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With his long hair, sunglasses and bellbottoms, Hal Ashby was the epitome of the 1970s flower child, even though he was a decade older than most of the filmmakers working at the time. Though his flame burned brightly and briefly, he left behind a series of classics that signified the nose-thumbing, countercultural attitude of the era, with a bit of humanism and heart thrown in for good measure. Let’s take a look back at all 12 of his films, ranked worst to best.

Born on September 2, 1929 in Utah, Ashby ambled around before becoming an apprentice editor for Robert Swink, working for Hollywood legends William Wyler and George Stevens. He moved up the ranks to become an editor for Norman Jewison, with whom he shared a fraternal and professional relationship. They cut five films together, including “The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!” (1966), which earned him his first Oscar nomination,...

Norman Jewison was the Oscar-nominated filmmaker who has tackled a number of controversial topics and social issues in his work, crafting mainstream entertainments with a political point of view. But how many of his titles remain classics? Let’s take a look back at 15 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1926 in Toronto, Jewison cut his teeth in television before moving into directing with a number of light farces, including the Doris Day vehicles “The Thrill of It All” (1963) and “Send Me No Flowers” (1964), her last collaboration with Rock Hudson. His career took a turning point with his first drama, “The Cincinnati Kid” (1965), which also kicked off his collaborations with film editor Hal Ashby, himself a future director. His next film, the darkly comedic “The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!” (1966), earned him his first Oscar nomination in Best Picture.

He hit the Oscar jackpot the...

The oldest surviving Oscar winner is turning 100 this year! Classy, smart and with a warmth that belies her cool blonde beauty, Eva Marie Saint made a name for herself on stage, radio, television and film, earning numerous accolades over a nearly eight-decade career, and appearing alongside some of Hollywood’s most acclaimed stars.

Saint was born on July 4, 1924, in New Jersey, and raised in New York, before becoming an NBC page. After steady work on radio and TV, Saint won an Outer Critics Circle Award for her role in the 1953 play “The Trip to Bountiful.”

The following year, Saint made her movie debut opposite Marlon Brando in Elia Kazan‘s “On the Waterfront,” which garnered her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and launched an impressive film career. Over the next two decades, she co-starred alongside Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Cary Grant, Paul Newman, Warren Beatty, Angela Lansbury and...

The Beatles made their first of three appearances on CBS’ “The Ed Sullivan Show” on Feb 9, 1964. Sullivan knew he had a really big “shew” that night, telling the audience mainly of teeny-boppers and teenage girls that “our theater’s been jammed with newspapermen and hundreds of photographers from all over the world. And these veterans agree with me that the city never has witnessed the excitement stirred by these youngsters from Liverpool…Now tonight you’re going to be twice entertained by them…Ladies and gentlemen, The Beatles.”

Their fans screamed, cried and grabbed their hair when John, Paul, George and Ringo performed “All My Loving,” “Till There Was You” and “She Loves You.” They came back 35 minutes later in the show to sing “I Saw Her Standing There” and their No. 1 hit “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” The ratings for the episode scored to 23.24 million households. Beatlemania was sweeping America before Feb.

Norman Jewison made movies that mattered.

“Timing is everything,” the director told me the one time we met. I’d been enlisted to host a long Q&a with Jewison at the American Cinematheque — and I was more than a little intimidated.

From “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming” in 1966 to “Other People’s Money” in 1991, Jewison had an astonishing quarter-century run behind the camera, directing movies that impacted the culture when they came out (none more than “In the Heat of the Night”), a great many of which are still watched today. Turns out, this legendary talent couldn’t have been sweeter.

Jewison liked to tell the story of how he met Bobby Kennedy before making the landmark Sidney Poitier picture. He and Kennedy crossed paths while on vacation skiing, where both of their kids wound up in the hospital.

Still developing “In the Heat of the Night” at the time,...

Norman Jewison, the prolific, award-winning movie director of “Rollerball” and “In The Heat of the Night” has died:

Jewison directed numerous feature films and was Oscar-nominated 3 times as ‘Best Director’, for “In the Heat of the Night” (1967), “Fiddler on the Roof” (1971) and “Moonstruck” (1987).

Other films include “The Cincinnati Kid” (1965), “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming” (1966), “The Thomas Crown Affair” (1968), “Jesus Christ Superstar” (1973), “Rollerball” (1975)…

… “F.I.S.T.” (1978), “...And Justice for All” (1979), “Best Friends” (1982), “A Soldier's Story” (1984), “Agnes of God” (1985), “Other People's Money” (1991), “Only You” (1994), “The Hurricane” (1999), and “The Statement” (2003.

Click the images to enlarge…...

Norman Jewison, a seven-time Academy Award nominee who directed the 1968 Best Picture Oscar winner “In the Heat of the Night” as well as Oscar winners “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Moonstruck” and numerous other iconic films, is dead. He died peacefully on Saturday at his home.

A filmmaking giant in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, Jewison was undeniably one of the most prominent producer-directors never to have won an Oscar – though he was honored with the prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Award at the Academy Awards in 1999. He was nominated three times for his directing: “In the Heat of the Night” in ’68 (losing to Mike Nichols for “The Graduate”), “Fiddler on the Roof” in 1972 (William Friedkin won for “The French Connection”) and “Moonstruck” in 1988 (won by Bernardo Bertolucci for “The Last Emperor”). He was also nominated for producing a quartet of Best Picture contenders: “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming...

Norman Jewison, the celebrated film director, has died. He was 97. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the filmmaker passed away at his home on Saturday, January 20, 2024.

Jewison had a long and varied directing and producing career that was peppered with accolades. His films "Moonstruck," "A Soldier's Story," "Fiddler on the Roof," "In the Heat of the Night," and "The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming" were nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 1987, 1984, 1971, 1967, and 1966 respectively, with "Heat of the Night" winning. Jewison also helmed dozens of other notable dramas and musicals besides, including "The Thomas Crown Affair", "Gaily, Gaily" (nominated for three Oscars), "Jesus Christ Superstar" (nominated for one Oscar), "...And Justice for All" (two), "Agnes of God" (three), and "The Hurricane" (one). 

All told, Jewison's films were nominated for 41 Oscars, winning 12. He also directed the sci-fi thriller "Rollerball," the comedy "Bogus," the romance "Only You," the Stallone drama "F.I.S.T.,...

Oscar-nominated film director and producer Norman Jewison, who steered the 1967 racial drama “In the Heat of the Night” to a best picture Oscar and also helmed such popular films as “Moonstruck,” “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming” and “The Thomas Crown Affair,” as well as film musicals “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Jesus Christ Superstar,” died Saturday at his Los Angeles residence. He was 97.

His film career began with fluffy Doris Day comedies like “The Thrill of It All.” But Jewison’s social conscience began to surface with “In the Heat of the Night” and, later, the labor union drama “F.I.S.T.” and other films focusing on racial tensions such as “A Soldier’s Story” and “The Landlord” (the latter of which he only produced), though he never abandoned comedies and romances.

Jewison had his share of box office hits and was usually attuned to the audience pulse, but did...

Norman Jewison is dead at the age of 97. For over four decades he sustained a career of films that became major box office hits as well as others that presented current social issues in a Hollywood context (with some combining the two). He died peacefully at his home on Saturday January 20.

“In the Heat of the Night,” which beat “Bonnie and Clyde” and “The Graduate” for the Best Picture Oscar for 1967, is the most obvious example of Jewison’s talent for turning tough subjects into hit movies. It grossed (adjusted to current prices) over $200 million, with it already having become a major success before it won five Oscars. Ironically, the racially-charged story about a Northern Black detective (Sidney Poitier) investigating a murder and confronting a racist Southern police chief wons its Oscars in a ceremony delayed by the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Norman Frederick Jewison was born on July 21, 1926 in Toronto,...

The US actor won an Oscar for ‘Little Miss Sunshine’.

US actor Alan Arkin, who won an Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine, has passed away at the age of 89.

The cause of death has not been announced but his three sons, including fellow actors Matthew and Adam, said in a joint statement: “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.”

Arkin made his film debut in Norman Jewison’s 1966 war comedy The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming...

Alan Arkin, the longtime celebrated actor, who won an Oscar for his performance in “Little Miss Sunshine” and earned two Emmy nominations for “The Kominsky Method”, has died. He was 89.

Arkin’s death was confirmed to People by his sons, Adam, Matthew and Anthony, in a statement, saying, “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.”

A man who wore many hats, Arkin was an actor, director and screenwriter whose career spanned over six decades.

While primarily known for his screen work, he first broke out on Broadway in New York City. He received a Tony Award for his second performance in 1963’s Enter Laughing. A decade later, he was nominated for another Tony Award, this time for directing the 1973 play The Sunshine Boys.

During that time,...

Alan Arkin, who won an Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine, was nominated for Argo and two other films, scored six Emmy noms and won a Tony Award, died Thursday at his home in San Marcos, CA. He was 89.

The news was announced Friday morning by his sons, actors Adam, Matthew and Anthony, in a joint statement. Matthew Arkin told The New York Times that his father had suffered from heart ailments.

The statement read: “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.”

Related: Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries

In addition to his Oscar-winning film work, Arkin won a Tony Award for acting in Enter Laughing) and was Tony-nominated for directing The Sunshine Boys. He also was nominated for a half-dozen Emmy Awards spanning 53 years,...

Alan Arkin, the Oscar and Tony-winning actor who starred in films ranging from “Catch-22” to “Little Miss Sunshine,” has died at the age of 89. His death was confirmed by his sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony in a statement obtained by TheWrap. A cause of death has, as of this time, not been given.

“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,” the statement reads.

Borning in Brooklyn, New York on March 26, 1934, Arkin was the son of a painter and a teacher. He was raised Jewish, albeit with “no emphasis on religion,” and his family moved to Los Angeles when he was 11. His father worked as a set decorator until losing that job due to an eight-month Hollywood strike. Arkin’s parents were accused of being Communists...

Alan Arkin, an Oscar-winning actor for “Little Miss Sunshine” with a body of work that spans seven decades of stage and screen acting, died June 29 at his home in Carlsbad, Calif, Variety has confirmed. He was 89.

Arkin’s sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony said in a joint statement, “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.”

Arkin, who was known for projecting a characteristically dry wit but could play tragedy with equal efficacy, won his Oscar for his supporting performance in the indie comedy “Little Miss Sunshine” in 2007; he scored an encore nomination for his punchy and profane turn in Ben Affleck’s best picture winner “Argo.” Arkin picked up two earlier nominations in his film career, for “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming...

By Lee Pfeiffer

Carl Reiner has passed away at age 98. The New York native who served in WWII and then went on to become a comedy icon, had a varied career and many achievements that were often behind the cameras. He gained fame as a member of Sid Caesar's ensemble on his legendary 1950s TV series "Your Show of Shows" and "Caesar's Hour". Reiner was usually happy to play the straight man in skits that help revolutionize the world of comedy. With his good friend Mel Brooks, who wrote for Caesar's shows, he created the concept of the 2,000 Year-Old Man, which found Reiner interviewing the elderly Jewish guy, played by Brooks. The concept started informally when the duo would improvise acts at social gatherings, but when they finally released the 2,000 Year-Old Man as a comedy album, it sold over a million copies and institutionalized Jewish humor for a generation of American comedians.

Hal Ashby would’ve celebrated his 90th birthday on September 2, 2019. With his long hair, sunglasses and bellbottoms, he was the epitome of the 1970s flower child, even though he was a decade older than most of the filmmakers working at the time. Though his flame burned brightly and briefly, he left behind a series of classics that signified the nose-thumbing, countercultural attitude of the era, with a bit of humanism and heart thrown in for good measure. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at all 12 of his films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1929 in Utah, Ashby ambled around before becoming an apprentice editor for Robert Swink, working for Hollywood legends William Wyler and George Stevens. He moved up the ranks to become an editor for Norman Jewison, with whom he shared a fraternal and professional relationship. They cut five films together, including “The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!...

Norman Jewison celebrates his 93rd birthday on July 21, 2019. The Oscar-nominated filmmaker has tackled a number of controversial topics and social issues in his work, crafting mainstream entertainments with a political point of view. But how many of his titles remain classics? In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 15 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

SEEDoris Day movies: 20 greatest films ranked worst to best

Born in 1926 in Toronto, Jewison cut his teeth in television before moving into directing with a number of light farces, including the Doris Day vehicles “The Thrill of It All” (1963) and “Send Me No Flowers” (1964), her last collaboration with Rock Hudson. His career took a turning point with his first drama, “The Cincinnati Kid” (1965), which also kicked off his collaborations with film editor Hal Ashby, himself a future director. His next film, the darkly comedic “The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!...

Alan Arkin turned 85 earlier this year, yet he has always seemed timeless. With a career spanning more than 60 years, it’s difficult to fathom when there was ever a time when Arkin wasn’t part of the culture. He was an early member of the Second City theater troupe before making his Oscar-nominated film debut in the timely “The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!” in 1966. He gave iconic performances in seminal movies; he terrified Audrey Hepburn (and audiences) in “Wait Until Dark”; starred in Mike Nichols’ take on Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22”; starred and produced the comedy classic “The In-Laws”; and lent his voice to the 1982 cult classic “The Last Unicorn.” And that was all before his Oscar-winning turn in “Little Miss Sunshine,” which kicked off a renaissance of sorts for the actor, who earned another nomination for best picture winner “Argo” and now stars on the heralded...

Jeff Bridges in ‘Hell or High Water’ (Courtesy: CBS Films)

By: Carson Blackwelder

Managing Editor

With yet another opportunity to win this year, Jeff Bridges expands his Academy Awards career to 45 years — with the chance to add to it. This is quite an accomplishment as there are very few actors and actresses with a span of that long between their last or most recent nomination. Let’s take a look at some of these other legends with Oscar stretches almost as long as or even longer than that of Bridges.

This year Bridges is nominated for best supporting actor for Hell or High Water and is up against Mahershala Ali (Moonlight), Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea), Dev Patel (Lion), and Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals). Hell or High Water — a Western crime thriller directed by David Mackenzie and written by Taylor Sheridan — is also nominated for best picture, best original screenplay,...

2013 TCM Classic Film Festival at Tcl Chinese Theatre on Apr 27, 2013 in Los Angeles, CA.

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) announced today that renowned actor Burt Reynolds is set to attend the 2016 TCM Classic Film Festival, taking place in Hollywood April 28 – May 1, to participate in a sit-down interview about his life and career. In addition to the interview, Reynolds will be on-hand to introduce a screening of The Longest Yard (1974), for which he received a Golden Globe® nomination for Best Actor. The interview will be taped Saturday, April 30 in front of a live audience of festival pass holders at The Ricardo Montalbán Theatre.

“For more than five decades, Burt Reynolds has been both a superstar and a force to be reckoned with on screens around the globe, having ranked among the top ten box office attractions in the world on 13 different occasions,” said TCM host Robert Osborne. “He is one of the...

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will open the 7th annual TCM Classic Film Festival on April 28thwith a 40th Anniversary screening of the Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman political thriller All The President’s Men (1976).

The festival, set to take place April 28 – May 1 in Hollywood, will also include tributes to the following screen legends:

· Director-writer Carl Reiner featuring a screening of Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982) and an extended conversation

· Actor Elliott Gould featuring screenings of his Golden Globe nominated performance in M*A*S*H (1970), The Long Goodbye (1973) and a conversation in Club TCM

This year’s festival will include appearances by:

· Eva Marie Saint – on hand to introduce a screening of the political comedy The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming (1966)

· Director John Singleton – presenting a 25th anniversary screening of his coming-of-age classic Boyz N The Hood (1991)

· Actor Stacy Keach – discussing John Huston’s gritty look at...

Theodore Bikel. Theodore Bikel dead at 91: Oscar-nominated actor and folk singer best known for stage musicals 'The Sound of Music,' 'Fiddler on the Roof' Folk singer, social and union activist, and stage, film, and television actor Theodore Bikel, best remembered for starring in the Broadway musical The Sound of Music and, throughout the U.S., in Fiddler on the Roof, died Monday morning (July 20, '15) of "natural causes" at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. The Austrian-born Bikel – as Theodore Meir Bikel on May 2, 1924, in Vienna, to Yiddish-speaking Eastern European parents – was 91. Fled Hitler Thanks to his well-connected Zionist father, six months after the German annexation of Austria in March 1938 ("they were greeted with jubilation by the local populace," he would recall in 2012), the 14-year-old Bikel and his family fled to Palestine, at the time a British protectorate. While there, the teenager began acting on stage,...

Otto Preminger’s 1960 film Exodus, which stars Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Ralph Richardson and Lee J. Cobb, celebrates it’s 55th anniversary this year. The Royale Laemmle Theater in Los Angeles will be holding a special one-night-only showing of the 280-minute film on Tuesday, March 31, 2015 at 7:00 pm. Prior to the screening, actress Eva Marie Saint is scheduled to partake in a Q & A and discussion on the making of the film.

From the press release:

Exodus, based on the best-selling novel by Leon Uris about the founding of the state of Israel, was nominated for three Academy Awards in 1960 and won the Oscar for Ernest Gold's majestic, memorable score. Otto Preminger's lavish production, with a screenplay by formerly blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo, was filmed on location with an all-star cast headed by Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Sal Mineo, Jill Haworth, Peter Lawford, Ralph Richardson, and Lee J. Cobb.

A true iconoclast and a real original, Jonathan Winters was considered one of the great improv comics of all and was a key inspiration of Jim Carry and Robin Williams, among others. His more famous films included It’S A Mad Mad Mad Mad World, Viva Max, and The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming. He was the master of ad lib. His ‘The Jonathan Winters Show’ was just him and a few props, no script. He also delivered an admirable dramatic performance as ‘fats’ Brown in The Twilight Zone episode “A Game Of Pool”, in which he co-stars with Jack Klugman. Winters recorded ten Grammy-nominated comedy albums, winning once, and he won an Emmy for best-supporting actor playing Randy Quaid’s father in the 1991 sitcom “Davis Rules”. Jonathan Winters died today at age 87 of natural causes.

In July, Wamg’s Michelle McCue attended a special screening of It...

Gifted comedian Jonathan Winters has died of natural causes at age 87, reports Variety. My fondest memories of him are Stanley Kramer's antic road comedy "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" and Norman Jewison’s "The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming," but of course this under-appreciated comic artist did much more. See clips below. Winters released several popular comedy albums and was a regular guest through the 50s, 60s and 70s on TV variety and talk shows from Johnny Carson, Steve Allen and Garry Moore to Jack Paar, who called Winters “pound for pound, the funniest man alive.” The radio dj, stand-up comedian and gifted mimic inspired the improvisational comedy of comics ranging from Steve Martin to Robin Williams, whose son he played on the last season of ABC’s "Mork and Mindy." He starred in several of own variety shows in the 60s and 70s, and...

“Emergency, everybody to get from street!” That line helped to earn Alan Arkin his first Oscar nomination, 45 years ago.

I saw Norman Jewison’s “The Russians are Coming The Russians Are Coming” when I was a kid and I have never forgotten Arkin’s performance as a wayward Russian submarine commander caught in the middle of the Cold War. That movie made North Americans laugh at a time when the Soviet threat was not funny. As revealed in our conversation below, Arkin takes serious comedy seriously, and that’s the secret at the heart of Ben Affleck’s “Argo.”

“Argo” finds humor in the midst of a true life-and-death CIA extrication in 1980 Tehran. And much of the laughs are delivered by Arkin. Although the movie builds nail-biting edge-of-your seat tension as we wonder just how CIA agent Tony Mendez (Affleck) will rescue six State Department employees who fled the U.

"Emergency, everybody to get from street!" That line helped to earn Alan Arkin his first Oscar nomination, 45 years ago. I saw Norman Jewison's "The Russians are Coming The Russians Are Coming" when I was a kid and I have never forgotten Arkin's performance as a wayward Russian submarine commander caught in the middle of the Cold War. That movie made North Americans laugh at a time when the Soviet threat was not funny. As revealed in our conversation below, Arkin takes serious comedy seriously, and that's the secret at the heart of Ben Affleck's "Argo." "Argo" finds humor in the midst of a true life-and-death CIA extrication in 1980 Tehran. And much of the laughs are delivered by Arkin. Although the movie builds nail-biting edge-of-your seat tension as we wonder just how CIA agent Tony Mendez (Affleck) will rescue six State Department employees who fled the U.S. Embassy during the hostage crisis,...

Greg Kinnear, Abigail Breslin, Alan Arkin, Steve Carell, Paul Dano, Toni Collette in Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris' Little Miss Sunshine (top); Peter O'Toole in Roger Michell's Venus (middle); Eddie Murphy, Beyoncé Knowles, Jennifer Hudson, Anika Noni Rose in Bill Condon's Dreamgirls (bottom) Hal Holbrook, Ruby Dee: Oscar Veterans 2007 Alan Arkin Alan Arkin won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as an untactful heroin-addicted grandfather in Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris' sleeper hit Little Miss Sunshine. Arkin had been previously nominated for two other Academy Awards, both in the Best Actor category: Norman Jewison's comedy The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966) and Robert Ellis Miller's heavy drama The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968). Peter O'Toole Peter O'Toole was nominated as Best Actor for Roger Michell's Venus. Even though that was O'Toole's eighth Academy Award nomination — and his first...

Robert F. Boyle, a four-time Academy Award nominee for art direction and a recipient of an honorary Oscar for his work on "North by Northwest," "Fiddler on the Roof" and nearly 90 other films, died Aug. 1 of natural causes at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 100.

In 1997, Boyle was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Art Directors Guild and four years later was honored with the Hollywood Production Designer of the Year Award by the Hollywood Film Festival. Recently, he was given a tribute by the American Cinematheque and the Adg with a screening at the Egyptian Theatre of two of his designed films, "The Wolf Man" (1941) and "Gaily, Gaily" (1969).

Boyle received Oscar noms his work on "Gaily, Gaily," "Fiddler (1971), "North by Northwest" (1959) and "The Shootist" (1976).

Among his other major motion picture credits are "The Birds" (1963), "Winter Kills" (1979), "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" (1982), "Private Benjamin" (1980), "Portnoy's Complaint...

 

It takes award nuts like us to appreciate fully the mad scene last night when a man collapsed and an ambulance was summoned to the party at Plein Sud restaurant following the New York premiere of "The Kids Are All Right."

New York Magazine's Vulture blog described the chaos that broke out when my guest to the bash, Tariq Khan -- noted Oscarologist and a news editor at Fox News Channel -- suddenly stopped talking while we stood near the buffet table and he fell backward, straight like a timber, his head hitting the stone floor with a loud whack. A doctor and trauma nurse who were party guests rushed to his aid. Lots of people dialed 911 on their cellphones. The first to break through was a freaked-out chap sitting in the booth next to Tariq's prostrate body who bellowed into his phone, "85 West Broadway! 85 West Broadway!" to an operator...

tues top ten: for the list maker in me and the list lover in you

Your life isn't complete without knowing the answer to the following question:

What Are the Ten Longest Titles of Best Picture Nominees? We've answered it once before but Precious... which is officially titled Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire has shaken up the rankings. Plus, new readers haven't read this. So, it's new to you!

There are several ways to count the titles and they result in different orders. I've opted to do it by character count, not including spaces.

point of contention: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope used to simply be called Star Wars. Now, people add the episode tags because there are so many of them... If you allow for the revised official titling, Star Wars makes the top ten, tying for #9

10 Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) Just...