How Wonderstruck DP Edward Lachman Channeled The French Connection for Kids Adventure
Director Todd Haynes’ longtime cinematographer Edward Lachman renders contrasting visions of New York City in their latest collaboration Wonderstruck (opening Friday.) Based on Brian Selznick’s children’s book, the story follows two kids, separated by fifty years, who run away to Manhattan in search of a missing parent and wind up forging an unexpected bond. The twist: one story’s shot in black and white as an homage to the silent movie era, while the parallel tale draws on The French Connection as inspiration for its hyper-colorful street scenes...
Will Smith and Joel Edgerton are LAPD Partners in Magical World of Bright
Netflix will be bringing the magic this holiday season. Ok, maybe not your typical snow-and-miracles seasonal type of magic. It’s more like the old ‘orcs and powerful wands in the police force’ style of magic.
A new featurette gives us a look at the latest Netflix endeavor, Bright, along with cast and crew commentary. The action packed buddy comedy stars Will Smith and Joel Edgerton in a fantasy world packed with magical creatures. Edgerton’s character, Nick Jakoby,...
Mindhunter‘s Visual Effects are So Good You Don’t Know They’re There
A new behind-the-scenes clip from Mindhunter highlights just how crazy and intense the editing process can be on a TV show. The serial killer series that you have no doubt been binging on Netflix is trademark David Fincher. It’s dark and suspenseful and you might not realize the benefits of all the digital enhancement that has contributed to the final project.
The clip from Adobe, whose products are used on the series, features the editing team showing off their impressive work...
New Coco Clip and Featurette Show Mexico’s Real Life Influence
Día de los Muertos is nearly here, and with it comes Pixar’s next major release, Coco. Following in the vein of Disney’s Moana, the filmmakers did some incredibly in depth research to capture a fascinating and colorful culture. Coco looks like a delightful celebration of the Mexican holiday, traditions, and way of life. Pixar released a brand new clip and featurette that give us a flavor of the film.
The story follows young Miguel whose dreams exceed his familial expectations...
Heath Ledger Wanted Christian Bale to Really hit him in The Dark Knight
It practically goes without saying at this point that the greatest personification of a comic book villain of all time was Heath Ledger’s turn as the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. Ledger won a posthumous Oscar for the performance (the only time an actor has ever won an award in this category after his death), a performance which he imbued with such unhinged gravitas and psychopathic charm it stands to this day, nearly a decade later, as the high water mark for playing a villain...
Writer/Director Rebecca Daly on Exploring a Community on the Edge in Good Favour
For her third feature Good Favour director Rebecca Daly, working with co-writer Glenn Montgomery, left her native Ireland, where her first two films were set, for Belgium. She also centered her story more on an ensemble, in this case a remote religious community that’s upended when a young, mysterious man appears out of nowhere and joins them, rather than the more intimate stories anchored by female heroines of her first two films.
Daly’s debut feature was the thriller The Other Side of Sleep,...
The VFX Magic Behind Spider-Man: Homecoming
Spider-Man: Homecoming star Tom Holland trained tirelessly to do as many of his own stunts as possible, but some of them were just too epic to do live. In stepped the team at Imageworks VFX, who just released an incredible video giving us a glimpse at the film’s incredible CGI.
Holland was charmingly awkward as the young Peter Parker, and his homemade super suit gave his character more realism. VFX Supervisor Theo Bialik described how the artists made a photorealistic version of Holland that could act out the most dangerous stunts...
That Intriguing Game of Thrones Daario Fan Theory Has Been Debunked
Game of Thrones fans continue to drum up and debate theories as they wait for winter to finally come. Though the creators repeatedly prove that shock and awe are key ingredients for this show, one popular fan theory has been solidly debunked with a recent casting announcement.
Sorry to say, Dany’s former lover Daario Naharis will not make an epic return. At least not in the way some watchers had hoped. Fans have conjured up the idea that this character is the secret leader of the Golden Company mercenary group,...
Go Behind-the-Scenes of Murder on the Orient Express
Director/star Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express is a beautiful caper that looks as lavish as the train on which the action takes place. This adaptation from Agatha Christie’s 1934 novel (Sidney Lumet’s version from 1974 is worth a watch as well) was shot on film, which Branagh explains in this new behind-the-scenes featurette was his way of making the film look “sharper, richer, more colorful and feels like you’re inside [the train].”
Adapted by prolific screenwriter Michael Green (Logan,...
Meet the Granite Mountain Hotshots in the Timely new Film Only the Brave
Director Joseph Kosinski’s Only the Brave is based on the true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, an elite firefighting force within the Prescott Fire Department in Presscott, Arizona. Founded in 2002, the Granite Mountain Hotshots specialized in fighting wildfires. The term “hotshot” is a rarefied designation—they are the country’s top wildland firefighters, described as the Navy SEALs of firefighting. “The way they fight fires is very different than peole would think,” says Kosinski in the film’s press notes...
New Black Panther Photos Reveal Most Visually Stunning Marvel Film yet
Yesterday we shared the thrilling official trailer for Black Panther, which clearly shows that director and co-writer Ryan Coogler (he penned the script with his longtime collaborator Joe Robert Cole) looks to have crafted something totally different here for Marvel, a fittingly lush, eye-popping stand-alone film for T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), better known as Black Panther.
Now Marvel and Walt Disney Studios have unleashed a fresh batch of photos from the film, giving us a closer look at the stellar work by Coogler,...
Can you Spot the 84 Different Film & TV References in This Gremlins Poster?
In Warner Bros. 1984 classic Gremlins (directed by Joe Dante, executive produced by Steven Spielberg), Randall Peltzer (Hoyt Axton), a struggling inventor, is looking for a Christmas gift for his son Billy. Randall heads down to Chinatown and visits an antique store, and there he encounters the adorable, furry creature known as a Mogwai. Although the owner refuses to sell the little monster to Randall, the owner’s grandson has other ideas, and sells him the Mogwai, to hilariously disastrous results. ...
Could We See an all Female Marvel Film?
Tessa Thompson just looked deep into our souls and uncovered our greatest film franchise desires. Thompson is appearing in Thor: Ragnarok as Valkyrie (and generating heaps of praise), and the experience inspired a great idea. What if all the Marvel women made a movie together?
io9 reports that Thompson and a group of the other female stars already approached Marvel president Kevin Feige about the idea.
“Recently, I marched up with a couple of other women that work in Marvel and we went to Kevin,...
Kate McKinnon Dominates this Week’s SNL Highlights
This week’s SNL was a knock out episode in what has already started out as a strong season. It’s always top notch when a comedian hosts, and Kumail Nanjiani was no exception. His opening monologue was an extension of his summer hit The Big Sick that tackled racial tensions. Nanjiani called out in hilarious fashion the atrocities of racism, namely attacking someone of the wrong race.
Nanjiani starred in some other solid sketches, but Kate McKinnon has become the real workhorse of the show...
Blade Runner: 2049‘s Wild Alternate Titles
Blade Runner: 2049 is one of the most gorgeous, haunting sci-fi films in recent memory, and, in our opinion, one of the great sci-fi sequels of all time. The franchise’s glamour is reliant on its mysteries, and the creators were protective of them. Thirty years after the original, the title is pretty self-explanatory, and got us caught up to speed on where we’d be in the timeline. Rick Deckard has been missing for three decades and there are still Blade Runners hunting replicants...
The New Mutants to be the First in a Trilogy of X-Men Horror Films
The first trailer for director Josh Boone’s The New Mutants delivered on a promise he made a while back; that this would be the first horror film in the X-Men universe. The trailer delivered the goods, and proved that Boone, Marvel and 20th Century Fox were serious about taking the X-Men into dark new territory.
In a conversation with IGN, Boone discusses his inspirations (which include comic book artist and legend Bill Sienkiewicz and legendary horror director Wes Craven),...
Doctor Strange Issues Spooky Warning in new Thor: Ragnarok Spot
There’s a surprising amount of new footage in this Thor: Ragnarok 30 second spot, including a fun bit of showboating by Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie (who is being singled out as one of the film’s best characters), Hulk doing his Hulk thing (part of his story arc, no doubt), and a bit of arch spookiness from Thor’s old pal, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch).
Director Taiki Waititi has infused Ragnarok with humor and wit,...
This Brand new Black Panther Trailer is the Best Thing You’ll See all Week
Happy Monday, gang. Marvel Studios has dropped a new Black Panther trailer, and it’s likely going to the best thing you see all week. Director and co-writer Ryan Coogler (he penned the script with his longtime collaborator Joe Robert Cole) looks to have made a legitimate mind-blower here, the first stand-alone film for T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), better known as Black Panther.
We first met T’Challa in Captain America: Civil War, where his father, the king of Wakanda,...
The 55th Annual New York Film Festival: The Best From Week Two
The 55th edition of the New York film Festival wraps up on October 15. On the one hand, it’s been a superb smorgasbord that testifies to the continuing capacity of feature films to tell great, relevant, unexpected stories. On the other hand, I’m stuffed (but only temporarily). Here is a roundup of films from the second week of the festival’s main slate, plus one documentary about a Hollywood icon.
Disturbingly Accurate (I Should Know) Portrait of SIngle, Middle-Aged Life
Let the Sunshine In,...
Here’s Hope that Beetlejuice Could be Coming Back
Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice! We are hoping the same old trick will get our favorite gross out ghoul back on the big screen.
Our chances of resurrecting Beetlejuice are looking better today after Deadline announced that Beetlejuice 2 has a writer officially attached. Warner Bros. has tasked Mike Vukadinovich with penning the sequel. Vukadinovich wrote the Sundance sci-fi flick Rememory starring Peter Dinklage and Julie Ormond. He also was a writer on upcoming projects Marvel’s Runaways and Disney’s Mr...
