By Mark Kennedy, Entertainment Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --A new batch of film nominations are out from an influential media organization — but superhero flicks and "Frozen 2" need not apply.
AARP has released nominations for its annual Movies for Grownups awards, which is designed to reward films that resonate with older viewers and fight industry ageism.
AARP The Magazine on Tuesday nominated "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood," "Bombshell," "Little Women," "Marriage Story," "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," "The Farewell," "The Irishman" and "The Two Popes" for the best picture/best movie category.
The best actress category includes Isabelle Huppert ("Frankie"), Helen Mirren ("The Good Liar"), Julianne Moore ("Gloria Bell"), Alfre Woodard ("Clemency") and Renee Zellweger ("Judy").
Competing for best actor will be Antonio Banderas ("Pain and Glory"), Robert De Niro ("The Irishman"), Eddie Murphy ("Dolemite is My Name"), Jonathan Pryce ("The Two Popes), Adam Sandler (Uncut Gems)
Tony Danza will host the awards at the Beverly Wilshire, Beverly Hills, California, on Jan. 11. The ceremony will be broadcast Jan. 19 on PBS. Annette Bening will be honored for career achievement.
"We must continue to lift up movies made for, by and about grown-ups — the stories that speak to moviegoers 50-plus," Heather Nawrocki, vice president and director for Movies for Grownups at AARP, said in a statement.
The nominees for best supporting actress are Laura Dern ("Marriage Story"), Nicole Kidman ("Bombshell"), Jennifer Lopez ("Hustlers"), Maggie Smith ("Downton Abbey") and Zhao Shuzhen ("The Farewell").
The male actor supporting category includes Jamie Foxx ("Just Mercy"), Tom Hanks ("A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood"), Anthony Hopkins ("The Two Popes"), Al Pacino ("The Irishman") and Brad Pitt ("Once Upon a Time in Hollywood").
Awards also will be handed out for categories such as best screenwriter, best buddy picture, best time capsule, best documentary, best foreign language film and best ensemble.
Last year, Shirley MacLaine was honored for career achievement and "Green Book" was named best picture/best movie for grown-ups. Glenn Close earned best actress for "The Wife" and Viggo Mortensen best actor for "Green Book."
Local school staple “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” from 1939 hits the big screen nationwide
Most Maine schoolchildren know about the boy lost for more than a week in 1939 after climbing the state's tallest mountain. Now the rest of the U.S. is getting in on the story.
Opening in 650 movie theaters on Friday, "Lost on a Mountain in Maine" tells the harrowing tale of 12-year-old Donn Fendler, who spent nine days on Mount Katahdin and the surrounding wilderness before being rescued. The gripping story of survival commanded the nation's attention in the days before World War II and the boy's grit earned an award from the president.
For decades, Fendler and Joseph B. Egan's book, published the same year as the rescue, has been required reading in many Maine classrooms, like third-grade teacher Kimberly Nielsen's.
"I love that the overarching theme is that Donn never gave up. He just never quits. He goes and goes," said Nielsen, a teacher at Crooked River Elementary School in Casco, who also read the book multiple times with her own kids.
Separated from his hiking group in bad weather atop Mount Katahdin, Fendler used techniques learned as a Boy Scout to survive. He made his way through the woods to the east branch of the Penobscot River, where he was found more than 30 miles (48 kilometers) from where he started. Bruised and cut, starved and without pants or shoes, he survived nine days by eating berries and lost 15 pounds (7 kilograms).
The boy's peril sparked a massive search and was the focus of newspaper headlines and nightly radio broadcasts. Hundreds of volunteers streamed into the region to help.
The movie builds on the children's book, as told by Fendler to Egan, by drawing upon additional interviews and archival footage to reinforce the importance of family, faith and community during difficult times,... Read More