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Review Roundup: 'Phil Spector' a Sinfully Entertaining Treat Starring Wigged-Out Al Pacino

Reviews

HBO's "Phil Spector" (March 24) directed by David Mamet and starring a tantalizingly wigged-out Al Pacino and Helen Mirren, is mostly receiving praise from critics. Pacino's performance is being touted as "compelling, both despite and because of the wigs," while Mamet's direction is called "sinfully entertaining." But not every outlet is impressed: Variety describes the film as "essentially a Lifetime movie gussied up with an Oscar pedigree." Review highlights below.

By Beth Hanna
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March 21, 2013 12:20 PM
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News

Producer Edward R. Pressman ("Wall Street") has optioned feature film rights to New York Times best seller "Paterno" by sports journalist Joe Posnanski. Ex-CAA partner-turned-manager Rick Nicita will also produce the biopic to star his client Al Pacino as Penn State football coach Joe Paterno. And with Brian De Palma ("Scarface," "Carlito’s Way") attached to direct "Happy Valley," the team behind "Carlito's Way" and "Scarface" is together again.

By Anne Thompson
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January 16, 2013 7:43 PM
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Television

Two provocative new star-driven movies – both about real-life musical geniuses whose lives took a dark turn – dominated HBO’s presentation Friday at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena. In one, Al Pacino plays reclusive record producer Phil Spector, convicted in 2009 of the gunshot murder of B-movie actress and House of Blues hostess Lana Clarkson. David Mamet directed from his own screenplay, and Helen Mirren plays Spector’s defense lawyer. The other, directed by Steven Soderbergh, features Michael Douglas as the late impresario Liberace, and Matt Damon as his much-younger chauffer and lover, Scott Thorson.

By Amy Dawes
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January 5, 2013 4:03 PM
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1 Comment

News

Screenwriter Dan Fogelman ("Crazy, Stupid, Love," "Tangled") is set to make his directorial debut with his script "Imagine." Al Pacino, Jeremy Renner and Julianne Moore are talks to star. The familliar plot follows a rocker who finds a letter written to him by John Lennon that inspires him to change his life and find his unknown biological son. I

By Sophia Savage
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October 24, 2012 4:22 PM
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Festivals

The 48th Chicago Int'l Film Festival will open with "Stand Up Guys" on October 11, starring Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, Alan Arkin and Julianna Margulies. Chicagoans Fisher Stevens directed and Tom Rosenberg produced. The Lionsgate film's debut will receive an Oscar-qualifying theatrical run...