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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,...

Legendary filmmaker Spike Lee is producing – and may direct – the Hal Ashby-inspired military comedy drama, Liberty.

Spike Lee is a hard-working director who continues to put out searing films that question the status quo. Given the currently febrile nature of America’s cultural and political landscape, the veteran filmmaker seems energised to continue doing what he’s been doing for the last four decades.

Lee is collaborating again with Denzel Washington on High And Low, with filming said to have wrapped, with things proceeding into the post-production phase. A remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 crime thriller, it doesn’t have an exact release slot yet, but is expected to arrive early this summer.

As for what comes next, trying to navigate through Lee’s long list of projects is somewhat difficult, but one emerging contender is Liberty, a military comedy drama which he’ll produce and may direct. According to Deadline,...

Exclusive: Spike Lee is developing Liberty, a comedic military drama based on a pitch from writers Rebecca Murga and Jalysa Conway, which he’ll produce with an eye to direct, sources tell Deadline.

Said to be in the vein of The Last Detail, Hal Ashby’s Oscar-nominated 1973 Navy dramedy starring Jack Nicholson, Otis Young and Randy Quaid, Liberty follows a group of military cadets on one crazy night in New York City during Fleet Week. This is the second military-themed project Lee has developed with Murga and Conway — a pair of military veterans who will write the script — on the heels of a coming-of-age Rotc drama series for Amazon, on which we were first to report in 2022.

Lee and Steven Jackson will produce for their 40 Acres And A Mule Filmworks, alongside Underground, which reps the writers.

A U.S. Army vet who completed two tours in Afghanistan, Murga has been a...

For over 30 years, Randy Quaid was one of Hollywood's most colorful and dependable character actors. His career got off to a propitious start with his appearance in Peter Bogdanovich's 1971 classic "The Last Picture Show," and quickly took flight when he earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his portrayal of the sensitive, soon-to-be-imprisoned screw-up Meadows in "The Last Detail." 10 years later, Quaid achieved film doofus immortality as the loan-seeking rube Cousin Eddie Johnson in Harold Ramis' "National Lampoon's Vacation." Quaid had been funny in movies before, but now he was a proper drama-comedy double threat, and his brand of performance wasn't the type to curdle. He had a long, profitable journey ahead of him provided he didn't do something crazy like accuse the industry's most powerful people of trying to kill him.

Randy Quaid's downfall was so surreal it felt like performance art like he was playing Cousin Eddie on peyote.

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...

Jack Nicholson was such a tremendous box office draw and awards darling for the majority of his career that it is easy to look past some of his best titles. While any conversation about his body of work is destined to include discussions about One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest or As Good As It Gets, Nicholson had many other hits that were heralded at the time of their release, such as the John Huston assassin comedy Prizzis Honor. While it may not have the same cultural cache today as The Shining or The Last Detail, Prizzis Honor is a hilarious subversion of expectations that combines the best of the romantic comedy and gangster thriller genres.

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...

The office of the President of the United States is way more famous than any specific president. Compared to, say, the king and queen of England, a new person gets to be the head of state every four or eight years via election rather than inheritance. This means you can...

Tubi’s lineup for November 2024 offers a diverse and exciting selection of content across genres, ensuring there’s something for everyone. With Tubi Originals like the heartwarming comedy “The Engagement Dress” (November 10) and the festive yet spicy “Hot Girl Winter” (November 24), holiday cheer takes a fresh twist. The thrillers keep the tension high, including the chilling ghost story “Still Here” (November 9) and the stormy suspense of “The Last Exit” (November 16). For documentary enthusiasts, “Behind The Crime: Self Defense or Slaughter” (November 15) and “Fresh Meat 2: Killing Dahmer” (November 22) dive into intense real-life investigations. Families can look forward to the magical fun of “Family Ornaments” (November 17), while anime fans can enjoy “Bunny Drop” on November 5. Classic action films like “Die Hard”, “Mad Max: Fury Road” (November 9), and “San Andreas” (November 22) return for adrenaline junkies, and horror lovers will appreciate the creepy lineup of “Annabelle: Creation”, “The Thing (1982)”, and more. Whether it’s nostalgic art-house classics,...

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.

With his long hair, sunglasses and bellbottoms, Hal Ashby was the epitome of the 1970s flower child, even though he was a decade older than most of the filmmakers working at the time. Though his flame burned brightly and briefly, he left behind a series of classics that signified the nose-thumbing, countercultural attitude of the era, with a bit of humanism and heart thrown in for good measure. Let’s take a look back at all 12 of his films, ranked worst to best.

Born on September 2, 1929 in Utah, Ashby ambled around before becoming an apprentice editor for Robert Swink, working for Hollywood legends William Wyler and George Stevens. He moved up the ranks to become an editor for Norman Jewison, with whom he shared a fraternal and professional relationship. They cut five films together, including “The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!” (1966), which earned him his first Oscar nomination,...

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,...

Al Pacino got his breakout role as Michael Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather. The actor got an Oscar nomination for his compelling performance in the film. The actor reprised the role in the sequels The Godfather Part II and The Godfather Part III. While audiences still love the trilogy as a whole, they consider the first film to be the best film among the three.

Al Pacino and Marlon Brando in The Godfather | Paramount Pictures

Pacino got to share screen space opposite Marlon Brando who played Michael’s father, Vito Corleone. However, that combo almost didn’t happen as another bonafide actor was first attached to the role of Michael. Jack Nicholson turned down The Godfather in favor of other projects as he found them more interesting than Coppola’s film.

Al Pacino Has Jack Nicholson To Thank For His Career-Defining Role in The Godfather

Chinatown‘s...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on Twitter and Instagram.NEWSThe Souvenir Part II.Equity, the British entertainment industry trade union, has greeted the incoming Labour government—the first in fourteen years, having won in a landslide—with demands for reforms to the government’s arts funding.Meanwhile, across the Channel, snap French parliamentary elections resulted in an upset victory for the leftist coalition Nouveau Front Populaire over Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally, which had promised to privatize, at least partially, the national television and radio broadcaster, amid other cutbacks.IATSE has released more details regarding its tentative contract with AMPTP, including allowances and limitations around the use of artificial intelligence.Teamsters Local 399 is still bargaining with AMPTP and may still be far from resolving issues...

Robert Towne's early work with Roger Corman led to a successful career in Hollywood, collaborating with Jack Nicholson on iconic films like The Last Detail and Chinatown. Towne's screenplays were known for their gritty realism, sociopolitical commentary, and dark, downbeat endings, shaping the New Hollywood era. Towne maintained a close friendship with Tom Cruise, collaborating on films such as Days of Thunder and Mission: Impossible.

Before legendary Hollywood screenwriter Robert Towne emerged as a leading voice within the New Hollywood movement in the early 1970s, he got his start in Hollywood working for B-movie legend Roger Corman, who hired him to write the low-budget 1960s horror films Last Woman on Earth and The Tomb of Ligeia.

Townes ascendance owed as much to being in the right place at the right time as his prodigious talent. Through Corman, he met fellow Corman alumnus Jack Nicholson in the late 1950s, when...

One of the most unique honors in all of cinema is the Palm Dog Award, given annually at the Cannes Film Festival to the pooch who left the biggest mark on film that year. It’s a quirky award given at the most prestigious festival there is; but there’s nothing like that at the Oscars. Could you imagine the Academy voters nominating a dog? Well, they actually did – albeit in name only – thanks to Robert Towne. In the wake of Towne’s death this week, let’s take a look at the time he got so pissed off over Greystoke that he ensured his dog would be on the Oscar ballot.

In the ‘70s, Robert Towne was tasked to pen Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, later taking on directing duties at his own insistence. Towne hadn’t directed before so in the time being, he took on Personal Best,...

Screenwriter Robert Towne, noted for his Oscar-winning screenplay for the crime thriller “Chinatown’ has died:

Towne started writing screenplays for TV series, before hooking up with low-budget film director Roger Corman on “The Tomb of Ligeia”.

Part of the ‘New Hollywood’ wave of filmmaking, Towne wrote the Academy Award-winning screenplay…

…for director Roman Polanski's “Chinatown” (1974) starring Jack Nicholson.

For director Hal Ashby, he wrote screenplays for “The Last Detail” (1973), also starring Nicholson…

…and “Shampoo” (1975), starring Warren Beatty.

Noted as a script doctor, Towne collaborated on numerous features including “Days of Thunder (1990), “The Firm” (1993) and Brian de Palma’s “Mission: Impossible” (1996).

Click the images to enlarge…...

Robert Towne – who died Monday at 89 – was more than just an Oscar winner, more than a mere successful screenwriter. He was the acknowledged master of the craft itself who achieved something no other writer has been able to match (before or since): he earned Academy Award screenplay nominations for three critical and commercial hits in successive years, all released in a single dizzying 14-month period. There was “The Last Detail” in 1974, “Chinatown” (for which he won his lone writing Oscar) in 1975 and “Shampoo” in ’76. He would also earn a bid in 1985 for “Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes.” But it was that remarkable run in the Seventies that established Towne as a screen wordsmith without peer.

In fact, Towne would become known as much for his writing on films for which he received no screen credit than the ones he did. A look at his IMDb...

American screenwriter and director best known for the hit films Chinatown, The Last Detail and Shampoo

Robert Towne, who has died aged 89, wrote a dazzling hat-trick of screenplays that helped define the great American cinema of the 1970s: The Last Detail (1973), Chinatown (1974) and Shampoo (1975). He also did extravagantly paid work as a script doctor, adding a scene or a few pages of dialogue to other writers’ screenplays, or completing what is known in the industry as a “polish”.

If a script was flawed or lacking, directors and studios went to Towne. “You must adopt the first precept of Hippocrates, which is to do no harm,” he said about this sideline. “You try to extend the material, not to impose yourself on it.” Sometimes, as with The Godfather (1971), he could provide a pick-me-up to a patient that was already fighting fit. In other cases, such as Armageddon (1998), he could do little...

A great ending can be the hardest thing for a writer. For Robert Towne — who died Monday, having written and reshaped some of the most important films of the 1970s — finding the best way to wrap up a film was a career-long challenge. In the script that earned him an Oscar, the downbeat “Forget it, Jake — it’s Chinatown” finale was famously Roman Polanski’s idea.

And yet, there’s undeniable poetry in Towne’s passing: The Oscar winner died 50 years (and two weeks) after “Chinatown” opened, basking in the fresh round of appreciation that the half-century anniversary brought. Towne was a natural raconteur whose stories were every bit as rich as his screenplays — as evidenced by an in-depth Variety interview that ran last month — and whose best writing often went uncredited.

For those who weren’t around to have witnessed Towne’s transformative impact on American cinema in the 1970s,...

Writer, who died in his Los Angeles home, also worked without credit on The Godfather and Bonnie and Clyde

Robert Towne, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Chinatown, considered one of the greatest screenplays of all time, has died at age 89.

Towne, the screenwriter also nominated for his films Shampoo and The Last Detail, died on Monday among family members at his Los Angeles home, said his publicist, who did not disclose a cause of death.

Robert Towne, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Chinatown who was also one of Hollywood’s most renowned script doctors, has died. He was 89.

Born in Los Angeles, Towne started his film career acting and writing for producer Roger Corman. In the early 1970s he emerged as a key figure in the New Hollywood movement, collaborating with filmmakers including Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty.

Towne’s credited scripts from the period included Roman Polanski’s classic Chinatown as well as The Last Detail and Shampoo. But he was also known as one of the industry’s leading script doctors, doing uncredited work...

Robert Towne, the screenwriter and director whose Oscar-winning work in the 1974 film Chinatown enshrined him in Hollywood history, has died at the age of 89.

Towne died at his home on Monday, his publicist Carri McClure confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.

During his celebrated career, Towne wrote the Hal Ashby films The Last Detail in 1973 and 1975’s Shampoo, receiving Academy Award nominations for both. He also wrote and directed 1988 crime drama Tequila Sunrise — starring Mel Gibson, Kurt Russell, Michelle Pfeiffer — which garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography.

Early in his career,...

Robert Towne, the acclaimed screenwriter best known for his Oscar-winning script for “Chinatown,” passed away on Monday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 89 years old.

Towne’s death was confirmed by his publicist, Carri McClure. The news marks the end of a career that spanned six decades and left an indelible mark on American cinema.

Born on November 23, 1934, Towne began his career in the early 1960s, writing for television series such as “The Outer Limits” and “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” However, it was his work in film that would cement his legacy as one of Hollywood’s most talented writers.

Towne’s breakthrough came with 1973’s “The Last Detail,” a military dramedy starring Jack Nicholson. This success paved the way for his most celebrated work, “Chinatown,” released the following year. The neo-noir thriller, directed by Roman Polanski and starring Nicholson and Faye Dunaway, earned Towne an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Robert Towne, the screenwriter who wrote the Academy Award-winning original script for Roman Polanski’s Chinatown, has died at the age of 89. His publicist, Carri Mclure, announced that Towne died at his home in Los Angeles on Monday.

He originally set out to work as an actor and writer and quickly found employment with Roger Corman. He scripted Corman’s Last Woman on Earth and also co-starred in the film under the pseudonym Edward Wain. He also wrote The Tomb of Ligeia for Corman. Towne then earned a reputation as a top script doctor after Warren Beatty asked him to help out on Bonnie and Clyde. He went on to make uncredited contributions to movies such as The Godfather, The Parallax View, Marathon Man, The Missouri Breaks, Heaven Can Wait, Crimson Tide, and more.

Related Robert Towne says all Chinatown prequel episodes are written… So where is it?

Towne first...

Robert Towne, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Chinatown, has died at the age of 89.

Towne died at his home on Monday, July 1st, his publicist confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.

Hailing from Los Angeles, California, Towne began his career writing in television on shows including Breaking Point, The Outer Limits, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. He later took on the role of a script doctor, finessing screenplays including Bonnie and Clyde and The Godfather.

In 1973, Towne began a three-year run of writing scripts that would be nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards, beginning with that year’s The Last Detail. In 1974, he followed up with perhaps his best-known screenplay: Chinatown, which not only won the Oscar, but has been cited as one the best scripts of all time.

Set in 1937 Los Angeles, Chinatown follows private investigator Jake Gittes as he becomes entangled in an intricate web of corruption,...

Robert Towne, who won an Oscar for his Chinatown original screenplay and was nominated for his Shampoo, The Last Detail and Greystoke scripts, died Monday at his home. He was 89.

PR firm McClure & Associates announced the news on behalf of Towne’s family.

Towne also earned BAFTA, Golden Globe and WGA awards for Chinatown, the L.A.-set 1974 thriller starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway. It was one of three Writers Guild Awards he won during his career, along with Shampoo and the drama series Mad Men, on which he was a consulting producer during the final seventh season. He also was nominated for The Last Detail (1973) and Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1985). He was honored with the guild’s Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement in 1997.

Thoughtful and soft spoken, Towne was a perfectionist who hated studio meetings and script notes and famously would disappear for...

Writer-director Robert Towne, an Oscar winner for his original script for “Chinatown” and an acknowledged master of the art of screenwriting, has died. He was 89.

Towne died Monday at his home in Los Angeles, publicist Carrie McClure said in a statement.

During a long career that began in the 1960s, when he went to work as an actor and writer for B-movie director Roger Corman, Towne became one of the most sought-after script doctors in movie history, called on time and again to solve structural problems and create great moments for other people’s films.

Towne came to prominence in the 1970s with three critical and commercial hits released within a 14-month period: “The Last Detail” (1973), “Chinatown” (1974) and “Shampoo” (1975). All three screenplays were Oscar- nominated, with “Chinatown” winning in its year.

Hired as a “special consultant” by Warren Beatty for 1967’s “Bonnie and Clyde,” Towne restructured the picture to dramatize the outlaws’ impending doom.

A motion picture screenplay is by nature imperfectible, and time, tide, and taste will have their say. The Oscar-winning script written for 1974’s “Chinatown” by Robert Towne — who passed away Monday, July 1, at age 89, according to his publicist (via THR) — makes its own case for being as perfect an example of the form as we may ever see. That it was the first original (as opposed to an adaptation) Towne ever authored, coming along at the age of 40, is itself remarkable.

It’s no coincidence that his great friend Jack Nicholson, an artistic comrade in arms since they met as neophytes in a Hollywood acting class, was the center of “Chinatown’s” dark beauty and also of the ribald, corrosive and mordantly funny Towne script for 1973’s “The Last Detail.” Another friend, Warren Beatty, was the centerpiece of 1975’s “Shampoo,” which joined the previous two to notch Towne’s third...

Robert Towne, the screenwriter as superstar whose Oscar-winning work on the 1974 classic Chinatown is widely recognized as the gold standard for movie scripts, has died. He was 89.

Towne died Monday at his home in Los Angeles, publicist Carri McClure announced.

He also received Academy Award nominations for The Last Detail (1973) and Shampoo (1975) in the years surrounding his most famous work.

His takes on Los Angeles were etched with melancholy and painted the city as one of beauty and sadness. In Chinatown and Shampoo, gumshoe J.J. Gittes (Jack Nicholson) and Beverly Hills hairdresser George Roundy (Warren Beatty) end up alone. (Towne collaborated often with those actors.)

This squinty vantage on Southern California, as a temptress who dashes hopes, also was evident in his script for Tequila Sunrise (1988), which starred Mel Gibson as a retired drug dealer, Kurt Russell as a cop and Michelle Pfeiffer as the femme fatale.

Towne also...

“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.

It's hard for anything associated with Jack Nicholson to slip through the cracks of the modern pop culture landscape. One of the finest actors to ever live, Nicholson is an American icon, who established an instantly recognizable iconography in his movies and celebrity life. When accounting for popular hits, curious and thought-provoking material, career-defining star vehicles, and collaborations with auteur directors, his filmography is unmatched. He has the rare honor of winning three Academy Awards, which he received across three decades. Across his five decades of stardom, Nicholson has made plenty of films admired by critics and re-watched by audiences endlessly. However, some films, even during his prime in the 1970s, deserve their fair share of equal acclaim, including The Last Detail, a signature character exploration of New Hollywood, and Nicholson's most underrated performance.

While he may not be a household name in the vein of Francis Ford Coppola or Martin Scorsese, the brilliant director Hal Ashby was responsible for some of the best films of the New Hollywood era of the 1970s. Ashbys acerbic, yet sincere style of filmmaking offered an authentic look at the human condition, and spoke to disenfranchised audiences who felt neglected by mainstream cinema. Shampoo and Being There are often cited as highlights, but Ashbys 1973 masterpiece The Last Detail proved to be an essential film about the social effects of the Vietnam era. The narrative of The Last Detail inspired director Richard Linklater to make an odd legacy sequel of sorts with his 2017 film Last Flag Flying.

Exclusive: Scatena & Rosner Films has acquired worldwide rights to The Christmas Letter, a holiday comedy starring Angus Benfield (The Keeper), Chevy Chase (Community), Randy Quaid (The Last Detail), and Brian Doyle-Murray (Groundhog Day). Marking the feature directorial debut of Tori Hunter, the film is expected to be released in theaters later this year.

The Christmas Letter follows an unemployed copywriter who receives an annual braggadocious Christmas letter from his well-to-do friend who’s great at making our hero feel less than. Tired of being outdone and down on his luck, he gambles everything to give his family a Christmas-letter worthy vacation, and to upstage his wealthy pest.

Written by Michael Cunningham, the flick is produced by Benfield and Michael Cunningham. Daniel Hegel, Ruth Benfield, Gato Scatena, and Jordan Rosner served as executive producers.

“This film is going to be such a fun nod to classics like ‘Christmas Vacation,’ we...

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,...

With its list of May 2024 releases, Amazon Prime Video is giving us the kindest gift of all: cougar Anne Hathaway.

May 2 sees the premiere of The Idea of You, a romantic-comedy that features Hathaway as a 40-year-old mom finding romance with a 24-year-old boy band singer (Nicholas Galitzine). Having saved the medium of film forever, Prime Video is celebrating with some big time library titles this month as well. American Fiction and BlacKkKlansman arrive on May 14 and will be followed by Creed and Pearl: An X-traordinary Origin Story on May 16.

For its TV offerings, Prime is leading off with Outer Range season 2 on May 16. This James Brolin sci-fi Western will continue the mysteries of the strange happenings on Thanos’ ranch. Reality TV fans will be able to enjoy the Daniel Tosh-hosted competition series The Goat on May 9.

Here’s everything coming to Prime Video and Freevee in April – Amazon...

The red carpet will soon roll out for the 77th Festival de Cannes. The international film festival, playing out May 14-25, has a distinct American voice this year. “Barbie” filmmaker Greta Gerwig is the first U.S. female director name jury president. Many veteran American helmers are heading to the French Rivera resort town. George Lucas, who turns 80 on May 14, will receive an honorary Palme d’Or. Francis Ford Coppola’s much-anticipated “Megalopolis” is screening in competition, as is Paul Schrader’s “Oh Canada.” Kevin Costner’s new Western “Horizon, An American Saga” will premiere out of competition and Oliver Stone’s “Lula” is part of the special screening showcase.

Fifty years ago, Coppola was the toast of the 27th Cannes Film Festival. His brilliant psychological thriller “The Conversation” starring Gene Hackman won the Palme D’Or and well as a Special Mention from the Ecumenical Jury. The film would earn three Oscar nominations: picture,...

Stars: Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Carrie Preston, Brady Hepner, Ian Dolley, Jim Kaplan, Michael Provost, Tate Donovan | Written by David Hemingson | Directed by Alexander Payne

Having not released a film since 2017’s Downsizing, director Alexander Payne follows up what is considered the weakest film of his career with an absolutely wonderful work. At the Barton boarding school, bad-tempered professor Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) is forced to remain on campus during the Christmas break to look after a handful of students with nowhere to go – collectively known as The Holdovers. Across the break, he forms a bond with student Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) and head cook Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph).

From the opening moments where the studio logos and ratings title card appear in retro styles, Payne recreates the feel of a ‘70s feature throughout his latest work. The combination of aesthetic and story brings to mind a Hal Ashby film,...

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...

A movie marathon with our favorite auteurs? Where do we sign up?

Turner Classic Movies’ latest limited series “Two for One” features curated double features coupled with commentary from select guest programmers like Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson, Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, and more. The upcoming TCM series is hosted by Ben Mankiewicz, who will interview each director about why they chose to highlight their two chosen films.

“Two for One” will feature 12 nights of double features, beginning April 6. With the logline “two films, one filmmaker, countless perspectives,” the series is set to span all of cinematic history. Directors will offer commentary on the double feature’s cultural significance, its influence on other films, behind-the-scenes stories, and their own personal reflections.

Martin Scorsese kicks off the show with a conversation comparing “Blood on the Moon” and “One Touch of Venus.” The following week, actress/director Olivia Wilde picks “Auntie Mame” and 1976 documentary “Grey Gardens.

Turner Classic Movies have announced a new limited series, Two for One, that will feature 12 nights of double features curated by some of the most celebrated filmmakers in Hollywood beginning April 6. TCM Primetime Host Ben Mankiewicz will be joined by each director, including Paul Thomas Anderson, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Todd Haynes, Spike Lee, Nicole Holofcener, and Rian Johnson, to introduce the two films they chose. They will offer commentary on the double feature’s cultural significance, its influence on other films, behind-the-scenes stories, and their own personal reflections.

“This was such an eclectic group of filmmakers to sit down with, which was invigorating, from Martin Scorsese talking about a Robert Mitchum western, to Spike Lee discussing Elia Kazan, to Olivia Wilde’s breakdown of Rosalind Russell in Auntie Mame,” said Ben Mankiewicz. “In these double features, these 12 directors lead us on an insider’s journey through cinematic history.”

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When you take a peek at Mark Johnson‘s resume, you’re immediately astounded. Consider this partial list of projects he’s been attached to as a producer or executive producer during a career that’s exceeded four decades: “Rain Man” (which won Johnson his lone Oscar), “Good Morning, Vietnam,” “Diner,” “Tin Men,” “The Natural,” “Bugsy,” “Galaxy Quest,” “The Notebook,” “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul.” And now, add “The Holdovers” to the list, for which Johnson has landed his third Academy Award nomination (this one for Best Picture).

“Every day, I still feel like a young boy who can’t believe he’s allowed to do this,” Johnson admits. “Somebody asked me if the Oscar nomination was old hat to me, and I’m like, ‘Are you kidding? I’m thrilled.’ I’m very humbled by it. There are a number of movies I’ve made that I think...

Stars: Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Carrie Preston, Brady Hepner, Ian Dolley, Jim Kaplan, Michael Provost, Tate Donovan | Written by David Hemingson | Directed by Alexander Payne

Having not released a film since 2017’s Downsizing, director Alexander Payne follows up what is considered the weakest film of his career with an absolutely wonderful work. At the Barton boarding school, bad-tempered professor Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) is forced to remain on campus during the Christmas break to look after a handful of students with nowhere to go – collectively known as The Holdovers. Across the break, he forms a bond with student Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) and head cook Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph).

From the opening moments where the studio logos and ratings title card appear in retro styles, Payne recreates the feel of a ‘70s feature throughout his latest work. The combination of aesthetic and story brings to mind a Hal Ashby film,...

The Holdovers has the authentic look and feel of a movie from the era it's set in, with its grainy aesthetic and intimate character development. The film received several prestigious accolades, including five Academy Award nominations and recognition from the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute. Cinematographer Eigil Bryld skillfully recreated a 1970s-style aesthetic through meticulous study of classic films and collaboration with a film restoration expert, despite using digital technology instead of traditional film stock.

The Holdovers doesn’t just take place in the past; it has the grainy aesthetic, somber pacing, and intimate character development of a movie that was actually made in the era in which it’s set. The story revolves around a classics teacher at a prestigious New England boarding school who reluctantly agrees to chaperone a group of students who have nowhere to go during the Christmas break. There’s a...

“Discomfort and joy,” what a tremendously fitting tagline for “The Holdovers,” the new Alexander Payne film that takes place over the holidays. We haven’t updated our Best Christmas Movies of All Time list in a while—it was created years ago—but Payne’s “The Holdovers” would be a fitting addition to it. Set in the 1970s and highly influenced by filmmaker Hal Ashby, “The Holdovers” is an entertaining but also melancholy wintry tale about a trio of an unlikely collection of people who are trapped together during the holidays (read our review).

Continue reading ‘The Holdovers’: Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph & Dominic Sessa Discuss Their Acclaimed Throwback Drama [Exclusive] at The Playlist.

In The Holdovers, a professor, a student and a grief-stricken cook are stranded together at a New England boarding school over the holidays. The story takes place in the early 1970s, an era whose films are beloved by both Holdovers director Alexander Payne and cinematographer Eigil Bryld. However, they took opposing philosophical perspectives in imbuing their movie with the spirit of that epoch. Though he looked at the work of Hal Ashby for inspiration – particularly The Landlord and The Last Detail – rather than attempt to replicate it, Payne’s approach found him imaging what kind of film he himself […]

The post “If I Had Been Working in the 1970s [But With Today’s Technology], I Would Have Used Digital, I Would Have Used LED Technology”: The Holdovers Cinematographer Eigil Bryld first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

In The Holdovers, a professor, a student and a grief-stricken cook are stranded together at a New England boarding school over the holidays. The story takes place in the early 1970s, an era whose films are beloved by both Holdovers director Alexander Payne and cinematographer Eigil Bryld. However, they took opposing philosophical perspectives in imbuing their movie with the spirit of that epoch. Though he looked at the work of Hal Ashby for inspiration – particularly The Landlord and The Last Detail – rather than attempt to replicate it, Payne’s approach found him imaging what kind of film he himself […]

The post “If I Had Been Working in the 1970s [But With Today’s Technology], I Would Have Used Digital, I Would Have Used LED Technology”: The Holdovers Cinematographer Eigil Bryld first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

The Holdovers, similar to other boarding school movies, explores the themes of identity, growing up, and friendship. Dead Poets Society and The Holdovers both depict young students in boarding schools searching for meaning with the help of inspirational teachers. The Holdovers and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone both feature lonely students finding solace and mentorship in their boarding school environment.

Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers follows a teacher looking after students with nowhere to go over Christmas break and is one of many movies that explores the trials and tribulations of boarding school life. Focusing primarily on the curmudgeonly history teacher Paul Hunham, played by Paul Giamatti, and the troubled unruly student Angus Tully, played by Dominic Sessa in his feature debut, the film has a 1970s look, aesthetic, and setting. The Holdovers is also comparable to classic Christmas movies such as It's a Wonderful Life and Hal Ashby...

The Criterion Channel is closing the year out with a bang––they’ve announced their December lineup. Among the highlights are retrospectives on Yasujiro Ozu (featuring nearly 40 films!), Ousmane Sembène, Alfred Hitchcock (along with Kent Jones’ Hitchcock/Truffaut), and Parker Posey. Well-timed for the season is a holiday noir series that includes They Live By Night, Blast of Silence, Lady in the Lake, and more.

Other highlights are the recent restoration of Abel Gance’s La roue, an MGM Musicals series with introduction by Michael Koresky, Helena Wittmann’s riveting second feature Human Flowers of Flesh, the recent Sundance highlight The Mountains Are a Dream That Call To Me, the new restoration of The Cassandra Cat, Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar, Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster, and more.

See the lineup below and learn more here.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Terry Gilliam, 1988

An American in Paris, Vincente Minnelli,...