Latest Movie Features
What ‘A Sacrifice’ Director Jordan Scott Learned from Father Sir Ridley
As she gets set to release her second movie, A Sacrifice, in theaters this weekend, Jordan Scott (IFC’s Cracks) recalls the best advice she received from her father, Sir Ridley Scott, from one director to another. “I’m very lucky that I can pick up the phone and ask his advice on anything and I’m going […]
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10 Movies and TV Shows Like ‘The Hunger Games’
While fans of The Hunger Games await the new new Hunger Games film from Lionsgate and Suzanne Collins’ forthcoming fifth novel in the saga (titled The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping), there are a myriad of movies and TV shows that volunteer as tribute to fill the void. Whether seeking stories about similar dystopian worlds, young protagonists trying to […]
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‘Inside Out 2’ Writer Reflects on the Anxiety of Writing a Movie About Anxiety
It’s a practical joke to ask a screenwriter to write about anxiety. The very nature of the occupation is to walk around constantly asking yourself: What’s the worst thing that could possibly happen in this moment? To this character? To someone the character loves? To someone I love? To me? But there’s a special kind […]
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‘Under Paris’ Director Used Hollywood Tricks to Make an “Anti-Hollywood” Netflix Hit
[This story contains spoilers for the Netflix movie Under Paris.] Slicing Paris in half, the river Seine flows through the heart of French identity, past the Musée d’Orsay, the Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Académie Française, the centuries-old institution of letters that guards against the bastardization of the French language, leading a valiant resistance to American cultural expansion. In these sacrosanct waters and […]
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Sam Taylor-Johnson and Movie Stars Mingle in Medieval Provence
The Savannah College of Art and Design is again bringing a generous helping of Southern hospitality to France’s Luberon Valley for the SCAD Lacoste Film Festival, which runs June 27 to 29. Now in its third year, the fest was conceived as a top-up highlight for college students doing their semester abroad at SCAD’s sumptuous campus […]
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‘Twisters’ Director Lee Isaac Chung Wants Nature to Put Us in Our Place
One prevailing word comes to mind when beholding the eponymous forces of nature in Twisters: fear. The term, in the biblical sense, connotes an awe and respect of a greater, not entirely knowable power that puts humanity in its proper place. That’s the impression that helmer Lee Isaac Chung (the Oscar-nominated writer-director of 2020’s Minari) […]
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A Climate-Focused Film Studio Takes Root in Ojai
Two llamas are bounding up a small hill in Ojai, drawn to the sounds of filmmaker Rebecca Tickell yelling in a high-pitched voice, “Rama! Yoda!” Tickell has in her hand a bucket full of feed, and the two shaggy, snow-colored mammals are ready to eat. “When the chickens got to an excessive number, they started […]
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Sean Penn on the Enduring Power of the ‘Into the Wild’ Bus (Now Out of the Wild)
In the early moments of the 2007 movie Into the Wild, Emile Hirsch, in the role of 24-year-old adventurer Christopher McCandless, is walking alone in knee-deep snow when he stumbles upon an astounding sight, what McCandless would come to call “the magic bus.” The rusty, green-and-white Fairbanks City Transit System bus, abandoned in a remote […]
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Mike Faist Explains How Zendaya’s Cameras Led Him to ‘The Bikeriders’
Mike Faist was planning to take a prolonged breather after an exhausting shoot on Challengers, but those intentions fell by the wayside once Jeff Nichols called about The Bikeriders. The Take Shelter and Mud filmmaker made Faist an offer that was simply too tempting to pass up. He’d not only get to work a couple […]
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Jeff Nichols on His Long-Awaited ‘The Bikeriders’ and How Austin Butler Protected His Sixth Film
It’s been over seven-and-a-half years since acclaimed filmmaker Jeff Nichols last had a film in movie theaters, and with tonight’s release of The Bikeriders, the interminable wait for his sixth feature is now over. In the aftermath of his two 2016 releases, Midnight Special and Loving, Nichols knew he needed to take a step back […]
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Austin Butler on ‘The Bikeriders’ Prep During ‘Dune’ and the “Wild Adventure” of Ari Aster’s Next Film
Five years ago, Austin Butler’s memorable supporting role in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood turned out to be his audition for leading man status, and he’s since become not only a leader on set but a leader on Hollywood’s new A-list. Coming off of Apple TV+’s Masters of the Air and a […]
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‘Winter Spring Summer or Fall’ Director on Helming Her First Movie With Jenna Ortega, Percy Hynes White Amid ‘Wednesday’ Frenzy
When Holidate and About Fate writer Tiffany Paulsen first started making the film that would become her feature directorial debut, Winter Spring Summer or Fall stars Jenna Ortega and Percy Hynes White hadn’t even appeared in the Netflix hit Wednesday. Ortega, Paulsen says, was their “first choice … dream … unicorn” for Remi Aguilar, the […]
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Jodie Comer on Creating Her Contradictory ‘The Bikeriders’ Accent and That ‘Furiosa’ Call
Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders is throwback filmmaking at its finest, so much so that Jodie Comer’s signature accent work essentially serves as one of the film’s primary special effects. The crime drama, which is a mostly fictionalized take on Danny Lyon’s seminal 1968 photojournalistic book of the same name, chronicles the rise and fall of […]
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Alexis Ren Asks for an Open Mind as She Takes On Her Biggest Movie Role with ‘Latency’
Latency star Alexis Ren knows full well the perception that comes with a social media star making the jump to acting. It provokes the same skeptics that countless athletes, musicians and professional wrestlers had to endure when they first embarked on their own film and television careers in decades past. But, by keeping an open […]
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Tony Spiridakis Reflects on Making ‘Ezra’ and Fatherhood: “What Strength Looks Like” (Guest Column)
A decade ago, I was asked to do a TedX Talk about being the father of an autistic son, and another who is neurodivergent. That talk helped me decide to write a film that would focus on a father and a son who is autistic. Ezra, in theaters now, was inspired by many of my […]
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How Adria Arjona Put the “Hit” in ‘Hit Man’
Adria Arjona’s new movie Hit Man is a rousing success, but she’s trying not to think about it. The Richard Linklater feature, starring Glen Powell as an undercover fake-killer-for-hire and Arjona as a woman who tries to solicit his services, first premiered to rave reviews at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, shortly before it was acquired by Netflix […]
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