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Clive Davis once again filled the Beverly Hilton’s international ballroom to the brim with music industry insiders as he presented his pre-Grammy celebration and concert. As always, Saturday night’s show featured a unique mix at the microphone of legends (Joni Mitchell, Barry Manilow), rising stars (Shaboozey, Benson Boone and Teddy Swims) and rock royalty (members of Black Crowes, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Metallica).

But this year’s starry event had a new moniker on the program, billed as an “event” rather than a “gala,” due to the catastrophic Los Angeles blazes that ripped through the city last month. While the wildfires forced a pivot — the typically glamorous affair got scaled back a bit by nixing the red carpet and its crush of press and photographers — and introduced a focus on fundraising via MusiCares, music, as always, remained the start of the show. Saturday night delivered a parade...

Clive Davis’s famed Pre-Grammy Gala hit a major milestone Saturday night, as the event originally created to celebrate Barry Manilow’s first Grammy nomination has now gone on for 50 years as one of the award season’s most iconic fixtures.

Like the rest of the Grammy programming this year, with Los Angeles reeling after suffering multiple devastating wildfires, the Gala took on a renewed purpose this year, reshaping its purpose into a high-profile fundraiser for MusiCares. Along with the MusiCares Person of the Year event honoring the Grateful Dead Friday,...

Like Will Smith, who started his career as an emcee before transitioning into a leading man onscreen in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, music was a first love for Coco Jones before she became a Disney child star and landed the role of Hilary Banks on the Peacock reimagining of the ‘90s sitcom, Bel-Air.

The duo shared the stage at an Aug. 1 barbecue at the Universal Studios backlot in Los Angeles ahead of the drama’s season three premiere on Aug. 15. Smith rapped the lyrics to his Grammy Award-winning hit “Summertime,” while Jones sang the chorus.

“Will and I are similar in the regard of being actors and balancing our music careers with our TV shows, so I really respect him,” Jones tells The Hollywood Reporter, adding of the performance, “it was a fun opportunity to promote a great show and great art.”

In Bel-Air, Jones’ character Hilary is still...

Here’s a look at this week’s biggest premieres, parties and openings in Los Angeles and New York, including events for The Instigators, Bel-Air and Coup!

Avaline’s anniversary dinner

Avaline wine co-founders Cameron Diaz and Katherine Power hosted an East Hampton dinner on July 26 to celebrate the brand’s four-year anniversary, with support from Reese Witherspoon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rachel Zoe and Molly Sims.

Gwyneth Paltrow, Cameron Diaz and Reese Witherspoon The Instigators premiere

Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, Hong Chau and Jack Harlow joined director Doug Liman at the New York premiere of their Apple TV+ movie on Wednesday.

Celia D. Costas, Kevin J. Walsh, Chuck MacLean, Casey Affleck, Doug Liman, Luciana Damon, Alison Winter and Matt Damon Alexia Barroso, Isabella Damon, Gia Damon, Matt Damon, Luciana Barroso and Stella Damon Bel-Air Summer BBQ

Peacock hosted a Summer BBQ at the Universal Studios Backlot on Thursday to celebrate...

Teen series like Surviving Summer feature young adults navigating competitive sports, friendships, and personal growth. Shows like Spinning Out and Summertime also delve into the world of young athletes overcoming obstacles. Shared themes of resilience, friendship, and self-discovery run through series like All American, Dive Club, and Outer Banks.

Netflix's Surviving Summer had a strong debut and earned a second season, but after watching those 18 episodes, fans might be looking for other shows like Surviving Summer. The teen series features Sky Katz from Raven's Home as Summer Torres, a delinquent skateboarder from New York City who is sent to a small town in Australia to stay with family friends. There, she befriends a talented group of surfers. She becomes interested in surfing and, while still rebellious, begins to understand that her impulsivity might not always be the way to go.

From New York to Australia, rebellious teenagers and competitive...

Editor’s note: this list was originally published in July 2023. It has since been updated with new entries.

To quote Alice Cooper (and poorly paraphrase “High School Musical 2”), school’s out for summer. With Boppenheimer hitting air-conditioned theaters midway through July — just as countless actors and screenwriters head into the heat to join picket-lines in New York and Los Angeles — summer 2023 will no doubt prove a memorable one for Hollywood. What better time then to consider how the movies themselves represent the reason for the season?

The best summer vacation movies range in subject matter and can appeal to all sorts of different audiences. Kid-centric flicks, like “The Parent Trap,” and adult slashers, like the “Friday the 13th” films, explore the traditions and perils of sleep-away camp from spectacularly different view points. Meanwhile, road trip flicks, like the Audrey Hepburn-starring “Two for the Road” and Hindi film “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara,...

It might be the season of The Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff’s “Summertime”, but Will Smith wants you to take your car out of cruise because he has a new song for you to hear, dropping “You Can Make It” at this week’s BET Awards.

Smith hasn’t made too many public appearances since he slapped Chris Rock at the 94th Academy Awards in 2022. But with the release of Bad Boys: Ride or Die last month, he has been popping up more frequently. Now, Will Smith has returned to the awards stage – backed by choir, no less – to deliver the moment of the BET Awards.

As per Rolling Stone, Will Smith’s song had partial lyrics that went: “The darker the hell you gotta endure, the brighter the heaven you get to enjoy/The harder the fall, the higher you soar/God opens a window when the...

Will Smith hit the BET Awards stage Sunday night to perform a brand-new song, “You Can Make It,” backed by the Sunday Service Choir, Chandler Moore and Kirk Franklin.

Smith kicked off the performance standing on what was meant to look like lava, surrounded by fire, and rapping lyrics including: “The darker the hell you gotta endure / The brighter the heaven you get to enjoy / The harder the fall, the higher you soar / God opens a window when the devil closes the door / Believe me, they tried to bleed Will Smith / In the rearview, I see adversity was the gift / To lift me higher gifts requires faith / So dry your eyes and then you’ll find a way / Out of the madness, out of the maze / And out of the saddest into the rays / The darkest of nights turns into day / And every storm runs out of rain.”

He was joined by Sunday Service Choir,...

Sean Paul says he usually writes songs for women, but when Will Smith called him to collaborate on a song for Bad Boys: Ride or Die, he needed him to turn up his inner bad boy.

“He sent me the song with him on it already and basically asked me to do a verse, and I went in. I usually don’t do badman lyrics, I’m more for the ladies, but the movie is called Bad Boys,” the Grammy-winning reggae-dancehall artist tells The Hollywood Reporter. “The track was dope and it’s definitely reflective of Run Dmc, [LL Cool J’s] ‘Rock the Bells,’ old-school hip-hop with that energy.”

Smith and Paul join forces on the beat laden track “Light Em Up,” one of the 10 songs on the soundtrack accompanying the film that opened to a victorious $56.5 million at the domestic box office.

Paul, 51, recalls meeting Smith earlier in his career: In the...

The best episodes of Shameless offer a mix of character development, hilarious quotes, and outrageous plots that keep audiences hooked. The pilot episode sets the tone for the show, with crass and unflinching humor that immediately draws viewers in. Season finales often deliver some of the best episodes, with triumph and good times ahead for the Gallagher family.

The American adaptation of Shameless was highly beloved during its 10-year run on Showtime, and the best Shameless episodes feature a little bit of everything. With over 100 episodes to choose from, Shameless has cranked out some major audience favorites over its 11 seasons. Some episodes are praised over others for particularly poignant moments of character development, others are chock-full of hilarious quotes, and a few of them simply have outrageous plots that need to be seen to be believed. What makes Shameless such an incredible show is its characters, and everyone has a...

Grasa, the second album by 29-year-old Argentine singer and rapper Nathy Peluso, kicks off with “Corleone,” a sumptuous, old-fashioned bolero. A snippet of John Barry’s dreamy 007 theme “From Russia With Love” morphs into the kind of feverish groove that would have made La Lupe proud. “This ambition is killing me,” sings Peluso, her booming voice in full bloom.

“Corleone” is a somewhat disorienting opening track. Like most of Peluso’s music, it’s both edgy and comfortingly familiar; honest to the core, but with a thin layer of irony underneath.

Exclusive: Kelly Marie Tran and Miles Robbins will star in Shal Ngo’s Control Freak, a psychological thriller from WorthenBrooks for Hulu Originals. The feature film has wrapped production and will premiere in early 2025.

Control Freak follows a motivational speaker plagued by an uncontrollable itch on her head, who becomes infected with a parasitic demon from her homeland. Tran stars as “Valerie,” alongside Robbins who plays her husband, “Robbie.”

Additional cast includes Toan Le (The Sympathizer) as Valerie’s father, “Sang” and Kieu Chinh (The Joy Luck Club) as her “Aunt Thuy.”

Toan Le and Kieu Chinh

Ngo was tapped to direct Control Freak based on the short film Control. He also wrote and directed for Season 2 of Hulu’s Bite Size Halloween. WorthenBrooks developed Control Freak for Hulu Originals with David Brooks,...

Months after Chris Rock’s Chris Rock: Selective Outrage aired on Netflix, Jada Pinkett Smith is sharing her thoughts on the comedy special.

In an interview with The New York Times, published online Saturday, Pinkett Smith reacted to Rock mocking her and Will Smith during his special, which came after the infamous Oscars slap.

“I remember my heart piercing, my heart cracking, and I remember my feelings being so hurt,” she said. “And then I remember being able to smile and wish him well at the same time.”

At the time, many viewers tuned in to the special to hear Rock address the moment he was slapped by Smith at the 2022 Academy Awards. The comedian not only dragged Smith during the program but also targeted Pinkett Smith and the couple’s marital issues.

“People asked me if it hurt,” he said during the special. “Yes, that shit hurt! I got hit so hard,...

Lil Nas X is coming to TIFF.

On Friday, the Toronto International Film Festival announced it will host the World Premiere of the rapper’s new documentary “Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero”.

Read More: Lil Nas X Thanks Elon Musk For ‘Renaming The App After Me’ As Twitter Rebrands To ‘X’

Shot over the course of his first global tour, the film will have its premiere in the festival’s Gala programme, with the “Old Town Road” rapper in attendance.

Described as a “diaristic film,” the documentary will paint a portrait of Montero Hill, a.k.a. Lil Nas X, as he navigates touring, identity, family, acceptance and his place in the legacy of Black, queer perfomers.

The film is directed by Carlos López Estrada and Zac Manuel, who shot over the course of 20 days, and had unparalleled to the star as he created and performed his acclaimed “Long...

The Toronto Film Festival has added a gala world premiere for Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero — a concert documentary capturing rapper Lil Nas X’s first global tour — to its 2023 edition lineup.

The Grammy-winning artist will take to the stage at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto to introduce the film by directors Carlos López Estrada and Zac Manuel after they captured Montero Hill, a.k.a. Lil Nas X, over 60 days on his Long Live Montero tour as he discusses his career and his place in the pop world as a Black and queer performer.

The diary film of Lil Nas X touring to support his debut studio album, Montero, is produced by RadicalMedia, in association with Sony Music Entertainment, Columbia Records and Museum & Crane.

“Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero is a triumphant ode to the extraordinary power of self-expression, music and identity,” Cameron Bailey, CEO of the Toronto Film Festival,...

Joni Mitchell has announced the third volume in her ongoing Archives series, this time focusing on the fruitful four-year stretch that yielded her classic LPs For The Roses, Court And Spark, and The Hissing Of Summer Lawns.

Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975), out October 6, features dozens of unheard recordings, including early demos and alternate versions, as well as unreleased live performances and more.

Ahead of Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975)’s release, Rhino has shared the demo of the Court And Spark hit “Help Me...

A version of this story about Greg Philinganes and Joni Mitchell first appeared in the Down to the Wire: Comedy/Variety/Reality/Nonfiction issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.

Of the many musical-tribute specials that aired during the past Emmy season, few had the emotional clout of PBS’ “Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song: Joni Mitchell.” For starters, it featured a stellar array of musicians paying tribute to the pioneering singer-songwriter — among them Annie Lennox, Cyndi Lauper, Angelique Kidjo, James Taylor, Herbie Hancock, Diana Krall, Brandi Carlile and Marcus Mumford performing songs that included “Both Sides Now,” “Big Yellow Taxi,” “Blue,” “Carey” and “Shine.”

But at the end of the night, it also included the 79-year-old Mitchell herself, eight years after a brain aneurysm that forced her to relearn how to walk and sing, performing an exquisite version of George Gershwin’s “Summertime” in a voice far different...

As the undisputed king of streaming (for now at least), Netflix has enjoyed the presence of some major blockbusters. Now, with its list of new releases for May 2022, Netflix is bringing back one of its biggest ever hits.

Stranger Things season 4 “volume one” is set to premiere on May 27. It’s been a long wait for new episodes of this ’80s-tinged sci-fi/horror series and based on the trailers, the wait will have been well worth it. In this go-around, the kids of Hawkins (now high schoolers) will have to contend with the Upside Down once again to go along with the horrors of the Creel House.

While Stranger Things is the biggest Netflix original this month, it’s far from the only one. Mike Myers’ latest series The Pentaverate premieres on May 5 (fittingly: 5/5). Meanwhile The Lincoln Lawyer is set to arrive on May 13 followed by Love, Death & Robots Volume...

Another music legend is gone as Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas has reportedly passed away. A co-founder of the famous soul-funk group Kool & the Gang, Thomas died peacefully in his sleep in New Jersey on Saturday. He had just recently performed with Kool & the Gang at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on July 4 and his death comes as a shock for fans. Thomas was 70 years old.

Thomas is best known for forming Kool & The Gang with the original group members in 1964 when they were first called the Jazziacs. Consisting of seven friends from school playing together, the group featured Thomas on saxophone, Robert "Kool" Bell on bass, Ronald Bell on keyboards, Robert "Spike" Mickens on trumpet, Ricky West on keyboards, George Brown on drums, and Charles Smith on guitar. Several name changes later, they officially became Kool & the Gang in 1969, debuting their first album under that name in 1970.

A press...

Khruangbin have dropped their cover of the Kool and the Gang classic “Summer Madness” from the Texas psych-rockers’ upcoming Late Night Tales compilation, the latest installment in the artist-curated mix series.

The cover features exclusively on the Late Night Tales comp, due out December 4th, alongside other artists’ tracks handpicked by Khruangbin.

“‘Summer Madness’ became a staple in this medley that we play,” Khruangbin drummer Donald “DJ” Johnson said in a statement. “Specifically, one of my favorite things about it is the tone of the bass, which really reminds me...

The Academy Nicholl Fellowships Committee has selected the five winning fellows of the 2020 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition, who were winnowed from ten finalists out of 7,831 scripts submitted for this year’s competition. Each winner takes home a $35,000 prize. Their scripts will be highlighted at the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Awards and Virtual Table Read by an ensemble of actors on Thursday, December 3.

The 2020 winners are (listed alphabetically by author):

James Acker, “SadBoi”

Beth Curry, “Lemon”

Vanar Jaddou, “Goodbye, Iraq”

Kate Marks, “The Cow of Queens”

Jane Therese, “Sins of My Father”

The 2020 finalists are (listed alphabetically by author):

Kris A. Holmes, “The Seeds of Truth”

Fred Martenson, “Demons in America”

Robin Rose Singer, “The Lions of Mesopotamia”

David Harrison Turner, “Safe Haven”

Andrew Wankier, “Three Heavens”

The fellowships support each writer’s completion of a feature-length screenplay within the year. (The Academy neither acquires rights...

The Academy Nicholl Fellowships Committee has selected the five winning fellows of the 2020 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition, who were winnowed from ten finalists out of 7,831 scripts submitted for this year’s competition. Each winner takes home a $35,000 prize. Their scripts will be highlighted at the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Awards and Virtual Table Read by an ensemble of actors on Thursday, December 3.

The 2020 winners are (listed alphabetically by author):

James Acker, “SadBoi”

Beth Curry, “Lemon”

Vanar Jaddou, “Goodbye, Iraq”

Kate Marks, “The Cow of Queens”

Jane Therese, “Sins of My Father”

The 2020 finalists are (listed alphabetically by author):

Kris A. Holmes, “The Seeds of Truth”

Fred Martenson, “Demons in America”

Robin Rose Singer, “The Lions of Mesopotamia”

David Harrison Turner, “Safe Haven”

Andrew Wankier, “Three Heavens”

The fellowships support each writer’s completion of a feature-length screenplay within the year. (The Academy neither acquires rights...

Singer and composer Ronald "Khalis" Bell, one of the founder members of Kool and the Gang, has died at the age of 68.

Ronald Bell a self taught musician wrote and composed some of Kool & the Gang's biggest songs including “Celebration,” “Cherish,” “Jungle Boogie” and “Summer Madness." Bell and his big brother Robert, known professionally as “Kool”

As reported Bell passed away Wednesday morning at his home in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The video of the song "Celebration"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GwjfUFyY6M

May his soul Rip...

Ronald “Khalis” Bell, a co-founder and singer of Kool & the Gang who also wrote some of the group’s biggest hits, has died Wednesday morning at age 68. Bell died at his home in the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to publicist Sujata Murthy. No cause of death was released.

Kool & the Gang was formed in 1964 in Jersey City, NJ, by brothers Robert “Kool” Bell and Ronald “Khalis” Bell. They were joined by Dennis “D.T.” Thomas, Robert “Spike” Mickens, Charles Smith, George Brown, and Ricky West. The band released its debut album in 1970 and became one of the big acts of the decade, powered by hits like “Jungle Boogie” and Hollywood Swingin’ and “Celebration.”

The group won a Grammy in 1978 for their work on the soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever, which has sold more than 16 million copies in the U.S. alone. Kool & the Gang’s song “Open Sesame” also was featured in the movie.

Angry Birds has already slingshotted itself to just about every aspect of the multimedia realm with the exception of top-tier television. However, the ubiquitous app-game-spawned franchise will soon check off that crucial box, thanks to a deal with streaming giant Netflix.

Game maker Rovio Entertainment will team with Netflix and production company Cake to conjure short-form animated series Angry Birds: Summer Madness. Set to manifest in 2021 with 40-episodes at 11 minutes each, the series will continue to showcase the exploits of its game-inspired idiosyncratic avian projectiles, as depicted in its animated features, 2016’s The Angry Birds Movie and 2019 sequel The Angry Birds Movie 2. Indeed, the series will draw direct inspiration from the humor and tone of the films, but is also promising a fresh new look, as exemplified by a teaser image (seen in the article’s header).

As Netflix’s official logline for its Angry Birds television series reads:...

Exclusive: Feature Cosmic Sin, currently in post-production, added main cast before the coronavirus shutdown including Frank Grillo (Captain America), Luke Wilson (Zombieland: Double Tap) and Adelaide Kane (The Purge).

Bruce Willis was previously announced for the sci-if-action pic about a group of warriors and scientists who must fight to protect humanity from a hostile alien species with the power to infect and take over human hosts.

More from DeadlineIndie 'Midnight In The Switchgrass' Postpones Puerto Rico Shoot Over Coronavirus ScareWWE Superstar Cj Perry Joins Bruce Willis Sci-Fi Action Pic 'Cosmic Sin'; Will Smith's 'King Richard' Adds Katrina BeginSaban Films Buys Bruce Willis Thriller 'Cosmic Sin' - Efm

Supporting cast includes WWE star C.J. Perry, Lochlyn Munro (Riverdale) and Brandon Thomas Lee (Sierra Burgess Is A Loser).

Pic is written and directed by Corey Large and Edward Drake (Anti-Life) and produced by Corey Large...

Robert Machoian wrote, directed Next entry about post-separation anxieties.

Los Angeles-based The Exchange has acquired its latest film from Sundance, taking worldwide sales rights to Next section entry The Killing Of Two Lovers.

CEO Brian O’Shea and his team are currently introducing the title to Us and international buyers. The company’s other Sundance pick-ups include Spree and Welcome To Chechnya.

Robert Machoian wrote and directed the film about David, who desperately tries to keep his family of six together during a separation from his wife. The parents agree to see other people, but David struggles to grapple with his wife’s new relationship.

HBO is North American distributor on acclaimed documentary.

Brian O’Shea’s The Exchange has acquired international sales rights to David France’s Sundance documentary and Berlin Panorma selection Welcome To Chechnya.

HBO is the North American distributor of the highly regarded film, one of the stand-out titles in Park City that chronicles the current anti-lgbtq persecution raging in the Russian republic of Chechnya.

France shadows the Lgbtq activists who risk their lives to rescue victims from a targeted campaign of torture and brutality.

HBO is the North American distributor on Welcome To Chechnya, a Public Square Films production produced by Alice Henty and Askold Kurov.

Exclusive: Bruce Willis is attached to lead sci-if-action feature Cosmic Sin, which The Exchange will launch sales on at the upcoming Efm.

The project will follow a group of warriors and scientists who must fight to protect and save their race when a hostile alien species with the power to infect and take over human hosts sets its sights on a futuristic human society.

Currently in pre-production, the film comes from co-writers and directors Corey Large and Edward Drake and is being produced by Large, an exec producer on movies including The November Man and It Follows. Large and Drake recently wrote Willis-starrer Breach, which is in post-production.

Action icon Willis most recently shot Emmett-Furla duo Open Source and Survive The Night.

The Exchange’s Efm line-up includes Peter Dinklage, Noomi Rapace and Sophia Lillis starrer The Thicket, Zoe Saldana’s Key Hole Garden and Anna Faris pic Summer Madness.

The American Film Market has cut two days from its schedule and will run for six days, starting in November with its 41st edition.

The Independent Film & Television Alliance made the announcement Tuesday, saying that the reduction reflects the “changing needs of the global film industry” and reflects

Afm’s commitment to provide the most efficient and productive business environment.

“This move also supports a broader marketplace shift that has companies commencing sales early with deals started at film markets often finalized after the event concludes,” Ifta added.

Afm, which had been operating on a Wednesday-through-Wednesday schedule, will go with a Tuesday-Sunday schedule, starting this year with a Nov. 3-8 run. It will remain at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel through 2024.

Afm is one of the independent film industry’s key sales markets along with the European Film Market at the Berlin Film Festival in February, the Cannes...

Anna Faris is engaged!

The actress’s Mom costar Allison Janney spilled the beans, telling Us magazine Faris, 43, and Michael Barrett, 49, have “been engaged for a long time.”

“I kept it very quiet, I’ll have you know! So, I celebrated with them a long time ago,” Janney, 60, said while at the premiere of Troop Zero on Monday in Los Angeles.

Janney, who plays Faris’ mother in the comedy series, said she wasn’t aware Barrett was going to propose “but I saw the ring one day.”

“I went into her room to work on lines [for the show], and then I was like,...

Exclusive: Former Faking It star Rita Volk has been set for a recurring role on the upcoming second season of At&T Audience Network’s spy drama Condor. She joins fellow newcomers Constance Zimmer, Toby Leonard Moore, Rose Rollins, Isidora Goreshter, Eric Johnson, Alexei Bondar and Jonathan Kells Phillips in the series from MGM Television and Skydance Television.

In Season 2, in the wake of the death of his Uncle Bob (William Hurt), Joe Turner (Max Irons) is forced to return to the CIA’s tight-knit Virginia community to find the Russian traitor who’s responsible, and face the demons of his past.

The Uzbekistan-born Volk will play Polina, an employee of the Russian embassy in Washington, DC who harbors secrets of her own.

Returning from the Season 1 cast along with Irons is Bob Balaban and Kristen Hager. Jason Smilovic is also back as showrunner with Todd Katzberg. Smilovic, Katzberg and Andrew McCarthy...

Exclusive: Edward Burns and his Marlboro Road Gang Productions is teaming with Radar Pictures to develop Tosca Lee’s upcoming thriller novel The Line Between as a television series. The first book in a duology, The Line Between releases later this month from Simon and Schuster.

In The Line Between, an ancient disease re-emerges from the melting permafrost to cause madness in its victims. As the mysterious medical cases spiral toward pandemic and an opportunistic cyber attack plunges the nation into chaos, 22-year-old doomsday cult escapee Wynter Roth, who spent her life preparing for the apocalypse, utilizes her survival skills to lead those with her to safety in a harrowing new reality.

Burns and producing partner Aaron Lubin will executive produce alongside Radar’s Ted Field, Michael Napoliello, Mike Weber and producer Maria Frisk. A search is underway for a writer.

Marlboro Road Gang and Radar recently set up Lee...

It’s the last full week in August, but just before Summer Madness segues into Fall Folly, we thought we’d have a go investigating a claim we’ve been hearing asserted with some frequency: that Summer 2017 is one of the best blockbuster seasons in recent memory. We decided to pit it against the 17 other summer seasons this century (yes, pedants, we count the year 2000) to see how it stacks up.

Of course, the several-billion dollar questions are: how do we define “Summer Season” and how to we define the kind of films we want to focus on?

Continue reading The Best Blockbuster Summers Of the Century So Far at The Playlist.

Kristin Hensley and Jen Smedley are two moms with a lot to say.

The two Los Angeles-based comedians, who are originally from Nebraska, started the YouTube channel “IMomSoHard,” which has collected some 52,000 subscribers and over 100 million cumulative views. In their series, Hensley and Smedley talk about real issues, such as (somehow) finding the strength to exercise, diving into back-to-school season, babysitters, and—let’s face it—how kids are walking germ factories. Their most popular video, “I Spanx So Hard,” shows the two moms going the distance and squeezing into a pair of nude Spanx while reviewing the experience for...

Adela Quested (Judy Davis) finishes A Passage to India in the same manner she started the movie: her face is deformed by a window full of drops of rain. In both cases, she is looking at something more or less out of frame, blurred or uncertain, imaginary or physical. The placement of the camera, in the beginning and in the end, is at a different location. When the film starts, we are inside of a traveling agency and Adela is walking past the panoramic window. She stops for a second and stares at a large-sized model of a ship. We can’t see the ship entirely: just some chimneys, masts and ropes. We only know this is a ship because the previous shot—the first shot of the picture, actually—showed us this model.In the end of the movie, Adela is reading a letter concerning events that we have seen.

Talent is currently being sought for the feature film “Summer Madness,” which will shoot in Atlanta in January 2016. “Summer Madness” follows Jack, a man who reconnects with a fellow inmate after serving three years in prison and attempting to better his life. When Jack is put on trial for murder, the only person who can help save him is the same man who arrested him three years earlier. Nine actors are being cast out of Atlanta for this paid gig. For more details, check out the full casting notice for “Summer Madness” here, and be sure to check out the rest of our Atlanta casting notices!

Robert Mitchum ca. late 1940s. Robert Mitchum movies 'The Yakuza,' 'Ryan's Daughter' on TCM Today, Aug. 12, '15, Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” series is highlighting the career of Robert Mitchum. Two of the films being shown this evening are The Yakuza and Ryan's Daughter. The former is one of the disappointingly few TCM premieres this month. (See TCM's Robert Mitchum movie schedule further below.) Despite his film noir background, Robert Mitchum was a somewhat unusual choice to star in The Yakuza (1975), a crime thriller set in the Japanese underworld. Ryan's Daughter or no, Mitchum hadn't been a box office draw in quite some time; in the mid-'70s, one would have expected a Warner Bros. release directed by Sydney Pollack – who had recently handled the likes of Jane Fonda, Barbra Streisand, and Robert Redford – to star someone like Jack Nicholson or Al Pacino or Dustin Hoffman.

Don't cry just yet, Kate the Great fans. While it's true that there is only one wrap-up episode left Tomorrow in Anne Marie's mammoth undertaking "A Year with Kate"* in which she reviewed every performance in Katharine Hepburn's fascinating career, we have exciting news. We're making it into a book! Details are not yet concrete but if you would like to be included in updates about pre-order and other 'Don't Miss It' news, please fill out this form at our Facebook page!

Anne Marie's last episodes airs tomorrow Wednesday December 31st. But until then... take a peak at any you missed. Some chapters will be substantially rewritten for the book.

1930s: A Bill of Divorcement, Christopher Strong, Morning Glory, Little Women, Spitfire, The Little Minister, Break of Hearts, Alice Adams, Sylvia Scarlett, Mary of Scotland, A Woman Rebels, Quality Street, Stage Door, Bringing Up Baby, Holiday,

1940s: Philadelphia Story,...

Ivor Novello last film: 'Autumn Crocus' (photo: Ivor Novello and Fay Compton in 'Autumn Crocus') Can a plain looking, naive spinster school teacher ever find real love in faraway places? This was a question asked by Shirley Booth in Arthur Laurents' 1952 stage play The Time of the Cuckoo; Katharine Hepburn in the 1955 David Lean-directed film version, Summertime (1955); and Elizabeth Allen in the 1965 Richard Rodgers-Steven Sondheim musical adaptation, Do I Hear a Waltz? Can such a woman's yearning for romance ever be satisfied? "Yes" and "No," according to Basil Dean's fine 1934 British film Autumn Crocus, which marked the last film appearance of British stage and screen superstar Ivor Novello (Alfred Hitchcok's The Lodger). Autumn Crocus starts out during the holiday season, when two British schoolteachers decide to spend their vacation together on the Continent. Soft-hearted Jenny Grey (Fay Compton) longs to see the Austrian Alps,...

Best British movies of all time? (Image: a young Michael Caine in 'Get Carter') Ten years ago, Get Carter, starring Michael Caine as a dangerous-looking London gangster (see photo above), was selected as the United Kingdom's very best movie of all time according to 25 British film critics polled by Total Film magazine. To say that Mike Hodges' 1971 thriller was a surprising choice would be an understatement. I mean, not a David Lean epic or an early Alfred Hitchcock thriller? What a difference ten years make. On Total Film's 2014 list, published last May, Get Carter was no. 44 among the magazine's Top 50 best British movies of all time. How could that be? Well, first of all, people would be very naive if they took such lists seriously, whether we're talking Total Film, the British Film Institute, or, to keep things British, Sight & Sound magazine. Second, whereas Total Film's 2004 list was the result of a 25-critic consensus,...

42nd Street Moon kicks off its 22nd season with the rarely seen Richard Rodgers-Stephen Sondheim-Arthur Laurents collaboration Do I Hear A Waltz, starring Broadway's Tony nominee Emily Skinner Side Show, The Full Monty, Billy Elliot. Based on Arthur Laurents' 1952 play The Time of the Cuckoo, which inspired the Katharine Hepburn movie Summertime, the wistful story follows a lonely American tourist as she finds romance under the enchantment of mid-1960s Venice. Do I Hear A Waltz plays now through October 19 at The Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson St., San Francisco. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below...

42nd Street Moon kicks off its 22nd season with the rare Richard Rodgers-Stephen Sondheim-Arthur Laurents collaboration Do I Hear A Waltz, starring Broadway's Tony nominee Emily Skinner Side Show, The Full Monty, Billy Elliot. Based on Arthur Laurents' 1952 play The Time of the Cuckoo, which inspired the Katharine Hepburn movie Summertime, the wistful story follows a lonely American tourist as she finds romance under the enchantment of mid-1960s Venice.

John Cassavetes’ magnificent swan song, Love Streams receives the Criterion treatment this month, an addendum to the previously released five-title collection from the auteur. The film was surrounded and conceived amidst its own set of peculiar circumstances, and thus exhibits its own frenetic energy that sets it apart even within Cassavetes’ own oeuvre. After filming commenced, the director famously receiving a diagnosis that he would only live another six months due to cirrhosis of the liver. Unquestionably, this imbued his strange, wonderful, and reverential exploration of love’s complicated facets with a sharp melancholy. An adaptation of Ted Allan’s stage play, the film won the Golden Bear at the 1984 Berlin Film Festival, but wasn’t marketed properly and received a drowned out theatrical release. The film concerns the reunion of an estranged brother and sister, a pop writer Robert Harmon (John Cassavetes) and recent divorcee, Sarah Lawson (Gena Rowlands...

Episode 29 of 52: In which David Lean's beautiful romantic classic gives Katharine Hepburn an eye infection and me a headache

I admit it. The spinster movies confuse me. When Nick and Nathaniel invited me on the podcast (Have you listened to the podcast? Go listen to the podcast), I stated outright that I don’t like Summertime. As a fan, I take almost personal offense hearing my idol continuously called “plain” or (at best) “interesting-looking.”

But as a cinephile, David Lean’s 1955 love letter to Venice engages me. I can’t help it. I’m a sucker for a scopophilic travelogue cinematography. And trains. And Technicolor films that overuse the color red. And judging from last year's Hit Me With Your Best Shot submissions for Summertime, many of you share my inner conflict.

Summertime is more a mood piece than a plot-driven story. David Lean exorcised most of the...

In this special edition of the podcast, Nathaniel welcomes two Katharine Hepburn buffs Nick Davis and Anne Marie Kelly to talk about their (shared) first Actress Obsession. Naturally Kate the Great isn't the only diva that finds her way into the conversation. Expect supporting roles or cameos: Bette Davis, Cary Grant, Barbara Stanwyck, Tennessee Williams, Deborah Kerr, Spencer Tracy, Audrey Hepburn, George Cukor and more...

You can listen at the bottom of the post or download the conversation on iTunes. Continue the conversation in the comments.

00:00 Intro. Plus Middle School drama: Hilariously "intense" early obsessions

13:00 Types, Genres, and Suddenly Last Summer

17:00 Her autobiography and films she loathed like Dragon Seed

22:00 Chemistry and co-stars

33:00 Revisiting unsatisfying movies -- raise a cocktail to this peculiar cinephile habit

40:00 The Spinster & The Magic Penis

47:00 Bette Davis and why we compare them. Silliness before the sign off.

Further...

Caught

Directed by Max Ophüls

Written by Arthur Laurents

USA, 1949

Max Ophüls’ third feature in America, Caught, from 1949, is an evocative amalgam of a domesticated melodramatic tragedy and a dynamic film noir sensibility. The picture stars Barbara Bel Geddes as Leonora Eames, a studious adherent to charm school principles who dreams of becoming a glamorous model, or at least marrying a young, handsome millionaire. She gets the latter when she meets Smith Ohlrig (Robert Ryan), a wealthy “international something” who gives her the superficial materials she desires but little else. Their marriage is an arduous sham. He works late hours on unclear projects while she is left to dwell uselessly in their extravagant mansion. He’s cruel to her and careless. A way out of the stifling relationship comes in the form of a job as a doctor’s receptionist. Leonora leaves Ohlrig and moves into Manhattan, where she eventually...

DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince’s “Summertime” is a ridiculously obvious choice for a summertime jam, but that’s not really an issue as far as I’m concerned. Summer jams are about sharing moments with the people around you and basking in pure, unexamined pop pleasure. Overthinking things runs counter to the whole concept, as do the kind of status anxieties that often lie behind the desire to show off one’s knowledge of obscure music or ability to think outside the box.

“Summertime” is an obvious choice in the same way that margaritas are an obvious choice...

When I scheduled Summertime for the "Hit Me..." series I admit I expect a huge drop off in participation due to its lack of any significant or least still-discussed reputation in the careers of David Lean and Katharine Hepburn. So I was pleasantly surprised to see such a crowd hopping on the water buses in Venice with Kate as Jane Hudson (hee. no, not that Jane Hudson).

What a difference a year has made in this series. Last year, I couldn't get a crowd for Bonnie & F'in Clyde. I almost retired the series. So thank you to the many new participants and the very reliably regulars who have stuck with this series through its popular and fallow episodes. There are only three episodes left before a June hiatus and I hope you'll stick around and get reenergize from a month of No Viewing Assignments. I am a taskmaster I know.

For this week's episode of Best Shot, the collective series in which bloggers are invited to choose their favorite image from a pre-selected movie, we went to Italy for David Lean's Summertime (1955) starring Katharine Hepburn. The film won both of them Oscar nominations, for Direction and Acting respectively, and since I'd never seen it it fills in two Oscar gaps in my 1950s cinema.

It's a relatively modest picture all told, concerned not with big sweeping travelogue beauty (though the travelogue beauty is accounted for) but with an internal flowering. Spinster Katharine Hepburn goes to Italy, goes a little wild (well, wild for an American spinster from Akron Ohio), and then -- spoiler alert -- leaves Italy again. It's all very E.M. Forster really! (See A Room With a View and Where Angels Fear to Tread).

She was coming to Europe to find something. It was way back in...