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

Amy Schumer's new comedy movie is shockingly awful

0
0

Snatched 2   20th Century Fox

On paper, it's easy to see why a studio couldn't resist the pairing of Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn in a comedy. And then having them play mother and daughter and tying the movie to Mother’s Day — that just seems like a can’t-miss opportunity.

But, sadly, you are going to be disappointed with “Snatched.”

The movie, opening Friday, has such a dull and unoriginal story that even two comedy pros like Schumer and Hawn can’t salvage it.

The two characters head off on an exotic vacation to Ecuador after Schumer’s Emily gets dumped by her boyfriend and can’t get anyone else to go with her on the trip besides her mom. While enjoying the all-inclusive hotel, Emily has a wild night out with a local guy, who takes her beyond the resort walls to experience how to really party in the country. The next day, Emily drags her mother on a day trip with the guy, which leads to them being kidnapped.

Snatched 20th Century FoxWe then follow mother and daughter as they escape from their kidnappers and try to find their way to the authorities, leaving injured bad guys and stale jokes in their wake. And, as it goes with most of these comedies, along their adventure the two find not only who they really are but also a deeper love for each other.

Director Jonathan Levine (“The Wackness,” “The Night Before”) and screenwriter Katie Dippold (2016’s “Ghostbusters”) were obviously going for an edgy “mom-com,” in which the men are idiots and a story of self-discovery is at the core (Emily helps Ecuadorian women form a human chain to take water from a well, which brings her to an aha moment). But what we get out of the ultimate product is a watered-down version of Schumer's shtick, well-known from her Comedy Central show and stand-up, and Hawn looking completely out of place the entire time.

I will give the movie a few positives: It has a tapeworm gag that is a solid gross-out comedy moment, and there’s a brief subplot involving Ike Barinholtz’s character trolling an FBI agent that’s pretty great.

But there should have been a lot more to praise. File this one under wasted opportunity.

 

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

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's all the food The Rock eats in a single day


16 things you didn't know about 'The Big Bang Theory' actress Kaley Cuoco

0
0

Kaley Cuoco

Penny Hofstadter isn't a successful actress in "The Big Bang Theory." But the actress who plays her, Kaley Cuoco, is one of the highest-paid on television.

She's been the lead actress in "The Big Bang Theory" for all of its ten seasons so far. At her peak, she made $1 million per episode.

Her life and career have been filled with a few twists and turns, including a stint voicing animated characters and a horse riding accident where she almost lost her leg. Here are 16 things you didn't know about Kaley Cuoco.

Cuoco acted in Barbie commercials when she was five years old.

Cuoco's "The Big Bang Theory" character tried to become an actress while working as a waitress, but Cuoco herself started acting from a young age.

Like many actors, she started in commercials. Two of her notable commercials were for Barbie and Oscar Meyer, around 1990.



She starred alongside Donald Sutherland and Tim Matheson in her first TV movie.

The actress was in the little-known 1992 movie "Quicksand: No Escape," about an architect framed for a murder. Sutherland plays a private detective, Tim Matheson plays the architect, and Cuoco plays the architect's daughter.



A few years later, she played a younger version of Ellen DeGeneres.

In a flashback scene of a 1996 episode of DeGeneres's sitcom, "Ellen," Cuoco played Ellen herself. It's part of a reverie where she's remembering the bullying social dynamics of summer camp. The scene is short, but she already shows off her comedic chops and impeccable timing.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Why Netflix's CEO is waging a war at the most prestigious film festival in the world

0
0

Reed Hastings

When two Netflix titles, Boon Joon-Ho's "Ojka" and Noah Baumbach's "The Meyerowitz Stories," were added to the esteemed competition lineup for this year's Cannes Film Festival, it was another notch in the belt for the streaming giant.

But it was also another moment when the movie industry felt that Netflix is hurting the theatrical movie business.

Now Cannes, the most prestigious film festival in the world (running May 17-28), has decided to tweak its competition rules after this year as a result of the backlash toward the Netflix titles.

On Wednesday, the festival announced that beginning in 2018, a film can only qualify for its competition lineup if it has a theatrical release in France. Netflix has made many enemies in the movie business for rarely having theatrical releases for its movies, and when it does release films in theaters, it does so while simultaneously making them available streaming on Netflix, therefore undercutting the reason to go to a theater.

It's unclear if "Ojka" or "The Meyerowitz Stories" will play theatrically in France.

“The festival is pleased to welcome a new operator which has decided to invest in cinema but wants to reiterate its support to the traditional mode of exhibition of cinema in France and in the world,” a statement from the festival said. “Consequently, and after consulting its members of the board, the Festival de Cannes has decided to adapt its rules to this unseen situation until now: any film that wishes to compete in competition at Cannes will have to commit itself to being distributed in French movie theaters. This new measure will apply  from the 2018 edition of the Festival International du Film de Cannes onwards.” 

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings responded to the ruling with an aggressive Facebook post saying, "the establishment closing ranks against us."

"Theatre chains want to block us," he added about the exhibitors that have issues with how Netflix does business.

This is the latest chapter in the tug of war Netflix has between delivering content to its subscribers and trying to build clout within Hollywood. 

Here Netflix has a major difference with its chief rival Amazon Studios, which has released its movies in a traditional manner, with exclusive theatrical windows before making titles available to stream. Amazon won two Oscars earlier this year with its acclaimed drama "Manchester By the Sea." 

Netflix struck out with an award-season hopeful in 2015, "Beasts of No Nation." It was blacklisted by most theater chains because it played in theaters while streaming simultaneously.

It will be interesting to see if the streaming giant will change course in its exhibition plans of the anticipated "The Irishman," Martin Scorsese's movie starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino that Netflix acquired. In making an award-season push, will it play by the industry's rules?

Since the movie probably won't come out until 2019 (it begins shooting in August), Netflix has some time to figure out a game plan. 

SEE ALSO: 27 TV shows that were just canceled

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 7 details you might have missed in episode 1 of 'American Gods'

'King Arthur' is going to be the first major box-office bomb of the summer

0
0

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

Though "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" showed us the box-office power of a franchise last week, earning over $425 million worldwide its opening weekend, be prepared for the opposite this weekend. 

Warner Bros.' $175 million medieval actioner "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword," based on the legend and starring Charlie Hunnam ("The Lost City of Z,""Sons of Anarchy"), is projected to make only $25 million domestically on 3,600 screens, according to Variety.

The colossal bust will be the first casualty this summer-movie season and continues the drop director Guy Ritchie has suffered following the success of the "Sherlock Holmes" franchise.

Ritchie's slick style with popping photography and colorful characters brought him attention with his early work like "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch," but his 2015 spy movie "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." only made $100 million worldwide, and now "King Arthur" is being bashed by critics (it has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 22% as of this writing).

But "King Arthur" will not be the only casualty this weekend. The Amy Schumer/Goldie Hawn comedy "Snatched" is also getting the cold shoulder from critics (we thought it was shockingly awful) and is projected to earn $15 million to $17 million. But the 20th Century Fox comedy was made for a fraction of the "King Arthur" budget.

SEE ALSO: 35 movies coming out this summer that you need to see

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A 'Top Chef' alum explains why you should use canned tomatoes in your sauce

How Kathryn Hahn became a modern Hollywood comedy hero

0
0

Kathryn Hahn 2

The evolution of Kathryn Hahn from the frumpy friend in romantic comedies like “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” and “The Holiday” to the scene-stealing revelation in “Step Brothers” and “Bad Moms” has been a lot of fun to watch. But Hahn is about to take another big step as the lead in the latest Amazon series from the creator of “Transparent.”

The upcoming “I Love Dick,” based on the Chris Kraus book of the same name, is showrunner Jill Soloway’s latest envelope-pushing series to come to the streaming giant (it premieres May 12, but you can watch the pilot now for free). It follows Chris (Hahn) as she moves with her husband Sylvere (Griffin Dunne) from Manhattan to the mellow Marfa, Texas. There they meet the charismatic professor Dick (Kevin Bacon), who puts a fire in Chris and Sylvere’s relationship that was thought to be extinguished long ago.

As in “Transparent,” which also stars Hahn as Rabbi Raquel Fein, Soloway fills “I Love Dick” with risqué subject matter and unconventional storytelling that you’d never see on network TV (or most cable channels).

Hahn talked to Business Insider at the recent Sundance Film Festival, where the show was given a world premiere sneak peek, about how working with Soloway changed her career, why she wants another “Step Brothers” movie, and what to expect from the “Bad Moms” sequel, “Bad Mom’s Christmas.”

Jason Guerrasio: Were you familiar with the Chris Kraus novel before going into this?

Kathryn Hahn: No, I was not. Like so many of us, I had been horribly unaware of the brilliance of Chris Kraus and that book. Jill, I guess it was two summers ago, had mentioned a couple of books to me, one of which was this. I was immediately intrigued because of the title. I dug into that first and I was just blown away. I couldn't believe how bold and bombastic and fearless and sexy and vulnerable it was and I knew if anyone was going to be able to unwrap that and cut into it as a series it would be Soloway. I was so excited, I didn't even see a script before I said yes. It happened very fast and very organically. All the sudden we found ourselves in Marfa, Texas, like what?

I Love Dick AmazonGuerrasio: So you didn't worry that much about preparation it sounds like — you were in from the get-go.

Hahn: For sure. There's no other circus I would rather join than Soloway's. I had been in it for a while and I knew it was going to be the same people and the same process as “Transparent.” And I also knew it was going to be such a departure from Raquel, which I was excited by. 

Guerrasio: Has it been a revelation for you with what Jill and Amazon have been able to do? The material they have given to actors?

Hahn: Yeah, sometimes we would all look at each other and basically giggle because we couldn't believe we got to make this. And it wasn't like there was a team of executives behind the monitors and questioning it. They just let us do this crazy deep dive into this world.

Guerrasio: You've had such an incredible evolution in your career, going from being in romantic comedies playing the awkward friend or third wheel —

Hahn: HOW DARE YOU! No, I'm joking — [Laughs]

Guerrasio: But was there a moment where something clicked for you, or was it just grinding it out until you started getting better roles?

Hahn: I certainly feel that having kids did something, for sure. I was so grateful to be invited to the party for a while. I just could never imagine as a kid from Cleveland who loves theater more than anything and ensemble work to doing this. I was a theater nerd. So back then it was really always looking for that kind of feeling I had onstage. So there was a weird separation between the work I did onstage and the work I would be asked to do on camera. And so I think it was finding Jill and connecting with her for [Soloway’s 2013 debut feature] “Afternoon Delight” that I was able to find that feeling of creative risk that I had onstage. Those three weeks of making “Afternoon Delight” cracked that open for a lot of us. 

Kathryn Hahn Step Brothers Columbia PicturesGuerrasio: Is there a character you've already played that you would love to go back to explore? And before you answer, let me just say, please say Alice from "Step Brothers"—

Hahn: I was just about to say that! [Laughs] It’s funny, I did "Step Brothers" the same summer I did "Revolutionary Road," which are completely different. And Adam McKay, with that cast, though that was pre-Jill, that was another movie where I had like an "oh" moment. That working on a movie could feel creatively fun. I just didn't know on camera that we were allowed to just do those things. [Laughs] I always was just on my mark and say the line as written and make sure the script supervisor was happy and all that nonsense and that all was getting in the way of making something special on camera. 

Guerrasio: Adam McKay has always said that he would love to explore the characters from "Step Brothers" years from now and see what they are doing. Is that just one of those things that sounds cool or has it ever gotten back to you that he's serious about it?

Hahn: There was a rumor for a second of maybe revisiting it and then I think "Anchorman 2" happened. But I would love to do it. And I also just love those people and just want to hang out with Adam Scott — I'm sure his Derek character is in prison by now or something. Or Alice would be, who knows.

Bad Moms Kathryn Hahn STX EntertainmentGuerrasio: Another character we have to bring up is Carla from "Bad Moms." What can you say about the sequel?

Hahn: We are looking to shoot in the spring and I know it's out there that it's a Christmas theme.

Guerrasio: Yes. 

Hahn: And when we all heard that, we were just like, “Of course!” Because there just doesn't seem like another time of the year that's more right for that. There's so much craziness. As a kid it's just the magic of Christmas but behind the scenes of course mom is trying to get breakfast together as you're ripping through the presents and then the family comes over. It's never magical for the mom. So we're excited about doing this.

Guerrasio: Have you gotten a script yet?

Hahn: No. But just ideas we've been told, we are very excited, and what I can say is they are right on board with the spirit of the first movie.

 

SEE ALSO: M. Night Shyamalan might have just teased a "Split" sequel

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Watch the first trailer for ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’

Movie studios are pulling quotes from random people on Twitter to put in their commercials

0
0

king arthur legend sword charlie hunman

The INSIDER Summary:

  • Sometimes, random people from the internet are quoted praising movies in commercials.
  • It usually happens for films that critics hate.
  • They're not entirely reliable, and sometimes people who actually dislike the movie will be quoted.


Some movies just aren't any good. And when movies like "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" and "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" are critical flops, the distributors making the commercials can't find any critics to quote in their advertisements.

So instead, they turn to fans. Take this recent social media advertisement for "King Arthur," for example, which quotes people like @zoidberg95 and @hongkongphooey2:

In order to actually get reviews from random people on Twitter, movie studios need to have those people see the movies before they come out in theaters.

For critics, distributors arrange press screenings in New York and Los Angeles where they can watch the movies weeks or days in advance to write their reviews before the film comes out. More recently, distributors have a similar procedure with fans. They'll have fan screenings in major cities, where people who are excited to see the next blockbuster can watch it a few days in advance. Then those fans — like @zoidberg95 and @hongkongphooey2 — will tweet about the movie, the distributors will ask for permission to quote those tweets, and the tweets will end up in an advertisement.

The problem, of course, is that these movies are bad — at least, according to critics.

If Warner Bros. screens "King Arthur" in front of dozens of critics and can't come up with enough positive quotes to feature in a commercial, then they likely have a bomb on their hands. In this case, the studio had to rely on random movie fans who were excited enough about "King Arthur" to tweet about the movie.

Plus, some of those Twitter accounts seem to exist just to tweet about movies from screenings, or are dedicated to supporting a particular celebrity. In that case, those reviews can seem biased and are harder for fans to trust.

For "King Arthur," Warner Bros. apparently couldn't even drudge up enough fan quotes to use judging by the fact that they quoted from the same Twitter users multiple times.

king arthur ad zoidberg skitched

king arthur twitter ad joansooks skitched

And sometimes, this practice can go terribly wrong. Consider the tale of @raniaresh, who was quoted in advertisements for "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" as saying that it, "Totally blew my mind."

If you went to his (now-suspended) Twitter account, you'd see that he "did NOT enjoy Batman V Superman," as spotted by senior editor Brett Arnold at Mic.

The greater lesson here may be that advertisements are simply inherently untrustworthy these days. Of course, they're trying to sell you something. In this case, it may be a bad movie. To make themselves appear more trustworthy, they shift the expectation of trust to regular Joes instead of critics.

And even when critics are quoted, the advertising can still be outright misleading. An international distributor for the gangster movie "Legend," starring Tom Hardy, disguised a two-star review from The Guardian in plain sight.

legend movie poster two stars

Here's what the critic actually said:

The narration becomes lazy shorthand for a script that's lacking in depth but overflowing with bad dialogue ... It's a disappointingly shallow take on a fascinating period of time and leaves us sorely uninformed, as if we've skim-read a pamphlet.

Of course, just because critics hate a movie doesn't mean that everyday fans will. Even "Suicide Squad" still has its defenders. Taste is subjective. And just because critics hate a movie doesn't mean a studio should give up on the millions of dollars they invested in making it.

The core problem is that studios shouldn't be misrepresenting the people they quote. And for a viewer, make sure the quotes you're reading are a reliable arbiter of taste that you trust.

By all means, if you're enough of a Charlie Hunnam and Guy Ritchie fan to watch "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword," then sure, go see it. But if it's bad, don't say the critics didn't warn you. 

SEE ALSO: 'King Arthur' is going to be the first major box-office bomb of the summer

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This animated map shows how religion spread across the world

Robert De Niro explains how his highly anticipated new movie reverse-ages him by decades

0
0

Robert De Niro AP final

Cameras don't begin rolling on the anticipated Netflix movie "The Irishman," teaming Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro for the first time since 1995's "Casino,"until August, but the groundbreaking motion-capture technology that'll be featured in it is already underway.

De Niro, 73, told Business Insider on Friday while promoting his upcoming HBO movie about Bernie Madoff, "The Wizard of Lies" (airing May 20), that he's already gone to Industrial Light & Magic and filmed test footage of him delivering lines from a classic Scorsese movie to achieve the effect that makes him look much younger.

"We did some tests. I did a scene from 'Goodfellas' and they worked on that piece and we've been slowly moving along," De Niro said. "We're going to make it great."

"The Irishman," based on the Charles Brandt book "I Heard You Paint Houses," centers on hitman Frank Sheeran, who admitted to killing Jimmy Hoffa. De Niro plays Sheeran, whose recollections of his days in the mob will involve flashbacks going back decades.

The movie, which Netflix will release in 2019, also stars Al Pacino, Harvey Keitel, and Joe Pesci.

Goodfellas_Warner BrosThough "Goodfellas" was released 27 years ago, in 1990, when De Niro was 46, it's possible we will see an even younger version of De Niro (alongside, presumably, other reverse-aged actors) in "The Irishman." 

One of the movie's producers, Gastón Pavlovich, said back in January that ILM has made up versions of De Niro in his 20s, 40s, and 60s.  

De Niro's description of the de-aging process, which he said involved motion-capture dots placed all over his face, sounds similar to how ILM worked with English actor Guy Henry to bring a GCI version of "Star Wars" character Grand Moff Tarkin to the screen for "Rogue One." In that instance, Henry did a screen test saying lines from the late Peter Cushing's Tarkin in "Star Wars: A New Hope," and ILM then used the Cushing footage from "A New Hope" to apply his face to Henry in "Rogue One."

Asked if it was weird seeing a CGI version of himself that was decades younger, De Niro joked, "If they can perfect it, I'll be able to work for another 30 years."

SEE ALSO: Kevin Bacon gets real about nudity and being a male sex object: "It's not the worst thing"

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's all the food The Rock eats in a single day

Movies turning 20 years old in 2017 that will make you feel really, really old

0
0

titanic 20th Century Fox

Time flies, as movie anniversaries remind us time and time again.

The 1990s are back, from street style to band reunions, but doesn't it kind of feel like we were just living in them?

We put together a list of some classic and fan-favorite movies from 1997 that are turning 20 years old in 2017.

You'll get a chance to fondly remember when young Leonardo DiCaprio was on the rise and Will Smith was the biggest star in the world.

Here are 13 movies turning 20 in 2017 that will make you feel old:

SEE ALSO: All the movies you didn't know Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin produced

"Romy and Michele's High School Reunion"

Released April 25, 1997. 

 



“Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery“

Released May 2, 1997. 



“The Fifth Element”

Released May 9, 1997. 

 



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Michael Fassbender wanted to break his arm to get out of playing Steve Jobs

0
0

michael fassbender steve jobsIt's not an easy gig to play Steve Jobs. The man was certainly a complex human, often tough in relationships while capable of thinking outside-the-box when it came to design, product and image. It would be daunting to play the former Apple head honcho, and Michael Fassbender knew it, even before he started having to get into costume for the gig. He recently revealed that he was so apprehensive of taking the lead in Steve Jobs that he considered breaking his arm to get out of the gig, and that wasn't even the only time he tried to quit. Michael Fassbender said:

"When the script arrived for me and the opportunity to play the part I really thought, 'This is not me, this should be somebody else. It's a miscast scenario.' Then I spoke to my agent and my dad and they were like, 'You've got to go for it.' But at the beginning in rehearsals I was trying to find a way to get out of the job. I remember telling my driver, 'If I put my arm in the door and you slam it, it should cause a break and should get me out of this gig.'"

Michael Fassbender has previously spoken out about how "dense" Danny Boyle's film was and how he really did feel like he was miscast. However, this new quote seems to indicate he actually tried to get out of the gig via his agent and then told The Irish Sun he talked to his driver about breaking his arm to help him pass on the gig. It looks like Michael Fassbender really, really wasn't excited about playing the lead in Steve Jobs.

Obviously it worked out alright, however, as the actor revealed that he--smartly--did not end up breaking his arm. Still, it does give you a sense of the state of mind the actor was in around the time that production was underway.

"But I thankfully didn't and I just went back to my room and continued learning the lines."

Clearly, there were some daunting moments in that process. The movie only ended up doing OK at the box office, but it was extremely well-liked critically and that translated into awards season, where Kate Winslet and the screenplay won Golden Globes and both Winslet and Michael Fassbender earned nominations at the Academy Awards.

Michael Fassbender has taken a lot of memorable gigs over the years, including turns in Inglorious Basterds, Shame, X-Men: First Class, 12 Years A Slave and many more. Steve Jobs also stands out among those big roles, so it was probably worth all of the turmoil to power through it. Probably.

You can next catch Michael Fassbender in Alien: Covenant, out next weekend. To take a look at what else is coming to theaters this summer, check out our full guide.

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

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's what popular dog breeds looked like before and after 100 years of breeding

The 22 movies you need to see coming out of the 2017 Cannes film festival

0
0

“How to Talk to Girls at Parties”

The Cannes Film Festival generates more attention and excitement than any other film festival in the world, but each year is an unpredictable journey. The Official Selection, alongside the sidebars of Directors Fortnight and Critics Week, offer up a tightly-curated into a range of international cinema from both familiar sources and surprising newcomers. This year’s edition is a reliable combination of top-tier directors whose work will be shown at Cannes until the end of time, notable filmmakers who usually deliver something worthwhile, and unproven quantities with a lot of potential. 

In order to work through all of these different possibilities, we’ve broken down our list of anticipated Cannes titles into three categories: A-list auteurs, Discoveries and Safe Bets. Every day of Cannes will bring new updates on the latest films, some of which will live up to the hype while others will come up short. For now, we can only hope that these titles are worthy of our expectations, but chances are pretty good that most of them will be worth writing home about. Expect to hear a lot more soon.

SEE ALSO: Movies turning 20 years old in 2017 that will make you feel really, really old

A-List Auteurs



“Happy End”

Michael Haneke went to the Cannes Film Festival in 2009 with “The White Ribbon” and won the Palme d’Or. He returned three years later in 2012 with “Amour” and won the Palme d’Or again. He’s one of only nine directors to take Cannes’ highest honor twice, and now he returns after a five-year hiatus to try and become the first director to win three. “Happy End,” starring Isabelle Huppert, centers on a bourgeois family living an isolated life as the European migrant crisis happens around them. The chance to witness Haneke go for the Cannes history books is too important to miss. -Zack Sharf



“Before We Vanish”

Kiyoshi Kurosawa has been one of Japan’s premier genre auteurs for more than 20 years now, and he’s back at it less than a year after debuting “Daguerreotype” in Toronto. His latest, a sci-fi drama about an alien invasion, is sure to be more off-kilter and elliptical than that high-concept premise makes it sound: Masami Nagasawa, Ryûhei Matsuda and Hiroki Hasegawa play a trio of extraterrestrials on a scouting mission for their home planet, which is planning to make landfall on our humble abode. Might they learn some valuable lessons about humanity along the way? -Michael Nordine



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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

0
0

bi graphics_the best movies of 2016_4x3

Netflix has no shortage of content. Going through its growing original material along with other shows and movies, you could binge endlessly and still never crack the surface.

Welcome to the new world of streaming.

It's become harder on the movie front, as Netflix boosts its TV side, but you can put a good dent in some classic films if you have the right guide.

That's why we're here.

We have searched through all the latest titles on the streaming giant so you don’t have to, and we've put together the 100 movies streaming on Netflix right now that you have to watch in your lifetime.

Here are the 100 best movies streaming on Netflix:

Note: Numerous Netflix titles drop off the streaming service monthly so the availability of titles below may change.

SEE ALSO: 20 modern classic TV shows everyone needs to watch in their lifetime

1. "10 Things I Hate About You" (1999)

Heath Ledger and Julia Styles have an incredible love/hate vibe that fuels the movie. And a baby-faced Joseph Gordon-Levitt looking for love is great, too.



2. "13th" (2016)

This Netflix original documentary from director Ava DuVernay ("Selma") explores the history of racial inequality in the US, particularly the key moments that have led to a disproportionate prison population in the country (one out of four people in prison around the world, and many of them African-American).



3. "Adventureland" (2009)

Director Greg Mottola takes us back to that feeling of our first summer job — the experience that is supposed to prepare you for the real world. But really all that happens is hitting on your coworkers. 



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

'Guardians of the Galaxy 2' easily wins the weekend box office as 'King Arthur' bombs

0
0

King Arthur Warner Bros.

For a second consecutive weekend, Disney/Marvel's "Guardian of the Galaxy Vol. 2" easily won the domestic box office with an estimated $63 million, according to BoxOfficePro.com.

Its domestic total is now $261.1 million.

But the main story from this weekend are the movies that didn't come close to knocking "Guardians" off its perch.

The Amy Schumer/Goldie Hawn comedy "Snatched" did better than industry projections, taking in $17.5 million, but with lousy reviews and bad word of mouth, 20th Century Fox is likely preparing for a nose dive in sales its second weekend.

Then there's Warner Bros.'s $170 million "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword," which was only able to muster $14.7 million. That's certainly the biggest fail of the early summer movie season.

Directed by Guy Ritchie ("The Man From U.N.C.L.E.") and starring Charlie Hunnam ("The Lost City of Z,""Sons of Anarchy"), the movie's slick look and wannabe "Game of Thrones" feel didn't attract theatergoers who decided to stay home this weekend.

It's never a good sign when a movie's release date is moved four times, like what happened with "King Arthur." Add to that a Rotten Tomatoes score below 30% and a Friday earning of only $5 million, and that all spells bad news for WB, which is desperately counting the days until its anticipated "Wonder Woman" movie opens on June 2.

SEE ALSO: Inside Johnny Depp's extravagant and extreme lifestyle that costs him $2 million a month

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 7 details you might have missed in episode 1 of 'American Gods'

Danny McBride talks about what his 'reinvention' of 'Halloween' will be like

0
0

Danny McBride Eamonn M McCormack Getty final

Danny McBride is having a moment no one could have predicted right now. Not only is the former "Eastbound & Down" star in Ridley Scott's anticipated "Prometheus" sequel, "Alien: Covenant" (in theaters Friday), but he's also in deep development on a reboot of the "Halloween" franchise.

"We're currently on that full-time," McBride told Business Insider last week of bringing the Michael Myers character back to the screen.

McBride is in the midst of writing the screenplay with director David Gordon Green ("Pineapple Express") through their production company Rough House Pictures, which they created with writer-director Jody Hill ("Eastbound & Down,""Vice Principals") back in 2009.

McBride said he and Green have immersed themselves in the "Halloween" franchise, watching all the movies constantly to create a story that gives the fans the core aspects that they've craved since John Carpenter created the first movie back in 1978, but with a more grounded feel than the recent movies in the franchise.

Halloween Compass International Pictures"At the end of the day you're dealing with a masked man who kills people and it's crazy to see all the different sequels and what people tried to do or what might have been lost from the original in the hopes of creating more story," McBride said. "So we're just trying to learn from that, and I feel what happened with Michael Myers, unfortunately, is in those later sequels he almost became a Frankenstein's monster. He became this superhuman — nothing could really kill him. That doesn't make him scary anymore. For us, we look at it, and it's much scarier to just have that man who is hiding in the shadows as you're taking the trash out to the backyard, as opposed to a guy who could be shot a bunch of times and still keeps coming back to life."

That's why McBride said he and Green are focusing on the tone and scares from the first two "Halloween" movies to guide the development of their movie.

"This is definitely a continuation [of 'Halloween' and 'Halloween II'] and a little bit of a reinvention," McBride said. "But we're really trying to take it back to what John Carpenter originally started with and what was so horrifying about it."

Jason Blum Malek Akkad David Gordon Green Danny McBride jason_blum twitterIn February, Carpenter announced on his Facebook page that McBride and Green would be writing the script with Green directing. He also announced that horror titan Jason Blum and his Blumhouse Productions ("Get Out,""Split") would be producing the movie.

According to McBride, the movie will begin shooting in the fall and is slated to be released in theaters around Halloween in 2018, which dovetails with the 40th anniversary of the original film.

Carpenter, who is an executive producer on the movie, also teased in his post that he may do the movie's score. Along with creating the franchise, he came up with its synthesized sound. As far as McBride knows, Carpenter is really going to do it — that is, if he likes the movie the guys make.

"In the meeting he said he would, yeah," McBride said of Carpenter's interest in doing the score when McBride and Green pitched their reboot to him. "So we hope that we don't let him down and deliver a piece of s--- that he wouldn't want to score."

McBride said the biggest takeaway from sitting with Carpenter was seeing how unopposed the legendary director was to two people known for their comedy work making a horror movie.

"Whether it's to make [the audience] laugh or make them scream and s--- their pants, it's all in the engineering of the pace," McBride said. "It was cool to see that he got that and didn't think we were being brought on to make the franchise funny, because that really isn't me and David's ambition for this at all."

SEE ALSO: Robert De Niro explains how his highly anticiapted new movie reverse-ages him by decades

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A 'Top Chef' alum explains why you should use canned tomatoes in your sauce

Why Hollywood needs to stop making one kind of movie that just keeps bombing

0
0

King Arthur Warner Bros.

It's time for real talk, Hollywood: Stop trying to make King Arthur a thing.

The weekend's horrible performance for the Warner Bros. movie "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" is the latest evidence. The epic was made for about $170 million — after marketing, you're looking at about $300 million — but earned a tiny $14.7 million domestically. That should be the nail in the coffin for any more attempts to make a feature-length film about the legendary British leader and his mythic sword in the stone.

Warner Bros. hoped director Guy Ritchie ("Snatch") could bring a hip and flashy King Arthur to the screen as he did with his successful "Sherlock Holmes" franchise. But one of the many problems of "Legend of the Sword"— perhaps its biggest — is that it lacked the talents of Robert Downey Jr., who starred in "Holmes."

That's not a knock against "King Arthur" star Charlie Hunnam. He's an incredible talent, but he doesn't have the presence or audience draw that Downey has — yet.

The movie tried to counter that with a flurry of CGI tricks to hopefully dazzle audiences, but it's obvious now that people didn't take the bait.

The first big box-office bomb of the summer

There were other warning signs the casual moviegoer rarely notices. The movie had numerous release-date changes, meaning executives still wanted to tweak the movie, and this was a project that originated under a previous head at the studio. New boss, new ideas. That mix of factors often leads to what WB now has on its hands in "King Arthur," the first big bomb of the summer-movie season.

King Arthur DisneyBut WB isn't the first studio to attempt a recent gritty King Arthur movie. In 2004, Disney released "King Arthur" in the middle of the summer and also found low returns (especially domestically). Directed by Antoine Fuqua on the heels of his success helming "Training Day" and starring Clive Owen as the king and a scantily clad Keira Knightley as Guinevere, the movie only earned $51.8 million in the United States (it was saved by its $151.6 million take overseas). Disney should have stopped with the successful 1963 animated movie "The Sword in the Stone."

WB brass did have some kind of logic here. Execs were clearly trying to capitalize on the current "Game of Thrones" fandom. But the HBO series obviously has the hook of a book series that's every bit as beloved as "Lord of the Rings." And its enticing stew of explicit violence and sex works on premium cable in a way that doesn't translate to the big screen. (The new "King Arthur" is rated PG-13.)

But it's time to just put King Arthur to bed. And perhaps any medieval movie or any movie involving heroes on horses with swords — after all, a "Ben-Hur" reboot was the massive blockbuster bomb of summer 2016. Or at least let's be very selective with them.

Hey, medieval movies had a good run: "Excalibur" (1981), "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc" (1999), "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1975). But it's obvious that if there isn't a whole lot of nudity and gore mixed in with sword battles and big creatures, audiences will just pass and wait for the next Marvel movie.

SEE ALSO: 30 differences between the 'Game of Thrones' books and TV shows you may not have noticed

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Watch the first trailer for 'The Dark Tower' — the new film based on Stephen King's epic series

These 2 streaming networks are loaded with movies and TV shows you'll actually want to watch

0
0

The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.

STORY_Peter Bernik

You're probably more inclined to stay in and watch TV on weeknights and weekends in the winter. If you've watched everything on your Netflix and Amazon Prime queues, you might be looking for something new to hold your attention.

AMC Networks is responsible for some of television's biggest hits, like "Mad Men" and "The Walking Dead," and has recently entered the streaming space with two cool options: Sundance Now and Shudder.

While you can watch tons of great programs anytime and anywhere, Sundance Now and Shudder are different from the streaming programs you already use. Each one was created with a very specific audience in mind, so you can gain access to titles you actually want to watch.

Packed with hard-to-find old films, award-winning documentaries, and original series like "The Bureau," Sundance Now is a perfect option for anyone who has seen all the classics and wants to watch off-the-cusp films. Here, you can scroll through hundreds of lesser-known titles or browse the program's carefully curated playlists. Sundance Now even tapped accomplished filmmakers like "Silence of the Lamb's" Jonathan Demme to hand pick their favorite titles.

EDIT_057306d2 shudder computer_08g05308f052000000

Or if you're more into spine-chilling movies, there's Shudder. Whether you're looking for a traditional horror movie, suspense thriller, or something darker, this service has plenty of scary movies from around the world. Similar to Sundance Now, Shudder has original movies, exclusive deals, and cult classics, so there's really something here for everyone.

Both services add new shows and movies each week, so you'll never run out of programs to watch. Sundance Now and Shudder cost $6.99 and $4.99 per month, respectively, but you can save some money when you sign up for an annual membership.

Whether you prefer independent films or scary movies, each program is well worth the investment.

Sundance Now Service, $6.99 per month (or $59.99 per year)

Shudder, $4.99 per month (or $49.99 per year)

SEE ALSO: You're wasting money if you use a modem from your cable company — here's a cheap replacement

DON'T MISS: 8 tech gadgets that pay for themselves over time

Join the conversation about this story »


Robert De Niro talks about how he got inside the head of Bernie Madoff for his new movie

0
0

The Wizard of Lies Craig Blankenhorn HBO final

The HBO movie “The Wizard of Lies” (airing Saturday) showcases the legendary talents of both its star and director, Robert De Niro and director Barry Levinson, who worked together for the fourth time on the feature. They deliver a powerful look at the revelation that Wall Street pillar Bernie Madoff concocted the biggest Ponzi scheme in history and how it dismantled his entire family.

De Niro plays Madoff as a cool and calm hustler who, after the 2008 crash, runs out of tricks and finally admits to swindling over $50 billion from people since the 1970s (he's currently serving a 150-year prison sentence). Levinson takes a complex financial story and turns it into a heartbreaking family saga, in which the patriarch fails his loyal children, Mark (who committed suicide in 2010) and Andrew (who died of lymphoma in 2014), along with his wife, Ruth (extraordinarily played by Michelle Pfeiffer).

De Niro and Levinson talked to Business Insider about the challenges of bringing “The Wizard of Lies” (based on Diana B. Henriques' book of the same name) to the screen, developing their classic 1997 movie “Wag the Dog” as a TV series (also for HBO), and what De Niro has gone through to reverse-age himself for his upcoming movie with Martin Scorsese, “The Irishman.”

Jason Guerrasio: Mr. De Niro, I believe Diana's book was optioned in 2011. Were you involved in the project since then?

Robert De Niro: Yeah, I don't know when it was optioned, or dropped by other people, but as far as I know we were on it for a few years. 

Guerrasio: What attracted you not just to Madoff but to Henriques’ book?

De Niro: The book was great. We were just trying to make it into a good screenplay and it went through a few iterations and finally Barry and his son Sam came on and that was good. We were finally at a point where we could make it. 

Bernie MadoffGuerrasio: Mr. Levinson, when you came on, where was the script at and where did you want to take it?

Levinson: I think it was the focus on Bernie and the family dynamic that we wanted to get to and then build it out. So if you understand Bernie's behavior with his family, which would lead to the ultimate destruction of the family, you will learn a lot about Bernie. And then you have all these thousands of people whose lives were affected by this man. So I think it was to shift the focus from the pure financial aspects of it and see the man and his behavior and the family and how it all came unglued. With that design we can get connected to the character and the emotions and then you deal with the financial. 

Guerrasio: Mr. De Niro, did you want to meet Madoff?

De Niro: We thought about it. [Producing partner] Jane [Rosenthal] and I talked about it, and I thought it may be too much to go down there. And other people were having problems. Even Diana Henriques, she was very limited in her time with him. Someone else I knew had gone down to see him and he was very limited. He couldn't do an interview with him. I forget exactly what he did, but he could talk to him but couldn't do an interview. So I just felt with the limited time, and me going there would have been a big deal made about it, that I just didn't. I met his lawyer and some of his friends. Relatives and in-laws. 

Guerrasio: Did you feel you had to hear him on tape? Did you need to hear his voice?

De Niro: I heard his voice. There's little on him but there was one thing that I played over and over again.

Guerrasio: His voice is similar to yours.

De Niro: Exactly. And my hair is similar to his. And as far as the baldness in the front, we looked at that very carefully and shaved the front of my scalp. Because when you put on those bald caps and the fake hair on top, it looks good but not as good as when you do it with your hair. And doing it this way is a commitment because you then know there are things you can't do later in reshoots because the hair grows back. But there are ways to work around it. 

Wizard of Lies HBO finalLevinson: The interesting thing is Diana plays herself in the movie and doing the scenes with Bob, seeing she was the person who sat across from Bernie when interviewing him for the book, after a few takes I would go to her and say, "How is Bob's Bernie?" And she said, "There are some moments that he's so close to Bernie that it gave me goosebumps." And I thought that was good. 

Guerrasio: Was it a challenge to portray Madoff, who is obviously a con man, as seeming trustworthy?

De Niro: Because he's?

Guerrasio: He's full of sh--.

De Niro: But people want to believe him. So he's doing a good job. He's letting you do all the work. And then there's the reputation. People want to come to him and he will only choose who he wants to be in his investment circle, if you will, then it becomes easier and easier. 

Guerrasio: Because his reputation precedes him. He was a chairman of the NASDAQ — why would he not be on the level?

De Niro: Exactly. 

Levinson: The con artist has to keep evolving, otherwise he's caught. His thing was he would tell people, "I don't know if I want your money." 

De Niro: That was his MO and his strength. I don't want to say it's his brilliance, but that was the scheme he used. He had this fatherly persona so people would put their guard down and think, "How could this guy screw me?"

Guerrasio: The way you guys highlight Madoff's sons and what they went through is so heartbreaking. The suicide of Mark — was that always in the script and did you always want to show it in such a raw manner?

Levinson: It's one thing to say his son committed suicide, but to understand what took place, cause and effect — that he could not live with this shame and he so desperately needed Bernie's love — that's what happened. You can't back away from it. You want to understand the gravity of what this man brought about. Mark commits suicide, an investment banker commits suicide, there are casualties. This isn't a guy with a gun that kills people but this man destroys the lives of thousands of people. 

Guerrasio: He kills you with a smile and a handshake. 

Levinson: Right.

Guerrasio: Mr. De Niro, can you compare this character to anyone you've played in the past?

De Niro: No. I don't think so. Unless you see —

Guerrasio: I see a little Sam "Ace" Rothstein from "Casino." A little. 

De Niro: A little. Possibly. It's different. He was not a person who would lie or betray his family like Bernie did. This is a whole other thing. 

Guerrasio: This isn’t the only HBO project you guys are working on. What's the latest on the "Wag the Dog" series?

Levinson: It's developing, we're waiting on a script. 

Guerrasio: Mr. De Niro, is there any interest in coming back as Conrad, your character from the movie?

De Niro: I don't know. We haven't talked about it. [Turns to Levinson] Should I?

Guerrasio: [Laughs] So it's really early in development. 

Levinson: It is. 

Guerrasio: Watching what's unfolding in politics, is it like watching "Wag the Dog" all over again? 

De Niro: It is. It's unbelievable. 

Wag the Dog New Line CinemaLevinson: You just look at it all: Deny, deny, deny. Keep shifting the headline all the time. All those things are in the movie, and we've ended up with all of those things now. It's crazy to see that's what has come about now. The idea of diversion. It's like what Bob says in the movie when William H. Macy says, "There's no war," he says, "Of course there's a war. I see it on TV."

De Niro: [Laughs and shakes his head]

Guerrasio: Mr. De Niro, can you talk at all about the technology being used in "The Irishman" to make you look decades younger? Is that something you guys are still planning to do?

De Niro: Yeah. We're doing that. 

Guerrasio: Have any preliminary things happened? Getting all the motion-capture dots all over your face?

De Niro: We did that. Then we did some tests. I did a scene from "Goodfellas" and then they worked on that piece and we've been slowly moving along. We're going to make it great. 

Guerrasio: Was it a trip seeing a CGI version of yourself as a younger person?

De Niro: If they can perfect it, I'll be able to work for another 30 years. [Laughs]

SEE ALSO: Danny McBride talks about what his "reinvention" of "Halloween" will be like

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This is the worst part of Silicon Valley, according to the cast of ‘Silicon Valley’

Michael Moore is making a movie about Trump that claims it will 'dissolve' his presidency

0
0

Michael Moore Robin Marchant Getty final

Michael Moore is not through with President Donald Trump just yet.

After making the documentary "Michael Moore in TrumpLand" before the 2016 presidential election, the Oscar-winning filmmaker is working on a new project focused on Trump. Moore, who predicted more months before the election last year that Trump would win it (and accurately predicted the states that would give him the victory), has been secretly working on a new documentary.

Titled "Fahrenheit 11/9," referring to when Trump was declared president (in the early hours the day after the election), the movie will be released by The Weinstein Company, which also put out Moore's Oscar-nominated 2004 documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11."

According to a release sent out by the Weinsteins, Moore has been working without any fanfare in the last few months on it, and the film is "expected to be key in dissolving Trump's 'teflon' shield and, in turn, his presidency."

"No matter what you throw at him, it hasn't worked," Moore said in the release. "No matter what is revealed, he remains standing. Facts, reality, brains cannot defeat him. Even when he commits a self-inflicted wound, he gets up the next morning and keeps going and tweeting. That all ends with this movie."

There's no word yet on when the movie will be completed or released.

SEE ALSO: Robert De Niro talks about how he got inside the head of Bernie Madoff for his new movie

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's all the food The Rock eats in a single day

Emma Stone and Steve Carell face off in a historic match in 'Battle of the Sexes' trailer

0
0

Battle of the Sexes Fox Searchlight

In 1973, retired tennis pro Bobby Riggs, once the No. 1 tennis player in the world, came up with a clever way to promote himself (and earn some cash): He would play tennis against female pros, who he publicly said were inferior and whom he could beat at 55 years old.

This led to a nationally televised match dubbed the "Battle of the Sexes" between Riggs and Billy Jean King. King went on to win the match, which become a landmark moment for gender equality.

Fox Searchlight is now coming out with a movie that looks at the match and what led to it, called "Battle of the Sexes," starring recent Oscar winner Emma Stone as King and Steve Carell as Riggs. 

Both actors look perfectly cast for the roles of the outlandish Riggs and the reserved King. The trailer shows the movie as a commentary on the male-dominated world of that era. Riggs spouts absurdly sexist things, such as, "I am not saying that women do not belong on the court. Who would pick up the balls otherwise?"

Meanwhile, Stone's King knows that if she can win a match against Riggs, it would be a step closer to women being treated with more respect not just in her sport but in every career.

Watch the trailer below. The movie will be out in theaters September 22.

 

SEE ALSO: Robert De Niro talks about how he got inside the head of Bernie Madoff for his new movie

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This is the worst part of Silicon Valley, according to the cast of ‘Silicon Valley’

Every 'Alien' movie, ranked from worst to best

0
0

Alien Covenant 20thCenturyFox

With "Alien: Covenant" arriving in theaters Friday, director Ridley Scott is continuing the story of space's most horrific species that he started 38 years ago with his sci-fi classic.

Since then, we've been entertained and more than a little scared following the battles franchise hero Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) has had with all sorts of aliens — from the chest-burster in "Alien" to the menaces in "Aliens." Meanwhile, we held back laughter while watching the awful spin-off "Alien vs. Predator" franchise. 

Here we look back on all the movies to rank the best "Alien" movie:

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

8. "Alien vs. Predator: Requiem" (2007)

Made smack-dab in the dark days of the "Alien" franchise when Ridley Scott was too busy making movies with Russell Crowe to worry about what was happening to his creation, "Requiem" was apparently able to get off the ground solely on the basis of having the alien fight the Predator again.

It's a terrible sequel, featuring low-grade special effects and zero stars. We all have to thank Sir Ridley for deciding to make "Alien" prequels, or who knows which other characters from the 20th Century Fox library the alien would have fought next.



7. "Alien: Resurrection" (1997)

The last movie starring Sigourney Weaver is a disappointing attempt to expand the franchise. You can't ignore the star's apparent lack of interest in returning to play the character or Winona Ryder looking so out of place. But it does have some great character actors sprinkled throughout.



6. "AVP: Alien vs. Predator" (2004)

Director Paul W. S. Anderson (the "Resident Evil" movies) pits two iconic sci-fi characters against each other. I could give you a little sense of the plot, but, honestly, aren't you just watching to see the alien and Predator fight?



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Unbelievable photos from the most glamorous celebrity event in the world that's 70 years old

0
0

Madonna Cannes 1991

The Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off its 2017 run on Wednesday, is an exclusive, invitation-only film festival that started in 1946.

The Cannes festival, which takes place every year on the French Riviera, has changed a lot over the years. It’s primarily about the films, but over the past few decades, it’s evolved into one of the biggest occasions for fashion, and celebrities have walked its red carpet in some iconic looks. But it wasn’t always so fashion-focused.

Business Insider talked to Getty Images' Director of Archive Bob Ahern about the progression of Cannes from film festival to one of the glamorous, star-filled occasion of the entire year, and Getty provided some images from the fest's history.

Getty Images photographers have been covering Cannes for over 20 years. Getty also has one of the world’s largest collections of archival Cannes imagery, which dates back to the very first festival in 1946. Throughout this year's Cannes Film Festival, Getty will have a team of 80 people, which includes photographers and videographers, social-media experts, picture editors, assignment editors, and technicians. 

Here are stunning photos of stars from the Cannes Film Festival over the years and how it's evolved:

SEE ALSO: The 22 movies you need to see coming out of the 2017 Cannes film festival

“Cannes is a challenge — it’s changed so much over the years.”



“You used to really see Cannes — the beach, the trees. There’s less of that today,” Ahern said. Nowadays, there’s more focus on the red carpet.

Ahern pointed out that this scandalous image of Simone Silver was a good example of stars becoming more candid in front of the public eye. 



In Cannes' early days, photographers had easier access to celebrities, which allowed these intimate moments to be captured by photographers.



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




Latest Images