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Which American Beauty Scene Changed Thora Birch’s Career? (Photo Credit –Facebook)

Thora Birch faded away from the Hollywood scene after she stepped away from the silver screen, leaving behind a legacy that echoed long after her exit. From the get go, she was one of those rare child actors who seemed carved for something big and early on, she held her own alongside the mighty Harrison Ford in 1994 film, Clear and Present Danger.

However, it was American Beauty in 1999 that truly cemented her status. It was a film of cinematic acclaim, which went on to snag five Oscars and eight nominations. Birch’s portrayal of Jane Burnham, the withdrawn teenager with a bruised soul and a sharp gaze, left a mark few could shake off.

Thora Birch’s Parents On Set & In The Way

Birch’s ascent though, was never the straightforward Hollywood fairy tale as behind the scenes,...

As the returning host of Sunday night’s SAG Awards on Netflix, Kristen Bell certainly knows her audience. “Everyone started out as a kid in somewhere Earth, going to bed and waking up every morning thinking, ‘It’s going to be me,’” says Bell. “So yes, Justin Timberlake owes us all a piece of that song.”

It wasn’t Bell speaking when the program began however, as the show opened with a pre-recorded Hacks sketch of Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) reading her monologue to her pitch team, before her agent Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) comes and lets her know she isn’t actually going to host. The skit ends as Deborah receives the serum from The Substance, which came just in time for her hosting gig.

Mikey Madison, Bowen Yang, Jessica Williams and Jodie Foster followed up with “I’m an Actor” introductions before Bell took the stage, along with...

Zachary Levi recently opened up about his public support for Donald Trump, saying he felt “at peace” with the decision, despite knowing it could impact his acting career. The “Shazam” star made these remarks during an appearance on “The Megyn Kelly Show” while promoting his new film, “The Unbreakable Boy.”

Levi initially endorsed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for president but shifted his support to Trump once he became the Republican nominee. He spoke at a rally in Michigan, introducing a discussion between Kennedy and former Representative Tulsi Gabbard. During the interview with Kelly, Levi explained why he chose to be open about his political stance, despite the risks involved.

“I felt peace because I knew that this was more important than saving my career,” Levi said. “I think we too often fall into these paradigms, these thought processes of self-preservation, and it is not good. We need to be wise...

Do Patti Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Kriti Sanon, Kajol, Shaheer Sheikh, Tanvi Azmi, Brijendra Kala

Director: Shashanka Chaturvedi

Do Patti Movie Review Out – Kriti Sanon Turns The Ace While Kajol Reshuffles This Deck Of Cards! (Photo Credit – Instagram)

What’s Good: Kriti Sanon Delivering One Of Her Career Best

What’s Bad: Kajol Not Adding Any Worth To The Story

Loo Break: Not Recommended

Watch or Not?: Yes, Definitely – To Watch Kriti Sanon Shine Like Never Before!

Language: Hindi With English Subtitles

Available On: Netflix

Runtime: 2 Hour 6 Minutes

User Rating:

Double role films are a passe in Bollywood now, and the last good double role we probably loved was Shah Rukh Khan in Don! However, this classic – the good one and the bad one – with the same facial identity has hardly gone wrong. And Bollywood turned into a classic goldmine when it explored the theme with twins – be...

Who’s my audience? That’s one of the biggest questions any filmmaker can ask themselves, especially at this moment when it’s never been harder simply to reach an audience. Luckily, the heads of Kino, a bold startup interactive cinema, are set to join IndieWire at the Future of Filmmaking Summit in Los Angeles on November 2.

Purchase Early Bird Discount Tickets for the Future of Filmmaking Summit

Kino’s Austin Worrell, Brit MacRae, and Daril Fannin will discuss with an IndieWire editor how their platform enables unique interactivity: Audiences can interact directly with filmmakers making their streaming premieres on Kino, to get a glimpse behind the scenes of the filmmaking process, the director’s creative inspirations, and more. Think of this as a “TikTok for film” experience.

A recent example of one of Kino’s digital premieres is for “The Secret Art of Human Flight,” H.P. Mendoza’s film starring Grant Rosenmeyer,...

Tom Selleck is a television icon, beloved for his charming performances and iconic roles spanning five decades. With a successful career in both film and television, Selleck has built a remarkable legacy that is also reflected in his staggering net worth. Best known for his roles in Magnum, P.I. and Blue Bloods, Selleck was also seen in a longstanding arc in the popular sitcom Friends, in which he played one of Monica’s romantic interests.

The actor has, as a result, accumulated a commanding net worth of $25 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. That in itself is a result of his work across films, television, and other investments.

Tom Selleck’s Early Life and Career Beginnings Tom Selleck in a still from Magnum P.I. | CBS Studios

Born in Detroit in 1945, Tom Selleck’s journey to stardom began in Sherman Oaks, California, where his family moved in 1948. After high school,...

It is common knowledge at this point that Vince Gilligan’s Breaking Bad is one of the greatest shows of all time. The series is perfect in every way; every plot device, regardless of how insignificant, has someplace in the puzzle. While some could get lost in the details, it even manages to take a step back and look at the bigger picture, mastering everything from action sequences to characters, cinematography, and dialogue.

Vince Gilligan’s Breaking Bad | Credit: AMC

Considering how excellent the series is, one cannot help but wonder what made Gilligan create the series. During an interview, the director spoke on this very subject, revealing what inspired him to make a series about a part-time high school teacher and a full-time drug lord.

Life Imitates Art

The entirety of Breaking Bad can be narrowed down to one single moment. While the rest of the series has multiple driving factors,...

Maggie Smith’s legendary status in film and theater is undisputed, and for Daniel Radcliffe, their first meeting left quite the impression. As a child actor, Radcliffe’s early encounters with veteran stars were often a blend of awe and nerves, but his introduction to Dame Maggie Smith was especially memorable.

Maggie Smith in the Harry Potter franchise | Credits: Warner Bros.

Smith’s sharp wit and no-nonsense attitude turned what could have been an intimidating first exchange into a charming and humorous moment, one that Radcliffe would never forget. Their unique connection, formed during the early stages of Radcliffe’s career, paved the way for an extraordinary professional relationship that would span over a decade, deeply influencing the young actor.

The Nearly Awkward First Meeting Between Daniel Radcliffe and Maggie Smith Maggie Smith in The Miracle Club | image: Embankment Films

In 1999, nine-year-old Daniel Radcliffe was gearing up for his very...

How many actors can say they have over 100 credits on their resume? Lynn Whitfield can. The Emmy winner has a lengthy resume filled with classics across genres. The latest addition to her decades-long career is The Chi, on which she’s been a recurring guest star but will now be a series regular in the upcoming season. Whitfield joined us for a trip down memory lane in the TV Insider studio for our Career Rewind video series. In the interview above, she shares anecdotes from some of her most memorable projects, starting with Hill Street Blues in 1981 and leading all the way up to The Chi in 2024. Whitfield’s Emmy-winning turn came in HBO’s The Josephine Baker Story in 1991. She reflects on that Emmys night with us. It would be a hard night to forget, as Whitfield reminds us that she had just given birth to her daughter just...

Mike Flanagan is known for his brilliant take on the horror genre. Some of his most famous works are Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House and The Fall of the House of Usher. While these two titles are critically acclaimed and lauded by fans, he also had other works that received divisive reactions, such as Midnight Mass.

Credits: Hamish Linklater in Midnight Mass / Netflix

It’s hard to see why this series took a long time to happen. In many of his works, the Midnight Mass book was used as an Easter egg, a small hint of its existence that was yet to be revealed in public.

Midnight Mass Was Constantly Rejected Until Mike Flanagan Proved His Talent With The Haunting of Hill House

Midnight Mass was a deeply sentimental journey for Mike Flanagan. He had the idea in his head for most of his life, and having spent...

Keanu Reeves has starred in some of the most iconic films of from each decade starting from the 90s. That decade saw Reeves cement himself as the bonafide action hero with Point Break, Speed, and The Matrix. The actor continued his successful reign in the Matrix franchise with the two sequels.

Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves in Point Break | 20th Century Fox

However, one of the projects that did not turn out as well as he hoped was the 2008 sci-fi The Day the Earth Stood Still. The film is one project that Reeves regrets doing. In a 2017 interview, the John Wick star remarked that the failure of the film put his career at a complete standstill.

Keanu Reeves Claims He Was in Studio Jail After The Day the Earth Stood Still‘s Failure

Keanu Reeves’ The Day the Earth Stood Still is one of his worst-reviewed films | 20th Century Fox...

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Box Office (Worldwide) Aims To Earn $200 Million Mark In Its Entire Run. (Photo Credit – Instagram)

The box office is not being kind to Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga as the numbers are not so encouraging for this Chris Hemsworth and Anya Taylor Joy-led dystopian movie. Even though the film has excellent visuals and Hemsworth gave one of his best performances, it did not liven up the summer box office. Keep scrolling for more.

George Miller is widely famous for his Mad Max franchise, and he gained recognition with the first film, which came out in 1979. This is the fifth film in Miller’s Australian dystopian action film. The latest release is set 15 to 20 years before the events of Fury Road, which featured Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy in lead roles. The 2015 film won multiple Oscars, and Anya Taylor Joy and Alyla Browne...

Quick Links Who Is Steve McQueen? How Did Steve McQueen Stage a Car Crash? Steve McQueen's Post-Magnificent Seven Career Steve McQueen's legendary coolness translates to real-life daring ingenuity in Hollywood career maneuvers. The breakout star's focus on expanding acting chops led to creative solutions to balance TV and film roles. McQueen's meticulous planning and drive to excel in acting forged a charismatic Hollywood persona.

Few actors in Hollywood history have embodied the definition of cool more than Steve McQueen. The Oscar-nominated actor and star of such iconic movies as The Great Escape, The Cincinnati Kid, Bullitt, The Getaway, The Thomas Crown Affair, Le Mans, Papillon, and others lived on the edge of danger throughout his life and career. In 1980, McQueen died from a heart attack at age 50, cutting short one of the all-time great cinematic acting careers on record.

While McQueen fans know his penchant for driving and racing cars,...

Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers won Film of the Year and LGBTQ Film of the Year honors from the Dorian Film Awards, the annual honors bestowed Galeca: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics.

The Searchlight drama starring Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal as two troubled souls who fall for each other in lonely London, also scored a leading third win, LGBTQ Screenplay of the Year, for Haigh’s script. It led all nominees this year with nine.

“Twelve years ago, Andrew Haigh’s fresh and observant queer romance Weekend ruled our Dorians as well,” Galeca president Walt Hickey said Monday in revealing the awards. “So the fact that Strangers obviously touched many of our members’ hearts as well counts as sort of a sweet homecoming to our organization.”

Related: ‘All Of Us Strangers’: Read The Screenplay For Andrew Haigh’s Romantic Fantasy Starring Andrew Scott & Paul Mescal...

In the latest TV ratings, ABC’s slice of the Monday Night Football pie this week averaged 13.3 million total viewers, easily marking a season high for the network in fast nationals.

In the demo, the Eagles’ 21-17 win over the Chiefs scored a 2.3 rating — edging out the 2.2 posted by Browns/Steelers back on Sept. 18.

More from TVLineWWE's Randy Orton Set To Return at Survivor Series: WarGames After Career-Threatening Injury Ratings: Sunday Night Football Surges 23% With Broncos/Vikings Nail-BiterRatings: Ghosts UK Audience on Par With Big Brother 25's Thursday Average An A-to-z List of 300+ Scripted SeriesView List

Opposite ye olde...

In the latest TV ratings, NBC Sunday Night Football‘s broadcast of the Broncos/Vikings game averaged 15 million total viewers and a 3.7 demo rating, up 23% and 19% from the early numbers for last week’s Jets/Raiders match.

Over on CBS, a double helping of Yellowstone reruns drew 4.5 mil/0.4 and then 3.1 mil/0.2.

More from TVLineWWE's Randy Orton Set To Return at Survivor Series: WarGames After Career-Threatening Injury Ratings: Ghosts UK Audience on Par With Big Brother 25's Thursday AverageHouse of Usher Again Dominates Nielsen Streaming Top 10, Bodies and Goosebumps Make Chart Debut

The CW’s The Chosen (500K) added some...

American Cinema Editors (Ace) has set the time for the 74th Annual Ace Eddie Awards which celebrates editing in 13 categories of film and television.

The eligibility period for both film and television categories is the airing or release in theaters between Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2023. The Ace Eddie Awards are scheduled to be held on Sunday, March 3, at UCLA’s Royce Hall in Los Angeles.

“Since the Golden Reel Awards are also set for March 3rd, we collaborated with our partners at the Motion Picture Sound Editors Guild to make sure that both the sound and picture editing communities could attend both the Ace Eddie Awards and the Golden Reel Awards to celebrate together,” stated Ace Executive Director Jenni McCormick.

Three special honors will be handed out at the Ace Eddie Awards ceremony including two Career Achievement recipients presented to film editors of outstanding merit and the Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the...

Nicolas Cage, after more than 100 credits, finally has his dream role, at least as comedy fans are concerned. He knocks it out of the park as a schlubby, balding college professor who suddenly starts appearing in people’s dreams, first his daughter’s, then an old girlfriend’s, and soon millions of people around the globe are seeing this ordinary looking, very plain guy walking through their slumber in rather non-descript ways no matter what the situation. He becomes a phenomenon, until it reverses and the whole thing turns into a literal nightmare.

This is the inspired comic premise of Dream Scenario, perhaps the most ingenious screen idea Woody Allen never had, although it might have been interesting if he did (think a twisted Zelig). Instead it comes from the mind of Norwegian filmmaker Kristoffer Borgli, whose main claim to fame before this film, which had its world premiere at...

Exclusive: The Gotham Film & Media Institute has today named the student filmmakers selected to participate this summer in the fifth cycle of its Gotham Edu Film and Media Career Development Program, a six-week initiative helping to launch students into the media workforce.

Running virtually as in years past to improve access to the program for students across the country, the program will this year take place in two sessions, from June 5 to July 14, 2023, and July 17 to August 18, 2023. 20 students will participate in each, with those in the overall cohort hailing from a total of 25 colleges and universities across the U.S.

Student participants will benefit from a curriculum expanded for 2023 to cover development, pitching, marketing, distribution, new technology and entrepreneurship via workshops, peer-to-peer sessions and open conversations. They’ll also receive mentorship and insights from industry professionals spanning fiction, documentary and audio formats, including leaders from A+E Television Networks,...

Many of the actors in The Hunger Games are familiar faces. Actor Dayo Okeniyi appeared as Danny Dyson in Terminator Genisys alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Emilia Clarke. Okeniyi also made an appearance in horror movies Run Sweetheart Run and Fresh, and he starred in the 2022 biographical sports drama Rise. He's set to take part in an upcoming TV series called Dark Matter, starring Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly.

In The Hunger Games, Okeniyi portrayed Thresh, the male Tribute from District 11 and Rue's District partner. While Okeniyi gets a modest amount of screen time in The Hunger Games, he nevertheless brings an intensity to the role thanks to his strong presence. And although Thresh's role in The Hunger Games is quite small, he's anything but insignificant.

Related: Who Did Jack Quaid Play in The Hunger Games?

Thresh Is the District 11 Tribute in The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games takes place in a dictatorship called Panem,...

Chrishell Stause is an American actress, reailty TV star and real estate agent. She is best known for her roles in Selling Sunset, All My Children and Days of Our Lives.

Chrishell Stause Biography: Age, Early Life, Family, Education

Chrishell Stause was born on July 21, 1981 (Chrishell Stause: Age 41) in Draffenville, Kentucky to a single mother of four. Stause’s full name is Terrina Chrishell Stause. Her middle name comes from a story surrounding her birth where her mother started going into labor at a Shell gas station and an attendant named Chris helped get her to a hospital.

On season four of Selling Sunset, Stause revealed that she had been homeless a few times throughout her adolescence. She said that these hardships have helped build her as a person and she is thankful for everything she has now.

When Stause lived in trailer parks she was able to go to...

Raquel Welch, the big-screen star of the 1960s and ’70s who gained fame in movies including Fantastic Voyage, One Million Years B.C., Myra Breckinridge and many others, died today after a brief illness. She was 82.

Her death was confirmed by her reps at Media 4 Management.

Related: Raquel Welch: A Career In Photos

Welch’s career spanned more than 50 years, 30 films and scores of TV series and appearances, including about a dozen visits to The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson spanning two decades. She also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Imagen Foundation in 2001.

From left: Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch and Donald Pleasence in ‘Fantastic Voyage’ (Everett Collection)

Born Jo Raquel Tejada on September 5, 1940, in Chicago, Welch’s family moved to San Diego when she was a toddler. She attended San Diego State on a theater arts scholarship and got her start as a local TV weathercaster before starting to...

90 Day Fiancé star Thaís Ramone revealed what makes her thick eyebrows so special, and why she will never get rid of them despite criticism. The former model from Brazil made her debut on 90 Day Fiancé season 9 when she moved to the U.S. on a K-1 visa to get married to Patrick Mendes. Patrick, a former heavy-weightlifter, met Thaís in her country when he was looking to learn the Brazilian language on a dating app. Thaís and Patrick could not see eye to eye on several things when they stayed together, including Patrick’s brother John’s meddlesome attitude.

Eventually, Thaís and Patrick got married, and there’s seemingly no bad blood between the 90 Day Fiancé family anymore. However, months after 90 Day Fiance's Thaís Ramone was last seen on the show, there still seemed to be some cast members that mocked her appearance. Thaís posted a...

San Francisco, Sep 2 (Ians) Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai has announced a 20 million grant to impart computer science education to 11 million students in the US.

This brings Google’s total commitment to computer science education to more than 240 million since 2004.

“We’ll focus our efforts on supporting national and local organisations who reach underserved students in major urban centres and rural communities, and who help governments and educators implement Cs education plans nationwide,” Pichai said in a statement late on Thursday.

The announcement is part of the ‘Grow with Google’ initiative and includes funding from Google.org.

Earlier this year, Google partnered with the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture to train 2,000 teachers on digital skills, enabling them to reach 200,000 rural students by the end of the 2023 school year.

“This summer, I joined other CEOs to send a message in support of making computer science a basic part of every K-12 classroom,...

Despite their flashy reputation of wielding the money behind the movies, film producers often can’t sustain a career in the profession, a new study concludes. According to a survey by Dear Producer, a digital platform that connects and amplifies the voices of producers, 41% of producers said they earned $25,000 or less exclusively from producing in 2019 — the year before the pandemic decimated their incomes. Last year, 56% percent of the 474 respondents said they earned $25,000 or less — and more than a quarter earned less than $2,500 from producing in 2020. Respondents who participated in the survey had a producer or “produced by” credit on at least one commercially released feature length film in the last 10 years; more than half of the participants were women. Almost two-thirds of participating producers said they earned their primary income through producing in 2019, while that share dropped to 56% last year. Also Read: Producers Guild Sets Virtual Awards Show for March 2021 Rebecca Green,...

Moments ago, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association finished unveiling their 2020 awards on Twitter. As always, some of their choices were a bit out of left field, but also far less so than in years past. Consider it a side effect of the year being so unique, since a broader range of movies are being considered. The top prize went to Steve McQueen’s Small Axe, while other films and performances cited included Carey Mulligan and Promising Young Woman in Best Actress (Emerald Fennell also took Best Screenplay for her work writing the flick), Chloe Zhao for Nomadland in Best Director, as well as Chadwick Boseman and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom in Best Actor. Read on for all of the winners… Here now are the results of the Lafca voting for 2020: Best Picture Winner: “Small Axe” Runner Up: “Nomadland” Best Director Winner: Chloe Zhao – “Nomadland” Runner Up: Steve...

With a focus on Italian films accompanying a large selection of international features, most of which are competing for Oscars, the 31st annual Palm Springs Intl. Film Festival will run Jan. 3-12.

“An Almost Ordinary Summer,” directed by Simone Godano, will kick off the festival on Jan. 3. Other Italian films to unspool are “The Champion,” “Simple Women,” “The Disappearance of My Mother,” “A Soul Journey,” “Martin Eden,” “Sole” and “The Traitor.”

The festival will close Jan. 12 with “Military Wives,” directed by Peter Cattaneo.

Last year, Psiff attracted more than 136,000 attendees and festival organizers anticipate just as many in 2020.

“Some of our guests get a chance to see 40 movies in 10 days,” says festival chairman Harold Matzner. “I don’t know how they do it, but they do, and it’s an incredible cultural experience.”

For her inaugural year, artistic director Lili Rodriguez added big awards season contenders including “Pain and Glory,...

Nominees for the 22nd annual Costume Designer Guild Awards included frontrunning period pieces “Dolemite Is My Name,” “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” and “Rocketman.” They were joined by “Downton Abbey” and “Jojo Rabbit.” This definitely bodes well for Ruth Carter (“Dolemite”) in her bid for a second consecutive Oscar following “Black Panther.”

However, surprise no shows were “Joker,” “The Irishman,” “Little Women,” and “Judy.” And, Deborah Cook, who became the first costume designer from animation to get nominated by the Cdga for her breakthrough work on “Kubo and the Two Strings,” was denied this time around for her great Victorian-era work on Laika’s stop-motion Oscar contender, “Missing Link.”

Contemporary nominees, meanwhile, included “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” “Hustlers,” “Knives Out,” “The Laundromat,” and “Queen & Slim.” But “Bombshell” didn’t make the cut.

And Disney swept the sci-fi/fantasy category with nominations for Marvel’s “Avengers: Endgame” and...

The costume designers responsible for the eye-catching outfits worn by Jennifer Lopez in “Hustlers,” Taron Egerton in “Rocketman” and Eddie Murphy in “Dolemite Is My Name” have been nominated for the 22nd annual Costume Designers Guild Awards, the Cdg announced on Tuesday.

The “Hustlers” costumes will be competing against “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” “Knives Out,” “The Laundromat” and “Queen and Slim” in the Cdg’s contemporary film category, while “Dolemite” and “Rocketman” will go up against “Downton Abbey,” “Jojo Rabbit” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” in the period film category.

In the sci-fi/fantasy category, the nominees are “Aladdin,” “Avengers: Endgame,” “Captain Marvel,” “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.”

Also Read: 2020 Golden Globes Nominees React: From 'Beyond Excited' to 'Truly Blessed'

Nominees include Ruth E. Carter, the reigning Oscar champ for “Black Panther,” who is up for “Dolemite,” and Ellen Mirojnick,...

People will tell you Tom Waits’ best album is Rain Dogs. This is not strictly true. It is perhaps the most Waits-ian of Tom Waits albums, by virtue of having a Waits lookalike on the cover and a song selection that ranges across virtually every genre of music (and combinations thereof) Waits could wrangle. But the best Tom Waits album is not Rain Dogs. Instead it’s Bone Machine (which netted Waits his first Grammy in 1993), and it turns 25 years old today.

Waits explained Rain Dogs’ titular inspiration to Spin in 1985: “You know, dogs in the rain lose their way back home.

Welcome to Career Watch, a vocational checkup of top actors and directors, and those who hope to get there. In this edition we take on Jessica Lange, who’s at the height of powers at age 68, revealing depths of emotion as fading Golden Age star Joan Crawford in FX’s mighty Emmy contender “Feud: Bette and Joan.”

Bottom Line: Jessica Lange has matured from a gorgeous movie ingenue to a theater and screen character actress with extraordinary range who keeps surprising audiences with what she can make them feel.

Career Peaks: From the start, Lange impressed people even when she was in the clutches of the Dino De Laurentiis incarnation of “Kong Kong.” She followed that up with her performance as a sexy waitress who seduces Jack Nicholson on a kitchen table in Bob Rafelson’s “The Postman Always Rings Twice” (1981) and with a weighty dramatic role as the depressed...

Welcome to Career Watch, a vocational checkup of top actors and directors, and those who hope to get there. In this edition we take on Jessica Lange, who’s at the height of powers at age 68, revealing depths of emotion as fading Golden Age star Joan Crawford in FX’s mighty Emmy contender “Feud: Bette and Joan.”

Bottom Line: Jessica Lange has matured from a gorgeous movie ingenue to a theater and screen character actress with extraordinary range who keeps surprising audiences with what she can make them feel.

Career Peaks: From the start, Lange impressed people even when she was in the clutches of the Dino De Laurentiis incarnation of “Kong Kong.” She followed that up with her performance as a sexy waitress who seduces Jack Nicholson on a kitchen table in Bob Rafelson’s “The Postman Always Rings Twice” (1981) and with a weighty dramatic role as the depressed...

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s latest film, “The Fate of the Furious,” opened in theaters April 14 and has grossed over $1 billion worldwide. Now, the actor is ready for his next big movie role. In a video he shot for GQ Magazine, for which he graces the cover of the June issue, the actor stars in imaginary sequels or some famous movie franchises, and the result is simply hilarious.

Read More: Dwayne Johnson Isn’t Your Average Superstar: How The Rock Has Built a Career With Smart Choices

In the video, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” actor Tituss Burgess plays Johnson’s agent, who cannot come up with one good idea for a movie in which the actor should star. “Martin Scorsese wants you for ‘Goodfellas 2,'” Burgess says. “You play Joe Pesci’s illegitimate son who moves to Queens trying to make it in the comedy scene.”

After realizing that that’s a terrible idea,...

Sergei Eisenstein. Leni Riefenstahl. Michael Moore. Steve Bannon? At an event entitled “Alternative Facts: The Steve Bannon Reality Show” on the opening weekend of the Copenhagen International Documentary Festival (Cph:dox), writer and host Lars Trier Mogensen argued that Trump’s chief strategist might just be the most influential filmmaker among these titans of polemical documentary. A year ago, that claim might have seemed far-fetched.

Back then, the young crowd now packed into the “Social Cinema,” a performance hall in festival’s new center Kunsthal Charlottenborg, had likely never heard of this alt-right auteur. Lounging on stylish sofas, they were willing to sit through nine tedious Bannon trailers and a two-hour analysis of populism and propaganda with a Princeton professor, political scientist Jan-Werner Müller, and artist Christian von Borries. Given Bannon’s disdain for factual integrity, it would be hard to claim that his 90-minute political screeds could even be called documentaries.

Welcome to the first, hopefully annual, Weekend Warrior Sundance Awards, where I go through the couple dozen movies I had a chance to see over the course of the past week and pick some of my favorite things.

I ended up seeing roughly thirty movies in total, only walking out of a couple (that won’t be mentioned), and overall, it was a generally decent Sundance, although only a few movies really stood out and will be remembered later in the year when we start talking about next year’s Oscars.

Oddly, I missed many of the movies that won actual awards at Sundance, so I’ve decided to give a few of my own.

Salma Hayek as Beatriz in Beatriz At Dinner

Most Literal Use of a Movie Title

1. Beatriz at Dinner (starring Salma Hayek as a Mexican healer named Beatriz who is invited to stay for dinner at...

“Moonlight” was named Best Film of the year by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, which unveiled its pick for best movies and performances of 2016 on Sunday.

The Barry Jenkins drama was the critics’ big winner, scoring nods in four categories overall, including Best Director (for Jenkins) and Best Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali. Best Actor went to Adam Driver for his performance in “Paterson,” while Isabelle Huppert was named Best Actress for her role in “Elle” and “Things to Come.”

Shirley MacLaine was honored with the org’s Career Achievement award this year. The prize will be given at the annual awards dinner to be held Saturday, Jan. 14, at the InterContinental Hotel in Century City.

Read More: New York Film Critics Circle Names ‘La La Land’ Best Film Of 2016, ‘Moonlight’ and ‘Manchester By the Sea’ Earn Three Awards

“Moonlight” is one of a handful of features have already received...

Keep up with the glitzy awards world with our weekly Awards Roundup column.

– The American Film Institute will honor actress Annette Bening with a tribute at AFI Fest on Wednesday, November 16 followed by a gala screening of her new film, “20th Century Women,” written and directed by Mike Mills. The tribute will celebrate her career and include a conversation with the actress.

Read More: Awards Roundup: Diane Keaton to Receive AFI Life Achievement Award, Documentary Awards to Honor Norman Lear And More

“Annette Bening is a modern-day icon of American cinema,” AFI Fest director Jacqueline Lyanga said in a statement. “In ’20th Century Women,’ she finds one of her richest roles yet, delivering a strong performance that anchors the film’s terrific ensemble cast.”

Bening has been nominated for an Academy Award four times, for her performances in “The Grifters” (1990), “American Beauty” (1999), “Being Julia” (2004) and “The Kids Are All Right...

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association will honor Shirley MacLaine with this year’s Career Achievement award, the association announced Monday. The group’s annual awards dinner will be held on January 14, 2017, at the InterContinental Hotel in Century City. “I’m thrilled with the honor by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the recognition and the encouragement,” MacLaine said in a statement. Also Read: Amanda Seyfried, Shirley MacLaine Dramedy 'The Last Word' Sells to Bleecker Street “We are very excited to be giving the award to someone who has had such an illustrious, versatile acting career, and who...

Keep up with the glitzy awards world with our weekly Awards Roundup column.

– Diane Keaton will receive the 45th American Film Institute Life Achievement Award, its highest honor for a career in film. Keaton will receive the award at a gala tribute on June 8, 2017 in Los Angeles.

“Diane Keaton is one of the most beloved leading ladies of American Film,” Howard Stringer, Chair of the AFI Board of Trustees, said in a statement. “Peerless in her mastery of both comedy and drama, she has won the world’s heart time and again by creating characters of both great strength and vulnerability. Her career as a director and producer is even further evidence of her passion for the art form and her seemingly boundless talents.”

Recent winners of the award include Mel Brooks, Jane Fonda, Morgan Freeman, Shirley MacLaine, Steve Martin and Mike Nichols.

Read More: Awards Roundup: Academy Names Nicholl Fellows,...

Keep up with the always-hopping film festival world with our weekly Film Festival Roundup column. Check out last week’s Roundup right here.

Full Lineup Announcements

– The sixth annual Napa Valley Film Festival (Nvff) has announced its complete line-up, Opening Night and Red Carpet screenings, special events and additional honorees for its Celebrity Tributes. Nvff returns in full force with a five-day festival showcasing the year’s best new independent films in 13 unique screening venues in the Wine Country towns of Napa, Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga, running November 9 – 13.

The Festival will play host to a strong selection of films, including many of this year’s award contenders, like The Weinstein Company’s “Lion,” which will be this year’s Opening Night film, and Open Road Films’ “Bleed for This.” As the perfect bookend to the festival, the independent documentary “Pisco Punch: A Cocktail Comeback Story” will serve as the Closing Night film.

The Little Black Dress—From Mourning to Night is a free exhibit currently at The Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). The exhibit runs through September 5th.

The Little Black Dress – a simple, short cocktail dress—is a sartorial staple for most contemporary women. Prior to the early 20th century, simple, unadorned black garments were limited to mourning, and strict social rules regarding mourning dress were rigidly observed.Featuring over 60 dresses from the Missouri History Museum’s world-renowned textile collection, this fun yet thought-provoking exhibit explores the subject of mourning, as well as the transition of black from a symbol of grief to a symbol of high fashion. You’ll also see fascinating artifacts—from hair jewelry to tear catchers—that were once a regular part of the mourning process. Plus, you’ll have the chance to share your own memories of your favorite...

The Ida will present its 2015 Career Achievement Award to Gordon Quinn, Founder and Artistic Director of Kartemquin Films. He has produced, directed and served as cinematographer on over 55 feature films spanning five decades. His recent projects include "The Interrupters" (above), "The Trials of Muhammad Ali," and "Life Itself." Past winners include Robert Redford, Alex Gibney, Errol Morris, Michael Moore and Werner Herzog. The Ida's Pioneer Award will be presented to Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer at Netflix, under whose leadership the streaming service has acquired and produced an increasing number of feature-length documentaries and docuseries. Read More: "From Vice to Netflix, TV News Adapts to an On-Demand World" Tony Tabatznik and the Bertha Foundation will receive the Ida’s Amicus Award for their work supporting needs of the non-fiction media landscape. The Bertha Foundation's film funds have...

Omar Sharif in 'Doctor Zhivago.' Egyptian star Omar Sharif, 'The Karate Kid' producer Jerry Weintraub: Brief career recaps A little late in the game – and following the longish Theodore Bikel article posted yesterday – below are brief career recaps of a couple of film veterans who died in July 2015: actor Omar Sharif and producer Jerry Weintraub. A follow-up post will offer an overview of the career of peplum (sword-and-sandal movie) actor Jacques Sernas, whose passing earlier this month has been all but ignored by the myopic English-language media. Omar Sharif: Film career beginnings in North Africa The death of Egyptian film actor Omar Sharif at age 83 following a heart attack on July 10 would have been ignored by the English-language media (especially in the U.S.) as well had Sharif remained a star within the Arabic-speaking world. After all, an "international" star is only worth remembering...

“The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “Into the Woods” and “Inherent Vice” are among the nominees for the 16th Annual Costume Designers Guild Awards, the CDG announced on Wednesday.

So is “Selma,” which ended a 0-for-5 drought and picked up its first guild nomination of the year.

The guild chooses nominees in three separate categories: Excellence in Contemporary Film, Excellence in Period Film and Excellence in Fantasy Film. In recent years the Cdg has typically nominated three or four of the films that will go on to receive Oscar nominees for Best Costume Design – and in virtually every case, they’ve come...

Birdman, Boyhood, Gone Girl, Interstellar and Wild are the contemporary film nominees for the 17th Costume Designers Guild Awards. The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, Inherent Vice, Selma and The Theory Of Everything have nabbed the period film nominees announced today. Outstanding contemporary television nominees are House Of Cards, Ray Donovan, Saturday Night Live, Scandal and True Detective. Winners will be announced February 17 in a ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Special honorees include producer, director and screenwriter Richard Linklater (who recently collaborated with costume designer Kari Perkins on Boyhood) will receive the Distinguished Collaborator Award in recognition of his support of Costume Design and creative partnerships with Costume Designers. An Honorary Career Achievement Award will be presented to Costume Designer Aggie Guerard Rodgers for her outstanding work in film. The 2015 Edith Head Award for the Advancement of the Art of Costume Design will be presented to costume designer,...

Twenty-five years later and Steel Magnolias still makes us a cry.

The dramedy may have premiered in November 1989, but a quarter of a century later, you still won't find a better film that epitomizes the power of female friendship.

Pics: Our Favorite Movie Reunions!

An adaptation of Robert Harling's successful stage play, Herbert Ross gathered a star-studded cast for the film. Sally Field, Olympia Dukakis, Shirley MacLaine, Dolly Parton, Daryl Hannah and then newcomer Julia Roberts starred as a group of brassy Southern women who are bonded by the comedy and tragedy of life while hanging at a local hair salon.

Today, Steel Magnolias is a touchstone among women and has long been considered one of the best "chick flicks" of all time. But at the film’s premiere that same year, MacLaine felt the film was as much for men as it was for women.

"To say it’s a women's film I don’t think...

Steven Awalt – author interviewed by Todd Garbarini

“Well, it’s about time, Charlie!”

Dennis Weaver utters these words in my favorite Steven Spielberg film, Duel, a production that was originally commissioned by Universal Pictures as an Mow, industry shorthand for “movie of the week”, which aired on Saturday, November 13, 1971. The reviews were glowing; the film’s admirers greatly outweighed its detractors and it put Mr. Spielberg, arguably the most phenomenally successful director in the history of the medium, on a path to a career that would make any contemporary director green with envy. Followed by a spate of contractually obligated television outings, Duel would prove to be the springboard that would catapult Mr. Spielberg into the realm that he was shooting for since his youth: that of feature film directing. Duel would also land him in the court of Hollywood producers David Brown and Richard Zanuck and get him his...

Steve Martin has been named recipient of the highly prestigious AFI Life Achievement Award to be presented June 4th and aired on TNT and later on sister network TCM. After generally reserving this coveted prize to actors and directors who made their mark in dramatic films this is second time in the past three years that the American Film Institute has decided to lighten things up by giving their award to a person who made their mark in comedy. And it has paid off. Mel Brooks got the honor in 2013 and it resulted not only in a hilarious and memorable evening, it got higher ratings and brought the AFI special its first Emmy for Outstanding Variety Special in August. But Martin is the first recipient who actually started and made their reputation as a stand up comic. And his films beginning with The Jerk and continuing with such modern comedy...

The International Documentary Association (Ida) will present its 2014 Career Achievement Award to actor-director-producer-activist Robert Redford, founder of the Sundance Institute, which has supported countless documentarians. His work in documentary film includes the Oscar-nominated short "The Solar Film," "Yosemite: Fate of Heaven," and feature documentaries "Incident at Oglala" and "The Unforeseen." In 2012, Redford formed Sundance Productions which backed "All The President’s Men Revisited," nonfiction series "Chicagoland" and "Death Row Stories" for CNN, and the 3D "Cathedrals of Culture" with executive producer Wim Wenders. In previous years, the Ida the Career Achievement Award on documentary went to Alex Gibney, Barbara Kopple, Errol Morris, Sheila Nevins, Michael Moore and Werner Herzog. The organization's Pioneer Award goes to Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato,...

Accepting a lifetime achievement award in Transilvania, Winger talks about her career, fracking and film vs digital.

The Academy Award nominated American actress and producer Debra Winger recieved the Career Achievement Award at the 13th Transilvania International Film Festival in Cluj-Napoca this weekend. But she’s got mixed feelings about such honours.

“First of all it’s sort of been a superstition not to ever accept any award so I believe this one’s the first I’ve accepted. And I’ll probably pretend that I didn’t,” she said, adding that she wanted to come to Romania, to Cluj and to this festival and couldn’t avoid to accept how they wanted to invite her. “It’s just a heavy object, it will hold my door open,” she joked. In recognition of the award, the festival has screened two of her most famous films: An Officer and a Gentleman (for which she was Oscar nominated) and The Sheltering Sky...