POPGAZETA

BEVERLY HILLS, California — “Oppenheimer has dominated the Golden Globe Awards, taking home the night’s top honor. Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” has won best comedy or musical at the 81st Golden Globes, an upset victory over the category favorite, “Barbie.”  Emma Stone also won for her performance in “Poor Things.” On the television side, “Succession” and “The Bear” are took multiple honors. Christopher Nolan’s epic American drama “Oppenheimer” picked up five big awards including best drama film, best director for Nolan, best actor for Cillian Murphy, best supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr. and for Ludwig Göransson’s score. Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph both won for their performances in “The Holdovers.” Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster biopic “Oppenheimer” dominated the 81st Golden Globes, winning five awards including best drama, while Yorgos Lanthimos’ Frankenstein riff “Poor Things” pulled off an upset victor over “Barbie” to triumph in the best comedy or musical category. If awards season has been building toward a second match-up of Barbenheimer, this round went to “Oppenheimer.” The film also won best director for Nolan, best drama actor for Cillian Murphy, best supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr. and for Ludwig Göransson’s score. “I don’t think it was a no-brainer …

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BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — BEST MOVIE DRAMA: “Oppenheimer” BEST MOVIE MUSICAL OR COMEDY: “Poor Things” TELEVISION COMEDY SERIES: “The Bear” TELEVISION DRAMA SERIES: “Succession” LIMITED SERIES, ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION: “Beef” CINEMATIC AND BOX OFFICE ACHIEVEMENT: “Barbie” MALE ACTOR IN A MOVIE MUSICAL OR COMEDY: Paul Giamatti, “The Holdovers” FEMALE ACTOR IN A MOVIE MUSICAL OR COMEDY: Emma Stone, “Poor Things” ACTOR IN A MOVIE DRAMA: Cillian Murphy, “Oppenheimer” FEMALE ACTOR IN A MOVIE DRAMA: Lily Gladstone, “Killers of the Flower Moon” FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING MOVIE ROLE: Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “The Holdovers” MALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING MOVIE ROLE: Robert Downey Jr., “Oppenheimer” FEMALE ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES, ANTHOLOGY SERIES, OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION: Ali Wong, “Beef” ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES, ANTHOLOGY SERIES, OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION: Steven Yeun, “Beef” SUPPORTING FEMALE ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES: Elizabeth Debicki, “The Crown” SUPPORTING MALE ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES: Matthew Macfadyen, “Succession” BEST SCREENPLAY: “Anatomy of a Fall,” Justine Triet and Arthur Harari FEMALE ACTOR IN A TELEVISION DRAMA: Sarah Snook, “Succession” MALE ACTOR IN A TELEVISION COMEDY: Jeremy Allen White, “The Bear” STAND-UP COMEDY TELEVISION SPECIAL: Ricky …

LOS ANGELES — Timothee Chalamet and “Wonka” topped the box office charts for the third time in its four weekends in theaters. Warner Bros.’ family-oriented musical added $14.4 million in ticket sales according to studio estimates Sunday, bringing its total domestic grosses to $164.7 million.  “‘Wonka’ is following in the tradition of a film like ‘The Greatest Showman,’” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. That Hugh Jackman musical opened under $9 million in December 2017 and went on to gross $435 million globally.  “‘Wonka’ is a perfect crowd pleaser released at the perfect time and it’s going to ride that wave into January,” Dergarabedian said. “It’s an opportune time for it to be in the marketplace.”  After finishing 2023 on a high note, 2024 is getting off to a slower start than last year, down around 16%, with the Universal/Blumhouse horror “Night Swim” as the only major new offering in theaters. The movie stars Wyatt Russell and Kerry Condon as a couple with a sinister, supernatural swimming pool.  “Night Swim” drew in an estimated $12 million in its first weekend in 3,250 theaters in North America against a reported $15 million production budget. Including international showings in 36 …

BEVERLY HILLS, California — Margot Robbie, Oprah Winfrey and Leonardo DiCaprio will mingle with other top stars on Sunday at the Golden Globe awards, Hollywood’s first big celebration since twin strikes shut down most of show business last year.  The red carpet, champagne-fueled awards ceremony will honor the best of film and television selected by a new group of 300 entertainment journalists from around the world, part of reforms made after a diversity and ethics scandal among voters.   “Barbie,” the summer blockbuster starring Robbie as the iconic doll, leads all nominees with nine nominations. Historical drama “Oppenheimer,” about the making of the atomic bomb, follows with eight nods.  The Globes kick off Hollywood’s annual awards season, which culminates with the Oscars on March 10, and will bring top stars together after six months of strikes by actors and writers in 2023. The ceremony will give celebrities the chance to shine a spotlight on their films and TV shows after months when promotion was prohibited.   “I’m a little biased, but this is the best awards show and we’re going to have fun,” said comedian Jo Koy, who will host his first major awards show starting at 8 p.m. ET (0100 …

Customized cars that ride low and slow have been part of Mexican American culture since the 1940s. But in California, cruising in these modified vehicles was mostly illegal — until the new year. Genia Dulot has our story from Los Angeles. …

FRESNO, Calif. — David Rasavong’s cultural pride is evident all throughout his restaurant. It’s on the wall of family portraits and where a stunning mural depicts his family’s journey from Laos to California. It’s on the menu filled with Lao and Thai dishes like the crispy coconut rice salad of Nam Khao and the stir-fried rice noodles of Pad See Ew. And it’s in the fact that Love & Thai in Fresno, California, restaurant is open at all. A baseless accusation grounded in a racist stereotype about Asian food using dog meat brought a six-month barrage of harassment so heated that Rasavong, 41, closed down its previous location over fears for his family’s safety. His earlier restaurant had itself only been open for seven months when a so-called animal welfare crusader in May implied on social media that a pitbull tied up at an unconnected home next door was going to be served on the menu. A day after the initial commentary, vitriolic statements, voicemails and calls rained down. Rasavong’s body still tenses up when recounting, in particular, a call from an elderly woman. “She was so disgusted by me and yelling and screaming, and the only thing I can remember …

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VATICAN CITY — Amid resistance to some Vatican policy by more conservative factions of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis on Saturday cautioned the faithful against fracturing into groups “based on our own ideas.” He issued the call to abandon “ecclesiastical ideologies” in his homily in St. Peter’s Basilica during Epiphany Day Mass, the last major Christmas season holiday. Francis also warned against “basking in some elegant religious theory” instead of finding God in the faces of the poor. Last month, Francis gave permission for priests to bless couples outside of marriage, including same-sex relationships, if the blessing was pastoral and not liturgical or part of some religious rite. Some bishops who view Francis as a dangerous progressive immediately rejected such blessings. That prompted the Vatican earlier this week to issue a statement stressing that the blessings don’t constitute heresy and there were no doctrinal grounds to reject the practice. Francis in his Epiphany homily didn’t cite the pushback against his same-sex blessings policy. But he deviated from the written text of the homily to cite the “need to abandon ecclesiastical ideologies.” Francis said the church needed to ensure that “our faith will not be reduced to an assemblage of religious devotions …

NEW YORK — Glynis Johns, a Tony Award-winning stage and screen star who played the mother opposite Julie Andrews in the classic movie Mary Poppins and introduced the world to the bittersweet standard-to-be Send in the Clowns by Stephen Sondheim, has died. She was 100. Mitch Clem, her manager, said she died Thursday at an assisted living home in Los Angeles of natural causes. “Today’s a sad day for Hollywood,” Clem said. “She is the last of the last of old Hollywood.” Johns was known to be a perfectionist about her profession — precise, analytical and opinionated. The roles she took had to be multifaceted. Anything less was giving less than her all. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m not interested in playing the role on only one level,” she told The Associated Press in 1990. “The whole point of first-class acting is to make a reality of it.  To be real. And I have to make sense of it in my own mind in order to be real.” Johns’ greatest triumph was playing Desiree Armfeldt in A Little Night Music, for which she won a Tony in 1973. Sondheim wrote the show’s hit song Send in the Clowns to suit …

PRETORIA, South Africa — Officials say South African athlete Oscar Pistorius has been released from prison on parole and is now at home. The Department of Corrections gave no more details of Pistorius’ release. The announcement came at around 8:30 a.m., indicating officials released the world-famous double-amputee Olympic runner in the early hours. Pistorius has served nearly nine years for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013. He’d been sentenced to 13 years and five months. He was approved for parole in November. Serious offenders in South Africa are eligible for parole after serving at least half their sentence. Steenkamp’s mother, June Steenkamp, said in a statement that she had accepted Pistorius’ parole as part of South African law. “Has there been justice for Reeva? Has Oscar served enough time? There can never be justice if your loved one is never coming back, and no amount of time served will bring Reeva back,” June Steenkamp said. “We who remain behind are the ones serving a life sentence.” “With the release of Oscar Pistorius on parole, my only desire is that I will be allowed to live my last years in peace with my focus remaining on the Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp …

NEW YORK — It’s small in stature, big on activity and known for a “smile,” and it’s ready to compete with 200 other dog breeds. Say hello to the Lancashire heeler, the latest breed recognized by the American Kennel Club. The organization announced Wednesday that the rare herding breed is now eligible for thousands of U.S. dog shows, including the prominent Westminster Kennel Club show. With long bodies and short coats that are often black and tan, the solidly built dogs are shaped a bit like a downsized corgi, standing around 30 centimeters at the shoulder and weighing up to about 7.7 kilograms. Historically, they were farm helpers that could both drive cattle and rout rats, and today they participate in an array of canine sports and pursuits. “They’re gritty little dogs, and they’re very intelligent little dogs,” says Patricia Blankenship of Flora, Mississippi, who has bred them for over a decade. “It’s an enjoyable little breed to be around.” Their official description — or breed standard, in dog-world parlance — calls for them to be “courageous, happy, affectionate to owner,” and owners say contented heelers sometimes pull back their lips in a “smile.” They’re “extremely versatile,” participating in everything from …

Armenian Americans in Southern California celebrated their culture with a flowered float in the annual Rose Parade, moving on from a turbulent year that included Armenians’ exodus from their former enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh inside Azerbaijan’s borders. Genia Dulot has our story from Pasadena. …

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Montreal — Women’s ice hockey kicked off 2024 with the launch of a new professional league that debuted Monday with a match between the Toronto and New York teams. The Professional Women’s Hockey League “rings in the New Year with the very first regular season game in league history,” the PWHL said in a press release. Toronto earned the first victory in the new league, beating New York 4-0 in Toronto. The regular season includes more than 20 games and runs until May, and will be followed by playoffs. The league has six teams: Boston, Minnesota and New York on the American side, and Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto on the Canadian side. Ice hockey is Canada’s national winter sport but remains largely dominated by men. The National Hockey League (NHL), the men’s equivalent, was founded in 1917 in Montreal and has 32 teams spread across the two countries. …

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Los Angeles — Fantasy musical “Wonka” bounced back to the top of the North American box office this New Year’s weekend as an otherwise pallid film year came to an end, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported Sunday. The Warner Bros. film took in an estimated $24 million for the three-day weekend in the U.S. and Canada, and $31.8 million when New Year’s Day is included. It has passed the $140 million mark domestically and taken in $244 million globally. That strong showing came at the end of an off year for Hollywood, with numbers roughly 20 percent below the three-year pre-pandemic average, said analyst David A. Gross. Audience tastes are starting to change, he said, from universe-saving action films to stories closer to home. Close to home — at least if you live near a chocolate factory — was family-friendly “Wonka,” with Timothee Chalamet as a younger version of Roald Dahl’s famous chocolatier. Hugh Grant has an unforgettable turn as a grouchy, green-haired, gnome-like Oompa Loompa. Last weekend’s leader, Warner Bros.’ “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” took on a bit of water, slipping to second at $19.5 million for three days ($26.3 million for four). Jason Momoa again plays the sea-dwelling …

london — Two-time Oscar-nominated actor Tom Wilkinson, who starred in “The Full Monty” — a movie about a group of unemployed steel workers who launched new careers as strippers — died suddenly on Saturday.  The British actor’s death was confirmed in a statement released by his agent on behalf of his family. He was 75.  “It is with great sadness that the family of Tom Wilkinson announce that he died suddenly at home on December 30. His wife and family were with him.”  Wilkinson was nominated for Academy Awards for actor in a leading role for “In The Bedroom” in 2001, and for a supporting role in “Michael Clayton” in 2007.  He most recently reunited with his “Full Monty” co-stars, Robert Carlyle and Mark Addy, in a Disney+ series of the same name.  The original 1997 smash hit about an unlikely group of men stripping won an Oscar for best original musical or comedy score and was nominated for three others, including best picture and best director.  Wilkinson played ex-foreman Gerald Cooper who was recruited to help the unemployed men dance.  The actor also took home the best supporting actor Bafta for the role.  Wilkinson won a 2009 Golden Globe and …

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Beirut, Lebanon — For decades, Tele Liban has been a mainstay of Lebanese living rooms. Now the country is seeking UNESCO recognition for the archives of its pioneering Arab broadcaster.  Information Minister Ziad Makary told AFP that Beirut would apply to have the full archives of Tele Liban added to the United Nations cultural body’s Memory of the World Register, which UNESCO says “aims to prevent the irrevocable loss of documentary heritage.”  Tele Liban was “the first television (network) to be established in the Arab world on a state level,” Makary said, adding that Lebanon had the region’s “oldest audiovisual archive.”  The collection includes footage that dates back “to World War II and the 1940s,” although Tele Liban did air its first program until 1959, the minister said from his Beirut office.  Were it to join the register, it would sit alongside hundreds of other entries, spanning print, audiovisual, digital and other heritage from across the globe.  Archives documents culture, politics The only television channel in Lebanon until 1985, the broadcaster’s archive is brimming with years of history, politics and culture not only from Lebanon but across the Arab world, during tumultuous decades in the region.  It counts more than 50,000 …

MILAN — The Italian city of Venice announced new limits Saturday on the size of tourist groups, the latest move to reduce the pressure of mass tourism on the famed canal city. Starting in June, groups will be limited to 25 people, or roughly half the capacity of a tourist bus, and the use of loudspeakers, “which can generate confusion and disturbances,” will be banned, the city said in a statement. The city official charged with security, Elisabetta Pesce, said the policies were aimed at improving the movement of groups through Venice’s historic center as well as the heavily visited islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello. The city previously announced plans to test a new day-tripper fee this year. The 5 euros ($5.45) per-person fee will be applied on 29 peak days between April and mid-July, including most weekends. It is intended to regulate crowds, encourage longer visits and improve the quality of life for Venice residents. The U.N. cultural agency cited tourism’s impact on the fragile lagoon city as a major factor in it twice considering placing Venice on UNESCO’s list of heritage sites in danger. The city escaped the first time by limiting the arrival of large cruise ships …

PARIS — The Tour d’Argent already boasts a 320,000-bottle wine cellar, a world-famous duck recipe and a storied 441-year history. Now, the legendary Paris restaurant is about to serve up its “plat de résistance”: a front-row view of two of the biggest events of 2024 — the renaissance of Notre Dame Cathedral and the 2024 Summer Olympics. A city landmark unto itself — and an inspiration for the restaurant in the movie Ratatouille — the Tour d’Argent recently reopened after its own renovation, which preserved revered traditions while adapting to the 21st century. ”It’s very reassuring for many customers to see that such establishments are still present in our history, and in French gastronomic history,” owner and CEO André Terrail told The Associated Press. The restaurant claims to be the oldest in Paris, its 1582 opening date embossed on the doors. It says King Henri IV ate heron pâté here; ”Sun King” Louis XIV hosted a meal here involving an entire cow; and presidents, artists like Salvador Dalí, and celebrities including Marilyn Monroe have graced its tables in the generations since. Today the Michelin-starred restaurant remains one of the most exclusive places to dine in the French capital, out of reach …