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Exclusive: Universal Television has named Kimberly Hope EVP of Talent and Casting. Hope, who joins the Universal Studio Group division after more than a decade at Warner Bros. Television, is stepping into the role previously held by Universal Television’s longtime head of casting Beth Klein who retired at the end of last year after a 37-year career as a casting executive. Hope will oversee casting for Universal Television’s slate, reporting to studio president Erin Underhill.

As SVP of Casting for Warner Bros. Television, Hope supervised casting for such projects as Ted Lasso (Apple TV+), Mrs. Davis (Peacock), The Cleaning Lady (Fox), The Sex Lives of College Girls (Max), Shrill (Hulu), Time Traveler’s Wife (HBO), Lucifer (Fox/Netflix), The Leftovers (HBO), Christmas on the Square (Netflix), Lethal Weapon (Fox), The Vampire Diaries (CW) and Powerless (NBC).

She also developed and managed the Warner Bros. TV “Actors In Training” program,...

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This February, Peacock is bringing you a lot of entertainment, from the highly anticipated Suits spin-off series to a much-awaited Bridget Jones sequel. However, for the purposes of this article, we are only including the films that are coming to Peacock this month and have a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score. So, check out the five best films that are coming to Peacock in February 2025 with a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

Dazed and Confused (February 1) Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93% Credit – Gramercy Pictures

Dazed and Confused is an independent coming-of-age comedy film written and directed by Richard Linklater. The 1993 film is set in 1976, Texas, and it revolves around a group of teenagers who are in their last days of high school. Dazed and Confused stars Jason London, Joey Lauren Adams, Milla Jovovich, Shawn Anders, Rory Cochrane, Adam Goldberg, Anthony Rapp,...

Sean Baker for “Anora,” Brady Corbet for “The Brutalist,” James Mangold for “A Complete Unknown,” Jacques Audiard for “Emilia Pérez,” and Edward Berger for “Conclave” have been nominated for the Feature Film directing prize from the DGA Awards on behalf of the Directors Guild of America.

The winner for the top prize will be announced at the 77th Annual DGA Awards ceremony held on February 8.

Also announced on Wednesday are the five nominees for the Michael Apted Award for First-Time Theatrical Feature Film. Those nominees are: Payal Kapadia for “All We Imagine As Light,” Megan Park for “My Old Ass,” RaMell Ross for “Nickel Boys,” Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel for “Armand,” and Sean Wang for “Didi.”

DGA Awards nominees in the TV, reality, commercial, and documentary categories were unveiled on Tuesday, with “Shōgun,” “The Bear,” and “The Penguin” leading the way with three directing nominations each. In the documentary category, the...

Jacques Audiard, Sean Baker, Edward Berger, Brady Corbet, and James Mangold are the 2025 Directors Guild Award nominees.

The Directors Guild announced the DGA Awards nominees on Wednesday, hours after the Screen Actors Guild Award revealed its 2025 nominations.

All nominees are first-time honorees at the Directors Guild. Audiard, a cherished French filmmaker, directed Netflix’s top awards contender, Emilia Pérez. Baker, a leading indie director of this era, helmed Neon’s wild comedy-thriller, Anora. Berger is recognized for the papal suspense film Conclave from Focus Features. Corbet, who recently won Best Director at the Golden Globes, is the 36-year-old auteur of the epic A24 release The Brutalist. Lastly, Mangold is the American veteran of the group, nominated here for A Complete Unknown, about Bob Dylan.

The Directors Guild is often a good barometer of future Oscar success — but it is rarely perfect. The last time the five DGA Awards matched the...

Jacques Audiard, Sean Baker, Edward Berger, Brady Corbet and James Mangold have been nominated as the best feature film directors of 2024 by the Directors Guild of America, which announced its movie nominations on Wednesday.

Audiard was nominated for “Emilia Pérez,” Baker for “Anora,” Berger for “Conclave,” Corbet for “The Brutalist” and Mangold for “A Complete Unknown.”

The nominations make “Anora,” “A Complete Unknown,” “Conclave” and “Emilia Pérez” the only films to be nominated in the top category by both of the major guilds that announced on Wednesday, the Directors Guild and the Screen Actors Guild. “The Brutalist” was not nominated in SAG’s ensemble category, while “Wicked” was nominated for SAG’s cast award but not for director Jon M. Chu.

Other directors who didn’t make the DGA list include Coralie Fargeat for “The Substance” and Denis Villeneuve for “Dune: Part Two.”

In the category for first-time feature directors,...

You can find Part One of our Incomplete History of Film Independent here.

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In filmmaker Alexander Payne’s acclaimed 2004 wine snob dramedy Sideways–a 4x Film Independent Spirit Award winner–vino-loving schlemiel Miles Raymond (Paul Giamatti) spends a lost weekend in Southern California wine country gradually coming apart at the emotional seams. At one point, dismayed by some bad news regarding the nonpublication of his new novel and an increasingly difficult-to-ignore awareness of his own loserdom, Miles impulsively storms into the tasting room of one particularly, agonizingly corporatized McVineyard and proceeds to freak the fuck out.

It’s not stretching the metaphor here to perhaps compare the shock of Miles’ existential meltdown, then, to the mindset of the typical indie film consumer (and/or industry participant) by the time of the mid-2000s. In both instances, there was the pervading sense that true believers had been left adrift to drown in a sea of plenty.

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The Holdovers is a comedy-drama film directed by Alexander Payne from a screenplay by David Hemingson. The period film is set in the early 1970s, and it revolves around Paul Hunham, a grouchy, disliked teacher at Barton Academy, who has to supervise the students who were unable to return to their homes for the Christmas holidays. He soon forms a bond with a rebellious and troubled student who recently lost his father. The Holdovers stars Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and Carrie Preston. So, if you loved the feel-good comedy, sombre drama, and compelling characters in The Holdovers, here are some similar movies you could watch next.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople (Pluto TV & Rent on Prime Video) Credit – Madman Films

Hunt for the Wilderpeople is an adventure comedy-drama film written and directed by Taika Waititi. Based...

The Golden Globes have been honoring comedies since the 1950s and the days of such Billy Wilder gems as The Apartment and Some Like It Hot. But the category — which for the past 60 years has crowned a single winner among comedies and musicals — hasn’t always experienced smooth sailing.

How one defines a comedy — is it punchlines? pratfalls? subtle satire? — has been just one of the issues bedeviling the award. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association began playing even more fast and loose with definitions earlier this century when it increasingly nominated movies that seemed neither particularly funny nor acclaimed, instead using the category to bring popular films and stars into the fold that would otherwise have no way of getting there.

At the moment, the smaller, clubbier HFPA has been disbanded in favor of a larger and more representative group of global journalists. This has cut down on the number of nominated howlers,...

As we continue to explore the best in 2024, today we’re taking a look at the articles that you, our dear readers, enjoyed the most throughout the past twelve months. Spanning reviews, interviews, features, podcasts, news, and trailers, check out the highlights below and return for more year-end coverage.

Most-Read Reviews

1. The Goldfinger

2. From Darkness to Light

3. The Devil’s Bath

4. Only the River Flows

5. Longlegs

6. The Nature of Love

7. The 2024 Oscar-Nominated Animated Short Films, Reviewed

8. Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2

9. Trap

10. Dune: Part Two

Most-Read Interviews

1. Richard Linklater on Sex, Murder, Hit Man, and the Infantilization of Culture

2. Will Menaker on the Year in Cinema: Oppenheimer, Scorsese, Friedkin & Beyond

3. Lee Daniels on The Deliverance, Shifting Culture, Douglas Sirk, and That Glenn Close Performance

4. “All Great DPs Become Alcoholics”: Rob Tregenza on Shooting Béla Tarr’s Werckmeister Harmonies

5. In a Violent Nature Director Chris Nash on Creating a New Kind of Slasher,...

Michelle Randolph is now a veteran of the Taylor Sheridan-verse.

The young actress first appeared in “1923,” the phenomenally popular “Yellowstone” prequel that premiered back in 2022. She played Liz Strafford, soon Dutton, the fiancée of Jack Dutton (Darren Mann) and the possible grandmother of John Dutton (Kevin Costner) on the flagship series. (Randolph swears she still doesn’t know.)

She now stars a completely different character for the prolific showrunner as Ainsley, the bratty daughter of Billy Bob Thornton and Ali Larter on “Landman,” the Paramount+ drama based on a Texas Monthly podcast “Boomtown” about the state’s volatile oil business. The characters, besides a certain flintiness, couldn’t be further apart.

Randolph said that she first heard rumblings about “Landman” when they were shooting the first season of “1923” (it returns for Season 2 in February). She had assumed there was no way that she could do “Landman” because, as originally planned,...

2024 may be drawing to a close, but this means that movie lovers are entering one of the most exciting times of the year. On one hand, Christmas and the holidays are right around the corner, meaning that now is the optimal time to get inside from the cold and watch some of your favorite holiday films with loved ones. The other reason movie buffs are excited comes a little bit after Christmas. In the middle of January, this year's Oscar nominees will finally be announced, celebrating all the greatest achievements in the world of film this year.

Needless to say, plenty of people are currently very excited, both about the upcoming holiday and the impending announcement of the nominations. Fortunately, there are a handful of movies that perfectly combine these two sources of excitement. Over the years, some of the best Christmas movies have gone on to be recognized by the coveted Academy Awards,...

Leonardo DiCaprio turned 50 in November and celebrated with a bash at L.A. hotspot San Vicente Bungalows. But he wasn’t the person whose party people were talking about.

That would be “Thelma” star June Squibb, who turned 95 on Nov. 6 and whose birthday blowout was a testament to how wide the actor’s appeal is. People from all generations packed the private residence to pay their respects; celebs from Kumail Nanjiani, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Kathryn Newton mingled about. A 16-minute video of well-wishers included everyone from Scarlett Johansson to John Goodman. It also included her “Glee” co-star Chris Colfer and his husband Will Sherrod pitching “Junerassic Park” — a theme destination dedicated to the actor that includes “Squibb Games.”

Colfer reveals he has long teased Squibb about silly birthday celebrations. “For her 90th, I threatened to take her to Magic Mike in Vegas and for her 95th, we planned a skydiving trip,...

In this virtual Q&a, Academy Award-winning director Alexander Payne steps up to interview Eva Nathena, director of Greece’s official International Feature Oscar submission Murderess (Fonissa). Despite being on opposite sides of the globe — Nathena at home in Athens and Payne, who had just been in Greece, in New York — the two Greek filmmakers and longtime friends share a candid and illuminating discussion about Nathena’s adaptation of Alexandros Papadiamantis’ classic novel.

Set on a remote Greek island at the turn of the 20th century, Murderess is a poignant exploration of maternal dominance, societal oppression and the complex bonds between women. The film follows Hadoula, a woman suffocating under the weight of patriarchal expectations and familial rejection, as she fights for freedom not only from those around her but from her own internalized fate. With striking visuals and a profound emotional core, the film captures the timeless struggles of identity and liberation.

They say this town is ruled by fear. They say it’s all gloom these days when not outright doom. They say Hollywood just isn’t what it used to be. Not warm, not wild, not fun.

They may be right. But they obviously aren’t spending time in proximity to Colleen Camp, the if-you-know-you-know fairy godmother of the film business. A veteran character actress turned social networker extraordinaire turned indie producer, she’s close friends with seemingly every bold-faced name in the industry — from Jerry Bruckheimer to Da’Vine Joy Randolph (who name-checked her in her Oscar acceptance speech this year) — and who has in recent years built a reputation as one of Hollywood’s most influential awards-season players. Camp’s intimate, no-press-allowed screenings, high-powered parties, star-studded dinners and assorted taste-making receptions have already altered the trajectories of scores of Oscar campaigns.

“I’m an empath and an enthusiast,...

Cannes festival boss Thierry Frémaux will be presenting some of the world’s oldest moving images at the Red Sea International Film Festival when he premieres his latest documentary, Lumière! The Adventure Continues, a deep dive into the origins of cinema.

The doc, a sequel to Frémaux’s Lumière! The Adventure Begins (2016) will be screened as part of the festival’s International Spectacular sidebar. It features some 100 immaculately restored short films sourced from the Lumière Institute (where Frémaux is the director), shot by cinema pioneers Louis and Auguste Lumière.

The Lumière’s technical prowess, as inventors of the cinematograph, the groundbreaking photographic camera and projection technology that made films possible, is well-known. But in his new film, which he also narrates, Frémaux examines the Lumière’s artistic vision as they pioneered the “grammar of cinema” from scratch.

“Louis Lumière is the last of the inventors but the first of filmmakers,...

“Ghosts” Season 4 has cast Nat Faxon in a guest star role, Variety has learned.

Faxon will appear in an upcoming episode of the hit CBS comedy as founding father Alexander Hamilton, who fans of the show know is the rival of Isaac (Brandon Scott Jones). The episode will air in early 2025.

Faxon is an Academy Award winner, sharing the award for best adapted screenplay with Alexander Payne and Jim Rash for the 2012 film “The Descendants.” He currently stars in the Apple TV+ comedy series “Loot” opposite Maya Rudolph, which is going into its third season. Faxon’s other TV credits include “The Conners,” “Our Flag Means Death,” “Gaslit,” and “Friends From College.” He is also known for films like “The Way Way Back,” which he co-wrote and co-directed with Rash.

He is repped by CAA, Artists First, and Goodman Genow.

“Ghosts” continues to be one of the most popular comedies in the CBS lineup.

Image Source: Paramount Pictures Before he won two Oscars (for Sideways and The Descendants), Alexander Payne earned his first nomination for writing the dark comedy Election. Starring Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon, the film struggled to find its footing at the box office upon its initial release, but years of cable TV showings and streaming have turned it into a cult classic, highly acclaimed for its biting humor. In the film, Witherspoon played a student running in a high school election, though she was already in her 20s when she made the film. To prepare herself for the role, she went back to high school for a while; when the film was released, Witherspoon told us what it was like to find herself back in the classroom again. (Click on the media be below to hear Reese Witherspoon.) https://www.hollywoodoutbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Reese_Withersoon_Election_.mp3

Election is...

If there is one film that holiday movie buffs need to watch in 2024, it's The Holdovers, which is now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video. Following Thanksgiving Day (or Halloween for some), it's officially Christmastime, meaning that streaming services began adding festive flicks to their catalog, and some (like Netflix) even release original holiday films. As for one company in particular, The Holdovers is one of the various Christmas movies featured in Amazon Prime Video's library in 2024.

Aside from The Holdovers, some other holiday movies available to stream on Amazon Prime Video in 2024 are Love Actually, The Holiday, Scrooged, The Family Stone, and It's a Wonderful Life.

The Holdovers premiered in August 2023 at the 50th Telluride Film Festival in Colorado before having a limited theatrical release, beginning on October 27, 2023. It grossed a little over $45 million against a $13 million budget during its theatrical run. The Holdovers also received positive reviews...

Go past the hut at the entrance to an apartment complex off a busy street in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles. Turn left at the Aloha Room and go past the little nook with a red waterfall and a sign that reads “Volcano Mauna Loa Falls.” Don’t worry about the black panther statue. Cross a little stream that signs call the Kauai River, look for the door on the left and you’ll find the modest kitchen table that served as Ground Zero for the movie “Thelma.”

First, though, June Squibb will have to invite you in, because the table is at the entrance to her kitchen, next to a formidable glassed-in bookcase that sports an impressive collection of carefully placed volumes dominated by mysteries and thrillers written by Scandinavian authors. It’s here, in this pleasantly kitschy midcentury complex, that Squibb first met with “Thelma...

Despite what plenty of Seo-chasing articles may try to tell you, there is no single perfect post-Thanksgiving meal movie that will suit every household. From those families diving deep into a shared tryptophan haze to those less traditional celebrants whose meals and festivities don’t look a thing like a Charlie Brown TV special,...

The 94-year-old June Squibb's new action movie with a 98% Rotten Tomatoes score has become a streaming success. Beginning her career on Broadway in 1959, Squibb's first film role didn't come until the age of 61 in Woody Allen's Alice. During the 1990s and early 2000s, she went on to have supporting roles, but never starring, in Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence, Frank Oz' In & Out, Martin Brest's Meet Joe Black, Alexander Panye's About Schmidt, and Todd Haynes' Far from Heaven.

In 2013, Squibb reunited with director Alexander Payne for Nebraska and broke through in a big way, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role. For the remainder of the 2010s and into the early 2020s, Squibb continued to appear in movies such as I'll See You in My Dreams, Love the Coopers, Other People, Father Figures, Blow the Man Down,...

Wine snobs can be some of the most insufferable people out there. This is displayed perfectly in Alexander Payne’s 2004 dramedy Sideways, if not just through the movie’s most famous line. As delivered by depressed oenophile Miles (Paul Giamatti): “If anyone orders merlot, I’m leaving. I am not drinking any f*cking merlot!” And with that, sales of merlot dropped straight into the barrel.

That sounds like it could be a story tied to the film, sort of like the unfounded rumor that sales of undershirts plummeted because Clark Gable didn’t wear one in a movie. But this is absolutely true. In a new feature marking the 20th anniversary of Sideways, winemaker Doug Margerum remembered the ripple effect that line had, saying everybody started switching to pinot noir instead of merlot. “We were having a hard time selling pinot then, but after the film came out,...

Alexander Payne had modest expectations for Sideways when his unassuming indie about an antic-filled buddy road trip through idyllic California wine country hit theaters in the fall of 2004. With an estimated budget of $16 million, the film wound up raking in more than $100 million worldwide and an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay — in addition to nominations for best picture, best director and best supporting actor (Thomas Haden Church) and actress (Virginia Madsen).

“As we were making Sideways, I thought it was just a nice little comedy and had no idea that it would ever stand the test of time,” says Payne. “And the merlot line that supposedly changed the wine industry? Well, it was just a joke, one single line in a movie. Who could have ever predicted that?”

The line in question comes about halfway into the movie. Miles, the pinot noir fanatic played by a typically agitated Paul Giamatti,...

June Squibb’s star turn as a ninetysomething gran, scammed and out for justice, joins a club of indomitable seniors in the movies, from Anne Reid to Jack Nicholson

June Squibb’s career has run on a different timeline to that of most movie stars: she made her film debut, in Woody Allen’s Alice, at the age of 60, and it was another 23 years before she landed her breakthrough role in Alexander Payne’s Nebraska. Her performance as an embittered pensioner who saltily badmouths past acquaintances and flashes the gravestone of an ex got her an Oscar nomination. It also got her a run of progressively less amusing naughty-granny roles. In Hollywood, older people can be blandly comforting support or quirky joke fodder but not much more.

In Thelma, however, the now 95-year-old Squibb gets her first leading role, as a phone-scam victim tracking down those who robbed her, and...

Now that they’ve set the year’s best film for a December 10 debut, the Criterion Channel have unveiled the rest of next month’s selection. John Waters’ films are inseparable from John Waters’ presence, making fitting Criterion’s decision to pair an eight-film retrospective (Multiple Maniacs to Cecil B. Demented) with his own “Adventures in Moviegoing” wherein the director extols virtues of Bergman, Chabrol, Barbara Loden, and Samuel Fuller. His own Polyester will have a Criterion Edition alongside the Bob Dylan doc Don’t Look Back, an iconic film in its own right and, I think, fitting companion to The Unknown with Lon Chaney, also streaming on Criterion. No Country for Old Men and Election receive likewise treatment; the latter appears in “MTV Productions,” a series featuring Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, The Original Kings of Comedy, and (coming close to Freddy Got Fingered for least-expected 2024 addition) Jackass: the Movie.

Christmas movies are a thing on their own. They tend to be heartwarming dramedies akin to slice-of-life movies that make us emotional but also offer us a sense of warmth and comfort. Centred around the year-end festival, these movies often speak about the spirit of togetherness and are drenched in a cosy, celebratory spirit of the festival. From Frank Capra’s ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ to Alexander Payne’s ‘The Holdovers’, we have seen the festival bringing people together, literally or emotionally. Tyler Taormina’s ‘Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point’ is the latest, charming addition to this list that uses its big ensemble to offer a time capsule to a a bygone era.

While Christmas is a cause for celebration, it may not be the same for everyone everywhere. Some may cherish getting together and sharing the same space with their families. For some, it can be pitch-perfect like...

Hollywood superstars Ryan Reynolds and Glen Powell took on bad guys and tornados this year, but that’s nothing compared to the threat of an ass-kicking from 94-year-old June Squibb. Earlier this year Squibb starred in “Thelma,” her first lead role in a film, playing a grandmother who tracks down her swindlers. While promoting the film, the dumpling-faced Oscar nominee posted short videos in which she warned other action stars: “I can kick your ass!”

The question is – did she get any responses from her targets? Squibb laughs good-naturedly. “I don’t think we did, but we got a lot of laughs,” she admits. She also cites a clip she saw of Austin Butler and his costars from “The Bikeriders” watching her video, noting: “They all laughed about it.”

@foodfollowsme

June Squibb is coming for Ryan Reynolds...

Shailene Woodley has been credited with delivering some of the most entertaining pieces of all time, including her fan-favorite Divergent film series and even the 2013 romcom The Spectacular Now. That said, the fact that she once nearly got kicked out of a $177 million film co-starring George Clooney because of her overacting sounds unbelievable. And yet, it couldn’t be truer.

Shailene Woodley. | Credits: Divergent/Lionsgate.

Turns out, when she auditioned for the 2011 comedy-drama masterpiece The Descendants, the actress was called out about her acting out the scene in a bit too overly exaggerated manner, leading to her nearly getting kicked out of it. In fact, if she hadn’t begged her agents to get a callback for this particular piece, perhaps Woodley may have even ended up losing out on the role!

Shailene Woodley Nearly Lost Out on The Descendants for Her Overacting

In the late 2000s, when she auditioned for The Descendants,...

In a world where authenticity is the name of the game, the lines between reality and storytelling can become beautifully intertwined. Alexander Payne’s 2023 film, The Holdovers, taps into this notion, inviting audiences to reflect on the bonds that shape us. As the saying goes, “Art imitates life”, but sometimes it’s the life experiences woven into fiction that leaves the most lasting impact.

The Holdovers | Credit: Focus Features

Set in a New England prep school during the early 1970s, The Holdovers follows a grumpy teacher who, rather than enjoying a holiday break, finds himself supervising a handful of students with nowhere to go. With standout performances from Paul Giamatti, and Dominic Sessa, this story delves into themes of connection, loss, and resilience. Penned by David Hemingson, the flick offers a captivating glimpse into the lives of its characters, making viewers wonder: is it based on true events? The answer might surprise you.

The 2025 Oscars race for Best Adapted Screenplay has a new front-runner.

“Conclave,” the Edward Berger-directed film that’s written by Peter Straughan and based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Robert Harris, now holds the #1 position to win the adapted screenplay contest at Gold Derby. The movie just opened in U.S. theaters on Friday, October 25. Note that our Oscar odds will continue to change as our Experts, Editors and Users keep making or updating their predictions.

The Focus Features drama stars Ralph Fiennes as Thomas Lawrence, a Cardinal who is tasked with overseeing the election of the late Pope’s successor. But he soon realizes that many of the candidates have personal scandals that could upend the church. Other cast members include Stanley Tucci as Cardinal Bellini, John Lithgow as Cardinal Tremblay, Sergio Castellitto as Cardinal Tedesco, and Isabella Rossellini as Sister Agnes.

Straughan received an...

Four top films this weekend are indies – five including The Substance at no. 11, as the specialty market roars back to life. No. 3 at the domestic box office is a great story, Conclave from Focus Features, the studio behind the Downtown Abbey films. excels at drawing still elusive but key older demos to theaters and broadening out from there as it did most recently with Oscar-winning The Holdovers.

The Vatican thriller by Edward Berger (whose All Quiet On The Western Front took the Best International Feature Oscar in 2023) and starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini opened to a sweet $6.5 million at about 1,750 theaters. The kicker is that some 77% of the audience is over 35 with the biggest chunk (44%) being 55+, a rare feat.

The title refers to the ancient tradition that sees Cardinals from across the globe gather sequestered behind Vatican walls to elect a new Pope when the previous Eminence expires.

Mexico’s official entry to the Oscars, “Sujo,” made a sweep of the 22nd Morelia Int’l Film Festival (Ficm), winning the festival’s Ojo Awards for Best Film, Director and Screenplay.

Co-helmer-scribes Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez, whose debut pic “Identifying Features” won a couple of Sundance awards and took the Best International Feature prize at the Gotham Awards in 2021, also snagged the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema with “Sujo,” their sophomore feature, in January.

Hailed by Variety as an “optimistic alternative to violent drug war movies,” the poignant coming-of-age story revolves around the impact of drug cartels on the youth. The tale follows young Sujo (played by Kevin Uriel Aguilar Luna and Juan Jesús Varela) who grows up surrounded by their violence. When his father, a sicario (hired assassin), is killed, he becomes a target but Sujo’s intrepid aunt rescues him.

Sujo’s win caps...

Sujo, Mexico’s Oscar submission, topped the Morelia International Film Festival with three wins across Best Screenplay, Direction and overall Fiction Feature film. It’s a good start to the international film contender, following up its nabbing of the Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema.

From filmmakers Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez, the drama centers on the eponymous beloved son of a small-town cartel gunman who narrowly escapes death when his father is murdered. When his aunt takes him in and raises him in the isolated countryside, he must contend with hardship, poverty and the constant peril associated with his identity.

Rondero and Valadez shared the awards for Best Mexican Fiction Feature Film Screenplay, Best Direction of Mexican Fiction Feature Film and Best Mexican Feature Film overall. In September, The Forge acquired the North American rights to the pic, which will hit select theaters beginning Nov.

Meg Ryan is not here for Dennis Quaid riding the wave of their son Jack Quaid’s success, and it seems she’s had enough. The When Harry Met Sally star reportedly feels like Quaid is trying to steal the credit for Jack’s big break, but Ryan’s the one who actually made the key call to launch his career. Rumor has it she’s furious, reminding everyone that she was the one hustling behind the scenes, pitching Jack for roles while Quaid was more of a bystander.

Meg Ryan in a still from When Harry Met Sally | Nelson Entertainment

With Jack Quaid now climbing the Hollywood ladder, mom Meg isn’t letting anyone forget who was really in the driver’s seat. It’s a Hollywood family feud no one saw coming, but we’re here for the drama!

Meg Ryan Calls Out Dennis Quaid for Claiming Credit...

Blu-ray.com has just announced a number of new 4K Blu-ray releases for this December. One of the releases includes the new 4K transfer of last year’s awards darling — The Holdovers. In a rather unusual process, while Universal’s home entertainment department would oversee the original Blu-ray release and distribution of the film (as is the standard procedure for recent releases), the studio would not do their Ultra High Definition remastering of the film in-house. Instead, Universal outsourced the job to Shout! Factory, which is more of a specialty label for certain kinds of releases of older films and television shows.

The Alexander Payne-directed comedic drama stars Paul Giamatti in one of his most outstanding roles, with Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Dominic Sessa in his feature film debut. The 4K Uhd release will hit retailers on December 17.

The description reads,

“A curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep...

Success has never been a stranger to Matt Damon. Critical acclaim and recognition have always been right around the corner. Even so, there have been times when even the greatest avant-garde new-age artists end up taking a few wrong turns before learning the right one to take. In this case, the path is based on choosing good scripts and filmmakers to collaborate with.

Matt Damon stars as Jason Bourne in The Bourne Identity (2002) [Credit: Universal Pictures]

With films like Good Will Hunting and the Jason Bourne franchise to his name, Matt Damon has accrued enough credit under his belt to shelve his blockbuster A-list career to make space for some passion projects. However, like Tom Cruise, there seems to be no space in his filmography for films that lack a punch, except for a couple of numbers.

Matt Damon Sidesteps His Successful Career Arc

Ever since his early years in Hollywood...

From their feature film debut with the exquisite India-set drama “The Householder” in 1963 to their final collaboration on 2005’s sumptuous historical epic “The White Countess,” director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant were cinema’s most reliable director-producer team, a couple (in both work and life) responsible for a filmmaking streak that consisted of dozens of great movies and no bad or indifferent ones. Noteworthy for their supreme attention to visual detail, highly literate screenplays (often written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala), and flawlessly cast ensembles, the films of Merchant Ivory Productions were near-annual gifts that were often undervalued; unlike less prolific auteurs like Stanley Kubrick, Ivory never made us wait for his movies, which made it easier to take them for granted.

Not that Merchant Ivory Productions lacked box office success or acclaim in their time; “A Room with a View” (1985) was a bona fide smash that won three Academy...

Only Murders in the Building has been a wonderful show, but just how much is each of the stars worth? Find out here!

Only Murders in the Building has become one of Hulu’s best hits. This mystery-comedy focuses on actor Charles (Steve Martin), Broadway producer Oliver (Martin Short) and artist Mabel (Selena Gomez) forming an unlikely team to solve murders occurring in their Manhattan apartment complex and doing a podcast on it.

Each season has been marked with huge guest stars, fun twists, and a compelling mystery that makes it pretty watchable. The main cast is small yet notable for their stardom and some nice wealth to them. Per Showbiz Galore and Celebrity Net Worth, here’s how each member of the cast is paid and their net worth to show how successful they are.

Selena Gomez Only Murders in the Building -- “Opening Night” - Episode 310 -- Curtain call on Season 3! Charles,...

With his long hair, sunglasses and bellbottoms, Hal Ashby was the epitome of the 1970s flower child, even though he was a decade older than most of the filmmakers working at the time. Though his flame burned brightly and briefly, he left behind a series of classics that signified the nose-thumbing, countercultural attitude of the era, with a bit of humanism and heart thrown in for good measure. Let’s take a look back at all 12 of his films, ranked worst to best.

Born on September 2, 1929 in Utah, Ashby ambled around before becoming an apprentice editor for Robert Swink, working for Hollywood legends William Wyler and George Stevens. He moved up the ranks to become an editor for Norman Jewison, with whom he shared a fraternal and professional relationship. They cut five films together, including “The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!” (1966), which earned him his first Oscar nomination,...

As always, the Telluride Film Festival, which runs over the four-day Labor Day weekend in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, waits until the day before the Friday festival launch to release its official selection.

Per usual, many of the slate’s titles have already leaked via publicists and attendees, and few of the most prominent first showings — from Edward Berger’s pope drama “Conclave” (Focus) and Jason Reitman’s recreation of the 1975 launch of SNL, “Saturday Night” (Sony) to RaMell’s Ross’s Colson Whitehead adaptation “Nickel Boys” (Amazon/MGM) — are news at this point. Still, there’s plenty new to dive into.

Festival director Julie Huntsinger, who has been running the festival for years but officially took over the solo reins from the late Tom Luddy with last year’s 50th edition, got on the phone with IndieWire to discuss the selection of nearly sixty feature films, short films,...

Space school is officially in session: the newest installment in the "Star Trek" universe, "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy," has begun production according to the franchise's official website and social media accounts. In a post shared on X (formerly known as Twitter), the full cast of the new younger-gen series reports for duty in front of the historic "Star Trek" Stage, and everybody looks pretty dang jazzed to be there.

School is in session, cadets! Today marks the official start of production as the #StarTrek Stage welcomes #StarfleetAcademy. pic.twitter.com/i6Bmtz5Tuh

— Star Trek on Paramount+ (@StarTrekOnPPlus) August 26, 2024

Holly Hunter is now officially confirmed to be playing the captain and chancellor of Starfleet Academy in the cadet-centric new series, and the beloved actor stands at the center of the excited full cast photo (seen above). The Oscar-winning Hunter has, of course, appeared in such phenomenal films as "Broadcast News" and "The Piano,...

Emanuel Parvu’s Three Kilometers To The End Of The World took the Best Feature Film prize at the 30th Sarajevo Film Festival, which gave out its awards yesterday.

The Romanian film, which debuted in Competition in Cannes earlier this year, received the €16,000 prize, co-funded by the Tourism Association of Canton Sarajevo.

Scroll down for the full list of feature winners

Set in a conservative Danube Delta community, it follows a gay teenager’s journey of self-discovery, which clashes with the traditional values of his parents and neighbours.

Yorgos Zois won Best Director for Greece-Bulgaria-us co-production Arcadia, which is made...

Election season is in the air and Turner Classic Movies is here to celebrate. Starting on September 6 and continuing every Friday up until this year’s general election, TCM will be running a nine-week limited series entitled “Making Change: The Most Significant Political Films of All Time.” This cinematic showcase is inspired by The New Republic rankings released in June 2023 and includes selections such as “All the King’s Men,” “Germany, Year Zero,” and “High and Low.”

To introduce the upcoming series, TCM host Ben Mankiewicz took to Washington D.C. for a trailer highlighting some of the films featured, as well as special guests like Stacey Abrams, Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, and John Turturro.

“I grew up here in Washington D.C.,” Mankiewicz said, the Capitol Building behind him. “My father’s life was politics — capital P politics. Though I went in a different direction, I understood at an early age,...

Romanian film Three Kilometers to the End of the World, from director Emanuel Pârvu, won the Heart of Sarajevo prize on Friday for Best Feature Film at the 30th Sarajevo Film Festival. The film focuses on the violent attack on a 17-year-old boy and and the aftermath in his home village in the Danube Delta wetlands region in Romania.

“I can honestly say that I really want people, when they are leaving the cinema, to think about themselves,” Pârvu said. “I think that was my goal when I was shooting it. I wanted to make a movie where, at the end, I wanted you not to be happy, not to be sad, but to think very, very much about yourself and your decisions regarding the ones you love.”

Yorgos Zois was named Best Director for Arcadia, a Greek/Bulgarian/U.S. production. Anab Ahmed Ibrahim was tapped for Best Actress for Village Next to Paradise,...

In the run-up to Election Day, TCM is going after the movie lovers’ popular vote by showing 50 films over nine successive Fridays under the banner Making Change: The Most Significant Political Films of All Time.

The series runs Sept. 6 to Nov. 1 — four days before America votes for its next president — and features TCM host Ben Mankiewicz in conversation with the likes of Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Lee Grant, Sally Field, Andy Garcia, Melissa Etheridge, John Turturro, Bill Maher, Alexander Payne, Diane Lane, Josh Mankiewicz, Barry Levinson, Maureen Dowd, Stacey Abrams and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

Watch the trailer here.

Making Change showcases half of the movies unveiled by The New Republic in the rankings it released in June 2023. The films on TCM span the years 1915 to 2016 (from D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation to Raoul Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro); the whole thing kicks off with the No.

Alexander Payne is not a super prolific filmmaker. Sure, most everything he directs ends up earning acclaim and awards recognition, but he just doesn’t direct all that often. In the past 25 years since the release of his acclaimed “Election,” he’s only made six more features. But that might be changing, as the filmmaker is headed to Europe for a new film.

Read More: ‘Election’ Sequel: Alexander Payne Says He Wants Matthew Broderick Back & To “Loosely” Adapt The Book That Doesn’t Include His Character

According to ScreenDaily, Alexander Payne is developing a new Danish-language film that would be fully funded by European financiers.

Continue reading Alexander Payne Is Developing A Danish-Language Film at The Playlist.

Alexander Payne isn’t holding a grudge against “The Holdovers” script allegations, but the writer/director is admitting just how “stupid” he thought the perceived scandal was.

On the eve of the 2024 Oscars, Disney’s “Luca” co-screenwriter Simon Stephenson publicly accused Payne and “The Holdovers” screenwriter David Hemingson of plagiarizing the script from his 2013 Black List screenplay “Frisco.”

Now, Payne told Deadline while at the Sarajevo Film Festival what he really thought of the media coverage at the time.

“It was the stupidest thing in the world,” Payne said when asked about the Variety report. “It was irresponsible of Variety to report on that without having read the scripts and comparing them themselves. Do you think The New York Times would have done that?”

At the time, Variety cited emails that suggested Payne did read Stephenson’s script or was at least aware of it when he decided to pass...

Paul Schrader has revealed details about a new feature film project titled The Basics Of Philosophy, for which he has written an outline and aims to write a script in the next three months.

Speaking to Screen at Sarajevo where he is currently jury president of the feature competition programme, Schrader said the film is about “an intellectual university philosophy professor”. He said it will be in the style of his recent trilogy of First Reformed, The Card Counter and Master Gardener.

Schrader will aim to write the film before shooting Non Compos Mentis, his next film for which he has begun casting,...

Earlier this year, one day before the 2024 Academy Awards, Variety reported that The Holdovers director Alexander Payne and writer David Hemingson had been accused of plagiarism by another screenwriter. "It was the stupidest thing in the world," is how Payne describes the controversy now to Deadline. "It was irresponsible of...

“It was the stupidest thing in the world,” director Alexander Payne has said regarding a screenwriter’s allegation that The Holdovers was plagiarised from a 2013 script.

In March, Variety ran an article which shared British screenwriter Simon Stephenson’s allegation that Alexander Payne’s Oscar-winning comedy drama The Holdovers was plagiarised from a script he wrote in 2013.

Speaking at the Sarajevo Film Festival, Payne has now provided a strongly-worded response to that allegation. He called it “the stupidest thing in the world,” and then went to describe Variety’s reporting on the matter as “irresponsible”.

“It was irresponsible of Variety to report on that without having read the scripts and comparing them themselves,” the director said, as reported by Deadline. “Do you think The New York Times would have done that?”

According to Stephenson – best known for his work on Luca, Paddington 2 and the drama The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain...