Movies

During his 1980s and ’90s heyday as a frightfully prolific star of blood-and-thunder direct-to-video fare, Wings Hauser once aptly described his target audience as “the microwave-burrito guys at 2 a.m. with a beer in their hands” — and, presumably, a VCR remote switch nearby. Nowadays, that audience can digitally stream their B-movies of choice. But

After almost two years of movie theaters being partially or completely closed, streaming services are poised to have their biggest moment yet. The 2022 Sundance film festival is one of the first major festivals where a steadily-growing number of services can test their muscle, and their money, not just against standard bearers of distribution but

Racism and women’s rights are two timely, urgent issues that numerous directors with films at Sundance tackle via fictional or documentary films. Mariama Diallo’s “Master” and Carey Williams’ “Emergency” are two examples of narrative features heading to the fest that address the issue of race and racism in America. While Diallo’s “Master” portrays racism in

Anticipation for Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” is so high that fervor erupted on social media in May 2020 after Robert Pattinson told GQ magazine that he wasn’t working out to play the Caped Crusader. GQ reported at the time that Pattinson was ignoring the trainer Warner Bros. hired for him, with Pattinson telling the publication,

Re-recording mixer Tara Webb and dialogue supervisor Leah Katz worked on Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog,” with Webb delivering a powerful soundscape based on strategically stripping the sound away while Katz protected the spare dialogue, delivered by characters incapable of facing their feelings. A lot of their early conversations with Campion centered around

Hollywood insiders and movie fans are still scratching their heads over Kristen Stewart being shunned by the Screen Actors Guild last week for her ballyhooed performance as Princess Diana in “Spencer.” I too am totally mystified as to why one of the best performances of the year was ignored by Stewart’s actor peers. From the

“Scream,” the hit sequel in the long-running slasher series, will keep terrorizing audiences over the weekend. Only one movie, Universal’s faith-based romantic drama “Redeeming Love,” is opening nationwide, and the poorly reviewed film, which combines a gold-rush setting with a parable about redemption and the oldest profession, isn’t looking like it’ll put up much of a

Variety has scored 98 nominations for the 2021 National Art and Entertainment Journalism awards, leading all publications. The awards are presented yearly by the Los Angeles Press Club. “Thank you to the NAEJ for recognizing the hard and wonderful work of our great team of writers and editors. We’re so honored,” said Claudia Eller, editor-in-chief

Showtime has debuted the official trailer for W. Kamau Bell’s four-part documentary series “We Need to Talk About Cosby,” which is set to world premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival this month. Bell, a comedian best known as the host of CNN’s “United Shades of America” and FXX’s short-lived “Totally Biased,” uses the documentary

Oscar-winning director Bong Joon Ho, who made awards history with his genre-bending thriller “Parasite,” is making his next feature film at Warner Bros. Robert Pattinson, who will soon appear as the Caped Crusader in “The Batman,” is expected to star in the science-fiction story, an adaptation of Edward Ashton’s upcoming novel “Mickey7.” According to the

Dramatizing the lives of beloved writers is always problematic, because the act of writing itself is so inherently un-dramatic. Nonetheless, writer-director William Nunez’s “The Laureate” manages to eke a fairly engrossing tale from the complicated personal lives of creatives surrounding “I, Claudius” author Robert Graves (Tom Hughes) in England’s Roaring ’20s. Well-acted, nicely crafted and

The USC Scripter Awards has announced its nominees for its 34th annual ceremony, recognizing the best film and television adaptations. Netflix dominated the film category with three films making the cut, all from women screenwriters who also directed their movies: “The Lost Daughter” from Maggie Gyllenhaal, “The Power of the Dog” from Jane Campion and

Shane Carruth, the director of independent films “Upstream Color” and “Primer,” was arrested last week at the home of his ex-girlfriend on allegations of domestic assault. Carruth was arrested by Santa Monica police officers on Thursday morning. Police were called to the woman’s home around 4:50 a.m. to investigate the alleged assault, said Lt. Rudy

Kevin McHale and Justin Thorne first worked together when they were members of the boy band NLT in the mid-aughts. Now, the two are thinking about a bear band. McHale, best known for his work as Artie on “Glee,” and Thorne are the creators of the AlphaBeatZ, five animated singing and dancing teddy bears; they

Disney reorganized its global direct-to-consumer streaming organization, including installing Joe Earley, formerly head of Disney Plus marketing and operations, as president of Hulu. As part of the reorg, Disney is creating a new hub for international content creation under the direction of Rebecca Campbell as chairman, International Content and Operations. She previously held the title

Berlin Film Festival artistic director Carlo Chatrian on Wednesday unveiled the full lineup for the fest’s 72nd edition which he is hellbent on holding as an in-person event despite the global spread of the omicron variant, even after other top fests such as Sundance and Rotterdam have thrown in the towel and gone online. Chatrian

Leading indie sales agent Finecut has picked up international rights to “The Novelist’s Film.” The picture marks the third year in a row that South Korean director Hong Sang-soo has had a film selected for competition in Berlin. Hong, who works on low budgets, controls much of the production process and makes repeated use of

The German-based sales outfit M-Appeal has acquired world sales rights to “Return to Dust,” from Chinese director Li Ruijun. The film was selected Wednesday to receive its world premiere in Competition at next month’s Berlinale (Feb. 10-16). The film follows the humble, unassuming Ma and timid Cao who have been cast off by their families

International sales company The Match Factory has revealed its Berlin Film Festival lineup, including two titles in Competition: “A E I O U – A Quick Alphabet of Love” by Nicolette Krebitz and “Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush” by Andreas Dresen. The Match Factory, which was acquired by MUBI last week, has three films

REinvent International Sales has boarded Trine Piil’s next film “Nothing,” a coming-of-age thriller based onDanish author Janne Teller’s bestselling novel by the same name. “Nothing” was published in more than 30 territories and has so far sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide, including 500.000 in Germany. The film will tell the story of Pierre Anthon

Films by auteurs Claire Denis, Hong Sangsoo and Rithy Panh are part of the lineup in competition at the 72nd Berlin Film Festival. Berlin’s 2022 selection spans 18 movies, seven directed by women, which will compete for the Golden and Silver Bears. The films originate from 15 countries, with 17 serving as world premieres. Two

Action thriller “Limbo” was named best film of 2021 at the annual Hong Kong Film Critics’ Society Awards. The film’s female lead, Chinese actress Cya Liu, was crowned best actress for her role as a young addict. Results of five awards and 10 recommended films were decided on Jan. 16, 2022 after nine hours of

Michel Subor, a French actor who rose to international acclaim for his lead performance in Jean-Luc Godard’s 1963 feature “Le Petit Soldat” and his narration for François Truffaut’s 1962 romance “Jules et Jim,” died on Monday in a French hospital following a car accident. He was 86 years old. News of Subor’s death was shared

Madea, the gun-toting grandmother who can rock a house arrest ankle bracelet like no one else, is making her Netflix debut next month. Tyler Perry’s beloved character is emerging from retirement after 2019’s “Madea’s Family Funeral” and returning for “A Madea Homecoming,” which is scheduled to premiere on Feb. 25. Perry will write, direct and

Netflix has launched a new pipeline program aimed at launching the “next wave of marquee filmmakers” working in high-concept genres. The Emerging Filmmaker Initiative (EFI) gives three filmmakers the opportunity to develop, fund, produce and distribute their short films on Netflix, with a focus on stories in the sci-fi, action, horror and thriller genres. The

Willem Dafoe is a staple of comic book movie history thanks to his “Spider-Man” role as Green Goblin, which he recently reprised to rave reviews in Marvel’s record-breaking “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” If Dafoe has his way, Green Goblin might not be his only comic book movie villain. Speaking to British GQ, Dafoe revealed that

The Set Decorators Society of America announced its nominations for the upcoming SDSA Awards Film-2021 with “Dune,” “West Side Story” and “The Power of the Dog” all landing nominations. The SDSA nominations celebrate décor, design and excellence in the art of Set Decoration for Film. “Coda,” “Don’t Look Up,” “Hand of God, “No Time to

Imagine Entertainment has expanded the purview of Imagine Documentaries chief Justin Wilkes to overseeing new business development as chief strategy officer for the independent content powerhouse. The move for Wilkes comes as Imagine Entertainment is actively seeking an influx of capital to fund its ambitious growth plans. The company headed by Ron Howard and Brian

“The Harder They Fall,” “Insecure” and H.E.R. lead the pack of film, TV and music nominees for the 53rd NAACP Image Awards, while Jennifer Hudson, Lil Nas X, Megan Thee Stallion, Regina King and Tiffany Haddish will face off for the 2022 Entertainer of the Year prize. Nominees for the annual award show were announced

Rupert Grint recently told London’s The Times that he likens his relationship to “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling to that of an “auntie,” saying, “I don’t necessarily agree with everything my auntie says, but she’s still my auntie. It’s a tricky one.” Rowling has been the subject of controversy due to her controversial gender beliefs and