Nothing proves we’re in the golden age of TV so much as A-list movie stars signing on for small-screen projects.

The latest to jump on the bandwagon is none other than Julia Roberts, who will star in her first TV series, a limited run based on Maria Semple’s newest book, Today Will Be Different. 

Semple, the author of the bestselling Where’d You Go, Bernadette will write the script. (Side note: Bernadette is being adapted into its own feature film starring Cate Blanchett with Richard Linklater directing.)

“Today Will Be Different” will follow one day in the life of Eleanor Flood, who wakes up plotting disciplined activities for herself. She’ll go to yoga. She’ll be calm and kind. She’ll initiate sex with her husband. Unsurprisingly, none of these things go according to plan as her day takes a strange turn.

Producer extraordinaire Megan Ellison’s company Annapurna Pictures (“Zero Dark Thirty,” “Joy,” “American Hustle” and others) has bought the rights and will produce the project. Which network or steaming service it will eventually appear on, however, is unknown.

While Roberts has appeared on TV before ― including “Law & Order” and “Friends” ― and lent her voice to TV specials, the adaptation will be her first series commitment.

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While President Barack Obama’s inaugural celebrations featured performances by megastars Aretha Franklin and Beyoncé, President-elect Donald Trump was reportedly having a more difficult time finding a singer.

When Vanity Fair asked “Let It Go” singer Idina Menzel about those rumors on Wednesday night, she shared a theory. 

“I think it’s karma, baby,” she told the outlet. “I mean, look: All the artists in the world got up and tried to get our girl [Hillary Clinton] elected, and it still didn’t happen, so we’re all still trying to recover from that.”

Against tradition, zero local Washington, D.C., marching bands are planning to participate in the festivities on Jan. 20. This week, 16-year-old Jackie Evancho announced she will sing at the event on the “Today” show; classical singer Andrea Bocelli is slated to perform a duet with her.

The 2017 inauguration may have more in common with former President George W. Bush’s second ceremony in 2005. The day’s events featured several classically trained singers ― a shift from celebrations surrounding Bush’s 2001 inauguration that pulled out stars Ricky Martin, Jessica Simpson and, amazingly, 98 Degrees. 

Trump, it seems, won’t have much star power behind him as he kicks off his presidency. During his campaign, musicians including Adele, R.E.M. and Neil Young spoke out or took legal action against Trump’s use of their music at his rallies.

“Maybe he’ll just have to sing something himself,” Menzel added. “He probably thinks he has a great voice; he thinks he does everything great.”

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Of the Oscars’ four acting races, Best Supporting Actress may be the most unambiguous. The category seems to belong to the five women who received both Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations this week: Viola Davis (”Fences”), Naomie Harris (”Moonlight”), Nicole Kidman (”Lion”), Octavia Spencer (”Hidden Figures”) and Michelle Williams (”Manchester by the Sea”). The Critics’ Choice Awards, which issued prizes on Sunday, had only one amendment, spotlighting Janelle Monáe over Spencer, her co-star.

Everyone else who has flitted around this contest’s second-tier ranks now seems out of commission. Had I published these rankings a few weeks ago, I’d have included Helen Mirren (”Eye in the Sky”), Margo Martindale (”The Hollars”), Felicity Jones (”A Monster Calls”) and a smattering of others. But the derby is well underway, and there’s no use holding spots for yesterday’s horses. Even listing 11 women is a bit of a stretch, but here we go.

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The 2016 year-end cultural review has been redolent of all the absurdity, horror, frustration, and angst that dominated a year marked by Brexit, a stranger-than-fiction presidential run by Donald Trump, and reported attempts by the Russian government to sway the result of the U.S. election. Why should the 11th annual update to the Yale Book of Quotations be any different?

Accordingly, number one on the list of quotes is Trump’s notorious ― and threatening ― burst of chest-puffing about the strength of his poll numbers. “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters,” he declared at a campaign rally in Iowa on January 23. 

The list of new quotes from Fred Shapiro, an associate director of the Yale Law School library, drips with outlandish Trump quotes and Hillary Clinton moments widely circulated as gaffes. The other Trump quote on the list: “I alone can fix it.” Clinton’s most notable quotes were “You could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the ‘basket of deplorables’” and “(In politics) you need both a public and a private position.” 

The other entries on the list also focus primarily around the election, mostly through sharp jabs at Trump or other Republican presidential candidates. Michelle Obama’s oft-repeated mantra, “When they go low, we go high,” clocked in at number two. 

In past election years, the Yale quote selections have also been overpowered by statements, faux pas, and commentary from campaigns. In 2012, the top choice was Mitt Romney’s infamous comment to a private fundraiser: “There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what ... who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims.” The list also included Barack Obama’s “you didn’t build that” quote that outraged many business owners.

In 2008, the number one quote was not a political candidate ― exactly. Rather, it was Tina Fey, as Sarah Palin, cracking, “I can see Russia from my house.”

The 2016 list also includes uplifting quotes from Lin-Manuel Miranda and record-breaking Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, but the overall tone is grim and almost dystopian.

Shapiro chose to highlight a story that dominated news earlier this year, quoting the father of Brock Turner, a Stanford swimmer who was convicted of sexual assault only to receive a controversially light sentence. “His life will never be the one that he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve,” his father Dan wrote to the judge prior to sentencing. “That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life.”

The AP specified, in a report on Shapiro’s top 2016 quotes, “He chooses quotes that are famous or revealing of the spirit of the times, and not necessarily eloquent or admirable.”

H/T LA Times

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If unicorns worked desk jobs, this would be their morning fuel.

Unicorn hot chocolate may just be the most sparkly, sprinkled drink you’ve ever seen. It’s pretty much impossible not to smile when sipping from this cup of happiness:

Unicorn hot chocolate is the brainchild of Joanna Czikalla, who runs Crème & Sugar Cafe in Anaheim Hills, California, with her dad, Mark Czikalla. Business has been “brisk” since unicorn hot chocolate began taking over Instagram, Mark Czikalla told HuffPost.

“The way it gets mounded up and spills over is a unique look,” he said. “People really dig it.”

If a unicorn isn’t around to give you a ride to California, you can make the drink at home: It consists of white hot chocolate ― a simple blend of milk, white chocolate and vanilla ― dyed pink and topped with whipped cream, pastel marshmallows and a fun sprinkle mix. Mmm, magic.

H/T Refinery29

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A Florida pet photographer knows pit bulls have an image problem.

Years of the dogs getting a bad rap for aggression have led many people to instinctively view any pit bull they see as scary and threatening. The stereotype contributes to pit bulls being the type of dog most likely to languish — and sometimes be euthanized — in animal shelters, and leads to policies like breed-specific legislation, which effectively sentences innocent dogs to death.

That’s why photographer Adam Goldberg (no connection to the HuffPost senior editor) launched the Pit Bull Picture Project, a series of doggie portraits featuring both people’s pets and adoptable animals in shelters. The idea is similar to the celebrated work of Sophie Gamand, who photographs pit bulls in flower crowns.

“I want people to picture Pit Bulls the way I do, as goofy and lovable dogs,” he told The Huffington Post in an email. “I find it so sad that they get a bad reputation in the media and have a harder time getting adopted. I also want the public not to be scared when they see an owner with their Pit Bull.”

Of course, it’s never a good idea to pet or touch a dog — of any kind — without the owner’s permission. But Goldberg doesn’t want anyone’s first reaction to a pit bull to be one of fear.  

“All the owners I talk to get negative reactions from time to time and I’d like to try and reduce that,” he said.

Portraits of pets up for adoption are totally free of charge, he said — and a good photo can make a huge difference on whether an animal finds a home.

Goldberg told the story of Ginger, a people-loving dog who ended up at the Humane Society of Tampa Bay after her owner, who was in hospice care, was no longer able to care for her.

“Ginger was adopted out rather quickly but was returned because she broke out of her crate,” he said. A few months went by and she was still at the shelter. Fast forward a few more months from when I took her photo, she now lives with an older couple who can stay home with her during the day. She broke out of the crate because she didn’t like to be alone.”

Fans can follow Goldberg’s work on Instagram and on his website. Here are some more of the photos from the series.

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“The Lord of the Rings” could’ve had a lot of ch-ch-ch-ch-changes in the casting process, but the most legendary “almost” story involves David Bowie. 

Earlier this year, Dominic Monaghan, who plays Merry in the film series, confirmed to The Huffington Post that he did in fact see Bowie at the casting agency.

“David Bowie came in and signed his little list and went in. And I’m assuming he read for Gandalf. I can’t think of anything else he would’ve read for,” said Monaghan.

What’s this, precious? David Bowie could’ve been Gandalf?

The story has always been murky. The rumors were that Bowie wanted to actually play the role of Elrond, and that he approached the studio. So what’s the truth? Did he audition? Was he turned down? Is there life on Mars?

So many questions. Now, we also have answers.

HuffPost spoke with casting director Amy Hubbard in honor of the 15-year anniversary of the release of “The Fellowship of the Ring,” and she finally revealed the real reason Bowie wasn’t in the trilogy.

He was just too busy.

Hubbard, who worked on all of Peter Jackson’s “LOTR” and “Hobbit” films, said Bowie never actually had a formal audition. He didn’t have time.

“He was unavailable,” said Hubbard. “It was a very quick conversation with the legendary Chris Andrews at CAA. I do believe that [David Bowie] went over and played for everybody at the Millennium party. That would’ve been New Year’s Eve in the year 1999, which was when the films were being shot. He went over and entertained everybody, but he never auditioned. That’s for sure.”

Hubbard confirmed Jackson was interested in Bowie possibly taking on the role of Gandalf. She explained, “We approached him. I’m pretty sure it was Peter Jackson’s idea in the first few weeks that we got going. It was one that he’d always wondered about, and we rang Chris, and [Bowie] was far too busy.”

The movies required years of commitment from the actors, so it makes sense that a lack of time kept Bowie from being in the franchise. After all, that’s the reason Nic Cage supposedly wasn’t in the films, too.

Now, it’s hard to picture anyone but Sir Ian McKellen playing Gandalf. The actor made the role so famous that he told HuffPost people approach him about it every time he goes out.

Still, who knows what would’ve happened if David Bowie found the time? Imagine if he could’ve been a Middle-earth hero. Just for one day.

 Hit Backspace for a regular dose of pop culture nostalgia.

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2016 has been a terrible year, but the actions of young people have made it just a little bit brighter.

This year, kids impacted how we look at business, entertainment, social justice and more by using their talents and voices for good. 

Little Miss Flint, for example, helped turn the nation’s attention to Flint, Michigan’s devastating water crisis. Marley Dias collected more than 7,000 books in which the main character was a black girl to give to charity. And “Black-ish” star Yara Shahidi was consistently outspoken about inclusion and representation in Hollywood.

There were so many black kids and teens who made a difference this year. We’ve rounded up 12 young people who stood out and made 2016 better for all of us. 

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After two years of production delays and an assortment of other challenges he never expected to face, a California-based book designer’s quest to produce a cleaner, more readable version of the Bible has finally come to an end. 

Adam Greene’s Bibliotheca project turns the ancient Christian text into five volumes designed to create a pleasurable reading experience. Greene’s Bible is stripped of chapter and verse designations, footnotes, and other reference material that usually clutter the pages of the Bible. Bibliotheca’s pages are laid out as simple, clean paragraphs ― just like a novel.

The last time HuffPost checked in with Greene, in 2014, his project was starting to go viral on Kickstarter. It ended up being one of the top 10 most successful Kickstarter campaigns of the year, raising over $1.4 million dollars, much more than Greene’s original goal of $37,000. 

Greene, who designed Bibliotheca’s format, layout, and typefaces, told The Huffington Post he believes one of the reasons the project gained steam online was because people were just looking for “physical objects that are well-made, with intention, skill, and passion.”

“What I call the ‘encyclopedic Bible’—tissue-thin paper, crowded pages, careless typography, numbers and notes everywhere — had become the accepted, standard form of the greatest of all literature,” Greene wrote in an email. “It’s not that single-volume reference bibles aren’t useful—they can be, in certain contexts — it’s just that I don’t believe this format does the literature justice and shouldn’t be the only way we are able to experience it.”

The additional funding was a blessing but also introduced a few new challenges to the editorial process that caused delays. Greene planned to use the American Standard Version of the Bible for Bibliotheca because he appreciated its beauty and accuracy. The ASV was published in 1901 and contains archaic language (ye, thee, thou). Before his campaign went viral, Greene planned to simply replace the older language with their modern equivalents. But when he received extra funds, the first thing he did was commission a professional revision of the ASV. Greene said a significant amount of the funding went into the revision, which involved a team of research editors, copy editors, proofreaders, and Biblical language experts from Oxford, Fuller, Wheaton, Emory, and other reputable schools. 

“This [editorial] process was full of challenges and ... was hands-down the most difficult part of the project, but I am delighted with the results,” he told HuffPost. 

The funds also allowed Greene produce Bibliotheca at Kösel, a book manufacturing company in Germany founded in 1593, using wood-free, limestone-based paper from Salzer, an Austrian paper mill founded in 1579.

“I never had to cut a single corner, and I spared no expense in my attempt to make this an intrinsically beautiful object,” Greene said.

All of that means the end product is quite expensive ― $179 plus shipping for five books and a paperboard slipcase. 

Greene said that Bibliotheca has received over 20,000 orders from around the world so far. Funders have already begun receiving their pre-orders. 

Larger-scale publishers have been noticing Bible readers’ interest in alternative formats. Along with Bibliotheca, B&H Publishing Group and Crossway have also produced Bibles in novel form. 

The Bible has been edited, translated, revised, and reimagined numerous times over the centuries. In the past few years in particular, the world has been introduced to The Message, a version of the text written using modern words and idioms, the “100-Minute Bible,” which can be read in less than two hours, the @BibleSummary, which summarized every chapter in a 140-character tweet, and even an Emoji Bible.

Greene’s approach was to look at this ancient text with the eyes of a book designer. He said he’s not trying to invent something new, but revert back to “older, purer” forms of biblical literature.

“The first English Bible to come off the printing press, Tyndale’s New Testament in 1526, was a typical pocket-sized book, broken into paragraphs without verse numbers. Bibles in regular book form have popped up here and there ever since,” Greene wrote. “And going much further back, the Isaiah Scroll, the oldest extant complete biblical manuscript we have, is as simple as it gets—just the text, generously spaced with no distractions.”

One thing Greene has learned through this process is that even though the Bible has been translated and analyzed innumerable times, there’s still much mystery left in the text. 

“Mainly through working with the biblical language scholars, I was surprised at how often it happens that one or another passage can be translated or construed in several ways,” he wrote. “I believed before—but even more so now—that, as when studying any translated literature, it’s important to give the text diligence, to study and compare the work of experts, and to read more than one translation—no single translation should be held up as the last word. But on the other hand, I also believe it’s important to enjoy and embrace difficult and mysterious passages, not shy away from them.”

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Following the success of programs like “American Horror Story,” “Fargo” and “True Detective,” more and more networks have taken to airing limited series, miniseries or feature-length films. 

HBO is gearing up to release its latest limited series, “Big Little Lies,” which is already gaining attention after the trailer ran during “Westworld” showings this fall. And, according to Reese Witherspoon ― who stars in the series alongside Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley and Laura Dern ― we’re in for a wild ride come Feb. 19. 

The show follows a group of women whose children attend kindergarten together. But motherhood is far from the main focus of the show. 

“One of the grown-ups kills another grown-up, but you don’t know who. You know in the very beginning that one of us kills another one of us, but you don’t find out until the very end,” Witherspoon teased during an interview with The Huffington Post on AOL’s Build Series. “I just saw the end this week. It’s so good. It’s really ... scary. And real. It’s about these women, moms, who are viciously protective of their children, but also have a lot of secrets in their lives.”

Her “Sing” co-star Matthew McConaughey was also present for the interview and discussed working with HBO on the mega-hit “True Detective.” 

“My experience working with HBO was outstanding,” he said. “As far as them [being] a production company, the way they dealt with us creatively, when they came in, when they stayed back. I had a wonderful experience with them as a studio.” 

Witherspoon credited McConaughey and Woody Harrelson with pioneering the run of limited series on major networks, and thinks the way viewers absorb content is only going to get more and more technical. 

“Matthew and Woody really broke that open,” she said. “Having these two amazing actors in that limited series really changed the way that people see television and content, really. It kind of blurred the lines, like, ‘Is this a movie? Or, what is this?’ And I think that’s sort of an interesting conversation that’s going on now in media and entertainment.” 

Witherspoon and McConaughey’s animated movie, “Sing,” hits theaters Dec. 21. 

Watch their full Build Series interview below: 

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The ladies of Twitter never fail to brighten our days with their brilliant ― but succinct ― wisdom. Each week, HuffPost Women rounds up hilarious 140-character musings. For this week’s great tweets from women, scroll through the list below. Then visit our Funniest Tweets From Women page for our past collections.       

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A Jewish a cappella group is paying homage to the acclaimed Broadway musical “Hamilton” with a new music video released just in time for Hanukkah.

The Maccabeats, a team of vocalists that formed at Yeshiva University in 2007, are known for producing quirky parody videos that link pop culture with American Jewish traditions. This year, they drew on the parallels between Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton” and the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah to create “Hasmonean,” a song about the Hasmonean dynasty’s 164 BCE revolt against the Seleucid Empire.

“Hamilton” tells the story of Alexander Hamilton, whose skill and bravado helped win a revolution. Hanukkah is the story of a small group of Jews who banded together to overthrow a regime that was preventing them from practicing their religion. 

The historical parallel provided plenty of creative fodder for the Maccabeats, who modified a few“Hamilton” hits for their video. 

A verse from the song reads: 

We are not gonna betray our God
Hey yo, we don’t need permission
To keep our great traditions
And we’re not gonna betray our God.

Julian Horowitz, who arranged the song, told The Huffington Post that the Maccabeats were “huge Hamilton fans” who were struck by how Miranda’s work managed to fuse music with history lessons. 

Horowitz said he hoped his Jewish listeners would be “proud of their heritage and traditions.”

“This Hanukkah more than any in recent years, we also hope to spread a little light, hope, and harmony in a seemingly dark, negative, and divided world,” he told HuffPost in an email.

Listen to “Hasmonean” above.

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You can be highbrow. You can be lowbrow. But can you ever just be brow? Welcome to Middlebrow, a weekly examination of pop culture.

This the true story of seven six strangers picked to live in a house, have their lives taped ... and be very polite toward each other.

“Terrace House: Boys and Girls in the City,” a Japanese reality show streaming on Netflix, is a quieter, more pleasant foil to anyone who grew up on a steady diet of drunken conflict and love-triangle drama on “The Real World” or “Big Brother.”

The setup will be familiar to reality TV fans: a group of beautiful strangers live in a luxurious house together. There are communal showers, alcohol, a pool. Despite this, the attitudes and manufactured drama that hallmark so many favorites are absent. 

In the first episode, the crew meets each other, punctuating each greeting with a bow and an assurance that they look forward to living with one another. Whereas most reality shows lean on tropes like challenges or monetary rewards to heighten the stakes, the cameras here follow the crew as they go ... grocery shopping. We watch as they navigate a supermarket, commenting on the price of ingredients as they go. Over dinner, they discuss their respective schedules — in another turn from other popular shows, the “cast members” still go to their typical jobs.

Reality show contestants on other shows are often cut off from the outside world during filming, as many former “Bachelor” franchise members have mentioned, which means no listening to music, reading books or magazines, or accessing the internet. It’s a rule that allows for on-screen personalities to become totally restless — and more susceptible to unnecessary conflict, spurred on by producers.

On U.S. television screens, we’re well-conditioned to expect endless debauchery and oversized personalities in our reality stars. As Liz Raiss put it on Fader, “Put an equal number of shameless and generally unemployable men and women in an extravagant house together with an unlimited booze budget and a hot tub, and watch them ruin the possibility of ever living normal lives again, one episode at a time.”

It’s a trope that’s so overcooked at this point it feels bland. Another brawl between two drunken college students? Eh. Name-calling and shoving over unwashed dishes? I’ll pass. But “Terrace House” offers a glimpse into what reality TV could become.

Some might chalk up the show’s style to cultural differences between the U.S. and Japan, but it would be a danger to stereotype all of the former’s cultural offerings as loud and brash and the latter’s as exceedingly polite and meek. Maybe “Terrace House” shouldn’t be viewed as a purer, superior alternative to hellish shouting matches and lovers’ quarrels on American screens — just something unique and refreshing to come out of a genre that seemed to be mined of all originality.

“Terrace House” as a franchise has existed in Japan since 2012, but moved to Netflix in the fall of 2015, which is when “Boys and Girls in the City” premiered. The episodes have been hanging out on the streaming service for months — as a somewhat regular Netflix user, I never saw this original touted and promoted like “Gilmore Girls” and “Jessica Jones” was. I finally learned about the show via “Rose Buddies,” a “Bachelor” recap podcast (and accompanying Facebook group). Hosts Griffin and Rachel McElroy recapped “Terrace House” on their Dec. 6 episode (they are, as we all are, waiting for “The Bachelor” to begin again).

As Griffin put it, “if you think it’s not going to be your jam, I guarantee you, it’s going to be your jam.”

Even the opening “Terrace House” scene feels so calm and measured in comparison to the producer-fueled mix of personalities that came together on “Jersey Shore,” or even “The Bachelor.” An interesting theme that emerges when you turn to the internet for chatter about episodes like this is how perplexed viewers seem to be when they discuss their enjoyment of the show.

A Reddit user posted these thoughts nearly a year ago:

I usually loathe anything reality based but for some reason this show has my attention. I don’t even know why. It’s just a bunch of 20 year olds hanging out with each other and talking and building chemistry. I think it has to do with how genuine it is. Nothing is forced.

Meanwhile, in his writeup of the show, Griffin McElroy explained the appeal of the non-drama as such:

Take, for example, a three-minute scene devoted to unwashed dishes. While American viewers might brace for that sort of issue to devolve into a drunken screaming match, the residents of Terrace House make their displeasure known and then — this is the really revolutionary part — resolve it like actual adult humans who care about those around them.

If that sounds boring, I assure you, it is infinitely more fascinating than watching artificially constructed brawls that parallel my own life experience about as much as the WWE.

There’s a simplicity to the premise of “Terrace House” that I find I enjoy in the same way I select my podcasts: Sometimes, it’s just nice to hear from a person going through day-to-day life. It feels like a friendly eavesdropping of a mildly interesting conversation between friends: listening in, I see a glimpse of lives that are, writ large, not too different from mine in terms of the traditional youth-school-secondary education-job trajectory, but is compelling in its novelty. 

After a year during which conflict and bad news dominated conversations, on-screen drama doesn’t feel like an escape ― just more noise. At the risk of leaning too hard on the idea that we need calm at the end of a turbulent and hard 2016, I’d suggest this sleeper (at least in America) Netflix hit. If you get a strange thrill at peeking at the mundane moments in the lives of a few strangers, this Netflix offering could be a calm antidote to the stressful holiday season. 

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Movie lovers tend to rejoice around the holidays, when the annual surplus of so-called prestige films floods theaters ahead of January’s Oscar nominations. Of course, not everything can twinkle. Each winter produces a few misfires, but they’re usually not as strange as “Collateral Beauty” and “Passengers,” two of 2016’s final major-studio releases.

It’s hard to discuss “Collateral Beauty” and “Passengers” without mentioning spoilers. But nothing I’m going to talk about should constitute spoilers. Both trailers obscured their movies’ inciting events because they are weird and problematic. What some might call “twists” are actually the crux of these plots. (But if you’re still concerned about “spoilers,” you might want to stop reading this.)

“Passengers,” which opens Dec. 21, has kept a fairly high profile all year, largely because it’s headlined by charisma machines Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt. In 2007, Jon Spaihts’ script became a hot item on the Black List, an annual roster of promising unproduced screenplays. Sony has since made erratic marketing choices with director Morten Tyldum’s $120 million pageant, clearly unsure whether to package it as a love story, an epic about interstellar colonization or a life-or-death sci-fi adventure. A laughable teaser released a few weeks ago made the blockbuster seem like a sappy romantic comedy. The final cut of “Passengers” fits all of those labels, to its detriment. 

Like “Collateral Beauty,” “Passengers” is built on an interesting premise that goes awry. Pratt plays Jim Preston, a mechanical engineer whose sleep chamber awakens him with 90 years left before the spacecraft arrives at its destination. Jim’s 5,000-plus travel companions will remain asleep, their metabolism halted until the journey is complete. That means they’ll also presumably wake up to Jim’s corpse, considering he’ll be roughly 130 years old. After a year alone ― conversing with only an android bartender (Michael Sheen) and growing a “Cast Away”-style depression beard ― Jim can’t take it anymore. But wait! Maybe he could wake someone up for companionship.

That’s where things get interesting. “Passengers” presents a fascinating ethical dilemma. The person Jim awakens would also die before reaching the colony planet. Does he co-opt that person’s future in order to preserve his sanity?

And then, just as quickly as the movie poses that profound deliberation, it reduces itself to a straight-male wet dream. Jim picks a blond Sleeping Beauty named ― what else? ― Aurora (Lawrence). We might as well see Jim’s boner right then and there. He lusts after Aurora, and we know instantly where the narrative is headed. What starts as a fascinating internal conflict about one man’s future becomes an icky tale about consent told exclusively from a male gaze.

To the movie’s credit, Pratt grounds Jim enough to make him seem like a good guy. (The actor’s offscreen charm helps to further that persona.) Still, the cartoonish visuals and pat one-liners do nothing to distract from the central romance’s murky decency and inevitable predictability. Not to mention all the alluring camera angles that showcase Lawrence dressed in space swimsuits and tight-fitting threads appropriate for a luxe nightclub. When we see Pratt’s butt in one scene, it plays for laughs instead of tantalization. The fact that Lawrence and Pratt have little chemistry is an added insult. By the time a ship malfunction threatens the pair’s lives, “Passengers” has traded moral nuance for phony heroism. 

“Collateral Beauty,” on the other hand, could stand to be more predictable. Honestly, the movie ― opening this weekend ― is so damn bonkers that I can hardly explain it. The trailers present a story about Howard Inlet (Will Smith), a successful Manhattan advertising executive who has gone emotionally AWOL following his 6-year-old daughter’s death. When Howard’s co-workers hire a private investigator (Ann Dowd) who discovers he’s been writing bitter letters addressed to “Time,” “Love” and “Death,” a personification of each greets him in the flesh. Jacob Latimore plays Time, Keira Knightley plays Love and Helen Mirren plays Death.

What the trailers don’t show you is that Time, Love and Death are actors hired by Howard’s co-workers (Kate Winslet, Edward Norton and Michael Peña). Fearful of Howard’s near-catatonic state, his colleagues hope to save the company from sinking by convincing Howard he is crazy enough to need to step down. (Life is so precious!) From there, the movie only grows more ludicrous. Allan Loeb’s script expects us to find Howard’s co-workers sympathetic, because of course they are all facing their own personal dilemmas too. This “Christmas Carol” wannabe just becomes dumber and more manipulative as it progresses. 

“Collateral Beauty” has plot holes and twists ― real twists, not just the one the trailer obscured ― that are so preposterous, so unfathomable, so cynical and so cloying that it is a shock to the system to consider Warner Bros. devoted a reported $36 million to the movie’s budget. Characters advise one another to seek “collateral beauty” ― whatever the hell that means ― so many times that even if you are tempted to cry, your laughter will stave off the tears. And boy oh boy, does this movie want you to cry. David Frankel’s film is enmeshed in layers of misguided, scrubby sentimentality, barely recognizing the story is actually a vicious fable about gaslighting, 2016’s favorite theme. One day we will laugh and ask, “Remember that sappy thing where Will Smith lost his kid and his co-workers scheme to convince him he’s nuts? No?” 

The fact that “Passengers” and “Collateral Beauty” open within a week of each other is coincidental, but imagine aliens touching down and seeing these trite dramas’ titles emblazoned across theater marquees. There’s some sort of disappointing irony nestled in the fact that Hollywood is ending a year of under-performing franchise obsessions with two terrible original movies. We needn’t make 2016 any worse! There were so many wonderful films this year. Go find collateral beauty in them instead.

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“The Trumps” Lego set is too close to the truth for comfort. Luckily it’s a spoof.

The Donald Trump-themed toy contains all members of the president-elect’s family in figurine form, who each come with their own Trump Tower.

The bed from where Trump tweets late at night, $100 million in inherited dollars and his own private tanning salon are also included in the set.

There’s a red telephone from where he can call Russian President Vladimir Putin ― and even a full nuclear arsenal. But Trump’s tax returns are not contained.

YouTube channel “The School of Life” posted the parody commercial online Wednesday, and it’s already garnered more than 200,000 views.

Check out the full spoof ad above.

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Writer-performer Justin Sayre’s love of “Auntie Mame” shows no bounds. 

In his latest video for HuffPost Queer Voices, Sayre opens up about his lifelong fascination with the classic 1958 film, starring Rosalind Russell as a free-spirited, eccentric Mame Dennis left to care for her orphaned nephew. While nearly 60 years have passed since its release, “Auntie Mame” continues to win over new generations of gay fans, Sayre notes. 

Recalling how a friend once compared him to the iconic character, Sayre said, “My dream had come true, because to me, to be Mame Dennis is the goal of this whole adventure ... in every single respect!” 

Sayre’s “International Order of Sodomites” (I.O.S.) gathers once a month for “The Meeting,” a variety show honoring an artist or a cultural work that is iconic to the gay community. The holiday edition of “The Meeting” hits Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater in New York on Dec. 18. 

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President-elect Donald Trump really isn’t going to like this week’s “Saturday Night Live.”

In its cold-open sketch, the show tore into Trump’s reportedly friendly relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, his misspelled tweets and his controversial Cabinet picks.

The skit began with Alec Baldwin (playing Trump) explaining to Kate McKinnon (playing his campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway) why he went on his “thank you” tour and chose former Texas Gov. Rick Perry as energy secretary.

“Wasn’t that a great choice? I saw him on ‘Dancing With the Stars,’” the Trump character said. 

“This guy has so much energy. Unpresidented,” he added, referring to a misspelled tweet Trump posted Saturday.

“SNL” also poked fun at Trump for reportedly having a tough time finding musicians to perform at his inauguration. Beck Bennett ― playing a shirtless Putin ― then came out of the fireplace to give Trump a special Christmas “Elf on the Shelf” gift, in reference to a CIA report that Russia interfered with the presidential election.

When Baldwin-as-Trump said he feels bad at not getting him anything, Bennett-as-Putin replied: “Please, Mr. Trump, you are the gift.”

Finally, actor John Goodman made an appearance to play Trump’s pick for secretary of state, Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson.

Tillerson is friendly with Putin in real life, so Goodman arrived on the scene to do a special dance with Bennett’s character before discussing business. Meanwhile, all Trump could do is talk about his meeting with Kanye West.

Check it out in the clip above.

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Sub-zero temperatures have given a lighthouse on Lake Michigan a beautiful, fairy tale-castle twist.

As Polar Vortex-esque weather pushed the mercury down to between -5F and -15F on Friday, the Great Lakes Drone Company posted striking footage of the ice-laden structure on the lake’s southwest shores.

Photographer Joshua Nowicki captured similarly dazzling film of the same beacon, which he also uploaded to Facebook on the same day:

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“Surreal” is Merriam-Webster’s (yes, the dictionary) word of the year.

The announcement comes after Oxford Dictionaries’ choice of “post-truth” and Dictionary.com’s choice of “xenophobia” for their respective Word of the Year picks.

Merriam-Webster defines surreal as “marked by the intense irrational reality of a dream,” with its synonyms being unbelievable and fantastic.

The dictionary publisher established their choice due to the high volume of lookups “surreal” received in 2016.

The word spiked after the Brussels terror attacks in March, the coup attempt in Turkey, the terrorist attack in Nice, and the U.S. election in November, according to the site.

Merriam-Webster editor at large Peter Sokolowski noted in a press release how unusual it was that the word had been so frequently searched.

“Historically, surreal has been one of the words most searched after tragedy, most notably in the days following 9/11, but it was associated with a wide variety of stories this year,” he said.

“Surreal” was an even more surprising winner for Word of the Year when you consider that both “puppy,” “flummadiddle,” and “fascism” were all trending this month. “Fascism” was leading the pack for a while, but in an effort to, you know, not have “fascism” be the Word of the Year, the folks at Merriam-Webster sent out a call to arms to ask people to search literally anything else.

But don’t worry: this election was not rigged. Merriam-Webster assured us all weeks ago that they’d select a winner appropriately.

“Our Word of the Year cannot be rigged. We encourage people to look up new words at all times, particularly if those words are strange 19th-century Americanisms or words for adorable doll-like creatures, but our Word of the Year is based on year-over-year increase in lookups,” they said on their site. “We look for a word which got a high number of lookups and increased dramatically in popularity when compared to previous years.”

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Novelists and short story writers are to thank for several of the more inventive movies that’ve come out in 2016. “Elle,” a haunting story about fear, anxiety, and triumph after assault, is based on the novel Oh... by Philippe Djian; “Arrival” is based on a short story by sci-fi writer Ted Chiang called “Story of Your Life.”

2017 also promises to be brimming with book adaptations ― the award-winning, the quietly affecting, and the unabashedly sexy. In case you want to get a head start on reading the books first, we’ve rounded up the book-to-screen stories we’re most looking forward to next year.

“Hidden Figures” ― Jan. 6

What’s the story: Already out in limited release, the story of Katherine Johnson, a math whiz who boosted NASA’s progress, is bringing in stunning reviews. Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe star.

What it’s based on: Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly.

“Live by Night” ― Jan. 14

What’s the story: Another that’s already out in major cities, this flick stars Ben Affleck, who wrote and directed the film, too. A 1920s crime drama, it also stars Zoe Saldana, Elle Fanning and Sienna Miller.

What it’s based on: Live by Night by Dennis Lehane.

“I Am Not Your Negro” ― Feb. 3

What’s the story: Technically, this film is an adaptation of a book that never was. James Baldwin told his literary agent that he’d planned to write the story of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, Malcolm X’s and Medgar Evers’ assassinations. This documentary picks up where Baldwin left off.

What it’s based on: Remember This House, a book that was never written, by James Baldwin.

“Fifty Shades Darker” ― Feb. 10

 What’s the story: Just when you thought he couldn’t get any greyer, Christian’s brooding gets turned up a notch, and Anastasia is totally into it. Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan star again. 

What it’s based on: Fifty Shades Darker by E.L. James.

“Before I Fall” ― March 3 

What’s the story: An adaptation of a thrilling YA book, “Before I Fall” follows protagonist Sam on a “Groundhog Day”–like journey, reliving the last, fatal day of her life as she tries to make sense of her own death. 

What it’s based on: Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver.

“The Sense of an Ending” ― March 10

What’s the story: If the film is anything like the Booker Prize–winning book its based on, it’ll be a subtle reflection on the passing of time, and the people who touch us over the course of our lives. Jim Broadbent will star as an aging man who learns the truth about a friend from his youth.

What it’s based on: The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes.

“Wonder” ― April 7

What’s the story: Jacob Tremblay — whom you may remember from his performance in “Room” — plays a boy with a facial deformity. As in “Room,” “Wonder” is about the boy’s relationship with his parents, and how they learn and grow from each other.

What it’s based on: Wonder by R.J. Palacio.

“The Lost City of Z” ― April 21

What’s the story: In 1925, explorer Percy Fawcett disappeared on the last of many trips he took to the Amazon, in search of evidence of a lost civilization. Charlie Hunnam will star in the on-screen version of his story.

What it’s based on: The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann.

“The Circle” ― April 28 

What’s the story: Tom Hanks plays a mega-startup mogul and Emma Watson one of its new employees in a dystopian story about privacy ― the need for it, and the ramifications of diminishing it. 

What it’s based on: The Circle by Dave Eggers.

“The Dinner” ― May 5

What’s the story: Over several courses shared at a restaurant, two families ― that of a teacher and that of his brother, a politician ― meet to talk about a crime that’s been committed by their sons. The resulting dark commentary stars Richard Gere and Laura Linney.

What it’s based on: The Dinner by Herman Koch.

“My Cousin Rachel” ― May 5

What’s the story: Daphne Du Maurier knows how to write a sinister story set in a large, foreboding house. In My Cousin Rachel ― originally adapted to film in 1952, and again as a miniseries in 1983  ― a man plans to murder his cousin, played by Rachel Weisz.

What it’s based on: My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier. 

“King Arthur: Legend of the Sword” ― May 12 

What’s the story: Guy Ritchie (“Snatch,” “Sherlock Holmes”) takes on King Arthur, a story Hollywood loves to retell, this time starring Charlie Hunnam. This installment is of the sword-in-the-stone variety; Arthur realizes his power after completing the impossible feat.

What it’s based on: Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory.

“Everything, Everything” ― May 19

What’s the story: Amandla Stenberg stars as Maddy Whittier, a young girl who is, as the story’s title suggests, allergic to everything. Leaving the confines of her home would be dangerous, but when a new neighbor moves in, she finds she has reason to.

What it’s based on: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon.

“The Dark Tower” ― July 28

What’s the story: Stephen King’s books, we’ve learned, lend themselves well to on-screen adaptation. In what he’s described as a sequel to his beloved sci-fi Western series, Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey will star.

What it’s based on: The Dark Tower series by Stephen King.

“The Mountain Between Us” ― Oct. 20

What’s the story: Idris Elba will star in another major adaptation next year, this time opposite Kate Winslet, in the story of a pair marooned on a mountain after a plane crash.

What it’s based on: The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin.

“Murder on the Orient Express” ― Nov. 22

What’s the story: Kenneth Branagh (”Hamlet,” “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” aka the best Harry Potter adaptation) is directing an Agatha Christie story, starring Daisy Ridley. We’re in. 

What it’s based on: Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. 

More adapted films to look forward to, but without slated release dates:

“Annihilation,” “Thank You for Your Service,” and “The Glass Castle.”

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