Movies

For every Bat, there is a Cat. As the “Batman” film franchise keeps getting rebooted and relaunched, directors and writers always find a way to bring the slinking, thieving Catwoman back into the life of the Caped Crusader. Maybe it’s because they know how vital she is for making the brooding Bruce Wayne feel more

Jane Campion is apologizing for a controversial comment she made about Serena and Venus Williams while accepting the best director prize at the 2022 Critics Choice Awards. The filmmaker said in a statement, “I made a thoughtless comment equating what I do in the film world with all that Serena Williams and Venus Williams have

In its continued bid to provide compelling artist-forward stories, WarnerMedia OneFifty has picked up the live action Oscar-nominated short “Please Hold” to stream exclusively on HBO Max where it bows on March 17. The directorial debut of Mexican-American screenwriter KD Dávila, who co-wrote the short with Levin Menekse, “Please Hold” is a darkly comic dystopian

“Daredevil” star Charlie Cox is no fan of Ben Affleck’s 2003 “Daredevil” movie. During his recent visit to Middle East Film & Comic Con 2022 in Abu Dhabi (via People), Cox revealed he had never watched the 2003 superhero movie until after he was cast as Matt Murdock/Daredevil in the Netflix-Marvel series. “I watched it

Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog” and “Ted Lasso” were the big winners at Sunday night’s Critics Choice Awards, as was Will Smith. But when the statuettes weren’t being handed out in front of the camera, there was plenty going on off stage. Waiting Game The show had even started yet, but everywhere you

Pixar’s “Turning Red,” now streaming on Disney Plus, is the story of Meilin “Mei” Lee, a 13-year-old who adores the biggest boy band on the planet, 4*Town. She is amazed to wake up one morning and find herself transformed into a giant red panda each time she gets excited or stressed. Speaking with Variety, director

New York-based film and television studio and streaming network FilmRise has struck a production and distribution deal with Los Angeles-based Nicely Entertainment. Under the terms of the deal, FilmRise will co-produce and exclusively distribute in the U.S. holiday-themed films “Sappy Holiday,” starring Vanessa Sears (“The Last Man”) and John McLaren (“Heartland”) and “Snowball Effect” along

With nearly $800 million in the U.S. and $1.8 billion at the worldwide box office, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” is the kind of blockbuster phenomenon that’s rare for even non-pandemic times. According to Benedict Cumberbatch, the upcoming Marvel tentpole “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” could reach similar success at the box office. “It’s

Spain’s TV industry will make history at Series Mania Forum 2022, with its biggest panel and sneak peek series presentation presence ever at a major TV market.  The Spanish conference attendance – alongside Finland’s panel spread – also weighs in as the biggest from any single country at the upcoming edition of the most important

Consumer spending in the global entertainment market — consisting of theatrical box office and home entertainment — reached $99.7 billion in 2021, marking an important return to pre-pandemic levels, according to a new report released by the Motion Picture Association. In 2020, when the entertainment industry and world at large first began to grapple with

Seven senior figures of the Ukrainian film industry, including 84-year-old doyenne Ada Rogovtseva, have spoken out against the Russian invasion of their country and have joined the numerous calls for a boycott of Russian culture. Ada Rogovtseva, actor (“Taras Bulba”), professor at the National University of Culture. Remains in Ukraine. I volunteer at home. The

Discovery — which is about to become Warner Bros. Discovery within the next month, when its merger with AT&T’s WarnerMedia closes — has confirmed its plans to combine its current streaming service Discovery Plus and WarnerMedia’s HBO Max into one service, rather than offer the two platforms as a bundle. Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels, who

Boldly going where few first-time (or however–many-time) directors dare, actor-turned-filmmaker Mo McRae (“Sons of Anarchy,” “The First Purge”) fashions a high-wire juggling act of a debut, in which half the breathless, uneasy entertainment value comes from wondering when it will all come tumbling down. That it eventually does, therefore — in a final act that

Two feature films from Ukraine will this month be given special screenings in Tokyo, Japan, as part of a fund- and awareness-raising initiative about Russia’s war in Europe. Both films “Atlantis” and “Reflection” were made by director Valentyn Vasyarovych. They played at the Venice film festival but have not been licensed to Japan or released

Anson Lo, part of Hong Kong pop sensation Mirror, has joined the cast of “Chungking Mansions,” an ambitious zombie film that is currently in advanced preparation. Alongside Lo, Hong Kong-Canadian actresses Selena Lee and Jeannie Chan, Korean star Choi Si-Hun, and Hong Kong actor Louis Cheung join the previously announced Japanese action star Rina Takeda

If I had a dime — or maybe a drop of blood — for every movie that tried to recreate the vibe, the situation, and the high anxiety of “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,” I’d have a pretty big bucket of blood. For decades, I’ve been watching movies that open with a handful of obnoxious

Oscar winner Halle Berry made a special appearance at Sunday’s Critics Choice Awards to accept the SeeHer award, a prize that recognizes a woman who pushes boundaries and defies stereotypes. Berry’s career — which spans more than 30 years as an actor, producer and now director — easily fits that bill. Berry was presented the

Everybody knows the name of the first man to step foot on the moon, but how many have heard the story of the kid who walked there before him? Richard Linklater’s “Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood” reflects one of the director’s childhood fantasies, informed by growing up in South Texas, a stone’s throw

Mainland China’s theatrical box office slipped to its lowest weekend total of the year as the market suffered a combination of rising COVID cases and a lack of new releases. Nationwide box office between Friday and Sunday amounted to just $19.2 million, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. It was the fifth weekend of

Celebrity comebacks don’t often go exactly as planned, but it helps when the planner is someone with as much of a knack for military precision and as broad a sense of the big cultural picture as a Rick Rubin or a Brandi Carlile. Rubin, of course, built Johnny Cash from a casino-playing relic back into

William Hurt, who died Sunday at 71, had a look and an aura that appeared, at first, to fit all too snugly into Hollywood’s conception of what a movie star should be. Tall and broad-shouldered, with a silky shock of wheat-colored hair, his handsome features set off by a cleft chin and a faraway gaze,

This year, all five Oscar nominees in the sound category have also scored Motion Picture Sound Editors nominations at the 69th annual Golden Reel Awards. For the second year in a row, the Oscar category combines sound editing and sound mixing. The MPSE Golden Reel Awards, to be held as a virtual global ceremony March

“Inu-Oh,” the acclaimed Japanese animation that debuted in Venice and Toronto last year, has been sold widely by Fortissimo Films and Asmik Ace. Amsterdam and Beijing based Fortissimo is collaborating with Tokyo-based Asmik Ace on two titles, “Inu-oh” by Yuasa Masaaki and “Missing” by Katayama Shinzo, a former assistant director to “Parasite” director Bong Joon

Organizers of Hong Kong FilMart, normally Asia’s biggest film and TV rights market, are putting on a brave face despite their prestige event being forced into an online-only format for the third time in a row. The city’s borders are closed to travelers from several key countries and its onerous quarantine-on-arrival conditions show no sign

Now completed, “The Silence of Smoke” has been added to the FilMart sales lineup of Hong Kong studio Media Asia. The family drama film is directed by Takita Yojiro, who won the best foreign-language film Oscar in 2008/9 with “Departures.” The film was first teased by Media Asia at an event at the market in

Acclaimed Indian filmmaker Rajesh S. Jala, winner of awards at the Montreal and Sao Paolo film festivals for 2008 documentary “Children of the Pyre,” has tackled a universally resonant subject with his latest film “The Spark” (“Chingari”). In the film, a filmmaker on assignment follows a crematorium worker and an old woman in the ancient

As the 27th annual Critics Choice Awards celebrated the best in television and film, Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog” and “Ted Lasso” led the night’s winners with four trophies apiece. “Succession” took home three awards. Hosted by Taye Diggs and Nicole Byer, the 2022 ceremony broadcast live on the CW and TBS, as

William Hurt, an acclaimed actor best known for his Oscar-winning performance in 1985’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and his work in “The Big Chill” and “Body Heat,” died Sunday of natural causes. He was 71 years old. Hurt’s death was confirmed to Variety by his friend, Gerry Byrne. Hurt was nominated for four Oscars over

Rebel Wilson, one of the BAFTA Awards’ most memorable presenters in past years, did not disappoint as its host. The “Pitch Perfect” actor stole the show on Sunday during the first BAFTA Awards to take place in-person since the organizations’s groundbreaking 2020 diversity review. Wilson presented the best director award at the ceremony in 2020

“Dune” was the big winner at the 2022 BAFTAs with five wins in the craft categories. Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog” won the coveted best film BAFTA and best director. However, Campion could not be present at the awards, and her lead Benedict Cumberbatch collected the award on her behalf. Another notable absentee