Latest news with #TheLoneRanger
Mint
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
'King of the Hill' voice actor Jonathan Joss shot dead by neighbour after argument in Texas
Actor Jonathan Joss, widely recognised for voicing John Redcorn in the animated series 'King of the Hill', has died after being shot multiple times by a neighbour in San Antonio, Texas. The incident took place on Sunday night at a home on the city's south side. According to the San Antonio Police Department and witnesses, Joss and his neighbour became involved in a heated argument that quickly turned violent. Eyewitnesses say the dispute escalated, and the neighbour pulled out a gun and fired several shots at the actor before fleeing the scene in a vehicle. Emergency services were called shortly after, with officers responding to a report of a shooting in progress. Based on witness descriptions, police located the suspect's vehicle just a block away and arrested the man without further incident. His identity has not yet been made public. Joss was pronounced dead at the scene. Police are continuing their investigation and have not released details about what sparked the argument. The suspect is currently in custody and facing charges related to the shooting. Jonathan Joss was known for his work in both television and film, often portraying Native American characters with dignity and depth. In addition to 'King of the Hill', he appeared in films such as 'The Lone Ranger' and 'Casino Jack'. He also landed a big part in 'Parks and Recreation' as Chief Ken Hotate. And he had small roles in TV shows such as 'Tulsa King,' 'Ray Donovan,' and films like 'True Grit' and 'The Magnificent Seven.'
Calgary Herald
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Calgary Herald
Talk radio: Rose Scollard revisits radio plays with new book, Love and War Western Style
Article content When Calgary playwright Rose Scollard and her family moved from Ireland to rural Ontario in 1948, their first family home was less than luxurious. Article content It was the upper floor of a house outside of River Canard, a small hamlet south of Windsor, Ont. There was no running water. A pot-bellied coal stove was used to cook all the meals and was the only source of heat. Scollard's father thought he had landed an office job in Ontario working as a clerk for the Ford plant. But upon the family's arrival, he discovered it had fallen through. It was October, and it was already cold and snowy that year. So Scollard's parents dipped into what was left of their savings to buy warm clothing for the kids and a few pots and pans. Article content Article content Article content Scollard, who was born in a small town in Northern Ireland in 1939, had spent her early childhood listening to British radio programs during the war years. The family would gather around the 'wireless', as it was then known, in her grandparents' house. Being without a radio seemed unimaginable. Article content '(My father) couldn't get a job and there wasn't much housing available, either, so we had to go live out in the country,' says Scollard, in an interview from her home in Calgary. 'We lived on this lonely road at the top of this old house with no plumbing. But there was electricity. They bought a few bits of furniture and a radio. That's what got us through the winter.' Article content Scollard's father eventually found a job on the railroad, and the family built a new home. It was still in the country, and the family suffered through a few weeks with no electricity and no radio. One day, when trudging home from school, Scollard and her sister saw the porch light alit at their home. Radio was back in their lives, as was the melodramatic radio programs from Detroit such as Lux Radio Theatre, The Philip Morris Playhouse, The Shadow, The Lone Ranger and Boston Blackie. Article content Article content In 1953, Scollard's family followed some of their neighbours' lead and purchased a television. Radio offered access to a new world for Scollard, a lifeline and way to connect to a new country. For her, television was less miraculous. Article content 'I found it very flat and uninteresting because you weren't doing that imaginative work,' she says. Article content It's hardly surprising that radio drama became a part of Scollard's creative DNA, even if opportunities to write them weren't abundant. For a brief period in the 1990s, Scollard wrote radio plays for CBC. Her first was an adaptation of a sci-fi/horror play, The Chosen, that CBC producer and writer Mark Schoenberg had seen at the Edmonton Fringe Festival and commissioned for Vanishing Point, a drama series. Article content Scollard says writing radio plays was the most fun she has ever had in her professional career, which has included a long run in the theatre, founding the women-centred theatre company Maenad Productions, and co-founding literary press Frontenac House with her husband, David. Unlike with live theatre, most of the production headaches were taken care of by CBC's technicians and director Martie Fishman at the studios on Westmount Boulevard. There were no opening-night jitters because, for the most part, it was all pre-recorded.
Boston Globe
18-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
An old favorite and an oddity from the BSO
How do you solve a problem like Dmitri? Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up According to music director Andris Nelsons and the BSO's performance on Thursday, you don't, and you probably leave with more questions than you had going in, but that isn't a bad thing. Take that 'William Tell' giddy-up refrain: Is Shostakovich dreaming of childhood fantasies, a la 'The Lone Ranger'? Could he be calling on something from the Tell legend itself: the brave folk hero standing up against a tyrannical ruler, or the rage and terror any parent would feel if their child might be in danger? Shostakovich never provided definitive answers, and Nelsons and the BSO reveled in those ambiguities throughout the evening's colorful performance. Advertisement The BSO has only performed this oddball piece a few times throughout its history, and with it they paired one of the most-performed standards in the symphonic repertoire: Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4, with the distinguished Mitsuko Uchida at the keyboard. Uchida's professional career has long since passed the half-century mark, and her repertoire selective but deep; no to much of the grand Russian repertoire, yes to Mozart, Schoenberg, Schubert, and Beethoven. She has also had a lengthy association with teaching and directing Vermont's summer Marlboro Music Festival, which has many alumni in the BSO, and there was a distinct current of mutual admiration and respect in the air as Uchida took the stage. From the keyboard, Uchida conjured an elegant interpretation on the classic concerto, sculpting her phrases with subtle rounded edges and bell-like intonation while making judicious, measured use of the sustain pedal. (Her pedalwork was easily visible even from the balcony thanks to her eye-catching silver shoes, which seem to be a signature piece in her closet.) Trills were as relentless and percussive as spring rain, and just as invigorating. Andris Nelsons conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Shostakovich's Symphony No. 15 on April 17, 2025. Hilary Scott/BSO In the second movement, when the orchestra faces off with the pianist in answering and overlapping statements, Nelsons and the BSO almost seemed to be goading the soloist, as if seeing what it would take to interrupt her calm contemplation; Uchida remained unassailable, answering with delicacy. Even the lively third movement was genteel in her hands, sparkling with bemused warmth. The audience appealed for an encore, and Uchida declined with a smile. After intermission, the Shostakovich symphony began with sounds of percussion clockwork, and Nelsons deftly conducted the mercurial first movement, leading the orchestra through delicate atonal latticework and the recurring 'William Tell' theme with equal confidence and momentum. In the second movement, the whole world briefly reduced itself to the sound coming from principal cellist Blaise Déjardin, as his instrument became a lonely and all too human voice crying out — first against stony silence, then versus even stonier chords from the brass section. Concertmaster Nathan Cole also proved his Shostakovich bona fides more than once, contributing sinewy and sweetly sardonic solo passages at several junctures. If Cole ever plays either of Shostakovich's violin concertos, with the BSO or any other orchestra, I'll be first in line for a ticket. Advertisement Through his career, Shostakovich was fond of the musical form passacaglia, which places gradually evolving harmonic variations over a repeated bassline, and the leadup to the finale of the 15th Symphony features a particularly intense example. As the BSO approached its emotional apex, the sound itself felt somehow blinding, the stage too bright to look at directly. Leipzig, if you're reading this, you might want to pack some sunglasses. BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA At Symphony Hall April 17. Repeats April 19. A.Z. Madonna can be reached at
Buzz Feed
23-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
23 Movies Everyone Thought Would Be Huge That Majorly Flopped
We're all guilty of it. We see a movie trailer. We get hyped. Then, we get let down. We all have different opinions, but sometimes, the majority shows in ratings or box office numbers. There have been numerous hyped-up films that have fallen flat among audiences. Here are 23 movies that had MAJOR hype but flopped hard: 1. John Carter Before Disney acquired the Star Wars franchise and before they released Guardians of the Galaxy, the big budget sci-fi vision of John Carter launched. The film was quite popular overseas, but didn't get enough of a cult following, nor good reviews, to warrant anything beyond the lone film. It didn't help that the budget was a staggering $250 million. 3. Warner Bros. Pictures / The hype was real for the follow-up to Patty Jenkins's Wonder Woman. The first film made $823 million worldwide, and the sequel only made $169 million worldwide. Enough said. There was so much that went wrong with 1984, but it's safe to say veering away from what worked in the first one was a huge factor in its shortcomings. This failed sequel totally derailed the one good thing going for the DC Universe. 4. The Lone Ranger Walt Disney Pictures With Jerry Bruckheimer and Johnny Depp back together after the success of the Pirates of the Caribean franchise, The Lone Ranger seemed like it would be the next funny adventure flick with a big budget. Along with the controversial casting of Depp as Tonto, the movie just didn't get the same following as the Pirates movies. Box office numbers were fine, and it made its money back worldwide, but I'm sure Disney wasn't happy with just breaking even. 5. Speed Racer Warner Bros. Pictures Fast cars. Intense action. John Goodman with a mustache. This movie had fun written all over it. With a campy story and even campier CGI, general audiences couldn't accept this as a family film, causing it to flop. That, and a lot of other flaws. It did gain a fanbase that swears by this movie, but the majority had spoken, causing a net loss of an estimated $30 million. 7. Pan Warner Bros. Pictures What can I say about Pan? The movie didn't have happy thoughts and failed to take off. With a whopping $150 million budget, the film grossed only $129 million internationally. It also included an infamous rendition of the Nirvana song "Smells Like Teen Spirit," which made as much sense as making a Peter Pan origin story. Powered By 8. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword Warner Bros. Pictures Ren Faire Medieval flicks have an underrated aesthetic in cinema, so an action-packed King Arthur movie sounded like easy money for a blockbuster. What the hell went wrong? Marketing? Perhaps the supernatural elements hurt the movie along with the unengaging story. Whatever the reasoning was, this $175 million film had a domestic opening weekend of $15million. YIKES. 9. Mulan Walt Disney Pictures / Disney decided to bring the popular animated film Mulan to live-action. No way it was a cash grab, though, right? I'll say this. It had a ton of flaws, but its worst sin (and I said this after seeing the trailers for the first time) is that Disney took a grounded character known for showing a young girl who could use her wit and passion to win the day into a supernatural crap show. 10. Dolittle Universal Pictures Robert Downey Jr. in the legendary role of the title character should've been enough to pull kids in to this adventure flick with talking animals. Iron Man AND talking animals? How did this not work? Perhaps the pandemic is to blame, but I'd also blame marketing, because this film flew under the radar. The film was a bust domestically with a $175 million budget, only making $77 million. I personally forgot it existed, so I would DEF blame the pandemic. 11. Jupiter Ascending Warner Bros. Pictures A sci-fi love story? Sign us up. That's what people thought, at least, with the release of Jupiter Ascending, but it fell short on delivering what the trailer had promised. Another sci-fi bomb? You bet. The film never really found legs with viewers and was a mixed bag of everything from effects, acting, and writing that left fans disappointed. 12. Ghost in the Shell Paramount Pictures The original 1995 animated cyberpunk film is considered one of the best Japanese animations ever. A US adaptation with a big star like Scarlett Johansson sounds like it would become the next sci-fi hit. The film was troubled from the start, with accusations of whitewashing the lead role. Johansson's star power wasn't enough to make this a hit at the box office, making $40 million domestically on a $110 million budget. Critics and audiences alike gave the film a big thumbs down. So, like everything on this list, a movie has to deliver quality no matter how "can't miss" the concept is. 13. A Wrinkle in Time Walt Disney StudiosMotion Pictures / A Wrinkle in Time is widely regarded as one of the most popular children's books ever written. So with a talented director like Ava DuVernay and an impressive cast, it should've been a hit. It's always easier said than done when it comes to transforming pages into a talking picture. The film didn't pull enough kids in to make it one of those classic children's book adaptations. It made an embarrassing total of $33.3 million on a $103 million budget. 14. Mortal Engines Universal Pictures Everyone wants to stick the landing on the big-money Young Adult fiction adaptation. Mortal Engines looked very promising. It seemed to check many boxes for what works in a blockbuster. Overall, the story and move to the big screen weren't enough to garner a legitimate fanbase for the cinematic adaptation. The movie failed to meet its budget ($100 million) at the box office, losing almost $20 millon worldwide. 15. Gemini Man Paramount Pictures I love a good sci-fi action movie, and Gemini Man looked very original. Ang Lee, Will Smith, and a slowed version of the song "Forever Young" in the trailer made everything about Gemini Man feel like a blockbuster waiting to happen. The film failed to capture a domestic audience. It made $48.5 millon in the States from a $138 million budget. 16. Suicide Squad (2016) Warner Bros. Pictures / The moment the trailer dropped, people were already ready to love this movie. It had all the trappings of something people would obsess over back in the "Tumblr Internet" days. Oof. The film didn't quite stick the landing. The script was filled with memes, including a performance by Jared Leto that I would best describe as a person doing a Heath Ledger Joker impression by memory after watching Ace Ventura. 17. Napoleon Sony Pictures / After the success of Joker, Academy Award-winning Actor Joaquin Phoenix was cast to play Napoleon Bonaparte, which sounded like a slam dunk and Oscar Bait 101. Oh, and Ridley Scott was at the helm. The unofficial budget was estimated to range from $130 million to $200 million, and the film made $61 million domestically. Besides the movie not being well-received by critics and audiences, one has to wonder if international figures in an expensive epic will ever do well in the states. 18. Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief 20th Century Fox / Woo! An adaptation that honors the source material! I'll keep this one short. The 2010 Percy Jackson movie was one of the most despised kid's books ever to hit the silver screen. Powered By 19. Clash of the Titans Warner Bros. Pictures How do the Titans clash? With a sick trailer with wild visuals. The promise of a reimagined classic. Liam Neeson as Zeus and Ralph Fiennes. What the hell could go wrong? A lot, apparently. Perhaps it was a mix of the story and the acting, but the movie was far from critically acclaimed despite earning enough for a sequel. 20. The Losers Warner Bros. Pictures Action movies were HUGE at the start of the turn of the century, and the adaptation of the popular Vertigo comic book series The Losers had all the trappings of a hit. The cast was loaded with big names at the time, such as Jeffery Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Idris Elba, and Chris Evans. Despite being a cheap film to make at $25 million, it failed to make it back domestically ($23.6 million). The rag-tag-team formula worked for many other action/adventure flicks, which would truly take off with the release of Guardians of the Galaxy four years later, but this movie failed to bring in an audience. 21. The Last Airbender Paramount Pictures The film adaptation of the popular Nickelodeon show boasted a live-action trailer that screamed potential with impressive CGI for the time and the right vibes for the big screen. The final product wasn't great, but much criticism could go toward cramming a season's content into one film. The casting choices also earned plenty of criticism for white-washing. Although it made its money back worldwide, the film didn't break even domestically, earning about $132 million on a $150 million budget. 22. Prometheus 20th Century Fox You had to be there for the hype surrounding this movie trailer. It seemed to offer a bold new vision for the prequel to the Alien franchise. Despite the film earning a sequel, the story left fans of the original franchise disappointed. Overall, the film left more questions than answers for the hardcore fans. It wasn't a box office flop worldwide but failed to meet its $130 million budget domestically (earning $126 million domestically). 23. And lastly, The Wolfman Universal Pictures / This howling period piece brought impressive effects and makeup that presented the Wolfman in a terrifying new light. The film was promoted well and the hype for the classic movie monsters returned to horror circles. For whatever reason, the movie did not connect with fans. The film pulled an abysmal $61.9 million domestically from a $150 million budget. I'll never forgive society for not getting behind this film and getting the Universal Monsters in the same style. Watch the extended edition!
