News

Did Mikey Madison win an Oscar for portraying a prostitute in Anora? (Photo Credit – AnoraFilm Instagram)

The 2025 Academy Awards came and went in a whirlwind, forging legacies for a slew of talents, though it’s the newcomers who galvanize the most intrigue with their ties to the golden statuette. Amid the night’s fervor, one victory stood out — a triumph that spotlights both a fresh face and a storied trope.

Mikey Madison, the 25-year-old dynamo from Anora, seized her first Oscar for Best Actress, outpacing The Substance’s Demi Moore in a twist few had prognosticated. The win, flanked by Anora’s haul of Best Picture, Director, and more, incentivized a floodlight on her nascent Hollywood path.

Maddison’s raw and unapologetic portrayal of the titular sex worker elucidated a character far from cliché, cementing her ascent with a cataclysmic bang. That win didn’t transpire without etching new stats...

Meryl Streep is the best of the best.

Her performance in Sophie’s Choice (1982) has been voted the greatest Oscar Best Actress winner ever, according to a Gold Derby ballot cast by 21 of our film experts, critics, and editors, who ranked all 97 movie champs.

Diane Keaton ranked second for Annie Hall (1977), with Jodie Foster following in third for The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Liza Minnelli for Cabaret (1972) and Vivien Leigh for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) rounded out the top five.

At the bottom of the list of the Best Actress winners is Mary Pickford for Coquette (1929). Just above that film in the rankings are Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Helen Hayes for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1932), Loretta Young for The Farmer’s Daughter (1947), and Marie Dressler for Min and Bill (1931).

Another recent Gold Derby poll of cinema experts declared The Godfather (1972) as the greatest Best Picture Oscar winner of all...

The performance by Meryl Streep in Sophie’s Choice (1982) has been voted the greatest Oscar Best Actress winner ever. The results are from a recent Gold Derby ballot cast by 21 of our film experts and editors, who ranked all 97 movie champs.

Ranking in second place is Diane Keaton for Annie Hall (1977). Following in third place is Jodie Foster for The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Rounding out the top five are Liza Minnelli for Cabaret (1972), and Vivien Leigh for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).

At the bottom of the list of the Best Actress winners is Mary Pickford for Coquette (1929). Just above that film in the rankings are Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Helen Hayes for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1932), Loretta Young for The Farmer’s Daughter (1947), and Marie Dressler for Min and Bill (1931).

Another recent poll had The Godfather (1972) declared as the greatest Best Picture Oscar winner of all time (view...

Although you won’t often hear his name mentioned among auteur theorists, four-time Oscar winner Robert Wise amassed an impressive filmography in his lifetime. Let’s take a look back at 20 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Wise cut his teeth as a film editor, most notably working on Orson Welles‘ landmark film “Citizen Kane” (1941), for which he received an Oscar nomination. He made his directorial debut with “The Curse of the Cat People” (1944), the first of many successful collaborations with low-budget horror producer Val Lewton.

Throughout his career, Wise excelled at a number of genres, including science fiction (“The Day the Earth Stood Still”), film noir (“Odds Against Tomorrow”), horror (“The Haunting”), war (“The Desert Rats”), comedy (“Two for the Seesaw”), and drama (“Executive Suite”). Rather than imposing his own directorial fingerprint on each film, Wise instead tried to adapt his style to best suit the material.

Sean Connery was the first James Bond, but a woman, Susan Hayward, was considered for the role in the 1950s. Despite the modern stance on Bond being male, the original plan shows the character was never defined by gender. Negative backlash and fear of boycotts may still prevent the Bond franchise from casting a female 007, despite calls for diversity.

The James Bond franchise has cycled through a variety of actors as the title character, with Sean Connery recognized as the first, but there were other names considered prior, including a woman. Connery's debut as Bond in the Terrence Young directed Dr. No in 1962, based on the novel version by James Bond creator Ian Fleming, marked the beginning of a global series, spanning over 25 films. Now, following Daniel Craig's epic five-film run as Bond that ended with 2021's No Time to Die, Bond 26 is inching closer to production,...

“I felt ashamed of myself for watching. No one should have a chance to see so much desire, so much need for a prize. And so much pain when [it] was not given … I felt disgusted with myself. As though I were attending a public hanging.”

Those were the words of the late Glenda Jackson, as she described to The New York Times her recent experience watching the Academy Awards on television in 1979.

Ironically, it was well after she had already been gifted with two Best Actress Oscars herself. She was not present to accept those honors — for 1970’s “Women in Love” and 1973’s “A Touch of Class.” She was also absent when she was Best Actress-nominated for 1971’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and 1975’s “Hedda.”

See Watch our lively chats with dozens of 2024 Emmy contenders

I have to wonder if Miss Jackson ever watched the now-infamous clip of her winning her...

When it comes to the James Bond franchise, progressive is not the first word that comes to mind. Despite this, the 2021 film No Time To Die revolutionized the film series after it introduced the first female 007 in the form of Lashana Lynch. There have been conversations around the same topic for quite some time, with Angelina Jolie famously stating that she did not want to play a Bond girl but the spy herself.

Sean Connery as James Bond

It would seem, however, that the Maleficent actress was not the first to voice these wishes, as over 60 years before the Lynch film, there were conversations about a Bond film being led by a female James Bond.

SUGGESTEDYears After Losing 007 Role to Daniel Craig, Henry Cavill Plays a Character That Inspired James Bond

Although this clearly did not pan out, the story around it was quite interesting.

A Female James Bond...

A female James Bond was considered decades ago, with Susan Hayward pitched as the lead. Hayward, an Academy Award winner, was prominent in Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s for her powerful roles. While the idea of a female Bond was proposed, author Ian Fleming preferred Richard Burton for the role.

It seems that the idea of casting a woman in the role of James Bond is not a new one, with Nicholas Shakespeare’s upcoming biography of Bond author Ian Fleming, “Ian Fleming: The Complete Man,” revealing that the somewhat controversial idea was first pitched more than 60 years ago. The biography reveals (via Indiewire) that 007 producer Gregory Ratoff wanted Academy Award winner Susan Hayward to lead the franchise adaptation of the first novel Casino Royale.

“Since the mid-1950s, many well-known actors had been approached [to play Bond]. Gregory Ratoff had the arresting idea of having Bond played by a woman,...

Lashana Lynch became the first woman to own the 007 title in the 2021 James Bond tentpole “No Time to Die,” but it turns out a plan to make James Bond a woman was actually pitched over 60 years prior. In Nicholas Shakespeare’s upcoming biography of Bond author Ian Fleming, titled “Ian Fleming: The Complete Man,” it’s confirmed that producer Gregory Ratoff floated the idea of casting Susan Hayward in a film adaptation of Fleming’s first Bond novel “Casino Royale.”

Shakespeare writes in the biography (via IndieWire): “Since the mid-1950s, many well-known actors had been approached [to play Bond]. Gregory Ratoff had the arresting idea of having Bond played by a woman, Susan Hayward. Ian had entertained several possibilities, from Richard Burton (‘I think that Richard Burton would be by far the best James Bond’), to James Stewart (‘I wouldn’t at all mind him as Bond if he can slightly...

Yes, a female James Bond has been over a half-century in the making.

Before Lashana Lynch briefly donned the 007 title in “No Time to Die,” the film adaptation of “Dr. No,” a woman was in talks to lead the franchise 50 years prior.

In Nicholas Shakespeare’s upcoming biography of Bond author Ian Fleming, titled “Ian Fleming: The Complete Man,” it’s revealed that original “Casino Royale” producer Gregory Ratoff had imagined a woman in the titular lead role. In fact, Oscar-winning actress Susan Hayward was in Ratoff’s mind to take the part.

Prior to “Casino Royale,” the two Bond films had floundered with “Thunderball” and “Casino Royale” receiving poor reviews, hence the proposed gender-swap.

Shakespeare writes in the biography, “Since the mid-1950s, many well-known actors had been approached. Gregory Ratoff had the arresting idea of having Bond played by a woman, Susan Hayward. Ian had entertained several possibilities,...

After spending a couple awards cycles on the sidelines, A24 reemerged this year with more Oscar nominations than any other studio–18 between six films: “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “The Whale,” “Aftersun,” “Causeway,” “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On,” and “Close.” The arthouse label is positioned to set an even more staggering record, though. If Oscar night, as it did in 2022, repeats both the SAG and DGA Awards–in other words, if “Eeaao” takes Best Actress (Michelle Yeoh), Best Supporting Actor (Ke Huy Quan), Best Supporting Actress (Jamie Lee Curtis), Best Director (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), and Best Picture, while Best Actor goes to “The Whale” (Brendan Fraser)–A24 will become the first studio in history to make a clean sweep of the top categories.

See Ke Huy Quan (‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’) on a comeback 30 years in the making: ‘I don’t take for granted for a second,...

The legendary punk god joins us to talk about movies he finds unforgettable. Special appearance by his cat, Moon Unit.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Tapeheads (1988)

Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979) – Eli Roth’s trailer commentary

A Face In The Crowd (1957) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Meet John Doe (1941)

Bob Roberts (1992)

Bachelor Party (1984)

Dangerously Close (1986)

Videodrome (1983) – Mick Garris’s trailer commentary

F/X (1986)

Hot Rods To Hell (1967)

Riot On Sunset Strip (1967)

While The City Sleeps (1956) – Glenn Erickson’s trailer commentary

Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Spider-Man (2002)

The Killing (1956) – Michael Lehmann’s trailer commentary

Serpent’s Egg (1977)

The Thin Man (1934)

Meet Nero Wolfe (1936)

The Hidden Eye (1945)

Eyes In The Night (1942)

Sudden Impact (1983) – Alan Spencer’s trailer commentary

Red Dawn (1984)

Warlock (1989)

The Dead Zone (1983) – Mick Garris’s trailer commentary

Secret Honor (1984)

The Player (1992) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary,...

Actor Gavin MacLeod has passed away at age 90 following a lengthy illness. MacLeod entered the acting profession in the 1950s with small roles in films such as "I Want to Live!", "Pork Chop Hill" and "Operation Petticoat". He also appeared in many hit TV series of the era before landing a regular part as a member of "McHale's Navy". In 1971, he graduated to stardom with a key role in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", which showcased his superb talents as a comedic actor. Major stardom followed later when he had the lead role in the long-running hit TV series "The Love Boat". His other feature films include "Kelly's Heroes" and "The Sand Pebbles". For more about his life and career, click here.

Gavin MacLeod, the veteran television actor known for his roles on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “The Love Boat” has died, his nephew Mark See confirms. The five-time Golden Globe nominee was 90 years old.

MacLeod passed away early Saturday morning at his home in Palm Desert, California. According to TMZ, the actor had been in and out of the hospital with various illnesses for the last few months, although Covid was not one of them.

MacLeod found his breakout role on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” where he played Murray Slaughter, the head writer at Mary’s fictional television station. He appeared in all 168 episodes of the sitcom’s seven-year run. Betty White and Ed Asner are now the only surviving cast members of the classic series. The latter star has already posted a sweet tribute to the actor in which he describes him as “my brother, my partner...

While longer Best Actress-nominated performances are rarer than ones contending for Best Actor, there has been a significant amount of them over 92 years. Indeed, 44 have surpassed 90 minutes of screen time, and the overall longest nominated performance of all time comes from this category. Here is a look at the 10 longest ever nominated for the award:

10. Rosalind Russell (“Auntie Mame”)

1 hour, 48 minutes, 23 seconds (75.59% of the film)

Over the course of 16 years, Russell competed for the Best Actress Oscar four times, and her final bid was for playing an eccentric socialite who is tasked with raising her nephew. All four of her nominations were for relatively long performances, averaging one hour, 30 minutes, and 42 seconds and over 71%. She never won, and lost in 1959 to Susan Hayward, who was on her fifth and final nomination for her one-hour, 15-minute, and 26-second performance in “I Want to Live!”.

9. Isabelle Huppert (“Elle”)

1 hour, 49 minutes, 55 seconds (83.87% of...

The 2020 Latin Grammy Award nominations were unveiled on September 29 and it is a good day for J Balvin, Bad Bunny and Ozuna. This trio of talent lead the roster with 13, nine and eight bids respectively. All three contend for Record of the Year while J Balvin and Bad Bunny are nominated for Album of the Year for their collaborative project “Oasis” as well as their individual albums, “Colores” and “Yhlqmdlg.” Other artists who scored big this year were Anuel AA, Josh Gudwin and Colin Leonard, with seven bids apiece. See the full list of Latin Grammy nominations below.

Voters in the Latin Recording Academy had to consider a whopping 18,000 entries across 53 categories. The eligibility window ran from June 1, 2019 to May 31, 2020. “Over the last year, we continued engaging in discussions with our members to improve the awards process and actively encouraged diverse Latin music creators to join and participate,” said Gabriel Abaroa Jr.

The Latin Recording Academy has announced the nominees for the 21st Annual Latin Grammy Awards. J Balvin leads this year’s nominations with 13, followed by Bad Bunny with nine nominations and Ozuna with eight; Anuel AA, Josh Gudwin and Colin Leonard each received seven nominations.

The 2020 nominations for Album of the Year include Bad Bunny’s Yhlqmdlg, Camilo’s Por Primera Vez, Kany García’s Mesa Para Dos, J Balvin’s Colores, J Balvin & Bad Bunny’s Oasis, Jesse & Joy’s Aire (Versión Día), Natalia Lafourcade’s Un Canto Por México,...

Johnny Mandel, the famed composer and arranger behind the Oscar-winning song "The Shadow of Your Smile" and "Suicide Is Painless," the theme from the M*A*S*H movie and television series, has died. He was 94.

Mandel died Monday at his home in Ojai, his daughter, Marissa, told The New York Times.

Mandel, who played the trumpet and the trombone, took his first crack at a motion-picture score when he wrote the jazzy music for the Susan Hayward drama I Want to Live! (1958), directed by Robert Wise.

He also was the composer on other noteworthy films like The Americanization of Emily (1964), Harper (1966),...

Puerto Rican rocker Draco Rosa has dropped a striking new version of his 2013 song, “Quiero Vivir.” It is his first release since his Latin Grammy-winning 2018 album, Monte Sagrado.

“Quiero Vivir” was inspired by the poem “Tengo Ojos,” by the Mexican poet Jaime Sabines. “La vida con dios, una copa de luz/Tu y yo mas allá, mas allá del amor,” sings Rosa, with a dusky timbre: “Life with God, a cup of light / You and I beyond, beyond love.” Rosa’s folk-rock cool is heightened by dramatic orchestral arrangements; yet beneath the grandiose production,...

by Jason Adams A quick shout-out to the director Robert Wise, who was born 105 years ago this very day. He passed in 2005, by then a four-time Oscar winner for a couple little movies called The Sound of Music and West Side Story (he won for both directing and producing), although he was nominated a couple other times. I mean he edited Citizen Kane! Obviously he was nominated other times. 

I do love his nomination for directing Susan Hayward's 1958 melodrama I Want To Live!, a film which looks way overcooked to modern eyes (as does most of Hayward's output) but which I love all the same. But Wise should've had several more nominations, if you ask me -- in between his two musical masterpieces he only directed one of the greatest horror films of all time, The Haunting, still effective to this day. There didn't seem to be a genre he couldn't master.

Director Robert Wise, who won two Academy Awards for directing two of the most successful movie musicals of all time, West Side Story and The Sound of Music, died of heart failure yesterday; he was 91. Wise, who had just celebrated his birthday on Saturday, was rushed to the UCLA Medical Center after suddenly falling ill. Recently, the filmmaker had reportedly been in good health, and his wife, Millicent, was out of the country at the San Sebastian Film Festival, participating in a retrospective of her husband's work. An extremely versatile director whose films ranged from drama to horror to sci-fi to musicals, Wise got his start at RKO Studios as an assistant editor, a job he got thanks to his brother, who was in the studio's accounting department. Working his way up the ladder to full editor, Wise edited such films as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and My Favorite Wife before nabbing an Academy Award nomination for editing the legendary Citizen Kane. He also worked with filmmaker Orson Welles on The Magnificent Ambersons, and was involved in that movie's drastic re-editing, which was requested by RKO while Welles was out of the country; the missing footage from Ambersons, and Wise's falling-out with Welles over the final product, later became the stuff of legend. Two years after Ambersons, Wise was given his first job directing The Curse of the Cat People, which he co-directed with Gunther von Fritsch. Working on B pictures for RKO through the 40s, including the Boris Karloff vehicle The Body Snatcher, Wise came to the attention of critics with his prizefighter film The Set-Up (1949), which took place in real time. His films in the 50s were notably more high profile, starting with the sci-fi classic The Day the Earth Stood Still; he also helmed So Big, Somebody Up There Likes Me, and I Want to Live, which won him his first Oscar nomination and a Best Actress award for Susan Hayward. In 1961, Wise attempted his first musical, an adaptation of the Broadway hit West Side Story, on which he worked (and reportedly clashed) with choreographer and co-director Jerome Robbins. The film, starring Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer (neither of whom did their own singing), was a massive hit and won ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture and directing honors for Wise and Robbins - neither thanked the other in their acceptance speeches. After making the creepily effective black-and-white thriller The Haunting (1963), Wise went back to musical territory with The Sound of Music (1965), the small story of a governess (Julie Andrews) in Austria that turned into a very, very big hit. Critically lambasted but a fervent, almost rabid favorite with audiences, it went on to become the highest-grossing movie ever released at that time, saved 20th Century Fox from imminent bankruptcy in the wake of Cleopatra, and won Wise his second Oscar in addition to Best Picture. Wise's output after The Sound of Music was scattershot in quality, and as he grew older he worked less frequently, but he helmed a number of notable pictures in the 60s and 70s: The Sand Pebbles, his last Best Picture nominee; the ill-fated Julie Andrews vehicle Star!; modernistic sci-fi thriller The Andromeda Strain; possession horror flick Audrey Rose; and the first Star Trek movie, appropriately titled Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The director's last feature film was Rooftops (1989), an attempt at a contemporary urban musical. Wise went on to become the president of both the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and the Directors Guild of America, and found a devoted fan in filmmaker Martin Scorsese, who was said to be instrumental in getting Wise the American Film Institute's lifetime achievement award in 1998. Wise is survived by his wife, Millicent, and a son from a previous marriage. --Prepared by IMDb staff...

Robert Wise, a four-time Academy Award winner whose epic 65-year career ranged from editing Orson Welles' Citizen Kane to directing the quintessential 1960s musical The Sound of Music to launching the first Star Trek film, died Wednesday of heart failure. He was 91. Wise died at UCLA Medical Center, according to family friend Lawrence Mirisch, owner of The Mirisch Agency, a Hollywood talent agency. Wise, who was honored with the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award in 1998, enjoyed a longevity that few filmmakers achieve: His resume ranged from his early work as a sound editor on Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musicals like The Gay Divorcee to his collaboration as a film editor with Welles on Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons to his emergence as a director, and later producer, of films as varied as The Day the Earth Stood Still, I Want to Live! and West Side Story, which he co-directed with Jerome Robbins. His filmography covers almost every genre except animation.