Happy Birthday, Laura Dern!

by Cláudio Alves

Laura Dern has been blessing us with her existence for 55 years. The Oscar-winning actress started young, being the daughter of two screen titans in their own right – Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd. Indeed, one of her earliest big-screen roles was by her mother's side in Martin Scorsese's 1974 Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Since then, Dern has flourished into one of American cinema's most important modern performers. Often driven to auteurs with bold visions, she's a director's actress whose commitment to her roles is never in question. She's never in danger of dispassionate acting, giving it her all 100% of the time and often twisting her visage into terrifying extremes. She really is 'The Face.'

To celebrate the occasion, a list of favorite Laura Dern film performances…

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Posterized: The films of Alexander Payne

by Nathaniel R

Nebraska's most successful auteur son, 56 year old Alexander Payne is back with his seventh feature. Downsizing, his new satire about a man (Matt Damon) who joins a community that have shrunk themselves, premiered at Venice to the kind of reviews that seem startling until you remember all the reviews for all the other Payne directed movies. Raves are par for the course. He's won two Globes and two Oscars for his screenplays. His films have won an incredible 3 Best Picture prizes and he's also won four personal prizes from the normally spread-your-wealth folks at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association over the past 20 years.

The film opens in movie theaters on December 22nd and is expected to be both a box office hit and a major Oscar player. Could it finally be his year to win Best Picture?

How many of his films have you seen? The posters (and more about Oscar) are after the jump...

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