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The annual César Awards, more commonly known as the “French Oscars,” are coming up in a couple of weeks and, as usual, it appears that the panel of judges still haven’t caught on to the whole #MeToo thing that’s been going on. When the big show takes place, the majority of the nominations have been given to convicted rapist and child predator Roman Polanski. He apparently released yet another film named “An Officer and a Spy” (or “J’accuse”) and the French critics can’t get enough of it.Thankfully, there are at least some folks across the pond who understand what...

On this day in 1890, the writer Boris Pasternak was born into an affluent and cultured Russian-Jewish family. His father, Leonid, was a renowned artist and professor at the Moscow School of Painting; his mother Rosa, nee Kaufman, was a concert pianist. His parents’ social circle included notable figures of the day such as Sergei Rachmaninoff and Leo Tolstoy. The influence of this creative community led the young Pasternak to study first music and then philosophy, both in Russia and abroad. In 1912 he abandoned academia to pursue his true calling: poetry and prose. The outbreak of World War I...

Parasite may be getting the awards-season love, but a vibrant new generation of filmmakers is ready to emerge from the shadow of established masters like Bong Joon Ho and Park Chan-wook... The overdue official recognition from the West has been doubly meaningful--as 2019 also marks the 100-year anniversary of the country’s first feature film, Kim Do-san’s 1919 kino-drama, The Righteous Revenge. It’s likely that Parasite’s success — the film recently raced past the $100 million mark at the worldwide box office — will come to be viewed as the culmination of the "New Korean Cinema," the renaissance of the country’s...

The former Secretary of State was driven in a black GMC Yukon XL to the venue in a five vehicle convoy - but bizarrely left at around 2.30pm, before the film was screened at 3pm. . . . Clinton appeared to steady herself as she came down a set of stairs by what appeared to be a loading dock behind the venue. She was surrounded by aides and her security detail and held on to the railing.

50 Cent thinks Oprah is targeting famous black men... Fiddy's referring to the media mogul's upcoming #MeToo documentary featuring Drew Dixon, one of the women who's accused Russell Simmons of sexual misconduct, along with her 'After Neverland' interview of Jackson's accusers, Wade Robson and James Safechuck.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is set to get its first transgender superhero. "And very soon. In a movie that we're shooting right now," Marvel Studios boss Kevin Fiege said during a Q&A at the New York Film Academy. Asked by a fan whether there were any plans for more LGBT characters in Marvel's films, "specifically the T, trans characters", Kevin said: "Yes, absolutely. Yes."

'Little Women' is so important and transcends each generation because it captures the differences between women — in personalities, desires, and fortunes. Greta Gerwig's rendition didn't quite cut it. “Little Women” is a timeless story that should make you cry. For goodness sake, Beth dies. The fact that I wasn’t a bit emotional watching the latest retelling of the classic story is quite concerning, and even more so, disappointing. Greta Gerwig’s new version left me completely devoid of feeling, although the story is full of it.In fact, two other recent adaptations — Clare Niederpruem’s modern adaptation of “Little Women” (2018)...

Not every mainstream movie critic hates Clint Eastwood's highly affecting Richard Jewell.  But the critics who hate it hate it an awful lot.  The story of how an out-of-control FBI and a "completely irresponsible press" ruined the life of the heroic security guard whose quick action saved many lives during the 1996 Centennial Park bombing is legitimately viewed as Eastwood's take on what's happening in America right now.  The irony that the movie was released the same week as the I.G. report exposing the FBI's lawlessness in Crossfire Hurricane must be particularly galling for mainstream journos who staked their reputations on...

Rocketman: Vatican funded explicit film of Elton John’s life The biographical film about Sir Elton John, which contains a gay sex scene, was partly financed by an investment fund backed by the Vatican, an Italian newspaper has reported.The use of money donated by Roman Catholics to help to fund Rocketman emerged during a Vatican inquiry into where the cash, which is officially used for good works, has been invested.Researchers were looking into the Vatican secretariat of state’s backing of Centurion Global Fund, the Malta-based company that invested €1 million in the film’s production, Corriere della Sera reported

Alex Gibney traces the rise and fall of dissident exiled oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky in this scalding portrait of Putin's Russia. With typically zealous journalistic diligence, prolific nonfiction filmmaker Alex Gibney digs into the curious case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky in Citizen K, providing a lucidly accessible account of post-Soviet Russia's lurching transition out of Communism into a free-market economy that became a Wild West of gangster capitalism. The short hop from there to the faux democracy of Vladimir Putin, with his flimsy "election theater" and his 18-year stranglehold on the Kremlin, is a chilling cautionary tale. Khodorkovsky is a charismatic subject...

When Anna discovers that her royal ancestors, just like probably every royal ancestor ever, committed brutalities against their neighbors, the newly radicalized princess decides to destroy the dam to make things right with the tribe—even though it means flooding Arendelle.

"Wonder Woman" star Gal Gadot is set to play a real-life hero in a new movie she is also producing. The Israeli actress made the announcement Friday in a post on social media, saying she is "excited" to start a production company, Pilot Wave, with her husband, Yaron Varsano, and star in their first film "Irena Sendler," about a Polish nurse who ran an underground operation smuggling thousands of children out of the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust. “As producers, we want to help bring stories that have inspired us to life," Gadot told Deadline. "Pilot Wave will create content...

When Jennifer Lopez read the script for “Hustlers,” she felt an immediate connection to Ramona, the most powerful stripper at a New York club during the 2008 financial crisis. But she also liked that the screenplay for “Hustlers,” written by Lorene Scafaria, touched on much deeper themes. “It’s about the people, but it’s also about something bigger,” Lopez said. “It’s a universal story about life and greed and desperation and what people do.” STX Entertainment’s “Hustlers,” which opens in theaters on Sept. 13, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday night, to wildly enthusiastic reviews. The following day,...

The year of 2018 saw huge strides in diversity and inclusion in film — mainly because of the release of Marvel Studios’ Black Panther and the Warner Bros. rom-com Crazy Rich Asians. Although both features broke ground and were a watershed moment for the Black and Asian communities, it doesn’t mean everything is hunky-dory with the representation of underrepresented and marginalized communities in film. A new report from Professor Stacy L. Smith and the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism shows that there has been improvement toward inclusion but the needle could and should be...

The clown prince of crime is alive and mentally unwell in Gotham City in Todd Phillips' grippingly atmospheric supervillain origin story, Joker. While a never-better Joaquin Phoenix paints on the famed maniacal smile with his own blood at one memorable climactic moment of messianic rebirth, what's most noteworthy about this gritty entry in the DC canon and the lead actor's sensational performance is the pathos he brings to a pathetically disenfranchised character — just like countless others in a metropolis in which the social chasm separating the haves from the have-nots has become a pit of incendiary rage. The smart...

A new report has found that in the top 100 Hollywood films from 2007 through 2018, only 4.5% of all speaking characters were Latino, far out of step with the US population. The study, titled Latinos in Film: Erasure on Screen & Behind the Camera Across 1,200 Popular Movies, found a dearth of Latino representation in Hollywood’s top movies of the last decade, both in front of and behind the camera. Published in association with the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, the National Association of Latino Independent Producers and Wise Entertainment, the report outlined the prevalence of Latino erasure or misrepresentation...

Democrats go to the movies twice as much as Republicans, a new study finds. The statistic was among many tidbits included in a seven-year survey celebrating the 1,000th movie surveyed by industry leader PostTrak, the exit-polling service founded by Rentrak (now owned by Comscore) and Screen Engine. During that time period, Democrats frequented the movies far more than Republicans, or 12.4 percent versus 5.5 percent. Ditto for Independents (7.2 percent). The same also held true for ticket buyers who identified themselves as liberal and conservative (10.1 percent vs. 5 percent). Nearly 10 percent of moviegoers didn't state their political affiliation....

The Lighthouse is a 2019 black-and-white psychological horror film directed by Robert Eggers. It stars Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson. The film chronicles the story of two lighthouse keepers as they are faced with solitude, but start to lose their sanity and become threatened by their worst nightmares.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Heading into the new year, box office analysts were bullish that 2019 would beat, or at least match, the record-breaking success of last season. Followups to “Avengers,” “Secret Life of Pets” and “Godzilla” combined with reboots of storied franchises such as “Men in Black” and “Shaft” would elevate ticket sales to new heights, theater owners and studio executives predicted. Alas, it was not to be. Sure, everyone showed up to “Avengers: Endgame” to bid goodbye to Iron Man, but many of those other sequels sputtered out. They were derivative, shoddily constructed, and poorly...

During the current malaise of box-office bombs, failed reboots, and bad sequels, it’s time to take stock in the excellent films that we already have. Specifically, here are some of the greatest conservative movies to take in, or watch again with fresh appreciation, during the next two months.These films portray fundamental conservative values that make America great. They promote liberty, objective truth, family, patriotism, and the recognition that evil exists and must be fought. To maximize family involvement, all the films below have a rating of PG-13 or friendlier.‘Darkest Hour’ Winston Churchill was the consummate statesman of the 20th...