Movies

Ansel Elgort hit up the perfect spot to ring in the New Year with his bikini-clad GF ... a villa in the Dominican Republic that had all the bells and whistles.

Ansel has spent a week in the luxurious beachside of Cap Cana. The actor clearly doesn't subscribe to the "twos company, threes a crowd mantra" ... because joining them on the trip was also Ansel's mom.

All good though ... cause there's plenty of space to spread around in this SICK villa. The rental pad -- known as Villa Las Hamacas -- is a $20 million estate featuring 6 bedrooms, an infinity pool and concierge service.

If the villa looks familiar ... it's cause Bella Thorne stayed in the same one just last month. It rents for a cool $15k per night ... but don't forget -- the rental includes a butler!!!

Ansel and his GF, Violetta Komyshan, have a knack for getting wild at some of the best beaches in the world. You'll recall the longtime couple was all over each other in Mexico around this time last year.

This time around, Ansel posted a picture of himself carrying Violetta and getting real handsy. He captioned it, "How you gon be mad on vacation?" Can't be mad ... especially after he was just named a presenter at this weekend's Golden Globe Awards.

American actor Jacob Reynolds is best known for playing glue-huffing Solomon -- who hangs around and huffs glue with the downright evil teenager, Tummler played by Nick Sutton -- in Harmony Korine's 1997 cult masterpiece, "Gummo."

Other standout actors in the provocative film are Jacob Sewell as the frail Bunny Boy, Daniel Martin as Jarrod ... and, of course, Chloe Sevigny as the foxy Dot.

"Gummo" is only one of Harmony Korine's fantastic films ... his others include the 1995 NYC film "Kids" and the sexy 2012 Florida film, "Spring Breakers" and the 2019 stoney flick, "The Beach Bum."

Ricki Lake's goal in 2020 and beyond is to be free and real -- starting with her hair, which has been a major source of pain in her life ... but she vows no more.

The "Hairspray" star and former talk show host just revealed her new buzz-cut hairdo, and the story that goes with it is both heart-wrenching and inspiring.

Ricki starts with the good news -- her haircut isn't a sign that she's sick or suffering through a mid-life crisis or a mental breakdown, but she has been suffering ... through decades of hair loss.

Lake says the struggle has been "debilitating, embarrassing, painful, scary, depressing, lonely" and adds ... "There have been a few times where I have even felt suicidal over it. Almost no one in my life knew the level of deep pain and trauma I was experiencing."

She says her hair loss began with her role in the 1988 film due to all the treatments and teasing of her locks, but over the years it was due to many other factors -- dieting, dyes, genetics, stress, hormonal birth control, pregnancies and so on.

Ricki says she's tried everything to restore her hair but it hasn't worked, so instead of going through the emotional pain over and over again ... she decided to set herself free.

She says, "I buzzed my hair off and it feels so good!"

John Boyega is leaving 2019 in a blaze of glory ... defending himself to the death after he was accused of being sexist over a joke he cracked about his female costar, Daisy Ridley.

The 'Star Wars' actor responded to a ton of mega fans Tuesday after a screenshot of a comment he recently left on someone's Instagram post went viral -- which shows him saying, "it's not about who she kisses but who eventually lays the pipe. You are a genius."

His comment was in response to some rando who made light of the fact John's character, Finn, doesn't get the girl at the end of 'Rise of Skywalker.' If you haven't seen it, this is a spoiler ... Rey kisses/falls for Kylo Ren and Finn's apparent love for her goes unrequited.

After his pipe joke, JB got blown up (metaphorically speaking) on Twitter, with people calling him misogynistic, sexist and bitter over Finn's fate and the end of the franchise. He's been hitting back, though, making fun of everyone who's taking it so damn seriously.

He even put up a meme mocking Rey and Kylo Ren's "romance," which mostly shows them fighting and Rey in complete distress. It appears to be in good fun, but folks are still coming for him over what many perceive to be a remark made in bad taste and harmful.

Still, he kinda doubled down on his pipe line, but later suggested he was just talking about the characters in a joking manner, and didn't mean for it to translate to real life. In response to one user, he wrote ... "i was talking about Rey from Star Wars. When did I speak about women in general? Where did I even mention holes? ... Bye now."

People have noted John doesn't have any more 'Star Wars' obligations, and that might be why he's speaking so freely. Either way ... the guy obviously doesn't care about Reylo shippers, or those easily offended as the decade comes to an end.

Jeffrey Davies -- who played Kelly Leak in the 2005 comedy "Bad News Bears" -- is fighting like hell to regain function after a terrifying accident left him nearly paralyzed.

According to law enforcement, Davies was riding a motorcycle close to midnight back in May, when he lost control at the center of an intersection and was thrown from the bike.

Jeffrey's Mom, Kim, says her son was rushed to Orlando Medical Center after suffering a serious head injury that required surgery. During surgery, we're told, doctors had to partially remove Jeffrey's skull to relieve pressure in his brain.

It's been over 7 months since the accident but Jeffrey's still in major recovery mode. He's had to learn how to talk and walk. Jeffrey -- the local troublemaker/superstar baseball player in the film starring Billy Bob Thorton -- requires speech and occupational therapy plus tons of medical supplies. Reliable transportation's also an issue since he's confined to a wheelchair.

Teri Garr -- the comedic actress known for her legendary roles in "Young Frankenstein," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "Tootsie" -- is in the hospital following a medical emergency ... TMZ has learned.

Sources close to Teri tell us ... an ambulance was called to her San Fernando Valley home around 10:30 AM Monday, and she was transported to a local medical center.

We're told she may have suffered a stroke, but we have not been able to confirm that at this time.

Garr has a history of serious health issues. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999 after years of dealing with symptoms of the disease and suffered a brain aneurysm in December 2006 that left her in a coma for weeks.

Teri made a recovery though and was able to return to acting until she retired in 2011.

Garr has over 140 film and television credits over the span of her career as well as one Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for "Tootsie" in 1982. Garr also trained extensively in ballet.

Harvey Weinstein's embroiled in multiple court cases that could land him in prison, so maybe it's not surprising he's focusing on the simple things in life ... like a bowl or 2 of ice cream.

The former movie mogul was at the Molly Pitcher Inn in Red Bank, New Jersey Saturday looking low-key in a grey hoodie. He sat alone, eating not one but 2 ice cream sundaes as he perused some paperwork.

An eyewitness tells us Weinstein used a walker as he got to his feet and left. A source close to Weinstein tells us he was at the hotel for a vacation and to get some rest and relaxation.

TMZ broke the story ... Weinstein got back surgery earlier this month, a procedure called a bilateral laminectomy. We're told the whole thing lasted around 3 hours. The surgery -- better known as decompression surgery -- enlarges the spinal canal to relieve pressure on the spinal cord or nerves.

As we reported ... Harvey could barely walk on his own when he got to court just days before his surgery ... we're told the hope is he'll be fully recovered in a few more weeks.

Zac Efron has broken his silence about a rumored illness that apparently almost had him on his death bed -- and he says it's true, but that he's all better now.

The actor posted the message Sunday, writing ... "Very thankful to everyone who has reached out. I did get sick in Papua New Guinea but I bounced back quick and finished an amazing 3 weeks in P.N.G." He continued, "I’m home for the holidays with my friends and family. Thanks for all the love and concern, see you in 2020!"

The update comes amid reports he'd recently come down with typhoid or another bacteria-related sickness while filming his new Quibi show overseas, which required him to be airlifted to an airport in Australia, and then transported to a hospital from there.

According to local outlets, he was released and cleared to travel back to the U.S. on Christmas Eve. On Saturday, he surfaced in L.A. looking relatively healthy with a shopping bag in hand. It's crazy ... typhoid can be fatal if not treated correctly. Definitely scary.

Barack Obama just announced his favorite movies of the year, and it looks like he's a mild fan of the studio he and his wife have partnered with to make cinematic magic.

The former Prez released a list of his top movies of 2019, and they include a ton of indie flicks ... most of which were not produced or distributed by Netflix. That's not to say the company was excluded completely -- four of their movies made it in, including his own.

Of the Netflix titles that were mentioned ... "Marriage Story," "The Irishman," "Atlantics" and the mister and missus's High Ground Productions documentary, "American Factory."

It's one of the first projects Barack and Michelle have produced under their recently announced multi-year deal with Netflix, and it's already gotten tons of praise. The doc's about a shuttered GM plant in Ohio that gets resurrected by a Chinese company, which integrates their own factory workers with Americans in what proves to be a culture clash.

Interestingly, there's more independent movies released under different studios Obama seems to have liked more this year ... like "The Farewell," "The Souvenir," "Ford v Ferrari," "Just Mercy," "'Little Women," "The Last Black Man in San Francisco," "Birds of Passage" and others.

He also released some TV shows he was into, and Netflix made the cut there as well with "Unbelievable." From a bird's-eye view, it looks like 44's got pretty sophisticated taste.

Ron Perlman was the driver of the out-of-control truck plowing through an indie movie set, injuring crew members and nearly setting the entire area ablaze ... and TMZ has the video.

Multiple sources tell TMZ ... the "Hellboy" star is behind the wheel in the footage, which shows a truck barreling into the camera department and video village tent on the set of "The Last Victim" last month at the Okanagan Indian Band in British Columbia.

Our sources say Ron, who stars as the local sheriff in the neo-western, ran over several propane heaters in the tent, where the script supervisor, director and producer were hanging out, wedging the heaters under the truck. We're told the heaters were lit, and it sounds like a miracle the propane didn't ignite!!!

We first reported on the scary car crash earlier this month, which left one person with a minor foot injury, but at the time it wasn't clear who was driving ... and now we know it was Ron.

Marlon Wayans is a sideline dad who'll go to the mat for his kid -- and we think we mean that literally by the way he was screaming at the ref during a basketball game for teens.

The actor and comedian was at his son's high school basketball game Friday night at Bishop Alemany High School in L.A., where he was attentively watching from the bleachers. He eventually came down to court level though to do a little yelling over the officiating.

Apparently, Marlon felt his boy, Shawn, was getting fouled and not receiving the calls for it. He even pointed that out in his own home videos that he posted on social media.

Welp, it looks like the frustrated commentary turned into a shouting match down below, because eyewitnesses tell us Marlon let the refs have it and then some, cussing included.

In video of Marlon's tantrum, obtained by TMZ, you hear him seemingly call at least one referee a "motherf***er" before storming out of the gym. Another parent agreed with him.

MW wasn't done quite yet. At another point in the clip, it looks like he circled back and confronted the refs directly at the scoring table, and did some intense finger-pointing and chastising before having to be restrained. Marlon cooled down and walked away.

Luckily this thing didn't escalate to the point of no return. In the end, just another case of an involved parent who loves their kids. No harm, no ... uhhh, maybe not actually.

Ice Cube's gone back to the drawing board with the fourth installment of "Friday" ... and he's clearly pissed.

The N.W.A. rapper revealed there's been some major beef between him and the film's production studio New Line Cinema ... for dragging its feet on green-lighting "Last Friday." The rub and possible deal-breaker ... John Witherspoon -- who plays Mr. Jones, Ice Cube's father in the film -- has died.

So, when we got Cube Friday at LAX, we asked if he'd ever considered using CGI in the film -- since Carrie Fisher's fam was okay with a Princess Leia CGI in "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" -- and he could not have been clearer.

"Last Friday" is the fourth and final installment of the 'Friday' franchise that kicked off in 1995. It's been about 18 years since the last 'Friday' film, and Cube says, "It's all on New Line, man." He's especially pissed cause, if New Line Cinema didn't take its sweet time, they easily would've been able to put Witherspoon in the flick.

Back in May, Cube revealed he wanted to release the film on April 26, 2020 ... but that's clearly not happening now ... if ever.

President Trump has been 86'd from 'Home Alone 2' by Canadian TV ... but the reason the network is giving for the omission is ... well, sketchy.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation removed Trump's cameo in the classic Christmas movie. The CBC claims it cut out the 10-second cameo in order to make room for commercials. We're not buyin' what they're sellin'. Trump has famously disrespected our neighbors to the north ... from the Canadian PM on down.

Hawk-eyed viewers first noticed that the scene -- which shows Trump giving Macaulay Culkin directions in the then-Trump-owned Plaza Hotel -- was nowhere to be seen and they immediately took to social media -- some voicing approval while others were irate. Someone tweeted, "Just watched 'Home Alone 2: Lost in New York' recorded of @CBC and they edited out the @realDonaldTrump scene. God bless us EVERYONE!"

Others called the move "Orwellian." Either way ... Trump's probably not gonna like the move, especially given what he said Tuesday during a call with overseas troops. The Prez bragged about his cameo saying, "Well, I'm in 'Home Alone 2' and a lot of people mention it every year, especially around Christmas."

Martin Scorsese got absolutely owned on Christmas ... by his own daughter, who poked fun at her pops with some simple gift wrapping paper.

The famed director's daughter, Francesca, shared on Twitter the wrapping paper she used for Martin's gift ... and it's hilarious -- Marvel Comics!!! In case you missed it ... earlier this year, Martin created one helluva firestorm when he said Marvel movies aren't cinema.

It was the comment heard around the world ... cause pretty much the entire universe came after Martin for shading Marvel films. Things got so bad ... the "Taxi Driver" and "Goodfellas" director was forced to write an op-ed in the New York Times to explain himself.

The storm has since passed ... that is until Martin's 20-year-old daughter went there and used wrapping paper featuring Hulk and Captain America.

James Corden stars in the movie musical "Cats," so it seems only appropriate for him to join the chorus ... that the movie sucks!!!

James was on a BBC radio show and told the hosts he hasn't seen the musical yet, but he heard "it's terrible."

It's hard for him to argue otherwise. "Cats" has been a spectacular flop. It cost $95 million to make, and pulled in just $6.6 million in its opening weekend.

Critics and a lot of Average Joe's have ripped the movie to shreds ... despite some big star power, including Jason Derulo, Taylor Swift and Jennifer Hudson.

Judi Dench really gave "Cats" the finger ... in fact, she gave the audience 5 of them and a wedding ring to boot, in a major flub/oversight.

If you dared to subject yourself to the 2-hour-long feline flick, you may have noticed a decidedly human feature on Dench ... a human hand with a band of gold.

There have been other flubs in the flick, but this one's pretty hilarious.

Universal reportedly notified thousands of theaters they'd be receiving an updated version of the movie with "some improved visual effects."

Jason Derulo, one of the movie's stars has been VERY open in discussing edits. Derulo says his junk had to be CGI'd out of the film because it was just too big ... and looked weird on his cat body.

Taylor Swift, Jennifer Hudson and James Corden are also in the movie -- which can't be saved on star power alone -- it's currently pulling and 18% on Rotten Tomatoes.