In this weekend's surprisingly not-near-as-bad-as-it-could-have-been release, No Strings Attached, Natalie Portman plays a doctor who's too busy for a proper relationship, and instead creates a pact with Ashton Kutcher that develops into a "sex-only" one. How did Portman transform herself from child star to the odds-on favorite to take home Oscar gold (note: not for No Strings Attached) next month? You can always trace a direct line through a handful of important roles to illustrate what led to an actor's current success, and with Portman, that line has been on a steady uphill climb sine her debut in Léon. So let's look at eight performances -- including something called "World Patrol Kids" -- that trace the evolution of one Natalie Hershlag.
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As producers of The Office told anyone who would listen at the NBC TCA party in Pasadena on Thursday night, Steve Carell is leaving the hit series before the season even ends. (Which is earlier than we had even expected.) Faced with the loss of its lead character after seven seasons, the future of The Office may be in doubt. Or, maybe not. Let's take a look at the brief history of when a male or female lead left a popular television show, and the impact their departure had on future seasons.
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In The Dilemma, Vince Vaughn plays a man who witnesses his best friend's wife cheating with another man. Ron Howard's latest film is a departure of sorts for Vaughn compared to other films if only because the overall tone cannot be described as a "laugh riot." Still, how did Vaughn become one of the most bankable comedy stars in Hollywood after beginning his career in drama? You can always trace a direct line through a handful of important roles to illustrate what led to an actor's current success, and with Vaughn, that line was definitely on a downward slant until Todd Phillips came along and cast him in Old School. Let's look at eight performances -- including one of his earliest -- that trace the evolution of one Vincent Anthony Vaughn.
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It looks like James Bond will return after all! At least until the next delay. Assuming, though, that MGM can be taken at its word -- and assuming we're all still around and not sucked into the vortex of an apocalypse in 22 months -- 007 will arrive at theaters on Nov. 9, 2012 with Daniel Craig reprising his role as James Bond for director Sam Mendes. Hooray! The currently untitled film is going by BOND 23, which would be fine if this were a trendy bar and not a movie franchise. Ahead, Movieline offers some foolproof title suggestions.
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As you may have heard, the not-very-good Adam Sandler movie, Grown Ups, won the People's Choice Award for comedy on Wednesday night. Ah, yes, the People's Choice Awards, the Mos Eisley Spaceport of awards telecasts -- you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. To wit: The people decide the awards, and if there's one thing that people know, it's that people are stupid! (At least that's what I've been told.) Still, are the winners of the People's Choice Awards really that awful? Is there a good reason these awards are dismissed as a joke when the Oscars -- which, come on -- are not? Let's take a look back ten years at the People's Choice Award winners and compare them to their Oscar counterpart.
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The NFL postseason and the Academy Awards go together like pigeons and Bisquick. Which is to say, they don't go together! If this refrain sounds familiar, that's probably because you fondly remember the eve of the MLB postseason, when your crack(ed) staff at Movieline matched up each playoff team with a corresponding Oscar contender. Well, that format is back and better than ever as the NFL playoffs begin! Which Super Bowl hopeful is this year's Inception? Click ahead for the breakdown.
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(If you have yet to watch this week's episode of How I Met Your Mother and you plan on doing so, then, yes, spoiler alert!)
How I Met Your Mother went down a road rarely traveled on Monday when they, quite surprisingly, killed off Marshall's dad. Even though the nature of sitcoms is supposed to be lighthearted (hence, not a drama), death sometimes seeps its way into the narrative for a number of reasons. The most sad, obviously, is when the actor portraying the character dies during production and has to be written out of the show. Other reasons, though, from contract disputes to -- as in the case of HIMYM -- a darker narrative have been a good enough excuse to kill off a sitcom character. Here now a brief history of sitcoms and how they deal with the death of a character.
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At this time last year, you probably didn't yet realize the nostalgia switch would be thrown for the anniversaries of films like The Empire Strikes Back and Back to the Future. But now that we've crossed into 2011 (admittedly, not a fun round number like 2010), what 10 films are celebrating their own notable 25th or 30th anniversaries and/or likely to get the "Special Edition Megamix Birthday Spectacular!" in 2011?
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Here at Movieline HQ we're ready to shuffle off until 2011 -- don't worry, we'll avoid those lame, "See you next year!" jokes; well maybe not Julie, but the rest of us -- but before working our way toward a fairly intense champagne hangover, it seemed like a good time to compile all of our fabulously specific year-end coverage into one clickable place. Ahead, find the 29 ways Movieline decided to say goodbye to 2010.
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Yesterday, the official Web site for the film Space Jam -- which hasn't been updated since the movie opened 14 years ago -- had quite the resurgence when it was discovered to still be working and functioning like it was 1996. Naturally, the site's existence got us wondering about other abandoned, obsolete official film sites from this particular era of the Internet. And hoo boy, we found some gems.
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To paraphrase a frequently used expression around Movieline HQ, "God, can we just end this year?" (Usually minus the capitalization and punctuation, and often flavored with a few dashes of expletive spice depending on the mood of the day.) Finally -- finally -- the answer comes from above: "Yes." But it wasn't all bad -- I even enjoyed some of it. To wit:
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I spent 2010 overdosing on late night television, obsessively cataloging network fat jokes (everyone goes through that phase, right?), toiling in a love/hate relationship with Grey's Anatomy, Gleebasing and interviewing entertainment figures who shifted American pop culture for good (Jimmy Fallon) and evil (Pauly Shore). As one of my final Movieline duties this calendar year, I will now revisit the 10 stories that brought a smile to my face and I hope, entertained or informed you.
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While Richard Chamberlain and John Travolta might agree that Hollywood is still not a safe place for leading men and women to be open about their sexuality, the entertainment industry has embraced and rewarded the heterosexual men and women willing to play gay on-screen. The latest example is Mickey Rourke, who has confirmed that he too will join that bandwagon by playing Welsh rugby star Gareth Thomas (who announced that he was gay just last December) in an upcoming biopic. In honor of this role -- which, hell, might win Rourke the Oscar that evaded him for The Wrestler, when he lost to someone on this very list -- Movieline reviews which hetero actors have gone gay or transsexual for a role, and which were awarded Academy Awards along the way.
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