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This is news you never want to hear: The great James Earl Jones passed away at 93. The Oscar and Emmy-winning actor became as known for his voice as he was for his commanding presence. While he gained accolades for leading films like 1970’s The Great White Hope and voicing Darth Vader, one of the greatest villains of all time, it turns out his amazing career started out on soap operas.

Started Out on Soaps

James Earl Jones was a groundbreaking Black actor from day one when he replaced future fellow Star Wars icon Billy Dee Williams on the daytime serial Guiding Light. On the CBS soap, he starred as Dr. Jim Frazier, while the late great actress Ruby Dee played Jones’s wife.

The ex-military man joined soaps after he left the Army and after he studied acting at the American Theatre Wing. He also appeared on Gl’s sister daytime drama,...

“Summer’s end is around the bend just flyin’” according to the great John E. Prine and Patrick James McLaughlin, whose song “Summer’s End” appeared in Season 2 of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” covered by Phoebe Bridgers and Maria Taylor. This applies to reality as the seasons and months change, but also to Jenny Han’s “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” which just wrapped its second season on Prime Video. Don’t blink though, because even though Season 3 is delayed due to the ongoing strikes, it will likely be the last one.

If you’re looking for ways to extend the trip even after that heartbreaking Season 2 finale, TheWrap has gathered a list of shows like “The Summer I Turned Pretty” that you can binge in the meantime.

One of the best parts of making this list was realizing that there is truly no show that captures the essence of...

Julie Byrne has shared her first album in six years, The Greater Wings.

Byrne made The Grater Wings with a small crew of close collaborators across Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. On the record, her folksy fingerpicked guitar is bolstered by synthesizer, harp, strings, and Byrne’s latest instrument, the piano. Thematically, the album meditates on stages of grief, but bittersweetly underscored by the power of resilience in its wake.

“My hope for The Greater Wings is that it lives as a love letter to my chosen family and as an expression of the depth of my commitment to our shared future,” Byrne says in a press release. “Being reshaped by grief also has me more aware of what death does not take from me. I commit that to heart, to words, to sound. Music is not bound to any kind of linear time, so in the capacity to...

The stuck-in-one-place subgenre of horror is packed with clever concepts and places to be stuck in (from a coffin to a sailboat). #Manhole is the latest entry in this subgenre and it truly is one of these films where, no matter what it is anyone thinks is going on before watching, no one will ever guess what the actual twist is until it arrives. The film is the latest feature from Japanese genre director Kazuyoshi Kumakiri and it opened in Japan just a few weeks before premiering at the 2023 Berlin Film Festival. The title is officially #Manhole with the hash symbol, which makes sense once the film gets going and the social media subplot kicks in. This quick festival review will be spoiler free, as I'd rather everyone go watch this film without knowing anything more before heading in. It is not a spoiler to say that there are twists,...

Laguna (photo credit @brooklynbeckham) A photo posted by Chloe Grace Moretz (@chloegmoretz) on Aug 10, 2016 at 5:53pm Pdt Chloë Grace Moretz and Brooklyn Beckham recently spent the day together in Laguna Beach, CA, and on Wednesday, they shared dreamy snaps from their adventure. Both of the black-and-white photos feature Chloë; in Brooklyn's, she stands in front of the shimmering ocean, and her own pic shows her lying topless on the sand. The young couple has been delighting us with their sweet relationship benchmarks all Summer long. Most recently, Brooklyn surprised Chloë at the Democratic National Convention and showed his support at the Teen Choice Awards, where Chloë snagged choice movie actress in a comedy for her role in Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising. Here's hoping we get more loving moments before the Summer's end. Beach day ❤️ A photo posted by bb (@brooklynbeckham) on Aug 10, 2016 at 9:40am Pdt...

Summer's end. Halleloo! I can practically taste the fall and it is delicious. Mmmmm dead leaves. Here are some key posts from the dog days of summer in case you missed them.

Cinema Swimwear The Film Experience launches a clothing line! Why didn't you purchase anything?

Short Term 12 How many films this good does August ever bring? Go see it!

The Worst of the Worst Tim looks back at 3 horrifying cinema summers 

The Last Temptation of Christ Michael wonders if it still has the power to outrage?

Skarsgård Reads Naked ...how the mind wanders

The Color Purple a look back through Oscar-tinted glasses for "Best Shot"

Team Hitchcock are these the 10 most memorable performances in his films? 

Podcasting The Butler the gang is all back and the podcasts are now weekly!  

Coming In September: It's Back to School Month so we'll be visiting some edumucational movies -- any suggestions?...

Consider this scenario: You're visiting the Tenenbaums at 111 Archer Avenue. You need to find the ballroom, but you don't know where the ballroom is, and it's a big house. Richie is watching old tennis highlights of himself, Margot is fighting with Raleigh, and Chas is putting the boys to bed, so there's no one to help you. What to do?

Enter Jennifer Lewis of Flavorwire's detailed floor plans of the homes of Wes Anderson films — not just that of 111 Archer Ave from "The Royal Tenenbaums," but also of the Belafonte from "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou," Summer's End from "Moonrise Kingdom," and Beech Tree from "Fantastic Mr. Fox." (If you're taking the hike to Archer, it stands to reason that you might also visit the other three.) With the Tenenbaum home floor plan in hand in the opening scenario, you'd walk straight to the fourth floor without any Tenenbaum...

Exhausted by superpowered heroics yet? The summer has already brought us Norse gods (Thor review), dangerous mutants (X-Men review), and intergalactic policemen (Green Lantern review) and we still haven't reached the finish line. Here comes Captain America: The First Avenger, the last superhero to storm the box office beach. Summer's end goal: total world domination by the spandex nation. 

Cappy might be arriving a month too late for his own good, if he was hoping to be greeted by cheers and patriotic parades. The new would be blockbuster would've made a great fit for Fourth of July opening -- damn those giant robots! Given that the studios like to frontload the summer they didn't do this on purpose but I'm pleased to report that they saved the best hero for last. No, really. Cappy is just swell. 

And not just because of that spectacular literal swelling that you've already seen...

Which movie will you go see this weekend?

You know how you can tell that summer is winding down, my lovely geeks and geekettes? By looking at the movie section in the newspaper (I can hear some "What's that?" from the peanut gallery). All the summer movies have come, most have gone, and some have even made their way back into the theater.

And with Summer's end comes the movie studio's last ditch effort to grab at your few remaining dollars before we all wise up and decide we need the cash for our Na'vi Halloween costumes or the sure-to-be-made-available-for-Christmas Tron-themed X-Box 360.

So, have a look at what's in theaters this weekend and let's discuss, shall we? [...]...