In this time of geekery and craft reigning supreme, film critics and academics no longer reject horror movies with the knee-jerk certainty some once did. But even now the specter of “elevated horror” (see that concept’s lambasting in Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s “Scream 5”) looms over discussions of artier explorations of dread and terror — Ari Aster’s “Midsommar,” Luca Guadagnino’s “Suspiria,” Rose Glass’ “Saint Maud” — that are clearly distinguished from, well, non-elevated horror. The general gist is that these exceptions to the “horror is bad” rule engage your brain more than just showing brains: eaten by zombies or splattered against the wall.
How can films that fire your adrenal glands, send shivers down your spine, raise goosebumps, and quicken your breath — that inspire such an intense physical reaction — also be cerebral experiences? The answer is obvious enough. Viewers forget all the time that, as Anna Karina...
How can films that fire your adrenal glands, send shivers down your spine, raise goosebumps, and quicken your breath — that inspire such an intense physical reaction — also be cerebral experiences? The answer is obvious enough. Viewers forget all the time that, as Anna Karina...
- 8/10/2023
- by Alison Foreman
- Indiewire
With 92 features to watch, the Academy’s International Feature Film Committee, drawn from various branch members willing to watch an assigned slate of 12 films, selected a shortlist of 15. Any voter who watches all 15 can pick the final five.
What will they be? We hazard an educated guess based on festival awards, critics’ groups, and other anecdotal gleanings of Academy favorites. These films are among the year’s best. Check them out in all their glory in theaters if you can; some won’t be available at home for a few more weeks. (Read: How to Watch the 2022 Oscar Contenders at Home.)
Festival heavyweights include major Cannes standouts like Austria’s “Great Freedom,” Mexico’s “Prayers for the Stolen,” Asghar Farhadi’s “A Hero,” Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated documentary “Flee,” and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s three-hour meditation on Chekhov, “Drive My Car,” which is gaining so much acclaim that people are...
What will they be? We hazard an educated guess based on festival awards, critics’ groups, and other anecdotal gleanings of Academy favorites. These films are among the year’s best. Check them out in all their glory in theaters if you can; some won’t be available at home for a few more weeks. (Read: How to Watch the 2022 Oscar Contenders at Home.)
Festival heavyweights include major Cannes standouts like Austria’s “Great Freedom,” Mexico’s “Prayers for the Stolen,” Asghar Farhadi’s “A Hero,” Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated documentary “Flee,” and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s three-hour meditation on Chekhov, “Drive My Car,” which is gaining so much acclaim that people are...
- 1/25/2022
- by Anne Thompson, Eric Kohn and David Ehrlich
- Thompson on Hollywood
On September 24, two weeks after her boss Jim Gianopulos lost his job as chairman and CEO of Paramount Studios to ViacomCBS president of Kids & Family Entertainment Brian Robbins, Paramount Motion Picture Group president Emma Watts followed suit. Two deeply respected executives, the best in the business, politely kicked to the curb.
Of course, your greatest asset can just as easily be your biggest drawback; being “best in the business” can also make it impossible to succeed in the face of a massive paradigm shift like the one faced by ViacomCBS as it tries to create a competitive streaming platform at the 11th hour. IndieWire Editor-in-Chief Dana Harris-Bridson and film reporter Chris Lindahl break it down, along with an argument for why former “Head of the Class” star Robbins might represent the best hope for Paramount+.
Dana Harris-bridson: You’ve been covering Hollywood for a couple of years now, which...
Of course, your greatest asset can just as easily be your biggest drawback; being “best in the business” can also make it impossible to succeed in the face of a massive paradigm shift like the one faced by ViacomCBS as it tries to create a competitive streaming platform at the 11th hour. IndieWire Editor-in-Chief Dana Harris-Bridson and film reporter Chris Lindahl break it down, along with an argument for why former “Head of the Class” star Robbins might represent the best hope for Paramount+.
Dana Harris-bridson: You’ve been covering Hollywood for a couple of years now, which...
- 9/26/2021
- by Dana Harris-Bridson and Chris Lindahl
- Indiewire
We’ll say this with cautious optimism: the summer movie season is…back? After the coronavirus pandemic upended the 2020 release calendar, pushing back some of the year’s most hyped films and inspiring new avenues of distribution for others, the summer of 2021 is shaping up as platform for blockbusters (from the latest “Fast and Furious” to the post-apocalyptic survival of the “A Quiet Place” installment all the way through a seventh “Conjuring” film) and rife with discoveries (including some festival hits that date all the way back to 2019).
Of course, the distribution landscape has changed radically over the past year, and not every anticipated summer movie will simply head to the multiplex. This season’s lineup includes a wide variety of viewing options that go beyond the brick and mortar theater. It’s a summer defined by options — not only in terms of what you see, but how you choose to see it.
Of course, the distribution landscape has changed radically over the past year, and not every anticipated summer movie will simply head to the multiplex. This season’s lineup includes a wide variety of viewing options that go beyond the brick and mortar theater. It’s a summer defined by options — not only in terms of what you see, but how you choose to see it.
- 5/4/2021
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Moviegoing has returned to Los Angeles, so naturally Christopher Nolan was one of the first customers in line to attend a screening. As reported by NBC News, the “Tenet” and “Dunkirk” filmmaker was “among the first customers in line as film theaters reopened after coronavirus restrictions were eased in Los Angeles.” Nolan attended the AMC Theater in Burbank, California. Los Angeles County finally got the go-ahead on Monday, March 15 to re-open movie theaters after California state leaders confirmed on Friday that the county had moved into the less restrictive red tier on the coronavirus chart. AMC re-opened its two largest Los Angeles locations this week, the Burbank 16 and Century City 15.
As IndieWire film reporter Chris Lindahl wrote last week upon the announcement Los Angeles theaters can re-open: “It’s a significant milestone for an exhibition sector roiled by the pandemic. Following the reopening of New York City theaters last month,...
As IndieWire film reporter Chris Lindahl wrote last week upon the announcement Los Angeles theaters can re-open: “It’s a significant milestone for an exhibition sector roiled by the pandemic. Following the reopening of New York City theaters last month,...
- 3/16/2021
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
For anyone bemoaning the lack of new movies in 2020, please look no further than the fourteen that follow, all of them topped off by some of the best acting of this very strange year indeed. From seasoned masters like Anthony Hopkins and Delroy Lindo deepening their legacies to rising stars like Riz Ahmed and Steven Yeun continuing to carve out their own paths, this year was very rich indeed when it came on on-screen work worth celebrating.
Tucked inside these stories of triumph, there is also heartbreak, as no list of 2020’s best performances would be considered close to complete without reflecting back on the late Chadwick Boseman’s final on-screen performance, already an iconic last hurrah.
As always, there were also plenty of exciting breakthrough performances this year, as we’ve already documented in a stacked list of rising stars of screens both large and small. And these best-of-the-bunch...
Tucked inside these stories of triumph, there is also heartbreak, as no list of 2020’s best performances would be considered close to complete without reflecting back on the late Chadwick Boseman’s final on-screen performance, already an iconic last hurrah.
As always, there were also plenty of exciting breakthrough performances this year, as we’ve already documented in a stacked list of rising stars of screens both large and small. And these best-of-the-bunch...
- 12/11/2020
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
In a year filled with its own myriad disappointments, one thing remained reliable: the ability for some of our brightest performers to shine their light on a variety of thrilling roles. From steadfast stars like Viola Davis, Frances McDormand, Youn Yuh-Jung, and Carey Mulligan to rising talents like Haley Bennett, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jessie Buckley, and Letitia Wright, this year’s crop of female-fronted performances is deep.
As always, there were also plenty of exciting breakthrough performances this year, as we’ve already documented in a stacked list of rising stars of screens both large and small, but the women who qualify for this list of the best film performances by actresses have fully arrived in every sense of the term. Ahead, the 13 best performances by actresses in 2020.
Eric Kohn, Anne Thompson, David Ehrlich, Zack Sharf, Ryan Lattanzio, Tambay Obenson, Jude Dry, Bill Desowitz, and Chris Lindahl contributed to this article.
As always, there were also plenty of exciting breakthrough performances this year, as we’ve already documented in a stacked list of rising stars of screens both large and small, but the women who qualify for this list of the best film performances by actresses have fully arrived in every sense of the term. Ahead, the 13 best performances by actresses in 2020.
Eric Kohn, Anne Thompson, David Ehrlich, Zack Sharf, Ryan Lattanzio, Tambay Obenson, Jude Dry, Bill Desowitz, and Chris Lindahl contributed to this article.
- 12/9/2020
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
For filmmakers, the process of getting the cultural powers that be to submit your film to contend for the Best International Feature Film Oscar varies from country to country. That Oscar can give your movie an enormous boost. Mexico has been participating in the foreign-language Oscar race since 1957, a year after the category was created. Of the 53 films submitted, nine have been nominated, including five from Arturo Ripstein, two from A.G. Iñárritu (“Amores Perros” and “Biutiful”), one from Guillermo del Toro (“Pan’s Labyrinth”), and one from Alfonso Cuarón (“Roma”), which was the first Mexican film to win the foreign-language Oscar. Cuarón lobbied the Academy Board of Governors to change the category name to Best International Feature Film.
As expected this year, the selection committee from the Academia Mexicana de Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas has picked out of six finalists Fernando Frías de la Parra’s “I’m No Longer Here...
As expected this year, the selection committee from the Academia Mexicana de Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas has picked out of six finalists Fernando Frías de la Parra’s “I’m No Longer Here...
- 10/30/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
For filmmakers, the process of getting the cultural powers that be to submit your film to contend for the Best International Feature Film Oscar varies from country to country. That Oscar can give your movie an enormous boost. Mexico has been participating in the foreign-language Oscar race since 1957, a year after the category was created. Of the 53 films submitted, nine have been nominated, including five from Arturo Ripstein, two from A.G. Iñárritu (“Amores Perros” and “Biutiful”), one from Guillermo del Toro (“Pan’s Labyrinth”), and one from Alfonso Cuarón (“Roma”), which was the first Mexican film to win the foreign-language Oscar. Cuarón lobbied the Academy Board of Governors to change the category name to Best International Feature Film.
This year, the selection committee from the Academia Mexicana de Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas has picked six finalists: Xavi Sala’s “Guie’dani’s Navel,” “I Carry You with Me” (Sony Pictures Classics...
This year, the selection committee from the Academia Mexicana de Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas has picked six finalists: Xavi Sala’s “Guie’dani’s Navel,” “I Carry You with Me” (Sony Pictures Classics...
- 10/30/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
As filmmakers are forced to adapt to these crazy times perhaps no director is more equipped to shift gears in a crisis than Steven Soderbergh. The Oscar-winning director’s career has found him careening from glue-and-tape indies to big-budget studio fare, digital video, streaming television, and experimental formats and release strategies with ease.
In a recent interview in The New York Times alongside filmmaker Amy Seimetz, who stars in his next film “Kill Switch” and just opened her own directorial effort “She Dies Tomorrow,” Soderbergh spoke about how necessary safety protocols on film sets amid Covid will dictate how Hollywood moves forward, especially in the budget department.
“We have an ability on a project to control how we move, where we move, how many people come with us — it’s something that can be manipulated to keep people safe,” Soderbergh said. “I think if we can withstand the economic surcharge...
In a recent interview in The New York Times alongside filmmaker Amy Seimetz, who stars in his next film “Kill Switch” and just opened her own directorial effort “She Dies Tomorrow,” Soderbergh spoke about how necessary safety protocols on film sets amid Covid will dictate how Hollywood moves forward, especially in the budget department.
“We have an ability on a project to control how we move, where we move, how many people come with us — it’s something that can be manipulated to keep people safe,” Soderbergh said. “I think if we can withstand the economic surcharge...
- 8/1/2020
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
One of the most coveted projects to emerge out of the digital edition of this year’s Cannes Marché du Film has just sold for a record-breaking sum. Apple has picked “Emancipation,” a Civil War-era thriller starring Will Smith as a runaway slave, after a tense bidding war throughout the week which at one point saw Warner Bros. vying for the title. Deadline reports the deal is above the $120 million mark, but a source close to Apple says the number was near the $105 million mark. This is likely the biggest festival acquisition deal of all time.
CAA Media Finance and FilmNation Entertainment were handling sales for the package, which includes a script from Bill Collage centered on the escape of Peter, a slave who must outwit enemies in the swamps of Louisiana while on a perilous journey to the North, where he will join the Union Army. The script is based on a true story,...
CAA Media Finance and FilmNation Entertainment were handling sales for the package, which includes a script from Bill Collage centered on the escape of Peter, a slave who must outwit enemies in the swamps of Louisiana while on a perilous journey to the North, where he will join the Union Army. The script is based on a true story,...
- 7/1/2020
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
And so it was that on March 19, after weeks of mounting pressure and stubbornly optimistic official statements, Cannes joined the ever-growing army of film festivals cancelled or postponed over the Covid-19 pandemic. IndieWire's constantly updated list gives a sense of the worldwide hecatomb: cinemas are shutting, productions folding, as the crisis is shattering the film industry, raising questions as to whether festivals will recover—and if so, in what form.In an attempt to overcome the pandemic restrictions, a few events have decided to roll out digitally and unveil their offerings online. First among them was the Danish documentary fest Cph:dox, which is now screening a fraction of its 220 titles through Festival Scope, and running some of its industry activities on the web. “The well known Cph:dox social experience will have to reinvent itself in a whole new way,” a press release warned on March 12, “and the team is...
- 3/23/2020
- MUBI
Created by longtime Hollywood and Silicon Valley power players Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, upcoming streaming platform Quibi will launch soon, on April 6. One of its flagship series is “The Fugitive,” from “Scorpion” creator Nick Santora. Check out the first teaser for the upcoming series below.
“The Fugitive” remakes the classic 1960s TV series, which previously spawned a film version in 1993 that won Tommy Lee Jones the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. In Quibi’s version, blue-collar worker Mike Ferro (played by Boyd Holbrook) is wrongly pinned for a Los Angeles metro bombing, and he’s forced to take the investigation of the real culprit into his own hands. But he’s up against detective Clay Bryce (Kiefer Sutherland), who’s targeting Mike amid a city riven by panic and fake news as Mike’s life and rumored complicity in the crime become media fodder.
If this first look is any indication,...
“The Fugitive” remakes the classic 1960s TV series, which previously spawned a film version in 1993 that won Tommy Lee Jones the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. In Quibi’s version, blue-collar worker Mike Ferro (played by Boyd Holbrook) is wrongly pinned for a Los Angeles metro bombing, and he’s forced to take the investigation of the real culprit into his own hands. But he’s up against detective Clay Bryce (Kiefer Sutherland), who’s targeting Mike amid a city riven by panic and fake news as Mike’s life and rumored complicity in the crime become media fodder.
If this first look is any indication,...
- 2/1/2020
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Now that the Skywalker Saga has ended, Disney has big decisions to make about the “Star Wars” franchise, which means finding new talent to helm whatever sprawling new stories may come. According to The Hollywood Reporter, three-time Academy Award-nominated “Jojo Rabbit” director Taika Waititi has been approached to develop a “Star Wars” film.
Lucasfilm has yet to respond to IndieWire’s request for comment. Whatever the status, being “courted” (as THR phrased it) is far from being a done deal. However, at this point even the possibility is of keen interest: Not only is Waititi one of Hollywood’s most valuable directors, but “Star Wars” is also at a creative crossroads that needs direction.
Back in 2017, Waititi threw shade at the “Star Wars” franchise, and his interest in ever directing one of the films, after director Colin Trevorrow got axed from helming “The Rise of Skywalker,” directed by J.J. Abrams and still in theaters.
Lucasfilm has yet to respond to IndieWire’s request for comment. Whatever the status, being “courted” (as THR phrased it) is far from being a done deal. However, at this point even the possibility is of keen interest: Not only is Waititi one of Hollywood’s most valuable directors, but “Star Wars” is also at a creative crossroads that needs direction.
Back in 2017, Waititi threw shade at the “Star Wars” franchise, and his interest in ever directing one of the films, after director Colin Trevorrow got axed from helming “The Rise of Skywalker,” directed by J.J. Abrams and still in theaters.
- 1/16/2020
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Netflix and Nickelodeon announced today that they’ve formed a multi-year output deal to produce original animated feature films and television series. The kid and family-targeted films and series will be based on both Nickelodeon’s existing library of original characters and new IP.
“Nickelodeon’s next step forward is to keep expanding beyond linear platforms, and our broader content partnership with Netflix is a key path toward that goal,” said Brian Robbins, President of Nickelodeon, in a statement.
Robbins added, “The Nickelodeon Animation Studio is home to the world-class artists and storytellers behind some of the most iconic characters and shows ever made, and our head of Animation, Ramsey Naito, has been building on that legacy over the past year by ramping up development and production exponentially. The ideas and work at our Studio are flowing, and we can’t wait to work with Melissa and the Netflix team...
“Nickelodeon’s next step forward is to keep expanding beyond linear platforms, and our broader content partnership with Netflix is a key path toward that goal,” said Brian Robbins, President of Nickelodeon, in a statement.
Robbins added, “The Nickelodeon Animation Studio is home to the world-class artists and storytellers behind some of the most iconic characters and shows ever made, and our head of Animation, Ramsey Naito, has been building on that legacy over the past year by ramping up development and production exponentially. The ideas and work at our Studio are flowing, and we can’t wait to work with Melissa and the Netflix team...
- 11/13/2019
- by LaToya Ferguson
- Indiewire
Sometimes Comedy Central really just lives up to its name, and tomorrow is one of those times. Starting Thursday, October 17 (at 11 p.m. Et/8 p.m. Pt), the comedy-centric network will be streaming 24 straight hours of its half-hour stand-up specials on its Stand-Up YouTube channel.
The “24 Hours of Stand-Up” livestream—featuring stand-up performances from over 60 comedians—will also serve as lead-up to the season premiere of “Comedy Central Stand-Up Presents…”
With stand-up performances spanning the past two decades in comedy, the livestream will feature sets from a number of major comedians before they broke big. That includes comedians like Patton Oswalt (1999), Kevin Hart (2004), Amy Schumer (2010), Donald Glover (2010), Natasha Leggero (2011), and Michael Che (2014), among many, many others. Post-live stream, each of these stand-up specials will also air on Pluto TV (on the Comedy Central Stand-Up channel) throughout the weekend.
Pluto TV and Comedy Central are two of the entities who will...
The “24 Hours of Stand-Up” livestream—featuring stand-up performances from over 60 comedians—will also serve as lead-up to the season premiere of “Comedy Central Stand-Up Presents…”
With stand-up performances spanning the past two decades in comedy, the livestream will feature sets from a number of major comedians before they broke big. That includes comedians like Patton Oswalt (1999), Kevin Hart (2004), Amy Schumer (2010), Donald Glover (2010), Natasha Leggero (2011), and Michael Che (2014), among many, many others. Post-live stream, each of these stand-up specials will also air on Pluto TV (on the Comedy Central Stand-Up channel) throughout the weekend.
Pluto TV and Comedy Central are two of the entities who will...
- 10/16/2019
- by LaToya Ferguson
- Indiewire
The Infinity Saga may be over, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe will barrel forward with the November launch of Disney+. At D23 Expo in Anaheim on Friday, Marvel head Kevin Feige confirmed that the upcoming slate of series scheduled to premiere on the Disney streaming platform will be integrated into the films just as the current McU movies are and always have been.
“These episodes will intersect with the movies in a very big way,” Feige said. “It’s a totally new form of storytelling that we get to play with and explore.”
Although Marvel fans already knew a handful of titles to expect, ranging from “WandaVision” and the Untitled Loki Series, Feige also announced three new titles. Details, below.
Untitled Loki Series
McU regular Tom Hiddleston will return as Loki for the Disney+ series. Daniel Brühl will return as Zemo, joined by Emily VanCamp, who played Sharon Carter in the “Captain America” films.
“These episodes will intersect with the movies in a very big way,” Feige said. “It’s a totally new form of storytelling that we get to play with and explore.”
Although Marvel fans already knew a handful of titles to expect, ranging from “WandaVision” and the Untitled Loki Series, Feige also announced three new titles. Details, below.
Untitled Loki Series
McU regular Tom Hiddleston will return as Loki for the Disney+ series. Daniel Brühl will return as Zemo, joined by Emily VanCamp, who played Sharon Carter in the “Captain America” films.
- 8/24/2019
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
IndieWire has made a half-dozen hires across its film and television sections, adding a new video producer role and increasing its staff in New York and Los Angeles. The expansion comes as the site hits record traffic numbers in July.
The site crossed 11.3 million unique visitors, a record for the site in a month that included in-depth reporting from the TCAs, a week-long package that featured the best films and performances of the decade, and a major exclusive surrounding the behind-the-scenes drama of “Big Little Lies.”
“I’m incredibly proud of our entire team for hitting this benchmark,” said IndieWire editor-in-chief Dana Harris. “The content that fueled this all-time traffic high also represents the unique place we occupy in covering the entertainment industry. Our hires will allow us to provide more in-depth coverage and curation in film and TV, across all platforms.”
IndieWire has added six new members to its...
The site crossed 11.3 million unique visitors, a record for the site in a month that included in-depth reporting from the TCAs, a week-long package that featured the best films and performances of the decade, and a major exclusive surrounding the behind-the-scenes drama of “Big Little Lies.”
“I’m incredibly proud of our entire team for hitting this benchmark,” said IndieWire editor-in-chief Dana Harris. “The content that fueled this all-time traffic high also represents the unique place we occupy in covering the entertainment industry. Our hires will allow us to provide more in-depth coverage and curation in film and TV, across all platforms.”
IndieWire has added six new members to its...
- 8/6/2019
- by Indiewire Staff
- Indiewire
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