Bette & Joan’s Legendary Feud Is ‘Star’ of New FX Series

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Joan Crawford and Betty Davis were not friends. This was one of the most commonly-known “secrets” in Hollywood history. Of course, they both would play nice when the cameras were rolling and Crawford even firmly dismissed any longtime enmity in a 1947 magazine article entitled “Can Women Trust Each Other?” by saying, “Why should there be a feud? I believe there is a place for every actress in this wonderful business. Certainly Bette and I don’t fear each other.” Bette & Joan -- On Set The rivalry between the silver-screen icons is the stuff of legend, a decades-long battle sparked by both professional and personal resentments and fueled by an industry that loved nothing more than to see its women tear each other apart. Much of their fighting played out as back-and-forth sniping in the tabloids, though Crawford was always less openly hostile than Davis, whose iconic burns include the classic: “[Crawford] slept with every male star at MGM—except Lassie.” Bette & Joan -- BETTE The premise behind FX and Ryan Murphy’s latest anthology series, Feud, which premieres on March 5, is so deceptively simple that it’s hard to believe it hasn’t already been done. Each season will see Murphy and his co-producers focus on a different famous feud—much as each season of American Crime Story tackles a real-life crime—and it’s already clear that the first set of eight episodes, subtitled Bette and Joan, will be a very tough act to follow. Susan Sarandon plays Bette Davis while Jessica Lange takes on Joan Crawford. Bette Davis: Beautiful, Gifted and Hard to Love So how did these two legendary starlets end up being the centerpieces of a four-decade long feud? Bette & Joan -- JOAN 1933: It begins with Crawford’s divorce overshadowing Bette’s starring role. Crawford began her on-screen career at a younger age than Davis (Crawford made her first onscreen appearance in 1925) and was already an established star by the time Davis moved to Hollywood in 1930. In 1933, Davis had reached a pivotal moment in her still-nascent career—the comedy Ex-Lady would be the first to feature her name above the title. Warner Bros. had planned an elaborate publicity campaign announcing Davis’s new phase of stardom—until Crawford announced that she was divorcing her first husband, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., on the same day. According to celebrity biographer David Bret, The New York Times relegated Davis’s film to a small paragraph in the Review section, while devoting several pages to Crawford’s news, and other papers followed suit. Ex-Lady was dropped from theaters after a week thanks to poor ticket sales, and Davis’s beef was supposedly born. 1Bette & Joan -- Joan & actor935: Joan marries the man Bette loved. “I have never forgiven her for that, and never will.” So said Davis in a 1987 interview with journalistMichaelThorton, 52 years after the defining incident in her lifelong hatred of Crawford. In 1935, Davis starred in the drama Dangerous and fell hard for her co-star Franchot Tone. “I fell in love with Franchot, professionally and privately,” she said. “Everything about him reflected his elegance, from his name to his manners.” Unfortunately, Crawford got to Tone first. Rumor has it that she invited Tone to her home and met him naked in the solarium. The couple would announce their engagement during the filming of Dangerous. “He was madly in love with her,” Davis said. “They met each day for lunch… he would return to the set, his face covered in lipstick. Davis would go on to win an Oscar for her performance in Dangerous—and yet Crawford still managed to upstage her. 1943: Joan leaves MGM for Warner Brothers and is now directly competing for studio roles with Betty. Bette & Joan -- Bette smoking Back in the day, actors were more or less owned by a studio and couldn’t work on any other productions, unless specifically loaned out. Crawford was part of MGM and Davis was part of Warner Bros. so, even though they were competing for America’s attention, they rarely had to compete for the same roles. Until now. Crawford had her heart set on the title role in the film noir Mildred Pierce and got her wish when Davis—the studio’s first choice—turned it down. Two years later, Crawford would take another lead role originally intended for Davis, in the crime drama Possessed, and win another Oscar nomination for it. Despite Davis’s oft-quoted line “Miss Crawford is a movie star, and I am an actress,” it had become clear that the industry saw more common ground between them than Davis would like to admit. Joan Crawford: Tough, Talented, And Unlucky in Love Given the comparisons, it’s no surprise that some producers were keen to get Davis and Crawford on screen together. Their unlikely vehicle came years later when their careers were fading via the horror film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? — about a demented former child star (Davis) who holds her crippled sister (Crawford) captive. Crawford signed on first, but knew she needed the perfect co-star to make it a career-reviving hit. Putting ego aside, she flew to New York and asked her rival to take the part. Amazingly, Davis did. Bette & Joan -- Actress Meeting Davis agreed to sign on to Baby Jane on two conditions: that she play the title role of Jane, and that the film’s director Robert Aldrich assure her he was not sleeping with Crawford: “It wasn’t that I cared about his private life, or hers either,” Davis reportedly said. “I didn’t want him favoring her with more close-ups.” Though the film was an unexpected box office success, and did to some extent represent the comeback that both actresses desperately needed, it became remembered most powerfully as a public document of their real-life rivalry. Baby Jane and the behind-the-scenes stories born while making this film, will all be revealed during the anthology series Feud.  Was their feud real? Or was it a media creation that Bette and Joan capitalized on? Maybe it’s a bit of both, but this Feud is not to be missed. bette2 - CopyFor more info on Bette Davis Click Here           joan2For more info on Joan Crawford Click Here

Joan Crawford: Tough, Talented and Unlucky in Love

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Lucille Fay LeSueur was born to a single mother in Texas and spent her childhood moving from state to state, struggling to get a proper education. She dreamed of a better life as a famous dancer. After some time in various chorus lines, Lucille decided to switch gears and landed a $75 a week gig as an actress at MGM. The studio publicist didn’t like the sound of her name (too close to “sewer”) so he organized a “Name the Star” magazine contest for $1000 prize. And a star (named Joan Crawford) was born!

A prolific and long-lasting film career was to follow, with Crawford ultimately going on to star in more than sixty films. She took on talking roles with projects like Hollywood Revue (1929) and Grand Hotel (1932), and her dancing skills were prominently displayed with Fred Astaire in the 1933 hit Dancing Lady. Clark Gable was also featured, and was a recurring co-star in works like Possessed (1931) and Strange Cargo (1940).

Joan Crawford and Clark Gable

Joan Crawford and Clark Gable

Was Clark Gable the love of her life? At times, Joan intimated as much, even though she had had four husbands—actors Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Franchot Tone, Phillip Terry, and Pepsi-Cola president Alfred Steele—and many lovers. Clark Gable co-starred with Crawford in eight movies, more than anyone else, and the two are rumored to have pursued an affair on and off for decades. They were certainly good friends, and when Gable’s wife Carole Lombard was killed in a 1942 plane crash, Crawford took over her scheduled role in the film They All Kissed the Bride and donated her salary to the American Red Cross.

Bette & Joan’s Legendary Feud Is ‘Star’ of New FX Series

joan3Crawford adopted four children, one of whom, Christina, wrote the 1978 memoir Mommie Dearest, in which she writes of enduring highly erratic and abusive behavior from her mother during childhood. The book was adapted into a 1981 film starring Faye Dunaway as Crawford.

Though garnering a series of notable roles, including her Oscar winning performance as the lead role in Mildred Pierce, Crawford’s career had grown quiet, only to be revitalized yet again with the 1962 horror classic Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, co-starring her “buddy” Bette Davis.

Crawford died of a heart attack in 1977. Her exact age was unknown as her birthday was a subject of numerous rumors.

The Reviews Are In. Should You See Bridget Jones?

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Oscar winners Renée Zellweger and Colin Firth are joined by Patrick Dempsey for the next chapter of the world’s favorite singleton in Bridget Jones’s Baby.

Directed by Sharon Maguire (Bridget Jones’s Diary), the new film in the beloved comedy series based on creator Helen Fielding’s heroine finds Bridget unexpectedly expecting.

After breaking up with Mark Darcy (Firth), Bridget Jones’s (Zellweger) “happily ever after” hasn’t quite gone according to plan. Fortysomething and single again, she decides to focus on her job as top news producer and surround herself with old friends and new. For once, Bridget has everything completely under control. What could possibly go wrong?

Then her love life takes a turn and Bridget meets a dashing American named Jack (Dempsey), the suitor who is everything Mr. Darcy is not. In an unlikely twist she finds herself pregnant, but with one hitch…she can only be fifty percent sure of the identity of her baby’s father.

The much-anticipated third installment of the Bridget Jones’s franchise welcomes fellow Academy Award winner Emma Thompson to the cast.

So what do the critics think? Is this a movie worth your time? Read below and see what the people who get paid to do this think.

Although it’s patchy and gives off an air of trying too hard, the movie is surprisingly funny. 

–David Edelstein, New York Magazine

Sweet, slight and fitfully funny, it’s a movie admirers of the earlier films should mildly enjoy, but cast in terms any new parent can understand, isn’t worth the price of a sitter.

-Brian Lowry, CNN.com

bjones1It sounds godawful in title and concept – but which in execution is a fizzy delight. Warning: The sight of middle-agers bonking may cause teen tremors.

–Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

A third installment that attempts to recapture the charm of the first (2001) but, much like the second (2004), is only a sour facsimile.

–Leah Pickett, Chicago Reader

If “Bridget Jones’s Baby” is the best an actress like Zellweger can expect from the film industry, maybe she’d be better off just saying “Hashtag: Let’s not.”

–Ty Burr, Boston Globe

The verdict, in a Bridget Jones-ian nutshell: not v. good, but v. enjoyable.

–Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

Can’t decide? Watch the trailer below and see for yourself!

The Top 25 Wedding Movies

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Weddings are supposed to be one of the happiest days in a lifetime. But it doesn’t turn out to be a fairy tale day for everyone. It’s a day that can be crimped or ruined by bridezillas, grooms with cold feet and embarrassing best-man toasts.

Luckily, we go to the movies to experience these events in their heightened states. Extraordinary couples who triumphed and overcame all odds to get married, as well as those who opened their hearts and helped those in need.

Here is a list of the Top 25 Modern Wedding Movies. We included a poll at the bottom so you could vote on which one is your favorite. Make sure to come back to check out the results!

Monster-in-Law (2005)

Charlotte (Jennifer Lopez) is blissfully happy with her new fiance, Kevin (Michael Vartan), until she meets his mother who is determined to drive them apart. 

Monsoon Wedding (2001)

Cultures and families clash in Mira Nair’s exuberant MONSOON WEDDING, a mix of comedy and chaotic melodrama concerning the preparations for the arranged marriage of a modern upper-middle-class Indian family’s only daughter.

Made of Honor (2008)

For Tom (Patrick Dempsey), life is good: he’s sexy, successful, has great luck with the ladies, and knows he can always rely on Hannah (Michelle Monaghan), his delightful best friend and the one constant in his life. It’s the perfect setup until Hannah goes overseas to Scotland on a six-week business trip… and Tom is stunned to realize how empty his life is without her. 

Sex And The City: The Movie (2008)

A New York writer on sex and love is finally getting married to her Mr. Big. But her three best girlfriends must console her after one of them inadvertently leads Mr. Big to jilt her.

The Wedding Date (2005)

Kat Ellis is a single New Yorker who returns to her parents’ house in London to be the maid of honor at her younger half sister’s wedding. She is dismayed to discover that the best man is none other than her former fiance, who unceremoniously dumped her two years ago. Anxious about confronting him and eager to impress him, she hires debonair male escort Nick Mercer to pose as her boyfriend.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)

Toula is 30. And unmarried. Which means as a nice Greek girl–she’s a failure. All her cousins did the right thing–married Greek boys and made Greek babies. So everyone worries: what will become of Toula? Then one day she sees the ultimate unattainable guy and realizes the only way her life will get better is if she gets away from her big, fat Greek family.

Fools Rush In (1997)

Sparks fly and cultures collide in this romantic comedy about a casual night of passion that turns into the love of a lifetime. Alex Whitman is a New Yorker sent to Las Vegas to oversee a construction project.

The Wedding Singer (1998)

Robbie, a singer, and Julia, a waitress, are both engaged, but to the wrong people. Fortune intervenes to help them discover each other.

Honeymoon In Vegas (1992)

On her deathbed, a mother makes her son promise never to get married, which scars him with psychological blocks to a commitment with his girlfriend. They finally decide to tie the knot in Vegas, but a wealthy gambler arranges for the man to lose $65K in a poker game and offers to clear the debt for a weekend with his fiance.

Sweet Home Alabama (2002)

A young woman who’s reinvented herself as a New York socialite must return home to Alabama to obtain a divorce from her husband, after seven years of separation.

Three Men And A Little Lady (1990)

The hilarity soars to new heights as the trio from the original movie, continue to bring up baby Mary, who is now an adorably curious 5-year-old. All is well until Mary’s mother accepts a marriage proposal and permanently relocates to England — taking Mary with her! The ex-dads quickly discover how empty life is without their little lady, and go to outrageous lengths in their efforts to win her back!

Coming To America (1988)

A pampered African prince (Eddie Murphy) wants more out of life than the beautiful woman to whom he’s engaged. So, he heads to America to find a mate who will fall for him, not his riches, in this comedy from John Landis. Joined by his trusty sidekick (Arsenio Hall), the prince plunges into a job at a fast-food chain — and romance with the boss’s daughter. 

Rachel Getting Married (2008)

A young woman who has been in and out of rehab for the past 10 years returns home for the weekend for her sister’s wedding.

The Princess Bride (1987)

A fairy tale adventure about a beautiful young woman and her one true love. He must find her after a long separation and save her. They must battle the evils of the mythical kingdom of Florin to be reunited with each other. 

27 Dresses (2008)

After serving as a bridesmaid 27 times, a young woman wrestles with the idea of standing by her sister’s side as her sibling marries the man she’s secretly in love with.

Four Weddings And A Funeral (1994)

Over the course of five social occasions, a committed bachelor must consider the notion that he may have discovered love.

The Proposal (2009)

A pushy boss forces her young assistant to marry her in order to keep her visa status in the U.S. and avoid deportation to Canada.

Wedding Crashers (2005)

John Beckwith and Jeremy Grey, a pair of committed womanizers who sneak into weddings to take advantage of the romantic tinge in the air, find themselves at odds with one another when John meets and falls for Claire Cleary.

Runaway Bride (1999)

Roberts plays small-town girl Maggie Carpenter, whose marches down the aisle become a series of near Mrs. when she bolts before saying “I do.” Gere is Ike Graham, a cynical, big-city newspaper columnist eager to write a tell-all story about Maggie. But the more Ike finds out about the skittish Maggie, the more he finds he’s falling in love.

My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997)

Julia Roberts makes a pact with her best friend and former boyfriend Dermot Mulroney that if they aren’t married in ten years’ time, they will marry each other. Years later, Michael is about to marry someone else. She’s asked to be the maid of honor and agrees with a plan to break up the couple.

The Wedding Planner (2001)

Mary Fiore is San Francisco’s most successful supplier of romance and glamor. She knows all the tricks. She knows all the rules. But then she breaks the most important rule of all: she falls in love with the groom.

Bridesmaids (2011)

Annie’s life is a mess. But when she finds out her lifetime best friend is engaged, she simply must serve as Lillian’s maid of honor. Though lovelorn and broke, Annie bluffs her way through the expensive and bizarre rituals. With one chance to get it perfect, she’ll show Lillian and her bridesmaids just how far you’ll go for someone you love.

Muriel’s Wedding (1994)

Living in a fantasy world of ABBA songs, Muriel Heslop waits for Prince Charming to come along and rescue her from her bullying father, her bitchy peers and the claustrophobic atmosphere of small town Porpoise Spit. But when Prince Charming is slow to arrive, Muriel decides to take control of her own life and rescue herself.

Father Of The Bride (1991)

George Banks (Steve Martin) and his wife, Nina (Diane Keaton), are the proud parents of Annie (Kimberly Williams), but when she returns from studying abroad and announces that she’s engaged, their whole world turns upside down, especially that of overprotective George.

Mamma Mia (2008)

 Donna, an independent, single mother who owns a small hotel on the island is about to let go of Sophie, the spirited young daughter she’s raised alone. But Sophie has secretly invited three of her mother’s ex-lovers in the hopes of finding her father.

Honorable mention: I Love You, ManThe Corpse Bride; The Hangover; The Best Man; Meet The Parents

What Is the Top Wedding Movie?

Monster-In-Law

Made of Honor

The Wedding Date

Fools Rush In

Honeymoon In Vegas

Three Men And A Little Lady

Rachel Getting Married

27 Dresses

The Proposal

Runaway Bride

The Wedding Planner

Muriel’s Wedding

Mamma Mia

Monsoon Wedding

Sex And The City: The Movie

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

The Wedding Singer

Sweet Home Alabama

Coming To America

The Princess Bride

Four Weddings And A Funeral

Wedding Crashers

My Best Friend’s Wedding

Bridesmaids

Father Of The Bride

Do Quizzes

‘Light’ shines on Fassbender, Vikander Romance

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It’s hard to fathom, but Michael Fassbender has only been working, really working, for eight remarkable years. Ever since director Steve McQueen saw what a decade’s worth of casting directors didn’t and chose him to play Irish hunger-striker Bobby Sands in 2008’s Hunger, his career has been in the Hollywood fast lane. The first time Fassbender appears in Hunger, his character is being forcibly stripped and washed. Fassbender is thrashing and naked, howling with the fury of a guy who’d pretty much given up on basic human vanity, let alone a career. He was 31 then and had no reason to think the next ten years of his life would be any more fruitful than the prior ten, most of which he’d spent behind a bar as a bartender.

“I had already been turned down by two drama schools,” Michael Fassbender, who grew up in Ireland, explained to a New York Times reporter. He was 19 then, and that rejection led him to London to try his luck auditioning for the Drama Centre there. He was accepted, but later dropped out stating, “In drama school, they don’t think of movies as a pure form like theater, and it’s films that I love most. There’s an intimacy in movies — I wanted to have the same impact on others that movies had on me. “

mike1It’s difficult to imagine that before 2007, although Fassbender had played small parts in television and film, arguably his most well-recognized role had been as a man who swims across the Atlantic Ocean to apologize to his brother over a pint in a Guinness commercial. Since 2007, Fassbender has starred in three Steve McQueen films, and has been sought after and worked with directors such as David Cronenberg, Cary Fukunaga and Ridley Scott; he had an especially glorious bit in Quentin Tarantino’s ‘‘Inglourious Basterds.’’ Today, Fassbender is both Magneto in the ‘‘X-Men’’ series, a darling of critics and intellectuals, and starring as the ultimate icon of inventiveness and imagination, Steve Jobs.

His latest role, takes him far away from a character with superpowers or super fame. In The Light Between the Oceans, based on the bestselling novel by M.L. Stedmen, he plays a lighthouse keeper with a dark secret.  While filming the movie, he met and fell in love with his co-star Alicia Vikander, a Swedish actress and dancer, who had just won a best supporting Oscar® for her role in The Danish Girl.

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The 27-year-old actress, who now lives in London, shot from relative obscurity to international superstardom with four major films in just 12 months—Testament of YouthEx MachinaThe Man from U.N.C.L.E., and The Danish Girl. She’s both a muse to modern fashion designers—a year ago she became the new face of Louis Vuitton—and a dream for costume designers doing lush period dramas.

Her mother, Maria, was a company member at the state theater, which provided a kind of collective creative playground for Alicia. She performed small roles there as a child. By nine, she was studying dance at the Royal Swedish Ballet School and was, almost without realizing it, on the path to becoming a serious dancer. However, the stress and her desire for perfection was too overwhelming.

She found relief in the form of acting when, at age 16, she was cast in a mini-series. But her hopes were dashed when she applied to, and got rejected by, the local drama school. Then, one day, while working at a Levi’s store, she got a call from a casting director. A Swedish film director, Lisa Langseth, was looking for a girl to star in Pure, about a deeply troubled young woman whose only solace is classical music and who falls in love with an older, rather cruel conductor. She got the part, and her performance captured the eyes of several casting directors.  It was not until Alex Garland’s script for Ex Machina landed in her lap that she had the kind of material that would make her a movie star. The plot revolved around a computer analyst charged with administering a Turing test to an alluring female android. In fact, “Is the really hot droid human?” was the central dramatic question—one that any actress would love to sink her teeth into.

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In The Light Between Oceans, Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander portray doomed newlyweds whose makeshift family collapses under the weight of moral dilemmas. Alicia portrays Isabel, whose whirlwind romance and marriage to lighthouse keeper Tom (Fassbender) results in heartache when she suffers two miscarriages. Their grief dissipates when a dinghy washes ashore carrying a dead man and a baby girl, whom they opt not to report to authorities and instead raise as their own daughter (Florence Clery). For years, they live in familial bliss, until a chance encounter with Lucy’s birth mother (Rachel Weisz) sends the couple into a moral tailspin.

Fortunately, the real-life couple’s love story is much rosier. It began in 2013 with a classic meeting on the dance floor during the Toronto International Film Festival, where the two were promoting their respective 12 Years A Slave and The Fifth Estate.

“We had a boogie,” Vikander remembers. “He’s a very good dancer.”

The actors reunited a year later to shoot Oceans (in theaters nationwide Friday), where their relationship blossomed on the period drama’s set in Australia and New Zealand.

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What with all the success, and the highly visible romance, Vikander has found herself the focus of public curiosity. She’s well aware that the public likes to build female stars up, only to take them down a few notches, and of the cruel power of tabloids and social media. But with her unending drive and focus to be a success that is matched only by his, the young couple has the makings of a perfect pair that can effortless combine work and play.

From Jane Austen Film to The Lobster, Love Blooms

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If superhero summer blockbusters at the theaters aren’t your thing, might we suggest some alternative options for your viewing pleasure? If you’re looking for a little romance, comedy and the brilliant writing of Jane Austen, may we suggest Love & Friendship. Directed by Whit Stillman and starring Kate Beckinsale, Chloë Sevigny and Stephen Fry, Love & Friendship centers on beautiful widow Lady Susan Vernon (Beckinsale), who has come to the estate of her in-laws to wait out colorful rumors about her dalliances circulating through polite society. Whilst there, she decides to secure a husband for herself and her rather reluctant debutante daughter, Frederica.

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Too often, Austen adaptations are cosseted, corseted and more than a little bland; under Stillman’s typically deadpan direction, the author’s deliciously spiky sense of humor is joyously restored. Because so little can be directly said in Austen’s universe, the art and endless pleasure comes from the ways in which people speak their minds and hearts indirectly, until such time as they can no longer box up their emotions and all is revealed in a climactic blurt. So “Love & Friendship” is a film to make an action fan tear his or her hair out; it’s all walking and talking. But what talking!

And for those of you that love your romance with a twist of the supernatural, might we suggest The Lobster. Colin Farrell stars as David, a man who has just been dumped by his wife. To make matters worse, David lives in a society where single people have 45 days to find true love, or else they are turned into the animal of their choice and released into the woods. David is kept at the mysterious hotel while he searches for a new partner, and after several romantic misadventures decides to make a daring escape to abandon this world. He ultimately joins up with a rebel faction known as The Loners, a group founded on a complete rejection of romance. But once there David meets an enigmatic stranger (Rachel Weisz) who stirs up unexpected and strong feelings within him… At once a full immersion into a strange and surreal world, and a witty and clever reflection of our own society, THE LOBSTER is a thrillingly audacious vision fully brought to life by Lanthimos and his terrific cast.

The Lobster has a unique wit, surreal worldview and enviable unwillingness to conform to conventionality that will mystify some viewers and enchant others. If you’re open to embracing a film that declines to pander to expectations, you should definitely make a date with The Lobster.

Whisky Tango Foxtrot Delivers

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Whiskey Tango Foxtrot — yes, you’re supposed to chop that into initials — is a girl-power comedy with a bold twist: The timid heroine blossoms in Afghanistan, one of the most female-unfriendly countries on earth. By day, Kim Baker (Tina Fey), a TV reporter, and her male team visit all-girls schools that have been torched by the Taliban, who burned desks and books and scrawled “No education for women” on the wall. Outdoors, men and women can’t even touch. But at night inside their Kabul dorm, a.k.a. the Kabubble, the journalists get wasted and screw, acting out like college freshmen celebrating their freedom.

It’s oppression versus decadence. Both groups are extremists — the foreigners are just having a lot more fun.

Kim Baker is a media striver overcoming obstacles and finding solutions, not that far removed from 30 Rock’s Liz Lemon. Only now it’s not comedy, it’s war, and while Whiskey Tango Foxtrot does a good job to show how brazenly disinterested some of these people can be about the wider story in exchange for nabbing a scoop, this represents a step up to the big leagues for both the character and the star.

The film is directed by Glenn Ficarra (Crazy, Stupid, Love) and written by Robert Carlock and Kim Barker–who adapted it from the book The Taliban Shuffle. It features a star-studded cast including Billy Bob Thornton, Margot Robbie, Alfred Molina, Martin Freeman and Josh Charles.

Watch the trailer here:

Tina Fey Is A Smiling Sheroe

Top 10 Romantic Films Streaming on Netflix

 

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So many people end up emptying out their bank accounts in order to have a romantic night out with the person they love for Valentine’s Day. The buy new clothes, fill up gas for the car, splurge on an expensive prefix menu option at the restaurant with the best view of the city. Don’t forget about the drinking, dancing, more drinking and the exchanging of fancy gifts which all take place in one night to show appreciation for your significant others. It can be exhausting as well.

Sometimes this reckless abandonment of funds gets old and all you really want is to spend a nice quiet night at home with a cheap bottle of wine, some snacks, a warm blanket and a movie streaming on Netflix that you can watch with your love.

Here are some of our top 10 romantic movies that happen to be streaming on Netflix this month. Some are more traditional, while others appeal to that crowd that seems to fear the label of “Rom-Com”.

 

1. Pride and Prejudice (2005)– Sparks fly when spirited Elizabeth Bennet meets single, rich, and proud Mr. Darcy. But Mr. Darcy reluctantly finds himself falling in love with a woman beneath his class. Can each overcome their own pride and prejudice?

2. Silver Linings Playbook (2012)–After a stint in a mental institution, former teacher Pat Solitano moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife. Things get more challenging when Pat meets Tiffany, a mysterious girl with problems of her own.

3. Shakespeare in Love (1998)–A young Shakespeare, out of ideas and short of cash, meets his ideal woman and is inspired to write one of his most famous plays.

4. Blue Is The Warmest Color (2013)–Adele’s life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire, to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adele grows, seeks herself, loses herself and ultimately finds herself through love and loss.

5. New York, I Love You (2008)–Several love stories set in one of the most loved cities of the world, New York.

6. A Walk On The Moon (1999)–The world of a young housewife is turned upside down when she has an affair with a free-spirited blouse salesman.

7. Punch-Drunk Love (2002)–A psychologically troubled novelty supplier is nudged towards a romance with an English woman, all the while being extorted by a phone-sex line run by a crooked mattress salesman, and purchasing stunning amounts of pudding.

8. Roman Holiday (1953)–A bored and sheltered princess escapes her guardians and falls in love with an American newsman in Rome.

9. I Hate Valentine’s Day (2009)–A florist, who abides by a strict five-date-limit with any man, finds herself wanting more with the new restaurateur in town.

10. Across the Universe (2007)–The music of the Beatles and the Vietnam War form the backdrop for the romance between an upper-class American girl and a poor Liverpudlian artist.

Honorable Mention: Clueless, Love Actually, Moonrise Kingdom, Bridget Jones’s Diary.

And for movies in the theaters this week, check out How To Be Single!

Bringing Heart to Hank Williams

saw the light

I Saw the Light director Marc Abraham was instructed by his casting director to not offer the highly coveted role of Hank Williams to any actor he met with, that is not before having them sing and read for the role. However, half way through a dinner meeting with British actor Tom Hiddleston, Abraham, who has had the project since his producing days at Strike Entertainment, just couldn’t resist given the actor’s identical mug to the legendary country singer.

“I saw Tom in War Horse and he popped off the screen for me,” Abraham told Deadline at our Toronto International Film Festival studio at the Templar Hotel. “‘Let’s do it!’ I told him. I didn’t have financing at the time, nor was the project at a studio, but I told him I knew how to get movies made,” said Abraham who makes his second directorial with I Saw the Light after 2008’s Flash of Genius. Abraham sought to make a film in the spirit of such Bob Fosse ’70s renegade showbiz pics like All That Jazz and Lenny, not to mention, having grown up three hours from Nashville in Louisville, Kentucky, the story of Hank Williams was one that was close to the filmmaker’s heartland.

“I got caught up in Hank’s story. He died at 29, wrote all these songs, divorced the same woman twice, married a 19-year old right after recording ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart’. I thought what an amazing story. He was in the public domain, and I just started writing the script,” said Abraham.

Fun fact: Though the duo of Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olson respectively star as Loki and Scarlet Witch in the Marvel cinematic universe, their work on the comic book films isn’t responsible for bringing them together on I Saw the Light. 

New Movies To Love

 

southpaw2We want to take a look at some movies coming out in this week that we are really excited to see! From quirky indie romance, to big budget spy thrillers, we have you covered on your next date night!

Paper Towns

paper townsAdapted from the bestselling novel by author John Green (“The Fault in Our Stars”), PAPER TOWNS is a coming-of-age story centering on Quentin and his enigmatic neighbor Margo, who loved mysteries so much she became one. After taking him on an all-night adventure through their hometown, Margo suddenly disappears–leaving behind cryptic clues for Quentin to decipher. The search leads Quentin and his quick-witted friends on an exhilarating adventure that is equal parts hilarious and moving. Ultimately, to track down Margo, Quentin must find a deeper understanding of true friendship–and true love. 

Southpaw

southpawThe story of tragedy, loss and the painful road to redemption… Billy “The Great” Hope (Gyllenhaal) is the reigning Junior Middleweight Champion whose unorthodox stance, the so-called “Southpaw,” consists of an ineloquent, though brutal, display of offensive fighting…one fueled by his own feelings of inadequacy and a desperate need for love, money and fame. With a beautiful family, home and financial security, Billy is on top both in and out of the ring until a tragic accident leaves his wife dead and sends him into a downward spiral. His days now an endless haze of alcohol and prescription drugs, his daughter taken by Child Services and his home repossessed by the bank, Billy’s fate is all but sealed until a washed up former boxer named Tick agrees to take the bereaved pugilist under his wing so long as he agrees to his strict ethos. Relentless and utterly committed to a fighter that thinks as much as he throws punches, Tick rebuilds Billy into a new man: one that is agile, fearsome and uncompromising in the ring while thoughtful, loving and disciplined outside of it. Now, as he works to regain custody of his daughter and mounts a professional comeback, Billy must face his demons head-on as he learns that, sometimes, your greatest opponent can be yourself. 

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

mission impossibleEthan and team take on their most impossible mission yet, eradicating the Syndicate – an International rogue organization as highly skilled as they are, committed to destroying the IMF. Ethan Hunt’s highly effective but destructive Impossible Mission Force (IMF) has been disbanded by vengeful Washington bureaucrats such as the CIA chief (played by Alec Baldwin). But Hunt pulls his team together (Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames and newcomer Rebecca Ferguson) to battle the shadowy force known as “The Syndicate” and its elusive leader (Sean Harris).