How Free Solo‘s Oscar-Nominated Directors get it Done
Jimmy Chin is a professional climber and filmmaker who specializes in nail-biting documentaries that take place on ludicrously sheer mountain faces. His work demands a supernatural degree of calm. Today, however, Chin sounds like just another irrepressibly stoked dude. He’s fresh from the annual luncheon for Academy Award nominees. Alfonso Cuarón, it turns out, had seen Chin’s latest film, Free Solo, which is nominated for Best Documentary Feature.
The 3 Most Intriguing Avengers: Endgame Theories
Ever since the conclusion of last year’s Avengers: Infinity War, Marvel fans have been on a mission. This mission has been to figure out how the infamous Thanos snap might be undone, and if not, how the surviving Avengers might figure out another way beat the Mad Titan and resurrect their friends in Avengers: Endgame. They’ve analyzed comics, scoured every frame of Infinity War, and pored over any clues revealed,
Ben Affleck Officially Announces he’s Done as Batman
If you’re going to hang up the cape and cowl, doing it with a little humor and grace is a great way to go out. Ben Affleck announced that yes, he’s out as Batman, which has long been expected. Affleck was on Jimmy Kimmel Live to promote his new film Triple Frontier when they got to talking about Matt Reeves’ upcoming Batman film. Affleck confirmed that after putting a lot of thought into it,
The Lego Movie 2‘s Animation Director on World Building Brick-by-Brick
Five years ago, the first Lego Movie surprised audiences with its nimble moral-dealing in the importance of flexibility and independent thought. Also the song “Everything is Awesome.” The sequel (not counting two in between spin-offs, Lego Batman and Lego Ninjago), director Mike Mitchell’s The Second Part, is back to address sibling rivalry and the value of collaboration. Finn, the human creator of the universe in which Emmet (Chris Pratt),
How the Entertainment Industry is Advancing Artificial Intelligence
The 69th Berlinale’s tag line this year is “the personal is political.” Within that scheme, where does artificial intelligence fall? Last Friday, the MPAA and the entertainment law firm Morrison & Foerster tried to answer that question, hosting a panel on technological innovation in the film industry, with a particular focus on AI. The eight panelists came from a variety of backgrounds: a lead representative from the US independent film industry, the communications head of a German digital society research institute,
Black Panther‘s Oscar-Nominated Production Designer Hannah Beachler Builds a new Nation
*In the run-up to this Sunday’s Oscars telecast, we’re sharing some of our favorite interviews with nominees.
Everyone on the set of Black Panther had the weight of being a trailblazer. Realizing Wakanda for the screen meant reclaiming a painful history, honoring a rich heritage, and imagining the hope of the future right now. It also has the potential to confirm the demand for more diverse storytelling.
A Star is Born’s Oscar-Nominated Sound Mixer on Capturing Brilliance Up-Close
*In the run-up to this Sunday’s Oscars telecast, we’re sharing some of our favorite interviews with nominees.
Warner Bros.’ A Star is Born, the fourth version of the film and Bradley Cooper’s first time directing, has earned a hero’s welcome as the best iteration yet of the tale of love, talent, and the price of fame. Lady Gaga stars as Ally, a struggling musician with powerhouse pipes,
A Quiet Place‘s Oscar-Nominated Sound Designers on Triggering our Brain’s Reptilian Fear Response
*In the run-up to this Sunday’s Oscars telecast, we’re sharing some of our favorite interviews with nominees.
Supervising sound editors Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van Der Ryn had the unusual challenge of applying their expertise to a film that would be so quiet, it had the word in its title. John Krasinski’s thrilling, chilling A Quiet Place was predicated on a brilliant idea; alien monsters have turned the planet into one giant Amtrak quiet car.
Netflix’s NSFW Love, Death + Robots Trailer is Gleefully Insane
Se7en, Gone Girl and The Social Network director David Fincher and Deadpool‘s Tim Miller are working together? Yes. They’re working together on a sci-fi anthology series for Netflix called Love, Death + Robots? Yes again. The show will include sentient dairy products and garbage monsters? Yes and yes. In what has to be one of the more exciting pairings of talent and genre in a long time,
Rian Johnson Confirms his Star Wars Trilogy is Happening
This is why you don’t publish unsubstantiated rumors. It is also why you don’t then repeat said rumors without checking the sourcing. Yesterday, a website by the name of SuperBroMovies claimed that Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson was no longer creating a new Star Wars trilogy. Their post has since been deleted. A bunch of outlets picked up this rumor, however, so the story ultimately went wide.
Alita: Battle Angel is Here to Challenge You
The casual audience-goer who might assume Alita: Battle Angel is a by-the-book female empowerment fare would be sorely mistaken. Alita is not in the same realm of female-protagonist led superhero movies like Patty Jenkins’ juggernaut Wonder Woman. Alita promises to be a different kind of narrative altogether.
A Different Kind of Superhero
Rather than providing audiences with a normalized baseline human point of view – for example,
Octavia Spencer Goes off the Deep End in MA Trailer
It is said there is nothing easier than taking candy from a baby. If you watch the new MA trailer, however, you’ll find there is nothing easier than giving teenagers booze. That is what makes them easy targets for a diabolic plot to lure them in and torture them.
Is there no limit to Octavia Spencer’s range? She is one of the most universally beloved actresses in America,
Anna and Elsa Return in First Frozen 2 Trailer
The world-beating, kid-enthralling global hit Frozen bowed an astonishing six years ago in 2013. Finally, Anna and Elsa are back in Frozen 2. Millions of patient Frozen fans can feast their eyes on the first official trailer.
The last bit of information we shared about the follow-up to one of the biggest hits in history was this awesome Chinese poster for the upcoming film.
Brie Larson Proves She’s as Strong as Captain Marvel Herself
It is no coincidence that Brie Larson was chosen to play Captain Marvel. The Kree warrior can fly through space unaided, throw a photon blast, and take out the bad guys single handed. All in all, she’s the most powerful being the MCU. New footage suggests that Larson may also be the strongest member of the cast.
The actress shared a video of one of the more impressive exercises in her workout routine.
Berlin Station‘s Executive Producer on Making TV for Troubled Times
On one of the very few scripted television dramas to reflect the current global political climate, the covert C.I.A. operatives of Epix’s Berlin Station have found themselves mired in complex situations wrought by any number of familiar cranks and villains—internal whistle-blowers, far-right political parties, Russian thugs, mysterious hackers, and the list goes on. In depicting the inner workings of a fictionalized Berlin C.I.A. office, spy novelist Olen Steinhauer’s first television series works hard to examine the moral gray area of international espionage,
First Trailer for Danny Boyle’s Yesterday Re-Writes Beatles History
I have had this thought experiment so many times and now wish I had put pen to paper. What if you were the only person in the world who knew the greatest songs ever written? Would it matter if you didn’t actually write them?
The latest from director Danny Boyle appears to be a refreshing and charming new love story about becoming the biggest star in the world via someone else’s creativity. We all wish we were John,
The Wilsons Face Deadly Doppelgängers in New Us TV Spot
The trailers for Us just get crazier and crazier. Jordan Peele knows how to drill straight to the heart of terror.
For Get Out it was a fate worse than death. Can anyone honestly drink out of a teacup again without fearing they’ll be pulled into The Sunken Place? The body snatching while still sentient horror made us afraid of something we didn’t even know to be scared of until he wrote it.
R2-D2 Wraps Filming on set of Star Wars: Episode IX
While production is still underway for J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode IX, one key character has shot its final scene. Emphasis on it, of course, as R2-D2 cannot credibly be given a gender. Yet the most iconic droid in history is played by actor Jimmy Vee, who took over the part for the late, great Kenny Baker. Vee recently confirmed on Twitter that he had completed his work on the film.
New Shazam! Footage & Featurette Reveal a Truly Happy Superhero
Recently, Warner Bros. invited some assorted journalists to have a peek at some extended footage of Shazam! The good news? Those outlets are reporting that, from what they’ve seen, the film appears to be as genuinely fun-loving and joyous as one would hope. The reason one would hope for such a tone is that director David F. Sandberg’s Shazam! is the story of a boy-turned-superhero (played by Zachary Levi),
Watch Game of Thrones Fans Create a Cersei Pancake & More
The theme song played perfectly on a violin. A young woman dressed up as Daenerys Targaryen eating what appears to be a heart. Another woman’s painstaking recreation of King’s Landing, by hand, with paper. The theme song again—this time on electric guitar. A lovingly handcrafted dragon. An impressive depiction of Cersei Lannister—via pancake. These are some of the tributes Game of Thrones fans have created for their favorite show, all captured in this minute-long video and released by HBO on their official Game of Thrones YouTube page.
