There are many ways that an actor can approach a role, but one of the most talked about is what’s called “method acting.” While what method acting really is is often confused, actors like Daniel Day-Lewis and Christian Bale have built their reputations around allegedly never breaking character during a production. However, Bradley Cooper, Bale's former co-star, reveals that’s not quite the way it works.

Many actors have talked about the experience of working alongside a method actor. We’ve heard bizarre stories from the set of Suicide Squad and the crazy things Jared Leto allegedly did when he played the Joker. Bradley Cooper recently appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, where he said that until he met Christian Bale on the set of American Hustle, he really had no idea how the process worked. He explained…

However, it turns out that at least for Christian Bale, he wasn’t fully immersing himself in his American Hustle character, but rather fully immersing himself in his accent. Bale kept his New York accent throughout American Hustle, but he had no problem talking to his co-workers simply as himself. Cooper continued…

Bradley Cooper says he borrowed the accent trick when he made American Sniper, and it helped him feel more comfortable when portraying his character. That's in spite of director Clint Eastwood apparently making fun of him on set for continuing to talk in his on-screen accent.

Considering that Bale was nominated for an Oscar for American Hustle and Cooper did the same in American Sniper, there's clearly something to be said for this process. To be fair, some directors hate method actors, and some actors who used to do it, like Meryl Streep, have stopped method acting.

While there may have been a particular form of “the method” decades ago, what’s clear now is that every actor simply does whatever they need to do to inhabit a character. Some may go to extremes of not breaking character, but some just hang on to the right accent.

Sometimes there are movies that everyone loves, and you don't. I'm generally pretty open-minded about most movies (it helps to be in this business), and I can usually find something I like in almost every movie. There are, however, some movies that I don't like. These aren't all "hot takes." For most of them, I completely appreciate the quality of the movie in question; they just don't land with me on a personal level.

This is a "me problem" most of the time, but still, I wanted to put this list together to talk about movies everyone loves, but have never done anything for me, so without further ado, let's get into it!

The Shawshank Redemption

Let's just get this big one out of the way. The Shawshank Redemption is generally considered one of, if not the, best movies of the 1990s by many people. The Frank Darabont-directed prison movie, based on a book by Stephen King and starring Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins, is beloved by many, especially those people (like me) who watched it on cable all the time in the '90s. The thing is, I just don't like it. Maybe it's because of the prison element, or that it's a little too... I don't know... cheesy to me. It doesn't work for me.

The Deer Hunter

Where to start with The Deer Hunter? Often cited as not only one of the best war movies ever, it's even thought of as one of the best films of all time. I couldn't disagree more with those assessments. This might be a hot take, but I find it boring. Do we really need to see a Russian-Orthodox wedding as it happens? The history is dubious at best. There is nothing that ties Russian Roulette to POW camps in Vietnam in actual history. While the performances are amazing from the entire cast, the movie, with a runtime of 184 minutes, is about 3 hours too long.

Avatar

The first time I saw Avatar, I was on a double date, and my girlfriend and I spent the whole movie snickering about how silly we thought it was. The other couple on the date loved it (as most seem to), so again, we snickered about how silly the movie is, and how much the other couple loved it. The special effects achievements in Avatar are rightfully lauded, but everything else... I can't take it seriously.

300

People were so excited when the graphic novel 300 got a film adaptation in 2006. While I'm often a stickler for good history in a movie about historical events, that's not what bothers me about this one. For me, the movie just looks and feels incredibly cheesy.

Magnolia

Paul Thomas Anderson is a polarizing director, at least in my own head. I tend to either really love his movies (Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, Hard Eight, and Inherent Vice are all movies you can watch over and over) or I really don't like them at all, like Magnolia. I remember being so excited to see his follow-up to Boogie Nights in the theater and walking away disappointed and, honestly, pretty bored by the movie.

Scarface

Scarface has to be one of the most dated movies of all time. Talk about cheesy! Everything from Miami in the '80s to the score by the legendary Giorgio Moroder all feels like they are trapped in time - and not in a good way. Though some might disagree, it's also a really boring movie for most of it. Sure, the action scenes are classics, but Al Pacino's weird accent ruins even some of the best lines for me.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

I'm the perfect age for someone who loves Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, as I was a preteen when it came it. It is a movie directed right at the audience I was a part of when it became a smash hit in 1980. I never really liked it, even then. The humor doesn't land for me at all. I do like the animation, but other than that, it's just not for me.

Sin City

I don't read a lot of graphic novels, and that might be why I don't like adaptations like 300 or this one, Sin City. Both are adapted from works by Frank Miller, some of whose adaptations I do really like, like the third season of Daredevil, then on Netflix, now part of the MCU on Disney+. The style of Sin City does little for me, and I just couldn't get past that.

Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid

Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid is a movie I really want to like. I love both stars of the movie, Robert Redford and Paul Newman, and The Sting, which I first saw years before seeing Butch and Sundance, is still one of my all-time favorite movies. I'm also a huge fan of Westerns, and despite this being considered one of the best Westerns of all time, I've never been able to connect with this one. I've tried over the years to get into it, but I end up turning it off every time.

Inglourious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino is a director, like some others on this list, who is always a little hit-or-miss with me. Reservoir Dogs is one of my all-time favorites, and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is an example where I think Tarantino nailed the alternate history in the story he was telling. Inglourious Basterds is the opposite of that. Outside of the incredible opening scene with Christoph Waltz's amazing performance, the movie is just too silly for me, and the ending drives me nuts. I do secretly love Brad Pitt's wacky accent.

Mad Max: Fury Road

Time for me to come clean: I'm not a big fan of any of the Mad Max franchise. Although I'm the perfect age to have grown up with it, I've never been able to get into it. Mad Max: Fury Road is widely praised, and visually, it is really awesome, but seeing it once was enough for me. I have no desire to watch it again.

Titanic

I know I'm not alone here in my dislike of Titanic. That's not to say I hate everything about the movie. I actually really love the set design and the special effects. Visually, it's an amazing movie. It's the story that does absolutely nothing for me. Frankly, it bores me, and now, by no fault of the movie itself, it's been so meme'd and quoted over the years, it leaves me with no desire to watch it again.

Top Gun: Maverick

The original Top Gun is a near-perfect action movie in my opinion. Its sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, was disappointing because it's basically a beat-for-beat remake. That's not why I really don't like it, though. It's that silly ending, which is essentially the exact same idea as Luke blowing up the Death Star in the first Star Wars movie, and that left me really bummed out when I finished watching it.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

When people rank the MCU movies, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is often near the top, or at least in the top third of all the movies. For me, though, it's way down the list. But what do I know? I love Iron Man 2, and everyone else hates that one.

Chariots Of Fire

I'm convinced that the reason people love Chariots Of Fire is solely for the incredible score by Vangelis. I love a good period piece, and by all accounts, I should love this movie, and yet, I don't. It's a movie that somehow won Best Picture over Raiders of the Lost Ark, and that never should have happened!

Heat

Another movie that I think I should really love, but just can't buy some of the ridiculous dialogue is Heat. The epic shootout is amazing, and I remember all too well what a huge deal it was that Al Pacino and Robert De Niro were appearing in scenes together in a movie for the first time. That novelty has worn off, and all we're left with is some silly dialogue now.

The Grand Budapest Hotel

This is where Wes Anderson lost me. I was excited for The Grand Budapest Hotel when it was released, as I was a huge fan of Anderson's earlier work, but this one left me feeling flat and, frankly, a little annoyed at the directing. I love that Anderson has a clear vision and style in his movies, but I'm just not into them anymore.

American Hustle

I once had a friend comment that American Hustle should really be called "American Hair and Makeup." The wardrobe and make-up departments more than earned their money on this one; it's all fantastic. The movie could have been so much better, though.

Once Upon a Time in America

Once Upon a Time in America is one of those movies that has what feels like dozens of different versions. The directors cut, the theatrical cut, the USSR cut... it goes on and on, but I have yet to find a version of the movie that makes me love it. Maybe one day a Redux cut will finally make it click.

The Big Chill

I'm pretty outspoken about my feelings about Gen X nostalgia, and that's my generation. I had to grow up in an America drenched in Baby Boomer nostalgia, and no movie represents that quite like The Big Chill. That said, I will always be grateful for the movie introducing me to Motown with its fantastic soundtrack.

Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump is a movie that never fails to annoy me. Yes, it has a great soundtrack, and I actually love Tom Hanks' performance in it. But it's just dripping in saccharine Boomer nostalgia, and that will always annoy me about it.

Driving Miss Daisy

I remember what a huge deal Driving Miss Daisy was when it was released, and I'm almost positive it was the first movie I ever saw with Morgan Freeman, so it does get points for that. It loses points for everything else.

The Shape Of Water

Let me get this straight... Is The Shape of Water is a better movie than Dunkirk, Get Out, Darkest Hour, Call Me By Your Name, and The Post? That's what the Academy thought when it named the movie Best Picture at the 2018 Oscars. There's just no way. I don't get it. Maybe it's me, but of all the films directed by Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water is by far my least favorite.

Grease

I get, Grease is a beloved movie for generations of kids and teenagers. The musical is one of the most popular movies ever made, and that popularity has never waned. Except with me. It never did anything for me. Except for the song "Greased Lightnin'." That's a great tune.

Harold And Maude

I love a great dark comedy, and Harold and Maude should fit that bill for me, but it just doesn't do anything for me at all. I mean, I kind of appreciate that Maude lives in an old train car; that's fun.

The Iron Giant

The Iron Giant is the perfect example of a movie that just came out at the wrong time for me. I was too old to care about kids' movies and too young to appreciate kids' movies as an adult. It's a movie that I finally watched about 20 years after it came out, simply because it was referenced in Ready Player One, but it still just wasn't for me.

American Sniper

I love a good movie about the military, and American Sniper is a very intense one of those, for sure. This is a case where I don't totally hate the movie, but I don't like it enough to ever watch again. I'm not going to get political here, so I'll leave it at that. Also, the fake baby totally took me out of the movie, and I never really recovered.

Easy Rider

I'm a huge fan of late '60s music and, by extension, the hippie culture. I love literature from the era, and so, by all accounts. I should love Easy Rider. Except... I don't. Like other movies on this list, it feels really dated, as do a lot of movies from the era. The motorcycles will always look cool, though.

Brazil

Terry Gilliam is a genius. I love his work with Monty Python, and I'm a big fan of a bunch of his movies, like Time Bandits, 12 Monkeys, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and The Fisher King. I'm a huge fan of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, as well. But I just don't like Brazil. I can't put my finger on exactly why I don't, but I find it a little boring, and while I generally appreciate anything weird, this one may just be a little too off-kilter for me.

Moneyball

I read the book Moneyball years before the movie came out, and I have the same issue with the book as I do with the movie. As a baseball fan, it bugs me that the movie completely downplays the epic pitching staff the A's had in this era and gives far too much credit to Billy Beane's rethinking of player evaluation. It's something that I just can't get out of my head whenever I try to watch the movie.

The Fifth Element

I get why people love The Fifth Element. It's visually stunning, and the cast is amazing. It's missing something that I can't put my finger on. Maybe I need to try this one again, but I'm not sure I'll like it anymore than I used to.

Terms Of Endearment

For me, Terms of Endearment isn't one of those movies that is so good, but so brutal to watch that you can never watch it again; it's just a bland movie that I'll never understand how it won so many awards or was so popular at the time. It's a stellar cast, to be sure, but it seems only to serve one purpose: to make people cry. That isn't my kind of movie.

Con artists have been popular characters for a long time in Hollywood. Some of the most loved films from Hollywood's earliest days feature them, like The Wizard of Oz and The Music Man. In honor of that long history, here is our list of some of our favorite movies about con artists and their sneaky ways. 

American Hustle

American Hustle was sometimes jokingly called "American Hair and Makeup" because of the elaborate examples of both in this movie set in the 1970s. That's appropriate too, as the movie is loosely based on a real con set up by the FBI to nab corrupt politicians. The hair and makeup in the movie are also just a great bonus that help make American Hustle a really fun movie. 

Heartbreakers

Heartbreakers is a classic con artist movie. Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt play a mother-daughter team who trick men into marrying and giving up their money. It's filled with little scams throughout, which is also a fun little bonus, and has a great twist at the end, that you'll just have to watch the movie to find out about. 

The Sting

Without a doubt, one of the best movies about grifting has to be The Sting. The superstar cast led by Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and Robert Shaw chew up the scenery in this fast-paced and delightful classic. The key ingredient in the movie is David S. Ward's script which effortlessly explains what could be a fairly complicated con to understand on the surface. 

The Wolf Of Wall Street

While The Wolf Of Wall Street may be more about the dangers of excess and ego, at its heart is the massive grift that Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his cohorts pulled off as they built their fraudulent company. Scams on Wall Street are nothing new, they just took them to a level previously unseen. 

The Grifters

Any list like this is going to have to include anymore called The Grifters. The movie, starring John Cusack, Anjelica Huston, and Annette Bening as a trio of con artists plays out like a '50s crime novel set in the early '90s. It has a "classic" feel to it and it's really fun. 

Ocean's Eleven

Some might call Ocean's Eleven a heist film, and it is. But it's also got a whole lot of grifting going on in it. Every one of the "eleven" has some hustle to their game, especially Danny Ocean (George Clooney). The smooth-talking burglar uses his wits more than his brawn to pull off their incredible heist. It makes for some incredible dialog and a some unforgettable moments. 

The Greatest Showman

It might not be totally fair to call PT Barnum a con artist, but there is a reason he is associated with the famous quote, "There's a sucker born every minute," though he almost certainly didn't actually say it. But as a showman, there was still a little grift in him. He just made it worth it to be to give them his money. 

Boiler Room

Years before The Wolf Of Wall Street, Ben Affleck, Giovanni Ribisi, and Vin Diesel teamed up for Boiler Room about a sketchy brokerage firm running basically the same scam Jordan Belfort ran that inspired the Scorsese movie. It's a raw look at the industry and its shifty ways. 

A Fish Called Wanda

Wanda Gershwitz (Jamie Lee Curtis) isn't the greatest grifter of all time, and her boyfriend Otto (Kevin Kline) has to be one of the dumbest ever. Teaming up with Ken and Archie (Michael Palin and John Cleese, respectively) doesn't help them much, either. Somehow, A Fish Called Wanda has become a little bit of a forgotten classic more than three decades after its release, but it's still wild and hilarious and we promise you won't be DISAPPOINTED with it. 

The Wizard of Lies

One of the worst, most destructive con men in history was Bernie Madoff. His decades-long con left many innocent people holding the bag. Two good happened after that. First, Madoff spent the last decade of his life having a miserable time in prison and second, HBO made a pretty darn good movie about the whole scam, starring Robert De Niro as Madoff. 

Six Degrees of Separation

The movie Six Degrees of Separation is based on a play by the same, itself loosely based on the life of grifter David Hampton, who scammed money out of Manhattan socialites by convincing them he was the son of actor Sidney Poitier. That's exactly what Will Smith's character, Paul, does in the movie.  And yep, if you're wondering it's the play that brought the term into the mainstream. 

The Talented Mr. Ripley

Tom Ripley, played by Matt Damon in The Talented Mr. Ripley is one of the more terrifying hustlers on this list. Through the tense movie, he proves he'll stop at nothing to get what he wants. This is not one of the "fun" movies about con artists. 

Focus

Will Smith plays a con man who Margot Robbie has the misfortune of trying to con. It sets up an interesting dynamic and while it's not the most original idea to ever come of Hollywood, its sleek production and snappy script make well worth anyone's time. 

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Now we come to an all-time classic. Steve Martin and Michael Caine play two con artists forced to come together to pull off some huge cons in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and it works well...until it doesn't and they find themselves on the other end of a grift. It's just the best comedy about con artists ever made, and one of Steve Martin's best movies too, don't you agree?

The Wizard Of Oz

This is a tricky one to place on here, but there is no doubt that on the surface, the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz is a perfect example of a scam artist. He's a pretty great one too, seeing as how he got the whole of Oz to believe his nonsense. He can't pull one over on Dorothy though, she's sees his scam almost immediately. 

The Usual Suspects

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist," says everything you need to know about Verbal Kint aka Keyser Söze (Kevin Spacey). It's a line that sums up the entire movie in one breath. Verbal Kint is the ultimate confidence man, brimming with exactly that, confidence, after all, he pulls off his grift in the middle of a police station filled with cops looking for him. 

Saltburn

Like The Talented Mr. Ripley in the '90s, Saltburn takes things to absolute extremes when it comes to scams. Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) is diabolical in the planning and execution of his scam. The fact that he gets away with it only makes it that much more disturbing. 

Catch Me If You Can

There's a lot to unpack with Catch Me If You Can. The movie, with a great cast that includes Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks, is based on the autobiography of career criminal Frank Abagnale. It's a fantastic movie that fans can watch over and over, but it may in and of itself all be a scam. There is a lot of doubt in how much of the book - if any of it - is true at all. So meta. 

Matchstick Men

In Matchstick Men, Nicolas Cage plays a con artist who really has everything always going against him. It's a look into what happens when cons go wrong, really. Like a lot of movies about grifters, we root for the criminal, and Cage's performance and his character's bad luck make it easy. 

The Spanish Prisoner

The Spanish Prisoner is the name of one of the oldest and most widely used scams in history. The movie of the same name is basically Steve Martin's character pulling this grift on Campbell Scott's character. It's the same scam that we've all had attempted on us by Nigerian scammers promising great wealth by helping them with a lost rich relative. 

The Producers

Of all of Mel Brooks' amazing movies, The Producers might be the one that is most surprising in how it's endured over the years, with a wildly successful musical based on it and another movie based on the musical. In the end, the plot it just a good old-fashioned scam. 

The Prestige

Magicians are, at their heart, con artists. Any great magician will admit to it. It's how they use the power of deception that separates them from criminal grifters. That's why The Prestige finds its way onto this list. Competing magicians fooling each other with their tricks and illusions are nothing more than scams. 

Now You See Me

Now You See Me is a perfect example of magicians using their powers of persuasion and artistry for crime. The magicians in the movie use everything they've learned about magic and illusion to commit crimes but with a side trick of actually acting a bit like Robin Hood with the ill-gotten gains. It's complicated, but that's what makes it great. 

Curly Sue

Kids have been used in deceptions for centuries and in the movies we've seen it with movies like Curly Sue. It's a classic grifter movie, with James Belushi playing the most stereotypical con man of all time. And yet, the movie still works really well. Sure, it's a bit dated, but hey, keep a sharp eye for a young Steve Carell, who made his film debut here. 

Leap Of Faith

It turns out Steve Martin has a real knack for blaming scam artists. In Leap of Faith, he plays one of the oldest versions of a grifter on earth - the religious type. Martin stars as Jonas Nightengale, a con man who discovers that he can make serious money by pretending to be a faith healer, using every trick in the book to separate desperate people from their money. 

I Love You Phillip Morris

I Love You Phillip Morris is really a love story, but it's about a con man who is so in love with Phillip Morris he can't stop scamming people or breaking out of jail to be with him. Jim Carrey's performance as Steven, the con artist is one of the most underrated of his stellar career. 

The Good Liar

Romance scams, like the one in The Good Liar, are as old as time. When it's Ian McKellen playing the grifter though, you know it's worth checking out. He's just so perfect in the role of an aging hustler running his scam on a widow (Helen Mirren). 

The Frighteners

Director Peter Jackson's The Frighteners is a different kind of grifter movie. The main character, played by Michael J. Fox runs his scams with the help of a few ghosts that only he can see. It's honestly one of the most underappreciated movies by Jackson with fantastic performances all around.  

The Music Man

If you've never seen The Music Man, but you're a fan of The Simpsons, you are more familiar with the plot that you may be aware. One of the best Simpson's episodes of all time has to be "Marge Vs. Monorail" and it's basically all based on The Music Man. In the movie, the "Man" isn't selling a monorail, but he is selling the town a scam with his words and his songs. 

Maverick

Mel Gibson has a few forgotten hits, and Maverick is a great example of one that should be better remembered. Gibson plays a gambler and card sharp in late 19th Century America on his way to play in a poker tournament but finds plenty of ways to hustle on the way. 

White Men Can't Jump

Billy Hoyle (Woody Harrelson) sure knows how to hustle guys on the basketball court. He quickly becomes Sidney Deane's (Wesley Snipes) nemesis on and off the court. That is, until the two team up to hustle for even more money. 

Trading Places

While Trading Places is strictly about con men, the con that Billy Ray Valentine (Eddie Murphy) and Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Aykroyd) team up to pull on the Duke Brothers at the end surely makes it worthy of addition to this list. Like many on the list, it's really easy to root for the ones pulling the scam. 

As Bradley Cooper receives acclaim for helming and starring in his upcoming film Maestro, the actor has lined up a new project called Best of Enemies. The movie has become the latest of upcoming book adaptations nabbed by Hollywood, and it will re-team Cooper with Christian Bale years after the pair of great actors starred in American Hustle together. 

Best Of Enemies is a spy thriller that was just snatched up by Amazon and MGM Studios, per Deadline. The movie is about an unlikely friendship that forms between a CIA agent and KGB agent during the Cold War. It will not only reunite American Hustle’s two stars, but it also a host of filmmakers behind the scenes of the 2013 flick, including its co-writer Eric Warren Singer, who is set to write the script, and producer Charles Roven in the mix. 

Amazon and MGM reportedly fought for the rights to the film alongside eight other studios, notably duking it out with Warner Bros. before winning the bid. The studios are set to pay the American Hustle writer, who also notably co-wrote 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, in the neighborhood of $5 million. With those points in mind, it sounds like Best Of Enemies could be a huge movie! Plus, it’s apparently possible that Cooper could direct after previously helming A Star Is Born and Maestro. 

The film is based on 2018’s Best of Enemies: The Last Great Spy Story of the Cold War, which is based on the true story of CIA maverick Jack Platt and KGB agent Gennady Vasilenko as they become the best of friends rather than enemies. Cooper will play Platt and Bale will play the Russian agent. The story takes place in 1978, and it also involves the unlikely pair solving some of the most famous spy stories of the 20th century. 

Interestingly enough, Best of Enemies shares a similar time period to American Hustle, which was set in the late 1970s and early 1980s, though David O. Russell's film focused on an FBI Abscam operation rather than the ongoings of the CIA and KGB. When American Hustle came out a decade ago, it was nominated for a whopping 10 Oscars, including nods for both Cooper and Bale. Although it didn’t take home any prizes, clearly the two actors have been itching to work with one another and have finally found the right project to do so. 

Cooper is also set to work with Steven Spielberg on a remake of the 1968 Steve McQueen film, Bullitt. The actor is also reportedly in production on another directing effort with Will Arnett called Is This Thing On? Bale on the other hand is part of the English cast of Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron, and he is set to star in The Church of the Living Dangerously based on the Vanity Fair article of the same name. 

As Best of Enemies gets moving at Amazon and MGM, make sure to check the 2023 movie schedule so you can see Bale in The Boy and the Heron and Cooper in Maestro, both in theaters now.

As an extraordinary actress capable of tackling multiple genres with exceptional range, Amy Adams is undeniably one of our finest working actresses. As a comedic, dramatic, musical, or even sci-fi star, Adams constantly finds new ways to stand out and make an impression on the big and small screen, showcasing the vast wealth of her fine talents through several strong roles — even in some not-so-great movies. As her profile rises, we'll hopefully only continue to see more compelling and enriching performances from this great talent — though if you're a fan of the six-time Oscar-nominated actress (as well you should be), there are currently several great titles available on streaming. Here are a few movies and performances that you should check out if you love Amy Adams.

The Master (2012)

An oversexed, PTSD-stricken Navy veteran (Joaquin Phoenix) is lured into the promises of grandeur provided by a charismatic leader (Philip Seymour Hoffman).

Why It's A Good Option for Amy Adams Fans: In Paul Thomas Anderson's masterpiece, The Master, Amy Adams does wonders alongside Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman — all of whom put forth some of the strongest performances of their respective careers. Though Phoenix's turn as Freddie Quell is revolutionary and Hoffman gives one of the most stunningly captivating performances of his tragically short career, Adams shapes an ingeniously subtle and sharply layered character who only grows richer the more you reflect on the film. She's one of its biggest puzzle pieces, and as you dissect the movie more, you can see more clearly how much she drives the ship. It's most certainly worthy of Adams' fourth Oscar nomination.

Stream it on Netflix here.

The Fighter (2010)

Professional boxer Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) tries to escape the shadow of his older half-brother, Dicky (Christian Bale), and strives for greatness.

Why It's A Good Option for Amy Adams Fans: While The Fighter was Mark Wahlberg's commendable passion project, this biopic often finds the actor/producer outshined by his supporting cast, including Christian Bale, Melissa Leo (both giving Oscar-winning performances), and Amy Adams. Playing Micky's confident partner, Adams plays slightly against type by providing a sexy, mature character at a time when she was commonly associated with her child-friendly performances in Enchanted and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. The result is another electrifying performance from the terrific actress, earning her third Oscar nomination. As a David O. Russell production, the ensemble is predictably sharp, but Adams stands out and packs a wallop of a punch in this dynamic dramatic role.

Stream it on HBO Max here.

Her (2013)

A lonely writer (Joaquin Phoenix) forms an unlikely relationship with a personality-driven operating system voice (Scarlett Johansson).

Why It's A Good Option for Amy Adams Fans: In Her, Spike Jonze's ultra-unconventional romantic drama, we explore the innate complexities of human relationships in an ever changing world in a compellingly original and inventive fashion. While Joaquin Phoenix's central performance understandably earned the majority of the movie's praise, along with Scarlett Johansson's voice-only role, Amy Adams' portrayal of Amy shouldn't be overlooked. As the friendly neighbor with whom our lead character finds a meaningful physical relationship, one that doesn't provide the same interpersonal fractions found in his courtship with the operating system voice, Adams really helps bring out the heart and soul of Jonze's adventurous concept. For as intriguing as the movie's central focus can be, she's the one who really brings it home in an effective way.

Stream it on SundanceNow here.

The Muppets (2011)

Muppet superfan Walter, along with his two human friends (Jason Segel, Amy Adams), must reunite the Muppets to prevent an evil oil mogul (Chris Cooper) from taking down a lifelong treasure.

Why It's A Good Option for Amy Adams Fans: Following an extended down period for the generation-jumping brand, The Muppets (2011) marked a triumphant return for the lovable felt fellows, anchored by Jason Segel's winning sincerity as both an actor and screenwriter, along with James Bobin's bubbly direction and Amy Adams' charming performance. As Mary, an elementary school teacher in a long-time relationship with Segel's non-committal Gary, Adams isn't given as many chances as her co-stars — human or otherwise — to shine here, but her character is radiant with the film's beautiful beating heart that helps this meta-return avoid too many bouts of melancholy. Plus, she gets to sing!

Stream it on Disney+ here and Starz here.

Sunshine Cleaning (2008)

To pay for her son's private school tuition, a determined mother (Amy Adams) starts a biohazard removal/crime scene clean-up service with her unreliable sister (Emily Blunt).

Why It's A Good Option for Amy Adams Fans: As a late '00s Sundance dramedy, Sunshine Cleaning doesn't stray too far beyond formula, but it's benefitted nicely by its central two performances from Amy Adams and Emily Blunt. Both comedically and dramatically, these two actresses provide the goods — with Adams, in particular, showcasing her versatile talents in this prominent leading role. Her sibling dynamic with Blunt is engrossing and investing, allowing the characters to find their emotional truths despite the screenplay's habit of favoring indie cliches. And Adams often matches her character's determination, providing a nicely layered performance which helps the emotional beats hit as they should. She really shines (pardon the pun).

Stream it on Tubi here, PlutoTV here, and Hoopla here.

Vice (2018)

A darkly satirical biopic detailing how Dick Cheney (Christian Bale) became the most powerful Vice President in U.S. history.

Why It's A Good Option for Amy Adams Fans: As both a darkly seething biopic of a political figure from our recent past and an unapologetically biting political commentary, Adam McKay's Vice is scattershot and broad-reaching in its approach. Its presentation is punchy and sense of indignation is impassioned, but outside of its squared attack against former Vice President Dick Cheney, it's not entirely focused in its execution, favoring several different filmmaking tones and methods to visually and narratively communicate the depths of Cheney's depravity. While the film itself is flawed, there is no denying the excellence of its central performances. While Christian Bale's transformative turn received the lion share of the praise, Amy Adams' Oscar-nominated Lady Macbeth-esque portrayal of Lynne Cheney is similarly terrific.

Stream it on Hulu here.

Doubt (2008)

Based on John Patrick Shanley's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Doubt follows a Catholic school principal's (Meryl Streep) moral quandary whenever a sister (Amy Adams) informs her that the priest (Philip Seymour Hoffman) may have an ambiguous relationship with a troubled student (Joseph Foster).

Why It's A Good Option for Amy Adams Fans: Extraordinary plays don't always make the smoothest cinematic transitions, but Doubt does a tremendous job of capturing the livewire dramatic intensity of its original source material through its outstanding cast, including Meryl Streep, the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, Viola Davis, and Amy Adams. While Adams' supporting performance isn't as explosive as the ones from Streep and Hoffman can be, Adams' second Oscar-nominated performance brings a quiet dignity and an emotional reckoning that drives home the film's troubling thematics.

Stream It On HBO Max here.

Catch Me If You Can (2002)

A cat-and-mouse game between a seasoned FBI agent (Tom Hanks) and a successful young con man (Leonardo DiCaprio) who swindles millions of dollars by posing as an airplane pilot, a doctor, and more.

Why It's A Good Option for Amy Adams Fans: Admittedly, in this pre-fame role, Amy Adams doesn't get as much screen time as some of her famous co-stars. But in typical Amy Adams fashion, she certainly made the most of every minute she's in during this Steven Spielberg picture. As Brenda Strong, a braces-wearing hospital worker whom Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) falls for while posing as a doctor, the talented young actress brought a bright presence to this enchanting crime film, with this role serving as a fine introduction for her future as one of Hollywood's most valued A-list actresses. Looking back, she was clearly meant to be a star.

Stream It On SundanceNow here.

Nocturnal Animals (2016)

A wealthy art gallery owner (Amy Adams) finds herself haunted by a novel written by her first husband (Jake Gyllenhaal), finding parallels to their former relationship.

Why It's A Good Option for Amy Adams Fans: Director Tom Ford's sophomore feature was notably polarizing upon release, baffling audiences and earning a mixed reception among critics. While the movie's bleak, nihilistic approach left some audiences cold, Ford's craftsmanship as a filmmaker was continuously impressive, bringing out marvelous performances from his starry A-list cast, including Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, to name a few. Some people were more receptive to the novelistic side, in which Ford dramatizes the intense book read by our lead character, but there's something oddly compelling about the cold demeanor of the movie's real-world side, guided with compelling intrigue by Adams' searching, intuitive, and sometimes darkly funny performance.

Stream It On HBO Max here.

Junebug (2005)

An art dealer (Embeth Davidtz) travels to North Carolina to meet her new in-laws, challenging their equilibrium in the process.

Why It's A Good Option for Amy Adams Fans: Though her talents weren't ever denied, it wasn't until 2005's resonant Sundance dramedy Junebug that Amy Adams' extraordinary acting skills were finally recognized, earning the first of six Oscar nominations to her name. While Adams' work in this suburban indie is remembered more so than the movie itself, director Phil Morrison makes a tenderly evocative arthouse ensemble piece with healthy bouts of heart and humor. The dialogue is bright, the characters are nuanced, and the performances are winning, but Adams undeniably steals the show, providing the observant wit and warmth that turns this little indie charmer into a winner. No matter how big or small the movie, Adams always found a way to make it count.

Stream It On SundanceNow here.

Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian (2009)

Security guard Larry (Ben Stiller) infiltrates the Smithsonian Museum in an attempt to rescue Jedediah (Owen Wilson) and Octavius (Steve Coogan) following a shipping mishap.

Why It's A Good Option for Amy Adams Fans: While it's not the performance that she'll likely be remembered for, Amy Adams steals the show as Amelia Earhart in this family comedy. Providing a plucky, charmingly persistent take on the missing aviation pioneer, the Academy Award-nominated actress brings lots of spunk and goodwill to this blockbuster sequel, resulting in an entertaining comedic performance that — you guessed it — soars.

Stream It On Starz here.

Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)

A small-town beauty pageant turns deadly when someone will go to any lengths to win.

Why It's A Good Option for Amy Adams Fans: Though it wasn't a critical or commercial hit upon release, Drop Dead Gorgeous has since become a cult favorite, particularly thanks to its excellent performances from its entertaining cast, including Kirsten Dunst, Ellen Barkin, Allison Janney, Denise Richards, Kirstie Alley, and Amy Adams in her film debut. Right off the bat, Adams had the chops, providing some of the movie's biggest laughs and showcasing her early talents in this supporting turn. While many audiences would recognize her acting prowess in the decade to follow, it was clear to this movie's admirers that she was ready for stardom — even if Hollywood wasn't too quick to recognize it. It was only a matter of time.

Stream It On HBO Max here.

What are your favorite Amy Adams movies? Be sure to let us know in the comments!

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There aren't too many actresses in Hollywood who've celebrated the same phenomenal early success as Jennifer Lawrence. Over the course of the past decade, Lawrence went from playing the daughter character on TBS' short-lived sitcom, The Bill Engvall Show, to headlining one of Sundance's most astonishing success stories to becoming one of the youngest Oscar nominees in the award show's lavish history. From there, the exceptionally talented actress went from front-lining a major Hollywood franchise to actually winning an Oscar at a mere 22-years-old (!), thus proving herself to be one of the world's biggest stars — possibly even the biggest (for a good while, at least).

Throughout the years, Jennifer Lawrence has provided several splendidly uninhibited and sparklingly spectacular performances — in movies big and small. While some titles weren't as strong as others, the outstandingly talented young actress dedicates her well-accomplished career to proving herself in many courageously challenging film roles. If you love Jennifer Lawrence, here are some movies worth streaming now!

Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

Released from a psychiatric hospital, a bipolar former teacher (Bradley Cooper) attempts to reconcile with his ex-wife with the help of a mysterious young widow (Jennifer Lawrence).

Why It's A Good Option For Jennifer Lawrence Fans: Over the course of two years, Jennifer Lawrence went from being a talented-beyond-her-years, up-and-coming, Oscar-nominated standout actress to becoming one of our most famous A-list superstars. While The Hunger Games' impressive success played a big part in this progression, her Oscar-winning performance in David O. Russell's dizzyingly wonderful rom-com, Silver Linings Playbook, was ultimately what turned Lawrence into one of Hollywood's hottest stars. Lawrence's incredibly unflinching performance— filled with visceral vulnerability, impressive range, and unwavering confidence, particularly from a novice movie star — is astonishing to watch. Plus, her radiant chemistry with Bradley Cooper was vibrantly palpable. It's a mesmerizing performance, certifying Lawrence as the real deal.

Stream It On Netflix here.

Winter's Bone (2010)

As their family home faces eviction, a determined Ozark Mountain girl (Jennifer Lawrence) treks through dangerous terrain to find her missing drug-dealing father.

Why It's A Good Option For Jennifer Lawrence Fans: For many movie lovers, Winter's Bone was their formal introduction to Jennifer Lawrence's astonishing acting talents. At 20 years old, Lawrence captivated viewers at the Sundance Film Festival with her incredibly accomplished early role in this indie darling, proving to be a critical and awards season success as the small-budget movie was nominated for Best Picture and Lawrence received her first Oscar nomination. It's a well-earned distinction. Lawrence is uncompromisingly raw and powerfully instinctual in this mature and well-developed performance, showcasing the exceptional actress's ability to bring a vivid urgency and enriching authenticity into her performances, even from the very beginning. It's a stunning lead role, solidifying Lawrence as a bright acting talent worth following.

Stream It On HBO Max here.

American Hustle (2013)

A pair of con artists (Christian Bale, Amy Adams) team up with a cocksure F.B.I. agent (Bradley Cooper) to dive into the underworld of powerbrokers and the mafia.

Why It's A Good Option for Jennifer Lawrence Fans: Even in a film filled with outlandish characters and larger-than-life personalities, Jennifer Lawrence makes quite an impression in David O. Russell's crime-dramedy, American Hustle. Appropriately filled with hustle (yes) and bustle, Lawrence plays Rosalyn, the histrionic, long-suffering wife of Christian Bale's Irving, with fiery gusto and unapologetic hutzpah. Emboldened by her Oscar-winning performance in Silver Linings Playbook, Lawrence is unafraid to demand attention and play the part bold and brash. While it's not always successful, it's certainly memorable, producing an outrageously spirited, vibrantly outspoken character that Lawrence clearly has a ball playing to the fullest. Lawrence arguably produced the splashiest, most sensationalized performance in this splashy, sensationalized movie.

Stream it on FX here.

The Hunger Games Movies

Based on the YA book series by Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games follows a dystopian future where teenagers from various districts must compete in an elaborate televised showdown. The story centers around Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), a young, impoverished woman who volunteers to take her young sister's place in the life-or-death tournament.

Why It's A Good Option for Jennifer Lawrence Fans: Please pardon the pun if you can, but The Hunger Games franchise was quite a gamechanger for Jennifer Lawrence. Once an exceptionally promising young actress with an Oscar nomination to her name, The Hunger Games was what solidified Lawrence as an A-list superstar, proving that her vulnerable, naturally intuitive acting talents could translate rather seamlessly into a multi-million-dollar action movie series. Catching Fire only burned brighter as Lawrence's profile rose higher.

Stream The Hunger Games and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire on Freeform here and here. Also catch Mockingjay Part 1 and Part 2.

Like Crazy (2011)

A British exchange student (Felicity Jones) falls in love with an American student (Anton Yelchin), only to be separated when she's denied re-entry into the U.S.

Why It's A Good Option for Jennifer Lawrence Fans: Shortly after her incredible Academy Award-nominated turn in Winter's Bone but a year before she found superstardom with The Hunger Games and an Oscar through Silver Linings Playbook, Jennifer Lawrence provided some notable supporting roles. The best example was her brief-but-excellent part in Like Crazy, Drake Doremus' intimately personal romantic drama exploring the fractured divides that form around long-distance relationships — even in our technologically-advancing age. Lawrence appears in the middle as Samantha, whom Anton Yelchin's tries (but fails) to date when things fall apart with Felicity Jones' Anna, but Lawrence brings a lovely mix of charisma and later melancholy to this pre-fame performance.

Stream It on Hulu here, Amazon Prime here and Epix here.

The Beaver (2011)

A depressed executive (Mel Gibson), faced with his lowest point amid personal and professional troubles, uses a beaver hand puppet to communicate and overcome his personal struggles.

Why It's A Good Option for Jennifer Lawrence Fans: The Beaver is an odd duck. The concept is audacious, but the approach is mostly grounded, likely in an effort not to make light of our lead character's mental health battles. The tonal shifts aren't always graceful, and the side characters don't get as much time to develop as our troubled protagonist and his handy associate. But what really makes it work beyond Jodie Foster's commendable direction are the principal performers, including Mel Gibson, Foster, the late Anton Yelchin, and Jennifer Lawrence. Though she's strictly in a supporting role in this dark dramedy, Lawrence's emotional honesty fleshes out her love interest side character. Plus, she shares great chemistry with her Like Crazy co-star.

Stream It on Showtime here.

X-Men: First Class (2011) & X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014)

This prequel series follows Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender) as they form what will soon become the X-Men.

Why It's A Good Option for Jennifer Lawrence Fans: Though this superhero franchise exploring the early days of the mutant-friendly group didn't end on the best terms, this reboot film series started out wonderfully with 2011's X-Men: First Class and 2014's crossover extravaganza, X-Men: Days of Future Past. Notably, First Class was benefitted nicely by its fresh-faced ensemble of outstanding young actors, including James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, and Jennifer Lawrence. Though sometimes hidden under mountains of blue body make-up, Lawrence brought intriguing layers to this new take on Mystique. While her performance wasn't as inspired in later installments, she does a fine job in these first two blockbusters.

Stream X-Men: First Class on HBO Max here and X-Men: Days Of Future Past on Disney+ here.

mother! (2017)

A couple (Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem) have their relationship tested when unexpected guests (Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer) arrive at their house, disturbing their tranquility.

Why It's A Good Option for Jennifer Lawrence Fans: It's hard to think of many movies more aggressively polarizing than Darren Aronofsky's psychological horror film, mother! Meant to be a biblical allegory studying humanity's vicious mistreatment of mother nature, the movie in the margins — traversing the artist's history with his leading women and his potential god-like complex (in this case, a very literal one) — provides a fascinating and often deeply unsettling examination into Aronofsky's creative mindset. It becomes a fractured-but-revealing window into the restless soul of a well-regarded extremist filmmaker, exploring a troubled creator's burning sense of self and the people caught in the flames around him. At the center of it all is Jennifer Lawrence, Aronofsky's former partner, who gives one of her most enthralling performances. Her unbridled commitment is devastatingly haunting to watch.

Stream It On FX here.

In addition to all these streamable movie titles, we should also note that Red Sparrow is available to stream on FX and Fubo, The Poker House is currently on Amazon Prime, House at the End of the Street is now on Netflix, Serena is found on Tubi and Hoopla, X-Men: Apocalypse is available on Disney+ and FX, X-Men: Dark Phoenix can be seen on HBO Max, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 and Part 2 are also on Freeform, and The Burning Plain is on Tubi and Vudu. What's your favorite Jennifer Lawrence movie and/or performance? Please feel free to let us know below!

One of the select filmmakers that has been a tried-and-true winner with the Academy is David O. Russell. The writer/director’s films have been nominated numerous times and pulled in actors such as Jennifer Lawrence into the winner’s circle in the process. It’s been four years since Russell’s last film and he’s teaming back up with Christian Bale for his next one.

David O. Russell and Christian Bale first collaborated on The Fighter back in 2010 and it became his first Oscar nomination and win following its critical success. The pair has since worked together in 2015’s American Hustle – his second Oscar nomination. The untitled film is reportedly being fast tracked by Regency and expected to begin shooting in April.

While no plot details were given, according to Collider, the film will be about an unlikely partnership between a doctor and a lawyer. It’s rumored to have the working title of Amsterdam and eyeing Jamie Foxx and Angelina Jolie. Margot Robbie may be sought out for the female lead, after Jennifer Lawrence’s name was initally in the mix for the role.

The movie is being produced by Matthew Budman who also worked on Zero Dark Thirty, Detroit along with working with David O. Russell on American Hustle and Joy. Russell has also been quietly developing an adaptation of The Skies Belong To Us, with Michael B. Jordan attached to star and produce. The story is about a young couple who hijacked a flight in 1972.

Christian Bale has also been making headlines for his potential return to the comic book genre in Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love and Thunder coming in 2021. The fourth Thor film will continue the story of Chris Hemsworth’s hero along with the return of Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie, Waititi’s Korg and Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster – this time grabbing the hammer to play “The Mighty Thor”.

Fans have been trying to guess what role Christian Bale will play, including guesses he’ll be either friend Beta Ray Bill or foe Dario Agger (aka Minotaur). Since Taika Waititi recently confirmed Thor: Love and Thunder will begin shooting in August, Bale should still have time to star in Russell’s film and join the MCU!

Christian Bale is coming off the success of James Mangold’s Ford v. Ferrari, which recently was nominated for four Oscars, for Best Picture, Film Editing, Sound Mixing and Sound Editing. Bale was nominated for a Golden Globe for portraying Ken Miles, but Joker actor Joaquin Phoenix took home the award.

Ford v. Ferrari was also a box office success, scoring an over $200 million worldwide gross. Stay tuned for more details on David O. Russell’s new film! In the meantime, check out the 2020 release calendar for your next trip to the movies!

Ten years ago, Jennifer Lawrence was a supporting actress on the short-lived TBS sitcom The Bill Engvall Show. Nowadays, however, the mega-famous celebrity is an Academy Award-winning superstar, who has shown her talents in blockbusters and prestige flicks alike. It's a remarkable journey that has found the talented superstar headlining no shortage of commendable, noteworthy films throughout a varied and exceptional cinematic career. It's one that will continue with her latest work in Dark Phoenix, which will be making its way into theaters and IMAX screens this weekend.

While Jennifer Lawrence has only been seen in a handful of movies these past few years, it's remarkable how many of these films have gone to to be acclaimed, distinctive achievements or pop culture phenomenons. Sometimes both! Today, I'm ranking my personal favorite Jennifer Lawrence movies, placing them in order of personal preference. There are a few that missed the cut, like Passengers and Red Sparrow, for instance. And no doubt a few of these picks might be a bit different than yours, depending on how you feel about certain titles. Nevertheless, here's the official ranking!

Joy

In their third collaboration, Joy, David O. Russell and Jennifer Lawrence brought a loose retelling of the life story of Joy Mangano, a self-made woman who went from humble beginnings to a millionaire empire, to the big screen. The results were mixed, notably compared to their other collaborations together. But while the film is flawed, to say the least, it does have the distinction of boosting yet another exceptional Jennifer Lawrence performance.

After playing the second lead in Silver Linings Playbook and a memorable supporting character in American Hustle, Jennifer Lawrence is finally (and rightfully) given the center stage in this David O. Russell joint, and she definitely makes the most of it. Filled with the passion and indignation that was seen throughout her performances, Lawrence finds herself providing another powerhouse display, even if the movie itself fumbles to make the most of this top-tier performance. Not every movie can be a winner, but this intriguing, occasionally commanding film is benefited greatly by Jennifer Lawrence.

The Hunger Games

In the movie that turned Jennifer Lawrence from arthouse darling to movie superstar, The Hunger Games is certain a prominent and prosperous film on Jennifer Lawrence's resume. The actress was given a dystopian franchise that could've easily fizzled out from the public's conscious the way so many franchise non-starters do. But through her weighted, emotionally-resonant performance, Lawrence helped transport the ambitious franchise-starter into a bonafide box office hit.

As Katniss Everdeen, Jennifer Lawrence brought an honest emotional sincerity to the role that came from her experience of working with intense emotional dramas. That resonance helped the series become grounded and honesty in a way that most science-fiction franchises aren't. It's through those commendable talents that Lawrence was able to excel and become one of the biggest movie stars in the film business today.

X-Men: First Class

Shortly before she set the world on fire with The Hunger Games, Jennifer Lawrence got her first taste of blockbuster filmmaking when she took on the role of Mystique in the rebooted X-Men franchise-starter, X-Men: First Class. As the morphing blue mutant, one who's an adoptive sister to Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), there is no doubt that this version of the character was set to play a huge part in the retooled X-Men franchise. Sure enough, it's safe to presume that nobody involved with the film really knew just how big and famous JLaw would get in a short amount of time.

While Jennifer Lawrence's heart never seemed to be fully invested in this series after this introductory installment, Jennifer Lawrence's take on the character provided audiences with a more rich, layered take on the standout X-Men character. Allowing us to the see the emotions and depths that were often only hinted at with Mystique during the first three X-Men films prior, this new take on the character was a gentler, more sympathetic version, and that is often thanks to Jennifer Lawrence's emotional talents as an actress. These talents would shine ever brighter throughout other films in her career.

X-Men: Days Of Future Past

The X-Men series has always been on wobbly ground. For every rise, there is inevitably a fall. For every film that's on the level of X2, there's typically an X-Men: The Last Stand or X-Men Origins: Wolverine that trails behind it, shattering the potential of this superhero series. Nevertheless, after a promising start of a new, retooled franchise with X-Men: First Class, the Marvel comic property was finally brought back to its former exhilarating heights with the exceptional crossover event, X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Through this movie, which blended the high caliber talents of the new cast with the established excellence of Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, to name a few, the result is a series rejuvenator that could've easily been a huge hulking mess, but one that actually turned out to be one of the most surprising and beneficial superhero blockbusters in recent memory. Filled with great action, compelling stakes and a great roaster of talent, it's an exceptional installment in the X-Men universe, and it's quite possibly the last good-to-great film we'll see with these characters in quite awhile.

The only real reason why I'm ranking it a bit lower here is because, ultimately, the film is good, but it's not the best showcase of Jennifer Lawrence's talents. It's apparent throughout the film that her heart isn't really in the series as much anymore, and while that doesn't mean her performance is bad, it doesn't have the same compelling range as some of her other, better work, seen prominently and exceptionally throughout a number of titles listed in this article. In any case, while it's not a great Jennifer Lawrence film, it's still one the best movies to feature the actress, if that ultimately makes sense.

Winter's Bone

For many folks, including myself, Debra Granik's somber, harrowing independent film Winter's Bone was their first introduction to Jennifer Lawrence. The young actress was still in her late teens when she played the lead role of Ree, an impoverished, head-strong young woman living hastily in the Ozark Mountains while also trying to track down her drug-dealing father to prevent her family from being evicted. Though the film is definitely very minor in scope, it had a monumental impact on her early career. Specifically, the small Sundance title went on to receive four Oscar nominations, including a Best Actress nomination for Jennifer Lawrence, and it introduced Hollywood to this explosively talented young actress well on the rise.

Based on the book of the same name by Daniel Woodrell, Winter's Bone is an impressively sorrowful and powerful mediation on impoverishment and self sufficient under extreme devastation and economical decline. Yet, in a weird twist of fate, this tale of loss, poverty and misfortune paved the way for an incredible successful and lucrative career for Jennifer Lawrence, one that only continues to flourish with new projects. There's no denying that she is an exceptionally talented actress, and the proof was on the screen nearly 10 years ago when Lawrence came on the scene in Winter's Bone.

Like Crazy

In 2011, Jennifer Lawrence was already a young Oscar-nominated actress set to embark on her biggest, most prominent role to date as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games saga. But in this transition period in her life, she was still an up-and-coming actress who was working in a number of independent titles, hoping to make it up the ropes just like every young actor and actress in Hollywood. In any case, even by the time Like Crazy made its way into theaters, it was a little surreal to see Jennifer Lawrence play a prominent supporting role in this intimate, small-scale romantic drama.

In writer-director Drake Doremus' tender, touching personal story, Jennifer Lawrence plays Samatha, a woman with whom our main male character, Jacob (the late Anton Yelchin), begins seeing shortly after his relationship to after his long-distance relationship with Anna (Felicity Jones), falls apart. In the broad scheme of the story, Samantha is ultimately a minor part —even though she's the third biggest character in the movie. It represents that brief window of time when Jennifer Lawrence was well-established and well-accredited, but just before the celebrity rose to international superstardom.

But in the limited role, Jennifer Lawrence's Sam gives Anton Yelchin's lovesick Jacob a small, yet loving, window into a more stable, dependable romantic relationship close to home, one that doesn't come with the aches, heartbreaks and baggage of a long-distance relationship. Ultimately, due to Jacob's heart bleeding elsewhere, the relationship doesn't last, and Lawrence conveys that sweetness and eventual sadness beautifully in this rare supporting turn.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

While The Hunger Games provided the backdrop to a compelling and prosperous YA film franchise, it wasn't until its stellar sequel, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, that the series really lived up to this film's subtitle. Propelled by the commendable work of director Francis Lawrence, who took over the reins from Gary Ross, and boosted by a story with higher stakes, better action, stronger tension and greater dramatic potential, Catching Fire remains the strongest and more resilient installment of the series. It was the film where you could also see Jennifer Lawrence's acting talents take full flight.

With a higher budget, more wiggle room to evolve and elevated material that proved more world-expanding, greater challenges and more character development, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire does what every good sequel should: match or exceed what we've seen before and allow the series and the characters and the environments therein to bloom, mature and flourish in greater and more beneficial and compelling ways. In many ways, this sequel equals or exceeds the benefits of the first movie, and it's a shape that the following installments, Mockingjay - Part 1 and 2, couldn't match it.

American Hustle

Hot off the heels of Silver Linings Playbook, David O. Russell rounded up the talents of his proven stars, including Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, and provided audiences with another sizzling, sensational dramedy, American Hustle. The period piece is a splashier, more ritzy and stylishly-mimicking film, copying more than a few notes from Martin Scorsese's filmography. Yet, through the passionate and invigoration of its exceptional cast, the film is given a great amount of spry energy and enthusiasm. That's most certainly the case for Jennifer Lawrence's character, Rosalyn Rosenfeld.

In her Oscar-nominated performance, Jennifer Lawrence plays the role with a bold ferocity that nearly outmatches her work with David O. Russell's prior in Silver Lining Playbook, and it's certainly not for a lack of trying. While American Hustle doesn't live up to the same delirious heights as that previous film from the acclaimed filmmaker, it's still a stunning display of Lawrence's passionate talents. And it's another captivating performance from a performer who was near the top of the world at that point.

mother!

Though certainly divisive among both critics and general audiences, to say the least, Darren Aronofsky's visceral, allegorical horror-drama mother! is a spellbinding film. Filled with fraught tension, rigorous intensity and commendable craftsmanship, it is definitely not a conventional crowdpleaser, or any sort of crowdpleaser at all, and it doesn't work in everyone's favor. But for me, it remains not only one of Jennifer Lawrence's best films, but also one of the actress' greatest dramatic showcases to date.

Though the movie — at face value — is meant to be seen as a biblical retelling of humanity's disturbing relationship with mother nature, mother! is best seen as a high-stakes surrealist story that portrays the ego-driven, emotionally-disastrous home life of an artist who wants to be both world-renowned and romantically reserved, and how the folks who care most for the artist are the ones who often suffer the most. It's a brutal, unbecoming movie, and it is perhaps more for the arthouse crowd than the folks who like Jennifer Lawrence's blockbuster work. But if you have the stomach for what it dishes out, it's a gorgeously unsettling work of impassioned introspection — both intentional and otherwise.

But if you have the stomach for what it dishes out in excessive helpings, mother! is a gorgeously unsettling work of impassioned introspection — both intentional and otherwise. And Jennifer Lawerence's committed powerhouse performance often harkens back to Mia Farrow's iconic role in Rosemary's Baby. Strange, mysterious and often alluring, if you feel at home with something that's more messianic and unusual than your average theater visit, this is one that worth's seeking out.

Silver Linings Playbook

With writer-director David O. Russell's winning, wonderful Silver Linings Playbook, Jennifer Lawrence fully cemented herself as a great actress. While she had already proven her chops with Winter's Bone and The Hunger Games, it was in the role of Tiffany, the vivacious, yet deeply troubled, woman who serves as the mismatched match to Bradley Cooper's equally perturbed Pat, that ultimately won the actress her Academy Award. And it remains the role that best captures and displays all of Lawrence's multitudes of talents, capabilities and emotional prowess in one firecracker of a performance.

As she displays with a ferocity and tenacity of a young performer with a mountain of talent to prove, Jennifer Lawrence's award-winning performance is an exuberant, emotional, thunderous, rousing and brilliantly realized work of excellence. It's the type of heart-wrenching acting that commands the energy of a young performer while also containing the depths of an actress with an extraordinary future. Sure enough, that most certainly became true.

Jennifer Lawrence has become one of the most well-known and well-acclaimed young actresses in Hollywood, and it's thanks to a wealth talent as well as a great fortune of luck that she rose up into international super-fame. Watching her performance in Silver Linings Playbook, it's incredibly easy to see how that became possible. She is an astonishing actress with a wide range of dramatic heft and nuance, and while Silver Linings Playbook is one of her earliest performances in her blooming career, it does remain her most well-recognized and perhaps her most beloved performance as well. And that's more than a silver lining; that's a golden opportunity, and she took it and ran with it.

While there are some notable films on Jennifer Lawrence's resume that we didn't list, this collection of titles both big and small all help to display the exceptional talent of this incredible actress. And though it sounds like Jennifer Lawrence might be taking a bit of a recess from acting while she explores different things in her personal life, the actress has proven herself dedicated, assured, confident and commendable in many different ways. We hope to see even more rousing, brave and celebratory performances from this bright and acclaimed young actress in the not-too-distant future.

Jennifer Lawrence is a true master of her craft, able to take on a variety of roles in a variety of genres, and sometimes it seems that she takes inspiration for those roles in some unique places. In fact, during a recent appearance on Watch What Happens Live!, Jennifer Lawrence revealed that the inspiration for her emotional American Hustle character came from none other than Jersey Shore. When Andy Cohen asked her about the role, she whispered the following:

So, there you have it, if you ever wondered where Jennifer Lawrence got the inspiration for the unstable Rosalyn, it was none other than the MTV series that spawned a love for poofy hair, phrases like GTL and a total overuse of fist pumping. Of course, Rosalyn didn't have slang in her vocabulary as memorable as "grenade" or "smush," but she did often make suspect decisions like the cast of Jersey Shore. And apparently, Jennifer Lawrence spent enough time watching the series and soaking in its flavor that she was able to bring a little MTV into the critically-acclaimed movie.

The actress later told Andy Cohen there was a part of her that really needed to get Rosalyn off of her chest, likely because of all the reality shows she consumed over the years. It seems to have worked, too, as the role led Jennifer Lawrence to earn quite a few awards for her American Hustle role, as well as an Academy Awards nomination. She also said about her American Hustle character:

If you'd like to see Jennifer Lawrence talking about the American Hustle gig or how she doesn't equate the name J Law with fame, you can check out a lengthier clip from her appearance, below.

Currently, Jennifer Lawrence is starring in Red Sparrow, which just hit theaters this past weekend, although if you are a hater, she's already mentioned you've been uninvited to the flick. Next time she hops onto Watch What Happens Live however, we hope she reveals the role of Dominika Egorova was inspired by something else random, perhaps a love for Natasha Fatale. It certainly wasn't a skill set like ballet that inspired her...

After a brief stint on television and a few supporting roles in small films, Jennifer Lawrence hit it big in 2010, and has ascended to become one of the biggest actresses in Hollywood. Not only is she regularly appearing in major blockbusters and franchises, but still also appearing in award-contending dramas. It's been an incredible eight years, and in this feature we will celebrate the best of the best.

With Jennifer Lawrence's new movie, Red Sparrow, set to arrive in theaters this Friday, we've taken the opportunity to look back at her body of work, and single out her five best performances. Which movie has the top spot? Click through and find out!

5. The Hunger Games

Following Jennifer Lawrence's big break-out, everyone knew that she would wind up in a major franchise - the big question was simply which one it would be. It wound up being that the answer was Gary Ross' The Hunger Games - the hotly-anticipated adaptation of Suzanne Collins' beloved book series, in which the Academy Award-nominated actress would play heroine Katniss Everdeen. It was expected that the movie would be a hit and launch a whole series of films, which it did, but what many did not see coming was just how crazy good Lawrence would be in the protagonist role. It may have been her first time as the lead in a big Hollywood production, but Lawrence handled it like a pro, and put in what will ultimately be seen as an iconic performance in pop culture history.

It's tricky to be able to portray both elegance and ruggedness in a single performance, but that's exactly what's required in Jennifer Lawrence's performance, and she is absolutely fantastic. As a result of her hard upbringing in the impoverished District 12, she has a certain powerful stoicness to her, creating a type of surprising gravitas, but at the same time she handily wields the intelligence and charm that winds up making her beloved in the nation of Panem. Lawrence was an actress on the rise before The Hunger Games, but this was the film that made her a superstar.

4. mother!

Darren Aronofsky's mother! is certainly the most controversial film on this list. Despite being appreciated by critics, the film is famous for being one of the few to earn an "F" CinemaScore - with mass audiences failing to at all appreciate Aronofsky's commentary about climate change, religion, and the modern world. It's admittedly a tough watch as a movie-goer, as its an ever-escalating descent into madness of sorts that gets extremely brutal by the end, but one thing that most can probably still agree on is that Jennifer Lawrence's performance seriously packs a punch.

Things start off peacefully enough at the start of the story, with Lawrence's unnamed character expecting a child and living a quiet life with her poet husband (Javier Bardem) in an incredible house. Unfortunately, things start totally spiraling out of control following the arrival of some unexpected houseguests, and before long the whole thing turns into a madhouse of chaos and insanity. We watch all of these events unfold through the eyes of Lawrence's character, and it's a deeply affecting trip that you don't soon forget, as you truly feel the weight of the events pressing down on her shoulders as things continue to grow worse and worse. Say what you will about the film on the whole, but one thing that can't be denied is her intensity and realness.

3. American Hustle

Jennifer Lawrence became one of Hollywood's best leading ladies almost immediately after her big breakout, but that's part of what makes her role in David O. Russell's American Hustle just a bit extra special. Rather than taking the showy lead in the story, which is instead played by the wonderful Amy Adams, Lawrence is instead given the much more character-actor-y part of Rosalyn Rosenfeld, and while it's easily the smallest role featured on this list, it still remains one of the most memorable (which goes a long way in explaining how it earned the young actress her third Academy Award nomination).

Despite being surrounded by the star-power of Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Jeremy Renner and Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence still manages to be a fantastic scene-stealer in American Hustle - popping into the story as a wonderful fly in the ointment stirring up trouble. From the very beginning she is a thorn poking in the side of Bale's Irving Rosenfeld - refusing to divorce him and regularly threatening to get him arrested - but it's paired with an excellent escalation that starts with her dating a mobster and sharing information she really shouldn't be sharing. It was a performance unlike anything we'd seen from Lawrence before, and the truth is that we haven't seen anything like it since.

2. Winter's Bone

As alluded to earlier, before 2010 nobody knew who Jennifer Lawrence was. She had done 30-plus episodes of The Bill Engvall Show, and was featured in some smaller movies, but was otherwise a complete unknown. Of course, Debra Granik's Winter's Bone totally changed that. The movie debuted at the Sundance Film Festival eight years ago, and audiences were not only treated to a special, thrilling, tight mystery set in the Ozark Mountains, but the emergence of an actress who would wind up taking the film industry by storm. Lawrence earned her first Academy Award nomination for the part, and nothing has been the same since.

In the film, based on the novel by Daniel Woodrell, Jennifer Lawrence stars as Ree - a young woman doing what she can to help the survival of her family, including her mentally-ill mother and two young siblings. The only way that she can keep a roof over her head is to make sure that her meth-cooking father makes an upcoming court date, but because she has no idea where he is, she begins a search that turns out to be an intense chase down a rabbit hole. It's a part that requires serious intensity and passion, but Lawrence has all that and much more in the film, making the role ultimately a total game-changer. She has come a long way in the last eight years, but everything will ultimately tie back to her turn in Winter's Bone.

1. Silver Linings Playbook

If you couldn't predict this one, you probably haven't been paying very close attention to Jennifer Lawrence's career. After all, her performance in David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook is what led to her winning her first Academy Award. In a film that is just as sharp as it is funny, Lawrence is totally magnetic, unhinged, and wonderful as Tiffany Maxwell - a recently-widowed young woman who is a bit of a head-case, but finds a special outlet in ballroom dancing. Her chemistry with Bradley Cooper is wonderful (the actor putting on the best performance of his own career), and she just commands the screen every time she appears.

In the larger context of Jennifer Lawrence's career, Winter's Bone was the film that put her on the map, but it was Silver Linings Playbook that established her as the true star that she is. It's a challenging part, as Tiffany is as rough around the edges as they come and requires a magnetic personality to bring home, but Russell absolutely nailed the casting. It's one of the most well-earned Academy Awards in recent memory, and every time you watch the performance you realize not only just how good Lawrence really is, but that she has the chance to become one of the all-time greats. It's a tremendous turn in a tremendous movie, and the best we've seen from the actress yet.

They always say that finding success in show business requires a thick skin. Some directors have developed reputations for babying their actors, while others push and provoke in order to achieve the best possible performance. As it turns out, David O. Russell has a tendency to be the latter. Actress Amy Adams recently opened up about her time on the set of the 2013 drama American Hustle, as well as Russell’s harsh treatment of her and the other actors during the film’s production. It was so harsh that she cried on set most days.

During a recent interview with GQ, Amy Adams admitted that American Hustle director David O. Russell actually made her cry during the production of the film. She said:

Although she didn't go into specific details about the director’s actions on set, it’s abundantly clear that he was not the easiest guy to be around during the production of American Hustle. Based on this quote, it sounds like David O. Russell’s harsh treatment extended beyond just Amy Adams. A frequent collaborator with the popular director, Jennifer Lawrence apparently also fell victim to his ire, but was able to shrug it off better than Adams. It seems that the director takes filmmaking incredibly seriously, and she does not necessarily agree with that level of intensity on set.

Of course it probably didn’t help that Amy Adams knew she and her female costars earned less for the movie than the male actors on the film. Poor treatment is one thing, but earning a fraction of your coworkers definitely adds insult to injury.

All things considered, we’re not too sure Amy Adams regrets her decision to take part in the movie. Although David O. Russell might have been a hard director to work with at times, he got an impeccable performance out of her – as well as everyone else. Her performance in American Hustle proved so powerful that it garnered her a fifth Oscar nomination; not too shabby, Ms. Adams.

If nothing else, the experience helped Amy Adams develop a thicker skin that she has carried on to the other films she has worked on since American Hustle. Not that she needs it, she’s one of Hollywood’s most talented actresses working today. Be sure to catch her as Lois Lane in Zack Snyder’s upcoming blockbuster Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which hits theaters later this month on March 25.

There’s been a great deal of discussion recently about the gender pay gap in Hollywood. While there are exceptions, as a whole, female stars are paid much less than their male counterparts for roles of similar size and importance. David O. Russell’s American Hustle was an ensemble picture through and through, with numerous actors playing vital parts. Still, Amy Adams made much less money than her male co-stars, and she recently spoke out about her feelings on the matter.

In an upcoming issue of GQ, Amy Adams opens up about a number of topics, and while the whole thing won’t be out until tomorrow, some pieces have been revealed already. In one bit, she said she knew she was being paid less than her male costars like Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale, but said there wasn’t much she could do about it if she wanted to be in American Hustle.

Talking candidly, Amy Adams reveals one of the harsh realities for actresses working in Hollywood. Even though she has five Academy Award nominations in just over a ten-year span—not to mention a number of other awards and nominations—and has appeared in hits like Enchanted, Man of Steel, The Muppets, and the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, she still has to agree to work for less money or she, in all likelihood, simply won’t work. Films will find someone willing to do it for less and that’s that.

There are a few notable instances where this is the case, including Amy Adams’ American Hustle costar Jennifer Lawrence. For the upcoming sci-fi adventure Passengers, she is reportedly making roughly twice what her male costar, Chris Pratt, is slated to make. Lawrence has become one of the biggest movies stars in the world, rising in meteoric fashion, but she still is very much the exception, not the rule.

For her part, Jennifer Lawrence has been very outspoken about being paid less than "the lucky people with dicks," and how women have been conditioned to not push things like money, lest they become viewed as "spoiled brats" or labeled "difficult" to work with. Progress in this arena has been painfully slow, but hopefully as more people continue to bring it out into the open, there will be some momentum.

From being named People’s “Sexiest Man Alive” to earning three consecutive Oscar nominations, Bradley Cooper has had quite an interesting career. His big blue eyes have always won over the hearts of swooning fans, but Cooper had to pay his dues for many years to lead up to the critical-acclaim he has earned today. With roles such as the distant war hero Chris Kyle in the controversial American Sniper to a struggling bipolar man just released from a psychiatric hospital in Silver Linings Playbook, Cooper has shown a range of acting skills in the last few years that arguably had not been expected in the past.

The 40-year-old actor had his up and downs, starring in minor roles of a diverse assortment of characters. Living past the pretty-boy persona can be a difficult feat but despite Cooper’s own personal struggles he has far surpassed that, showing the world that he is a capable and talented actor. His days of being the beau to some famous actress are over, and now he is front and center. So here are 10 awesome things you probably never knew about Bradley Cooper.

He Auditioned For Green Lantern

Though talks of Bradley Cooper in the running for an upcoming Green Lantern role are currently traveling through the internet, this wouldn’t be the first time the actor auditioned for the part. Back in 2009, Cooper was a frontrunner against Ryan Reynolds for the titular role in Green Lantern. He told Conan O’Brien on The Tonight Show (via MTV) that during his audition he couldn’t help but imitate Christian Bale’s Batman:

He Gained 40 Pounds For His American Sniper Role

For his role as Chris Kyle, Bradley Cooper put on about 40 pounds of pure muscle to resemble the war hero. He had two workouts a day of two hours each and instead of having a year, Cooper only had three months of prep before shooting started. Cooper told Vanity Fair that during his workouts he listened to the exact same playlist that Chris Kyle had when he worked out in between shifts as a navy SEAL. He ate 5,000 calories a day and by the end of his time working out he was able to deadlift 415 pounds for five sets of eight reps. He even learned how to hold and shoot the various weapons Kyle used from former navy Seals who served with him. He kept in character the entire shoot.

He Missed Graduation To Be In Wet Hot American Summer

While Bradley Cooper was finishing up his MFA at The New School, he was beginning his acting career. He had taken some small guest role appearances on TV shows and even served as a presenter for a travel-adventure series called Globe Trekker But his film debut came in the cult classic comedy, Wet Hot American Summer. The problem was that filming happened to be right around the time Cooper graduated. He joked with GQ saying he missed his graduation to “get fucked in the ass by Michael Ian Black”.

He Asked J.J. Abrams To Write Him Off Alias

Bradley Cooper asked J.J. Abrams to write him off of Alias because he thought that he was going to fire him anyways. He explained in his GQ interview that his part grew less substantial as the show progressed and it nearly ended his career. Because of his aggravation he asked to be written off despite having no future jobs lined up, and within a couple weeks he ended up tearing his Achilles while playing basketball and spend the next year on his couch debating whether or not to quit acting all together.

His Most Difficult Role Was In The Hangover

For an actor who has played a bipolar man, an experienced war hero, and an FBI agent, it’s hard to believe that Bradley Cooper’s found his most difficult role to be that of a sunglass-rocking teacher named Phil. Cooper told The Guardian that his role in the box office hit The Hangover was actually his most difficult yet. He said:

James Lipton Knew He’d Be Famous

James Lipton, host of Inside the Actors Studio predicted Bradley Cooper’s stardom. Not only was he sitting in on the auditions during Cooper’s application to the masters program, but he was particularly drawn to Cooper’s performance. According to Vanity Fair, after Cooper’s master’s thesis performance (which he performed scenes from The Elephant Man) Cooper’s mother asked Lipton what he thought and Lipton responded:

He Was In Sex And The City And Learned To Drive Stick

Bradley Cooper’s first TV appearance when he moved to New York was in an early episode of Sex and the City where he played one of Sarah Jessica Parker’s hunky love interests. Cooper told The Guardian that upon landing the role there was one very specific thing that it required, “no tongues”. In a Backstage interview he divulged that he had a big problem with his newly earned role though, in that he didn’t know how to drive stick shift. He quickly went to a driving school in Manhattan, but it didn’t work out too well, and a stand-in had to drive instead.

He Knew He Wanted To Be An Actor After Seeing Elephant Man

Bradley Cooper knew he wanted to be an actor after seeing David Lynch’s The Elephant Man when he was 12 years old. He told Vanity Fair that he was sitting on the red couch in his living room sobbing and aware of the dignity and humanity of John Merrick, even though Cooper himself was still so young. And Cooper actually just recently revived the role of John Merrick in the Broadway revival of the Bernard Pomerance play The Elephant Man.

He Was A Doorman At Morgans Hotel When He First Moved To New York

When he moved New York to study acting at the New School, Bradley Cooper worked nights at the Morgans Hotel in Manhattan. He told Esquire that every night he carried had to carry a bunch matches and as a new guest was welcomed he would have to relight all the votive candles and scurry to the door for them. Many celebrities stayed there as well, and one night he welcomed Leonardo DiCaprio who was hot off his Titanic role, and all Bradley could think about was how different the two actors were.

He’s Super Smart

Not only is Bradley Cooper fluent in French (which has blown up the internet), but he also graduated with honors from Georgetown with an English degree. He told GQ he wrote his thesis on Nabokov's Lolita and he didn’t participate in much drama in high school or at Georgetown, but was more of an athlete up until he went for his MFA. Cooper somewhat randomly applied for his master’s at the Actors Studio Drama School in New York almost as a joke, but ended up getting in. Even during his acting career he has contemplated going back to school to get his Ph.D. in English and teaching literature.

Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper went wider over the weekend, and while it dominated the box office with a record take, it divided critics and audience members with its political and military messages. The one factor everyone agreed on, though, was the incredible performance by leading man Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle, a decorated Navy SEAL who dedicated his life to his brothers in arms. It’s hard to believe that this is the same guy who charmed Jennifer Garner in Alias, and entertained audiences in the Hangover trilogy.

American Sniper is Bradley Cooper’s third straight Best Actor nomination, following nods for his two films with director David O. Russell. But where does it rank on a list of the all-time great Bradley Cooper roles? We decided to comb over his resume and single out our choices for the 10 best, ranked from two to one.

10. Leon, The Midnight Meat Train

Yes, we’re going with a horror film in our tenth slot. Why? Because Bradley Cooper was still finding his way as a leading man after small scene-stealing parts in Wedding Crashers and a little-seen TV showcase in Kitchen Confidential, and he made a real impact here. Rarely do actors emerge from the horror genre and make a successful stab at mainstream, but Cooper’s natural charisma shines through the stylish gloom of Midnight Meat Train. Similar to Jamie Lee Curtis in the original Halloween, you could tell that you were watching an actor who was logging time but planning on bigger things. And most of those bigger things happened in the following roles.

9. Eddie Morra, Limitless

Limitless was a surprise hit in early 2011, primarily because people didn’t yet know what to make of the handsome jerk from The Hangover. But Cooper showed that he had the chops to carry an intelligent sci-fi premise, and was convincing as both a struggling, economically deprived writer AND the intelligently stimulated success story that Cooper’s character, Eddie, eventually becomes. Again, it was the actor’s charisma that shined through a sloppy screenplay, with director Neil Burger finding ways to enhance his star’s bright personality with visual flourishes. Limitless seemed like it could have been a franchise for Cooper. There’s no real surprise it is finding new life as a TV series, because the potential for future stories was (sorry) limitless.

8. Face, The A-Team

Remaking a classic television show is a mixed bag. For every memorable Mission: Impossible, there a misfire like The A-Team, Joe Carnahan’s attempt to update the team of mercenaries who now help those in need. The failure of the A-Team movie doesn’t fall on Bradley Cooper, though, who was perfectly cast as the vainglorious Templeton Peck… aka, Face – because, like Cooper, is face is damn near perfect. One issue with the A-Team movie is that reboot cast members Sharlto Copley, "Rampage" Jackson and even Liam Neeson couldn’t make us forget the original TV stars. But Cooper made Face a wild card, injecting him with maniacal energy and stealing multiple scenes with his wit and charm. He was better than this film, and we went on to prove it.

7. Rocket, Guardians of the Galaxy

Should this be higher on the list? Maybe. We debated in the CinemaBlend offices how much stock should be given to a vocal performance, and whether the acerbic personality Bradley Cooper brought to James Gunn’s space epic would (or should) trump the actor’s roles in … well, in the next six choices! (No spoilers.) But there’s no denying the fact that Rocket wouldn’t work quite as well in Guardians of the Galaxy without the attitude that Cooper brought to the sound booth. He played extremely well off of Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista and, yes, Vin Diesel. And I think that Cooper will actually be able to bring new depths to Rocket when he returns to the Marvel universe for Guardians of the Galaxy 2.

6. Will Tippin, Alias

Before Bella had Edward or Jacob, and before Katniss has Peeta or Gale, CIA operative Sydney Bristow often had to choose between fellow agent Vaughn (Michael Vartan) and unassuming best-friend reporter Will Tippin (Cooper). Will’s role in Alias was viewed as a necessary bit of grounding to Sydney’s globetrotting adventures – the regular guy who Sydney, the college student, likely should have settled down for, even though that meant ditching her spy lifestyle. Eventually, the show ran out of ways to cleverly use Tippin, and he … well, I won’t say, in case you haven’t seen Alias yet. (What are you waiting for?!) But Cooper was a terrific soft spot one which hardened Jennifer Garner would land, a dependable rock in the tumultuous storm of her spy life, and the two actors had a wonderful chemistry that could have carried the show for a few more seasons. Can we get those two together in a movie sometime soon?

5. Richie DiMaso, American Hustle

We’re finally getting into Bradley Cooper’s Oscar-nominated roles, and a lot of this has to be attributed to the contributions of writer-director David O. Russell. Cooper’s now a player in Russell’s "company," though he earned his slot by disappearing into broadly drawn neighborhood caricatures – usually with Italian roots. Richie is torn between two worlds – the law-enforcement agency that employs him, and the con artists he lures to help him in a sting. In different hands, the characters populating Russell’s films could be grotesque cartoons. But Cooper, Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Jeremy Renner and Jennifer Lawrence know how to slice through most of the bull to make these roles human. It helps when you are hustling.

4. Sack Lodge, Wedding Crashers

Easily the best character name on this list (Sack Lodge!), Sack is the guy you’d ASSUME Bradley Cooper could and would play for the duration of his career… if he was interested in simply being typecast because of his terrific looks. Sack is the "evil boyfriend" role, the tool who Rachel McAdams is dating – but only because he wants access to her family’s political power. He’s a textbook jerk, and Cooper plugs into the role with such ease that we could have easily assumed this was Cooper’s personality – and he’d be stuck in that part forever. It also shows how Cooper was willing to bulk up for a role. Watch the football scene in Wedding Crashers, and you won’t be amazed at how drastically Cooper changed, physically, for this next role.

3. Chris Kyle, American Sniper

It’s amazing how deeply Bradley Cooper disappears into the role of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, swallowing his natural charisma to play a bear of a man who swears to protect his fellow soldiers. When Cooper plays with David O. Russell or Todd Phillips, he is the center of attention. As Kyle, he’s a silent assassin perched atop a building, watching over all – but unable to acclimate to home life and be the husband and father his family needs. It’s a calculatedly subdued performance that is all the more powerful for what it doesn’t show… and Cooper’s decisions as a performer get to the heart of this patriot.

2. Pat Solitano, Silver Linings Playbook

The better of the two David O. Russell collaborations, and a painfully wounded performance by Bradley Cooper that shows him at his most vulnerable. Behind every Cooper character is the supreme confidence that comes with looks like Bradley Cooper. But Pat has been hurt. He’s broken. And even though he’ll rapidly explain to anyone around him that he’s better… he’s lying. And he can’t truly heal until he meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), the equally damaged yin to his demented yang. Russell’s words require a specific cadence, and Cooper plugs right into the director’s manic vibe. But it’s the soulful hurt resting behind Pat’s darting eyes that pull us into his quest to follow a silver-linings playbook, and one day live a better life.

1. Phil, The Hangover

A controversial choice? Perhaps. Bradley Cooper wasn’t nominated for the Oscar for his turn in Todd Phillips’ shockingly crude Hangover comedies. But here’s why I believe the trilogy boasts Cooper’s finest performances. We should be chemically trained to despise Phil. He’s an egotistical ass who abuses his closest friends and essentially ruins the lives of everyone around him. And yet, we end up rooting for this guy, time after time. That’s due to Cooper, who shows in the Hangover movies how versatile he is at comedy – board and slapsticky, but also capable of playing an integral part of an ensemble. The Hangover movies might be the undergraduate program that trained Cooper for Russell’s films (and beyond). But his "maturity" as Phil increased from film to film, giving us Cooper’s most complete, unpredictable and rewarding performance to date.

It’s not unusual for Hollywood producers to face claims of libel, copyright infringement or defamation over their movies. Remember when the makers of Frozen were accused of ripping off a woman’s life story? Yeah, nice try. Now in the land of Hollywood litigation, the white collars behind American Hustle are being sued by a well-known science writer over a contentious line uttered by Jennifer Lawrence's Jersey housewife character, Rosalyn, involving the "science oven."

In a complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Paul Brodeur petitions that by attributing him to a "scientifically unsupportable statement," the filmmakers have scorched his reputation in the scientific community like oh-so-many of Rosalyn’s flame grilled easy dinners. "The scene from the movie American Hustle where the defamatory statement was made is highly offensive to a reasonable person," he states as the complaint seeks damages for libel, defamation, slander and false light. The amount of green he wants to tend his wounds? A cool $1 million, along with an order to remove his name from all copies of the film.

So what scene is he exactly talking about? Having blown up her latest "science oven" by warming up a foil-wrapped dinner, Rosalyn (Lawrence) tells her con artists husband Irving (Christian Bale) that microwaves take all the nutrition out of food anyway. She’s basically doing him a favor! "That’s bullshit," he replies, before she whips out a magazine and retorts, "It’s not bullshit. I read it in an article. Look, by Paul Brodeur… Bring something into this house that's going to take all the nutrition out of our food and then light our house on fire. Thank god for me."

It was one of the film’s most memorable comic moments, but in real life, Brodeur is a renowned science journalist -- and former scribe for The New Yorker -- who’s written both books and articles on the dangers of microwave radiation. Surprisingly however, he firmly concludes there is no "known" danger in eating microwave-cooked food, which is why he’s so angry about American Hustle contradicting his work.

This isn’t the first time Brodeur has raised issues with his work being used as the butt of the America Hustle joke. Back in January, he wrote a letter to the Huffington Post stating that he’s never argued "in any way that a microwave does any such thing" after the site included the scene among its 17 favourite movie moments of 2013. Brodeur also claims to have sent a "strongly worded letter" to American Hustle producers claiming they defamed him and damaged his reputation.

BUT -- I feel like this deserves an especially big BUT -- American Hustle is a movie that, despite being loosely inspired by the ABSCAM scandal of the 1970s, doesn’t claim to be a true story. In fact, its opening title card blatantly reads, "Some of this actually happened," which will make any libel claim difficult to win as Yahoo Movies explains, they typically depend on the defendant presenting as true a statement that he or she knows or should know is false. Spokespersons for the defendants have still yet to comment on Brodeur’s complaint, but do you think he has a good shot at getting a slice of the movie’s $150 million taking?

If you’re looking for a list of talented leading actors, you may as well start with the men rumored to play Doctor Strange. From Jon Hamm to Joaquin Phoenix to Benedict Cumberbatch, it’s a Murderer’s Row of thespian greatness, and now, we can add one more, though far less famous, name to the pile: Jack Huston.

Who? You know, Jack Huston. The guy on Boardwalk Empire with half of a face…

Right. That guy. Well, in real life, he’s extremely handsome, and his profile is on the rise. He nabbed a supporting role in American Hustle, the Kerouac part in Kill Your Darlings and the Mr. Wickham role in Pride And Prejudice And Zombies. In short, Hollywood is quietly buzzing about his potential as a leading man, and this could be the exact vehicle that explodes him into the mainstream.

The information comes courtesy of This Is Infamous. With no one else confirming any part of it, however, it should be taken with a grain of salt. There’s a possibility he’s not really in contention, but since no one really knows what the hell Marvel is doing behind the scenes, let’s entertain it for a minute, because it makes some weird sense.

Marvel has long been excited about casting actors who are on the rise. Sure, they employ Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L Jackson, but only one of those people has actually been the full-fledged star of a Marvel movie. As a group, they’ve gravitated toward people like Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth and Paul Rudd. In short, they like people with a lot of charisma who aren’t necessarily A-list performers with experience opening their own movies.

So, on that note, Jack Huston actually fits quite well. He’s got a ton of natural talent, and he’s got the type of face that could go on billboards. He’s full-blown handsome, and he’s got a little bit of weird mystery to him, which Doctor Strange needs. He’s not super zany, however, though so Marvel’s movie version of the Doctor would need to be a certain kind of, well, strange, one that’s not quite so full of energy. Plus, he allegedly almost nabbed the Star-Lord role before Marvel settled on Chris Pratt.

God only knows when we’ll get some official Doctor Strange news. Until then, feel free to keep speculating away. Just don’t be surprised if the studio circles back around to Jack Huston.

It’s finally here! The most distinguished, important and prestigious award show of the entire year has finally arrived! It’s the MTV Movie Awards, and they boast enough clout to break careers and ruin lives.

Okay, maybe those positives are a wild exaggeration, but then again, so are a lot of negatives people say about the show. In truth, it’s an unbelievably fun night for celebrities to have a few drinks, meet some famous musicians and appeal to their younger demographics of fans. There’s not a whole lot of pressure, and presenters can do pretty much whatever they want. Besides, it’s hard to complain about an awards show that nominates The Wolf Of Wall Street and That Awkard Moment in the same category with a straight face.

We’ll be tuning in and updating the winners live. So, follow along below. The winners will be in red once they’re announced…

MOVIE OF THE YEAR

12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

American Hustle (Columbia Pictures)

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Warner Bros. Pictures)

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Lionsgate)

The Wolf of Wall Street (Paramount Pictures)

BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE

• Amy Adams – American Hustle (Columbia Pictures)

• Jennifer Aniston – We’re the Millers (New Line Cinema)

• Sandra Bullock – Gravity (Warner Bros. Pictures)

• Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Lionsgate)

• Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

BEST MALE PERFORMANCE

• Bradley Cooper – American Hustle (Columbia Pictures)

• Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street (Paramount Pictures)

• Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

• Josh Hutcherson – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Lionsgate)

• Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club (Focus Features)

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE

• Liam James – The Way Way Back (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

• Michael B. Jordan – Fruitvale Station (The Weinstein Company)

• Will Poulter – We’re the Millers (New Line Cinema)

• Margot Robbie – The Wolf of Wall Street (Paramount Pictures)

• Miles Teller – The Spectacular Now (A24 Films)

BEST KISS

• Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams – American Hustle (Columbia Pictures)

• Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Scarlett Johansson – Don Jon (Relativity Media)

• James Franco, Ashley Benson and Vanessa Hudgens – Spring Breakers (A24 Films)

• Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller – The Spectacular Now (A24 Films)

• Emma Roberts, Jennifer Aniston and Will Poulter – We’re the Millers (New Line Cinema)

BEST FIGHT

• Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (Paramount Pictures) – Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner and Steve Carell vs. James Marsden vs. Sacha Baron Cohen vs. Kanye West vs. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler vs. Jim Carrey and Marion Cotillard vs. Will Smith vs. Liam Neeson and John C. Reilly vs. Greg Kinnear

• Identity Thief (Universal Pictures) – Jason Bateman vs. Melissa McCarthy

• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Warner Bros. Pictures) – Orlando Bloom and Evangeline Lilly vs. Orcs

• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Lionsgate) – Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Sam Claflin vs. Mutant Monkeys

• This is the End (Columbia Pictures) – Jonah Hill vs. James Franco and Seth Rogen

BEST COMEDIC PERFORMANCE

• Kevin Hart – Ride Along (Universal Pictures)

• Jonah Hill – The Wolf of Wall Street (Paramount Pictures)

• Johnny Knoxville – Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (Paramount Pictures)

• Melissa McCarthy – The Heat (20th Century Fox)

• Jason Sudeikis – We’re the Millers (New Line Cinema)

BEST SCARED-AS-S**T PERFORMANCE

• Rose Byrne – Insidious: Chapter 2 (FilmDistrict) • Jessica Chastain – Mama (Universal Pictures)

• Vera Farmiga – The Conjuring (New Line Cinema)

• Ethan Hawke – The Purge (Universal Pictures)

• Brad Pitt – World War Z (Paramount Pictures)

BEST ON-SCREEN DUO

• Amy Adams and Christian Bale – American Hustle (Columbia Pictures)

• Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club (Focus Features)

• Vin Diesel and Paul Walker – Fast & Furious 6 (Universal Pictures)

• Ice Cube and Kevin Hart – Ride Along (Universal Pictures)

• Jonah Hill and Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street (Paramount Pictures)

BEST SHIRTLESS PERFORMANCE

• Jennifer Aniston – We’re the Millers (New Line Cinema)

• Sam Claflin – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Lionsgate)

• Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street (Paramount Pictures)

• Zac Efron – That Awkward Moment (Focus Features)

• Chris Hemsworth – Thor: The Dark World (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

#WTF MOMENT

• Steve Carell, Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd and David Koechner – Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (Paramount Pictures)

The Channel 4 News Team's afternoon is no longer a delight as their speeding van filled with bowling balls, scorpions and hot oil takes a tumble on the highway.

• Johnny Knoxville and Jackson Nicoll – Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (Paramount Pictures)

Johnny Knoxville and Jackson Nicoll manage to strike fear into a room full of unsuspecting beauty pageant-loving parents thanks to a bump n' grind dance routine to a Warrant classic.

• Cameron Diaz – The Counselor (20th Century Fox)

Having sex in a car is pretty much a rite of passage, but having sex with a car? Cameron Diaz's Malkina gets down and dirty with a bright yellow Ferrari to show the world how it's done.

• Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street (Paramount Pictures)

Leonardo DiCaprio's iconic portrayal of excessive Wall Street player Jordan Belfort takes a turn for the insane when he takes his Lamborghini for a spin.

• Danny McBride and Channing Tatum – This is the End (Columbia Pictures)

Danny McBride shows an apocalyptic world, and uncomfortable theater-goers everywhere, that there's no better pet than a scantily-clad Channing Tatum.

BEST VILLAIN

• Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips (Columbia Pictures)

• Benedict Cumberbatch – Star Trek into Darkness (Paramount Pictures)

• Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

• Mila Kunis – Oz The Great and Powerful (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

• Donald Sutherland – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Lionsgate)

BEST ON-SCREEN TRANSFORMATION

• Christian Bale – American Hustle (Columbia Pictures)

• Elizabeth Banks – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Lionsgate)

• Orlando Bloom – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Warner Bros. Pictures)

• Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club (Focus Features)

• Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club (Focus Features)

BEST MUSICAL MOMENT

• Backstreet Boys, Jay Baruchel, Seth Rogen and Craig Robinson – This is the End (Columbia Pictures)

Spoiler alert! Backstreet Boys reunite in heaven to perform "Everybody" with signature boy band moves and flair for this unforgettable apocalyptic ending.

• Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle (Columbia Pictures)

Lawrence cleans and dances her frustrations away as she mouths the words to 70s classic "Live and Let Die."

• Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street (Paramount Pictures)

During his wedding reception, DiCaprio's fraudulent Jordan Belfort pops and locks it to Bo Diddley’s "Pretty Thing."

• Melissa McCarthy – Identity Thief (Universal Pictures)

To ease the tension of stealing Sandy's identity, McCarthy's Diana shows her musical range as she attempts to sing along with the car radio -- and even hits that high note in "Barracuda."

• Will Poulter – We’re the Millers (New Line Cinema)

With eyes wide shut, Poulter's Kenny Rossmore throws it back to the 90s with a hilarious rendition of TLC's "Waterfalls."

BEST CAMEO PERFORMANCE

• Robert De Niro – American Hustle (Columbia Pictures)

• Amy Poehler and Tina Fey – Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (Paramount Pictures)

• Kanye West – Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (Paramount Pictures)

• Joan Rivers – Iron Man 3 (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

• Rihanna – This is the End (Columbia Pictures)

BEST HERO

• Henry Cavill as Clark Kent – Man of Steel (Warner Bros. Pictures)

• Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man – Iron Man 3 (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

• Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Warner Bros. Pictures)

• Chris Hemsworth as Thor – Thor: The Dark World (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

• Channing Tatum as John Cale – White House Down (Columbia Pictures)

Frozen Blu-ray

You’d think Disney might have exhausted the fairytale canon for princess stories at this point, but with Frozen, the famous animation company has pulled together a zinger of a story with plenty of emotional payoff, helped along by a story from Hans Christian Anderson and artwork by Kay Nielson.

Frozen is loosely based on the Anderson story "The Snow Queen," but in Disney’s version, two sisters are important to the tale. Princesses Elsa (Idina Menzel) and Anna (Kristen Bell) are fast friends as youngsters but grow apart after Elsa’s magical abilities get out of hand. Years later, Elsa is set to ascend to the throne when her power—magic that allows her to manipulate the weather—swirls out of control once more. She hides out in the mountains, leaving it up to Anna to chase after her and bring her home.

It sounds like a story fraught with ice and other terrors, but the coming-of-age narrative about two very different sisters is a great adventure story, sprinkled with musical numbers that will charm young audiences and leave them singing instant classics like "Would you Like to Build a Snowman" and the Oscar-winning emotive ballad "Let it Go." Add in an amusing snowman sidekick named Olaf (Josh Gad), a magical snow creature who wants nothing more than to bask in the sun during spring, a handsome prince (Santino Fontana) and a handsome pauper (Jonathan Groff), and we have all of the components necessary to create a Disney instant classic.

In that way, Frozen largely succeeds, creating a movie that is gorgeous, a story that is compelling and a set of musical numbers that round out the movie perfectly. The film does have some trouble early on deciding how much time to spend with Elsa and with Anna, but as the sisters both come into their own, Frozen grows into a movie that will fit very well on most families' shelves.

Best Special Feature:

If you caught Frozen in theaters, you’ve probably already gotten a chance to see the throwback animated short "Get a Horse!" That one is certainly worth a second watch, but the extra I found most suprising was "The Making of Frozen." The "Making of" is not your average behind-the-scenes featurette. Instead, it’s actually a pretty clever musical production starring Gad, Groff, Bell and plenty of the other people involved with the theatrical production. The musical number is set on the Disney lot and in many of the rooms on the lot where Frozen was actually put together, so in that sense, we do get behind the scenes. The extra is goofy, fun and should keep the kids entertained.

Other Bonus Features:

Original Theatrical Short "Get a Horse!"

"Frosted: Disney’s Journey from Hans Christian Anderson to Frozen"

Deleted Scenes

Music Videos

Original Teaser Trailer

American Hustle DVD

It takes a brilliant mind or two to create a great con and Academy Award nominee American Hustle is full of the right sorts of larger-than-life personalities. Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper all star in the political corruption expose, bringing to life a con man, an FBI agent with bigger aspirations, a tough cookie paramour and a feisty housewife. How their lives intertwine will keep fans invested for the duration of the flick’s lengthy two+ hour run.

American Hustle starts with a love story. Here we meet Irving Rosenfeld (Bale), a schlubby man who has nonetheless caught the eye of Sydney Prosser, the type of beautiful that favors plunging necklines and as few clothing items as possible. The two soon begin a life of conning those who cross their paths. He’s as affable as she is charming, but things are complicated when FBI Agent Richie DiMaso (Cooper) enters the picture. Additionally, Irving’s wife, Rosalyn (Lawrence), also revels in adding a hiccup or two into any good con.

There’s plenty of drama when the storylines get tense, but David O. Russell has always been good at infusing comedy into convoluted plotlines and complicated characters. He’s also great at writing side characters, and this time around Jeremy Renner, Louis C.K., Michael Pena and Jack Huston all infuse extra mirth into the flick. American Hustle may not work for everyone, but if you decide to go along for the ride, you’ll no doubt find a movie that is as exciting as it is tense, and as fun as it is messy.

Best Special Feature:

We’re taking a look at the DVD copy, so there’s nothing exciting to say about the picture. However, Blu-ray and DVD copies of the flick do come with the same extras, a "Making of American Hustle" segment and deleted and extended scenes. The "Making of" bit is actually pretty interesting. The first few minutes take a look at how Eric Warren Singer put together the story for the film and then David O. Russell picked it up and added more depth. It’s a pretty good watch if you like to hear from the actors and crew members involved with the film.

Other Bonus Features:

Deleted and Extended Scenes

Previews

Saving Mr. Banks Blu-ray

Two other narratives based on famous personalities are also being released this week. The first is Disney’s take on the relationship between Walt Disney and famous children’s author P.L. Travers who reluctantly collaborated on the studio’s hit film Mary Poppins. The touching narrative is coming to Blu-ray combo pack in a set that is filled with historical bonus features. But if "touching" and/or "Walt Disney" aren’t your thing, you can check out the life and times of Allen Ginsberg in this week’s other historical biopic, Kill Your Darlings.

John Krokidas’ directorial debut is a story of crime and deception, set to the tune of beatnik writing in the 1940s. It follows the early life of Allen Ginsberg (Radcliffe), his dealings with a problematic mother, obsession with a charming but dangerous college classmate, and a pervading need to break free of the establishment, egged on by a few other outstanding personalities. The dialogue in Killy Your Darlings is rich—though at times unbelievable—and the pace and the sway of the movie should invest those who are already interested in the life and times of Ginsberg and company.

Both flicks sport a slew of famous names. Saving Mr. Banks is headlined by Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson and Colin Farrell, while Kill Your Darlings sports Harry Potter wunderkind Daniel Radcliffe and The Amazing Spider-man 2 starrer Dane Dehaan. The ones we’ve covered aren’t the only releases this week, of course. You can check out some more of this week’s releases, below. Unless otherwise noted, sets are available on both Blu-ray and DVD.

Other March 18 Releases

The Dukes of September Live

The Jungle Book 2

Reasonable Doubt

Here Comes The Devil

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Atlantis

The Little Rascal’s Save the Day

Return to Nuke ‘Em High"

Flashpoint: The Final Season DVD

Achmed Saves America

After coming up empty at the Oscars, fan-favorite films The Wolf of Wall Street and American Hustle enjoyed strong showings with the MTV Movie Awards nominations, leading the pack this morning with eight noms apiece. The films will vie for Movie of the Year, alongside fellow nominees 12 Years a Slave, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Because MTV loves them some Jennifer Lawrence.

Catching Fire, according to the network, picked up seven nominations, making it the second-highest-nominated film of the pack. The Hunger Games will compete for Best Female Performance (for Lawrence), Best Male Performance (for Josh Hutcherson) and Best Villain (for Donald Sutherland, who I really hope attends the ceremony). And because the MTV Movie Awards are a show for the people, the smash-comedy hit We’re the Millers racked up 6 nominations, including Best Shirtless Performance for Jennifer Aniston. Who says this isn’t the Golden Age of Cinema?

As we reported earlier, Conan O’Brien will host this year’s show, which will be held on Sunday, April 13, on MTV. Here’s a complete list of this year’s nominees. Who are you pulling for?

The magic number for far too many movies last night at the Academy Awards?

Zero.

That’s how many Oscars, combined, were won by American Hustle, The Wolf of Wall Street, Captain Phillips, Philomena and Nebraska. Four of the nine Best Picture nominees dominated the major Oscar categories. Gravity cleaned up in the technical categories, as expected. Her nabbed a well-deserved Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Of course, 12 Years a Slave took home the Oscar for Best Picture.

What happened outside of the exclusive club? Wasn’t this supposed to be the year that Oscar spread the love to numerous films? Shouldn’t we have seen some upsets in a few major categories? Did something go wrong? Or was this how it was meant to be all along?

I can’t help but think that several films felt like Bruce Dern’s character in Nebraska. You don’t get an Oscar. How about a hat?

We are up to our eyeballs in Oscar coverage this morning. Read along as we break down:

- The full list of winners.

- The red carpet recap.

- The "Oscar Selfie" that broke Twitter.

- And Ellen’s pizza gag. Did it last too long, or does she get Humanitarian points for feeding some starving actors?

From now until the Friday before the Oscars we'll be running daily pieces about why a film does or does not deserve Best Picture. Here is Mack with his argument for David O. Russell's American Hustle!

I left my showing of American Hustle with a smile on my face and a healthy appreciation for what I’d just seen. I knew, without a doubt, it would go on my yearly Top 10 Movies list. The where was the only question. I initially assumed it would end up about seventh or eighth, but when I sat down to actually make the list, it kept getting bumped up and bumped up until it was my single highest rated movie of the year.

To explain why, I need to talk a little about James Bond.

A year and a half ago, I sat down alongside my very understanding wife and watched every single Bond movie in the generally accepted canon. I took notes on great moments, great villains and cheeky dialogue, and I took others on bizarre plot developments, awkward musical choices and poor pacing. Then, I wrote the name of every film on its own post-it note and went to town arranging and re-arranging on a poster board. In the end, I picked Goldfinger as my favorite. A few other films had better villains. A few others had more iconic moments and still more had better visual effects, but in the end, there’s no single film that rates as high in every single category as Goldfinger. It’s an eight or better across the board, and that’s exactly how I feel about American Hustle.

Led by Academy Award nominees Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle doesn’t contain any of the showiest performances of the year (see Dallas Buyers Club and Blue Jasmine), but its average starting value across the board is incredible. It’s boasts the type of depth the SAG Best Ensemble category is made for, and it’s not forced to hide any weak spots at all. Even the supporting parts like Louis CK and Jeremy Renner are top notch.

Similar praise could be heaped upon the screenplay as well. It somehow finds the time to explain (reasonably well) a complicated political corruption scheme and to provide a wealth of backstory for four principal characters, plus a fifth who comes outfitted with a wife who’s a few strokes more interesting than your average Hollywood wife. It also makes brilliant and hysterical usage of a story it intentionally doesn’t finish and is smart enough to openly admit it takes liberties with the source material, something many recent films haven’t done.

And how about directing? David O Russell is so confident with his camera and so willing to be patient. Sometimes he slows the action down enough to let characters wallow in a single moment to prove a larger point and to offer a window into their personalities. Other times, he lets music completely take over the scene, knowing the basic emotion and the general gist of what’s going on is far more important than the intricacies of the dialogue, no matter how beautiful it might look on the page.

Some people choose a Best Picture winner because it takes one or two elements and absolutely, positively crushes them in a way audience members haven’t seen before. American Hustle doesn’t do that. It might not even be the best at anything. If you’re the type of person who takes the overall quality of everything and meshes it together to honor the greatest overall experience of the year, however, then American Hustle has to be your choice. The cinematography is great. The costuming is great. The pacing, the subject matter and the character development are all great. It’s a consistent high five all the way across the board, and if that counts, it should walk away with Best Picture.

We have been busy breaking down the major categories in this year’s Academy Awards race, naming the current frontrunners for Best Actor, Actress, Director and beyond. It all has been building to the Mack Daddy of them all: Best Picture!

I’ve been opposed to the expansion of the Best Picture category from Day One. Why change from five (5) nominees to as many as 10 in a given year? You are only increasing the number of movies that – on the Monday after the Oscars – can call themselves "losers." My argument is that the category should have shifted from five nominees to three. That would increase competition. Imagine how tight this year’s Oscar race would be if Academy voters could only choose between Gravity, 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle? Now THAT’s a race!

For some movies, the nomination is the win. So let’s start with the also-rans – an odd thing to say in the Best Picture category – and end with the movie we believe will win the Oscar this year.

NO SHOT

You may be the captain now, Captain Phillips, but you are one of the three BP nominees that we don’t believe have any chance of surprising audiences and claiming Oscar’s top award. Nebraska and Her land in that crowd, as well, becoming movies that should be very happy to have an invite to the ceremony, but probably don’t have to bother preparing any speeches.

I say this because these movies haven’t won in any of the categories at major awards shows leading up to the Oscars. When it comes to Her and Captain Phillips, the movie was surprised to see Tom Hanks and Joaquin Phoenix left out of the Best Actor race… and both men carried their respective films. Nebraska earned several important nominations – including Actor, Director and Supporting Actress. But the lack of any real support leading up to the Oscars means the black-and-white drama lands in the "No Shot" classification this year.

DARK HORSES

The next batch of Best Picture contenders all have elements that we could point to and argue "Possibly," but the momentum swings haven’t happened over the course of the lengthy Oscar marathon.

Dallas Buyers Club, for example, has been collecting numerous acting awards over the course of the season for Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto, and I view both of them as frontrunners in their respective categories. But 2013 has been a rare year where Oscar love looks like it’s going to be spread to multiple films, meaning Picture is probably out of the question. There has been some chatter that Philomena, which is beloved, could connect with the older members of the Academy – of which there are several – and the movie could somehow rise up and capitalize on a vote-split caused by movies like Hustle and Gravity. But that likely isn’t happening. The Wolf of Wall Street has a passionate, vocal fan base. Even though it runs 3 hours, it has crossed the $100 million mark domestically. It has a chance… but the chance feels slim.

CONTENDERS

Gravity and American Hustle If it were up to me, Gravity would win. It’s the best movie of the year, and the fact that Alfonso Cuaron has been collecting Best Director trophies left and right leads me to believe that the blockbuster awards contender has a solid shot at prevailing at the Academy Awards.

If it were up to me, American Hustle wouldn’t even be in this category. I don’t care for the movie, but I am in the EXTREME minority. Hustle cleaned up in the other categories, punching its ticket in almost every major category. Rarely do movies get nominations in categories like Picture, Director, Screenplay, every Actor category and NOT win Picture. It suggests that, across the board, it is appreciated. I still think that it’s going to lose to…

FRONTRUNNER

Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave has been a powerhouse this awards season, grabbing top awards at multiple presentations leading up to the Oscars, even as it has split support with Gravity (in the director categories) and Hustle (in the acting categories), yet still getting Picture love. So while Lupita Nyong’o could grab Best Supporting Actress, it’s likely that Chiwetel Ejiofor and McQueen could lose BUT 12 Years could take Best Picture.

Which is fine with me, for so many reasons. McQueen’s movie is brilliant, and if something has to beat Gravity (my personal favorite), then I’m glad that it’s a masterpiece like this. And I appreciate an awards slate that isn’t dominated by one film. Appreciation should be spread to movies like Wolf, Dallas Buyers, Gravity, 12 Years and, yes, American Hustle. It’s the best possible scenario on Oscar night.

A common indicator of what film will take home the Academy Award for Best Picture is the frequently foreshadowing category of Best Director. In the past 20 years of the Academy's history, there have only been five instances where a movie didn't take home both honors: 1998 (Saving Private Ryan for Best Director; Shakespeare in Love for Best Picture), 2000 (Traffic for Best Director; Gladiator for Best Picture), 2002 (The Pianist for Best Director; Chicago for Best Picture), 2005 (Brokeback Mountain for Best Director; Crash for Best Picture), and 2013 (Life of Pi for Best Director; Argo for Best Picture).

Aside from being a huge honor of itself, this year's showdown for Best Director could well determine Oscar night's top award. And we've got some serious heavyweights fighting for the gold. One is an eight-time nominated director and Hollywood icon. Two are unconventional storytellers up for their third Oscar nomination for Best Director. And the final two are foreign-born helmers celebrating their first Academy Award nomination for this particular accolade. But who will win? We break it down below:

DARK HORSES: Alexander Payne And Martin Scorsese

This marks Alexander Payne's third nomination for Best Director at the Academy Awards. His first came in 2005 with his deliciously dark comedy Sideways. The second came in 2012, when he offered up the bittersweet family dramedy The Descendants. But third time won't be a charm for Payne. Nebraska is a tender and poignant comedy that has received heaps of critical praise, but with only 6 nominations its not an especially strong contender on Oscar night in general. Besides that, Payne has earned far less directing honors as his competitors this year, boasting only six while others have over 20 from various critics circles, award shows and film festivals.

Though he is arguably one of America's most legendary living filmmakers, Scorsese hasn't had a great track record with the Academy. Sure, this is his eighth nomination for Best Director, but he has only won once, and that was for The Departed, 26 years after his first nod for Raging Bull. Between the polarizing response Wolf of Wall Street has had among critics and its low count of four Academy Award nominations, this will not be Scorsese's night.

CONTENDERS: David O. Russell And Steve McQueen

This is also David O. Russell's third time being nominated for Best Director, following The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook. With 10 Oscar nominations, American Hustle is poised to be a big winner come show time, thanks to a cast that includes nominees like Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. However, it's less certain that Russell will take to the stage. While he's earned a string of nominations for his helming here, he hasn't taken home many of those awards. Plus, some in the Academy might have a distaste for the director's reputed mercurial nature on sets. Don't doubt the Oscar's are in part a popularity contest.

Steve McQueen has earned his first-ever Academy Award nomination with 12 Years A Slave. With 9 nominations his unforgettable biopic about the life of Solomon Northup has a great pole position, bolstered by representation in such major categories as Best Director, Best Lead Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay and both Supporting performer categories. For his work here, McQueen has earned a long list of directing honors all over the world, including Golden Globe and DGA Award nominations. However, he has already lost these two major awards to our frontrunner…

FRONTRUNNER: Alfonso Cuarón

Gravity wasn't just a heart-wrenching drama; it was a cinematic event that had people rushing to 3D and IMAX to take in the enormity and terrible grandeur of space from the safety of a theater. At their core, The Academy Awards are about promoting movies, moreover promoting people to go to the movies. And Gravity gave audiences around the world a reason to go to the theater. Aside from that, Cuarón managed to make a film that felt infinite and yet intimate in the tradition of 2001: A Space Odyssey or Lawrence of Arabia, the latter of which won the Best Director Oscar for David Lean.

Like American Hustle, Gravity has 10 Oscar nods. But Cuarón has also got some serious momentum on his side. Already he's beat Payne, McQueen and Russell at the Golden Globes (Scorsese was not nominated). Then, he beat McQueen, Russell and Scorsese for the DGA award (Payne was not nominated). Between the incredible innovation of practical and visual effects, the awe-inspiring use of 3D and IMAX, and the captivating story of an astronaut lost in space, I'd say Cuarón has this race all sewn up.

Check out our breakdowns on the other categories here.

Celebrities. They’re just like you and me. I mean, aside from their luxurious lifestyles fueled by the millions of dollars they earn for playing dress-up. But we’ve come to cling to Hunger Games sensation Jennifer Lawrence because she reminds us of our best friend, our neighbor… hell, she reminds us of ourselves, sometimes. She does the things we think that we would do in her situation (like tripping on our way up to the Oscar podium), and she says the things that we probably would say in high-profile situations.

For instance, we recently learned that the costume designers on David O. Russell’s Oscar-nominated American Hustle constructed four different versions of Lawrence’s curve-hugging dress – which the actress usually coated with Dorito cheese dust. Wipe your fingertips on your shirt and get a load of this quote from Oscar-nominated costume designer Michael Wilkinson, who spoke to Vanity Fair during an event at Diane von Furstenberg’s Journey of a Dress exhibit in Los Angeles:

Think of that as you are shoveling Munchies into your mouth on Super Bowl Sunday. You are just like Jennifer Lawrence!

Dorito crumbs weren’t the only stain drain plaguing the Hustle crew. Wilkinson tells of an interesting story where a dress they’d selected for Amy Adams arrived from a vintage shop with a wine stain on it already. Instead of scrapping the dress – which everyone adored – the costume designer explained that they wrote the wine stain into the story.

And now I just want to go back and watch Hustle and look for food stains on the various costumes. Maybe Lawrence whipped up quick, tasty snacks in her "Science Oven?"

Wilkinson is all smiles because Hustle secured 10 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Director, every acting category, and – yes – achievement in Costume Design. For more on Wilkinson’s work, pour yourself a big bowl of Doritos and watch this clip. And Doritos, if you are reading, build an ad campaign around J-Law this instant. You’ll sell billions of delicious chips.

It is difficult to recall who last year's other nominees for Best Supporting Actress Oscar even were thanks to the full-throated and heartbreaking turn Anne Hathaway gave in Tom Hooper's adaptation of the Les Miserables musical. The night was all hers, and rightfully so. But this year, the race is an absolutely fascinating one, featuring two previous Oscar winners (one a longtime A-lister the other an adored It Girl), an under-sung character actress, one acclaimed octogenarian, and one ingénue recognized for her first-ever film role.

Hailing from such buzzed about features a Blue Jasmine, American Hustle, Nebraska, August: Osage County and 12 Years a Slave, each of these actresses has earned plenty of ink over the last few months. But only one will win on Oscar night. Whose in it to win it and who will have to say, "Just getting the nomination is such an honor?" Allow me to break it down.

DARK HORSE: Sally Hawkins

In Blue Jasmine, the English actress transformed herself into a lower class single mom, looking for love in all the wrong places. She was terrific, proving a perfect foil to Cate Blanchett's broken title character. But while Blanchett's brilliant portrayal of a downward spiral has her pegged as a frontrunner in the Best Actress race, Hawkins is destined to be left in the dust in Supporting. It's not that she's not deserving; it's just not her year. I mean, have you seen the competition?

CONTENDERS: Julia Roberts And June Squibb

Let's get real: Previous winner Julia Roberts was practically guaranteed an Oscar nod for August: Osage County from the moment she was cast. Playing opposite Meryl Streep (a contender in the Lead category), she was offered a meaty role with Barbara Weston, favorite and furious daughter of a cruel pill-popping matriarch. And Roberts dug in, convincingly hurling f-bombs and plates of fried fish while matching Streep for energy and gravitas. However, there's two things that hurt her chances on Oscar night. One is that August: Osage County is a pretty lame movie outside of its central performances, and two, Roberts' relegation to the Supporting category reeks of award season politics. She and Streep were both leads, but wisely the Weinsteins broke them up to cover more ground. It has gotten the movie more nominations, but it won't equal a win for Roberts.

As a mouthy matriarch in her own right, June Squibb has had critics raving over her turn in Alexander Payne's bittersweet comedy Nebraska. She's been nominated left and right for Critics guild honors, and even snagged a Golden Globe nod. However, it's noteworthy that out of 20 nominations, she's only taken home two awards so far. Undoubtedly, her no-nonsense performance has won her tons of fans in the press, but it won't be enough to take home the gold on Oscar night.

FRONTRUNNERS: Jennifer Lawrence And Lupita Nyong'o

I know you were hoping for a clear edge in your office Oscar pool, but honestly this race is too close to call!

Even the film's detractors confess that Jennifer Lawrence is the best part of David O. Russell's American Hustle, in which she played a venomous housewife. The film itself seems a favorite for Oscar night, boasting ten nominations, and many of them in major categories, including every acting race, Best Directing, Best Original Screenplay, and of course Best Picture of the Year. It won a trio of honors at the Golden Globes, including a statuette for Lawrence. Plus, the queen of off-the-cuff remarks and wacky red carpet moments is beloved by the Academy. At 23, she's already a three-time nominee, having earned her first for Winter's Bone and her second for Silver Linings Playbook, for which she won and with flare. She'd be a lock for a repeat win this year if it weren't for the rise of an exhilarating new talent.

Astonishingly, Lupita Nyong'o made her film debut with Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave, which has 9 nominations at the Academy Awards. In it, she offered a performance so delicate and heartbreaking that it had some claiming her a frontrunner back in October, when the film hit the New York Film Festival. Of course that was before critics had seen American Hustle. Frankly, it's difficult to pick between these two performances that are both electric and mesmerizing. We just don't know how the Academy will make the call. Will they pick the ingénue they already love, or will they see this new talent, who dazzles on the red carpet and on the screen, and throw their accolades at her feet? Nyong'o lost to Lawrence at the Golden Globes, but she beat her at the SAG awards. Who will come out on top at the Oscars? Between these two, your guess is as good as ours.

Check out our breakdowns on the other categories here.

The Best Actor race is no laughing matter this year, despite the fact that The Wolf of Wall Street star Leonardo DiCaprio keeps picking up acting awards in Best Actor in a Comedy categories (like at the Golden Globes and the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards). Oscar streamlines its categories to five worthy nominees, so while Leo is in, it means – as we pointed out – that deserving actors such as Tom Hanks and Robert Redford were left out in the cold on Oscar morning.

Now we know who our five Best Actor nominees are, and we can begin to properly handicap the race. We’re going to continue analyzing all of the top Oscar categories as we work to the March 2 ceremony hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. By the time all is said and done, CinemaBlend will offer you the most comprehensive analysis of the entire Oscar field, all but guaranteeing you a win in your office Oscar pools. (You’re welcome!) Let’s start with our choice for the Best Actor category:

DARK HORSES: Christian Bale and Bruce Dern

For some, the nominee is the win. That’s likely the case with these fine actors who deserved nominations, but will probably see their performances eclipsed by the higher-profile movies like 12 Years and Dallas Buyers.

The problem for Bale might be that there are too many performances in American Hustle, and no one in David O. Russell’s all-star ensemble was given a chance to break out. It’s a true team effort, so while the Academy selected Bale here (and sprinkled love to his co-stars in other categories), I think the American Hustle section will be rowdy, happy to be there, but the ones who go home empty handed on Oscar night.

Dern needs a bigger boost for Nebraska, overall. The movie was well-received by the Academy, earning noms for Picture, Director, Supporting Actress, Screenplay and more. But you don’t hear a lot of experts talking about the movie. I’m sure the older Academy members appreciated seeing Dern in a relevant part again. He deserves the nomination. I’d be very surprised to see him triumph against the competition in this stacked category.

CONTENDERS: Chiwetel Ejiofor and Leonardo DiCaprio

You can’t overlook the fact that DiCaprio has been collecting hardware as the awards season has rolled on. His performance in Martin Scorsese’s Wolf of Wall Street grabbed Acting trophies at the Globes and CCMAs… but, they were in Comedy categories that don’t exist at the Oscars. Still, DiCaprio’s in the race, and it’s very possible that as more Academy members see Wolf (which opened VERY late in the season), his turn as a disgusting Wall Street mogul swings support in his direction.

Ejiofor also has been viewed as a frontrunner in the Acting race, even before he scored the nomination many assumed he would secure. His performance as enslaved free man Solomon Northup was a gut-wrenching uppercut that helped sell the majority of Steve McQueen’s difficult journey through our nation’s past. Here’s why we’re not ready to count Ejiofor out: At ceremonies like the Globes and CCMAs, 12 Years a Slave has walked away with Best Picture honors, so a sweep at the Oscars could pull this amazing actor along in the movie’s powerful wake.

FRONTRUNNER: Matthew McConaughey

Matthew McConaughey followed the industry’s win-an-Oscar checklist for Dallas Buyers Club. He lost a ton of weight. (Check.) He played someone suffering a fatal illness. (Check.) And he delivered one hell of a memorable performance. (Check mate.) As fiery Texan Ron Woodroof, McConaughey gave a spine to the usual Hollywood "message" movie, shedding pounds but picking up attitude as he railed against a flawed government system that keeps powerful drugs out of the hands of the people who need them.

But that’s not why McConaughey is our choice for frontrunner in the Best Actor category. It’s simply his time. The actor switched gears on his career a while back, abandoning the safe path (which led to more Kate Hudson movies) to challenge the status quo. His recent hot streak includes Magic Mike, Mud, Bernie, The Wolf of Wall Street, Killer Joe and The Lincoln Lawyer. Recent wins at the Golden Globes, SAG Awards and the Critics’ Choice suggest McConaughey is riding a tidal wave of support that we think will bring him the Oscar on March 2.

The Screen Actors Guild held their annual award ceremony this evening, and long story short, the voting members really didn’t favor one specific film. In fact, the only movie that took home multiple awards was Dallas Buyers Club. Both lead and supporting actors Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto were honored by their peers, though that love didn’t carry over to the overall film honors, which went to American Hustle.

The lead-up to the Oscars is filled with award shows. Contrary to what they might have you believe, an overwhelming majority of them are meaningless. They’re sorta nice in the moment, of course, but they’re not particularly good indicators of the Academy Awards, nor do they have any lasting impact beyond adding a little depth to Wikipedia pages. The SAG Awards, however, are right more often than not, probably because the single biggest chunk of Oscar voters are actors.

So, does that mean the mean Cate Blanchett should start preparing a speech now? Or that Jennifer Lawrence might actually lose at the beginning of March? Maybe. We'll keep you updated. Until then, you can check out all of the winners below...

Oustanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

12 Years a Slave

American Hustle

August: Osage County

Dallas Buyer's Club

The Butler

Oustanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

Sandra Bullock, Gravity

Judi Dench, Philomena

Meryl Streep, August: Osage County

Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks

Oustanding Performance By A Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips

Daniel Bruhl, Rush

Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave

James Gandolfini, Enough Said

Jared Leto, Dallas Buyer's Club

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Bruce Dern, Nebraska

Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave

Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips

Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyer's Club

Forest Whitaker, The Butler

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle

Lupita Nyongo, 12 Years a Slave

Julia Roberts, August: Osage County

June Squibb, Nebraska

Oprah Winfrey, The Butler

You probably know that the Academy Award-nominated comedy American Hustle was loosely inspired by the ABSCAM scandal of the 1970s that had FBI agents hiring conmen to weed out corruption in the US government. Two of the films stars, Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale, have both admitted that the make-under look of their characters was inspired by real people involved with the case. Funny enough, one person who is stepping forward to cry foul on this reality-based feature wasn't a conman, congressman or a CIA agent. He's a journalist who feels the movie hurts his reputation with one throwaway line.

Paul Brodeur is a respected science journalist and author who spent much of the '60s and '70s writing about the health hazards of things like asbestos, the depletion of the ozone layer, household detergents and microwave radiation. And because of this last one, his name was dropped in a scene where flustered trophy wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) accidentally destroys the family's microwave (a.k.a. "science oven.") In the scene, she defends the destruction of the machine claiming, " I read that it takes all of the nutrition out of our food…I read it in an article by Paul Brodeur."

You can see the offending clip here:

Well, Brodeur has reached out to The Huffington Post to set the record straight. In a statement he wrote:

Initially, I thought Brodeur was blowing this throwaway line out of proportion. In his letter he implies he has only seen the film's trailer, not the film itself. So he's missing the context that Rosalyn in a bit of a nut job and a liar. However, she does offer up a magazine, and cites Brodeur's name specifically, which might cause some to overlook these character clues and either assume that microwaves do kill nutrition and/or that Brodeur said so. As he dedicated decades of his life to consumer protection and educating people on health, I can see being pissed about being casually made a bit of a throwaway joke. Unfortunately for him, more people will see the movie than will read his response.

Is Megan Ellison the new face of independent cinema? Sure seems so; the producer has loudly made her presence known in the industry since teaming with her brother David in bringing the True Grit remake to the screen. This morning, she’s looking especially golden: Ellison-produced films scored seventeen Oscar nominations, including ten for prospective frontrunner American Hustle. The five that are included for Her don’t even include the snubs for that film in any and all acting categories, while Ellison’s The Grandmaster registered two nominations OUTSIDE of Best Foreign Film.

For years the mark of Oscar excellence was Harvey Weinstein and The Weinstein Company, and in 2013 he had several horses, enough to push The Immigrant, Grace Of Monaco, Snowpiercer and others into 2014. But the end result was only eight nominations spread across three films. TWC deserves credit for getting the mild Philomena four nods, including Best Picture. But August: Osage County, a film seemingly reverse-engineered to score Oscar gold, only grabbed two acting nominations. And the other two acknowledgements for The Weinstein Company are for The Grandmaster, a film produced by Ellison. The studio campaigned hard for Lee Daniels’ The Butler and Fruitvale Station and neither film scored a single nomination, while TWC’s Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom only secured attention in the Best Original Song category.

Last year films produced under Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures garnered eight Oscar nominations, but it was a relatively rocky year. The Master was shut out of its three acting nods, and the film was said to have lost a good amount of money. And Best Picture nominee Zero Dark Thirty scored five acknowledgements, but only went home with Best Sound Editing amongst a wave of hard criticism for the picture’s politics. This is also a year in which Annapurna released Killing Them Softly, one of only eight films to receive an ‘F’ Cinemascore from audiences.

Now Ellison is sporting two Best Picture nominees, including the likely winner. What’s interesting is that the films Ellison has produced thus far say a great deal about contemporary American life. American Hustle is a period piece that feels achingly modern, an auteurist cry for help for the sake of authenticity in the middle of increasingly insincere institutions. What is Bradley Cooper if not another frustrated filmmaker/dream-maker who is frustrated that what he struggles for comes easily to his associate competitor Christian Bale? Who is Amy Adams if not always on the razor’s edge of being in control and being used? No wonder this movie is so popular within the industry: it’s like a Hollywood pitch meeting writ large, and Jennifer Lawrence is the absolutely insane suit making arbitrary demands and going home with the money anyway?

Her is another film of a different era – this one an unspecified future – but nonetheless uniquely attuned to modern living. Joaquin Phoenix’s (strangely not-nominated!) Theodore is tragically (but not uniquely) attached to the potential of technology to ease his pain and provide the genie-in-a-bottle satisfaction he needs. The film itself works not only as a critique of our technologically-obsessed hang-ups, but also, touchingly, about our need for intimacy, and our willingness to lie to ourselves to get it. Using science to fix the heart. Ellison came on late to The Grandmaster, though it’s impossible to ignore that it’s an immaculately directed love story from Wong Kar-Wai, one of the world’s great filmmakers. Had there not been the Weinstein-driven controversy over that film’s heavily shortened cut for American audiences, the picture could have gotten even more nominations, at the very least recognition in the Best Foreign Film category. Ellison also produced this year’s Spring Breakers, which received no nominations but captured the zeitgeist better than any of Weinstein’s films, no matter how hard people try to make PHILOMANIA happen.

Next year, Annapurna is behind the delayed Foxcatcher, a dark psychodrama with Mark Ruffalo, Channing Tatum and Steve Carell that may get awards attention, though she’s devoting most of her energies to a new Terminator saga. We may all roll our eyes at another in the killer-robot saga, but with Ellison’s involvement, everything changes. Judging only by this year, one could argue that an Ellison film is something of an event, and a new opportunity to discuss how cinema reflects upon the country we live in today. And it looks like the Oscars know that as well.

There are a few things in Hollywood – no, in life – that you really shouldn’t joke about: Slavery; Jennifer Lawrence; slavery; The Hunger Games; slavery; and slavery. So you can imagine the uproar that happened when American Hustle director David O. Russell tried a punchline that involved all of the above.

He was riffing, and revealing a truth through an exaggeration, when he told The New York Daily News’ gossip site during a recent awards party interview:

For so many reasons. First, insensitive. Just insensitive. Also, do we even have to point out to Mr. Russell how much J-Law is being financially compensated for her work on Lionsgate’s money-printing film franchise? It goes without saying that Lawrence’s role as Katniss Everdeen turned her into a global sensation, and she wields far more power in the industry now than she did before signing on to become an "indentured servant" to Suzanne Collins’ literary franchise.

We get it, though. Russell was making a joke. A bad one, when you consider – especially – that he’s running the current Oscar marathon alongside a harrowing depiction of actual slavery in Steve McQueen’s masterful 12 Years a Slave. In fact, I’m sure it was the constant exposure to McQueen and his film that even put the term slavery on the tip of Russell’s tongue. We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt there.

The director already has issued an apology for his remarks, according to ScreenCrush, stating:

Apology accepted? That’s up to you. Personally, I still believe people are allowed to make jokes, and instant apologies aren’t mandatory. Russell’s point might have been that he works with J-Law often, and he’d like to do a LOT more of it, but she’s committed to two more Hunger Games movies, meaning their next collaboration might be years off. That’s unfortunate, but it’s the law of balancing a franchise career with an arthouse-indie-awards career. Look at Russell’s Hustle crowd. Someone joked that the ensemble of Lawrence, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Bradley Cooper should be labeled as Mystique, Batman, Lois Lane, Hawkeye and the dude from The Hangover. Actors have to eat, you know, but that doesn’t make them "slaves" to the studio system, does it?

The Golden Globes announced their winners on Sunday, revealing the biases and beliefs of the ninety-something member Hollywood Foreign Press Association. As much as they get mocked for their ability to be bought and paid for, the Globes often look like a solid predictor for how the Oscars will fare. The Oscar ballots were due last week before the Globe results were announced, but it seems certain that the GG nominations heavily influenced the Oscar nods, which will be announced this Thursday.

With the results, one can get a glimpse at an early draft of where the Oscars might lean. The Globes complicate matters by dividing categories into comedies and dramas, but the films this year cross enough genres (and the Oscars’ Best Picture category acknowledge enough movies) to make it look like one big pool of potential honorees. Here are five things that we’re certain the Oscars have confirmed.

1. Her Is Still A Major Player

The one film that keeps missing out on the major prizes at these awards is Her, yet it keeps popping up in the nominations, and has secured a number of Best Screenplay wins. Sunday’s victory for Best Screenplay only cemented the fact that this film has a ton of supporters who respect its craft, suggesting that it’s the one film bound to inspire passion in its supporters. Some acting support would certainly help – Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams may not receive deserved nods this Thursday – but even without it, Spike Jonze’s script is likely strong enough on its own to get the film into the Best Picture scramble.

2. Leo’s Wolf Of Wall Street May Still Howl At The Moon

Few expected that Leonardo DiCaprio would receive kudos for his bacchanalian turn in Martin Scorsese’s controversial comedy. And yet there he was at the podium accepting Best Actor Musical Or Comedy ahead of a challenging pack of candidates. Support for Leo suggests a groundswell of support for the film, which in turn would launch him into the competitive Best Actor Oscar category, where he has been far from a lock to receive attention. It’s very likely a very deserving front-runner or two in the Best Actor race ends up on the outside looking in (Redford?), with Leo taking his spot.

3. Dallas Buyers Club Will Be A Best Picture Candidate

Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto took home Golden Globes for their work in the film, a rare acting sweep that bodes well for the film’s Best Picture chances. Dallas Buyers Club was looking like an acting play for the longest time, and it seemed as if few had a passion for the ginned-up AIDS melodrama where Leto plays an entirely invented character. But recognizing both actors proves that it’s likely impossible to ignore both the film and its message regarding the AIDS crisis. McConaughey isn’t nearly the lock in Best Actor that Leto is in Supporting Actor, but both are sure to be nominated as the film fits into the Best Picture merry-go-round.

4. 12 Years A Slave Is No Longer The Frontrunner

As soon as the film premiered at fall festivals, Steve McQueen’s slavery epic was labeled the film to beat during awards season. Since then, there’s been an almost-clockwork critical backlash, which coincided with the film’s lukewarm theatrical release. Ultimately, the movie didn’t exactly blow the doors off, grossing less than $40 million in America, and the picture was already forgotten by audiences by the time the late-year deluge of prestige pics flooded the marketplace. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Lupita Nyong'o were also considered locks, but both went home empty-handed this weekend, even as one of Nyongo’s previous competitors, Oprah Winfrey in Lee Daniels’ The Butler, wasn’t even nominated. The film did win the Best Picture Drama award, and is certain to be a Best Picture nominee, but it may not stand a chance because…

5. American Hustle Has It In The Bag

David O. Russell’s frothy comedy peaked at just the right time, approaching $100 million at the box office as ballots had been sent to Academy members. The film was a major player at several critic awards, riding the wave quite perfectly to become the top choice amongst prognosticators as it saw commercial release, but it needed an extra boost, one that it initially hadn’t received as its crowded ensemble failed to get attention.

The Golden Globes alleviated this problem, giving acting nominations not only to the expected duo of Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence, but also Christian Bale. And Lawrence’s recent resurgence in the Best Supporting Actress category gave the film the support it needs in Best Picture. The Best Picture Drama win for 12 Years A Slave and the Best Director award for Gravity’s Alfonso Cuaron suggests what many have been saying for a long time, that it’s a three horse race. But Slave has lost support in the acting races, while Sandra Bullock is not expected to best Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine. A Best Picture winner usually needs some support in the acting categories, and there’s certainly a likelihood that American Hustle grabs the most acting nods of any Best Picture nominee, making it impossible for the voters to ignore it.

TV star and stand-up comedian Louis C.K. made his mark in movies this year appearing in two fantastic films that are winning tons of acclaim and award season buzz. Last summer he drew notice for a supporting role in Woody Allen's bittersweet dramedy Blue Jasmine, then last month he hit theaters as part of the electric ensemble of David O. Russell's American Hustle. Remarkably, there the willfully schlubby funnyman pulled focus from scene partner Bradley Cooper with a curious ice fishing story that never saw resolution. But on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno , C.K. finally finished the tale.

In case you haven't seen American Hustle or your recollection is hazy, C.K. plays Cooper's boss at the FBI, Stoddard Thorsen. In our interview, Cooper described his character, Richie DiMaso, as an overgrown teen boy seeking to rebel against any father figure he can find. Unfortunately for Thorsen, that means him. When the curly-haired and ambitious agent wheedles and blusters to get his way, a patient Thorsen begins a story about his childhood, recounting how he used to go ice fishing with his brother. Once his father had warned the boys that it was too early in the season to risk going out on the ice, but they ignored him…this is as far as the story ever gets before Richie decides he has heard enough, racing to fill in what he assumes the ending and its lesson are.

Funny thing, the real ending was none of Richie's guesses. The brother didn't die; according to C.K. he shit. "He took a big anger dump in the ice." Leaving a mark on the ice that lasted all winter, a gross symbol of his rebellion against his own father. "It created a big fissure between my father and brother and I was stuck in the middle. That's what happened. That's the end of the ice fishing story."

This revelation made me cringe. At first, I was grateful we never heard it in Hustle, as its conclusion isn't nearly as satisfying as Richie's repeated interruptions. However, I do wish we had been treated to a scene where Richie reacts to this ending. He probably would have shrugged off its advice as he did all other guidance or mandates offered by Thorsen, but maybe things could have turned out differently because of a little shit story.

Also unveiled in this clip is that the ice fishing story wasn't in the script C.K. was initially given. He says above that it was a surprise Russell sprang on him once production began. "He just made it up," C.K. marvels, "Like I swear he's just like, 'You know what, tell an ice fishing story!'…So we made up this ice fishing story as we went along, as we shot the movie I'd tell a little bit more. And then the next scene we'd shoot, he'd be like, 'So what do you think happens next in the ice fishing story?' And I'm like, 'I don't know! This is your idea.'" He says Russell didn't use his ending to the story, but it's unclear if it was ever shot.

American Hustle is now playing.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet your (likely) Best Director nominees at the Academy Awards, which will be announced next Thursday, Jan. 16.

It’s possible we’re getting ahead of ourselves. But the five nominees for the Directors Guild of America – announced this afternoon on the DGA’s official site – tend to line up with the five directors singled out by the Academy, and so this list should be what we hear next week. The DGA went with: Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity; Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips; Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave; David O. Russell, American Hustle; and Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street. Instead of talking at length about these men, let’s showcase some of their work:

With all due respect to the other four nominees, it would be a huge, cosmic joke if anyone other than Cuaron were to take home this prize – and every other trophy for directing – this year. Mind you, Gravity was my No. 1 movie of the year (and I’ve gone on record as finding two of the five movies nominated by the DGA as unwatchable). But these five directors will fend for the top prize. Winners will be announced during a Jan. 25 ceremony.

This also means that all five movies tied to the DGA-nominated directors have excellent shots at securing Best Picture nominations next week. That’s not a guarantee. As you probably remember, only two directors nominated by the DGA earned Oscar nods. And the DGA winner, Ben Affleck (for Argo), didn’t even get a Best Director nod… even though his film went on to win Best Picture.

Isn’t the annual awards chase ridiculous?

Award season is chugging along. We've shared our Top 10s of 2013. The Golden Globes have unveiled their contenders, as have the Screen Actors Guild, and the Producers Guild of America. Now it's time for the Writer's Guild of America to have their say on what was the best cinema of the past year.

Featuring solely screenplays, the WGA has singled out fifteen nominees for their three categories: Best Original Screenplay, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Documentary Screenplay. See the full list of lucky nominees below:

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

American Hustle, Written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell; Columbia Pictures

Blue Jasmine, Written by Woody Allen; Sony Pictures Classics

Dallas Buyers Club, Written by Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack; Focus Features

Her, Written by Spike Jonze; Warner Bros.

Nebraska, Written by Bob Nelson; Paramount Pictures

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

August: Osage County, Screenplay by Tracy Letts; Based on his play; The Weinstein Company

Before Midnight, Written by Richard Linklater & Julie Delpy & Ethan Hawke; Based on characters created by Richard Linklater & Kim Krizan; Sony Classics

Captain Phillips, Screenplay by Billy Ray; Based on the book A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea by Richard Phillips with Stephan Talty; Columbia Pictures

Lone Survivor, Written by Peter Berg; Based on the book by Marcus Lutrell with Patrick Robinson; Universal Pictures

The Wolf of Wall Street, Screenplay by Terence Winter; Based on the book by Jordan Belfort; Paramount Pictures

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY

Dirty Wars, Written by Jeremy Scahill & David Riker; Sundance Selects

Herblock– The Black & The White, Written by Sara Lukinson & Michael Stevens; The Stevens Company

No Place on Earth, Written by Janet Tobias & Paul Laikin; Magnolia Pictures

Stories We Tell, Written by Sarah Polley; Roadside Attractions

We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks, Written by Alex Gibney; Focus Features

In the narrative categories, few of these nominees can be called surprising as just about all of the above have received critical praise and Oscar buzz. The dark horse contender in the mix is Peter Berg's Lone Survivor, which has had a soft open over Christmas and will expand next week. Based on the true story of Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, the film offers a detailed and harrowing look at the failed Operation Red Wings, but hasn't earned anywhere near the kind of press and public debate that titles like The Wolf of Wall Street, American Hustle or Nebraska have. As to surprising omissions: Gravity and 12 Years a Slave are absent. But the Guild's tricky qualifications could speak to why.

In the past, the WGA nominations have shown some crossover with the Academy Award picks for the Best Screenplay Adapted and Original categories. But really they are a chance for fellow scribes to sing the praises of the scripts they found truly sensational and groundbreaking in the past year. What do you think? Is your favorite screenplay of 2013 present here or did the Writers Guild miss the mark? Sound off in comments.

The Writers Guild of America will announce their winners on Saturday, February 1, 2014 at an event held simultaneously in Los Angeles and New York City.

The Screen Actors Guild. The Hollywood Foreign Press. The Broadcast Film Critics Association. The Producers Guild of America. The Academy. We understand if it’s hard to keep track all of the different organizations annually handing out year-end awards, even if the titles of the movies honored seem to sound the same after a while.

The Producers Guild (PGA) became the latest group to get on the board, revealing its nominees for the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures, the equivalent of Oscar’s Bets Picture trophy. This year, according to The Hollywood Reporter, 10 feature films are contending to the PGA’s top prize. They are, in alphabetical order:

As the trade notes, the PGA nominees serve a dual purpose, as Oscar trackers view them "as indicators of which films have momentum heading into the Academy Award nominations, which will be announced Jan. 16." With this in mind, it’s worth noting that Oscar hopefuls like Lee Daniels’ The Butler, August: Osage County, Ron Howard’s Rush and Inside Llewyn Davis were caught on the outside of the PGA race, looking in.

Do you think this will be the final list of Oscar nominees? The Academy can go as high as 10 when filling out its Best Picture category. Or they can whittle the group of contenders down to five… which seems unlikely given the sheer number of Oscar-worthy films that are cramming everyone’s lists. If we had to choose a frontrunner from the list of films recognized by the PGA, I’d limit it between Gravity and 12 Years a Slave, though American Hustle, Wolf and Mr. Banks feel like they easily could play spoilers.

The PGA trophies will be handed out at the 25th annual PGA Awards, which are set for Jan. 19 at the Beverly Hilton. Certain individuals have been singled out for special recognition, including: Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson (David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures); Robert Iger (Milestone Award); Peter Jackson and Joe Letteri (Vanguard Award); Chuck Lorre (Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television); Chris Meledandri (Visionary Award); and Fruitvale Station (Stanley Kramer Award).

For a complete list of PGA nominees, click here.

You know I love a good GIF. So what better way to recap this year's biggest hits and misses than through that little looping animation that has made the internet such a magical place?

In the coming days, we'll be rolling out our critic's personal top tens to toast the very best movies this year had to offer. But here I'll be recapping the highs and lows of the movie business experienced over the past 12 months. 2013 has been a pretty fascinating time for film, full of reversals of fortune, dizzying successes and even some truly polarizing pictures. So let's look back and GIF out!

Jennifer Lawrence IS The Girl On Fire

The twenty-three-year-old ingénue may well be one of the most talked about people of 2013. Or maybe it just seems that way since everything she does becomes a GIF or viral video. But internet saturation aside, JLaw has had an incredible year. It began with her winning the Academy Award for Silver Linings Playbook, and winning our undying devotion by tripping on her way to the podium.

With the fall (as in autumn) came the release of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. The much anticipated sequel to The Hunger Games not only won better reviews than the first film, but has already made more at the box office in just four weeks ($735 million worldwide) than the first had in its entire run ($691 million worldwide). Then just in time for Christmas, Lawrence gives the glitzy gift of American Hustle, her reteam with David O. Russell and Bradley Cooper that is scooping up critical praise, SAG nominations, and Golden Globe nods. All this hype and hubbub could well lead to Lawrence making her second trip to Oscar gold come 2014.

Every Non-Hunger Games YA Property Bombs

Harry Potter and Twilight proved what a box office behemoth a good YA property can be. And the record-breaking success of The Hunger Games' first two films proves audiences are still hungry for the genre. So why did so many would-be YA franchises fail this year?

Sharing an author with Twilight did nothing to help the adaptation of Stephanie Meyer's The Host. The $40 million movie fronted by Saoirse Ronan brought in an embarrassing $48 million worldwide, and got a mere 8% on Rotten Tomatoes. Based on the Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl's novel, Beautiful Creatures was poised for this same audience, which presumably missed supernatural stories of romance. Nonetheless, critics jeered and this movie pulled in just $60 million worldwide, little more than its production budget before the high expenses of movie marketing.

Another $60 mil production was Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, which was meant to be the first in a franchise based on Cassandra Clare's six-part novel series. But it earned on 12% of critic's approval on Rotten Tomatoes, and made just $80 million worldwide, throwing its sequel plans into uncertainty. Lucky for fans of Clary Fray, Constantin Film Produktion has looked past these abysmal numbers and has promised a part two with Mortal Instruments: City of Ashes.

Less lucky on the sequel front was Ender's Game. The most expensive of these YA-inspired adventures cost a whopping $110 million to produce, and made just $87 million worldwide despite topping the box office on its opening weekend. Some might blame the outspoken bigotry of its author Orson Scott Card for the film's failure, but CinemaScore's suggest it was more a lackluster word of mouth after its first weekend that sunk a sequel's chances.

Sandra Bullock Says Screw Your Glass Ceiling

You know those little assumptions of fact like "women aren't funny," or "audiences won't pay to see female-fronted action movies" or "women over 40 can't get arrested in Hollywood?" Yeah. Sandra Bullock showed just how out of date each of those bullshit lines of thought were this year, and she did it with a one-two punch known as The Heat and Gravity.

This summer Bullock teamed up with Bridesmaids director Paul Feig and its breakout star Melissa McCarthy for an R-rated cop comedy with some serious balls ovaries. Not only did The Heat win over critics, it also proved a force to be reckoned with tanking the suspected blockbuster White House Down, and taking home an impressive $229 million. But Bullock wasn't through with 2013 yet. October brought the release of Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity, a lost in space thriller that broke a slew of box office records and went on to earn a stellar $642 million worldwide. As award season heats up, many count Bullock a serious contender for Oscar night, thanks to her physically demanding out-of-this-world performance.

Channing Tatum's Winning Streak Comes To An End

2012 was hands down the Year of Channing Tatum. Everything this stripper turned "Sexiest Man Alive" touched turned to gold, from The Vow to 21 Jump Street and of course Magic Mike. But 2013 was less kind, and for reasons we still can't make sense of.

The year started off well, with Steven Soderbergh's Side Effects, which earned critical praise and a healthy $60 mil worldwide. Then came G.I. Joe: Retaliation, which made $375 mil globally but wrote Tatum out of the future of the franchise. Next was what should have been Tatum's summer smash, White House Down. But despite its exhilarating president-under-siege plot and a gripping execution from Roland Emmerich, this $150 million tent pole crashed hard, coming in #4 its opening weekend, and making only $73 million domestically. Another blow was dealt when Tatum's could-be solace--and potential Oscar contender--Foxcatcher was moved from December of 2013 to 2014. Despite these setbacks, Tatum's still standing strong, with 22 Jump Street and Jupiter Ascending coming next year.

Johnny Depp Showed His Ass

Metaphorically of course. Between the massively successful Pirates of the Caribbean movies and Tim Burton's worldwide hit Alice in Wonderland, Depp had become Disney's favorite oddball/star. So Disney trusted Depp when his artistic muse led him to cake his face in white paint and play a nutty Native American in a big sprawling western of his own producing. Here Depp overreached in a move I've compared to Mike Myers, and the sloppy western with a reported budget of $215 million has been estimated to have lost Disney $150 million after print and advertising costs. But then things got gross when Depp decided to blame the film's epic failure not on it being a bad product that didn't connect with moviegoers, but on critics being judgmental jerks. (Allow Katey to explain why that argument holds no water.)

Of course even with this failure--and that of Dark Shadows the year before--Depp is still a big star. But his star power has taken a hit. Reportedly, Disney is reassessing how much they are willing to spend on the next Pirates movie. But they are far from giving up on Depp, what with Alice in Wonderland 2: Eccentric Boogaloo coming in 2016.

Even Still, Disney Dominated

Through its various distribution and production deals, Disney was essentially the driving force of the box office this year. Even with the massive flop that was The Lone Ranger, the House of Mouse had so many irons in the fire in 2013 that didn't matter that the expensive western was an absolute dud.

Their year started off strong with Oz: The Great and Powerful. Then two wings of their smart company buys kicked in, with Marvel's massive hit Iron Man 3--which is on track to be the highest grossing domestic release of the year--and the Pixar prequel Monsters University. Even with the summer catastrophe that was The Lone Ranger, Disney hit the billion dollar mark by July. And that was before Planes, Thor: The Dark World and Frozen came out. By the end of November, the studio that's earnestly gobbling up all the franchises you love became the first studio ever to make $4 billion in one year at the box office . And that number keeps climbing as Frozen continues to thrive, and Saving Mr. Banks joins the fray.

Hollywood Goes Crazy For True Crooks

This year theaters were overrun with films inspired by the bad behavior of real-life lowlifes, from The Bling Ring, and Spring Breakers, to Pain & Gain, Wolf of Wall Street, and American Hustle. And by and large we ate it up!

Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring won rave reviews for its depiction of the home invasion and burglary spree of a pack of entitled Hollywood teens, and made a solid $19 million at the box office. Harmony Korine's neon-colored crime-drama Spring Breakers, which may or may not have found its muse in a lesser-known rapper called Riff Raff, became a hot button issue of child stars gone wild thanks to scantily clad performances from Vanessa Hudgens and Selena Gomez. While parents blanched, critics cheered and audiences turned out to the tune of $32 million.

The horrendous acts of extortion, torture and murder of the Sun Gym gang became a gonzo satire in Michael Bay's Pain & Gain. Though the outlandish biopic received mixed reviews, it scored at the box office, bringing in $86 million worldwide. David O. Russell's American Hustle is a comedy influenced by the conmen of ABSCAM, and while it's too soon to call this recently released film a hit, it certainly has won over critics, earning seven Golden Globe nominations and a string of critic guild honors. As it won't open until Christmas, Wolf of Wall Street is another unknown, but the early buzz is overwhelmingly good with many critics claiming it one of the best films of the year.

Man Of Steel: A Hit AND A Miss?

Few films this year drew the kind of passion Zack Snyder's Man of Steel unleashed. Earning $662 million worldwide, the $225 million superhero epic was undeniably a box office success that cemented the future of DC's growing movie franchise which will include the already polarizing Batman vs. Superman. However, the film's controversial climax struck a chord that had some fans cheering and others cursing the heavens.

Screenwriter/Superman fan Max Landis and Superman comic book writer Mark Waid both publically scorned Snyder's take on the iconic hero, but both he and Man of Steel scribe David S. Goyer defended their death-packed final act.

Here at Cinema Blend, we too were divided. Eric loved the movie, giving it four stars with his review, while Mack declared this Superman is one humanity could never trust to protect us. And from the look of the comments sections, this debate is far from over.

American Remakes Get Trashed In Translation

You know when you see a foreign film and think, "That was great! It’s a shame Hollywood doesn't make movies like that!" Well, this year showed that's not for lack of trying. 2013 saw the release of three remakes of foreign properties, that despite lauded directors and loveable stars flopped hard.

The first came last summer in the form of Brian De Palma's Passion, a lifeless remake of the erotic thriller Love Crime fronted by Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace. Critics sneered, and ultimately the $30 million dollar remake pulled in about $1.3 mil worldwide.

Fairing better but still badly was Delivery Man, the Vince Vaughn vehicle, which was a retooled version of the heralded French-Canadian comedy Starbuck. Even though DreamWorks brought Ken Scott, the first film's writer-director, on to helm this American version, lightning did not strike twice. The $26 mil production brought in just $29 million worldwide and earned little love from critics.

Last but not least was Spike Lee's Oldboy, which relocated Park Chan-wook's iconic Korean revenge thriller to New York City. Even with a splashy ad campaign and stars like Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Sharlto Copley and Samuel L. Jackson, Lee's remake couldn't win over audiences or critics. All told the $30 million rehash made a shockingly low $4 million worldwide.

The Rock Ruled

There was a time when Dwayne Johnson was just a WWE star with a cool catchphrase and a megawatt smile. But with dogged determination and more than a decade of film work now under his belt, Johnson has pulled himself to Hollywood's A-list. Don't believe me? This year this insanely brawny star fronted four feature films. Three of these - G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Pain & Gain, and Fast and Furious 6 - opened at #1 (Snitch opened at #2 behind the widely promoted comedy The Identity Thief). By June, these four films has made more than a billion dollars at the box office, ultimately earning Johnson the title of highest-grossing star of the year, according to Forbes. The Rock was in our face through all of 2013, and still left us wanting more.

Christian Bale is a consummate chameleon. As handsome as he is -- and with a sexy accent to boot -- he easily could have gone the way of dreamy leading man, fronting cash-grab rom-coms and gonzo action movies where he throws out toothy grins and witty one-liners. Instead, the Welsh thespian sought out films that offered enticing challenges, compelling characters, and often a demand for a major physical transformation.

With The Dark Knight Rises little more than a year old, we can all still crisply recall his handsome clean-shaven Bruce Wayne look, complete with superhero suitable muscles. But in David O. Russell's ABSCAM-inspired American Hustle, Bale willfully cast aside vanity, packed on the pounds, and shaved his head to allow for cinema's most complicated comb over. This is the look of Irving Rosenfeld, a man with a gut and balding scalp, but tons of smarts and an endless supply of charisma that serves him well, whether he's placating his demanding wife (Jennifer Lawrence), consoling his furious business partner/mistress (Amy Adams) or bargaining with the FBI agent (Bradley Cooper) who has forced him into undercover work.

I recently had the chance to talk with Bale about his work in American Hustle, and just how his latest transformation shaped his character.

In our interview, Bale called Irving's comb over "this wonderful contradiction," explaining, "For someone's who is such a brilliant con artist, it's not much of a con! He's conning nobody with that." But he told me, the overall look "developed from the real guy. We took a lot of poetic license and it's only based on, but there was a real con man name of Mel Weinberg, who the FBI recruited to teach them. And he had this wonderful look to him that was the last thing I expected such a wonderful consummate con artist to look like. You know, you expect a more vain, smooth-operator kind of a bloke. And here he was with this comb over and his -- you know -- roundness and everything. I just saw that and I went, 'That's it! That is fantastic. That's what I have to aim for.'"

Bale actually did gain the weight for this role -- we should expect nothing else from the man who shed a frightening amount of weight for his previous Russell collaboration The Fighter -- so he had time to adjust to the radical change in his appearance.

"It's a slow process. It wasn't a shock," he explained, "I did it quick, but it's not that quick that I was stunned when I looked in the mirror. It's a slow process, and then we shaved the head and did the comb over. And by that time, you know it wasn't a big deal to me. It was something I had been expecting for months."

This comb over isn't just a cringe-inducing part of Bale's costume. It's actually the focal point of the film's first scene, which shows Irving carefully creating it in a strikingly poor attempt to cover his big bald spot.

Bale said, "It's showing a vulnerability, and he does have a great deal of vulnerability. You know, it's showing him essentially putting on the make-up, like an actor. Sort of getting ready for his performance, but you're seeing the real self underneath that. It was very meticulous, but that was something the hair lady Catherine had developed where she would put glue on my head and then do this false hair to make it look like it had more body to it. And we just loved it. Sometimes people would just sit in the makeup trailer watching that happen because it felt so entertaining, so David said, 'Well, let's stick that in the film!'"

American Hustle is now in theaters.

Sitting down with American Hustle's leading lady, there are plenty of questions I could have asked about ABSCAM, about what it was like reteaming with her The Fighter co-star Christian Bale, or if director David O. Russell's temperamental reputation is overblown.

But there are some moments in life you just have to embrace when given the chance, so after we talked about this '70s-set movie and its stunning and sexy costumes, I turned the topic to one of my personal favorites from Adams' filmography, Drop Dead Gorgeous. Much to my surprise (and delight), Adams indulged -- me and even came up with a pretty fascinating link that ties her Drop Dead Gorgeous character Leslie Miller to her American Hustle sultry schemer Sydney.

In case you somehow aren't one of the countless comedy fans who has seen Drop Dead Gorgeous, it's a mockumentary about a small-town teen beauty pageant, where the drive to win turns some to murder. Kirsten Dunst and Denise Richards starred as the pageant's frontrunners, while Allison Janney (who I had the pleasure to interview last summer) played a trailer park tramp who dolled out hilarious life lessons, and Adams played a dopey cheerleader who shows more skin than sense. Below you can see a compilation of Leslie's big moments:

"That was my first movie I ever made!" Adams shared. "Everything about that movie was just so surreal to me. That was the first time I realized like, 'I think I could go to Hollywood and at least get some commercials or something.'"

From there, I commented that Leslie would love the life of Sydney, and Adams was quick to jump on a connection between the two characters, who share a mysterious gap in their stories and a history in stripping. Without giving away too many details, Sydney (also called Edith in American Hustle) was once a stripper who decided to reinvent everything about herself. As you can see in the clip above, Leslie went into stripping and vanished. Adams ties it together:

I will not rest until I tie all movies to Drop Dead Gorgeous.

Speaking on the daring attire of American Hustle, Adams confessed that the costume designs have given her moments of concern. She trusted the vision of Russell and costume designer Michael Wilkinson, who not only dressed her here but also in Man of Steel. The pair showed her boards with the costume sketches, and she realized, "(Sydney) is going to be showing a lot, more than I've ever shown. But as I discovered it with Michael it was very much about where the character was and…it became a part of her con either on herself or on who she's working against. She began to use it as a sort of tool of manipulation."

She admitted there was one outfit that gave her some pause, but ultimately she decided, "We're in it! We're here now." So she buckled down, took her bra off and went for it!

"You know, once I was in Sydney's mindset," she explained, "I didn't ever really think about it. Which is a good thing and a bad thing. It's a good thing because you feel very free and you're just embracing it and I wasn't really thinking about what I was wearing or not wearing. But then you watch the film and you realized that you have relatives that are going to see this and that your daughter is going to see the poster on bus stops and stuff. And you're like, 'I'm still proud of the work' -- but you know what I mean? But I have to give a warning (to family)... The more insecure she feels, the less clothes she puts on. We know a lot of people like that in society, right?"

American Hustle opens nationwide Friday.

Whether watching Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees or The Fighter, it's obvious that writer-director David O. Russell considers music a major aspect of his filmmaking. In Silver Linings Playbook, he took his appreciation of music up a notch by giving the film a big finale complete with a definitively quirky dance number. With his ABSCAM-inspired dramedy American Hustle, Russell adds a bit of singing to the mix. Christian Bale and Jeremy Renner belt out a rousing rendition of Tom Jones' "Delilah." Amy Adams and Bale duet on a swooning love song, "I've Got Your Number." And Jennifer Lawrence proves a true scene-stealer as she hurls herself around a garish living room screeching out an emotion-filled version of "Live and Let Die."

Each moment seems both surreal and believable as the story of con artists in league with FBI agents unfurls, complete with sensationally bad hair and lots of bold fashion choices. When I sat down with Russell to discuss American Hustle, I had to ask him about what's next, and whether or not it might be a full-on musical. He confessed that the "Delilah" sing-along, where Bale as con man Irving Rosenfeld joins in with a bar full of men and his mark, Renner's Mayor Carmine Polito, was actually Renner's idea. Russell rolled with it, and seems to be getting swept up with the possibility of a movie musical. Asked directly if he is working his way to a musical, he told me with a broad smile:

Russell hasn't yet lined up his next project, so perhaps we should keep our fingers crossed that a musical will be where his inspiration leads next. You can see the full video below, which includes Russell's explanation of why he took three of Hollywood's hottest leading men (Renner, Bale, and former People's Sexiest Man Alive Bradley Cooper) and willfully played down their looks for this story of men of incredible charisma.

Russell tells us his actors embraced these transformations that included the garish style of the '70s extrapolated in low-cut shirts and vivid suits, a cringe-inducing comb-over, a pathetic self-perm, and a gluttonous beer-belly. You can read about the man major physical transformations Bale has undergone in Sean's detailed countdown, and see these '70s studs in action in the latest American Hustle trailer.

American Hustle opens in limited release on Dec. 13 before expanding on Dec. 20. Look for more interviews from the cast next week.

Nominations for the SAG Awards never match nominations for the Academy Awards completely, but there is usually quite a bit of overlap. Last year, for example, both of the male categories matched 4/5. So, while the average person might not even watch the ceremony when it’s aired on TNT and TBS in January, if they’re into the Oscars at all, they should take a long hard look at the nominees that were released this morning and start getting used to most of the faces because they’ll be talked about for the next few months.

As Kristy pointed out in her response this morning, there weren’t a whole lot of drop-your-coffee-double-takes in the organization’s choices. Nothing was way the hell out of bounds, and no one who was considered a huge frontrunner was snubbed. Hidden within the seemingly obviously choices, however, are five clues that some of the larger films might be in some serious trouble for the Academy Awards. Whether because of a complete lack of nominations or merely way less than expected, there are five films that had worse mornings than expected.

Let’s talk about them.

The Wolf Of Wall Street

What Could Have Been: The embargo for Martin Scorsese’s Wolf Of Wall Street hasn’t ended; so, we really don’t know what the general consensus on the film is. That being said, it did score one of the American Film Institute’s Top 10 of 2013 slots, and given the talent involved, it has all the makings of a serious player. Most insiders assumed Leonardo Dicaprio would be a serious contender in the lead category and Jonah Hill and/ or Matthew McConaughey would make a strong push in the supporting category. None of those things happened here. The film didn’t pick up any major nominations, and if this is taken as a larger sign, it may not pick up the necessary momentum needed for a viable Oscar campaign.

Why: Most of the voters likely got screeners or were invited to various showings, but it’s still a safe bet that a whole lot less people saw theWolf than say The Butler, which came out months ago. Beyond that, DiCaprio has never been a huge favorite with voters for whatever reason. He’s almost routinely listed in the snubs category, and both McConaughey and Tom Hanks (Saving Mr. Banks) may have screwed themselves out of supporting nods thanks to thanks lead actor nominations for Dallas Buyers Club and Captain Phillips.

The Bottom Line: It’s too early to write the film off, but this is a very poor sign.

Inside Llewyn Davis

What Could Have Been: The latest from the Coen Brothers has been earning rave reviews. Critics are in love with the film, and they’re fans of lead actor Oscar Isaac’s performance. As such, it was assumed the film would have an outside chance at a Best Ensemble hat tip, an outside chance at a supporting actress nomination for Carey Mulligan and a fairly decent chance at a lead actor nomination for Isaac. None of those things happened. The film was shut out of all major categories, and now, fans are left to wonder whether the same thing will happen at the Academy Awards.

Why: The Coen Brothers are brilliant directors. They’re among the best working in Hollywood today, but they’re not necessarily actors’ directors. By that, I don’t mean they’re difficult assholes. I mean they tend to choose the larger movie over individual performances. They’re not the type who write parts that let actors have big showy moments that might play well on a highlight reel. They choose the pace of the film every time and are unwilling to linger with the camera to capture moments that either aren’t deserved or slow down the overall momentum. As such, sometimes brilliance can go unrecognized because it’s a little more subtle.

The Bottom Line: Inside Llewyn Davis’ best shot at Oscar glory was always going to come in the Best Director and Best Picture categories. This doesn’t help, but it doesn’t doom the film either.

Her

What Could Have Been: There was a whole lot of chatter back in late November about how Scarlett Johansson’s voice only performance was deemed ineligible for consideration. She was fair game for the SAG Awards, however, and some thought she might have a realistic chance at a nomination. The same can be said for Joaquin Phoenix too whose lead role as the eccentric protagonist has been earning high marks. He’s an awards season veteran and figured to be a strong contender, but the film didn’t earn anything in any of the major categories.

Why: While Scar Jo was technically eligible for a nomination, people really don’t like voting for voice only roles. Maybe they really do require less effort. Maybe voters are unfairly biased. Either way, despite all the hope, she was working from behind the eight ball. She really could have used a nod here to prove she’s a legit contender, but apparently, that wasn’t to be. Beyond her (pun intended), many other voters may have been apprehensive about the larger film’s bizarre subject matter or about Phoenix’s track record of strange behavior and openly talking about how little he cares for awards season.

The Bottom Line: This hurts. Momentum has to start somewhere. Maybe it’ll be at the Globes tomorrow but probably not.

All Is Lost

What Could Have Been: After a long, universally adored career, many thought Redford’s daring, one man performance in All Is Lost could finally be the film to give him a Best Actor Oscar. It would have been some delicious icing on an otherwise very tasty career, and it would have marked a very interesting pairing alongside Sandra Bullock’s mostly one woman performance in Gravity, but apparently, voters weren’t feeling his turn as much as expected and he lost his spot in the top five, likely to The Butler’s Forrest Whitaker. This category is the only real shot the larger film has at 2013 glory, and it may be the last chance Redford personally ever has.

Why: People like voting for performances in movies they really, really love. That might seem obvious, but thanks to the Tomato Meter, it’s not always initially clear whether a huge rating means a film was utterly brilliant or just that a film was good enough in certain ways to get a thumbs up. All Is Lost works thanks to Redford, but it’s not the type of film most viewers are going to want to own and watch once every few years for the rest of their lives. It’s just not that absorbing, especially compared to the higher end fare this year had to offer. In addition, All Is Lost really hasn’t been seen by a ton of people, and while many voters will watch the screeners, all of them certainly won’t.

The Bottom Line: Redford really needs a Golden Globe nomination tomorrow to keep hope alive.

American Hustle

What Could Have Been: American Hustle actually performed pretty well today. The film was nominated for Best Ensemble and Best Supporting Actress, but it’s not nearly the mountain of awards some were hoping for. In fact, many were convinced the film could pick up a nomination in every single acting category, a feat pulled off at the Oscars last year by Hustle director David O Russell’s brilliant Silver Linings Playbook. Apparently, voters weren’t feeling Christian Bale, Amy Adams or Bradley Cooper, all award season veterans, as much as they were Jennifer Lawrence who picked up the only solo nomination. All involved should still be proud of themselves thanks to the collective nod, but one would imagine, secretly, there’s at least a little bit of disappointment there.

Why: Well, it’s really, really hard to tell. No one who was snubbed today was considered a frontrunner for a statue. They were all sort of in play for possible honors. What’s weird is that three out of the four of them missed out, which means there might be less collective love for the larger film than first imagined. Let’s put it this way. If you really like a movie, you might vote for it in a category or two, but unless you think it’s one of the best two or three movies of the year, you’re probably not going to vote for it in every single available category.

The Bottom Line: I'm bullish on American Hustle. It’s still a frontrunner for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress nods. It may even snag one more acting nods, but don’t look for a clean sweep.

Kicking award season into gear, the Screen Actors Guild unveiled their nominations for their award ceremony this morning, spurring lots of talk about what the Oscar line-up might look like, as the two tend to have lots of crossover. Looking over the list, I was a bit disappointed at how predictable it was overall. I mean, some of these films we figured as contenders as soon as they were cast.

The strongest example of this is in the category for Outstanding Ensemble, which nominated 12 Years A Slave, American Hustle, August: Osage County, Dallas Buyers Club and Lee Daniels' The Butler. All five are positively stacked with already acclaimed stars. Then a couple feed into the major physical transformation trend that so often earns awards.

Dallas Buyers Club had Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto shed a ghastly amount of weight to play AIDS patients, while American Hustle had Christian Bale switch-up his Batman burliness for a comb-over and an impressive potbelly. Now I am by no means saying these casts aren't incredible. They are. But it seems the deck was already stacked in their favor with big names alone. I mean really, how was a movie with Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts not going to get a nomination? Personally, I was pulling for the indie wonder The Spectacular Now's cast, but apparently historical drama is too damn enthralling this year.

There are few surprises in the other major film categories. This is partially because of SAG's love of their stars, and partially because some performances this year are just clear standouts. Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine), Sandra Bullock (Gravity), Tom Hanks Captain Phillips), Chiwetel Ejiofor and Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave), and Bruce Dern and June Squibb (Nebraska) seemed dead locks on nominations as each and every one drew wild praise upon their film's release. Meryl is practically engraved on every nominee ballot at this point, because she is Meryl fucking Streep! And the late James Gandolfini seemed guaranteed a spot in honor of his career's work if nothing else. Thankfully, he got this nom for a role he absolutely deserves it for, as he is entirely wonderful, vulnerable and heartbreaking in Enough Said.

But despite all the predictable picks, there are some surprises. Jennifer Lawrence is the only star from American Hustle to get a solo nomination, and many are already calling Amy Adams' exclusion here a snub. Barkhad Abdi for Captain Phillips is a welcomed surprise as he did as much of that drama's heavy lifting as Hanks' did. And it's downright shocking that Julia Roberts' role in August: Osage County is being dubbed "supporting" instead of "leading." But that's award season strategy for you.

The other surprises are more flat out snubs. Despite early buzz, Martin Scorsese's upcoming The Wolf of Wall Street got nothing, leaving Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill out in the cold. Will Forte, despite much praise for his dramatic turn in Nebraska, got nothing. But the most resounding snub is Robert Redford for All Is Lost, especially considering Sandra Bullock got a nomination for a pretty similar role. In case you're one of the many people who hasn't seen J.C. Chandor's shipwreck drama, allow me to explain that it relies almost completely on Robert's nearly wordless performance for its entire 106 minute runningtime. While I personally thought it was a failed experiment, I'll admit I thought Redford's efforts here locked him in for a SAG nom at the least. But it's possible that the outcry over this snub could help Redford get more notice come Oscar nomination time.

The American Film Institute tends to play a little more fast and loose with its annual end of the year best movies list when compared against other organizations. Usually, there’s at least one selection odd enough to cause a double take. Last year, for example, more than a few heads were turned by the surprising selection of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises. Back in 2009, The Hangover was honored with a well-deserved place, and this year, it’s Fruitvale Station that got the unexpected hat tip.

After a very warm reception at Sundance, a whole lot was expected of Fruitvale Station, but for whatever reason, the buzz just never built as loudly as expected. Everyone agrees lead actor Michael B Jordan is great and the film is really powerful, but many assumed it was all but out of awards contention. Maybe this will be the jolt it needs to put it back into the race, or maybe this will be just a deserved moment in the sun. Either way, it’s pretty cool for the under the radar film.

Beyond Fruitvale Station, AFI also selected Oscar frontrunners 12 Years A Slave, Gravity and Inside Llewyn Davis. You can check out the full list of honorees below…

12 Years A Slave

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Fruitvale Station

Gravity

Her

Inside Llewyn Davis

Nebraska

Saving Mr. Banks

The Wolf Of Wall Street

Outside of the aforementioned Fruitvale Station, the big news here is that The Wolf Of Wall Street is apparently good. Everyone who has seen it as embargoed from talking about it, but adding it to end of the year best of lists is fair game. The voters here clearly liked what they saw, and considering most of us assumed the Scorsese/ Dicaprio team up would be incredible, this is a really nice vote of confidence.

The end of the year is filled with dozens and dozens of end of the year lists. An overwhelming majority of them are all but ignored, but the American Film Institute’s always gains a lot of traction, probably because it deviates from the norm at least a little bit. Considering the list never includes foreign films, it’s far from an accurate predictor of Oscar glory, but even so, it's always worth a look.

He’s an Oscar winner. He’s the ideal blend of character-actor chops and marquee-boosting star power. He’s The God Damn Batman. But it wasn’t until we watched him back-to-back in Scott Cooper’s Out of the Furnace and David O. Russell’s American Hustle that we recognized what a chameleon Christian Bale can be in the name of his art.

During a recent press conference held on behalf of Hustle, Russell told a fantastic story about how co-stars like Robert De Niro, who’d never met Bale in person, didn’t recognize the actor in character as overweight, follicly-challenged con artist Irving Rosenfeld. And Raging Bull star De Niro knows a thing or two about drastic physical transformations, when it’s right for the part.

We got to thinking about the roles that required Bale to alter his appearance. Sometimes it’s a hairstyle. Sometimes it’s a lack of hygiene. Often it has to do with his body build, either bulking up to fight crime, or slimming down to deal with the consequences of his action. Here, then, are the many faces of Christian Bale. Which parts stands out as your favorite?

1. He Drops a Ton of Weight for The Machinist

The Part: Trevor Reznik is the machinist of the title, a gaunt insomniac who is wasting away. There’s a reason, and once you learn it, it may haunt you, as well.

The Transformation: Easily Bale’s most drastic physical change, the actor dropped what looked like half of his body weight to play this guilt-ridden character in Brad Anderson’s 2004 psychological thriller. After fighting dragons in Reign of Fire and trying to establish his career with various arthouse projects, Bale convinced the industry of his dedication with The Machinist, and caught the eye of one Christopher Nolan, who would transform Bale for another role you’ll find later on this list.

2. He Joins the 1% for American Psycho

The Part: Patrick Bateman, a vapid Wall Street scumbag who’s defined by his refined taste … and his desire to slaughter not-so-innocent victims.

The Transformation: Everything about Bale is "surface" in Psycho, as the actor had to pay utmost attention to the little details that make this character both artificial and genuine. Bale’s affected accent and glamorous white-collar appearance masks the lunatic lurking beneath Bateman’s cool demeanor. It’s the American way?

3. He Goes Glam for Velvet Goldmine

The Part: Rock journalist Arthur Stuart tumbles down the rabbit hole of his own music memories while researching the disappearance of glam performer Brin Slade (Jonathan Rhys Meyers).

The Transformation: Bale’s one of those actors who turns himself over to a filmmaker and practically begs to be shaped in the image and likeness of the filmmaker’s vision. With Todd Haynes at the helm, Goldmine asks Bale to connect with his inner Ziggy Stardust, playing tormented, flashy, unsure, confident and, ultimately, in love with Ewan McGregor. Wait, what?

4. He Gains Weight (and Sports a Hideous Rug) for American Hustle

The Part: Con artist Irving Rosenfeld is blackmailed by the FBI (portrayed by an equally goofy Bradley Cooper) to conduct an elaborate sting operation that targets U.S. Senators, Congressmen and a New Jersey mayor.

The Transformation: David O. Russell likes manipulating his movie star’s natural good looks (as you’ll also see in our next selection). American Hustle opens with a roughly-10-minute clip of Bale FIXING his hair piece. It is grotesquely superficial. It also might be the high point of the film. But the period-sensitive gaudy clothes, the accent and the potbelly all contribute to the con Irving is playing on himself.

5. He Mimics the Neighborhood Crack Head for The Fighter

The Part: Dicky Eklund is the weight hanging around his brother Micky’s neck. He might be the one person who costs Micky (Mark Wahlberg) his dream: A shot at a legitimate boxing title.

The Transformation: The nervous ticks. The relentless shuffles. The nervous energy, punctuated by the blank stare into nowhere. Lowell, Massachusetts – the home of Dicky Ecklund – is about as far away from Bale’s own hometown of Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales. But he so inhabits his role in The Fighter -- as he normally does – that you quickly assume this man has been dripping sweat and tears into the blue-collar streets his whole life, begging for a break that just isn’t ever going to come.

6. He Bulks Up (and Embraces the Shadows) for The Dark Knight Rises

The Part: Bruce Wayne has to rebuild his body after Bane (Tom Hardy) breaks his back. If he fails, Gotham falls.

The Transformation: I’m going with Rises, because it required the greatest physical shift for Bale in the title role. The turning point of Rises is Bruce’s decimation at the hands of his nemesis. We stick with the broken hero as he reconstructs his spine, training for an all-or-nothing fight that will either cost him his own life … or lead to the end of his beloved Gotham. Bale bulks up in a way not seen on screen before, even in action thrillers like Terminator: Salvation or Equilibrium. If Batman is Bale’s signature role, then Rises might be his most physical turn in the part to date.

The holiday season is officially upon us, observed less through Christmas decorations and cold weather and more by the onslaught of Oscar fare hitting theaters this month. December is always a truly great time for both quality dramas and big bombastic comedies, and this year won’t be bucking that trend.

We’ve got flicks from esteemed directors such as Martin Scorsese, the Coen brothers and David O. Russell; we’ve got highly anticipated sequels; we even have Keanu Reeves fighting monsters. No need to pen a letter to Santa Claus, dear readers, for your wishes have already been granted.

Welcome to Cinema Blend’s official movie preview for December 2013. Hold onto your hats. Wait, that’s Champ Kind’s hat, so kindly give it back to him.

Inside Llewyn Davis

Their first film since 2010’s western True Grit, Inside Llewyn Davis is a movie light on plot and heavy on music, as it follows the titular singer-songwriter through the folk music scene taking over New York in the 1960s. (It’s no surprise its U.S. debut was at the New York Film Festival, following a premiere at Cannes.) And just in case you can’t get enough of the music in the film, it already has a concert documentary coming out on Showtime on December 13. Will this soundtrack be more memorable than O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Director: Ethan and Joel Coen

Stars: Oscar Isaac, John Goodman, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake

Release Date: December 6 (Limited), December 20 (Wide)

Out Of The Furnace

Scott Cooper’s directorial follow-up to the country music film Crazy Heart couldn’t be further from it. Out of the Furnace follows Russell (Christian Bale) and Rodney (Casey Affleck), two brothers whose impoverished lives have been built upon dreams of something better. As Russell lands in prison, Rodney sacrifices a lot to join a dangerous crime ring. Once Russell is a free man, he must decide whether to stay that way or to find a way to rescue his brother. I’m guessing he chooses to rescue him, since that’s just the kind of brother Bale is. Expect a lot of seething in this one.

Director: Scott Cooper

Stars: Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson

Release Date: December 6

The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the middle film in Peter Jackson’s trilogy, will follow the wide-eyed Bilbo Baggins and wise wizard Gandalf as they lead a clan of dwarves on a journey through Middle Earth so they can fight the wickedly voiced dragon Smaug. There’s nothing about this movie I can tell you that you don’t already know. Big action scenes (particularly the barrel sequence), CGI creatures and awkward dialogue will fill your time until the eventual cliffhanger leading us into There and Back Again, due out next year.

Director: Peter Jackson

Stars: Martin Freeman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ian McKellen

Release Date: December 13

Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas

Everyone’s favorite (or least favorite) cross-dressing filmmaker Tyler Perry is back with yet another chapter in the life of the sharper-tongued Madea Simmons. This latest entry is entitled A Madea Christmas, and it involves a trip into the country for a holiday visit, where it’s discovered her niece is dating a white guy. (Record skip.) And if you think that’s bad news, the guy’s father is played by Larry the Cable Guy. It’s a sassy fish out of water tale that is certain to bash a few stereotypes across the back of the head, probably with a pistol.

Director: Tyler Perry

Stars: Tyler Perry, Chad Michael Murray, Tika Sumpter

Release Date: December 13

American Hustle

This film, first titled American Bullshit, is this year’s attempt to teach the general public about America's corrupt history through huge movie stars. It's the same formula that helped Argo take over awards season last year. The story is centered on the FBI ABSCAM sting in the early 1980s in which a con man (Christian Bale) and his lady (Amy Adams) are forced to work with the FBI and go undercover into the murky underworld of the New Jersey mafia and its political cohorting. With a supporting cast that includes Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner, Robert De Niro and Louis C.K., it’s hard to imagine American Hustle not making a huge dent on critics’ "Best of the Year" lists.

Director: David O. Russell

Stars: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper

Release Date: December 13 (limited), December 18 (wide)

Saving Mr. Banks

Nostalgia will reign during Saving Mr. Banks, which follows the life of P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson), the renowned author of Mary Poppins, from her Australian childhood to her close relationship with Walt Disney (Tom Hanks), who persuaded her to sign over the novel’s right so that he could make what would become one of the most treasured family films in history. It will be a challenge watching Victoria Summer and Kristopher Kyer as Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, respectively, but I’m guessing this movie’s heartfelt sincerity will go unmatched this December.

Director: John Lee Hancock

Stars: Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson

Release Date: December 13 (Limited), December 20 (Wide)

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

They’re back! A movie that seemed inevitable and impossible all at once, Anchorman: The Legend Continues brings back the best damned news team and throws them into the world of 24-hour journalism. But do we really care about the plot here? Of course not. We want to hear Brian Fantana talk about his latest colognes and see what kind of inanity Brick Tamland will utter while under pressure. We want comedic quotes that will take us into 2014 with style. When you consider the supporting cast includes Harrison Ford, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Jim Carrey, Liam Neeson and a panther-full of other talented performers, it stands to reason that the Channel 4 team might just be the best thing that ever happened to fictional cable. And if not, we can all just go back to our homes on Whore Island.

Director: Adam McKay

Stars: Will Farrell, Steve Carrell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner

Release Date: December 18

Walking With Dinosaurs

This 3D adventure follows a small young dinosaur as he grows up to become a leader of his clan as they travel the world looking for a new habitat. Like Anchorman 2, the plot takes a backseat in Walking With Dinosaurs, but instead of raunchy jokes, audiences will be granted the awe-inspiring CGI that fills every frame of this adventure. It won’t make as big a splash as a Disney or Pixar movie, and the detailed imagery may not reach kids as much as bigger brighter colors, but I’ve got hopes that 20th Century Fox and BBC Earth production will take a dino-sized bite out of the pre-Christmas box office.

Director: Barry Cook, Neil Nightingale

Stars: John Leguizamo, Justin Long, Tiya Sircar

Release Date: December 20

Her

While Where the Wild Things Are was a cute film, it wasn’t the wacky brain-warper that writer/director Spike Jonze has built his name on, but Her seems to be a fine return to cross-genre oddities. Joaquin Phoenix plays a man whose career of writing personal letters to other people loses some of its meaning once he is left heartbroken after a long relationship ends. He then becomes enamored with a new artificially intelligent operating system named Samantha (Scarlett Johansson), and the two fall in love. Or whatever term is more suitable for their situation. There was a recent bit of controversy when Johansson’s performance was ruled ineligible for Golden Globe nominations because she isn’t physically in the movie. Boo on them, but let’s hope it’s an award-worthy performance in any case.

Director: Spike Jonze

Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Scarlett Johansson

Release Date: December 20 (Limited), January 10 (Wide)

The Past

After winning last year’s Best Foreign Film with A Separation, director Asghar Farhadi is back with The Past, another emotionally challenging drama. An Iranian man (Ali Mosaffa) who’d fled his family life for Paris is back after four years to finalize his divorce, finding his wife in a relationship with another man whose own wife is in a coma. More family dynamics come into it as some relationships strengthen and others go kaput. I’m already uncomfortable just talking about it.

Director: Asghar Farhadi

Stars: Berenice Bejo, Ali Mosaffa, Tahar Rahim

Release Date: December 20

47 Ronin

Based on the Japanese legend of samurais who exact revenge on the man who murdered their master, Carl Rinsch’s 47 Ronin takes many, many liberties with the material, adding demons, ogres and other giant creatures. Oh, and Keanu Reeves. He’ll play a half-Japanese man who is broken out of slavery by the oppressed society taken over by all the monsters and such. Assuming one doesn’t take the story too personally, this actually looks like a pretty fun romp, full of ridiculous action sequences across vast, gorgeous landscapes that will hopefully balance all the on-the-nose dialogue.

Director: Carl Rinsch

Stars: Keanu Reeves, Hiroyuki Sanada, Kô Shibasaki

Release Date: December 25

Grudge Match

From a Hollywood standpoint, the tagline "A Rivalry 30 Years in the Making" makes perfect sense, as a boxing film between Sylvester "Rocky" Stallone and Robert "Raging Bull" De Niro since the men gave us two of the greatest sports figures in cinema. Grudge Match will see the two aging thesps play characters coming out of retirement to face each other three decades after their last match. While it initially sounded like a film more farcical than reality-based, the previews make it look like a standard sports film perfectly aware of all those that came before it, just with a lot of age-based color commentary sprinkled around.

Director: Peter Segal

Stars: Robert De Niro, Sylvester Stallone, Kevin Hart

Release Date: December 25

The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty

An updated retelling of James Thurber’s short story, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a high-profile comedy drama follows Ben Stiller as a LIFE Magazine employee tasked with tracking down an elusive missing photograph, But the real story is happening inside his head, where his unencumbered imagination takes him all over the world and back. As you can imagine, part of it involves attracting the eye of a pretty lady, played by Kristen Wiig. The trailers have made Walter Mitty look like an actual daydream put on film, and it hopefully puts audiences in the same free-willed state of mind.

Director: Ben Stiller

Stars: Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Adam Scott, Sean Penn

Release Date: December 25

August: Osage County

Adapted from Tracy Letts hit play, the star-studded extravaganza August: Osage County is centered on the estranged Weston family, who all gather back in the family home once the patriarch goes missing, and is later found dead. A story that deals out emotional drama and black comedy in equal strokes is always a good match for awards consideration even with a marginal cast, but this one has Julia Roberts, a drug addicted Meryl Streep, and a host of other talented actors that will presumably find themselves on nomination lists in the next few months.

Director: John Wells

Stars: Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Ewan McGregor, Benedict Cumberbatch, Abigail Breslin

Release Date: December 25

The Wolf Of Wall Street

Is there anyone out there who doesn’t think Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street will shine when Oscar nominations are revealed? Recently trimmed down due to what the prude-heavy MPAA called excessive sex and nudity, this epic look at the true life and times of stockbroker Jordan Belfort still clocks in at a hefty 179 minutes of drug-taking, money-swindling fun. Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the more electric leading men out there, and it will be a pleasure to watch him rise from rags to illegally-acquired riches, taking partying and imbibing to all new levels. And it will be equally as enjoyable to watch his world come crashing down all around him.

Director: Martin Scorsese

Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew McConaughey, Jonah Hill

Release Date: December 25

Nowadays, we all know you're not supposed to put metal in the microwave. I mean, unless you want it to erupt into a sputtering ball of flames. (No judgment.) But back in the 1970s, the countertop microwave was a still newfangled kitchen accessory that's finer points were lost on some. Or at least this is the case for glamorous housewife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence), the Jersey bride of con artist Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) in David O. Russell's American Hustle. In the above clip, courtesy of MTV, Rosalyn attempts to bake up some foil-wrapped dinner for her son Danny, when BOOM! But once her husband comes home and dares to complain, Rosalyn is quick to turn the situation around on him. See, microwaves are dangerous. They suck out food's nutrition. She's basically a hero.

Following her Academy Award win for Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle marks Lawrence's second collaboration with Russell and SLP co-star Bradley Cooper. But this time, instead of delivering a hopeful message about self-empowerment, Russell and company are delving into the wild world of the FBI ABSCAM operations, wherein the US government reached out to known conmen to utilize their special skillsets for the greater good. Rounding out the cast already dripping in acclaim are Bale, Amy Adams, and Jeremy Renner.

Revisit the first trailer, which is slathered in sex appeal and loaded with attitude.

This year is looking to be another good one for Lawrence. In 2012, she went from Winter's Bone's heralded indie it girl to box office sensation with The Hunger Games in the spring, and by the following winter was an Academy Award front-runner for Best Actress thanks to Silver Linings Playbook. Of course, she won the Oscar that night with her signature flare. And now she could be poised for a repeat, pairing The Hunger Games: Catching Fire with another Russell drama expected to be a contender come Oscar night. Of course, this is all looking way down the line. Not even critics have yet seen American Hustle. And while it's projected to open huge, Catching Fire won't hit theaters until next Friday. But we have little doubt Lawrence will continue her movie domination. Like the song goes: this girl is on fire.

American Hustle opens on December 18th.

It says “December” on this glorious new posters for David O. Russell’s American Hustle. But it doesn’t specify which year. If we were to guess, we’d put the design of this one-sheets somewhere around 1977-78, when Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith were adorning similar poster that hung on walls in almost every bedroom in America. (Ask you parents. It really was a thing.) Sony has released five character posters for Russell’s upcoming con movie, a period drama that tackles the infamous ABSCAM scandal. Jennifer Lawrence kicks things off (above), while the rest of the cast follows.You can click on any of them to see them larger

So wait, Bradley Cooper is playing Todd Phillips in this movie? Who knew?

Hustle actually tells of an elaborate sting operation launched by the FBI. It used criminals and con artists in a scheme to trap corrupt politicians. And to everyone’s surprise, the line of dirty thieving politicians stretched all the way up to Congress. That statement was shocking in the 1970s and early ‘80s, when the ABSCAM scandal rocked the Philadelphia area. Today, we’d take that truth in stride.

The posters remind us that Russell will reunite with so many actors with which he’s already worked. Lawrence won an Oscar for her work in the director’s The Silver Linings Playbook (alongside Cooper). Adams and Bale are holdovers from The Fighter. Renner is the newcomer, and the wild card in this ensemble. And as much as I adore the period details in these delicious posters, it is the trailer for American Hustle that has us most excited. God, I love when Russell uses Led Zeppelin in his movies:

Hustle is one of the remaining Oscar contenders we’re waiting to lay our eyes on. It has the potential to drop into the middle of the ongoing race and just suck up all the oxygen. We’ll see if it connects soon enough, as it’s scheduled to reach theaters in weeks.

It would appear that Entertainment Weekly is doing its best to get audiences ready for the slate of big films that are set to come out in the rest of 2013. Last night the magazine debuted a new look at the hotly-anticipated The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, revealing Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss Everdeen sitting in some kind of strange chair, and today they have unveiled new and first looks at huge upcoming movies like Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, David O. Russell's American Hustle and George Clooney's Monuments Men.

First up top we have a still from this December's trip back to Middle-earth. As is suggested by the image, the race of Elves will be playing a much more important role in the second part of The Hobbit trilogy and will feature both some new and old faces. On the right side of the shot, of course, is Orlando Bloom's Legolas - part of the Fellowship from the Lord of the Rings movies - but standing next to him is Evangeline Lilly's Tauriel, an elf that was created explicitly for the big screen adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkein's novel (most likely to make up for the fact that the book has no major female characters). This is the second time in recent months that she has played a key role in one of the movie's stills, and we look forward to seeing how she fits into the plot come the film's release on December 13th.

Next up we have a new image from American Hustle, which has been getting a ton of buzz thanks to the amazing debut trailer that arrived online recently. While the cast of the movie is absolutely amazing, the film also featuring Jeremy Renner and Jennifer Lawrence, this new pic focuses on the characters played by Russell veterans Christian Bale and Amy Adams (who both earned acclaim for their roles in The Fighter) and Bradley Cooper (who got the best reviews of his career for his performance in last year's Silver Linings Playbook). Surprisingly, the movie is currently schedule to come out on December 13th as well, but we wouldn't be too surprised if that changes in the coming months.

Lastly we have what is actually our first ever look at The Monuments Men, the historical thriller about a World War II platoon that is assigned a mission from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to recover priceless artwork that has been stolen by the Nazis. While Clooney has always been able to assemble awesome casts, he has truly outdone himself with his latest directorial effort, as you can see in the above still (which features Clooney, John Goodman, Matt Damon, Bob Balaban and Dimitri Leonidas). Also set to be in the film are Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin, and Hugh Bonneville. Look for it in theaters December 18th.

This fall will apparently be the time to see very famous people doing very bad, very corrupt things, and looking very attractive while they do it. We've still barely recovered from the crazy Wolf of Wall Street trailer, and now here comes the first trailer for American Hustle, the next film from The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook director David O. Russell. Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner and Amy Adams all get transformed, 1970s-style, to varying degrees in this first look at the trailer, which comes with all the annoying trappings of a Good Morning America segment for some mystifying reason.

Based on the real-life sting operation called Abscam, which resulted in the convictions of several high-ranking members of Congress, American Hustle features yet another Christian Bale transformation as Irving Rosenfeld, a Bronx-born con artist (with an awful combover) who teams up with a more straitlaced FBI agent (Bradley Cooper) to help put together the sting operation. Amy Adams plays Rosenfeld's assistant and mistress, while Jennifer Lawrence gets dolled up as his wife, who stays at home in the house in Long Island and threatens to undo the entire operation. Renner looks to be a bit less colorful, playing a New Jersey mayor whom USA Today says is "keeping his community afloat in the midst of a recession."

Of course, you're not going to get much of that from this trailer, which glides past most of the surely complicated plot and rests on dazzling you with its impressive cast and the ungodly expensive music choice of Led Zeppelin's "Good Times Bad Times." Sure, that does a great job of setting up the 1970s setting, but what, are they just burning money over there? With Silver Linings Playbook standing as the biggest hit of Russell's career, having made $230 million worldwide, I suppose he can throw away his money however he pleases.

In the interview after the trailer Russell seems especially proud of how the film is challenging the actors to play characters that are unfamiliar to them, like Adams as a hard-charging sexpot or Lawrence as a pampered housewife. What might be the most interesting is to see how Cooper handles this kind of transformative role. The contrast between him and Bale in that opening bit of dialogue is striking-- Bale is once again rendering himself unrecognizable with insane costumes and a brand-new accent, while Cooper looks almost stunned be donning a Jheri curl wig, as if he's also surprised to be doing this kind of transformation. Sure, Cooper's made plans to play the Elephant Man on Broadway, but he's much better known for naturalistic, realistic performances. He looks like he's playing the straight man in this world of crazy con artists, so the part might be more familiar than it seems... but given that Russell directed Cooper to his Silver Linings Playbook Oscar nomination, something more surprising could definitely be in store.

American Hustle opens December 13, and you can click here to learn more about it, with no inane Good Morning America patter to get in the way.

After Disney's big presentation this morning, which featured an extended look at The Lone Ranger and the first screening of Monsters University, it was Sony's turn this evening to show off their upcoming slate, which showed a good deal of material from just about every movie that the studio has coming out in 2013.

While most of the footage shown, from films like Elysium, Carrie, White House Down, After Earth, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2, Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Grown Ups 2 and Smurfs 2, has already been released online or shown in some capacity to the press, there was still plenty of new stuff to get excited for, as detailed below!

This Is The End

We’ve actually seen quite a bit from This is the End as of late, between the WonderCon footage shown down in Anaheim last month and the recently released red band trailer and new clip, but the Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg-directed comedy had even more to show the crowds at CinemaCon. In addition to some quick clips showcasing all kinds of giant horned demons and skull-faced zombies, the reel also delivered a hilarious fight between James Franco and Danny McBride.

In the scene, McBride and Rogen are busy digging a hole in the floor (for an unexplained reason) when Franco emerges on the floor above them holding a porno and complaining that somebody ejaculated all over it. McBride confesses to the deed, but is completely unapologetic about it, saying that he has no control over where he orgasms, and a huge argument breaks out between the two of them, capped with Franco saying that he’s going to shoot McBride’s dick off and McBride retorting that he doesn’t have enough bullets. The movie arrives in theaters on June 12, and for more about it be sure to check out our own Katey Rich’s set visit report and interview with the entire cast and the directors.

Captain Phillips

Back in 2009, Captain Richard Phillips was on a cargo ship off the coast of Africa when his boat was hijacked by Somali pirates. During the ordeal, the captain acted with incredible bravery and helped protect his crew members in the face of death, and it was clear even then that the story would make for an incredible film. Thanks to director Paul Greengrass and star Tom Hanks, that idea will come to fruition later this year, and tonight we got our first look at the movie.

The footage began with Phillips (Hanks) looking at a radar and growing concerned about two blips heading towards the ship. Looking into the distance he sees two skiffs, and decides to call it in for help. While the woman on the other line isn’t too concerned about the situation, thinking that they are probably just fisherman, Phillips knows better and has his fears confirmed when the men on the skiffs begin to open fire. The captain and his crew try to get the pirates away by using hoses off the edges of the ship, and Phillips even attempts to hit one of them with a flare, but is unsuccessful. He warns his crew that they cannot let the pirates get their ladders attached to the boat, but the mission is unsuccessful and the pirates come aboard. We hear voiceover of Phillips telling his crew to take advantage of the fact that they know the inner workings of the ship and the Somalis don’t. The final shot of the reel has a pirate holding a huge gun to Phillips’ head saying, "Look at me – I am the captain now."

Captain Phillips arrives on October 11th.

American Hustle

Seeing as the movie is still deep in production, the presentation didn’t deliver a great deal of footage from American Hustle, the new movie from director David O. Russell, but what it did deliver was a great sense of tone and style. The clip didn’t feature much more than quick shots of the film’s cast, which includes Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner, but the various looks of the characters are absolutely fantastic.

Reminiscent of Argo, which is actually set in the exact same late-70s time period, both Bale and Cooper sport heavy beards (with the former in yellow-tinted aviator sunglasses); Renner was seen wearing a white suit and a pompadour hairstyle; and Lawrence and Adams were shown dressed stunningly, the Silver Linings Playbook star shown in a beautiful white dress and The Fighter actress’ shoulders cloaked with a fur. The film won’t be in theaters until December, so it will be a while before any footage becomes widely available, but it looks as though the film could be a highlight of this year’s award season.

For more of our CinemaCon 2013 coverage head over HERE!

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is just like everybody else, and its jubilance for most things is guided by the last thing its collective brain can remember. As such, the end of the year is usually when studios stampede their Oscar bait out in limited releases. David O. Russell probably doesn’t need that kind of insurance, but nobody is taking anything for granted these days.

According to The Hollywood Reporter Sony will be releasing Russell’s next film, the still-untitled star-flooded feature depicting the Abscam sting, on December 13, 2013, for a limited theater run before expanding it nationwide on Christmas Day, which falls on a Wednesday this year. Nothing like a politically-tinged historical drama to really bring home that feeling of the holidays.

Abscam, short for Abdul scam, was an FBI sting operation run from the late 1970s to the early 1980s that used a made-up company to investigate the trafficking of stolen property, and soon found themselves deep into a web of widespread political corruption. If a film about a clever ruse can win for Best Picture this year, why can’t it do the same in 2014?

Russell’s last two films, 2010’s The Fighter and 2012’s Silver Linings Playbook both saw Oscar nominations for Best Picture and for Russell’s direction, and actors from both films took home the trophies, including Jennifer Lawrence, who reappears with the Oscar-nominated Bradley Cooper for this Abscam-inspired feature. Rounding out the cast are Christian Bale, Jeremy Renner, Amy Adams and even Louis C.K. When the only non-Academy Award nominated members of your cast and crew are Louis C.K., who is an Emmy winner, and screenwriter Eric Singer, you know there’s a good chance more statues are waiting in the wings.