Godfather

He was known as the "godfather of soul," among other titles, but James Brown, the legendary singer and showman who died Christmas day at the age of 73, was more than a soul or rhythm and blues artist. He was an edgy, flashy performer with crossover appeal and extensive musical influence. Mr. Brown's start was in gospel, after a stint in reform school. His music was defined by pulsing beats and high-powered rhythms. Some of his hits offered timely messages, such as "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud"; others, like "I Got You (I Feel Good)

As details surrounding the murder conspiracy of prominent Howard County blogger Dennis Lane came to light Friday, some members of the robust and wide-reaching local blogosphere Lane helped cultivate took to their keyboards to honor their forefather; who wrote under the ephitet "Wordbones. " Lane, 58, was found stabbed to death inside his Ellicott City home early Friday morning. Charged in connection with the crime are Lane's 14-year-old daugher Morgan Lane Arnold and her boyfriend Jason Anthony Bulmer, 19, who Howard County Police said plotted for two months to commit the gruesome murder.

HOLLYWOOD -- All the magazine editors who took a leap of faith by featuring stars from "The Godfather, Part III" on their November and December covers can relax: Paramount Pictures will release "Godfather III" on Christmas Day after all."Godfather III" stars Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, Diane Keaton as his estranged wife, Talia Shire as his sister and Andy Garcia as an illegitimate Corleone.

Joseph "Zastrow" Simms, known as a colorful and compassionate community activist who helped bridge racial and social gaps in Annapolis from as far back as the turbulent 1960s, died Monday. Simms' niece Stacey Gaskin said Simms died of congestive heart failure, one month shy of his 79th birthday. He had been in home hospice care at her Arnold residence, she said. Simms grew up in Annapolis in the 1930s and 1940s, when the state capital was separated along racial lines, but became popular throughout the city because of his athletic prowess at Bates High School.

One of the greatest films of all time gets an airing tonight and tomorrow night in two parts on USA.Francis Ford Coppola was pretty much an unknown when he was chosen to direct "The Godfather" (9 p.m.-11 p.m. both nights). So were stars Al Pacino, James Caan and Robert Duvall. And Marlon Brando, chosen to play Don Corleone, was a has-been. All that changed when the film became not only a critical favorite, but a box-office smash.Coppola's film presents the saga as not just the story of an American family, but of an American myth: Don Corleone as a Lear surrounded by men with guns.

When I was first asked to be Sarah's godfather, I was completely baffled."It's supposed to be an honor," Sarah's mother, Karen, told me on the phone. "It's a great privilege."It was a privilege, however, that I knew nothing about.Is it like in the movie? I asked."What movie?" Karen said."The Godfather," I said. Where Marlon Brando plays Vito Corleone and Sonny gets shot at the toll booth and Michael becomes The Godfather and Luca Brazzi sleeps with the fishes."Maybe we'll ask our second choice," Karen said.

HOLLYWOOD -- In the 1972 film ``Play It Again, Sam,'' Woody Allen's nebbish hero was so obsessed with Humphrey Bogart in ``Casablanca'' that he enlisted the ghost of the legendary '40s tough guy to coach him on how to impress girls.``Casablanca'' and Bogey may have been the role models for Allen's generation, but as director Nora Ephron cleverly illustrates in her latest film, ``You've Got Mail,'' which stars Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, it's Francis Ford Coppola's Oscar-winning 1972 classic ``The Godfather'' that's become the ultimate guy's movie.

Starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall / Directed by Francis Ford Coppola / Paramount / $69.99 (blu-ray, $124.99) dvds One of the greatest, most influential and most popular movies of all time, as well as its equally audacious sequel, get the red-carpet treatment, thanks to a couple years of hard work from film restoration expert Robert Harris. The result is stunning, with a depth of colors that hasn't been seen in more than 30 years. Fans of The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II will revel in the films' newfound glory.

John Franklin Kiser Jr., a Baltimore native and retired cinematographer whose film career included work on "The Godfather," died Oct. 2 of cancer at his Accomac, Va. farm. He was 64.Reared in Roland Park, Mr. Kiser attended St. Paul's School for Boys and West Nottingham Academy in Rising Sun. He later attended the Maryland Institute, College of Art.His career as a cameraman began with the 1966 Joanne Woodward and Sean Connery film, "A Fine Madness." He later worked on "Paint Your Wagon," "Camelot," "Ice Station Zebra" and "The Fisher King," as well as "The Godfather."

In its every frame, "Sugar Hill" yearns to be a crime classic, a melancholy elegy on the theme of the gangster who wants out.It's built around an exquisitely controlled performance by Wesley Snipes as Roemello Skuggs, the brilliant son of a Harlem junkie who opted out of a prep school to take over and make a success of the family business, which happens to be selling narcotics.You may have some trouble with a story that demands that you perceive a big-time dope dealer as a tragic figure, and invites you to invest in his soul-deep sadness, and further insists that you connect with his need to get away with his considerable millions to live a life of luxury on a plantation in South Carolina.

Baltimore is one city where crowds come out in the heat of the night to take in open-air movies. In mid-July last year, when the thermometer was hitting 95 in the day and stalling in the 80s past midnight, fun-seekers swarmed to Federal Hill to watch (what else?) "Some Like It Hot. " A month later, when it was 89 in the day and 80 throughout the evening, Baltimoreans in search of a Mediterranean getaway turned up in Little Italy for "Nine. " Even when Charm City itself isn't charming, its outdoor summer film festivals are, largely because of their block-party feeling.

It's been a tough month for music fans, and the bad news hasn't slowed down. On Wednesday, we lost the Godfather of Go-Go and D.C. legend Chuck Brown to complications from sepsis. He was 75. Naturally, his loss was felt particularly hard in the Baltimore and D.C. areas. Local writer Al Shipley tweeted , "[O]n the drive home I heard Chuck Brown music on 5 different radio stations, including a Baltimore station and a rock station. " Read the Washington Post obituary by Chris Richards here . And today, Donna Summer lost her battle with cancer.

Chuck Brown will turn 75 this August. It's a benchmark the so-called Godfather of Go-Go never thought he would hit. He has been making music now for nearly 50 years. He has even outlived younger contemporaries, like poet and performer Gil Scott-Heron, who recently died. "I'm just glad The Good Man let me live this long. I didn't expect that. I expected to make it to 50," he said. But despite his age, Brown doesn't intend to quit. The past year, in fact, has seen Brown at his most productive.

When Sid Meier and a partner launched the video game design firm MicroProse in the early 1980s, the industry was still in its infancy. Today, Meier is widely regarded as the "godfather" of computer gaming. Based in Hunt Valley, MicroProse grew over the years to become a beacon to computer geeks who wanted to be part of the growing market of video games on personal computers. More than two decades later, Meier, 56, is still designing video games — his most famous is Civilization, a virtual empire-building game — for another company he helped found, Firaxis Games, in Hunt Valley.

Watching the marvelous comedy-drama "The Kids Are All Right," you feel as if the co-writer-director, Lisa Cholodenko, had all the time and money in the world. She brings good vibrations to the growing pains of a warm, complex couple (lesbian moms, played by Annette Bening and Julianne Moore), their smart, intuitive children (Josh Hutcherson and Mia Wasikowska), and an unconventional man (Mark Ruffalo) — the couple's sperm donor — who befriends their family. Cholodenko's film is, among other things, a great Los Angeles movie, exuding promise and possibility.

This July 4th weekend the AFI Silver theater in Silver Spring hosts the brilliantly restored editions of "The Godfather" and "The Godfather Part II." In this dual masterpiece, director Francis Ford Coppola turns patriotic cliches on their head. But these movies are an apt cause for celebration on Independence Day. They epitomize American artists' freedom and vitality. The first speech we hear is an aggrieved Italian-American father, saying, "I believe in America. America has made my fortune."

HOLLYWOOD -- Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather Part III" opened Tuesday with a Christmas Day record.The long-awaited sequel had ticket sales of approximately $6.3 million on 1,800 screens, for a per-screen-average of $3,461.At press time, based on the film's single-day performance, it tied for third place in the top 10.Ticket sales of $6.3 million are a high figure for a day that is not traditionally a big movie-going day, but not as high as some industry sources were expecting when weighed against the level of anticipation and the enormous amount of publicity that accompanied the film's release.

Rutherford, Calif. It is a crisp and windy afternoon in late November, exactly a month before the long-awaited opening of "The Godfather Part III" in 1,800 theaters across the country, and the director Francis Ford Coppola is rushing to complete the movie he hopes will restore his reputation, his autonomy and his finances.As he strolls into the garage cum commissary of the Napa Valley estate and vineyard where he lives and works, a team of film editors who have been mixing the sound are already eating lunch and loudly discussing the work that lies ahead of them.

Che Part One and Che Part Two are being presented together these days as a four-and-a-quarter-hour presentation about the rise and fall of the godfather of exportable revolution in the mid-20th century. The title and length suggest a biographical epic, but it's neither biographical nor epic. It's as if the director, Steven Soderbergh, wanted to take tissue samples of Ernesto "Che" Guevara's political life. Part One focuses on the Argentinian doctor joining Fidel Castro's Cuban revolutionary brigade in 1955 and rising to become Castro's right-hand man. Part Two centers on 1967, when he waged a futile and fatal attempt to stage a Marxist rebellion in Bolivia that would fan outward to all of Latin America.

Series America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back: : John Walsh updates viewers on the capture of Sarah Pender, who was on the Top Ten Fugitives of 2008 list. (9 p.m., WBFF-Channel 45) Specials Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown: : Charlie Brown wants to be remembered on Valentine's Day and would really like a greeting from the Little Red-Haired Girl. (8 p.m., WMAR-Channel 2) Movies Divorce American Style: : When bickering about alimony reaches a fevered pitch, well-to-do suburbanites (Dick Van Dyke, Debbie Reynolds)