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Tag: patricia clarkson

Best Thanksgiving Movies of All Time, Ranked

2018’s ‘The Oath’. Photo: Roadside Attractions.

Everyone has a favorite Christmas movie, right? Whether it’s ‘A Christmas Story,’ ‘Elf’ or even ‘Die Hard,’ Christmas movies play ad nauseam on television throughout the month of December.
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But where are all the Thanksgiving Day films?

In honor of the annual holiday, Moviefone is counting down the top twenty Thanksgiving Day themed movies of all time!

Now, to qualify for this list the film must either take place at Thanksgiving or involve the holiday in some way, and we are only counting theatrical releases, so sorry ‘A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.’

Let’s begin!

Related Article: Every Halloween Movie, Ranked From Terrible to Terrifying

20) ‘The Blind Side ‘ (1997)

2009’s ‘The Blind Side’. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.

The story of Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron), a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All American football player and first round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman (Sandra Bullock) and her family.
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19) ‘Pilgrim‘ (2019)

In an attempt to remind her family of their privilege and help them bond, Ms. Anna Barker (Courtney Henggeler) invites Pilgrim reenactors to stay with them over Thanksgiving. When the “actors” refuse to break character, the Barker family learns that there is such a thing as too much gratitude.
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18) ‘Black Friday‘ (2021)

A group of toy store employees must protect each other from a horde of parasite infected shoppers.
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17) ‘The Thanksgiving Movie‘ (2020)

Join Butterball the turkey and Missy the Dodo as they come to the rescue of Thanksgiving and embark on an unforgettable, clock-racing countdown to a holiday dinner. It’s a Thanksgiving Movie for the ages.
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16) ‘Sweet November‘ (2001)

Nelson (Keanu Reeves)is a man devoted to his advertising career in San Francisco. One day, while taking a driving test at the DMV, he meets Sara (Charlize Theron). She is very different from the other women in his life. Nelson causes her to miss out on taking the test and later that day she tracks him down. One thing leads to another and Nelson ends up living with her through a November that will change his life forever.
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15) ‘Scent of a Woman‘ (1992)

1992’s ‘Scent of a Woman’. Photo: Universal Pictures.

Charlie Simms (Chris O’Donnell) is a student at a private preparatory school who comes from a poor family. To earn the money for his flight home to Gresham, Oregon for Christmas, Charlie takes a job over Thanksgiving looking after retired U.S. Army officer Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade (Al Pacino), a cantankerous middle-aged man who lives with his niece and her family.
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14) ‘Son in Law‘ (1993)

Country girl Rebecca (Carla Gugino) has spent most of her life on a farm in South Dakota, and, when she goes away to college in Los Angeles, Rebecca immediately feels out of place in the daunting urban setting. She is befriended by a savvy party animal named Crawl (Pauley Shore), who convinces the ambivalent Rebecca to stay in the city. When Thanksgiving break rolls around, Rebecca, no longer an innocent farm girl, invites Crawl back to South Dakota, where he pretends to be her fiancé.
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13) ‘Prisoners‘ (2013)

Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) faces a parent’s worst nightmare when his 6-year-old daughter, Anna, and her friend go missing. The only lead is an old motorhome that had been parked on their street. The head of the investigation, Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal), arrests the driver, but a lack of evidence forces Loki to release his only suspect. Dover, knowing that his daughter’s life is at stake, decides that he has no choice but to take matters into his own hands.
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12) ‘The Wiz‘ (1978)

Dorothy Gale (Diana Ross), a shy kindergarten teacher, is swept away to the magic land of Oz where she embarks on a quest to return home.
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11) ‘Pieces of April‘ (2003)

Quirky and rebellious April Burns (Katie Holmes) lives with her boyfriend (Derek Luke) in a low-rent New York City apartment miles away from her emotionally distant family. But when she discovers that her mother (Patricia Clarkson) has a fatal form of breast cancer, she invites the clan to her place for Thanksgiving. While her father (Oliver Platt) struggles to drive her family into the city, April — an inexperienced cook — runs into kitchen trouble and must ask a neighbor for help.
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10) ‘Home for the Holidays‘ (1995)

1995’s ‘Home for the Holidays’. Photo: Paramount Pictures.

After losing her job, making out with her soon-to-be former boss, and finding out that her daughter plans to spend Thanksgiving with her boyfriend, Claudia Larson (Holly Hunter) faces spending the holiday with her unhinged family.
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9) ‘The Ice Storm‘ (1997)

In the weekend after thanksgiving 1973 the Hood family is skidding out of control. Then an ice storm hits, the worst in a century.
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8) ‘Addams Family Values‘ (1993)

Siblings Wednesday (Christina Ricci) and Pugsley Addams (Jimmy Workman) will stop at nothing to get rid of Pubert, the new baby boy adored by parents Gomez (Raul Julia) and Morticia (Anjelica Huston). Things go from bad to worse when the new “black widow” nanny, Debbie Jellinsky (Joan Cusack), launches her plan to add Fester to her collection of dead husbands.
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7) ‘Grumpy Old Men‘ (1993)

For decades, next-door neighbors and former friends John (Jack Lemmon) and Max (Walter Matthau) have feuded, trading insults and wicked pranks. When an attractive widow (Ann-Margret) moves in nearby, their bad blood erupts into a high-stakes rivalry full of naughty jokes and adolescent hijinks.
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6) ‘Tower Heist‘ (2011)

A luxury condo manager leads a staff of workers to seek payback on the Wall Street swindler who defrauded them. With only days until the billionaire gets away with the perfect crime, the unlikely crew of amateur thieves enlists the help of petty crook Slide to steal the $20 million they’re sure is hidden in the penthouse.
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5) ‘Thanksgiving‘ (2023)

‘Thanksgiving’ Parade from TriStar Pictures and Spyglass Media Group, LLC Thanksgiving.

After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts – the birthplace of the holiday. Picking off residents one by one, what begins as random revenge killings are soon revealed to be part of a larger, sinister holiday plan.
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4) ‘Free Birds‘ (2013)

Two turkeys from opposite sides of the tracks must put aside their differences and team up to travel back in time to change the course of history—and get turkey off the holiday menu for good.
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3) ‘The Oath‘ (2018)

In a politically-divided United States, a man struggles to make it through the Thanksgiving holiday without destroying his family.
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2) ‘The Last Waltz‘ (1978)

Martin Scorsese‘s documentary intertwines footage from “The Band’s” incredible farewell tour with probing backstage interviews and featured performances by Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, and other rock legends.

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1) ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles‘ (1987)

1987’s ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’. Photo: Paramount Pictures.

An irritable marketing executive, Neal Page (Steve Martin), is heading home to Chicago for Thanksgiving when a number of delays force him to travel with a well meaning but overbearing shower curtain ring salesman, Del Griffith (John Candy).
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November 25, 2025
Movie Review: ‘She Said’

(L to R) Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan in ‘She Said,’ directed by Maria Schrader.

One of the toughest genres of movie to get right is the based-on-truth investigative dig into a big story. It’s not just that reporters hunched over keyboards or waiting for phones to ring can be singularly uncinematic, more that the heaviest hitters in the field – ‘All the President’s Men’, for example, or ‘Spotlight’ – boast a compelling subject, watchable performers as the dogged journalists and belief in the need for such work.

Fortunately, ‘She Said’ has all three. And if it doesn’t quite match those bastions of the form, then it certainly offers a hard-hitting, emotional and difficult probe into a world where too many people kept horrifying actions quiet for too long, with a variety of women’s lives and careers either destroyed or profoundly affected.

Directed by Maria Schrader (‘I’m Your Man’) and written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz (‘Disobedience’, ‘Colette’), ‘She Said’ follows the real-life investigation by New York Times journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey into the Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct story, a bombshell piece which detailed a tapestry of allegations against the powerhouse producer, helped launch the #MeToo movement and assisted in sending Weinstein to prison for his actions.

Originally tipped off by accusations made by actress Rose McGowan (played in voice form only here by Keilly McQuail), Kantor and then Twohey began to peel the toxic onion of Weinstein’s world, revealing any number of accusations of gross sexual and abusive behavior towards subordinates, actresses and others.

(L to R) Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan in ‘She Said,’ directed by Maria Schrader.

It’s a painful subject to bring to life and Schrader never shies from showing the effect it had on everyone who was affected – at least, those who would go on the record initially. The trickiest aspect was finding sources who would agree to be quoted, since Miramax and others and arranged settlements with a number of victims that included strict gagging orders.

With dogged determination, the two reporters (aided by senior journalist Rebecca Corbett) dug away at the cone of silence, finding people – including Ashley Judd, who plays herself – willing to let their names be used in the initial piece.

Lenkiewicz, meanwhile, adapts the book that the three reporters wrote documenting their work, carefully charting the wide-ranging investigation that ended up taking them to London, Wales, Silicon Valley and beyond in search of reliable and willing witnesses and victims.

Kazan brings a quietly persistent flavor to Kantor, a seemingly unassuming woman who held the line even when threatened and followed. Likewise, Mulligan imbues Twohey with a world-weariness drawn from previous years covering scandals; she’s introduced on the trail of accusations against Donald Trump during the 2016 election year. There are death and rape threats randomly flooding her phone and conversations with the subject himself rife with threats of legal action and poisonous personal attacks.

(L to R) Zoe Kazan, Carey Mulligan, Andre Braugher, and Patricia Clarkson in ‘She Said,’ directed by Maria Schrader.

Both of the leads are excellent, pushing the narrative along without flashy drama. These are complicated, driven women with the backbone to keep following the truth despite incredible pressure and resistance. Patricia Clarkson, for her part, makes the smaller role of Corbett into a mentor and colleague to be admired.

Around them, Schrader has built a supporting ensemble that shines almost to the same level – Jennifer Ehle will break your heart as Laura Madden, one of Weinstein’s victims who agrees to share her story even as she’s preparing to undergo major surgery. Andre Braugher brings gravelly power to Times executive editor Dean Baquet, snapping down the phone to recalcitrant lawyers and executives, and keeping his colleagues on the right track. And there are the various former studio workers and other victims who are quietly nudged into offering up their accounts or checking facts even if they won’t speak publicly.

Lest you think that it’s a grinding trudge through fetid soup, there are the moments of triumph, the calls to let Kantor or Twohey know that someone is willing to speak. Finding documents to back up the accusations. The reporters’ family lives also help to balance out the bleakness, moments of joy – but leavened with real-life challenges – as they dig ever deeper.

And though Weinstein is the subject here, he’s more a shadowy presence, heard over phones and glimpsed from behind when arriving at the Times office with his legal team to hammer out a statement to add to the story shortly before it’s published.

(L to R) Hywel Madden (Wesley Holloway), Laura Madden (Jennifer Ehle) and Iris Madden (Justine Colan) in ‘She Said,’ directed by Maria Schrader. © Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

‘She Said’ is the sort of important story that it’s vital to get right. Tone is everything, and while Schrader sometimes lets the momentum lag, it’s almost always gripping. There is a measured feel to the movie that pushes it beyond feeling like someone is simply reading a Wikipedia entry about the investigation to you while you’re trapped in your chair.

And though not every scene of the journalists pouring through pages or squinting at screens to make sure the facts are straight work as well as the door-knocking encounters with former Weinstein assistants whose pain is written across their face, it doesn’t dilute what ‘She Said’ has to offer. True, a few scenes could easily have been snipped (we’re not sure we needed to have Kantor and Twohey show up at Gwyneth Paltrow’s beautiful home for a conversation we never get to watch) and there are flashbacks that flip between powerful and filler, but the whole holds together beautifully and the result is an urgent, engrossing look at the positive impact that good, professional journalism can have on the world, which is something more relevant than ever.

Given the extensive coverage – sadly, this is a story as old as time and one in which the revelations, far beyond Weinstein, will just keep arriving – it would be easy to think that you already know what happened. ‘She Said’ is here to assure you, with heartbreaking authority, that you most definitely do not.

‘She Said’ receives 4 out of 5 stars.

Cast of ‘She Said,’ directed by Maria Schrader.
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November 19, 2022
‘She Said’ Interviews: Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan

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Opening in theaters on November 18th is the new biographical drama ‘She Said,’ which tells the true story of the New York Times journalists that broke the story of Harvey Weinstein‘s sexual misconduct allegations.

Directed by Maria Schrader (‘I’m Your Man’), the film stars Carey Mulligan (‘Promising Young Woman’) and Zoe Kazan (‘The Big Sick’) as New York Times journalists Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, respectively.

In addition to Mulligan and Kazan, the cast also includes Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher, Jennifer Ehle, Samantha Morton, and Ashley Judd as herself.

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan about their work on ‘She Said,’ the true story it is based on, the journalists that reported the story, and the courageous women that came forward to tell the truth.

Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan star in ‘She Said.’

You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Mulligan, Kazan, Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher, Jennifer Ehle, and director Maria Schrader.

Moviefone: To begin with, Carey, can you talk about playing Megan Twohey and what did you learn about her that surprised you?

Carey Mulligan: I mean there were so many reasons I wanted to be a part of the story in general, I think. The import of what these women achieved is something that we’ll learn about in the history books in years to come because of the courage of the survivors who came forward. So, I think it deserves a film about it, and about the women who spoke up.

But with Megan particularly, I think I was so interested in just the psychological makeup of someone who can do that job, of an investigative journalist. Who can ring someone up in the middle of the day, ask them maybe the most difficult thing that’s ever happened to that person, and try and start a relationship with that person to share that information with the world, with the sole conviction that it’s for the right reasons.

I think that’s a really extraordinary skill. I think we both felt from the beginning so in awe of them as women. They’re really extraordinary. They’re really impressive, and we just wanted to do that justice, and try to portray them honestly.

(L to R) Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan in ‘She Said,’ directed by Maria Schrader.

MF: Finally, Zoe, there is a pivotal scene in the film where Jody receives a call from Ashley Judd saying that she is willing to go on the record. Can you talk about filming that scene and how Judd’s courage really broke the story wide open?

Zoe Kazan: I think Carey and I both feel just this enormous debt of gratitude to all the women who spoke with Jody and Megan, either on or off the record. Carey has said, time and again, and I think it’s true, it takes so much courage and so much bravery to speak even in private about something traumatic that has happened to you, let alone with a reporter who’s going to use that story to tell the world.

I think knowing that Ashley had been so brave and that her going on the record had really made such an enormous difference within our industry and within the world, I think the emotion of that was very easy for me to access.

It was also just really meaningful to me to have Carey there. We’ve been friends for 14 years and I think getting to look into her eyes and say, “She’s going on the record,” and have that sort of connection between us, it really brought our partnership into the room at the same time as it was honoring Megan and Jody’s partnership and the sisterhood of all these women.

(L to R) Carey Mulligan, Zoe Kazan, Patricia Clarkson and Andre Braugher in ‘She Said,’ directed by Maria Schrader.
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November 15, 2022
‘She Said’ Trailer Uncovers Hard Truths

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When scandals break, especially those featuring sensitive subjects, it can sometimes take a long time for a movie to arrive that uses the case as the basis for drama.

There are times, though, that striking while the iron is at least still fairly hot works, and that topical consideration is key to ‘She Said’, which has its first trailer online just a few years after the events happened.

Starring ‘Promising Young Woman’s Carey Mulligan and ‘The Big Sick’s Zoe Kazan, ‘She Said’ is the story of New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, who blew the lid off the Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct scandals.

Universal snapped up the rights to the reporters’ 2019 book, ‘She Said: Breaking The Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite A Movement’ and moved quickly to adapt it.

Twohey and Kantor were investigating misconduct more generally in Hollywood when they began to zero in on Weinstein as a particular problem. The powerful producer, who had been involved with some huge movies, was also a notorious abuser, treating actresses like puppets he could manipulate, dangling career chances in return for sexual favors, or threats if they didn’t go along with his whims.

The reporters had secret meetings, harrowing phone calls and private text exchanges with victims, as A-list actresses agonized over whether to go on the record. Many of those involved had been paid off to say nothing, worried that they would be sued if they went on the record.

(L to R) Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan) and Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan) in ‘She Said,’ directed by Maria Schrader. © Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

It took months of work, digging up new sources, figuring out how to talk about the issue without anyone breaking their non-disclosure agreement.

Fortunately, there were enough people willing to talk about what had been happening, and as a truth that had been an open secret in the hallways of Hollywood began to come out, Weinstein attempted to fight back.

We know the results, though – Twohey and Kantor began publishing their story in 2017 and he eventually ended up behind bars (he’s still facing more charges) and the reports (plus Ronan Farrow’s work) helped launch the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements.

The cast here also includes Patricia Clarkson as the Times’ investigations department editor Rebecca Corbett, and Andre Braugher plays the paper’s executive editor, Dean Baquet.

Samantha Morton is Zelda Perkins, a former assistant to Weinstein who endured his abuse and later found herself bound by constricting privacy agreements, while the likes of Elle Graham, Maren Lord, Keilly McQuail, Maren Henry, Tom Pelphrey, Hilary Greer and Davram Steifler are all in the ensemble.

‘Love Life’ director Maria Schrader is behind the camera here, working from a script by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, who adapted Twohey and Kantor’s book.

‘She Said’ will be in theaters on November 18th.

(L to R) Hywel Madden (Wesley Holloway), Laura Madden (Jennifer Ehle) and Iris Madden (Justine Colan) in ‘She Said,’ directed by Maria Schrader. © Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.
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July 14, 2022
‘Sharp Objects’ Might Return for Season 2, Extend HBO Limited Series

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HBO’s acclaimed limited series “Sharp Objects” may turn out not to be so limited after all.

Showrunner Marti Noxon is hinting that the miniseries based on Gillian Flynn’s novel could return for a second season. If it did, it would follow in the footsteps of network sister “Big Little Lies,” which was also based on a book without a sequel and intended to be a one-off.

During a keynote address at SXSW, Noxon noted that “Sharp Objects” didn’t delve into many aspects of the life of protagaonist Camille (Amy Adams).

“Maybe there will be a sequel and we’ll get to find out,” she said. “Gillian [Flynn] and I have some thoughts on it.”

Noxon also mentioned that she had initially envisioned “Sharp Objects” as an ongoing series that focused not just on Camille but on the people of the town Wind Gap.

Even if HBO wanted a second season, getting the team back together again — particularly Adams and Golden Globe winner Patricia Clarkson — could prove to be a tough endeavor.

Noxon herself told The Hollywood Reporter last August, after the finale, that it would be near impossible. “It’s off the table in terms of, people are going on to their next projects, and it was a pretty hard A-team to assemble,” she said.

“It’s not hard to imagine from a story standpoint, because obviously we love these characters, but from a technical standpoint it seems like a long shot.”

Of course, getting the cast of “Big Little Lies” together for a second season seemed impossible, too. But it happened (AND they got Meryl Streep to join them).

Still, even if Noxon thinks there’s more story to tell, she also feels that “there are certain things that are just limited, and should be.”

March 11, 2019
Ben Kingsley Drawn to ‘Honest’ Humanity in ‘Learning to Drive’

Ben Kingsley and Patricia Clarkson star as a mismatched pair who are worlds apart in “Learning to Drive.” Kingsley is a working class turban-wearing Sikh driving instructor living in Queens to Clarkson’s Upper West Side literary critic. But the driving lessons they share take a backseat to the lessons in life that they learn through each other.

“I was very drawn to the genuine heart of the film—true honest reflection of us as human beings and how we bump into each other,” Kingsley tells Made in Hollywood. “It’s all coalition—it’s all accident.”

Indeed, it’s a series of coincidences and life happening by accident that inspired “Learning to Drive.” The rom-com-drama is based on writer Katha Pollitt’s 2007 book, of which the film shares the same title, that features introspective essays on a range of topics, including her experience taking driving lessons from an instructor—a man from the Philippines.

Kingsley says that sincerity and the “great writing” of stories is “dependent on real-life accidents.”

Continuing, he emphasizes that the connection between the characters is serendipitous and raw. “Not manufactured. Not compartmentalized. Not sentimentalized. A quite unpredictable conclusion for the people involved.”

“I was very drawn to the genuine heart of the film—true honest reflection of us as human beings and how we bump into each other,” he says. “It’s all coalition—it’s all accident.”
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August 27, 2015
Patricia Clarkson Is ‘Such a New Yorker’ That She Has Not Driven for 30 Years

It’s been years since Patricia Clarkson got behind the wheel. So it was a matter of life imitating art for her role in “Learning to Drive,” which saw the actress receiving lessons from Ben Kingsley, who plays her onscreen driving instructor.

“I sort of learned to drive again because I had become such a New Yorker,” the New Orleans native tells Made in Hollywood, admitting that it had been 30 years since she had last driven.

The 55-year-old shares that taking the driver’s seat in the film was rather favorable, both introspectively and pragmatically.

“What I realized—in the process of learning to drive—you have to look, listen, hear, pay attention,” she says. “You have to see to the world in front of you—you have to be absolutely present.”

In “Learning to Drive” Clarkson stars as a literary agent who, abandoned by her husband, must now learn how to drive. Kingsley stars as her instructor, a Sikh, who is readying for an arranged marriage.

“Learning to Drive” is in theaters now. Watch the trailer below.

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August 25, 2015