News

Darren Aronofsky is back. The polarizing Oscar nominee is causing a quite a stir with his latest movie, the Jennifer Lawrence-starring “mother!,” but anyone familiar with Aronofsky’s six previous features knows he’s always been a filmmaker who forces a strong reaction out of people. He’s been pushing the boundaries of his own filmmaking voice ever since “Pi” caused a frenzy at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998, and “mother!” proves he has no signs of stopping.

With “mother!” opening in theaters nationwide, we put all seven Aronofsky features against one another for the ultimate director ranking.

Read More:‘mother!’: Inside the Secretive Marketing Designed to Hide Darren Aronofsky’s Controversial Film 7. “Noah” (2014)

“Noah” is unquestionably Aronofsky’s weakest film, but that doesn’t mean it’s a total disaster. The biggest misstep the director makes in this $125 million Biblical epic is turning the odyssey of Noah into a sword-and-sandals showdown,...

Irish director Jim Sheridan is a six-time Oscar nominee for his work on acclaimed films like “My Left Foot,” “In The Name Of The Father” and “In America,” but his career has had ups and downs more recently — he was the decidedly odd choice to make 50 Cent biopic “Get Rich Or Die Tryin’”; “Brothers” with Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman and Tobey Maguire failed to take off; horror-thriller “Dream House” had a troubled production and died at the box office; and Rooney Mara vehicle “The Secret Scripture” got tepid reviews at Tiff.

Continue reading Jamie Dornan, Cillian Murphy & Pierce Brosnan To Star In True-Life Prison Escape Movie ‘H-Block’ at The Playlist.

Companies like AwesomenessTV and go90 are focusing on the first generation of “true digital natives”.

High-end drama took centre stage at Miptv this week with Sky Atlantic’s Riviera, Japanese thriller Crisis and works-in-progress such as Tom Tykwer’s Babylon Berlin and Ride Upon The Storm, from Borgen creator Adam Price, among the titles previewing on the big screen at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes.

And fiction overall continues to dominate the global content market, accounting for 43% of top performing shows world-wide (excluding sport) in 2016, according to the annual global TV trends report of audience monitor Eurodata TV Worldwide which was released during the market.

It is a figure that bodes well for the high-end drama boom but in the backdrop the same report highlighted the continuing decline of real-time viewing in favour of catch-up and personal recording. As well as, more significantly, the move away from the TV set in favour of smart-phones, tablets and computers...

Companies like AwesomenessTV and go90 are focusing on the first generation of “true digital natives”.

High-end drama took centre stage at Miptv this week with Sky Atlantic’s Riviera, Japanese thriller Crisis and works-in-progress such as Tom Tykwer’s Babylon Berlin and Ride Upon The Storm, from Borgen creator Adam Price, among the titles previewing on the big screen at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes.

And fiction overall continues to dominate the global content market, accounting for 43% of top performing shows world-wide (excluding sport) in 2016, according to the annual global TV trends report of audience monitor Eurodata TV Worldwide which was released during the market.

It is a figure that bodes well for the high-end drama boom but in the backdrop the same report highlighted the continuing decline of real-time viewing in favour of catch-up and personal recording. As well as, more significantly, the move away from the TV set in favour of smart-phones, tablets and computers...

Some of you will Love The Honor Farm. Let me start by saying that. A prom-night virgin plans her perfect deflowering, only to have carefully-laid plans ruined by drunkenness and the night’s “haunted” escape. It’s a tale of choices, and not being forced into an idealistic “normality.” One illuminated by director Karen Skloss’ ability to capture a full moon’s glow upon backwoods forestation. Very art-house heavy, getting caught up in poetic discussions about “now” being the only moment that will ever matter. “The past is forgotten and the future is unknown.” True about futures, but good luck “forgetting” the lack of completion that devalues The Honor Farm beyond lusty teenage daydreams (beautiful hallucinations, admittedly).

Olivia Grace Applegate stars as Lucy, a cheery teenager with romanticized hopes for prom. Take pictures, dance happily and go all the way with your high school sweetheart. The right of passage so many endure.

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

Lineup Announcements

– The Film Society of Lincoln Center and UniFrance announce the complete lineup for the 22nd edition of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, the celebrated annual series showcasing the variety and vitality of contemporary French filmmaking, March 1 – 12.

The lineup features 23 diverse films, comprised of highlights from international festivals and works by both established favorites and talented newcomers, including François Ozon’s Lubitsch adaptation “Frantz,” set after World War I; Bertrand Bonello’s “Nocturama,” a provocative exploration of a Paris terrorist attack carried out by young activists; Bruno Dumont’s oddball slapstick detective story “Slack Bay,” starring Juliette Binoche; Rebecca Zlotowski’s visually arresting “Planetarium,” with Natalie Portman as a touring psychic who catches the eye of a movie producer in 1930s Paris; and Jean-Stéphane Bron’s “The Paris Opera,...

Knight of Cups is just the latest film out to make us feel sorry for glamorous people cursed with success

‘Where did I go wrong,” mopes Christian Bale’s character in the latest Terrence Malick film, Knight of Cups. It’s a question he broods over for two beautifully shot hours. But to the viewer, the answer seems simple: you didn’t go wrong! Your life is fantastic. You look like Christian Bale. You don’t have any health issues or addictions. You’re an in-demand screenwriter, and yet, instead of doing any work, you spend your days wandering around decadent Hollywood house parties and strolling along the beach in an Armani suit. True, you’ve broken up with your wife (Cate Blanchett), but your subsequent girlfriends are played by Natalie Portman, Imogen Poots, Freida Pinto, Teresa Palmer and Isabel Lucas – and that’s not including all the nubile models...

Knight of Cups is just the latest film out to make us feel sorry for glamorous people cursed with success

‘Where did I go wrong,” mopes Christian Bale’s character in the latest Terrence Malick film, Knight of Cups. It’s a question he broods over for two beautifully shot hours. But to the viewer, the answer seems simple: you didn’t go wrong! Your life is fantastic. You look like Christian Bale. You don’t have any health issues or addictions. You’re an in-demand screenwriter, and yet, instead of doing any work, you spend your days wandering around decadent Hollywood house parties and strolling along the beach in an Armani suit. True, you’ve broken up with your wife (Cate Blanchett), but your subsequent girlfriends are played by Natalie Portman, Imogen Poots, Freida Pinto, Teresa Palmer and Isabel Lucas – and that’s not including all the nubile models...

Arthouse Audit: Natalie Portman Indie 'Jane Got a Gun' Flops, Oscar Shorts and 'Ip Man 3' Soar 'Hail, Caesar!' Review & Roundup: Escapist Hollywood Comedy from the Coen Brothers How 'American Crime Story' Explains Our Obsession with the O.J. Simpson Trial  How the 'People v. O.J. Simpson' Writers Found 6 Characters for Their 'Shakespearean High-Wire Act' How They Designed George Miller's Oscar-Nominated 'Mad Max: Fury Road'  How Sony Pictures Classics Picked Up Four Pictures at Sundance 'Mad Max: Fury Road,' 'The Martian' and 'The Revenant' Take Art Directors Guild Honors Oscars: Evaluating the Best Editing Nominees 'Peak TV' or Peak Ott? From Louis C.K. to Seeso, Players Jockey for Position in a Crowded Market 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies' Director on Staying True to Jane Austen, Even During the Zombie Apocalypse 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies': World War Zzzzzs (Review & Roundup...

In honor of Halloween, let's look back at those horror films that have been honored by Oscar with wins or nominations. True the motion picture academy has only occasionally embraced one of the most successful film genres. But a handful of performances that made our blood run cold proved to be red-hot with Oscar voters. -Break- The first frightfest to scare up an Oscar was "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1932). Fredric March tied for Best Actor (with "The Champ" star Wallace Beery) for his chilling portrayal of a scientist whose experiments turn him into a raving lunatic. The most recent was "Black Swan" (2010). Natalie Portman won Best Actress for her performance as a ballerina whose obsession with "Swan Lake" drives her insane.  Below, take a tour of the 13 spine-chillers that scared up Oscar nominations.  Photo: Anthony Perkins in "Psycho." Credit: Universal  --Wid...'...

Sleepless Night: Schipper’s Audacious, Single Take Heist Thriller

Actor turned director Sebastian Schipper makes major headway with his fourth effort behind the camera, Victoria. Premiering at the 2015 Berlin Film Festival where it snagged an award for cinematographer Sturla Brandth Grovlen (who also lensed Anders Morgenthaler’s The 11th Hour, which starred Schipper, as well as the 2015 Un Certain Regard winner, Rams), this two hour plus blend of romantic drama and heist thriller was filmed in one, single take, shot in the wee morning hours on the streets of Berlin. Technically accomplished and satisfying as a narrative, the film provides lead actress Laia Costa, playing the titular protagonist, with a spectacular role that should see her international career boom a bit like Franka Potente’s following Tom Tykwer’s Run Lola Run (1998).

Opening in the throes of a dance floor of a packed techno club, Victoria (Costa), makes her way to the exit.

Join us for Screen’s Cannes line-up live blog…Cannes 2015Full line-upNEWS: Cannes Competition shows attempt to shake things upCOMMENT: surprises and no-shows

Ever so quiet from the film PRs this morning. Is there something going on that we should know about?

Yes, yes, of course….it’s that sacred event: Cannes lineup day!

Time to put to bed weeks of speculation about the chosen few and reveal which films have made it into the most prestigious film festival competition known to man.

You can follow the entries as they come in here or stick with me for some idle speculation and gossip punctuated with genuine near-insight.

[Cannes is currently showing a very jaunty and occasionally stirring promo video of the fest. Very ‘Euro’].

Onto business….

Most prediction stories kept it tight, only mentioning about 75 possible entries. Every auteur from here to Timbuktu seems to have been tipped for a slot…

Screen towers did its own crystal ball gazing in the shape of Melanie Goodfellow’s excellent and comprehensive piece:

In case you don...

Join us for Screen’s Cannes line-up live blog…Click here for the line-up of titles as they are announced

Ever so quiet from the film PRs this morning. Is there something going on that we should know about?

Yes, yes, of course….it’s that sacred event: Cannes lineup day!

Time to put to bed weeks of speculation about the chosen few and reveal which films have made it into the most prestigious film festival competition known to man.

You can follow the entries as they come in here or stick with me for some idle speculation and gossip punctuated with genuine near-insight.

[Cannes is currently showing a very jaunty and occasionally stirring promo video of the fest. Very ‘Euro’].

Onto business….

Most prediction stories kept it tight, only mentioning about 75 possible entries. Every auteur from here to Timbuktu seems to have been tipped for a slot…

Screen towers did its own crystal ball gazing in the shape of Melanie Goodfellow’s excellent and comprehensive piece:

In case you don’t know Mel...

Award season as come to a close, and we’ve all been witness to what is a historic unprecedented run for one urgent film. The ripple became a wave when we were on hand to witness Laura Poitras collect multiple awards at the Cinema Eye Honors, and as predicted, the Academy Awards capped off a historic awards season run with an Oscar win. Here is our roundup and recap of the previous month’s film festival and award season headlines related to the docu film world.

Academy Awards

While Citizenfour took home the award for best documentary of the year, Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry’s Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 was given the Oscar for best short doc.

Berlin International Film Festival - Germany – February 5th – February 15th

When Darren Aronofsky and his presiding jury members announced the Berlinale winners, Patricio Guzmán’s long awaited follow-up to Nostalgia For The Light,...

What do film directors Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Agnès Varda, Robert Wise, Fred Zinnemann, Luis Buñuel, Alain Resnais, Roman Polanski, Sidney Lumet, Robert Altman, Louis Malle, Richard Linklater, Tom Tykwer, Alexander Sokurov, Paul Greengrass, Song Il-Gon, Alfonso Cuarón, and Alejandro Iñárritu have in common? More specifically, what type of film have they directed, setting them apart from fewer than 50 of their filmmaking peers? Sorry, “comedy” or “drama” isn’t right. If you’ve looked at this article’s headline, you’ve probably already guessed that the answer is that they’ve all made “real-time” films, or films that seemed to take about as long as their running time.

The real-time film has long been a sub-genre without much critical attention, but the time of the real-time film has come. Cuarón’s Gravity (2013), which was shot and edited so as to seem like a real-time film, floated away with the most 2014 Oscars,...

Box office movies this weekend: ‘Thor: The Dark World’ worldwide; ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ in Brazil; ‘The Best Man Holiday’ in the U.S. (photo: Taye Diggs in ‘The Best Man Holiday’) The big story at the global box office this weekend, November 15-17, 2013, is going to be once again Thor: The Dark World, which is expected to reach close to $450 million worldwide — more than two-thirds of that figure coming from outside North America. For comparison’s sake, Kenneth Branagh’s Thor 2011 ended its global run with $449.32 million according to figures found at Box Office Mojo. The weekend’s big international box office story is the debut of Francis Lawrence’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire in Brazil, the week before it opens in North America and most other international markets. Why only Brazil? Friday was a national holiday ("Proclamation of the Republic") — in other words, that particular market...

‘Thor 2′ box office: ‘The Avengers’ bump not enough to propel Thor into Iron Man, Batman, Spider-Man, or Superman territory (Photo: Tom Hiddleston as Loki in ‘Thor: The Dark World’) Directed by Alan Taylor and starring Chris Hemsworth, Thor 2 — officially Thor: The Dark World — debuted in the U.S. and Canada on Friday, November 7, 2013, collecting an estimated $31.63 million from 3,841 sites, according to figures found at Box Office Mojo. That amount includes an estimated $7.1 million from Thursday evening and Friday midnight shows. Note: More than 3,100 North American theaters are showing Thor 2 in 3D. Needless to say, Thor: The Dark World, which also features Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, and Anthony Hopkins, will far surpass its predecessor at the domestic box office. Directed by Kenneth Branagh, Thor 2011 debuted with $65.72 million. Due to the mammoth success of Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, which featured Thor alongside The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Captain America...

It’s been a while since we’ve done one of these, and this time we’re bringing in Sara Raasch to mix things up a bit with Glenn Hauman as we talk about Thor: The Dark World.

Glenn: So. How long have you been waiting for this film?

Sara: I was actually less hyped about this than any of the other Marvel films. I enjoyed Thor, but of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One, excluding The Incredible Hulk, it was my least favorite. I didn’t buy tickets till after a friend saw it at the premiere. The thing that made me choose to go to the opening night screening rather than waiting was Loki. I really feel like he and Banner stole the show in The Avengers. So as it became clear that he was going to have a large role in Thor: The Dark World, I became more excited about it.

By Alex Zalben

Though fandom doesn't quite seem to be suffering from Loki fatigue as of yet, Marvel Studios is taking a step back. The Prince of Lies won't appear in "Avengers: Age of Spader," according to writer/director Joss Whedon. And given his prominence in "Thor: The Dark World," chances are Loki won't necessarily be front and center in a possible "Thor 3." If that happens though, Tom Hiddleston has a plan: get him a girlfriend.

In the comics, Enchantress has sometimes filled that role. She's an Asgardian sorceress who, you know, allies with Loki because they both wear green. So with that in mind, who could play Amora in the not-yet-greenlit "Thor 3"? True, this is territory we've walked before, but the Marvel Universe has come a long way since 2012. Hit the jump for our ideas, our really, really good ideas.

Britt Robertson

The actress is one of the bright...

The summer passed by quickly didn’t it? Remember when we were wondering whether Star Trek Into Darkness would be any good? Spoiler: It was. Or whether The Lone Ranger would be an uncontested box office champion? Another spoiler: It wasn’t. Or whether a movie about giant robots fighting giant monsters would appeal to audiences made up of more than just nerds? And how would Iron Man 3 perform as the follow-up to the mega-blockbuster The Avengers? Indeed, the summer of 2013 held many surprises and a similar number of disappointments for movie fans and the overall business of the movies held quite a bit of drama and suspense as well. The movies of fall 2013 are no different.

From September thru November there are films coming out that represent virtually every genre you can think of. Some should be good while others will probably just be plain awful. The films...

Lightning Entertainment, the Santa Monica-based sales, production and distribution company, has acquired international rights to the hit South by Southwest Film Festival comedy, Gus, starring Michelle Monaghan (Source Code, Gone Baby Gone) Radha Mitchell (Olympus Has Fallen, Silent Hill) and Michael Weston (Fox’s “House,” HBO’s “Six Feet Under”), it was announced today by Robert Beaumont, President of Lightning.

The film, which premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival to rave reviews in March, marks the feature film debut of Jessie McCormack, who directed from her own script.

McCormack is also a producer alongside Kathryn Himoff, Kevin Fitzmaurice Comer and Erik Van Wyck. The film is executive produced by Richard N. Gladstein (Finding Neverland, The Cider House Rules, The Bourne Identity). The deal was negotiated by Lightning Entertainment’s Joseph Dickstein and ICM Partners on behalf of the filmmakers. ICM Partners represents Monaghan and Mitchell and is also...

Why do Shia Labeouf and Kristen Stewart and Natalie Portman get credit for being so "bankable" when their giant franchise movies do most of the publicity work for them? —Cholmondeley, Norwich, via Twitter True: Vampire romances and movies about secret alien robots do kinda sell themselves regardless of who's starring. At least that's what I thought before I started researching your question. Turns out, people like K.Stew may deserve more credit than you think. Along with Portman, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, Stewart and Labeouf were recently crowned by Forbes as the most "bankable" names in Hollywood. Translation: For every buck they get paid, they offer the biggest...

Jayne Mansfield.s Car

Piers Handling, CEO and Director of Tiff, and Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director of the Toronto International Film Festival, made the first announcement of films to premiere at the 37th Toronto International Film Festival. Films announced include titles in the Galas and Special Presentations programmes. The announced films include 17 Galas and 45 Special Presentations, including 38 world premieres.

Toronto audiences will be the first to see the world premieres of films from directors Andrew Adamson, Ben Affleck, David Ayer, Maiken Baird, Noah Baumbach, J.A. Bayona, Stuart Blumberg, Josh Boone, Laurent Cantet, Sergio Castellitto, Stephen Chbosky, Lu Chuan, Derek Cianfrance, Nenad Cicin-Sain, Costa-Gavras, Ziad Doueiri, Liz Garbus, Dustin Hoffman, Rian Johnson, Neil Jordan, Baltasar Kormákur, Shola Lynch, Deepa Mehta, Roger Michell, Nishikawa Miwa, Ruba Nadda, Mike Newell, François Ozon, Sally Potter, Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman, Eran Riklis, David O. Russell, Gauri Shinde, Ben Timlett & Bill Jones & Jeff Simpson, Tom Tykwer & Andy Wachowski & Lana Wachowski,...

By Sean O’Connell

Hollywoodnews.com: Earlier, we brought you a snapshot glance at the first wave of programming announced for the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. Shortly after, the fest released a thorough breakdown of the Galas and Special Presentations for this year’s event, which kicks off on Thursday, Sept. 6.

So far, 17 Galas and 45 Special Presentations have been announced, including 38 world premieres. Andrew Adamson, Ben Affleck, David Ayer, Maiken Baird, Noah Baumbach, J.A. Bayona, Stuart Blumberg, Josh Boone, Laurent Cantet, Sergio Castellitto, Stephen Chbosky, Lu Chuan, Derek Cianfrance, Nenad Cicin-Sain, Costa-Gavras, Ziad Doueiri, Liz Garbus, Dustin Hoffman, Rian Johnson, Neil Jordan, Baltasar Kormákur, Shola Lynch, Deepa Mehta, Roger Michell, Nishikawa Miwa, Ruba Nadda, Mike Newell, François Ozon, Sally Potter, Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman, Eran Riklis, David O. Russell, Gauri Shinde, Ben Timlett & Bill Jones & Jeff Simpson, Tom Tykwer & Andy Wachowski & Lana Wachowski, Margarethe von Trotta, Joss Whedon and...

2012′s Toronto International Film Festival is set to officially announce its initial line-up later today, but Variety let the cat out of the bag, at least partially; and it’s quite astounding. Most of our most-anticipated films of the year will be premiering at the Canadian festival, notably Terrence Malick‘s To the Wonder, Wachowskis & Tom Tykwer‘s epic-sounding Cloud Atlas, Rian Johnson‘s Looper (which will open the fest), Ben Affleck‘s Argo, Dereck Cianfrance‘s The Place Beyond the Pines and much, more more.

Coming from Sundance, the only mentioned film was Ben Lewis‘ John Hawkes-starring The Sessions, while Cannes premieres include Matteo Garrone‘s Reality, Thomas Vinterberg‘s The Hunt, Pablo Larrain‘s No and Jacques Audiard‘s Rust and Bone. One of the biggest surprises is a new film from Noah Baumbach, starring Greta Gerwing titled Frances Ha. There’s also The Avengers director Joss Whedon...

True is a short film shot in France, articulated in English, directed by a German and stars an American as the female lead. Besides the cultural potpourri, the film is a simple tale of love with universality of appeal. True is directed by Tom Tykwer, acclaimed for films like Run Lola Run and Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. The film has a tight script, appealing visuals and uses stop motion graphics to convey the entire breadth of two people’s life together in the span of seven minutes.

This short is a part of Paris, je t’aime (2006), a film comprising 20 short films by many famous directors depicting love in Paris. Tom Tykwer shot the film in a small time span with almost no pre-production, and the result was a tiny masterpiece that according to Tykwer, “symbolises an entire life for me, in just ten minutes.” The cast comprises...

Here is last week's caption pic winner. This week's caption pic is at the bottom of the page.

Thanks to everyone for participating! The winner is ...

"There's no croixing in baseball."

Thanks to Kim Vicious for this week's winning caption!

Weekend Birthdays! (Note: Birthday shoutouts are for out entertainers, allies, or for any celeb that seems to have a following on Ae). Adamo Ruggiero (above) is 26, Natalie Portman is 31, Julianna Marguiles is 46, Sonia Braga is 62, Michael J. Fox is 51, Bonnie Tyler is 61, and Johnny Depp is 49. What are your Johnny faves? Here are mine: 5. A Nightmare On Elm Street, 4. Private Resort (so much ass), 3. Cry Baby, 2. Edward Scissorhands, 1. Ed Wood. Frank Langella Was a Happy Slut.25 Lgbt Films Perfect For Celebrating Pride.Male flesh feast Strike Back will return for its new season on Cinemax on August 17th, with a preview after this Sunday's True BloodCBS Files Restraining Order Against...

Put down those Pop Rocks and Diet Cokes. We’ve got some A-list myths to examine! Ahead of this Sunday’s Oscars, we’ll be taking a look at some of the most famous myths to rise out of the annual awards ceremony. Want to know if being nude will get you a Best Actress statue? Or if the Best Supporting Actress trophy is indeed a curse? You’re in luck – we’ll be investigating one Oscars-related urban legend each day this week. Today, we investigate one of the most common myths: Going nude will get you a Best Actress Oscar.

Blu-ray Release Date: Jan. 31, 2012

Price: Blu-ray $14.99

Studio: Lionsgate

Featuring an all-star cast, 2003 drama film Cold Mountain won Renee Zellweger (Bridget Jones’s Diary) an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

The romance movie tells the story of Inman (Jude Law, Road to Perdition), a wounded confederate soldier who’s on a perilous journey to his mountain home town to reunite with his sweetheart Ada (Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole).

The cast also features Philip Seymour Hoffman (Jack Goes Boating), Natalie Portman (Black Swan), Giovanni Ribisi (Middle Men), Donald Sutherland (The Con Artist), Ray Winstone (13) and Charlie Hunnnam (TV’s Sons of Anarchy).

The late Anthony Minghella (The English Patient) wrote and directed Cold Mountain, which also was nominated for six other Oscars, including Best Actor for Law, cinematography and two songs: “Scarlet Tide” by T-Bone Burnett and Elvis Costello and “You Will Be My Ain True Love” by Sting.

The R rated movie,...

It’s the one aspect of humanity that binds the demographics; the one thing that’s on everyone’s mind, young or old. Whether you’ve come to terms with your mortality or not, Hollywood thrives off it and the simple fact that you just can’t look away.

Many films exist and across them countless characters shuffle off the mortal coil; some nobly while others pointlessly, some even to the audiences’ collective groan of derision (two words: Mace Windu). Regardless of their dramatic accomplishment, movie deaths present a director with an opportunity to invoke empathy at the most primal level – sure Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) was an asshole throughout Die Hard but it’s hard not to acknowledge his humanity given his expression of mortal terror as he falls from the Nakatomi Plaza rooftop.

Done well, movie deaths make dramatic statements. They’ll kick-start a narrative or punctuate it with tragedy.

The biggest and most controversial release of the week doesn't hit stores until Friday when George Lucas unleashes his latest "draft" of the Star Wars films on Blu-ray, but in stores right now we have Marvel's Thor along with a handful of intriguing indie releases and a some solid Blu-ray re-releases as well. The hilarious documentary Conan O'Brien Can't Stop finally makes its way to a wide audience this week, along with Meek's Cutoff starring Michelle Williams and Hesher starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Natalie Portman. Also potentially worth checking out is Julie Taymor's The Tempest, Yuen Woo-ping's martial arts drama True Legend, and the single-shot horror flick The Silent House. TV releases include new seasons of Glee, The Big Bang Theory and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and on Blu-ray we have The Frighteners, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the 70th Anniversay edition of Citizen Kane and the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer!

Rank the week of September 13th’s Blu-ray and DVD new releases against the best films of all-time: New Releases Thor

(Blu-ray & DVD | PG13 | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #227

Win Percentage: 58%

Times Ranked: 18033

Top-20 Rankings: 90

Directed By: Kenneth Branagh

Starring: Chris Hemsworth • Natalie Portman • Anthony Hopkins • Jeremy Renner • Kat Dennings

Genres: Action • Adventure • Based-on-Comics • Comic-Book Superhero Film • Fantasy • Fantasy Adventure

Rank This Movie

Conan O’Brien Can’T Stop

(Blu-ray & DVD | Nr | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #5260

Win Percentage: 54%

Times Ranked: 719

Top-20 Rankings: 5

Directed By: Rodman Flender

Starring: Conan O’Brien

Genres: Comedy • Documentary

Rank This Movie

Incendies

(Blu-ray & DVD | Nr | 2010)

Flickchart Ranking: #4296

Win Percentage: 51%

Times Ranked: 947

Top-20 Rankings: 8

Directed By: Denis Villeneuve

Starring: Lubna Azabal • Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin • Maxim Gaudette • Rémy Girard • Abdelghafour Elaaziz

Genres: Drama • Foreign Language Film

Rank This Movie

The Tempest

(Blu-ray & DVD | PG13 | 2010)

Flickchart Ranking: #7784

Win Percentage: 37%

Times Ranked: 385

Top-20 Rankings: 2

Directed By: Julie Taymor

Starring: Helen Mirren • Djimon Hounsou • Alfred Molina...

Hollywood needs a hit

Actually, Hollywood needs a bunch of hits.

Actually, Hollywood needs a bunch of big, fat, through-the-roof hits.

And with the summer – and the year – half over, the time to come up with them is running out.

The movie business finished 2010 with the second highest domestic box office on record: $10.2 billion. But this was a misleading, oh, let’s call it a “symptom.” That ten billion and change was like the midpoint in every episode of House where the brilliant diagnostician thinks he’s figured out what’s ailing this week’s guest star, his team begins treatment, and, just as the patient seems to be getting better and the regulars are congratulating each other on the save…the patient throws a conniption fit, thrashing around on the bed and spitting up blood.

Part of that ten billion-plus came from a nearly 20% hike in average tickets prices...

Are you still enjoying the reader spotlights? I hope you've found a few kindred spirits in the featured readers thus far. Today, I'm talking to K.M. Soehnlein in San Francisco who is a longtime reader and also a novelist. Discovering that novelists read you is a bit humbling. Anyway... let's talk!

Nathaniel: So... earlier this year you received the Warren Beatty book "Star" from a Film Experience contest. What's your favorite nugget so far?

K.M. Soehnlein: There’s a nugget on every page of “Star,” if by nugget you mean hot steamy chunk of gossip: “He made love to [Joan] Collins relentlessly, although every now and then he would accept calls while he was inside her.” In the Introduction to the book, Peter Biskind, the author, says he’s interested in Beatty as “one of the foremost filmmakers of his generation…at the intersection between politics and culture.” But he...

Yesterday I posted a picture of Jean Reno and Natalie Portman from The Professional, simply because I stumbled across the photo about a week or two ago and felt it fit a slight lull in content. Then a few people began ranking and discussing Portman's other films, which got me to thinking about what my favorite Portman films were and how I would rank them.

For the sake of this argument, Portman's film career started very early so this also means there were a few notable films she was in that I don't necessarily consider "Natalie Portman films". If I had considered them both, Heat and Mars Attacks! would have made this list, but her contribution to both isn't enough to warrant placement, though I tried hard to make a case for Heat.

Also, before we get to the six I chose as my favorite Portman films, I should say...

We here at NextMovie are expecting the new comedy, "Your Highness" to be a big ...hit. This joint venture between Danny McBride, James Franco and Natalie Portman looks like the kind of bud picture that will definitely be packing a specific audience into the theaters. Okay, in case you haven't been catching all the subtle puns -- it's a stoner movie -- with dragons.

Finally! Of course, there's a long Hollywood tradition of fantasy characters who may have been stealing a puff between scenes. Well, today we're smoking them out. Here are nine fantasy characters who must be high...

(Slang Aid: To help adequately alter your sober perceptions, we've added the key term "Dude" into each character's quote so you can more fully see it for the stonerism it truly is.)

9. Fezzik in 'The Princess Bride' (1987)

Stoner Type: Slow and Smiley

Stoner Quote: "Dude, anybody want a peanut?...

Well the Hollywood suck fest is over and in another unremarkable year of film there is a lot to say about about snubs, flubs and much more in my post Oscar analysis/recap of the 83rd Academy Awards. This year’s Oscars were hosted by James Franco and Anne Hathaway, an attempt to capture interest from younger audiences while making sure they got people who had been to the Academies before and know what it is all about. While the whole show itself was sort of a snore fest, the interest from filmgoers this year was would a film about social media win? would a movie about dreams take the cake? and could a ballerina win an Academy award too?

The Hosts – I for one enjoyed the hosts this year much more than Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin last year and Hugh Jackman the years before. Bob Hope and Billy Crystal...

This Sunday night, all of America will convene into our metaphoric “Lady Caves” to watch the 83rd Annual Academy Awards, hosted by James Franco and Anne “No Seriously” Hathaway.. Before we even continue, you should be following BWEtv, Me and Dan on Twitter, as we will be Livetweeting the festivities this Sunday night. The Oscars are looking to shape up to be one of the most predictable Oscars ever!! So predictable, in fact, that our minds have braintraveled over to the offices of PricewaterhouseCoopers and seen the winners list! Kind of like the aliens in Independence Day, only the only resources we’re stealing are Hollywood answers. Here are your winners!! This is like getting the Sports Almanac in Back to the Future II before the games, people. Fill those ballots out now. Actor in a Leading Role * Javier Bardem in “Biutiful” * Jeff Bridges in “True Grit” * Jesse Eisenberg in...

Greetings, all! I've put together what I hope you will find to be a fun quiz. We're doing this the low-tech way. Leave your answers in the comments section, and I'll score them. (If a ludicrous number of people participate, I request that you be extremely patient.)

What's the prize? Your choice between an Oscar-winning DVD (title to be determined) or -- should you be in the La area anytime in the near future -- my treating you to one of the guided tours of the Kodak Theatre, home of the Oscars. (As many times as I've gone past Hollywood and Highland since living in Los Angeles, it would give me an excuse finally to check it out.) Of course, the real prize in these parts is bragging rights, isn't it?

If you have inside knowledge of the Oscar ceremony you are ineligible to compete, unless your name is James Franco or Anne Hathaway,...

Just a couple of weeks after the Superbowl comes the Superbowl of movies, the Academy Awards otherwise known as "the Oscars." The Oscars (named after the statue given) is the most prestigious award in movies given out by members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences which are a collection of people who make up the film industry (i.e. actors, directors, writers, execs, etc.). It acknowledges which films deserve recognition for the major elements that make a successful film: everything from makeup and art direction to the big award, Best Picture. Every year I make predictions and get most of the major ones right. So here is my list of Oscar predictions (feel free to use them in an Oscar pool).

Best Picture: The Social Network

Once upon a time, the Weinstein Brothers were at the top of Miramax and while there they figured out what kind of...

Colin Firth in Tom Hooper's The King's Speech On its 76th day out, Tom Hooper's The King's Speech, starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, and Helena Bonham Carter, topped the Us/Canada box office on Wednesday, Feb. 9. The current Oscar favorite drew $680k, according to Box Office Mojo. True, it was a dreary day at the North American box office; even so, The King's Speech's feat shouldn't be dismissed. The generally acclaimed period drama has displayed enormous resilience in the last two and a half months, and — if it comes out on top on Oscar night — it'll probably pass the $100m domestically. Not bad at all for a movie with a $15m budget. Up one spot at no. 2, the Natalie Portman-Ashton Kutcher romantic comedy No Strings Attached — a release with stronger legs than initially thought — collected $665k. Surely, the Oscar ballyhoo surrounding Portman's performance in Black Swan...

Who rocked the best hair and makeup among the bevy of beauties on the red carpet last night? Read on and vote!

Last night’s 2011 Screen Actors Guild Awards presented us with a red carpet awash in gorgeous A-list stars. So many lovely women, but only one can take the ultimate prize: Best Red Carpet Beauty Look! Who among these gorgeous stars deserves the award? Let’s review the nominees:

Natalie Portman looks radiant with glowing skin, a lightly sultry eye with long lashes and a pretty pink cheek and lip. Love the soft, sculpted updo with multiple twists at the nape of the neck as well. Gorgeous!

Mila Kunis worked soft, siren curls paired with a signature defined eye with black liner and long lashes paired with a gorgeous peach-pink blush and pink lip. It worked beautifully with her gorgeous gown. True perfection.

Lea Michele sported gorgeous, tousled waves...

America was in the mood for a little demon possession, as the Anthony Hopkins supernatural thriller The Rite was the top film for the weekend ending January 30, 2011. The weekend's only other major release, The Mechanic, had a major breakdown, managing only a third place finish overall. Meanwhile, Oscar nominations helped boost the box office fortunes of movies like The King's Speech and True Grit.

10. Yogi Bear $3.2 million

Yogi continued to attract viewers, passing the $90 million mark in ticket sales. I hear if we all play dead, he will go away.

9. The Fighter $4 million

David O Russell's true tale continues to score with audiences, and with seven Oscar nominations under its belt, there should be plenty of interest in the movie out there.

8. Black Swan $5.1 million

With every week, it seems Natalie Portman tightens her grip on her claim to the Best Actress Oscar. Her role keeps winning acting awards, and...

Cameron Diaz, Seth Rogen, The Green Hornet Starring Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz, Tom Wilkinson, and Christoph Waltz, Michel Gondry's The Green Hornet earned $1.52m at the North American box office on Wednesday, Jan. 19, according to Box Office Mojo. The Green Hornet's per-theater average was $426, behind that of The King's Speech for the first time since Gondry's 3D adventure flick opened on Friday. At no. 2, Ron Howard's The Dilemma, featuring Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Jennifer Connelly, Winona Ryder, and Channing Tatum, pulled in $952k. The Dilemma fell below the $1m-per-day mark on Day 6. Once again at no. 3, Colin Firth-Geoffrey Rush's The King's Speech grossed $867k. The Tom Hooper-directed drama should pass the $50m milestone on Friday. The King's Speech was followed by Darren Aronofsky-Natalie Portman's Golden Globe winner for Best Actress – Drama Black Swan with $744k. At no. 5, Joel Coen...

London -- Tom Hooper's "The King's Speech" is in pole position to be crowned the big winner at this year's Orange British Academy Film Awards, presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.There is nothing stuttering in the nomination race for the Colin Firth starrer about King George VI with the movie securing 14 slots on the potential kudos count sheet.Hooper secures a best director nomination and the picture a best film tilt. Speech will compete with the David Fincher-directed Facebook drama "The Social Network," balletic thriller "Black Swan," from Darren Aronofsky, Christopher Nolan's sci-fi epic "Inception" and the Coen brothers' western remake "True Grit" for the best film nod.In the best director category, Danny Boyle could secure his second BAFTA director nod after Slumdog for his efforts with his adventurous biopic dramatization "127 Hours" if he fends off challenges from Hooper, Aronofsky, Nolan and Fincher.

Best Film: Black Swan, directed by Darren Aronofsky Blue Valentine, directed by Derek Cianfrance The King’s Speech, directed by Tom Hooper The Social Network, directed by David Fincher Best Director: Danny Boyle,...

New York, January 3, 2011 – The Social Network, the dramatized examination of the personalities and incidents behind the launch of the Facebook social media movement, was named Best Picture in the 14th...

Jack Black, Gulliver's Travels Jeff Bridges-Garrett Hedlund's Tron: Legacy Down 54% Opening at a low no. 7 this Christmas weekend, 20th Century Fox's Gulliver's Travels, directed by Rob Letterman, and starring Jack Black, Emily Blunt, Amanda Peet, and Jason Segel, grossed a paltry $7.2m at 2,546 locations as per studio estimates found at Box Office Mojo. The adventure fantasy's average was a mediocre $2,828 per site, even considering that Gulliver's Travels has been out for only two days (it opened on Saturday) — but especially considering that about half its take came from pricier 3D houses. No official numbers are available regarding Gulliver's Travels' budget — not that those are to be believed, anyhow — but estimates range from $90-110m according to boxofficespy.com. At no. 8, Darren Aronofsky-Natalie Portman's Black Swan earned $6.6m, down -21.3% despite the addition of 507 theaters on Wednesday. (True enough, some of that box-office boost...

As a director who has long found the beauty in some of the ugliest places imaginable, it's not surprising that Darren Aronofsky gravitated towards a film involving a production of "Swan Lake." Inspired at first by his sister's years in ballet and then intrigued with Dostoevsky's "The Double," the director has once again found a tale where he can get in your head after reaching your heart, predicated on the plight of Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman), a fragile ballerina who is driven to madness by the pursuit of perfection, the competition of a rival dancer (Mila Kunis) and the dare of her ferocious director (Vincent Cassel) to embrace the wild abandon of the Black Swan when she's already so perfect in the role of the untouched White Swan, both onstage and off.

It's a duality that in many ways extends to the production of "Black Swan" itself, the gleaming gem...

The 2011 Academy Awards, which will held on February 27 and be hosted this year by Tina Fey, announced their nominations this morning. Announcements were made by Neil Patrick Harris and Betty White.

The following nominations were revealed.

Best Picture

Black Swan

The Fighter

The King's Speech

True Grit

127 Hours

Inception

The Kids Are All Right

Rabbit Hole

Blue Valentine

Get Low

Best Director

Joel and Ethan Coen, True Grit

Danny Boyle, 127 Hours

Tom Hooper, The King's Speech

Christopher Nolan, Inception

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

Best Female Performance in a Starring Role

Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone

Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Annette Benning, The Kids Are All Right

Lesley Manville, Another Year

Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Best Performance by a Male in a Starring Role

James Franco, 127 Hours

Colin Firth, The King's Speech

Robert Duvall, Get Low

Jeff Bridges, True Grit

Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Social Network, Aaron Sorkin

127 Hours,...