The Playlist

Watch: Spoiler-Ish Clip From 'Cloud Atlas' Jumps Through All The Film's Storylines

By Cain Rodriguez
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September 28, 2012 9:00 AM
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0 Comments

News

Let’s get this out of the way up front. If you want to walk into the Tom Tykwer and the Wachowski Starship's “Cloud Atlas” pure, do not watch the video below. Don’t say we didn’t warn you. However, if you've read the book already it probably won't be too big of a deal.

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Emma Watson Joins David Yates For 'Your Voice In My Head'; Tom Hanks & George Clooney Sought For Co-Starring Role

By Kevin Jagernauth
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February 1, 2012 6:34 PM
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3 Comments

News

While Daniel Radcliffe makes his first post-'Harry Potter' starring role in the horror film "The Woman In Black" this weekend, Hermoine is also looking to shed her Hogwarts image. Emma Watson has been making small steps in defining herself outside the wizard franchise, taking a throwaway role in "My Week With Marilyn" as well as a more substantial part in the upcoming "The Perks Of Being A Wallflower." But this next role will be her biggest test yet, though she has a familiar friend to help her out.

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Who Were The Winners And Losers Of The Summer Of 2011?

By Oliver Lyttelton
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August 30, 2011 4:08 AM
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24 Comments

As the summer winds die down with a flat and uninspired whimper, the realization sets in: the summer of 2011 was for the birds. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" was the last major tent-pole to open, followed by sleeper hits like "The Help" and the not-so-successful R-rated action comedy, "30 Minutes or Less." Many had forecast that the overstuffed summer would prove disastrous, with Jon Favreau predicting that, "There’s not a weekend where there won’t be teeth on the floor," but ironically it's Favreau's film that proved to be one of the biggest box-office disappointments. Financially, films did very well with three billion-dollar blockbusters – “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2,” “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”-- helping the industry set a summer box-office record and nearly rebound from a horrible start to 2011 (Currently, 2011 revenue is running only 4 percent behind 2010, but in March, things were looking grim – 19% lower than the year previous).

The Essentials: 5 Tom Hanks Performances

By Oliver Lyttelton
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June 30, 2011 5:53 AM
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15 Comments

For comedians aspiring to be dramatic actors, there is no better model than Tom Hanks. A two-time Academy Award winner and five-time nominee, this unflashy, modern-day Jimmy Stewart or Henry Fonda has also shown every struggling actor on earth that if you persevere you can actually make people forget you started out as a comedian and then simply a romantic comedy lead (remember the dreaded "You've Got Mail" and "Sleepless in Seattle" years). Hell, if you endure long enough you can even wipe out the memory of TV movies like "Mazes and Monsters" and sitcoms like "Bosom Buddies" (where's that other dude now?).The first man to win back-to-back Best Actor Oscars since Spencer Tracy, he embodies a kind of fundamental decency like few others, but to stereotype him in that way does the star a disservice: like Stewart and Fonda, some of his most engaging performances come when he subverts that persona.

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The Cast Of 'Larry Crowne' Weighs In On Tom Hanks & This Summer's Anti-Tentpole

By Leah Zak
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June 28, 2011 4:26 AM
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2 Comments

Co-written, directed by and starring Tom Hanks, "Larry Crowne" is an upbeat look at a life completely rebuilt. Despite the timely plotline -- a man fired from his job must completely reverse his life direction -- the film itself is filled with good-natured laughs, a beautiful setting in Southern California, an odd performance from George Takei and a lot of hope. In fact, one of the primary questions we were left with was, where's the conflict? But while these characters certainly face challenges, the tone remains rather light, which, according to the filmmakers, was what they intended. As Hanks' co-writer on the film, Nia Vardalos explained, "This is not a downer movie, this is an uplifting movie and yet it is not out of the realm of ordinary."

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Show Me The Money: Tom Hanks Says 'Toy Story 4' In The Works

By Kevin Jagernauth
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June 27, 2011 2:48 AM
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8 Comments

Welcome to the new Pixar. With "Cars 2" driving its way to nearly $70 million in ticket sales this weekend, with a strong foreign haul expected, the worst-reviewed film in Pixar's history is on track to become studio’s tenth $200 million domestic grosser and more importantly, will keep selling related merchandise, which has already soared into the billions of dollars. And while last year's "Toy Story 3" seemingly brought that franchise to a poignant close, it looks like Buzz and Woody are going to be gearing up for yet another adventure.

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Robert Zemeckis In Talks To Direct Tom Hanks In 3D Toy Adaptation 'Major Matt Mason'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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June 12, 2011 1:35 AM
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1 Comment

HBO Adaptation Of Neil Gaiman's 'American Gods' Planned To Be Effects-Heavy Six Season SeriesThe colossal failure of motion-capture animation "Mars Needs Moms," and the subsequent cancellation by Disney on the planned performance capture remake of "Yellow Submarine," seems to have given Robert Zemeckis, something of a pioneer of the format, pause for thought. The director of mega-hits like "Back to the Future" and "Forrest Gump" hasn't made a live action picture since 2000's double bill of "What Lies Beneath" and "Cast Away," but recent months have seen him linked to any number of potential projects starring real people, rather than dead-eyed facsimiles, including a remake of "The Wizard of Oz" (not happening, thank God), "The Man of Steel," a sequel to "Roger Rabbit," and long-gestating time travel romance "Replay."

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'Larry Crowne' Media Onslaught Continues With Second Trailer

By Mark Zhuravsky
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June 10, 2011 10:20 AM
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Hopes To Corner Fickle Trekkie Crowd With George Takei Cameo "I told my agents that I wasn't going to play pussies anymore," Tom Hanks declared in a recent interview with W Magazine, and if this second trailer for "Larry Crowne" is anything to go by, we are in for a gritty, bone-crunching career makeover. Just kidding. It's a sweet, gentle romantic comedy co-starring Julia Roberts, with America's sweethearts backed up by an absurd coalition of talent, including Peter Scolari, Bryan Cranston, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wilmer Valderrama, Jon Seda, Cedric the Entertainer, Taraji P. Henson, Rami Malek, Malcolm Barrett, Maria Canals Barrera, Holmes Osborne, Pam Grier, Grace Gummer, Rita Wilson, Dale Dye, Bob Stephenson and...George Takei, though this writer would bet we've seen 75% of the performance of the latter in the trailer.

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Ben Whishaw & Hugo Weaving Join Tom Hanks & Halle Berry In 'Cloud Atlas'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 11, 2011 7:23 AM
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Actors Will Play Multiple Roles In ProjectTo date, The Wachowskis have never quite lived up to their promise. After a strong debut with lesbian noir "Bound," they reinvented the action movie with "The Matrix," a film as seriously influential as any since "Star Wars" -- hence the slavish copycats that have clogged up sci-fi pictures in the last 10 years. But the sequels were bloated and near-unwatchable, failing to understand what made the first film special, while their only other directorial credit since -- "Speed Racer" -- gave us a giant headache, even if we can sort of understand those who defend it as a piece of pop art.

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Wachowski & Tom Tykwer Directed, Tom Hanks-Led 'Cloud Atlas' Starts Filming In September

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 12, 2011 8:32 AM
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After months of speculation and rumor, some definitive word has landed about the adaptation of David Mitchell's "Cloud Atlas," and it's now officially moving ahead.

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