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Olivia Hussey, known in part for playing one of the two leads in the 1968 feature film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, has passed away. She was 73 years old.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Hussey died due to cancer. Filmmaker Marc Huestis confirmed her passing, telling the outlet, “I just heard some sad, sad news. I adored her. She had so much love, and was the most beautiful Juliet ever. On screen and in real life she exuded love and life.”

Born in Argentina in 1951, Hussey was still a child when she began her acting career. After she was noticed for her stage work in London, she wound up getting cast as Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet. For her role in the film, which also starred Leonard Whiting, Hussey drew heavy acclaim, even garnering a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year. This success led to other big roles,...

Olivia Hussey, who dazzled moviegoers as the female lead in Franco Zeffirelli‘s noteworthy 1968 adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, died Friday at her Los Angeles home of breast cancer. She was 73.

The Argentina-born actress died “surrounded by her loved ones,” according to an announcement on her official Instagram account. “Olivia was a remarkable person whose warmth, wisdom, and pure kindness touched the lives of all who knew her,” the post reads.

She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008.

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Hussey was just 15 when she starred opposite British actor Leonard Whiting, 16, as Romeo in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Both were unknowns. The Paramount-distributed film, co-written by Zeffirelli, was nominated for the best picture Oscar and three other Academy Awards, and she received a David di Donatello prize and a Golden Globe for her efforts.

Hussey also...

Frank Capra is one of a handful of directors, like Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, and Steven Spielberg, whose name practically signifies its own genre, and like those directors, his body of work is far more complex and varied than the broad strokes by which he’s often defined. Capra tends to be thought of in one of two ways: as either the light, breezy director of handsomely crafted comedies like “Platinum Blonde,” “It Happened One Night,” and “You Can’t Take it With You,” or as the inspirational chronicler of American values and politics who made “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town,” and “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Both characterizations are true, but they only scratch the surface of Capra’s breadth. His full range is on glorious display in what is unquestionably the physical media event of the season, Sony’s release of the “Frank Capra at Columbia” collection.

Throughout the 1950s, big-budget musicals were de rigueur for Hollywood, and there was a sudden glut of epics that sported gigantic budgets, recognizable stars, and no small amount of studio hype. Such films were exhibited as touring roadshow productions, which was a great way for films to make fistfuls of cash. Roadshow epics were also, it should be noted, a concerted ploy by studios to distract audiences from the rising threat of television. Studios felt the need to invest a lot of money into musicals and epics, hoping the massive productions could draw people into theaters and keep the industry afloat.

One might logically predict, however, that Hollywood tried to ride the trend of epics for a little longer than was healthy, and foolish overspending eventually became common. The age of the "roadshow epic" pretty much came to a close with the release of the notorious bomb "Cleopatra" in 1963. 

But then,...

Frank Capra was a three-time Oscar winner who dominated the box office throughout the 1930s with his populist fables, nicknamed “Capra-corn.” Yet how many of these titles remain classics? Let’s take a look back at 12 of Capra’s greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1897 in Siciliy, Italy, Capra came to the United States with his family in 1903. His work often reflected an idealized vision of the American dream, perhaps spurned by his own experiences as an immigrant. Depression-era audiences lapped up his sweetly sentimental screwball comedies, which often centered on the plight of the common man.

He earned his first Oscar nomination for directing “Lady for a Day” (1933), and his loss was infamously embarrassing: when presented Will Rogers opened the envelope, he said, “Come up and get it, Frank!” Capra bounded to the stage, only to learned that Frank Lloyd (“Cavalcade”) has won instead.

No matter, because...

The Academy Awards grew up at the 16th annual ceremony March 2, 1944. Since the first Oscar ceremony at the Hollywood Roosevelt’s Blossom Room in 1929, the Academy Awards were small banquet ceremonies for La La Land movers and shakers. But that all changed 80 years ago. World War II was in its third year and movies meant more than ever to war-weary audiences.

So, the Oscars moved to the then-Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood and bleachers were introduced giving fans a chance to see their favorites walk the red carpet. And instead of a select industry audience, attendees included members of all branches of the armed services many of whom sat in bleachers on the stage at the Chinese. The ceremony was heard locally on Kfwb; Jack Benny hosted the international broadcast for the troops on CBS Radio via shortwave. And for the first time, supporting performers finally received a full-size Academy Award.

Alice Walker published her acclaimed novel “The Color Purple” in 1982. It sold five million copies; Walker became the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize and she also received the National Book Club Award. Three years later, Steven Spielberg directed the lauded film version which made stars out of Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover. It earned 11 Oscar nominations. The story revolves around a young woman who suffers abuse from her father and husband for four decades until she finds her own identity. Not exactly the stuff of a Broadway musical.

But the 2005 tuner version received strong reviews, ran 910 performances and earned ten Tony nominations, winning best actress for Lachanze. The 2015 production picked up two Tonys for best revival and actress for Cynthia Erivo. The movie musical version opened strong Christmas Day with $18 million and is a strong contender in several Oscar categories especially for Fantasia Barrino and Danielle Brooks.

Frank Capra's films had a profound impact on the Golden Age of Hollywood, inspiring future directors like Spielberg and Lynch. Capra's filmography combined feel-good cinema with elements of bleakness and existentialism, adding depth to his heartwarming narratives. While some of Capra's movies didn't age well, a good portion of his filmography has stood the test of time and continues to be cherished by audiences.

Having picked up the Oscar for Best Director three times (along with an additional three Oscars in other categories), Frank Capra and his movies left an undeniable impact on the Golden Age of Hollywood. The Italian-American auteur has had a cinematic life story of his own. With Capra’s family immigrating to the United States with hardly any resources, Capra ended up helming his first movie Fultah Fisher’s Boarding House when he was just 25. Since then, Capra enjoyed an enduring career, carving his niche...

Anyone who wants to travel the world — vicariously, of course — will get a kick out of The Monk and the Gun, a film from Bhutan that had its world premiere at this year’s Telluride Film Festival. Director Pawo Choyning Dorji earned an Oscar nomination for best international film of 2021 for his Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, an enjoyable comedy-drama about the advent of modern technology in the remotest sections of Bhutan.

The director’s new movie also focuses on important transitions in Bhutan during the mid-2000s, when the king decided to abdicate and introduce elections for the very first time in the country’s history. Part of the film dramatizes the process of introducing mock elections to teach the people how to vote, which proves to be something of a challenge, since many local residents remain loyal to the king and reluctant to embrace such a dramatic change.

Spock (Leonard Nimoy) has long been one of the most popular characters of the Star Trek universe, and just like Spock himself, his parents have been played by several actors across the Star Trek franchise. Spock's Vulcan father, Sarek, and his human mother, Amanda Grayson, were both introduced in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Journey to Babel." Sarek served as a Vulcan Ambassador for the United Federation of Planets and as a representative on the Federation Council, while Amanda worked as a teacher and assisted Sarek with his diplomatic duties.

As established in Star Trek: Discovery, Sarek and Amanda adopted the young human Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) after her parents were killed by Klingons. Sarek had also had a son named Sybok with a Vulcan princess before he met and married Amanda. Sarek and Amanda raised Spock, Sybok, and Michael on Vulcan. After Spock decided to attend...

Robert Donat snagged an Oscar for this sentimental crowdpleaser, a Best Picture nominee in Hollywood’s ‘Golden Year’ of 1939. The genteel chemistry between Donat’s shy schoolteacher and the charming personality Greer Garson broke hearts, and made Ms. Garson one of MGM’s top names for the next decade. It’s one of the studio’s English productions, filmed in the shadow of the coming war. A glowing new digital restoration redeems 70 years of not-so-good TV prints.

Goodbye, Mr. Chips

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1939 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 115 min. / Street Date January 24, 2023 / Available at Amazon.com/ 21.99

Starring: Robert Donat, Greer Garson, Terry Kilburn, John Mills, Paul Henreid, Judith Furse.

Cinematography: Freddie Young

Art Director: Alfred Junge

Film Editor: Charles Frend

Original Music: Richard Addinsell

Written by R.C. Sherriff, Claudine West, Eric Maschwitz from the novel by James Hilton

Produced by Victor Saville

Directed by Sam Wood

No, it’s not about the terrible Chips Ahoy!

Songwriter, composer, producer and arranger Burt Bacharach, a dominant force in American popular music for half a century, died of natural causes in Los Angeles on Wednesday. He was 94.

Bacharach’s publicist Tina Brausam revealed the news on Thursday.

As a tunesmith, the nonpareil melodist Bacharach found fame in every medium.

His songs — many of them written with lyricist Hal David — became chart-topping successes, particularly in the hands of vocalist Dionne Warwick. Among ’60s songwriting duos, only Lennon-McCartney rivaled Bacharach-David in terms of commercial and artistic achievement. Bacharach collected six Grammys as a writer, arranger and performer from 1967-2005.

His music was ubiquitous on screens both big and small in the ’60s and ’70s, and he was recognized by the Academy Awards and Golden Globes for his work on “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969) and “Arthur” (1981). He collected a 1971 Emmy for a TV recital of his work.

On Broadway,...

Morgan Neville’s company Tremolo Productions is officially in production of an untitled Andy Kaufman documentary alongside Josh and Benny Safdie’s Elara Pictures. The Emmy-nominated Alex Braverman will direct the feature-length film.

“No matter how many times I watch Andy Kaufman’s work, I feel like I’m seeing a magic trick for the very first time,” Braverman said. “I’m excited for our project to honor that. This is the film I’ve wanted to make my entire life.”

The Safdie brothers will executive produce the project alongside Rick Rubin and Braverman’s father Chuck Braverman, who produced Kaufman’s 1980 special “Andy Kaufman Plays Carnegie Hall.” Wavelength founder and CEO Jennifer Westphal also will executive produce.

Wavelength and Tremolo had previously worked together on the 2018 Mr. Roger’s documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” directed by Neville. This documentary also marks the second time Neville and Rubin have worked together on a project,...

From their HGTV parody show “The Curse” to a possible reunion with “Uncut Gems” star Adam Sandler, Josh and Benny Safdie are keeping busy. Next up, the filmmaking brothers are executive-producing a still-untitled Andy Kaufman documentary, now officially underway at Tremolo Productions. That’s the documentary outfit run by Academy Award-winning director Morgan Neville (“Twenty Feet from Stardom”). The documentary will also be executive-produced by famed record producer and former Columbia Records co-founder and filmmaker Rick Rubin, which means this project has some serious wattage behind it.

The documentary will be directed by Alex Braverman, Emmy-nominated director on “Gaycation” as well as the series “Waffles + Mochi,” and he worked as a producer at Vice.

Why anyone hasn’t made an Andy Kaufman documentary yet is anyone’s guess, though the comedian was explored in the 1999 Milos Forman film “Man on the Moon” starring Jim Carrey, whose experience playing the...

A documentary about the acclaimed and mysterious cult comedian Andy Kaufman is in the works from producers Morgan Neville and Josh and Benny Safdie.

The untitled feature film about Kaufman is being directed by Alex Braverman and is in production from Neville’s Tremolo Productions and the Safdie’s Elara Pictures. Neville is producing, while the Safdies will executive produce, as will famed record producer and filmmaker Rick Rubin. Braverman’s father Chuck Braverman, who previously produced Kaufman’s 1980 special “Andy Kaufman Plays Carnegie Hall,” is also execeutive producing, as is Wavelength founder and CEO Jenifer Westphal.

Kaufman, who died in 1984 after a battle with cancer, has maintained a remarkable mystique since his untimely death for his peculiar performance art and unmatched dedication to his comedy, even though he fully believed that he was not a comedian and never told a joke but was more accurately an entertainer. He became...

Sally Kellerman, who was Oscar nominated for her supporting role as Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan in Robert Altman’s “Mash” feature film, died Thursday in Woodland Hills, Calif. She was 84.

Her publicist Alan Eichler confirmed her death, and her daughter Claire added that she had been suffering from dementia for the past five years.

Among her other roles were a cameo in Altman’s “The Player,” a professor in Rodney Dangerfield’s “Back to School” and a Starfleet officer in the “Star Trek” episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before.”

The willowy blonde actress with the characteristically throaty voice appeared in two Altman films in 1970; the other was the more experimental “Brewster McCloud,” in which she starred with Bud Cort and Michael Murphy. In this film, which did not have a conventional narrative, Kellerman played Louise, the mother of Cort’s bewinged character, Brewster.

She next starred opposite Alan Arkin...

Big Breakfast, the Propagate-owned production company behind series including truTV’s Adam Ruins Everything, has set a new top table.

Jason Schrift, former co-exec producer of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, has been named President, while Luke Kelly-Clyne, who was formerly President and Chief Creative Officer Kevin Healey are exiting the business.

Schrift was part of the launch team of Kimmel’s late-night ABC comedy and more recently was an exec producer on the Alec Baldwin/Kelsey Grammer multi-camera comedy from Modern Family’s Chris Lloyd and Vali Chandrasekaran that had received an ABC straight-to-series order but was subsequently passed on.

Schrift left Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2018 and other credits include ESPN’s Homecoming with Rick Reilly, ABC’s The Alec Baldwin Show and HBO music doc series Shangri-La with Rick Rubin.

He previously had an overall deal for scripted and unscripted television with NBCUniversal.

“We are thrilled to bring Jason...

The journey from franchise to a competition slot at the Venice Film Festival to HBO series was the subject of Thursday’s Venice Production Bridge conference, “From the Philippines to the World: The ‘On the Job’ Franchise and Exploring New Ways of Global Content Distribution.”

In good spirits in a market cocktail that followed on Thursday evening, Erik Matti, the director of “On the Job: The Missing 8,” as his new film is called, told Variety how he got to keep his film at three hours and 28 minutes, and show it at the festival, as well as divide this film, and his previous one, “On the Job,” into one six-part series for HBO.

The series premieres on HBO in Asia on Sunday, two days after the film is shown in Venice. A half dozen festival engagements follow for the film version, he said, with announcements due shortly.

“When sales companies saw it was that long,...

Though New York moviegoing is (sort of) getting back to normal, we’ve only now filled one of the biggest spots: Metrograph have announced a return of their theater and commissary on October 1, while Metrograph At Home programming will continue through their site and Metrograph TV app.

The lineup, currently handled by new programmer-at-large Nellie Killian, doesn’t seem to have missed a step: there’s the cool factor of Żuławski’s Possession restored in 4K, the auteurist cred of a four-film Eastwood series, new releases like Bulletproof and Labyrinth of Cinema, the high art of an Amos Vogel tribute—precisely what we’ve missed for, God help us, 18 months.

Health and safety guidelines can be found here, and a highlight of October programming below.

Opens October 1

Possession (1981)

New 4K Restoration of Andrzej Żuławski’s Hallucinatory Masterpiece

Banned upon its original release in 1981, Andrzej Żuławski’s stunningly choreographed nightmare of...

“Madeleine Collins,” the buzzy psychological drama directed by France’s Antoine Barraud (“Portrait of the Artist”) and toplined by popular Belgian actress Virginie Efira who plays the lesbian nun in Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta,” is among ten competition titles set to launch from the Venice Film Festival’s independently run Venice Days section.

The Venice section modeled around the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight is largely made up of international first works this year. All entries are world premieres.

Besides “Madeleine” in which Efira (pictured) plays a woman who leads a double life –– and which also features Nadav Lapid, who is also the Israeli director of “Synonyms” and also Jacqueline Bisset –– the three other pics competing in Venice Days that are not first works are: the drama “Private Desert,” by Brazilian director Aly Muritiba (“Rust”) that is centered around a 40-year-old-cop’s Internet love interest who goes missing; “Dusk Stone,” by Argentina...

Timed to the release of Hulu’s “McCartney, 3, 2, 1,” legendary music producer Rick Rubin has sealed a partnership with Endeavor Content to push his famous Shangri La Recording Studios further into film and television. The overall deal will pair Rubin with Peter Berg’s Film 45, the production company that Endeavor Content acquired in 2019.

As part of the pact, Film 45 will provide development funds, resources and executives to help Rubin get into film and TV. Leila Mattimore will lead the development efforts on behalf of the partnership.

“Rick is a beautiful storyteller who brings a fan-first eye and an open heart. He is both a driver and passenger of pop culture and together with Film 45 will break glass,” said Graham Taylor and Chris Rice, co-presidents of Endeavor Content.

The six-part docuseries “McCartney, 3, 2, 1,” which premieres July 16, follows Rubin and Paul McCartney has they explore McCartney’s music from youth, to The Beatles and Wings,...

We’re excited to announce that Cinephile Game Night will return for our next episode Thursday, June 10th at 9pm Et/6pm Pt with Mubi. The lineup includes Mubi’s Kira Newmark, Chris Wells, Dylan Polacek, Maria Clara Bruno, Marc Nemcik, and Michael Lieberman. We’ll also be joined by special guest Isabel Sandoval, writer/director and star of acclaimed dramas like last year’s Lingua Franca (check out our review and interview here), as well as her most recent short Shangri-La, which is currently streaming on Mubi.

In case you didn’t have a chance to check out the show, Cinephile Game Night is a series where film critics, podcasters, filmmakers and more go head-to-head to see who is the ultimate cinephile. Hosted by The Film Stage crew, including Jordan Raup, Conor O’Donnell, Dan Mecca, and Cinephile creator Cory Everett, each episode features a rotating guest list of cinephiles...

Image Source: Netflix

If you went in thinking you'd be able to fully comprehend Netflix's Things Heard & Seen because you'd read the Elizabeth Brundage novel it is based on, think again. The film - which premiered April 29 - sees the relationship between married couple George (James Norton) and Catherine Clare (Amanda Seyfried) begin to unravel after the family moves into an old farmhouse in Upstate New York. Eerie things begin happening at the house as Catherine realizes that George may not be all he says he is. These suspicions eventually result in her murder. Despite knowing who the killer is, the film's ending leaves us with more questions than answers.

Things Heard & Seen's Premise

George Clare takes a teaching position at Saginaw College and moves his family onto an old dairy farm in Upstate New York. It doesn't take long for his wife, Catherine, to start noticing odd things around the house.

Throughout his career, Takashi Miike was always considered a director-for-hire, meaning he would undertake almost any project he was commissioned to do. The result is that the films in his vast filmography differ significantly, to the point that it is difficult to fathom that all those works are actually from the same director.

On the occasion of Mubi streaming a number of his films, we have compiled a list of 10 titles that prove the chameleon-like directorial abilities of Miike, in the most eloquent way, as they include a superhero movie, a comedy, a horror, a children’s movie, a splatter, a musical, an adaptation, a thriller, a western and a drama.

*by clicking on the titles, you can read the full reviews

1. Zebraman (2004)

“Zebraman” deftly balances its outwardly dominant comedic nature with just enough underlying seriousness and genuine action to simultaneously provide sufficient superhero entertainment and drama while acting as...

“Lingua Franca” filmmaker Isabel Sandoval has signed with CAA.

In 2019, Sandoval made history as the first trans woman of color to direct and star in a film screening in competition at the Venice Film Festival, where “Lingua Franca” premiered. The film was acquired and released by Ava DuVernay’s Array and is now streaming on Netflix.

Sandoval directed, wrote, edited, produced and acted in “Lingua Franca,” which she shot in 16 days in Brooklyn, New York. Eamon Farren and the late Lynn Cohen also star in the film, in which Sandoval portrays an undocumented Filipina trans woman who secures a job as a live-in caregiver for an elderly Russian woman named Olga (Cohen) in Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach neighborhood. But when she unexpectedly becomes romantically involved with Olga’s adult grandson Alex (Farren), issues around identity, civil rights and immigration threaten her very existence.

Since its debut, the critically acclaimed project...

Good Old Tony Curtis! We could always depend on Tony for a sly, ingratiating smile, charm that ranged from candid-sweet to barracuda insincerity, and a desire to please that never quit. Some of his best work came while schmoozing and nice-nice clawing his way to the top, where he epitomized the glamorous movie star with universal appeal. Kino gathers three of Curtis’s better mid-career starring vehicles, directed by three top talents — Blake Edwards, Robert Mulligan and Norman Jewison.

Tony Curtis Collection

The Perfect Furlough, The Great Impostor, 40 Pounds of Trouble

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

312 minutes

Street Date August 4, 2020

available through Kino Lorber

49.95

Starring: Tony Curtis

Tony Curtis appears to have become a Golden Boy at late-’40s Universal-International by playing the role of ambitious actor to the hilt. Everybody caught him dancing a mean rumba with Yvonne de Carlo in Criss Cross; it’s fun to seem him perform a ‘look,...

Bring back the Age of Aquarius! Olive Films returns with the company’s best Signature Edition ever. The show is an excellent choice for a special edition, as seen by the simply terrific interviews in its battery of added value featurettes. Top creative contributors have been tapped for some great memories. Rather than filming a simple adaptation, Milos Forman reinterprets the hit show, allowing Twyla Tharp’s choreographic genius to soak into most every scene — the result is a marvelous melding of theatrical and cinematic effects.

Hair

Blu-ray

Olive Signature

1979 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 121 min. / Street Date June 30, 2020 / 39.95

Starring: John Savage, Treat Williams, Beverly D’Angelo, Annie Golden, Dorsey Wright, Don Dacus, Cheryl Barnes, Richard Bright, Nicholas Ray.

Cinematography: Miroslav Ondricek

Film Editors: Lynzee Kingman, Stanley Warnow, Alan Heim

Music: Galt McDermott

Written by Michael Weller from the musical book by Gerome Ragni and James Rado

Produced by Michael Butler, Lester Persky...

Larry Kramer, the writer and influential gay activist who pressed the U.S. government and the medical establishment to respond to the AIDS epidemic, has died. He was 84.

Kramer died Wednesday from pneumonia, his husband David Webster told the New York Times.

Earlier in his life, Kramer was a screenwriter with credits including “Women in Love” and the 1973 musical “Lost Horizon.”

Spurred by the onset of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s, Kramer became a fierce activist and an impassioned writer, and one of the earliest and most vocal advocates for AIDS research, treatment access and institutional recognition of the gay community so hard-hit by the disease. He is best known not only as one of the founders of both Gay Men’s Health Crisis and Act Up, but also as the writer of novels and plays including his 1985 work “The Normal Heart,” his urgent, agitprop depiction of the early days of the AIDS crisis.

Larry Kramer, a legendary playwright, author, screenwriter and activist in the 1980s who helped shift government policy during the AIDS crisis and also penned the acclaimed play “The Normal Heart,” has died of pneumonia, his husband told The New York Times. He was 84.

In addition to his activism, Kramer got his start rewriting scripts for Columbia Pictures and was an Oscar nominee for his screenplay for “Women in Love” from 1969 as directed by Ken Russell. He’s also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his play “The Destiny of Me” from 1992 and has twice won the Obie Award.

Kramer founded the Gay Men’s Health Crisis in response to the spread of AIDS in 1981, making it the first organization to support those who had tested positive for HIV. But after being pushed out by the directors of the non-profit group, he founded Act Up, or the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power,...

Hollywood stars and public figures took to social media on Wednesday to pay tribute to Larry Kramer, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter, playwright, author and trailblazing gay rights and AIDS activist who died Wednesday of pneumonia. He was 84.

Kramer was best known for penning the play The Normal Heart, which debuted at The Public Theater in New York City in 1985.

He wrote the screenplays for Women in Love, for which he earned an Oscar nomination in 1969; 1973's Lost Horizon; and 2014's HBO film version of The Normal Heart, which was directed by Ryan Murphy and starred Mark Ruffalo, Matt Bomer, Taylor ...

Hollywood stars and public figures took to social media on Wednesday to pay tribute to Larry Kramer, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter, playwright, author and trailblazing gay rights and AIDS activist who died Wednesday of pneumonia. He was 84.

Kramer was best known for penning the play The Normal Heart, which debuted at The Public Theater in New York City in 1985.

He wrote the screenplays for Women in Love, for which he earned an Oscar nomination in 1969; 1973's Lost Horizon; and 2014's HBO film version of The Normal Heart, which was directed by Ryan Murphy and starred Mark Ruffalo, Matt Bomer, Taylor ...

Each month, the editors and critics at Rolling Stone compile a list of must-hear new albums. Our picks for April include Fiona Apple’s finest album, the Strokes’ weirdly chill comeback and Rina Sawayama’s nu-metal-loving pop breakthrough.

Fiona Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters

For longtime fans who are expectantly, perhaps giddily, steeling themselves for another brutal LP from Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters will not disappoint. Released with little warning nearly a decade after 2012’s The Idler Wheel…, the album sees the now-42-year-old songwriter proving that she’s...

Ed O’Brien has been an under-appreciated but crucial part of Radiohead ever since the band formed in 1985. His contributions may not be as flashy as fellow guitarist Jonny Greenwood, but look to Thom Yorke’s immediate right at any live show and you’ll see him bashing the tambourine on “Reckoner,” echoing the haunting “rain down” refrain on “Paranoid Android,” or pounding away on a portable drum kit during “There There.”

. He’s noted in interviews that he felt he had to release the record, that part of him...

Ed O’Brien has shared his tender new song “Cloak of the Night,” an acoustic duet with Laura Marling and the latest offering from the Radiohead guitarist’s upcoming debut solo album Earth.

“Hello good people … here is ‘Cloak of the Night’.. it features one of my favourite and one of the most gifted musicians on this planet Laura Marling,” O’Brien said of the track on Instagram. “We sang this together one cold and damp February afternoon in a studio in Willesden, North London. Hope you like it…”

O...

Ed O’Brien dropped a psychedelic new track titled “Olympik,” the third single off the Radiohead guitarist’s upcoming solo debut Earth, out April 17th via Capitol Records.

The track meticulously shifts along a tight groove, courtesy of drummer Omar Hakim and Nathan East on bass. “Kaleidoscope will start to spin/Shaking up all the mess we’re in,” O’Brien sings. “Gonna shake it up, all the mess we’re in.”

“Olympik” follows the standout single “Shangri-La” and the instrumental “Brasil,” which he released with a nine-minute sci-fi film.

Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien has announced his first full-scale North American tour under his solo Eob moniker. The trek will be in support of his upcoming album Earth, out April 17th via Capitol Records.

The tour will kick off May 26th in Minneapolis and will wrap June 15th in Los Angeles. After playing several festival dates in Turkey, Switzerland and the U.K., O’Brien and his band will return to the U.S. to perform a set at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island on July 31st.

Radiohead member Ed O’Brien will release his debut solo album, Earth, on April 17th via Capitol Records under the name Eob.

The musician has previewed the upcoming album with “Shangri-La,” which will appear alongside previously released track “Brasil.”

“Thank you to all the incredible musicians who helped me and the people who put it together in the studio,” O’Brien wrote on Twitter. “It was a proper journey getting here. Recorded in Wales and London. Phew, we made it!!”

Earth will feature nine tracks and is available for preorder now.

Just under the top echelon of British sci-fi lurks this well-produced, absorbing ‘expedition to terror!’ that surprises us by paying off on an intellectual plane. After building his monster but before defeating Dracula, Peter Cushing found himself in a real fix on a snowy mountain peak. Sure, the race of enormous Yeti are shiver-inducing, but Cushing must also withstand the mind games of a suspiciously solicitous Tibetan Lhama, and a piratical double-cross by an American huckster who goes by the deceptive name, ‘Friend.’

The Abominable Snowman

Blu-ray

Shout! Scream Factory

1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 85, 90 min. / The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas / Street Date December 10, 2020

Starring: Peter Cushing, Forrest Tucker, Maureen Connell, Arnold Marlé, Richard Wattis, Robert Brown, Michael Brill, Wolfe Morris, Anthony Chinn.

Cinematography: Arthur Grant

Film Editor: Bill Lenny

Original Music: Humphrey Searle

Written by Nigel Kneale from his teleplay The Creature

Produced by Aubrey Baring, Michael Carreras, Anthony Nelson-Keys...

With “I Lost My Body,” the bold French existential mystery about a severed hand, and “Klaus,” the innovative 2D Santa origin story, Netflix powered its way into the Best Animated Feature Oscar race for the first time. It knocked out Disney’s mighty “Frozen II” and halted GKids’ six-year run of eight nominations.

Netflix proved that its now an indie animation force to be reckoned with, and this year will contend with Aardman’s stop-motion sequel, “A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon” (February 14th), “Over the Moon” (a fall release from former Disney legend Glen Keane), and the quirky CG comedy, “The Willoughbys” (an April release).

However, the competition is formidable: Pixar’s “Toy Story 4,” DreamWorks’ “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” finale, and Laika’s fifth stop-motion nominee, “Missing Link.” That breaks down to three indies and two studio entries, along with three originals and two sequels.

Whether you like arthouse, the multiplex or streaming on your smartphone, this quiz is for you

In January, a Us teenager in Utah caused a highway collision while driving blindfold – she was taking a challenge, inspired by which movie?

Eyes Wide Shut

Bird Box

The Blind Side

Crash

According to Sight and Sound magazine, what was the best film of 2019?

Frozen 2

Last Christmas

The Souvenir

Avengers Endgame

This year Barbara Broccoli dispelled rumours that the new Bond film would be named after a dysfunctional body part – an alias used by Bond’s arch nemesis Blofeld in Ian Fleming’s 1964 novel You Only Live Twice. What was the title?

Crackedelbow

Brokenleg

Shatterhand

Dodgyknee

The best film Oscar was won this year by Green Book, the real-life story of Frank Vallelonga, an Italian-American guy – nicknamed “Tony Lip” – who in the 1950s got a job driving an African-American jazz musician. The real Tony...

Since its inception 14 years ago, Laika has become perhaps the greatest innovator in the medium of stop-motion. Led by President and CEO Travis Knight, the team at the Oregon-based animation studio has worked tirelessly to push creative boundaries with each of its five films, taking on one of its biggest challenges to date with writer/director Chris Butler’s Missing Link.

Starring Hugh Jackman and Zach Galifianakis, Missing Link centers on Sir Lionel Frost, a self-centered investigator of myths and monsters who encounters a Sasquatch in the Pacific Northwest. Learning of the solitary creature’s desire for familial connection, the explorer accompanies him on a journey to the fabled Shangri-La that proves life changing for them both.

With his second feature, following 2012’s ParaNorman, Butler’s goal was to bring the energy of an epic, live-action adventure film into the medium of stop-motion. With its large cast of memorable characters,...

July’s home entertainment releases are ending on a high note this week, as we have tons of great horror and sci-fi titles coming our way this Tuesday. Scream Factory is keeping busy with a handful of Blu-rays on their docket this week, including Quatermass and the Pit, Quatermass 2, The Leopard Man, Lust for a Vampire, and a Steelbook edition of Humanoids from the Deep.

Roxanne Benjamin’s feature film debut, Body at Brighton Rock, is also being released this Tuesday on various formats, and Vinegar Syndrome is resurrecting both Hellmaster and Play Dead as well. And, if you happened to miss it in theaters, Deon Taylor’s The Intruder is set to invade your home media shelves this week as well.

Other Blu-ray and DVD releases for July 30th include What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Hotel Inferno and The Reptile.

Body at Brighton Rock

Wendy, a part-time...

After directing Cat People (1942), Jacques Tourneur introduced moviegoers to The Leopard Man, and more than 75 years after its initial release, Scream Factory is bringing the serial killer horror film to Blu-ray for the first time on July 16th, and we've been provided with the cover art and full list of special features:

Press Release: Los Angeles, CA – Scream Factory proudly presents the 40s horror cult classic The Leopard Man in its Blu-ray debut July 30, 2019. The release comes complete with special features including new audio commentary and a brand new 4k scan of the original nitrate camera negative.

From legendary horror film producer Val Lewton and from Jacques Tourneur, the director of the original Cat People, The Leopard Man is one of the first American films to attempt a remotely realistic portrayal of a serial killer.

Is it man, beast or both behind a string of savage maulings and murders? An...

Not enough love is set aside for this ambitious, under-budgeted Lost Civilization epic. John Agar and Cynthia Patrick find love in an ancient albino race that worships a Death Ray and enslaves a race of Subterranean Humanoid Underground Dwellers — Mole Men, what else? It’s unconvincing and the production lacks polish, but it’s also got clever story gimmicks and sympathetic monsters, so it gets a warm reception at CineSavant Central.

The Mole People

Blu-ray

Scream Factory

1956 / B&W / 1.85:1 + 2:1 widescreen / 77 min. / Street Date February 26, 2019 / 27.99

Starring: John Agar, Cynthia Patrick, Hugh Beaumont, Alan Napier, Nestor Paiva, Phil Chambers, Rodd Redwing, Robin Hughes, Frank Baxter, Eddie Parker.

Cinematography: Ellis W. Carter

Film Editor: Irving Birnbaum

Mask Maker: Jack Kevan

Special Photography: Clifford Stine

Written by László Görög

Produced by William Alland

Directed by Virgil Vogel

“Mole Hole, Mole Hole — A land of renown!

Iraq is Up and Sumeria’s down!

One of the most reliable predictors of the Best Picture winner at the Oscars has been the Best Film Editing category. Only 10 films have taken home the big prize without at least contending for cutting since that category was introduced at the seventh Academy Awards in 1934.

Of this year’s eight Best Picture nominees, “Black Panther,” “Roma” and “A Star is Born” did not make the cut for Best Film Editing at the Oscars. In the hunt for that award are five of their Best Picture rivals: “BlacKkKlansman,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “The Favourite,” “Green Book” and “Vice.”

The most recent film to defy this stat was “Birdman” three years ago; it did contend at the film editors guild awards for its seemingly seamless scenes. While “Black Panther” was snubbed by the guild, both “Roma” and “A Star is Born” number among the five nominees for best edited drama at the Ace Eddie Awards alongside “BlacKkKlansman,...

Exclusive: The film business has been through various revolutions in the last century: color, Cinemascope, Thx Sound, 3D, premium seating and Large Format have taken the cinema experience to another level.

However, there’s one sector of the industry that hasn’t evolved and remains stuck in the stone ages: test screenings.

Yes, that post-production process by which studios assess the strengths and weaknesses of their films before a recruited audience only to have studio executives and filmmakers pull their hair out. To give you an idea of how long test screenings have been going on, consider the fact that Frank Capra was dealing with walk-out audiences and poor scores from the cards around 1936, when he showed off a three-and-a-half hour cut of Lost Horizon in Santa Barbara.

Do you know what the major revolutions have been in the feature film test screening business since Capra’s time? Screen test...

It was impossible not to have high expectations for Luca Guadagnino’s remake of “Suspiria.” Dario Argento’s original is, after all, a one-of-a-kind horror freak-out, the kind of mesmerizingly bizarre cinematic experience so sui generis that any remake would have to represent an aggressive reimagining.

And who better to take on this seemingly impossible assignment than Guadagnino, coming off the impressive troika of “I Am Love,” “A Bigger Splash” and “Call Me By Your Name”? The cinema’s greatest sensualist wasn’t going to make us smell the rosemary or taste the apricot juice this time; the idea of his gifts being applied to blood-drenched horror promised a uniquely terrifying experience.

So what does Guadagnino’s version convey? Boredom, mostly, with confusion and a dollop of disappointment and irritation.

Also Read: '1985' Film Review: Retro AIDS Tale Earns Its Tears

The original was set at a creepy dance academy in 1977 Berlin,...

It’s time to celebrate the Irwin Allen disaster epics for what they are — huge, indigestible spectacles that first seem funny and then congeal into a cinematic badness that words cannot describe. This sprawling ordeal tortures good actors and shatters every limit of audience patience. I alone have survived to tell thee. Is a fair review even possible?

The Swarm

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1978 / Color / 2:40 widescreen / 156 116 min. /Extended Edition / Street Date September 25, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Michael Caine, Katharine Ross, Richard Widmark, Richard Chamberlain, Olivia de Havilland, Ben Johnson, Lee Grant, José Ferrer, Patty Duke, Slim Pickens, Bradford Dillman, Fred MacMurray, Henry Fonda, Cameron Mitchell, Christian Juttner, Alejandro Rey.

Cinematography: Fred J. Koenekamp

Film Editor: Harold F. Kress

Visual Effects: L.B. Abbott

Original Music: Jerry Goldsmith

Written by Stirling Silliphant, from the novel by Arthur Herzog

Produced and Directed by Irwin Allen

“I never dreamed that it would...

Let’s take a trip back to Bronson Caverns, but with new and better photos! Once you visit this hiding-in-plain-sight Hollywood location, you’ll start seeing it every time you tune into an old movie.

CineSavant Article

The most frequent ‘unknown’ location in film history?

Part of what was cool about moving to Los Angeles in 1970 was realizing that, since the majority of Hollywood movies were filmed locally, just about every interesting sight in the city has been used as a movie location. You don’t have to be ga-ga about movie stars to see the ‘historicity’ in famous locations, or feel saddened when a special place is torn down. The art deco Pan-Pacific Auditorium was one such example. It featured prominently in the King Bros. movie Suspense (1946) and can be glimpsed briefly in the opening of Steve De Jarnatt’s Miracle Mile (1989), which was filmed just before it burned...

In 2009 — when the Academy Awards went to 10 Best Picture nominees for the first time since 1943 — the preferential system of voting, which had been used from 1934 to 1945, was reintroduced. The academy did so as it believed this “best allows the collective judgment of all voting members to be most accurately represented.”

We have detailed how the preferential voting system works at the Oscars in the modern era. So, let’s take a look back at those dozen years early in the history of the academy when it first used this complicated counting to determine the Best Picture winner rather than a simple popular vote. (At the bottom of this post, be sure to vote for the film that you think will take the top Oscar this year.)

See Best Picture Gallery: Every winner of the top Academy Award

1934

This seventh ceremony marked the first time that the Oscars eligibility period was the calendar year.