They’ve finally announced a sequel to this stylized 2005 movie – one that’s scheduled to arrive in fall 2013. Many of the stars of this first drama, though, won’t take part, because a lot of characters died before the film was over. But it’s always fun to watch, party because of its visual bravado, and partly because it has a lot of interesting actors and actresses in minor as well as major roles. Mickey Rourke and Bruce Willis star, but check out the supporting cas

2012

Jun

BIG FAN By David Bianculli

Patton Oswalt is wonderful, and wonderfully sincere, in this 2009 character study about a quiet nobody who finds his voice, and his passion, only when he phones in to a radio sports talk show. It may sound like an opportunity for ridicule, but this movie is up to something a lot more ambitious than that.

2012

Jun

SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS By David Bianculli

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. This 1941 Preston Sturges film stars Joel McCrea as a director who forsakes his successful string of comedy films and hits the rails to find life’s true meaning, costumed as a hobo and searching out the truth in basic human drama. Veronica Lake co-stars, and this is one of the smartest movies ever made about Hollywood.

2012

Jun

ENOUGH By David Bianculli

This 2002 movie isn’t good, but its stars deserve mention, and maybe a quick look, for what they’ve done lately. It’s a drama about a battered wife who ultimately fights back, and the leading roles are played by Jennifer Lopez (her career now revived because of American Idol) and Billy Campbell (his career now revived because of his role as the politician in The Killing).

2012

Jun

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE By David Bianculli

This repeat features Coldplay as the musical guest, and Emma Stone as the guest host. She’s pretty good, and certainly game, though the writers didn’t really do her justice. The costume and photo crew did, however. She mentioned in a recent interview that one of her heroes is Gilda Radner, and one of this show’s interstitial “lobby cards” (shown in photo) features her sporting Radner’s Roseanne Roseannadanna wig – which Stone called an absolute thrill. I

2012

Jun

1955: 'THE JOHNNY CARSON SHOW' DEBUTS ON CBS By Christy Slewinski

On this day in 1955, CBS introduced the prime-time variety show, The Johnny Carson Show. The half-hour program was one of the first starring vehicles for Carson, a Los Angeles-based comedian who came to the network's attention as a monologue writer for The Red Skelton Show. One could say it was a practice run for his eventual role as the long-running host of NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Ironically the CBS show wasn't well-received, and was cancelled eleven months la

2012

Jun

LOUD BOOS TO CNN AND FOX NEWS, BUT THREE CHEERS FOR STEWART, COLBERT AND SORKIN By David Bianculli

Cable news outlets got the U.S. Supreme Court health care decision embarrassingly wrong — but cable entertainment programs, in criticizing their rush to judgment, got it spectacularly right...

2012

Jun

MOYERS AND COMPANY By David Bianculli

In HBO’s new drama series The Newsroom, Jeff Daniels plays a veteran newsman who ultimately decides to take the brave step of “speaking truth to stupid.” In real life, Bill Moyers is doing that already – as exemplified by this week’s new essay, in which he describes what we should really be thinking about during the upcoming Fourth of July holiday. Moyers & Company is shown by local public TV stations between Friday and Sunday. To find it in your local area, cli

2012

Jun

THE NEWSROOM By David Bianculli

And here’s a same-week repeat of the premiere of The Newsroom, repeated in case you haven’t yet seen it. I urge you to stay with this series, though – by episode four, it really clicks, and the characters and issues become equally compelling. Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer star.

2012

Jun

WOMAN IN HIDING By David Bianculli

TCM is devoting the evening to women-in-jeopardy films. Big deal, I hear you say: Lifetime and Lifetime Movie Network do that every night. Hmm. Good point. (Quiet, though — I'm working here.) But these are some earlier, classic entries in the genre — starting with this 1950 thriller, in which a women (Ida Lupino) suspects her husband of murder, and of wanting to kill her as well. And, of course, she’s right. Howard Duff co-stars.

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