News

The Academy Awards season is almost here, and we’ve got a new promo starring Conan O’Brien to hype up fans for the upcoming event. It’s not just your ordinary commercial as the famed comedian suffers from a devastating marriage breakup—with the Oscar statue!

Conan O’Brien / Credits: TBS

Is this officially confirming that the iconic golden statue is a proud member of the LGBTQ community? We think so! The award-giving body never actually confirmed its gender, although it was modeled after a male figure.

Conan O’Brien argues with Oscar statue for this year’s Academy Awards teaser

The new ad for Oscars 2025 featured a hilarious skit from Conan O’Brien fighting with the Oscar statue over several matters, mostly hinting at a relationship problem. Towards the end of the video clip, Martin Scorsese supposedly calls O’Brien, with the latter saying, “Wow, what a surprise. Yeah,...

Boundaries are constantly blurring in “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” the revolutionary mid-’80s film that became a Kander and Ebb musical, and that cunningly (and stunningly) morphs back to the big screen, courtesy of “Dreamgirls” director Bill Condon. Confined mostly to an Argentine detention facility in 1983, at the height of the country’s Dirty War, the show is the flip side of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Evita,” focusing on the brutal military regime that came decades after first lady Eva Péron’s death. Bleak as that may sound, the musical finds rare shards of light — and an unlikely connection — in the most despairing of places.

In every incarnation of Manuel Puig’s novel, cinema offers much-needed escapism from not only political injustice, but also the kind of biological prisons that oppress us. Sitting in the dark, transfixed the dreams unfolding on screen, filmgoers leave their bodies for a time,...

Nine decades ago this December, moviegoers were witnessing the beginning of one of the most successful movie teams, as well as the demise of one of the most dramatic.

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made box office magic during the Depression-era 1930s in nine Art Deco musical comedy delights from Rko including 1934’s “The Gay Divorcee” and 1936’s “Swing Time.” Their chemistry was unmatched, and they literally made beautiful musical together introducing countless standards including the Oscar-winning “The Continental” and “The Way You Look Tonight.” And their dancing was robust, romantic and heavenly-just check out the “Never Gonna Dance” routine from “Swing Time.”

It was 90 years ago this week, their first pairing “Flying Down to Rio” opened at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. One of the big surprises is that the duo aren’t the stars of the lightweight pre-Code musicals: Dolores Del Rio, Gene Raymond...

Kevin Smith has listed a Los Angeles home for $5.995 million that he first saw in 2001 when his friend Ben Affleck owned it.

The Clerks, Clerks III, Chasing Amy and Mall Rats director and his wife, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, were invited to a Fourth of July barbecue at Affleck’s house that year. Smith told the Wall Street Journal that his wife fell in love with the 8,144-square-foot, five-bedroom Mediterranean-inspired house, calling it her “dream home.” During the barbecue, “My wife and I were admiring how beautiful the home was,” recalled Smith. “Ben was getting frustrated with the home as it is on a main road, and there were always paparazzi outside. He suggested we buy it from him at the same price he purchased it in 1998.”

The Smiths bought the house for $1.62 million in 2003 and raised their daughter Harley Quinn Smith (Cruel Summer, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot) there. They...

The films of Maïwenn, like Maïwenn herself, tend to be divisive.

When they’re good, such as in the writer-director-actress’ breakthrough second feature, Polisse, they’re filled with hotblooded ensemble performances that channel the kinetic energy of John Cassavetes. When they’re not, such as in her last effort, DNA, they feel like overblown arthouse selfies where Maïwenn is the only star.

Either way, they hardly leave you indifferent, which is why the director’s biggest project yet, a $22.4 million biopic of the legendary 18th century French courtesan Jeanne du Barry, can seem so surprising. Sumptuously made and with enough jaw-dropping costumes — several of them courtesy of Chanel, one of the film’s sponsors — to warrant a separate runway show, Maïwenn’s lavish feature is also, well, kind of bland.

It has a great setting, with many scenes shot in and around the real Palace of Versailles, and a great setup,...

Thrillers from the Vault – 8 Classic Films

Blu-ray

Mill Creek Entertainment

1935, 1939, 1940 / B&w / 1.33: 1 / Blu ray

Starring Boris Karloff, Ann Doran, Evelyn Keyes,

Written by Arthur Strawn, Karl Brown, Robert Andrews

Directed by Roy William Neill, Nick Grindé

In 1934 Boris Karloff was an unhappy actor, he was one of Universal’s most illustrious stars, yet good parts were scarce, and intelligent horror roles like hen’s teeth—the occasional work at other studios was both a boon and a welcome distraction.

In 1935 the studio loaned him to Columbia for The Black Room, a blood and thunder gothic in which Karloff would play two roles, an aristocrat and his evil twin—a dark fable played out in shadows, but a light at the end of the tunnel for the 47 year old actor who relished a challenge. Even brighter news for Karloff, Roy William Neill was signed to direct. Known for his exacting nature,...

Film noir represents the illusive charm of black and white cinema and of its stars that graced the silver screen in its glory years in the 40s and 50s.

Film Noir meaning “black film” in french coined by the critic Nino Frank in 1946, defined an era of stylish visually moody black-and-white crime mysteries. The plot of the film could be told in one dramatic photo promoting the central figure either portraying the private investigator, grifter and the elusive femme fatale. The images are always bold and the use of lighting and shadows created a noir universe that invites you into an erotic and scandalous world of deceit and conspiracy.

Robert Coburn, Ernest Bachrach, and A.L. “Whitey” Schafer’s portraits captured the A-list superstars Robert Mitchum, Barbara Stanwyck, Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Humphrey Bogart to the character actors of the period Gale Sondergaard, Delores del Rio and George Raft who...

About 43 minutes into the 1933 pre-code horror classic “King Kong,” aspiring actress Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) finds herself on a remote island struggling to free herself from the two stone pillars she’s tied to as an offering for the giant ape its inhabitants worship. The trees rustle, and then we see him. Kong. The camera quickly cuts to Wray, who instantly freezes, holding in her breath as if her life depended on it. The camera zooms in on the ape’s face, his eyes growing wide, then suddenly cuts back to Wray, who lets out the most iconic blood-curdling scream in cinema history.

And thus, the scream queen was born.

“I’d become Hollywood’s scream queen without even realizing it,” Wray told journalist James Bawden in a 1989 interview. After the film wrapped, Wray recorded what she called an “Aria of Agonies” — screams and moans for the editors to use as they pleased.

Buoyed by the success of last year’s one-to-one networking sessions, Madrid’s 2nd Iberseries & Platino Industria market is launching a new TV forum aimed at fostering co-production and financing pacts between selected producers and potential partners or investors.

“We are functioning as an accelerator in a way as the selected projects have at least 40 of their financing in place and just need that final push to see the light,” said Iberseries director Samuel Castro, who adds that these series have budgets ranging from €5 million-€30 million ( million-30 million) .

The 10 companies, selected out of some 25 submissions, include some heavy hitters led by Spain’s Zebra Prods (Grupo Izen), Gato Grande-MGM, Argentina’s Storylab and El Estudio, founded by former Canana producing partner Pablo Cruz, producer Enrique López Lavigne and former Sony Pictures Intl. Prods. head, Diego Suárez Chialvo.

Projects include animated features, thrillers, romantic comedies and dramas.

Forum coordinator Rodrigo Ros has been playing matchmaker,...

“I made him the highest paid actor in Hollywood history. We had a lot of fun!” So purrs Tom Hanks’ brazenly camp Col. Tom Parker in the new Elvis biopic. The film, which is the most decadent, jewel-encrusted piece of kitsch ever given an 85 million budget, is as much a monument to director Baz Luhrmann’s showmanship as it is Elvis Presley’s. For who else could condense the larger than life excess of a man dubbed “the King of Rock ’n Roll” into a three-ringed circus that keeps all its plates in the air for 160 minutes?

Elvis really is a marvel in spectacle and indulgence—plus a breakout for star Austin Butler who is so superb as the titular character that Luhrmann more than once slips in footage of the real Elvis’ 1950s rock star career, as well as clips from his ill-advised detour in 1960s Hollywood… and few viewers ever seemed to notice!

If you are a fan of classic Hollywood movie musicals, there is a strong chance you have probably had the debate: Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire? It's a silly debate, obviously, but pitting the two premiere tap-dancing leading men of some of the most loved films of all time against each other is a classic cinephile's version of, "Who would win in a fight, Superman or Wonder Woman?" If I have to choose, I choose Gene, but I have nothing against Fred. Despite their unparalleled hoofing skills, I go to the two men for completely different things. When I want athleticism and relatability, I go for Gene. When I want precision in both movement and story, I go for Fred.

Fred Astaire is undeniably Hollywood legend, thanks in large part to his on-screen chemistry with the equally delightful Ginger Rogers, but his path to stardom was not an obvious one.

8 random things that happened on this day, December 29th, in showbiz history

1933 Ernst Lubitsch's pre-Code threesome romantic comedy Design for Living starring Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, and Gary Cooper opens for the last weekend of the year as does the musical romantic comedy Flying Down to Rio starring Dolores del Rio. The latter film is best remembered for being the first onscreen pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in (gasp) supporting roles. 

1939 'Hollywood's Greatest Year' concludes with opening weekend for the Jimmy Stewart/Marlene Dietrich western Destry Rides Again, the classic period romantic drama The Hunchback of Notre Dame (2 Oscar nominations), and the musical Swanee River (1 Oscar nomination)...

This article contains Mank spoilers. You can read our review here.

It’s like the climax of a Western. Two men stare across from each other in a showdown of ego and calculation. And Gary Oldman’s Herman J. Mankiewicz (or “Mank”) has just told Orson Welles (Tom Burke) he wants writing credit for the Citizen Kane screenplay. This is not going to end well.

Before this moment, Welles had been conciliatory to Mank, feigning concern for his health and offering to take sole rewriting duties on the gargantuan script. He’s even providing $10,000 from Rko Pictures as a consolation. It’s of course more bribe than bonus. Yet as Welles realizes that he might have to share credit, or worse have no credit at all for a screenplay we just watched Mankiewicz write alone for two hours, the budding director throws a temper tantrum worthy of Charles Foster Kane,...

Flor Silvestre, one of Mexico’s most popular singers who also starred in scores of films, died today at 90. Televisa’s Espectáculos said she died surrounded by her family — including her son, singer and actor Pepe Aguilar — at Rancho el Soyate, the Zacatecas ranch she once shared with her late husband, the singer and actor Antonio Aguilar.

Emerging as a radio star in her late teens, Silvestre inked a recording deal with Columbia Records in 1950 and soon began to score Spanish-language hits. That same year, she appeared in her first two movies — Primero soy Mexicano and Te besaré en la boca — and would go on to appear in nearly 70 more during the next four decades.

She moved to the Musart Records label in 1957 and continued to rack up hit songs — including one of her signature canciones “Mi destino fue quererte” (My Destiny Was to Love You) in 1964 — all while making...

Long before the push for diversity and inclusion, Hollywood had a few Latin/Hispanic stars who made a big impact. One was Katy Jurado, the first Latina actress to win a Golden Globe (for 1952’s “High Noon”) and the first nominated for an Oscar (1954’s “Broken Lance”).

She was born Jan. 16, 1924, in Mexico, and began making films as a teenager. Though she was originally cast as spitfires or vamps, her roles got better and she added intelligence and subtlety to her characters. Variety reviewed her in the 1951 film “Bullfighter and the Lady,” saying she “makes a very strong impression” in her Hollywood debut. She won three Ariel Awards, the highest honor for Mexican filmmaking, including one for Luis Buñuel’s 1953 “El Bruto”; in 1997, she added a Special Golden Ariel for lifetime achievement.

Painted by Diego Rivera and romanced by novelist Louis L’Amour, Jurado remained the only Mexican actress to be Oscar nominated for nearly 50 years,...

The Southern California man who stole an iconic Marilyn Monroe statue from Hollywood was sentenced to one year in jail and ordered to pay more than $14,000, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.

Austin Mikel Clay, 25, entered an open no contest plea to one felony count each of grand theft of property valued at more than $950 and vandalism causing over $400 damage. The open plea means he didn’t negotiate a sentence with prosecutors.

After entering his plea, Superior Court Judge Dorothy B. Reyes sentenced the Glendale man to one year in county jail and ordered him to pay $14,260 in restitution, prosecutors said in a press release.

The Monroe statue that topped the Ladies of Hollywood gazebo at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea Avenue was reported missing on June 16. Clay was arrested June 21 at his home.

Police said they found evidence, just not the statue,...

Los Angeles police have made an arrest in connection with the theft of an iconic Marilyn Monroe statue, according to local news reports.

Police on Friday identified the suspect as Austin Mikel Clay, the same man authorities said previously used an ax on President Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Clay, 25, was convicted last summer of vandalizing Trump’s star and was on felony probation at the time of the statue’s theft.

“It’s unfortunate he’s seeking this method to gain fame,” LAPD Detective Douglas Oldfield told NBC Los Angeles.

The statue that topped the Ladies of Hollywood gazebo at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea Avenue was reported missing on June 16.

Police said Friday they found evidence, just not the statue, which was sawed off the top of the gazebo

“Looking back at the (security) video, it would be reasonable that...

Los Angeles police arrested a man Friday in connection with the theft of a Marilyn Monroe statue.

According to police, Austin Mikel Clay is accused of climbing the Ladies of Hollywood sculpture and sawing off the statue with a hacksaw. The statue remains missing.

Clay was also arrested last year for vandalizing Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was on felony probation at the time of the statue’s theft.

While investigating the crime, police used surveillance footage, which showed a man climbing down the gazebo before entering the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel with an alleged male accomplice. The pair also met up with another male and female who the police named persons of interest.

The statue once topped the Ladies of Hollywood gazebo at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea Avenue – a popular tourist attraction along the Hollywood Walk of Fame – and was reportedly stolen late Sunday night.

Some like it hot — and now a statue of Marilyn Monroe is exactly that. The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating the theft of a likeness of the midcentury film legend in Hollywood.

The figure that topped the Ladies of Hollywood gazebo at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea Avenue was reported swiped late Sunday night. The small bronze-colored statue features Monroe in her iconic windblown dress pose from 1955’s The Seven Year Itch. It has graced the top of the silver structure that is held up by statues of Mae West, Anna Mae Wong, Dolores Del Rio and Dorothy Dandridge and celebrates film actresses representing different cultures who helped change the movie business.

The gazebo is a popular tourist and photo attraction along the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but investigators including a forensics expect are looking at fingerprints from the site in hopes of finding a lead on the thief or thieves.

Fred Astaire would’ve celebrated his 120th birthday on May 10, 2019. The Oscar-nominated song and dance man is best remembered for a series of musicals he made alongside Ginger Rogers. Yet his filmography extends well past those titles. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 20 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

As a dancer, Astaire was known for his perfectionism, doing multiple takes to get the most precise movements correct. His immaculate steps were matched only by his outfits, which often consisted of top hats and coats.

SEEOscars flashback: Gold Derby celebrates 84 years of Best Original Song at the Academy Awards

After making a name for himself on the stage in London and on Broadway, Astaire came to Hollywood. He first appeared with fellow dancer Rogers in “Flying Down to Rio” (1933), where they played second fiddle to Dolores del Rio and Gene Raymond. Their...

10 random things that happened on this day in showbiz history...

1904 Dolores del Rio born in Mexico. By 1925 she's a star in silent films, Hollywood's first Mexican movie star, but her time in Hollywood is short. She reinvents herself back home in Mexico becoming a huge movie star all over again and ushering in Mexican cinema's Golden Era. 

1926 Gordon Scott, future Tarzan beefcake born in Portland. He stars in one of the most interesting Tarzan films, Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (1959) which also features Sean Connery!

1934 The Girl from Missouri opens in movie theaters, a vehicle for Jean Harlow who was actually from Missouri...

From the time it first took place in 1946, the Cannes Film Festival has been dominated by male directors. Here are some milestones over the years when they did recognize the contributions of women.

1946

Barbara Virginia, the first female Portuguese movie director, also becomes the first woman in competition at Cannes when the inaugural festival accepts her film “Tres Dias Sem Deus” as part of the lineup.

1954

For the first time, two women are chosen for the main competition: Carmen Tocano for the documentary “Memories of a Mexican” (which she co-directed with her father Salvador) and Japanese actor-director Kinuyo Tanaka with “Love Letter.”

1957

Mexican-born actress Dolores del Rio becomes the first woman to serve on the Cannes jury.

1961

For the first time, Cannes’ best director award is won by a woman: Yuliya Solntsevaa Russian filmmaker who wins for her World War II drama “The Story of the Flaming Years.”

Read original story Women in Cannes: A Short History of Small Victories and Decades of Male Dominance (Photos) At TheWrap...

This Blu is a fascinating hybrid of experimental film and historical documentary by Bill Morrison of Decasia fame. Lost film history and the vanished era of the Dawson Gold Rush blend into one story — all touched off by the discovery of tons of rare silent film, buried in the cold ground of the Canadian Yukon. And Donald Trump’s in there too! In the show, not the snow.

Dawson City: Frozen Time

Blu-ray

Kino Lorber Kino Classics

2017 / Color & B&W / 1:78 widescreen & 1:37 Silent Ap / 120 min. / Street Date October 31, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 34.95

Starring: Kathy Jones-Gates, Michael Gates, Sam Kula, Bill O’Farrell, Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo, Bill Morrison.

Film Editor: Bill Morrison

Researchers: Kathy Jones-Gates, Michael Gates

Original Music: Alex Somers; sound design John Somers

Produced by Bill Morrison and Madeleine Molyneaux

Written and Directed by Bill Morrison

Bill Morrison is the celebrated filmmaker of Decasia, a wonderful film...

Rob Leane Aug 14, 2017

Samuel L Jackson and Salma Hayek chat to us about their new flick, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, and how they got into Hollywood...

Samuel L. Jackson stars alongside Ryan Reynolds in The Hitman’s Bodyguard. Jackson is the hitman, and a key witness in a case to bring down a despot. Reynolds is the bodyguard, tasked with getting the hitman from A to B in order to testify in court.

Salma Hayek plays the wife of Jackson’s character. She’s locked up in prison for much of the film, with the carrot of her release being dangled to make Jackson’s killing machine comply in the upcoming legal proceedings.

We were invited to chat to the pair at a swanky hotel in London. And let me tell you: walking into a room with that much star-power in it is very nerve-wracking. Jackson was sat at a...

Ricardo Cortez in 'Ten Cents a Dance,' with Barbara Stanwyck. No matter how unthankful the role, whether hero or heel – or, not infrequently, a combination of both – Cortez left his bedroom-eyed, mellifluous-voiced imprint in his pre-Production Code talkies. Besides Barbara Stanwyck, during the 1920s and 1930s Cortez made love to and/or life difficult for, a whole array of leading ladies of that era, including Bebe Daniels, Gloria Swanson, Betty Compson, Betty Bronson, Greta Garbo, Florence Vidor, Claudette Colbert, Mary Astor, Kay Francis, Joan Crawford, Irene Dunne, Joan Blondell, and Loretta Young*. (See previous post: “Ricardo Cortez Q&A: From Latin Lover to Multiethnic Heel.”) Not long after the coming of sound, Ricardo Cortez was mostly relegated to playing subordinate roles to his leading ladies – e.g., Kay Francis, Irene Dunne, Claudette Colbert – or leads in “bottom half of the double bill” programmers at Warner Bros. or on loan to other studios. Would...

Ricardo Cortez: Although never as big a star as fellow 1920s screen heartthrobs Rudolph Valentino, Ramon Novarro, and John Gilbert, Cortez had a long – and, to some extent, prestigious – film career, appearing in nearly 100 movies between 1923 and 1950. Among his directors: Allan Dwan, Cecil B. DeMille, D.W. Griffith, James Cruze, Alexander Korda, Herbert Brenon, Roy Del Ruth, Frank Lloyd, Gregory La Cava, William A. Wellman, Alexander Hall, Lloyd Bacon, Tay Garnett, Archie Mayo, Raoul Walsh, Frank Capra, Walter Lang, Michael Curtiz, and John Ford. See previous post: “Remembering Ricardo Cortez: Hollywood's Silent “Latin Lover” & Star of Original 'The Maltese Falcon'.” First of all, why Ricardo Cortez? Since I began writing about classic movies and vintage filmmakers roughly 30 years ago, people have always been curious why I choose particular subjects. It sounds kind of corny, but I have always wanted to do original work and perhaps make a minor contribution to film history at the...

Ricardo Cortez biography 'The Magnificent Heel: The Life and Films of Ricardo Cortez' – Paramount's 'Latin Lover' threat to a recalcitrant Rudolph Valentino, and a sly, seductive Sam Spade in the original film adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's 'The Maltese Falcon.' 'The Magnificent Heel: The Life and Films of Ricardo Cortez': Author Dan Van Neste remembers the silent era's 'Latin Lover' & the star of the original 'The Maltese Falcon' At odds with Famous Players-Lasky after the release of the 1922 critical and box office misfire The Young Rajah, Rudolph Valentino demands a fatter weekly paycheck and more control over his movie projects. The studio – a few years later to be reorganized under the name of its distribution arm, Paramount – balks. Valentino goes on a “one-man strike.” In 42nd Street-style, unknown 22-year-old Valentino look-alike contest winner Jacob Krantz of Manhattan steps in, shortly afterwards to become known worldwide as Latin Lover Ricardo Cortez of...

on this day in history as it relates to the movies...

Dolores Del Río auditioning for Catwoman. No wait that's not right. Dolores Del Rio in Journey Into Fear (1943)1885 Carlo Montuori, famed cinematographer of Italian neorealism is born. He went on to lens the essential Bicycle Thief (1948)

1904 Dolores del Río, one of the first three Mexican actors to become movie stars in Hollywood (the others being her cousin Ramon Novarro and Lupe Vélez - they all started in silent films and moved into talkies), after which she used her fame and beauty as part of Mexican cinema's Golden Age with the occasional Hollywood film thrown in. Credits include: Bird of Paradise (1932), Flying Down To Rio (1933), Journey Into Fear (1943), Cheyenne Autumn (1964) and multiple Best Actress winning films in Mexico:  Las Abandonadas (1944), El Niño y la Niebla (1953), and Doña Perfecta (1951).

1906 Alexandre Trauner, Oscar winning production designer. His credits include The Nun's Story...

Merle Oberon movies: Mysterious star of British and American cinema. Merle Oberon on TCM: Donning men's clothes in 'A Song to Remember,' fighting hiccups in 'That Uncertain Feeling' Merle Oberon is Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month of March 2016. The good news: the exquisite (and mysterious) Oberon, whose ancestry has been a matter of conjecture for decades, makes any movie worth a look. The bad news: TCM isn't offering any Oberon premieres despite the fact that a number of the actress' films – e.g., Temptation, Night in Paradise, Pardon My French, Interval – can be tough to find. This evening, March 18, TCM will be showing six Merle Oberon movies released during the first half of the 1940s. Never a top box office draw in the United States, Oberon was an important international star all the same, having worked with many of the top actors and filmmakers of the studio era.

Ernst Lubitsch: The movies' lost 'Touch.' Ernst Lubitsch movies on TCM: Classics of a bygone era Ernst Lubitsch and William Cameron Menzies were Turner Classic Movies' “stars” on Jan. 28, '16. (This is a fully revised and expanded version of a post published on that day.) Lubitsch had the morning/afternoon, with seven films; Menzies had the evening/night, also with seven features. (TCM's Ernst Lubitsch schedule can be found further below.) The forgotten 'Touch' As a sign of the times, Ernst Lubitsch is hardly ever mentioned whenever “connoisseurs” (between quotes) discuss Hollywood movies of the studio era. But why? Well, probably because The Lubitsch Touch is considered passé at a time when the sledgehammer approach to filmmaking is deemed “fresh,” “innovative,” “cool,” and “daring” – as if a crass lack of subtlety in storytelling were anything new. Minus the multimillion-dollar budgets, the explicit violence and gore, and the overbearing smugness passing for hipness,...

Best Song Oscar 2016 contender 'Fifty Shades of Grey,' with Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan. 74 entries in contention for 2016 Best Song Academy Award 'Tis the season for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to announce the semi-finalists – in some instances, the semi-semi-finalists – for the Academy Awards. Today, the Academy released the list of songs eligible for the 2016 Best Song – or rather, Best Original Song – Oscar. There are 74 contenders, with titles ranging from “Happy” and “I'll See You in My Dreams” to “Hypnosis” and “Bhoomiyilenghanumundo.” Curiously, apart from the inevitable animated and/or kiddie flicks (Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip, Anomalisa, Pan, Shaun the Sheep Movie, Home, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water, etc.) most of this year's contenders are songs from smaller movies and Bollywood/South Asian releases. Exceptions include Sam Taylor-Johnson's Fifty Shades of Grey, Ryan Coogler's Creed, Kenneth Branagh's...

The American Film Institute announced today the films that will screen in the World Cinema, Breakthrough, Midnight, Shorts and Cinema’s Legacy programs at AFI Fest 2015 presented by Audi.

AFI Fest will take place November 5 – 12, 2015, in the heart of Hollywood. Screenings, Galas and events will be held at the historic Tcl Chinese Theatre, the Tcl Chinese 6 Theatres, Dolby Theatre, the Lloyd E. Rigler Theatre at the Egyptian, the El Capitan Theatre and The Hollywood Roosevelt.

World Cinema showcases the most acclaimed international films of the year; Breakthrough highlights true discoveries of the programming process; Midnight selections will grip audiences with terror; and Cinema’s Legacy highlights classic movies and films about cinema. World Cinema and Breakthrough selections are among the films eligible for Audience Awards. Shorts selections are eligible for the Grand Jury Prize, which qualifies the winner for Academy Award®consideration. This year’s Shorts jury features filmmaker Janicza Bravo,...

Child actor Dickie Moore: 'Our Gang' member. Former child actor Dickie Moore dead at 89: Film career ranged from 'Our Gang' shorts to features opposite Marlene Dietrich and Gary Cooper 1930s child actor Dickie Moore, whose 100+ movie career ranged from Our Gang shorts to playing opposite the likes of Marlene Dietrich, Barbara Stanwyck, and Gary Cooper, died in Connecticut on Sept. 7, '15 – five days before his 90th birthday. So far, news reports haven't specified the cause of death. According to a 2013 Boston Phoenix article about Moore's wife, MGM musical star Jane Powell, he had been “suffering from arthritis and bouts of dementia.” Dickie Moore movies At the behest of a persistent family friend, combined with the fact that his father was out of a job, Dickie Moore (born on Sept. 12, 1925, in Los Angeles) made his film debut as an infant in Alan Crosland's 1927 costume drama The Beloved Rogue,...

Greta Garbo movie 'The Kiss.' Greta Garbo movies on TCM Greta Garbo, a rarity among silent era movie stars, is Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” performer today, Aug. 26, '15. Now, why would Garbo be considered a silent era rarity? Well, certainly not because she easily made the transition to sound, remaining a major star for another decade. Think Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, William Powell, Fay Wray, Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, John Barrymore, Warner Baxter, Janet Gaynor, Constance Bennett, etc. And so much for all the stories about actors with foreign accents being unable to maintain their Hollywood stardom following the advent of sound motion pictures. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer star, Garbo was no major exception to the supposed rule. Mexican Ramon Novarro, another MGM star, also made an easy transition to sound, and so did fellow Mexicans Lupe Velez and Dolores del Rio, in addition to the very British...

Fred Astaire ca. 1935. Fred Astaire movies: Dancing in the dark, on the ceiling on TCM Aug. 5, '15, is Fred Astaire Day on Turner Classic Movies, as TCM continues with its “Summer Under the Stars” series. Just don't expect any rare Astaire movies, as the actor-singer-dancer's star vehicles – mostly Rko or MGM productions – have been TCM staples since the early days of the cable channel in the mid-'90s. True, Fred Astaire was also featured in smaller, lesser-known fare like Byron Chudnow's The Amazing Dobermans (1976) and Yves Boisset's The Purple Taxi / Un taxi mauve (1977), but neither one can be found on the TCM schedule. (See TCM's Fred Astaire movie schedule further below.) Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals Some fans never tire of watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing together. With these particular fans in mind, TCM is showing – for the nth time – nine Astaire-Rogers musicals of the '30s,...

While the name Gabriel Figueroa may not be a familiar one to many, even those with a stronger affinity for filmmaking and the art behind it, New York’s own Film Forum is hoping to change that.

On June 5, the theater began a career spanning retrospective surrounding the work of iconic cinematographer and Mexican film industry legend Gabriel Figueroa. Taking a look at 19 of the photographer’s films, the series is running in conjunction with the new exhibition at El Museo del Barrio, entitled Under The Mexican Sky: Gabriel Figueroa – Art And Film.

Best known as a pioneer of Mexican cinema, primarily with his work alongside director Emilio Fernandez, Figueroa’s work was as varied as they come. His work with Fernandez is without a doubt this retrospective’s highlight, particularly films like Wildflower. One of the many times Mexican cinema’s “Big Four” worked together, the film saw the...

'Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation' star Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt 'Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation' trailer: Movie stunt combo "Desperate times. Desperate measures," says Tom Cruise aka Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation trailer aka the Mission: Impossible 5 and/or MI5 trailer. Whatever you call it, that particular line could be read in a number of ways: Tom Cruise's superstardom is in the doldrums – at least that's what we hear from those who see reality only through U.S.-focused lenses – and he needs all the box-office help he can get. Hence, MI5. Hollywood is in dire need of a mammoth domestic blockbuster following a year of mediocre-performing tentpoles at the U.S. box office. Hence, MI5. The world's socioeconomic fabric is about to unravel. Hence, MI5 – so humankind can go with a bang. Not only with a bang, but with mirth as well.

Howard Hughes movies (photo: Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes in 'The Aviator') Turner Classic Movies will be showing the Howard Hughes-produced, John Farrow-directed, Baja California-set gangster drama His Kind of Woman, starring Robert Mitchum, Hughes discovery Jane Russell, and Vincent Price, at 3 a.m. Pt / 6 a.m. Et on Saturday, November 8, 2014. Hughes produced a couple of dozen movies. (More on that below.) But what about "Howard Hughes movies"? Or rather, movies -- whether big-screen or made-for-television efforts -- featuring the visionary, eccentric, hypochondriac, compulsive-obsessive, all-American billionaire as a character? Besides Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays a dashing if somewhat unbalanced Hughes in Martin Scorsese's 2004 Best Picture Academy Award-nominated The Aviator, other actors who have played Howard Hughes on film include the following: Tommy Lee Jones in William A. Graham's television movie The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977), with Lee Purcell as silent film star Billie Dove, Tovah Feldshuh as Katharine Hepburn,...

Honorary Award: Gloria Swanson, Rita Hayworth among dozens of women bypassed by the Academy (photo: Honorary Award non-winner Gloria Swanson in 'Sunset Blvd.') (See previous post: "Honorary Oscars: Doris Day, Danielle Darrieux Snubbed.") Part three of this four-part article about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Honorary Award bypassing women basically consists of a long, long — and for the most part quite prestigious — list of deceased women who, some way or other, left their mark on the film world. Some of the names found below are still well known; others were huge in their day, but are now all but forgotten. Yet, just because most people (and the media) suffer from long-term — and even medium-term — memory loss, that doesn't mean these women were any less deserving of an Honorary Oscar. So, among the distinguished female film professionals in Hollywood and elsewhere who have passed away without...

Honorary Oscars 2014: Hayao Miyazaki, Jean-Claude Carrière, and Maureen O’Hara; Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award goes to Harry Belafonte One good thing about the creation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Governors Awards — an expedient way to remove the time-consuming presentation of the (nearly) annual Honorary Oscar from the TV ratings-obsessed, increasingly youth-oriented Oscar show — is that each year up to four individuals can be named Honorary Oscar recipients, thus giving a better chance for the Academy to honor film industry veterans while they’re still on Planet Earth. (See at the bottom of this post a partial list of those who have gone to the Great Beyond, without having ever received a single Oscar statuette.) In 2014, the Academy’s Board of Governors has selected a formidable trio of honorees: Japanese artist and filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, 73; French screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière, 82; and Irish-born Hollywood actress Maureen O’Hara,...

This Friday April 25th The Filadelfia celebrates its third annual edition with an impressive line up of the best of Latino film from Mexico to Chile to Colombia, The Us and even a film made with the youth of Philly. Opening night film will be the super 1943 classic ‘Maria Candelaria’ starring Dolores Del Rio. For those near the city of brotherly amor we’ve done ya homework and listed their films below!

Opening Night: Maria Candelaria (Mexico)

Starring Dolores del Rio and Pedro Armendáriz, Maria Candelaria was the first Mexican film to be screened at the Cannes International Film Festival, and the first Latin American film awarded the Gran Prix. Gabriel Figueroa, the film’s cinematographer, was nominated for an Academy Award for The Night of the Iguana, and is often referred to as “the Fourth Muralist” of Mexico.

A young journalist presses an old artist (Alberto Galán ) to show a portrait of a naked indigenous woman that he has in his study. The body of the movie is a flashback to Xochimilco, Mexico, in 1909. The film is set right before the Mexican Revolution, and Xochimilco is an area with beautiful landscapes inhabited mostly by indigenous people.

The woman in the painting is María Candelaria (Dolores del Rio), a young Indian woman who is constantly rejected by her own people for being the daughter of a prostitute. She and her lover, Lorenzo Rafael (Pedro Armendariz), face constant struggles throughout the film. They are honest and hardworking, yet nothing ever goes right for them. Don Damian (Miguel Inclán), a jealous Mestizo store owner who wants María for himself, prevents them from getting married. He kills a piglet that María and Lorenzo plan to sell for profit and he refuses to buy vegetables from them. When María falls ill with malaria, Don Damian refuses to give the couple the quinine medicine necessary to fight the disease. Lorenzo breaks into his shop to steal the medicine, and he also takes a wedding dress for María. Lorenzo goes to prison for stealing, and María agrees to model for the painter to pay for his release. The artist begins painting a portrait of María, but when he asks her to pose nude she refuses.

The artist finishes the painting with the nude body of another woman. When the people of Xochimilco see the painting, they assume it is María Candelaria and stone her to death.Finally, Lorenzo escapes from prison )to carry María's lifeless body through Xochimilco's canal of the dead.

Bad Hair/Pelo Malo (Venezuela)

The third film from the filmmaker and plastic artist Mariana Rondón, Pelo Malo stars Junior, a 9 year-old with "bad hair". He wants to have it straightened for his yearbook picture, like a fashionable pop singer. This puts him at odds with his mother Marta. The more Junior tries to look sharp and make his mother love him, the more she rejects him, until he is cornered, face to face with a painful decision.

To Kill A Man/Matar A Un Hombre (Chile)

Read the Review

Read the Interview with Dir. Alejandro Fernandez Almendras

A thriller about a hardworking family man Jorge who is just barely making ends meet. When he gets mugged by Kalule, a neighborhood delinquent, Jorge's son decides to confront Kalule, only to get himself shot in the process. Sentenced to a scant 2 years in prison for the offense, Kalule, released and now intent on revenge, goes on the warpath, terrorizing Jorge's family. With his wife, son and daughter at the mercy of a thug, Jorge has no choice but to take justice into his own hands, and live with the emotional and psychological consequences.

Lines of class and masculinity ignite friction in this rugged thriller, adeptly shot with a discerning eye. Director Alejandro Fernández Almendras elevates raw grit to a new level with a tone that is both elemental and prophetic. Rife with unnerving tension, To Kill a Man is ultimately a surprising exploration of the heavy burden of what it takes to do what the title suggests.

Anina (Colombia)

Read the Review

Anina Yatay Salas is a ten-year-old girl. All her names form palindromes, making her the butt of her classmates’ jokes, and especially of Yisel’s, who Anina sees as an “elephant.” One day, fed up with all the taunting, Anina starts a fight with Yisel during recess. The incident ends with the principal penalizing the girls and calling their parents.Anina receives her punishment inside a sealed black envelope, which she is told not to open until she meets with the principal again a week later.She is also forbidden to tell anyone about the envelope. Her classmates pressure her to find out what the punishment will be, while they imagine cruel physical torture.

Anina, in her anxiousness to find out what horrible punishment awaits her in the mysterious black envelope, will get mixed up in a series of troubles, involving secret loves, confessed hatreds, close friendships, dreadful enemies, some loving teachers, and also some evil teachers.Without her realizing it, Anina’s efforts to understand the content of the envelope turn into an attempt to understand the world and her place in it.

The Devil’S Music (USA)

When the new sound of jazz first spread across America in the early twentieth-century, it left delight – and controversy – in its wake.As jazz's popularity grew, so did campaigns to censor "the devil's music." This documentary classic has been hailed by the New York Times as a documentary that "addressing the complex interaction of race and class… engages viewers in a conversation as vigorous as the art it chronicles,” featuring timeless performances by artists such as Louis Armstrong and vocalist Rachelle Ferrelle, plus interviews with giants of social and musical criticism such as Albert Murray, Marian MacPartland, Studs Terkel, and Michael Eric Dyson. The Devil's Music is Written, Produced and Directed by Maria Agui Carter and Calvin A. Lindsay Jr., and Narrated by Dion Graham.

I, Undocumented/Yo, Indocumentada (Venezuela)

Yo Indocumentada (I, Undocumented) , exposes the struggles of transgender people in Venezuela. The film, Andrea Baranenko’s first feature-length production, tells the story of three Venezuelan women fighting for their right to have an identity.

Tamara Adrián, 58, is a lawyer; Desirée Pérez, 46, is a hairdresser; and Victoria González, 27, has been a visual arts student since 2009. These women share more than their nationality: they all carry identifications with masculine names that do not correspond to their actual identities. They are transgender women, who long ago assumed their gender and now defend it in a homophobic and transphobic society.

The House That Jack Built (USA )

Jack Maldonado is an ambitious Latino man who fueled by misguided nostalgia, buys a small apartment building in the Bronx and moves his family into the apartments to live rent-free. His parents, Carlos and Martha, sister Nadia, brother Richie and his wife Rosa, Grandmother/Abuela and cousins Hector and Manny, all under one roof. Tension builds quickly as Jack imposes his views on everyone around him, including his fiancée, Lily. All the while, he hides the fact that his corner store is a front for selling marijuana but soon has to deal with new unwanted competitive forces. It's only a matter of time before Jack's family and 'business' lives collide in tragic fashion.

Aqui Y Alla Crossing Borders (USA)

The “Aquí y Allá’ transnational public art project explored the impact of immigration in the lives of Mexican immigrant youth in Philadelphia in connection with youth in Chihuahua, Mexico. The documentary highlights the testimonials of the youth on both sides of the border working towards the creation of a collaborative mural in South Philadelphia.

Cesar’S Last Fast (USA)

Read the Review

In 1988, Cesar Chavez embarked on what would be his last act of protest in his remarkable life. Driven in part to pay penance for feeling he had not done enough, Chavez began his “Fast for Life,” a 36-day water-only hunger strike, to draw attention to the horrific effects of unfettered pesticide use on farm workers, their families, and their communities.

Using never-before-seen footage of Chavez during his fast and testimony from those closest to him, directors Richard Ray Perez and Lorena Parlee weave together the larger story of Chavez’s life, vision, and legacy. A deeply religious man, Chavez’s moral clarity in organizing and standing with farm workers at risk of his own life humbled his family, friends, and the world. Cesar’s Last Fast is a moving and definitive portrait of the leader of a people who became an American icon of struggle and freedom.

La Camioneta (Guantemala)

Every day dozens of decommissioned school buses leave the United States on a southward migration that carries them to Guatemala, where they are repaired, repainted, and resurrected as the brightly-colored camionetas that bring the vast majority of Guatemalans to work each day. La Camioneta follows one such bus on its transformative journey: a journey between North and South, between life and death, and through an unfolding collection of moments, people, and places that serve to quietly remind us of the interconnected worlds in which we live.

Forbidden Lovers Meant To Be (USA)

Working with talented high school students from North Philadelphia at Taller Puertorriqueño’s Youth Artist Program, filmmakers Joanna Siegel, Melissa Beatriz Skolnick, and Kate Zambon sought to capture the personal and artistic journeys of the youth through film. While facilitating collaborative film workshops with the students, themes of race/ethnicity, cultures, language, and identity emerged. Throughout this process of engaging in story development and visual representation, the students created a video of their own, while the filmmakers documented the process using metafilm techniques. The students' short film, Forbidden Lovers Meant to Be, highlights the talent and creativity of these youth. Forbidden Lovers Meant to Be was created by the spring 2012 Youth Artist Program participants: Amy Lee Flores, Ricardo Lopez, Michael Mendez, Zayris Rivera, Tashyra Suarez, Nestor Tamayo, Yoeni Torres, Karina Ureña Vargas, and Kara Williams. (Amy Lee Flores, Ricardo Lopez, Michael Mendez)

Tire Die (Argentina)

The first film of the first Latin American documentary film school (The Escuela Documental de Santa Fe), this documentary focuses on the children in the neighborhood known as Tire Dié in the city of Santa Fe, Argentina, who wait daily for the passing train to ask for money from the passengers, shouting “Tire dié!” (Toss me a dime!).

Dubbed as the father of the New Latin American Cinema, Fernando Birriwas one of the first filmmakers to document poverty and underdevelopment. Tire Dié was part of the exhibition, Latin American Visions, produced by International House, 1989-1991.

The Illiterates/Las Analfabetas (Chile)

Ximena, played by the incomparable Paulina García (Gloria) is an illiterate woman in her fifties, who has learned to live on her own to keep her illiteracy a secret. Jackeline, is a young unemployed elementary school teacher, who tries to convince Ximena to take reading classes. Persuading her proves to be an almost impossible task, till one day, Jackeline finds something Ximena has been keeping as her only treasure since she was a child: a letter Ximena’s father left when he abandoned her many years before. Thus, the two women embark on a learning journey where they discover that there are many ways of being illiterate, and that not knowing how to read is just one of them.

For the schedule please visit: http://flaff.org/

Written by Juan Caceres . LatinoBuzz is a weekly feature on SydneysBuzz that highlights Latino indie talent and upcoming trends in Latino film with the specific objective of presenting a broad range of Latino voices. Follow [At]LatinoBuzz on Twitter and Facebook...

Screwball comedy movies, rare screenings of epic box office disaster: Library of Congress’ Packard Theater in April 2014 (photo: Cary Grant and Irene Dunne in ‘The Awful Truth’) In April 2014, the Library of Congress’ Packard Campus Theater in Culpeper, Virginia, will celebrate Hollywood screwball comedy movies, from the Marx Brothers’ antics to Peter Bogdanovich’s early ’70s homage What’s Up, Doc?, a box office blockbuster starring Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neal. Additionally, the Packard Theater will present a couple of rarities, including an epoch-making box office disaster that led to the demise of a major studio. Among Packard’s April 2014 screwball comedies are the following: Leo McCarey’s Duck Soup (Saturday, April 5) — actually more zany, wacky, and totally insane than merely "screwball" — in which Groucho Marx stars as the recently (un)elected dictator of Freedonia, abetted by siblings Harpo Marx and Chico Marx, in addition to Groucho’s perennial foil,...

Wallace Beery movies: TCM offers a glimpse into Beery’s extensive filmography (photo: Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery in ‘Min and Bill’) According to the IMDb, the Wallace Beery Filmography features nearly 240 movie titles, including shorts and features, spanning more than three decades, from 1913 to 1949 — the year of his death at age 64. You’ll be able to catch about a dozen of these Wallace Beery movies on Saturday, August 17, 2013, as Turner Classic Movies continues with its "Summer Under the Stars" series. (See “TCM movie schedule: Wallace Beery from Pancho Villa to Long John Silver.”) Wallace Beery, much like fellow veteran Marie Dressler, with whom he co-starred in Min and Bill and its sequel, Tugboat Annie, was a Hollywood anomaly. At age 45, the ugly, coarse-looking actor became a top box-office draw in the United States after languishing in supporting roles, usually playing villains, throughout most of the silent era. Beery and Dressler,...

Ramon Novarro: Silent movie star proves he can talk and sing (See previous post: "Ramon Novarro: Mexican-Born Actor Was First Latin American Hollywood Superstar.") On Ramon Novarro Day, Turner Classic Movies’ first Novarro movie is Rex Ingram’s The Prisoner of Zenda (1922), a stately version of Edward Rose’s play, itself based on Anthony Hope’s 1897 novel: in the Central European kingdom of Ruritania, a traveling Englishman takes the place of the kidnapped local king-to-be-crowned. A pre-Judge Hardy Lewis Stone has the double role, while Novarro plays the scheming Rupert of Hentzau. (Photo: Ramon Novarro ca. 1922.) Despite his stage training, Stone is as interesting to watch as a beach pebble; Novarro, for his part, has a good time hamming it up in his first major break — courtesy of director Rex Ingram, then looking for a replacement for Rudolph Valentino, with whom he’d had a serious falling out...

London, July 19: Orson Welles, who was a known womaniser, lived a life that was dotted with affairs with various women.

The legendary actor/director's first love was actress Virginia Nicolson and the couple eloped in 1934 when they were 19, the Daily Express revealed.

While Nicolson was pregnant with the couple's child, Welles began affairs with actresses Geraldine Fitzgerald and Dolores del Rio.

After divorce from Nicolson in 1940, Welles married Rita Hayworth in 1943; that marriage resulted in divorce in 1948 after his extra-marital affairs plagued the relationship.

Soon after, Welles impregnated Italian.

Every year, dozens of people wrap their hands around Emilio Fernandez‘s torso and hoist him high into the air while thanking their supporters. Usually, they’re played off the stage by a swelling orchestra, but they still get to take Fernandez home. Fortunately for everyone involved, he comes in portable size that you can keep easily on your shelf because Emilio Fernandez is the Oscar. Or, rather, the Oscar statue is Emilio Fernandez. As the story goes, he was a good friend of actress Dolores Del Rio who introduced Fernandez to her future husband, Cedric Gibbons in 1928. Gibbons was an art director at MGM, an original academy member and the man who supervised the design of the trophy that would go on to become an international icon. All he had to do was convince Fernandez to pose nude, and AMPAS had their statue. But Fernandez was more than just the body that would become Oscar. He...

Kino Classics will release the "David O. Selznick Collection" for the first time on Blu-ray and DVD on November 13. The collection focuses on the golden-age mogul's earlier productions and includes the Freddie Bartholomew classic "Little Lord Fauntleroy," the original 1937 version of "A Star is Born" starring Janet Gaynor and Frederic March, and William Wellman's "Nothing Sacred." Also part of the set are King Vidor's spicy South Seas adventure "Bird of Paradise," starring Dolores Del Rio and Joel McCrea, and Frank Borzage's 1932 version of "Farewell to Arms." "Nothing Sacred" and "A Star is Born" are both lavish Technicolor productions, preceding Selznick's most famous high-watt color production in 1939, "Gone with the Wind." The Kino collection's titles range from 1932 to 1937, which straddles the period between Selznick's work at both MGM and Rko, and his...

Best Laid Plans: Piterbarg Gets Double the Mortensen in Debut

Argentinean director Ana Piterbarg nabs Viggo Mortensen for dual roles in her debut, a slow burn identity thriller, Everybody Has a Plan. Mortensen, having appeared in three previous Spanish speaking features, is a fellow countryman of Piterbarg, having spent his childhood in Argentina. The resulting collaboration may be disappointing to some, as this is a simmering, psychological thriller that banks mostly on constant discomfort and a slowly building menace that permeates the narrative, but this only serves to make the film a unique, fascinating, noir-tinged exercise in the swamps.

Agustin (Mortensen) stars as a doctor in Buenos Aires, who we quickly learn is in a floundering marriage with Claudia (Soledad Villamil). They are about to adopt a baby, something that Claudia is apparently passionate about, a plan that has been gestating for some time. But it turns out that...

2016 movie still trailing Michael Moore, Al Gore 2016 Obama's America, Dinesh D'Souza and John Sullivan's anti-Obama documentary, has surpassed the concert movie Katy Perry: Part of Me to become the second highest-grossing non-fiction film released in North America in 2012. By Sunday evening, D'Souza and Sullivan's right-wing doc -- current cume according to the web site Box Office Mojo stands at an estimated $27.66 million (as of Wed., September 13) -- should have also surpassed the nature doc Chimpanzee ($28.97 million) to become the year's top documentary in the United States and Canada. Worldwide, 2016 -- a 100% domestic sleeper hit like, say, the Tyler Perry movies (which have no audience overseas) -- remains behind both Chimpanzee (another domestic-only release) and Katy Perry: Part of Me. (Please scroll down for more details about the box-office performances of non-fiction films worldwide both in 2012 and "all-time.") As per numerous box-office reports, as the sixth biggest non-fiction film ever (or rather,...

Ginger Rogers movies on TCM Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire became movie stars thanks to Dorothy Jordan. Jordan, Ramon Novarro’s leading lady in three popular early MGM musicals, had been cast as the second female lead in Rko’s Flying Down to Rio, a 1933 musical starring Mexican Dolores del Rio as a (hilarious) Brazilian and Gene Raymond as her red-white-and-blue suitor. But instead of practicing her tap dancing, Jordan opted to get married to King Kong co-director Merian C. Cooper. Enter Ginger Rogers. And what followed in the next two-and-a-half decades were a series of delightful performances in movie comedies, dramas, and musicals. Ginger [...]...