News

After collecting ballots from prominent film lovers from around the globe, the New York Times released what they're declaratively calling "The 100 Best Movies from the 21st Century," awarding the top spot to Bong Joon-ho's "Parasite" with David Lynch's magnum opus "Mulholland Drive" in second place.

As entertaining as it is to pore over this "definitive" list, the real fun comes from poring over the individual ballots that participants have sent in. They give us an illuminating look at a filmmaker or actor's particular taste, like how Julianne Moore thinks "Superbad" and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" are some of the best films of the century (which they are).

These individual ballots also give us a chance to appreciate other smaller movies that didn't make the cut, like how Flight of the Conchords and "What We Do in the Shadows" star Jemaine Clement's list spotlights the excellent Iranian vampire movie...

Apple TV+ has booked Oscar-nominated talent for its latest limited series. Jude Law and Andrew Garfield will portray the iconic Las Vegas act Siegfried and Roy for Wild Things. The casting alone should attract audiences, but the source material is packed with drama.

Law and Garfield will play Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn, respectively, based on the Apple original podcast Wild Things: Siegfried & Roy. Writer, showrunner, and executive producer Jon Hoffman moves over from Hulu's Only Murders in the Building to helm the series.

Apple promises eight hour-long episodes for the miniseries. The streaming service describes the upcoming show as "the wild ride relationship tale of two of the greatest showman-magicians in history who, along with their white tigers, are tasked with turning Sin City into a family-friendly destination," per a press release. Expect the series to pay special attention to the duo's final Vegas show in the aftermath...

Hidden in the hills of Los Angeles’ bohemian Laurel Canyon neighborhood lies a dark secret, a tale of mystery and corruption that has gone unsolved for over four decades. In the summer of 1981, four people were brutally murdered in a Canyon home, their battered bodies discovered in a scene of horror.

Yet the identity of the killers and their precise motives remained frustratingly obscured despite a lengthy police investigation. Now, crime author and former reporter Michael Connelly is reexamining the case in his new documentary series, The Wonderland Massacre.

Bringing his journalistic skills and true crime expertise, Connelly serves as our host and guide through this shadowy, unsolved case. Joining forces with Alison Ellwood as director, their goal is to finally shed light on the “Wonderland” murders by piecing together new clues and perspectives.

Connelly conducts in-depth interviews with the original investigators and personalities linked to the crime. Among them is Scott Thorson,...

The final episode of MGM+'s docuseries, The Wonderland Massacre & the Secret History of Hollywood, is now available to stream. In it, best-selling crime novelist Michael Connelly (the mind behind Bosch and The Lincoln Lawyer) goes back through the 1981 murders on Wonderland Avenue, a case that embodied the sex and drugs era of Hollywood and inspired Boogie Nights. The murders span several corners of history and pop culture, involving famous porn star John Holmes, kingpins such as Pablo Escobar, mafiosos like Eddie Nash, and even Liberace and his boyfriend, Scott Thorson.

Connelly may be best known for his Harry Bosch novels, which have resulted in 10 television seasons worth of Bosch and Bosch: Legacy, but he also has a long and storied history as a journalist. He put his investigative skills to excellent use when putting together his Audible Original, The Wonderland Murders & the Secret History of Hollywood, but...

The fourth episode of The Wonderland Massacre & The Secret History of Hollywood explores the aftermath of the 1981 Wonderland Avenue murders, focusing on Scott Thorson, who testified against the alleged mastermind behind the massacre. The episode, titled “The Last Man Standing,” airs on MGM+ and looks into the unexpected twists and turns of Thorson’s […]

The Wonderland Massacre & The Secret History of Hollywood: The Last Man Standing...

TV Fanatic has an exclusive sneak peek at The Wonderland Massacre & the Secret History of Hollywood series finale, teasing killer Eddie Nash’s fate.

The series digs deep into multiple murders on Los Angeles’ Wonderland Avenue on July 1, 1981.

The story has surprising Hollywood ties from porn star John Holmes to Liberace’s one-time boy-toy Scott Thorson.

(MGM+/Screenshot)

If you think you’re unfamiliar with Thorson, you might not be. He wrote Behind the Candelabra, an explosive behind-the-scenes look at his life with Liberace.

Thorson’s involvement with The Wonderland Massacre harkens back to his Liberace days when the relationship that lifted him up sent him spiraling down into the darkest recesses of Hollywood amidst porn stars and drug dealers.

This wild case epitomized a chaotic era in Los Angeles, marked by sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll, and murder. It’s the true story that served as the inspiration for Boogie Nights,...

In the third episode of this true crime series, Scott Thorson recounts his experience building a drug empire in Hollywood during the 1980s, coinciding with the explosive crack epidemic in Los Angeles. Remarkably, almost a decade after the Wonderland murders, Thorson’s story becomes a critical piece in the puzzle of this infamous case. The Wonderland […]

The Wonderland Massacre & The Secret History of Hollywood: Up in Smoke – September...

Michael Connelly is one of the great crime novelists of this generation, having given readers the Harry Bosch novels that led to the successful TV series Bosch and Bosch: Legacy. But what viewers of those shows may not realize is that Connelly began his career as a journalist, telling true crime stories. In 2021, he dove into one of Los Angeles' most infamous cases with the hit Audible podcast The Wonderland Murders & The Secret History of Hollywood.

Now MGM+ is bringing the podcast to television in a four-part series entitled The Wonderland Massacre & The Secret History of Hollywood, adding even more to an already gripping narrative. In an interview with Cbr, Connelly spoke about what made him want to revisit the project and why he believes the TV show made it better. Plus, did any of his experience with the Bosch franchise or other TV credits come into play in...

Scott Thorson, best known as the former lover of entertainment icon Liberace, died on Aug. 16 in Los Angeles at age 65. The cause of death has not been disclosed, though sources indicate Thorson had been battling cancer and heart issues at a local healthcare facility.

Thorson gained notoriety for his 1988 memoir Behind The Candelabra: My Life With Liberace, which detailed his six-year relationship with the flamboyant pianist. The book served as the basis for an acclaimed HBO film starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon.

In the memoir, Thorson made several startling claims, including that Liberace had paid for plastic surgery to make Thorson resemble a younger version of himself. These allegations first surfaced in 1982 when Thorson filed a $113 million palimony lawsuit against Liberace. The case was settled out of court in 1986, with Thorson receiving $75,000, three cars, and three dogs.

window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-mid', container: 'taboola-mid-article-thumbnails', placement: 'Mid Article Thumbnails',...

Scott Thorson, the former lover of Liberace and a key witness in the trial for the 1981 killings known as the Wonderland Massacre, died in Los Angeles on Aug. 16. He was 65 and was a patient at a Los Angeles healthcare facility. Thorson had been suffering from cancer and a heart condition.

Thorson, who later legally changed his name to Jess Marlow, brought a $113 million palimony lawsuit against Liberace in 1982 that attracted a great deal of media attention. After the suit was filed, Liberace continued to deny he was gay and stated in court depositions that Thorson was never his lover. The case was settled in 1986; Thorson received $75,000 cash, as well as three cars and three pet dogs, valued at $20,000. Liberace died in 1987 of HIV/AIDS-related ailments.

In 1988, Thorson published “Behind the Candelabra: My Life with Liberace,” a memoir about his time with Liberace. It included claims that the entertainer paid for Thorson to get plastic surgery,...

The Academy Award-nominated 1997 film Boogie Nights captured viewers with its fast-paced tale of sex, drugs, and crime in Hollywood’s Golden Age of Porn. But behind the popular film is a real-life murder that captured Hollywood’s attention for over 40 years. Now, Michael Connelly, the crime novelist behind best-selling works like The Lincoln Lawyer, is working with MGM+ to release a new docuseries diving into one of the most infamous bloodbaths in Tinsel Town: The Wonderland Massacre.

When police arrived at a Laurel Canyon house of suspected drug dealers on...

We have some bad news for fans of Chapelwaite.

The horror drama will not be returning for a second season.

Co-creator and Executive Producer Jason Filardi took to X to share the sad news.

"I'm afraid Captain Boone's story ends on that beach of weathered, Maine sand," Filardi posted.

"There will be no Season 2. Thank you to all the Chapelwaite fans!"

Chapelwaite launched in August 2021, with the development of a second season being announced shortly after.

But with a lack of updates, fans were left pondering what would become of the series.

Unfortunately, it's likely that no episodes were produced for the planned second season, and Epix becoming MGM+ likely changed the streamer's priorities away from making the new season.

Set in the 1850s, the Chapelwaite follows Captain Charles Boone (Adrien Brody), who relocates his family of three children to his ancestral home in the small, seemingly sleepy town of Preacher's Corners,...

MGM+ has given the green light to true crime docuseries The Wonderland Murders & The Secret History of Hollywood.

The four-episode series is based on Michael Connelly’s podcast of the same name and will explore the infamous Wonderland murder case in 1980s Los Angeles. Connelly is also the author of the Bosch and The Lincoln Lawyer series.

Alison Ellwood will direct the limited series.

“I love Alison’s work and look forward to working with her and MGM+,” Connelly said in a statement. “The Wonderland murders left an indelible impact on Hollywood, and exploring it with the original detectives and witnesses is exciting, and is going to help us answer many of the questions that are still out there.”

Here’s more about the case:

On July 1, 1981, four people were discovered severely beaten to death in a suburban home in Laurel Canyon on Wonderland Avenue. The murders’ aftermath spans two...

Hollywood has many prolific actors, but few can rival Matt Damon, who has starred in 83 movies since his debut in 1988. And in 2023, he is adding even more incredible projects to his resume. After portraying the sports marketing executive in the biopic Air, the actor is also set to appear in Oppenheimer as Lieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves Jr., who is best known for constructing the Pentagon.

Damon's vast filmography consists of films from most genres, ranging from action to comedies, and as such, each fan can single out at least one blockbuster they like. However, in his vast body of work, a few projects are way better than the rest because of the actor's performance and the overall production.

Related: 10 Actors Who Played The Same Role In Unrelated Projects

Invictus (2009)

Matt Damon has appeared in more biopics than most of his fellow actors, and in Invictus, he plays another iconic figure —the legendary Springboks flanker,...

Magic Mike’s Last Dance is a movie directed by Steven Soderbergh starring Channing Tatum and Salma Hayek.

Good old Mike returns with his sculpted abs from the hand of the director everyone loves for this farewell, not very spectacular cinematographically, but fun and entertaining.

Storyline

Mike works as a waiter until a rich woman takes him to London to, together, form a group of male strippers.

Movie Review Magic Mike’s Last Dance

Correct, very correct and knowing that there is a certain Soderbergh in charge of the project, but as not everything can be done by the good director and “one-man band”, he has his always good partners who accompany him: this time, same as always, Channing Tatum, a very good actor for comedy, and Salma Hayek, who does a bit of everything and does everything well.

In short, a film that, with the quality of talent it possesses, could...

Hundreds of movies have been set in Las Vegas over the years, many of which have reached iconic status. Since the turn of the century, we have seen over 50 different movies released that have been set in Las Vegas and below you will find the top 3 moves from the 2000s set in the gaming mecca.

We begin in 2001 and one of the most popular movies ever to be set in Las Vegas is Ocean’s Eleven. The heist comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Ted Griffin is based on the 1960 movie of the same name starring the Rat Pack. Ocean’s Eleven is the first movie in the modern franchise and includes some of the biggest names in Hollywood, with George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Julia Roberts among the cast.

The group, led by Danny Ocean, plan a heist of $160 million from a casino owner, who just...

Exclusive: Michael Connelly, the author of Bosch and The Lincoln Lawyer, is moving into the world of podcasting.

Connelly is behind a new documentary podcast series that will take a deep dive into the the Wonderland Murders.

The Wonderland Murders & The Secret History of Hollywood will launch on Amazon’s Audible on July 1, around the 40th anniversary of the horrific crimes. Connelly has created and written the series and will exec produce alongside LAPD homicide veteran Rick Jackson, Jen Casey (Back from the Brink) and and Nick Gilhool (Slugfest).

Named for the street in Laurel Canyon where the murders took place inside the house of a small-time drug gang, it’s a gruesome crime that reflected its time, disrupted a mythology and tells a broader story of Los Angeles, the American dream machine, and when justice does – and doesn’t – work. And for the first time, a notorious, “missing” witness...

It’s December 31st, and I’m sure you know what that means, dear reader… that’s right, it’s Val Kilmer’s birthday! Today we celebrate by examining the John Holmes crime pic Wonderland (2003), starring Kilmer as the fallen star.

I went into the proceedings expecting a more sweeping Boogie Nights-esque tale of an ill-fated career in the porn industry during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Boogie Nights, after all, was inspired by Holmes’s life. Instead, Wonderland is more focused on the days, weeks and months immediately on either side of the gruesome 8763 Wonderland Avenue murders in Laurel Canyon on July 1st, 1981. It is more of a microcosmic crime study than a sweeping cautionary tale. The “Four on the Floor Murders” quickly joined the ranks of the Manson family killings and the Black Dahlia murder as some of the most infamous crimes in 20th century Hollywood lore.

In 2013, HBO rolled out its most award-winning TV Movie of all-time. “Behind the Candelabra,” an aptly extravagant biopic on the turbulent late-’70s romance between iconic singer Liberace and his young lover Scott Thorson, featured bonafide movie stars Michael Douglas and Matt Damon being directed by Oscar-winner Steven Soderbergh. The $23 million production from HBO Films debuted to raves at the Cannes Film Festival before premiering on HBO just five days later. In a few months, it would go on to win 11 Emmys, including trophies for Outstanding TV Movie, Lead Actor for Douglas, and Director for Soderbergh.

No HBO film has been more highly decorated.

Later this year, Steven Soderbergh will release another film that could easily be mistaken for a TV Movie. Premiering via a HBO’s sister platform, HBO Max, “Let Them All Talk” is an original story about a celebrated author who takes a healing trip with old...

Behind The Candelabra Here's our latest batch of films to catch on the telly or streaming services this week. You can read last week's here and if you're looking for more inspiration, we're feline groovy this week, with a streaming spotlight on cat ladies.

Behind The Candelabra, BBC iPlayer, until Friday, 14 August and Netflix

Director Steven Soderbergh made this Liberace biopic for television but you wouldn't know it from the look or the star-studded cast, led by Michael Douglas as the flamboyant pianist and Matt Damon as his much younger lover Scott Thorson. The relationship between Thorson and Liberace was hurricane levels of stormy and Soderbergh gleefully throws himself into the job with the same ostentation that Liberace threw himself at the world. Douglas and Damon prove to be a winning double-act as the preening pianist and...

During an interview with “Traffic” co-star Benicio Del Toro as part of Variety’s “Actor on Actor” video series, Michael Douglas says he missed out on the coveted Best Actor prize at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival because of Steven Spielberg’s bias against television. Spielberg served as the president of the Cannes competition jury that year. The Douglas-starring “Behind the Candelabra,” directed by Steven Soderbergh, premiered in competition to universal acclaim.

“The word was I was the favorite for the best actor award,” Douglas said about Cannes that year. “[Spielberg] put the kibosh on that, because it was an HBO film. So when I now see this argument and beef about Showtime or Netflix, in this case, doing feature films, I think they’ve got to get this resolved.”

“Candelabra” stars Douglas as esteemed pianist and entertainer Liberace and Matt Damon as Liberace’s lover, Scott Thorson. The major reason HBO Films...

With Matt Damon‘s “The Martian” science-ing the shit out of the box office this weekend, it’s time for TheWrap to examine the actor’s highly-quotable movie career. After “Good Will Hunting” catapulted him to stardom in 1997, Damon went on to star in two blockbuster franchises — the Jason Bourne trilogy and the Ocean’s trilogy — which grossed $2 billion worldwide between them. However, as popular as those films are, no single line of Damon’s dialogue from either franchise stood out. In fact, the toughest omissions from this list came from Damon’s wonderful turns as Scott Thorson in Steven Soderbergh‘s HBO movie.

Omar Sharif in 'Doctor Zhivago.' Egyptian star Omar Sharif, 'The Karate Kid' producer Jerry Weintraub: Brief career recaps A little late in the game – and following the longish Theodore Bikel article posted yesterday – below are brief career recaps of a couple of film veterans who died in July 2015: actor Omar Sharif and producer Jerry Weintraub. A follow-up post will offer an overview of the career of peplum (sword-and-sandal movie) actor Jacques Sernas, whose passing earlier this month has been all but ignored by the myopic English-language media. Omar Sharif: Film career beginnings in North Africa The death of Egyptian film actor Omar Sharif at age 83 following a heart attack on July 10 would have been ignored by the English-language media (especially in the U.S.) as well had Sharif remained a star within the Arabic-speaking world. After all, an "international" star is only worth remembering...

HBO will remember Jerry Weintraub this Sunday, July 12 with a double bill of the documentary "His Way" (2011) and Steven Soderbergh's Liberace biopic "Behind the Candelabra" (2013), which Weintraub, who died Monday at 77, executive-produced. Read More: Rip Producer Jerry Weintraub, Who Navigated Hollywood "His Way" "His Way" chronicles the Hollywood trailblazer's five-decade career as a producer and talent manager, rising from Brooklyn roots into the entertainment industry, promoting Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra, and producing films for Steven Soderbergh along the way including the "Ocean's Eleven" franchise. Weintraub executive-produced "Behind the Candelabra," which nabbed HBO 11 Emmys including Outstanding Miniseries and Outstanding Lead Actor, Michael Douglas, who plays the flamboyant Liberace opposite Matt Damon as his live-in lover Scott Thorson. "His Way" screens on HBO Signature at 5:00pm, with...

Chicago – The movie musical seems to revive every year, and writer/director Richard Lagravenese puts his spin on the genre with a modern touch. A couple, portrayed by Jeremy Jordan and Anna Kendrick, goes through the ups and downs of a relationship while belting out appropriate tunes in “The Last Five Years.”

The film is based on the stage play by Jason Robert Brown, and is the type of musical that is entirely sung. The songs are sad (“Still Hurting”), hilarious (“Summer in Ohio”) and poignant (“If I Didn’t Believe in You”) and are rendered by the couple in a direct and modern approach through Lagravenese’s direction.

Jeremy Jordan and Anna Kendrick in ‘The Last Five Years’

Photo credit: Radius-twc

Richard Lagravenese is an influential screenwriter of the past 25 years, who has worked with some of the most notable directors of his generation, including Terry Gilliam (“The Fisher King...

By Lee Pfeiffer

When I screened this DVD presentation of the much-hyped HBO movie Behind the Candelabra,  about the love affair between Liberace and his young boy toy Scott Thorson, the three people I viewed the movie with unanimously voiced an almost vitriolic response to the film. It had nothing to do with the gay love affair content (they are all dyed-in-the-wool liberals who support gay rights.) Their complaints centered on the fact that the film was boring and pointless and a colossal waste of talent. I was taken aback by the degree of their hatred for this movie but I will concede it was distinctly disappointing. First the background. In 1977 Scott Thorson was a hunky young guy who was introduced to Liberace. They entered an intense relationship that Thorson, in his memoirs, maintained was a legitimate May/December love affair. Before long Thorson had displaced Liberace's previous live-in...

"Being somebody's boyfriend, I didn't picture my life like this," says Matt Damon in "Behind the Candelabra" as Scott Thorson, Liberace's subservient boy toy. "I wanted to be a veterinarian." "You want to help animals?" Liberace barks back. "Pick up the dog shit." Throughout "Candelabra," Thorson is subjected to repeated humiliations. He is Liberace's obedient minion and body servant, literally, as the wrinkled old diva lusts creepily over Scott's taut flesh and ultimately forces him to have it hacked up by a plastic surgeon so he can look like Liberace. The only time Scott doesn't take a back seat to his keeper is when he takes the front seat of a Rolls-Royce to drive Liberace on stage where he can adored by fawning multitudes – while Scott is ignored in the shadows. The same thing -- without the creepy lusting part -- has happened at award shows to Damon.

Best picture win for Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity suggests 12 Years A Slave may be edged out at Academy Awards

• Full coverage of the Oscars 2014 race

Alfonso Cuarón was awarded the top film honour from the Directors Guild of America for Gravity on Saturday night.

In the recent bustle of Hollywood shows, Gravity, David O Russell's con caper American Hustle, and Steve McQueen's historical epic 12 Years a Slave were competing in the tightest three-way Oscar race in years. But the win gives Cuaron's lost-in-space-saga an edge on the journey to the Academy Awards.

With 10 Oscar nominations, Cuarón's film is likely to gain the most Academy Awards this year. American Hustle also has 10 nominations, while 12 Years a Slave has nine. The early momentum of 12 Years a Slave has begun to deflate following this evening's upset and the results of the Golden Globes. McQueen's film was nominated for seven Globes, but only...

A former lover of Liberace, who was the subject of the HBO film Behind the Candelabra, has been sentenced to eight to 20 years in a Nevada prison for failing another court-ordered drug test while on probation for burglary and identity theft convictions. Washoe District Judge Patrick Flanagan sentenced Scott Thorson on Wednesday after a string of bad drug tests capped his failure to show up at a court-ordered treatment facility. Flanagan originally suspended the prison sentence in July and gave Thorson a second chance in September after testing positive for methamphetamine, but he failed tests twice in October and again on Nov.

Scott Thorson, Liberace’s famous ex-lover who penned the inspiration for HBO’s hit film Behind the Candelabra, has been sentenced to 8-20 years in prison.

Scott Thorson Charged With Identity Theft And Burglary

Thorson, 54, was arrested in November, 2013, after failing to appear in Nevada court for previous charges. In February, 2013, Thorson was arrested for burglary and identity theft and admitted to using meth. As part of his probation deal, he vowed to stay sober, but failed two drug tests and was instructed to attend a substance abuse program. After skipping the court ordered rehab and missing a court date, Thorson, real name Jess Marlow, is now back in prison. The judge had warned him that he would not be given any more chances, and Thorson reportedly failed yet another drug test recently, exhausting the judge’s patience and earning himself the 8-20 year sentence.

Thorson’s legal problems have attracted media attention,...

Today's Must Read

The Dissolve Nathan Rabin discusses his own group home experience and his relationship to Short Term 12 which is now out on DVD and BluRay

General Linkage

THR Garrett Hedlund offered the plum Captain Hook role in Joe Wright's Peter Pan adaptation Pan

Ken Levine, inspired by Quentin Tarantino, makes a major announcement 

Variety Scott Thorson (played by Matt Damon in Behind the Candelabra) just sentenced to 8 to 20 years in Nevada! Yikes. 

Av Club Her trailer recut to replace Scarlett Johansson's voice with, uh, Philip Seymour Hoffman's. It's terrifying. you have been warned.

Iar interviews Destin Cretton on Short Term 12

THR a non controversy at Oscar on that strange Original Song nomination from Alone But Not Alone. Pity that Oscar is such sticklers about the rules on some classic important films like Moulin Rouge! and then lets things slide in weird cases like...

Last week we launched the inaugural Guardian Film Awards. This week, we take a closer look at the longlist in each category. Today: the best supporting actor nominees

• Vote now

You know the drill. Just as with best actor and best picture and all the rest of the categories, we need you to give this longlist a bit of a trim. You have until noon on 16 February to cast your vote; a primer is below, as well as five key contenders who failed to make the grade.

As ever, do chip into the comment thread with feedback and suggestions. And, as explained and still endlessly debated, our best actor and best supporting actor categories are open to both (all?) genders. Here's our longlist, in alphabetical order:

Amy Adams, Her

History will record that what Amy Adams was really good at this year was being fishy in a frock few loan managers could pull off.

It's always an incredible night to see stars honor their fellow performers at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, and tonight was no exception (January 18).

The 20th Annual event was full of wonderful moments as many talented actors and ensembles took home the coveted statues awarded to them for their tremendous roles on the big and small screens.

The biggest award of the night went home to the cast of "American Hustle," taking home the Actor for Best Ensemble in a Motion Picture.

Other notable trophies went home to Cate Blanchett for Best Actress for her role in "Blue Jasmine," and Matthew McConaughey for Best Actor for his work in "Dallas Buyers Club."

Check out the full list of 2014 SAG Award nominees below:

Theatrical Motion Pictures

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Bruce Dern / Woody Grant – “Nebraska” (Paramount Pictures)

Chiwetel Ejiofor / Solomon Northup – “12 Years A Slave” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Tom Hanks / Capt.

It's always an incredible night to see stars award their fellow performers at the 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, and tonight was no exception (January 18).

The evening was full of wonderful moments as many talented actors and ensembles took home the coveted statues awarded to them for their tremendous roles on the big and small screens.

The biggest award of the night went home to the cast of "American Hustle," taking home the Actor for Best Picture.

Other notable trophies went home to Cate Blanchett for Best Actress for her role in "Blue Jasmine," and Matthew McConaughey for Best Actor for his work in "Dallas Buyers Club."

Check out the full list of 2014 SAG Award nominees below:

Theatrical Motion Pictures

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Bruce Dern / Woody Grant – “Nebraska” (Paramount Pictures)

Chiwetel Ejiofor / Solomon Northup – “12 Years A Slave” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Tom Hanks / Capt.

Matt Damon, Robert DeNiro, Chiwetel Ejifor, SAG-AFTRA President Ken Howard, Mindy Kaling, Jennifer Lawrence, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, James Marsden, Ewan McGregor, Lupita Nyong’o, Sarah Paulson, Julia Roberts, Elisabeth Röhm, Meryl Streep, and Emma Thompson will be presenters at the 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®, Executive Producer/Director Jeff Margolis and Executive Producer Kathy Connell announced today.

They join a growing roster of actors who will honor their colleagues at the 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards that already includes Ben Affleck, Sasha Alexander, Don Cheadle, Morgan Freeman, Jennifer Garner, Clark Gregg, Tom Hanks, Jared Leto, Matthew McConaughey, Kevin Spacey, Kerry Washington, Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey.

The 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, one of the awards season’s premier events, will honor outstanding performances from 2013 in five film categories and eight television categories, including the distinctive ensemble awards. This year’s Actor® recipients will be announced at...

Bafta has distributed its nominations fairly between frontrunners Gravity, 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle and Captain Phillips – but watch out for Philomena

• News: Gravity on top, with Slave and Hustle just behind

• Full list of nominees

• Gallery of nominees

The announcement of the Bafta nominations brings into focus the varying merits of two very different kinds of movies: Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity, leading the list with 11 nominations, and Steve McQueen's 12 Years A Slave, just behind with 10.

The astronaut-thriller Gravity with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney combines state-of-the-art digital effects (a poster carries an endorsement from no less a person than Buzz Aldrin) with the old-fashioned values of escapist entertainment and spectacle. Saucer-eyed cinemagoers (including this reviewer) have staggered out of the IMAX theatre feeling that they really have just had a season in space.

12 Years A Slave is a powerful, harrowing, serious picture driven by direction and acting, and...

What a busy twelve months it’s been for costume design. Really though, this art, or craft, or business (Deborah Nadoolman Landis insists it is definitely a business) gets more talked about each year. 2013 was especially exciting however as it seemed every month something even more thrilling arrived to fawn over. In the last few weeks alone we have had The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Sleepy Hollow, and now American Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street on the horizon. Dipping back further, it was Stoker that got us excited about subtext, The Great Gatsby that slammed the lid on that twenties revival once and for all, and Behind the Candelabra that put Michael Douglas in a 16ft fox fur cape and white brocade jumpsuit.

With just so many memorable movies and TV shows to cover, Clothes on Film asked some respected contributors to the site for their opinions on the best,...

The award season is now in full swing. This morning, SAG-aftra announced the nominees for the 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. Nominations and wins at these awards often add to one’s Oscar hopes, so it’s always interesting to see which projects are getting the most attention.

One neat personal note here is that, since I’ve been a card-carrying member of the Screen Actors Guild for 7 years, I get to cast my votes on all of these. Looking forward to that.

And the nominees are…

20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards Nominations

Theatrical Motion Pictures

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Bruce Dern / Woody Grant – “Nebraska” (Paramount Pictures)

Chiwetel Ejiofor / Solomon Northup – “12 Years A Slave” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Tom Hanks / Capt. Richard Phillips – “Captain Phillips” (Columbia Pictures)

Matthew McConaughey / Ron Woodroof – “Dallas Buyers Club” (Focus Features)

Forest Whitaker / Cecil Gaines – “Lee Daniels’ The Butler...

Who was the queen of sharp tailoring, who outshone Liberace and which baby eclipsed Harper Beckham? We present the style winners of the year

Donna Tartt

Donna Tartt appears to produce a novel a decade – and 2013 saw her third, The Goldfinch, released. With it, fashion rejoiced along with the literati: the author's razor-sharp bob returned for another moment in the spotlight. It really is a thing of beauty, one that gives the Queen of the Bob, Anna Wintour – and new convert Miley Cyrus – a run for their money. Tartt teams it with a proper look but unlike Anna, who loves a frock, Tartt wears her bob with tailoring almost as sharp as the plot lines in The Secret History. The result is the kind of disciplined, taut and clever style that the rest of us can only aspire to.

Matt Damon as Scott Thorson in Behind the Candelabra

Sure, Michael Douglas...

Liberace (Douglas) basks in the spotlight

Behind the Candelabra

Written by Richard Lagravenese

Directed by Steven Soderbergh

USA, 2013

Steven Soderbergh thoughtfully details the purported destructive indulgence of Liberace’s most intimate relationship in Behind the Candelabra. A film replete with the salacious dirt and glamorous high living of a legendary celebrity, this project is perfectly tailored to Soderbergh’s nuanced flair for revealing the conceits behind success.

It isn’t difficult to believe that living such a loud life under constant public scrutiny could take its toll and lead Liberace’s story to reckless places. These places entertain as much as they convey a deep restlessness and melancholy that comes with the drive to be in the spotlight at any cost. Matt Damon plays Scott Thorson, a sweet young man unaccustomed to fame and fortune who is drawn in by the magnetic talent of Liberace. As the flamboyant Liberace, Michael Douglas...

It’s that time of year, PopWatchers — when otherwise responsible parents camp out and expose their children to threateningly low temperatures in order to see questionable lip synching and larger-than-life icons on puppet strings. No, I’m not talking about a Today show performance by One Direction… but close! It’s the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade!Like any good spectacular, there was no shortage of 11th-hour drama: High winds in New York City nearly scuttled this year’s march through Manhattan (for only the second time in 87 years), but justice — and giant balloons! – prevailed. So buckle in, turkeys, because...

Liberace's former lover Scott Thorson was a no-show for court -- so now he's back in jail ... and TMZ has his latest mug shot. Law enforcement sources tell us Thorson -- famously portrayed by Matt Damon in "Behind the Candelabra" -- was arrested in Nevada by Washoe County deputies for an alleged probation violation and for failing to appear in court. Thorson's had a string of legal issues. He was on probation for a...

★★★★☆ After premièring to acclaim at Cannes, Steven Soderbergh's directorial swansong Behind the Candelabra (2013) arrives on a format that is, by and large, an offshoot of the medium it was made for. Turned down by every major mainstream filmmaking studio for simply being "too gay", Soderbergh turned to a company that has become synonymous with the production of artistically liberating and critically lauded forms of entertainment: HBO, a cable service known for high class television and notable made-for-television movies. Marrying the director with such a reputable establishment bears predictably enjoyable fruit.

Behind the Candelabra is a biopic of virtuoso showman, pianist and entertainer Liberace, a man who, in the heights of his success, was the highest paid musician in the world. He lived a life of dexterous excess (powered by the mantra "too much of a good thing is wonderful") that was safeguarded by a steady stream of high income,...

Liberace's glitter is only slightly dimmed by DVD, while Mubi's curatorial brand of streaming is a treat for cinephiles

In Europe, Steven Soderbergh's Behind the Candelabra (Entertainment One, 15) premiered in the rarefied glow of the Cannes film festival. In the Us it did so on the glowing screens of a million living rooms, courtesy of risk-taking TV producer HBO. Technically, then, we're finally seeing it in its intended format, though this marvellous, diamond-iced biopic of Mr Entertainment himself – Vegas concert pianist Liberace – seems conceived for the largest screen possible. (I doubt the master of excess would approve of this rather sparse Blu-ray package, which includes only a Soderbergh-free making-of featurette.)

The small screen may dull the rhinestones, but not the grace notes of Michael Douglas's witty, desolate lead turn. Fortysomething Matt Damon, meanwhile, is improbably vulnerable as Scott Thorson, the teen toyboy inappropriately adopted by the closeted...

Behind The Candelabra | After Earth | The Wicker Man: The Final Cut | Modern Family: The Complete Fourth Season | Spike Island

Behind The Candelabra

Famously turned down by every studio that director Steven Soderbergh took it to, this lively and gaudy Liberace biopic had to settle for life as a TV movie with cable heavyweight HBO. The film really doesn't suffer, though; the only downside being a shortage of Ott opulence. Indeed, the fact that they had to turn to TV even works to the movie's advantage: it's a lot more lively, fun and daring than the usual Oscar-bait biopics – compare it to the bland and corny Diana, for example.

Still, your attention isn't on the sets, thanks to a mesmeric, career-best, Emmy-winning performance from Michael Douglas. Matt Damon is also no slouch as Scott Thorson, Liberace's lover of four rather incredible years, while Rob Lowe steals every scene...

Steven Soderbergh's last-movie hurrah is a muted biopic about two needy lovers, an ageing Liberace (Michael Douglas) and his bulky toyboy, Scott Thorson (Matt Damon). Impressionable Scott, after being entranced by one of the pianist's Las Vegas shows, becomes Liberace's live-in lover. The young buck is soon persuaded to rearrange his face to look like his keeper's (Rob Lowe is a highlight as a venal plastic surgeon) and their dysfunctional relationship gradually unravels. It's a detached, rather icy drama, but the acting is excellent, particularly Douglas as Liberace.

To mark the release of Behind the Candelabra on October 14th we’ve been given 3 merchandise packs including Behind the Candelabra on Blu-ray + poster to give away.

Before Elvis, before Elton John, Madonna and Lady Gaga, there was Liberace – pianist and flamboyant star of stage and television. Synonymous with showmanship and extravagance, he lit up every stage he performed on, gaining millions of fans across the globe.

From Academy Award® winning director Steven Soderbergh, comes one of the most talked about films of the year, Behind the Candelabra, the outrageous and gloriously entertaining true story of Liberace (Michael Douglas) and his secret love affair with the young and handsome Scott Thorson (Matt Damon) – an intense rollercoaster ride of hedonistic fun, flamboyance and excess.

Please note: This competition is open to UK residents only

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Small Print

Open to UK residents only The competition will close 21st October...

Downton Abbey only takes home one award, despite being nominated in 11 categories

A chemistry teacher in the final stages of moral putrefaction, a CIA agent with bipolar disorder and the late Władziu Valentino Liberace combined to thwart British hopes of dominating the Emmy awards.

Downton Abbey actors Hugh Bonneville, Dame Maggie Smith and Michelle Dockery and Homeland star Damian Lewis were all denied the big gongs of the night late Sunday, as were Dame Helen Mirren and Cat Deeley.

Despite being nominated in 11 categories and enjoying big success in previous years, Downton Abbey took home just one award for outstanding music composition.

Breaking Bad − which chronicles Walter White's descent from teacher to murderous drug lord − won its first best drama Emmy, while Anna Gunn, who plays White's wife, won the award for best supporting actress in a drama.

Downton's Bonneville had tipped Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston, who plays White,...

Los Angeles, Sep 23: Actor-producer Michael Douglas won the best lead actor, while Laura Linney was given the best actress in a miniseries awards at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards.

They were given the award Sunday at the Nokia Theatre.

Douglas won it for playing Liberace in "Behind the Candelabra".

Directed by Steven Soderbergh, "Behind the Candelabra" is a biopic about the last 10 years in the life of pianist Liberace and the secret affair he had with his friend Scott Thorson, played by actor Matt Damon.

Others vying for the lead actor trophy were Damon for "Behind the Candelabra", Toby Jones for.

Steven Soderbergh’s Liberace biopic picked up three top awards including best actor for Michael Douglas.Scroll down for full list of winners

Behind the Candelabra scored a hat-trick at the 65th annual Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles last night [Sept 22].

The biopic of Liberace picked up the award for Directing, Miniseries or Movie for Steven Soderbergh; Actor, Miniseries or Movie for Michael Douglas’ portrayal of the flamboyant entertainer; and best Miniseries or Movie.

Accepting his first ever Emmy award, Douglas thanked his family, wife Catherine Zeta Jones and co-star Matt Damon.

The drama had been nominated for 15 Emmys, including for Damon as Liberace’s lover Scott Thorson, on whose book the film is based.

Accepting the award, Douglas said of Damon: “You’re magnificent. The only reason I’m standing here is because of you.”

The ceremony included a performance by Sir Elton John, who paid tribute to Liberace with new song Home Again.

Behind the Candelabra received...