Free Republic

A new report has found that in the top 100 Hollywood films from 2007 through 2018, only 4.5% of all speaking characters were Latino, far out of step with the US population. The study, titled Latinos in Film: Erasure on Screen & Behind the Camera Across 1,200 Popular Movies, found a dearth of Latino representation in Hollywood’s top movies of the last decade, both in front of and behind the camera. Published in association with the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, the National Association of Latino Independent Producers and Wise Entertainment, the report outlined the prevalence of Latino erasure or misrepresentation...

Democrats go to the movies twice as much as Republicans, a new study finds. The statistic was among many tidbits included in a seven-year survey celebrating the 1,000th movie surveyed by industry leader PostTrak, the exit-polling service founded by Rentrak (now owned by Comscore) and Screen Engine. During that time period, Democrats frequented the movies far more than Republicans, or 12.4 percent versus 5.5 percent. Ditto for Independents (7.2 percent). The same also held true for ticket buyers who identified themselves as liberal and conservative (10.1 percent vs. 5 percent). Nearly 10 percent of moviegoers didn't state their political affiliation....

The Lighthouse is a 2019 black-and-white psychological horror film directed by Robert Eggers. It stars Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson. The film chronicles the story of two lighthouse keepers as they are faced with solitude, but start to lose their sanity and become threatened by their worst nightmares.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Heading into the new year, box office analysts were bullish that 2019 would beat, or at least match, the record-breaking success of last season. Followups to “Avengers,” “Secret Life of Pets” and “Godzilla” combined with reboots of storied franchises such as “Men in Black” and “Shaft” would elevate ticket sales to new heights, theater owners and studio executives predicted. Alas, it was not to be. Sure, everyone showed up to “Avengers: Endgame” to bid goodbye to Iron Man, but many of those other sequels sputtered out. They were derivative, shoddily constructed, and poorly...

During the current malaise of box-office bombs, failed reboots, and bad sequels, it’s time to take stock in the excellent films that we already have. Specifically, here are some of the greatest conservative movies to take in, or watch again with fresh appreciation, during the next two months.These films portray fundamental conservative values that make America great. They promote liberty, objective truth, family, patriotism, and the recognition that evil exists and must be fought. To maximize family involvement, all the films below have a rating of PG-13 or friendlier.‘Darkest Hour’ Winston Churchill was the consummate statesman of the 20th...

AP excerpt. He rose to be one of Italy’s most prolific directors, working with such opera greats as Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Maria Callas, as well as Hollywood stars including Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Mel Gibson, Cher and Judi Dench. ROME — Italian director Franco Zeffirelli, who delighted audiences around the world with his romantic vision and extravagant productions, most famously captured in his cinematic “Romeo and Juliet” and the miniseries “Jesus of Nazareth,” died Saturday at 96. While Zeffirelli was most popularly known for his films, his name was also inextricably linked to the theater and opera. He...

**SNIP** If there's any area where star power seems to be put to the most effective use, it's the documentary, where attaching names like Leonardo DiCaprio and Arnold Schwarzenegger helps projects that might evaporate into the ether get on the media's radar. DiCaprio weighs in this week with "Ice on Fire," a better-than-most film on the topic that gets beyond the dire warnings to contemplating what can actually be done to help turn, or at least significantly curb, the tide. For his part, Schwarzenegger plays the same role on "Wonders of the Sea," a project exploring the oceans made in...

Wherever Mike Banning goes, cities fall. But this time it’s his turn. Last month, EW debuted a first look at Angel Has Fallen, the sequel to hit action films Olympus Has Fallen and London Has Fallen. And now, EW has the exclusive trailer for Gerard Butler’s third go-around as the ever-faithful Secret Service agent. As seen in the trailer, Morgan Freeman’s Allan Trumbull has succeeded President Asher (Aaron Eckhart) and put Mike (Butler) in charge of the Secret Service. “We really hadn’t had much screen time together,” Butler tells EW of working with Freeman. “But we very quickly established these...

Caption: 'Sex Slaves in the Catholic Church' German-French channel Arte says it will fight to overturn a court injunction that prevents it from rebroadcasting the documentary, which accuses rogue priests of sexually abusing French nuns. A French television documentary that accuses Catholic priests of sexually abusing nuns has been pulled from the French-German television channel Arte after a priest filed a complaint with a German court. French director Marie-Pierre Raimbault and investigative journalist Eric Quintin shot the documentary, Sex Slaves in the Catholic Church, over three years, basing it on firsthand testimony of nuns who claim they were used as...

Mary Magdalene suffers from a miscast Joaquin Phoenix, drab visuals, and a muddled message. Actors love to think they can play anything, but the job of any half-decent filmmaker is to tell them when they’re not right for a part. If the Rock wants to play Kurt Cobain, try to talk him out of it. Adam Sandler as King Lear is not a great match. And then there’s Joaquin Phoenix. He’s playing Jesus Christ in the new film Mary Magdalene. In certain situations, Phoenix is a capable actor. I believe he would excel as a meth head, or as a...

Bibi Andersson, the luminous Swedish actress who personified first purity and youth, then complexity and disillusionment, in 13 midcentury Ingmar Bergman films, died on Sunday in Stockholm. She was 83... Her emotionally complex role in “Persona” (1966), the film that made her acting reputation, was one of the great stereotype reversals in film history, a definite departure for the thirtyish Ms. Andersson, who had begun acting in her teens. Before that film, Bergman had given her roles “symbolizing simple, girlish things,” she told The New York Times in 1977. “I used to be called a ‘professional innocent.’” ...

The Writers Guild of America says it has instructed its 13,000 members to fire their talent agents at midnight on Saturday, unless their agents sign a new "Code of Conduct" agreement that promises they will do away with packaging fees and their stakes in production companies. The bottom line: Most of the Guild's writers agree with the Code of Conduct, but most of the agents who represent them don't. The hope was that the 2 sides would come up with a compromise before the current negotiations expired on Friday. Without a deal, Hollywood is stuck in a messy limbo that...

He earned an Oscar nomination for 'Faces,' was Moskowitz to Gena Rowlands' Minnie and appeared in three Wes Anderson movies. Seymour Cassel, the Oscar-nominated John Cassavetes regular whose wily glint, weathered look and versatile talent made him an admired character actor, has died. He was 84. Cassel died Sunday in Los Angeles of complications from Alzheimer's disease, his son, Matt, told The Hollywood Reporter. Cassel also was a favorite of Wes Anderson, who cast the irascible actor in Rushmore (1998), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) and The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004).

To have fought your way into the dream machine, only to find that after years of quality work there is no job for you -- that is a harsh blow and a sign of our era How do you take the measure of 4,000 jobs lost in an industry with the size and scope of Hollywood? That's the number of pink slips being handed by Disney to Fox employees now that the merged mega-studio won't need them anymore. Four. Thousand. Jobs. It's undoubtedly the largest layoff from a single entertainment company in a generation -- maybe ever -- a fact...

He thrived making low-budget horror and blaxploitation films after creating the 1960s TV series 'Branded' and 'The Invaders.' Larry Cohen, the avant-garde writer and director who made his mark in the horror and blaxploitation genres with such innovative cult classics as It's Alive, God Told Me To, Black Caesar and Hell Up in Harlem, has died. He was 77. Cohen died Saturday night in Los Angeles surrounded by loved ones, his friend, actor and publicist Shade Rupe, told The Hollywood Reporter. The older brother of late Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen — she got her start promoting his early films —...

Dev Patel's movie Hotel Mumbai has been pulled from New Zealand cinemas in the wake of the recent attacks at a mosque in Christchurch. Starring the Oscar-nominated actor, along with Armie Hammer, Anupam Kher and Jason Isaacs in pivotal roles, Hotel Mumbai is based on the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks which left more than 160 people dead. It displays the story of Taj Hotel staff that risked their lives to keep the guests and other people safe during one of the darkest days for the financial capital of India. According to a report by NZ Herald, Icon Film Distribution released...

The cancellation of "One Day at a Time" hurts in a way the diversity numbers can't fully convey. In Netflix's Cuban-American family sitcom, "One Day at a Time," Rita Moreno's punchy one-liners are a complete delight. Justina Machado, who stars as single mom Penelope Alvarez, triggers a sobfest every time she delivers an utterly vulnerable monologue. The series tackles issues from homophobia to colorism with sensitivity and insight, and offers Latinos -- members of a woefully underserved demographic -- the chance to see ourselves, warts and all, while still reliably delivering laughs and earning rave reviews. Aside from being a...

It is no exaggeration to say that Sergei Bondarchuk’s 1960s adaptation of the Leo Tolstoy novel “War and Peace” is a singular feat of filmmaking that can never be repeated. If it were, a director would have to match the resources at Bondarchuk’s disposal — a virtually unlimited budget, props from Russia’s great museums, thousands of extras from the Soviet army — and engineer sprawling battle sequences using no computer-generated effects. The extraordinary support behind “War and Peace” is apparent in every lavish frame of its seven-plus hours, and it is staggering to witness — even more so in the...

Bullitt Car Chase Scene: ~ 7 min https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vNvc9n1ikI

When the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences decided to end the relentless parade of host-related Oscars drama by simply doing the show without one, there were concerns as to whether or not the choice would negatively impact the ratings. As it turns out, the absence of a central person to spout toothless jokes and bother the audience actually might have played a part in this year’s ratings boost. The 91st Annual Academy Awards garnered a 7.7 rating in adults 18-49 and 29.6 million viewers this past Sunday. To compare: Last year’s show only saw a 6.8 rating and...