Month: November 2020

In retrospect, it may have been a mistake to watch the original Archers film production of “Black Narcissus” before screening the limited series “Black Narcissus,” produced for FX and BBC One. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s 1947 take on Rumer Godden’s novel is a cinematic landmark of its era, leaning on saturated colors, dramatic music
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Creators and screenwriters from Europe discussed the importance of collaboration in filmmaking during a panel in the Variety Streaming Room. Hosted by international features editor Leo Barraclough, the conversation, titled “Lost in Translation? Visual Story Development from Script to Screen,” included creators from the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival’s Black Room and writers from the Face
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Michaela Coel, Lenny Abrahamson’s “Normal People” and “The Masked Singer” were among the winners of the U.K.’s Royal Television Society (RTS) Craft & Design Awards. Coel won the 2020 RTS special award for her groundbreaking BBC/HBO show “I May Destroy You.” In presenting the award to Coel, the judges said: “This piece sits in the
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Neil Patrick Harris has joined Nicolas Cage’s action comedy “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” along with Pedro Pascal, Tiffany Haddish and Sharon Horgan. Harris will play Cage’s talent agent in the movie. Cage is portraying a fictionalized version of himself who’s creatively unfulfilled and facing financial ruin, leading to accepting a $1 million offer
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“Cops and Robbers,” the animated short directed by Arnon Manor and Timothy Ware-Hill, is written and performed by Ware-Hill in response to the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. After the Arbery video surfaced on May 5, Manor was inspired to create an animated version of Ware-Hill’s poem, which resulted in their collaboration. Timothy Ware-Hill and Arnon
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STXfilms has decided to enter this unconventional awards season with a mighty and timely drama, “The Mauritanian,” formerly called “Prisoner 760,” from Scottish director Kevin Macdonald. The film will be released on Feb. 19, 2021, and could echo the same late-breaking awards success that past movies like “Million Dollar Baby” were able to execute. With
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If you grew up with Frank Zappa, and he loomed large in your youth-cultural pop rebel sandbox (as he did in mine), he seemed to be many things at once. The outrageous hippie with the thick black T-shaped goatee who looked weird and threatening enough to represent something very far removed from peace and love.
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In Clea DuVall’s “Happiest Season,” Kristen Stewart plays Abby, an art history Ph.D. student whose girlfriend, Harper (Mackenzie Davis), has invited her home for Christmas. Though she’s at first reluctant to go, Abby then decides she’ll actually propose to Harper, assuming that meeting the family goes well — but Harper tells Abby she hasn’t yet come out to her parents, and they both have to pretend to be straight. It’s a romcom with
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This awards season could showcase possibly one of the most diverse group of contenders ever. A record-breaking number of women are directing and writing films; Tara Miele among them with her cerebral drama “Wander Darkly,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Lionsgate is giving the film a strong awards push and will submit Diego
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Legendary Entertainment and “The White Queen” and “Life on Mars” writers/showrunners Emma Frost and Matthew Graham have launched a U.K. drama production company with a slate of 10 projects. Frost and Graham, whose credits include “Ashes to Ashes,” “The Spanish Princess,” “Doctor Who” and “The Man In The High Castle,” will serve as joint CEOs
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Before there was “Riverdale,” there was “Saved by the Bell.” The NBC sitcom that premiered in 1989 and ran for four seasons proper (not including its predecessor “Good Morning Miss Bliss,” or its subsequent spinoffs “The College Years” and “The New Class”) followed a core group of high school friends as they dated each other,
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Puerto Rican singer-rapper Bad Bunny cancelled his scheduled performance on the American Music Awards Sunday night after testing positive for coronavirus. His rep confirmed the diagnosis on Monday, according to the Associated Press, although no explanation was given for his cancellation at the time, leading to many frustrated responses online from fans. The artist, who
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Warner Music Group, which went public earlier this year, reported revenues that were essentially flat for its fiscal 2020, owing to the impact of COVID-19 and several of its superstar artists being off-cycle. “We’re proud of everything we’ve accomplished in the past year, despite the challenging conditions that the world has faced,” said Steve Cooper, CEO,
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As expected, Guitar Center, the largest musical-instrument retailer in the U.S. and a mecca for musicians, filed for bankruptcy protection late Saturday night, according to the New York Times. The company, which missed a $45 million bond-interest payment last month, has around $1.3 billion in debt and has been deeply impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
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YouTube is letting Billie Elish fans remix her chart-topper “Bad Guy” — using thousands of users’ cover versions — in a virtually infinite number of permutations. On Monday, the video platform debuted “Infinite Bad Guy,” available at this link: billie.withyoutube.com. YouTube says the interactive experience (which will carry no ads) is meant to celebrate Eilish
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