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Emmy Rossum, Dove Cameron, Nicole Scherzinger and Chloe Fineman sat in the front row of the Carolina Herrera fashion show during New York Fashion Week in Manhattan.

Wes Gordon took over as creative director of the company from Herrera when she retired. Herrera attended the event with her family.

Models strutted down the runway embellished with 3,000 burgundy wine-colored flowers while Gordon’s handpicked assortment of songs played in the background, which included Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams.”

The backdrop was a gorgeous, 360-degree view of New York City through floor-to-ceiling windows on the 48th floor.

For his 2025 collection, Gordon pushed the envelope with 66 daring looks including a tweed ultrafeminine mini dress and a tailored trouser.

There were delicate floral lace sets along with a series of embroidered sheer gowns. Several of the looks were accessorized with gold buttons, earrings or rose adornments. Gordon’s inspiration for the collection was his favorite film and book,...

Comedy films are an unexpected, but surprisingly effective source of heartfelt stories that succeed in getting audiences to cry. What's considered funny varies from person to person, but finding a narrative that pulls on audiences' heartstrings is a bit easier to narrow down. Displaying a great deal of comedic moments, certain films within the genre are also able to touch on heartfelt themes of friendship and family, eliciting tears from audiences in the process.

The number of tears shed by audiences isn't consistent with every tear-jerking comedy, as seen in the differing reactions to a film like Meet the Parents versus The Big Sick. In addition to tearful narratives about the connection between loved ones, other comedies earn an emotional response from audiences with their harsh commentary on society, as seen in movies like Don't Look Up and Being There. Though several comedy films are successful in getting audiences to let out a hearty laugh,...

Getting a film made is far easier said than done. That's why most Hollywood movies are based on pre-existing material -- both to try and speed up the process of generating a story itself, and to have some assurance that there's an audience for the story. This mentality has led to truly original movies becoming something of a rarity. Truth is, Hollywood has always looked to existing IP (intellectual property).What's new about today's situation is that the IP they're generally tapping tends to be of a short-form or experiential variety: either remakes, reboots, and legacy sequels to older movies, or TV shows, comic books, and video games.

In the early decades of cinema, however, the main source for adaptations was literature. Where comics, games, TV and other movies are all visual mediums and come pre-loaded with their own imagery, books are a covenant between the author and reader's imagination,...

Some audiences might have first spotted Matt Damon during a notable dinner scene in Donald Petrie's hit 1988 drama "Mystic Pizza." Thereafter, Damon turned up as an extra in "Field of Dreams" and as one of the many handsome students in the 1992 boarding school thriller "School Ties," both of them with his longtime friend and collaborator Ben Affleck. Damon went on to score some considerable screen time in Edward Zwick's "Courage Under Fire" before delivering his first lead performance in 1997 in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Rainmaker." That same year, Damon and Affleck became acclaimed Academy darlings for writing and starring in Gus Van Sant's "Good Will Hunting." The pair won Oscars for their screenplay and have both been major Hollywood players since.

Damon, having gained the clout to be picky and the fame to be noticed, thereafter became attracted to projects by established directors. After having alreayd...

On Tuesday 8 October 2024, BBC One broadcasts Doctors!

Being There Season 24 Episode 254 Episode Summary

The upcoming episode of “Doctors,” titled “Being There,” promises to bring a mix of emotions and challenges for the characters. Set to air on BBC One, this episode focuses on three main storylines that intertwine the lives of the staff at the medical practice.

In this episode, Luca takes a bold step that pushes boundaries. His actions could lead to unexpected consequences, raising questions about his motivations and the impact on those around him. This new level of involvement might change how others perceive him and could lead to important decisions for his future.

Meanwhile, Holly finds herself in need of support. She turns to Scarlett for help, suggesting that their friendship will be tested. The dynamics between the two could reveal deeper layers to their relationship, highlighting the importance of teamwork and trust in challenging times.

With his long hair, sunglasses and bellbottoms, Hal Ashby was the epitome of the 1970s flower child, even though he was a decade older than most of the filmmakers working at the time. Though his flame burned brightly and briefly, he left behind a series of classics that signified the nose-thumbing, countercultural attitude of the era, with a bit of humanism and heart thrown in for good measure. Let’s take a look back at all 12 of his films, ranked worst to best.

Born on September 2, 1929 in Utah, Ashby ambled around before becoming an apprentice editor for Robert Swink, working for Hollywood legends William Wyler and George Stevens. He moved up the ranks to become an editor for Norman Jewison, with whom he shared a fraternal and professional relationship. They cut five films together, including “The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!” (1966), which earned him his first Oscar nomination,...

September 8 marks the birthday of actor and comic legend Peter Sellers. The British star had achieved acclaim on the stage, in recordings and most famously on the radio, particularly for the “The Goon Show,” the popular comedy series regularly heard on the BBC.

However, it was in film where Sellers achieved his greatest worldwide success. He was nominated for his first Academy Award in 1959 for co-writing and producing the live-action short “The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film.” Sellers also received two other Oscar nominations, as Best Actor for 1964’s “Dr. Strangelove” (from Stanley Kubrick) as well as for 1979’s “Being There” (from Hal Ashby).

Sellers won the Best Actor Golden Globe for “Being There” and was nominated on five other occasions, including three times for “The Pink Panther” series (from Blake Edwards) in which he portrayed bumbling Inspector Jacques Clouseau, the role for which he will likely be best remembered.

Election season is in the air and Turner Classic Movies is here to celebrate. Starting on September 6 and continuing every Friday up until this year’s general election, TCM will be running a nine-week limited series entitled “Making Change: The Most Significant Political Films of All Time.” This cinematic showcase is inspired by The New Republic rankings released in June 2023 and includes selections such as “All the King’s Men,” “Germany, Year Zero,” and “High and Low.”

To introduce the upcoming series, TCM host Ben Mankiewicz took to Washington D.C. for a trailer highlighting some of the films featured, as well as special guests like Stacey Abrams, Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, and John Turturro.

“I grew up here in Washington D.C.,” Mankiewicz said, the Capitol Building behind him. “My father’s life was politics — capital P politics. Though I went in a different direction, I understood at an early age,...

In the run-up to Election Day, TCM is going after the movie lovers’ popular vote by showing 50 films over nine successive Fridays under the banner Making Change: The Most Significant Political Films of All Time.

The series runs Sept. 6 to Nov. 1 — four days before America votes for its next president — and features TCM host Ben Mankiewicz in conversation with the likes of Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Lee Grant, Sally Field, Andy Garcia, Melissa Etheridge, John Turturro, Bill Maher, Alexander Payne, Diane Lane, Josh Mankiewicz, Barry Levinson, Maureen Dowd, Stacey Abrams and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

Watch the trailer here.

Making Change showcases half of the movies unveiled by The New Republic in the rankings it released in June 2023. The films on TCM span the years 1915 to 2016 (from D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation to Raoul Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro); the whole thing kicks off with the No.

With nearly 1,700 titles in their catalog, it’s hard to discern where exactly to start when exploring the Criterion Collection. To celebrate their 40th anniversary, the company has now made it a bit easier as they’ve unveiled CC40, a 40-film, 49-disc collection retailing for around $640 that is now the new go-to gift for that budding cinephile in your life.

“This monumental forty-film box set celebrates forty years of the Criterion Collection by gathering an electrifying mix of classic and contemporary films, and presenting them with all their special features and essays in a deluxe clothbound, slipcased edition,” they note. “CC40’s eclectic selection includes the releases most frequently chosen by the hundreds of filmmakers, actors, writers, and other movie-loving luminaries who have visited Criterion over the years, as documented in our popular Closet Picks video series. Neither a historical survey nor a top-forty compilation, this exciting, personal, unpredictable anthology...

101 Films presents gruesome exploitation shocker Mansion Of The Doomed (1976), available in the UK for the very first time. This limited-edition release includes a brand-new documentary on producer Charles Band’s Full Moon Features, an interview with editor Harry Keramidas, artwork from the original UK ‘video nasty’ release and a booklet featuring brand new essays on the film.

Seized and confiscated under the Obscene Publications Act in the UK during the Video Nasty panic of the 1980s, Mansion Of The Doomed (aka The Eyes of Doctor Chaney & House of Blood and known variously as The Terror of Doctor Chaney and Massacre Mansion in the UK) was the first horror film from Charles Band’s Full Moon Features, the legendary B-movie studio that endeavoured to create low-budget horror, sci-fi, and fantasy films while retaining a somewhat “big-budget” feel, which led to the creation of cult classics like Trancers, Puppet Master and Demonic Toys.

Shirley MacLaine is the Oscar-winning performer who has made dozens of movies in her 60-plus year career, but how many of those titles remain classics? Let’s take a look back at 20 of her greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1934, MacLaine is the older sister of Warren Beatty, proving that acting talent must run in the family. She made her screen debut with Alfred Hitchcock‘s “The Trouble with Harry” (1955) when she was just 21 years old. Her first Oscar nomination came three years later: Best Actress for “Some Came Running” (1958).

MacLaine would compete four more times at the Oscars unsuccessfully: three for Best Actress, once for Best Documentary Feature (“The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir” in 1975). She finally struck gold with James L. Brooks‘ comedic drama “Terms of Endearment” (1983), playing a controlling mother who clashes with her free-spirited daughter (Debra Winger). Their rivalry extended to the awards race,...

If Criterion24/7 hasn’t completely colonized your attention every time you open the Channel––this is to say: if you’re stronger than me––their May lineup may be of interest. First and foremost I’m happy to see a Michael Roemer triple-feature: his superlative Nothing But a Man, arriving in a Criterion Edition, and the recently rediscovered The Plot Against Harry and Vengeance is Mine, three distinct features that suggest a long-lost voice of American movies. Meanwhile, Nobuhiko Obayashi’s Antiwar Trilogy four by Sara Driver, and a wide collection from Ayoka Chenzira fill out the auteurist sets.

Series-wise, a highlight of 1999 goes beyond the well-established canon with films like Trick and Bye Bye Africa, while of course including Sofia Coppola, Michael Mann, Scorsese, and Claire Denis. Films starring Shirley Maclaine, a study of 1960s paranoia, and Columbia’s “golden era” (read: 1950-1961) are curated; meanwhile, The Breaking Ice,...

Robert Downey Jr. looks to have Best Supporting Actor locked up after he swept the precursors for his sterling turn in Christopher Nolan‘s “Oppenheimer.” But while Downey Jr. would be more than a deserving winner for his phenomenal performance, the Oscars always throws up a surprise or two on the actual night. Could we see an upset in Best Supporting Actor?

Downey Jr. is nominated alongside Ryan Gosling (“Barbie”), Mark Ruffalo (“Poor Things”), Sterling K. Brown (“American Fiction”), and Robert De Niro (“Killers of the Flower Moon”). Gosling has lots of support for his sublime “Barbie” performance while Ruffalo and Brown also have their backers, too. However, the legendary De Niro could prove to be the closest challenger to Downey Jr. thanks to his iconic career and status.

This is De Niro’s ninth Oscar nomination. He’s been nominated for Best Actor five times — in 1977 for “Taxi Driver,...

Wellness, self-help and “woo woo” culture are the backbone of Nora Turato’s new exhibition so, naturally, it brings the contemporary artist to Los Angeles for her first West Coast outing. Hosted by Wilshire Boulevard gallery Sprüth Magers, it’s not true!!! stop lying! runs from Feb. 28-April 27, and finds Turato playing with words and phrases by pulling text from about anywhere she finds inspiration — social media posts, commercials, movies, billboards and viral trends. She then places the text across enamel panels or paints them extra-large on walls. The former graphic designer even created a custom font for the pieces.

One wall features the word “authenticity” and another “haha” in supersized letters. The enamel pieces showcase phrases like “speaking my Truth!!!”, “become pointless,” “Sleep / it’s good for you! and “this isn’t me / I need some healing.” The Croatia-born artist who is based in Amsterdam also zeroed in on...

Noé Debré, the co-writer of “Dheepan” and “Stillwater” and creator of the European Parliament sendup series “Parlement,” marks his feature directorial debut with the bittersweet comedy “A Nice Jewish Boy.”

Produced by Moonshaker, sold by Charades and making its world market premiere at this year’s Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris, the freewheeling film follows a 27-year-old man-child Bellisha (Michael Zindel) and his ailing mother, Giselle (Agnès Jaoui), who together make up the last remaining Jews living in a working class neighborhood that all of their friends and family have long since fled.

At first that’s just as well for the easy-going Bellisha, but health concerns, prejudice and most of all an acute sense of alienation soon begin to creep in. Below, Variety catches up with Debré at this year’s Rendez-Vous.

How did this feature idea come about?

I saw a short film called “Masel Tov Cocktail,” about a Russian-Jewish teenager living in Germany.

“Going into making the film, I always had in my head that it would be great to get to represent the country and help it have more of a voice in terms of world cinema,” says Michael A. Goorjian, the writer, director and star of “Amerikatsi,” Armenia’s submission for Best International Feature at the 96th Academy Awards. “Not a lot of films have been made in Armenia, partially because it’s a post-Soviet country, and when the Soviet Union collapsed, a lot of the infrastructure for film fell away. It was one of our goals with the film to help showcase what’s possible in Armenia. I’m very excited about it.” Watch the exclusive video interview above.

The film follows Charlie (Goorjian), who escapes the Armenian genocide as a boy by fleeing to the United States. When he returns as an adult and is arrested, he watches an...

Left to right: Doona Bae in Rebel Moon (courtesy Warner Bros.), Ezra Miller in The Flash (courtesy Warner Bros.), Jamie Lee Curtis in Haunted Mansion (Disney)Graphic: The A.V. Club

Every year brings its share of ups and downs, and 2023 was no different. We get our hopes up for a few promising films,...

1964's "The Pink Panther" is not a complex film. There is little to suggest a full-fledged film series in its story of a jewel with the shape of a panther buried deep within. Somehow, that premise resulted in a series of films lasting decades, with eleven unique (or mostly unique) live-action entries. And the cartoon character who showed up in the title sequence, dancing to Henry Mancini's iconic theme music? There was a Saturday morning series starring him that ran in various incarnations from 1969 to 1980.

When writer Maurice Richlin pursued director Blake Edwards with an idea for a film about a jewel thief, neither man could have predicted the surprising longevity of that idea. Certainly, they couldn't have predicted that the extremely thin premise of "The Pink Panther" would result in a series of films running into the 1990s. Nor could they have predicted that the protagonist would be...

The angriest filmmaking fights that I’ve witnessed over the years have not been about cost or cast; they were about length. The movies were too long but so were the fights.

I re-lived some of them this week when I saw Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. It’s is a big success with audiences at 3 hours and 26 minutes. That’s about an hour longer than Napoleon, Ridley Scott’s epic that opens next month, and half an hour longer than Oppenheimer.

My confession: I start getting twitchy when movies lunge pass the two-hour mark — an attention deficit problem that supposedly affects Gen Z more than geriatrics. I’ve been influenced by filmmakers like Hal Ashby, who started as an editor and believed that “films should tell their story and move on” (I worked with him on Harold & Maude and Being There).

Given my twitchiness, I suspected...

Wilco surprised patrons of Poor David’s Pub in Dallas with an impromptu open mic night set.

While driving to Dallas for a show the following night as part of their ongoing U.S. tour, Wilco (per Jambase) saw the posting for the open mic and decided to stop in. The group performed without multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone, but were billed on the sign-up sheet as Glenn Kotche & Friends, named after the band’s drummer.

The band’s 11-song set pulled heavily from their country-tinged first two albums, including cuts like “Too Far Apart” and “Passenger Side” from 1995’s A.M. and “Far, Far Away” from 1996’s Being There. They also delivered covers of Stoney Edwards’ country classic “She’s My Rock,” Texas native Doug Sahm’s “Give Back the Key to My Heart,” and “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You” from Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline.

Wilco closed...

A24 may have a somewhat unexpected awards contender on its hands with Nicolas Cage’s lead performance in Kristoffer Borgli’s Ari Aster-produced Dream Scenario, a smart and surreal dramedy that world premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival’s Royal Alexandra Theatre on Saturday night and had most of the audience laughing out loud from start to finish.

Cage, who has been one of the most gifted and interesting actors in the business since he entered it decades ago, has, wittingly or not, become something of a self-satirizing performance artist in recent years, not unlike Bill Murray. I thought that 2022’s The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent was the full realization of that, but I hadn’t yet seen Dream Scenario.

In Dream Scenario, which Borgli wrote and A24 will release on Nov. 10, Cage gives his Cage-iest performance to date as a boring husband, father and academic who...

’Silent Roar’, ‘Shoshana’ and ’How To Have Sex’ will also play at the French seaside festival that spotlights UK and Irish cinema.

France’s Dinard Festival of British Film has unveiled the line-up of its 34th edition, which includes Cannes titles Ken Loach’s The Old Oak, Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone Of Interest and Molly Manning Walker’s How To Have Sex.

Also on the line-up is Charlotte Regan’s Sundance title Scrapper. The comedy drama stars Harris Dickinson and follows a young girl forced to confront reality when her estranged father returns, and is currently on release in...

Ben Kingsley, who likes to go to extremes, has played his share of frowningly overcivilized repressed geeks and also his share of seething walking-id maniacs. But for all of Kingsley’s dexterous light-and-dark range, it’s still rare to see him take on a character as painfully mild as Milton, the small-town codger he plays in “Jules.”

Milton, who is 78, lives by himself in a handsome dark-shingled house in Boonton, Penn. In the opening scene, he takes one of his long slow walks through town, then stands up at the open-mic forum in front of the Boonton city council, where he suggests changing the town motto from “A great place to call home” to “A great place to refer to as home.” He’s that kind of harmless eccentric fuddy-duddy with maybe a screw or two coming loose. The following week, he attends another city council meeting, where he stands...

The great promise of streaming video was that we would have unlimited, universal access to nearly every movie ever created. We might expect difficulty finding some niche titles from independent filmmakers, but the most important films should always be available. Unfortunately, as streamers look to save money, it seems they’re cutting back on the crown jewels of cinema. Today, if you want to stream “The Godfather,” “Taxi Driver,” “Apocalypse Now,” or even “Citizen Kane,” you’re going to come up empty.

If you love movies, this is a frightening prospect. What’s the point in signing up for a year-long streaming contract if the service you choose is going to throw important titles out the door? Paramount+ is an especially frustrating service. Although Paramount owns the rights to “The Godfather” series, those films frequently bounce around to competing streamers. If you wanted to watch them today, they’re not...

Plot: A down-on-his-luck publicist gets his lucky break when he discovers a mute man recently released from a mental health facility looks just like a method actor who refuses to leave his trailer.

Review: Charlie Day’s directorial debut has had a long road to the big screen. Originally announced in 2018, Fool’s Paradise began as a project called El Tonto. After assembling an all-star cast, the pandemic forced the film into a hiatus which turned into rewrites by Day and, eventually, the filming of new scenes. The finished project boasts a massive cast of famous faces, including the late Ray Liotta, for a satirical look at Hollywood reminiscent of countless films from the 1960s and 1970s. With his sense of humor in the right place, Day makes a valiant effort in his debut behind the camera but falls short of delivering a consistent finished product.

When I started Fool’s Paradise,...

Charlie Day is well-aware that we know him for his voice—his raspy, high-energy chaos in “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” has helped make it one of TV’s longest-running shows, and his softening of those vocal cords to voice Luigi is part of one of this year’s most successful movies, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” So it’s a rare bit of cleverness that Day speaks very little in “Fool’s Paradise,” a limp send-up of Hollywood in which he plays a character all but borrowed from Hal Ashby’s brilliant 1979 film “Being There.” Whereas Peter Sellers’ character Chance the Gardener is only educated by TV and gardening, Day’s character, known initially as The Fool, does not speak at all—he lets a Hollywood rise and fall happen to him, pushed along by the hubris and delusions of his new co-stars, handlers, and audience.

Continue reading ‘Fool’s Paradise...

Simone Cleary (Kate Hudson) greets Shriver (Michael Shannon) in Michael Maren’s whimsical A Little White Lie

Michael Maren’s whimsical A Little White Lie (adapted from Chris Belden’s book Shriver) stars Michael Shannon (also a producer), Kate Hudson (executive producer), Don Johnson, and M Emmet Walsh with Kate Linder, Romy Byrne, Mark Boone Junior, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Jimmi Simpson, Wendie Malick, and Zach Braff.

Honoré de Balzac, Jerzy Kosinski and Hal Ashby’s Being There, starring Peter Sellers (shown to Olivia Colman by Toby Jones in Sam Mendes’s Empire Of Light), The Landlord, Harold And Maude, Linda Lavin and Harris Yulin in A Short History Of Decay, Max Frisch’s I’m Not Stiller and Call Me Gantenbein, John Barth’s Giles Goat-Boy, James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake and Ulysses, Marcel Proust’s Remembrance Of Lost Time, Robert Musil’s The Man Without Qualities, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper,...

Now that the noise has subsided, were there any helpful takeaways from the Oscars?

If you ask the leaders of A24, the distributor that swept six categories, their answer would be the same as it was six years ago when Moonlight was the surprise winner. “Can’t think of a thing to say,” is what they said.

Related Story Oscars Analysis: First-Timers Lift Spirits And Emotions In Ceremony That Was Old-School Academy Awards In A Good Way Related Story 'Everything Everywhere All At Once', 'The Boys' Top Critics Choice Super Awards Related Story A24 Acquires Talking Heads 1984 Concert Film 'Stop Making Sense', Will Restore In 4K For Theatrical Release

A24 likes to surround its victories with the sounds of silence, as they made numbingly clear when last I had a sit-down with them (they resist sit-downs: more below).

But there were, in fact, some questions...

For most actors, winning an Oscar is seen as the absolute pinnacle of a Hollywood career. For a select group of performers, though, one simply isn’t enough.

There have been 44 different actors to have won multiple awards, the first coming in 1937 when Luise Rainer became the original two-time Oscar darling.

Some manage to win every time they are nominated. Others, such as the inimitable Meryl Streep, have careers peppered with nominations, winning only when the so-called narrative dictates.

In 2021, Anthony Hopkins took home his second statuette, for his role in The Father. The year before, Renée Zellweger took home her second Oscar after playing Judy Garland in Judy.

In 2020, Mahershala Ali picked up his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Best Picture winner Green Book. He previously won for Moonlight in 2017.

Here are the actors with the most Oscar wins.

Anthony Hopkins

Anthony Hopkins picked up his second Oscar for The Father,...

Being There was a heartfelt satire of modern life, but it featured a surprise twist ending that left a lot of questions unanswered. Released in 1979 to rave reviews from critics, Being There was a unique film for the era and managed to weave a humorous story through subtle character moments. Actor Peter Sellers was able to reinvent himself in the lead role, and his performance scored him the Best Actor nomination at the Academy Awards. It was nominated for a slew of other notable awards and went on to become a recognized classic with its preservation in the National Film Registry in 2015.

Although the film was a sweet character study, it also had a lot to say about the state of politics in the United States at the time, and many of its sharpest barbs were subtly deployed. While it was more understated than other hilarious Peter Sellers films that displayed the actor's comic gifts,...

By the time Peter Sellers played Chance the gardener in Hal Ashby's satirical "Being There" in 1979, he had already made an incredible name for himself. Between being the face of the "Pink Panther" franchise, starring in "Dr. Strangelove," and even stepping into the shoes of James Bond -- though admittedly in the 1967 parody movie "Casino Royale," not in any of the mainline entries -- there was no doubt that Sellers could take on just about any role.

Still, with "Being There," the actor was faced with a challenge. As Sellers told Don Lane in 1980, Chance was "the most difficult role [he had] ever played," largely due to the fact that the character was hard to bring to life convincingly. A careful balancing act was required. Within the film, a series of misunderstandings caused Chance — a live-in gardener who had never left the property on which he worked — to captivate politicians with his agricultural knowledge,...

For most actors, winning an Oscar is seen as the absolute pinnacle of a Hollywood career. For a select group of performers, though, one simply isn’t enough.

There have been 44 different actors to have won multiple awards, the first coming in 1937 when Luise Rainer became the original two-time Oscar darling.

Some manage to win every time they are nominated. Others, such as the inimitable Meryl Streep, have careers peppered with nominations, winning only when the so-called narrative dictates.

In 2021, Anthony Hopkins took home his second statuette, for his role in The Father. The year before, Renée Zellweger took home her second Oscar after playing Judy Garland in Judy.

In 2020, Mahershala Ali picked up his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Best Picture winner Green Book. He previously won for Moonlight in 2017.

Here are the actors with the most Oscar wins.

Anthony Hopkins

Anthony Hopkins picked up his second Oscar for The Father,...

This story about Sam Mendes and “Empire of Light” first appeared in the Awards Preview issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.

Sam Mendes’ follow-up to his epic World War I film “1917” is a gentler film set in a rundown movie palace on the southern coast of England in 1981, as middle-aged Hilary (Olivia Colman) struggles with mental illness and finds unexpected romance with Stephen (Micheal Ward), a young Black man whose world is being shaken by the rise of the anti-immigrant, racist National Front.

It feels as if a lot of the movies that have been released this year came directly from directors’ experiences of isolation during the pandemic, of sitting at home thinking, “What do I really want to do now?”

Yeah. I can’t speak to the other guys, but I felt compelled to make this. I had started writing something completely different, larger and more visually ambitious.

When Sam Mendes set out to write his latest film, he decided to draw on something he knows best: his own upbringing in 1980s England. “My escape was the cinema,” the director said about his childhood during a recent THR Presents panel, powered by Vision Media and held at EnergaCamerimage. He set Empire of Light amid the backdrop of a movie theater in an unnamed British seaside town. In the film, Olivia Colman plays a theater employee — partially inspired by Mendes’ mother, the novelist Valerie Helene Mendes — who struggles with mental health but starts to come out of her shell when she forges a connection with a young coworker (Micheal Ward).

Empire of Light marks Mendes’ first solo screenplay after co-writing 1917, and the director added nods to some formative films from his era, including Chariots of Fire, which has its regional gala premiere at the titular Empire movie theater, owned...

When Michelle Williams entered the Best Actress Oscar race for “The Fabelmans,” that put Steven Spielberg in line to become the fifth person to direct Oscar winners in all four acting categories. That, of course, is still possible, but someone else may beat him to that quartet set this season: Martin McDonagh.

“The Banshees of Inisherin” is looking increasingly strong to nab four acting nominations for lead Colin Farrell and supporting players Kerry Condon, Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan. All four earned Golden Globe and Critics Choice bids last week. At the Oscars, McDonagh needs Farrell to win Best Actor and Condon to win Best Supporting Actress to complete his collection as he previously directed “Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri” (2017) stars Frances McDormand to a Best Actress prize and Sam Rockwell to a Best Supporting Actor statuette.

If that happens, McDonagh will join William Wyler, Elia Kazan, Hal Ashby and Martin Scorsese,...

“Wall•E,” the tale of a little trash-collecting robot that voyages to the cosmos and winds up restarting humanity, is many things. It’s Pixar’s ninth animated feature, released at a time when the studio was on an unprecedented creative hot streak (it was sandwiched snugly in-between “Ratatouille” and “Up”). It’s also one of the most idiosyncratic movies in the studio’s history, featuring live-action components (some aided by visual effects house Industrial Light & Magic), cinematography inspired and advised by Roger Deakins and a largely wordless first act that calls back to the earliest days of cinema.

And while the movie was rapturously received (New York Times critic A.O. Scott put it as his #1 movie of 2008 and said: “the visual sublimity of Andrew Stanton’s latest Pixar masterpiece is matched by a depth and sweetness of feeling not seen since the heyday of Charlie Chaplin”) and continues to...

The “what if?” game has always fascinated me: What if Donald Trump had been cast in Shark Tank rather than The Apprentice (it was Mark Burnett’s call)? He likely would have been broke rather than president.

I cite this to remind readers that Hollywood plays a role in our politics as well as in our pop culture, and hence the town would do well to heed the cultural shift reflected in this week’s election results. The audience is changing — will movies and TV change accordingly?

Related Story Peter Bart: Hollywood Honchos Are In A Likability Lull, But Does It Really Matter? Related Story 'Armageddon Time' Director James Gray Reveals Real-Life Tragic Circumstances Of A Key Character In His Autobiographical Film – Telluride Q&a Related Story 'SNL's Weekend Update Tackles Jon Gruden Resignation, Bisexual Superman, Wildfire At Reagan's Ranch, Timothée Chalamet Starrer 'Wonka' & IATSE...

If it’s Tuesday, this must be Election Day in a year when democracy itself is on the ballot. It’s a moment that Jefferson Smith – the naive but idealistic young senator played by Jimmy Stewart – could have appreciated in the Oscar-winning 1939 classic “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” from director Frank Capra. It tops the list of 25 movies that this Gold Derby editor singles out as exemplary staples of the political genre over the past 80-plus years. Most originated on the big screen, but a few were made-for-tv.

Why bring this to you today? Think of it as a distraction tactic at a time when so many of us are overloaded with anxiety over an especially consequential election that will determine control of Congress. The list features biopics, satires, historical dramas and journalism hybrid thrillers as well as fictitious allegories.

SEE15 Best American Political Films

Watch any of these tonight...

As spooky season comes to a close, HBO Max is ditching scary favorites like “Friday the 13th,” “Poltergeist” and the “A Nightmare on Elm Street” franchises this November in preparation for the holidays.

Emerald Fennell’s Oscar-winning hit, “Promising Young Woman,” led by Carey Mulligan, will exit the streaming service alongside the Kristen Wiig-led comedy “Girl Most Likely” at the end of the month.

Film fans should also take advantage of watching classics like “Anna Karenina,” “Fatal Attraction,” “He’s Just Not That Into You,” “The Truman Show,” “Godzilla” and the Judy Garland and James Mason version of “A Star Is Born” before they leave.

Other noteworthy titles leaving HBO Max this month include “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” “Godzilla vs. Kong” and “Dunkirk.”

Check out a full list of what’s leaving HBO Max in November and the dates that each title leaves below..

Also Read:

The Best Movies...

The forever-rotating catalog of streaming movies and television has ebbs and flows of availability with what we gain and lose every month. November 2022 happens to be a month when we'll lose quite a number of great titles to the digital ether from HBO Max. Everything from some recent genre material, Hollywood classics, and films by major auteurs all leave the service by the end of the month. There are enough great films that I could spotlight a dozen or so movies you need to see before they leave HBO Max and are sent to possibly another streaming service or – and I know it's unthinkable – for digital rental, where you actually have to put down a couple of bucks to watch the movie.

To avoid spending some extra cash before the holiday season burns a hole in your wallet that you will soon regret, here are five films leaving HBO Max...

Best Actress, the most stacked Oscar race of the year, got even more competitive last week when Michelle Williams opted to campaign in the lead category for Steven Spielberg‘s “The Fabelmans” instead of supporting. If she prevails in March, Spielberg will become just the fifth person to have directed Oscar winners in all four acting categories.

The two-time Best Director champ would follow in the footsteps of William Wyler, Elia Kazan, Hal Ashby and Martin Scorsese. Thus far, Spielberg has directed 15 nominated performances, yielding three wins, and perhaps most remarkably, all three have occurred in the last decade. Daniel Day-Lewis became the first performer to win for a Spielberg film when he garnered his record-breaking third Best Actor Oscar for “Lincoln” (2012). Spielberg then watched Mark Rylance pull off a Best Supporting Actor upset for “Bridge of Spies” (2015) and Ariana DeBose sweep the season in Best Supporting Actress for last year’s “West Side Story.

The ‘love letter to the movies’ genre is revived in this poignant, wonderfully acted drama about love, life and films

The “love letter to the movies” is a tricky genre, teetering on maudlin industry indulgence; my own rule is that any film, on any subject, if it is any good, is already a love letter to the movies. The template tends to be melancholy and bittersweet, a ruin-porn lament for nearly empty theatres and nearly lost youth. Maybe in the future there will be films that are love letters to streaming: sad films showing people watching TV screens that are blank except for the single title card declaring that the streamer has gone broke due to unsustainable debt … before thoughtfully wondering what is on at the cinema.

But Sam Mendes, making his first solo outing as a writer as well as director, has taken the style and substance of this...

Despite being set in the early 1980s (its story spanning from “The Blues Brothers” to “Being There”), Sam Mendes’ scattershot and moribund “Empire of Light” is a movie born out of two simultaneous but unequal reckonings that erupted in the summer of 2020: The Black Lives Matter movement, and the existential threat to the future of movie theaters. Looking at those phenomena through the (not particularly nostalgic) lens of his teenage years in “there’s no such thing as society” England — a time when racism and cinema were both thriving in popular culture — Mendes strives to tell a plaintive yet poignant little story about the simple power of community.

It’s a story about a magical where light and dark mesh together to create magic, and where people can enjoy the pleasure of being surrounded by strangers without fear of being watched. As Nicole Kidman might put it: “Even the...

Sterlin Harjo, co-creator of FX’s Reservation Dogs, discusses a few of his favorite movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Mekko (2015)

Boy (2010)

Cool Hand Luke (1967) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

Being There (1979) – Alan Spencer’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

A Woman Under The Influence (1974)

Husbands (1970) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Stand By Me (1986)

Hamburger: The Motion Picture (1986)

This Is Spinal Tap (1984) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

The Princess Bride (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Friday (1995)

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) – Adam Rifkin’s trailer commentary

Dead Man (1995)

Powwow Highway (1989)

Airplane! (1980) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Ghost Dog: Way Of The Samurai (1999)

Stalker (1979) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Come And See (1985) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

A Clockwork Orange...

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May Routh, the fashion illustrator turned renowned costume designer who brought iconic looks to such films as The Man Who Fell to Earth, My Favorite Year and Being There, has died. She was 87.

Routh died peacefully June 1 at her home in Los Angeles, set decorator and family spokesperson Bryony Foster told The Hollywood Reporter.

Routh also did several projects with director John Frankenheimer, starting with the acclaimed 1996 Civil War-set Andersonville and followed by another TNT miniseries, 1997’s George Wallace, starring Gary Sinise as the Alabama governor, and the big-screen action thrillers Ronin (1998) and Reindeer Games (2000).

Routh received Emmy nominations for her work on Andersonville and the 1991 CBS telefilm Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter, starring Frances Fisher and Maurice Benard.

She earned her first screen credit as a costume designer on Nicolas Roeg‘s The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), starring David Bowie as...

Wilco’s first big gesture when they formed in the Nineties was to leave behind the sound of co-founder Jeff Tweedy’s first band, Midwestern alt-country icons Uncle Tupelo. It was a smart move, since at the time even the kind of people who liked iconic Midwestern alt-country were starting to get word that the dread cult of “authenticity” was becoming toxic and freighted. It also helped that the band excelled at other stuff, especially on the sonically rangy 1996 double LP Being There and 2002’s post-rock-garlanded classic Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

Rizzoli and Isles haven't solved a new case on TV in nearly six years.

While Tess Gerritsen continues to write new novels on the beloved duo, we've been left with a significant gap in our lives as their lives go on without us bearing witness on-screen.

The iconic duo of Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander were TV staples for over 100 episodes, but what are they (and the rest of the cast) doing now?

In Memorium: Lee Thompson Young -- Detective Barry Frost

Lee Thompson Young, who played Detective Frost (one of Jane Rizzoli's closest co-workers), tragically passed away in 2013 before the filming of Season Five.

Detective Frost's death got handled beautifully by the writers, from his death in Rizzoli and Isles Season 5 Episode 1 to Jane seeing a vision of him in Rizzoli and Isles Season 5 Episode 18.

The episodes throughout Season Five left us crying, laughing, and missing Lee Thompson Young's presence on our screens.

When it comes to Hayley Kiyoko, there are two important facts you need to know: She’s gay and she’s a proud member of Bachelor Nation. With the self-directed new video for her catchy new single “For the Girls,” Kiyoko imagines what a lesbian Bachelorette would look like. It’s a concept she can’t believe she didn’t try sooner.

“I love The Bachelor franchise. Honestly, reality TV is what gets me through everyday stress,” Kiyoko tells Rolling Stone while en route to the White House’s Aapi Heritage Month festivities.

In his latest podcast/interview, host and screenwriter Stuart Wright talks with BAFTA award-winning screenwriter Anthony Mullins about one of the most powerful, yet most misunderstood, tools in a writer’s toolkit – character arcs.

Anthony breaks the discussion down into 5 things about his book:

It’S About Character Arcs – The book champions the most powerful, yet most misunderstood, tool in a writer’s toolbox – that is, character arcs – and uses them to challenge that the supremacy of that Goliath of storytelling theory, the Hero’s Journey. It’S Visual – I use a very visual way to illustrate how character arcs work and how they map the emotional shape of all sorts of stories (not just Hero’s Journeys), from inspiring drama to anarchic comedy to gut-wrenching tragedy. It’S Practical – It’s not all theory. I also show readers how to use character arcs to develop and refine your own writing voice.