Hollywood

Stories 681 - 700 | << Prev   Next >>

Hollywood's Forgotten How to Tell a Story

Today's top films pale in comparison to earlier ones

(Newser) - Today's movies just ain't what they used to be, writes Stephen Farber. Sure, digital wizardry can be breathtaking, but the old-fashioned art of storytelling has waned. Farber compares 10 of this year's high-profile movies with similar ones from the past. "Even when these new movies are adapted from highbrow...

Avatar Creating Bottleneck at 3D Screens

It's still selling well, and Disney's 'Alice' is coming soon

(Newser) - The success of Avatar is creating a first-of-its-kind problem in movie land: a potential bottleneck of films for 3D screens. The problem will come to a head March 5, when Disney releases Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Imax theaters and other operators of 3D screens agreed long ago to show...

Famous Movie Misquotations
 Famous Movie 
 Misquotations 
Jan 16, 2010 4:11 PM CST

Famous Movie Misquotations

'Play it again, Sam' and 'Greed is good' aren't quite right

(Newser) - Fred Shapiro rounds up famous quotations from movies that for one reason or another—compression, clarity, cadence, to name a few—are altered in our collective memory. A sampling from the On Language column in the New York Times Sunday magazine:
  • "Greed is good." (Wall Street). Orginal: "
...

Hollywood's Top-Earning Couples
 Hollywood's 
 Top-Earning Couples 
no. 1: jay-z and Beyoncé
Jan 13, 2010 4:02 PM CST

Hollywood's Top-Earning Couples

Brad and Angelina make the list, but only at No. 3

(Newser) - Jay-Z and Beyoncé are Hollywood's top-earning couple. In the annual Forbes rankings, they finished No. 1 for the second year in a row by pulling in a combined $122 million between June 2008 and June 2009. The others in the top five:
  • No. 2: Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart, $69
...

Outdated Movie Clich&eacute;s That Just Won't Die
 Outdated 
 Movie Clichés 
 That Just Won't Die 
MY PHONE DOESN'T WORK!
Jan 12, 2010 11:43 AM CST

Outdated Movie Clichés That Just Won't Die

The answering machine, the broken cell phone, the lack of GPS...

(Newser) - Ever notice that movie trailers are constantly employing the record scratch sound effect—even though today’s youth have no clue what that sound actually is? "Pop culture has shown no inclination to discard obsolete tropes simply because they are obsolete," writes Adam Sternbergh, who points out five...

5 Reasons Avatar Is a Mega-Hit
 5 Reasons Avatar Is a Mega-Hit 
Jan 6, 2010 5:21 PM CST

5 Reasons Avatar Is a Mega-Hit

Escapism, corporate tie-ins, and savvy marketing all help

(Newser) - James Cameron's Avatar is inventive and smart, but it's become such a huge success so quickly that one has to wonder if some larger cultural factors aren't at work. Here are five theories from io9 :
  1. Escapism. The Great Recession fills our lives with endless drudgery, and this film is the
...

Natalie Portman's Rules: No 'Boobs' or Jewish Roles

Actress has no plans for the full monty

(Newser) - Natalie Portman is proud of her heritage but tries to steer clear of Jewish roles—"I've always tried to stay away from playing Jews," she reveals in an interview with Elle UK. "I get like 20 Holocaust scripts a month, but I hate the genre." A...

Lessons From the Decade's Movies

 Lessons 
 From the 
 Decade's 
 Movies 
Richard Corliss
Jan 5, 2010 2:06 PM CST

Lessons From the Decade's Movies

Superheroes and big budgets ruled the aughts

(Newser) - Movies look a lot different in 2010 than they did in 2000. Richard Corliss of Time looks back at what we learned from a decade at the multiplex:
  • Superheroes Are Serious: Light comic book movies have given way to the dark, layered stuff of graphic novels. “Superhero movies are
...

Sandra Bullock's Blind Side Hits Record $200M
Sandra Bullock's Blind Side Hits Record $200M
GLASS CEILING DEPT.
Jan 5, 2010 1:12 PM CST

Sandra Bullock's Blind Side Hits Record $200M

Becomes the first flick anchored by a female star to cross barrier

(Newser) - Sandra Bullock has become the first female star to carry a film past $200 million in domestic box office. Her football flick, The Blind Side, has made $208.5 million in seven weeks of release. Earlier star vehicles like Julia Roberts’ Erin Brockovich have fallen short; that movie made just...

Bullock Rules 2009 Box Office
 Bullock Rules 2009 Box Office 
star power
Jan 1, 2010 10:20 AM CST

Bullock Rules 2009 Box Office

Cinema owners say actress was the biggest draw of the year

(Newser) - Cinema owners love Sandra Bullock, even if critics don't always agree. The owners named Bullock the Hollywood star with the most drawing power in 2009, thanks to her roles in The Proposal, The Blind Side, and even the widely panned All About Steve. The annual survey isn't based strictly on...

Top Conservative Flicks of the '00s
 Top Conservative 
 Flicks of the '00s 
decade in review
Jan 1, 2010 5:31 AM CST

Top Conservative Flicks of the '00s

Even Hollywood can make movies for the non-'lily-livered:' Nile Gardiner

(Newser) - "Hollywood may well be a bastion of liberalism, but it does continue to occasionally produce major films that advance conservative principles," Nile Gardiner writes in the Telegraph . His best of the aughts:
  1. Master and Commander, 2003: The Peter Weir flick starring Russell Crowe is "an epic tale
...

Up in the Air Will Edge Hurt Locker
 Up in the Air Will 
 Edge Hurt Locker 
oscar predictions
Dec 26, 2009 1:47 PM CST

Up in the Air Will Edge Hurt Locker

But Kathryn Bigelow will win best director for 'Locker'

(Newser) - Jay A. Fernandez has crunched the votes from more than 20 critics' groups but finds that predicting this year's Oscar winner for best picture remains a "head-scratcher." The Hurt Locker has gotten the most votes for its tense tale of an elite group of soldiers who disarm bombs,...

Clueless Co-Star Brittany Murphy Dead at 32

Troubled starlet suffered cardiac arrest

(Newser) - Brittany Murphy, who made a splash playing the makeover victim in Clueless and later battled substance abuse, died today in Los Angeles. She was 32. The LA Fire Department was called to a home owned by Murphy's husband, Simon Monjack, where she was found in cardiac arrest and could not...

Avatar Pulls In $27M
 Avatar Pulls In  
 $27M 
Dec 19, 2009 3:57 PM CST

Avatar Pulls In $27M

Numbers are strong, but not record-setting

(Newser) - James Cameron's Avatar grossed $27 million in its opening day yesterday. The numbers for the 3-D epic are strong but unspectacular and may have been dinged by the East Coast blizzard. The storm will likely eat into overall weekend figures as well, but Cameron should take solace in the news...

YouTube Clip Wins Movie Deal
 YouTube Clip 
 Wins Movie Deal 
Dec 19, 2009 10:34 AM CST

YouTube Clip Wins Movie Deal

Panic Attack! will be turned into a $30M feature

(Newser) - A Uruguayan man who spent $300 creating a YouTube video called Panic Attack! has been offered a $30 million contract to make a Hollywood film. "I uploaded on a Thursday and on Monday my inbox was totally full of e-mails from Hollywood studios," the creator tells the BBC...

Idol Creators Dream Up 'Post-Reality' TV Show

Audience and cast members will interact online

(Newser) - The company that brought you American Idol is now straining against the limits of the medium with the first ever foray into “post reality entertainment.” If I Can Dream, Lisa de Moraes writes, will tell the “authentic story” of some authentic young Americans—a musician, an actor,...

Paywall Model Make-or-Break for Variety
Paywall Model Make-or-Break for Variety
jon friedman
Dec 10, 2009 2:50 PM CST

Paywall Model Make-or-Break for Variety

Audience loyalty critical as online competitors gain ground

(Newser) - Variety will phase in a paywall starting today, a return to its pre-2006 model and a big gamble that its long history as the Hollywood daily will spur users to open their wallets. The site's traffic has increased since it became free, but it failed to attract a bump...

Blind Side Overshadows New Moon

 Blind Side 
 Overshadows 
 New Moon  
box office roundup
Dec 6, 2009 2:22 PM CST

Blind Side Overshadows New Moon

Football flick capitalizes on strong Thanksgiving weekend

(Newser) - Building on strong word-of-mouth and an unexpectedly lucrative Thanksgiving weekend, The Blind Side caught and passed New Moon at the weekend box office. The Sandra Bullock vehicle pulled in $20.4 million to $15.7 million for the teen vampire sequel. Both dwarfed Brothers, which underperformed despite stars Natalie Portman,...

Serious Moonlight a Dim Effort
 Serious Moonlight a Dim Effort 
MOVIE REVIEW
Dec 4, 2009 2:52 PM CST

Serious Moonlight a Dim Effort

Filming slain writer's script a fine sentiment, poorly executed

(Newser) - When Waitress writer-director Adrienne Shelly was murdered, in 2006, she left behind the script for Serious Moonlight. Critics speculate that she might have made it work, but that hasn't happened:
  • "A wife duct-tapes her husband to a chair and tells him that she will make him fall in love
...

Everybody's Fine ? No, Everybody's Sappy
 Everybody's Fine? 
 No, Everybody's Sappy 
Movie Review
Dec 4, 2009 11:10 AM CST

Everybody's Fine? No, Everybody's Sappy

De Niro the best part about predictable holiday treacle

(Newser) - Critics are divided on Everybody’s Fine: Some think the family drama is okay because of Robert De Niro, and others think it’s awful despite him. What they’re saying:
  • It’s “a thoroughly fake movie that is about, of all things, the need for truthfulness,” writes
...

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