Marlene Dietrich died with nearly two thousand books in her apartment, many of which included notes where she bitched about people


The bigger deal is that she left handwritten notes in many of them. Or her personal and sexually charged (but not consummated) letters with Hemingway. Or even her obsessions with her own biographies.

 "Dietrich’s books are full of marginalia. She usually scrawled it in English, and with red ink. Inside a copy of “Love Scene,” a paperback recounting the story of Laurence Olivier and Vivian Leigh, she writes, “this is without a doubt the worst writing I ever laid eyes on.” In the P. D. James novel “Innocent Blood,” she has stuffed another Don’t Forget note, this time writing beneath that phrase, “a bore.” She took her pen to the pages of a book on the Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann: “Who cares anyway?” On the first page of Anthony Burgess’s 1980 novel, “Earthly Powers,” above its notorious first sentence (“It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me”), she wrote, “That’s when I stopped reading.”
Would read an entire book of Marlene Dietrich bitchin' on people.

 Full New Yorker article HERE

Favorite uncredited movie role for a well-known actor due to the fact that it would give away a plot point by mentioning them?



Image result for tom cruise tropic thunder


Image result for alec baldwin glengarry glen ross

If a certain actor or actress is known for having played a certain character or a type or role in the past, their presence alone could influence the narrative. I think it never worked better than

Kevin Spacey in "Se7en," the secret was kept so well, remember kids once upon a time there was no internet, and we had no idea what to expect come the reveal of the killer. Not just that, the fact that Spacey knocked that performance out of the park and captured the creepy essence of his role just made the whole thing work magnificently well.

Also, I will always remember the first time Will Ferrell shows up in "Wedding Crashers." He was at his popularity peak by then and when he shows up, not only doesn't he make the film deteriorate, but it ends up being the funniest bit of the whole film.

 Some of my favorites:

 Kevin Spacey, Se7en
Alec Baldwin, Glengary Glen Ross
Gene Hackman, Young Frankenstein
Mark Hamill, The Force Awakens
Johnny Depp, 21 Jump Street
Tom Cruise, Tropic Thunder
Bill Murray, Zombieland
Robert De Niro, American Hustle
Will Ferrell, Wedding Crashers
Joe Pesci, A Bronx Tale
Natalie Portman, The Darjeeling Limited
Cate Blanchett, Hot Fuzz
Samuel L Jackson, Iron Man
Bruce Willis and Julia Roberts, The Player
Pamela Anderson, Borat
Charlie Sheen, Being John Malkovich
Neil Patrick Harris, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle
Bob Barker, Happy Gilmore
Tom Cruise, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin Spacey, Danny DeVito, and Steven Spielberg, Austin Powers in Goldmember

 Other instances when this happened:

Johnny Depp, Fantastic Beasts
Matt Damon, Interstellar, 
Matt Damon, Zero Theorem
Leonard Nimoy, Star Trek III: The Search For Spock
Boris Karloff, Frankenstein
Sean Connery, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Edward Norton, Kingdom of Heaven

Ben Mendelsohn Says an "Enormously Different" Version Of ROGUE ONE Exists

"We did have multiple, multiple ways of going at any given scenario, we had multiple readings of it," the actor says.

We all know that reshoots happened with "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" We also know that Gareth Edwards got pushed aside to make way for screenwriter Tony Gilroy, who got payed more than $5 Million for them. You don't get payed that much for just rewrites. Make no mistake about it, he was part of the film-making process. 

Reshoots are an infringement on the voice of the director and only result in a jumbled heap of incohesive scenes that independently look great, but, when combined, damage the original message and limit a developed story. Add in the fact that the original director got tossed aside for another one to take over and you're bound to have a lot of extra/unused material.

For more on the production mess of "Rogue One" click HERE

It is then no surprise that Ben Mendelsohn, who plays Orson Krennic in "Rogue One," mentioned to Collider about an 'enormously different' other version of the film:

 "We did have multiple, multiple ways of going at any given scenario, we had multiple readings of it,"

 "So should they ever decide to, there would be a wealth of ways of approaching these different things. And I know from having seen sort of the crucial kind of scenes throughout it, I know there’s vastly different readings of at least four of those scenes.

 “enormous differences within, I would’ve said 20 or 30 of the scenes. There really would be. There would be enormously different renderings.”

 Given that Disney has a rule of not ever releasing a "director's cut" or an "extended edition," chances are slim that we will likely ever see the version Mendelsohn is talking about, but one can only hope that Garth Edwards' ultimate vision could somehow find a way out and the director could get artistic justice for what he originally intended to show us. Mendelsohn sure is hinting at what could have been ....

Steve Martin gets backlash about Carrie Fisher tweet, deletes it -



Accusations of sexism started flooding Steve Martin's Twitter page soon after. Here are just a few of the hundreds of responses that forced Martin to delete the tweet.








































People who get offended on Twitter need to be ridiculed every single day for the rest of their entire lives. The only people offended by someone being called beautiful are lacking beauty both on the inside and outside. Are we that type of society now? One that gets easily offended by anything? Many close to Fisher re-tweeted that she would have probably laughed at the whole thing. Don't you just fucking hate 'call-out' culture? It's not going to stop, it's only going to get worse and worse. Everyone getting offended by everything needs to stop. I don't see the problem with this tweet. He acknowledged that his initial younger thoughts of her were shallow, and then came to see the person that she was as he matured. Most women would find this flattering, no? It seems that on Twitter you can't insult or compliment women. To do either is sexism. You can't even address women directly. That's unwanted attention and it's harassment. In fact, you can't address women at all, or even the subject of women. That's mansplaining and you're way out of your lane. Poor Steve. Someone forgot to tell him that the best answer is to tell them to go fuck themselves.

Damien Chazelle's LA LA LAND follow-up will have him reteam with Ryan Gosling for a Neil Armstrong Biopic



"Why did you guys build a rocket set. Where are the jazz instruments?"
"Damien this is a Neil Armstrong movie."
"Shit I thought I signed on for Louie Armstrong."

According to Variety, Damien Chazelle has just inked a deal to direct the Neil Armstrong Biopic "First Man." Ryan Gosling, his "La La Land" star, will take part in the project, most probably playing Armstrong himself. 

 "Spotlight" scribe Josh Singer will write the screenplay which, again according to Variety,  will be based on "James Hansen’s biography “First Man: A Life Of Neil A. Armstrong” and tells the story of NASA’s mission to land a man on the moon, focusing on Neil Armstrong and the years 1961-1969."

 Good idea? I'm mixed on this being Chazelle's follow-up to "La La Land." He's built himself up a solid reputation as a director that tackles musical topics as he did in "Whiplash" and "La La Land," but, I guess, he wants to prove to the industry that he's more than just that. What made his first two films so great was the way he shot the musical sequences in such exciting, new ways. A Neil Armstrong biopic sounds bland, but, if done right, would prove he's the real deal and can tackle stuff outside his safe zone.

Carrie Fisher handing Mark Hamill a beer During break time on A NEW HOPE set















Her smile was magnetic. A nice little ditty from the "A New Hope" set. When the times were joyful and fame was only at the doorstep, about to sneak in. Below is the two of them again goofing off on-set of the 1977 original film.



Billboard Company pay tribute to Carrie Fisher Representatives said no one paid for the signs, they just wanted to honor the Star Wars icon.
































Fisher's Hollywood Walk of Fame star

Fact: 19 Of The Top 20 Highest-Grossing Films At the 2016 Box-Office Were Made Up Of Sequels, Superhero Movies, Reboots, Prequels, or Animation. Only (Non-Animated) Film That Came From An Original Idea? "Central Intelligence," Starring The Rock and Kevin Hart.


























Hollywood is living in pathetic cinematic times folks. This has got to be the most unoriginal year Box-Office history. Also another fact: Disney produced 7 of the 10 highest grossing films.

Original content that made the top 50?

Sully $124M
Bad Moms $113M
Arrival $89M
Don't Breathe $89M
Lights Out $67M
Hacksaw Ridge $63M

"Angels with Filthy Souls", the Gangster Movie Kevin is watching in Home Alone is actually an 80-second film shot entirely for one brief scene





Ralph Foody filming Angels with Filthy Souls for Home Alone, 1990


What's most interesting about "Angels with Flthy Souls" is that it used techniques and black-and-white negative film stock of movies from the 1940s to achieve its '40s cinema look.

 As a child, I must've searched for months every time we went to the video store. Never found it and now I know why ..

"Home Alone" is an annual Christmas viewing, it's become a mandatory way to take in Christmas eve for this lonely Jew, and, poke at all its flaws, the film has a spirited  vibe to it that becomes infectious every time you see it. 

 I believe the name of the short was inspired by "Angels With Dirty Faces" a Cagney Gangster picture from 1938.
Home Alone 2 had the sequel "Angels with filthier souls" ("I knew it was you! I can smell ya getting off the elevator"), but it's this one that is the true classic. "Keep the change, ya filthy animal" and "I believe you, but my tommy gun don't."


Gangster 'Johnny': [hears knock at door] Who is it?
Gangster 'Snakes': [Snakes comes in] It's me, Snakes. I got the stuff.
Gangster 'Johnny': Leave it on the doorstep and get the hell outta here.
Gangster 'Snakes': All right, Johnny, but what about my money?
Gangster 'Johnny': What money?
Gangster 'Snakes': Acey said you had some dough for me.
Gangster 'Johnny': That a fact? How much do I owe ya?
Gangster 'Snakes': Acey said 10%.
Gangster 'Johnny': [smirks] Too bad Acey ain't in charge no more.
Gangster 'Snakes': What do ya mean?
Gangster 'Johnny': He's upstairs takin' a bath. He'll call you when he gets out.
[pause]
Gangster 'Johnny': Hey, I tell ya what I'm gonna give you, Snakes.
[pulls out machine gun]
Gangster 'Johnny': I'm gonna give you to the count of 10, to get your ugly, yella, no-good keister off my property,
[shouts]
Gangster 'Johnny': before I pump your guts full of lead!
Gangster 'Snakes': [wide eyed and calm] All right, Johnny, I'm sorry. I'm goin'!
Gangster 'Johnny': 1... 2... 10!
[starts unloading bullets into Snakes while laughing maniacally]
Gangster 'Johnny': Keep the change, ya filthy animal!

Is Disney going to "shamelessly CGI Carrie Fisher's face into Episode IX"?


A Disney spokeswoman on Tuesday declined to comment on whether Leia would appear in films post- "Episode VIII."
TMZ was reporting a Lucasfilm official saying that Fisher had “absolutely wrapped” her part in ‘Episode VIII.’ 
Episode 9 director Colin Trevorrow has stated in a an interview earlier in the year that he was excited "to find new places that we can take" the characters of Princess Leia and her on-screen twin brother Luke Skywalker. "They are icons, but they're also people that have suffered tremendous loss and challenge over the course of all these films," Trevorrow told Entertainment Tonight.
Let us not forget that Fisher also appears briefly as Leia at the end of "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," as a CGI recreation. In that same movie they also digitized the late British actor Peter Cushing, who died in 1994, and who played Death Star commander Grand Moff Tarkin in the original series. The film used CGI for the astounding effect which left some fans cold and distanced.















The associated Press says that "Under a 1985 California law, filmmakers must get permission from the estate of a celebrity to use his or her image for up to 70 years after death."
We are entering, or have already entered, the digital "new age" in movies. Disney has just led the way with "Rogue One" and their treatment of Cushing and Fisher. I see no reason for Disney to stop this. The problem is can we actually accept such a concept? and will the CGI be better in a few years to get away with such a dilemma? 
This news comes right after Peter Cushing's, ahem, "appearance" in "Rogue One." I was somewhat mixed on his "look" in the film, which left me somewhat cold and un-involved with his performance. 

Creepy, right? Look at the coldness in those eyes. Is there any sign of life? Although, the technology they used in Benjamin Button was on a living actor and not a dead one. So, who knows. That film did it way better than "Rogue One," because they had much more to work with. The "Cushing effect" will likely be used by many more films in the years to come. If there's anything groundbreaking about "Rogue One" it's that.

Carrie Fisher told her fans: "No matter how I go, I want it reported that I drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra.”



"I tell my younger friends that no matter how I go, I want it reported that I drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra.” 

 “You know what's funny about death? I mean other than absolutely nothing at all? You'd think we could remember finding out we weren't immortal. Sometimes I see children sobbing airports and I think, "Aww. They've just been told.”

 “You know how they say that religion is the opiate of the masses? Well, I took masses of opiates religiously.” 

All quotes taken from her witty and highly recommended book "Wishful Drinking." If you ever wanted to go deep into the psyche of, not just Fisher, but a flawed, but perceptive pop culture icon then this book is a must. 

 As for the tragic passing of this beloved pop culture icon we must go back to earlier this year when I caught up with Fisher's gala comedy show at the Just For Laughs comedy festival in Montreal. A friend had offered me free tickets to the show and I personally wasn't all that interested in catching Princess Leia doing stand-up comedy, but, lo and behold, Fisher didn't need her light saber to command attention:  “Can you see me? I’m from Hollywood and women my age tend to be invisible there.” Not Carrie. “I’m what psychologists call bat-s— crazy — and I don’t give a s—.” 

 Fisher might not be have been a standup comic, but she was a veteran of stage performing, her stage version of  "Wishful Drinking" is a hoot and I highly recommend some YouTub-ing tonight in honor of her passing.

 Of course, Leia was the beginning of a whirlwind in her life. It changed her well-being forever. You can't escape that kind of fandom. The everlasting kind. She had her issues with drugs and alcohol, but it never seemed to stop her from standing back up and fighting some more, showing her true strengths as an irredeemable force of nature.

 May the force always be with her.  












The Anti-Scorsese Tweet That Went Viral











This tweet spawned a few days of back and forth conversation/arguments on Twitter about how Scorsese treats women in his movies. Scorsese has consistently taken on male anti-heroes in his career. Exploring the male psyche & all its fury. Now, what exactly is wrong with that? Can't Scorsese continue focusing on what has been his drive and theme for the better part of 4 decades? Can't an auteur follow was obsesses him or her and what brings out the best in their body of work? The maddening Uber-PC twitter crowd will always have something to complain about.

The never-ending question about Steven Spielberg: Is he an "auteur"?



I actually find Spielberg became a better and more mature filmmaker over the years. The craft and masterful storytelling between 1998 and 2006 ("Saving Private Ryan," "Munich," "Minority Report," "Lincoln," "AI," "Catch Me If You Can" and  "War of the Worlds") far exceeds his, sometimes, stumbling work from the '70s and '80s (although I do love "Close Encounters," "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Jaws," "The Sugarland Express" and "Duel"). I despise with a passion "The Color Purple," "Empire of the Sun," "1941" and "Hook." If anything, I'd say the recurrent flaw with Spielberg is that he can never close the deal in a movie, his endings always fall short. He always overreaches. Also, since 2008 and his failed attempt to revive Indiana Jones he has been very inconsistent and can't seem to find a groove with his films (with the exception of "Lincoln.") With all that being said my favorite film of his will always be "Schindler's List," I just can't see him ever topping that film. 

 Now to answer the "never-ending" question, is he an auteur? There is something to be said by the mere fact we can discuss Spielberg as an auteur, although his themes are fairly difficult to pinpoint. His themes on universal goodness, and the fantastic existing in reality if you know where to find it, are more obvious in his harshest movies (Saving Private Ryan, Amistad, A.I.) and find their way into his technique: whatever the moral (or lack thereof) a lot of people like them, and watch them, over and over again, because they're unassuming. His use of the medium can be impressive - impressive enough that the majority of people don't think about it, and they can enjoy his films regardless. 

 His technique looks simple, yet it's incredibly effective. When I re-watch his classics, the way he edits, shoots, and lets scenes breathe is pretty fascinating. He loves his long shots. Not many directors gets to achieve such mainstream success and then have their movies studied over and over again, by countless individuals. Now for the ultimate auteur theory test: Would I know a film was directed by Steven Spielberg if I didn't know anything about it (including who its director was) going in? You bet your ass I would. The daddy issues, the streams of light, the John Williams scores and, of course, there's these recurrent shots he keeps using (HERE).

The Brilliant NEON DEMON Credits Scene


I just caught up with "The Neon Demon" again. Is there a better movie to watch on Christmas than this one? Required viewing for all you nihilists out there. Nicolas Winding Refn's film felt immensely abrasive when I first caught it at Cannes earlier this year. Refn keeps upping the ante with every scene in such carefully crafted and precise ways. The attention to detail is so obsessive and meticulous, he's like a sick, twisted version of Wes Anderson.

 You could put your TV on mute and still get caught up in its sumptuous visual imagery. Refn should have shot it as a silent film. His images feel so controlled and calculated. I know many at Cannes were headed towards the exit as the film rolled along, up until its climax, which is so jaw-dropping and in your face that I couldn't help, but be delighted by its in-your-face, middle finger wagging gesture at the audience member.

 One of those surreal moments happens when the end credits occur, they totally catch you off guard. I loved it though, and watched them all the way through whereas I'm normally one of those people who leaves when the credits start rolling. 

First Official Image from Pixar's next movie 'Coco'




"At the center of Pixar’s next original film, Coco, is a 12-year-old boy who’s breaking all the rules — or at least his family’s. Miguel, voiced by newcomer Anthony Gonzalez, is a member of the shoemaking Riveras, your average Mexican family that’s completely banned music for generations. So, maybe not so average. Ever since his great-great-grandmother Imelda was left alone by her husband (who abandoned his family to pursue a life hitting high notes), there’s been a strict no-music ban in the Rivera household, upheld primarily by Miguel’s Abuela (Renee Victor). That won’t stop Miguel from pursuing his passion, having grown up idolizing the music and advice of the late singer Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt). In fact, it’s his worship of De La Cruz—and a shocking discovery about him—that’s brought Miguel to the singer’s grave…and you, reader, to EW’s exclusive new first look at Coco. In the shot above, you’re catching Miguel in a beautiful, pivotal moment: He’s just committed a literal grave act and borrowed — just borrowed! — the guitar hanging in De La Cruz’s tomb. Unfortunately, it’s Dia de Muertos, and Miguel’s well-intentioned deed of grave robbery is badly-timed, and he’s about to be inadvertently sent to the Land of the Dead, where he’ll come face to face with the same great-great-relatives who banned music in his family. Just guess how happy they’ll be when they find out how he got there."

As an added note I ranked the Pixars earlier this year. That can be found right HERE.

After careful analysis, we can conclude 2002 was the year Robert De Niro stopped caring [Infographic OC]



I always believed, and still do to this day, that Robert De Niro still has a few great screen performances left in him. He showed shades of greatness as the obsessive-compulsive dad in "Silver Linings Playbook". That performance was the De Niro we knew as an actor, filling that role with layers of emotions and comedic insight. That film earned him the seventh Oscar nomination of his career. Safe for that David O. Russell film, what else has he done these last 15 years or so that would merit a mention?

Although I'm a diehard fan of his earlier work, and have been disheartened by the projects he's chosen the last two decades or so, that hasn't stopped me from following whatever projects he signs on to next because, well, I'm hopeful and know he still has it in him to deliver something special. Again, look what he did with "Silver Linings Playbook," such a comic, resonant and touching performance which earned him well-deserved praise.

The good news is that his next film will start shooting this spring and that it teams him up with Martin Scorsese, a director who has always brought out the best in De Niro ("Goodfellas," "Raging Bull," "Cape Fear," "The King of Comedy," "Mean Streets," and "Taxi Driver")

What has been your favorite post-2000 De Niro role?

These five come to mind for me: "Meet The Parents," "Silver Linings Playbook," "The Score," "Stone," and "Being Flynn."  Yes, these performances show that De Niro can still care about his craft, but they all pale in comparison to his work from the '70s, '80s and '90s.