How Simon Franglen Brought Punk Energy and Mongolian Instruments to “Avatar: Fire and Ash”
The audible experience of an Avatar film is as ambitious as the groundbreaking visuals. With both familiar and otherworldly cues, composer Simon Franglen develops textured cues and themes that draw audiences into the story. Together with the sound effects, Franglen, his orchestra, and collaborators deliver another transportive score in James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash.
As vast as the world of Pandora is, the experience for Franglen scoring these mammoth spectacles is counterintuitively intimate.
Shaken & Stirred: “The Testament of Ann Lee” DP William Rexer on Capturing Amanda Seyfried’s Fearless Performance
Intimate and uninhibited, director Mona Fastvold’s (co-writer, executive producer, and 2nd unit director of The Brutalist) The Testament of Ann Lee is a devoted biopic about the unusual founder of the Shaker movement, Mother Ann Lee (Amanda Seyfried). Considered a representative of God, Lee guided her offshoot of the Quakers into existence during a period of English Evangelical revival, but the group’s unrestrained dancing, curtailed sexual relations, and encouragement of gender equality were unique even within the broader religious resurgence.
Netflix Unveils 2026 Slate Includes “Beef” Season 2, Greta Gerwig’s “Narnia,” Charlize Theron-led “Apex”
Netflix has unveiled its 2026 film slate, including a peek at one of the streamer’s homegrown superstars, Millie Bobby Brown, first post-Stranger Things project, the third installment of the series Enola Holmes.
Also featured in the four-minute-plus look at their 2026 slate is the Ben Affleck/Matt Damon-led film The Rip, in which Affleck and Damon play two Miami police officers who lead the squad that works “the dope game,” which includes seizing money.
“Marty Supreme” Composer Daniel Lopatin on Blending Synths & Orchestra for Timothée Chalamet’s Ultra Ambitious Striver
Oscar-shortlisted composer Daniel Lopatin earned a reputation amongst electronic music fans for his steady stream of experimental solo albums recorded under the name OneOhTrix Point Never. But it’s Lopatin’s pulsating score for Marty Supreme that will surely expose his synth-driven compositions to a broader audience.
Filmed in New York City and set in 1952, writer-director Josh Safdie’s fact-based movie stars Timothée Chalamet as ping-pong hustler Marty Mauser,
Sebastian Stan in Talks to Join Robert Pattinson & Scarlett Johansson in “The Batman: Part II”
Sebastian Stan has had a long, fruitful run in the MCU playing Bucky Barnes, also known by his unbeatable antihero-turned-superhero title, the Winter Soldier. Now Stan may be joining fellow MCU alum Scarlett Johansson to deploy to Gotham City in Matt Reeves’ The Batman: Part II.
Considering Stan’s played a villain (of sorts) in Captain America: The Winter Soldier as the brainwashed super-soldier in the second half of the title and the noble defender of justice as the heroic,
“They Will Kill You” Trailer: Zazie Beetz Has an Axe to Grind in Kirill Sokolov’s Horror-Comedy
We open on a stormy New York night in the first trailer for writer/director Kirill Sokolov’s They Will Kill You, Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema’s upcoming horror-comedy produced by, among others, It filmmaker Andy Muschietti. We quickly proceed inside the Virgil Building, which is “one of the most exclusive buildings in Manhattan,” we’re told. And who’s doing the telling? The always-excellent Patricia Arquette, who welcomes a stranger to her door,
Inside “Stranger Things” Season 5: DP Caleb Heymann on Will’s Visions, Vecna’s Mind-Maze, & Demogorgon Drones
The fifth and final season of Stranger Things may take place over the course of a few November days, but the Duffer Brothers’ ever-ambitious epic took almost a year to shoot. Volume 1, the season’s first four episodes, saw Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) putting her powers to work in the Upside Down, Will (Noah Schnapp) telepathically connecting with demogorgons, and the youngest Wheeler sibling, Holly (Tinsley Price), taken prisoner by Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower),
“Avatar: Fire and Ash” Scene-Stealer Oona Chaplin on Creating the Captivating, Vengeful Varang
If ever there was an actor more perfectly aligned with the ethos of James Cameron and the world of Pandora, it’s Oona Chaplin. Chaplin’s first conversation with Cameron revolved around biodynamic and organic farming. She is an activist and environmentalist whose humanitarian efforts span from Brazil, Cuba, Chile, Mexico, and beyond. She’s volunteered in refugee camps and supported film education for Saharawi refugees through the FiSahara Festival.
“Wake Up Dead Man” Costume Designer Jenny Eagan on Priestly Fashion and Daniel Craig’s ’70s-Inspired Suits
For her third collaboration with writer-director Rian Johnson on his Knives Out Mystery franchise, costume designer Jenny Eagan recalibrated her color palette to suit Wake Up Dead Man‘s darker tone. Daniel Craig, of course, returns as detective Benoit Blanc, but the new installment co-stars Josh O’Connor and Josh Brolin as small-town priests. Rounding out the cast of killers, victims, and innocent bystanders are Glenn Close,
Inside & Upside Down on “Wicked: For Good”: Production Designer Nathan Crowley on His Anti-Gravity Architecture
In order for production designer Nathan Crowley to be able to realize his vision for director Jon M. Chu’s Wicked films, he needed to assemble a crack team of artisans he has relied on for decades. Combining age-old skills and techniques with organic materials foraged from forests, seeing locations as sculptures that needed to evolve with the filmmaking and storytelling process.
Wicked: For Good focuses on the maelstrom surrounding Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba,
Critics Choice Awards: “One Battle After Another” Wins Best Picture, “Sinners” & “Frankenstein” Nab 4 Awards
A few battles have already been won for writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson.
Anderson’s thrilling One Battle After Another was named best picture at the Critics Choice Awards on Sunday night, and Anderson took home the best director trophy. One Battle’s wins come a little less than a month after Anderson’s epic led the pack for Golden Globe nominations, with nine, including for best picture,
Best of 2025: “Part Debate Club and Part Therapy”: Inside “The Pitt” Writers’ Room With Cynthia Adarkwa & Valerie Chu
It’s that time of year again—when we slow down, look back (overeat), and celebrate our favorite conversations from another surprising, often wonderful, and occasionally wild year in cinema and TV.
HBO’s The Pitt emerged as one of television’s most gripping medical dramas in years by doing something deceptively simple yet extraordinarily difficult: following a single, brutal 15-hour shift in a Pittsburgh emergency room in real time. What made the series so compelling wasn’t just its relentless intensity or unflinching medical realism (the “floating face”
Best of 2025: “Alien: Earth” Cinematographer and Director Dana Gonzalez on Bringing Cinema’s Most Iconic Monster to TV
It’s that time of year again—when we slow down, look back (overeat), and celebrate our favorite conversations from another surprising, often wonderful, and occasionally wild year in cinema and TV.
On Earth, everyone can hear you scream. No apologies for the dreadful play on the classic logline for Alien, which continues to reach new, strange heights in FX’s Alien: Earth, created by Fargo‘s Noah Hawley.
Best of 2025: How “Superman” Production Designer Beth Mickle Built the Fortress of Solitude
It’s that time of year again—when we slow down, look back (overeat), and celebrate our favorite conversations from another surprising, often wonderful, and occasionally wild year in cinema and TV.
Director James Gunn started small with his 2010 micro-budgeted indie film Super, followed by his acclaimed Guardians of the Galaxy films for Marvel. Now, he’s made a crowd-pleasing new version of Superman that’s raked in more than half a billion in global box office since its release earlier this summer.
Best of 2025: Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson on ‘Die My Love’: Motherhood, Madness, and That Wild Ending
It’s that time of year again—when we slow down, look back (overeat), and celebrate our favorite conversations from another surprising, often wonderful, and occasionally wild year in cinema and TV.
All sorts of spoilers below!
When you look at Robert Pattinson and Jennifer Lawrence’s careers, in many ways, they have had similar paths in Hollywood. They both rose to worldwide fame early in their careers as the leading stars of major franchises (Twilight and The Hunger Games,
Best of 2025: “Wicked” and “Wicked: For Good” Screenwriter Dana Fox on Her Magical Musical Theater Homecoming
It’s that time of year again—when we slow down, look back (overeat), and celebrate our favorite conversations from another surprising, often wonderful, and occasionally wild year in cinema and TV.
Screenwriter Dana Fox made a pact with director Jon M. Chu. After working with Chu on her Apple TV+ series, Home Before Dark, she told him she would sign up for a project with him, no matter what,
Best of 2025: MPA Creator Award Recipient Jon M. Chu on Authentic Storytelling and the Power of Cultural Specificity
It’s that time of year again—when we slow down, look back (overeat), and celebrate our favorite conversations from another surprising, often wonderful, and occasionally wild year in cinema and TV.
With Wicked: For Good set to complete the story that began with 2024’s blockbuster, director Jon M. Chu, the Motion Picture Association’s Creator Award recipient for 2025, continues our conversation about his evolution as a filmmaker and the power of culturally specific storytelling to reach universal audiences.
Best of 2025: How DP Autumn Durald Arkapaw Captured Black Music’s Timeless Continuum in “Sinners”
It’s that time of year again—when we slow down, look back (overeat), and celebrate our favorite conversations from another surprising, often wonderful, and occasionally wild year in cinema and TV.
In part one of our interview with Sinners cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw, the groundbreaking DP discussed how she leveled up to frame Coogler’s soulful supernatural epic by learning to use the largest film format available. Coogler’s ambitions for his vampire thriller,
Best of 2025: “Sinners” Writer/Director Ryan Coogler on Channeling Louisiana’s Creative Rhythm Into His Period Monsterpiece
It’s that time of year again—when we slow down, look back (overeat), and celebrate our favorite conversations from another surprising, often wonderful, and occasionally wild year in cinema and TV.
Sinners, written, produced, and directed by Ryan Coogler, is hands down one of the year’s biggest cinematic successes. Coogler’s passion project found the filmmaker at the peak of his powers, and fans already primed to see anything from the still young visionary were ready to go once Sinners bowed.
Best of 2025: “One Battle After Another” Production Designer Florencia Martin on Building PTA’s Three-Hour Action Thriller from the Ground Up
It’s that time of year again—when we slow down, look back (overeat), and celebrate our favorite conversations from another surprising, often wonderful, and occasionally wild year in cinema and TV.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s action thriller One Battle After Another is loosely inspired by a section of Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel “Vineland,” but this three-hour epic is rooted in the present, a contemporary vision of a heightened clash between far-left and far-right,
