Good buzz lifts Ben Affleck’s ‘Argo’ to No. 1

LOS ANGELES — It took three weeks, but “Argo” finally found its way to the top of the box office. The Warner Bros. thriller from director and star Ben Affleck, inspired by the real-life rescue of six U.S. embassy workers during the 1979 Iranian hostage …

Seth Rogen on road with the ultimate Jewish mother: Barbra Streisand

What holiday gathering is complete without a side dish of familial guilt along with the turkey and cranberries? This Christmas, however, moviegoers can simply hitch a ride with the mother-and-son team of Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen as they hit the road in “The Guilt …

Gerard Butler’s surfing scare: ‘I thought I would die’

Gerard Butler was sure he was going to die. It was a murky day on the Santa Cruz, Calif., set of the surfing movie “Chasing Mavericks” (opening Friday), and Butler had spent eight hours in the freezing waters when he hit a part of the …

Laura Linney plays one of the lonely people in ‘The Details’

Laura Linney pays attention to the details. “I remember a very strange woman who lived in my building when I was a little girl,” says the 48-year-old native New Yorker. “We were all instructed, ‘Don’t go near that lady. She’s strange.’ “I always thought she …

Denzel Washington’s movie ‘Flight’ brings director back to live action

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — South Side native Robert Zemeckis laughed as he was asked about his much-anticipated return to directing live action with “Flight” (opening Friday). “You know,” he said, “considering how much I’ve been asked about it, people must think that I have forgotten …

Jane Lynch likes the look of her animated self

Jane Lynch, Dolton native, is getting all girly on us. As she recalls the first time she saw her ultra-curvy, Barbie-figure, perfectly blonde, cartoon alter ego in “Wreck-It Ralph” and she sighs. “I was at a screening with my wife and I said, ‘I got …

Sex scenes on screen not as fun as they look, actors say

Those who perform in and direct television and movie sex scenes say they’re hell to make. But, adds veteran actor William H. Macy, “that’s what we get paid for, to do intimate things in front of a whole bunch of Teamsters.”

‘Paranormal Activity 4’ paramount at weekend box office

Scary movie fans are still into “Paranormal Activity,” though the horror franchise looks as though it’s starting to run out of steam at the box office. “Paranormal Activity 4” debuted at No. 1 with $30.2 million, a big drop from the $40 million and $50 …

Chicago International Film Festival spins reels but few deals

While Sundance, Cannes and Toronto are busy markets for distributors looking for the next big movie, the Chicago fest sets itself apart by concentrating on art over commerce. It’s “a pure festival,” says Hollywood producer Tom Rosenberg.

John Hawkes faced challenges playing man in iron lung in ‘The Sessions’

When you play a man who can only move his face 90 degrees, it requires nothing more than using your head. “He is a human being. That’s where it starts,” says John Hawkes, who stars in “The Sessions” (opening Friday). In the film based on …

Directors Andy and Lana Wachowski, inside their Chicago matrix, talk ‘Cloud Atlas’

On a tree-lined and mostly residential street in Edgewater, not far from Chicago’s Rosehill cemetery, is the house “The Matrix” built.

Actually, it’s not a house at all, but a former scenery design space that was gutted and reconstructed to the exacting specifications of its …

Complexity of ‘Cloud Atlas’ thrills Tom Hanks

When he was playing Dermot “Duster” Hoggins, Isaac Sachs, Dr. Henry Goose and even more roles in a three-hour movie, Tom Hanks knew “Cloud Atlas” would be a complex project. “I loved that it wasn’t going to be simple for audiences,” he says. “Lord, doesn’t …

Mary Elizabeth Winstead hopes ‘Smashed’ role touches real lives

There are many methods when it comes to playing drunk on the big screen. For the star of “Smashed,” one of them wasn’t opening a bottle of Jack.

“You can’t really get drunk,” laughs actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead. “I do know that actors have done …

Matthew Fox sheds ‘Lost’ nice guy persona to play a serial killer

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — It will take a moment for even the most die-hard fan of ABC’s “Lost” to recognize the scary-thin, massively ripped and totally insane serial killer in “Alex Cross.” But when it kicks in, the realization hits harder than the mixed martial …

Live from New York, it’s the Met with an elixir for moviegoers

When it comes to the Metropolitan Opera’s “Live in HD” series, baritone Mariusz Kwiecien is an old pro. The Met launches its seventh season of live simulcasts to cinemas worldwide with its new production of Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore” (starting at 11:55 a.m. Saturday). It marks the fourth “Live in HD” appearance for Kwiecien, who sings Sgt. Belcore.