Movies

January 31, 2019 3:16AM PT The fading Nineties rave scene provides a luminous backdrop to Brian Welsh’s bittersweet, black-and-white coming-of-age tale. A snappy, scrappy, straining-at-the-leash coming-of-ager from bleakest Scotland, Brian Welsh’s “Beats” takes place in 1994 — two years before the release of “Trainspotting,” though 23 years on, it feels like something of an heir

Celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, Bavaria Film continues to move forward as a modern film and television group while looking back on a legacy that has shaped Germany’s cinematic landscape. Established in 1919 as Münchener Lichtspielkunst near Munich, Bavaria’s history spans silent film and talking pictures, the onset of television and the modern digital

Director Peter Hutchings’ “Then Came You” isn’t a movie for cynics. It’s for romantics — or at least teen sleepover parties. Though it has many of the qualities that made teen terminal-illness weepies “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Me, Earl and the Dying Girl” work, Hutchings’ dramedy eschews much of those films’ sincerity and

GOTEBORG, Sweden — Christoffer Boe and a stellar Danish cast are on board Miso Film’s series “Face to Face,” produced for the NENT Group. The show, currently in production, will be sold worldwide by Fremantle. This is Boe’s second TV series produced by Miso Film’s Peter Bose and Jonas Allen after “Warrior,” and his first

Miles Davis is the one jazz figure of the postwar era who had, and still has, the larger-than-life quality of a pop star. Other jazz artists, of course, became legends (Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, etc.), but Miles, like Picasso or Dylan, had a mystique rooted not just in his genius but in his cult of

For all its inclusion of raunchy dialogue, seriocomic carnality, and oral sex (implied to be happening beneath a strategically placed bedsheet), there is something oddly quaint about “The Unicorn,” director Robert Schwartzman’s lightly amusing trifle about two long-engaged millennials who contemplate a walk on the wild side — specifically, a threesome with another man or

January 30, 2019 5:26PM PT Netflix is in final negotiations to win rights to “Knock Down the House,” an acclaimed documentary about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other progressive candidates that debuted at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Rumor has it that the sale could be for as much as $6 million, a huge sum of money

January 30, 2019 4:42PM PT Warner Bros. has officially dated Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” for June 25, 2021. The studio has also dated a rebooted “The Suicide Squad” for Aug. 6, 2021, Robert Zemeckis’ “The Witches” for Oct. 16, 2020, and Stephen King’s “Doctor Sleep” for Nov. 8, 2019. Ben Affleck will not be returning

Dick Miller, a prolific screen actor best known for his role as Murray Futterman in the 1984 classic horror film “Gremlins,” has died. He was 90. With a career spanning more than 60 years, Miller has made hundreds of on screen appearances, beginning in the 1950s with legendary director and producer Roger Corman. It was

One of the biggest discoveries out of this year’s Sundance Film Festival is Gurinder Chadha’s “Blinded by the Light.” The coming-of-age tale set in 1987 England not only received one of the most enthusiastic standing ovations in Park City, but it also landed one of the biggest deals, selling for $15 million to New Line

Callie Khouri shifted the attention off herself Tuesday night and on to the assault and hospitalization of “Empire” star Jussie Smollett in Chicago earlier that day. Khouri, the Oscar-winning writer of “Thelma & Louise” and the creator of the series “Nashville,” made her remarks at the Paramount Theatre in Hollywood during her induction into the

Michelle Williams stopped by the Variety Studio at Sundance presented by AT&T to discuss her upcoming film “After the Wedding” with co-star Julianne Moore, and she touched on how her years of working in the industry has changed the way she views her job. “I think, more now, I think about about my experience of

“Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile” actor Zac Efron sat down at the Variety Studio at Sundance presented by AT&T to talk about embodying one of the U.S.’ worst serial killers, Ted Bundy. He explained that when he came to the production, he knew a little about Bundy, but what he found the most interesting

Julius Onah’s stirring family drama “Luce” has sold to Neon and Topic Studios out of the Sundance Film Festival. Starring Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer, Kelvin Harrison Jr., and Tim Roth, the deal was struck for U.S. distribution rights for an undisclosed amount. “It’s been a real thrill premiering ‘Luce’ at Sundance. After hearing Neon’s passion

January 30, 2019 2:08PM PT Priyanka Chopra is developing a feature film based on “Wild Wild Country,” the hit Netflix docu-series following the Rajneesh cult. Chopra will star as the Indian religious guru Bhagwan Rajneesh’s (also known as Osho) highly influential (and polarizing) assistant Ma Anand Sheela. The “Quantico” actress announced the plans during her appearance on

January 30, 2019 1:41PM PT Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions has picked up all international rights to “Them That Follow,” a drama about an obscure American Pentecostal sect that premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The film stars Oscar nominee Olivia Colman (“The Favourite”) and Walton Goggins (“Justified”). The Orchard picked up domestic rights earlier

Gina Rodriguez is taking on the unlikeliest of competitors this weekend — Super Bowl LIII. The actress, best known for her titular role on the CW’s “Jane the Virgin,” is heading to the big screen for her first starring role in a studio film with “Miss Bala.” Sony’s thriller, based on the well-regarded 2011 Mexican

January 30, 2019 10:57AM PT This year’s best actor race is a competitive one as any. Christian Bale (“Vice”), Bradley Cooper (“A Star Is Born”), Willem Dafoe (“At Eternity’s Gate”), Rami Malek (“Bohemian Rhapsody”), and Viggo Mortensen (“Green Book”) will go head-to-head during the Oscars ceremony on Feb. 24. After last Sunday’s SAG Awards, Malek

Zendaya is in early negotiations to join Legendary’s “Dune” reboot, sources tell Variety. She would join a cast that includes Timothee Chalamet, Oscar Isaac, Rebecca Ferguson, Stellan Skarsgard, and Charlotte Rampling. Zendaya would play the love interest of Chalamet’s character. Isaac is in talks to play Chalamet’s father. “Arrival” and “Blade Runner 2049” filmmaker Denis Villeneuve

The Berlin Film Festival is set to sign the gender-parity pledge that Cannes, Venice and other fests have also committed to. Berlinale chief Dieter Kosslick will sign the pledge Feb. 9 at a gathering sponsored by Women in Film and Television Germany, the festival confirmed Wednesday. The pledge was first initiated at Cannes last year

The 91st annual Academy Award nominations brought the usual surprises – both pleasant (both actresses from “Roma” landed noms!) and peculiar (no Bradley Cooper for director). In the best picture race, there were no shocking omissions or inclusions as the eight films nominated were all Producers Guild of America nominees (only “A Quiet Place” and

Many of today’s movies are shaped as much by visual effects as by physical design. It’s a development that has driven some production designers to stay involved in a production well beyond the shooting stage — even without pay — so that they can provide input on the effects that form a film’s final look. 

Jason Clarke and Nick Robinson will star in the crime drama “Silk Road,” directed and written by Tiller Russell. Sierra/Affinity is launching international sales of the pic at the upcoming European Film Market at the Berlin Film Festival. The movie, based on David Kushner’s 2014 Rolling Stone article “Dead End on Silk Road,” is about

January 30, 2019 9:30AM PT Chloe Grace Moretz will star as a World War II pilot in the action horror movie “Shadow in the Cloud.” Roseanne Liang is directing the film, while Max Landis is penning the script. It centers on a pilot who boards a B-17 Flying Fortress, clutching a black radio bag with

Paramount Pictures laid off roughly 20 staff members from several departments on Tuesday as part of a restructuring effort, insiders familiar with the matter told Variety. Departments including legal, business affairs, TV and finance were affected. Cuts were not major and largely affected back-office staff. Paramount chief operating officer Andrew Gumpert addressed the matter in a

January 30, 2019 6:00AM PT Mattel and Warner Bros. are partnering up to bring the toy company’s Hot Wheels to theaters in the first ever live-action feature film for the beloved racecar franchise. This will mark the second partnership for the two companies following the news of the “Barbie” feature film starring Margot Robbie. “We

MADRID — Big Spanish-language arthouse sales company Latido Films has just acquired world sales rights to Berlinale Panorama entry “Holy Beasts,” a step up in scale for its directors, “Sand Dollars” Laura Amelia Guzman and Israel Cardenas, which turns around the extraordinary, if ill-known, Dominican cineast Jean-Louis Jorge. The deal excludes producers’ home territories. Starring

Sir Peter, meet Sir Paul, and Mother Mary. “Lord of the Rings” filmmaker Peter Jackson has come aboard a project that Paul McCartney had previously hinted was in the works: a new Beatles documentary using the 55 hours of in-studio footage that were shot in early 1969 for the 1970 feature film “Let It Be.”

Storm clouds might be hovering on the Hollywood-China entertainment horizon, with Washington and Beijing stuck in their trade war and bilateral industry talks stalled. But there are strong reasons to believe that Hollywood is poised for a sunnier year at the Chinese box office in 2019 than it had in 2018. January has already brought the

The vast majority of conspiracy theories have one key thing in common: Investigate them, and they turn out not to be true. But that doesn’t mean all of them aren’t true. “Cold Case Hammerskjöld” is a slow-building documentary mystery that sucks you in like a vortex. It offers several intertwined conspiracy theories, at least one