Tim Gray

“Don’t Look Up” has hit a nerve in a way that’s rare for films to do. That’s partly because it addresses an urgent, hot-button topic — climate change — with a film that’s partly a cry f…

Oscar is a perfect metaphor for COVID. Or maybe COVID is a metaphor for Oscars. Either way, both center on a sense of uncertainty, with people loudly advocating a “return to normal.” The Academy of…

A column of random thoughts: Whatever you think about the year’s movies, you have to admit the titles were confusing. For example, we had “Pieces of a Woman,” “Promising Young Woman,” “I’m Your Wo…

Though it’s set 50 years ago, “The Trial of the Chicago 7” is contemporary and important. Writer-director Aaron Sorkin tells Variety, “Even from the beginning, I didn’t want the film to be about 19…

Oscars are a time capsule, reflecting both the industry and the year’s audiences. As such, nominations for the 94th Academy Awards detail progressive and surprising transition across several catego…

There’s no logic to any showbiz career, but some paths are more surprising than others. Lesley Paterson, one of the screenwriters for the German-language “All Quiet on the Western Front,” is a worl…

Happy Birthday, Bugs Bunny! The world’s favorite rabbit turns 75 this month: July 27, 1940, saw the debut of the cotton-tailed character’s first cartoon short “Wild Hare,” directed by Tex Avery. There won’t be much hoopla to celebrate, because Warner Bros. doesn’t observe the birthdays of animated characters. And there’s some logic to that, especially in […]

Happy Birthday, Bugs Bunny! The world’s favorite rabbit turns 75 this month: July 27, 1940, saw the debut of the cotton-tailed character’s first cartoon short “Wild Hare,” directed by Tex Avery. There won’t be much hoopla to celebrate, because Warner Bros. doesn’t observe the birthdays of animated characters. And there’s some logic to that, especially in […]

After 42 years of covering awards at Variety, I recently became executive VP of the Golden Globes and, like Joni Mitchell, I’ve looked at life from both sides now. Here are a few conclusions: Campaigning is a business.More than 2,500 years ago, ancient Greeks honored the best plays at their spring festivals. Did Sophocles and […]

Richard M. Sherman, two-time Oscar winner who collaborated with brother Robert B. Sherman on the songs for “Mary Poppins,” “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and the enduring Disneyland tune “It’s a Small World (After All),” died Saturday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills due to age-related illness. He was 95. The Sherman brothers worked in […]