Former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly has been widely criticized for her controversial interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones less than one month into her new position as NBC News correspondent.

On Tuesday, she issued a statement addressing the criticism, much of which came from the mainstream media who see the interview with a conspiracy-peddler unprofessional.

In that interview, Jones said he has evidence the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax staged by the U.S. government to take away people’s guns. Kelly wrote in her statement that she finds Jones’ theory “personally revolting”. She posted the statement just hours after the elementary school where the shooting occurred disinvited her.

Jones is the founder of Infowars, a conspiracy website with millions of followers which was behind other conspiracy theories such as 9/11 being staged by the CIA.

Megyn Kelly’s Rapid Fall from Grace

Once a media darling for often steering from Fox News’ conservative line, Kelly sees now the main stream media turning against her. A Washington Post correspondent labeled her interview with Jones “despicable”.

Plus, a recent interview with Russia president Vladimir Putin got a cold reception in the U.S. LA Times editor Lorraine Ali described Kelly as “not a great interviewer” in the wake of the interview in Moscow. Ali would have liked to see Kelly pressure Putin into answering some question on his country’s alleged interference in the U.S. elections.

New York Newsday deemed the interview a “rough start” for the freshly-appointed NBC News’ anchor’s career.

Kelly’s fall from grace with the mainstream media come just months after the New York Times praised her for her biting interviews with Republican officials. Last year, Vanity Fair called her “the brightest start” in the Fox News firmament.

As of recently the Daily Beast called her a “rank amateur” since she hasn’t been able to master the “art of the sit-down,” while The Chicago Tribune accused her of pulling off a “callous ratings grab” with her latest interviews.

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“Alien: Covenant” Returns to the Horror Roots

Many people were completely disappointed when “Prometheus” came out in 2012. It did not answer any question we had about the origins of it all. Moreover, people left the theaters more confused than ever. Director Ridley Scott saw that and he decided to helm a new installment of the franchise called “Alien: Covenant”. This time, he answers some very important questions while also managing to go back to the roots of the series. “Covenant” also raises new questions, but it does not fail to answer them. People will not leave the theater with the same bitter taste as they had after they saw “Prometheus”.

Back to the roots

Stylistically and thematically, the movie stand somewhere between the previous movie and the 1970 horror original. It is amazing for a director to succeed something like that nowadays. The new movie it is surely not as good or as creepy as the original, but Ridley Scott manages to take the franchise from the bottom of a pit and make it relevant again. He uses familiar motives but alters them with his own perspective and directorial touch. Also, he provides the answers we needed to get during “Prometheus”, not a few years after, in another movie.

It all begins when a group of pioneers (scientists, engineers, pilots) wake up from hyper-sleep. They have the mission to transport colonists to a new planet which will become their new home. However, during the journey, they are attracted towards something that seems like an even better home. From this point, the movie keeps the fans on the edge of their seat. Ridley Scott handles mystery and suspense like no other, and this helps the movie greatly. He even manages to replicate the chest burster sequence from the classic movie.

New and classic at the same time

The director keeps himself from using the original alien, the “xenomorph”, too much. The creature is teased in the trailers, and it also appears in the movie but at the right time. Until then, the crew has to fight another new creature, a pale monster dubbed the “neomorph”. Apart from this, the movie’s action sequences are nothing new but the director makes them feel fresh. The cast is also very strong and there are no weak links among them. Overall, “Alien: Covenant” is a good movie which goes back to the roots, unlike the disappointment that was “Prometheus”.

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Anne Hathaway, one of the most successful Hollywood actress is going star in the upcoming TV series adaptation of Jennifer Steel’s “The Ambassador’s Wife”. This will be the first time since her cinematic debut that the actress appears in a TV series.

Anne Hathaway’s involvement in television heralds a TV golden age, because if such a successful actress is tempted to work on a TV series, then more will follow in her footsteps.

Since television has raised the bar significantly in the last few years, it has produced numerous exceptional series that have nothing in common whatsoever with the soap opera stereotype that some people still have the tendency to associate it with.

TV series such as Breaking Bad, The Sopranos and Game of Thrones have turned the world of television into a complex and refined one, that is worthy of high critical praise regardless of the size of the screen it is broadcasted on.

Then, last year’s True Detective came to make quite some significant changes, as it starred Hollywood giants Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson.

They proved that by allowing an actor to take his character and portray its evolution along the course of a few episodes, rather than only a couple of hours can lead to an actual cinematic masterpiece, because the viewer can actually create a bond with the character and also because it gives the actor enough time to go deeper and explore multiple layers of the character’s personality.

Since then, the second season of True Detective has included big Hollywood names, such as Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughn and Rachel McAdams, thus proving that television is more and more of an appealing experience for some of the top actors of the moment.

Oscar winner Anne Hathaway is tailor made for the part she will be playing in “The Ambassador’s Wife” adaptation, as the show’s producer, Mark Gordon, has pointed out a statement, as reported by The Wrap.

“She is in a league all her own and we cannot think of anyone who can better portray Steil’s complex heroine.”, he said.

Seeing Anne Hathaway in a TV series is clearly going to be a en experience worthy of remembrance and we are all extremely excited about the development of the project.
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Melissa McCarthy’s clothing line, Seven7 will sell clothes for women of all sizes, because high quality fashion choices and the chance to look good should be available to all women, regardless of their size.

The actress wants to put and end to the segregation that the fashion industry is creating among women who are considered to be of normal size and those who are considered to be plus-size, who are forced to shop in separate parts of the the stores where they go shopping with their friends, or even in different shops altogether.

Furthermore, Melissa McCarthy explains that she completely disapproves of the entire “plus-size” term and concept because “women come in all sizes” and because the vast majority of American women are deemed plus size by the fashion industry.

She says that it makes no sense whatsoever, neither from an ethical standpoint, nor from an financial standpoint to force most of the American women to shop separate stores, because this makes them feel uncomfortable.

The actress confessed that she has gone shopping alone on numerous occasions precisely because she had to go to plus size clothing stores and because this made her feel embarrassed. And what she found to be the most unnerving part of the entire experience was the fact that all the clothes that she found made her look and feel ridiculous, because they seemed to be aimed at women either much older or much younger than her.

In order to put this annoying matter to an end, Melissa McCarthy, who was in love with fashion design long before she fell in love with acting, decided to create her own line that would offer amazing fashion choices to women of all sizes.

Seven7 includes clothing that comes in a wide variety of sizes, ranging from tiny size 4 to voluptuous size 28. The line will be endorsed by top retailers such as Bloomingdale’s and Lane Bryant.

And it seems that some of these retailers have actually agreed to Melissa McCarthy’s proposal to include the Seven7 brand alongside other brands that sell normal-sized clothes, so that women can finally shop together, regardless of the differences in their size.

With such a healthy approach on the advertisement of her brand new clothing line, Melissa McCarthy has all the chances of getting fans of all shapes and sizes. One thing remains clear at this point and that is that we will be hearing a lot more about Seven7 and about Melissa McCarthy in the years to come.
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The heavy metal band scene is always something that should be taken with a grain of salt, because alongside some of the biggest rock legends there are so pretty weird bands out there, that embrace some of the oddest themes ever in the name of rock. But just when you thought you’ve seen it all, the Phoenix-based band Okilly Dookilly comes along and makes it quite clear that we can still be quite surprised by the creativity of metal bands.

Okilly Dokilly is the first ever Ned Flanders Inspired heavy metal band in the whole wide world. All five members wear Ned Flanders costumes, and each of them has their very own Ned name. The leader of the band is, obviously, Head Ned and the rest are Red Ned, Thread Ned, Bled Ned, and Stead Ned. And they really look amazing, because they have the innocence of Flanders’ look but when they start singing, it is clearly not what any of us would expect, because there is nothing Flanders-like about their sound, as they stay truthful to the heavy metal genre.

The band members said that they were actually looking for a cutesie name for their heavy metal band and somehow there was nothing better than Okilly Dokilly, because it’s something that all Simpsons fans know and love. Then they realized that the Flanders look just might be the perfect look for them and that they should all be their own Flanders.

“In reality, this is all just an over-the-top attempt at getting Matt Groening’s autograph, even if it comes on a cease and desist letter.” said Head Ned, making the band look even more weirdly appealing.

And the best thing about the Ned Flanders band is that they actually sound really good. Despite their humorous look and hilarious onstage personas, Okilly Dokilly is a very serious metal band. They describe their sound as somewhat less fast than “Bartcore”, “a little cleaner than Krusty Punk” and not quite as downright heavy as”‘Homer J.ent”.

Okilly Dokilly will have their first ever show on September 5th in Phoenix and it looks like it’s going to be one amazing night for everybody who makes it to the concert.
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On Sunday evening, HBO aired the season finale of what was expected to be one of this year’s best TV shows, True Detective, but the finale couldn’t save the entire season, that ended up disappointing the vast majority of fans that the first season gathered in record breaking time.

Without Cary Joji Fukunaga in the director’s seat and without the masterful performances of Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, the second season was only left with Nic Pizzolato’s writing from the initial team. And it’s safe to say that lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place, because despite a multifaceted plot, Pizzolato proved unable to accomplish a complexity even remotely similar to that of the first season.

Probably the most disappointing fact was that the second season was riddled with moments when the actors would deliver these blunt lines on a very grave and dramatic note, all in the hopes of bringing back Rust Cohle’s gut wrenching monologues. Needless to say, they failed miserably.

Unfortunately, the second season was a very poor attempt of recreating the best features of the first without most of the people that made the first season so brilliant.

Rust and Marty’s story was presented a darkly poetic version of Louisiana brought to life by Cary Fukunaga and you could actually feel that the characters were part of that haunting universe.

Bezzerides’, Velcoro’s, Woodrough’s and Semyon’s story however, was presented in a dry and incoherent version of the city of Vinci and each episode revealed a somewhat different version of it, mainly because the second season was directed by several directors and unfortunately, Cary Fukunaga was not one of them.

As the show delivered its final plot twists and the dramatic outcome of its characters, the second season was put to rest and there are very few people out there at the moment who are still wondering what would have happened next, as opposed to this time last year when almost all the show’s fans experienced a very real feeling of missing Rust and Marty.

It remains to be seen whether there will be a third season or not, because there are a lot of things to consider. Michael Lombardo, HBO’s programming director, seems to be interested and making a third season, because this second installment did bring a lot of viewers to the show, despite its rather disappointing outcome.

It looks like it’s up to Nic Pizzolato at this point to decide if he can come up with a new story for it. The fans however are clearly going to be reserved about it this time around, because if there is something that everybody learned this season is that Bezzerides, Velcoro, Woodrough and Semyon put together cannot amount to Rust Cohle’s complexity. It’s very unlikely that anybody is expecting Pizzolato to ever come up with anything like him ever again.
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To the delight of every movie lover out there, Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese are going to work together on another film, that will tell a brilliantly dark story.

This would be the sixth time that DiCaprio and Scorsese work together and considering the thrilling story they are going to be adapting to the big screen, it’s going to be one exciting ride.

The two will be adapting “The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America” by Erik Larson, a novel that tells the true story of gruesome serial killer H.H. Holmes, who brutally murdered between 26 and 200 people in the true house of horrors that was his hotel. 

The action takes place during the Chicago World Fair in 1893, when H.H. Holmes built The World’s Fair Hotel near the location of the fair. However, this was no ordinary hotel, as it was equipped with soundproof dissecting rooms and gas chambers, essentially making it the stuff of nightmares.

The utterly charming Holmes lured women into his house of horrors, whom he ended up killing there. The particularly creepy outcome of Holmes’ actions was his skeleton business, as he sold human skeletons for academic use.

H.H. Holmes will be played by Leonardo DiCaprio, who is going to show us his dark side one again, and Martin Scorsese will the the director of the film. 

The entire scenario reminds fans of one of the best movies to come out of the collaboration between DiCaprio and Scorsese, 2010’s masterful thriller “Shutter Island”. It is currently one of the most appreciated films of the thriller genre, due to its brilliant plot and the haunting portrayal of the main characters and of Shutter island itself, that was perceived as character in its own rights, thanks to Martin Scorsese’s flawless directing. 

Other amazing films that DiCaprio and Scorsese have worked together on are Gangs of New York from 2002, The Aviator from 2004, The Departed from 2006 and the latest, The Wolf of Wall Street, from 2013 , that was met with immense success among viewers and critics alike. 

With the exception of Shutter Island, that was released outside Oscar season, the rest of the DiCaprio-Scorsese films received numerous in Academy Awards nominations. The Departed actually won 4 Oscars and The Aviator holds the record at 5 golden statues, but The Devil in the White City just might the one that breaks this record.

Furthermore, maybe this upcoming movie will be the one that brings Leonardo DiCaprio his much deserved Oscar, as he was nominated four times already. He has always come so close to getting it and then, at the last moment, the award was given to one of his contenders.

There is no specific release date at the moment, but it seems that this project was a long time coming, as it took ten long years to get to the big screen. After silently working on The Devil in the White City for six years, Leonardo DiCaprio will also be one of the film’s producers, alongside Scorsese and three others.

Hopefully, the production of the film will start soon, because all the fans are already counting down the days and filling up their movie ticket piggy banks, so as to make sure they are there for the film’s premiere.
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HBO is throwing out small breadcrumb teasers about the upcoming season of Game of Thrones, so that the fans’ long wait till the spring 2016 be easier to bear. And every new piece of information is making the new season sound better and better, making the fans incredibly curious. There is one aspect that keeps breaking their heart though, and that is the fact that Jon Snow is still dead.

The beloved character’s alleged murder has given way to countless theories about how that scene is only a brilliant plot twist, that Jon Snow will recover from one way or another. But the show’s writers, HBO’s programming manager and even Kit Harrington, the actor who plays Jon Snow on the show, insist that he is actually dead, to the utter despair of the fans, who have had to get over so many shocking gruesome deaths on the show already.

Season six is also bringing new names to the show and they are bound to make it one season worthy of remembrance. HBO is bringing on one of its veteran actors, Ian McShane who has played the wickedly vicious Al Swearengen on HBO’s 2004 show Deadwood, whose role remains a secret for the time being, and the Exorcist himself, Max Von Sydow to play the Three-Eyed Raven.

These additions promise one tremendously interesting season next year, but a very long wait until its air date
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007 Pierce Brosnan was recently stopped at Vermont Airport for carrying a knife in his luggage. It seems that the British actor was discovered to have a hunting knife in one of his bags on Tuesday. This is why airport security had to conduct a detailed search on him, that had to include taking him to a private room in order to finalize the search process.

Eye witnesses have said that the actor was absolutely furious about the entire issue. Initially, Brosnan was asked to remove his belt, so that he could pass through the metal detector. Then, when the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents told him he had to accompany them to a private room, he allegedly said he couldn’t believe they were doing that to him, according to Daily Mail.

The entire search process did not last long, and the actor was free to go, without his hunting knife obviously. However, taking a knife on a plane was a clearly misguided decision from Brosnan’s part, thus proving that he clearly is no 007 in real life. The British actor must have some experience in the entire airport protocol, given his international career, so it is quite odd that he did not think ahead and remove the knife. Thankfully, the entire situation ended without any consequences for the actor, as confirmed by Burlington Lt. Shawn Burke.

The actor was traveling to Detroit with his 14-year-old son, Paris, and they were both on their way after the unfortunate incident. They are clearly not going to forget this trip too soon, as having a close encounter with the TSA agents is not something that anybody forgets too easily, even if it is less than an hour long and even if you have played James Bond on the big screen.

It seems that the TSA makes no concessions, even for Hollywood stars and that airport security is pretty hard to outsmart. It is not known whether or not Pierce Brosnan had put the hunting knife in his bag intentionally or not, but he will clearly be more attentive with the things he puts in his luggage next time he gets on a plane.
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HBO was definitely expecting that Last week tonight with John Oliver would be a successful TV show, but what happened in its first two seasons has greatly exceeded everybody’s expectations, even John Oliver’s.

If two or three years ago his name was only selectively known among Americans, he is now one of the most influential people in television. The courage and cutting edge honesty with which he presents the stories on his show make them absolutely mind blowing.

The TV show airs on Sunday evenings on HBO and it is supposed to include short presentations of the most important events of the week that is just about to end. But John Oliver manages to point out the core of the week’s highlights by using incredibly witty remarks and comments. Watching the news has literally never been so fun, nor so moving for that matter.

John Oliver has managed to do something that many people on television haven’t been able to. He has got America to care and to actively contribute to the improvement of some of its most pressing issues. This is currently known as “the John Oliver effect” and it is one of the most amazing phenomena in media today.
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