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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Hire Me As The Iron Man': Jackie Chan Talked To Me About Doing Stunts Into His 70s, And Why He's ‘Happy' To Keep Doing Them
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Where did the time go? Jackie Chan just turned 71 in April, but you wouldn't know it considering all the work he's been up to, primarily in Chinese cinema. It's been a little while since the actor has been aroun Hollywood, but he's back for the upcoming 2025 movie Karate Kid: Legends! When CinemaBlend spoke to the actor about his current thoughts on doing his own stunts in movies, he shared with us why he's ready to deliver more punches and kicks now and for years to come. When I spoke to Jackie Chan, Ralph Macchio and Ben Wang, the leads of Karate Kid: Legends, I had to ask Chan about his stunt work ethic nowadays and how it's changed over the years. In his words: I'm so happy to see the technology coming up and AI, but for me, useless. The audience still likes to see Jackie do the real things, and poor me. I always tell all directors, please hire me as the Iron Man, Spider-Man, Batman [so my character can wear a mask]. And, [that way I can do] more acting than fighting, more story... As Chan pointed out, while the advancement in technology may have had a large impact on Hollywood movies in recent years, it's all 'useless' to his own career because audiences want to see him really fight. The actor quipped that he'd love to play a masked superhero like Iron Man, Spider-Man and Batman so he can focus more on the story aspects of his character. At the same time, though, he cannot deny what he's been famous for since finding his first starring martial arts role in Hong Kong's New Fist Of Fury back in 1976. As Chan continued: But they say 'No, they want to see Jackie do the real things.' I know 20, 40 years ago, you could do a triple kick in the sky, and later on, 40 years later, then you [could] do a double kick. Now, you do one kick. We like to see Jackie do only one kick. Poor me, but I'm happy to do that. In the end, they like it. I will tell all my friends, 'No matter if I still can act, I still can fight. Every year I release one movie for the fans around the world.' Chan got honest about how his limits as a fighter have somewhat declined with age, but that's not going to stop people from loving to see him do stunts. His comments to me come after he told Haute Living he will 'of course' 'always' do his own stunts and that wouldn't change 'until the day I retire, which is never!' He also told the magazine that since he's been doing it for the past 64 years, 'there's no physical preparation anymore,' but it's rather 'muscle memory' for him. I also spoke to Karate Kid: Legends director Jonathan Entwistle, who set out to make a movie likened to an early Jackie Chan movie with the star's return to the franchise for the first time since 2010's The Karate Kid with Jaden Smith. He recalled Jackie Chan getting injured on the first day of shooting, taking it like a champ and going right back into filming the movie. Entwistle also detailed Chan coming on set, and witnessing him choose which different size pans (for a kitchen-set fight scene) he would utilize them for his trademark comedic fighting style. Chan's comments highlight his commitment to fans who've helped make him as successful as he is, while also pointing out the actor's desire to not only be known for fighting. In fact, he recently also told People he wants audiences to know 'I'm the actor who can fight' rather than simply an action star, and doesn't want to 'always do the same character.' You can check out the latest Karate Kid: Legends trailer and see Jackie Chan help train Ben Wang's Li Fong alongside Ralph Macchio's Daniel, only in theaters on Friday, May 30. (And, heads up there's an exclusive popcorn bucket for the release!)
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
I Heard Captain America: Brave New World Was Bad. I Finally Watched It, And It Became One Of My Favorite Recent MCU Movies
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. For a variety of different reasons, I was not able to catch Captain America: Brave New World in theaters, which is rare for me with Marvel movies. Though I didn't skip out on the 2025 movie because of the unfavorable critical response (CinemaBlend gave it two out of five stars in our official review), I admit there weren't a lot of people singing the film's praises. I was led to believe that this wasn't one of the best Marvel movies, but instead something bad, messy, and unfortunate. While one of those things may be true, I have to say that this wasn't a bad or unfortunate movie. Quite the contrary… I finally got around to watching Captain America: Brave New World, and it quickly became one of my favorite recent MCU movies. Sure, it didn't have a top-tier Marvel story, it was messy at times, and it felt like a continuation of Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but it was a whole lot of fun and was much better than I expected. Let me explain… I will admit that Brave New World is messy at times – one of my colleagues previously pointed out issues with the Serpent Society, but unlike a lot of other Marvel movies from the past five or so years, the movie never dragged or wore out its welcome. One of the shorter MCU titles (two minutes shy of two hours, including the post-credits stuff), I was along with Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and President Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross (Harrison Ford) from start to finish, and the story never lost my attention. Whether it was digging deep into conspiracies involving unsuspecting people (like Carl Lumbly's super soldier Isaiah Bradley) being controlled like winter soldiers to pull of some crazy stuff, or focusing on Cap kicking all kinds of butt, I was vibing with the movie the whole way through. I came into this film expecting some great action set pieces, and the movie more than delivered in this category. With multiple scenes where the new Cap takes on small groups of armed henchmen or soldiers, an explosive run-in between the United States and Japan over the celestial remains from The Eternals that sees Sam Wilson save the day just before a World War III destroys the planet, or the assassination attempt at the White House, there was so much to love here. But, the sequence that I dug the most, one that was featured heavily in all the trailers, was the fight between Captain America and Red Hulk in Washington, D.C. Without giving anything away to those who are even later than me getting to this movie, this massive and highly destructive battle is one of the coolest one-on-one fights I've seen in the MCU since Iron Man and Hulk in Avengers: Age of Ultron. We've got Cap flying, Red Hulk destroying everything in his path, and cherry blossoms all over the nation's capital. I'm here for all of it… Again, I'm not going to give anything away, but I have to point out that things aren't as they seem in Brave New World. As teased shortly before the film's February 2025 release, there's more to the villain side of things than was let on, resulting in a vast conspiracy that entangles pretty much everyone introduced. This aspect of the movie makes it feel right at home with the previous Captain America titles, as each of those featured some kind of conspiracy in one form or another. I'm not saying this gets on the level of Captain America: The Winter Soldier (a top-tier MCU movie), but the balance between superhero movie and gritty conspiracy/revenge thriller makes for a fun and engaging experience. Add in all the tensions between world leaders, and I was a happy camper with this one. I have come to terms with the fact that we'll probably never get a proper sequel to 2008's The Incredible Hulk for a variety of reasons, but Brave New World pretty much scratched that itch. I would even go so far as to say that this is essentially the sequel we never got. With pretty much every character not named Bruce Banner showing up, the movie picked up a lot of the themes of the MCU's second feature film and expanded upon them, especially when it came to the strained relationship between President Ross and his daughter, Betty Ross (Liv Tyler). Hell, even the villain's motivation stems from stuff that happened way back on the MCU timeline. Truth be told, I would love to get a proper movie with Bruce Banner one of these days, but I'm not mad in the slightest that the latest Cap movie is also a Hulk movie (just without Mark Ruffalo's character). Considering the late William Hurt, who played Thunderbolt Ross in every MCU movie up to this point, died in March 2022, the character had to be recast here. Although Harrison Ford is one of my favorite actors and someone I never get tired of watching, I was initially worried about him stepping in a decade and a half after Ross was first introduced. While it did take me a few scenes to adjust to Ford's take on the character, not to mention a lack of signature mustache, I eventually came around and thoroughly enjoyed watching the Star Wars and Indiana Jones lead cause all kinds of mayhem. I have to admit that seeing Ford play a president again and be on Air Force One (albeit briefly) after all these years was also quite amusing. So, do I think Captain America: Brave New World is the best MCU movie of the past five years? No, not really. Is it the worst? Absolutely not. The moral of the story should be: don't always write off a movie because the critics hate it, because you might be pleasantly surprised.
Hindustan Times
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Pedro Pascal stops Joaquin Phoenix from waving at fans on Cannes Film Festival red carpet; fans wonder what went wrong
Ari Aster premiered his latest film Eddington at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday. He was joined on the red carpet by his massive star cast, including Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Pedro Pascal and Austin Butler. The cast posed for the photographer and shared multiple fun moments on the red carpet. However, an interaction between Joaquin and Pedro left fans confused. A video from the top of the Palais steps of the Auditorium Louis Lumière shows the cast turn around and wave to the fans. But as Joaquin waved to his fans, Pedro pulled his hand down and said something in his ear. Joaquin looked shocked and confused at what just happened. But said 'okay' to Pedro and put his hand in his pocket. Fans are also confused as to why Pedro must have done that. There is no clear audio of what he said to Joaquin either. Someone theorised, 'Pedro told Joaquin no to do a salute that can be wrong interpreted.' Another said, 'I think maybe Pedro Pascal was worried that the photos they were taking would be used maliciously to accuse JP of doing something else. I say this because when Sabrina was saying hi to fans, some people used this photo to create controversy, saying she was making the N*zi salute.' Another didn't buy it. 'I'm confused? What am I missing? That was a wave not a salute? lol.' A fan made a Gladiator reference, 'Oh Marcus Acacius let the emperor make his Roman salute.' A hilarious take: 'Pedro Pascal kept whispering to Joaquin 'get your a** back to filming another masterpiece with Gaga', I was there and heard everything.' A post shared by CinemaBlend (@cinemablend) The movie did not get a particularly enthusiastic stranding ovation. Aster himself seemed both proud and apologetic for what he had wrought. Also, Eddington has received just a 64% Fresh debut on Rotten Tomatoes after early reviews. Ari Aster's COVID-era Western Eddington, about a 2020 America quickly losing its mind to conspiracy theories, TikTok and political extremism, premiered to a mixed reception at the Cannes Film Festival. Eddington, starring Joaquin Phoenix as a muddled, mistake-prone sheriff who runs for mayor in a fictional New Mexico town, was among the most feverishly awaited American films at Cannes. It marks the first time in competition at the French festival for Aster, the lauded director of Hereditary, Midsommar and Beau Is Afraid. It's also his most politically ambitious film by a long shot. Eddington, which A24 will release in July, plunges into the pandemic psyche of the United States, plotting a small-town feud that swells to encompass nationwide events including mask mandates, the death of George Floyd and right-left divisions. With AFP inputs
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'It's Either Good News Or Bad News': Watson Stars Celebrate CBS' Early Season 2 Renewal, But Fans Should Prepare For Trouble
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Watson brought Morris Chesnut back to primetime in a brand new way early in the 2025 TV schedule, complete with a post-NFL premiere to attract the biggest CBS audience possible. That move obviously paid off for the doctor/detective series with a Sherlock Holmes twist, as the network hasn't kept fans hanging until the finale about whether the drama will be back or dropped like the case was for FBI: International and FBI: Most Wanted. Yes, Watson was renewed early for Season 2, and cast members Eve Harlow and Rochelle Aytes spoke with CinemaBlend about the great news... but all signs indicate that trouble is on the way for the remaining episodes of Season 1. CBS renewed Watson for Season 2 in late March, with the plan to return as part of the 2025-2026 TV season. Considering that it wasn't renewed at the same time as Justin Hartley's Tracker, which is its partner in the Sunday primetime lineup, there were seemingly reasons to be a bit nervous about the show's future. As it turns out, any worries were unnecessary, and the renewal announcement came with the reveal that Watson averages 6.79 million viewers each week, according to the most current season-to-date data from Nielsen at the time. The average was undoubtedly helped by those among the 18.7 million who tuned in for the post-AFC Championship premiere, but it also did quite well among fans with a Paramount+ subscription. That first episode is the most-streamed scripted episode of all CBS Originals of the 2024-2025 TV season so far with 7 million. So, when I spoke with Eve Harlow and Rochelle Aytes ahead of the April 13 episode, which is called "Take a Family History" and focuses a lot on both characters, I had to take the time to ask for their thoughts on Watson's renewal with weeks still to go before the finale airs in May. Eve Harlow, who plays the neurologist Dr. Ingrid Derian with an approach that can range from unconventional to alarming, shared: Oh my gosh, it was funny. I remember, I saw the phone ring, and it was Craig [Sweeny], the showrunner. I pick up the phone and I was like, 'Craig, you're calling. It's either bad news or good news.' He was like, 'It's secretive news for another couple hours, but we got picked up.' [laughs] It's funny because actually when he called me, I was on my way to have lunch with one of the writers from the show, Anna [Mackey]. It was perfect timing. And then when I met her, I was like, 'Second season! Woo!' Very exciting. When a showrunner starts making calls in the spring, that can mean the fate of a show has been decided! Fortunately, in the case of Watson this year, the news was good and the Star Trek: Discovery vet was able to celebrate with one of the writers. Good timing on more than one front, I'd say! Rochelle Aytes, who has been busy elsewhere on CBS for several seasons as part of the S.W.A.T. cast, shared her thoughts. As the actress playing medical director Dr. Mary Morstan, Aytes said: Oh, such relief. I mean, every week we were getting the numbers and there's stress over that, and you try to just let it go and not think about it, but when we got the news, it was just a blessing. Just a relief to know that we can start preparing and thinking about the next. Considering that S.W.A.T. has been cancelled three times (and the latest is expected to stick), is it any wonder that Rochelle Aytes considers it a "relief" that Watson received such an early renewal? When I noted to the actress that I hadn't known how great the ratings averages were until CBS' renewal announcement, she responded: I didn't realize it either, because they count those streaming and I'm not really getting that information. So wow, a lot of people are watching! For Eve Harlow, Watson is her first venture back on network TV since the end of Fox's short-lived drama Next, also starring Mad Men's John Slattery. She has her own take on this show hitting big with viewers: That's right. People are watching. [laughs] No, it's very exciting. The team of people behind this are very passionate and very invested, and all have their hearts in the right place, and so it's cool to see that is resonating, and that audiences are invested and watching. Because we're all so invested. I'm just like, 'Oh my god, you care as much as I care? Cool!' It's always nice to see when your work is impacting people. The future is clearly bright for the show's longevity on CBS, with at least one more full season guaranteed. It remains to be seen if the network will bring it back before the end of the year as part of its fall TV lineup or keep it as a midseason series, but fans can look ahead to the upcoming finale without worrying too much. Of course, would it really be Watson if there wasn't something – or some people – to worry about ahead of the finale? After all, the show being guaranteed to come back doesn't mean that all the characters and positions will return as well, and "Take a Family History" on April 13 brings Ingrid's lies back to haunt her while Mary bonds with her ex over a tragedy. Per CBS, the episode that airs just one week later will have a treat for fans who have been enjoying Watson's twists on Sherlock Holmes lore, as Rachel Hayward has been cast to debut as Detective Lestrade in "The Man with the Alien Hand" on April 20. The logline reads: Watson is thrown into a detective case when he is unsure whether the patient he is treating for one of the most rare ailments in the world, alien hand syndrome, is guilty of pushing his brother in front of a bus to his death. The mysteries that Watson and the team faces are often contained within the body and whatever is affecting the patient of the week; the next episode will evidently pit them against the mystery of whether or not their patient is also a murderer. "Alien hand syndrome" sounds right up their usual alley, but a criminal case is less typical. That's bound to cause trouble, right? Paramount Plus: from $7.99 a month/$79.99 a yearWith Paramount+ as home to CBS TV shows like Watson and other primetime dramas, opt for its Essential plan or go ad-free and get double the catalog with Showtime through the Premium plan from $12.99 a month. Alternatively, get 12 months for the price of 10 with its annual Deal Well, if not, we can count on some complications from the following episode, called "The Dark Day Deduction" and airing on April 27. Randall Part returns as Moriarty, which I'm looking forward to as a fan of the show, but it's a safe bet that the character is less welcome to the majority of Watson's team. CBS' episode description reveals: Watson confronts a traumatic event from his Army days that still weighs heavily on him when his Army veteran friend's wife reaches out begging for help when her husband is seemingly having a psychotic break. Meanwhile, Shinwell is asked for one last favor by Moriarty. Does "one last favor" bode well for Shinwell and his unfortunate arrangement with Moriarty? Well, I for one am not going to take anything for granted where that character is concerned, and there's still the question of what Moriarty has planned for Ingrid ahead of the finale on May 11. Keep tuning in to CBS on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET for new episodes of Watson Season 1, since we can all count on much more than what the network gave away early via the episode descriptions. Plus, be sure to check back with CinemaBlend for more from Rochelle Aytes and Eve Harlow about the April 13 episode and what's on the way next.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
As CBS Confirms When Watson Will Return For Season 2, The Showrunner And Star Talk Getting To 'Go Bang' With The Life-Or-Death Finale
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. This is an exciting time in the 2025 TV schedule to be a fan of CBS' Watson, the freshman doctor/detective drama that quickly joined Justin Hartley's Tracker as a Sunday night hit. One episode is left this spring, as the show will wrap its two-part finale on May 11 before starting summer hiatus. Well, with just days left before the second half of the finale, CBS has confirmed when Morris Chestnut's series will be back, and I'd say it puts an added twist on what showrunner Craig Sweeny and actor Peter Mark Kendall told CinemaBlend. As part of CBS' 2025-2026 schedule announcement, the network revealed that Watson will once again be absent from fall premiere season and instead arrive as a midseason premiere. If the schedule is similar to the first season, that could mean the first episode of Season 2 around late January to mid February. There's no precise date just yet, but now we officially know when to expect John Watson and his whole team of doctors back: early 2026. That is, if we assume that the entire Season 1 team of doctors makes it to Season 2! Prior to the first half of the finale two-parter, Ingrid's future at the Holmes Clinic seemed like it was the most in jeopardy after an ultimatum from Mary, but "Your Life's Work, Part 1" changed all that. Both of the Croft twins are currently approaching death's door, and the team seemingly only has the resources to save one of them. (You can stream Part 1 with a Paramount+ subscription now.) The extra note of tragedy coming out of Moriarty engineering diseases specifically to the DNA of the doctors? His target was only Adam, and Stephens is now in danger simply due to sharing DNA with his twin. (Peter Mark Kendall plays both twins.) When I spoke with the creator/showrunner, Craig Sweeny weighed in on raising the stakes so high before the second half of the two-parter: It's wonderful [to get to do]. When you get to the point of a season finale, whether it's playing out over two parts or one part, as a writer, things kind of burn along with a slow fuse. And then you get to go bang! [laughs] In this finale, we really got to go bang. So it's just great. It's both the plot mechanics of what Moriarty has been up to and the emotional through lines just all come to a climax simultaneously. It's so nice to get to write finales. 10 out of 10, would recommend. After learning why Craig Sweeny cast Randall Park as Watson's big bad and then seeing the first half of the finale, it's easy to understand why the villain's plan qualifies as – to quote the EP – "scientifically accurate but also very scary way that feels like science fiction." At this point, nobody is this scarier for on Watson than the Croft twins. I can admit that Watson successfully had me convinced that one of the twins might die in the first half, with the brothers bonding and Stephens coming up with a surprisingly lovely take on death and the first law of thermodynamics. While I was fortunately wrong that anybody was dying in Part 1, the team may be one the verge of deciding which of the two is going to have to perish. Peter Mark Kendall is in the unique position of not necessarily being killed off the show even if his character is killed, by virtue of playing both twins. Kendall explained what it was like to perform both halves of that very emotional conversation before Adam fell into a coma in the previous episode, saying: I think that what served me the best was there not being so much time to overthink it. Making TV, making a procedural on a network is so hard, just because it moves so quickly. I think the exhaustion of it and the intensity of the schedule kind of didn't allow me to overthink things. It was really, really fun to show Stephens in that moment maybe occupying a different role that he hadn't played before, as the more comforting brother who takes care of the other. So it was really, really fun to see how these characters change throughout the season, but also in this very, very intense two-episode block of how they change from from beginning to end. Whether there will be a happy end to this two-parter remains to be seen, although at least fans can count on the show itself coming back for Season 2 in the 2025-2026 TV schedule. The team has the immediate problem of the ailing Croft twins to deal with, as well as the macro threat of Moriarty out there, potentially with the means to strike any or all of them down as well. Paramount Plus: from $7.99 a month/$79.99 a yearSubscribe to Paramount Plus for the first season of Watson now. Opt for its Essential plan or go ad-free and get double the catalog with Showtime through the Premium plan from $12.99 a month. Alternatively, get 12 months for the price of 10 with its annual Deal For his part, Peter Mark Kendall didn't spoil the fates of his character(s) in the finale, but he did make sure to credit the man who has worked as his on-set double on Watson for when the brothers have scenes with each other. The actor said: We had a really great guy named Riley Orr, who is the Croft double. It's a very kind of Herculean task of learning all the lines for both, learning all the blocking, showing up to do exactly what I have to do each day, and we couldn't do it. The process doesn't work without him. It's a big task, and we had someone who was great for it. Fortunately, the wait to find out who will still be around to return for Season 2 isn't much longer. The second half of the Season 1 finale event, called "Your Life's Work, Part 2" airs on May 11 at 9 p.m. ET on CBS, and it's a safe bet that fans won't want to miss it. Just check out the promo below: As for Season 2, Watson will return to Sunday nights in early 2026, but episodes will air at 10 p.m. ET instead of 9 p.m. ET, with the Yellowstone spinoff Y: Marshals taking the earlier slot after Tracker. Watson will therefore inherit the time slot formerly held by Queen Latifah's The Equalizer, which was cancelled after five seasons just days before its season finale.
