Neuigkeiten

Studio Ghibli is famous for combining its lighthearted animation style with complex characters, from protagonist to antagonist and everyone in between. Hayao Miyazaki once said that he puts a part of himself into his villains, which no doubt is why they authentically reflect real parts of the human experience (for better or worse). Many say that the word "antagonist" applies more aptly to Studio Ghibli movies than villains, because the characters aren't black and white.

Studio Ghibli movies aren't afraid to explore the darker parts of the human experience, like violence, consumption, and avarice. Villains like Spirited Away's Yubaba is more of an antagonist capable of change, whereas Nan from When Marnie Was There is absolutely cruel and indefensible. Some Ghibli "villains" aren't just one person, but a school of thought, or an entity that represents something like overwork, war, land-grabbing, or even apathy.

Updated on January 9, 2025, by Ajay...

In the third episode of this true crime series, Scott Thorson recounts his experience building a drug empire in Hollywood during the 1980s, coinciding with the explosive crack epidemic in Los Angeles. Remarkably, almost a decade after the Wonderland murders, Thorson’s story becomes a critical piece in the puzzle of this infamous case. The Wonderland […]

The Wonderland Massacre & The Secret History of Hollywood: Up in Smoke – September...

On July 1, 1981, Hollywood was rocked by one of the most brutal murders in its history — the Wonderland Murders.

With ties to drugs, sex, and infamous names like John Holmes and Eddie Nash, the case has captivated true crime enthusiasts for decades.

Now, best-selling author Michael Connelly and Emmy-winning director Alison Ellwood are bringing this chilling story back to life with The Wonderland Massacre & The Secret History of Hollywood, a four-part docuseries premiering on MGM+ on September 8.

(© 2024 MGMPlus Entertainment LLC)

We had the pleasure of speaking with Connelly and Ellwood about their collaboration, our fascination with this crime, and how they’ve turned a notorious Hollywood tale into a compelling visual experience.

For anyone who’s followed the Wonderland case — or those discovering it for the first time — this series promises to be both an eye-opener and a deep dive into Hollywood’s shadowy past.

(© 2024 MGMPlus Entertainment LLC) “A Visual Story Begging to Be Told”

Connelly,...

A new show hits the air, and you’re hooked, counting down the days until the next season. Then, out of nowhere — Boom! — you find out your favorite show is canceled.

Before the age of streaming, plenty of beloved shows barely made it past one season. The usual culprit? “Low ratings.”

(Fox / Screenshot)

But often, networks were to blame. Maybe they stuck a great show in a terrible time slot or scheduled it against a ratings juggernaut on another network.

Sometimes, the show was too edgy or dark for network bigwigs or too complex for mainstream audiences to embrace right away.

In rare cases, fan campaigns brought a canceled show back for another season, but more often, it was game over.

If streaming had been as big back then as it is now, these shows — and their loyal fans — might have gotten the long run they deserved.

So, what failed...

Scott Thorson, the former lover of Liberace and a key witness in the trial for the 1981 killings known as the Wonderland Massacre, died in Los Angeles on Aug. 16. He was 65 and was a patient at a Los Angeles healthcare facility. Thorson had been suffering from cancer and a heart condition.

Thorson, who later legally changed his name to Jess Marlow, brought a $113 million palimony lawsuit against Liberace in 1982 that attracted a great deal of media attention. After the suit was filed, Liberace continued to deny he was gay and stated in court depositions that Thorson was never his lover. The case was settled in 1986; Thorson received $75,000 cash, as well as three cars and three pet dogs, valued at $20,000. Liberace died in 1987 of HIV/AIDS-related ailments.

In 1988, Thorson published “Behind the Candelabra: My Life with Liberace,” a memoir about his time with Liberace. It included claims that the entertainer paid for Thorson to get plastic surgery,...

The Academy Award-nominated 1997 film Boogie Nights captured viewers with its fast-paced tale of sex, drugs, and crime in Hollywood’s Golden Age of Porn. But behind the popular film is a real-life murder that captured Hollywood’s attention for over 40 years. Now, Michael Connelly, the crime novelist behind best-selling works like The Lincoln Lawyer, is working with MGM+ to release a new docuseries diving into one of the most infamous bloodbaths in Tinsel Town: The Wonderland Massacre.

When police arrived at a Laurel Canyon house of suspected drug dealers on...

Summer theatrical release lined up.

GKids has acquired all North American rights to Keiichi Hara’s Rotterdam selection Lonely Castle In The Mirror.

The film was the first Japanese animation to premiere at Rotterdam International Film Festival and recently received its US premiere at New York International Children’s Film Festival.

Lonely Castle In The Mirror follows shy school student Kokoro who enters a castle through a portal in her bedroom mirror where she and six other students must accept a challenge by a girl wearing a wolf mask.

The youngsters work together to uncover the mysterious connection that unites them,...

Government Support

A new report looking at the success of the U.K. government’s Covid production scheme found it supported over 1,200 productions since its launch in July 2020.

The scheme was set up to assist productions struggling to get Covid-related insurance before it was eventually shut down last spring.

The report by Nordicity & Saffery Champness found over two years the scheme had created 37,100 cast roles and 63,500 crew positions as well as sustaining 48,500 full-time jobs. Among the productions benefitting from the scheme were “Good Luck To You, Leo Grande” as well as “Peaky Blinders.”

The report estimated the scheme contributed £2.25 billion to the U.K. economy while the cost to the government was £19.6 million. 58% of productions helped by the scheme were based outside of London.

“Our screen industries are an economic powerhouse and we should be proud that the U.K. is firmly established as one of the best places in the world to create blockbuster content,...

Cinematography retrospectives are the way to go—more than a thorough display of talent, it exposes the vast expanse a Dp will travel, like an education in form and business all the same. Accordingly I’m happy to see the Criterion Channel give a 25-film tribute to James Wong Howe, whose career spanned silent cinema to the ’70s, populated with work by Howard Hawks, Michael Curtz, Samuel Fuller, Alexander Mackendrick, Sydney Pollack, John Frankenheimer, and Raoul Walsh.

Further retrospectives are granted to Romy Schneider (recent repertory sensation La piscine among them), Carlos Saura (finally a chance to see Peppermint frappe!), the British New Wave, and groundbreaking distributor Cinema 5, who brought to U.S. shores everything from The Man Who Fell to Earth and Putney Swope to Pumping Iron and Scenes from a Marriage.

September also yields streaming premieres for the recently restored Bronco Bullfrog, Ang Lee’s Pushing Hands,...

Sink Your Teeth Into Tokyo Ghoul On Screen Anime

Live-action adaptation of hit manga heads line-up that challenges limits of animation.

Expand the realms of possibility for animation this month with the Screen Anime channel’s latest line-up that celebrates experimental techniques, and anime’s rising influence in other mediums. Leading this latest curated roster of films is Tokyo Ghoul, the Japanese live-action adaptation of Sui Ishida’s internationally bestselling horror manga, that previously inspired the beloved anime franchise.

Screen Anime also invites you to experience new techniques and ideas in anime with The Case of Hana & Alice, a coming-of-age mystery celebrated for its use of rotoscoping, a technique of tracing live-action footage to create realistic motion seen in later films like 2017’s Loving Vincent. Director Masaaki Yuasa has proven himself to be a favourite among Screen Anime fans, and there’s no better showcase of why that is than...

From a charming fantasy, the darkest timeline, and even the intimate comfort of a bar, the Screen Anime channel invites you to experience stories only possible in animation with their most imaginative line-up to date. From 25th September 2020, embark on a journey to save a magical kingdom with the first wide release of Birthday Wonderland in the UK & Ireland, celebrate an iconic franchise with the bloody battle for the Holy Grail in Fate/stay night Heaven’s Feel 1: presage flower, and more!

Joining them this month are classics from now-renowned directors who have proven themselves Screen Anime favourites: 5 Centimeters Per Second, a romance anthology from Makoto Shinkai, and the eclectic anthology Genius Party, featuring short films by Masaaki Yuasa (Ride Your Wave) and Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop). This month’s bingeable series also sees the English-language digital debut of Bartender, a personal favourite of Anime Limited President Andrew Partridge!

The third edition of the Japannual Film Festival takes place from 1st to 6th of October in Vienna. This year, the festival celebrates the 150th anniversary of Austrian-Japanese diplomatic relations with an excellent selection of films, showing the highlights of the bygone year. Besides the modern cinema, Japannual features two movies of the infamous director Koji Wakamatsu accompanied by the short films of video artist Yuri Muraoka.

The opening film “Blue Hour” (2019), a multi-layered comedy about a sudden family visit, is the first feature by female director Yuko Hakota and was already celebrated at the Nippon Connection Festival for its portrayal of strong female characters.

Strong female characters can also be seen in Kosai Sekine’s “Love at Least” (2018) and Momoko Fukuda’s “My Father, My Bride” (2019). Both directors will be present at the festival and so it the actress Shuri, who gives an intriguing performance of a mentally ill...

This week, the /slash Film Festival, Austria’s biggest Fantastic Film Festival, starts its projectors in Vienna to screen a broad catalog of dark and twisted treats. From September 19 until September 29, the 10th edition of the Festival will also present a promising Asian selection.

Six Asian feature films and four animations are among the total number of 70 movies that can be seen in two charming old-town cinemas. The so-called “/asian” selection starts with “The Scoundrels” (2018), the debut of Taiwanese director Hung Tzu-Hsuan. From the Philippines comes Erik Matti’s “The Entity” (2019). An elegant horror-thriller about a secretive family history that is packed with suspense. In cooperation with the Japannual Film Festival, /slash presents the Japanese entry for the selection – “The Fable” (2019) by Kan Eguchi. The Manga adaption is a mixture of over the top action sequences and utterly disarming humor. Highly anticipated is also Won-Tae Lee’s “The Gangster, The Cop,...

Features the voices of: Mayu Matsuoka, Anne Watanabe, Kumiko Asô, Nao Tôyama, Keiji Fujiwara, Akiko Yajima, Masachika Ichimura | Written by Miho Maruo | Directed by Keiichi Hara

Outside of literally three or four movies, my viewing of Japanese animated movies is completely reliant on Studio Ghibili. That said, I adore the studio and every one of its movies, with Spirited Away being one of my all time favourites. So it was about time I checked out the output from other animation filmmakers in Japan.

As the title would suggest, The Wonderland does have a few influences from Alice in Wonderland. But to be honest, there’s nothing too obvious and it definitely does not feel like a retread of that story. The day before her birthday, a young girl, Akane, meets an alchemist named Hippocrates and his student Pipo. Along with an antique shop owner, Chii, who she is kind of friends with,...

Days away from her birthday, teenage girl Akane feels listless as she comes up with excuses to stay in bed rather than attending school or going outside. She is even less thrilled as her mother tells her to visit her aunt Chii, the owner of a little bric-a-brac store, in order to receive her birthday present. However, as Chii is looking for her present and Akane browses the store, out of the blue a hidden trap door to the basement opens and a tall man appears accompanied by a small apprentice called Pipo.

As the man introduces himself as Hippocrates, a world-famous alchemist, he tells Akane that she is the Goddess of the Green Wind and he has been looking all over for her. Eventually the girl and her aunt accompany the two men to the world beyond, a world on the brink of chaos, a world which only Akane may be able to save.

Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival has shared the best in anime since its very first edition, and as its 23rd edition (11 July – 1 August) approaches, Fantasia’s Axis section, home to the festival’s animated films, proudly announces an extraordinary array of anime titles — all in competition for Fantasia’s prestigious Satoshi Kon Award for Achievement in Animation!

Fantasia has just announced its Closing Film, and anime fans will agree — extreme heat never looked so cool! In the embers of the globe-engulfing great flame war, the maverick firefighters of Burning Rescue confront the fiery terrorists of Burnish Mad. Director Hiroyuki Imaishi and writer Kazuki Nakashima, who’ve together previously on Gurren Lagann and Kill La Kill, are at the wheel for the first feature film from edgy anime studio Trigger, Promare. A raging riot of bright colours, daring design, crazy characters and whiplash action, Promare isn’t just the most...

With a final wave of programming, the 2019 edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival has now released its full lineup, featuring over 130 incredible features from across the globe.

Fantasia International Film Festival

Montreal, Quebec – July 11 to August 1

In addition, the festival is also very proud to announce a record number of repertory titles, its esteemed 2019 jury, a horror film location bus tour through Montreal, and exciting, one-of-a-kind live events with producer Edward R. Pressman, “First Blood” director Ted Kotcheff, and iconic horror host Joe Bob Briggs.

Japanese horror icon ”Sadako” will open fantasia 2019!

Sadako

Twenty years ago, Fantasia celebrated the North American Premiere of Hideo Nakata’s “Ringu” and its sequel, which led to Dreamworks acquiring the franchise and is largely seen as having been the birth of J-Horror in the West. This Summer, the festival is proud to open its 23rd edition with the series’ latest sequel, “Sadako” (North...