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“I feel that this documentary is definitive documentary of her life you know, and my book is the definitive deep dive into our relationship, but I also talk about the night she died and the sheriff’s department reopening the case, I get into that in the book as well, and I just think this narrative of fiction that has been peddled, it’s time for that to stop now.”

Those are the determined words of Natasha Gregson Wagner, daughter of the late Natalie Wood, in talking to me recently about her new film for which she is not only a producer but also an on-camera guide and interviewer in exploring the career, life and yes death of her famous mother, who died at age 43 while on a weekend boating excursion to Catalina Island in late November 1981. That mysterious death, in which Wood was found floating in the shallow surf,...

As I always say, you learn something new every day, even me. And I admit that I had never heard of this film until recently, and I'm really intrigued to see it. I'm referring to the 1948 Mexican film, Angelitos Negros (Back Angels), written and directed by Joselito Rodriguez, which, in effect, was Mexican cinema's addition to the, what I like to call, "mulatto angst" movies popular during the the late 1940's into the 1950's, such as Lost Boundaries, Raintree County, Pinky, Kings Go Forth, Night of the Quarter Moon and Raoul Walsh's Band of Angels (maybe the best of the "angst" lot) with Clark Gable, Yvonne De Carlo...

DVD Playhouse – May 2012

By Allen Gardner

Shame (20th Century Fox) Director Steve McQueen’s harrowing portrait of a Manhattan sex addict (Michael Fassbender, in the year’s most riveting performance) whose psyche goes into overload when his equally-troubled sister (Carey Mulligan) visits unexpectedly. Exquisitely-made on every level, save for the screenplay, which makes its point after about thirty minutes. While it tries hard to be a modern-day Last Tango in Paris, this fatal flaw makes it fall somewhat short. The much- ballyhooed sex scenes and frontal nudity are the least-interesting things about the film, incidentally, which is still a must-see for discriminating adults who seek out challenging material. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-hd 5.1 surround.

Being John Malkovich (Criterion) Spike Jonze’s madcap film of Charlie Kaufman’s script, regarding a socially-disenfranchised puppeteer (John Cusack) who finds a portal into the mind of actor...

There's very little we can say about the indomitable Ol' Blue Eyes that hasn't already been said, but suffice it to say, Frank Sinatra is one of the most successful entertainers of all time, effortlessly transitioning back and forth between his music and acting careers.

On April 3rd, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment releases the rather impressive "The Frank Sinatra Film Collection" on DVD.

Films include Stanley Kramer's "The Pride and the Passion" co-starring Cary Grant and Sophia Loren, "Kings Go Forth" with Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood, Frank Capra's "A Hole in the Head," "Can-Can," featuring Shirley MacLaine, John Frankenheimer's classic "The Manchurian Candidate," "Von Ryan’s Express," "Cast a Giant Shadow" starring Kirk Douglas, Yul Brynner and John Wayne among others, "Tony Rome" (featuring a score by Lee Hazlewood), its sequel, "Lady in Cement" co-starring Raquel Welch, and "The Detective."

The 10-title collection spans 11 years...

The Brooklyn-based disco band Escort released the lush throwback “Starlight” online in 2006, and gained some viral recognition thanks to the Muppet-laden recut of its hyperkinetic 2007 follow-up “All Through The Night.” Both tracks are included on the band’s fine, long-in-the-works debut LP, which puts Escort in the rarefied disco-revival company of fellow New York act Hercules And Love Affair and Milwaukee 10-piece Kings Go Forth (which got the Tom Moulton remix treatment on 2010’s Don’t Take My Shadow Ep). Blending lessons learned from Moulton and his genre-blending contemporary Walter Gibbons, the lush proto-disco productions of Gamble ...

Talk about a fast turnaround. Turner Classic Movies will run a 24-hour marathon of 12 Tony Curtis movies on Sunday, October 10th. (In fact, Tony once joked that TCM stands for Tony Curtis Movies.) The movies to be shown are Beachhead (1954), Kings Go Forth (1958), The Vikings (1958), Operation Petticoat (1959), Who Was That Lady? (1960), Sex and the Single Girl (1964), You Can’t Win ‘Em All (1970), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), The Defiant Ones (1958), Trapeze (1956), The Great Race (1965), Don’t Make Waves (1967).

The best rock, rap, electronica, and R&B albums of the first half of the year. Yeah, it's not fair that I'm not including jazz or classical or avant-garde (unless you count Autechre), but the point here is to overview the less esoteric releases I've enjoyed. While it's so hot out, this breezier listening is welcome. I'm working on some round-ups of the missing genres.

1. Kings Go Forth: The Outsiders Are Back (Luaka Bop)

'70s-style funk with a Curtis Mayfield sound-alike singing. That makes them sound less original than they are, actually.

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HollywoodNews.com: The 40th Annual Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival in Seattle, Washington has become a great venue to showcase emerging talent alongside veterans. The festival has just announced the lineup for the weekend, which includes a festival kick-off by the legendary Bob Dylan.

The opening night will also feature Neko Case and The Decemberists among others. Weezer will take the stage on Sunday, and Mary J. Blige will close out of the festival on Monday.

Programming Director for One Reel’s Festival Division, Chris Porter, said, “Bumbershoot has a strong history of showcasing emerging talent alongside veteran superstars. This year for our 40th Festival, we’re excited to have artists that span more than four decades of phenomenal music. With this roster of talent, we’re truly offering a music lineup that will engage and entertain people of all ages and interests.”

A couple of changes have been made to the tickets this year,...

With the rise of acts like Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings -- who released their album this week -- and Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears, '60s and '70s soul has been making a hardcore comeback, even with Amy Winehouse off semi-permanently in the wings. Enter the band Kings Go Forth, whose album "The Outsiders Are Back" comes out on Tuesday (April 20) on David Byrne's label Luaka Bop. From that brimming music apex Milwaukee comes singer Black Wolf and a bunch of funk-loving youngsters, who combine Curtis Mayfield-styled R&B, the heart of James Brown, the sounds of the Islands (see...

Jack Hirshberg, the iconic publicist who worked on dozens of films and chronicled a golden age in Hollywood, died at his home in Laguna Niguel, Calif., on March 7 after a brief illness. He was 92.

His death was announced Friday by family spokesperson Spooky Stevens.

A native of Montreal, Hirshberg began his career as a newspaper reporter in the 1930s, becoming a syndicated columnist with "Hirshberg's Hollywood," which ran throughout Canada. He was a founding member of the Publicists Guild of America in 1937 and worked on such films as "The Ten Commandments," "Some Like It Hot," "Play It Again, Sam," "All the President's Men" and "Ordinary People."

Hirshberg also represented such notables as Frank Sinatra, Jack Benny, Gary Cooper, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Martin & Lewis and Cecil B. DeMille.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences maintains a special collection of the Hirshberg Papers, Spanning the years 1953-80, they include hundreds of articles,...

Oh. My. God. A Natalie Wood Retro right here in NYC next week. Wheeeee. I'm bouncing up and down in my chair as I type. (I'll fix the resultant typos later).

If you've never seen Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice you'd be insane to miss it. "Oh, Insight!" I'd also suggest catching Inside Daisy Clover because it's a) really weird and b) all about Hollywood and c) they totally nominated the wrong supporting actress from it for the Oscar.

There's also the opportunity to see Rebel Without a Cause, Gypsy, This Property is Condemned or West Side Story on the big screen if you haven't. I have so I'll be trying to catch the ones I haven't laid eyes on yet: Tomorrow is Forever (1946) with Claudette Colbert, the controversial hard to find Kings Go Forth (1958) with Frank Sinatra and Peeper (1975) with Michael Caine. Why can't this series last longer than a week.