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When I first read the news that one of my favorite modern directors, Osgood Perkins, would be directing The Monkey, the article was accompanied by a familiar image: a toy monkey with a cracked-out face, banging two cymbals together. My brain immediately went to George A. Romero’s underappreciated 1988 film, Monkey Shines.

I also immediately assumed Monkey Shines was based on a King story—a natural assumption. What hasn’t King written at this point, after all? In reality, of course, Perkins/King’s The Monkey has absolutely nothing to do with Romero’s Monkey Shines. But while the two properties aren’t officially connected apart from their similar imagery – oddly enough, Perkins had to redesign the toy monkey from King’s story due to a Disney copyright! – they do have a few things in common. Both Monkey Shines and The Monkey feature bat-shit crazy stories full of dark humor,...

Francine Pascal, the author whose “Sweet Valley High” series of young-adult novels became a cultural touchstone for generations of readers beginning in the 1980s, died Sunday of Lymphoma at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan. She was 92.

Her daughter Laurie Wenk-Pascal announced the news to The New York Times.

The first book in the series, Double Love, was published in 1983 — an attempt, Pascal would say, to fill the void in young-adult literature for a Dallas-style soap opera entertainment. Set primarily at a fictional high school in a fictional Los Angeles suburb, the book series initially focused on twins Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield. As the series grew, eventually to include hundreds of sequels, The Wakefields would age from middle school to college, their adventures encompassing reality-based teen drama and comedy as well as more fantastical doings akin to Nancy Drew and even the Scooby-Doo gang.

Born Francine Paula Rubin on May 13, 1932, Pascal grew up in Jamaica,...

Salma Hayek knows how to bring the style.

On Wednesday night, the 57-year-old actress attended the TIFF premiere of “El Sabor De La Navidad”, which she produced.

Read More: Salma Hayek Sizzles In Skimpy Red Bikini As She Celebrates 57th Birthday

Rodrigo Mazon, Erica Sanchez Su, Jennevie Olivieri-Lopez, Jose Tamez, Salma Hayek, Alejandro Lozano, Billy Rovzar and Augusto Rovegno – Photo: Courtesy of ViX

Et Canada’s Carlos Bustamante caught up with Hayek at the premiere and asked about her showstopping look, with a white dress that wrapped round her body, and a green-and-white clutch to go with it.

.@salmahayek shares the details on her showstopping red carpet look at the #TIFF23 premiere of her upcoming film "El Sabor de la Navidad" pic.twitter.com/HJuGzGLgX6

— Et Canada (@ETCanada) September 13, 2023

“Okay, so it’s a really good one,” Hayek said of the dress, designed by Michael Stewart. “This dress is done by a new,...

Hollywood has always shown a preference for films that offer reconciliation between their Black and white subjects. And as a result, the industry is notoriously skittish with the work of Spike Lee. There's been a pattern, especially at the Academy Awards, where Lee's films are concerned: the director is consistently snubbed in favor of films that comfort white audiences — films like "Driving Miss Daisy," which took home the Oscar for Best Picture in 1990 while "Do The Right Thing" was shut out from the category altogether.

Lee's incendiary third feature bred a fair amount of controversy. Set over one sweltering summer day in New York neighborhood Bed-Stuy, "Do The Right Thing" is a pressure cooker for interracial tension. The film follows the patrons and employees at a pizza joint owned by Sal (Danny Aiello) and operated by his two sons. It's the site of a particularly gruesome instance of police brutality,...