cineverse, Author at CineVerse Daily

Sep92025 by cineverseNo Comments

Guillermo del Toro on Sunday Paintings With Other Directors and the Brutality and Grace of ‘Frankenstein’: ‘Both Can Exist in the Same Body

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By Clayton Davis According To The variety Guillermo del Toro doesn’t just direct monsters — he understands them. The Oscar-winning auteur behind “The Shape of Water” (2017) and “Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006) has built a career elevating genre cinema through stories of misunderstood outsiders. But with his long-awaited adaptation of “Frankenstein,” the Mexican filmmaker has returned to what he calls his creative origin — and maybe his most personal film yet. “To me, the point of origin was ‘Frankenstein,’” del Toro tells Variety. “This is not a monster movie. This is a story about what it means to be human.” Del Toro’s take on Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel isn’t horror in the conventional sense — it’s myth, metaphor and opera. After decades in development, “Frankenstein” finally pr...

Sep72025 by cineverseNo Comments

Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst Electrify Toronto Film Festival With True Crime Drama ‘Roofman

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By Brent Lang According To The varietyChanning Tatum, playing a robber with a serious case of arrested development, may have delivered the most mature performance of his career, at least if the thunderous standing ovation for “Roofman” at its Toronto Film Festival premiere is to be believed. The film tells the true story of Jeffrey Manchester, the so-called “Rooftop Robber,” who broke into dozens of McDonald’s restaurants, was sentenced to prison for 45 years, escaped, and hid in a Toys “R” Us, all while becoming romantically entwined with one of the store’s employees (Kirsten Dunst). Derek Cianfrance, best known for moody dramas like “Blue Valentine” and “I Know This Much is True,” saw Manchester’s incredible story as a chance to work in a different register. “I ju...

Sep72025 by cineverseNo Comments

Rental Family’ Review: Hiring Actors to Play Relatives Would Be Weird Enough Without Brendan Fraser Being One of the Options

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By Peter Debruge According To The varietySix years ago, the inimitable Werner Herzog made “Family Romance, LLC,” an odd pseudo-documentary about a Japanese service that specialized in hiring actors to play a loved one, colleague or potential suitor — whatever the client required. The company was real (or inspired by one profiled in The New Yorker), but the examples were not. Need someone to absorb your wife’s anger over that extramarital affair without inconveniencing your mistress? Just ask Rental Family to send a proxy. Trying to fool your once-famous father into thinking he hasn’t been forgotten? Rental Family can send a “reporter” over to interview him. Maybe Herzog isn’t so inimitable after all, for Japanese director Hikari (best known for “Beef”) has made a ...

Sep32025 by cineverseNo Comments

Park Chan-wook’s ‘No Other Choice’ Selected by Korea for Oscars

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By Naman Ramachandran According To The variety The Korean Film Council has selected Park Chan-wook’s “No Other Choice” as the country’s submission for best international feature at the 98th Academy Awards. The move positions the acclaimed filmmaker — whose credits include “Oldboy,” “The Handmaiden” and “Decision to Leave,” which was shortlisted in the category, — for a fresh run at Oscar glory. The dark comedy, adapted from Donald E. Westlake’s novel “The Ax,” premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where it is competing for the Golden Lion. Lee Byung-hun, best known globally from “Squid Game,” takes the lead as Yoo Man-su, a paper-industry veteran pushed to desperate, murderous extremes after 25 years of loyalty is abruptly discarded. Critics have hailed “No Other Cho...

Sep32025 by cineverseNo Comments

Dead Man’s Wire’ Review: Gus Van Sant and Bill Skarsgård Turn a Freak Hostage Incident from 1977 Into a Miniature ‘Dog Day Afternoon’

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By Owen Gleiberman According To The variety It was “Dog Day Afternoon” in miniature, though with more loony-tunes firepower. On Feb. 8, 1977, Tony Kiritsis, a disgruntled resident of Indianapolis, walked into the offices of the Meridian Mortgage Company and took one of its executives, Dick Hall, hostage. He wired the sawed-off muzzle of a 12-gauge Winchester shotgun to the back of Hall’s head. One end of the wire was connected to the trigger; the other end was wrapped around Hall’s neck. This meant that if a police officer tried to shoot Kiritsis, or if Hall tried to escape, the gun would go off and kill him. With that gun poised, at any moment, to blow Hall to smithereens, Kiritsis then walked him out of the building and into a car (trailed by random onlookers and a news camera), and t...

Sep22025 by cineverseNo Comments

AI Drama ‘Humans in the Loop’ Adds Kiran Rao, Biju Toppo as Executive Producers (EXCLUSIVE)

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By Naman Ramachandran According To The variety Indian filmmakers Kiran Rao and Biju Toppo have joined as executive producers on “Humans in the Loop,” the Fipresci India Grand Prix-winning feature about an indigenous Adivasi woman working as an AI data-labeller. The move represents a significant boost for the indie feature, which explores urgent themes around artificial intelligence, labor and indigenous knowledge systems. Set in Jharkhand, northern India, the film follows Nehma, an Oraon Adivasi woman whose AI data-labelling work exposes the hidden labor powering “smart” technologies. Adivasis are India’s indigenous tribal communities, comprising roughly 8% of the country’s population. Directed by Aranya Sahay and produced by Mathivanan Rajendran, Sarabhi Ravic...

Sep22025 by cineverseNo Comments

Dwayne Johnson Uncontrollably Sobs as ‘The Smashing Machine’ Gets 15-Minute Venice Standing Ovation and Generates Oscar Buzz

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By Rebecca Rubin, Ramin Setoodeh, Ellise Shafer According To The variety Is Dwayne Johnson headed for the Oscars? Judging by the rapturous reaction to his performance as wrestler Mark Kerr in “The Smashing Machine” at the Venice Film Festival on Monday night, that seems to be the consensus out of Italy. The 53-year-old actor sobbed uncontrollably as the audience on the Lido erupted into 15-minute standing ovation, one of the longest at this year’s festival so far. Johnson, who once performed as the WWE wrestler known as the Rock, has been the star of such commercial fare as “The Mummy,” “Black Adam” and “Baywatch.” But he goes much deeper in his next project, which will be released by A24 in November, as a ’90s fighter with demons. Johnson stars opposite Emi...