Giancarlo Esposito on Breaking Good in “Godfather of Harlem”
Giancarlo Esposito has gravitas to spare. On the big screen, early on in his career, he appeared in a slew of Spike Lee’s seminal films, including a commanding performance as Dean Big Brother Almighty in School Daze (1988), which led to roles in Do The Right Thing (1989), Mo’ Better Blues (1990) and Malcolm X (1992). On TV, Esposito’s charisma made him a natural fit for characters on both sides of the law,
“A Quiet Place Part II” Composer Marco Beltrami on Making a Menacing Score
The first box office hit of this summer’s return to in-person theater-going, A Quiet Place Part II picks up a few moments after its predecessor left off. Evelyn Abbott (Emily Blunt) is now on her own with her three children, her husband, Lee (John Krasinski, the film’s director and writer) having been killed by the monsters with hypersensitive hearing that now stalk the Earth. With the baby packed into a box, she and her two older kids,
The Warrens Dig Deep in Final Trailer for “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It”
The Warrens are back in the final trailer for The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and they’re once again up to their necks in the paranormal, only in a case unlike any they’ve taken on before. Ed and Lorraine Warren, played as ever by the terrific pairing of Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, have now become members of a pantheon of horror movie heroes that includes such plucky survivors as Jamie Lee Curtis’s Laurie Strode (from the Halloween franchise) and Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott (from Scream and its sequels.) Yet unlike those two indomitable women,
How The “A Quiet Place Part II” Sound Team Turns the Viewer Into Prey
Don’t make a sound. The utterly frightening creatures of A Quiet Place are back in a terrifying sequel thirsty to tear your body apart. In this new chapter, the story picks up right where it left off with the Abbott family having destroyed their home in order to stay alive. Well, almost everyone. The tragic events force Evelyn (Emily Blunt), Regan (Millicent Simmonds), and Marcus (Noah Jupe) to leave their safety net and look for refuge in a treacherous journey that keeps them guessing what could be lurking around the corner.
Production Designer Fiona Crombie on the Luxe World of “Cruella”
Cruella de Vil is eternally wicked, but she’s also a villain who knows how to have a riotously good time—certainly more than the original heroes of Disney’s 101 Dalmatians, anodyne dog lovers Anita and Roger Darling. And that’s why it’s this id-driven, luxury-loving, would-be dalmatian coat-wearing scoundrel who gets her own live-action origin story. In director Craig Gillespie’s Cruella, she begins life as little Estella,
Behind the Costumes, Wigs, & Makeup of the Deliciously Punk “Cruella”
When it comes to devilishly wicked Disney villains, Cruella de Vil is near the top of the list. So when the studio released the first trailer for Craig Gillespie’s live-action film Cruella and ensuing soundtrack featurette that plays like a must-have compilation of popular music from the mid-1960s to early ‘80s, we laid eyes on a mischievous title character that’s wholly reimagined and “ready to make a statement.”
Cruella is an origin story that follows Estella (Emma Stone) from her tragic childhood as an orphan to an ambitious,
Emily Blunt & Dwayne Johnson Set Sail In 2nd “Jungle Cruise” Trailer
Disney has dropped the second trailer for Jungle Cruise, starring Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson in an adventure film suitable for the whole family. The movie is indeed based on the theme park ride, an adaptation that Disney’s done before, of course, with Pirates of the Caribbean, which spawned five films from 2003 to 2017 and was a cinematic juggernaut for most of that stretch. With Jungle Cruise, director Jaume Collet-Serra (The Shallows,
“Army of the Dead” and “The Forever Purge” Star Ana de la Reguera’s Big Summer
Actress, writer, and producer Ana de la Reguera is having quite the start to her summer. She has a meaty role in Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead, which bowed on Netflix on May 21, and in which she plays Maria Cruz, a ferociously competent mercenary and the right-hand woman to Dave Bautista‘s Scott Ward. The role finds De La Reguera, a warm and funny presence in comedies like HBO’s Eastbound &
Review Roundup: Director Justin Lin Takes “F9” Into Glorious Overdrive
Sometimes, the best thing you can do with a 20-year-old franchise is to know what exactly it is and take it as far as it can possibly go. For director Justin Lin, a Fast & Furious veteran, that pushing F9 into the literal stratosphere and beyond. Now that the reviews are pouring in for the 9th installment in the rubber-burning saga, we can report that Lin and his very game cast and crew have delivered an utterly bonkers spectacle.
Op-Ed: A Big Screen Revival is Upon Us
This op-ed is written by Charles Rivkin, Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association, and John Fithian, President and CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners.
The big screen is back. And like every good Hollywood revival, this one is happening at just the right time.
Defying conventional wisdom, the production of feature films continued, safely and responsibly, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s no secret to more than 1 billion people around the world who subscribed to streaming services in 2020 to enjoy a steady flow of new TV shows and movies.
How the Creative Team Behind “Army of the Dead” Built An Apocalyptic World
In Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead, a ragtag group of mercenaries embarks on a life-changing $200 million dollar heist. The problem isn’t that the money is hidden in a vault underneath the Las Vegas strip—although that’s not an insignificant detail—but rather the tens of thousands of zombies lurking in their path as an outbreak has turned the vibrant lights of Sin City into a desolate wasteland overtaken by the undead.
Watch the Trailer for Edgar Wright’s “Last Night in Soho”
On Saturday you got the teaser, today, it’s the full trailer. We’ve finally got a good look at writer/director Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho, and the film is officially on our must-watch list. Wright co-wrote the script with 1917‘s Oscar-nominated screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairns.
The trailer opens to the sounds of a cover of Petula Clark’s “Downtown.” You might notice the song is being crooned by a familiar voice—that of Anya Taylor-Joy,
“WandaVision” Production Designer Mark Worthington on Creating Wanda’s Ever-Changing Worlds
Unlike WandaVision director Matt Shakman or series creator Jac Schaeffer, production designer Mark Worthington does not consider himself a Marvel expert. “I’m not really a big Marvel person,” he says, “but I was curious when Matt first called me about the show. He described the basic story as it being about Wanda’s grief and how the whole series is motivated by that.”
At first blush, WandaVision would seem like an almost straightforward challenge for someone with Worthington’s skillset.
“WandaVision” Director Matt Shakman on Landing His Dream Job
So many of director Matt Shakman‘s worlds collided when he took on Marvel Studios WandaVision. “I come at it from this bizarre perspective, as I’ve been a lifelong Marvel fan, a comic book fan, I’ve been in the audience for all of Marvel’s movies, but I’m also a sitcom kid, I grew up in Hollywood as an actor on sitcom sets,” Shakman says of his fortuitous role as the series director.
The First “Eternals” Poster Teases a Very Different Kind of Marvel Movie
A new entrant into the Marvel Cinematic Universe is always exciting, but Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao’s Eternals seems to deserve even more than the usual interest. This morning we got our first good glimpse at the film, and the first thing you notice is wow, this movie looks gorgeous. Of course, gorgeous moviemaking is Zhao’s stock-and-trade, and Eternals, at least at first blush, looks like a Chloé Zhao movie first,
The First “Eternals” Teaser Has Arrived
And here it is, our first real look at Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao‘s Eternals. Clocking in at two minutes long, this glimpse at Zhao’s star-studded Marvel movie is, unsurprisingly, gobsmackingly gorgeous. Zhao’s images all seem to shot around magic hour, with creamy-hued skies, lush fields, and sweeping vistas of the ocean. What you’ll also notice here is how gentle this teaser is. Sure, there’s going to be action in Eternals—this is a Marvel movie,
A New “Cruella” Featurette Riffs on the Rocking Soundtrack
Director Craig Gillespie’s live-action look at Cruella de Vil’s origins in Cruella has an appropriately rocking soundtrack. For the future villain of 101 Dalmations, she of the famous black-and-white coif and gleeful sadism, the music needs to own the airwaves as easily as Cruella (Emma Stone) will own the screen. Thus this new featurette on the film’s music reveals the likes of Nina Simone, Queen, Blondie, The Clash, and more.
First Look at Edgar Wright’s “Last Night in Soho” Revealed
If you caught Anya Taylor-Joy on Saturday Night Live this past weekend, then you also got a first glimpse at her starring role in Edgar Wright’s mysterious new movie Last Night in Soho. Wright’s film, which he co-wrote with 1917‘s Oscar-nominated screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairns, is centered on a young woman, Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie)
who’s crazy about fashion design. So crazy, in fact,
Review Roundup: “In The Heights” Soars
“If you have any doubt about the theatrical movie-going experience, In the Heights is the film to assuage it. It’s big, it’s beautiful, and it’ll make you believe,” writes Jeva Lange for The Week, in a perfect summation of why seeing a film like John M. Chu’s In The Heights in the theater is such a must. In The Heights is one of the reasons why The Big Screen is Back,
Review Roundup: “A Quiet Place Part II” Joyously Shreds Your Nerves
We’re a mere week away from the May 28 release of John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place Part II, and the reviews are already coming in. There’s mostly only good news here—Krasinski has, according to critics, matured as a director, and his cast and crew help him deliver the goods. It wasn’t going to be an easy feat—it never is when you’re following up a surprise, critical and commercial smash like his 2018 original film—but Krasinski and his team have managed to deliver a satisfying,
