Noticias

Tony Award winnerAlice RipleyNext to Normal,Erin DavieSunday in the Park with George, Side Show, Grey Gardens and Drama Desk honoreeDanny GardnerDames at Sea will join Tony Award nomineesBrandon UranowitzFalsettos, An American in Paris andChristiane NollRagtime, Chaplin, Jekyll amp Hyde two-time Nightlife Award winnerScott Coulter and more took part in for Town Hall's Broadway by the Year Series last night.

Tony Award winner Alice Ripley Next to Normal, Tony Award nominee Alex Brightman School of Rock, Erin Davie Sunday in the Park with George, Side Show, Grey Gardens andDrama Desk honoree Danny Gardner Dames at Sea will join Tony Award nominees Brandon Uranowitz Falsettos, An American in Paris andChristiane Noll Ragtime, Chaplin, Jekyll amp Hyde and two-time Nightlife Award winner Scott Coulter for Town Hall's Broadway by the Year Series on Monday, June 19 at 8pm.

Hulu has announced the new titles that will be available to stream on the platform during the month of April. Leading the pack is the new original series “The Handmaid’s Tale,” based on Margaret Atwood’s classic novel of the same name and starring Elisabeth Moss. The series premieres April 26.

Read More: ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Trailer: New Teaser Reminds Us Elisabeth Moss’ Story Is Ours

Also available to stream next month are a handful of modern classics, such as “Robocop,” “Days of Thunder,” “Thelma & Louise,” “The Usual Suspects,” “Election,” “JFK,” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” as well as indie favorites like “Short Term 12,” “The Babadook,” “In a World,” and “Hello, My Name is Doris.”

Find the list of all titles coming to Hulu in April below.

April 1

1408 (2007) (*Showtime)

A Horse Tale (2015)

Agent Cody Banks (2003)

Affliction (1998)

Almost Famous (2000)

America’s Sweethearts (2001) (*Showtime)

Bad Company (1995) (*Showtime)

Bangkok Dangerous (2008) (*Showtime...

As a musical it’s excellent — fine tunes and lyrics, great singing and dancing by the ever-youthful Fred Astaire, the glorious songbird Petula Clark, and the impishly weird Tommy Steele cast appropriately as a grimacing Leprechaun. The update of what was a politically acute Broadway hit in 1947 is awkward but the show is a melodious pleasure — great color, fine voices and peppy direction by Francis Ford Coppola on his first big studio feature.

Finian’s Rainbow

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 145 141 min. / Street Date March 7, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Fred Astaire, Petula Clark, Tommy Steele, Don Francks, Keenan Wynn, Barbara Hancock, Al Freeman Jr., Ronald Colby, Dolph Sweet, Wright King, Louis Silas.

Cinematography: Philip Lathrop

Film Editor: Melvin Shapiro

Original Music: Ray Heindorf

Written by E.Y. Harburg, Fred Saidy

Produced by Joseph Landon

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Finian’s Rainbow is a unique musical with a strange history.

April has arrived and a new batch of movies are coming to Netflix like The Princess Bride and The Shawshank Redemption. It also means we’re losing a few titles, this month we’re losing Amistad, Hotel Rwanda, and 2 Fast 2 Furious just to name a few. On the TV side of things, season 2 of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt arrives, so if you enjoyed the first season, you should be good to binge the new season.

On the Amazon Prime front, check out below to see what you’ll be able to stream for free and what’s going to have a cost. Let’s watch!

All Title Dates are Subject to Change

Netflix U.S. Release Dates Only

Available 4/1

16 Blocks (2006)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Anthony Bourdain: Parks Unknown: Season 5

The Ascent of Woman: A 10,000 Year Story

Beat Bobby Flay: Season 1

Best in Show (2000)

Bob’s Burgers:...

Here's what's new or newish for home viewing over the past two weeks for DVDs, BluRays, or Streaming. Now you can...

• see if the Pinkett-Smiths had any reason to be upset about the lack of Oscar interest in Concussion (hint: no)

• stab your eyes out while watching Daddy's Home

• find out if The Hateful Eight is Tarantino's worst (hint: yes)

• discover the stuff they left out of Pt 1 in order to make another billion with Hunger Games: Mockingjay Pt 2

• watch Juliet Stevenson be Mother Teresa in The Letters

• endure yet another Paranormal Activity movie because they will never stop making those

• use Point Break (2015) discs for coasters because who needs a remake when Point Break (1991) is still such a knockout?!

Reader's Choice Streaming

We kicked off the biweekly reader's choice series with Gattaca (1997) and Cruel Intentions (1999). Time for another on Wednesday April 6th only I'm forcing a move away from...

(This post has no significant spoilers for "Mad Dogs," even though it's informed by a viewing of the entire first season. The comments section is a place where it's okay to discuss the full plot if you've finished it, but I'll be doing a separate post on Monday touching on a few developments from later in the season.) Late in the first episode of Amazon's newest original series "Mad Dogs," the show's four main characters — played by Romany Malco, Michael Imperioli, Steve Zahn, and Ben Chaplin — witness an act of violence. By the standards of modern TV drama, what they see isn't particularly extreme. But they're not watching it on TV, nor are they the sorts of jaded tough guys who populate the shows where this kind of thing might happen. They're just ordinary middle-aged guys on a vacation gone tragically awry, and as they consider the blood in front of them,...

In this special episode of Off The Shelf, Ryan and Brian take a look at the best DVD and Blu-ray 2015.

Subscribe in iTunes or RSS.

Follow-Up Ryan buys the Ernest and Celestine Blu-ray from Plain Archive Ultra HD Blu-ray Pre-orders Live, March 1st release: Fox, Sony, WB, Shout! and now Lionsgate Curzon Tarkovsky Ryan’s Top 10 List of 2015 Classics from the Van Beuren Studio (Thunderbean Animation) Thunderbirds: The Complete Series (Timeless Media Group / Shout! Factory) The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (Arrow UK) Twice Upon A Time (Warner Archive Collection) Journey to the Center of the Earth (Twilight Time) Watership Down (The Criterion Collection) Walt Disney Animation Studios: Short Films Collection (Disney) 3-D Rarities (Flicker Alley) Spartacus: Restored Edition (Universal) The Apu Trilogy (The Criterion Collection)

Honorable mentions:

Arrow Video: Kiju Yoshida: Love + Anarchism, The Train, The Criterion Collection: The Fisher King, Moonrise Kingdom...

American TV's great comedian of the 1950s

Early on in their careers, Woody Allen, Carl Reiner, Larry Gelbart, Neil Simon and Mel Brooks all produced gags for the American comedian Sid Caesar, who has died aged 91. "Writing for Caesar was the highest thing you could aspire to," said Allen, adding: "at least as a TV comedy writer. The presidency was above that." Simon later based the play Laughter on the 23rd Floor on his experiences of working for Caesar's popular variety programme Your Show of Shows (1950-54), and Reiner's time with Caesar inspired him to create The Dick Van Dyke Show.

At the height of his fame in the 1950s, Caesar was making more than $1m a year and Your Show of Shows was drawing audiences of up to 25 million. Broadway theatre owners complained that as a result of his popularity, they always had empty seats on Saturday nights – the...

Her films enchanted strife-hit Us audiences, and unlike so many child stars to come, she made a diplomatic transition to adulthood

• Shirley Temple obituary

• Shirley Temple: a career in clips

In the grim years of the Depression and the poverty-stricken 1930s, America took to its heart a lovable, curly-haired little girl who looked every bit as vulnerable as they felt, but who with the help of her pals and tender good-hearted grownups would put her best foot forward and surely win through in the end. This was Shirley Temple, who in that decade became one of the biggest stars in the world — her career and attractions shrewdly nurtured by the formidable 20th Century Fox studio chief Darryl F Zanuck, for whom Temple became a singing-and-dancing, ringleted cash calf.

She also achieved fame as a striking, almost unique example of how a child star graduates gracefully from the juvenile-lead status...

What defines a “great director”? Not influence; of that I’m fairly sure, though the broader appeal of a director—any director, spiritual or commercial—solely rests on their place in “cinema history.” And if it is influence that dictates greatness, Tati most certainly would not be appearing on this list.

Whatever the case, this article will determine—whilst not being restricted to—some of the greatest directors from some of the greatest filmmaking nations.

5. France — Jacques Tati

I start with the most obscure choice on the list. Jacques Tati. Most would make a case as to why Jean Renoir, Jean Vigo or Jean-Luc Godard should be crowned France’s Goat, at least of the pack with forenames beginning with ‘J’, which I cannot argue. But Jacques has something no other director has ever had before, and what’s worse is that I cannot explain what it is. Perhaps it’s that M.

Last surviving member of the wartime swing trio the Andrews Sisters, whose hits included Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy

Patty Andrews, who has died aged 94, was the lead singer and soloist with the Andrews Sisters. The swinging American trio, comprising Patty and her older siblings, Laverne and Maxene, achieved their greatest success in the 1940s, contributing to the war effort with catchy songs including Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (With Anyone Else But Me) and, with Bing Crosby, Don't Fence Me In.

The Andrews Sisters performed at military bases and raised money for war bonds; their hits were sung by the troops and by women working in factories. Patty, Laverne and Maxene accompanied the most popular singers and big bands of the day; enjoyed success not just on radio but also in musical comedy films; and spawned a host of other sister acts – not all of whom were real siblings.

Patty Andrews: Last Surviving member of The Andrews Sisters dead at 94 Patty Andrews, the lead vocalist and last surviving member of the Andrews Sisters musical trio, died of "natural causes" earlier today at her home in the Los Angeles suburb of Northridge, in the San Fernando Valley. Andrews, who was also the youngest sister, was 94. (Photo: The Andrews Sisters: Laverne Andrews, Patty Andrews, Maxene Andrews.) Born in Minnesota into a Greek-Norwegian family, the Andrews Sisters began their show business career in the early ’30s, while both Maxene and Patty were still teenagers. Their first big hit came out in 1938: the English version of the Yiddish song "Bei Mir Bistu Shein" (aka "Bei mir bist du schön"), with lyrics — "To me, you’re grand" — by Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin. (The song made into the movies that same year, but Warner Bros. star Priscilla Lane is the one singing it in Love,...

The crew aboard the ballistic submarine on "Last Resort" surfaced during Monday Night Football to debate just who deserves the title of NFL's best quarterback.

The hilarious video opens with Andre Braugher and Scott Speedman sparring -- in character as the renegade Captain Marcus Chaplin and his Xo Sam Kendal, over which Manning is superior.

"He did it twice, sir," says Sam. "Basically, that's doing the impossible...two times."

"Eli? Are you crazy?" retorts Chaplin. "Peyton's a one-man franchise. Four MVPs and a Super Bowl ring."

"Three and a half MVPs, sir," corrects Sam. "He shared 2003 with Steve McNair!"

Chaplin grabs the intercom to solicit the opinions of the rest of the crew, who respond with the decisive, rapid-fire answers you'd expect from Navy sailors with nuclear weapons aboard their sub.

Even defense contractor Kylie (Autumn Reeser) weighs in from Washington, D.C.

Chaplin calls on Cob (Robert Patrick) to...

What do you really know? About your spouse? The person standing next to you? Yourself? That's the question Last Resort asked in "Blue on Blue."

With the entire crew thrown into an unprecedented situation, everyone had more questions than answers - but some had faith. Yet, as one government agent noted, even that can be broken.

Captain Chaplin's strategy was to play this out from a position of strength and he had to flex those muscles more than once. First with the torpedo launch at the USS Illinois. Although some may question that move, it's the one thing certain to keep the Illinois on the other side of that line.

Sam may question his Captain's strategy but he never fails to back him up. At first I wondered about his decision to walk out and try to talk with what he assumed was an armed Delta force sent to kill him,...

ABC's new show Last Resort surfaced last week with its first episode, "Captain," and our TV Fanatic round table team of Carla Day, Matt Richenthal, Jim Garner and Christine Orlando are still finding their sea legs after this wild ride.

Come join us as we debate whether military orders should be questioned and where is the fine line between crazy and brilliant. Consider the first of many Last Resort Round Tables...

-------------------------------------------

What was your favorite scene?

Carla: The showdown between Captain Chaplin and the Us military. That was when the lines were drawn and the USS Colorado officially went rogue. Chaplin proved he would do whatever was necessary to protect himself and his crew. It was a smart, calculated decision.

Matt: The crew dancing around to La Bamba. You've been warned: these folks can groove!

Jim: I loved the Navy Seal trying to get drunk and the local thugs...

Cut to: The most important decision of your life. Only, your life is not all that’s at stake. The lives of hundreds of others, and perhaps the world, are on the block. This is the dilemma facing submarine Capt. Marcus Chaplin (Andre Braugher) in ABC’s new high-concept, low-depth drama Last Resort. “We’re trying to be epic…and tell the big stories that used to be told on movie screens,” says Shawn Ryan (The Shield), who created the show with Karl Gajdusek (Dead Like Me). The showrunners spoke to EW of what’s in store for the crew of the U.

Today we are talking to Patricia Kelly, the widow of one of the most iconic and influential performers in entertainment history, Gene Kelly, all about her husbands incomparable career on Broadway and in Hollywood, in honor of his centennial. Tracing Gene Kellys journey from his theatre roots starring in Cole Porters Leave It To Me, Rodgers amp Harts Pal Joey and William Saroyans Pulitzer Prize-winning The Time Of Your Life on Broadway to his unforgettable screen appearances in many of the greatest movie musicals ever made - Cover Girl, Singin In The Rain, The Pirate, An American In Paris and many more included - Mrs. Kelly gives us a look into the life of one of the most important artists of the twentieth century. In addition to behind-the-scenes stories involving Kellys frequent collaborators - such as esteemed director Vincente Minnelli, songwriter and producer Arthur Freed, arranger Saul Chaplin and others - Mrs.

For all the many strengths of "The Avengers," there's one important element that writer-director Joss Whedon can't take credit for: the casting. Of the main characters, only one, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/The Hulk, hasn't appeared in one of the previous five Marvel movies that have led to this point. So given the casting committee that assembled The Avengers, it's something of a miracle that it's ended up with one of the most enjoyable collections of actors in a big tentpole movie for quite some time.

Of course, for the most part, it's to be expected: while there are a few newcomers in the mix, the principle cast have close to a century of experience in the movies between them, and countless great performances in their back catalogs. With "The Avengers" finally hitting U.S. theaters tomorrow, we've picked out the greatest performance of each of the seven members...

With the Academy Awards now just a week away, large doses of scrutiny are being shoved down the collective throats of the twinkling stars standing in line and hoping for their very own statuette.

Odds are that when the nominations are announced every year, there will be at least one somewhat surprising contender, whether he/she be an unknown, or simply dwells in an artistically shunned corner of the film world…no names mentioned, Jonah.

What is more of a startling occurrence is when said unfancied also-ran is announced as the victor, with their Celebrity Square suddenly expanding, and their face contorted with disbelief and unguarded astonishment in front of millions of amazed viewers.

But just how often is the wild card winner the champion of the future? Is the bookie-breaking hero of the night getting the ultimate kick start into superstardom and legend, an easily carried poisoned chalice, or...

They made TV history together and were planning their next film – until Tony Hancock rejected their script. Ray Galton and Alan Simpson reveal why The Day Off is now back on

The best review we ever had wasn't from a critic. It was from an artist, Lucian Freud. He said that The Rebel was the greatest film ever made about modern art. The 1961 movie was the first, and sadly the only, film we made with Tony Hancock. It's the story of an office clerk, played by Hancock, who believes himself to be a great but undiscovered artist. When he's fired from his job he moves to Paris, in the hope that the art world will recognise him for the genius he is. Of course, being Hancock, he's a terrible painter, but his ability to act like a genius persuades a group of fashionable young artists that he might be the real deal.

Magic moments in films rarely need words, says Nicholas Wright, as his play about Hollywood, Travelling Light, hits the stage

God knows how many films I've seen in my life (about one a day is my average), but I've seldom witnessed such a receptive audience as I did for The Artist the other week. Memories of all the silent films I watched during my childhood came swinging back to me; looking around, the rest of the cinema seemed to bask in a similarly rapt and innocent haze of pleasure. When it was over, they clapped as they would at the end of an exceptionally good play.

Of all the many strengths of Michel Hazanavicius's film, the absence of words is the greatest. No words means no reliance on a form of communication that isn't, in fact, anything like as effective as we think. The language of gesture often says...

I don’t dislike Rowan Atkinson, but I prefer him when he isn’t in full on Mr. Bean mode. Sure, the Bean television series and the second Bean film (Mr. Bean’s Holiday) had flashes of comedic genius (while the first Bean film is one of the worst films ever created by human hands), but it always came across as Chaplin-lite to me. Half the time on Mr. Bean, they simply forgot to give Atkinson anything remotely funny to do and simply had him resort to pratfalls that were just too simple to be funny.

On shows like Blackadder and The Thin Blue Line, Atkinson got to display a genuine wit and talents beyond the simple slapstick that he was probably best known for. When the original Johnny English was released, I remember being hesitant about the concept. James Bond parodies are extremely simple to do and they...

New British quad poster created for the reissue.

Cinema Retro has received the following press release from the BFI"

West Side Story

Back in Cinemas - 50th Anniversary

West Side Story will back on the big screen from 16 September, in celebration of its 50th anniversary.

In an all-new restoration from Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) Studios, West Side Story will once again be back on the big screen for audiences to enjoy this Autumn.

This electrifying musical, with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics from Stephen Sondheim, sets the ageless tragedy of Romeo and Juliet in the slums of 1950's New York.

West Side Story explores the rivalry between two teenage street gangs - white working class Jets and Puerto Rican Sharks. When a member of the Jets falls in love with the sister of the Sharks’ leader, things look hopeful at first, but rapidly go downhill. Illustrating the events are...

Akira Kurosawa remakes such as The Magnificent Seven led a Hollywood revolution in the 1960s – and now a new wave of Us adaptations could be coming

Akira Kurosawa and Hollywood may find themselves working together soon for the first time since the late director's abortive involvement in the war epic Tora! Tora! Tora!, one of several traumatic episodes that led him to attempt suicide in 1972. The remake rights to the lion's share of his movies and unproduced screenplays have been granted by the Akira Kurosawa 100 Project to the Los Angeles-based company Splendent, whose chief, Sakiko Yamada, told Variety he aimed to "help contemporary film-makers introduce a new generation of moviegoers to these unforgettable stories". The Kurosawa Project said it had received "countless" requests from Us and European film-makers, "expressing intense interest in remaking Kurosawa's movies".

The prospect of Kurosawa's influence being funnelled through Hollywood again is enticing; after all, the...

Jane Powell, Howard Keel, and fellow Seven Brides for Seven Brothers cast members Howard Keel, best remembered for MGM musicals such as Show Boat, Kiss Me Kate, and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, is Turner Classic Movies' next-to-last "Summer Under the Stars" star. On Tuesday, August 30, TCM will be presenting 14 Howard Keel movies, including one TCM premiere — Charles Crichton's British crime drama Floods of Fear. (TCM had initially announced another premiere, the 1948 British drama The Small Voice, starring Valerie Hobson and James Donald; instead, as per its website TCM will be showing — once again — the 1951 comedy Three Guys Named Mike, starring Jane Wyman.) [Howard Keel Movie Schedule.] Tall, baritone-voiced, and handsome, Howard Keel could at times be a quite effective actor, whether in comedies (Callaway Went Thataway, when not singing in Annie Get Your Gun, Calamity Jane and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers) or in dramas (the Western Ride, Vaquero!, when not singing...

As we all know, pop-culture face-offs are, by their nature, bipolar. Chaplin vs. Keaton, Sean Connery vs. Roger Moore, McDonalds vs. Burger King. The saddest thing about this is that, like our two-party government, our options are limited. And, yet, nobody ever seems to care much for a third choice when it’s presented — I’m looking at you Harold Lloyd, Timothy Dalton, Wendy’s, Ralph Nader.

Earlier today, you witnessed my esteemed colleagues Darren Franich and Joseph Brannigan Lynch debate the respective merits of Captains James Tiberius Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard as if they represent all that the...

Update: A batch of new photos from some of the films below have been released. Check them out here.

After Cannes kicks off in the spring, Venice and Toronto are the two biggest kickstarters for the 2011 awards race. This morning the latter festival have announced their initial line-up, and it is fantastic. Toronto International Film Festival will run from September 8th to 18th, and you can see the full line-up below, but I’m most excited for new films from David Cronenberg, Steve McQueen, Sarah Polly, Francis Ford Coppola, Oren Moverman and many more. Davis Guggenheim’s U2 documentary From the Sky Down will open the fest. Check out the full list of gala and special presentations below, along with each synopsis. We’ll be there covering the fest as well.

Galas

Albert Nobbs Rodrigo Garcia, Ireland

World Premiere

A witty Irish-set period drama about the lives of staff at...

Essential ViewingThe Week in RewindThere was plenty buzzing in the news cycle this week-especially about Osama bin Laden. After a challenging week, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama had some fun at a Cinco de Mayo celebration at the White House. Meanwhile, our favorite celebs were seen dressed to the nines at several events coast to coast. In L.A., Angela Bassett, Paula Patton, and Megan Good shared a special moment at the premiere of 'Jumping the Broom.'In New York City, stars such as Beyonce, Jay-z, Alicia Keys, and Rihanna rocked the red carpet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Gala 2011. Take a look at what else the stars were up to this week.First Lady Michelle ObamaFirst Lady Michelle Obama does a little dance after President Obama joked with her during a Cinco de Mayo reception. Obama said, 'You do not want to be between Michelle and a tamale.

Hollywood – The 25th American Cinematheque Award will be presented to two-time Academy Award® nominee Robert Downey, Jr. at the Cinematheque’s annual benefit gala, American Cinematheque Board chairman Rick Nicita announced today. The presentation takes place Friday, October 14, 2011 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel’s International Ballroom in Beverly Hills.

“The American Cinematheque is extremely pleased to honor Robert Downey, Jr. as the 25th recipient of the American Cinematheque award at our celebration this year,” said Rick Nicita. “The pleasure that we receive from his charismatic and nuanced performances is matched only by the respect that he has earned for his personal and professional journey. The wide range of his talent has kept us enthralled in movies from a biopic like “Chaplin” to outrageous comedies like “Tropic Thunder” to franchises like “Sherlock Holmes” and, of course, “Iron Man.” While we have been enjoying him for years, it seems that he’s...

DVD Playhouse—March 2011

By

Allen Gardner

127 Hours (20th Century Fox) Harrowing true story of Aron Ralston (James Franco, in another fine turn), an extreme outdoorsman who finds himself trapped in a remote Utah canyon, his arm pinned between two boulders, with no help nearby, no communication to the outside world, and dim prospects for survival, to say the least. Director Danny Boyle manages to prove again that he’s one of the finest filmmakers working today by making a subject that is seemingly uncinematic a true example of pure cinema. Inventive, breathtaking, funny, and horrifying, often all at once. Amber Tamblyn and Kate Mara make a memorable, brief appearance as hikers who connect with Ralston during his journey. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Commentary by Boyle, producer Christian Colson, co-writer Simon Beaufoy; Deleted scenes; Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-hd 5.1 surround.

Amarcord (Criterion) Federico Fellini’s Oscar-winning, autobiographical classic might...

Well fellow award geeks we’re in the final stretch and with only a week until the 83rd Academy Awards, many hands, including mine, are already sweaty in anticipation of the big night. I’m glad to say that this year has turned out to be a bonafide nail-biter and for the first time in many a golden moon, most of the categories still look to be in play. With seven days to go, Colin Firth winning Best Actor for The King’S Speech and Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Network taking home the statue for Best Adapted Screenplay seem to be the only sure bets to place at your Oscar Party.

For those of you still in the planning stage, click Here for a complete guide to everything you’ll need to host a winning-Oscar party next Sunday: recipes, Oscar ballots, party play-along games and much more.

On Tuesday,...

DVD Playhouse December 2010

By

Allen Gardner

America Lost And Found: The Bbs Story (Criterion) Perhaps the best DVD box set released this year, this ultimate cinefile stocking stuffer offered up by Criterion, the Rolls-Royce of home video labels, features seven seminal works from the late ‘60s-early ‘70s that were brought to life by cutting edge producers Bert Schneider, Steve Blauner and director/producer Bob Rafelson, the principals of Bbs Productions. In chronological order: Head (1968) star the Monkees, the manufactured (by Rafelson, et al), American answer to the Beatles who, like it or not, did make an impact on popular culture, particularly in this utterly surreal piece of cinematic anarchy (co-written by Jack Nicholson, who has a cameo), which was largely dismissed upon its initial release, but is now regarded as a counterculture classic. Easy Rider (1969) is arguably regarded as the seminal ‘60s picture, about two hippie drug dealers (director Dennis Hopper...

Robert Downey, Jr. is set to show off his song and dance skills in a new movie-musical.

The Iron Man star has signed up for a lead role in a currently untitled film about two Broadway songwriters who take a job at a theatre camp when their stage musical flops.

The music for the new movie will be written by the Tony Award-winning team behind hit Broadway show Next to Normal, according to EW.com.

Downey, Jr. has previously contributed to several of his film's soundtracks including Chaplin and The Singing Detective and he also released an album in 2004 called The Futurist.

Robert Downey Jr. continues to be one of the most in-demand actors working today. Just yesterday, we reported the news that Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will be Blood) is hoping to cast Downey in his upcoming adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel Inherent Vice. Now, we have news that Warner Bros is developing an untitled musical comedy for Downey to star in. The film will focus on two Broadway songwriters having to take jobs as counselors at a theater camp after their latest musical flops. Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt, who previously won the Pulitizer and three Tony awards for their rock opera Next to Normal, will be writing and developing the music for the film. You can hit the jump to find out what other projects Robert Downey Jr. has coming up.

Robert Downey Jr. wanting to star in a musical makes sense. As Deadline reminds us, Downey is...

Britain's cottonmill workers used to dance it. Then it became a mark of shame. Now clog dancing has returned to where it belongs – the streets

The streets of Newcastle have begun to echo with a sound that has not been heard since the industrial revolution. A sharp, rhythmic knocking can be heard among the Saturday crowds in Eldon Square, one of the city's busiest intersections. It sounds a little like the clatter of hooves, though there are no horses in sight.

What the shoppers do not realise is that they are about to be ambushed by the biggest clog dance event staged in the UK. More than a hundred volunteers have, literally, got their clogs on and been coached to perform a mass routine. For 10 minutes, the dancers bring the city to a standstill. There are people clogging on oil drums, between the tables outside Pret a Manger and up the steps of Grey's monument.

In honor of the opening of the film Burlesque, starring Cher, Christina Aguilera and Stanley Tucci, the Movie Geeks are presenting what we feel are the best motion picture musicals.

Honorable Mention: Mary Poppins

“Practically Perfect in Every Way”, this is how the incomparably magical nanny Mary Poppins describes herself with nary a boastful smirk on a revealing tape measure in the still-charming 1964 Disney classic musical set in post-Victorian London circa 1910. Mary Poppins is the first movie I can remember seeing in a theater as a child I still feel genuine warmth about this movie as an adult. Such was the impact of Julie Andrews in her big screen debut, as she epitomizes the title character with equal quantities of starch and sugar. There are so many delightful scenes in Mary Poppins that it’s hard to choose which to highlight, though one of the best ones has to be...

Part II: The Producers Take Back The Reins

By the late 1970s, the tremendous creative license the major studios under a new generation of production chiefs had granted the young tyros of the 1960s – Coppola, Scorsese, et al – had expired as each managed to deliver at least one, major, back-breaking flop. For Scorsese, it had been the grim musical New York, New York (1977, $13.8 million U.S. vs. a budget of $14 million); Peter Bogdanovich turned out a streak of losers including period piece Daisy Miller (1974), comedy Nickelodeon (1976), and another disastrous musical, At Long Last Love (1975, $1.5 million U.S./$6 million cost); after the back-to-back hits of The French Connection and The Exorcist, William Friedkin delivered Sorcerer (1977, $6 million U.S. against a crushing $22 million cost); and Francis Coppola, after a string of commercial and/or critical home runs including The Godfather (1972), The Conversation (1974), The Godfather Part II (1974), and Apocalypse Now (1979), turned out One from the Heart...

Timeless exploits of Johnny Knoxville and co have their roots in Harry Houdini, Charlie Chaplin and The Three Stooges. But do they really need to be in 3D?

Beehive Tetherball, Dildo-Cannon, Sweat Cocktail, Superglue-69, Fart-Dart, Fart-Trumpet, Bungee-Jump Portaloo … the only possible explanation for these vividly named vignettes of hardcore conceptual art-cum-grotesque vaudeville, is that the ageing enfants terribles of Jackass are back. And this time, they're in 3D.

True, I larfed until I almost barfed, but I still don't understand why Jackass 3D required its third dimension. Sure, it was nice to have all those enraged bees hurtling towards my face with no likelihood of being stung, and the process adds a certain je ne sais quoi to the sight of a fellow in a portable toilet – uh, fully loaded, if you catch my drift – lofted skywards on catapult-rigged bungee cords. But how it improves a stunt like Sweat Cocktail (man sweats into bodysuit,...

Previously on Mm@M: 4.1 Live From Times Square 4.2 Sixties Sweethearts 4.3 Catherine Deneuve & Gamera, 4.4 Jean Seberg, 4.5 Hayley Mills & David McCallum, 4.6 Chaplin the Sad Clown 4.7 "No Bad Seats" 4.8 Peyton Place 4.9 "The Beautiful Girls"

In Mad Men at the Movies we investigate the cinematic references in the Emmy winning drama Mad Men. Though we accidentally took a one month hiatus from this series (due to a paucity of movie references) we shouldn't have. The series is mainly an excuse to talk about the show. It's the best on television. In fact, I haven't loved a show as much as Mad Men since the heyday of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (circa 1998/1999)... inbetween those two titans only Battlestar Galactica and Once & Again got to me in similarly seismic ways. Which is to say, I love it madly. If I were to coincidentally receive an old engagement ring right before watching an episode, I would undoubtedly impulsively propose to it.

The honorees for the upcoming 2010 Governors Awards were selected by the Academy’s Board of Governors at a specially convened meeting last night on August 24.

The official press release from AMPAS:

Beverly Hills, CA . The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted last night to present the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award to producer-director Francis Ford Coppola and Honorary Awards to historian and preservationist Kevin Brownlow, director Jean-Luc Godard and actor Eli Wallach. All four awards will be presented at the Academy.s 2nd Annual Governors Awards dinner on Saturday, November 13, at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center®.

.Each of these honorees has touched movie audiences worldwide and influenced the motion picture industry through their work,. said Academy President Tom Sherak. .It will be an honor to celebrate their extraordinary achievements and contributions at the Governors Awards..

Brownlow is widely regarded as the...

Since 19th July, The London Film Museum has been running an exhibition of props and costumes from 20th Century Fox movies to celebrate the studio’s 75th anniversary. Clothes on Film decided to make a visit, a bit late in the day, but we had a good look round anyway.

There were not that many costumes in the Fox exhibition (certainly considering the history of the studio), but the museum itself has plenty more to see. Just to be in the same room as some of these memorable outfits is a thrill, especially from more recent movies where memories are fresh. With this is mind, here is our pick of Fox’s lot and the best the museum has to offer:

Australia (2008):

One thing about Baz Luhrmann’s Australia, regardless of the quality of the film itself, is that the World War II era costumes are dazzling . This red...

There is a trend these days amongst some film goers, in which they actively avoid trailers, as well as any kind of plot spoilers regarding upcoming films. I won’t go so far as to say that this is a recent trend, but it has certainly appeared on my radar a lot over the past few years. People want to keep that magic of the surprise, when it comes to upcoming media. At the same time, there is an abundance of information about everything media related thanks to the internet.

One aspect of the Criterion Collection that we all have come to accept, and learn to love in a holiday package opening sense, is their secrecy regarding upcoming releases. We have joked about how they are almost at Apple-like levels of secrecy, and when something gets out, Criterion fans jump on it.

I think we all want to know what...

From his rise to fame in the 90s to his action movie stardom of recent years, we celebrate the work of versatile, unique actor Robert Downey Jr...

It is about time I took to my soapbox and declared to the world my unadulterated love for Robert Downey Jr., and with his long awaited return to comedy in this year's Due Date (out in November), what better time to cast a retrospective eye over what makes him one of the most talked about, talented and often overlooked actors of our generation?

It is probably best to make a she-geek disclaimer at this point, before all the warm blooded males stop reading, for fear that what lies ahead is a girly drool fest about his eyes, chiselled good looks or endearing charm (please don't get me wrong, though, none of these facets have gone unnoticed). However, with the deserved success of the...

Lindsay Lohan is by no means the first Hollywood star to go off the rails. Here's five more whose careers have been blighted by booze, drugs and illegal activity

Drew Barrymore Part of the Barrymore dynasty, she was acting at five years old, a star at seven, tried drugs at 11, was in rehab by 13 and attempted suicide at 14. She was on the straight and narrow before she'd left her teens, and recently directed her first film, the likable Whip It!

Robert Downey Jr After making his mark in The Pick-up Artist (1987) and Chaplin (1992), Downey Jr's drug addiction began to consume his life. He had spells in jail between 1997 and 1999. Now clean, his comeback was ratified by the Iron Man films.

Mel Gibson Ironically, Gibson once helped Downey Jr's career, by covering his insurance bond for The Singing Detective. He is in the dumper after a drunken, misogynistic and antisemitic outburst...

Though I admittedly go into most films I watch here with some level of expectation, I must confess a certain bias with regards to these two films: I really hate Richard Lester in a way that extends beyond mere aesthetic difference and dangerously close to the personal. I hate what he did to the Superman franchise, and I hate how he conspired with Salkinds to make the entire series more like the 60s live-action Batman on purpose, in what can only strike me as a nefarious communist plot to strike us at the heart of one of our most cherished institutions. And so, by extension, I kind of hate The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers, the back-to-back hits that emboldened them to do it in the first place, which is really unfair, but just sort of the way it has to be.

At the outset of The Three Musketeers,...

Robert Downey, Jr. has pulled off an incredible feat in his career, going from nearly less than zero for around 25 years to box office hero in the last two. Aside from supporting roles in a few popular movies, Mr. Downey could have been labeled box office poison for most of his career, better known for the poisons he was putting into his system than for his movies. But despite so many commercial strikes, Hollywood kept letting him play, and it finally paid off in 2008. Following supporting work in movies like Back to School and Weird Science, Robert Downey, Jr.'s first at-bat as a leading man was The Pick-Up Artist in 1987, playing a womanizer opposite Molly Ringwald. The comedy wasn't disastrous in its first September weekend, grossing $4.5 million at 1,129 theaters, but it was overshadowed by the debut of Fatal Attraction that same weekend and fizzled out rapidly by the era's standards,...

Director Peter Bogdanovich.

Interviewing Peter Bogdanovich for the April 2002 issue of Venice Magazine was a thrill for me. Like Francis Coppola, John Frankenheimer, and William Friedkin before him, Bogdanovich was one of those filmmakers whose one-sheets hung on my bedroom walls growing up. Plus the fact that he himself had a renowned career as a film historian and interviewer of his own childhood heroes, such as John Ford, Howard Hawks, Orson Welles, and dozens of others, made our talk a real feast.

Not long after the article was printed, I received a letter with a New York City postmark. The note enclosed said simply: “Dear Alex, thanks for doing your homework so well, and thanks for the good vibes. All the best to you of love and luck, Peter Bogdanovich.”

Our chat remains one of my favorites during my 15 year tenure as a film writer. --A.S.

Peter Bogdanovich’S...

I was all prepared to be the pretentious douche who, when ranking Robert Downey, Jr.'s five best roles, weighed the list heavy with pre-rehabbed Downey. Until Iron Man, Downey had always been a brilliant but under-appreciated actor. Even still, most of his pre-comeback script choices were spotty, at best. He used to excel at the smarmy sleazy guy with the occasional bit of charm (The Pick-Up Arist, Two Girls and a Guy) and, up until around 1995 -- when his career went off the rails -- he made a lot of bad to mediocre guilty pleasure movies, like Heart and Souls, Air America, Chances Are and Only You (if he wasn't snorting coke before Only You, that movie probably would've driven him to it). He was trying really hard, I suppose, to be a romantic comedy leading man, and had drugs not taken over his life, it's sad to think...

Steven Moffat has revealed the titles of the first few stories of Matt Smith's era as the Eleventh Doctor.

The series begins with The Eleventh Hour written by Moffat himself and is believed to follow directly on from the regeneration in The End of Time. Episode Two is The Beast Below also by Moffat with Episode Three seeing the return of the Doctor's greatest foe in Victory of the Daleks by Mark Gatiss.

Speaking to Doctor Who Magazine, Moffat also confirmed a number of guest stars for the new series coming to the UK in the Spring.

Arthur Darvill will join the cast of Episode One as Rory. Darvill was previously seen in Little Dorrit, playing Tip Dorrit in the 2008 series.

Sophie Okonedo stars in Episode Two. She recently seen playing Winnie Mandela in the film Mrs Mandela and has previously starred in series such as Criminal Justice, Father and Son and Clocking Off.