by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent They’re beloved and lovable, married and not so harried during the Coronavirus lockdown? That’s right, you guessed it: Dame Helen Mirren and Mr. Taylor Hackford. Now they're here to give you the download on the downlow for AFIMovieClub’s film, SOME LIKE IT HOT. Everything you already know about SOME LIKE IT HOT will be made even better by the (possibly, arguably, sincerely, greatest living) actress and her producer...

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent   When most of us caught the Presidential Tweet in late May that included a fake word, #covfefe, that has become the American Typo Heard Around the World, it really mattered that this misspelled rant was aimed at the media. The 45th President of the United States was, as they say in street fights, ripping all newsrooms a new one. And Mr. Trump has literally gone to town on what he, @realdonaldtrump, and his Trump Administration call the...

Eye in the Sky, Review: Mor(t)al blows Collateral damage has been an emotion charged topic for debates world-wide, ever since the USA began bombing foreign locations, where, it believed, wanted persons were living, hiding or gathering. Along with its allies, notably the UK, the USA has been carrying out pre-emptive air-strikes for decades. Eye in the Sky (the title does not do full justice to its theme and thrust) is about the compunction experienced by a group of high-placed government offic...

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent Raise your hand if you saw Al Pacino in "Danny Collins." Raise your hand if you saw Al Pacino in "Danny Collins" and actually liked it. Okay, kidding aside, The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) announced their nominations today at 5:15 am PST, which left a few of us critics cranky. But not without the usual clear-eyed objections to the Golden Globes' mash-up of categories. Is "Joy" a comedy? Is "T...

Woman in Gold, like The Wizard of Oz, is the story of a niece on a quest to regain family property after a storming. It has good and evil conjurers and even a straw man. Yet, contrary to the Kansas reverie, Simon Curtis's new film begins in a fairyland and flashes forward and backward among cloudier realms. First comes Vienna, Austria. It's 1907 and artist Gustav Klimt (Moritz Bleibtreu) is feverishly gilding the masterwork referenced in the film's title, Portrait of Adele Blo...

The Hundred-Foot Journey: Worth going far to watch Riots, destruction of  his restaurant, and his wife (Juhi Chawla)’s death push Papa Kadam (Om Puri) and his four children out of India. The family moves to London, eventually settling in a quaint village in France. The village is both picturesque and elegant – the ideal place to settle down and open an Indian restaurant. And so, the Maison (house) Mumbai is born. The cold and stiff chef-proprietress of Le Saule Pleureur, a M...

by Marla Lewin Left to Right: Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren Photo taken by Stephan Rabold, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics I am at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and got to spend opening night interviewing the creative team responsible for this year’s opening night film. I had already seen The Last Station back in November in Los Angeles for the Tribute to Christopher Plummer so this was a wonderful opportunity to meet with these talented people...

by Marla Lewin The 21st Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will present Academy Award winners Marion Cotillard with the Desert Palm Achievement Actress Award and Quentin Tarantino with the Sonny Bono Visionary Award, named after the Festival’s founder. The Awards Gala will kick off the 2010 awards season on Tuesday, January 5 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. Hosted by “Entertainment Tonight’s” Mary Hart, the Awards Gala will also honor Jeff Bridges...

by Marla LewinHelen Mirren Photo taken by Stephan Rabold, Courtesy of Sony Pictures ClassicsThe 21st Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will present Academy Award winner Helen Mirren with the Career Achievement Award. Presented by Cartier, the Awards Gala will kick off the 2010 awards season on Tuesday, January 5 at the Palm Springs Convention Center and will be hosted by "Entertainment Tonight's" Mary Hart. The Festival runs January 5-18, 2010.Mirren will join pre...

by Marla Lewin Christopher Plummer as Dr. Parnassus Photo taken by Liam Daniel, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics Christopher Plummer not only stars as a mystic who sells his soul to the devil in Terry GIlliam’s Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus,but he plays Leo Tolstoy in the Last Station by Michael Hoffman.  He has also just finished his memoirs called “In Spite of Himself”.   Scott Foundas from the LA weekly, had just read the book, and was prepared to ...

Wednesday, February 14---The Brits were back as big winners (on their home turf) of the BAFTA Awards, more formally referred to as the Orange British Academy Film Awards. The Best Film honors went to THE QUEEN, as did the Best Actress nod to Helen Mirren (dust off that bookshelf for your Oscar, Mrs. Hackford), with the Best British Film prize going to THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, and its lead actor Forrest Whitaker for his portrayal of Uganda strongman Idi Amin. Other Brits who shined include Best...

Monday, January 29----In what will likely be a repeat by the time the Oscars are given out on February 25, the Screens Actors Guild gave out its top awards to film and television thespians in the convivial atmosphere of the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Winners were visibly moved to be recognized by their peers as they polished the speeches that they very likely will need to give again at the Kodak Theater for the big bonanza of the Academy Awards. The SAG Award for Best Ensemble Performa...

Monday, January 8-----The National Society of Film Critics (NSFC), one of the most prestigious film critics organizations in North America, has chosen the Spanish-language film PAN’S LABYRINTH as the Best Picture of the Year. The choice of a non-English language film harkens back to the heyday of foreign films in the 1960s and 1970s, when the films of Truffaut, Fellini, Bergman and Kurosawa were given the Society’s highest accolade. In fact, all top three vote-getters in the Best Picture c...

Tuesday, December 12---UNITED 93, the harrowing re-enactment of the last hours on one of the doomed planes hijacked on September 11, 2001, has received the nod as Best Picture of the Year, from the New York Critics Circle, considered the most prestigious and influential of all the national film critics associations. The win by UNITED 93, which was echoed last week by the Washington DC Film Critics Association, catapults the docudrama into prime position for multiple Golden Globe and Oscar nomi...

Tuesday, December 12---UNITED 93, the harrowing re-enactment of the last hours on one of the doomed planes hijacked on September 11, 2001, has received the nod as Best Picture of the Year, from the New York Critics Circle, considered the most prestigious and influential of all the national film critics associations. The win by UNITED 93, which was echoed last week by the Washington DC Film Critics Association, catapults the docudrama into prime position for multiple Golden Globe and Oscar nomi...

Helen Mirren at New York Film Festival Monday, November 20----The London Observer has reported that the documentary film THE ANGELMAKERS, which won the Silver Wolf Award at the 2005 IDFA for Dutch director Astrid Bussink, will be made into a feature film starring Helen Mirren and John Hurt. The film will be a fictionalized version of the gripping short documentary, which investigated the story of the mysterious killing by hundreds of women of their husbands in a small Hungarian village in the...

Helen Mirren On The Red Carpet James Cromwell On The Red Carpet Jeremy Irons On Red Carpet Inside Alice Tully Hall LITTLE CHILDREN Press Conference: Director Todd Field, Actors Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson Warren Beatty Intros REDS ...

Friday, September 29----With the exception of devotees of certain specific bars in Chelsea, it is rather rare for someone to be hailed, not once but twice, as a "real queen". Well, that is the case for admired actress Helen Mirren, whose portrayal of two different English monarchs this year have industry insiders wagging about an Oscar sweep. Following her triumphant turn as Queen Elizabeth I in the HBO television mini-series ELIZABETH, a role for which she recently won an Emmy, Mirren can no...

The 44th edition of the New York Film Festival opens on a royal note with the North American premiere of THE QUEEN, the latest film from UK director Stephen Frears (DIRTY PRETTY THINGS, THE SNAPPER, HIGH FIDELITY, MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE). The film stars Oscar nominee Helen Mirren in a tour-de-force performance as Queen Elizabeth II. Also featured are James Cromwell as Prince Phillip, Michael Sheen as Tony Blair and Sylvia Syms as the Queen Mother, in a revealing and often acidly funny portrai...