Thompson on Hollywood

Mississippi Ratifies 13th Amendment 147 Years Late; University Professor Who Saw 'Lincoln' Discovered Clerical Error

News

While the United States' 16th president Abraham Lincoln was key in pushing through the 13th Amendment that abolished slavery, it seems that the film "Lincoln" has called attention to an error in Mississippi law: the state never actually ratified the slavery-outlawing amendment.

By Beth Hanna
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February 19, 2013 12:13 PM
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Robin Wright Hits a Groove, from 'House of Cards' to Upcoming 'Congress' and 'Most Wanted Man'

Television

After three strong supporting roles in 2011 ("Moneyball," "Rampart," "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"), Robin Wright returned with headliner power in Netflix's "House of Cards." Much has been said about how the show (reviews: TOH, Indiewire) heralds the new post-TV era (as of February 12 it was the most-streamed title on Netflix). But for many observers, the big reveal of the series (available in its 13-episode entirety on Netflix) is not the always showy Kevin Spacey, or yet another wily Mara sister, but scene-stealer Wright as Washington powerbroker Claire Underwood.

By Sophia Savage
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February 19, 2013 6:17 AM
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Arthouse Audit: Smart Audiences Give 'No' a 'Yes'

Box Office

While it's been a spotty 2013 so far for new specialized openings, Sony Pictures Classics' Chilean-election drama (and Oscar nominee) "No" was a winner over the four-day holiday weekend in limited initial release, proving itself the strongest new art-house performer since "Quartet" last month, and falling only slightly below the first weekend of its fellow subtitled contender "Amour."

By Tom Brueggemann
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February 18, 2013 9:12 PM
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Oscar Predictions 2014

Awards

And so it all begins again. So far there's only one frontrunner for the 2014 Oscars: Sundance hit "Before Midnight," directed by Richard Linklater and written by him and his two stars, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy.

By Anne Thompson
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February 18, 2013 4:24 PM
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Oscar Q & A: Meet Tom Van Avermaet, Director of Darkly Glimmering Short 'Death of a Shadow' (TRAILER)

Interviews

Of all the Oscar-nominated shorts, Tom Van Avermaet's gorgeous "Death of a Shadow" occupies the most complex and entrancing alternative reality. Matthias Schoenaerts ("Rust and Bone") plays Nathan Rijckx, a deceased WWI soldier stuck in a limbo where an intricate steam-punk machine selects each person's moment of death. He has a second chance at life if he agrees to work for a Grim Reaper figure who collects shadow images of the moment that people die. Rijckx agrees to shoot 10,000 shadows in order to return to life and find the woman he fell in love with at the moment he died.

By Maggie Lange
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February 18, 2013 2:56 PM
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Immersed in Movies: Assessing the Costume Design Oscar Race, from 'Anna Karenina' to 'Snow White'

Features

This Oscar season is all about evoking power and poetry in the costume designs for frontrunner "Anna Karenina" (Jacqueline Durran), "Les Misérables" (Paco Delgado), "Lincoln" (Joanna Johnston), "Mirror Mirror" (Eiko Ishioka), and "Snow White and the Huntsman" (Colleen Atwood).

By Bill Desowitz
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February 18, 2013 1:49 PM
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BBC Adapting Tolstoy 'War and Peace' Mini-Series, Slated for 2015

News

The BBC has commissioned a six part mini-series adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace"...

By Sophia Savage
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February 18, 2013 1:18 PM
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Trailers from Hell: Max Landis Debuts with Sion Sono's 'Love Exposure,' "the greatest film of all time"

Video

For today's Trailers fron Hell, guru John Landis' son Max makes his TFH debut with what he declares to be "The greatest film of all time": "Love Exposure."

By Trailers From Hell
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February 18, 2013 1:04 PM
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Writers Guild Awards Go to 'Argo,' 'Zero Dark Thirty,' and 'Searching for Sugar Man'

Awards

The East Coast WGA Awards show got under way at New York's BB Kings a good hour before the pokey West Coast, and attendees tweeted up a storm. Soon the trades ran with the news that the key film awards had gone to the adapted screenplay for "Argo" and original script for "Zero Dark Thirty." WGA West was still running clips from nominated screenplays like "Silver Linings Playbook" after the winners had been announced ("Argo"'s clip was the WGA joke, natch.)

By Anne Thompson
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February 18, 2013 3:06 AM
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'Girls' Recap 6: The 'Boys' Aren't in Kansas Anymore, Toto

Television

One of the things I’ve admired about this season of “Girls” is that it has no obligation to regularly check in with each of the four “leads” of the show. Instead, certain characters are more central in certain episodes, in an organic way, while supporting characters are given a surprising amount of interiority.