Comedian Hasan Minhaj delivered a brutal indictment of the state of award shows, trade journalism, Armie Hammer and the indie film ecosystem at the 2023 Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday. Streaming live on YouTube — a focal point of mockery in Minhaj’s monologue — the annual Santa Monica gathering started off on a bitter note.
Movies
The 2023 Independent Spirit Awards are dominated by the Daniels’ “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which leads all films this year with eight nominations. Close behind are Todd Field’s “Tár” with seven noms and Charlotte Wells’ “Aftersun” with five. All three movies picked up Oscar nominations this year, with “Everything Everywhere” also leading the Academy
For the millions of people who have sexual characteristics that don’t neatly fit into the typical definitions of male or female, life is a constant struggle against misconceptions, biases and cultural norms that, from the moment of birth, attempt to fit us into the box that defines our sex — and, often, how we’ll be
“Close” director Lukas Dhont’s discovery of one of his film’s stars, Eden Dambrine, is straight out of a book of Hollywood legends. Dhont approached Dambrine on a train in their native Belgium and asked if he’d like to audition for his movie. “I was a bit worried,” Dambrine, 16, recalls. “I asked my friends to
More often than not, an internationally known freedom fighter will have a personality and temperament as heroic as the actions that made him famous. Just look at Nelson Mandela, Alexei Navalny, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, or — as controversial a figure as he remains — Edward Snowden, who for 10 years has conducted himself as a profile
Tom Sizemore has died after being taken off life support, his manager Charles Lago confirmed to Variety on Friday. The 61-year-old actor suffered a brain aneurysm on Feb. 18. “It is with great sadness and sorrow I have to announce that actor Thomas Edward Sizemore (‘Tom Sizemore’) aged 61 passed away peacefully in his sleep
Of the 10 films up for best picture, no fewer than six run 199 minutes or more. On one extreme, James Cameron’s punishing “Avatar” sequel is long enough to require bathroom breaks. At the other, Daniels’ ADHD-styled “Everything Everywhere All at Once” proves equally exhausting, dedicating every hyperkinetic second to stimulating easily distracted audiences. It’s
CAA has signed “Industry” and “Rye Lane” star David Jonsson for representation. News of Jonsson signing with CAA comes just hours after the actor was confirmed to be part of the cast of the yet-to-be-titled “Alien” movie, written and directed by Fede Alvarez. 20th Century Studios announced that Jonsson would be among the actors joining
20th Century Studios has announced new plot details, cast additions and production status for the latest “Alien” film. While the premise for the yet-to-be-titled movie has been kept under wraps, the studio did reveal that the film will follow “a group of young people on a distant world, who find themselves in a confrontation with
Idris Elba ignited a firestorm on social media in February after he told Esquire UK that he stopped calling himself a “Black actor” because it created limitations for his career. The “Luther” actor was immediately accused of renouncing his Blackness, although actors such as John Boyega came to his defense and argued that critics weren’t paying attention
Former ID PR publicists Rachel Karten and Lindsay Krug have launched their own firm, Origin Public Relations. Their client roster already includes Kathy Bates, Hannah Einbinder, Tracee Ellis Ross, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Kumail Nanjiani, Emily Hampshire, D’Arcy Carden, Gillian Jacobs, Uzo Aduba, Abbi Jacobson, Christopher Storer, Jen Statsky, Andrea Savage, Busy Philipps, Ilana Glazer, Chris Estrada,
Michael B. Jordan’s “Creed III” is now playing in theaters, which means a lot of moviegoers may find themselves asking the same question: Where the hell is Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa? Stallone starred opposite Jordan in “Creed” and “Creed II,” even earning an Oscar nomination for supporting actor thanks to his role in the 2015
Jay Weston, producer of films like “Lady Sings the Blues” and “Buddy Buddy,” died of natural causes Feb. 28 at the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills, Calif. He was 93. Weston first met Billie Holiday at the Newport Jazz Festival — a chance encounter that would ultimately lead to Weston producing a biopic about
While they come from different worlds, “Avatar” director James Cameron and “Murina” helmer Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović bonded over their shared passion for filmmaking during a video interview (see below) hosted by Disney+ ahead of the Independent Spirit Awards. “Murina” was released in the U.S. by Kino Lorber and is is vying for three Spirit Awards
With the Oscars right around the corner, it’s good timing for Ruben Östlund’s satirical dark comedy “Triangle of Sadness” to make its streaming debut on Hulu. The film is up for three Academy Awards, including best picture and best director, so make sure to catch up on it before the 2023 Academy Awards air on
Michelle Yeoh was already a star overseas by 1997 thanks to popular Hong Kong movies like “Police Story 3: Super Cop” and “Supercop 2,” but it wasn’t until the James Bond tentpole “Tomorrow Never Dies” opened that year that Yeoh had her Hollywood breakthrough. The actor played Wai Lin, a Chinese spy who is highly
Ke Huy Quan is the frontrunner to win the Oscar for best supporting actor thanks to his performance in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which has already nabbed him prizes from the Golden Globes, Critics’ Choice Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards. The upcoming Academy Awards will cap a three-year journey Quan has taken with
This year, all the Oscar-contending directors are nominated for original screenplay: the Daniels (Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert), Todd Field, Martin McDonagh, Ruben Östlund and Steven Spielberg (writing with Tony Kushner). This is the first time it’s happened in AMPAS history. The only year that came close was 2017, when all five helmers had written or
Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival marks its 40th edition, running March 3-12, with a full-blown return to the in-person festival experience with a sidebar of only 10 titles available online. “We’re celebrating the human connection and getting back into cinemas again,” says programming head Lauren Cohen who in her first year flying solo at the helm, is putting
SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot points in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” currently playing in theaters. The biggest issue “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” visual effects supervisors Jesse James Chisholm and Dave Hodgins had in building the robotic villain M.O.D.O.K. was getting the proportions right. M.O.D.O.K., which stands for Mental Organism Designed Only for
The “Pokémon Detective Pikachu” sequel has finally caught a director. Jonathan Krisel, co-creator of “Portlandia,” is in negotiations with Legendary Entertainment to direct the sequel to the live-action “Pokémon” movie from 2019. Chris Galletta will write the script. Krisel co-created, wrote and executive produced IFC’s sketch comedy show “Portlandia,” which starred fellow co-creators Fred Armisen
British actor Vivian Oparah has signed with CAA. Best known for playing Tanya Adeola in the “Doctor Who” spinoff “Class,” Oparah currently stars in the forthcoming rom-com “Rye Lane,” which premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival. In the film, Oparah stars as Yas, while David Jonsson (“Industry”) plays Dom, two twenty-somethings reeling from
The “Rocky” series continues apace, even after Rocky himself has thrown in the towel, as Michael B. Jordan returns as Adonis Creed for “Creed III,” the latest installment in what might best be described as a spinoff franchise. How long can this go on? Well, consider this: At the very end of the new film,
“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” introduced Jonathan Majors into the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Kang the Conquerer, the franchise’s new Thanos-sized villain. While the actor received glowing reviews for his quietly menacing Kang, “Quantumania” itself was widely panned. The film is one of the worst-reviewed Marvel films in history with a 48% on Rotten Tomatoes, which nearly
Warning: This story contains a graphic image. David Cronenberg has made a short film featuring female wax corpses made during the 18th century in Italy. The wax figures were intended for medical studies, in order to train surgeons prior to operating on real bodies. The Canadian director, known as the father of body horror thanks
A rerelease of “Superman the Movie” will kick off a year-long 100th anniversary celebration of Warner Bros. Studios across the U.K. and Ireland, Warner Bros. Discovery has revealed. Warner Bros. was founded by Albert, Sam, Harry and Jack Warner and incorporated on Apr. 4, 1923. The “Superman” rerelease at BFI Southbank and BFI Imax in
“Creed III” is stepping into the box office ring, and Michael B. Jordan’s latest movie has weighed in with $5.45 million in Thursday previews. The third “Creed” film is looking to deliver a powerful blow to the weekend box office with an opening between $36 million to $40 million. It should be the highest opening
Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis,” starring Austin Butler as the gyrating rock ‘n’ roll icon, has been streamed for a total of about 2.7 billion minutes by HBO Max viewers in the U.S. since it came to the platform Aug. 8, 2022, according to new data from Nielsen. That makes “Elvis” the most-streamed title on U.S. subscription
In a bid to give more opportunities to women directors and boost the romcom genre, Sony Pictures International has teamed up with Maria Ripoll’s Cahuenga Filmmakers and transatlantic production shingle El Estudio to launch The Love Collection, a series of romantic comedy features to be written and helmed by women. Ripoll, best known for her
HONG KONG HIGH Already the highest grossing local film in its home market, courtroom drama, “A Guilty Conscience” has broken into Hong Kong’s all-time top ten box office ranking with a cumulative of HK$107 million ($13.7 million). Data from Hong Kong Box Office Ltd. shows the film achieving the feat after just 41 days in