Film
Spike Lee Thinks Gone With the Wind and The Birth of a Nation Should Be Screened With Proper “Context”
Legendary director Spike Lee thinks that problematic films like Gone With the Wind and The Birth of a Nation should still be seen — provided the viewing experience includes “historical social context.” Lee shared his thoughts in an interview with Moonlight director Barry Jenkins. The conversation about Lee’s career and latest movie Da 5 Bloods quickly veered into a discussion on two of the most famous movies in history — both of which are also notoriously racist. 1939’s Gone With the Wind is America’s highest-grossing film ever, adjusted for inflation, but its depiction of Black people as cheerfully dumb and eternally grateful to white people was bad when it was first released and hasn’t improved since. 1915’s The Birth of a Nation was originally titled T...
AMC Theaters and Universal Shorten Theatrical Window to 17 Days Under Landmark New Deal
The United States’ inability to effectively combat the coronavirus pandemic is already forcing lasting changes in the entertainment industry. The latest stems out of a new deal between AMC Theaters and Universal Pictures, which will see the theatrical exclusivity for newly released movies reduced to just 17 days. As The Hollywood Reporter reports, the deal only applies to AMC’s US locations, but covers releases from both Universal and Focus Features. After a 17-day period that must include three separate weekends, the studios will have the option to make their movies available as video on demand rentals. While details are largely being kept undisclosed, it appears AMC will receive a revenue share from the VOD streaming. This marks a huge about-face for AMC, which had frequently threat...
David Lynch is Spending His Time in Quarantine Making YouTube Videos
Quarantine has changed a lot for David Lynch. It’s given him time to jumpstart his weather report series, upload never-streamed-before short films, and literally voice his support for Black Live Matter. Arguably best of all, it’s granted him ample time to expand his YouTube channel and find some much needed inner peace, both of which he talked about in a rare new interview with The Daily Beast. The legendary director is a man of few words, but that didn’t stop him from explaining how the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has altered his life for the better. Technically he was already making plans for his YouTube channel, David Lynch Theater, after filming for Twin Peaks: The Return wrapped, but it wasn’t until the “beautiful” life of forced isolation arrived that he found time to brin...
Clueless Reimagines Jane Austen’s Emma as Only Amy Heckerling Could
Page to Screen is a recurring column in which 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. This time, he hits the mall to celebrate 25 years of the ’90s classic Clueless. <img data-attachment-id="609595" data-permalink="https://consequenceofsound.net/2015/06/a-tale-of-two-jurassic-parks/cos_page_to_screen-2/" data-orig-file="https://consequenceofsound.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/cos_page_to_screen.jpg?quality=80" data-orig-size="2400,2400" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"&quo...
Blockbuster Month Roundup: Essays, Features, Lists, and Merch
Blockbuster Month has come to an end. All throughout July, Consequence of Sound celebrated the blockbuster experience and the true titans of the genre with a variety of features that dug deep into the greatest hits of Hollywood — from popcorn classics to underrated gems. There were lists, there were op-eds, there were interviews, and there was plenty of merchandise. It was a truly spirited event that saw many of our strongest writers buckle under the whims of nostalgia. Thank you, Mr. Spielberg! Fortunately, like all of our old VHS tapes, you can revisit that magic below — and you should. After all, our favorite blockbusters aren’t going anywhere, especially not as Covid-19 continues to keep new releases at bay. So, clean out that popcorn bowl, make another batch, and enjoy the show (again...
What’s Streaming on Shudder in August 2020
Shudder is ready to close out the summer by turning up the heat. In August, AMC’s horror streaming service has curated a twisted lineup of originals, classics, and premieres to get us ready for the spooky season ahead. For original features, there’s Rob Savage’s quarantine-based Host, Jayro Bustamante’s politically-charged La Llorona, Jay Baruchel’s new slasher Random Acts of Violence, and Frank Sabatella’s vampiric subversion The Shed. And after kicking off summer, Joe Bob Briggs is ready to bring the house down with a double-feature they’ve dubbed a Summer Sleepover. Special guests are promised, and they’ve already confirmed Hatchet director Adam Green. But there are also a handful of classic being added to the service, including Jawbreaker, Urban Legends: Final Cut, and the original Rin...
Alan Menken Become 16th Person to Achieve EGOT Status
Alan Menken has become the 16th person to achieve EGOT status after claiming a Daytime Emmy Award this past weekend. The veteran composer had already won 11 Grammys and eight Academy Awards thanks to his songwriting contributions for Disney classics like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and Tangled. In 2012, he received his first Tony Award for the score to Newsies. His latest accolade, and the final piece of his EGOT crown, came this past weekend when he received a Daytime Emmy Award. Specifically, Menken’s song “Waiting in the Wings”, from Tangled: The Series: Rapunzel and the Great Tree, was awarded outstanding original song in a children’s, young adult or animated program. Menken is the 16th EGOT winner to date and first since 2018, when John Legend, Andrew Lloyd Webb...
Dave Franco Will Star as Vanilla Ice in New Biopic
Dave Franco will step into the parachute pants of Vanilla Ice for an upcoming biopic. Born Rob Van Winkle, Vanilla Ice’s popularity peaked in the ’90s as a one-hit wonder with gravity-defying hair. His “Ice Ice Baby” became the first hip-hop single to top the charts, simultaneously pushing rap music into the mainstream while proving that white people have questionable taste. Franco revealed that he’ll star as Van Winkle in a new interview with Insider. He suggested that the movie is “inching closer to preproduction,” and that he has been in contact with Vanilla Ice himself. “Rob is such a sweet and intelligent guy and he’s been super helpful in the process of getting all the details correct and making us privy to information the public doesn’t know,” Franco said. “Just talk...
AMC Theatres Delays Reopening Until Mid-to-Late August
AMC Theatres will remain closed until mid-to-late August across the US. On Thursday morning, the world’s largest theater chain confirmed that it would not be re-opening on July 30th as previously reported. Mind you, this marks the third postponement. “This new timing reflects currently expected release dates for much anticipated blockbusters like Warner Bros.’ Tenet and Disney’s Mulan, as well as release dates for several other new movies coming to AMC’s big screens,” the company said in a statement. On Monday, Tenet was indefinitely postponed, while Mulan remains slated for an August 21st release. Both titles are expected to adrenalize the industry. Of course, it should also be noted that AMC has opened its theaters across Europe and the Middle East. Reason being, those cou...
R.I.P. Olivia de Havilland, Oscar-Winning Actress and Star of Gone With the Wind Dies at 104
Olivia de Havilland, two-time Academy Award-winning actress and one of the last remaining stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age, has died at the age of 104. de Havilland died of natural causes at her home in Paris, according to her publicist. The British-American actress is perhaps best known for her role as Melanie Hamilton in 1939’s Gone With The Wind, for which she received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, but lost to fellow cast member Hattie McDaniel. de Havilland won her first Academy Award for Best Actress in 1946 for the film To Each His Own, and then again in 1949 for her performance in William Wyler’s The Heiress, which was based on the Henry James novel Washington Square. Arguably her most popular films, though, were the string of adventure films she made with Errol Fl...
Joe Keery Plays an Evil Driver in Trailer for Spree: Watch
Joe Keery is back, but not to save the day. The Stranger Things star is ditching his Hawkins hero guise for a devilish new look in the forthcoming rideshare thriller Spree. The film hits VOD on August 14th via RLJE Films and they’ve just dropped a trailer. Directed by Eugene Kotlyarenko, Keery plays Kurt, a 23-year-old rideshare driver that’s hungrier than ever to go viral. So hungry, in fact, that he’s devised an uncompromising scheme that takes advantage of his passengers. Judging from the trailer below, Spree appears to find itself in the found-footage genre as Keery’s character has wired his car with a number of cameras to capture the mayhem. Because of this, there’s an air of authenticity to the chaos. Editors’ Picks In addition to Keery, the film stars a who’s who of cast membe...
R.I.P. John Saxon, A Nightmare on Elm Street Actor Dies at 83
John Saxon, veteran actor who fought both Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon and Freddy Krueger in three A Nightmare on Elm Street films, passed away in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on Saturday, July 25th. He was 83 years old. According to The Hollywood Reporter, his wife confirmed Saxon died from pneumonia. Born to an Italian-American family in Brooklyn, New York, Saxon studied acting with Stella Adler and began as a contract actor for Universal in the ’50s and ’60s. His career took a major turn with 1966’s The Appaloosa, earning him a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe for playing a Mexican bandit opposite Marlon Brando. [embedded content] By the ’70s, Saxon became one of Hollywood’s most recognizable character actors. Ever the tough guy, he duked it out in several Westerns such as 1972’s Joe...
