News

As the format continues to gain traction, here’s our regularly-updated list of upcoming 4K Ultra HD disc releases in the UK.

Sitting alongside our list of upcoming DVD and Blu-ray releases (that you can find here), we’re also keeping a calendar for those who support the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc format. As we learn of new UK releases, we’ll add them to this list.

We have started adding shopping links too. We’d be obliged if you clicked on them, as it really helps us in our quest to make the Film Stories project of magazines, website and podcast profitable. We’re a 100% independent publisher, and we quite like drinking coffee. It’d be lovely to afford some more.

Without further ado, here are the titles we know about…

Out now

14th October: Twister (Steelbook)

14th October: Twisters

14th October: Furiosa (Steelbook)

14th October: I Walked...

Amy Grant and Trisha Yearwood will help ring in the holidays again as returning hosts of ABC’s CMA Country Christmas. The 15th annual edition of the holiday special was filmed in Nashville and will air on Tuesday, December 3, 2024 at 8pm Et/Pt.

In addition to announcing the hosts, ABC and the Country Music Association confirmed the list of Country music superstars set to take the stage during the holiday special. Cody Johnson, for King + Country, Carin León, Ashley McBryde, Jon Pardi, Brittney Spencer, and CeCe Winans will perform, as will hosts Grant and Yearwood.

ABC announced the following musical performances of classic Christmas songs:

Amy Grant and Trisha Yearwood – “Sing Your Praise To The Lord” and “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” Amy Grant – “Tennessee Christmas” Trisha Yearwood – A medley of festive Christmas songs for King + Country with Carin León – “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” Cody Johnson – “White Christmas...

Jin of BTS officially made his solo debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon with a performance of “Running Wild,” the focus track from his freshly released album, Happy. The vocalist also sat down for a chat about his busy 2024, and even made time to generously teach Jimmy how to deliver one of his dance challenges. Watch both segments below.

Jin opted for a fringe green jacket for the live staging of the rock-inspired track, and later ponted to Coldplay and Chris Martin as a personal inspiration when it was time to join Jimmy for the interview. The chat also dug into Jin’s bandmates welcoming him back to civilian life during the completion of his military service this summer, where BTS leader Rm marked the occasion with a spontaneous saxophone performance.

“At that time, it was very hectic, because it was immediately after my discharge,” Jin explained, looking...

Disney’s TV special for Epcot Center's opening may have looked great, but behind the scenes, it was a nightmare!

Looking back at television in the early 1980s is an interesting experience. Cable TV was in its infancy, VCRs were barely used, and the overall tone was more conservative in many ways. It was also pretty old school as networks relied on tried and true stuff like the old variety show aspects and musical specials.

Disney had used that well for years as their TV specials were always unique, mixing in original songs with some fun stars. By the 1980s, they were working with Smith-Hemion, which is well known for some award-winning variety specials featuring stars such as Frank Sinatra, Barbara Streisand, Elvis, Bette Middler, and more. They could be silly and cheesy yet fun to watch. The company was also behind the now-infamous Star Wars Holiday Special.

One of...

Kathryn Crosby, the actor, singer and widow of Bing Crosby, died Friday evening of natural causes at her home in Hillsborough, Calif. She was 90.

A representative for the Crosby family announced the news.

Crosby starred in more than 20 films over the course of her career, including “The Wild Party” (1956), “Operation Mad Ball” (1957), “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad” (1958) and “Anatomy of a Murder” (1959). She typically performed under the stage names Kathryn Grant and Kathryn Grandstaff.

Crosby appeared frequently on her husband Bing’s “Merrie Olde Christmas” specials and hosted “The Kathryn Crosby Show,” a 30-minute talk show based in San Francisco. Following the death of the famed singer and actor at the age of 74 in 1977, she performed in several stage productions such as the 1996 Broadway revival of “State Fair.” She also hosted the charitable Crosby National Golf Tournament in Bermuda Run, N.C., for many years.

Kathryn Crosby was born Olive Kathryn Grandstaff on Nov.

Kathryn Crosby, who starred in such films as Operation Mad Ball, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Anatomy of a Murder before she curtailed her acting career as the wife of Hollywood legend Bing Crosby, has died. She was 90.

Crosby died peacefully at her home in Hillsborough, California, surrounded by her family, according to a family spokesperson.

Billed under her stage name, Kathryn Grant, the Houston native made five features for famed film noir director Phil Karlson, including Tight Spot (1955), The Phenix City Story (1955) and The Brothers Rico (1957).

She also played the younger sister of Martha Hyer’s character in another film noir, the Blake Edwards-directed Mister Cory (1957), starring Tony Curtis, and portrayed a budding trapeze artist in The Big Circus (1959), starring Victor Mature.

Soon after wrapping production in Spain with her turn as the damsel in distress Princess Parisa in the Ray Harryhausen fantasy The 7th Voyage of Sinbad...

Santa Claus isn't the only one coming to town this Christmas! Sabrina Carpenter will be joining jolly old Saint Nick this holiday season by delivering a special gift of her own. On Sept. 19, Netflix officially announced some exciting news about the pop star that had been rumored for a couple weeks: She's debuting her first Netflix Christmas special this December!

A Nonsense Christmas with Sabrina Carpenter makes its premiere on Friday, Dec. 6 at 9 p.m. Et and 6 p.m. Pt. The special will stream (not live) exclusively on Netflix and feature the singer performing holiday songs from her 2023 Christmas EP titled Fruitcake. According to Netflix, the special promises "show-stopping music performances, comedic guests, unexpected duets, plus many more surprises and fun cameos." Start making your predictions for duets and cameos now!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Netflix US (@netflix)

A Nonsense Christmas, refers to Carpenter's Christmas...

Some fictional characters are so intrinsically tied to the people who portrayed them that it's nearly impossible to picture anyone else in that role. Columbo, the disheveled detective who helped take down the bad guys on TV over three decades on the series of the same name, just couldn't be anyone but Peter Falk. That's like suggesting someone other than Alan Alda play the television version of Hawkeye on "M.A.S.H."! Dressed in an eternally-wrinkled, too-big trenchcoat and always chomping on a cigar, Falk brings both a unique appearance and performance to the character, looking and acting unlike any other cop on TV. Without Falk, "Columbo" may never have been successful, and it certainly wouldn't have been the same. Back when the series was first being developed, however, the people in charge had some very different performers in mind.

"Columbo" was created by writers Richard Levinson and William Link, who first...

Horror Afraid leads the new titles at the UK and Ireland box office this weekend, launching in 450 locations for Sony.

Directed by Chris Weitz, Afraid stars John Cho and Katherine Waterston as devoted parents who get selected to try a new smart home AI device. The device quickly becomes overprotective of the family and begins interfering in their lives.

It is the latest feature from horror juggernaut Blumhouse, this year’s titles of which include Imaginary (£2m) and Night Swim (£1.4m). The film will have stiff competition from Disney’s fellow horror Alien: Romulus which was up to £8.8m at the end of last weekend.

Brady Corbet, the director of “The Brutalist,” is still trying to figure out the best way to deliver the print for his film to the Venice Film Festival, where it will debut next month. That’s because the epic 215-minute story of a Holocaust survivor forging a new life in America will be shown in 70mm, which means that all 26 reels of film will need to travel in four Pelican cases from Los Angeles to Italy, weighing in at approximately 300 pounds.

“We may have to buy a couple of plane tickets,” he said, shortly after Venice unveiled its lineup. “We have to figure out the best way to get it through customs in order to hand deliver it in time.”

But Corbet has been resisting the digital tide for years, having shot his two previous films, “Vox Lux” and “The Childhood of a Leader,” on celluloid. That’s become something...

Film critic Andrew Sarris changed his profession forever when he introduced, to English-speaking cinephiles at least, the concept of “auteur theory.” The general conceit is that some rarified directors are so gifted, or commanding, in their control over the process of film production that they alone can give a film a “personal or unique stamp.” They are the ones who become the author of the movie you’re watching. If anyone. It’s a seductive theory which encourages the critic to look for points of narrative, visual, or thematic similarity between a filmmaker’s work. The more ideas or images that rhyme, the potentially more impressive the auteur’s command over the medium becomes.

However, while it is hard to dispute the existence of auteurs, the concept at times devalues the contributions of a film’s many other collaborators—especially if they’re, say, editors, production designers, or cinematographers a...

Emma Roberts comes from a famous show business family. But on Tuesday’s Table for Two podcast, she said she thinks men from similar backgrounds have it easier. Case in point: George Clooney.

“I always joke, ‘Why is no one calling out George Clooney for being a nepo baby? [His aunt] Rosemary Clooney was an icon.'”

Clooney’s aunt is best known as a major star of the 1940s and 1950s. She was a singer and actress who appeared alongside Bing Crosby in White Christmas. She also acted in an episode of ER with George.

Despite the comment, Roberts said she doesn’t think anyone should be punished for their family connections. After all, there are no guarantees, and talent ultimately determines the path.

Richard Curtis brought Christmas cheer to an unseasonably drizzly day at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on Tuesday as he presented his first animated feature That Christmas in a Work in Progress session.

“I really adore Christmas. Whenever I’m kind of thinking of stories, that’s the first place that my mind goes to,” the screenwriter and director told the audience of animation professionals and students.

Having made one of the definitive Christmas movies of all time with live action hit Love Actually, the Bridget Jones Diary and Notting Hill rom-com king has his sights on realizing a similar achievement in animation.

His Netflix-backed animation debut is directed by How To Train Your Dragon animator Simon Otto and produced by Nicole P. Hearon and Adam Tandy For Locksmith Animation.

“It’s the best time of the year,...

Other than making records, what do Green Day, the Notorious B.I.G., classic crooners Perry Como and Johnny Mathis, Latin music giant Héctor Lavoe, and the late Bill Withers have in common? Not much, until today: Works by all those musicians, and over a dozen more, were announced as the latest additions to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.

Signed off on by then-president Bill Clinton in 2000, the Registry has aimed to collect recordings —musical performances, speeches, and other audio — deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically important.” The first...

Anne Whitfield has sadly passed away at the age of 85.

The actress was best known for her role as Susan Waverly in the classic holiday film White Christmas, which just celebrated its 70th anniversary.

Keep reading to find out more…

Anne “passed away on February 15, 2024, surrounded by family at Valley Memorial Hospital after suffering an unexpected accident while on a walk in her neighborhood,” according to her obituary.

The obit added, “Through the kindness of neighbors who provided expert medical support, family had the gift to say goodbye and express love and gratitude, a gift we will always cherish.”

After her breakout role at age 15 in White Christmas, Anne starred mostly on television shows for the remainder of her acting career. Her other credits include The Six Million Dollar Man, The Donna Reed Show, and The Untouchables.

We’re sending our thoughts and condolences to Anne‘s loved ones during this difficult time.

Anne Whitfield, who appeared at age 15 in the 1954 Hollywood Christmas chestnut White Christmas and went on to a prolific career in episodic TV throughout the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, died February 15 at a hospital in Yakima, Washington. She was 85.

The actor, whose TV credits stretch from I Married Joan and Father Knows Best through The Six Million Dollar Man and Adam-12, suffered what her family describes as an “unexpected accident” during a walk in her neighborhood.

“Through the kindness of neighbors who provided expert medical support, family had the gift to say goodbye and express love and gratitude, a gift we will always cherish,” her family said.

Born August 27, 1938, in Oxford, Mississippi, Whitfield was four years old when she moved to Hollywood with her mother Frances Turner Whitfield, who served as the aspiring child performer’s agent and acting coach. By age 7 Whitfield was appearing on such radio series as...

Anne Whitfield, who appeared in the beloved holiday classic White Christmas and on dozens of TV shows, from Father Knows Best, 77 Sunset Strip and Perry Mason to That Girl, Ironside and Emergency!, has died. She was 85.

Whitfield died Feb. 7 at a hospital in Yakima, Washington, after suffering an “unexpected accident” while on a walk in her neighborhood, family members announced.

“She was a powerhouse in life, and we hope her immense positive energy flows out to those who had the pleasure of knowing her,” they wrote.

Whitfield was 15 and had done lots of acting on the radio when she was cast as Susan Waverly, the granddaughter of Dean Jagger’s Major Gen. Thomas F. Waverly — “The Old Man” — in the Michael Curtiz-directed Paramount musical White Christmas (1954). The film starred Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen.

She got to watch White Christmas with her family on the...

New York’s Tectonic Theater Project and its founding artistic director Moisés Kaufman are speaking out against a recent decision by a Texas high school board to cancel a student production of Tectonic’s widely performed The Laramie Project.

The 2000 play, which was adapted as a feature film in 2002, is about the reaction to the 1998 murder of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming.

“When the administration of the Timber Creek High School cancels a production of The Laramie Project, it’s telling the LGBTQ students that their stories are unwelcome, that they should refrain from speaking their truth and that that community is not willing to listen,” Kaufman said in the statement. “This is a terrible thing to do to any minority.

“The Laramie Project has been performed in thousands of universities and high schools around the world,” he continues. “The only logical reason to censor...

For so many reasons, George Lucas' 1977 "Star Wars" is a revolutionary film. Like any game-changer, some of the ways in which "Star Wars" re-shaped the cinematic landscape couldn't have been predicted; its ushering in a huge wave of big budget sci-fi/fantasy films, its one-two punch with "Jaws" establishing the summer blockbuster, its use of Joseph Campbell-inspired myth making shaping the way so many screenplays would be written for the next few decades, and so on.

However, some of the innovations created by "Star Wars" were very visible while it was being made, none more so than by Lucas himself. In addition to gathering together a cadre of visual-effects pioneers and wizards who could make his vision a reality on screen (a coterie later dubbed Industrial Light & Magic), Lucas faced the problem of making sure their work could be seen in its best light, literally. As Paul Hirsch, one of...

Pictured: Hulk, The Mummy, The Karate Kid, Kung-Fu Panda

A New Year means lots of removals from Netflix and January 1st is looking busy, with over 100 movies set to leave the service already. Below, we’ll be keeping track of all the Netflix departures for the first month of 2024.

First, a few housekeeping notes as to how Netflix removals work before we dive in. Due to licensing agreements, shows and movies added to Netflix aren’t added forever. Instead, they’re essentially rented for a fixed period. All the shows below have their current window on Netflix ending and will likely be bound for a rival streaming service.

We list titles slightly differently from other outlets, with our listings being the actual day of removal. If you want to watch any titles scheduled to expire on January 1st, for example, you’ll need to watch by the end of December 31st.

Oh, we are just up to our ass in this debate again, John? Even 35 years after its release, 1988’s Die Hard is as cited around the holiday season as often as Home Alone and A Christmas Story. And that comes down to two sides: you either watch it every year or you argue why it’s not a Christmas movie. As it turns out, co-writer Steven E. de Souza is at least in support of those in the former camp.

Posting on social media over this holiday weekend, de Souza stated (with tongue in cheek?) that not only is Die Hard unequivocally a Christmas movie, it’s even more so than the one where Bing Crosby tap dances with Danny f*ckin’ Kaye. ““White Christmas” is universally acknowledged as a benchmark Christmas movie, so empirical evidence proves “Die Hard” is even *more* Christmas-y.”

For starters, Die Hard takes place entirely during the Christmas holiday – chiefly,...

The holiday song “White Christmas” is one of the most unforgettable songs of the holiday season. Bing Crosby made it iconic, but did he ever get sick of singing “White Christmas?”

Bing Crosby made ‘White Christmas’ a hit in 1942, but did he get sick of singing it?

The song “White Christmas” was made famous by Bing Crosby in the 1942 Christmas movie Holiday Inn. The “White Christmas” song was adapted twelve years later into a full-length film starring Crosby and Danny Kaye.

The song and film became Crosby’s calling card, despite many other hits synonymous with the singer throughout his career. But in a 1977 interview with Barbara Walters, Crosby revealed his real feelings about the holiday hit.

Walters asked Crosby, “Are you sick of ‘White Christmas?'” He replied, “No, no, I could never be sick of it. I just fear that people will be sick of it.”

Subsequently, Crosby...

Social media users recently marveled that last month marked 20 years since three modern Christmas favorites — New Line’s Elf, Universal’s Love Actually and Miramax’s Bad Santa — all hit theaters within weeks of each other. Two decades later, you don’t need to feel like a cotton-headed ninny-muggins if you’re among those wondering why studios don’t release holiday theatrical offerings in the way they once did.

Although most Christmas films don’t tend to follow the path of, say, 1990’s Home Alone, which topped the domestic box office for a whopping 12 straight weeks, they had typically been a staple of the release calendar, with a handful of titles hitting theaters annually, as recently as the late 2010s. That list includes such 2016 theatrical offerings as Almost Christmas, Bad Santa 2, Office Christmas Party and Why Him?, followed by 2017’s Daddy’s Home 2, A Bad Moms Christmas and animated...

"I can't tell you how good it is... to have all of under the same roof again." Someone over at The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS) really loves mashups. This video plays like one of their montages during the Academy Awards show every year, but this one won't be airing during the broadcast in March. The Academy debuted a short "Happy Holidays from The Academy" mashup video on their YouTube featuring a medley of holiday classics. Aside from all the regulars, they've also got some oddball ones like Christmas with the Kranks, Jingle All the Way, Krampus, and The War With Grandpa. Plus classics like White Christmas, The Apartment, Meet Me in St Louis, and It's a Wonderful Life. It's just a nice celebration of the magic of the movies and how they are connected with the holiday spirit and holiday season. Christmas is just around the corner!

Paul King’s origin musical starring Timothee Chalamet opened in over 700 locations

RankFilm (distributor)Three-day grossTotal gross to dateWeek 1. Wonka (Warner Bros) £8.9m £8.9m 1 2. Wish (Disney) £1.1m £5.8m 3 3. The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes (Lionsgate) £960,535 £14.8m 4 4. Napoleon (Sony) £950,261 £11.4m 3 5. Saltburn (Amazon/Warner Bros) £417,477 £4.1m 4

Audiences feasted on Warner Bros’ Wonka at the UK and Ireland box office this weekend as the family musical debuted with a sweet £8.9m.

Paul King’s chocolatier origin story opened in 701 venues, making for a solid £12,693 location average. It is one of the stronger openings of the year, narrowly beating out Universal’s Super Mario Bros: The Movie...

Dan Stevens as Charles Dickens and Christopher Plummer as Ebenezer Scrooge in ‘The Man Who Invented Christmas’ (Photo by Kerry Brown / Bleecker Street)

Once again, the holidays – or is it holidaze? – are upon us, bringing with it a flurry of Christmas movies.

You have your endless parade of cartoons, specials, Christmas-themed episodes of your favorite TV shows, bad holiday comedies (1996’s Jingle All the Way and 2007’s Fred Claus come to mind), and Christmas-set horror movies (1984’s Gremlins). Then there’s the cheesy yet feel-good Lifetime and Hallmark films. And how can we forget the 24-hour marathon of 1983’s A Christmas Story (celebrating its 40th anniversary this year), beginning on Christmas Eve and ending on Christmas Day?

If those don’t do it for you, maybe these lists of Christmas movies will.

Classic Christmas Movies

You can’t go wrong with these classics, which can lighten the hearts of even the most ardent cynics.

(Clockwise from bottom left:) White Christmas (Paramount/Getty Images), Klaus (Netflix), The Christmas Chronicles (Netflix), Falling For Christmas (Netflix) Graphic: The A.V. Club What makes a classic holiday film? Browsing Netflix’s options, it seems a malleable term; 1954’s White Christmas is as classic as they come, but what...

(Clockwise from bottom left:) White Christmas (Paramount/Getty Images), Klaus (Netflix), The Christmas Chronicles (Netflix), Falling For Christmas (Netflix)Graphic: The A.V. Club

What makes a classic holiday film? Browsing Netflix’s options, it seems a malleable term; 1954’s White Christmas is as classic as they come, but what...

’The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes’ ,‘Wish’ and ’André Rieu’s White Christmas’ also secured top five spots.

Rank Film (distributor) Three-day gross Total gross to date Week 1. Napoleon (Sony) £1.9m £9.3m 2 2. The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes (Lionsgate) £1.7m £13m 3 3. Wish (Disney) £1.4m £4.4m 2 4. Renaissance: A Film By Beyonce (Trafalgar Releasing) £1.1m £1.1m 1 5. André Rieu’s White Christmas (Piece Of Magic Entertainment) £1m £1m 1

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.27

Holdovers and concert films dominated the top of the UK-Ireland box office this weekend, led by Ridley Scott’s Napoleon, alongside strong debuts from...

Renaissance: A Film By Beyonce debuts in 568 cinemas while André Rieu’s White Christmas is the widest opener.

Concert films and anniversary screenings dominate the UK and Ireland box office this weekend as Renaissance: A Film By Beyonce opens in 568 cinemas for Trafalgar Releasing.

It is not quite as many locations as Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour which debuted in 651 venues back in October. Swift’s film opened on £5.7m and broke the record for the highest-grossing concert film in the UK, currently standing at around £12m.

Renaissance is directed and produced by Beyonce, through her company Parkwood Entertainment, and...

Renaissance: A Film By Beyonce debuts in 568 cinemas while André Rieu’s White Christmas is the widest opener.

Concert films and anniversary screenings dominate the UK and Ireland box office this weekend as Renaissance: A Film By Beyonce opens in 568 cinemas for Trafalgar Releasing.

It is not quite as many locations as Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour which debuted in 651 venues back in October. Swift’s film opened on £5.7m and broke the record for the highest-grossing concert film in the UK, currently standing at around £12m.

Renaissance is directed and produced by Beyonce, through her company Parkwood Entertainment, and...

“Jingle bells.” “White Christmas.” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” For his latest concert special, the legendary Barry Manilow doesn’t write all the songs that make the whole world sing — but he performs the heck out of these holiday standards. At 80, the crooner-composer is still going strong with a steady Las Vegas gig, a cover of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” the new Broadway musical Harmony, and now A Very Barry Christmas. Manilow gives us a peek. What’s the Very Barry scoop? Barry Manilow: What I like most is that I figured out how to put in a handful of my hits with all the Christmas songs I’ve recorded over the years. (Credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images) Which hits? I did a whole batch of them: “Mandy,” “Weekend in New England,” “Looks Like We Made It,” “I Write the Songs” and “Copacabana.” What’s...

It’s not just about those repeats of A Christmas Story on TNT anymore.

Multiple linear channels and streamers are getting into the holiday spirit this month and next by dropping original Christmas movies, as well as old favorites and one-off holiday specials. As usual, Hallmark has wall-to-wall flicks planned until the end of the month, but Great American Family, Lifetime and BET have their own original slates as well to help ring in the new year.

And if the classics are all that you are looking for, there are still airings of It’s a Wonderful Life, Elf, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Home Alone, The Santa Cause, The Wizard of Oz and Miracle on 34th Street scheduled for the boomers and Gen Xers.

And yes, on the big days, several channels have do have marathon programming events.

Check it all out below.

November 9

Christmas Angel (BET)

November 10

Everything Christmas...

While Thanksgiving is still a few weeks away, Kelly Clarkson delivered some holiday tunes to the Kellyoke stage on Friday. Singing “Love, You Didn’t Do Right By Me,” the host paid tribute to Rosemary Clooney, who sang the song in the 1954 film White Christmas.

“My one love affair didn’t get anywhere from the start/To send me a Joe who had winter and snow in his heart wasn’t smart,” sings Clarkson in the rendition. “Love you didn’t do right by me/As they say in the song,...

AMC and AMC+ have more than 650 hours of holiday programming planned for this year’s “Best Christmas Ever” lineup kicking off on November 26 and running through December 26, 2023. The lineup includes classic Christmas films, including Miracle on 34th Street, White Christmas, Elf, and Christmas Vacation. For those who like to celebrate their winter holidays with a serving of horror, Shudder’s offering a new Joe Bob’s Creepy Christmas Special and the original film The Sacrifice Game.

This year’s “Best Christmas Ever” schedule also features Christmas with the Campbells, The Apology, and marathons of John Candy, Reese Witherspoon, and Bill Murray films.

Best Christmas Ever 2023:

The Sacrifice Game – Debuts December 8 on Shudder and AMC+

It’s bad enough that boarding school students Samantha and Clara can’t go home for the holidays, but things take a deadly turn when a murderous gang arrives at their doorstep – just in time for Christmas.

NBC is celebrating the holidays with an evening of a music legend’s hits and some favorites perfect for the festive season. The network has announced Barry Manilow’s A Very Barry Christmas will premiere on Monday, December 11 at 10/9c. (It will be available to stream the next day on Peacock.) The special will be filmed at Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino, where he performs his hit show, “Manilow: Las Vegas – The Hits Come Home!” The evening, with a Vegas-size backdrop and the legend’s renowned 24-piece band, will feature the best of Barry Manilow‘s greatest hits, including “Copacabana,” “Mandy,” “I Write the Songs,” and “Looks Like We Made It,” as well as several holiday favorites such as “Jingle Bells,” “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer,” “Feliz Navidad,” and “White Christmas.” Santa himself may appear. “I love doing our Christmas show! We get to sing my pop hits and favorite Christmas songs,...

Barry Manilow will star in his own Christmas special this holiday season on NBC.

“Barry Manilow’s A Very Barry Christmas,” which will premiere Monday, Dec. 11 at 10 p.m. Et/Pt on NBC, will take fans along as the music legend performs his greatest hits, including “Copacabana,” “Mandy,” “I Write Songs” and “”Looks Like We Made It.”

Filmed at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino, where Manilow performs his Las Vegas show, the special will also feature classic holiday songs, from “Jingle Bells” and “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer” to “Feliz Navidad” and “White Christmas.” The Christmas special will stream on Peacock beginning Dec. 12, day after its NBC broadcast.

“I love doing our Christmas show!” Manilow said in a statement. “We get to sing my pop hits and my favorite Christmas songs. It’s a feel-good hour full of music.”

Releasing 13 No. 1 hits during his seven-decade career, the performer,...

Tyrannical and brilliant, director Michael Curtiz created film legends out of mere stars, and turned movies into myth. Here are some of his greatest films.

When movie enthusiasts think of legendary director Michael Curtiz, the first thing that pops into their mind is Casablanca (1942), consistently named to, and occasionally topping, lists of the greatest films of all time. Although if we’re being honest, most people think of it as a Humphrey Bogart movie. The same could be said of Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). These are known for their stars, James Cagney, and Errol Flynn, the latter of whom Curtiz put on the map with Captain Blood (1935). In the director’s hands, actors and characters merged into a mythology which exceeded mere signature roles, becoming universal symbols.

Curtiz worked in the motion picture business from its infancy, but began in the theater, graduating Budapest’s...

Wonka director Paul King has compared star Timothée Chalamet’s singing voice to Bing Crosby, whose version of “White Christmas” remains the best-selling single of all time.

King shared his effusive praise for Chalamet, who portrays a young Willy Wonka in the film, in an interview with Total Film Magazine. “[Chalamet]’s got a beautiful singing voice,” he said. “The person it reminded me of was Bing Crosby. There’s quite a range, because it does go from a couple of bigger, showstopper-y sort of things, to moments of real, pure emotion and he can do it all… I’m going to sound like a crazed fan.”

Though it sounds like there are big musical moments in the film, King is reluctant to label it as a proper musical. “The Oompa Loompas sing a lot in the book, and Dahl always uses poetry,” he said. “But I didn’t want it...

Timothée Chalamet’s “Wonka” director Paul King recently told Total Film magazine that his singing voice in the upcoming Warner Bros. family adventure is “beautiful” and reminiscent of Bing Crosby, whose rendition of “White Christmas” remains the world’s best-selling single of all time with over 100 million sales. Chalamet is playing a younger version of the eponymous chocolatier in the film, which follows Willy Wonka as he attempts to open up his first chocolate shop.

“[Chalamet]’s got a beautiful singing voice,” King said. “The person it reminded me of was Bing Crosby. There’s quite a range, because it does go from a couple of bigger, showstopper-y sort of things, to moments of real, pure emotion and he can do it all… I’m going to sound like a crazed fan.”

Although Chalamet has several musical numbers in the film, King prefers not to describe “Wonka” as a “musical.”

“The...

Tl;Dr:

John Lennon said one of his No. 1 songs just came to him. He said it would have sounded clichéd except “now clichés are not clichés anymore.” The tune sounds more like a 1950s Elvis Presley rock ‘n’ roll song than a traditional pop Crosby song.

One of John Lennon‘s No. 1 songs was inspired by Bing Crosby. In addition, it’s a lot more tender than other solo John songs. John revealed what he felt about soft-hearted tunes.

John Lennon wrote 1 of his No. 1 songs when he was in Bermuda

The book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono features an interview from 1980. In it, John was asked to start talking about his song “(Just Like) Starting Over.”

“Appropriate enough,” he said. “Á la Bing Crosby. Well, ‘Starting Over’ and ‘Cleanup Time’ were sorta written on the run after I’d...

Every time a new season of “Black Mirror” debuts, viewers everywhere stop what they’re doing and start feverishly debating which episode was their favorite. (Wars have been started over less.) Emmy voters gave three consecutive Best TV Movie awards to “San Junipero” (2017), “USS Callister” (2018) and “Bandersnatch” (2019), but what does the entire fandom think are the show’s best and worst installments ever? We’ve consulted the cumulative IMDb rankings for all seasons and come up with the definitive list of “Black Mirror” episodes ranked by fans. Can You guess their #1 choice? (Scroll through our photo gallery above or click here for direct access.)

Season 6 was released in June 2023 and brought the total number of episodes and specials to 28. Created by Charlie Brooker, the sci-fi anthology series began on the UK’s Channel 4 in 2011 before moving to Netflix (and becoming a worldwide phenomenon) in 2016. The show took a four-year...

Every time a new season of “Black Mirror” debuts, viewers everywhere stop what they’re doing and start feverishly debating which episode was their favorite. (Wars have been started over less.) Emmy voters gave three consecutive Best TV Movie awards to “San Junipero” (2017), “USS Callister” (2018) and “Bandersnatch” (2019), but what does the entire fandom think are the show’s best and worst installments ever? We’ve consulted the cumulative IMDb rankings for all seasons and come up with the definitive list of “Black Mirror” episodes ranked by fans. Can You guess their #1 choice?

Season 6 was released in June 2023 and brought the total number of episodes and specials to 28. Created by Charlie Brooker, the sci-fi anthology series began on the UK’s Channel 4 in 2011 before moving to Netflix (and becoming a worldwide phenomenon) in 2016. The show took a four-year break after Season 5, thanks in part to the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, but...

Just a few minutes into the first episode of season six of "Black Mirror," titled "Joan Is Awful," the titular character - played by Annie Murphy - walks into a bar to meet her ex-boyfriend. Softly in the background, music plays, the singer crooning, "You can blame me, try to shame me." The song isn't really important to the scene, or even the overall episode plot, but eagle-eared fans of the long-running technology-is-terrifying series from Charlie Brooker certainly may recognize it.

The track in question is a 1964 song performed by Irma Thomas, originally written by Jeannie Seely and Randy Newman (of "Toy Story"–tune fame) and called "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)." It is also a favorite of the "Black Mirror" team: "Joan Is Awful" is the sixth episode of the series that the song has appeared in - it pops up once a season.

Viewers first...

NBC’s Emmy juggernaut Saturday Night Live entered a pair of episodes for the production design award this season, one hosted by Only Murders in the Building‘s Steve Martin and Martin Short and one hosted by Wednesday star Jenna Ortega.

A nomination, or nominations, would extend the remarkable track record of Eugene Lee, who died in February at age 83 after serving as a production designer on SNL since its 1975 pilot. He has been nominated 17 times for the show, and a posthumous award would give him a seventh Emmy win for the sketch series.

“I was very honored to work with Eugene Lee for 47 years,” says fellow production designer Leo Yoshimura. “Eugene hired me to be his art director on Saturday Night Live in August 1975. I overstayed. I will miss his consummate passion for design. But it is comforting to know that I will still be able to work in Eugene Lee’s television studio.

Warning: spoilers for season 6 of “Black Mirror”.

Upon “Black Mirror”‘s epic return after a four-year hiatus, fans have already spotted numerous Easter eggs from previous seasons in each of the five new episodes.

The mind-bending anthology series — that reveals humanity’s worst traits, greatest innovations, and more — released its sixth season today, and it’s full of new and cryptic surprises, whether in outer space or an alternate reality.

Read More: Annie Murphy Says She And ‘Black Mirror’ Co-Star Salma Hayek Are Desperate To Star In A Buddy Comedy Together: ‘Please, We’re Begging You!’

While filming the new season last September, series creator, Charlie Brooker, said he “always felt that ‘Black Mirror’ should feature stories that are entirely distinct from one another, and keep surprising people — and myself — or else what’s the point?”

Despite season 6’s more frightening approach, Brooker still managed to connect the “Black Mirror...

Considering how controversial the first, pig-centric episode of "Black Mirror" is, fans of the dystopian anthology show often debate amongst themselves the best episode for introducing new viewers to the series. Do you go with an easygoing crowd-pleaser like "San Junipero," to make sure the viewer won't be scared off? Or do you go for a dark, twisted episode like "Shut Up And Dance," which will make the viewer want to take a shower afterward? It's a tough question. You don't want the show to come on too strong, but "Black Mirror" is an inherently abrasive show. Half the time, it seems like dread and nausea are its two main goals.

That's why "White Bear" might be the best introductory episode. It starts off as a story about an apocalypse where some sort of zombie virus has infected people through their phones, which is exactly the sort of plotline you'd...

You probably know more about Ronald Reagan from U.S. History than Film Studies. Make no mistake. Before Reagan ever ran for office, he was an actor. The 40th U.S. president started his entertainment career as "Dutch" Reagan, a radio sports announcer in Des Moines, Iowa. Reagan honed his storytelling chops by recreating Chicago Cubs games with nothing but a slip sent to him by telegraph. The 26-year-old dreamed of big-screen stardom, so he joined the Cubs for spring training in Southern California — to snag a screen test with Warner Brothers. The WB studio suits liked what they saw, and film actor Ronald Reagan was born.

While Reagan had a better Hollywood career than most, he never became a bonafide movie star. Throughout Reagan's political career, opponents and detractors slandered him as a "B-movie actor." However, Reagan was a B-movie actor. No, he wasn't starring in the 1940s equivalent...

On a stormy Monday night in New York City, a girl in a massive pink ballgown appears at the top of a spiral staircase. “Hi everyone!” she calls as the audience below her erupts into ecstatic applause. Her friends fill in dozens of rows, her father is front and center. For the next hour and change, she will sing, dance, cry, have multiple costume changes, and be held by a family that has chosen her again and again. It’s not her wedding. Or her birthday. The girl is trans-TikTok...

What do the 55th annual Academy Awards which took place April 11, 1983 have in common with the upcoming 95th Oscars?

Steven Spielberg and John Williams.

Back in 1983, Spielberg’s beloved “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” was nominated for nine Academy Awards including film, director and score. This year, the 76-year-old Spielberg and Williams, 91, are both nominated for “The Fabelmans.” The filmmaker’s semi-autobiographical drama is in contention for eight Academy Awards including film, director, screenplay and score.

The 55th Oscars made history with Ben Kingsley becoming the first actor of Indian descent to win the best actor Oscar for his extraordinary portrayal of “Gandhi” while Louis Gossett Jr. become the first black actor to win in the supporting category with his iconic turn as tough-nosed D.I. in “An Officer and a Gentleman.” This year, history could be made again in the best actress category. Malaysian Chinese performer Michelle Yeoh has the chance...