By John H. Foote When Will Smith famously slapped Chris Rock in the face at the Academy Awards last year, he did more damage to his career than he realized at the time. Banned from attending the Oscars for ten years, banned from Academy events, and the object of public ridicule, Smith did publicly apologize…
By John H. Foote Louise Fletcher, aka Nurse Ratched, has died. Though she made just a single great film, her performance in it won her one of five Academy Awards won by the film – Best Actress in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975). Filming was more than halfway finished when Fletcher learned a…
By John H. Foote While the death of Queen Elizabeth cast a shadowy pall over TIFF, the arrival of one man lit the dimmed lights with his mere presence. Hollywood royalty arrived at TIFF this past week and stole the show, the entire festival revolved around Steven Spielberg. After the screening of his film The…
By John H. Foote For the first time in his 50 year career, Steven Spielberg will bring a film to TIFF. The Fablemans, his autobiographical account of his childhood and how he became a film obsessed director will screen here at TIFF. This marks the first time the director has been to the world class…
By John H. Foote He was forever Sonny, or Santino. The first time I remember seeing James Caan in a film was the 1971 made for television drama Brain’s Song, in which he portrayed Brian Piccolo, a football star who had died years before of cancer. Piccolo and teammate Gale Sayers were the first black-white…
By John H. Foote So much Oscar history was made last night yet all anyone is talking about is the slap heard round the word, the one WiIl Smith delivered to comedian Chris Rock, who Smith felt had insulted his wife, Jada Pinkett. On one hand, good for Smith for defending his wife, but should…
By John H. Foote The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made another bone head move this week. In their attempt to shorten the show, they have decided to not broadcast the awarding of several awards, believing the time cut will help keep the show to a more manageable length. I for one oppose…
By John H. Foote Canadian filmmaker Ivan Reitman, 75, passed away suddenly this past weekend, dying in his sleep at his home in California. In the eighties Reitman gave us some of the biggest box office hits of the decade with Meatballs (1980), Stripes (1981), and the massive hit film Ghostbusters (1984). Most recently he…
By John H. Foote The Directors Guild of America announced their nominations for Best Director of 2021 Thursday, with few surprises, and two record setters. Steven Spielberg received his 12th nomination for West Side Story, continuing to run up his numbers making him the most nominated filmmaker in the history of the Guild. He has…
By John H. Foote I have been told by actors themselves – Robert Duvall, Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen and Holly Hunter – that an opinion such as mine, coming from a man who has acted, who has studied acting, and who has directed a substantial number of plays matters a great deal to them. “Well,…