Month: January 2019

“The Favourite” lived up to its name with the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, which graced the homegrown period drama with a commanding 12 film award nominations Wednesday. But Bradley Cooper and Alfonso Cuaron made history, Glenn Close gained some momentum and Spike Lee got some love. Here are 10 takeaways from this year’s
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In “Finnish Blood, Swedish Heart,” Finland’s Mika Ronkainen, best known for his documentaries – 2003’s “Screaming Men,” 2009’s “Freetime Machos”  –  portrays the dislocation of 1970s Finnish emigrants in Sweden via a father-and-son musical road movie. For “All the Sins,” a Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize entry written with Merja Aakko, Ronkainen takes very
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PARIS — Two Cannes Critics’ Week hits –  ‘Guy,” “Sauvage” – and Erick Zonca’s comeback, “Black Tide,” are three potential highlights in a still-expanding MyFrenchFilmFestival, French promotion org UniFrance’s annual online selection of French and French-language films. Unveiling MFFF’s 2019 edition in Paris on Wednesday, UniFrance also revealed that this year’s ninth edition will bow
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January 9, 2019 12:07AM PT Hollywood actor George Eads, a veteran of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and “MacGuyver”  has confirmed to star in Korean-produced war movie “Jangsari 9.15”. The movie is directed by renowned Korean filmmaker Kwak Kyung-taek (“Friend”). Production is by Taewon Entertainment, a leading production firm headed by Chung Taewon. The company previously
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“The Favourite” has scored 12 nominations at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts’ movie awards, far outpacing the rest of the pack. Behind it came “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “First Man,” “Roma” and “A Star Is Born” with seven BAFTA nominations apiece. “Vice” garnered six noms, “BlacKkKlansman” five, and “Cold War” and “Green Book” four each.
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Four Indian film directors, Mahesh Manjrekar, Pradeep Sarkar, Priyadarshan and Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, who have each won the National Award, have joined forces to shoot “Invisible Masks.” The adaptation of four short stories, the film tackles homosexuality, mental illness, people leading double lives, and other hot button social issues in India. The film is a
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January 8, 2019 10:24PM PT In this week’s edition of the Variety Movie Commercial Tracker, powered by the TV advertising attention analytics company iSpot.tv, Universal Pictures claims the top spot in spending with “Glass.” Ads placed for the superhero thriller had an estimated media value of $10.32 million through Sunday for 970 national ad airings
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SAG-AFTRA is keeping up the pressure on the advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty, blasting Brighthouse Financial for utilizing the agency to film a commercial with non-union performers. The union instructed its 160,000 members on Sept. 20 not to accept any work for BBH, which had been signed to SAG-AFTRA’s commercials contracts since 1999. The strike came
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A rare Sex Pistols 7-inch vinyl record became the most expensive single ever sold on Discogs, the most prominent online marketplace for music rarities. A “God Save The Queen” single on the A&M label, from a batch that was supposed to have been destroyed after the group left the label, sold for $15,882 in November
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In today’s film news roundup, Tom Hanks will present Alan Alda with a life achievement award, a new literary management company launches, and documentaries “Sharkwater Extinction” and “Pavarotti” are acquired.  HONORS Tom Hanks will present the SAG life achievement award to Alan Alda during the 25th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Jan. 27. Hanks
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In the days after last weekend’s premiere of “Surviving R. Kelly” — the harrowing Lifetime documentary in which multiple women level detailed accusations of sexual misconduct against the singer — public outcry against him has reached fever pitch, particularly for RCA Records, his longstanding label, to end its relationship with him. As of this writing, Kelly
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Universal Pictures is moving Jordan Peele’s horror-thriller “Us” back a week to March 22 to build more buzz following its selection as the opening title of the South by Southwest Film Festival. “Us,” which follows a family confronted by a group of doppelgängers, stars Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, and Elisabeth Moss. Nyong’o and Duke play
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January 8, 2019 4:12PM PT St. Vincent has plans in the works to produce a new album for ’90s girl-band Sleater-Kinney in 2019. The indie rock artist behind 2015’s Grammy-winning best alternative music album, “St. Vincent,” announced the news on Twitter Tuesday along with a photo of the artists together in the studio. Entering the
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Lifetime says its six-part documentary series “Surviving R. Kelly” garnered an average of 2.1 million total viewers, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day ratings. The series, which included interviews with #MeToo founder and civil rights activist Tarana Burke, musician John Legend and others, documents the decades of sexual abuse allegations against the R&B artist. It aired across
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In today’s TV News Roundup, Amazon sets the release date for upcoming docuseries “Lorena.”  FIRST LOOKS [embedded content] Netflix has released the trailer for the fifth of “Grace and Frankie,” which stars Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as  women who became unlikely friends after their husbands left them for each other. In the new season they are dealing
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