For the past seven years, Chris Licht’s favorite comic has been Stephen Colbert. As the new chairman of CNN, Licht’s focus has instantly shifted to the brilliant ex-comic from Ukraine named Volodymyr Zelensky, whose heroics are the story of the hour. “Give CNN one great news story and all my network’s problems will instantly disappear,”
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The Simpsons just released a commissioned image of the animated cartoon family in support of Ukraine’s fight against Russia. A photo tweet sent from the Simpson’s official account depicts Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and baby Maggie holding Ukrainian flags in unison with a caption reading, “#TheSimpsons #Simpsons #Ukraine.” #TheSimpsons #Simpsons #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/aWvgTUGJKP — The Simpsons
“Deliver a good entertainment, and the audience will come.” That’s what the venerable director Robert Wise told me after defying Hollywood doubters with his hit musical West Side Story (yes, the 1961 version). Courtly and gracious, Wise also was a tough realist who, following his success, decided to turn to disaster movies like The Hindenburg and
My good colleague Pete Hammond tells us the film awards season is in full swing, live and in-person. Screenings. Panels. Parties. Lunch with the stars. Just like 2019. Now, if the audience would only catch up. This weekend, an extremely important connection got missed, as Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, meant to be a crowd-pleaser,
At the exit to a gallery in the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is a display of opinions about the future of cinema. For example: “THE FUTURE OF CINEMA IS INCLUSION NOT EXCLUSION” –Kimberly Steward
On tonight’s episode of CBS’ Late Show, Stephen Colbert went after embattled social network Facebook. “Today’s been a monumentally bad day for Facebook, the world’s top social media network and uncle radicalizer,” he said. The late-night host addressed the role and influence of Facebook groups. “Facebook does, for example, have coordinated groups on Facebook that
With a huge challenge in trying to stage a live awards show while still in the shadow of Covid, the Emmys pulled off a mostly entertaining three hours and fifteen minutes, even if (save for a couple of surprise wins) it was all a pretty predictable outcome. Most pundits (including me) were forecasting wins of Ted
It’s fascinating to watch local governments — New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New Orleans — rush to enact Covid vaccine requirements for entry to the publicly accessible spaces of private business, including, yes, movie theaters. I’m not equipped to judge the ultimate propriety or efficacy of such mandates. Frankly, the complexities posed by breakthroughs,
“Congressman is literally the only job in the world you can get with so much prestige and so many perks while being a complete doofus with absolutely no skills, knowledge or qualifications,” said Bill Maher as he began the final of his “New Rules” on Real Time Friday. “Name almost any job — dental hygienist,
It’s thrilling to watch Lionsgate make a run at the box office top spot with The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, a grown-up comedy. Not a kiddie fantasy, like Peter Rabbit 2 or Cruella. Not a Covid-era placeholder, like The War With Grandpa, or a streaming event, like Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. But a rough, raucous, R-rated action
On Wednesday morning, studio executives and exhibitors will rally at AMC’s Century City 15 multiplex to cheer the return of movie theaters that had been closed by the pandemic. “The Big Screen Is Back,” they’ll declare. Glad to hear it. That’s great, as far as it goes. But those movers and shakers should probably charter
At least, we know how low the Oscars can go. 10.4 million viewers. Less by 16.8 percent than Day 1 of the NFL draft. Lower by 61.3 percent than Joe Biden’s first speech to Congress, which was lower by 75 percent than Donald Trump’s. This is really low. It works out to 3.1 percent of
Ellen Pompeo penned an open letter the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and “White Hollywood” a day before the 2021 Golden Globes. Shared to her Instagram post, Pompeo’s letter calls out the HFPA for its lack of diverse members, a criticism that has echoed throughout Hollywood since an Los Angeles Times exposé revealed that the industry
Long before former Hulu chief Jason Kilar became disruptor in chief at WarnerMedia and put the entire 2021 Warner Bros slate on HBO Max, Fredric Rosen began changing the way concert tickets were sold as the Ticketmaster president/CEO, when the service became the leading computerized ticketing company in the world. He would become co-CEO of