The Frame

The Irish actress plays a Scottish singer trying to make it big in Nashville in what she hopes is her breakout movie role; is "Men in Black: International" the latest proof that audiences are suffering from sequel fatigue?; the Cuban singer known as Cimafunk draws comparisons to James Brown.

Bryan Cranston wins a Tony; Eleni Mandell makes music with prisoners; playwright Lucas Hnath tells brings the true story of his mother's kidnapping to stage. Also, a top film critic wants Hollywood to bring back sex scenes of yore and best friends made a love letter to their city with the film "The Last Black Man in San Francisco."

The legendary singer-songwriter's 1975 tour is revisited in a new documentary by Martin Scorsese; the cultural week-in-review with L.A. Times TV critic Lorraine Ali; the new surf film, "Self-Discovery for Social Survival.”

After a Broadway run, her play about a 1920s obscenity trial comes to Los Angeles; the annual E3 convention draws to a close with plenty of news from the gaming world; the band Making Movies got a boost on its latest album from Ruben Blades.

The singer-songwriter's latest album, "Wake Up Again," was inspired by teaching songwriting at a women’s prison in Southern California; Washington Post movie critic Ann Hornaday wonders why American movies shy away from sex scenes; media critic and feminist Anita Sarkeesian on sexist and misogynist depictions in video games.

A new docu-drama by Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce explores the car designer's turbulent career and flamboyant life; YouTube’s struggle to dealing with hateful and harmful content; 'Baskets' returns for its fourth season.

The film is loosely based on the story of actor Jimmie Fails. He once lived with his friend Joe Talbot, who would eventually direct and co-write the film; re-capping the Tony Awards, and revisiting our interview with Bryan Cranston, who won Best Leading Actor in a Play.

Emma Thompson talks about her new movie "Late Night." Neil Gaiman adapts his novel "Good Omens" into an Amazon series. Plus, we meet up with Mexico guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela in a Los Angeles guitar shop. All that, and more, on this debut episode of The Frame Weekend.

Barak Goodman's new documentary looks at the many challenges the festival's promoters encountered as they planned and produced the event that helped define a generation.

The acclaimed playwright fashioned a show from interviews his mother conducted that recount her five-month abduction in 1997.

"Hidden Figures" writer Allison Schroeder (who was just nominated for a Writer's Guild award) tells us why she was the right person to co-write the film “Hidden Figures”; In the film “A Monster Calls,” director J.A. Bayona talks about how families might view his dark and personal coming-of-age story; Elliott Smith’s landmark 1997 album, “Either/Or,” gets a 20th anniversary re-issue.

Clay Tarver is a writer and co-executive producer for HBO’s “Silicon Valley," but he recently reunited with his bandmates in the group Chavez to record their first new music in 20 years; there may be a more diverse roster of actor and actress nominees for the Academy Awards this year, but that doesn’t mean #OscarsSoWhite is a thing of the past, says April Reign, the writer and activist who coined the hashtag.

It's our last Frame episode of 2016! From Beyonce's "Lemonade" to Chance The Rapper's "Coloring Book," we look back at the year in music with MTV Executive Editor Alex Pappademas; Also, we revisit one of our favorite musician interviews of the year, soul singer/songwriter Aloe Blacc, who describes himself as an "artivist," someone who blends art with activism.

The singing voice of Debbie Reynolds echoes throughout the show today as we honor the actress who died yesterday; Los Angeles Times culture writer Carolina Miranda picks some of 2016's most impactful moments in culture; playwright Jon Robin Baitz challenged himself in 2016 to write a play responding to Donald Trump's candidacy and get it up before the election. He did that. Now what?

For our wrap up of the best in TV, Margaret Lyons of the New York Times talks with us about the most overrated, underrated and heavily debated shows of 2016; Among the most lauded performances on TV this year was Sarah Paulson as Marcia Clark in the FX mini-series "The People v. O.J. Simpson." Paulson discusses how Clark had been scrutinized by the media and much of America during the trial.

Carrie Fisher imbued the role of Princess Leia with an assertiveness that set the tone for the future Star Wars heroines; Fisher was also the columnist of "Advice from the Dark Side" which ran in The Guardian; New York Times co-chief film critic Manohla Dargis joins John Horn to talk about some of the top film stories of the year.

The popular British singer-songwriter died from heart failure at the age of 53; Kristen Anderson-Lopez is working on a stage musical version of "Frozen," but for now she has another show on Broadway, "In Transit."

David Oyelowo is extremely selective about the roles he chooses to play, and also the kinds of parts he wants to avoid; the Presidential Inauguration Committee has gotten more nays than ayes from singers and bands.

Veteran music producer Harvey Mason, Jr. produced dozens of songs for the animated film, "Sing"; Sandra Hüller is a standout in the likely Oscar nominee, "Toni Erdmann"; a N.Y. judge rules that pre-1972 songs don't have copyright protection.

When Dennis Lehane's novel "Live By Night" was adapted by Ben Affleck into a feature film, it was just the latest gritty, crime-filled book of his to get the movie treatment; voice actor Rob Paulsen has been going strong in the business since the early 1980s, but a recent bout with throat cancer almost derailed his career.

Gibney's documentary about cyber warfare all but predicted the hacking of the Democratic National Committee; the operator of an illegal venue says the city should not take a blanket approach to its crackdown; life as a voiceover actor (part 1).

The 2016 election has ignited Beau Willimon to action. The creator of "House of Cards" has formed the Action Group Network to embark on a new form of advocacy; singer-songwriter Angelica Garcia opens up about how moving from L.A. to a small colonial-era Virginia town gave rise to her debut album, “Medicine For Birds."