'The Birds,' 'Beetlejuice' Added to Tribeca Lineup
March, 25, 2013 11:04 am | Comments On #Alfred Hitchcock, Beetlejuice, film festivals, Movies, The Birds, Tim Burton, tribeca film festivalAlfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” and Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice” are among the films added to the lineup at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, TFF organizers announced on Monday.
The 50th anniversary screening of “The Birds” and the 25th anniversary screening of “Beetlejuice” will be part of the “Tribeca Drive-In” series of free outdoor screenings at the World Financial Center Plaza, and will take place on Thursday and Friday, April 18 and 19. “Lil Bub & Friendz,” a new film about a cat who became an internet sensation, will also screen as part of the series on April 20.
Tribeca also announced a collaboration with the Museum...
Read MoreDavid Mamet on 'Phil Spector': It's Not About Phil Spector
March, 22, 2013 6:54 am | Comments On #Al Pacino, David Mamet, Girls, HBO, Helen Mirren, lana clarkson, phil spector, Television, Zosia MametPlaywright, screenwriter and director David Mamet tries to have it both ways with “Phil Spector,” his upcoming HBO film about the eccentric music legend who was convicted for the 2003 shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson.
The film uses the names of Spector, Clarkson and the legal team that defended the mercurial producer and makes use of official court transcripts for a couple of scenes. But a disclaimer at its beginning insists, “This is a work of fiction ... It’s not ‘based on a true story,’” and Mamet called his work "a fable" in an interview with TheWrap this week.
Also read:...
Read MoreTales of the Real Phil Spector: Music, Guns - and Hot Dogs on Silver Platters
March, 22, 2013 6:53 am | Comments On #Al Pacino, David Mamet, HBO, phil spector, TelevisionWhile Al Pacino is bewigged and bold as the eccentric movie producer Phil Spector in David Mamet’s HBO film “Phil Spector,” does he capture the real Spector?
Some, from Spector’s wife to the former publicist for Lana Clarkson, who was shot to death in Spector’s house in 2003, have said no. Mamet has responded to TheWrap with a wonderfully blunt assessment of his film: “Anything which is a matter of record is completely accurate, and anything which is a matter of invention is completely made up.”
Also read: David Mamet on ‘Phil Spector...
Read MoreTribeca Film Fest Is Talkin' to Clint Eastwood, Jay Roach, Whoopi Goldberg and More
March, 21, 2013 11:00 am | Comments On #Ben Stiller, Clint Eastwood, Darren Aronofsky, Ethan Hawke, film festivals, Jay Roach, Julie Delpy, Mira Nair, Movies, Richard Linklater, tribeca film festival, Whoopi GoldbergClint Eastwood, Jay Roach, Richard Linklater and Gloria Steinem are among the directors, writers and actors who will participate in the “Tribeca Talks” series at this years Tribeca Film Festival, TFF organizers announced Thursday.
Directors Darren Aronofsky and Paul Verhoeven, actors Ben Stiller, Ethan Hawke and Ellen Page, actor-directors Whoopi Goldberg and Adrian Grenier and singer Elaine Stritch will also take part in the "Tribeca Talks" programs, which will take place during the late-April festival launched by Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal 11 years ago in downtown New York.
Also read:...
Read MoreHBO's 'Phil Spector' Issues Odd Disclaimer: 'We're Not Based on a True Story'
March, 20, 2013 1:00 pm | Comments On #Al Pacino, David Mamet, HBO, Helen Mirren, lana clarkson, phil spector, TelevisionHBO’s upcoming film “Phil Spector” has taken a different tack from all the other recent movies that have been based on true stories.
That’s because the film, which takes place during the trial of record producer Phil Spector for the 1993 shooting death of Lana Clarkson, insists in its opening credits that it is not based on a true story.
“This is a work of fiction,” reads a card at the beginning of the film, which was written and directed by David Mamet. “It’s not ‘based on a true story.’”
This, even though Spector and Clarkson are characters in the film, in which music-producer Spector is accused of the murder of...
Read MoreHow Oscar-Nominee 'War Witch' Improvised the Gut-Wrenching Tale of Child Soldiers
February, 27, 2013 12:07 pm | Comments On #Academy Awards, Awards, Best Foreign Language Film, independent film, indies, Kim Nguyen, Movies, oscars, War Witch“Amour” was always the clear favorite in the Oscar foreign-language category, and its win on Sunday was one of the least surprising parts of a generally unsurprising ceremony.
But if Michael Haneke’s drama hadn’t been in the mix, there’s a good chance that Kim Nguyen’s “War Witch” would have emerged as a serious contender for the prize.
The film is the wrenching story of a teenage girl who becomes a child soldier in an unnamed African country – and then, because she can see the dead, the “witch” of the gang of rebels.
Also read:...
Read More10 Moments to Remember From a Long, Strange Awards Season
February, 26, 2013 6:34 pm | Comments On #Academy Awards, Amour, argo, Awards, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Ben Affleck, documentaries, Jessica Chastain, oscars, Searching for Sugar Man, Silver Linings Playbook, zero dark thirtyAwards season typically begins with the Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals in early September and ends with the Oscars in late February. But in compiling a list of 10 moments that stood out in the long, tangled and odd 2012-13 season, I had to start more than a year ago, with a couple of things that happened before last year’s Oscars even took place.
It was a year in which the Academy’s attempt to hurt the Golden Globes sent the process into disarray and nominations morning confounded everybody, a year of online voting and a year in which the movie that was counted out in early January came roaring back to take the Dolby stage in triumph in late February.
Here are 10 moments that stood...
5 Things We Want to Know About That Oscar Show
February, 25, 2013 12:46 pm | Comments On #Academy Awards, adele, Awards, barbra streisand, Chicago, Craig Zadan, J. Ralph, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Mychael Danna, Neil Meron, oscars, Seth MacFarlane, SkyfallWhat was that?
The 85th Academy Awards -- I know the producers opted to just call it “The Oscars,” but it really was the 85th Academy Awards -- ended an unusual awards season with an unusual show.
Seth MacFarlane’s entire opening centered on how bad a host he might prove to be, hardly the most promising stance from which to proceed. He got Tommy Lee Jones to laugh with his first joke of the night -- “And the quest to make Tommy Lee Jones laugh begins now” -- and then acted as if he were determined that Tommy Lee should never laugh again.
Also read: TheWrap's Complete Coverage of the 2013 Oscars
There were big musical numbers from decade-old musicals, and a Barbra Streisand...
Read MoreOscars 2013: On a Night the Academy Spreads the Wealth, Ben Affleck Gets Last Laugh
February, 24, 2013 10:03 pm | Comments On #Academy Awards, Anne Hathaway, argo, Awards, Ben Affleck, Christoph Waltz, Daniel Day-Lewis, Jennifer Lawrence, Lincoln, oscars, Steven Spielberg, zero dark thirty
Well, nobody feels sorry for Ben Affleck now.
Although his film “Argo” seemed to have been dealt a fatal blow on Jan. 10 when the Academy’s Directors Branch failed to nominate Affleck in the Best Director category, all it did was temporarily turn one of the most charming, good-looking, charismatic actor-directors in town into two things you wouldn’t think he’d ever be: an underdog and a victim.
And from that position, Affleck tirelessly and quickly worked to put himself and his film back on top.
Also read: Oscars 2013: The Complete List of Winners
It...
Read MoreOscars 2013: Signs Point to an 'Argo' Triumph, But Can You Trust the Signs?
February, 24, 2013 10:37 am | Comments On #Academy Awards, Amour, argo, Awards, Ben Affleck, Craig Zadan, David O. Russell, Emmanuelle Riva, Jennifer Lawrence, Kathryn Bigelow, Life of Pi, Neil Meron, oscars, Silver Linings Playbook, zero dark thirtyFive months after “Argo” debuted as a sneak preview at the Telluride Film Festival, almost 20 weeks after “Lincoln” had its own sneak at the New York Film Festival, and 401 days after “Beasts of the Southern Wild” took Sundance by storm, the moment of truth has arrived.
Those three films, and six others competing for Best Picture at the 85th Academy Awards, will learn their fates on Sunday night at the Dolby Theatre. “Argo” could make history as only the second film in 80 years, and the fourth overall, to win the top Oscar without a Best Director nomination … or it could make history as the first film not to win Best Picture after taking awards from all four of the major Hollywood guilds.
...
Read More
- Previous
- •
- •
- •
- •
- Next
Description
Steve Pond, author of the L.A. Times bestseller The Big Show, has been covering entertainment for more than two decades. He also writes on the awards circuit for TheWrap, in his column "The Odds."
