Over a year ago, news surfaced that Amazon would be producing a live-action series centered around Spider-Man Noir, a superhero situated in 1930s New York City. Departing from the traditional Spider-Man narrative, this show will spotlight an older, more seasoned character distinct from Peter Parker. Developed by Oren Uziel, the series will carve its own path within the Marvel universe, with Uziel serving as both writer and executive producer.
The project has attracted notable industry figures, including producers Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Amy Pascal. Uziel, recognized for his work on films like ’22 Jump Street’ and the 2021 ‘Mortal Kombat,’ brings his expertise to the endeavor. This series is part of Amazon’s lineup of character-driven Marvel projects, joining the ranks of ‘Silk: Spider Society.’
Today, it has been officially confirmed that Nicholas Cage will indeed portray Spider-Man Noir in the upcoming show, confirming months of speculation.
Nicolas Cage is...
The project has attracted notable industry figures, including producers Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Amy Pascal. Uziel, recognized for his work on films like ’22 Jump Street’ and the 2021 ‘Mortal Kombat,’ brings his expertise to the endeavor. This series is part of Amazon’s lineup of character-driven Marvel projects, joining the ranks of ‘Silk: Spider Society.’
Today, it has been officially confirmed that Nicholas Cage will indeed portray Spider-Man Noir in the upcoming show, confirming months of speculation.
Nicolas Cage is...
- 5/14/2024
- by Valentina Kraljik
- Fiction Horizon
More than a year ago we learned that Amazon is set to produce a live-action series centered around Spider-Man Noir, a superhero set in 1930s New York City. Unlike the traditional Spider-Man story, this series will focus on an older, more weathered character, quite different from Peter Parker. Developed by Oren Uziel, the show will have its own path within the Marvel universe, with Uziel serving as both writer and executive producer.
The project so far involves notable names from the industry, including producers Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Amy Pascal. Uziel, known for his work on films such as ’22 Jump Street’ and the 2021 Mortal Kombat,’ brings his talents to the table. This series was just one more in line with Amazon’s Marvel character-driven projects, alongside ‘Silk: Spider Society.’
Today, it’s been confirmed that Nicholas Cage will in fact start as Spider-Man Noir in the upcoming show, something...
The project so far involves notable names from the industry, including producers Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Amy Pascal. Uziel, known for his work on films such as ’22 Jump Street’ and the 2021 Mortal Kombat,’ brings his talents to the table. This series was just one more in line with Amazon’s Marvel character-driven projects, alongside ‘Silk: Spider Society.’
Today, it’s been confirmed that Nicholas Cage will in fact start as Spider-Man Noir in the upcoming show, something...
- 5/14/2024
- by Valentina Kraljik
- Comic Basics
Chicago – Get out your flapper dresses and raccoon coats as Facets Chicago goes back to the early talkies and so-called “pre-code” films, paired with a cocktail bar at their new “Speakeasy Cinema,” programmed by Raul Benitez. The first film is “The Doorway to Hell” (1930) on Saturday May 11th, starting at 6:30p. For ticket info and more details, click Speakeasy.
Facets invites film lovers to leave their troubles at the door, grab a prohibition-era cocktail, listen to some jazz, and make their way through the secret back entrance to an intimate cabaret-style screening room showcasing underrated gems from the Golden Age of Hollywood. From trailblazing pre-code cinema to classic gangster fare, series programmer Raul Benitez has curated a lineup of films to be presented within their historical context, yet appreciated through a modern lens.
Speakeasy Cinema at Facets Chicago
Photo credit: Facets.org
“The Doorway to Hell” involves Louie Ricarno...
Facets invites film lovers to leave their troubles at the door, grab a prohibition-era cocktail, listen to some jazz, and make their way through the secret back entrance to an intimate cabaret-style screening room showcasing underrated gems from the Golden Age of Hollywood. From trailblazing pre-code cinema to classic gangster fare, series programmer Raul Benitez has curated a lineup of films to be presented within their historical context, yet appreciated through a modern lens.
Speakeasy Cinema at Facets Chicago
Photo credit: Facets.org
“The Doorway to Hell” involves Louie Ricarno...
- 5/11/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Ya know that feeling when you watch something dumb, and even though you know it’s stupid, you can’t help but laugh and enjoy yourself? The 1980s are full of comedies like that. Yeah, we know they’re dumb and not especially clever, but whatever, man, every now and then, you’re in a bad mood, and you want to turn your brain off. That’s why they made seven Police Academy movies. No one thought they were good, but we watched them anyway because they were stupid in a pleasing way.
This brings me to this rare comedy-focused episode of The Best Movie You Never Saw, about a movie I loved as a kid that doesn’t super hold up forty years later, but it is still kinda fun – Johnny Dangerously. A gangster comedy in the vein of Airplane, Johnny Dangerously is probably a movie many younger viewers...
This brings me to this rare comedy-focused episode of The Best Movie You Never Saw, about a movie I loved as a kid that doesn’t super hold up forty years later, but it is still kinda fun – Johnny Dangerously. A gangster comedy in the vein of Airplane, Johnny Dangerously is probably a movie many younger viewers...
- 5/5/2024
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Later this month, the Green Mountain State will roll out the red carpet for the United States’ newest international film festival: The Vermont Film & Folklore Festival, which will open in Manchester, Vermont on Thursday, May 23 with a full lineup of award-winning narrative features, documentaries, and shorts from around the world, including a spotlight on Vermont-made films.
Founded by a pair of indie film luminaries and recent Manchester transplants — MovieMaker Magazine founder Tim Rhys and Filmmaker Magazine co-founder Karol Martesko-Fenster — the festival will play home to screenings of more than 40 new and classic films, including rare 16mm screenings of some of Hollywood’s most beloved movies, including 70th anniversary screenings of “On the Waterfront” and “La Strada,” a 75th anniversary screening of James Cagney’s “White Heat,” and an 80th anniversary screening of “Double Indemnity, and more.
The festival will kick off at The Southern Vermont Arts Center with the opening...
Founded by a pair of indie film luminaries and recent Manchester transplants — MovieMaker Magazine founder Tim Rhys and Filmmaker Magazine co-founder Karol Martesko-Fenster — the festival will play home to screenings of more than 40 new and classic films, including rare 16mm screenings of some of Hollywood’s most beloved movies, including 70th anniversary screenings of “On the Waterfront” and “La Strada,” a 75th anniversary screening of James Cagney’s “White Heat,” and an 80th anniversary screening of “Double Indemnity, and more.
The festival will kick off at The Southern Vermont Arts Center with the opening...
- 5/3/2024
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
After a year-long delay brought about by the 2023 Hollywood strikes, Nicole Kidman is finally set to receive the prestigious AFI Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. The Oscar winner is the 49th overall recipient of this special honor, with the last one being Julie Andrews in 2022. Kidman’s ceremony will be held on Saturday, April 27, 2024 in Hollywood, with Meryl Streep tasked to present.
Kidman is a five-time nominee at the Academy Awards, winning for Best Actress in the 2003 film “The Hours.” Her other nominations were for “Moulin Rouge!,” “Rabbit Hole,” “Lion” and “Being the Ricardos.” (She has also two Emmys on her mantel for producing and starring in “Big Little Lies.”) What do You think is her best movie performance of all time? Vote in our poll right here and then defend your choice down in the comments section:
See American Film Institute (AFI) Life Achievement Recipients
Starting in the early 1970s,...
Kidman is a five-time nominee at the Academy Awards, winning for Best Actress in the 2003 film “The Hours.” Her other nominations were for “Moulin Rouge!,” “Rabbit Hole,” “Lion” and “Being the Ricardos.” (She has also two Emmys on her mantel for producing and starring in “Big Little Lies.”) What do You think is her best movie performance of all time? Vote in our poll right here and then defend your choice down in the comments section:
See American Film Institute (AFI) Life Achievement Recipients
Starting in the early 1970s,...
- 4/26/2024
- by Marcus James Dixon and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
At the inaugural Academy Awards in 1929, native Pennsylvanian Janet Gaynor made history as the first American-born performer to win an Oscar by taking the Best Actress prize for her body of work in “7th Heaven,” “Street Angel,” and “Sunrise.” Over the subsequent 95 years, 215 more thespians originating from the United States won the academy’s favor, meaning the country has now produced 68.1% of all individual acting Oscar recipients. Considering the last decade alone, the rate of such winners is even higher, at 70.3%.
At this point, 96.8% of American-born acting Oscar victors have hailed from one of 34 actual states. Of those constituting the remainder, three originated from the federal District of Columbia, while four were born in the territory of Puerto Rico. New York (home to 49 winners) is the most common birth state among the entire group, followed by California (34), Illinois (13), Massachusetts (11), and Pennsylvania (11).
Bearing in mind our specific birthplace focus, the 16 states...
At this point, 96.8% of American-born acting Oscar victors have hailed from one of 34 actual states. Of those constituting the remainder, three originated from the federal District of Columbia, while four were born in the territory of Puerto Rico. New York (home to 49 winners) is the most common birth state among the entire group, followed by California (34), Illinois (13), Massachusetts (11), and Pennsylvania (11).
Bearing in mind our specific birthplace focus, the 16 states...
- 3/18/2024
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
Betty Brodel, a singer, actress and older sister of High Sierra and Sergeant York star Joan Leslie, died Sunday in Florida, family member Cathy Palmer told The Hollywood Reporter. She was 104.
Brodel appeared with Leslie in the wartime charity films Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943) and Hollywood Canteen (1944), plus Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), Too Young to Know (1945) and Cinderella Jones (1946).
Elizabeth Ann Brodel was born in Detroit on Feb. 5, 1920. Her father, John Brodel, was a bank teller and her mother, Agnes, a pianist and homemaker.
She and her siblings Mary (born in 1916) and Joan (born in 1925) sang and danced in a vaudeville act called The Brodel Sisters, performing in their hometown and New York City and touring from Canada to Florida.
When a talent scout signed Mary to a contract at MGM, the family headed to Burbank, and the sisters appeared in the 1936 short film Signing Off.
Betty also showed up in...
Brodel appeared with Leslie in the wartime charity films Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943) and Hollywood Canteen (1944), plus Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), Too Young to Know (1945) and Cinderella Jones (1946).
Elizabeth Ann Brodel was born in Detroit on Feb. 5, 1920. Her father, John Brodel, was a bank teller and her mother, Agnes, a pianist and homemaker.
She and her siblings Mary (born in 1916) and Joan (born in 1925) sang and danced in a vaudeville act called The Brodel Sisters, performing in their hometown and New York City and touring from Canada to Florida.
When a talent scout signed Mary to a contract at MGM, the family headed to Burbank, and the sisters appeared in the 1936 short film Signing Off.
Betty also showed up in...
- 3/7/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
An epochal rise-and-fall epic of the gangster cycle, Raoul Walsh’s skittering, impetuous The Roaring Twenties hits the ground running but a couple lengths further back on the track than one would expect. It bookends the glorious ascent of James Cagney’s bootlegger with a cold reception for soldiers returning from overseas following World War I on one side and the 1929 stock market crash on the other.
The plot, based on Mark Hellinger’s short story “The World Moves On,” defies genre conventions right out of the gate, beginning not with Cagney’s spry neophyte chump Eddie Bartlett traipsing his way into, say, the stage door of a hotbox revue but with him stumbling his way into a blown-out crater in Europe during the war. The role of Bartlett, a principled soldier who blossoms into a hoodlum with a conscience, found Cagney at a peculiar point in his career as a uniquely physical being,...
The plot, based on Mark Hellinger’s short story “The World Moves On,” defies genre conventions right out of the gate, beginning not with Cagney’s spry neophyte chump Eddie Bartlett traipsing his way into, say, the stage door of a hotbox revue but with him stumbling his way into a blown-out crater in Europe during the war. The role of Bartlett, a principled soldier who blossoms into a hoodlum with a conscience, found Cagney at a peculiar point in his career as a uniquely physical being,...
- 3/1/2024
- by Eric Henderson
- Slant Magazine
Paul D’Amato, the actor who played the gloriously vicious Tim “Dr. Hook” McCracken opposite Paul Newman in Slap Shot, died Monday after a long battle with progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare brain condition that is similar to Parkinson’s disease. D’Amato was 76.
The news was shared online by his longtime partner (and fellow actor) Marina Re.
D’Amato got the role in Slap Shot in part because he could hold his own on the ice. He played college hockey at Emerson and also for a team called The Reds in a Burlington, Vt, league in 1975.
But D’Amato also had screen presence, going toe to toe with Newman as his character’s wild-eyed nemesis from the Syracuse Bulldogs who earned his nickname through his scalpel-like skills with a hockey stick. Newman’s Reggie Dunlop called out McCracken by name during a pregame radio interview, referring to him as the...
The news was shared online by his longtime partner (and fellow actor) Marina Re.
D’Amato got the role in Slap Shot in part because he could hold his own on the ice. He played college hockey at Emerson and also for a team called The Reds in a Burlington, Vt, league in 1975.
But D’Amato also had screen presence, going toe to toe with Newman as his character’s wild-eyed nemesis from the Syracuse Bulldogs who earned his nickname through his scalpel-like skills with a hockey stick. Newman’s Reggie Dunlop called out McCracken by name during a pregame radio interview, referring to him as the...
- 2/21/2024
- by Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
Paul D’Amato, who portrayed the despicable goon Tim “Dr. Hook” McCracken in the classic hockey movie Slap Shot and had a memorable scene in the best picture Oscar winner The Deer Hunter, has died. He was 76.
D’Amato died Monday at his home in East Brookfield, Massachusetts, after a four-year battle with progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare brain disorder, his fiancée, actress Marina Re, told The Hollywood Reporter.
“He was the most wonderful, sweetest guy, he fought so hard against this horrendous disease,” she said.
D’Amato also played a razor- and knife-wielding bad guy in Peter Yates’ Suspect (1987), starring Cher and Dennis Quaid, and appeared in other notable films including Heaven Can Wait (1978), F/X (1986) and Six Ways to Sunday (1997).
Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, D’Amato ice skated since childhood, served with the National Guard and attended Emerson College in Boston, where he acted in school plays and was a...
D’Amato died Monday at his home in East Brookfield, Massachusetts, after a four-year battle with progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare brain disorder, his fiancée, actress Marina Re, told The Hollywood Reporter.
“He was the most wonderful, sweetest guy, he fought so hard against this horrendous disease,” she said.
D’Amato also played a razor- and knife-wielding bad guy in Peter Yates’ Suspect (1987), starring Cher and Dennis Quaid, and appeared in other notable films including Heaven Can Wait (1978), F/X (1986) and Six Ways to Sunday (1997).
Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, D’Amato ice skated since childhood, served with the National Guard and attended Emerson College in Boston, where he acted in school plays and was a...
- 2/21/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Over a year ago, it was revealed that Amazon was gearing up to produce a live-action series centered on Marvel’s Spider-Man Noir, a superhero entrenched in 1930s New York City. Diverging from the typical Spider-Man narrative, this series would spotlight an older, more rugged character distinct from Peter Parker. Spearheaded by Oren Uziel, the show promised to carve its own niche within the Marvel universe, with Uziel assuming roles as both writer and executive producer.
The endeavor attracted attention from industry luminaries like producers Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Amy Pascal. Uziel, celebrated for his contributions to films such as ’22 Jump Street’ and the 2021 ‘Mortal Kombat,’ brought his considerable talents to the project. This series was just one in a string of Marvel character-driven endeavors at Amazon, standing alongside ‘Silk: Spider Society.’
Recent reports, however, have stirred considerable buzz, suggesting that Nicolas Cage is in talks to portray Spider-Man Noir,...
The endeavor attracted attention from industry luminaries like producers Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Amy Pascal. Uziel, celebrated for his contributions to films such as ’22 Jump Street’ and the 2021 ‘Mortal Kombat,’ brought his considerable talents to the project. This series was just one in a string of Marvel character-driven endeavors at Amazon, standing alongside ‘Silk: Spider Society.’
Recent reports, however, have stirred considerable buzz, suggesting that Nicolas Cage is in talks to portray Spider-Man Noir,...
- 2/17/2024
- by Valentina Kraljik
- Fiction Horizon
More than a year ago will learned that Amazon is set to produce a live-action series centered around Spider-Man Noir, a superhero set in 1930s New York City. Unlike the traditional Spider-Man story, this series will focus on an older, more weathered character, quite different from Peter Parker. Developed by Oren Uziel, the show will have its own path within the Marvel universe, with Uziel serving as both writer and executive producer.
The project so far involves notable names from the industry, including producers Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Amy Pascal. Uziel, known for his work on films such as ’22 Jump Street’ and the 2021 Mortal Kombat,’ brings his talents to the table. This series was just one more in line with Amazon’s Marvel character-driven projects, alongside ‘Silk: Spider Society.’
Now some serious reports point in the direction of Nicolas Cage playing Spider-Man Noir as reported by The Ankler. Cage...
The project so far involves notable names from the industry, including producers Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Amy Pascal. Uziel, known for his work on films such as ’22 Jump Street’ and the 2021 Mortal Kombat,’ brings his talents to the table. This series was just one more in line with Amazon’s Marvel character-driven projects, alongside ‘Silk: Spider Society.’
Now some serious reports point in the direction of Nicolas Cage playing Spider-Man Noir as reported by The Ankler. Cage...
- 2/17/2024
- by Valentina Kraljik
- Comic Basics
The Screen Actors Guild has been presenting its annual life achievement award for many decades. The most recent recipient for 2024 was double Oscar winner Barbra Streisand.
For the 2023 event, Sally Field was the latest veteran performer to receive the Screen Actor’s Guild life achievement award. Starting in 1995, audiences around the world have been able to enjoy this celebration of a beloved thespian’s work, crammed right in the middle of a nail-biting awards telecast. In honor of De Niro’s accomplishment, let’s take a look back at every person to be given this prize since the event was first televised. Our gallery includes Helen Mirren, Robert De Niro, Alan Alda, Morgan Freeman, Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Betty White, Shirley Temple and more.
SAG began handing out a career achievement prize to actors who left their mark on both the big screen and small in 1962. It wasn’t until...
For the 2023 event, Sally Field was the latest veteran performer to receive the Screen Actor’s Guild life achievement award. Starting in 1995, audiences around the world have been able to enjoy this celebration of a beloved thespian’s work, crammed right in the middle of a nail-biting awards telecast. In honor of De Niro’s accomplishment, let’s take a look back at every person to be given this prize since the event was first televised. Our gallery includes Helen Mirren, Robert De Niro, Alan Alda, Morgan Freeman, Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Betty White, Shirley Temple and more.
SAG began handing out a career achievement prize to actors who left their mark on both the big screen and small in 1962. It wasn’t until...
- 2/14/2024
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
It can’t be denied that as far as martial arts movies go, the best ones come from Asia, particularly Hong Kong during their action heyday, which was arguably the 70s, 80s and first half of the ’90s. That said, martial arts movies were also making a foothold in the States at the time, thanks mainly to Bruce Lee-mania following the release of Enter the Dragon. Before that movie, very few actors in Hollywood seemed like they were credible martial artists, except maybe James Coburn, a student of Lee’s, who pulled off some pretty good-looking moves in the otherwise silly Our Man Flint movies. Steve McQueen also had training but didn’t use martial arts on screen.
Up to then, though, the most notable uses of martial arts in movies usually revolved around Judo, with James Cagney showing off some good moves in the film Blood on the Sun,...
Up to then, though, the most notable uses of martial arts in movies usually revolved around Judo, with James Cagney showing off some good moves in the film Blood on the Sun,...
- 2/4/2024
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Don Murray, who received an Oscar nomination for his performance opposite Marilyn Monroe in the 1956 film adaptation of William Inge’s play “Bus Stop,” has died. He was 94.
His son Christopher confirmed his death to the New York Times.
In the 2017 reboot of “Twin Peaks,” he played Bushnell Mullins, the chief executive of Lucky 7 Insurance.
Murray also starred in the fourth entry in the “Planet of the Apes” franchise, “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes”; played Brooke Shield’s father in “Endless Love”; and recurred on prime-time soap “Knots Landing” as Sid Fairgate.
Reviewing “Bus Stop,” directed by Joshua Logan, the New York Times said: “With a wondrous new actor named Don Murray playing the stupid, stubborn poke and with the clutter of broncos, blondes and busters beautifully tangled, Mr. Logan has a booming comedy going before he gets to the romance. A great deal is owed to Mr.
His son Christopher confirmed his death to the New York Times.
In the 2017 reboot of “Twin Peaks,” he played Bushnell Mullins, the chief executive of Lucky 7 Insurance.
Murray also starred in the fourth entry in the “Planet of the Apes” franchise, “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes”; played Brooke Shield’s father in “Endless Love”; and recurred on prime-time soap “Knots Landing” as Sid Fairgate.
Reviewing “Bus Stop,” directed by Joshua Logan, the New York Times said: “With a wondrous new actor named Don Murray playing the stupid, stubborn poke and with the clutter of broncos, blondes and busters beautifully tangled, Mr. Logan has a booming comedy going before he gets to the romance. A great deal is owed to Mr.
- 2/2/2024
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
Don Murray, the venturesome actor who earned an Oscar nomination for playing a rodeo cowboy smitten by Marilyn Monroe in Bus Stop, then spurned Hollywood’s attempts to mold him, has died. He was 94.
Murray’s son Christopher announced his dad’s death to The New York Times without providing details.
The actor was also known for the interesting parts he went after in such serious films as A Hatful of Rain (1957), The Hoodlum Priest (1961) and Advise & Consent (1962).
Fresh off a starring role in a 1955 Broadway revival of Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth, Murray was sought by director Joshua Logan to portray Bo Decker, the naive Montana man who falls for the chanteuse Chérie (Monroe), in Bus Stop (1956). It was his first movie, and he was 26 at the time.
“No one could have been less equipped for the job,” he once said. “I was a New...
Murray’s son Christopher announced his dad’s death to The New York Times without providing details.
The actor was also known for the interesting parts he went after in such serious films as A Hatful of Rain (1957), The Hoodlum Priest (1961) and Advise & Consent (1962).
Fresh off a starring role in a 1955 Broadway revival of Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth, Murray was sought by director Joshua Logan to portray Bo Decker, the naive Montana man who falls for the chanteuse Chérie (Monroe), in Bus Stop (1956). It was his first movie, and he was 26 at the time.
“No one could have been less equipped for the job,” he once said. “I was a New...
- 2/2/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Son of a bitch…He stole my line — and ad-libbed it, too. We all know Robin Williams was a habitual improv artist on the set, giving his own spin on lines and scenes as only he could. But this wasn’t just in comedies and for Disney animation; he also did it in dramas, namely 1997’s Good Will Hunting.
Good Will Hunting director Gus Van Sant revealed that Robin Williams loved going off script so much that he would beg to do so. “Robin had a lot of ideas. His only problem was he wanted to do a lot of takes — a slow one, a fast one, a funny one, a funny fast one, a funny slow one. … He knew that in the editing, they need that kind of stuff. But if I get a good take, I try to stop. He’d get me up to seven or eight just by begging,...
Good Will Hunting director Gus Van Sant revealed that Robin Williams loved going off script so much that he would beg to do so. “Robin had a lot of ideas. His only problem was he wanted to do a lot of takes — a slow one, a fast one, a funny one, a funny fast one, a funny slow one. … He knew that in the editing, they need that kind of stuff. But if I get a good take, I try to stop. He’d get me up to seven or eight just by begging,...
- 1/30/2024
- by Mathew Plale
- JoBlo.com
English actor Glynis Johns, who played the daffy suffragette mother Mrs. Banks in the classic film “Mary Poppins,” died Thursday at an assisted living home in Los Angeles, her manager Mitch Clem confirmed to Variety. She was 100.
“Glynis powered her way through life with intelligence, wit, and a love for performance, affecting millions of lives,” Clem said in a statement. “She entered my life early in my career and set a very high bar on how to navigate this industry with grace, class, and truth. Your own truth. Her light shined very brightly for 100 years. She had a wit that could stop you in your tracks powered by a heart that loved deeply and purely. Today is a somber day for Hollywood. Not only do we mourn the passing of our dear Glynis, but we mourn the end of the golden age of Hollywood.”
Johns won a Tony for her...
“Glynis powered her way through life with intelligence, wit, and a love for performance, affecting millions of lives,” Clem said in a statement. “She entered my life early in my career and set a very high bar on how to navigate this industry with grace, class, and truth. Your own truth. Her light shined very brightly for 100 years. She had a wit that could stop you in your tracks powered by a heart that loved deeply and purely. Today is a somber day for Hollywood. Not only do we mourn the passing of our dear Glynis, but we mourn the end of the golden age of Hollywood.”
Johns won a Tony for her...
- 1/4/2024
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
Nicolas Cage did not know writer-director Kristoffer Borgli from Adam when he opened the first page of Dream Scenario. A Norwegian filmmaker with only one other feature under his belt—2022’s Sick of Myself, which also is in Norwegian—Borgli is an exceedingly new voice in cinema, but one Cage was keyed into recognizing as promising because the screenplay had been sent by Ari Aster. As it turns out, the director behind Hereditary and Midsommar was producing this mysterious new dark comedy called Dream Scenario, and he thought Cage would respond to a story about a mild mannered college professor who one day discovers everyone in the world is dreaming about him.
Cage couldn’t put it down. Despite the project being an intensely surrealist comedy wherein our hero, Paul Matthews, learns his daughters, his students, and even folks on the other side of the Atlantic are dreaming of him—be it as a goof,...
Cage couldn’t put it down. Despite the project being an intensely surrealist comedy wherein our hero, Paul Matthews, learns his daughters, his students, and even folks on the other side of the Atlantic are dreaming of him—be it as a goof,...
- 12/8/2023
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Marisa Pavan, the Italian actress and twin sister of Pier Angeli who received an Oscar nomination for her performance as the daughter of Anna Magnani’s seamstress in the 1955 drama The Rose Tattoo, has died. She was 91.
Pavan died Wednesday in her sleep at her home in Gassin, France, near Saint-Tropez, Margaux Soumoy, who wrote Pavan’s 2021 biography, Drop the Baby; Put a Veil on the Broad!, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Pavan also portrayed the French queen Catherine de’ Medici in Diane (1956), starring Lana Turner; an Italian girl who had an affair years ago with a corporate exec (Gregory Peck) in The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956); and the love interest of a former cop (Tony Curtis) investigating the murder of a priest in the film noir The Midnight Story (1957).
In Paramount’s The Rose Tattoo (1955), an adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play that won four Tony Awards, including best play,...
Pavan died Wednesday in her sleep at her home in Gassin, France, near Saint-Tropez, Margaux Soumoy, who wrote Pavan’s 2021 biography, Drop the Baby; Put a Veil on the Broad!, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Pavan also portrayed the French queen Catherine de’ Medici in Diane (1956), starring Lana Turner; an Italian girl who had an affair years ago with a corporate exec (Gregory Peck) in The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956); and the love interest of a former cop (Tony Curtis) investigating the murder of a priest in the film noir The Midnight Story (1957).
In Paramount’s The Rose Tattoo (1955), an adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play that won four Tony Awards, including best play,...
- 12/6/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Hollywood biographical drama — or biopic, to use the word that always makes it sound like a dental instrument — is enjoying its mega-moment. “Oppenheimer,” Christopher Nolan’s three-hour epic about the father of the atomic bomb, proved that a story-of-a-life movie could be as big and coruscating as the cosmos; not so incidentally, it’s garnered Nolan the most ecstatic reviews of his career. Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla” has also won audiences and acclaim. In telling the story of Priscilla Presley, who met Elvis when she was 14 and spent six years married to a slowly dissolving mirage, the film takes us through the looking glass of pop-music fame. In Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro,” the lives of Leonard Bernstein and his wife, Felicia Montealegre, become a rapturous study in love, sexuality, bigotry, creativity and the mysteries of marriage. And “Ferrari,” Michael Mann’s upcoming drama about the Italian automaker, is a...
- 11/30/2023
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Stephen Kandel, the prolific screenwriter whose work over four decades in television spanned Sea Hunt to Star Trek, Batman to Barnaby Jones and Mannix to MacGyver, has died. He was 96.
Kandel died Oct. 21 of natural causes in his Boston apartment, his daughter Elizabeth Englander told The Hollywood Reporter.
Kandel also wrote multiple episodes of such shows as The Millionaire, The Rogues, Gidget, I Spy, Ironside, The Wild Wild West, It Takes a Thief, Dan August, The New Mike Hammer, Mission: Impossible, Room 222, The Magician, Medical Center, Cannon, Hawaii Five-o and Hart to Hart.
Plus, he co-created Iron Horse, a 1966-68 drama from ABC and Screen Gems that starred Dale Robertson, as a gambler turned railroad baron, Gary Collins and Ellen Burstyn.
“His résumé reads like a Baby Boomer’s dream list of must-see TV,” Tom Weaver wrote in his 2005 book, Earth vs. the Sci-Fi Filmmakers.
Kandel had a hand...
Kandel died Oct. 21 of natural causes in his Boston apartment, his daughter Elizabeth Englander told The Hollywood Reporter.
Kandel also wrote multiple episodes of such shows as The Millionaire, The Rogues, Gidget, I Spy, Ironside, The Wild Wild West, It Takes a Thief, Dan August, The New Mike Hammer, Mission: Impossible, Room 222, The Magician, Medical Center, Cannon, Hawaii Five-o and Hart to Hart.
Plus, he co-created Iron Horse, a 1966-68 drama from ABC and Screen Gems that starred Dale Robertson, as a gambler turned railroad baron, Gary Collins and Ellen Burstyn.
“His résumé reads like a Baby Boomer’s dream list of must-see TV,” Tom Weaver wrote in his 2005 book, Earth vs. the Sci-Fi Filmmakers.
Kandel had a hand...
- 11/13/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
On Drake’s “All the Parties,” his voice emerges from what sounds like an ambient fever dream with ethereal synths swirling his words as he latches onto a familiar melody: “It’s 6, our town a dead-end world,” he sings, with autotune blipping his voice, “East End boys and West End girls, yeah.” Then he repeats that last line, just like the Pet Shop Boys did when they recorded the song “West End Girls” close to 40 years ago.
“West End Girls” was the British synth-pop group’s first single, which came...
“West End Girls” was the British synth-pop group’s first single, which came...
- 10/6/2023
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
Tyrannical and brilliant, director Michael Curtiz created film legends out of mere stars, and turned movies into myth. Here are some of his greatest films.
When movie enthusiasts think of legendary director Michael Curtiz, the first thing that pops into their mind is Casablanca (1942), consistently named to, and occasionally topping, lists of the greatest films of all time. Although if we’re being honest, most people think of it as a Humphrey Bogart movie. The same could be said of Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). These are known for their stars, James Cagney, and Errol Flynn, the latter of whom Curtiz put on the map with Captain Blood (1935). In the director’s hands, actors and characters merged into a mythology which exceeded mere signature roles, becoming universal symbols.
Curtiz worked in the motion picture business from its infancy, but began in the theater, graduating Budapest’s...
When movie enthusiasts think of legendary director Michael Curtiz, the first thing that pops into their mind is Casablanca (1942), consistently named to, and occasionally topping, lists of the greatest films of all time. Although if we’re being honest, most people think of it as a Humphrey Bogart movie. The same could be said of Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). These are known for their stars, James Cagney, and Errol Flynn, the latter of whom Curtiz put on the map with Captain Blood (1935). In the director’s hands, actors and characters merged into a mythology which exceeded mere signature roles, becoming universal symbols.
Curtiz worked in the motion picture business from its infancy, but began in the theater, graduating Budapest’s...
- 9/27/2023
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
f it was the summer of the megawatt blockbusters “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” September has turned into a month of sequelitis with “The Nun 2,” “Equalizer 3” and “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3.” Even Kenneth Branagh’s “A Hunting in Venice,” is the third installment in the actor/director’s Hercule Poirot mystery series. It’s all a bit of a snooze. That wasn’t the case 70 years ago this month.
There were some oddball films that were released September, 1953 including “Cat-Women of the Moon” with Sonny Tufts and Marie Windsor and “The Sins of Jezebel” starring Paulette Goddard. But 70 years ago, audiences were introduced to a new wide-screen format and young actress who would become one of the biggest stars of the 1950s and ‘60s and Clark Gable returning to a role he originated in 1932.
Twentieth Century Fox’s Darryl F. Zanuck unveiled the studio’s new widescreen process Cinemascope...
There were some oddball films that were released September, 1953 including “Cat-Women of the Moon” with Sonny Tufts and Marie Windsor and “The Sins of Jezebel” starring Paulette Goddard. But 70 years ago, audiences were introduced to a new wide-screen format and young actress who would become one of the biggest stars of the 1950s and ‘60s and Clark Gable returning to a role he originated in 1932.
Twentieth Century Fox’s Darryl F. Zanuck unveiled the studio’s new widescreen process Cinemascope...
- 9/19/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Gangsters, mobsters, thugs, and mugs. Organized crime holds the upper tier of the international cinematic commission. “Crime pays,” Edward G. Robinson, who played Rico Bandello in the seminal gangster film Little Caesar (1931), is famous for saying. “But only in the movies.” When a good mob movie is on the table, it is an offer no filmmaker can refuse. There is more intrigue, suspense, violence, mayhem, and madness to be found in the criminal element than any other genre.
“Gone are the days of the gangsters,” audiences heard for years, usually in movies about mobsters. They always rise up, even if they are splattered across the ornate fountains of their gangland mansions in the last frame, like Al Pacino’s Tony Montana in Brian DePalma’s Scarface (1983), or rolling down the steps of a church, dead from a hail of bullets. That’s how James Cagney’s Eddie Bartlett went out in The Roaring Twenties (1939). Now,...
“Gone are the days of the gangsters,” audiences heard for years, usually in movies about mobsters. They always rise up, even if they are splattered across the ornate fountains of their gangland mansions in the last frame, like Al Pacino’s Tony Montana in Brian DePalma’s Scarface (1983), or rolling down the steps of a church, dead from a hail of bullets. That’s how James Cagney’s Eddie Bartlett went out in The Roaring Twenties (1939). Now,...
- 9/16/2023
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
At 5’2, Mickey Rooney may have been small in stature, but he had a huge personality and was one of the biggest stars in the heyday of the Golden Era of Hollywood. He had one of the longest careers of any entertainer, with a body of work that spans nine decades in the industry, including vaudeville, films, television, radio and the stage.
Rooney was born Joe Yule, Jr. on September 23, 1920, in Brooklyn, New York. At 17 months old, he made his stage debut in his parent’s vaudeville act, and made his motion picture debut in 1926. In 1927, he starred in the first of several short films in the “Mickey Maguire” series, and adopted the stage name “Mickey Rooney.” He made 78 of these comedies, and also received great notices in films such as “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (1935). Then in 1937, he made the film that would establish his star status. “A Family Affair” was...
Rooney was born Joe Yule, Jr. on September 23, 1920, in Brooklyn, New York. At 17 months old, he made his stage debut in his parent’s vaudeville act, and made his motion picture debut in 1926. In 1927, he starred in the first of several short films in the “Mickey Maguire” series, and adopted the stage name “Mickey Rooney.” He made 78 of these comedies, and also received great notices in films such as “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (1935). Then in 1937, he made the film that would establish his star status. “A Family Affair” was...
- 9/14/2023
- by Susan Pennington, Chris Beachum and Misty Holland
- Gold Derby
Colman Domingo blows through the title role like a force of nature in Rustin, an exhilarating biographical drama about the highly significant but not widely known civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, whose career and reputation in the 1960s were minimized, at least in part, by his hardly disguised homosexuality.
Director George C. Wolfe is best known for his extensive work in the theater, and what he has delivered here is exciting in several ways as it roars out of the gate, maintains an unflagging momentum all the way and will leave most viewers knowing a good deal more about the civil rights movement than they did the day before.
This is a film for anyone remotely interested in the issues of the time and, especially in some of its lesser known aspects of, and disagreements with, the movement that have often been quietly pushed to the side.
Any number of...
Director George C. Wolfe is best known for his extensive work in the theater, and what he has delivered here is exciting in several ways as it roars out of the gate, maintains an unflagging momentum all the way and will leave most viewers knowing a good deal more about the civil rights movement than they did the day before.
This is a film for anyone remotely interested in the issues of the time and, especially in some of its lesser known aspects of, and disagreements with, the movement that have often been quietly pushed to the side.
Any number of...
- 9/1/2023
- by Todd McCarthy
- Deadline Film + TV
Song and dance man or gangster? Few stars of Hollywood’s Golden Era could claim they were equally well known for two such diverse genres. Yet, the legendary James Cagney worked hard to be able to make such a claim.
He was born on July 17, 1899, in New York City. His family was poor, and Cagney was sickly as a child. While growing up in a rough neighborhood, he learned a variety of skills, including tap dancing, street fighting, baseball and boxing. When he was 19, his father died, and he took odd jobs to help support his mother and siblings. On a whim, he auditioned for a role of a chorus girl in a local production. Although he had never had professional training, he landed the role and learned the dances from watching the other performers – and it never bothered him to dress as a girl and perform. Despite his mother...
He was born on July 17, 1899, in New York City. His family was poor, and Cagney was sickly as a child. While growing up in a rough neighborhood, he learned a variety of skills, including tap dancing, street fighting, baseball and boxing. When he was 19, his father died, and he took odd jobs to help support his mother and siblings. On a whim, he auditioned for a role of a chorus girl in a local production. Although he had never had professional training, he landed the role and learned the dances from watching the other performers – and it never bothered him to dress as a girl and perform. Despite his mother...
- 7/15/2023
- by Susan Pennington, Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
For the Fourth of July, let’s get into the All-American spirit with good old-fashioned patriotic movies? Whether you’re an astronaut, a Congressman, a mathematician or a hockey player, you typify the kind of best Americans that the movies want to celebrate on Independence Day.
The theme of our photo gallery above is all about the American spirit, which can be a rah-rah film (like “Miracle” or “Top Gun”), fighting for the people back home or even going against the grain to fight for what’s right in society. Our gallery also includes “The Right Stuff,” “Field of Dreams,” “Forrest Gump,” “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” “Hidden Figures” and more. James Cagney, Kevin Costner, Tom Cruise, Sally Field, Tom Hanks, Taraji P. Henson, James Stewart and Denzel Washington are some of the big names in starring roles.
Enjoy a hot dog and sit back to peruse (or even watch again) these...
The theme of our photo gallery above is all about the American spirit, which can be a rah-rah film (like “Miracle” or “Top Gun”), fighting for the people back home or even going against the grain to fight for what’s right in society. Our gallery also includes “The Right Stuff,” “Field of Dreams,” “Forrest Gump,” “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” “Hidden Figures” and more. James Cagney, Kevin Costner, Tom Cruise, Sally Field, Tom Hanks, Taraji P. Henson, James Stewart and Denzel Washington are some of the big names in starring roles.
Enjoy a hot dog and sit back to peruse (or even watch again) these...
- 6/29/2023
- by Tom O'Brien, Chris Beachum and Misty Holland
- Gold Derby
Martin Scorsese, Davis Guggenheim and Richard Kind were just a few people who shared their appreciation for Michael J. Fox at the 2023 Spring Moving Image Awards.
The Museum of the Moving Image honored Fox with the lifetime achievement award for his work on the screen and Parkinson’s advocacy, dedicating a seat in the museum’s Redstone Theater to him.
Scorsese spoke about Fox’s career and how the growth of his talent has continuously amazed him.
“Back in the 80’s it was really an amazing thing to witness how Michael’s career took off. I watched him in those early pictures and I was stunned,” said Scorsese. He said seeing Fox on the screen for the first time was something like watching James Cagney in “Public Enemy.” “Michael is a powerhouse who was made for movies.”
“Pay attention to the amount of work he’s done since his Parkinson’s diagnosis,...
The Museum of the Moving Image honored Fox with the lifetime achievement award for his work on the screen and Parkinson’s advocacy, dedicating a seat in the museum’s Redstone Theater to him.
Scorsese spoke about Fox’s career and how the growth of his talent has continuously amazed him.
“Back in the 80’s it was really an amazing thing to witness how Michael’s career took off. I watched him in those early pictures and I was stunned,” said Scorsese. He said seeing Fox on the screen for the first time was something like watching James Cagney in “Public Enemy.” “Michael is a powerhouse who was made for movies.”
“Pay attention to the amount of work he’s done since his Parkinson’s diagnosis,...
- 6/7/2023
- by Sophia Scorziello
- Variety Film + TV
Here’s looking at Warner Bros. which is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Earlier this year, Turner Classic Movies, which is a member of the Warner Bros. Discovery family, celebrated the centennial with a monthlong tribute to the studio that gave the world such landmark films as 1927’s “The Jazz Singer,” the first feature with synchronized recorded singing and some dialogue; the ultimate gangster flick 1931’s “Public Enemy,: the glorious 1938 swashbuckler “The Adventures of Robin Hood”; and the beloved 1942 “Casablanca.
And during its Golden Age, its roster of stars included such legends as Rin-Tin-Tin, John Barrymore, Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Kay Francis, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Paul Muni, John Garfield and Sydney Greenstreet.
Max is currently streaming the four-part documentary series “100 Years of Warner Bros.” (the first two episodes premiered at Cannes). And also arriving this week is the lavish coffee table book “Warner Bros.
And during its Golden Age, its roster of stars included such legends as Rin-Tin-Tin, John Barrymore, Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Kay Francis, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Paul Muni, John Garfield and Sydney Greenstreet.
Max is currently streaming the four-part documentary series “100 Years of Warner Bros.” (the first two episodes premiered at Cannes). And also arriving this week is the lavish coffee table book “Warner Bros.
- 5/30/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
I’ve loved gangster movies since I was four years old and saw Humphrey Bogart and Sylvia Sidney in Dead End (1937) on TV, and Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde (1967) at the movies (My dad pinched a lobby card for me). Every Friday night, a local NYC station ran old crime flicks on a slot called “Tough Guys.” Bogart, James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, and George Raft were the faces over the title. Today that might be Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Wesley Snipes, and James Gandolfini.
The gangster and crime genre produced some of the most influential films in cinema history. Mervyn LeRoy’s Little Caesar (1931), William A. Wellman’s The Public Enemy (1931), and Howard Hawks’ Scarface (1932), get a lot of credit for breaking ground in topics beyond criminality, shattering sexual taboos as well as the boundaries of acceptable visual violence. High Sierra (1941) and White Heat...
The gangster and crime genre produced some of the most influential films in cinema history. Mervyn LeRoy’s Little Caesar (1931), William A. Wellman’s The Public Enemy (1931), and Howard Hawks’ Scarface (1932), get a lot of credit for breaking ground in topics beyond criminality, shattering sexual taboos as well as the boundaries of acceptable visual violence. High Sierra (1941) and White Heat...
- 5/6/2023
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
In 2021, Wesley Snipes used an Esquire "What I've Learned" column to make a fascinating confession: "I've got to learn how to be a movie star."
Snipes was 58 at the time of the article's publication, and enjoying a career renaissance due to his portrayal of actor-director D'Urville Martin in Craig Brewster's uproarious "Dolemite Is My Name." Though he'd officially made his comeback as an aging gang leader in Spike Lee's "Chi-Raq" four years prior, Martin was the perfect vehicle through which Snipes could examine the frustration of an ambitious artist shunted from A-list roles to low-aiming exploitation flicks.
Snipes' Martin is a bitter, alcoholic filmmaker trying, and failing miserably, to make nightclub comic Rudy Ray Moore (Eddie Murphy) look like a Blaxploitation action star on par with Richard Roundtree. Martin is a defeated man, and it's hard not to sense Snipes reckoning with the sun setting on his own action-hero stardom.
Snipes was 58 at the time of the article's publication, and enjoying a career renaissance due to his portrayal of actor-director D'Urville Martin in Craig Brewster's uproarious "Dolemite Is My Name." Though he'd officially made his comeback as an aging gang leader in Spike Lee's "Chi-Raq" four years prior, Martin was the perfect vehicle through which Snipes could examine the frustration of an ambitious artist shunted from A-list roles to low-aiming exploitation flicks.
Snipes' Martin is a bitter, alcoholic filmmaker trying, and failing miserably, to make nightclub comic Rudy Ray Moore (Eddie Murphy) look like a Blaxploitation action star on par with Richard Roundtree. Martin is a defeated man, and it's hard not to sense Snipes reckoning with the sun setting on his own action-hero stardom.
- 5/1/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
This post contains spoilers for the seventh episode of "Perry Mason" season 2.
The latest episode of "Perry Mason" has this season's mystery close to wrapping up, and in doing so has given us insight into one of the show's meanest characters -- the hardboiled, sometimes-violent businessman, Lydell McCutcheon, played by Paul Raci ("Sound of Metal").
I had the chance to talk with Raci about playing Lydell, including what he used for inspiration. "I had to look to my grandfather, who was a racist S.O.B.," he told me about one of the major influences on his performance. "I grew up in the '50s and he was trying very hard to teach me how to be a racist [...] He wore the same clothes, the same hat in the '50s, and was a racist because he was full of fear. Just like Lydell is."
Our conversation delved deeper into...
The latest episode of "Perry Mason" has this season's mystery close to wrapping up, and in doing so has given us insight into one of the show's meanest characters -- the hardboiled, sometimes-violent businessman, Lydell McCutcheon, played by Paul Raci ("Sound of Metal").
I had the chance to talk with Raci about playing Lydell, including what he used for inspiration. "I had to look to my grandfather, who was a racist S.O.B.," he told me about one of the major influences on his performance. "I grew up in the '50s and he was trying very hard to teach me how to be a racist [...] He wore the same clothes, the same hat in the '50s, and was a racist because he was full of fear. Just like Lydell is."
Our conversation delved deeper into...
- 4/18/2023
- by Vanessa Armstrong
- Slash Film
Warner Bros. has already celebrated its centennial with a segment during the Academy Awards, the publication of a studio-supported book (Warner Bros.: 100 Years of Storytelling) and, most recently, a barrage of festivities emanating from Turner Classic Movies. TCM’s programming for all of April is being devoted to Warners films, and at the 14th annual TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood, running April 13-16, many studio masterpieces, some recently restored and remastered, will be shown on big screens around town. Here are 10 that this THR Hollywood history buff highly recommends.
Footlight Parade (1933)
Ninety years ago, during the depths of the Great Depression, Americans sought escape from their troubles with light movies like this backstage musical. Directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler and highlighted by some of choreographer Busby Berkeley’s most kaleidoscopic dance numbers, it was a giant hit at the box office.
Footlight Parade (1933)
Ninety years ago, during the depths of the Great Depression, Americans sought escape from their troubles with light movies like this backstage musical. Directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler and highlighted by some of choreographer Busby Berkeley’s most kaleidoscopic dance numbers, it was a giant hit at the box office.
- 4/12/2023
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
David Zaslav went office-furniture shopping when he moved into the executive building on the Warner Bros. lot last year. The new CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery had Jack L. Warner’s large dark-wood desk pulled out of storage for his use. He also found a leather legal pad holder once clutched by another of his predecessors at the storied studio: Steven J. Ross.
Zaslav wanted these totems in his sunken workspace overlooking Olive Avenue in Burbank to show the formidable legacy, in business and in popular culture, he has inherited.
“I wanted them to remind me that we need to show as much courage now in leading this business as the Warner brothers did in launching it one hundred years ago,” Zaslav says. As the studio marks the centennial of its incorporation as Warner Bros. Pictures Inc., the company has never been more focused on using the wealth of intellectual property assets,...
Zaslav wanted these totems in his sunken workspace overlooking Olive Avenue in Burbank to show the formidable legacy, in business and in popular culture, he has inherited.
“I wanted them to remind me that we need to show as much courage now in leading this business as the Warner brothers did in launching it one hundred years ago,” Zaslav says. As the studio marks the centennial of its incorporation as Warner Bros. Pictures Inc., the company has never been more focused on using the wealth of intellectual property assets,...
- 4/6/2023
- by Cynthia Littleton
- Variety Film + TV
It was 1941. Though World War II was already under way, film production was in full swing at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank.
Humphrey Bogart was getting ready to shoot “The Maltese Falcon,” while the next year, “Casablanca” would film on Warners soundstages and at the nearby Van Nuys airport, subbing for Morocco. Bette Davis was making “Now Voyager” on the lot after location visits to Lake Arrowhead and Laguna Beach.
At the Warner Bros. Café, the studio’s commissary on the Burbank lot, James Cagney and Rita Hayworth lunched with director Raoul Walsh, while actor and future president Ronald Reagan dined with Olivia de Havilland — just a few of the major stars and filmmakers who could be seen taking a break from the hard work of filming.
These days, studio executives are big on Cobb salads and Kobe beef burgers. But back in the 1940s, the dense one-page menu featured...
Humphrey Bogart was getting ready to shoot “The Maltese Falcon,” while the next year, “Casablanca” would film on Warners soundstages and at the nearby Van Nuys airport, subbing for Morocco. Bette Davis was making “Now Voyager” on the lot after location visits to Lake Arrowhead and Laguna Beach.
At the Warner Bros. Café, the studio’s commissary on the Burbank lot, James Cagney and Rita Hayworth lunched with director Raoul Walsh, while actor and future president Ronald Reagan dined with Olivia de Havilland — just a few of the major stars and filmmakers who could be seen taking a break from the hard work of filming.
These days, studio executives are big on Cobb salads and Kobe beef burgers. But back in the 1940s, the dense one-page menu featured...
- 4/6/2023
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
One of the most time-consuming aspects of being a cinephile is worrying about the health and longevity of TCM. The venerable broadcast television channel dedicated to classic Hollywood cinema has grown since its 1994 launch into a kind of preservationist and enthusiast's empire that includes an annual film festival, an original film distribution arm, a releasing imprint, and a slew of diverse programming initiatives (not to mention a wine club). TCM certainly seems to be in better health than most entities dedicated segments of the film ecosystem that are -- by virtue of not being focused on the biggest, brightest, latest thing -- not exactly profit drivers. It has survived both a massive merger between AT&T and its parent company, Time Warner, and a subsequent divestment of AT&T and acquisition by Discovery in all but five years, after all.
But the brand's new overlord, Warner Bros. Discovery, shelving completed films...
But the brand's new overlord, Warner Bros. Discovery, shelving completed films...
- 3/23/2023
- by Ryan Coleman
- Slash Film
Ryan Cassidy, the son of actors Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy and the brother of singer/actor David Cassidy and actor Patrick Cassidy, has written a children’s book about being babysat by an Oscar-winning actor. Growing up in a family of Hollywood stars, Ryan certainly had a memorable childhood, including being looked after one afternoon by the iconic actor James Cagney, who died in 1986. That day has inspired Ryan’s new children’s book, James Cagney Was My Babysitter, which includes a foreword and afterword from Jones. “I’m very fortunate to have had a wonderful career in show business and to have worked with some brilliant actors,” Jones writes in the foreword, according to People. “Among the many movies and television shows I was privileged to do, the opportunity to work with the legendary James Cagney was a very special moment for me.” Ryan Cassidy Facebook Speaking to...
- 3/14/2023
- TV Insider
James Cagney plays a Coca Cola executive in this wild Cold War comedy satirizing sex, politics and soft drinks. The movie began filming in Berlin but Wilder was forced to move to Munich when the Wall began construction. Famous for being so fast-paced it leaves an audience either elated or confused, the movie split critics and tanked at the box office.
The post One Two Three appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post One Two Three appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 3/3/2023
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell. This week, we examine some films which border on the border.
The stars are here in The Border – Jack Nicholson, Harvey Keitel, Valerie Perrine, Warren Oates – in a noirish 1982 film about the southern US border. You know, the one that’s leaking like a sieve? Lie. The one that needs a big, beautiful wall? Big lie. The one that’s actually a river for about 2,000 miles? Truth.
Nicholson is an Ins agent, one of the guys who patrols the border to keep us safe from those tired, poor, wretched huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Keitel, well, he and Oates are the dark side. You probably saw that one coming.
The soundtrack is really worth a listen, with a score by Ry Cooder and other borderesque tunes...
The stars are here in The Border – Jack Nicholson, Harvey Keitel, Valerie Perrine, Warren Oates – in a noirish 1982 film about the southern US border. You know, the one that’s leaking like a sieve? Lie. The one that needs a big, beautiful wall? Big lie. The one that’s actually a river for about 2,000 miles? Truth.
Nicholson is an Ins agent, one of the guys who patrols the border to keep us safe from those tired, poor, wretched huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Keitel, well, he and Oates are the dark side. You probably saw that one coming.
The soundtrack is really worth a listen, with a score by Ry Cooder and other borderesque tunes...
- 3/1/2023
- by Randy Fuller
- Trailers from Hell
The Screen Actors Guild presented legendary comic actor Eddie Cantor with the first annual Life Achievement Award back in 1962. Over the past six decades, the award for ‘outstanding achievement in fostering ideals of the acting profession” has been given to such Hollywood icons as Stan Laurel, Bob Hope, Barbara Stanwyck, Gregory Peck, Jimmy Stewart, Frank Sinatra, James Cagney, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. More recently, Mary Tyler Moore, Charles Durning, Debbie Reynolds, Rita Moreno, Carol Burnett, Helen Mirren and Robert De Niro have received the honor.
Two-time Oscar and three-time Emmy Award winning Sally Field is the latest recipient of the Life Achievement Award. The 76-year-old actress, who came to fame as the ultimate teenager “Gidget” in the 1965-66 ABC sitcom, is currently starring with Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Rita Moreno in the hit feature comedy “80 for Brady.” She appeared with Jim Parsons last year in the drama...
Two-time Oscar and three-time Emmy Award winning Sally Field is the latest recipient of the Life Achievement Award. The 76-year-old actress, who came to fame as the ultimate teenager “Gidget” in the 1965-66 ABC sitcom, is currently starring with Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Rita Moreno in the hit feature comedy “80 for Brady.” She appeared with Jim Parsons last year in the drama...
- 2/22/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Kids of the ’90s were fascinated with the movie Dick Tracy when it first came out. For one thing, they could get away with saying “Dick” because of the title. For another, here was a comic strip property that had the stylization of Tim Burton’s Batman that had previously hit, ultimately under the guise of a James Cagney-esque, noir-ish, gangsters vs. cops movie. Warren Beatty would star as the titular hero as well as direct it. And 33 years later, the legendary actor finally gives us a bizarre “sequel” to the movie, according to Polygon.
On Friday, TCM, a prestigious classic movie channel, aired what looked like something more akin to Adult Swim, with Beatty returning in character as Dick Tracys zoom calls with current TCM host Ben Mankiewicz and movie critic Leonard Maltin. Let me say that again — Dick Tracy zooms in an apparent sequel to the 1990 film.
On Friday, TCM, a prestigious classic movie channel, aired what looked like something more akin to Adult Swim, with Beatty returning in character as Dick Tracys zoom calls with current TCM host Ben Mankiewicz and movie critic Leonard Maltin. Let me say that again — Dick Tracy zooms in an apparent sequel to the 1990 film.
- 2/11/2023
- by EJ Tangonan
- JoBlo.com
No WWE star has ever been nominated for an Emmy Award for their work within the company, but Paul Heyman wants to change that with Roman Reigns.
Heyman has been working with Reigns as his “special counsel” (and now “wise man”) since Reigns debuted his Tribal Chief persona back in 2020. As Heyman sees it, Reigns’ work since then puts him in the same league as actors like Bryan Cranston or James Gandolfini in that he has crafted a “layered, nuanced persona.”
“I will honestly state that I’ll put Roman Reigns and his portrayal of the Tribal Chief up against anybody right now in how he has approached a reality-based character of the top star of the industry,” Heyman tells Variety. “And the fact that he’s not recognized by the people that are there to reward such performances with an award, to me, is disconcerting.”
If the phrase “the...
Heyman has been working with Reigns as his “special counsel” (and now “wise man”) since Reigns debuted his Tribal Chief persona back in 2020. As Heyman sees it, Reigns’ work since then puts him in the same league as actors like Bryan Cranston or James Gandolfini in that he has crafted a “layered, nuanced persona.”
“I will honestly state that I’ll put Roman Reigns and his portrayal of the Tribal Chief up against anybody right now in how he has approached a reality-based character of the top star of the industry,” Heyman tells Variety. “And the fact that he’s not recognized by the people that are there to reward such performances with an award, to me, is disconcerting.”
If the phrase “the...
- 2/10/2023
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
Every generation has a Robert Townsend movie for them, whether it’s his acerbic examination of Black actors in the film industry with 1987’s “Hollywood Shuffle,” his attempt to crack the superhero genre with 1993’s “Meteor Man” or his spin on Disney Channel fare with the 2000s feature “Up, Up, and Away!” And don’t forget his 2001 adaptation of Bizet’s “Carmen” starring Beyoncé Knowles-Carter: “Carmen: A Hip Hopera.” The multihyphenate actor, director, comedian and writer has seen and done it all.
Nearly 50 years into his Hollywood career, Townshend is still working today. Most recently, he directed for the Netflix series “Kaleidoscope” and participated as a guest during TCM’s Black History Month celebration.
But it’s only in the last few years — aided by screenings of 1975’s “Cooley High,” 1984’s “A Soldier’s Story,” and “Hollywood Shuffle” on TCM — that Townsend’s legacy as a Black artist has begun getting the appreciation it deserves.
Nearly 50 years into his Hollywood career, Townshend is still working today. Most recently, he directed for the Netflix series “Kaleidoscope” and participated as a guest during TCM’s Black History Month celebration.
But it’s only in the last few years — aided by screenings of 1975’s “Cooley High,” 1984’s “A Soldier’s Story,” and “Hollywood Shuffle” on TCM — that Townsend’s legacy as a Black artist has begun getting the appreciation it deserves.
- 2/10/2023
- by Kristen Lopez
- The Wrap
(Welcome to Best Actor Ever, an ongoing series where we explore the careers and performances of the greatest performers to ever grace the screen.)
If the young Denzel Washington had his way, the now 68-year-old Mount Vernon native would have a bust in Canton's Pro Football Hall of Fame. The man who would be Malcolm X, Rubin Carter, and Alonzo Harris initially had his sights trained on the gridiron before he enrolled at Fordham University in 1977, where he was a skilled enough athlete to play under Coach P.J. Carlesimo for the school's junior varsity team. "He would run us all day, and make us work," Washington told the New York Times in 1998. "But you know what? We were always prepared for the fourth quarter, and we hardly ever lost. Some of the things I learned from him, I still apply myself."
Washington knew by this point that a pro sports...
If the young Denzel Washington had his way, the now 68-year-old Mount Vernon native would have a bust in Canton's Pro Football Hall of Fame. The man who would be Malcolm X, Rubin Carter, and Alonzo Harris initially had his sights trained on the gridiron before he enrolled at Fordham University in 1977, where he was a skilled enough athlete to play under Coach P.J. Carlesimo for the school's junior varsity team. "He would run us all day, and make us work," Washington told the New York Times in 1998. "But you know what? We were always prepared for the fourth quarter, and we hardly ever lost. Some of the things I learned from him, I still apply myself."
Washington knew by this point that a pro sports...
- 1/27/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
This year’s documentary nominees explore diverse subject matter as saving birds (“All that Breathes”) and an exploration of the life and career of photographer and activist Nan Goldin (“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”). But the documentary nominees, which took place at the 15th annual Oscars on March 4, 1943 at the Cocoanut Grove, primarly revolved around World War II.
There were 25 nominees — shorts and features competed against each other — and four winners. The US Navy was the producer of winner “The Battle of Midway,” directed by John Ford. The 18-minute film featured footage from the Battle of Midway which was a crucial victory in the Pacific in 1942. The film featured narration by Ford favorites Henry Fonda, Donald Crisp and Jane Darwell.
The Australian News and Information Bureau produced the full-length documentary winner “Kokoda Front Line!,” which was also the first film from Down Under to win an Oscar. The film...
There were 25 nominees — shorts and features competed against each other — and four winners. The US Navy was the producer of winner “The Battle of Midway,” directed by John Ford. The 18-minute film featured footage from the Battle of Midway which was a crucial victory in the Pacific in 1942. The film featured narration by Ford favorites Henry Fonda, Donald Crisp and Jane Darwell.
The Australian News and Information Bureau produced the full-length documentary winner “Kokoda Front Line!,” which was also the first film from Down Under to win an Oscar. The film...
- 1/25/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Long before he won the 2022 Best Actor Oscar for playing tennis prodigy producer Richard Williams in “King Richard,” Will Smith was first recognized in the category for his portrayal of iconic boxer Muhammad Ali in “Ali.” His performance in the 2001 film, which amounts to one hour, 57 minutes, and 22 seconds of screen time, currently stands as the 12th longest ever nominated for any acting Oscar. He also holds the 47th spot on the list thanks to his work in 2006’s “The Pursuit of Happyness.” The performance that finally won him the award is significantly shorter than these two, yet still long by Oscars standards, as it just crosses the 90 minute mark.
Smith’s one-hour, 30-minute, and 10-second-long lead turn in “King Richard” is the 18th longest to have ever merited a Best Actor win. It also constitutes the lengthiest performance in the film by nearly half an hour, with Saniyya Sidney...
Smith’s one-hour, 30-minute, and 10-second-long lead turn in “King Richard” is the 18th longest to have ever merited a Best Actor win. It also constitutes the lengthiest performance in the film by nearly half an hour, with Saniyya Sidney...
- 1/22/2023
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
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