Glenne Headly (1955-2017)

By Nathaniel R

Terrible news to report this afternoon. The actress Glenne Headly has died rather suddenly at just 62. 

Headly came to fame on the stage in acclaimed productions in the mid 80s like Balm in Gilead, Extremities, and The Philanthropist and big movie roles soon followed. At the peak of her fame in the late 80s and early 90s she co-starred in box office hits Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) and Dick Tracy (1990) and was Emmy nominated for the miniseries Lonesome Dove (1989) inbetween those twin peaks...

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Sir Roger Moore (1927-2017)

By Deborah Lipp

Sir Roger Moore has passed away at the age of 89. Known first for the television show The Saint, he achieved world renown as James Bond, playing the role officially more than any other actor. (Moore and Sean Connery each made seven Bond films, but one of Connery’s, Never Say Never Again, is not part of the official franchise.) 

When Roger Moore arrived in Phuket, Thailand to film The Man With the Golden Gun, it was not a resort. The city was thrilled to have a film crew working there, and pulled out the stops, giving them the best luxury housing that could be found in the area – there was no hotel...

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Powers Boothe (1948-2017)

Powers Boothe with his daughter Parisse (both acted in DEADWOOD) at a 2006 Emmy partyThe Emmy winning character actor Powers Boothe, best known for screen villains on TV (Deadwood, Nashville) and in movies (Sin City, Tombstone) died yesterday morning in his sleep from natural causes. After Shakespearean work on stage after college, his screen career began with "bad Shakespeare" as part of the Richard III play within the Oscar nominated comedy The Goodbye Girl (1977) in which he mostly lays like a corpse on a table while Dreyfus overacts the hunchback around him. The on camera career stretched for nearly another 40 years ending with the recurring baddie role as one of HYDRA's top leaders  "Gideon Malick" on  the third season of Marvel's AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. (2015/2016).  

The native Texan was 68 years old and is survived by his wife of 48 years (they married in college before his acting career began) and their two children. After the jump a quick survey of key roles... 

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Tweetweek: La La Day, Demme Farewells, and the DC Aesthetic Summed Up

First things first.

I see Team Not La La Land is back out in force. pic.twitter.com/vAnHxhCnwd

— Kristopher Tapley (@kristapley) April 25, 2017

This brilliant tweet was in response to a whole swath of new bitching online about La La Land when Los Angeles declared April 25th "La La Land Day". And why shouldn't Los Angeles honor a blockbuster movie that was about the glamour and dreams and careers of Los Angelenos and the city and the movies ?!? I was as happy for that announcement as I was when I heard that Moonlight got a street named after it in Florida the week before. They seemed like equally smart local government decisions to me but one was greeted warmly on twitter and the other was attacked. Honestly, people who can't let other people enjoy things are the worst kind of people I've decided. Don't be that kind of person. Fight the urge next time you hate a movie that other people love. Not ashamed to say I love La La Land and it's okay to wholeheartedly love it even if you agree that Moonlight deserved Best Picture from the nominees (as I myself do). It is possible (and recommended) to love more than one movie. Monogamy has no place in movie-loving, polyamorous is the only way to be once you've married the cinema. 

OH BUT YES, TWEETS OF THE WEEK. More after the jump including Labyrinth sequel, Aquaman aesthetic, and more Jonathan Demme farewells...

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Michael Ballhaus (1935-2017)

by Nathaniel R

It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of German cinematographer Michael Ballhaus. The 81 year old artist was a crucial figure in making me the movie maniac that I am today. Michelle Pfeiffer on the piano top in The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989) -- hell the entire movie -- being a defining image in my life, after which I went from enthusiastic regular moviegoer to celluloid-devouring obsessive.

Ballhaus had retired after Martin Scorsese's The Departed (2006) making only one German movie in the last decade of his life and we had hoped each year that he'd be announced as an Honorary Oscar recipient. His three scant nominations -- The Fabulous Baker Boys, Broadcast News, and Gangs of New York -- do no justice to his long and gorgeous career. That's because they don't feel representative of his career as a whole and because, apart from his crowning glory (Baker Boys -- which ought to have walked away with Cinematography in just about any year, let alone 1989) aren't even his best work.

Ballhaus and Fassbinder worked together all through the 70s

Ballhaus got his start as a young man of 24 in German television but quickly graduated to features...

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