Charlize Theron is a South African and American actress and producer who made her film debut in an uncredited role as a follower of a cult in the 1995 horror film Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest. Theron followed this with appearances as a hitman's girlfriend in 2 Days in the Valley, a waitress in the romantic comedy Trial and Error (1997), and a woman plagued with demonic visions in the mystery thriller The Devil's Advocate (1997) with Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino. She appeared in the science fiction thriller The Astronaut's Wife with Johnny Depp, and Lasse Hallström's The Cider House Rules (both in 1999). For her portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in the crime drama Monster (2003), Theron received the Academy Award for Best Actress, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role. The following year, she played Swedish entertainer Britt Ekland in the biographical film The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.

Theron played the eponymous rebel assassin in the science fiction action film Æon Flux, and a miner fighting sexual harassment in the drama North Country (both in 2005). The latter role earned her a nomination for Best Actress at the Academy Awards and the BAFTAs. In the same year, she voiced Æon Flux in the tie-in video game adaptation to the film for which she received the Best Performance by a Female award at the Spike Video Game Awards. Three years later, Theron starred in the superhero film Hancock with Will Smith. The film grossed over $624 million at the worldwide box office. She received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical for her role as an alcoholic writer in the comedy-drama Young Adult (2011). The following year, Theron appeared in the action adventure film Snow White and the Huntsman and Ridley Scott's science fiction film Prometheus. In 2015, she played Imperator Furiosa in George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road. Two years later, Theron appeared as criminal mastermind Cipher in the action film The Fate of the Furious (2017), a role she would reprise in F9 (2021), Fast X (2023), and Fast XI (2026). Theron followed this with acclaimed performances in the comedy-drama Tully (2018), the romantic comedy Long Shot (2019), and the biographical drama Bombshell (2019), the lattermost of which earned her a third Academy Award nomination. (Full article...)

Robert De Niro is an American actor and film producer. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors of his generation. De Niro studied acting at HB Studio, Stella Adler Conservatory, and Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio. De Niro is known for collaborations with director Martin Scorsese having starred in ten of his films since 1973. He has also acted in several films directed by Brian de Palma, Barry Levinson and David O. Russell. He has received several accolades including two Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for eight BAFTA Awards. De Niro has received numerous honors including the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2003, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2009, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2011, the Presidential Medal of Freedom from U.S. president Barack Obama in 2016, and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2019.

His first credited screen role was in De Palma's and Bang the Drum Slowly (1973). De Niro's first collaboration with Scorsese was with the crime drama film Mean Streets (1973). De Niro has earned two Academy Awards: one for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Vito Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's crime drama The Godfather Part II (1974) and the other for Best Actor portraying Jake LaMotta in Scorsese's drama Raging Bull (1980). De Niro was also Oscar-nominated for his roles as Travis Bickle the psychological drama Taxi Driver (1976), a steelworker turned soldier in the Vietnam War film The Deer Hunter (1978), a catatonic patient in the drama Awakenings (1990), a convicted criminal on the loose in the crime thriller Cape Fear (1991), a father with OCD in the romance drama Silver Linings Playbook (2012), and William King Hale in the historical drama Killers of the Flower Moon (2023). (Full article...)

Christian Bale is an English actor who has starred in various films. Bale's role in Empire of the Sun, as a young boy interned in China by the Japanese, received praise from most film critics. Two years later, Bale had a minor role in Henry V, a drama film based on William Shakespeare's play The Life of Henry the Fifth. It has been considered one of the best Shakespeare film adaptations ever made. In 1992, Bale starred as Jack Kelly in the Walt Disney musical drama Newsies, which was a critical and commercial failure; however, it gained a cult following. He received a role in the 1994 drama Little Women, which garnered positive reviews. Bale lent his voice to the Disney animated film Pocahontas in 1995; it received a mixed reception, but attained box office success. He starred as British journalist Arthur Stuart in the Todd Haynes-directed drama Velvet Goldmine (1998). Although critics were divided on the film, Bale's role was "eagerly anticipated". Bale portrayed Demetrius in the critically praised 1999 film A Midsummer Night's Dream, an adaptation of Shakespeare's play of the same name, directed by Michael Hoffman. The same year, he portrayed Jesus of Nazareth in the television movie Mary, Mother of Jesus.

In 2000, Bale starred in the psychological thriller American Psycho in which he played the serial killer Patrick Bateman. His portrayal received positive reviews from critics and is often considered his breakthrough role. The same year, he starred alongside Samuel L. Jackson in the critically praised action crime film Shaft. He co-starred with Nicolas Cage and Penélope Cruz in the romance drama Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001). The film was panned by film critics and had a poor commercial performance. For the portrayal of Trevor Reznik in the psychological thriller The Machinist (2004), he lost 63 pounds (28.5 kg). Although the film was commended by critics, it was a commercial failure. Bale starred as Batman in Batman Begins (2005), a reboot of the Batman film series directed by Christopher Nolan. His portrayal of Batman was critically acclaimed and the movie became a box office success. He subsequently lent his voice in the Batman Begins based video game with the same title. In 2006, he portrayed German-American aviator Dieter Dengler in the war drama Rescue Dawn. Despite positive reviews, the film was a box office flop. The same year, he starred in The Prestige (2006) alongside Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johansson. It received positive reviews and was a commercial success at the box office. Bale co-starred with Russell Crowe in the Western 3:10 to Yuma (2007), which was positively received by movie critics and performed moderately at the box office. (Full article...)

Leo Carrillo (Spanish pronunciation: [Cay-reel-yo]) (1881–1961) was an American cartoonist, a comedian in vaudeville, and an actor on stage, film and television. He was best known in the United States as the Cisco Kid's sidekick Pancho on 1950s children's television, a role which capped a long show business career that began decades earlier.

Growing up in culturally diverse Los Angeles, Carrillo was conversant in five languages with a keen ear for dialects. When he went to work for the San Francisco Examiner as a cartoonist, he began performing humorous monologues on the San Francisco stage, easily transforming himself into a variety of personas. Soon he began working in vaudeville with Major Bowes, and toured the Orpheum Circuit with Walter C. Kelly. Theatrical producer Oliver Morosco offered him a role in the original Broadway play Upstairs and Down in 1916, and within a year, he landed the title role in Lombardi, Ltd. For the next decade he performed on the vaudeville circuit in between acting in Broadway productions. A 1927 touring revival production of Lombardi, Ltd., again featured Carrillo in the lead, and began at George M. Cohan's Theatre before going on the road. (Full article...)

Stanley Kubrick (1928–1999) directed thirteen feature films and three short documentaries over the course of his career. His work as a director, spanning diverse genres, is regarded as highly influential.

Kubrick made his directorial debut in 1951 with the documentary short Day of the Fight, followed by Flying Padre later that year. In 1953, he directed his first feature film, Fear and Desire. The anti-war allegory's themes reappeared in his later films. His next works were the film noir pictures Killer's Kiss (1955) and The Killing (1956). Critic Roger Ebert praised The Killing and retrospectively called it Kubrick's "first mature feature". Kubrick then directed two Hollywood films starring Kirk Douglas: Paths of Glory (1957) and Spartacus (1960). The latter won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama. His next film was Lolita (1962), an adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's novel of the same name. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. His 1964 film, the Cold War satire Dr. Strangelove featuring Peter Sellers and George C. Scott, received the BAFTA Award for Best Film. Along with The Killing, it remains the highest rated film directed by Kubrick according to Rotten Tomatoes. (Full article...)

A total of 112 fictional films are known to have been produced in the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia) between 1926 and the colony's dissolution in 1949. The earliest motion pictures, imported from abroad, were shown in late 1900, and by the early 1920s imported serials and fictional films were being shown, often with localised names. Dutch companies were also producing documentary films about the Indies to be shown in the Netherlands. The first reports of fictional film production in the Indies date from 1923, although the work in question was not completed. The first locally produced film, Loetoeng Kasaroeng, was directed by L. Heuveldorp and released on 31 December 1926.

Between 1926 and 1933 numerous other local productions were released. Although Dutchmen like Heuveldorp and George Krugers continued to be active in the industry, the majority of filmmakers and producers were ethnic Chinese. The Tan brothers (Khoen Yauw and Khoen Hian) and The Teng Chun were major producers during this period, while the Wong brothers (Nelson, Othniel, and Joshua) were among the more prominent directors. During the mid-1930s, production dropped as a result of the Great Depression. The release of Albert Balink's commercially and critically successful Terang Boelan (Full Moon) in 1937 led to renewed interest in filmmaking, and 1941 saw thirty locally produced films. This rate of production declined after the Japanese occupation beginning in early 1942, closing all but one film studio; this resulted in several films which had begun production in 1941 being released several years later. The majority of films produced during the occupation were short propaganda pieces. Following the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence in 1945 and during the ensuing revolution several films were made, by both pro-Dutch and pro-Indonesian backers; the Dutch formally recognised Indonesia's sovereignty on 27 December 1949, leaving the Dutch East Indies defunct. (Full article...)

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited the film industries of various countries to submit their best film for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film every year since the award was created in 1956. The award is presented annually by the Academy to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue. The Foreign Language Film Award Committee oversees the process and reviews all the submitted films.

For the 74th Academy Awards, which were held on March 24, 2002, the Academy invited 78 countries to submit films for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Fifty-one countries submitted films to the Academy, including Armenia and Tanzania, all of which submitted films for the first time. Uruguay, whose submission for the 65th Academy Awards was disqualified, submitted an eligible film for the first time. The Academy released a list of the five nominees for the award on February 12, 2002. (Full article...)

The 60th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on April 11, 1988, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 p.m. PDT. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 22 categories honoring films released in 1987. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Samuel Goldwyn Jr. and directed by Marty Pasetta. Actor Chevy Chase hosted the show for the second consecutive year. Two weeks earlier, in a ceremony held at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, on March 27, the Academy Awards for Technical Achievement were presented by host Shirley Jones.

The Last Emperor won all nine awards it was nominated for, including Best Picture and Best Director for Bernardo Bertolucci. For their performances in Moonstruck, Cher and Olympia Dukakis won Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively. Michael Douglas won Best Actor for his role in Wall Street; and Sean Connery won Best Supporting Actor for The Untouchables, the latter becoming the first Scottish thespian to win an acting Oscar in any of the four categories. The telecast garnered 42.2 million viewers in the United States. (Full article...)

Toy Story 4 is a 2019 American animated comedy-drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the fourth installment in the Toy Story franchise and the sequel to Toy Story 3 (2010). The film was directed by Josh Cooley (in his feature directorial debut) from the screenplay by Andrew Stanton and Stephany Folsom; they also conceived the story with John Lasseter, Rashida Jones, Will McCormack, Valerie LaPointe, and Martin Hynes. Toy Story 4 stars the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts, Tony Hale, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Madeleine McGraw, Christina Hendricks, Keanu Reeves, Ally Maki, Jay Hernandez, Lori Alan, and Joan Cusack. Set after the third film, Toy Story 4 follows Woody (Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear (Allen) as the pair and the other toys go on a road trip with Bonnie (McGraw), who creates Forky (Hale), a spork made with recycled materials from her school. Meanwhile, Woody is reunited with Bo Peep (Potts), and must decide where his loyalties lie.

Toy Story 4 premiered in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on June 11, 2019, and was released in the United States on June 21. Produced on a budget of $200 million, Toy Story 4 grossed $1.073 billion worldwide, finishing its theatrical run as the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2019. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 97% based on 459 reviews. (Full article...)

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a 2018 American animated superhero film produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation in association with Marvel Entertainment, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. The film was co-directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman from a screenplay by Phil Lord and Rothman. It is the first animated film in the Spider-Man franchise and the first film in the Spider-Verse franchise, which is set in a shared multiverse of alternate universes called the "Spider-Verse". Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse focuses on Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore), an Afro-Latino teenager who becomes the new Spider-Man and teams up with Spider-People from various parallel universes to save New York City from Kingpin (voiced by Liev Schreiber). The voice cast also features Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Nicolas Cage, John Mulaney, Lily Tomlin, Kimiko Glenn and Kathryn Hahn, among others.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse premiered at the Regency Village Theatre in Los Angeles on December 1, 2018, and was released theatrically in most territories between December 12 and December 14. Produced on a budget of $90 million, the film grossed $375 million worldwide during its original theatrical run. A subsequent re-release increased this total to $384 million. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was released to widespread critical acclaim, with particular praise directed towards its animation, visual style and effects, as well as the voice ensemble.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 97% based on 398 reviews, making it the best reviewed superhero film on the platform. It has since been regarded as one of the greatest animated films of the 21st century and all time. The film's innovation and influence on the animation industry has also been acknowledged, including on subsequent productions like The Mitchells vs. the Machines, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. (Full article...)