HBO Makes 500 Hours’ Worth of Programming Available for Free

There have been watch lists galore since millions of people started practicing social distancing, self-quarantining, and sheltering in place due to the spread of COVID-19. Rian Johnson and Edgar Wright shared their favorite 70s musicals and comedies, respectively, while James Gunn offered a top-10 list of films you probably haven’t seen but should. Our own Desson Thomson gave us a thorough compendium of shows and films we could be enjoying,

Late-Night TV Adapts to a Changed World

As the spread of COVID-19 stalled productions and delayed film premieres, you could make a case that the most visible manifestation of the global pandemic on the entertainment industry was the lack of late-night TV shows. Starting around mid-March, every single one of the late-night programs, from The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to Full Frontal With Samantha Bee to Conan, went dark. The folks that millions of Americans invite into their living rooms and bedrooms every night,

ESPN’s Michael Jordan Documentary The Last Dance Reveals 1st Trailer

There’s a certain beat that will instantly transport those of us who were avid sports fans in the 90s. The beat comes from a song (which I’d never known until this moment, after Googling it) by the British rock band The Alan Parsons Project. The song is called “Sirius.” This brief instrumental, under two minutes long, was adopted by the Chicago Bulls to introduce their starting lineup during their epic run of six NBA championships between 1991 and 1998.

Rick and Morty’s Season 4 Trailer is as Bonkers as You’d Hope

Need a laugh? Yeah, us too. We all do about now, and there are few more reliable places to get a bunch of them then Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon’s Rick and Morty. Season four continues on May 3, which, yes, feels like a very long time from now. The Emmy Award-winning animated comedy aired five episodes of season four at the end of last year (December 15 to be exact),

John Krasinski Creates Some Good News & Interviews Steve Carell

If you’re looking for something funny and heartwarming (and frankly, who isn’t right now?), John Krasinski has got you covered. The writer/director of A Quiet Place (parts I and II) and, of course, a former member of The Office‘s phenomenal ensemble cast, has a new YouTube series called Some Good News, which delivers exactly what its title promises. The first episode, now streaming,

Post-Production Crews Pivot To Homework To Keep The Lights On

Anybody walking down West 45th Street in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood on a recent Tuesday might not have noticed them. In the narrow parking lot of the eight-story building marked 432, men loaded equipment cases into waiting vehicles. Two of those enclosures contained Sony BVM-X300s, top-of-the-line professional monitors that colorists use to finish tv shows and films for broadcast. Each can easily cost $30,000.

This wasn’t the scene of a brazen heist in broad daylight;

Go Inside Warworld, Westworld’s New WWII-Themed Park

It feels like several years ago when we interviewed Westworld cinematographer and director Paul Cameron about the series’ ambitious third season (it was actually only 11 days ago). Since then, the world has gotten significantly scarier thanks to the spread of COVID-19, which makes Westworld‘s third season, fully wrapped long before the pandemic hit, extra comforting right now. That is, as comforting as HBO’s wildly ambitious,

Star Trek: Picard Director Hanelle Culpepper Makes History (And a Home in Space)

With news of rising numbers of COVID-19 infections and the economic fallout the disease destined to come with it, everyone is looking for watch lists for some quality home entertainment. Highly recommended by critics and viewers alike is CBS All Access’s Star Trek: Picard, which has been the most-watched original series to date for the streaming service. The first three episodes of the series were helmed by director Hanelle Culpepper,

Watch the Trailer for Solar Opposites From Rick and Morty Co-Creator

We could all use a laugh in these dire times, and there have been few shows on TV that so reliably elicit actual LOLs than Rick and Morty. So, the news that Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland and writer Mike McMahan have a new animated series coming to Hulu is manna from outer space. Behold the first teaser for Solar Opposites, Roiland and McMahan’s alien comedy.

The Walking Dead & Better Call Saul Director Bronwen Hughes Talks Drama, Real & Imagined

“For the two months leading up to this moment, I was writing. I was already leading an isolation style life,” says writer/director Bronwen Hughes. Her usually intense TV directing schedule had this lull so she could complete a screenplay for a feature (a spy thriller she’s sending off to a major studio, she’d say no more), and then the world changed.

“Well, every physical shoot I’ve had or have, booked or about to book,

Costume Designers Guild to Sew Masks for Hospitals

With critical medical supplies in short supply, the Costume Designers Guild is currently rallying its members to step into the breach to help sew masks for hospitals dealing with the spread of COVID-19. Salvador Perez, president of the Costume Designers Guild, told Variety, “We are organizing all our members from local 892 and local 705 costumers who can sew, to manufacture masks for hospitals. It will be good to keep busy and help the community.” This followed a conference call with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees,

Silent Sunday Nights Host Jacqueline Stewart’s Easy Going Film Expertise

Jacqueline Stewart is a film scholar, researcher, author and archivist. But when she gets before the cameras as the host of Silent Sunday Nights on Turner Classic Movies (TCM), she’s once again a kid watching movies late into the night with her aunt Constance.

“I was obsessed with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies as a kid. They always seemed to be on TV the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve,

How Costume Designer Jeriana San Juan Helped Shape HBO’s The Plot Against America

These are trying times. When The Wire creator David Simon and his longtime collaborator Ed Burns set out to adapt the late, legendary novelist Philip Roth’s terrifyingly prescient 2005 novel “The Plot Against America,” they were doing so in a pre-pandemic world. At first, Simon and his team were “merely” adapting a novel that seemed, with eerie clairvoyance, to peer around the bend of time into our present day. The book envisions a truculent presidential candidate rising to power on an America First platform,

Our In-House Former Movie Critic Submits An Epic Watch List for Trying Times

For reasons entirely to do with this crazy life we’re all living right now, I find myself revisiting the final scene of the great Three Days of the Condor. You know, the Robert Redford thriller that came out, like, before electricity. In the movie, Redford’s a CIA analyst who knows too much, and the CIA is hunting him down. In this climactic scene, he informs an adversary, played by Cliff Robertson, that he has a gun in his coat pocket and that he needs to walk with him for a little bit.

Grey’s Anatomy Donating Gloves & Gowns to Fight COVID-19

With the rapid spread of COVID-19, people all across the globe are trying to do their part. This includes people with symptoms who are self-quarantining, the tens of millions of folks practicing social distancing, and the efforts of individuals and charities alike to lending a helping hand—in whatever way they can—to support people in even greater need. As we all learn how to live under novel, legitimately terrifying circumstances, no industry or group of people are working harder than our healthcare providers.

New iPhone-Filmed Conan Episodes Will Return on March 30

We’ll take all the good news we can get at this point. We all know that with the spread of COVID-19, productions are shutting down throughout the entertainment industry. That has included every late-night talk show. Late night hosts are still producing content, mind you, often in an effort to help viewers understand the importance of social distancing and to offer a little levity in this time of crisis. Now we’ve got the very welcome news that one late-night host,

The Below-the-Line Talent Who Make the Films & Shows we Love

With the spread of COVID-19 affecting the entertainment industry in unprecedented ways, below-the-line filmmakers are facing the prospect of weeks, or months, without income, some without health insurance or paid sick leave. These are the folks who make the films and television shows we love possible. They’re costume designers and assistant directors, gaffers, grips, and animators. They’re makeup artists and hairstylists, they’re art directors and location scouts, they’re the people who design the sets,

Studios & Stars Offer Social Distancing Education & Entertainment

Comedians, musicians, actors, and film and television studios have begun stepping up to try and add a little levity, light, and a sense of much-needed solidarity as we all deal with COVID-19. Individuals and companies with massive platforms can do a lot of good by informing citizens about the best way to stay safe and keep others safe in these unprecedented times. With governments across the world urging citizens to practice social distancing and, in many cases,

Westworld Cinematographer & Director Paul Cameron on Season 3’s Big Time Ambitions

“As a DP,” says director of photography Paul Cameron, ASC, “you tend to walk into a location and visualize it and pitch it to a director.” But what happens if you are the director? Well, he allows, “I may have been a little stronger in pitching my ideas” back to the cinematographer.

Cameron had a chance to pitch in both directions, in quick succession, on HBO’s currently unfurling third season of Westworld.

How Coronavirus is Affecting Below the Line Filmmakers

As COVID-19 has spread across the globe, hundreds of governments are attempting to deal with the rapidly spreading pandemic. The first and most important factor in assessing the damage that coronavirus has caused is measured in human lives. According to the most recent accounts from the New York Times, coronavirus has sickened more than 170,400 people, with 6,619 deaths. The pandemic has spread to at least 140 countries.  

Then there is the damage to the economy.