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With an ever-expanding library, Netflix offers an overwhelming number of choices, making it difficult to separate the truly great films from the forgettable ones. While new releases often dominate the spotlight, many exceptional films remain buried under the sheer volume of content. Whether they are underrated gems, overlooked classics, or simply films that haven’t received the attention they deserve, these movies stand out amidst the mediocrity.

That’s where we come in. This list is designed to help you cut through the clutter and discover some great films on Netflix that you can watch right now; carefully selected to ensure your time is spent on something truly worthwhile. So, if you’re tired of endlessly scrolling and unsure what to watch next, let this be your guide.

1. Grave of the Fireflies (1988) | Director: Isao Takahata

Grave of the Fireflies remains one of the most profound anti-war films ever made, a...

A free concert to honor first responders at the Hollywood Bowl next month appropriately will feature John Williams classic “Superman March.”

The L.A. Philharmonic announced programming details today for We Love L.A., an April 1 free concert meant to thank those who fought January’s wildfires and provide a night of enjoyment for community members who were impacted. It will feature not just Williams’ music but also the Palisades Charter High School Band playing the National Anthem.

Music and Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel will lead the philharmonic and special guests in a program featuring the music of close L.A. Phil collaborators Williams and Gabriela Ortiz alongside selections from Mahler, Gershwin, the popular canon and more.

The concert will begin at 8 p.m. and proceed as follows:

National Anthem, Palisades Charter High School Band “Kauyumari,” Gabriela Ortiz “Adagietto from Symphony No. 5,” Mahler “I Got Rhythm” variations (George Gershwin), Gerald Clayton,...

The first episode of WWE Raw on Netflix on Jan. 6 was, in the words of a top executive at the company, perhaps the most important episode of the show’s 32-year history. The WWE inked a 10-year, $5 billion deal with the global streaming giant last year, and the episode was meant to be a grand introduction to the platform, with Netflix stars and executives in the crowd, and an opening monologue from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

For the very first WWE match on Netflix, the company delivered a payoff for fans, and a storyline that it hoped would introduce the stakes at play to the new Netflix audience. Roman Reigns, the six-time former WWE champion and founder of the “Bloodline,” had been banished from the faction he founded, with his rival Solo Sikoa assuming control.

Their rivalry had been boiling over for months. Normally, it would culminate in a main event at a WWE flagship,...

If no one has told you to watch "Andor" yet, then let me be the first (and certainly the loudest). Despite earning rave reviews during its first season and quickly establishing itself as the greatest "Star Wars" TV series to date, the sci-fi spy thriller and "Rogue One" prequel has flown a bit under the radar for more casual fans. Thankfully, it's now easier to watch than ever before.

In a bid to get more eyes on the series leading up to its season 2 premiere on April 22, 2025, Disney just put the first three episodes of season 1 up on YouTube for free. That's a complete arc of the show, and surely enough to get plenty of newcomers hooked. In addition, the entirety of season 1 is now streaming on Hulu, opening it up to a much wider audience that might have that streamer but not a Disney+ subscription. (Hulu will continue to...

When John Wayne broke through to bona-fide movie stardom in John Ford's 1939 classic "Stagecoach," he quickly established himself as the most bankable actor in the film industry. Not every Wayne picture was a smash hit, but they almost always turned a tidy profit. Given that he was remarkably prolific throughout the prime of his career, making multiple movies per year, this meant his fans came to expect a certain level of quality from the star — otherwise, they would've stopped showing up at a certain point.

If you're new to the movies of John Wayne, and you're looking for a good place to start, you can do no better than the aforementioned Western, which established his swaggeringly laconic persona. But once you get that one out of the way, there are many different paths you can take. You could try one of his war films or watch The Duke get...

Star Wars: Underworld was a hugely ambitious project imagined by George Lucas as the first live-action TV series set in a Galaxy Far, Far Away. Dozens of scripts were written, but making it proved to be something of a logistical nightmare for Lucasfilm.

Ultimately, it fell by the wayside alongside several other small screen projects when Disney acquired the studio. Since then, we've seen the Kathleen Kennedy-led studio produce several shows for Disney+, including The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

We know the series was set on Coruscant and, as the title implies, it was going to explore the planet's Underworld at the height of the Empire's rule.

Little else is known beyond that but former Star Wars franchise producer Rick McCallum has shared some new details (via SFFGazette.com), including the fact each episode was going to cost $40 million to produce.

Considering 60 of them were planned, you can...

I recently came across some fascinating details about a Star Wars project that never saw the light of day. It’s called Star Wars: Underworld, and it was a bold idea from George Lucas himself.

Let’s dig into what could have been a game-changer for the franchise, based on what I learned from a podcast episode of Young Indy Chronicles featuring Peter and Daniel, along with producer Rick McCallum.

This canceled show was set to be unlike any Star Wars story we’ve seen before. Imagine a darker, more intense Star Wars with a mature edge—something that felt sexy and even violent.

It was meant to push boundaries, showing a side of the galaxy far removed from the family-friendly adventures we’re used to. The plan was to explore the gritty underbelly of this universe, and it sounds like it would have been a wild ride.

The project...

Steve Jobs once said, “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” In the 1970s, George Lucas blew open the world of sci-fi with his first Star Wars flick, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. The seeds he planted as a young filmmaker back in the day would later blossom into the multi-billion dollar franchise we adore today.

Star Wars | Credit: Lucasfilm

And his hunger for success would only go on to fuel his ambition. Among his future plans for the galaxy far, far away, included a television show of equally massive proportions. His vision would have birthed the most expensive TV show of its time, going head to head against already established franchises like Star Trek that were dominating the TV circuit.

However, the idea itself was deemed too big to fit in a tiny square frame...

German composer Hans Zimmer began his career playing keyboards for various New Wave bands around Europe. He played with Krakatoa in his native Germany, with The Buggles (of "Video Killed the Radio Star" fame) in England, with Krisma in Italy, and with Mecano in Spain. In the early '80s, he started to produce pop singles as well, overseeing "History of the World, Part 1" for the punk band The Damned. About the same time, he started to write commercial jingles and TV theme tunes, effectively giving him an "in" into film-scoring work. His first film as a composer was 1982's "Moonlighting," one of Jerzy Skolimowski's movies. 

For there, Zimmer's output increased exponentially, and he brought his unique, sweeping sensibilities (but with a pinch of New Wave) to over 20 features. He scored Stephen Frears' "My Beautiful Laundrette," (soon to be remade) and Bernard Rose's underrated "Paperhouse." In 1988, he...

Olive Sturgess, who appeared on about two dozen TV Westerns and got to act alongside Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre and Jack Nicholson in the Roger Corman 1963 cult horror spoof The Raven, died Feb. 19, her family announced. She was 91.

Through two decades starting in the mid-1950s, the fresh-faced Sturgess showed up on (by her count) about 300 episodes of television, including 12 from 1956-59 as the girlfriend of Dwayne Hickman’s character on the NBC-CBS sitcom The Bob Cummings Show.

The Canadian-born starlet also was seen on such series as West Point, Perry Mason, Panic!, The Donna Reed Show, Hawaiian Eye, The Danny Thomas Show, Petticoat Junction, Dr. Kildare and Ironside, but TV Westerns dominated her résumé.

Sturgess appeared on Tales of Wells Fargo, Cheyenne, Sugarfoot, U.S. Marshal, Rawhide, Have Gun — Will Travel, Lawman, Laramie, The Rebel, The Tall Man, Bronco, Whispering Smith, Maverick, Wide Country, Destry,...

The Academy Awards aren’t exactly an objective measure of cinematic quality, but it’s always gratifying to see hard-working artists be rewarded for their output – especially when those artists happen to work in the horror genre. And in honor of Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance being nominated for a whopping five Oscars this year, we’ve decided to look back on the small selection of horror movies that have managed to win Academy Awards.

Of course, the lines separating one genre from another can sometimes be hard to define, so don’t be surprised if we end up disagreeing on what does or doesn’t count as a proper horror picture. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own Oscar-winning favorites if you think we missed a particularly good one.

With that out of the way, onto the list…

14. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Often cited as one...

It is hard to get me excited for a new Star Wars TV series. I don't think I'm alone, either; a great many such shows have come out over the past several years, to generally diminishing returns. The Acolyte, which aired last year, underperformed to the point where Disney chose not to renew it for a second season, which left several plot threads hanging. How do you make this universe feel exciting again?

Well, Star Wars: Andor managed to pull it off. The first season of this drama aired on Disney+ back in 2022, and while a lot of new Star Wars shows and movies claim to be "Star Wars but for adults" or "mature Star Wars," Andor actually did it. The show follows Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), a cynic living under the yoke of the Empire. Over the course of the first season, he comes to truly believe in the mission of the Rebel Alliance.

Here’s a fun piece of Hollywood trivia for you. In 1981, a movie called Great White hit theaters, and made over $18 million domestically, before being yanked from theaters when Universal sued the filmmakers for ripping off Jaws. The movie, which was one of the many Jaws clones released in Italy in the wake of Jaws’s success, was directed by Enzo G. Castellari and was seen as an even more blatant than usual rip-off, with it centring around a seaside community terrorized by a Great White shark, whose mayor refuses to take the threat seriously – only for a crusty old shark hunter to team up with a nerdy landlubber to save the day. Sound familiar?

In the years since they blocked it, the film, which was called The Last Shark in Europe, has once again become available, and now it’s getting a fully-loaded Blu-ray from British Label Treasured Films.

There is perhaps no actor so associated with Star Wars as Anthony Daniels. The man who gave his voice and physical presence to C-3Po, human-cyborg relations, has appeared not only in Episodes I-ix but also in video games and TV shows. He played Tak in Solo: A Star Wars Story and was seen giving the Jedi a curious look at a bar in Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of the Clones. What you might not know is that he was the Emcee (or is that Emcee-Threepio?) of Star Wars: In Concert from its beginnings in 2009 through 2015. In 2024, he returned to host Star Wars: A Musical Journey.

In Star Wars Insider #230, Daniels takes readers through the experience as well as shares his favorite John Williams tracks.

What is experiencing Star Wars: In Concert like? John Williams And “The President's Own” Concert | Shannon Finney/GettyImages

The cover of Issue 230 features Threepio...

On Sunday, the Motion Picture Sound Editors announced the winners of the Mpse Golden Reel Awards, and four of the five Oscar nominees for Best Sound came away victorious: Dune: Part Two, Emilia Pérez, Wicked, and The Wild Robot. The fifth Oscar nominee, A Complete Unknown, had two Golden Reel nominations, but didn't win.

Dune claimed top honors for effects/foley. Wicked was awarded for music editing. The Wild Robot had the best sound editing for animation. And Emilia Pérez won the award for international features. Surprisingly, the dialogue/Adr prize went to Saturday Night, which ranked fifth in Gold Derby's odds, with only one user predicting that result.

A Complete Unknown may have been the odd movie out at the Golden Reels, but it did win the Cas Award for its sound mixing, while Dune claimed the BAFTA Award for its sound. Every single Best Sound nominee at the...

The 61st annual Cinema Audio Society (Cas) Awards celebrated achievements in sound mixing across film, television, and documentary categories. The event, hosted by comedian Tom Papa, was held at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles.

In the live-action motion picture category, A Complete Unknown won the top award. The film, directed by James Mangold, highlights Bob Dylan’s early years and features live musical performances. Production sound mixer Tod A. Maitland, who led the sound team, received the Cas Career Achievement Award.

The animated category was won by The Wild Robot. The documentary award went to Music by John Williams, a tribute to the legendary composer.

In television, Masters of the Air won in the non-theatrical motion picture or limited series category. Shōgun received the award for best sound mixing in a one-hour television series. The Bear was recognized in the half-hour category.

Filmmaker Denis Villeneuve received the Cas Filmmaker of the Year Award.

A Complete Unknown, The Wild Robot and Music By John Williams were the motion picture winners at the 61st Annual Cinema Audio Society (Cas) Awards. The celebration of excellence in sound mixing across film, television and non-fiction programming also honored Masters of the Air, Shogun and The Bear in its TV categories.

“This year’s winners transported audiences to historic battlegrounds, to bustling kitchens and deeply personal moments of an American icon, proving once again that sound is the rhythm in the heart of movies,” said Cas President Peter Kurland. “From sweeping cinematic epics to intimate portraits of life, the artistry of sound mixing continues to push creative and technical boundaries. These exceptional professionals don’t just enhance stories—they define them. Tonight, we celebrate their dedication, innovation, and the lasting impact of their craft.”

Comedian Tom Papa returned as host of this year’s ceremony which was held at...

The 61st Cinema Audio Society Awards handed its marquee Live Action Motion Picture prize to A Complete Unknown during Saturday night’s ceremony at the Beverly Hilton. That makes James Mangold’s film the front-runner for Best Sound at the Oscars next month.

A Complete Unknown will vie for the Academy Award against Dune: Part Two, Emilia Pérez, Wicked and The Wild Robot. All of those except Emilia Pérez also were up for Cas Awards. Oppenheimer took the Live Action Motion Picture prize at last year’s Cas Awards but lost the Oscar to The Zone of Interest.

Other film winners Saturday included The Wild Robot for Animated Motion Picture and Music by John Williams for Documentary. See the full list below.

Shōgun and The Bear were among the small-screen winners at Cas’ annual ceremony honoring the year’s best in feature film and TV sound mixing.

Cas presented its...

Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products announced each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.

Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!

The Dream Master Shirt from Fright-Rags

Fright-Rags has a Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master shirt available for $25 today only.

Designed by Zachary Jackson Brown, pre-orders close at midnight and will ship the week of March 21.

Godzilla Toys from Super7

Super7’s latest wave of Godzilla ReAction Figures includes Godzilla Minus One’s debut in the line.

Godzilla ’89 (based on Godzilla vs. Biollante) and Mechagodzilla ’93 (based on Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II) are also featured.

Shipping in March, each 3.75″ retro-style toy costs $20.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence Vinyl from Mondo

Composed by the legendary John Williams, the A.I. Artificial Intelligence soundtrack is available on vinyl from Mondo.

Priced at $60, the 2xLP album is...

If you ask the average Potterhead what their favorite "Harry Potter" movie is, there's a decent chance they'll say "Prisoner of Azkaban." That's the Alfonso Cuaron-directed one where the cinematography's amazing and everyone's hair looks their best. If you ask them about their least favorite "Potter" movie, they might say "Goblet of Fire." That's the one that tries and fails to cram as much of the 700+ page source material into a single movie, plus it's the one where nobody got a haircut. 

If not "Goblet of Fire," fans might pick "Half-Blood Prince," the movie that plays it fast and loose with its source material. They also might pick "Deathly Hallows: Part 1," accusing it of feeling like half a story. But according to IMDb at least, there's one clear reigning loser amongst the "Harry Potter" films, and that's the second one: "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." 

With a 7.4 out of 10 rating,...

We were hardly surprised that AMPAS’s notoriously insular and tony music branch took a hard pass on Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor’s meme-tastic, Golden Globe- and Critics’ Choice Award-winning score for Challengers. While the branch’s voters welcomed Ross-Reznor to the club long ago (they’ve won twice), one wouldn’t need to examine the history of what’s been shortlisted but snubbed too closely to know that piledriver beats that sound straight out of a poppers trainer video were probably never going to connect with the same demographic that just last year gave John Williams a record-extending 54th Oscar nomination.

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Of course, getting the nomination is only half the battle, and for all the music branch’s efforts to keep its peers’ most unorthodox work at bay, voters at large feel less resistant these days to taking bigger swings—hence Steven Price’s Gravity beating Alexandre Desplat’s Philomena,...

Stanley Kubrick, who directed 2001: A Space Odyssey, would not live to see the actual 2001. But he would last long enough for an unfinished film of his to see release in that year. Steven Spielberg picked up his project A.I. Artificial Intelligence and directed it himself, inviting his buddy John Williams to compose the score. Not everyone liked A.I., but the general public consensus is that there’s never been a bad Williams composition.

I’ll always wonder what the Kubrick version of this movie would’ve been like, and if it would’ve been an improvement. We can all agree it likely would have been darker — Spielberg can’t help but infuse his brand of sentimentality into everything he does — but the popular belief that the “happy” ending was Steven’s invention is not true. That was actually part of it from the beginning, as weird and tacked-on as it feels.

Disney has certainly done a lot with the Star Wars saga since acquiring it in 2012, but bringing it into the theme parks was inevitable. Like any Disney Park fixture, Galaxy's Edge is also the backdrop for special events and hot ticket celebrations that make fans drool.

Seasons of the Force is a spring celebration of all things Star Wars for the Disneyland Resort, bringing in new experiences and opportunities for visiting guests for a limited time. This year, Disney is doing more than adding overlays and new food items, including an appearance from one of the galaxy's legendary heroes.

The Force awakens this summer at Galaxy's Edge

This isn't the first time Disneyland has played host to Seasons of the Force, but it is the first time it will be incorporating several new features. The Disney Parks Blog has released a comprehensive guide to the event (found here), listing out all the exciting additions.

When most people think of classical composers, images of people wearing powdered wigs, sitting at harpsicords, or conducting symphonies often are the first that come to mind. Along with the likes of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Mozart, John Williams is practically a living legend.

Williams began his film career by composing for Daddy-o in 1959, but his abilities only blossomed as he went on to compose for directors like Steven Spielberg, Chris Columbus, and George Lucas. With decades of films under his belt, it's hard to narrow down his absolute best. But that doesn't mean we can't try!

"Main Title" from Jaws (1975)

It's one thing if a composer can work with a minimalist score, but it's another if he can make two notes into something unforgettably chilling. The theme from Jaws is pure suspense, and that's all there is to it.

Similar to the screeching strings from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, the...

You can stream the trailer here, and find out what we know about the movie so far.

Movies about dinosaurs have a way of capturing the imagination in ways other creature features simply cannot do. The “Jurassic Park” franchise has capitalized on this fact time and again throughout the decades, and it’s nearly ready to release its latest installment “Jurassic World Rebirth.” The film doesn’t hit theaters until this summer, but there are plenty of details available already, and we’ll let you know all the information we have about it so far here!

What we know so far about “Jurassic World Rebirth”

Watch the trailer for ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’

When does ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ come out?

What is ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ about?

Who stars in ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’

What will ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ be rated?

Where will ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ stream?

Where can you stream the other ‘Jurassic Park’ movies?...

Composer John Williams is one of the most beloved creative figures in Hollywood as evidenced by his 54 Oscar nominations, which make him the second most nominated individual in the history of the awards, behind Walt Disney with 59. But even though he constantly racks up nominations, you might be surprised how rarely he wins. We’ve compiled every single one of his career nominations. Scroll down to see every single one of them, many directed or produced by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.

Williams’ Oscar wins were for Best Score Adaptation/Original Song Score for “Fiddler on the Roof” (1971) and then four for Best Original Score: “Jaws” (1975), “Star Wars” (1977), “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” (1982) and “Schindler’s List” (1993). After “Schindler’s” he racked up more than 20 additional noms but didn’t win any of them.

To be fair, most artists in any discipline would be the envy of their field if they had that many Oscars.

The Grammy Awards are to the music industry and the Academy Awards are to the film industry. Established in 1959 by the Recording Academy of the United States, they honor artistic and technical excellence in the music industry.

Often hailed as ‘music’s biggest nights,’ the Grammy’s celebrated the creativity, talent, and dedication of artists, producers, songwriters, and more across the world and across a wide array of genres. Thus, winning a Grammy award is considered to be one of the biggest accolades in the music world.

The Grammys are the most prestigious musical awards | Credit: Grammys.com

Artists, both amateurs and seasoned professionals dream of winning a Grammy, hoping not just to get commercial success but also to earn critical acclaim and recognition. So while over the years, many iconic musicians and artists have left an indelible mark on the awards and this prestigious event, only a select few...

In a few weeks, the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, better known as SNL, will turn 50. The legendary series has been a part of popular culture since it started in 1975. The show itself has seen too many memorable sketches to count. That includes those they deemed to have fun with the Star Wars franchise and featuring alumni who appeared in the franchise.

Let's look at some of the best Star Wars moments in Saturday Night Live

In 1978, a year after A New Hope was released, a sketch became a part of Star Wars lore. Comedian Bill Murray portrayed a lounge singer and sang a new tune using John Williams's main theme. "Star Wars, nothing but Star Wars" has become a popular song in both franchises and displays Murray's comedic talent. It also displayed how far Star Wars had come in relation to popular culture.

In 1999, a memorable sketch...

The American Film Institute said Wednesday that the 39th edition of its AFI Fest will take place October 22-26, 2025 at the Tcl Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

The event annually draws A-list world premieres as it sits in the middle of the movie awards season. This past year saw the festival launch Robert Zemeckis’ Here as its Centerpiece Gala, Laurent Bouzereau’s documentary Music By John Williams as its opening-night pic, and Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2 as its closing-night pic.

AFI Fest features red carpet and special screenings, world cinema and documentary films. It also serves as a qualifying festival for the Oscars’ Live Action, Animated and Documentary Short Film categories, as well as for the British Short Film categories at the BAFTA Film Awards and the British Independent Film Awards

Submission for the short film competition program, for films that were completed after October 1, 2024, are open today. The early deadline...

Everyone loves a good shark movie. Ever since Jaws hit theaters and broke box office records in 1975, it’s been a reliable horror movie genre. Case in point: Netflix’s Under Paris has become one of the streaming service’s most popular non-English language film of all time (and a sequel is now in the works). While everyone knows Jaws is by far the best shark movie ever, there are loads of other movies out there that should make you just as afraid to get in the water. We’re gonna need a bigger boat as we travel these dangerous waters of shark films.

Z​ombie (1979)

O​k. Already I’m cheating, but I mean . . . come on. This has one of the best shark scenes in cinematic history. During an early scene of the movie, a woman decides to go for a swim in the lovely Caribbean waters when a tiger shark appears.

I have become so accustomed to defining children’s or family films in this era as animated that when you come upon one that doesn’t fall into that easy definition it is a welcome shock to the system. The Legend of Ochi, premiering today in the Family Matinee section of the Sundance Film Festival, is a throwback, one of those films clearly inspired by more adventurous PG entertainments of the past and never talking down to its intended audience. As a result, the A24 release is a breath of fresh air and a stunning visual treat that will appeal well beyond the youngest members in the household.

With cinematic inspirations like The Black Stallion, My Neighbor Tortoro, Roald Dahl’s The Witches, Princess Mononoke and clearly Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, director/writer Isaiah Saxon, with his feature debut, has accomplished a striking bit of world-building,...

The Ochi, a small mystical creature feared by a remote Carpathian village in writer-director Isaiah Saxon’s The Legend of Ochi, speak in a language that operates in a musical and emotional capacity. A similar linguistic spirit is evinced by the film itself. Mercifully for the audience’s eardrums, that doesn’t mean that Saxon gives his debut feature over to the animals’ shrill, screeching form of oral communication. Rather than simply utilizing language to convey information as humans do, he’s more attuned to more melodic and mysterious ways of using it.

Saxon operates in well-trod territory with his original yarn, with the likes of Steven Spielberg and Jim Henson looming large as visual and narrative touchstones. In the film, an isolated teenager named Yuri (Helena Zengel) comes into contact with a trapped baby Ochi and refuses to give into the terror of the unknown conditioned by her father...

James Gunn gave DC Comics fans their first look at Milly Alcock's take on classic character Supergirl today. Well, our first look at her back. Well, our first look at part of the back of her head. Still, you can already hear those John Williams trumpets a-blowin'!

Gunn was...

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the release of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. It was a monumental movie not just for the franchise but pop culture as it broke the record for being the highest-grossing film in North American history.

It also reached new heights in filmmaking. When it was time for Academy Awards nominations, the film received five. It was the most for a Star Wars film since 1977 when A New Hope received 11. The nominations marked a turn for the franchise as it proved that Star Wars once again could be viewed as a cinematic and critical achievement as much as a box office smash.

The categories the film was nominated for were film editing, original score, sound mixing and editing, and special effects. The nomination for film editing was the first time a film in the franchise was honored in the category since A New Hope.

To the eyes of this author, there are four perfect TV theme songs in the history of the medium. For instrumentals, the two best themes are Jack Marshall's surf-like monster music he composed for "The Munsters" and Danny Elfman's Platonic-ideal-of-a-haunted-house music for "Tales from the Crypt."

For theme songs with lyrics, the two best of all time were, not coincidentally, written by Sherwood Schwartz. He and Frank de Vol composed the handy, catchy theme for Schwartz's own sitcom "The Brady Bunch," while Schwartz teamed with George Wyle to compose "The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle." These two theme songs, each only about 60 seconds, managed to explain -- in rhyme -- the premise of their respective shows succinctly while also introducing each of the characters. Additionally, the songs are catchy earworms that burrow deep into the brains of listeners, latching onto the memory and never letting go. When I'm in my 90s,...

Annually, Rotten Tomatoes hands out Golden Tomatoes to the best-reviewed movies and TV series from the past year.

Previous winners include Oppenheimer, The Last of Us, Top Gun: Maverick, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and House of the Dragon, but Dune: Part Two has reigned supreme this time.

Shōgun largely dominated the TV side, though there were noteworthy wins for both The Penguin and X-Men '97. Unfortunately, neither Deadpool & Wolverine nor Agatha All Along have received any love, even in the newly created "Fan Favorite Movies" category.

The winners and nominees are determined by an adjusted score formula, which is a weighted ranking that compensates for the variation in the number of reviews when comparing movies or TV shows within a specified time frame.

Critics have always had something of a complicated relationship with comic book adaptations, particularly in recent years. However, between this and other televised award shows, it's clear...

The Oath Keepers are back. And leaked documents suggest the group is trying to rebuild its brand by targeting youth, and in particular the Boy Scouts.

The infamous paramilitary organization has been in disarray since the group’s founder, Stewart Rhodes, was arrested, charged, and convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role in the events of Jan. 6 — which included positioning armed “quick reaction” strike forces across the river from Washington, D.C., in hopes of participating in a Donald Trump-sanctioned campaign of violence. Rhodes is currently serving 18 years (that is,...

Kobe Bryant is not only remembered as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, but he also made astounding accomplishments in the world of cinema, making Oscars history three times. The late great Kobe Bryant established a reputation throughout his career, both on and off the court, as one of the hardest workers in professional sports. The term "Mamba Mentality," coined by Bryant, is a term often used to describe the mindset of pushing one's self to be their absolute best, no matter what. At his core, Kobe Bryant was a man who loved basketball.

In 2015, Kobe Bryant announced his retirement from professional basketball with an article in The Players' Tribune titled "Dear Basketball," where he expressed his profound love for his sport, beginning from when he was a child. In 2017, Bryant adapted this article into a short film, which he wrote and narrated. The film was a critical achievement,...

The Color Purple is a game-changer. A 1985 film directed by Steven Spielberg and which chronicles the hardship and tenacity that black women faced in the United States in the early twentieth century will pull at your heartstrings.

This movie is loaded with talent, featuring Whoopi Goldberg in her breakout role, Oprah Winfrey in her first cinematic role, along with Danny Glover and Margaret Avery.

Whoopi Goldberg in The Color Purple (Credits: Warner Bros. Pictures)

This film, based on Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, tackles tough issues like racism, sexism, abuse, and resilience. But it’s not all heavy—it’s about finding hope and joy even in tough times. Plus, with Quincy Jones handling the soundtrack, you can bet the music is fire!

If you haven’t seen it yet, you’re missing out on a masterpiece that’s emotional, inspiring, and unforgettable. Let us break down why this movie deserves your attention.

What’s the deal with the film Academy’s documentary branch? This season’s shortlist for the best documentary feature Oscar, released Dec. 17, was missing one of the year’s most acclaimed crowd-pleasers, Warner Bros.’ Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story — which is at 98 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, won the top Critics Choice documentary award and is nominated for the Producers Guild’s top doc award — and also impressive documentaries about Martha Stewart (Martha), Celine Dion (I Am: Celine Dion), James Carville (Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid) and John Williams (Music by John Williams), among others.

This isn’t to say that the 15 docs that were shortlisted are lacking — to the contrary, most are excellent. But it does reconfirm the doc branch’s weird aversion, over roughly the past decade, to populist titles.

During that period, the branch declined to shortlist Good Night Oppy, a charmer about a Wall-e-like Mars...

The Cinema Audio Society (Cas) has nominated the sound teams behind A Complete Unknown, Deadpool & Wolverine, Dune: Part Two, Gladiator II and Wicked in its live-action feature category for the 2025 Cas Awards celebrating excellence in sound mixing.

All five films have been Oscar shortlisted in the sound category, which since 2021 has encompassed both sound editing and mixing. The five additional shortlisted films are Alien: Romulus, Blitz, Emilia Pérez, Joker: Folie à Deux and The Wild Robot. Traditionally, the winner of the Cas award in the live-action feature category has mirrored the Academy Award winner for sound. However, last year, Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn took home the Oscar for The Zone of Interest while Cas awarded Oppenheimer.

In the animated motion picture category, Cas nominated Inside Out 2, Moana 2, Mufasa: The Lion King, The Wild Robot and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. Elton John: Never Too Late,...

Sounds like we have the nominees for the 2025 Cinema Audio Society Awards, which celebrate excellence in sound mixing for film and television. See the list below.

Vying for the marquee Motion Pictures: Live Action statuette are the sound-mixing teams behind four the 10 top-grossing non-toon films of 2024 — Deadpool & Wolverine, Dune: Part Two, Gladiator II and Wicked — along with the young Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.

The pics up for the Motion Pictures: Animated prize are the smash sequels Inside Out 2 and Moana 2, Mufasa: The Lion King, The Wild Robot and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.

The Motion Pictures – Documentary nominees are three music-focused films — Elton John: Never Too Late, I Am: Celine Dion and Music by John Williams — Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story and The Blue Angels.

Related: Motion Picture Sound Editors Reveal 2025 Mpse Golden Reel Awards Nominations

The 61st Cas Awards will be...

“Deadpool & Wolverine” and “ Dune: Part Two” led all films in nominations for the Motion Picture Sound Editors’ Golden Reel Awards, the Mpse announced on Monday morning. The two large-scale productions each received three nominations in the seven Golden Reel feature-film categories, with both films nominated for its feature dialogue/Adr, feature effects/Foley and music editing.

Films with two nominations included “Alien: Romulus,” “A Complete Unknown,” “Emilia Perez,” “Wicked” and the two documentaries “Elton John: Never Too Late” and “Music by John Williams.”

In the Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Feature Effects/Foley category, the Golden Reel category that most closely corresponds to the Academy Award for Best Sound, the nominees were “Alien: Romulus,” “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Dune: Part Two,” “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” “Nosferatu” and “September 5.”

Television programs with multiple nominations included “The Penguin,” “Ripley,” “Masters of the Air,” “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,...

During the holiday break and fresh off the heels of the Music by John Williams documentary, Disney+ released John Williams in Tokyo, a concert showing of one of the maestro's latest concerts. Williams performed in 2023 at the Suntory Hall in Japan, and it was his first appearance in Tokyo in 30 years.

The concert opened with several classic pieces performed by the Saito Kinen Orchestra and was conducted for the first few songs by world-renowned Stephane Deneve. The French conductor soon started the Williams collection, conducting the orchestra to the "Flying Theme" from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

About 30 minutes into the concert film, out came Williams to a roaring standing ovation. He opened his conducting experience with pieces from Superman and the Harry Potter films. After more cheering, he conducted a beautiful version of arguably his most famous work outside of Star Wars, the main theme of Schindler's List.

Williams then...

The 1991 political thriller JFK is one of the most ambitious films made by writer-director Oliver Stone. With a cast list that includes Kevin Costner, Sissy Spacek, Gary Oldman, and Vincent D’Onofio, the movie is jam-packed with so many stars that it would be easy to blink and miss one. One of those cast members is the late Donald Sutherland. Sutherland was famous for his film roles in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Pride and Prejudice, and The Hunger Games film franchise.

JFK tells the story of Da Jim Garrison’s (Costner) investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. While based on historical events, JFK is rife with conspiracy theories and fictional accounts, making it a hotbed of criticism despite the film winning great acclaim. Though most of the plot is fictional, the movie’s characters are based on real people who were involved in the Kennedy assassination and investigations,...

It has been a marvelous year for Star Wars fans. Books explored new territory, comics took us to dark places, and the TV shows made us think and laugh in equal measure. Rather than fill in a blank for every standard award category, I thought it would be good to assign a special award for each project of 2024.

Here are the best Star Wars moments from 2024.

Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor: Amandla Stenberg

(L-r): Osha Aniseya (Amandla Stenberg) and Mae Aniseya (Amandla Stenberg) in Lucasfilm's Star Wars: The Acolyte, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & Tm. All Rights Reserved. | The Walt Disney Company Getty Images

Say what you will about The Acolyte, one of the things that kept me watching so compulsively was the interplay between identical twins on extremely divergent paths. Mae and Osha were compelling characters for a number of reasons, and I was...

Chris Columbus helmed the first two films in the Harry Potter franchise, helping popularize the beloved Wizarding World. His work on Harry Potter and the the Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was masterful, setting the foundation for one of the world's biggest ever movie franchises.

As someone who's been there and done it, people listened when Columbus recently weighed in on HBO's upcoming Harry Potter TV series. Long story short: he's totally behind the team working on the new series. "I wish them luck," he told Empire Magazine.

He talked about the benefits of adapting the books into a serialized television show, which he explained allows the writers to further develop characters and not be restricted by the restraints of film. "With the TV series, you have the opportunity to basically film the entire book. So that's exciting," he said. "They can get into things...

Almost 35 years after the film first premiered, Home Alone director Chris Columbus is offering answers for some of the most frequently asked questions around the characters in the movie — including how the McCallister family could afford their beautiful home in Chicago.

On a recent episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, Columbus explained that the mannequins briefly shown in the basement of the house were a hint that family matriarch Kate McCallister (Catherine O’Hara) was a high-profile fashion designer.

“The father could have, based on [writer] John Hughes’ own experience, worked in advertising, but I don’t remember what the father did,” the director continued. “Not organized crime — even though there was, at the time, a lot of organized crime in Chicago.”

Elsewhere in the episode, Columbus discussed seeing over 300 young actors for the role of Kevin before landing on McCaulay Culkin. He also spoke to the roundabout way...

When people remember the "Harry Potter" movies, they're usually at least partially thinking about the score from the legendary John Williams. In terms of how memorable and evocative it is, "Hedwig's Theme" is up there with "The Imperial March" from "Star Wars" or "He's a Pirate" from the "Pirates of the Caribbean Movies," in that everyone can remember and accurately hum it at a moment's notice. Regularly producing bangers like this, it should be no surprise that John Williams has earned over 50 Oscar nominations over his career.

That's why it's a little surprising that Williams wasn't actually there for most of the "Harry Potter" films. The soundtrack for "Goblet of Fire" was composed by Patrick Doyle, "Order of the Phoenix" and "Half-Blood Prince" were composed by Nicholas Hooper, and both "Deathly Hallows" films were composed by Alexandre Desplat. An attentive ear will notice these changes throughout the series, but considering...

Throughout the 1970s, audiences couldn’t get enough of disaster movies. The decade began with the all-star blockbuster bomb-on-a-plane thrill ride Airport, based on Arthur Hailey’s best-seller. Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Maureen Stapleton, Van Heflin, Jean Seberg, and Jacqueline Bisset headlined Airport, which became the second-biggest box-office hit of the year and earned nine Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and winning Best Supporting Actress for Hayes. Airport also established the template for subsequent movies: trapping all-star casts on a plane, a ship, or a high-rise.

SEEFred Astaire movies: 20 greatest films ranked worst to best

Producer-director-writer Irwin Allen took disaster movies to the next level — so much so he was dubbed “The Master of Disaster.” Allen, who enjoyed great success on the small screen in the 1960s with the series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Time Tunnel, and Lost in Space, brought his disaster savvy to the...