Welcome back to our series Rembert Explains the '80s. Every so often, we'll e-mail 25-year-old Rembert Browne a video from the 1980s that he hasn't seen. Rembert will write down his thoughts as he's watching the video, then we'll post those thoughts here. This week's installment was selected by Grantland reader Benjamin Ramm: Bill Russell on Miami Vice. If you have an idea for a future episode of Rembert Explains the '80s, e-mail us at hollywood@grantland.com.
Welcome back to our series Rembert Explains the '80s. Every so often, we'll e-mail 25-year-old Rembert Browne a video from the 1980s that he hasn't seen. Rembert will write down his thoughts as he's watching it, then we'll post those thoughts here. This week's installment was selected by Grantland reader Lee T. Guzofski: "Heartbeat" by Don Johnson. If you have an idea for a future episode of Rembert Explains the '80s, e-mail us at hollywood@grantland.com.
It's obvious that the team behind Eastbound & Down are fans of Michael Mann's '80s archetypal series Miami Vice — the casting of Don Johnson as Señor Powers Sr. is just one of many shout-outs to Mann's sweaty Southern neon noir. Herewith, a tribute to Don "Eduardo Sanchez" Johnson and all things Miami Vice.
"The cop show just graduated to the '80s." A reel of every NBC (old slogan: "Let's all be there!") promo commercial for Miami Vice. "Feel it coming this fall."
Editor's Note: Welcome to our series, Rembert Explains the '80s. Every so often, we'll e-mail 24-year-old Rembert Browne a video from the 1980s that he hasn't seen. Rembert will write down his thoughts as he's watching it, then we'll post those thoughts here. This week's installment was selected by our editor-in-chief, Bill Simmons: a segment from the Miami Vice episode "Return Of Calderone." If you have an idea for a future episode of Rembert Explains the '80s, e-mail us at hollywood@grantland.com.
Simmons Note: "Return of Calderone" is the greatest two-part episode of all time.
Rembert Note: Simmons has obviously never seen the hilarious two-part episode of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air when Trevor proposes to Hilary via televised bungee jump and then, you know, dies.
Shia LaBeouf has joined an untitled indie project from new production house Lava Bear Films. Wait, ready for this? The movie revolves around a troubled girl who encounters a 20-foot-tall next-door neighbor, played by LaBeouf. Just that plot description has already entertained us more than Transformers, Transformers 2, and large swaths of Transformers 3. Grade: B+ [Showblitz]
Steven Soderbergh’s Liberace movie has been in the works for years, and now it’s got both a home and big-name lead actors. HBO has picked up Behind the Candelabra and set Michael Douglas to star as Liberace, with Matt Damon playing his live-in lover Scott Thorson; the movie will revolve around their relationship. This is great news and everything, but now we’re going to have to come up with a new title for our candelabra documentary. Grade: A [HR]
Or, rather, will it be a supporting vampire, or a supporting werewolf? With its plentiful stock of wolfcake and bloodsuckers, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 is a bonanza for a category that’s often among the Razzies’ most predictable. Due to a fluke of scheduling, though, the name-brand Supporting Actors the Razzies typically love — Burt Reynolds, Marlon Wayans, Verne Troyer, Jon Voight, and (of course) Rob Schneider — have zero movies due to be released in 2011. That means some fresh Razzie meat come January 23!
Will Jackson Rathbone follow up his shocking Razzie win last year with another nomination? Might Taylor Lautner have better luck in Supporting Actor than he did in Worst Actor last year, when he lost to Ashton Kutcher? What about Kellan Lutz as vampire Emmett, the most bloodless of the bunch? Or Michael Sheen as Aro, who seems prepared to devour the scenery like so many shrieking coeds? Or Jamie Campbell Bower, who … uh … we can’t remember who “Caius” is. At any rate, they’re all front-runners, so let’s put them there.
