Richard Linklater’s 1993 cult classicDazed and Confusedis not just a hangout movie. It’s a veryspecifickind of hangout movie. Set in 1976, 17 years prior to the film’s release, the film is a casual nostalgia trip for a very specific demographic, as well as a window into another time for those who were not there to experience it. It features a broad range of characters, each one authentic in their own right....
William Monahanis responsible for writing one of the great crime films of the aughts,Martin Scorsese’s rabid, riotousThe Departed, and the film was powered as much by the director’s relentlessly inventive pacing and editing as it was Monahan’s expert reconsideration ofWai-Keung LauandAlan Mak’sInfernal Affairs. He’s an immensely talented writer, having also pennedBody of Lies,Ridley Scott’s last truly riveting film, and the entertainingEdge of Darknessadaptation, but he’s less interesting as a filmmaker, which was proven by his debut,London Boulevard....
Before he thrilled us withYellowstoneand his ever-growing empire of Paramount Network productions,Taylor Sheridantransitioned from his time as an actor to being a screenwriter. On spec, he penned an unofficial trilogy that is easily his most impressive work to date. More than that, it’s arguably the best trilogy of films that Hollywood has put out in about a decade.Sicario,Hell or High Water, andWind Riverare eachpowerful examinations of the American West, though none of them are connected by character or location....
[Warning:On the Count of Threecenters on suicidal characters. If you are considering self-harm, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at (800) 273-8255] Sometimes when movies swing wildly between tones, it’s because the director doesn’t really have control over the material, so scenes aren’t landing with the emotional impact that the filmmaker intended. That’s not the case withJerrod Carmichael’s feature debutOn the Count of Three. Carmichael wants to keep us off balance between moments of deep melancholy and despair mixed with comic absurdity....
Sony released the trailer forParallel Mothers(Madres Paralelas), the new movie by acclaimed Spanish directorPedro Almodóvar.Set to open the 78th Venice International Film Festival,Parallel Motherswill become available in Spain in September, before crossing the ocean and hitting U.S. theaters in December. The short trailer teases the plot ofParallel Mothersby showing the life trajectory of two women who give birth on the same day. The two women are brought to life byMilena Smitand Almodóvar’s long-time collaboratorPenélope Cruz....
Netflix has one of two things on their hands withPrank Encounters: It’s either the nextJackassorPunk’din the making, or it’s a darkly comedic satirical commentary on the state of America’s unemployed society in 2019, something befittingBlack Mirror’s best send-ups. Something tells me it’ll have the success of the former without the self-awareness of the latter. But hey, at least someone’s getting a laugh! The premise sees “That kid fromStranger Things"Gaten Matarazzohosting a “terrifying and hilarious” prank show that brings hopefuls looking for employment in for a job interview only to put them into some twisted situations....
In the years to come, I imagine the emerging narrative surrounding the making ofStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalkeris that it was a convoluted confluence of a studio rushing to make its release date, worried about displeasing the vocal detractors ofStar Wars: The Last Jedi, and bringing in a notoriously indecisive director to try and thread the needle. While some will argue that the only solution is to have a clear trilogy sketched out from the beginning, that’s not how filmmaking works or even the beloved Original Trilogy ofStar Warsmovies worked....
Right on the heels ofSouth Park’s new season getting rescheduled, another animated comedy is being dealt the same treatment. Deadline reports thatComedy Centralhas shifted the original premiere date ofAndy Samberg’sDigman!Season 2. Two years after its renewal, the adult show was meant to return in just a few days, on July 9, but fans will unfortunately have to wait two weeks longer for their favorite adventurers’ return. The sophomore season ofDigman!is now set to premiere on July 23, similar toSouth Park, with new episodes airing on Wednesdays at 10:30 PM....
Early last year, whenShazam!was still filming in Toronto, I got to visit the set with a few other reporters. While I was optimistic going in based on everything I’d heard about the upcoming DC film, being on set left me even more excited. One of the main reasons was directorDavid Sandberg. Even though he was coming off two smaller scale movies (Lights OutandAnnabelle: Creation), both showed someone who clearly knew what he was doing behind the camera and I was excited to see what he would do next....
Amazon’s new series, sci-fi anthologyTales From the Loop, feels like a soothing, dreamy, otherworldly balm.Tales From the Loopmay be part of the bigger trend of sci-fi anthology shows likeBlack Mirroror theTwilight Zonerevival, but stands out as an entry focused on finding the good in life-changing technology and scientific discoveries, rather than pondering how it could all go wrong. Arriving at a time when things are noticeably more chaotic than we’re used to,Tales From the Loopis going to help you forget about whatever else might be happening right now....
Horror and comedy thrive on two sides of the same spectrum. Without digging too deep into genre theory, a huge amount of comedy comes from watching someone else suffer in amusing ways. Slapstick mines physical pain for laughs, satire makes mincemeat out of its subjects, and theater scholars have literally spent centuries debating whether comedy can exist without someone suffering as the punchline. In film, the relationship is even tighter. After all, a cinema is built around timing and tension, but no two genres play with the sense of buld-up and release with such similar structure as horror and comedy....
When it comes to the year-end racket, you hear a lot about awards contenders and critical darlings, but too often the year’s most entertaining films are forgotten in the conversation. But I love a good piece of popcorn entertainment – and honestly, everybody does, that’s why they make so much damn money at the box office. With that in mind, welcome to my annual tradition breaking down the very best of the biggest, loudest, and sometimes dumbest films to hit theaters this year because there’s an art to having a good time, and the films that know how should get their due recognition as well....
The 1940s was a remarkable decade for cinema, especially when it came to the American film industry. By the start of the 40s, sound in cinema had been established for the past dozen or so years, and filmmakers had gotten used to the opportunities that dialogue brought to the medium. Silent films may have been all but dead by 1940, but the talkies were thriving like never before and tended to be considerably more advanced and complex than the dialogue films of the 30s....
