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This is our final round-up before the end of 2024, and it’s a good one. There are plenty of gift ideas lurking here––some choices to enjoy during time off, too. Note also that The Film Stage Holiday Gift Guide includes a list of my favorite cinema books from the last 12 months. One of those picks kicks off this column, and it is written by none other than the great Al Pacino.

Sonny Boy by Al Pacino (Penguin Press)

Al Pacino’s memoir, Sonny Boy, is easily one of the most eagerly awaited books of 2024. And for me, this look at the actor’s life and career more than lives up to the hype. Many highlights have already earned some social-media chatter––most notably young Al’s penis trauma (!), a near-death experience after a recent bout with Covid, and the reasons behind his decision to do Adam Sandler’s Jack and Jill.

The central premise of writer Stephen Romano’s Lifetime movie Don’t Let Him Find You is nearly identical to that of David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence: a life-changing event in an everyday citizen’s life is captured on the news, propelling them into the spotlight and revealing that they once had a completely separate – and dangerous – former life.

In Violence, Viggo Mortensen’s character Tom was <spoilers for a ~20 year old film> a hit-man who left a life of crime life behind. In Don’t Let Him Find You, Alex McDowell (Brianna Cohen) has a similarly violent past, captured by director Christine Conradt in slightly hazy, washed-out flashbacks.

Alex is plagued by nightmares of a battle with a woman, eventually revealed to be her sister Ashley (Ella Frazee). The outcome was deadly and Alex fled, changing her name, cutting ties with her powerful mother, and spending the ensuing 15 years flying under the radar. During that time,...

In Ed Harris‘s over-40-year career he has surprisingly never won an Oscar or an Emmy, despite four nominations from the motion picture academy and two from the TV academy. Let’s take a look back at some of his best big-screen performances. Tour through our photo gallery above of Harris’s 15 greatest films, ranked from worst to best.

Harris received his first Oscar nomination in 1995 after almost two decades in front of the camera: Best Supporting Actor for “Apollo 13.” He subsequently competed for “The Truman Show” (Best Supporting Actor in 1998), “Pollock” (Best Actor in 2000), and “The Hours” (Best Supporting Actor in 2002). He didn’t win any of those, and he hasn’t been nominated since, despite acclaimed performances in such films as “A History of Violence” (2005) and “Mother!” (2017).

On the TV side, Harris contended for Emmys for his work in “Empire Falls” (Best Movie/Mini Actor in...

It might be tempting to encapsulate David Cronenberg's oeuvre in various shades of body horror (we recently ranked his version of "The Fly" as the best body horror movie ever), but the director also has a serious knack for crafting dark, violent stories that pack a punch. The Viggo Mortensen-led "Eastern Promises" and " A History of Violence" are key examples here, and the mainstream success of these films helped set up the perfect circumstances for Cronenberg to direct a tense espionage thriller based on a bestselling trilogy of novels. After MGM and Relativity Media acquired the rights to Robert Ludlum's "The Matarese Circle" in 2008, Cronenberg was set to direct an adaptation with two mega-popular A-listers attached to play the leads: Denzel Washington and Tom Cruise. The line-up felt too good to be true even when the film was scheduled to be released in 2013, but the project unfortunately...

Sean Penn, David Cronenberg and late great Moroccan actor Naïma Elmcherqui are set to be celebrated with career tributes by the Marrakech International Film Festival.

Elmcherqui, who was one of Morocco’s best-loved personalities, died in Casablanca on Oct. 5. After becoming a household name during the 1960s and 70s working with Moroccan theatre director and dramatist Tayeb Seddiki she soared on the big-screen in movies such as Souheil Ben Barka’s “Blood Wedding” (1977), which was Morocco’s first submission for the international Oscar; Mohamed Abderrahman Tazi’s female empowerment drama “Badis” (1989); and, more recently Mohamed Mouftakir’s “The Fall of Apple Trees,” her final film role, for which Elmcherqui won the best actress prize at Sweden’s Malmö Arab Film Festival.

Elmcherqui – who was a member of the board of the foundation that oversees the Marrakech fest – had also appeared in a slew of soaps and Moroccan TV movies that boosted boosted her popularity.

The documentary Chris Brown: A History of Violence dives into the 35-year-old singer’s rollercoaster ride of fame, complete with domestic violence charges and a link to Diddy. It features an eye-opening interview with the accuser, who claims Brown allegedly r-ped her at a party hosted by Diddy on Star Island in December 2020, inside a yacht bedroom.

Diddy’s 50th birthday party | Credits: Diddy / YouTube

This documentary comes on the heels of Diddy’s recent arrest and charges related to s-x trafficking and racketeering, as he gears up for his own docuseries set to drop in 2025.

Chris Brown Completely Denies S-xual Assault Allegation in A History of Violence

In the new documentary Chris Brown: A History of Violence, several women have stepped forward to share their troubling encounters with the singer, including a woman known who chose to not disclose her name. She alleges that Chris Brown r-ped her in 2020 as reported by People.

“Chris Brown: A History of Violence” is set to air on Investigation Discovery at 9:00 Pm on Sunday, October 27, 2024. This gripping documentary delves deep into the troubled past of the popular singer, exploring the numerous allegations of violence that have surrounded him over the years.

The program aims to provide a comprehensive look at Chris Brown’s life offstage, focusing on incidents of intimate-partner violence, assault charges, and even claims of sexual assault. It sheds light on the darker side of fame and the impact of these allegations on his career and personal life.

Viewers can expect a thoughtful examination of the events that have shaped public perception of Brown. The documentary features interviews, expert commentary, and a timeline of significant moments that highlight the complexities of his story. This exploration promises to be both revealing and thought-provoking, inviting audiences to reflect on the consequences of violence in the lives of celebrities.

Actor Ed Harris is known for his incredible performances in not just serious drama films like Pollock, The Hours, and The Truman Show, but has also fared well in blockbusters like The Rock, Top Gun: Maverick, and A History of Violence. The actor has been nominated for the Oscars four times and his work on Westworld got him an Emmy nomination too.

While Harris has never shied away from experimenting with different kinds of films, he truly felt that his life had ended when he worked on James Cameron’s The Abyss. Reportedly 40% of the film was shot underwater, and one instance while filming reportedly led to Harris having a near-death experience.

Ed Harris Almost Died While Filming James Cameron’s The Abyss Ed Harris as Bud Brigman in The Abyss | Credits: 20th Century Fox

James Cameron’s films are categorized by their large-scale productions, filled with set-pieces and technical...

Viggo Mortensen has time and again proved his capability as an actor in various projects. From action to drama, and then fantasy the actor has done it all with a grace that can be only found in a seasoned actor’s filmography.

However, one critically acclaimed film initially unnerved the actor. When David Cronenberg’s directorial, A History of Violence first landed on his desk the actor hesitated. Mortensen did not like the first script and was skeptical of the storyline, but the director convinced him and the 2005 movie turned out to be a massive success.

Initial skepticism to final success: The turnabout

Viggo Mortensen is one of the many Hollywood actors who have carefully curated a diverse filmography. The actor has appeared in massive hits like The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Eastern Promises, A Perfect Murder, Green Book, and many more.

Viggo Mortensen in The Lord of the Rings...

Viggo Mortensen is a three-time Oscar nominated performer who has been very picky with his projects, appearing only in a handful of movies in a 30-plus year career. But how many of his titles hold up as classics? Let’s take a look back at 12 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1958 in New York City, Mortensen made his big screen debut with a brief performance as an Amish farmer in “Witness” (1985). Supporting roles in “Carlito’s Way” (1993), “Crimson Tide” (1995), “G.I. Jane” (1997) and many others quickly followed. He achieved stardom in middle age playing the warrior Aragorn in Peter Jackson‘s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, released in 2001, 2002 and 2003. His first Oscar bid as Best Actor came shortly thereafter for David Cronenberg‘s thriller “Eastern Promises” (2007), followed by nominations for “Captain Fantastic” (2016) and the Best Picture-winning “Green Book” (2018).

In addition to his Oscar bids, Mortensen earned Golden Globe,...

For fans of good old-fashioned dysfunctional families, a fresh drama is drifting in. 

Written and executive produced by Kevin Williamson, The Waterfront is an upcoming drama about the Buckley family starring Holt McCallany and Maria Bello. With production underway on the series, we now know who else is coming on board because Netflix announced today that Melissa Benoist and Jake Weary have joined the cast, along with several other series regulars and guest stars. 

Keep reading below to find out everything you need to know about this series. 

Inspired by true events, The Waterfront dives into the story of the flawed Buckley family as their attempts to retain control of their crumbling North Carolina fishing empire drive them to increasingly dangerous means to...

The first question that pops up in connection to Dito Montiel’s dark crime comedy about a messy family reunion, Riff Raff, is how in hell he assembled such a cast of proven talents. Even if they never really mesh as an ensemble, there are pleasures to be had watching an Ed Harris-Bill Murray face-off, Pete Davidson as a depressed gangster, Gabrielle Union classing up the joint and Jennifer Coolidge bringing the tone crashing down as a sloppy drunk with a mouth like a trucker and a raging libido.

Had all those assets been funneled into a movie with some tonal consistency and a script that built credible relationships, the result might have been a nasty bit of fun. Instead, it wobbles awkwardly between creeping mob menace and scrappy sitcom, inching toward a violent climax that still doesn’t acquire cohesion. Montiel, who remains best known for his 2006 autobiographical first feature,...

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) celebrated some of the most talented figures in film and entertainment at this year’s Tribute Awards. The star-studded event, held annually at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, serves as both a gala dinner fundraiser for TIFF’s philanthropic efforts and a potential precursor for future award-season contenders.

Among the evening’s honorees were acclaimed actors Angelina Jolie and Jharrel Jerome, alongside directing legends David Cronenberg and Mike Leigh. Presenters included Julie Delpy, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Franklin Leonard and Sandra Oh (who served as honorary chair for this year’s edition).

Here are some of the highlights of the evening.

Angelina Jolie’s Strict Request Raises Eyebrows

Jolie, an Oscar-winning actress and director known for films such as “Unbroken” and “First They Killed My Father,” received her tribute early in the evening. Her latest film “Without Blood” premiered at the festival Sunday night. Yet, hours before the ceremony,...

Kevin Williamson is keeping busy like it’s 1998! Best known for writing Scream, Scream 2, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and The Faculty, producing Halloween H20 (while doing uncredited work on the script), and creating Dawson’s Creek, Williamson is currently gearing up to direct his second feature film, Scream 7. Back in February, we heard that he and his producer banner, Outerbanks Entertainment, were developing four major projects as part of an overall deal with Universal Television. One of those TV series projects, a crime drama called The Waterfront, was picked up by the Netflix streaming service back in May. Now The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Holt McCallany (The Iron Claw) and Maria Bello (A History of Violence) are set to star in that series!

Inspired by true events, The Waterfront dives into the flawed Buckley family as their attempts to retain control of their crumbling North...

Netflix and Kevin Williamson’s drama series The Waterfront is adding to its cast.

Maria Bello, an Emmy nominee for the streamer’s Beef, will star opposite Holt McCallany in the series. She’ll play the matriarch of a family that runs a “crumbling fishing empire” in North Carolina. Netflix announced the series in May at its upfront presentation to advertisers.

The Waterfront marks a return to North Carolina for Dawson’s Creek creator Williamson, who shot his breakout series (though it was set in Massachusetts) in Wilmington.

The logline for The Waterfront reads, “Inspired by true events, The Waterfront dives into the flawed Buckley family as their attempts to retain control of their crumbling North Carolina fishing empire drive them to increasingly dangerous means to keep themselves afloat.”

Bello will play Mae Buckley, who has been running the family business with her son after her husband, Harlan (McCallany), took a step back.

A History Of Violence

The Piano, 11.05pm, BBC2, Monday, August 5

Jennie Kermode writes: The story of mute Scotswoman Ada (Holly Hunter), who is dispatched, along with her daughter (Anna Paquin), to the other side of the world as a mail-order bride, Jane Campion's assured and visually stunning drama made her the first woman to win the Palme d'Or and only the second to be nominated for a Best Director Oscar, while Paquin became the youngest ever winner of a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Robbed of her voice when her inconvenient instrument is sold to plantation owner George (Harvey Keitel), Ada seems to speak for thousands of women whose stories have been erased by history. She suffers constant verbal abuse and rejection by her new husband, but there's a formidable, resilient quality about her, and when she makes a deal with George, allowing her to gradually recover the piano, what begins as something.

While Guardians of the Galaxy wasn’t James Gunn’s first film, it propelled his career to new heights, establishing him as a key director in the comic book genre. His movies have been celebrated for their creativity, originality, and sheer entertainment value.

Though Gunn initially made his mark with Marvel, he parted ways with the studio for various reasons, with Guardians of the Galaxy 3 being his final MCU film. He has since transitioned to DC, directing The Suicide Squad and later taking on the role of head and creative director of the Dcu.

James Gunn is currently working on his new Superman film, but he recently sat down with GQ, where he was asked to list his top five comic book movies of all time. His choices might surprise you, so we’ll just present the list and let you share your thoughts! To watch the full video, follow this link.

Although Guardians of the Galaxy was not his debut movie, the MCU entry launched James Gunn’s career to new heights. He became an important comic book movie director and his movies have been consistently praised for being inventive and original, as well as fun and very, very watchable.

Initially, the director made his career with Marvel, but left at one point due to various reasons, with Guardians of the Galaxy 3 being his final MCU film. After that, Gunn has switched to DC, making The Suicide Squad and soon taking over the whole Dcu as its head and creative director.

He is currently working on his new Superman film, but he also sat down for a talk in GQ, who asked Gunn to list his top five comic book movies of all time. To be honest, we are a bit shocked by his choices, but we’ll just list them,...

For an acting career that started with 1985’s Witness, the 65-year-old Viggo Mortensen has truly come a long way. With a series of star-studded roles trailing right behind him to remind everyone of the legacy he has led so far like as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings saga, he is easily one of the most commended and respected celebrities in the entertainment industry.

Viggo Mortensen. | Credit: Ministerio de Cultura de la Nación/Cca-Sa-2.0/Wikimedia Commons.

But despite having scored some of the best roles of all time, Mortensen also felt gutted over some roles that ended up choosing other actors over him. Like 1986’s classic action-war masterpiece Platoon, which originally cast him before switching over to Willem Dafoe to replace him — the same film that Keanu Reeves also turned down for being a bit too violent for him.

Viggo Mortensen was Gutted Over Being Fired from Platoon...

Vanished Into the Night is an Italian-American crime thriller film directed by Renato De Maria from a screenplay co-written by Luca Infascelli and Francesca Marciano. The Netflix film follows the story of a couple on the brink of breaking up when both of their children mysteriously vanish into the night under their father’s watch, leading them down a dangerous path to save their children. Vanished into the Night stars Riccardo Scamarcio and Annabelle Wallis in the lead roles with Massimiliano Gallo, Gaia Coletti, Lorenzo Ferrante, and Elena Riccardi starring in supporting roles. So, if you love the thrill and mystery of Vanished Into the Night, here are some similar movies you could watch next.

Without a Trace (Rent on Prime Video) Credit – 20th Century Fox

Without a Trace is a crime drama film directed by Stanley R. Jaffe from a screenplay by Beth Gutcheon. Based on the novel titled...

Actress Scarlett Johansson finally escaped our long-running photo gallery of the greatest living actresses to never receive an Oscar nomination. And she did it in grand style by picking up two for her 2019 films “Marriage Story” and “Jojo Rabbit.” Just recently, Kirsten Dunst had been in our gallery for years and then earned her first Academy Award bid for “The Power of the Dog.” Emily Blunt was finally nominated for “Oppenheimer” years after winning her first SAG Award for “A Quiet Place.”

In 2014, “Friends” star Jennifer Aniston looked like a lock to receive her first Academy Award nomination for “Cake,” following citations at the Golden Globes, SAG, and Broadcast Film Critics. Yet on Oscar morning, the Emmy-winner was left out. Aniston’s “Friends” costar and fellow Emmy-victor Lisa Kudrow found herself in a similar situation when she received an Independent Spirit Awards nomination for “The Opposite of Sex” yet came up short at the Oscars.

After five long years, Jessica Alba makes her triumphant feature film return with Netflix’s Trigger Warning. This is her first role since the ill-advised Killers Anonymous and her first onscreen role since the Bad Boys television spin-off, L.A.’s Finest (which was under the Spectrum Original banner, believe it or not). Yes, a lot has happened during the time Alba entertained the masses.

Yet, why does her triumphant return have to be Trigger Warning instead of Honey 2? Besides being in development hell for four years, this film is straight ripped from the genre that gives stars comebacks nowadays. It used to be horror, and now, the revenge thriller has been all the rage as of late.

The question is, will Alba’s film be the good (Reacher), the bad (think any Liam Neeson film from the past decade or two), or the ugly (Peppermint)?

Jessica Alba in Trigger Warning...

After a five year absence from the world of feature films, Jessica Alba (who did star in the 26 episodes of the Bad Boys spin-off TV series L.A.’s Finest a few years back) has returned with the action thriller Trigger Warning, which was just released through the Netflix streaming service today. To mark the occasion, JoBlo’s own Kyanna Mondezie had the chance to sit down for an interview with Alba, and you can check it out in the embed above!

Trigger Warning has the following synopsis: Special Forces commando Parker (Jessica Alba) is on active duty overseas when she gets called back to her hometown with the tragic news that her father has suddenly died. Now the owner of the family bar, Parker reconnects with her former boyfriend-turned-sheriff Jesse (Mark Webber), his hot-tempered brother Elvis (Jake Weary) and their powerful father Senator Swann (Anthony Michael Hall), as she looks to...

Fantastic Pavilion, the genre business hub launched at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023, announced a slew of deals closed at the venue this year, with L..A-based Severin Films, a boutique Blu-ray and DVD label, inking a pact to release eleven Special Edition physical discs of the most popular Originals and licensed features from horror subscription streamer Shudder and IFC Films.

Initial titles include Joko Anwar’s “Satan’s Slaves”; Brandon Cronenberg’s “Antiviral”; Can Evrenol’s “Baskin”; Franck Khalfoun’s 2012 remake of “Maniac”; Douglas Buck’s 2006 remake of “Sisters” and André Øvredal’s “The Autopsy of Jane Doe.”

The deal was brokered by Severin Film’s co-founder-ceo David Gregory, Shudder’s Vice President of Programming Sam Zimmerman, and AMC Networks Director of Content Sales Lucas Verga.

“The work done at Severin Films is astounding,” said Zimmerman, adding: “They are directly responsible for some of the greatest home video releases ever...

Plot: Special Forces commando Parker is on active duty overseas when she gets called back to her hometown with the tragic news that her father has suddenly died. Now the owner of the family bar, Parker reconnects with her former boyfriend-turned-sheriff Jesse, his hot-tempered brother Elvis and their powerful father Senator Swann, as she looks to understand what actually happened to her dad.

Review: It has been five years since Jessica Alba’s last big screen role. While she led the Bad Boys spin-off L.A.’s Finest alongside Gabrielle Union the year after, Alba has spent the last half-decade working as Chief Creative Officer for The Honest Company, which she co-founded. While she recently stepped down from that role, her work on Trigger Warning goes back to 2021. The three-year road for Alba’s first leading role in a decade should indicate the quality of the finished product. Marketed as being an...

Jessica Alba’s new starring vehicle boasts plenty of action movie credentials. The star, making her first feature film appearance in five years after guiding her business venture The Honest Company to a billion dollar-plus valuation, has previously displayed her skills in such film and television projects as Dark Angel and the Fantastic Four and Sin City franchises. Production company Thunder Road boasts the John Wick and Sicario movies among its credits. And its trio of screenwriters are responsible for such efforts as Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, A History of Violence and HBO’s Westworld.

More impressively, the film features many women among its creative team, including Indonesian director Mouly Surya (Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts), making her English-language debut, and director of photography Zoë White (The Handmaid’s Tale). Unfortunately, despite everyone’s best efforts to deliver a femme-driven actioner revolving around a central character who comes across like a female Rambo,...

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has unveiled the first wave of its honorees for this year, naming Canadian directing legend David Cronenberg as the recipient of the Norman Jewison Career Achievement Award and Amy Adams as the winner of this year’s TIFF Tribute Performer Award.

Cronenberg is among the most unique and influential filmmakers of his generation an auteur who has created a bespoke brand of intellectual horror with films such as Scanners, Videodrome, The Fly, Crash and A History of Violence. His latest, The Shrouds, premiered in competition in Cannes last month. Shawn Levy (Free Guy, Deadpool & Wolverine) received the inaugural Norman Jewison career award in 2023.

Adams, a six-time Oscar nominee (for Junebug, Doubt, The Fighter, The Master, American Hustle and Vice), will be seen next in Nightbitch, a comedy horror film from director Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) adapted from Rachel Yoder’s debut novel of the same name.

It’s a romantic comedy thriller with winning performances from Glen Powell and Adria Arjona. But isn’t there also darkness in Richard Linklater’s Hit Man, Ryan wonders…?

Nb: The following contains spoilers for Hit Man and 2005’s A History Of Violence.

As two lovers gaze into one another’s eyes, solemnly devoting their lives to one another, the body of a man lies on the floor. There’s a plastic bag over his head, and he’s fighting for breath. In a few seconds, the man will be dead and the lovers will kiss.

It’s a bold, extraordinarily dark turning point in an otherwise glossy romantic comedy-thriller.

Did Richard Linklater and Glen Powell consciously set out to make a subversive rom-com with Hit Man? Quite possibly. Whatever their intentions, the film has certainly resonated. Directed with vim by Linklater and given plenty of smiling charisma by Powell and co-star Adria Arjona,...

David Cronenberg always makes personal cinema, whether telepodding Jeff Goldblum into a human-sized pest in “The Fly” or asking James Spader to fuck a gaping flesh wound in “Crash.” The Canadian filmmaker will never tell you what makes his body horror classics so close to home, but he doesn’t feel it should matter to viewers anyway.

“For an average audience, they shouldn’t have to know that,” Cronenberg, behind oversized Saint Laurent sunglasses, told IndieWire at Cannes on a windy day atop the Jw Marriott. “They shouldn’t have to know that it has any basis in my reality at all. The movie has to stand on its own, and you can’t expect the audience to give you credit because it’s really happened to you.”

But his latest film “The Shrouds,” his seventh to compete for the Palme d’Or at Cannes and a co-production of fashion house Saint Laurent,...

Descubre todos los detalles. © Netflix

Netflix ha desatado la acción con el primer tráiler y póster de su nueva película “Detonantes” (“Trigger Warning”), protagonizada por Jessica Alba.

“Detonantes” sigue a Parker (Jessica Alba), miembro del comando de las Fuerzas Especiales, que se encuentra en servicio activo en el extranjero cuando la llaman para que regrese a su ciudad natal con la trágica noticia de que su padre ha muerto repentinamente. Allí se reencuentra con su antiguo novio, convertido en sheriff, Jesse (Mark Webber), su temperamental hermano Elvis (Jake Weary) y el senador Swann (Anthony Michael Hall), mientras trata de entender qué le ocurrió realmente a su padre. La búsqueda de respuestas de Parker no tarda en torcerse y se ve enfrentada a una violenta banda que campa a sus anchas por su ciudad natal. Insegura de en quién puede confiar realmente, Parker recurre a su entrenamiento de comando mientras busca...

In his late career resurgence with Crimes of the Future having been showcased in the comp in 2022, David Cronenberg makes his entrance with The Shrouds (aka Les Linceuls) – a Canada-France co-production. Having been here before for Crash (1996), Spider (2002), A History of Violence (2005), Cosmopolis (2012) and Maps to the Stars (2014), the filmmaker reunites with Vincent Cassel and makes it a first with Diane Kruger and Guy Pearce.

Gist: Karsh (Cassel) is a prominent businessman. Inconsolable since the death of his wife, he invents GraveTech, revolutionary and controversial technology that enables the living to monitor their dear departed in their shrouds.…...

David Cronenberg’s “The Shrouds,” the horror auteur’s latest film about a widow who invents technology to see inside his late wife’s grave, received a 3.5-minute standing ovation at its Cannes premiere on Monday night.

The crowd showed their respect for the Cannes legend with applause after the credits rolled, but it was lackluster as audience members digested the film, which is a departure from Cronenberg’s usual out-of-the-box body horror. Instead, “The Shrouds” is a thoughtful exploration of grief and technology, and though there are several gross-out moments, the film relies on emotion more than anything.

“This is the first time I’ve seen the movie with an audience, and it’s completely different,” Cronenberg said after the clapping died down. “I’m very happy that you are all here.”

Described as an arthouse horror film, “The Shrouds” stars Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, Guy Pearce and Sandrine Holt.

“How dark do you want to go?” The man asking that is named Karsh (Vincent Cassel), and he’s seated in a minimalist art-chic restaurant having lunch with a blind date. The one who’s really asking the question, though, is David Cronenberg, writer-director of “The Shrouds.” He’s been asking that question — to audiences — for his entire career, and to him the answer has always been the same: The darker the better.

Yet Cronenberg has a special brand of dark. In “The Shrouds,” Karsh is a businessman who produces industrial videos, with a sleek Toronto apartment that looks out at the Cn Tower, but he’s also a co-owner of the restaurant they’re sitting in, and the purveyor of what’s in the garden next to it: a cemetery where the gravestones are technological devices, and the corpses are draped in futuristic shrouds that allow you to peer...

The body, as any fan of David Cronenberg’s cinema knows, will betray you. Canada’s greatest gift to genre film has spent half a century exploring how treacherous the human organism can be. How our frail frames can be infected, mutated or corrupted by outside invasion — see Rabid, Shivers or The Fly — or by internal disruption, be it mental illness (Spider), addiction (Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch) or destructive desire (Crash). And technology, be it the VHS implants in Videodrome, the virtual reality of eXistenZ or the body enhancements of Crimes of the Future, will not save us, says Cronenberg, from the way of all flesh.

The body’s final betrayal, of course, is death, the subject of Cronenberg’s new film. The Shrouds, which will premiere May 20 in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, stars Vincent Cassel as Karsh, a businessman overwhelmed with grief at the death of his...

Nora Arnezeder (“The Famous Five”) and Maria Bello (“A History of Violence”) are set to co-star in “Hell in Paradise,” a female-powered thriller inspired by a true story and produced by EuropaCorp’s Virginie Besson-Silla (“Dogman”).

Penned by Karine Silla (“A Butterfly Kiss”), “Hell in Paradise” revolves around Nina, a young French girl who leaves her native Marseille and accepts her first job as a receptionist at a luxurious hotel resort on a magnificent island of the Maldives, hoping for a better life. But when a tragedy befalls the hotel, Nina is propelled in a relentless spiral of lies and manipulations. Wrongly accused and sentenced to life in prison, she will have no other choice but to run between traps and escape this paradise turned into hell.

Arnezeder and Maria Bello star opposite Josephine de la Baume, Alyy Khan, Shubahm Saraf and Ranjit Krishnama. Gregoire Melin’s Kinology handles international...

Exclusive: As they open The Fall Guy, a TV series-turned-feature, director David Leitch and his 87North producing partner Kelly McCormick are eyeing a beloved graphic novel for a TV series.

Fifth Season has acquired Button Man, an adaptation of the graphic novel by John Wagner, who co-created Judge Dredd and created A History of Violence, latter of which was turned into a terrific action film by David Cronenberg. The graphic novel was illustrated by Arthur Ranson.

Deals are making, but the plan is for Leitch to direct, and he and McCormick will be executive producers alongside Alex Jackson, Roger Kass, Dan Seligmann, and Wagner and Ranson.

While The Fall Guy plays as comedy, Button Man shapes up closer in tone to John Wick, the first installment of which Leitch co-directed with Chad Stahelski.

Button Man focuses on Harry Exton, a former elite soldier who is brought into a covert life...

"In Essentials, mathematician Harris Pax predicted the end of the world, but failed to prevent it. Now he’s living alone in a bunker and his niece’s favorite toys are starting to talk to him. The good news? He’s not the world’s sole survivor. The bad news? The other survivors are trapped in alternate realities — trapped in imagined worlds full of zombies, pterodactyls, and chaos. And now Harris Pax and an unlikely ally must travel the country on a quest to restore reality, save humanity, and defeat his new interdimensional nemesis: Snuggles."

Essentials is the graphic novel debut of Luke Arnold and the first-ever release from The Lab Press. Having just launched its Kickstarter campaign, it's an incredibly ambitious project featuring "a stunning array of all-star comic artists," including: DaNi (Sandman The Dreaming), Glenn Fabry (Preacher), Jason Howard (Transformers), Vince Locke (A History of Violence), Brendan McCarthy...

Acclaimed auteurs Francis Ford Coppola, Yorgos Lanthimos, Paolo Sorrentino and Andrea Arnold are among the filmmakers set to compete for the coveted Palme d’Or at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.

A total of 19 features were revealed today (April 11) that will play in Competition at the festival, set to run May 14-25.

Rarely a festival to veer far from familiar names, the Competition line-up is dominated by directors who have been selected multiple times for Cannes.

They include US filmmaker Coppola with sci-fi epic Megalopolis, which stars Adam Driver and is set in a future version of New York City following a disaster.

Actor Viggo Mortensen goes back behind the camera for the upcoming western, The Dead Don’t Hurt. Here’s a new trailer:

Viggo Mortensen made his directorial debut in 2020 with Falling, a drama about a fractious relationship between a father and son. He wrote the script and also starred alongside Lance Henriksen and Laura Linney.

Mortensen may be better known for intense performances in films like A History Of Violence, Eastern Promises, A Dangerous Method (all made with director David Cronenberg) and The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, but in recent years he’s built up a career behind the camera.

He’s now set to direct his second film, a western called The Dead Don’t Hurt. The synopsis reads as follows:

A story of star-crossed lovers on the western U.S. frontier in the 1860s. Vivienne Le Coudy (Vicky Krieps) is a fiercely independent woman who embarks on a relationship...

The NCIS: Origins cast has revealed another main character.

Big Sky alum Kyle Schmid has received the call to play a young Mike Franks on the new NCIS drama.

For any CBS viewers who haven’t heard about NCIS: Origins, it will serve as a prequel show to NCIS.

The series is set in 1991, following younger versions of Mike Franks and Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

Mark Harmon isn’t playing Gibbs this time but will serve as a narrator and executive producer. The series will debut in the fall of 2024 on CBS.

Many NCIS fans thought that Mark Harmon’s son Sean could play a younger Gibbs since he had done it before on NCIS, but the show is going in a new direction.

The NCIS: Origins cast reveals its young Mike Franks

Actor Kyle Schmid has been in the business for a while, appearing in various films and television series during his career.

William Hurt died on March 13, 2022, at age 71, just a week short of his 72nd birthday. The Oscar-winning actor starred in a variety of movies over the last four decades, but how many of those titles remain classics? Let’s take a look back at 15 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1950, Hurt made his movie debut with a starring role in Ken Russell‘s psychedelic thriller “Altered States” (1980), quickly followed by Lawrence Kasdan‘s classic neo-noir “Body Heat” (1981). He won the Oscar as Best Actor just four years later for Hector Babenco‘s “Kiss of the Spider Woman” (1985), playing a transgender inmate at a South American prison who forms a bond with his cellmate (Raul Julia), a political prisoner. The role brought him additional prizes at BAFTA and the Cannes Film Festival.

Hurt followed up his Oscar victory with two more consecutive Best Actor bids: first for...

Katy O’Brian and Kristen Stewart in ‘Love Lies Bleeding’ (Photo Credit: Anna Kooris / A24)

One of the big casualties of the 2020 pandemic was the horror movie Saint Maud, whose release was delayed by almost a full year. Despite its delay, the film was still a hit with fans, and many have been waiting even more patiently to see what writer/director Rose Glass would do next. That wait is over. Her newest movie, Love Lies Bleeding, is here.

Set in New Mexico in the 1980s, Love Lies Bleeding is about a young woman named Lou (Spencer’s Kristen Stewart) who befriends a female bodybuilder named Jackie (Katy O’Brian from Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) who is passing through town on her way to a competition in Las Vegas. The pair strikes up a relationship that leads them to mischief, mayhem, and murder involving Lou’s father (Ed Harris from...

“You just couldn’t die, could you?”

There are certain anime evergreen customs that are omnipresent in the medium, with ninja and samurai right at the top of the list. Audiences have their share of options when it comes to such content, whether it’s established classics like Rurouni Kenshin, Jubei-chan: The Ninja Girl, and Ninja Scroll, or newer modern hits like Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku, Yasuke, and Blue Eye Samurai. It’s harder to stand out in a genre that’s done it all before, but this only makes Ninja Kamui’s success even more significant. Adult Swim is not one to chase trends, but they’ve tapped into an electric energy here and produced a powerful series that confidently slices its way through the competition.

The danger of a show like Ninja Kamui that prides itself in vicious violence is that characters can feel more like caricatures and...

Actor, director, poet, musician, photographer, publisher – there is nary a creative endeavour to which the American hasn’t turned his hand. He discusses his ‘strange’ work with Lisandro Alonso – and accidentally starring in his own film

Viggo Mortensen is a busy man. He is not only an actor, but also a poet, a musician, a photographer and the hands-on owner of a small arthouse press on the website of which he publishes regular updates on pressing issues of the day gleaned from media outlets around the world. He punctuates the newsroll with aphorisms from thinkers he admires. “It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: what are we busy about?” reads a recent one, from Henry David Thoreau, that accompanies an article on groundwater loss.

It is a question Mortensen clearly asks regularly of himself. Shortly before accepting the breakthrough role of Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings,...

Officially, Prime Video’s spy drama Mr. and Mrs. Smith is based on the 2005 film of the same name. Unofficially, however, its origins are a bit murkier. Though this 2024 streaming iteration of Mr. and Mrs. Smith starring Donald Glover and Maya Erskine shares its basic premise with the previous Brad Pitt and Angelina-starring version (a married couple who also happen to be spies), the series diverges from it in some major ways as well.

In an interview with The Today Show, Glover (who also co-created the 2024 series) even admitted to not having seen the 2005 Doug Liman-directed film when he decided to embark upon the project. Co-creator Francesca Sloane wrote in an open letter to fans that “No one would need a show that retold the same blockbuster movie. But what we set out to do was to make something wholly original.”

This latest Mr. and Mrs. Smith seemingly exists...

Streaming

Taiwanese streamer Catchplay has added its original series “Not a Murder Story” to its available lineup in Indonesia. The eight-part series combines a gripping criminal thriller narrative with an exploration of greed and deception.

The story revolves around Dong, an aspiring actor who finally gets an opportunity to become famous and successful, but wakes up one day next to a dead woman. Dong cannot recall the events of the previous night, cleans up and stages a crime scene as if it were a botched robbery, but he inadvertently leaves traces. As the police investigate the apartment block, it becomes clear that all the residents have hidden secrets and a motive for murder.

“Not a Murder Story” is written and directed by Ko Chen-Nien and features Taiwanese stars Liu Kuan-Ting, Gingle Wang and Sonia Sui.

It debuted on Catchplay+ last week with the first two episodes immediately available and others uploading every Wednesday.

Get ready for a gripping episode of “Casualty” as Season 38, Episode 11, titled “A History of Violence,” hits the screens on BBC One at 9:20 Pm on Saturday, January 27, 2024. The medical drama unfolds with Faith’s return to Holby, but her first day back comes with its challenges as she grapples with new restrictions that test her resilience and adaptability.

As Faith navigates the hurdles, Rash steps up to the plate, showcasing his capabilities. However, questions loom about whether he is truly ready for the responsibilities that come his way. The episode adds layers of complexity as Stevie jumps to conclusions, leading her to doubt herself in her new role and setting the stage for personal and professional challenges.

BBC One invites viewers to join the emotional rollercoaster in “A History of Violence.” With Faith’s comeback, Rash’s journey, and Stevie’s self-doubt, this episode promises a mix of medical...

As Andrea Riseborough (“To Leslie”), Penélope Cruz (“Parallel Mothers”), and Lakeith Stanfield (“Judas and the Black Messiah”) have proven in recent years, there is ample precedent for performers to earn Oscar nominations despite snubs at the BAFTA, Critics Choice, Golden Globe, and SAG Awards. Indeed, 18 such instances have occurred since 2002, the first year that all four precursor prizes were preceded by official nominations.

Over the last 22 years, each of the four acting Oscar categories has produced at least three out-of-the-blue bids. However, none of the performers who overcame their four earlier snubs managed to clinch the gold and instead had to settle for being Oscar finalists.

It’s worth noting that Marcia Gay Harden won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for “Pollock” without any precursor bids, albeit in 2001 when there were no Critics Choice nominations. The four precursor trophies were evenly distributed among her Oscar competitors: Judi Dench, Kate Hudson,...

There is plenty of precedent for performers to still earn Oscar nominations after snubs by the Critics Choice Awards, Golden Globes and SAG Awards. Last year, Andrea Riseborough became the latest Oscar contender to come out of nowhere when she reaped a Best Actress bid for “To Leslie.”

She joined a roster of 23 other performers who heard their names on Oscar nominations morning despite being repeatedly overlooked earlier in awards season. However, for all of those who overcame these earlier snubs the nomination had to be reward enough as none took home the Oscar.

(Note: Marcia Gay Harden won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for “Pollock” without any precursor bids. However, that was in 2001, the year before the Critics Choice introduced nominations. Frances McDormand won with that group for both “Almost Famous” and “Wonder Boys,” Kate Hudson took home the Globe for “Almost Famous” and Judi Dench prevailed at SAG for “Chocolat.

The 29th Critics Choice Awards are being held live on Sunday, Jan. 14, and during the ceremony awards will be presented in 20 television categories. These awards follow on the heels of the Golden Globes on Jan. 7 and the nominations for the SAG Awards on 10 and predate by one day the winners of the 75th Emmy Awards, which were rescheduled from Sept. 2023 to Jan. 15, 2024.

“The Morning Show” leads all other TV series with six nominations heading into tonight’s ceremony. The final season of “Succession” is right on its heels with five, though. A host of shows nabbed four bids each, including “Abbott Elementary,” “A Small Light,” “Beef,” “Lessons in Chemistry,” “Loki,” “Reservation Dogs” and “The Bear.”

Follow along below with this live blog as we bring you the 2024 Critics Choice Awards TV winners.

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7:00pm — Welcome to the 29th Critics Choice Awards, where...