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Must-see morning clip

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 12:46:00 +0000

Matt Damon tells Jay Leno what it was like to meet Bill Clinton for the first time at a screening of "Good Will Hunting":

Everything you need to know about “Cloud Atlas”

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0000

David Mitchell, the author of "Cloud Atlas," told the Paris Review in 2010 that "'Cloud Atlas' is a novel about whose echoes, eddies and cross-references even its author possesses only an imperfect knowledge.” Yet the directors of the new film -- Tom Twyker, Lana Wachowski and Andy Wachowski -- took a different approach to Mitchell’s brilliant book. They turned six overlapping stories into more concentric circles than the author had himself.

In the book, we get these stories one at a time, until the author circles back around to them halfway through the narrative. The film takes a different approach. The stories are threaded together from the beginning of the movie, with some of the connections made more obvious and some made ... not so obvious, to say the least. It's only natural to emerge with your head spinning and lots of questions.

We're going to answer those for you. Let's start with the basic plot of the movie -- but keep in mind that these stories are woven together over the whole movie. We'll move chronologically.

Pick of the week: The overblown, funny, romantic “Cloud Atlas”

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 22:50:00 +0000

I will tell you in the same breath that “Cloud Atlas” is a flawed and potentially ridiculous work and that I loved it, and can’t wait to see it a second time (and then a third). Indeed, all of that is connected, as the movie itself reminds us — perhaps too many times.

I can appreciate a well-crafted work of Hollywood formula that gives the audience what it already knows it wants, at least up to a point, but I often come away feeling restless and unsatisfied. I’d almost always rather see the rare kind of pop spectacle that takes enormous risks, that reaches for grand themes, big ideas and operatic emotions, even if it makes indefensible mistakes along the way. That’s what “Cloud Atlas” is, the kind of oversize, overpriced movie that critic Stuart Klawans described in his book “Film Follies.” (The classic example would be D.W. Griffith’s silent epic “Intolerance,” which serves as a major model and influence here.) “Cloud Atlas” is arguably way too much of a good thing, with too many characters, too many stories, too many directors – Tom Tykwer of “Run Lola Run” and “Perfume,” and Andy and Lana Wachowski (né Larry) of the “Matrix” trilogy — and too much running time. But its too-muchness is also the source of its power; I was absolutely never bored, and felt surprised when the movie ended. It’s an amazing, baffling, thrilling and (for many, it would appear) irritating experience, and for my money the most beautiful and distinctive big-screen vision of the year.

Tom Hanks performs slam poetry about “Full House”

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 12:44:00 +0000

Experience 1990s nostalgia as legendary actor Tom Hanks performs slam poetry about Uncle Jesse, the Tanners and Kimmy Gibbler:

Tom Hanks attaches Emmy to his car, because he can

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 17:24:00 +0000

What does a guy who has an entire Wikipedia page devoted to his awards do with an Emmy?

Tie it to his car as a hood ornament, naturally. Actor Tom Hanks tweeted this video to his fans last night, after his Emmy win for producing "Game Change."

Tom Hanks on WhoSay