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This week on the Film Stories Podcast Network: Bong’s back, Comic Relief returns, Severance ends and more. Here’s what we’ve been up to…

Reel Talk

A big return for Bong Joon-Ho in Mickey 17, his delayed Robert Pattinson-starring science-fiction film, discussed here by Sam Stokes and guest Ian Buckley…

Britcom Goes to the Movies

Every two years, Britain launches Comic Relief in the West’s vain effort to help the African poor, and though that never changes, we do get some blinding sketches out of it. Rob Heath and Guy Walker return for a special episode to look at some of the best…

Illumination Above All

Get your mittens on as Severance reaches 2×10 ‘Cold Harbor’, the crazy climax to this thrilling second season, which innies Ian Buckley and Sarah Applegate are here to break down…

Modern Horror

One of the strangest and hardest to describe horrors in recent years,...

Welcome to IndieWire After Dark, where we pick a new theme for our midnight movie programming every month!

Join us on Friday nights (and special occasions!) to explore some of the strangest fringe films available at any hour in the Streaming Age.

The scariest puppet this side of the “Saw” franchise, Jenny Pen is an early frontrunner in the race for 2025’s favorite new horror icon. She’s the reason for the season and the inspiration behind this month’s IndieWire After Dark lineup — Two Midnight Movies (and a Muppet!) That Influenced “The Rule of Jenny Pen.”

A labor of love from filmmaker James Ashcroft, puppeteer Paul Lewis, and star actor John Lithgow, the titular prop drew on a slew of sources. The movie is based on a story by Owen Marshall, which was optioned by Ashcroft and his co-writer Eli Kent more than a decade ago, and it’s...

Following their critically acclaimed and award-winning drama series, “The Dropout” for Hulu, Oscar-nominated and Emmy winner actress Amanda Seyfried is teaming up again with that series celebrated creator/writer/producer Elizabeth Meriwether. Their new collaboration is a series remake of the 1987 neo-noir thriller “Black Widow” starring Debra Winger and Theresa Russell and directed by the late Bob Rafelson (“Five Easy Pieces.

Continue reading Amanda Seyfried To Star In ‘Black Window’ Thriller Series Remake From ‘The Dropout’ Creator Liz Merriwether [Exclusive] at The Playlist.

In hindsight, the American cinema of the 1970s has two major legacies attached to it. On the one hand, there's the American New Wave aka the New Hollywood movement, in which "Five Easy Pieces," "Klute," "The French Connection," and other films like them eschewed the mainstream studio filmmaking formula in favor of telling stories that were creatively daring and heartfelt. On the other, there's the dawn of the blockbuster, a trend that continues to this day and whose beginning is most often attributed to Steven Spielberg's "Jaws" from 1975. But while "Jaws" gets the lion's share of the credit for birthing the blockbuster, a good dollop of credit must also go to the other populist trend in American cinema during the decade: the disaster movie.

The disaster film had been around before the '70s in one form or another, but it's the version that was popularized during that decade...

The stars really did come out for the 50th anniversary special for Saturday Night Live. Introducing Adam Sandler, who performed an incredible SNL50 tribute song, was none other than the legendary Jack Nicholson.

When the camera cut to Nicholson, the applause rained down. The actor kept it simple, saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, Adam Sandler!" From there, Sandler gave a shout-out to Jack and began his song, singing, "Everyone in this room has something in common. All of our lives were changed by the show."

Sandler is known for his songs and mashups, and this one was perfect for the occasion. He sang about the cast, funny moments (including those behind the scenes), the crew, Lorne Michaels, and paid a very heartfelt tribute to fellow SNL vet and friend, the late Chris Farley, who passed away in 1997, and Norm Macdonald, who died in 2021. You can watch the entire performance, and Jack's introduction,...

Mikey Madison may be having her star-making moment, with recognition from multiple critics groups for her performance in Sean Baker’s “Anora,” as well as a nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy at tonight’s Golden Globe Awards, but rather than revel, she’s taking time to pay homage to those who helped shape her own abilities. Taking a visit to New York’s Criterion Collection offices, Madison spent some time inside the Criterion Closet not only selecting goodies to take home, but acknowledging multiple performances that have stuck with her through the years, from Jackie Coogan in Charlie Chaplin’s “The Kid” to Jack Nicholson in Bob Rafelson’s “Five Easy Pieces.”

“I really think it’s my favorite Nicholson performance,” said Madison of Rafelson’s film. “There’s just something about how he approaches this character, such a morally gray character,...

Stephen King is an opinionated fellow. Stroll through the fiction aisles of your local bookstore and examine the covers of newish novels, and you probably won't have to search long to find one bearing praise from Stephen King -- which is touching because, in this age of distracted everything, it's nice to see one of the world's most prominent authors exhorting people to lose themselves in a book.

King isn't always a ray of sunshine though. He's infamous for his dislike of Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" film adaptation, and hasn't held back on other cinematic interpretations of his novels. And when Entertainment Weekly started giving King column space in its printed pages back in the mid 2000s to rant and rave about all things pop culture, he was unsparing with his hatred for the latest music by Jewel, Beyoncé, and Celine Dion while also unloading both barrels on prestige...

If you've delved into any American film history over the years, you've no doubt come across the sentiment that the 1970s was the best period for American cinema, bar none. Of course, any claim of opinion is up for debate, but the reasons for historians and critics coming to this conclusion are harder to deny, as pound for pound, the various conditions needed for filmmaking were particularly favorable during that decade. To wit: the collapse of the Hays Code and the institution of the Motion Picture Association of America allowed for a heretofore unprecedented level of uncensored content in American movies. The "studio system" and a reliance on stars to open movies were quickly becoming things of the past, and while corporate conglomerates were now in charge of the major studios (something which has led to our current state of multiplex stagnation in 2024), at this early stage, the suits had...

Through unforgettable performances, several actors have established themselves as the greatest of all time. After more than a century of cinematic history, there have been myriad actors and actresses who have enjoyed their fair share of the spotlight. A long list of stars from the industry's past and present, ranging from Charlie Chaplin to Clint Eastwood, have achieved reputations as movie legends.

The diverse list of movie genres lends itself well to the massive pool of movie stars audiences have followed over the years. Some developed a mastery over a certain medium, with actors like John Wayne and James Cagney becoming synonymous with Westerns and gangster films respectively. Others tried to showcase their versatility by appearing in all sorts of different films. In one way or another, numerous actors have made enough contributions to movie history to earn their place among the best.

Viola Davis Notable Movies: Doubt, The Help,...

Jack Nicholson was the epitome of the New Hollywood movie star. He broke through via the cultural earthquake that was "Easy Rider," and quickly established himself as a guarantor of quality filmmaking thanks to his star turns in "Five Easy Pieces," "Carnal Knowledge" and "The Last Detail." As the revolutionary spirit of the New Hollywood movement faded, Nicholson found himself becoming more of a traditional leading man in more traditional films like "The Postman Always Rings Twice," "Terms of Endearment" and "Prizzi's Honor." He worked in spurts, taking breaks here and there, but he was never gone for long — which is why his 14-year absence from our screens (save for the occasional Los Angeles Lakers game appearance) feels so notable. And sad.

While we let Nicholson enjoy his retirement, we've no shortage of classics, near-classics, and assorted oddities to remind us how great he could be when he was at...

It's absurd to consider, but early in his career Jack Nicholson had a difficult decision to make. The New Jersey son of a showgirl had a shot at being an animator for Joseph Hanna and William Barbera in the 1950s, but the then teenager had his heart set on acting. This was not the difficult decision. That would come years later when, after a string of prominent roles in Roger Corman-produced B-movies, Nicholson wrote a well-regarded screenplay called "The Trip." It was so good that it left burgeoning movie star Peter Fonda in tears. This reception was ecstatic enough to convince Corman to direct it himself. And while Fonda was ultimately displeased with the final result, Nicholson immediately landed another screenwriting assignment collaborating with Bob Rafelson on the script for the absurdist Monkees comedy "Head."

In a 1985 interview with Film Comment, Nicholson revealed that his success as a writer...

Most people think of retirement as one of life's rites of passage, something akin to graduating from school or getting a promotion at a job. While some people have careers that treat retirement in this manner, there are many others for whom retirement is more of a state of mind than anything else. This is certainly true of an artist; some never seem to want to stop or slow down (may I remind you that The Rolling Stones just finished their latest tour this past July), while others feel that they don't wish to wear out their welcome. Then there are other factors, such as changing cultural norms as well as the waxing and waning of opportunities as they dwindle with age. Of course, age itself can be a factor; bodies do inexorably decline, after all.

For Jack Nicholson, one of the greatest actors of his generation, his reasons for...

Exclusive: West Duchovny (Painkiller) and Scott Eastwood (Fast X) are in production in Austin, TX on Pearl, an indie drama written and directed by Marcos Efron (And Soon the Darkness), which will also star the Babylon duo of Lukas Haas and Ethan Suplee, along with Vincent Laresca (Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood).

Inspired by pictures like Five Easy Pieces, The Sugarland Express, and Hell or High Water, the film follows a young musician, Pearl (Duchovny), who is stuck in an abusive relationship until she meets Eli (Eastwood), a bank robber on the run, who links up with her as he looks to evade law enforcement in rural Texas. Details as to the roles of the other actors are under wraps.

Producers include Chuck Pacheco of Lbi Entertainment, Lavinia Postolache, Vince Maggio, and Eastwood. Loren Albento is serving as executive producer.

An up-and-comer known for roles Hulu’s psychological drama...

Stars: Jennifer Leigh Houston, Charley Tucker, Michele Ammon, Leanne Borghesi, Stephen Mosher, Pat Dwyer, Sally Struthers, Carla Rhodes | Written and Directed by Allan Piper

The title of eVil Sublet carries a double meaning. Ostensibly, it stands for East Village, the area of NYC where the film is set. But, since this is a horror comedy, it also means the apartment isn’t just furnished, it’s haunted. It certainly has a bloody history, something the prologue makes quite clear. That doesn’t, however, scare off Alex (Jennifer Leigh Houston; Apostasy) when she and her husband Ben when they tour it. When told the last tenant killed his family and buried them in the garden, she’s excited it has a garden, regardless of what was planted in it.

Of course, as soon as they move in, strange things start happening, from doors that open themselves, to creepy dolls that keep...

Although their run only lasted from 1968 to 1972, Bbs Productions played a crucial role in mainstreaming the counterculture for moviegoers. An independent offshoot of Columbia Pictures, Bbs named for founders Bert Schneider, Bob Rafelson, and Stephen Blauner was a breeding ground for the burgeoning New Hollywood, producing their films at low costs and raking in big bucks from young audiences hungry for something that reflected their reality. In between their successes Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces (directed by Rafelson), and The Last Picture Show, the company also released smaller, more experimental features like 1971's A Safe Place. Bringing together Bbs's favorite leading man, Jack Nicholson, with classic Hollywood's most misunderstood auteur, Orson Welles, it offers a fascinating glimpse into what movies were able to get away with at major studios in the 1970s, which, sadly, hasn't been seen since.

“Megalopolis” is now playing in theaters, and director Francis Ford Coppola is in the Oscar hunt yet again after already winning multiple Academy Awards throughout his esteemed career. Let’s look back at his many Oscar races.

After building his credits as a screenwriter and director in the 1960s, Coppola’s breakthroughs arrived in the early 1970s with “Patton” and “The Godfather.” He wrote the screenplay to the beloved epic drama “Patton,” directed Franklin J. Schaffner and starring George C. Scott, both of whom won Oscars for the film. Coppola also received his first Academy Award for his original screenplay, which he shared with co-writer Edmund H. North. His only threat in the category that year was “Five Easy Pieces,” which got into Best Picture, but with “Patton” dominating in a bunch of categories that year, winning the Screenplay prize was all but inevitable.

See Ray Richmond: ‘Megalopolis’ trailer...

Ron Howard's acting career was part of a family legacy, as his father, Rance, was already a prolific performer when he was born in 1954. Howard's first professional acting credit is for the 1959 feature "The Journey," with Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr. That same year, the five-year-old Ron infiltrated TV, appearing as precocious moppets in multiple hot shows.

More notably, beginning in 1960, Ron -- credited as Ronny -- began starring on "The Andy Griffith Show," playing Opie, the son of Griffith's character. Howard would appear in 243 of the show's 249 episodes, over the course of eight seasons. While appearing on "Andy Griffith," Howard would continue to be a TV presence, appearing in dozens of additional hot shows, as well as several notable B-pictures.

Even in his teen years, Howard continued to act, proving that he was no mere child prodigy. He appeared in George Lucas' nostalgia film "American Graffiti," and...

Jack Nicholson is regarded as one of the greatest actors of all-time, and for good reason. Jackson was a quintessential part of the New Hollywood movement at the end of the 1960s that saw the industry turning to more eccentric and artistic projects that pushed up against more conservative sensibilities. While Nicholson earned immense acclaim early on in his career for his roles in Five Easy Pieces, Chinatown, The Last Detail, and Prizzis Honor, he would still be getting leading parts a decade later in As Good As It Gets and About Schmidt.

by Cláudio Alves

No matter how respected or prolific a thespian may be, the glow of Oscar gold isn't guaranteed. Just ask Lois Smith, a titan of the contemporary American stage with nearly 150 screen credits to her name. The closest she ever came to the Academy's good graces was at the start of the 70s and the New Hollywood craze, when playing Jack Nicholson's pianist sister in Five Easy Pieces. Bob Rafelson's film is something of a classic for those interested in this era of American cinema, but its legend tends to circle around the leading man and, maybe, Karen Black. Still, Smith delivers a performance worth considering and, as the title of this post suggests, she was almost there…...

There’s much to consider when you’re a publicist and a client planning for the push of a new movie.

If a celebrity needs to prove just how down-to-earth or relatable they are, they can consume obscenely fiery chicken wings on “Hot Ones” and nearly lose control of their bodily functions. If they’re looking to be taken more seriously, they can journey into the Criterion Closet and pontificate about the artistic wonders of some of the most acclaimed movies in celluloid history. The more obscure, the better.

Letterboxed’s viral “Four Favorites” gives participants a chance to demonstrate their relatability and cinematic knowledge simultaneously and in a fraction of the time, too. Any film fan who has been online in the last few months will have undoubtedly seen clips of Nicolas Cage, Adam Sander, Jennifer Lawrence, Keanu Reeves, Tom Hanks, Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt — basically anyone with a...

September marks Marcello Mastroianni’s centennial, and the Criterion Channel pays respect with a retrospective that puts the expected alongside some lesser-knowns: Monicelli’s The Organizer, Jacques Demy’s A Slightly Pregnant Man, and two by Ettore Scola. There’s also the welcome return of “Adventures In Moviegoing” with Rachel Kushner’s formidable selections, among them Fassbinder’s Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven, Pialat’s L’enfance nue, and Jean Eustache’s Le cochon. In the lead-up to His Three Daughters, a four-film Azazel Jacobs program arrives.

Theme-wise, a set of courtroom dramas runs from 12 Angry Men and Anatomy of a Murder to My Cousin Vinny and Philadelphia; a look at ’30s female screenwriters includes Fritz Lang’s You and Me, McCarey’s Make Way for Tomorrow, and Cukor’s What Price Hollywood? There’s also a giallo series if you want to watch an Argento movie and ask yourself,...

Amazon Prime Video is the place to go for movies this month, with a plethora of original films as well as new library additions for just about every movie fan. The Emma Roberts-led original Space Cadet hits the streaming service aptly on the Fourth of July, for anyone looking for a fish-out-of-water style comedy. My Spy the Eternal City, the newest film in the Dave Bautista-led family action series also drops on July 18.

Action film fans are also in for a treat with recent films The Beekeeper and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning coming to Prime Video in July.

As far as TV shows go, the most notable addition this month is the adult animated series Sausage Party: Foodtopia, a continuation of the 2016 film Sausage Party.

Here’s everything coming to Prime Video and Freevee in July – Amazon originals are designated with an asterisk.

New on Amazon Prime Video...

This July, beat the heat with the latest additions at Prime Video and Freevee!

It’s a light month for original series, films, and specials as we head into the summer lull, but there is still plenty to watch throughout the month: over 140 classic films between the two Amazon streamers will be added this month, from horrors such as the genre-changing “The Silence Of The Lambs” and last year’s newest “Evil Dead” franchise installment “Evil Dead Rise,” the first five films of the “Rocky” franchise, and comedies like “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “Animal House,” “13 Going On 30,” and much, much more.

But after the majority of the film load drops on July 1, don’t forget to head back to the services’ additions throughout the month, including Season 2 of the critically acclaimed “Troppo,” the new “Legally Blonde“-like comedy “Space Cadet,” and a new documentary from award-winning documentary filmmaker Dawn Porter,...

Jack Nicholson's art-house performances always seem more interesting than his larger, more well-renowned roles. From the beautiful Five Easy Pieces in 1970 to smaller films like Mike Nichols' Carnal Knowledge of the following year, Jack's acting chops are shown off better in small, intimate films. But the film in which he gave one of his most quiet and reflective performances also happens to be possibly his best foray into the arthouse genre: Michelangelo Antonioni's The Passenger from 1975. The filmshot in Algeria doubling for Chadtells the story of a journalist who, while working on a documentary about Chad, assumes the identity of a deceased arms dealer who worked with the rebels in the country's civil war. It is as much a gripping, existential thriller as it is an easy-on-the-eye advertisement for travel to the Maghreb region.

“Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.” Just one of the unforgettable lines from a nearly perfect script delivered by a stellar cast of actors. “Chinatown” premiered on June 20, 1974 to great acclaim, and unsurprisingly snared its fair share of award nominations. However, it had formidable competition from another classic, and although it failed to capture many awards, it has gone on to be cited as one of the greatest films ever made. Let’s go back five decades to see how this great film came to be. Read on for more about the “Chinatown” 50th anniversary.

Loosely based around the California water wars during the early 1900s, “Chinatown” is a neo-noir mystery with a multi-layered plot that exposes some of the most repulsive human behaviors. The water wars centered around politicians in Los Angeles deceitfully diverting water from the Owens River, and away from the farmers in the Owens Valley, to supply the growing city.

Do any of you hardcore horror fanatics remember Mirror Mirror from 1990? It had a theatrical release, but garnered much of its popularity on the shelves of Blockbuster Video stores nationwide and became a late-night cable staple for several years throughout the decade. And yes, it should be considered somewhat “popular” since it spawned three sequels. If you haven’t seen the original Mirror Mirror, don’t worry because Dark Force Entertainment, headed by Demon Dave, has released it in 4K Uhd. That means you Og fans of this B-movie classic can relive some sense of nostalgia from that decade, now in 4K clarity.

Let’s dive into the film’s plot. Megan Gordon and her mother Susan move to L.A. and into a new home to begin their equally new lives. The previous residents left behind a lot of their belongings that are being sold by an auctioneer named Emelin.

Fred Roos, the Oscar-winning producer of The Godfather Part II and many other notable films, has died. He was 89.

Roos had a long relationship with Francis Ford Coppola, serving as producer or co-producer on many of the director’s best known films, including the second and third Godfather films (the second bringing him his Oscar), The Conversation, Apocalypse Now, One From The Heart and The Cotton Club.

Most recently, Roos served as executive producer of Coppola’s Megalopolis, which premiered this week at the Cannes festival.

Born in Santa Monica, Roos began his film career in the mailroom at talent agency McA.

Fred Roos, the casting director turned producer who jump-started the career of Jack Nicholson and collaborated often with Francis Ford Coppola, sharing a best picture Oscar with the filmmaker for The Godfather Part II, has died. He was 89.

Roos died Saturday at his home in Beverly Hills, a publicist announced.

It’s part of Hollywood lore that before Harrison Ford became a famous actor, he was laboring as a carpenter to make ends meet. What some might not know is that it was at Roos’ house where Ford was woodworking when the casting director befriended him, eventually pushing him for roles in George Lucas’ American Graffiti (1973) and Star Wars (1977) and Coppola’s The Conversation (1974).

And it was Roos who convinced Lucas — who had been leaning toward Amy Irving — that Carrie Fisher should portray Princess Leia in Star Wars. (Roos did not have an official role on that film.)

Roos, however,...

Fred Roos, casting director for landmark films such as “American Graffiti” and who went on to have a close relationship with Francis Ford Coppola, including producing best picture winner “Godfather Part II” and “Apocalypse Now,” died Saturday in Beverly Hills. He was 89.

Roos was both casting director and executive producer on Coppola’s most recent film “Megalopolis” which premiered last week at the Cannes Film Festival. Last year, Coppola posted a photo of Roos with Adam Driver on Instagram and thanked him for his work on the long-gestating epic.

Roos was instrumental in helping stars including Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Carrie Fisher and Richard Dreyfuss get their early notable roles.

His long collaboration with Coppola as producer or co-producer included “The Conversation,” “One From the Heart,” “The Outsiders,” “Rumble Fish,” “The Cotton Club,” “The Godfather Part III,” “Tetro,” “Youth Without Youth” and “Tucker: The Man and His Dream.”

Roos was not credited,...

Fred Roos, the Oscar-winning The Godfather Part II producer and longtime executive producer for Francis Ford Coppola and Sofia Coppola, died Saturday in Beverly Hills at 89, four days shy of his 90th birthday.

The news about Roos, who won his Godfather Part II Oscar and later was nominated for Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, comes as Francis Ford Coppola is here at the Cannes Film Festival, 45 years after winning the Palme d’Or for Apocalypse Now. Coppola is in town with his $120 million passion project Megalopolis, which had its world premiere last week. Roos is billed as producer on Megalopolis.

The news also comes after Coppola’s wife of 61 years, Eleanor, died April 12. Roos was an executive producer on Hearts of Darkness, her famed documentary about the making of Apocalypse Now that won them both an Emmy in 1992.

Roos was Francis Coppola’s co-producer on The Conversation, The Godfather Part II and Apocalypse Now,...

Legendary producer and director Roger Corman, who died recently at age 98, had an immeasurable impact on American cinema as we know it. The number of actors, writers, and directors who learned their craft on a Corman production is staggering, and he was known for giving people chances to prove themselves on the low-budget pictures he either produced or directed himself. Tons of notable names went through the so-called "Corman school," including James Cameron, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Bogdanovich, Jonathan Demme, Ron Howard, and Joe Dante, just to name a few.

Three-time Oscar-winning actor Jack Nicholson is another significant alumnus of the Corman school of filmmaking — in fact, his very first movie, "The Cry Baby Killer," was a Corman production, and it provided Nicholson the first of many starring roles across his incredible career. The film follows a young man who thinks he's committed murder outside of a local hang-out restaurant,...

The Big Cigar, a new limited series on Apple TV+ that debuts on May 17, dramatizes a wild true story from the New Hollywood period of the 1970s.

Huey P. Newton, the co-founder of The Black Panther Party, had befriended a group of countercultural figures ruling Tinseltown at the time.

Bert Schneider and Steve Blauner were part of the generation that brought the values of the 1960s counterculture to the movie business through films such as Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces, as well as the work of The Monkees.

This also entailed bankrolling and supporting left-wing political causes, including the Black Panthers' work.

But that approach had its limits.

The series, which consists of six episodes lasting about 40 minutes each, was produced by Jim Hecht, an executive producer of Winning Time.

Don Cheadle is among the episode directors.

Revolution and cocaine

Early on in the Big Cigar, Schneider exclaims, “I want to finance the revolution!

At one point in the new Apple TV+ miniseries The Big Cigar, Black Panther Party founder Huey P. Newton (André Holland) attends a party and recalls the time he and film producer Bert Schneider (Alessandro Nivola) tried to write a movie about his life, which would have starred comedian Richard Pryor (Inny Clemons). The key, Schneider explains: “If it’s gonna be a biopic, you have to choose a moment in Huey’s life that means something. Don’t just make it womb to tomb.”

Though The Big Cigar features...

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The Big Cigar is a six-episode limited series that tells the incredible true story of how Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces producers Bert Schneider (Alessandro Nivola) and Stephen Blauner (P. J. Byrne) helped Black Panthers leader Huey P. Newton escape American law enforcement for exile in Cuba an incredible feat considering that Newton was the FBI's most wanted man at the time.

The Apple TV+ black comedy is adapted from a 2012 Playboy magazine article by award-winning journalist Joshuah Bearman, who also wrote the source material for Argo. Please watch above and read below our interview with Alessandro Nivola and P. J. Byrne, where they discuss working with star Andr Holland, director Don Cheadle, and why rich white Hollywood moguls became so enamored by a Black revolutionary.

Alessandro Nivola on Huey Newton's Counterculture Legitimacy

The Big Cigar (2024) BiographyDramaThriller

The Big Cigar...

The original 1964 Broadway production of "Hello, Dolly!" was considered a showcase for its star, Carol Channing, and little else. At the time, critics were not entirely kind, saying the show had "unnecessary vulgar and frenzied touches," and that they "wouldn't say that Jerry Herman's score is memorable." Despite the middling reviews, "Hello, Dolly!" won 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Leading Actress (for Channing), Best Direction, Best Choreography, and Best Original Score.

The mid-'60s were a weirdly fraught time for major Hollywood musicals, as the genre provided some of the era's biggest hits, but also some of its biggest bombs. In 1964, Disney had a big hit with "Mary Poppins" and Warner Bros. made bank with "My Fair Lady," so musicals were suddenly on the rise. In 1965, Fox released "The Sound of Music," adapted from the stage production by Rodgers and Hammerstein, and it proved to be one of...

The line between reality and fiction in television hasn't always been obvious to people. Be it "Gilligan's Island" viewers badgering the Coast Guard to rescue the S.S. Minnow's poor shipwrecked crew or grown-up "Sesame Street" fans believing that Sonia Manzano and Emilio Delgado (who played married couple Maria and Luis for four decades) were actually hitched, history is littered with anecdotes of audiences assuming what they're seeing on their TV screen is actually happening. Despite the leaps and gains in the masses' media literacy over time, folks still need help understanding how even docuseries and so-called reality shows can easily manipulate the truth (as creators Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie satirized with "The Curse").

When Sally Struthers was cast as Gloria Stivic (née Bunker) in "All in the Family," she was, for all intents and purposes, a nobody. Save for her stint on "The Tim Conway Comedy Hour" the...

Pluto TV, Paramount’s free streaming service, has revealed its April highlights. The Pluto TV April 2024 schedule celebrates the service’s 10th anniversary, highlights star-studded dramas, and marks the halfway point to Halloween with April Ghouls, where you’ll find spooky marathons across its channels.

Pluto TV is the leading free streaming television service, delivering hundreds of live, linear channels and thousands of titles on-demand to a global audience.

The Emmy Award-winning service curates a diverse lineup of channels in partnership with over 400 international media companies. It offers a wide array of genres, languages, and categories featuring movies, television series, sports, news, lifestyle, kids, and much more.

Pluto TV April 2024 Programming

10th Anniversary

Pluto TV is giving the gift of great TV and movies for its birthday.

April 1 at 8 p.m. Et on Action Drama: 10-Hour Seal Team marathon.

April 1 on Pluto TV Spotlight: 2014 Movie Marathon featuring Big Eyes, Noah,...

Nicholson turned down The Godfather due to personal preferences, opting for projects he found more intriguing and personal. He believed Chinatown and The Last Detail had stronger scripts than The Godfather and The Sting. Although initially interested in playing Michael Corleone, Nicholson felt he was the wrong choice for the role.

Between 1969 and 1971, Jack Nicholson went from being a great character actor to a great star with his memorable performances in the films Carnal Knowledge, Easy Rider, and Five Easy Pieces. Throughout the rest of the 1970s, Nicholson, who won the first of his three Academy Awards for his unforgettable performance in the 1975 psychological drama film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, emerged as the greatest and most influential actor of his generation.

In contrast to the keen commercial sense that increasingly guided Nicholson’s career in the 1980s and 1990s, Nicholson’s rise to stardom in the 1970s was...

On the eve of Shirley MacLaine’s 90th birthday (on April 24), let’s revisit on this 96th Academy Awards day what remains one of the top five Oscar acceptance speeches (in my humble opinion) ever: the night 40 years ago when MacLaine won Best Actress for “Terms of Endearment” over co-star Debra Winger (who played her daughter) and three others. It hearkened back to an era before the orchestra played off the big winners if they dared exceed 90 seconds or so. MacLaine’s speech clocked in at a leisurely 3 minutes, 26 seconds, and not a moment of it seemed unnecessary on that night of April 9, 1984 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. It started with, “I’m gonna cry because this show has been as long as my career!” and ended with, “I deserves this. Thank you.” Watch the full presentation and speech above.

It was MacLaine’s sixth nomination and her first and only win.

Eli Roth's 2023 slasher film "Thanksgiving" famously started its life back in 2007 in the form of a fake trailer sandwiched in between Robert Rodriguez's "Planet Terror" and Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof," two movies released as a single mega-feature called "Grindhouse." The goal of "Grindhouse" was to recreate the experience of seeing a cheap exploitation double-feature in a run-down New York theater in the early 1980s, complete with film scratches, missing reels, and several previews for upcoming ultra-salacious genre movies. The trailers were all fake at the time, but since 2007, the trailers for "Machete," "Hobo with a Shotgun," and "Thanksgiving" have been made into real movies.

Roth, as the director's fans know, is a voracious cineaste, and has likely spent more time watching movies than most people. He also wears his influences on his sleeve; in the credits for Roth's 2013 cannibal film "The Green Inferno," he includes a list...

For my money, the Monkees are way, way more interesting than the Beatles. 

According to Andrew Sandoval's thorough and invaluable book "The Monkees: The Day-By-Day Story of the '60s TV Pop Sensation," an ad was put in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter on September 8, 1965, looking for "four insane boys" to be the members of a new pre-fabricated pop band. The band would also star in a TV series -- deliberately meant to evoke Richard Lester's 1964 Beatles film "A Hard Day's Night" -- that would use their real names, but present their lives as a fictional merry-go-round of kooky shenanigans. 

The producers zeroed in on former child actor Micky Dolenz, a friend of musician Stephen Stills named Peter Tork, a British, boyish heartthrob named Davy Jones, and heir to the Liquid Paper fortune, Mike Nesmith. Their TV series debuted on September 12, 1966, the week after "Star Trek" debuted, and...

October is usually thought of as the prime time for horror, but the best horror movie of 2023 — for that matter, the most deliriously entertaining horror movie since Wes Craven‘s original “Scream” — arrives not for Halloween but for Thanksgiving. It’s a movie horror fans have been eagerly anticipating ever since director Eli Roth created a fake “Thanksgiving” trailer for Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s “Grindhouse” in 2007, and the feature version that Roth and writer Jeff Rendell have extrapolated from that hilarious and gory short is well worth the wait. Their “Thanksgiving” is an ingeniously structured, elegantly composed thrill machine. It’s also a gleeful assault on good taste; it’s what you get when a 1970s or ’80s Canadian tax shelter thriller like “Prom Night” or “My Bloody Valentine” is directed by a true artist.

“Thanksgiving” riffs on dozens of slasher favorites from “Black Christmas” and John Carpenter...

In the most shockingly funny moment of Alexander Payne’s “Sideways,” Miles Raymond, the desperate English teacher and wine aficionado played by Paul Giamatti, has just learned that his book was turned down by the publisher he had his hopes pinned on. It’s more than a rejection; it’s the death of his dream. Miles is in the middle a chi-chi Napa Valley wine tasting, and suddenly he’s in dire need of a drink. He asks the bartender for a glass of red, but all the man will pour him is a “taste.” Miles offers to pay for a full glass, but no go: That would be breaking the rules. It’s like the side-order-of-toast scene in “Five Easy Pieces,” only what happens here is three times as explosive. Miles grabs the bottle on the bar and pours himself a drink, and he and the bartender wind up wrestling over it.

Jack Nicholson is done making movies, according to Marc Maron. Nicholson's acting career includes 12 Oscar nominations and three wins. Some of the actor's more memorable films include One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Shining, A Few Good Men and Tim Burton's Batman.

Jack Nicholson would rather read a book than act again. If someone has ever done the Time Warp at a midnight screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, they’re probably familiar with the producing credits of Lou Adler — which includes Trhps and its lesser known, so-so sequel Shock Treatment (1981). And the overlooker and one-time owner of the famed Roxy Theatre on Sunset Blvd. — he is also a famed record producer — dished about his friend, Nicholson, during the sit-down. But it was the show's host, Marc Maron, who revealed Nicholson wasn't interested in acting anymore. During the Adler interview, Maron said (per Wtf with Marc Maron...

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It was only a few days ago that the Criterion Collection had a surprise flash sale. The home video company’s entire catalog was slashed down to 50% off list prices. While that sale only lasted for 24 hours, there are a number of titles that are still on sale for half-off at Amazon.

We rounded up the best deals on Criterion Collection releases, including Spike Lee’s “Do The Right Thing,” Dennis Hopper’s “Easy Rider,” Whit Stillman’s “The Last Days of Disco” and much more. In fact, even a few boxed sets are half off, such as Krzysztof Kieślowski’s “The Dekalog” and Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe” anthology.

Ahead, check out the best Criterion Blu-ray discs currently on sale for 50% off at Amazon:

‘Do the Right Thing...

Mark Goddard, the actor who made a lasting impression on young sci-fi fans as the daring, forever impatient Major Don West on CBS’ 1965-68 series Lost In Space, died of pulmonary fibrosis Tuesday in Hingham, Massachusetts. He was 87.

His death was announced by his wife Evelyn Pezzulich in a Facebook post.

“I’m so sorry to tell you that my wonderful husband passed away on October 10th,” Pezzulich wrote. “Several days after celebrating his 87th birthday, he was hospitalized with pneumonia. We were hopeful when he was transferred to a rehabilitation center, but then doctors discovered he was in the final stages of pulmonary fibrosis for which there is no cure.”

By the time he was cast in his breakthrough role as the headstrong Major West, Goddard had built a reputation as a rising young actor through supporting appearances in late-’50s fare such as Johnny Ringo and The Rebel.

Jack Nicholson turned down the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather because he believed that Italians should play Italians and Indians should play Indians. Nicholson felt that Al Pacino was the ideal choice for the role of Michael Corleone and acknowledged that Pacino became the face of the gangster genre because of his performance. If Nicholson had accepted the role, the gangster genre and his own career would have been significantly different, potentially affecting iconic roles such as The Shining and Batman.

In hindsight, it seems impossible that any actor would have turned down a role in the iconic gangster film, The Godfather, and yet one of Hollywood's biggest stars, Jack Nicholson, absolutely did do that, and with an interesting reason attached. In the early 1970s, Nicholson and The Godfather were both on the cusp of becoming not just successful, but quintessential. Nicholson was riding high on his early...

After of two decades of filmmaking, from “Married Life” to “Love Is Strange,” Ira Sachs has made his tenth feature with the alluring “Passages.” The unrestrained, brazenly sexy love triangle starring an all-start cast of Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw, and Adèle Exarchopoulos hit big at both Sundance and Berlin.

Last January, Sachs enjoyed holding court at a Sundance steakhouse as distributors made offers. Although the MPA Ratings Board slapped an Nc-17 on “Passages,” winning suitor Mubi will release the French-produced film unrated on August 4 before making Sachs’ film available online to its 12 million subscribers.

The filmmaker Zoomed with me from the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

The following interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Anne Thompson: Twelve million. That’s a significant number!

Ira Sachs: They understand that there’s a large audience who is interested in personal filmmaking that has been neglected by Hollywood. There’s no interest in...

Long ago, the 1950s ended and Disney never really got over it.

With the right kind of eyes, a casual viewer can look at the early days of Walt Disney Studios as their heyday. Walt himself was still alive and using his aggressive business acumen to produce visually innovative and award-winning animated shorts that were helping put the studio on the map. Without the Silly Symphonies, animation would not be the same. Warner Bros. outstripped Disney's fare with their cheekier, funnier shorts in the 1940s and 1950s, but the folks at Warner's Termite Terrace were very open about the fact that Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes were ripping off Disney's Silly Symphonies name. Disney Animation broke onto the scene in 1937 with the release of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," still celebrated as one of the best of all animated films to this day.

The reason early Disney was...

The highly anticipated spy thriller “Special Ops: Lioness” arrives on Paramount+ on July 23. The original series from Taylor Sheridan is based on a true story and stars Zoe Saldaña, Laysla De Oliveira, Nicole Kidman, and Morgan Freeman. De Oliveira plays a CIA undercover operative, a “lioness,” charged with befriending someone close to a high-value enemy target, a key member of a state terrorist organization.

Catch the “Special Ops: Lioness” trailer

Also coming to Paramount+ next month will be a reunion filled with humor and romance. New film “Zoey 102” will premiere on July 28 and reunite many of the cast members from the beloved high-school series “Zoey 101.” The gang is getting back together in Malibu to attend Logan and Quinn’s wedding, but that is not the only romance in the air. Jamie Lynn Spears, Sean Flynn, Christopher Massey, Erin Sanders, and Abby Wilde star in the sequel film.

Watch...