"Poor Things" is a Frankenstein-esque fantasia about a young woman (Emma Stone) reanimated by a demented surgeon (Willem Dafoe), but the behind-the-scenes work that went into crafting the movie's wildly warped world may be the film's greatest act of mad science.
Though Yorgos Lanthimos' earlier films — at least leading up to "The Favourite" — were more spare productions, "Poor Things" fuses all the tools of classic Hollywood filmmaking — grand sets, miniatures, sumptuous costumes — with subtler touches of modern technology. The movie is, itself, a Frankenstein.
Full StoryBarbra Streisand will receive the lifetime achievement award at the 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
The "Yentl" and "The Prince of Tides" star will be the 59th recipient of the SAG-AFTRA tribute on Feb. 24 at Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall, the guild announced Thursday. This year's SAG Awards, coming on the heels of the longest strike in SAG-AFTRA history, will be streamed live on Netflix.
Full StoryAs the age-old adage goes, don't mess with success. The Grammy Awards aren't, bringing Trevor Noah back as host in 2024.
Noah shared the news Wednesday night on his podcast "What Now? With Trevor Noah."
Full StoryKing Charles III paid a light-hearted tribute to the late Barry Humphries at a state memorial service Friday in Australia, recalling his own apprehension when the comedian's alter ego, Dame Edna Everage, played a prank on him a decade ago.
Video of the prank during a Royal Variety Performance in London in 2013 was widely replayed after Humphries died in Sydney in April at age 89.
Full StoryM-I-C-K-E-Y will soon belong to you and me.
With several asterisks, qualification and caveats, Mickey Mouse in his earliest form will be the leader of the band of characters, films and books that will become public domain as the year turns to 2024.
Full StoryFBI investigators are planning to exhume the body of a young woman whose unsolved 1969 killing has been a source of widespread speculation, especially since Netflix's documentary series "The Keepers" examined the slaying of a Baltimore nun that unfolded days earlier under eerily similar circumstances.
Joyce Malecki went Christmas shopping in November 1969 at a suburban mall outside Baltimore and never came home. Her body was found on a nearby military base days later and an autopsy determined she had been strangled.
Full StoryIf anything about Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" annoys you, best to avoid shopping malls now. Or the radio. Maybe music altogether, for that matter.
Her 1994 carol dominates holiday music like nothing else.
Full StoryGreta Gerwig's "Barbie" dominated the Golden Globe Awards nominations with nine nods for the blockbuster film, including best picture musical or comedy as well as acting nominations for Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling and three of its original songs.
It was closely followed by its release date and meme companion Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer," which scored eight nominations, including best picture drama and for actors Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr. and Emily Blunt.
Full StoryYour Google search history for 2023 has arrived.
Well, actually, the world's. On Monday, the California-based tech giant released its "Year in Search," a roundup of 2023's top global queries, ranging from unforgettable pop culture moments (hello, Barbenheimer ), to the loss of beloved figures and tragic news carrying worldwide repercussions.
Full StoryIt is sickly hilarious to make a movie in which so much consensual sex is had, often so gleefully, that is not the least bit sexy. Though Bella Baxter's insatiable libido might be her guiding light at first in "Poor Things," sexual liberation (or "furious jumping," as she calls it) is only part of this fantastical, anarchic journey to consciousness.
Filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and his star, Emma Stone, have a good and strange thing going whether she's playing a striving scullery maid who works her way into the favor of Queen Anne, or a re-animated Victorian woman finding independence. Stone helps make his black humor more accessible, and he creates unorthodox opportunities for her to play and stretch. We, the audience, are the benefactors.
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