News

Fresh off her record 21st Oscar nomination for “The Post,” Meryl Streep is setting her sights on the Emmys: the three-time Oscar and three-time Emmy winner has joined the second season of “Big Little Lies,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Streep will play Mary Louise Wright (fun fact: Streep’s birth name is Mary Louise), the mother of Alexander Skarsgard’s Perry Wright, who — spoiler alert! — died in the first season finale. Mary Louise drops by Monterey because she’s concerned about the well-being of her grandchildren after her son’s death.

This means we’ll definitely get some screentime between Streep and Nicole Kidman, who plays Skarsgard’s widow Celeste and with whom Streep co-starred, albeit with no shared scenes, in “The Hours” (2002). (Dear David E. Kelley: Please be sure to write a scene with Kidman screaming “I’m dying in this town!” in Streep’s face. Thanks!

Laura Prepon and Ben Foster are expecting a baby girl. The Orange Is the New Black actress revealed the sex of her unborn baby when she stopped by Live with Kelly and Ryan on Thursday. "It's so wonderful. It's such a blessing," she said reflecting on her first pregnancy. "She likes it here - she's already kicking!" The pair first sparked romance rumors when they were spotted out together in NYC back in July 2016, and they got engaged three months later. Over the past few months, the parents-to-be have made a handful of sweet red carpet appearances together, including the premiere of Netflix's Five Came Back in March. Congrats to the happy couple!

With President Donald Trump traveling in the Middle East and talking his hopes for peace, Netflix couldn't have strategized a better time to debut its Brad Pitt-starring military satire War Machine. Unfortunately, despite a few good swings from Pitt, the May 26-launching film from director David Michôd is a mind-numbing misfire. As we did back in March for a review of Netflix's docuseries Five Came Back, my colleague and TV Talk podcast partner Pete Hammond and I have…...

The first episode of “The Keepers,” Netflix’s latest true crime docuseries, is all about focus. From the murder victim at the series’ center to a dedicated group of women and men determined to uncover decades-hidden truths, Ryan White’s seven-part investigation into the 1969 murder of Sister Cathy Cesnik begins with a meticulous layout of the relevant details, bouncing between the perspectives of those who lived through it and those charged with piecing the story together years later.

This metaphorical search for focus in its opening installment often becomes literal. With the camera hovering over tables in living rooms and sports bars and as handheld shots of dimly lit attics try to find relevant details among stacks of news clippings, that focus wavers, in constant search of clarity.

Read More: ‘Five Came Back’ Review: A Cinephile’s Dream Documentary Becomes Enthralling for Everyone on Netflix

It’s an effective stylistic...

Kevin Spacey to kick off May event with House Of Cards on-stage conversation in Beverly Hills.

Netflix is preparing an invite-only month-long celebration of its biggest series at an undisclosed venue in Beverly Hills as Emmy voters prepare to cast their ballots.

FYSee will combine programming from the likes of House Of Cards, The Crown, and Orange Is The New Black with on-stage conversations with creators and actors.

Kevin Spacey will kick things off with a conversation on May 8 ahead of the May 30 launch of the fifth season of House Of Cards.

Panels and exhibitions will cover Narcos, Master Of None, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Black Mirror, Marvel’s Luke Cage, Dear White People, and 13 Reasons Why.

Documentary programming includes Five Came Back, 13th, Amanda Knox, Chef’s Table, and The Keepers.

The event, which Netflix said would will take place at a “multi-level, 24,000 square foot experiential” space in Beverly Hills, will be open...

“War changes everything,” Lily James whispers in the opening moments of David Leveaux’s feature film debut, “The Exception,” a sentiment that seems to carry right through the World War II-set thriller.

Based on Alan Judd’s 2003 novel “The Kaiser’s Last Kiss,” the film follows Jai Courtney as Wehrmacht officer Stefan Brandt, tasked with guarding Kaiser Wilhelm II (Christopher Plummer), the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, who fled Germany and abdicated the throne decades before war broke out.

Read More: ‘Five Came Back’: How the Story of Hollywood Directors In World War II Became a Great Netflix Series

Despite his perilous place in the changing German government, the exiled Kaiser was important to the Nazis, and when word gets out that his home may be infiltrated by a British spy, the Nazis make it a priority to protect him. While guarding the ousted leader, Stefan falls for James’ Mieke,...

So it seems Mike Flanagan (Ouija: Origin Of Evil, Oculus) is working with Netflix and Amblin Entertainment to create a modern re-imagining of the classic 1959 horror novel Haunting Of Hill House. It will be adapted into a 10-episode limited series, and will be the first narrative show produced by Amblin TV (their first being the docuseries Five Came Back). This also wouldn't be the first adaptation of... Read More...

One of the most iconic creature features from the ’50s — Jack Arnold’s “Creature From The Black Lagoon” — is getting a big screen remake, courtesy of writer Will Beall. Having scripted the upcoming “Aquaman,” Beall will be putting his spin on the legendary tale, with production from the team behind the upcoming Universal’s Monsters Universe, Deadline reports.

Read More: ‘Aquaman’ Using the ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Team to Pull Off Stunts

The original movie was widely praised upon release as an innovative and scary adventure.

IndieWire’s sister site Variety reviewed the film on December 31, 1953, writing that, “the 3-D lensing adds to the eerie effects of the underwater footage, as well as to the monster’s several appearances on land. The below-water scraps between skin divers and the prehistoric thing are thrilling and will pop goose pimples on the susceptible fan, as will the closeup scenes of the scaly,...

Laura Prepon and Ben Foster had a case of the giggles when they attended the NYC premiere of Five Came Back on Monday night. The engaged couple - who is expecting their first child together - shared a few laughs as they posed for photographers on the red carpet. While Ben looked lovingly at his fiancée, Laura flashed a huge grin as she cradled her baby bump. Ever since announcing their engagement in October, the two have had no problem showing off their sweet love in public, and we can't get enough.

Usually my colleague Dominic Patten covers the TV review beat, but he graciously let me steal this one from him since it really is all about movies and their directors. Netflix’s new three-part, three-hour documentary series Five Came Back chronicles the not-so-well-known efforts of five extraordinary Hollywood directors who put their careers on hold to join with the U.S. government in creating propaganda films during World War II. The five iconic helmers, Oscar winners…...

Usually my colleague Dominic Patten covers the TV review beat, but he graciously let me steal this one from him since it really is all about movies and their directors. Netflix’s new three-part, three-hour documentary series Five Came Back chronicles the not-so-well-known efforts of five extraordinary Hollywood directors who put their careers on hold to join with the U.S. government in creating propaganda films during World War II. The five iconic helmers, Oscar winners…...

What will the impact of the new metric be on film culture?

Netflix’s CEO of Product Innovation, Todd Yellin, announced this week that the streaming service will be phasing out its five-star rating system in favor of a simple thumbs-up/thumbs down metric. Editorials will surely abound calling this yet another symptom of the decline of criticism/cinema/western civilization, but the reasons for the switch are, according to Yellin, strictly pragmatic: after a/b testing the thumbs rating system, Netflix found a 200% increase in the number of ratings users volunteered. The more data being fed to the algorithm, the more accurately it can provide recommendations. Yellin also noted that the star rating system failed to capture users’ actual viewing habits: a prestigious documentary may garner more five-star ratings, but an Adam Sandler film would receive far more views.

The debate over how to properly evaluate a film has raged for as long as the medium...

There’s ghosts, mutants, David Lynch, gorillas, cannibalism, the afterlife, and more to experience in theaters this month. Aside from the theatrical offerings, we can’t neglect mentioning the documentary adaptation Five Came Back — which explores the careers of five iconic Hollywood directors and their experience in World War II — hitting Netflix at the end of the month. Check out our picks for what to see below and let us know what you’re most looking forward to.

Matinees to See: Catfight (3/3), Before I Fall (3/3), Donald Cried (3/3), My Scientology Movie (3/3), Table 19 (3/3), Wolves (3/3), The Sense of an Ending (3/10), Burning Sands (3/10), Brimstone (3/10), 13 Minutes (3/17), Beauty and the Beast (3/17), The Belko Experiment (3/17), Burn Your Maps (3/17), The Devil’s Candy (3/17), Bokeh (3/24), I Called Him Morgan (3/24), Wilson (3/24), Life (3/24), Cezanne et moi (3/31), and Ghost in the Shell (3/31),

15. The Zookeeper’s Wife (Niki Caro; March 31)

Synopsis: The Zookeeper’s Wife tells the account of keepers of the Warsaw Zoo,...

Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and Guillermo Del Toro examine the work of five filmmakers who captured the front lines of World War II in the intriguing new trailer for Netflix's new docu-series, Five Came Back.

The series chronicles the wartime work of John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra and George Stevens, whose documentaries helped mobilize war efforts at home and changed the perspectives of many Americans wary of entering the war in the first place. The film also examines how covering WWII affected each filmmaker personally and professionally,...

Netflix has released the trailer for a fascinating new three part documentary called Five Came Back. It focuses on how World War II changed Hollywood and features directors like Steven Spielberg and Guillermo del Toro diving into this subject matter.

Netflix put out an extensive press release with tons of details on what the doc will entail and I'm completely captivated by the film's subject matter. I love the history of film and the history of WWII and seeing a doc focusing on how these two things affected each other is film geek candy! Here are the additional details:

The movie is an adaptation of the book Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War written by Mark Harris. It's tells "the extraordinary story of how Hollywood changed World War II – and how World War II changed Hollywood, through the interwoven experiences of five filmmakers...

Fans of “The Get Down” will soon be able to enjoy the newest music from the hit musical-drama, as Netflix has announced that the original soundtrack for Part Two will be released April 14.

Released through series creator Baz Luhrmann’s label, House of Iona, the original soundtrack will include both new tracks and classic reimagined songs from up-and-coming artists such as 6lack. Executive producer Nas will also contribute to the original soundtrack, and the show’s cast, including Skylan Brooks, Tremaine Brown Jr., Jaden Smith, Justice Smith and Shameik Moore as “The Get Down Brothers,” is also prominently featured.

Read More: “The Get Down” Part Two Teaser Trailer

The second half of Season 1 will pick up one year after the events of the first half of the series, as the rise of hip hop is chronicled against the backdrop of a bankrupt New York City. Part Two of “The Get Down...

Netflix has built a reputation for its library of documentaries and it feels like a perfect match of form and service. After all, many average moviegoers aren’t able to seek out non-fiction movies in theaters but will happily watch them once they’re streaming. This means amazing movies that used to lurk on the fringes are […]

The post ‘Five Came Back’ Trailer: Five Hollywood Directors Go to World War II appeared first on /Film.

If there's one thing I haven't taken advantage of during the several years in which I've owned a Netflix subscription, it's the premium streaming network's respectable library of documentary films. Now, after watching the trailer for Five Came Back, I'm thinking that a break in my habitual watching of Netflix original series and anime might be in order. With... Read More...

As creators today find themselves questioning just what impact their work can genuinely have on the world, Netflix reaches to the past for an example of great filmmakers who risked their lives to make a difference. “Five Came Back,” a three-part documentary series set to premiere March 31, spotlights the legendary directors of 1940s Hollywood who went to the front lines of World War II to document what they saw.

Read More: Steven Spielberg’s Strange History With ‘Cruising’

Helping to tell the wartime stories of John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra, and George Stevens are some modern-day legends. Spotlighted in the trailer below are interviews with Steven Spielberg, Paul Greengrass, Guillermo del Toro, Lawrence Kasdan and Francis Ford Coppola. Meryl Streep steps in to narrate.

Written by Mark Harris (adapted from his book) and directed by Laurent Bouzereau, the series digs into the legacy of documentary work created...

With narration by Meryl Streep and interviews with some of the best directors of our generation — Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Guillermo del Toro, Paul Greengrass and Lawrence Kasdan — Netflix today released its trailer and release date for its three-part docu-series Five Came Back.” Spielberg, Scott Rudin and Barry Diller are among the executive producers on this project which was adapted from Mark Harris' best-selling book, Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood…...

Every day, plenty of books get passed around Hollywood and deals are made to turn them into movies, or in the case of Mark Harris‘ “Five Came Back,” documentaries. But few of them command the incredible talent assembled for the adaptation of Harris’ “Five Came Back.”

Read More: ‘Shadow Of Truth’ Trailer Shows Why It Could Be Netflix’s Next ‘Making A Murderer’

Featuring narration by Meryl Streep, and interviews and commentary from Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Guillermo Del Toro, Paul Greengrass and Lawrence Kasdan, the series tells the story of filmmakers John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra, and George Stevens, whose work producing WWII documentaries brought the realities of the war home to everyday Americans.

Continue reading Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Guillermo Del Toro, Meryl Streep, More Bring Netflix’s ‘Five Came Back’ Doc Series To Life at The Playlist.

One of the more popular film-related books of the last few years is Mark Harris‘ Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War, which recounts the experience directors John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra, and George Stevens had heading to war and then returning to Hollywood to make some of their greatest films. In a welcome surprise only recently revealed, the book has now been turned into a three-part series on Netflix and it’ll arrive next month.

Featuring narration from Meryl Streep and interviews with Francis Ford Coppola, Guillermo del Toro, Steven Spielberg, Paul Greengrass, and Lawrence Kasdan, the first trailer has arrived. Judging from this preview, it looks to be a rousing documentary capturing this crucial time in cinematic history and the world at large. Directed by Laurent Bouzereau, he and his team pored through 100 hours of archival and newsreel footage...

Netflix has released the first teaser trailer for Bong Joon-Ho’s anticipated fantasy film “Okja,” starring Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Lily Collins and Paul Dano. Watch the trailer below.

Read More: ‘Okja’ New Photos Introduce Lily Collins’ Character in Bong Joon-Ho’s Upcoming Film

Co-written by Joon-Ho and Jon Ronson (“The Men Who Stare at Goats”), “Okja” tells the story of Mija (played by South Korean actress Ahn Seo-hyun), a young girl who lives in the deep woods of the Gangwon Province of South Korea. Mija will do everything in her power to prevent a powerful company from taking her best friend, a massive beast named Okja. “It’s a very shy and introverted animal. It’s a unique animal that we’ve not seen before,” the director told Entertainment Weekly.

This trailer offers a first glimpse of Okja, a large creature with big brown eyes, while Swinton’s character...

Netflix has announced the new titles arriving on the streaming platform next month, with five original films leading the pack: “Burning Sands” (3/10), “Deidra & Laney Rob a Train” (3/17), “Pandora” (3/17), “The Most Hated Woman in America” (3/24) and “The Discovery” (3/31). Three of these — “Burning Sands,” “Deidra & Laney,” “The Discovery” — are Netflix Origins that premiered during the Sundance Film Festival in January.

Read More: ‘The Discovery’ Review: Rooney Mara And Jason Segel Find Life After Death — Sundance 2017

Also available to stream next month are “The Bfg,” “Pete’s Dragon,” “The Life Aquatic,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Chicago,” “Jurassic Park,” “Memento,” “Million Dollar Baby,” “Evolution,” “Fire at Sea” and “Welcome to New York,” among others, while the likes of “Jaws,” “Animal House,” “Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey” and “Entertainment” are all expiring at the end of February. Find a full list of what’s coming in March below.

Read More: Why Martin Scorsese’s Netflix Deal Is...

Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film and TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?”, can be found at the end of this post.)

This week’s question: Here we are again, staring down the barrel of another year at the movies, one sure to be filled with its fair share of discoveries, disappointments, and trucks that are powered by monsters. Many of our most anticipated new films can be seen coming a mile away, but what’s the most exciting movie of 2017 that no one is talking about?

Angie Han (@ajhan), Slashfilm.com

I haven’t seen much talk about “The Glass Castle,” Lionsgate’s upcoming adaptation of Jeannette Walls’ memoir, maybe because it doesn’t have an actual release date yet. But I’ve been interested in the project since it was first announced,...

Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film and TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday morning. (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?”, can be found at the end of this post.)

This week’s question: In the wake of the election, Filmmaker Magazine published a piece about the intrinsically political nature of movies, in which the writer argued: “For the next four years (and long afterwards), every time someone leaves a movie theater feeling contented, feeling set in their values, feeling numbed and entertained and nothing else, that’s a problem.”

How does filmmaking — and film criticism — need to adapt in the age of Trump?

Richard Brody (@tnyfrontrow), The New Yorker

Filmmakers need to make films and film critics need to write about them. None of them need instruction; the hardest thing in good and bad times...

Presenting the Supporting Actress Nominees of '77. A mother with extraterrestrial problems, a highly neurotic swinger, a wealthy political activist, a precocious daughter, and a timid ballerina.

The Nominees 

John Travolta opening the envelope

If the characters weren't quite typical this time, the shortlist formation was a familiar mix of career glories. Consider the slotting: Oh look, there's the child actor slot that the Supporting Actress category is famous for going to Quinn Cummings; Tuesday Weld wins the underappreciated enduring talent nod; No typical shortlist is complete without a newish critical darling with momentum which in 1977 was Melinda Dillon (she had created the "Honey" role in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf  on stage but didn't get to do the movie and was finally making film inroads via her role in the previous year's Best Picture nominee Bound for Glory ); Finally, you have to have a current Oscar darling with considerable...

The Supporting Actress Smackdown Of 1977 is coming. You already met two of our panelists. And here are the other three (including me). 

Meet The Panelists 

Panelist: Sara Black McCulloch

Bio: Sara Black McCulloch is a Toronto-based researcher, translator and writer. She has written for i-d, cleo Journal, Adult, The Hairpin, Gawker, Bitch Magazine and The National Post. You can read more of her work here. 

Question: What does 1977 mean to you? 

1977 seemed to be steeped in so much disillusionment. I think that, like the years that signal the end of a decade but don't quite bookend it, it was...fraught. The year was packed with events that pointed to change and fueled uncertainty. It was the year the U.S. signed the nuclear-proliferation pact and the same year that the U.S. government voted against covering elective abortions through Medicaid. The Apple II computer hit the market and Jimmy Carter...

Today in movie related history...

1907 Cracking Rosalind Russell is born. Stars in many classics including: His Girl Friday, Gypsy, and Auntie Mame and is nominated for 4 Best Actress Oscars. The only actresses that share her fate of 4 Best Actress nominations w/out a win: Greta Garbo, Marsha Mason, and Barbara Stanwyck. Of the four only Marsha Mason didn't receive an Honorary later on.

1913 Suffragette Emily Davison runs onto the track at the Epson Derby and is trampled by King George V's horse. It's a huge turning point in the court of public opinion and the suffragette movement. It was reenacted in last year's Suffragette.

1936 Bruce Dern is born and never stops acting thereafter. Also donates Laura Dern to the world for which he has our undying gratitude

1940 The last allied soldiers leave Dunkirk. Britain's Pm vows that his forces will "never surrender". Christopher Nolan is currently filming a movie about Dunkirk called,...

In this special episode of Off The Shelf, Ryan and Brian take a look at the best DVD and Blu-ray 2015.

Subscribe in iTunes or RSS.

Follow-Up Ryan buys the Ernest and Celestine Blu-ray from Plain Archive Ultra HD Blu-ray Pre-orders Live, March 1st release: Fox, Sony, WB, Shout! and now Lionsgate Curzon Tarkovsky Ryan’s Top 10 List of 2015 Classics from the Van Beuren Studio (Thunderbean Animation) Thunderbirds: The Complete Series (Timeless Media Group / Shout! Factory) The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (Arrow UK) Twice Upon A Time (Warner Archive Collection) Journey to the Center of the Earth (Twilight Time) Watership Down (The Criterion Collection) Walt Disney Animation Studios: Short Films Collection (Disney) 3-D Rarities (Flicker Alley) Spartacus: Restored Edition (Universal) The Apu Trilogy (The Criterion Collection)

Honorable mentions:

Arrow Video: Kiju Yoshida: Love + Anarchism, The Train, The Criterion Collection: The Fisher King, Moonrise Kingdom...

or, Savant picks The Most Impressive Discs of 2015

This is the actual view from Savant Central, looking due North.

What a year! I was able to take one very nice trip back East too see Washington D.C. for the first time, or at least as much as two days' walking in the hot sun and then cool rain would allow. Back home in Los Angeles, we've had a year of extreme drought -- my lawn is looking patriotically ratty -- and we're expecting something called El Niño, that's supposed to be just shy of Old-Testament build-me-an-ark intensity. We withstood heat waves like those in Day the Earth Caught Fire, and now we'll get the storms part. This has been a wild year for DVD Savant, which is still a little unsettled. DVDtalk has been very patient and generous, and so have Stuart Galbraith & Joe Dante; so far everything...

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Looking for good books about the movies to read? We've got a bumper selection of recommendations right here...

A confession. I actually started writing this article in 2013, and the reason you've only reading it now is that I've made sure I've read every book on this list, save for one or two where I've marked otherwise. As such, what you're getting is a very personal list of recommendations. Each of these books has at least something to it that I think is of interest to someone wanting to learn more about film - or just enjoy stories of movie making.

I've tended to avoid picture books, with one exception, as these ones I've chosen are all intended to be chock-full of words, to relax with at the end of a long day. Which is what I did. There are one or two notable omissions, as I'm still...

Dalton Trumbo and Nathanael West contributed to the screenplay for John Farrow's suspense adventure about a plane crash in the Amazon jungle -- who will survive? Lucille Ball is the ranking castaway in a glossy Rko thriller that's been restored to a fine polish. Five Came Back DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1939 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 75 min. / Street Date June 30, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Chester Morris, Lucille Ball, Wendy Barrie, John Carradine, Allen Jenkins, Joseph Calleia, C. Aubrey Smith, Kent Taylor, Patric Knowles, Elisabeth Risdon, Casey Johnson, Frank Faylen. Cinematography Nicholas Musuraca Original Music Roy Webb Written by Jerome Cady, Dalton Trumbo, Nathanael West story by Richard Carroll Produced by Robert Sisk Directed by John Farrow

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

When they list the 'big' pictures of 1939, the ones that we're told made that year Hollywood's best ever, there are some winning titles that don't get mentioned.

Glenn Frankel's exploration of famous John Ford's Western, The Searchers, is our Den Of Geek Book Club non-fiction choice this month...

John Ford's The Searchers is a film that has had many interpretations placed upon it since it was released in 1956. Some would say it's a plea for tolerance. Others would point out that some scenes contain a less forgiving message. The key element of Glenn Frankel’s book takes a different stance. It starts with surprising fact – that The Searchers is, in fact, based on a true story, taking its inspiration from events that played a huge part in the way settlers viewed Native Americans in the nineteenth century, and beyond.

The Making Of An American Legend charts the way that truth can become legend, and legend can become film. Of course, John Ford loved these sorts of distinctions; 'When the legend becomes fact, print the legend'...

By now you've probably heard mention that Steven Soderbergh, he who is officially retired but not really because nobody totally believes it and he still works in various capacities, just posted his list of everything he watched and read this past year. I love Soderbergh's List-Mania more than I even love Soderbergh because I relate. This is now my favorite celebrity listing tradition of each year, not that there are very many consistent ones.

 The whole list is worth reading but I wanted to share nine highlights in the order in which they delighted me.

Nine Highlights In Order Of How They Delighted

09 He watched Lisa Kudrow's The Comeback the same day he watched Birdman... a very meta Hollywood day was November 9th.

08. I can't imagine what his Oscar ballot looks like since it appears in the middle of all his TV viewings and plentiful 1970s movies, he only...

“For some, theaters were a place to shelter from the troubles of the world, but they were also where most Americans were confronted by vivid images of the troubles themselves, brought home in footage that was more immediate and overwhelming than newspapers or radio broadcasts could ever be.” The above quote, excerpted from Mark Harris’ “Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War,” is made in specific reference to theatrical newsreels in 1940, which exposed Americans to stark images of WWII while the Hollywood features that they introduced were prevented from acknowledging the war in such a direct fashion. The gap that this pre-intervention limbo period produced between fiction and non-fiction speaks to a greater paradox that has overtly and covertly determined the American experience of commercial moviegoing: the fact that, as I argued two years ago, Hollywood regularly “eschews reality just as it borrows from it.” As...

This week on The Collision, we talk about World War II films and David Ayer's new picture, Fury. Our discussion of World War II movies explores the various sub-genres, the difficulty of balancing revereance with entertainment, depicting war honestly, the development of the genre over time, how it compares to movies depicting other American wars, and more. As always, we finish up with our recommendations. Click here to listen to the new episode of The Collision, click here for the previous episode ("Ghostbusters 3, Cinematic Universes, and Robert Downey Jr. "), click here to add the podcast to your RSS, and click here to find us on iTunes. To keep up to date with The Collision, you can follow us on Twitter at @MattGoldberg and @AdamChitwood. Adam's Recommendation: Mark Harris' book Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War Matt's Recommendation: The Guns of Navarone...

First Things First: at Movie City News the "Gurus of Gold" have begun (yes, I'm a part of it again) and as David Poland points out there are seven films that made almost every list: Birdman, Gone Girl, Boyhood, and Unbroken tied at 1st place with Foxcatcher, Selma, and Interstellar just behind them. Most pundits are feeling these as Best Picture threats. Look at the whole chart though to see how everything fared. The highest ranking films that were not on my list (we were asked to submit 15 films) are Wild and Inherent Vice.

Birdman Flies

Early rave reviews at the Venice Film Festival from The Telegraph, Variety and THR and a couple positive but not ecstatic reviews from The Guardian and The Film Stage are up and surely bode well for the film. I'm holding off on reading them as I want the movie fresh when I see it.

Dana Delany loves talking movies! You can see her next in "Hand of God" on Amazon PrimeYou've read the Supporting Actress Smackdown of 1973. Now hear its companion Podcast 

On this special episode of the podcast -- meant to enhance and extend the current Supporting Actress Smackdown conversation to include the films themselves -- Nathaniel welcomes two time Emmy winner Dana Delany (China Beach, Desperate Housewives, Body of Proof), as well as EW editor at large and "Five Came Back" author Mark Harris, "You Must Remember This" podcast goddess Karina Longworth, Bill Chambers from Film Freak Central, and Kyle Turner from The Movie Scene.

You'll want to listen to this one. Trust me on this: your week will not be complete until you hear Dana's Sylvia Sidney impression and Mark's childhood Exorcist story. 

Smackdown 1973

00:01 Introductions

02:45 American Graffiti: nostalgia, sexism, George Lucas, actors vs screenplay

13:15 Summer Wishes...

Behold the five Oscar-nominated Supporting Actresses of 1973: a "bitchin' babe" (Candy Clark), a pint-sized con-artist (Tatum O'Neal), a possessed teenager (Linda Blair), a selfish carnival dancer (Madeline Kahn), and a vinegary New York institution (Sylvia Sidney).

The Nominees

Last month's featured year, 1964, gave us an extremely senior acting shortlist of Oscar regulars but the corresponding shortlist of 1973, apart from Sylvia Sidney who had been a respected working actress for nearly a half-century, skewed very new and very young and not just because it gave us the youngest Oscar winner of all time in Tatum O'Neal; she was 10 years and 148 days old. The four actresses nominated with Sidney were in their first flush of stardom and only acting in their first (O'Neal) second (Kahn & Clark) or third films (Blair). The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences obviously approved of their career choice.

This Month's Panelists

from left to right: Chambers,...

The Supporting Actress Smackdown of '73 arrives on July 31st, just over two weeks from now. You need to get your votes in too if you want to participate (instructions at the bottom of this post). If you've wandered in from elsewhere and are like, "What's a Smackdown?," here's how it started.

The Smackdown Panel for July

Without further ado let's meet our panel who will be discussing popular classics Paper Moon, The Exorcist, and American Graffiti as well as the more obscure title Summer Wishes Winter Dreams. All of the Supporting Actress nominees this Oscar vintage were first timers and so are our Smackdown panelists.

Special Guest

Dana Delany

Dana Delany is an actress working on stage, screen, television and now internet. She was last seen starring in "Body of Proof" on ABC. In August you can rate and review the pilot "Hand of God" in which she co-stars with Ron Perlman on Amazon.

Book review: Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War by Mark Harris (The Penguin Press) If you’ve read biographies and memoirs of Frank Capra, John Ford, John Huston, George Stevens, and William Wyler, or seen documentaries about their storied careers, you may feel you already know about their sojourn making films for the Armed Forces during World War II. It turns out there is more to their experience than you might realize, part of a multilayered tale of Hollywood’s relationship with the U.S. government. Mark Harris, author of the essential book Pictures at a Revolution, has dug into primary (and private) source material to divulge the full story as no one...

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Five directors at the top of their game abandoned Hollywood for the battlefield during War War II, churning out propaganda and training films for the military during a period of cooperation that has never been equaled since. Mark Harris, author of “Pictures at a Revolution,” examines the wartime experience of these men — John Ford, Frank Capra, William Wyler, John Huston and George Stevens — and how it shaped their work on their return in his latest book, “Five Came Back.” By putting themselves in harm's way, the directors captured crucial turning points such as the Battle of Midway. They also...

Mark Harris's study of the interwoven war careers of Ford, Wyler, Capra, Stevens and Huston impresses Philip French

The two most remarkable film books of last year were both about the ways – mostly craven and temporising – that the American cinema responded to the rise of Nazism: The Collaboration: Hollywood's Pact with Hitler by Ben Urwand and Hollywood and Hitler 1933-1939 by Thomas Doherty. By a useful coincidence, the first important movie history so far this year, and likely to prove one of the most memorable, is Mark Harris's Five Came Back. His complementary work picks up Urband's and Doherty's studies at that crucial point where the bombs fall on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and Hollywood rolls up its sleeves and swaps the diplomatic velvet glove for a patriotic steel fist. As in his impressive first book, Scenes from a Revolution, a long, detailed study of five 1967 movies that...

Awards Circuit is hosting a March Madness tournament featuring all the Best Actress winners ever - the games started yesterday

Rope of Silicon a special remix of "Hero": Mariah Carey feat. Matthew McConaughey

Daily News Cate Blanchett & Amy Adams went to a tattoo parlor together with their men in tow after the Oscars! I would never have predicted that for a double date between them, would you? The bandages indicate that at least Cate and Amy's man got tattooed.

D-Listed The gowns from the Vanity Fair party (I'm so far behind I'm still reading about Post-Oscar partying)

PopBytes sneak peak at Lindsay Lohan series on Oprah's channel (I forgot all about this!)

Hollywood Elsewhere blurry snapshots from the set of Warren Beatty's Hughes film 

<--- Variety Alfonso Cuarón on life post-Oscar. Um... it's been 72 hours! Lol. But we'll excuse it because isn't that cover image great?

The...

Aaaannnd exhale. After weeks of Olympic coverage, it’s just about time to get back to our regularly scheduled programming. My DVR might not be happy about, but I’m over the moon.

This is the week when your favorite shows find their way back to your TV screens. From the long-awaited returns of Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy to the season premieres of Dallas and The Voice, it’s hard to go wrong with your television choices. Meanwhile, at the theater, Liam Neeson is heating up the screen, and elsewhere, we’ve found book and album releases that are not to be missed.

Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent is exactly the kind of film that benefits from a Criterion Collection release. I don't consider this to be one of Hitch's "best", but at the same time it's got the elements that make his films fascinating, and, most importantly, entertaining. And Criterion always does a great job bringing a focus to some of Hitchcock's less discussed gems. Add to that, Foreign Correspondent carries an additional weight as a result of its place in history as a propaganda film, emphasized most in Joel McCrea's speech at the end of the film amid the bombing of London, warning those back in the U.S. just what exactly Germany was up to. The scene was added after filming had already wrapped, just over a month before the film would actually hit theaters. Following Rebecca, Foreign Correspondent was Hitchcock's second American feature. Both would be nominated for...

This week I caught three movies in theaters, two I've already reviewed -- The Lego Movie and The Monuments Men -- and the other is Winter's Tale, which I don't think I'm able to review just yet, but I will say I was expecting something terrible and that's not what I got... I'll say more next week when it hits theaters. At home I watched Francois Truffaut's Jules and Jim on Criterion Blu-ray, which I reviewed and only two people, sadly commented... Hopefully more people come to the table with thoughts and opinions when I review Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent this coming week. I watched the new Criterion Blu-ray this week as well. Also, I finally saw Paul Thomas Anderson's Hard Eight, which played Sundance and Cannes in '96 before being released in the States in '97, the same year Anderson's Boogie Nights was released. In fact,...

It was pretty much an average week for me in the movie watching department as I managed to get four films under my belt over the last few days and I hope to watch something tonight since there isn't any football this weekend (no, the Pro Bowl doesn't count) to give me five movies in total. At home I watched La Dolce Vita (which was the topic of discussion in my first ever Best Movies feature), Zatoichi's Cane Sword (my 15th Zatoichi film so far) and a screener of Big Bad Wolves (which I then reviewed right here). Then, in theaters, I saw Draft Day, which won't be released until April so I'm not sure how much I can say about it. It stars Kevin Costner and Jennifer Garner and they are clearly hoping to use the May 8-10 NFL Draft as a catalyst to get more butts in the seats.

The Galileo shuttlecraft seen in the original Star Trek series recently sold at auction for over $70,000 and is about to undergo a complete restoration. After the series was canceled in 1969, it spent most of its time neglected in various storage yards and hangers. Some tried to restore it in the past but because it was only designed to have a short life span as a TV prop, it’s been an expensive and uphill struggle to keep it maintained. Considering the popularity of Star Trek and the way the model of the Enterprise has been so lovingly preserved, it does seem strange that the same cant be said about the shuttle. You would think that fans of the series would be crying out for it to be placed in a museum but in fact, it’s spent most of it’s time deteriorating under a tarpaulin cover. Here is the story of the neglected shuttlecraft.