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Because “The Sixth Sense, but with the guy from City Slickers” might be a tough sell for a lot of TV viewers, Billy Crystal has been making the promotional rounds in support of his upcoming AppleTV+ horror series Before. So far, critics have been calling the show everything from “brilliant” to “goofy” to “disappointing.”

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Last week, Crystal took his Before hype tour to Today, where he chatted about the new show, as well as his thoughts on his portrayal in Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night, and also how he may have thoughtlessly given away a piece of priceless movie memorabilia.

Crystal discussed how he’s stolen collected some movie props over the years that are “particularly important” to him, including Miracle Max’s hat from The Princess Bride, his City Slickers chaps and, from Throw Momma From the Train, he kept Danny DeVito (hold for laughter). “I keep him...

Billy Crystal has long been a favorite of mine when it comes to comedy. Classics like When Harry Met Sally, Throw Momma From the Train and Cityslickers all played a part of my younger years. And now, a new audience is going to see Mr. Crystal in a very different type of role. Before, created by Sarah Thorp, offered the actor the chance to do something fresh. And something a little scary. The story revolves around a child psychiatrist dealing with the loss of his wife (Judith Light) and a troubled new patient (Jacobi Jupe). The cast also includes terrific performances from young Jupe and the lovely Rosie Perez. The new series is now playing on AppleTV+ (read our review Here).

I’ve long admired Mr. Crystal’s work, it was terrific sitting down with him for the first time. He and his co-star Jupe discussed working together. With Crystal,...

After making us laugh in When Harry Met Sally and City Slickers and several Academy Awardshosting gigs, Billy Crystal is bringing the drama with the new series Before, which premieres on Apple TV+ on Friday, October 25. In what the streamer calls an “atmospheric, character-driven psychological thriller” Crystal plays Eli, a child psychiatrist and recent widower who encounters a troubled young boy seemingly connected to Eli’s past. Our bet is that Crystal will deliver a powerful dramatic performance, much like these other comedic stars who wowed us with their more serious screen roles. Here are our picks for the best dramatic turns from otherwise comedic actors. 13. Jennifer Aniston in The Morning Show Aniston’s first big TV gig post-Friends is a powerhouse performance. In The Morning Show, she plays Alex Levy, a morning news anchor who gets her due respect in the wake of a network scandal that should ring familiar to Today viewers.

Billy Crystal is going darker than audiences have ever seen him before in “Before,” a new Apple TV+ psychological thriller premiering on Friday. But it was not a role that the actor and comedian expected to take on.

Crystal, who is best known for light-hearted roles in “When Harry Met Sally,” “City Slickers” and “Monsters Inc.,” plays child psychiatrist Eli, who encounters a troubled young boy named Noah (Jacobi Jupe) after recently losing his wife, Lynn (Judith Light). As Eli attempts to help Noah, their mysterious bond deepens, sparking haunting memories and unearthing unsettling secrets from the past.

He told TheWrap that the series, which he executive produced and developed in partnership with Eric Roth, went through many twists and turns to get to where it is today.

Billy Crystal and Jacobi Jupe in “Before” (Apple TV+)

“[Eric] and I were working on a show, along with Sam Sprecker and Howie Miller,...

When Billy Crystal regularly hosted the Academy Awards, he liked to begin the show with a montage where he was inserted into the nominated films. The 2000 opening leaned more on Hollywood history, with Crystal appearing in vintage films like The Graduate and Psycho. There were still jokes about that year’s movies, though, like when a Charlie Chaplin homage included a title card where Crystal quoted the most famous line from The Sixth Sense: “I see dead people.” Crystal later had some more fun with the M. Night Shyamalan sensation with a song parody,...

Have you noticed a sad lack of Billy Crystal in movies or TV shows these days? If so, you’ll be glad to hear that Apple TV+ will soon begin airing a psychological thriller series called Before, which stars and is executive produced by the legendary “multi-award winning actor, comedian, and filmmaker” Billy Crystal! The first two episodes of the ten-episode limited series will premiere globally on Apple TV+ on Friday, October 25th, with new episodes following every Friday through December 20th. With the premiere date just a few weeks away, a trailer for Before has dropped online and can be seen in the embed above.

Described as “an atmospheric, character-driven psychological thriller” and a “supernatural mystery series,” Before sees Crystal taking on the role of Eli, a child psychiatrist who, after recently losing his wife, Lynn, encounters a troubled young boy, Noah, who seems to have a haunting connection to Eli’s past.

Presumably because he can just sense Hollywood award shows the way that some dogs can detect earthquakes, Billy Crystal showed up at Sunday’s Emmys and presented the award for Outstanding Talk Series. The City Slickers star also took the opportunity to wax nostalgic about his first Tonight Show appearance, before calling out each nominated host for bailing on past dinner plans.

Prior to the event, Crystal hit the red carpet, and was asked by E! Live From the Red Carpet host Laverne Cox about When Harry Met Sally, the beloved 1989 romantic comedy in which Crystal and Meg Ryan play two best friends who eventually fall in love — likely because Harry’s sweater game just can’t be topped.

The whole thing ends with Harry running to meet Sally at a New Year’s Eve party where they express their true feelings for one another. And in the film’s final moments,...

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Billy Crystal is one of the funniest men in Hollywood. From When Harry Met Sally to Monsters, Inc., The Princess Bride to the actual Academy Awards, the man's got the comedic Midas Touch. But the City Slickers star is set to flex his dramatic chops as a grieving psychiatrist in Sarah Thorp's (The Bounty Hunter) limited Apple TV+ supernatural mystery series Before, which has just revealed a set of first look images ahead of its two-episode premiere on 25 October. Check them out below:

Written and created by Thorp, the 10-part series — whose pilot has been directed by Silo's Adam Bernstein — is described by Apple as "an atmospheric, character-driven psychological thriller." It's a description that tallies with the series' enigmatic official logline, which reads as follows: "Before stars Crystal as Eli, a child psychiatrist who, after recently losing his wife, Lynn (Judith Light...

I was just thinking the other day (while watching When Harry Met Sally…) that we don’t see Billy Crystal in movies or TV shows nearly enough these days, so it’s great to see that Apple TV+ has just unveiled a batch of first look images from their upcoming psychological thriller series Before, which stars and is executive produced by the legendary “multi-award winning actor, comedian, and filmmaker” Billy Crystal! The images can be viewed in this article.

Described as “an atmospheric, character-driven psychological thriller” and a “supernatural mystery series,” Before sees Crystal taking on the role of Eli, a child psychiatrist who, after recently losing his wife, Lynn, encounters a troubled young boy, Noah, who seems to have a haunting connection to Eli’s past. As Eli attempts to help Noah, their mysterious bond deepens.

Crystal is joined in the cast by multi-Emmy and Tony Award winner Judith Light...

“Before,” AppleTV+’s upcoming supernatural mystery starring and executive produced by Billy Crystal, will premiere globally on Oct. 25. The first two episodes of the thriller will drop on that Friday. They will be followed by one new episode a week through Nov. 15.

In the drama, Crystal stars as a child psychiatrist named Eli who encounters a troubled young boy after losing his wife Lynn (Judith Light). The more time he spends with Noah (Jacobi Jupe), the more he comes to suspect this child has a disturbing connection to his past. And as Eli tries to help Noah, their mysterious bond deepens.

A six-time Emmy-winning and Tony-winning actor and comedian, Crystal is best known for his roles in “When Harry Met Sally,” “City Slickers” and “Monsters Inc.” As for Light, the multi-Emmy and Tony Award-winner is known for her work on Prime Video’s “Transparent” as well as the ABC sitcoms...

Pixar’s Inside Out 2 is at its most visually sumptuous when immersing us in Riley’s (Kensington Tallman) burgeoning belief systems, a new addition to her mind that’s portrayed as an enormous, beautifully rendered chamber full of fluorescent strands of light, culminating in a single blossom above representing her sense of self. But once Riley’s fragile teenage emotions take the wheel, though, that blossom becomes frayed, the product of a toxic pool infected with intrusive thoughts. Sadly, that visual complexity isn’t matched by the actual journey the core emotions take back to the forefront of Riley’s mind. It can’t help but feel like a more convoluted retread of the first Inside Out’s abstract buddy comedy, but without the poignancy of the Bing Bong storyline or the subtle realization of the role of Sadness in our lives. Instead, the plot is still trying to...

Jake Gyllenhaal pulls his glasses out of his jean jacket pocket, the Coke bottle lenses in them strong enough to correct his 20/1250 vision. Yes, you read that right. These are not Internet Boyfriend glasses, to be styled with a fuzzy cardigan and a rakish smile. These are I Literally Can’t See glasses. Looking through them with normal vision feels like being on some sort of a hallucinogenic.

Gyllenhaal, 43, has been wearing intensive corrective lenses since he was about 6. Born with a lazy eye that naturally resolved, he’s blind without the lenses. “I like to think it’s advantageous,” he says. “I’ve never known anything else. When I can’t see in the morning, before I put on my glasses, it’s a place where I can be with myself.” He has used his blindness sometimes to help him as an actor — when he was shooting a difficult...

Hollywood actor, artist, director, and screenwriter Daniel Stern has bagged a ton of hilariously iconic roles in comedies throughout his career and has managed to land a spectacular performance in nearly every single one of them. As fans must have already understood after watching him in the Home Alone film series, he is immensely dedicated to his work to the core.

Daniel Stern. | Credit: @therealdanielstern/Ig.

That said, this tremendous commitment once almost had him losing his life while working on his comedy-action from 1981, Honky Tonk Freeway. And, ironically enough, Stern didn’t risk his life this badly while shooting an action scene, but rather, this happened while he was shooting a simple scene, for he accidentally consumed real drugs on set instead of using substitutes!

Daniel Stern Underwent a Life-Threatening Accident During Honky Tonk Freeway

Home Alone actor Daniel Stern had only just started his professional career as an...

At the beginning of Robert Wise's 1951 sci-fi classic "The Day the Earth Stood Still," a flaying saucer lands in Washington, D.C. and a stern, masked alien named Klaatu (Michael Rennie) emerges. He announces to the gathered military and curious humans that he comes in peace, and even has a gift for the people of Earth. He extracts a small, palm-sized tube and flicks it open, revealing multiple small antennae. The flicking device, however, spooks one of the nearby military men, and he fires off a shot, injuring Klaatu's hand. He falls in pain. 

Almost instantly, as if sensing Klaatu's panic, an enormous eight-foot humanoid robot emerges from the flying saucer. It is silvery and featureless, sporting a mysterious visor across its face. This is Gort. Gort steps out onto the ground, and its visor lifts, revealing a glowing power source. A laser beam emerges from Gort's head, striking all the Army's weapons.

Robert Downey Jr. in “Oppenheimer” had it easy this year.

He took the early lead in Gold Derby’s official Oscar odds for Best Supporting Actor. He widened that lead in the following months. He then swept the precursor awards. And despite landing in a powerhouse lineup that included Sterling K. Brown in “American Fiction,” Robert De Niro in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Ryan Gosling in “Barbie” and Mark Ruffalo in “Poor Things,” there was a “near zero” chance of Downey not being called to the stage to accept the Academy Award.

But not every past recipient of the Best Supporting Actor Oscar has cruised to victory like Downey. There have been numerous nail-biters over the years.

I recall one contest in particular from three decades ago. The 1993 fabulous five included first-time nominee Leonardo DiCaprio as the autistic younger brother of Johnny Depp in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,” Ralph Fiennes...

Long before he won the 2024 Best Supporting Actor Oscar for “Oppenheimer,” Robert Downey Jr. made his screen debut at age five in the experimental 1970 film “Pound,” which was directed by his father and co-starred his mother and sister. Upon clinching said prize, he emulated only three other men who were first honored by the academy at least half a century into their acting careers. Considering both male categories (and only counting credited roles in feature films), his waiting period of 54 years far exceeds the all-time average, which now stands at 19.5 years.

Although nearly two full decades separate their time-of-win ages (58 and 77), Downey came within five years of breaking John Gielgud’s general record for longest acting career preceding an Oscar victory. The English performer has held that distinction since 1982, when he was lauded for his supporting turn in “Arthur” 58 years after debuting in “Who Is the Man?” (1924). While no male...

Questlove and Trisha Yearwood are turning it up to 11.

The musicians have signed on to play themselves in cameo roles in Rob Reiner’s sequel to his 1984 cult classic This is Spinal Tap, which Reiner has begun shooting in New Orleans.

Reiner is reprising his onscreen role as documentarian Martin “Marty” Dibergi in Spinal Tap 2, with the film’s original cast of Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer also returning to play frontman David St. Hubbins, guitarist Nigel Tufnel and bassist Derek Smalls. As any Spinal Tap fan knows, finding a percussionist will be an issue, as the band tends to lose their drummers to freak gardening accidents and other mishaps.

Paul McCartney, Elton John and Garth Brooks have also signed on for cameo appearances in the new film. The plot of Spinal Tap 2 has the iconic English hair metal rockers reuniting for one final concert.

“I recently spoke to Marty Dibergi,...

Billy Crystal is famed as an actor, stand-up comic, writer, producer, director, television host and avid New York Yankees fan. He is also known for his nine stints as host of the Academy Awards, a number that is second only to Bob Hope‘s 18. Although Crystal will always be associated with Oscar, the irony is that he has never been nominated for an Oscar himself.

Still, that doesn’t mean he’s any stranger to awards. Crystal has been nominated for two Grammy Awards and hosted the show three times. He won a special Tony Award in 2005 for his one-man show “700 Sundays” and earned two Emmy nominations for the television adaptation of that production. In fact, Crystal, who first broke TV taboos playing a gay character on ABC’s “Soap” in the 1970s, has along the way received 24 Emmy nominations, winning six, including two for hosting the Oscar ceremony.

Crystal...

Mickey Gilbert, the fearless stunt performer who jumped off a cliff for Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and doubled for Gene Wilder in films including Blazing Saddles, Silver Streak and The Frisco Kid, has died. He was 87.

Gilbert died Monday of natural causes at his home in Camarillo, California, his oldest son, Tim Gilbert, also a stunt performer, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Early in his career, Gilbert was a horse wrangler in William Wyler’s Ben-Hur (1959) and a bank robber in Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch (1969). Years later, he took the lumps for Lee Majors’ Colt Seavers on the 1981-86 ABC action show The Fall Guy.

Though they weren’t friends at the time, Gilbert and Redford were in the same class at Van Nuys High School, graduating in 1954. They got together on George Roy Hill’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) when Redford...

Upon securing a spot in the 2024 Best Supporting Actress Oscar lineup, Jodie Foster (“Nyad”) officially shattered the Academy Awards record for longest span between fourth and fifth acting nominations. Following her two Best Actress wins for “The Accused” (1989) and “The Silence of the Lambs” (1992), she had last been recognized in that category for “Nell” (1995), making for a general nomination gap of 29 years. Coincidentally, she took this particular distinction from fellow “Silence of the Lambs” winner Anthony Hopkins, who waited 22 years between his supporting bids for “Amistad” (1998) and “The Two Popes” (2020).

Previously, the female record for longest wait for a fifth nomination was 12 years, as shared by Julianne Moore and Frances McDormand. Considering gaps between any two consecutive acting nominations, Foster ranks well behind overall record holder Judd Hirsch, whose first and second career notices for “Ordinary People” (1981) and “The Fabelmans” (2023) came 42 years apart. His female counterpart is Helen Hayes (39 years...

By racking up three Best Actress Oscar notices between the ages of 26 and 32, previous teenage supporting nominee Jodie Foster proved it possible to earn academy recognition more than twice during adulthood after initially charming them as a child. Now, nearly three decades later, she has improved upon that distinction by landing her fifth career bid for “Nyad,” thus entering the Best Supporting Actress arena for the first time as an adult. Since her two featured bids are separated by 47 years, she now holds the record for longest span between consecutive Oscar nominations in a single acting category.

Foster, who first caught the academy’s attention at 14, belongs to the 18% minority of child nominees who went on to contend as adults. She was preceded in that regard by 17-year-old “Rebel Without a Cause” (1956) cast mates Sal Mineo and Natalie Wood and has only been followed by Saoirse Ronan, who competed for...

When it comes to lone acting Oscar nominations, the category with the fewest examples is Best Supporting Actor. After two consecutive years of there being no new additions to that subgroup, Brian Tyree Henry (“Causeway”) became its 54th member in 2023 after having been largely ignored by other awards bodies over the preceding weeks. He directly followed Tom Hanks, who is the only other entrant from the last five years.

Within the last decade, this club has only grown by seven, with those who preceded Hanks and Henry being Robert Duvall, Sylvester Stallone, Michael Shannon, Willem Dafoe, and Christopher Plummer. 2018 marked the fifth instance of two men accomplishing the feat at once, thus tying the category’s record for most bids of this kind in a single year. Contextually, the corresponding Best Supporting Actress record is three, while that of both lead categories is four.

As it happens, the Best Supporting...

Everyone’s favourite Sticky Bandit, Daniel Stern, was the original choice for directing Jim Carrey comedy Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, but the actor has now shared why he turned it down.

Home Alone is a staple Christmas watch in most households, but did you know that one of the actors was the original director for Ace Ventura: Pet Detective?

That’s right. Daniel Stern, who played Marv in the first two Home Alone films, has recently revealed in an interview with Comicbook.com that he was in line to direct the Jim Carrey comedy but turned it down. Stern made his feature film directorial debut with 1993’s Rookie Of The Year, but has since only directed TV shows.

“The thing was, when Rookie came out, I got a ton of offers to direct other films,” Stern said. “But it was also the time when I was doing a sequel to Home Alone...

Los Angeles, Dec 17 (Ians) Actor Daniel Stern, popular for his acting roles like Marv from the ‘Home Alone’ franchise and Phil in ‘City Slickers’, also has directorial credits as he said that he was the original director of ‘Ace Ventura: Pet Detective’.

In 1993, Stern directed the film ‘Rookie of the Year’, about a Little League baseball player who becomes a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs.

The actor recently revealed that after that film, he was tapped to helm the comedy ‘Ace Ventura: Pet Detective’, which he ultimately turned down, reports deadline.com.

“The thing was when Rookie came out, I got a ton of offers to direct other films. But it was also the time when I was doing a sequel to Home Alone and then doing a sequel to City Slickers,” Stern said in an interview with ComicBook.

“Just to be crass, I hit the cash cow for the...

Daniel Stern is best known for his acting roles like Marv from the Home Alone franchise and Phil in City Slickers he also has directorial credits.

In 1993, Stern directed the film Rookie of the Year, about a Little League baseball player who becomes a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs. The actor recently revealed that after that film, he was tapped to helm the comedy Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, which he ultimately turned down.

“The thing was when Rookie came out, I got a ton of offers to direct other films. But it was also the time when I was doing a sequel to Home Alone and then doing a sequel to City Slickers,” Stern said in an interview with ComicBook. “Just to be crass, I hit the cash cow for the one and only time in my life as an actor and it was like, ‘I don’t think I...

There are many films that have quotable last lines such as “After all, tomorrow is another day” from “Gone with the Wind.” And who can forget Humphrey Bogart telling Claude Rains: “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship” But the beloved 1953 George Stevens’ Western “Shane” perhaps has one of the most endearing and emotional final lines. Young Joey (Brandon De Wilde) wants his idol, the former gunslinger Shane (Alan Ladd), to stay with his family. But the wounded hero continues to ride off.

“Shane………come back,” Joey cries out.

Be prepared to bring you handkerchiefs to the Academy Museum’s 70th anniversary screening Dec 10 at the David Geffen Theatre. Ladd, in his strongest performance, plays a world-weary gunslinger who wants to hang up his six-shooter. He ends up working for an honest, struggling rancher Joe, (Van Heflin), his wife Marian (Jean Arthur) and young son...

The newest group of Kennedy Center honorees, including comedian Billy Crystal and actor Queen Latifah, were feted Sunday night at a star-studded event commemorating their lifetime achievement in arts and entertainment.

Opera singer Renée Fleming, music star Barry Gibb and prolific hitmaker Dionne Warwick were also honored at the black-tie gala. Each received personalized tributes, including appearances and performances that are typically kept secret from the honorees themselves.

President Joe Biden welcomed the honorees to the White House before the event, saying the performing arts “reflect who we are as Americans and as human beings.”

The honorees “have helped shape how we see ourselves, how we see each other and how we see our world,” said Biden who then introduced this year’s class with a set of glowing superlatives about their work.

Biden and First Lady Jill Biden then headed to the Kennedy Center to attend the festivities. The...

“The Last Voyage of the Demeter,” which spotlights the doomed ship in Bram Stoker’s oft-adapted 1897 novel, is the second Dracula film released in 2023 after “Renfield.” Both take generous liberties with the source material, which brings up the question: Out of the 200-some films about the famous Count, which ones are the most faithful?

Here’s our ranking of some of the most popular, and a few lesser-known, Dracula adaptations.

Universal

8. Renfield (2023)

Pretty much the only thing this horror comedy has in common with the novel is Nicholas Hoult as the bug-eating title character and a delightfully campy Nicolas Cage as his bloodthirsty boss. The movie brings them both into the 21st century, makes Renfield an ass-kicking hero and swaps out Lucy and Mina for Awkwafina’s incorruptible cop.

Miramax

7. Dracula 2000 (2000)

The film begins with a shot of the wrecked Demeter and footprints in the sand as Dracula heads to town.

August is here, and a bounty of noteworthy new movies and TV shows are coming to Amazon Prime Video this month. If it’s new release films you’re looking for, Paramount’s excellent (and very funny) “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” arrives on the streaming service on Aug. 25 after first streaming on Paramount+, while the Elizabeth Banks-directed action-comedy “Cocaine Bear” will be streaming on Aug. 15.

There’s also a Prime Video original film hitting this month in the form of “Red, White & Royal Blue” on Aug. 11, based on the book of the same name by author Casey McQuiston. The LGBTQ romantic comedy stars Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine in the story of a prince who falls in love with the son of the president of the United States.

And Thursday Night Football comes to Prime Video starting Aug. 24.

Check out a complete list of what...

With its list of new releases for August 2023, Prime Video is relying on a heaping dose of fun library movies.

The first of the month brings a big influx of worthwhile flicks, including Galaxy Quest, Saw, F9: The Fast Saga, and Jurassic Park (the last two via Amazon’s Freevee free streaming option). Then some other recents hits arrive later on like the appropriately titled Cocaine Bear on Aug. 15 and the Chris Pine-starring Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves on Aug. 25.

August also sees the arrival of a major Amazon Original movie in the form of Red, White & Royal Blue. Based on a New York Times bestselling book, this LGBTQ romance follows a U.S. president’s son and a British prince. Over on the TV side of things, Prime Video subscribers can check out the Sigourney Weaver project The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart on Aug. 4 and Harlan Coben’s Shelter on Aug.

It’s been quite a year for Prime Video already. The service is seeing huge success with its second season of “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” and its international espionage thriller “Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan” turned in its fourth and final season earlier this summer.

Unfortunately for Tolkien fans, there’s no new season of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” to dive into this August, but there are some fantastic titles coming to Prime Video all throughout the month. From Prime Video originals to hot new movies, here are the top five titles The Streamable is most excited about on the service in August 2023.

30-Day Free Trial $8.99 / month amazon.com What Are the Best Shows and Movies Coming to Prime Video in August 2023? ‘The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart’ | Aug. 4

Alice Hart has to endure a tragedy no child should have to face, losing her parents...

Burbank, CA – Celebrate the 30th anniversary of the most universally acclaimed film in the Dark Knight’s legendary cinematic history when the newly-remastered animated movie Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, comes to 4K Ultra HD for the very first time. From Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, the film will be available to purchase on 4K Ultra HD on September 12, 2023.

The release will also include an all-new featurette Kevin Conroy: I Am The Knight, which takes a look at the legacy of Kevin Conroy, who voiced Batman for 30 years in film, television, video games and more.

Rooted in DC’s acclaimed Batman: The Animated Series and released theatrically on Christmas Day 1993, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm has not only been ranked by Time magazine as one of the 10 best Super Hero movies ever, but is also arguably the core fans’ all-time favorite Batman film. The movie has been rated at the...

Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the most universally acclaimed film in the Dark Knight’s legendary cinematic history when the newly-remastered animated movie Batman: Mask of the Phantasm comes to 4K Ultra HD for the very first time on September 12, 2023, Bloody Disgusting has learned.

The release will also include an all-new featurette Kevin Conroy: I Am The Knight, which takes a look at the legacy of Kevin Conroy, who voiced Batman for 30 years in film, television, video games and more.

Rooted in DC’s acclaimed Batman: The Animated Series and released theatrically on Christmas Day 1993, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm has not only been ranked by Time magazine as one of the 10 best Super Hero movies ever, but is also arguably the core fans’ all-time favorite Batman film. The movie has been rated at the top of the Dark Knight film franchise by such popular entertainment media as Empire,...

Michael Lerner, the character actor known from films like “Godzilla,” “Elf,” and “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” and who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role in “Barton Fink,” has died, as per a report in Variety. He was 81 years old.

The news was broken by his nephew, actor Sam Lerner, a series regular on “The Goldbergs.” He wrote on his Instagram page that “it’s hard to put into words how brilliant my uncle Michael was, and how influential he was to me. His stories always inspired me and made me fall in love with acting. He was the coolest, most confident, talented guy, and the fact that he was my blood will always make me feel special.” He added, “Rip Michael, enjoy your unlimited Cuban cigars, comfy chairs, and endless movie marathon.”

A carousel of images included pictures of Lerner on set in various costumes over the years,...

Michael Lerner — the actor who appeared in numerous stage, film and TV roles and whose portrayal of movie mogul Jack Lipnick in Barton Fink earned him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination — died on Saturday. He was 81.

Lerner’s nephew and The Goldbergs actor Sam Lerner confirmed his uncle’s death in a tribute he penned via Instagram on Sunday. A cause of death was not immediately available.

“We lost a legend last night. It’s hard to put into words how brilliant my uncle Michael was, and how influential he was to me,...

Michael Lerner, the longtime character actor who earned an Oscar nomination for his performance as the artistically disinterested studio executive Jack Lipnick in “Barton Fink,” has died at the age of 81. The news was announced by Lerner’s nephew, actor Sam Lerner, on his personal Instagram page. While he did not offer any specifics about his uncle’s death, he used the post to pay tribute to the late Oscar nominee.

“We lost a legend last night,” Sam Lerner wrote. “It’s hard to put into words how brilliant my uncle Michael was, and how influential he was to me. His stories always inspired me and made me fall in love with acting. He was the coolest, most confident, talented guy, and the fact that he was my blood will always make me feel special. Everyone that knows him knows how insane he was— in the best way. I’m...

Longtime “Simpsons” voice Hank Azaria, Broadway superstar Sutton Foster, Darren Criss, Danny Strong, Sean Gunn and David Paymer will be featured as guest stars on the fifth and final season of the Prime Video hit “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” an Emmy juggernaut that raises the curtain on its last act with a three-episode premiere on April 14. The show will then roll out new episodes each Friday until the series finale on May 26, airing nine episodes in total.

Azaria has supplied the voice of more than 100 characters as part of the “Simpsons” vocal cast, also starring on the series “Brockmire” and “Huff” and poised to co-star on the new limited series “Hello Tomorrow!” opposite Billy Crudup. He’s a six-time Emmy winner. Foster is a Broadway stage dynamo who won Tony Awards for lead actress in a musical for “Thoroughly Modern Millie” in 2002 and the revival of “Anything Goes” in 2011. She...

Happy 75th birthday to comedian and actor Billy Crystal! What better gift to celebrate than an honorary Oscar? The academy board of governors will meet later in the spring to decide the 2023 honorary recipients. We are hoping that acting governors Whoopi Goldberg, Marlee Matlin and Rita Wilson will put forth Crystal’s name.

Crystal has hosted the Oscars ceremony nine times from 1990 through 2012. He was spectacular in those appearances with an opening musical number each time and sheer joy throughout each show. He really set the standard for what an all-encompassing comedy and musical job can be done for a big awards ceremony. Who can forget his Hannibal Lecter impression with Anthony Hopkins, riding in on a horse to salute “Dances with Wolves,” honoring the elderly movie pioneer Hal Roach or his Jack Palance jokes, just to name a few? He was nominated 11 times at the Emmys for his work on the Oscars,...

We're approaching five decades of the NBC sketch comedy show "Saturday Night Live." The not-ready-for-primetime players actually were ready, with dozens of them going on to have huge TV and film careers. Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner, Richard Pryor, Lily Tomlin, Adam Sandler, Martin Short, Will Ferrell, Eddie Murphy, Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon ... the list goes on and on and on. I mean, it's almost been fifty years of brilliant talent, even though not every season was perfect.

SNL is, of course, live, meaning that even though there are rehearsals, it can change at the last moment, with sketches, and even actors, being cut. The very first episode of the very first show on October 11, 1975, cut an actor who went on to heights of fame. That actor was Billy Crystal. You may know that he hosted for the first time in 1976 and was a cast member from...

Since Mahershala Ali set the current record for longest Best Supporting Actor Oscar-winning performance with his one hour, six minutes, and 38 seconds of screen time in “Green Book” (2019), the screen times of subsequent featured male champions have been increasingly smaller. Although the last three trophies have consistently gone to relatively lengthy turns, each has been about 10 minutes shorter than the one before it. This year will constitute a moment of truth, since, considering the last outcome, there is potential for at least a 22-minute jump in either direction.

Last year, Troy Kotsur was honored here for his performance as the patriarch of a primarily deaf family in “Coda,” which amounts to 35 minutes and 34 seconds of screen time, or 31.31% of the film. He fell 10 minutes and 35 seconds short of matching 2021 winner Daniel Kaluuya’s time in “Judas and the Black Messiah,” whereas Kaluuya himself landed nine minutes and three seconds below...

Please welcome new contributor Danny Cox.

by Danny Cox

At this moment, the fate of the Best Supporting Actress Oscar is the least settled of the acting categories. Will Jamie Lee Curtis ride the wave of her SAG win? Does Kerry Condon’s BAFTA upset suggest wanting to award at least one actor from the much lauded film? Or does the earliest front runner, the winner of the Golden Globe and Critic’s Choice Award, Angela Bassett rally back around to take home the prize? While there is definitely momentum for both Curtis and Condon, one thing Bassett has over the two of them is a strange parallel to a former win. If Bassett pulls this off, this would not be the first time a highly respected actor gets a late career nomination for a film that is popular with the general public in a category with split competition. Does that sound familiar?...

A number of great movies are leaving HBO Max at the end of March, so it’s time to prioritize these titles in your queue. Filmmaker James Gunn’s sequel/soft reboot “The Suicide Squad” will depart the streaming service on March 22 after first hitting HBO Max the same day it was released in theaters back in 2021. Similarly, “Space Jam: A New Legacy” was whisked away on March 1 after also getting a day-and-date release in 2021 (sorry/not sorry if you missed it).

You also only have until March 7 to stream “Just a Boy From Tupelo: Bringing Elvis to the Big Screen,” a short documentary on the making of the Oscar-nominated biopic “Elvis.”

Other noteworthy films leaving HBO Max this month include “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” “Contagion,” the extended version of “Dances with Wolves,” “Ghostbusters,” “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Love & Basketball” and “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping.

There’s nothing quite like when HBO is airing one of its trademark watercooler-worthy dramas weekly. Thankfully, we’ll get to it experience exactly that and more on HBO Max in March 2023.

The big ticket item on HBO Max this March is undoubtedly Succession Season 4 on March 26. Part prestige drama and part screwball comedy, Succession is about as fun a watch as they come. Season 4 of the series about egregious wealth will find the Roy siblings reeling after trying and failing to take down their father, Logan (Brian Cox).

HBO Max’s other major TV option this month is another weekly release from HBO. Matthew Rhys returns as the titular lawyer in Perry Mason Season 2 on March 6. Season 1 of this period piece reboot flexed the classic TV character’s detective skills. From the look of the trailer, it seems as though this is the year Perry makes his name in the court room.

Delivering a great Oscar acceptance speech requires a bit of magic, with the winner having to strike just the right balance of charm and humility.

However, often the speeches most remembered are those that end in disaster.

Over the years, many actors have been booed, pitied or laughed at for their podium faux pas. Some speeches are too saccharine, others too long. The worst are when an actor thinks only of themselves.

Despite Frances McDormand’s empowering speech about Hollywood’s gender imbalance a few years back, attempts to inject the ceremony with political messaging haven’t always been handled so well. Oscars history is peppered with the uncomfortable silences and jeers that have invariably greeted bad political jokes and clumsy protests.

As the clock counts down to the 94th awards ceremony, all of the nominees will be hoping to bring home a statue. But more than that, should they win,...

Delivering a great Oscar acceptance speech requires a bit of magic, with the winner having to strike just the right balance of charm and humility.

However, often the speeches most remembered are those that end in disaster.

Over the years, many actors have been booed, pitied or laughed at for their podium faux pas. Some speeches are too saccharine, others too long. The worst are when an actor thinks only of themselves.

Despite Frances McDormand’s empowering speech about Hollywood’s gender imbalance a few years back, attempts to inject the ceremony with political messaging haven’t always been handled so well. Oscar history is peppered with the uncomfortable silences and jeers that have invariably greeted bad political jokes and clumsy protests.

As the clock counts down to the 93rd awards ceremony, all of the nominees will be hoping to bring home a statue. But more than that, should they win,...

The acting style and filmography of Nicolas Cage is probably going to be studied in film school for generations. Cage is a student of film himself, always searching for something new to bring to the craft. A decade ago, in an Ask Me Anything session held on Reddit with Ethan Hawke, the Oscar-nominated actor said Cage is "the only actor since Marlon Brando that's actually done anything new with the art of acting." The pretentious description of Cage's technique would be Nouveau Shamanic, a term Cage took from the equally pretentious book "The Way of the Actor" by professor Brian Bates. Cage cleared that up in an interview with LA Weekly in 2014, where he also spoke about his exploration of various operatic acting styles that he calls "Western kabuki."

Inevitably, the conversations and debates around the craft of acting can demystify the art itself, and the dissection of the entire...

Castle Rock Entertainment has announced that it will produce a sequel to the award-winning crime drama Wind River, titled Wind River: The Next Chapter, with production to kick off in January. Martin Sensmeier (1883) will star, reprising his role as Wind River local Chip Hanson, with Kari Skogland (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) set as director.

The original 2017 film written and directed by Oscar nominee Taylor Sheridan watched as the veteran hunter Corey Lambert (Jeremy Renner) helped rookie FBI agent Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen) to investigate the murder of a young woman on the Wyoming Native American reservation known as Wind River. It world premiered at Sundance before moving on to Cannes, where Sheridan picked up the prize for Best Director. Pic came in a critically acclaimed box office success, grossing over 44M upon its August release, in spite of the producers’ need to wrestle their project out of the hands of The Weinstein Company,...

Early spooky season began in September, but for those late to the party by starting their celebrations in October, Netflix has a great slate of scary and festive films and TV shows on tap. “Scooby Doo” and “Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed” will be readily available the first day of the month. Friday, October 7 is a big day for releases, as it will welcome the third season of “Derry Girls,” “Luckies Girl Alive” adapted from Jessica Knolle’s best-selling novel and a new YA spin on ghost stories, “The Midnight Club.”

More book adaptations to keep your eye on for October’s Netflix arrivals include “The School for Good and Evil,” out Oct. 19 and based on the best-selling series by Soman Chainani. A heartrending and heartwarming dose of real life as well as true love can be found in the “From Scratch” series, based on the memoir of the same name by Tembi Locke,...

Congrats, everyone! We’ve finally made it to another spooky season. To celebrate, Netflix is highlighting its best horror content on its list of new releases for October 2022.

It wouldn’t be October on Netflix without a new Mike Flanagan title. Thankfully the Midnight Mass showrunner returns with The Midnight Club on Oct. 7. This series, adapted from a book of the same name, takes place in a hospice for terminally ill teens who have all made a gruesome pact. This series will be followed up by other creepy TV titles like Unsolved Mysteries Vol. 3 on Oct. 18, 28 Days Haunted on Oct. 21, and most importantly: Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities on Oct. 25, which will collect eight terrifying stories from the famed director himself.

Read more TV Unsolved Mysteries Review (Spoiler-Free): True Crime With More Questions Than Answers By Tony Sokol TV Unsolved Mysteries Volume 2 Review: Reboot Fits a Flatfoot...

Before “The Fabelmans” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, Paul Dano was the presumptive favorite to win Best Supporting Actor for his role in Steven Spielberg‘s semiautobiographical drama. But there has been a major shift in the forecasts of the Expert journalists we’ve surveyed. Dano has lost a little bit of ground, slipping down to second place, while his co-star Judd Hirsch has skyrocketed to third place.

There are currently 17 Experts betting on the Oscars. Of those, 12 are predicting a Best Supporting Actor nom for Dano with two saying he’ll win for his role as the father of a teenage boy who aspires to be a filmmaker: Susan King (Gold Derby) and Jazz Tangcay (Variety). But now there are 11 predicting a nom for Hirsch with three picking him to win as the boy’s elderly uncle: Michael Musto (Queerty), Christopher Rosen (Gold Derby), and Peter Travers...