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Memorable movie nuns

Philip Wuntch — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:50:35 +0000

Doubt, which opened Dec. 12, promises to guarantee Meryl Streep a record-breaking 15th Oscar nomination. She plays a fierce nun who suspects priest Philip Seymour Hoffman of harboring a non-ecclesiastical yen for an altar boy.

Sister Meryl is only one of many actresses who have donned the nun’s habit. Others range from the predictable (Deborah Kerr) to the outrageous (Joan Collins). Among them: Susan Sarandon won the 1995 Oscar for playing a modern real-life nun with progressive ideas in Dead Man Walking. She befriends convicted killer Sean Penn and remains at his side even when he walks the proverbial Last Mile. Terrific performance in a terrific film.

Jodie Foster was the fire-breathing nun who made The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002) seem dangerous indeed. Despite Foster’s emphatic performance, the film received only a limited release.

Christopher Durang’s play Sister Mary Explains It All wasn’t even considered movie material but was made into a TV movie in 2001 with Diane Keaton as unsympathetic Sister Mary. Ironically, in 1987, Keaton had directed her first film, a documentary named Heaven, which explored various people’s views of the Sweet Hereafter.

What about Mrs. Robinson as a Mother Superior? Anne Bancroft, The Graduate’s suburban sexual aggressor, played a worldly Mother in 1985’s Agnes of God. She confesses that her former husband and their children never forgave her when she decided to enter a convent.

Vanessa Redgrave probably played the most ferocious nun of all in 1971’s The Devils. A hunchback, she had lust in her heart for priest Oliver Reed and engineers his downfall. When he’s (very graphically) burned at the stake, her joy is downright fiendish.

Entertainers of the Year

Bill Sullivan — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:02:57 +0000

Each year since 1990, Entertainment Weekly has selected its Entertainer(s) of the Year.It’s a diverse list, featuring everyone from Bart Simpson to J.K. Rowling, with all kinds of folks in between.

Some, you’ll remember fondly. A few, you may barely remember at all.

Ready to revisit some blasts from the past? Here goes:

2007: J.K. Rowling

2006: Cast of Grey’s Anatomy

2005: Cast of Lost

2004: Jon Stewart

2003: Cast of The Lord of the Rings

2002: Denzel Washington

2001: Nicole Kidman

2000: Russell Crowe

1999: Ricky Martin

1998: Leonardo DiCaprio

1997: Ellen DeGeneres

1996: Rosie O’Donnell

1995: Cast of Friends

1994: Tom Hanks

1993: Steven Spielberg

1992: Cast of Saturday Night Live

1991: Jodie Foster

1990: Bart Simpson

To read more about all these, and to see a slideshow, visit Entertainment Weekly.

Biggest child movie stars

Bill Sullivan — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:35:39 +0000

As any adult actor knows, there’s no surer way to fade into the background than to share the stage with a kid.

Child actors have dominated movies since the first cameras started rolling. Most disappeared when puberty reared its ugly head, but their youthful images remain frozen in the memories their famous roles created.

Moviefone recently picked its top 25 child stars of all time. Here’s a sampling from their list:

25. Kirsten Dunst

24. Lindsay Lohan

23. Sean Astin

22. Keisha Castle-Hughes

21. Natalie Wood

20. Christian Bale

19. Abigail Breslin

18. Elijah Wood

17. Jodie Foster

16. Hayley Mills

15. Freddie Highmore

14. Freddie Bartholomew

13. Anna Paquin

12. Christina Ricci

11. Tatum O’Neal

To catch the rest, and see a slideshow, visit Moviefone.