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It's probably fair to say that when "The Fugitive" came out in 1993, people weren't exactly demanding a big screen version of the '60s show; even the director and star said they'd never seen it. Even so, the gripping, intelligent thriller for grown-ups became a box office smash and earned an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, the first TV adaptation to compete for the big prize.

The movie was a satisfyingly old-school nail-biter with its fair share of spectacular set pieces, but the highlight was the battle of wits between two very human opponents. Harrison Ford, just a few years after riding into the sunset as Indiana Jones, played a far more down-to-earth protagonist as a grieving doctor framed for his wife's murder, while Tommy Lee Jones won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as the dogged lawman on his trail.

Despite the film's resounding success, it felt very...

The documentary “Flint” has more twists and turns than a Hollywood whodunit, and that’s not good for a real-life tragedy. While the villains are many, and they switch order of importance depending on the stage of the crisis, the victims never change: Flint residents, and most sadly the kids, suffer the consequences. This is especially egregious considering that all they did was drink the water.

“There’s nothing more fundamental to your life than water, and for that to be what can naturally hurt you, cripple you or kill you, that’s something that you can never get over,” says attorney Trachelle Young. Isn’t clean water what celebrities like Jay-Z, Bono and Alicia Keys have fought for in other, less developed countries? For it to happen in the United States, in Flint, Michigan, is yet another example of how this nation needs to get its own house in order.

Donald Trump should be happy that he has presided over more than 390,000 deaths from Covid-19 in the United States instead of over the Flint water crisis. Otherwise, he might some day face legal consequences.

Former Michigan governor Rick Snyder was finally brought up on charges Thursday, more than six years after his administration oversaw the decision to switch the water supply for the majority-black city to the corroded Flint River. Thousands of adults and children were contaminated with lead and other pollutants, and at least nine people who contracted Legionnaires’ disease died.

Prosecutors in Michigan have charged former governor Rick Snyder, who governed the state during the Flint water crisis, with two counts of willful neglect of duty, The New York Times reports. Snyder faces up to one year in prison on the misdemeanor charges, with a maximum fine of $1000.

A previous investigation into the Flint water crisis had led to charges against numerous city and state officials, but in June 2019 all those charges were dropped under the direction of the new attorney general, Dana Nessel. The new charges brought against Snyder...

Filmmaker Michael Moore said a recent Associated Press report that Michigan’s former governor, Rick Snyder, will be charged for his role in the Flint water crisis has made him hopeful that “justice is happening” for the Flint community.

“Our longtime demands may have finally been met!” Moore said in a Facebook post on Tuesday. “Let’s hope justice is happening. This was a race crime — and once they learned the extent of the human damage they had done, they covered it up. Throw away the key.”

Moore, who is from Flint, has made several documentary films about the Michigan city; his 2018 film “Fahrenheit 11/9” also took a look at the Flint water scandal and was critical of Snyder’s handling of the crisis.

The charges against Snyder are not immediately clear, but the attorney general’s office has contacted the former officials’ defense attorneys to notify them of the indictments,...

Three months have passed since that fleeting, anonymous New York Times op-ed from a Trump staffer claiming that she or he was busy trying to save us from the president’s agenda and “his worst inclinations.” The piece was largely useless, but it was entertaining. Conservatives who have remained silent about Republican disenfranchisement were inspired, in their own way, to defend voting rights.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-ca), the House Majority Leader, declared in a letter to the Times that the writer was “thwarting the wishes of the legitimately elected president from within the executive branch.

You’ll cry laughing at Michael Moore’s new doc Fahrenheit 11/9, an unmissable provocation about the rise and rise of Donald J. Trump that should help get out the vote in November better than any limp recruitment outreach. One of Moore’s best and most incisively funny films — right up there with Roger & Me (1989), Bowling for Columbine (2002) and Sicko (2007) — his latest goes way past taking potshots at the Donald, though it does that with piercing intelligence and wounding wit. Rather, he wants to show us that this celebrity Commander-in-Chief...

A man sat in an office, railing that conservatives did not have a voice in the liberally-biased, mainstream-media landscape. So he started a channel of his own to give them a loud megaphone. A man sat at a desk, staring at the online site he oversaw after its creator shuffled off this mortal coil — maybe it rhymes with Schmeitbarts, maybe it doesn’t — and bemoaned the fact that the post-Tea Party deplorables didn’t have enough say in things. So he signed on as a campaign consultant for a...

Critics have finally had their say on Michael Moore's anticipated new Trump documentary, and they are positive overall.

Moore's doc, which surveys the national impact of President Trump's 2016 election, sees the famous documentarian examining the Flint water crisis, West Virginia teachers' strike and March for Our Lives demonstrations in addition to events in the White House. Moore's gonzo-journalism tactics are again on display, with the film's trailer showing Moore blasting "Flint Water" at the home of Michigan governor Rick Snyder, and Moore attempting to gain entry to Mar a Lago.

The film is Moore'...

Critics have finally had their say on Michael Moore's anticipated new Trump documentary, and they are positive overall.

Moore's doc, which surveys the national impact of President Trump's 2016 election, sees the famous documentarian examining the Flint water crisis, West Virginia teachers' strike and March for Our Lives demonstrations in addition to events in the White House. Moore's gonzo-journalism tactics are again on display, with the film's trailer showing Moore blasting "Flint Water" at the home of Michigan governor Rick Snyder, and Moore attempting to gain entry to Mar a Lago.

The film is Moore'...

Michael Moore knows how to stage an event, especially where his star has always burned brightest. The Toronto International Film Festival welcomed him back with a standing ovation and cheers on opening night for his latest diatribe against the current political order, “Fahrenheit 11/9.” Moore pulled a surprise, bringing on stage the students from Parkland High School. “Who’s ready to save America?” asked political activist David Hogg, plugging for votes — in Canada.

“Michael for President!” yelled one fan. When Moore took the mic, he revealed that when he announced this movie, the IRS audited him for the first time. Given that he’s overpaid for years, “they have to give me the money back, with interest,” he crowed.

Always willing to embrace a marketing opportunity, Moore has commandeered a skeleton crew to release the film. They include refugees from the Oscar-winning “Spotlight” team at Open Road, led by Tom Ortenberg,...

Michael Moore knows how to stage an event, especially where his star has always burned brightest. The Toronto International Film Festival welcomed him back with a standing ovation and cheers on opening night for his latest diatribe against the current political order, “Fahrenheit 11/9.” Moore pulled a surprise, bringing on stage the students from Parkland High School. “Who’s ready to save America?” asked political activist David Hogg, plugging for votes — in Canada.

“Michael for President!” yelled one fan. When Moore took the mic, he revealed that when he announced this movie, the IRS audited him for the first time. Given that he’s overpaid for years, “they have to give me the money back, with interest,” he crowed.

Always willing to embrace a marketing opportunity, Moore has commandeered a skeleton crew to release the film. They include refugees from the Oscar-winning “Spotlight” team at Open Road, led by Tom Ortenberg,...

The title of Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 11/9” clearly suggests that it’s going to be a sequel, of sorts, to “Fahrenheit 9/11.” And since the earlier film was Moore’s freewheeling satirical grab-bag essay about the presidency of George W. Bush, it seemed likely that Moore would take something of the same tack with the presidency of Donald Trump. I went in expecting a fair amount of finger-in-the-eye newsreel satire, with Moore offering a clever rehash of Trump’s greatest hits of infamy.

For 20 minutes or so, that’s exactly what it is. Moore replays all the pre-election liberal smugness about how America couldn’t possibly elect Donald Trump. Then comes election night, and Moore replays, once again, how hope collapsed like air draining out of a balloon. He makes the point that Donald Trump has always committed corruptions and outrages in plain sight. It’s not that we don’t...

“Fahrenheit 11/9,” which had its world premiere on Thursday night at the Toronto International Film Festival, was supposed to be Michael Moore’s new movie to bring down President Donald Trump.

But that’s the movie we thought Moore was making, not the movie he actually made.

The movie he made is bigger, messier, more sprawling and ultimately more rousing. It goes on long detours, changes course and leaves Trump offscreen for huge chunks of time, as it turns into something that is less an anti-Trump diatribe than a demand for action.

The heart of the movie, it turns out, isn’t Trump at all — it’s the mothers crusading for action in Flint, Michigan, the teachers successfully going on strike in West Virginia and, most of all, the students from Parkland, Florida who turned the mass shooting at their school into the start of a national movement.

Also Read: Michael...

“How the fuck did this happen?” Michael Moore asks in the opening moments of “Fahrenheit 11/9,” after a dramatic recap of the traumatic 2016 presidential election. His exasperation defines the movie’s pressing tone. Over the course of two hours, Moore’s freewheeling cinematic essay attacks that question from countless angles, assaulting the Democratic Party for its compromises even more than the Republicans for standing by their monstrous leader.

Moore isn’t making one movie here — he’s making a whole bunch of them, all colliding at once, in a sprawling quest to save America and highlight Trump’s biggest threats. Among the more incendiary diatribes strewn throughout this angry treatise, Moore compares Trump to Hitler. It’s not a fresh parallel, but rarely drawn in such precise terms, and speaks to Moore’s desire to hack away at his target with relentless intensity in this scattershot portrait of a country under siege.

Michael Moore’s documentary “Fahrenheit 11/9” is heading for an okay opening in the $4 million to $10 million range at about 1,500 North American sites when it launches on the Sept. 21-23 weekend, early tracking showed Tuesday.

Universal’s fantasy film “The House With a Clock in Its Walls,” directed by Eli Roth with Jack Black and Cate Blanchett starring, looks likely to lead the weekend with early tracking in the $18 million to $25 million range. The launches of Amazon’s comedy-drama “Life Itself” and Neon’s thriller “Assassination Nation” aren’t showing much traction with projections of $4 million each.

Moore’s “Fahrenheit 11/9” will premiere Thursday at the Toronto International Film Festival, then be released nationwide by Tom Ortenberg’s new Briarcliff Releasing a full six weeks before the midterm elections.

It’s opening 14 years after Moore’s stunning success with “Fahrenheit 9/11,” which explored the presidency of George W. Bush and the War on Terror.

Stevie Wonder closed out Aretha Franklin‘s funeral Friday with a powerful rendition of “The Lord’s Prayer” and “As” at Detroit’s Greater Grace Temple.

The singer opened his performance with a mournful harmonica version of “The Lord’s Prayer” before delivering a brief eulogy for Franklin, saying that without “God’s goodness,” “We will have never known a Queen like this, we will have never known the joy she gave to us.”

“The greatest gift that has been given in life itself is love. We can talk about...

The Queen is dead. Love live the Queen. Soul superstar Aretha Franklin is being laid to rest this morning in Detroit, and you can follow her funeral service live above. The private event will feature performances by Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Jennifer Hudson and many others over the course of five hours or more.

The service for the Queen of Soul, who died August 16 at 76, is being held at the Motor City’s Greater Grace Temple, the same church where Franklin sang at civil rights icon Rosa Parks’ funeral in 2005.

A minute-by-minute schedule for the service is below.

The lineup of performers also includes Faith Hill, Ronald Isley, Yolanda Adams, Jennifer Holliday, Fantasia, a number of gospel singers and Franklin’s son Edward.

Presidents Bill Clinton is among those set to speak at the service, and the Rev. Al Sharpton will read a letter from Barack and Michelle Obama. Also...

Aretha Franklin’s funeral will be available to view both online and on television. The event will be livestreamed via The Associated Press, and broadcast in full on several TV stations in Detroit, Michigan, including Wdiv-tv, Wjbk-tv and Wxyz-tv. Both Fox News and CNN will air live portions of the service, Detroit Free Press reports.

The funeral will begin at 10 a.m. local time Friday at Greater Grace Temple in the late singer’s hometown. Several major artists will perform at the ceremony, including Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Ronald Isley,...

Michael Moore has released for the first trailer for his upcoming “Fahrenheit 11/9,” spraying “Flint water” into the front yard of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder.

Moore released the footage Thursday, six weeks before the documentary hits theaters on Sept. 21. The filmmaker is a native of Flint, Mich., where the water became undrinkable in 2014.

The “Fahrenheit 11/9″ footage also shows Moore speaking to David Hogg, the activist student who survived the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting on Feb. 14, 2018, and progressive Democratic Congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who won a stunning victory in the primary earlier this summer.

Moore also described Trump as “the last president of the United States.” He began shooting the film last year with the “11/9” in the title referring to the day Trump was declared President of the United States on Nov. 9, 2016. Moore correctly predicted that Trump would win the White House by scoring the states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.

Four officials in charge of Flint, Michigan’s water have been charged for their role in the city’s water crisis that caused lead poisoning among its residents.

Two of Flint’s former state-appointed emergency managers and two former City of Flint employees were charged with felonies of false pretenses and conspiracy on Tuesday, CNN reports.

Emergency managers Jerry Ambrose and Darnell Early reported directly to Governor Rick Snyder during Flint’s years-long financial crisis and are the highest-level officials to be charged so far.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette alleged that the defendants conspired to operate the Flint Water...

A shooter killed two bailiffs and injured a deputy sheriff in a courthouse in Berrien County, Michigan, Sheriff Paul Bailey said at a press conference. Bailey added that the shooter was shot and killed by authorities. He was an in-custody inmate, Bailey said. Bailey also said "several other people" - civilians - were injured. Some were taken to the hospital and are in stable condition, he said. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder tweeted that the Michigan State Police had secured the scene and started its investigation. Msp has secured the scene at the Berrien County courthouse and started its investigation into...

Michael Moore appeared on Real Time With Bill Maher Friday to slam the Michigan government, especially Governor Rick Snyder, for their handling of the Flint water crisis. "This was a hate crime," the Flint-born filmmaker said. "This was a hate crime based on the race hatred of this particular party."

"This is not a lead issue, this is not even an infrastructure issue," Moore continued. "This was a decision made by a Republican governor to give the rich in Michigan a billion dollar tax break, and when they had a...

A Michigan judge has authorized criminal charges against one city official and two state officials in connection with the lead contamination of Flint's water. The office of Michigan's attorney general announced Wednesday they were pressing charges on two Michigan Department of Environmental Quality officials and a local water treatment plant supervisor in conjunction with the crisis. Michael Prysby, a Deq district engineer, and Stephen Busch, a supervisor with the Deq's Office of Drinking Water, were both charged with misconduct in office, conspiracy to tamper with evidence, tampering with evidence and violations of water treatment and monitoring laws. Flint utilities administrator...

Seven families have filed a class-action lawsuit against Michigan Governor Rick Snyder over the lead-laced water crisis in Flint. The lawsuit also names other state and city officials. In the lawsuit, the families allege that their children are the victims of developmental disabilities that stem from the high levels of lead they ingested when Michigan switched Flint's water source from Detroit's system to the Flint River to cut costs. Without corresponding treatment for lead levels, the water flowing from Flint residents' taps smelled and tasted strange, though it took over a year for testing to reveal high levels of lead...

Seven families have filed a class-action lawsuit against Michigan Governor Rick Snyder over the lead-laced water crisis in Flint. The lawsuit also names other state and city officials. In the lawsuit, the families allege that their children are the victims of developmental disabilities that stem from the high levels of lead they ingested when Michigan switched Flint's water source from Detroit's system to the Flint River to cut costs. Without corresponding treatment for lead levels, the water flowing from Flint residents' taps smelled and tasted strange, though it took over a year for testing to reveal high levels of lead...

Hillary Clinton did something unexpected in Sunday’s Democratic debate: She joined Bernie Sanders in calling for Michigan Governor Rick Snyder to resign. Sanders asked for Snyder’s resignation back on Jan. 16, and made the same statement in Sunday’s debate in Flint, Mich., a city poisoned by lead-tainted water. “Amen to that,” Hillary Clinton began after Sanders’ statement. “I agree — the governor should resign or be recalled.” Also Read: Michael Moore, Flint Native, Rips Hillary Clinton During Debate Both Democrats have been outspoken about Flint’s lead-tainted water and both have visited the city to show support. But Clinton...

Outspoken filmmaker Michael Moore is recovering from a days-long stay in the ICU after being diagnosed with pneumonia, even though "things didn't look good" soon after he was admitted. Moore revealed his health struggles, which led to the cancellation of multiple planned public appearances, in a pair of Facebook updates published Friday. "Between running all over the place lately promoting my new movie ... plus going to Flint to help the people of my hometown, plus jumping in to support Senator Sanders, plus doing a dozen other things - well, I read somewhere you can't burn it at both ends, and if u do,...

Newly released emails about the Flint, Michigan, water crisis suggest that state employees were supplied with clean drinking water while officials told the city's residents that their tap water was safe to drink. Progress Michigan, a liberal group critical of governor Rick Snyder's administration, released the emails on Thursday, one of which noted violations to the city's drinking water standards and offered a short-term solution - for those in the Flint State Office Building. "[The Department of Technology, Management and Budget] is in the process of providing a water cooler on each occupied floor, positioned near the water fountain, so you can choose which water to drink,...

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has released more than 200 pages of emails regarding the Flint water crisis. The exchanges record mounting complaints by the public, some of which elected officials dismissed. The governor released the nearly 300 emails on Wednesday, just one day after he apologized to the residents of Flint for the way he handled the water crisis, which has led to thousands of citizens' exposure to lead due to corroded water pipes. The emails show that it took months of receiving complaints from the public before state officials admitted that the city was in the midst of a major public health emergency.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has released more than 200 pages of emails regarding the Flint water crisis. The exchanges record mounting complaints by the public, some of which elected officials dismissed. The governor released the nearly 300 emails on Wednesday, just one day after he apologized to the residents of Flint for the way he handled the water crisis, which has led to thousands of citizens' exposure to lead due to corroded water pipes. The emails show that it took months of receiving complaints from the public before state officials admitted that the city was in the midst of a major public health emergency.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is apologizing to the residents of Flint for the way he has handled the water crisis. "Your families face a crisis - a crisis you did not create and could not have prevented," Snyder said in his State of the State address on Tuesday in Lansing. "To you, the people of Flint, I say tonight as I have before: I am sorry and I will fix it." Snyder has come under fire for his handling of the crisis, which began in April 2014 when officials switched Flint's water source from Detroit water to the Flint River as a cost-saving measure.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is apologizing to the residents of Flint for the way he has handled the water crisis. "Your families face a crisis - a crisis you did not create and could not have prevented," Snyder said in his State of the State address on Tuesday in Lansing. "To you, the people of Flint, I say tonight as I have before: I am sorry and I will fix it." Snyder has come under fire for his handling of the crisis, which began in April 2014 when officials switched Flint's water source from Detroit water to the Flint River as a cost-saving measure.

Two new class action lawsuits have been filed against Flint city officials and Michigan state officials for what plaintiffs are calling negligence in the Flint water crisis. In a press conference Tuesday, it was revealed that Flint residents filed the suits against Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, Former Flint Emergency Managers Darnell Earley and Jerry Ambrose, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Genesee County and other government officials believed to be blamed for the crisis, according to ABC News. A class action lawsuit had already been filed in Federal Court. "Everybody in the city has been poisoned,...

Sometimes a writer can sit in front of the computer screen for hours, fingers poised on the keyboard, and – nothing happens. Not a word, not a syllable. Not a random thought, not a brainstorm. There’s not one single idea that can be expanded upon, not a hint of anything that seems at least remotely interesting.

Hmm, here’s something.

Did you read Denny’s column last week, the one about the Mighty Marvel Method? This writer came late to that particular game; in fact, I didn’t even know it existed, and the first time I heard the words “Marvel style” – another way to describe the “method” – I didn’t have a clue, though I was familiar with what a “script” was, having read numerous plays, including a whole lotta Shakespeare, in high school and college. I do think that, for novices, the best way to learn how to...

Cher is currently hard at work on a musical about herself, but the Oscar-winning pop sensation still has time to focus on other matters. After hearing the news about contaminated drinking water in Flint, Michigan, the singer announced plans to donate more than 180,000 bottles of water to help its residents, some of whom have gone without clean drinking water for a year. "This is a tragedy of staggering proportion and shocking that it's happening in the middle of our country," Cher said in a press release that details her partnership with water company Icelandic Glacial. The water will be shipped to the city starting Monday. President Obama declared a state of emergency in the city yesterday. The singer has also been outspoken about the news on social media as well, publishing harsh critiques of Michigan governor Rick Snyder and supportive messages to Flint Mayor Karen Weaver on Twitter in her...

Let’s get it right, hmm?

I was watching The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore as I usually do. I’ll watch Colbert depending on who he has on but, in general, I’ve been watching The Nightly Show. I know, I could tape one and watch the other later but the reality is I just don‘t get around to watching the taped show.

I like Wilmore and did when he was “Senior Black Correspondent” on The Daily Show. He’s been sharp and timely… most of the time.

On Tuesday night, Wilmore did a segment on the water situation in Flint, Michigan. Flint has been a hard-luck case for quite a while, often trading with Detroit the title of the murder capital of America and usually high on the list of the most dangerous cities in the U.S. They’ve also been broke for a lot of the time,...

Elaine Stritch and Kylie discuss being gay icons, Jupiter Ascending gives us an effete villain, Frank Ocean back in studio

Frank Ocean is back in the studio recording his second album, nearly two years after he released Channel Orange, so it’s more than time for new music.

Inspired by the new Terrance McNally play Mothers and Sons, my friend David Mixner is afraid too much of Lgbt history is being lost. Even with his own papers at Yale and two books out (both of which I’m proud to own autographed copies of), David worries that an oral history would fill in the gaps that are being lost from the early days. “The struggle to preserve our history over the years has faced enormous barriers. Members of the gay community in the early years of our struggle for liberation were reluctant to keep records, papers, and videos for fear of discovery.

Michigan not recognizing weekend marriages, Brooklyn Nets uniforms are gay, Stephen Fry explains How To Be Happy

Jennifer Lopez is set to receive GLAAD’s Vanguard Award, their highest honor, for her work as an ally and for bringing The Fosters to television. I’m sure Peter Paige will get a lovely seat.

There are set photos from The Avengers: Age of Ultron that show the first looks at Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. I’m sure CGI will be used to help these looks, but don’t get your hopes up. The best part of it is either Aaron Johnson has been lifting even more weights or his suit is padded.

Io9 says that Prometheus 2 is being rewritten, and “it’ll have the most Michael Fassbender of any movie, ever.” Which is a bold claim unless the android David is cloned multiple times and also drops trou. Because in my book,...

Teen Wolf and other hunks ReflectItBack, Orlando Bloom totally comfortable naked on set, Apple makes us cry for Christmas

In what can only be seen as a snub to Vladmir Putin, the White House has announced that neither the First Family or the Second Family will be attending the Sochi Games opening and closing ceremonies, and that both delegations will include openly gay athletes. The opening ceremony will be attended by Billy Jean King, while the closing ceremony will have out Olympic silver medalist Caitlin Cahow.

The Aclu is all about Glbt equality, but they’re also about freedom of speech. The had to choose in New Mexico, free speech seems to trump equality as the Aclu filed an amicus brief in favor of the couple who a photographer refused to photograph a same-sex wedding. The photographer claims that photography is an artistic endeavor and therefore is protected speech.

The Young and the Restless...

It's shaping up to be a very merry Christmas for Davion Only, the 15-year-old orphan who stepped before a Florida church congregation in October with a heartfelt plea: to find a family to adopt him. Only's appearance, which captivated a far-reaching audience, sparked more than 10,000 responses from around the world. Now comes word of his personal progress. Only has moved from his group foster home to spend Christmas with a prospective adoptive family, reports the U.K.'s Daily Mail. This marks a likely happy ending for Only, who has spent his entire life moving from foster home to foster home after his mother,...

Profiles Theatre Artistic Directors Darrell W. Cox and Joe Jahraus present the World premiere of Resident Artist Neil Labute's revised stage version of In the Company of Men, opening at The Main Stage, 4139 N. Broadway. In the Company of Men, directed by Profiles Resident Artist and Steppenwolf ensemble member Rick Snyder, runs tonight, May 10-June 30, 2013. The press opening is on Thursday, May 16 at 800pm.

Ryan Gosling, as well as his Metro Detroit fans, received some good news Monday. The actor's directorial debut, "How to Catch a Monster," was approved for $1.75 million in incentives from the Michigan Film Office.

Gosling has been spotted around Detroit lately, possibly scouting filming sites, or perhaps just in town to celebrate a friend and local bartender's birthday. Larry Mongo, owner of Cafe d'Mongo's Speakeasy, told MLive the Hollywood heartthrob offered him a role in the film.

Written by Gosling, "How to Catch a Monster" will also star some whose fame reaches beyond the Detroit bar scene. Christina Hendricks, Eva Mendes, Saoirse Ronan, Matt Smith and Ben Mendelsohn are set to appear in the dark, modern-day fairytale.

Hendricks plays Billy, a single mother who works at a fetish club and is "swept into a macabre and dark fantasy underworld while her teenage son discovers a secret road leading to an underwater town,...

Emergency state 'not hard to justify' says Snyder when faced with recent damning report claiming Detroit close to collapse

The governor of Michigan declared the city of Detroit to be in a state of "financial emergency" Friday and said he would appoint an independent overseer in an attempt to save it from financial ruin.

A state report last week concluded the city was close to financial collapse and experts fear it could become the biggest municipal bankruptcy in Us history.

"I believe it's appropriate to declare the city of Detroit in financial emergency based on the review team report," governor Rick Snyder said during a town hall meeting at Detroit's Wayne State University. "It's not hard to justify that conclusion."

Under Michigan law, an outside manager could eventually lead the financially troubled city into bankruptcy, a proceeding that would make Detroit the most populous American city ever to do so.

Ryan Gosling is seeking tax credits from the state of Michigan to direct his first movie, "How To Catch A Monster."

MLive reported that Gosling applied for the tax credit through the Michigan Film Office, and plans to shoot the movie in Detroit, beginning in May. His "Drive" costar Christina Hendricks ("Mad Men") is billed as the lead actress, ostensibly playing "Billy," a single mom of two who works at a fetish club.

Gosling, who wrote "How To Catch A Monster," bills the film as an intriguing mix of fantasy noir, horror and suspense. Set against the backdrop of a vanishing city, Billy is " swept into a macabre and dark fantasy underworld."

Producer Marc Platt told Indiewire that Gosling "has composed a beautifully haunting script and has a very clear vision of how he will bring it to life. His ability to draw audiences into his world as an actor...

Profiles Theatre Artistic Directors Darrell W. Cox and Joe Jahraus announce the World premiere of Resident Artist Neil Labute's revised stage version of In the Company of Men, opening at The Main Stage, 4139 N. Broadway. In the Company of Men, directed by Profiles Resident Artist and Steppenwolf ensemble member Rick Snyder, runs May 10-June 30, 2013. The press opening is on Thursday, May 16 at 800pm.

On Tuesday, protests broke out at the Michigan state capitol after state legislators passed the anti-union "Right To Work" bill, which was quickly signed into law by Governor Rick Snyder only hours later.

But, surely, it couldn't be all that bad. As Jon Stewart explained, "Right To Work" sounds like "a positive and uplifting message."

After laying out how the law diminishes the leverage of unions, Stewart went on to give protesters in Michigan a quick primer on how to make their voices heard. Spoiler Alert: it involves Jon donning a beanie hat and channeling his inner Eminem.

On Tuesday, protests broke out at the Michigan state capitol after state legislators passed the anti-union "Right To Work" bill, which was quickly signed into law by Governor Rick Snyder only hours later.

But, surely, it couldn't be all that bad. As Jon Stewart explained, "Right To Work" sounds like "a positive and uplifting message."

After laying out how the law diminishes the leverage of unions, Stewart went on to give protesters in Michigan a quick primer on how to make their voices heard. Spoiler Alert: it involves Jon donning a beanie hat and channeling his inner Eminem.

In what may be my new favorite thing, Venture Brothers has released their annual Christmas carol, which you can listen/download here. The song of the year is "Baby It's Cold Outside" as sung by the Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend, and it's just as twisted and Nsfw as you would imagine.

In Michigan, Republican Gov. Rick Snyder signed HB4770, which prohibits public employers from providing partner benefits to unmarried partners, effectively excluding gay partners from health care. Happy Holidays!

Betty White is set to host Monday Night Football for the Christmas edition this week. It seems only fair since a couple of years ago being tackled in a Snickers commercial took her career from steady to red hot.

Steve Jobs will be awarded a posthumous Grammy for "significant contributions to music." This amuses me since just a few years ago the industry was screaming that he was destroying the entire music industry.

It was back on Friday, September 17, 2010, that I flew to Detroit, Michigan, for a set visit of director Scott Spiegel’s then-filming Hostel Part III (which releases direct-to-dvd via Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on December 27th). As my flight descended toward Detroit Metro and I looked through the plane’s windows at the city below, the metropolis seemed a sadly appropriate location to film the third installment in the historically bleak Hostel series.

The gray skies and dormant smokestacks and brick buildings set beneath it effortlessly communicated the economically ravaged Slovakia in which the preceding films took place, and as I would find, my set visit would touch me deeply, more for the ravaged state of this once great American city than the blood the filmmaker would spill in it, however.

With Michigan then offering a 42% tax rebate (higher at the time than any other state’s film incentive program,...