Tag Archives: movies

The Associated Press reports: The stars of the 2011 virus thriller “Contagion” — a prescient film these days — have reunited for a series of public service announcements to warn about COVID-19. Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet and Jennifer Ehle have teamed up with scientists from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health to offer four individual homemade videos …

The Hollywood Reporter reports: China’s film regulators have slammed the brakes on plans to gradually reopen the country’s cinemas. Over 600 movie theaters across China were given the green light to reopen their doors over the past week, but Beijing’s Film Bureau put out a notice late Friday ordering all theaters to go back into shutdown. No official explanation for …

The New York Post reports: These zombie-film actors have some advice for real-world residents: Keep calm and stay at home. Actors Simon Pegg, 50, and Nick Frost, 47, released a public service announcement on YouTube Thursday in the form of a remade scene from their 2004 Edgar Wright-directed apocalypse parody, “Shaun of the Dead.” In “The Plan,” which has already …

The Associated Press reports: U.S. movie theaters nationwide are preparing to shut down after President Donald Trump announced new guidelines urging against gatherings of more than 10 people because of the coronavirus pandemic. With big screens across the country going dark, Hollywood moved to rush some new releases onto home entertainment platforms. Regal Cinema’s the national’s second largest theater chain, …

The Daily Beast reports: Harvey Weinstein reportedly suffered a “mild heart attack” after he was sentenced Wednesday to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault, according to Fox News. Citing an NYU Langone and Bellevue Hospital source, the news outlet said Weinstein was rushed to the New York hospital Wednesday for an “emergency angioplasty” and stayed overnight. Hours …

The Daily Beast reports: Two years after dozens of women bravely stepped forward to accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct, the disgraced movie mogul has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault. Weinstein, 67, was convicted last month of sexually assaulting former Project Runway production assistant Miriam Haleyi and raping former actress Jessica Mann. He …

The BBC reports: Pixar’s latest animation Onward has been banned by several Middle Eastern countries because of a reference to lesbian parents, according to reports. The family film will not be shown in Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Hollywood media have reported. Police officer Specter, voiced by Lena Waithe, has been heralded as Disney-Pixar’s first openly gay character. Her …

From the Hollywood Reporter: The release of upcoming James Bond film No Time to Die has been pushed back from April to November, becoming the first Hollywood tentpole to shift its global rollout because of the coronavirus outbreak. The 25th installment in the storied spy franchise will commence its run on Nov. 12 in the U.K., followed by the U.S. …

Entertainment Weekly reports: James Lipton, the elegant, articulate wordsmith and theater academic whose desire to give his acting students a greater insight into their art led to the popular Bravo series Inside the Actors Studio, has died. He was 93. Lipton passed away early Monday at his home in Manhattan from bladder cancer. Conceived by Lipton in 1994, Inside the …

TMZ reports: Ja’net Dubois — one of the main characters on “Good Times” — was found dead Tuesday, TMZ has learned. Ja’net played the Evans family’s sassy neighbor Willona Woods on the classic ’70s TV series. Her family tells us Ja’net died unexpectedly in her sleep overnight at her home in Glendale, CA. Ja’net might be most famous for “Good …

NPR reports: At Sunday’s Oscars, on a night when almost everything went as planned and as usual, the one true surprise came in the biggest moment of all. For the first time ever, a film in a foreign language won best picture when Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, a comedy-drama-thriller about class and secrets, took the big prize. Bong also won the …

Variety reports: Kirk Douglas, the son of a ragman who channeled a deep, personal anger through a chiseled jaw and steely blue eyes to forge one of the most indelible and indefatigable careers in Hollywood history, died Wednesday. He was 103. “It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers and I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today at the …

The Hollywood Reporter reports: Almost a year after Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox closed, the studio is making some name changes. The Fox moniker has been dropped from the studio’s 20th Century and Searchlight labels, which will now be branded as, simply, Searchlight Pictures and 20th Century Studios. The original 20th Century Fox was formed in a merger in …

The Washington Post reports: The nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards were announced this morning, hosted by actress Issa Rae, and many questions were answered: “Marriage Story,” with acclaimed performances by the likes of Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson and Laura Dern, is a front-runner for the acting races. The Oscar voters loves “Joker” as much as Golden Globes voters did. …

Reuters reports: Brazil has requested that the international police organization Interpol help find and detain a man suspected of attacking the office of producers of a controversial Netflix movie that portrayed Jesus as gay, authorities said. An arrest warrant was issued in Brazil for the suspect authorities say threw fire bombs into the headquarters of Brazilian comedy group Porta dos …

USA Today reports: The Oscars will be host-less, once again. ABC Entertainment President Karey Burke confirmed Wednesday at the TCA Press Tour that the Feb. 9 Academy Awards will go on without an official host. “Let me confirm it now, together with the Academy, that there will be no traditional host this year,” Burke said, emphasizing that she thought 2019’s …

Variety reports: Harvey Weinstein has been hit with a new sex crimes charge for “raping one woman and sexually assaulting another in separate incidents over a two-day period in 2013,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey announced on Monday. He’s being charged with one felony count each of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by use of force …

From the Hollywood Reporter: Once again, Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais did not shy away from hot-button topics in his monologue, even as he told the stars attending on Sunday not to elongate their acceptance speeches by referring to contentious current events. At the top of the annual ceremony at the Beverly Hilton, Gervais ended his monologue by telling the …

NBC News reports: Police in Rio de Janeiro have identified one of the people responsible for a gasoline bomb attack targeting satirists behind a Christmas program on Netflix that some critics have described as blasphemous. Officers carried out a search warrant Tuesday morning and found money, a fake firearm, ammunition, a “political-philosophical” shirt and computers, police said in a written …

From the Hollywood Reporter: The mysterious sexual assault lawsuit brought by an anonymous massage therapist against Kevin Spacey is ending, according to papers filed in federal court Monday. “John Doe” died, and after the accuser’s attorneys informed Spacey, the actor’s attorneys filed a notice of death in court. This began a 90-day clock for the accuser’s estate to be substituted …