Notizie

Charlotte Kirk is racking up the credits at a rapid pace. The actress, best known for her collaborations with Neil Marshall (Duchess, The Lair, The Reckoning, and the upcoming Compulsion), was working on the action thriller Myra back in October, took a role in the horror comedy CATnip earlier this year, and now she’s already in production on the Jack the Ripper spoof Jackie the Stripper. Fittingly, the filming of this one is taking place in London. Some behind-the-scenes images can be seen on the Jackie the Stripper Instagram page.

Deadline reports that Charlotte Kirk is joined in the cast of Jackie the Stripper by Jamie Lomas (Hollyoaks), Katie Price (Sharknado: Global Swarming), Chloe Meadows (Stigma), Kimberly Wyatt (13 Going on 30), James Phelps (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince), Gary Webster (Family Affairs), Sophie Rankin (Ouija Castle), Perry Bensen (Sid and Nancy), Amber Doig Thorne (The Baby in the Basket), newcomer Martin Sherwood,...

All3Media International, the sales arm of the production-distribution U.K. giant behind such hits as “Fleabag” and “Midsomer Murders,” has struck key deals in multiple territories for New Pictures’ six-part thriller, “Protection.”

Sales follow the witness protection series’ critically acclaimed U.K. debut on ITV and Itvx. Among the new pacts are a digital rights deal with BritBox for the U.S. and English-speaking Canada; digital rights to Stan in Australia; TV rights to Tvnz in New Zealand and DVD/Video rights to ABC for Australia and New Zealand.

Meanwhile, BBC Studios has picked up “Protection” in a pan-territory deal encompassing Asia, India and the Indian subcontinent, where the drama will stream on BBC First, its premium SVOD drama channel, and its SVOD service, BBC Player.

“Protection” has also been snapped up across the Nordic territories, including Denmark (Dr), Norway (Nrk), Iceland (Ruv), Sweden (Svt) and Finland (Yle).

Further TV...

Once in a while, you see an actor who isn’t held back by the decorum that rules even most good actors. Her emotions don’t stay in check — they spill over the sides. When that happens, you may find yourself connected to that actor in a way that tugs your own buried feelings into the light. To me, the gold standard for this kind of acting is Chloe Webb’s performance in “Sid and Nancy” (1986). Webb played Nancy Spungen as a selfish groupie and unabashed junkie harridan, with a wail (“Si-i-i-d!”) that could frighten the damned. Yet part of the character’s mental illness is that she had no boundaries; she was all raw feeling torn asunder. Her pain and rage, her desire to be coddled and loved all announced itself with a furious punk purity. Webb broke your eardrums and your heart at the same time. She gave...

It is a testament to his acting ability that it was years before I realized that Gary Oldman is British. With an ability to nail accents, the dedication to drastically change his appearance and the talent to convey the full spectrum of emotions, Oldman is one of the most eclectic and underrated actors of our time.

Born March 21, 1958, in London, Oldman began his acting career on the British stage in 1979, and made his film debut in "Remembrance" in 1982. In 1984, he reluctantly accepted the role of punk rocker Sid Vicious in "Sid and Nancy," a performance which garnered him critical acclaim and launched a diverse and successful career that has spanned almost four decades, and includes everything from small indie films to blockbuster franchises.

Oldman is well-known for his portrayal of some of the most memorable villains in the history of the cinema, from the campy Zorg in "The Fifth Element...

The 1986 drama Sid And Nancy was overlooked by all the major awards ceremonies, but its reputation has only grown with time. Walker director Alex Cox’s biopic tells the story of Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious, and his chaotic love affair with Nancy Spungen. It is notable as being one of Gary Oldman’s first films – he is compelling as Vicious throughout – while Chloe Webb is uniformly excellent as Spungen, by turns bratty, domineering, and oddly vulnerable. But it’s not merely the great performances of the two leads that makes it so effortlessly watchable.

Following its rip-roaring success at Pigeon Shrine FrightFest, Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment is delighted that the British horror comedy Members Club will be available on UK Digital Platforms from 21st October.

Written and Directed by Marc Coleman, Members Club stars a host of British talent including Dean Kilbey, Perry Benson, Barbara Smith, Juliet Cowan, Mark Monero, Steve Oram, David Schaal, Alan Ford, Liam Noble as well as Peter Andre.

Wet Dreams, a middle-aged male stripper group, have hit rock bottom. After a string of disastrous gigs, the gang considers disbanding. Alan, the group’s happy-go-lucky front man, takes over the business and books the boys a lucrative and mysterious gig in rural Essex. But when the group arrive at the desolate club, their night quickly takes a dark turn when they find themselves tangled up in a plot to raise a murderous 16th century witch from the dead.

Also, check out...

Ridley Scott's 2001 horror thriller "Hannibal" was a long-in-the-tooth sequel to "The Silence of the Lambs," both of them based on the works of author Thomas Harris. "Silence of the Lambs" was a boffo blockbuster when it came out in 1991, winning many Oscars and making millions. Anthony Hopkins took the world by storm with his lip-smacking performance as Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist with a penchant for mutilating, killing, and often eating his victims. At the end of "Lambs," Hannibal escapes his high-security prison and proceeds to wreak havoc in the world.

In "Hannibal," however, we learn that Dr. Lecter left one of his victims alive. Mason Verger (Gary Oldman) was a child stalker who, years ago, fell into Lecter's psychiatric care. Lecter, being a brilliant manipulator of minds, convinced Mason to use his autoerotic asphyxiation noose while slicing off his own face and feeding it to nearby dogs.

Black Water Pictures is thrilled to announce that their latest horror comedy, Members Club, will have its world premiere at this year’s Pigeon Shrine FrightFest on 24th August. This highly anticipated film, written and directed by Marc Coleman, is a wild fusion of The Full Monty and From Dusk Till Dawn, promising a unique blend of laughs and scares. It will certainly bring a bit of light relief to the otherwise rather dark and gruesome festival.

Members Club stars an impressive, extensive list of British talent including Dean Kilbey, Top Boy), Perry Benson, Barbara Smith, Juliet Cowan, Mark Monero, Steve Oram, David Schaal, Alan Ford, Liam Noble, and Peter Andre.

The film follows Wet Dreams, a down-and-out middle-aged male stripper group, as they grapple with a series of disastrous gigs and contemplate disbanding. Alan, the group’s optimistic frontman, seizes control and secures a seemingly lucrative gig in rural Essex.

23 years into his film career, Tom Hardy is still impossible to pin down. Is he a leading man? A full-on movie star? A character actor? Would he be perfectly happy to just make Venom movies until he retires?

Here's what we do know about Hardy: he's handsome, he loves trying on weird accents (which we ranked here at /Film), and he commits fully to every role whether it's a prestige picture or a superhero flick. Critics dig him (even if they do not dig the "Venom" movies at all), and he's tremendously respected by his fellow actors. He's one of the best we've got. But it's been 16 years since his breakthrough bravura performance in Nicolas Winding Refn's "Bronson," and, for whatever reason, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' membership has only managed to nominate him for one measly Oscar.

What gives?

While he's been magnificent in very...

Exclusive: Celebrating his 50th year as an indie filmmaker and distributor, Jeff Lipsky is prepping the release of his eighth feature as director. Goldilocks and the Two Bears is due to open domestically via Glass Half Full Media in July for a limited theatrical run, followed by a general release in late summer/early fall. Check out an exclusive clip above.

Goldilocks introduces a trio of new actors: Claire Milligan, Serra Naiman and Bryan Mittelstadt. It’s directed and written by Lipsky, produced by longtime collaborator Nick Athas and shot by Zak Ray with production sound mixed by Caleb Mose (O.J.: Made in America).

Filmed entirely in Las Vegas, the movie centers on a man and a woman – travelers who’ve all but given up on futures that might have been glorious. When a stranger enters their midst, a woman on the run from her own demons, the...

Kingsley Ben-Adir's portrayal of Bob Marley in One Love rivals iconic biopic performances like Joaquin Phoenix in Walk the Line. Marley and other music legends like Ray Charles overcame adversity to become cultural icons, inspiring audiences through their powerful stories. Biopics like Miles Ahead and Control shed light on the influential legacies of Miles Davis and Ian Curtis, paralleling Marley's impact on reggae music.

The life and music of reggae singer Bob Marley was powerfully depicted in the captivating biopic Bob Marley: One Love, and over the years there have been plenty of other great biopics that captured the lives and work of acclaimed artists. The story of Marley, who was expertly portrayed by Kingsley Ben-Adir, took him from the poverty and political conflict of his home country of Jamaica, all over the world as one of the biggest music stars on the planet. Marley’s story of music,...

Alex Cox’s 1984 “Repo Man” was a Reagan-era satire about consumerism and the Atomic Age. Its punk rock soundtrack transformed it into a cult hit, but its funny and strange combination of sci-fi, workplace comedy, and the fear of nuclear annihilation made it an enduring classic.

Forty years later, Cox will revisit the repo man and the world of bland, generic grocery store clerks stocking and selling “Food” and “Beer” day in and day out. He has written and will direct a sequel, “Repo Man 2: The Wages of Beer,” and he told IndieWire why this film will embody “the repo world of 2024.”

Cox said “The Wages of Beer” will take place in a world of self-driving cars and an even more pressing threat of global destruction. “The advent of incredible technology means, for the repo man, that everything has changed — and nothing has changed,” he said via email.

Alex Cox is getting back behind the wheel.

The “Repo Man” director is revisiting the off-kilter world of extraterrestrials and car repossession that he mined so memorably in the 1984 cult classic in a new sequel that is being introduced to buyers at the Berlin Film Festival and European Film Market. Entitled “Repo Man 2: The Wages of Beer,” the film is being backed by Buffalo 8 Productions, a film and media company best known for the critically acclaimed work on Netflix series “The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes.” Cox wrote the script along with directing the film.

Kiowa Gordon, best known for his role as Embry Call in “The Twilight Saga” and for his work in the AMC series “Dark Winds,” is set to lead the cast as Otto. Emilio Estevez played Otto in the 1984 original. The film picks up after Otto has boarded his trusty 1967 Chevy Malibu to journey across the infinities of time and space.

To celebrate the release of Wish Upon A Unicorn – available on Blu-ray & DVD from 3rd July, we have Blu-Rays to give away to 2 lucky winners!

Two sisters and their father (Jonathan Lajoie) move from the city to the country to live with their grandmother. On her farm, they miraculously discover and befriend a baby unicorn named Rocco. Rocco has magical powers and gives the girls a little bit of luck, hijinks and a lot of laughter, which makes the adjustment to their new home and school easier. But when the local good-for-nothing cowboys learn about the magical unicorn, the gang steals Rocco to use his powers for themselves.

Actor Jonathan Lajoie who plays the father Louis Dindal is also a comedian, singer/songwriter who wrote five songs for The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, including “Catchy Song” and “Not Evil”.

Grandma Rose is played by Chloe Webb, whose film...

These days he's known as one of the finest actors in the industry for his almost unmatched versatility and range. Gary Oldman is frequently unrecognizable from role to role. Not only has he built a respected career as a result, but back in the mid-80s — before his appearances in the Harry Potter franchise or Christopher Nolan's "Dark Knight" trilogy — Oldman was coming off an acclaimed run in the theater and was yet to make his name in the film industry.

Having starred in 1982's "Remembrance," the actor wouldn't appear in another film until 1986 when he had to be talked into playing Sid Vicious. By his own admission, Oldman had little to no interest in the Sex Pistols bassist (or punk in general), but was convinced by director Alex Cox to take on the lead role in his retelling of Vicious' dysfunctional relationship with Nancy Spungen. Almost 30 years later,...

Gary Oldman is one of the greatest film actors of all time. His versatility is so established now that there are internet memes about his uncanny ability to just simply vanish into a role. No other actor could convincingly play real-life figures as diverse as Lee Harvey Oswald and Winston Churchill, let alone such contrasting literary characters as Dracula and George Smiley. It's this versatility that has led to his success and longevity as an actor; he can play the hero, the villain, a supporting role, or a mere cameo, and never gives a part anything less than his all, whether he's playing Beethoven or a CGI peacock.

It's true that he displayed a propensity for playing villains in outlandish science fiction romps like "The Fifth Element," popcorn actioners like "Air Force One," or serial killer thrillers like "Hannibal." However, more recently he has received long overdue recognition for his...

Gary Oldman revealed that he may be retiring from acting in the near future. The English performer, who won an Oscar in 2018 for his work in the Winston Churchill drama The Darkest Hour, originally rose to prominence on the international stage in films like 1986's Sid & Nancy and 1990's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. Since then, he has held many prominent roles including Commissioner Gordon in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy and Sirius Black in the Harry Potter films.

Per Deadline, the Times of London recently sat down with Oldman to discuss his role on the Apple TV+ series Slow Horses. The star said that he may be inclined to step back from acting and retire after the series is over. He reflected that "I’ve had an enviable career, but careers wane," and that he didn't want to still be working by the time he's 80 years old. Read...

There’s a genre I like so much I can never get enough of it — I call it the Biopic About Someone You Wouldn’t Make a Biopic About. The form came into existence, in a certain way, with “Sid and Nancy,” but it was all but patented by the screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, who planted it on the map, in 1994, with “Ed Wood” (still the “Citizen Kane” of the genre), then went on to script “The People vs. Larry Flynt,” “Man on the Moon” (about Andy Kaufman), “Big Eyes”, and “Dolemite Is My Name” (about the fluky hustler-comedian Ray Moore). There have been films in the genre from other quarters, like Paul Schrader’s superb “Auto Focus” (about the TV star Bob Crane and his video-fetish sex life), going right up through the recent Toronto Film Festival sensation “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.”

But there’s one...

Following the world premiere of “My Neighbor Adolf” on the Piazza Grande in Locarno, Beta Cinema has sold the dark comedy to Vendetta Films, which will bring the Udo Kier and David Hayman starrer to cinemas across Australia and New Zealand in the first quarter of next year.

Prior to Locarno, Beta Cinema sold the film to Hungary (Cinetel) and Switzerland (Praesens Film), while deals for North America (Cohen Media Group), U.K. and Ireland (Signature Entertainment), Italy (I Wonder), South Korea (Lumix Media) and Japan (Tohokushinsha Film) had been revealed before.

The film is set in Colombia in 1960, just a few days after the Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann was caught by Mossad agents in Argentina. Polsky, played by Hayman, is a lonely and grumpy old man, living in the remote Colombian countryside. He is a survivor of the Holocaust. He spends his days playing chess and tending his beloved rosebushes.

Exclusive: The life and career of Michael Stevenson, an industry veteran, and former assistant director to Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, and Sir Ridley Scott will be documented in a new feature-length documentary from Freida Films and 21 Filmworks.

The doc, titled An Ode to Cinema, will chart Stevenson’s career through never-before-seen archive footage and production materials from his work on films such as Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, Pearl Harbor, The Bourne Ultimatum, Mission Impossible, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and Warhorse. The doc will also feature a series of interviews with Stevenson’s former collaborators and close friends, including Ray Winstone, Malcolm McDowell, and Sir Tom Courtenay.

Amelia O’Loughlin is co-directing the doc with Tammy Khajotia (Saving Saffron), and co-producing alongside Jo Farrugia. Ola Mesmer,, is serving as cinematographer.

Israeli director Leon Prudovsky, whose film “My Neighbor, Adolf” world premieres Thursday in Locarno Film Festival’s Piazza Grande, will next be making a feature version of his 2012 short “Welcome, and our Condolences.”

The project, titled “Our People,” is a multi-character tragicomedy, centering on a Russian Jewish family traveling to Israel in the early 1990s. On the plane their grandmother dies, which places them in a tricky situation: they are worried that they will lose their right to settle in Israel, so decide to pretend she’s still alive. Prudovsky himself was born in Russia and migrated to Israel at that time.

“My Neighbor, Adolf” is also a tragicomedy. It stars David Hayman, whose credits include “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” “Sid and Nancy” and TV series “Taboo,” as Polsky, a grumpy old man living in the wilds of Colombia in 1960.

Polsky, who survived the Holocaust and hates all Germans,...

There are few events movie fans look forward to quite like the Barnes & Noble 50 off Criterion Collection sale. It happens twice a year – once in July and again in November – and it’s a perfect opportunity for physical media enthusiasts to acquire some of the very best Blu-rays, loaded with special features and anchored by exemplary video and sound. Sure, the Christmas holiday might be the wonderful time of the year. But Criterion sale time at Barnes & Noble is a close second for those of us still collecting physical media.

This year, there are plenty of amazing titles to choose from and we thought we’d highlight a handful if you’re having trouble narrowing down what to get. These are all titles that have come out since the last sale (in November 2021) and include some that are coming out towards the end of July, when the sale ends.

The first attempt to dramatize the Sex Pistols saga came with the release of the Julien Temple’s movie The Great Rock and Roll Swindle in 1980, just two years after the band imploded. The farcical film tells the story from the perspective of manager Malcolm McLaren and is so cartoonish that parts of it are actually animated.

It was the start of a mini-industry of Sex Pistols retrospectives that told their story from every conceivable angle, including the Gary Oldman/Chloe Webb movie Sid and Nancy, the Julien Temple documentary...

Johnny Rotten was right to sue to stop FX’s Pistol from going forward.

The Sex Pistols and PiL frontman ultimately was unsuccessful in his legal efforts last year to prevent the seminal band’s music being used in the Danny Boyle-directed miniseries. However, Pistol, which dropped in its entirety today on Disney-owned Hulu, is an overly sentimental love letter that never should have been sent. You’d find more depth and authenticity on how England has been really dreamin’ over the decades in this week’s pomp-packed Platinum Jubilee for the disastrous reign of Elizabeth II.

Simply put, Pistol is more junk than punk.

Even with searing classics like “God Save the Queen” in the well-crafted soundtrack mix, the six-episode series based in part on guitarist Steve Jones’ 2017 memoir limps along when it should roar. Hobbled with a surprisingly sub-standard coming-of-age story held together figuratively and literally by amphetamines,...

The short and sweet and sour history of the 1970s British punk band the Sex Pistols is told in a six-part limited series—the FX on Hulu show is appropriately titled Pistol—based on lead guitarist Steve Jones’ book, Lonely Boy. (Jones is played by Toby Wallace.) The working-class kids with rebellious lyrics, ripped clothes and permanent sneers rocked the establishment and gave aimless youth new role models for questioning authority. But their personal lives were in turmoil—as the cast told TV Insider. Take Pistols guitarist Sid Vicious (Louis Partridge) and his American girlfriend Nancy Spungen (Emma Appleton), whose doomed romance was covered in the 1986 film Sid and Nancy. Here, it’s woven into the bigger story of the band. “She had that same hell for leather, all-or-nothing attitude, so they egged each other on,” Partridge says. The Pistols hung out at a King’s Road London boutique called Sex,...

Some of the most exciting filmmaking in “Pistol,” FX’s new Danny Boyle-directed limited series, happens onstage. In concert scenes featuring the Sex Pistols — the real-life punk pathbreakers at the center of this story — the camera toggles between performer and spectator, moving so rapidly that it seems to eliminate the distance between the two. Director of photography Anthony Dod Mantle captures both staging in the foreground and expressive moshing in the background. The writhing performance seems less to spark violence in the audience than to run parallel to it, another expression of the free-floating anger in the air.

It’s a canny way of depicting the Pistols’ appeal: The show argues that the band had an intuitive ability to tap into the rage of youth culture in pre-Thatcherite England. It makes that argument eloquently by showing the group converting even small audiences, early on, into wild and emotional demonstrations.

Beta Cinema has sold the English-language tragicomedy “My Neighbor Adolf” to several major territories. The film stars German actor Udo Kier and Scottish actor David Hayman, and is directed by Israel’s Leon Prudovsky.

All rights for North America have gone to Cohen Media Group, Signature Entertainment has acquired the U.K./Ireland rights, I Wonder took Italy, Lumix Media has South Korea and Tohokushinsha Film took Japan.

The film, set in 1960, centers on Polsky, a Holocaust survivor, who lives in the remote Colombian countryside. One day, when a mysterious old German man moves in next door, he suspects that his new neighbor is Adolf Hitler. Since nobody believes him, he embarks on a mission to uncover the evidence. In order to gather it, however, he will need to come closer to his neighbor than he would like — so close that the two could almost become friends.

Prudovsky has co-written and directed three TV series,...

Update (3/14): Michelle Zauner joined in on the joke about Japanese Breakfast’s 2021 Jubilee cover art and Machine Gun Kelly’s Mainstream Sellout album art’s loose similarities. “2022’s feud of the year,” she tweeted, sharing the article below. She also discussed the story in an interview with Pitchfork. “I don’t actually think it looks anything like my album cover at all,” she said, “but I think it’s very funny that Rolling Stone put up an article about it just because there’s a circular fruit in the foreground.

The entertainment world has always been filled with a wild bunch of characters. But we're not just talking about the iconic personas of Ferris Bueller, Lucy Ricardo, Tony Montana, or Ellen Ripley. Sometimes the people behind the scenes are just as interesting as the larger-than-life roles they present to the public. And this especially applies to musicians.

Over the years, musical biopics have told the remarkable true stories of the artists that created our favorite songs. "Selena," "La Bamba," "Amadeus," and "Sid & Nancy" immediately come to mind, but newer hits like "Get On Up," "Straight Outta Compton," and "Love & Mercy" are excellent...

The post Piano Man: Billy Joel is Getting the Biopic Treatment With New Film appeared first on /Film.

Writer/director Adam McKay kicks off Season 5 by discussing a few of his favorite movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Don’t Look Up (2021)

Parasite (2019) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)

The Big Short (2015)

Vice (2018)

Gremlins (1984) – Glenn Erickson’s 4K Blu-ray review, Tfh’s 30th anniversary links

The Second Civil War (1997) – Glenn Erickson’s trailer commentary, Joe Dante revisits the movie

Network (1976) – Chris Wilkinson’s trailer commentary

Broadcast News (1987)

To Die For (1995) – Illeana Douglas’s trailer commentary

The Hospital (1971) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Ace In The Hole (1951) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Dr. Strangelove (1964) – Michael Lehmann’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Over The Edge (1979) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

The Warriors (1979)

River’s Edge (1986)

Tex (1982)

Rumble Fish (1983) – Adam Rifkin’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Criterion Blu-ray...

From the unruly (Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy) to the unrecognizable (Mason Verger in 2001's Hannibal), British actor Gary Oldman is considered one of the most versatile contemporary actors in Hollywood.

Related: The 10 Best Gary Oldman Movies That Aren't Harry Potter

A method actor often touted as one of the best of his generation, his roles span more than 100, going back almost 40 years. In fact, it's often difficult to select which might be considered his best, but for fans of any film in which he happens to star, the good news is that he continues to turn out one memorable part after another.

It’s a very musical episode! Director and Tfh Guru, Allan Arkush, returns to talk about his favorite rock and roll movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

No Nukes (1980)

Amazing Grace (2018) – Dennis Cozzalio’s Oscar nominee reactions

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Get Crazy (1983) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979) – Eli Roth’s trailer commentary

Blackboard Jungle (1955) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

Rock, Rock, Rock! (1956) – ​​Jesus Treviño’s trailer commentary

Mister Rock And Roll (1957)

Go, Johnny, Go! (1959) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

Hail Hail Rock And Roll! (1987) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

The Girl Can’t Help It (1956) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary

Hellzapoppin’ (1941)

Innerspace (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Almost Famous (2000) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

Wayne’s World (1992)

The Graduate (1967) – Neil Labute’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Scorpio Rising...

Exclusive: Midas Man, the biopic of Beatles manager Brian Epstein, has hired a new director as it looks to get back into production as soon as possible.

Sara Sugarman, known for directing movies including music comedy Vinyl, Lifetime’s House Of Versace and Disney’s Confessions Of A Teenage Drama Queen, is newly aboard.

As we revealed earlier this month, the movie entered hiatus as producers sought to replace director Jonas Akerlund.

Akerlund told us today: “I regret that things haven’t turned out as we had planned on Midas Man. I wish Jacob [Fortune-Lloyd] and the team the best with the film.”

The Queen’s Gambit co-star Jacob Fortune-Lloyd stars as Epstein in the biopic, alongside Emily Watson, Eddie Marsan, Lukas Gage, Rosie Day and Bill Milner. The project charts Epstein’s role in the creative explosion of the 1960s and his sizable influence on pop music.

We understand exit terms...

The Fantasia International Film Festival begins in less than two weeks and we have a look at it's incredible offering of features, panels, and special events:

The Fantasia International Film Festival announces a massive new assortment of feature films for its 25th edition, along with details on scheduled panels, talks, tributes, special events, and our esteemed juries. On top of our impressive virtual slate of films, all geo-locked to Canada, and in addition to our globally accessible streamed events, the upcoming festival will also feature a limited number of in-person screenings in Montreal.

Fantasia begins August 5th with the World Premiere of Quebec zombie feature Brain Freeze— following the August 4th special event screening of James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad in celebration of the festival— and ends on August 25th with newly announced closing film, Takashi Miike’s hotly-anticipated The Great Yokai War - Guardians.

Takashi Miike Closes Out...

With its $8.45 billion deal to buy MGM, Amazon will stock Prime Video with the studio’s cache of 4,000 movies and 17,000 hours of television. It’s a huge library, but notably absent are some of MGM’s most iconic films, including “The Wizard of Oz,” “Singin’ in the Rain,” and “Gone With the Wind.” Those titles — and all other MGM movies made before 1986 — belong to WarnerMedia.

In 1986, Ted Turner made a series of deals that resulted in Turner Broadcasting taking ownership of all prior MGM films. Not unlike Amazon, he wanted the films for programming his growing cable empire and the library became one of the pillars that built Turner Classic Movies. Today, WarnerMedia owns both TCM and Turner’s MGM library. Many titles, including “The Wizard of Oz,” are available to stream on HBO Max.

Today, the public is more likely to chatter about the latest program that happens to...

Chicago – The great Gary Oldman is a veteran actor who has created so many memorable roles that he’s his own Hall of Fame. His surprising turn as Herman Mankiewicz, the co-screenwriter with Orson Welles on “Citizen Kane” in “Mank,” is being honored by yet another Best Actor nomination in 2021 (his third with one win).

“Mank” follows Herman through the decade of the 1930s, when he hung out with William Randolph Hearst, the inspiration for Charles Foster Kane. His journey with Hearst and his crew, including the mogul’s mistress and notable actress Marion Davies, was the information gathering point for his contributions to the Kane script, whose main authorship is debated to this day. It’s a grand opera performance, with Mank being both a comic and tragic figure.

2021 Oscar Nominee Gary Oldman in the Spotlight for ‘Mank’

Photo credit: Netflix

Gary Oldman was born in London, studied acting...

Hollywood has always been drawn to true stories and there will never be a shortage of actors needed to re-create famous lives. But when portraying a real person who is dead or is even still alive, actors have their work cut out for them. On the one hand, they usually have lots of material to draw from. On the other, they don’t want their performance to be mere mimicry.

“Playing real people is interesting, and I’ve played many,” says Gary Oldman, nominated for his starring role in “Mank” as “Citizen Kane” screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz. Oldman previously won an Academy Award for playing Winston Churchill in “Darkest Hour” and his film career was launched in 1986 when he starred in “Sid and Nancy” as Sid Vicious.

“A lot of the work is done for you. There’s usually first-hand description, personal writings and a ton of written material about the individual.

It is a testament to his acting ability that it was years before I realized that Gary Oldman is British. With an ability to nail accents, the dedication to drastically change his appearance and the talent to convey the full spectrum of emotions, Oldman is one of the most eclectic and underrated actors of our time.

Born March 21, 1958, in London, Oldman began his acting career on the British stage in 1979, and made his film debut in “Remembrance” in 1982. In 1984, he reluctantly accepted the role of punk rocker Sid Vicious in “Sid and Nancy,” a performance which garnered him critical acclaim and launched a diverse and successful career that has spanned almost four decades, and includes everything from small indie films to blockbuster franchises.

SEEGary Oldman interview: ‘Mank’

Oldman is well-known for his portrayal of some of the most memorable villains in the history of the cinema, from the campy Zorg...

Seed&Spark announced Thursday that it is ending its proprietary subscription streaming service later this month as it shifts its distribution focus to new impact-driven initiatives. Seed&Spark’s library will next be heading to IndieFlix in a pair of moves executives say will strengthen both companies in a media landscape increasingly driven by corporate heavyweights. The Seed&Spark titles will join a 4,300-strong IndieFlix library that includes everything from “Sid and Nancy” to festival-favorite shorts and “Bonanza.”

Seed&Spark’s streaming platform allowed filmmakers to submit their work directly; accepted projects enjoyed a 50-50 revenue split. About 100 creators, representing about 200 titles, opted to have their titles transferred to IndieFlix. Similarly, IndieFlix allows filmmakers to submit their work directly to the platform for consideration. They’re paid based on a model that pools subscription revenue and pays filmmakers on a minutes-watched rate.

“With the Seed&Spark library, my goal is to...

Gary Oldman, whose acting career spans four decades, is most famous for playing secondary roles in high-grossing film franchises. The average moviegoer would likely first recognize him from his portrayal of Sirius Black in the Harry Potter saga or Commissioner Gordon in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. However, he has earned his greatest critical notices for his embodiments of real-life figures, from his breakout role as punk rock star Sid Vicious in 1986’s “Sid and Nancy” to his most recent outing as screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz in the Netflix release “Mank.”

In his review of “Sid and Nancy,” Roger Ebert raved that Oldman’s “driven and relentless” performance goes “beyond movie acting.” Since then, the actor has tested his limits and demonstrated his chameleonic brilliance in over 60 films. His take on Winston Churchill in “Darkest Hour” led to a sweep of the 20198awards season, culminating in what was considered a long overdue Oscar win.

Courtney Love claims she quit acting after experiencing several #MeToo moments. After releasing Hole's breakthrough album, Live Through This in 1994, Love set her sights on acting, which is something she did well before forming the band. Love appeared in supporting roles in Alex Cox movies Sid and Nancy (1986) and Straight to Hell (1987), but didn't pursue the Hollywood route. Love notes that it was director Milos Forman that brought her back into the world of acting.

Before teaming up with Milos Forman for The People vs. Larry Flynt in 1996, Courtney Love appeared in the Jean-Michel Basquiat biopic Basquiat and the drama Feeling Minnesota. She played Larry Flynt's late wife Althea in Forman's movie opposite Woody Harrelson, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. "For a few years, because of Milos Forman, I was a professional actress and a movie star," recalls Love in a new Instagram post. "It was fun as hell.

Exclusive: Veteran indie executive and filmmaker Jeff Lipsky is hooking up with Kino Lorber to launch The Jeff Lipsky Collection on growing streaming service Kino Now. The collection, which becomes available on March 5, will include five out of seven of Lipsky’s directing efforts dating from 2006-2019. Other filmmakers who are similarly represented with Kino Now Auteur Collections include Jean-Luc Godard, Lina Wertmüller, Derek Jarman, István Szabó and F.W. Murnau.

On the Lipsky roster are Flannel Pajamas (2006), a relationship story co-starring Julianne Nicholson and Justin Kirk; family drama Twelve Thirty (2011), starring Jonathan Groff; surreal comedy Molly’s Theory Of Relativity (2013) with Sophia Takal and Lawrence Michael Levine; character study Mad Women (2015), co-starring Reed Birney and Jamie Harrold; and Holocaust-themed family drama The Last (2019), starring Rebecca Schull. Lipsky hopes to add his first film, 1997’s The End, to the collection as soon as its restoration is complete.

Says Lipsky, “Being inducted...

If Gary Oldman could travel back in time to give advice to screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, he jokingly has two words of bold advice for him: ‘Get sober!’ In the new Netflix film “Mank” directed by David Fincher, Oldman portrays the alcoholic Oscar winner, the co-writer of “Citizen Kane” with Orson Welles.

In our recent webchat (watch the exclusive video above), he adds, “He had these aspirations of wanting to be a playwright or novelist, considering that to be high art. He came out to California and felt really that screenwriting was just beneath him. He could do it in his sleep. He once said that a final draft was what you put through the typewriter the night before.”

SEEAmanda Seyfried interview: ‘Mank’

For the black-and-white movie, which was written by the late Jack Fincher, the plot is set in 1940 when a drunken and injured Mank is writing much of...

Gary Oldman will receive the Chairman’s Award for his performance in “Mank” at the 31st annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (Psiff), the organization announced on Friday.

The Festival and Film Awards Gala will not be an in-person event this year, but honoree selections will be announced to recognize this year’s great performances and Entertainment Tonight will air a tribute to the honorees scheduled on February 11th and February 25th.

“Gary Oldman gives another mesmerizing performance as Herman J. Mankiewicz in David Fincher’s Mank. Oldman plays the role to perfection as the films follows the screenwriter’s journey while is co-writing the script for Citizen Kane,” Festival chairman Harold Matzner said in a statement. “We are delighted to recognize one of this generation’s greatest actors, Gary Oldman with this year’s Chairman’s Award.”

Oldman was previously honored at the festival with the Desert Palm Achievement...

The star from Sid & Nancy, Terminator 2, Candyman, Gattaca, Leaving Las Vegas and the new chiller The Dark And The Wicked takes us on a journey through some of his favorite foreign films.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Candyman (1992)

Frankenstein (1931)

Sid and Nancy (1986)

The Dark And The Wicked (2020)

The Wall of Mexico (2019)

La Dolce Vita (1961)

Il Bidone (1955)

Day For Night (1973)

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1967)

8 ½ (1963)

Le Cercle Rouge (1970)

Daredevils of the Red Circle (1939)

Rififi (1955)

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Z (1969)

The Sleeping Car Murders (1965)

The Battle of Algiers (1966)

Burn! (1969)

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

The Italian Job (1969)

The Italian Job (2003)

The Magician (1958)

Wild Strawberries (1957)

Fanny and Alexander (1982)

Persona (1966)

The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

The Last House On The Left (1972)

The Virgin Spring (1960)

Paperhouse (1988)

The Strangers (2008)

The Monster (2016)

Andrei Rublev (1966)

Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)

Nostalghia (1983)

Son of Frankenstein (1939)

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Zorba The Greek (1964)

Pollyanna (1960)

Other Notable Items

Lon...

Chadwick Boseman is a great actor. That’s no longer anything the world needs to discover. Yet a funny thing happens whenever I get into a conversation about him. I always ask the person I’m talking to if they’ve seen “Get on Up,” and the answer, almost inevitably, is, “No, I missed that one.” Which never fails to stun me, since it’s Boseman’s most audacious and brilliant performance. He plays James Brown, the pompadoured, electric-souled, jive-stepping visionary of funk who revolutionized the music world (and the world at large), and the first thing to say about Boseman’s acting is that you’re forced to reach for the quintessential biopic trope to describe it: In “Get on Up,” Boseman doesn’t just play James Brown — he channels him.

But the second thing to say is: How the hell do you channel James Brown?

He was a force of nature.

Bill Gavin in Cannes in 1988 (Photo credit: © Richard Blanshard).

Former producer, exhibitor and sales agent Bill Gavin has died in Auckland after a short illness, aged 83.

“Bill Gavin’s long career touched on almost every aspect of the screen industry and he was great friend to the many filmmakers whose careers benefited from his touch,” the New Zealand Film Commission said.

A former journalist who covered motor racing in Auckland and internationally, his entrée into filmmaking came when he wrote the narration for John Frankenheimer’s sports drama Grand Prix, which starred James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Yves Montand, Brian Bedford and Jessica Walter, in 1966.

In the early 1970s he moved into the music business, joining Gto in the UK where he managed a number of acts including Sweet and The New Seekers.

At Gto he helped set up Gto Films to make movies promoting its musical acts and later into distribution,...

Bill Gavin, the former Goldcrest executive and general manager of Australia’s Hoyts Theatres, has died at the age of 83 at his home in Auckland, New Zealand, after a short illness.

Gavin moved to the UK in the early 1960s after securing a contract to cover New Zealand’s then highly successful Formula One drivers, going on to write a biography of UK driver Jim Clark. He segued initially into the music business and established Gto Films to promote glam rock acts, the company then branched into distribution and worked on the UK release of Weir’s classic Picnic At Hanging Rock and the original version of Swept Away.

In 1978 he moved to Australia to become general manager of Hoyts Theatres and spearheaded the company’s entry into distribution. His down under success distributing the first Muppet Movie caught the eye of Lew Grade, who invited him to join Itc Films’ sales team in London.

Gavin worked on films including ‘Gandhi’ and ‘Whale Rider’.

Bill Gavin, a former executive at the UK’s Goldcrest Films who worked on films including Gandhi and Whale Rider, has died aged 83 at his home in Auckland, New Zealand after a short illness.

The industry veteran worked on several award-winning features throughout his career as an independent sales agent, distributor, exhibitor and producer.

Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Gavin began his career as a motor racing journalist and moved to the UK in the early 1960s after securing a contract to report on successful Kiwi Formula One drivers competing overseas.

In the 1950s, the word “mumbling” got stuck to the name Marlon Brando, and there were several reasons for that. Brando, starting with his first film, “The Men” (1950), brought a new mode of naturalistic acting to Hollywood that was so revolutionary it would change not just movies but the world. Those who were used to hearing every actor in a movie enunciate their dialogue as if it were the King’s English couldn’t understand — literally — what Brando was saying.

Beyond that, Brando played the kinds of characters who’d never been front and center in a Hollywood movie before — most famously Terry Malloy, the inarticulate working-class loser-brute of “On the Waterfront.” This wasn’t just an acting revolution; it was a who-gets-to-be-a-hero-in-America revolution. And the everyday music of Brando’s magnetically low-key, throwaway speech was part of it. The new heroes were people who couldn’t fully express who they were,...