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The Morning Watch: Hollywood Explosions Vs. Real Explosions, Making The ‘Toy Story 4’ Opening Scene & More By Ethan Anderton/March 10, 2021 5:00 am EST The Morning Watch is a recurring feature that highlights a handful of noteworthy videos from around the web. They could be video essays, fanmade productions, featurettes, short films, hilarious sketches, or just anything that has to do with our favorite movies and TV shows. In this edition, find out why real explosions don’t look anywhere near as cool as the kind you see in big Hollywood movies....

The Neon Demon Ending & Movie Explained: Your Questions Answered By Peter Sciretta/July 8, 2016 8:00 am EST Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Neon Demon is a beautifully shot yet polarizing film. It’s either shallow, pretentious, sensationalistic and self-indulgent or a bold haunting hypnotic work of suspense. I’m still not sure if I liked it or not, but It has certainly remained with me since my viewing of the film over the weekend....

The Quarantine Stream: ‘The Death Of Stalin’ Is Sharp, Twisted, Rapid-Fire Satire From The Creator Of ‘Veep’ By Ethan Anderton/April 16, 2020 7:00 am EST (Welcome to The Quarantine Stream, a new series where the /Film team shares what they’ve been watching while social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.)The Movie: The Death of StalinWhere You Can Stream It: NetflixThe Pitch: Moscow, 1953: when tyrannical dictator Joseph Stalin drops dead, his parasitic cronies square off in a frantic power struggle to be the next Soviet leader....

Tiger King 2 Trailer: Netflix Lets The Exotic Cats Out Of The Bag Again Netflix By Chris Evangelista/Oct. 27, 2021 11:09 am EST “Tiger King” was a huge deal for Netflix, which means we must now suffer through a sequel. “But Chris,” you’re saying, “I don’t have to watch the sequel.” Oh, are you so sure about that? Are you ready to be so out-of-the-loop, while all your friends are sharing memes and doing whatever else it is people do these days?...

‘Black Adam’ Cast Adds Bodhi Sabongui In “Key Role” By Chris Evangelista/April 8, 2021 3:30 pm EST The Black Adam cast continues to grow. The latest: Bodhi Sabongui, a 13-year-old actor with credits on Legends of Tomorrow and the recent Netflix Baby-Sitters Club, has joined the film in a “key role.” As to what the key role is, well – we don’t know. It’s just something that will remain a mystery for the time being....

Dr. Death Trailer Dr. Death isn’t a horror series, but it might as well be – the gore may be minimal, but the real-life consequences of Dr. Christopher Duntsch’s history of malpractice is even more horrifying than most fictional horror stories. Joshua Jackson, Grace Gummer, AnnaSophia Robb, Christian Slater, and Alec Baldwin star in Dr. Death, which adapts Wondery’s podcast about the true story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch, who routinely left patients permanently maimed or dead, and was able to work for years thanks to gaps in the system that still exist....

‘Loki’ Review: The Marvel Villain Gets A Brilliant Second Life In This Wryly Hilarious Time-Hopping Crime Procedural By Ethan Anderton/June 8, 2021 9:00 am EST Loki is the only Marvel Cinematic Universe villain with a tenure that stretches back to the early days of the franchise. When the character, always played by the very game Tom Hiddleston, met his maker at the hands of Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, fans believed he was finally gone for good despite cheating death many times before....

‘Offseason’ Review: An Aquatic Horror Nightmare Worth The Plunge [SXSW 2021] By Matt Donato/March 18, 2021 8:00 am EST Where Mickey Keating’s filmography has often lent itself to easily identifiable cinematic inspirations, Offseason carries more of a literary mood while fitting into a persistent coastal horror trend of late. Somewhere between the McManus’ The Block Island Sound, Andy Collier and Tor Mian’s Sacrifice, and an even quieter Silent Hill is this Florida-shot call to the sea’s mysteries....

‘Saturday Night Live At Home’ Is A Weird And Wonderful Pick-Me-Up, And Tom Hanks Joined In Too By Ethan Anderton/April 12, 2020 11:30 am EST Even though coronavirus forced pretty much all movies and television shows to stop production last month, late night TV made a comeback with at-home versions of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Late Night with Seth Meyers, The Late Late Show with James Corden, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Conan and Full Frontal with Samantha Bee....

‘Short Circuit’ Season 2 Sets Out On New Adventures With Promising New Short Film Directors [Interview] By Shania Russell/Aug. 4, 2021 10:02 am EST Five new shorts just arrived on Disney+, showing off the directorial skills of the studio’s brightest animators. The films were made as part of the Short Circuit program, an initiative started back in 2016 to develop original ideas into short films. The program accepts pitches from anyone at Walt Disney Animation and since it casts such a wide net, the shorts end up being incredibly diverse and experimental, each exploring different topics and styles....

‘Snake Eyes’ Review: This Shaky G.I. Joe Prequel Falls Victim To Its Terrible Action Scenes By Hoai-Tran Bui/July 22, 2021 6:47 am EST The worst sin a martial arts movie can commit is not properly showing its action. The second sin is casting martial arts superstars and not letting them fight. On both counts, the extraordinarily limp G.I. Joe reboot Snake Eyes is guilty. “But,” you might say, “isn’t Snake Eyes a G....

‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ Makes Zendaya The Voice Of Lola Bunny By Ethan Anderton/April 4, 2021 10:00 am EST Here’s the official Space Jam: A New Legacy account on Twitter confirming the news from Entertainment Weekly: Welcome to the Jam, @Zendaya 🏀 https://t.co/BAp4UZuwkf pic.twitter.com/Z9wYts9IFp — Space Jam: A New Legacy (@spacejammovie) April 3, 2021 Director Malcolm D. Lee wanted to make Lola Bunny a more “fully-realized” character this time. In the first movie, she’s played up as a cartoon sex symbol and romantic foil for Bugs Bunny....

‘Summer Of Soul’ Trailer Celebrates Black Music And Culture At The 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival By Ethan Anderton/April 26, 2021 10:30 am EST The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony was given a little life last night thanks to Questlove, who served as music director and DJ throughout the evening. During the ceremony, he introduced the first teaser trailer for his directorial debut, Summer of Soul. Part concert film and part historical record, the documentary focuses on the massive Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969, a celebration of Black history, culture and fashion that featured performances by some legendary musical acts....

‘Vacation Friends’ Trailer: The Summer Of Cena Continues In A Raunchy Wedding Comedy By Shania Russell/July 21, 2021 8:14 am EST We can never get enough of John Cena and, thankfully, this is the summer that just keeps on giving. This time Cena’s in full raunchy comedy mode, with his upcoming release Vacation Friends. You know how you become a different person when you’re on vacation? Well, imagine those insane people you hung out with for a few days tracked you down, fully committed to continuing a chaotic friendship....

‘Werewolves Within’ Director Josh Ruben Explains Why ‘Arachnophobia’ Is His Touchstone Film [Interview] By Steven Prokopy/June 29, 2021 12:10 pm EST Some might say it’s positively scary how many talented comedic actors make up the ensemble cast of the new horror-comedy Werewolves Within, directed by Josh Ruben (who wrote, directed and co-starred in 2020’s Sundance favorite Scare Me) and written by Mishna Wolff (based on the virtual reality game of the same name, similar in structure to the card game Mafia)....

Citizen Kane Ending Explained Hulton Archive/Getty Images By Witney Seibold/Nov. 12, 2021 6:53 pm EST While Orson Welles’ Academy Award-winning film is, as of this writing, 80 years old, there may be a small contingent of /Film readers who have not seen “Citizen Kane” and may not yet know about its famous ending. So consider these opening sentences a Spoiler Warning for one of the highest-regarded and famous movies of all time....

Cool Stuff: Hot Toys Reveals Incredible New ‘Batman Begins’ Figure And Batmobile By Ethan Anderton/April 2, 2021 6:00 am EST It’s about time Batman Begins got the proper collectible treatment from Hot Toys. Christopher Nolan’s 2005 film gives The Dark Knight a grounded origin story with Christian Bale taking the mantle of Batman, and now the actor’s likeness is being brought to life in the form of a spectacularly detailed 1/6 scale figure from Hot Toys....

Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘Spirited Away’ Is Becoming A Stage Production By Hoai-Tran Bui/Feb. 26, 2021 1:00 pm EST Hayao Miyazaki’s unparalleled 2001 anime classic Spirited Away is getting the stage play treatment. Studio Ghibli’s Oscar-winning film (titled Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi in Japan) is being adapted into stage production by Toho, which aims to premiere the play in 2022. Toho Co., Ltd. announced that the first-ever theatrical production of Spirited Away will premiere in Tokyo in 2022....

HBO’s LA Lakers Drama Series Just Cast Actors As Richard Pryor And Jack Nicholson By Marisa Mirabal/June 23, 2021 7:43 am EST Adam McKay’s upcoming L.A. Lakers drama on HBO has cast some pivotal players in the series. Mike Epps (The Upshaws), Carina Conti (The Last Tycoon), Max E. Williams (Dreamland), and Mariama Diallo (Random Acts of Flyness) have all scored recurring roles on the show that will be based on Jeff Pearlman’s book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s....

Hollywood, Make This: The Mysterious Montague By Hunter Stephenson/July 8, 2008 10:14 pm EST We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. A superb and highly recommended bit of non-fiction writing that’s currently circulating amongst screenwriter types is “Montague the Magnificent,” by noted sports journalist Leigh Montville for Smithsonian magazine. We don’t do this often at Slashfilm but: Hey, Guy in Hollywood looking for a great movie premise, here you go....