Chicago filmmaker found pleasure in making movie about vibrators

“Hysteria” director Tanya Wexler learned the trade from half-sister Daryl Hannah and uncle Haskell Wexler.

New on DVD: In stores next week

‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ ★★★★

(2011, R, 111 min.) Tilda Swinton gives a raw and courageous performance as a woman whose psychopathic son has driven her over the edge. Kevin (Ezra Miller, as a child, and Jasper Newell) hates her and knows exactly …

‘Transformers 3’ extra receives $18.5 million settlement in accident

An $18.5 million settlement has been reached in the case of a movie extra who was left permanently brain-impaired by an accident during the filming in northwest Indiana of “Transformers 3.”

Brad Pitt says his new movie doesn’t knock Obama

The crime movie is set during the 2008 financial meltdown and show Obama speeches, but don’t call it “cynical.”

In new movie, Hugh Dancy gives off good vibrations

Hugh Dancy knows he’s in a film with a lot of buzz. “I don’t see us crushing [the upcoming sci-fi epic] ‘Prometheus,’ but I do think there’s room for a movie about the invention of the vibrator,” he says of starring in “Hysteria” (opening Friday). …

Powerful ‘Avengers’ sinks ‘Battleship’ at the box office

LOS ANGELES — “The Avengers” continues to muscle out everything else Hollywood throws at it, easily sinking naval rival “Battleship” and other new releases. With $55.1 million domestically, Disney’s superhero sensation remained No. 1 for a third-straight weekend and took in more than newcomers “Battleship,” …

Will Smith betting on ‘Black’ after four-year hiatus

LOS ANGELES — Will Smith has been quietly absent from the big screen since 2008. Why? He’s been building a family empire. Wife Jada’s TV show “HawthoRNe.” Daughter Willow’s hit single “Whip My Hair.” Son Jaden’s “Karate Kid” remake. “Oh man, I go back to …

Cameron Diaz ‘expects’ gore

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Cameron Diaz says childbirth makes her a bit queasy. “I saw my sister give birth at age 25, and she said, ‘I won’t have this baby unless you’re in the room with me. And they did a C-section!” exclaims Diaz, the …

Aspiring talent takes bows in ‘First Position’

The judges who appear briefly in Bess Kargman’s deeply moving documentary, “First Position,” are engaged in making career-defining decisions about hundreds of aspiring dancers, ages 8 through 19, who compete for much-coveted scholarships and jobs in the annual Youth America Grand Prix. For this contest, …

TV, film ‘Dark Shadows’ casts unite on big screen

We were too scared to sit by ourselves. On hot summer afternoons in the late 1960s, my sister Paula and I would descend into our cool, dark, Kansas basement and turn on the TV.

Josh Brolin channels Tommy Lee

Trying to find his inner Tommy Lee Jones for “Men in Black 3” wasn’t easy for Josh Brolin. He had to play a younger version of Agent K when Will Smith’s Agent J travels back in time to save his friend’s life. “I did watch …

Morgan Spurlock’s quest to be ‘Mansome’

Morgan Spurlock has days when he wonders if he’s “mansome” enough. “Brad Pitt has made it hard on men,” gripes the documentary director. “Brad never ages. He dresses great. He gets crazy with his hair and he can do no wrong. Then we have Johnny …

Troubled by warfare, Lebanese director puts her views on film

Lebanese director Nadine Labaki had an especially fertile imagination while working on her most recent project. “I learned I was pregnant with my first child when I was doing this movie,” she says. “I found you really want to share your point of view as …

Spurlock’s ‘Mansome’ tackles a hairy topic

‘Arrested Development” alums and good buddies Jason Bateman and Will Arnett are facing each other while luxuriating in a spa tub that’s compact enough to have you wondering how exactly they’re positioning their legs.

 The topic of discussion: what it means to be a man. …

New on DVD: In stores next week

‘RED TAILS’ ★★½

(Fox, 2012; PG-13, 108 min.) An air action movie inspired by the Tuskegee Airmen, the famed black fighter pilots whose skill and heroism were demonstrated in crucial U.S. bombing runs over Germany. Produced by George Lucas, whose enthusiasm about aerial dogfights is …