The Official Top 20 biggest Americana albums of 2021

Todd Gilchrist The push-pull relationship between an individual developing his or her sense of self and the external forces trying to steer them — be they parental, professional, political or cultural — creates a tension that is common, and formative, to many people’s lives. Despite the wildly different stories that they tell, many of this year’s best picture nominees vividly illustrate this universal conflict, examining the challenge of retaining or asserting one’s identity while the world around them attempts to impose pressure or exert its influence.As perhaps the most fantastical of the nominees, “Dune” sends young Paul Atreides ( Timothée Chalamet) on a journey that owes no small debt to Joseph Campbell’s monomyth, but director and co-writer Denis Villenueve weaves a complex tapestry between the lineage into which the character was born, the overlapping but sometimes dueling ambitions of his mother and father, the feudal aristocracy of the film’s futuristic setting, and the almost primal sense of home and harmony that Paul feels once he arrives on the desert planet of Arrakis.

Weekend grosses popped higher for Oscar Best Picture nominees led by Licorice Pizza, Belfast and Drive My Car.

Javier Bardem at Saturday’s Goya prize ceremony. The prizes marked both Leon and Bardem’s seventh Goya wins. Produced by El Reposado and The Mediapro Studio, and a workplace dramedy skewering the abuse of power practised by a seemingly benign factory owner, “The Good Boss” also won best director and original screenplay for León, as well as best score and editing.Blanca Portillo beat out “Parallel Mothers’” Oscar-nominated Penélope Cruz, thanks to Portillo’s powerful performance as Maixabel Lasa, the real life widow of former Basque Country governor Juan Mari Jauregui who agreed in 2011 to meet one of his ETA killers. Her forgiveness, and Portillo’s portrait, has touched a large nerve in Spain.

Those theatrical motion picture studios earning Oscar Best Picture nominations today will put their best foot forward at the box office, and increase the cinema footprint of their contenders in an effort to capitalize on their success and raise the pics’ profiles.

Beginning with our review coverage all the way back to the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, through Cannes in July, Venice and Telluride in the late summer, and finally to late-breaking holiday-season releases that qualified just under the gun for Oscar eligibility, Deadline has been on the front lines of opinion for this year’s eventual 10 nominees for Oscar Best Picture.

While it’s always best to see a film in a movie theater — especially one that’s singled out as one of the year’s best pictures — that may prove difficult this year given pandemic restrictions and precautions. Some are available in theaters, and some of those are only in theaters, but many are available on streaming services you likely already have.

EXCLUSIVE: Bohemian Rhapsody scribe Anthony McCarten has scripted his stage play The Collaboration into a feature that will mark the film directorial debut of Kwame Kwei-Armah, with Paul Bettany playing the artist Andy Warhol and Jeremy Pope playing Jean-Michel Basquiat. The film will go into production later this year with McCarten producing through his Muse of Fire Productions along with oft-producing partner Denis O’Sullivan.

Love Island has been dominating our TV screens since it returned in 2015. In order to keep the high viewership numbers and the programme fresh for the audience, they continue to switch things up.The latest change is the luxurious villa where the popular ITV show is filmed. Bosses are reportedly looking to switch up the location for the second time (third if you include the celebrity version, and let's not even got started on the short-fated winter edition).

For Ally Sheedy, it’s all about being there for her child.

West Side Story‘s Steven Spielberg, The Power of the Dog‘s Jane Campion, Dune‘s Denis Villeneuve, Licorice Pizza‘s Paul Thomas Anderson and Kenneth Branagh of Belfast have been nominated for the top feature film prize as the Directors Guild unveiled nominations Thursday for its 74th annual DGA Awards.

Refresh for latest…: Xavier Giannoli’s Illusions Perdues (Lost Illusions) leads nominations for the 2022 César Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscar. The Venice premiere scored 15 mentions, followed by Leos Carax’s Annette, which opened the Cannes Film Festival last year and has 11 nominations. They are followed by Valérie Lemercier’s Aline, the musical dramedy inspired by the life of Céline Dion which also debuted in Cannes and has 10 nods. (Scroll down for the full list of nominations which is being updated.)

Lisa Cooke has been re-elected chair of the Visual Effects Society, and for the first time in the organization’s 25-year history, women now serve in its top five elected posts.

Lost Frequencies and Calum Scott top the UK's Official Trending Chart for a second week as their collaboration Where Are You Now looks set to crack the Top 10 for the first time.