Gordon banks save world cup

If you tuned in to Saturday Night Live this week, but only for the opening monologue and closing salutations, you’d surely believe that host Joseph Gordon-Levitt had led the troops through an electric, energetic, hour-and-a-half romp across the stage. See Gordon-Levitt dancing in a Magic Mike parody! See him doing pushups! Sporting that ever-present grin! Working the crowd! But the filling in this Joseph Gordon-Levitt sandwich was plain peanut butter. He drove at exactly the speed limit and was in bed by 11:45 p.m. – which is a shame, considering Saturday Night Live goes until 1 a.m. The highlights of last night’s episode came despite its host – starting with Mumford & Sons. The crowd-pleasing nü-Bluegrass group stood like pillars, side by side at the front of the stage, and intertwined their harmonies beautifully. Backed by a horn section for “I Will Wait,” they brought a terrific spirit to Studio 8H – a hoedown meets Dave Matthews … [Read more...] about Mumford & Sons Save the Day on ‘SNL’

But I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she’s going to adopt me and sivilise me and I can’t stand it. I been there before.               – Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn The Dead didn’t get it going Wednesday night at Winterland, and that was too bad. The gig was a bail fund benefit for the People’s Park in Berkeley, and the giant ice-skating cavern was packed with heads. The whole park hassle – the benefit was for the 450 busted a few days before – had been a Berkeley political trip all the way down, but the issue was a good-timey park, so the crowd, though older and more radical than most San Francisco rock crowds, was a fine one in a good dancing mood, watery mouths waiting for the groove to come. The Airplane were on the bill too, so were Santana, the Act of Cups, Aum, and a righteous range of others; a San Francisco all-star … [Read more...] about Good Old Grateful Dead

So there’s Zach Galifianakis, wearing a tuxedo at a fancy afterparty in the backyard of the French ambassador’s house. He just came from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where he laughed so hard at Obama’s Donald Trump jokes that his buddy Jon Hamm had to tell him to keep it down, because Trump was right there. Now he’s nibbling on hors d’oeuvres on a patio so heavy with Hollywood-Beltway power it threatens to collapse under its own self-importance. Sean Penn and Scarlett Johansson are here. So are Bill O’Reilly and Sarah Palin. Rupert Murdoch is kibitzing with Michael Bloomberg, and Carmelo Anthony is eating French toast and being tall. Inside, Newt Gingrich and Buzz Aldrin are talking Republicans, or maybe space. Galifianakis spends time catching up with some comedy pals – Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, Andy Samberg, Seth Meyers – but eventually he needs a break from the schmoozing, so he wanders down to the pool. There, in the … [Read more...] about Zach Galifianakis: Reluctant Superstar

Ken Kwapis tells THR about the surprising joy of cramming Henson and Frank Oz into the fuselage of a small plane to shoot the film, which was the last Muppet movie released before Henson's death. Follow That Bird began quite a path for its director, who was a 24-year-old USC grad school dropout with just afterschool specials to his name when he landed the gig. Ken Kwapis, who went on to direct such films as The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005), He's Just Not That Into You (2009) and next month's Robert Redford-Nick Nolte starrer A Walk in the Woods, made his feature directorial debut on the first-ever film to feature Sesame Street characters. The movie was also the last Muppet film released before the 1990 death of Jim Henson, who controls and voices two characters in it. In honor of Follow That Bird hitting the 30th anniversary of its Aug. 2, 1985 release, Kwapis spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about stuffing Henson and Frank Oz into a tiny plane's … [Read more...] about ‘Follow That Bird’ Turns 30: Director on Jim Henson’s Feedback, Difficulty Shooting Muppets

The desk man at the Greensboro, North Carolina, Holiday Inn shook his head when I asked for Willie Nelson. “Got no Willie Nelsons today.” He turned away officiously and resumed cleaning his fingernails with a Holiday Inn matchbook. He was about as encouraging as my cab driver had been: “You goin’ to see Willie Nelson? Man, he was a no-show last week. They had ta haul that Wet Willie in; he play instead. You see Willie Nelson, you tell him for me, ‘Man, you die fast in this town.’ “ I went back to the Holiday Inn desk man: “See here, I was really looking for the party of Fast Eddie and the Electric Japs.” “Well, goddamnit, why dincha say so.” He started thumbing through registration forms: “Lemme see, Mr. Eddie ain’t here yet, but Mr. Snake is, Mr. Poodie is, Mr. Beast is . . . “ “Okay, gimme Snake’s room number.” Poodie, who is Willie’s road manager, and Beast, his cook and … [Read more...] about Willie Nelson: Holy Man of the Honky Tonks