If a hallmark of great art is its ability to transcend the limited circumstances of its creation, then there is no more heartbreaking realization of this than the 1944 performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Catholic Requiem by Jewish prisoners at the Nazi concentration camp Terezín. The story of Terezín and of...

Freedom must thrive for the arts to flourish. It's therefore an encouraging sign that so many of 2012's most acclaimed films -- such as Zero Dark Thirty, Lincoln, Les Misérables, or Skyfall -- should explore the centrality of freedom to our civilization. As we celebrate 2012 in film, it's fitting...

It's by far the biggest, best and most surprising entertainment news of 2012, yet still no one knows quite what to make of it: starting in 2015 we're getting a new Star Wars trilogy, beginning with Episode VII, supervised by George Lucas and produced by Disney.

As Darth Vader might...

Imagine being subjected to 24-hour secret police surveillance, or being surrounded by informers at your place of work -- whose mission is to gain your confidence in order to evaluate your loyalty to the state.

Or imagine being subjected to random body searches, conducted by capricious security officials with...

How does James Bond do it? He barely seems to have aged a day. The famously overworked British Secret Service agent, drinker of vodka martinis, and seducer of dangerous women (why are Bond's girlfriends always pointing guns at him?) is now 50 years old in the movies -- yet it...

During his meteoric career, Ozwald Boateng's been called the coolest man on Earth, and the fashion world's best-kept secret. Yet the candid new documentary A Man's Story, opening this weekend in New York and Los Angeles, makes certain that the British fashion designer and style icon...

NBA fans know that two-time MVP point guard Steve Nash recently joined the Los Angeles Lakers. Fans are buzzing, because the addition of Nash could soon result in a return to championship glory for the league's most glamorous franchise. As big as Nash's impact on the Lakers might be, however,...

Memorial Day weekend is approaching, a time when Americans traditionally focus their attention on corn dogs, guacamole burgers and LeBron's fading playoff hopes -- but it's also a time when we remember the men and women who've made the ultimate sacrifice for their country and for freedom.

And although Universal's...

Recently, while attending New York's Tribeca Film Festival, I indulged in a guilty pleasure.

Wearing dark shades, and clutching my plastic media badge and a $7 bag of greasy popcorn, I stealthily ducked into a Chelsea multiplex to watch some of my youth flicker by across the big...

I come to praise Sword & Sandal movies -- not to bury them.

But with Wrath of the Titans and the Sword & Sandal/sci-fi mash-up John Carter not exactly setting the world on fire -- along with recent disappointments like Immortals and Conan -- it's getting more difficult by...

It used to be that a politician had to be a Kennedy to get a juicy, tell-all movie made about them.

On the odd chance that you can't get enough of this year's colorful Republican primaries -- if lurid accusations of Newt Gingrich's 'open marriage' or saucy rumors of Herman...

Celebrities will invade Los Angeles this weekend for the 84th Academy Awards ceremony. Searchlights will blaze and flashbulbs will pop as Hollywood stars will descend from the heavens -- or maybe just the Malibu hills -- to touch the ground that regular Angelenos walk on each day.

They'll smile and...

His documentaries have been among the most provocative films featured in the Sundance Film Festival over the past several years. Bolder even than Sacha Baron Cohen, he's punk'd both the North Korean communist government and now, in his new film The Ambassador, the Central African Republic and the...

He's 89 years old, and his career is hotter than ever.

With hits like Thor, Captain America and X-Men: First Class dominating the box office in 2011, and upcoming films like The Avengers and The Amazing Spider-Man looking to light up the summer in 2012, you'd think that a man...

The Cold War is back -- at least at the movies.

This weekend moviegoers can watch Meryl Streep portray ardent Cold Warrior Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, Gary Oldman root out a dangerous Soviet mole from the British intelligence service in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, and Tom Cruise...

Freedom is one of the most important prerequisites of artistic excellence. 2011 was distinctive for producing a number of critically acclaimed films that celebrated the history of the arts and of the cinema itself - from Martin Scorsese's Hugo and Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist, to Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten...