'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
"The Great Gatsby” is the Hope Diamond of American cinema — priceless, enviable, impossibly tacky and bad, bad luck. Many filmmakers have stepped up to the challenge of capturing its quintessentially American story of self-invention, and just about all have whiffed memorably and expensively. Australian director Baz Luhrmann has broken the curse.
The Cannes Film Festival has an American flavor this year, with a Hollywood icon heading the jury and a quintessential U.S. literary figure opening the event: The Great Gatsby.
Highlights of Hollywood's 2013 schedule (release dates are subject to change):
Is there anything Ang Lee can't do?
A lot of movies have upended the mythology of suburbia over the past decade or so, especially following the success of "American Beauty." "The Details" doesn't do much that's new or particularly inspired to add insight to this collection, but it has some surprising moments and nuggets of clarity.
In "The Details," Dr. Jeff Lang (Tobey Maguire) lives in a charming suburban Seattle home with his beautiful wife, Nealy (Elizabeth Banks), and their adorable, 2-year-old son. When we first see him, he's driving home in his Toyota Prius _ which has a campaign sticker for President Obama on it, naturally _ with a large, lovely plant from Trader Joe's in the backseat.
"The Details" _ Dr. Jeff Lang (Tobey Maguire) lives in a charming suburban home with his beautiful wife, Nealy (Elizabeth Banks), and their adorable, 2-year-old son. When we first see him, he's driving home in his Toyota Prius _ which has a campaign sticker for President Obama on it, naturally _ with a large, lovely plant from Trader Joe's in the backseat. Jeff has just resodded the backyard and the place looks terrific _ until one morning when he wakes up and finds that raccoons have gutted the grass overnight. Yes, these are literal raccoons but they're also metaphorical raccoons and sometimes, when things get especially weird, they're imaginary raccoons. They dig up transgressions in Jeff's life and weaknesses in his character that he'd rather suppress. Such is the obviousness of the symbolism in this black comedy that explores the ugly underbelly of seemingly idyllic domestic life. Perhaps this story from writer-director Jacob Aaron Estes sounds familiar to you with its drugs, adultery and murder. A lot of movies have upended the mythology of suburbia over the past decade or so, especially following the success of "American Beauty." "The Details" doesn't do much that's new or particularly inspired to add insight to this collection, but it has some surprising moments and nuggets of clarity. Laura Linney is a hoot as the nutty next-door neighbor who threatens to blackmail Jeff over an affair he's having ... by trying to launch an affair of her own with him. And Ray Liotta has one standout scene as the cuckolded husband who explains to Jeff in an extended monologue what it means to be a man. R for language, sexual content, some drug use and brief violence. 101 minutes. Two stars out of four.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire lead a cast of stars in a new public service announcement urging young voters to use social media to express the issues most important to them in the upcoming election.
Molly Bloom, who ran high-stakes, exclusive poker games involving some of Hollywood's biggest names, playboys and sports stars, will have a memoir coming out next year.
Batman has all the gadgets Bruce Wayne's resources can buy, but he doesn't have one thing nearly every other summer blockbuster has: 3-D.
Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of the Clown Prince of Crime from Tim Burton's 1989 film "Batman" is immortalized through this highly detailed, 1:6 scale doll.
One of the best comic-book-hero-themed films ever made returns to the Blu-ray format, offering fans a chance to appreciate its popcorn-munching fun as well as a trivia challenge and digital clip editor.
Your new friendly neighborhood Spider-Man has spun himself a $65 million opening weekend and $140 million in his first six days at U.S. theaters.
"The Amazing Spider-Man" has swung into action with $35 million domestically in its first day _ a record for a film opening on Tuesday.
On a weekend in January of 2010, Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios pivoted faster than even Spider-Man would dare.
Had "Spider-Man 4" gone ahead (Maguire is now 36), producers said it would have been the last of the series.
Maguire and others have denied there was anything improper about the matches.
