‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ Review: Good-Hearted Musical Is Long on Incident but Short on Drama

Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. The long list of artists and executives will bring the total number of Academy members to 10,817, as the 96th edition of the Oscars quickly approaches.Among the new members, some popular names include successful singer Taylor Swift, talented actress Keke Palmer, ‘Elvis’ star Austin Butler, fan-favorite actor Paul Mescal, ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ star Stephanie Hsu, and more.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Austin Butler, Ke Huy Quan, Keke Palmer, NT Rama Rao Jr and music superstar Taylor Swift are among the 398 artists and executives invited to join the membership of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. If all of this year’s invitees accept membership, it will bring the total number of overall Academy members to 10,817 (up from 10,665 last year), with 9,375 eligible to vote (a decrease from 9,665 due to deaths, retirements and moving to emeritus status) for the 96th Oscars, set to take place on March 10, 2024. The 2023 class is 40% women. 34% belong to underrepresented ethnic/racial communities and 52% hail from 51 countries and territories outside the United States. There are many recent Oscar nominees among the invitees, such as Austin Butler (“Elvis”), Paul Mescal (“Aftersun”), Stephanie Hsu (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) and Kerry Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin”). The list also includes many of the 95th ceremony’s winners, such as Ke Huy Quan (supporting actor for “Everything Everywhere All at Once”) cinematographer James Friend (“All Quiet on the Western Front”) and composer and songwriter M.M. Keeravani and Chandrabose (“Naatu Naatu” from “RRR”). Even the dynamic “RRR” lead acting duo of Ram Charan and N. T. Rama Rao Jr. have also been extended invitations, along with the film’s production designer Sabu Cyril and cinematographer K.K. Senthil Kumar.

Netta is back, and it’s “Everything”!

Naman Ramachandran Following its run on Paramount+, the second season of “Queen of the Universe” will land on streaming platform WOW Presents Plus as a box set. Produced by “RuPaul’s Drag Race” producers World of Wonder, and hosted by BAFTA-winner Graham Norton, the Eurovision-style series finds countries going head to head with their top drag queens putting their real singing voices to the test. In the second season, former Spice Girl Mel B joins returning judges including recording artist, three-time Emmy-winning producer and judge of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,’ Michelle Visage, multi-Emmy and Grammy nominee Vanessa Williams and American drag superstar Trixie Mattel.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor “The Conners” and “The Righteous Gemstones” star John Goodman says he misses his “Roseanne” co-star Roseanne Barr, but he’s not sure he’d work with her again. Hit sitcom “Roseanne” was canceled by ABC in 2018 after a racially-charged tweet by Barr about Valerie Jarrett, an African-American woman who was a senior adviser to Barack Obama throughout his presidency. Barr later apologized. Later that year, Goodman told the Sunday Times: “I was surprised at the response. And that’s probably all I should say about that … I know for a fact that she’s not a racist.” He added that Barr was “going through hell.” Barr then thanked Goodman “for speaking truth about me.”

The Bear returns for its second season this month.Created by Christopher Storer, the show’s first season followed award-winning chef Carmen ‘Carmy’ Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) who returns to run his family’s Italian beef sandwich shop following the suicide of his older brother.The second season picks up after Carmy’s decision to close the shop in order to open a new restaurant, alongside Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) and Richie (Ebon Mass-Bachrach).A synopsis reads: “Carmy, Sydney and Richie work to transform their grimy sandwich joint into a next-level spot. As they strip the restaurant down to its bones, the crew undertakes transformational journeys of their own, each forced to confront the past and reckon with who they want to be in the future.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Musical tag-teaming doesn’t have results much more fruitful than what came about when the showrunners of “A Small Light” picked Ariel Marx to compose the score for the limited series and Este Haim to serve as executive music producer. Neither Haim nor Marx was in a position to take anything about the job lightly, given that the eight-episode series for National Geographic and Disney+ tells the story of a Dutch woman, Miep Gies, who helped hide Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis. Yet, in their very separate roles, both found ways to bring musical light or even levity into a drama that inevitably skews toward tension. Este Haim took on the EMP job for the first time with “A Small Light” after previously scoring or co-composing “Maid” and “Cha Cha Smooth” — on top of her day job as one-third of the rocking sister trio Haim. For “A Small Light,” she produced episode-ending covers of songs from the first half of the 20th century, performed by Angel Olsen, Moses Sumney, Kamasi Washington, Sharon Van Etten with Michael Imperioli, Remi Wolf, Weyes Blood, duet partners Orville Peck and King Princess, and her sister Danielle.

wrote on Twitter Friday shortly after news circulated that the series would not be returning for a third installment. The cancellation comes week’s after NBC’s last batch of decisions for on-the-bubble shows, which involved canceling “Grand Crew” after two seasons and “Young Rock” after three seasons.“I’m so sorry we didn’t get to make those episodes, but I’m immensely proud of the 23 episodes of the show we did put out there,” Spitzer continued.

Trooping the Colour — once again stealing the show.Accompanied by siblings Prince George and Princess Charlotte, the royal trio waved to spectators from their carriage while en route to the Horse Guards Parade with their mother, Kate Middleton, 41, and Queen Camilla, 75.Audiences were captivated by the animated faces of Louis, 5, who, at one point, held his nose and grimaced.Meanwhile, King Charles, 74, and Prince William, 40, traveled on horses, marking the first time a monarch has ridden horseback since the late Queen Elizabeth II in 1986.After the parade, the royal family gathered on the Buckingham Palace balcony to watch a flypast, and Louis saluted onlookers.While the newly coronated king won’t turn 75 until November, the summertime celebration is a royal tradition.This isn’t the first time Louis has become the star of the show with his playful behavior. At the queen’s Platinum Jubilee last year, Louis’ stunts were a welcome distraction for audiences at home.And at Charles’ coronation last month, Louis stole the limelight while letting out a few yawns during the ceremony.Charles was not only competing with Louis’ adorable antics Saturday, but also daughter-in-law Meghan Markle’s “Suits.”The USA Network series became available to watch Saturday on Netflix, which is also home to Markle and Prince Harry’s bombshell docuseries.Markle, 41, plays lawyer Rachel Zane in “Suits,” her final acting project before becoming a royal in 2018.

The adventures of “Queen of the Universe” season 2 are about to get bigger and better than ever before.

When she won a Golden Globe for “The Devil Wears Prada,” Meryl Streep said it best about what the role of costume design could be in moving pictures while thanking costume designer Patricia Field: “That was like special effects for our movie.”Indeed, “special effects” is what the effervescent Pat Field touch brings to any project that she signs her name under, the most popular among them undoubtedly being HBO’s “Sex and the City.” With perhaps the exception of “Mad Men” has there been another culturally iconic TV series in the last quarter century that informed, even evolved how people dressed in their daily lives?So it’s no easy task to do justice to the life and legacy of Field, a colorful New York City personality with a recently published book about her life. (Field doesn’t call it a memoir, as that word sounds too final to her.) But more versed in episodic outputs such as CNN’s four-part docuseries “American Style” than feature-length films, director Michael Selditch gives this gigantic task a shot anyway in “Happy Clothes: A Film About Patricia Field” with mixed results.

Eva Longoria is thrilled to present her new film ‘Flamin’ Hot’ at the White House on Thursday. After making her directorial debut, the 48-year-old star will be honored with a special screening for Latino leaders and community members, hosted by Joe and Jill Biden.The actress is sharing her excitement to attend, as she will also be joined by cast members.

The positive response to the Dutch reality series De Verraders has brought different versions of The Traitors to many countries, but executive producer Toni Ireland says the biggest challenge for her was to ensure that the U.S. production stood out in the crowd. Peacock’s The Traitors brings together a group of everyday people and reality TV stars in an elaborate murder-mystery competition hosted by Alan Cumming. Perhaps the biggest change in the U.S. series was in how the game ended, which led to a shocking finale where the group needed to unanimously decide to either trust their fellow finalists and split the money or call for another elimination vote if they believe a traitor is still among them.

Eva Longoria’s directorial debut with “Flamin‘ Hot” has been a success! The actress, director, and businesswoman premiered the movie at the 2023 Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF).The much anticipated and discussed premiere tells the inspiring true story of Richard Montañez, who, as a Frito Lay janitor, disrupted the food industry by creating people’s favorite Flamin‘ Hot Cheetos.During the special event, Longoria wore a massive flame-shaped ring that caught everyone’s attention, including the fine jewelry and diamond experts at UK retailer Steven Stone.The team has taken a close look at the ring and revealed with HOLA! USA everything you might want to know about the custom-made ring created by Chopard.“Eva Longoria always looks fabulous, and she certainly turned the heat up at the Los Angeles premiere of her latest project, ‘Flamin’ Hot,’” Maxwell Stone said via email.“The actor-turned-director paired her sheer black lace beaded gown with jewels from Chopard - and all eyes were on her massive ring.

Things are about to get royally hot on Prime Video.

Seth Meyers’ upcoming tour.The “Late Night With Seth Meyers” host and former ‘Saturday Night Live’ Weekend Update anchor is leaving his trademark desk behind and traveling all over North America performing stand-up live at venues from June through August.Of course, there will be a handful of NYC gigs along the way for the NYC-based performer.Over, the course of the summer run, Meyers will stop in at New York City’s City Winery on June 20, July 18 and July 24.He’ll also host the launch of the new book “Boom Chicago Presents the 30 Most Important Years in Dutch History” along with Amber Ruffin, Tarik Davis and more at Le Poisson Rouge on June 21.Finally, he’ll conclude his brief trek with back-to-back co-headlining shows with John Oliver at the Beacon Theatre on Thursday, Aug. 17 and Friday, Aug.

Plex and conducted by OnePoll, the survey uncovered 67% believe that the best cure for a bad day is watching a comfort show or movie. Seventy percent of respondents can name movies and shows that turned their day from bad to good, including “Forrest Gump”, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and “Gilmore Girls”.Meanwhile, 39% were also able to name movies and shows that had the opposite effect — turning their day from good to bad — including “13 Reasons Why”, “Black Mirror” and “Titanic.”Over a third (37%) recalled movies and shows so impactful, they changed their life, including “My Sister’s Keeper,” “Parenthood,” “Pay It Forward,” “Remember the Titans,” “Roots” and “Trainspotting.”“The impact movies and shows have on our mood is unique and powerful,” said Jason Williams, Product Director at Plex.

Red, White & Royal Blue told Glamour in 2019 about their debut novel. “I’m a queer person.

Peter Caranicas Deputy Editor The Los Angeles Greek Film Festival, an annual showcase that brings films and filmmakers from Greece, Cyprus and other countries in the region to the United States, announced the winners of its 2023 Orpheus Awards at a ceremony on Sunday night at the Silver Screen Theatre in the Pacific Design Center. Toplining the honors: “Listen,” directed by Maria Douza, which won for best fiction feature film. “Iman,” helmed Corina Avramidou and Kyriakos Tofarides, took home the special jury award for best film, and Panos Koutras won the best director award for “Dodo.” Spiros Jacovides won an honorable mention for best director for “Black Stone,” and Efthalia Papacosta was awarded the best performance trophy for “Listen.” “Black Stone” also won the audience award for feature film, and an honorable mention for best performance went to Stephanie Atala for “Iman.”

Sex And The City star Sarah Jessica Parker will follow her husband Matthew Broderick onto the West End stage when she appears in Plaza Suite next year. The 58-year-old American actress is starring alongside Broderick, known for teen comedy Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, in the play at the Savoy Theatre in London from January 2024.