9th Jagran Film Festival, Mumbai: The Post, A Star is Born and Maassab make it worth the wake Dainik Jagran, which means ‘daily wake’, is a leading Hindi language newspaper of India and the group also owns the popular tabloid, Mid-Day. Its 9th film festival was held across 18 cities and came to Mumbai on the 27th of September, playing through the 30th. Held at four screens of the suburban multiplex called Cinépolis (formerly Fun Republic), it suffered from many technical an...

Mama Mia 2! Here we go again, Review: ABBAsolutely delightful--See that film, enjoy the scenes Co-incidences and flashbacks galore dot the story of Mama Mia 2! Here We Go Again, a sure-fire recipé for disaster in so many films. Not here, though. Here, they are never one too many. And linking them all are some delightful songs and dances, in a 114 minute long ode to bittersweet things called life and love. A jukebox romantic comedy it is, but so well executed and integrated that it almo...

By Maria Esteves The 44th Chaplin Award Gala honoring ROBERT DE NIRO (Robert Anthony De Niro) was held at David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center, New York, Monday, May 8, 2017. Presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center (FSLC), the Chaplin Award Gala is an annual fundraising event that features the film industry’s most notable talents. This year’s gala honored the life and career of one of America’s greatest actor, film producer, director, and TriBeCa Film In...

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent So, here's the story, as they say in the movies... Sunday night Jan. 8, at the Golden Globes hosted by Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), award-winning actor/legend Meryl Streep stepped in it by “calling out” the new US President-Elect with a pointed speech on bullying as an undesirable trait. Long story, short, the soon-to-be-installed President Donald J. Trump, ignited a Twitter firefight in which he dubbed Str...

By Martin I. Petrov  The 66th Berlinale is opening tonight at the Berlinale Palast with Coen bros' "Hail, Caesar" premiere gathering an all star cast, along with the international jury of this year's festival. Meryl Streep, head of the jury will attend along with fellow jurors actor Clive Owen, actress Alba Rohrwacher, actor Lars Eidinger, film critic Nick James, director Malgorzata Szumowska and photographer Brigitte Lacombe.  The press conference for the interna...

SPOTLIGHT MEDIA PRODUCTIONS   87TH OSCARS® NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED   By Adrienne Papp   Directors Alfonso Cuarón and J.J. Abrams, actor Chris Pine and Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs announced the nominations for the 87th Academy Awards® today (January 15).  For the first time, nominees in all 24 categories were announced live. Cuarón and Abrams announced the nominees in 11 categories at 5:30 a.m. ...

By Maria Esteves – August 14, 2014 The World Premiere of THE GIVER, directed by Phillip Noyce followed by a live performance of the theme song “Ordinary Human,” by OneRepublic was held at the Ziegfeld Theater, New York, Monday, August 11, 2014, 7:00pm. Presented by The Weinstein Company, the premiere red carpet arrivals included cast members Brenton Thwaites, Cameron Monaghan, Jeff Bridges, Katie Holmes, Meryl Streep, Odeya Rush, Taylor Swift, and invited guests. THE GIVER is...

Lois Lowry's science fiction novel The Giver, like the movie adaptation with Jeff Bridges in the title role, imagines a futuristic community bereft of memory and emotion. True to his character as the comrade charged with preserving human experience, Bridges mounted an impassioned remembrance of his fellow actor Robin Williams at the August 12th press conference for The Giver at New York's JW Marriott Essex House. The previous evening, Bridges had learned of the 63-year-old ac...

The photo here is said to be Anjelica Huston's favorite shot of their glory days together as featured from her collection. by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent   When the legend turns 77 on April 22, Jack Nicholson will mark it in his new-found low-key way. But Nicholson's path from New York to Hollywood has been a wild ride. In fact, The Wild Ride (1960), the "B" exploitation racing movie with Georgianna Carter, still holds up. With the dark-haired lothari...

  By Adrienne Papp I get invited to a lot of social events  as a journalist / publicist, but there is nothing quite like the Oscars.  Excitement is in the air, everyone is full of wonder, looking forward to this fairytale-like evening with its never ending magic. The unexpected always happens just to keep things fresh year after year ( just likeU2 performing live  on stage.)  The 86th Oscars was really by far one of the best ever produced in Ho...

By Adrienne Papp I get invited to a lot of social events  as a journalist / publicist, but there is nothing quite like the Oscars.  Excitement is in the air, everyone is full of wonder, looking forward to this fairytale-like evening with its never ending magic. The unexpected always happens just to keep things fresh year after year ( just likeU2 performing live  on stage.)  The 86th Oscars was really by far one of the best ever produced in Hollywood. O...

By Maria Esteves – January 25, 2014 The 5th Annual Digital Book World Conference 2014 (DBW14) Special Presentation of OUT OF PRINT, directed by Vivienne Roumani was held at the Sheraton New York Hotel, Wednesday, January 13, 2014. A benefit reception preceded this compelling documentary narrated by three-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep followed by a Q&A session with director Vivienne Roumani, and cast members CEO Jane Friedman, Open Road Integrated Media, former CEO of Harper Collins;...

        A new side of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein is emerging. Weinstein, age 61, is an impressive man of integrity who is fearlessly taking on new perspectives to heart. He is an enlightened man still evolving at a time in his life where the Karmic middle class see this as a sunset into rocking chairs sitting on their laurels. But Weinstein sets himself apart from the showbiz bourgeois and is reinventing himself. Hello Sunshine! Weinstein has produced some...

The play-turned-movie August: Osage County follows one family's moral and emotional smack-down in the American Heartland. No one wins, though a shrink could clean up handily. The Westons of Oklahoma sure could use some counseling. And judging by the actors' comments at the film's New York press conference, they too may have some lingering traumas to be worked out from the ordeal of performing this Gothic melodrama.  Meryl Streep, who played the splenetic matriarch, and Ju...

By Maria Esteves - May 23, 2013 The 58th Annual 2013 Village Voice OBIE Awards (OBIES 2013) co-hosted by Jessica Hecht and Jeremy Shamos honoring theatrical excellence and achievements in Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway commenced Monday, May 20, 8:00 pm at the legendary Webster Hall ballroom, New York. The official sponsors included Stella Artois, Parenteau Guidance PR, A.R.T. NY, Academy of Dramatic Arts, Fragoli, and Barefoot Wine & Bubbly. 2013 OBIE Awards Ceremony featured performan...

    by Marla Lewin The 2010 Palm Springs International ShortFest announced that it has selected  314 films from more than 3,000 worldwide entries. Among the films screening and in competition areaward-winning films from 43 countries around the world. The 16th ShortFest will showcase 58 World Premieres, 55 North American Premieres and 24 U.S. Premieres.   All selections are structured into 52 themed programs, which will screen June 22-28, at the Camelot Theatres in ...

      by Marla Lewin Sandra Bullock continued her remarkable year where she has dominated the box office and been declared the number one top grossing star in the movies today. Bullock has become a serious best-actress competitor in the past month, with her SAG win, a win last week at the Golden Globes and a tie with Meryl Streep in the Critics Choice Movie Awards. The stars seem to be aligning for this well liked actress who has quietly entertained a...

 Thursday, October 25---------It was quite a coup for the London Film Festival to snag the World Premiere of the hotly anticipated LIONS FOR LAMBS, the latest directorial (and acting) effort of the Sundance Kid himself, Robert Redford. Heading an all-star cast that includes Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep, the highly topical drama is Redford's pointed commentary on the zeitgeist of wartime America, the complicity of politicians and the press, and the indifference of the general public who are not b...

 Thursday, October 25---------It was quite a coup for the London Film Festival to snag the World Premiere of the hotly anticipated LIONS FOR LAMBS, the latest directorial (and acting) effort of the Sundance Kid himself, Robert Redford. Heading an all-star cast that includes Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep, the highly topical drama is Redford's pointed commentary on the zeitgeist of wartime America, the complicity of politicians and the press, and the indifference of the general public who are not b...

Tuesday, April 10-----The divine Diane, Keaton that is, was literally in the spotlight as the Film Society of Lincoln Center held its annual Gala Tribute Monday night, honoring Keaton's nearly forty year career. Celebrity presenters paying homage included frequent collaborator (and one-time partner) Woody Allen, Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, Martin Short, Candice Bergen and Sarah Jessica Parker and a who's who of longtime friends in the audience including Jeff Daniels, Carol Kane and ...