In part 2 of the Eyes Wide Shut story, the movie is finally unveiled, and critics are divided on its... more

At the peak of their careers, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman left Hollywood for two years to collaborate with legendary... more

If Adrian Lyne’s Lolita became a case study of what Hollywood and America didn’t want to acknowledge about its sexualization of young... more

In the previous decade, Adrian Lyne had made two movies (Fatal Attraction and Indecent Proposal) that had grossed over $100... more

One of the most notorious – and least seen – erotic narrative films of the 90s, Boxing Helena was the misbegotten passion... more

One of the only high-profile NC-17 releases post-Showgirls, David Cronenberg’s Crash was the kind of dark adult art film that the rating... more

At the beginning of the 90s, lesbians were a punchline for a male-gaze-oriented media, an easy target for expressing the... more

In Glitter & Might, a new series exploring the intersection of show business and politics, bestselling author Shawn Levy unpacks... more

Joe Eszterhas’s tenure as the hottest screenwriter in town ended with two notorious 1995 flops: the NC-17 rated Showgirls (directed,... more

The 90s were obsessed with what magazine writer Tad Friend would describe as “do me feminism” – and the attendant... more

Sharon Stone and Joe Eszterhas’s post-Basic Instinct reunion film was one of the most troubled productions of the 90s. A... more

Are men okay? Several films from 1993 answered that question with a resounding no. One of the highest grossing movies... more

In the early 90s, Madonna was the biggest pop star in the world, and she used – and in the... more

While the MPAA’s confusing and hypocritical ratings decisions were leaving filmmakers flummoxed in the early 90s, cable TV was opening... more

Culture in the 90s was obsessed with the sex lives of teenagers. This is a theme we will come back... more

In the early 90s, one of the biggest scripted shows on TV was Murphy Brown, starring 40-something Candice Bergen as... more

One of the biggest hits of 1992, Basic Instinct was sold as Michael Douglas’s return to Fatal Attraction territory, but... more

In the five years after the release of Fatal Attraction, Hollywood scrambled to make one movie after another about homes... more

One of the most controversial movies of the 1990s, Thelma & Louise pushed every hot button of the new decade:... more

Hosted by Flea, founding member and bassist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, This Little Light is a podcast about... more

An enigmatic sex symbol dating back to the 70s, Theresa Russell made a play for Hollywood stardom in the late... more

The first blockbuster about sex of the 90s, Pretty Woman both reinvigorated Richard Gere’s career, and turned Julia Roberts into... more

Erotic 80s began with a prologue about the short lived heyday of the X rating, pornography, and feminism. Erotic 90s... more

American independent film is launched into the mainstream by Steven Soderbergh’s sex, lies and videotape, starring James Spader as an... more

The 1988 baseball blockbuster Bull Durham confirms Kevin Costner as the ultimate squeaky-clean, all-American heartthrob, building on a sexual persona... more

The erotic thriller goes commercially mainstream with Fatal Attraction, a film which starts a national conversation about whether or not... more

Billed as the hottest Hollywood film since Last Tango, 9 ½ Weeks was considered to have missed the mark by... more

Just as the AIDS-related death of Rock Hudson was finally forcing straight people – and Hollywood – to acknowledge that... more

In a time of bombastic blockbusters (and Reagan’s re-election), two auteurs defy the norms by releases violent films about sexual... more

While the music video was still in its infancy as a cultural phenomenon, two films were released that were accused... more

1982 saw the release of three hit high school-set comedies about sex: Porky’s, The Last American Virgin and Fast Times... more

The New Hollywood directors of the late 1960s and 70s were the first generation of Hollywood filmmakers to grow up... more

One of the most aesthetically influential movies of the ‘80s, Paul Schrader’s American Gigolo sets a template for much of... more

The sleeper hit of late 1979 was Blake Edwards’s sex farce 10, a comedic vivisection of a male midlife crisis,... more

In 1968, the Production Code gave way to the ratings system, and the brief legitimacy of the X-rated movie. Today... more

Desperate to be seen as cool and not a relic of an earlier age in 70s America, Sammy gets into... more

In the mid-1960s, 47 year-old Dean Martin proves he's still got it by knocking the Beatles off the top of... more

Released in 1965, Sammy Davis Jr.'s autobiography became an instant classic, one of the most dynamic celebrity memoirs ever published... more

In the early 40s, both Dean and Sammy idolized Frank Sinatra. 20 years later, they became Sinatra’s cohorts in the... more

After the breakup of Martin and Lewis, Dino has to figure out how to stand on his own as a... more