Month: January 2025

Barry Michael Cooper, a writer and producer who co-wrote the blaxploitation ’90s classic “New Jack City” and finished his “Harlem trilogy” writing “Sugar Hill” and “Above the Rim,” died in Baltimore, Md. on Tuesday. He was 66. Cooper’s death was confirmed by a representative for Spike Lee. The pair collaborated on the Netflix series adaptation

M. Night Shyamalan testified Wednesday that he and his collaborators on the Apple TV+ show “Servant” did not steal from a 2013 independent film about a delusional mother and her baby doll. The director told jurors that the copyright dispute with “The Truth About Emanuel” director Francesca Gregorini is “clearly, 100%, a misunderstanding.” “This accusation

Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist” sparked controversy over the weekend after it became more widely known that AI was used during postproduction for enhancing stars Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones’ Hungarian language dialogue. The subject of AI already puts many in Hollywood on edge, but it’s also being increasingly used in filmmaking. In this case, its

The Iron Curtain had already collapsed when Maria Bakalova was growing up in Bulgaria, but old sensibilities still lingered: as a girl she was discouraged from playing the “aggressive and muscular” electric guitar (she learned the flute instead) and life there was still largely circumscribed by national borders. But Bakalova, who portrays the Czech-born Ivana

“The Fall Guy” and “Bullet Train” filmmaker David Leitch is in talks to direct “Ocean’s 14” for Warner Bros. George Clooney’s Smokehouse banner is behind the fourth film in the “Ocean’s Eleven” franchise, so it’s expected the star will return alongside Brad Pitt, who collaborated with Leitch on “Bullet Train.” The original “Ocean’s” trilogy, directed

Cole Webley, a Salt Lake City-based director, spent decades dreaming of premiering one of his films in Park City. The Utah native has attended the Sundance Film Festival for nearly 20 years, waiting in long lines as the snow fell around him, shivering in the cold in hopes of catching a hot new movie. He’d

The Oscars have shared details about how they will honor the city of Los Angeles amid the devastation caused by wildfires, along with other updates to this year’s ceremony. In a letter sent to Academy members, CEO Bill Kramer and President Janet Yang outlined plans for the 97th Oscars ceremony, set to take place on

For the first time since 2022, this year’s South by Southwest Film & Television Festival does not overlap with the Oscars — which seems to have given SXSW curators a richer field to pull from, as the 2025 lineup has no shortage of buzzy titles and stars. Running from March 7-15, the festival will feature

Not so long ago, sex workers had a less than rosy image in the movies, and in the culture at large. For starters, they weren’t called “sex workers.” When Demi Moore played one in 1996, the title of that movie was “Striptease.” And in reviews I’ve written of more movies than I can count, I’ve

Thuso Mbedu, Amandla Stenberg, Damson Idris and Tosin Cole are taking on the lead roles in the highly-anticipated film adaptation of “Children of Blood and Bone.” Gina Prince-Bythewood is directing the action fantasy film, based on Tomi Adeyemi’s bestselling novel, for Paramount Pictures. The studio has also dated the film for release on Jan. 15,

For an eight consecutive year, Macro returns to the Sundance Film Festival with a lineup of programming that spotlights and amplifies the voices and works of filmmakers of color at the Macro Lodge. Hosted by Macro founder and CEO Charles D. King and the company’s chief brand officer, Stacey Walker King, the Macro Lodge will

Award-winning filmmaker Matt Wolf is directing the feature documentary “Soaps,” which explores the family dynasty behind the biggest and most successful soaps in the industry featuring a deep dive into the wildly popular “The Bold and the Beautiful.” “Soaps” brings audiences inside the world of soap operas with unprecedented access behind-the-scenes at “The Bold and

IFC Films, the studio behind “Late Night With the Devil” and “Memoir of a Snail,” has tapped Ayo Kepher-Maat as its new vice president of acquisitions and productions. In this new role, Kepher-Maat will help the indie film studio build its slate, which includes films in the fiction, non-fiction and international realms. Kepher-Maat, who is