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Michael Madsen, longtime collaborator of Quentin Tarantino and star of over 300 films and TV shows — including the likes of Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill, and Donnie Brasco — has sadly died at the age of 67. As confirmed to THR by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the iconic actor was found unresponsive at his Malibu home this morning following a suspected cardiac arrest.

Born in Chicago, Illinois on 25 September, 1957 to a war veteran-turned-firefighter father and an Emmy award winning mother, Michael Madsen spent much of his childhood moving from place to place due to his mum's work, getting into scrapes and testing authority as the perpetual new kid in class. Amid a childhood the man himself once described to The LA Times as "chaotic and diversified" however, young Michael found artistic inspiration on the box, devouring classics starring the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, and Kirk Douglas — a trio of actors...

Over the years, the Oscars have generated plenty of controversies for snubbing some well-deserving and critically acclaimed movies from major honors. One such instance happened with the 1994 neo-noir erotic thriller film The Last Seduction, which stars Linda Fiorentino in the lead role.

Fiorentino’s brilliant performance in the movie received critical acclaim, making her a top contender for Best Actress at the Oscars. However, the movie was ultimately deemed ineligible for one bizarre reason involving HBO. Here is how The Last Seduction got screwed at the Oscars because of a technicality.

The Last Seduction got screwed at the Oscars because of HBO

The Last Seduction is a neo-noir erotic thriller movie directed by John Dahl. It stars Linda Fiorentino as Bridget Gregory, a woman whose attempts to escape an unhappy marriage take a dangerous turn. It also features Bill Pullman as Clay Gregory.

Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction (Credit:...

An erotic thriller that has a 94% Rotten Tomatoes score and should have been a shoe in for Oscar nominations ended up being disqualified for a technicality. Kevin Smith has been promoting the re-release of his cult classic Dogma into theaters, and he mentioned the Oscar controversy concerning his lead actress for that movie, Linda Fiorentino.

Kevin Smith went on The Rich Eisen Show to talk about the re-release of Dogma. The two discussed some interesting trivia about how Smith wanted Samuel L. Jackson to play Rufus. However, Chris Rock wanted the role and Smith said the actor fought for it. He also talked about how star-studded his cast was before discussing his lead actress, Linda Fiorentino, who played Bethany in Dogma. That is when Smith mentioned why he was so excited to get her for the movie.

Smith said Fiorentino just starred in Men in Black, so she had that fame coming in.

How do you make a satirical movie about modern America when the news that comes out of there every day is quite literally beyond a joke? Ari Aster is one of the rare directors willing to go there, and his new film Eddington is extraordinary not only for that but for depicting a slice of history that we have yet to see properly shown on film, even though it happened only five years ago. Dressed up as a neo-noir Western, this pandemic saga drips with the kind of biting, dark political humor hardly seen much since the heyday of screenwriter and novelist Terry Southern, author of Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove.

The setting — late May 2020 — is crucial: Covid-19 has just become a thing, and the residents of Eddington in Sevilla County are getting used to life with masks and social distancing. Most comply, but others are skeptical, including Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix), who,...

(Graphic courtesy Xumo)

Comcast and Charter’s joint venture Xumo has inked a distribution agreement with NASCAR to make the stock car sports brand’s free streaming channel available on its platform Xumo Play.

In a statement on Thursday, Comcast and Charter said the NASCAR free, ad-supported streaming television (Fast) channel will serve as an anchor to a comprehensive NASCAR experience across Xumo-branded streaming devices, including the Xumo Stream Box and Xumo TV.

The NASCAR hub on Xumo Stream Box and Xumo TV will point stock car racing fans toward live events and related programs on other apps available within the Xumo platform. Xumo platform users can launch the new hub by saying “NASCAR” into their voice-powered remote controls.

“Our new partnership with NASCAR marks an exciting new chapter for our brand and for motorsports fans everywhere,” said Fern Feistel, the Vice President of Marketing at Xumo. “Whether watching at...

The NASCAR channel offers race replays and more, and will serve as anchor for a NASCAR content hub on Xumo devices.

Xumo Play is one of the top free streaming services available, with hundreds of free channels and thousands of titles available on-demand as well. The service is adding even more content this week, announcing the rollout of the NASCAR free ad-supported streaming TV (Fast) channel to allow viewers access to even more sports content.

Key Details: Play it again!: The NASCAR channel offers re-airs of season events, original series, and more. Make a pit stop: Xumo is launching a new NASCAR hub on its streaming devices. Sports galore: Xumo Play also offers The NBA Channel, NBC Sports Now, and more. Watch Now Free play.xumo.com

The launch of the NASCAR channel on Xumo Play means that users of the streamer will be able to watch classic races from across the decades,...

Today, Prime Video released the official trailer and key art for American Thunder: NASCAR to Le Mans, a feature-length documentary about NASCAR’s 2023 endeavor to compete in the historic 24 Hours of Le Mans race with an American stock car.

The documentary, formerly known as “Garage 56,” will premiere exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide on June 12. American Thunder: NASCAR to Le Mans is the latest addition to the Prime membership.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is one of the crown jewels of international motorsports. It’s a showcase of sports car racing excellence that tests the limits of man and machine.

For the race’s 100th anniversary running in June 2023, an invitation was extended to NASCAR to bring an American stock car Chevrolet Camaro to compete against the futuristic Ferrari and Porsche prototypes and attempt to complete the grueling 24-hour challenge that is Le Mans.

It...

Today, Prime Video announced the first two episodes of the thrilling four-part docuseries, Earnhardt, would premiere on May 22, just three days before Prime Video’s first-ever presentation of a NASCAR Cup Series race—the Coca-Cola 600 from Charlotte Motor Speedway. The final two episodes will be released a week later on May 29.

Prime Video also revealed the official trailer and key art for the highly anticipated docuseries, which will take a multi-generational look at the sacrifice, hardship, and drive of one of the most famous families of NASCAR.

Photo courtesy of Prime Video

Produced by the award-winning team at Imagine Documentaries, acclaimed filmmakers Dan Lindsay and Tj Martin, and directed by Joshua Altman, Earnhardt will premiere exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.

A charismatic, working-class hero to millions of fans, Dale Earnhardt was the most influential figure the sport of NASCAR has ever known. ‘The Intimidator...

Val Kilmer is gone. It’s strange to say, since he was such an important part of the fabric of movies – and of pop culture, really – for decades. And if it wasn’t movies, it was something else.

He hosted “Saturday Night Live.” He appeared in an endlessly touring stage show as Mark Twain. He had a reputation for being prickly, maybe difficult, but for turning in brilliant performances that only he could.

And then, starting in 2015, he began battling cancer. In 2017, he announced that he had experienced a “healing of cancer,” but he was still struggling. As a lifelong Christian Scientist, he didn’t want to accept medical treatment. Eventually he did, having throat cancer removed and leaving him without the ability to speak and being forced to eat via a feeding tube. In recent years, he had experimented with AI to replicate his voice. “Val,” a 2021 documentary produced...

Before there was the iconic film Bonnie and Clyde, there was Gun Crazy. A passionate, violent noir thriller from 1950, it has stood the test of time and remains an extremely important film from the time period. Directed by Joseph H. Lewis, Gun Crazy stood out from the crowd during the noir boom for its torrid love affairs, daring femme fatales, and action sequences. The film stars Peggy Cummins and John Dahl, and both give simmering performances that make it an epic, lovers-on-the-run saga, as well as solidifying it as a classic American film.

The channel will not feature live races, but will have a wide selection of NASCAR content.

It’s been a big week for Tubi when it comes to announcements of new sports content. The free streaming service has already surprised many in the industry by announcing that it would broadcast Super Bowl Lix in February, but now it has a trumpeting deal with one of parent company Fox’s most important partners as well. Tubi has announced an agreement with NASCAR to roll out a new free ad-supported streaming TV (Fast) channel in the coming days, the first ever for the racing circuit.

Key Details: The NASCAR Channel will launch on Tubi on Wednesday, Jan. 29. Classic races, re-airs of the previous season’s races, and more content will be available. The channel will be free to stream 24 hours a day with or without a Tubi account. Watch Now Free TubiTV.

While some question the power of celebrities to guarantee box office success, there is one actor whose name value seldom wavers in getting people into the theaters. Tom Cruise has become one of the world's most recognized and revered actors, with an impressive filmography of fan favorites throughout the decades, including Risky Business (1983), Top Gun (1986), Mission Impossible (1996), Jerry Maguire (1996), Minority Report (2002), and the list goes on and on up to the modern era with massive blockbuster his like Top Gun: Maverick (2022) and fan favorites like Edge of Tomorrow (2014).

His success as an actor has remained prevalent for decades, despite controversies involving his association with the Church of Scientology and some oddball interviews (who can forget Cruise jumping on Oprah Winfrey's couch in 2005?). Still, Cruise remains best known as an actor who is very much in charge of his career trajectory. That is what makes his first and last directed work such an oddity.

Since making his acting debut in 1982's "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," Nicolas Cage has gone on to amass an astounding filmography that has never stopped evolving. He's admittedly made some baffling choices as an actor, starring in the infamously terrible "Deadfall" (which has a zero rating on Rotten Tomatoes) and the 2019 dud "Grand Isle," whose flaws have more to do with its storytelling than Cage's performance as a haunted war veteran. Really, we would be here all day if I were to list the scores of middling-to-awful straight-to-video flicks Cage has starred in, yet the actor never, ever phones it in and shows up to every role with an intensity that is tough to match.

Being one of those actors who shines brighter than ever when given layered, intriguing roles to work with, Cage has delivered several unforgettable performances worth rooting for. For starters, we have the lesser-known...

ESPN has aired over 150 films in its sports doc strand 30 for 30 including The Two Escobars, Four Falls of Buffalo and Lance as well as Ezra Edelman’s O.J: Made In America.

To celebrate its 15th anniversary, the Disney-owned sports broadcaster is airing a one-hour special.

Hosted by Roy Wood Jr., the former Daily Show correspondent who now hosts CNN’s Have I Got News For You reboot, the special will feature a countdown of the top films that have defined the series since its inception in 2009.

It will air on October 6 on ESPN2 and will then be available on ESPN+.

The special will revisit some of the most impactful and beloved films from the series and will feature interviews with co-creators and original executive producers Bill Simmons, Connor Schell, and John Dahl, along with directors and contributors including Michael Bonfiglio, Nanette Burstein, Billy Corben, Marcus Dupree, Jason Hehir, Jonathan Hock,...

NASCAR Studios and Words + Pictures have partnered to form Full Speed Entertainment, a new production partnership that will develop and produce racing documentaries, series, special events studio shows and podcasts.

One of the banner’s first projects will be Season 2 of the NASCAR docuseries “Full Speed,” Variety has learned. The new season is set to debut on Netflix in 2025.

“I couldn’t be more excited to be expanding our NASCAR partnership with Full Speed Entertainment,” says Connor Schell, CEO and founder of Words + Pictures. “The first season of Full Speed was a really rewarding project for our company, and it was a thrill to work side-by-side with NASCAR Studios every step of the way. The opportunity to collaborate with them and bring audiences more great racing content opens a wealth of possibilities we can’t wait to get working on.”

“Full Speed” executive producer and longtime NASCAR collaborator Tally Hair...

Though he's primarily recognized for his Fast & Furious fame, late actor Paul Walker has some hidden gems apart from the action franchise on his CV. One of his more underrated movies, Joy Ride, is set to journey onto a new streaming service very soon.

Hulu confirmed that Joy Ride will premiere on its platform on Oct. 1. The 20th Century Fox horror flick, which also stars Steve Zach, Leelee Sobieski, Jessica Bowman and Ted Levine, was originally released in theaters on Oct. 5, 2001.

Related Documentary Details Why Paul Walker Declined a Lucrative Deal to Play Superman

A recently aired documentary reveals the reasons why Fast & Furious star Paul Walker was never meant to play Superman.

Co-written and produced by J.J. Abrams, Joy Ride chronicles three young people on a road trip who talk with a trucker on their Cb radio. However, a seemingly innocuous interaction turns into a fight for...

There exist certain film projects which, upon release, fail to impress audiences as they suffer at the box office. However, as the years roll on by, these seemingly maligned projects begin to garner an impressive following. Matt Damon's 1998 poker focused feature, Rounders, falls squarely into that bracket. While the film had suffered at the box office early on, it seems to have picked up more fans in recent times. A project from director John Dahl, Rounders was focused on underground, high-stakes poker tournaments. While promoting his latest role in Apples The Instigators, Damon has revealed a desire to return to Dahl's work in a potential sequel.

Matt Damon wants to make a sequel to Rounders, revealing that co-star Edward Norton is also on board. The world of poker has evolved a lot since the release of the first film, and Damon would like to work with the original writers to put a sequel script together that explores this. Rounders wasn't a big success at the time of its release, but it's since become a more widely seen cult classic.

Matt Damon shares his hopes for Rounders 2, a sequel to his 1998 poker movie. Directed by John Dahl, Rounders stars Damon as Mike McDermott, a gambling whiz who returns to the world of high-stakes poker to help his friend, Worm (Edward Norton), pay off dangerous loan sharks. The film, which also stars John Malkovich and Gretchen Mol, wasn't a big hit at the box office, but has since become a cult classic.

During a recent appearance on the...

Matt Damon is all in on wanting to make a sequel to his 1998 poker-focused drama feature Rounders.

The actor was a guest on Roku Channel’s The Rich Eisen Show on Wednesday, where the host asked Damon if there are any movies of his own that could get sequels. Damon noted that Artists Equity, the production company that he founded with Ben Affleck, is behind the forthcoming The Accountant 2, which stars Affleck. But regarding his own projects, Damon said he would love to revisit director John Dahl’s Rounders, which focused on underground, high-stakes poker tournaments and co-starred Edward Norton, John Turturro, John Malkovich and Gretchen Mol.

“The one that we’ve been talking about for years — and I just saw Edward Norton a few weeks ago, [and] all of us want to do it — is a second Rounders movie,” Damon said. “Because so much has happened in that poker world in the last 25 years,...

The article contains spoilers for Evil season 4, episode 10, "How to Survive a Storm."

Sheryl's death in Evil season 4 was heartbreaking but necessary for the show's conclusion. Christine Lahti reflects on the challenging journey of portraying Sheryl and embraces the character's flaws. Sheryl's sacrifice and redemption affect her daughter and granddaughters as Leland faces consequences.

Evil season 4's Christine Lathi offers a thoughtful response to her character's death. On the way to its conclusion, the Paramount+ supernatural thriller has been setting up a fatal showdown between Sheryl Lauria (Lahti) and Leland Townsend (Michael Emerson). Even though Lathi ultimately succumbs to her injuries, after being thrown out of a window by Leland, she is forgiven by her daughter Kristen (Katja Herbers) and manages to get one last laugh against Leland when the police show up to arrest him.

In an interview with TV Insider, Lathi opened up about her character's death...

In a marketplace dominated by social media, streaming and celebrities, sports and entertainment have never been more aligned. Streamers across the board are clamoring for live sports to pair with their original content, and athletes of all disciplines and genders can rocket to international fame with a single post.

To examine the growing nexus of sports, media and entertainment, Variety & Sportico held the Sports & Entertainment Summit, presented by City National Bank, on July 12 at the Beverly Hilton. The summit brought together agents, executives, and athletes to discuss fan engagement, the rise of women’s sports, the state of the art in presenting live games, and much more.

Watch highlights from the summit below.

Keynote Conversation with Jay Williams

Jay Williams, Chairman and Co-Founder, Improbable Media and ESPN Analyst

In January, ESPN anchor Jay Williams and NBA Champion Giannis Antetokounmpo founded Improbable Media with the mission to reinvent storytelling in the world of sports.

How now, what news: the Criterion Channel’s July lineup is here. Eight pop renditions of Shakespeare are on the docket: from movies you forgot were inspired by the Bard (Abel Ferrara’s China Girl) to ones you’d wish to forget altogether (Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing), with maybe my single favorite interpretation (Michael Almereyda’s Hamlet) alongside Paul Mazursky, Gus Van Sant, Baz Luhrmann, Derek Jarman, and (of course) Kenneth Branagh. A neonoir collection arrives four months ahead of Noirvember: two Ellroy adaptations, two from De Palma that are not his neonoir Ellroy adaptation, two from the Coen brothers (i.e. the chance to see a DVD-stranded The Man Who Wasn’t There in HD), and––finally––a Michael Winner picture given Criterion’s seal of approval.

Columbia screwballs run between classics to lesser-seens while Nicolas Roeg and Heisei-era Godzilla face off. A Times Square collection brings The Gods of Times Square,...

Joy Ride cleverly taps into post-9/11 fear with a faceless killer, offering a unique twist on the classic thriller genre. The film's originality and suspense make it a fantastic noir thriller that still holds up over 20 years later. Steve Zahn and Paul Walker deliver great performances in a film that explores the horrors of domestic, American, and faceless threats.

Just as the summer of 2001 ended, an event occurred in the United States that would change the country, the entire world, and all the generations that lived through it. The dynamics underwent a radical shift, bringing songs, movies, and TV shows under scrutiny. If they dared show terrorism, anger, and what existed before Ground Zero, then they’d have to be changed in favor of the sensibility of an entire nation that would grieve for many years.

The fear was felt everywhere. Osama bin Laden’s face was in every corner of the media.

NASCAR has hired John Dahl as its new SVP Content, bolstering the sanctioning body’s efforts to further connect with current and new fans across the globe over a range of content platforms.

Dahl joins NASCAR after a career at ESPN, where he ascended from a coordinating producer to become VP and EP for Special Projects, Films and Original Content.

Starting his new role on May 1, Dahl will drive the creative vision and oversee the teams responsible for all content generated by NASCAR Studios and NASCAR Digital Media across multiple business areas. Those include production, programming, and operations.

His scope will cover the full spectrum of long and short-form storytelling around all aspects of motorsport, ranging from features, documentaries, and branded content to social media, NASCAR.com, and in-app executions for NASCAR’s primary and ancillary platforms.

Dahl will report directly to Tim Clark, NASCAR SVP and Chief Digital Officer,...

Set against the backdrop of the American Civil War, Manhunt is an exploration of competing political agendas played out in the shadow of a presidential assassination. Based on the New York Times bestseller "The Twelve Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer" by James L. Swanson, the Apple TV+ series depicts the manhunt for John Wilkes Booth (Anthony Boyle). Directed across seven episodes by industry veterans Carl Franklin (Devil in a Blue Dress) and John Dahl (The Last Seduction), this compelling historical drama demands to be watched.

Packed with Emmy Award winners including Tobias Menzies (The Crown), Patton Oswalt and creator Monica Beletsky (Fargo), this Apple original is a riveting return to a pivotal point in American history. The series was set in a time when the hopes and fears of a nation sat on the shoulders of President Abraham Lincoln (Hamish Linklater). He was an advocate and political architect of...

Plot: A gym manager, Lou (Kristen Stewart), falls head-over-heels in love with a female bodybuilder, Jackie (Katy O’Brian). But, their bliss is short-lived, as the two end up getting tangled up with Lou’s criminal father (Ed Harris).

Review: Rose Glass’s Love Lies Bleeding is a dark, stylized, ultra-mean-spirited neo-noir. It skates on the edge of perhaps being a little too self-aware for its good in the surreal finale, but it’s still a very entertaining and twisty thriller.

Kristen Stewart is perfectly cast as the laconic noir anti-hero who hooks up now and then with a girl (Anna Baryshnikov), she can’t stand but otherwise leads a lonely life with her cat. Being set in 1989, the constantly smoking Lou is trying to quit with books on tape that have little to no effect, only for her life to be blown up when she sets her eyes on Katy...

The episode of Revisited covering Joy Ride was Written, Edited, and Narrated by Kier Gomes, Produced by Tyler Nichols and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

Prank calls are like a right of passage for children of the 80s and 90s. The ritual of hanging out at a friend’s house on a Saturday night when you’re a kid usually included at least one or two calls to unsuspecting households with immature and entertaining interactions. Harmless enough? Well… Mostly. What if the person you prank called turned out to be a sadistic serial killer with limited patience for practical jokes, and even less patience for unruly young people who waste his time and give him the dreaded… blue balls. That is the premise for 2001’s Joy Ride (watch it Here) – a horror thriller about a pair of brothers and their childhood friend who are making their way...

In his latest bewitching documentary, Nowhere Near, avant-garde filmmaker Miko Revereza aims to shed a spiritually yearning spotlight on his Filipino family by delicately recording their journey of desperately trying to find some sort of societal normalcy. While trying to make some sense of where his family’s actual roots lie (and trying to evade the overreaching vines of America’s imperialism at the same time), Revereza crafts a somber international story that shows going through a muddled past is sometimes the only way towards an even more unknown but honest future.

From the explicit opening that shows zoomed-in shots documenting Revereza’s relatives upon entering the United States, viewers are then tangled into a mix of cultural remnants that are fostered from his family as a tether to their ancestral lands. A pot with native vegetables boiling inside, a travel pamphlet promising a way back home, and an electronic...

Movies can be much more than a two-hour, action-packed break from reality. From the importance of strategic thinking and skill to determination and experience, these movies are as educating as they are entertaining.  Rounders: Strategic Thinking and Risk Assessment Rounders is a drama directed by John Dahl which was released in 1998. It takes us into a story that revolves around poker. Matt Damon plays Mike McDermott who is a reformed gambler who returns to poker to help a friend.  Where Rounders distinguishes itself from other casino-centered movies, is in its grabbing depiction of intense poker action. Although the story ... Read more...

Like many other filmmakers, John Carpenter has a long list of unmade projects, but if the Halloween saga is to continue with a new movie, it could revive a wild unmade sci-fi slasher from Carpenter’s list. Although John Carpenter has made various sci-fi and action movies, he’s best remembered for the 1978 slasher movie Halloween, which introduced the world to the villain Michael Myers and was the beginning of one of the most popular franchises in the horror genre, with novels, comic books, and over 10 movies.

The Halloween franchise is all about Michael Myers, who at the age of six, killed his older sister on Halloween night 1963, and was subsequently sent to Smith’s Grove Sanitarium. Michael never spoke again, and fifteen years later, on October 30, 1978, he escaped from Smith’s Grove and returned to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, right on time to go on a murder spree on Halloween night.

Screenwriter, filmmaker, and podcaster Brian Koppelman is a very open guy, and on his The Moment With Brian Koppelman podcast, he does AMAs (ask me anything), where he answers mailbag questions. But, for a while there, the writer/director/showrunner used to add something to the effect of, just don’t ask me questions about “Rounders 2.”

Read More: Harvey Weinstein Says Matt Damon To Return For ‘Rounders 2,’ Robert De Niro Eyed For Villain

The context here is “Rounders” is Koppelman’s 1998 poker movie he co-wrote with creative partner David Levien and directed by John Dahl.

Continue reading Matt Damon & Ben Affleck Say They Are “Investigating” Whether ‘Rounders 2’ Is Possible at The Playlist.

Good news for those who wish to know what their Twitter feed’s jacking off to: the Criterion Channel are launching an erotic thriller series that includes De Palma’s Dressed to Kill and Body Double, the Wachowskis’ Bound, and so many other movies to stir up that ceaseless, fruitless “why do movies have sex scenes?” discourse. (Better or worse than middle-age film critics implying they have a hard-on? I’m so indignant at being forced to choose.) Similarly lurid, if not a bit more frightening, is a David Lynch retro that includes the Criterion editions of Lost Highway and Inland Empire (about which I spoke to Lynch last year), a series of shorts, and a one-month-only engagement for Dune, a film that should be there in perpetuity.

Retrospectives of Harold Lloyd, Rohmer’s Tales of the Four Seasons, and shorts by Fanta Régina Nacro round out the big debuts,...

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All that Breathes topped the 2022 IDA Documentary Awards, winning best feature and two other competitive awards. The film was previously selected as the winner of the Pare Lorentz Award.

In addition to the top prize, the HBO title, which follows two brothers who run a bird hospital dedicated to rescuing injured black kites that are often affected by air pollution in New Delhi, won best director for helmer Shaunak Sen and best editing.

National Geographic and Neon’s Fire of Love documentary about volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft, which led the nominations for the 38th annual International Documentary Association honors with five nods, won two awards.

The IDA Documentary Awards were presented in a ceremony at Los Angeles’ Paramount Theater, hosted by actor-comedian Jenny Yang.

Best Feature Documentary

All that Breathes (India, United States, United Kingdom | Sideshow and Submarine Deluxe, HBO Documentary Films...

Screenwriters, directors, showrunners, and filmmakers Brian Koppelman and David Levien like to look at the world around them for inspiration. For their Showtime series, “Billions,” they looked at the cutthroat world of finance, hedge fund managers, and the real-life prosecutions of financial crime by federal authorities that have made major headlines worldwide. Before that, they famously looked at the world of poker and gambling for “Rounders,” the film that launched their career and made them go-to writers for people like Steven Soderbergh, John Dahl.

Continue reading ‘Super Pumped’: Joseph Gordon Levitt Stars In Showtime’s New ‘Battle For Uber’ Series From The Makers Of ‘Billions’ at The Playlist.

Caaaaandy Caaaaaane. September was all over the map, with episodes on influential slow burn It Follows, A Nightmare on Elm Street‘s wacky “final” entry Freddy’s Dead, David Lynch’s surreal LA satire Mulholland Drive, and classic lesbian vampire film Dracula’s Daughter. Now that we’re into October, it’s time to bring out some big titles, starting with director John Dahl‘s […]...

by Cláudio Alves

Since last month, the Criterion Channel is offering a collection of neo-noirs, modern films from the 70s onwards that perpetuate the tradition of 1940s and 50s crime pictures. Freer to explore matters of sex and violence, these versions of film noir tend to be more visceral, updating old archetypes into vicious evocations of misanthropic cinema. For actressexuals, the evolution of the femme fatale is especially enticing. From Kathleen Turner's oversexed take on a Phyllis Dietrichson type in Body Heat to Nora Zehetner's mysterious high-schooler in Brick, this immortal character has gone through an infinite myriad of transfigurations. Maybe none of them caused as much hubbub during her awards season as Linda Fiorentino in John Dahl's The Last Seduction…...

The July lineup at The Criterion Channel has been revealed, most notably featuring the new Wong Kar Wai restorations from the recent box set release, including As Tears Go By, Days of Being Wild, Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, In the Mood for Love, 2046, and his shorts Hua yang de nian hua and The Hand.

Also among the lineup is a series on neo-noir with Body Double, Manhunter, Thief, The Last Seduction, Cutter’s Way, Brick, Night Moves, The Long Goodbye, Chinatown, and more. The channel will also feature a spotlight on art-house animation with work by Marcell Jankovics, Satoshi Kon, Ari Folman, Don Hertzfeldt, Karel Zeman, and more.

With Jodie Mack’s delightful The Grand Bizarre, the landmark doc Hoop Dreams, Orson Welles’ take on Othello, the recent Oscar entries Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time and You Will Die at Twenty, and much more,...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Burning (Lee Chang-dong)

After Poetry, it makes sense that Lee Chang-dong would find himself interested in deconstructing another literary genre: the murder mystery. Adapting Haruki Murakami’s short story “Barn Burning” for the screen, the South Korean master has created something that feels akin to a real page turner, with each cut, the tensions, and the mystery rise as we become desperate to know whatever happened to Shin Hae-mi (Jeon Jong-seo), the young woman who went missing, leaving her childhood friend Lee Jong-su (Yoo Ah-in) searching for her. With pulpy characters, including a delicious Steven Yeun as a mysterious Gatsby-like figure, and a dark sense of humor, the film also serves as a study of class and the way in which the...

Cinema loves an identical twin, or preferably, two. More specifically, cinema — and daytime TV — loves to instill in the 99.7% of the population who are not identical twins, the idea that they are untrustworthy types, prone to switcheroo deceptions and uncanny telepathy. These are not myths that Erin Vassilopoulos cares to dispel with her brooding, arch feature debut; in fact she embraces many such unspoken clichés. But if “Superior” feints a familiar, xeroxed plot, it parries into a strikingly individual little pleasure, a headily heightened investigation into identity, sisterhood and the uselessness of men.

A lot comes down to the casting of actual twins Alessandra and Ani Mesa in the main roles, which not only brings an authentically sororal vibe to their interactions, but also allows Vassilopoulos to maintain her lo-fi, throwback, 16mm aesthetic without any doubling fakery going on. Because style here is very much the main dish and not the dressing,...

“Crip Camp” leads all films in nominations for the 36th annual IDA Documentary Awards, the International Documentary Association announced on Tuesday.

The film by directors Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht deals with a New York summer camp in the early 1970s that became a key launching pad for the disability rights movement. It was an opening-night film at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where it won the documentary audience award.

“Crip Camp” received five IDA doc awards nominations, including Best Feature, Best Director, Best Editing and Best Writing. Four films received three nominations each: Sam Pollard’s “MLK/FBI,” Garrett Bradley’s “Time,” Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw’s “The Truffle Hunters” and Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed’s “My Octopus Teacher,” the only film whose three nominations did not include the Best Feature category.

Other Best Feature nominees are “Collective,” “Gunda,” “The Reason I Jump,” “Reunited,” “Softie” and “Welcome to Chechnya.

Leading the International Documentary Association Documentary Awards nominees with five nominations is “Crip Camp,” Netflix’s look back at an influential activist summer camp for the disabled, followed by Garrett Bradley’s poetic black-and-white “Time” (Amazon Studios) and Sam Pollard’s 60s archival dive “MLK/FBI” (IFC Films) with four noms each.

“The Truffle Hunters” (Sony Pictures Classics) scored three nods. All four films landed nods for Best Feature and Director, along with Jerry Rothwell’s “The Reason I Jump.” Netflix also landed multiple nominations for “Dick Johnson Is Dead” And “My Octopus Teacher.”

The IDAs are among the most reliable bellwethers of the Oscar documentary feature race. Last year’s IDA Best Feature winner, “For Sama,” was among the final five Oscar nominees, along with three out of 10 IDA nominees, including eventual Oscar-winner “American Factory.”

Starting December 7, IDA members are invited to vote online for Best Feature and Best...

Leading the International Documentary Association Documentary Awards nominees with five nominations is “Crip Camp,” Netflix’s look back at an influential activist summer camp for the disabled, followed by Garrett Bradley’s poetic black-and-white “Time” (Amazon Studios) and Sam Pollard’s 60s archival dive “MLK/FBI” (IFC Films) with four noms each.

“The Truffle Hunters” (Sony Pictures Classics) scored three nods. All four films landed nods for Best Feature and Director, along with Jerry Rothwell’s “The Reason I Jump.” Netflix also landed multiple nominations for “Dick Johnson Is Dead” And “My Octopus Teacher.”

The IDAs are among the most reliable bellwethers of the Oscar documentary feature race. Last year’s IDA Best Feature winner, “For Sama,” was among the final five Oscar nominees, along with three out of 10 IDA nominees, including eventual Oscar-winner “American Factory.”

Starting December 7, IDA members are invited to vote online for Best Feature and Best...

Since the dawn of cinema, gambling movies have provided audiences with wildly unpredictable thrills and spikes of adrenaline like few others can ever dream of. In particular, the poker sub-genre has raised the stakes by adding a level of controlled skill to the game of chance, allowing players to more or less control their own competitive destiny. The balance between skill and chance makes for inherently dramatic storytelling.

Related: 10 Best Matt Damon Performances Of All Time

John Dahl's 1998 film Rounders, starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton, is widely hailed as the greatest poker movie of all time. While there has yet to be a film to eclipse its status over the past 22 years, Rounders still has some mighty fine company.

Welcome to The B-Side, from The Film Stage. Here we talk about movie stars and filmmakers and not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones they made in between.

As we all stay safe and keep our social distance, here is a very special episode for you all. The incredibly talented writer/director Brian Koppelman joined us to discuss his accomplished career, specifically the two feature films he directed with David Levien: Knockaround Guys and Solitary Man. If you’re a film fan, you know Koppelman and Levien for Rounders, the John Dahl movie starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton that gained cult status as poker became a mainstream sport. The duo wrote the script for the film, highlighting their specific style of dialogue that lives on to this day.

Koppelman and Levien are currently busy with their hit show Billions, which we...

While many genres lend themselves as well to television as film, horror has generally seemed better suited to the big screen. There’s something fundamental to the nature of horror stories that demands the spell they cast over the audience not last very long — especially because their plots often require the heroes to do dumb things that the audience will start to question after a while. Horror can work incredibly well on television, but usually when it’s cross-bred with another genre (action for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, crime procedural...

Alexandria deals with a tragedy and Michonne makes a friend as The Walking Dead heads into its midseason break.

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This The Walking Dead review contains spoilers.

The Walking Dead Season 10 Episode 8

“The World Before” leaves The Walking Dead in a strange spot. On one hand, it sets up a couple of effective cliffhangers, but on the other hand, it also seems to drag its feet a lot getting to those cliffhangers, introducing a new character out of the blue and taking what feels like a long time to get the other characters trapped in their cliffhanger situation. In between that, there are a lot of probing conversations between characters about feelings, usually bookended with a big hug and teary eyes after the fact.

The emotions playing on the surface make sense. The survivors have been trapped in a stressful situation for months, if not years, and the...

Locusts will screen at The Tivoli Theater (6350 Delmar) Thursday, Nov 14 at 9:30pm as part of this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival.. Ticket information can be found Here

In “Locusts,” a dark thriller set in Australia’s Outback, estranged tech entrepreneur Ryan Black returns to his desert hometown — the ironically named Serenity Crossing — for his father’s funeral. Ryan is reluctantly reunited with his ex-con brother, and the pair soon becomes the target of an extortion scam at the hands of desperate criminal associates of their reprobate dad. The Aussie movie site FilmInk writes: “Boasting a tight and twisting script and stunning imagery, ‘Locusts’ is the kind of film that we don’t see nearly enough of in Australia: a classy crime B-movie in the style of John Dahl or (early) James Foley. It’s elevated even further, however, by the stellar performances. Ben Geurens is totally empathetic as the harried hero,...

Edward Norton has something of a bad rep for his reportedly prickly professional persona. Just ask “American History X” director Tony Kaye, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige or “Rounders” director John Dahl. The Golden Globe-winning actor apparently has a predilection for demanding creative control of his characters, their script and their scenes, occasionally to the detriment of his working relationships.

Continue reading ‘Motherless Brooklyn’ Director Edward Norton Talks Discovering His Character In New Featurette at The Playlist.

Oscar-nominated producer Vincent Landay has partnered with former Vice chief creative officer Eddy Moretti at Unbranded Pictures.

The duo previously collaborated to create Vice Studios, the scripted motion picture and production arm of Vice Media. Unbranded Pictures plans to develop, produce and finance original feature films and episodic television for global audiences.

Unbranded’s first feature film, “The Report,” opened at the Telluride Film Festival and will screen at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday. The political thriller is written and directed by Scott Z. Burns and stars Adam Driver, Annette Bening and Jon Hamm. The film was developed, produced and financed by Unbranded Pictures and Vice Studios and will be released theatrically by Amazon Studios in November.

Landay received a best picture Academy Award nomination for Spike Jonze’s “Her.” His credits include Jonze’s features “Being John Malkovich,” “Adaptation” and “Where the Wild Things Are.” He is...

In ESPN’s new docuseries “Backstory,” investigative reporter Don Van Natta Jr. goes beyond what viewers think they know about unresolved sports stories of the past and present, beginning with the 2018 U.S. Open Women’s Finals.

Inspired by the hit “30 for 30” series and modeled on “The Last Days of Knight,” three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Van Natta Jr. goes on a “journalism journey through those stories to gather new information and find fresh insight at a time when people really want the truth,” he tells TheWrap.

The debut episode, “Serena vs. The Umpire,” dives into what Van Ant, Jr. calls “the ugliest finish in tennis Grand Slam history.”

Also Read: Rape Accusations Against Bikram Choudhury Examined in Dark ESPN '30 for 30' Podcast

“The clashes that Serena had with the chair umpire, Carlos Ramos, really divided people as to whether she was right and justified or if he had done the right thing,...