Ridley Scott’s 10 Commandments Making Exodus: Gods and Kings Part II

Yesterday we published part I of "Ridley Scott's 10 Commandments Making Exodus: Gods and Kings," looking at how the director and his team of hundreds of talented filmmakers managed to film God's wrath realistically, on location, and without losing the very human story at the Biblical epic's core. Here, then, is Part II, beginning with Scott's 6th commandment:

6. Thou Shalt Wear Tunics, lots and lots of Tunics.

Ridley Scott turned to his longtime 

Ridley Scott’s 10 Commandments Making Exodus: Gods and Kings Part I

This holiday movie season brings us Hollywood’s next—and arguably biggest—Biblical blockbuster to date: Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings. Out December 12th, Scott’s rendition of the Old Testament tale chronicles the story of Moses (Christian Bale) as he leads the Hebrews to freedom in a revolution against his pseudo-brother, the vengeful Rameses (Joel Edgerton). With the help of screenwriters Steve Zallian, Adam Cooper and Bill Collage, Scott brought a film as grandiose in scale as the ancient Egyptian era itself,

Remembering a Giant: A Mike Nichols Watch List

The passing of Mike Nichols on Wednesday, at the age of 83, brings to an end one of the most successful careers in the entertainment business, period. One of the few people to have won an Oscar, Tony, Emmy and a Grammy, Nichols excelled on the big screen, small screen and on the stage for more than fifty-years. He was 80 when he accepted the Tony for directing the astonishing revival of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman in 2012,

A Woman Goes Into the Wild

In the search for more female lead roles in Hollywood, Reese Witherspoon provides a guide map of how to do it—all while garnering Oscar buzz. In Wild, director Jean-Marc Vallée and Academy Award nominated screenwriter Nick Hornby bring the true-life story of Cheryl Strayed’s 1,100 mile hike (in truth, it was more than double that with all the switch-backs) along the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) to through a raw performance by Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon.

Music for the Mind: Composer Alexandre Desplat on The Imitation Game

Composer Alexandre Desplat has been nominated for six Academy Awards, starting with his work on The Queen in 2006. He bookended his take on the music beneath royal narratives with his nomination for The King’s Speech in 2010. He’s also the man behind the score for franchise blockbusters (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, The Twilight Saga: New Moon), international sagas (Zero Dark Thirty,

Ava DuVernay’s Selma set to Stun Audiences on Christmas Day

Three major films about three tumultuous periods of American history will hit select theaters on Christmas Day. That two of the three films are directed by women is something to be excited about, and that one of those women is a woman of color, and that her film is covers one of the most crucial three months in American history, marks this single day as one of the most significant of the entire year in film.

You've no doubt heard about Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken (covering the story of Olympian and American soldier Louis Zamperini’s imprisonment by the Japanese during World War II),

Prepping You for Mockingjay – Part I

When it's all said and done, Francis Lawrence will have directed three of the four films in the Hunger Games franchise. His task for the final two was not easy. As the filmmakers did with Harry Potter’s final book, Suzanne Collins’ third and final book has been split into two films.

In the event that you have not been keeping up with news in Panem—the future America in which the Hunger Games films take place—several of the districts are now in a full-blown revolt as a result of Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence,

Director Michelle MacLaren’s a Wonder Woman

It’s time to get excited about a comic-book movie that’s not directed by Christopher Nolan or Joss Whedon, that doesn’t star or co-star or have a cameo by Robert Downey Jr., and that's not centered on a brooding dude, or a rich, conflicted dude, or a bunch of dudes with various powers. We're talking about a film that’s poised to make a household name of not one woman but two. Your excitement will be warranted,

Top Flight Stunt & Effects Team Jacks Up Horrible Bosses 2

Horrible Bosses 2 is both a comedy and an action movie; its' protagonists spectacularly idiotic schemes lead to all manner of mayhem. The first Horrible Bosses, bowing in 2011, was a hit, follwing a rich cinematic tradition of pitting hopelessly maligned employees against their superiors. Some of the more memorable horrible bosses in film history include Meryl Streep's humiliator-in-chief Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada, Gary Cole's all to real turn as supervisor Bill Lumbergh in 

Welcome to Where To Watch: Your Favorite Films & TV Shows All in One Place

Finding your favorite films and TV shows legally and quickly online has always involved searching and sifting. There are more than 100 platforms that legally stream content now, but there's never been a single source to help you find them, and, find out what movies and shows they're offering. Simply searching for “Inside Llewyn Davis legal streaming” brings up RottenTomatoes.com (which then directs you elsewhere), Amazon, some illegal service (negating the “legal” in your original search to begin with),

At Long Last Filmgoers Will Head Into the Woods

Into the Woods began its life as a musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, debuting on Broadway on November 5, 1987 at the Martin Beck Theater. Former New York Times' theater critic Frank Rich (later an Op-Ed writer, now an editor-at-large at New York Magazine) wrote in his review, "The characters of ''Into the Woods" may be figures from children's literature, but their journey is the same painful,

Disney Animation Pushes the Boundaries of Technology With Big Hero 6

Fighting an evil villain and saving the day are probably not very high on an average teenager’s daily to-do list. But for robotics prodigy Hiro Hamada, star of Walt Disney Animation Studios’  animated feature Big Hero 6, those tasks just happen to pop up on a typical weekday. With the film opening in domestic theaters this past Friday, audiences are now joining the mini mastermind and his inflatable robot sidekick, Baymax, on an action-packed adventure as they get entangled in a dangerous plot unfolding in the bustling,

Beyond Interstellar: 12 Films to Put On Your Calendar

After months and months of speculation that Christopher Nolan alone seems able to create around his films, the general public will get a chance to weigh in on his most passionate project yet, Interstellar. You’ve already heard about Interstellar. Everyone has. What we thought we’d do is give you a quick cheat sheet on some upcoming films, leading you right to Christmas day.

November 14

It’ll be a very strong week for serious film,

Harsh Conditions Bring out the Best in The Homesman‘s Crew

When we interviewed Marco Beltrami, he was particularly jazzed up about the work he did for Tommy Lee Jones’ upcoming film The Homesman. Beltrami is the type of composer who seeks out directors (as he did with Joon-ho Bong for Snowpiercer) and he was excited about Jones’ second directorial effort. The film’s set in the punishing Nebraska frontier in the middle of the 19th century. This inspired Beltrami to record a lot of his score outdoors,

From Scream to Snowpiercer: Composer Marco Beltrami

At the age of 30, composer Marco Beltrami was the composer on a little film by horror master Wes Craven called Scream. It was 1996, and it was the first horror film he had ever worked on. It was also the first horror film he had ever seen. 

This might explain why his approach to the score didn't follow the typical conventions of horror, and might go some way to explaining how he's built his impressive career on his thoughtful, searching approach to a film without worrying about its'

Three-time Academy Award Winning Costume Designer Colleen Atwood Talks Shop

Colleen Atwood is one of the most prolific costume designers of her generation. She has never gone more than four years without a Oscar nomination, beginning with her work on Little Women in 1994 and leading up to her nomination for Snow White and the Huntsman in 2012. Atwood is responsible for one of the most iconic pieces of a costume in film history (more on this later), and has had her hand in some of Tim Burton’s greatest creations.

Sundance East? Middleburg Film Festival’s Second Year A Success

In 1974, the little town of Telluride, Colorado was the location for what would become one of the most influential film festivals in North America. At the time, Telluride was a highly unlikely a candidate to become a place where filmmakers and dealmakers would gather and careers would be made. As Salman Rushdie explained in his essay on the festival some thirteen years ago for The Guardian, the town was originally named “To Hell You Ride” by 19th century silver miners who “tobogganed down the mountains to what was then a wild place,” it was where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid robbed their first bank and was,

Marveling at New Art, Photos, Videos for Avengers: Age of Ultron

There's a moment in Birdman where Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) is throwing a bunch of actor's names at his producer Jake (Zach Galifianakis) as possible replacements for one of his injured co-stars. Woody Harrelson, Michael Fassbender and Jeremy Renner (whose name he can't remember) are all no good because they're busy with their own billion-dollar franchises (The Hunger Games, X-Men and Avengers for the uninitiated). The actor they do get is theater legend Mike Shiner,

The Middleburg Film Festival to Honor Two Below-the-Line Giants

The Middleburg Film Festival, at just two years old, offers a strong program of films and an appreciation for the many talented craftsmen and women who make them. This year, the festival is honoring two below-the-line filmmakers, our raison d'être, who are both giants in their field. The Credits is heading down to Virginia today to get in on the action.

The honorees are costume designer Colleen Atwood and composer Marco Beltrami. The Distinguished Costume Designer Award will be presented to Atwood on Friday night with a retrospective of her most memorable costumes, followed by a masquerade ball in her honor.

After 20-Years, We Need Lloyd and Harry More Than Ever

A recent college grad who has written for The Credits before was born in 1991, making her three years old when Dumb and Dumber was released. When asked if she’d ever seen it, she said, “Duh. I have four older brothers.”

Yet to an editor of a certain age, it seems almost inconceivable that Peter and Bobby Farrelly’s Dumb and Dumber is twenty years old, and that now there’s a sequel.