We have only just settled into the genial rhythms of Gabriel Martins’ “Mars One,” meeting one by one the loving, yearning family of four at its heart when, like capable, brassy matriarch Tércia (Rejane Faria), we get a shock to the system. Sitting at a lunch counter, Tércia is trying to ignore the ranting of
Movies
“Emergency” starts out fast, loose, and boisterously nasty, with two buddies at the relatively upscale Buchanan University doing that thing that buddies do best: giving each other shit just for being who they are. Kunle (Donald Elise Watkins), in his button-down shirts, with a quick tongue but a tendency to gawk, is a straight-A straight
Carey Williams (“R#J”) hits Sundance with “Emergency,” the feature he and screenwriter KD Dávila developed from their darkly comic short, also titled “Emergency.” The film follows straight-A student Kunle (Donald Elise Watkins) and his best friend Sean (R.J. Cyler) as they set to have an epic night of partying, with the goal of being the
The same day faded-romance drama “A Love Song” screened for the Sundance Film Festival, I caught an interview with Marilyn Bergman on NPR in which the late lyricist described the time director Richard Brooks came to her and partner Alan with a request: “I want you to write me a song that is to appear
Apple has tapped mainland Chinese director Zhang Meng for “The Comeback,” a heartwarming film that is releasing in time for the Lunar New Year holidays. It was shot entirely using the latest iPhone devices. The company’s Chinese New Year movie tradition is now into its fifth edition. Apple’s 2021 film “Nian” was shot by “The
“Boxing is opera to Latins,” we hear in the early moments of “La Guerra Civil,” a comprehensive visual history of one of the most momentous fights in contemporary boxing, directed with verve by powerhouse actor-filmmaker Eva Longoria Bastón. But for the bout in question that took place between Oscar De La Hoya and Julio César
“The Princess” is a perfectly timed, compulsively watchable once-over-lightly documentary. It’s a chronicle of Princess Diana culled entirely from television news footage and other public records. In other words, this isn’t an intimate portrait of the Princess of Wales that ”takes us closer to the subject” through an archival jamboree of home movies, eyebrow-raising long-view
What brings documentaries to life? For an increasing number of them, it’s colorful characters — literally. Animation is making docs more accessible to a wider audience, allowing filmmakers to dramatize scenes that can’t be shown with footage and bringing them into once-unimagined awards categories. No film has demonstrated this more clearly than Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read unless you have seen the 2022 horror film “Scream,” currently playing in theaters. The “Scream” movies know about rules. Since the series launched with the first film in 1996, inspiring countless homages and parodies, a few things have been constant. One of them is David Arquette, who has appeared as Dwight
Sundance may have been forced to cancel its plans to host an in-person festival, but the shift to a virtual event isn’t likely to stifle dealmaking. After all, the 2021 edition of Sundance saw films like “Passing,” “Summer of Soul” and “CODA” score record-breaking pacts despite the fact that all-night bidding wars were conducted over
Can Kristen Stewart still win best actress for “Spencer” at the Oscars? That’s the burning question following her shocking snub by the Screen Actors Guild. For her portrayal as Princess Diana in Pablo Larraín’s fable about the tragic royal, the 31-year old actor has led the tally in critics’ prizes. On the circuit, since “Spencer”
A live-action adaptation of the classic animated film “The Aristocats” is in early development at Disney, Variety has confirmed. “Peter Rabbit” director Will Gluck and “Onward” writer Keith Bunin are set to pen the script, with Gluck also producing via his Olive Bridge Entertainment banner. The original 1970 film follows a family of aristocratic cats —
Nearly 40 years after it first debuted, the holiday movie classic “A Christmas Story” is finally getting a sequel, with original star Peter Billingsley set to reprise his role and produce. Warner Bros. and Legendary are backing the production. “A Christmas Story Christmas” will be directed by Clay Kaytis (“The Christmas Chronicles”) from a script
Vanessa Kirby didn’t go all Method for “Italian Studies,” but she didn’t need to in order for her character to seem a little out of sorts. “The Crown” actor filmed the Adam Leon-directed indie drama — she stars as Alina, a successful writer who finds herself wandering around New York City with a group of
When Aimee Lou Wood would tell people that she was starring in “Living,” a re-imagining of Akira Kurosawa’s classic story of a terminally ill bureaucrat’s quest for meaning, the response she received terrified her. “Everyone I spoke would tell me it was their favorite film of all time or the most beautiful film of all
When Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” opens in theaters March 4, comic book movie fans will get to spend nearly three hours in Gotham City and Robert Pattinson’s Caped Crusader. The official runtime for “The Batman” is a whopping two hours and 47 minutes without end credits, Variety has confirmed with a source close to the
Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation are further aligning under president of animation Ramsey Naito with a pair of major executive moves. Latifa Ouaou has been named executive vice president of movies and global franchises for Paramount Animation and the Nickelodeon Animation Studio. Ouaou will oversee theatricals and streaming film content across both Paramount and Nickelodeon.
Prime Video had big plans for its original programming in 2020, with several major scripted projects leaving development and going into production. As was the case in most of the world, however, COVID-19 threw a wrench in the streamer’s plans and forced the company to focus its efforts in other areas for a time, notably
Will Packer Productions has tapped Leon Chills to adapt Stan Parish’s “Love and Theft” into a new movie for Universal Pictures. Based on Parish’s novel, which was published in 2020 by Penguin Random House through its imprint at Knopf Doubleday, “Love and Theft” is a global romantic heist film set in Las Vegas, Mexico, and
SPOILER ALERT: This piece contains spoilers for Guillermo del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley” Guillermo del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley” is physically stunning, which the director says “sustains the darkness of the movie by keeping the audience almost hypnotized by those textures. If you make a beautiful movie that’s not telling a story or defining a character, it’s
After two years in Galicia’s Santiago de Compostela and three in Pamplona, Navarre, Conecta Fiction, Europe biggest Europe-Latin America TV co-pro forum, is moving to Toledo, 25 minutes by high-speed train South of Madrid. Unspooling at the Spanish city’s spectacular El Greco Toledo Convention Center over June 21-25, the 6th Conecta Fiction will expand to
In the past decade, the inclusion of streaming services in the documentary market has made it increasingly harder for smaller docus struggling with funding to break into the nonfiction feature Oscar race. But in spite of the deep pockets they are up against, a number of cash-strapped docs inevitably make it onto the shortlist every year.
Boutique sales agency Patra Spanou Film has acquired the international sales rights of Roberto Doveris’ “Proyecto Fantasma” (“Ghost Project”), an indie comedy with dramatic and spooky moments. The Chilean film will world premiere next week in the Tiger Competition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. It is Doveris’ second film after the youth drama ”Las
XYZ Films has struck a first-look production deal with Toronto- and Los Angeles-based producer Lee Kim, who produced Sundance sci-fi title “Dual” and oversees Resolute Films and Entertainment. Under the deal, XYZ and Resolute will jointly produce a number of titles per year, with a focus on films helmed by diverse directors and international co-productions,
Egyptian producer, director, writer and mentor Marianne Khoury is being honored with the Legion of Honor, France’s highest prize. Khoury, who is the niece of late great Egyptian director Youssef Chahine, is a managing partner in prominent Cairo-based Misr International Films, which Chahine founded. She has directed several documentaries, most recently “Let’s Talk,” which premiered
HanWay Films have picked up comedy drama “Sweet Sue” from newcomer Leo Leigh with sales set to commence at the European Film Market in Berlin. Buyers will also be treated to footage at the market. A first look image of “White Line’s” Maggie O’Neill, who plays the starring role of Sue, is above. In “Sweet
Take Two Studios, the recently launched Finnish production banner, has enlisted industry veteran Sara Norberg as partner and COO. The company was created last October by three of Finland’s top media executives, Eero Hietala, Lasse Koskinen and Ilkka Hynninen. Hietala and Hynninen previously co-founded Aito Media, where they produced the series “Almost True” and “Pirjo,”
Recognizing that international productions would often shoot a handful of sequences in France before moving post-production responsibilities abroad, the French government passed a series of reforms to the country’s tax rebate scheme in early 2020 meant to spur on and encourage foreign investment. Since April 2020, France’s Tax Rebate for International Production (TRIP) scheme now
We’ve come a long way in terms of fairy tales centered on a handsome prince from a far-off land rescuing a beautiful, distressed damsel from a life of destitution. It’s widely welcomed that women can rescue themselves and concurrently complement the male arc. With Netflix delivering progressive modernizations of these fantasies in their stable of
Space Entertainment Enterprise (S.E.E), the company co-producing Tom Cruise’s upcoming space movie, plan to launch a sports arena and production studio in zero gravity. S.E.E. has unveiled plans to build a space station module that contains a sports and entertainment arena as well as a content studio by December 2024. (An artist’s rendering is pictured