Film
J.J. Abrams to Produce New Cloverfield Sequel
Even if your city has been destroyed by a monster, you’re trapped in an underground bunker, or your space station got sent to a parallel universe, you’ve probably heard of the Cloverfield franchise. The science-fiction anthology series will continue through at least a fourth film, according to The Hollywood Reporter, with J.J. Abrams set to produce a new sequel. The franchise launched in 2008 with Cloverfield, a found-footage monster flick directed by Matt Reeves. Two loosely-connected sequels followed, with both 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) and The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) originating as unrelated projects that were acquired by Abrams’ Bad Robot banner and retrofitted for the Cloververse. Unlike those previous follow-ups, the new movie is designed from inception t...
Knocking Offers Plenty of Style, But Not Nearly Enough Narrative: Sundance 2021 Review
This review is part of our Sundance 2021 coverage. The Pitch: After a traumatic incident involving her girlfriend Judith (Charlotta Åkerblom), Molly (Cecilia Milocco) emerges from a one-year stint in a psychiatric ward, ready to rejoin the world. She moves into a housing development, but almost immediately, her life is disrupted by a strange knocking from the floor above. No one – not super Peter (Krister Kern), not shifty neighbors Kaj (Ville Virtanen) or Per (Albin Grenholm) — believe her. As the knocking persists, Molly’s paranoia increases as her grip on reality decreases. Is the knocking a cry for help or has she lost her mind? Familiar Territory: Knocking is an adaptation of Swedish novelist Johan Theorin’s text of the same name (his work was previously adapted into 2013’s Echoes Fro...
Summer of Soul Is Questlove’s Thrumming Ode to Black Music and Culture: Sundance 2021 Review
This review is part of our Sundance 2021 coverage. The Pitch: In 1969, the same summer as Woodstock, a different music festival played just 100 miles away in Harlem. It was the third annual Harlem Culture Festival, a weeks-long celebration of soul, Motown, blues, and gospel where nearly 300,000 people gathered and celebrated the sounds of Stevie Wonder, Mavis Staples, Nina Simone, and a host of other Black artists at the time. But the festival was more than, as it would be haphazardly marketed, the “Black Woodstock”. It was a nexus around which so many facets of Black life at the time would intersect, from Afrocentrism to the Black Panthers (who would provide security for the event) to the renewed reclaiming of the word “Black” to identify themselves in print and in person. The music ...
Censor Is A Hallucinatory Look at the 1980s Video Nasty Phenomenon: Sundance 2021 Review
This review is part of our Sundance 2021 coverage. The Pitch: Enid Baines (Niamh Algar) is an uptight film censor with a tragic past. After becoming embroiled in a murder scandal that the press link to a violent horror film she edited, Enid becomes obsessed with Alice Lee (Sophia La Porta), an actress who bears a striking resemblance to her missing sister, Nina. Her pursuit of Alice leads Enid into the shadowy world of underground horror films and the company of questionable men like smarmy producer Doug Smart (Michael Smiley) and director Frederick North (Adrian Schiller). As Enid’s obsessive hunt for the truth intensifies, she begins to lose track of what is real and what is a movie as both her sanity and her life come under threat. Video Nasty: The most intriguing aspect of Censor is ho...
Jonny Greenwood to Score New Princess Diana Biopic Starring Kristen Stewart
Two icons known for bucking tradition and wearing bangs have been united at last. As The Film Stage reports, Radiohead‘s Jonny Greenwood will score the new film Spencer about Diana Frances Spencer, better known as Diana, Princess of Wales. It’s directed by Pablo Larrain and stars Kristen Stewart as the titular hero. The tale takes place over a Christmas weekend in December of 1991. Diana’s marriage to Prince Charles is imploding amidst rumors of his infidelities, and in 1992 they will separate. Spencer is set just before the separation, as a deeply-unhappy princess makes up her mind to leave. Filming has begun, and the movie is expected to bow sometime in the fall of 2021. In a statement, Stewart said, “Spencer is a dive inside an emotional imagining of who Diana was at a pi...
What’s Streaming on HBO Max in February 2021
HBO Max is offering more than valentines in February. As promised, the streaming giant is delivering more Warner Bros. theatrical features as part of their same-day program. This month sees the release of the star-studded Judas and the Black Messiah and the live-action re-imagining of Tom & Jerry. Judas… is a biographical drama on the life of Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), the Illinois chairman of the Black Panther Party who was betrayed by William O’Neal (Lakeith Stanfield). The film is set to premiere at this weekend’s Sundance Film Festival, and has already been named one of the 10 best films of 2020 by the National Board of Review. Elsewhere, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver returns for what should be a far less vitriolic season given the changing political climate, while Studio ...
Mighty Ducks Star Shaun Weiss Celebrates One Year of Sobriety
Congratulations are in order to Shaun Weiss, who celebrated his one year of sobriety on Wednesday. In early 2020, the former Mighty Ducks star was arrested on burglary charges after being found rummaging through a garage. At the time of his arrest, Weiss was found to be under the influence of methamphetamine. Weiss subsequently entered a substance abuse program and has maintained his sobriety for the last 12 months. According to his friend Drew Gallagher (via TMZ), Weiss currently resides at a sober living house in Tarzana, CA, where he’s bided his time by writing film scripts and honing a stand-up comedy set. During his recovery, a dentist in Los Angeles offered to replace his teeth free of charge — a gift valued at between $50,000 and $100,000. Weiss famously portrayed Goldberg...
The Entire Saw Series is Coming to HBO Max
Do you want to play a stream? Well, you’re in luck. Starting in February, all seven films in the legendary Saw series will land on HBO Max. The streaming service has confirmed that the cult-classic horror franchise is included in the massive list of titles that are arriving on the platform in just a few days. To be clear, that means an extended version of the 2004 flick that started it all, followed by Saw II (2005), Saw III (2006), Saw IV (2007), Saw V (2008), Saw VI (2009), and Saw: The Final Chapter (2010). If that weren’t exciting enough, all of the sequels will be the director’s cuts, so that means all of the blood, guts, and squirm-inducing scenes of torture that are fit for home viewing. The only Saw-related flick that won’t be on the ser...
R.I.P. Cloris Leachman, Emmy and Oscar-Winning Actress Dead at 94
Cloris Leachman, one of the most decorated actresses in history, has died at the age of 94. According to a representative, Leachman died Tuesday (January 26th) from natural causes at her home in Encinitas, California. Over the course of her career, Leachman won eight Primetime Emmy Awards, tying her with Julia Louis-Dreyfus for the most all time. She also nabbed an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. Leachman famously played Phyllis Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off series Phyllis. She also starred in several major motion pictures, including Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show and Mel Brook’s Young Frankenstein. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, on April 30th, 1926, Leachman studied at Northwestern University and competed in the 1946 Miss America Pageant. As the runner-up...
What’s Streaming on Disney+ in February 2021
Disney+ is bringing the fantastical for February. The great Marvel mystery that is WandaVision will continue each Friday, delivering more sitcom subversions as the two titular heroes attempt to escape their own televised hell. Then again, who would want to leave the comforts of a ’70s living room. Speaking of classic television, the Mouse House is dusting off five seasons of The Muppet Show, as previously reported. Just make sure you bring champagne, roses, and a box of Godiva for Ms. Piggy, who tends to be particular about that stuff. Editors’ Picks Elsewhere, families can enjoy seeing Alyson Hannigan and Ben Schwartz pop up in the new superhero comedy Flora & Ulysses or revisit Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt in not one but two Cheaper by the Dozen films. Those are always a fun re...
The Night Is a Terrifying Twist on The Shining: Review
The Pitch: Driving home from a night out with friends, exhausted Iranian immigrants, Babak and Neda Naderi (Shahab Hosseini and Niousha Noor), decide to spend the night at a nearby hotel with their infant daughter Shebnam (Leah Oganyan). They quickly realize that there are dangerous secrets lurking within the walls of the mysterious building and the seemingly endless night soon spirals into reality bending terror as they find themselves trapped in a nightmarish hell of their own creation. The Night made headlines as the first US produced Iranian film to secure a theatrical license in Iran after the country’s 1979 revolution. Though set in LA’s landmark Hotel Normandie, this is an Iranian story told predominantly in Farsi and including Iranian Americans or Iranian Immigrants both in front o...
What’s Streaming on Amazon Prime Video in February 2021
Amazon Prime Video has unveiled its additions for February. The big event of the month are two original sci-fi films: First up is Bliss starring Salma Hayek and Owen Wilson, which deals with simulated realities. Right after that is The Map of Tiny Perfect Things, a sci-fi drama with Freaky star Kathryn Newton. Beyond that, subscribers can enjoy some essential archival additions, particularly Coming to America (just in time for Amazon’s highly anticipated sequel in March), Dazed and Confused, Moulin Rouge, There’s Something About Mary, and The Prestige. Editors’ Picks Check out the entire list below, which includes a number of exclusives to Amazon. To help round out your streaming sessions, be sure to read our recent guides outlining everything that’s hitting Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, a...
