Thompson on Hollywood

Review: HBO, David Milch and Michael Mann's 'Luck' Pilot Promises More than It Delivers

Television

"Luck" is a world that David Milch knows well. His self-described addiction to the track is legendary, both as a prodigious better and an owner. He once had a horse headed for the Derby who, like a horse in the pilot, broke down (in life, after the Louisville plane tickets had been booked).

By Terry Curtis Fox
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January 29, 2012 5:53 PM
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A Prelude to HBO and David Milch's 'Luck' - 'Hill Street Blues,' 'NYPD Blue,' 'Deadwood'

Television

For years, I thought David Milch had only one series in him.

By Terry Curtis Fox
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January 20, 2012 8:27 AM
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'Justified' Season 3 Starts with 'Gunfighter': Third Time Out is Rarely the Charm

Television

"Justified" began its third season this week on F/X. Third time out is rarely the charm. After a writing staff has gone through two seasons, they’ve exhausted all the great ideas they had when the show was created.

By Terry Curtis Fox
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January 19, 2012 12:22 PM
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Gotham Awards + 9

Patton Oswalt and Tributee Charlize Theron at the Gothams

Imagine the culture shock. A few days ago I was in the Amazon, making a short film about the controversial Belo Monte hydroelectric dam. Afterward, I visited Cabelo Seco, a favela on the tip of Maraba. A Welsh art activist, along with his Brazilian wife, had invited me to see the ‘product’ of work they’re doing in a community of 250, which includes teaching song and dance to young girls and boys with no one else to mentor them. The children treated me to a riveting private jam session in my friend’s cramped flat in the favela. Afterwards, it was suggested I make a donation. I offered $300 toward a basketball hoop, to be installed in the town square in coming weeks. The kids are overjoyed, as am I.

By Charles Lyons
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November 29, 2011 2:51 PM
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GENDER WATCH: The Telling Ignorance of THR's Directors Roundtable

Awards

We don't blame Women and Hollywood for being outraged at THR's careless and condescending approach to their 2011 Directors Roundtable. While we agree that Michel Hazanavicius ("The Artist"), Steve McQueen ("Shame"), Bennett Miller ("Moneyball"), Mike Mills ("Beginners"), Alexander Payne ("The Descendants") and Jason Reitman ("Young Adult") are well worth interviewing, there are plenty more who could easily be sitting there with THR's Matthew Belloni and Stephen Galloway -- including several women. At the same time as THR's Directors Roundtable should be thoughtfully curated, it should be representative of the year in film--whether it's an Awards publicity tool or not. Consider this specific portion of the roundtable:

By Sophia Savage
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November 17, 2011 4:29 PM
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Spielberg's Exhilarating E-Ride Adventures of Tintin Closes AFI FEST with North American Premiere: Review and New Trailer

Reviews

As Jamie Bell, sporting a Tintin haircut, introduced the closing night attraction at AFI FEST 2011, Steven Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tintin" (December 21), he felt the need to tell the audience exactly who Tintin is. Belgian Herge's comic book character was created back in 1929, serialized in newspapers around the world, and over the years translated into 80 languages, selling 200 million copies. "I started reading the comics when I was eight," said Bell. "I've been preparing for this role for a while." Herge had said before he died in 1983 that if anyone could direct "Tintin" it should be Steven Spielberg. The director sent a video from the Virginia set of "Lincoln," admitting that this is the first time he's directed an animated movie.

By Anne Thompson
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November 11, 2011 1:58 PM
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Morelia Fest Day Five: Rivers of Men, Pancho Villa and More Food

Next year I want to go to Mexico's Morelia International Film Festival. Check out Meredith Brody's final report:

By Meredith Brody
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October 28, 2011 8:20 AM
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Morelia Fest Four: The Arbor Revisited; Hermès: Hearts and Crafts; See You, Dad

Meredith Brody reports back on Day Four of The Morelia International Film Festival in Patzcuaro, Mexico:Last May I saw The Arbor, by Clio Barnard, on the next-to-last day of the San Francisco International Film Festival. I was enchanted, disturbed, beguiled, and excited – it was my favorite film of the Festival. Which made me sad, because for the duration of the festival people had been continually asking what I’d seen that I liked, and this was the film that I would have liked to tell them about.

By Meredith Brody
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October 26, 2011 3:42 AM
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Fall/Holiday Preview: Four Films to Get Animated About, Especially Tintin

Bill Desowitz considers the Fall/Holiday seasons animated features, The Adventures of Tintin, Puss in Boots, Arthur Christmas and Happy Feet Two. Which have the right stuff to join Rango as an Oscar contender?It's obviously been a terrific week for Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin, given the mostly positive reviews coming out of Europe timed to the October 26 international release. And judging by the stunning new trailer and the footage I've already seen, the experiment seems to have paid off well for Spielberg and producing partner Peter Jackson. In fact, Tintin could very well turn out to be the performance capture game-changer for animation that we've been expecting, feeding off the momentum from Weta's innovative work on Avatar and Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

By Bill Desowitz
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October 21, 2011 5:44 AM
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Rio Int'l Film Fest Winners; Rio Seeks More Premieres Like Twilight, More Fast Fives and Woody Allen

The Rio International Film Festival and its host city are pushing to get their close up, reports Matt Mueller:Rio de Janeiro’s annual film festival wrapped today, but the city wants to keep the spotlight shining, forking out $500K for “picture-postcard” advertising in Twilight: Breaking Dawn and courting Woody Allen to shoot his next film there.