movies

Stories 1361 - 1380 | << Prev   Next >>

How-To Films for Tough Times
 How-To Films for Tough Times 
Oct 12, 2008 5:17 AM CDT

How-To Films for Tough Times

20 cinematic escapes when you're feeling the Great Depression

(Newser) - Nothing lifts a Great Depression like a visit to the talkies. Gawker recommends 20 films to watch on your iPhone while standing in tomorrow's bread lines—assuming you haven't already sold your iPhone.
  • It's a Wonderful Life: How to survive a bank run, and have a Merry Christmas.
  • Grapes of
...

Happy-Go-Luck y Dazzles
 Happy-Go-Lucky Dazzles
MOVIE REVIEW
Oct 10, 2008 11:37 AM CDT

Happy-Go-Lucky Dazzles

Famously miserable director Mike Leigh takes a look at the brighter side of life

(Newser) - British director Mike Leigh is famed for his gloomy films, but Happy-Go-Lucky leaves critics smiling. The complex look at happiness stars Sally Hawkins as Poppy, a London teacher with a perpetually sunny outlook. "I wanted to throttle her at first," writes Peter Travers in Rolling Stone, but she'll...

Infinite Playlist Has Finite Appeal
 Infinite Playlist Has Finite Appeal 
MOVIE REVIEW
Oct 3, 2008 9:41 AM CDT

Infinite Playlist Has Finite Appeal

Love blossoms between indie fans in teen romance with savvy soundtrack

(Newser) - Teen romance Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist turned some critics starry-eyed and others into curmudgeons. Michael Cera and Kat Dennings star as a pair of indie-rock fans who have a crazy night in New York. The "often delightful love story that uses music as its primary backdrop" is reminiscent...

Woody Allen: Audience Tastes Are a Matter of Coarse

Director, working again in Big Apple, weighs in on his fair city and US at large

(Newser) - Mention Woody Allen and people think of the Big Apple. In an interview with Adam Moss in New York, the 72-year-old filmmaker talks about movies, psychoanalysis and, most of all, the city for which he's "always had an irrational love." Allen, who's made 39 films, grew up with...

10 Films About Nasty Business
 10 Films About Nasty Business 
Sep 29, 2008 4:10 PM CDT

10 Films About Nasty Business

Hollywood takes a cynical approach to bankers

(Newser) - Wall Street executives have it tough these days, but Hollywood has rarely gone easy on guys in suits. USA Today lists 10 definitive films about them:
  • Stagecoach (1939): Like all John Ford movies, this one makes a banker look bad.
  • Splendor in the Grass (1961): A 1930s investor doesn't just
...

Eagle Eye Soars At Box Office
 Eagle Eye Soars At Box Office 
Sep 28, 2008 8:05 PM CDT

Eagle Eye Soars At Box Office

Spike Lee's new war film barely breaks Top 10

(Newser) - Eagle Eye flew into first at the weekend box office by grossing $29.2 million, Variety reports. The Diane Lane-Richard Gere romantic drama Nights in Rodanthe swooned into second place with $13.6 million, while Lakeview Terrace ranked a neighborly third by banking $7 million. Spike Lee’s Miracle at ...

Rodanthe Heavy on the Syrup
 Rodanthe Heavy on the Syrup 
movie review
Sep 26, 2008 12:04 PM CDT

Rodanthe Heavy on the Syrup

(Newser) - Tearjerker novel Nights in Rodanthe left some critics sobbing and others scowling. Now Unfaithful co-stars Richard Gere and Diane Lane are reunited for the movie version of the Nicholas Sparks romance, with a similar divide. The actors' "natural rapport" makes for a movie "one either utterly succumbs to...

'Terrorist Chic' Film Shocks Germany

Baader-Meinhof Complex glorifies violence, say critics

(Newser) - A controversial new film opening this week tackles the darkest chapter in Germany's postwar history: the bombings, kidnappings, and assassinations of a high-profile 1970s leftist group. The team behind The Baader-Meinhof Complex, which stars several of Germany's biggest celebrities, calls it an attempt to debunk myths about the gang. But...

Vintage Stars Got Big Bucks to Smoke

Big tobacco paid a fortune for promotion in Hollywood's golden age

(Newser) - Almost all of Hollywood's big names from the '30s, '40s, and '50s were on the payroll of tobacco companies, the BBC reports. Documents released as part of anti-smoking lawsuits reveal that stars like Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, and Joan Crawford got up to $10,000 each from Lucky Strike in...

Stone's W. Aims for the Center
 Stone's W. 
 Aims for 
 the Center 
MOVIE PREVIEW
Sep 24, 2008 1:19 PM CDT

Stone's W. Aims for the Center

Portrait of the president is for the 60% of folks with an 'open mind'

(Newser) - Oliver Stone is looking to attract the political center with his new movie, W., about the life our 43rd president, USA Today reports. The film, a satirical biopic starring Josh Brolin as George W. Bush, is neither hagiography or damning indictment. “I'm not interested in that radical 15% that...

Lakeview Bullies Box Office
 Lakeview Bullies Box Office 
Sep 21, 2008 6:00 PM CDT

Lakeview Bullies Box Office

Samuel L. Jackson thriller beats Coen brothers for top spot

(Newser) - Samuel L. Jackson thriller Lakeview Terrace debuted at number one over a soft box office weekend, Variety reports. Banking $15.6 million, it ousted Burn After Reading ($11.3 million) and outpaced My Best Friend’s Girl ($8.3 million), Igor ($8 million), and Righteous Kill ($7.7 million). Ricky...

How to Make That First-Date Movie Count

Porn, as we learned from Mr. Bickle, is not a good idea

(Newser) - "The difference between marital bliss and a train wreck of a relationship is the difference between Charlie Wilson's War and Saw IV, " writes Peter Hartlaub in the San Francisco Chronicle. There's no overestimating the power of that first-date movie. How to walk the tightrope:
  • Bad isn't bad: Think
...

Gervais Gives Ghost Town Life
 Gervais Gives Ghost Town Life 
MOVIE REVIEW
Sep 19, 2008 9:19 AM CDT

Gervais Gives Ghost Town Life

(Newser) - A spirited performance from Ricky Gervais banishes the spectre of mediocrity from supernatural romantic comedy Ghost Town, critics say. The story of a dentist who starts seeing dead people is a touch generic, Bill Goodykoontz writes in the Arizona Republic, but Gervais—the UK creator of the original Office—shines...

Raunchy Trailers Coming to Theater Near You

Online popularity has more studios going to marketing's tawdry side

(Newser) - If you weren’t sure what to expect from Zack and Miri Make a Porno, the movie’s R-rated preview makes it quite explicit, Josh Levin notes in Slate—and it’s just the latest of a growing number of films to market itself with such so-called red-band trailers. Thirty...

Cruel TV Makes for Crueler Viewers: Study

Meanness of Mean Girls as influential as killing in Kill Bill

(Newser) - Psychologists have long known about the link between on-screen violence and real-life aggression, but a new study suggests video cruelty has much the same effect, USA Today reports. Groups of subjects shown either footage from Mean Girls of the hands-off hostility known as "relational aggression" or a knife fight...

Women Has Little to Like
 Women Has Little to Like 
MOVIE REVIEW
Sep 12, 2008 3:56 PM CDT

Women Has Little to Like

Stale stereotypes abound in update of '30s satire

(Newser) - The modern update of 1930s socialite satire The Women is meeting scorn from critics. Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, and the rest of the big-name cast do their best, Peter Travers writes in Rolling Stone, but they struggle "with a script that resists being crowbarred into the 21st century."

Kidman Is Most Overpaid Actor
 Kidman Is Most Overpaid Actor 
Sep 10, 2008 11:40 AM CDT

Kidman Is Most Overpaid Actor

Ex-husband makes the list, too

(Newser) - With an ignominious 1:1 ratio of salary to receipts, Nicole Kidman snags the top spot on Forbes’ list of most overpaid movie stars. In other words, her films make a mere $1 for every dollar she’s paid, an average $15 million per flick. Ex-husband Tom Cruise is close...

Puck Pugilist's Vogue Gig Is Film Fodder

Tough guy/fashionista Avery's stint at style mag generates romantic comedy

(Newser) - New Line Cinema will produce a romantic comedy based on hockey star Sean Avery’s summer internship at Vogue, the Hollywood Reporter notes. “I think it's great to be into something that you care about,” the fashion-savvy Avery said of his apparently odd choice of off-season employment. “...

Rourke Shines Again at Venice Film Festival

Ex-heartthrob stars in The Wrestler , which nabs Golden Lion

(Newser) - Former Hollywood bad boy Mickey Rourke returned to the spotlight yesterday when his latest low-budget film, The Wrestler, won top honors at the Venice film festival. Critics gushed over his performance as an aging wrestler who comes to terms with his failing body and flagging friendships.

Songs Savaged by Pop Culture
 Songs Savaged by Pop Culture 
OPINION
Sep 7, 2008 12:29 PM CDT

Songs Savaged by Pop Culture

Commercials, YouTube and 'iconic' movie scenes make old faves unlistenable

(Newser) - Some songs simply can't survive the ravages of pop culture. Scott Bennett on College Humor, runs down some tunes he can no longer listen to:
  • "O, Fortuna:" Jackass turned this "orchestral masterpiece" from Carl Orff into something that went from evoking "the struggle of mankind" to
...

Stories 1361 - 1380 | << Prev   Next >>