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Jon Landau, the Oscar-winning producer behind the likes of Avatar, Titanic, and Alita: Battle Angel, has died. He passed away on Friday in Los Angeles after a 16 month long battle with cancer.

In a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, Landau's sister Tina confirmed her brother's passing and shared the following: "The best brother a girl could ever dream of — my brother Jon — has passed away. My heart is broken but also bursting with pride and gratitude for his most extraordinary life, and the love and gifts he gave me — and all who knew him or his films."

And it truly was an extraordinary life. Born in New York on 23 July, 1960 to film and TV producer parents Edythe and Ely Landau, whose credits include Sidney Lumet's Long Day's Journey Into Night and John Frankenheimer's The Iceman Cometh, Jon Landau it seems was always destined to...

Exclusive: Kadeem Hardison has been set as a series regular in Ed Brubaker’s Prime Video graphic novel series Criminal. He joins the previously announced cast Adria Arjona and Richard Jenkins.

Criminal is an interlocking universe of crime stories based on the multi-Eisner Award-winning graphic novel series created by Brubaker and Sean Phillips.

Hardison will portray the character Gnarly, an old friend of Leo and Ivan. Gnarly was his nickname as a boxer back in the 1970s and it’s all anyone calls him. He walks with a limp, an old one. Gnarly’s a local legend, and he can go from warm to fierce in a heartbeat. He commands respect, partly because he can inflict massive physical damage, even at his advanced age — and partly because he has the authority and gravitas to stop other men in their tracks.

As Deadline previously revealed exclusively, Ryan Fleck...

Victor Montalvo Drives the most yellow vehicle in Los Angeles County, a 1987 Mitsubishi SUV he just purchased off of Craigslist. He pulls through the security gate at a sprawling Santa Monica office compound, parks, and removes a gold chain and ring he bought in India last year. The sunglasses stay on. Just back from Japan, he’s jet-lagged as hell. “I swear it’s not a hangover,” he says, chuckling. “Just feels that way.” But alas, he must train.

You’d probably call Montalvo a break dancer; they call themselves...

Ryan Coogler (Getty Images/Kevin Mazur)Graphic: Jimmy Hasse

This story is part of our Hip-Hop: ’73 Till Infinity series, a celebration of the genre’s 50th anniversary.

In the 50 years since hip-hop rolled out of the Bronx—after DJ Kool Herc mastered the art of looping breaks, and the great...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

A Compassionate Spy (Steve James)

See an exclusive clip above.

The latest film from acclaimed documentarian Steve James, A Compassionate Spy, comes with a fascinating subject: the spy who leaked nuclear information from the Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union, therefore ensuring that America could not establish a nuclear monopoly on the world. It’s easy to see why James would be drawn to the spy, Theodore “Ted” Hall, and his wife Joan as he has often been interested in using individuals as the framework to explore larger societal issues. Utilizing a hybrid of recreations, archival footage, and modern-day interviews, James crafts a portrait of a man, a relationship, and the sheer weight of the decision to betray your country to save the world.

It was more than a little heartening to see Roger Corman paid tribute by Quentin Tarantino at Cannes’ closing night. By now the director-producer-mogul’s imprint on cinema is understood to eclipse, rough estimate, 99.5% of anybody who’s touched the medium, but on a night for celebrating what’s new, trend-following, and manicured it could’ve hardly been more necessary. Thus I’m further heartened seeing the Criterion Channel will host a retrospective of Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe adaptations running eight films and aptly titled “Grindhouse Gothic,” though I might save the selections for October.

Centerpiece, though, is a hip hop series including Bill Duke’s superb Deep Cover, Ghost Dog, and numerous documentaries––among them Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest, making Michael Rapaport a Criterion-approved auteur. Ten films starring Kay Francis and 21 Eurothrillers round out series; streaming premieres include the Dardenne brothers’ Tori and Lokita,...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Metrograph

Lars von Trier’s The Idiots begins playing in a new 4K restoration.

Film Forum

A celebration of Ozu’s 120th birthday brings a massive series; a retrospective on New York movies continues with Carpenter, Friedkin, Pakula, and more; I Was Born, But… plays on 35mm this Sunday.

Film at Lincoln Center

A retrospective of the great, underseen Marco Ferreri continues with a series of imported 35mm prints; Love & Basketball plays for free Friday night at Governors Island.

Roxy Cinema

35mm prints of In the Cut and The Rocky Horror Picture Show screen; Party Girl and Paris Is Burning also play.

Museum of the Moving Image

Raiders of the Lost Ark and Beat Street play on 35mm in a summer movie series; a print of Mulholland Dr. plays in a queer cinema series.

IFC Center

The David Lynch retrospective...

Harry Belafonte, the actor, singer and civil rights trailblazer, died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at his New York home, with his wife Pamela by his side. He was 96.

Belafonte is considered among the most successful Caribbean-American music stars of all time and one of the first Black leading men in Hollywood, making a name for himself during the 1950s and ’60s. An activist and social campaigner by nature, he was an early supporter of the Civil Rights movement and became a major figure in the American social and political history of the 20th century.

He was a confidant of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and backed many historic political and social causes and events, including the anti-apartheid movement, equal rights for women, juvenile justice, climate change and the decolonization of Africa. He was one of the organizers of the 1963 March on Washington, leading a delegation of Hollywood including best friend Sidney Poitier,...

If you're looking to pinpoint the greatest year in hip-hop, it's going to start with a one, followed by a nine, another nine, and end with a number no higher than five. The genre that grew out of Bronx house parties thrown by sonic pioneers like DJ Kool Herc, and survived the faddish exploitation of the early and mid-1980s had finally come of age. Obviously, there were groundbreaking LPs released prior to the '90s, but it wasn't until we entered the final decade of the millennium that explorers like Hank Shocklee, Dr. Dre, DJ Premier, and Prince Paul refined their sounds to bring hard-hitting East Coast beats and blunted West Coast G-funk grooves to the ears of audiophiles across the country.

Hollywood was listening. They weren't necessarily getting it, but they were listening. Mid-'80s films like "Breakin'," "Beat Street" and "Krush Groove" captured the excitement of the...

Emmy-winning actress Mary Alice, known for her roles as Leticia “Lettie” Bostic on NBC‘s “A Different World” and as Effie Williams in the 1976 musical drama “Sparkle,” died Wednesday in New York City, according to the NYPD. Her birth year had been reported both as 1936 and 1941 in various sources.

In “The Matrix Revolutions,” she played the Oracle and also played the role in the video game “Enter the Matrix.”

She appeared in “A Different World” for two seasons, and also played Ellie Grant Hubbard on “All My Children” in the 1980s.

In films, she appeared in “Malcolm X,” “The Inkwell,” “Down in the Delta,” “Beat Street,” “To Sleep With Anger,” “Awakenings,” “The Bonfire of the Vanities” and “Sunshine State,” among many others.

Born Mary Alice Smith in Indianola, Miss., she pursued acting at a very early age, starting her stage career in her hometown. After a brief stint as an elementary school teacher,...

Another month, another Criterion Channel lineup. In accordance with Black History Month their selections are especially refreshing: seven by Melvin Van Peebles, five from Kevin Jerome Everson, and Criterion editions of The Harder They Come and The Learning Tree.

Regarding individual features I’m quite happy to see Abderrahmane Sissako’s fantastic Bamako, last year’s big Sundance winner (and Kosovo’s Oscar entry) Hive, and the remarkably beautiful Portuguese feature The Metamorphosis of Birds. Add a three-film Laura Dern collection (including the recently canonized Smooth Talk) and Pasolini’s rarely shown documentary Love Meetings to make this a fine smorgasboard.

See the full list of February titles below and more on the Criterion Channel.

Alan & Naomi, Sterling Van Wagenen, 1992

All That Heaven Allows, Douglas Sirk, 1955

The Angel Levine, Ján Kadár, 1970

Babylon, Franco Rosso, 1980

Babymother, Julian Henriques, 1998

Bamako, Abderrahmane Sissako, 2006

Beat Street, Stan Lathan, 1984

Blacks Britannica, David Koff, 1978

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution,...

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Shopping for the right coffee table book isn’t as easy as you might think, namely because there are so many choices out there. To narrow things down a bit, you can find books that align with your personal interests. If you’re a movie fan who wants to incorporate that cinema aesthetic into your living room decor, we rounded up a list of some of the coolest coffee table books to buy right now.

From “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (not that one!) to “Criterion Designs,” this book list blends captivating photos and illustrations with fascinating stories and fun facts that cover more than 100 years of cinema history. Find the list below,...

Adolfo “Shabba Doo” Quiñones, the dancer-actor who rose to fame starring in “Breakin'” and its sequel “Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo,” died Wednesday. He was 65.

No cause of death has been announced. Just a day before he was discovered unconscious, Quiñones had posted a photo of himself smiling and giving the peace sign in bed, writing, “Good news y’all! I’m feeling all better, just a wee bit sluggish from my cold, but the good news is I’m Covid 19 negative! Woo hoo!”

Besides appearing in the “Breakin'” films, both in 1984, he had a featured role on the big screen in “Lambada” in 1990. Prior to taking to the movies, Quiñones was already a part of pop culture history for choreographing and appearing in Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long” video.

“It’s a sad day for the dance world,” said Michael “Boogaloo Shrimp” Chambers, who co-starred in both “Breakin'” movies,...

Not considered a seminal year in Hollywood history, 1984 delivered an amazing number of iconic American films. Here’s a sampling of movies that still resonate today: “Beverly Hills Cop,” “The Karate Kid,” “Footloose,” “Purple Rain,” “The Terminator,” “Scarface,” “Romancing the Stone,” “Police Academy,” “This Is Spinal Tap,” “Stop Making Sense,” “Stranger Than Paradise,” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street.”

Four 1984 releases ended up with domestic grosses above $400 million (adjusted to 2020 values). Three led the weekend that year. The top two, “Ghostbusters” and “Gremlins,” in an unusual event, opened in wide release on the same day.

The third-ranked film, in its third week and after two weeks in the top spot, was “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.” Fourth in its second week was “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.” “The Karate Kid” opened two weeks later. Five of 1984’s eight biggest hits opened within less than a month.

Hollywood film executive David Picker, who was known for producing iconic films such as A Hard Day’s Night and The Jerk as well as launching the James Bond franchise, died in his New York home Saturday after complications with colon cancer. He was 87.

For over 40 years, Picker was an executive producer and served as the President and CEO for United Artists, Paramount, Lorimar and Columbia Pictures. Many of today’s top Hollywood luminaries worked for him as an assistant including Tom Rothman, Mark Gordon, Larry Mark, Bonnie Arnold, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Larry Kramer, and Jonathan Demme.

Picker was born in New York City on May 14, 1931. His storied and successful career in film would begin in 1956 when he worked in advertising and publicity at United Artists. He quickly rose in the ranks, becoming the assistant to the president and then managing United Artists Records. He would go on to bring the...

Who's that man posing with the Beatles? He's the Hollywood producer who signed the Fab Four to star in A Hard Day's Night before they touched down in America for the first time. He's also the guy who launched the James Bond movie franchise by giving the green light to make Dr. No, then saved it by luring Sean Connery back for one more movie. He also discovered the likes of Steve Martin and Woody Allen on the stand-up circuit and started their movie careers. Many movers and shakers in the entertainment industry are hidden in the fine print and not seen in the spotlight, and now legendary producer David Picker is stepping out with a new memoir – Musts, Maybes, and Nevers: A Book About the Movies – and sharing some Hollywood tales with ETonline.

Pics: Hollywood's Hottest Movie Posters

"I've been a very lucky guy," says Picker. "I wound up in a situation where I was able...

Today we are talking to a Tony Award-winning star known for her many impressive appearances on Broadway in Jellys Last Jam, Play On, The Wild Party and her tremendous title turn in the towering Caroline, Or Change - the one and only Tonya Pinkins. Opening up about her career and many of her most memorable roles, Pinkins lets us in to her world and shares experiences of working with some of the most noted names in theatre - George C. Wolfe, Harold Prince, August Wilson, Stephen Sondheim, Lloyd Richards, Daniel Sullivan, David Esbjornson and many more among them - on everything from Merrily We Roll Along, her Broadway debut, to her many musical roles to August Wilsons The Piano Lesson and Radio Golf all the way to last seasons Shakespeare In The Park double-header of The Merry Wives Of Windsor and Measure For Measure. Most importantly, Pinkins fills us in...

The movie industry has never known what to do with rap music. But from Nwa to Odb, the extreme lives of its stars offer epic stories for the big screen

'Are you the one?" asks the trailer. In March last year, the Los Angeles production company Morgan Creek put out an online casting call, seeking an unknown to play the part of "poet … rapper … actor … revolutionary … legend …" Tupac Shakur. Anyone could apply by submitting footage of themselves reading a scene from the script and rapping to one of Shakur's songs. The director is Antoine Fuqua, best known for the movie Training Day, and the movie's producers include Shakur's mother. The casting call received thousands of applications, which makes for some hilarious viewing on YouTube, but the question of who could fill the shoes of one of rap's biggest personalities is indicative of a bigger problem for the movies: that they...

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the awesome classic buddy cop film Lethal Weapon, The Huffington Post created a great supercut video edit of different movie characters who openly admit that they're "too old for this shit," a line of dialogue that was spoken most memorably by Danny Glover. Enjoy the video, and let us know if you're too old for this shit.

Full list of films featured:

"Lethal Weapon," "The Hurt Locker," "Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey," "Aces: Iron Eagle III," "Unleashed," "Vampire in Brooklyn," "Frankie and Johnny," "Showtime," "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy," "Stripes," "The Art of War," "Blade," "Blame It on Rio," "The Sure Thing," "Death Proof," "The Night Listener," "For Colored Girls," "Lethal Weapon 3," "The Yakuza," "Black Moon Rising," "Racing Stripes," "Ed Wood," "Ladder 49," "To Live and Die in L.A.," "Space Cowboys," "In the Line of Fire," "Father of the Bride Part II,...

You're getting too old for this: 25 years ago, on March 6, 1987, "Lethal Weapon" was released. The buddy-cop thriller not only cemented Mel Gibson's status as a household name after playing good-natured loose-canon (as opposed to now) Martin Riggs, but also created a social phenomenon still relevant to this day: "I'm getting too old for this shit."

The catchphrase, said numerous times throughout the "Lethal Weapon" series by Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover), has appeared in many movies over the last 25 years, often times in reference to the put-upon police detective himself. (The recent trailer for "Men In Black 3" features Will Smith uttering a PG variation on Murtaugh's famous one-liner.)

What you might not know? That "Lethal Weapon" wasn't the first film to utilize some form of the defeated turn-of-phrase. From "North by Northwest" and "The Sting" to Murtaugh himself, enjoy a mash-up of movie characters getting too old for this.

Video...

You're getting too old for this: 25 years ago, on March 6, 1987, "Lethal Weapon" was released. The buddy-cop thriller not only cemented Mel Gibson's status as a household name after playing good-natured loose-canon (as opposed to now) Martin Riggs, but also created a social phenomenon still relevant to this day: "I'm getting too old for this shit." The catchphrase, said numerous times throughout the "Lethal Weapon" series by Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover), has appeared in many movies over the last 25 years, often times in reference to the put-upon police detective himself. (The recent trailer for "Men In Black 3" features Will Smith uttering a PG variation on Murtaugh's famous one-liner.) What you might not know? That "Lethal Weapon" wasn't the first film to utilize some form of the defeated turn-of-phrase. From "North by Northwest" and "The Sting" to Murtaugh himself, enjoy a mash-up of movie characters getting too old for this. Video...

From a Run-d.M.C. classic to raps with not-so-merry sentiments, here's MTV News' nontraditional playlist.

By Rob Markman

Kanye West

Photo: Ben Hider/Getty Images

Sure, Michael Bublé and Justin Bieber are the current Christmas crown holders, but what if your yuletide tastes require a harder edge? While rappers aren't exactly known for spreading holiday cheer, hip-hop has given fans plenty of rap carols. Run-d.M.C.'s 1987 classic "Christmas in Hollis" may be the most-popular, but new-schoolers like Ludacris and Kanye West have kept rap's Xmas tradition alive.

If you've grown tired of listening to Nat King Cole's 1946 "The Christmas Song" or even Mariah Carey's more recent 1994 hit "All I Want for Christmas Is You," MTV News has compiled a 12-song playlist of rap's best Christmas-themed hits.

"Christmas in Hollis," Run-d.M.C.

No doubt the greatest rap carol ever recorded, this 1987 classic found Run and partner-in-rhyme D.

There are a ton of films out there about the B-Boy or breakdancing culture, but most are entrenched firmly in the 1980s during it's heyday. Breakin'(and it's hilarious named sequel Electric Boogaloo), Beat Street, Wild Style....these are some of the most memorable, but not necessarily the best in my opinion. The greatest B-Boy movies showed how breakin' related to all the other major elements of...

Juice, 1992's 'film noir' with teenagers – and hip-hop, is still finding young fans today

Juice wasn't supposed to taste so fresh. A morality tale featuring a quartet of Harlem teens – aspiring DJ Q, ladies' man Raheem, comic foil Steel and hothead Bishop – Ernest Dickerson's 1992 directorial debut was initially filed by many critics as a rapsploitation retread of the previous year's Boyz n the Hood.

But nearly 20 years after its release, Juice is still making noise. From dance maestro Sidney Samson sampling a Bishop quote to Soulja Boy hyping up an ill-advised remake, Dickerson's movie has quietly become a hip-hop classic. Dickerson had paid his dues as Spike Lee's go-to cinematographer (he shot She's Gotta Have It, Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X, among others) and Juice, despite ticking all the early 90s hood-movie boxes, also turned out to be buoyant celebration of hip-hop culture, feeding off seminal 80s B-boy flicks,...

As far back as I can remember, I wanted to be a break dancer.

A child of the eighties, I was raised on cheesy dance movies that cashed in on the hip hop craze in all its head-spinning splendor. It started in early 1984 with Breakin’ which begat Beat Street that was shortly followed by Breakin’ 2: Electric Bugaloo, the best sequel title in the history of film.

These exploitation films featured miraculous moves and strange gyrations that seemed to be feats of magic to my 9-year-old mind. I wanted to be a B-boy, so I practiced windmilling, popping and/or locking to Fat Boys and Run Dmc songs in front of the mirror. With no rhythm and flailing limbs, I looked as if I was unsuccessfully trying to contain a seizure.

The fact that I couldn’t break dance didn’t stop me from claiming that I could. On a...

My love of dance movies, especially crappy dance movies, could probably all be traced back to Breakin'. In 1984 I wasn't exactly the hippest girl on the block (after all it isn't easy to be hip when you're nine years old), but when my dad took me to see Breakin' I thought this was the beginning of a long and industrious career as a B-girl. So, as you can probably guess, it didn't quite work out that way, but thanks to Breakin' I still listen to Rufus' Ain't Nobody featuring R&B legend Chaka Khan (which first appeared on Rufus' album Stompin' at The Savoy) .

Breakin' was directed by Joel Silberg and centered on the dancing duo of Turbo (Michael Chambers) and Ozone (Adolfo Quinones), who team up with Kelly, a pampered jazz dancer (played by Lucinda Dickey) in a battle with a rival dance crew by the name...

It was a dancer’s dream and a choreographer’s delight when So You Think You Can Dance decided to try something a little different for their first fall episode after auditions. Rather than jump right into competition, the judges, the audience and the choreographers had a chance to meet the top 20 and see them dance in their own styles without worry of elimination. Judges Nigel, Mary and Adam Shankman (now a permanent fixture) were on hand more to encourage than to critique on the new set, now on the famed American Idol stage. (There was even a designated spot for Paula Abdul if she decides to drop by!) The first of seven routines showcasing the top 20 in their respective styles started with a Wade and Amanda Robson creation set in a speakeasy world with rival gangs battle-dancing in a vivid costume extravaganza. Tabitha and Napoleon Dumo then got the...

In anticipation for my trip to New York City I will be counting down with some of my NYC movies (and even some that I don't like just for a change of pace). Hope you all enjoy.

I have a deep affinity for movies that get forced into ghettos, but which - I feel - have far more going on than many would give them credit for, especially when it comes to movies aimed at teenagers. I am not a teenager anymore, but I still remember what it was like to be one and since they get so many downright awful movies aimed at them I feel like whenever one comes along that I think is striving for something (even if it's just a little bit) extra then I have to give it props. For reasons that I have never quite explained I thought Step Up 2 the Streets had it...

Flashdance star and hip-hop/breakdance pioneer Wayne 'Frosty Freeze' Frost has died at the age of 44.

Frost shot to fame after his performance in the 1983 film, with the famous Rock Steady Crew, which started a worldwide breakdancing craze.

He also appeared in hip-hop movies Wild Style, Beat Street and Style Wars.

Frost lost a long battle with illness on Thursday (4Apr08), according to longtime friend and Rocksteady Crew senior vice president Jorge 'Fabel' Pabon.