Thompson on Hollywood

Immersed in Movies UPDATE: 'Elysium' Trailer Lands, Plus Previewing Blomkamp's Dystopian Sci-Fi Film

Features

At a Comic-Con-style presentation this morning at The Grove, we finally caught a glimpse of Neill Blomkamp's "Elysium," the ambitious sci-fi follow-up to his acclaimed indie hit, "District 9," which opens August 9. The trailer (watch below) and additional 10 minutes of socially-conscious, high-octane action didn't disappoint.

By Bill Desowitz
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April 10, 2013 12:39 PM
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A New Age of Original Content Needs Script Services: A Guide

Features

Hollywood is allergic to taking risks on the unknown. But not every young adult franchise or fairy tale retelling can be as uber-successful around the world as "Twilight" ($392 million), "The Hunger Games" ($691 million) or "Oz: The Great and Powerful" ($426 million to date). This year's "Beautiful Creatures" grossed $57-million worldwide, and $200-million "Jack the Giant Slayer" mustered a miserable global $158 million.

By Sophia Savage
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April 9, 2013 2:27 PM
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Five Striking Similarities Between Elisabeth Moss' Roles on 'Mad Men' and 'Top of the Lake'

Television

A joy of the current TV season is that one of the medium’s finest actresses, Elisabeth Moss, has key roles in two of the finest series in recent memory -- “Mad Men,” now in its sixth season, and Jane Campion’s “Top of the Lake.” While the athletic, hardened Kiwi detective Robin Griffin and sharp-as-a-tack ‘60s Mad Woman Peggy Olson are worlds, eras and professions away from one another, I’ve noticed some striking similarities between the two characters.

By Beth Hanna
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April 8, 2013 3:44 PM
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First-Hand Dish on Nora Ephron's Dicey 'Lucky Guy' Subject Mike McAlary

Features

I loved Nora Ephron as a writer, and I was very sorry when she died last year. I had always dreamed about meeting her and becoming really good friends, and now that was never going to happen. Plus, I just liked to read anything and everything she wrote, and now that was over too.

By Gabriel Rotello
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April 4, 2013 2:25 PM
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Why 'Casablanca' Sequels Never Work

Features

Sequels are big business. “Spiderman 24” and “Star Trek 48” will probably grace the box office sometime in the 22nd century since Hollywood is expert at squeezing every dollar from film and digital stones. Luckily, some movies resist every attempt to find a future for their main characters. “Casablanca” is one of them.

By Aljean Harmetz
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April 3, 2013 12:52 PM
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'The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector,' After Music Clearance Issues, Finally Gets U.S. Release on BBC America

Features

“The problem with being a fookin’ gun nut is that sooner or later somebody gets shot,” said Ringo Starr to filmmaker Vikram Jayanti, the subject of their conversation also being the subject of Jayanti’s sensational documentary, “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector,” which finally gets a national U.S. release Tuesday night -- on BBC America.

By John Anderson
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April 1, 2013 4:26 PM
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TOH! Ranks the Top Ten Studio Ghibli Films, Not All by Miyazaki

Features

As John Lasseter has been called America's new Walt Disney, so is Hayao Miyazaki known as the Disney of Japan. Miyazaki and Lasseter share something rare: they are filmmakers in charge of animation giants in their respective countries, Studio Ghibli and Disney Animation/Pixar.

By TOH!
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March 29, 2013 3:17 PM
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Immersed in Movies: Stepping Up the VFX for 'G.I. Joe: Retaliation'

Features

After viewing the bang-bang antics of "G.I. Joe: Retaliation," it made perfect sense that Jon Chu became the director. His dance experience with "Step Up 2: The Streets" and "Step Up 3D" provided the perfect training for the choreographed action he devised for the "G.I. Joe" sequel starring newcomers Dwayne Johnson as Roadblock and Bruce Willis as the original Joe. The stealthy overthrow of Cobra after the Joes have been decimated and disgraced involves a series of escapades that are as remarkable for their balletic brilliance as their explosive firepower.

By Bill Desowitz
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March 29, 2013 2:55 PM
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Peter Bogdanovich's Ernst Lubitsch Files UPDATE: Part 1 and Newly Added Part 2 [CLIPS]

Features

The great Polish-German director Ernst Lubitsch was not an absolute favorite of mine while I was keeping my card file of every movie I saw, 1952-1970, so my ratings and comments would be a great deal higher and more effusive today, because over the years he has evolved into one of my all-time top picture artists. (Watch a selection of Lubitsch clips below.)

By Peter Bogdanovich
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March 29, 2013 1:47 PM
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'My Life with Cleopatra' Memoir Reissued for Notorious Elizabeth Taylor Film's 50th Anniversary

Features

Its questionable status has long been eclipsed by other unnatural disasters, like “Mars Needs Moms,” “Cutthroat Island” and that darling of revisionists, “Heaven’s Gate.” But for a long time it was “Cleopatra” that ranked in the public consciousness as Hollywood’s greatest, and certainly best publicized, disaster. (Think “Howard the Duck” in a toga, an asp at his throat.)