Most viewed Wikipedia articles on December 24 , 2021
The Matrix Resurrections is an upcoming American science fiction action film produced, co-written, and directed by Lana Wachowski. It is the fourth installment in The Matrix film series. Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jada Pinkett Smith, Lambert Wilson, and Daniel Bernhardt reprise their roles from previous films in the series.
Don't Look Up is an upcoming American political satire disaster comedy film written and directed by Adam McKay, who produced the film with Scott Stuber.
Joan Didion is an American writer who launched her career in the 1960s after winning an essay contest sponsored by Vogue magazine. Didion's writing during the 1960s through the late 1970s engaged audiences in the realities of the counterculture of the 1960s and the Hollywood lifestyle. Her political writing often concentrated on the subtext of political and social rhetoric. In 1991, she wrote the earliest mainstream media article to suggest the Central Park Five had been wrongfully convicted. In 2005, she won the National Book Award for Nonfiction and was a finalist for both the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Biography/Autobiography for The Year of Magical Thinking. She later adapted the book into a play, which premiered on Broadway in 2007. In 2017, Didion was profiled in the Netflix documentary The Center Will Not Hold, directed by her nephew Griffin Dunne.
Atrangi Re is an upcoming Indian musical romantic drama film directed by Aanand L. Rai and starring Dhanush, Sara Ali Khan, and Akshay Kumar. Music of the film is composed by A R Rahman. Produced by T-Series, Colour Yellow Productions and Cape of Good Films. It was originally scheduled for worldwide release on 14 February 2021 in theatres, coinciding with Valentine's Day. However, it was indefinitely pushed due to post-production delays owing to COVID-19 pandemic in India. A release was announced for 6 August 2021, but the film was not released. The film will be premiere on 24 December 2021 on Disney+ Hotstar.
The Matrix is a 1999 American science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis, and produced by Joel Silver. It stars Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantoliano and is the first installment in the Matrix franchise. It depicts a dystopian future in which humanity is unknowingly trapped inside a simulated reality, the Matrix, created by intelligent machines to distract humans while using their bodies as an energy source. When computer programmer Thomas Anderson, under the hacker alias "Neo", uncovers the truth, he "is drawn into a rebellion against the machines" along with other people who have been freed from the Matrix.
Cleopatra VII Philopator was the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt. As a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, she was a descendant of its founder Ptolemy I Soter, a Macedonian Greek general and companion of Alexander the Great. After the death of Cleopatra, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire, marking the end of the second to last Hellenistic state and the age that had lasted since the reign of Alexander. Her native language was Koine Greek, and she was the only Ptolemaic ruler to learn the Egyptian language.
The Witcher is a Polish-American fantasy drama streaming television series produced by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich. It is based on the book series of the same name by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski.
Andrew Russell Garfield is an American-British actor. An alumnus of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, he is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, and has been nominated for Laurence Laurence Olivier Award, an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and three British Academy Film Awards.
Encanto is an upcoming American animated musical fantasy comedy film by Walt Disney Pictures set in a fantasy version of Colombia. The 60th film produced by the studio, it is directed by Byron Howard and Jared Bush, co-directed by Charise Castro Smith, produced by Clark Spencer and songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Thomas Stanley Holland is an English actor. A graduate of the BRIT School in London, he began his acting career on stage in the title role of Billy Elliot the Musical in the West End from 2008 to 2010. He gained further recognition for his starring role in the disaster film The Impossible (2012), receiving the London Film Critics Circle Award for Young British Performer of the Year.
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American actress, comedian, model, studio executive and producer. As one of Hollywood’s greatest icons, she was the star and producer of sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy, as well as comedy television specials aired under the title The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.
83 is an upcoming Indian sports drama film directed by Kabir Khan and jointly produced by Khan, Vishnu Vardhan Induri, Deepika Padukone and Sajid Nadiadwala. Co-distributed by Reliance Entertainment, the film stars Ranveer Singh as cricketer Kapil Dev, along with Deepika Padukone, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Saqib Saleem, Harrdy Sandhu, Ammy Virk, Jiiva, Pankaj Tripathi, Boman Irani, Nishant Dahiya, Sahil Khattar and Amrita Puri.
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it is preceded by the season of Advent or the Nativity Fast and initiates the season of Christmastide, which historically in the West lasts twelve days and culminates on Twelfth Night. Christmas Day is a public holiday in many of the world's nations, is celebrated religiously by a majority of Christians, as well as culturally by many non-Christians, and forms an integral part of the holiday season centered around it.
Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski are American film and television directors, writers and producers. The sisters are both trans women.
The Bible is a collection of religious texts or scriptures sacred to Christians, Jews, Samaritans, Rastafari and others. It appears in the form of an anthology, a compilation of texts of a variety of forms that are all linked by the belief that they are collectively revelations of God. These texts include theologically-focused historical accounts, hymns, prayers, proverbs, parables, didactic letters, erotica, poetry, and prophecies. Believers also generally consider the Bible to be a product of divine inspiration.
The following deaths of notable individuals occurred in 2021. Names are reported under the date of death, in alphabetical order by surname or pseudonym. A typical entry reports information in the following sequence:
- Name, age, country of citizenship at birth, subsequent nationality, what subject was noted for, cause of death, and reference.
Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman is an American actress and singer. She began her career as a child model and backup dancer, before gaining prominence for her role as Rocky Blue on the Disney Channel sitcom Shake It Up (2010–2013).
Minnal Murali is an upcoming Indian Malayalam-language superhero film directed by Basil Joseph starring Tovino Thomas, Aju Varghese, and Harisree Ashokan. The film is produced by Sophia Paul, under the banner of Weekend Blockbusters. The songs are composed by Shaan Rahman while Sushin Shyam composed the background score.
The Matrix is an American media franchise created by writers-directors the Wachowskis and producer Joel Silver. The series primarily consists of a trilogy of superhero films beginning with The Matrix (1999) and continuing with two sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, all written and directed by the Wachowskis and produced by Joel Silver. The franchise is owned by Warner Bros., which distributed the films along with Village Roadshow Pictures. The latter, along with Silver Pictures, are the two production companies that worked on all three films.
The Wheel of Time is an upcoming American epic fantasy television series set to premiere on Amazon Prime Video. The series is based on Robert Jordan's novel series of the same name and is produced by Sony Pictures Television and Amazon Studios, with Rafe Judkins serving as showrunner.
Tobias Vincent Maguire is an American actor and film producer. He is best known for his role as Peter Parker / Spider-Man in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (2002–2007). His other major films include Pleasantville (1998), Ride with the Devil (1999), The Cider House Rules (1999), Wonder Boys (2000), Seabiscuit (2003), The Good German (2006), Brothers (2009), and The Great Gatsby (2013).
Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin is an American actor, musician, and podcaster. Regarded as one of the most successful child actors of the 1990s, he was placed on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid-Stars" and on E!'s list of the "50 Greatest Child Stars".
Keanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, Reeves began acting in theatre productions and in television films before making his feature film debut in Youngblood (1986). He had his breakthrough role in the science fiction comedy Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), and he later reprised his role in its sequels. He gained praise for playing a hustler in the independent drama My Own Private Idaho (1991), and established himself as an action hero with leading roles in Point Break (1991) and Speed (1994).
Hawkeye is an upcoming American television miniseries created by Jonathan Igla for the streaming service Disney+, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise. The series takes place after the events of the film Avengers: Endgame (2019), and introduces new superhero Kate Bishop / Hawkeye. Hawkeye is produced by Marvel Studios, with Igla serving as head writer.
Home Alone is a 1990 American comedy film written and produced by John Hughes and directed by Chris Columbus. It stars Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard, and Catherine O'Hara. Culkin stars as eight-year-old Kevin, who defends his home from burglars Harry and Marv after his family accidentally leaves him behind on their vacation.
The killing of Daunte Wright occurred on April 11, 2021, in Brooklyn Center, a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota adjacent to Minneapolis. Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old African-American man, was shot by a police officer after he resisted arrest and re-entered his vehicle during a traffic stop. According to Brooklyn Center police, an officer, whose name has not yet been released, intended to use her taser but discharged her firearm instead, striking Wright with one shot. He drove several blocks before crashing his vehicle into another and hitting a cement barrier. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The James Webb Space Telescope is a joint NASA-ESA-CSA space telescope that is planned to succeed the Hubble Space Telescope as NASA's flagship astrophysics mission. The JWST will provide improved infrared resolution and sensitivity over Hubble, and will enable a broad range of investigations across the fields of astronomy and cosmology, including observing some of the most distant events and objects in the universe, such as the formation of the first galaxies.
It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas family fantasy drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra, based on the short story and booklet The Greatest Gift, which Philip Van Doren Stern self-published in 1943 and is in turn loosely based on the 1843 Charles Dickens novella A Christmas Carol. The film stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man who has given up his personal dreams, in order to help others in his community, and whose imminent suicide on Christmas Eve brings about the intervention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody. Clarence shows George how he, George, has touched the lives of others and how different life would be for his wife Mary and his community of Bedford Falls if he had not been born.
YouTube is an American online video-sharing platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. The service, created in February 2005 by three former PayPal employees—Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim—was bought by Google in November 2006 for US$1.65 billion and now operates as one of the company's subsidiaries. YouTube is the second most-visited website in the world after Google Search, according to Alexa Internet rankings.
Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary character originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts on Christmas Eve of toys and candy to well-behaved children, and either coal or nothing to naughty children. He is said to accomplish this with the aid of Christmas elves, who make the toys in his workshop at the North Pole, and flying reindeer who pull his sleigh through the air.
The International Space Station (ISS) is a modular space station in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA, Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada). The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements. The station serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which scientific research is conducted in astrobiology, astronomy, meteorology, physics, and other fields. The ISS is suited for testing the spacecraft systems and equipment required for possible future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars.
Festivus is a secular holiday celebrated on December 23 as an alternative to the pressures and commercialism of the Christmas season. Originally created by author Daniel O'Keefe, Festivus entered popular culture after it was made the focus of the 1997 Seinfeld episode "The Strike", which O'Keefe's son, Dan O'Keefe, co-wrote.
Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III, better known as Desi Arnaz, was a Cuban-American actor, musician, bandleader, comedian and film and television producer, revolutionary in the creation of modern television. He is best known for his role as the witty Ricky Ricardo on the American television sitcom I Love Lucy, in which he co-starred with his then wife Lucille Ball. Arnaz and Ball are generally credited as the innovators of the syndicated rerun, which they pioneered with the I Love Lucy series.
The Wheel of Time is a series of high fantasy novels written by American author James Oliver Rigney Jr., under his pen name of Robert Jordan. Originally planned as a six-book series, The Wheel of Time spanned fourteen volumes, in addition to a prequel novel and two companion books. Jordan began writing the first volume, The Eye of the World, in 1984, and it was published in January 1990.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films are a series of American superhero films produced by Marvel Studios based on characters that appear in publications by Marvel Comics. The MCU is the shared universe in which all of the films are set. The films have been in production since 2007, and in that time Marvel Studios has produced and released 23 films, with at least 14 more in various stages of development. It is the highest-grossing film franchise of all time, having grossed over $22.5 billion at the global box office. This includes Avengers: Endgame, which is the highest-grossing film of all time.
2021 in film is an overview of events, including award ceremonies, festivals, a list of country-specific lists of films released, and notable deaths.
The King's Man is an upcoming period action spy film directed by Matthew Vaughn, who wrote the screenplay with Karl Gajdusek. The film is a spin-off prequel and the third film in the Kingsman film series, which is loosely based on the comic book series Kingsman, created by Dave Gibbons and Mark Millar and published by Marvel's Icon Comics imprint.
Wikipedia is a multilingual open-collaborative online encyclopedia created and maintained by a community of volunteer editors using a wiki-based editing system. It is one of the 15 most popular websites as ranked by Alexa, as of January 2021 and The Economist newspaper placed it as the "13th-most-visited place on the web". Featuring no advertisements, it is hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, an American non-profit organization funded primarily through donations.
Elon Reeve Musk is a business magnate, industrial designer and engineer. He is the founder, CEO, CTO and chief designer of SpaceX; early investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; founder of The Boring Company; co-founder of Neuralink; and co-founder and initial co-chairman of OpenAI. In 2018, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) and ranked 25th on the Forbes list of The World's Most Powerful People, and was ranked joint-first on the Forbes list of the Most Innovative Leaders of 2019. A centi-billionaire, Musk became the richest person in the world in January 2021, surpassing Jeff Bezos.
The Matrix Revolutions is a 2003 American science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis, and produced by Joel Silver. It was the third installment of The Matrix film franchise, released six months following The Matrix Reloaded. The film was released simultaneously in 108 territories on November 5, 2003. While being the final entry in the original trilogy of the series, the Matrix storyline is continued in The Matrix Online video game. It was the first live-action feature film to be released in both regular and IMAX theaters at the same time. Despite having a mixed reception from critics, the film grossed $427.3 million worldwide. A fourth Matrix film began production in February 2020, and it is set to be released on December 22, 2021.
Shyam Singha Roy is an upcoming Indian Telugu-language supernatural thriller film directed by Rahul Sankrityan. The film stars Nani as the title character alongside Sai Pallavi, Krithi Shetty and Madonna Sebastian as the main leads. Set in the backdrop of Kolkata. The film is based on the theme of reincarnation. It has music composed by Mickey J. Meyer with cinematography by Sanu John Varghese and editing by Naveen Nooli.
Emily in Paris is an American comedy-drama streaming television series created by Darren Star, which premiered on Netflix on October 2, 2020. The series stars Lily Collins as the eponymous Emily, an American who moves to Paris to provide an American point of view to a French marketing firm. There, she struggles to succeed in the workplace while searching for love and experiencing a culture clash with her "boring" and mundane Midwestern upbringing. It also stars Ashley Park, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, Lucas Bravo, Samuel Arnold, Camille Razat, and Bruno Gouery. In November 2020, the series was renewed for a second season by Netflix.
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. was an American singer, comedian and actor. The first multimedia star, Crosby was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century. He was a leader in record sales, radio ratings, and motion picture grosses from 1930 to 1954. He made over seventy feature films and recorded more than 1,600 different songs.
James Edward Franco is an American actor, filmmaker, comedian, academic, painter and writer. For his role in 127 Hours (2010), he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Franco is known for his roles in live-action films, such as Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (2002–2007); Milk (2008); Pineapple Express (2008); Eat, Pray, Love (2010); Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011); Spring Breakers (2012); Oz the Great and Powerful (2013); This Is the End (2013); Sausage Party (2016); and The Disaster Artist (2017), for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. He is known for his collaborations with fellow actor Seth Rogen, having appeared in eight films and one television series with him.
Love Actually is a 2003 Christmas-themed romantic comedy film written and directed by Richard Curtis. It features an ensemble cast, composed predominantly of British actors, many of whom had worked with Curtis in previous film and television projects. Mostly filmed on location in London, the screenplay delves into different aspects of love as shown through ten separate stories involving a wide variety of individuals, many of whom are shown to be interlinked as the tales progress. The story begins five weeks before Christmas and is played out in a weekly countdown until the holiday, followed by an epilogue that takes place one month later.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films, independently produced by Marvel Studios and based on characters that appear in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The franchise includes comic books, short films, television series, and digital series. The shared universe, much like the original Marvel Universe in comic books, was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters.
Vera-Ellen was an American dancer and actress. She is remembered for her solo performances as well as her work with partners Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Danny Kaye, and Donald O'Connor. She is best known for her starring roles in On the Town (1949) with Kelly and White Christmas (1954) with Kaye.
The Matrix Reloaded is a 2003 American science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis, and produced by Joel Silver. It is a sequel to The Matrix, and the second installment in The Matrix film franchise. Reloaded premiered on May 7, 2003, in Westwood, Los Angeles, California, and had its worldwide release by Warner Bros. on May 15, 2003, including a screening out of competition at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. The video game Enter the Matrix and The Animatrix, a collection of short animations, supported and expanded the storyline of the film.
Anya Chalotra is a British actress primarily known for her role as Yennefer of Vengerberg in the Netflix original series The Witcher. Before that she had a role in Wanderlust.
Lily Jane Collins is a British-American actress and model. The daughter of English musician Phil Collins and American actress Jill Tavelman, she was born in Surrey and moved to Los Angeles as a child.
Microsoft Office, or simply Office, is a family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. It was first announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at COMDEX in Las Vegas. Initially a marketing term for an office suite, the first version of Office contained Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint. Over the years, Office applications have grown substantially closer with shared features such as a common spell checker, OLE data integration and Visual Basic for Applications scripting language. Microsoft also positions Office as a development platform for line-of-business software under the Office Business Applications brand. On July 10, 2012, Softpedia reported that Office was being used by over a billion people worldwide.
Guru Somasundaram is an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil and Malayalam films. He made his debut in Thiagarajan Kumararaja's Aaranya Kaandam (2011) winning critical acclaim for his role, before also appearing in Suseenthiran's action film Pandiya Naadu (2013), Karthik Subbaraj's gangster film Jigarthanda (2014) and Raju Murugan's political satire film Joker (2016). He is living in Tiruvannamalai.
Henry William Dalgliesh Cavill is a British actor. He is known for his portrayal of the Duke of Suffolk in Showtime’s The Tudors, DC Comics character Superman in the DC Extended Universe, Geralt of Rivia in the Netflix fantasy series The Witcher (2019–present), as well as Sherlock Holmes in the Netflix movie Enola Holmes (2020).
Die Hard is a 1988 American action film directed by John McTiernan and written by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza. It stars Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Alexander Godunov, and Bonnie Bedelia. Based on the 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp, Die Hard follows New York City police detective John McClane (Willis) who is caught up in a terrorist takeover of a Los Angeles skyscraper while visiting his estranged wife. Reginald VelJohnson, William Atherton, Paul Gleason, and Hart Bochner feature in supporting roles.
Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation of Christmas Day. Together, both days are considered one of the most culturally significant celebrations in Christendom and Western society.
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Magnetic North Pole.
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio is an American actor, film producer and environmentalist. He has often played unconventional roles, particularly in biopics and period films. As of 2019, his films have grossed US$7.2 billion worldwide, and he has placed eight times in annual rankings of the highest-paid actors in the world.
The Kingpin is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Stan Lee and John Romita Sr., and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #50. The "Kingpin" name is a reference to the crimelord title in Mafia slang nomenclature.
"Let's Go Brandon" is a political slogan and internet meme used as a euphemism for "Fuck Joe Biden" in reference to Joe Biden during his first year as the President of the United States.
John Franklin Candy was a Canadian actor and comedian known mainly for his work in Hollywood films. Candy rose to fame as a member of the Toronto branch of the Second City and its Second City Television (SCTV) series, and through his appearances in comedy films, including Stripes, Splash, Cool Runnings, Summer Rental, The Great Outdoors, Spaceballs, and Uncle Buck, as well as more dramatic roles in Only the Lonely and JFK. One of his most renowned onscreen performances was as Del Griffith, the talkative shower-curtain ring salesman in the John Hughes comedy Planes, Trains and Automobiles. In addition to his work as an actor, Candy was a co-owner of the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League from 1991 until his death, and the team won the 1991 Grey Cup under his ownership. Candy died of a heart attack in 1994 at the age of 43. His final two films, Wagons East and Canadian Bacon, are dedicated to his memory.
No Time to Die is a forthcoming spy film and the twenty-fifth instalment in the James Bond film series produced by Eon Productions. It stars Daniel Craig in his fifth outing as the fictional British MI6 agent James Bond; Craig said it will be his final Bond role. The film is directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga from a screenplay by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Fukunaga, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz, Rory Kinnear, and Ralph Fiennes reprise their roles from previous films, with Rami Malek, Lashana Lynch, Ana de Armas, Dali Benssalah, Billy Magnussen, and David Dencik joining the cast as new characters.
Dolly for Sue, better known as just Dolly, is a fictional character that first appears in the 1964 stop motion Christmas TV special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. She was one of the many inhabitants of the Island of Misfit Toys, a sanctuary for unwanted toys. Dolly was originally voiced by Corinne Conley and created by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Romeo Muller.
George Michael was an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and philanthropist who rose to fame as a member of the music duo Wham! and later embarked on a solo career. Michael sold over 80 million records worldwide making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He achieved seven number one songs on the UK Singles Chart and eight number one songs on the US Billboard Hot 100. Michael won various music awards including two Grammy Awards, three Brit Awards, three American Music Awards, 12 Billboard Music Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards and six Ivor Novello Awards. In 2008, he was ranked 40th on Billboard's list of the Greatest Hot 100 Artists of All Time.
James Maitland Stewart, also known as Jimmy Stewart, was an American actor and military officer. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality he portrayed both on and off the screen, he epitomized the "American ideal" in the twentieth century. In 1999, the American Film Institute (AFI) ranked him third on its list of the greatest American male actors.
Jessica Yu Li Henwick is an English actress and writer. She is the first British Chinese actress to play the lead role in a British television series, having starred in the children's show Spirit Warriors (2010). She is also known for her roles as Nymeria Sand in HBO series Game of Thrones (2015–2017), X-wing pilot Jessika Pava in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) and the character Colleen Wing in Iron Fist (2017–2018), The Defenders (2017) and the second season of Luke Cage (2018). She also starred in the movie Underwater (2020) as Emily Haversham.
Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated the day after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide. Though it originated as a holiday to give gifts to the poor, today Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday. It originated in the United Kingdom and is celebrated in a number of countries that previously formed part of the British Empire. Boxing Day is on 26 December, although the attached bank holiday or public holiday may take place either on that day or one or two days later. Boxing day is also concurrent with the Christian holiday Saint Stephen's Day.
The Witcher is a series of fantasy novels and short stories written by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The series revolves around the titular "witcher", Geralt of Rivia. In Sapkowski's works, "witchers" are beast hunters who develop supernatural abilities at a young age to battle wild beasts and monsters. The books have been adapted into a film, two television series, a trilogy of video games, and a graphic novel series. The series of novels is known as the Witcher Saga. The short stories and novels have been translated into numerous languages, including Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Lithuanian, Spanish and Ukrainian.
Moscow is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 12.4 million residents within the city limits, while over 17 million residents in the urban area, and over 20 million residents in the Moscow Metropolitan Area. The city covers an area of 2,511 square kilometres (970 sq mi), while the urban area covers 5,891 square kilometres (2,275 sq mi), and the metropolitan area covers over 26,000 square kilometres (10,000 sq mi). Moscow is among the world's largest cities, being the largest city entirely in Europe, the largest urban area in Europe, the largest metropolitan area in Europe, and the largest city by land area on the European continent.
Carrie-Anne Moss is a Canadian actress. Following early roles on television, she rose to international prominence for her role of Trinity in The Matrix series (1999–present). She has starred in Memento (2000) for which she won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female, Red Planet (2000), Chocolat (2000), Fido (2006), Snow Cake (2006) for which she won the Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Disturbia (2007), Unthinkable (2010), Silent Hill: Revelation (2012), and Pompeii (2014). She also portrayed Jeri Hogarth in several television series produced by Marvel Television for Netflix, most notably Jessica Jones (2015–2019).
Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman was an English actor and director. Known for his languid tone and delivery, Rickman's signature sound was the result of a speech impediment when he could not move his lower jaw properly as a child. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), performing in modern and classical theatre productions. He played the Vicomte de Valmont in the RSC stage production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses in 1985, and after the production transferred to the West End in 1986 and Broadway in 1987 he was nominated for a Tony Award.
XXX is an American action film series created by Rich Wilkes. It consists of three full-length feature films: XXX (2002), XXX: State of the Union (2005) and XXX: Return of Xander Cage (2017), and a short film: The Final Chapter: The Death of Xander Cage. The series has grossed $694 million worldwide.
Emily Jean "Emma" Stone is an American actress. The recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Golden Globe Award, she was the world's highest-paid actress in 2017. Stone appeared in Forbes Celebrity 100 in 2013 and in 2017, she was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
The fictional character Spider-Man, a comic book superhero created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and featured in Marvel Comics publications, has appeared as a main character in multiple theatrical and made-for-television films.
Hailee Steinfeld is an American actress, singer and model. She earned many accolades for her breakthrough role as Mattie Ross in the drama western film True Grit (2010), for which she was nominated for BAFTA Award for Best Actress as well as Screen Actors Guild Award and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, making her the ninth youngest nominee in category.
Ashley Jini Park is an American actress, dancer, and singer. She is known for her works on Broadway as Tuptim in the 2015 revival of The King and I and for originating the role of Gretchen Wieners in the 2018 Tony-nominated musical Mean Girls, for the latter of which she received Drama Desk Award and Tony Award nominations. She can be heard as Kaye Fields in As the Curtain Rises, an original podcast soap opera from the Broadway Podcast Network
Spider-Man is a fictional superhero created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in the anthology comic book Amazing Fantasy #15 in the Silver Age of Comic Books. He appears in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, as well as in a number of movies, television shows, and video game adaptations set in the Marvel Universe. In the stories, Spider-Man is the alias of Peter Parker, an orphan raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben in New York City after his parents Richard and Mary Parker died in a plane crash. Lee and Ditko had the character deal with the struggles of adolescence and financial issues, and accompanied him with many supporting characters, such as J. Jonah Jameson, Harry Osborn, Max Modell, romantic interests Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson, and foes such as Doctor Octopus, the Green Goblin and Venom. His origin story has him acquiring spider-related abilities after a bite from a radioactive spider; these include clinging to surfaces, superhuman strength and agility, and detecting danger with his "spider-sense." He then builds wrist-mounted "web-shooter" devices that shoot artificial spider-webbing of his own design.
Rosemary Clooney was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the song "Come On-a My House", which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me", "Mambo Italiano", "Tenderly", "Half as Much", "Hey There", and "This Ole House". She also had success as a jazz vocalist. Clooney's career languished in the 1960s, partly due to problems related to depression and drug addiction, but revived in 1977, when her White Christmas co-star Bing Crosby asked her to appear with him at a show marking his 50th anniversary in show business. She continued recording until her death in 2002.
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is a 1989 American family comedy film, the third installment in National Lampoon magazine's Vacation film series. Christmas Vacation was written by John Hughes, who based it on "Christmas '59", his short story published in National Lampoon. The film stars Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, and Randy Quaid.
White Christmas is a 1954 American musical film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen. Filmed in Technicolor, it features the songs of Irving Berlin, including a new version of the title song, "White Christmas", introduced by Crosby in the 1942 film Holiday Inn.
Elizabeth II is Queen of the United Kingdom and 15 other Commonwealth realms.
Rome is the capital city and a special comune of Italy, as well as the capital of the Lazio region. The city has been a major human settlement for almost three millennia. With 2,860,009 residents in 1,285 km2 (496.1 sq mi), it is also the country's most populated comune. It is the third most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the centre of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4,355,725 residents, thus making it the most populous metropolitan city in Italy. Its metropolitan area is the third-most populous within Italy. Rome is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio (Latium), along the shores of the Tiber. Vatican City is an independent country inside the city boundaries of Rome, the only existing example of a country within a city; for this reason Rome has sometimes been defined as the capital of two states.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is an upcoming American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Doctor Strange. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is intended to be the sequel to Doctor Strange (2016) and the 28th film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film is directed by Sam Raimi from a script written by Jade Bartlett and Michael Waldron, and stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange, alongside Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Wong, Rachel McAdams, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Xochitl Gomez. In the film, Strange unleashes an unspeakable evil as he faces a new enemy.
Cary Grant was an English-American actor, who was one of classic Hollywood's definitive leading men. He was known for his transatlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing.
Paris is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,175,601 residents as of 2018, in an area of more than 105 square kilometres. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of Europe's major centres of finance, diplomacy, commerce, fashion, science and arts. The City of Paris is the centre and seat of government of the Île-de-France, or Paris Region, which has an estimated official 2017 population of 12,174,880, or about 18 percent of the population of France. The Paris Region had a GDP of €709 billion in 2017. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit Worldwide Cost of Living Survey in 2018, Paris was the second most expensive city in the world, after Singapore, and ahead of Zürich, Hong Kong, Oslo and Geneva. Another source ranked Paris as most expensive, on a par with Singapore and Hong Kong, in 2018.
Freya Allan is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Princess Cirilla of Cintra in the Netflix series The Witcher.
Mariah Carey is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Known for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style, and signature use of the whistle register, she is referred to as the "Songbird Supreme" by Guinness World Records. She has also been referred to as the "Queen of Christmas". She rose to fame in 1990 with her eponymous debut album, released under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, who married her three years later. Carey is the first artist in history to have their first five singles reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100, from "Vision of Love" to "Emotions".
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a 2014 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. The film was directed by Marc Webb and produced by Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach. It is the fifth theatrical Spider-Man film produced by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Entertainment, the sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), and the final film in The Amazing Spider-Man series. The studio hired James Vanderbilt to write the screenplay and Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci to rewrite it. The film stars Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, alongside Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Campbell Scott, Embeth Davidtz, Colm Feore, Paul Giamatti, and Sally Field. In the film, Peter Parker deals with his relationship with Gwen Stacy as he investigates his parents' murder, while also facing the supervillain Electro, and the return of his childhood friend Harry Osborn, who is dying from a deadly genetic disease that killed his father.
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom. The city stands on the River Thames in the south-east of England, at the head of its 50-mile (80 km) estuary leading to the North Sea. London has been a major settlement for two millennia. Londinium was founded by the Romans. The City of London, London's ancient core and financial centre − an area of just 1.12 square miles (2.9 km2) and colloquially known as the Square Mile − retains boundaries that closely follow its medieval limits. The adjacent City of Westminster has for centuries been the location of much of the national government. Thirty-one additional boroughs north and south of the river also comprise modern London. London is governed by the mayor of London and the London Assembly.
Danny Kaye was an American actor, singer, dancer, comedian, musician, and philanthropist. His performances featured physical comedy, idiosyncratic pantomimes, and rapid-fire novelty songs.
Jonathan David Larson was an American composer and playwright noted for exploring the social issues of multiculturalism, addiction, and homophobia in his work. Typical examples of his use of these themes are found in his works Rent and Tick, Tick... Boom! He received three posthumous Tony Awards and a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the rock musical Rent.
Ansel Easton Adams was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association of photographers advocating "pure" photography which favored sharp focus and the use of the full tonal range of a photograph. He and Fred Archer developed an exacting system of image-making called the Zone System, a method of achieving a desired final print through a deeply technical understanding of how tonal range is recorded and developed in exposure, negative development, and printing. The resulting clarity and depth of such images characterized his photography.
The Defense Support Program (DSP) is a program of the United States Space Force that operated the reconnaissance satellites which form the principal component of the Satellite Early Warning System used by the United States.
Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV, known professionally as Desi Arnaz Jr., is an American actor and musician. He is the son of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.
Sing 2 is an upcoming American computer-animated musical comedy film produced by Illumination and distributed by Universal Pictures. The sequel to the 2016 film Sing, the film is written and directed by Garth Jennings and stars Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, Nick Kroll, Taron Egerton and Tori Kelly reprising their roles from the first film. The sequel is also set to feature characters voiced by Bobby Cannavale, Halsey, Pharrell Williams, Letitia Wright, Eric Andre, Chelsea Peretti, and Bono.
Succession is an American black comedy drama television series created by Jesse Armstrong. It premiered on June 3, 2018, on HBO, and has been renewed for a third season. The series centers on the Roy family, the dysfunctional owners of Waystar RoyCo, a global media and hospitality empire, who are fighting for control of the company amid uncertainty about the health of the family's patriarch, Logan Roy.
Simone Segouin, also known by her nom de guerre Nicole Minet, is a former French Resistance fighter who served in the Francs-Tireurs et Partisans group. Among her first acts of resistance was stealing a bicycle from a German female military messenger, which she then used to help carry messages. She went on to take part in large-scale or otherwise perilous missions, such as capturing German troops, derailing trains, and acts of sabotage.
The Polar Express is a 2004 American computer-animated adventure film co-written and directed by Robert Zemeckis, based on the 1985 children's book of the same name by Chris Van Allsburg, who also served as one of the executive producers. The film features human characters animated using live-action motion capture animation. The film tells the story of a young boy who, on Christmas Eve, sees a mysterious train bound for the North Pole stop outside his window and is invited aboard by its conductor. The boy joins several other children as they embark on a journey to visit Santa Claus preparing for Christmas. The film stars Tom Hanks, who was also one of the film's executive producers, in multiple distinct roles, with Daryl Sabara, Nona Gaye, Jimmy Bennett and Eddie Deezen in supporting roles.
Timothée Hal Chalamet is an American actor. He began his acting career in short films, before appearing in the television drama series Homeland in 2012. Two years later, he made his feature film debut in the drama Men, Women & Children and subsequently appeared in Christopher Nolan's science-fiction film Interstellar.
Home Alone is a series of American Christmas family comedy films created by John Hughes. Each film is directed individually by Chris Columbus, Raja Gosnell, Rod Daniel, and Peter Hewitt. The plots revolve around children who find themselves left alone during the holiday season, faced with the challenge of defending themselves and their homes from different types of criminals.