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This May, Hulu is bringing you a lot of entertainment, from the highly anticipated return of Nine Perfect Strangers to the much-anticipated streaming release of Pamela Anderson‘s The Last Showgirl. However, for the purposes of this article, we are only including the films that are coming to Hulu this month and have a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score. So, check out the seven best films that are coming to Hulu in May 2025 with a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

Attack the Block (May 1) Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91% Credit – Optimum Releasing

Attack the Block is a British sci-fi comedy horror film written and directed by Joe Cornish. The 2011 film is set on a council estate in South London, and it follows a group of teenagers as they fight against alien invaders to save themselves. Attack the Block stars John Boyega,...

Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová have announced their first new album as The Swell Season in 16 years. Forward, their follow-up to 2009 record Strict Joy, is out June 13th. Along with the announcement, they’ve put out the lead single, “Stuck in Reverse,” which you can listen to below.

Forward was produced by Sturla Mio Thorisson and will feature eight tracks written by Hansard and Irglová, including the recent single “People We Used to Be.” In 2007, the duo starred as fictionalized versions of themselves in the film Once. The film’s song “Falling Slowly” won the pair an Academy Award for Best Original Song that year and was eventually adapted into a Broadway musical.

Get The Swell Season Tickets Here

The pair has kept busy with solo projects over the years, but they slowly began to record together following a tour that brought them back together musically. “It felt right to...

A new stage musical based on the 1998 film comedy Waking Ned Devine is being developed with The Color Purple director John Doyle, Come From Away book writer David Hein and Oscar winning Once composers and lyricists Markéta Irglová and Glen Hansard.

A production timeline for the Broadway-bound musical will be announced later.

In a statement, Doyle said, “Waking Ned Devine attracted me as a funny, heartwarming musical that serves as a timely reminder of the value of community. The inhabitants of a small Irish village working together, overcoming self-interest and greed, all for the good of their families and neighbors.”

Doyle continued, “No one could be better than Markéta and Glen to bring out the musicality in these Celtic characters and David is unmatched in his ability to find the heart and humanity in such a story.”

Written and directed by Kirk Jones, the Waking Ned Devine movie was released...

Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová have reunited as The Swell Season and released their first new song since 2023. Listen to “People We Used to Be” below.

Written by Irglová and produced by Sturla Mio Thorisson, “People We Used to Be” features The Swell Season’s signature harmonies backed by Hansard on electric guitar and Wurlitzer by Irglová.

In a statement, Irglová explained the track is a eulogy to past versions of ourselves. “It’s a song about trying to reconcile with what feels like an end of an era and allowing one’s self to mourn the people we used to be while choosing to fight for the person we love and the life we built with them,” she said. “It is a song of defiance and determination as much as heart aching nostalgia.”

Get The Swell Season Tickets Here

Hansard and Irglová are on break from tour right now,...

Markéta Irglová and Glen Hansard, better known together as The Swell Season, will be returning to North America for a 2025 tour.

After opening the trek in Vienna, Virginia on July 11th, the pair will hit a number of cities throughout the US including Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Atlanta, with one evening in Toronto. See the full list of dates below.

Get The Swell Season Tickets Here

Fans who subscribe to their mailing list can expect to receive a code for the artist pre-sale taking place on December 11th at 10:00 a.m. local time; the deadline to join the mailing list is December 11th at 8:00 a.m. Et. This will be followed by a Live Nation pre-sale for select dates on December 11th at 12:00 p.m. local time (use code Joy). Tickets will then go on sale to the general public via Ticketmaster on Friday, December 13th at 10:00 a.

The stage musical adaptation of John Carney’s Sing Street is heading to London in 2025. Here’s what you can expect:

According to Deadline, the stage production of Sing Street is finally coming to the UK, having premiered in the US two years ago. It will play at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith from the 8th July to the 23rd August 2025, with the possibility of a West End transfer if it’s successful. James Bond's Barbara Broccoli is producing.

Walsh said in a statement that Broccoli “is steering the whole thing, she steered the show from the beginning. She’s the one who originally approached me to do it after we had so much fun on Once“.

Once is one of those ‘lightning in a bottle’ films that put the right people together at exactly the right time to create arguably one of the best musicals of the 2000s – writer...

Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas will headline Power Ballad, a musical comedy from Once director John Carney. It’s in production now.

Once director John Carney’s next film is Power Ballad, a musical comedy which will follow “the story of a wedding singer (Paul Rudd), a rock star (Nick Jonas), and the song that comes between them.”

Carney will direct from a screenplay he wrote with Peter McDonald.

Carney said, in a statement to Deadline, “I’m delighted to be working with so many great people. I’ve been working on this script with my buddy Peter for years, and now Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas are in my kitchen.”

The film is set to be one of the main attractions at the market at this year’s Cannes film festival. Carney was attached to direct a biopic of The Bee Gees, he stepped back and was replaced by Lorene Scafaria.

When Billie Eilish won the 2022 Oscar for Best Original Song for “No Time To Die” from the James Bond film of the same name, she narrowly missed out on making history as the youngest winner in the category. At the time, Eilish was 20 years old — her brother and collaborator Finneas O’Connell was 24 — but 2008’s winner Markéta Irglová had her beat by one year, winning for the “Once” song “Falling Slowly” at just 19.

This time around Eilish and O’Connell have their eyes set on an even more impressive record. They’re eligible in the Best Original Song category this year for “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie,” a tearjerker of a song that plays over a pivotal final moment in Greta Gerwig’s film. According to our current combined odds, the song is far and away the frontrunner for the Oscar, leading a pack that also includes the “Barbie” standout track “I’m Just Ken.

Low-budget films can achieve impressive box office returns, sometimes earning over a hundred times their initial investment. Success is not limited to any specific genre, with low-budget films in horror, comedy, action, and even documentaries finding success. Clever marketing strategies, captivating storytelling, and strong performances can contribute to the success of low-budget films.

Some box office successes are greater than others, with several films that were made for less than $1 million earning their budgets back dozens of times over. It's impressive when a movie makes more than a billion dollars, but most of these projects have budgets of over $200 million to begin with. From Titanic to Avengers: Endgame, the highest-grossing movies of all time cost an awful lot to make in the first place.

While it's impressive for a film that costs $200 million to see a massive return on its initial budget, it's even more amazing when high box office earnings come from low-budget projects.

Romance and cinema have had a passionate love affair since the inception of the silver screen. The intoxicating magic of a well-executed romantic gesture can stir our hearts, evoke tears, and leave us reminiscing long after the end credits roll. Whether it’s a stolen moment under a balcony or a grand declaration of love against a cinematic backdrop, these gestures often become the highlight of the movie, etching their places in our collective memories.

In this article, we present a curated list of the 50 best romantic gestures in film, spanning decades, genres, and cultures. From iconic classics like Casablanca to heartwarming modern tales like Juno, these films showcase how love is celebrated, fought for, and remembered. These moments range from the dramatic to the subtle, proving that love’s language is as varied as it is profound.

Hold onto your hearts as we embark on this cinematic journey, revisiting...

Glen Hansard is set to release his fifth solo record ‘All That Was East Is West Of Me Now’ on October 20. It will mark the singer-songwriter’s first record in over four years and follows a period that found Hansard moving between collaborative work with Eddie Vedder and Cat Power to live performances with The Frames and Markéta Irglová/The Swell Season. The effect of which helped give direction to ‘All That Was East Is West Of Me Now’, a record that is by all turns noisy and meditative, sprawling and hypnotic, Hansard’s most rock record since Burn the Maps-era The Frames.

The record opens with a call to arms in the powerful and stately “The Feast Of St. John.” Evoking echoes of “On the Beach” Neil Young and ‘Magnolia’-era Songs:Ohia, the song features Warren Ellis (The Dirty Three/The Bad Seeds) on violin and feels like raucous...

Glen Hansard has announced All That Was East Is West of Me Now, his first solo album in four years. The project is out in full October 20th, while lead single “The Feast of St. John” is available to stream now.

Rather than working out new songs in solitude or road-testing compositions while on tour, Hansard began prepping All That Was East Is West of Me Now by playing a five-show residency in a pub in his native Ireland last November. “I told no one,” he said of the gigs. “We set up in the corner and played to the locals, some of whom were only half listening. A collection of farmers and workers, dart players, pool sharks.”

Hansard continued, “I played two hours of new songs each week, some songs finished, some half-baked. Through this process I realized what I had and what I had to work on further...

Markéta Irglová and Glen Hansard have reunited as The Swell Season to share “The Answer Is Yes” ahead of their upcoming summer tour (get tickets here). Stream their first new music together in over a decade below.

As Irglová explained in a statement, the sentimental duet came together during a trip Hansard made to Iceland to connect about their tour, which celebrates the 15th anniversary of Once, the 2007 Irish musical drama in which they starred and featured their original music. The track features frequent Swell Season collaborators Marja Gaynor and Bertrand Galen, as well as contributions from several Icelandic musicians: Tina Dico and Helgi Hrafn Jónsson on vocals, Þorvaldur Þór Þorvaldsson on drums, and Guðmundur Óskar Guðmundsson on bass.

Once the duo began sharing ideas about new music, Irglová set out to write a song they could “sing together each night” and “felt right for the time and place; deeply personal and yet widely universal.

Disney+ reveals the official trailer and key art for the highly anticipated docu-special, “Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, with Dave Letterman,” is set to premiere globally on Disney+ on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, coinciding with U2’s highly anticipated album “Songs Of Surrender” ― a collection of 40 seminal U2 songs from across the band’s catalog, re-recorded and reimagined. In the docu-special, from Disney Branded Television, Academy Award(R)-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville captures Dave Letterman on his first visit to Dublin to hang out with Bono and The Edge in their hometown, experience Dublin, and join the two U2 musicians for a concert performance unlike any they’ve done before. From Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Documentaries, Neville’s Tremolo Productions, and Dave Letterman’s Worldwide Pants, “Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, with Dave Letterman” is part concert movie, part travel adventure plus...

Bono and The Edge are coming home.

Disney+ released the official trailer for its original documentary “Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, with Dave Letterman” on Thursday.

The docu-special sees Academy Award-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville capturing the musicians’ return to their hometown of Dublin along with David Letterman who visits the Irish city for the first time.

The streamer released the trailer on Twitter with the caption, “Go back to the place where the music began.”

Read More: Eve Hewson Admits It’s Easier To Sing In A Movie Musical Than In Front Of Dad Bono

Go back to the place where the music began.

Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming with Dave Letterman, an Original documentary special, is streaming March 17 on Disney+ Canada. pic.twitter.com/hBmzOT1G6N

— Disney+ Canada (@DisneyPlusCA) February 23, 2023

The press releases describes the documentary as an “exploration” of the city.

“Letterman,...

Today Disney+ has released a new trailer for the upcoming docu-special "Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, with Dave Letterman." Not only are we getting a chance to watch U2's Bono and The Edge head back to Dublin, but they're also taking the talk show host with them for his first-ever visit to Ireland. The band members have been friends with Letterman for 25 years, but they've never been off U.S. soil together.

The whole thing is set to coincide with the release of U2's new album "Songs of Surrender," which is "a collection of 40 seminal U2 songs from across the band's catalog, re-recorded and reimagined." The use of "reimagined" is interesting here because, in the trailer, Letterman mentions the changing of lyrics to some of the songs as things have changed in their lives. He introduces the band members to a crowd at a concert, which...

How do you follow an Oscars night like last year’s?

Amid all the unscripted Will Smith dramatics at the 2022 Academy Awards, it was easy to overlook the well-received performance from the ceremony’s three hosts: Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes.

This year, producers will surely be hoping for a more subdued night, with Jimmy Kimmel set to compere the event.

It’s no wonder that finding the right person for the job has proven difficult in recent years.

Presenting the Oscars is a tricky thing; success as a comedian, as a TV presenter or as an actor in no way guarantees a successful turn at the ceremonies. And a bad host can tarnish the night, for viewers and for the Academy.

On the other hand, a great host can elevate an awards night beyond simply its winners and losers.

Frequent hosts Bob Hope and Billy Crystal became...

Writer-director John Carney has found his niche—incredibly earnest musicals set in the real world that avoid any cynicism—but he’s become damn good at making these types of films. Ever since 2007’s Once, which beautifully centered around the music of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, and on through 2013’s Begin Again and 2016’s Sing Street, Carney has created charming modern-day musicals that show how music can bond and connect people, no matter their differences.

How do you follow an Oscars night like last year’s?

Amid all the unscripted Will Smith dramatics at the 2022 Academy Awards, it was easy to overlook the well-received performance from the ceremony’s three hosts: Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes.

This year, producers will surely be hoping for a more subdued night, with Jimmy Kimmel set to compere the event.

It’s no wonder that finding the right person for the job has proven difficult in recent years.

Presenting the Oscars is a tricky thing; success as a comedian, as a TV presenter or as an actor in no way guarantees a successful turn at the ceremonies. And a bad host can tarnish the night, for viewers and for the Academy.

On the other hand, a great host can elevate an awards night beyond simply its winners and losers.

Frequent hosts Bob Hope and Billy Crystal became...

How do you follow an Oscars night like last year’s?

Amid all the unscripted Will Smith dramatics at the 2022 Academy Awards, it was easy to overlook the well-received performance from the ceremony’s three hosts: Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes.

This year, producers will surely be hoping for a more subdued night, with Jimmy Kimmel set to compere the event.

It’s no wonder that finding the right person for the job has proven difficult in recent years.

Presenting the Oscars is a tricky thing; success as a comedian, as a TV presenter or as an actor in no way guarantees a successful turn at the ceremonies. And a bad host can tarnish the night, for viewers and for the Academy.

On the other hand, a great host can elevate an awards night beyond simply its winners and losers.

Frequent hosts Bob Hope and Billy Crystal became...

John Carney’s 2007 romantic drama Once is not your usual movie musical production. It strips away the frills of traditional musical films and instead connects with its audience through realism and strong emotional performances. It does not depend on a big budget or elaborately choreographed dance numbers – the focus is on the music, and the bittersweet romance that it conveys. Once was a commercial success at the box office, and yet this was achieved with a minimal budget of 150,000. The film doesn’t try to look expensive, but it doesn't come across as cheap either. Instead, it leans into the ordinariness of its locale, featuring naturalistic shots of a Dublin high street. This relatively small budget is also reflected in the casting choices. Rather than prominent movie stars, singer-songwriters Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová play the nameless love interests. While Hansard had success prior to Once whilst performing in the band,...

Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell won the original-song Oscar for “No Time to Die,” the title tune for the latest James Bond film, at Sunday’s 94th annual Academy Awards.

It’s the third consecutive Academy Award for music in the long-running spy franchise, following Adele’s win for 2012’s “Skyfall” and Sam Smith’s for “Writing’s on the Wall” from 2015’s “Spectre.”

The two wrote the song nearly three years ago and it was released in February 2020. They also performed the tune on the Oscars telecast.

It was also a clean sweep for the brother-and-sister duo, as they had already won a Grammy and the Golden Globe, plus Critics Choice and Society of Composers & Lyricists awards, for “No Time to Die.”

Eilish, 20, becomes the second youngest honoree in this category, after 19-year-old Czech-Icelandic songwriter Markéta Irglová’s win for “Falling Slowly” from 2007’s “Once.” O’Connell is 24.

Eilish...

Billie Eilish has set a number of records in scoring a Best Original Song Oscar for “No Time to Die,” including being the first person born in the 21st century to win an Academy Award.

At age 20, she’s not the youngest-ever songwriting winner, however. Czech-Icelandic singer-songwriter Markéta Irglová, who co-wrote “Falling Slowly” with Glen Hansard for the film “Once,” was four days away from turning 20 at the February 2008 ceremony.

If “No Time To Die” had come out as originally scheduled in 2020 and Eilish had been nominated and won, she would have been 19 years and two months if the Oscars had gone on as usual in February 2021. And she still would have been a few months younger than Irglová at the stripped-down ceremony that was eventually held in April.

Eilish and her 24-year-old brother Finneas have also become the first American songwriters to win for writing an original James Bond song.

Sometimes, Oscars hosts are like buses... there never seem to be any, and then three come at once.

After three years in which the Academy Awards took place with no hosts, this year’s ceremony will see Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall share hosting duties.

It’s no wonder that finding the right person for the job has proven difficult in recent years.

Presenting the Oscars is a tricky job; success as a comedian, as a TV presenter or as an actor in no way guarantees a successful turn at the ceremonies. And a bad host can tarnish the night, for viewers and for the Academy.

On the other hand, a great host can elevate an awards night beyond simply its winners and losers.

Frequent hosts Bob Hope and Billy Crystal became renowned for their ability as comperes, defining, for many viewers, their respective eras of Oscar history.

Writer/director Stephen Chbosky discusses his favorite films with host Josh Olson.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Rent (2005)

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower (2012)

Dear Evan Hansen (2021)

Mean Girls (2004)

Footloose (1984)

Grease (1978)

Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015)

Wonder (2017)

Trainspotting (1996)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

The Usual Suspects (1995)

The Shop Around The Corner (1940)

You’ve Got Mail (1998)

Can’t Buy Me Love (1987)

Toy Story 3 (2010)

Live Like A Cop Die Like A Man (1976)

The Wizard Of Oz (1939) – John Badham’s trailer commentary

Once (2007)

Mean Streets (1973)

Invaders From Mars (1986)

Cabaret (1972) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Heathers (1989) – Karyn Kusama’s trailer commentary

Sing Street (2016)

Star 80 (1983)

All That Jazz (1979) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

The Sound Of Music (1965)

Fiddler On The Roof (1971)

Blow-Up (1966) – Charlie Largent’s Criterion Blu-ray review

The Graduate (1967) – Neil Labute’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Vertigo (1958) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary, Brian Trenchard-Smith...

James C. Nicola, whose tenure as artistic director of Off Broadway’s New York Theatre Workshop included the development of such prominent stage works as Rent, Once, Hadestown, What the Constitution Means to Me, Slave Play and David Bowie’s Lazarus, will leave the post next year, the company announced today.

“In July of 2022, I will reach the age of 72,” Nicola said in a statement. “In my mind, that has always been the moment to interrupt whatever patterns there might be in my life, and to leap off a cliff into reinvention. So that is my plan.”

Nicola will depart Nytw on June 30, 2022. He has been the artistic director since 1988.

Under his stewardship, Nytw has cemented a reputation as an important force in the production and development of new theater work, many of which have gone on to Broadway runs. A partial list of important works developed at the Nytw includes Jonathan Larson’s Rent,...

An audience member fainted during a screening of Carlo Mirabella-Davis’s “Swallow” at the Tribeca Film Festival this past weekend. According to an account from the director, the woman felt overheated and like she was going to vomit before blacking out and collapsing in the theater. An audience member sitting in the row behind the woman saw her in distress during the screening. The woman was recovering outside the theater when Mirabella-Davis approached her and learned of her reaction firsthand.

Mirabella-Davis told IndieWire:

I exited the theater for a second in the middle of the screening, and I found this person who seemed a little shaken lingering outside. I asked if she was alright, and she told me she had just fainted. She said that after the thumbtack scene, she couldn’t get the concept of the thumbtack ingestion out of her mind. She started to feel overheated and...

It was an emotionally charged night on Dancing With the Stars.

The 11 remaining contestants danced their hearts out to routines symbolizing their Most Memorable Year on Monday, moving us with their heartfelt, inspiring stories. Although a fan-favorite pair from the beginning, former NBA star Derek Fisher and his pro partner, Sharna Burgess, were eliminated at the end of the night, leaving us with the season 25 top 10.

From the best technical lifts to the most tear-filled performances, Et's breaking down all the memorable choreography moments from week four of the competition.

Watch: 'DWTS' Eliminates Fan Favorite After Tearful 'Most Memorable Year' Week -- Find Out Who Got Cut!

Frankie Muniz & Witney Carson - Quickstep, "Adventure of a Lifetime" by Coldplay

Most memorable year: 2017, celebrating a mix of everything he's done, and to now be in a position where he can inspire others. "I have gotten to do everything I've wanted," Frankie said in his interview package. "I just don't...

It's week four of Dancing With the Stars, and fans are in for an emotionally charged night!

As the 11 remaining contestants and their pro partners take the stage on Monday, they'll be dancing to routines that symbolize their most significant life moments and memories.

That's right, it's Most Memorable Year week and Et's breaking down everything we can expect to see in the ballroom!

Who's on top of the leaderboard?

1. Lindsey Stirling & Mark Ballas: 27/30

2. Jordan Fisher & Lindsay Arnold: 25/30

3. Vanessa Lachey & Maksim Chmerkovskiy: 23/30

More: Maksim Chmerkovskiy Apologizes to Vanessa Lachey For 'DWTS' Absence: 'I Take Full Responsibility'

Who's in danger of elimination?

Sasha Pieterse & Gleb Savchenko received the lowest score from the judges last week, 19/30. They were followed closely behind with a five-way tie between Frankie Muniz & Witney Carson, Derek Fisher & Sharna Burgess, Terrell Owens & Cheryl Burke, Nick Lachey & Peta Murgatroyd and Nikki Bella & Artem Chigvintsev, who all received 21 points.

What are the...

Looking back on this still-young century makes clear that 2007 was a major time for cinematic happenings — and, on the basis of this retrospective, one we’re not quite through with ten years on. One’s mind might quickly flash to a few big titles that will be represented, but it is the plurality of both festival and theatrical premieres that truly surprises: late works from old masters, debuts from filmmakers who’ve since become some of our most-respected artists, and mid-career turning points that didn’t necessarily announce themselves as such at the time. Join us as an assembled team, many of whom were coming of age that year, takes on their favorites.

How much can you strip away the widest-known conventions of a genre before people will stop calling your film what it is? Many refer to Once as a “music film” instead of a musical, and it sort...

Hannah Bonner Mar 15, 2019

St. Patrick's Day is upon us, thus we lift a glass and consider what are the best Irish films to cheers to on such an auspicious day.

Spring is in the air, and it’s that time of year when we can enjoy a pint and a shot of Tullamore Dew on the patio (or while watching our favorite Irish movie).

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, we have compiled a list of the 10 best Irish films to raise your glass to on the 17th. Cheers!

10. Gangs of New York (2002)

Okay, so we’re cheating a little bit with the first one on this list, but Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York is his first partnership with the now Oscar winning Leonardo DiCaprio. The two have become a fruitful cinematic duo, a combination for which we moviegoers are grateful for (hello The Departed and The Wolf of Wall Street...

The constant big-budget movie releases with their A-list stars, state of the art technology, and expensive advertising campaigns can make it easy to forget that most of the movie industry just doesn’t have that kind of money. Most filmmakers are working with limited resources, yet producing films that are in many cases better than those big money movies. Other filmmakers work with even less, producing films that, in the end, are often relegated to the more obscure cable channels and the bargain bin at Amazon. B-movies have been called Hollywood’s stepchild, but what they really are is its life blood.

Only a few of these films make money, but they have a greater value than simply being good for business: they are good for filmmaking. With little money, no stars, scripts that are disjointed, and often featuring poor production values, the B-movie is the primordial ooze from which new talent and ideas crawl.

The thought of snapping your fingers to the tunes of your favorite fictional bands in film seems rather unreal. After all these movie music-makers seem like the “reel” deal in terms of their celluloid artistry and sense of colorful on-screen showmanship.

However, some of the fictional bands or musical acts we know very well and consider so fondly actually morph into real-life acts. Also, there are real-life bands that share a “fictionalized existence” on screen as well (for instance one can try and divide the musical phenomenon of The Beatles as treasured pop cultural entities from the mop top maniacs they portrayed on the big screen in A Hard’s Day Night or Help. Some may argue they were the one in the same in front of and away from the rolling cameras).

Whatever your definition of what constitutes a favorable fictional band in film at the present moment just...

The musical collaboration of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová in 2005’s Once plays just like a summer romance – passionate, unforgettable, and short lived. Once tells the story of a street musician (Glen Hansard) and a Czech immigrant (Markéta Irglová) during an eventful week as they write, rehearse and record songs that reveal their unique love story. The duo’s performance in the film was the couple’s first time working together, making Once an extremely unique and one of a kind cinematic experience. Originally meant for Cillian Murphy of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy fame, the role of “Guy” was given to director John Carney’s former bassist of his band The Fames. Met with critical appraisal, Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune called it, “the most charming thing I’ve seen all year,” and even Steven Spielberg was quoted as saying “A little movie called Once gave me...

There are only two weeks left of blind auditions, so it's going to take someone pretty special to get those coaches to turn around - they're running out of space on their teams pretty quickly, after all...

There are 12 acts we get to see on Saturday who are hoping that they've got what it takes to impress and make it through to the battle rounds. But if you want a little bit more info on who they are and what they'll be singing, you're in luck - we have all the gossip here...

1. Karl Loxley - 24, Coventry

Song: 'Nessun Dorma' - Turandot

What you need to know: Karl - who studied musical theatre at Guildford School of Acting - works in a supermarket but also performs at residential homes, working men's clubs and festivals. He has a lot of elderly fans, including a friend called Liz in her...

By Anjelica Oswald

Managing Editor

Of the five Oscar-nominated original songs for the 87th Academy Awards, Selma’s “Glory” and Beyond the Light’s “Grateful” are the only songs that solely play over the end credits of their respective film. The other three songs — “Everything is Awesome” from The Lego Movie, “Lost Stars” from Begin Again and “I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me — are all performed at some point during the film.

Now, that’s not to say that the end-credits songs aren’t relevant to the plot. Both “Grateful” and “Glory” stick with the themes of their respective films and summarize relevant events, even if they aren’t integral to each plot’s progression.

“Everything is Awesome” from The Lego Movie is featured in the film as a popular song in the Lego universe, one the characters sing along to, but...

It has been seven years since Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová stood on an Oscar stage, stunned and humbled while accepting the Best Song award for their timeless ditty, “Falling Slowly,” from Once. Slowly, the imitators of that modest Irish masterwork have started to appear. Song One, the debut film from Kate Barker-Froyland, owes much of its flavor and feeling to John Carney’s gen. From the downbeat acoustic touches and low-fi feel to the location shoots inside Williamsburg music stores and concert halls, her film tries to depict both the joy and grit involved in making music that Once displayed with ease. However, despite some lovely chemistry from the lead actors, Song One is too pleasant and not powerful enough to hook you into the central romance. Mere minutes after viewing the film, one also strains to remember how any of the tunes went.

Like an early scene from Once,...

Jose here. Every year as the awards race picks up, it seems as if we’re all collectively Lacuna-ed into forgetting all the great performances that came before Oscar narrows them down to twenty that by then, have won or been nominated for dozens of other awards. But what about the performances so “small”, “weird” or “foreign” that stand no chance in hell of competing with the Fyc ads in the trades and/or Harvey Weinstein’s Sauron-like powers? We celebrate those performances, right now:

10. Keira Knightley - Begin Again

Sure, The Weinstein Company is behind this one, but even Harvey knows there is no point in trying to get a nod for this low-key, charming musical, especially not when he can get Keira an Oscar for a WWII flick, which makes more sense, right? Her performance here reminded me of Last Night in which she does so much with her eyes,...

By Anjelica Oswald

Managing Editor

Since its premiere at Sundance, Richard Linklater’s Boyhood has been garnering Oscar buzz and rave reviews. The film could score nominations for best picture, director, actor and more, but after submitting three songs to the Academy for consideration in the best original song category, the film could add another nomination. Two of the songs were written by Ethan Hawke, who could garner a best supporting actor nomination for his portrayal of the father. If Hawke receives a best original song nomination for one of his songs, he will join a short list of actors who have scored nominations for songs since 1994.

Both Annette O’Toole and her husband Michael McKean were nominated in 2004, for their song “A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow,” which appeared in 2003’s A Mighty Wind. Well known for her role on Smallville as Martha Kent, O’Toole didn...

By Anjelica Oswald

Managing Editor

The best original song category at the Oscars is a difficult category to find patterns in. The number of best original song nominees can vary each year, and since 2000, the genre of the winning song has ranged from rap to show tunes.

The official Oscar rules state that the top five songs will receive nominations, but if there are 25 or fewer qualified works submitted, nominations may be limited to three, and if there are nine or fewer, than no awards may be given that year.

When it comes down to picking nominees, the Music Branch Executive Committee picks the top choices for the music categories (including original score and original musical). The winner is chosen by all Academy members.

This year’s best original score nominees could range from lullabies (“Mercy Is” from Noah) to addictive dance tracks (“Everything is Awesome” from The Lego Movie...

John Carney's story about random hearts brought together by music works surprisingly well

After Inside Llewyn Davis, here's Outside Keira Knightley. John Carney's latest tale of random hearts brought together by song may not have the rough-and-ready brilliance of Once (or a tune to match Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová's Oscar winning Falling Slowly) but it does a surprisingly good job of making us believe in the slightly preposterous idea of Kk recording an album on the streets of New York.

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This morning we kicked off our coverage of the upcoming Oscar season, more or less, with our annual list of contenders in each category and some misguided early predictions. One category we don't get around to until later in the season is Best Original Song as we meticulously add to our on-going list of potential nominees. But I can already tell one is going to blow the rest out of the water this season. No, I'm not talking about a power ballad along the lines of last year's winner "Let It Go," I'm talking about a modest track from John Carney's "Begin Again" that recalls 70s singer/songwriter magic of Carol King, Cat Stevens, etc. I'm talking about Adam Levine and Gregg Alexander's "Lost Stars," which will be the big push from The Weinstein Company on the film. Alexander is the former frontman of 90s rock band New Radicals...

[This is a re-post of my review from the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. Begin Again opens this weekend in limited release.] John Carney’s 2007 film Once was a surprising, touching musical about two musicians falling in love through their love of music. It felt authentic thanks to the naturalistic direction, and real-life musicians Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, who made their acting debuts and fell in love in real life. That kind of chemistry is lightning in a bottle, but it provided Once with a unique and vibrant feel that expertly wove together a love of music and a love between two people. Carney’s new film, Begin Again, returns to similar territory but with a more polished approach that diminishes the charm in favor of a more Hollywood-friendly feel. The movie is still funny, good-natured, and most importantly, stresses the joy of sharing music with others. It’s even a little acerbic in its tone towards the music business, but Carney’s film is guilty of the some of the same critiques regarding watered-down entertainment.

It has been seven years since writer/director John Carney's breakout hit Once, which made stars out of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova and ended up winning an Oscar for Best Original Song. The film was fantastic, not only for its music, but the delicate nature of its authentic and welcoming storytelling. There have been a couple of projects between then and now for Carney, but his latest feature, Begin Again is, for all intents and purposes, his true follow-up effort to the 2006 success. Disappointingly, everything that made Once so great is absent from this film, which is nothing more than a soap opera-level melodrama. Set in New York, the story follows Dan (Mark Ruffalo), a washed-up record producer, and his eventual professional relationship with Gretta (Keira Knightley), a singer-songwriter that has just broken things off with her boyfriend (Adam Levine) after he finds success in the music biz...

It has been seven years since writer/director John Carney's breakout hit Once, which made stars out of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova and ended up winning an Oscar for Best Original Song. The film was fantastic, not only for its music, but the delicate nature of its authentic and welcoming storytelling. There have been a couple of projects between then and now for Carney, but his latest feature, Begin Again is, for all intents and purposes, his true follow-up effort to the 2006 success. Disappointingly, everything that made Once so great is absent from this film, which is nothing more than a soap opera-level melodrama. Set in New York, the story follows Dan (Mark Ruffalo), a washed-up record producer, and his eventual professional relationship with Gretta (Keira Knightley), a singer-songwriter that has just broken things off with her boyfriend (Adam Levine) after he finds success in the music biz...

courtesy of flickeringmyth.com

50. Dancer in the Dark (2000)

Directed by Lars von Trier

Signature Song: “I’ve Seen It All” (http://youtu.be/d9zFt6M_GLo)

Who says people in a musical have to be able to sing? The list starts with a film directed by the director of Melancholia, Antichrist, and the recent Nymphomaniac films. Starring Björk, Dancer in the Dark takes place in the fantasy world of Selma, an immigrant from the Czeck Republic living in a blue-collar town in the United States. She lives on the property of a local police officer named Bill (David Morse) and his wife. She finds herself the object of a shy co-worker’s affection (Peter Stormare), but doesn’t entirely reciprocate, partly because she knows that she is slowly going blind. Terrified that her disease is hereditary and her son most certainly will get it, she works long hours at the factory,...

Once is a rare wonder of a show. Based on the Oscar-winning film, this Tony and Grammy-scooping musical will wound and lift your heart and demands to be seen. And if you can, see it before May 10th for a chance to witness Arthur Darvill stepping firmly out of the shadow of Doctor Who to deliver a performance of tremendous power and nuance.

He’d already been captivating as the local vicar in ITV’s brilliant Broadchurch but here, as the bashful, simply-named ‘Guy’ to Zrinka Cvitešić’s gregarious and sweet ‘Girl’, Darvill’s presence, vulnerability and impressive singing confirms he’s a young British actor to be reckoned with.

That said, he’s blessed with some fantastic material in a gorgeously rendered show. A ramshackle band play on the stage of the Phoenix Theatre as you take your seats, with the boards that played host to Blood Brothers for...

Moviefone's Top DVD of the Week

"Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues"

What's It About? Can Ron Burgundy and his team up their game to take on the 24-hour news cycle? Will they take a bite out of the Big Apple or choke? Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, and Christina Applegate return for more unclassy antics.

Why We're In: Anyone who's watched a Will Ferrell/Adam McKay film knows that the alternate and extended scenes are endlessly watchable. That goes double for "Anchorman 2," which was initially released as a PG-13 film and later upgraded to a "super-sized R."

Exclusive: Watch a scene from "Super-Sized R-Rated" Version of "Anchorman 2" (Video)

Rt 2 win #Anchorman2 on BluRay + NewsTeam mustache & autographed Sex Panther cologne! Rules: http://t.co/9EW8jlbjZe pic.twitter.com/N2YxpZygZT

- moviefone (@moviefone) March 31, 2014

Moviefone's Top Blu-ray of the Week

"Once"

What's It About? A...

While you dine on your corned beef and cabbage this lovely St. Patrick's Day, you may want to watch one of GossipCenter's favorite Irish films in honor of the Shamrock-laden holiday.

Whether it's hunky brothers in Boston you're after in "Boondock Saints" or Daniel Day-Lewis' captivating portrayal of Christy Brown in "My Left Foot," we're sure you will not be left disappointed after watching one our seven recommendations below! Happy St. Patty's Day!

"My Left Foot" (1989)

Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Brenda Fricker and Alison Whelan, this bio-pic follows the story of Christy Brown who learns to adapt with his cerebral palsy by painting and writing with his only controllable limb, his left foot.

"Waking Ned Devine" 1998

Written and directed by Kirk Jones, the hilarious comedy is about Irish townsfolk attempting to claim money from the lottery after the winner unfortunately dies from shock. The cast includes Ian Bannen, David Kelly and Fionnula Flanagan.

Cupid’s arrow is wound tight and ready to fly because Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. In honor of the chocolate and rose-filled holiday, GossipCenter put together a list of 10 must-see romantic flicks that are perfect for a relaxed night in.

Get ready for laughs, tears and heart-warming moments as you check out the list of the lovable movies below!

1. Amelie (2001) – Starring Audrey Tautou and Matheiu Kassovitz, this Parisian romance follows an innocent beauty as she discovers herself and true love in the City of Lights.

2.Annie Hall (1977) – This Woody Allen classic displays every up and down in a relationship between two lovers portrayed by the iconic director and Oscar-winner Diane Keaton. Annie Hall combines the perfect amount of wit, humor and sympathy, creating one of the best romantic comedies of all time.

3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) – An all-star cast including Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet,...