Movies

March 9, 2019 7:37PM PT Home invasion proves dangerous to the trespassers’ health in this entertaining black-comedy thriller. It’s the home invaders who find themselves imperiled in “Villains,” the third feature collaboration for directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen. This black comedy thriller has a good cast to spark a scenario that’s intriguing enough to

How can you tell when a movie star is committed to being taken seriously? It’s hard to ignore when someone like Matthew McConaughey drops a ton of weight, the way he did to play an emaciated HIV patient in “Dallas Buyers Club.” It’s also impressive when such an actor swings hard in the opposite direction,

March 9, 2019 5:00PM PT Small-town cinema staff unleash a demonic spirit from an old film can in this uneven comedy-horror. One of the more amusing promotions in the history of exploitation cinema was for Jess Franco’s sexy-arty 1967 “Necronomicon.” In the U.S., it was released as “Succubus,” but the distributor claimed that title was

As Jordan Peele’s latest horror pic “Us” debuted at South by Southwest, the director and producer held three other screenings nationwide for mostly black audiences, using the hashtag #UsFirst. The Los Angeles screening reportedly played host to several celebs, including John Legend, Janelle Monae, Ryan Coogler, Tracee Ellis Ross, Lakeith Stanfield, Robin Theade, and La

It’s been 18 years since I escaped the state of Texas, and nothing illustrates how much things have changed in that hyper-conservative stronghold than the rise and near-win of Senatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke in his bid for Senate. On its surface, David Modigliani’s “Running With Beto” is an inside account of that campaign — reminiscent

After a bold pledge to “break up” and regulate monolithic tech companies like Google and Facebook, Sen. Elizabeth Warren came to, uh, the country’s preeminent tech conference to state her case. Appearing in conversation at SXSW on Saturday, the presidential hopeful was immediately asked to address a regulatory proposal she floated at a rally the

Beto O’Rourke received a rapturous standing ovation at South by Southwest on Saturday afternoon after the premiere of the documentary “Running With Beto.” Although the movie plays like the announcement of a presidential run, O’Rourke sidestepped a question about 2020 at a Q&A following the film. “Running With Beto” trails O’Rourke as he mounted a

GUADALAJARA, Mexico — Guillermo del Toro is creating an International Animation Center specializing in stop, motion in his home city of Guadalajara Mexico, the director announced Saturday morning at the Guadalajara Festival, at a masterclass given by Melissa Cobb, Netflix vice president, kids & family. Details remain scarce, but the idea of one of the

Ben Affleck takes center stage in Netflix’s upcoming “Triple Frontier,” and the pic is far from Affleck’s first as an established leading man action star. However, it took him a few films to get his bona fides, going from comedic side character to gruff hero with several stages of evolution along the way. In his

Disney-Marvel’s latest MCU installment, “Captain Marvel,” is launching to an estimated $156 million from 4,310 North American locations after totaling $61.4 million on Friday. The Friday number includes $20.7 million from Thursday previews. Should estimates hold, “Captain Marvel” will rank as the seventh best MCU opening domestically, behind the three “Avengers” movies, along with “Black

A new crop of Mexican fiction films and feature-length documentaries premiering in Guadalajara’s (FICG) Premio Mezcal section are vying for the festival’s largest cash prize of 500,000 pesos ($25,800). Winning the prestigious award virtually ensures a good run on the global festival circuit. As tradition has it, a group of 30 film students from Mexico

March 8, 2019 11:47PM PT A Civil War relic sparks revisionist-history enthusiasm in Lynn Shelton’s loose, funny improv-based comedy feature. There are few chores more taxing on the film festival circuit than sitting through an improv-based comedy whose performers don’t have the skill set to pull it off — an unfortunate sight that’s been turning

Fatherhood has changed Jordan Peele. The writer-director has made no secret about smoking some weed while he was writing “Get Out.” “I didn’t know if [‘Get Out’] was ever going to get made,” Peele said at the 2018 African American Film Critics Association Awards gala. “I’d go home, smoke a little bit of weed and

For all the genius of Jordan Peele’s 2017 debut, “Get Out” — a movie that oh-so-smartly reinforced its horror-movie skeleton with an adamantium-strong (and twice as sharp) racial-tension allegory — audiences seemed to have one critique in common: The movie wasn’t nearly scary enough. People aren’t likely to have the same complaint about “Us,” the

In Austin, everyone can hear you scream. And there seemed to be plenty of shrieks, squeals and even a few sobs at the premiere of Jordan Peele’s latest opus, “Us,” at South By Southwest on Friday night. This film festival in Texas has a strong track record of launching studio blockbusters. Last year, “A Quiet

In today’s film news roundup, the Writers Guild will keep blasting away at major talent agencies, Universal promotes four execs and Jennifer E. Smith sets up a pair of YA projects. WGA BATTLE The Writers Guild of America will release a report Tuesday detailing its assertions of conflicts of interest at CAA, WME, UTA and

Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman have unveiled a slate of short-form projects heading to Quibi, their upcoming video streaming service designed for mobile devices. The duo, in an opening day panel at SXSW Film, announced a “Thanks a Million” show from Jennifer Lopez’s company about the power of giving; an origin story to complement Telemundo’s

There’s been no end to public outcry ever since HBO’s “Leaving Neverland” premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January. The painful two-part HBO documentary, which details the alleged sexual abuse that two men endured from Jackson, has resulted in a variety of responses. Many have condemned Jackson’s actions and taken steps to disassociate with the

March 8, 2019 6:09PM PT Andy Serkis and Thomas Brodie-Sangster will star in Fox’s fantasy-action movie “Mouse Guard” with “Maze Runner’s” Wes Ball directing. Fox started development on the movie, based on the “Mouse Guard” graphic novel series, in 2016 with “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” writer Gary Whitta on board to pen the

March 8, 2019 4:22PM PT Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners has acquired the worldwide film rights for the science-fiction novel “The Mother Code,” Variety has learned exclusively. The story, written by Silicon Valley biochemist Carole Stivers, will be published next year. Amy Louise Johnson, who has credits on the Syfy series “Nightflyers,” has been hired to

Kat Candler is set to rewrite and direct Fox Searchlight’s “,” sources tell Variety. The pic is inspired by a 1936 New Yorker article written by journalist and bestselling author Carl Carmer about the first documented haunted house. The story follows a jaded reporter who, after having a disturbing encounter that raises the prospect that

Lakeshore Entertainment has put its film library on the block as it seeks to expand its activities in television. The company quietly began shopping its 300-title library earlier this year. Moelis & Co. is handling the sale process. “Over the past 20 years, Lakeshore has built a top-tier 300-title motion picture library through production and

March 8, 2019 2:06PM PT MGM has set its Aretha Franklin biopic “Respect” for an Aug. 14, 2020, release. Stage director Liesl Tommy boarded the film earlier this year. The studio set the project in motion a year ago when it was announced that Jennifer Hudson, who won a supporting actress Oscar for “Dreamgirls,” had

“Captain Marvel” is heading for a dazzling opening weekend of at least $150 million in North America, early estimates showed Friday. Should the projections hold, “Captain Marvel” will wind up with one of the top 20 domestic opening weekends of all time. Sony’s “Spider-Man 3” has the 19th-highest launch frame with $151.1 million in 2007.

Julianne Moore admitted that she was fired from the Oscar-nominated film “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” Moore opened up about her ousting during Thursday night’s episode of “Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen” after a caller asked the “Still Alice” star why she left the pic. “I didn’t leave that movie, I was fired,”

Embattled Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara apologized to staff on Friday following the publication of a report alleging that he helped a woman get auditions after they had engaged in a sexual relationship. “I deeply regret that I have made mistakes in my personal life that have caused pain and embarrassment to the people I

The force of nature born Elizabeth Ann Cole, and rechristened Elizabeth Ashley for stage and screen of the late 1950s, first drew the attention of critics and fans with her work in New York theater, garnering an early-career Tony Award for her portrayal of Mollie in the Broadway production of “Take Her, She’s Mine” in

GUADALAJARA, Mexico — Mexico’s Emilio Maille, whose visually arresting docu “Sky Poets” competes in Guadalajara’s Premio Mezcal section, is gearing up to make only the second fiction film of his career, “Yesterday’s Dream” (“El Sueño de Ayer”). Maille is best known for his breakout drama, “Rosario Tijeras,” a 2005 box office hit based on the

Dressing dolls as a child at her parents’ Wisconsin farm, future costume designer Betty Pecha Madden created stories using clothes. By age 17, her interest in costuming having grown serious via high school plays, she left home upon graduation and went to Chicago to find work in the industry. Madden clothed rock groups and college

Brie Larson’s “Captain Marvel” is already showing off a lot of power at the international box office. The latest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe pulled in $78 million in its first two days in 25 markets, including an estimated $34 million opening in China. “Captain Marvel” will be opening Friday in most international markets including