LOS ANGELES Mike deGruy, an award-winning cinematographer who spent three decades making documentary films about the ocean, was killed in a helicopter crash in eastern Australia. He was 60.
BERLIN U.S. actors Scarlett Johansson and Denzel Washington have received Germany's most prestigious film award as best international actors.
SYDNEY Award-winning American cinematographer Mike deGruy and Australian television writer-producer Andrew Wight have died in a helicopter crash in eastern Australia, their employer National Geographic said Sunday.
Winnowing thousands of entries to showcase the most significant, film festivals serve as a time capsule, focusing attention on the values and concerns of the moment. Many of the most notable entries at this year's Sundance Film Festival, which ran Jan. 19-29, stress the primal importance of home and family. Opening-night films included "Hello I Must Be Going," starring Melanie Lynskey as a demoralized, divorcee who moves back in with her parents and "Wish You Were Here," an Australian suspense thriller starring Joel Edgerton as a man clinging to a shattered marriage.
NEW YORK Ben Gazzara, whose powerful dramatic performances brought an intensity to a variety of roles and made him a memorable presence in such iconic productions over the decades as the original "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" on Broadway and the film "The Big Lebowski," has died at age 81.
If there's one thing I had failed to consider this Academy Awards season, it's that "The Artist" exists not to show people a good time (take it or leave it), but to make them feel like "idiots."
NEW YORK Ben Gazzara, whose powerful dramatic performances brought an intensity to a variety of roles and made him a memorable presence in such iconic productions over the decades as the original "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" on Broadway and the film "The Big Lebowski," has died at age 81.
LOS ANGELES Actor and filmmaker Zalman King, who became known for his erotic work after writing and producing his breakthrough film "9 1/2 Weeks," has died. He was 70.
LOS ANGELES Patricia Disney, who was once married to Walt Disney's late nephew Roy E. Disney and was vice chairwoman of Roy's investment company, died Friday after a long struggle with Alzheimer's disease.
LOS ANGELES Attorneys for a deputy who arrested Mel Gibson on suspicion of drunken driving want to call the Oscar-winner as a witness during an upcoming trial to determine if the officer suffered discrimination because of the case.
WASHINGTON That famous movie line, "Here's looking at you, kid," will have time to echo in the halls of the Smithsonian this weekend as the son of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall opens the first film festival at the National Mall's new movie theater.
JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (PG): Dwayne Johnson takes over for Brendan Fraser in the second installment of the Jules Verne-flavored family adventures, this one set on a mythical island crawling with monsters.
SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Every mother has a birthing story, the play-by-play narrative that took her across the chasm from independence to attachment. Tilda Swinton is no exception. When the Scottish actress gave birth to her boy-and-girl twins 14 years ago, Swinton, who plays the mother to a troubled son in the new film "We Need to Talk About Kevin," didn't opt for the easy - or perhaps, even the safe - way out. Rather then choose medical intervention when the babies were late, she waited until they were ready to be born on their own. They finally arrived after 43 weeks of pregnancy, weighing in at 6 pounds, 7 ounces, and 8 pounds, 10 ounces.
PARIS What does it take to shock in the land of the Gallic shrug? Ads that suggest adulterous oral sex, according to complaints about new movie "Les Infideles."
NEW DELHI Arnold Schwarzenegger's dream of visiting the Taj Mahal has been dashed.
Lean and scary, "The Innkeepers" was shot in 17 days in a quaint Connecticut hotel called the Yankee Pedlar, where writer-director Ti West stayed while making his previous movie, "The House of the Devil."
Much as I like the "Paranormal Activity" pictures for their unfashionable minimalism and quaintly Victorian lack of gore, it's nice to get back to something like "The Woman in Black" - not authentic Victoriana, exactly (Susan Hill's novel was published in 1983), and certainly not afraid of a little muck and blood, but fully invested in the spirit and spirits of that era. The film, a handsome nerve-jangler co-produced under the storied Hammer horror banner, amps up the scares without turning them into something completely stupid. Success!
Halfway through "The Woman in Black" comes a long sequence - at least 15 minutes, possibly more - in which Daniel Radcliffe spends a night alone inside a haunted house. Doors slam shut. Inanimate objects move ever so slightly. Dark corners seem to harbor monsters.
In last year's "A Dolphin Tale," Ashley Judd, Harry Connick Jr. and Morgan Freeman saved the dolphins. Now, in "Big Miracle," Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski and Dermot Mulroney save the whales. Somewhere, the manatees are thinking "What about us?"
The Iranian drama "A Separation" - the likely winner for this year's Best Foreign Language Film Oscar - is a gripping look at the way one mistake can lead to another, and the way one small lie can beget much bigger ones, creating a domino effect that ultimately threatens to bring everyone down.
