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Emmy-and-Golden Globe winning actor. Oscar-nominated producer. Director. Writer. In his 50 years in the industry, Danny DeVito has worn many hats, becoming one of the most successful and popular entertainers of his generation.

Daniel Michael DeVito, Jr. was born on November 17, 1944, in New Jersey, with multiple epiphyseal dysplasia. Also known as Fairbank’s disease, this rare genetic disorder affects bone growth and contributed to his short stature. This has not hindered his successes, beginning with his training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and early work in the theater.

In 1975, DeVito successfully reprised his off-Broadway role in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” in the film version, and soon found success as Louie DePalma in the television sitcom “Taxi,” for which he received four Primetime Emmy and four Golden Globe nominations, winning the Emmy in 1978 and the Globe in 1980. Louie was the arrogant dispatcher of the Sunshine Cab Company who...

Brian De Palma, the director behind Carrie, Scarface and The Untouchables, was sometimes criticized for “borrowing” from more accomplished directors like Alfred Hitchcock and Jean-Luc Godard. But he was a favorite of Roger Ebert and Pauline Kael, a sought-after director whose visual style led to offers to helm huge Hollywood hits like Fatal Attraction, Flashdance and Taxi Driver, according to ScreenRant.

De Palma, though, told Business Insider he had no regrets about turning down those smashes. But there is one career move that he’d like to take back. “Now a movie I wish I hadn't done was Wise Guys,” he explained. “The studio changed their minds and didn’t want to make it. They just wanted us to go away. I should have just taken my money and walked instead of dealing with a studio that didn’t want to make the movie.”

The screwball plot of Wise Guys...

Though he’s made films for theatrical release and the occasional series for a different network or streamer, prolific documentarian Alex Gibney and the HBO nonfiction brand have become borderline synonymous over the past decade. It was almost inevitable that Gibney would, at some point, take the serpent’s tail into his mouth and make a documentary about HBO.

Gibney’s first stab at HBOuroboros is Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos, a documentary that is, per its title, completely self-explanatory. Simultaneously tracing the life of David Chase and the run of his game-changing mob dramedy, the two-parter is a must-watch for fans of The Sopranos — even television critics for whom many of its juiciest details are already established lore.

Especially in its 85-minute second part, which has to cover most of the Sopranos’ stretch after its first season, Wise Guys isn’t always as “definitive” as it wants to be,...

Longtime broadcast journalist and author Jane Pauley and documentarian/director Alex Gibney have been tapped to receive lifetime achievement awards at the 45th annual News & Documentary Emmys. The honors were revealed Wednesday by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Pauley, currently the host of “CBS News Sunday Morning,” will receive her award during the news ceremony portion of the awards on Wed., September 25, while Gibney will be honored during the Documentary ceremony on Thursday, Sept. 26. Both ceremonies will take place at New York’s Palladium Times Square, and be streamed on NATAS’ viewing app.

Adam Sharp, President and CEO of NATAS, said: “We are honored to pay tribute to these two revered icons of our industry. Jane Pauley and Alex Gibney continue to reach viewers while at the same time opening doors for those coming behind them,” said NATAS president/CEO Adam Sharp in a statement. “This honor...

Anchor Jane Pauley and director-producer Alex Gibney will receive Lifetime Achievement awards at the 45th News & Documentary Emmys.

Pauley will be honored for her career in broadcasting at the news ceremony on Sept. 25. Gibney will be feted for his contributions in documentary filmmaking at the doc ceremony on Sept. 26. Both events will take place live at the Palladium Times Square in New York City.

“We are honored to pay tribute to these two revered icons of our industry. Jane Pauley and Alex Gibney continue to reach viewers while at the same time opening doors for those coming behind them,” said NATAS CEO and President Adam Sharp. “This honor is not only about impressive longevity in a competitive space, but also the broad and sweeping impact each has had on the business, their audiences, and the greater community. NATAS is proud to celebrate their enduring dedication to television excellence.”

Related: 2024-...

Ya know that feeling when you watch something dumb, and even though you know it’s stupid, you can’t help but laugh and enjoy yourself? The 1980s are full of comedies like that. Yeah, we know they’re dumb and not especially clever, but whatever, man, every now and then, you’re in a bad mood, and you want to turn your brain off. That’s why they made seven Police Academy movies. No one thought they were good, but we watched them anyway because they were stupid in a pleasing way.

This brings me to this rare comedy-focused episode of The Best Movie You Never Saw, about a movie I loved as a kid that doesn’t super hold up forty years later, but it is still kinda fun – Johnny Dangerously. A gangster comedy in the vein of Airplane, Johnny Dangerously is probably a movie many younger viewers...

“Let’s face it, I had a bad script,” director Michael Bay said on the commentary track of his debut feature film, Bad Boys. Bay isn’t wrong. Bad Boys relies on buddy comedy tropes already established in 1974’s Freebie and the Bean and 1982’s 48 Hrs., complete with nonsense plot points. “But I had real comic talent in my two stars.” Bay of course means Martin Lawrence and Will Smith. Drawn from the popular sitcoms Martin and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Lawrence and Smith saved the movie from the clunky script with their easy chemistry and comic timing.

At one point, however, Bad Boys had two very different stars in mind with a comic chemistry unlike that of Lawrence and Smith.

Live From Miami, It’s Saturday Night!

In the 1980s, there were no greater kingmakers than Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson. Not only did the super producers turn...

Quentin Tarantino has been a voice of authority in the film industry for decades. His opinions may not always be popular, but they always command respect.

It's almost impossible to remember a time before his innovative style of filmmaking, with its witty dialogue, stylized violence and non-linear narratives. But back in the early 90s, he was an unknown trying to make his way in the film world.

It all started at a barbecue?

In 1992, Quentin Tarantino burst onto the movie scene with a heist movie that was the result of a chance meeting with producer Lawrence Bender at a barbecue. He completed the first draft in less than a month and, after impressing Bender, was able to secure financing to move the project forward.

And so, Reservoir Dogs was born.

A critically acclaimed movie that has stood the test of time

Tarantino's debut film premiered at the Sundance Festival...

Update: Jury selection has ended for the day in Donald Trump’s hush money trial, with 11 people so far having gone through an extensive questionnaire. A total of 32 potential jurors were left in the courtroom.

After the prospective jurors left the courtroom, Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche requested that his client be excused from the proceedings on April 25. That’s the day that the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Trump’s claims of immunity from prosecution.

But Merchan rejected the request. “Arguing before the Supreme Court is a big deal, and I can certainly appreciate why your client would want to be there. But a trial in New York Supreme Court … is also a big deal,” he said, per a pool report. “I will see him here next week.”

The trial will be dark on Wednesdays, when Merchan has other court duties. But he has not ruled out...

“Ma’am, I’m 10 years old, you think I could write this alone? I don’t think so.” The age demographics in Hollywood are about to skew a lot younger because a pre-teen has pitched an idea that is soon enough going to be written for the screen – and it’s a wonder it hasn’t been made yet. Here we have Home Alone meets The Godfather, in which we imagine one scene where Kevin McCallister jumps on his parents’ bed, only to find a decapitated horse head at the foot of it. The title? Little Wiseguy.

But the pitch doesn’t come from a desperate studio suit but rather a 10-year-old named Connor Esterson, who you may actually be familiar with, as he co-starred in last year’s Spy Kids: Armageddon. And while Esterson has very likely seen Home Alone numerous times around the holiday season, he admits he...

Dianne Crittenden, casting director on some of the most notable features of the 1970s and ’80s including “Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope,” “Days of Heaven” and “Pretty Woman,” died March 19. She was 82.

She died Wednesday in Pacific Palisades, Calif., according to her friend and mentee Ilene Starger.

Crittenden would go on to have a prolific career in casting lasting over 40 years. Crittenden’s credits include “The Thin Red Line,” “On Golden Pond,” “Witness,” “Badlands,” “Oh! God,” “Howard the Duck,” “Wise Guys” and “Spiderman 2.” She was nominated for a CSA Artios award for “Witness.” She worked with some of the industry’s most prominent directors, such as Ridley Scott, Peter Bogdanovich, Wes Craven, George Romero and Brian De Palma.

In a 2010 featurette included in the Criterion Collection release, Crittenden spoke about her experiences working with Terrence Malick, or “Terry” as she calls him, on his WWII drama “The Thin Red Line.

In other Disney schedule changes Pixar’s Elio, Disney’s Snow White move to 2025.

Searchlight’s buzzy Sundance acquisition Magazine Dreams has been unset from its December 8 release slot in the run-up to Jonathan Major’s domestic abuse trial.

Majors earned rave reviews in Park City for his portrayal of a troubled aspiring bodybuilder. Buyers pursued the drama written and directed by Elijah Bynum and Searchlight confirmed in February that it had picked up worldwide rights.

Magazine Dreams would have ranked as a strong awards play for Majors in any season, however in light of the actor’s pending November...

If you have Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom moves its release date again on your Bingo card, take a shot! The James Wan-directed superhero sequel is swimming to a new release date, with the film opening on Friday, December 22, instead of Wednesday! While the jump is minimal, it’s worth noting for people planning to see Jason Momoa’s next aquatic adventure on opening weekend.

December is a killer concerning new film releases, giving Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom stiff competition at the box office. Let’s take a look at the schedule, shall we? Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, focusing on the life and times of composer Leonard Bernstein, opens on December 20, tossing Oscar chum into the box office water. Aquaman’s new date is also chock full of heavy hitters, including the Von Erichs wrestling drama The Iron Claw, Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell’s rom-com Anyone But You,...

What is it with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom? Is it Wednesday? Is it Friday? The DC sequel will now open on Friday Dec. 22 this year instead of Dec. 20. Know that Warners knows what they’re doing here: They turned Aquaman back in 2018 into the highest grossing DC movie of all-time at $1.15 billion. That movie launched on Saturday and Wednesday with previews, and after an official opening on a Friday (Dec. 21) cleared over $105M at the domestic B.O. by Christmas Day –which fell on a Tuesday that year. What they do here with the immediate shift is they capture more gross closer to the Christmas Day Monday when moviegoing shifts into high gear. It’s a four-day holiday weekend. Aquaman ended its stateside run at $335M.

Meanwhile, the Barry Levinson, Robert De Niro playing twin mobsters movie Wise Guys is now titled Alto Knights and has moved from Feb.

Exclusive: Warner Bros is going all in on The Batman director Matt Reeves and his 6th & Idaho production company. He has become the first filmmaker given an overall first look film deal since Warner Bros Pictures Group Co-Chairs/CEOs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy were hired by Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav to steer the film division. In addition, Reeves has re-upped with the Warner Bros. Television Group and Chairman Channing Dungey, where he is also working on The Batman spinoff series The Penguin with Colin Farrell.

Reeves and 6th & Idaho had a first look film deal at Netflix. Reeves is spending so much time on film and TV projects relating to The Batman franchise that it made perfect sense for him to call Warner Bros home with the multi-year first look. De Luca and Abdy hope to see him grow into the kind of cornerstone filmmaker that...

Robert De Niro To Re-Team with Barry Levinson for Mob Drama — Legendary screen actor Robert De Niro is set to return to movies about organized crime in director Barry Levinson‘s upcoming, Wise Guys. The great Robert De Niro will be appearing in a dual role in a new mob movie to be directed by Barry [...]

Continue reading: Wise Guys: Robert De Niro Will Play a Dual Role in Upcoming Barry Levinson Crime Movie...

While Warner Bros. Discovery has been busy fretting over their DC Comics slate—deleting the already-completed “Batgirl” film while hoping Ezra Miller’s intention to seek mental health help will bring enough stability to successfully launch “The Flash” next year—the newly-formed entertainment entity is placing a bet on another American superhero: Robert De Niro.

And it’s not just a bet, they’re doubling down.

The first original film produced with David Zaslav as the top executive at the studio will feature the two-time Oscar-winner (and eight-time nominee) in two roles. According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Wise Guys” concerns the true mafia war between Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, and De Niro will play both men. This will be an acting feat like Jeremy Irons in “Dead Ringers,” but trading gynecological instruments for zabaglione.

The script comes from a guy who knows a thing or two about the New York City mob: Nicholas Pileggi,...

It's a whole new era for Warner Bros. Discovery, and after being dogged by controversy after controversy for the last several weeks, the studio's focus can finally go back to, you know, the business of funding, making and releasing movies. The first original production under the newly-merged studio, however, can't help but bring back memories of Warner Bros.' golden years with the upcoming project "Wise Guys." In a fascinating wrinkle, two familiar faces with ties to "Goodfellas" will be significantly involved.

As much as audiences have gravitated towards superhero movies these days and Westerns before them, perhaps no genre quite manages to compare to the prestige and sense of storytelling as the classic gangster epic. Legendary movie star Robert De Niro cut his teeth on these movies, rapidly rising through the ranks to become one of the world's most famous actors after performances in classics like "Mean Streets," "The Godfather Part II,...

Barry Levinson and Robert De Niro are getting the band back together for Wise Guys, a period drama that will have you sleeping with the fishes, see? The mob-related project finds Levinson and De Niro joining forces after teaming for the HBO TV movie The Wizard of Lies and the films What Just Happened, Wag the Dog, and Sleepers. Word has it that De Niro will tackle two roles for Wise Guys. Will you be able to handle it?

According to reports, Wise Guys revolves around Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, two Italian-American crime bosses that ruled the streets during the mid-20th century. In 1957, Genovese tried to assassinate Costello but botched the attempt. Costello got injured in the altercation, but the experience prompted him to retire. The thing about the mob is that you can never truly leave that line of life behind. That lifestyle has a way of...

Robert De Niro will re-team with his director on “Wag the Dog” Barry Levinson for a new crime drama called “Wise Guys” that is set at Warner Bros. that would have De Niro playing not one but two of the 20th Century’s biggest crime bosses, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.

Nicholas Pileggi wrote the original crime script that would follow the stories of Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, the heads of two Italian-American mafia families that went to war and in 1957 led Genovese to attempt to assassinate Costello. And De Niro would be slated to play the roles of both Genovese and Costello in the film.

Pileggi is the author of a book called “Wiseguys” from 1985 that served as the basis for Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas” from 1990. Irwin Winkler is producing.

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Bobby Cannavale, Robert De Niro Join Tony Goldwyn’s Comedic Drama ‘Inappropriate...

Robert De Niro will be sharing the screen with Hollywood legend Robert De Niro in the upcoming gangster drama “Wise Guys.”

The movie, set at Warner Bros. and intended to play in theaters, will be directed by Barry Levinson, the veteran filmmaker who is best known for “Rain Man” and “Wag the Dog.” It reunites De Niro and Levinson, who previously teamed on “Wag the Dog,” “Sleeper,” the HBO series “The Wizard of Lies” and “What Just Happened.”

“Wise Guys” follows Italian American crime bosses Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, who ran their respective families during the 20th century. In 1957, Genovese tried (and failed) to assassinate Costello, who was ultimately injured and attempted to retire from the mafia. De Niro is expected to portray the two main characters.

Nicholas Pileggi, the co-writer of Martin Scorsese’s crime epic “Goodfellas,” which starred De Niro, is penning the screenplay for “Wise Guys.

Robert De Niro will star in the Warner Bros. mob drama Wise Guys from director Barry Levinson, Deadline can confirm. The project reunites the duo following their collaborations on the Emmy-nominated HBO TV movie The Wizard of Lies, which had De Niro playing Bernie Madoff, and Magnolia Pictures’ 2008 dramedy, What Just Happened, as well as the director’s earlier films Wag the Dog and Sleepers.

Wise Guys is a period piece tells the story of Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, a pair of Italian Americans running two separate crime families during the mid-20th century. Genovese tried and failed to assassinate Costello in 1957, though the latter wound up taking his leave from the mob after being injured during the attempt on his life. We hear that De Niro will be taking on both key roles in the film eyed for release in theaters.

Oscar-nominated Goodfellas scribe Nicholas Pileggi penned the...

Warners’ first original feature of the Warner Bros. Discovery era is here … and it’s a period mobster drama fronted by two Hollywood veterans.

Returning to the genre that made him a household name, Robert De Niro will star in Wise Guys, a feature intended for theatrical distribution that will be directed by Barry Levinson, the filmmaker known for 1980s classic Rain Man and movies such as Wag the Dog.

Nicholas Pileggi, who coincidentally authored Wiseguy, the 1985 book that was the basis for the 1990 De Niro-Martin Scorsese crime classic, Goodfellas, wrote the script. Irwin Winkler, best known for producing the Rocky movies as well as being a producer on Goodfellas, is a producer.

The project is centered on Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, two Italian-American crime bosses that ran their respective families in the middle of the 20th century. In 1957, Genovese...

Exclusive: Oscar-winning screenwriters Bobby Moresco (Crash) and Nick Vallelonga (Green Book) have partnered with Midnight Run scribe George Gallo and John Gotti Jr. to develop the series Betrayal examining John Gotti and the Fall of La Cosa Notra.

The New York gangster—otherwise known as the Teflon Don, the Dapper Don—was a Caesar, an Emperor… a King. His flamboyant lifestyle and frequent public trials as the head of the Gambino crime family, which controlled New York’s largest organized-crime syndicates, made him not only a prominent figure in the 1980s and ’90s, but also one of the most well-known organized crime bosses in American history. Gotti’s rise from a loyal soldier to Boss of Bosses, and ultimately to his sentencing to life imprisonment after being betrayed by his underboss, Sammy Gravano, is legendary.

The story being packaged as a limited series will differ from past incarnations of Gotti...

Jane Powell, who made her screen debut with W.C. Fields, danced with Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding, was one of seven brides for seven brothers in the classic 1954 film musical, sang “Buttons and Bows” at President Harry S. Truman’s Inaugural Ball and was a bridesmaid at the first of Elizabeth Taylor’s weddings, died of natural causes today at her home in Wilton, Connecticut. She was 92.

Susan Granger, a friend of the actress and spokesperson for her family, told Deadline that Powell died peacefully at the house she shared for many years with her husband, the actor and publicist Dick Moore, who died in 2015.

Powell, one of the last surviving stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age, continued to appear on stage well into the 21st Century, making her career among her generation’s sturdiest.

Born Suzanne Lorraine Burce in Portland, Oregon, Powell was already a locally successful singer – she...

Emmy-and-Golden Globe winning actor. Oscar-nominated producer. Director. Writer. In his 50 years in the industry, Danny DeVito has worn many hats, becoming one of the most successful and popular entertainers of his generation.

Daniel Michael DeVito, Jr. was born on November 17, 1944, in New Jersey, with multiple epiphyseal dysplasia. Also known as Fairbank’s disease, this rare genetic disorder affects bone growth and contributed to his short stature. This has not hindered his successes, beginning with his training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and early work in the theater.

SEEEmmys Best Comedy Series Gallery: Every Winner in Emmy Awards History

In 1975, DeVito successfully reprised his off-Broadway role in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” in the film version, and soon found success as Louie DePalma in the television sitcom “Taxi,” for which he received four Primetime Emmy and four Golden Globe nominations, winning the Emmy in 1978 and the Globe in...

“I was definitely blindsided, for sure,” revealed Memphis Garrett after being evicted from the “Big Brother” house on Thursday night’s live eviction episode. Memphis was voted out by a vote of 2-0 over one of his closest allies, Christmas Abbott, under the Hoh reign of Nicole Franzel. Those two votes came from Cody Calafiore and Enzo Palumba, members of his own “Wise Guys” alliance. The All-Star was surprised, but not salty about being sent out the front door to meet host Julie Chen Moonves.

See ‘Big Brother’ slop: What are the ingredients and rules?

“In this game, the first time I played, I didn’t win much,” Memphis explained in his exit interview. “I didn’t win anything. This time I came in wanting to win. After three Hoh’s I’m sure they looked at me as more of a threat. Christmas is a good player, so maybe she was peddling them.

Cody Calafiore and Nicole Franzel have had one of the strongest alliances in the entire “Big Brother 22” house since week one, but that bond may soon be broken. After Nicole won both the Head of Household and Veto competitions this week, she secured Memphis Garrett or Christmas Abbott as her two nominations for eviction. She’s made it clear Memphis is her target, but Cody and Enzo Palumbo are the only two people voting this week, and they’re considering betraying her and eliminating Christmas instead. Is there trouble on the horizon for Cody and Nicole’s relationship?

“Enzo and I have a huge decision to make,” Cody stated in the Diary Room. “Nicole thinks Memphis is going home, but she’s not voting, Enzo and I are. Nicole, I know we’ve been working together throughout this entire game and I love you, but I need to figure out...

“It’s kill or be killed,” proclaimed Enzo Palumbo at the end of Sunday’s episode of “Big Brother 22.” Even though the self-proclaimed “Meow-Meow” isn’t part of the dominant “Committee” alliance, he’s still managed to work his way into several final three deals, including “Wise Guys 1” with Memphis Garrett and Cody Calafiore and “Wise Guys 2” with Memphis and Christmas Abbott. Could Enzo be a dark horse to win the entire “All-Stars” season, which is scheduled to end October 28 on CBS?

See‘Big Brother’ winners list: All 21 seasons, plus 3 spin-offs

After Cody won this week’s golf-themed Head of Household competition, he put up the only two people he didn’t talk game with: Kevin Campbell and David Alexander. But Enzo, who originally came in third place back in “BB12,” is already looking ahead and thinking about what might happen once the house gets so low in numbers the...

Heading into Thursday’s eviction episode of “Big Brother 22,” Head of Household Memphis Garrett had made peace with the failure of his plan to backdoor David Alexander. Remember he’d nominated David back in week two when he was Hoh. Ever since, there has been no love lost between them. Memphis was stymied by Tyler Crispen, who won the Power of Veto but opted not to use it to throw a lifeline to one of the two nominees: Kevin Campbell and Da’Vonne Rogers.

While Kevin called himself the “Big Brother” phoenix, did he rise from the ashes of the eviction vote once again? Despite being an original nominee three times he has only faced the final vote once. One week he won the Veto and in the other it was Da’Vonne who rescued him. But her good karma may be running out. So who was voted out tonight: Kevin or Da’Vonne?...

Tony Sokol Nov 19, 2019

The Sopranos gave rise to the TV antihero and spelled the death of closure.

Martin Scorsese's gangster film The Irishman promises to deliver classic cinema to Netflix while the rest of the movie-going public ride marvelous theme park attractions on the big screen. David Chase is doing post-production on The Many Saints of Newark, a film prequel to the series which changed television. The Sopranos premiered on HBO on Jan. 10, 1999, immediately eclipsing the groundbreaking series Sex and the City which debuted only six months before. The crime family saga blurred the lines between cinematic and televised art. It also transformed the way people see New Jersey, a borough of Manhattan, where the show's most rabid fans gather for SopranosCon, a place where the Dimeo crime family never dies. It doesn't matter whether Tony Soprano, played by the late James Gandolfini, the head of two Jersey families,...

Just like her famous parents, Lucy DeVito enjoys making people laugh. “It’s not easy, but I love it,” the 34-year-old tells Et from her dressing room at the Jerry Orbach Theater in New York City.

Daughter to Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman, Lucy has appeared opposite her father on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and in the 2016 film The Comedian, as well as on HBO’s Girls and Speech & Debate. Following her 2009 Off-Broadway debut alongside her mother in Love, Loss and What I Wore, the actress is back on the New York stage with the romantic comedy Hot Mess, playing Elanor, a quirky aspiring magician from Los Angeles who falls for a Jewish recovering alcoholic (Max Crumm) with a secret he can’t seem to confess.

Backstage, the actress talks about the blessing and curse of being a DeVito, the lessons her parents taught her about being successful in the entertainment industry and what’s next...

Noah Baumbach has been making movies for more than 20 years, and in that time, has developed a distinctive voice in American cinema. His stories of neurotic New Yorkers are loaded with memorable moments of self-obsession and narcissistic showdowns. But Baumbach didn’t become a filmmaker overnight; he learned much about filmmaking from watching other movies. Raised by novelist Jonathan Baumbach and film critic Georgia Brown, Baumbach grew up surrounded by cinema, and it played a critical role in his evolving love for the medium.

The filmmaker looked back on some of these key influences during a conversation at the Film Society of Lincoln Center shortly before a screening of his latest effort, the ensemble comedy “The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected),” which Netflix releases later this month.

The Movie Brats

Baumbach was born in 1969, which placed on the younger end of the spectrum of moviegoers influenced by the movie brat...

Frank Vincent, who played the vicious mob boss Phil Leotardo on The Sopranos, has died. He was 78.

Vincent died of complications from heart surgery in New Jersey, TMZ reported.

Vincent also played tough guys for director Martin Scorsese in Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990) — as the real-life Gambino gangster Billy Batts — and Casino (1995).

On HBO's The Sopranos, Leotardo often butted heads with James Gandolfini's Tony Soprano as he eventually rose to become boss of the Lupertazzi crime family.

His film résumé also included The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984), Wise Guys (1986), Spike Lee's...

To celebrate the release of Raising Cain – out Dual Format 30th Jan. 2017 – we are giving away a copy courtesy of Arrow Video!

Having spent the latter half of the eighties trying out new styles of filmmaking – Wise Guys’ knockabout comedy, The Untouchables’ prestige gangster pic, Casualties of War’s Vietnam movie and The Bonfire of the Vanities’ satirical misfire – Brian De Palma returned to what he knew best, the Hitchcockian psycho-thriller, for Raising Cain.

John Lithgow plays three roles: child psychologist Carter, his evil twin brother Cain, and their Norwegian father, Dr Nix, who likes to experimental on the young. Carter’s wife is concerned that her husband isn’t quite paying their daughter the right kind of attention; she’s also having an affair which, upon discovery, threatens to send him into a psychotic rage…

A relentless blend of murder, multiple personalities, cross-dressing, crazed parents, bizarre dream sequences and stunning cinematic assurance,...

“It can be said with certainty that any reviewer who pans [Mission to Mars] does not understand movies, let alone like them,” declared Armond White in 2000. While perhaps an over-corrective to the critical drubbing the film had just received, there’s nonetheless a grain of truth in his statement. Far from being a pale imitation of 2001: A Space Odyssey, as many reviewers accused, Mission to Mars actively deflates its predecessor’s misanthropy and grandeur – on one level, it’s a lavish, epic-scale lark from a director who’s often been as much a satirist as a craftsman.

With a budget of $100 million, it was and still is the most expensive project Brian De Palma has tackled. It’s also the only straight-up piece of science fiction among his filmography, as well as a relatively wholesome, PG-rated affair – a rarity for this most salacious of mainstream American filmmakers. Originally to be directed by...

Is this Brian De Palma’s only dull film? Very possibly yes. Released in 1986, this post-SNL Joe Piscopo vehicle (you read that correctly) feels incredibly standard. The plot concerns two low-level gangsters, Moe and Harry (Piscopo and Danny DeVito, respectively), who lose their mob boss’ money at the race track. Said mob boss (Dan Hedaya) orders the two schlubs to kill each other. Hijinks ensue.

In spats, it plays like De Palma trying out slapstick. Select moments — a close-up shot that pulls out to reveal Harry being drowned inside of a fish tank or Moe testing out a bulletproof suit jacket for his boss — highlight the fascinating hybrid of De Palma’s visual style with broad, studio comedy. If only it worked a bit more frequently throughout the film’s bloated 100-minute runtime. One can only ponder what additional mileage the director may have achieved from DeVito’s deliciously terrible hairpiece,...

1978 cast a long shadow in the world of horror. From Dawn of the Dead to Halloween, the landscape was abundant with everything from the socially relevant to the singularly terrifying, from superior remakes (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) to quirky haunted houses (The Evil). And then there’s the red headed stepchild that no one talks about: Brian DePalma’s The Fury. Frenetic, action packed, and gruesome, The Fury never gets the love from even most DePalma fanatics. What a shame – it’s never less than entertaining, and at its best showcases the director’s mesmerizing visual touch.

Released in March by Twentieth Century Fox, The Fury made $24 million against its $5.5 million budget. That’s good green, folks, and DePalma received favorable reviews, still basking in a critical glow left over from his previous effort, Carrie (’76). So why is it so easily dismissed, ranked along the lines of efforts like Wise Guys,...

Bringing up Brian De Palma as if he’s still some kind of marginalized or misunderstood figure is now heavily contentious, not just in the sense that “the discussion” has, with the presence of the Internet, become so heavily splintered that every figure has at least seem some form of reappraisal, but in that this is being discussed on the occasion of a new documentary and retrospectives in New York, Chicago, Austin, and Toronto (the lattermost of which this symposium will be timed to). Yes, the line has probably tipped past “divisive,” but that doesn’t mean there still isn’t room for debate.

It’s not hard to understand why De Palma’s work strikes a cord with a new cinephilia fixated on form and vulgarity. Though, in going film-by-film — taking us from political diatribes against America to gonzo horror to gangster films your parents watch to strange European...

Brian De Palma taught me the value of film criticism. The first time one of his films really registered for me actively was when Dressed To Kill was released in 1980. I was starting to get bit by the film bug at the time, still in the early days of the sickness, and there were many ways I would digest films beyond just seeing movies. For films I wasn’t allowed to see, there were still ways for me to get some sense of the movie. Mad magazine, for example. Undressed To Kill was one of the movie parodies that ran in 1980, and it was a beat for beat riff off of the real film. I knew the story and I even knew the twist, since Mad was not shy about spoilers. It was easy to feel like you’d seen the film after you read a Mad parody, and I...

To interview the directors behind a film that is itself a feature-length interview presents some interesting challenges, not least of which because said film makes for so engaging and revealing a discussion — but so it is when the subject possesses as much experience and honesty as Brian De Palma, an artist about whom people are never lacking opinions. The directors are Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow, who I spoke to in the main theater of New York City’s Metrograph — the site of a full, ongoing retrospective — about the form and function of De Palma, film and filmmaker alike.

This was not my first time speaking to them — only the first in a truly “official” capacity. Our previous experience helped start off the interview, which I’d like to get into now, since you, fan or skeptic, should be planning a trip to soon see their great film. And believe...

Brian De Palma has become the directorial litmus test of cinephiles everywhere. To supporters, he stands as a startling visual genius with a penchant for set pieces and lurid subject matter. To naysayers, he remains a lowbrow imitator who spends his studio budgets chasing the ghosts of Alfred Hitchcock and Jean-Luc Godard. Great director or high class hack? Inconsistent misogynist or Master of the Macabre? Much like his fractured narratives, the answer is never an easy one to attain.

Both sides provide ample support for their case. De Palma’s resume is riddled with enough hollow imitations (Sisters [1973], Raising Cain [1992]) and bloated commercial flops (The Bonfire of the Vanities [1990], The Black Dahlia [2006]) to sink any director. But even in misfires such as these, an undeniable attention to detail remains.

The split screen cover-up of Sisters or the heartbreaking screen tests of The Black Dahlia are breathtaking in scope and execution,...

Yes, I know it is a scandal not to have included Scarface, which is of course a histrionic exercise in excess unmatched before or since. Say Hello To My Little Friend, Chainsaws in the Shower – it is all terribly iconic.

But there are better films in De Palma’s CV and something always gets left out when you make a shortlist. What is interesting in having put this list together is how varied De Palma’s output has been. Yes, there is a certain emphasis on crime as a genre (as well as Scarface, The Black Dahlia, Wise Guys and Snake Eyes all miss out) but there are horror classics, action films, psychological thrillers as well as war and gangster efforts on display too – more eclectic than we might have been inclined to think.

Although De Palma’s CV may not be solid gold all the way through, it is...

Craig (from Dark Eye Socket) here with Take Three. This week: Danny DeVito

Take One: Ruthless People (1987)

DeVito wants Bette Midler dead and gone in Ruthless People. The sooner the better preferably, with a minimum of fuss and personal expense. Sam "spandex mini-skirt king" Stone's wife Barbara (Midler) is kidnapped by the nicest people to ever venture to the criminal side, Judge Reinhold and Helen Slater. When, over the phone, Reinhold relays his strict rules regarding heiress Barbara ransom, DeVito’s face brightens by the minute at the idea that she will be killed if he disobeys their orders or any police intervention is suspected. Cue a fleet of cop cars and every news channel in La reporting on the story. Cut to: Sam popping a champagne cork with filthy glee.

Ruthless People is a daft rejig of crime film plot staples, a film noir hijacked by a clown. DeVito...

Out this week on Blu-ray, the Brian De Palma’s gangster picture Scarface remains a classic. We find out what its cast and crew got up to in the years after its release...

Despite the iconic image of its star, Brian De Palma’s gangster epic Scarface has far more going for it than just Al Pacino’s megawatt performance as Cuban drug lord, Tony Montana.

Memorably scripted by Oliver Stone and boasting a fine yet often overlooked ensemble cast, Scarface is a big movie in every sense. But what happened to the key players, both in front of and behind the camera, once the fake gunfire faded and the theatrical blood was washed away? Join us as we find out.

Brian De Palma

A part of the New Hollywood generation of directors, De Palma had already scored several critical and commercial hits, including Carrie, Phantom Of The Paradise, Dressed To Kill and Blow Out,...

At The Av Club, Steven Hyden wrote a really interesting piece today calling for a new measurement of excellence in the world of popular music. In addition to judging a band's "popularity" and "critical respectibility" he suggests you apply "the five-album test" to determine musical greatness. If an artist puts out five great albums in a row, they pass.

"Lots of artists have five or more classic albums (not including EPs or live records), but the ability to string them together back-to-back means being in the kind of zone that's normally associated with dominant college women's basketball dynasties."

It's a really fun test to apply to music -- The Replacements make the cut but The Rolling Stones don't -- which made me think that it would be equally fun to apply it to film. The five-movies test, though, is arguably even harder to pass than the five-albums test.

Many of...

Among his stage success he has ventured into films including The Flamingo Kid and Short Circuit, plus guest roles on several TV shows (most recently Lost and Californication ). In 1996 he co-founded GreeneStreet Films, where he produced over 15 films including the Academy Award-nominated In the Bedroom. Besides, he has a great passion for documentary filmmaking. The Cove, which he also produced, won the 2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary.

Did you figure out who the mysterious multihyphenate was? Okay, I’ll reveal his name – born Steven Fisher, he changed his name to Fisher Stevens (since there was already a Steven Fisher in the Screen Actors Guild) – maybe best-known for being Michelle Pfeiffer’s ex-boyfriend.

Yes, that Stevens will direct the comic movie Stand up Guys. The project a.k.a. Old Timers, is a dramedy basing on two aging criminals, one of whom has been signed up to kill his friend. They...

They’ve had their successes, and they clearly have talent. Yet all hasn't been going to plan. Luke looks at 10 directors in need of a critical and financial hit…

You know how it is. You’re latest feature goes down well with critics and audiences alike, and before you know it, the scripts are flying through your door.

Your last film went down well, too, and thanks to this momentum, men in suits are asking you to make films now, whereas previously all your work had been attained via a complex and degrading system of begging, selling your principles and lying in the foetal position outside film studios, weeping and yammering in desperate gibberish, until a passing producer took pity and on you and gave you a lowly job as second assistant director on a small film of questionable promise or merit.

So, you’ve finally made it, eh? Fantastic.

Caddyshack actor Dan Resin has died at the age of 79.

The star, best known for his role as Mr. Beeper in the 1980 comedy film, passed away on Friday in Oakland, New Jersey after suffering complications from Parkinson's disease.

Resin began his career on Broadway in the 1950s, with roles in productions such as My Fair Lady and Once Upon a Mattress.

He later stepped offstage and in front of the camera and starred in commercials and TV shows, as well as films including Wise Guys, The Sunshine Boys and The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover.

He is best remembered for his role opposite Chevy Chase and Bill Murray in Caddyshack.

Resin is survived by his wife of 56 years, Margaret, and three daughters, according to Variety.com.

New York -- George Gallo is making a run to "Columbus Circle."

The veteran writer behind such action comedies as "Bad Boys" and "Midnight Run" will direct the indie thriller from a script he co-wrote with Kevin Pollak, who has a role in the pic as well.

Selma Blair, Amy Smart, Jason Lee and Giovanni Ribisi also star in "Circle." Oxymoron Entertainment's Christopher Mallick and Blue Star Entertainment's William Sherak and Jason Shuman, who exec produced Universal's comedy breakout "Role Models," will produce.

"Circle" centers on a reclusive heiress (Blair) in an upscale Manhattan apartment building who is brought face-to-face with her fears when a detective (Ribisi) shows up to investigate a homicide next door and a new couple (Smart and Lee) moves in to that apartment. Pollak plays the building's concierge and one of the heiress' few friends. Jason Antoon has also been cast in the pic.

Principal...