Film
New HBO Documentary Investigates Woody Allen Abuse Allegations
Allen v. Farrow (HBO) HBO has shared the first teaser trailer for Allen v. Farrow, a four-part documentary about the allegations that Woody Allen sexually abused his daughter Dylan Farrow. The first episode debuts Sunday, February 21st, with new installments arriving on subsequent Sundays. From 1979 to 1992, Allen and Mia Farrow made 13 films together and had three children, two adopted and one biological. Their relationship unraveled after Farrow discovered Allen had begun a sexual relationship with 21-year-old Soon-Yi Previn, Farrow’s adopted daughter from a previous relationship. Soon afterwards, then seven-year-old Dylan accused Allen of sexually molesting her in Farrow’s home. Allen has repeatedly denied the allegations and suggested that she was pushed to make the claims by...
The Reckoning Is Neil Marshall’s Biggest Whiff Yet: Review
This review was originally part of our coverage of the 2020 Beyond Film Festival. The Pitch: It’s late 17th century England, and although the plague is no longer running as rampant as it once was, a new pandemic has taken over: witchcraft. The era of scapegoating women for anything and everything is prevalent and the main conflict in The Reckoning. Grace Haverstock’s husband has committed suicide, himself afflicted with the plague, and has left Grace and their newborn daughter to care for their small farm. When she falls behind on rent, her landlord attacks her and suggests she make payment with sexual favors. Grace spurns his advances. With his fragile male ego damaged, he accuses her of witchcraft, and Grace is put into bondage and undergoes a series of physical and psychological torture...
HBO Developing GameStop Stock Movie with Billions Co-Creator, Blumhouse
If you ask the folks on r/WallStreetBets, the saga of taking GameStop to the moon in order to stick it to hedge funds shorting the company’s stock isn’t nearly over. But even in the midst of this social media-based financial smack down, Hollywood is already seeing its own dollar signs. The latest studio seeking to adapt the real-life story is HBO, which is developing a project with Billions co-creator and financial journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin, former HBO Films head Len Amato, and Jason Blum’s Blumhouse. The Hollywood Reporter has it that the cable network is currently in search of a writer to pen the film. The outlet also continually refers to the production as a “project,” shying away from specifying if it might be a movie, TV show, or limited series. Any of those forms might work for t...
Ranking John Carpenter: Every Movie from Worst to Best
Dark streets, empty lawns, singing trees, and the nauseating pulse of synths — you’re watching a John Carpenter film. Chances are the Master of Horror was responsible for a few of your earliest childhood nightmares. He’s more or less the Ray Bradbury of filmmaking, an underrated visionary who can conjure up a brand of fear that’s both out of this world and within your reach. Six years after returning to the synthesizer for 2015’s Lost Themes, the Master of Horror is back for more with its second sequel: Lost Themes III: Alive After Death. Once again, Carpenter is working alongside his son Cody Carpenter and his godson Daniel Davies, a collaboration that’s only grown stronger with time. “We’ve matured,” Carpenter has confidently expressed. In celebration, we’ve resurrected this original bre...
Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga Steal the Screen In Passing: Sundance 2021 Review
This review is part of our Sundance 2021 coverage. The Pitch: Based on Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel of the same name, Passing follows Irene (Tessa Thompson) and Clare (Ruth Negga), two mixed-race women who can walk through life passing for white. While Clare revels in this, Irene wears it with disdain, and when the duo reunite, all hell breaks loose up in Harlem. The Standout: It’s like director Rebecca Hall knew 2021 would be the perfect time to premiere her debut film at Sundance. Her first feature tackles the issue of colorism–something that’s so pervasive and transparent now more than ever. It’s a subject that’s previously been explored in films such as Queen, Imitation of Life, School Daze, and Skin, but Passing stands out by compounding the challenges of colorism and the violence of the...
The Real Cure: A Clockwork Orange’s Missing Ending
Page to Screen is a recurring column in which CoS Editorial Director Matt Melis explores how either a classic or contemporary work of literature made the sometimes triumphant, often disastrous leap from prose to film. Novelists can’t choose how they’ll be remembered — that is, which of their creations will be favored after they’ve, to borrow a phrase, snuffed it. Once wielding autocratic control over every thought, action, and detail attributed to their characters, they cede that unique monopoly upon publication. It then belongs to others, who, if sales are strong, will reimagine those stories — those very intimate and specific ideas — a million times over in infinitely different ways. The writer goes from being a de facto Bog or God to, in extreme cases, a slave to press clippi...
Viggo Mortensen’s Falling Is Exhausting: Review
This review was originally part of our coverage of the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival. The Pitch: In Viggo Mortensen’s directorial debut, gay Air Force pilot John (Mortensen) struggles to care for his ailing conservative father, Willis (Lance Henriksen). Malcontent and never afraid to shy away from a racist, homophobic or sexist rant, Willis offends everyone from John’s husband Eric (Terry Chen) to his daughter Sarah (Laura Linney), all while he slips in and out of flashbacks, including his two marriages to wives Gwen (Hannah Gross) and Jill (Bracken Burns). Grumpy Old Man: Early in Falling, as the relationship between John and Willis is being established, it’s clear that Henriksen is exceptional in the role. Willis is the kind of curmudgeonly character whose edges are too often ...
PVT CHAT Gets Kink Right: Review
This review was originally part of our Fantasia Festival 2020 coverage. The Pitch: Jack (Peter Vack) is a lonely boy in the big city. He lives in a rundown apartment—the only kind anyone can afford in New York City–where his windows are duct-taped over and his day-to-day involves either bowls of Maruchan ramen or online poker games. But he also engages in BDSM scenes with a number of cam girls, and one in particular has caught his eye. Enter Scarlet (Julia Fox), who dominates Jack from afar, making him a human ashtray as smoke billows out from her big beautiful lips. As time ticks away and more and more money is dropped, Jack and Julia begin to connect on a deeper level, a connection that sets both parties up for twists that audiences will never see coming. I’ll Always Love You New York: W...
Jeffrey Wright to Voice Batman in New Podcast Series
HBO Max is developing a Batman spin-off series for TV, and apparently they’re crafting a Batman miniseries for your ears, too. Say hello to Batman: The Audio Adventures, a new podcast by HBO Max starring Jeffrey Wright as the Caped Crusader. Don’t expect it to get too dark, however, because the roll call also includes comedic actors like Seth Meyers, Jason Sudeikis, and dozens more. Written and directed by Dennis McNicholas, Batman: The Audio Adventures is a multi-episode series that’s putting “a comedic take” on the Dark Knight, notes The Hollywood Reporter. It’s separate from DC’s multi-year deal with Spotify — which includes the new Batman Unburied podcast written by David S. Goyer — and as such it will hit WarnerMedia’s streaming service sometime in 2021. To help draw out the laug...
John and the Hole Works Best as a Series of Vignettes: Sundance 2021 Review
This review is part of our Sundance 2021 coverage. The Pitch: A wealthy nuclear family comprised of father Brad (Michael C. Hall), mother Anna (Jennifer Ehle) and teen daughter Laurie (Taissa Farmiga) awaken one morning to discover youngest child John (Charlie Shotwell) has drugged and abandoned them in an underground bunker in the middle of the woods. As sociopath John explores and rejects the responsibilities of maintaining the family home and eluding detection by friends and the police, his family is forced to bond together for survival. In time, they all must accept the truth that none of them truly paid attention to the lives of the others before this ordeal. Elegant Decadence: John and the Hole is an elegant feature debut from visual artist Pascual Sisto. In addition to sweeping dron...
Ben Wheatley’s In The Earth Is a Surprising De Facto Sequel to Annihilation: Review
This review is part of our Sundance 2021 coverage. The Pitch: In The Earth is Ben Wheatley’s welcome return to horror after last year’s Rebecca, his disappointing foray into Netflix-approved gothic romance. The film follows city dwelling scientist Dr Martin Lowery (Joel Fry) and intrepid park scout Alma (Ellora Torchia) as they set out on foot through the Arboreal Forest to investigate the welfare of his colleague Dr. Olivia Wendle (Hayley Squires), who has been radio silent for months. After Martin injures his foot, the pair seek help from Zac (Reece Shearsmith), an enigmatic recluse who has been living illegally in the forest. It quickly becomes clear that not all is right and the pair lose their sense of time and become increasingly disoriented. A dangerous discovery reveals that their ...
Edgar Wright’s The Sparks Brothers Crams 50 Years of Art Pop Into Two Giddy Hours: Sundance 2021 Review
This review is part of our Sundance 2021 coverage. The Pitch: Sparks has been around for just shy of 50 years, and have influenced just about every major pop act since the 1970s –from New Order to Weird Al Yankovic. They’re one of the greatest bands of all time, but you probably haven’t heard of them. That is, of course, unless you’re Edgar Wright, pop culture vagabond and Sparks superfan, who brings his giddy, high-tilt cinematic energy to a two-and-a-half-hour chronicle of two California-born brothers who made it to the top of the pop charts, and have spent the last several decades reinventing themselves with every new album and experimentation. Along the way, he talks to artists and fans who’ve grown up with their work (Jason Schwartzman, Amy Sherman-Palladino, Fred Armisen), and i...
