Tag: cinema

By Caryn James A harrowing action film imagining a near future in which the US has descended into chaos is the year's most controversial film so far – and the polarised response is just as interesting. The most harrowing, visceral scene among many in Alex Garland's Civil War takes place on the streets of Washington DC, which has become an intense combat zone. In a very near-future when seceding states are rebelling against the authoritarian US government, helicopters fly overhead and explosions hit the Lincoln Memorial. Near the White House, journalists hide from gunfire behind armoured military vehicles. Garland puts us in the centre of a stomach-churning fictional battle that feels all too real, especially in light of the real violence in the US Capitol on 6 January 2021....

By Noor Nanji Fifteen people have been injured and taken to hospital after a tram crashed at Universal Studios Hollywood on Saturday night. Los Angeles County Fire said on social media that its units were dispatched to the theme park shortly after 21:00 local time. The patients were being treated for minor injuries, it added. The country sheriff told the LA Times that a four-car tram had crashed. Lt. Maria Abal said the last car of the tram hit a rail as it travelled down a hill at a parking structure. Like in many theme parks, trams at Universal Studios Hollywood ferry people around the site, which covers more than 400 acres. Trams are also used for tours. It is not clear what the tram was being used for at the time of the crash. It is also unclear whet...

By:  Elisabeth McGowan How is Matty Healy doing amidst the worldwide takeover of The Tortured Poets Department? According to his family, the 1975 vocalist, 35, is doing just fine whether or not Taylor Swift’s new songs were inspired by their brief fling last year. After the 34-year-old international pop star dropped her double album on Friday, April 19, Swifties pulled apart some lyrics that seemingly point to Matty. During a recent interview with the Daily Mail, Matty’s aunt Debbie Dedes noted, “Nothing surprises him any more,” referring to the track “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived.” “He will not be surprised by the song,” Debbie double down before adding, “Him and her know what went on. … She writes about all her relationships, do...

BY BRIAN DAVIDS From a certain point of view, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare star Eiza González may have just played the original real-life Bond girl. Ungentlemanly Warfare, the first of González’s three Guy Ritchie movies to hit theaters, is loosely based on the recently declassified Operation Postmaster, chronicling Winston Churchill’s Special Operations Executive (SOE) and their covert mission to neutralize Nazi Germany’s U-boats during World War II. The efforts of these unauthorized commandos and spies helped change the course of the war, allowing the United States to then join the European Theater of Operations in 1942.  In the action-thriller, González plays Marjorie Stewart, a talented soldier-spy who’s equally gifted as a performer. Together with ...

BY BORYS KIT Paramount Pictures has renewed its first-look deal with Lindsey Anderson Beer and her production banner Lab Brew. In re-upping the deal, the studio has also picked up Here Comes the Dark, a supernatural thriller spec script by Shane and Carey Van Dyke, the duo who co-wrote the 2022 thriller Don’t Worry Darling. Anderson Beer and Lab Brew will produce. Paramount’s renewal is a vote of confidence in Anderson Beer, who wrote and made her feature directorial debut with the horror movie Pet Sematary: Bloodline for the studio last year. The movie debuted as the No. 1 title on Paramount+ and quickly broke the streamer’s record for the most-watched Paramount+ original movie within the first 30 days of a film’s release in the U.S. Anderson Be...

By Mike Fleming Jr, Zac Ntim The ancient Scottish town of St Andrews was hit with a heavy bout of Spidey fever this past weekend as the third annual Sands International Film Festival opened, pulling in an eclectic set of films, filmmakers, and speakers alongside one popular guest of honor.  Spider-Man actor Tom Holland, also known for The Impossible, Cherry, and The Devil All the Time passed through the fest, which opened with a screening of Last Call, a short project he leads with Lindsay Duncan (Blackbird) that was co-written and directed by his brother, Harry Holland. The Holland brothers also took part in the first annual Sands golf tournament, which will continue as part of the festival’s wider activities. It was on the...

BY ZOE G PHILLIPS Lourdes Portillo, the prominent Mexican filmmaker and social activist behind The Devil Never Sleeps and the Oscar-nominated Las Madres – The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, has died. She was 80. Portillo died at her home in San Francisco on Saturday, her friend Soco Aguilar told The Hollywood Reporter. She was surrounded by her three sons and younger sister. A cause was not given. Portillo worked as a writer, director, producer, activist and journalist to create work that centered Latin American and Mexican stories. Las Madres – The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, released in 1985, highlighted the mothers of Argentinian desaparecidos holding weekly protests in Buenos Aires’ Plaza de Mayo during Argentina’s military dictatorship. The documenta...