Ah, to de-glam. It's one of the surest shortcuts to newfound artistic appreciation: a bedraggled deviation into dowdy drama by a beautiful star. Acclaim by way of sweatpants.

"Cake," in which Jennifer Aniston plays a bitterly grieving, caustically acerbic and chronically pained Los Angeles woman, belongs to a contrived kind of low-budget movie — drab and depressed, but predictably poignant — just as artificial as any blockbuster convention.

Anne Hathaway will be playing something a little different this spring — an Air Force fighter pilot in a one-woman stage show.

The Public Theater said Wednesday that the Academy Award-winner will star in George Brant's play "Grounded" starting April 7. It's about a pilot who is reassigned to operate a military drone.

Clint Eastwood's hit film "American Sniper" has reignited a bitter debate about the US invasion of Iraq and one of its most famous warriors, with conservatives hailing the movie as a long overdue tribute to veterans.

Critics on the left have slammed the popular film as an attempt to whitewash the history of the American occupation of Iraq and say the subject of the movie, former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, deserves no hero treatment for his handiwork as a deadly sniper.

Film director and producer Luc Besson has been honored with a top award in his native France for a prolific career that produced "The Fifth Element", among other blockbusters.

The organizers of the Cesars, France's equivalent to the Oscars, said Besson had been awarded a Gold Medal at a small ceremony Monday evening for his "exceptional artistic and entrepreneurial contribution over the past three decades".

Marilyn Manson thrived on shock value as the Goth rocker and self-proclaimed Antichrist Superstar rose in the 1990s. Now approaching middle age, Manson's vision is no less violent but he has found a more subtle musical outlet -- the blues.

"The Pale Emperor," Manson's first album in three years which was released Tuesday, moves beyond the searing aggression of the distorted guitars and synthesized minor chords that helped define him as he became one of rock's most controversial stars.

Clint Eastwood's "American Sniper" blasted into first place with a massive $107 million on its debut weekend at the North American box office, a record for a January opening, industry figures showed Tuesday.

The war drama, based on the true story of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, has racked up six Oscar nominations, including best picture and best actor for star Bradley Cooper. 

Many a musician has addressed the raw emotions of emotional breakup. For Bjork, the occasion is not one for maudlin pop but instead for an intricate, experimental album that explores the very nature of heartbreak.

The Icelandic pop singer turned avant-garde composer released her first album in three years, "Vulnicura," unexpectedly late Tuesday as she became the latest artist to be caught off-guard as online leaks pre-empted her music's months-long rollout.

The annual Sundance Film Festival opens Thursday in the Utah mountains with its usual selection of quirky, independent movies -- and its iconic founder Robert Redford back on the big screen.

The 78-year-old, who famously named the festival after 1969 classic "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," will make a rare appearance in front of the camera in "A Walk in the Woods," based on U.S. travel writer Bill Bryson's book.

Portugal and Real Madrid football star Cristiano Ronaldo confirmed Tuesday he has broken up with his longtime girlfriend, Russian model Irina Shayk.

"After dating for five years, my relationship with Irina Shayk has come to an end," Ronaldo said in a written statement sent exclusively to The Associated Press. "We believed it would be best for both of us to take this step now."

His hand is steady and sure as it delicately traces the contours of the biggest names in the world of style: the celebrities, the magazine editors, the clients.

Nicolas Ouchenir is a calligrapher, a member of a rarified profession whose ink appears on the must-have invitations of Europe's fashion shows.