The man who performed the most sensational solo number in the history of musical comedy is dead. Donald O'Connor, whose "Make 'em Laugh" number in "Singin' in the Rain" (1952) was a show-stopper that delighted and astonished generations of audiences, died…
Elia Kazan, who presided over a revolution in American acting and directed films that won 20 Academy Awards, died Saturday at 94. His films included such towering achievements as "A Streetcar Named Desire," "On the Waterfront" (1954), "A Face in…
Q. I spoke to a Japanese person who saw "Lost in Translation," and she agreed with me that the film took a heavy-handed, anti-Japanese stance. Of course, the story was about two strangers in a strange land who didn't have…
Leni Riefenstahl, who did more than any other artist to shape the image of the Third Reich, died in her sleep Monday night in Berlin. She was 101. Although her 1934 documentary "Triumph of the Will" was the most dramatic…
Q. In your review of "Le Divorce," I reached your account of Peter Noble's story: An English guy walks into a cafe in Cannes and asks if they have a men's room. The waiter replies: "Monsieur! I have only two…
Of the three great cinemas in the world--American, French, Japanese--the Japanese have been the slowest to admit women into the ranks of directors (not that the record of the other two is exemplary).
Q. I've noticed an interesting trend over the last few years: You can sometimes tell who the "bad guys" are in a movie or TV show by what computer they use. For instance, on "24" all the bad guys used…
Kevin Costner's new Western is about "what kind of person you are when you look around and no one is watching," he says. It's called "Open Range," it opens Friday, and Costner directs. He won an Oscar for directing "Dances…
Q. In your "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" review, you mentioned that I was opening a pirate store. We actually opened the store 14 months ago. It's doing well, too. Pays the rent on our nonprofit…
Bob Hope, who has died at 100, became such an American icon that his mere presence made people smile. That was the lesson I learned one day in 1980, when I joined him aboard a private jet after he'd made…
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