• Cartoon Brew details on Aardman Animation sequels to their most iconic properties, Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit
• AV Club 20 major stars that broke out at Sundance over the years from Parker Posey through Peter Dinklage and on to Jennifer Lawrence (and many more)
• Hollywood Reporter quotes from the Best Director roundtable
• In Session Film yours truly guest starred on their podcast to talk SAG nods / BAFTA longlist
More after the jump including Meat Loaf's passing, Nightmare Alley's streaming release, Anna Kendrick's boyfriend, and Lin-Manuel Miranda's EGOT dreams...
• /Film Every Paul Verhoeven movie ranked including his latest, Benedetta. I'd quibble with the order but this is a fine reminder of how many memorable movies he's made.
• Theater Mania Ariana DeBose on The Daily Show (she sure is working for that Oscar nom/win)
• The Wrap Nightmare Alley gets a streaming date (real soon) of February 1st
• Deadline Nielsen estimates on what people were watching, streaming, in 2021 with the long-running Lucifer as the top streamed series (out-performing Squid Game) and Pixar's Luca the most streamed movie. Nice to hear something in the win column for Luca which has been weirdly underappreciated in comparison to other animated films from last year
• NYT RIP rock icon and occasional actor Meatloaf (Fight Club, Rocky Horror)
• Deadline RIP Emmy winner Louie Anderson (Baskets)
• Vanity Fair why hasn't Aidan (John Corbett) been on And Just Like That yet?
• Complex Anna Kendrick and Bill Hader have now been a couple for a year without anyone knowing
Finally... let's end with a bunch of Lin-Manuel Miranda
• Wall Street Journal how "We Don't Talk About Bruno" from Encanto became such a big hit (we remain sad and mystified that Disney didn't try to snag an Oscar nod for it. Nothing in awards history has ever suggested that Disney musicals get in their own way if they submit more than one song)
• Thrillist Lin-Manuel Miranda could finally EGOT but not for that hit song
• TFE... in case you missed it we named Lin-Manuel Miranda one of our top three "Entertainers of the Year"
• TFE... and we also got to speak with him about the movie musical genre and his big year