Film
Hellraiser Review: A True Reboot That’s Pretty Darned Good
The Pitch: The eleventh film in the Hellraiser franchise finds a recovering addict named Riley (Odessa A’zion) stealing and unlocking a mysterious puzzle box, which summons sadomasochists from beyond the grave, led by their high priest Pinhead (Jamie Clayton). These mutilated “Cenobites” will drag either Riley or someone she chooses — intentionally or otherwise — into a supernatural dimension where torment and ecstasy are indistinguishable, and eternal. Now it’s up to Riley and her boyfriend Trevor (Drew Starkey) to uncover the mysteries of the box and stop the Cenobites before they drag everyone into a kinky version of hell. Yes, There Are Eleven Hellraisers: Hellraiser may be one of the most famous modern horror movie franchises, but there hasn’t been a theatrical installment in wi...
Ryan Coogler Says He Almost Quit Film After Chadwick Boseman Died
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Albert L. Ortega / Getty As fans around the world await Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, director Ryan Coogler revealed that he almost left film for good after the death of actor Chadwick Boseman. In an interview, the director and screenwriter spoke candidly about how much the loss of his friend in August 2020 impacted him. “I was at a point when I was like, ‘I’m walking away from this business,’” Coogler said to Entertainment Weekly. “I didn’t know if I could make another movie period, [let alone] another Black Panther movie, because it hurt a lot. I was like, ‘Man, how could I open myself up to feeling like this again?’” Related Stories He took time to reflect on all the moments that he and Boseman shared together while making Black...
Quentin Tarantino Announces US Book Tour
Quentin Tarantino has announced a US tour in support of his forthcoming book, Cinema Speculation. The outing is slated for this November. In Cinema Speculation, out November 1st via HarperCollins, Tarantino blends criticism and personal history while delving into films from the 1970s that he first saw as a young cinephile. On his six-date book tour, the filmmaker will read an excerpt from his work and speak with film critics and historians. You can pre-order the book here. Tickets to the trek — which stops in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Austin, and New York City — go on sale Friday, October 7th at 10:00 a.m. local time. Each ticket gets fans a copy of Cinema Speculation. The San Francisco and New York dates are on sale via Ticketmaster, while you can grab tick...
Blue’s Clues Hosts Steve, Joe, and Josh Take on New York City in Movie Trailer: Watch
For the first time ever, all three hosts in the history of Blue’s Clues have come together for the trailer to Blue’s Big City Adventure, the first feature-length movie in the beloved Nickelodeon series’ universe. In the clip, current Blue’s Clues & You host Josh Dela Cruz and the titular pup hit Broadway, only to realize Josh forgot his “handy dandy notebook.” Their animated friends at home have the same realization, and head to New York to track down original host Steve Burns at his Blue Prints detective agency to help them find Josh. Naturally, Steve’s successor and fictional brother Joe (played by Donovan Patton) tags along. Here’s the official description: “When Josh gets the opportunity of a lifetime to audition for Rainbow Puppy’s Broadway musical, Josh and Blue skidoo to NY...
NYFF Review: Noah Baumbach Delightfully Skewers Our Fear of Death in White Noise
This review is part of our coverage of the 2022 New York Film Festival. The Pitch: Dom LeLillo’s White Noise is one of those “great American novels” long thought to be unfilmable, a scattered, acerbic takedown of late American capitalism and its incessant need to distract from the inevitability of death with movies, culture, conversation, stuff. And honestly, it’s oddly fitting that the filmmaker who’d finally tackle it would be Indie Darling Noah Baumbach himself: Like DeLillo, he too is concerned with the fits and foibles of academia, the crumbling nature of the family unit, the ways we cling to ephemera just to keep ourselves from falling apart. And so it is with this three-part tale of the Gladney clan, a nuclear family about to go metaphorically (and in some ways litera...
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Trailer Reveals New Suits and Villains: Watch
We’re finally one step closer to returning to Wakanda: Marvel has unveiled the first full-length trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The preview arrives just under a month away from the sequel’s November 11th release, which comes four years after the smash original Black Panther. A first teaser for the film debuted at San Diego Comic-Con back in summer, but this new trailer gives us deeper looks at the cast. Amongst the returning characters are Shuri (Letitia Wright), Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), Okoye (Danai Gurira), and Ayo (Florence Kasumba). All of them are in mourning over the loss of T’Challa (the late, great Chadwick Boseman), but the death of their king and Black Panther protector has apparently opened them up to outside aggressors — particula...
Sacheen Littlefeather, Who Stood in for Marlon Brando at 1973 Oscars, Dead at 75
Sacheen Littlefeather, who endured racist mockery and threats of arrest and violence when she appeared on Marlon Brando’s behalf at the 1973 Oscars and declined his award for Best Actor, has died at the age of 75. According to Variety, Littlefeather passed away Sunday, October 2nd, following a battle with breast cancer. As president of the National Native American Affirmative Image Committee, Littlefeather stood in for Brando to protest the mistreatment of American Indians in the film industry. Moments before she took the stage, ceremony producer Howard Koch told her that she would be arrested if she talked for longer than 60 seconds. During her speech, she was mocked with tomahawk chops and ululation, and John Wayne reportedly had to be restrained from charging the podium and attack...
Will Smith’s Apple Thriller ‘Emancipation’ Gets First Screening
Apple held the first screening for Will Smith and Antoine Fuqua’s upcoming film, Emancipation, on Saturday (Oct. 1) in Washington D.C. Though the fate of the project seemingly hung in the balance following Smith’s now-infamous Oscars slap, the screening indicates Apple is looking to release it soon. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news At the 2022 Oscars, Smith walked onstage during the ceremony and surprised the world when he slapped presenter Chris Rock, who had made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Since then, Smith has resigned from the Academy, some of his projects have been put on hold, and he has apologized to Rock, Rock’s family, his fellow Oscar winners and more. Apple and NAACP hosted the Eman...
Till Digs Into a Deeply Shameful, Deeply American Tragedy: Review
This review is part of our coverage of the 2022 New York Film Festival. The Pitch: The horrific, deeply shameful, and deeply American story of Emmett Till galvanized the civil rights movement with its tragedy: A 14-year-old Black boy from Chicago, visiting relatives in Mississippi, was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered for having the temerity to interact with a white woman, and Emmett’s mother Mamie Till-Mobley (then known as Mamie Till-Bradley) made the momentous decision to have an open-coffin funeral for her son, displaying his body, mutilated by his killers and bloated from being dumped into a river. These images, heavily circulated in Black publications, brought attention to the evils and injustice of U.S. racism — though they were not enough for Till’s killers (who admitted to the cr...
Paul Schrader’s Master Gardener Treads Very Familiar Soil: Review
This review is part of our coverage of the 2022 New York Film Festival. The Pitch: So there’s this stoic-looking man, sitting at a desk in a dark, spartan room, writing in his journal as we hear his thoughts in voiceover. That’s the set-up for Paul Schrader’s Master Gardener, as it was for his previous two films, The Card Counter and First Reformed. This was also the spirit, at least, of many other movies he has written and/or directed over the years, but his most recent unofficial trilogy takes on a ritualistic quality, as if Schrader is performing his version of stations of the cross, on progressively skimpier budgets. The newest iteration stars Joel Edgerton as Narvel Roth, head horticulturist at Gracewood Gardens, and though his routines appear regimented, he also seems closer to peace...
The Nostalgia of Hocus Pocus 2 Only Serves Itself
Hocus Pocus 2, the long-awaited-by-some sequel to the 1993 fantasy comedy horror film rocking the same name, is best summed up with a stray fart joke. A newly resurrected Mary Sanderson (Kathy Najimy), one of the three nefarious Sanderson sisters (Salem witches whose 1600s reign of terror over the town ended by the noose) stumbles into a Walgreens. She and her siblings, Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Winifred (Bette Midler), are in search of provisions, and lured into entering the pharmacy by the film’s teen heroes. One by one they walk in. Mary, awed by the automatic doors, steps through and immediately, casually, unwarrantedly trumpets her flatulence. End scene. Farts are funny when they have a point. Hocus Pocus 2’s fart has no point. Mary farts because the filmmakers, producers, and ...
American Pie Reboot to Traumatize New Generation of Pastries
Preheat your ovens and clean your flutes, a reboot of American Pie is in the works at Universal. As The Hollywood Reporter notes, this “fresh take” on the horny high school romp comes from filmmaker Sujata Day, who played Sarah on Insecure and who made her directorial debut with the 2020 spelling bee dramedy, Definition Please. All things considered, a fresh take is probably a good idea, considering that the male entitlement of the original hasn’t aged well. But on the bright side, it did wonders for the cast. Jennifer Coolidge recently said her role as Stifler’s mom allowed her to sleep with “200 people” that she wouldn’t have otherwise. 1997’s American Pie was directed by Paul Weitz from a script by Adam Herz. It starred Jason Biggs, Alys...
