October 23, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

iStock/filadendron (LOS ANGELES) — Available for streaming rental Friday is Friendsgiving, a movie about a chaotic Thanksgiving celebration where almost nothing goes right.

The film features an all-star cast, including Kat Dennings, Aisha Tyler, Chelsea Peretti, Jane Seymour, Wanda Sykes, Margaret Cho and Billions actress Malin Akerman, who feels like chaos is something she missed out on at her family holidays.

“I love good chaos, good crazy, good chaos.  I love a lot of people.  I didn’t grow up in much chaos, she tells ABC Audio.  “I came from sort of a split up family, so smaller little gatherings. And so I really enjoy, especially with an abundance of friends.

Friendsgiving writer Nicol Paone agrees, explaining, “That getting together around a table with people that you love is one of the best experiences in life.  And I think, well, we’ve all maybe taking it for granted due to COVID[-19].  And I hope that we get back there.”

For co-star Aisha Tyler, that means chowing down on her mother’s home cooking.

“My mom makes candied yams, which I think is the black version of sweet potato casserole. That’s my favorite thing. It has like two pounds of butter in it and the edges are all crispy and caramelized.  So that is my favorite thing,” she says.

October 22, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Tero Vesalainen/iStock(LONDON) — The scariest movie of all time has long been up for debate, but a new study conducted by Broad Band Choices may help put the matter to rest.  

The London-based company conducted a test dubbed “The Science of Scare” with 50 horror fans, placing heart monitors on them as they watched several scary movies to see which ones got fans’ blood pumping the most. 

According to the results, the 2012 film Sinister, starring Ethan Hawke as a true-crime writer who investigates a series of chilling murders carried out by an evil force, spooked fans the most.

While humans have an average resting heartbeat of around 65 beats per minute, Sinister viewers had an average heart rate of 86 beats per minute, with the highest spike reaching 131.

Coming in second is 2010’s Insidious, which also saw an average heart rate of 85 BPM and a highest spike of 133 BPM.  The Conjuring, Hereditary and Paranormal Activity take the 3rd, 4th and 5th-place slots, respectively.

Rounding out the top 20 are modern hits including John Krasinski’s smash horror flick A Quiet Place and 2016’s Hush, along with classics like Halloween, Scream, A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Exorcist.

By Cillea Houghton
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

October 22, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Netflix(LOS ANGELES) — The star-studded guest list for Sarah Cooper: Everything’s Fine keeps growing. 

Netflix announced today that comedian Sarah Cooper’s upcoming variety show will feature appearances by Helen Mirren, Aubrey Plaza, Ben Stiller, Jane Lynch and Whoopi Goldberg, along with “Savage” superstar Megan Thee Stallion.

They join previously announced guest stars Jon Hamm, Marisa Tomei and Fred Armisen.

Other cast members include Danielle Brooks of Orange Is the New Black fame, Queer Eye‘s Jonathan Van Ness, Connie Chung and Winona Rider. 

Cooper went viral this spring with her popular parody videos impersonating President Donald Trump and other political figures.

Natasha Lyonne directs the special and also co-produces it with Maya Rudolph and Danielle Renfrew Behrens.

Sarah Cooper: Everything’s Fine premieres on Netflix October 27.

By Cillea Houghton
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

October 22, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Universal Pictures(LOS ANGELES) — Tom Hanks shares the News of the World in the new trailer for his upcoming film. 

Set in the late 1800s, it stars Hanks as Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a veteran and storyteller who travels the United States sharing  tales from across the globe. 

Along his travels, he encounters a young girl abandoned in the woods named Johanna, played by 12-year-old German actress Helena Zengel, who was taken by the Kiowa tribe after the killed her immediate family. Kidd takes it upon himself to trek across the dangerous terrain to return her to her living family members.  Along their trip, the two cross paths with intense storms and shady characters, all the while forming a special bond. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, these are stories of men and women very much like you, waiting for better days to come,” Hanks says in narration as epic action shots flash across the screen. 

News of the World sees the Oscar-winning actor reuniting with writer and director Paul Greengrass, who also directed 2013’s Academy Award-nominated Captain Phillips, in which Hanks starred.

News of the World premieres in theaters on December 25.

By Cillea Houghton
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

October 22, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Noam Galai/Getty Images for HISTORY(LOS ANGELES) — Matthew McConaughey is opening about his past experiences of sexual abuse. 

The Academy Award-winning actor shares in his new memoir Greenlights that he was sexually abused multiple times as a teenager. 

“I was blackmailed into having sex for the first time when I was 15. I was certain I was going to hell for the premarital sex. Today, I am merely certain that I hope that’s not the case,” McConaughey details in the book, according to Variety. 

He explains another incident that occurred when he was 18 and was molested by a man as he was “knocked unconscious in the back of a van.” 

In spite of the traumatic experiences, the actor focuses on the positive in life and does not let it hinder on his happiness. 

“I’ve never felt like a victim. I have a lot of proof that the world is conspiring to make me happy,” he says. 

Greenlights is available now.

By Cillea Houghton
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.