Posts

‘His Dark Materials’ Emerges From “The Cave” With An Exciting New Drive By Hoai-Tran Bui/Nov. 24, 2020 9:00 am EST His Dark Materials continues its upward momentum with “The Cave,” an episode that really hones into the science-fantasy elements of the show in reinvigorating new way. The show is more Jules Verne-inspired quest than dour Game of Thrones knock-off now, and it’s exciting to see how this more confident His Dark Materials is beginning to take shape....

‘His Dark Materials’ Season 2 Review: The Fantasy Series Subtly Comes Of Age In A New And Improved Second Season By Hoai-Tran Bui/Nov. 9, 2020 8:00 am EST Last year, His Dark Materials arrived at the epic fantasy arena with big ambitions and big visions of the future. But the first season of the BBC/HBO series adaptation of Philip Pullman’s acclaimed trilogy had the unfortunate tendency to put the cart before the horse, resulting in a solid but tonally uneven debut season that really just wanted to get to the meat of the story....

‘In The Earth’ Teaser: Ben Wheatley’s New Horror Movie Heads To Sundance By Chris Evangelista/Dec. 15, 2020 3:00 pm EST Ben Wheatley is back with another strange trip to the dark side. The Kill List filmmaker’s latest is In the Earth, a movie he managed to make mostly in secret during the pandemic, because he’s a sly one, that Ben Wheatley. And now, this new movie is headed to Sundance. The first In the Earth teaser promises all sorts of ominous goings-on, and the film’s subject matter is bound to make some people uneasy – because it deals with a deadly virus....

‘Joker’ Gets An Official R Rating For Strong Bloody Violence And The Other Usual Suspects By Chris Evangelista/Aug. 23, 2019 1:30 pm EST It had been assumed that Todd Phillips’ Joker would end up with an R rating, and now it’s official: the MPAA has given the Joaquin Phoenix anti-comic book flick the very adult rating. That’s right: this movie is so damn twisted that only adults will be able to handle it....

‘Lovers Rock’, Part Of Steve McQueen’s ‘Small Axe’ Anthology, Will Open This Year’s New York Film Festival By Chris Evangelista/Aug. 3, 2020 3:00 pm EST While some film festivals this year have given in to defeat and canceled, the New York Film Festival is still hoping to make things work. The 58th edition of the NYFF will have outdoor and virtual screenings with indoor screenings as possible and directed by state and health officials, as well as two drive-ins: the Queens Drive-In at Flushing Meadows Corona Park, created by Rooftop Films, the New York Hall of Science, and Museum of the Moving Image; and the Brooklyn Drive-In at The Brooklyn Army Terminal, created by Rooftop Films and the New York City Economic Development Corporation....

‘Metal Gear Solid’ Movie Casts Oscar Isaac As Solid Snake By Chris Evangelista/Dec. 4, 2020 9:33 am EST Back in 2019, Oscar Isaac declared that he would be happy to play Solid Snake in the Metal Gear Solid movie coming from Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts. And now it looks like that’s exactly what’s happening. Isaac is now attached to star in the video game adaptation as the character, a former Green Beret and highly skilled special operations soldier engaged in solo stealth and espionage missions in a deeply unusual science fiction world....

‘Once Upon A Time’ Creators Returning To ABC For ‘Epic’, A Romance Set In Disney’s Fairytale Universe By Ben Pearson/Dec. 17, 2019 3:30 pm EST Once Upon a Time creators Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz are returning to the world of fairytales. They’re teaming up with their former Once Upon a Time writer Brigette Hales to launch a new ABC show called Epic, a “romantic anthology series set in the fairytale universe of Disney....

‘Saturday Night Live’ Has A Cavalcade Of Guest Stars Join Woody Harrelson For A Solid Season Premiere By Ethan Anderton/Sept. 29, 2019 10:30 am EST Saturday Night Live is back for its 45th season, and the season premiere kicked off in the aftermath of one of the biggest week’s in political news this year (and that’s saying something). Though SNL had pulled back from doing too much political satire last season, mostly because the presidential administration is too funny of a joke itself to effectively parody, they came back with a vengeance by not only bringing Alec Baldwin back as Donald Trump, but several guest stars, as well as host Woody Harrelson, as key Democratic presidential candidates....

‘Song Of The South’ Will Never Be On Disney+, Bob Iger Confirms By Chris Evangelista/March 11, 2020 8:30 am EST In case you were still wondering: No, Song of the South will never be on Disney+. When the Disney streaming service was first announced, then-CEO Bob Iger was quoted as saying that the entire Disney library would be available to stream, which lead many to wonder if that would include the controversial 1946 Disney film as well....

‘Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker’ Features A Tribute To Jim Henson’s ‘Labyrinth’ By Ben Pearson/March 23, 2020 2:30 pm EST Though The Muppets creator Jim Henson never officially worked on a Star Wars movie, he did work with George Lucas on the 1986 fantasy film Labyrinth. And it turns out that Neal Scanlan, the creature and special make-up effects creative supervisor for the five most recent Star Wars films, also worked on Labyrinth in the early days of his career as an effects artist....

‘The Knight Before Christmas’ Trailer: It’s Vanessa Hudgens’ Christmas, We’re All Just Living In It By Hoai-Tran Bui/Nov. 7, 2019 5:30 pm EST Maybe Vanessa Hudgens accidentally signed her soul away in a contract with Netflix that requires her to star in at least one cheesy Christmas movie per year. Or maybe we’ve got ourselves a new Queen of Christmas who just wants to spend her holidays frolicking with handsome foreign men, one of which may be displaced in time....

By Hoai-Tran Bui/Jan. 23, 2020 2:30 pm EST Toss a coin to your anime fan friends, because The Witcher is becoming an anime movie. Netflix is capitalizing on the wild success of the Henry Cavill-starring high fantasy series based on the book series by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski and the popular video game franchise it spawned, ordering a The Witcher anime film from Korean animation house Studio Mir. Netflix has had great success with Studio Mir, having worked with them for the hit animated series Voltron: Legendary Defender, but the widely regarded animation studio is probably best known for its stunning work on Nickelodeon’s The Legend of Korra....

‘Transformers: War For Cybertron Trilogy’ Trailer: ‘Siege’ Ends The War Between Autobots And Decepticons By Chris Evangelista/July 6, 2020 5:30 pm EST There may not be any live-action Transformers movies on the horizon, but there is the somewhat clunkily named Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy. The first entry in the series is Siege, and it depicts the final hours of the civil war between the Autobots and Decepticons. Netflix and Hasbro partnered with Rooster Teeth for the anime series, and you can see what’s in store below....

‘Your Name’ Live-Action Remake Lands ‘Minari’ Director Lee Isaac Chung By Hoai-Tran Bui/Sept. 18, 2020 5:30 pm EST Your Name has named a new director to take the helm of Paramount, Bad Robot, and Toho’s live-action remake of the 2016 anime hit. Minari filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung will take over as the Your Name remake director, taking the reigns from Marc Webb, who was originally tapped to direct the film last year....

AMC Theatres Preparing To Sell Millions In Stock In Order To Stay Alive By Ethan Anderton/Nov. 2, 2020 8:30 am EST As coronavirus pandemic numbers continue to rise across the United States, it doesn’t look like movie theaters are going to see a big influx of audiences anytime soon, especially as the regular flu season starts to come around. In addition to increased COVID-19 cases, movie studios still aren’t releasing any major blockbusters to theaters....

Could ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Skip Theaters For Streaming? Warner Bros. Has Reportedly Discussed It By Chris Evangelista/March 20, 2020 11:30 am EST Is Wonder Woman 1984 going to bypass theaters altogether and head straight to streaming? Warner Bros. is reportedly mulling over what to do with their upcoming superhero sequel as the fate of movie theaters remains up the air. The coronavirus has shut down many theaters across the globe, and there’s no telling when they’ll back up and running....

Daily Podcast: Spider-Man, Bitter Root, Gideon Falls, Treasure Island, Beverly Hills Cop 4 & Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker By Peter Sciretta/Oct. 3, 2019 12:45 pm EST On the October 3, 2019 episode of /Film Daily, /Film editor-in-chief Peter Sciretta is joined by /Film weekend editor Brad Oman, and writer Chris Evangelista to discuss the latest film and tv news, including studios losing franchise rights, Spider-Man in the MCU, Bitter Root, Gideon Falls, Treasure Island, Beverly Hills Cop 4 and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker....

Daily Podcast: Studio Ghibli Films Coming To HBO Max, Paul Dano As The Riddler, Bone, Harry Potter Subscription Service, And More By Ben Pearson/Oct. 17, 2019 12:45 pm EST On the October 17, 2019 episode of /Film Daily, /Film senior writer Ben Pearson is joined by /Film managing editor Jacob Hall and writer Hoai-Tran Bui to discuss the latest film and TV news, including The Batman’s new Riddler, Superintelligence heading directly to HBO Max, Bone being adapted for Netflix, whether the newly-announced Harry Potter subscription service is worth it, and how Studio Ghibli films will be available for streaming after all....

Daily Podcast: Who Should Direct Paddington 3? Release Date Changes, Star Wars Celebration Canceled, Disneyland Reopening By Peter Sciretta/June 15, 2020 12:15 pm EST On the June 15, 2020 Episode of /Film Daily, /Film editor-in-chief Peter Sciretta is joined by /Film senior writer Ben Pearson and writer Hoai-Tran Bui to discuss the latest film and tv news, including movie release changes, Star Wars Celebration Canceled, Disneyland Reopening and Paddington 3....

David Fincher Gave A Video Masterclass To Quarantined Film Students By Chris Evangelista/March 25, 2020 12:00 pm EST David Fincher gave some film students an unexpected, but surely welcome, surprise this week when he offered up a masterclass via Zoom, an app seemingly everyone is using these days to stay connected while most institutions are shut down. The 450-plus students of the United Kingdom’s National Film and Television School were treated to Fincher’s insights via video conference, and I sure as hell hope someone managed to record this so it can eventually find its way online....