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Sean Baker’s vivid new film The Florida Project is now playing in New York and Los Angeles and it recently played at the New York Film Festival, fulfilling the director’s long-time dream. While at the festival, he sat down with his producer Chris Bergoch and acting coach Samantha Quan at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center Amphitheater.

The trio took part in Nyff Live, a nightly event held during the festival to go deep into the process of making the films highlighted across every category of the fest. Baker and Bergoch talked about stumbling upon the ‘hidden homeless’ in south Florida that inspired The Florida Project. They also discussed casting breakout star Brooklyn Prince and The Little Rascals influence throughout Baker’s films. Throughout the talk, one gets a taste for Baker’s humanism and how it drives every storytelling decision across his oeuvre. He is gifting American...

Universal Studios Home Entertainment is bringing back The Little Rascals, the adventures of misfit kids who first took the world by storm in the 1920s and ‘30s with black and white shorts produced by Hal Roach. Doris Roberts, Greg Germann, and Lex Medlin are among the adult stars that have been cast in the still-untitled straight to home feature which starts shooting this week. And while the roles of scheming rascal Spanky, the dreamer Alfalfa and the enigmatic Buckwheat have yet to be cast or are going to unknowns, the part of Darla, the cute little girl who is

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D2: The Mighty Ducks

Written by Steven Brill

Directed by Sam Weisman

USA, 1994, imdb

Listen to our Mousterpiece Cinema D2:

The Mighy Ducks podcast or read Josh‘s extended thoughts about the film.

*****

For any critic, opinions about a particular piece of art are influenced by your life experiences.

I grew up loving hockey in general and the Montreal Canadians in particular. The first hockey game that I ever saw was “The New Year’s Eve Classic” on December 31, 1975 between the Red Army and the Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens out-shot the Red Army 38-13, but every Soviet shot was a planned dagger designed to confuse and destroy Montreal goaltender Ken Dryden, while Vladislav Tretiak batted away shots from every conceivable angle. The game, which many considered at the time to be the unofficial World Championship ended in a 3-3 tie.

Some call it “The Greatest Tie Game Ever Played...

The Post's Chief Film Critic Lou Lumenick presents 26 DVD Picks for the Holiday Season.

Columbia Pictures Best Picture Collection

Eleven complete features, with supplements, in an album showcasing "It Happened One Night,'' "On the Waterfront,'' "Lawrence of Arabia,'' "Kramer Vs. Kramer'' and 7 other multiple Oscar winners from the storied studio. (Sony, $136).

"The Little Rascals''

O-tay! All 88 sound "Our Gang'' comedies produced by Hal Roach, most restored, in their first authorized DVD collection. Spanky, Alfalfa, Buckwheat, Darla and many other gifted child performers (including...

Shorts running 10 to 20 minutes were regularly shown in theaters with feature films into the 1950s, when many of these series began turning up on television. One of the most popular was the "Our Gang" comedies, which were renamed "The Little Rascals" for TV because producer Hal Roach had sold the original name to MGM.

"The Little Rascals: The Complete Collection," out today, features all 80 sound titles that Roach made between 1929 and 1938.

At that point, MGM continued the series with another 52 shorts, mostly inferior and many starring...

Roger King, the colorful television pioneer who brought Oprah Winfrey to national television, died Saturday at Boca Raton Community Hospital after suffering a stroke at his home the day before. He was 63.

Most recently CEO of CBS Television Distribution, King was one of the most accomplished salespeople in television. He transformed the family business his father founded in 1964, King World, into a production and syndication powerhouse that merged with CBS in 1999 in a deal worth more than $2.5 billion to King World.

Among his successful syndication launches are The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Phil, Wheel of Fortune, "Jeopardy!," Inside Edition and Rachael Ray.

King was regarded as one of the industry's liveliest and most generous characters who possessed an enthusiasm for his day-to-day work that endured long after he amassed great wealth.

In media interviews, King was known for refusing to censor himself, oftentimes ruffling feathers with his critical comments about everything from NATPE to his competitors' product.

In fact, King proved he could still toss a bombshell among his syndication brethren this fall when he decided to "sit out" the upcoming NATPE Conference & Exhibition, at which the company traditionally exhibited. The decision partially was due to the fact that Dr. Phil spin-off The Doctors -- which King was personally and actively selling to stations when he died -- already was widely cleared for a fall 2008 debut.

The NATPE news came as a shock to many who looked forward to King's annual dinner and party at the confab, a two-decades-long tradition that in years past featured performances by such artists as Elton John and the Eagles and one year included a surprise appearance by Winfrey.

At the time of his death, King oversaw all operations of CBS TV Distribution, which was formed in 2006, combining the assets of King World Prods., CBS Paramount Domestic Television, CBS Paramount International Television and CBS Consumer Products.

CBS declined comment on King's replacement as head of the division, whose senior executives include president/COOs Robert Madden and John Nogawski.

Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Corp., issued a statement saying: "Television has lost a legend; a truly original executive with an unparalleled combination of business acumen, passion and personality. CBS has lost a colleague and good friend. It's a very sad day for CBS and for all of broadcasting."

King was born in 1944 in New Jersey, one of Charles and Lucille King's six children. Charles King built his syndication business after acquiring rights to Hal Roach's Our Gang shorts, which King World repackaged and distributed as a half-hour series under the title The Little Rascals.

After his father died in 1972, Roger King -- who had worked as a newspaper sales representative, radio station manager, host of a local late-night movie show in Florida and television station sales manager -- and his siblings took over the family business.

Actor Thomas Ross Bond died in a Northridge, California hospital on Saturday. He was 79. The Texan actor died in Northridge Hospital following complications from heart disease, his manager Frank Marks confirmed. Bond was best known for playing gang member Tommy and later Butch the bully in 1930s TV shows Our Gang and The Little Rascals. He went on to play Daily Planet photographer Jimmy Olsen in The Adventures Of Superman and Atom Man Vs Superman in 1948 and 1950 respectively. Bond quit acting in 1951 to direct and produce TV shows, before retiring in 1991. He is survived by his wife of 52 years Pauline and producer son Thomas Ross Bond II.

Dallas Jackson, writer of the upcoming film Uncle P from Beacon Pictures, is forming a production company with the intent of breaking into television. With $1 million in private financing, Los Angeles-based Street Kidz Studios is developing the pilot Lil' Homies, a contemporary update of Lil' Rascals, with a young multiethnic cast that will be produced with kid-targeted cable channels in mind. "We're looking to provide quality urban family entertainment for television," Jackson said. "I believe there's a niche there, and we can fill it."...