News

Rhobh and Buying Beverly Hills star Mauricio Umansky is in hot water over a massive Ppp loan. The estranged husband of Kyle Richards has a very successful real estate firm, The Agency. More so, The Wall Street Journal has him billed as the #1 Top-Producing Real Estate Agent in California. So, what would cause him to feel the need to obtain a loan? Keep reading for more details.

Mauricio Umansky In Hot Water Over Massive Ppp Loan

Since Mauricio Umansky left his brother-in-law, Rick Hilton’s real estate agency, he has emerged as one of the best. The Agency just kept growing and now has over 115 offices in 12+ countries. Kyle Richards would constantly praise Mauricio for how far he came and the dedication he put into his work. Netflix recognized this and Buying Beverly Hills was born. It showed Mauricio as a businessman as well as his personal life. He now...

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Although it might seem difficult to believe, there was a time – not very long ago, in fact – when zombies weren’t the mainstream icons they are today. Horror fans have always loved the undead, of course, but it wasn’t until the back-to-back release of “28 Days Later” and “Resident Evil” in 2002, followed by Zack Snyder’s “Dawn of the Dead” remake in 2004 and “The Walking Dead” TV series in 2010, that zombies truly crossed over to become ubiquitous pop culture favorites. And with Snyder’s “Army of the Dead” arriving in Netflix on May 21, their popularity is only likely to increase

Today, zombies are much more than just a beloved category of movie...

Sixty-five years later the classic from Ealing Studios is still subversive, hilarious and distinctly English

It hardly makes sense to think of it as a rerelease, as the 1955 crime caper classic from Ealing Studios is perennially being revisited on screen, and in “Best Of” lists and there have been a number of adaptations, chiefly a middling but well-intentioned remake from the Coen brothers in 2004 featuring Tom Hanks as the mastermind professor first played by Alec Guinness.

The original – now getting a 4K restoration – is subversive, hilarious and as English as Elgar. That’s despite being written by the expatriate American William Rose and directed by American-born Alexander Mackendrick. Both bring a street-smart American snap to the movie, but with an exquisitely English sensibility: a mixture of cynicism with guileless innocence. The comedy works because it is as superbly constructed as a deadly-serious noir thriller – there are weirdly distinct echoes of...

Film Movement, a self-described “film service” that traffics in esoteric theatrical and home video product has released two notable examples of post-war British comedy with Whisky Galore! and The Maggie – both are seafaring satires directed by Alexander Mackendrick featuring some of Ealing Studio’s most memorable players.

Whiskey Galore!/The Maggie

Blu ray

Film Movement

1949, 1954 / 1:33:1 / 82 min., 92 min.

Starring Joan Greenwood, Paul Douglas

Cinematography by Gerald Gibbs, Gordon Dines

Directed by Alexander Mackendrick

The men and women of Ealing emerged from the second World War with their cheerful cynicism intact and more than ready to take a bite out of the hand what fed them – from Passport to Pimlico to Kind Hearts and Coronets those artists happily took potshots at the class systems they had fought so hard to defend. Though these satires had teeth (Kind Hearts was especially lethal), romance was never far away – it’s no wonder...

This article marks Part 3 of the Gold Derby series reflecting on films that contended for the Big Five Oscars – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay (Original or Adapted). With “A Star Is Born” this year on the cusp of joining this exclusive group of Oscar favorites, join us as we look back at the 43 extraordinary pictures that earned Academy Awards nominations in each of the Big Five categories, including the following 11 films that scored a pair of prizes among the top races.

At the 4th Academy Awards ceremony, “Cimarron” (1931) made Oscar history as the first motion picture to ever score nominations in the Big Five categories. On the big night, the western took home the top prize in Best Picture, as well as the Oscar in Best Adapted Screenplay (Howard Estabrook). Not as successful were the picture’s director, Wesley Ruggles, topped by Norman Taurog (“Skippy”), and the leads,...

This article marks Part 1 of the Gold Derby series reflecting on films that contended for the Big Five Oscars – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay (Original or Adapted). With “A Star Is Born” this year on the cusp of joining this exclusive group of Oscar favorites, join us as we look back at the 43 extraordinary pictures that earned Academy Awards nominations in each of the Big Five categories beginning with the eight that were shut out of these top races.

At the 31st Academy Awards ceremony, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (1958) was well-positioned for Oscar glory. Critically acclaimed and commercially successful, the film adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ play was up in six categories, including the Big Five, plus Best Cinematography.

Instead of emerging victorious, however, the film found itself steamrolled over. It would lose Best Picture and Best Director (Richard Brooks) to the musical “Gigi” and its filmmaker,...

Fifty years ago, the 40th Academy Awards proved to be a watershed moment. The five Best Picture nominees — and eventual winner — all echoed the changing, turbulent times, not just in cinema but society, underscored by a tragedy that occurred the week before: Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination.

King’s April 4, 1968, assassination delayed the Oscars by two days, to April 10, and Gregory Peck, then-academy president, opened the show with remarks about the late civil rights activist and his impact.

“Society has always been reflected in its art and one measure of Dr. King’s influence on the society we live in is that of the five films nominated for Best Picture of the year, two dealt with subject of understanding between the races,” Peck said.

Those two films also both starred the No. 1 box office champ of the year, the first black Best Actor Oscar winner, Sidney Poitier (1963’s “Lilies of the Field...

Oscar-winning screen legends Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy — in his final film role — star in the classic comedy-drama Guess Who’S Coming To Dinner, which shattered on-screen taboos exactly 50 years ago, and returns to movie theaters nationwide for two days only on December 10 and 13 to celebrate its golden anniversary.

It’s the final film in Fathom Events’ 2017 TCM Big Screen Classics Series. (Look for details on the 2018 series to be announced soon!) Tickets are available now.

Guess Who’S Coming To Dinner will play in more than 750 theaters nationwide on Sunday, December 10, and Wednesday, December 13 only, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. each day. Before and after the film, TCM host Tiffany Vazquez will present commentary about this groundbreaking classic, which is filled with dazzling dialogue, perfect performances and a remarkable mid-century style. Still as riveting, thought-provoking and thoroughly entertaining as the day it was released (exactly 50 years ago,...

Stars: Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Ethel Merman, Jimmy Durante, Buddy Hackett, Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn, Phil Silvers, Terry-Thomas, Jonathan Winters | Written by William Rose, Tania Rose | Directed by Stanley Kramer

If you are a fan of comedy films, you’ll already know that It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is one of the greatest ones ever brought to the silver screen. Including most of the biggest names in comedy, it quite simply is a film that could never happen again. Now the Criterion Collection release has come to the UK and it is well worth buying.

When Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante) has a high-speed crash, a group of drivers who come to his aid find him close to death. Before he literally kicks the bucket, he shares with them the location of a $350,000 treasure, leading to a frantic race to be first to the prize. One thing they...

“That’S The Glory Of Love”

By Raymond Benson

“You’ve got to live a little, take a little, and let your poor heart break a little—that’s the story of, that’s the glory of love.”

The popular opening song by Billy Hill and sung by Jacqueline Fontaine, “The Glory of Love,” sets the tone for this classic, delightful motion picture that addressed a social issue at the time that we take for granted today—interracial marriage. Hey, in 1967, this was a hot topic. The Supreme Court had decided the Loving vs. Virginia case, which prohibited states from criminalizing interracial marriage, only six months prior to the film’s release (and that legal battle is dramatized in the film Loving, currently in cinemas). Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner was indeed timely, certainly controversial in more conservative areas of the country, and a powerful statement about tolerance and the rights of American citizens.

Alexander Mackendrick’s final film for Britain’s Ealing Studios is one of its most celebrated comedies as well as a pivotal film for an embryonic Peter Sellers, thrilled to be working with his idol Alec Guinness. Sellers later emulated Guinness by taking on numerous multi-character assignments. The macabrely witty (Oscar-nominated) script is a virtual catalog of post-war English manners and traditions, yet it was penned by an American, William Rose (it’s a Mad, etc. World). Sellers and costar Herbert Lom later teamed for the Pink Panther series. Remade in 2004 with the locale switched from London to Biloxi, Mississippi.

Fly over the moon. Sing in the rain. Fasten your seatbelts. Make an offer no one can refuse. See classic movies on the big screen!

Gene Kelly will sing in the rain, Bette Davis will fasten her seatbelt for a bumpy night, Marlon Brando will make an offer no one can refuse, Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint will scurry across Mount Rushmore, and Elliott and E.T. will fly over the moon – and they’ll do it all on the silver screen in 2017. Today, Fathom Events and TCM announce their continuing partnership to bring monthly screenings of their “TCM Big Screen Classics” series to movie theaters nationwide throughout the year.

For the second consecutive year, “TCM Big Screen Classics” offers film fans an amazing journey into the magic of movies year-round. Beginning in January, the series presents one or more films each month in movie theaters – all accompanied by specially...

Coleen Gray in 'The Sleeping City' with Richard Conte. Coleen Gray after Fox: B Westerns and films noirs (See previous post: “Coleen Gray Actress: From Red River to Film Noir 'Good Girls'.”) Regarding the demise of her Fox career (the year after her divorce from Rod Amateau), Coleen Gray would recall for Confessions of a Scream Queen author Matt Beckoff: I thought that was the end of the world and that I was a total failure. I was a mass of insecurity and depended on agents. … Whether it was an 'A' picture or a 'B' picture didn't bother me. It could be a Western movie, a sci-fi film. A job was a job. You did the best with the script that you had. Fox had dropped Gray at a time of dramatic upheavals in the American film industry: fast-dwindling box office receipts as a result of competition from television,...

Like many of Stanley Kramer’s once incredibly topical titles, the iconic Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? seems incredibly dated by today’s standards, even if the subject matter and representation of ‘interracial’ relationships and everything that antiseptic terminology implies hasn’t quite progressed as much as one would hope since this film thundered into cinemas in 1967. Sandwiched between two lesser beloved titles in his filmography, Ship of Fools (1965) and The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969), this was Kramer’s third Oscar nod as Best Director and the last great hurrah (he’d direct a handful of other features throughout the next decade, and a 1975 television pilot version of this film).

Successful San Francisco newspaper owner Matt Drayton (Spencer Tracy) and his liberal minded wife (Katharine Hepburn) are about to have their progressive viewpoints challenged when their white daughter Christina (Katharine Houghton) brings home her fiancé of one week, a black,...

Teresa Wright-Samuel Goldwyn association comes to a nasty end (See preceding post: "Teresa Wright in 'Shadow of a Doubt': Alfred Hitchcock Heroine in His Favorite Film.") Whether or not because she was aware that Enchantment wasn't going to be the hit she needed – or perhaps some other disagreement with Samuel Goldwyn or personal issue with husband Niven Busch – Teresa Wright, claiming illness, refused to go to New York City to promote the film. (Top image: Teresa Wright in a publicity shot for The Men.) Goldwyn had previously announced that Wright, whose contract still had another four and half years to run, was to star in a film version of J.D. Salinger's 1948 short story "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut." Instead, he unceremoniously – and quite publicly – fired her.[1] The Goldwyn organization issued a statement, explaining that besides refusing the assignment to travel to New York to help generate pre-opening publicity for Enchantment,...

The thought of snapping your fingers to the tunes of your favorite fictional bands in film seems rather unreal. After all these movie music-makers seem like the “reel” deal in terms of their celluloid artistry and sense of colorful on-screen showmanship.

However, some of the fictional bands or musical acts we know very well and consider so fondly actually morph into real-life acts. Also, there are real-life bands that share a “fictionalized existence” on screen as well (for instance one can try and divide the musical phenomenon of The Beatles as treasured pop cultural entities from the mop top maniacs they portrayed on the big screen in A Hard’s Day Night or Help. Some may argue they were the one in the same in front of and away from the rolling cameras).

Whatever your definition of what constitutes a favorable fictional band in film at the present moment just...

It was the final big American film and TV awards ceremony before the Oscars, and the one most likely to indicate who will be going home with Academy awards in a month’s time. Find out if Hollywood’s most celebrated actors perfect their speeches ... or losers’ faces

Screen Actors Guild awards 2015: the winners in pictures

10.09pm Et

A quick-fire night then with a couple of surprises thrown in, mostly in TV.

Uzo Aduba started the evening by winning best female actor in a comedy series for her work in Orange is the New Black, which follows the Globes giving their equivalent to Gina Rodriguez.

9.56pm Et

Costner is back and… well… that’s it.

9.55pm Et

Naomi Watts on the other hand is clearly very happy to be there. Zach Galifianakis takes the piss out of Julianne Moore’s “When I was on As the World Turns” moment,...

Cast

Captain T. G. Culpeper Spencer Tracy J. Russell Finch Milton Berle Melville Crump Sid Caesar Benjy Benjamin Buddy Hackett Mrs. Marcus Ethel Merman Ding Bell Mickey Rooney Sylvester Marcus Dick Shawn Otto Meyer Phil Silvers J. Algernon Hawthorne Terry-Thomas Lennie Pike Jonathan Winters Monica Crump Edie Adams Emeline Finch Dorothy Provine Cabdriver Eddie “Rochester” Anderson Tyler Fitzgerald Jim Backus Man driving in the desert Jack Benny Union official Joe E. Brown Biplane pilot Ben Blue Police sergeant Alan Carney Detective Chick Chandler Mrs. Halliburton Barrie Chase Mayor Lloyd Corrigan Police chief William Demarest Sheriff of Crocket County Andy Devine Ginger Culpeper (voice) Selma Diamond Cabdriver Peter Falk Detective Normal Fell Colonel Wilberforce Paul Ford Deputy sheriff Stan Freberg Billie Sue Culpeper (voice) Louise Glenn Cabdriver Leo Gorcey Fire chief Sterling Holloway Mr. Dinckler Edward Everett Horton Irwin Marvin Kaplan Jimmy the Cook Buster Keaton Nervous motorist Don Knotts Airport...

Universal Pictures

It’s the most wonderful time of the year (again), and as usual it’s getting to those last few weeks before the big day when creative ideas and planning make way for frantic grabs at whatever is left on the shelves after the Black Friday zombie hordes have cleared everything out.

But fear not: because the best of Christmas is watching movies, re-watching old TV specials and trying hard to forget that George Lucas ever decided that anyone wanted a Star Wars Christmas show, there’ll always be a helping hand round these parts for those who want it.

So if you’re buying for a difficult brother, a picky sister or just for the film, gaming or TV fan in your life, what follows is a compendium of the finest gift ideas for this year’s festivities, as usual there are massive opportunities to win most of what has been included…...

NUVOtv, the premier English-language destination for Latino entertainment, will debut the official film selections for Nuvo Point of View: The Emerging Latino Filmmakers its showcase on Saturday, November 15 at a screening held in conjunction with the NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (Nfmla) film festival at the At&T Center in Los Angeles.

In addition, the televised special by the same name will include exclusive interviews with the filmmakers and host Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin, "Filly Brown"), and will air on Thursday, December 4 at 8pm Et/Pt. Actor and SAG-aftra Board Member Jon Huertas (Castle, "The Objective") will also lend his support to the premiere event as one of the evening’s program presenters.

“We are extremely proud to present this exciting collection of films that showcase the work of some of the nation’s most talented aspiring Latino writers, directors and producers,” said Lynnette Ramirez, Svp of Programming, NUVOtv. “This programming will give audiences an intimate look at what drives each filmmaker’s creative process.”

Nuvo Point of View: The Emerging Latino Filmmakers was inspired by the creative vision of Jennifer Lopez and Nuyorican Productions to feature the top talented Latino screenwriters, producers and directors and is now presenting its third showcase since debuting in March of this year. Over 900 films have been submitted for the showcase to date and returning film jury members Gregory Nava, Frida Torresblanco and Michael Olmos were heavily involved in the selection process of the final four films.

Features Category:

"Avenues" (88 minutes) tells the story of Saul Sanchez who returns home to the rough Northeast Los Angeles neighborhood of Highland Park, also known as The Avenues, after serving a decade-long prison sentence. His hopes are in connecting with his daughter, whom he has never met. The film is both written and directed by Aaref Rodriguez and was shot in Los Angeles.

Shorts Category:

"Luna" (12 minutes), another Los Angeles production, presents a dramatic storyline with a young girl witnessing the murder of her family by a mysterious killer. Now she must try to survive before the killer finds her. Antonio Perez served as writer, producer and director.

"Meditation" (14 minutes) is the third film shot in Los Angeles and tells the story of a divorce mediation that spirals out of control for a husband, his soon-to-be ex-wife and their court-appointed mediator. The film was written and directed by Francisco Lorite, and produced by Bill Winett and Freddy Rodríguez.

"How You Doin’ Boy?" (4 minutes) is a character-driven hybrid short about the pint-sized elderly Latino “Gran'pa” who leaves a series of humorous unanswered voicemails for his grandson “Davy.” William D. Caballero served as writer, producer and director. The film was shot in New Jersey.

The deadline for submissions for the network’s fourth film showcase, which will air in Q4 of 2015, is July 1, 2015. Go to mynuvotv.com for more info.

About NUVOtv

NUVOtv (www.myNUVOtv.com) is the premier English-language destination for Latino entertainment, embodying the spirit, energy and richness of modern Latino culture. Providing original entertainment and lifestyle programming, NUVOtv is available in more than 32 million homes nationwide with major distribution partners: At&T U-verse, Comcast, Cox, Dish Network, Time Warner Cable and Verizon Fios. The network is widely available in all top Hispanic DMAs and most major U.S. markets including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Chicago and New York. Iconic superstar and powerhouse entrepreneur, Jennifer Lopez serves as NUVOtv’s Chief Creative Officer collaborating closely with the network on programming strategy, production and marketing.

By Lee Pfeiffer 

Twilight Time has released Stanley Kramer's 1969 WWII era comedy "The Secret of Santa Vittoria" as a limited edition (3,000 units) Blu-ray. I hadn't seen the film since it was originally released and only had vague recollections of it. Watching it today, I found the movie to be an absolute delight thanks to a terrific script by Ben Maddow and William Rose (the latter co-wrote Kramer's "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World") and a sterling cast. The film is set in 1943 in the small Italian village of Santa Vittoria. The story opens with a young university studio, Fabio (Giancarlo Giannini in one of his first major roles) who hurries to his native town to breathtakingly inform the residents that Mussolini has just been deposed. The announcement is met with a collective yawn by the townspeople, who have remained largely immune from the effects of the war and their dictator's fascist police state.

We have seen the future and it is black, jack.

Because if it’s not bad enough that the Outlander midseason finale leave its heroine bent over a table with her skirts around her ears and a blade pressed to some very sensitive bits, we now have to wait seven months to see how everything resolves!

Good thing the Starz drama gives us plenty to think about in the interim. Chiefly: Who among us — particularly among those with well-worn copies of Diana Gabaldon’s novel — would’ve thought it possible to feel so much sympathy for Frank, Claire’s abandoned-in-the-future husband?...

Huntington Theatre Company welcomes Julia Duffy, Tony Award winner Adriane Lenox, and Boston favorite Will Lyman alongside Malcolm-Jamal Warner in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, the opening production of the 2014 Best of Boston's 33rd season. Adapted for the stage from the William Rose's Academy Award-winning screenplay by Todd Kreidler Holler If Ya Hear Me on Broadway, August Wilson's longtime dramaturg and directed by David Esbjornson All My Sons at the Huntington and Driving Miss Daisy on Broadway, this funny and poignant stage adaptation of the award-winning 1967 film opens tomorrow, September 10. Click below to go behind the scenes with the cast and creative team, plus watch an invite from Warner to see the show...

Huntington Theatre Company welcomes Julia Duffy, Tony Award winner Adriane Lenox, and Boston favorite Will Lyman alongside Malcolm-Jamal Warner in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, the opening production of the 2014 Best of Boston's 33rd season. Adapted for the stage from the William Rose's Academy Award-winning screenplay by Todd Kreidler Holler If Ya Hear Me on Broadway, August Wilson's longtime dramaturg and directed by David Esbjornson All My Sons at the Huntington and Driving Miss Daisy on Broadway, this funny and poignant stage adaptation of the award-winning 1967 film began on September 5. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast onstage below...

We return with another edition of the Indie Spotlight, highlighting recent independent horror news sent our way. Today’s feature includes photos from Utero, The Last Halloween, and Phantasmagoria, release details on The Horror at 37,000 Feet starring William Shatner, casting news for The Divine Tragedies, and much more:

First Details on Utero: “Writer/Director Bryan Coyne’s (Harvard Park and Incarnate) new film Utero started production this week in Los Angeles.

Independently financed by Coinopflix, the movie stars Jessica Cameron who is also producing along with her Truth or Dare partner, Jonathan Higgins. Former Platinum Studios Exec (Cowboys and Aliens, Dylan Dog: Dead Of Night) Richard Marincic also serves as a producer on the film.

Utero is about “an agoraphobic unwed mother who finds her psyche unraveling as she becomes convinced that her unborn child is more monster than human.”

Cameron’s latest film Truth or Dare, is playing...

The past few days hase seen my inbox fill up with all sorts of Indie Beat stories and that's a great thing! So today, I've rounded them all up into one convenient spot for you to enjoy. So come inside to check out some movie trailers, posters, release dates, and more from the world of independent film!

Here at Cinelinx we like to talk about all aspects of filmmaking and movie news. To that end, we have Indie Beat where we highlight some of the latest news, trailers, and PR releases from the indie filmmaker scene. So if you're an independent filmmaker and want some coverage on our site, be sure to drop us a line at jordan@cinelinx.com .

* The first official trailer for the Danish zombie apocalypse movie, Escaping the Dead, has been released.

The film has its starting point in a typical day for the lead character,...

Outside of Martin Scorsese, there are very few clean slates in Hollywood – and even He has Bringing Out The Dead blotting his copybook (discuss…). The Coen brothers though, have created an unbroken conga-line of stunningly original movies, mixing and mastering genres, and even creating new ones.

If there was a bump in the road in 1994 time, it seems, has since been kind to The Hudsucker Proxy. A bigger budget (courtesy of ’80s alpha-producer Joel Silver) and an initially unresponsive family audience had it labelled as the Coen’s first flop, but watched now its pleasures are myriad and unmistakably Coenesque (including a great, late-vintage performance from Paul Newman).

The Coens announced themselves to the world in 1984 with the instant neo-noir classic, Blood Simple. Now, just mull the following subsequent film titles over in your mind like a mouthful of Chateau Petrus. Raising Arizona, Miller’s Crossing, Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy,...

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater presents Guess Who's Coming to Dinner starring Malcolm-Jamal Warner The Cosby Show, Malcolm and Eddie in his Washington, D.C. theatrical debut as Dr. John Prentice. Under the direction of David Esbjornson Broadway's Driving Miss Daisy and Arena's Red Hot Patriot starring Kathleen Turner, this heart-warming comedy features many of the same actors who appeared in the world premiere of the play by True Colors TheatreCompany in July 2012.The play is adapted from William Rose's screenplay for the 1967 film of the same name starring Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburnand Spencer Tracy about a young white woman in the 1960s introducing her family to her charming, accomplished and African-American fiance. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner runs November 29, 2013-January 5, 2014 in the Fichandler Stage. BroadwayWorld has a first look below...

You want funny? We got funny! From Airplane to Duck Soup, here are the Guardian and Observer critics' pick of the 10 best rib-ticklers

• Top 10 romantic movies

• Top 10 action movies

Peter Bradshaw on comedy

Notionally, one of the most loved of genres, comedy persistently finds that it is somehow ineligible for greatness. Comedies rarely get Oscars. Charlie Chaplin, the great comic, was one of cinema's first international superstars. Keaton, the Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy produced sublime gems of film-making, arguably cherished more now than at the time. Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot is one of the most loved films of all time, with a miraculously light touch and a glorious romantic chemistry between Curtis, Lemmon and Monroe. In Hollywood, the screwball tradition came to be supplanted in public taste by Woody Allen, whose DNA can be traced through the cerebral creations of Charlie Kaufman.

Recently, Hollywood comedy...

Above: 1968 Hans Hillmann poster for Shadows (John Cassavetes, USA, 1959).

There is an exhibition of the great German graphic designer Hans Hillmann currently running at the Museum Folkwang in Essen, Germany. Devoted entirely to Hillmann’s film posters from 1952 to 1974, the show, called The Title is Continued in the Picture, runs through the 1st of September and I’m sorry that I didn’t know about it sooner. But for those of us who can’t make it to the Ruhr in the next three weeks, the website Kunst + Film has posted a wonderful, almost-as-good-as-being-there video of the show.

The revelation of the video for me is the size of that Seven Samurai poster. Where most of Hillmann’s film posters are 33" x 23" (slightly smaller than a Us one-sheet), and the Cassavetes above is only 16.5" x 23", that glorious Seven Samurai is 93" x 132", or 11 feet wide.

While many of Hillmann’s witty,...

He may have a little one at home now, but this new dad's still got game. Guess who! Diaper duty aside, here are five things you might have missed: 5. The Happiest Couple of the Weekend How #adorable! Kevin Zegers married longtime love Jaime Feld on Saturday in what was certainly the highlight of what he described on Twitter as a "#lifechangingweek." On the guest list for the New Jersey affair? Just 250 of their closest family and friends. Send your congrats to the bride and groom! 4. As If You Needed Another Reason to Envy Jennifer AnistonIf you skipped your beauty routine this weekend,...

The 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival continues to expand, with newly added appearances by legendary stars at screenings of some of their most memorable films, including Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters, Marvin Kaplan, Barrie Chase, Polly Bergen,Coleen Gray, Theodore Bikel and Norman Lloyd, as well as producer Stanley Rubin, Clara Bow biographer David Stenn, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) film collections manager Katie Trainor and director Nicholas Ray’s widow, Susan Ray. In addition, TCM’s Essentials Jr. host and Saturday Night Live star Bill Hader will present screenings of Shane (1953) and The Ladykillers(1955).

And The Film Forum’s Bruce Goldstein will present a special screening of Frank Capra’s The Donovan Affair (1929), complete with live voice actors and sound effects to replace the film’s long-lost soundtrack.Mel Brooks is slated to talk about his comedy The Twelve Chairs (1970). Carl Reiner, Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters, Marvin Kaplan...

Kate Middleton is 31! The Duchess of Cambridge (with a baby bump on the way) is celebrated the big day today after a whirlwind of a year. Since being separate from Prince William on New Year's the two will now share in the big day together at their rented North Wales home. But before they know it, Kate will be enjoying her next birthday with an adorable addition to the family! From Prince Harry coverage, to Kate announcing she's pregnant, and sadder news, here's how Kate's past year has been being a part of the royal family. 

1. Kate and William celebrated their first wedding anniversary

2. Rumors swirled that Prince Harry began to date Chelsea Davy again

3. News surfaced on why William took his time before proposing

4. Justin Bieber had a word to say about William's hair 

5. Prince Harry got in trouble with some nude photos

6. And the details kept on...

For moviegoers growing up in the last 20-30 years, big is the new normal. I’m talking about those big-budget, over-produced, effects/action-packed extravaganzas that are as expected and routine an arrival as a commuter bus, and never more so than during the summer months. Come a rise in temperatures, there’s an almost ceaseless parade of these megabuck behemoths through multiplexes starting in May and continuing until the kids go back to school, one rolling out almost every week.

Consider these May-August releases and their eye-popping price tags:

5/4: Marvel’s The Avengers — $220 million

5/11: Dark Shadows — $150 million

5/18: Battleship — $209 million

5/25: Men in Black 3 — $250 million

6/8: Prometheus — $120-130 million

7/3: The Amazing Spider-Man — $220 million

7/20: The Dark Knight Rises — $250 million

7/31: Total Recall — $200 million

8/5: The Expendables 2 — $100 million

For those of you who haven’t been keeping count, that’s a little over $1.7 billion in productions...

The French gave us the word “demimonde” – literally, half the world. But what it has come to mean in English, or so says Webster, is “a distinct circle or world that is often an isolated part of a larger world.”

Storytellers have always held a fascination with the dark side of human nature; that part of the psyche which is normally restrained and leashed, taught to be obedient, held in check – as Conrad wrote in Heart of Darkness – by the reproving looks of our neighbors. After all, what was Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde but a probing of that other, id-driven half and the entrancing appeal of doing what one wants instead of what one should.

Film is no different than literature, and from its beginning the movies have produced a rich vein of stories about society’s fringe dwellers, those who operate by necessity,...

Alexander Mackendrick’s final film for Britain’s Ealing Studios is one of its most celebrated comedies as well as a pivotal film for an embryonic Peter Sellers, thrilled to be working with his idol Alec Guinness. Sellers later emulated Guinness by taking on numerous multi-character assignments. The macabrely witty (Oscar-nominated) script is a virtual catalog of post-war English manners and traditions, yet it was penned by an American, William Rose (it’s a Mad, etc. World). Sellers and costar Herbert Lom later teamed for the Pink Panther series. Remade in 2004 with the locale switched from London to Biloxi, Mississippi.

I'm something of a trollop when it comes to TV viewing, hopping into and out of bed with any show that tickles my fancy, getting my giggles here and my drama there and my love and whimsy and gravitas every other elsewhere. I'm insatiable. Unable to be wholly pleased. Or at least I was until Downton Abbey's first season made its way across the pond and into my heart forever. Yes, I said forever. Extravagant English settings, delicious Edwardian costumes, sumptuous intrigue, blossoming romance, immortal zingers from Dame Maggie Smith, Michelle Dockery's face. Entail schmentail! I was ready for marriage!

Last night season two premiered on American television, and still I am ready for marriage. Me to Downton Abbey. Lady Mary to Matthew. But oh ho, no! Not so quick! Two years have passed since the Archduke Franz Ferdinand fell victim to the Black Hand and Cora Crawley fell victim to Ms.

How do you adapt classic film The Ladykillers for the stage? First, blow the whole thing up

The story of The Ladykillers came to screenwriter William Rose in a dream. Four criminals planning a robbery hole up in an old lady's house, deciding to kill her when she discovers their secret. Unable to do the deed, however, some of them end up killing each other, and all of them end up dead. Rose woke his wife, Tania, gabbled the story to her – and immediately fell asleep again. She, thankfully for him and all of us, flew from their bed and typed the whole thing out before it had a chance to go cold. The next morning, she told the story to her husband, and he listened amazed, as if hearing it for the first time.

Fittingly, the classic 1955 film has a dreamlike, flowing quality, but with a robust logic that...

In the latest instalment of our writers' favourite film series, and ahead of the opening night of Graham Linehan's stage version, Catherine Shoard falls for the warm wit of Ealing Studios' 1955 comedy about dark deeds and a not-so-doddery old dear

Is this a miscarriage of justice? Write your own review here – or target your reforming zeal below the line

Three Christmases ago, the Guardian moved from Farringdon Road to a patch of regenerating edgeland north-east of Kings Cross. And, ever since, there's been an unbeatable new boon to working here: you're never more than a hop or a skip from where they shot The Ladykillers.

Alexander Mackendrick's 1955 comedy is Ealing's neatest, and its trippiest; the product of lurid new colour stock (including some alarming back-projection) and a hallucinatory premise. The plot – five faintly spivvy crims, headed up by a bafflingly dastardly Alec Guinness, get an old lady...

Now more than 50 years old, Ealing comedy The Ladykillers is one of Britain's best-loved films. So how will Graham Linehan, writer of The It Crowd and Father Ted, rework it for the theatre?

In the vaulting back room of a church off Islington's Upper Street in north London, five bad bogus men are plotting to bump off a little old lady. It is a hugely ambitious undertaking. Not only is The Ladykillers one of Britain's best-loved films, but the cast of the 1955 production – Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom and Danny Green – did include one or two actors that modern film programmes like to wrongly refer to as "legends", even if (pedantry aside) you know what they mean.

But this won't be a film; it's a stage version. And it's far from a knock-off of the film. The story's pretty much the same, of course – criminals posing as...

There was a time when Hollywood challenged the smugness of its audiences. Not any more

It's a hard time to be a stereotypical southern racist in America. They've elected a black president; the racist thug put to death in Texas for a particularly grisly hate crime had his thunder stolen by the more controversial execution of a black Troy Davis on the same day (the final insult for a white supremacist); and the whole of your nation is demonstrating their indignation at your racist ways by going in droves to see The Help at the local cinema.

The story that has so captured America's heart – to the tune of 156m box-office dollars – is set in 1960s Mississippi and focuses on the heroic actions of liberal-leaning Southern belle Miss Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan. Recently graduated from university, Skeeter should be hunting for a husband, but instead selflessly devotes her time to writing...

Fugazi's Steady Diet of Nothing and the Jesus Lizard's Goat join list of great albums celebrating their 20th anniversary.

By James Montgomery

Fugazi's <i>Steady Diet of Nothing</i>

Photo: Dischord Records

With the 20th anniversary of Nirvana's massive Nevermind just a few short weeks away, much attention is being paid to rock's last great era: 1991, a year that was overflowing with important, iconic (and, in some cases, overlooked) albums from bands both big and small. In a lot of ways, it was the year rock truly rocked, and so, to celebrate that fact, MTV News has been asking some of today's biggest acts to remember their favorites form that truly epic year.

So far, we've looked back at Metallica's Black Album, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Dinosaur Jr.'s Green Mind, My Bloody Valentine's Loveless, Slint's Spiderland, Pearl Jam's Ten and Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger. Today,...

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Alec Guinness classic crime caper re-cast as stage play in Liverpool by Father Ted and It Crowd writer Graham Linehan

It might be about criminals exploiting a sweet old lady so they can rob a bank, but The Ladykillers is regularly named as one of the nation's favourite comedy films. Now the Ealing classic is to be brought to the stage in a new version written by Father Ted and The It Crowd writer Graham Linehan.

Producers will announce that the memorably dark and stylish 1955 film is being adapted for the stage, with Peter Capaldi in the role of the charming but sinister gang leader Professor Marcus, played first by Alec Guinness.

The stage play will be very much Linehan's version. "I wanted the film to haunt the play rather than it be a transcription," he said.

There will also be more laughs. Linehan had been asked by producers if...

Alec Guinness seedy gang classic to become stage play, written by Father Ted author Graham Linehan

It might be about gangsters exploiting a sweet old lady to commit an ugly armed robbery, but The Ladykillers is regularly named as one of the nation's favourite comedy films. Now the Ealing classic is to be brought to the stage for the first time in a new version written by Father Ted and The It Crowd writer Graham Linehan.

Producers will announce that the memorably dark and stylish 1955 film is being adapted for the stage, with Peter Capaldi taking on the role of the charming but utterly sinister gang leader Professor Marcus, played originally by Alec Guinness.

The stage play will be very much Linehan's version. "I wanted the film to haunt the play rather than it be a transcription," he said.

There will also be more laughs. He had been asked by...

Prince Harry took a casual lap around the polo fields in Berkshire, England, on Saturday prior to playing in the Audio Polo Tournament held at Coworth Park. The youngest prince is still in the UK since taking a break from his military duties to attend his brother William's royal wedding. Harry was spotted chatting with Charlize Theron during the outing, though he reportedly spent Kate and William's big night in the company of off-and-on girlfriend Chelsea Davy. William and the rest of his family are going back to their day-to-day activities with Kate Middleton settling into life as a duchess by taking casual trips to the grocery store and Princess Beatrice enjoying casual date nights with her boyfriend. Life as a royal has its downside, though; yesterday a serious threat was made against Harry's life. A new video released by an extremist group threatens to harm Prince Harry...

Hey, guess what? This is my fourth recap of this show, and I've been misspelling the title the whole time. It's Game of Thrones, not A Game of Thrones (which is the title of the book). D'oh!

So much for the Internet's amazing powers of self-correction.

But on to the episode in question...

I’ve mentioned before in these recaps that I really love the fantasy genre, but I confess: one fantasy trope that really, really bugs me is the idea that a character is so often (a) a king or (b) a humble peasant who is secretly the king but just doesn’t know it yet.

I just flat-out passionately hate the entire idea of royalty – the idea that certain people and families are simply born “special,” chosen by "God" to be better and more powerful and richer than everyone else. It’s obviously a relic of a completely ignorant,...

With love well and truly in the air recently with Prince William tying the knot with the rather lovely Kate Middleton a few days ago, it seems an appropriate time to take a look at some of the most legendary on/off screen couples that have fascinated us film lovers over the years. Chemistry sparks when a real romance lies behind the scenes and when a new relationship begins the tabloids go crazy!

So to celebrate the union of the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge – and to appease my wife’s (yes, we just beat the Royals by getting married on 24th April!) constant requests to chronicle the following – here are the top ten on/off screen lovers the past century has immortalised…

10. Kim Basinger & Alec Baldwin

Back in the early 90s, Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin were one of the more popular on and off screen couples in Hollywood. Meeting...

Kate and William, you are so smart! I applaud you for making life and love decisions that will prevent your relationship from crashing and burning!

You have clearly looked at the tragic mistakes made by William‘s parents, Diana and Charles, and you are making every effort to avoid them. Here’s what you’re doing right:

Love Decision #1:

Moving Far Away From Meddling In-Laws Like the Queen — To North Wales!

William and Kate, your decision to settle down in William’s farmhouse on the island of Anglesley, five hours north on London and near the tiny town of Holyhead (population 11,237) is brilliant.

You’ll be living close to William’s Raf base, where he’s a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force’s Search and Rescue squad.

So not only are you living together like most newlyweds and not trying to have a commuter marriage where Will...

According to the response on Facebook, 30,000 royal fans would love to see Prince Harry get together with sister-in-law, Pippa Middleton. The Daily Mail reports that as they walked out of Westminster Abbey, a grinning Harry told Pippa, "You do look very beautiful today, seriously."

The Royal Wedding Gallery

Although royal fans want to see sparks fly between Harry and Pippa, Harry is devoted to his on-off girlfriend, Chelsy Davy. Harry, 26, has dated Zimbabwe-born Chelsy Davy,...