This article contains major spoilers for Sugar episode 6.
Virtually every “spoiler-free” Sugar review that ran in advance of the Colin Farrell-starring detective series’ premiere on Apple TV+ mentioned that the project featured a big twist. While one might consider it poor taste to “spoil” that a story even contains an enormous twist, it’s hard to blame the reviewers on this one.
The twist at the center of Sugar is so wild, so out-of-left-field, and so paradigm-shifting, that it’s almost impossible not to acknowledge. It would be like trying to write about Clifford the Big Red Dog while avoiding the fact that it contains a big red dog. The problem with letting the audience know that a big twist was coming, however, is that it took forever for the show to reveal it. Four whole weeks after the two-part April 5 premiere, in fact!
Even without the benefit of the revealing reviews,...
Virtually every “spoiler-free” Sugar review that ran in advance of the Colin Farrell-starring detective series’ premiere on Apple TV+ mentioned that the project featured a big twist. While one might consider it poor taste to “spoil” that a story even contains an enormous twist, it’s hard to blame the reviewers on this one.
The twist at the center of Sugar is so wild, so out-of-left-field, and so paradigm-shifting, that it’s almost impossible not to acknowledge. It would be like trying to write about Clifford the Big Red Dog while avoiding the fact that it contains a big red dog. The problem with letting the audience know that a big twist was coming, however, is that it took forever for the show to reveal it. Four whole weeks after the two-part April 5 premiere, in fact!
Even without the benefit of the revealing reviews,...
- 5/3/2024
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Elsbeth: Pictured: Carrie Preston as Elsbeth Tascioni Photo: Michael Parmelee/CBS ©2024 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Good Wife continues to live on through a second spinoff series: Elsbeth, featuring the recurring character played by Carrie Preston on both The Good Wife and its first spinoff, The Good Fight. The new series is certainly more lighthearted than The Good Wife, playing heavily on the Elsbeth character’s quirky personality and unconventional ways of solving cases. Robert King, who — with his wife, Michelle — created both The Good Wife and Elsbeth, talked about how they were envisioning an Elsbeth series, they kept coming back to one classic character: Peter Falk’s legendary detective from Columbo. (Click on the media bar below to hear Robert King) https://www.hollywoodoutbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/RObert_King_Elisbeth_Columbo_.mp3 Elsbeth airs Thursday nights on CBS, and episodes start streaming the following day on Paramount+.
- 4/5/2024
- by Hollywood Outbreak
- HollywoodOutbreak.com
Columbo wouldn’t know what to make of the technicolored outfits sported by amateur snoop Elsbeth Tascioni (played to quirky perfection by Emmy winner Carrie Preston). Yet the iconic TV detective, immortalized by the late Peter Falk and known for his shabby trench coat, would likely recognize a kindred spirit cut from the same metaphorical cloth. Elsbeth, a delightful spinoff built around a memorably offbeat character first introduced as a foil on Robert and Michelle King‘s The Good Wife and The Good Fight, is in good company. Peacock‘s terrific Poker Face, starring Natasha Lyonne as Charlie, an irreverent drifter with a gift for spotting murderous liars, follows a similar Columbo-like “how-catch-’em” light mystery format. We see the crime and the criminal—typically a well-known actor—before our hero even shows their face. Elsbeth’s madcap wardrobe and sunny sensibility, much like Columbo’s shambling demeanor and Charlie’s scrappy underdog persona,...
- 4/3/2024
- TV Insider
The actor talks to Vicki Power about the community of dog-walking, the genius of Peter Falk and the importance of a bedtime routine
Up early? Our Cavapoo, Sebby, enjoys getting me up at the crack of dawn, so by 7.30 we’re out the door heading for Streatham or Wandsworth Common, rain or shine. It’s nice – you get chatting to other dog walkers.
What’s for breakfast? Occasionally my wife [Kirsty] and I will cook a fry-up: bacon, egg, sausage, beans, toast, black pudding and tea. If not, we’ll snack until we have a Sunday roast around three or four. It’ll just be me and my wife: our eldest daughter is at university and our youngest daughter won’t be out of bed until 2pm.
Up early? Our Cavapoo, Sebby, enjoys getting me up at the crack of dawn, so by 7.30 we’re out the door heading for Streatham or Wandsworth Common, rain or shine. It’s nice – you get chatting to other dog walkers.
What’s for breakfast? Occasionally my wife [Kirsty] and I will cook a fry-up: bacon, egg, sausage, beans, toast, black pudding and tea. If not, we’ll snack until we have a Sunday roast around three or four. It’ll just be me and my wife: our eldest daughter is at university and our youngest daughter won’t be out of bed until 2pm.
- 3/17/2024
- by Vicki Power
- The Guardian - Film News
With the 96th Academy Awards in the history books, it’s time to become obsessed over the 77th Tony Awards. Nominations are April 30th with the awards set to air on CBS on June 16 from Lincoln Center. Among the contenders for Tony nominations are many musicals based on movies including “Back to the Future,’ “The Notebook,” “Water for Elephants” and “The Outsiders”: high profile revivals such as Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People” with Jeremy Strong; “Cabaret” with Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne and the Who’s “Tommy”; imports from London and transfers from off-Broadway.
Do you remember the Tony landscape 50 years ago? The 28th annual honors took place April 21, 1974, at the Shubert Theater and aired on ABC. And to say it was a star-studded affair is something of an understatement. Robert Preston, Peter Falk, Cicely Tyson, Florence Henderson hosted; presenters included Al Pacino –-let’s hope he had better...
Do you remember the Tony landscape 50 years ago? The 28th annual honors took place April 21, 1974, at the Shubert Theater and aired on ABC. And to say it was a star-studded affair is something of an understatement. Robert Preston, Peter Falk, Cicely Tyson, Florence Henderson hosted; presenters included Al Pacino –-let’s hope he had better...
- 3/14/2024
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Ed Mintz, the founder of the motion picture industry’s tried-and-true audience polling service CinemaScore, died February 6. He was 83.
Known for its mathematical “Coca-Cola” algorithm developed by Mintz, CinemaScore has been prized by studios and exhibitors since its inception in the early 1980s as a domestic box office barometer for movies when it comes to its opening-night audience grades. Pre-pandemic, an A+ CinemaScore meant a movie could leg out to a 4.8x multiple off its U.S./Canada box office opening; a B+ meant a 3.2x multiple to final domestic gross; C+ and D+ 2.4x; and an F 2.2x.
CinemaScore continues to be operated by Mintz’s two sons, Harold and Ricky Mintz.
Mintz, a math wizard since his teenage years when he penned a book about square roots, The Mintz Method, sparked to the idea for CinemaScore in his late 30s in 1978. Mintz and his wife, along with another couple,...
Known for its mathematical “Coca-Cola” algorithm developed by Mintz, CinemaScore has been prized by studios and exhibitors since its inception in the early 1980s as a domestic box office barometer for movies when it comes to its opening-night audience grades. Pre-pandemic, an A+ CinemaScore meant a movie could leg out to a 4.8x multiple off its U.S./Canada box office opening; a B+ meant a 3.2x multiple to final domestic gross; C+ and D+ 2.4x; and an F 2.2x.
CinemaScore continues to be operated by Mintz’s two sons, Harold and Ricky Mintz.
Mintz, a math wizard since his teenage years when he penned a book about square roots, The Mintz Method, sparked to the idea for CinemaScore in his late 30s in 1978. Mintz and his wife, along with another couple,...
- 2/10/2024
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
"The Twilight Zone" is often lauded for its social commentary; it condemned things like racism and nationalism and beauty standards, even as the world around it failed to follow suit. It was a bold and innovative show, but it was also churning out up to 37 episodes a season, so a few clunkers were all but guaranteed. Such was the case with season 3's "The Mirror," an episode that is very much not ahead of its time. Instead, it's perfectly in line with mainstream political opinion in 1961, and it makes for a somewhat dull, grating viewing experience as a result.
"The Mirror" focuses on a revolutionary figure named Ramos Clemente, who has just overthrown the previous government of a unspecified Central American country and is looking forward to his glorious reign. Although the episode does not call this man Fidel Castro, he's clearly based on him. He's played by Peter Falk,...
"The Mirror" focuses on a revolutionary figure named Ramos Clemente, who has just overthrown the previous government of a unspecified Central American country and is looking forward to his glorious reign. Although the episode does not call this man Fidel Castro, he's clearly based on him. He's played by Peter Falk,...
- 1/21/2024
- by Michael Boyle
- Slash Film
In a year that was defined by as much drama off-screen with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes as there was on-screen, 2023 saw the era of Peak TV come to a bruised end, but not without getting a few last solid punches in.
Ted Lasso sputtered to a pretty standard end as heavyweights Succession and Reservation Dogs made their last bows with exits on HBO and FX respectively that will almost certainly stand the test of time as some of the best finales ever executed. Entering the arena, filmmaker Boots Riley made his small screen debut with the quick witted and startling creatively I’m A Virgo on Amazon Prime Video. From the other side of the Atlantic, Adjani Salmon flexed some serious star power and unconventional wisdom on Paramount+/Showtime with Dreaming Whilst Black.
As the Great Contraction brought cancellations galore, removal of titles, and subscription hikes, one thing...
Ted Lasso sputtered to a pretty standard end as heavyweights Succession and Reservation Dogs made their last bows with exits on HBO and FX respectively that will almost certainly stand the test of time as some of the best finales ever executed. Entering the arena, filmmaker Boots Riley made his small screen debut with the quick witted and startling creatively I’m A Virgo on Amazon Prime Video. From the other side of the Atlantic, Adjani Salmon flexed some serious star power and unconventional wisdom on Paramount+/Showtime with Dreaming Whilst Black.
As the Great Contraction brought cancellations galore, removal of titles, and subscription hikes, one thing...
- 12/30/2023
- by Dominic Patten
- Deadline Film + TV
Wow! Here we are, with the final Blu-ray round-up of 2023! And it's a super-sized edition to close out the year, with a ton of great titles to check out. It's probably too late to add any of these to your Christmas list, but that doesn't mean you can't treat yourself to some new Blu-rays. Go ahead. You deserve it. In this edition, we've got the final "Indiana Jones" movie, a new animated version of those pizza-loving Ninja Turtles, Guillermo del Toro's take on "Pinocchio," a cult classic about some kids fighting monsters, Peter Falk solving mysteries, a rather disappointing legacy horror sequel, an original sci-fi flick from the director of "Rogue One," a biopic parody, a movie about killer animatronic pizza restaurant mascots, and a stone-cold classic from Oliver Stone. So let's get to it, and keep spinning those discs. See ya in 2024!
Read more: The 30 Best Westerns Of...
Read more: The 30 Best Westerns Of...
- 12/20/2023
- by Chris Evangelista
- Slash Film
The deceptively unassuming figure of Los Angeles homicide detective Lieutenant Columbo (Peter Falk), with his rumpled raincoat, cheap cigars, and seeming absentmindedness, might not call to mind the sprawling existentialist novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky. But Columbo’s ancestry can be traced all the way back to Porfiry Petrovich, the pesky, psychologically attuned investigator in Crime and Punishment.
Like that literary classic, the show that shares Columbo’s name functions as an inverted detective story, not so much a whodunit as a howcatchem. In each episode, we spend time with the murderer, soak up their milieu, and witness the commission of the crime. Only then does Columbo make his entrance onto the scene. From there, it’s an escalating battle of nerves between the dogged detective and the initially arrogant murderer.
While Rodion Raskolnikov, the tortured protagonist of Crime and Punishment, is an impoverished student who kills out of economic necessity...
Like that literary classic, the show that shares Columbo’s name functions as an inverted detective story, not so much a whodunit as a howcatchem. In each episode, we spend time with the murderer, soak up their milieu, and witness the commission of the crime. Only then does Columbo make his entrance onto the scene. From there, it’s an escalating battle of nerves between the dogged detective and the initially arrogant murderer.
While Rodion Raskolnikov, the tortured protagonist of Crime and Punishment, is an impoverished student who kills out of economic necessity...
- 12/7/2023
- by Budd Wilkins
- Slant Magazine
Adam Sandler is heading back to fifth grade for his latest film, Leo.
In the Netflix animated movie, the star voices a 70-year-old lizard named Leo, who for decades has served as a class pet for a rotating group of fifth graders. One day, he learns he only has a year left to live and plans to escape to freedom, but instead has to rescue the students from their mean substitute teacher.
Sandler, who also co-wrote and produced the project, told The Hollywood Reporter at its Los Angeles premiere on Sunday that he was inspired to a do a version of “Grease for the last year of elementary school,” while working with writer-director Robert Smigel to craft a musical comedy. Sandler stars in the voice cast alongside his daughters Sunny and Sadie, as well as wife Jackie, marking the second family collaboration they’ve done this year, after You Are...
In the Netflix animated movie, the star voices a 70-year-old lizard named Leo, who for decades has served as a class pet for a rotating group of fifth graders. One day, he learns he only has a year left to live and plans to escape to freedom, but instead has to rescue the students from their mean substitute teacher.
Sandler, who also co-wrote and produced the project, told The Hollywood Reporter at its Los Angeles premiere on Sunday that he was inspired to a do a version of “Grease for the last year of elementary school,” while working with writer-director Robert Smigel to craft a musical comedy. Sandler stars in the voice cast alongside his daughters Sunny and Sadie, as well as wife Jackie, marking the second family collaboration they’ve done this year, after You Are...
- 11/20/2023
- by Kirsten Chuba
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Peter S. Fischer, co-creator of “Murder, She Wrote,” died in a care facility in Pacific Grove, Calif. on Oct. 30. He was 88.
Fischer’s grandson Jake McElrath confirmed the news of his death.
Fischer was a writer, producer and novelist, known for penning over 40 scripts for “Murder, She Wrote.” He created the series alongside Richard Levinson and William Link. He also served as executive producer for several seasons. The hit murder-mystery crime show spanned 12 seasons, running from 1984-1992. Angela Lansbury starred as Jessica Fletcher, a widow who is both a mystery writer and amateur detective. She lives in the small coastal Maine town of Cabot Cove, where she frequently solves murders a step ahead of the police.
In a similar vein, Fischer also wrote 12 episodes of “Columbo,” the long-running crime drama about Lieutenant Columbo (Peter Falk), a homicide detective in Los Angeles. He additionally penned a season of “Ellery Queen,” another...
Fischer’s grandson Jake McElrath confirmed the news of his death.
Fischer was a writer, producer and novelist, known for penning over 40 scripts for “Murder, She Wrote.” He created the series alongside Richard Levinson and William Link. He also served as executive producer for several seasons. The hit murder-mystery crime show spanned 12 seasons, running from 1984-1992. Angela Lansbury starred as Jessica Fletcher, a widow who is both a mystery writer and amateur detective. She lives in the small coastal Maine town of Cabot Cove, where she frequently solves murders a step ahead of the police.
In a similar vein, Fischer also wrote 12 episodes of “Columbo,” the long-running crime drama about Lieutenant Columbo (Peter Falk), a homicide detective in Los Angeles. He additionally penned a season of “Ellery Queen,” another...
- 11/2/2023
- by Jaden Thompson
- Variety Film + TV
Peter S. Fischer, the late-blooming TV writer and producer who co-created Murder, She Wrote after serving on such other crime-solving series as Columbo, Baretta and Ellery Queen, has died. He was 88.
Fischer died Monday at a care facility in Pacific Grove, California, his grandson Jake McElrath announced.
He became a prolific novelist after he exited Hollywood, writing murder mysteries, of course.
Fischer, who had worked with Columbo co-creators Richard Levinson and William Link on the iconic Peter Falk series as well as on the Jim Hutton-starring Ellery Queen, accompanied the pair to a meeting with CBS executives in 1984, he recalled in a 2011 interview.
“CBS wanted to do a murder mystery and they called Dick, who was our ringleader. He said, ‘Ok, I’ll bring the boys,'” Fischer said. “We went over there and pitched a premise called Blacke’s Magic, about a retired magician who solves mysteries. It became...
Fischer died Monday at a care facility in Pacific Grove, California, his grandson Jake McElrath announced.
He became a prolific novelist after he exited Hollywood, writing murder mysteries, of course.
Fischer, who had worked with Columbo co-creators Richard Levinson and William Link on the iconic Peter Falk series as well as on the Jim Hutton-starring Ellery Queen, accompanied the pair to a meeting with CBS executives in 1984, he recalled in a 2011 interview.
“CBS wanted to do a murder mystery and they called Dick, who was our ringleader. He said, ‘Ok, I’ll bring the boys,'” Fischer said. “We went over there and pitched a premise called Blacke’s Magic, about a retired magician who solves mysteries. It became...
- 11/2/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Burt Young, who played Paulie in six of the “Rocky” films starring Sylvester Stallone, drawing an Oscar nomination for supporting actor for his performance in the 1976 original, has died, his daughter Anne Morea Steingieser confirmed to the New York Times. He was 83.
Roger Ebert gave Young his props for his performance in the first “Rocky” film: “And Burt Young as (Adrian’s) brother — defeated and resentful, loyal and bitter, caring about people enough to hurt them just to draw attention to his grief.” The New York Times — in an absolutely scathing, completely dismissive review of the film — nevertheless said: “Burt Young is effective as Rocky’s best friend, a beer-guzzling mug.”
Young’s temperamental, jealous but nonetheless loyal and caring Paulie Pennino was Rocky’s best friend — he would defend the Italian Stallion if someone insulted him. But he was a problematic friend who shouts at Adrian during her pregnancy,...
Roger Ebert gave Young his props for his performance in the first “Rocky” film: “And Burt Young as (Adrian’s) brother — defeated and resentful, loyal and bitter, caring about people enough to hurt them just to draw attention to his grief.” The New York Times — in an absolutely scathing, completely dismissive review of the film — nevertheless said: “Burt Young is effective as Rocky’s best friend, a beer-guzzling mug.”
Young’s temperamental, jealous but nonetheless loyal and caring Paulie Pennino was Rocky’s best friend — he would defend the Italian Stallion if someone insulted him. But he was a problematic friend who shouts at Adrian during her pregnancy,...
- 10/19/2023
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
Columbo was one of those shows that epitomized the 1970s — if you were young back then, you can still picture yourself watching it with your grandparents on their plastic-covered sofa with the volume too loud. You loved the sight of Peter Falk in his famous trenchcoat, And, of course, you were always impressed by the way he would catch the culprit at the end of the show. Fifty years later, the show is finding new audiences on streaming platforms — no doubt inspired by the Columbo comparisons mentioned in many reviews of the hit streaming series Poker Face. Falk, who won four Emmy Awards for playing the role, once talked to us about the qualities he loved most in the character. (Click on the media bar below to hear Peter Falk) https://www.hollywoodoutbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Peter_Falk_Columbo_.mp3 Columbo is currently streaming on Peacock and Amazon Freevee.
The...
The...
- 10/16/2023
- by Hollywood Outbreak
- HollywoodOutbreak.com
We know that the broadcast networks have produced some of its best series as spinoffs from other shows – like “Cheers” spawning “Frasier” and “Happy Days” giving us “Laverne and Shirley.” What is discussed less often are the stinkers that are spun from successful shows much more often. For instance, “AfterMASH” probably seemed like a good idea in 1983 when it hit the CBS air the fall after “M*A*S*H” departed. But it never caught on. The same was true of the producers of “Friends” deciding to give Matt LeBlanc his own series as his Joey Tribbiani character in 2004. But it too proved to be a relatively short-lived flop.
TV history is jam-packed with ill-conceived and poorly-received spinoffs that in hindsight seem tailor-made for failure. I’m talking about you, “Mrs. Columbo,” and you too, “The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.” In fact, “Mrs. Columbo” was an idea that neither the producers of the original...
TV history is jam-packed with ill-conceived and poorly-received spinoffs that in hindsight seem tailor-made for failure. I’m talking about you, “Mrs. Columbo,” and you too, “The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.” In fact, “Mrs. Columbo” was an idea that neither the producers of the original...
- 10/9/2023
- by Ray Richmond and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
We know that the broadcast networks have produced some of its best series as spinoffs from other shows – like “Cheers” spawning “Frasier” and “Happy Days” giving us “Laverne and Shirley.” What is discussed less often are the stinkers that are spun from successful shows much more often. For instance, “AfterMASH” probably seemed like a good idea in 1983 when it hit the CBS air the fall after “M*A*S*H” departed. But it never caught on. The same was true of the producers of “Friends” deciding to give Matt LeBlanc his own series as his Joey Tribbiani character in 2004. But it too proved to be a relatively short-lived flop.
TV history is jam-packed with ill-conceived and poorly-received spinoffs that in hindsight seem tailor-made for failure. I’m talking about you, “Mrs. Columbo,” and you too, “The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.” In fact, “Mrs. Columbo” was an idea that neither the producers of the original...
TV history is jam-packed with ill-conceived and poorly-received spinoffs that in hindsight seem tailor-made for failure. I’m talking about you, “Mrs. Columbo,” and you too, “The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.” In fact, “Mrs. Columbo” was an idea that neither the producers of the original...
- 10/8/2023
- by Misty Holland, Ray Richmond and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Since 1991 (and primarily within the last 10 years), a total of six TV performers have earned recognition from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for reprising roles that had brought them Golden Globe nominations at least a decade earlier. With this and his own stellar HFPA track record in mind, Kelsey Grammer – the two-time Best TV Comedy Actor-winning star of “Frasier” – can more than reasonably be expected to join said prestigious club by scoring his ninth bid in the category (and first in 22 years) for the Paramount Plus revival of his beloved NBC sitcom. What’s more, he might actually make history as the first actor involved in such a situation to pull off a comeback victory.
Grammer collected his first eight Golden Globe nominations for “Frasier” between 1994 and 2002 and emerged triumphant in both 1996 and 2001. After saying goodbye to Dr. Frasier Crane 19 years ago, he is now set to lead a long-awaited...
Grammer collected his first eight Golden Globe nominations for “Frasier” between 1994 and 2002 and emerged triumphant in both 1996 and 2001. After saying goodbye to Dr. Frasier Crane 19 years ago, he is now set to lead a long-awaited...
- 10/6/2023
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
There’s no shortage of brilliant detectives in novels, film and television, but one of the greatest — or at least the one with the fanciest facial hair — is Hercule Poirot. The Belgian investigator, created by Agatha Christie, has appeared 33 novels, more than 50 short stories, and has been played by a variety of iconic actors.
But for whatever reason, Poirot has only sporadically appeared on the big screen, with many of his earliest movie appearances being lost to time, while some of his other noteworthy adventures were rewritten as vehicles for Christie’s other beloved creation, Miss Marple.
Here we take a look at the various theatrically-released adventures of Hercule Poirot, from the 1930s to today, and see which of his mysteries were truly worth solving.
Photo credit: Columbia
Honorable Mention: “Murder By Death” (1976)
Neil Simon’s wacky spoof of the supersleuth genre, directed by Robert Moore, features an all-star cast...
But for whatever reason, Poirot has only sporadically appeared on the big screen, with many of his earliest movie appearances being lost to time, while some of his other noteworthy adventures were rewritten as vehicles for Christie’s other beloved creation, Miss Marple.
Here we take a look at the various theatrically-released adventures of Hercule Poirot, from the 1930s to today, and see which of his mysteries were truly worth solving.
Photo credit: Columbia
Honorable Mention: “Murder By Death” (1976)
Neil Simon’s wacky spoof of the supersleuth genre, directed by Robert Moore, features an all-star cast...
- 9/15/2023
- by William Bibbiani
- The Wrap
Saturday marks 96 years since the great Peter Falk was born (9-16-27), which strikes us as a great reason to revisit a detective drama as timeless as it is entertaining. In the whole of television history, few actors have been as identified with a single character than was Falk with Lieutenant Columbo, the eccentric, rumpled, cigar-chomping, trench coat-clad, implausibly wily Los Angeles Police Department homicide detective who always got his man. In the process, Falk and the producers revolutionized what a cop show could be. We’re wishing him a Happy Birthday, even though he left us on June 23, 2011.
It’s been more than a half-century since Falk began portraying the world’s favorite lieutenant as part of the rotating “NBC Mystery Movie” franchise on September 15, 1971. It would grow to become a global phenomenon originally across eight seasons (1971-78), then again sporadically from 1989 to 2003. The series itself would win 13 Emmys.
It’s been more than a half-century since Falk began portraying the world’s favorite lieutenant as part of the rotating “NBC Mystery Movie” franchise on September 15, 1971. It would grow to become a global phenomenon originally across eight seasons (1971-78), then again sporadically from 1989 to 2003. The series itself would win 13 Emmys.
- 9/14/2023
- by Ray Richmond and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Saturday marks 96 years since the great Peter Falk was born (9-16-27), which strikes us as a great reason to revisit a detective drama as timeless as it is entertaining. In the whole of television history, few actors have been as identified with a single character than was Falk with Lieutenant Columbo, the eccentric, rumpled, cigar-chomping, trench coat-clad, implausibly wily Los Angeles Police Department homicide detective who always got his man. In the process, Falk and the producers revolutionized what a cop show could be.
It’s been more than a half-century since Falk began portraying the world’s favorite lieutenant as part of the rotating “NBC Mystery Movie” franchise on September 15, 1971. It would grow to become a global phenomenon originally across eight seasons (1971-78), then again sporadically from 1989 to 2003. The series itself would win 13 Emmys..
SEE30 best TV detectives ranked
From the first official installment of “Columbo” – entitled “Murder by the Book...
It’s been more than a half-century since Falk began portraying the world’s favorite lieutenant as part of the rotating “NBC Mystery Movie” franchise on September 15, 1971. It would grow to become a global phenomenon originally across eight seasons (1971-78), then again sporadically from 1989 to 2003. The series itself would win 13 Emmys..
SEE30 best TV detectives ranked
From the first official installment of “Columbo” – entitled “Murder by the Book...
- 9/13/2023
- by Chris Beachum and Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
Giuliano Montaldo, the admired Italian filmmaker who wrote and directed Sacco & Vanzetti, the John Cassavetes-starring Machine Gun McCain and every episode of the big-budget 1982 miniseries Marco Polo, has died. He was 93.
Montaldo died Wednesday at his home in Rome, his family announced.
His big-screen résumé also included The Reckless (1965), starring Renato Salvatori; Grand Slam (1967), starring Janet Leigh; Giordano Bruno (1973), starring Gian Maria Volonté and Charlotte Rampling; And Agnes Chose to Die (1976), starring Ingrid Thulin; and The Gold Rimmed Glasses (1987), starring Philippe Noiret, Rupert Everett, Stefania Sandrelli and Valeria Golino.
Of the 20 films Montaldo helmed, 16 were set to music by Ennio Morricone; no other director collaborated with the famed composer more.
Montaldo also served as president of Italy’s Rai Cinema from 1999-2004.
Montaldo’s gangster tale Machine Gun McCain (1969), which also starred Britt Ekland, Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk, and Sacco & Vanzetti (1971), about the Massachusetts trial and 1927 execution of...
Montaldo died Wednesday at his home in Rome, his family announced.
His big-screen résumé also included The Reckless (1965), starring Renato Salvatori; Grand Slam (1967), starring Janet Leigh; Giordano Bruno (1973), starring Gian Maria Volonté and Charlotte Rampling; And Agnes Chose to Die (1976), starring Ingrid Thulin; and The Gold Rimmed Glasses (1987), starring Philippe Noiret, Rupert Everett, Stefania Sandrelli and Valeria Golino.
Of the 20 films Montaldo helmed, 16 were set to music by Ennio Morricone; no other director collaborated with the famed composer more.
Montaldo also served as president of Italy’s Rai Cinema from 1999-2004.
Montaldo’s gangster tale Machine Gun McCain (1969), which also starred Britt Ekland, Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk, and Sacco & Vanzetti (1971), about the Massachusetts trial and 1927 execution of...
- 9/6/2023
- by Alberto Crespi
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This story about Natasha Lyonne and “Poker Face” first appeared in the Down to the Wire: Comedy issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine. All actor interviews in that issue were conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike began.
In each episode of “Poker Face,” the Peacock series created by Rian Johnson, Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie Cale, a former casino worker on the run from some very bad men, solves murder mysteries in the towns she travels through, aided by her ability to detect when someone is lying. Charlie is no saint, but she lives by a strong moral code.
But let’s let Lyonne explain it in the most Natasha Lyonne way imaginable. “Rian and I have this real shared love of crossword puzzles and puzzles in general — it’s how we pass time together on set between shots,” she said. “So we discovered that Charlie was going to have this...
In each episode of “Poker Face,” the Peacock series created by Rian Johnson, Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie Cale, a former casino worker on the run from some very bad men, solves murder mysteries in the towns she travels through, aided by her ability to detect when someone is lying. Charlie is no saint, but she lives by a strong moral code.
But let’s let Lyonne explain it in the most Natasha Lyonne way imaginable. “Rian and I have this real shared love of crossword puzzles and puzzles in general — it’s how we pass time together on set between shots,” she said. “So we discovered that Charlie was going to have this...
- 8/16/2023
- by Missy Schwartz
- The Wrap
William Friedkin, the Oscar-winning director of “The French Connection” and legend behind “The Exorcist,” has died at age 87. His death in Los Angeles was first reported by Variety, and the news was confirmed by Chapman University dean Stephen Galloway, a friend of Friedkin’s wife, former studio head Sherry Lansing.
Friedkin’s sensational 1971 “The French Connection” earned five Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Picture. Friedkin’s 1973 “The Exorcist” changed the game for horror, earning Best Picture and Director nominations.
Friedkin is regarded as a maverick of the New Hollywood school of filmmakers alongside the likes of Peter Bogdanovich and Francis Ford Coppola. His other features include his breakout “The Birthday Party,” “The Boys in the Band,” “Sorcerer,” “Cruising,” “To Live and Die in L.A,” “Bug,” and most recently “Killer Joe” — all films that garnered controversy in one way or another.
Friedkin’s latest film, “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial,...
Friedkin’s sensational 1971 “The French Connection” earned five Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Picture. Friedkin’s 1973 “The Exorcist” changed the game for horror, earning Best Picture and Director nominations.
Friedkin is regarded as a maverick of the New Hollywood school of filmmakers alongside the likes of Peter Bogdanovich and Francis Ford Coppola. His other features include his breakout “The Birthday Party,” “The Boys in the Band,” “Sorcerer,” “Cruising,” “To Live and Die in L.A,” “Bug,” and most recently “Killer Joe” — all films that garnered controversy in one way or another.
Friedkin’s latest film, “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial,...
- 8/7/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Natasha Lyonne may have earned her fifth Emmy nomination Wednesday, this time for her role as amateur detective Charlie Cale in Peacock’s Poker Face, but, while the actress is grateful for the accolade, she spent her morning thinking mostly about the looming threat of artificial intelligence.
She told Deadline that she and series creator Rian Johnson briefly spoke of the nomination, if only so she could tell him to “try to convince Karina [Longworth, his wife] to be my date” to the Emmys.
Related: Emmy Winners For Best Drama Since 1960: A Photo Gallery
For the most part, the pair have been discussing AI — which is a hot topic in Hollywood as SAG-AFTRA continues contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The actors guild’s contract is set to expire at midnight Pt, when the actors could go on strike if they don’t reach a deal.
Related:...
She told Deadline that she and series creator Rian Johnson briefly spoke of the nomination, if only so she could tell him to “try to convince Karina [Longworth, his wife] to be my date” to the Emmys.
Related: Emmy Winners For Best Drama Since 1960: A Photo Gallery
For the most part, the pair have been discussing AI — which is a hot topic in Hollywood as SAG-AFTRA continues contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The actors guild’s contract is set to expire at midnight Pt, when the actors could go on strike if they don’t reach a deal.
Related:...
- 7/12/2023
- by Katie Campione
- Deadline Film + TV
‘The Out-Laws’ Review: Adam Devine Tangles With Pierce Brosnan In Over-Stuffed Netflix Action Comedy
In 1979, Peter Falk and the late great Alan Arkin made the perfect odd couple in the classic action comedy The In-Laws. It even spawned a not-bad remake with Michael Douglas and Albert Brooks in 2003. The difference between those films, and a bit of an attempt to do something similar in the cleverly titled The Out-Laws, which starts streaming on Netflix today, is that those movies were genuinely funny –particularly the Arkin-Falk teaming. But this one, also a kind of Meet the Parents on steroids, relies far too heavily on nonstop and incessant action scenes to carry us through its 95-minute running time.
The fault here does not lie with its cast, which is pretty impressive overall. Basically this is a comedic vehicle for Adam Devine, who not only stars but also helped develop the Ben Zazove and Evan Turner script as well as producing with Happy Madison’s Adam Sandler and Allen Covert.
The fault here does not lie with its cast, which is pretty impressive overall. Basically this is a comedic vehicle for Adam Devine, who not only stars but also helped develop the Ben Zazove and Evan Turner script as well as producing with Happy Madison’s Adam Sandler and Allen Covert.
- 7/7/2023
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
In the fall of 2021, Olivia Colman scored her first career Emmy for “The Crown” despite not having succeeded on her Oscar bid for “The Father” that spring. This made her the 16th performer to prevail at the Emmys directly after going home empty-handed at the Oscars and the fourth to do so during the 21st century. Now that the 2023 Emmy nominations ballots have been released, eight of the 16 actors who lost Oscars at the most recent ceremony officially have shots at joining Colman on this list.
Gold Derby’s Emmy odds currently indicate that the man and woman with the best hopes of following in Colman’s footsteps are Brian Tyree Henry and Hong Chau, who just received their first career Academy Award nominations for their respective supporting turns in “Causeway” and “The Whale.” Henry is seeking his second comedy supporting Emmy notice for “Atlanta,” while Chau could pull double...
Gold Derby’s Emmy odds currently indicate that the man and woman with the best hopes of following in Colman’s footsteps are Brian Tyree Henry and Hong Chau, who just received their first career Academy Award nominations for their respective supporting turns in “Causeway” and “The Whale.” Henry is seeking his second comedy supporting Emmy notice for “Atlanta,” while Chau could pull double...
- 7/5/2023
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
San Marcos, Calif – There was an Alan Arkin for every generation. Post World War Two adults may have seen him at Chicago’s “The Second City.” Baby Boomers remember his films “Wait Until Dark” and “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians are Coming” and Gen X saw him in “The In-Laws”, “Glengarry Glen Ross” and his Oscar winning turn in “Little Miss Sunshine.” He even did a Netflix series, “The Kominsky Method.” For every generation, for every form of acting, there was Alan Arkin. He passed away on June 29th, 2023, at the age of 89.
Alan Wolf Arkin was born in Brooklyn, and started acting at age 10. After not graduating from two colleges he joined The Second City in 1960 Chicago, one year after it was founded. His feature film debut was the musical “Calypso Heat Wave” (1957), he debuted on Broadway in a Second City revue and did episodic TV during the 1960s.
Alan Wolf Arkin was born in Brooklyn, and started acting at age 10. After not graduating from two colleges he joined The Second City in 1960 Chicago, one year after it was founded. His feature film debut was the musical “Calypso Heat Wave” (1957), he debuted on Broadway in a Second City revue and did episodic TV during the 1960s.
- 7/3/2023
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
The reaction was always the same. During my high school days, I must have seen “Wait Until Dark” five times during its theatrical release. Audrey Hepburn was appealing, of course, but the main attraction for me was Alan Arkin’s chilling portrayal of a psycho sadist who, in the course of reclaiming a misdirected heroin shipment, terrorizes a blind woman in her apartment. Late in the 1967 thriller, the distressed damsel temporarily gets the upper hand by stabbing her tormentor. But as she walks away, the psycho leaps back into her kitchen and grabs her ankle.
And every time he did this, every time I saw “Wait Until Dark,” people in the audience screamed. Really, really loudly. Like, louder than the folks around me in a theater seven years later during the first jump-scare in “Jaws.”
While reading the online obituaries and social media tributes as the sad news of Arkin’s death spread,...
And every time he did this, every time I saw “Wait Until Dark,” people in the audience screamed. Really, really loudly. Like, louder than the folks around me in a theater seven years later during the first jump-scare in “Jaws.”
While reading the online obituaries and social media tributes as the sad news of Arkin’s death spread,...
- 7/1/2023
- by Joe Leydon
- Variety Film + TV
The first time I saw Alan Arkin onscreen, he scared the hell out of me.
The veteran Academy Award-winning actor, who died Thursday at the age of 89, is best known these days for his wittily avuncular presence in films like Little Miss Sunshine and such television shows as The Kominsky Method, his last great acting role. But my first exposure to him came in middle school, where for some inexplicable reason the powers that be decided that treating the entire student body to a screening of the film Wait Until Dark was a good idea.
In that classic 1967 thriller, Arkin played Harry Roat, the most sadistic member of a trio of villains terrorizing a blind Audrey Hepburn because they think she possesses a doll filled with heroin. In a climactic scene set in almost near-darkness, a seemingly dead Roat suddenly jumps into the frame and grabs Hepburn by the leg.
The veteran Academy Award-winning actor, who died Thursday at the age of 89, is best known these days for his wittily avuncular presence in films like Little Miss Sunshine and such television shows as The Kominsky Method, his last great acting role. But my first exposure to him came in middle school, where for some inexplicable reason the powers that be decided that treating the entire student body to a screening of the film Wait Until Dark was a good idea.
In that classic 1967 thriller, Arkin played Harry Roat, the most sadistic member of a trio of villains terrorizing a blind Audrey Hepburn because they think she possesses a doll filled with heroin. In a climactic scene set in almost near-darkness, a seemingly dead Roat suddenly jumps into the frame and grabs Hepburn by the leg.
- 6/30/2023
- by Frank Scheck
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In films ranging from Catch-22 to Little Miss Sunshine, Arkin was renowned for the technical virtuosity he brought to each role of his colossal career
Alan Arkin, Oscar winning actor in Little Miss Sunshine, dies aged 89Alan Arkin: a life in pictures
Tough, unsentimental, witty, gravel-voiced and bullet-headed, Alan Arkin was a wiry character actor and comic presence who had a colossal career on stage, TV and movies. He came from the era of male stars such as Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Ben Gazzara, Robert Duvall and Peter Falk – actors who projected a kind of take-it-or-leave-it pugnacity, integrity and strength. The always sympathetic and technically brilliant Arkin perhaps came into his own late in life, his face and shaven head morphing into a black-comic skull of derision and hilarity as the outrageous old guy who says what he wants because he’s decided he doesn’t care any more what...
Alan Arkin, Oscar winning actor in Little Miss Sunshine, dies aged 89Alan Arkin: a life in pictures
Tough, unsentimental, witty, gravel-voiced and bullet-headed, Alan Arkin was a wiry character actor and comic presence who had a colossal career on stage, TV and movies. He came from the era of male stars such as Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Ben Gazzara, Robert Duvall and Peter Falk – actors who projected a kind of take-it-or-leave-it pugnacity, integrity and strength. The always sympathetic and technically brilliant Arkin perhaps came into his own late in life, his face and shaven head morphing into a black-comic skull of derision and hilarity as the outrageous old guy who says what he wants because he’s decided he doesn’t care any more what...
- 6/30/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Alan Arkin, the legendary character actor, has died at age 89. The Arkin family confirmed his passing in a statement to People Magazine. “Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man. A loving husband, father, grand and great grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed.”
Indeed, the legendary Alan Arkin had an incredible, enduring career. He first made a name for himself on stage, but here’s an interesting tidbit – he was nominated for an Oscar for his first movie role: The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming. He was a Tony Award winner when he was cast but had yet to make a movie. He won the role because he was raised in a Russian-Jewish household, making him the ideal choice to play the film’s comic hero. Arkin’s performance was so lauded that he became a sensation playing ethnic roles.
Indeed, the legendary Alan Arkin had an incredible, enduring career. He first made a name for himself on stage, but here’s an interesting tidbit – he was nominated for an Oscar for his first movie role: The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming. He was a Tony Award winner when he was cast but had yet to make a movie. He won the role because he was raised in a Russian-Jewish household, making him the ideal choice to play the film’s comic hero. Arkin’s performance was so lauded that he became a sensation playing ethnic roles.
- 6/30/2023
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Alan Arkin, the versatile actor who finally won an Oscar — for Little Miss Sunshine — after making a career of disappearing into characters with turns that could be comic, chilling or charming, has died. He was 89.
His sons, Adam, Matthew and Anthony, announced the news in a joint statement. “Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man,” they said. “A loving husband, father, grand and great-grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed.”
He had heart trouble and died Thursday at his home in San Marcos, California.
In his first significant role in a feature, Arkin received a rare best actor Oscar nomination for work in a comedy when he played a Russian sailor whose submarine is marooned off the coast of a New England fishing village in Norman Jewison’s The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming (1966).
Two years later,...
His sons, Adam, Matthew and Anthony, announced the news in a joint statement. “Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man,” they said. “A loving husband, father, grand and great-grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed.”
He had heart trouble and died Thursday at his home in San Marcos, California.
In his first significant role in a feature, Arkin received a rare best actor Oscar nomination for work in a comedy when he played a Russian sailor whose submarine is marooned off the coast of a New England fishing village in Norman Jewison’s The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming (1966).
Two years later,...
- 6/30/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Alan Arkin, the Oscar-winning actor who starred in films like Little Miss Sunshine, Argo, and Glengarry Glen Rose during a career that spanned over 60 years, has died at the age of 89.
Arkin’s sons Adam, Matthew, and Anthony confirmed their father’s death in a statement to People. “Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man,” his sons wrote. “A loving husband, father, grand and great grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed.” No cause of death was provided.
Arkin...
Arkin’s sons Adam, Matthew, and Anthony confirmed their father’s death in a statement to People. “Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man,” his sons wrote. “A loving husband, father, grand and great grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed.” No cause of death was provided.
Arkin...
- 6/30/2023
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Gena Rowlands is the Ocar-nominated thespian who made a name for herself thanks to a series of manic, high-wire performances in several films, many of them directed by her late husband, indie maverick John Cassavetes. But how many of her titles remain classics? Let’s take a look back at 12 of Rowlands’s greatest films, ranked worst to best.
After making a name for herself with bit parts onstage and onscreen, Rowlands flourished when she became the muse of Cassavetes, who she married in 1954. A fellow performer, Cassavetes would raise money from appearing in movies like “The Dirty Dozen” (1967) and “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968), immediately funneling the funds into his own projects. His wife was usually front and center, as were their family members and friends.
Rowlands’s operatic performances were a perfect match for her husband’s improvisational, energetic films, including “Faces” (1968), “Minnie and Moskowitz” (1971), “Opening Night” (1977) and “Love Streams” (1984). Her...
After making a name for herself with bit parts onstage and onscreen, Rowlands flourished when she became the muse of Cassavetes, who she married in 1954. A fellow performer, Cassavetes would raise money from appearing in movies like “The Dirty Dozen” (1967) and “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968), immediately funneling the funds into his own projects. His wife was usually front and center, as were their family members and friends.
Rowlands’s operatic performances were a perfect match for her husband’s improvisational, energetic films, including “Faces” (1968), “Minnie and Moskowitz” (1971), “Opening Night” (1977) and “Love Streams” (1984). Her...
- 6/17/2023
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
This story about Bill Hader and Seth Meyers and “Barry” and “Late Night” first appeared in the Comedy Series issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.
The moment Bill Hader and Seth Meyers met on “Saturday Night Live,” Meyers immediately understood that Hader was a film nerd. “The first time Bill came into my office after he got hired, when he left, I somehow had a list of 12 foreign films to watch,” Meyers said during a lengthy joint interview conducted before the writers’ strike, the full version of which you can watch here or at the bottom of this article. “It’s like the guy from the video store following you around,” Hader added with a laugh.
And yet, even as the two became close friends on “SNL” (and an iconic duo via Hader’s Stefon on Weekend Update), Meyers could never have predicted that Hader would make something like “Barry.
The moment Bill Hader and Seth Meyers met on “Saturday Night Live,” Meyers immediately understood that Hader was a film nerd. “The first time Bill came into my office after he got hired, when he left, I somehow had a list of 12 foreign films to watch,” Meyers said during a lengthy joint interview conducted before the writers’ strike, the full version of which you can watch here or at the bottom of this article. “It’s like the guy from the video store following you around,” Hader added with a laugh.
And yet, even as the two became close friends on “SNL” (and an iconic duo via Hader’s Stefon on Weekend Update), Meyers could never have predicted that Hader would make something like “Barry.
- 6/12/2023
- by Adam Chitwood
- The Wrap
In a studio overlooking Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, Rian Johnson is strapped to a lie detector machine. Next to him at the controls sits Natasha Lyonne, twiddling the device’s knobs with all the sinister intent of a supervillain. This photoshoot tableau is, of course, ripped right from the Meet the Parents Ben Stiller-Robert De Niro interrogation scene. Next, in an homage to the pithiest of TV detective tropes, Lyonne will pose at a typewriter, fake-talking into a rotary-dial phone. The visual nod this time goes to Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote.
In fact, the late, great Lansbury is connective tissue for Johnson and Lyonne. Lansbury and Lyonne appeared briefly together in Johnson’s film, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, on a Zoom call playing the mystery game Among Us with Daniel Craig’s Detective Benoit Blanc.
Little did we know back when that film premiered,...
In fact, the late, great Lansbury is connective tissue for Johnson and Lyonne. Lansbury and Lyonne appeared briefly together in Johnson’s film, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, on a Zoom call playing the mystery game Among Us with Daniel Craig’s Detective Benoit Blanc.
Little did we know back when that film premiered,...
- 6/1/2023
- by Antonia Blyth
- Deadline Film + TV
A third Wings of Desire centering on the angels that watch over us, is not in the cards, German director Wim Wenders said today at the Cannes press conference for his latest in competition title at the fest, Perfect Days.
“I don’t think I would go back to the idea of angels, if anything this comes pretty close,” Wenders said about Perfect Days.
Wings of Desire, which won Wim Wenders best director in 1987 at Cannes, and its 1993 sequel, Faraway, So Close!, which won him the Grand Jury Prize, explore the lives of angels who opt to lose their immortal wings and fall to Earth, tending to problems on the ground. The first installment took place in a divided Berlin with the Wall, while the sequel was set in the unified German capital.
“My angels forever disappeared in the sky,” said Wenders referring to the franchise’s late actors Peter Falk and Bruno Ganz.
“I don’t think I would go back to the idea of angels, if anything this comes pretty close,” Wenders said about Perfect Days.
Wings of Desire, which won Wim Wenders best director in 1987 at Cannes, and its 1993 sequel, Faraway, So Close!, which won him the Grand Jury Prize, explore the lives of angels who opt to lose their immortal wings and fall to Earth, tending to problems on the ground. The first installment took place in a divided Berlin with the Wall, while the sequel was set in the unified German capital.
“My angels forever disappeared in the sky,” said Wenders referring to the franchise’s late actors Peter Falk and Bruno Ganz.
- 5/26/2023
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
The latest in the Hannah Swenson Mysteries series installment airs tonight on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.
Hannah (Alison Sweeney) is again drawn into a murder investigation, and her fiancé and police detective Mike (Cameron Mathison) is right there by her side, helping the budding detective sift through evidence.
The series has been a bright spot on the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries schedule, first as Murder She Baked, as Hannah runs a thriving bakery, tickling the sweet tooth of Eden Lake's residents.
The Carrot Cake Murder brings the whole town together with a cold case in a sweeping mystery that spans several decades. It's a lot of fun from start to finish.
We had the opportunity to talk with Mathison in support of the Carrot Cake Murder, and he's as pleased as we are that the series lives on (another movie was just announced).
"We're a really fun cast. We get along really,...
Hannah (Alison Sweeney) is again drawn into a murder investigation, and her fiancé and police detective Mike (Cameron Mathison) is right there by her side, helping the budding detective sift through evidence.
The series has been a bright spot on the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries schedule, first as Murder She Baked, as Hannah runs a thriving bakery, tickling the sweet tooth of Eden Lake's residents.
The Carrot Cake Murder brings the whole town together with a cold case in a sweeping mystery that spans several decades. It's a lot of fun from start to finish.
We had the opportunity to talk with Mathison in support of the Carrot Cake Murder, and he's as pleased as we are that the series lives on (another movie was just announced).
"We're a really fun cast. We get along really,...
- 5/19/2023
- by Carissa Pavlica
- TVfanatic
Exclusive: Shia Labeouf has joined action thriller Mace, directed by Jon Amiel from a script by David Chisholm. Trevor Jackson will co-star. Myriad Pictures is shopping the project to buyers here in Cannes this week.
Mace is the harrowing story of two very different types of cops – a veteran officer Mace (Labeouf), dangerous and corrupt, and Virgil Woods (Jackson), a young rookie who believes that he can change the system that fosters cops like Mace from within. It’s inspired by the recent racial injustice on the streets of America and Woods refuses to be bullied and pits his principles against the amoral Mac. Woods risks everything he believes to stop Mace from destroying the city when Mace unleashes a gang war to cover up his crimes. Everyone around Mace is in danger as Mace plays his game and tries to conceal his tracks, no matter the cost.
Mace is the harrowing story of two very different types of cops – a veteran officer Mace (Labeouf), dangerous and corrupt, and Virgil Woods (Jackson), a young rookie who believes that he can change the system that fosters cops like Mace from within. It’s inspired by the recent racial injustice on the streets of America and Woods refuses to be bullied and pits his principles against the amoral Mac. Woods risks everything he believes to stop Mace from destroying the city when Mace unleashes a gang war to cover up his crimes. Everyone around Mace is in danger as Mace plays his game and tries to conceal his tracks, no matter the cost.
- 5/17/2023
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
The grand theme of Wings of Desire, Wim Wenders’s fantasy of angels in Berlin before the end of the Cold War, is storytelling in all its forms as a coping mechanism of the human race. Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and his more objective but similarly empathetic cohort, Cassiel (Otto Sander), whose wings are only fleetingly shown, regularly swap tales of the small behaviors and interactions they’ve witnessed after traversing the skies and streets to hear “only what is spiritual in people’s minds.”
Among those observed are an elderly poet, Homer (Curt Bois), wandering the sites of his vanished haunts from the pre-Nazi era, wondering why “an epic of peace” has never been sung; Peter Falk, playing some eternal version of himself, arriving to shoot a film and provide a good measure of American soul and humor to Berliners and angels alike; and waitress turned trapeze artist Marion preparing...
Among those observed are an elderly poet, Homer (Curt Bois), wandering the sites of his vanished haunts from the pre-Nazi era, wondering why “an epic of peace” has never been sung; Peter Falk, playing some eternal version of himself, arriving to shoot a film and provide a good measure of American soul and humor to Berliners and angels alike; and waitress turned trapeze artist Marion preparing...
- 5/10/2023
- by Bill Weber
- Slant Magazine
Broken Lizard, the five-man comedy troupe which formed in 1990 at a fraternity on the upstate New York campus of preppy Colgate University, have been stoner icons since the very first scene of their 2001 breakout hit “Super Troopers.” That’s when Jay Chandrasekhar’s mustachioed Vermont cop Lieutenant Arcot “Thorny” Ramathorn pulls over a car full of potheads and proceeds to terrorize and freak them out.
Like they did in 2018 with “Super Troopers 2,” their newest film, “Quasi,” a reimagining of Victor Hugo’s “Hunchback of Notre Dame,” is a no-holds-barred, scatological combination of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” crossed with Mel Brooks’ “Robin Hood: Men in Tights.” It premieres today — April 20 — as a Hulu Original through Fox Searchlight.
Boasting their own cannabis brand, Smokin’ Lizard, Chandrasekhar notes, “When we get high with friends like Willie Nelson and Snoop Dogg, they take it seriously enough to try to smoke us...
Like they did in 2018 with “Super Troopers 2,” their newest film, “Quasi,” a reimagining of Victor Hugo’s “Hunchback of Notre Dame,” is a no-holds-barred, scatological combination of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” crossed with Mel Brooks’ “Robin Hood: Men in Tights.” It premieres today — April 20 — as a Hulu Original through Fox Searchlight.
Boasting their own cannabis brand, Smokin’ Lizard, Chandrasekhar notes, “When we get high with friends like Willie Nelson and Snoop Dogg, they take it seriously enough to try to smoke us...
- 4/20/2023
- by Roy Trakin
- Variety Film + TV
Peacock’s hit Poker Face has been a hit for creator Rian Johnson, who envisioned recreating the magic of 70s and 80s case-of-the-week classics like Rockford Files and Columbo — and it worked.
Related: Deadline Studio At Contenders Television 2023 – Steven Yeun, Ali Wong, Dominique Fishback, Riley Keough, Natasha Lyonne & More
Johnson tips his hat to star Natasha Lyonne for much of the show’s success.
“I had the idea in my head of wanting to do a case of the week, episodic type show. Something that was kind of like the TV shows I grew up loving like Magnum P.I., Murder, She Wrote and Quantum Leap. I wanted to go back to that versus a show with a mystery that runs across the whole season,” Johnson said during Deadline’s TV Contender event on Saturday. “What I realized is that what these shows have in common is they all have...
Related: Deadline Studio At Contenders Television 2023 – Steven Yeun, Ali Wong, Dominique Fishback, Riley Keough, Natasha Lyonne & More
Johnson tips his hat to star Natasha Lyonne for much of the show’s success.
“I had the idea in my head of wanting to do a case of the week, episodic type show. Something that was kind of like the TV shows I grew up loving like Magnum P.I., Murder, She Wrote and Quantum Leap. I wanted to go back to that versus a show with a mystery that runs across the whole season,” Johnson said during Deadline’s TV Contender event on Saturday. “What I realized is that what these shows have in common is they all have...
- 4/15/2023
- by Rosy Cordero
- Deadline Film + TV
Back in the 1980s, John Larroquette dominated Best Comedy Supporting Actor at the Emmys. He won the category four times in a row (1985-88) for playing Dan Fielding on the NBC sitcom “Night Court.” Now, 35 years after his last win for the show and this time in Best Comedy Actor, he’s seeking to join an even more exclusive club of actors who have won five Emmys for playing the same character.
If Larroquette were to claim a fifth Emmy for playing Fielding, he would join three other performers who have also won that amount. Don Knotts won five times in Best Comedy Supporting Actor for his role as Deputy Sherrif Barney Fife on “The Andy Griffith Show” in 1961, 1962, 1963, 1967 and 1968. Ed Asner won three Emmys in Best Comedy Supporting Actor for playing Lou Grant on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and then two for Best Drama Actor for the same character on the spin-off show,...
If Larroquette were to claim a fifth Emmy for playing Fielding, he would join three other performers who have also won that amount. Don Knotts won five times in Best Comedy Supporting Actor for his role as Deputy Sherrif Barney Fife on “The Andy Griffith Show” in 1961, 1962, 1963, 1967 and 1968. Ed Asner won three Emmys in Best Comedy Supporting Actor for playing Lou Grant on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and then two for Best Drama Actor for the same character on the spin-off show,...
- 4/3/2023
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
It felt good didn’t it? Watching a fantasy film where folks could crack a smile and actually enjoy their adventure. There was certainly danger and monsters in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves—not to mention the roleplaying tabletop game’s namesakes!—but that didn’t mean you couldn’t enjoy the ride.
In the last 20 years, fantasy has largely come to take itself exceedingly seriously where the fate of kingdoms or the entire world often hangs in the balance, and the central heroes who may start merry end the story broken, traumatized, and in a few instances ready to murder their homicidal lover… who is also their aunt.
This past weekend’s winsome D&d movie did away with all that, instead favoring some good old-fashioned romping to go along with a pure cut of high fantasy. If you enjoyed the experience, here are some other fantasy movies we recommend to continue the fun.
In the last 20 years, fantasy has largely come to take itself exceedingly seriously where the fate of kingdoms or the entire world often hangs in the balance, and the central heroes who may start merry end the story broken, traumatized, and in a few instances ready to murder their homicidal lover… who is also their aunt.
This past weekend’s winsome D&d movie did away with all that, instead favoring some good old-fashioned romping to go along with a pure cut of high fantasy. If you enjoyed the experience, here are some other fantasy movies we recommend to continue the fun.
- 4/3/2023
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
In the wake of the box office and critical success of "Fargo," all eyes were on the Coen Brothers and their next film, "The Big Lebowski," which celebrates its 25th anniversary this week. Instead of following up their Oscar-winning black comedy with another richly profound crime film, the Coens made a stoner comedy starring Jeff Bridges as an easygoing slacker perfectly content to spend his days sipping White Russians and bowling with his buddies. Decades later, The Dude has become a cultural icon and "The Big Lebowski" is considered a bonafide comedy classic. When it was first released, however, it received a lukewarm reception in the States, save for a few diehard fans that understood its low-key greatness.
No one was clamoring for a sequel, except John Turturro who pleaded with the Coen Brothers to sign off on a spin-off centering around his character Jesus Quintana — the perverted rival bowler...
No one was clamoring for a sequel, except John Turturro who pleaded with the Coen Brothers to sign off on a spin-off centering around his character Jesus Quintana — the perverted rival bowler...
- 3/10/2023
- by Drew Tinnin
- Slash Film
Get out your tan raincoats, Peter Falk fans: "Columbo" is making a comeback with a special features-packed Blu-ray from Kino Lorber. The announcement of the new home video release comes via the official Twitter account for the distributor, with news first breaking on the "Cereal At Midnight" podcast.
"Columbo is coming to @KLStudioClassic as two box sets later this year chock full of special features," Kino Lorber posted, along with a picture of the raincoat-wearing, cigar-wielding investigator himself. Kino Lorber Studio Classic VP of Acquisitions Frank Tarzi spoke to the podcast about the release, explaining that the first box set is anticipated this summer, with the second due a bit later. "We have 'Columbo,' that's going to be coming out very soon," he told the podcast. "We're going to release it as two box sets."
"Every episode is going to include an audio commentary," Tarzi shared. "We're going...
"Columbo is coming to @KLStudioClassic as two box sets later this year chock full of special features," Kino Lorber posted, along with a picture of the raincoat-wearing, cigar-wielding investigator himself. Kino Lorber Studio Classic VP of Acquisitions Frank Tarzi spoke to the podcast about the release, explaining that the first box set is anticipated this summer, with the second due a bit later. "We have 'Columbo,' that's going to be coming out very soon," he told the podcast. "We're going to release it as two box sets."
"Every episode is going to include an audio commentary," Tarzi shared. "We're going...
- 3/9/2023
- by Valerie Ettenhofer
- Slash Film
Back when I worked a desk job, I always looked forward to my business trips to the UK. It was great to have a little jolly on the company's tab and a few days off from regular dad duty. I couldn't wait for that big comfy hotel bed all to myself and get some solid sleep without kids waking me up in the middle of the night.
That was the theory, anyway. When I actually got into that big comfy hotel bed, I couldn't sleep at all. It was just too uncannily quiet and it felt so weird being the only person in the room. So instead of catching up on some sleep, I'd return to my family even more knackered than before.
I faced a similar problem when I separated from my partner and moved out last October. Sleeping by myself again proved a bit tricky after 18 years of living with someone.
That was the theory, anyway. When I actually got into that big comfy hotel bed, I couldn't sleep at all. It was just too uncannily quiet and it felt so weird being the only person in the room. So instead of catching up on some sleep, I'd return to my family even more knackered than before.
I faced a similar problem when I separated from my partner and moved out last October. Sleeping by myself again proved a bit tricky after 18 years of living with someone.
- 3/7/2023
- by Lee Adams
- Slash Film
"Bill & Ted Face the Music" was one of my favorite movies that I saw during lockdown. I saw many better films too, but there was something about the eternal optimism and good nature of William S. Preston, Esq. (Alex Winter) and Theodore Logan (Keanu Reeves) that made them feel like the kind of heroes we needed during a pandemic, one of the weirdest and most uncertain situations many of us have ever experienced.
Stuck at home for far longer than natural, it was comforting to hang out with old screen pals in lieu of our real-life friends. This may be why the era of Covid-19 also saw the unlikely phenomenon of people binge-watching old episodes of "Columbo." Perhaps there isn't too much difference between Bill and Ted and Peter Falk's shambling detective. The movies and the show are set in sunny California; the stakes are low; and the protagonists are unassuming,...
Stuck at home for far longer than natural, it was comforting to hang out with old screen pals in lieu of our real-life friends. This may be why the era of Covid-19 also saw the unlikely phenomenon of people binge-watching old episodes of "Columbo." Perhaps there isn't too much difference between Bill and Ted and Peter Falk's shambling detective. The movies and the show are set in sunny California; the stakes are low; and the protagonists are unassuming,...
- 2/26/2023
- by Lee Adams
- Slash Film
As a great lady once sang, what's love got to do with it? Everything, is usually the answer, and that certainly drives this week's episode of the Empire Podcast and, indeed, the new rom-com What's Love Got To Do With It, whose stars, Lily James and Shazad Latif, pop onto a laptop and have a Zoom chat with Chris Hewitt in which he makes a desperate pitch to become their agent, and leaves the Working Title screening room in a frightful state. And love — namely of a little green guy with big ears – drives The Mandalorian, which is gearing up to return to Disney+ on March 1, and Chris also sits down with Jon 'Favs' Favreau for an interview about the show, how to find a director for Star Wars, and working with Peter Falk.
Then, in the podbooth, Chris is joined by Ben Travis, Alex Godfrey and James Dyer for...
Then, in the podbooth, Chris is joined by Ben Travis, Alex Godfrey and James Dyer for...
- 2/24/2023
- by Chris Hewitt
- Empire - Movies
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