First “Spider-Man 3” Images Revealed—Along With Absurd Titles
We’ve got our first look at the still-untitled Spider-Man 3 (more on the title in a moment), revealing the dynamic trio of Peter Parker (Tom Holland), Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon), and MJ (Zendaya). The follow-up to Spider-Man: Far From Home is set to be the biggest film in the Tom Holland-led trilogy yet.
We’ve shared all the news up to this point that has made Spider-Man 3 sound like something director Jon Watts and his writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers have been dreaming about for years.
“Minari” Editor Harry Yoon on Shaping the Film He Was “Born to Edit”
Minari is a moving portrait of a young family setting out on a new life in the Ozarks. It will invite you in with its photography (the work of Lachlan Milne) and production design (by Yong Ok Lee), pull at your heartstrings with its “sensitive and uplifting” score, and keep you wholly absorbed in the world of the Yis thanks to masterful editing by Harry Yoon.
Yoon spoke to us about how he approached cutting this film,
Writer/Director Jon Alston on His Impactful and Timely Short “Augustus”
Although it’s a short film, director Jon Alston’s Augustus tackles a monumental subject: human rights and the centuries-long injustice and racism faced by the Black community. Alston, a former record-setting linebacker in the NFL, served as an executive producer as well, along with the film’s writer and lead actor, Ayinde Howell.
The film plays from the point of view of Frederick Douglass, the noted abolitionist who escaped slavery. As Douglass suffers from nightmares depicting the death of his son,
Daniel Kaluuya on Honoring Fred Hampton’s Legacy in “Judas and the Black Messiah”
Daniel Kaluuya is such a comedian it’s hard to imagine he’s made a career out of acting in some of the most profound dramas of the past five years—a fact that he too, seems to frequently forget.
“A lot of times it surprises me,” Kaluuya said. “I was driving around LA and I saw myself on a poster and I was like, ‘Oh sh*t!’ I thought I was just acting and I’m on a poster!
How the DP & Production Designer Behind “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” Met the Moment
It’s not often there’s a Golden Globe nomination for an African American actress playing a famous blues or jazz singer. This year, there are two of them.
One is for Viola Davis, going chop-to-chop with the late, great Chadwick Boseman in the Netflix adaptation of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, playing the titular character. The other is for singer and actress Andra Day,
“Black is King” Producer Jason Baum on Beyoncé & the World of Visual Albums
Black is King, Beyoncé’s 2020 musical film that doubled as a visual companion to The Lion King, was lauded as dazzling, seductive, and, well, regal. Directed in tandem by Beyoncé and the directors Ibra Ake, Blitz the Ambassador, Emmanuel Adjei, and Kwasi Fordjour, the visual album dropped on Disney+ with very little fanfare, typical of the star’s preferred announcement style, or lack thereof.
Filmmaker Noah Hutton on his Slyly Scorching Feature Debut “Lapsis”
Writer/director Noah Hutton was due to make his narrative feature debut with his sci-fi film Lapsis at SXSW in March of 2020. You know how that turned out. Nearly a year later, Hutton’s slyly lacerating debut is now available on Virtual Cinema, VOD, and Digital. His low-budget feature debut is an impressive feat of world-building, cinematic wit, and a darkly funny critique of late-stage capitalism, specifically corporate greed and the exploitation of workers.
Director Fran Kranz & Editor Yang-Hua Hu on Their Heartbreaking Film “Mass”
Mass, which recently premiered to much acclaim at Sundance, is the screenwriting and directorial debut of actor Fran Kranz. It’s a tense, claustrophobic, dialogue-driven film that explores the long-term aftermath of a school shooting, and essentially takes place in one room. Its success rests heavily on the shoulders of the cast, and Jason Isaacs, Martha Plimpton, Reed Birney, and Ann Dowd, who form the quartet at the center of the story,
James Gunn Reveals “Peacemaker” Set Photos
Now our main image doesn’t come from James Gunn’s upcoming HBO Max series Peacemaker. No—the featured shot is from a little movie that introduces Peacemaker (John Cena) that we haven’t gotten a chance to see yet, Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. Yet even though the film hasn’t premiered, Gunn, Cena, and their fellow cast and crew members are already working on the spinoff in Vancouver. Folks, it looks like they’re having a bit of a good time,
You’re Going to Want to “Get Over Here!” for First “Mortal Kombat” Trailer
Hold onto your winter hats, ladies and gentlemen, because Warner Bros. has revealed the red-band trailer for the live-action reboot of Mortal Kombat. The film, adapted from the iconic video game, will be making its theatrical debut on the same day it premieres on HBO Max, and from this first glimpse, it looks like it’s going to be a wild ride.
The film was directed by Simon McQuoid from a script by Greg Russo and Wonder Woman 1984 scribe Dave Callaham.
Ava DuVernay Launches Crucial New Database to Diversify Film & TV Crews
When is Ava DuVernay not pushing the entertainment industry to become more inclusive? The answer is never. The powerhouse director/producer is launching a new venture in collaboration with major studios, streaming platforms, and producers to help diversify film and TV crew members. The new database tool, called ARRAY CREW, launches today and is part of DuVernay’s nonprofit organization ARRAY Alliance. The tool is aimed to help bridge a gap that has long stymied talented filmmakers—how to get their names in front of producers and production companies when they don’t already have established relationships with the insular entertainment community.
From “Black Panther” to “Jeopardy,” Stunt Coordinator & Actor Zee James Hits Her Mark
Zee James is an actress, a stuntwoman and stunt coordinator, and a background performer in movies and on television, ranging from Black Panther and Dolemite is My Name to Bosch and Everybody Hates Chris. She has even demonstrated an entire category of Jeopardy! clues about martial arts. James spoke to us about taking advantage of opportunities that might not be exactly what she planned,
Composer Jongnic Bontemps on Scoring America’s Past, Present, and Future
Jongnic “JB” Bontemps knows how to turn emotions into a musical composition, whether it’s for a character in a narrative or a historical figure in a documentary. Composing on narrative features, documentaries, shorts, and video games, Bontemps can speak to his collaborators in whatever narrative language they need. For Creed II, he provided director Steven Caple Jr. with additional music worthy of the film’s fighting spirit. For the doc United Skates, Bontemps threaded hip-hop through the story of America’s underground roller rink subculture as it was on the verge of being erased.
“The Investigation” Writer/Director Tobias Lindholm on Rethinking the Police Procedural
The police procedural has been a staple on television since its inception, and writer/director Tobias Lindholm felt it was time to shake things up. The Investigation, Lindholm’s six-episode miniseries currently playing on HBO, delves into one of the most sensational crimes in recent Danish history — the 2017 murder of journalist Kim Wall. And it turns the genre on its ear.
Wall went missing after meeting with an interview subject on his private submarine.
DP Marcell Rév on Going Black and White in “Malcolm & Marie”
From the moment Marie (Zendaya) strides into view, entering the borrowed Los Angeles digs she’s sharing with her director boyfriend Malcolm (John David Washington), you sense trouble. The couple’s home, where they will spend the rest of the night wide awake and arguing, is spacious and stunning, and Malcolm’s movie premiere earlier that evening was an unqualified success. Too bad the auteur forgot to thank Marie in his speech,
Emma Stone Shines in First “Cruella” Trailer
The first trailer for Disney’s Cruella is a glamorous hoot. Emma Stone stars as one of the Mouse House’s most beloved (and fashionable) villains, with her two-tone black and white hair, perfectly placed beauty mark, and total lack of remorse. The live-action Cruella comes from director Craig Gillespie, a man who knows a little something about building a ferociously entertaining film around a misunderstood woman. He did it back in 2017 with I,
Yuh-jung Youn on Creating Family in “Minari”
Writer/director Lee Isaac Chung’s film Minari is about a Korean family chasing the American dream in 1980s Arkansas. Steven Yeun and Yeri Han play parents Jacob and Monica, who have brought their two kids Ann and David to live and work on a farm, one Jacob hopes to make successful. Yuh-jung Youn plays foul-mouthed but loving grandma Soonja, who leaves Korea to come help care for the children. At first, David thinks Soonja just smells weird and doesn’t act at all the way a grandmother should,
New Fight Footage Highlights “Godzilla vs. Kong” Teaser
So where do you stand, with Team Godzilla or Team Kong? It seemed from the first trailer of director Adam Wingard’s upcoming Godzilla vs. Kong that we were being nudged to join Team Kong. Obviously, Kong is closer to our meager human species genetically, and we humans love stuff that reflects ourselves. Then there’s the pesky fact that the trailer set Kong up as the protector to an orphaned girl named Jia (Kaylee Hottle).
The Joker Gets the Last Word in Official Trailer for “Zack Snyder’s Justice League”
We finally got our first proper look at Zack Snyder’s Justice League when the trailer dropped this past weekend. It arrives four years and change after the first Justice League, shepherded to its theatrical release by stand-in director Joss Whedon, hit theaters in 2017. That’s a long time to wait to see Snyder’s original vision for the film, but it might just be that the wait was worth it. The trailer opens with Superman (Henry Cavill) in pain,
“To All the Boys” Producer Says Goodbye with “Always and Forever”
What began with a letter is poetically set to end with one too. Okay, probably an email, but you get the idea. Netflix’s hit To All the Boys series will premiere its final installment on February 12. As the trilogy concludes, Lara Jean (Lana Condor) and Peter (Noah Centineo) are simultaneously coming to the end of their high school career and awaiting their college acceptance letters.
We met the adorable couple in 2018’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.
