5 Interesting Choices Made by Cast & Crew in Skype Horror Unfriended
There are few things creepier in life than an unexplained, unwanted intrusion on our privacy. In the pre-internet era, the phone was the communication medium of choice for sadists to torture their victims in films. When a Stranger Calls (1979) revolves around that phone call from the titular stranger to a babysitter named Jill (Carol Kane), asking “have you checked the children?” Spoiler alert; the police trace the call and tell the babysitter the call is coming from inside the house.
Lies, Illusions & Murder: A Look at True Story
Journalist Michael Finkel had a promising career ahead of him when he started at the New York Times Magazine, although his future was soon shattered by his own mistakes. Finkel was caught fabricating elements of his feature story “Is Youssouf Malé a Slave?” which looked at the life of the young, titular laborer on a cocoa plantation on the Ivory Coast. Although Malé was a real boy, it was revealed that Finkel had create the version you meet in the article from a composite of several boys he met,
Animation for Adults: Oscar Nominee Bill Plympton’s Gorgeous Cheatin’ World
Cheatin’, directed by Academy Award nominee Bill Plympton, the “King of Indie Animation,” is the animated, adults-only tale of love, jealousy, revenge and murder. It follows the story of Jake and Ella, who meet and become lovers — and then ultimately face problems when an “other” woman comes between them. “The personal inspiration for the film came from a relationship I had years ago, when I was madly in love with a woman and we moved in together,
Making It: Ruth De Jong’s Designs on Paul Thomas Anderson & Terrence Malick
Ruth De Jong never thought she would end up working on movies. She wanted to be a painter.
But now, a decade into her career as a production designer and art director, she’s tallied up credits on films like The Tree of Life, To the Wonder and Knight of Cups from director Terrence Malick, and There Will Be Blood, The Master and Inherent Vice with Paul Thomas Anderson.
Before & After: Watch What Crowdfunding Did for Aurora in 2 Trailers
On April 26, 2013, Aurora was posted on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter. Aurora’s an ambitious sci-fi love story set after a human-created apocalypse has destroyed the Earth and left the machines they created to protect them in control. The machines, led by a super-computer named Kronos, take over under the guise of creating a utopia. Sixty years later, the protagonist, Andrew (Julian Schaffner), finds himself living in this Kronos-ruled world when he meets Calia (Jeannine Wacker),
Sesame Street spoofs Game of Thrones With Game of Chairs
In the land of Jesteros, no one could have seen this plot twist coming…
Sesame Street is on point once again with their parody of Game of Thrones; sorry, we mean Game of Chairs. Ned Stark, along with Grover (Bluejoy), is in charge of administering the game (musical chairs), which will crown the new king or queen. Robb Stark, Cersei Lannister, Joffrey Baratheon, and Daenerys Targaryen are all on hand to fight for the ‘Iron Throne’
Check-It Follows a DC Gang that Disproves Gay Clichés
Filmmakers Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer (The Nine Lives of Marion Barry) are relying on an Indiegogo crowdfunding platform to raise $60,000 to finish Check It, their documentary about a gay gang in one of Washington D.C.’s most violent neighborhoods. The campaign ends on April 4 — and as of this writing they have raised a bit more than $53,000 — or approximately 89 percent of their goal.
The film,
3 Countries, Forged Art, Lighting? The Struggles of Directing Woman in Gold
In 2011, in his cinematic directorial debut, Simon Curtis helped bring a simple yet personal story to life in the film My Week with Marilyn. The film— which told the true tale of a young man’s adventures with Marilyn Monroe during one eventful week in the 1950s— earned critical raves and helped nab Oscar nominations for stars Michelle Williams and Kenneth Branagh.
This year, Curtis has brought another incredible true story to the big screen in the new film The Woman in Gold.
Sick Ride: A Look at Furious 7‘s Supercharged Cars
“Cars are like a cowboy’s horse or a Samurai’s sword. They are an extension of our heroes and representative of their personalities," says Furious 7 screenwriter Chris Morgan. "We always try to maintain that philosophy but accomplish it in a fresh new way with every film. The constant though: Brian (the late Paul Walker) will always get the fast car, while Dom (Vin Diesel) always gets the furious car.”
Actress Katharine Emmer Wanted A Life in Color, so she Became a Director
NYU graduate Katharine Emmer looked to have a bright acting career in front of her. She landed an episode of Desperate Housewives; she had a role in indie film Puccini for Beginners, which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. At NYU she was the recipient of the Annual Tisch Artistic Achievement Award. But even with her growing resume, she was not a full-time working actor;
Masterminds Trailer Delivers a Solid Gut-Punch
This trailer for Masterminds starts off like so many armored car/ bank heist thrillers – the set up is a news broadcast of the theft in a shaky, blurry camera and a newscaster's voice over explaining the audacity of a bank robbery– but it all changes, and becomes wonderfully Galifianakian, with a bullet in the pants, “It feels like it just grazed my biscuits, right in between stuff,” Zach Galifianakis says.
This tease for Masterminds is chock full of the raw fun and sensationally silly escapades we've come to expect from America's preeminent clown (he can really act,
It’s Hard to Tell Who’s Crazy in the New Mad Max: Fury Road Trailer
While watching the new Mad Max: Fury Road trailer, the phrase that resonates is, “Oh, what a day! What a lovely day!”
Director George Miller’s trailer is a breathtaking tease for the return of the Mad Max ‘franchise’ after a 30-year gap. We get a snippet of context for the high adrenaline car chases. We get a Charlize Theron with a fantastic buzz cut and four unidentified girls trying to escape,
New Trailer for Straight Outta Compton Raw & Exciting
The new Straight Outta Compton trailer has all the power of the movement that inspired it. N.W.A. was the musical progenitor of a new, and largely ignored, raw urban voice. Even in this short clip, we get a taste of the story of an America that we don’t read about in many history books, but nonetheless was a lived experience for millions. For N.W.A., including Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, MC Ren and Eazy-E, their “art was a reflection of their reality.”
Lethal Force: Sheriff Confronts SWAT Team he Founded in Peace Officer
“Since the late 1970s, there has been a 15,000% increase in SWAT team raids in the United States.” This alarming fact is revealed in Peace Officer, an extremely timely, unsettling documentary that swept the Audience and Jury Awards for best feature documentary at this year’s SXSW Film Festival. Directed by Scott Christopherson and Brad Barber, Peace Officer focuses on the increasingly militarized state of American police, told through the story of Dub Lawrence,
Sandy Powell Creates the Couture of Cinderella
Shakespeare in Love, The Aviator, and The Young Victoria. These are but a few titles on legendary costume designer Sandy Powell’s illustrious resume. It’s funny to think she’s from this modern day and age, because her designs perfectly represent the day, age, history, and emotion of each film she is a part of. It’s as if she travels back in time to design her many sartorial masterpieces.
Prolific Screenwriter Dan Fogelman on Directing Debut Danny Collins
Not yet in his 40s, Dan Fogelman is a force to be reckoned with.
In the past ten years, Fogelman has written over a half-dozen hit films. He was the screenwriter responsible for animated hits like Cars, Bolt, and Tangled and star-studded comedies like Crazy, Stupid, Love, The Guilt Trip and Last Vegas. He also helped create television shows like The Neighbors and Galavant.
Avengers: Age of Ultron Teases Quicksilver & The Scarlet Witch
Joss Whedon recently said that Avengers: Age of Ultron was by far and away the most challenging film he’s made, largely to do the sequel’s super-sized cast. It was tough enough to juggle the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, the Black Widow, Nick Fury, Captain America (honestly it just keeps going), but Ultron makes the original Avengers look like a walk in the park.
Well,
Juliano Ribeiro Salgado on his Doc The Salt of the Earth
The Oscar-nominated documentary Salt of the Earth, which opens theatrically this week, examines the life and work of Brazilian-born photographer Sebastião Salgado. But it’s much more. Co-directed by Wim Wenders and Salgado’s son, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, it’s a portrait of the artist whose bracing visuals are matched by a deep empathy for humanity and a social conscience that has taken him to the most troubled areas around the globe.
It is also a powerful father/son story.
Insurgent Producer Todd Lieberman on Getting a Big Film Done Quick
Insurgent stormed into theaters last Friday, the second film adaptation of Vernoica Roth’s “Divergent” novels, starring Shailene Woodley as the resourceful, courageous Tris. Set in a dystopian future Chicago obliterated by war, the people are separated into personality-based factions and ruled by the increasingly iron fist of Jeanine (Kate Winslet). Tris, as the first film in the series was titled, is a "Divergent," meaning she's a little bit country and a little bit rock-n-roll and doesn't comfortably fit into any one faction.
It’s Me, Hilary Director Matt Wolf Discusses his HBO Doc
Who exactly is Hilary Knight, the artist behind the iconic "Eloise" books? Director Matt Wolf sets out to paint a complete portrait of the now 88-year-old artist, covering not only his odd and wonderful life as an illustrator but also his often contemptuous relationship with not only his most famous creation, the character of Eloise, but also to Eloise author Kay Thompson, who passed away in 1998. If you missed last night’s premiere of It’s Me,
