Oh, Joni…oh Joni Joni Joni. Joni Mitchell is being honored by the Luminato Festival in Toronto, in her native Canada June 18 & 19, and to coincide with that, she’s given several interviews, one to the Toronto Star, and also this lengthy interview filmed at her rustic Los Angeles home, with Jian Ghomeshi of the … Continue Reading →
Poptropolis
Detroit News entertainment writers blog about movies, music, television and pop culture
Neil Patrick Harris skewers Motown boss Gordy in edgy Tonys intro
Nobody does awards shows better than the American Theater Wing’s Tony Awards. Sunday night’s show featured Neil Patrick Harris in his fourth outing as host, and the opener put the Oscars to shame, permanently. As Harris sang, at one point, “On Broadway we don’t need extreme close-ups to prove that we’re singing live” — and … Continue Reading →
Robert Downey Jr.: The money machine
Well, this weekend proved it: Robert Downey Jr. is the world’s biggest movie star. Let’s look at some quick numbers. Downey has made nine films since the first “Iron Man” in 2008. Of those nine, eight have earned more than $100 million at the domestic box office. Four have topped $200 million domestically. Six of … Continue Reading →
'Iron Man 3,' 'Avengers' directors: Experience isn't everything
Experience isn’t everything. Neither is prior success. The box office this weekend should prove that once and for all. For the second year in a row the summer blockbuster season is being kicked off with a huge Marvel movie starring Robert Downey Jr. And for the second year in a row that Marvel movie has … Continue Reading →
TV: Living with content overload
At this point television is dealing with an age-old question: Is it possible to have too much of a good thing? Obviously television has too much of a bad thing. The medium has always produced plenty of swill and the boom in fake reality shows, cooking competitions and blatant rubbernecking over the past decade has … Continue Reading →
5 Kris Kross videos that aren't 'Jump'
Chris Kelly, one-half of ’90s backwards-clothes-wearing rap duo Kris Kross, died in Atlanta Wednesday of a possible drug overdose. He was 34. Kris Kross was best known for its No. 1 hit “Jump,” and although that was the group’s only Top 10 hit, the duo was not a one-hit-wonder. Kris Kross released three albums, ending … Continue Reading →
What me worry? The anxious films of summer
From the look of this summer’s movie offerings, we are a very worried world. Apocalyptic possibilities are everywhere, from the zombie virus threatening mankind in “World War Z” (June 21) to gargantuan alien monsters rising up from the oceans in “Pacific Rim” (July 12). And you can be sure that each of this summer’s superhero … Continue Reading →
20 lessons learned at Coachella 2013
Coachella 2013 is in the books. The three-day music experience drew some 200,000 sun-baked music fans to the Southern California desert over two weekends this month, officially kicking off the annual festival season while reaffirming its place at the top of the modern American festival landscape. There are plenty of lessons to be learned from … Continue Reading →
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. gets an 8-bit remix
This is great. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.’s “If You Didn’t See Me (Then You Weren’t on the Dance Floor),” already one of the most joyous songs to be released this year, has been remixed to sound like the soundtrack of an 8-bit video game. (I would have called it the Rygar Remix, but that’s just … Continue Reading →
Some box office trends, by the numbers
The average cost to a family of four attending a pro-football game in 2012 was $313.52. That same family going to a theme park could expect to pay $199. By comparison, the admission cost of taking a family of four to a movie was on average $31.84. This price comparison comes courtesy of the Motion … Continue Reading →