Movies

“Being the Ricardos,” an upcoming movie about the relationship between “I Love Lucy” stars Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, has added several names to the call sheet. Ahead of the start of production in Los Angeles this week, Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat and Jake Lacy have joined the cast of the Amazon Studios film. As

WarnerMedia has partnered with the Black List on a program designed to open doors for writers from historically underrepresented communities by offering free access to the social media platform that showcases screenwriters. WarnerMedia will work with HBCUs and range of established organizations to identify up to 600 writers who will receive vouchers to use Black

It’s all been leading up to this: the ultimate monster mash — or clash of the titans — “Godzilla vs. Kong.” Enticing as an epic slugfest between two of cinema’s most famous demolition experts may sound, there’s really no way to pretend that King of the Monsters and once-and-future-king Kong are evenly matched. A radiation-powered

Peter Berg’s Film 44 has set a new first-look deal with Netflix, under which Berg will produce and direct live-action films and series for the streamer. The new deal follows the success of last year’s “Spenser Confidential,” which Berg produced and directed at Netflix. The action film, starring Mark Wahlberg and Winston Duke, was a

The Tribeca Festival will return as an in-person event, a hopeful sign that coronavirus may be loosening its grip on cultural life in America. The announcement comes as vaccination levels are rising and New York City is moving, however haltingly, back toward a pre-pandemic sense of normality. “As New York emerges from the shadow of

Noel Clarke will be the 2021 recipient of the Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award at the 74th EE British Academy Film Awards. The award will be presented on Apr. 10 as part of the EE BAFTA Film Awards opening night ceremony in London. Clarke wrote and starred in the feature film Hood trilogy, “Kidulthood”

Cercamon has closed major sales for “What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?,” from Georgian director Alexandre Koberidze, which had its world premiere in competition at the Berlin Film Festival. The Dubai-based indie specialist has sealed a multi-territory deal with MUBI, the global distributor and streaming service, which includes the U.S., where

“Godzilla vs. Kong” jumped straight to the top of the South Korean box office in its opening weekend. It was the first major Hollywood film to release in the key market since “Soul” in January. “Godzilla vs. Kong” earned $2.45 million over the weekend for a 51% market share, according to data from the Korean

Dwayne Johnson has revealed that “Black Adam” will release on July 29, 2022. Johnson unveiled the date before today’s NCAA tournament game between UCLA and Alabama. In a short ad, Johnson can be heard saying in a booming voice, “The hierarchy of power in the DC universe is about to change.” Johnson also posted the

Trailblazing director Penelope Spheeris has very few fucks left to give. Spheeris first came on the scene with her Los Angeles punk rock documentary “Decline of Western Civilization,” followed by the disturbing punk drama “Suburbia” starring Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea. But after directing several more independent films, huge success with “Wayne’s World,” and then

As writer Jakub Żulczyk faces charges for calling Poland president Andrzej Duda a “moron” on Facebook, and online event “Herstories for Women’s Day” is suddenly pulled, Polish leadership is raising eyebrows, with their actions perceived by some as a sign of the country’s further shift towards authoritarianism. “The loop is tightening, especially since their ass

Bob Odenkirk, action star? It’s a premise so unexpected, so curious, that it just might have enticed audiences to watch “Nobody,” a revenge thriller that sees an otherwise unassuming Odenkirk (“Breaking Bad,” “Better Call Saul”) kick ass and take names. “Nobody” debuted atop domestic box office charts, generating $6.7 million from 2,460 venues. It’s a

As a critic committed to maintaining a certain professional distance with those whose work I might review, I don’t often play the fan in the presence of filmmakers. But with French director Bertrand Tavernier — who passed away at the age of 79 on Thursday — I made an exception. Knowing that Tavernier would be

Simone Ledward Boseman has been the emotional center of the 2021 awards season, accepting several honors on behalf of her late husband, Chadwick Boseman. The actor posthumously earned two NAACP Image Awards this year, for outstanding supporting actor for his work in “Da 5 Bloods” and outstanding actor in a motion picture for “Ma Rainey’s

San Diego Comic-Con is returning in 2021 as a “special edition” gathering. Despite recent news that the massive, pop culture convention would be going virtual in July, plans for the fall gathering have moved forward. Comic-Con International has announced their plans to hold an in-person convention in 2021. The three-day event titled, “Comic-Con Special Edition”

Nine movies into his prolific career, the history of cinema has been embedded with the style and daring stories of Quentin Tarantino. The two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter of “Pulp Fiction” and “Django Unchained” celebrates his 58th birthday today, and with it, we are celebrating the 10 best performances that have come from his films. Including

“The Oxy Kingpins” is a documentary that feels like it could be a Martin Scorsese movie. It’s “The Wolf of Wall Street” meets “The Insider” — the story of a scurrilous illegal business, and one of the hotshot thrill junkies who rode it to riches, and how that business connects up to a much larger

A bright, watery cornflower blue may lead the palette of “The Spine of Night,” an adult animated fantasy indebted in equal part to Ralph Bakshi and Gerald Potterton, but that doesn’t mean a lot of crimson blood isn’t spilled for contrast. Extreme, skeleton-snapping ultraviolence is a key selling point of this first collaboration between animator

Ten years ago in January, the people of Egypt took to the streets to demand the fall of President Hosni Mubarak and his regime. It was the most spectacular of the revolutions during the so-called Arab Spring both in numbers and media coverage, as well as for the abject failure of its goals. Manal Khaled’s

As we recently passed the one-year anniversary of the first coronavirus-dictated lockdown, the internet’s insatiable hunger for short-term nostalgia kicked into overdrive. Memories from March 2020 trended again as fodder for renewed memes and Twitter threads, feeling at once from just yesterday and eons ago. An early entry in the inevitable subgenre of lockdown chamber

At irregular intervals throughout Alba Sotorra’s stirring, sobering and vitally humane new documentary “The Return: Life after ISIS,” discreet titles appear to define the foreign terms that crop up. The small group of Western women in this Syrian detention camp are from all over — Canada, the U.S., the U.K., the Netherlands, Germany — and

It’s awfully crowded in Violet’s head. First there’s the voice, which sounds like a demeaning male bully, constantly telling Violet she’s worthless. When it speaks, the screen turns red and a loud electronic humming noise causes Violet’s ears to ring. Then there’s a second running commentary, this one silent and less sure of itself, appearing

It’s not easy to fathom the rush to make films about the coronavirus pandemic, especially since we’re not quite in the clear. Still, here we are. Or rather, here are friends Whitney Call and Mallory Everton, the co-writers and stars of the slight, mighty silly, improbably likable comedy “Recovery,” about sisters on a mission to

Matt Damon and director Tom McCarthy’s thriller “Stillwater” will be coming to theaters this summer. Focus Features announced the highly anticipated film from the pair of Academy Award winners will hit theaters on July 30, 2021. Damon stars in the drama opposite Oscar nominee Abigail Breslin and César Award nominee Camille Cottin. Damon plays Bill,

Huayi Brothers Co-Founder and Chairman Wang Zhongjun has resigned from his post as executive chairman of the board at Huayi Tencent Entertainment, the latter company announced Friday. He will step down next Tuesday because he “needs to focus on other matters,” it said. Wang will be vacating his Huayi Tencent roles as executive director and

With traditional release patterns still in turmoil as Hollywood and the world adjusts to the pandemic, it can be intimidating to keep up with when and where new films are being released — but the truth is, there are more movies coming out each week now than ever before. It’s just a question of where

Beverly Cleary, who contemporized children’s literature with books like “Ramona the Pest” and “Henry and Beezus” and become one of the best-selling children’s authors of all time, died Thursday. She was 104. Her publisher HarperCollins tweeted that she died on Thursday. We are saddened to share that cherished children’s book author Beverly Cleary passed away

Paramount is expanding its “Transformers” business. Marco Ramirez (showrunner for Netflix’s Marvel series “The Defenders”) has signed to write a script for a new, standalone “Transformers” movie based on the Hasbro toy brand, with “Charm City Kings” director Angel Manuel Soto attached to direct. The project is still in its earliest stages, with Ramirez taking

“Coming 2 America” the long-awaited sequel might have just been released, but star Eddie Murphy already wants a third film and he wants costume designer Ruth E. Carter to return. The two sat down for Variety’s “Dream Teams” sequel to discuss their latest collaboration, and Murphy is planning, but audiences don’t have to wait thirty

Ecuador’s Cineática Films has boarded “Slay the Dragon” (“Matar el Dragon”) the third directorial outing by Chilean helmer-producer Roberto Doveris of Niña Niño Films, whose producing credits include Venice 2019 Queer Lion winner, “The Prince.” “Slay the Dragon” is among the 17 feature films in development that have participated at Sanfic Industria’s Santiago Lab: Fiction.