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If you've paid any kind of attention to Sylvester Stallone's film career for any amount of time, you know he's made some absolutely terrible movies. To be fair, some were out of necessity. Prior to becoming a big screen superstar in 1976 with "Rocky," a briefly homeless Stallone starred in a quickie pornographic romance called "The Party at Kitty and Stud's" (which was rereleased post-stardom as "The Italian Stallion"). Around the same time, he also appeared in the low-budget terrorism thriller "No Place to Hide," which was recut as a comedy and dumped into video stores in 1990 with the title "A Man Called... Rainbo."

For the most part, however, Stallone has been the author of his own cinematic misery. After the wild critical and commercial success of "Rocky", the star went on a decade-plus tear during which he could get anything greenlit. At first, he put his newfound box office...

What would movies be about if not for love? Since well before the days of Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in “Casablanca,” romance has driven countless classic stories, setting up some of the highest highs in cinematic history to follow. Be it Cary Grant and Grace Kelly seeing stars in “To Catch a Thief” or Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal disturbing diner patrons in “When Harry Met Sally,” the 20th century was chock full of iconic romances that helped humanity fall in love with the movies. Of course, those titles were dominated by white artists telling largely heteronormative tales — meaning many (but not all) of the best and most inclusive romances have arrived this millennium.

Now, the best romance movies of the 21st century both resonate and surprise, showing audiences characters they might recognize from their own lives in new and surprising ways. Yes, finding “the one” is exceedingly well-frequented thematic territory,...

Ingrid Bergman is widely regarded as an icon of Hollywood's Golden Age and one of the greatest leading ladies to grace the silver screen, who is best known for classics such as Casablanca, Gaslight, and Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious. The Swedish actress started her career appearing in various Swedish and German films and gained initial attention from David O. Selznick for her performance in the 1936 film, Intermezzo. Selznick offered Bergman the opportunity to reprise her role in the 1939 English remake of the movie, thus marking the actress' American film debut.

Humphrey Bogart reigns as one of the greatest stars of classic cinema and an icon of Hollywood's Golden Age who is best known for timeless titles such as Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, and The Big Sleep. Bogart, also known as Bogie, started his career performing on the stage, taking on minor and supporting roles before moving to Hollywood, where he signed his first film contract with Fox Films and continued to appear in stage productions. By the mid-1930s, Bogie had signed with Warner Bros. and in 1941, he earned his breakthrough role in the classic film noir, High Sierra.

Considering the legacy and position of the Looney Tunes in pop culture over the past 90 or so years, it's hard to believe that there's never been a full-length animated Looney Tunes film in theaters. Sure, the gang appeared on movie screens in short films back in the 1930s, there have been direct-to-video movies featuring them in the years since, and they memorably played key roles in live-action/animation hybrids like the "Space Jam" movies (the first of which was almost written by Spike Lee!) and "Looney Tunes: Back in Action," but they've never led their own hand-drawn animated feature film ... until now.

Given the historic nature of "The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie," then, one might expect that the most famous Looney Tunes character of all, Bugs Bunny, would be the natural choice for the lead character. But Bugs doesn't actually appear in this film. Instead,...

The Academy Awards are the industry's greatest acknowledgment for movies. For almost a hundred years, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has rewarded the best in cinema with the Oscar statuette. Indeed, many classic movies like Gone with the Wind, Casablanca, The Godfather, The Silence of the Lambs, Titanic, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King have claimed the ceremony's most prestigious award: Best Picture.

Classic Hollywood star Ingrid Bergman once said, "A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous." The Swedish actress knows a thing or two about the power of a kiss, as she was one half of one of the most iconic kisses in cinematic history when she and Humphrey Bogart starred in "Casablanca." However, as powerful as a kiss can be, sometimes the act of kissing may be a bridge too far for an actor behind a given character.

Regardless of what a script says a character is meant to do, sometimes there are certain things that an actor will refuse to do. For whatever reason, they may decide that they don't want to do their own stunts or have any nude scenes, as tasteful as they might. And there have been plenty of instances where stars have chosen not to participate in kissing scenes as well.

It’s a rare type of cinephile who wasn’t introduced to the idea of film as more than just idle entertainment by the ritual of the Academy Awards. And it’s an even rarer type of cinephile who didn’t soon thereafter vehemently reject the Oscars as the ultimate barometer of a film’s artistic worth. Those of us who started off with The Godfather, Schindler’s List, All About Eve, or Casablanca all eventually got around to Out of Africa, Around the World in 80 Days, The Greatest Show on Earth, Cimarron, and Cavalcade.

First loves being first loves, we still find ourselves regressing if for only one night a year, succumbing to the allure of instant canonization even as it comes in the form of repeated slap-in-the-face reminders of Oscar’s bracing wrongness: Gladiator, Braveheart, Chicago, Crash. In that sense, consider this project part cathartic exorcism and part...

[Editor’s Note: This list was originally published in February 2024. It has been updated to add new winners, including “Anora.”]

When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences hosted their first annual Academy Awards on May 16, 1929 — a short, 15-minute ceremony at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with tickets that cost the equivalent of $90 today — there were two top awards that night (and an honorary trophy for groundbreaking talkie “The Jazz Singer.”) The first was “Best Unique and Artistic Picture,” honoring boldly experimental art films pushing the medium forward: “Sunrise,” F. W. Murnau’s lyrical masterpiece of a romantic drama, received that prize. Then there was “Outstanding Picture,” given to more commercial fare made within the Hollywood system: That award was given out to “Wings,” a very good and extremely popular World War I action romance starring Clara Bow.

When AMPAS mounted a second ceremony a year later, they retroactively decided that Outstanding Picture was the real highest honor they gave out and discontinued Artistic Picture forever. And, as Oscar ceremonies...

The coveted Best Picture category at The Oscars has defined countless cultural moments throughout cinema history. As the category has evolved from including five films to 10 in 2009, more films have had their chance to be crowned the most influential film of the year by the Academy. The Best Picture Selections have significantly ranged over the years, encompassing a variety of genres and stories that reflect the media and culture of their time.

In the almost 100 years that have passed since the first Oscars ceremony in 1929, the Best Picture award has remained just as powerful in cementing a lasting legacy for a film. As the 2025 Oscars approach, it's fascinating to examine this year's lineup in association with other Best Picture winners.

The Sound of Music Is an Uplifting and Poignant Musical Winner of Best Picture in 1966 at the 38th Academy Awards

One of the most famous musicals in theater history, The Sound of Music...

Quick LinksThe Coen Brothers Were on a Cold StreakWhat is The Ladykillers About?The Ladykillers Was a Critical Failure

With the 97th Academy Awards on the horizon, many fans are revisiting Oscar-nominated and Oscar-winning classic movies to see if they hold up. From recent winners like Green Book and Crash, already aging interestingly, to old-school classics like Casablanca and The Apartment, proving their timelessness. The same everlasting question is dredged up every single year: Decades before the release of the Oscar-winning film No Country for Old Men, the Coen brothers were raking in awards nominations left and right for Fargo, Barton Fink, and more.

However, it cannot be ignored that in the years immediately preceding their Oscar-winning year with the hit Western, the brotherly duo was experiencing something of a critical cold streak. 2004 saw the release of The Ladykillers, the lowest rated film in the Coen brothers catalog by a wide margin.

Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin, is one of comics' deadliest "normal" super-villains. He's got no superpowers, but he does have a vast criminal empire that enables him to make life extremely difficult for superheroes like Daredevil and Spider-Man. While Fisk has a double life as a "legitimate" businessman, the Kingpin does not wear a costume. Even so, he still has a recognizable look: bald, with a white-and-purple business suit concealing his sumo wrestler physique.

What inspired Kingpin's design? Was it Lex Luthor, the other most famous bald villain in comic books? The going industry myth, backed up by John Romita Jr. (the son of Kingpin's co-creator and a comic artist himself), is that Romita Sr. used actor Sydney Greenstreet as a model for Fisk. A British thespian, Greenstreet is most remembered nowadays for appearing in three 1940s pictures with Humphrey Bogart: "The Maltese Falcon," "Casablanca," and "Passage to Marseille." Greenstreet's...

The best line in “Casablanca”? If you had asked Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart that question on the evening of March 31, 1943, he would have recited back to you the following confession: “Nobody’s loved me that much.” This phrase makes at least three appearances in director Richard Linklater’s “Blue Moon,” setting a tone of yearning and compliance on behalf of the film’s main character, Hart, portrayed by usual suspect Ethan Hawke, this time full of tenderness and contradictions.

Continue reading ‘Blue Moon’ Review: Another Precious Pearl In Richard Linklater’s Chronicles Of The Human Condition [Berlin] at The Playlist.

Witticist-lyricist Lorenz Hart would cringe at the pun, but “Blue Moon” is nothing if not a funny valentine to the tortured songwriter who died in 1943 at age 48, having drunk too much on opening night of his final collaboration with composer Richard Rodgers. Set six months earlier, Richard Linklater’s splendid portrait stars a courageous but egregiously miscast Ethan Hawke, chewing the scenery from a one-foot trench in the floor. Like a backstage pass for Broadway buffs, it’s one hell of a show for those in the know and a sparkling introduction for the uninitiated.

This was not a happy period in Hart’s life, and though he comes off charming and clever — the showman-cum-show queen — what makes him such a deserving subject are the layers of insecurity and self-loathing for which his patter is so clearly overcompensating. “He was the saddest man I ever knew,” the singer Mabel Merced once said,...

Few movie stars compare to Humphrey Bogart. The tough-as-nails actor embodied the very idea of American film noir in the 1940s and 1950s, having made 16 noir films in his lifetime and proved himself to be just as adept at playing snarling villains as he was at playing a heroic, star-crossed lover. You may know him best as Sam Spade in "The Maltese Falcon" or Rick in "Casablanca," but if you know Bogart's full history, you know that he transitioned away from playing nastier characters to more classically "good guys" over time. If you're not quite ready to dive into his full career, it's not hard to blame you; although he died relatively young, at age 57, he appeared in 75 films across a few decades. So, you might ask yourself, where to start?

Certainly an easy way to start is by checking Bogart's page on Rotten Tomatoes. As ever, it's worth...

At London’s Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, Jeff Goldblum delivered a heartfelt performance during the BAFTA Film Awards In Memoriam segment on Sunday night. The actor and accomplished jazz pianist, known for his role in the BAFTA-nominated film “Wicked,” played “As Time Goes By” as a tribute to industry figures who passed away over the past year.

Goldblum’s rendition of the classic, composed by Herman Hupfeld in 1931 and popularized by the film “Casablanca,” accompanied a montage of images honoring renowned filmmakers and actors. The tribute reel featured names such as David Lynch, Maggie Smith, Donald Sutherland, James Earl Jones, Joan Plowright, Gena Rowlands, Kris Kristofferson, and Shelley Duvall, ensuring that the contributions of these beloved talents were remembered with reverence.

BAFTA organizers expressed their anticipation of a moving segment, noting that Goldblum’s performance would add a personal touch to the remembrance of film legends. The actor,...

Jeff Goldblum brought his special touch to the BAFTA Film Awards ceremony’s In Memoriam segment in London on Sunday, performing “As Time Goes By” on the piano while the names and faces of beloved industry figures who died over the past year were shown on a screen. The actor, who played The Wizard of Oz in the BAFTA-nominated Jon M. Chu-directed blockbuster Wicked, which stars Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande and Michelle Yeoh, added to the star power of the event held at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in the British capital.

The jazz song was written by Herman Hupfeld in 1931. It became famous after it was featured in the 1942 film classic Casablanca, performed by Sam, played by Dooley Wilson.

“Goldblum’s soulful style will provide a moving and personal tribute,” BAFTA organizers had said when they unveiled his on-stage appearance during the biggest night in British film.

At the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown, the Art Directors Guild held its 29th annual awards ceremony, honoring outstanding production design across film, television, commercials, and music videos. The event celebrated a wide range of projects, from fantasy and period pieces to contemporary dramas, with several winners set to contend for the upcoming Production Design Oscar.

In the film categories, Warner Bros’ Wicked claimed the Fantasy Feature Film prize, while Focus Features’ Nosferatu took home the award for Period Feature Film. The Contemporary Feature Film award went to Conclave, marking a strong showing for films that will soon face stiff competition at next month’s Oscar ceremony. Adding to the night’s successes, Universal’s The Wild Robot earned top honors in the Animated Feature Film category, following recent wins at the Annie Awards.

Television winners spanned a broad spectrum of genres. Prime Video’s Fallout earned the One-Hour Fantasy Series award,...

“Nosferatu” (Craig Lathrop), “Wicked” (Nathan Crowley), and “Conclave” (Suzie Davies) were the period, fantasy, and contemporary production design winners at the 29th annual Art Directors Guild Awards, held February 15 at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown.

Also winning for animation was “The Wild Robot”, following its Annies sweep and Ves prizes. On the TV side, “Shōgun,” “Squid Game,” “Fallout,” and “The Penguin” were the winners for their production designers in their respective categories.

The Lathrop win for “Nosferatu” was not surprising when you consider that “The Brutalist” production designer Judy Becker is not an Adg member. She has been the presumptive Oscar favorite for channeling Oscar-nominated Adrien Brody’s visionary architect, László Tóth, in applying a Brutalist style to the architectural designs of mid-century Pennsylvania with its bold shapes and function over form aesthetic.

Lathrop, who has worked on all of director Robert Eggers’ other films, received his first Oscar nomination for “Nosferatu.

Wicked, Nosferatu, Conclave and The Wild Robot took top film honors at the 29th annual Art Directors Guild Awards, which were handed out tonight at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown. TV winners included Fallout, Shōgun, The Penguin, Squid Game, Saturday Night Live, Frasier and What We Do in the Shadows.

Check out the full list below.

Warner Bros’ Wicked won for Fantasy Feature Film, and Focus Features pics took the other two top film prizes: vampire horror Nosferatu won for Period Feature Film, and papal drama Conclave took Contemporary Feature Film, the first film award of the night. All three will go up against fellow Adg nominees The Brutalist, Dune: Part Two and Wicked for the Production Design Oscar next month.

Since the trophy show launched in 1996, the winner of one of those has gone on to win the Art Direction/Production Design Oscar in 19 of the 28 years. It had...

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, Subhash K Jha asked Filmistan what their favorite prem kahaani films are and the answers were amazing!

Amitabh Bachchan:

“Guru Dutt’s Kagaz Ke Phool: poignant and incredible theme, most lingering visuals, music, performances, and the ethereal Waheedaji, she’s my favourite; Anupama … “I just love the softness and simplicity of the film, its unexaggerated performances. It had a lyrical quality about it. This was a film by one of my favourite directors, Hrishikesh Mukherjee.” Bimal Roy’s Devdas: “I have always idolized Dilip Saab; his portrayal of doomed love in Devdas remains unparalleled.”

Sanjay Leela Bhansali:

“Bimal Roy’s Devdas, Vijay Anand’s Guide, Kamal Amrohi’s Pakeezah, K Asif’s Mughal-e-Azam, Satyajit Ray’s Charulata.”

Raakhee Gulzar:

“Satyajit Ray’s Charulata, Vijay Anand’s Guide, Raj Kapoor’s Sangam, Raj Kapoor’s Bobby, Yash Chopra’s Kabhi Kabhie.”

Asha Parekh:

“Bimal Roy’s Devdas,...

It’s only been 7 years since we last saw the undeniably lovable Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw) in 2018’s Paddington 2, but the film has had a wild life since its initial release. For a film that only made about $40 million at the U.S. box office (and $227 million worldwide), this film's impact was immense. Paddington 2 has been called one of the greatest sequels ever made, it was the highest-ranked film on Rotten Tomatoes for years, and was integral in the Hugh Grant renaissance that we now find ourselves in. Paddington 2 has become so appreciated as a modern classic, its greatness was even the focus of one of the best scenes in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. 2015’s Paddington might’ve been good, but Paddington 2 is already considered a potential masterpiece.

For years, when it comes to entertainment, Hollywood has been the epicenter of storytelling. Over the years, there have been countless tales told and stories made for the audience, from death-defying scenes to heart-warming ones that melt your heart out.

While each project or scene has a charm of its own, that is quite incomparable, there are a handful few who have etched into the collectible memory of moviegoers.

Hollywood is full of unforgettable and mesmerizing moments | Credit: Image by Thomas Wolf, licensed under Cca- Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Such moments have sparked debates, inspired countless, and turned their respective films into cultural touchstones. While we cannot possibly compile a list of all such moments, here are 20 unforgettable Hollywood movie moments that continue to captivate and resonate with audiences around the world.

20. “Here’s looking at you, kid” – Casablanca (1942) Casablanca | Credit: Warner Bros.

A romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz,...

In the genres of film, romance is one of the most sprawling; featuring movies that will make you bawl your eyes out, laugh until you have a six-pack (of abs or beer) and keep you on the edge of your seat until the credits roll. Movies like Casablanca, When Harry Met Sally, Gone with the Wind, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind all have incredibly different vibes, with each one giving audiences a different experience. In the early aughts, an adaptation of a beloved Nicholas Sparks novel would unite romance lovers everywhere when The Notebook made its way into theaters. Considered to be one of the greatest genre titles of not just the last 20 years but also of all time, the Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams film is now streaming on Hulu. Unfortunately for subscribers who were hoping to celebrate Valentine’s Day with the production, it won’t...

Scott Derrickson plans to make more romantic movies after directing 'The Gorge'.The 58-year-old filmmaker has helmed the unlikely love story between two elite snipers played by Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy and hopes to get behind the camera on more tales of the heart after previously working on horror and superhero flicks.Scott told Empire magazine: "I think the most powerful emotions are the feeling of falling in love and the feeling of real fear."My gravitation towards horror comes from having experienced a lot of fear in my childhood, that I'm always dealing with as an adult. And at this stage of my life, feelings of love have (also) become of great interest to me."Derrickson has always enjoyed romantic pictures and 'The Gorge' resonated with him as he had just remarried when he signed up to direct the movie.The 'Doctor Strange' director...

After a four-decade career in films, Isabella Rossellini scored her first Oscar nomination on Thursday for her supporting role as a Vatican nun in “Conclave.”

The nomination places Rossellini in the Academy history books. She is the daughter of three-time Oscar-winning actress Ingrid Bergman. Her father, the Italian neorealist filmmaking legend Roberto Rossellini was also nominated once, in 1950 for his screenplay for “Paisan.”

Swedish acting legend Bergman is often cited as one of the greatest screen icons of all time, famed for her roles in “Casablanca,” “The Bells of St. Marys” and Alfred Hitchcock’s “Notorious.” She was a seven-time nominee who won three Oscars: two for Best Actress (“Gaslight” and “Anastasia”) and one for Best Supporting Actress (“Murder on the Orient Express”).

Rossellini’s nomination this year, in fact, comes on the 50th anniversary of her mother’s win for “Orient Express,” an all-star mystery film in which Bergman...

A few fun facts about Oscar statuettes: 

The award is 13-and-a-half inches tall, and the award, overall, weighs about eight-and-a-half pounds. The statues are made of solid bronze and are plated in real gold. During metal shortages during World War II, the Oscars were made out of painted plaster, although winners were permitted to swap them for bronze ones once the materials were plentiful again. 

It's been said that handing an Oscar too much can make the gold tarnish, so Oscar winners have to be careful with them. The statuettes are made by an art foundry in Chicago called Polich Tallix, the same firm that handled the work of Roy Lichtenstein, and the Korean War Memorial in Washington, D.C. 

The statuettes also, technically, don't belong to the voters or to the people who win them. Indeed, starting in 1951, the Motion Picture Academy introduced a new rule forbidding recipients from...

The Best Picture race at the 2025 Oscars is coming into focus. The Oscars, also known as the Academy Awards, were created by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1929, and celebrate the artistic achievement of each year's films in a variety of categories including acting, directing, editing, costume design, sound design, and more. The Oscar that is perhaps the most prestigious is the Best Picture award, which celebrates what Academy voters have deemed to be the best film of the year.

Over the years, there have been a wide variety of Best Picture winners, so far running from 1927's Wings, a silent film starring Clara Bow, through 2023's Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan's biopic-thriller of J. Robert Oppenheimer starring Cillian Murphy. Some winners are minted classics such as 1942's Casablanca, 1964's The Sound of Music, 1971's The Godfather, and 1992's Schindler's List. However, there are also some winners that...

In the entire history of the Academy Awards, only six Best Picture winners have been 100 minutes or less. It seems that traditional, Oscar-bait "prestige" pictures tend to run long, attracting Academy voters with their sheer volume. Extra-long films are also a little rare, though, as only five Best Picture Winners are 200 minutes or more. Additionally, a whopping 18 Best Pictures have been between 160 and 195 minutes, so voters clearly don't mind longer movies. Indeed, the average length of a Best Picture winner is 136 minutes. In terms of cinematic storytelling, that seems to be the sweet spot. 

Of course, Roger Ebert's adage needs to be mentioned. The famed critics once posited that no good movie is too long, and no bad movie is short enough. The actual length of a film doesn't really matter, so long as it's a quality picture, and it makes good use of its time. Personally, I feel...

Humphrey Bogart owes his involvement in his most famous movie, Casablanca, to the gangster character he played in High Sierra. By starring as Rick Blaine opposite Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca, Bogart solidified his status as one of Hollywood's biggest stars and the stage for him to become a cinematic icon. Prior to the film, Bogart was already a veteran actor, but hardly the top actor in the industry.

Most of his acting experience stemmed from Humphrey Bogart's numerous gangster movie roles. Though most weren't particularly memorable or have any individual importance to his career, they kept him busy through much of the 1930s. Toward the end of the decade, Bogart's roles grew more and more significant, with the actor appearing in films like Dark Victory with Bette Davis in Angels With Dirty Faces. All of these parts can be seen as stepping stones toward Bogart joining the Casablanca cast as the male lead,...

Humphrey Bogart. The name evokes an image of a man wearing a cap and holding a cigarette, radiating an air of cool that defies the passage of time. However, Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes aims to reveal not only the polished image of Hollywood’s Golden Age but also the man behind the screen.

Bogart represents tough masculinity in film history, embodying the American landscape’s post-war cynicism. His characters frequently fought with authority, reflecting societal worries. This documentary, produced by Kathryn Ferguson, tries to create a close connection using old footage and personal stories. However, it sometimes idealizes Bogart and overlooks some of the complexities that interest him.

The film’s authenticity is questioned by its method based on Bogart’s own words. He invites viewers to face fame’s dualities by contrasting hiss with Hollywood’s glitz. While Life Comes in Flashes aims to highlight the subject, it...

Is Steven Soderbergh preparing to join the “Star Wars” universe? Or is he just a huge fan of George Lucas and Tony Gilroy?

The filmmaker behind classics like “Ocean’s 11” and “Traffic,” as well as the upcoming supernatural horror “Presence,” released his 2024 watch list last week, as he has done for many years now, sharing it via his “Soderblog” under “Seen, Read 2024.” Included on the list are a range of films, television shows, and shorts, as well as novels, short stories, and plays, but of particular note are his multiple viewings of “Star Wars” films across the year, seemingly sparked by his watching the Disney+ “Rogue One” spin-off series “Andor” from Tony Gilroy. Soderbergh and Gilroy are longtime friends and collaborators, the former having helped finance the latter’s “Michael Clayton.” They also did a commentary track together for Carol Reed’s “The Third Man” that’s really worth a listen.

Awards-season regulars A Complete Unknown, The Brutalist, Dune: Part Two, Wicked, Conclave, Emilia Pérez and The Substance are among the nominees revealed Thursday for the Art Directors Guild’s 29th annual Excellence in Production Design Awards.

A Complete Unknown and The Brutalist, the latter coming off a Best Picture – Drama win at the Golden Globes on Sunday, are nominated in the Period Feature Film Category, joined by Gladiator II, Nosferatu and Saturday Night. In the Fantasy category, Dune 2 and Wicked are up against Alien: Romulus, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.

This year’s Contemporary nominees are Conclave, Emilia Pérez, The Substance, Civil War and Twisters.

Last year, the Adg bestowed its top movie honors to Poor Things for Fantasy, Oppenheimer for Period and Saltburn for Contemporary, with Poor Things and designers James Price and Shona Heath going on to win the Oscar for Production Design.

In TV,...

Bette Davis, one of the best actresses of all time, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress 11 times in her career. Some persnickety Oscar historians might say that she was nominated only 10 times, though, as her nomination for 1934's "Of Human Bondage" was one of the very few write-in votes ever permitted by the Academy. Records show that Davis, although not officially nominated by the Academy, still came in third that year.

Davis only won two Oscars, however. The first was for her performance in "Dangerous" in 1935 and the second was for playing a Scartett O'Hara-like role in "Jezebel" in 1938. Her performance in "Jezebel," Hollywood would eventually learn, was the first in a streak of nominations that would last for five straight years. In 1939, Davis was nominated for her performance in "Dark Victory." 1940 would see her nominated for "The Letter." In 1941, it was for "The Little Foxes," and...

It’s that time of year again. While some directors annually share their favorite films of the year, Steven Soderbergh lists everything he consumed, media-wise. For 2024––another year in which he not only premiered a new film, but shot another and is prepping another to begin production shortly––he still got plenty of watching in.

Along with catching up on 2024’s new releases, he took in plenty of classics, including Opening Night, Jaws, Casablanca, All About Eve, The Conversation, Alien, and nine viewings of various Star Wars films. He also got an early look at Andrew Patterson’s The Rivals of Amziah King and after beginning production on Black Bag on May 7, he had a first cut on June 23.

See the list below via his official site.

01/02 Blaming, Elizabeth Taylor

01/04 The Conversation

01/05 Predators, American Greed

01/06 The Curse

01/09 The Curse

01/10 Break Point (3)

01/11 Break Point (3), Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone,...

At the height of his Hollywood career, Humphrey Bogart played the ruthless main villain of Conflict, an underappreciated gem. Known primarily for his work in The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca, the actor made a name for himself as the male lead in a long list of popular films. For that reason, a large number of Humphrey Bogart's best movies see him take on heroic roles, even if some can be somewhat morally dubious. However, Bogart was no stranger to villainous roles, especially since he spent several years of his life portraying criminals in forgettable 1930s gangster movies.

But in the 1940s though, this was a phase in the actor's career that he had largely moved on from. At this point, he was one of the industry's top stars and a favorite of Warner Bros. This decade is when Bogart made To Have and Have Not, Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,...

Love them or hate them, obsess over them or ignore them altogether, the Academy Awards are a cultural artifact whose history mirrors the very history of American film. Granted, as a gatekeeping and taste-managing institution, the Oscars have always been better at belatedly following and responding to winds of change in the industry than at anticipating or provoking them, and you could probably count on your fingers the number of times that the Oscar statuette in any given category went to a genuinely bold, bracing, game-changing winner. But they're as good a summation of the congealing of critical and commercial mainstream consensus over the decades as we film buffs have. And, as such, it's fascinating to look at the instances of the ultimate winner being so out of lockstep with that consensus as to cause an uproar.

As we gear up for the 97th Academy Awards in March 2025, it's a...

The careers of old Hollywood greats still fascinate movie fans today, and if any actor typifies the classic Hollywood star, Humphry Bogart fits the mold. Born in 1899, Bogart was a late bloomer in the industry and diligently worked his way up the ladder by starring in a number of gangster films, including the notable Public Enemy in 1931. When he reached his 40s, he cemented his glittering place in cinema history by starring in such classics as The Maltese Falcon (1941), Casablanca (1943), and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948).

Even with Bogart's tough-guy image, sharp dialogue delivery, sad eyes, and emotionally complex characterizations, there's one film that hardly anyone would imagine he'd star in — 1939's The Return of Doctor X, directed by Vincent Sherman. The casting of Bogart in this sci-fi horror B-movie may feel a little puzzling, and it would become his only appearance in a horror film. Audiences can witness...

Old Hollywood is associated with glamour and romance, and many of the great classics of the era are still worth watching in the 21st century. Also referred to as the Golden Age of Hollywood, Old Hollywood was classified by the studio system, which signed big-name movie stars and directors to multi-movie contracts. There's some debate over when exactly it ended, but New Hollywood emerged at some point during the 1960s.

Since the apogee of Old Hollywood took place from the 1930s to 1950s, it's only natural that some of the era's greatest movies don't hold up so well today. Modern audiences have different tastes, but there are still plenty of classics which are just as enjoyable. Movies like Casablanca, Bringing Up Baby and North By Northwest have stood the test of time, and they are still being watched by people all over the world.

Casablanca (1942) Bogart And Bergman Are Irresistible...

The IMDb top-250 is a curious portrait of populist taste. The list is, it's worth remembering, culled only from user ratings on the IMDb website, and, judging by the films on the list, the average IMDb user seems to be a college-age white male with a taste for crime, guns, fantasy, and the ultra-masculine. The top movies on the list all seem to be the types of movies that young men would own posters for, proudly displayed on their dorm room walls. There are many unassailable classics, to be sure, and young teens could easily look to the list as a rudimentary introduction to the world of cinema, but the list seems ... skewed. There's not a lot of variety. It's not curated by a single critic, nor even a panel of critics. It's just a general consensus of the taste of the types of people who like to rate movies on IMDb.

Megan Fox's 2024 movie Subservience introduced the world to her android "sim" character, Alice. Following the film's success on Netflix, the latter has one of sci-fi cinema's most formidable new robots. Alice was initially purchased to serve as Nick's nanny and help around the house while his wife, Maggie, was in the hospital. However, the sci-fi thriller Subservience depicts Alice with an array of special abilities that make her a dangerous presence once her programming changes and she becomes evil.

Taking cues from other robots from sci-fi and horror movies like Terminator and M3GAN, Subservience presents Alice with abilities that make her skilled in combat, health care, and overall survival, making her an ideal helper around the house. That is if she weren't a remorseless killing machine. By the end of Subservience, Alice establishes herself as a force to be reckoned with, and with her particular set of skills, it's...

Every year, film buffs assemble online to see which 25 movies will be added to the Library of Congress' National Film Registry -- a list that includes titles you'd expect like "The Godfather," "Star Wars: Episode IV -- A New Hope," "Thelma & Louise," and "Casablanca." For 2024, the new additions bump the Nfr's total catalog to 900 films, bringing in classics and modern classics alike in a crop of movies spanning decades.

For sci-fi fans, the main attraction this year will likely be "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." The 1982 theatrical sequel is still held up as one of the high watermarks for the entire "Star Trek" franchise, and in the eyes of many fans, its greatest singular achievement. Spock's noble sacrifice in the film has gone down in history alongside the Darth Vader reveal and the "tears in rain" monologue from "Blade Runner" as an all-time iconic sci-fi moment.

When Humphrey Bogart appeared in the 1939 horror film “The Return of Doctor X” as a scientifically engineered vampire, he already had a couple of dozen movies behind him but was still two years away from becoming a true star with John Huston‘s “The Maltese Falcon.” As a contract player at Warner Bros., the studio that signed Bogart when he came there to reprise his stage role as Duke Mantee in “The Petrified Forest,” the actor was largely subject to the idiosyncratic whims of his bosses, and it was clear that they didn’t quite know what to do with Bogart before Huston got a hold of him.

In 1939 alone, he appeared in a Western “The Oklahoma Kid,” a tearjerking melodrama, and multiple gangster films. Several of these films are better remembered than “The Return of Doctor X,” but as Bogart’s only horror film, “X” is a fascinating curiosity,...

There is no secret to making a classic movie. There's no tried-and-true formula or a can't-miss piece of source material that equates to a masterpiece provided you assemble the right director, writer(s), and actors. And as Francis Ford Coppola learned while making "The Godfather," there's no guarantee that, once you seemingly have all the right pieces in their right place, the studio will sit back and let you shoot your shot.

All-timers can also sneak up on you. Director Michael Curtiz thought he was making an escapist World War II entertainment when he took the reins on "Casablanca," but even though leads Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman didn't get along on set, he wound up knocking out a film many people consider to be the acme of Hollywood moviemaking. Alternately, when acclaimed director Robert Benton rolled cameras on Tom Stoppard's adaptation of E.L. Doctorow's "Billy Bathgate," one...

Academy Award-winning actor Humphrey Bogart’s life might have turned out a whole lot different had he taken to heart criticism his parents showered on him through his entire early life, calling him an “inadequate” actor and scholar, and an outright “failure.” But a distinctive, raspy voice, the character in his face that he once said had “taken an awful lot of late nights and drinking to put it there,” and that unparalleled talent for playing an emotionally complex tough guy — all fueled by an incredible drive — made him a Hollywood legend. And, as told in the new documentary streaming today, “Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes,” five women in his life defined the trajectory of his career.

“Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes” is chock full of never-before-seen photos and is told using Bogart’s own words from letters, diaries and historical interviews as the narrative backbone. But what makes the...

Comcast’s Xfinity TV customers will be able to watch channels like TNT, TBS, and Discovery as Comcast will be continuing its partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery. The Wrap reports that the cable giant and Warner Bros. Discovery signed a multi-year distribution deal that will ensure the company’s content will be delivered to Xfinity as well as Sky U.K.

While the financial terms of the deal were not revealed, Warner Bros. Discovery’s linear cable networks, including TNT, TBS, CNN, Discovery, Food Network, HGTV, TLC, and Investigation Discovery will be available to Xfinity TV customers.

Related MCU Fan Favorite Elizabeth Olsen Joins Oscar-Winning A-List Star in New Thriller

WandaVision star Elizabeth Olsen will be teaming up with an accomplished A-lister in a new thriller film.

HBO Will Continue to be Part of Xfinity’s Packages

The deal also maintains that HBO will continue to be available to Xfinity customers,...

The sci-fi thriller Subservience shows the dangers of an artificially intelligent android going rogue, posing a threat not only to its owners but the entire world. Directed by S.K. Dale and written by Will Honley and April Maguire, Subservience is set in a near future where technology has advanced to the point of companies selling AI androids programmed to help with domestic tasks. After his wife, Maggie (Madeline Zima), is hospitalized due to a heart condition, Nick (Michele Morrone) buys an AI android to help him with the household, and his daughter, Isla (Matilda Firth), names her “Alice.”

Alice helps around the house and with the kids, but she begins to develop an unhealthy attachment to Nick, who is her primary user. When Maggie returns home after her heart transplant, Alice becomes jealous and sets up situations to endanger Maggie and Max, Nick and Maggie’s infant son. Alice’s...

The Golden Age of Hollywood has been credited for delivering some of the greatest films of all time, such as Casablanca, All About Eve, and It Happened One Night. The era is known for its never-ending cascade of legendary stars, including Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, and Marlon Brando, and award-winning filmmakers like Billy Wilder, John Huston, and Orson Welles, but many film fans fail to give the appropriate recognition to a film's screenplay, which is the heart and soul of any memorable classic movie.

Since the first awards ceremony in 1929, the Academy Awards — colloquially known as the Oscars — have chosen the "best picture" in cinema every single year, with varying results. Still, a lot of the time, the Oscars at least gets it sort of right; to use a recent example, "The Shape of Water" is a good movie, but it was also competing against "Get Out" and "Lady Bird," so even a well-liked film like Guillermo del Toro's unexpected love story can spark a larger discussion about the Oscars and how they choose their winners. But I digress. Some of the historical best picture winners are (almost) universally beloved, with 99% ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.

With acclaimed films like "Moonlight" and "Schindler's List" not far behind on Rotten Tomatoes' ranking of every best picture winner in Oscars history (both movies have a 98% rating), the following four films are, apparently, pretty close to perfect.

The history of The Oscars is long and storied, and throughout its many years of existence, there have been plenty of fascinating moments, nominations, and wins. From incredible moments like Parasite's historic Oscars win in 2020, to the insane and unexpected Will Smith slap at the 2022 Oscars heard around the world, the Academy Awards have been a staple of Hollywood since their inception, continuing to this day with the 97th Academy Awards in 2025. One film, starring classic Western icon Henry Fonda, made Oscars history with its unique Best Picture nomination in 1944, a feat which has yet to be repeated.

Henry Fonda was an American actor born in 1905, who began as a Broadway actor before moving to Hollywood in the 1930s, becoming very well-known for his complex characters in films such as the nearly perfect 12 Angry Men and My Darling Clementine. He earned two Academy Award nominations over his career for Best Actor,...