“West Side Story” Early Reactions: Steven Spielberg’s First Musical is a Vivid, Vivacious Smash

You might have heard that a young, upstart director named Steven Spielberg was attempting to adapt one of Broadway’s most iconic musicals of all time, West Side Story. Well, now the first reactions to Spielberg’s take on the late, great Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein’s original 1957 Broadway show are pouring in, and they’re effusive enough to make you want to break into song. Spielberg’s version, based on a screenplay by his Lincoln collaborator and legendary playwright himself,

A New Spider-Man Trilogy Starring Tom Holland is Happening

New images for Spider-Man: No Way Home have arrived just in time to…start thinking about a brand new Spidey trilogy starring Tom Holland? Well, it’s the Holiday season, so perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised at this overabundance of gifts. 

With tickets for Spider-Man: No Way Home now available (and selling like hotcakes) it probably shouldn’t come as a big surprise that Sony Pictures is interested in keeping star Tom Holland in their Spider-Man Universe.

Villains Reign Supreme in New “Spider-Man: No Way Home” Images

A slew of new images from director Jon Watt’s upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home have arrived, putting Spidey’s troubles front-and-center. And those troubles have names—Doc Ock, Electro, the Green Goblin are just a few of the sinister souls Peter Parker will be squaring off against.

By now you’ve likely heard the main synopsis for No Way Home, the third film in Watts and Tom Holland’s Spidey-trilogy. After the cataclysmic events in Spider-Man: Far From Home,

How “The Harder They Fall” Hair Department Head Araxi Lindsey Put History to Work

There are plenty of recognizable names in The Harder They Fall. For his Western epic, director-writer Jeymes Samuel references historical figures like mail carrier Mary Fields, cowboy Nat Love, outlaw Rufus Buck, sharpshooter Bill Pickett, and lawman Bass Reeves. In Samuel’s modern update, however, the film’s characters align with their historical reference points’ careers (with the exception of Mary, now a saloon owner), but otherwise, the story is all new.

Upon learning that Rufus Buck (Idris Elba) is being transported from prison,

New “The Book of Boba Fett” Teaser Reveals Trouble Ahead for The Iconic Bounty Hunter

On November 1, we got the first trailer for The Book of Boba Fett, revealing the upcoming Disney+ series centered on the iconic bounty hunter’s return to his old hunting grounds. Then, we got a glimpse at some still images from the series, which gave us a look at a maskless Boba (Temura Morrison), Boba’s ally Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen), and some of the colorful characters Boba will be up against as he returns to Tatooine and the underworld once ruled with a blubbery fist by Jabba the Hutt.

“Encanto” Writer/Director Charise Castro Smith On Breaking Boundaries

With the release of Disney’s Encanto, Charise Castro Smith (The Haunting of Hill House, Devious Maids) has broken through not one but two ceilings: as the first Latina to receive a directing credit on a Disney animated feature, and only the second woman ever to do so.

“I am glad this milestone has been reached. I wish it had been reached earlier and I wish this weren’t such a small club,” said Castro Smith,

“Hawkeye” Director & Executive Producer Rhys Thomas Hits His Mark

Let’s say you’re a director, and you’ve been called in for a “general meeting” at Marvel Studios. A general meeting is a chance for studio executives to get to know a particular filmmaker, see what they’re like and what they’re interested in, but they’re not pegged to a specific project. Not yet. Obviously, a general meeting with Marvel is a big deal, and the number of Marvel projects percolating at any given moment is massive,

Cinematographer Alice Brooks Makes “tick, tick…BOOM!” Sing With Personal Memories

tick, tick…Boom! may not have the name recognition of Jonathan Larson’s most famous production, Rent, but it is a theater kid’s dream for Broadway royalty to bring this story to the screen. The film interpretation of his unfinished work captures the heart and hustle of 1990s New York through Larson’s eyes. Although Larson passed away in 1996, the project was lovingly researched and reconstructed by director Lin-Manuel Miranda and screenwriter Steven Levenson.

“House of Gucci” Screenwriter Roberto Bentivegna on Centering Lady Gaga’s Obsessive Patrizia Reggiani

Sometimes you just have to say, “F*** it all, I’ll give it a shot.”

That’s what Roberto Bentivegna did when he got his shot to write the screenplay for the new MGM Studios feature House of Gucci, opening November 24.

At the time, Bentivegna had only a handful of short-film credits and award wins from way back in film school at Columbia. But he also had something else: a great idea.

“King Richard” Editor Pamela Martin on Finding The Film’s Rousing Rhythm

What if your life was planned out even before you were born? And if you followed it with hard work and a little perseverance, not only would you be successful, but you’d be considered one of the greatest at what you do. Would you sign up for it?

Director Reinaldo Marcus Green explores that very journey in King Richard (in theaters and on HBO Max now), a story, written by Zach Baylin,

“Ghostbusters: Afterlife” Composer Rob Simonsen on Expanding the Supernatural Sonic Palette

The Ghostbusters are back, but they’ve gotten a lot younger. In Jason Reitman’s follow-up, Ghostbusters: Afterlife (in theaters now), to his father Ivan’s generation-defining classic, Egon Spengler’s (the late Harold Ramis) grandkids, Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (McKenna Grace) get into the family trade after moving to the dirt farm, a dilapidated Oklahoma property where we learn that Spengler rode out his final years alone, warding off an unusually problematic ghost based in a nearby abandoned mine.

New “Hawkeye” Clip Shows Clint Barton Meeting the Parents

Yesterday, Marvel revealed a behind-the-scenes video focused on the comedic chemistry between Hawkeye stars Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld. Now, we’ve got an actual clip from the upcoming Disney+ series that shows us what happens when Kate Bishop (Steinfeld) brings home Clint Barton (Renner) to meet her parents. Well, technically, it seems they only showed up to use the bathroom, but the scene becomes an awkward mess either way for all involved.

“King Richard” Casting Director Rich Delia on Finding Venus & Serena

The new film King Richard (Warner Bros.) halted shooting in March 2020 during the first COVID-19 lockdown. Although his work was done, Rich Delia, one of the project’s casting directors, was “sitting at home freaking out” over one thing:

“What if one of the girls goes through a growth spurt?”

The girls are, of course, Venus and Serena Williams. King Richard tells the astonishing story of how Richard Williams struggled and then succeeded in transforming his daughters into two of the greatest tennis players of all time.

“Nightmare Alley” Trailer Reveals Guillermo del Toro’s Star-Studded Horror

Christmas is going to come a little early this year. The official trailer for Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley has arrived, priming us for the maestro’s latest. The film boasts an insanely talented cast, headlined by Bradley Cooper and Cate Blanchett as a pair of mischievous souls who seem destined to create a nightmare for themselves and others. Cooper plays Stan Carlisle, a gifted carny who can manipulate people with nothing more than a few perfectly chosen words.

New “Hawkeye” Video Takes You Behind-the-Scenes of Marvel’s New Dynamic Duo

We got a chance to speak with Hawkeye director and executive producer Rhys Thomas this week (we’ll publish that interview right before the show premieres), but one of the things we can share is he enthused about the comedic chemistry between Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld. “I enjoy the humor and the tone and the twists and turns that it takes,” Thomas says in this new behind-the-scenes video which looks at the relationship between Clint Barton (Renner) and his unasked-for new protegé Kate Bishop (Steinfeld).

“Sort Of” Co-Creator/Writer/Director Fab Filippo on This Groundbreaking New HBO Max Series

When you start watching the groundbreaking new HBO Max series Sort Of (debuting on HBO Max November 18), you might imagine that it’s yet another precocious-Millennial-auteur-driven show, starring its own creator/writer. After all, Sort Of’s real-life creator/writer/star, Bilal Baig, is a stylish, non-binary, Pakistani denizen of queer Toronto – just like Sabi Mehboob, the lead character they play in Sort Of.

As the story unfolds over eight episodes,

“Ozark” Season 4 Teaser Reveals the Beginning of the End

The Byrde family is back, and things are even more complicated, and dangerous, than ever before. In a brand new teaser for season 4, we hear the voice of Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman) contemplating the cascading consequences that branch off with every fresh decision we make. This is the man who plunged his family into the bloody nightmare that is now their lives, so he knows a thing or two about what one bad decision can do.

“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” Stunt Coordinator Andy Cheng on That Epic Bus Fight

Along with the rise of visual effects, old-school practical effects, the actual exploits of human beings creating incredible spectacles in real-time and real space, have also become near to magic. From Bruce Lee to Simu Liu, star of Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and every Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Cruise, and Daniel Craig in between, fight sequences, car chases, and action scenes of truly epic proportions have become high art.

“Spider-Man: No Way Home” Official Trailer Reveals Even More Villains

“Ever since I got bitten by that spider, I’ve only had one week when my life felt normal—and that’s when you found out.” This is what Peter Parker (Tom Holland) says to MJ (Zendaya) at the start of the official trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home. Things are as bad as they’ve ever been for Peter when No Way Home begins. His mentor Tony Park has been gone for a while now,

How Composer Alexandre Desplat Put a “Dada-istic” Spin on “The French Dispatch”

Wes Anderson’s dollhouse-perfect motion pictures radiate an unmistakable sensibility brought to life by a remarkably consistent team of below-the-line talent. His last four movies featured contributions from the same production designer (Adam Stockhausen), the same cinematographer (Robert Yeoman), the same music supervisor (Randall Poster), the same costume designer (Milena Canonero ), and, crucially, the same composer: Alexandre Desplat. An eleven-time Oscar nominee and winner of two Academy Awards, Desplat teamed with Anderson on Fantastic Mr.