Thompson on Hollywood

'Being John Malkovich' from Criterion: The Actor, The Geek, His Wife, and Her Lover

Reviews

Puppetry is control. So are acting, filing, and pet care. Each in its own way signals an attempt to make sense of the chaos that is lived experience, to grab hold of it and make it do what you want. And each, in "Being John Malkovich," director Spike Jonze's and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman's exhilarating mind-meld, fails spectacularly.

By Matt Brennan
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May 14, 2012 12:53 PM
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EL James Does 'Fifty Shades of Grey' Promo Tour (Video)

Video

Curious about EL James, author of erotic fantasy fiction "Fifty Shades of Grey"? The Twihard, who started out writing "Twilight" fan fiction before penning her own trilogy (which has been bought for the movies, under her control, by Universal and Focus Features), has been on a promo tour as her three Vintage books have sold 3 million digital and print copies in less than a month and top the New York Times bestseller list. They are also bestsellers in the UK, New Zealand and Australia. Translated books are about to hit other countries too.

By Anne Thompson
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May 12, 2012 2:36 PM
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Trailer Watch: Pixar's 'Brave' Will Be One of the Summer's Top Performers

Video

Why isn't "Brave" showing at Cannes? Because it's set to open the Edinburgh Film Festival instead just after its June 22 stateside release. Pixar's 13th film and first fairy tale, "Brave," is sure to be yet another top box office performer by summer's end,

By Anne Thompson
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May 12, 2012 2:03 PM
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Austin Film Festival Announces 2012 Conference Panelists

Festivals

The Austin Film Festival & Conference continues its week-long exchange of ideas between industry icons and new visionaries with an impressive line-up of speakers and panelists for its 19th go-round, listed below.

By Maggie Lange
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May 2, 2012 10:09 AM
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Paul Rudnick Loves French Women

Features

You may remember Paul Rudnick from his years writing under the guise of Libby Gelman Waxner in Premiere, who wound up every piece with the line, "If you ask me." The playwright/screenwriter ("In and Out," "Addams Family Values") can be hilarious and has outdone himself in the current issue of The New Yorker...

By Anne Thompson
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April 15, 2012 1:12 AM
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Amazon Studios Director Roy Price Talks Second-Year Changes

News

It's more than a year since Amazon Studios launched its radical new approach to making movies. Where are they now? Well, Amazon Studios director Roy Price has finalized a development slate of fifteen projects in the works.

By Anne Thompson
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April 6, 2012 4:29 PM
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Trailer Watch: Sorkin's 'The Newsroom' Punches America in the Face

Video

Keith Olbermann anyone? Actually, Jeff Daniels' news anchor, at the start of Aaron Sorkin's new HBO series "The Newsroom" (June 24), is an upstanding objective news anchor without political bias until he completely loses it--under video grilling that goes viral. Like Peter Finch in Sidney Lumet's 1976 "Network," he's mad as hell and he isn't going to take it anymore. Daniels ("The Squid and the Whale") is a terrific actor; I first met him at the start of his career, playing Debra Winger's husband Flap, on the set of "Terms of Endearment" in 1982.

By Anne Thompson
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April 3, 2012 3:51 PM
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Now and Then: In Two Foer Adaptations, Surprises and Disappointments Abound

Reviews

I'll admit it came as a shock, near the end of "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," to find myself crying. As it turns out, movies can still surprise us, and I don't just mean that they defy the expectations set by Rotten Tomatoes. I mean they can, in the midst of things, find what they've been missing.

By Matt Brennan
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April 2, 2012 12:29 PM
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Obit: Screenwriter Tonino Guerra, Three-Time Oscar-Nominee, Has Died

News

One of cinema's greatest writers, three-time Oscar nominee Tonino Guerra, has died. The poet/screenwriter from Northern Italy had just turned 92 on March 16. Guerra wrote over 100 screenplays, including "L'avventura," "La notte," "L'eclisse," "Red Desert," "Blow-Up," and "Zabriskie Point" for Antonioni;