Month: June 2023

It is a paradox worthy of Zeno himself that significant dumbing-down is necessary in order to make tales of extraordinary genius comprehensible to us lay audiences. But in her own attempt at grandly unifying these opposing poles, French director Anna Novion (“Grown Ups,” “Rendezvous in Kiruna”) splits the difference so often she delivers in “Marguerite’s
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Emerging talent Eugénie Bouquet and her illustrated dialogue on the intricacies of sex work “Not In Love” (“Pas Amoureux”) explores one of the few remaining real taboos in Switzerland: Sex Work.  Written, directed and animated by Bouquet, and competing at Annecy among graduate shorts, the four-minute chat centers on Judith, who recalls experiences with disabled
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There is a whole new Batman in town. Despite that familiar name, upcoming “Aztec Batman: The Clash of Empires” will introduce an original hero, assured its team during their riotous presentation at Annecy. Overseen by Warner Bros. Animation and DC, the film is produced in Mexico in partnership with Ánima and Chatrone. “This is a
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Boris Johnson was “deliberately disingenuous” about parties in his residence, No. 10 Downing Street, during COVID-19 lockdown, a parliamentary privileges committee has found. When news emerged about the parties, Johnson was asked several times about the parties at the House of Commons, but denied them every time. A privileges committee, with a majority from the
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Over the course of his first three features — “Ilo Ilo,” “Wet Season” and this year’s “Drift” — Singaporean director Anthony Chen has developed a signature style. It is a graceful, lucid classicism, a mode that in its straightforward sincerity is not fashionable in our abrasive moment, but can yield significant satisfactions. That is certainly
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Jan Naszewski’s Warsaw-based sales outlet New Europe Film Sales has sold its 3D family animation “A Mystery on the Cattle Hill Express,” directed by Will Ashurst, to Viva Kids for North America. The third part in the “Cattle Hill” series is a detective story about the little cow Clara and her friend Gavin who join
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Taking on an expansive topic, the contribution of Black astronauts to the American space program, Lisa Cortés and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza’s “The Space Race” derives its strength from the specific and detailed stories of its subjects. Spanning almost 60 years of historical narrative and concentrating on a handful of scientists who broke barriers, the
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The first episode of “Black Mirror’s” new, sixth season features a tableau with which its viewers will likely be intimately familiar: A couple, sitting on their couch, deciding what to stream in the evening. This being “Black Mirror,” their choice of programming will have mind-bending consequences; this being latter-day “Black Mirror,” it’s also a reflexive
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“Ozi, Voice of the Forest” premiered at the Annecy Festival on June 13, kicking off a series of films that seek to highlight dangers to the environment.  The film tells the story of a young orangutan Ozi, voiced by Amandla Stenberg (“The Hunger Games”), who becomes separated from her parents when her rain forest home
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Gkids has scooped North America rights to “Chicken for Linda!,” a hand-painted, Franco-Italian co-production that premiered out of Cannes’ ACID sidebar and is now competing in Annecy. Written and directed Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach, the bittersweet film focuses on the madcap energy of childhood without overlooking the melancholy.  “We wanted something both funny and
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Speaking for nearly an hour at his master class, one of the key highlights of the Annecy Animation Festival this week, maestro filmmaker Guillermo del Toro kept his packed-to-the rafters audience enthralled – and in stitches – as he extolled the virtues of stop-motion animation and of embracing flaws. Having just won a best animated
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Bollywood star Sonam Kapoor has signed with leading Indian studio Yash Raj Films’ talent management division, YRF Talent. Kapoor made her acting debut with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Saawariya” (2007) and has won critical and commercial acclaim for “Aisha” (2010), “Raanjhanaa” (2013), “Khoobsurat” (2014), “Neerja” (2016), “Veere Di Wedding” (2018) and “Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh
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When “Loot” production designer Jennifer Dehghan signed onto the production, she knew it would “snag people with the funny and the pretty,” but she hoped that the series’ “larger conversation [would keep] going on.” Dehghan noted for Variety how “‘Loot’ delves into the late capitalist world, the housing crisis, rising poverty and the imbalance of
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No one could deny that there were star-driven aspects to this past weekend of shows at one of America’s most beloved outdoor venues, the Gorge, all of them headlined or organized by Brandi Carlile. That was apparent soon enough for anyone driving out of Seattle-Takoma Airport to make the three-hour drive to the remote amphitheater
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Amy Pascal will never forget the world premiere of the first “Spider-Man” movie in 2002. She was the head of Sony at the time, and was so worried that the film wouldn’t succeed she “spent the entire time in the ladies’ room crying,” Pascal recalled at the “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” premiere in Los Angeles.
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Anitta is no longer in business with her longtime manager Brandon Silverstein, Variety can confirm. The founder/CEO of S10 Entertainment helped foster the multi-lingual singer’s breakout career in the United States. “Working with Brandon the past few years was a great journey,” Anitta said in a statement. “He will always be someone special to me.”
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The live-action “Knuckles” series at Paramount+ has added five new cast members. Cary Elwes (“The Princess Bride,” “Robin Hood: Men in Tights”), Stockard Channing (“Grease,” “The West Wing”), Christopher Lloyd (“Back to the Future,” “The Addams Family”), Paul Scheer (“Black Monday,” “Veep”), and Rob Huebel (“Children’s Hospital,” “Bob’s Burgers”) have all joined the series. Details
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“Black Mirror” has shocked, creeped out and warned audiences of the dangers of technology for more than a decade, and it’s returning with Season 6 on Netflix on June 15 after a four-year wait. Originally conceived as an anthology program on the British outlet Channel 4, “Black Mirror” moved to Netflix starting with Season 3
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Elliot Page writes in his new memoir, “Pageboy,” that filming the 2017 “Flatliners” remake was “a true mess from the very beginning” and a “shit show” due to unsafe stunt work and instances of racism and queerphobia on set (via Entertainment Weekly). Or, as Page puts it: “It went off the rails.” In an entire
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The new Max dating series “Swiping America,” from “We’re Here” creators Stephen Warren and Johnnie Ingram, follows a diverse group of New Yorkers who try dating in other cities throughout the U.S. “The beautiful thing about this show is we are the most inclusive, nonjudgmental dating show out there,” Warren told me Tuesday night at the show’s premiere at
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Scarlett Johansson revealed to Variety last month that she auditioned for the lead role in Alfonso Cuarón’s 2013 3D space epic “Gravity,” which became a box office blockbuster with over $720 million worldwide and earned 10 Oscar nominations, including best picture. Cuarón won the best director prize, while Sandra Bullock was nominated for best actress.
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New Mexico prosecutors say they will file new charges against Alec Baldwin if further testing shows that his gun was working at the time of the “Rust” shooting. The special prosecutors in the case, Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis, dropped manslaughter charges against Baldwin in April. Baldwin had been accused of negligently pulling the trigger, causing
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