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Can you guess who won the first Grammy for Best New Artist? It was actually none other than Bobby Darin who claimed the prize at the second Grammy ceremony in 1959. Let’s take a look back at ever winner of this prize, including the year when the award was vacated in 1989, the only time that has happened at the Grammys. Note that no award was given in this category in 1967 and no reason has been given as to why.

Of all the categories that are currently handed out at the Grammy Awards, the Best New Artist honor is one that truly stands out from all the others. One of the reasons for this is that it’s the only category that is awarded for an artist’s cumulative work and doesn’t cite a specific album, composition, or performance. The other is because, theoretically, an artist should only be eligible in this category once.

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on Twitter and Instagram.NEWSInland Empire.Former MoviePass CEO Ted Farnsworth pleaded guilty to defrauding the company’s investors by making “materially false and misleading representations” of the company’s operations. In the words of a Justice Department official, Farnsworth “concealed that MoviePass’s subscription model was a money-losing gimmick and falsely claimed that [the company] used artificial intelligence to monetize MoviePass’s subscriber data,” the latter tactic described as “AI washing.”Shout! Studios has acquired the worldwide rights to the Golden Princess movie library, a collection of 156 Hong Kong action cinema classics that have been unavailable in Western markets for decades. The collection includes John Woo classics like The Killer (1989), Bullet in the Head (1990), and Hard Boiled (1992), as well as Tsui Hark’s...

Dame Joan Plowright’s career spanned several decades, and she became one of the most celebrated actresses in Britain. She’s equally brilliant on stage and screen and has immensely contributed to the arts. Similarly, Cher, a pop culture icon and acclaimed actress has impressed everyone with her charisma and versatility throughout her career.

Joan Plowright in Enchanted April | Miramax

When these two legendary women came together for a film, their chemistry was unmatched. Their collaboration shows how a talented cast can bring a movie to life, and the fact that two amazing actresses can co-exist in a project, without trying to overshadow the other.

Joan Plowright and Cher’s beautiful chemistry in Tea with Mussolini Cher | Jimmy Kimmel Live / YouTube

Joan Plowright and Cher came together for a semi-autobiographical film, titled, Tea with Mussolini, and it was helmed by Franco Zeffirelli, who brought out the best in both actresses.

Joan Plowright, a celebrated actress who was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in Enchanted April, has sadly passed away at the age of 95.

The actress’ family confirmed her death, noting that she passed away in the London retirement home that she was living in.

Keep reading to find out more…

According to reporting by TMZ, her loved ones were present. A cause of death has not been announced, but we will update you if we learn more.

Joan was famously married to fellow Hollywood star Laurence Olivier, and she had an illustrious career.

The actress won a Tony Award for her performance in A Taste of Honey in 1961. She garnered an Oscar nomination and won a Golden Globe for her performance in Enchanted April. In fact, Joan won a second Golden Globe at the ceremony for her performance in Stalin, making her one of only four stars to...

Dame Joan Plowright, one of the great English actors of both stage and screen died Thursday, Jan. 16, The Guardian reports. She was 95.

Plowright’s family confirmed her death, saying she died at a care home in Northwood, England for people who’d worked in theater. A cause of death was not given.

“She enjoyed a long and illustrious career across theatre, film and TV over seven decades until blindness made her retire,” Plowright’s family said. “She cherished her last 10 years in Sussex with constant visits from friends and family,...

Joan Plowright, a British acting legend of stage and screen and the widow of Laurence Olivier, has died at the age of 95, Variety reports. A cause of death has not been disclosed.

She was the recipient of a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (for 1961’s A Taste of Honey) and two Golden Globes — one for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture (for Enchanted April) and the other for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film (for HBO’s Stalin) — both of which she was awarded in 1993. She is one of only four actresses...

Joan Plowright, the distinguished actress of the post-war British stage whose considerable skill as a performer was at times eclipsed by her fame as the third and last wife of Laurence Olivier, has died. She was 95.

Plowright died on Jan. 16 surrounded by family in her native U.K. A statement from the family released on Friday to the BBC said: “It is with great sadness that the family of Dame Joan Plowright, the Lady Olivier, inform you that she passed away peacefully on January 16 2025 surrounded by her family at Denville Hall aged 95.”

It added: “She enjoyed a long and illustrious career across theatre, film and TV over seven decades until blindness made her retire. She cherished her last 10 years in Sussex with constant visits from friends and family, filled with much laughter and fond memories. The family are deeply grateful to Jean Wilson and all those involved in her personal care over many years.

Joan Plowright, perhaps the greatest Anglophone actor of the 20th century and the widow of Laurence Oliver, died on Thursday. She was 95.

Plowright was a prominent actress of stage and screen in her own right, especially in her native England, and was a Tony winner for “A Taste of Honey.” The actress had retired in 2014 after going blind due to macular degeneration.

Her family confirmed the news of her death to The Guardian on Friday, writing: “It is with great sadness that the family of Dame Joan Plowright, the Lady Olivier, inform you that she passed away peacefully on January 16 2025 surrounded by her family at Denville Hall aged 95. She enjoyed a long and illustrious career across theatre, film and TV over seven decades until blindness made her retire. She cherished her last 10 years in Sussex with constant visits from friends and family, filled with much laughter and fond memories. The...

Joan Plowright, the acclaimed UK star of stage and screen who was married to Laurence Olivier for 28 years, died Thursday, January 16, her family has said. She was 95.

A statement from Plowright’s family to press read: “It is with great sadness that the family of Dame Joan Plowright, the Lady Olivier, inform you that she passed away peacefully on 16 January 2025 surrounded by her family at Denville Hall at the glorious age of 95.

“Her brilliant career will be remembered by many, her wonderful being always cherished by her children Richard, Tamsin and Julie-Kate, their families and Joan’s many friends. We are deeply grateful for all those who helped care for her in her last years.”

Plowright was an icon of stage and screen, appearing in the likes of Enchanted April, The Scarlett Letter and the Broadway version of A Taste of Honey, for which she won a Tony Award.

Born in 1929 in Lincolnshire,...

We know that Beatles fans all have their favorites, and now we want to know yours. For New Year’s, SiriusXM’s The Beatles Channel (Ch. 18) is playing the band’s 100 most popular songs — according to you, the real experts — during the annual “All Together Now” special.

The Beatles ChannelAll Together Now 2024Listen on the App

Listen on the App

Check out the songs listeners voted on for the countdown below, and find out the results by streaming the countdown in full anytime, anywhere, on the SiriusXM app.

Beatles song you voted on

These are the possible song choices for this year’s “All Together Now” countdown:

A Day In The Life

A Hard Day’s Night

A Taste Of Honey

Abbey Road Medley

Across The Universe

Act Naturally

All I’ve Got To Do

All My Loving

All Together Now

All You Need Is Love

And I Love Her

And...

Jason Statham's popular heist movie The Bank Job has a brilliant yet unsuspecting cameo. The Bank Job remains one of Jason Statham's highest-rated movies of his illustrious film career with a Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 80% and an equally impressive audience score of 74%. Released in 2008, The Bank Job sees Statham's Terry Leather as the protagonist, an ordinary car dealer in London who gets the opportunity of a lifetime to steal a massive fortune from an unalarmed bank.

The Bank Job was directed by Roger Donaldson and based on a screenplay by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais (Across the Universe). The film earned a worldwide box office total of $61.1 million against a production budget of $20 million and is considered one of the most notable heist movies of the 21st century. Statham starred in Snatch (2000), The Transporter (2002), The Italian Job (2003), and Crank (2006) before starring in The Bank Job.

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Greenwich Entertainment has acquired U.S. and Canadian distribution rights to “Mad About the Boy – The Noel Coward Story,” an intimate portrait of one of the 20th century’s greatest writers and wits.

Barnaby Thompson produced, wrote and directed the documentary about Coward, using unprecedented access to Coward’s estate. The film is told in his own words and music, using his diaries, photos and home movies, along with archival interviews with Coward and his contemporaries. Alan Cummings narrates and Rupert Everett voices Coward.

Coward was a popular and acclaimed playwright, actor, director, singer, songwriter and novelist. He wrote 60 plays, 500 songs, five screenplays, 14 films adapted from his plays, nine musicals, 300 poems, 21 short stories, two novels and three autobiographies. He also performed in over 70 plays and 12 movies.

But before he achieved fame, he grew up in poverty and left school when he was only nine years old. He was also covertly...

Usha Uthup’s husband, Jani Chacko Uthup, passed away at the age of 78 in Kolkata on Monday due to a cardiac arrest. He suffered the heart attack while watching TV at home and was rushed to the hospital, where he was declared dead.

Jani Chacko Uthup, who worked in the tea plantation sector, met Usha Uthup at Trincas in the early ’70s. The couple has two children, Sunny and Anjali. Jani Chacko Uthup’s last rites will be performed in Kolkata on Tuesday.

Anjali Uthup paid tribute to her father on social media, describing him as a stylish and handsome gentleman who was deeply loved by his family. She highlighted his legacy as a true gentleman and a dedicated tea taster.

Usha Uthup, recently honored with the Padma Bhushan, expressed her gratitude for the support from her family and the recognition from the government. The singer, known for her distinctive...

New features by Sophie Linnenbaum and Bruce Labruce were among nine German and Canadian projects pitched during the CineCoPro Conference at this week’s Munich International Film Festival.

Britta Strampe and Laura Klippel of Berlin-based Bandenfilm presented Linnenbaum’s The Nose which will be the director’s first film shot in English and with an international cast. It is a satire about an activist who rips off a president’s nose and holds it hostage in an attempt to achieve world peace, thereby plunging the world into chaos. It has already received script funding from the German Federal Film Board...

Swedish outfit will represent film worldwide outside the UK, US and Canada.

Stockholm-based sales agency Eyewell has acquired intenational rights to Michael Wright’s UK-set crime noir The Undertaker excluding the UK, US and Canada.

Paul McGann stars in the film which is being distributed by Rrb Films / DC Releasing in the UK and Ireland. It is now in postproduction.

Set in a northern town in the 1960s, The Undertaker sees a mild-mannered funeral director become caught up in a power-grab by a local gangster.

Tara Fitzgerald co-stars with Roger Barclay, Sean Gilder and Lily Frazer. Murray Melvin, who appeared...

Jerry Moss, co-founder of A&m Records, has died. He was 88.

According to Variety, the record exec — who along with his business partner, Herb Alpert, turned A&m into one of America’s leading independent record labels — died Wednesday at his home in Bel Air.

“They truly don’t make them like him anymore and we will miss conversations with him about everything under the sun. The twinkle in his eyes as he approached every moment ready for the next adventure,” his family said in a statement to the Associated Press.

Dionne Warwick, who wasn’t an A&m artist, but had been close to Moss ever since he helped promote her music in the early 1960s also released a statement, calling him one of the “kindest gentlemen” and her “dear friend.”

“Another of my dear friends has made his transition. Jerry Moss was and will always be remembered as one that...

Jerry Moss, who co-founded A&m Records with Herb Alpert and released top-selling albums by The Carpenters, The Police, Alpert and others, has died. He was 88.

Moss’ family said he died peacefully from natural causes Tuesday night at his home in Bel Air. “Jerry was a force of nature,” his wife, Tina Moss, said. “He lived life to the fullest.”

“I never met a nicer, more honest, sensitive, smart and talented man than my partner Jerry Moss,” Alpert said in a statement.

Moss and Alpert were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. At the 1966 Grammys, he won record of the year for co-producing “A Taste of Honey,” sharing the win with Alpert, too. He received four other Grammy nominations and he earned the Grammy Trustees Award — awarded to those who “made significant contributions, other than performance, to the field of recording” — in 1997.

Born Jerome Sheldon Moss, he...

Jerry Moss, the Grammy winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer who co-founded A&m Records with Herb Alpert more than 60 years ago and helped build it into one of the most successful independent record labels in history, died today in Los Angeles. He was 88.

His family shared the news in a statement to the Associated Press.

Nazareth’s Top 10 hit ‘Love Hurts,’ 1975

Named for its co-founders, the artist-focused A&m Records was launched in 1962 and has boasted such hitmaking and influential acts as The Police, Quincy Jones, The Carpenters, Carole King, Styx, Janet Jackson, Peter Frampton, The Go-Go’s, Supertramp, Rita Coolidge, Joe Cocker, Sheryl Crow, Bryan Adams, Humble Pie, The Tubes, Oingo Boingo, Cat Stevens/Yusuf, Nazareth and, of course, Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass. Billy Preston had a pair of No. 1 singles for the label with “Will It Go Around in Circles” and “Nothing From Nothing” in the mid-1970s.

Linda Lewis, the British singer who scored a string UK solo hits in the 1970s but is most widely known as one of the era’s most in-demand backup singers who recorded with Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens, David Bowie, T. Rex and Rod Stewart, died May 3 at her home. She was 72.

Her death was announced by her sister, singer Dee Lewis Clay. A cause of death was not specified, but Clay noted that her sister died peacefully.

Born Linda Ann Fredericks in West Ham, London, Lewis experienced her first brush with show business with a non-speaking acting role in the 1961 film A Taste of Honey and, in 1964, as a screaming fan of the Beatles in A Hard Day’s Night.

Making her most notable early appearance as a singer at the first Glastonbury Festival in 1970, Lewis would go on to have a lengthy, decades-long recording and performing career, with four top-...

Murray Melvin, a British actor known for his roles in The Phantom of the Opera, A Taste of Honey, Torchwood and Barry Lyndon, died Friday. He was 90.

His rep Thomas Bowington confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that Melvin died at St. Thomas’ hospital in London.

“He was one of my closest friends and will be missed by so many of us who had the privilege to know him,” Kerry Kyriacos Michael, a London-bade creative director and producer, wrote on Twitter Saturday.

Born on Aug. 10, 1932, in London, Melvin made his acting debut in 1957 with Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop Company in a production of Macbeth at the Theatre Royal Stratford.

After he made his film debut in 1960 in The Risk, he went on to land roles in The Phantom of the Opera, Torchwood and Barry Lyndon. But it was his role as gay textile design student Geoffrey Ingham in A Taste of Honey,...

Veteran British actor Murray Melvin who’s best known for his role in “The Phantom of the Opera,” “A Taste of Honey” and the “Doctor Who” spin-off “Torchwood,” died April 14 at St Thomas’ hospital in London. He was 90.

London-based creative director Kerry Kyriacos Michael made the announcement on Twitter and said Melvin died after taking a bad fall in December “from which he never fully recovered.”

“He was one of my closest friends and will be missed by so many of us who had the privilege to know him,” Michael wrote.

He had a fall in December, from which he never fully recovered. He died at St Thomas' Hospital on Friday, 14th April, aged 90. He was one of my closest friends and will be missed by so many of us who had the privilege to know him.

— Kerry Kyriacos Michael MBE (@1KerryMichael) April 15, 2023 Also Read:

Mark Sheehan, Guitarist of Irish Band The Script,...

Actor Murray Melvin, whose extensive work in film and on stage was highly respected by his peers, has died from complications from a fall suffered in December. He was 90 and died on April 14, according to Kerry Kyriacos Michael MBE, creative director at Theatro Technis.

Melvin’s body of work included time with Michael Caine and directory Stanley Kubrick. After making his debut in 1957 at the Theatre Royal in Stratford in Macbeth, he went on to appear in such notable films as Alfie (1966), Barry Lyndon (1975) and The Phantom of the Opera (2004).

Born on August 10, 1932 in London, he was also seen on the TV sci-fi drama “Torchwood.”

He made his stage debut in 1957 at the Theatre Royal in Stratford for Macbeth. He then went on to star in films such as Alfie (1966) alongside Michael Caine, Barry Lyndon (1975) and The Phantom of the Opera (2004).

His film resume includes H.M.S Defiant (1962), Sparrows Can’t...

There ought to be an obscure, multisyllabic German word for the very specific feeling of pride one can take in discovering cinema through one of the medium's more highly regarded classics. There are those among us who had something of a cinematic awakening while watching an indelible classic such as, say, "Citizen Kane," "2001: A Space Odyssey," "Persona," "The Rules of the Game," or "The General." Conversely, there ought to be a similar term for the mixture of pride and embarrassment one feels when their cinematic awakening is instigated by something obscure or unknown. "2001" may be a great piece of cinema. But surely someone in the world fell in love with movies the first time they saw Tony Richardson's 1961 film "A Taste of Honey," or Russell Mulcahy's "Highlander 2: The Quickening." 

Actor Ben Kingsley, to offer a brief introduction, is undoubtedly one of the best actors of his generation...

Broadway’s legendary Angela Lansbury will receive the 2022 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, the Tony Awards Administration Committee announced today.

“Angela Lansbury’s contributions to the stage are insurmountable,” said Charlotte St. Martin, President of The Broadway League and Heather Hitchens, President and CEO of the American Theatre Wing. “From her groundbreaking role in Mame to her iconic performances in Deuce and Sweeney Todd, and most recently, in the revival of A Little Night Music, Ms. Lansbury has given us a lifetime of unforgettable performances, and it is a great honor to present her with the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award.”

Lansbury made her Broadway debut in 1957 in Hotel Paradiso, followed by A Taste of Honey (1960), Anyone Can Whistle (1964), and, winning her first Tony, Mame (1966). She also won Tonys for Dear World (1969), Gypsy (1974) and Sweeney Todd (1979).

After a 24-year hiatus, she returned to Broadway in Deuce (2007), followed by...

The star of A Taste of Honey reflects on her 60-year career, not standing for Oliver Reed’s ‘games’ and swinging London as depicted in her new film Last Night in Soho

It was 60 years ago that Rita Tushingham made her film debut in A Taste of Honey. “I’m expecting a gold clock or something,” says the 79-year-old actor over the phone from her London home. In the absence of a commemorative timepiece, the anniversary will have to be marked instead by a new movie set partly in the decade in which she became a star. In Last Night in Soho, Edgar Wright’s fantasy-horror, Tushingham is one of three 1960s icons (Terence Stamp and the late Diana Rigg are the others) who lend the film prestige and authenticity.

I wonder how it feels to personify an entire era, but she isn’t telling. “Can you imagine walking around thinking,...

In an early scene of Edgar Wright’s wickedly entertaining Last Night in Soho, British screen veteran Rita Tushingham, playing the protagonist’s doting grandmother, Peggy, reminisces about the excitement, the music and the fashions of London in the Swinging ’60s. If your film knowledge of the period goes back far enough, you might find yourself thinking not only of Tushingham’s signature role in a classic of kitchen-sink realism, A Taste of Honey, but of her strolling down Carnaby Street with Lynn Redgrave singing the title song of Smashing Time, a kitschy guilty pleasure from 1967.

Tushingham, along with Terence Stamp and Diana Rigg ...

In an early scene of Edgar Wright’s wickedly entertaining Last Night in Soho, British screen veteran Rita Tushingham, playing the protagonist’s doting grandmother, Peggy, reminisces about the excitement, the music and the fashions of London in the Swinging ’60s. If your film knowledge of the period goes back far enough, you might find yourself thinking not only of Tushingham’s signature role in a classic of kitchen-sink realism, A Taste of Honey, but of her strolling down Carnaby Street with Lynn Redgrave singing the title song of Smashing Time, a kitschy guilty pleasure from 1967.

Tushingham, along with Terence Stamp and Diana Rigg ...

Red, White and Blue, the third and final installment of Steve McQueen’s Small Axe quintet of films about racial issues specific to Great Britain being world premiered at the New York Film Festival, zeroes in on the ordeal of a young black Londoner set on helping to definitively break the color barrier at London’s Metropolitan Police Force in the early 1980s. Meeting with great resistance both from the vast majority of white Bobbies and his own hard-headed father, Leroy Logan had a very hard time of it, which makes for a compelling story of admirable perseverance, even if it ends up being a rather predictable one.

All three of the entries shown thus far are engaging in their own ways and, best of all, open a window upon characters and ways of life almost entirely ignored in...

Tony Tanner, the Tony Award-nominated director and choreographer of Broadway’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 1982, died Sept. 8 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 88.

His death was confirmed on his official website. A cause of death was not disclosed.

Tanner, born in Middlesex, England, trained at the Webber-Douglas School in London and soon went on to establish an acting career in UK repertory companies and small London revues. The latter included an early sketch by a young playwright named Harold Pinter, a collaboration that would continue with Pinter’s celebrated The Birthday Party.

In the early 1960s, Tanner was cast in the West End production of the Leslie Bricusse-Anthony Newley musical Stop the World – I Want to Get Off, later appearing as Littlechap in the 1966 film version.

Tanner moved to the U.S. to appear in the 1965 Broadway musical Half a Sixpence, and would later perform...

If they watch enough horror films, aspiring criminals will have learned by now that home invasions can be a particularly dicey proposition. Even if the would-be victims are a seemingly harmless, elderly couple, nasty surprises may be in store. Such a scenario is unveiled in Julius Berg’s debut feature, based on a French graphic novel. Starring Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones, The New Mutants) and featuring welcome appearances by film veterans Rita Tushingham (A Taste of Honey, Doctor Zhivago) and Sylvester McCoy (the Hobbit trilogy). The Owners proves a nasty, if not exactly credible, thriller.

The set-up is simple. Three British teens decide ...

If they watch enough horror films, aspiring criminals will have learned by now that home invasions can be a particularly dicey proposition. Even if the would-be victims are a seemingly harmless, elderly couple, nasty surprises may be in store. Such a scenario is unveiled in Julius Berg’s debut feature, based on a French graphic novel. Starring Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones, The New Mutants) and featuring welcome appearances by film veterans Rita Tushingham (A Taste of Honey, Doctor Zhivago) and Sylvester McCoy (the Hobbit trilogy). The Owners proves a nasty, if not exactly credible, thriller.

The set-up is simple. Three British teens decide ...

‘When somebody decides to call a character Brock Blennerhassett,’ says Michael Smiley, ‘you think, well, that hasn’t just come off the top of your head, there must be something going on there!’ What’s going on with Blennerhassett, his lead role in new darkly comic Victorian drama Dead Still, is strange, timely and layered, says Smiley.

Dead Still, available in the UK now to stream on Acorn TV, is ‘a dark, funny, proper period drama set in Dublin in Victorian times’ Smiley explains. His character Blennerhassett is part of the Anglo-Irish landed gentry who’s broken away to work in the experimental field of memorial photography, taking pictures of posed corpses for bereaved families. ‘That was a big thing in Victorian times because of the British Empire being in mourning after Prince Albert died.’

The series blends a murder mystery with gallows humour and colonial Irish politics. ‘All of...

Rlje Films has secured North American distribution rights to The Owners, a 90’s-set thriller starring Game Of Thrones alum Maisie Williams. Based on the comic book from artist Herrmann and written by Yves H, the film is aiming for a theatrical and digital release in the fall of 2020.

First-time feature director Julius Berg directed and co-wrote the film alongside Matthieu Gompel with the participation of Geoff Cox.

More from DeadlineRLJE Films Acquires Sundance Gonzo Satire 'Spree' In Near $2M North America DealJeffrey Dean Morgan Thriller 'The Postcard Killings' To Hit Theaters In March Via Rlje FilmsRLJE Films Acquires Blumhouse Drama 'Adopt A Highway' Starring Ethan Hawke

The Owners follows a group of friends who think they found the perfect easy score – an empty house with a safe full of cash. But when the elderly couple that lives there comes home early, the tables are suddenly turned. As a...

Mary-Louise Parker could add a second Tony Award to her mantle this year to join her 2001 trophy for “Proof.” After receiving rave reviews for her performance in “The Sound Inside,” industry watchers pegged her as the early Tony frontrunner for Lead Actress – Play. The only problem is that she will face stiff competition….from herself.

“The Sound Inside” marked the Broadway debut of the Pulitzer Prize finalist author Adam Rapp (“Red Light Winter”). Parker starred as college writing professor Bella, who lives a mostly solitary life. The only person she seems to have time for is the sole other character in the drama, Christopher (Will Hochman), one of her students. Bella brings the audience on an emotional journey as she deals with the emotional turmoil surrounding a cancer diagnosis. The hypnotic script gifted Parker with a meaty role (she never left the stage) full of dense language and complicated emotions.

This week’s horror and sci-fi Blu-ray and DVD titles are an eclectic bunch, led by a pair of cult classics—Fright and Straight on Till Morning—which were both directed by Peter Collinson. Arrow Video put together a special edition release for Who Saw Her Die?, which this writer is really looking forward to checking out in the coming weeks, and Unearthed Classics is resurrecting Nightwish on both formats as well.

In terms of new films, The Velocipastor arrives on Tuesday on both Blu and DVD, and for those of you who missed it in theaters, Dark Phoenix rises again on multiple formats, and Clownado touches down this week on DVD as well.

Other notable releases for September 17th include The Night Sitter, D-Railed, The Bloody Ape, Return of the Scarecrow, and The Films of Sarah Jacobson: Mary Jane’s Not a Virgin Anymore & I Was a Teenage Serial Killer from Agfa.

While Scream Factory is bringing enough horror movies to Blu-ray this summer to keep you entertained after countless barbecues and bonfires, they also have a bunch of titles to look forward to this September, as they've now announced three more Hammer horror films coming to Blu-ray (including the Christopher Lee-starring Scars of Dracula), as well as 1972's Fright!

From Scream Factory: "If you’re a fan of Hammer Films (like we are) then save up for this Sept when we release three films from them on Blu-ray for the first time in North America! (**Correction: We originally included Fright as in the Hammer library. Our "Oops!" on that. Sorry! Its still releasing though.)

Scars Of Dracula (1970) - The legendary Christopher Lee is back as Dracula, bringing unspeakable horrors upon a local village that defies his evil reign. But when a young man and his luscious girlfriend unwittingly visit the Count's castle,...

Production is underway in the UK on Maisie Williams thriller The Owners.

Joining Williams (Game Of Thrones) in the cast are Sylvester McCoy (Doctor Who), Rita Tushingham (A Taste of Honey), Ian Kenny (Sing Street), Jake Curran (Spotless), Andrew Ellis (This Is England) and Stacha Hicks (The Children Act).

The 90’s-set thriller is directed by Julius Berg, with a screenplay by Berg and Mathieu Gompel, based on the comic book from artist Herrmann and written by Yves H. Producers are Alain de la Mata at UK-based Bluelight and Christopher Granier-Deferre, with Nate Bolotin and Maxime Cottray executive producing for Xyz Films.

Co-producers are Brahim Chioua for Wild Bunch, Frédéric Fiore and Eric Tavitian for Logical Pictures and Pape Boye for Versatile. Versatile will continue pre-sales on available international territories, while Xyz will handle North American sales, at the upcoming Marché du Film at Cannes.

Shooting is currently underway in Kent,...

Sylvester McCoy and Ian Kenny are among several new cast members to have signed on for Maisie Wiliams-starrer “The Owners,” the 1990s-set thriller helmed by Julius Berg from a screenplay by him and Matthieu Gompel.

McCoy is best known for a stint as the Doctor in sci-fi series “Doctor Who.” He joins Williams and Kenny (“Solo: A Star Wars Story”), as well as Rita Tushingham (“A Taste of Honey”), Jake Curran (“Spotless”), Andrew Ellis (“This Is England”), and Stacha Hicks (“The Children Act”) in the film.

Shooting is currently underway on the film in an isolated Victorian mansion near London. The movie is based on a comic book from renowned artist Herrmann and written by Yves H.

The story follows childhood friends Nathan (Kenney) and Terry (Ellis), who are spurred on by sociopath Gaz (Curran) to rob Huggins (McCoy), an elderly local doctor and his wife (Tushingham). Williams plays Nathan’s girlfriend,...

For most actors, a Broadway debut would be the highlight of their year. For Jeremy Pope, he followed up his sensational Broadway debut with another hit show within the same season. Thanks to his stellar notices in “Choir Boy” and then “Ain’t Too Proud,” Pope could pull off the rare feat of earning two Tony nominations within the same season.

Pope played the lead role of Pharus Jonathan Young in “Choir Boy.” The actor was involved with the production since Manhattan Theater Club commissioned the work in 2013. Written by Tarell Alvin McCraney (“Moonlight”), the coming of age story follows Pharus, the leader of the student choir at a boy’s prep school. He learns to confront bullying, his sexuality, and identity, and gets to sing a slew of glorious gospel songs.

Critics heaped praise on Pope, declaring a new Broadway star was born. David Rooney (The Hollywood Reporter) thought...

Morgana King, who is best known for her role as Marlon Brando’s wife in The Godfather, has died.

News of King’s passing broke Tuesday but the actress died on March 22 in Palm Springs, California, at the age of 87 according to the Washington Post.

The star had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer, the Riverside Country coroner’s office told the Washington Post.

In addition to her appearances in the famed film and a number of other movies, King was a jazz singer.

She performed in a variety of nightclubs for over 50 years and recorded a little over...

Morgana King, the acclaimed jazz stylist who released dozens of albums but is perhaps best known for portraying the wife of Marlon Brando's Don Vito Corleone in the first two Godfather films, has died. She was 87.

King died March 22 of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in Palm Springs, a representative from the Riverside County coroner’s office told The Washington Post. Her death had gone unreported until a friend, John Hoglund, wrote about her this week on Facebook.

King had a music breakthrough in 1964 with her operatic version of "A Taste of Honey," originally composed by Bobby Scott and ...

Morgana King, the acclaimed jazz stylist who released dozens of albums but is perhaps best known for portraying the wife of Marlon Brando's Don Vito Corleone in the first two Godfather films, has died. She was 87.

King died March 22 of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in Palm Springs, a representative from the Riverside County coroner’s office told The Washington Post. Her death had gone unreported until a friend, John Hoglund, wrote about her this week on Facebook.

King had a music breakthrough in 1964 with her operatic version of "A Taste of Honey," originally composed by Bobby Scott and ...

The L-Shaped Room

Blu ray

Twilight Time

1962 / 1:85 / 126 Min. / Street Date December 19, 2017

Starring Leslie Caron, Tom Bell, Brock Peters

Cinematography by Douglas Slocombe

Written by Bryan Forbes

Music by Brahms, John Barry

Edited by Anthony Harvey

Produced by Richard Attenborough

Directed by Bryan Forbes

The winter of 1962 found British films at their most grandiose and self-effacing. Opening at the Odeon was Lawrence of Arabia, using every inch of that cavernous theater’s wide screen. Five minutes up the road Dr. No had just premiered in the smaller but no less lofty London Pavilion.

On the other side of the tracks art houses were bringing starry-eyed Brits back to earth with austere fare like John Schlesinger’s A Kind of Loving and Tony Richardson’s The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.

Those sober-minded dramas, shot in low key black and white with ramshackle flats and grey skies as their backdrops,...

Alessia Cara pulled off an upset at the 2018 Grammy Awards when she won Best New Artist over Sza. She became the 26th solo female singer to claim this awards since it was introduced at the second Grammys ceremony in 1959. While the first winner was “Mack the Knife” singer Bobby Darin won) , only 12 more male artists have taken this prize home since then. Groups or or collaborative acts have won this top honor 18 times. (Take a tour of all 59 winners in the photo gallery above.)

The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been given out every year since 1959, with the exception of 1967. The most dubious winner has to be the duo Milli Vanilli, which won the award in 1989 only to have it rescinded a year later when it was revealed that they were lip syncing.

They were just one of the winning acts that have been cursed by this award.

Stanley Kubrick’s contribution to great cinema of the 1970s offers his vision of what an epic should be. Transported by images that recall great paintings of the period, and Kubrick’s new approaches to low-light cinematography, we witness a rogue’s progress through troubled times. And even Ryan O’Neal is good!

Barry Lyndon

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 897

1975 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 185 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 17, 2017 / 39.95

Starring: Ryan O’Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee, Hardy Krüger, Steven Berkoff, Gay Hamilton, Marie Kean, Diana Körner, Murray Melvin, Frank Middlemass, André Morell, Arthur O’Sullivan, Godfrey Quigley, Leonard Rossiter, Philip Stone, Leon Vitali Leon Vitali, Wolf Kahler, Ferdy Mayne, George Sewell, Michael Hordern (narrator).

Cinematography: John Alcott

Editor: Tony Lawson

Production design: Ken Adam

Conductor & Musical Adaptor: Leonard Rosenman

Written by Stanley Kubrick from the novel by William Makepeace Thackeray

Produced and Directed by Stanley Kubrick

The...

In this episode of CriterionCast Chronicles, Ryan is joined by David Blakeslee, and Scott Nye to discuss the Criterion Collection releases for August 2016.

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Episode Links Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words (2015) Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words on iTunes Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words: A Full Picture of a Life – From the Current Ingrid Bergman, Filmmaker – From the Current A Taste of Honey A Taste of Honey (1961) A Taste of Honey on iTunes A Taste of Honey: Northern Accents – From the Current Morrissey’s Taste for Shelagh Delaney – From the Current 10 Things I Learned: A Taste of Honey – From the Current Woman in the Dunes Woman in the Dunes (1964) Woman in the Dunes on iTunes Watch Woman in the Dunes | Hulu Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara The Spectral Landscape of Teshigahara, Abe, and...

Elfin Rita Tushingham makes a smash film debut as Shelagh Delaney's dispirited working class teen, on her own in Manchester and unprepared for the harsh truths of life. It's one of the best of the British New Wave. A Taste of Honey Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 829 1961 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 100 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date August 23, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Rita Tushingham, Dora Bryan, Paul Danquah, Murray Melvin, Robert Stephens. Cinematography Walter Lassally Film Editor Anthony Gibbs Original Music John Addison Written by Tony Richardson and Shelagh Delaney adapted from her stage play Produced and directed by Tony Richardson

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

The British New Wave got a real shot in the arm with 1961's A Taste of Honey. A stubbornly realistic drama about life in the lower working classes of Manchester, it was adapted from a near-revolutionary play by Shelagh Delaney, produced by Joan Littlewood. Here in...

“Everything But The Kitchen Sink”

By Raymond Benson

In the late 1950s, a film movement emerged in Britain known as “Free Cinema.” Some of the U.K.’s most celebrated filmmakers of the 1960s and 70s were among its practitioners—Lindsay Anderson, Karel Reisz, Lorenza Mazzetti, and Tony Richardson. The directors made low budget, short documentaries about the working class with an almost deliberate “non commercial” sensibility. It was radical and exciting, and it was a precursor to the British New Wave that dovetailed with the French New Wave that was so influential on filmmakers everywhere.

Many of the pictures of the British New Wave, released between 1959 and 1964, focused on characters described as “angry young men,” and the films themselves were referred to by critics and theorists as “kitchen sink dramas.” This was because the movies were presented in a harsh, realistic fashion and were indeed about the gritty, working...

Our father, Tony Gibbs, who has died aged 90, was a film editor with a long and distinguished career. He was captivated by film from an early age and that interest was nurtured by his parents, Harold, a police officer, and Violet, a cook, who took him to see The Jazz Singer when he was three years old.

After serving in the Royal Marines during the second world war, Tony began his career in the film industry. He started as an assistant in the props department and ended up in the cutting rooms, where he considered himself privileged to have enjoyed successful collaborations with the directors Tony Richardson (for whom he edited A Taste of Honey, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and Tom Jones), Richard Lester (The Knack, Petulia and Juggernaut) and Nic Roeg (Walkabout and Performance). He definitely played a significant role in the “new wave” of British cinema during the 1960s.

Happy Birthday Angela Lansbury Lansbury - who returned to Broadway in this year's revival of The Best Man - has enjoyed an unprecedented career, first as a star of motion pictures, and then as an award-winning stage actor in New York and London. She appeared as Madame Armfeldt in the 2009 revival of A Little Night Music, and before that as Madame Arcati in the 2009 revival of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, for which she won her fifth Tony Award, as well as Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards. She performed in 2006 in Terrence McNally's Deuce, for which she was also nominated for a Tony Award. She made her Broadway debut in 1957 as Bert Lahr's wife in Hotel Paradiso. In 1960, she returned to Broadway as Joan Plowright's mother in the season's most acclaimed drama, A Taste of Honey, by Shelagh Delaney. A year later, she starred in her first musical,...