Screenshot of the event "FilmWeek & Chill: ‘Airplane!’" broadcasted on June 3, 2021.

The iconic 1980 film “Airplane!” from the ZAZ directing team, Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker parodies the plot and characters from the 1957 disaster flick “Zero Hour!” It broke out as a leading example of comedy done right and one of the funniest films of the 80s. It was the ZAZ team’s feature directorial debut. I talked with the directors during our virtual film series, FilmWeek and Chill, along with the film’s stars Robert Hays and Lorna Patterson Lembeck, casting director Joel Thurm and KPCC’s own Tim Cogshell and Christy Lemire. Today on FilmWeek, we bring you a portion of the conversation.

You can watch the entire FilmWeek and Chill event here.

Guests:

Jim Abrahams, co-director of “Airplane!” and member of the directing team Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker (ZAZ)

Tim Cogshell, film critic for KPCC, Alt-Film Guide and CineGods.com; he tweets @CinemaInMind

Robert Hays, actor who played Ted Striker in "Airplane!"

Lorna Lembeck, actress who played Randy the singing stewardess in “Airplane!”

Christy Lemire, film critic for KPCC, RogerEbert.com, and co-host of the “Breakfast All Day” podcast; she tweets @christylemire

Joel Thurm, casting director for "Airplane!"

David Zucker, co-director of “Airplane!” and member of the directing team Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker (ZAZ)

Jerry Zucker, co-director of “Airplane!” and member of the directing team Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker (ZAZ)

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

The 28th Urdu Drama Festival charmed the audience with the variety of themes and presentational styles.

Adam Gase eyeing Gang Green’s 2020 schedule is the highlight of comedian Frank Caliendo’s latest parody video featuring one of his favorite topics ... the NFL.

Adam Gase eyeing Gang Green’s 2020 schedule is the highlight of comedian Frank Caliendo’s latest parody video featuring one of his favorite topics ... the NFL.

The coronavirus pandemic has many of us nostalgic for a simpler time — maybe when we were teenagers and/or watching our favorite early oughts sitcoms. 

Actress Cobie Smulders seems to be feeling that itch, and sensed we are too. The former How I Met Your Mother actress decided to recreate her character Robin Scherbatsky's hit song from the series, "Let's Go to The Mall."

For those who need a refresher, "Let's Go to The Mall" was released during Robin's short career as a pop star (under the name Robin Sparkles) in her homeland of Canada. While it has all the flair of an '80s banger — jelly bracelets, worshipping the mall — it was released in the '90s because apparently that's when '80s culture reached Canada.  Read more...

The coronavirus pandemic has many of us nostalgic for a simpler time — maybe when we were teenagers and/or watching our favorite early oughts sitcoms. 

Actress Cobie Smulders seems to be feeling that itch, and sensed we are too. The former How I Met Your Mother actress decided to recreate her character Robin Scherbatsky's hit song from the series, "Let's Go to The Mall."

For those who need a refresher, "Let's Go to The Mall" was released during Robin's short career as a pop star (under the name Robin Sparkles) in her homeland of Canada. While it has all the flair of an '80s banger — jelly bracelets, worshipping the mall — it was released in the '90s because apparently that's when '80s culture reached Canada.  Read more...

Sia's video stars dancer Maddie Ziegler and stylist Tonya Brewer

Will Hislop engaged in a pretend argument with his neighbour, 'Karen', over whether one of them had broken lockdown rules

If this is what advertisers do to promote electric and hybrid cars, I may just go buy a TV.

Isn't It Romantic
U/A: Romantic comedy
Director: Todd Strauss-Schulson
Cast: Rebel Wilson, Adam DeVine, Liam Hemsworth, Priyanka Chopra Jonas
Ratings: 

How fresh can a rom-com be? Well, at least, Rebel Wilson attempts to lend a fresh perspective to the genre with Isn't It Romantic. It's interesting to witness how the film's writers have parodied the commercial prism through which love is depicted on celluloid.

Wilson plays Natalie, a closeted rom-com lover who wears the irreverent 'Love-is-bulls**t' veil to hide her softer side. After suffering a head injury from being mugged, she wakes up in an alternate universe - one that is straight out of a rom-com where the roses are brighter, her apartment resembles the enviable houses that are featured in glossies and she, too, is a peachier version of herself. Even her dog is less mischievous and better groomed.

But instead of being delighted at the situation, Natalie feels suffocated with the perfection around her. With its sharp writing, the film gets across the larger message that love isn't all peaches and cream in real life.

You can play spot-the-rom-com too -there are several references to major hits like Pretty Woman (1990) and La La Land (2016). The comedy offers more than its share of fun moments; my favourite is the scene where Blake (Liam Hemsworth) walks out of the shower and it is suggested that Natalie had spent the night with him. But like in the movies, the steamy details are snipped - a deliberate play on the inherent need to keep the rom-coms clean, never upping the passion despite it being an integral part of romance. The writers' ability to question the romanticism around happily-ever-after without letting the grime of cynicism seep in, is commendable.

Wilson does a top notch job of headlining a cast of fine actors - Liam Hemsworth, Adam DeVine and our very own Priyanka Chopra Jonas. For the desis, the last song and dance sequence will be a brutal reminder that we haven't seen her in a Bollywood film in four years. This dose of mush attack is strongly recommended; at least, it doesn't let you lose sight of logic in the face of love.

Watch trailer:

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He's been parodying the Kardashian-Jenners for years, expertly Photoshopping himself into their images for the amusement of 1.2million Instagram followers.

Kim Kardashian has shared several images to promote the re-stock of her Fits Everybody. And on Thursday the 39-year-old TV staple posted another alluring image.

Presented in the form of a movie trailer titled 'A Conway Marriage Story', the skit imagines the couple talking through their relationship, with Scarlett Johansson starring as their therapist.

Missy Modell, 33, changed the lyrics to Gaga's 2008 song. The New Yorkers sings about quarantine, painting Dr. Fauci's TV appearances as a bright spot.

Kourtney Kardashian had a small role in an episode of One Life To Live back in 2011. And the 41-year-old made her return to scripted TV with a cameo in Lil Dicky's FX series Dave.

Kylie played the role of her own big sister Kendall Jenner and Stassi took on the role of their momager Kris Jenner from a 2017 episode

Brian Earl Taylor, 25, spent three and a half years in prison for pressing a gun into a man's stomach while trying to rob him in Washtenaw County, Michigan back in 2015.

Written by composer and lyricist Andrew Lippa, the song tells the story from the perspective of Baskin, who may or may not have fed her husband Don to a tiger.

Mark Wahlberg's model wife Rhea Durham and ten-year-old daughter Grace jumped on the Tiger King Carole Baskin TikTok craze, inspired by the hit Netflix docu-series on Thursday.

Australian singer Sia Furler showed off her wild side as she twerked along to a Tiger King-themed parody of Savage by Megan Thee Stallion.

Taking to his parody account on Facebook, <em>Chachaji</em> narrated a fictional incident, trying to justify why Elon had come up with such a name. Or what is the unavoidable future consequence of this.

If Deadpool taught Hollywood anything, it’s that audiences want more hard-R superheroes. Wade cursed, you paid, and 20th Century Fox listened. Here’s the (unfortunately not real) trailer for the studio’s much more NSFW X-Men: Apocalypse.

Barker Library - BR115.H6 W5425 2018