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Disney pushed the opening of “Elio,” the studio’s upcoming Pixar film, by a week, while unveiling the release dates of Sam Raimi’s “Send Help” and James L. Brooks’ “Ella McCay.”

“Ella McCay,” which marks Brooks’ return to the director’s chair after 2010’s “How Do You Know,” has been bumped to a Dec. 12 release date. It had initially been slated for a Sep. 19 bow. Both dates come on different ends of the fall festival season and could signal an awards season push.

Brooks, an Oscar-winner who made classics like “As Good as it Gets,” “Broadcast News” and “Terms of Endearment,” also wrote the script for the comedy. It stars Emma Mackey as the title character, with an ensemble that includes Woody Harrelson, Ayo Edebiri, Kumail Nanjiani, Jack Lowden, Rebecca Hall, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Albert Brooks. The film is about a young politician who becomes governor and her...

It’s Sunday in New Orleans, and James L. Brooks has manners on the mind. The 84-year-old, who has maxed out his multihyphenate talents over the course of a legendary career that’s still firing on all cylinders six decades later, is in the Big Easy for reshoots on Ella McCay, the 20th Century Studios comedy that marks his return to the director’s chair after 15 years, and he’s thinking about how people respond to him in public.

“The thing about New Orleans is that when you make eye contact with somebody, that person is going to smile at you and say something pleasant,” he says with a grin of his own over Zoom. “That’s how the manners are here, and it’s amazing to be around. I’m going to try and make that happen in Los Angeles when I go home. I’ll let you know how the experiment works out.

James L. Brooks is heading to Las Vegas.

The veteran creative, who has maxed out his multihyphenate talents during a career that spans six decades, will be adding another honor to his long list of accolades when CinemaCon presents him with a Cinema Vérité trophy for his big-screen accomplishments.

The special honor will be presented during the Walt Disney Studios presentation inside the Colosseum at Caesars Palace on April 3. It comes ahead of the release of his newest film, Ella McCay, set for release from 20th Century Studios on Sept. 19. Written and directed by Brooks, the comedy follows the complicated politics that arise when a young woman’s stressful career clashes with a chaotic family life.

It stars Emma Mackey in the title role opposite a cast that includes Woody Harrelson, Kumail Nanjiani, Spike Fearn, Ayo Edebiri, Rebecca Hall, Julie Kavner, Jack Lowden, Becky Ann Baker, Joey Brooks with Albert Brooks and Jamie Lee Curtis.

William Hurt died on March 13, 2022, at age 71, just a week short of his 72nd birthday. The Oscar-winning actor starred in a variety of movies over the last four decades, but how many of those titles remain classics? Let's take a look back at 15 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1950, Hurt made his movie debut with a starring role in Ken Russell's psychedelic thriller "Altered States" (1980), quickly followed by Lawrence Kasdan's classic neo-noir "Body Heat" (1981). He won the Oscar as Best Actor just four years later for Hector Babenco's "Kiss of the Spider Woman" (1985), playing a transgender inmate at a South American prison who forms a bond with his cellmate (Raul Julia), a political prisoner. The role brought him additional prizes at BAFTA and the Cannes Film Festival.

Hurt followed up his Oscar victory with two more consecutive Best Actor bids: first for Randa...

Exclusive: Leah Fay Goldstein and Peter Dreimanis, the singers of Canadian alt-rock band July Talk, have been set to star in indie feature Middle Life from writer-director Pavan Moondi (Sundowners).

Joining them are Luke Lalonde, lead singer of the band Born Ruffians and who also starred in Moondi’s movie Sundowners, Norah Sadava (Mouthpiece), and actor-comedian Colin Burgess (Dad and Step Dad).

Middle Life follows a new mom who unexpectedly saves a stranger from a roadside accident. Over the next 18 months, the two form an unlikely friendship that shifts their perspectives and adds a spark of spontaneity to their everyday lives.

Pic is produced by Peter Dreimanis, Pavan Moondi, Jared Raab, Leah Fay Goldstein, and Dean Perlmutter of Toronto’s Smash Arts, and is financed independently by undisclosed sources. Executive producers include Josh Warburton of Vulture Culture Films, Mark Homza and Phillipe Leblanc of Time and Tide Entertainment, Chetan Bhanot,...

Plot: While covering the 1972 Munich Olympics, the team at ABC Sports find themselves covering the horrifying Munich Massacre in real-time.

Review: September 5 isn’t the first movie about the Munich Massacre. Steven Spielberg brilliantly depicted the events and their aftermath in Munich (perhaps his last truly great film). However, this movie takes a different approach in how it covers the events unravelling in real time from the studios at ABC Sports in Germany. We follow a team of sleep-deprived journalists who are supposed to be there covering the Olympics and find themselves chronicling events that they know can only end in tragedy and will have global consequences, the repercussions of which are still felt today.

For me, the film had particular resonance. Before I started working for JoBlo, I worked in radio as an “op”, which basically meant I handled the audio boards, screened the calls, and ran the operations side of live radio broadcasts.

Millions upon millions of fans have been talking about Superman over the past several days after the anticipated film's trailer was released online. The film will introduce David Corenswet as the next actor to portray the Man of Steel on the big screen with Superman set to hit theaters next summer.

When not flying through the sky while suited up as the Man of Steel, Corenswet's Clark Kent is otherwise an everyman who works as a news reporter at the Daily Planet. Like most anyone, he would spend some of his free time watching feature films. As far as what movies he would like best, Corenswet picked three titles in a recent interview (per Raiders Of The Lost Podcast) that he believes would be his Superman's most favorite films.

Related 'This Movie Is Not About Power': James Gunn Explains Starting the Superman Trailer With a Broken Man of Steel

The...

The cast of Apple TV+’s hit comedy series Shrinking gathered in Hollywood for a packed Deadline x Apple TV+ Shrinking FYC Event to discuss why the show has hit a nerve, and is even getting better in Season 2.

Jason Segel and Brett Goldstein, who also executive produce and are co-creators of the show (along with Bill Lawrence), joined a panel for SAG-AFTRA members at Harmony Gold that included series co-stars Harrison Ford, Jessica Williams, Christa Miller, Lukita Maxwell, Luke Tennie and Ted McGinley.

You can watch the conversation here.

Segel started it off by explaining how he got involved behind the scenes as well as getting the role of Jimmy, a therapist who probably has more problems than all of his patients.

‘Well, I got very, very lucky on this one. I had known Bill a little bit, and he had called me a couple years before Shrinking and said,...

Hugh Grant called an Honorary Oscar winner an a–hole, studios spent big money to show off all their awards contenders and a posthumous tribute to Quincy Jones left everybody buzzing at the Academy’s 15th annual Governors Awards on Sunday night in Hollywood, turning a fraught time in the movie business into a satisfying celebration – and, of course, a prime campaign opportunity for everyone hoping to attract the attention of Oscar voters.

While the Governors Awards, the annual event at which honorary Academy Awards are given out, has become a reliably grand combination of cinematic cclebration and campaign event, two factors conspired to cast a shadow over Sunday’s ceremony, which took place at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland.

The first was the fact that Jones was announced as a winner of the Honorary Oscar back in June, but died on Nov. 3, two weeks before he was to receive the award.

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...

Jason Reitman’s tedious and exasperatingly self-absorbed “Saturday Night” isn’t very big on “ideas” or “being about things other than itself,” but the one concept that it returns to throughout its glorified showbiz cosplay is that “Saturday Night Live” — known as “Saturday Night” when it first premiered — was unlike anything that people had ever seen on TV before. Re-imagining the frantic 90 minutes before the show debuted in October of 1975, Reitman’s 16mm love letter to Lorne Michaels reminds us over and over again of the risk that NBC incurred by offering its network to a young producer and an edgy bunch of no-name comics in a slot when most viewers were hoping to see Milton Berle.

Of course, we know that “SNL” would go on to become one of the longest-running and most famous institutions in the history of television (though it’s funny to think how unintelligible this...

Space school is officially in session: the newest installment in the "Star Trek" universe, "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy," has begun production according to the franchise's official website and social media accounts. In a post shared on X (formerly known as Twitter), the full cast of the new younger-gen series reports for duty in front of the historic "Star Trek" Stage, and everybody looks pretty dang jazzed to be there.

School is in session, cadets! Today marks the official start of production as the #StarTrek Stage welcomes #StarfleetAcademy. pic.twitter.com/i6Bmtz5Tuh

— Star Trek on Paramount+ (@StarTrekOnPPlus) August 26, 2024

Holly Hunter is now officially confirmed to be playing the captain and chancellor of Starfleet Academy in the cadet-centric new series, and the beloved actor stands at the center of the excited full cast photo (seen above). The Oscar-winning Hunter has, of course, appeared in such phenomenal films as "Broadcast News" and "The Piano,...

Welcome back to Oscars Playback, in which Gold Derby editors and Experts Christopher Rosen and Joyce Eng revisit Oscar ceremonies and winners of yesteryear. This week, we cover the 60th Academy Awards in 1988, honoring the films of 1987.

“The Last Emperor” ruled over the ceremony, winning all nine awards for which it was nominated to tie “Gigi” (1958) for the largest perfect sweep in Oscar history at that point. They will, of course, later be eclipsed by “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003), which went 11 for 11. But what’s up not a single “Last Emperor” actor getting a nomination?

See Oscars Playback: When ‘Platoon’ and Paul Newman capped off their long roads with gold

“Moonstruck” was the second biggest winner of the night with three wins from six bids — and all above the line for Best Actress champ Cher, Best Supporting Actress winner Olympia Dukakis and Best Original Screenplay for John Patrick Shanley.

William Hurt was an established star of the stage and silver screen who is best known for classic films such as Body Heat, A History of Violence, and Broadcast News. Born in Washington D.C., Hurt studied acting at Juilliard and initially started performing on the stage during the 1970s and earned his first major film role in the 1980 science-fiction horror movie, Altered States. In 1981, he starred alongside fellow newcomer, Kathleen Turner, in the erotic neo-noir film, Body Heat, which is considered to be Hurt's breakthrough role, ultimately elevating his career to new heights.

The tremendously funny, witty Albert Brooks was born on July 22, 1947. The actor, producer, writer and director began his career as a self-deprecating stand-up comic, performing several times on Johnny Carson‘s “Tonight Show” and earning a Grammy nomination for his 1975 comedy album “A Star Is Bought.” Brooks got his first break behind the camera when he was hired to direct six short films for the first season of “Saturday Night Live.” Later in 1976, he made his film debut as an actor with a dramatic role in Martin Scorsese‘s classic film “Taxi Driver.”

As an actor, Brooks earned an Academy Award nomination for 1987’s “Broadcast News,” as well as being nominated for a Golden Globe for his work in 2011’s “Drive.” And as a writer, he won Best Screenplay from the New York Film Critics Circle for writing 1996’s “Mother” and the same Award twice from the National Society of Film Critics...

Peter Finch won a posthumous Oscar for his uproarious performance as a swivel-eyed news anchor – a cross between Billy Graham and Donald Trump

‘The time has come to say … is ‘dehumanisation’ such a bad word?” The speaker is Howard Beale, the sweat-drenched, swivel-eyed TV news anchor in this classic 1976 satire from screenwriter Paddy Chayevsky and director Sidney Lumet, now on rerelease. Depressed by the loss of his wife and by getting fired due to dwindling audiences, Beale proclaims he will kill himself live on air and is then re-hired as a colossal popular and then populist success, his celebrity delirium turning him into a crazy prophet, telling millions of Americans to scream out of the window that they are as mad as hell and not going to take it any more. Beale is a mixture of Billy Graham, radio star Orson Welles telling America the Martians are coming, and that notorious ratings-obsessive Donald Trump.

There was a time when most stand-up comedians post Seinfeld and Everybody Loves Raymond dreamt of their own sitcom based on their material.

However, when Chicago stand-up Sebastian Maniscalco arrived in LA in the late 90s, it wasn’t really his m.o.

“I just wanted to do stand-up comedy,” the comedian tells us on Deadline’s Crew Call, “Anything that came out from the success of comedy, then I would entertain it.”

You can listen to our chat here:

And now the stand up has a half hour Max comedy series, Bookie, which he also executive produces, that feels like the quintessential Maniscalco comedy show — even though the guy with a crazy, blunt Italian father doesn’t have a history with taking sports bets.

Similar to how James L. Brooks’ creation of Aaron Altman in the 1987 movie Broadcast News was so organically Albert Brooks, co-creator Chuck Lorre has pulled...

When you get the opportunity to interview Rob Reiner and Albert Brooks together it is indeed a special occasion. And that is just what I got to do earlier this week when they joined me at our Deadline Studio for this episode of my Deadline video series, Behind The Lens. Reiner has directed and appears with Brooks in the ultimate documentary (Reiner’s first) on Brooks entitled Albert Brooks: Defending My Life which is available on HBO and Max, and for fans of both it is a gem not to be missed. Our half hour conversation is not only hilarious in parts, but also eye-opening and full of some very surprising revelations. Check out a 2 minute preview where Brooks explains to me just how he and legendary director Stanley Kubrick became friends when Kubrick geeked out on Brooks’ film, Modern Romance. Click On The Video Above For The Preview And...

James L. Brooks' 1997 dramedy "As Good As It Gets" was a massive awards darling when it came out. The film is about an intensely misanthropic author named Melvin (Jack Nicholson) who is deeply afflicted with obsessive-compulsive disorder. When his neighbor, Simon (Greg Kinnear), is horrible assaulted by thieves, Melvin agrees to care for Verdell, Simon's dog. This is the first step in Melvin's very gradual opening up to warmer aspects of humanity. He's still a cruel a-hole, but by the end of the movie, he becomes a lovable a-hole. He is also redeemed by his relationship with a frustrated waitress named Carol (Helen Hunt), who hates him, and then hates that she sees the humanity in him.

"As Good As It Gets" was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won Oscars for Nicholson and Hunt's performances. It was considered a minor scandal in 1998 when Brooks was not nominated for Best Director.

"Broadcast News" premiered at a pivotal time for the news industry: James L. Brooks' 1987 newsroom-set classic was born into a world in which pay cable, the internet, and the 24-hour news cycle were about to change the way the world received information for good. As such, the movie would already feel like a throwback to a simpler time just a few years after its release. Great as it is, it would soon join the ranks of movies and shows about legacy media that portray a writing world that looks nothing like the current freelance-heavy digital landscape.

Brooks was apparently acutely aware of the changing media world even as he made the film. In a retrospective interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2018, the filmmaker recalls being inspired to create one of the movie's most famous scenes when a visit to a real-life newsroom confirmed that it reflected reality. "I was in the...

Starfleet Academy has found its Chancellor. Academy Award winner Holly Hunter has become the first cast member of the highly anticipated Paramount+ series, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

The casting was announced on the official Star Trek on Paramount+ X profile. "All cadets, rise for your captain! Academy Award winner Holly Hunter has officially been cast as the captain and chancellor of the upcoming [Paramount+] series [Starfleet Academy]," read the post's caption, which ended with an emoji of the Vulcan salute. With Star Trek executive producer Alex Kurtzman sharing in March 2024 that filming would begin on Starfleet Academy this summer, fans can surely expect more casting announcements to be made in the coming weeks.

Related Star Trek III: The Search for Spock Will Return to Theaters for 40th Anniversary Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, directed by Spock himself Leonard Nimoy, is heading back to theaters in time for its 40th anniversary. All cadets,...

Holly Hunter leads Star Trek: Starfleet Academy with flair, bringing her authentic brilliance to the new series in 32nd-century challenges. Filming in Toronto on a massive set, the show explores youth themes from romance to survival skills in high-stakes situations for cadets. Starfleet Academy's executive team, led by Kurtzman and Landau, brings fresh ideas to expand the Star Trek universe on Paramount+.

Paramount+'s new offering Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will have Holly Hunter lead the series as both the captain and chancellor of the Academy. In this dual role, Hunter will guide the faculty and a fresh batch of cadets through their formative years at the institution, navigating the interstellar challenges in the 32nd century.

The series, helmed by Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau, promises to bring a unique twist to the Star Trek universe. In an interview with Variety, the showrunners said:

It feels like weve spent our...

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Most stand-up comics are barely getting by. Many are happy if they can make it onto a stage and elated if people laugh at their jokes. Stand-up comedy is a complex art, but some people make it look effortless.

Those who make...

"Star Trek" has just added a new captain to Starfleet's prestigious ranks, and she's definitely worthy of wearing the uniform. Even as the franchise is undergoing some change on the television side of things, as "Discovery" speeds headlong towards its last couple of episodes in its final season and the animated "Lower Decks" is similarly coming to a close, fans will have another new series to look forward to -- and no less than an Oscar-winning actor is now attached as the lead.

In a tweet posted earlier today from the official account, Paramount announced that "Starfleet Academy" has found its captain in Holly Hunter. Her character will actually serve as both "captain and chancellor" for the new Paramount+ streaming series, which was first revealed to be in the works back in March of 2023 and is set to depict the famous space-faring school for new Starfleet officers-in-training. It will serve...

The “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” series at Paramount+ has cast Holly Hunter in a lead role, Variety has learned.

Hunter’s character will serve as the captain and chancellor of the Academy, presiding over both the faculty and a new class of Starfleet cadets as they learn to navigate the galaxy in the 32nd century.

“It feels like we’ve spent our entire lives watching Holly Hunter be a stone-cold genius,” said co-showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau. “To have her extraordinary authenticity, fearlessness, sense of humor, and across the board brilliance leading the charge on ‘Starfleet Academy’ is a gift to all of us, and to the enduring legacy of ‘Star Trek.'”

“Starfleet Academy” will begin shooting in Toronto later this summer, featuring the largest contiguous set ever constructed for a “Star Trek” series, a central academic atrium that will span two stories and include an amphitheater, classrooms,...

It all started when Rob Reiner tried to convince Albert Brooks to let him film his own version of “My Dinner with Andre” titled “My Lunch with Albert Brooks.” His high school chum refused. After someone else came to Brooks wanting to make a documentary about him, the financing fell through. Then the men decided to combine the two things.

“There’s about 4000 documentaries now,” said Brooks at an FYC event with Reiner and moderator Judd Apatow this week at the Academy of Motion Pictures. “It’s the way they’re willing to spend money without spending real money. Everyone has a story and 99 out of 100 are done pretty much the same way. Either the person’s no longer living, or they’re being talked about from an off-stage voice. So to be able to do that this way…that’s what makes it special. Because it’s Rob and...

"Dance Until Your Feet Hurt, Sing Until Your Lungs Hurt, Act Until You're William Hurt." Phil's quirky life advice is both funny and insightful. Phil's humor and love for his family shine through in his unique advice. "Key To A Good Birthday? Low Expectations." Phil's philosophy on setting realistic expectations is both heartwarming and humorous.

In the fourth season of Modern Family, Phil (Ty Burrell) and Claire (Julie Bowen) pack up Haley's (Sarah Hyland) things and move her to college. It was a big day for the Dunphy clan because no one imagined Haley would make it there. Modern Family had followed the Dunphy family since Haley was a freshman in high school, watching the kids grow up alongside their extended family's shenanigans. Part of watching the younger characters grow up was seeing education milestones, like Haley leaving for college, play out.

Watch on Hulu

The Dunphy family was filled...

Over the course of her career, Gina Prince-Bythewood has proven she can do it all. Across five films and roughly 20 years, she had made an enduring romantic sports story, a southern family drama, a pop star star-crossed romance, a superhero fantasy action film, and a feminist historical epic. And with every new genre the filmmaker has ticked off her list, Prince-Bythewood has shown a mastery for its particularities every time.

Born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Pacific Grove, California, Prince-Bythewood attended University of California in Los Angeles, where she studied film and graduated in 1991. After several years as a writer on TV shows like “A Different World” and “South Central,” her first film, 2000’s “Love and Basketball,” was released to critical acclaim. The story of two childhood best friends with a shared love for basketball — and a chronicle of their tumultuous relationship through the years as they both seek...

During a 1963 appearance on The Tonight Show, comedian Carl Reiner said that a 16-year-old named Albert Einstein was the funniest person he knew. That Albert Einstein was too young to be the famed physicist, of course. No, the Albert Einstein getting such high praise was a friend of Reiner’s son Rob. Now, of course, the world knows Rob Reiner as the All in the Family actor who went on to direct the films Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally…, and A Few Good Men, among other cinematic favorites. And that Albert Einstein — who still doesn’t know why his parents gave him that name — rebranded himself as Albert Brooks and starred in films like Lost in America, Broadcast News, and Defending Your Life. For a new CBS News Sunday Morning segment, Brooks and the younger Reiner ...

As she strolls comfortably toward multiple Oscar nominations for “Barbie,” Greta Gerwig is on track to set several Academy Awards records tied to her age, gender and the movie’s financial success. In terms of more general achievements, perhaps the most impressive one in her reach is becoming the first filmmaker to have all of her initial three solo features contend for Best Picture. Over the past 95 years, many directors have had shots at earning that distinction and a few have come remarkably close, but none of their chances have been quite as strong as hers.

Since Gerwig did not produce her first two independently-directed films – “Lady Bird” (2017) and “Little Women” (2019) – and, per academy rules, cannot officially share in a “Barbie” Best Picture nomination due to her screen credit of “executive producer” (rather than the qualifying “producer” or “produced by”), she does not and will not soon have any bids...

Kelly Fremon Craig, known for her work on coming-of-age stories like The Edge of Seventeen and Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret, would be a perfect choice to direct a Young Avengers movie. The comics already provide a great structure for a Young Avengers film, with themes of training successors, hiding secret identities, and proving themselves to their mentors. These themes align with conflicts explored in Craig's previous work, making her a suitable director for the project. Craig's style as a filmmaker is distinct and unique, making a Young Avengers movie feel fresh and different from other MCU films.

The Marvels has officially come and gone, with so-so reviews and disappointing box office returns. But one of the few things almost everyone agrees upon is that it sets up an incredibly promising future for the character of Ms. Marvel, played to perfection by Iman Vellani. As depicted in the final scene,...

Seven top film producers will reveal secrets behind their projects when they join Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&a event with 2024 awards contenders. They will participate in two video discussions to premiere on Tuesday, November 28, at 6:00 p.m. Pt; 9:00 p.m. Et. We’ll have a one-on-one with our senior editor Daniel Montgomery and a roundtable chat with all of the group together.

RSVP today to our entire ongoing contenders panel series by clicking here to book your free reservation. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (Lionsgate)

Synopsis: When her family moves from the city to the suburbs, 11-year-old Margaret navigates new friends, feelings, and the beginning of adolescence.

Bio: James L. Brooks was a three-time Oscar winner for “Terms of Endearment” and was also nominated for “Broadcast News,...

Albert Brooks and Rob Reiner, now both 76, have been best friends since high school, having met in the drama club at Beverly Hills High. (Richard Dreyfuss was also in their class.) Both were what might now be referred to as “nepo babies” in that both of their fathers had successful careers in comedy — Rob as son of the legendary Carl Reiner, creator of The Dick Van Dyke Show, and Albert the son of Harry Einstein (yes — his real name is Albert Einstein), a radio comedian who found fame as a character called Parkyakarkus. Harry might have gone on to greater heights had he not suffered a fatal heart attack moments after his routine at a roast of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in 1958. Eleven-year-old Albert was listening live on the radio that night.

We learn those amazing facts and so many more on HBO’s Albert Brooks: Defending My Life,...

Forty years ago, writer James L. Brooks made one of the most impressive directorial debuts in film history when he brought Larry McMurtry‘s novel “Terms of Endearment” to the screen. Although he had forged a successful career in television, creating classic sitcoms like “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “Taxi” and writing the fine Burt Reynolds-Jill Clayburgh romance “Starting Over,” nothing on Brooks’ résumé prepared audiences for the delicate tonal balance of “Terms,” a comedy about the relationship between a mother (Shirley MacLaine) and daughter (Debra Winger) that culminates in the daughter being diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Cancer might not seem like the raw material for wall-to-wall laughs, but that’s exactly what “Terms” provides — and even when the movie goes dark in its final act, Brooks never wanted to lose sight of that initial intention. “It was essential to me in every way you can use the...

No amount of chemistry or comedic timing from a stellar cast can save a bad script or bad direction. Many romantic comedies lack quality due to failed attempts at mixing social commentary, lack of chemistry between talented leads, and one-dimensional characters. A stellar ensemble is just the beginning, as a solid script and skilled direction are crucial for cinematic magic in romantic comedies with wasted potential.

No amount of chemistry or comedic timing can save a bad script or bad direction, as a number of romantic comedies with amazing but wasted casts prove. Romantic comedies promise heartwarming love stories and lots of laughs, but with so many rom-coms out there, many end up generic and forced. It's a shame when a great cast is wasted on poor material.

Whether they attempt but fail to mix social commentary into their funny romantic plots, feature talented leads who lack chemistry, or consist...

The premise was simple enough: A no-nonsense, non-conformist, feminine “guy’s girl” journalist sets out to make a man fall in love with her — all for the sake of a big break at work. When “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” hit theaters on February 7, 2003, the Kate Hudson- and Matthew McConaughey-starring romantic comedy ushered in a new generation of a revived rom-com sub-genre: quippy romances all about female journalists.

In the Donald Petrie film, Andie Anderson (Hudson) half-jokingly pitches the idea of using all the “what not to do” tips of Composure, the Cosmo-esque fastest growing women’s magazine she works at, to prove the opposite: being disinterested and not clingy works better to land a husband, or better yet, find true love. Kathryn Hahn is her unlucky-in-love coworker whose exploits inspire Andie’s approach to a new lifestyle feature article, while Bebe Neuwirth is her...

Exclusive: Academy Award and 3x Emmy winner Bill Conti (The Right Stuff) has been tapped to pen the score for Roselli’s Way, a new biopic on Italian American pop singer Jimmy Roselli.

The film scripted by J.D. Zeik (Ronin) will watch as Roselli looks back on a career, in which he was forever the underdog in comparison to contemporary Frank Sinatra, among others.

Michael Besman, James Deutch, Roger Birnbaum and Mark Kimsey will produce for Emp Productions, along with Spike Seldin and Neil Jesuele of Remarkable Media, and veteran music exec and record producer Ron Fair, who will also serve as music supervisor. James Ivory and Stephen Dembitzer will serve as exec producers. A director is not yet attached to the project, though the casting search for its title character is now under way.

“The story behind one of the greatest voices of his era needs to be told,...

David Davis, a veteran comedy writer who co-created the indelible ensemble comedies “The Bob Newhart Show” and “Taxi,” died Nov. 4 in Los Angeles.

Davis’ death was confirmed Saturday by his daughter, Samantha Davis-Friedman. Survivors also include his wife of many decades, “Rhoda” star Julie Kavner, now best known as the voice of Marge Simpson from Fox’s “The Simpsons.”

Davis was known for his work in the Mtm Television stable. He wrote for “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “Rhoda” and in addition to helping to craft two Hall of Fame sitcoms. After retiring from writing in 1979, Davis worked as a consultant on TV and film projects including the ABC TV series “Phenom” and noted pics including 1987’s “Broadcast News” and the 1983 Oscar winner “Terms of Endearment.”

Born in Brooklyn in 1936, Davis got his start in TV as a script supervisor on such early 1960s comedies as “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis...

“Bros” co-writer and star Billy Eichner had sincere words to share about his upcoming romantic comedy at the Variety Cover Party at TIFF sponsored by Skyy Vodka.

“I could have never imagined in a million years that we would have been able to premiere in such a spectacular way,” Eichner said about the buzz behind the film leading up to its release. “Thank you to everyone at Variety, this feature really was the most beautiful, accurate thing that’s ever been written about me.”

In a lengthy interview with Variety, Eichner discussed the film’s entirely LGBTQ cast along with the many distinctive ways in which his personal life has influenced the development of the movie’s characters and plot lines. “I’ve worked so hard on it, I care so much about it, and I want it to do well for the sake of the LGBTQ stories getting greenlit,...

Oops, it happened again. Billy Eichner, eligible gay bachelor, was kicked off Tinder. Somehow, the team behind the dating app had the audacity to boot Eichner from its screens because they thought he was a random loser pretending to be Billy Eichner. Eichner, 43, went public with his Tinder travails during a 2019 appearance on “Jimmy Kimmy Live,” and got an apology from the company along with a care package shipped to his home with T-shirts and mugs that said, “World’s Hottest Single” and “Happy Valentine’s Day … to Me.”

And then, inexplicably, Eichner got dumped from the service a second time last year. “I was like, ‘Fuck it. I’m not going through this again,’” Eichner says, letting out a dramatic sigh. “I can’t book a late-night talk show appearance just to get reinstated on Tinder. I’ll stick to Hinge and Grindr and everything else. I do not...

This may sound a little strange, but I think we may underrate Jack Nicholson as an actor. Yes, he is obviously one of the most beloved actors in the history of cinema and has won three Academy Awards, but I feel like when we think about Jack Nicholson these days, we boil him down to one thing: He's the devilish scamp you do not want to be on the bad side of. He'll take on a role in "Batman" or "The Departed," and a lot of people would describe the performance as "Jack being Jack." While there's certainly an utterly unique energy present in all of his performances, his range of characters and tones sometimes gets overlooked or even forgotten by modern audiences.

For example, take the film for which he won his second Oscar: "Terms of Endearment." If you were to ask anyone to list Nicholson's signature performances, very few,...

Dale Dickey is not jaded, even after nearly three decades in Hollywood. The actress’ earnest humility, infectious curiosity, and unpretentiousness when talking about her craft and decades-long career would feel refreshing from anyone, let alone someone who has been a successful working thespian in film and TV for nearly thirty years. The Indie Spirit winner has dozens of credits to her name, in projects of all genres and sizes, including “Winter’s Bone,” “Breaking Bad,” “True Blood,” and “Palm Springs.” But now she has a new one to add to the resume: leading lady.

Known for portraying memorable, hard-scrabble women, the character actress is finally breaking untraveled ground with her first on-camera lead role in the tender-hearted indie romance “A Love Song,” director Max Walker-Silverman’s debut feature, which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival to stellar reviews. “I’m not complaining, but I’ve never really had the luxury of choosing projects.

Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet, creators of the new Showtime series The Man Who Fell to Earth, talk to hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante about the movies that inspired them.

Show Notes:

Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976) – Michael Lehmann’s trailer commentary

Dirty Pretty Things (2002)

Amistad (1997)

Love Actually (2003)

Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007)

Blazing Saddles (1974) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s Blazing Saddles Thanksgiving

Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

The Bad News Bears (1976) – Jessica Bendinger’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

Airplane! (1980) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

The Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)

Bambi (1942)

Singin’ In The Rain (1952) – John Landis trailer commentary

The Asphalt Jungle (1950) – Michael Lehmann’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

The Boy Friend (1971) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Yellow Submarine (1968) – George Hickenlooper...

Rob Reiner is shooting a documentary about Albert Brooks and he’s lined up some major heavyweights to wax poetic about the filmmaker, actor and all-around comic genius.

The director tells Variety that he’s already talked to or is planning to interview fellow comedians such as Larry David, Conan O’Brien, Sarah Silverman, Ben Stiller, James L. Brooks, Judd Apatow, Chris Rock, Wanda Sykes and Jonah Hill, as well as Sharon Stone, who worked with Brooks on 1999’s “The Muse.”

“Albert is my really, really close friend,” says Reiner. “I’ve already spent half-a-day with Albert, just the two of us talking and doing things.”

Brooks is an Oscar-nominee for his work in hits such as “Broadcast News” and “Drive.” He has also written and directed such classics as “Modern Romance” and “Lost in America.”

Reiner talked to Variety in advance of the Cannes Film Festival where he is screening “This Spinal Tap,...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Fatal Attraction (1987)The next season of Karina Longsworth's podcast You Must Remember This will focus on the thorny and sumptuous erotic films of the 1980s and 1990s, including films by Adrian Lyne, Brian De Palma, and Stanley Kubrick. The two-part season will start on April 5. Ahead of its theatrical release, the long-delayed Top Gun: Maverick will play at a special screening in Cannes for the 75th edition of the festival in May. This year's Cannes Film Festival also has a new official partner: TikTok. The partnership will include exclusive festival-related content for users and an in-app competition called #TikTokShortFilm. James Morosini's I Love My Dad and Rosa Ruth Boesten's documentary Master of Light lead this year's SXSW Film Festival awards. Actor William Hurt has died at the age of 71. Hurt was known...

William Hurt, who died on March 13 at age 71, will be remembered for some remarkable performances over the years. A gay South American prisoner in the 1985 groundbreaking drama “Kiss of the Spider Woman” (for which he won an Oscar for Best Actor). A speech teacher who falls in love with a deaf janitor in 1986’s “Children of a Lesser God” (for which he was nominated for Best Actor). An in-over-his-head anchorman in James L. Brook’s 1987 comedy “Broadcast News” (another Oscar nom).

“Altered States,” “Body Heat”, “The Big Chill,” “A History of Violence” — the list goes on and on.

But I didn’t meet Hurt on any of those great film sets. Instead, I got to watch him agonize over his acting choices in a picture that won’t make anybody’s best-of lists, least of all his own. That would be 1998’s “Lost in Space,” a big-budget, big-screen adaptation of...

Actor William Hurt, who won an Oscar for "Kiss of the Spiderwoman" and played ‘Eddie Jessup’ in director Ken Russell’s psychedelic feature “Altered States” has died:

Hurt made his film debut in 1980 as a troubled scientist in Ken Russell's “Altered States".

In 1981 he played a lawyer who gets involved with a scheming married woman played by Kathleen Turner in "Body Heat".

Other notable performances include "Broadcast News" and "Lost In Space".

In the 'Marvel Cinematic Universe', Hurt played 'General Thunderbolt Ross' in the features "The Incredible Hulk" (2008), "Captain America: Civil War" (2016), "Avengers: Infinity War" (2018), "Avengers: Endgame" (2019) and "Black Widow" (2020).

Click the images to enlarge…...

Acclaimed American stage and screen actor who starred in Body Heat, Broadcast News and Children of a Lesser God

As the blockbuster continued its unstoppable ascent in the 1980s, an antidote of sorts could be found in many of the films of the actor William Hurt, who has died aged 71 of cancer. With his floppy blond hair, high forehead and droll, methodical voice, he exhibited a cerebral presence and an enviable range. He could seem erudite, threatening or suave, though he was at his most interesting playing men who were demonstrably less intelligent than he was.

These included a dim-witted but charismatic TV anchor in Broadcast News (1987) and a brutish gangster hunting his own brother in A History of Violence (2005).

William Hurt, the award-winning actor best known for a slew of 1980s prestige projects like “The Big Chill,” “Body Heat,” and “Broadcast News,” and a side player in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, died on Sunday at the age of 71.

He won the Oscar for Best Actor for “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and received two other nominations in that category for “Children of the Lesser God” and “Broadcast News,” and a later Best Supporting Actor nod for “A History of Violence.” The cause of death was complications from pancreatic cancer.

The Juilliard graduate, who worked in New York theater before making his first substantial film in 1980, “Altered States,” had a career most performers can only dream about, and as such worked with nearly every big name in Hollywood. Many took to social media after news spread of his passing.

Mark Ruffalo, who worked with Hurt on “The Incredible Hulk” and other Marvel projects,...

The Power of the Dog walked away a big winner at the Critics Choice Awards for movies while Ted Lasso scored big for TV.

“The Power of the Dog led the winners in the film categories, earning four awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for Jane Campion, and Best Cinematography for Ari Wegner. Belfast and Dune followed closely behind in the trophy count with three awards each. In the series categories, Ted Lasso took home four trophies, winning Best Comedy Series, Best Actor in a Comedy Series for Jason Sudeikis, Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Hannah Waddingham, and Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for Brett Goldstein.”

Read more about the Critics Choice Awards here

Oscar-winning actor and MCU regular William Hurt has passed away at the age of 71.

“Veteran actor William Hurt has passed away at 71 after a long battle with prostate cancer.