By Drew Grant 4/16 11:06am

Movie premieres

Mark Wahlberg at The Cinema Society's Pain and Gain premiere.

Mark Wahlberg Puts on a Brave Face for Pain and Gain Premiere; Smokey Meets His Match

Last night, at The Cinema Society & Men’s Fitness after party for the premiere of Pain and Gain, Broadway stars Charl Brown and Ariana DeBose were still coming off their high from the night before, when they debuted Motown: The Musical in front of an audience full of the performers being played onstage.

“It was creepy, but also awesome,” said Charl Brown of meeting his real-life counterpart as revelers sipped Qui cocktails. Read More

By Rex Reed 6/26/12 5:00pm

movies

Wahlberg and Ted (voiced by MacFarlane) in Ted.

Ted the Triumphant: MacFarlane’s Silver Screen Debut Tickles This Critic’s Fancy

Wonders never cease. Who ever dreamed I could (or would, even on a dare) sit through a two-hour movie about Mark Wahlberg and a talking teddy bear? Or that I would (or could, even at gunpoint) possibly enjoy it so much? But here is Ted—a genre-screwing Donnybrook that defies description and guarantees, I swear, open-mouthed hilarity. It is refreshingly oblivious to the kind of political correctness that is going to be the death of us all. It is rude, raunchy and repellent to the point of almost being a send-up of the Farrelly Brothers, Judd Apatow, Adam Sandler and the rest of the ozone polluters giving movies a bad name. (Address your complaints to the nearest sewer.) It contains dialogue and depicts situations that cannot be described in a family newspaper—including the ones that are read only by the Addams family. It has nudity, profanity and X-rated detritus unsuitable for anyone with an I.Q. of 50. It is also creative, adorable, ingenious and devilishly, thigh-slappingly hilarious. Do not take my pulse. It must be the heat. Read More

By Drew Grant 5:35pm

Mark Wahlberg

Mark Wahlberg (Getty Images)

Mark Wahlberg’s Punishment for 9/11 Comments: Helping with the 9/11 Memorial Museum?

If we were Mark Wahlberg‘s handlers this week, the absolute last thing we’d want to give him was another platform to talk about the September 11th. He’s already apologized for the comments he made to Men’s Journal– you know, where he implied that if he’d been on a plane that was hijacked in 2001 (which he should have been, had he not switched his ticket last moment), “it wouldn’t have went down like it did,” and that “there would have been a lot of blood in that first-class cabin and then me saying, ‘OK, we’re going to land somewhere safely, don’t worry,’” –which really should be the end of the matter. Let’s all forget about Mark Wahlberg and any (fake) connection he has to that tragic day in U.S. history.

Except that some of the families who lost a member on September 11th think that a more fitting way to make amends would be to use his star power to attract visitors to the 9/11 Memorial Museum. Read More

By Drew Grant 1/19/12 3:28pm

Mark Wahlberg

Mark Wahlberg does not know how to fly a plane. (Getty Images)

Mark Wahlberg Apologizes for Indulging 9/11 Fantasy in Men’s Journal

Yesterday Men’s Journal published some tantalizing quotes from their Mark “Is Anyone Else Still Wondering About That Third Nipple?” Wahlberg profile. Quotes in which Mr. Entourage speculated on how he would have kicked some terrorist ass, had he been on the planes during the September 11th hijacking.

“If I was on that plane with my kids, it wouldn’t have went down like it did,” he said in the piece. “There would have been a lot of blood in that first-class cabin and then me saying, ‘OK, we’re going to land somewhere safely, don’t worry.’”

Responding to some less-than-positive feedback for his “grandstanding” (to put it mildly), Mr. Wahlberg apologized today in a statement released to the press. Read More

By Rex Reed 12/08/09 9:57pm

A Nightmare on Their Street

The Lovely Bones
Running time 135 minutes
Written by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson
Directed by Peter Jackson
Starring  Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci

I’m no fan of Peter Jackson, but as much as I hated the 2005 remake of King Kong and all of those silly, Read More

By Christopher Rosen 8/06/09 1:17pm

Single Person’s Movie: Three Kings

It’s 2 a.m. and you awake with a jerk, alone in your fully lit apartment and still on the couch. On TV, the credits of some movie you’ve already seen a billion times are scrolling by. It feels like rock bottom. And we know, because we’re just like you: single.

Need a movie to Read More

By Christopher Rosen 4/21/09 12:12pm

Christian Bale: The Consummate Co-Star

We have to hand it to Christian Bale. For as long as we could remember, he was always a conundrum: a brilliant actor that seemed to actively sabotage his stardom by appearing in mostly limited-appeal dreck. Then, something fascinating happened: Caught up in the wave of counterintuitive superhero casting choices—you can thank Tobey Read More