Movies

Will Smith is not ignoring the elephant in the room -- there's a scene in his new 'Bad Boys' movie where he's repeatedly slapped, a pretty clear nod to his infamous Chris Rock moment ... but the question is why now?

Early reviews for "Bad Boys: Ride or Die" are trickling out with the action flick hitting theaters Thursday night ... and word is Will's character, Mike Lowry, gets slapped multiple times by Martin Lawrence's character, Marcus Burnett.

The slap scene is supposedly near the film's climax, and it sounds like there are a few layers to the joke. Detective Burnett keeps calling his partner, "bad boy" while slapping him in the face.

Pharrell Williams is maximizing his love for LEGO, using it to tell his career in motion picture form -- and several of his fellow artists got transformed into the toys to bring the film to life!

Skateboard P and Focus Features released the official trailer Thursday for his upcoming biopic, "Piece by Piece" ... led by Academy Award-winning director Morgan Neville, the film is a cross between "The Lego Movie" and the old VH-1 series, "Behind the Music."

Interviews were shot largely during the COVID-19 pandemic, and they wrangled some big ones -- Kendrick Lamar, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Gwen Stefani, Busta Rhymes, Jay-Z, N.O.R.E., Teddy Riley and Snoop Dogg all make cameos.

On top of that, the flick will also feature new music!!!

Gabourey Sidibe has a precious update to announce ... she's welcomed twins with husband Brandon Frankel -- a couple months ago.

The Oscar nominee -- most famous from the movie "Precious" -- and her husband shared the happy news on Thursday, confirming Gabourey gave birth to a baby boy, named Cooper, and a baby girl, named Maya, back in April.

On how they decided upon their little ones' names, the actress explained to TSR ... "Brandon always wanted to name a son Cooper, so we can call him 'Coop,' and Maya was named shortly before our baby moon to the Mayan Riviera in Mexico."

Johnny Wactor's body was cremated after he was murdered in Los Angeles ... TMZ has learned.

According to the late actor's death certificate, obtained by TMZ, his remains were transferred to his mother, Scarlett, cremated, and now reside at her home in South Carolina. Johnny's family had made it known they wanted his body sent over after he was killed in L.A.

Johnny's occupation is listed as an actor, and the doc also notes he'd been in the entertainment industry for 15 years.

Tom Bower -- the actor famous for his roles in "The Waltons" and "Die Hard 2" -- has died.

The longtime veteran character actor passed away from unknown causes at his L.A. home last week ... this according to his brother Robert Bower, who talked to THR. The exact circumstances of his death have yet to be revealed.

Before hitting the big time, Bower studied acting at John Cassavetes Shadows Workshop ... and then spent 15 years as a private investigator before diving into acting in 1972 with "The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel," alongside Al Pacino.

It seems like the animal kingdom is waving its pride flags, too ... spreading the message that love is love -- all detailed in a new doc about animal sexuality, which is apparently fluid.

From gay penguins and giraffes to lion "bromances" and lesbian primates, Peacock's "Queer Planet" delves into the wild world of animals' homosexual interactions ... revealing over 1,500 species engaging in queer behavior.

The 90-minute doc -- narrated by actor Andrew Rannells -- dishes on lions mounting each other, the promiscuity of pansexual bonobo monkeys, and even sex-changing clownfish.

Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg paid their respects on D-Day's 80th anniversary -- the Allied invasion of Normandy ... looking on with many prominent world leaders in France.

The actor-director duo appeared in Normandy Thursday ... standing stoically in dark suits alongside numerous onlookers. They understand the gravity of the invasion as well as any -- remember, they've worked on multiple war projects together, including "Saving Private Ryan," which depicted D-Day.

They also created the show "Band of Brothers" -- released back in 2001 -- following an Army unit during WWII. Their work together on this front is clearly why they were there.

Seeing is believing ... or not, if you're Jake Gyllenhaal, who says being legally blind has actually given his movie star career a huge boost!

IYDK, the actor was born with a lazy eye, which naturally corrected itself, but he's been rocking strong corrective lenses since he was 6 -- and for him, not being able to see clearly has always been the norm.

In fact, Jake says his vision woes gave him an acting edge ... for example, he tells The Hollywood Reporter he ditched his contact lenses for his 2015 action flick, "Southpaw."

Selma Blair grabbed the spotlight at the Tribeca Film Festival in NYC with her choice for a date -- her English red fox Labrador that she led around on a leash.

That's right ... Selma hit the red carpet with her cute-as-a-button service dog named Scout at Wednesday night's movie premiere of "Diane Von Furstenberg: Woman In Charge."

Of course, the pooch plays a big role in the actress' daily life, assisting her with her disability while the two go everywhere together.

"Deadpool & Wolverine" officially secured a hard R rating -- but don't expect any sex or nudity this time around ... although, we've learned Disney isn't to blame for that.

Here's the deal ... the official MPA rating is kinda historic -- it's the first R-rated flick in the Marvel Cinematic Universe -- and like fans were promised, it ain't for children under 17. However, eagle-eyed moviegoers noticed something was missing from this 3rd installment of the Ryan Reynolds franchise ... naked bodies.

'D & W' is rated-R for "strong bloody violence and language throughout, gore and sexual references" -- whereas the the previous 2 installments included nudity and sex acts.

In her early 20's, Canada native and actress Ingrid Rogers was cast to play Steffie -- a waitress at the El Paraíso nightclub and Benny's free-loving girlfriend -- in the 1993 crime-thriller movie "Carlito's Way."

Rogers played opposite Al Pacino as the criminal trying to turn his life around after jail, Carlito, Sean Penn as Carlito's manipulative defense attorney attempting to take over the NYC drug trade, David and Penelope Ann Miller as the ballet dancer, stripper and Carlito's ex, Gail.

After her success as Steffie, Ingrid went onto popular shows like "All My Children."

Vivienne Jolie-Pitt appears to be following in her older sister's footsteps -- dropping her pop's last name professionally in a Broadway playbill, something she reportedly asked to have changed.

The 15-year-old daughter of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie is currently working as a producer's assistant for the Broadway show 'The Outsiders' -- and, of course, she gets a credit in the playbill ... except it's written as "Vivienne Jolie," nothing more.

ET cites a source who claims the change isn't due to a lack of space ... instead, VJP apparently asked to leave "Pitt" off -- another of Brad's kids seemingly sending a message.

One of Norway's most famous scenic spots is now connected to a tragic death -- a man fell nearly 2,000 feet off the cliff featured in a 'Mission Impossible' flick.

Law enforcement in the Scandinavian nation confirms the victim -- who was in his 40s -- died Monday after falling from Preikestolen ... the name of the iconic bluff overlooking the town of Lysefjord.

Police officials told CNN they're investigating the death as an accidental fall, and say they "have no assumptions that anything criminal has happened."

Halyna Hutchins' family's attorney is pissed about Alec Baldwin's new reality show ... side-eyeing the timing of the announcement and referring to it as a public relations stunt.

Gloria Allred -- who's repping members of the late cinematographer's family -- tells TMZ ... she's not buying any sort of coincidence in the announcement's release coming just a month before his involuntary manslaughter criminal trial begins.

She says, "This appears to me, to be a calculated and cynical public relations move to try to influence the jury pool in New Mexico to think of him as a sympathetic family man rather than as the killer of Halyna Hutchins, who was the beloved daughter of our clients Olga Solovey, Halyna’s mother, Anatolii Androsovych, Halyna’s father, and Svetlana Zemko, Halyna’s sister."

Jennifer Lopez says she's dismayed by all the negativity in the world -- but the question ... is she referring to current events in 2024, or is this about her personal woes of late?

In her latest "On the JLo" newsletter that got blasted out to fans Wednesday, J Lo used her movie "Atlas" and it doing well on Netflix as the jumping-off point into this topic ... taking a jab at pessimism at large and reminding everyone there's tons of love to spread.

Jennifer wrote, "Hi everybody, I just found out some great news and it's all because of YOU!! 'ATLAS' is #1 worldwide again this week!!! Thank you all so much!!!"

Martin Lawrence is speaking out after the internet was convinced his health was failing amid the 'Bad Boys' press run ... and he says he's doing just fine.

The 59-year-old comedian addressed the rumors on Tuesday as he and Will Smith sat with Hot 97's "Ebro in the Morning" team -- this after the Twitter-sphere went into a frenzy after seeing a recent clip of Will seemingly assisting a somewhat frail-looking Martin on top of a bus.

Ebro gave Martin the floor, asking him if he wanted to clear anything up -- specifically asking him if his health was alright in light of all the chatter. Martin didn't hesitate to clarify here.