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Mel Gibson is doing a mitzvah. The Hacksaw Ridge director, who made headlines back in 2006 for going on a drunken anti-semitic rant, has been quietly working with a charity that helps Holocaust survivors. Zane Buzby, the founder of the Survivor Mitzvah Project, recently told Extra that her charity helps “bring emergency aid to Holocaust survivors in Eastern Europe who are in desperate need of food, medicine, heat and shelter and we always bring them friendship and hope... Gibson quickly responded to the mission of the Survivor Mitzvah Project after the charity approached him to see if he’d like to...

The End of a Beautiful FriendshipWhy America fell for Casablanca, and why the classic film is losing its hold on movie lovers.In 1957, the Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square kicked off its Humphrey Bogart series with the 1942 classic Casablanca.* Bogart himself had just died, and the response to the film was rapturous. By the fourth or fifth screening, “the audience began to chant the lines,” the theater’s then-manager told Noah Isenberg, author of We’ll Always Have Casablanca: The Life, Legend and Afterlife of Hollywood’s Most Beloved Movie. It was the dawn of the art-house era, the moment when film...

Robert James Waller, the author of best-selling book The Bridges of Madison County, has died in Texas at the age of 77, his agency said. Waller published seven books, but Bridges was his most famous, selling 12 million copies in 35 languages. The romantic novel was adapted into a 1995 film starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep, who was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar in the role.

Former No. 1 box office draw has lukewarm memories of meetings with Scott, Askew Burt Reynolds is not a fan of Florida's governor. The 81-year-old "Smokey and the Bandit" star was critical of Gov. Rick Scott when he met with the media before a March 3 Florida Music Awards kickoff party in Fort Lauderdale. ....More films should be shot here," Reynolds said. "It's not Florida's fault, because Florida's got everything, you know? It's the governor. I remember I went in to see him and I said, 'You know, we ought to be shooting more movies down here.' And he said,...

TCM’s general manager Jennifer Dorian released a statement saying, “All of us at Turner Classic Movies are deeply saddened by the death of Robert Osborne. Robert was a beloved member of the Turner family for more than 23 years. He joined us as an expert on classic film and grew to be our cherished colleague and esteemed ambassador for TCM.

One hears a great deal these days about the universal nature of story. It's a gratifying conceit that deep down we all share the same fundamental narrative. But what about the more factional, political nature of story? I don't mean the depiction of torture in Zero Dark Thirty or corporate cunning in Promised Land. I mean the intrinsically political nature of how character is portrayed and plot structured. Stories stage conflict. And the strongest conflict always dictates inseparable, irreconcilable opposites. If Henry Adams was right, that politics in practice is always "the systematic organization of hatreds," then what better place...

Will the live-action Beauty and the Beast movie feature Disney's first openly gay character? Director Bill Condon's description of an "exclusively gay moment" near the end of the upcoming film is being taken that way by some. In a new interview with gay lifestyle magazine Attitude, Condon discussed the dynamic between the characters LeFou, played by Josh Gad, and Gaston, played by Luke Evans...

....Moonlight won the top prize at Sunday night’s Oscars ceremony—after some initial envelope confusion created a bizarre scene—and, despite the fact that the independent drama never made much of a splash at the box office. The movie, about a young, gay black man growing up in an impoverished Miami neighborhood, has only made a little more than $22.2 million in domestic movie ticket sales so far, according to Box Office Mojo. That made Moonlight the lowest-grossing Best Picture nominee at this year’s Academy Awards—and among the lowest ever for a Best Picture winner—even after generating months of Oscars buzz.

Another Oscars Gaffe: In Memoriam Video Included Photo of Living Woman Leading Australian producer, Jan Chapman was “devastated” by another mistake in the Oscars telecast. In addition to the best picture gaffe, during the show’s In Memoriam segment, a photo of a living woman was mistakenly used.

Last year the Academy, liberal to the CORE, was attacked with "Oscars so White"...a pathetic excuse for people with no life to get worked up.... The call for affirmative action on the voters, etc. in Hollyweird was heard. Changes were promised. So THIS year, a director's first movie, about a black homosexual, WINS. Look, maybe it WAS the Best Picture of all last year. Maybe. But could this be the effect of Hollywood's Guilty Feelings from last year?

Richard Schickel, the longtime film critic for Time magazine who also wrote 37 books, mostly on film, and directed a number of documentaries on film subjects, died on Saturday in Los Angeles of complications from a series of strokes, his family told the Los Angeles Times. He was 84. “He was one of the fathers of American film criticism,” his daughter, writer Erika Schickel, told the Times. “He had a singular voice. When he wrote or spoke, he had an old-fashioned way of turning a phrase. He was blunt and succinct both on the page and in life.” He wrote...

“I have found the greatest power in the world is the power of prayer.” Cecil B. DemilleHollywood Prayer Network (HPN) is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization led by entertainment industry Christians, seeking to impact our culture for Christ through prayer. We are committed to asking Christians everywhere to pray for the artists and professionals, projects and productions, and global impact of Hollywood: the world’s most influential mission field. With an attitude of love, it is our passion to mobilize people around the world to engage in culture, pray for the media, and help transform the spiritual climate of Hollywood. Whether...

In 1996, in Carthage, Texas, assistant funeral director Bernie Tiede murdered 81-year-old Marjorie Nugent. Shot her in the back, stuffed her body in the big freezer in her garage, and went on about his life. When the police eventually found her and Bernie confessed to her murder, District Attorney Danny Buck ran into a problem—he couldn’t scare up a single juror in Panola County who was willing to put Bernie behind bars. Bernie was a sweet boy, the people of Carthage said, and that b***h had it coming.

Winning the best picture Oscar doesn't just signal that a movie is regarded by Hollywood as the top achievement in the medium for the year; it can help cement a movie's status, with past winners that have gone on to become classics like "The Godfather," "Lawrence of Arabia," and "On the Waterfront." But the Academy voters don't always get it right. Tucked away in the 88 years of Oscar ceremonies are best picture winners that quickly vanished from the zeitgeist, never to be heard from again. That's often because they weren't as good as originally thought. It's probably too early...

Chris Pratt is a rare bird: a conservative Christian who is also a major star in Hollywood. In an interview this week for Vanity Fair, Pratt described his conversion to Christianity....

Mars Attacks...I saw it years ago in the theatres, don't remember much.... But boy oh boy the parallels between how these DOPEY government officials think the invaders are "friendly" and "cultural misunderstandings" are the reason behind the malevolence and the modern day pop culture and liberal mindset are amazing.

After weeks of awards shows, the biggest one is finally almost here: On Tuesday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its 2017 nominees. The winners will then be revealed when the Oscars take place Feb. 26. Damien Chazelle’s musical La La Land, starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, led the nominations with a whopping 14. The Best Picture nominee ties with 1997’s Titanic and 1950’s All About Eve for the most nominations the Oscars has ever handed out in its 89-year history. Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight and Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival followed with eight nominations each, also including Best...

William Peter Blatty, an author whose novel “The Exorcist” and his later screenplay for the 1973 film about a demonic possession became a phenomenon and stirred fierce public debate about the occult, died Jan. 12 at a hospital near his home in Bethesda, Md. He was 89. The cause was a form of multiple myeloma, said his wife, Julie Witbrodt Blatty. Mr. Blatty was a junior at Georgetown University when, in 1949, he became mesmerized by a Washington Post story detailing the alleged exorcism by a Jesuit priest of a 14-year-old boy from Mount Rainier, Md. who was believed to...

Michèle Morgan, a French movie actress who starred in the moody masterpiece “Port of Shadows” and who, during a brief Hollywood sojourn, helped introduce Frank Sinatra to film audiences in his first big role, died Dec. 20. She was 96. French President François Hollande announced the death, calling her “an elegance, a grace, a legend that left a mark on many generations. . . . The greatest directors called upon her, and she was part of masterpieces that still live in everyone’s memories.” No other details were provided. In a career spanning seven decades, Ms. Morgan was best known as the ethereal...

In an incredibly bold move, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts announced last week that, beginning in 2019, works that do not demonstrate inclusivity in their production practices will no longer be eligible for the Outstanding British Film or Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer awards at the annual BAFTAs, often considered the U.K. equivalent of the Oscars.* Eligible projects must showcase this in two of the following ways, as the BBC reported: On-screen characters and themes, senior roles and crew, industry training and career progression, and audience access and appeal to underrepresented audiences. BAFTA...