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Exclusive: Elizabeth McGovern is fired up when she talks about sensuous silver screen goddess Ava Gardner, whom the Downton Abbey star portrays in a stage show that hits New York next week. Gardner, she argues, endured the “objectification of the female body, which is the basis of the entire movie business.”

Being a movie star in the 1940s, 1950s and into the ’60s took its toll on Gardner, who escaped her mink-lined cage in California to spend her final years in England residing in a grand apartment close to Harrods’ department store.

Ava: The Secret Conversations, beginning at New York’s City Center on July 29, is based on a series of tapes the writer Peter Evans recorded with the one-time screen siren in London over a four-year period beginning in 1988 which he then had published in 2013, more than two decades after Gardner’s death in 1990.

The show moves to Chicago...

In the age of streaming, there’s a widespread belief that every movie is available, all the time, everywhere. Don’t fall for it! Some of the greatest movies ever made are nowhere to be found due to everything from music rights snafus to corporate negligence. In this column, we take a look at films currently out of print on physical media and unavailable on any streaming platform in an effort to draw attention to them and say to their rights holders, “Release This!”

This week, Los Angeles moviegoers can see Quentin Tarantino‘s “Kill Bill” saga as he originally intended — not split up into two normal feature-length movies, but as one gargantuan 258-minute epic at Tarantino’s own Vista Theater in Hollywood. It’s an opportunity that should not be missed, for a couple of reasons. First, because “Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair” has never been released on...

Robert De Niro has been part of several award-worthy and critically acclaimed films throughout his sprawling, decades-long career. While he has been nominated for the Academy Awards several times, there is one film of his that Quentin Tarantino felt was equal to some of his Oscar-nominated features.

Many would be surprised to find that we are talking about the 2015 comedy drama, The Intern. Tarantino not only once expressed that the film is his favorite but also remarked that De Niro should have won an Oscar for it. Moreover, if you haven’t gotten around to seeing The Intern, the good thing is that it is soon coming to Netflix.

Quentin Tarantino on Robert De Niro’s The Intern Quentin Tarantino | Credits: Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0

Robert De Niro is best known for his serious and complex roles, roles that are incredibly layered and nuanced, typically...

Clint Eastwood made his last two Westerns almost three decades apart, but before that, he was synonymous with the genre. Getting his breakthrough with the TV show Rawhide, he became a global star when he starred in Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti Western Dollars trilogy. He made the Man with No Name character famous and became a huge star.

However, Eastwood left the Italian film industry and came back to Hollywood right when Sergio Leone was gearing up for his next masterpiece. The actor was reportedly offered a role in Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West, but the Gran Torino star rejected it, as he was already done with the director’s style.

Clint Eastwood was tired of Sergio Leone’s style after The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Clint Eastwood in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly | Credits: United Artists

Sergio Leone’s The Good,...

“Gomorrah,” the gritty Neapolitan mob series that is Italy’s biggest TV export, is set to return in January of 2026 — albeit in a 1970s-set incarnation — as “Gomorrah – The Series. The Origins.”

Comcast-owned pay-tv service Sky has announced a January release date on the first installment of the “Gomorrah” origins story that, as previously announced, will recount the rise of mobster Pietro Savastano. Savastano, who in “Gomorrah” is the head of the drug-dealing clan that bears his name, is played by 16-year-old Naples native Luca Lubrano in the prequel.

The prequel series is lead-directed by Marco D’Amore, who starred as ruthless central character Ciro Di Marzio in the “Gomorrah” original.

The hotly anticipated show’s lead-producer Riccardo Tozzi during a press presentation said Marco D’Amore drew inspiration for the “Gomorrah” origins show’s tone from Sergio Leone epic “Once Upon a Time in America” about two childhood friends from...

In recent years, Cannes’ increasingly standardized custom of drawn-out standing ovations — subject of sneers as well as sympathy — has received much attention: explained as sociology, critiqued as pathology. But as the 78th annual film festival gets underway, and the trend shows no sign of abatement, it’s worth considering the signal behind all the noise. The unrelenting, excessive applause isn’t just joyous. Underneath, it’s desperate, and a revealing indicator of the decline of what’s ostensibly being celebrated.

Which is to say, the ovations aren’t mere vexation. They’re damnation.

This extended cheering, reminiscent of rallies in authoritarian regimes, has been normalized and fanned by a couple of key institutional factors. First, at the conclusion of each premiere, the festival’s in-house production crew projects the faces of the director and their actors on the Palais’ big screen. The camera effect encourages everyone in the theatre to perform mania.

The 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival got off to both a politically charged and Hollywood start on Tuesday evening as Robert De Niro was presented with an honorary Palme d’Or by Leonardo DiCaprio.

An impassioned De Niro used his acceptance speech to address issues he said are facing the artistic community and threatening democracy under the presidency of Donald Trump.

“In my country, we are fighting like hell for the democracy we once took for granted. That affects all of us here because the arts are democratic. Art is inclusive, it brings people together. Art embraces diversity and that’s why art is a threat, that’s why we are a threat to autocrats and fascists,” he said.

“America’s philistine president has had himself appointed head of one of our premier cultural institutions,” he continued. “He has cut funding and support to the arts, humanities and education.

Robert De Niro took a fiery stand against Donald Trump at Cannes Film Festival’s opening ceremony on Tuesday night, calling him a “philistine president” and declaring him an enemy of the arts.

The legendary actor was on hand to accept the fest’s honorary Palme d’Or, which was presented to him by his “This Boy’s Life” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio. After giving DiCaprio a kiss on the cheek, De Niro launched into an impassioned speech about the threat U.S. democracy is currently under.

“In my country, we’re fighting like hell for the democracy we once took for granted. And that affects all of us here because the arts are democratic,” De Niro said. “Art is inclusive. It brings people together, like tonight. Art looks for truth, art embraces diversity and that’s why art is a threat — that’s why we...

Leonardo DiCaprio is to present Robert De Niro with the Honorary Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival. The 50-year-old actor will hand the accolade to his 'Killers of the Flower Moon' co-star at the film festival's opening ceremony on Tuesday (13.05.25), according to Variety. As well as appearing alongside one another in 2023 movie 'Killers of the Flower Moon', which premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2023, the pair also co-starred in 1993 coming-of-age motion picture 'This Boy’s Life'. The film featured a 17-year-old DiCaprio in his first major movie role. After he is presented with the Palme d’Or on Tuesday, De Niro, 81, will appear at a special masterclass at the Debussy Theatre on Wednesday (14.05.25), where he is expected to reflect on a career spanning more than five decades. The Cannes tribute marks a return to the festival he last attended in...

Leonardo DiCaprio will present Robert De Niro with the honorary Palme d’Or for lifetime achievement at the Cannes Film Festival’s opening ceremony on Tuesday evening, Variety has confirmed.

DiCaprio and De Niro first starred together in the 1993 film “This Boy’s Life,” and reunited for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which screened in official selection in Cannes in 2023.

De Niro will also participate in a masterclass on Wednesday at the Debussy theater in the Palais. “The Raging Bull” and “Godfather Part II” Oscar winner is a Cannes veteran and presided over the Cannes jury in 2011, the year the Palme d’Or went to Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life.”

When the honor was first announced, De Niro said in a statement, “I have such close feelings for Festival de Cannes…Especially now when there’s so much in the world pulling us apart, Cannes brings us together — storytellers,...

Hulu May 2025 Releases ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

With the month of May just around the corner, there’s a whole new slate of content waiting for you to watch and enjoy on Hulu. The streaming platform wrapped up the season finale of The Kardashians last month and is set for more releases including Vanderpump Villa and Mission Impossible movies.

Hulu May 2025: Everything On Release Schedule May 1 Alone Australia Season 1 The Chicano Squad Season 1 History’s Greatest Escapes with Morgan Freeman Season 2 Inmate to Roommate Season 2 James Brown: Say it Loud Season 1 Jeopardy! Masters Season 3 Mormon Mom Gone Wrong: The Ruby Franke Story Naruto Shippuden Season 9 Pawn Stars Season 22 Alienoid Alienoid 2 Anaconda Anaconda En Español Attack The Block Attack the Block En Español Austenland Austenland En Español Babylon A.D. Bad Teacher Bad Teacher En Español Basic Basic En Espanol Battle of the Year Battle Of The Year En Español The Childe Con...

El dos veces ganador del Óscar se une al selecto grupo de homenajeados por el festival francés. © Getty Images

El próximo 13 de mayo, el legendario actor estadounidense Robert De Niro recibirá la Palma de Oro honorífica a toda su carrera en la ceremonia de apertura de la 78ª edición del Festival de Cannes, catorce años después de haber presidido el Jurado. Al día siguiente, De Niro participará en una masterclass en el Teatro Debussy.

«Hay rostros que representan el Séptimo Arte, y líneas de diálogo que dejan una huella indeleble en la cinefilia», declara el comunicado oficial. «Con su estilo interiorizado, que aflora en una sonrisa amable o en una mirada dura, Robert De Niro se ha convertido en una leyenda del cine».

Con esta distinción, el actor se suma a otros intérpretes galardonados recientemente con el mismo reconocimiento, como Meryl Streep, Harrison Ford y Jodie Foster. En sus primeras declaraciones,...

Bollywood Mascot: Veteran actor Robert De Niro is set to be honored with the coveted Honorary Palme d’Or at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, scheduled to begin on May 13, 2025. This recognition is a celebration of his extraordinary career that has not only shaped Hollywood but also left a lasting mark on international cinema.

The award will be presented during the festival’s grand opening ceremony, where the world’s leading filmmakers, actors, and cinema enthusiasts will gather to honor a man whose legacy transcends generations. Known for his transformative performances and iconic roles in films like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Godfather Part II, and Goodfellas, De Niro remains one of the most influential actors of all time.

Cannes holds a special place in De Niro’s journey. His film Taxi Driver won the Palme d’Or in 1976, marking one of the most significant milestones in his early career.

Who's the main common denominator between Star Trek: Voyager, Seinfeld, and Toy Story? The answer is Estelle Harris, who guest starred in a Voyager episode, recurred on Seinfeld as George Costanza's mother, and provided the voice of Mrs. Potato Head in several of the Toy Story movies.

Breaking that down in more detail, Harris -- who died at the age of 93 on April 2, 2022, just 20 days shy of her 94th birthday -- guest-starred as Old Woman in the Voyager episode “Sacred Ground.” That season-three installment premiered on October 30, 1996. According to StarTrek.com, “The Old Woman was actually a projection of the Nechani Spirits, and Janeway’s (Kate Mulgrew) interactions with the Old Woman perhaps helped Janeway ease up on her hardcore devotion to scientific reason.”

Far more famously, Harris played Estelle Costanza, the shrill mother of George Costanza (Jason Alexander), in more than two dozen episodes of Seinfeld. Even serious Seinfeld...

Robert De Niro will be honored at this year’s Cannes Film Festival with an honorary Palme d’Or for lifetime achievement. He will receive this award at the opening ceremony of the 78th festival 14 years after he presided over the jury in 2011. The ceremony will be held on May 13, 2025. The next day, he will hold a masterclass at the Debussy Theatre.

“I have such close feelings for Festival de Cannes…” De Niro said in a Monday statement. “Especially now when there’s so much in the world pulling us apart, Cannes brings us together — storytellers, filmmakers, fans and friends. It’s like coming home.”

De Niro started his career with a young Brian De Palma on early gems “Greetings,” “The Wedding Party” and “Hi, Mom!” (He would reunite with De Palma years later on “The Untouchables”). In 1973, he would star in Martin Scorsese’s “Mean Streets,” which would start...

Robert De Niro will be honored with an honorary Palme d’Or for lifetime achievement at the opening ceremony of the 78th Festival de Cannes, the festival announced Monday.

De Niro will be honored on May 13, marking 14 years after the two-time Oscar-winning served as President of the Cannes jury in 2011.

De Niro has a long history with Cannes. In 1976, he appeared in two films in the festival’s official selection: Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1900 and Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, with the latter winning the Palme d’Or. In 1983, he opened the festival with Scorsese’s The King of Comedy, following up a year later with Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America. In 1986 he was back with Roland Joffé’s The Mission, the second De Niro film to win a Palme d’Or. More recently, in 2023, he was back on the Croisette with Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon.

Robert De Niro will receive the Cannes Film Festival‘s honorary Palme d’Or at the opening night ceremony of the 78th edition, the festival has confirmed.

As part of the honor, De Niro wil also give an onstage masterclass in the Debussy Theatre for festival-goers on May 14.

De Niro has been a frequent presence at Cannes over the years. He was last on the Croisette in 2023 to debut Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. De Niro was president of the Cannes jury in 2011.

“I have such close feelings for Festival de Cannes,” De Niro said in a statement provided by the festival. “Especially now, when there’s so much in the world pulling us apart, Cannes brings us together — storytellers, filmmakers, fans, and friends. It’s like coming home.”

De Niro is one of contemporary cinema’s most beloved figures. His history at the Cannes Film Festival is stacked.

For over five phenomenal decades, Robert De Niro has remained a beloved presence on the silver screen, dazzling audiences all across the world with one unparalleled performance after another. Widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of his generation, the two-time Academy Award-winner is no stranger to starring in critically acclaimed hits, and in 1984, he partnered up with cinema pioneer Sergio Leone for his epic crime masterpiece Once Upon a Time in America, an adaptation of Harry Grey's The Hoods.

With a stacked ensemble cast including James Woods, Joe Pesci, and Elizabeth McGovern, the powerful picture chronicled the friendship between two close friends as they fought to get themselves out of poverty and become some of New York City's most feared and respected gangsters during the '20s and '30s. De Niro has undeniably made the gangster genre his bread and butter as a performer, with the Hollywood...

There are, by the organization’s current count, some 160,000 members of the Screen Actors Guild, many of whom are booking gigs on the regular. To be fair, very few of these performers are genuine 1970s cinema icons, not to mention the brand-name embodiment of a whole genre. Robert De Niro is to Mob movies what John Wayne was to Westerns, and though he’s played every type of role imaginable — boxers, bakers, bishops, ballplayers, cops, robbers, revolutionaries, a stitched-together corpse having an existential crisis, even the devil himself — it’s...

Robert De Niro has been a consistent presence in mob movies for the past five decades. One of his first Mafia movies was 1973's Mean Streets, which marked De Niro's first of several collaborations with Martin Scorsese and is considered by many to be one of the greatest gangster movies ever made. The following year, De Niro played a younger Vito Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather Part II, and won an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, his first of eight Oscar nominations over his illustrious career.

Over the years, De Niro has collaborated with Scorsese on many more mob movies, including Goodfellas and Casino, both of which were co-written by Nicholas Pileggi based on his nonfiction books, and frequently rank among the greatest Mafia movies ever made. Other mob movies that De Niro has starred in over the years include Sergio Leone...

If you’re going to take a shot at the king, you’d better not miss.

That aphorism, credited to everyone from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Omar on “The Wire,” could be one of the unspoken Cosa Nostra credos in “The Alto Knights,” a dense yet fiercely compelling gathering of some of the heaviest hitters in the contemporary gangster genre: “Goodfellas” screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi, “Bugsy” director Barry Levinson and acting icon Robert De Niro in a dual role. That latter stunt makes for a novel hook — one-upping the Pacino-De Niro sit-down in “Heat” by serving up double De Niro as underworld friends-turned-rivals Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, both of whom he embodies beneath heavy makeup.

The movie abruptly kicks off in 1959, with a botched execution in the lobby of Frank’s New York apartment building — a tense, effective scene that finds Levinson operating like the old pro. The rest is narrated from the distant future,...

The 1985 crime thrillerTo Live and Die in L.A. may have only earned $17 million at the worldwide box office, but well-known film critic, the late Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, gave the movie, directed by William Friedkin, four out of four stars. The movie will stream for free on Tubi starting on April 1.

Although its box office take may seem low, To Live and Die in L.A. did turn a profit as its budget was just $6 million. The movie follows the story of two Secret Service agents who are given the task of arresting a counterfeiter. Currently, the film has an 88% critic score and a 78% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

A CSI Veteran Stars in the Film

William Petersen, best known for his starring role as Dr. Gil Grissom, in the CSI franchise, plays Secret Service agent Richard Chance. Willem Dafoe portrays the criminal Eric “Rick” Masters, who kills...

A classic Sergio Leone gangster movie is making its way to the free streaming service, Tubi. Once Upon a Time in America will hit Tubi on April 1. The movie stars Robert De Niro, James Woods, Treat Williams, Elizabeth McGovern, Joe Pesci, Danny Aiello, and William Forsythe. The film won two BAFTA Awards in 1985, one for Best Score and another for Best Costume Design.

Leone, who died in 1989 at the age of 60, was known for directing Spaghetti Westerns like The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966), Once Upon a Time in the West(1968), and Duck, You Sucker! (1971). Once Upon a Time in America was directed by Leone and based on the 1952 novel The Hoods by Harry Grey. The screenplay was written by Leonardo Benvenuti, Piero De Bernardi, Enrico Medioli, Franco Arcalli, Franco Ferrini, and Sergio Leone.

The Director Had to Cut the Movie Down from 10 Hours

With a running time of 3 hours and 49 minutes,...

U.S. Marshals, the 1998 crime film that serves as a sequel to The Fugitive, will get a free streaming home next month. That makes it the perfect time to see if it's really as bad as Robert Downey Jr. claims it is.

The film is one of many set to arrive on free streaming platform Tubi in April. U.S. Marshals arrives on April 1, alongside such movies as Wrath of Man, Edge of Tomorrow, and Once Upon a Time in America. While it holds a meager 30% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, it's arguably actor (and co-star) Rdj's comments about the movie that are the most damning, even today.

"You’ve had a traumatic year, you’ve been practically suicidal — what do you think would be really healing for you?" Downey Jr. mused in The Fall and Rise of the Comeback Kid (h/t Far Out Magazine). "How about like twelve weeks of running around as Johnny Handgun?...

Tubi, Fox’s free streaming service, has announced its list of April titles. The Tubi April 2025 slate features new Tubi Originals, TV series, and numerous action, art house, Black cinema, comedy, documentary, drama, horror, kids and family, sci-fi and fantasy, thriller and Western titles.

As a leading ad-supported video-on-demand service, the company engages diverse audiences through a personalized experience and the world’s largest content library of over 250,000 movies and TV episodes, a growing collection of exclusive Originals, and nearly 250 live channels.

You can watch the Tubi April 2025 lineup for free on Android and iOS mobile devices, Amazon Echo Show, Google Nest Hub Max, Comcast Xfinity X1, and Cox Contour.

You can also watch the service on connected television devices such as Amazon Fire TV, Vizio TVs, Sony TVs, Samsung TVs, Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, Android TV, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and on the Tubi site.

Tubi Originals

Action...

As far as crime movies go, 1990's "Goodfellas" remains the gold standard as one of the best mob movies ever made. The film offered a more humanistic perspective into the world of organized crime through the eyes of aspiring mobster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta). With this focus, "Goodfellas" offered a look at how the dangers and vices of crime impacted domestic lives, influencing the entire genre. Fortunately, for fans of "Goodfellas," there are plenty of crime movies to check out that share similar themes and sensibilities.

From sagas spanning generations of mobster families to classic rises to illicit power, there are countless crime movies like "Goodfellas." Many of these movies even share major cast members and the behind-the-scenes crew, bringing another level to these visible similarities. While each of these crime films stand proudly on their own, they also share DNA with Martin Scorsese's 1990 enduring crime story. 

Here are the 15 best movies like "Goodfellas.

The actress behind fan-favorite Robin Buckley in Stranger Things has sparked a fresh round of industry debates thanks to comments made about how some movies are greenlit based on the Instagram follower numbers of their cast. Maya Hawke, who stepped into the spotlight on Netflix’s supernatural smash, recently offered a blunt take on how social media status can alter an actor’s career prospects.

The actress is set to return for the final season of Stranger Things later this year, and while the idea of social media and mobile phones is not something the kids of Hawkins have to worry about, it seems that those wanting to appear in Hollywood movies apparently have a much better chance of making it if they build up a social media following. During an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the actress said:

“I don’t care about Instagram. Instagram sucks. Right,...

Citizen Kane. The Godfather. Once Upon A Time In America. There Will Be Blood. Towering monuments of moviemaking, all — and all namechecked in notices when Brady Corbet’s third picture, The Brutalist, won the Silver Lion for Best Direction at the Venice Film Festival. Is it possible for any modern movie, even an American epic of these proportions (and we don’t just mean the 215-minute running time), to stand firm in the shadows of such superstructures?

The Brutalist gives it a damn good go. An austere, novelistic, self-consciously important film that unfurls in a measured sprawl, it nonetheless exerts an iron grip. Yes, it’s shot in luxurious VistaVision and divided into chapters and features a 15-minute intermission. And sure, it mulls on the weighty themes of Jewish identity, immigration, privilege, culture-versus-commerce and the thin lines between inspiration and insanity, ambition and crushing egotism. But homework it ain’t.

As the new year unfolded, Los Angeles faced the terrifying fury of wildfires—powerful enough to leave even the most secure Hollywood mansions trembling. By the time it was over, more than 30,000 residents were forced out of their homes, and California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency. James Woods, the Oscar-nominated actor known for his sharp-witted roles and controversial opinions, saw his own Pacific Palisades home reduced to ashes.

James Woods in The Virgin Suicides | Credit: Paramount Vantage

It’s hard to imagine a fate worse than watching your house go up in flames, but somehow, for Woods, the story didn’t end there. Before we start lighting candles or sending thoughts and prayers, let’s remember this isn’t exactly the first time Woods has made headlines. Back in 2017, Amber Tamblyn, actress, and outspoken activist, leveled a serious claim against Woods.

James Woods’ heartbreaking loss amid California...

James Woods has lost his Pacific Palisades home in the Southern California fires that continue to devastate parts of Los Angeles.

Speaking on CNN, the 77-year-old “Vampires” and “Once Upon a Time in America” actor broke down in tears discussing the harrowing situation in his neighborhood.

“One day you’re swimming in the pool and the next day it’s all gone,” Woods said, speaking on-air with CNN’s Pamela Brown.

He recalled an emotional moment when his wife Sara Miller-Woods’ 8-year-old niece retrieved her piggy bank in order to help them rebuild their house.

Woods recounted his evacuation, and how he helped his 94-year-old neighbor, who has dementia, get to safety. “He’d been left alone,” Woods said. “There was so much chaos, it was like an inferno. Every house was on fire around us.”

Speaking about the destruction, Woods said, “I thought I would be stronger than this,...

Quick Links Woods’ Political Views Got in the Way of His Career James Woods Was an Ideal Antagonist for Family Guy Family Guy Seems to Have Wiped Any Trace of James Woods

Family Guy has welcomed a vast selection of guest stars during its time on air, including Ryan Reynolds and Carrie Fisher. As such, the show resembles its biggest competitor, The Simpsons, in the way that it uses public figures to give more life to its fictional universe. Though these cameos can be a bit tiring at times, especially if they are used too frequently, a lot of fans appreciate seeing their favorite celebrity in a completely new form.

Though these celebrities usually appear as one-offs, some become key figures in Quahog. James Woods first joined the show in Season 4 and continued to play a big role in the series for many years. Yet, after a brief appearance in...

Despite being thrown downstairs and having his head set on fire, Joe Pesci was incredibly kind and gentle during the production of Home Alone. So, when he accidentally hurt the movie's child star, Macaulay Culkin, he immediately broke character and begged for forgiveness. Home Alone is an all-time classic that sparked a wave of copy-cat Christmas movies. The film needs little introduction, as Kevin McCallister (Culkin) defends his home from the Wet Bandits (Pesci and Daniel Stern) using elaborate tricks and traps. But, before the film lifted the veil, revealing the Wet Bandits to be idiots, it first had to introduce them as terrifying crooks.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Daniel Stern recalled shooting the Wet Bandits as if they were competent, serious crooks as they broke into the McCallister family home. "Joe is… he's wonderful, I love him, he's a dear friend, but he's a scary dude, and he was carrying it all,...

While there have always been long movies, it has become more common in recent years to see widely available, mainstream films that surpass the three-hour limit. Such an excessive runtime used to be afforded to only prestigious auteur projects like The Godfather: Part II or Once Upon A Time In America. However, the last few years have seen films generally surpassing a three-hour length, like The Batman, Oppenheimer, and Killers of the Flower Moon finding both immense commercial and critical success. In this way, it should be noted that length doesn’t have to be a detriment to enjoyment if a film justifies it in some way. Some stories are so packed with detail that they require an extended running time to be told completely. Although one of those films was originally intended to be a miniseries, the 1993 Civil War film Gettysburg stands as the longest American theatrical movie in history.

When it comes to mob movies, certain titles immediately spring to mind, such as The Godfather, Goodfellas, Casino, or Once Upon a Time in America. But there's another gem in the genre that deserves a spot on this list– 1997's Donnie Brasco, where Al Pacino delivers one of his most nuanced performances as real-life mobster Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero. The film, which recently marked its 27th anniversary, offers a grittier, more intimate look at the day-to-day life of organized crime as opposed to its more bombastic counterparts.

Unlike the glamorous portrayal of mob life often seen in Hollywood, Donnie Brasco peels back the layers to reveal a world of small-time hustlers and aging wise guys just trying to get by. At its heart is Pacino's Lefty, a world-weary foot soldier who takes Johnny Depp's undercover FBI agent under his wing, unwittingly setting the stage for his own downfall.

The...

Should you ever need to give your watchlist some extra oomph, you can't go wrong by referring to IMDb's Top 250 list, which includes some of the best movies that cinema has ever had to offer. The great thing about such a mammoth pile of films is that icons of Hollywood will be popping in more than one entry on the list. Of course, some stars have a greater presence on this compendium than others, and while it might not shock many as to who has the most entries, it's surprising to see who the runner-ups are.

Coming in at the number one spot with the most films in IMDb's Top 250 is the man many believe to be perhaps the best actor ever -- Robert De Niro. Having appeared in over 100 films, nine of De Niro's projects rank among the website's most beloved 250: "The Godfather Part II," "Goodfellas,...

In the late 1960s, Paramount Pictures was getting a young-gun makeover with upstart producer Robert Evans taking the reins of the struggling studio. With the New Hollywood movement exploding thanks to provocations like "Bonnie and Clyde" and "Easy Rider," Evans was keen to hire exciting young filmmakers to apply their unique talents to the day's bestsellers. When he hit critical and commercial paydirt with Roman Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby," he turned his attention to another hot novel owned by the studio, one that had the potential to revitalize the gangster film.

Author Mario Puzo hadn't even finished "The Godfather" when Paramount executive Peter Bart offered him $115,000 for the manuscript. His instincts proved spot-on. Within two years of its 1969 publication, "The Godfather" had become a phenomenon, selling in the neighborhood of nine million copies. A feature film adaptation was inevitable. All Evans and Bart had to do was find the right...

Jennifer Connelly started acting at age 12 will a small part in Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon A Time In America” (1984). She achieved mainstream success in Jim Henson’s “Labyrinth” (1985), and shortly after graduated to more adult roles. However, due to her stunning looks she was often relegated to play either the hero’s girlfriend or the main character’s mistress.

She wouldn’t receive widespread critical recognition until “Requiem For A Dream” (2000) and “A Beautiful Mind” (2001), the latter of which would earn her an Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA and Critics Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress. While Connelly is still often called upon to play the romantic interest, she has proven herself to be talented and versatile enough to make those characters more complicated.

In addition to her Oscar, Globe and BAFTA success, Connelly earned SAG bids for “A Beautiful Mind” (Actress and Ensemble), an additional Critics Choice nomination for...

Quick Links James Gunn Loves an Overlooked Spaghetti Western Once Upon a Time in the West Is a Brilliant Western Once Upon a Time in the West Influenced Gunn's Work Why Fans Should Watch Once Upon a Time in the West

After a long and storied career, James Gunn has become an iconic and well-regarded name in Hollywood. He began his career as a writer and associate director for the black comedy Tromeo and Juliet in 1996, but his career has taken surprising turns. The acclaimed director went on to write for 2002's Scooby-Doo, direct and write for 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy, and produce 2019's Brightburn. Popular franchises are central to his storied career, largely because nearly everything he touches becomes popular.

Gunn recently signed on to serve as the co-ceo of DC Studios, serving alongside producer Peter Safran. He has been tasked with developing the new DC Universe.

Robert De Niro is arguably one of the best actors of all time. He's been portraying various kinds of characters in various kinds of movies for five-plus decades now. Every new role feels like a fun new challenge for him, even if the movies he's in aren't always the best. Fans can always count on De Niro to deliver some element of authenticity to a role, doing it in a way that only Robert De Niro can do it. Of all his most famous roles, he has certainly developed a reputation for playing the gangster or the criminal. Whether working with great directors like Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola or starring in lesser-known titles such as Righteous Kill and Analyze This, De Niro always plays a great gangster.

Of all his most well-known films, the 90s had some of his best, including Goodfellas, Casino and Heat, to name a few.

Once Upon a Time in America, the epic period drama starring Robert De Niro in one of his most iconic mobster roles, is finally coming to Paramount+ on November 1, 2024. The film, released in 1984, was a critical and commercial failure in the United States, grossing a meager $5.5 million on a $30 million budget, but has since been acclaimed.

It was directed and co-written by Spaghetti Western legend Sergio Leone, best known for A Fistful of Dollars (1964), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). The film, which also stars James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Treat Williams, and Burt Young, has one of the longest runtimes in cinema.

The initial runtime of Once Upon a Time in America was 269 minutes, but it was reduced to 251 minutes during its screening at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. However, the standard runtime was eventually brought down to 229 minutes, while the American...

The movie starring Robert De Niro in what may be one of his finest mobster roles is coming to Paramount+. Once Upon a Time in America will begin streaming on the platform starting November 1, 2024. The 1984 gangster drama was directed by the late Sergio Leone, who wrote such iconic films as A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).

Once Upon a Time in America also stars James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Joe Pesci, Treat Williams and Danny Aiello. It is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with an 86% critic score and a 93% audience score.

Set in 1968, De Niro plays David Noodles Aaronson, who comes back to New York where he had once ruled the criminal underground in the 1920s. Woods plays Max, Noodles longtime partner, who is long gone. The story in the film is told mostly through flashbacks and shows Noodles journey from a child in a...

Jim Henson's 1986 film "Labyrinth" is a deeply beloved classic among kids of a certain age. It presents the raw sexuality of David Bowie, playing a sexy goblin lord in tights, his bulging package kickstarting millions of kids' puberties. At the beginning of the film, the main character, the 16-year-old Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) wants nothing more than to live in a fantasy world, happy to remain in her pretty-princess phase indefinitely. However, when Bowie's goblin king kidnaps her baby brother Toby (Toby Froud), she learns that living in such a world is wild and off-putting. Most of the film is a random, light adventure, but one scene points out that Sarah is unduly clinging onto her childhood trinkets.

She learns the lesson of I Corinthians 13:11. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man,...

Its hard to think of a time in which Robert De Niro hasnt been at the center of film culture, as he has been an active part of the industry for well over five decades. Although classic dramas like Heat, The Godfather: Part II, Goodfellas, and Once Upon A Time In America are often hailed as some of the greatest films ever made, De Niro has never dominated the screen in the same way that he did in the Martin Scorsese classic Taxi Driver. Theres no one who delivers the signature dialogue of Paul Schrader the same way, as Taxi Driver features an existential monologue in which Travis Bickle discusses a coming storm that will wash all the scum away," and it's nothing short of memorable.

When I hear the name Elizabeth McGovern, I immediately think of ’80s projects she worked on like Ordinary People, Racing with the Moon, Once Upon a Time in America, The Bedroom Window, and, most of all, She’s Having a Baby. Which probably gives away the fact that I have never watched Downton Abbey. McGovern has continued working steadily over the decades since the ’80s movies I mentioned, and these days is likely best known for playing the role of Cora Crawley on Downton Abbey and then reprising that role in two feature films. Next up: Variety reports that McGovern has signed on to join the cast of Anne Rice’s The Talamasca.

About a year and a half ago, we heard that AMC was developing a third TV series based on the works of Anne Rice, adding to the franchise they’ve been building out of the Vampire Chronicles...

The Talamasca, the third installment in Anne Rice's Immortal Universe on AMC, has added an Oscar nominee to the cast. The upcoming The Talamasca, which is set in the same world as Interview with the Vampire and Mayfair Witches, will explore the titular secret society from the pages of Anne Rice's original novels, which tracks witches, vampires, and other supernatural entities. The show will follow original character Guy Anatole (Dangerous Liaisons' Nicholas Denton), a law student whose mind does not work like those around him and whose hidden secrets gain broader context when he comes in contact with the Talamasca.

Per Variety, Downton Abbey star Elizabeth McGovern has been cast as a series regular in The Talamasca. In the show, she will be playing high-ranking Talamasca member Helen, a character who is behind Guy Anatole's recruitment into the secret society, ushering him into a brand-new world. She joins a...

When Alfonso Cuarón approached Apple with his idea of turning Renée Knight’s 2015 novel “Disclaimer” into a five-and-a-half-hour psychological thriller, he was very clear about one thing. “I don’t know [how] to do television.”

“For me, it’s a bit too late in the game to start learning,” he says, thinking back to that initial pitch as he prepares to screen “Disclaimer” at the Toronto Film Festival following its acclaimed debut at Venice. Instead, Cuarón says he and stars Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline and Sacha Baron Cohen opted to “approach it in the way that I do a film.”

And there were precedents that he points to in cinema history for this kind of sprawling, narratively dense work; “Reds,” “1900,” “Fanny and Alexander,” “Once Upon a Time in America,” even “Twin Peaks” served as inspirations for what he was hoping to pull off. Many of those films were set in the past,...

Out of the gate with its Vista-Vision logo and overture, The Brutalist promises the kind of grand Hollywood epic, and old-school cinematic hubris, that more or less went away 40 years ago with Micheal Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate and Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time In America. In recent years, it felt as if that might be forever. Although there have been signs of its revival, particularly with a pair of P.T. Anderson films, There Will Be Blood and The Master. Do three films over the last 15 years make an emerging trend? In our world of the digital and the overly fixed-in-post, these are rare birds to be cherished. Director Brady Corbet, whose previous film, Vox Lux turned some heads a few years ago, leaps...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Expect Venice Film Festival juror James Gray — the filmmaker behind epic American panoramas like “The Immigrant” and “Armaggedon Time” — to respond to Brady Corbet’s staggering ambition “The Brutalist.” The VistaVision-shot, 215-minute portrait of a Jewish-born Hungarian architect (played by Adrien Brody) wowed crowds at its Sala Grande premiere Sunday night — and at press and industry screenings the day before that sent attendees into the night chattering even as early as the film’s 15-minute intermission, which includes a countdown to get you back in your seats.

Brody stars as László Tóth, a fictional architect so fully realizes that you’d be forgiven for thinking this is an arthouse biopic rather than an original conception from the “Vox Lux” director, screenwriting with his partner Mona Fastvold, who brought “The World to Come” to the Lido in 2020. Oscar-winner Brody’s (“The Pianist”) performance commands nearly every celluloid frame of this film,...

Brady Corbet’s new film “The Brutalist” is impressing viewers and critics alike at the Venice Film Festival. The 215-minute historical drama tells the story of an architect and his wife navigating post-World War II America as they rebuild their lives.

Corbet directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Mona Fastvold. At over three hours long, the film includes an overture and intermission, challenging typical runtime norms. However, Corbet believes the story deserves this length. “For me, it’s about how much story there is to tell,” he said.

The movie stars Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones as László and Erzsébet Toth, the architect and his wife. It also features Guy Pearce as a wealthy client who impacts their journey. Brody’s performance in particular is garnering praise, with some predicting it could earn him awards recognition including an Oscar nomination.

Shot in 70mm film, “The Brutalist” uses an intricate style...

Amid major movie market upheavals, Leone Film Group is still the main Italian distributor of top-notch English-language indie film fare, spanning all genres with titles from directors such as Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.

But while in the past Leone Film Group relied on output deals with U.S. indies, such as Lionsgate and Spielberg’s Amblin, these days “we supply ourselves from whomever has worthy product,” says its head of acquisitions Francesco Polimanti. That includes titles such as recent hit “Civil War,” with Kirsten Dunst, “John Wick 4” with Keanu Reeves as the iconic assassin and the upcoming “Dumb Money.”

Polimanti went on a buying spree in May at Cannes, where he picked up a trio from Black Bear, including Guy Ritchie’s next film, “Wife and Dog,” set in the world of British aristocracy. It marks the fifth Ritchie-directed movie that will go out in Italy through Leone.