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Very few things can inspire the feeling of youth like a music video that immortalizes the trends and culture of the times. And they’ve come a long way from projections of still images paired with a live performance.

People were wildin’ out with their puffy leg-of-mutton sleeves in 1894, part of the decade called the “Gay Nineties” to the song, “Little Lost Child.”

We have the ’60s and ’70s to thank for advancing us from the methods of the “Naughty Nineties.” These are real names for the 1890s. Let that sink in.

(NBC, HBO, ABC, Paramount Pictures/Screenshots)

Due to its namesake, it didn’t take long before film and TV became the special sauce in crafting some visual masterpieces.

Over the years, that trend has only grown, with artists of countless genres jumping on the bandwagon.

Tell Me Lies Season 2 Episode 6 Review: Do Your Dirty Words Come Out to Play?...

A case could be made that Howard Hawks is one of the greatest American directors of all time. His career spanned from the silent era in the mid-1920s all the way to 1970, and along the way, he made some of the most memorable classics the film industry has ever seen. Hawks directed one of the first gangster movies, made two of the best screwball comedies of all time with "Bringing Up Baby" and "His Girl Friday," created two of the best Humphrey Bogart/Lauren Bacall films ever (and an influential noir classic) with "To Have and Have Not" and "The Big Sleep," and directed at least three classic John Wayne Westerns in the form of "Red River," "Rio Bravo," and "El Dorado." Not too shabby.

But everyone has to start somewhere, and Hawks got a job working as a propman during the summers in the earliest days of Hollywood.

Marilyn Monroe‘s star burned brightly and briefly before her untimely death in 1962 at age 36. Yet she managed to enter the pop culture lexicon with just a handful of films, becoming Hollywood’s most memorable sex symbol. In honor of her birthday, let’s take a look back at 15 of her greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1926, Monroe started off as a model before moving into acting with a series of bit parts, most notably in “All About Eve” and “The Asphalt Jungle,” both released in 1950. She became a leading lady with a trio of 1953 titles: the noir “Niagara,” the musical “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and the romantic comedy “How to Marry a Millionaire.”

She became iconic thanks to Billy Wilder‘s “The Seven Year Itch” (1955), in which she played a young woman tantalizing her married neighbor (Tom Ewell). Her image was forever burned into our memories thanks to...

Oddly enough, Marilyn Monroe and Madonna became part of each other’s mythos — Monroe paved the way for Madonna, while Madonna made sure Monroe was still a big part of American popular culture. Madonna explained why she mimicked Monroe in the “Material Girl” music video. Interestingly, Monroe was not the only star from the 1950s and 1960s to inspire the “Like a Prayer” singer’s style.

‘Material Girl’ era Madonna said she was ‘attracted to’ aspects of Marilyn Monroe

The “Material Girl” music video is a recreation of Monroe singing “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” from the campy musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. According to the book Madonna: An Intimate Biography, Madonna explained her idea for the clip. “Marilyn was made into something not human in a way, and I can relate to that,” she said. “Her sexuality was something everyone was obsessed with, and that I can relate to.

Tom Rothman, the Sony Motion Pictures Group chairman and CEO, wined and dined a select few at a splendidly swish soirée Friday at Mamo Michelangelo in Antibes, hosted by Charles Finch as part of his annual Filmmakers Dinner honoring 100 years of Columbia Pictures, and there was something he said about why movies matter that has stuck with me.

Hours earlier, Rothman had introduced a gloriously restored print of Charles Vidor’s 1946 movie Gilda, starring Rita Hayworth as the eponymous nightclub temptress and Glenn Ford as the hardboiled gambler from her past.

They hate each other, but as we all know, that’s often a prelude on the road to love both in real and reel life.

Related: Cannes Film Festival 2024 Photos

Vidor also uses the vocabulary of dance to signal Gilda’s emotional temperature.

The great choreographer Jack Cole, who later coached Marilyn Monroe on her moves in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,...

Superstar Marilyn Monroe passed away in 1962, but her legacy lives on in the form of several classic movies that still hold up today. The actor and model appeared in plenty of great films across her lifetime, including several that have only grown in public estimation since their release. Among the best: crowd pleasers like "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," "The Seven Year Itch," and "How To Marry A Millionaire," plus stone-cold classics "Some Like It Hot" and "All About Eve."

Surprisingly, though, Monroe's most popular and obviously beloved movies aren't actually her most acclaimed –- at least according to one major metric. Only one of the films she appeared in during her too-short lifetime has a perfect critical score on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, and it's not any of the titles listed above. Instead, that coveted 100% score goes to "Don't Bother To Knock," a comparatively underseen thriller Monroe starred in...

Madonna and Marilyn Monroe would be compared to each other no matter what, simply because they are two of the biggest female celebrities ever. On the other hand, some fans claim that the similarity between the Material Girl and the Some Like It Hot star goes deeper than that. Madonna’s brother, Christopher Ciccone, had a different take on the situation.

Madonna’s brother said she’s not ‘self-destructive’ like Marilyn Monroe

Monroe’s influence can be seen throughout Madonna’s career. The “Like a Virgin” singer based her video for “Material Girl” on a scene from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, one of Monroe’s most famous films. Monroe is also one of several Hollywood stars mentioned in the lyrics of “Vogue.” The cover of Madonna’s greatest hits album Celebration is also based on Monroe, and the singer appropriated a famous sequence from The Seven Year Itch for her “Give Me All Your Luvin'” clip.

Madonna‘s “Material Girl” music video helped her meet Sean Penn. It also caused fans to compare her to another famous blonde. The Queen of Pop’s brother said that Madonna’s fans drew false conclusions from that music video.

Madonna met Sean Penn on the set of ‘Material Girl’

In his 2008 book Life With My Sister Madonna, Christopher Ciccone gave fans some fascinating insight into the “Material Girl” video shoot. “On the LA set of the ‘Material Girl’ video, as Madonna is sashaying down a staircase, decked out in a fuchsia satin replica of the Travilla gown Marilyn wore in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, she comes face-to-face with hot actor Sean Penn,” he wrote. “He is 24, she is 26, their birthdays are just one day apart, and — for both of them — it is love at first sight.

“Afterward, she will claim that Sean reminds her of pictures she’s seen of...

Ryan Gosling mesmerized everyone at the the prestigious 96th Academy Awards with his iconic performance of I’m Just Ken, a song from Greta Gerwig’s 2023 film, Barbie. The performance was spellbinding as it left everyone at the ceremony grooving to the mellifluous voice of the Blue Valentine actor. Safe to say, that the actor had stole the show on the Oscars stage by being Ken.

Ryan Gosling as Ken in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie

However, throughout his Oscars performance, Gosling was worried for the well-being of one MCU star, as Simu Liu had torn his Achilles heel and was on his way to recovery. Nevertheless, the Taken actor decided to show up to dance at his Barbie co-star’s performance on the biggest and most honored stage, the Academy Awards.

Ryan Gosling Was Severely Concerned For Simu Liu’s Achilles Heel During His Oscars Performance

Even though Ryan Gosling...

Doctor Who’s Ncuti Gatwa and W1A’s Hugh Skinner will star in a National Theatre revival of Oscar Wilde’s play about courtships, betrothals, and confused identities. The Importance of Being Earnest also stars three-time Olivier Award winner Sharon D. Clarke playing the imperious Lady Bracknell.

Director Max Webster, making his Nt debut, told Deadline exclusively that casting Gatwa and Skinner as the idle bachelors Algernon Moncrieff and Jack Worthing -both leading double lives – who pursue two young women, both determined to marry someone called Ernest, and with Clarke as the dreadnaught dowager decreeing her own rules of class, taste, and propriety, was “a dream come true.”

Webster and the Nt’s casting director Alastair Coomer have also assembled Richard Cant to play Reverend Canon Chasuble and comic genius Amanda Lawrence as Miss Prism in the 1895 satire, which will...

Madonna‘s had an impressive array of No. 1 songs, but she’s also had something rarer: an impressive array of No. 2 songs. Some of her defining hits just missed the top spot. Here’s a nostalgic look back at some of the Queen Pop’s best musical (and music video) moments.

1. ‘Material Girl’

Considering “Material Girl”‘s great new wave beat and iconic music video inspired by Marilyn Monroe’s film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, it would have been a hit regardless of its lyrics. The song is a cute satire of Reagan-era values that’s light enough to be taken at face value. Because some listeners did take it at face value, the song has been used to paint Madonna as shallow and greedy.

The track hit No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. While the charts are never fair, that placement feels like a real insult. After all, what song...

Ryan Gosling visited “The Tonight Show” ahead of his latest hosting stint on “Saturday Night Live” and spoke about his internet-breaking live performance of “I’m Just Ken” at the Oscars last month. Asked by host Jimmy Fallon if it was an immediate yes when the Academy called him up to request he perform the “Barbie” original song live during the ceremony, Gosling said his answer was “100% no.”

“There’s a lot of ways that could go wrong,” Gosling said.

But the performance went very right. Gosling, bathed in pink lighting and wearing a sparkling pink suit and pink gloves, started singing “I’m Just Ken” while in the audience sitting behind Margot Robbie. He then made his way to the stage, where he was joined by Mark Ronson and Slash on guitars. His fellow Ken actors Simu Liu, Scott Evans, Ncuti Gatwa and Kingsley Ben-Adir joined the armada of backup dancers behind Gosling.

On a cinematically rainy night, a truck packed with dogs is pulled over by the cops. The driver is Marilyn Monroe in the famous getup from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The pink, the wig and the makeup ruined by blood. At the station, the driver, a wheelchair-using fellow named Douglas Munrow (Caleb Landry Jones), is visited by police psychologist Evelyn (Jojo T. Gibbs), a single mother who has her own history with violence. Douglas starts telling his story. The narrative jumps back and forth, between the present and the non-linear past that holds so many things: an abusive family, Shakespeare, unrequited love, crafty heists, drag artists and chili. Most of all, it holds a lot of pain. And dogs. So many dogs. Let’s get it out...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Ryan Gosling rocked the Oscars stage with his “I’m Just Ken” performance. The act became one of the central highlights of the event and garnered widespread appreciation. Despite failing to win his Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, Gosling attracted worldwide attention for his memorable performance.

Ryan Gosling at Oscars | Source: ABC News

The 96th Academy Awards also raised several headlines when Ryan Gosling’s La La Land co-star Emma Stone revealed that she suffered a wardrobe malfunction during the “I’m Just Ken” act. Recently, when The Notebook star appeared at the SXSW Film Festival for the premiere of his upcoming The Fall Guy, the actor explained more about the viral moment with Stone.

What did Ryan Gosling say about the viral moment at the Oscars?

Ryan Gosling performing ‘I’m Just Ken’

It cannot be denied that the “I’m Just Ken” performance will be remembered as one...

The 96th Academy Awards ceremony took place on March 10, 2024, and was a star-studded affair. While most of the focus was on all the talented artists nominated in various categories, by the time the night concluded, it was clear that Ryan Gosling had once again proven to be the show stealer after doing so in 2023’s Barbie.

Ryan Gosling as Ken in Barbie

At the event, Gosling performed I’m Just Ken, a song from the Greta Gerwig-directed film, which left everyone at the ceremony grooving. However, Gosling’s performance had deeper layers as it was meant to be a tribute to actress Marilyn Monroe and presented a gender-bent version of an iconic song from one of her films. Here is everything you need to know about Ryan Gosling’s Marilyn Monroe tribute at the Oscars.

Ryan Gosling’s Oscars Performance Was a Tribute to Marilyn Monroe’s Iconic 1953 Film

At the Dolby Theatre,...

All Ryan Gosling needed was a 40-piece orchestra, 62 dancing Kens, over 24 gigantic Barbie heads, four “cameo Kens” and a Guns N’Roses surprise to turn his highly anticipated performance of “Barbie” track “I’m Just Ken” into one of the most unbelievable moments in award show history.

After all the protracted speculation about whether Gosling would perform “I’m Just Ken” at the Oscars, the news broke in late February that he had been confirmed for a song and dance extravaganza. But in fact, Oscars producers had been talking to Gosling for months.

“Ryan Gosling is a true professional, that man — we met with him on Zooms months ago, talking about that performance,” said Molly McNearney, who produced the show with Raj Kapoor, Katy Mullan and Rob Paine. “Greta Gerwig weighed in creatively as well. He was so committed to it. His choreographer, Mandy Moore, is exceptional — she was on all the calls.

Though she had a ticket to sit in the audience at the Oscars, choreographer Mandy Moore, who helmed Sunday’s show-stealing “I’m Just Ken” number, couldn’t help but stand in the wings and give all the Kens a pep talk before they headed onstage.

“It was so hype,” Moore said of the energy backstage.

The performance saw Barbie movie star and Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling, in a bright pink bedazzled suit and cowboy hat, lead an army of 62 Kens, as well as his fellow Barbie movie Kens — Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Kingsley Ben-Adir and Scott Evans — in an all-out dance number that paid homage to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, included “street-style dancing,” filled the stage with Barbie cardboard cut-outs and ended in a Rockettes-style kickline.

Onstage, Gosling was accompanied by “I’m Just Ken” songwriters and producers, Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, as well as guitarist Wolfgang Van Halen...

Ryan Gosling just delivered an epic performance of ‘I’m Just Ken’ from Greta Gerwig’s Barbie at the Academy Awards, and it was a stunning homage to Marilyn Monroe’s ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’ from Howard Hawks’ 1953 movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Ryan Gosling in Barbie

The Oscar nominee was clad in a sparkling pink suit and was joined on stage by dancers wearing cowboy hats and black tuxedos. He commenced the act seated among the audience before he walked to the stage to give a full-blast show. The track was also nominated for Oscars’ Best Original Song.

Ryan Gosling Electrifies The Oscars With A Marilyn Monroe-Inspired Performance

Before Ryan Gosling’s ‘I’m Just Ken’ received the Oscar nomination, the actor previously joked about performing it live at the event. In a bizarre twist of fate, it finally happened, and he seemed to have been preparing...

While Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer may have won the most awards, Ryan Gosling’s performance of ‘I’m Just Ken’ from Barbie stole the Oscars earlier today. Clad in a glittering pink suit, Gosling’s solo performance of his Oscar-nominated song received a standing ovation and made the entire auditorium stand up and sing.

Apart from a surprise guitar solo by Slash from Guns N’ Roses and Wolfgang Van Halen from Van Halen, fans picked out one more detail from Gosling’s soon-to-be legendary performance. The pink suit worn by Ryan Gosling as well as the background dancers’ tuxedo with pink stripes was a direct reference to Marilyn Monroe’s iconic costume from the song ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’.

Ryan Gosling’s Barbie-esque Tribute To Marilyn Monroe A still from Barbie

Despite Margot Robbie’s performance in Barbie getting universal acclaim from critics and audiences, the...

He's just Ken, and he just crushed a performance of "I'm Just Ken" at the Academy Awards. Ryan Gosling, as promised, was not only at the Oscars on behalf of his acting role in "Barbie," but he also took the stage to perform the hit song from the movie's soundtrack. It's safe to say he brought the house down in what will easily go down as one of the show's most memorable moments. Check it out below.

Ryan Gosling and the cast of "Barbie" perform "I'm Just Ken" at the #Oscars. https://t.co/UNgGySGz3r pic.twitter.com/00hd0Jw8cy

— Variety (@Variety) March 11, 2024

Gosling donned a pink sparkly suit surrounded by dancers in black suits with cowboy hats on. Simu Liu and Kingsley Ben-Adir, two of the other Kens from the movie, were on stage with him to help bring the song to life with some extra authenticity.

Ryan Gosling isn’t just Ken anymore.

The Oscar nominee was up for Best Supporting Actor for his turn in Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” and also belted his “I’m Just Ken” ballad onstage during the 2024 Academy Awards.

Gosling, who moonlights as the Dead Man’s Bones frontman, rocked out to the Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt-penned song which became one of the many breakout anthems of the history-making blockbuster movie. Guitarist Slash from Guns N Roses accompanied Gosling for the live performance of the beloved “Barbie” track, along with fellow Ken “Barbie” actors Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, and more, for a “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”-inspired musical moment.

Fellow “Barbie” song “What Was I Made For?,” written by Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas, was also performed during the ceremony. “What Was I Made For?” went on to win the Oscar for Best Original Song.

Other Best Song nominees...

Ryan Gosling took the Oscars stage to perform the “I’m Just Ken” from the Warner Bros. film Barbie. Watch the performance in the video above.

Gosling brought the house down at the Dolby Theater, where everyone was encouraged to sing along with song lyrics playing on big screens.

The actor walked through the audience and let director Greta Gerwig, America Ferrera, and Margot Robbie sing a couple of words, with Gosling’s La La Land co-star Emma Stone sneaking in there as well.

Gosling’s number at the Oscars was an homage to Marilyn Monroe’s musical number for “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” from the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Ryan Gosling channels Marilyn Monroe at the Oscars

The song, co-written by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, is nominated in the Best Original Song category alongside fellow film song “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell.

Cancel humanity, folks. You can all go home. The tech firm Soul Machines is resurrecting screen legend Marilyn Monroe as a “hyper-real” AI-generated digital Chatbot that lets you engage in conversations with the blonde bombshell in real-time. John Connor is seething somewhere, and Skynet is laughing at the thought of not lifting a finger to doom the human race through smart-learning technology. In addition to participating in conversations, the Marilyn Monroe avatar can answer questions “in Marilyn’s signature voice and style.” Look out, Alexa, the late star of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and The Seven Year Itch, is gunning for your job!

The company behind the Digital Marilyn interactive experience says the AI-generated icon “shares anecdotes and even delivers personalized greetings, creating an unforgettable experience for Marilyn fans.” Do you want Marilyn to sing “Happy Birthday” to you like she did for John F. Kennedy? You can make that happen with Digital Marilyn!

Some apotheosis of film culture has been reached with Freddy Got Fingered‘s addition to the Criterion Channel. Three years after we interviewed Tom Green about his consummate film maudit, it’s appearing on the service’s Razzie-centered program that also includes the now-admired likes of Cruising, Heaven’s Gate, Querelle, and Ishtar; the still-due likes of Under the Cherry Moon; and the more-contested Gigli, Swept Away, and Nicolas Cage-led Wicker Man. In all cases it’s an opportunity to reconsider one of the lamest, thin-gruel entities in modern culture.

A Jane Russell retro features von Sternberg’s Macao, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and Raoul Walsh’s The Tall Men and The Revolt of Mamie Stover; streaming premieres will be held for Yuen Woo-ping’s Dreadnaught, Claire Simon’s Our Body, Ellie Foumbi’s Our Father, the Devil, the recently restored Sepa: Our Lord of Miracles, and The Passion of Rememberance.

From left: Enchanted (Buena Vista Pictures), When Harry Met Sally (Columbia Pictures), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Images)Graphic: The A.V. Club

Chemistry is perhaps the most elusive of all cinematic ingredients. Critics can point to craft in elements like directorial technique, set design, editing, and the...

Cari Beauchamp, the respected film historian who put readers and viewers in close touch with the early days of Hollywood through her painstaking research as an author, editor and documentary filmmaker, died Thursday. She was 74.

Beauchamp died of natural causes at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, her son Jake Flynn told The Hollywood Reporter.

She was unable to attend an Oct. 28 event at the Tcl Chinese Theatre that celebrated authors represented on THR’s recent unveiling of “The 100 Greatest Film Books of All Time.”

Beauchamp is on the exclusive list thanks to Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood. First published in 1997, it centers on Marion, who became the highest-paid screenwriter, man or woman, in Hollywood by 1917 before receiving Oscars for The Big House (1930) and The Champ (1931).

Beauchamp then wrote and produced for TCM a 2001 documentary based on the book, earning a WGA nomination along the way.

The intent of THR‘s annual list of the 50 Most Powerful Showrunners is to provide an accurate state of the TV union — a rundown of the writer-producers selling in an increasingly fraught media climate, making culturally relevant and awards-friendly shows and serving the masses at a time when consensus entertainment has all but vanished. It’s also a great opportunity to pick some brains.

Those showrunners who made the 2023 list were polled on a variety of subjects. If Suits can become a streaming hit years after ending, what other shows deserve a similar fate? What IP are they dying to get their hands on? What’s already a pressing issue for the next WGA contract negotiation with the studios? And if they found themselves with a burner social media account, what would they do with it?

Here are some of the best answers to those and more questions.

If I...

Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” is destined to be a classic in its own right, already garnering nearly half a billion dollars at the box office in under a week. The film, about a stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) in the grips of an existential crisis that sees her going to the Real World, is all manner of fun and wacky, with a number of Old Hollywood influences.

Gerwig herself has cited a number of features that either directly or indirectly inspired “Barbie,” starting with the 1939 Technicolor classic, “The Wizard of Oz.” That film, with its now iconic transition between Kansas and the land of Oz, no doubt factored into how the feature approaches color. The idea of a character transitioning from one world to another draws comparisons to “The Truman Show” and “Heaven Can Wait.”

Among the more nuanced, less obvious films, Gerwig took inspiration from “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown,...

Here’s a look at this week’s biggest premieres, parties and openings in Los Angeles and New York, including red carpets for No Hard Feelings, I’m a Virgo and Downey’s Dream Cars.

Downey’s Dream Cars premiere

Robert Downey Jr. made a rare red carpet appearance to debut his new Max series at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles on June 16.

Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey

No Hard Feelings premiere

Jennifer Lawrence joined director Gene Stupnitsky and co-stars Andrew Feldman, Matthew Broderick, Laura Benanti, Natalie Morales, Hasan Minhaj, Kyle Mooney, Scott MacArthur, Zach McClarnon, Jordan Mendoza, Matthew Nozska, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Amalia Yoo at the New York premiere of their new comedy on Tuesday.

John Phillips, Laura Benanti, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Gene Stupnitsky, Natalie Morales, Jennifer Lawrence, Andrew Feldman and Matthew Broderick Jennifer Lawrence and Andrew Feldman

I’m a Virgo premiere

Stars Jharrel Jerome, Brett Gray,...

Ted McGinley, Julia Montgomery, Robert Carradine in Revenge Of The Nerds. Image: 20th Century Fox In No Hard Feelings, Jennifer Lawrence plays Maddie, a floundering 32-year-old so down on her luck she’s willing to make a deal with the parents of a sheltered 19-year-old to “date” him in exchange...

Jennifer Lawrence and Andrew Barth Feldman in No Hard FeelingsPhoto: Macall Polay/Sony Pictures Entertainment

In No Hard Feelings, Jennifer Lawrence plays Maddie, a floundering 32-year-old so down on her luck she’s willing to make a deal with the parents of a sheltered 19-year-old to “date” him in exchange...

Just in time for Succession‘s end, let’s look at method acting. The Criterion Channel are highlighting the controversial practice in a 27-film series centered on Brando, Newman, Nicholson, and many other’s embodiment of “an intensely personal, internalized, and naturalistic approach to performance.” That series makes mention of Marilyn Monroe, who gets her own, 11-title highlight––the iconic commingling with deeper cuts.

Pride Month offers “Masc,” a consideration of “trans men, butch lesbians, and gender-nonconforming heroes” onscreen; the Michael Koresky-curated Queersighted returning with a study of the gay best friend; and the 20-film “LGBTQ+ Favorites.” Louis Garrel’s delightful The Innocent (about which I talked to him here), the director’s cut of Gregg Araki’s The Doom Generation, and Stanley Kwan’s hugely underseen Lan Yu make streaming premieres, while Araki’s Totally F***ed Up and Mysterious Skin also get a run. Criterion Editions include Five Easy Pieces,...

Updated: This post has been updated to include Cinespia’s full lineup of screenings planned from May through July.

Cinespia, L.A.’s first and longest running series of outdoor movie screenings, has set its summer lineup, returning for a 22nd season of programming held at L.A. State Historic Park, the Greek Theatre and the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

“We’re thrilled to be back for our 22nd season with an amazing lineup of fan-favorite films,” stated Cinespia founder, John Wyatt, announcing this summer’s screenings, presented by Amazon Studios.

The season kicks off on June 3 with a special presentation of “The Lost Boys,” followed by “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie” on June 10 and “She’s All That” on June 16.

Then, Cinespia will again partner with the Christopher Street West Association (Csw) — the nonprofit that has produced L.A. Pride celebration for more than 50 years — to host a special screening of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show...

This article contains spoilers for "Perry Mason" through season 2, episode 5, "Chapter Thirteen."

In its first season, HBO's pulpy, hardboiled version of "Perry Mason" introduced us to a version of Erle Stanley Gardner's famous criminal lawyer who had yet to become the formidable figure we know from previous iterations of the character. In this show, Mason is a war vet and private investigator who struggles with horrific memories of his wartime mercy killings, fights to keep hold of his family's farm, and reluctantly takes on the role of attorney after John Lithgow's E.B. Jonathan takes his own life. It's all a bit grim, really.

But with season 2, "Perry Mason" has put supporting characters front and center. While the gritty, somber tone is still there, the violence has been toned down a bit, and there are some genuine moments of joy. Many of those moments come from Juliet Rylance...

Blonde was one of the most talked-about movies of last year, but almost exclusively through a negative lens. While overseas it fared quite well–even vying for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival–once American viewers got wind of the content, it would be a bumpy ride for the Netflix movie.

But star Ana de Armas, who played Marilyn Monroe (and exponentially better than anyone else has attempted), knew it wouldn’t be for everyone, telling The Hollywood Reporter, “As hard as it is to hear when people don’t like your film, it is what it is. It was not a movie that was made to please people or to make people like it. It is a hard movie to watch.” Director Andrew Dominik previously spoke about Blonde’s reception, saying he was surprised at just how angry and upset American viewers were over the movie.

Ana...

From left: Enchanted (Buena Vista Pictures), When Harry Met Sally (Columbia Pictures), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Images) Graphic: The A.V. Club Chemistry is perhaps the most elusive of all cinematic ingredients. Critics can point to craft in elements like directorial technique, set design, editing, and...

Quentin Tarantino is as much a film-lover as he is a filmmaker. His work is packed to the brim with references from classic cinema and he often sings the praises of his favorite directors by incorporating their styles into his work. If an artist is only as good as his influences, then Tarantino is one of the all-time greats. The writer-director has cited Howard Hawks as one of his biggest inspirations, as both the best and the worst of Hawks' films have guided Tarantino's choices as a filmmaker.

Howard Hawks is best known for making successful and fondly-remembered movies in nearly every old Hollywood genre, from the musical comedy "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" to the noir film "The Big Sleep." He also directed the iconic 1959 Western "Rio Bravo," starring John Wayne. Tarantino was first introduced to Hawks when he saw "Rio Bravo" as a child. "The first time I saw it...

Ever since there have been movies, there have been movie stars – and becoming one of the world’s greatest actors involves being able to be many things at once. For one, you have to be able to act – to really inhabit a character’s deepest emotions, to step into their skin so that the words on the page come across as lived and felt. Plus, you have to be able to take that technical mastery and apply it across multiple genres, from quiet character dramas to epic action-packed blockbusters. And on top of that, you have to have that thing that can’t really be learned, or taught – a charisma, a command of the camera, an energy that enlivens even the most stellar script, and makes audiences flock to the multiplex in their droves.

For Empire’s February 2023 issue, we asked readers to vote for the best actors of all...

"The Misfits" would be Marilyn Monroe's final film. The 1961 modern-day psychological Western was ravaged by her physical troubles on-set and the collapse of Monroe's marriage to the movie's screenwriter, Arthur Miller. And the emotional devastation of the movie's plot was reflected by what went on during its making, as Miller, director John Huston, and co-star Eli Wallach hatched a plan to rewrite the movie. The resulting adjustments would have had major consequences, changing the plot to raise Wallach's heroic profile and diminish Monroe's.

Wallach was an old friend of Monroe's from the Actors Studio in New York. According to Les Harding's "They Knew Marilyn Monroe," he credited the actress with getting him cast in "The Misfits," but by the time the movie was being made, something in their friendship had shifted. Beyond the rewrites, he used the movie to execute a couple of practical jokes on her,...

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Fans of classic movies like The Ten Commandments, The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and the original Star Wars trilogy will get a chance to own a piece of Hollywood history when Heritage Auctions puts around 400 props, costumes and vehicles from historic Hollywood movies up for sale next month.

The Wicked Witch of the West’s hourglass in The Wizard of Oz and Chris Evans’ Captain America shield in Avengers: Endgame will go on the auction block on Dec. 13 as part of the Hollywood & Entertainment Signature Auction in Dallas, Texas. A 1973 “Herbie” Volkswagen Beetle that appeared in Disney’s 1980 film Herbie Goes Banana will be on offer, as will a prop Ferrari car used in a crash scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

The auction will also feature four dresses wore by Marilyn Monroe on screen during her movie career,...

"Christ, what an ugly dream." — Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe, "Blonde"

Weeping, near sobbing, near hysterics, in the noir-like shadows of her dressing room, Norma Jeane sits in front of her brightly-lit mirror, desperate and coming completely undone. Her hands clasped in prayer, she begs, "Please come." Whitey, her personal makeup artist, continues to apply color and powder and blush and lipstick to the weeping, drowning woman, assuring her that yes, she's coming. She. The proverbial she.

They're talking about Marilyn Monroe, of course. And sure enough, in like a cursed wind, like the Angel of Death swooping down like the last plague sent by God, something comes into this small dressing room and grabs hold of Norma Jeane's body. And she's no longer Norma Jeane. The tears dry up, and a big, bright, terrifying smile like a death rictus spreads across her gorgeous face. She utters a small,...

The discourse surrounding Andrew Dominik’s “Blonde” has infiltrated pop culture so deeply that even “Saturday Night Live” has taken notice.

A new sketch from this week’s episode mocked the film’s overwhelmingly negative approach to Marilyn Monroe’s life. Chloe Fineman plays the iconic star wearing the iconic pink dress from “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” She’s nervous about filming a big scene, so two studio workers (Brendan Gleeson and Heidi Gardner) are brought in to lift her spirits by reading her fan mail.

But, in true “Blonde” fashion, it quickly turns into a beratement session. “Marilyn, you are a whore,” Gardner’s first letter reads. “A blonde tramp. No one will ever love you, you disgusting tramp.” Things only escalate from there, as the letters become increasingly caustic and misogynistic, reflecting what many feel is the film’s attitude towards Marilyn Monroe.

The “SNL” writers are far from...

Paul Schrader thinks “Blonde” has a Marilyn Monroe problem.

The “Master Gardener” director praised Andrew Dominik’s Netflix film for its “brilliance and inventiveness” but called out the constraints of staying within the biography of the late blonde bombshell, portrayed by Ana de Armas.

“There is one thing wrong about this film,” Schrader posted on Facebook. “Given the back and forth carping I held off seeing ‘Blonde’ but when I did I was thunderstruck by its brilliance and inventiveness. Dominick’s kaleidoscopic approach, juxtaposing colors, screen formats, camera styles, music, sound effects, and image manipulation create an indelible character study. But it’s not Marilyn Monroe. That’s the one thing wrong part.”

Schrader continued, “This would have been far better if freed from Mm’s history. The criticism applies to the novel as well. Why the gleeful need to jump on Monroe’s cadaver for a romp? Can’t...

What becomes a legend most? Well, in the case of Marilyn Monroe, it’s countless books, feature films, TV movies, limited series, documentaries and even a Broadway musical. “Blonde,” the latest film about the influential sex symbol, who starred in such films as 1953’s “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and 1959’s ‘Some Like it Hot” and tragically died at the age of 36 in 1962, has been polarizing critics and audiences since it premiered at the recent Venice Film Festival.

Based on Joyce Carol Oates’ best-selling 2000 novel, “Blonde” offers a fictionalized look at the troubled actress. Currently in theaters and streaming on Netflix, “Blonde” stars Ana de Armas. She has been singled out by critics for her work, but director Andrew Dominik (“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”) hasn’t been so lucky. “’Blonde’ has been conceived as a slow-motion death march,” said the L.A. Times Justin Chan.

The...

Andrew Dominik’s “Blonde” has emerged as one of the most talked about movies of the fall season, earning praise for its visuals and Ana de Armas’ performance as Marilyn Monroe while being criticized by many for its treatment of sensitive subjects like abortion and addiction.

But while the film (by its own admission) plays fast and loose with the facts about Monroe’s life, it’s extremely accurate when it comes to the movies. Dominik and his team went to great lengths to recreate shots from many of the actress’ most iconic films in meticulous detail. From her early roles like “Don’t Bother to Knock” to undisputed classics like “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and “Some Like it Hot,” fans of Old Hollywood will find that the movie contains a treasure trove of classic film references.

Keep reading for a roundup of all of the Marilyn Monroe movies referenced in “Blonde,...

Despite being marred in controversy, the new Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde has become the #1 movie on Netflix.

Blonde has been hit with nearly non-stop criticism and controversies in the past few months. For one, it was stamped with a stigma-ridden Nc-17 rating. The MPAA cited “some sexual content”, which includes a rape scene. There, too, is a point-of-view shot from Monroe’s vagina during one of the abortion scenes. Through such depictions, some have labeled it “so anti-abortion, so sexist, so exploitative.” By contrast, our own critic gave it a strong review but warned it was a difficult watch, and that viewers need to have a “strong stomach.”

Lead actress Ana de Armas was also criticized for not matching her vocals to the late movie star, but was quickly defended by the Monroe estate, who called de Armas “a great casting choice as she captures Marilyn’s glamour, humanity and vulnerability.

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For BAFTA-nominated costume designer Jennifer Johnson (I, Tonya), working on Blonde was all about authenticity. Armed with a directive from writer-director Andrew Dominik — who would not approve a creation unless it was a perfect match — everything from the shades of Marilyn Monroe’s pink opera gloves to the placement of a pocket needed to be exact. Archival photos and films proved invaluable for the design of 100-plus costumes for Monroe along with those for 1,800 extras and supporting characters (including Joe Dimaggio, John F. Kennedy and Arthur Miller), which were a mixture of vintage and made-from-scratch items.

For an offscreen Monroe look, Jennifer Johnson remade capri pants found at L.A.’s Palace Costume.

Taking her cues from Joyce Carol Oates’ novel of the same name and Dominik’s script, Johnson’s goal was to convey the inner workings of the iconic screen siren...

Director Andrew Dominik has some unflattering things to say about the filmography of Marilyn Monroe, despite making a movie about the actress’ life, Blonde.

In a new interview with Sight & Sound, Andrew Dominik gave his perspective on one of the late Monroe’s most famous films, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, tying it in with the actress. “She had to be a little baby. So, when she sings ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’ – it’s like, is that sisterly advice, ‘If you’re gonna fuck, make sure you get paid’? Or is it just romanticised whoredom?”

Dropping the term “whore” as it relates to one of the most famous actresses to ever live seems like a risky move, especially considering he is trying to promote Blonde. And then Andrew Dominik doubled down, as shown in outtakes revealed by the interviewer, Christina Newland:

My interview with Andrew Dominik about Blonde...

In the end, an old-fashioned filmmaking trick involving heated cardboard helped costume designers re-create Marilyn Monroe’s famous pleated halter dress from “The Seven Year Itch” for Andrew Dominik’s “Blonde.”

“On paper, it looks easy,” says “Blonde” costume designer Jennifer Johnson, who worked on many of Monroe’s looks — including that one — for the movie, which is now streaming on Netflix.

She started by outfitting the film’s star, Ana de Armas, with a facsimile of the dress from a costume house.

“It looked cute,” but it wasn’t right, says Johnson.

The designer, who calls William Travilla’s original “a beast of a dress,” attempted to make her own version, going through at least 50 yards of fabric and various pleating techniques. But she still wasn’t satisfied with the resulting outfit.

“At the eleventh hour, a tailor from Western Costume figured it out,” says Johnson, who also designed period looks for “I,...

It’s ironic that Andrew Dominik, director of the latest Marilyn Monroe biopic “Blonde,” wonders if anyone still watches Marilyn Monroe movies. I’d say the many Monroe biopics that exist, whether directly retelling the events of her life or loosely inspired by them like his own, says otherwise. It’s even more frustrating to look at the landscape of Marilyn portrayals onscreen and realize only two have been directed by women; and just one has been written and directed by a woman. It is that same movie, also based on Joyce Carol Oates’ novel, that seems to have a better awareness of Marilyn and her movies.

CBS aired the two-part miniseries “Blonde,” directed by Joyce Chopra and written by Joyce Eliason, in 2001. The TV movie tells the familiar story of Norma Jean Baker, aka Marilyn Monroe (played by Poppy Montgomery), as she navigates a tortured upbringing with a mentally ill mother,...