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The iconic (and often-memed) fight scene from “Marriage Story” is now being used by the U.S. government to save animals.

Noah Baumbach’s Academy Award-winning 2019 film stars Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver as a couple enduring a divorce; the pivotal climax amid their custody battle includes Driver’s character punching a wall. Both Johansson and Driver earned Oscar nominations for their respective performances.

The Wall Street Journal reported that six years after the film was released, the United States Department of Agriculture selected the audio of the scene in question to scare off wolves from killing cattle and livestock on farms across America. The process is wolf hazing, and loud music such as “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC is used to do it. Now, also “Marriage Story.”

“Riding to the rescue are drone cowhands, whose quadcopters have thermal cameras that can reveal any wolf lurking in the darkness and bathe it in a spotlight.

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This July, Paramount+ is a little light on original content as nothing new is coming out on the streaming service aside from the new crime docuseries, Murder 360. However, for the purposes of this article, we are only including the films that are coming to Paramount+ next month and have a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score. So, check out the 9 best films coming to Paramount+ in August 2025 with a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

Adaptation (August 1) Rt Score: 90% Credit – Columbia Pictures

Adaptation is a comedy-drama film directed by Spike Jonze from a screenplay by Charlie Kaufman. Based on the 1998 non-fiction book titled The Orchid Thief by author Susan Orlean, the 2002 film follows writer Charlie Kaufman as he is tasked with adapting a book by Susan Orlean into a screenplay, but his crippling self-doubt and freeloading brother make the task extremely difficult.

Even if you don’t know who Joseph Kahn is, you’ve seen one of his music videos.

Since getting into the business in the early 1990s, he has directed nearly 200 videos for some of the industry’s biggest stars – everyone from Willie Nelson to Backstreet Boys to U2 to Taylor Swift. Eminem’s “Without Me” clip? That was Kahn. Janet Jackson’s “Doesn’t Really Matter?” Also Kahn. Britney Spears’ “Womanizer?” Well, you get the picture.

Typically, a director as talented and prolific as Kahn would transition to an equally lucrative career in feature films, just as countless have done before him – people like Michael Bay, David Fincher, Spike Jonze and Antoine Fuqua.

But Kahn’s output as a feature director has been frustratingly few and far between. His fourth film in 20 years, “Ick,” oozes into 800 theaters nationwide on July 27, 28 and 29, as part of a Fathom Events special presentation.

Bam Margera is promoting his first project in some years with his inclusion as the “secret skater” in the video game remake “Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3+4.” But the stuntman and skateboarder is still ruling out a return to his “Jackass” origins

“What they did to me, making me go to treatment and paying for it, and then not putting me in a movie, and, you know, I had to go to court over it,” Margera said in a CinemaBlend interview when asked about the prospect of a reunion. “You couldn’t offer me enough money to want to do another ‘Jackass’ with them. The damage has been done.”

Margera sued Paramount, “Jackass” leader Johnny Knoxville and director Spike Jonze in 2021, alleging he was wrongfully fired from the series revival feature “Jackass Forever.” Margera, who served as a main cast member of the original “Jackass” TV series on MTV and three subsequent features,...

Nearly 25 years after its MTV debut, Bam Margera has no intention of returning to his Jackass roots.

Following his ousting from 2022’s Jackass Forever and ensuing lawsuit against Paramount, the former pro skateboarder recently emphasized that he is done with Johnny Knoxville and the rest of his co-stars.

“They have like new dudes, and what they did to me, making me go to treatment and paying for it, and then not putting me in a movie, and, you know, I had to go to court over it and I just, you couldn’t offer me enough money to want to do another Jackass with them,” Margera told Cinemablend. “The damage has been done.”

Margera also shot down any hopes of reviving his Jackass spin-off series Viva la Bam, which ran for five seasons on MTV from 2003 to 2005.

“I just feel like that type of show has completely run its course,...

Following Severance's Emmy nomination bonanza, Ben Stiller is staying in the Apple TV+ family for his latest project — a documentary that's all about family ... specifically his family. Apple Original Films announced its acquisition of Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost, a feature-length tribute to Stiller's parents and award-winning performers, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara.

"I feel very fortunate to be partnering once again with the incredible team at Apple TV+, this time on a project that is very personal to me and my family," Stiller said in a statement provided to Gold Derby. "It’s exciting to finally get to share it with audiences; and a great honor to celebrate my parents, both as I knew them growing up, and as I’ve come to know them in new ways through the making of this film."

This is a film I’ve been working on for a while. It is coming out Oct.

There are far too many great movies of the '90s to limit to one list, from the debuts of directors like Spike Jonze to the start of iconic film franchises like "Toy Story." However, one year of the entire decade stands out as quite significant in the history of pop culture: 1997. Not only did this year see the debut of franchises like "Harry Potter," major historical events like the death of Princess Diana, and incidents like one where a "Pokémon" episode was banned outside of Japan, but it also saw the release of many memorable films. 

Especially in this day and age, it can seem nostalgic for a day when theaters reigned supreme, and great art pieces weren't subjugated to death-by-streaming-releases. In 1997, cinema was in its prime, with both indie films and major blockbusters seeing prosperous runs at the box office. In case you forgot just how idyllic 1997 was for the history of film,...

Chris Cunningham is an embodiment of a time and place, of 1990s and early 2000s British underground cool, a moment when avant-garde art forms and personalities were enmeshed with the overground mainstream. Pop culture at large was still up for getting weird and transgressive, even during primetime, and commercials and promo videos were full of libido and artistry (just think of iconoclasts like Chris Morris and music-video talents like Hype Williams).When I was a teen, two DVD collections were pivotal to me. The first was Palm Pictures’ Directors Label series, which compiled the visionary commercial and music-video work of such directors as Cunningham, Williams, Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, Mark Romanek, Jonathan Glazer, Anton Corbijn, and Stéphane Sednaoui, many of whom broke into feature filmmaking around the year 2000. The pipeline of working at an ad house, then making a promo, then directing a feature was a route to admire and...

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.

The Actor (Duke Johnson)

For as much light as The Actor is bathed in, it’s equally shrouded in darkness. Duke Johnson’s solo directorial debut is a film of bleary sun and swallowing night and almost nothing in-between. It wouldn’t make sense to depict the in-between. That would be realistic, and The Actor is anything but real. Jubilant strings swell over vintage opening credits as we peer at the peaks of skyscrapers in a still, top-of-the-cityscape shot not too dissimilar from the angle we get on Saffron City in the original Super Smash Bros. The twinkling black-and-white image has a glowy 1950s TV-hour charm, the text surrounded by mid-century atomic sparkle logos (see: poster). It transitions neatly into the doomy...

Michael Madsen is dead at the age of 67 from cardiac arrest, IndieWire has confirmed. He was found unresponsive July 3 in his Malibu home. The prolific character actor was best known for his decades-spanning collaborations with Quentin Tarantino, appearing in the director’s “Reservoir Dogs,” “Kill Bill,” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”

One of the finest character actors of the past 40 years, Madsen instantly grabbed viewers’ attention in any scene he was in, with his trademark husky drawl. He was a scene-stealer without ever chewing the scenery, always embodying various degrees of laconic. Born in Chicago in 1957, and the brother of fellow screen star Virginia Madsen, he nonetheless embodied traits filmgoers would identify more with that of a cowboy, and he often wore a 10-gallon hat, bolo tie, and sunglasses when appearing on the red carpet.

“In the last two years Michael Madsen has been doing some incredible work...

As one of the greatest actors of our generation, Joaquin Phoenix deserves the recent triple mention in the New York Times' list of the "100 Best Movies of the 21st Century." While his role in Gladiator, whose sequel had the best movie costumes of 2024, is minor, he has a leading role in the two other movies on the list.

The Master, a 2010 box-office flop that is now a cult classic, features one of Joaquin Phoenix's greatest performances. From not blinking in the most uncomfortable scene in the film to attaching metal plates to his teeth with rubber bands so he's forced to speak from the side of his mouth, Phoenix fully commits to the role.

However, the Joaquin Phoenix movie that's highest on the list, within the first 25 films, is his second most popular film after The Joker. Known for his chameleon-like talents, Phoenix is nearly unrecognizable in the Spike Jonze film.

On Monday June 30 2025, ESPN broadcasts 30 for 30!

Empire Skate Episode Summary

The upcoming episode of “30 for 30” titled “Empire Skate” promises to delve into a unique and significant moment in sports history. This episode will explore the world of skateboarding, highlighting its rise as a cultural phenomenon and its impact on the sports landscape. The documentary series is known for its in-depth look at notable sports happenings, and “Empire Skate” is set to continue that tradition.

In “Empire Skate,” viewers will learn about the key figures who shaped the skateboarding scene. The episode will feature interviews with professional skateboarders, industry insiders, and cultural commentators. Their insights will provide a well-rounded perspective on how skateboarding evolved from a niche activity to a mainstream sport. The episode will also touch on the challenges faced by the skateboarding community, including issues of acceptance and recognition in the broader sports world.

As with other episodes of “30 for 30,...

Although Dick Van Dyke had to miss the third iteration of his Vandy Camp fan gathering this weekend, he was there in spirit.

The 6x Emmy winner’s wife Arlene Silver announced that he was “not up to” attending Saturday’s event in Malibu as planned, but he was tuning into the livestream as fans shared well wishes in his absence.

“I’m sorry. When you’re 99-and-a-half years old, you have good days and bad days, and when you’re 40 years old, you have good days and bad days,” said Silver on stage, according to USA Today. “Unfortunately, today is not a good day for him, and he’s sick that he can’t be here.”

After asking fans to share “what he means to you” for her husband watching at home, Silver noted she’s “pretty confident” he’ll be able to return for the next event.

Hosted...

We often turn to actors, directors, and industry insiders for their takes on what makes a movie unforgettable. A recent poll of over 500 Hollywood names has revealed a stunning lineup of the top 30 films since 2000, showcasing a mix of bold storytelling, striking visuals, and raw emotion.

From heart-wrenching dramas to pulse-pounding action, this list spans genres and cultures, reflecting the diverse tastes of those who craft cinema. Let’s dive into the films that left a mark, starting from the bottom and working our way to the top.

30. Lost in Translation (2003) American Zoetrope

Sofia Coppola’s ‘Lost in Translation’ captures the quiet beauty of fleeting connections. Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson shine as two lonely souls finding solace in Tokyo’s neon glow.

The film’s subtle humor and tender moments make it a timeless exploration of isolation and friendship. Its dreamy soundtrack and intimate pacing linger long after the credits roll.

Robert Downey Jr. is singing Pedro Pascal’s praises. Both actors are appearing in the next Phase of the MCU, with Pascal leading “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” as Reed Richards Aka Mr. Fantastic and Downey as Victor Von Doom Aka Doctor Doom for “Avengers: Doomsday.” Will they first square off in “First Steps”? Unclear. However, that didn’t stop Downey from pointing to how Pascal is an inspiration for Hollywood as a whole.

“Pascal’s slow trajectory to becoming a household name who is on a wildly hot streak kind of reaffirms my faith in our industry,” Downey told Vanity Fair. And it’s true: Pascal really is everywhere. In addition to starring in “The Fantastic Four,” the actor appears in “The Last of Us,” “Materialists,” “Eddington,” and “The Mandalorian.”

And Pascal is also a newfound staple at Downey’s own home, too. Pascal teased to Vf that he...

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Some people will complain that movies these days feel the need to spell out every little narrative beat. That they have to be made under the assumption that all of the viewers are watching the film and scrolling through TikTok at the same time, giving its actual story the bare minimum of attention. While that might the case with some movies, especially those that are released directly onto streaming platforms, there are still plenty of films out there that don't especially care how hard your noodle has to work to follow along.

From science fiction films with confoundingly complicated premises to psychological thrillers that make both their characters and the audiences start to question the very concept of reality itself, mind-bending films are all over the place. A word of warning: These movies were not made to be watched while doing laundry or making dinner,...

Success can be a double-edged sword. While every filmmaker would like their first movie to be a breakout success, those kinds of hits build expectation for their second feature, and not every director can navigate the artistic and industrial labyrinth that it takes to produce another instant classic.

Indeed, the perfect one-two punch is rarely achieved. Many of the best directors don’t start out with one of their finest or most successful films, those that do can’t always parlay that into a second success.

But some filmmakers have managed to immediately capitalize on all that good will, directing a second great movie after their debut wins the hearts of critics and/or audiences. With “Past Lives” filmmaker Celine Song’s second film “Materialists” now in theaters, we’re pretty danged sure these are the best.

Nicolas Cage and Nicolas Cage in ‘Adaptation’ (Sony Pictures Releasing) Adaptation.

Spike Jonze’s sophomore feature,...

OpenAI sees 2013’s Her as a vision of a utopian future where everyone loves their AI products. But it’s really about people, not tech.

Nb: The following contains spoilers for Her.

It isn’t science fiction’s job to predict the future, but occasionally, the genre still throws out some prescient ideas. Case in point: writer-director Spike Jonze’s Her – the 2013 drama about a lonely guy who falls in love with an AI operating system. It was conceived long before the generative AI epoch we’re living through today, and yet feels recognisably of a piece with the current era of intelligent-seeming chatbots that help people cheat on their geography coursework.

Her certainly has one high-profile admirer: Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI. In early June, tech journalist and author Karen Hao suggested that Altman is “deeply obsessed” with Jonze’s movie, adding that he’s “evoked throughout OpenAI...

“I’m not being boujee, but they have to do this while we’re talking,” Logic says as a crew of makeup artists encircle him, powdering his face as we chat.

“It’s okay,” I assure him. “You’re in Hollywood now!”

“I know…it’s crazy.”

We’re not literally in Hollywood but at the Getty Portrait Studios at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival, where the rapper, born Sir Robert Bryson Hall II, is premiering his directorial debut “Paradise Records.” He’s still adjusting to the whirlwind of the film industry, a world far removed from the rapper’s lifestyle that defined his rise — one that earned him multiple award-winning, critically acclaimed albums before he announced his “retirement” in 2021. Music doesn’t fuel him creatively in the way it once did, and now he’s going all-in on his one true love: film.

“I am in love with cinema,...

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.

Alan Rudolph’s Dramas of Desire

One of America’s great, oft-unheralded filmmakers, Alan Rudolph deserves far more recognition than he’s accumulated thus far. We recently published two extensive interviews with the director and now the Criterion Channel has a mini-retrospective, featuring Remember My Name (1978), Trouble In Mind (1985), Afterglow (1997), and Breakfast of Champions (1999).

Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel

Celebrating Gene Hackman

As we attempt to move on from a Gene Hackman-less world, the Criterion Channel has gathered some of his finest work to remember him by. Their series features The French Connection (1971), Scarecrow (1973), The Conversation (1974), Night Moves (1975), Eureka (1983), No Way Out (1987), and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001).

Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel

Club Zero (Jessica Hausner)

Across her five previous features,...

Ayo Edebiri is taking on a classic children’s TV character after a much-needed break.

The Golden Globe winner recently revealed that she developed her pitch for the upcoming Daniel Kaluuya-produced Barney film, from A24 and Mattel Films, during a trip suggested by a friend who noticed she was tired.

“She was like, ‘When can you take a break?’ And then I did. I went on a trip to Asia for a month,” she recalled to The Wall Street Journal. “I felt like that girl who takes a gap year. That’s where I ended up coming up with the idea for Barney that I ended up pitching to Daniel.”

Edebiri added, “I was just thinking of, what are the movies that I want to make? What are the things that I want to do? What are the things that make me excited? So I just had this idea,...

OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman is “deeply obsessed” with the 2013 film Her, according to technology journalist Karen Hao.

“Science fiction hugely shapes OpenAI’s imagination and where they’re going,” Hao said during a discussion Tuesday of her bestselling new book, Empire of AI, hosted by the Pulitzer Center in New York.

Altman “has evoked throughout OpenAI’s history his idea that Her is the thing that OpenAI should building,” the author said of the film directed by Spike Jonze and starring Joaquin Phoenix and the voice of Scarlett Johansson. “Artificial generative intelligence doesn’t have a definition, and so they actually use pop culture as the way to describe and put a shape to the nebulous thing that they’re trying to achieve.”

An “under-talked-about” current in the world of AI, Hao said, is the “deep, intertwined relationship between science fiction and pop culture portrayals of these things and,...

Written and directed by Anne Émond, Peak Everything (2025) is about the present-day anxieties that have consumed most of us. The world is rapidly getting worse and it seems like there’s no turning back. Despite the evident signs of the ecological crisis at hand, the authority figures are busy tending to their bloated egos and refusing to even acknowledge its presence. Émond’s script uses these worries to dive into the mind of a 40-something single man living in a small Canadian town, seemingly isolated from the rest of the world. So, it seems like an island in itself, much like he does.

Adam (Patrick Hivon) is a painfully reserved man, who rarely interacts with anyone beyond his immediate family: his father Eugene (Gilles Renaud) and his brother Frank (Eric K. Boulianne). However, they seem to be of no help to him. They ridicule him for his loneliness, considering it a purely self-imposed burden,...

Amazon’s Prime Video has brought a handful of bona fide genre classics to its platform this month. Six of the biggest fantasy blockbusters ever made have been added to the service in May, as well as a pair of deeply underrated, oft-forgotten sci-fi dramas and two rousing, underdog sports movies. One of the best romantic comedies of all time is even available to stream on the service now, just in case you ever find yourself in the mood for a bit of lighthearted romance.

Here are the seven best movies now streaming on Prime Video in May.

“Cinderella Man” (Universal Pictures) “Cinderella Man” (2005)

One of Hollywood’s most underrated sports dramas, “Cinderella Man” is director Ron Howard and star Russell Crowe’s reunion following their Oscar-winning collaboration on 2001’s “A Beautiful Mind.” “Cinderella Man” received a more muted response than that film, but time has been kind enough to...

Quickly following the success of her Best Picture-nominated directorial debut Past Lives, writer-director Celine Song embarked on her follow-up last year. Materialists, which brings together the formidable trio of Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal, has now been set for a June 13 wide release from A24 and the first trailer has now arrived.

The film, which features the return of cinematographer Shabier Kirchner, follows a young, ambitious New York City matchmaker named Lucy (Johnson) who finds herself torn between the perfect match and her imperfect ex.

“Past Lives is one of the best movies I’ve seen in years, number one,” Pascal recently told GQ when asked about teaming with Song. “There’s that simple answer. I met Celine and we became fast friends before the idea of ever working together. It really came down to it being, anything that she may or may not want me to do,...

Matt Remick might be searching for another tentpole movie after Apple renewed Hollywood insider comedy The Studio for a second season.

The streamer revealed that it is bringing back the series, which was co-created by and stars Seth Rogen, for another run. This comes ahead of its season finale on May 21.

Rogen and his co-creator joked that Evan Goldberg that they were looking forward to “taking the lived experience of making season one and immediately putting it into season two, then repeating that loop for ten more seasons”.

The Studio, which launched on March 26, centers around Remick, played by Rogen, the newly installed boss of Continental Studios, who must deal with their own insecurities and the way that Hollywood works in order to make big tentpole movies and prestige dramas, while keeping their Bob Evans-style boss Griffin Mill, played by Bryan Cranston, and the filmmaking community happy.

Related: Why...

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The book-to-screen adaptation is a tried and true formula that has led to some of the best movies of all time, like "Jurassic Park" and "The Wizard of Oz," which unknowingly paved the way for the success of "Wicked." However, not all adaptations receive the same praise. Movies like "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" and the messy adaptation of "The Dark Tower" have been criticized for glossing over too many details. This proves that not all books, no matter how easy they might seem to adapt were meant for the big screen.

While some books are destined for a cinematic future, others have been deemed unfilmable. Perhaps a plot relies too heavily on mystical beings, sometimes tales are controversial and unsettling, which could turn away moviegoers. It's a label that some filmmakers walk away from, while others...

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This May, Prime Video is bringing you a lot of entertainment, from the much-anticipated sequel of A Simple Favor to the release of the raunchy comedy-drama series Overcompensating. However, for the purposes of this article, we are only including the films that are coming to Prime Video this month and have a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score. So, check out the 7 best films that are coming to Prime Video in May 2025 with a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

All Quiet on the Western Front (May 1) Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98% Credit – Universal Pictures

All Quiet on the Western Front is a pre-Code anti-war film directed by Lewis Milestone. Based on the 1929 novel of the same name by German author Erich Maria Remarque, the 1930 film follows a naive soldier who enlists to fight in World War I and soon comes face-to-face with the horror of war,...

Ryan Coogler’s Sinners has clocked a second commanding week at the box office, taking the flick’s worldwide tally to $ 161.6 M. The film’s rollout has been impressive and unconventional, with marketing materials largely aimed at educating audiences about the philosophy behind the movie’s technical ambitions, the prime example being Coogler’s now-viral Kodak explainer video. This has created a community feel around the picture, which has been reflected in the box office. It has also placed a significant spotlight on the film’s DoP, Autumn Durald Arkapaw.

An indie scene vet, Durald Arkapaw previously worked with Coogler on the Black Panther sequel Wakanda Forever. Some of her other credits include Gia Coppola’s The Last Show Girl, Spike Jonze’s doc Beastie Boys Story, and Marvel’s Loki, for which she was nominated for an Emmy. Speaking with us here, just under a week into the movie’s buzzy theatrical run,...

Nicolas Cage is an enigma. He is one of the most fascinating actors of our time, and I say that with zero irony. Audiences have laughed at Cage’s over-the-top, quite often strange, performances for years, and he’s been memed to death at this point. What really sets him apart, however, is a complete rejection of the idea that acting should always be subtle and realistic.

He draws from all sorts of influences – German Expressionism, Japanese Kabuki theater – and even coined his style, Nouveau Shamanic. Watch his character reciting the alphabet in Vampire’s Kiss, and you’ll get a taste of what Cage is.

It’s easy to assume he is just throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. For Leaving Las Vegas (1995), where he played a suicidal alcoholic, he studied alcoholism, filmed himself drinking to understand the physical effects, and brought a vulnerability to the role.

After discussing the 30 greatest war films of all time, we decided to keep the patriotic momentum going with another article based on a similar theme: The 15 best military movies. What's the difference? A war film such as "Saving Private Ryan" focuses on larger-scale historical or fictional conflicts, while a military picture centers on individual soldiers, operations, and specific missions, mostly set in the modern era. Often, these stories take a critical look at contemporary warfare and the dubious nature of many top-secret operations, political or otherwise.

Several pictures on this list are more personal in their approach to the controversial subject matter, allowing us to see the military's effects on the people pulling the trigger. Others blend sharp geopolitical commentary with edge-of-your-seat thrills. All are worth your attention and offer a captivating window into the lives of the men and women who serve. Get ready for a hefty dose of grit,...

In 2013, as we were still getting used to smartphones transforming into extensions of our hands and minds, director Spike Jonze landed on us a film that wasn’t just ahead of its time but was also actively predicting the future of our digital reality. “Her” (2013) wasn’t merely science-fiction; it was techno-romance riddled with prophecy.

The film’s biggest feat wasn’t in its spectacular visuals but how it proved to be a subtle, skillful examination of the lines between intimacy and technology and how those lines sometimes blur beyond recognition. In today’s social landscape, where AI chatbots and assistants are increasingly becoming an integral part of our lives, Jonze’s “Her” demands revisiting not just as a piece of cinema but also as a clear mirror to our technological present. What makes this film momentous, is Jonze’s utilization of all the cinematic tools at his disposal, necessary...

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This April, Paramount+ is bringing you a ton of entertainment with the much-anticipated streaming release of the historical drama film The Return and also a special featuring live performances from Elton John and Brandi Carlile. However, for the purposes of this article, we are only including the films that are coming to Paramount+ this month and have a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score. So, check out the 7 best films coming to Paramount+ in April 2025 with a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

Arrival (April 1) Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94% Credit – Paramount Pictures

Arrival is a sci-fi drama film directed by Denis Villeneuve from a screenplay by Eric Heisserer. Based on the 1998 short story titled Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang, the 2016 film follows linguist Louise Banks as she is enlisted by the Army to decipher the language of and communicate...

Robert De Niro‘s latest movie, “The Alto Knights,” gives the Oscar winner twice as many roles as usual. Directed by Barry Levinson and written by “Goodfellas” writer Nicholas Pileggi, the film charts the real-life power struggle between 1950s Mafia bosses Vito Genovese and Frank Costello as it spirals into an all-out, blood-on-the-streets conflict. De Niro plays both Genovese and Costello in the drama, which also stars Debra Messing and “Shōgun” breakout Cosmo Jarvis.

De Niro is not the first major actor in Hollywood history to take on the sizable challenge of playing more than one role in a film. Some have even dared to take on more than two In honor of De Niro’s dual turns in “The Alto Knights,” though, here are five other great films that also star actors in two roles.

Jake Gyllenhaal in “Enemy.” (Entertainment One) Jake Gyllenhaal in “Enemy”

“Enemy” is director Denis Villeneuve’s surreal,...

Casting can be a frenzied game of musical chairs fueled by whims and cocaine right up until filming, at which point you’d better be certain because replacing an actor will probably mean extensive (and expensive) reshoots. The same isn’t necessarily true of a voice actor, however. You can let those guys record entire movies and then let someone else do it all again — and they have.

5 Her

Samantha Morton didn’t just record an entire performance as Joaquin Phoenix’s A.I. girlfriend in Her. They were actually on set together, acting in real time, albeit with Morton hidden away in a four-by-four plywood box so as not to ruin the illusion of being a computer. “It was only in post production,” director Spike Jonze later said, “that we realized that what the character/movie needed was different from what Samantha and I had created together.” He then...

Jonah Hill is being eyed to star in and direct ‘Cut Off’.The ’21 Jump Street’ actor, 41, is in negotiations with Warner Bros. to lead the film both in front of and behind the camera, while also writing the script for the movie.The flick is said to be about two rich siblings who are cut off from their parents.While the project is in its early days, Deadline has reported the production has notched a $10 million California tax credit for what is expected to be a $49 million production, with ‘Cut Off’ planning to enter principal photography this summer.However, no release date or actors have been attached to ‘Cut Off’ yet.If Hill does helm ‘Cut Off’, it will make the picture his third feature film as a director, after he started his filmmaking journey with the 2018 comedy/drama ‘Mid90s’, and the upcoming ‘Outcome’ for Apple.‘Outcome’ - which stars Hill,...

"All around the world... you're perfect!"...

Rare is it that we get a new cinematic feast from Academy Award-winning writer/director Spike Jonze and while today’s offerings may not be a new feature film, his new Apple Air Pods 4 commercial starring Pedro Pascal is sure to satiate fans for the time being. Set along a lively city block, the advertisement sees Pascal whisked from the cold doldrums of his winter existence and dropped into a music-filled fantasia bursting with bright red and yellow flowers. Highlighting the power of these new Air Pods to help escape everyday life, Pascal is seen dancing through the streets and mouthing along to the lyrics, as if part of his own musical. Watch the new commercial below.

Though many are aware of Jonze’s films, including “Being John Malkovich,” “Adaptation,” and “Her,” for which he won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, even more people are likely to have seen...

After a previous tease from actor Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us”) on Instagram that he was cooking something up with filmmaker Spike Jonze that project has been revealed as a short film for Apple called “Someday” and you can already watch it.

Pascal plays a character dealing with heartbreak leading to him use music and dance to help deal with the breakup.

Continue reading ‘Someday’: Spike Jonze & Pedro Pascal Team-Up In Breakup Short Film For New Apple Ad at The Playlist.

Anyone who's watched the hit Apple TV+ series "Severance" knows that it takes inspiration from many, many pop culture juggernauts that came before it. "Lost" is absolutely a reference point for the show's creator Dan Erickson, as is the famous anthology series "The Twilight Zone" — and apparently, a very specific installment of another anthology show, "Black Mirror," helped Erickson come up with the idea for "Severance."

The episode in question is "White Christmas," a standalone episode of "Black Mirror" that aired on the British network Channel 4 and was broadcast in the United States just before the entire series moved to Netflix for all future seasons. In an interview with The New York Times in 2022 after the first season of "Severance" concluded, Erickson said that "White Christmas," which came out in 2014, was such an unsettling episode that it gave him some ideas for "Severance" — specifically thanks to the fact that,...

The heat is on across King’s Dominion. To cool off, The Losers’ Club put on their shades, put the top down on their 1958 Plymouth Fury convertible, and feel the breeze in Hollywood King. It’s another high-octane news episode that finds Losers Randall Colburn, Michael Roffman, and Justin Gerber cycling through the latest Stephen King headlines.

Topics Netflix’s Cujo, Mike Flanagan‘s The Life of Chuck, Edgar Wright’s The Running Man, King’s collaboration with the late Maurice Sendak, the 2025 Oscars, the work of Spike Jonze, and god knows what else came to mind. They also sort through his various tweets, blues, and threads as he continues to keep adding new social channels.

Stream the episode below and return next week when the Losers deliver their next book episode on 2019’s The Institute. For further adventures, join the Club over long days and pleasant nights via Apple Podcasts,...

Making a blockbuster film can be stressful, so it’s important to keep things light sometimes. To that end, it’s not uncommon for actors, directors and other on-set personnel to prank each other, but the true legends go far beyond whoopie cushions and snakes in a can. We’re talking psychological warfare, or at least impressive automotive relocation.

[subtitle]5Michael Gambon and Alan Rickman Terrorized Daniel Radcliffe With a Fart Machine [/subtitle]

Being surrounded by teenagers can turn even the most British of seasoned actors into children. In a Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban scene where all the Hogwarts students are supposed to be sleeping in bags in the Great Hall, Gambon and Rickman planted a “fart machine” in Radcliffe’s sleeping bag, setting it off with the comedic timing that only those two could pull off. They did it specifically because they knew Radcliffe had sidled...

The Academy saluted Hollywood — still standing despite the terrible wildfires in January — with a montage featuring some of the most magical moments from movies filmed in L.A., including two from “La La Land,” “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” “Chinatown,” “Straight Outta Compton” and “Mulholland Drive.”

You can watch the video below, titled “The Oscars Love L.A.” and read on for the list of movies that go all the way back to 1973’s “The Long Goodbye.”

The clip begins with Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) saying, “There’s no place like home,” and a shot of the Hollywood sign.

“F9”: Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) and crew look out over downtown Los Angeles “Mulholland Drive”: Aspiring actress Betty Elms arrives in Los Angeles via taxi in David Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive.” “The Long Goodbye”: Philip Marlowe (Elliott Gould) at the beach in Robert Altman’s existential noir.

After getting her start in collaborations with Derek Jarman, Sally Potter, and Joanna Hogg––and before she would breakthrough in films by Danny Boyle, Cameron Crowe, Spike Jonze, Jim Jarmusch, and more––Tilda Swinton made her U.S. debut with an erotic drama that unfortunately has gone little-seen. The distributor Hope Runs High is here to change that as Susan Streitfeld’s 1996 feature Female Perversions, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival, has been restored and is returning to theaters.

The film follows Swinton as a bi-sexual lawyer on the edge of professional breakthrough, personal breakdown, and sexual awakening, with a cast also including Amy Madigan, Karen Sillas, Frances Fisher, Laila Robins, Paulina Porizkova, Clancy Brown.

The restoration, backed by Vinegar Syndrome/Cinématographe in 2024, was completed from a 4K, 16-bit scan of the 35mm original camera negative by Vinegar Syndrome in Bridgeport, Connecticut, via an Arriscan Xt. Frame-by-frame manual digital restoration,...

When Spike Jonze’s “Her” debuted in theaters in 2013, Siri was just 2 years old and Alexa was barely in the womb. Less than a third of relationships started on the internet, and dating apps were still on the fringes. The term “artificial intelligence” rarely made it outside of tech circles.

Back then, Jonze’s bizarro vision of the future, in which people fell in love with “operating systems” — handheld portals of infinite knowledge and companionship — seemed so far away. In 2025, the year in which the film is widely accepted to take place, that future has arrived.

“Her,” which won Jonze the Oscar for best original screenplay, stars Joaquin Phoenix as Theodore Twombly, a man with a hipster ’stache who is reeling from a divorce. To salve his loneliness, he purchases an AI chatbot, Samantha, voiced with an extra dash of sultry by Scarlett Johansson.

Theodore works as a professional letter writer,...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Anthology Film Archives

A Volker Spengler retrospective brings three films by Fassbinder; films by Ozu and Pudovkin play in Essential Cinema.

Museum of the Moving Image

Snubbed Forever continues with films by Bogdanovich and a 35mm print of Fritz Lang’s Scarlet Street.

IFC Center

Hideaki Anno’s Love & Pop plays in a new restoration; Herzog’s Nosferatu, Mulholland Dr., Funeral Parade of Roses, Dogra Magra, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas show late.

Roxy Cinema

Saturday brings Susan Seidelman’s She-Devil on 35mm and Wild at Heart.

Film at Lincoln Center

The career-spanning Frederick Wiseman retrospective has its final weekend.

Film Forum

Tales from the New Yorker includes films by Hitchcock, Spike Jonze, the Marx Brothers, and John Huston; Godard’s A Woman Is a Woman continues in a new 4K restoration; Addams Family Values screens on Sunday.

Music videos can be excellent training grounds for young directors like Fleur Fortune. Whose movie debut, “The Assessment,” a sci-fi thriller starring Alicia Vikander and Elizabeth Olsen that premiered at this past year’s Toronto International Film Festival, will be released by Amazon Prime later this year. Such greats as Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, and, most prominently, David Fincher all cut their teeth early on directing what are essentially short films for various music artists like Beastie Boys, Madonna, and Foo Fighters.

Continue reading ‘The Assessment’ Trailer: Sci-Fi Thriller Starring Alicia Vikander & Elizabeth Olsen Arrives March 21 at The Playlist.

Produced by Daniel Kaluuya and A24, the Barney movie is still happening, and will now be written by – and star – The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri.

Ayo Edebiri has signed a deal to write and star in A24 and Mattel’s Barney movie, reports suggest. As the star of TV’s The Bear and an emerging actor in the latest wave of young Hollywood talent, Edebiri’s creative input into this project adds to the strange levels of excitement that a Barney movie has been generating for some time now.

Here’s a story that stretches all the way back to 2019: the big screen revival of Barney, the big, purple dinosaur who was a kids’ favourite on TV, is set for a big screen revival. Ever since this story first emerged, though, something about it has felt just a little different. The involvement of Daniel Kaluuya, star of 2017’s Get Out...

Barney is a dinosaur from our imagination, and soon he'll be — oh, let's just see — a live-action film sensation. That's right millennials, zillennials, and purple dinosaur lovers of all ages, that A24 Barney movie that was announced way back when in 2019 is still happening, and it looks like the team behind the film have found the woman to write the magenta Mattel legend's big screen debut. Per Deadline's reporting, The Bear and Opus actor Ayo Edebiri has been brought aboard to write — and possibly star in — the long-gestating film.

Set up as a co-production between A24, Mattel Films, and Daniel Kaluuya's 59% Productions banner, the as-yet-untitled Barney movie is not, you will be delighted/dismayed to learn, being pitched as a faithful recreation of the hit 90s/early 00s kids' TV staple Barney & Friends. Rather, the plan seems to be to follow in Barbie's footsteps by taking the globally...

If you were planning on discounting the upcoming "Barney" movie entirely, you might want to think again — because Ayo Edebiri has been tapped to write the script.

Mattel Films and A24 are teaming up for a "Barney" movie, and not only will Edebiri write it but, according to the official press release announcing the news, she may also star in the film as well. (Specifics on Edebiri's potential role aren't clear as of this writing.) Meanwhile, the movie is being produced by another industry powerhouse in the form of Oscar-winner Daniel Kaluuya, whose company 59% Productions is behind the project.

This is definitely an encouraging and, frankly, bizarre update (in a good way) when it comes to the "Barney" movie. So, what else do we know?

Well, in 2023, Kevin McKeon, a Mattel executive, revealed that the movie about the beloved purple dinosaur will be a lot weirder (and cooler?) than you probably expected.