Movies

Subterms

    More stories

    • 125 Shares169 Views

      in Movies

      ‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘Iron Man’ Join National Film Registry

      by

      Those movies, along with ‘Hairspray’ and ‘When Harry Met Sally,’ are among 25 selected by the Librarian of Congress.Ariel is officially part of the human world.“The Little Mermaid,” the 1989 Disney animated movie that revolves around a rebellious teenage mermaid fascinated by life on land, is among the motion pictures that have been selected for preservation this year on the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry. Also being added are “Iron Man” (2008), the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and “When Harry Met Sally,” the beloved 1989 romantic comedy that begins with a pair of college graduates embarking on a cross-country drive from Chicago to New York.On Wednesday, the library plans to announce that a total of 25 more films, dating from 1898 to 2011, will be honored for their historical and cultural significance and added to the registry, helping to preserve them for future generations.The library also allows the public to nominate movies at its website, and other titles that were among the most submitted were Brian De Palma’s 1976 horror classic “Carrie,” an adaptation of Stephen King’s novel of the same title; and “Betty Tells Her Story” (1972), the Liane Brandon film that was the first independent documentary of the women’s movement to explore issues of body image, self-worth and appearance in American culture.A group of notable comedies were also among the selections: “Hairspray,” John Waters’s 1988 musical about a bubbly, overweight Baltimore teenager and her friends who integrate a local TV dance show in the early 1960s; “Cyrano de Bergerac,” Michael Gordon’s 1950 adventure comedy adaptation that made José Ferrer the first Hispanic performer to win an Oscar for best actor; and “House Party,” Reginald Hudlin’s 1990 film about a high school student who sneaks out, a comedy that introduced hip-hop music and new jack swing to mainstream America.Two significant genre films were also included: “The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez” (1982), the Robert M. Young western that was part of the 1980s Chicano film movement and starred Edward James Olmos; and “Super Fly” (1972), Gordon Parks Jr.’s searing commentary on the American dream that is considered a classic of the Blaxploitation genre.The Projectionist Chronicles a New Awards SeasonThe Oscars aren’t until March, but the campaigns have begun. Kyle Buchanan is covering the films, personalities and events along the way.Golden Globe Nominations: Here are some of the most eyebrow-raising snubs and surprises from this year’s list of nominees.Gotham Awards: At the first official show of the season, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” won big.Governors Awards: Stars like Jamie Lee Curtis and Brendan Fraser worked a room full of academy voters at the event, which is considered a barometer of film industry enthusiasm.Rian Johnson:  The “Glass Onion” director explains the streaming plan for his “Knives Out” franchise.Four films that broke ground in depicting LGBTQ+ issues onscreen were also selected: “Behind Every Good Man” (1967), Nikolai Ursin’s student short that offered an early look at Black gender fluidity in Los Angeles; “Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives” (1977), which was created by six queer filmmakers collectively known as the Mariposa Film Group and which featured a diverse group of gay men and lesbians discussing their lives at a time when such onscreen depictions were rare; “Tongues Untied” (1989), a video essay by Marlon Riggs about Black men loving Black men; and the most recent film to join the registry, Dee Rees’s “Pariah” (2011), about a Black teenager in Brooklyn as she comes to terms with her identity.The lineup also honors nine documentaries, including the oldest film in this year’s class, “Mardi Gras Carnival” (1898), the earliest known surviving footage of the New Orleans festival. It was long thought to be lost before being recently discovered at a museum in the Netherlands. Other nonfiction films being added include “Titicut Follies” (1967), Frederick Wiseman’s classic look inside the Bridgewater State Prison for the Criminally Insane in Massachusetts that exposed the abuse of patients; and “Union Maids” (1976), a portrait of three female labor activists involved in workers’ movements from the early 1930s to the present. That film was directed by Julia Reichert, who died last week, James Klein and Miles Mogulescu.The Library of Congress said in a statement that these additions bring the total number of titles on the registry to 850, chosen for “their cultural, historic or aesthetic importance to preserve the nation’s film heritage.” Movies must be at least 10 years old to be eligible, and are chosen by Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress, after consulting with members of the National Film Preservation Board and other specialists. More than 6,800 films were nominated by the public this year.A television special, featuring several of these titles and a conversation between Hayden and the film historian Jacqueline Stewart, will be shown Dec. 27 on TCM.Here is the complete list of the 25 movies being added to the National Film Registry:1. “Mardi Gras Carnival” (1898)2. “Cab Calloway Home Movies” (1948-51)3. “Cyrano de Bergerac” (1950)4. “Charade” (1963)5. “Scorpio Rising” (1963)6. “Behind Every Good Man” (1967)7. “Titicut Follies” (1967)8. “Mingus” (1968)9. “Manzanar” (1971)10. “Super Fly” (1972)11. “Betty Tells Her Story” (1972)12. “Attica” (1974)13. “Carrie” (1976)14. “Union Maids” (1976)15. “Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives” (1977)16. “Bush Mama” (1979)17. “The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez” (1982)18. “Itam Hakim, Hopiit” (1984)19. “Hairspray” (1988)20. “The Little Mermaid” (1989)21. “Tongues Untied” (1989)22. “When Harry Met Sally” (1989)23. “House Party” (1990)24. “Iron Man” (2008)25. “Pariah” (2011) More

    • 138 Shares199 Views

      in Movies

      How Science Fiction Movies Prepared Us for the Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough

      by

      The promise of a new, bountiful energy source, not to mention the giant lasers, may sound familiar to fans of science fiction and comics.Today we step into the future. And it looks a lot like a movie we’ve all seen.Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory announced Tuesday that they had made a major breakthrough in studying fusion, a.k.a. the thermonuclear reaction that keeps the sun going. The news, about trying to harness literal star power the likes of which Hollywood could only dream, stirred great hopes because, if replicated and controlled, it could one day provide a bountiful source of carbon-free energy.If that sounds like science fiction, well, that’s because we’ve been amply primed for this discovery in pop culture, where alternative versions of our present and fantastical imaginings of our future have shown us impossible technologies powered by some combination of special effects and incomprehensible jargon.You probably already have some familiarity with fusion thanks to movies.At the end of the 1985 sci-fi classic “Back to the Future,” Dr. Emmett Brown, played by Christopher Lloyd, soups up his tricked-out time-traveling DeLorean by feeding trash into a canister called the Mr. Fusion Home Energy Reactor attached to the top of the car. And in “Spider-Man 2,” from 2004, the well-meaning scientist Dr. Octavius (a.k.a. Doc Ock, played by Alfred Molina) creates a fusion reactor with an artificial sun at the center. But when it gets out of control, so does he, transforming into a villain who aims to re-create the dangerous machine.Pop culture’s fascination with fusion goes beyond a process that sustains robotics and machinery; our culture’s collective dreams of safe, unlimited energy have even been epitomized by some of our heroes.Comic book protagonists like Captain Atom and Doctor Solar have bodies that can manipulate atoms to create blasts of energy. Firestorm, who was a regular in the CW’s Arrowverse, can change the particle structures of any substance and transmute it; and he himself is a kind of metaphor for the power of fusion, in that he was, in his first incarnation, a combination of two different people, Ronnie Raymond (played by Robbie Amell) and Martin Stein (Victor Garber). The DC Comics hero Damage has a body that functions as a biochemical fusion reactor, and then there’s the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s darling, Tony Stark, an engineer who Einsteins himself a miniature arc reactor (that glowing bit of chest jewelry) to power his Iron Man suit and keep him alive.The New York City of the M.C.U. is transformed by Stark technology, most prominently the arc reactor. Stark Tower appears in various Marvel movies and TV shows as the symbol of an alternate reality in which energy — and possibilities, superheroic or otherwise — are limitless.The same is true in many popular science-fiction universes, like “Star Wars,” where there are mentions of fusion generators and fusion reactors, and “Star Trek,” where the engineering systems of Federation starships use a “fusion reaction subsystem.”The workings of these fictional sciences are functional, plot-wise, but not always precise, clear or accurate. No matter how many times I watch my favorite sci-fi films and series, I still can’t tell a parsec from a cylinder of drugstore plutonium. And even now that fusion energy might be in our future, my relationship with it remains unchanged: Leave science to the scientists and MacGuffins to the writers.As long as we’re not breaking any scientific laws or introducing blatant contradictions, as a viewer I’m just here for the ride. Because it will be some time before we’re using fusion reactors to power our personal supersuits and fly off to boldly go where no sci-fi creator has gone before. Still, the science of today will lead us into a tomorrow where — great Scott! — there is no cap on the possibilities. More

    • 125 Shares149 Views

      in Movies

      Angelo Badalamenti, Composer for ‘Twin Peaks,’ Is Dead at 85

      by

      The filmmaker David Lynch turned to his haunting work again and again, for “Blue Velvet,” “Mulholland Drive” and other neo-noir films.Angelo Badalamenti, an internationally sought-after composer who wrote the hypnotic theme to “Twin Peaks,” David Lynch’s 1990s television drama series, and the music for five Lynch films, including “Blue Velvet” (1986), died on Sunday at his home in Lincoln Park, N.J. He was 85.His niece Frances Badalamenti confirmed the death. She said she did not know the cause.Mr. Badalamenti was at the piano behind Isabella Rossellini when she sang “Blue Velvet” at the Slow Club in Lumberton, N.C., a flower-filled, picket-fence kind of town with a very dark side. Aside from the title song, a Bobby Vinton hit from 1963, he had composed much of the film’s music.He also wrote the music for Mr. Lynch’s 2001 neo-noir mystery “Mulholland Drive” and had a small role in the film as one of two mobster brothers who spits out his espresso in a conference-room scene.His best-known work was the “Twin Peaks” theme, recognizable from its first three ominous, otherworldly notes. He won the 1990 Grammy for best instrumental pop performance for the number, which was, according to the Allmusic website, “dark, cloying and obsessive — and one of the best scores ever written for television.”In 2015, a Billboard writer described the theme as “gorgeous and gentle one second, eerie and unsettling the next.” It was, according to Rolling Stone, the “most influential soundtrack in TV history.”Mr. Badalamenti didn’t really disagree.“Music and composing — I almost feel a little guilty about it — come so easily for me,” he told the north New Jersey newspaper The Record in 2004. “It’s like the well doesn’t seem to run dry.”Angelo Daniel Badalamenti was born on March 22, 1937, in Brooklyn. A second-generation Italian-American, he was the second of four children of John Badalamenti, a fish market owner, and Leonora (Ferrari) Badalamenti, a seamstress.Growing up in the Bensonhurst section, he started piano lessons at 8 but quit because he preferred playing stickball outdoors with his friends. He took it up again at his older brother’s insistence and came to appreciate the piano when girls admired his playing. He was soon accompanying vocalists and other acts at Catskills resorts during summers off from high school and college.Mr. Badalamenti attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., and earned a master’s degree at the Manhattan School of Music in 1960.His first job was teaching the seventh grade in a public school, but when he wrote a musical Christmas program for his students, members of the Board of Education saw the production and told the local public TV station Channel 13 about it. The station videotaped and broadcast the show, and the Monday after Christmas, Mr. Badalamenti got a call from a Manhattan music publisher with a job offer.Nina Simone recorded some of his first songs, including “I Hold No Grudge,” in 1965. Nancy Wilson sang “Face It, Girl, It’s Over” (1968).Mr. Badalamenti got started in films by writing music for “Gordon’s War,” a 1973 blaxploitation film. Ossie Davis, the director, wanted an all-black crew, all “brothers,” he said. Mr. Badalamenti pointed to Sicily on a world map. “You do seven strokes from Sicily, and you’re in Africa,” he said he told Mr. Davis. “I may not be your brother, but I’m certainly your cousin!”Mr. Badalamenti was at the piano when Isabella Rossellini sang “Blue Velvet” in the 1986 David Lynch movie of the same title. De Laurentis Group/Courtesy Everett CollectionHe and Mr. Lynch met when Mr. Badalamenti was called in as a vocal coach for Ms. Rossellini on the set of “Blue Velvet.”Jamie Stewart, whose band Xiu Xiu did an album of “Twin Peaks” music, saw Mr. Badalamenti’s Lynchian work in a historical midcentury context: a postwar world where everything appeared to be sunshine and pastels but where the evil unleashed by World War II still lurked.“It’s very romantic but can be terrifying,” Mr. Stewart said of the music, speaking to The Guardian in 2017. “It has a violence and a sincere sentimentality — sadness but not despair.”Mr. Lynch, who described Mr. Badalamenti’s work as having “a deep and powerful beauty,” said that he and the composer would be entirely in sync in expressing Mr. Lynch’s vision for a film. “I sit next to him and I talk to him, and he plays what I say,” he said in an interview with the American Film Institute.As Mr. Badalamenti explained on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” that’s how he wrote “Laura Palmer’s Theme” for “Twin Peaks.” Sitting beside him at his Fender Rhodes keyboard, Mr. Lynch began talking.“It’s the dead of night,” Mr. Badalamenti said. “We’re in a dark wood. There’s a full moon out. There are sycamore trees that are gently swaying in the wind. There’s an owl.”The words became notes that evoked the story of a murdered homecoming queen in the Pacific Northwest.They collaborated again and again, on the films “Wild at Heart” (1990), “Lost Highway” (1997) and “The Straight Story” (1999), in addition to “Mulholland Drive.” There were five iterations of “Twin Peaks,” including the film “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me” (1992) and an 18-episode sequel series (2017).In between, Mr. Badalamenti wrote for a wide variety of movies, among them “Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors” (1987), “The Comfort of Strangers” (1990), “Naked in New York” (1993), “The City of Lost Children” (1995), “A Very Long Engagement” (2004) and “The Wicker Man” (2006).He used what he called his “classical chops” to score “Stalingrad” (2013), a wartime love story set against that pivotal 1942 battle. It was an enormous box office success in Russia, where it was produced.One of his longest-running projects was the music for the PBS program “Inside the Actors Studio,” which was on the air from 1994 through 2019, hosted by James Lipton.Writer’s block was rarely a problem for Mr. Badalamenti, but composing a torch-lighting theme for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona had him stumped. The notes finally came to him in the shower, he recalled, and he hurried downstairs to his piano. “I wrote it in half an hour,” he said.He received the Henry Mancini Award from Ascap, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, and a Lifetime Achievement honor from the World Soundtrack Awards.Mr. Badalamenti is survived by his wife, Lonny; his daughter, Danielle; and four grandchildren. His son, André, died in 2012.His niece Frances interviewed him for a magazine, The Believer, in 2019. He remembered being drawn to film noir in his youth, telling her, “The haunting sounds have been there, the off-center instrumentals, ever since I was a child.”Alex Traub More

    • 125 Shares159 Views

      in Television

      Golden Globes Nominations: ‘The Banshees of Inisherin,’ ‘Elvis’ Among Nominees

      by

      The tarnished awards ceremony will air on NBC in January in a one-year trial. But which stars will show up to collect their trophies?The companies behind the tarnished Golden Globe Awards pushed forward with a rehabilitation effort on Monday, announcing nominations for a televised ceremony on Jan. 10 that will find “The Fabelmans,” “Elvis” and “The Banshees of Inisherin” among those in contention for the top film prizes.Who will show up to collect the trophies is another matter.NBC canceled the 2022 telecast amid an ethics, finance and diversity scandal involving the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the unorthodox organization that bestows the Globes. Citing extensive H.F.P.A. reforms, NBC in September agreed to return the ceremony to its air for an 80th installment — under a one-year trial. For the first time, the show will also be available simultaneously online, through Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service.Most movie studios view the Globes telecast and accompanying red carpet spectacle as crucial marketing opportunities for winter films, especially dramas, which have been struggling at the box office. But not everyone in Hollywood is eager for the Globes to return. Publicists and agents say that some stars (those with the most to gain from the exposure) have an open mind, while others want the Globes to be retired forever.Kelly Bush Novak, the chief executive of ID, a leading Hollywood publicity and marketing firm, said she would encourage clients to participate, in part because she expected Globe voters to recognize a diverse group of artists. “Many of us — in a truly collective effort — held the organization accountable, and many of us are encouraged by the strides and commitment that have resulted,” Novak said. (She added, however, that more work needed to be done.)Last year, after The Los Angeles Times enumerated the foreign press association’s well-known but long-overlooked lapses, Tom Cruise returned his Globe trophies. More recently, Brendan Fraser, who has received rave reviews for his performance as a morbidly obese man in “The Whale,” said that he would not attend the ceremony if nominated. In 2018, Fraser accused a then-member of the H.F.P.A. of groping him in 2003, which the member denied.Fraser was nominated on Monday for best actor in a drama. Other notable nominees include Ana de Armas, for her performance in Netflix’s widely derided Marilyn Monroe biopic “Blonde.” James Cameron was nominated as best director, for “Avatar: The Way of Water,” which opens worldwide on Friday.Some awards prognosticators had expected to see Cruise among the best actor nominees, for his performance in “Top Gun: Maverick.” But he was left out. (The movie did receive a nomination for best drama.) Will Smith, vying for awards attention with “Emancipation,” also failed to make the list.The stand-up comedian Jerrod Carmichael will host the Golden Globes ceremony, which is being held on a Tuesday (as opposed to its accustomed Sunday spot) to avoid NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.”With a new interim chief executive, Todd Boehly, leading a turnaround effort, the H.F.P.A has overhauled membership eligibility, recruited new members with an emphasis on diversity, enacted a stricter code of conduct and has moved to end its tax-exempt status and transform into a for-profit company with a philanthropic arm. Boehly is awaiting final governmental approval for that plan. Once it comes, he is expected to disband the H.F.P.A. and rebrand the charitable division.The 96-member organization now has six Black members — up from zero — and has added 103 nonmember voters, a dozen or so of whom are Black. One member was recently kicked out for conduct violations, including fabricating quotes, which leaders of the group have cited as proof of their reformed ways.Live awards shows, including the Oscars, have lost tens of millions of viewers over the past decade, but the biggest ceremonies still attract a larger audience than almost anything else on traditional television, aside from live sports. The most recent Golden Globes telecast, held without celebrity attendees in early 2021 because of the pandemic, attracted about seven million viewers, according to Nielsen. Prepandemic, the show was attracting about 18 million viewers annually.Here is a list of the nominees:Best Motion Picture, Drama“Avatar: The Way of Water”“Elvis”“The Fabelmans”“Tár”“Top Gun: Maverick”Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy“Babylon”“The Banshees of Inisherin”“Everything Everywhere All at Once”“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”“Triangle of Sadness”Best Director, Motion PictureJames Cameron, “Avatar: The Way of Water”Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”Baz Luhrmann, “Elvis”Martin McDonagh, “The Banshees of Inisherin”Steven Spielberg, “The Fabelmans”Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, DramaCate Blanchett, “Tár”Olivia Colman, “Empire of Light”Viola Davis, “The Woman King”Ana de Armas, “Blonde”Michelle Williams, “The Fabelmans”Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or ComedyLesley Manville, “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris”Margot Robbie, “Babylon”Anya Taylor-Joy, “The Menu”Emma Thompson, “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande”Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in any Motion PictureAngela Bassett, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”Kerry Condon, “The Banshees of Inisherin”Jamie Lee Curtis, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”Dolly de Leon, “Triangle of Sadness”Carey Mulligan, “She Said”Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, DramaAustin Butler, “Elvis”Brendan Fraser, “The Whale”Hugh Jackman, “The Son”Bill Nighy, “Living”Jeremy Pope, “The Inspection”Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or ComedyDiego Calva, “Babylon”Daniel Craig, “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”Adam Driver, “White Noise”Colin Farrell, “The Banshees of Inisherin”Ralph Fiennes, “The Menu”Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion PictureBrendan Gleeson, “The Banshees of Inisherin”Barry Keoghan, “The Banshees of Inisherin”Brad Pitt, “Babylon”Ke Huy Quan, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”Eddie Redmayne, “The Good Nurse”Best Screenplay, Motion PictureTodd Field, “Tár”Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”Martin McDonagh, “The Banshees of Inisherin”Sarah Polley, “Women Talking”Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner, “The Fabelmans”Best Original Score, Motion PictureCarter Burwell, “The Banshees of Inisherin”Alexandre Desplat, “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”Hildur Gudnadottir, “Women Talking”Justin Hurwitz, “Babylon”John Williams, “The Fabelmans”Best Original Song, Motion Picture“Carolina,” “Where the Crawdads Sing”“Ciao Papa,” “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”“Hold My Hand,” “Top Gun: Maverick”“Lift Me Up,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”“Naatu Naatu,” “RRR”Best Motion Picture, Animated“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”“Inu-Oh”“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On”“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”“Turning Red”Best Motion Picture, Foreign Language“All Quiet on the Western Front”“Argentina, 1985”“Close”“Decision to Leave”“RRR”Best Television Series, Drama“Better Call Saul”“The Crown”“House of the Dragon”“Ozark”“Severance”Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy“Abbott Elementary”“The Bear”“Hacks”“Only Murders in the Building”“Wednesday”Best Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture made for Television“Black Bird”“Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”“The Dropout”“Pam & Tommy”“The White Lotus”Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, DramaEmma D’arcy, “House of the Dragon”Laura Linney, “Ozark”Imelda Staunton, “The Crown”Hilary Swank, “Alaska Daily”Zendaya, “Euphoria”Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Musical or ComedyQuinta Brunson, “Abbott Elementary”Kaley Cuoco, “The Flight Attendant”Selena Gomez, “Only Murders in the Building”Jenna Ortega, “Wednesday”Jean Smart, “Hacks”Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for TelevisionJessica Chastain, “George & Tammy”Julia Garner, “Inventing Anna”Lily James, “Pam & Tommy”Julia Roberts, “Gaslit”Amanda Seyfried, “The Dropout”Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, DramaJeff Bridges, “The Old Man”Kevin Costner, “Yellowstone”Diego Luna, “Andor”Bob Odenkirk, “Better Call Saul”Adam Scott, “Severance”Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Musical or ComedyDonald Glover, “Atlanta”Bill Hader, “Barry”Steve Martin, “Only Murders in the Building”Martin Short, “Only Murders in the Building”Jeremy Allen White, “The Bear”Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or a Motion Picture Made for TelevisionTaron Egerton, “Black Bird”Colin Firth, “The Staircase”Andrew Garfield, “Under the Banner of Heaven”Evan Peters, “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”Sebastian Stan, “Pam & Tommy”Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Television Musical, Comedy or Drama SeriesElizabeth Debicki, “The Crown”Hannah Einbinder, “Hacks”Julia Garner, “Ozark”Janelle James, “Abbott Elementary”Sheryl Lee Ralph, “Abbott Elementary”Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Television Musical, Comedy or Drama SeriesJonathan Lithgow, “The Old Man”Jonathan Pryce, “The Crown”John Turturro, “Severance”Tyler James Williams, “Abbott Elementary”Henry Winkler, “Barry”Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Television Limited Series, Anthology Series or Television MovieJennifer Coolidge, “The White Lotus”Claire Danes, “Fleishman Is in Trouble”Daisy Edgar-Jones, “Under the Banner of Heaven”Niecy Nash, “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”Aubrey Plaza, “The White Lotus”Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Television Limited Series, Anthology Series or Television MovieF. Murray Abraham, “The White Lotus”Domhnall Gleeson, “The Patient”Paul Walter Hauser, “Black Bird”Richard Jenkins, “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”Seth Rogen, “Pam & Tommy” More

    • 125 Shares109 Views

      in Movies

      Golden Globes Announce Nominees Ahead of a Return to TV

      by

      The tarnished awards ceremony will air on NBC in January in a one-year trial. But which stars will show up to collect their trophies?The companies behind the tarnished Golden Globe Awards are pushing forward with a rehabilitation effort on Monday, announcing nominations for a televised ceremony on Jan. 10.Who will show up to collect the trophies is another matter.NBC canceled the 2022 telecast amid an ethics, finance and diversity scandal involving the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the unorthodox organization that bestows the Globes. Citing extensive H.F.P.A. reforms, NBC in September agreed to return the ceremony to its air for an 80th installment — under a one-year trial. For the first time, the show will also be available simultaneously online, through Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service.Most movie studios view the Globes telecast and accompanying red carpet spectacle as crucial marketing opportunities for winter films, especially dramas, which have been struggling at the box office. But not everyone in Hollywood is eager for the Globes to return. Publicists and agents say that some stars (those with the most to gain from the exposure) have an open mind, while others want the Globes to be retired forever.Kelly Bush Novak, the chief executive of ID, a leading Hollywood publicity and marketing firm, said she would encourage clients to participate, in part because she expected Globe voters to recognize a diverse group of artists. “Many of us — in a truly collective effort — held the organization accountable, and many of us are encouraged by the strides and commitment that have resulted,” Novak said. (She added, however, that more work needed to be done.)Last year, after The Los Angeles Times enumerated the foreign press association’s well-known but long-overlooked lapses, Tom Cruise returned his Globe trophies. More recently, Brendan Fraser, who has received rave reviews for his performance as a morbidly obese man in “The Whale,” said that he would not attend the ceremony if nominated. In 2018, Fraser accused a then-member of the H.F.P.A. of groping him in 2003, which the member denied.The stand-up comedian Jerrod Carmichael will host the ceremony, which is being held on a Tuesday (as opposed to its accustomed Sunday spot) to avoid NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.”With a new interim chief executive, Todd Boehly, leading a turnaround effort, the H.F.P.A has overhauled membership eligibility, recruited new members with an emphasis on diversity, enacted a stricter code of conduct and has moved to end its tax-exempt status and transform into a for-profit company with a philanthropic arm. Boehly is awaiting final governmental approval for that plan. Once it comes, he is expected to disband the H.F.P.A. and rebrand the charitable division.The 96-member organization now has six Black voters — up from zero — and has added 103 nonmember voters, a dozen or so of whom are Black. One member was recently kicked out for conduct violations, including fabricating quotes, which leaders of the group have cited as proof of their reformed ways.Live awards shows, including the Oscars, have lost tens of millions of viewers over the past decade, but the biggest ceremonies still attract a larger audience than almost anything else on traditional television, aside from live sports. The most recent Golden Globes telecast, held without celebrity attendees in early 2021 because of the pandemic, attracted about seven million viewers, according to Nielsen. Prepandemic, the show was attracting about 18 million viewers annually. More

    • 63 Shares199 Views

      in Theater

      Best Arts Photos of 2022

      by

      These are the images that defined a remarkable time across the worlds of art, music, dance and performance.Sinna Nasseri photographed Weird Al, left, and Daniel Radcliffe at a playground in Lower Manhattan in August before the release of their biopic, “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.”Sinna Nasseri for The New York TimesCulture comes to life through a progression of ideas and images: Artists create works, and our photographers then capture these creators and their offerings — in turn creating photography that shares with us moments of intimacy we wouldn’t otherwise witness. Over the past year, photo editors at The New York Times have commissioned thousands of photographs of the movie stars, choreographers, opera singers, musicians and artists who made memorable contributions to the cultural world.In one frame by Chantal Anderson, the actor Caleb Landry Jones sips from a coffee mug at his kitchen counter, last night’s dishes piled high in the sink, as sunlight pours in from the window above. In another, Rosie Marks gives us an inside look at Charo being Charo: working out at home, full hair and makeup, in a gym frozen in time. In Michael Tyrone Delaney’s photograph of Awol Erizku, the artist stands before his work, his gaze set on his toddler. It’s an image that speaks to both his personal relationship with his child and his art’s relationship to her.Together, these photographs capture a narrative about a year in the arts, building a collection of evolving scenes and inner worlds. We asked some of the photographers to discuss the intentions behind these frames and the stories they saw within them. Now that the year is coming to a close, take one more look back at how we saw culture this year. — JOLIE RUBEN, senior photo editorDecember 2021When it comes to comedies, “I don’t get cast in them,” Nicole Kidman told The New York Times late last year about her role as Lucille Ball in the film “Being the Ricardos.” That might be the result of a career spent in dramas or “it might be my personality, too.”Jody Rogac for The New York TimesJanuary“Authentic Selves: The Beauty Within,” the countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo’s New York Philharmonic festival, was a self-portrait of the musician, who is also an impresario and a community organizer. “I’m not interested in any artist because of their fame,” he told The Times.Erik Tanner for The New York TimesI like to think about this portrait of Anthony Roth Costanzo in the spirit of early stage plays, a sort of dollar-store version of world building, where rudimentary means of expression invite the smoke and mirrors to be an active part of the world rather than obscure it. I created a stage set as a field of flowers in a perpetual state of bending in the wind. The twine that suspends the flowers was both practical but also meant to dispel any illusion of the wind being real; showing my cards, as it were.— Erik Tanner“When I look back, I don’t remember it as suffering,” Penélope Cruz said of playing Janis in “Parallel Mothers,” because “for me, she was alive.” The film was her seventh collaboration with the director Pedro Almodóvar.Camila Falquez for The New York TimesThe Broadway veteran Kenneth Ard and the jazz vocalist Kat Edmonson were cast in “The Hang,” a jazz opera from the performer Taylor Mac.Justin J Wee for The New York TimesThe way that Kat Edmonson draped her arm over Kenneth Ard’s, the way that his body lay back on this stool, the texture of the stool, the color of their costumes, the lighting overhead and the fog from the smoke machine. As a queer person, it felt like a metaphor for how it feels to walk out of the closet: It’s like an exhale, an aha moment where everything has meaning, feels connective and lush, but only if you allow yourself to experience it in that way. — Justin J WeeFebruaryTo play a superstar at a vulnerable moment in the rom-com “Marry Me,” Jennifer Lopez said, “I had to remind myself in this movie that this was actually a safe place to let those feelings out.”Chantal Anderson for The New York Times“It’s so in my bones,” Beanie Feldstein said of playing Fanny Brice in “Funny Girl” on Broadway. “I used to run around the house in my pajamas screaming ‘Don’t Rain on My Parade,’ pretending my dog was the tugboat.”OK McCausland for The New York TimesI brought the flowers as a prop for Beanie. Yellow roses, as featured in “Funny Girl” the movie, starring Barbra Streisand. I wanted to evoke the idea of a torch being passed. — OK McCauslandThe dancer and choreographer Angela Trimbur (squatting) champions low-stakes, accessible and intuitive movement. Dancing, she said, “is the way that I talk to myself.”Cait Oppermann for The New York Times“I wanted this work to focus on joy and celebration and love,” said the choreographer Kyle Abraham of his evening-length work “An Untitled Love,” set to songs by D’Angelo.Lelanie Foster for The New York TimesAs a former dancer and D’Angelo fan, I was inspired by these two worlds of dance and R&B. I only asked Kyle if he could improvise a little bit for me. Soon enough I was in the midst of an intimate solo performance in the BAM lobby. — Lelanie FosterSam Waterston, best known for “Law & Order,” began his career on the stage but soon branched into TV and film, taking on drama and comedy. “I’ve always wanted to prove that I can do all kinds of things,” he said.Mark Sommerfeld for The New York TimesJerry Saltz, New York magazine’s senior art critic, and a figurine of himself. He was photographed for an essay by the New York Times movie critic A.O. Scott about the physical objects of our pop culture obsessions.Daniel Arnold for The New York TimesMarchThe Spanish pop singer Rosalía smashed together new sounds from the Latin world and beyond on her latest album, “Motomami.” “I just want to hear something I haven’t heard before,” she said.Carlos Jaramillo for The New York TimesThe guitarist, singer, actress and comedian Charo has felt underestimated “all the time, all the time,” she said. “But it never gave me a complex. I have fun. As long as people enjoy it, I don’t care. Because once I have that, I have the power of the stage.”Rosie Marks for The New York TimesI wanted to capture the slight chaos of Charo at home on her compound. There is a lot going on in the frame: the artificial grass carpet, the rusty weights, the old TV, a missing piece of the mirror — and then her in the middle, wearing a bright yellow outfit right out of an ’80s workout video, with hair and makeup that could be taken right out of one of her sold-out Vegas shows. She insisted we stay after the shoot and served up several cheese and meat platters. — Rosie MarksSand in Death Valley, Calif., was manipulated in different ways for the soundscape of “Dune,” Denis Villeneuve’s film based on Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi novel.Peter Fisher for The New York TimesI watched “Dune” three times before heading to this shoot, taking notes on my yellow legal pad each time. The sound engineers did such an incredible job immersing the audience in this alien world, I wanted the images to at least attempt to do the same thing, like we were reporting from the surface of Arrakis. — Peter FisherThe vocalist, flutist and producer Melanie Charles singing at a rehearsal in her Brooklyn home. Her music uses electronics and calls for something heavier than an upright bass. “Musicians like me and my peers, we need some bump on the bottom,” she said.Sinna Nasseri for The New York TimesInstead of trying to separate different elements in the frame, sometimes I want my photograph’s different parts to connect and flow together to create shapes and lines. The neck of the bass guitar meets the circle of the bass drum, and Melanie Charles’s foot connects with the bass, which forms a diagonal line with Jonathan Michel’s finger. Melanie’s living room was inundated with music, with instruments. You get the sense that there’s not much separating her life from her music. — Sinna NasseriWith an exhibition at the Gagosian this year, Awol Erizku, above in his studio, was able to reach a broad audience. “I want to be remembered for Black imagination,” Erizku said, “to expand the limits of Black art.”Michael Tyrone Delaney for The New York TimesWalking into Awol Erizku’s studio is like walking into his mind. It’s a large warehouse, filled with striking imagery and sculptures in progress. He asked to get one photo with his daughter, Iris. A lot of his work is made with his daughter in mind. For me, this image embodies the themes of legacy building and cultivation of Black imagination. — Michael Tyrone DelaneyThe reality TV star Kourtney Kardashian and the prolific drummer Travis Barker, who got married this year, kiss on the Oscars red carpet in March.Krista Schlueter for The New York TimesAprilThe actor and musician Caleb Landry Jones at his Los Angeles home. His role in the Australian drama “Nitram” earned him a top prize at Cannes.Chantal Anderson for The New York TimesBefore the Broadway debut of “Mr. Saturday Night” — a musical version of his 1992 movie about an aging performer who won’t accept that his time in the spotlight is up — Billy Crystal said, “The worst nightmare is, do you wake up one day and you’re not funny anymore?”Philip Montgomery for The New York TimesSarah Silverman during a break from rehearsals of “The Bedwetter,” about a 10-year-old Silverman who suffered from the embarrassing condition of the title. “It will be familiar to so many people,” Silverman said about how the musical explores the emotions raised by divorce.Mark Sommerfeld for The New York TimesNicolas Cage, who starred as “Nick Cage” in this year’s “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” said, “I don’t want to be one of those actors — and there are a lot of them, I won’t mention any names — who are high on their own supply.”Sinna Nasseri for The New York TimesI had about 10 minutes with Nicolas Cage in a Manhattan hotel. The story was about his newest movie, which has a meta quality to it: Nic plays himself at different stages of his life. I thought a mirror would represent that well. The side of his face is the foreground, and there’s also the lesser foreground of his hand. The middle ground shows his circular reflection while the background is another reflection of Nic. And there’s a further background beyond that. The depth of this frame is a big part of its power. — Sinna NasseriAlexander Skarsgard said working on the Viking saga “The Northman” was “the greatest experience of my career but, God, it was intense.”Robbie Lawrence for The New York TimesMay“I don’t want to be a celebrity,” Ethel Cain said ahead of the May release of her debut album, “Preacher’s Daughter.”Irina Rozovsky for The New York TimesWhen I met her, Ethel Cain was living in a small house in a small town somewhere in Alabama. It was a total time warp with no obvious signs of modernity — video tapes, crocheted table settings, wood paneled walls, quilts. In this photo, we were in Ethel’s bedroom, where she sleeps and records, the microphone just a few feet from the bed. We were talking about her childhood in the church. She was lying down, and I was on my knees beside her with the camera, a pious sight in and of itself. — Irina Rozovsky“I’ve made it clear to people that I’m never going to make a record that’s the same as another,” Bad Bunny said. His fourth album, “Un Verano Sin Ti,” was a smash hit.Josefina Santos for The New York TimesMichael Che, known mostly for “Saturday Night Live,” said there had been a certain amount of trial and error in developing his own show, the HBO Max series “That Damn Michael Che,” and in figuring out his career: “Everything looks easy till you start doing it.”Andre D. Wagner for The New York TimesOne of my favorite ways to make photographs is to be out on the streets and in the world; I love playing off juxtaposition and chance encounters. Even the streets know that Michael Che is PURE GENIE-US! — Andre D. WagnerFans respond to Austin Butler, above, the way they did to a young Leonardo DiCaprio, said the “Elvis” director Baz Luhrmann.Chantal Anderson for The New York TimesAnson Boon said he “loved the intensity” of playing Johnny Rotten, the Sex Pistols frontman, in “Pistol,” a Hulu limited series.Mark Sommerfeld for The New York Times“I have spent a lot of time with different choreographers, all with different processes, so I also told myself: There are no rules,” said Janie Taylor, a former City Ballet principal, whose dances were featured in the L.A. Dance Project’s Joyce Theater season.Thea Traff for The New York TimesEach morning in Los Angeles, there’s typically a layer of fog (the “marine layer”) that clouds sunlight. We were incredibly lucky the morning of this shoot — there was no fog, only direct, beautiful California sunlight. The light was also low enough in the sky to create a beautiful shadow across half of Janie Taylor’s body. I asked her to dance in a way that felt reflective of her work, and she gave so much expression and movement in this light. — Thea Traff“My job was to capture their genius and not take shots that were superfluous,” said Marty Callner, who directed the first specials of Robin Williams, Steve Martin and George Carlin.Peter Fisher for The New York TimesLars “Bala” Lyons stands by while a red-tailed hawk (magnified by binoculars) perches above near Tompkins Square Park in New York. “For the Birds,” a star-studded, 242-track collection of songs and readings inspired by or incorporating birdsong, was released this year.Sinna Nasseri for The New York TimesFor this story I embedded myself with New York City’s birders — people who are obsessive about tracking birds, while the rest of us just go about our lives. I wanted to show that difference in one photo, so I split the frame by holding binoculars to the top half of my lens, which I focused on a red-tailed hawk, while the bottom half reveals a man on the ground just walking, unaware of the magnificent creature above him and the fandom surrounding the city’s birds. — Sinna NasseriWhen Oscar Isaac was offered “Moon Knight,” a Marvel series on Disney+, he wasn’t sure he was ready for another action blockbuster. “As fun as they can be, you’re outputting a lot of energy, and then you leave and you’re just exhausted,” he said.Erik Tanner for The New York TimesJuneIf the filmmaker Taika Waititi stepped back and considered all of his projects, “I’d probably have a panic attack,” he said. “I know there’s too many things.”Dana Scruggs for The New York TimesFrom left, Terry Elliott Lamont, Michael Turner Jr. and Von Williams in the McCulloh Homes public housing project, which was used as “The Pit” in “The Wire.” This year, a Baltimore photographer considered the HBO drama’s impact on the city where he was raised, 20 years after the show’s debut.Gioncarlo Valentine for The New York TimesWhen I was a kid growing up in Baltimore, I was lucky enough to have a group of queer friends. We called ourselves “The Pridelights.” The three people in this image, Terry, Michael, and Von, were among the core members of the group and, in many ways, the core of my childhood. The composition is a nod to the iconic “Destiny Fulfilled” album cover, an album that was so central to us when it was released. We fought constantly about who in our group was Beyoncé (Von and me), Kelly (Michael) and Michelle (Terry). There are almost no images of us together when we were children. Looking at this image now, it feels corrective. — Gioncarlo ValentineJuly“I wanted to build a framework for myself, for how to keep art sacred,” the singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers said of her detour to Harvard Divinity School during the pandemic. Her second major-label album, “Surrender,” was released this summer.OK McCausland for The New York TimesAugustDecades in the making, Michael Heizer’s “City,” a massive mile-and-a-half-long sculpture set in a remote Nevada valley, was finally revealed this year.Todd Heisler/The New York TimesIt is nearly impossible to distill the experience of Heizer’s magnum opus “City” in one frame. From dusk to dawn, I had the rare opportunity to wander the immense space, allowing the light to be my guide. Standing in the bitter cold, I made a handful of exposures around 10 seconds long. Seeing “City” under moonlight made me think of how humans have been building mysterious structures on this planet for thousands of years, many in relation to the heavens above. — Todd HeislerThe photographer Sinna Nasseri captured images of present-day New York City as it might have been predicted by science fiction films of the 1980s. Here, a delivery robot serves food at Lilya’s Restaurant & Grill in Staten Island, N.Y.Sinna Nasseri for The New York TimesAbbi Jacobson’s series version of “A League of Their Own,” on Amazon Prime Video, expanded upon the 1992 film. “The movie is a story about white women getting to play baseball,” she said. “That’s just not enough.”Chantal Anderson for The New York TimesWhat I love about Abbi Jacobson is how relatable the characters she plays are — you really feel like you know her and are friends with her from watching her. When I found out we were going to be taking photos in L.A., I thought of Art’s Delicatessen & Restaurant as the perfect place to meet up. It’s a family-owned spot you go back to over and over again with friends. There’s an intimacy and history there that I wanted in the images. — Chantal AndersonAhead of her album “Hold the Girl,” Rina Sawayama said, “I think the temptation, as an artist these days, is to look online and see what the fans want. But I’m going to write something that’s meaningful and worth people’s time.”Olivia Lifungula for The New York TimesFinishing touches underway on Wolfgang Tillmans’s retrospective, “To Look Without Fear,” at the Museum of Modern Art, which ends on New Year’s Day.Daniel Arnold for The New York TimesWolfgang Tillmans and I shot this couple melting into one viewer before a photo in his MoMA survey at the same time, he on his iPhone and me with my camera. I’m guessing his pic is better. — Daniel ArnoldSeptemberThe choreographer Gisèle Vienne at her parents’ home in Grenoble, France. She returned to New York in October with the U.S. premiere of “Crowd,” a magnetic work that places 15 dancers, consumed with love and longing, at an all-night party.Sam Hellmann for The New York TimesGisèle Vienne had given me a tour of the house, and this room was straight away my favorite. The light through the dirty windows, her mother’s sculptures, the dried plants, the floor. This was taken toward the end of the shoot so she had been dancing for a while, and it was terribly hot outside. I couldn’t tell she was sweating so much, though the flash revealed it. That’s when it began to be truly interesting. She was letting go, and I was finally becoming invisible. — Sam HellmannMoneybagg Yo has grown into the biggest rap star to emerge from Memphis in a generation.Chantal Anderson for The New York TimesMost punk shows don’t have an audience that can comfortably fit under the lip of the stage. Or fans that headbang atop the shoulders of their heavily tattooed papas. But that was the scene at a Linda Lindas show at the Bowery Ballroom in New York this summer.OK McCausland for The New York TimesThe sculptor Fred Eversley, an unheralded pioneer of the Light and Space movement, with one of his parabolic lenses that is installed on the ground floor of his five-story building in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood. “I don’t like art that you have to know art history to appreciate,” he said.Elliott Jerome Brown Jr. for The New York TimesDaniel Clark Smith, a chorister, reviewed sheet music at a dress rehearsal of “Medea” at the Metropolitan Opera in Manhattan. It was the Met’s first production of the Cherubini work.Sinna Nasseri for The New York TimesYvonne Rainer, a giant of choreography with more than a half-century of work behind her, went out swinging with “Hellzapoppin’: What About the Bees?,” which took on themes of race and resistance.Erik Tanner for The New York TimesFrom left, the artists Coreen Simpson, Randy Williams and Lorraine O’Grady in the Founders Room of the Museum of Modern Art. Just Above Midtown, an incubator of some of the most important Black avant-garde art of the 1970s and ’80s, was the subject of an exhibition.Elliott Jerome Brown Jr. for The New York TimesToward the end of my time with the group, I came back into the darkened conference room to see them arranged in a loose circle as they shared stories. I’d technically finished photographing them, but they were so immersed in conversation and used to my presence. This particular photograph, of Lorraine O’Grady holding court, ended up being my favorite. — Elliott Jerome Brown Jr.Tyler Mitchell in his Brooklyn studio alongside test prints of images from his London exhibition. The photographer is part of a generation that’s “blending fashion into art and art into fashion,” an Aperture magazine editor said.Elliott Jerome Brown Jr. for The New York TimesAbel Selaocoe, a classically trained South African artist, is best known for his work on the cello, but is also a singer and improviser. He drew on musical traditions from across the globe for his debut album, “Where is Home (Hae Ke Kae).”Adama Jalloh for The New York TimesOctoberWhether it’s Jamie Lee Curtis’s return to her horror roots in “Halloween Ends” or her buzzy performance in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” freedom is what the actress is after. “I feel all the feels, all the time,” she said.Ryan Pfluger for The New York TimesTaking a raw Southern sound to the top of the pop charts, Lil Baby could have come only from one place: Atlanta, where the rap scene is one of the world’s most consequential musical ecosystems.Kevin Amato for The New York TimesThis year, Michael Imperioli, best known for playing crooks and cops, appeared in the comedies “This Fool” and “The White Lotus.” “I don’t really know how to be funny,” he insisted.Daniel Arnold for The New York TimesBest known for playing nice guys, Jake Lacy won acclaim as a privileged jerk in HBO’s “The White Lotus.” In the Peacock drama “A Friend of the Family,” he went even darker.Nathan Bajar for The New York TimesThe prolific choreographer Twyla Tharp told new stories with two classic works at New York City Center this fall: “In the Upper Room” and “Nine Sinatra Songs.” “I was looking for some kind of spirituality or personal redemption,” said Kaitlyn Gilliland, dancing here with Lloyd Knight.Julieta Cervantes for The New York TimesNovemberJeremy Pope, a Tony-nominated actor, segued to the big screen in the gay military drama “The Inspection.” “I feel so blessed that I’m able to do this fully in my Blackness and in my queerness,” he said.Erik Carter for The New York TimesIn the Hulu series “Fleishman Is in Trouble,” Claire Danes and Jesse Eisenberg play two halves of a splintered couple. “Playing a married person with kids, I was at greater risk of taking it home than I have been with other projects,” Danes said.Thea Traff for The New York TimesIt’s tough to pose two people in a dynamic way when they’re inclined to just stand or sit side by side facing the camera. Claire Danes and Jesse Eisenberg play a recently divorced couple in the show, so I came to set with the idea to pose them as if they were embracing or slow-dancing, in a pose that felt reflective of their characters. — Thea TraffIn the drama “Causeway,” Jennifer Lawrence played a military engineer who returns home from Afghanistan after a brain injury. It’s the kind of indie she hasn’t really starred in since her breakthrough in 2010. “I don’t know how I can act,” she said, “when I feel cut off from normal human interaction.”Robbie Lawrence for The New York TimesThe choreographer Neil Greenberg at a rehearsal of his dance “Betsy.” His beaded headpiece was inspired by a cast member’s flowing hair. “They’re a little like Las Vegas’s idea of a sheikh,” Greenberg said.Mark Sommerfeld for The New York Times“I think it’s one of the best costumes. It’s so furry and smooth and nice. But it’s also really hot,” said Eleanor Murphy, left. “I like throwing the cheese,” said Taiga Emmer. The two alternate as the Bunny in the New York City Ballet’s production of “The Nutcracker.”Erik Tanner for The New York TimesThe eminent composer Steve Reich, who is in his 80s, released two important albums and a conversations book this year. His next premiere, “Jacob’s Ladder,” is expected in fall 2023.Philip Montgomery for The New York TimesLaura Poitras’s documentary “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” tells a complex story of the photographer Nan Goldin’s personal trauma and protest. “It’s my voice telling my story with my pictures, so it has to be true to me,” said Goldin, above.Thea Traff for The New York TimesThe choreographer Katja Heitmann collects the quotidian habits and mannerisms of volunteers — how they walk, stand, kiss, sleep and fidget — for her ongoing dance project “Motus Mori” (meaning “movement that is dying out”).Melissa Schriek for The New York TimesAdditional production by More

    • 138 Shares119 Views

      in Television

      What’s on TV This Week: Lots of Holiday Specials and ‘Yellowstone’

      by

      NBC, The CW and ABC celebrate the holidays and the Paramount show airs its midseason finale.Between network, cable and streaming, the modern television landscape is a vast one. Here are some of the shows, specials and movies coming to TV this week, Dec. 12-18. Details and times are subject to change.MondayBAKING IT: MAYA RUDOLPH & AMY POEHLER’S CELEBRITY HOLIDAY SPECIAL 10 p.m. on NBC. Maya Rudolph is kicking off the second season of her show, “Baking It,” with a holiday special co-starring Amy Poehler. The network announced that her season one co-host, Andy Samberg, would not be returning. On this episode Fred Armisen, Kristen Bell, Nicole Richie and JB Smoove compete in festive holiday baking challenges while also raising money for charity.TuesdayFrom left: Representative Nancy Pelosi, Senator Chuck Grassley, Senator Chuck Schumer in “Pelosi in the House.”Courtesy of HBOPELOSI IN THE HOUSE (2022) 9 p.m. on HBO. This documentary about the speaker of the house, Nancy Pelosi, filmed over three decades by her daughter Alexandra Pelosi, got a big preview when the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol played snippets of Alexandra’s videos from that day during their final hearing. Now, we will see moments before and after including Pelosi’s first State of the Union under President George W. Bush, the infamous moment of her ripping up a copy of President Donald Trump’s speech as she sat behind him and her persistence to verify the ballots even after the attack.THE VOICE 9 p.m. on NBC. This week’s two-hour live finale will feature performances from the top five finalists competing for a $100,000 cash prize and a record deal with Universal Music Group. They won’t be the only ones singing, though — Kane Brown, Kelly Clarkson, Maluma, One Republic and Adam Lambert are all set to perform.WednesdaySURVIVOR 8 p.m. on CBS. A three-hour episode, which includes a reunion, will wrap up the 43rd season of this reality competition show. This season, like the two that came before it, is a shortened version — filming took place over just 26 days to create 12 episodes. The show has already announced that it will be coming back for a 44th season.ThursdayH.E.R. as Belle in “Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration,” a movie that’s part live action, part animation.Christopher Willard/ABCBEAUTY AND THE BEAST: A 30TH CELEBRATION 8 p.m. on ABC. In 1992, Disney released an animated film that tells the story of Belle, a booksmart and headstrong girl who enters in the mansion of the Beast to save her father. Through true love, the Beast is transformed into his original form — a handsome prince, and of course, Belle and the prince live happily ever after. To celebrate the beloved fairy tale, this made-for-TV movie is part live action, part animation. Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson, known as H.E.R., stars as Belle, Josh Groban stars as the Beast and Rita Moreno narrates. The rest of the cast is also star studded, with almost too many Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award nominations between all of them to count.FridayFOUR CHRISTMASES (2008) 9 p.m. on AMC. While some holiday movies focus on the importance and joy of spending time with family, this film admits it can be exhausting. Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon play a couple who spend the holidays trudging around from one family event to another after their tropical getaway is canceled. “Yes, it follows a charming, mismatched couple on a sentimental journey involving presents, family and the sharing of food and feelings,” A.O. Scott wrote in his review for The New York Times. “But the picture, briskly directed by Seth Gordon from a snappy, many-authored script, is refreshingly tart and lean, forgoing the usual schmaltz and syrup.”SaturdayHOWARDS END 7 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). The four-part series follows two sisters as they navigate their love lives in Edwardian England. Margaret Schlegel, played by Hayley Atwell, is courted by Henry Wilcox (Matthew Macfadyen), a wealthy widower. Meanwhile, Margaret’s younger sister Helen Schlegel (Philippa Coulthard) falls for a penniless clerk.IHEARTRADIO JINGLE BALL 2022 8 p.m. on The CW. Originally broadcast live from Madison Square Garden in New York City on Dec. 9, a recording of this concert is coming to the small screen. The tour, which travels around the U.S. during the month of December, features performances by Dua Lipa, Lizzo, Lauv and Demi Lovato — just to name a new.THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA (2006) 9:30 p.m. on E! This movie is chock-full of memorable lines. Emily Blunt saying to Anne Hathaway, “A million girls would kill for this job” or Meryl Streep telling Hathaway, “By all means, move at a glacial pace. You know how that thrills me.” Hathaway plays Andy, a journalist who tries to get her big break by working as an assistant to Miranda Priestly (Streep), the editor in chief of Runway magazine, which is loosely inspired by Anna Wintour and Vogue magazine. After galas, a trip to Paris and a whole new wardrobe, Andy has to decide what she actually wants to do with her life.SundayFrom left, Gil Birmingham, Mo Brings Plenty and Luke Grimes in “Yellowstone.”Paramount NetworkYELLOWSTONE 8 p.m. on Paramount. This ensemble show follows a family of powerful ranchers. Last season, it was television’s most watched drama. “The surface layer of ‘Yellowstone’ is part modern-day Western, part family business saga,” the New York Times critic James Poniewozik wrote about the first season. “A kind of cowboy ‘Dynasty’ with some dark-cable ambitions.”MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (1944) 8 p.m. on TCM. This romantic comedy and musical follows four sisters, including one played by Judy Garland, in the year leading up to the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition World’s Fair. The plot revolves around Christmas, making it the perfect movie to watch this time of year. More

    • 100 Shares99 Views

      in Movies

      ‘The Fabelmans’ Is Judd Hirsch’s Latest Great Story

      by

      The veteran actor has been singled out for his rousing performance in Steven Spielberg’s drama. It’s the latest chapter in a long career full of anecdotes.“Have we met before?” Judd Hirsch asked enthusiastically as he strode into a French bistro last month. “I’ve met everybody before. Maybe we met when you were a baby and I said, ‘I’ll see you when you’re older.’”When you invite Hirsch, the veteran actor and raconteur, on a lunch date, you’re going to hear stories on top of stories — stories you knew you wanted and stories you didn’t know you were going to get.The instant he took his seat, Hirsch spun a tale about the afternoon’s dining spot, Boucherie West Village, whose building once housed the Off Broadway theater where he co-starred in the original 1979 production of “Talley’s Folly” by Lanford Wilson.As the actor told it, an agent affiliated with the play wanted to replace Hirsch because his role in the hit sitcom “Taxi” was going to conflict with a planned Broadway transfer for “Talley’s Folly.”Instead, Hirsch helped bring the play to the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, where he performed it that summer and fall during his downtime from “Taxi.” The following winter, Hirsch said proudly, “I came back and did it on Broadway, and it won the Pulitzer Prize.”Riding on similar waves of showbiz know-how and sheer bravado, Hirsch can currently be seen barnstorming his way through a crucial portion of “The Fabelmans,” the director Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama.Hirsch has only a few minutes of screen time, playing Boris, the cantankerous great-uncle of its adolescent protagonist, Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle). But the 87-year-old actor makes every frame count as he delivers a galvanic speech to the young Spielberg stand-in, exhorting him to commit to his artistic aspirations while warning that they will be in perpetual conflict with the needs of his family.Hirsch opposite Gabriel LaBelle in “The Fabelmans.” He’s not on the screen for long but he makes every frame count.Merie Weismiller Wallace/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment, via Associated PressHirsch’s unexpectedly intense performance in “The Fabelmans” — the latest in a decades-long career spanning stage, screen and a 1972 commercial for JCPenney polyester slacks — would seem to be a testament to his endurance in a singularly fickle industry.But while he is happy for the plum opportunity in a prestigious year-end film, Hirsch could not quite point to any particular reason he should be enjoying another moment in the spotlight right now.The Projectionist Chronicles a New Awards SeasonThe Oscars aren’t until March, but the campaigns have begun. Kyle Buchanan is covering the films, personalities and events along the way.Golden Globe Nominations: Here are some of the most eyebrow-raising snubs and surprises from this year’s list of nominees.Gotham Awards: At the first official show of the season, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” won big.Governors Awards: Stars like Jamie Lee Curtis and Brendan Fraser worked a room full of academy voters at the event, which is considered a barometer of film industry enthusiasm.Rian Johnson:  The “Glass Onion” director explains the streaming plan for his “Knives Out” franchise.“I have no idea why I get any part that somebody else can play,” he said. “Or why I don’t get one when I do want to play it. But I’m old enough to know that’s OK.”Approval is always nice, but Hirsch suggested that an actor’s temperament was forged in far more frequent instances of rejection. When you don’t land a role, he explained, “you can say, ‘What the hell did they see in me that made them turn me down?’ Or you can say, ‘They don’t know what the hell they’re missing.’”Though he’s long split his time between Los Angeles and New York, Hirsch was born and raised in New York, and didn’t expect much for himself after studying acting at HB Studio in the early 1960s. “I never thought I’d play anything more than a construction worker, criminal or some schlubby guy,” he said.Instead he went on to play a variety of prominent roles on television (“Taxi,” “Dear John,” “Numbers”), in film (“Ordinary People,” “Independence Day,” “Uncut Gems”) and onstage (“I’m Not Rappaport”).Presently, when Hirsch wasn’t kibitzing playfully with a waiter (“You don’t mind if I don’t speak French?” the actor said, looking over his menu. “I could say some of those words with a French accent”), he was just as fond of sharing anecdotes from an era when he wasn’t well established.There was, for instance, the fateful introduction he received while visiting Universal to audition for a TV movie in the early 1970s.Hirsch has been an awards contender before. He was up for an Oscar, an Emmy and a Tony for work he did in 1980, and didn’t win any of the prizes.Daniel Arnold for The New York TimesA woman working there began to show him around to other people in the office: “This is so-and-so,” Hirsch recounted. “And this is so-and-so. This is Mr. Spielberg, and he’s sitting behind a desk, and on his desk is ‘Jaws,’ which I had no idea was anything. And she said” — his voice dropped to a stage whisper — “‘He’s going to be very big.’”“He would not have known of me,” Hirsch said of the fleeting encounter. “Look at all the Spielberg movies since — and I’m not in any of them.”But their trajectories intersected again a half-century later on “The Fabelmans.” The dramatist Tony Kushner (“Angels in America”), who wrote the screenplay with Spielberg, said that the Boris character was based on an actual member of the director’s extended family.The real-life Uncle Boris “had worked in some animal handling in the early days of Hollywood and he had been in the circus,” said Kushner, who has collaborated with Spielberg on “Munich,” “Lincoln” and “West Side Story.” Kushner added that the actual Boris “had lived a wild, itinerant life, and that had made him a fearsome figure to his sister, and to his nieces and nephews.”The scene written for the fictional Boris was intended to impart a lesson about the cost of pursuing an artistic life, Kushner said: “Art has a power that one only imagines one controls. When you access it, if you’re really practicing it, it’s going to take you to the truth. And the truth is sometimes going to be very dangerous.”Hirsch, who was cast after a video conversation with Spielberg, said his preparation was far less weighty.“He said you can play it with an accent or not,” Hirsch recalled. “After I read it, I said, what schmuck would not? He’s going to have to like it this way because I’m not going to do it any other way.”Hirsch said he could channel the frantic passion of the film’s Boris, who feels frustrated that his message is not reaching young Sammy. But the actor said there was only one moment he was “truly scared to do,” when the scene required him to get physical with LaBelle.“I line the kid up against the wall and I say, ‘Look at me — look at me,’” Hirsch said. “After all that, I want him to see what I had to go through.”LaBelle said he encouraged Hirsch to “beat the [expletive] out of me.”“The moment where he pinches my face, I was like, ‘No, no, hurt me. Come on, let’s do it,’” LaBelle recalled.He added, “It’s not like I’m hanging on the side of a plane. I’m just getting my face pinched.”Whether his “Fabelmans” performance garners any attention for a year-end film award, Hirsch noted that he had been down this road before.Hirsch said the only “Fabelmans” scene that gave him pause was one requiring him to get physical with LaBelle. But the younger actor wasn’t fazed. “I was like, ‘No, no, hurt me,’” LaBelle said.Daniel Arnold for The New York TimesHe pointed out that for work he did in 1980 alone, he was nominated for an Oscar (for “Ordinary People”), an Emmy (“Taxi”) and a Tony (“Talley’s Folly”) — and won none of them. Though Hirsch didn’t mention this, he did go on to win Emmys for “Taxi” in 1981 and 1983.Hirsch said he was actually relieved he didn’t win for “Ordinary People,” in which he played a psychiatrist treating a traumatized teenager (Timothy Hutton). Both men were nominated as supporting actors, and Hirsch suggested that Hutton — who ultimately won — was more deserving of the honor.“I said, what’s the worst thing that could happen to me?” Hirsch explained. “I win this damn thing and then have to look at him and make excuse, excuse, excuse — ‘They made a terrible mistake, it should have been you.’”After a server asked him if he would like some black coffee (“That’s the usual color, isn’t it?” Hirsch replied without missing a beat), the actor resumed delving into his trove of stories from projects that did not earn him any trophies or recognition.He spoke of his performance in the 1978 drama “King of the Gypsies,” in which his character is shot by Eric Roberts and falls out an apartment window to his death.“So I said who’s going to do that?” Hirsch recalled. “They said, ‘You.’ I said, ‘OK.’ I arrive at the set and there’s one of those enormous air mattresses in the street.”Hirsch said he filmed three takes of his fatal fall, but while the finished sequence in the movie shows him taking gunfire and toppling out the window, the part where his character lands on a car was performed by a stuntman.“Luckily I didn’t have to hit a car,” he said. “Otherwise, you and I would not be talking here.” More