Film
Martin Scorsese to Direct Documentary on New York Dolls’ David Johansen
Martin Scorsese and New York Dolls’ David Johansen (photo via Montecruz Foto/Wikipedia) For his next film project, Martin Scorsese is highlighting the life of one of New York City’s esteemed rock icons. Showtime Documentary Films has announced that the legendary filmmaker will be directing a new documentary on New York Dolls frontman David Johansen. According to its official synopsis, the as-yet-untitled film will follow the entire life and career of Johansen: growing up on Staten Island, his time in NYC’s East Village neighborhood during the mid-1960s, and of course fronting the legendary glam-punk band the New York Dolls. However, the film will also explore Johansen’s post-Dolls years; both the ’80s lounge music he made under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter, and the blues records h...
Relic Is a Terrifying and Touching Allegory for Dementia: Review
The Pitch: Three generations of women deal with the inevitability of death in the face of a global pandemic largely affecting the elderly. Kay (Emily Mortimer) and her daughter Sam (Bella Heathcote) travel to grandmother Edna’s (Robyn Nevin) remote Australian home after receiving news that she has disappeared. When Edna returns days later with no memory of where she’s been, the house begins to change, complicating an emotional story of aging with sinister undertones. Directed by Natalie Erika James, who also wrote the script along with Christian White, Relic effectively weaves in elements from Hereditary and The Visit to deliver a terrifying tale that tugs at the heartstrings. The Ties That Bind: Relic struck a nerve with me. The story of a woman dealing with her ailing mother at the end o...
Thandie Newton Says Amy Pascal Pushed for Black Stereotypes
Thandie Newton is no stranger to the ills of Hollywood, and certainly not the industry’s ensuing racism. In a new interview with Vulture, the Westworld star details a particularly harrowing moment with former Sony producer Amy Pascal. For context, Newton had met with Pascal to audition for Charlie’s Angels, McG’s blockbuster reimagining of the ’70s series that would become one of the highest grossing pictures of 2000. Newton wouldn’t go near it — and with good reason. Below is her account of the meeting: I had a meeting with her, and she said, “Look, I don’t mean to be politically incorrect, but the character as written and you playing the role, I just feel like we’ve got to make sure that it’s believable.” I was like, “What do you mean? What changes would you have to make?” She’s like, “W...
Halle Berry Says She’s Playing a Trans Character in an Upcoming Film
Over the past few weeks, the entertainment industry has seen actors step down from voice acting roles because they don’t align with their character’s race — the point being that there are nuances and complexities that are being overlooked. Is the same true for cis, straight actors who portray queer roles? Halle Berry may have to answer that question soon, apparently, because she appears set to portray a trans character in her next film. “I’m thinking of [playing] a character where the woman is a trans character, so she’s a woman that transitioned into a man,” Berry revealed during an Instagram Live Story with hairstylist Christian Brown. “She’s a character in a project I love that I might be doing,” added Berry. “I want to experience that world, understand that world… Who this woman was is...
Tom Hanks Saves Apple TV+’s Greyhound From Sinking: Review
The Pitch: In the North Atlantic during World War II exists a stretch of water known as the Black Pit. It’s there, beyond the reach of any air support, convoys of American supply ships heading toward a battered Britain are attacked by hunting wolfpacks of German U-Boats. Their only protection in this perilous span of water comes by way of accompanying destroyers. One such ship, the USS Keeling (call sign “Greyhound”), is helmed by Commander Ernest Krause (Tom Hanks), who must safeguard his convoy over the course of 50 hours in his first-ever wartime command. Adapted by Hanks from C. S. Forester’s novel The Good Shepherd, Greyhound’s subject matter should come as no surprise. The two-time Academy Award winning actor has explored other World War II stories as the star of Saving Private Ryan ...
R.I.P. Ennio Morricone, Legendary Italian Composer Dies at 91
Ennio Morricone, the Oscar-winning Italian composer who gave life to Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti Westerns and scored over 500 titles for film and television, has died. He was 91. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Morricone died in Rome following complications from a fall last week that resulted in a broken femur bone. One of the most influential composers of all time, Morricone’s resume is infinite and involves essential collaborations with the aforementioned Leone, Giuseppe Tornatore, Dario Argento, Brian De Palma, Quentin Tarantino, John Carpenter, and the list goes on. This is a developing story… You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and...
The 20 Greatest Summer Blockbuster Movie Trailers
Blockbuster Month is celebrating the true titans of the genre. In the weeks ahead, you’ll read through a variety of features digging deep into the greatest hits of Hollywood, from popcorn classics to underrated gems. Today, we head to the theater early with Editor-in-Chief Michael Roffman to revisit the greatest trailers in summer blockbuster history. Hype begins with the trailer. Sure, there’s the studio announcement, the lobby poster, even the intellectual property itself, but there’s nothing like first seeing those epic few minutes. If you’re lucky, you get some glimpses of the action, a sense of the film’s tone, maybe even pieces of a score, and a tagline that sends shivers up your spine. Yeah, that’s when the magic sets in. Today, we take the trailer for granted. We not only know ther...
President Bill Pullman Encourages Face Mask Wearing
In the absence of leadership from the White House, other prominent figures have stepped up and encouraged their fellow Americans to wear face masks. Earlier this week, Tom Hanks put the decision to abstain from face coverings in blunt terms: “Don’t be a pussy, get on with it, do your part.” Now, Bill Pullman — perhaps best known for playing President Thomas J. Whitmore in Independence Day — has filmed a PSA encouraging Americans to follow his lead and wear their “freedom masks.” “Hello America. I may not be your president right now, but I’ve got to tell you that Fourth of July is still my favorite holiday, and it always will be. This Independence Day, I’m going to be celebrating my freedom in an important way. I’m going to be wearing my freedom mask every time I go into public. That’s righ...
Study: Horror Fans Have Shown “Greater Resilience During the Pandemic”
The best way to prepare for a pandemic is to go through a different pandemic, and it doesn’t hurt to participate in some alien invasions or the odd zombie apocalypse. According to a new study, horror fans and “morbidly curious” people have shown “greater resilience during the pandemic.” The research into psychological coping was conducted by scientists at the University of Chicago, Penn State, and Denmark’s Aarhus University. It hasn’t yet been peer reviewed, but a preprint has been giving the internet goosebumps. By looking at 310 individuals, researchers came to the conclusion that “exposure to frightening fictions allow audiences to practice effective coping strategies that can be beneficial in real-world situations.” They wrote, “We found that fans of horror films exhibited greater res...
Tom Cruise Allowed to Skip 14-Day Quarantine in the UK So He Can Resume Filming Mission: Impossible 7
Even in the middle of a pandemic, being a celebrity has its privileges. According to Variety, Tom Cruise is being allowed to bypass a 14-day travel quarantine in the UK so that he can resume production on Mission: Impossible 7. UK culture secretary Oliver Dowden said Cruise would be among a small group of cast and crew members exempt from quarantine “as part of of our continued commitment to getting cameras rolling safely again.” “The world’s biggest blockbusters and high-end TV shows are made in Britain. Our creativity, expertise and highly successful tax reliefs for our screen industries means that we are an in demand location that in turn delivers a great return for our economy,” Dowden explained. “We want the industry to bounce back and exempting small numbers of essential cast an...
HBO Max’s An American Pickle Trailer Gives Us Two Seth Rogens In One Movie: Watch
There’s always room for Seth Rogen — even two of them. Such is the case for An American Pickle, the forthcoming comedy set to premiere on HBO Max on August 6th. Today, the network the film’s first trailer, which you can watch below. Based on Simon Rich’s 2013 New Yorker short story, An American Pickle spins a tall-tale about a struggling immigrant named Herschel Greenbaum (Rogen), who falls into a vat of pickles in 1920 Brooklyn, only to wake up brined and young 100 years later. It gets better: Greenbaum has a grandson named Ben Greenbaum (also played by Rogen), who works as a mild-mannered coder, which obviously doesn’t make a lick of sense to the confused time traveler. Naturally, hi-jinx will ensue. Editors’ Picks Rich wrote the screenplay and cinematographer-turned-filmmaker Bran...
Back to the Future Is Fueled by Huey Lewis and “The Power of Love”
Songs That Made Movies Classics is a feature in which we analyze how the use of a single song helped make a film a modern classic. Today, we go back in time all the way to 1985 … time circuits on. The story behind how Back to the Future got green-lit might actually be a longer and stranger journey than Marty McFly’s own adventures through time. No, the idea for the movie didn’t come to writer-producer Bob Gale while standing on his toilet trying to hang a clock. The creative jolt came when Gale found his father’s senior high school yearbook while rummaging through his parents’ basement during a visit. Intrigued by Gale’s premise, filmmaker Robert Zemeckis, yet to have a film project not flop at the box office, teamed with him in late 1980 on an initial script deal with Columbia Pictures. L...
