News

Clint Eastwood has been many things throughout his remarkable career: one of the most legendary cowboys of all time, one of Hollywood's most prolific directors, and also one of the silver screen's most iconic antiheroes, squinting, grimacing, and grinding his teeth through five performances as the San Francisco cop who plays by his own set of rules, "Dirty" Harry Callahan.

From 1971 to 1988, Clint Eastwood wrestled with the ever-changing American sociopolitical scene in real-time as one of cinema's most controversial (and beloved) characters. The Dirty Harry franchise has since come to be defined by the reactionary nature of its central premise. However, the further the franchise moved away from its first entry, the more interesting things got in terms of hot-button issues and Dirty Harry's response to them. Ultimately, Dirty Harry never evolved into anything much more than a cool-headed modern-day gun-slinger, but that's what continues to make these movies so damn entertaining to watch,...

October 25 will mark 62 years since the release of the first film directed by Francis Ford Coppola: “Come on Out” (later retitled “Tonight for Sure”), a re-edited feature version of three different shorter nudie films he made while a film student at UCLA. It debuted in 1962, right in the middle of the Cuban missile crisis.

With “Megalopolis” opening, he likely has the longest feature film directorial career ever, ahead of Manoel de Oliveira (61 years), Jean-Luc Godard (58), Jerzy Skolimowsky (58), and Frederick Wiseman (56). Clint Eastwood, whose latest film “Juror #2” premieres next month, spans a mere 53 as a director.

To sustain a career that long necessitates a lot of success, which Coppola has had, led by “The Godfather.” But it has been a perilous journey, elongated (“Megalopolis” the most extreme) by his willingness to spend money to keep directing. Of note, his last studio-financed film was “The Rainmaker,” 27 years — and nearly half his career — ago.

This article contains discussions of murder and Spoilers for Homicide: Los Angeles.

Mickey and Trudy Thompson were murdered in a baffling case that remained unsolved for almost two decades until 2007. The couple was shot in their driveway, with $70,000 worth of jewelry and $4000 in cash, indicating a planned attack, not a robbery. Michael Goodwin, Thompson's former business partner, was eventually charged and found guilty in 2007 based on eyewitness identification and possible motive.

Homicide: Los Angeles episode 2, "The Racecar Killer" outlines one of the most perplexing homicides on the show, that of the 1988 death of Mickey and Trudy Thompson. In 1960, Mickey Thompson became internationally known as the first American to drive faster than 400 miles per hour. In the next decade, the racer went on to win many championships. He and his wife Trudy eventually settled in Bradbury, California, around 24 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

In 1988, the pair would become famous for...

[This story contains spoilers from the finale of Reacher‘s second season.]

Viewers of Reacher have now had one week to decompress, perhaps rewind, and think about how archvillain Shane Langston (Robert Patrick) finally got his in the season two finale.

After saving love interest Karla Dixon (Serinda Swan) from dropping mid-air out of a helicopter, Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) — while strapped to a gurney and with a knife stuck in his arm — goes to retrieve Langston and deliver him the same fate that had been handed to many of our series hero’s friends: being thrown out of a flying aircraft.

The scene was rewarding to viewers of Prime Video’s action-packed hit series. And it turns out that scene was also one of the highlights for Reacher showrunner Nick Santora. Santora doesn’t make light of how much he is a fan of both author Lee Child’s books (the source material for the series) and his lead actor, Ritchson.

Chicago Med is the third procedural show in the One Chicago franchise developed by Wolf Entertainment. Set at Gaffney Chicago Medical Center, the show focuses on the emergency department and how it interacts with patients, other doctors in the hospital, and the community. Chicago Med often sees patients who need psychiatric help, as well as children and infants, and is the go-to hospital for both Chicago P.D. and Chicago Fire.

Chicago Med, like Chicago P.D., began with a backdoor pilot on Chicago Fire -- Season 3, Episode 19, "I Am the Apocalypse" -- and has eight complete seasons on NBC. Chicago Med is one of Dick Wolf's shows that seems to have a lot of turnovers, but there are plenty of important characters remaining on the show and a number of characters who, while gone, will have an impact on future storylines. Chicago Med began Season 9 on January 17, 2024.

Sharon Goodwin...

Richard Romanus, the tough-guy character actor best known for his turn as Michael Longo, the Little Italy loan shark who gets into it with Robert De Niro’s Johnny Civello in Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets, has died. He was 80.

Romanus died Dec. 23 in a private hospital in Volos, Greece, his son, Robert Romanus, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Romanus handled prominent voice roles for Ralph Bakshi in 1977’s Wizards (as the elf warrior Weehawk) and 1982’s Hey Good Lookin’ (as the leader of a 1950s greaser gang), and in between, he played the cab driver Harry Canyon in another animated film, Heavy Metal (1981).

He also appeared on four episodes of The Sopranos as Richard Lapenna, the on-again, off-again husband of Lorraine Bracco’s Jennifer Melfi, from 1999-2002.

In Mean Streets (1973), Romanus’ character is famously disrespected by Johnny when he leans on him for his money.

“You know, Michael, you make me laugh,...

Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is requesting that the first presidential debate between the president and Joe Biden be held in early September, while it has provided organizers with a list of recommended moderators.

The list, below, is heavy in Fox News personalities, yet does not include Chris Wallace. He moderated a debate in the 2016 cycle, but recently interviewed Trump for Fox News Sunday in a widely praised hour-long exchange in which he, at multiple points, fact-checked the president’s assertions.

Trump’s campaign argues that the first debate, now scheduled for Sept. 29, will take place after early voting has begun in 16 states. Two other presidential debates are scheduled for Oct. 15 and Oct. 22. The Trump campaign also continued its call for debate planners to a fourth debate to the schedule in early September, but said that if that does not happen, the Oct. 22 event should be moved to that date.

Things have apparently simmered down in Washington, DC, but things are heating up in President Donald Trump’s Sunday tweetstorm.

The Commander-in-Tweet responded to General Colin Powell’s attacks on him, terming him “a real stiff,” among other descriptors, and reminding of Powell’s claims of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

He also positioned Joe Biden and his “radical” Democrats as an advocate of defunding the police.

Amid the rhetoric, there was also news that the National Guard would be standing down in Washington, DC after several nights of protests.

We’ll add more communications as they roll in. The tweetstorm so far:

If I wasn’t constantly harassed for three years by fake and illegal investigations, Russia, Russia, Russia, and the Impeachment Hoax, I’d be up by 25 points on Sleepy Joe and the Do Nothing Democrats. Very unfair, but it is what it is!!!

— Donald J. Trump...

President Donald Trump has called an early lid to any travel or public appearances today. Good thing, as the Commander-in-Tweet has been on fire this morning, continuing his voluminous tweetstorm from Saturday.

Today’s targets included some of the usual suspects, including “Sleepyeyes” Chuck Todd of NBC’s Meet The Press, Paul Krugman of the New York Times (“a lightweight thinker”) and “Shifty” Adam Schiff, the Congressman leading the Democratic impeachment efforts and someone Trump calls a “Corrupt Politician and probably a very sick man.”

NPR apparently shouldn’t get too comfortable, either. Trump retweeted a Mark Levin question: “Why does NPR still exist? We have thousands of radio stations in the U.S. Plus Satellite radio. Podcasts. Why are we paying for this big-government, Democrat Party propaganda operation.” President Trump said it was “a very good question.”

We’ll add more communications as the President rolls them out. The...

They’ve called an early travel and photo lid for the White House press pool. That means President Donald Trump isn’t expected to go anywhere or make any public appearances.

The good news is that leaves plenty of time for tweeting and retweeting, and the Commander-in-Tweet is already making good use of that time to serve up a volley of communications culled from the Sunday morning media.

After congratulating the Tennessee Titans on their massive upset in the NFL Playoffs and Serena Williams on her first tournament win in three years, the President turned his sharpened fingers toward the usual suspects: Nancy Pelosi, the “Do-Nothing Democrats,” and former Secretary of State John Kerry. He also boosted some media pundits with favorable takes on his activities.

We’ll update the communications as more roll in. The tweetstorm so far:

Many believe that by the Senate giving credence to a trial based on the no evidence,...

Donald Trump tweeted a quote a New York Post editorial that talked about his “enormously consequential presidency.” But in retyping the quote, Trump slipped in a typo, calling his presidency “consensual.” The column Trump quoted is titled “We’re still better off with Trump than Clinton” by Michael Goodwin. It discusses Michael Wolff’s tell-all book “Fire and Fury,” and Steve Bannon’s comments therein. Goodwin suggests that the book won’t be the thing that dooms Trump’s presidency, and in it he notes that “there has never been a day when I wished Hillary Clinton were president. Not one.

Arc Entertainment has acquired all U.S. rights to the family drama “Freedom,” which stars Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr. as a slave, it was announced Tuesday by the company’s head of acquisitions, Scott Moesta. Peter Cousens directed from a script by Timothy A. Chey, and the film co-stars William Sadler (“The Shawshank Redemption”), Sharon Leal (“Guiding Light”), David Rasche (“Men in Black 3”), Terrence Mann (“Critters”) and Michael Goodwin (“Stuck in Love”). Arc Entertainment will be releasing the film on VOD, digital and in theaters on June 5. “Freedom” tells the true story of two men separated by 100 years...