Film
District Attorney Signals Alec Baldwin May Be Charged in Fatal Rust Shooting
Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies has signaled that Alec Baldwin may soon face charges for his role in the accidental shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Western film, Rust. In an August 30th letter first reported by the Santa Fe New Mexican, Carmack-Altwies requested $635,500 to aid in prosecuting the shooting. “If charges are warranted, the [First Judicial District Attorney] anticipates prosecuting up to four individuals. My expenses for the Rust [case] will begin immediately and will be costly,” she wrote. “One of the possible defendants is well-known movie actor Alec Baldwin,” she added, though the letter does not identify other suspects who may be charged. The state gave the district attorney’s office $317,000, and acco...
James Earl Jones Abdicates Darth Vader Voice Role to AI Technology
James Earl Jones has apparently relinquished the role of lead Star Wars antagonist Darth Vader to AI voice technology. The 91-year old actor and EGOT winner originated the character with his vocal performance in 1977’s Star Wars. In a report by Vanity Fair about the Ukrainian start-up Respeecher, it was revealed that the process of transitioning the vocal responsibilities from Jones to the company’s proprietary AI algorithm has been ongoing since the Sith Lord’s revival in the 2022 Star Wars prequel series, Obi-Wan Kenobi. The Respeecher programmers employed an algorithm that uses archival recordings to create new dialogue. Jones provided his singular, sinister take on Darth Vader for a number of Star Wars spin-offs throughout the years, but his last contribution came in 2019’s The Ri...
Avatar Tops Global Box Office 13 Years After Its Original Release
13 years after its original release, Avatar is once again No. 1 at the box office. The film earned $30.5 million at the global box office this past weekend — good enough for the top spot worldwide. For the theatrical re-release, filmmaker James Cameron remastered his 2009 blockbuster in 4K High Dynamic Range. “We authored the film for the big screen, for the giant screen, in 3D. [N]ow we’ve remastered it in 4K, in high-dynamic range and some 48-frame-per-second sections in the film. It’s looking better than it ever looked, even back in its initial release,” Cameron explained during a recent virtual press conference. The re-release earned $10 million domestically, which put it at third behind Don’t Worry Darling and The Woman King. It added another $20.5 million internationally, including N...
R.I.P. Louise Fletcher, Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Dead at 88
Louise Fletcher, the Oscar-winning actress best known for her role as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, has died at age 88. Her family announced her death to Deadline, saying she died in her sleep at her home in Montdurausse, France. Born on July 22nd, 1934, in Birmingham, Alabama, Fletcher got her start by appearing in 1950s television Westerns like Lawman and Maverick. In 1959, she married film producer Jerry Bick, who she remained with until 1977. The couple had two children, and she took 11 years off from acting to raise them. In 1974, she appeared in Robert Altman’s crime drama Thieves Like Us, where she caught the attention of director Miloš Forman. Forman then cast her in his upcoming film adaptation of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, ending...
Brett Morgen Knows That His David Bowie Doc, Moonage Daydream, Is a Great Drug Movie
Moonage Daydream, a cinematic trip into the psyche and legacy of the iconic David Bowie, has been out in theaters for a week now, and director Brett Morgen confirms that mind-altering substances are being enjoyed in those theaters. “It’s happening a lot,” he tells Consequence via Zoom, a few days after the unconventional documentary’s IMAX premiere. “I’m having people come up to me at the end of screenings lit and tripped out.” Officially authorized by the Bowie estate, Moonage Daydream uses decades of archival footage to craft a visually-driven look at Bowie as an artist, from the Ziggy Stardust days to the more grounded, yet still ethereal, man he eventually became. Given the beautiful visual soundscapes designed by Morgan, blending animation and music and color to capture the essence of...
Bros Refuses to Apologize For The Specifics of Queer Romance (Except When It Does): Review
The Pitch: Bobby Lieber (Billy Eichner) is a successful pillar of the gay community in New York City: He’s got a popular podcast, he’s the director of what’s soon to be the nation’s first LGBTQ+ history museum, and he was just named “Cis White Gay Man of the Year.” The only thing missing is a man in his life, but Bobby isn’t into all that: “Love is not love,” he stresses early on to his friends, rejecting the oft-used gay rights sentiment as a lie to get straight people to treat queer folks like human beings. Instead, he chips away at one awkward Grindr hookup after another. But fortune changes when Bobby runs into hunky estate lawyer Aaron (Luke Macfarlane) at a club; they each clock the other as angry and boring, respectively, and their shared fatigue for the performative, ima...
Will Smith’s 10 Best Film and TV Roles
Top Performances is a recurring feature in which we definitively handpick the very best performances from an iconic actor or actress. This has been updated on the occasion of Will Smith’s birthday. Considering Will Smith’s impish charisma and still-boyish good looks, it’s shocking to realize he’s been around for nearly 30 years. Take that, Paul Rudd! Audiences have literally witnessed the actor grow from a 24-year-old MC of the hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince to family man. He’s garnered chart toppers and box office hits; television stardom; and blissfully lived as the other half of a power couple with wife Jada Pinkett-Smith. He’s one of the few movie stars left, a cultural crossover sensation capable of leading a film to profitability based on his sheer talent and aura. ...
Questlove to Executive Produce J Dilla Documentary
Questlove is bringing the impactful yet all-too-short life of J Dilla to the screen. The Roots drummer is continuing his documentary hot streak, as he’s set to executive produce Dilla Time, a feature on the late producer and hip-hop icon. Based on Dan Charnas’ bestselling book Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, The Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm, the film Dilla Time will tell the fascinating story of the Detroit native, who died of a rare blood disease in 2006 at age 32. It’ll also go into Billed as “part biography, part musicology, and part musical meditation,” the documentary will feature conversations with just a few of the modern musicians who were inspired by J Dilla’s work. And to help ensure Dilla Time does the musical mastermind justice, it will be pro...
When Will Hocus Pocus 2 Be Available To Stream?
A Halloween classic is finally getting its long-awaited sequel 29 years later. Hocus Pocus originally debut in 1993 as a box office bomb, failing to compete with movie juggernauts Jurassic Park and Free Willy on its initial July release. Despite its initial poor reception, time proved to be the film’s ally, as DVD sales and repeated broadcasts on cable TV introduced the movie to a younger audience. Children, families, and others alike became entranced by the dazzling and eccentric personalities of The Sanderson Sisters, cementing the film as a cult classic. Hocus Pocus is now considered a quintessential Halloween film, encapsulating both the humor and sickening horror of the holiday. Due to its rapid growth in popularity over the years, it’s no wonder that it was granted a sequel: Followin...
Johnny Depp Dating His Attorney From 2020 Libel Lawsuit, Which He Lost
Johnny Depp has been spending a lot of time in court over the past few years, so it’s not too surprising that he’s reportedly dating Joelle Rich, the UK attorney who represented him in the libel lawsuit he filed — and then lost — against The Sun newspaper. In 2020, Depp sued Sun publishers News Group Newspapers and its executive editor Dan Wootton over a 2018 article that labeled him a “wife beater” without using the words “alleged” or “accused.” The three-week trial saw Depp testify nearly 20 hours on the witness stand, repeatedly denying he was abusive towards his ex-wife Amber Heard, insisting rather that it was her who instigated violence. Judge Andrew Nicol ruled in Heard’s favor, stating that “the great majority” of her assault accusations could be “proved to the civil standard....
Dave Bautista Leads a Home Invasion in Trailer for M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin: Watch
Dave Bautista and a gang of home invaders break up an idyllic family vacation in the trailer for M. Night Shyamalan’s upcoming apocalyptic thriller Knock at the Cabin, out in theaters on February 3rd, 2023. The clip opens with fathers Andrew (Jonathan Groff) and Eric (Ben Aldridge) singing along to KC and the Sunshine Band’s “Boogie Shoes” with their daughter Wen (Kristen Cui) while driving out to the woods for a break from society. While the couple takes in some sun on their cabin’s deck, however, Bautista’s character Leonard makes an unnerving introduction to Wen. “I suppose I’m here to make friends with you,” Bautista says after the young girl asks why he’s here. “Your dads, too. But my heart is broken… because of what I have to do today.” Soon enough, we find out he’s leading a cultish...
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Shines Thanks to a Deadpan Daniel Radcliffe: Review
This review is part of our coverage of the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. The Pitch: Based on the 100% true story of comedian/musician/renegade polka king’s rapid rise to superstardom, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is an “unflinching” look at “Weird” Al Yankovic’s chaotic life. From his childhood as a closeted accordion player, to his brief flirtation with the hot underground polka scene, to his excessive rock and roll lifestyle to his artistic struggles, to his tumultuous romance for the ages with Madonna, and his deadly feud with a legendary drug lord, writer/director Eric Appel and co-writer Al Yankovic pull no punches. This is as real and serious as it gets. Related Video Generic Blues: A fake biopic of “Weird” Al Yankovic is most likely a foolproof formula. How wrong can you...
