News

All together now: “If you want to send a message, use Western Union.”

So goes the oft quoted maxim of producer Sam Goldwyn, speaking not in malapropism mode but properly enunciating a straightforward commandment for Hollywood filmmakers: keep your personal politics off screen and remember that the public comes to the motion picture theater for entertainment not lectures. Goldwyn’s rule was a guiding principle throughout the classical Hollywood era.*

The sentiment behind the saying is making a comeback. After being whiplashed by critics who’ve persistently linked box office disappointments to liberal political messaging, the success of the relatively talking points-free Twisters, A Quiet Place: Day One and Deadpool & Wolverine has revived the ancient wisdom.

Of course, Hollywood cinema has always telegraphed messages — often most effectively when it was unaware of sending them. In promoting the benefits of postwar capitalist democracy, no flag-waving lecture from an on-screen patriot...

A song from The Beatles‘ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is so old-fashioned it could have come out during the Victorian era. One of The Beatles’ rock ‘n’ roll peers said that he couldn’t have written the song because he had no sense of time. Regardless, that singer’s tunes have lasted over the course of generations.

Donovan on why Paul McCartney wrote a song from The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’

One of The Beatles’ fellow British Invasion stars was Donovan. He contributed to psychedelia as much as they did with hits such as “Sunshine Superman,” “Atlantis, and “Hurdy Gurdy Man.” Donovan also accompanied the Fab Four on their fateful trip to India to meet the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and learn about Transcendental Meditation.

During a 2013 interview with BusinessLive, Donovan discussed his own sense of time. “One couldn’t remember last Tuesday or think about next Tuesday,” he said,...

Donovan’s “Atlantis” is one of the most unusual songs in the classic rock canon, as it combines spoken word, rock, and Greek mythology. Donovan revealed a supposedly supernatural book inspired “Atlantis.” Subsequently, the tune’s composition garnered comparisons to a famous Beatles track.

Donovan | David Redfern / Staff The ‘channeled’ words of an Atlantean inspired Donovan’s ‘Atlantis’

During a 2012 interview with Rock Cellar Magazine, Donovan revealed how he composed “Atlantis.” “I was reading this book by Phylos the Tibetan, [A Dweller on Two Planets] which is a channeled book,” he said. For context, a channeled book is a book supposedly dictated to an author by a ghost or other supernatural being. The Victorian author Frederick Spencer Oliver claimed to have channeled A Dweller on Two Planets from an Atlantean named Phylos the Tibetan.

“And it was about Atlantis, and I was fascinated with it so I wrote this piece on the continent of Atlantis,...

The second and final batch of 2023 GLAAD Media Awards winners were announced on Saturday in New York City, with “Fire Island” and “Anything’s Possible” tying for Oustanding Film – Streaming/TV while Netflix’s “Heartstopper” won Outstanding Kids and Family Programming (Live-Action).

Outstanding Broadway Production went to “A Strange Loop,” while “The Problem With Jon Stewart” won Variety or Talk Show Episode. HBO’s “We’re Here” won Reality Series.

Maren Morris won the Excellence in Media award, and in her speech, took a shot at Tucker Carlson who had mocked the singer-songwriter for standing up to transphobia.

“Maybe I felt a little badass taking Tucker Carlson’s calling me a lunatic for standing up to transphobia [and] turning it into a t-shirt and raising $150,000 for LGBTQ+ charities,” she said. “That made me feel a little cool, but I don’t wanna gloat. I would never insult the recently unemployed.”

.@MarenMorris has a...

The second wave of the 34th annual GLAAD Media Award winners was announced on Saturday night in New York City, with Netflix’s Heartstopper winning for Outstanding Kids & Family Programming – Live Action.

The LGBTQ+ romance series based on Alice Oseman’s webcomic, which follows the love stories of teenage BFFs-turned-boyfriends Nick Nelson and Charlie Spring and their peers, received rave reviews upon its release in 2022. The second season premieres on Thursday, Aug. 3.

More from TVLineNetflix Sets Heartstopper Season 2 Release Date: 'Different Vibe' in StoreHeartstopper Creator Teases a Larger Role for [Spoiler] and Drops a Big Hint About the Netflix Hit's Inevitable EndGLAAD Media Awards: Heartstopper,...

GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) announced recipients for 18 of this year’s 33 categories for the 34th Annual GLAAD Media Awards. Maren Morris received the Excellence in Media Award, introduced by Cynthia Lee Fontaine and Alyssa Edwards, and Jonathan Van Ness received the Vito Russo Award, presented by Alok at the star-studded ceremony at the Hilton Midtown in New York.

The New York ceremony for the 34th Annual GLAAD Media Awards was hosted by Harvey Guillén, and featured a special performance from Idina Menzel.

Related: 2023-24 Awards Season Calendar – Dates For Oscars, Emmys, Major Film Festivals & More

Here are the New York winners of the 33rd annual GLAAD Media Awards (see the winners from the March 31 Los Angeles ceremony here):

Outstanding Film – Streaming/TV

(tie)

Fire Island

Anything’s Possible

Outstanding Reality Series

We’re Here

Outstanding Variety or Talk Show Episode

The Problem with Jon Stewart

Outstanding Online...

Actor Sharon Stone looked forward to being cast in a project about the late Lana Turner. But when Michael Douglas’ wife Catherine Zeta-Jones nabbed the project instead, Stone couldn’t help express her disappointment in the outcome.

Sharon Stone was considered to play late actor Lana Turner in a biopic Sharon Stone | Robert Smith/Patrick McMullan / Getty Images

Stone may have been in the running once to play late actor Lana Turner. According to TCM, Turner was an actor on the rise in the late 30s, having made her small silver screen debut in the feature They Won’t Forget.

From there, Turner’s career experienced even higher heights in the 40s. The 40s saw her starring in notable features like Honky Tonk and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, further growing her celebrity.

Deep in the 40s and 50s, Turner was already an established star and an A-lister in her own right.

We've been celebrating 1957 these past few weeks. Please welcome our new contributor Baby Clyde...

Lana turner in "Peyton Place" and the closest she came to Oscar - presenting Red Buttons with his that same year

After nearly two decades as a topflight Hollywood star Lana Turner finally grabbed Oscar’s attention for her performance as the uptight mother Constance Mackenzie in the smash hit 1957 soap opera Peyton Place. It was to be their only serious encounter. Nobody argues that Lana was a great actress but by god was she a great Movie Star. Maybe the greatest of all in my estimation. There is no one in film history who ticks so many boxes or encapsulates so many Hollywood tropes and clichés.

Young Judy Turner went to Hollywood High School before literally being discovered at a soda counter by the editor of the Hollywood Reporter at age 16 (See how many times...

Savant uncovers the true, hidden ending to this Fritz Lang masterpiece. The moral outrage of Lang's searing attack on lynch terror hasn't dimmed a bit -- with his first American picture the director nails one of our primary social evils. MGM imposed some re-cutting and re-shooting, but it's still the most emotionally powerful film on the subject. Fury DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1936 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 92 min. / Street Date August 2, 2016, 2016 / available through the WB Shop / 17.99 Starring Sylvia Sidney, Spencer Tracy, Walter Abel, Bruce Cabot, Edward Ellis, Walter Brennan, Frank Albertson, George Walcott, Arthur Stone, Morgan Wallace, George Chandler, Roger Gray, Edwin Maxwell, Howard C. Hickman, Jonathan Hale, Leila Bennett, Esther Dale, Helen Flint. Cinematography Joseph Ruttenberg Film Editor Frank Sullivan Original Music Franz Waxman Written by Bartlett Cormack, Fritz Lang story by Norman Krasna Produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz Directed by Fritz Lang

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Just...

Leave it to director William Wellman to direct the most compelling social justice movie of the 1940s. Taken from a bestselling novel, it's a wrenching examination of the workings of a natural American phenomenon, the Lynch Mob. The Ox-Bow Incident Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1942 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 75 min. / Street Date July 12, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Mary Beth Hughes, Anthony Quinn, William Eythe, Harry Morgan, Jane Darwell, Matt Briggs, Harry Davenport, Frank Conroy, Marc Lawrence Cinematography Arthur Miller Art Direction James Basevi, Richard Day Film Editor Allen McNeil Original Music Cyril J. Mockridge Written and Produced by Lamar Trotti from a novel by Walter Van Tilburg Clark Directed by William A. Wellman

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

In the first scene of this grim feature, Henry Fonda stumbles out of a saloon street and throws up in the street. Apparently that was the reaction shared...

This noir hits with the force of a blast furnace -- Cy Endfield's wrenching tale of social neglect and injustice will tie your stomach in knots. Sound like fun? An unemployed man turns to crime and reaps a whirlwind of disproportionate retribution. It's surely the most powerful of all filmic accusations thrown at the American status quo. Try and Get Me! Blu-ray Olive Films 1950 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 92 min. / Street Date April 19, 2016 / The Sound of Fury / available through the Olive Films website / 29.95 Starring Frank Lovejoy, Kathleen Ryan, Richard Carlson, Lloyd Bridges, Katherine Locke, Adele Jergens, Art Smith, Renzo Cesana, Irene Vernon, Cliff Clark, Donald Smelick, Joe E. Ross. Cinematography Guy Roe Production Design Perry Ferguson Film Editor George Amy Original Music Hugo Friedhofer Written by Jo Pagano from his novel The Condemned Produced by Robert Stillman Directed by Cyril Endfield

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Socially conscious 'issue' movies are not all made equal.

Tired of stupid sword 'n' sandal costume pictures? Robert Rossen's all-star bio-epic of the charter founder of the Masons is a superior analysis of political ambition and the ruthless application of power. Yeah, he's wearing a blond wig, but Richard Burton captures the force of Alexander without camping up Asia Minor. Alexander the Great Blu-ray Twilight Time Limited Edition 1956 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 136 min. / Ship Date March 15, 2016 / available through Twilight Time Movies / 29.95 Starring Richard Burton, Fredric March, Claire Bloom, Danielle Darrieux, Barry Jones, Harry Andrews, Stanley Baker, Niall MacGinnis, Peter Cushing. Cinematography Robert Krasker Art Direction Andrej Andrejew Film Editor Ralph Kemplen Original Music Mario Nascimbene Produced by Gordon Griffith, Robert Rossen Written and Directed by Robert Rossen

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Critical opinions aren't supposed to flip-flop with every screening of a film, but I have to admit that my appreciation of Robert Rossen's 1956 epic Alexander the Great...