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Roger Ebert was a complicated character. He was the ultimate populist critic, bringing a love of cinema to the masses, but he could also be censorious, savaging films he saw as politically incorrect. Fans who recall his scathing takedown of the future classic Blue Velvet may be surprised to learn that Ebert wrote one of the most extravagant exploitation movies of all time: Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, a show business satire so extreme that it earned an X rating.

Filmmaker Russ Meyer was famous for witty, gritty independent pictures starring domineering women with outrageous topographical features. Roger Ebert was an early champion of Meyer's films, and together they created what the critic called "a rock horror exploitation musical" that does for music industry melodramas what RoboCop does for action blockbusters. Panned upon release but certified fresh today, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls adds a fascinating dimension...

Australia is a long way from Nashville, but that hasn’t stopped the Wiggles from saddling up with some country friends for their upcoming album Wiggle Up, Giddy Up!, out March 7.

The beloved children’s band shared the title track as the first release from the record. It’s a two-stepping, hoedown-ready song featuring the rising country singer Dasha. “Wiggle up, boots on the ground/Wiggle up, go ‘round and ‘round/Wiggle up, boots on the ground/Giddy up down to Wiggle Town,” they sing over guitars, banjos, and fiddles.

The Munich Film Up! mentoring and residency scheme for emerging filmmakers has unveiled the six participants for its fourth edition.

The seven-month programme is an initiative of the Hff München, with Tatino Films’ Pop Up Film Residency as content partner. It is run in association with the Filmschoolfest Munich with financial support from the Kirch Foundation, including a €5,000 cash prize for the winning project.

The selected participants have all recently graduated from film school and are developing their feature debut.

The six filmmakers are:

Kyrgyzstan’s Aizada Amangeldy (Vgi) whose project 18th Birthday draws inspiration from her own experience as...

Warning: contains spoilers for Starstruck series two.

There’s a good reason that Jane Austen novels and Shakespeare comedies end with weddings; they’re where romance ends. Everything after the cheese course and ‘New York, New York’ is pretty much admin and social work, and who’d document that?

Weddings are the end of the rom-com hunt, where the dripping pelt of your kill is pegged out to be admired by your Aunty Sandra and your least worst work colleagues. Next up: making a will and maybe a child, optional divorce and, less-optional, death.

After the series two finale of Starstruck, the BBC rom-com series created by comedian, actor, and soon-to-be host of Junior Taskmaster Rose Matafeo, a wedding seems like the logical next step. Jessie (Matafeo) and Tom (Nikesh Patel) have spent two series falling for each other and messing stuff up before things culminate in a big romantic declaration in a London pond.

Mitch Marner is living it up in the offseason.

On Friday night, the Maple Leafs forward attended Shania Twain’s concert in Toronto with his fiancée Stephanie Lachance, and were even invited onstage by the Canadian music icon.

Read More: Shania Twain Insists ‘Life Is Too Short To Wear Boring Clothes’ Amid Criticism Over CMT Music Awards Outfits

Mitch Marner and his fiancé Stephanie were special guests tonight on stage with Shania Twain in Toronto! pic.twitter.com/0V2TUdr11c

— BarDown (@BarDown) June 24, 2023

Inviting Marner and Lachance onstage, Twain said, “It’s such an honour to have you up here, Mitch. You’re such a philanthropist; you do so much for charity. You’re just a really amazing representative for Canada. When I go around the world telling how amazing Canadians are, Mitch represents that.”

Read More: Maple Leafs’ Morgan Rielly Says Fiancée Tessa Virtue Is Faster Than Him On The Ice,...

Julia Louis-Dreyfus has some thoughts on the so-called Seinfeld curse, the idea that the cast of the hit sitcom was unable to find success after the show ended.

However, Louis-Dreyfus proved that there was no such curse starring on Emmy-winning shows like The New Adventures of Old Christine and Veep.

“It was invented by the media,” Louis-Dreyfus told Rolling Stone in an interview. “They thought it was clever. You don’t need me to prove it wrong, it was ridiculous! It made no sense. I was amazed that it had legs, because it was so moronic. I don’t know how else to say it!”

The alleged curse was fueled by the short-lived projects of some of its cast members after Seinfeld ended its successful run on NBC after 9 seasons. Louis-Dreyfus went on to star in Watching Ellie for the peacock network in 2002. The first season of the single-camera comedy...

Batter up! Prime Video’s A League of Their Own adaptation has set a date for its opening day.

The baseball-themed series, based on the beloved 1992 film, will premiere on Friday, Aug. 12, TVLine has learned, with all eight episodes available at once. Abbi Jacobson (Broad City) and D’Arcy Carden (The Good Place) lead an ensemble cast in a story about the women who formed their own professional baseball league while the nation’s men were fighting in World War II. “The show takes a deeper look at race and sexuality, following the journey of a whole new ensemble of characters...

Ed Asner, legendary actor, activist and philanthropist, passed away peacefully Sunday morning, surrounded by family. He was 91.

Asner, former president of the Screen Actors Guild, is best known for his role as Lou Grant during the 1970s and early 1980s, on both The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spinoff series Lou Grant, making him one of the few television actors to portray the same character in both a comedy and a drama.

He is the most awarded male performer in Emmy history with seven wins — five of them for playing Lou Grant.

Asner’s long list of credits also include the movies Elf and Up!. He was most recently seen on the Emmy-nominated comedy series Cobra Kai.

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The Austin Film Society continues its "Rebel Rebel" series this weekend with a brand new 35mm print of Jamaa Fanaka's 1976 film Emma Mae. Tonight's screening at the Marchesa is free to Afs members, and the movie will play again on Sunday afternoon. Afs is also sponsoring a screening of The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada, starring Tommy Lee Jones, on Wednesday night at the Texas Spirit Theater (inside the Bullock Texas State History Museum). It's free for Afs members, as well as Aff, Cine Las Americas and Bullock Museum members. Julio Cedillo and producer Eric Williams will be there for a post-screening Q&A. Head back to the Marchesa on Thursday night for a 35mm print of Truffaut's Jules And Jim. The film is part of this month's Essential Cinema series on films Of World War I. 

Alamo Drafthouse Ritz has programmed a weekend of classic biker flicks to...