Disney film chief thinks Solo: A Star Wars Story reception was unfair

By all accounts, Disney and Lucasfilm’s second Anthology film “Solo: A Star Wars Story” was a box-office disappointment. There was already a troubled production where Ron Howard had to be hired to reshoot practically the whole film, after the firing of original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller.

The mixed reviews that Solo garnered confirmed for many the doubt that was already very much at the forefront of this film’s pre-release buzz. This all resulted in a $392 million worldwide box-office intake, a very average result in terms of “Star Wars.”

Speaking to THR, Disney’s film chief Alan Horn expressed frustration over the reception “Solo” got:

“It’s always a challenge because — and I say this with love and respect for media — the thing about these big movies is they get a lot of attention, whether positive or negative. So when they don’t work, like Solo, the media says it’s a failure. I think it was a pretty good movie. It didn’t resonate as much as we’d hoped it would, but the press writes it up in a more negative way than I would. These are very high-profile movies. If Aladdin, which I happen to think is a terrific film, doesn’t work somehow, that’s big news and much bigger news than if a movie somewhere else, like The Kid Who Would Be King [at Fox,] doesn’t work.”

WWE-Produced “Fighting With My Family" Has a Smackdown of Cliches [Review]

Here is a shamelessly formulaic product brought to you by WWE studios and meant to benefit the wrestling company by promoting its brand while also telling the chase-your-dreams true story of its real-life superstar wrestler Paige. Cue in the familiar sports-movie clichés, because “Fighting With My Family” uses plenty of them.

The film’s been written and directed by Stephen Merchant (this guy really loves to use montages) and is almost, but not quite, saved by an adorably persistent performance courtesy of Florence Pugh (dynamite in “Lady Macbeth”) as Saraya-Jade Bevis aka Paige. Pugh plays it straight, with no over-the-top theatrics, but instead, a wide-eyed kid-like optimism which captures the look, sound and feel of a WWE female champion that is completely out of her league with the company’s brand of feminine “divas.”

Julia “Sweet Saraya” (Lena Headey) and Patrick “Rowdy Ricky Knight” (Nick Frost) play her parents, and her older brother, Zak “Zodiac” is played by Jack Lowden, but whenever the film turns towards their own London working-class plight, where they manage their own low-rent wrestling league, the film falters in keeping our attention. It’s the grueling boot camp of the farm league, which the WWE has invited Saraya-Jade to, that is the crux of Merchant’s Cinderella-story.

The fact that Merchenat decides to periodically check back in with Zak on the home front, killing time by training young wrestlers, does a disservice to the momentum being built by Pugh’s tale and feels like filler rather than a narrative necessity. There’s a two-scene cameo by The Rock, playing himself, and a decently-delivered payoff when Paige finally makes her big Raw debut, but the film is so overstuffed with clichés that the journey feels, in more ways than one, like an insufferable smackdown to our IQs. [C]

Natalie Portman Files Restraining Order Against Man Claiming to Be John Wick

According to The Blast — a man named John Wick is after Natalie Portman.

The 37-year-old Annihilation and Vox Lux star filed for a restraining order against “a guy she claims showed up at her house and tried to get into her gated community, and when police confronted him … he told them he was John Wick.”

“The unnamed man (whose real name police were able to determine through his Colorado Driver’s License) would not respond when addressed by his real name when addressed by the police, only complying when they called him “John.” Even then, “his responses were limited and delayed.”

“The man was eventually placed on a mental hold and the detective filed a petition for a firearms restraining order, which was granted.”

Jussie Smollett Maintains He is Innocent; Feels Betrayed by the System.

It looks like Jussie Smollett will not be going down without a fight. The 32-year-old “Empire” actor is sticking with the story he told Chicago PD — on January 30th he filed a police report claiming that he was attacked by two white men in his Chicago neighborhood, who consequentially tied a noose around his neck and yelled “this is MAGA country.” Later on, police found overwhelming evidence leading them to believe the crime was actually a hoax perpetrated by Smollett and two Nigerian-born men who played the attackers. Smollett believes he is part of a Chicago PD conspiracy targeted against him.

Smollett’s legal team issued a defiant statement on Thursday, right after the “Empire” actor paid his $ 100,000 bail and went back to work on the set of his hit TV show “Empire.”

“Today we witnessed an organized law enforcement spectacle that has no place in the American legal system. The presumption of innocence, a bedrock in the search for justice, was trampled upon at the expense of Mr. Smollett and notably, on the eve of a Mayoral election. Mr. Smollett is a young man of impeccable character and integrity who fiercely and solemnly maintains his innocence and feels betrayed by a system that apparently wants to skip due process and proceed directly to sentencing.”

What a statement! Spoken like true defense attorneys. Does this mean they believe the Nigerian brothers to be Feds? The African-American police chief to be a paid off operative? Receipts and video cameras showing purchases used at the crime scene all doctored? Are the investigators in the Smollett case conspirators? Of course not.

According to Variety:

“Prosecutors in court today showed a series of text messages between Smollett and the two men, brothers Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, planning the attack. The texts included preparing money to buy supplies, buying drugs, setting up meetings and ensuring that MAGA hats and chants were part of the assault.”