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Miriam "Midge" Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is a woman of many facets. However, if there’s one thing fans should know about this complex character, it’s that she also leads a comfortable life. This is why her large apartment has been enamored by many, with its 1950s design and stylish interior. Now, fans can have a chance to live like Mrs. Maisel themselves, as the New York City property is now available for sale after being off the market for decades. But there's one obvious catch: It comes with a hefty price tag.

The apartment is now being listed for $1.75 millionafter it remained unavailable for purchase for over 30 years. The 404 Riverside Drive property boasts oversized windows and a total of eight rooms and two bathrooms, complete with two decorative fireplaces. Located inside The Strathmore, built in the pre-war, the building has maintained most of its...

The swanky uptown pad that was once home to Midge Maisel and her parents is officially on the market — but it won’t come cheap!

The property is being listed for the first time in over 30 years, with a bonus of being part of TV and film history. The home was featured in Prime Video’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel for five seasons, and was also used for Woody Allen’s 1997 film Deconstructing Harry.

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1991’s What About Bob? tells the story of a clingy multiphobe who won’t leave his therapist alone, even when Dr. Leo Marvin goes on vacation with his family. The shrink becomes so crazed, he eventually attempts to murder his patient with explosives.

And somehow things were even more tense behind the scenes.

Famously, stars Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss didn’t get along while making the film. Not in a “he has a bigger trailer than me” way, but more in a “he just threw a glass ashtray at my face” way. That real-life tension no doubt contributed to the pair’s compelling on-screen dynamic, but things would have been far different had director Frank Oz been working with two other actors, which was very nearly the case.

Rolling Stone recently published an oral history of What About Bob? that included a number of interesting production details, such as...

Quick LinksTony Sirico's Criminal Past Before 'The Sopranos'Tony Sirico's Movie Business Path, ExplainedTony Sirico's Paulie Gualtieri Lives on Forever

When it comes to crime movies and TV shows, authenticity is key. Look no further than Tony Sirico inThe Sopranos, a real-life convicted criminal who gave Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri some of the best quotes and character shading in the hit mob drama. Before being cast as one of Tony Soprano's closest Italian mob associates, Sirico had several run-ins with the law that could have turned out much differently for the actor.

Fortunately, Sirico parlayed his authentic neighborhood qualities into several mob characters, including an early role in Martin Scorsese's landmark mob film Goodfellas. Of course, Goodfellas and The Sopranos share 27 actors, with Sirico's Paulie Walnuts cemented in the pantheon of all-time favorite TV mafiosos. Learning about how Sirico's criminal past informed his character on The Sopranos will give casual...

Woody Allen is a four-time Academy Award winner who has proved incredibly prolific in his decades-long career, writing, directing, and oftentimes starring in nearly a film a year for over 50 years. But how many of those are classics? Let’s take a look back at 25 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

After years as a joke writer and standup comic, Allen transitioned into filmmaking penning such screenplays as “What’s New Pussycat?” (1965) and starring in such titles as “Casino Royale” (1967). His first credit as a director was the comedically overdubbed Japanese spy thriller “What’s Up, Tiger Lily?” (1966).

The Woody Allen as we know him emerged in 1969 with the farcical mockumentary “Take the Money and Run” (1969), made when he was 34 years old. The success of that film led to a string of critically acclaimed absurdist comedies, including “Bananas” (1971) and “Sleeper” (1973).

He established himself as an important filmmaker with the romantic...

Mia Farrow understands if actors want to continue to collaborate with Woody Allen. That's surprising, given the history between the two; their 12-year romantic relationship concluded after Farrow discovered nude pics of her adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn that Allen had taken. Following their split, things got worse. Farrow and Allen's adopted daughter Dylan, then 7, made allegations of molestation against the Academy Award-winning filmmaker.

While appearing on CBS Sunday Mornings on September 1, journalist Seth Doane asked Farrow:

"Are you able to separate the experience as an actor in those films from the personal trials and tribulations that would follow?"

Farrow responded:

"Oh yeah, yeah.I com pletely understand if an actor decides to work with him. I'm not one who'd say, 'Oh, they shouldn't.'"

Related Woody Allens Coup de Chance Boasts Best Rotten Tomatoes Score for the Filmmaker in Over a Decade

Woody Allen's Coup de Chance currently holds the...

Demi Moore is considered a staple of the Hollywood industry by fans, famed for her performances in A Few Good Men, Ghost, Deconstructing Harry, and many more. However, the actress thought her career might be over following a particular scene in the 2003 dud, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. A product of its time, the scene saw the film's villain, Madison Lee (Moore), confront one of the Angels, Natalie Cook (Cameron Diaz), on a beach. The scene involved the pair wearing revealing bikinis, and Moore, who was in her 40s, received a lot of criticism about her body when the film was released, which made the actress question the longevity of her career.

Moore spoke with another acclaimed actress, Michelle Yeoh, for Interview Magazine about her career. When discussing Charlie's Angels, Moore revealed that the bikini scene caused conversations among Hollywood execs about the actress' age, and the type of roles she was being given.

Kirstie Alley has been known to star in films such as ‘Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn’ (which gave her stardom). She’s also been known to star in the television show ‘Cheers.’ However, there is more to the actress than the average fan will know. Humble Beginnings Kirstie Louise Alley was born on January 12, 1951, in Wichita, Kansas. She had an ordinary childhood. She had a father named Robert, who owned a lumber company. Kristie also had a mother named Lilian, a homemaker to Kirstie and her two other siblings. She was a cheerleader in high school. While she attempted to go to college, she thought heavily about acting for a living. In the early 1970s, she decided to move to Los Angeles to make her dream come true. While she was in L.A., she worked as an interior decorator. During her free time, she went to auditions...

As the old saying goes, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

Like most working actors at the onset of Covid, Adam Rose saw the jobs come a full stop.

But idle time at home, an old Blue Cardigan sweater, and his penchant for dancing wound up transforming Rose’s career; the actor having worked since his childhood days, beginning with the Woody Allen directed 1997 movie Deconstructing Harry. What started with a dance became a meme that spread like wildfire across the web with even Jessica Alba taking part.

You can listen to our conversation below on today’s Crew Call:

While Rose continues to act, consider it gravy as his profession front and center now is as a digital content creator and social media influencer with a massive audience with over 14M followers via TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. On TikTok alone, Rose pulls 2.5 million views per video, reaching over 300M accounts across platforms,...

Demi Moore has established an intriguing career for herself ever since her commercial breakthrough in Joel Schumacher's drama St. Elmo's Fire, where she rose to prominence as a member of the Brat Pack, and became one of the highest-paid and most sought-after actresses. Even though she eventually took a break from acting following the release of G.I. Jane and Deconstructing Harry in 1997 to focus on spending time with her family, Moore endured and endures a well-known name in the industry.

Demi Moore Reveals She Almost Quit Hollywood. (Photo Credit – Instagram)

Demi Moore, who is basking in the success of her comeback movie The Substance, revealed she often struggled to find her place in the industry, which almost made her consider quitting acting. The 61-year-old actress, arguably one of Hollywood’s most recognisable faces, took a long sabbatical after starring in the 2011 thriller Margin Call.

Over a decade after disappearing from the spotlight, Demi Moore made a triumphant return with the Horror flick “The Substance” and her supporting turn in the FX limited series” Feud: Capote vs. the Swans,” which has received rave reviews from critics. Her movie, “The Substance,” about an ageing actress who resorts to a black-market drug to create a younger version herself, premiered at the Cannes 2024 film festival and received an 11-minute standing ovation.

In the wake of the film’s warm reception, Demi Moore told Entertainment Weekly...

Brian McConnachie, the Emmy-winning writer with the offbeat sense of humor who worked on Sctv Network and Saturday Night Live and appeared in Caddyshack and several films for Woody Allen, has died. He was 81.

McConnachie died Friday of complications from Parkinson’s disease in Venice, Florida, Michael Gerber, editor and publisher of The American Bystander, told The Hollywood Reporter. The duo relaunched the humor magazine in 2015 after McConnachie — an original staff member at National Lampoon — originally got it going in 1981.

“Every day, on every page, he has been our North Star,” Gerber said in a statement. “From his days at National Lampoon, Brian was ‘every comedy writer’s favorite comedy writer,’ crafting an unmistakable one-of-a-kind laid-back eccentricity that inspired generations.

“He is the only person I know who wrote for the Holy Trinity of Seventies Comedy — National Lampoon, SNL and Sctv. This speaks to not only his writing talent, but...

Whoopi Goldberg and Billy Crystal fondly remember their friend Robin Williams during the Kennedy Center Honors. Williams, Crystal, and Goldberg had a special friendship that dated back decades and included collaborating on various projects. Williams' death in 2014 deeply affected Crystal and Goldberg, who both delivered speeches during his funeral and continue to honor his memory.

Whoopi Goldberg and Billy Crystal became emotional remembering their friend, the late, great Robin Williams, during this year's Kennedy Center Honors. At the event, which took place in Washington, D.C., on December 3 but was televised on December 27, Goldberg and Crystal both fondly spoke about Williams. During her speech celebrating Crystal, who was one of the night's honorees alongside Queen Latifah, Dionne Warwick, Renée Fleming, and Barry Gibb, Goldberg became emotional when noting Williams' notable absence:

I want to acknowledge the person who should also be standing here with me is our brother Robin.

The...

Jennifer Garner has had roles in 39 movies, showcasing her range as an actress. "The Kingdom" is a prime example of Garner's ability to hold her own in a serious action film. "Dallas Buyers Club" is Garner's best movie, where she gives a powerful performance in an important story.

Over the years, Jennifer Garner has stolen the hearts of audiences by portraying a variety of interesting characters, from sweet girls-next-door to revenge-seeking superhero women, but no matter who or what she plays, she has built a resume of some truly amazing movies. Garner's career began in 1995 when she earned a role in a television movie adaptation of the Danielle Steele story, Zoya. From there, she made a handful of appearances in movies and TV until she finally found her footing in 2001 after gaining the starring role of Sydney Bristow in the thriller series, Alias. Since then, Garner has steadily risen to fame.

Kirstie Alley's diverse and brilliant career in TV and movies showcased her dramatic and comedic abilities, captivating audiences in each role. From her iconic role in Cheers to her appearances in miniseries like North & South, Alley's strong performances built her lasting legacy in show business. Alley's versatility shone in both comedic roles like Deconstructing Harry and villainous characters like Ingrid Marie Hoffel in Scream Queens, leaving a lasting impact on pop culture.

Kirstie Alley left behind a legacy of amazing work in both TV and movies, and her best roles often showcased her dramatic and comedic abilities. Bursting on the scene in the early 1980s in sitcom roles, Alley made a name for herself as the next big thing in comedy thanks to her turn on Cheers. It didn't take long for Alley to become a bona fide movie star, and she continued to diversify her filmography...

Directors Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch took to Italy’s beautiful Aosta Valley to make their transcendental movie about male friendship – but couldn’t avoid their own personal issues

“You’re out of focus!” I’ve just logged in to Zoom to talk to Belgian directors Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch, and they’re laughing already. “Like in Deconstructing Harry, you know that film?” says Vandermeersch I flap around, fiddling with my webcam, but nothing will correct the me-shaped smear on the screen. Like Robin Williams in the Woody Allen film, blurred outside of the cameras even when he goes home, I feel a flush of existential humiliation creeping up.

I could use a long stay in Van Groeningen and Vandermeersch’s transcendentally clarifying new film The Eight Mountains. A parable of the forking paths of two childhood friends – urbanite Pietro (Lupo Barbiero) and shepherd kid Bruno (Cristiano Sassella...

For centuries, actors have endured a unique position in society. After dazzling audiences with their talent on the silver screen or stage, many talented individuals move behind the camera to become directors. With this transition comes great respect from those who recognize their performances as an actor and their skills in directing films that capture hearts and minds worldwide in spectacular fashion.

Related: Top 10 Richest Actors in the World [2022]

We wanted to know which actors make up some of our favorite director-actor combinations. So we dove into IMDb’s extensive collection of movie ratings, searching for insight into history’s best actor-directors based on viewer opinion alone. What follows is ten beloved actor-directors who saw success on either side (or both!) throughout various stages throughout showbiz’ past decade: Charlie Day, Zoë Kravitz, and Chris Pine, among others, all turn out award-winning feature productions utilizing decades worth of experience knowing precisely...

The best Tobey Maguire movies have been making headlines since appearing in Spider-Man: No Way Home alongside fellow Spider-Men Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland. Maguire is perhaps best known for his turn as Peter Parker in the original Sam Raimi trilogy, but he's also taken on plenty of blockbusters and indie roles since his feature film debut in 1989. It was in the '90s that Maguire became a true star thanks to leading roles in Pleasantville and The Cider House Rules. Since his appearance in No Way Home, there has been renewed interest in Maguire and his work.

For many years, Maguire was an indie darling, and while he had mainstream success with the Spider-Man franchise, he preferred to work with more auteur directors like Ang Lee, Lasse Hallstrom, and Steven Soderbergh. Even when choosing roles in big-budget movies, Maguire hooked up with a director like Sam Raimi. This means...

The folly of youth!

When Goldie Hawn won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1970, for the 1969 comedy “Cactus Flower,” the 24-year-old was so sure she wouldn’t win she didn’t even go to the ceremony. What’s more, she didn’t even bother watching it on television. She had no idea she won until she got a phone call in the middle of the night.

At the time, she was filming “There’s A Girl In My Soup,” opposite Peter Sellers in London, but to fly back for the big night would not have been unheard of, even at a time when “Awards Season” was not yet quite the thing it is today.

But here’s where it gets weirder. According to a recent interview with Variety, Hawn had never even seen the moment from the telecast where her name was called. She didn’t even know it...

The casting announcements for Rob Zombie's cinematic reimagining of "The Munsters" just keep getting better and ... hairier. Zombie once again took to Instagram to give the first look at another branch of the Munsters monster family tree. Tomas Boykin, who previously worked with Zombie on his film "3 From Hell," has joined the cast to play Lester, Lily Munster's werewolf brother.

"Get ready for Lester," Zombie wrote in his Instagram caption. "He's gonna make you howl with laughter."

The character of Lester Dracula was originally played by Irwin Charone on the original TV run of...

The post Rob Zombie Reveals First Look at Lester the Werewolf in The Munsters appeared first on /Film.

Exclusive: Glynn Turman (Women of the Movement), Bob Balaban (The French Dispatch), Ron Funches (Undateable) and Jimmy O. Yang (Space Force) are the latest additions to the cast of the upcoming film 80 for Brady, from Paramount Pictures and Endeavor Content. They join an ensemble that includes 7-time Super Bowl Champion Tom Brady, as well as Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, Sally Field and Sara Gilbert, as previously announced.

The film is inspired by the true story of four best friends and New England Patriots fans who take a life-changing trip to the 2017 Super Bowl Li to see their hero Tom Brady play, and the chaos that ensues as they navigate the wilds of the biggest sporting event in the country. Details with regard to the characters the newest additions to the cast will be playing have not been disclosed.

Kyle Marvin, who co-wrote and starred in Sony Pictures Classics’ The Climb,...

Recently seen in a small role in Marvel's Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Julia Louis-Dreyfus has reportedly signed on to star in new fantasy comedy Tuesday. While little is known about the plot, the A24/BBC Film co-financed movie has been described as a "mother-daughter fairytale". The vagueness of the brief synopsis means there is a lot of directions this could go, but based on the credentials of the cast and crew there is likely to be a few laughs on the way.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus takes on the role of the mother of the title character, Tuesday, who will be played by up and coming Lola Petticrew. The Irish actress has appeared in a number of roles since making her tv debut in 2018 mini-series Next of Kin, including Bloodlands and My Left Nut as well as the movies Dating Amber and A Bump Along The Way. She will next be...

The Charmed reboot is back for Season 2, this time with a new showrunner.

Carter Covington was replaced by Liz Kruger and Craig Shapiro for Charmed Season 2, and a new “creative direction” is being targeted for the trio of budding witches, with the series set to “lean harder into its supernatural storylines and less into the family dynamic” that formed the narrative anchor of season 1.

Kruger and Shapiro previously co-created Salvation for CBS and served as executive producers on the nixed Halle Berry-starring Extant. Elsewhere, they were behind USA Network’s Necessary Roughness, and Bravo’s Girlfriends’ Guide To Divorce.

You can read our latest Charmed review here.

Charmed Season 2 Return Date

Charmed will be back on March 27th with “Third Time’s the Charm.” Check out the promo…

Here’s the official synopsis…

The charmed ones must face their worst fears in order to reclaim the power of three.

Veteran actress Lynn Cohen, best known for her role as Magda the housekeeper in the HBO series Sex and the City and both of its movie adaptations, has reportedly passed away. The exact cause of her passing and the circumstances of her death remain unclear, although it had been reported Cohen died on Friday morning and the news was officially confirmed by Cohen's representative. She was 86 years old.

Lynn Cohen was born in 1933 in Kansas City, Missouri, and didn't start her acting career until she was almost 50. Studying acting at Michael Howard Studios in New York City, Cohen first appeared in the 1983 movie Without a Trace. She'd follow this up with a role in the limited sci-fi series Golden Years, which was created by Stephen King. This would lead to many other TV and movie roles soon to follow, including parts in the shows The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and NYPD Blue...

Viacom-owned streamer Pluto TV has inked a deal with Signature Entertainment for a collection of Woody Allen movies from the 1990s and will put them out in a dedicated season on its Avod service in the U.K.

Woody Allen Fridays start on the service this week, with the filmmaker’s pictures playing on the Pluto TV Movies channel. The first double-bill will comprise comedy-drama “Celebrity” and crime comedy “Bullets Over Broadway.”

Pluto TV has a suite of themed online channels, spanning general and special interests. With a linear schedule, it is positioned as an online alternative to traditional TV and a straightforward lean-back alternative to the Svod platforms.

The Woody Allen double-bills will play each Friday for four weeks. Films that will feature include “Mighty Aphrodite,“ “Sweet and Lowdown,” “Everyone Says I Love You,” and “Deconstructing Harry.” Barbara Kopple’s portrait of the auteur himself, “Wild Man Blues,...

Harry discovers who the assassin is to him, and the Charmed Ones discover what he wants in "Deconstructing Harry."

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This Charmed review contains spoilers.

Charmed Season 2, Episode 4

Maggie is feeling guilty about getting the management job over Jordan, so she devises a way to help him keep his gym, as I predicted she would. After she tells him her plan, they agree and shake hands, then he says, "I love you. You saved my life." It's a premonition. She goes to tell Mel about it, but Mel is busy rebuilding the Book of Shadows one spell at a time and doesn't take Maggie seriously.

In HQ, Macy and Harry interrogate Abigael. Macy asks her why she orchestrated they kill Callum. She says she was trying to unite demons, and he was in her way. Harry then asks her if she's the Overlord, she says, "I took an...

Philip Bosco, a Tony and Emmy-winning character actor who also starred in such movies as “Working Girl,” died Monday at age 88, according to his grandson Luke Bosco.

Bosco received the first of his six Tony nominations for his Broadway debut, the 1960 drama “Rape of the Belt,” and his last for a 2004 revival of “Twelve Angry Men.” He won in 1989 for playing an outrageous opera company head in the comedy “Lend Me a Tenor.”

He also appeared in more than 50 Broadway productions over his storied career.

Also Read: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2018 (Photos)

Though he told the New York Times in 1986 that he had turned down a seven-year contract with a Hollywood studio early in his career because he did not want to live in California, he did appear in many movies starting in the 1980s.

Bosco had small but crucial roles in films like Mike Nichols’ 1988 comedy “Working Girl,” where...

Woody Allen celebrates his 83rd birthday on December 1, 2018. The four-time Academy Award winner has proved incredibly prolific in his decades-long career, writing, directing, and oftentimes starring in nearly a film a year for almost 50 years. But how many of those are classics? In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 25 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

After years as a joke writer and standup comic, Allen transitioned into filmmaking penning such screenplays as “What’s New Pussycat?” (1965) and starring in such titles as “Casino Royale” (1967). His first credit as a director was the comedically overdubbed Japanese spy thriller “What’s Up, Tiger Lily?” (1966).

SEEOscar Best Picture Gallery: History of Every Academy Award-Winning Movie

The Woody Allen as we know him emerged in 1969 with the farcical mockumentary “Take the Money and Run” (1969), made when he was 34 years old. The success of that film led to...

Billy Crystal is recalling the final days of his longtime friend Robin Williams‘ life before his death at the age of 63 in 2014.

In a new biography Robin by Dave Itzkoff, Crystal, 70, opens up about when he noticed a few distressing signals in regards to Williams’ health.

“He wasn’t feeling well, but he didn’t let on to me all that was going on,” Crystal said about Williams — in a Vanity Fair exclusive excerpt of the book — disclosing the discomfort he felt at the time. “As he would say to me, ‘I’m a little crispy.’ I didn’t know what was happening,...

A couple of weeks ago, I interviewed Nathan Gelgud, an artist who has brought a wry comic book charm to the world of cinephilia. It seemed only natural that I should find out more about the art that has influenced him and so I asked him to select his personal top ten favorite movie posters. He was more than up for the challenge and decided to narrow the field to illustrated posters, which makes perfect sense. Here are his ten favorites, in no special order.1. (Above) Us one sheet for Five on the Black Hand Side (Oscar Williams, USA, 1973). Artist: Jack Davis.I love all the accouterments on the main figure—the hat, the cigar, the umbrella, suitcase, those things that go over the shoes. But even better is the way Davis has arranged all the characters around him, the way the jumping guy’s arm joins with the guy...

Writer’s block as a theme has given us subversive movies like Barton Fink and Adaptation, films that visualize creative impasse through contorted narratives and stylized cinema. The Motive (El Autor), a smart Spanish comedy from director Manuel Martín Cuenca, doesn’t get close in quality to those stand-out films, but in echoing Deconstructing Harry or Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York, it deftly shows that the dividing line between fact and fiction has always been blurred.

Javier Gutiérrez is Álvaro, a notary in the southern Spanish city of Seville and a wannabe novelist who elevates his hum-drum life for years at a creative writing evening class where his amateurish writing is given short shrift by his irascible tutor (a great Antonio de la Torre).

His life is quickly overturned when his wife Amanda’s (Maríá León) debut novel becomes an overnight hit on the best-seller lists, and his ambitions...

Kirstie Alley has joined the Scream Queens Season 2 cast! While details on her role are currently unknown, there's just one more week to go before all will be revealed.

Press Release (via TheFutonCritic.com): Emmy And Golden Globe Award Winner Kirstie Alley Joins The Cast Of "Scream Queens" On Fox.

Series Hails From Creators, Executive Producers and Directors Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan.

Jamie Lee Curtis, Emma Roberts, Lea Michele, Abigail Breslin, Keke Palmer, Billie Lourd, Glen Powell, and Niecy Nash Reprise Season One Roles; John Stamos, Taylor Lautner and James Earl Join Season Two as Series Regulars.

Second Season of Series to Premiere Next Tuesday, September 20th, on Fox.

Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner Kirstie Alley has been cast in a series regular role in the upcoming second season of Scream Queens, the comedy-horror series from award-winning executive producers Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan.

Welcome back to Avq&A, where we throw out a question for discussion among the staff and readers. Consider this a prompt to compare notes on your interface with pop culture, to reveal your embarrassing tastes and experiences, and to ponder how our diverse lives all led us to convene here together. Got a question you’d like us and the readers to answer? Email us at avcqa@theonion.com.

This week’s question comes from commenter DrDischord:

Who’s your favorite devil? The gay, emotionally needy Satan of South Park? The Bowie-esque king of hell from the Sandman comics? Billy Crystal in Deconstructing Harry?

Nick Wanserski

What makes Beelzebot, the robot devil from Futurama, so great is how often he fails at embodying the most notable traits of either robot or devil. As the devil, he attempts cunning, but is also easily duped. As a robot, he’s emotional...

This Friday, Café Society, the latest release from writer/director/comic godhead Woody Allen, waltzes into theaters — the 47th feature Allen has directed over a career spanning 50 years. (Yes, we're counting New York Stories.) He's had box-office successes and outright bombs, Oscar-winning masterpieces and critically panned duds. But regardless of his movies' receptions (and the reoccurring rumors about his personal life), he's managed to pump out a film a year with impressive regularity. Some key elements have stayed the same — once a jazz clarinet slinks onto the soundtrack, audiences know exactly who they're dealing with.

This Friday, Café Society, the latest release from writer/director/comic godhead Woody Allen, waltzes into theaters — the 47th feature Allen has directed over a career spanning 50 years. (Yes, we're counting New York Stories.) He's had box-office successes and outright bombs, Oscar-winning masterpieces and critically panned duds. But regardless of his movies' receptions (and the reoccurring rumors about his personal life), he's managed to pump out a film a year with impressive regularity. Some key elements have stayed the same — once a jazz clarinet slinks onto the soundtrack, audiences know exactly who they're dealing with.

As the rumors swirl when it comes to the line-up for the 69th Cannes Film Festival, today brings confirmation of one specific title. The festival announced today that Woody Allen‘s latest feature Café Society — which Amazon Studios is expected to release this summer — will open the event as an out-of-competition title, marking the third time one of his films has done so.

Led by Kristen Stewart (who we expect to also show up with Olivier Assayas‘ Personal Shopper) and Jesse Eisenberg, the announcement also comes with an official logline (following last week’s details from cinematographer Vittorio Storaro) and the first still, seen above. Check out the press release below in full and return for our review.

The 69th Festival International du Film de Cannes will launch with a screening of Woody Allen’s new film, Café Society, on Wednesday 11 May in the Palais des Festivals’s Grand Théâtre...

I miss hilarious monologues. Comedy of the 21st century is a science of awkward pauses and ratatat dialogue, and thus the great tradition of cinematic monologuing has been largely resigned to dramas. Worse, it's usually only male characters whose rants are lionized; Al Pacino in "Dog Day Afternoon" or Alec Baldwin in "Glengarry Glen Ross" spring immediately to mind when I think of celebrated speechifying.  So today I'm toasting the opposite of those dead-serious, dude-driven monologues: These are 10 hilarious monologues by actresses. Enjoy. And then enjoy again.  1. Madeline Kahn, "Paper Moon" Trixie Delight just wants to get in the car and have a little fun, but Addie here is holding out. Using some coaxing and a little bit of frustration, Trixie prevails. It is basically ridiculous that we watch movies without Madeline Kahn in them. 2. Alicia Silverstone, "Clueless" Leave it to Cher Horowitz to perfectly understand violence in the media.

The Goosebumps author turns up as a creepy weirdo in this spine-tingling romp full of villains from his bestselling novels

Creators have been mixing it up with their characters for a while. You can see it in Fellini’s 8½, Woody Allen’s Deconstructing Harry, or, heck, the Warner Bros cartoon Duck Amuck. Then there are the times when it’s not an author character showing up, but the actual author, such as Stephen King in The Dark Tower or Kurt Vonnegut in Breakfast of Champions. Somewhere in between is Charlie Kaufman writing the character Charlie Kaufman for Nicolas Cage to play in Adaptation.

Now this mind-scrambling list needs to find a place for Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander’s character Rl Stine – based on the actual creator of the popular Goosebumps novels – who encounters many Goosebumps villains in the new movie called Goosebumps.

Continue reading...

The director is much criticised for his portrayal of women but there’s no denying that, from Annie to Jasmine, he has written great, Oscar-winning female roles – mainly when they are versions of him

Woody’s women arrive behind the director in a big bustling caravan – a noisy train of flakes and nymphs, art snobs, academics and intellectuals, hookers, healers and harpies. Allen’s own nebbish persona aside, women are easily the most recognisable roles to come out of his films: Annie, Hannah, Jasmine. Female actors in his films have won no fewer than six Oscars. At the same time, few directors have drawn as much fire for the typology of female characters they have established onscreen.

“Increasingly, the women in his movies can be divided up between menopausal nuts and coltish sluts,” noted James Wolcott in Vanity Fair in 1998, after Celebrity completed a trio of films, beginning with Mighty Aphrodite,...

Teen movies have gotten a lot of mileage out of the “24 hours that changed everything” storyline, but it’s a great device for films about older characters as well, whether it’s Ingmar Bergman’s “Wild Strawberries” or Woody Allen’s homage “Deconstructing Harry.” Writer-director Paul Weitz, after a string of duds that includes “Admission” and “American Dreamz,” officially gets his groove back by teaming up with Lily Tomlin on “Grandma,” which allows the actress a rare opportunity to paint with all the colors in her seasoned palette. As Tomlin’s Elle spends a day driving around Los Angeles and catching up with friends.

Tony Sirico has strong-armed his way into the next Woody Allen picture. The actor who menaced as “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri on The Sopranos will play Vito in Allen’s untitled feature, which is being kept under wraps but also stars Parker Posey, Blake Lively, Kristen Stewart, Jesse Eisenberg, Bruce Willis and others. Sirico also appeared in Allen’s pre-Sopranos films Deconstructing Harry, Everyone Says I Love You and Bullets Over Broadway. Recent credits include Touched, Fr…...

This week, Woody Allen unveiled the cast of his next untitled movie: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Bruce Willis and Blake Lively will head up the ensemble, which is striking, though unsurprising, in its starriness — and also in its lack of diversity. The writer-director last year told The New York Observer: "I cast only what's right for the part. Race, friendship means nothing to me except who is right for the part." To this day, Hazelle Goodman is the sole black actress to land a significant role in an Allen film, playing the quirky prostitute Cookie in 1997's Deconstructing Harry.

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I was supposed to have seen Woody Allen's new movie Irrational Man a day before it screened at the Cannes Film Festival, giving me a chance to review it the same time as the Cannes crowd, but that review was swiftly canceled and perhaps the reviews out of the fest suggest why. Over at Variety, Scott Foundas calls it one of Allen's "more offbeat and ambitiously weird projects since the fragmented Deconstructing Harry in 1997, though less conventionally entertaining than recent home runs like Blue Jasmine and Midnight in Paris." At The Playlist, Jessica Kiang savages the film concluding her review writing, "As an unyielding, deeply fond fan of many of Allen's earlier films, some of which have combined homicide and humor to far, far, far greater effect, it gives me no pleasure to ask the question that buzzed through my brain at the end of Irrational Man: how...

Woody Allen's Irrational Man with Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone and Parker Posey, has premiered Out of Competition in Cannes and has been met with mixed reviews. Screen calls it a "modestly appointed but fiercely intellectual thriller," but for the Playlist, it's "an embarrassment." Variety calls it "one of the Woodman’s more offbeat and ambitiously weird projects since the fragmented Deconstructing Harry in 1997, though less conventionally entertaining than recent home runs like Blue Jasmine and Midnight in Paris." We've got more reviews and, of course, the trailer. » - David Hudson...

Woody Allen's Irrational Man with Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone and Parker Posey, has premiered Out of Competition in Cannes and has been met with mixed reviews. Screen calls it a "modestly appointed but fiercely intellectual thriller," but for the Playlist, it's "an embarrassment." Variety calls it "one of the Woodman’s more offbeat and ambitiously weird projects since the fragmented Deconstructing Harry in 1997, though less conventionally entertaining than recent home runs like Blue Jasmine and Midnight in Paris." We've got more reviews and, of course, the trailer. » - David Hudson...

One of the most inspired ideas in late-middle Woody Allen pictures comes in Deconstructing Harry, a movie about how Allen loves Bergman, hates Philip Roth, and isn't quite clear on what “deconstruction” means. Allen stages passages from fiction written by the protagonist, a novelist named Harry; one features Robin Williams as a screen actor who, in his real life, has gone out of focus. He's no use on set, as the camera can't film him, and at home his wife, played by Julie Kavner, can only suggest he go lie down.

Sometimes, in other movies, when Williams himself dialed back and attempted to portray some likable everyman, he, too, seemed to blur a bit, radiating vague sincerity and niceness but not always suggesting an actual human being. Now, in The D...

Everyone knows Woody Allen. At least, everyone thinks they know Woody Allen. His plumage is easily identifiable: horn-rimmed glasses, baggy suit, wispy hair, kvetching demeanor, ironic sense of humor, acute fear of death. As is his habitat: New York City, though recently he has flown as far afield as London, Barcelona, and Paris. His likes are well known: Bergman, Dostoevsky, New Orleans jazz. So too his dislikes: spiders, cars, nature, Wagner records, the entire city of Los Angeles. Whether or not these traits represent the true Allen, who’s to say? It is impossible to tell, with Allen, where cinema ends and life begins, an obfuscation he readily encourages. In the late nineteen-seventies, disillusioned with the comedic success he’d found making such films as Sleeper (1973), Love and Death (1975), and Annie Hall (1977), he turned for darker territory with Stardust Memories (1980), a film in which, none too surprisingly, he plays a...

Woody Allen used to joke that television was the result of how Los Angeles disposes of its trash, but now he's in the business himself. There's a lot that's fascinating, surprising, confusing, even shocking about the news that he'll be creating a TV series for Amazon. For one thing, he's maintaining the same secrecy about plot and title that he does for his movies. Still, Moviefone can try to answer your burning questions about the Allen project.

Does Allen know how to write for TV? Yes, he does. Surprisingly, no one seems to remember that one of his first jobs in showbiz was as a TV comedy writer for the great 1950s sketch comic Sid Caesar, whose legendary writer's room launched not just Allen's career but also those of Neil Simon, Carl Reiner, and Mel Brooks. He wrote for some other golden-age comedy series as well. Concurrent with his movie career over the last 45 years,...

Why isn't Julia Louis-Dreyfus in more movies? Yes, there are likely personal and professional reasons that keep one of the funniest ladies in Hollywood away from the big screen, but allow us to throw up our arms and demand more. Louis-Dreyfus has dominated television since the '80s (revisit her "Saturday Night Live" work and prepare to go bananas), "Seinfeld" making her a household name and providing a curse that only she could break. The success of "The New Adventures of Old Christine" and "Veep" rests entirely on Louis-Dreyfus shoulders. Maybe the weekly format provides a comfort, maybe Hollywood just isn't writing roles for funny women (that's not really a maybe, but let's not digress), but we're tired of the small screen having all the Julia Louis-Dreyfus fun. Her latest accolade only rubs it in. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles announced Monday that Louis-Dreyfus would...

Box office is one way a film makes its cash: but what are the others?

I know you’ll have noticed this by now, but it’s definitely called show business for a reason. It’s not show show art, show entertainment or even show exhibitionist impulse. Unless movies make money, the money to make movies would dry up pretty quickly. But where does this money come from?

Actually, that’s an easy one. It comes, almost entirely, from you and me and people like us. The real question should be how does this money get from our back pockets and into the coffers of the big movie studios.

Some of the pathways are incredibly obvious, some perhaps a little less so. Let’s take a look at 16 of the ways that movies make money.

1. Ticket sales

I had just started working in a cinema when Jurassic Park was released.