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Michael Keaton is down for doing Beetlejuice 2

@britt_mahaney — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:04:44 +0000

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We’re buzzing over the Beetlejuice sequel that’s currently in the works and now Michael Keaton says he’s hugely interested in reprising his role. Keaton, who worked with Tim Burton in the original 1988 movie, apparently discussed the idea with writer Seth Graeme-Smith.

Smith said: “It’s a reality in the sense that I met with Michael Keaton last week. We talked for a couple of hours and talked about big picture stuff. It’s a priority for Warner Bros. It’s a priority for Tim.”

Keaton says he’s been waiting for 20 years to do a sequel and he’ll talk to anyone who will listen. Now all we need is Winona Ryder!

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Hugh Grant Pulls Out Of ‘Two and a Half Men’ Negotiations

Christian Allaire — Thu, 12 May 2011 15:49:16 +0000

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Hugh Grant has reportedly pulled out of negotiations to take on the lead role in ‘Two and a Half Men,’ reports CTV.

The 50-year-old actor was reportedly offered $1 million an episode to replace Charlie Sheen on the sitcom, but turned down the job due to “creative differences.” Sheen was fired from the show earlier this year because of his erratic behaviour.

According to insiders, creator and executive producer Chuck Lorre, who Charlie branded “s**tbrain and “Chucky Cheesball” during their public feud, will only continue the show if he can find someone to work comfortably with, and prefers an actor not known for television work.

A source said ”Chuck will only continue if he can find the right actor and get excited about that. It has to be somebody Chuck can work with.”

Warner Bros. and U.S. television network CBS are gunning to get the matter resolved soon in order to get a new series of the show ready before the end of the year.

After Charlie was fired from ‘Two and a Half Men’ in March, a number of actors have been considered to take on the lead role, including Rob Lowe, Woody Harrelson, Jeremy Piven and John Stamos.

Hugh Grant was kind of a random choice, anyways. Sure, he’s good at pulling off arrogant, ladies-man roles, but I don’t feel like it would be a good fit for this show. Guess the search continues – but honestly – anyone is better than Sheen.

Justice League Movie will be a Stand Alone

Lauren Treihaft — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 13:43:52 +0000

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A sudden wave of new superhero films has just emerged in the film industry. Marc Webb ((500) Days of Summer) is rebooting the Spider-Man series, Zack Snyder (Sucker Punch) is rebooting the Superman series, and news broke out yesterday that the Justice League film is back in action as it has been placed back on Warner Brother’s schedule.

Comingsoon.net reports that the Justice League film will not be related to Zack Snyder’s Superman project nor to the forthcoming Dark Night Rises. The ensemble film, featuring Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and others, will be a stand alone story.

HeyUguys.co.uk spoke with Snyder on the red carpet for the premiere of Sucker Punch about the Justice League film, Snyder said, ”Like what Chris Nolan is doing and what I’m doing with ‘Superman’, what they’ll do with ‘Justice League’ will be it’s own thing with its own Batman and own Superman. We’ll be over here with our movie and they’ll kinda get to do it twice, which is kind of cool.”

Hopefully Warner Bros. will sign on a well known director to front the project and cast some strong leads. The film will have to compete with all the other superhero films being so they have to create a strong narrative. We don’t want to see another flop like The Avengers.

Warner Bros. to Charlie Sheen: “YOU’RE FIRED”

@coltondaniel — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 21:57:33 +0000

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Charlie Sheen officially got the boot from Warner Bros, according to TMZ.

Warner Brothers issued the following statement: “After careful consideration, Warner Bros. Television has terminated Charlie Sheen’s services on ‘Two and a Half Men,’ effective immediately.”

There is no conformation whether or not the show will continue with production. Poor Ducky is likely sitting at home pondering his next move. In the meantime, the world (@CharlieSheen’s followers just cracked 2 million) will be hanging on his every tweet.

Want to work for the warlock himself? A few moments ago, Sheen posted a link on his Twitter offering a summer internship: “I’m looking to hire a #winning INTERN with #TigerBlood. Apply here – http://bit.ly/hykQQF #TigerBloodIntern #internship #ad“. There is no set price, but micro-endorsements can net a celebrity anywhere from $1,000 to $50,000 per tweet.

Between the Twitter, Sheen’s new online show (Sheen’s Corner on uStream) and the potential of starring in a new show on Mark Cuben’s channel… I don’t think we’ve had our last dose of him just yet.

Cuban said in a press release Sunday, that there hasn’t been a decision of whether to make it a reality show, a talk show or something else. It will be up to Sheen.

Cuban described Sheen as “somebody that everybody has a whole lot of interest in who is doing some interesting things, to say the least”.

Looks like it’s just the beginning of the self-proclaimed F-18′s destruction.

Lethal Weapon, Rebooted

RM Franks — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 18:45:08 +0000

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Filmdrunk is reporting some very exciting news this morning. Apparently, Warner Brothers has decided to release a new, revamped Lethal Weapon movie.

The movie franchise from the late 80′s to mid 90′s, that featured the most racist actor in history partnered up with Danny Glover, was a cult phenomenon and many even credit the Lethal Weapon franchise for spawning all future ‘buddy-buddy-action-comedy-cop-movies’. Blue Streak, Bad Boys, Rush Hour, The Other Guys, the list goes on and on, but it likely began with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. The new version however, may not feature the original duo.

The folks at Filmdrunk offer a brief explanation, with some colour commentary, over how this all came to be:

“Warner Bros and producer Joel Silver have set Will Beall to write Lethal Weapon, with a take that will relaunch the buddy cop series with a new cast. Beall, a former LA police officer who patrolled South Central and wrote the novel L.A. Rex, has seen his stock rise at the studio because of his scriptGangster Squad, the period crime drama about an elite crime squad that fought against organized crime kingpins like Mickey Cohen. Zombieland helmer Ruben Fleischer has come aboard to direct that film.

Warner Bros has been messing around for some time with Lethal Weapon 5, with a treatment written by original scribe Shane Black. The plan was to bring the original team back, but schedules didn’t match up and Mel Gibson’s image has taken a self-inflicted beating [much like my wang -ed]. Beall pitched a take that maintains the tone of the original–a hard R-rated edgy street cop movie.”.

My fingers are crossed. You?

Christopher Nolan Denies Rumors about The Dark Knight Rises

Lauren Treihaft — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 17:15:58 +0000

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Though it has been states many times over, The Dark Knight Rises will in fact be Christopher Nolan’s last Batman installment. News this week surfaced in regard to unused footage of Heath Ledger in the role of the Joker. Rumor had it that Nolan was planning on using some of this footage for the new film.

According to Comingsoon.net, Nolan spoke to Thompson on Hollywood to refute the rumors about the Joker footage and give some ambiguous information (in true Nolan fashion) about The Dark Knight Rises. Nolan said that the rumors are all false. The Joker will not appear in the new film. Nolan did reveal that Tom Hardy, who we have been speculating about for some time, will have an important role in the film. Of course Nolan didn’t say whether Hardy will be playing a hero or a villain. Nolan loves his secrets!

The director is still working on the script which is a collaborative effort between him and his brother Jonathan. The script is due in January and Warner Bros. has set the release date of the film for mid July right in the middle of summer blockbuster season.

Warner Bros. Plans to Reboot ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’

Lauren Treihaft — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 23:27:57 +0000

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If you were cool from the years of 1997-2003, you were probably watching the television show “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and drooling over Sarah Michelle Geller and David Boreanaz. If you were too young then, well you have probably seen a million reruns of the show.Twilight was not the first popular vampire franchise! As reported by Coming-Soon.net, Warner Bros. announced on Monday that they will be rebooting the popular franchise.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer first appeared as a film in 1992 and immediately became a cult hit which was then turned into a television series 5 years later. Whit Andersen, who is writing the script for the reboot, claims that the characters in Buffy will have matured. Buffy will no longer be a high school teen dealing with vampires and young love, but rather she will be a tough and sexy vixen.

However, there is some bad news. Joss Whedon, the original creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is apparently upset at the reboot. He told E!, This is a sad, sad reflection on our times, when people must feed off the carcasses of beloved stories from their youths—just because they can’t think of an original idea of their own, like I did with my Avengers idea that I made up myself.”

Oh well, sorry Joss. I’m sure people don’t really care what Whedon thinks. Lovers of Buffy will be curious to see the new spin on the characters and story. I just hope that is is better than Twilight.

Amazon.com Launches a Movie Studio

Lauren Treihaft — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 19:45:24 +0000

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Amazon.com the world class website for buying and selling a wide assortment of things has launched a movie studio. As reported by perezhilton.com, Amazon Studios will feature monthly contests and a plethora of community feedback in reference to films.

The studio, which will be run by users, is currently in negotiations with Warner Brothers, but it is the first deal they will look at. If Warner Bros. does not pick up the deal Amazon will try a different studio. It’s an interesting proposal. Perhaps it would be a good decision for Warner Bros who have a number of great film titles under their belt.

Amazon has announced that they will offer $2.7 million total in awards to the top submissions they receive by Dec. 31, 2011. For those who are not involved in the technical aspect of filmmaking, the site will also offer a chance for writers to submit their screenplays. Right now the site is accepting “Test Movie” submissions. The films are required to be be over 70 minutes long, and can be based on any original or submitted script on the website.

I wonder what caused Amazon to develop the idea. Maybe they are facing financial problems due to the gargantuan amount of illegal downloading. Like itunes, Amazon offers a video on-demand service where you can stream movies and tv shows directly to your computer. The new studio also seems like it could be a youtube competitor. So far youtube has been an insurmountable entity.

With all of the young and aspiring filmmakers out there, this is a good opportunity to get material online and possibly recognized by big names. I guess we’ll have to wait for upcoming “Amazon Sensations.”

Charlie Sheen Returns To ‘Two and a Half Men’

andPOP Staff — Tue, 18 May 2010 13:47:04 +0000

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Charlie Sheen has signed a deal with Warner Bros to do 2 more years of “Two and a Half Men” reports TMZ.

Sources tell TMZ that Sheen is “very happy.” As far as what Charlie is getting paid remains unclear. We know initially he wanted $2 Million per episode, however Warner Bros. initially said no. Obviously the two sides were able to meet somewhere in the middle.

Sheen released a statement saying “To put a fitting end on the two-and-one-half months of whirlwind speculation, I’m looking forward to returning to my CBS home on Monday nights. I want to thank Les Moonves for his support.”

Charlie Sheen Wants a Raise: $2 Million for ‘Two and a Half Men’

Jacob Morris — Fri, 07 May 2010 18:29:15 +0000

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Charlie Sheen is currently in negotiations to come back to Two and a Half Men and is asking for a big raise, reports E! Online.

The sitcom star is said to be asking for $2 million per episode. Two and a Half Men is a big earner for CBS and Warner Bros. TV, but as everyone knows, it won’t take two million dollars for Charlie Sheen to remain a bachelor.

A source close to Sheen commented, “Charlie thinks he’ll probably get $1.2 or $1.3 million in the end,” reports E! Online.

It has been rumoured that he threatened to walk off of the hit sitcom as a negotiation tactic, but as E! Online reports, Charlie Sheen released a statement in April maintaining that the decision to leave the show was not a “hasty or negligent eleventh-hour surprise.”

Whether he gets what he is asking for or not and does come back to Two and a Half Men for another season, it is likely that we won’t have to wait long to find out.

CBS is holding its upfronts on May 19th and potential advertisers will want to know if Sheen will be returning to star in the hit show.

Batman 3 Gets a Release Date

Jacob Morris — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 22:56:19 +0000

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Christopher Nolan sure has done some incredible work with the Batman franchise. With the financial and critical success of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, it wasn’t a question of if a third movie would happen, it was when.

Well, as Slashfilm.com reports, Batman 3 was announced Wednesday as part of a deal IMAX made with Warner Bros. which featured 20 to-be-produced films. Fans of the films were excited to know that a third installment was on its way.

Although the details are slim and it unclear if there is even a screenplay completed, Warner Bros. was confident enough to set a date. Earlier today Warner Bros. announced the official release date of Batman 3.

Mark it down—July 20^th 2012 is the date to remember.

It seems as though the studio is going for a similar scale of release as 2008’s The Dark Knight as the new film will be out on the exact same weekend.

If the production schedule is anything like that of The Dark Knight, as Slashfilm.com reports, shooting will likely need to get underway around mid-2011.

Brittany Murphy’s Husband Suing Warner Bros.

andPOP Staff — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 23:46:58 +0000

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The Brittany Murphy drama is far from over. TMZ is reporting that Murphy’s husband, Simon Monjack, is suing Warner Bros. as he believes the studio is responsible for his wife’s death.

In an interview with The Daily Beast, Monjack explained that Murphy was devastated after losing a role in the sequel to “Happy Feet.” Monjack believes that this upset caused Brittany to have a heart attack.

Prior to this event, Brittany was fired from “The Caller” on set in Puerto Rico. Reports suggest that Murphy’s behavior on set was unprofessional and erratic.

Monjack said, “Warner Brothers relied on conjecture and hearsay about the Puerto Rico film for why they canceled Brittany’s role in Happy Feet.”

Game Review: Game Party 3

sarge-ak47 — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:09:31 +0000

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19 hits! It reads...

Got no game…
I’ve always feared the day when I would come across a game that would be so terrible that its very existence would torment me. Maybe I am being a bit melodramatic but trust me when I say that Game Party 3 makes me very sad. You see a while back I wrote a good editorial piece about the Wii and how there are plenty of good games available for it. The main focus was to draw attention to stellar third party games and how they need our support if the Wii is to have a bright future. Game Party series makes it harder for any third party developer to actually make a decent game when publishers can see so much revenue created by this minimalist approach.

Yes I do sound pretty jaded and with good reason- I reviewed this title.

Gameplay
Do I really need to analyze the gameplay behind this title?
To be fair it has almost 19 games that all end up being some form of aiming with the IR, chucking your Wiimote, or waggling the Wiimote like a complete moron. Excitement is ever abundant in this title with such gems like skeeball, lawn darts, darts, puck bowling, shuffleboard, horseshoe toss, and a horrible game of shooting the hoops. Apparently there have been some unique additions such as bumper pool, croquet (no way), and whack a mole- aptly titled here as smack a troll.

Why did I even go and list these horrible renditions? Honestly I searched for some sort of silver lining in the gameplay department but to no avail. Besides the sheer variety of games there is nothing that is innovative or creative about the gameplay. The only thing the game can do well is have the IR sensor appear on screen as you navigate the main menu.

The games are broken down to six different categories: country club, lounge, rec room, sports zone, family fun, and backyard. Each category houses multiple games that take advantage of their respective theme.
Controls don’t perform as smoothly as they should and feel as if these games were designed before the Wii development kits ever arrived at Farsight studios. Try playing darts or any other title that requires precise motion and you will begin to hate your life.

What it boils down to are horrible games that are more fun in real life. Video games are supposed to make even the most mundane tasks seem fun and exciting but this game makes me want to call up my buddies to actually go to a backyard and toss some horseshoes and not in a good way. Maybe I can play a game of long darts and try and see if I can nail this game with something pointy. I just can’t talk about anything that works here in terms of gameplay. I have played free flash games that are more fun.

Amongst the utter mess of a game there is one thing I did like and that is how Game Party 3 has all the games from Game Party 1 and 2. What they forgot to do was to add something new to the old games (even a new control scheme would suffice) which truly stinks for the poor souls who bought the previous versions. But it is good to know that once you’ve played 3 you haven’t missed out on any of the previous games.

Lucky troll...

Graphics
The game has some decent menus and simple navigation that will deceive you . For a moment you tell yourself there would be no possibility that this would look like an N64 game upscaled to 480p. I’m sorry even N64 games like Banjo Kazooie look more fleshed out than this and that game is almost a decade old.

The characters look horrendous and have such horrible proportions to them that you wonder if the programming team had a crack at designing them. They look as stiff as they animate and it just gets worse from there. Seriously generic looking characters and some horrible environments that lack any style or inspiration litter the entire play experience. I don’t even know if they were going for a washed down cell shaded look because whatever they tried to achieve look to have failed.

Sound
The only thing this game has going for it is the fact that it actually has sound.
Music is forgettable and often times playing this title on mute may enhance the experience a tad bit.
Go play smack a troll and tell me you want to blast that in your home.

Replay
19 games that are accumulated from the previous two titles is the ONLY thing that might be considered a positive here. No online functionality and 1 to 4 player support means you have to crack this little gem out when the crowd is passed out from too much drinking. Pray your friends don’t remember anything about this game.
The fact remains that none of these game have received any visual or control upgrades which means you just paid too much for something that could have been bought for 3 bucks. I understand this is a budget title but you will still feel cheated.

What exactly makes this "Super" Hoop Shoot?

I played this title with my brother and he punched me in the arm and walked out of the room. He is my younger brother and I had to go buy him a game for sitting down and helping me review the multiplayer portion of Game Party 3. I don’t like buying games as a sign of apology.
The real challenge is having 4 sane people play this for over an hour.

Verdict.
This is a game designed to attack the poor parents who have no idea what to get for their family Wii.
This game preys on those poor souls who want some fun multiplayer game to enjoy with their friends and family but are not well adverse to gaming information you and I take for granted.

If you are ever around some loving parent and see them pick this up, do them a favor and warn them of the horrors that lie ahead. Please don’t play games like this on the Wii- not when games like Wii Sports, Mario Party, Deca Sports2, and countless other family friendly games exist. Do your research and avoid these crappy mini-games at budget prices.
I enjoyed absolutely nothing about this game and wonder why Warner Bros. Interactive even bothered continuing this sad legacy. The best thing about Game Party 3 is turning it off.

Gameplay      1/5
Graphics     0.5/5
Sound          0.5/5
Replay            1/5

John Stamos Clears Up Warner Bros. BS

Stephen Baldwin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:01:15 +0000

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John Stamos finally went on record attributing his hilarious 2007 train wreck appearance on an Australian talk show to alcohol, US weekly reports.

“I was on sleeping pills and I was jet-lagged, but I was also just plastered. And I never said I wasn’t, but that whole Warner Bros. publicity machine got involved and said, ‘Just say he was jet-lagged,’” said Stamos.

Stamos slurred his words, made innappopriate jokes and even made a lewd gesture to the host with a glass head. He finished off the interview reading the host’s lines off the teleprompter while squeezing her beside him.

But Stamos wasn’t phased by the incident, and didn’t see why his publicists had to skew the story. “I said, ‘No, tell ‘em the truth! I was f****** drunk in Australia. Big deal.’”

Like a Great Sequel, Scene It? is Back With a Vengence.

Josh Salem — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 20:01:48 +0000

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That’s right folks, Scene It? is coming out with it’s third foray into the video game world with Scene It? Bright Lights! Big Screen!

Not only will Scene It? be making it’s way back to the Xbox 360, but this time around it’s making the debut on both the Wii and PS3!

Offering more up to date movie trivia (as well as classic movie trivia of course), Bright Lights! Big Screen! will also feature a new and improved single player mode as well as new, unique mini-games.

Better bone up on your movie knowledge before Scene It? drops this holiday season.

Leonardo DiCaprio Producing Twilight Zone Movie

Vanessa Baker — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:06:08 +0000

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Leonardo DiCaprio’s company Appian Way, in conjunction with Warner Bros., is producing a film based on the television series The Twilight Zone, reports Variety.

Rand Ravich, who penned the television series Life and the movie Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, will write the film. Ravich previously directed Johnny Depp in The Astronaut’s Wife.

Stephen Spielberg was among a number of directors who worked on the first Twilight Zone movie in 1983. That version starred Dan Aykroyd and John Lithgow.

‘Lara Croft’ Minus Angelina Jolie

Ilan Mester — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 01:00:58 +0000

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E! Online reported Warner Bros. has confirmed plans for a third “Tomb Raider” movie, which would feature changes for its leading character, Lara Croft according to the Hollywood Reporter. These changes will include the main character’s origin story as well as new missions, villains and love interests.

But the most notable change is a new Lara Croft. Producers have said they have not yet selected the new leading lady because they are waiting for a writer and a director to sign onto the project.

Although “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” and “Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life,” its sequel, were both produced by Paramount Pictures, Eidos has obtained the rights to its video game.

The first “Tomb Raider” film scored big at the box office in 2001, earning $275 million worldwide. The sequel however did not gross as high, but managed to pull in an impressive $157 million. Meanwhile the video game series has made more than $1 billion since its release in 1996.

Emile Hirsch Drops His Agent

andPOP Staff — Tue, 13 May 2008 09:20:45 +0000

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Deadline Hollywood Daily reports that Emile Hirsch has hastily parted ways with the United Talent Agency.

This comes just days after Hirsch’s big flick, “Speed Racer,” came in third place at the box office. Adding to the scandal is that Warner Bros. tried to lie about how much money the movie earned.

Hirsch’s now former agent, Shani Rosenzweig, is “gobsmacked” about the actor’s departure. He had been with the agency for more than seven years.

“He claims he just doesn’t want an agent,” an insider told the site.

The promising young actor will next appear in the Gus Van Sant film, “Milk.”

Warner Bros President’s Sexist Decree

andPOP Staff — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:30:48 +0000

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Warner Bros president of production Jeff Robinov has decided that the company will “no longer [produce] movies with women in the lead.”

This brutal policy came from the mere fact that two recent Warner movies starring Jodie Foster and Nicole Kidman (The Brave One and The Invasion respectively) did not do well at the box office.

“It’s a phenomenal thing to say. What are we in the 1700s where women are back to being barefoot and pregnant?” said an anonymous producer. “What’s next — fire all the Warner Bros women executives?”

In response to Robinov’s new policy, Gloria Allred made the following statement:

“If that’s what he said, when movies with men as the lead fail, no one says we’ll stop making movies with men in the lead. This is an insult to all moviegoers and particularly women. It is truly unfortunate that women get blamed for decisions which are made by men. Instead of taking responsibility for their own lack of judgment about which scripts to make, directors to hire and budgets to OK, some men in the movie industry find it easier to place blame for their lack of success on women leads and to exclude talented female actors from the top employment opportunities in Hollywood in favour of macho males. If that studio confirms that their policy is to now exclude women as leads, then my policy would be to boycott films made by Warner Bros.”