Movies

In “After Parkland,” a documentary about the school shooting that took place on Feb. 14, 2018, in Parkland, Florida, leaving 17 high-school students dead and injuring 17 others, there’s a scene set at the Trump White House that bristles with personal grief and political rage. It’s one week after the shooting, and several students who

Art imitates life until the line between them blurs in “Europa, ‘Based on a True Story,’” Rwandan director Kivu Ruhorahoza’s provocative portrayal of a love affair gone bad that mirrors the growing social and racial tensions in Great Britain and Europe. Produced by Anthony Rui Ribeiro for Moon Road Films and co-produced by Cocoon Production,

“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” director Marielle Heller didn’t want Tom Hanks to wear any prosthetics when playing Fred Rogers in the biopic, which was inspired by the Esquire article “Can You Say … Hero?” by Tom Junod (played by Matthew Rhys as a character named Lloyd Vogel). Heller felt such measures would throw up

With giant interstellar battles, historic car races and intimate moments with iconic performers on the line, the sound teams behind many of the year’s best films stretched to design next-level soundscapes. Live performances just about always prove tricky, but Adrian Bell, production sound mixer for “Judy,” was able to find things in them that became

If there’s one story dominating the makeup and hairstyling category this awards season, it’s the instance where makeup wasn’t actually used. Oh, there’s plenty of makeup in “The Irishman,” as department head Nicki Ledermann can attest — she had to craft looks that spanned multiple decades and a physical cast of more than 200 actors

Editors for many of this year’s most-lauded movies were careful to let the audience feel they were making their own discoveries as the stories unfolded. “We had a structure that was so bold and the [deliberate] pace of the movie, which is slower than the way movies are often done today,” says Thelma Schoonmaker, three-time

Earlier this year, Ruth E. Carter won the costume design Oscar for her superheroic efforts in creating outfits for “Black Panther,” but 2020’s contenders are more likely to reflect the real world. And many of those assist the film’s story by undertaking their own journeys.In “Queen & Slim,” the titular fugitives spend the entire movie

Ruth E. Carter made history when she became the first African-American to win the Academy Award for Outstanding Costume Design add this year for “Black Panther.” Recently, she’s reteamed with Eddie Murphy on Netflix’s “Dolemite Is My Name”  (they previously collaborated on “Daddy Day Care,” “I Spy” and “Dr. Dolittle 2”),  for which where she

November 27, 2019 9:58AM PT The world of “Jojo Rabbit” is one that is seen through the eyes of a 10-year-old boy. His world is World War II Germany and his imaginary best friend is Hitler. Jojo dreams and aspires to be the greatest soldier and join the Nazis. Taika Waititi’s anti-hate satire builds a

Disney’s “Frozen 2” is dominating North American moviegoing, topping $160 million in its first five days. The animated adventure, which launched with a $130.3 million opening weekend, took in $12 million on Monday and an estimated $21 million on Tuesday. “Frozen 2” could add as much as $100 million to $120 million during the five-day Thanksgiving

At the ripe young age of 76, it’s possible that Robbie Robertson — cofounder and main songwriter of The Band, director Martin Scorsese’s musical collaborator of more than four decades, and a hell of a guitar player as well — is busier than he’s ever been. Just the last few weeks have seen the release

November 27, 2019 3:50AM PT “Vikings” star Gaia Weiss has joined the cast of the high concept sci fi thriller “Meander” directed by Mathieu Turi, whose post-apocalyptic debut “Hostile” was a genre film hit. WTFilms, a co-producer on the film, is handling worldwide sales and has unveiled an first still (pictured). Written and directed by

Picture Tree Intl. has picked up global sales rights to Mexican feature “Go Youth!” (¡Ánimo Juventud!), directed by Carlos Armella. PTI will present the project, now in final postproduction, for the first time at the Ventana Sur film market. Variety has been given exclusive access to the first teaser for the film. [embedded content] The

The Cairo Film Festival’s Industry Days wrapped Tuesday on a high note, with several Arabic film projects emerging as standouts of its co-production platform. The informal market component of the rebooted Cairo fest entailed five days of networking, deal-making, and mentoring, and had a greater focus on TV. Attending were such high-level execs as AGC Studios

The writer-director of “Blue Story” has expressed doubt as to the reasons why British exhibitor Vue pulled the movie from its theaters following a mass brawl at a cinema where the film was being screened. The violence erupted close to a screening of the film at the Star City entertainment center in Birmingham, in central

November 26, 2019 11:56PM PT Taiwanese-Canadian actor Godfrey Gao died Wednesday of sudden cardiac arrest after he collapsed while shooting a Chinese sports reality show in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, the show’s official social media account said. He was 35. Gao was in the middle of a late-night shoot for Zhejiang TV’s reality show “Chase

Costume designer Colleen Atwood has had a large hand in crafting the worlds of “Chicago,” “Edward Scissorhands” and “Dumbo,” using a detailed approach to help tell nuanced stories. Her latest, “Bombshell,” sees Atwood recreating the hectic world of Fox News. In addition to watching real-life footage, Atwood started with photographic research. “I went through old

“Booksmart” and “Hustlers” have been traveling a parallel path since their debuts at SXSW and TIFF respectively, with awards buzz building as both films picked up crucial nominations from the Independent Spirit Awards and Gotham Awards. But aside from the critical support, the coming-of-age comedy and the strip-club-set thriller have even more in common —

November 26, 2019 11:30AM PT Elizabeth Banks is set to direct and star in “Invisible Woman” for Universal, which is based on her own original pitch. “The Girl on the Train” scribe Erin Cressida Wilson penned the script with Banks and Max Handelman producing for their Brownstone Productions. Brownstone’s Alison Small will executive produce. Plot

With the international feature film race heating up, Algeria’s official entry “Papicha” has already beaten the odds of becoming the most successful African film directed by a woman at the French box office. Mounia Meddour’s debut feature, “Papicha” has grossed an estimated 1.6 million euros from about 250,000 tickets since its Oct. 9 release in

Simon Pegg may have done some snowboarding in Whistler, but he’s yet to attend a film fest there. Lucky for him, Katharine O’Brien’s “Lost Transmissions,” in which he stars alongside Juno Temple, is making its Canadian debut to open the Whistler Film Festival, which runs Dec 4-8. Pegg is thinking of bringing his snowboard, just

In today’s film news roundup, Lionsgate re-teams with Roland Emmerich for “Moonfall,” Kimberly Scott is cast opposite Jennifer Hudson, Syd Mead receives an honor and sci-fier “Alternate” gets a green light. RIGHTS DEAL Lionsgate has bought North American rights to Roland Emmerich’s science-fiction project “Moonfall.” The deal, announced Tuesday, re-teams Lionsgate with Emmerich after they

From Marvel to “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” 2019 has ushered in a new wave of gifts perfect for film and television lovers. APPAREL “Breaking Bad” x K-Swiss CollectionIn celebration of “Breaking Bad’s” Netflix original movie follow-up “El Camino,” K-Swiss released a limited edition pair of sneakers designed in the vein of Walter White’s (Bryan Cranston)

United Airlines is moving from flying the friendly skies to traversing some very popular spaceways. The world’s third-largest airline will be one of the marketing partners for the latest iteration of Walt Disney’s Star Wars franchise, “The Rise of Skywalker.” United hopes to tap into the cross-generational appeal of the movie series, says Mark Krolick,

November 26, 2019 8:38AM PT Adele Haenel, the French actor who alleged that director Christophe Ruggia sexually harassed her for years starting when she was 12 years old, filed a police complaint against him Tuesday. The information was confirmed by Haenel’s lawyers to the investigative website Mediapart, which first published Haenel’s allegations of sexual harassment

November 26, 2019 8:28AM PT [embedded content] It appears Carrie Fisher knew that J.J. Abrams would direct another “Star Wars” film even before he did. While stopping by “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” to discuss the upcoming “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” Abrams shared an uncanny message he got from the late Fisher,

For awards season pundits, the Golden Globes offer double the prognostications, and double the fun. Films and actors can compete in drama or musical/comedy categories, so a drama with some humor, such as “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” will most likely find an easy path to a kudo, rather than competing in the much

Adam Sandler is on a roll — that could send him all the way to the Oscars. Not only is he up for a Gotham Award for his work in “Uncut Gems,” but his performance also nabbed him an Indie Spirit Award nomination just last week. If all is right in the world, Sandler, 53,

After cutting their teeth on a few well-travelled narrative shorts, Singaporean musicians and filmmakers March Chua and Lam Li Shuen directed experimental road music film “Cannonball” that premiered at the Singapore International Film Festival in 2018. Their new feature film, the Tokyo-set “Revolution Laundrette”, is the tale of a young man who sets out to

Singapore’s rising star director Anthony Chen, whose second feature film “Wet Season” opened the 30th Singapore International Film Festival, will co-produce Thai film project “Arnold is a Model Student” by first time feature director Sorayos Prapapan. His producing partners are Singapore’s Tan Si En, who also produced “Wet Season” and Thailand’s Donsaron Kovitvanitcha. The project