Latest news with #MulhollandDrive
New York Times
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Rebekah Del Rio, Mournful Singer of ‘Mulholland Drive' Fame, Dies at 57
Rebekah Del Rio, the virtuosic singer best known for her forlorn Spanish-language rendition of Roy Orbison's 'Crying' in David Lynch's 2001 film 'Mulholland Drive,' died on June 23 at her home in Los Angeles. She was 57. Her death was confirmed by the Los Angeles County medical examiner, who said the cause was under investigation. Ms. Del Rio disclosed in 2018 that a malignant tumor in her brain had been surgically removed. In her final months, she told friends that the cancer had returned. In a career marked by misfortune and tragedy, Ms. Del Rio, a self-taught vocalist, never made it beyond the music industry's revolving door. But her transcendent vibrato found a home in a surreal corner of Hollywood occupied by Mr. Lynch. One day in the mid-1990s, Ms. Del Rio, a young country singer, arrived at Mr. Lynch's Los Angeles home for an introductory meeting arranged by their mutual agent, Brian Loucks. The instructions Mr. Loucks gave her were simple: Show up on time, look cute and be ready to perform 'Llorando,' her a cappella version of Mr. Orbison's 'Crying.' Dressed head to toe in light blue, she sang until Mr. Lynch cut her off halfway through. He ushered her into his home recording studio, where she recorded the song in a single take. 'Ding dang, Rebekah Del Rio, that was aces!' she recalled him saying. That recording would be heard in a pivotal scene in 'Mulholland Drive,' at a fictional nightclub called Club Silencio. Ms. Del Rio, who is introduced as 'La Llorona de Los Angeles,' emerges onstage from behind a velvet curtain wearing a dark red minidress, with smudged mascara and a crystalline teardrop under her right eye. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The 12 Strangest Movies We've Ever Seen
These are the strangest movies we've ever seen — some of which are also among the best movies we've ever seen. Think we forgot one? Let us know in the comments. The strangest thing about Mulholland Drive, arguably David Lynch's best movie, is that it seems almost conventional, at the start. Naomi Watts plays an aspiring actress, Betty Elms, who turns out to be shockingly good. She goes with Rita (Laura Harring), who has amnesia, to look for a woman named Diane Selwyn, because Rita remembers her name. Related Headlines The 12 Most Captivating Prison Movies We've Ever Seen Why We Spent Our Wedding Fund Making Our Horror Movie, Sight Unseen 12 Movies About the Adult Entertainment Industry That Don't Sugarcoat a Thing But soon Watts is playing Diane, And Rita is Camilla. But so is Melissa George. The mafia is involved. Billy Ray Cyrus pops up in the role of Gene. Lynch, who passed last month, always refused to explain what it all means, but the original DVD release did include a card containing 'David Lynch's 10 Clues to Unlocking This Thriller.' Among them: 'Pay particular attention in the beginning of the film: At least two clues are revealed before the credits' and 'Notice appearances of the red lampshade.' It would be easy to fill this list with David Lynch movies, but we're opting to go with the one we like best. At least today. Suffice it to say that almost anything he made — except for The Straight Story — would fit easily on a list of the strangest movies we've ever seen. Riding high off the success of their previous collaboration, the lovely Jerry Maguire, writer-director Cameron Crowe and star Tom Cruise could do almost anything they wanted — and opted to remake the fascinating 1997 Spanish film Abre Los Ojos (which translates as Open Your Eyes), and to do it with one of that film's stars, Penelope Cruz. Both are deliciously bold and strange films, but Vanilla Sky is especially daring, shifting from a complicated romance to serious sci-fi. We don't want to give too much away, but this is a movie that finds room for a visual shoutout to a 1963 Bob Dylan album, a discussion of your favorite Beatle, and a song by one of those Beatles. It's one of the strangest movies, but is also, oddly, a comfort watch. It also features a very good Cameron Diaz and Kurt Russell. Todd Haynes' Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story is a biography of The Carpenters' singer Karen Carpenter, including her tragic 1983 death from heart failure due to complications from anorexia. If that sounds straightforward, it's because we left out a key detail: It's all acted out with Barbie dolls. It was pulled from release after a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Karen's brother and musical partner, Richard Carpenter, who objected to the use of The Carpenters' songs. If you think the film sounds disrespectful, it's not: The film is deeply empathetic toward Karen and admiring of her artistic legacy, and the use of the dolls feels like a commentary on Karen being manipulated and objectified. But Richard and his and Karen's parents are decidedly unlikable in the film, which may explain Richard's objections to Superstar. A very DIY, very microbudget movie about depressed thrill-seekers who seek out the exciting new high of… worms. Director Alex Phillips and a team that includes producer Ben Gojer, who created the film's unsettling creatures, fills the screen with horrible behavior, but uses all the tools of moviedom — the expectation of catharsis, uplifting music — to make us root for people we know we shouldn't be rooting for. It's easily one of the strangest movies we've ever seen, but but also an intoxicating cinematic experiment. No list of the strangest movies we've ever seen would be complete without at least one film by David Cronenberg, the king of body horror whose obsessions are perfectly encapsulated in Videodrome. We have no idea how to explain what happens in this film, released during the rise of home video, expect to say that it fascinatingly anticipates reality TV, the internet, and VR and AR advancements that meld humanity with technology, never more directly than when James Woods' character, Max Renn, inserts a Betamax tape into his torso. We also love Blondie singer Debbie Harry (above) as the mysterious Nikki Brand. The debut film from Boots Riley, leader of the brilliant rap group The Coup, stars LaKeith Stanfield as Cassius 'Cash' Green, a young Black man who starts to excel at his telemarketing job when he begins adopting a white phone voice (a dubbed-in David Cross). None of the above is what makes it one of the strangest movies we've ever seen. Things get weird when Cash starts investigating what is company actually does… and we aren't about to spoil it for you here. Suffice it to say it's one of the wildest twists in any movie. Before he gained much deserved acclaim for films like Carrie, Scarface and The Untouchables, Brian De Palma was best known for scrappy experimental films like Hi Mom and Sisters. The Phantom of the Paradise was an apparent attempt at a commercial breakthrough. But some audiences were weirded out by its garish ambience, and some jaded critics considered it a ho-hum satire of the music industry. In retrospect, it's simply one of the strangest movies we've ever seen — and one of the coolest. Music producer Swan (Paul Williams, who also provides much of the haunting music) makes naive songwriter Winslow Leach (William Finley) sell his soul and his songs so that they can be performed by Swan's pet protege, Phoenix (Jessica Harper). He seeks justice by becoming The Phantom of the Paradise. The atmospherics are incredible — doomed and portentous, without ever veering fully into camp. It's also fun to note that Williams would, just a few years after this, co-write 'The Rainbow Connection' for Kermit the Frog — and to wonder if, considering that De Palma and George Lucas traveled in the same circles, The Phantom influenced Darth Vader. People who think movies are too safe today just aren't watching enough indie movies. This Canadian horror hit, made for about $10,000 in U.S. dollars, features just four actors, and follows the perspective of small children whose parents have disappeared. Then other things disappear, too: windows, doors, a toilet. It tries to make you experience time the way it passes for a child — have seconds gone by? Or years? Demanding your full attention, it's very divisive, to be sure: Many viewers find that the only way to fully appreciate it is in a theater, with others going through the same baffling experience. It's part horror movie, part art exhibit, and one of the strangest movies we've ever seen. What is Donnie Darko about, exactly? Richard Kelly's masterpiece follows Jake Gyllenhaal as a troubled teen haunted by a man named Frank in a rabbit suit — or is it a suit? — who informs him that the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds. With a stacked cast including Jena Malone, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Mary McDonnell, Katharine Ross, Patrick Swayze, and Noah Wyle, Donnie Darko is worth watching just to see who will appear next. But it also works on your psyche, especially when you watch it knowing that it premiered ahead of the Sept. 11 plane attacks. It feels very much like the end of the dream of the '90s. We don't claim to understand it, but we've never doubted its commitment to Sparkle Motion. We love A24's Under the Skin, in which Scarlett Johansson appears to play a mystery woman who seduces lonely men in a dark, dreamy Scotland. But things take an inky, trippy, majestic turn we don't want to ruin. It's also fascinating that the film's director, Jonathan Glazer, went on to make the Oscar-winning The Zone of Interest. We like everything Paul Schrader does, but couldn't be more surprised that he followed up 1980 — a year when he wrote Raging Bull and wrote and directed American Gigolo — with the sensationalist in the best sense Cat People. After opening with a women being sacrificed to a black panther, the film cuts to modern (in 1982) New Orleans, where strange things are afoot at the zoo. Meanwhile the innocent Irena (Nastassja Kinski, above) reunites with her brother Paul (Malcolm McDowell), and a string of cat-adjacent murders. Then things get much stranger from there. You'll never look at your cat the same way again. The newest film on this list stars Vera Drew as a struggling performer who becomes someone called 'Joker the Harlequin' to dismantle the comic tyranny of Batman and Lorne Michaels, who is kind of like the Lorne Michaels who created Saturday Night Live, but different. The film has layers of metaphor — the search for a comic identity parallels Vera's coming out as trans — and it's loaded with inside jokes about Batman, but also about alternative comedy and singer-songwriter Ben Folds. It's very funny, and — here's the unexpected part — igorgeous. Drew enlisted a team of friends to create her own beautiful version of demented Gotham. The parody of Warner Bros. characters drew a legal warning from the studio when it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, but no one would ever mistake The People's Joker for a studio film. It's completely independent and original, and one of the strangest movies we've ever seen, in all the good ways. Thanks for reading our list of the strangest movies we've seen. You might also like this interview with Vera Drew, creator of The People's Joker, or this list of Gen X Icons Gone Too Soon. Main image: Videodrome. Universal Pictures Editor's Note: Corrects main image. Related Headlines The 12 Most Captivating Prison Movies We've Ever Seen Why We Spent Our Wedding Fund Making Our Horror Movie, Sight Unseen 12 Movies About the Adult Entertainment Industry That Don't Sugarcoat a Thing
Economic Times
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Economic Times
NYT Connections Hints Today, June 30, 2025: Time to see answers and tips to solve the puzzle
The New York Times Connections puzzle for June 30, 2025 (Puzzle #750) challenged players with 16 words grouped into four categories. The categories involved dental terms, metaphors, film references, and meanings of 'jet.' Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Hints for NYT Connections Puzzle #750 Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Puzzle Categories for June 30, 2025 Answers for NYT Connections Puzzle #750 Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Today's Word List What is NYT Connections? How to Play NYT Connections? Examine the 4x4 word grid. Identify a group of four words with a common connection. Click on those four words. Hit 'Submit' to check if they form a group. You get four chances per day. Correct groupings disappear with their category color. Solve all four to complete the puzzle. Tips for Solving the Puzzle Start with obvious links. Yellow and green categories often include simple or direct connections. Use the shuffle button. Rearranging the words helps reveal new patterns. Think broadly. Connections might be based on themes, wordplay, or pop culture. Avoid guessing too quickly. Incorrect answers reduce your chances. Watch for similar-sounding or misleading words. FAQs NYT Connections is a word association puzzle created by The New York Times. It challenges players to divide 16 words into four groups of four, based on shared meanings or associations. Puzzle #750 for June 30, 2025, included themes that varied from dental procedures to movie NYT Connections puzzle contains four categories ranked by difficulty. The colors represent the challenge level, starting with yellow (easiest) and ending with purple (hardest). Below are the general hints for today's puzzle:Yellow – Words related to dental proceduresGreen – Expressions used for chaotic or dramatic situationsBlue – Words from the titles of David Lynch filmsPurple – Different meanings associated with the word 'JET'The 16 given words needed to be sorted into these four categories. The categories were:Yellow – Dental AdditionsGreen – Metaphors for a Chaotic EventBlue – Second Words in David Lynch Titles Purple – Meanings of the Word 'JET'1. Dental Additions (Yellow)BRIDGECROWNFILLINGVENEER2. Metaphors for Chaotic Events (Green)CIRCUSROLLER COASTERSOAP OPERAWHIRLWIND3. Second Words in David Lynch Titles (Blue)DRIVE (Mulholland Drive)HIGHWAY (Lost Highway)PEAKS (Twin Peaks)VELVET (Blue Velvet)4. What "JET" Might Refer To (Purple)AIRPLANEBLACK (Jet Black)HOT TUB NOZZLENFL PLAYER (New York Jets)Players were asked to group the following 16 words:AIRPLANE, HIGHWAY, ROLLER COASTER, BRIDGE, VELVET, CROWN, NFL PLAYER, CIRCUS, WHIRLWIND, DRIVE, HOT TUB NOZZLE, FILLING, BLACK, VENEER, SOAP OPERA, PEAKSNYT Connections is a daily word game by The New York Times. The main goal is to organize a 4x4 grid of 16 words into four related groups. Each group shares a hidden connection. These can include synonyms, common phrases, or other thematic category is color-coded:Yellow – Easiest levelGreen – Moderate challengeBlue – Higher complexityPurple – Most challenging or abstractTo play the puzzle, follow these steps:Today's puzzle included dental terms, metaphors for chaos, film title words, and meanings of 'JET.'The purple group required identifying different meanings of 'JET,' such as airplane, color, and a football player.
Los Angeles Times
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Rebekah Del Rio, singer known for moving performance in ‘Mulholland Drive,' dies at 57
Rebekah Del Rio, the singer-songwriter known for bringing her talents to the David Lynch classic 'Mulholland Drive,' has died. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner confirmed Del Rio died in her home but did not disclose a primary cause of death, which is currently listed online as deferred. She was 57. In Lynch's 2001 thriller, Del Rio was the siren of the Club Silencio and introduced as 'La Llorona de Los Angeles.' In front of a red velvet curtain with smudged mascara and a crystal teardrop on her cheek, Del Rio delivered a moving a cappella performance of 'Llorando,' a Spanish-language take of Roy Orbison's 'Crying.' Her voice echoes through the venue, bringing tears to the characters portrayed by stars Naomi Watts and Laura Harring. Del Rio's appearance suddenly ends when she collapses and is carried off stage. Del Rio was one of a handful of musical acts who collaborated with Lynch. The visionary director died in January. He also also worked with 'Twin Peaks' composer Angelo Badalamenti, and singers Julee Cruise and Chrystabell. The last, who starred alongside Lynch in 'Twin Peaks: The Return,' paid tribute to Del Rio on social media. 'The beauty and astonishing power of your voice could actually take my breath away. May your spirit know the deepest peace, may your heart rest,' Chrystabell captioned a still of Del Rio's 'Mulholland Drive' cameo. 'Thank you for the kindness and care you showed me, it is written on my heart.' In addition to 'Mulholland Drive,' Del Rio appeared in Lynch's 'Twin Peaks: The Return' as a musical guest and performed her dreamy rock ballad 'No Stars.' Her screen credits also include films 'This Teacher,' '2307: Winter's Dream,' 'Southland Tales' and 'Rabbits,' according to IMDb. Prior to working with Lynch, Del Rio gained popularity in the Netherlands during the mid-1990s for the title track of her debut album 'Nobody's Angel.' She briefly moved to Nashville to take her music career to the next level — she was signed to Giant Records — but a car accident got in the way of those ambitions. 'Some man crashed into me and basically stole my opportunity, and I saw my own dream die,' she recalled to the Guardian in a 2022 interview. She continued to pursue music, counting Il Divo, producer Heather Holley and composer Danny Elfman among her collaborators. Her discography includes her 2011 album 'Love Hurts Love Heals,' a cover of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' and her 2021 single 'Adios.' Weeks before her death, Del Rio performed at a charity event for the Philosophical Research Society. Del Rio is preceded in death by her son Phillip, who died of cancer in 2009.
Yahoo
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lalo Schifrin, Composer of ‘Mission: Impossible' Theme, Dead at 93
Lalo Schifrin, the Oscar-nominated and Grammy-winning composer behind the 'Theme From Mission: Impossible,' has died at the age of 93. The composer's son Ryan confirmed his father's death to the Associated Press, adding that Schifrin died Thursday due to complications from pneumonia at his home in Los Angeles. More from Rolling Stone Rebekah Del Rio, 'Mulholland Drive' Singer of 'Llorando,' Dead at 57 Bobby Sherman, Teen Music and Television Star, Dead at 81 Patrick Walden, Babyshambles Guitarist, Dead at 46 The Buenos Aires, Argentina-born Schifrin, the son of an orchestral violinist, had an early start in music, training on the piano at the age of six. However, upon entering college, Schifrin opted to study law, but his musical roots ultimately took hold. 'While advancing with my law studies, I was also studying music on the side, only as a hobby. And I had a very good teacher, who is probably the most important South American composer—Juan Carlos Paz. He's known among avant-garde circles all over the world, because he's the one who introduced twelve–tone music and the serial techniques in Argentina,' Schifrin told Jazz Professional in 1967. 'All of a sudden, the French Embassy in Buenos Aires offered a scholarship to the Conservatoire of Music. I went for the examination and won the scholarship. That meant that I abandoned my plans for a law career, and I decided to go to Europe.' In Paris, Schifrin became immersed in jazz music, as many of the greats of the time — Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson — would regularly perform during his time there. Upon returning to Argentina, Schifrin joined one of the country's first jazz orchestras, where he drew the attention of a visiting jazz legend, Dizzy Gillespie. Schifrin, who at that time was already scoring Argentinean films, eventually joined Gillespie's band. 'I stayed with Dizzy about three years,' he said. 'In addition to writing many things for the small group, I rearranged his band book for a type of orchestra with no saxophones in it—only brass,' compositions that formed Gillespie's 1960 LP Gillespian, and resulted in Schifrin's first Grammy nomination (for Best Original Jazz Composition). Schifrin moved to New York and worked alongside Gillespie from 1960 to 1963. (Schifrin and Gillespie would reunite for 1977's Free Ride.) However, dissatisfied with the traveling involved with being in a jazz group, Schifrin signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer, moved to Los Angeles, and scored his first American film, 1964's Rhino! Two years later, Schifrin created his most popular work, the theme from the American spy series Mission: Impossible,' which — the composer frequently admitted — he wrote in just three minutes, and without first seeing any footage from the series or even reading a script. All Schifrin had to go on was producers' idea for an opening credits' burning fuse, which gave the theme its original title, 'Burning Fuse.' (Morse Code of the series' initials, M:I, would also form the theme's 5/4 signature.) 'Television, in those days, people were in the kitchen having a soft drink, and all of the sudden in the living room, the TV set is playing the theme of a new show,' Schifrin said, adding that the 'inviting, exciting' theme was like a lure. Like the series itself, 'Theme From Mission: Impossible' was a hit, landing on the Billboard Hot 100 and earning Schifrin a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Theme; the song would also be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. (Decades later, the TV show would also eventually become a billion-dollar Tom Cruise film franchise, and though it updated Schifrin's theme, the composer did not contribute musically to any of the reboot's installments.) Over the course of his career, Schifrin would score over 200 films and television shows, and while some would lean on his jazz background — like his work on the 1968 Steve McQueen classic Bullitt and his Oscar-nominated score for Cool Hand Luke, notably its famed 'Tar Sequence' — Schifrin would adapt musically to fit the project, like his experimental work on George Lucas' sci-fi flick THX-1138 and his terrifying score for The Amityville Horror; the composer was infamously recruited to originally score The Exorcist, but upon delivering a portion of his music, the studio and director William Friedkin deemed the shrieking score too scary for even the film and rejected. 'I look for unusual sounds—but never as gimmicks. I like always to make them functional, organic parts of the music,' Schifrin told Jazz Professional. 'It can be percussion, it can be bizarre or exotic instruments, or it can be electronic instruments—but I look for that musical quality, that can be combined, and be organic to the film, to the orchestra and to the music.' Other notable Schifrin scores include Dirty Harry and its sequel Magnum Force, 1973's Charley Varrick, the Bruce Lee kung fu classic Enter the Dragon, Brubaker, the Rush Hour trilogy, Carlos Saura's Tango, the Ringo Starr-starring Caveman and more. 'I've used something in the periphery of jazz myself—not really jazz, but some jazz–orientated scores, like Bullitt, the picture with Steve McQueen. And a little bit of jazz in certain other movies,' Schifrin said. 'But jazz doesn't need anything to be seen, while film–making is made up of many components. There are the dramatic, the visual and the audio elements: they have to be all integrated, and be part of the one thing.' Despite winning a handful of Grammys, the Academy Award remained elusive: Schifrin was nominated for Best Original Score six times — for Cool Hand Luke, The Fox, Voyage of the Damned, The Amityville Horror, The Competition and The Sting II — but never won an Oscar. However, the Academy celebrated Schifrin's career with an honorary Oscar in 2019. 'I love music. To me there is no labels,' Schifrin said in 1969. 'I don't believe in rock n' roll or classical or jazz. I believe that there is good music and bad music.' Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked
