Quantcast
Channel: Movies
Viewing all 8368 articles
Browse latest View live

6 gorgeous new images of concept art from Marvel’s next superhero movie ‘Doctor Strange’

0
0

doctor strange

Marvel’s next superhero movie, "Doctor Strange," isn’t in theaters until November, but the studio just unveiled a new sneak peek showing off some of the characters, a few new shots of the film, and some gorgeous concept art.

The film follows Strange, a brilliant, but egocentric neurosurgeon whose life is altered after a car accident leaves his hands mangled and unable to perform surgery. As he searches for a cure, Strange’s travels lead him on a mystical journey that endow him with powers beyond his greatest dreams.

Keep reading to see some artwork from the upcoming film.

Mads Mikkelsen will play one of Doctor Strange's foes in the film, Kaecilius.



It looks like this may be the temple where he'll be hiding out.



"Doctor Strange" will introduce the possibility of other realms into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We may be seeing one of those here.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander fell in love IRL while making 'Light Between Oceans'

0
0

The Light Between Oceans Michael Fassbender Alicia Vikander

In "The Light Between Oceans," Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander play a couple who fall in love and get married. It's one of the most nuanced and convincing romance movies in the past decade.

It might be because the actors are in a real-life relationship.

The two started their relationship while making the movie in 2014. And because neither actors have social media presences, it's been a bit under the radar. It had its most public moment earlier this year when the two kissed when Vikander won her Oscar for "The Danish Girl."

It's not the first time something like this has happened in the annals of Hollywood. In fact, the same thing happened with director Derek Cianfrance's last movie, "The Place Beyond the Pines." Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes played a couple there, and now they're a couple in real life — with two children.

Fassbender denies that the movie role had anything to do with his real-life relationship.

"It wasn’t the first time in a movie either of us had played somebody who is falling in love,"he told Entertainment Weekly. "There is an element of separation there. If I’m playing a murderer, I don’t go out and start murdering people."

But still, their performance onscreen is powerful and intimate. It's almost as if Cianfrance isn't only a good director, but a matchmaker.

"Light Between Oceans" is in theaters Friday, September 2. Watch the trailer below.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This animated map shows how radically a high-speed train system would improve travel in the US

Mel Gibson is considering making a sequel to 'The Passion of the Christ' that could be massive

0
0

the passion of the christ Newmarket Films final

Back in June, a very curious piece of news cropped up. Mel Gibson has been out of the public eye as a filmmaker for a while, but he’s returning to the fray with this fall’s World War II drama "Hacksaw Ridge." After that, however, it appears that Gibson may be returning to more overtly religious territory with, yes, a follow-up film to "The Passion of the Christ." 

In June, Oscar-nominated "Braveheart" screenwriter Randall Wallace revealed that he was working on a script for a follow-up titled "The Resurrection," which would revolve around the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the ensuing aftermath.

Well now we’ve got word straight from the horse’s mouth, as Gibson himself confirmed in an interview with evangelist Greg Laurie (via CP Entertainment) that he’s indeed considering the prospect of making "The Resurrection":

“We’re talking about that. Of course, that is a huge undertaking. And you know, it’s not 'The Passion 2.' It’s called 'The Resurrection.' Of course, that’s a very big subject and it needs to be looked at because we don’t want to just do a simple rendering of it — you know, read what happened… But in order to read it, experience and explore probably deeper meanings of what it’s about, it’s going to take some doing and Randall Wallace is up to the task.”

"The Passion of the Christ" remains the biggest crossover faith-based film in history, amassing a staggering $611.8 million worldwide in 2004—it’s still the highest grossing R-rated movie ever at the US box office. The film was not without controversy, especially for its graphic depiction of violence, but it struck a core with the religious community and there would no doubt be an audience for a less violent follow-up film. The big question is, would Jim Caviezel return to star?

Gibson stressed in the interview that it’s very early days, and indeed it would be a massive undertaking, but he views films like "The Passion of the Christ" and "Hacksaw Ridge"—about a soldier unwilling to bear arms who saved countless lives during battle—as real-world antidotes to the glut of superhero movies at the cinema:

“Faith is a real thing. I think that often times, I made the ultimate superhero film in 'The Passion of the Christ.' Someone like Desmond Doss is also a superhero and real superheroes don’t wear spandex and they don’t have a lot of 3-D special effects. But, they do operate on a higher level, on a supernatural level. They actually look and appeal to something greater than themselves and then they do something super human.”

We’ll have to see if "The Resurrection" actually materializes, and no doubt the response to "Hacksaw Ridge" and Gibson’s presence on the Oscar circuit once again will be interesting, but this is a fascinating prospect nonetheless.

SEE ALSO: The 'Lethal Weapon' writer says Mel Gibson is 'blacklisted' in Hollywood

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A dentist reveals the most effective way to whiten your teeth

Judge rules Aurora shooting victims have to pay a giant theater chain $700,000 in legal fees

0
0

Aurora theater shooting

A survivor of the Aurora movie theater massacre said he believes "everything was for naught" after a failed lawsuit against theater owner Cinemark left four survivors on the hook for more than $700,000 owed to the company.

The survivors had filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the theater's security flaws had helped enable the attack that left 12 dead and more than 70 injured in 2012.

The judge first urged the plaintiffs to settle, but ruled after the deal collapsed that Cinemark was not liable for the shooting, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Colorado law allows the winning side of civil cases to seek costs, so plaintiffs were then ordered to pay more than $700,000 to Cinemark to reimburse the theater chain's legal fees.

Marcus Weaver, one of the shooting survivors and a plaintiff in the case, told The Times he had been hoping a settlement would push Cinemark to implement new safety measures that could protect theatergoers in the future.

But after one plaintiff rejected the settlement offer, the remaining plaintiffs were left with no acknowledgment of liability from Cinemark, no guarantees of improved theater safety, and a colossal bill for the company's litigation costs.

"Theaters aren't any safer," Weaver said. "We all knew they were liable. We knew they were at fault."

Weaver also said he had been approached by a federal magistrate judge who likened the failed case to the slow pace of the civil rights movement.

"It was the biggest smack in the face," Weaver said. "He was basically telling us, you're right, they're basically at fault, but there's justice and then there's true justice."

SEE ALSO: Cinemark wants Colorado theater shooting victims to pay $700,000 in legal fees

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 7 things you missed in the new Star Wars Rogue One trailer

Michael Fassbender's great new movie is exactly what Hollywood needs to make more of

0
0

Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander in The Light Between Oceans

At first glance, "The Light Between Oceans" is just another tearjerker.

It's a sad story about a couple who fall in love and live alone in a lighthouse, but aren't able to have a child. Its sadness seems calculated.

But it isn’t. Directed by Derek Cianfrance — who made the most devastating romance in the past decade, “Blue Valentine” — it’s a deep, nuanced, and sincere love story and morality tale.

And it has exactly the type of authenticity Hollywood is missing in most of its movies.

“The Light Between Oceans” is based on the best-selling book of the same name by M. L. Stedman. It stars Michael Fassbender as Tom Sherbourne, a British World War I veteran who looks for some peace and quiet after the war by working alone at a lighthouse in Australia. There, he falls in love with Isabel, a local played by Alicia Vikander, whose two brothers died in the war.

The two try to have a baby. Twice. Both attempts end in miscarriages. It’s hard to give birth when you’re alone on an island, without any doctors around. Though Vikander has never been pregnant in her life, her devastation is real. I can’t remember the last studio movie that deals with the intimacy of pregnancy, and its potential failure, so vividly.

Shortly after the death of their second child, a small boat drifts toward the shore of their lighthouse peninsula. It’s holding a baby girl, who’s still alive, and her father, who is dead. Here, the movie turns into not just a film about a relationship, but a moral dilemma. Should they bring the child into their lives? Or should they report her to the authorities to send her to an orphanage?

The Light Between Oceans

“The Light Between Oceans” has the beauty of a big studio movie, but little of the artifice. It was made by DreamWorks, and it’s utterly gorgeous. It’s shot on a real lighthouse peninsula off the coast of New Zealand, and the costumes and sets are delightfully detailed. But despite the sheen, it has the complexity and moral ambiguity usually associated with independently produced movies.

DreamWorks was wise to hire Cianfrance. He knows how to build up a relationship and then find the cracks that’ll tear it down. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams were beautiful together in “Blue Valentine,” but then the differences in their characters' personalities and ambitions made their relationship unsustainable. Gosling and Eva Mendes were perfectly believable as a couple in “The Place Beyond the Pines,” but differed over how to raise their son.

Cianfrance is the most convincing romance director of our time. Even the actors buy it. Mendes and Gosling became a real-life couple on the set of “The Place Beyond the Pines” and now have two daughters together. Fassbender and Vikander started dating on the set of “The Light Between Oceans,” and they’re still together.

“The Light Between Oceans” demonstrates exactly how studios should approach hiring directors for big movies. In the past few years, we’ve seen major Hollywood studios hire (always male) filmmakers with one or two low-budget movies under their belts to direct blockbusters. Colin Trevorrow made just “Safety Not Guaranteed” before helming “Jurassic World.” Josh Trank made the low-budget “Chronicle” before the disastrous “Fantastic Four.” Hollywood hires young directors, then imposes its will upon them, barely letting the filmmakers' own voices leak through.

The Light Between Oceans Michael Fassbender moustache

With “The Light Between Oceans,” DreamWorks let Cianfrance flex his muscles. To be sure, there are some elements that feel forced. Alexandre Desplat’s score weighs too heavily on the movie, threatening some of the nuance. There’s an epilogue scene that’s just an enormous, sentimental mistake.

But even though Cianfrance is now working within the studio system instead of making scrappy, uncompromised indie movies, he has found ways to grow as an artist. He is still a master at communicating an idea or emotion with a twitch of a mouth, a well-placed laugh, or a turn of the head. While his main characters in “Blue Valentine” and “Pines” were largely uneducated, he's now working with characters who are actually articulate. The actors use more complicated, if spare, dialogue, not just the nuances of body language.

He does this all while pushing the ideas he’s worked on in his earlier movies. Cianfrance’s great themes are how relationships build and break down, and how people try to fit in or escape their past. In “The Light Between Oceans,” Fassbender was a British soldier on the Western Front of World War I, killing Germans. When he finds out that the daughter he adopted is half-German, his feelings toward her become messy. And when he finds out her German father is dead while her mother is still alive, he feels the guilt of his killings weighing on him. As with all of Cianfrance’s movies, the characters don’t anticipate how their pasts will creep up on them.

DreamWorks can let Cianfrance do what he wants because the budget for “The Light Between Oceans” is a relatively low $20 million, rather than the $200 million required for a superhero movie. And that’s fine. The movie is a great representation of how a big studio can be a patron for great, popular art.

SEE ALSO: Cianfrance is the most convincing romance director of our time.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson makes and spends his millions

Reserved seating at movie theaters is a terrible idea

0
0

Movie theatre

AMC, a major movie theater chain, announced that it is only going to offer reserved seating — assigned seats that you buy ahead of time — at all of its Manhattan locations. 

This is a terrible idea!

As of Friday, September 2, anybody who wants to see a movie in New York's busiest borough will have to buy their tickets well ahead of time to avoid getting painful neck injuries when the only available seats are in the very front row. 

It's understandable why AMC might think this is a smart move, even if it's misguided. Broadway shows, concerts, and sporting events tend to have assigned seats, sure, but they're very different activities. Going to a ballgame or musical often involves a lot more planning ahead of time, while at their best, movies can be spur of the moment. 

I see a lot of movies, but I don't often plan ahead. If I get out of work at 6 and decide that I want to see the worst movie of all time, "Batman v. Superman" at 7:15, I'll buy my ticket right when I leave work. Then I'll schlep up to the theater. Maybe I'll stop at a bar to get a beer or two in order to help bring me down to Zack Snyder's level, but I'm still at the theater early enough to grab a seat. There are usually plenty.

movie theater

Reserved seating all but ruins an impromptu trip to even a mildly popular movie. If I look into buying tickets and the only seat left is directly underneath the screen, well, then I'll just go home and watch Netflix. My couch has no reserved seating, and the food is cheaper.

Movie theaters across the country are freaking out because people don't see as many movies anymore. Attendance is falling — most folks only see a handful of films in theaters each year — so to compensate many theaters are trying to make going to the cinema more of an event. They do special events (I personally sat through a 27-hour marathon of all the Marvel movies leading up to "Age of Ultron" at an AMC theater), stream live performances, and throw all manner of gimmicks at the audience in order to entice them into coming to the movies. Reserved seating helps make seeing a movie a special event. 

But by leaning into making movies an event, AMC and its ilk are inadvertently shutting the door on the concept of moviegoing as a casual activity. If they want movies to be like seeing a fancy show, well, I only see one or two of those a year. 

child in movie theater

There are other problems with reserved seating and getting rid of the even playing field. It makes buying tickets with friends that much more of a hassle, as it's complicated to buy separate tickets with the intention to sit together because the system prevents you from purchasing spots that would create orphan seats. Needing to buy tickets online ahead of time also renders any special passes or free tickets (which they give out a lot if you know how to get them) useless because, by the time you use them at the door, all the good seats have already been reserved. 

If chronically late people know they've got a seat waiting for them, they're much more likely to casually stroll into the theater after the lights have already gone down, and then squeezing their screen-blocking butt in front of your face as they rudely shuffle to their seat during the crucial opening scene.

Plus, there's invariably going to be an awkward moment when someone else is sitting in your assigned seat, and then you have to confront them and it's a whole thing. Ugh. 

Movie Theater

"As we look at markets where we can begin to make reserved seating prevalent, there’s no better place to start than Manhattan, where a trip to the movies often means a subway or cab ride,” the chain's executive vice president, John McDonald, said in a press release. Ignoring the fact that a subway or cab ride is an everyday thing that every moviegoer does in Manhattan, so it shouldn't have any bearing on getting to a movie on time, McDonald's quote is ominous. They're only starting with Manhattan. 

Reserved seating: Coming to a theater near you.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Movie theater soda is a rip-off — but it's not the highest marked up item out there

Mel Brooks: Why 'Blazing Saddles' is the 'funniest movie ever made'

0
0

Blazing Saddles"It's a good thing you're in New York and I'm in Los Angeles then," Mel Brooks says, before howling with laughter. He's just been informed that, as preparation for getting the 90-year-old filmmaker on the phone, the interviewer he's speaking to has consumed a large amount of black coffee and baked beans — the same combination that fuels the notorious, and extremely noisy campfire sequence in "Blazing Saddles."Actually, three thousand miles between us might not be enough — it depends on the coffee. There are easier ways to get in the mood to talk to me, you know. Please send my apologies to your coworkers."

Brooks has been taking his 1974 Western parody, the one with the justifiably famous symphony of flatulence, on the road for series of events he's calling "Mel Brooks: Back in the Saddle Again," in which he screens the film and then sits for an onstage Q&A afterward. But his appearance at Radio City Music Hall on Thursday, September 1st, is one he says he's been looking forward to for a while, and he promises a number of surprises, "plus maybe a Rockettes routine or two."

In honor of the event, we got Brooks to talk about the making of "Blazing Saddles," how he produced the most memorable moment of screen fart-istry in American film history, how his friend Gene Wilder saved the picture (the 83-year-old actor would pass away due to complications from Alzheimer's disease a week after we spoke), and why what he thinks is "the funniest movie ever made" has stood the test of time.

Mel Brooks

Who's idea was it to take "Blazing Saddles"— and you — on the road?

I can't remember who first brought the idea up, but I can tell you it works. I've done Nashville, Newark, Santa Barbara, Tampa … all sort of crazy places. I just finished doing this in Chicago a little while ago, and I'd been to theater before with "The Producers." So I knew it was big, but I didn't think I'd sell it out. Next thing I know, there were 300 or so people circling the theater waiting to see if there were no-shows, trying to get last-minute tickets. "Blazing Saddles" plays first, then I go out and talk — that's how it works. So about an hour into the show, I went outside and signed autographs. It was a mob scene. I lined everyone up, and said, "I'm going to do my Borscht Belt act for you … it's only 20 minutes of bad Jewish jokes, so you'll get home early." It was all bits on sour cream and why Jews die.

Why do Jews die?
"Dancing in the Dark."

The Springsteen song?
No! The Bing Crosby song. Jews don't die from overeating. It's from trying to sing a Bing Crosby song in the wrong key. [He then sings part of the Bing Crosby song in a way-too-high high key, ending in a long, screeching note and him yelling, "Stroke. Dead."] Anyway, it was great. Did wonders for my ego.

You'd done "The Producers" and "The Twelve Chairs" at this point, which were straight-ahead comedies — so what prompted the idea of doing a parody?
Right, you could describe those pretty easily: Two Broadway producers realize they could make more money with a flop than with a hit. Two guys look for a chair, and find the inequality behind the modern Soviet Union. This was different. I was given Andrew Bergman's original script for this comedy he'd written, to see if I might be interested doing it. And I'm thinking, Hell, this is a Western: What a great tapestry for a satire! You could have such fun with this. The whole notion of a parody … it works on the hundreds of thousands clichés that we all know. So I'm reading this and I'm already thinking, we have cowboys, we have outlaws, we have horses running in the wrong direction — I'm just seeing comic potential left and right here.

So I call Andy up and I say, listen, would you come do this with me if I direct it? But we need a black guy. Otherwise, we can't use the N word, and we've gotta use the N word many, many times.

blazing saddles warner bros

Let me stop you there for a second. Why, exactly, did you need to use that word so much for the movie?
Well, because the idea of a black sheriff — which Andy already had in his first draft — is great, but all the bad guys are going to call him that. He had a hero who spoke like a 1974 resident of Harlem in a Western town in 1874. I mean, the juxtaposition of it was just great. But you know, if we're going to do this, we're going to need permission. I don't want to cross lines I'm not supposed to be crossing.

So I called up a friend of mine, this guy who was a brilliant writer and the best stand-up comic of all time: Richard Pryor. I said, "Richard, read this, tell me what you think." He read it and said, "Yeah, this is good … this is real. I like this." I asked, "Right, but what about the N word? We can't say this so many times …""Well, Mel, you can't say it. But the bad guys can say it. They would say it!" Then I asked him to come write it with us, and he said sure. That was how it started.

Pryor was supposed to play the Cleavon Little part, right?
Right. I almost quit the movie because the studio was scared of casting him. He was the original Black Bart. But Richard said, "Mel, don't quit — I still have two more payments coming to me from the Screenwriters' Guild, let's make the movie. I have to get paid. We'll find a good Black Bart, let's just do this." We saw about 20 different people before we saw Cleavon. The minute he read for us, Richard and I just said, "This is the guy." He was so laid-back and took his time with the jokes.

Was the studio a little wary of this kind of language being used repeatedly in a big, mainstream comedy?
Oh, we never told the studio what we were doing. [Vice President in Charge of Production at Warner Brothers] John Calley knew, and that was it. This was Warners, where there were many echelons of CEOs and executives and bigwigs, all these people who were ready to say "no" in a second. I just cared about Calley, so I went to him and said, "John, can I really punch the shit out of an old lady?""Look, Mel, if you're going to go up to the bell, then ring it!" He was on our side.

So when his boss, and boss's bosses, came to that first screening … I mean, it was anarchy. They could not believe what they were watching: A person cold-cocking a horse? Farts? One of the guys got up and asked me. "What did we spend on this?""I don't know, $2.5 million?" So he turns to everyone in the room and says, "Well, I suggest we eat the picture. Let's bury this. The campfire scene, and the language, and that goddamned Jew Indian [laughs] — it's disgusting. I don't want Warners' name on this!" Calley, to his credit, said, "Well, give it a weekend in L.A., Chicago and New York. No critics, no marketing, no advance notice — we invite an audience in cold, they see the words 'Blazing Saddles' come across the screen and that's it." I don't have to tell you — those three sneak previews we did were absolute riots. Suddenly, the same executives who wanted to kill the film saw gold coins floating in front of their eyes.

blazing saddles

Who came up with the title "Blazing Saddles"?
That one was all me … I can't take sole credit for a lot of stuff on the movie, but that one's mine. Originally it was called "Tex X," but John Calley said, "No, sounds too much like a blaxploitation film." Then it was "Black Bart," which obviously had a double meaning — Black Bart was what you called a stock Western villain. Also our character's name was Bart, and he was black. Not exactly rocket science. But again, Calley said, "People will just think this is another Western … next!"

So I waited a couple of weeks, so I said "I may have something that says Western and wacky …" And he says, "Whatever it is, it'll never work.""And I say, "Blazing Saddles." And he goes, "YES!" and jumps up and down. "That's a great f---ing title! I'm sending a press release right now!"

Gene Wilder came into the picture late, right?
Every since we had done The Producers, Gene was my best friend. So he knew I'd cast Gig Young as the Waco Kid; Gig had won the Oscar for "They Shoot Horses, Don't They," so he was considered a dramatic actor. But if you see some of the stuff he did earlier, like the Doris Day movies he was in, you'd see he had a real light comic touch. And the Kid is a alcoholic, and so was Gig. He knew how to do it.

Then we have the first day of shooting, he literally started throwing up green stuff all over the set. I thought, "We aren't shooting "The Exorcist," are we? I think something's wrong here." I sent him to the hospital, and called Gene in tears. I heard him sigh over the phone: "I know, Mel, I'm the Waco Kid, you need me, I'll be there." This was a Saturday; he flew out on Sunday, tried on the costume, tried on the gunbelt, tried on the horse … [laughs] it all fit. By Monday, he was shooting the scene where he's hanging upside down next to Cleavon. It all worked.

One of my favorite lines in the whole movie is when Cleavon asks him, "What do you do for fun?" Gene goes, "Screw, and play chess." And Cleavon says, "Let's play chess." [Laughs] It's all in Gene's delivery. That's why it's so funny.

You listen to Gene say another line now — "These are just people of the land, the common clay of the West. You know … morons."— and it's hard not to think of certain aspects of our political landscape.
I'm actually surprised Trump hasn't asked me to use "It's Good to Be the King" [from 1981's "History of the World, Part 1"] for his campaign rallies. He knows I don't license my songs out, maybe.

I don't think he usually asks.
Good point.

Was the idea always that you were going to play the Mayor and the Native American chief?
I don't remember, but I do know that the idea to have the chief be Jewish came later. Originally, I was supposed to speak pure gibberish. But I thought, Well, I'll just speak Yiddish, no one's going to know the difference [laughs]. And you know, the similarities…

mel brooks blazing saddles

Both are nomadic tribes …
…Both had land taken from them, both like cured meats … yeah, exactly.

Let's talk about the campfire scene. Was that in Andrew Bergman's original script?
He may have had something in there that we built on, but I don't think it was anything close to what we ended up doing. I can tell you that we made the majority of the fart noises in the editing room. Not actual farting, mind you — it was courtesy of soap, water and our armpits. We did that for a whole day until we had a supreme volley of farts that I knew would work.

It started with me saying, "We have to introduce Mongo," you know, the Alex Karras character. We have to get the bad guys to discuss getting him to go kill the sheriff. How are we going to do this? I mean, cowboys don't have offices, they don't chit-chat with each other when they're in the elevator … they're out on the prairie. They're talking about stuff around the campfire at night, right? And someone else said, Right, they sit around drinking black coffee and eating beans and they …" I said, "Let me stop you right there, I think I've got it." You do that, there's going to be a lot of noise. It's biology.

It's a classic scene.
I didn't know that at the time. I mean, seeing the reaction that Warner executives had after it came on in that first screening — I had an idea. But you never really know what's going to work and what won't. What always makes me crack up is the tollbooth scene: You have all these acres of land on either side of these cowboys, and they're still all lined up going through a tollbooth in the middle of the desert. "Someone needs to go back and get a shitload of dimes." [Laughs] My grandson says that all of time; I have to keep telling him, "Quit saying you want a shitload of dimes in public, kid!" I thought, people will think this is the movie's funniest scene. I hadn't counted on the farts.

You lucked out with getting Madeline Kahn to play the Lily Von Shtupp role. Other than Peter Bogdanovich, you were one of the few director who knew how to use her talent properly when she was starting out.
Bogdanovich was the one who made me notice her. I'd seen her in his movie "Paper Moon," and said to myself, I have to marry this woman — or at the very least, cast her in something. She was a true genius. Her audition was one of the most awkward things I've ever had to experience, because … well, I told her, I love your work, but I can't hire you unless you raise your skirt and let me see your legs. "Oh, so it's that kind of audition," she said, and started to walk out. "No, no, I'm happily married, it's not that at all. We're doing a take-off on Westerns, and if you've ever seen "Destry Rides Again," there's the scene where Marlene Dietrich sings in the saloon. We're trying to match that, and I know you can do it, it's just that…"

And she goes, "Oh, I get it now," and grabs a chair, hikes up her skirt and straddles the chair just like Dietrich does in the original. I mean, like an exact match of the shot. I nearly fainted. It was her idea to hum the song out of tune as well, which seems like a small thing, but adds so much to the scene in the end. She was amazing.

Where did all the fourth-wall breaking come from?
Oh, I've been doing that all life. When I was 14 years old, I was a busboy up at the Catskills and I was what you'd call a "utility player" for the theater troupe — they'd call me in whenever they needed somebody to fill in, that kind of thing. So this guy who was playing a lawyer had broke his leg or something, and they needed me to do the part. They gave me a fake beard, they gave me a hunchback, they gave me a white wig — the whole thing. My big line was: "There, there, Harry, take a seat … now, tell me in your own words, what happened on the night of January 16th. Have a glass of water."

So my first time doing this, I'm onstage, I'm nervous, I go to pour the water into the glass for him — and the fucking thing drops right out of my hand, crashes onto the desk and spills all over the place. I'm just standing there, everyone is in shock, it's dead silent. So I walk down to the footlights, I take off my wig and beard and I say to the audience, "I've never done this before, I'm 14 years old!" The laugh I got out of that was huge. From then on, I thought, Okay, I've broken the fourth wall and I'm never putting it back together. That's how you get Count Basie and his orchestra playing in the middle of the desert in "Blazing Saddles." That's my whole method of working as a director in a nutshell. Find the fourth wall, then smash the hell out of it.

Do you think those wink-wink aspects are partially why "Blazing Saddles" has held up for all these years? You hear "a parody of Westerns" and you'd think it would have dated. But this movie …
Yeah, it still gets huge laughs when we show it. And it's not like racial strife and prejudice has gone away, clearly. All that shit is still there. But some movies are diamonds, and a wise man once said, diamonds are forever. I mean, Chaplin's "City Lights" still holds up, and it's, what, over 80 years old. "Sullivan's Travels," same thing — it was made in the Forties and its just timeless. I really believe that it's the funniest movie ever made. Sometimes you get lucky.

"He made the funniest movie ever"— that's what your legacy will be?
My legacy ... [clears throat, thenin deep, important-sounding voice]"He was a noble philosopher who use humor to shed light on the human condition, which was hard to take sometimes but he helped us see the folly of our …" Oh, I don't now. Who f---ing cares? I don't give a s---. I won't be around for any of it anyway.

Gene Wilder, 'Willy Wonka' and 'Young Frankenstein' star, has died at the age of 83.

SEE ALSO: Mel Brooks and other stars remember the hilarious life and comedy of Gene Wilder

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Something unprecedented is happening in the Pacific, and Hawaii could be in big trouble

Netflix's latest original movie 'ARQ' looks like an epic sci-fi thriller

0
0

ARQ netflix

Netflix has released the first trailer for its latest original film, the sci-fi thriller "ARQ."

The movie stars Robbie Amell (CW's "The Flash") and Rachael Taylor (ABC's "Jessica Jones") and features a dark twist on the "Groundhog Day"-style conceit, in which events repeatedly reoccur. 

Here's how Netflix described the movie in a statement:

"In a dystopian future, an engineer trapped in a house and surrounded by a mysterious gang of masked intruders must protect a technology that could deliver unlimited energy and end the wars that have consumed the world."

Amell and Taylor were cast in the film in January, and filming for the reportedly low-budget picture took place in Toronto during the winter months, according to The Hollywood Reporter

Written and directed by "Orphan Black" writer Tony Elliot, "ARQ" is set to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, before it begins streaming on Netflix on September 16. 

Watch the trailer below:

SEE ALSO: Here's what investors don't realize about Netflix's future

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This popular fan theory perfectly explains 'Stranger Things'


The 26 best action movies you can stream on Netflix right now

0
0

Jaws

There's never a bad time to sit back and watch a good action movie. 

The nonexistent (or besides-the-point) plot, the constant explosions, the muscular heroes doing what needs doing: What better way to take time out from the daily grind?

Thankfully, Netflix has a great collection of action movies right now, including the addition in September of classics like "Top Gun" and "Jaws."

Here are 27 action movies we highly recommend that you can stream on Netflix:

SEE ALSO: 100 movies on Netflix that everyone needs to watch in their lifetime

“Armageddon” (1998)

Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck go to space to save the world from a hurtling asteroid. With "Bad Boys" and "The Rock" already under his belt, director Michael Bay became the top action director going into the 2000s with this film.



“Back to the Future” (1985)

This classic is filled with machine gun-toting Libyans and a race to make it in time for a lightning storm that will keep you antsy (in a good way) the whole running time.



“Battle Royale” (2000)

In the future, kids are forced to an island and must kill one another until only one is left standing. The Japanese title has been hugely influential on genre filmmaking in the 2000s.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Matthew McConaughey's new movie is a certified dud that's only made $2,730 in one week

0
0

The Sea Of Trees YouTube A24 final

Things were looking grim early on for the new Matthew McConaughey movie "The Sea of Trees."

It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015 and was flooded with boos during the end credits.

Then shortly after, for unknown reasons (though you can take a guess), its US distributors Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate backed out of releasing the movie. Not exactly a good sign.

A24, which has been on a great streak in its four-year existence and always has an eye out for unique stories ("Spring Breakers,""Ex Machina,""Room,""The Lobster") ultimately nabbed the "The Sea of Trees."

But the company wasn't able to weave any magic with it.

With only an 8% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the latest movie from the usually acclaimed director Gus Van Sant ("Milk,""Good Will Hunting") isn't getting any breaks.

Starring McConaughey as a man contemplating death in the woods, it's ironically suffering a quick death at the box office. It's taken in only $2,730 in its first week in theaters.  

A24 obviously knew it wasn't going to pull off a miracle. The company did almost no marketing for the movie and only released it in two theaters, where it had an average per-screen earning of $939 (not a good figure for any size of release).

In the end, however, no one will get hurt too badly from this forgettable movie. A24 is focused on the four titles it has playing at the Toronto International Film Festival, which kicks off next week. Van Sant is focused on producing and directing the minseries "When We Rise" about the gay rights movement and McConaughey is working off the 40 pounds he gained for his next movie, "Gold" (out Christmas Day), which is gathering talk of Oscars.

Business Insider reached out to A24 for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

SEE ALSO: The 26 best action movies you can watch on Netflix right now

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This popular fan theory perfectly explains 'Stranger Things'

Gabrielle Union opens up about being raped and how she 'cannot take' the allegations against director Nate Parker 'lightly'

0
0

Gabrielle Union Michael Loccisano Getty final

"Birth of a Nation" director Nate Parker has been the center of a media storm since it was revealed in August that a woman accused him of raping her while they both attended Penn State in 1999.

Parker was acquitted of the rape charge in a 2001 trial, and the woman who made the accusation reportedly killed herself in 2012.

Parker has since attempted to show his remorse about the situation with a lengthy Facebook post and an emotional interview with Ebony.

Now one of the actresses from his film is speaking out about being raped and what she makes of the accusations against Parker.

Gabrielle Union ("Bad Boys II"), who plays a woman who is raped in the film, wrote an op-ed for The Los Angeles Times in which she says she was raped when she was 19 and speaks about why the news about Parker has left her "in a state of stomach-churning confusion."

"I took this role because I related to the experience. I also wanted to give a voice to my character, who remains silent throughout the film. In her silence, she represents countless black women who have been and continue to be violated. Women without a voice, without power. Women in general. But black women in particular. I knew I could walk out of our movie and speak to the audience about what it feels like to be a survivor."

But since the news of Parker's rape allegation, she can't help but question Parker's actions, even if he thought he had consent:

"I cannot take these allegations lightly. On that night, 17-odd years ago, did Nate have his date's consent? It's very possible he thought he did. Yet by his own admission he did not have verbal affirmation; and even if she never said 'no,' silence certainly does not equal 'yes.' Although it's often difficult to read and understand body language, the fact that some individuals interpret the absence of a 'no' as a 'yes' is problematic at least, criminal at worst. That's why education on this issue is so vital."

Nate Parker Frazer Harrison Getty finalIn 1999, Parker, then a student and wrestler at Penn State, and his roommate Jean McGianni Celestin (who wrote the screenplay for "The Birth of a Nation" with Parker) were charged with raping an 18-year-old woman in their apartment after a night of drinking. Parker and Celestin have stated that the encounter was consensual.

Parker was acquitted of the charges, partly because of testimony that he and the woman had consensual sex before. Celestin was found guilty and sentenced to six months in prison.

Celestin appealed the verdict and was granted a new trial in 2005, but the case never went to court, as the victim declined to testify again.

Parker said this in the Ebony interview about what he thought consent meant back in college:

"I'll say this: at 19, if a woman said no, no meant no. If she didn't say anything and she was open, and she was down, it was like how far can I go? If I touch her breast and she's down for me to touch her breast, cool. If I touch her lower, and she's down and she's not stopping me, cool. I'm going to kiss her or whatever. It was simply if a woman said no or pushed you away that was non-consent."

In her op-ed, Union says that teaching her children about respecting the opposite sex has become as important as other life lessons a young person should know:

"My husband [NBA star Dwyane Wade] and I stress the importance of their having to walk an even straighter line than their white counterparts. A lesson that is heartbreaking and infuriating, but mandatory in the world we live in. We have spent countless hours focused on manners, education, the perils of drugs. We teach them about stranger-danger and making good choices. But recently I've become aware that we must speak to our children about boundaries between the sexes. And what it means to not be a danger to someone else."

Read Union's moving op-ed at The Los Angeles Times »

SEE ALSO: Why hundreds of musicians are supporting Pharrell and Robin Thicke in "Blurred Lines" appeal

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson makes and spends his millions

23 books you should read before they become movies this fall

0
0

Amy Adams in Arrival

Fall is here, and that means the movies are going to get good again and we can cleanse our palates of "Suicide Squad."

As you might expect, a lot of the big movies coming out are based on popular, acclaimed, and award-winning books. And while you don't always have to read the book before watching the movie, some of these novels, nonfiction books, comics, and short stories are excellent. They're all worth checking out.

Here are the book-to-movie adaptations coming out this fall. We included the release dates for each movie, so you know how much time you have left to read the books.

"The Light Between Oceans" is based on the bestselling novel by M.L. Stedman about a couple who live in a lighthouse.

Release date: September 2

Buy the book here >>



Drawing from Chesley Sullenberger book "Highest Duty" and starring Tom Hanks, "Sully" is about the fateful plane crash on the Hudson.

Release date: September 9

Buy the book here >>



Two books were used for "Snowden," the movie about Edward Snowden's whistleblowing: "The Snowden Files" by Luke Harding and the novel "Time of the Octopus" by Anatoly Kucherena, who's Edward Snowden's lawyer.

Release date: September 16

Buy "The Snowden Files" here >>



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

A major 'Rogue One' spoiler reveals the origins of the Death Star in 'Star Wars'

0
0

mads mikkelsen

In April, Mads Mikkelsen let it slip that in "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" he plays the father of the main character Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones). Now a new prequel novel to "Rogue One" has revealed more information about Mikkelsen's character.

It turns out he has a lot to do with the origins of the Death Star.

According to the description of the novel, "Catalyst," Galen Erso (Mikkelsen) is actually friends with "Rogue One" villain Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) — the one decked out in a cape and Empire gear.

At the time of the novel Krennic is a member of the group assigned to get the Death Star project off the ground. Galen has become an asset as his "energy-focused research" can benefit the Death Star construction. Krennic saves Erso, his wife, and his young daughter Jyn from separatists, and encourages him to continue work on his research for the betterment of the universe.

But Erso soon realizes that Krennic is going to take his work to complete the Death Star, using the research for nefarious ends.

It's certainly an insightful piece of backstory before seeing "Rogue One," the first standalone "Star Wars" movie from Disney, when it hits theaters December 16.  

SEE ALSO: Everything you need to know about "Stranger Things"— the Netflix show people are obsessed with

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson makes and spends his millions

The 23 best comedy movies you can stream on Netflix right now

0
0

Pee wee warner bros final

Whether it's this insane election year or the everyday stress of work or waiting until Hollywood unloads its best dramatic work later in the year, now is as good a time as ever to get a good laugh from one of the best comedies ever made.

Thankfully, Netflix has some great comedies that you can watch right now to brighten up your day.

Whether it's a classic like “Pee-wee's Big Adventure” or the new addition to the streaming giant, "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey," there’s something to stream for all comedy tastes.

Here are the 23 best comedies streaming on Netflix:

SEE ALSO: 12 celebrities you didn't realize are absurdly rich

1. “Adventureland”

Nothing beats a good coming-of-age romantic comedy, and this is one of the better ones. Directed by Greg Mottola ("Superbad"), it follows James (Jesse Eisenberg), working his summer job at a broken-down amusement park, who encounters a summer crush (Kristen Stewart).  



2. "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey"

The sequel to "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure," featuring the pleasant doofuses Bill S. Preston, Esq. (Alex Winter) and Ted "Theodore" Logan (Keanu Reeves), is worthy of the original hit, with robot versions of the duo out to destroy them. Oh, and Death makes an appearance.



3. “Burke and Hare”

One of John Landis' most underappreciated movies, this morbidly comic look at the infamous West Port murders stars Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis as the duo who grave-robbed to make some extra coin. But through Landis' lens, they are bumbling fools who, in their quest to make a quick buck, fall into some very gory situations.

A highlight is seeing Serkis act in the flesh. He's known best for being the man behind the CGI creations Gollum in the "Lord of the Rings" and most recently Caesar in "The Planet of the Apes" movies.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

'Don't Breathe' easily wins the weekend box office for a second straight week

0
0

dont breathe sony

The Labor Day weekend isn't giving us any huge hit, but don't tell Sony that.

The company's genre arm, Screen Gems, is currently riding high with the horror "Don't Breathe," which is number one at the domestic box office for the second straight week, taking in an estimated $15.5 million, according to Exhibitor Relations.

By the end of Labor Day weekend, the movie, which follows a group of thieves who plan to make a big score after robbing the house of a blind man only to find he's far from helpless, will have an estimated $19 million total.

The total is a strong performance for a horror (budgeted at just $9.9 million) and a final reminder that the true winners this summer-movie season were the titles that had some originality to them.

Coming in second is "Suicide Squad" with an estimated $10 million.

The demise of the latest DC Comics movie may have been premature. It blew away all the competition in August, taking in over $289 million at the domestic box office, though still below how fellow August comic-book release "Guardians of the Galaxy" performed in 2014 (over $333 million).

suicide squad 1But with a worldwide total of $643.3 million, the movie is nearing closer to the $750 million to $800 million worldwide range that would mark it a bono fide success.

"Squad" might not reach that figure by the end of its theatrical run, but home video and streaming sales will put it in the black.

The movie's studio, Warner Bros., must be very happy with this outcome, following the movie's dismal reviews.

All wasn't well this weekend, however. The Kate Mara thriller "Morgan" only earned $1.86 million as of Sunday (2.26 million by Monday), on 2,000 screens. That's one of the worst opening-weekend performances for a wide release this summer. 

The fall movie season kicks off next weekend with the release of "Sully," directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Tom Hanks as "Miracle on the Hudson" pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger. If the movie can open with a big number, Hollywood will be taking a big step into a potentially profitable fall.

SEE ALSO: Matthew McConaughey's new movie is a certified dud that's only made $2,800 in one week

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The full trailer for the next Star Wars movie is finally here


The best movies and TV shows coming to Amazon, iTunes, Hulu, and more in September

0
0

steve rogers captain america civil war

With the fall approaching, it's time to catch up on the movies you missed over the summer and get excited for your favorite TV shows to start back up. 

And you can do both on your favorite streaming providers in September.

Over at iTunes you can pre-order hits like "Captain America: Civil War" and "The Conjuring 2," while at Amazon Woody Allen's first-ever TV show, "Crisis in Six Scenes," premieres on September 16.

Here's the complete list.

We've highlighted some of our top picks you shouldn't miss in bold. 

SEE ALSO: Michael Phelps had the best reaction to Jimmy Fallon's Ryan Lochte impression at the VMAs

iTunes

Available September 2
“Captain America: Civil War”
“The Conjuring 2”
“The Neon Demon”

Available September 6
“X Men: Apocalypse”
“Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising”
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows”
“Free State of Jones”
“The Meddler”

Available September 13
“Warcraft”
“Central Intelligence”
“The Shallows”
“Hunt for the Wilderpeople”

Available September 20
“Swiss Army Man”
“Goat”



Amazon Prime

Available September 1
“1984”
“2001 Maniacs”
“Any Given Sunday”
“Apollo 13”
“Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” 
“Autopsy”
“Borderland”
“Breakheart Pass”
“The Broken”
“Bronson” 
“Buried” 
“Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations” 
“Caddyshack” 
“Crazy Eights”
“Dark Ride”
“The Deaths of Ian Stone” 
“The Devil Inside” 
“Dying Breed”
“Eight Men Out” 
“Fido” 
“Food, Inc.” 
“Four Feathers” 
“From Within” 
“Full Metal Jacket” 
“Fun Size”
“Futureworld” 
“Good Will Hunting” 
“Hair”
“Heaven’s Gate” 
“Imagine That”
“Interview with a Vampire” 
“Jeff Who Lives at Home” 
“Lake Dad”
“Man on Wire”
“The Mechanic” 
“Mr. Majesty”
“Mulberry Street” 
“Nightmare Man” 
“Offspring” 
“Out of Time” 
“Pusher I” 
“Pusher II: With Blood on My Hands” 
“Pusher III: I’m the Angel of Death” 
“Reincarnation” 
“Roman Holiday” 
“Saved!”
“SCARY MOVIE 2” 
“The Secret of N.I.M.H.” 
“The Spiderwick Chronicles” 
“The Thaw”
“Theater of Blood” 
“To the Wonder” 
“Unearthed”
“United States of Leland” 
“Wiener-Dog” (AMAZON ORIGINAL) 
“You’re the Worst”
“Young Adult”

Available September 2
“Captain America: Civil War”
“Fangbone”
“Kickboxer: Vengeance”
“Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse” 
“The Stinky & Dirty Show” (AMAZON ORIGINAL)

Available September 3
“Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension”

Available September 5
“Being Poirot”
“Foyle’s War Revisited”
“Doctor Who” (Season 9)
“The New Adventures of Nanoboy”

Available September 6
“Beauty and the Beast”
“The Dead Room”
“Karen Kingsbury’s The Bridge: The Complete Story”
“Mary + Jane”
“The Ones Below”
“Tale of Tales”
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2”

Available September 7
“Atlanta”

Available September 8
“Little Weddings”

Available September 9
“Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction”
“Better Things”
“Braindead”
“One Mississippi” (AMAZON ORIGINAL)
“X-Men: Apocalypse”

Available September 10
“Knock Knock”

Available September 11
“Animal ER”

Available September 12
“Bigger, Stronger, Faster”
“Cocaine Cowboys” 
“Drillbit Taylor”
“Suspects” (Seson 1 & 2)

Available September 13
“Black Ink Crew Chicago” (Season 2)
“Hunt for the Wilderpeople”

Available September 15
“American Horror Story” (Season 5)
“Black Death” 
“Ghosthunters on Icy Trails”
“Legends of Chamberlain Heights”

Available September 16
“American Gothic”
“Blindspot” (Season 2)
“Creative Galaxy” (AMAZON ORIGINAL, season 2)
“Crisis in Six Scenes” (AMAZON ORIGINAL)
“Fleabag” (AMAZON ORIGINAL)
“Schitt’s Creek” (Season 2)
“South Park” (Season 20)
“Stop-Loss”
“Transparent” (AMAZON ORIGINAL, season 3)

Available September 17
“Captive” 
“The Witch”

Available September 19
“Freakonomics”
“Jiro Dreams of Sushi” 
“Ondine”
“Shadow Dancer”

Available September 20
“Big Bang Theory” (Season 10)
“Kevin Can Wait”
“The Last King”
“Life, Animated”
“Serena (2016)” 
“StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson” (Season 3)

Available September 21
“The Last Man on Earth” (Season 3)
“MARVEL’s Agent of Shield” (Season 5)
“New Girl” (Season 6)
“Scream Queens” (Season 2)

Available September 22
“Empire” (Season 3)
“The Goldberg’s” (Season 4)

Available September 23
“The Blacklist” (Season 4)
“Hell’s Kitchen” (Season 16)
“How to Get Away with Murder” (Season 3)
“Rosewood” (Season 2)
“Notorious”16
“Sicario”

Available September 24
“The Exorcist” (Season 1)
“Dr. Ken” (Season 2)
“Heist” 

Available September 26
“180 South”
“Bobs Burgers” (Season 7)
“Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop”
“The Disappearance”
“District 13 – Ultimatum”
“District B13”
“Family Guy” (Season 15)
“The Simpsons” (Season 28)
“Son of Zorn”

Available September 27
“No Place on Earth”

Available September 28
“Drunk History” (Season 4)
“Francofonia”



HBO Go/Now

Available September 1

“10”

“300”

“Arthur”

“Arthur 2: on the Rocks”

“Children of Men”

“Coyote Ugly”
“Dane Cook’s Tourgasm”

“Definitely, Maybe”

“Doctor Dolittle”
“Down and Dirty with Jim Norton”
“The Forest”

“Ghost World”
“Gotcha”
“High Maintenance” (original 19 webisodes)

“I Love You, Man”

“I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry”

“Michael Clayton”

“Rushmore”

“Stephen King’s Cat’s Eye”

“The Bonfire of the Vanities”

“The Great Muppet Caper”
“The Princess Diaries”

“This Boy’s Life”

Available September 2

“The English Patient”

Available September 3
“Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip”

Available September 10
“Sisters”
“Stand up to Cancer”

Available September 12
“Child 44”

Available September 16
“High Maintenance”  (new season)

Available September 17
“The Revenant”

Available September 19
“Three Days of Terror: The Charlie Hebdo Attack”

Available September 23
“The Larry Sanders Show”

Available September 24
“Steve Jobs”

Available September 26
“Vice News Tonight”



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

14 movies coming out soon that are surefire Oscar contenders

0
0

Arrival square Paramount

Believe it or not, it's already award-season time again in Hollywood.

The Toronto International Film Festival (September 8-18) is one of the major kickoffs to the season. As usual, this year it's full of movies that have the potential to be winners at next year's Academy Awards.

In fact, the 2016 best picture winner, "Spotlight," played at TIFF 2015.

This year's crop includes numerous hopefuls, including the Amy Adams sci-fi thriller "Arrival" and the Ryan Gosling/Emma Stone musical "La La Land."

Here are 14 movies playing at Toronto this year that will be contenders come Oscar time:

SEE ALSO: A crucial scene in the last episode of "Stranger Things" almost didn't happen

'American Honey' (Release date: September 30)

"American Honey" stars Shia LaBeouf, Riley Keough ("The Girlfriend Experience" TV show), and newcomer Sasha Lane, who gives an incredible performance as a young girl who gets caught up with a hard-partying group of magazine salespeople.

Lane should get serious consideration for best actress. Her performance is one of the best of the year (so far) and the faux-documentary, improvised feel of the story could also give director Andrea Arnold award notice as well.



'Arrival' (Release date: November 11)

An alien craft has landed on Earth, and a linguist (played by Amy Adams) has been called upon to translate the alien communications. Directed by Denis Villeneuve, who wowed audiences in the past with "Prisoners" and "Sicario," it's already generating a lot of excitement.

Adams is looking to be an early best actress Oscar favorite.



'The Birth of a Nation' (Release date: October 7)

Nate Parker's movie about the slave rebellion led by Nat Turner swept the major awards at this year's Sundance Film Festival, but recently Parker has been under fire because of news of his 1999 rape accusation resurfacing. (He was eventually acquitted.) Now the question lingers if audiences (and Oscar voters) will look at the movie the same way.

If Parker can weather the storm, he could be looking at nominations for acting and directing. The movie could also find itself in the best picture category.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston reportedly break up after 3 months of dating

0
0

Hiddleston Swift

Taylor Swift broke up with Tom Hiddleston after just three months of a whirlwind relationship, according to Us Weekly.

And it was Taylor's idea.

"She was the one to put the brakes on the relationship," one source told Us Weekly. "Tom wanted the relationship to be more public than she was comfortable with. Taylor knew the backlash that comes with public displays of affection but Tom didn't listen to her concerns when she brought them up."

The couple broke into the public view back in May, when British tabloid The Sun published 15 photos of the couple canoodling on a beach on Rhode Island. The photos followed the 2016 Met Gala, when the couple was spotted dancing together.

According to a Us Weekly source, Tom is "embarrassed that the relationship fizzled out." He wanted the relationship to be more public, and now it backfired.

The relationship is an odd one, and has had mixed reception among Swift's fans following the bizarre and somewhat messy breakup with her previous boyfriend, Calvin Harris. The source who said Tom is "embarrassed" might just be trying to cover for a failure on Swift's part.

The sheer strangeness of the relationship inspired conspiracy theories that the entire relationship was staged for the sake of a music video. Even the paparazzi shots of the two on the Rhode Island beach are suspicious. Hiddleston, who does not need to wear a shirt on the beach, did wear one. And the shirt said "I <3 T.S.," which many found so over-the-top to believe it was anything but a stunt.

Join me in welcoming the biggest T. Stark fan of them all to Instagram! @twhiddleston

A photo posted by Robert Downey Jr. (@robertdowneyjr) on Aug 9, 2016 at 3:09pm PDT on

The couple has traveled to many locations in a short amount of time, and the timing is suspiciously perfect. Swift usually releases a new album every two years, and she's due for a new one. Meanwhile, Hiddleston's career is on an upswing. In addition to starring as Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he's had critically acclaimed turns this year in "High-Rise" and "The Night Manager." A high-profile tabloid relationship would be mutually beneficial.

Subsequent details about their so-called relationship seemed to confirm the conspiracy theory. A few weeks after news of the relationship broke, a 9NEWS reporter asked Hiddleston about it, and Hiddleston refused to answer. It was as if he signed a non-disclosure agreement.

Hiddleston later told The Hollywood Reporter the relationship was not a publicity stunt.

Around the same time, people started to notice a curious pattern of where Taylor and Tom were traveling, what they were wearing, and where they were photographed. Some of the places they were photographed was where Taylor had gone on dates with previous boyfriends. And on those occasions, she sometimes wore the same outfits. That all gave the patina that Hiddleswift was elaborately staged.

If the whole relationship was indeed a hoax, it looks like it's over. And if it was really just for a music video, hopefully we'll see it soon.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's why the Olympic diving pool turned green

Mel Gibson calls 'Batman v Superman' a 'piece of sh-t'

0
0

mel gibson

Mel Gibson has joined the onslaught of negative opinions toward "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," the DC Comics/Warner Bros. movie that critics universally panned earlier this year. 

"It's a piece of sh-t," Gibson told Deadline at the Venice Film Festival. "I'm not interested in the stuff. Do you know what the difference between real superheroes and comic-book superheroes is? Real superheroes didn't wear spandex. So I don't know. Spandex must cost a lot."

The 60-year-old director brought up the film when asked whether summer blockbusters need budgets upward of $200 million.

Whereas the budget for "Batman v Superman" was reportedly around $250 million, Gibson revealed that his new World War II film, "Hacksaw Ridge," had a relatively meager $40 million budget.

"I look at them and scratch my head. I'm really baffled by it," Gibson said of the superhero-movie trend. "I think there's a lot of waste, but maybe if I did one of those things with the green screens I'd find out different.

"It seems to me that you could do it for less," Gibson continued. "You're spending outrageous amounts of money, $180 million or more. I don't know how you make it back after the tax man gets you, and after you give half to the exhibitors."

Gibson's film "Hacksaw Ridge" reportedly premiered at the Venice Film Festival to a 10-minute standing ovation this weekend. It will open in theaters nationwide on November 4. 

Watch the trailer for "Hacksaw Ridge" below:

SEE ALSO: The 'Lethal Weapon' writer says Mel Gibson is 'blacklisted' in Hollywood

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 7 things you missed in the new Star Wars Rogue One trailer

How Donald Glover went from unknown comedy writer to triple-threat Hollywood star

0
0

donald glover

With the premiere of his new show "Atlanta" on FX Tuesday, Donald Glover can now add the words "series creator" to his varied and accomplished list of career titles.

Since securing a job as a writer for "30 Rock" in 2006, Glover has used his diverse talents and signature humor to find success in a staggering number of industries, including television, stand-up comedy, music, and film. 

The former "Community" star's career trajectory is unlike any other. From his Grammy-nominated rap persona, Childish Gambino, to an impressive array of acting roles, Glover has defied expectations at every turn.

Check out Donald Glover's unique road to becoming an A-list star in the entertainment industry:

SEE ALSO: Donald Glover explains his Donald Trump comment: 'Thank God one day Trump is going to die'

Donald Glover grew up in a strict Jehovah's Witness household in Stone Mountain, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. In high school, he was voted "Most Likely to Write for 'The Simpsons'"— a show that his mother wouldn't allow him to watch.

Source: Rolling Stone



Glover attended New York University and graduated in 2006 with a degree in dramatic writing. During his time at NYU, he joined several sketch-comedy groups, including Derrick Comedy, which produced a number of viral YouTube hits.

Source: Vulture



In his senior year of college, Glover caught his big break when his viral videos and performances in New York attracted the attention of the producers from NBC's "30 Rock." He was hired as a writer for the new sitcom in 2006 and would go on to make several cameos on the show.

Source: NYU



See the rest of the story at Business Insider
Viewing all 8368 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images