Month: September 2019

High-end shoppers and film-goers will be able to combine both pursuits at Selfridges when it opens a permanent three-screen movie theater inside its flagship London store later this year. The iconic department store has hitherto been known as a destination for shoppers in search of upmarket fashion. It has now partnered with independent boutique exhibitor

September 10, 2019 1:30AM PT In Wayne Wang’s sensitively observed but slowly paced Korean-American cancer drama, food and family are seen interrelated within the loving relationship of a mother and son. An intimate chamber piece that tightly interlaces remembrances of food and family, Wayne Wang’s quietly sensitive “Coming Home Again” adapts Chang-rae Lee’s award-winning 1995

As one segment of Americans complacently denies racism still exists, others consider discrimination true enough to worry about their loved ones’ safety every time they go out — let alone face a law enforcement official. That is the issue addressed head-on by Christopher Demos-Brown’s “American Son,” whose Booth Theater production from last year has been

Oscar-winning screenwriter Callie Khouri has issued a strong endorsement for David Goodman for re-election as president of the Writers Guild of America West. “I have been a member of the WGA for twenty-nine years,” Khouri said in a email to members. “I’ve seen us win some and lose some. But after all these years I

Joaquin Phoenix wrestled with playing the Joker before he signed on to Todd Phillips’ latest film. The actor talked about coming to terms with the role at a Q&A following the North American premiere of “Joker” at the Toronto Film Festival on Monday night. “I mean honestly, it wasn’t an easy decision at first,” Phoenix

“Papicha,” the Algerian film which appeared in Un Certain Regard at Cannes this year, has received finance from two Hong Kong companies which have used modern financial techniques to “tokenize” their direct investment in the film’s equity. Directed by Mounia Meddour, the film, a female emancipation story about a woman daring to put on a

September 9, 2019 8:41PM PT “Weathering With You,” the hit Japanese animation directed by Makoto Shinkai, is set for a theatrical release in mainland Chinese theaters. Chinese state media reported on Monday that the film had been approved by China’s censors, but said that the film had not yet been given a release date. After

In today’s film news roundup, Malcolm D. Lee is developing an action comedy, a Steve McQueen biopic is in the works and the Meet the Press Film Festival is set for Oct. 7. PROJECT LAUNCHES “Girls Trip” director-producer Malcolm D. Lee is developing the action comedy “The Spoils” for Lionsgate to produce through his Blackmaled

Joaquin Phoenix has three Academy Award nominations, four Golden Globe nominations (and one win) and a lead role in another film that’s already getting Oscar buzz, but in an emotional speech Monday night, the “Joker” actor made it clear that none of it would have been possible without his late brother River Phoenix. “When I

Much was made of the fact that Abel Tesfave’s name showed up in the cast list for “Uncut Gems,” the latest film from the brother director team Josh and Benny Safdie. As it’s turned out now that the crime drama is premiering — and triumphing — on the festival circuit, “Gems” has Tesfave playing the

September 9, 2019 6:12PM PT “Joker” director Todd Phillips isn’t optimistic when it comes to a future meeting between Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker and Robert Pattinson’s recently announced Batman “No, definitely not,” he told Variety when asked if the pair would appear in a future film together. Although that doesn’t mean “Joker” will be the last

September 9, 2019 5:51PM PT Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville’s chemistry brightens a lovely but claustrophobic cancer drama Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn’s intimate drama “Ordinary Love” loves to show health-conscious husband and wife Tom (Liam Neeson) and Joan (and Lesley Manville) on their evening stroll, a contented retired couple walking the same path

NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA) and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present the InFocus: Latinx & Hispanic Cinema Festival on Sept. 14 at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. The event gives the opportunity for emerging Latinx filmmakers from around the world to screen their films and network with industry luminaries. This

September 9, 2019 4:51PM PT Geetu Mohandas’ second directorial feature tells a potent if complicated story sometimes confused by gratuitously hyperactive editing. Actor-turned-writer-director Geetu Mohandas’ second feature, “The Elder One,” is a considerably busier enterprise than her first, 2014’s well-received road drama “Liar’s Dice.” Where that essentially two-character piece was linear, low-key and leisurely, this

The work of Stephen King has a long history of making its way to the big screen with wildly different results. Some land Academy Awards (“Misery”) or become classics (“The Shawshank Redemption”) while others disappear into the film ether (“The Mangler,” “Sleepwalkers,” “Thinner,” “Hearts in Atlantis,” “Graveyard Shift” … you get the idea.) But when

September 9, 2019 4:32PM PT Can a community punish a predator? Eva Orner’s compelling documentary demands justice for women bent to their guru’s will Never trust a man in Speedos who promises to change your life. That’s advice from director Eva Orner’s “Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator,” a doc that bends and snaps the self-described God

“Crazy Rich Asians” director Jon M. Chu has addressed screenwriter Adele Lim leaving the hit 2018 movie’s planned sequel over a pay disparity between Lim and co-writer Peter Chiarelli.  In a lengthy post on social media, Chu wrote that he stands by Lim and her decision to part ways with the Warner Bros. project. He

This new feature film about the lives of a family scrapping to preserve their fortune, and those of the servants attending them, is explicitly designed as a balm for the aching hearts of those who loved watching the TV version. (Stateside, that program aired as part of PBS’s “Masterpiece” franchise from 2011 to 2016.) And,

September 9, 2019 3:54PM PT The 1997 action movie “Face/Off,” which starred John Travolta and Nicolas Cage, is getting a reboot. Paramount has hired “22 Jump Street” screenwriter Oren Uziel to pen the script with Neal Moritz producing. David Permut, who was a producer on the original film, will executive produce. No actors or director

September 9, 2019 3:26PM PT Renée Zellweger’s transformation into Judy Garland for biopic “Judy” has pulled in several other big names eager to celebrate the ruby-slippered icon. Musicians Sam Smith and Rufus Wainwright will be joining Zellweger on the “Judy” soundtrack for separate duets. Wainwright, another self-proclaimed Garland super-fan, will pair with Zellweger on “Have Yourself

September 9, 2019 2:25PM PT Magnolia Pictures has acquired North American rights to the romance-drama “Two of Us,” the feature directorial debut of France-based Italian filmmaker Filippo Meneghetti. Magnolia is planning a theatrical release early next year. The films follows two older women, played by Barbara Sukowa and Martine Chevallier, who live across the hall