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Force Awakens Score in Los Angeles John Williams is currently hard at work composing the score for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which will be recorded in Los Angeles. For the recording of the score, Williams will work with members of the superb freelance orchestra with which he’s recorded numerous film scores over the years. The music will be recorded over several months while working in tandem with the film’s editorial and special effects teams on the West Coast. While previous films in the saga were scored at Abbey Road with the celebrated London Symphony Orchestra, this will be the...

Author and scholar Reza Aslan, who just signed on to host a new series for CNN, says that average Iranians see the prospect of an agreement between the U.S. and Iran over that country’s nuclear program as an important step toward lifting sanctions and opening up their society.

Just got back from "Do You Believe?". It is excellent. There were so few people in the theatre though, and that was sad but I'm hoping that word will spread and people will pack the theatres to see it. It is so worth it! I was struck by some pretty good names, in the scheme of things, that appeared in the movie. Maybe not A list stars but not no names either. Gives me a little hope that Hollyweird is not completely hopeless. Mira Sorvino, Cybill Shepard, Ted McGinley, Brian Bosworth.... Also, the trailers had some good previews of other...

Actor Charlie Sheen sent a message on Twitter Thursday afternoon mocking Barack Obama for working on his NCAA tournament bracket instead of giving attention to U.S. soldiers. Barry Satera Kenya u won't attend a soldier's funeral uhkros da street that u kild yet u hav time 4 brackets? s a d c http://t.co/KM1in5MPio — Charlie Sheen (@charliesheen) March 19, 2015 The tweet, written to sound like Ebonics and intentionally morphing Obama’s name, makes reference to an unknown soldier’s funeral and links to a screen shot of the President on TV discussing his “Barack-etology” bracket for the college basketball tournament. Sheen...

The Los Angeles Marathon was held Sunday, starting at Dodger Stadium, winding through downtown LA and Hollywood, and finishing in Santa Monica. Part of the uniqueness of the course is the entertainment and spectacle along the route. Guerrilla street artist Sabo, added a little something extra for this year’s participants: street_19 Each of the sixteen posters copied the style of the marketing materials for the race. Here’s the logo from the race organizers: Screen Shot 2015-03-16 at 10.50.47 AM And here’s the slightly revised one that was on the bottom of each of the posters: Screen Shot 2015-03-16 at 10.51.53...

The weeks following any year’s Oscars are a home film festival at our house, an attempt to evaluate which movies were snubbed on the big night, and which were overpraised. After absorbing the great performances but ultimately unsatisfying payoff of “Birdman,” and the underappreciated triumph of “Still Alice,” it was time to assess the documentary feature winner, “Citizenfour,” Laura Poitras’ journey through a few days in Hong Kong with NSA leaker Edward Snowden. My political differences with the filmmaker and her subject made me even more curious. She would have no trouble hitting a home run with surveillance-phobic libertarians and...

TV and movie producers rarely focus on Catholic priests in their plots, let alone use them as central characters, as in "The Father Dowling Mysteries" or "Father Murphy" in the 1980s. Maybe that's a good thing, because when Catholic priests are part of the plot these days, there is an unmistakable odor of aggression -- mocking, vilifying, and disparaging not just Catholic priests, but the priesthood itself. On March 4, on the nation's most religion-mocking channel, Comedy Central, the late-night game show "@Midnight" featured the comedian Neal Brennan. Host Chris Hardwick asked a question about confession, to which Brennan responded,...

It now appears that, for the sort of reasons that often count most – political reasons – there is a realistic chance that Michigan’s film subsidy program will end soon. When a bill to put a stop to the subsidies was introduced on Jan. 29, skepticism about its prospects seemed justified. Little more than a month earlier, the Legislature had overwhelmingly passed a measure to keep the program rolling, and Gov. Rick Snyder signed it into law. The idea that the Legislature and governor would reverse course just weeks later seemed far-fetched. But much has changed in the brief period...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)The Star Wars franchise quieted critics of its primarily white casts in November after the trailer for The Force Awakens revealed John Boyega as the first black stormtrooper, but now the series is growing more diverse and will reportedly feature its first lesbian character. Del Rey Books editor Shelly Shapiro has revealed that the upcoming Star Wars novel Lords Of The Sith, written by Paul S. Kemp, will introduce the first canonical LGBT character in the world of the science fiction juggernaut. Sci-fi website Big Shiny Robot reports the upcoming novel will feature a character named Moff Mors, who is...

A star has been born. Former Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) on Tuesday starred in a cameo for "Sharknado 3," the cult-classic fantasy movie series featuring vicious, airborne sharks riding deadly tornadoes from the sea. The 2012 Republican presidential candidate was spotted with a film crew outside the White House, presumably before the disaster hits Washington, D.C. "I believe they are growing in size. Congress has to take this seriously because sharknado is a real phenomenon," Bachmann said in a scene, before excusing herself for a vote on the Hill a couple of miles away. After several takes, which were filmed...

Regnery History Hollywood is not exactly known for accuracy when portraying historical figures and events in the movies. Perhaps we shouldn’t be all that surprised then when Hollywood gets its own history wrong. That’s been the case with the blacklist of assorted industry communists during the early years of the Cold War. For nearly seven decades, leftists in the entertainment industry have peddled the idea that blacklisted screenwriters–especially the “Hollywood Ten”—were innocent, naïve standard bearers for First Amendment rights who unjustly suffered for their political beliefs at the hands of fascists in Congress and the movie business amidst a period...

When future anthropologists study America in the 21st century and its rapid decline, they will no doubt better understand its code of values (or lack thereof) by examining the symbols and ideas that captured the spirit of the time – the things that we held dear. In every generation, there are icons that sum up its core values – not official ones, but symbols that really mean something to people: Rosie the Riveter, the American flag, Elvis Presley, the motorcycle jacket, the defeatist “peace sign” and now the tyrannical “Coexist” bumper sticker. There are symbols that sum up the zeitgeist...

Glory, Saving Private Ryan, and We Were Soldiers are exceptional war films. But they can’t hold a candle to the Clint Eastwood-directed picture American Sniper in at least one important sense: Box office revenue: Worldwide, "American Sniper" has earned $500.1 million, making it the most successful war film ever released. Astonishingly, American Sniper has also reached another impressive milestone: "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -- Part 1" was previously the highest-grossing film released in 2014 with $336.9 million, but now Clint Eastwood's Oscar-nominated war film has taken the top spot. As of this weekend, "American Sniper" has grossed $337.2 million...

Tim Burton is to direct Disney's live action remake of the 1941 classic Dumbo. The iconic cartoon will be remade as a live-action movie with computer generated characters playing the big-eared elephant and his family. To bring the movie into the 21st century, a family story will be added to reflect dumbo's journey.

Sam Simon, a creative force behind “The Simpsons” who left the show after its fourth season in a lucrative arrangement that allowed him to spend much of the rest of his life giving his money away, has died. He was 59. His death was announced on Monday by the Sam Simon Foundation, the organization through which he donated his money. The announcement did not say where or when he died or specify the cause, although Mr. Simon learned he had cancer in late 2012. The cartoonist Matt Groening, recruited by the producer James L. Brooks, invented the Simpson family for...

This Is How Hollywood Has Been Fooling You All Along When it comes to contemporary Hollywood films, there's often more than meets the eye. We're not just talking about an elaborate use of special effects and CGI, its those smaller more finite details that are so often easy to ignore. On the set of any movie, along with the crew, actors and stunt doubles you'll also have 'extra's' - people like you and I paid to simply be a warm prop, background fodder if you will. A crowd milling about in a scene or a customer in a shop. Extra's...

A small plane piloted by Harrison Ford has crash-landed at an L.A. golf course ... but we're told the actor has survived. TMZ has learned ... Ford was piloting what appears to be a vintage 2-seater fighter plane Thursday ... when something went wrong and he crashed into Penmar golf course in Venice, CA. We're told Ford suffered multiple gashes to his head and was bleeding. Two doctors who happened to be at the golf course rushed over to treat the actor. Emergency personnel arrived to the scene a short time later. Ford was transported to a nearby hospital. 72-year-old...

3,600-square-foot 1977 contemporary home has 360-degree views of the Hollywood sign, the Griffith Park Observatory, downtown Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean. It has three bedrooms, four bathrooms, and an art studio. Villraigosa was mayor of LA from 2005 to 2013, when he was termed out...

Last weekend Saturday Night Live presented a skit that mocked terrorists – no, not Tea Partiers, the usual butt of Hollywood’s jokes and DHS surveillance, but ISIS itself. The bit got mixed reactions – some found it in offensively bad taste, some appreciated the dark humor. This raises a serious question about comedy: is it ever acceptable to joke about terrorism?

"Downton Abbey" is losing its Dowager Countess. Maggie Smith, who plays the sharp-tongued Violet on the beloved PBS drama, told the Times of London Sunday that the upcoming sixth season will be her last. Perhaps more alarming to fans, if that’s possible, was Smith’s broad hint that this could also be the finale for the show itself. "They say this is the last one, and I can't see how it could go on," Smith told the Times. “I mean, I certainly can't keep going ... To my knowledge, I must be 110 by now. We're into the late 1920s."