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Spider-Man 2

Screenshot: Sony Pictures

About two-thirds of the way through Spider-Man 2, Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire), who recently declared himself “Spider-Man no more,” finds himself in a familiar situation. Without any forethought, let alone Spidey-Sense, Peter dashes into a burning building just as he had in the film’s 2002 predecessor,...

Twenty years ago, Spider-Man 2 boiled down the basic appeal of the Web-Head in movie form. Peter Parker is the guy for whom wearing a mask and fighting crime is a noble duty, sure, but it’s also sometimes just a job—one complete with busy work, tedium, and 99 problems that distract from the other important things in life. In Peter’s case that’s studying for midterms, hanging out with his best buddy Harry Osborn, and, dare he dream, making it to Mary Jane Watson’s play on time.

In the two decades since the movie’s release, there have been plenty of other Spider-Man pictures. Some have been good, some amazing (looking at you Spider-Verse!), and more than a few that left you wanting. None of them though have been able to so succinctly tap into the appeal of those earliest comic book runs that defined the character...

Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man franchise was the advent of superhero movies of the current generation. It has been exactly 17 years since the third movie in the trilogy was released, which was the conclusion of a story beloved by many. While the second installment in the trilogy is considered the best, the third one, unfortunately, did not receive similar treatment either from critics or the audience. Screenwriter Alvin Sargent was the man behind the script for the third movie, and he had a pretty good idea on how to move forward.

Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man

Spider-Man 3 ended up being a mixture of too many plots and too many characters. From Harry Osborne to Sandman to Venom, the movie had too many villains and too little time to deal with them properly. This is why Sargent thought of splitting the story into two parts – Spider-Man 3 & 4 – and tell...

Barbra Streisand was determined to get Robert Redford to star opposite her in The Way We Were, as detailed in her upcoming memoir, My Name Is Barbra, out on Nov. 7.

“Bob is that rare combination… an intellectual cowboy… a charismatic star who is also one of the finest actors of his generation,” Streisand wrote in an excerpt in Vanity Fair. “But like my husband, he’s almost apologetic about his looks, and I liked that about him.”

She added, “So I wanted Redford for Hubbell. But he turned it down.”

Streisand turned to director Sydney Pollack, a close friend of Redford, for help.

“I have to give Sydney credit,” she confessed. “He was as persistent as I was, because we both felt that only Redford would make the picture work.”

It wasn’t easy.

“Bob was concerned that the script was so focused on Katie that Hubbell’s character was underdeveloped.

Barbra Streisand is looking back at how she convinced Robert Redford to star in the 1973 film The Way We Were after he turned down the role twice.

The romantic drama follows an unlikely couple, Katie Morosky (Streisand) and Hubbell Gardiner (Redford), who fall in love despite political and historical events. The pair must navigate their relationship while trying to overcome fundamental societal beliefs.

In an excerpt from her upcoming memoir, My Name Is Barbra, in Vanity Fair, the actress-singer opens up about what she and director Sydney Pollack went through to get Redford to star opposite Streisand.

“Bob is that rare combination … an intellectual cowboy … a charismatic star who is also one of the finest actors of his generation,” she wrote. “But like my husband, he’s almost apologetic about his looks, and I liked that about him.”

Streisand continued, “So I wanted Redford for Hubbell. But he turned it down.

Barbra Streisand has revealed in her upcoming memoir “My Name is Barbra” the lengths she went to in order to cast Robert Redford in Sydney Pollack’s 1973 romantic drama “The Way We Were,” even after he initially refused the part.

“The Way We Were” stars Streisand and Redford as Katie and Hubbell, an unlikely couple who fall in love and marry against the backdrop of various political and historical events.

“Bob is that rare combination… an intellectual cowboy… a charismatic star who is also one of the finest actors of his generation,” Streisand wrote in her memoir (via Vanity Fair). “But like my husband, he’s almost apologetic about his looks, and I liked that about him.”

She continued, “So I wanted Redford for Hubbell. But he turned it down.”

Streisand turned to Pollack, who was friends with Redford, to help convince him to take the part. “I have to give Sydney credit,...

When Bo Goldman, the two-time Academy Award screenwriter of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Harold and Maude," passed away on July 25, 2023 at the age of 90, the world lost a master dramatist and a razor-sharp observer of human behavior. Hailed by his Hollywood peers as a "screenwriter's screenwriter," Goldman possessed an unerring ear for dialogue and a cliche-eschewing sense of narrative. Be it a wistful satire of the American dream or a bruisingly authentic depiction of divorce, his name on the poster guaranteed an honest, offbeat view of humanity.

And it almost never happened. Goldman was born in the midst of the Great Depression on September 10, 1932. His father owned a chain of department stores that had fallen on hard times, but that didn't stop the besieged patriarch from sending his son to the prestigious likes of Phillips Exeter and Princeton University. It was at the latter institution that Goldman discovered a love for theater,...

This is a dark moment for frazzled members of the writing fraternity.

Picketers in Hollywood and New York fear a prolonged standoff gripping film and TV. Also troubling, their colleagues in digital media are patching together their résumés as Vice Media and BuzzFeed prepare for crash landings. Will others follow?

Even a digital zealot like Ben Smith sees the moment as “a humbling experience.” His new book, titled Traffic, vividly revisits the picaresque adventures of the “muckrakers, dweebs and wing nuts” who set out to revolutionize legacy journalism. Some became at once rich and unemployed.

The New York Times liked Smith’s book, even though he quit that paper to start yet another digital adventure called Semafor — its fate still to be determined.

Here’s the irony: While Smith and his social media colleagues are making lots of noise for their next adventures, their colleagues in film and TV are frozen in silence.

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“Under The Veneer”

By Raymond Benson

Finally, a high definition Blu-ray disk of Robert Redford’s 1980 masterpiece, Ordinary People, has been released. To date, the film has existed on home video only on VHS and DVD, and the new Paramount Presents edition is most welcome.

People was Redford’s directorial debut, and at the time audiences and critics expected it to be good, but they didn’t count on it being that good. It took the Best Picture prize at the Academy Awards, along with a trophy for Redford for Direction, one for Alvin Sargent’s Adapted Screenplay (based on Judith Guest’s wonderful novel), and a most deserved Supporting Actor Oscar for Timothy Hutton. Granted, Hutton’s character, Conrad Jarrett, is really the protagonist, i.e., the lead in the movie, so it’s one of those infuriating cases in which an...

This celebrated dysfunctional family story won four Oscars, the most deserved easily being Alvin Sargent’s superb adapted screenplay. The viewer buzz initially centered on the surprise of Mary Tyler Moore’s unexpected casting against type, but even more alarming was author Judith Guest’s scary message that ‘perfect’ families are an illusion. We found the drama absorbing and bought the performances 100 — Sutherland, Hirsch, Hutton, McGovern. It’s clearly Robert Redford’s best job of direction.

Ordinary People

Blu-ray

Paramount Presents

1980 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 124 min. / Street Date March 29, 2022 / Available from Amazon and listed at Paramount / 25.99

Starring: Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, Timothy Hutton, M. Emmet Walsh, Elizabeth McGovern, Dinah Manoff, Adam Baldwin, Frederic Lehne, James B. Sikking.

Cinematography: John Bailey

Art Directors: Phillip Bennett, J. Michael Riva

Film Editor: Jeff Kanew

Original Music: Marvin Hamlisch

Written by Alvin Sargent from the novel by Judith Guest

Produced by Ronald L. Schwary...

Apple Original Films’ “Coda” has skyrocketed up Gold Derby’s Oscar chart for Best Picture in the past several weeks. It’s currently tied with Netflix’s “The Power of the Dog” in the #1 position to win, and by the time you finish reading this article, it may have actually taken the lead. But is the heartwarming PGA, WGA and SAG Award winner hurt by the fact that it didn’t receive any below-the-line noms at the Academy Awards? Nope. Just ask “Ordinary People” (1980).

Exactly 41 years ago, “Ordinary People” won Best Picture at the 1981 Oscars despite only earning above-the-line nominations for Best Picture, Best Director (Robert Redford), Best Adapted Screenplay (Alvin Sargent), Best Actress (Mary Tyler Moore) and Best Supporting Actor (Timothy Hutton and Judd Hirsch). The psychological film ended up winning four trophies for picture, directing, writing and Hutton.

See 2022 Oscar nominations: Full list of nominees in all 23 categories...

Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars and Emmys ceremonies from film awards editor Clayton Davis. Following history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar and Emmy predictions are updated regularly with the current year's list of contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four phases, running all year long: Draft, Pre-Season, Regular Season and Post Season. The eligibility calendar and dates of awards will determine how long each phase lasts and is subject to change.

To see all the latest predictions, of all the categories, in one place, visit The Oscars Collective

Visit each category, per the individual awards show from The Oscars Hub

Revisit the prediction archive of the 2021 season The Archive

Link to television awards is atTHE Emmys Hub

2022 Oscars Predictions:

Best Adapted Screenplay

Updated: March 24, 2022

Awards Prediction Commentary:

For the majority of the awards season, no...

Small thief and parolee Max Dembo is pinned in a parole system that all but guarantees he’ll go back to robbing banks and jewelry stores. Dustin Hoffman has one of his best and most unusual roles, taken from the story of a real bank robber. Directed by Ulu Grosbard, the docu-drama look at the seedy side of Los Angeles is graced with a perfect cast: Theresa Russell, Gary Busey, Harry Dean Stanton, M. Emmet Walsh, and Kathy Bates. Sure, the rotten parole officer drives Dembo back to crime, but pulling jobs is in his blood. It’s one of the best portraits of a criminal ever.

Straight Time

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1978 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 114 min. / Available at Amazon.com / Street Date September 29, 2021 / 21.99

Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Theresa Russell, Gary Busey, Harry Dean Stanton, M. Emmet Walsh, Rita Taggart, Kathy Bates, Sandy Baron, Jake Busey.

Cinematography: Owen Roizman

Art Director: Dick Lawrence

Film Editors: Sam O’Steen,...

Sam Adams, a literary agent whose career began in the postwar years at Warner Bros. and ended with the deal to bring The Handmaid’s Tale to the big screen, has died, according to multiple reports. He was 94.

Adams’ client list included Handmaid’s author Margaret Atwood, the recently-deceased Peter Bogdanovich, Saturday Night Fever director John Badham, TV giant Stephen J. Cannell, Oscar-winner Alvin Sargent, Casablanca star Paul Henreid and Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer.

Adams got his start in Hollywood delivering messages at Warner Bros. while he was still at Beverly Hills High School. At Warners, he met the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Errol Flynn, Bette Davis and Edgar G. Robinson. His stint at the studio was interrupted by 18 months of active duty in the army.

After the war he turned to journalism, serving stints at the William Randolph Hearst-owned Los Angeles Examiner, the Armed Forces Radio Services,...

A pained observation: The only intriguing stories on Hollywood this week consisted of obits – all kinds of obits. There were obits reminding us of the remarkable lives of Sidney Poitier, Peter Bogdanovich and Betty White. Also speculative obits about the Golden Globes, sentimental obits about the extinct 20th Century Fox and even speculative obits about MGM and ICM.

The obit frame of mind even extended to ticket buyers as a whole. Having anointed such films as West Side Story and The Power of the Dog as automatic award winners, critics wondered why ticket buyers seemed to be boycotting them. Had the movie audience disappeared into streamer heaven?

If the “business” obits were lugubrious, the personal ones often were inspirational. Obits for Poitier, who passed at age 94, documented a rich and fulfilling life – an appropriate reward for risks well taken. He also had strong personal ties with other strong-willed risk-takers, like Harry Belafonte.

It’s the trailer that broke the internet. The first Spider-Man: No Way Home sizzle footage, which ended with the familiar sight of Alfred Molina strapped to four mechanical arms, was viewed more than 355 million times in its first 24 hours on the web, setting a Guinness world record. When Molina’s iconic Doctor Octopus (or Doc Ock) smiled, “Hello, Peter,” the whole world smiled right back.

Despite it being nearly 20 years since Molina last played Doc Ock in a movie—way back when Tobey Maguire was still Spider-Man and George W. Bush was only in his first term as President of the United States—the excitement audiences had at seeing the not-so-good doctor up to no damn good was palpable. Part of this, of course, is due to the fan theory that if Molina is coming back, then Maguire probably will too (although that isn’t confirmed). But even without Maguire,...

Through the annals of abandoned superhero movies, and masked marvel projects which never happened, Spider-Man 4 remains one of the greater ‘what ifs.’ This is in no small part because millions of fans around the world had already seen what Sam Raimi and company brought to the wallcrawler in what is now known as “the Spider-Man Trilogy,” and most generally loved two-thirds of that. So when Raimi famously derailed the project in late 2009—effectively leading to its cancellation—there were plenty of folks upset by the idea that we’d never see Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker again.

Things of course change. That said we’ve still only had hints at what Raimi’s abandoned Spider-Man 4 would’ve looked like. John Malkovich was expected to play the Vulture; Anne Hathaway was at least very close to being cast as Felicia Hardy (it’s vague whether she officially signed on...

Way back in 2004, many speculated Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus would return after Spider-Man 2, even though he ended that movie by vanishing beneath the Hudson River. This of course seemed like wishful thinking at the time: Molina might’ve been the best Spider-Man movie villain up to that point, but Sony couldn’t bring him back after he took a nuclear-heated bath, right?

Nearly 15 years and two reboots later, it turns out they could! Indeed, THR confirmed Tuesday that Molina will return as the metal-armed scientist in the Tom Holland-led, and Marvel Studios produced sequel to Spider-Man: Far From Home. The movie doesn’t have a title as of yet, but with Molina joining Jamie Foxx—who played Electro in the much less revered The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)—clearly the film is going to be playing with the space time continuum, and bringing back some old favorites.

In the case of Molina,...

Ronald L. Schwary, who won the Academy Award for Best Picture for producing Robert Redford’s “Ordinary People,” died on July 2 in West Hollywood, Calif. He was 76.

Schwary, an Oregon native, had broken into the entertainment business through his friendship with John Wayne while working as a manager of the USC football team. Wayne assisted Schwary in getting work as a stand-in for Dustin Hoffman on “The Graduate” and as an extra in “Planet of the Apes.”

Schwary also became a DGA Trainee, which led to the start of his career as an assistant

director in the early 1970s. He began working with Jerry Lewis, Elvis, Peter Fonda, Ann-Margret, Jack Lemmon, and Walter Matthau and eventually became a production

manager with the assistance of director Bob Butler, and producer Ray Stark.

Schwary was hired by Redford as the sole producer on “Ordinary People” after Schwary had worked as an associate...

Ronald Schwary, who won an Oscar as the producer of Ordinary People and whose other major film successes include A Soldier’s Story, Absence of Malice, Scent of a Woman and Tootsie, has died. He was 76. He passed away Thursday in West Hollywood, according to his sons.

No cause of death was provided, but reports indicate Schwary had struggled with a rare neurological autonomic disorder.

Schwary was the producer on six Sydney Pollack-directed films: The Electric Horseman (1979) and Havana (1990), with Robert Redford; Absence of Malice (1981), starring Paul Newman; Best Picture nominee Tootsie (1982), with Dustin Hoffman; Sabrina (1995), featuring Harrison Ford, and Random Hearts (1999), also starring Ford.

Even though the films were nominated for Best Picture, Schwary did not receive a nomination for either Tootsie or Scent of a Woman or because he was not credited as “Producer.”

On Tootsie, there was a dispute between Columbia and the production regarding the number of credited producers.

For Sunday’s Oscars 2020 ceremony on ABC, producers had a difficult decision of which film industry people would make the cut and who would unfortunately be left out of the “In Memoriam.” For the segment, for the song “Yesterday” performed by Grammy champ Billie Eilish.

Visit our own Gold Derby memoriam gallery for the year of 2019 and the just launched gallery for 2020.

SEE2020 Oscars: Full list of winners (and losers) at the 92nd Academy Awards

Over 100 people in the film industry, many of them academy members, have passed away in the past 12 months. Here is a list of the some of the names included in the tribute:

Danny Aiello (actor)

Jim Alexander (sound)

Bibi Andersson (actor)

Ben Barenholtz (executive)

Kobe Bryant (producer)

Diahann Carroll (actor)

Seymour Cassel (actor)

William J. Creber (production designer)

Doris Day (actress)

Stanley Donen (director)

Kirk Douglas (actor/producer)

Robert Evans (executive)

Peter Fonda (actor)

Robert Forster (actor)

Harriet Frank,...

One of the most significant additions to the Academy Awards ceremony around 30 years ago has been the In Memoriam segment. Producers find the perfect blend of music, photos and clips for the short annual presentation.

Which of the past Oscar winners and nominees from many different branches will be featured this Sunday, February 9, on the Oscars 2020 ceremony for ABC? Some of the most likely to be included will be acting nominees Danny Aiello, Diahann Carroll, Doris Day, Kirk Douglas, Peter Fonda, Robert Forster, Sylvia Miles, Michael J. Pollard and Rip Torn. How about major creatives such as Stanley Donen, Robert Evans, Buck Henry, Andre Previn and John Singleton?

Visit our own Gold Derby memoriam gallery for the year of 2019 and the just launched gallery for 2020.

SEEWho is Performing at the Oscars 2020?: Full List of Presenters and Performers

Over 100 people in the film industry, many of them academy members, have...

Alvin Sargent, two-time Oscar winner and Spider-man trilogy scribe has died at the age of 92. Sargent's representatives have confirmed that the screenwriter died of natural causes on Thursday at his home in Seattle. Starting out as a writer for television, Sargent made his directorial debut with his very first feature film Gambit in 1966. Starring Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine, the comedic…...

The current Marvel Cinematic Universe of superhero blockbusters, sequels and spin-offs might not exist if not for screenwriter Alvin Sargent, who is dead from natural causes at age 92 on May 9.

The two-time Oscar winner for his scripts for 1977’s “Julia” and 1980’s “Ordinary People” was involved in the screenplays for the original “Spider-Man” trilogy that began in 2002 starring Tobey Maguire as Spidey the web-slinger that would redefine and elevate the modern superhero genre and set the standard for all the spandex-wearing crusaders who followed. I recall Oscar talk for the possibility that Sargent’s much-praised script for 2004’s “Spider-Man 2” could be nominated — an unheard-of notion back then for a film based on a comic-book.

See Celebrity Deaths 2019: In Memoriam Gallery

Sargent would also contribute to 2012’s “The Amazing Spider-Man,” the reboot of the series starring Andrew Garfield. It would be his final script, which the scribe completed when...

How many screenwriters in Hollywood can claim to have written a popular film that connects with a new generation each decade for half a century? Alvin Sargent — who passed away on May 9 at the age of 92 — began writing for television in the mid-1950s; was off to the races from his first produced feature script, 1966’s “Gambit”; and went on to deliver so many movies that have stood and will continue to endure the test of time.

Consider these titles: “Ordinary People” … Actually, to have written “Ordinary People” alone would be enough to land any living writer on a very short list of masters. But in Sargent’s case, that devastating autopsy of the middle-class American dream — an adaptation of Judith Christ’s novel addressing how the façade of domestic perfection masks the difficult work of maintaining a family and marriage — followed such already impressive credits as “The Sterile Cuckoo,...

Academy Award winner Alvin Sargent, who wrote films like Paper Moon, Ordinary People and Spider-man sequels of the 2000s, is no more.

He died on Thursday, his talent agency Gersh told variety.com. He was 92.

Sargent won adapted screenplay Oscars for Julia?in 1978 and Ordinary People?in 1981 and was also nominated in the category in 1974 for Paper Moon.

The writer worked with many of Hollywood's top directors, including Alan J. Pakula, John Frankenheimer, Paul Newman, Peter Bogdanovich, Sydney Pollack, Fred Zinnemann, Robert Redford, Martin Ritt, Norman Jewison, Stephen Frears and Wayne Wang.

Sargent started as a writer for television but broke into features with his screenplay for 1966's Gambit, a comedy thriller starring Michael Caine, Shirley MacLaine and Herbert Lom.

Sargent did uncredited work on the 1976 remake of A Star Is Born?that starred Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson.

Sargent, born Alvin Supowitz in Philadelphia, began his Hollywood career with...

Alvin Sargent, who won Oscars for writing Ordinary People and Julia and was nominated for Paper Moon, has died of natural causes in Seattle. He was 92. Sargent also won WGA Awards for all three of those films and received the guild’s career honor, the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement, in 1991.

Sargent penned more than two dozen feature screenplays from the 1960s into the 2010s, most recently The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), Spider-Man 3 (2007) and Spider-Man 2 (2004). His feature credits also include What About Bob? (1991), Other People’s Money (1991) and Unfaithful (2002).

He began his screenwriting career in television, penning episodes of such 1960s drama series Ben Casey, Route 66, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and Run for Your Life. He also wrote episodes of ABC’s short-lived Paper Moon spinoff series in which Jodie Foster played the role that won Tatum O’Neal a Supporting Actress Oscar.

Born on April 12, 1927, in Philadelphia, Sargent had...

Academy Award winner Alvin Sargent, who penned an extraordinary number of popular and critically successful films, from “Paper Moon” and “Ordinary People” to the “Spider-Man” sequels of the 2000s, died Thursday, his talent agency Gersh confirmed to Variety. He was 92.

Sargent won adapted screenplay Oscars for “Julia” in 1978 and “Ordinary People” in 1981 and was also nominated in the category in 1974 for “Paper Moon.” (He also received Writers Guild awards for all three films.) The writer worked with many of Hollywood’s top directors over the course of his career, including Alan J. Pakula, John Frankenheimer. Paul Newman, Peter Bogdanovich, Sydney Pollack, Fred Zinnemann, Robert Redford, Martin Ritt, Norman Jewison, Stephen Frears and Wayne Wang, though not always when those helmers were doing their best work.

Sargent started as a writer for television but broke into features with his screenplay for 1966’s “Gambit,” a Ronald Neame-directed comedy thriller starring Michael Caine,...

Alvin Sargent, the storied screenwriter best known for his Academy Award-winning script for “Ordinary People” and his Oscar-nominated “Paper Moon,” died Thursday of natural causes in Seattle. He was 92.

Born in 1927 in Philadelphia, Sargent began his career as an aspiring actor with a small role in “From Here to Eternity,” while supporting himself in ad sales for Variety. He began writing for television in 1953, with credits through the 1960s including “Route 66,” “Ben Casey” and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” among others.

He made his debut as a movie screenwriter in 1966 on “Gambit,” starring Shirley MacLaine and Michael Caine, and gained greater recognition in 1970 for “I Walk the Line.” This led to a long run of acclaimed work on critical hits and blockbusters alike. Among his highlights are “Paper Moon,” for which he received a best adapted screenplay nomination, uncredited work on the 1976 remake of “A Star Is Born” starring Barbra Streisand,...

Alvin Sargent, the master of the adapted screenplay who won Oscars for Julia and Ordinary People in a fabled career that ran the gamut from Ben Casey and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour to The Amazing Spider-Man, has died. He was 92.

Sargent died Thursday of natural causes at his home in Seattle, friend and producer Pam Williams (Lee Daniels' The Butler) told The Hollywood Reporter. She was partners with his late wife, Laura Ziskin.

Sargent had an uncanny knack for taking books and plays and transforming them into crisp screenplays that burst to life on the big screen.

The Philadelphia native landed ...

Alvin Sargent, the master of the adapted screenplay who won Oscars for Julia and Ordinary People in a fabled career that ran the gamut from Ben Casey and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour to The Amazing Spider-Man, has died. He was 92.

Sargent died Thursday of natural causes at his home in Seattle, friend and producer Pam Williams (Lee Daniels' The Butler) told The Hollywood Reporter. She was partners with his late wife, Laura Ziskin.

Sargent had an uncanny knack for taking books and plays and transforming them into crisp screenplays that burst to life on the big screen.

The Philadelphia native landed ...

Barry Jenkins and Spike Lee made history this year as the first black writers to earn multiple nominations at the Oscars. They’re both up for Best Adapted Screenplay, Jenkins for “If Beale Street Could Talk” and Lee for “BlacKkKlansman.” But Jenkins previously won this category for “Moonlight” (2016), so if he prevails again he will become the first black writer to claim multiple awards, and he would join an elite group of scribes with multiple Best Adapted Screenplay trophies on their mantels.

The auspicious list of multiple champs already includes Joseph L. Mankiewicz (“A Letter to Three Wives” and “All About Eve”), George Seaton (“Miracle on 34th Street” and “The Country Girl”), Robert Bolt (“Doctor Zhivago” and “A Man for All Seasons”), Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo (together for both “The Godfather” and “The Godfather Part II”), Alvin Sargent (“Julia” and “Ordinary People”), Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (“A Room with a View...

Of all the ‘depressed relationship’ dramas of the early ’70s, this may be the most rewarding. It also sports one of the longest titles on record. Paul Zindel’s award-winning play gets a marvelous adaptation for the screen, thanks to Alvin Sargent, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. There’s also the stealth input of the star couple’s daughter Nell Potts, whose restrained performance is the happy opposite of mawkish and maudlin.

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1972 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 101 min. / Street Date February 20, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring: Joanne Woodward, Nell Potts, Roberta Wallach, Judith Lowry, David Spielberg, Richard Venture, Jess Osuna, Will Hare.

Cinematography: Adam Holender

Film Editor: Evan A. Lottman, Craig McKay, assistant

Original Music: Maurice Jarre

Written by Alvin Sargent from the play by Paul Zindel

Produced and Directed by Paul Newman

The late-’60s freedom of...

Aaron Sorkin has written some pretty incredible films including A Few Good Men and The Social Network, in addition to being one of the only show-runners to write nearly every episode of his creation, The West Wing. Among his numerous other awards, Sorkin won an Oscar for writing The Social Network, and was nominated for a second for Moneyball. Now his attention may be turning to the most lucrative genre of all... superhero flicks.

ComicBook.com caught Sorkin at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, and he revealed he has meetings with both DC and Marvel to possibly write a film for either of their Cinematic Universes:

“I happen to have meetings coming up with both DC and Marvel. I have to go into these meetings and tell them as respectfully as I can that I’ve never read a comic book. It’s not that I don’t like them, it...

One of the best-remembered dramas of the '70s gives us controversial actresses, a lavish production and a story by the even more controversial Lillian Hellman. Director Fred Zinnemann makes it into a suspenseful, deeply affecting experience. Julia Blu-ray Twilight Time Limited Edition 1977 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 118 min. / Ship Date April 12, 2016 / available through Twilight Time Movies / 29.95 Starring Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Jason Robards, Maximilian Schell, Hal Holbrook, Meryl Streep, Rosemary Murphy, Dora Doll, Elisabeth Mortensen, John Glover, Lisa Pelikan, Susan Jones, Cathleen Nesbitt, Maurice Denham. Cinematography Douglas Slocombe Film Editor Walter Murch Original Music Georges Delerue Written by Alvin Sargent based on the story by Lillian Hellman Produced by Richard Roth Directed by Fred Zinnemann

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Fred Zinnemann was a cinema activist from way back, a filmmaker of uncompromising convictions. His most frequent theme is anti-fascism, although he began with a very Soviet-styled pro-union film in Mexico, Redes.

By Dollie Banner

Somehow I missed Norman Jewison’s Other People’s Money when it was released in 1991, but now courtesy of the Warner Archive Collection, I was able to catch up with this minor but enjoyable film.

Based on Jerry Steiner’s play of the same name, with a screenplay by Alvin Sargent, Other People’s Money is mostly notable as Gregory Peck’s last major screen performance. Peck turns in one of his signature honorable roles as Andrew Jorgensen, a successful but principled businessman who is ultimately more invested in his employees and maintaining integrity than in enlarging his company’s bottom line. That’s why he and his wife Bea (Piper Laurie), along with manager Bill Coles (Dean Jones), are determined to keep New England Wire and Cable out of the ruthless hands of corporate raider Larry the Liquidator (Danny DeVito). Way out of their depth, they call in a secret weapon,...

Despite headlining such iconic films as “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969), “The Way We Were” (1973) and “All the President’s Men” (1976), Robert Redford has been nominated just once at the Oscars for acting with his starring role as a conman in the 1973 Best Picture winner "The Sting"; he lost to Jack Lemmon ("Save the Tiger"). He could right that Oscar wrong this year with his portrayal of Dan Rather in "Truth," a look inside the controversial “60 Minutes” segment that eventually led to the resignation of the CBS news anchor. -Break- Dish the Oscars with Hollywood insiders in our red-hot forums Redford did win an Oscar for directing the 1980 Best Picture champ "Ordinary People." That domestic drama also won Supporting Actor (Timothy Hutton), and Adapted Screenplay (Alvin Sargent). And he picked up two bids in 1994 for directing and produ...

Hello, postmodernism.

Paper Moon is as much about the movies as it is about a couple of thieves in the midst of the Great Depression. Director Peter Bogdanovich preceded his career as a filmmaker by studying to be an actor, programming screenings at the Museum of Modern Art, and writing film criticism for Esquire. Movies are in his blood, and they peek through the edges of Paper Moon.

Con man Moses Pray (Ryan O’Neal) had hoped to merely pay his last respects to a fun-loving gal when fellow mourners decide it’d only be right for him to take her young, now-orphaned daughter to some relatives in Missouri. Seeing as they’ve got this Depression on, he’s heading that way and, after all, you can trust a man who sells Bibles, his con has left him little room to decline. For her part, Addie (Tatum O’Neal) isn’t exactly obstinate,...

Spider-Man & Venom Model: Sthefane Lomeu * Photographer: Janio Carvalho Body Paint: Madison Araujo * Makeup: Thayna Brito Spider-man 3 - Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) finally has the girl of his dreams, Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), and New York City is in the throes of Spider-mania! But when a strange alien symbiote turns Spider-Man's suit black, his darkest demons come to light changing Spider-Man inside as well as out. Spider-Man is in for the fight of his life against a lethal mix of villains - the deadly Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), Venom (Topher Grace), and the New Goblin (James Franco) - as well as the enemy within himself. Cast: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Topher Grace, Thomas Haden Church, James Franco Director: Sam Raimi * Writers: Sam Raimi, Alvin Sargent & Ivan Raimi...

Spider-man 3 - Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) finally has the girl of his dreams, Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), and New York City is in the throes of Spider-mania! But when a strange alien symbiote turns Spider-Man's suit black, his darkest demons come to light changing Spider-Man inside as well as out. Spider-Man is in for the fight of his life against a lethal mix of villains - the deadly Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), Venom (Topher Grace), and the New Goblin (James Franco) - as well as the enemy within himself. Cast: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Topher Grace, Thomas Haden Church, James Franco Director: Sam Raimi * Writers: Sam Raimi, Alvin Sargent & Ivan Raimi...

Amazon is offering $105 off The Columbia Best Pictures boxed DVD set containing 11 winners of the Best Picture Oscar. Here are the details:

14-disc set of 11 Best Picture Oscar winning films in an attractive, collectible, black fiber cover with slipcase. The pages within will have film synopsis, details on the Oscar win for each film, and art from key scenes. This set features Columbia Pictures' Best Picture Oscar winners spanning the years from 1934 to 1982 and include the following films:

1934 It Happened One Night

1938 You Can't Take It with You

1949 All the King's Men

1953 From Here to Eternity

1954 On the Waterfront

1957 The Bridge on the River Kwai

1962 Lawrence of Arabia

1966 A Man for All Seasons

1968 Oliver!

1979 Kramer vs. Kramer

1982 Gandhi

Bonus extras include:

Ben Kingsley talks about Gandhi

Designing Gandhi

Lord Attenborough Audio Commentary

From the Director's Chair

In Search of Gandhi

Looking Back

Madeleine Slade: An Englishwoman Abroad

Reflections on...

In 1953, From Here to Eternity took the world by storm, going on to win eight Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. Not a bad haul for a film based on a book that was considered quite controversial at the time due to language and its painting of the military in a bad light. To celebrate its 60th anniversary, the film is being given an upgrade to Blu-Ray so that a whole new generation can continue enjoying it for years to come.

That being said, it’s rather curious to see how the film holds up nowadays. It’s been over ten years since I first saw it, with my vague memories of it being mostly positive, but was there a reason that I didn’t see it again for so long? Well, this brand new edition is the perfect opportunity to go back and revisit what...

Alex Kurtzman, one half of the writing duo that also includes Roberto Orci spoke with iamROGUE for the release of the Star Trek Into Darkness blu-ray and also touched on his work writing The Amazing Spider-Man 2. On TASM2, Kurtzman and Orci take over writing duties from Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves who penned the reboot. Addressing the sequel Kurtzman stated, "Well, it’s interesting because the first movie asks all these questions and what I loved about it in so many ways is that it didn’t answer them." There are quite a few fans around these parts that would probably say they disliked the film for that very reason but the reboot does have its fair share of defenders. Kurtzman added, "So part of what we were drawn to and intrigued by was wanting to know the answers to a lot of those questions. So the villains emerge...

Some movies will always make me laugh, but let’s face it; the same movies might make others yawn. Comedy is tricky business, the hardest genre to pull off from script to screen. I’ve put together a list of 10 More underrated or dismissed comedies that deserve a first chance or even a second chance at recognition. Humor is subjective, but gives these flicks a chance and I promise you will enjoy yourself.

Check out the first 10 here and 10 more below; let me know what you think and what your list might look like.

Beer League

An unemployed slacker inspires his softball teammates to improve their game so they won’t get kicked out of the local league.

Director: Frank Sebastiano

Writers: Frank Sebastiano, Artie Lange

Stars: Artie Lange, Ralph Macchio

I found a double disc DVD for this in a sale bin (not a surprise) for $5, it was well worth it.

This feels like a selfish addition to the "Best Movie Ever?" cannon since I'm personally obsessed with Paper Moon, but guess what? I'm right to include it. And you're wrong not to watch Paper Moon every year, particularly this one thanks to its 40th anniversary. Repent and get going.

You're also wrong not to spend more time thinking about whether Paper Moon or What's Up, Doc? is Peter Bogdanovich's best movie (because we all understand that The Last Picture Show draaaaags, right?) And you're especially wrong if you think The Sting, another old-timey blockbuster about suave wheeler-dealers released in 1973, deserved Best Picture over Paper Moon. The Sting is a boring carousel of well-costumed movie stars. Paper Moon has a soul. And tomboy flair. And it wasn't even nominated.

Paper Moon manages to be both quaint and gritty, and that's all in the casting: Moses Pray (Ryan O'Neal, a fair...

Get More: Movie Trailers, Movies Blog Said Franco, "Meh, they could've strayed a little bit more from the original. It's like...why. Guess they made a lot of money. Okay, congrats. But good for them. Sam and I moved on, we made Oz." I believe Franco has just echoed a lot of Spider-Man fan sentiments. The sequel should fare much better, reception-wise, as there's less opportunity to tread in Raimi's footsteps now that Webb's story has moved beyond the origin. Dane DeHaan better hope the Amazing Spider-Man sequel deviates more from Sam Raimi's trilogy or this is his future. Running Time: 2 hrs 16 min Release Date: July 3, 2012 (USA) MPAA Rating: PG-13 Starring: Andrew Garfield, Rhys Ifans, Emma Stone, Sally Field and Martin Sheen. Directed by: Marc Webb Written by: James Vanderbilt (initial screenplay),Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves (revised draft) The Amazing Spider-Man is an American superhero film directed by...

One of the most beloved and iconic super heroes of all time reemerges in The Amazing Spider-man, available now on Blu-ray./DVD Combo Pack, Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack, DVD, and a Limited Edition Gift Set with collectible Spider-Man and Lizard figurines, all with UltraViolet. from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Presented for the first time in at-home 3D, The Amazing Spider-man tells the story of teenage Peter Parker, who grapples with both high school and amazing super-human crises as his alter-ego Spider-Man battles the Lizard. Read Jim Batts’ review Here.

Before you grab your popcorn and settle in at home to watch The Amazing Spider-man, Wamg invites you to enter your name and email in our comments section below to win these two Amazing prizes from the movie!

1 Asm t-shirt 1 Poster signed by Mark Webb/Stan Lee (with certificate of authenticity)

Official Rules:

1. You Must Be A Us Resident. Prize Will...

Sneak Peek a new poster and trailer supporting the crime comedy drama "Gambit", starring Cameron Diaz and Colin Firth.

The new film,  a remake of the 1966 feature "Gambit", is written by the Coen Brothers ("True Grit") and directed by Michael Hoffman ("The Last Station").

Screenplay follows a London art expert (Firth) who aims to con a collector into purchasing a fake Monet.

To help push the ruse, the man finds an American woman (Diaz), to claim that her grandfather liberated the painting at the end of World War Two.

The original "Gambit" was directed by Ronald Neame, from a screenplay by Jack Davies and Alvin Sargent from an original story by Sidney Carroll. 

The film starred Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine as two criminals involved in an elaborate plot centered on a priceless antiquity owned by millionaire 'Mr Shahbandar' (Herbert Lom).

The film is told in a reverse chronological order,...

Chicago – Gritty realism proves to be a perfect fit for some superhero franchises, but “Spider-Man” isn’t one of them. The more grounded and practical the world of Peter Parker becomes, the sillier the whole thing gets. Sam Raimi’s trilogy flourished precisely because it resembled a cheerfully vibrant comic book come to life. In contrast, “The Amazing Spider-Man” is a bore.

I’ll admit that Raimi’s overstuffed, undercooked “Spider-Man 3” was a good enough reason to, in the words of Todd Akin, “shut the whole thing down,” but since superhero movies have become Hollywood’s bread and butter, Columbia Pictures couldn’t resist prematurely rebooting the franchise. Yet since Raimi’s films are still crystal-clear in most moviegoers’ minds, the studio had quite a challenge in convincing audiences to sit through the same story again.

Blu-ray Rating: 2.5/5.0

That’s not to say that director Marc Webb doesn’t...

Sony's The Amazing Spider-Man sequel will bring back the first film's helmer Marc Webb for the Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone starrer. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is set to open May 2nd, 2014 with production starting some time next year. In April, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci were hired to rewrite James Vanberbilt's script. The first Spider-Man reboot scripted by Vanberbilt, Steve Kloves and Alvin Sargent, turned in $62 million on its debut weekend on July 3rd and has made over $261.4 million domestically thus far. Overseas, the action flick's turned in a uge $490.1 million...