News

When the world was first introduced to Maxine Minx (Mia Goth), she was a budding adult film starlet traveling with her crew to Texas to appear in the film "The Farmer's Daughter." She tells her boyfriend/film producer Wayne that she wants the whole world to know her name, "like Lynda Carter or some s**t." He tells her that the whole world will lust after her because she's "got that X-factor." She has dreams of being a star with her name in lights, and she'll do whatever it takes to get to the top. This film was supposed to be her ticket to superstardom, but after the events of the Texas Porn Star Murders, Maxine Minx escaped as the sole survivor and had to start again in the City of Angels.

Six years after the events of "X," Maxine Minx returns in "MaXXXine," (read our review here) which sees...

A glorious paean to the lurid sensuality and gory excess of 1980s sexploitation and horror, MaXXXine completes Ti West’s trilogy of star showcases for his fearless muse Mia Goth on a delectable note. Like its predecessors, X and Pearl, this is a gleeful dive into retro movie tropes with vivid period evocation, this time featuring a deluxe supporting cast. As Elizabeth Debicki’s ice-cool British filmmaker giving Goth’s Maxine Minx the chance to jump from porn stardom into a more legitimate career says of her feature project: “It’s a B-movie with A ideas.”

That applies no less to West’s latest psychosexual chiller. While never neglecting the blood-letting and spilled viscera of textbook slasher horror, each of the three distinctive yet cohesive films (the writer-director hasn’t ruled out a fourth) doubles as a loving homage to the filmmaking aesthetics of a particular era.

Unfolding in Texas...

10. James Arness (1923–2011)

James Arness is primarily recognized for his iconic portrayal of Marshal Matt Dillon in the long-running prime-time Western TV show Gunsmoke.

From 1955 to 1975, Arness entertained the audience by keeping the peace in Dodge City, but he also starred in legendary movies like Them!, Hondo, The Farmer's Daughter, and others.

9. Lee Marvin (1924–1987)

Famous for his tough and brutal character, Lee Marvin was just as masculine off-screen as he was in his movies. He blew up after portraying Kid Shelleen in Cat Ballou and went on to star in other iconic Western movies, including The Dirty Dozen, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Big Red One, and many others.

8. Sam Elliott (1944–Now)

Sharp and rugged, Sam Elliot was born to portray gruffly cowboys with a no-bs attitude. His iconic mustache broke many hearts, and the actor didn’t become less popular after Westerns died off: since his famous Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,...

Watching Ti West’s “X” (now in theaters from A24) feels like you are watching a classic horror film, one that was secreted away for decades because it’s just that extreme and scary.

It concerns a group of amateur pornographers, who travel to a backwoods Texas farmhouse to shoot their magnum opus “The Farmer’s Daughter.” Of course, while filming their cinematic triumph, they run afoul of the home’s elderly owners, including Pearl (also played by Goth), who longs to reclaim her youth by murdering everybody in the process. “X” is, in part, a throwback to old-school slasher films of the 1970s and ‘80s but it’s much more sophisticated and emotional than that; it’s a nuanced look at how the aging process can turn you into a monster. Youth is wasted on the young, indeed.

West had spent almost a decade making creepy horror movies that burrowed...

A group of independent filmmakers set out to rural Texas to make their adult cinematic dreams come true. Full frame stars and strips designed font, presenting the year 1979, welcomes viewers to director Ti West's throwback genre homage titled "X."

The opening moments shot through barn doors and into the bloody aftermath of a murder scene feel tailored for a 1970s Tobe Hooper or Wes Craven production with its grainy film look highlighted with yellow and brown hues. Director Ti West, returning to the genre for the first time in over a decade, takes an old-school slasher movie approach with "X," blending the renegade spirit of the early independent horror filmmakers and the dawn of mass-produced pornography for a satisfyingly violent and humorous romp.

Maxine (Mia Goth) is an exotic dancer at the Bayou Burlesque, a railroad adjacent dive on the wrong side of town, but her ambitions are for stardom on the silver screen.

The renegade intensity of Ti West’s “X,” another homage by the “House of the Devil” writer-director to independent cinema’s past, and his first horror film in over a decade, is his willingness to ask: What if a slasher, but with porn? That genre bending — in a rollicking, wicked dark horror comedy about intrepid filmmakers just barely scraping by, the fetishization of youth, and how the weight of aging into a sexless marriage can lead to mayhem — . While West isn’t always operating on the same levels as his influences, his signature flair for tension through simmering slow-burn pacing remains unparalleled.

“X” kicks off on a secluded Texas farm surrounded by local police. The opening scene, framed within a barn, peers outside toward a simple wooden home peeking above the brush landscape. As an incessant buzz of flies swarm, the camera tracks outside revealing a trio of cop cars.

Fleetwood Mac are revisiting their 1980 live album for a super-deluxe edition out April 9th via Rhino.

Fleetwood Mac Live was mostly recorded mostly during their tour for Tusk, but the super deluxe-edition will contain unreleased live music recorded between 1977 and 1982. The collection comprises a three-cd/two-lp set, as well as a bonus 7-inch single of previously unreleased demos for “Fireflies” and “One More Night.” To accompany the release, the band dropped a raucous version of “The Chain” from the Richfield Coliseum in Cleveland, Ohio, which took place on May 20th,...

While long-running TV favorites have dominated the Emmys, series that ran for one season or less have also won over the academy. They often faced strong competition in their time slots or were ahead of their time. These shows are generally just faded memories but many are available on YouTube. Do you remember any of these Emmy winners?

“The Barbara Stanwyck Show”

Barbara Stanwyck, who was nicknamed Missy by her friends and co-workers, was a formidable presence during the Golden Age of Hollywood earning four Oscar nominations for 1937’s “Stella Dallas,” 1941’s “Ball of Fire,” 1944’s “Double Indemnity” and 1948’s “Sorry, Wrong Number.” In 1960, she starred in her first TV series: an anthology show for NBC. Directors included Arthur Hiller, Richard Whorf and Stuart Rosenberg. And guest stars ran the gamut from Anna May Wong to Lee Marvin.

Though the anthology series format worked like gangbusters for another classic Hollywood legend,...

Warning: Do not read this story until you have seen the final episode of “Hollywood.”

For its first six episodes, Ryan Murphy’s “Hollywood” mixed reality and fiction in its portrait of the movie business in the years after World War II. But there’s a good reason why the final episode is titled “A Hollywood Ending” – because it uses the Oscars of March 1948 to paint a picture of Hollywood growing more tolerant, more open to minorities and gays and more embracing of the kind of films that in reality were nearly impossible to make at the time or for decades later.

Like the ending of Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” the episode veers into a kind of wish-fulfillment fiction that is the whole point of its existence.

So we’re not really fact-checking when we look at the show’s depiction of the 20th Academy Awards ceremony.

Joan Crawford Movie Star Joan Crawford movies on TCM: Underrated actress, top star in several of her greatest roles If there was ever a professional who was utterly, completely, wholeheartedly dedicated to her work, Joan Crawford was it. Ambitious, driven, talented, smart, obsessive, calculating, she had whatever it took – and more – to reach the top and stay there. Nearly four decades after her death, Crawford, the star to end all stars, remains one of the iconic performers of the 20th century. Deservedly so, once you choose to bypass the Mommie Dearest inanity and focus on her film work. From the get-go, she was a capable actress; look for the hard-to-find silents The Understanding Heart (1927) and The Taxi Dancer (1927), and check her out in the more easily accessible The Unknown (1927) and Our Dancing Daughters (1928). By the early '30s, Joan Crawford had become a first-rate film actress, far more naturalistic than...

Mark Ronson will provide the soundtrack to forthcoming Johnny Depp movie Mortdecai.

The producer will digitally release the soundtrack on January 19, the same date as his new album Uptown Special.

Mortdecai was directed by David Koepp and also features Gwyneth Paltrow and Ewan McGregor.

The action comedy stars Depp as a roguish art dealer on the hunt for a stolen painting that holds the code to a bank account full of Nazi gold.

Miles Kane appears on the soundtrack's opening song 'Johanna' while Rose Elinor Dougall features on 'Heart's A Liar'.

Mortdecai will debut on January 23.

Meanwhile, Ronson is set to match Robin Thicke's chart record by scoring a fifth week at number one with 'Uptown Funk'.

The tracklisting for the soundtrack is as follows:

'Johanna (ft. Miles Kane)''Hong Kong''The Farmer's Daughter''The Painted Lady May Be in Play''Spinoza''Los Angeles''Georgina''Heart's a Liar (ft. Rose Elinor Dougall...

Loretta Young films as TCM celebrates her 102nd birthday (photo: Loretta Young ca. 1935) Loretta Young would have turned 102 years old today. Turner Classic Movies is celebrating the birthday of the Salt Lake City-born, Academy Award-winning actress today, January 6, 2015, with no less than ten Loretta Young films, most of them released by Warner Bros. in the early '30s. Young, who began her film career in a bit part in the 1927 Colleen Moore star vehicle Her Wild Oat, remained a Warners contract player from the late '20s up until 1933. (See also: "Loretta Young Movies.") Now, ten Loretta Young films on one day may sound like a lot, but one should remember that most Warner Bros. -- in fact, most Hollywood -- releases of the late '20s and early '30s were either B Movies or programmers. The latter were relatively short (usually 60 to 75 minutes) feature films starring A (or B+) performers,...

Happy Centennial to Loretta Young!  (January 6th, 1913 - August 12th, 2000) She was my mom's favorite actress as a little girl which is how I know her name. 

So many ruffles! How can Loretta breathe in there?

Well that and my encyclopedic attention to the Best Actress category in theory long before I'd seen almost any of the movies as a kid. The Farmer's Daughter was literally the first of the 1940s Best Actress winners I ever saw -- entirely because of my mom's love for it -- but I have to admit that I don't remember the movie at all now. (Fwiw my favorite Best Actress win of the 40s is a tight race between Crawford's Mildred Pierce and DeHavilland's The Heiress)

We name-checked Loretta very briefly on the recent podcast (Part 1 & 2) because my mom was so happy with the book I gave her as a gift recently. My mother...

Alice Smith has become the latest Young Apprentice candidate to be fired by Lord Alan Sugar after she failed in a tea party task. The 17-year-old was project manager of the losing team this week and was criticised by her own teammates for her lack of organisation. Alice's team struggled to agree on a pricing for their tea party and her sub-team complained that the "traditional with a twist" theme for the tea party wasn't clear enough. The farmer's daughter brought Maria and Navdeep back into the boardroom, but she couldn't defend her corner well enough in the final showdown. "I (more)...

From Fred and Ginger to Jennifer and Ashton, romantic comedies used to be one of the safest bets in Hollywood. But it seems that rom is just not into com any more

Is it the end for the romcom? You can imagine the celebrity mag headlines: "Romcom's relationship on the rocks?" "Com: I'm just not that into Rom" "Rom: Com doesn't make me laugh any more."

After all, who says romance and comedy go together like a horse and carriage? It seems to be a chiselled Hollywood commandment that the two shall be forever conjoined in cinematic matrimony, but perhaps it's time they went their separate ways. Sure, they got off to a great start: in those early years it was all fun and games and sparkling repartee, but recently they haven't quite looked the happy couple; the spark just hasn't been there.

They've been stuck in the same repetitive formula: boy meets girl,...

Frederica Sagor Pt.2: Women Screenwriters in 1920s Hollywood [Photo: Emil Jannings in The Way of All Flesh.] Frederica Sagor's reported final Hollywood screen credit was the scenario for the 1928 slapstick comedy The Farmer's Daughter, directed by Arthur Rosson at Fox. Marjorie Beebe, previously featured in several comedy shorts, had the title role (no relation to Loretta Young's 1947 Oscar-winning Congresswoman-to-be). In her book, Sagor says she was paid $750 a week (approx. $9,700 today) to write the story for this programmer — one she hated — about rural lovers and piles of manure. The previous year, Sagor had married screenwriter Ernest Maas, who held an executive post at Fox. In her autobiography, she states that the couple wrote a story named Beefsteak Joe, inspired by the life of Maas' father, that was misappropriated by Paramount and released as The Way of All Flesh. Directed by Gone with the Wind's Victor Fleming, the now-lost melodrama — Madame X meets Stella Dallas in...

Clark Gable, Loretta Young, The Call of the Wild Judy Lewis, out-of-wedlock daughter of Loretta Young and Clark Gable, died of cancer on Friday, Nov. 25, at a retirement home in the Philadelphia suburb of Gladwyne. She was 76. Young, who was an ardent Catholic, and Gable, then married to Maria Franklin Langham (17 years his senior) had an affair while starring in William A. Wellman's 1935 adventure drama The Call of the Wild. Young had just turned 22, Gable was 34. In a manner similar to the absurd stories of so many Hollywood melodramas of the period, after learning of her pregnancy Young took off for Europe. Upon her return months later, she was reported ill and convalescing at a hospital in the Los Angeles suburb of Venice, where Judy was born Nov. 6, 1935. When the girl was almost two, Young officially adopted her (and a boy, later returned) from an orphanage in San Francisco.

Us actor known for playing Marshal Matt Dillon in the popular TV series Gunsmoke

James Arness, who has died aged 88, may not have been the biggest film star ever, but he was certainly one of the tallest, at 6ft 7in. His height and large bulk made a lasting impression in his role of Us Marshal Matt Dillon in the television western series Gunsmoke, which Arness played for 20 years.

As the poker-faced, taciturn marshal of Dodge City who works to preserve law and order on the western frontier in the 1870s, Arness, in medium-close shots, often had to perform standing in a hole, or else other actors stood on boxes so their faces could be in frame. His height was also a factor in his casting in the title role of The Thing from Another World (1951), also known as The Thing, which gave impetus to his career.

Arness himself found the...

Actor James Arness, best known as Marshal Matt Dillon on TV's long-running "Gunsmoke," died Friday of natural causes. He was 88.

The actor, who also appeared in more than 30 films, died in his home in Los Angeles, family spokesman Ginny Fazer told the L.A. Times.

The 6-foot-7 Minnesota native got his big break starring in 1947's "The Farmer's Daughter," with Loretta Young.

Arness then befriended John Wayne, who helped him get the role in "Gunsmoke...

Legendary TV cowboy James Arness has died, aged 88.

The actor played Marshall Matt Dillon in beloved TV western series Gunsmoke.

The Minnesota-born World War Two hero was the older brother of actor Peter Graves, who encouraged Arness to seek out a career in showbusiness after he was discharged from the army with leg and foot injuries sustained in battle.

He became an announcer at a Minneapolis radio station and later found fame in Hollywood after following a friend out to Los Angeles to find work in the movies.

He was studying theatre when he was cast as Loretta Young's brother in 1947 film The Farmer's Daughter.

His first wife, actress Virginia Chapman, encouraged him to take his acting more seriously after he received glowing reviews for his performance in his debut and he became a staple villain in films like The Thing from Another World (1951).

Arness' career really took off when he was discovered by John Wayne's agent Charles K. Feldman, and the two TV and movie cowboys became firm friends. Arness starred alongside Wayne, his mentor, in a series of 1950s films and it was the acting legend who recommended his pal for the role of Dillon in Gunsmoke, which became America's longest-running dramatic series.

When the show was cancelled in 1975, Arness joined the cast of TV miniseries How The West Was Won and then turned leading man again in cop drama McClain's Law in the early 1980s.

He retired from showbusiness in the mid-1990s, after appearing in the final Gunsmoke TV movie.

He and his first wife had three kids together - one daughter, Jenny Lee, committed suicide in 1975. Arness divorced Chapman in 1960. He wed Janet Surtrees in 1978.

Among his many accolades, Arness was appointed an honorary United States Marshall in recognition of his unique contribution to "the image and traditions of the U.S. Marshall's Service". He was also inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1981.

He also received the Bronze Star; the Purple Heart, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal and the Combat Infantryman Badge for his army service during World War Two.

Flowers will be placed on the actor's Hollywood Walk of Fame star on Friday afternoon.

James Arness, the strapping Western star who played Marshal Matt Dillon in TV's long-running Gunsmoke, died Friday at age 88. The actor, who also appeared in more than 30 films, died of natural causes at his home in Los Angeles, family spokesman Ginny Fazer tells the Los Angeles Times. A Minnesota native and brother of Mission: Impossible star Peter Graves, Arness was a World War II combat veteran. He originally wanted to be a naval fighter pilot, but his 6-foot-7 frame exceeded the 6-foot-2 limit for the cockpit.After working as a radio announcer in Minnesota, he moved to Los Angeles and...

James Arness, the television icon and the star of the Western series Gunsmoke, one of the medium's longest-running shows, has died. He was 88. The weekly drama wrapped its run in 1975, and then Arness reprised the role in five made-for-tv movies from 1987 to 1994. A World War II veteran from Minnesota who received the Purple Heart, Arness began his acting career in the 1947 film The Farmer's Daughter opposite Loretta Young and appeared in such John Wayne movies as Hondo and Big Jim McLain. He also was the creature in the 1955 sci-fi horror film The Thing From Another World. Gunsmoke began its TV run in 1955 and featured Arness as Marshal Matt Dillion, who watched over the town of Dodge City and kept it clear of bad guys. Arness later made several TV appearances, including in the late 1970s TV miniseries How The West Was Won. According to his website, Arness is survived by his wife,...

James Arness, the lanky actor best remembered for his portrayal of the iconic Marshal Matt Dillon on the long-running American TV series "Gunsmoke", passed away on Friday of natural causes. He was 88.

He was born James King Aurness on May 26, 1923 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the eldest son of Ruth and Rolf Aurness, older brother to Peter, who later changed his name and gained fame as actor Peter Graves. James spent his formative years in Minneapolis before heading to university at Beloit College, dropping out of classes there when he received his draft notice in 1943. Having dreamt of becoming a fighter pilot, he was disappointed to discover that his 6'7" height disqualified him from aviation. Instead, he served in the Army as an infantry rifleman, but his Army career ended with a medical discharge after being seriously wounded during combat in Anzio, Italy, injuries which earned him a Purple Heart. While recovering, he was visited by his brother Peter, who encouraged him to enroll in the University of Minnesota's radio training course. James took his brother's advice, and a career as a Minneaoplis radio announcer followed.

After spending time as a successful disc jockey, James and a friend headed to Hollywood to try their luck at acting. James won a contract with RKO pictures, where he made his first onscreen appearance as Loretta Young's brother in 1947's The Farmer's Daughter. It was at this time that the studio officially changed his surname to "Arness". He continued to act in local theater productions, and during his time in the Pasadena Playhouse production of Candida he met and married his leading lady, Virginia Chapman. The couple would have three children, Rolf, Jenny and Craig, and remained married until 1960, when they divorced. Simultaneously, his film career was slowly gaining momentum, his height winning him parts in science fiction classics The Thing from Another World and Them!

It was his role in another play that caught the attention of Charles K. Feldman, who introduced Arness to his client John Wayne. Wayne, impressed with the young man, signed him to a three year contact that would determine the direction of the rest of Arness's career. When, in 1955, Wayne suggested him for the lead in a new television show, Arness was hesitant to accept the role, concerned that an appearance on TV might hinder his film career. He reluctantly took the role, however, and would play Marshal Matt Dillon, who honorably maintained law and order in Dodge City on "Gunsmoke" for the next twenty years until the show's cancellation in 1975. The show held the record for the longest-running American television series until 2010, when it was surpassed by The Simpsons. After the cancellation of "Gunsmoke", Arness returned to TV in another western "How the West Was Won", as a detective in "McClain's Law", and appeared in TV movies "The Alamo" and "Red River". He reprised the role of Marshall Dillon in four TV movies between 1990 and 1994, before officially retiring from acting in 2001.

He is survived by his wife Janet Surtrees, who he married in 1978, and his son Rolf Aurness. He was preceded in death by his parents, his daughter Jenny Lee Arness in 1975, his son Craig Aurness in 2004, and his brother Peter Graves in 2010.

Gunsmoke star James Arness has passed away aged 88. The actor played Marshal Matt Dillon. On Friday, Arness passed away of natural causes, reports The Hollywood (via the Los Angeles Times). Born May 26th, 1923 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Arness started out as a radio announcer in Minnesota in 1945 and later moved to Los Angeles where he starred with Loretta Young in The Farmer's Daughter. Arness became friends with John Wayne who was instrumental in him landing the Marshall Matt Dillon role in CBS' Gunsmoke. Wayne was wanted for the part, but he declined and suggested Arness for the part...

Gunsmoke star James Arness has passed away aged 88. The actor played Marshal Matt Dillon. On Friday, Arness passed away of natural causes, reports The Hollywood (via the Los Angeles Times). Born May 26th, 1923 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Arness started out as a radio announcer in Minnesota in 1945 and later moved to Los Angeles where he starred with Loretta Young in The Farmer's Daughter. Arness became friends with John Wayne who was instrumental in him landing the Marshall Matt Dillon role in CBS' Gunsmoke. Wayne was wanted for the part, but he declined and suggested Arness for the part...

Gunsmoke star James Arness has passed away aged 88. The actor played Marshal Matt Dillon. On Friday, Arness passed away of natural causes, reports The Hollywood (via the Los Angeles Times). Born May 26th, 1923 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Arness started out as a radio announcer in Minnesota in 1945 and later moved to Los Angeles where he starred with Loretta Young in The Farmer's Daughter. Arness became friends with John Wayne who was instrumental in him landing the Marshall Matt Dillon role in CBS' Gunsmoke. Wayne was wanted for the part, but he declined and suggested Arness for the part...

Tora! Tora! Tora! star Keith Andes was found dead in his Santa Clarita, California home earlier this month. He was 85. The Los Angeles County coroner's office has ruled the actor's death was suicide by asphyxiation. His longtime friend Marshall LaPlante confirmed the New Jersey-born actor had been suffering from cancer of the bladder. The New Jersey-born actor launched his film career after Hollywood studio head Darryl F. Zanuck saw him performing in the Broadway, New York production of Winged Victory and offered him a role in the film version of the play in 1944. Andes spent four decades on the big screen, with roles as Marilyn Monroe's leading man in 1952's Clash By Night, The Farmer's Daughter in 1947 and Tora! Tora! Tora! in 1970. On the small screen, he starred opposite Glynis Johns in the 1963 Sitcom Glynis and police drama The Man Dawson. Andes is survived by his two sons Mark and Matt and his grandson Ryan.