Month: December 2021

BBC Studios has upped its 25% stake in “Brexit: The Uncivil War” producer House Productions to take full ownership of the London-based production company. Launched in 2016 by the former head of Film 4 Tessa Ross (pictured, right) and Working Title TV boss Juliette Howell (left), the company specializes in both film and TV with
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A Czech woman married into a working-class Afghan family provides a nuanced perspective on life in Kabul in the interregnum between Taliban rule in the animated drama “My Sunny Maad,” from director Michaela Pavlátová. Based on a novel by the Czech investigative journalist Petra Procházková, it sensitively portrays the complex environment of Kabul in the
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The Los Angeles premiere of Sony’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” has officially wrapped and the first reactions to the MCU’s latest entry are out in the wild. Official reviews and social media responses are beginning to pour in, with many offering euphoric praise for the multiverse mash-up featuring Tom Holland’s friendly neighborhood superhero. Director Jon
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SPOILER ALERT: The following review contains spoilers. What do you call the opposite of a reboot? The “system overload” of Spider-Man movies, Sony’s ninth (and almost certainly not last) feature-length riff on the friendly neighborhood superhero, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” seeks to connect Tom Holland’s spin on the web-slinger with the previous live-action versions of
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Daniel Pemberton’s score for Aaron Sorkin’s “Being the Ricardos” is unlike anything he’s written to date — a surprising choice for this think-outside-the-box composer, but one that would fit comfortably in the 1950s milieu of the film itself. “I felt it needed a kind of classic score that echoed the golden age of Hollywood,” Pemberton
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Of the six Sub-Saharan African submissions, the buzziest titles include Somalia’s first-ever entry, “The Gravedigger’s Wife” from feature debutant Khadar Ayderus Ahmed and Chad’s Cannes competitor, “Lingui: The Sacred Bonds” from veteran helmer Mahamet-Saleh Haroun. Meanwhile, South Africa’s dysfunctional family dramedy “Barakat” from Amy Jephta earns points for likeability although it represents a genre not
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The Gary Sinise Foundation hosted its second virtual Snowball Express event on Monday, connecting 750 families of fallen military service members. As the original Snowball Express would fly military families out to Disney World, the virtual event gifted participants with videos of thanks and appreciation from various celebrities, many of which gave their messages as
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With last year’s surprise nominee “The Man Who Sold His Skin” hailing from Tunisia, Oscar handicappers should be sure to give West Asia and North Africa titles close scrutiny this time around.Among the 11 submissions are several titles likely to be highly competitive in the international feature category. These include Iran’s social media critique “A
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A “Gotham Knights” TV series is in the works at The CW from three “Batwoman” writers, Variety has learned. The project hails from writers Natalie Abrams, James Stoteraux, and Chad Fiveash. Stoteraux and Fiveash are executive producers on the show, with Abrams co-executive producing. Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and David Madden of Berlanti Productions will also
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“General Hospital” star Ingo Rademacher sued ABC on Monday, arguing that the company’s COVID vaccine mandate is unconstitutional and amounts to religious discrimination. Rademacher, who played Jasper “Jax” Jacks on the soap for nearly 25 years, was fired last month after refusing to get vaccinated. According to his lawsuit, Rademacher sought a religious exemption from
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Filmmaker R.J. Cutler’s interest in documenting Billie Eilish dates back to 2018, when he contacted director of photography Jenna Rosher about a rising star he saw interviewed in Vanity Fair. “I watched those and was completely fascinated and blown away by her from the get-go,” Rosher says of the magazine’s series, which checks in on
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California will enact a statewide indoor mask mandate, regardless of vaccination status, starting Wednesday until Jan. 15. The new requirement comes amid concerns about the Omicron variant, which has contributed to a 47 percent increase in daily COVID-19 cases since Thanksgiving, according to California Health and Human Services. People attending events with 1,000 people or
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New parents are always advised to treasure every moment of their child’s infancy, even through the sleepless nights and bawling meltdowns for it all passes in the blink of an eye. Most parents, of course, have other stages of child-rearing to look forward to. For the incarcerated young mothers at Ukraine’s Odessa women’s correctional facility,
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Alex Kurtzman’s production company, Secret Hideout, has named Aaron Baiers president of television. He will succeed Heather Kadin in the role, with Kadin announcing her departure from the CBS Studios-based pod to pursue other opportunities. “In the ten years we’ve worked together, day in and day out, Aaron has proven himself to be a problem
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During the most recent season of MTV’s competition program “The Challenge,” subtitled “Spies, Lies & Allies,” the competitors initially had to work in pairs, despite major language barriers among them. In these games, veteran players from past seasons of “The Challenge” compete against vets of other series including “Survivor,” “Big Brother” and “Love Island” from
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The increased focus on female butt-kickers on TV has been a positive step for feminism and in trouncing stereotypes. Series as vastly different in tone as AMC’s “The Walking Dead” zombie franchise to the martial arts-tinged “Cobra Kai” on Netflix and the CW’s “Kung Fu”to Disney Plus’ Marvel Cinematic Universe spinoffs like “Hawkeye” and Starz’s
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