Thompson on Hollywood

Now and Then: Cary Grant, The Man from Dream City, Revisited (CLIPS)

Features

My own fever dream of Cary Grant takes place between cities, sitting down for a Gibson with Eva Marie Saint on a moving train somewhere in Middle America. Headed "North by Northwest," he's at his sexiest then, temples just flecked with gray, tanned and almost ageless. He's not just the recipient of her advances: he's asking for it.

By Matt Brennan
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April 10, 2013 2:03 PM
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Rachel Weisz Talks 'Deep Blue Sea,' Consuming Love [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO] UPDATE

Features

Rachel Weisz is a terrific actress at the height of her beauty and power who is trying to push good roles up the hill, with varying results, from "The Whistleblower" to "Agoura." (More mainstream thriller "Dream House" yielded husband Daniel Craig, but was not a critics' picture.) UPDATE: Now she has won Best Actress from the New York Film Critics Circle for her towering powrformance in "The Deep Bliue Sea."

By Anne Thompson
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December 3, 2012 3:08 PM
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Now and Then: Hitchcock's First Classic, and an Underrated Modern Descendant

Reviews

Alfred Hitchcock had been working as a director for more than a decade when he made "The 39 Steps" (1935), a film that's half trench coats, street lamps, and foreign agents. The other half is English wit, a marriage plot, and a MacGuffin: the first proof, long before his later masterworks, that he was a maestro of the unbalancing act.

By Matt Brennan
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June 26, 2012 2:53 AM
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What Comes After Before Sunrise & Before Sunset? Hawke Confirms Third Chapter Will Shoot This Summer

Video

Last November, Ethan Hawke suggested a reteaming of he, Julie Delpy and Richard Linklater for a follow-up to "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset." Now he tells Indiewire that the film will shoot this summer...

By Sophia Savage
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June 14, 2012 1:17 PM
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Now and Then: Do Silent Movies Still Matter?

Reviews

In some quarters I'll be considered a heretic for even asking the question. But think about how many people you know — discounting film school types and critics, people pretty much required to do so — who have ever seen a silent, let alone watch them regularly. I'll bet the number is small. Should we care?

By Matt Brennan
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June 11, 2012 7:08 PM
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Watch: The Best Kisses From Best-Picture Winners

Awards

The Huffington Post and Moviefone have culled the best kisses from Best Picture winners, from "Casablanca" to "Titanic," and many in-between. Even "American Beauty"'s tryst between Kevin Spacey and Mena Suvari made the cut. Watch below:

By Sophia Savage
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February 21, 2012 4:04 PM
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The Movies Say "I Love You": A Romantic Mash-Up

Video

In a romance, the "I Love You" speech is the main event -- the reason the movie exists. To understand the anatomy of the declaration of love, Overthinking It compiled the climatic moments from iconic films.

By Maggie Lange
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February 14, 2012 7:14 AM
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Millennium Gets 'A Little Bit of Heaven' with Kate Hudson and Gael Garcia Bernal; Watch the Trailer

News

Kate Hudson vehicle "A Little Bit of Heaven" has gone to Millennium Entertainment for North American distribution through "a multitude of platforms" (including VOD April 3, and a theatrical release starting May 4).

By Sophia Savage
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January 17, 2012 2:57 PM
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Now and Then: For Woody Allen, the Place is the Thing, from Manhattan to Midnight in Paris

Reviews

When asked about Woody Allen's New York, critics often cite the glorious black-and-white Gershwin cinepoem that opens “Manhattan” (1979). I’ve always been partial, though, to the rough magic of Diane Keaton’s terrible driving in “Annie Hall” (1977). (See clips below.)

By Matt Brennan
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December 19, 2011 12:16 PM
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Five Star Day Premieres on Facebook and Theaters Day-and-Date

As indie filmmakers continue to try new ways to get their films out--with or without conventional distribution-- Five Star Day, an astrology-themed feature that overemphasizes the significance of place and time, premiered Wednesday November 2 day-and-date in movie theaters and Facebook. Gravitas Ventures and Breaking Glass Pictures claim that it's the first film to open simultaneously on both silver and laptop screens. At the same time that the film is available on Facebook -- $7 gets you access to the film for 48 hours--it will continue to roll out in theaters across the country.