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Variety Will Hollywood forgive Mel Gibson with Hacksaw Ridge?
Variety Robert Redford to retire from acting. That's a pity. He was just starting to be in movies again regularly. 
MNPP Joe Alwyn eleven times 
Coming Soon Geoffrey Rush as Albert Einstein in a new series

/Film a new featurette about a Ghost in the Shell set visit
I Like Things That Look Like Mistakes on the resonance of Dogville's revenge fantasy 
Total Verhoeven the Film Society's Verhoeven retrospective just began. I'm anxious to see his Oscar nominated Turkish Delight (1973) for the first time!  
DListed first shot of Johnny Depp (or rather the back of his head) in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2. Can't believe they're already promoting the second one before the first one is in theaters (sigh) 

RIP Because 2016 continues to be the most hateful year ever  
Deadline Robert Vaughn (The Man From UNCLE, The Magnificent Seven)  
Criterion Corner Remembering Leonard Cohen (via McCabe and Mrs Miller) 

In this very difficult week these things gave me teensy moments of solitude or defiant strength
NY Mag Hiking and running into Hillary Clinton
Advocate People of the Year: The survivors of Pulse nightclub
Review "Rules for Survival" under men like Donald Trump 
Pajiba "never forget that Donald Trump is a profoundly stupid person" -perhaps his incompetence will help prevent some of the possible catastrophes
The Matinee "Dear America..."
Towleroad The continually scrappy Elizabeth Warren on Rachel Maddow "we fight back" 
The New Yorker "How to restore your faith in Democracy" 
Gothamist advice for how to protect your fellow citizens from Trump's embolded xenophobic and racist fans if you see bullying taking place

Curtis Hanson (1945-2016)

Director Curtis Hanson passed away yesterday at the age of 71. Word is that Alzheimer had forced a retirement five years ago.

Eminem won a Song Oscar for his collaboration with Curtis Hanson in "8 Mile"

Hanson's brush with A list "prestige" was brief (3 Oscar nominations for producing, co-writing, and directing the much-admired LA Confidential) but his career was a fine example of versatile craftsmanship. He served as an important reminder that there's more to directing than auteurial stamps...

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Alexis Arquette (1969-2016)

Alexis Arquette, the youngest sister of the Arquette acting family, passed away today at the age of 47 after a lengthy illness. She was the fourth of the five Arquette kids, all of whom became actors, with Rosanna Arquette leading the way to fame in the early 80s. Alexis was surrounded by all her siblings when she died as they listened to her favorite songs. She passed during David Bowie's "Starman." (So many sad goodbyes in 2016.)

Born Robert, she took the name Alexis early on, long before coming out officially as transgendered. Onscreen her first appearance was uncredited in the Bette Midler comedy Down & Out in Beverly Hills  (1986).

as "Georgette" in Last Exit to Brooklyn

Her official debut though was as the trans prostitute "Georgette" in one of Jennifer Jason Leigh's most critically acclaimed showcases Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989)... 

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RIP Gene Wilder (1933 - 2016)

Comedy legend Gene Wilder has passed away, after complications with Alzheimer's disease. He served as Mel Brooks's leading player, producing such classics as Blazing Saddles, The Producers and Young Frankenstein. After those films, he also frequently starred opposite Richard Pryor. But to many he will always be remembered for the hilarious sly cruelty of his Willy Wonka, a performance that seen from a childhood gaze is awe-inspiring and warm only to become more delectably rotten in adulthood.

After the passing of his wife Gilda Radner (Wilder also had his own battle with cancer), he mostly stepped out of the spotlight, leaving those mentioned behemoths to speak for his legacy. For me, his Frederic Frankensteen is the one that sticks - all barking neuroses and feigned composure while lampooning the heightened acting styles of Universal horror classics. The performance is so physical and modulated to extremes that his comedy becomes like a set piece, a spectacle worth coming back to again and again.

What are your favorite Gene Wilder memories?

Arthur Hiller (1923-2016) and "Making Love"

Arthur Hiller with his Jean Hersholt Huminatarian AwardOscar nominated Canadian born Hollywood director Arthur Hiller died yesterday at 92 years of age. Though he's best remembered for the 1970 mega-hit Love Story  -- so popular in its day it would have been equivalent to a Jurassic World at the box office today (no really) -- his career was actually quite varied. He did dramas, romances, buddy comedies, period pieces, you name it.

Among his best known films which is your favorite?

• The Americanization of Emily (1964)
• The Out of Towners (1970)
• Love Story (1970)
• Plaza Suite (1971)
• Man of La Mancha (1972)
• Silver Streak (1976)
• The In-Laws (1979)
• Making Love (1982)
• Author! Author! (1982)
• Outrageous Fortune (1987)
• See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989) 

Outrageous Fortune was probably my favorite of his films - Bette Midler & Shelley Long were so funny together --  but the film that's the most interesting, historically, is Making Love as it was the very first mainstream LGBT film...

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