Eric Althoff

Justin Timberlake wowed by Fox affiliate’s music video for song ‘Can’t Stop the Feeling’

Kevin McCarthy, entertainment reporter for WTTG, the District's Fox affiliate, surprised Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick at the Cannes Film Festival in France with a video of Fox 5's staff dancing to Mr. Timberlake's new son, "Can't Stop the Feeling."

May 12, 2016

Eric Clapton to release new album ‘I Still Do’

New records presage new shows coming to the Washington, D.C., area.

May 12, 2016

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith partner with Obama on entertainment careers tour

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith announced a "Careers in Entertainment Tour" to support The Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation to support President Obama's My Brother's Keeper Initiative to mark its second anniversary. The program aims to increase entertainment industry opportunities for all youths throughout America.

May 12, 2016

‘Last Days in the Desert’: director Rodrigo Garcia on Jesus and Pope Francis

"Last Days in the Desert" fashions a non-Gospel chapter from Christ's 40-day sojourn through the desert, during which he is tempted by the Devil. Jesus and Lucifer are both played by Ewan McGregor, the Scottish actor known the world over for his work in the "Star Wars" prequels as well as "Trainspotting," "Moulin Rogue" and dozens of other works.

May 11, 2016

Kentucky Derby 2016 a winner for Nyquist and for spotting colorful attire

My press pass allows me access to almost anywhere, which must somehow be a mistake. I'm not a VIP, or even that knowledgable about horses, but nonetheless here I am, with my badge decreeing access to Millionaires' Row, the winners circle, most of the floors where the high rollers wine and dine. No one stops me, waving me through as I tap the badge at every port. In my costume perhaps I look the part -- a Yankee trying to fit in at the border state's most infamous and attended festivus.

May 10, 2016

‘Mothers and Daughters’ film celebrates moms for Mother’s Day

The ensemble film "Mothers and Daughters" (which was previously titled "Mother's Day" until Gary Marshall's film got there first) shows the highs and lows of parenting in contemporary life. The all-star cast -- which includes Courteney Cox, Selma Blair, Mira Sorvino, Christina Ricci, Sharon Stone and many others -- make the most of the episodic screenplay by director Paul Duddridge and Paige Cameron that deals with interwoven tales of adoption (and the oft-told lies surrounding same), unplanned pregnancy and finally making things wrongs right after years or even decades.

May 4, 2016

Kiefer Sutherland touring to support music album ‘Down in a Hole’

Kiefer Sutherland says fans who come to his music show expecting to see Jack Bauer-style action theatrics are in for disappointment. "I'm definitely not doing that," the star told The Washington Times with a hearty laugh. He is touring incessantly to support "Down in a Hole," which includes a stop at Ram's Head On Stage in Annapolis, Maryland, Monday evening, along with his five-piece band.

May 4, 2016

Composer Lori Laitman to debut revised ‘Scarlet Letter’ with Opera Colorado

Lori Laitman hopes that her music will be remembered and performed centuries from now. The resident of Potomac, Maryland, has already written hundreds of songs and several operas, including for the Baltimore Symphony. Her latest revised work, "The Scarlet Letter," will have its world premiere Saturday in Denver courtesy of Opera Colorado, featuring a libretto by David Mason.

May 2, 2016

Obama slings barbs at both parties, media at annual correspondents dinner

With a biting brand of humor, President Obama slung barbs at both parties and the media Saturday night in his last appearance as the center of attention at the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner.

May 1, 2016

‘The Meddler’ director Lorene Scafaria on casting Susan Sarandon as her mother’s avatar

They say that pain plus time equals comedy. Writer-director Lorene Scafaria turned the loss of her father, and her mother's subsequent move from the East Coast to join her in Los Angeles, into laughter with her new film "The Meddler," opening Friday in the District. Oscar winner Susan Sarandon stars in "The Meddler" as Marnie, the sixty-something widow who invades her daughter Lori's (Rose Byrne) L.A. life, which is not only upset by the loss of her father but also thanks to a romantic breakup.

April 28, 2016

‘Papa Hemingway in Cuba’ puts spotlight on mental illness of family and revolution in Havana

With relations between Washington and Havana beginning to cool after a half-century of mutual suspicion, perhaps the next great step will be Hollywood descending upon Cuba for filming. Even more amazing, however, is that the new film "Papa Hemingway in Cuba," dealing with the famous writer's days during the Cuban Revolution, has already done so.

April 26, 2016

Lincoln, Nebraska, breweries bring craft beer scene to state capital

Nebraska has turned its agricultural products into many things -- paramount among them recently, of course, being beer. The Cornhusker State has joined the ongoing craft beer craze, with brewmasters putting a unique Midwestern spin on classic styles. In Nebraska's state capital of Lincoln, players like Zipline and Granite City are rolling out the barrels of unique taste for choosy beer-heads.

April 25, 2016

Anton Yelchin of ‘Star Trek’ reboot acts in neo-noir ‘The Driftless Area’

Actor Anton Yelchin's onscreen counterparts have had a bit of a rough month. Last weekend, "Green Room" saw his character nearly lose his hand before an all-out fight for survival ensued with a sadistic club owner intent on killing him and his heavy metal bandmates. And this week Mr. Yelchin's character in "The Driftless Area," Pierre, gets caught up in a noir plot when he returns home following his parents' death, when crooks from his hometown snare he and a mysterious women (Zooey Deschanel) in a violent game of cat and mouse.

April 24, 2016

‘Dough’ film about Jewish baker and Muslim helper brings comedy to culture clash

The premise sounds like high-concept Hollywood: Nat, an old Jewish baker (Jonathan Pryce), employs his African cleaning lady's son, a young Muslim, to work for him at his failing London bakery. But "Dough," from British director John Goldschmidt, tackles the serious topics of drug policy, immigration and Jewish-Muslim relations in modern Europe with a rather knowing sense of humor while not shrinking from their very real analogues in contemporary life.

April 24, 2016

‘Green Room’ from Virginia filmmaker Jeremy Saulnier caught Patrick Stewart’s attention

Jeremy Saulnier's fate was sealed when, as a boy, his cousins sat him down in front of such gruesome horror films as "Dawn of the Dead," during which he beheld all manner of zombie dismemberment and ingestion of human flesh. Mr. Saulnier's first studio-released picture, "Green Room," will open in the District Friday. The film follows a group of death metal bandmates who venture to a remote headbanger's club in remote Oregon for a gig. An act of violence occurs in the titular musicians' break room, which leads to the band being locked there, fighting for lives.

April 21, 2016

‘Nina’ film shows Zoe Saldana play singer Nina Simone in torment, redemption

Nina Simone was a tortured, tormented artist, whose music belied a soul in perdition. That she was also haunted by mental illness only added to her pain -- and, inarguably, to the greatness of her voice. Portions of her latter life are recreated in "Nina" from writer-director Cynthia Mort, with Zoe Saldana in the lead role of the troubled singer and David Oyelowo as her much-burdened, much younger, manager Clifton Henderson.

April 20, 2016

Willis Tower Skydeck Chicago ‘Ledge’ allows visitors to step past building’s edge

With a deep breath and a tentative tap of my foot to make sure the transparent floor was sturdy, I forced myself to step out onto the clear overhanging platforms at Chicago's Willis Tower's Skydeck onto the "Ledge." This meant stepping several feet past the edge of the 103-story building. Looking down through the clear glass, there was nothing below me but Wacker Dr. far, far, far below.

April 20, 2016

‘Elvis & Nixon’ director Liza Johnson wanted to honor Presley’s legacy

December 21, 1970. President Richard M. Nixon entertains Elvis Presley in the Oval Office -- a conservative, tragically unhip chief executive meeting the King of Rock 'n' Roll, captured for all time in a famous photograph. The new film "Elvis & Nixon," opening Friday in the District, fashions a behind-the-scenes narrative that fills in some of the gaps leading up to that rather dramatic -- and improbable -- moment.

April 19, 2016

Nancy Allen discusses ‘RoboCop,’ encourages women to make more films

Nancy Allen redefined what it was to be a femme fatale in films like "Dressed to Kill" and "Blow Out," the latter of which will be screening at Ebertfest Saturday evening in a glorious 35mm print. The 1981 film, starring Miss Allen and John Travolta, is a loose remake of Michelangelo Antonioni's 1966 mystery "Blow-Up," in which a photographer may or not have captured a murder on film. The remake has Mr. Travolta as a sound engineer who possibly has recorded something similar.

April 16, 2016

Kasi Lemmons, ‘Eve’s Bayou’ director, applauds more women filmmakers

Chaz Ebert introduced filmmaker Kasi Lemmons Friday evening by saying her late husband had it in his "notebook" to at some point program her movies "Talk to Me" and "Eve's Bayou" for his film festival. While Ebert himself didn't live to see it, Ms. Ebert proudly introduced Ms. Lemmons to the capacity crowd at the Virginia Theatre. "Roger Ebert literally made my career," Ms. Lemmons told the crowd, saying Ebert wrote a glowing review of "Eve's Bayou" when it showed at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1997.

April 16, 2016