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Back in 1993, Last Action Hero was meant to be Arnold Schwarzenegger’s next big hit, but it ended up being a major flop. The studio went all out for the movie, even launching an ad into space, yet it struggled to compete with the colossal success of Jurassic Park.

While the film has gained a reputation in recent years as an underrated and innovative action-comedy, at the time it was widely seen as a failure, both critically and commercially.

Early screenings didn’t help. Clint Eastwood, speaking to Roger Ebert, criticized the idea of showing unfinished films to the press. “You try to do a working screening, maybe find out...

Great Scott! Back to the Future has hit the big 4-0, roughly half the speed required to send Doc Brown's DeLorean back and forth in time. But the Robert Zemeckis-directed movie doesn't feel like ancient history, even if it first zipped into theaters in the distant past of the 1980s. Fueled by pedal to the metal pacing, ingeniously-designed set-pieces and the dynamic duo Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, Back to the Future, released on July 3, 1985, remains an eternally youthful summer blockbuster even while other studio films of that era are rattling around with broken parts.

Genius isn't always recognized in its time, though, which is why the movie's relatively poor showing at the 58th Academy Awards — held on March 24, 1986 — hangs extra-heavy four decades later. Back to the Future received four nominations and took home a single statue as Sydney Pollack's Out of Africa emerged as the evening's big winner.

Doctor Who hits strong form with Lux, a clever, witty outing for Ncuti Gatwa and Varada Sethu, from the pen of Russell T Davies. Review here.

This review contains spoilers. Our review of the previous episode is here.

I’m still trying to go into as many Doctor Who episodes as blind as I can at the moment, knowing the episode title at most, and trying to avoid next time trailers, or reading synopses. I did, however, know that Lux was to feature an animated character, and my head was mildly torn. Was this the money poured into the show since Disney popped along unlocking an idea that’s been bubbling around? Or did the money come first, and the idea second?

45 minutes later, I’m firmly voting for the former.

Lux comes from the pen of Russell T Davies, and I’ve heard him at Doctor Who launches talking...

Robert Trebor, most known for his role as Salmoneus in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess,has died at age 71. He also portrayed serial killer Son of Sam (David Berkowitz) in the made-for-tv crime thriller film Out of the Darkness in 1985. The actor's wife, Deirdre Hennings, told The Hollywood Reporter that Trebor died on March 11 at the Los Angeles Center of sepsis. Hennings also revealed that her husband was diagnosed with leukemia in 2012, and in 2013 had a stem-cell transplant. His final appearance on-screen was as the movie producer of Hail, Caesar! in the 2016 film of the same name, starring Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, and more. However, Trebor built a resume strong enough to last forever.

Growing up in Northeast Philadelphia, Trebor was around 13-years-old when he began showing interest in acting. After honing his craft and winning several Kodak short film competitions, Trebor soon saw himself...

Robert Trebor, a character actor who recurred as Salmoneus on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess and played “Son of Sam” killer David Berkowitz during his long screen career, has died. He was 71.

His obit at Legacy.com did not list a cause, date or place of death, but he had been struggling wqith side effects from a stem-cell transplant for leukemia several years ago..

Born on June 7, 1953, in Philadelphia, Trebor had a few bit roles before his career got going in the 1980s with small roles in such movies as Gorp, Turk 182 and Woody Allen’s The Purple Rose of Cairo. His breakout role was as notorious “Son of Sam” serial killer Berkowitz in the 1985 CBS telepic Out of the Darkness, which starred Martin Sheen as the NYC detective who track him down.

The following year, Trebor had a key role opposite Roy Scheider and Ann-Margret...

Robert Trebor, who portrayed the serial killer known as the Son of Sam in a CBS telefilm and the scheming merchant Salmoneus on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and its sister series, Xena: Warrior Princess, has died. He was 71.

Trebor died March 11 at Los Angeles Medical Center of sepsis, his wife, Deirdre Hennings, told The Hollywood Reporter. He was diagnosed with leukemia in 2012 and had a stem-cell transplant a year later, she said.

On the big screen, the clever character actor worked in films including John Frankenheimer’s 52 Pickup (1986), Susan Seidelman’s Making Mr. Right (1987), Oliver Stone’s Talk Radio (1988) and the Coen brothers’ Hail, Caesar (2016), for which he played a movie producer in his final onscreen role.

In his breakout year of 1985, Trebor appeared as a reporter in Woody Allen’s The Purple Rose of Cairo, as a copy boy in Bob Clark’s Turk 182 and as the...

Jeff Daniels has joined the cast of “Shrinking” at Apple TV+, Variety has learned.

The actor will appear in the series’ upcoming third season, which was originally announced in October 2024. Daniels will appear in a guest star role as Jimmy’s (Jason Segel) father. Along with Segel, the cast of the critically-acclaimed dramedy also includes Harrison Ford, Jessica Williams, Michael Urie, Lukita Maxwell, Christa Miller, and Ted McGinley.

This will be the latest TV role for Daniels in the past several years. Previously, he starred in the Showtime (and later Amazon Prime Video) series adaptation of “American Rust” as well as the premium cabler’s limited series “The Comey Rule.” He has also starred in shows like “A Man in Full,” “The Newsroom” (for which he won an Emmy in 2013), “Godless” (for which he won an Emmy in 2018), and “The Looming Tower.” Daniels is a highly-accomplished film actor, starring in...

Ever since Gilmore Girls debuted on The WB in October 2000, the series has continued to garner a following of devoted fans. The show ran for seven seasons before it concluded in May 2007. Given its popularity, it sparked a four-part Netflix revival that premiered in November 2016. The series follows a single mother named Lorelai and her teenage daughter named Rory. Academically gifted, Rory has dreams of attending Harvard one day, while Lorelai hopes to own her own inn in their quaint town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut.

Known for its quick wit, the show is rife with various eccentric and beloved characters. Their town might be small, but it’s constantly bustling with numerous events and town hall meetings that give the series and Stars Hollow its unique charm. Below is a guide to the show’s main cast and adored characters.

Your Ratingclose10 stars9 stars8 stars7 stars6 stars5 stars4 stars3 stars...

The motion picture carries multiple definitions, depending on who you ask. To some, it’s an art form that’s worth preserving for posterity; for others, it’s entertainment and a means of escapism. Throughout the 1980s, big-budget action-adventure films were all the rage. Many of these action forays featured stars like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the latter of whom starred in a meta-examination of the genre in Last Action Hero. Released in 1993, Last Action Hero blurs the lines between the manufactured world of cinema and the reality that so many audience members are eager to seek refuge from.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose box office appeal has remained relatively consistent for the past few decades, has starred in many films that take place in a wildly exaggerated facsimile of reality. Last Action Hero incorporates elements from The Purple Rose of Cairo and Cinema Paradiso to examine the deep love that...

Actress Scarlett Johansson finally escaped our long-running photo gallery of the greatest living actresses to never receive an Oscar nomination. And she did it in grand style by picking up two for her 2019 films “Marriage Story” and “Jojo Rabbit.” Just recently, Kirsten Dunst had been in our gallery for years and then earned her first Academy Award bid for “The Power of the Dog.” Jamie Lee Curtis was fortunately removed from the gallery with not only a nomination but win for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Emily Blunt was finally nominated for “Oppenheimer” years after winning her first SAG Award for “A Quiet Place.” And in 2025, both Demi Moore (“The Substance”) and Zoe Saldana (“Emilia Perez”) finally got their first ever nominations.

In 2014, “Friends” star Jennifer Aniston looked like a lock to receive her first Academy Award nomination for “Cake,” following citations at the Golden Globes, SAG, and Broadcast Film Critics.

There have been plenty of fake movies within movies over the years, but only a few seem genuinely interesting enough to make fans wish they were real. Fake movies have historically been used in a variety of ways, although they're often great for parody. Movies about Hollywood can have fake movies as jokes, and some movies take this idea one step further by making fun of themselves with a fictional stand-in.

For a movie within a movie to be truly memorable, it usually has to stand out as something worth watching. This is what differentiates a fake movie that's little more than a joke from something more interesting. It helps if the filmmakers put as much care and effort into their fake movies as their real ones. Some movies within movies have their own fans, even though they don't exist and nobody will ever see them in full.

Metalstorm The...

Woody Allen is a four-time Academy Award winner who has proved incredibly prolific in his decades-long career, writing, directing, and oftentimes starring in nearly a film a year for over 50 years. But how many of those are classics? Let’s take a look back at 25 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

After years as a joke writer and standup comic, Allen transitioned into filmmaking penning such screenplays as “What’s New Pussycat?” (1965) and starring in such titles as “Casino Royale” (1967). His first credit as a director was the comedically overdubbed Japanese spy thriller “What’s Up, Tiger Lily?” (1966).

The Woody Allen as we know him emerged in 1969 with the farcical mockumentary “Take the Money and Run” (1969), made when he was 34 years old. The success of that film led to a string of critically acclaimed absurdist comedies, including “Bananas” (1971) and “Sleeper” (1973).

He established himself as an important filmmaker with the romantic...

Now showing, this week’s film quiz features questions on animated heroes, real-life villains, and fictional movies within movies.

There are a couple of movies about making movies out now – MaXXXine sees Mia Goth’s aspiring movie star bag a role in a 1980s horror sequel, while Fly Me To The Moon has Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum stage moon-landing footage as a Plan B for NASA in 1969. Accordingly, this week’s film quiz has a whole round on fictional films within real films – think more The Purple Rose Of Cairo in The Purple Rose Of Cairo than “Argo”in Argo.

Once you’ve completed all three rounds, you’ll find a link to a separate post with the correct answers at the bottom of this post. As always, this is all just for fun, but please let us know how you did in the comments (scores out of 30 this week!

“Pop quiz, hotshot. There’s a bomb on a bus. Once the bus goes 50 miles an hour, the bomb is armed. If it drops below 50, it blows up. What do you do? What do you do?” Released on June 10, 1994, it’s now been three decades since movie audiences were held in heart-pounding suspense as a young actor’s character aimed to answer this riddle. “Speed” is the best kind of summer blockbuster — a sleeper hit that takes critics and audiences by surprise. With a first-time director, a relatively unknown actress and an actor who was just establishing himself as a solid lead, “Speed” opened at number one, established Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock as two of the biggest stars of decade and caused many of us to rethink using mass transit. It’s the “Speed” 30th anniversary, so grab a bowl of popcorn as we take a look back at...

After briefly slipping up in the early 1980s with the introspective "Stardust Memories" and "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy," Woody Allen rediscovered his comedic muse with the run of "Zelig," "Broadway Danny Rose," "The Purple Rose of Cairo" and "Hannah and Her Sisters." Factor in 1989's "Crimes and Misdemeanors," and you could make a compelling case that, aside from a few failures, Allen had matured into one of our finest satirists.

While I think his most witheringly downbeat statement on the creation of art arrived a decade later in the sublime "Bullets Over Broadway," he made his warmest statement on New York City theater via 1984's kind-hearted "Broadway Danny Rose." The tale of a one-man talent agency (Allen) who works tirelessly to keep his collection of C-level talents gainfully employed (and gets caught up in a mob-related love triangle in the process) is rivaled only by "The Purple Rose of Cairo...

Watching Woody Allen's 1979 romantic comedy "Manhattan" in 2024 is certainly a fraught affair. For decades after its release, "Manhattan" was hailed as one of the filmmaker's best, frankly and stylishly telling a story of modern New York life, revealing the embarrassing impulses of a neurotic man struggling through his own acknowledged sexual and romantic weaknesses. In the film, Allen plays Isaac, a 42-year-old, twice-divorced comedy writer trying to pen a book about how much he loves New York City. As part of his midlife crisis, he is romantically and sexually involved with Tracy (Mariel Hemingway), a 17-year-old prep school student.

Allen's fictional relationship with an underage girl was, at the time, seen as a strange quirk of the modern cosmopolitan arts milieu, and many critics remained unconcerned. It wouldn't be for a few more years, in 1991, that details of Allen's personal life would begin to emerge. He married the much-younger...

Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels starred in the hit 1994 comedy film Dumb and Dumber. The main point of interest in the film was the pairing of a rising comic talent like Carrey and a serious character actor like Daniels. Carrey had already proven his mettle in comedy with back-to-back comedy hits Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, and The Mask earlier in the same year.

Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in Dumb and Dumber | New Line Cinema

On the other hand, Jeff Daniels was known for his dramatic performances in films like The Purple Rose of Cairo, Terms of Endearment, and Gettysburg. Starring in an outrageous comedy like Dumb and Dumber seemed like a wrong decision at the time and Daniels’ agent warned him from making that mistake. However, Carrey assured him that everything was going to be okay.

Jeff Daniels Feared Dumb and Dumber Would Be The End of His Career...

Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, and Harold Lloyd were the clown jewels of silent comedy. Chaplin was off the screen in 1924; he was a year away from the release of one of his feature masterpieces “The Gold Rush.” Lloyd followed the blockbuster success of 1923’s “Safety Last!” in 1924 with the gems “Girl Shy” and “Hot Water.” And Keaton dazzled critics and audiences with the innovative “Sherlock Jr.” and the riotous “The Navigator.”

“Sherlock Jr.”, which opened in May 1924, was just Keaton’s third feature. Running a brisk 45 minutes, “Sherlock Jr” pushed the cinematic envelope. The stoic, deadpan comic plays a projectionist and janitor at a small-town movie theater who dreams, literally, of becoming a detective. He also discovers that he has a slick rival (Ward Crane) for his sweet girl (Kathryn McGuire). The slick even steals the pocket watch of the girl’s father and puts the blame on Buster. Banished from the house,...

Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone will come to Broadway in the new comedy, The Roommate, by Jen Silverman.

The play, directed by Jack O’Brien, will begin performances on Aug. 29, with an official opening night on Sept. 12, at the Booth Theatre. This marks LuPone’s first return to the stage after giving up her Actors’ Equity membership after the run of Company ended in 2022. Farrow was last on Broadway in 2014, in the A.R. Gurney play Love Letters.

“It’s always a big decision to return to the stage, and I certainly had no intention of being back on Broadway so fast. But when I read the play and heard Mia was attached, it became the easiest decision of my life. I’ve always been a fan of Mia’s work and she is a treasured friend. We’re going to have a blast,” LuPone said.

“The Roommate is funny, quirky and brilliantly written,...

Jeff Daniels returns to television in A Man In Full, based on Tom Wolfe's novel, with a stellar cast and high potential for success. A Man In Full could be Jeff Daniels' next big hit, redeeming the disappointments of his recent TV series and showcasing his talent. Positioned as a high-stakes business drama, A Man In Full has the makings of a binge-worthy Netflix series, potentially elevating Jeff Daniels' career.

Iconic actor Jeff Daniels has a new series coming to Netflix in May 2024 called A Man In Full, and luckily, this show looks much better than his most recent release, which earned an unfortunate Rotten Tomatoes score. Jeff Daniels has been a film and television star since the 1980s, starting his career with movies such as The Purple Rose of Cairo, Something Wild, and Heartburn. Since then, he has appeared in a significant number of truly iconic projects, like Dumb and Dumber,...

American Rust features a talented cast portraying characters amidst the economic hardships of the Rust Belt. Showtime series dives into a murder case in a fictional town, highlighting the struggles of the American middle class. Available to stream on Amazon Prime Video, the storyline revolves around a detective investigating a murder involving close connections.

The American Rust characters list is filled with talented actors playing archetypes. Dan Futterman created the Showtime series, based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Philipp Meyer that focuses on the crumbling American middle class. American Rust follows a murder case that stirs the residents of a fictional town called Buell in the American Rust Belt — a region in the Northeastern and Midwest United States, extending from the eastern parts of Illinois and Wisconsin to the north and western parts of Pennsylvania and New York.

The Rust Belt experienced economic hardship throughout the late...

It’s a fairly big month on Prime Video in March, at least compared to the other streaming service offerings! There are are two major films arriving on Amazon’s streamer. The first is a remake of the Patrick Swayze action classic Road House. Stepping into the late Swayze’s shoes? A crazy-jacked Jake Gyllenhaal, who really seemed to want to go the extra mile for this project.

The other big film coming to Prime Video is Ricky Stanicky, and the plot sounds really fun! It follows three friends who have always blamed their mistakes on an imaginary guy called Ricky Stanicky. When they have to finally introduce people to Stanicky, they decide to hire a washed-up actor (John Cena) to impersonate him. Hilarity ensues, maybe? But if neither of those make your watchlist, there’s also the return of the animated hit series Invincible.

Here’s everything coming to...

When I was in college cinema courses I made a Super 8 film called Movie Girl. It was a Hollywood-set love letter to movies centered on a Musso & Frank waitress who put herself dreamily into the plots of classic films. It won an award there but was the highlight of the directing career I never had. However, I have always been partial to filmmakers who put their own early film-going experience and passion into their careers now. You may have heard of them: Kenneth Branagh won an Oscar for doing just that in Belfast. Steven Spielberg got several nominations last year for his very personal The Fabelmans. Woody Allen had his own charming take in The Purple Rose of Cairo. Peter Bogdanovich made a lasting impression with 1971’s The Last Picture Show, as did Giuseppe Tornatore with his Oscar winner Cinema Paradiso.

It is a combination of the latter two especially...

Venice film festival: James is the Liz Taylor-ish diva claiming a young star-struck girl as her new best friend in Saverio Constanzo’s tale set in 1950s Rome

The Italian writer-director Saverio Constanzo has offered the Venice film festival some unpretentious calorific fun with this enjoyable film: a tasty, showbizzy crowd-pleaser and romantic melodrama with a vivid streak of surreal absurdity in the tradition of Federico Fellini’s The White Sheik or Woody Allen’s The Purple Rose of Cairo.

It is the tale of an unconventionally beautiful duckling who becomes more of a swan than the glamorous people she idolises; her dreams come true – or sort of true – in 1950s Rome in the heyday of the giant Cinecittà film studio. There are seductive performances from Lily James as the Liz Taylor-ish American movie diva, Willem Dafoe as her elegant, kindly confidant, Rachel Sennott as the disaffected up-and-coming actor...

Jeff Daniels is ready to tell his story. The actor, who has been in everything from “The Purple Rose of Cairo” to “Dumb and Dumber,” is readying his audio-only memoir, “Alive and Well Enough,” as a 12-part series for Audible, with the first season debuting in September (with a second season on the way).

According to the official release “Alive and Well Enough” “mixes storytelling, original music and performance, [and] is like nothing you have heard before.” Would it be too much to ask for several chapters devoted to the making of “Arachnophobia?”

“Audible is the only place where I get to do everything I do,” said Daniels in an official statement. “’Alive and Well Enough’ is an audio adventure of an accidental artist who one day looked up and realized he had a sense of humor, a passion for writing and stories to tell.”

Daniels, of course, is an accomplished performer,...

Sometimes a single image can be strong enough to support the weight of an entire film, even a film as heavy as Maryna Er Gorbach’s horrifyingly domestic anti-war drama “Klondike,” which fixes its gaze upon a feisty pair of Ukrainian farmers who live along the Russian border. It does so by blowing a giant hole into the side of Tolik (Serhill Shadrin) and Irka’s (Okshana Cherkashyna) house in the opening scene, as an errant mortar shell — misfired by the Kremlin-friendly separatists next door in the middle of the night — obliterates the outer wall of the married couple’s living room as they argue over whether or not to flee Hrabove and raise their unborn child somewhere else.

The exasperated husband wants to avoid conflict at any cost, while his very pregnant wife refuses to abandon their home just because the impotent local men are determined to play war...

Jeff Daniels is set to play the lead role in the upcoming Netflix drama series “A Man in Full,” Variety has learned.

The series is based on the Tom Wolfe novel of the same name. Variety exclusively reported the show had received a straight-to-series order at the streamer in November 2021. The show hails from David E. Kelley with Regina King onboard to direct and executive produce.

In the series, Atlanta real estate mogul Charlie Croker (Daniels) faces sudden bankruptcy. Political and business interests collide as Croker defends his empire from those attempting to capitalize on his fall from grace. Croker is further described as polarizing and robust, crude, rude, and irresponsible.

This will be the latest TV starring role for Daniels in the past several years. Most recently, he starred in the Showtime series adaptation of “American Rust” as well as the premium cabler’s limited series “The Comey Rule.

Paul Herman, the character actor best known for his role as club owner Peter “Beansie” Gaeta in “The Sopranos,” died Tuesday. His “Sopranos” co-star Michael Imperioli confirmed the news in an Instagram. He was 76. A cause of death has not been announced.

“Paulie was just a great dude,” Imperioli wrote in his Instagram post. “A first class storyteller and raconteur and one hell of an actor. Goodfellas, Once Upon a Time in America , The Irishman and of course The Sopranos are some highlights. Paulie lived around the corner from me the last few years and i am glad we got to spend some time together before he left us. I’ll miss him. Lots of love to his family, friends and our community of actors and filmmakers.”

Herman’s first film credit was in “Dear Mr. Wonderful,” a 1982 comedy film starring Joe Pesci. Over the next two decades, he would...

Paul Herman, a Brooklyn-born actor who appeared in such classic mob movies as Goodfellas, Once Upon a Time in America and The Irishman but is probably best known for his portrayal of club owner Peter “Beansie” Gaeta in The Sopranos, died Tuesday. He was 76.

Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo Gallery

His death was announced on Instagram by Sopranos co-star Michael Imperioli. A cause of death was not disclosed.

“Our friend and colleague Paul Herman has passed away,” Imperioli wrote. “Paulie was just a great dude. A first class storyteller and raconteur and one hell of an actor. Goodfellas, Once Upon a Time in America, The Irishman and of course The Sopranos are some highlights. Paulie lived around the corner from me the last few years and i am glad we got to spend some time together before he left us. I’ll miss him. Lots of love to his family,...

Time is running out to stream films like “Lincoln,” “The Fisher King” and “He Got Game” on HBO Max. Below is the complete list of everything leaving HBO and HBO Max in January 2022, which includes some classic “Planet of the Apes” films, Ben Affleck’s Oscar-winning “Argo” and 1988’s “Married to the Mob,” among others. Most of these titles leave the streaming service on Jan. 31, but departing HBO and HBO Max on Jan. 20 is a behind-the-scenes look at Guillermo del Toro’s new film “Nightmare Alley,” which is exclusively in theaters now.

If you’re looking for noteworthy titles to add to your watchlist before they depart, “Lincoln” is one of Steven Spielberg’s best, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” is a handsome and nail-biting spy thriller and “The Fisher King” is a great two-hander with Jeff Bridges and Robin Williams.

Check out the full list of what’s leaving HBO Max in January 2022 below.

Actors’ Equity has reached a new agreement with the Michigan regional theater founded in 1991 by actor Jeff Daniels that recently saw the resignation of its longtime artistic director Guy Sanville following harassment and bullying accusations.

The union says the agreement with the Purple Rose Theatre Company of Chelsea, Michigan, demonstrates a “commitment to creating a safe workplace, free from the discrimination and harassment the company experienced under its previous leadership.”

“The new agreement also includes advances in wages and work hours as well as additional safety provisions,” said Equity in a statement.

According to the Michigan theater website EncoreMichigan, Sanville, the Purple Rose artistic director for 26 years, resigned to the theater’s Board of Directors last week, with the announcement made public this week in a letter to donors from Steve Hamp, chair of the theater’s board.

The letter to donors was posted by EncoreMichigan, and reads, in part,...

Camille Saviola, whose many stage and TV roles included the Bajoran religious leader Kai Opaka in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the mother of the hapless Turtle in Entourage and characters in Nine and Chicago on Broadway, has died. She was 71.

Her death was announced on the Star Trek website WarpFactorTrek.com. Additional details were not immediately available.

Showbiz & Media Figures We’ve Lost In 2021 – Photo Gallery

Longtime friend and actor Harvey Fierstein tweeted: “She was a friend for 40 years who could always be counted on for a laugh, a shoulder or a kick in the ass. The Italian Godmother of Soul! Farewell.”

Actor Wilson Cruz, who said he performed with Saviola at many AIDS benefits over the years, tweeted: “What a presence this woman was! My heart is heavy. My love to Camille’s family and family of friends throughout the industry. She will be missed.”

A Bronx native...

Actress Scarlett Johansson finally escaped our long-running photo gallery of the greatest living actresses to never receive an Oscar nomination. And she did it in grand style by picking up two for her 2019 films “Marriage Story” and “Jojo Rabbit.” Will Kirsten Dunst be the next lady to leap off this gallery into an Academy Awards nomination soon? She has been receiving rave reviews for her latest film “The Power of the Dog” from Jane Campion.

Also in our photo gallery, we include Emily Blunt, who won her first SAG Award in 2019 but also still couldn’t gain attention from Oscar voters. She took home the trophy in the supporting category for “A Quiet Place” but also had a potential bid as a lead actress for “Mary Poppins Returns.”

SEEBest Supporting Actress Oscar odds: Kirsten Dunst (‘The Power of the Dog’) now in 2nd place

In 2014, “Friends” star Jennifer Aniston looked...

The list of actors cut out of Terrence Malick’s classic 1998 “The Thin Red Line” war movie is long and legendary (we’ve dedicated entire features to digging up nuggets of stories over the years). And actor Viggo Mortensen—cut out of early roles in films like Woody Allen’s “The Purple Rose of Cairo,” and Jonathan Demme‘s “Swing Shift”—knows a thing or two about being left on the cutting room floor.

Continue reading ‘The Thin Red Line’: Viggo Mortensen Explains Why He Had To Turn Down A Major Role In Terrence Malick’s War Film at The Playlist.

Talk about perfect timing. With the 2021 Golden Globe nominations just weeks away (they’ll be announced February 3 for film and TV), the second impeachment of Donald Trump could end up reminding voters about “The Comey Rule,” the first dramatic depiction of America’s 45th president. Jeff Daniels plays former FBI Director James Comey, one of Trump’s many political nemeses who ended up testifying against him following his firing in 2017. Comey has since become a staunch never-Trumper, recently saying Senator Mitt Romey showed “real leadership” when he denounced Trump’s incitement of rioters at the United States Capitol.

Will all the extra media attention be Daniels’ ticket to winning his first-ever Golden Globe? The actor has four prior nominations to his name for comedy films “The Purple Rose of Cairo,” “Something Wild” and “The Squid and the Whale” and television drama “The Newsroom.” Daniels took home a pair of Emmys...

Jeff Daniels and Brendan Gleeson are no strangers to the Golden Globes, drumming up an impressive seven nominations between them. Now both could be on the verge of more recognition from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for their transformative performancess on the Showtime miniseries “The Comey Rule.” The political drama, based on former FBI director James Comey‘s book, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership,” chronicles Comey’s contentious relationship with President Donald Trump during his first months in the White House.

Gleeson took on the formidable task of playing Trump, a role he managed to pull off in dramatic fashion after countless parodies of the president have been ingrained in the public’s mindset (most notably Alec Baldwin‘s Emmy-winning turn on “Saturday Night Live”). The Irish actor nailed Trump’s mannerisms and speech patterns, all while maintaining a serious tone under that mound of creamy orange hair.

While America and the world have been on the edge of their proverbial seats anticipating the looming US presidential election (among other breaking news stories), Showtime pounced to premiere its two-night limited series “The Comey Rule” on September 27 and 28, just five weeks out from the most heated and divisive presidential contest in decades.

“The Comey Rule” is based on former FBI Director James Comey‘s tell-all book “A Higher Loyalty,” adapted by writer and director Billy Ray (“Captain Phillips” and “Richard Jewell”). It is a riveting exposé on the controversial role played by Comey and the FBI in shaping the events leading up to the surprise victory of President Donald Trump over his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. It also deftly depicts the political machinations behind the scenes during the transition from former President Barack Obama to the current administration and Comey’s ultimate firing by President Trump.

See‘Fargo’ season...

These days, every new Woody Allen film invites the same question: Is it possible to review the film and not its disgraced filmmaker? “Rifkin’s Festival” makes this challenge especially daunting: All the action takes place at the San Sebastian Film Festival, where the film opened this year’s edition. Wallace Shawn stars as a revered but neurotic director with romantic delusions. And if it seems like Allen is really asking for it, there’s one more factor working against the 84-year-old filmmaker: The film is far from vintage Allen and would struggle to find a mass audiences even before it turned against him.

Having said that, “Rifkin’s Festival” is a notch above middling Allen comedies like last year’s “A Rainy Day in New York,” thanks to delightful turns from Shawn and Gina Gershon as well as some zany stabs at film history in a series of black-and-white dream...

Festival’s 68th edition set to go ahead in September.

Woody Allen’s Rifkin’s Festival is to receive its world premiere as the opening film of the 68th San Sebastian International Film Festival (Ssiff).

Rifkin’s Festival was shot in and around San Sebastian last summer and centres on a married American couple who attend the film festival, only for the wife to have an affair with a French movie director and the husband to fall in love with a local woman. The cast includes Elena Anaya, Louis Garrel, Gina Gershon, Sergi López, Wallace Shawn and Christoph Waltz.

Also written by Allen,...

Woody Allen’s “Rifkin’s Festival” will world premiere this September as it opens the 68th edition of the San Sebastian International Film Festival, where it will play out of competition.

San Sebastian’s Kursaal building hosted the film’s initial announcement 11 months ago where, apart from a boycott by leftist Basque party Eh Bildu of a party thrown for Allen by the San Sebastian mayor, Spain’s reception of Allen has largely been warm.

This will be the second time that Allen will have opened the festival. He first curtain raiser came in 2004, when he received the Donostia Award for career achievement, with “Melinda and Melinda.” Allen’s films “Manhattan,” “Zelig,” “Manhattan Murder Mystery,” “The Purple Rose of Cairo,” “Match Point,” “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” “Whatever Works” and “Irrational Man” have all participated in some capacity at San Sebastian over the past four decades.

“Rifkin’s Festival” was shot last...

by Murtada Elfadl

Over at Sundays With Cate, my podcast series about the films of Cate Blanchett, I just finished a three part miniseries about her Oscar winning performance in Blue Jasmine (2013). Something I thought The Film Experience readers might enjoy so I’m sharing with you. Here are some details about the miniseries:

Actor as Auteur

In part one we discuss Cate Blanchett as the real auteur of Blue Jasmine, and the many ways her performance makes her the author of the film.

The “Streetcar” Allusions

In part two, we talk about the similarities to Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, the character of Blanche Dubois clearly is the blueprint for Jasmine. The many actresses who played Blanche - including Blanchett herself in a production of Streetcar directed by Liv Ullman - or were inspired by her. From the women in Pedro Almodovar’s movies to Gena Rowlands in...

The great Larry Wilmore joins us to share some very personal double features.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

1917 (2019)

Animal Crackers (1930)

Duck Soup (1933)

My Little Chickadee (1940)

A Night At The Opera (1935)

A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

The Parallax View (1974)

Singin’ In The Rain (1952)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

Jaws (1975)

The Stepford Wives (1975)

The Party (1968)

The Return of the Pink Panther (1975)

The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)

Richard Pryor: Live In Concert (1979)

Richard Pryor: Live And Smokin’ (1971)

Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986)

Dolemite Is My Name (2019)

Lenny (1974)

The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009)

Lolita (1962)

Caligula (1979)

The Night of the Iguana (1964)

The Elephant Man (1980)

What Would Jack Do? (2020)

Blue Velvet (1986)

The Apartment (1960)

Some Like It Hot (1959)

Double Indemnity (1944)

The Sting (1973)

Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid...

Zoe Caldwell, a four-time Tony Award-winner, has passed away at the age of 86.

The actress died peacefully in her home in Pound Ridge, New York on Sunday from complications due to Parkinson’s disease, a spokesperson for her son, Charlie Whitehead, confirmed to People.

Born in Australia, Caldwell first started her professional career at 9 years old in a production of Peter Pan before going on to appear in productions at Melbourne’s Union Theatre Repertory Company and the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company.

She moved to London to join the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1959 and began her American acting career as...

Zoe Caldwell, a veteran stage, TV and film actress who won four Tony Awards and originated the Broadway roles of Maria Callas in Master Class and the title character in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, has died. She was 86.

Her son, Charlie Whitehead, said she died Sunday of Parkinson’s disease complications at her home in Pound Ridge, NY.

Caldwell won four lead actress Tony Awards spanning 30 years. Along with Master Class (1996) and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1968), she also scored trophies for Slapstick Tragedy (1966) and Madea (1982).

Along with her 45-year career on the Great White Way, the Australia native appeared in such films as Woody Allen’s The Purple Rose of Cairo and the 2002 Disney toon Lilo & Stitch. Among her many telefilm roles were adaptations of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Her most recent credit was as Oskar’s (Thomas Horn) grandmother...

Scarlett Johansson has finally escaped this long-running photo gallery of the greatest living actresses to never receive an Oscar nomination. And she did it in grand style by picking up two for her 2019 films “Marriage Story” and “Jojo Rabbit.”

Unfortunately, our list contains 20 slots so we must add someone to take her place. That slot now belongs to Jennifer Lopez, who just missed out with Academy voters for her role in “Hustlers,” which brought her Golden Globe and SAG Awards nominations.

SEEScarlett Johansson movies: 12 greatest films ranked from worst to best

Also in our photo gallery, we include Emily Blunt, who won her first SAG Award in 2019 but also still couldn’t gain attention from Oscar voters. She took home the trophy in the supporting category for “A Quiet Place” but also had a potential bid as a lead actress for “Mary Poppins Returns.”

In 2014, “Friends” star Jennifer Aniston looked...

Quentin Tarantino is second place in our Best Screenplay Golden Globe odds for his “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” script, behind Noah Baumbach‘s “Marriage Story,” but if he pulls out the victory, he’ll accomplish what only one person has done before: win three screenplay awards.

Robert Bolt hold the record with three statuettes, for “Doctor Zhivago” (1965), “A Man for All Seasons” (1966) and “The Mission” (1986). He later won Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for the first two, but the academy snubbed him for “The Mission.” Bolt has a leg up on Tarantino, though, because he has a perfect 3-for-3 record; “Once” marks Tarantino’s fifth screenplay nomination.

The auteur triumphed for “Pulp Fiction” (1994) and “Django Unchained” (2012), and was nominated for “Inglourious Basterds” (2009) and “The Hateful Eight” (2015). He’s one of 10 people with two wins, a group that includes Paddy Chayefsky, Woody Allen and Aaron Sorkin, who denied Tarantino a...

As tributes come rolling in for Danny Aiello, the Oscar-nominated Do the Right Thing actor who died Thursday at 86, take a look back at his long career in film and TV. Click on the pic of his signature role of pizzeria owner Sal Frangione above to launch the photo gallery.

The New York native got his start with a small role in the 1973 baseball drama, which starred a young Robert De Niro. Aiello’s next big-screen appearance was in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather Part II, which won the Oscar for Best Picture on 1974. The actor would go on to rack up more than 100 film and TV credits, working steadily all the way into 2019.

Along the way, Aiello appeared in films from such noted directors as Norman Jewison (Moonstruck), Robert Altman (Prêt-à-Porter), Lasse Hallstrom (Once Around), Luc Besson (Léon: The Professional Norman) and Adrian Lyne (Jacob’s Ladder) as well...

Aiello in Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing".

Actor Danny Aiello has passed away at age 86 following a brief illness. Aiello didn't start acting until age 34 but when he did, he became a reliable and popular character actor. He was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing", playing the owner of a pizza parlor trying to navigate boiling racial tensions in the neighborhood. He also had a memorable role in Norman Jewison's "Moonstruck". Other films include "The Godfather Part II", "The Front", "The Purple Rose of Cairo", "Radio Days" (the latter three with Woody Allen), "Fingers", "Fort Apache the Bronx", "The Cemetary Club", "Ready to Wear", "The Professional", "Once Upon a Time in America" and "Prince of the City". Although Aiello worked with some of the most legendary directors, his one regret was not having been cast in a Martin Scorsese film.

Following the news that character actor Danny Aiello died on Thursday night, friends and peers of the “Moonstruck” actor shared their remembrances via social media. Aiello — whose body of work included Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” “The Purple Rose of Cairo,” “Jacob’s Ladder,” “The Godfather Part II” and Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach” music video — was 86.

Aiello’s Academy Award-nominated performance as Salvatore “Sal” Frangione in Lee’s 1989 classic was most frequently mentioned; Lee himself led the litany of tributes to the accomplished actor on Instagram.

“We Made Cinema History Together With ‘Do The Right Thing.’ May You Rest In Paradise,” the caption reads.

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I’m Broken. Just Found Out My Brother Danny Aiello Made His Transition Last Night. Danny,We Made Cinema History Together With Do The Right Thing. May You Rest In Paradise.

A post shared by Spike Lee (@officialspikelee...

Cher is mourning the loss of Danny Aiello.

The singer, 73, shared her condolences on Twitter Friday following the news that Aiello, who starred with her in the 1987 film Moonstruck, had died on Thursday. He was 86.

The two played newly engaged couple Loretta Castorini and Johnny Cammareri. When Johnny leaves for Italy to visit his dying mother, he asks Loretta to visit his estranged brother Ronny (Nicolas Cage) to tell them of their engagement. When she does, Loretta finds herself falling for Ronny despite being engaged to Johnny.

“Goodbye Dear #DannyAiello Danny was a Great Actor, But a Genius Comedic Actor.