the armstrong lie is a 2013 american documentary film directed by alex gibney about the cyclist lance armstrong .

originally titled the road back , the film takes its name from " le mensonge armstrong " , the headline of the august 23 , 2005 issue of the french newspaper l'équipe .

the film was screened out of competition at the 70th venice international film festival and in the special presentation section at the 2013 toronto international film festival .

the armstrong lie

the armstrong lie
simply offers up the armstrong lie . sorry , but we ' ve all already heard that one .
the armstrong lie is eye - opening and myth - shattering and more than a little depressing .
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“what’s more , he can use the story as his defence . that was the most astounding thing , when he looks down the lens he uses the fantastic nature of the lie to buttress it . how can i possibly be telling a lie because if i cheated i would put all this at risk ? ”
for four years with the intent of chronicling his return to cycling after retirement as armstrong tried to win his eighth tour de france . unexpectedly , gibney was also there when armstrong admitted to doping , which resulted in the film being retitled from
the road back
to
the armstrong lie .
venice - - italy , oscar - winning documentary director alex gibney ( taxi to the dark side ) returns to a project he started over five years ago in the armstrong lie , which was initially envisaged as a film about champion cyclist lance armstrong ’s 2009 comeback and now includes material shot after the 2012 revelation that the athlete’s insistent denials of ever having used performance - enhancing drugs were a lie .
anyone can pull a con like armstrong’s . you just lie and keep on lying until someone catches you . it takes a master to keep the con going even after you’ve been caught .
the armstrong lie picks up in 2013 and presents a riveting , insider’s view of the unraveling of one of the most extraordinary stories in the history of sports . as lance armstrong himself says : “i didn’t live a lot of lies , but i lived one big one . ”
lance armstrong has confessed to using performance - enhancing drugs during all seven of his tour de france victories , saying :
i view this situation as one big lie .
8 . when in doubt , he played the cancer card . gibney argues that the livestrong foundation and armstrong’s open discussion of his cancer offered a way to rationalize the lie to himself and ultimately provided an out if anyone questioned him .
as gibney admits , it wasn ' t just the
armstrong lie
that drove him through the endurance - testing tour de france , but people ' s desire to believe in that lie . armstrong comes across as both admirably resilient and frighteningly selfish , his treatment of those who crossed him ( teammates with whom he doped , for example ) tellingly callous , his refusal to be beaten bizarrely engaging .
armstrong was sporting a yellow livestrong band on his right wrist . the bracelets were worn by many people during his era of dominance , but recently many have been defaced to read ' lie - strong ' .
the armstrong lie has several insightful moments but is most interesting in how it shows us a filmmaker usually committed to finding the absolute truth in his subjects , suffering when he comes across a story where lies and truth constantly intertwine .
the armstrong lie
also presents a very close relationship between lance armstrong and the international cycling union , cycling ' s governing board . the icu and armstrong had frequent conversations on the cyclist ' s latest drug test , with the board representatives amicably warning armstrong how close he was to getting caught . gibney doesn ' t elaborate on it and purposefully leaves it hanging , but he makes it seem not unfeasible that the whole controversy might have even involved the very head of the uci .
we learn far more about the man from alex gibney’s superb documentary the armstrong lie . the reason for making a drama , you would have thought , would be to speculate and examine in a way documentary never can . well , it does not happen here .
in 2009 alex gibney was hired to make a film about lance armstrong’s comeback to cycling . the project was shelved when the doping scandal erupted , and re - opened after armstrong’s confession . “the armstrong lie” picks up in 2013 and presents a riveting , insider’s view of the unraveling of one of the most extraordinary stories in the history of sports . as lance armstrong himself says : “i didn’t live a lot of lies , but i lived one big one . ”
subscribe to trailers : urltoken subscribe to coming soon : urltoken subscribe to indie & film festivals : urltoken like us on facebook : urltoken follow us on twitter : urltoken the armstrong lie official trailer 1 ( 2013 ) - lance armstrong documentary hd an exposition of cyclist lance armstrong as he trains for his eighth tour de france victory .
in 2009 alex gibney was hired to make a film about lance armstrong’s comeback to cycling . the project was shelved when the doping scandal erupted , and re - opened after armstrong’s confession . “the armstrong lie” picks up in 2013 and presents a riveting , insider ' s view of the unraveling of one of the most extraordinary stories in the history of sports . as lance armstrong himself says : “i didn’t live a lot of lies , but i lived one big one . ”
that same month , hamilton was at armstrong’s villa in nice , and received a vial of epo from armstrong that had been stored in armstrong’s refrigerator , the report said .
the myth of the cancer survivor turned serial winner , which armstrong perpetuated , captivated millions .
the disgraced hero at the center of one of the most compelling rise - and - fall narratives in recent years gets exhaustive and penetrating documentary treatment in “the armstrong lie . ” focusing primarily on the past four years of lance armstrong’s life — from his 2009 post - retirement comeback bid to his recent admission that he had used performance - enhancing drugs , despite [ … ]
“the lie was way bigger than it needed to be , ” says gibney . “the fact is he could have gone through his career and kept his head down , just saying , ' i’d never been tested positive’ . that would have been the truth – well not quite , but almost . instead , he constructs this spectacular lie in line with this spectacular story he has of the cancer survivor coming back from near death to win the tour .
i view this situation as one big lie , that i repeated a lot of times . it wasn ' t as if i just said no and i moved on .
we watch incredible acts , superhuman performance , staggering achievement and in the wake of the armstrong lie we now doubt them all . we have to consider the possibility that every one of our heroes might be powered by dope . it is not a bad position for the cynic , perhaps . but it is a hopeless one for the sporting romantic .
so faithful was the shoot , the story goes that ben foster , the lead actor , took epo to convey armstrong all the more authentically .
many of those who inflated the armstrong bubble will now capitalise on his confession .
armstrong insists he is willing to co - operate with the authorities in future .
at the race’s end , however , armstrong proclaimed his innocence . he won the tour six more times .
so where does the blame lie ? the cycling press can , half - justifiably , blame their employers and their editors , who demanded the usual round of quotes , mini - scoops and interviews . the reporters could argue that they were simply following a narrow interpretation of their professional obligations .
when director alex gibney started working on his lance armstrong documentary in 2009 , the cyclist occupied a very different position in the pop - athletic landscape . but as the film approached completion , allegations against armstrong became a lot more credible , and in 2010 gibney scrapped a bunch of the movie and wound up with a very different film . what was going to be the road back is now the armstrong lie , and here ' s the movie ' s first trailer .
i certainly was very confident that i would never be caught ,
armstrong says in a clip . yeah , no kidding .
still , the armstrong lie feels more often like a possibility for the director to revive an abandoned passion project and try to turn it into something of a ( cosmetically more appealing ) frankenstein’s monster , using interview and some impressive tour footage from the original film and some newly shot material to make what would finally turn out to be a quite absorbing but never riveting or revelatory overview of armstrong’s career and testy personality .
armstrong ' s drug use began in the
mid - 90s
, he said .
the problem with armstrong was the way he aggressively chased down and sued ( or threatened to sue ) people who may have flagged up any alternative to the armstrong - imposed narrative . there was plenty of evidence , but no one dared stand up to la armstrong , the ultimate diva of pro cycling .
in 2009 alex gibney was hired to make a film about lance armstrong’s comeback to cycling . the project was shelved when the doping scandal erupted , and re - opened after armstrong’s confession .
the evidence that armstrong used epo in the 1999 race was overwhelming , the report said , adding , “no other conclusion is even plausible . ”
the armstrong story is fascinating . that someone could get away with such a huge lie in plain sight is terrifying . it ' s a bit like the jimmy savile mess in the uk in that , to put it simply , people must have known ! and some brave people did know and try to talk about it , but if one thing came out of the armstrong debacle , it ' s the knowledge that telling the truth is one thing ; finding someone to listen to you is quite another .
still yet to get a release date in the u . s . , director stephen frears had made no bones admitting that he wasn’t looking to tell lance armstrong’s life story with the program , calling it instead a “crime story about a man who stole the tour de france seven times . ” in the meantime , alex gibney’s 2013 documentary , the armstrong lie , offers an unprecedented look into the cyclist’s fall from grace . originally titled the road back , the project began filming before the 2012 doping investigation and was meant to be a tale of a cycling great returning to the sport he loved . the ensuing scandal changed the plot significantly . the end of the doc even features a sit - down with armstrong done by gibney just hours after he recorded his infamous oprah interview .
when o’reilly , the masseuse , asked armstrong how he would optimize his performance , the report said that he responded , “what everybody does . ” o’reilly understood this to mean armstrong would use epo , the report said .
9 . returning to the scene of the crime . the film makes a clear case that armstrong would have gotten away with it all if he hadn’t returned to the tour in 2009 . why armstrong made that decision is film’s most intriguing question .
6 . don’t ever , ever think about crossing lance . . . armstrong is an expert at discounting anyone who tries to speak out against him ; in many ways , the war against his detractors was worse than the doping itself . the film highlights the guts of longtime friend betsy andreu , the wife of a former armstrong teammate , who was the one of the first people to say armstrong used performance - enhancing drugs .
according to the report , armstrong told o’reilly , the masseuse , “now , emma , you know enough to bring me down . ”
while armstrong has long protested his innocence , retroactive testing found epo in six of armstrong’s urine samples from the 1999 race , according to the report . in addition , the report said , five fellow riders on armstrong’s 1999 united states postal service team — george hincapie , frankie andreu , tyler hamilton , jonathan vaughters and christian vande velde — provided affidavits testifying to firsthand knowledge that armstrong violated antidoping rules , the report said .
the story of disgraced cyclist lance armstrong gets exhaustive and penetrating documentary treatment in alex gibney ' s latest .
armstrong ' s defence long relied on the fact he had never tested positive - a stance he maintains .
normally when i leave the cinema what i want is a pizza . or maybe , if it is a particularly draining comedy involving robert de niro and sylvester stallone , a stiff drink . after watching alex gibney’s brilliant new documentary the armstrong lie , however , i felt in urgent need of something i had never before associated with the movies : a shower . knowing what we know now , watching lance armstrong in all his calculating , self - righteous mendacity up on the big screen is an experience that puts you in urgent search of the soap .
the result is a film that neatly counterbalances the reality we now know with the fantasy the rider steadfastly maintained . at the heart of the complex , sophisticated lie armstrong constructed was his own ability to fib to camera . time and again during that 2009 tour he looks into gibney’s lens and tells him he has never , will never and could never embrace performance - enhancing assistance . at the time , gibney says , he believed him : he certainly saw no evidence during that tour to suggest anything else . to watch now , knowing what we do , armstrong’s lying is breathtaking in its scale , its skill , its audacity .
armstrong also used testosterone , which builds muscle and aids recovery from exertion , during the 1999 tour , the report said . he mixed it with olive oil in a concoction that was taken orally . after one stage , the report said , armstrong squirted the “oil” in hamilton’s mouth .
he said he would have called his family , mother , sponsors and the lance armstrong foundation ( livestrong ) .
the real losers in this game are the clean riders and the writers who contradict the mood of the moment , those who spoke out against doping at the time . there is a market for the truth but it is a very fickle one . we’ve all got some thinking to do about the rise and fall of lance armstrong .
at this point , however , the armstrong story becomes more uncomfortable : because the editors , of course , were trying to anticipate and satiate the appetites of their readers . in the great journalistic trade - off , the very beginning of the story , the first domino , is the public’s credulous demand for meaningless quotes and soft interviews .
according to a doping investigation , armstrong cursed and said , “that’s not good . ”
an irish sports journalist becomes convinced that lance armstrong ' s performances during the tour de france victories are fueled by banned substances . with this conviction , he starts hunting for evidence that will expose armstrong .
in 2009 alex gibney was hired to make a film about lance armstrong ' s comeback to cycling . the project was shelved when the doping scandal erupted , and re - opened after armstrong ' s confession . ( c ) sony classics
lance armstrong , left to right , with frankie andreu , george hincapie and pascal derame after winning the 1999 tour .
even if you dislike sport , hate celebrity confessions and distrust oprah winfrey , you should follow the story of lance armstrong . it is a morality tale of huge implications . beneath the surface , armstrong’s story is about the power of celebrity and the complicity of the media . it is a depressing tale but a deeply salutary one .
because security was tight , the epo was smuggled to the postal service team by a personal assistant and handyman for armstrong , the report said . he was a motorcycle enthusiast who followed the tour on his motorcycle , and the riders who knew his purpose gave him the nickname motoman .
and gibney knows what he is talking about . he experienced the armstrong fibbing technique at first hand , witnessed it at close quarters as it poured down his lens . indeed , the lie came close to undermining his entire credibility as a documentary maker . back in 2009 , he had been invited by armstrong to film the inside story of his comeback to the tour de france . after the most fleeting of retirements , the seven - time winner was remounting his bike , back pounding up alps , threading through the fields of sunflowers , rattling over the cobbles . and he wanted a record for posterity , to mark his place in the pantheon . so he sought out america’s most renowned , fiercely forensic , independent documentary maker to shoot him in action .
for now , let’s leave to one side the disgraceful negligence , perhaps even co - operation , of the cycling authorities . consider the role of the mainstream media in the great armstrong deception . most cycling journalists knew it was highly unlikely that armstrong could have raced at that level without drugs . not only did the vast majority remain silent , they actively froze out the few writers – such as david walsh and paul kimmage – who were brave enough to fight the armstrong conspiracy . cyclists were brutal in cutting down whistle - blowers inside the peloton ; they called it “pissing in the soup” . the journalistic mainstream mirrored the peloton : they closed ranks against reporters who challenged the comfortable status quo .
on october 22 , 2012 lance armstrong was stripped of the 7 tour de france titles he won from 1999 - 2005 .
an intimate but explosive portrait of the man behind the greatest fraud in sporting history . lance armstrong enriched himself by cheating his fans , his sport , and the truth . but the former . . . see full summary »
but this is the tale of lance armstrong , the most successful rider in the history of the tour de france and sport’s most significant doper . and there are so many drugs involved , one observer who attended a preview screening suggested the producers had given their film the wrong title . it should be called the iv crowd .
the effect of these details is to expose the surprising degree to which armstrong was able to calculate his own narrative , belying the against - the - odds inspirationalism that has generally accompanied its telling . “this is not a story about doping ; it’s a story about power , ” one interviewee shrewdly notes , and “ the armstrong lie ” zeroes in on the cynical realities of a sport where victory falls to those with the best medical and financial resources , and where the lure of sponsorships , massive publicity and millions of dollars in cancer - fighting research can encourage even the head of the intl . cycling union to look the other way . the film also taps into the warped mentality of a professional sport where everyone of consequence is assumed to be doping under a code of collective silence , making it easy enough for a cheater to convince himself he isn’t gaining an unfair advantage so much as staying competitive .
a quite absorbing but never riveting or revelatory overview of armstrong’s career and testy personality . twitter
a documentary chronicling sports legend lance armstrong ' s improbable rise and ultimate fall from grace .
3 . alberto contador is a badass . gibney includes captivating footage of armstrong’s feud with teammate alberto contador , who raced alongside the texan in 2009 and didn’t let him win that year’s tour . instead , contador took home the win and armstrong finished third .
stephen frears ' cautious study of lance armstrong ' s fall from grace doesn ' t crack the cyclist ' s implacable veneer .
the latest documentary from oscar winner alex gibney looks at lance armstrong ' s comeback attempt in 2009 and the subsequent discovery of his use of performance - enhancing drugs .
certainly , gibney was not expecting much empathy when he informed armstrong of the title of the film . and when he invited him to a screening , armstrong did not attend , sending instead a representative . gibney has not yet heard what he thought of it .
armstrong announced his refusal to co - operate with the usada investigation last august and was punished by cycling ' s world governing body , the uci , in late october .
twin venice and toronto premieres , gibney’s reputation and the high profile of the armstrong doping case should nonetheless help put bums in seats for sony pictures classics when it releases the title stateside , nov . 8 .
during the first two weeks of the tour , armstrong , hamilton and livingston used epo every third or fourth day in their camper or hotel rooms , the report said . armstrong , hamilton and livingston traveled in a newer , bigger camper during that tour , while other postal service riders shoehorned into a smaller , older vehicle . hamilton and livingston also shared a hotel room so they could speak openly with armstrong about doping , the report said .
with the interview as his film’s centrepiece , gibney then revisited the footage he had shot in 2009 using it to shed some light on the armstrong methodology , the way he had used it to keep one step ahead of detection for so long .
the disgraced hero at the center of one of the most compelling rise - and - fall narratives in recent years gets exhaustive and penetrating documentary treatment in “ the armstrong lie . ” focusing primarily on the past four years of lance armstrong ’s life — from his 2009 post - retirement comeback bid to his recent admission that he had used performance - enhancing drugs , despite vehement denials over the course of his extraordinary career — director alex gibney delivers not just a detailed , full - access account of his subject , in all his defiance , hubris and tentative self - reckoning , but also a layered inquiry into the culture of competitiveness , celebrity , moral relativism and hypocrisy that helped enable and sustain his deception . although unlikely to match the tv audience for armstrong’s revelatory interview with oprah winfrey in january , this authoritative and well - timed sony classics release should easily become one of gibney’s more widely seen efforts .
armstrong denied usada chief executive travis tygart ' s claims that the united states postal service team ' s doping programme was the leading one of its kind , believing the east german regime to be ' better ' .
a new team director , johan bruyneel , and team doctor , luis garcia del moral , were hired that year for the postal service team . armstrong called the team the bad news bears . he wanted a new team , according to the affidavit by vaughters , his teammate , because the outgoing doctor , pedro celaya , “had not been aggressive enough for armstrong in providing banned products . ”
i suppose earlier in my career there was cortisone and then the epo generation began ,
said armstrong , who won the world road race title aged 21 in 1993 .
links / site map / privacy policy / photo credits / © luxstowe vets . website by hudson armstrong
that may have been the most famous of his lies , but it was hardly the first . clinton was well known as a liar — an “unusually good” one , according to bob kerrey , the former senator — long before he ever reached the white house . as early as 1992 , the question posed by his candidacy , as defined by michael kinsley , was not is he a liar , ‘‘but is he too much of a liar ? ” by the end the lies and abuses of power had piled up so high that christopher hitchens was forced to title his scathing account of the clinton presidency no one left to lie to .
a public weigh - in of the riders was to be attended by the news media . a team masseuse found some makeup , and armstrong’s bruise , and the doping that investigators assert caused it , was ultimately concealed .
just before the 1999 tour de france , a teammate pointed out that lance armstrong had a bruise on his upper arm caused by a syringe .
the point of making a drama about armstrong would be , you assume , to do the things non - fiction cannot . but the creative effort of the program appears to have been expended on replicating material that already exists . the director stephen frears has so lovingly recreated the world of the tour , with his sweeping views of bikes swishing past the arc de triomphe and labouring up mont ventoux , that his footage could easily be mistaken for the genuine article .
gibney became involved when armstrong defiantly decided to have another crack at the tour de france in 2009 , submitting to the fierce anti - doping inspections and achieving a very creditable third place .
indeed , this is the ultimate point of the film . the cyclist wanted to use gibney to seal his place in sporting legend . by deconstructing his deception , gibney has done just that . after watching the film you realise what the true lance armstrong legacy entails : he has tarnished the relationship between every sports star and their plausibility beyond repair .
cycle of falsehood … the tissue of lies surrounding disgraced cyclist lance armstrong did film - maker alex gibney no favours . photograph : olivier hoslet / epa
asked whether he felt it was possible to win the tour seven times in succession without doping , armstrong said :
not in my opinion .
one of gibney’s key questions - - why stage a comeback that would prove fatal and , in the long run , reveal and ruin everything ? - - is never forcefully addressed and there’s no satisfactory , in - depth answer that explains why armstrong chose to use the performance - enhancing drugs and lie about it until very recently , when federal investigations were underway ( they ' ve since been halted ) . the filmmaker does hint at the possibility that armstrong - - who continues to claim he was “clean” during the 2009 tour ( in which he placed third ) and its disastrous 2010 follow - up ( 23rd place ) - - is trying to influence his own narrative even in front of oprah and gibney’s cameras . it can ' t be a good sign if your subject seems to have the last word .
the 1999 racing season began , the report said , with an unlikely goal for armstrong , a cancer survivor : to win the tour de france . he would skip many of the buildup races to concentrate on his sport’s major event . and for fuel , the report said , he would rely on banned substances .
the tale behind armstrong’s first tour triumph , an achievement that made him an instant celebrity , is laid out in the investigative report in almost novelistic fashion . it involves a man on a motorcycle who delivered drugs to armstrong’s team , an italian doctor who was famous for helping riders dope , a training regimen designed to avoid drug testing , and the active complicity of the team masseuse .
because armstrong did not have medical authorization to use corticosteroids , the report said , a story was fabricated to backdate a prescription for cortisone cream and claim that the medication had been prescribed to treat a saddle sore , the report said .
the question of what armstrong isn’t is more easily answered here than that of what , or who , he is . drawn principally from walsh’s book “seven deadly sins : my pursuit of lance armstrong , ” hodge’s script largely avoids speculative drama , veering tactfully away from its subject’s personal and domestic lives . armstrong’s former wife , kristin richard , first appears in a snappy meet - cute ; they’re married in the next scene , whereupon she exits the film entirely .
on june 10 , 1999 , less than a month before the tour began , armstrong’s hematocrit level — the percentage by volume of oxygen - carrying red blood cells in whole blood — hovered at 41 percent , below the allowable race limit of 50 percent , the report said .
the film is a lesson in the perils of getting caught in the middle of a story – and creating and believing in a
story
in the first place . armstrong was spinning us a simple tale of innocence . gibney was preparing to spin something more complicated . the spokes got tangled up . gibney extricates himself from the wreckage , but only just .
armstrong ' s decisions were based on a
ruthless desire to win
and , he said , did not feel wrong to him at the time .
after relinquishing the yellow jersey , armstrong reclaimed first place in a time trial , then rode to a dominant mountaintop finish in sestriere , the italian ski village . he was not then known as a great climber , and christophe bassons , a french rider , noted in a newspaper column that the peloton had been “shocked” by armstrong’s ride up to sestriere .
the housewives go to cannes but , unsurprisingly , drama follows them across the ocean .
the documentary includes footage from larry king live , the daily show and the south park episode
a scause for applause
.
the three riders would “inject quickly and then put the syringes in a bag or coke can and dr . del moral would get the syringe out of the camper as quickly as possible , ” the report said .
i didn ' t invent the culture , but i didn ' t try to stop the culture . the sport is now paying the price because of that .
the 1999 tour was supposed to be one of renewal after a doping scandal engulfed the 1998 race . instead , armstrong won his first of his seven tours by using the prohibited blood - boosting agent epo and the steroid hormone testosterone , according to a 200 - page report released wednesday by the united states anti - doping agency .
alex gibney was obliged to reshape his portrait of lance armstrong in response to the cyclist ' s drug disgrace . he salvaged a watchable film – but only just
it is an indictment of so - called expertise . the writers who were supposed to know more about cycling than anyone else in the world were unable to write what they must have known to be the truth . was doping really that obvious , even back then ? yes . even if journalists ignored the persistent rumours and armstrong’s association with dr michele ferrari , a master of doping , simple maths should have been enough . the 1998 tour de france was a drug - fuelled shambles in which the leading team got busted for epic substance abuse . the 1999 tour , the first “armstrong” tour , was billed as the “renewal tour” , a clean season free from doping , a fresh start . yet armstrong was soon clocking speeds that were simply unheard of .
asked about the 2001 tour of switzerland and reports he paid off the uci to cover up a positive test , armstrong said :
that story isn ' t true . there was no positive test . there was no paying off of the lab .
working at a businesslike pace , hodge and frears glide through armstrong’s early rise through the ranks of the circuit , identifying the many key players with talking - head - style subtitles . his 1996 testicular cancer diagnosis disrupts proceedings in as transient a fashion as it seemingly did armstrong’s own life , as foster’s already remote take on the character recedes into a brittle , intriguingly self - styled facade : “you meet yourself along the way , ” he says of the cancer battle , though he appears to estrange himself from others in the process . he’s no patsy , though the film does position armstrong as a kind of inhuman test subject — “no longer confined to physiology” — for michele ferrari ( played with slithery elan by guillaume canet ) , the italian physician and coach who designed the doping program undertaken by the u . s . postal service team .
this documentary follows cyclist lance armstrong from his 2009 comeback effort through his shocking 2012 confession of performance - enhancing drug use .
how exactly had gibney imagined his film working out initially ? he may well have thought that , as the armstrong story was effectively over , with no more surprises to come , he was free to make a subtly neutral film , which wouldn ' t need to question armstrong directly about drugs . despite gibney ' s rueful admission that he ' d found himself rooting for armstrong , i wonder if , in his heart of hearts , he might have been counting on armstrong to do heartbreakingly badly , having been forced to race clean ( apparently ) ; secretly hoping that this would tell its own story about the earlier wins , thus making the filmed record a poignant piece of bittersweet natural justice . but of course , armstrong was up to all the old sophisticated tricks in 2009 , and his smugly successful comeback was what finally brought out the whistleblowers .
indeed , sportsman he may be , but gibney feels armstrong fits neatly into the pattern of his documentary subjects . from enron to assange , what fascinates him is power .
this is far from being armstrong ' s movie debut . that came in 2004 , with his cameo in the comedy dodgeball , in which vince vaughn plays an idle gym owner managing a dodgeball team of lovable underdogs . just as vaughn is about to quit on his loyal band , he encounters armstrong , who shames him into staying the course . it is worth remembering just how embedded in us pop culture armstrong had become – in this case , a comically obvious symbol of honesty and courage . ( gibney doesn ' t mention the dodgeball cameo , but shows satirist jon stewart admitting to being taken in by armstrong ' s lies . )
using the winfrey interview to set the stage , gibney pulls back to recount armstrong’s astounding story , from the testicular cancer that left him with a less - than - 50 % chance of survival in 1996 , to the seven consecutive tour de france victories ( 1999 - 2005 ) that cemented his standing as one of the world’s greatest athletes . one of the key ironies here is that armstrong’s secret might never have been publicly exposed had he been content to stay retired : it was his second grab at the spotlight that re - energized his critics and angered the numerous cyclists who had themselves been busted for doping , many of them former teammates who had firsthand knowledge of armstrong’s own use of epo , testosterone , human growth hormone , cortisone and blood transfusions to boost his performance over the years .
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armstrong’s confession is just the latest and most high - profile in a line of confessions of convenience . tyler hamilton , armstrong’s former team - mate and ex - doper , won last year’s william hill sports book award for his ghosted autobiography . it was a deeply seductive book and hamilton enjoyed a wonderful round of sympathetic interviews for his book tour . it was hard to open a newspaper without reading a quote from hamilton : “lance should tell the truth” , “the truth really will set you free” , “a weight off my shoulders” . the only way to get a better press than promoting lance armstrong before the fall was to dish the dirt on him after his disgrace .
gibney calls armstrong a master storyteller , a constructor of his own narrative . his was , moreover , a hugely lucrative yarn .
armstrong took a brown paper bag from marti , held it up and , according to andreu , called it “liquid gold . ”
alex gibney offers a thorough account of lance armstrong’s long brewing scandal – and the corrosive power of win - at - all - costs ambition . here are his film’s juiciest moments
for gibney , the unmasking of armstrong made him instantly a more fascinating subject for a documentary . he is , he reckons , on a par with the australian with whom he spectacularly fell out during filming of his acclaimed documentary we steal secrets : the story of wikileaks .
the tale is fascinating , not just for cycling enthusiasts , but connoisseurs of the human condition .
7 . . . . because you don’t bring a knife to a gun fight . gibney points out that the tour de france presents such an absurd challenge to the human body that the concept of pain reduction , recovery and chemical enhancement is as old as the race itself , dating to the days when riders cured their wounds after each stage at the local bar . in the film , armstrong uses a similar everyone - was - doing - it defense to explain how the doping began – and why he didn’t stop .
in the interview with talk - show host winfrey , recorded on monday in his home city of austin , texas , armstrong was asked why he chose to confess his misdemeanours now .
indeed , gibney ' s film shows that armstrong was part of a much bigger hypocrisy . the use of the banned red blood cell booster epo was not just widespread ; it was almost universal . epo remained undetectable for years , and armstrong , many of his teammates as well as his opponents pumped their blood full of it , and enjoyed the occasional blood transfusion , also banned . the film implies that it would be hard to find anyone who was actually clean in the 1990 - 2005 period . so no one can actually point the finger too much .
rather , “the program” frames its narrative as something akin to a criminal chase , with walsh — an early skeptic regarding armstrong’s winning prowess — as the dogged investigator and audience proxy , and armstrong as his elusive quarry . on these terms , it makes sense to seal off the latter’s inner life , though imagined emotional access is what might have separated the film from previous reportage on the subject ; for better or worse , we’re left to ponder what , if any , degree of psychological strain or moral conflict the champion felt over his infamously concealed doping habit .
in 2009 director alex gibney set out to film the road back , a documentary on cyclist lance armstrong ' s comeback year after a four - year retirement from the sport . three years later , on october 2012 , a doping investigation led to his lifetime ban from competition and the stripping of his seven tour de france titles , and the documentary was shelved . on january 14 , 2013 , three hours after his appearance on oprah , armstrong went back to gibney to set the record straight about his career .
the golden years , during which the recovered armstrong racked up seven tour titles and attained a - list celebrity status , are briskly covered . editor valerio bonelli’s multiple montages approximate the superficiality of sporting sizzle reels , perhaps reflecting the slick ease with which armstrong’s camp sold the world on a tale that was , for all the man’s natural prowess , a shade too good to be true . ( “go out there and live the best life story you can , ” he says , and it’d be hard to argue that he didn’t . ) “the program” doesn’t pass judgment on the misdeeds portrayed as explicitly as gibney did in his documentary , even via the character of walsh : as played by a typically disarming if oddly cast o’dowd , the irish journo appears to chase personal vindication as eagerly as he does ethical reform .
the film does an effective job of repackaging the armstrong brand in its opening reel . danny cohen’s camera indulges in the impatient , zooming moves and aggressive angles becoming of a brash young athlete ; combined with a hot primary palette , the images recall nothing so seductive and deceptive as an energy - drink commercial . foster gets the sarsaparilla slide of armstrong’s texan accent just right as he’s introduced speaking in ready - made slogans : “my mom didn’t raise a quitter , ” he tells sunday times sportswriter david walsh ( chris o’dowd ) where the film begins , at the time of his first tour de france in 1993 .
armstrong retired after his 2005 tour win and believed his doping may never have been uncovered had he not made a comeback in 2009 .
, cycling’s governing board . armstrong says there were “hundreds” of conversations with uci officials where he was warned his drug tests were “flying too close to the sun . ” the film also implies there was a conspiracy involving uci head hein verbruggen that was designed to protect the famous racer .
basically the story of a man forced to finally see the injustice around him . riley’s movie is designed to do the same thing to you . …
another key figure granted significant screentime here is michele ferrari , the italian sports doctor whose obsession with pushing the human body to and beyond its physical limits led him to devise the most advanced and sophisticated performance - enhancing drugs available , using armstrong as guinea pig and the tour de france as a regular testing ground . one of the most essential aspects of gibney’s film — and what distinguishes it from the average primetime interview — is the scientific acuity of his research , explaining how epo increases endurance by stimulating red - blood cell production , an effect that can also be achieved through the more grisly route of a blood transfusion ( which armstrong and ferrari also experimented with ) .
so why did the press , with a few honourable exceptions , show so little appetite for the truth ? because they craved access to the stars , especially armstrong . they relied on quotes from lance , a few scraps of celebrity gossip to pepper their copy with , perhaps a sit - down with the great man . and armstrong , like a brutal political spin doctor , was utterly ruthless about dividing the world into two camps – with me or against me , friend or enemy , soft touch or ( in lancespeak ) “troll” . some of david walsh’s oldest friends in journalism eventually refused to share a car with him because armstrong made a note of who travelled with the “troll” and cut them off accordingly .
the armstrong narrative arc runs absolutely counter to the standard trope of the sports movie . as brilliantly sent up by the comic adam riches in his recent edinburgh festival show coach coach , the convention is for the film’s hero to work himself into a position where redemption is at stake in a climactic moment of sporting jeopardy . score this goal , slam that dunk , hit your home run and all will be resolved , all will be well .
when armstrong failed to mark his return with anything more than third place , however , gibney’s original documentary was quietly forgotten about . given the subsequent revelations about doping , bullying and lying , the tsunami of evidence that led ultimately to the confession armstrong made to oprah winfrey that he used chemical assistance to achieve all seven of his tour wins , that he was the mastermind of systematic drug - cheating in his sport on an industrial scale , gibney shudders when he thinks of the effect a supportive film would have wrought on his credibility .
asked if it was hard to live up to that image , armstrong said :
impossible . the story is so bad and so toxic , a lot of it ' s true .
those who eventually testified against armstrong ( and are interviewed here ) include george hincapie , his best friend and regular cycling domestique , and frankie andreu , who along with his wife , betsy , said they overheard armstrong disclose his use of performance - enhancing drugs to cancer doctors in 1996 , a claim he still denies . apart from author dan coyle , who offers withering assessments of armstrong’s legacy , betsy andreu emerges as the film’s most forceful and outspoken presence , leading the charge against the most famous figure in a sport whose reputation and other participants were irreversibly damaged by his actions .
a fine actor ben foster may be , but he’s no helen mirren , and “the program” doesn’t cede itself to him in the same way ; his armstrong , projecting a surface as glib and hard and wipe - clean as that of the man himself , can be a difficult figure to see even when he’s in the foreground . ( in one moment of metatextual playfulness , a glory - era armstrong is asked to comment on the potential casting of matt damon in his biopic . it’s a sly allusion to just how far the cyclist’s public image has shifted over the years — damon is hardly an actor called to mind by foster’s wily translucency . )
this slightly disjointed aspect of the production makes certain individual scenes and moments stand out , yet they never quite come together . the lack of catharsis allows the viewer enough leeway to judge armstrong for themselves , and that particular aspect of gibney ' s film is much more fascinating than the
arrogant - pillock - dopes - and - lies
story .
a further irony awaits . many of those who inflated the armstrong bubble will now capitalise on his confession . as i write this , armstrong is due to appear on us television in an interview with oprah winfrey , in which he would offer a carefully calibrated confession – just enough to hint at the truth , not so much that he faces ruinous legal challenges and a trial for perjury .
in may 1999 , emma o’reilly , the team masseuse , made an 18 - hour round - trip drive from nice to spain to deliver a bottle of pills to armstrong that , according to the report , “she understood to be banned drugs . ”
the film falls roughly into two halves , with the first hour providing the backstory on armstrong’s career , with talking heads ( armstrong , ex - colleagues such as frankie andreu and george hincapie and bicycling experts ) and archive footage painting a picture of the cyclist as a head - strong and controlling leader who was just as much a fanatic on his bike as he was off it ( “i was a bully , ” he would later say to oprah ) . after surviving cancer , he seems to have taken to heart the idea that “losing equals death . ”
i think it ' s probably the most honest armstrong has been . a hugely informative and amazingly unbelievable documentary that just astounds me as to how he manage to get away with it for so long .
if anyone dared question him , the film shows , armstrong retaliated with almost biblical fury . armstrong personally went after anyone who even insinuated that something fishy might have been going on . he was a scary , intimidating , and cold man . his story is not a tragedy in the classical sense . it ' s a cautionary tale with a very simple and obvious message : don ' t be an sob .


best friend is a 2007 indian malayalam film , directed by sunil p kumar , starring mukesh and jagathy sreekumar and sunaina in the lead roles .

best friends ( 2007 film )

emma watson is best known for playing the character of hermione granger , one of harry potter ' s best friends in the ' harry potter ' film franchise .
10 movies that prove 2007 is the best film year of the 21st century we rank the best 2007 had to offer a decade later , from diablo cody ' s quotable ' juno ' to the coen brothers ' violent ' no country for old men . ' check out this story on urltoken urltoken
she has won awards at tribeca film festival and sundance film festival for her indie films including bridgend and god help the girl .
awards : the former ross geller’s only post -
friends
awards consideration was a 2007 british independent film award nom for his direction of “run fatboy run . ” at least he still has the geller cup .
four best friends aim to take the world by storm with their music . admit it , you still have some cheetah girls songs on your ipod !
we rank the best 2007 had to offer a decade later , from diablo cody ' s quotable ' juno ' to the coen brothers ' violent ' no country for old men . '
diablo cody kisses her oscar for best original screenplay for ' juno ' in 2008 .
the last film to be released by hollywood pictures before the label was completely dissolved by disney .
this is the second movie with jennifer garner and a character she calls mattie . the first film was
they were our best friends in times of need and our enemies when they made horrible mistakes and we still miss them now . so let’s take a look at what they’re up to these days…
every person on this list has either been seen in public with adam sandler , or is known to be acquaintances or best friends with the comedic actor , so you ' ll see more than just his posse . from the people who have had a falling out with him to his current best friends and bros , these are the people that adam sandler has or had a relationship with at some point .
bardem poses with his oscar for best supporting actor for ' no country for old men ' in 2008 .
most recently he was seen at sundance film festival promoting his new indie newness – and sporting a rather hipster moustache .
marnie and her friends from halloweentown return to the mortal world so they can have a ' normal ' high school experience . even though this film wasn ' t half as good as the first two , it is still halloweentown !
list of famous people who are friends with tom cruise , listed alphabetically with photos when available . every person on this list has either been seen in public with tom cruise , or is known to be acquaintances or best friends with tom cruise . from the people who have had a falling out with tom cruise to tom cruise ' s current best friends and buddies , these are the people that tom cruise has or had a relationship with at some point . if you notice that any of tom cruise ' s celebrity bros are missing from the list , you can add them below and make this list of tom cruise ' s friends that much better . list is made up of many different celebrities , including jennifer lopez and will smith . this list answers the questions ,
who are tom cruise ' s friends ?
and
which celebrities is tom cruise friends with ?
though watson & apos ; s been closely identified with her harry potter character , as an adolescent the young actress wanted to be seen as more . in 2007 emma watson starred in another film based on a children & apos ; s novel , ballet shoes by noel streatfield . the film was aired on bbc one , and with watson in the lead role , garnered decent , if not stellar , reviews .
will smith and tom cruise are two of the top actors in the world and they are also good friends .
a tv show searches for the the country ' s best young magician , but not everything is what it seems .
the harrowing , bitingly funny coming - of - age story of a young girl during the ' 70s iranian revolution . ratatouille went on to win best animated feature , but this french - iranian film outshone it in stylistic panache and raw emotion .
best friends allie and samantha steal a weather machine from santa claus in hopes of creating a snow day . soon after , the machine breaks causing an out - of - control snowstorm . so that ' s where snow comes from ?
check out highlights from some of the best recent trailers including mandy , the predator , zoe , and the king of thieves .
hansard and irglova head backstage following their win for best song ( ' falling slowly ' ) at the 80th annual academy awards .
the best and worst of all the movies adam sandler produced and starred in , including famous quotes and his most popular onscreen romances .
nicholas hoult may have got his break big break at the age of 11 in about a boy but it was as tony in skin , which premiered in 2007 , that nicholas really found fame .
day - lewis accepts the oscar from helen mirren for best actor in ' there will be blood ' during the 80th annual academy awards .
british actress emily watson won acclaim with film roles such as bess mcneil in breaking the waves , and the title character in angela ' s ashes .
watson & apos ; s 11 - year - old film debut was an enormous success . it grossed more than $ 974 million worldwide . on opening day in the united states , the film made a record - breaking $ 33 . 3 million . it was nominated for three academy awards , and seven bafta awards . watson & apos ; s performance received critical praise , and her status as an up - and - coming young film star was made .
after several years working on the stage and in small dramas , she won the role of gilly in a little - know tv show called game of thrones before returning to skins in 2007 for the final series .
with his hit shows
drake & josh
and
zoey 101
coming to an end , dan schneider was focused on his next project . the new series starred
drake & josh
alum miranda cosgrove as a girl making her own web series with her best friends , played by jennette mccurdy and nathan kress . after debuting in early september 2007 ,
icarly
opened to strong ratings and never looked back , eventually overtaking
spongebob
as the network ' s most - watched show .
are any of adam sandler ' s celebrity buddies are missing from the list , you can add them below and make this list of adam sandler ' s friends that much better . jessica biel and tom cruise made the cut as some of adam sandler ' s friends , but who else is he close with ? take a look below to learn more about adam sandler and friends—you might even recognize an actor whose name has been escaping you .
emma watson was born on april 15 , 1990 , in paris , france , but raised in england . the actress got her breakthrough role as a child in the hugely successful harry potter film franchise . watson grew up on camera as she reprised her role as one of harry potter & apos ; s best friends , hermione granger , throughout the entire course of the film series . after committing to the harry potter series for a decade , watson has transitioned into a popular adult model and actress , having appeared in the popular films the perks of being a wallflower , my week with marilyn and beauty and the beast .
david beckham and tom cruise have been friends for many years . these bros have been spotted hanging out in los angeles and across the pond in london .
the cromwells are so cool ! in this film they must split their time between the real world and halloweentown , since the real world has been taken over by monsters .
emma roberts , an actress also known for being the daughter of actor eric roberts and niece of actress julia roberts , has established her own career in television and film .
cosgrove also told kimmel that in her spare time she makes funny videos with her friends , which basically means she ' s carly shay in real life , too .
though they spent their adolescence on film sets , watson and costars radcliffe and grint kept up with their lessons , with five hours of tutoring each day . she took high school equivalency exams , and made high scores in every subject . watson took a year off from school to film the final two potter movies , but maintained that she was committed to furthering her education .
when sydney revisits her homeland of hawaii , she develops a closer relationship to her father , finds a new hobby , meets new friends and learns the truth about her mother .
he survived a car crash , lost two friends then found fame in the oscar - winning whiplash . tim lewis meets miles teller , whose success is shadowed by reports of ‘dickishness’
awards : most “friends” fans have never seen an episode of the much - less - watched “episodes , ” but the premium cable series did something for leblanc that “friends” couldn’t - - it won him a golden globe . he took home the prize in 2012 for best actor in a comedy series and picked up another nomination in 2013 . the hollywood foreign press association must be stacked with leblanc fans , considering the group even tossed him a globe nod for “joey” in 2005 . “episodes” also earned emmy nominations for leblanc in 2011 and 2013 .
this upbeat story features the crazy escapades of two teen - idol worshipers , gabby and devon . these best friends are also the ultimate fans of mega - boy band 5 leo rise ( played by real band the click five ) . when they botch their high school ' s chance to win a free concert , the desperate pair cooks up a juicy plan .
watson sufficiently impressed casting agents and the film & apos ; s producers , and won the role of hermione granger , harry potter & apos ; s smart , bossy best friend and voice of reason . harry potter was portrayed by daniel radcliffe , and rupert grint was cast as ron weasley , harry & apos ; s other best friend . the trio of british child actors would become known around the globe for their roles as young wizards fighting a battle between good and evil . harry potter and the sorcerer & apos ; s stone was released in november 2001 .
susan kelechi watson is an american actress , best known for her portrayal of sassy - but - sweet mom beth pearson on nbc’s emmy - nominated drama , ' this is us . '
yep , on january 25 2007 skins premiered on channel 4 , introducing an entire generation to a cast of characters who suffered from the same issues that normal british teenager dealt with : messed up families , mental illness , substance abuse , bullying , and doubts on their sexuality .
kid . that film , which tells the story of a virtuoso jazz drummer and his sadistic orchestra leader , was so out - of - the - blue brilliant that , after seeing it , it was hard not to become its personal publicist , imploring friends , even strangers to see it . made in 19 days , for just $ 3 million , it won three oscars , though not for teller .
starring robert mcatee and molly leland , this independent film won over audiences and critics alike . syndicated tv and movie columnist david inman wrote
a story that contains heart , humor . . . see full summary »
jonah hill hogs most of the best lines as efraim , the charismatic , larger - than - life dropout , while teller is more understated and morally compromised as david , the masseur - turned - gunrunner .
as summer turns to fall and awards players gradually unfurl in multiplexes , we can ' t help but feel nostalgic for 2007 , which produced some of the most critically acclaimed and influential movies of the 21st century so far . a decade later , we rank that year ' s most enduring modern classics .
based on the lives of professional basketball players heidi and heather burge , this film tells the story of two high school twins who develop a love for basketball . double teamed taught us to never give up on our dreams !
friends
transformed jennifer aniston , courteney cox , lisa kudrow , matt leblanc , matthew perry and david schwimmer from relative unknowns to rich - beyond - belief household names . hollywood was their oyster when they walked away from the iconic series , but the entertainment business can be a cruel mistress to even the most cherished actors . this is a look at who ' s fared the best since central perk closed its doors .
wounded love is a gripping emotional film about how a girl trapped in an troubled relationship is saved one dark night by a stranger . an artist who is lost himself . their love gives her the . . . see full summary »
gangsters had their fingerprints all over 2007 cinema , from the assassination of jesse james by the coward robert ford to eastern promises . but the most unsuspecting criminals also happen to be the most memorable , in this tense drama about two brothers ( philip seymour hoffman and ethan hawke ) who decide to rob their parents ' jewelry store .
< strong > then : < / strong > anna won the oscar for best supporting actress in 1994 at the age of 11 for her role in ' the piano ' , making her the second youngest winner in oscar history .
since the show is all about a girl and her friends making a web series , a variety of other made up websites are also mentioned . these include igibby . com , nevelocity . com , urltoken and many others .
tom cruise is an american actor , filmmaker and scientologist . cruise has been nominated for three academy awards and has won three golden globe awards . he started his career at age 19 in the 1981 film endless love . after portraying supporting roles in taps and the outsiders , his first leading role was in the romantic comedy risky business , released in august 1983 . cruise became a full - fledged movie star after starring as pete
maverick
mitchell in the action drama top gun . since 1996 he has been well known for his role as secret agent ethan hunt in the mission : impossible film series , which has a fifth film set for release in 2015 . one of the biggest movie stars in hollywood , cruise starred . . . more on wikipedia
personal life : a little more than one month after
friends
went off the air , cox gave birth to coco , her daughter with husband david arquette . ( her pregnant belly peeked through here and there during the
friends
finale ) . cox and arquette separated in 2010 and were officially divorced in 2012 . but acrimonious the split was not ; the former couple ' s supportive relationship has made them poster children for post - marital friendship . cox even directed arquette in her film
just before i go .
since the break - up , cox dated her
cougar town
co - star brian van holt and is now shacking up with her new beau , snow patrol rocker johnny mcdaid .
in comparison to other celebrities , adam sandler has a long list of famous friends . it ' s almost as if the hilarious actor helps his friends get famous by putting them in all of his movies . oh , wait . . . many of sandler ' s pals are actors who he has cast in his many films . some of his friends ' films have even been produced by adam sandler . such actor cronies include david spade , kevin james , drew barrymore , and many others known as members of the adam sandler acting crew . then there are people like salma hayek , who you might not have known is a buddy of his . of course , it ' s not just other celebs adam sandler has befriended over the years .
“i got in my car accident at 20 , that was in august , ” says teller , sucking on an e - cigarette . “then february that next year , i turned 21 and seven of my best friends from florida flew up for my birthday . then in june , one of those guys , nick , passed away in a motorcycle accident : a car ran a stop sign and t - boned him . i was at the hospital , he was on life support , they pulled the plug the next day . a month after that , one my closest friends , my buddy beau , passed away , again a car accident . and i was actually sitting next to beau at nick’s funeral . so at my 21st birthday , seven of my buddies are there , five months later , two of them are gone . ”
in 2007 , fans of movie musicals were gifted with enticing broadway adaptations ( sweeney todd ) , an out - there beatles romp ( across the universe ) and a ferociously dedicated marion cotillard as french chanteuse edith piaf ( la vie en rose ) . but none matched the heart of this irish charmer about a pair of struggling musicians , which spawned the heart - tugging ( and oscar - winning ) song falling slowly .
towards the end of the film , officer slater has mclovin sign a form saying that after mclovin was punched in the liquor store , someone stole the cop car and trashed it , which would relieve the officers of their responsibility . however , it would not explain why it took them five hours to report it .
a 9 - year - old watson auditioned eight times for the role that would make her an international star . harry potter author j . k . rowling , who was deeply involved in the film process to make sure it stayed true to the book , wanted watson for the role of hermione from her first screen test .
whether you saw this once or seven times in theaters ( as we unashamedly did ) , it ' s impossible not to be shaken by joel and ethan coen ' s blood - curdling revenge thriller , as close to a perfect film as any this century . grippingly paced and unexpectedly profound , this morality play of a man ( josh brolin ) who finds $ 2 million in cash and the relentless hitman ( javier bardem ) who hunts him is a storytelling and acting masterclass . it won four academy awards , including best picture and supporting actor for bardem , whose cattle gun - carrying anton chigurh will blow a hole in your nightmares .
actress emma stone is best known for her roles in films including ' the help , ' ' crazy , stupid , love , ' ' the amazing spider - man ' and ' birdman . ' in 2017 , she earned an academy award for her portrayal of an aspiring actress in ' la la land . '
personal life : with kudrow , it ' s all about the work . she married her husband , french advertising executive michel stern , and had her son julian in the ' 90s , and nothing ' s changed since . her private life rarely , if ever , gets ink , with one recent exception : a jury ruled in february of this year that kudrow owes her former manager $ 1 . 6 million in residuals for projects negotiated before she fired him in 2007 .
for the next decade watson stayed busy filming the potter series . in 2002 she reprised the role of hermione for harry potter and the chamber of secrets , in 2004 for harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban , and continued to star in the eight - part series through the final film , harry potter and the deathly hallows : part 2 , in 2011 .
projects : matt leblanc has made no attempt to reinvent himself in the last decade ; since “friends , ” he ' s repurposed joey tribbiani and played a fictionalized version of himself . spinoff “joey , ” which premiered four months after the “friends” finale , delivered consistently diminishing returns . low viewership accounted for its cancellation in 2006 . the axe likely would have come down sooner had warner bros . not been committed to pay leblanc $ 700 , 000 a pop for two seasons’ worth of episodes , whether they were actually produced or not . leblanc reunited with “friends” co - creator david crane in 2011 for the showtime comedy “episodes , ” in which he plays matt leblanc , an arrogant , self - centered version of himself . critics were mixed and the audience occasionally dwindled , but “episodes” has been renewed for an upcoming fourth season . next up , leblanc will take on his first movie role since 2003’s “charlie’s angels : full throttle” with “lovesick , ” a comedy about a man who experiences psychosis when he falls in love .
it ' s been exactly 10 years since
friends
aired its final episode to a staggering audience of 52 . 5 million viewers on may 6 , 2004 . a decade later , the beloved sitcom is still all around us through omnipresent reruns , ceaseless requests for a reunion and , of course , the undying celebrity of its six stars .
drew blyth barrymore is an american actress , model , producer , director and author . she is a descendant of the barrymore family of well - known american stage and cinema actors , and is a granddaughter of film legend john barrymore . barrymore first appeared in an advertisement when she was eleven months old . her tv debut was in 1978 as melissa on the waltons and in 1980 , she made her film debut in altered states . in 1982 , she starred in her breakout role as gertie in steven spielberg ' s e . t . the extra - terrestrial and quickly became one of hollywood ' s most recognized child actresses , going on to establish herself in mainly comic roles . following a turbulent childhood which was marked by recurring . . . more on wikipedia
this world war ii romance about a british soldier ( james mcavoy ) and his beloved ( keira knightley ) buckles under the weight of contrived melodrama . but the film ' s first hour makes up for its flaws , as young briony tallis ( 12 - year - old saoirse ronan , giving a formidable oscar - nominated performance ) meddles in the couple ' s affair with devastating consequences .
seth and evan are best friends , inseparable , navigating the last weeks of high school . usually shunned by the popular kids , seth and evan luck into an invitation to a party , and spend a long day , with the help of their nerdy friend fogell , trying to score enough alcohol to lubricate the party and inebriate two girls , jules and becca , so they can kick - start their sex lives and go off to college with a summer full of experience and new skills . their quest is complicated by fogell ' s falling in with two inept cops who both slow and assist the plan . if they do get the liquor to the party , what then ? is sex the only rite of passage at hand ?
the teller story really begins in the summer of 2007 , when , as a 20 - year - old grateful dead fan , he was travelling home to florida from a deadhead festival called gathering of the vibes . his friend was behind the wheel , another was in the back seat , every inch of space was jammed with camping equipment . then , at 80mph , the car skidded , jumped three lanes of traffic and flipped eight times . teller was knocked unconscious and woke up 30ft from the vehicle , his face covered in blood .
jessica claire timberlake is an american actress . biel began her career as a vocalist appearing in musical productions until she was cast as mary camden in the family - drama series 7th heaven , for which she achieved recognition . the series is the longest - running series that ever aired on the wb channel and is the longest - running family drama in television history . in 1997 , she won the young artist award for best performance in a feature film – supporting young actress for her role in ulee ' s gold . biel has since starred in many films , including the rules of attraction , the texas chainsaw massacre , blade : trinity , stealth , i now pronounce you chuck and larry , the a - team and total recall . . . . more on wikipedia
conclusion : lisa kudrow lacks the star power of a few of her
friends ,
but she ' s churned out the most beloved and diverse work of them all in the last decade . the imminent return of
the comeback
puts it alongside
arrested development
and
family guy
in the exclusive pantheon of underappreciated tv shows that clawed their way out of the grave . the star magnet that is
web therapy
cements kudrow ' s association with the best comic talent in hollywood . she operates on a smaller scale than jennifer aniston , but she ' s pulled off a rare feat : near - universal critical acclaim without the nagging attacks of the tabloids . we may still be humming
smelly cat ,
but kudrow hasn ' t looked back once .
personal life : leblanc is by no means a tabloid fixture , but there was a moment shortly after “friends” when his private life got stickier than that time joey threw his date’s artificial leg into a fire . leblanc and his wife , former model melissa mcknight , welcomed daughter marina three months before “friends” said its final goodbye , but the familial bliss didn’t last long . in august 2005 , leblanc gave an interview to the national enquirer ( yes , he really did that ) confessing to inappropriate conduct with a stripper during a motorcycle trip to british columbia . the stripper later sued leblanc for defamation over the interview , then dropped the case . leblanc and mcknight divorced in 2006 . he began dating “joey” co - star andrea anders that same year , and the couple has been together ever since .
personal life : it’s been mostly smooth sailing . in 2006 , schwimmer won $ 400 , 000 from a convicted con man who defamed him by claiming he demanded two rolex watches to attend a charity event . then came love : schwimmer met photographer zoe buckman in 2007 , and it took the press four months to find out that he secretly married her in 2010 . buckman gave birth to baby girl cleo the next year . more recently , schwimmer royally pissed off his new york city neighbors when he bought a preserved townhouse built in 1852 only to completely demolish it , prompting an unfortunate spray - painted message outside his residence : “ross is not cool . ”
watson attended the stagecoach theatre arts school at oxford . she studied singing , acting and dancing , and performed in school plays . her natural instinct for acting first came out when she won a poetry competition for reciting james reeves & apos ;
the sea
at age 7 . watson had never acted professionally when her theater teachers suggested her to agents looking to cast an upcoming movie based on the first novel of the best - selling harry potter series .
thanks to daniel day - lewis , we can ' t order a milkshake without launching into a full - on daniel plainview tirade . as the power - starved oil tycoon , the three - time oscar winner brought to life an iconic antihero , whose fall from grace is at once identifiable and deeply haunting . with his supposedly final film role imminent in phantom thread ( in theaters dec . 25 ) , we ' re anxious to see what day - lewis will do when he re - teams with blood director paul thomas anderson .
conclusion :
joey
was a well - publicized misfire , but luckily for leblanc , the spinoff has largely faded from memory and become a footnote to the massive success of
friends .
the same can be said for that unfortunate stripper ordeal . as a self - described hermit , leblanc hasn’t fared well as far as visibility goes , but the low profile of
episodes
can ' t take away its awards attention , and the show ' s sustainability over several seasons is a win .
the question is : is miles teller the new ryan gosling or even the next de niro or pacino ? or is he , excuse the bluntness , a dick ? on a saturday afternoon in august , teller strides into a swanky hotel suite on the 39th floor that’s just about eye level with the clouds . he is in town to promote his new movie , war dogs , directed by the hangover ’s todd phillips , but he has shazzy blond hair from a film he’s currently shooting with josh brolin and jennifer connelly , about firefighters tackling a wildfire that raged through arizona in 2013 .
conclusion : schwimmer’s strategy of largely withdrawing from hollywood has helped him avoid the high - profile failures suffered by some of his former cast mates , but disappearing on purpose comes at a steep cost . he’s fallen so far from the public consciousness that his marriage took months to make a blip on the radar ( just imagine if jennifer aniston tried to have a secret wedding ) . in a celebrity culture where buzz is the key to success , it’s a bad sign that most of america only thinks of schwimmer when they catch a “friends” rerun .
awards : aniston hasn ' t gotten much attention from prestige award shows , save for an emmy nod in 2009 for her guest spot on
30 rock ,
but she ' s had better luck with lower - stakes ceremonies . since
friends ,
she ' s been nominated for 10 people ' s choice awards and won two , and she picked up two mtv movie awards out of four nominations . she ' s also been nominated for a razzie award four times , though she ' s been spared the humiliation of winning one .
after the sudden death of her fiancé , gray wheeler finds comfort in the company of his friends : lighthearted and comic sam , hyper - responsible dennis , and , oddly enough , his old childhood buddy fritz , an irresponsible playboy whom she ' d previously pegged as one of the least reliable people in the world . as secrets about her supposedly perfect fiancé emerge , gray comes to see new sides of the man she thought she knew , and at the same time , finds herself drawn to the last man she ever expected to fall for .
holly kennedy is beautiful , smart and married to the love of her life - a passionate , funny , and impetuous irishman named gerry . so when gerry ' s life is taken by an illness , it takes the life out of holly . the only one who can help her is the person who is no longer there . nobody knows holly better than gerry . so it ' s a good thing he planned ahead . before he died , gerry wrote holly a series of letters that will guide her , not only through her grief , but in rediscovering herself . the first message arrives on holly ' s 30th birthday in the form of a cake , and to her utter shock , a tape recording from gerry , who proceeds to tell her to get out and
celebrate herself
. in the weeks and months that follow , more letters from gerry are delivered in surprising ways , each sending her on a new adventure and each signing off in the same way ; p . s . i love you . holly ' s mother and best friends begin to worry that gerry ' s letters are keeping holly tied to the past , but in fact , each letter is pushing . . .
“i’d say that you get a little more guarded but i’m actually not , ” he goes on . “certain times i’ll choose my words very carefully and maybe come off a little more boring . but i also think that’s why people – certain people – do relate to me : because there is no agenda , honestly . i was raised middle - class in a small town . i have all my same friends from high school . i’m close with my family . i’m dating a normal girl . so i want to feel people think i’m a man of the people . because i feel that way . ”
conclusion : perry’s had more flops than david schwimmer and matt leblanc , but he’s still the most famous male
friend .
of course , fame without acclaim is usually a recipe for disaster , but in perry’s defense , his performances in all three post - “friends” series were well - received , even if the shows ultimately tanked . the surest sign of perry’s continued relevance is that studio executives are still willing to bet on him , as with the forthcoming “odd couple” reboot . and a hit could always be just around the corner . in the immortal words of chandler bing , could matthew perry be any more hopeful ?
isn’t it traumatic to relive these experiences on camera ? “it’ll definitely impact on me for the rest of my life for sure , ” teller replies . “i’ve dealt with that shit . if i’m in a movie and the guy’s dealing with the death of his buddy when they were overseas at war , or i’m dealing with a guy now who lost 19 of his friends all at once in this firefighter movie , it does give you a certain level of truth that , if you hadn’t gone through it , you would have to imagine what it would be like . but obviously if you went through it , you are closer to it than somebody who hasn’t . ”
steven allan spielberg is an american filmmaker . spielberg is consistently considered as one of the leading pioneers of the new hollywood era , as well as being viewed as one of the most popular and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema . in a career spanning more than four decades , spielberg ' s films have covered many themes and genres . spielberg ' s early science - fiction and adventure films were seen as archetypes of modern hollywood blockbuster filmmaking . in later years , his films began addressing humanistic issues such as the holocaust , the transatlantic slave trade , war , and terrorism . he is one of the co - founders of dreamworks studios . spielberg won the academy award for best . . . more on wikipedia
nick powell is an excellent high - school student who raises money by selling homework and results of quizzes to his schoolmates . he aims to travel to london for a writer ' s course - telling his best friend , pete egan , that he has already bought the airplane ticket but he has not told his mother yet . annie newton has a problem with pete , who owes her money . as events unfold , due to a case of mistaken identity , nick takes a severe beating from annie and her gang , his body dumped in a sewer . the next morning , he discovers he cannot be seen - he is now a spirit in a state of limbo and can only observe as the events of that day unfold .
conclusion : all things considered , the last 10 years have been kind to cox , but her prospects moving forward aren ' t as bright as her female co - stars ' . directing could be a fruitful second act , but she ' ll need a project that resonates more than
just before i go .
she still has
cougar town ,
the biggest tv hit for a
friends
cast member since 2004 , but its move to tbs felt like a demotion , and with no renewal news yet , the show ' s future might be short . still , cox has it pretty good ; even if
cougar town
were cancelled tomorrow , her legacy of two well - respected sitcoms is more than most actors achieve .
a tale told over four seasons , starting in autumn when juno , a 16 - year - old high - school junior in minnesota , discovers she ' s pregnant after one event in a chair with her best friend , bleeker . in the waiting room of an abortion clinic , the quirky and whip - sharp juno decides to give birth and to place the child with an adoptive couple . she finds one in the pennysaver personals , contacts them , tells her dad and step - mother , and carries on with school . the chosen parents , upscale yuppies ( one of whom is cool and laid back , the other meticulous and uptight ) , meet juno , sign papers , and the year unfolds . will juno ' s plan work , can she improvise , and what about bleeker ?
conclusion : aniston is undoubtedly the biggest star of the group , and that hasn ' t changed in the last 10 years . her biggest problem is that her role as a tabloid figure completely eclipses her work . even her most successful films since
friends
lack the sense of continued fanfare and quotability enjoyed by comedies like
bridesmaids
and
the hangover .
these days aniston is better known for being possibly pregnant . that certainly doesn ' t take way from her riches , a - list lifestyle or continued ability to be cast in big - budget movies . but she ' s become more of a celebrity than an actress , which is not ideal for someone who slams tabloid culture at every turn . aniston has lost control of her own image , and now she ' s at the mercy of us weekly .
after concluding the harry potter series , watson starred in the perks of being a wallflower ( 2012 ) , the bling ring ( 2013 ) , this is the end ( 2013 ) , and noah ( 2014 ) . in 2017 , she played the lead role of belle in the live - action adaptation of the box office hit beauty and the beast , the highest - grossing live action musical of all time . in may 2017 , watson was the first person to win the mtv movie and tv award & apos ; s first gender - neutral award for best actor in movie . “mtv’s move to create a genderless award for acting will mean something different to everyone , ” added watson . “but to me , it indicates that acting is about the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes . and that doesn’t need to be separated into two different categories . ”
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lakeith stanfield and his sorry to bother you crew reveal their most soul - crushing jobs in our freewheeling interview .
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: i am called fred but you can call me . . . for help !
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explore popular and recently added tv series available to stream now with prime video .
two geeky teens kidnap the world ' s most famous boy - band in an attempt to make them play at their high school and thus boost the girls ' popularity .
in order to learn how to be responsible , two wealthy teen sisters are forced to work in the family business by their exasperated father . when company funds goes missing , it ' s up to the girls to save the day .
a shy and retiring high school student develops a peculiar alter ego that changes her life forever .
a fashion - conscious youngster is horrified when she is forced to move to military school .
two teen witches who were separated at birth and were adopted by two different families meet on their 21st birthday and must use their powers to save the world in which they were born , where their birth mother still lives .
jessica olsen was expecting a normal trip to california with her family to visit her grandma . however , she agrees to join her older sister to find the famous pop star , christopher wilde .
a warm - hearted comedy about a compulsive soccer mom who masquerades as a famous italian soccer star hired to coach her daughter ' s floundering soccer team , then struggles frantically to keep . . . see full summary »
a lonely mother begins receiving romantic e - mails from a secret admirer , unaware that this perfect man is really a creation of her daughter who is trying to cheer her up .
a 16 - year - old girl prepares a list of 16 wishes for eight years , hoping they will come true on her 16th birthday . a fairy comes to give her 16 candles that make the 16 wishes come true . her . . . see full summary »
spin - off of the hit disney channel series
the suite life of zack & cody ,
in which twin brothers zack and cody martin and hotel heiress london tipton enroll in a semester - at - sea program aboard a ship called the ss tipton .
a guy who danced with what could be the girl of his dreams at a valentine mascarade ball only has one hint at her identity : the zune she left behind as she rushed home in order to make her . . . see full summary »
comedy about identical twins living at the tipton hotel with their single mother who is a lounge singer at the hotel .
though danielle ( christy carlson romano ) plays devon ' s ( alona tal ) older sister , she is actually a year older than romano .
i recommend this movie . eric looks really hot in this movie and i miss him . the acting wasn ' t bad at all . i loved alona and eric and the rest of the characters as well . they looked so cute together . they have that spark and chemistry . i was giggling and screaming at the couch with my sisters . xd it ' s a great movie . way better than i expected . the plot is kinda shallow but it ' s really entertaining so it kinda makes up for it . lots of stupid and really funny scenes . i loved the rmlf part . i ' m so gonna buy this dvd and watch it all over again . ( x i give it a 10 . i kept laughing my ass off the entire movie . hope you watch it . it ' s not corny and cheesy at all . ( :
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enjoy a night in with these popular movies available to stream now with prime video .
what ' s the most you ' ve ever lost on a coin toss ?
: javier bardem brought cormac mccarthy ' s remorseless anton chigurh to life in ' no country for old men . '
marketa irglova and glen hansard play a guy and girl who make a musical connection in irish romance ' once . '
cecilia ( keira knightley ) and robbie ( james mcavoy ) are doomed lovers in titillating period drama ' atonement . '
marjane ( voiced by chiara mastroianni ) with two guardians of the revolution in the animated movie ' persepolis . '
robert graysmith ( jake gyllenhaal ) tries to crack the years - long mystery of the zodiac killer in david fincher ' s criminally overlooked ' zodiac . '
no one unspools a chilling procedural quite like david fincher , whose slow - burning thriller tracks the manhunt for san francisco ' s infamous zodiac killer from the perspective of a quizzical political cartoonist ( jake gyllenhaal ) .
hank ( ethan hawke , left ) and andy ( philip seymour hoffman ) get in over their heads in heist thriller ' before the devil knows you ' re dead . '
after graduating college , chris mccandless ( emile hirsch ) adopted the name alexander supertramp and hit the road in ' into the wild . '
before sean penn ' s much - maligned the last face , the actor was lauded for his spellbinding adaptation of jon krakauer ' s survival tale . as restless thrill - seeker chris mccandless , who died in the alaskan wilderness , emile hirsch was never better .
honest to blog ?
ellen page is insanely quotable as the titular heroine of ' juno . '
with hamburger phone and a gallon of sunny delight in hand , juno macguff ( ellen page ) instantly stole our hearts as she awkwardly weathered an unplanned teen pregnancy . page ' s breakthrough performance aside , diablo cody ' s crackling debut script is a disarmingly moving knockout .
' the diving bell and the butterfly ' director julian schnabel , right , and mathieu amalric , who embodied real - life french ' elle ' magazine editor jean - dominique bauby in this gorgeously shot drama .
the astonishing , bracingly unsentimental story of french journalist jean - dominique bauby , who was left paralyzed by a massive stroke and wrote his autobiography by blinking his left eye when an assistant read him the correct letter of the alphabet .
i drink your milkshake !
: daniel day - lewis ' volcanic turn as oilman daniel plainview is a tour de force in ' there will be blood . '
anton chigurh ( javier bardem ) and his bowl cut are the true stars of ' no country for old men . '
from vengeful pirate ghost to bitter cyberterrorist , javier bardem ranks his most chilling characters .
every family has their share of secrets , right ? after growing scales on his thirteenth birthday , cody discovers that his birth mother is a mermaid . who knew becoming a teenager could be so complicated ?
using technology designed by his father , roscoe creates a holographic lead singer for his friend samantha ' s band . does this technology actually exist ? !
the stevens are led to believe that they ' ve won a dream vacation to an island in the middle of the pacific . little do they know , they ' re being watched by the whole world on a secret hidden camera show ! this movie doesn ' t even begin to compare to the show , but it still provided lots of laughs !
in order to be coached by renowned russian figure skating coach natasha goberman , katelin must join the hockey team so she can receive a scholarship to the elite private school . who knew ice skaters could be so mean ?
jamie ' s used to getting all of her parents attention , so her world is turned upside down when her mother announces she ' s having quintuplets .
galleria , chanel , dorinda and aqua are back as they travel to spain to take part in a music festival . why are all the cheetah girls songs so darn catchy ? !
after her twin brother breaks his leg , andrea secretly poses as him to win the big motocross race . this movie proved girls could do everything that boys can !
when their teacher goes missing , fashionista lexy joins forces with her rival jack to find out what happened . did people really dress like this ?
with no one to coach the school dance team , new teacher ms . bartlett agrees to take over and help whip this group of misfits into winners . these girls were fierce !
after finding out he ' s a leprechaun , kyle must battle for a gold charm to keep his family ' s luck .
after ben wins a fully automated dream house in a competition , the house , pat , starts to develop a mind of its own . raise your hand if you were afraid that one day your house would turn mean like pat did !
east and west appleton have an intense sports rivalry . they ' ve gone head to head against each other in just about every sport imaginable until east appleton proposes bowling . now it ' s up to a group of misfits to win the mighty apple trophy . bazinga ! we spy a young kaley cuoco .
fearing his son won ' t take anything but surfing seriously , johnny kapahaala ' s father moves the family from sunny hawaii to snowy vermont .
zenon ( and our favorite catch phrase ) returns ! this time around zenon is being contacted by aliens and it ' s up to her to convince everyone to help save them .