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In morose moments, and I'll admit to having a few, I sometimes stare at a framed illustration on my work desk. Entitled "HOLLYWOOD 1988," it is a whimsical map of the motion picture business as it existed back then. The concept and a lot of the sight gags were mine; but Nancy Ohanion was the artist who…

UPDATED with statement: Los Angeles Times columnist Ben Bolch, who came under widespread fire for a column about the LSU-UCLA Women’s NCAA tournament matchup in which he called the Lady Tigers "dirty debutantes" and called them "villains," while calling the Bruins "milk and cookies," has…

The Los Angeles Times came weather-wrapped Thursday morning. There was more plastic than paper, or so it seemed. There wasn't even enough paper, apparently, to run a proper obituary for Chuck Philips, the Pulitzer Prize-winning former Times reporter who died last month. Details about Chuck's passing…

One of the nation's top film critics, Justin Chang, is leaving the beleaguered Los Angeles Times, taking his fluid prose and winning personality to The New Yorker. Chang previously worked for years at Variety, from 2004 to 2016, when he moved to the LA Times. He starts his new position on Feb…

"Sequels suck, whether you're making them or watching them." So said one storied filmmaker in rejecting a rich movie deal (details below), and he'd likely react the same if offered Biden vs. Trump. The New Hampshire primary results this week reinforced…

UPDATE: The layoffs of more than 20% of the Los Angeles Times newsroom elicited sharp criticism from the guild, saying that it was handled in a “brutal and inhumane way.” “The Times chose long planned mass layoffs via a webinar in which staff members weren’t allowed so much as a question,” the guild…

UPDATED, 11:42 AM: Two more top editors have resigned from the Los Angeles Times ahead of a new round of planned layoffs. Managing Editors Sara Yasin and Shani O. Hilton have exited less than two weeks after executive editor Kevin Merida resigned from the paper. The moves come as Times journalists on…

UPDATED, 1:07 PM: Los Angeles Times journalists today conducted the first newsroom union work stoppage in the 142-year history of the newspaper, one day after management disclosed that substantial layoffs could be coming amid a widening budget deficit. “The changes to our contract that management…

The staff of Los Angeles Times won a Pulitzer Prize on Monday for its stories that uncovered recordings in which City Council members made racist remarks. The recordings last year set off a furor at City Hall, leading to the resignation of City Council President Nury Martinez and other civic official…

A defiant Sheriff Alex Villanueva today used a news conference to blast a variety of his opponents both political and perceived, including election challenger Eli Vera, county Inspector General Max Huntsman and Los Angeles Times reporter Alene Tchekmedyian, who broke an explosive story of an altercation involving the…

Sheila Benson, who was chief film critic for the Los Angeles Times from 1981-1991, died February 23 in Seattle. She was 91. A gregarious enthusiast who always hoped for the best when the lights went down, Benson came from a family with strong ties to the film industry. She was born in New York City, where her father…

Every once in a long while, I manage to have an encounter with the film producer Albert S. Ruddy. It's always—what? Funny? Fascinating? Enlightening? Unexpected? I think I'll go with amazing. It's certainly amazing to see Al Ruddy, at the age of 91, credited as a producer of Cry Macho, which is set for release by…