• Joe Eszterhas Gets Religion

    It turns out that Hollywood couldn’t kill Joe Eszterhas. But it did send him running to Jesus.  The writer whose movies defined an era – “Flashdance,” “Basic Instinct,” “Sliver," and (unfortunately) “Showgirls”  — and whose personal battles with Mike Ovitz and extramarital exploits made modern Hollywood legends, has gotten religion. The old-fashioned kind. Eszterhas has…

  • Paramount Wants Me To Do Their Marketing!

    You’d have thought that Paramount might not want me on their marketing team for the "Love Guru," considering my previous revelation of the studio’s absurd demands of journalists on the promotional press junket. But you would be wrong! Paramount has reached out to me – me, personally – to help spread the word about their…

  • Journalist Agreement – The Love Guru

    contract is no longer.  Ladies and gentlemen, the power of the Internet. 1. Single Issue License. The article, excerpts or other literary material to be written or created concerning Artist (or Artist and any third parties) (the "Material") are to be published once in the inside of the ______________ [date] issue of _____________________ magazine (the…

  • Justin Timberlake Has a Big Head

    Has Justin Timberlake lost his mind? His handlers at Spyglass Entertainment had journalists at the "Love Guru" junket signing one of those Tom Cruise-ian ("do not stare at the star") contracts that demands, among other things, that the journalist not mention anything personal or private, destroy all materials not approved in advance, and make the…

  • New Policies on Antiquities

    The Association of Art Museum Directors, the group that represents most major museums in the United States, is finally coming around to adopt the accepted international guidelines for acquiring antiquities. As my former colleague Randy Kennedy reports in today’s Times, the group will announce today its new policy recommending that museums not acquire objects that…

  • Sharon on “Reliable Sources”

    Here’s the video from my appearance on "Reliable Sources" on CNN.

  • Universal on Fire

    Photos of the Universal lot on fire by Jonathan Alcorn.

  • Programming Note, this Sunday

    Tune in to CNN on Sunday, June 1, where I’ll be appearing on Howard Kurtz’s "Reliable Sources," airtime 10:30 EST, talking about the summer in Hollywood, the chinks in Oprah’s armor, and whether Rachael Ray needs to stay away from those Dunkin’ Donuts.

  • RIP, Sydney Pollack

    A word in tribute to Sydney Pollack, a director who marked our time with films that weren’t visually flashy, didn’t pioneer special effects, and were non-blockbusters in the age of the movie event. With gratitude, let’s remember "Tootsie," and "The Way We Were," and "Out of Africa." Let’s remember his ability to bring out the…

  • American Idol and the Cool Quotient

    You can read the dominance of the cult of American Idol and the demise of the American music business in the cool quotient of performers at the results finale at the Nokia theater last night. Once upon a time, ZZ Top would’ve been too cool to come on this show. Graham Nash wouldn’t have been…

  • Fatal Consequences

    Who says the battle over stolen antiquities isn’t deadly serious? This came in yesterday off the wires: In Washington State, a renowned Asian antiquities expert has died in a federal jail. Sixty-two-year-old Roxana Brown was the director of the Southeast Asian Ceramics Museum at Bangkok University in Thailand. Brown had been arrested in connection with…

  • A Blunt Instrument at the Washington Post

    The Washington Post as I know it has jumped the shark. Crossed a line. Hit the wall. It’s a paper I love with all my heart, and where I worked for eight years. But in a new round of buy-outs I am told, a “blunt instrument” was used to clear the newsroom of 100 more…

  • Clubbing Baby Indies

    Time-Warner chief Jeff Bewkes seems to be doing what he can to kill off independent film. After liquidating New Line Cinema just a couple of months ago, this past week his mogul in training Jeff Robinov deep-sixed two more indie-flavored film units, Warner Independent Pictures and Picturehouse. Thus ends what was an ill-starred experiment for…

  • A Good One Goes

    A word to remember my dear friend, Joan Goodman, a talented journalist who died in the early hours of today, of cancer. She was 80, but – until recently, anyway – she looked and seemed more like 65. For 35 years, Joan was one of the foremost practicioners of the premiere form of Hollywood journalism…