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'Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration' Posters Reveal the Cast Dressing Their Parts

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  For many readers, this next sentence will be a major age-based trigger, so be prepared. Disney’s animated classic Beauty and the Beast is soon celebrating its 30th anniversary (that’s right, we warned you!) with a previously announced two-hour animated/live-action hybrid special set to air on ABC. Boasting an all-star call sheet that even the Beast would be impressed by, audiences are getting their first two looks at the new faces telling the tale as old as time in Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration. Front and center in the ensemble image are Josh Groban and H.E.R. who will be playing the leading roles of the Beast and Belle, respectively. The duo wears the iconic colors of their characters, with Groban clad in a dark navy suit jacket, reminiscent of the Beast’s cape and pants combo. H.E.R. is also going the classic route, wearing what we’ll refer to as a “Belle-gold” dress. The outfits are drumming up memories of the original animated characters sharing a dance to the film’s t
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Mike Flanagan on How 'Doctor Sleep' Helped Him Kick Alcoholism

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  Horror author Stephen King directly confronted the patterns of alcoholism and violence and how to get on the road to recovery in his 2013 follow-up to his classic novel The Shining, Doctor Sleep. It was the culmination of King's own decades of sobriety drawing on his own experiences as a former alcoholic who found a way out. Six years later, modern horror maestro Mike Flanagan would take up King's story with his film adaptation of the novel which also served as a sequel to Stanley Kubrick's classic adaptation. During filming, he, too, made the decision to stop drinking and has remained sober ever since. In a piece on Tumblr, Flanagan explained how Doctor Sleep helped him confront and ultimately overcome alcoholism. Doctor Sleep follows an older Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor) who's traumatized by the events of his childhood at the Overlook Hotel and went down the same path of alcoholism as his father. As he tries to kick the habit and find peace as a hospice caretaker,
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Why 'Anastasia's Anya & Dimitri Are Better Than Any Disney Love Story

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Anastasia is an outlier in the world of fairytale films. For starters, there's the fact that it's based on actual history rather than any fairytale. Second, despite sharing some similarities with the then-current house style of Disney's animated films, animator Don Bluth had left the House of Mouse to pursue his own animated projects, including The Secret of NIMH and All Dogs Go To Heaven. But what really makes the film stand out is the love story between the titular princess Anastasia (Meg Ryan) and con artist Dimitri (John Cusack). For starters, when the two first meet, romance is the furthest thing from their minds. The only thing on Anastasia's mind is finding her family. When she was young her family was killed in the Russian Revolution, and she suffered from amnesia after hitting her head. Dimitri is intending to seize upon the cash reward that Anastasia's grandmother Marie (Angela Lansbury) is offering, and sees her as the perfect mark. Compared to Disney'
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Shocker: Bob Iger Is Back as Disney CEO Replacing Bob Chapek

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In a shocking announcement late Sunday night, Disney has revealed that CEO Bob Chapek is officially out and set to be replaced by former CEO Bob Iger, who retired from the position just two years ago. Disney's board sent out an official announcement noting the swap without elaborating too much on Chapek's exit and establishing that Iger, who worked for Disney for over 40 years, has agreed to return as CEO for two years. Over the next two years, Iger will work closely with the board to find an appropriate successor to lead Disney moving forward. Chapek's exit comes as a surprise as he has served the company for just over two years and his contract was "unanimously" renewed through 2025 just five months ago. Upon his return, Iger sent out an email to Disney employees and Cast Members. In it, he wrote, "It is with an incredible sense of gratitude and humility—and, I must admit, a bit of amazement—that I write to you this evening with the news that I am returning
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‘My Father’s Dragon’: Cartoon Saloon’s Latest Favors Generic Journey Over Complex Themes

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  It’s pretty easy to fall in love with movies from the Irish production company Cartoon Saloon. With a visual style that underscores the age of its protagonists but at the same time doesn't ignore their very real and often tragic realities, the studio has produced some top-quality films like Wolfwalkers and Song of the Sea. Their titles take viewers by surprise as they present complex and layered depictions of children living through challenging events. For that reason, it comes as a shock that My Father’s Dragon is happy with just mimicking the studio’s previous works, while favoring artificial and fleeting emotions. This animated movie’s potential to tell a layered story hits a high note right at the beginning. It’s impossible not to get won over by the story of Elmer (voiced by Jacob Tremblay), a boy who sees his mother struggle to raise him and do everything in her power—including having to endure constant humiliation—to guarantee she keeps food on the table and a roof over th
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'The Crown' Season 5 Review: Both the Monarchy and the Series Struggle to Stay Relevant

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A predictable cycle always seems to crop up in the press right around the time that Netflix is gearing up to premiere a new season of The Crown. Someone makes headlines with the declaration that Peter Morgan's longtime series should come packaged with an indication that what's being depicted is fiction, the streamer responds to those assertions by issuing its own statement about the dramatization of events, and eventually, audiences tune in regardless of whether such a disclaimer exists. Rinse, repeat. While the trailer for the upcoming fifth season did specify that the story being told is only "inspired by real events," there's no doubt that the long-running show finds itself in previously uncharted waters, especially in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II's passing. On the one hand, I'm not sure anyone is actually watching The Crown for a factual version of history. Still, on the other, it's impossible not to see the stark parallels between one of the mon
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'The One' Review: Netflix's Newest Sci-Fi (Ish) Drama Does a Lot With a Familiar Premise

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Imagine: What if, thanks to the hard work of scientists, modern society has created a test that can determine, with 100 percent accuracy, who your perfect romantic match is. No more bad dates, no more heartache — all the guesswork involved in falling in love is a thing of the past. Whether or not that sounds like a dream or a nightmare, there's no denying that it's an interesting premise for a drama, which is perhaps why not one but two different British shows have come out in the last six months which are about exactly that: Last fall's Soulmates, which aired on AMC, and the brand-new The One, now streaming on Netflix. This is, to be clear, a review of The One, but as someone who watched Soulmates months ago it was pretty hard to separate the two in my head. To the best of my knowledge, there's no significant overlap between the creative teams beyond some visual effects artists; Soulmates, according to creators William Bridges and Brett Goldstein, was an original idea
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