Hollywood Outbreak

How Michael Douglas ever wondered whether he had what it took to make it in Hollywood is hard to imagine. Almost 60 years later, we already know how that story turned out. He became a movie star, an Oscar-winning actor, an Oscar-winning producer and one of those performers whose career seems to have touched just […] The post How Michael Douglas’s ‘Helluva Ride’ Almost Never...

Released on October 6, 2006, The Departed brought together one of the most impressive casts of its era and gave Martin Scorsese another shot at a world of crime, loyalty, betrayal, and people who are rarely what they seem. Two decades later, the movie has lost almost none of its punch. Even when you know […] The post ‘The Departed’ at 20: Why Scorsese’s Hit Still Packs a Pu...

A pretty big one. LL Cool J is back in the NCIS world with NCIS: New York, bringing along the character he played for the entire run of NCIS: Los Angeles. Only now Sam is on the other side of the country. And there is something kind of fitting about that. Sam is a New […] The post LL Cool J Isn’t Just Back On ‘NCIS,’ He’s Back In New York! appeared first on Hollywood...

For Pierce Brosnan, life after James Bond has been anything but predictable. Since leaving 007 behind, he has spent years jumping between genres and clearly enjoying the freedom that comes with it. He sang his way through the Mamma Mia! movies, stepped into the superhero world with Black Adam and has taken on plenty of […] The post ‘MobLand’: Pierce Brosnan Praises Season 2 Growt...

Twenty-five years after Training Day arrived in theaters on October 5, 2001, it is still difficult to watch Denzel Washington as Alonzo Harris without getting pulled into his world. From the moment Alonzo sits down across from rookie officer Jake Hoyt, you know something is wrong. The question is just how wrong things are going […] The post Training Day At 25: Denzel Washington Classic appea...

Tom Hanks has made the kind of career where picking a favorite movie can turn into a pretty long conversation. He won back-to-back Best Actor Oscars for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, became the face of classics ranging from Big and Sleepless in Seattle to Apollo 13 and Saving Private Ryan, and created characters movie fans […] The post That Thing You Do! at 30: Tom Hanks’ Musical Gem appear...

Twenty years later, it really does not take much to bring Friday Night Lights back. A football field. Stadium lights. A packed crowd. Coach Taylor standing on the sideline trying to hold everything together. And suddenly you’re back in Dillon. The television series came along after Peter Berg’s 2004 Friday Night Lights movie, which grew […] The post Friday Night Lights at 20: Why...

Ella Beatty had plenty of history to work with when she stepped into the title role of Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story. The tricky part was figuring out how much of that history should actually make it onto the screen. After seasons focused on Jeffrey Dahmer, the Menendez brothers and Ed Gein, Monster turns its […] The post How Ella Beatty Prepared For Her Killer Role As Lizzie Borden appea...

Forty years later, Johnny 5 is still alive. Okay, maybe not literally. But for anyone who grew up with Short Circuit, it probably takes only a few seconds of seeing that familiar robot rolling around on screen to bring back a whole lot of 1980s memories. Released in 1986, Short Circuit was exactly the kind […] The post Short Circuit at 40: Johnny 5 Is Still Alive appeared first on Hollywood...

How Mary Tyler Moore inspired viewers is still part of what makes The Mary Tyler Moore Show feel special more than 50 years later. Maybe it is Mary Richards herself. Maybe it is WJM. Or maybe it is that group of people who started as co-workers and neighbors and slowly became something closer to family. […] The post How Mary Tyler Moore Inspired Real Journalists appeared first on Hollywood O...

Nearly six decades later, Barry Williams is still talking about the television family that became part of his life. And people are still hanging out with the Bradys. That is pretty remarkable when you think about it. The Brady Bunch premiered in 1969 and only ran for five seasons, but somehow Mike, Carol, Alice and […] The post Barry Williams on What ‘Brady Bunch’ Parents Taught...

There are plenty of movies where an actor gets sent a script, likes the role and signs on. But how Robert Pattinson became involved with Primetime took a slightly stranger path. The new A24 crime drama stars Pattinson as Chris Hansen, the television journalist whose To Catch a Predator investigations became a huge part of […] The post How Robert Pattinson Ended Up Starring in Primetime appea...

Gillian Anderson says Dana Scully changed her life, and yes, you read that right. The skeptical FBI agent usually gets credit for changing everyone else. For three decades, fans have approached Anderson with stories about how Scully steered them into science, medicine, and law enforcement. There’s even a name for it, the Scully Effect, and […] The post Gillian Anderson Says Scully Chan...

Released on July 5, 1989, Weekend at Bernie’s is one of those movies that could only have come from the late ’80s. Back then, Hollywood could look at a completely bananas idea and say yes. Two guys dragging their dead boss around a beach town for an entire weekend? Sure, that sounds like a comedy […] The post ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’: Why This 1989 Cult Classic Still Rul...

Billions is not your typical summer binge-watch, and that is the point. Not every great summer show needs a beach, a romance or an easygoing comedy. Sometimes you want private jets, sharp suits, backroom deals and outrageous conversations in rooms with million-dollar views. That is exactly where this Showtime drama delivers. The Showtime drama turned […] The post ‘Billions’ Is a Perfect Summ...

Anyone who lived through the summer of 1996 remembers what Independence Day did to America. The hype started months earlier, when that Super Bowl teaser showed the White House going up in a fireball. By the time the movie opened on July 3, 1996, lines wrapped around multiplexes across the country. Alien ships the size […] The post ‘Independence Day’ at 30: Welcome to Earth! appea...

20 years ago, on June 30, 2006, The Devil Wears Prada swept into theaters. It turned out to be far more than a hit comedy. The movie became a true pop-culture staple. You can thank the fashion, the razor-sharp dialogue, and an all-star cast led by Meryl Streep. The film dropped audiences inside Runway magazine. […] The post 20 Years Ago: ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ Became Iconic appeared first o...

If you grew up in the ’90s, Eddie Murphy‘s The Nutty Professor was not just another comedy. It was an event. Eddie Murphy‘s hit hit theaters June 28, 1996. It delivered huge laughs and remarkable makeup. The story also carried more heart than anyone saw coming. Three decades later, it ranks among its era’s best […] The post Eddie Murphy’s ‘The Nutty Professor&#8...

When Superman Returns hit theaters on June 28, 2006, it carried the weight of a very long wait. Two decades on, the Superman Returns 20th anniversary makes Brandon Routh‘s chapter look better than ever. By then, 19 years had passed since Superman IV: The Quest for Peace flew into theaters in 1987. A whole generation […] The post Brandon Routh’s ‘Superman Returns’ Legacy, 20...

Welcome to Summer Binge Club, our seasonal look back at TV shows perfect to revisit or discover for the first time. Each installment celebrates a series that still delivers great performances and addictive storytelling, with plenty of reasons to keep watching “just one more episode.” This time, we head back to Chicago with The Good […] The post ‘The Good Wife’ Is a Perfect Summer...

Simon Cowell has judged talent on TV for a long time now. He has heard the greats. He has also sat through some genuinely rough auditions. By now, Simon Cowell knows the difference cold. So as America’s Got Talent returns for Season 21, Cowell sits right where he always does, sorting the acts you forget […] The post Simon Cowell Knows ‘Talent’ Is Only Part of the Equation a...

Twenty years ago this week, audiences filed into theaters for another big, goofy Adam Sandler comedy. They got a stressed out husband, a strange universal remote, and Christopher Walken being Christopher Walken. It looked like an easy summer escape. Two decades on, Click at 20 still has people pressing play. Then Click got real. Released […] The post ‘Click’ at 20: Why Adam Sandler’s Comedy...