Movies

SPOILER ALERT: This contains spoilers from “Shortcomings,” now in theaters. Sherry Cola calls working with Randall Park in his directorial debut, “Shortcomings,” a full circle moment. Not only has she been watching the actor-director’s work for years, encountering him at parties, and having mutual acquaintances, but she had always wanted to be on MTV’s “Wild ‘N Out,’

It was a good day for female filmmakers – and documentaries – at Locarno Pro, with “Mother Vera” by Cécile Embleton and Alys Tomlinson winning the Creativity Media First Look Award on Sunday at Locarno’s pix-in-post competition, dedicated this year to the U.K. Dedicated to a young Orthodox nun, “Mother Vera” shows her turbulent past

In the vast tapestry of Oscar history, specific years define instants of talents converging to produce a constellation of extraordinary performances. 1993 was one such epoch when the best supporting actor lineup at the 66th Academy Awards ceremony showcased an assembly of unparalleled depth. The roster included Leonardo DiCaprio for “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,” Ralph

“Barbie” is saying “hiya” to the billion-dollar club. Greta Gerwig’s pink-coated fantasy comedy has surpassed $1 billion at the global box office, including $459 million in North America and $572 million internationally. This makes Gerwig the first-ever solo female filmmaker with a billion-dollar film. Three other billion-dollar blockbusters were co-directed by women, including “Frozen” ($1.3

“Barbie” towered over the box office for the third consecutive weekend, taking down newcomers “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” and “Meg 2: The Trench.” Grega Gerwig’s fantasy comedy added a remarkable $52 million in its third weekend of release, a decline of just 43% from its prior frame. “Barbie” has generated $459 million in

LOCARNO — Costa Rica’s Juli Films has boarded Nicaraguan Gloria Carrión’s “Pantasma,” building production partner backing for one of the most ambitious titles at a talent packed Locarno’s Open Doors Projects Hub. A stop motion doc-feature, the film will narrate how the Sandinista-Contra War of 1982-1989 in Nicaragua forced Félix, a 17-year-old revolutionary, to become

Lesli Linka Glatter has been elected to a second term as president of the Directors Guild of America. The veteran helmer known for her work on “Homeland,” “Mad Men” and numerous other TV series, was re-elected during the DGA’s biennial national convention held Saturday at the DGA Theatre in Los Angeles. The guild reported that

Ben Kingsley, who likes to go to extremes, has played  his share of frowningly overcivilized repressed geeks and also his share of seething walking-id maniacs. But for all of Kingsley’s dexterous light-and-dark range, it’s still rare to see him take on a character as painfully mild as Milton, the small-town codger he plays in “Jules.”

“The Incredible Hulk” director Louis Leterrier has revealed there were plans for a potential sequel to the 2008 superhero movie. “Yeah there was, like, a whole sequel,” Leterrier said in an interview with Comicbook.com, adding that the scrapped film would have featured variations of the Hulk. “There was, like, Grey Hulk, Red Hulks — there

Jamie Foxx has issued an apology for an Instagram post he shared on Friday. The post, which Foxx later clarified was in reference to a personal issue, had been perceived as being antisemitic by some followers. The now-deleted post from Foxx read: “They killed this dude name Jesus … What do you think they’ll do

A star, or several, are born, perhaps. Playing early as part of Locarno’s Open Doors Screenings, framing new features and shorts from Latin America and the Caribbean, “Rimana Wasi: Home of Stories” received a rapturous reception, establishing directors Ximena Málaga Sabogal, Piotr Turlej as talents to track. “Angelo,” and “La Distancia Del Tiempo” have good word

One of summer’s larger-than-life blockbusters is “Meg 2: The Trench” (out Aug. 4 from Warner Bros.), in which fearless rescue diver Jonas (Jason Statham) has to fight an enormous shark a second time. Although our hero thought he defeated the prehistoric deep-sea megalodon for good in 2018’s “The Meg” — which was a runaway hit,

SPOILER ALERT: This contains spoilers from “Shortcomings, now in theaters. When Ally Maki received the script for Randall Park’s “Shortcomings,” she read it in one sitting and knew she had to be a part of it. Whether it was just to audition or land the role, “I’d be happy to just perform that piece, the opening which

Surprise! Legendary director Barbet Schroeder, in Locarno to introduce his latest doc “Ricardo and Painting,” was greeted with a Special Tribute Award before the screening. “Is this for the film?” Shroeder, a modest man, asked on stage. “No,” said Locarno festival director Giona Nazzaro.  “It’s for being Barbet Schroeder.” Despite focusing on harsher subjects in

The summer box office season may have reached the dog days of August, but it’s hardly looked stronger over the past few months. Though the openings of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” and “Meg 2: The Trench” won’t be able to take down “Barbie” as the top performer in North America, both new releases

Producer Marianne Slot will continue her successful collaboration with Icelandic director Benedikt Erlingsson, following 2018 “Woman at War” with TV show “The Danish Woman” and upcoming feature film “Normal Men.” “It’s a comedy, as you can imagine. Benedikt Erlingsson and a feminist producer – that’s a good combination,” she laughs, recalling their previous film about

In their first meeting since the strike began, Writers Guild of America and Hollywood studio negotiators hit the same stalemate over two key TV-related contract proposals from the guild as its work stoppage stretches into its fourth month. A much anticipated meeting between WGA chief negotiator Ellen Stutzman and WGA West general counsel Tony Segall

This article contains spoilers for “Shortcomings.” Randall Park says he never thought of himself as a leader before he directed his debut feature film, “Shortcomings,” out Friday via Sony Pictures Classics. “I’ve been in numerous situations where I’ve been in a leadership position throughout my life, and I’ve always enjoyed it,” he says, “but I

Dwayne Jonson appeared on a new episode of Kevin Hart’s “Hart to Hart” talk show on Peacock (recorded prior to the strike, of course) and looked back at the rise and fall of “Black Adam.” His 2022 comic book tentpole was designed to launch a new chapter of storytelling within Warner Bros.’ DC Universe (the

SPOILER ALERT: This contains spoilers from “Barbie” which is now playing in theaters. The yellow dress Margot Robbie’s wears in Barbie’s final scenes was designed to represent change, says the film’s costume designer Jacqueline Durran. By the end of the Greta Gerwig blockbuster, Barbie has been transformed by the Real World. She’s become flat-footed, broken the patriarchy

Hannah Berner grew up dreaming of being a professional tennis player before becoming a viral sensation with comedy bits like “Han on the Street.” Nimesh Patel turned his experience with being diagnosed with testicular cancer into a heralded comedy special, “Lucky Lefty.” And Kurtis Conner was working at Starbucks when a frequent customer encouraged him

In her most forceful comments to date about the Hollywood strikes, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass called Friday on the unions and studios to reach a deal “immediately” to get the industry back to work. Bass, who has largely remained on the sidelines thus far, said she is willing to get personally involved to help bring

As the summer movie season winds down in theaters this month, streaming is heating up as some of Hollywood’s biggest movies of 2023 make their debuts on various platforms. Families are in luck as “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” arrives on Peacock after becoming a box office sensation in the spring with over $1 billion

“Meg 2: The Trench” serves up a school of prehistoric fish that chew up the seas, a snapping pack of imaginary hybrid dinosaurs that wreak havoc on land and a surprising cinema business model — the Chinese-controlled franchise intended for a global audience. And while early reviews are predictably mixed, the film’s box office debut

“Oppenheimer” is Christopher Nolan’s longest movie at 180 minutes, but don’t expect it to get even longer whenever it arrives on home video. Neither a director’s cut of the atomic bomb epic nor deleted scenes from the movie exist, Cillian Murphy recently told Collider. “There’s no deleted scenes in Chris Nolan movies,” Murphy added. “That’s

Locarno can’t get enough of Ted Hope. Five years after receiving the festival’s Raimondo Rezzonico Award, the producer of modern indie classics such as “The Wedding Banquet” and “The Ice Storm” shook things up yesterday at Locarno’s StepIN think tank with an Out of the Box keynote, a sweeping blast on the state of the

Italian producer Andrea Iervolino, whose credits include Michael Mann’s “Ferrari,” “Waiting for the Barbarians” and “Tell It Like a Woman,” has invested around 50 million euros ($55 million) in the construction of Tuscany Film Studios, a technologically advanced studio with the largest virtual set in Italy, and a 360 studio for live-action productions. The production

The armorer on “Rust” waived her right to a preliminary hearing on Friday, clearing the path to take her to a trial on manslaughter charges. Hannah Gutierrez Reed is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in October 2021. Prosecutors allege she displayed criminal negligence when she accidentally loaded a live

Stellan Skarsgård and Gustaf Skarsgård introduced their latest film “What Remains” at Locarno Film Festival on Friday. Directed by Ran Huang, it was written by Huang and Megan Everett Skarsgård. Andrea Riseborough also stars. “It took a lot of pain,” admitted Gustaf Skarsgård to the audience after the screening. “But it helped having Ron there,

Mark Margolis, who portrayed the menacing, bell-ringing Hector Salamanca in “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul,” died Thursday at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City. He was 83. His son, Morgan Margolis, announced the news. As the former drug kingpin who continues to hover over the Albuquerque meth trade from his nursing home, Margolis