What’s Coming to HBO Max This November
Do you need something to take your mind off, well, everything? Well, there’s a bunch coming to HBO Max this November that will help you focus on stuff that’s containable, right there on your screen, and that option feels very good right about now. The streaming service has just released a video teeing up all their upcoming series, specials, and films, and it gives us some hope we’ll be able to find good stuff to feed into our souls...
Cinematographer Andy Rydzewski on Lighting the Horrors of Middle School in “Pen15”
We’ve hit the apex of spooky season, so let’s talk about one of the creepiest shows on television: Pen15. Yep, co-creators Maya Erskine’s and Anna Konkle’s adult foray back to seventh grade, rife with slut-shaming, passive aggression, and surprise three-way phone calls. Now in the first half of its second season (the next seven episodes will likely air on Hulu in the spring), the women are once again ensconced among their young peers, navigating the ignominy that is the seventh grade...
“Valley of Tears” Trailer Reveals HBO Max’s Searing New Drama Series
If you’re looking for a new drama series to both lose yourself in and learn from, say like you did with Craig Mazin‘s phenomenal Chernobyl, HBO Max’s upcoming series Valley of Tears fits the bill. The series is inspired by the true events of the 1973 Yom Kippur War in Israel, which ultimately re-shaped the Middle East and nearly led to a confrontation that could have changed the entire world...
See How The Monster in “Come Play” Was Created
“I grew up on Amblin movies, and they made movies that are very scary,” says Come Play director Jacob Chase in this new featurette from Focus Features. “And they weren’t afraid to scare children,” he adds.
Scaring children is one of the goals of Chase’s new film, and to that end, he utilized the kind of old-school production design and practical effects in which the hand-built and hand-made becomes deliciously creepy. Working with Jim Henson’s Creature Shop,...
“One Night In Miami” Cast Split Between Lead & Supporting Categories for Awards Race
Regina King‘s stellar directorial debut One Night in Miami features a quartet of very strong lead performances. With the film already buzzed as one of the early contenders to take in a haul of award nominations, Amazon has recently announced how they’ll position their four lead actors. Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, and Leslie Odom Jr. will head into awards season vying for a mix of leading and supporting nominations, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed...
“Bridgerton” Trailer Reveals Netflix’s New Historical Drama Series
The official teaser trailer for Bridgerton reveals a period piece the likes of which could only come from Shondaland, the production company founded by TV powerhouse Shonda Rhimes. The series, produced by Shondaland and created by Chris Van Dusen (a veteran of Shondaland productions Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy) includes all the types of emotional tempests that make for binge-watching—lust, romance, betrayal, all set in the Regency era of England, the fertile historical soil from which Jane Austen spun her deathless stories...
Let’s Talk About “The Mandalorian” Season 2 Premiere’s Big Reveal
So you’ve seen the season 2 premiere of The Mandalorian? Great, then continue reading. If not, you’re going to want to stop right here until you’re all caught up.
The season 2 premiere, titled “The Marshall,” was a treat on several levels. First, it revealed Timothy Olyphant‘s character is the surprisingly valiant Marshall Cobb Vanth, looking after the folks (for a price) of a dusty mining town on Tatooine called Mos Pelgos...
New Monsters Highlight “The Witcher” Season 2 Footage
You’ll be excused if you missed Netflix’s little Halloween treat for The Witcher fans this past Saturday night. The streaming giant released a “Geralt’s Monster Mash” video on Halloween highlighting a lot of the accursed creatures Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) had to contend with in season 1. Yet if you watched closely—or read Netflix’s social copy—you were clued into a couple of monsters we haven’t met yet. Yup, two new beasts were revealed in the video, a subtle but still substantive nod towards the fun to come...
Michael Myers is Back in Chilling New Teaser for “Halloween Kills”
The biggest reveal in this brand new Halloween Kills teaser is that Judy Greer’s Karen is still wearing that Christmas sweater from two years ago! Okay, there are juicier things happening in this glimpse at David Gordon Green’s follow-up to his sensational 2018 Halloween sequel of John Carpenter’s iconic 1978 original, namely that Karen and the indomitable Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) are once again facing the unkillable killing machine that is Michael Myers...
“You Should Have Left” Production Designer on the Lasting Allure of the Haunted House
The haunted house has been a staple of the horror genre since the early days of silent films. There’s just something about creaky doors and shadows dancing around in dimly lit hallways that send shivers up our spines — especially when it’s a dark and stormy night.
And with most of us homebound for Halloween, what better time to celebrate the haunted house?
“You never know what’s around the corner,” says production designer Sophie Becher during a zoom interview...
Gillian Anderson Channels the Iron Lady in “The Crown” Season 4 Trailer
Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson)’s arrival in season 4 of The Crown is getting lots of folks very, very excited. For the members of the press who have seen screeners of The Crown season 4, there’s already consensus that she’s absolutely phenomenal as Margaret Thatcher.
I’ve watched the screeners for this season and yeah Gillian is gonna win all the awards https://t.co/Z4F4V0JuCh
— David Mack (@davidmackau) October 29, 2020
In season 4’s official trailer,...
“His House” Writer/Director Remi Weekes on his Gut Punch Feature Debut
Back another lifetime ago, writer/director Remi Weekes‘ His House celebrated its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this past January. Netflix quickly acquired it, and the future was looking bright for the talented filmmaker and his debut feature. You know what happened next.
Yet here we are, months later and living in our nightmarish world, with Weekes’ stunning horror film set to debut on October 30. “I’m excited,” Weekes said from London when I asked him what it felt like to finally see his film released into the wild,...
Relive “The Mandalorian” Season 1 in Under Two Minutes
“Bounty hunting is a complicated profession,” the Client (Werner Herzog) says at the start of this season one recap of The Mandalorian. And indeed, it is. Jon Favreau’s juggernaut live-action Star Wars show explored that profession, via the work of the Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal). The result was a massive success for Disney+ and a slew of Emmy Awards. And like a gift from the Armorer (Emily Swallow) herself, The Mandalorian season two premieres on October 30,...
“The White Tiger” Trailer Reveals Ramin Bahrani & Priyanka Chopra’s Searing Drama
If you never read Aravind Adiga’s Man Booker Prize-winning 2008 novel “The White Tiger”—and you still should—director Ramin Bahrani’s adaptation offers another way to experience Adiga’s phenomenal, searing story. Bahrani, the talented director behind 2014’s home foreclosure drama 99 Homes, adapted the book himself, and he’s populated his cast with both major and up-and-coming stars. Those include your three leads—rising talent Adarsh Gourav, Priyanka Chopra, and Bollywood star Rajkummar Rao. This is one of the rare cases where it really seems like Bahrani was the only choice to adapt this story—Adiga dedicated the novel to him upon its publication...
Composer Steven Price on Scoring David Attenborough’s Plea to Humanity & Glen Keane’s “Over the Moon”
Those who work in the arts have an innate ability to invoke emotions through their work— to cause an audience to connect with a certain theme or issue. But what if that issue is the inevitable destruction of the planet told through the life story of one famed historian and world traveler? That was the daunting task presented to Oscar-winning composer Steven Price (Gravity, Suicide Squad, Baby Driver).
David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet serves dual purposes as both Attenborough’s witness statement — his plea to humanity to save the Earth — and an autobiography of sorts. ...
Writer/Director Zoe Lister-Jones on her Bewitching Horror Film “The Craft: Legacy”
Many fans of 1996’s The Craft still watch it with great regularity. Now writer/director Zoe Lister-Jones brings a new story, The Craft: Legacy, told very much through the female lens. Though inspired by the original, Legacy speaks to a new generation of young women wishing to stand in their power, be they Wiccan or not. Starring young actors Cailee Spaeny, Gideon Adlon, Lovie Simone, and Zoey Luna, all of whom are poised to become huge stars,...
Behold the Official Trailer for George Clooney’s Sci-Fi Film “The Midnight Sky”
And now we’ve got our first look at George Clooney’s upcoming sci-fi film The Midnight Sky—as promised, Netflix has dropped the full trailer this morning. The film features Clooney as a lonely scientist named Augustine, marooned in the Arctic after some kind of global catastrophe. Augustine is trying to reach the Ether, a spaceship that “we hoped would be our future,” Augustine says, “I have to warn them about the conditions on Earth.”
From here,...
Official Trailer for “Selena: The Series” Reveals Netflix’s Look at a Legend
It’s been 23-years since we’ve seen a proper take on the incredibly gifted performer Selena Quintanilla. That was in writer/director Gregory Nava’s 1997 film Selena, in which a young Jennifer Lopez starred as the Texas-born Tejano singer whose career was only just getting started when she was tragically murdered a few weeks shy of her 24th birthday. Now, Selena Quintanilla is getting an even more fulsome look in an upcoming series from Campanario Entertainment and Netflix. Selena: The Series stars The Walking Dead‘s Christian Serratos in the titular role,...
“One Night In Miami” DP Tami Reiker on Regina King’s Stunning Directorial Debut
Tami Reiker has had a very busy year. She was the cinematographer on Gina Prince-Bythewood‘s The Old Guard, one of the most-viewed movies ever on Netflix, and just finished work on One Night in Miami, Regina King’s feature debut as a director. The fact-based story is about the night four friends, Malcolm X, Jim Brown, Cassius Clay, and Sam Cooke spent together on February 25th, 1964, and has received rave reviews on the festival circuit,...
See First Footage From George Clooney’s Sci-Fi Film “The Midnight Sky”
Okay, so the footage is as sparse as the arctic setting depicted, but it’s exciting nonetheless to get our first peek at George Clooney’s upcoming sci- film for Netflix, The Midnight Sky. The teaser consists of some attempted radio communication from a scientist named Augustine (Clooney), marooned in the arctic, and a shot of Augustine trudging through his lonely, ice-covered world. The Midnight Sky is based on Lily Brooks-Dalton’s book and was adapted by Mark L...
