Month: September 2019

In Max Winkler’s “Jungleland,” Jack O’Connell and Charlie Hunnam have a very familiar movie-sibling dynamic, playing brothers respectively “good” and ne’er-do-well, tough guys in the brutal business of boxing who’ve been knocked around a bit too much by life in general. This may inevitably recall the fairly recent likes of “The Fighter” and “Warrior,” excellent

Around halfway through “Saint Maud,” writer-director Rose Glass constructs a cinematic wince moment for the ages, involving nails, bare feet and a young woman with a Christ complex far too big for her own snappable body. “Never waste your pain,” she says, and this short, sharp needle-jab of a horror parable from bleakest Britain takes

Going forward, what will Hollywood do when it needs a Kevin Spacey type? The disgraced Oscar winner is precisely the actor a movie like “Bad Education” calls for: Cory Finley’s audacious second feature centers on the true story of Frank Tassone, district superintendent of the Roslyn School District in Long Island, N.Y. — a hero

There’s nothing tidy about Daphne’s love life — and if there were, she probably wouldn’t make a very compelling character. Daphne, who is played by Shailene Woodley in what is simultaneously her most realistic and least accessible performance yet, recently broke up with her boyfriend, moving back into her sister’s pool house. That split had

Hugh Jackman’s embezzlement drama “Bad Education” debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday night with apt timing, as the sharply executed film offers parallels to scandals currently playing out in American colleges. The film arrives only two days after actress Felicity Huffman explained to a California judge why she would attempt to deceptively

“She Said,” Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey’s account of reporting their New York Times investigation of Harvey Weinstein that helped reignite the #MeToo movement, will be published on Tuesday — but a story about the book in the New York Times on Sunday has already set off a firestorm on the internet. In an interview

“The Goldfinch” is this year’s entry in what has become, by now, a time-honored genre: the high-toned awards-bait literary adaptation that, for all the skill and care and ambition that’s been lavished on it, doesn’t quite work. Watching this faithful-in-a-literal-way yet somehow skittery cinematic transcription of Donna Tartt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2013 art-mystery novel, you can

When Jennifer Lopez read the script for “Hustlers,” she felt an immediate connection to Ramona, the most powerful stripper at a New York club during the 2008 financial crisis. But she also liked that the screenplay for “Hustlers,” written by Lorene Scafaria, touched on much deeper themes. “It’s about the people, but it’s also about

Writer/director Drake Doremus (“Douchebag,” “Like Crazy,” “Breathe In,” “Equals,” “Newness,” “Zoe”) debuts his latest picture, “Endings, Beginnings,” at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival. The film centers on a young woman (Shailene Woodley) navigating love and heartbreak over the course of one year while confronting the pain of a recent traumatic experience, and finding hope in

The Aretha Franklin documentary “Amazing Grace” will be going out on tour this fall and winter, as part of a 22-state road show that will offer free screenings of the film as a centerpiece of multi-day voter registration events being sponsored by the Poor People’s Campaign, a historic civil rights organization that Franklin supported since

John Wesley, the actor best-known for playing Dr. Hoover on “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” has died. He was 72. Wesley died from complications due to a long battle with multiple myeloma, his family confirmed to Variety. Gerry Pass, Wesley’s manager and producer, said in a statement, “John Wesley was a gift to the

As its title character might put it, “Dolemite Is My Name” is a total motherf—kin’ blast. It tells the story — all true, all outrageous — of one of the most successful blaxploitation films of the ’70s, the insanely over-the-top and borderline inept “Dolemite” (1975), and how it came to be. And it turns that

Eighteen-year-old Tunde Johnson (Steven Silver) isn’t consciously able to explain why he wakes up gasping every day. Every day is the same day, May 28, and every night, he’s murdered by the cops and “The Obituary of Tunde Johnson” is read anew: an upper-middle class, gay high schooler destined to be shot by jumpy officers

It wasn’t just Pennywise’s signature red balloons that inflated this weekend. Warner Bros. and New Line’s “It: Chapter Two” jolted ticket sales at the international box office, collecting $94 million in 75 foreign markets. Combined with a $91 million start in North America, the R-rated horror sequel has generated $185 million worldwide, only ranking behind

Last year, two CNN original documentaries, “RBG” and “Three Identical Strangers,” garnered $14 million and $12 million, respectively, at the box office. The abnormally lofty B.O. numbers made the film arm of the cable news channel an unlikely belle of the nonfiction community. Behind both docs was executive producer and CNN Films vice president, Courtney

September 8, 2019 8:41AM PT Chris Evans is going from American superhero to mystery villain in his upcoming film “Knives Out,” and it’s a welcome change. “It’s nice to play somebody a little more vile,” Evans said at Variety‘s Toronto Film Festival studio presented by AT&T. “I don’t always get the opportunity to play someone who’s

September 8, 2019 8:13AM PT When a prophecy from a traveling sheik portends that a young Sudanese boy will die at the age of 20, he and his mother are faced with the difficult task of navigating the space between coming of age and confronting the end. “You Will Die at Twenty” is the feature

Leave it to Pennywise to deliver a much-needed jolt to the domestic box office. Warner Bros. and New Line’s “It: Chapter Two” arrived with $91 million, a promising start to fall after a lackluster summer moviegoing season. While those ticket sales are behind the jaw-dropping $123 million launch of its predecessor, 2017’s “It,” the follow-up

September 8, 2019 6:08AM PT This sensational 3D doc celebrates American dancer and choreographer Merce Cunningham’s work by reenacting a number of his iconic dances. Good nonfiction storytelling requires artistry beyond talking heads and archives, though creative vision sometimes feels purposely concealed or standardized in documentaries to prioritize substance over style. But here’s a dance

The Walt Disney Co. has struck a long-term deal with historic Pinewood Studios outside London to take nearly all its stages, backlots and other production accommodation. The arrangement is expected to begin in 2020. “It’s wonderful to have Disney here at Pinewood,” Paul Golding, chairman of the Pinewood Group Ltd., said in a statement. “They’ve

Cologne-based Augenschein Filmproduktion, producer of “7500,” which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, is moving increasingly into English-language production while also branching out as a financing partner for international projects. In a move reflecting those changes, the company has hired industry vet Rusta Mizani, currently head of business affairs at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin, as

Director Minhal Baig’s debut feature, coming-of-age story “Hala,” took Sundance by storm and became one of the first films ever acquired by tech giant Apple.  On the ground in Toronto, Baig spoke with Variety about showing the film, about the identity struggles of a Muslim teen girl, to diverse audiences around the world. Also serving as

The Russo Brothers are using the clout they earned from directing “Avengers: Endgame” and several other Marvel movies to get some interesting projects off the ground. Take “Mosul,” a jittery, intense thriller about an elite group of Iraqi soldiers facing off against ISIS in a bombed-out city. There’s little about the film, which relies on

“Women Make Film” has scored a clean sweep of deals for North America, with buyers taking theatrical, streaming and TV rights to Mark Cousins’ 14-hour opus about female filmmakers. Turner Classic Movies has snagged linear TV, the Criterion Collection has taken the first streaming window and Cohen Media has taken theatrical and ancillary rights to