a sign of quality, or at least a fun time, with other movies like Time Crimes, Big Man Japan, Ong Bak, Murder Party, and The Host just to name a few. This label EARNED my trust, and I had no problem using one of my 10 free rentals a week. We are then introduced to a sampling of what the creature is when it attacks one of the only other actors in the movie and this is one of the only gripes I have with the movie. The camera is a wild child and I have a feeling it was used to cover up some of the less great practical effects. We then see nearly 80% of the cast of this film with two couples on opposite sides of the spectrum. We have the good guy couple with Paulo Costanzo’s Seth and Jill Wagner’s Polly who are on a couple’s anniversary getaway. They are the typical nerdy and good guy with good intentions and the girl who is stubborn and tough and quick on her feet that is out of his league. I respect the hell out of this. They have really good chemistry, and the actors make you care. Then we have Rachel Kerbs as Lacy and Shea Whigham as Dennis. Yep. Shea Whigham was actually the first person to sign on for this.
While he had done a few roles prior like Lords of Dogtown and Man of the House, he would build on this essentially star role and never really slow down, even appearing in the 2023 installment of Mission Impossible. Kerbs hasn’t done much of anything besides Splinter but does a fine job in her limited time. Wagner has done a lot in the TV realm, particularly in the Hallmark Christmas world but also was a regular on the Blade TV series. Finally, we have Paulo Costanzo who is probably more famous than Shae but not quite as recognizable, unless you were an Anamorphs kid or big into Royal Pains. He showed up in a few other early 2000s movies too like 40 Days and 40 Nights and Road Trip. Everyone here does a good job with the screen time they are given.
The relatively normal couple is then car jacked by the criminal couple and taken on a trip. Many of Shea Whigham lines were ad libbed for his role and he steals nearly every scene he is in as well as having more of a character arch than anyone else. They run over the creature we saw earlier, and Dennis gets a titular splinter in his finger. He doesn’t think anything of it but we know it will come back to hurt him like Chekhov’s sliver. They make it to a gas station to try and repair some of the car and Lacy finds the gas station attendant from earlier in the bathroom. He asks her to kill him like he’s Dallas in the director’s cut of Alien but then this thing takes over and attacks all of them, specifically injuring Lacy. The other 3 make it inside but see that Lacy is still moving and try to help her. This fails when her body starts to contort and move in unnatural ways before the final character, a police officer, enters the scene. She is also quickly dispatched, and brutally which sets off the tense standoff and siege atmosphere the movie does great with.
Many of the creatures were played by acrobats, mimes, and stunt persons to give them movement that appears both unnatural and natural at the same time. The movie uses nearly all practical effects and some of it absolutely qualifies as the best effects you’ve never seen too. They study the creatures, watching in horror as the cops’ two halves pull themselves together and Dennis is starting to get worse. On top of that, they cant figure out how to get out or stop the monsters and a severed hand gets in the store. Its an awesome scene that doesn’t have a lot of dialogue at first and just lets the tension set in. they escape to the freezer where Deniss arm gets worse to the point where it’s become its own small version of the creature ala The Thing. They try to study it at first and see what it’s doing and ultimately realize it can’t see through the cold. Unfortunately, with that knowledge victory comes the realization that someone needs an arm cut off and it is the most visceral this side of 27 hours.
The final plan includes lowering Seth’s body temp to get to the car and get them out of dodge. He makes it out and walks slowly past the creatures while the other two use fireworks and other sounds to distract. He makes it to the car, but he starts to warm up and is in trouble. The three of them fight off the creature and Dennis, who knows he isn’t long for this world, sacrifices himself to let the other two live. What’s great about that is when his arm was amputated, we all learn that his whole mission today was to get money to help the family of the man whose death he was responsible for. He gives them the key to a lockbox and the address is Wrigley Field in what I’m pretending is a call back to The Blues Brothers.
While it had such a limited release in theaters that box office numbers are hard to come by, it was still seen by some people in theaters and when it was released to rent, I remember my Blockbuster getting about 8 copies to put out. While that doesn’t sound like a lot, it rented out consistently. The movie is short and to the point with a run time of less than 90 minutes. It has 6 whole humans that show up in it and does exactly what it sets out to do. It’s sad that its so underseen and sometimes hard to come by because while it doesn’t need a sequel, it’s a blast of a movie with a really fun creature. The creative team didn’t go on to stardom and the movie didn’t impact 2008 with too many modern classics like The Ruins, The Strangers, Mirrors, Quarantine, and Saw V. Even the smaller seen had bigger hits with Teeth, Midnight Meat Train, Repo, and Diary of the Dead. Splinter exists in a weird time after it would have been considered a classic but before it gets the mega physical media package. All we can do is pass the word along when someone asks you for a Best Horror Movie They Never Saw.
A couple previous episodes of the Best Horror Movie You Never Saw series can be seen below. To see more, and to check out some of our other shows, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!
Plot: An 11-year-old boy with an active imagination confronts his fears when a giant, smiling creature of the night, Dark, invites him on a transformative journey through the hours of darkness.
Review: During a time when mental health awareness in young people is more important than ever, we must address the fragility of the mind in as many arenas as possible. Most children don’t respond well to an adult who isn’t their parent telling them what to do. You must circumvent the awkward exchange and introduce them to something unique to get through to them. One way to do this is through the power of storytelling. The right story can create a sense of comfort, regardless of how far-fetched the plot or characters appear. In Orion and the Dark, director Sean Charmatz (Trolls Holiday in Harmony, Tiny Diamond Goes Back to School) and writer Charlie Kaufman (Anomalisa, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) present a powerful tale about confronting fear and how the right story can help foster strength for generations.
Orion and the Dark introduces us to Orion (voiced by Jacob Tremblay), an 11-year-old boy with generalized anxiety disorder. For Orion, everything has the potential to create disaster, and when the night falls, everything he fears becomes amplified by the encroaching darkness. After repeatedly hearing Orion’s pleas to extinguish the black of night in his bedroom, darkness itself visits Orion. Manifesting as a hulking, floating giant with glowing blue eyes, Dark (Paul Walter Hauser) takes Orion on a journey through the night sky, showing him the wonders and majesty that reside in the shadows and gloom.
Despite their differences, Orion and Dark discover they share much in common. At school, Orion gets teased by his classmates and finds himself unable to make friends. Meanwhile, Dark is often feared, misunderstood, and hated by children worldwide. While Orion would prefer to fade into the background and remain unbothered, Dark feels he’s misrepresented and wants to prove to Orion that he’s a nice guy. To help make his case, Dark escorts Orion on a high-flying journey around the globe to see how darkness helps balance light and is a necessary part of everyday life.
During the adventure, Dark introduces Orion to other entities associated with the nighttime hours, including Sleep (Natasia Demetriou), Quiet (Aparna Nancheria), Insomnia (Nat Faxon), Unexplained Noises (Golda Rosheuvel), and Sweet Dreams (Angela Bassett). Each entity is essential to balancing light and dark, creating harmony between themselves and Light (Ike Barinholtz), a smiling sunbeam with “cool guy” shades, and an ego the size of Earth’s most precious burning star. Every cast member does an excellent job of embodying their character, with voices reflecting their nightly function. Faxon’s Insomnia is paranoid and busy-minded, while Quiet speaks in an adorable, squeaking whisper. Sleep’s voice sounds lethargic and on the verge of slumber, while Unexplained Noises speaks in an echoing cadence burgeoning on robotic. All performances are cleverly arranged and executed, with Bassett’s Sweet Dreams being a stand-out.
While the overall look of Orion and the Dark is pleasant, with vibrant hues often piercing the darkness to create a kaleidoscope of colors and emotion, the film truly shines in its storytelling. Based on the children’s book of the same name by Emma Yarlett, Kaufman’s interpretation of Orion and the Dark offers a subtle and nuanced narrative for kids and adults alike. Too many movies aimed at children fall prey to simplifying or dumbing down content, making it easily digestible for young audiences. This approach can have its place, though the story often sacrifices its impact in translation. Thankfully, Orion and the Dark is unafraid of exploring children’s psyches directly.
Orion is a complicated child who is often his own worst enemy. However, most of his fears are more accurate than some adults would consider. Kids today grow up in a world of technology and surveillance, with social media as a portal to ruin if someone’s mistakes become amplified online. All it takes is one traumatic event to mark someone with a scarlet letter of shame and misrepresentation. The film reminds young viewers that being scared is a part of life and that adults must retain sympathy toward problems they interpret as “childish.”
Another enjoyable aspect of the film’s storytelling is how Kaufman plays with structure. It’s a mild spoiler, but I’ll reveal it anyway. It turns out that an adult Orion (Colin Hanks) is telling the story of his adventure with Dark to his daughter, Hypatia (Mia Akemi Brown). The reveal of Orion’s tale being a bedtime story-like flashback is a jolt to an otherwise traditional narrative. The switch creates a meta-ness to Orion’s exploits, with his daughter eventually inserting herself into the escapade when Orion cannot remember how the journey ends. The change creates an entertaining third-act twist that turns the movie on its head.
The narrative twist, coupled with the mirroring of Orion and Dark’s insecurities, elevates Charmatz’s film from being “okay” to energizing and thought-provoking. Instead of focusing on flash and action, Orion and the Dark concentrates on robust and layered storytelling. As an adult with an anxiety disorder, I empathize with Orion and his fear of the unknown. Waiting for the other shoe to drop is debilitating and will mar your confidence if you don’t learn that coping with life’s mysteries is a significant part of existence. The movie gently and creatively reminds us of this unavoidable circumstance.
Tremblay and Hauser deliver solid performances as Orion and Dark, forming a duo worth following into uncharted aspects of the night. The film’s exploration of what darkness brings to the world is also intriguing. Dark shows Orion that light cannot exist without darkness. Furthermore, without the inky blackness, there’s no calm to the hustle and bustle of daytime. While light illuminates the world, darkness offers tranquility and serenity. Black and white. Up and down. Chaos and order.
Orion and the Dark will play well for kids and better for adults. The middle school vibes don’t get in the way of Charmantz and Kaufman telling an impactful story with valuable lessons to teach any audience member. Watching a younger-skewing animated film that remains uncomplicated and pure and never talks down to its target demographic is refreshing. If you need a film to help your kids feel better about retiring their night lights or a story to remind you that fear requires love and care to overcome, Orion and the Dark is a lighthouse in the fog of animated entertainment.
If there’s one standout scene in Saltburn it’s — OK, so it’s tough to pick just one, but this story centers around the bathtub scene, in which Barry Keoghan’s character drinks the bath water that Jacob Elordi’s character has masturbated in. It’s a scene that feels ripe for parody and that’s just what Joshua Fox, a producer on TheKyle and Jackie O Show — a morning radio program based out of Australia — went for: the joke. The only problem is that the subject, Jacob Elordi himself, didn’t find it funny at all, especially since he was being filmed. And now the actor is under investigation following an altercation that allegedly took place afterwards.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Fox approached Elordi at a hotel this past weekend with a container labeled “Jacob Elordi’s bath water.” Elordi then asked, “What am I supposed to do with this, put bath water in this?” To which Fox replied, “If you want to, you can send it to the studio.” Soon after, Elordi realized he was being recorded and asked Fox to stop and also permanently delete anything he shot. “I’m thinking if I delete this footage, there’s no evidence that this encounter happened,” said Fox.
Fox would claim that Jacob Elordi put “his hands around [my] throat.” He added, “He kind of gets up in my face…I could’ve kissed him he was that close…So I’m backed against this wall…He’s right in my face and his two boys are now on either side of me…I’m feeling quite intimidated.” Authorities say that Fox did not sustain any injuries.
While the alleged incident is being looked into by authorities, it should be made clear that Jacob Elordi has not been charged with any wrongdoing. We will keep you updated with any new information on the story.
Jacob Elordi has been on a major upswing since making his debut in Netflix’s The Kissing Booth, later landing the rest of the movies in the trilogy, the role of Nate on HBO’s Euphoria and Elvis in Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla. He also recently replaced Andrew Garfield in Guillermo del Toro’s Dr. Frankenstein. He is nominated for the Best Supporting Actor BAFTA for Saltburn.
What do you make of the situation centering around Jacob Eldori? Are you leaning towards believing Fox’s story or is there no case against the actor yet?
Tom Holland, like a lot of the other Marvel stars, tries to dabble in parts that are different from their superhero counterparts. After the gigantic response of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Holland would play a more intense and dark role in AppleTV+’s psychological drama, The Crowded Room. The role would take a toll on the actor and he proclaimed he would take a year off of acting. Holland stated, “I love the learning curve of becoming a producer. I’m no stranger to hard work. I’ve always sort of lived by this idea that hard work is good work. I really enjoyed it, but then again, the show did break me. There did come a time where I was sort of like, ‘I need to have a break.’ I disappeared. I went to Mexico for a week and had some time on a beach. And I’m now taking a year off, and that is a result of how difficult this show was.“
The Uncharted star will be returning to acting this May, but it won’t be on a screen. Instead, Timeout reports that Holland is set to star in a revival of Romeo & Juliet on London’s West End. Holland is no stranger to the stage as before he became Peter Parker, he was able to use his Spider-man moves for dancing when he starred as Billy Elliot in another West End production of Billy Elliot the Musical. This will be his first stage show since finding fame as the web-slinger. This will also be his first foray into Shakespeare.
This revival will be directed by Jamie Lloyd, who is a known boundary-pusher and “mixes populism and the avant-garde in a thrilling mix.” Lloyd recently found much success in his career after gaining a bevy of acclaim from his direction of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard last year. Timeout also says to “expect a stripped-back, confrontational modern dress take that aggressively drags the story into the present.” There is no word on Holland’s co-star or any other casting as of yet.
Meanwhile, on the Spider-man front, Marvel is currently in the hunt for a director to take up the vacated seat left by Jon Watts. Watts had previously helmed the last three movies. Bad Times at the El Royale director Drew Goddard is currently in talks to take on the next entry.
Romeo & Juliet is at the Duke of York’s Theatre, May 11 to August 3.
Season 3 of the Chucky TV series (read our review HERE) had to be split in half due to the writers and actors strikes, but production recently resumed, and the remaining episodes of the season will be airing on Syfy and USA Network (and reaching the Peacock streaming service) later this year. While we wait to see what the rest of Chucky season 3 has in store for us, franchise creator Don Mancini has confirmed that he’s considering sending Chucky to space simply because fans keep asking him about the possibility.
The idea of Chucky going to space, following in the footsteps of fellow genre stars like Jason Voorhees, Pinhead, and Leprechaun, has been bouncing around for years. Back in 2017, Mancini told The Movie Crypt podcast hosts Adam Green and Joe Lynch (after the expectation of Chucky going to space was brought up to him), “I have an idea for Chucky in Space. You know how sometimes, like, kids will present a space shuttle crew with some, like, totemic experiment or mascot or whatever? Chucky…” He got sidetracked at that point, but four years later he talked about the idea again, telling ComicBook.com, “I think one of the great things about Chucky is that he’s such a versatile character and we’ve found that he operates successfully in all kinds of different tones and sub-genres, whether it’s horror, or comedy, places in between. So I think as a character he’s versatile enough and appealing enough and interesting enough that he could probably go anywhere, even into outer space. Which is the one thing – I think once I jokingly said something about sending Chucky into space, although I do think it would be a fun movie. … I think ‘X Goes to Space’ is usually a barometer for jumping the shark. But I mean, who wouldn’t want to see Chucky in a little space suit with a helmet, sort of like floating?“
Now, while catching up with Mancini at the Saturn Awards, Screen Rant took the opportunity to ask if we’re ever going to see Chucky go to space. Mancini responded, “Everyone’s asking me that question! So, MY question is, ‘Do you want him to go to space?’ Do you personally want him to go? If there’s enough of a demand for that, eventually – I don’t know how quickly – I have an idea for that.“
So it sounds like Mancini is getting asked about “Chucky in Space” quite often, and every time the subject comes up, the closer the idea gets to becoming a reality. Would you like to see Chucky go to space? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
I say Mancini should go for it. Why not? Chucky bouncing around in space wouldn’t even come close to being the strangest thing we’ve seen from this franchise.
Toby Keith, the musician who helped bring country music to new heights in the 1990s and beyond, has passed away after a battle with cancer. He was 62.
In a statement posted to social media, his family wrote, “Toby Keith passed away peacefully last night on February 5th, surrounded by his family. He fought his fight with grace and courage. Please respect the privacy of his family at this time.”
Toby Keith announced his stomach cancer diagnosis in 2022, writing, “Last fall I was diagnosed with stomach cancer. I’ve spent the last 6 months receiving chemo, radiation and surgery. So far, so good. I need time to breathe, recover and relax. I am looking forward to spending this time with my family. But I will see the fans sooner than later. I can’t wait.”
Through songs like “Should’ve Been a Cowboy”, “Wish I Didn’t Know Now” and “How Do You Like Me Now?!”, Toby Keith marked himself as one of the biggest names in modern country. This only built into the next century, with Keith hitting on his target demographic through songs like the post-9/11 anthem “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)”, the Willie Nelson collaboration “Beer for My Horses” and “As Good as I Once Was.” “Beer for My Horses” would inspire a 2008 movie of the same name.
In addition to climbing the charts to prove himself as one of the premiere country artists, Toby Keith would also go on to win a pair of Country Music Awards, a surprisingly low number considering. He would also garner seven Grammy Award nominations and a dozen ACMS, including the Merle Haggard Spirit Award in 2021. Last year he won the Country Icon Award at the People’s Choice Awards. Toby Keith sold more than 40 million albums throughout his career, making him one of the best-selling country artists ever, up there with the likes of Shania Twain, Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney.
According to setlist.fm, Toby Keith’s last concert was in December.
Leave your condolences for the late Toby Keith in the comments section below, along with your favorite song of his.
In the age of streaming, we’ve come to expect that every movie and TV series must be streaming somewhere; Of course, that’s not always the case as one beloved ’90s TV show just made its streaming debut for the first time ever. All six seasons of Northern Exposure are now streaming on Prime Video, marking the first time the series has streamed on any platform.
Northern Exposure starred Rob Morrow as Joel Fleischman, a recently graduated New York City physician who is sent to practice in Anchorage, Alaska, for several years to repay the state of Alaska for underwriting his medical education. He’s assigned to the remote town of Cicely, occupied by a variety of quirky and eccentric characters. The ensemble cast included Barry Corbin, Janine Turner, John Cullum, Cynthia Geary, John Corbett, Darren E. Burrows, Peg Phillips, Eliane Miles, Paul Provenza, and Teri Polo.
Morrow wound up leaving Northern Exposure midway through the sixth and final season after spending several years lobbying for an improved contract. The producers had reduced his character’s role in storylines and introduced other characters to attempt to compensate.
The much-beloved series was created by Joshua Brand and John Falsey and ran on CBS from 1990-95. It picked up 29 Emmy nominations during its run, winning seven, including Outstanding Drama Series. Although this marks the first time Northern Exposure has been available for streaming, the series has been released on DVD and is also available for digital purchase on a variety of platforms.
Although I’m aware of its existence, Northern Exposure is a series I’ve never gotten around to watching. In fact, the only memory I do have of the series is seeing the complete season DVDs dressed up in mini-parka jackets. That was a strange time, so many DVD releases dressed up in jackets.
Will you be checking out Northern Exposure on Prime Video now that it’s available for streaming?
