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The Quarantine Stream: ‘Pet Stars’ Is Exactly What You Need Right Now By Chris Evangelista/May 5, 2021 7:00 am EST (Welcome to The Quarantine Stream, a series where the /Film team shares what they’ve been watching while social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.)The Series: Pet StarsWhere You Can Stream It: NetflixThe Pitch: A docuseries that follows Colleen Wilson and Melissa May Curtis as they run Pets on Q, a talent agency for pets....

The Quarantine Stream: ‘Save Ralph’ Will Make You Read The Fine Print On Your Cosmetics By Ben Pearson/April 12, 2021 7:00 am EST Look, I’m not trying to be willfully naive here. I know the companies who still participate in this type of animal testing are huge and have tons of well-paid lobbyists at their beck and call who can influence legislation on their behalf and do whatever they can to make sure regular people don’t think about the cruelty that happens during tests like these....

Why The Irregulars Was Canceled — Here’s What We Know Netflix By Ryan Scott/Oct. 22, 2021 3:55 pm EST (Welcome to Will There Be Another Season?, a series where we answer that question and explore what comes next.) “Sherlock Holmes” has been explored in many ways in the pop culture landscape over the decades, with no shortage of projects in recent memory. These range widely in scope, from the Robert Downey Jr....

Wicked Movie Will Reunite Director Jon M. Chu With In The Heights Cinematographer Universal Pictures By Shania Russell/Sept. 1, 2021 2:34 pm EST What is this feeling, so sudden and new? It’s certainly not loathing — it’s excitement! After making movie-musical magic with “In The Heights,” Jon M. Chu is returning to the song-and-dance game with Universal’s long-awaited “Wicked” adaptation. The upcoming film is based on a beloved stage musical, much like “In The Heights,” but one with an even grander legacy that remains one of the longest-running shows on Broadway to this day (currently in fifth place)....

‘8MM 2’ Swaps Plot And Character For Flesh And Silicone By Rob Hunter/June 11, 2018 1:00 pm EST (Welcome to DTV Descent, a series that explores the weird and wild world of direct-to-video sequels to theatrically released movies. In this edition, we get dirty with the follow-up to Nicolas Cage’s grim and grimy thriller about leather, latex, and the lurid world of snuff films.) This column’s only six entries deep, but all of the featured DTV sequels have so far offered a direct connection to the film that came before it....

‘District 10’ Will Be “Stripped Down” And “Bare Bones,” Says Neill Blomkamp By Jeremy Mathai/Aug. 18, 2021 9:35 am EST South African-Canadian filmmaker Neill Blomkamp took the moviegoing world by storm in 2009 with his debut feature, District 9. Racking up Academy Award nominations and the respect of his peers and fans alike, Blomkamp has struggled since then to recapture that magic. In that light, the announcement that he would be returning to the gritty world of aliens and social unrest to make District 10 wasn’t too much of a surprise....

/Film Interview: Jordan Vogt-Roberts On ‘The Kings Of Summer’ And Making “The Dumbest Terrence Malick Movie Ever” By Russ Fischer/June 28, 2013 6:00 pm EST I’m not going to present the whole thing, but what follows is a lightly edited transcript of the bulk of our conversation. The director goes into great detail about his ambitions for the film, which follows three high school kids as they run away from home and spend a summer building their own home in the woods....

‘Let The Right One In’ Showtime Series Rounds Out Its Cast Of Vampires And Victims By Danielle Ryan/July 6, 2021 6:58 am EST The Showtime series Let the Right One In, inspired by the Swedish novel of the same name, has cast the rest of its leads. Apart from the father-daughter duo played by Demián Bichir and Madison Taylor Baez, Showtime announced additional cast members and their characters, and it appears the series diverge pretty significantly from the novel and previous film adaptations....

‘Lupin’ Part 2 Trailer: Omar Sy’s Gentleman Thief Is Back With A Vengeance By Hoai-Tran Bui/March 5, 2021 1:30 pm EST Assane Diop is back with a vengeance — literally, on a mission of revenge against the powerful man who framed his father for theft and has now kidnapped his son. Part 2 of Lupin, the French heist series that was Netflix’s first surprise hit of 2021, will be hitting the streamer this summer....

‘Sniper Elite’ Movie Coming From ‘Rampage’ Director Brad Peyton By Ben Pearson/March 24, 2021 5:00 pm EST Rampage filmmaker Brad Peyton has zeroed in on his next directing effort. A new report says Peyton will direct a Snipe Elite movie, which will be an adaptation of the video game franchise that kicked off in 2005. Variety reports that Peyton (Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore) will direct the “character-driven action thriller,” which “will see an elite Allied sniper, Karl Fairburne, engage in a cat-and-mouse chase through the streets of London at the height of the Blitz during World War II, as he tries to save British Prime Minister Winston Churchill from a Nazi assassin....

‘The Protégé’ Director Martin Campbell Thinks Digital Effects Are Bad For Action Movies By Hoai-Tran Bui/Aug. 19, 2021 8:44 am EST Martin Campbell has seen the last three decades of action filmmaking — and helped shape much of it too. From James Bond flicks like Goldeneye and Casino Royale, to the beloved ’90s swashbuckler The Mask of Zorro, to superhero flicks like Green Lantern, and grimy revenge thrillers like The Foreigner, Campbell has had his hands deep in the action genre....

‘Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts’ Casts Ron Perlman As Optimus Primal, A Giant Robot Ape By Chris Evangelista/June 28, 2021 9:08 am EST At long last, a new Transformers movie will answer the eternal question: “What if Optimus Prime, but ape?” The latest entry in the clanking, cacophonous series, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, will feature Optimus Primal, a big robot ape that the official Transformers Wiki says might be “the greatest Cybertronian hero who has ever lived....

Cool Stuff: ‘Home Alone’ House And ‘Seinfeld’ Apartment Are Becoming Official LEGO Sets By Ethan Anderton/June 24, 2020 6:00 am EST Since everyone has been spending a lot more time at home over the past few months, LEGO has definitely seen an uptick in customers looking to spend some time playing with building bricks. If you need any evidence of that, just see how easy it is to find some of the more popular, rare LEGO sets that haven’t been discontinued, but are simply sold out everywhere....

Doctor Strange 2 Undergoing Extensive Reshoots Through The End Of Year Marvel Studios By Ben Pearson/Nov. 12, 2021 5:47 pm EST The Eye of Agamotto might be a little bloodshot than usual in the coming weeks, because “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” is gearing up for an intense round of reshoots. And while “reshoots” is no longer the dirty word it once was in Hollywood parlance, this sounds like a far bigger deal than the normal amount of reshoots that are typically built into the production schedule....

Influences and Inspirations United Artists Upon its release, “Dune” ended up giving viewers a little crash course in film history. For instance, it’s not terribly surprising that the director behind “Blade Runner 2049” would capture our first extended look at the city of Arrakeen by evoking very similar sequences of the camera floating over immense cityscapes in both the original “Blade Runner” and Villeneuve’s masterful 2017 sequel. That’s not where all the cinematic references end, however....

Eli Roth’s Film Festival By Peter Sciretta/Feb. 3, 2008 4:19 pm EST Horror director Eli Roth is following in Edgar Wright’s footsteps and programing a two week film festival (called “The Greats of Roth”) at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles from February 17th to March 1st. Check out the festival’s line-up after the jump, with commentary provided by Eli Roth himself. february 17, 18, 19 The Hacksaw/Chainsaw double bill!...

Judd Apatow’s Netflix Film ‘The Bubble’ Adds Pedro Pascal, ‘Borat 2’ Star Maria Bakalova, And Many More By Ben Pearson/Feb. 9, 2021 2:30 pm EST Last November, we wrote about how writer/director Judd Apatow’s first feature film for Netflix would be a movie about a bunch of actors stuck inside a bubble during the pandemic. Now that project has a title – The Bubble – and a cast that is not just the same familiar lineup of stars that he works with all the time....

Movies Like Titanic That You Definitely Need To See Paramount Pictures By Liam Gaughan/Nov. 29, 2021 3:23 pm EST The 1997 release of James Cameron’s “Titanic” is one of the most fundamental moments in blockbuster cinema history. Cameron was known for his highly popular blockbusters “The Terminator,” “Aliens,” “T2: Judgment Day,” and “True Lies,” but a historical romantic epic was new territory for the groundbreaking filmmaker. With a $200 million budget and a runtime of 195 minutes, the success of “Titanic” was far from guaranteed, and its failure could have signified the end of Cameron’s string of successes....

Primal Won The Emmy For Best Animated Program, Beating Out Some Serious Heavy-Hitters Adult Swim By BJ Colangelo/Sept. 13, 2021 6:09 pm EST Genndy Tartakovsky’s “Primal” for Adult Swim won two Creative Arts Emmys on Sunday, beating out heavy-hitters like “Big Mouth,” “Bob’s Burgers,” “The Simpsons,” and “South Park.” The show took home statues for both Best Animated Program and Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation. Last night’s wins mark the fourth and fifth overall Emmy wins for the series, and the show’s first nomination and win for Best Animated Series....

Politicians Call to Ban Live Guns On Set Sam Wasson / Getty Images ABC’s “The Rookie” has already voluntarily banned live guns from their set, but politicians local to California and New Mexico (where the shooting took place) are calling for a more formalized approach. Councilman Paul Koretz (Los Angeles City Council, representing the Fifth Council District) has introduced a resolution to support legislation that would ban live guns and ammunition from all film and TV sets....