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One of the prolific young actor ensembles in Hollywood in the 1980s was the Brat Pack. A label coined by journalist David Blum in 1985, the Brat Pack was a play on the term, the Rat Pack, led by Frank Sinatra in the '60s. The core group consisted of Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, and Andrew McCarthy. By Blum's definition, the Brat Pack was composed of the main young actors in the two successful 1985 movies "The Breakfast Club" and "St. Elmo's Fire."

The actors in the Brat Pack would appear together in a number of films throughout the '80s and early '90s, including projects before 1985. For the purposes of this article, an official Brat Pack movie needs to feature at least two actors from the previously mentioned ensemble, rather than simply just one. With 12 movies from the...

Zoolander 2 seemed an easy lay-up after the first film's breakout success. The sequel flopped, however, inflamed by scathing reviews from critics and audiences.

Ben Stiller's career had a great run in the 2000s; he appeared in more than 34 films in ten years. He debuted his most iconic roles in that decade, in Starsky & Hutch, Madagascar, Night at the Museum, Tropic Thunder, and Meet the Parents. 2001's Zoolander is also a cult classic with its slapstick satire of the fashion industry. Praised by critics, that film was a modest box-office success; it seemed poised to launch a franchise or a sequel at least. Zoolander 2 was released 15 years later, but it failed to capture the original's magic. Stiller told Hot Ones he still can't figure out why Zoolander 2 was overwhelmingly panned by critics.

Related Benedict Cumberbatch Reflects on Playing Zoolander 2's Nonbinary Character: 'It Backfired'

Benedict...

The Marvel Comics character Thor officially made his live-action debut in the 1988 TV movie The Incredible Hulk Returns. But the year before that, Thor was a major presence in a teen comedy film about a group of youngsters having a wild night in downtown Chicago. The kids deal with gun-wielding car thieves, knife-wielding gang members, a homicidal tow truck driver, and a lot of other odd characters and dangerous situations. Their lives are put at risk on multiple occasions. And throughout, Thor’s iconic helmet is worn by an eight-year-old girl who looks up to the character… and believes he’s real. By the time the night is over, she might be proven right… Or maybe not. Whatever the case, there’s a whole lot of Thor in the 1987 film Adventures in Babysitting (watch it Here). And it’s time for it to be Revisited.

Adventures in Babysitting began with...

Andrew McCarthy, Rob Lowe, and the original MTV VJs will host “Brat Pack Weekend” on 80s on 8 (Ch. 8) in celebration of this summer’s hottest 80s documentary, “Brats.” Starting Friday, July 26, tune in to 80s on 8 as Andrew, who directed “Brats,” and Rob handpick their favorite 80s songs and provide behind-the-scenes stories about the documentary now streaming on Hulu.

80s on 880s pop, the original MTV VJs, and moreListen on the App

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“When we were making ‘Pretty in Pink,’” McCarthy says during the special, “John Hughes used to come to the set with a cassette recorder. And he’d have these little cassettes that he would just play. ‘Hey, guys, what do you think of this?’ And he did play. And he’d just play snippets of these songs. And we’d either give it a thumbs up or thumbs down. And a lot of those...

The release of Andrew McCarthy’s Hulu documentary ‘Brats’ has sparked renewed interest in the Brat Pack—that group of young actors who starred in several iconic teen movies of the 1980s, like 'Pretty in Pink,' 'Sixteen Candles,' and 'The Breakfast Club.'

Those films often featured different configurations of Brat Pack members on screen—like Ally Sheedy, Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, and Molly Ringwald—creating a web of connections between the actors. To visualize these relationships, one passionate fan has used IMDb data to create a diagram of the Brat Pack’s movie connections. Taking it a step further, the interactive visualization also connects the Brat Pack with two other groups of actors: the Rat Pack of the 1960s (Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, and others), and the Frat Pack of the 1990s (Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, and more comedic actors).

As part of its partnership with analytics platform Tableau, IMDb is sharing a huge movie dataset, allowing Tableau users to explore, create, and share data visualizations and infographics. In his visualization “Packs,” Zach Bowders has displayed the films of all three groups of actors to show their connections within their respective Packs, and how they connect to the other cohorts. According to Bowders, “Molly Ringwald is the key to everything.” Did you know she starred in films with members of both the Rat Pack (Joey Bishop in ‘Betsy’s Wedding’) and the Frat Pack (Ben Stiller in ‘Fresh Horses’)?

Explore the interactive “Packs” data viz here.

For even more Brat Pack data, check out this visualization created specifically about "The Breakfast Club."...

As Claire said during her weekend detention, “I hate having to go along with everything my friends say.” Apparently taking a cue, Molly Ringwald – along with Judd Nelson – was one of the key members of the Brat Pack who sat out of being interviewed for Andrew McCarthy’s documentary Brats. So, where were they?

As McCarthy told Entertainment Tonight, both Molly Ringwald and Judd Nelson may not have been feeling particularly bratty, at least not in the way he would have wanted. “I mean, they both are in the film in a sense that there’s a lot of clips and interviews and things. The Brat Pack is an ongoing relationship, you know what I mean? And some people are at different places in their lives to want to or not want to talk about it. I think that just informs it even more. I mean, that’s my takeaway from it.

In June 1985, a young group of talented actors was ready to take the world by storm as the release of Joel Schumacher‘s “St. Elmo’s Fire” approached. Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, and Demi Moore had already done fine work in other films both together and apart, but “St. Elmo’s Fire” was the best showcase any of them had ever gotten, in an era when youth movies were better and more numerous than they had ever been before. Nothing stood in the way of their becoming the next generation of great American screen actors — except for a New York magazine writer named David Blum.

Blum spent a night out with Estevez and several of his friends for what was supposed to be a simple profile of the actor but turned into a cover story in which the journalist dubbed the entire group the “Brat Pack...

The Brat Pack defined 80s cinema but not all their films were hits, ranging from forgotten to iconic. Twelve official Brat Pack films starred at least two core members of the group. Some Brat Pack movies like "The Breakfast Club" and "Pretty in Pink" are enduring classics, while others like "Blue City" missed the mark.

The Brat Pack ruled the big-screen in the 1980s, as charted in the documentary Brats but their actual films ranged from forgettable misfires to cultural touchstones. The Brat Pack was an informal name for a group of young movie stars who, between 1983 and 1990, frequently collaborated with one another on projects. While there were several other films produced in this era that adhered to similar structures that are among the best movies of the 1980s, there are officially twelve movies that are considered to be genuine Brat Pack films, because they star at least two members of the group.

Hulu has to be pretty pleased with its list of new releases for June 2024. That’s because it’s about to be the summer of The Bear once again.

The Bear season 3 premieres all of its episodes on June 27 on Hulu. This FX dramedy has proven to be one of the most successful shows of its era. Jeremy Allen White stars as Carmy Berzatto, a world-famous chef who returns home to Chicago to help his floundering family restaurant after the death of his brother. Season 2 saw The Original Beef of Chicagoland crew transform the spot into fine dining establishment The Bear. It ruled. So will season 3 probably.

FX is responsible for the other major TV release on Hulu this month. Clipped premieres on June 4 and is about the scandalous real life story of Donald Sterling, the awful owner of the basketball team the Los Angeles Clippers. Another intriguing TV option...

June is busting out all over, especially on streaming. Whether it’s hiding from the heat or taking a break from school and work, Disney+ and Hulu are here to satisfying your mid-year entertainment needs.

Disney+ will premiere the first new live-action Star Wars since 2023’s middling to “The Mandalorian” Season 3 and “Ahsoka” with “The Acolyte,” starring “Squid Game” breakout Lee Jung-jae. The series is set before the events of “The Phantom Menace” with a familiar master-padawan storyline but new characters and a new era where that dynamic unfolds. The streamer will also premiere various new options for kids and family-friendly programming, as well as new episodes of “Doctor Who” starring Ncuti Gatwa.

On Hulu, FX comes in hot for the summer, along with an adaptation of Candice Carty-Williams’s “Queenie,” the brat-pack documentary “Brats,” and yes — more “Love Island.” The TV and film library continues to shift with new and expiring titles,...

Molly Ringwald was the queen of eighties teen movies. Her films with John Hughes, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink have all stood the test of time and are just as believed by audiences in 2023 as they were nearly forty years ago. But, despite being one of the biggest names of the decade, Ringwald found herself typecast for many years, with more adult roles in movies like Fresh Horses and The Pick-Up Artist falling flat. She also, notoriously, turned down the lead in Pretty Woman, the movie which made Julia Roberts a household name.

In the nineties, Ringwald struggled to break free of the Brat Pack label, even if she was never actually a part of that clique, but eventually embraced her place in the pop culture with a well-received cameo in Not Another Teen Movie (which people forget starred Chris Evans). More recently, Ringwald has developed...

If you're a child of the '80s (or a fan of films from that decade), you're probably already a huge fan of Andrew McCarthy. He was part of the Brat Pack, the star of "Pretty In Pink," "St. Elmo's Fire," "Mannequin," "Weekend at Bernie's," "Heaven Help Us," "Fresh Horses," and "Less Than Zero," which turns 35 this year. He's also appeared in "Good Girls," and will have a recurring role in "The Resident," and you've likely seen his directing work in "Orange is the New Black," "Good Girls," and "The Blacklist." 

McCarthy is also a writer, serving as an editor-at-large...

The post Andrew McCarthy on His Book Brat: An '80s Story, Pretty in Pink, and '80s Nostalgia [Interview] appeared first on /Film.

• THR a reporter on the next tense moments at Netflix as they try to make their original movies more culturally impactful to continue to lure filmmakers. Roma and The Irishman are going to be crucial to their plans

• Awards Daily Melanie Lynskey talks about her work on Castle Rock

• EW high powered producer Craig Zadan, who brought lots of musicals to the screen and also produced the Oscars, died unexpectedly at just 69. Hollywood is paying tribute.

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• BlackList "In search of the last great video store" - the writer had a craving for Fresh Horses starring Molly Ringwald and couldn't find it. (We've been there Many...

With a multi-generational reunion of sorts between Brat Pack alum Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy’s son in the works, we’re taking the opportunity to catch up with all of the former ’80s teen phenoms — and their offspring — over 30 years after they first earned their iconic nickname.

During a recent appearance on The Moms, McCarthy revealed that his 15-year-old son, Sam, will appear in an upcoming movie called All These Small Moments alongside the famous red-head.

“She emailed me on the first day and she said, ‘Your son just did a scene and when he walked away, it was...

Andrew McCarthy‘s son is following in his father’s footsteps — down to the costars!

During a recent appearance on The Moms, McCarthy revealed that his 15-year-old son, Sam, will appear in an upcoming movie alongside a fellow Brat Packer.

“My son is doing his first movie now, and his screen mom is of course Molly Ringwald!” McCarthy told hosts Denise Albert and Melissa Gerstein. “ just auditioned for this movie and he was hired and it turned out that his mother was going to be Molly Ringwald!”

McCarthy’s rep tells People that the movie is called All These Small Moments.

Actress Molly Ringwald thrilled film students at the University of Southern California earlier this week (beg25Apr11) when she dropped in for a class all about the films of her late movie mentor John Hughes.

Students are analyzing the work of the 1980s director as part of their film classes, and Ringwald, who starred in Hughes films Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles, jumped at the chance to help them understand the moviemaker's themes better.

As part of her chat with the film buffs, she revealed she introduced Hughes to the music of the Psychedelic Furs, who recorded the iconic theme to Pretty in Pink.

And, according to EW.com, she drew gasps when she revealed she wanted future Lord of the Rings hunk Viggo Mortensen to play her love interest, Jake Ryan, in Sixteen Candles, after kissing him during auditions.

She said, "It was between two men... It was Michael Shoeffling, who ended up being cast, and Viggo Mortensen, who had just moved from Denmark. I was 15 years old, and I flew to New York to read with everyone. It got to the (final) Jake Ryan shot, and we had the kissing scene. And Michael Shoeffling did not kiss me during the audition - Viggo Mortensen did.

"He made me weak in the knees. Absolutely."

Ringwald teamed up with Mortensen years later in Fresh Horses and the actor revealed he thought the kiss cost him the role.

She explained, "He said, 'I've always been curious, do you know anything about what happened?' And I said, 'Hey man, I was rooting for you. I really wanted you for that part.'

"I brought up the thing about how he kissed me and the other guy didn't. He said, 'I always thought that's why I blew the audition! I go over it again and again. Why did I do that?'"...

With the Cormac McCarthy adaptation The Road coming out on DVD on Tuesday (I'm eager to give it another look) I thought we should focus on one of the best actors working: Viggo Mortensen also known as "Aragorn"

Viggo at twenty-two

Aragon's filmography is super odd. Or maybe not. In many professions if you do good work, your career very gradually swells but there's plenty of detours and error along the way as you feel your way up the ladder. I guess it just feels odd in the context of the movies. When we think of leading players in Hollywood don't we tend to think of them in terms of overnight sensations, has beens, or stars that have always been and will always be with us and seem to have arrived fully formed (Streep, Pacino. That type)?

Viggo fits none of those categories but he's very much a leading actor.