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Paul Bickel’s Our Happy Place (2024) is an atmospheric horror film about a woman trying to make sense of her life while confined to her home as she takes care of her bedridden husband. The film reminded me of James Ward Byrkit’s ‘Coherence’ and Nacho Vigalondo’s ‘Timecrimes’. Unlike them, ‘Our Happy Place’ is a horror film and doesn’t have a sci-fi premise. Yet, it also revolves around suburban bourgeois couples who find themselves in life-altering situations. Whether a time-travel journey, an alternate reality, or a lingering mystery, all these films show these couples slowly losing control over the sense of safety and security that they hold dear.

Bickel’s film is also about the creeping feeling that the happy place built by a couple may not be so happy after all. It follows a woman seeing this utopian notion slowly being shattered as she pieces up every...

Shatter Belt is a series of four episodes, each a half hour or so. It is in the vein of TV shows like The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits. Each episode is a near world science fiction or horror story with a twist in the end.

The episodes have a consistent look and feel. They all have a warm, opulent colour palette, similar sound design and and the same directorial style. Some of the actors are shared between episodes. The writer/director (James Ward Byrkit) gets some good performances out of a cast of lesser known actors. His work is impressive when it comes to interiors and tight, close in character interaction. Outdoors it is a bit lacklustre. Where the episodes work is when they have a driving, kinetic energy about them. When they don't it's repetitious loop.

The problem with Shatter Belt is threefold. Firstly the material has been dragged.

The heartthrob, director, and multitalented entertainer, Justin Baldoni is known for charming audiences as Rafael in Jane the Virgin. While his transition from actor to director helmed the adaptation of It Ends with Us, Baldoni’s creative journey has been marked by heartfelt storytelling and a passion for meaningful projects. Off-screen, Baldoni’s life mirrors the warmth of a picture-perfect rom-com. His Swedish-born wife and fellow actor, Emily Baldoni, has been through thick and thin with him.

Justin and Emily Baldoni with their two kids (Credits- @justinbaldoni/Instagram)

The couple, who met in 2011, got engaged in a viral YouTube proposal in 2013 and tied the knot in a dreamy California ceremony. From birthday celebrations to sharing two kids who always steal the show on their social media, the Baldoni household outshines love and joy. In addition to his family life, Baldoni is an advocate for breaking stereotypes, particularly around masculinity, with...

In 2013, writer/director James Ward Byrkit debuted his mind-bending science fiction thriller Coherence, the ultra low-budget film that was shot over the course of five days, and has since gone on to become a beloved cult favorite. Dealing with themes of reality, regret, and free will, its one of those movies that you can watch over and over again, and find something new with each viewing. After more than a decade, a sequel was finally announced back in May, and we caught up with Byrkit to discuss what thats going to look like for the fans who have been eagerly anticipating what comes next.

In an interview with MovieWeb earlier this week, we spoke at length with Byrkit about his phenomenal new series, Shatter Belt, before the conversation turned to Coherence, and the unique way it was filmed. While traditional movies have a script to go off of, such wasnt the case with the 2013 classic,...

Low-budget filmmaking and high-concept science fiction don't always go well together, but 2013's Coherence is a reminder that it's possible to make an engaging and thought-provoking sci-fi film without an extravagant budget and a large studio backing. The film's director, James Ward Byrkit, took the Robert Rodriguez approach to filmmaking: writing with what he had in front of him. Like Rodriguez, who had a guitar, a camera, and seven grand, Byrkit had a solid cast of actors, a house, and an idea. Despite having a director with significant industry experience having worked with Gore Verbinski on the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Coherence is a tried and true indie project that doesn't feel too far removed from the mumblecore movement of the mid-aughts with a heady sci-fi twist. The film is much more interested in the concepts it lays out sometimes clumsily so than in its characters, who nevertheless feel...

The Platform 2's storyline is unique in more ways than one, but viewers looking for something similar still have a wide range of thrillers to choose from. Serving as a prequel to Netflix's The Platform, The Platform 2 unfolds in a vertical prison system like its predecessor. The primary driving force behind the movie's narrative is a floating platform that lowers down from one level of the prison to another, carrying food for the inmates. However, when some prisoners from the upper levels act selfishly and eat way more than they deserve, an intense power struggle ensues in the system.

In many ways, The Platform 2 serves as a solid allegory for both trickle-down economics and the downsides of communism. At the same time, with its character beats, the movie also dabbles with other relatable themes surrounding grief, identity, morality, and acceptance of one's past. While both The Platform...

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It’s What’s Inside is a sci-fi comedy horror film written and directed by Greg Jardin. The Netflix film revolves around a group of college friends who reunite before one of them gets married but the arrival of an uninvited guest with a mysterious suitcase starts to tear the group apart. It’s What’s Inside stars Alycia Debnam-Carey, Gavin Leatherwood, James Morosini, Reina Hardesty, David W. Thompson, Madison Davenport, Nina Bloomgarden, Hailee Keanna Lautenbach, and Brittany O’Grady. So, if you loved the thrilling suspense, compelling characters, and an intensely dramatic story with a tinge of comedy in It’s What’s Inside here are some similar movies you should check out next.

Talk To Me (Paramount+ & Rent on Prime Video) Credit – A24

Talk To Me is a supernatural horror thriller film directed by Danny and Michael Philippou from a screenplay...

The Bloody Disgusting-powered Screambox is home to a variety of unique horror content, from originals and exclusives to cult classics and documentaries. With such a rapidly-growing library, there are many hidden gems waiting to be discovered.

Here are five recommendations you can stream on Screambox right now.

Possum

Like Jordan Peele, John Krasinski, and Zach Cregger, Matthew Holness made a name for himself in the comedy space — most notably, creating and starring in Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace — before delivering one hell of a horror movie right out the gate. 2018’s Possum is a psychological slow-burner that follows a disgraced children’s puppeteer back to his childhood home, where the trauma of his past comes back to haunt him.

A lifelike human head tethered to spindly spider legs, the titular puppet would be creepy in any context, but Holness turns it into pure nightmare fuel. Combined with an oppressive tone, unnerving...

2013's Coherence ranks as the most popular movie on AVOD following the announcement that a follow-up movie is coming. The sci-fi film was made on a budget of $50,000 and was well-reviewed by critics. It went on to develop a cult following in the years after its release. No plot details have been released about Coherence 2, but it will feature the return of original director James Ward Byrkit.

Coherence tops a new AVOD chart for the month of May. Released in 2013, Coherence marks director James Ward Byrkit's feature film debut and follows a group of friends at a dinner party who start to experience various strange phenomena as a comet passes overhead. The sci-fi mystery film, which earned mostly positive reviews from critics, was made on an estimated budget of $50,000 and went on to earn just under $140,000 at the box office. After developing a cult following, it was recently announced that...

Spoilers ahead for "Coherence."

There are movies often cited as being confusing or mind-melting, like "Inception" or "Memento," which really aren't that complicated. Then there's something like "Primer," which requires detailed diagrams and hours-long YouTube explainers to begin to unravel its web of twists and turns. Sitting happily in the middle is James Ward Byrkit's "Coherence," one of the best sci-fi films of the past decade and a movie that is complex and mild-melting yet not so complex that it's hard to follow.

The film begins with an alluring premise of four couples meeting at a friend's house for dinner on the night a comet is passing by the Earth. While they all have messy relationships to navigate, the comet causes quantum decoherence, creating split realities and allowing the guests' alternate selves to intrude into their reality, and vice-versa. It's a concept that allows for plenty of twists while also allowing for simplicity,...

This post contains spoilers for "Coherence."

One night, during the passing of Miller's comet, reality ends up branching into little dimensions. This inexplicable phenomenon creates various versions of eight friends, whose interconnected lives are altered forever with the haphazard merging of these pocket-realities. Before long, chaos descends: car windows are smashed and ominous notes wind up near the front door, all while the confused group desperately attempts to hold on to their identities. While these events form the core of James Ward Byrkit's mind-bogglingly brilliant "Coherence," the film's ending makes it clear that this is a story about one specific person in the group: Emily (Emily Foxler). After Emily goes through the harrowing experience of wandering through every pocket-reality towards the end, she stumbles upon one where she can finally be happy. However, this chain of actions demands a heavy price.

The catalyst for the confusing events in "Coherence" is a power cut,...

A decade ago, director James Ward Byrkit brought us a surreal, Twilight Zone-ish sci-fi thriller called Coherence (watch it Here), which JoBlo’s own Eric Walkuski gave an 8/10 review you can read at This Link. Now Deadline has revealed that Byrkit and It’s What’s Inside producer Kate Andrews are teaming up to develop a follow-up of some sort to Coherence! As Deadline notes, “Plot details are being kept under lock and key — including whether the new film will be a prequel, sequel, or a different story entirely.”

Byrkit crafted the story for the first film with Alex Manugian, coming up with the following set-up: Eight friends at a dinner party experience a troubling chain of events due to the malevolent influence of a passing comet.

Coherence starred Emily Foxler, who now goes by Emily Baldoni (Five Feet Apart), Maury Sterling (Smokin’ Aces), Nicholas Brendon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Seeking a Friend for the End of the World...

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James Ward Byrkit's 2014 sci-fi film "Coherence" has an alluring premise. Four couples meet at a friend's house for dinner party, hoping the night can survive their tangled states of couplehood; ex-girlfriends are there, and some of them have had affairs. When an eerie comet passes overhead, the fabric of reality enters a state of quantum decoherence, and alternate universes open up. The four couples look into the house next door, and see alternate versions of themselves. The alternates, they soon find, can wander into their reality and vice-versa. As the film progresses, more and more doppelgängers begin appearing from more and more alternate universes. 

Paranoid about the existence of parallel selves, several characters begin plotting against them, thinking that alternates might have a plot to supplant them; when the comet finally leaves Earth's vicinity, the parallel universes will vanish,...

"Coherence" is one of the best sci-fi thrillers there is -- the type of movie that breaks your brain in the best possible way. It's a mind-bending movie that tells a grand scale story in a small scale setting, but without the need for diagrams to explain its plot à la "Primer." In this regard, it's the more accessible version of that cult classic.

In a nutshell, "Coherence" is the kind of low-budget indie genre movie that tells a simple story and leaves an impact, with its filmmakers going on to make bigger-budget movies. It is not, however, the kind of film that seems designed to spawn a franchise. Yet, somehow, more than a decade after its release, it appears director James Ward Byrkit is developing a sequel — and he's recruited producer Kate Andrews from the spectacularly twisted "It's What's Inside" to join the project.

According to Deadline, Byrkit has...

Do you know what’s real? Do you know who to trust? Director James Ward Byrkit’s sci-fi thriller Coherence was released back in 2013, and a follow-up movie is on the way.

Deadline reports that James Ward Byrkit and producer Kate Andrews (It’s What’s Inside) are developing “a feature follow-up to Coherence,” with Byrkit returning to write and direct.

Deadline notes in today’s exclusive report, “Plot details are being kept under lock and key — including whether the new film will be a prequel, sequel, or a different story entirely.”

James Ward Byrkit will write the screenplay alongside Alex Manugian.

He tells Deadline, “I’ve been inundated with pitches for sequels and offers for remakes ever since the film came out but nothing ever inspired us until Kate Andrews sent me an email with two words that unlocked the box. So either Kate’s a genius or she...

Exclusive: Director James Ward Byrkit and producer Kate Andrews (It’s What’s Inside) are developing a feature follow-up to Coherence, the sci-fi thriller co-written, directed and executive produced by Byrkit, which has garnered a cult following since its release to critical acclaim in 2013.

Plot details are being kept under lock and key — including whether the new film will be a prequel, sequel, or a different story entirely. Byrkit will be at the helm as director and will also pen the script with his co-story writing partner Alex Manugian from the original film. Andrews will produce under her Boldly Go Productions following the sale of her first film It’s What’s Inside to Netflix for a festival high $17 million at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, on which we were first to report.

Stephen Belden will exec produce the new film under his Death Wish Entertainment banner.

Starring Emily Baldoni, Maury Sterling, Nicholas Brendon and more,...

The other night, I had a hankering to watch a good high-concept movie I'd never seen before. I saw 2014's "Coherence" on a few lists, and being almost wholly unfamiliar with it, I decided to fire it up and give it a shot. Thankfully, this film gave me exactly what I was looking for.

Emily Baldoni, Maury Sterling, Nicholas Brendon, Elizabeth Gracen, Alex Manugian, Lauren Maher, Hugo Armstrong, and eventual "Hustlers" director Lorene Scafaria star in this ultra-low budget brain melter about a group of friends gathering for a dinner party while a comet passes by overhead. When the power goes out, a couple of them trek up the street to a neighboring house with the lights on -- only to discover something that shakes them to their core. I won't get into the specifics here, but the film has an incredible conceit, and director James Ward Byrkit, who shot...

The Boston Science Fiction Film Festival — the longest running genre fest in America — kicks off its 49th annual event this Wednesday, February 14, and runs through Sunday, February 18, in Somerville, Ma.

Programming highlights include: the US premiere of Shatter Belt and a 10th anniversary screening of Coherence, both with director James Ward Byrkit; premieres of the documentaries Life After the Navigator and Life After The Neverending Story with director Lisa Downs; Faceless After Dark with director Raymond Wood and star Jenna Kanell (Terrifier); and a live Black Friday commentary by special effects legend Robert Kurtzman and director Casey Tebo.

Kicking off on Sunday at noon, the 24-hour marathon will feature Attack of the Crab Monsters, Black from the Past, Deep Blue Sea, Dredd, Lapsis, Mad Max, One Million B.C., Predestination, Ready Player One, The Matrix, Top of the Food Chain, Upgrade, and more.

Other events include: short film blocks, the Cyberpunk Sweethearts Ball,...

Clockwise from top left: Hellraiser (Anchor Bay Entertainment), Night Of The Living Dead (screenshot), Train To Busan ( Well Go USA), M3GAN (Universal), Nope (Universal)Graphic: AVClub

’Tis the season for horror, and Amazon Prime Video subscribers have plenty of movie-watching options to send chills up their spine. The streamer...

Shatter Belt is a collection of stories that follows the many mysteries of life – including such heady topics as desire, free will, consciousness and intention.

In an exclusive interview with uInterview at South By Southwest festival with uInterview founder Erik Meers, creator James Ward Byrkit and actor Patton Oswalt discussed the message of the show.

“Well they’re all held together by questions of human intention, so that’s really the starting point,” Byrkit said. “What we intend and what our consciousness is trying to manifest in the world and how it becomes physical reality, so they’re all about that and this just happens to be one very different approach to that question, featuring a very human, very emotional character who’s really has one last shot to be relevant in life.”

Oswalt on to reveal how he got into his character Dervey Ryan for the show.

“Oh I...

Ted Field’s Radar Pictures, best known for the “Jumanji” and “The Chronicles of Riddick” franchises, has teamed with James Leon’s 8th Gear Entertainment to produce action-thriller “Breakneck,” centering on a female driver who moves between the worlds of getaway driving and Formula E racing.

The project is eyed as a franchise-starter in the vein of “Fast & Furious,” and is being made in partnership with Fia Abb Formula E, electric racing’s championship organizer. Jim Byrkit (“Coherence”) will direct from a script by Nick Kocher (“Saturday Night Live”).

“Breakneck” chronicles the story of a racer, who — despite growing up as a poor orphan — climbs the Formula E ranks only to have her first ePrix race end terribly, and in her removal from the sport. To make ends meet, she becomes a getaway driver for a gang in Miami, still reminiscing of her days as a Formula E driver.

Holy hell this year’s SXSW Film Festival really isn’t messing around.

The previous announcement unveiled a stacked horror lineup that includes headiners Evil Dead Rise and opener Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.

In addition, they revealed several prominent horror titles that will premiere as part of the Midnighters program, including the Sundance hit Talk to Me and the surprise sequel to Becky, The Wrath of Becky.

It turns out, the programming team isn’t finished!

SXSW announced another wave of film programming today, including an eighth Midnighter.

“Midnighters don’t need to be exclusively horror films, they just need to perk you up and get your blood pumping,” said Peter Hall, Film & TV Festival Programmer. “That’s why this year’s SXSW Midnighters class is a mix of horror, bone-crunching action, and mind-melting genre hybrids. Some of them introduce new, terrifying lore to the canon of suburban horror movies,...

James Ward Byrkit's "Coherence" is the kind of sci-fi psychological thriller that leaves audiences with more questions than answers by the time the film ends. Shot on a shoestring budget and with actors who are close friends with Byrkit, 'Coherence" starts with the simple premise of eight friends having dinner together on the night of a comet passing. While audiences are treated to some staple tropes associated with the sci-fi genre, "Coherence" remains unpredictable right until the end. As the narrative essentially deals with alternate dimensions created by a rip in space-time, one would assume that the actors were thoroughly aware of their complex character arcs as the film progresses. However, this was not the case.

In an interview with Yahoo Movies in 2014, Byrkit delved into some of the theories posited to explain the complicated turn of events in "Coherence," and how the actors were as much in...

Though "Coherence" sounds like the title of a movie about achieving clarity or unity of some sort, viewers of James Ward Byrkit's 2013 directorial debut may have found the film's increasingly complex sci-fi plot anything but clear. The title refers to the concept of quantum decoherence, which is mentioned in the movie as the main character, Em (Emily Baldoni), reads from a book on physics. "Quantum decoherence," the book says, "assures that no possibilities have interaction with one another."

This is the opposite of what we see happening in "Coherence" as Em and seven other guests at a dinner party find themselves interacting with other possible versions of themselves from a seemingly infinite web of alternate realities. The movie is a mind-bender, and of course, quantum physics is heady stuff, but according to Byrkit, the idea for "Coherence" was born from a desire to scale back what he was doing...

So…what is sci-fi? It’s not the easiest question to answer when “sci-fi elements” permeate so many of the biggest blockbusters: thought-provoking genre concepts flattened into one-size-fits-all franchise fodder that make countless titles “feel” and, on occasion, even look the same.

Yes, science fiction is rooted in profound origins, examining humanity’s deep-seated fear of itself and the intimidating possibility of worlds unknown. But the last two decades have seen a metaphoric rush on sci-fi storytelling that’s left the once niche subgenre a supersaturated movie market. On the one hand, that’s produced an onslaught of sci-fi(ish) titles that aren’t always up to snuff. But on the other, it’s prompted some of the best sci-fi films ever made. Masterworks like “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “Nope” both arrived this year, and top our list at number five and number eight respectively.

Simply put: In...

While the concept of a science fiction movie seems out of reach for a small independent production, at least in with regard to the budget you would have to secure before you can even think about the actual filming, there have been many directors who have ventured into the genre, despite its financial challenges. Especially the idea of time travel has been at the core of many independent productions that have made quite an impact with international audiences, such as Shane Carruth’s “Primer” or James Ward Byrkit’s “Coherence”. For his feature debut, editor and DVD producer Junta Yamaguchi also decided to explore the theme of time travel, utilizing his experience as part of a theater group for many years, in “Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes”, telling the story of a Tokyo coffee shop owner who notices something quite strange going on with his PC monitor showing the inside of his business.

Nobody director Ilya Naishuller joins Josh and Joe to talk about his favorite movies.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Nobody (2021)

Hardcore Henry (2016)

Billy Jack (1971)

My Winnipeg (2007)

The Usual Suspects (1995)

Top Gun (1986)

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

Seven (1995)

Bill Hicks: Revelations (1993)

The Mission (1986)

The Killing Fields (1984)

Captivity (2007)

The Killing (1956)

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004)

Once Upon A Time In America (1984)

You And I (2008)

Infested (2002)

No Country For Old Men (2007)

The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

Goodfellas (1990)

Goldfinger (1964)

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

Papillon (1973)

Papillon (2017)

Midnight Run (1988)

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Oldboy (2003)

Parasite (2019)

Assassins (1995)

Ladder 49 (2004)

Waterworld (1995)

Heathers (1989)

Mad Max (1979)

A History Of Violence (2005)

The ’Burbs (1989)

Punishment Park (1971)

The War Game (1966)

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Uncut Gems (2019)

Culloden (1964)

Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948)

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Fail Safe (1964)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

Let The Right One In (2008)

Patton (1970)

Hardcore (1979)

Mr. Nobody (2009)

District 9 (2009)

Paths of Glory (1957)

A Clockwork Orange...

The latest in our series of writers recommending underseen films is a shout-out for an eerie 2013 science fiction puzzle

It’s a fearful thought for fans of jagged-edged futurism, but Netflix’s Black Mirror might be just one of those things that never quite becomes part of the post-Covid “new normal”. Creator Charlie Brooker has been quite clear that the last thing on his mind in the current climate is “stories about societies falling apart”, which pretty much rules out 50% of the finest sci-fi anthology show since The Outer Limits. Fortunately all is not lost, for James Ward Byrkit’s Coherence is here to tide you over.

Related: My streaming gem: why you should watch Happy as Lazzaro...

Aaron Loeb’s darkly comic one-act play “Ideation” will be turned into a movie, Variety has learned.

The Off-Broadway production centers on a group of corporate consultants who work together on a mysterious and ethically ambiguous project for the government. It premiered in 2016, and went on to become a New York Times Critic’s Pick during its run at 59E59 Theaters.

“In ‘Ideation,’ Mr. Loeb has devised a psychological game, one that’s both amusing and intriguing to play,” the Times review read.

The film will be directed by James Ward Byrkit, who previously helmed and wrote “Coherence” and also penned the script for “Rango.” It will be backed by Rustic Films and Bellanova Films.

Loeb is the recipient of the Will Glickman playwriting award. His plays include “Brown,” “First Person Shooter,” and “Abraham Lincoln’s Big, Gay Dance Party,” which had its Off-Broadway premiere in 2010. In addition to being a playwright,...

Indie filmmaker James Ward Byrkit, the acclaimed writer-director of low-budget 2014 film Coherence, has found his next project in the dramatic thriller Do They Know It’s Murder, writes the Tracking Board. The film is set during the recording of the 1984 song “Do They Know It’s Christmas” as songwriter Bob Geldof discovers a dead body and must find out who […]...

In a medium founded on expanding one’s imagination and perception of reality, no genre does it better than science fiction. We’ve come a long way from the days when Georges Méliès took us to the moon, for today’s filmmakers look far beyond our universe and into the deepest corners of our soul to reflect the current society.

With the latest entry in the Star Trek franchise arriving in theaters this week, we’ve set out to reflect on the millennium’s sci-fi films that have most excelled. To note: we only stuck with feature-length works of 60 minutes or longer and, to make room for a few more titles, our definition of “the 21st century” stretched to include 2000.

Check out our top 50 below and let us know your favorites in the comments. We’ve also put the list on Letterboxd to keep track of how many you’ve seen.

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Rosario Dawson, Hugh Jackman and Blake Lively lead our look at 2015's best under the radar acting performances in film...

This article contains mild spoilers for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2. We've kept these as vague as possible, but if you haven't seen the film yet, you might wish to skip the entry pertaining to that.

2015 was a particularly exemplary year for all kinds of movies, but particularly in genre and blockbuster cinema. When there's so much to talk about, it's inevitable that some of the really good stuff gets lost in the mix of awards season chatter, but that's especially true when there's still some residual stigma about movies outside of the 'worthy' release schedule that will arrive in UK cinemas between now and the Academy Awards ceremony in February.

There are a couple of likely breakthrough geek movies for this year's Oscars, in the...

Less Than Zero: Bush’s Blend is a Well-intended but Exhaustive Piece

Drama stimulated by an identity crisis set against a science fiction backdrop poses for great entertainment. Co-writer/director Dan Bush is earnest in choosing the right elements and parameters that promise reward when the cymbals crash. However, this particular mixture of character drama and science fiction creates a friction that shifts sporadically and quickly fizzles out. The Reconstruction of William Zero stretches itself in the attempt to hit all of the marks of its predecessors while attempting to cover new ground, ultimately making it difficult to look past its thin veneer.

William Blakely (co-writer Conal Bryne) wakes up from under a machine with no memory as to who he is or why he is there. His caretaker, his identical twin (also Conal Bryne), shares with him footage of old home movies, teaches him how to walk again...

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has signed on to both star in and produce Fraggle Rock: The Movie, nearly three and a half years after New Regency picked up the rights back in October 2011. The project has been in various stages of development for nearly a decade, with The Jim Henson Company first announcing the feature film back in October 2006. We last reported on the adaptation in October 2012, when screenwriters James Ward Byrkit and Alex Manugian signed on to write the screenplay.

It isn't immediately clear what role Joseph Gordon-Levitt will play in Fraggle Rock: The Movie quite yet. The actor will produce alongside The Henson Company's Lisa Henson. Here's what Joseph Gordon-Levitt had to say about Fraggle Rock: The Movie in a statement.

"The first screen personas I ever loved were Henson creations, first on Sesame Street and then on Fraggle Rock. Jim Henson's characters make you laugh and sing, but they're also layered,...

In today's roundup of news and views: Joan Didion, half a century ago and more relevant than ever, on Hollywood's diversity problem. Jonathan Romney on "conceptual science fiction" (Chris Marker’s La Jetée, Shane Carruth’s Primer and Upstream Color and, from this year alone, Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig's Predestination and James Ward Byrkit's Coherence). Chuck Bowen ranks the films of David Cronenberg. Daniel Kasman talks with Guy Maddin and co-director Evan Johnson about The Forbidden Room, David Jenkins talks with Jessica Hausner about Amour Fou and Lourdes, and Anne Thompson has a good long talk with Laura Poitras about Citizenfour. » - David Hudson...

In today's roundup of news and views: Joan Didion, half a century ago and more relevant than ever, on Hollywood's diversity problem. Jonathan Romney on "conceptual science fiction" (Chris Marker’s La Jetée, Shane Carruth’s Primer and Upstream Color and, from this year alone, Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig's Predestination and James Ward Byrkit's Coherence). Chuck Bowen ranks the films of David Cronenberg. Daniel Kasman talks with Guy Maddin and co-director Evan Johnson about The Forbidden Room, David Jenkins talks with Jessica Hausner about Amour Fou and Lourdes, and Anne Thompson has a good long talk with Laura Poitras about Citizenfour. » - David Hudson...

James Ward Byrkit's sci-fi drama is both nostalgic (it harks back to The Twilight Zone) and refreshingly original in the way its story incorporates – and satirises – modern technology. There is also a hint of Buñuelian Surrealism in its portrayal of the same dinner party taking place in parallel worlds that are somehow colliding. The central conceit isn't especially original but Byrkit's treatment of it is atmospheric and witty.

★★★☆☆ Western narratives have long been fascinated with fate, beguiled by those moments in the past where a decision irrevocably changes the direction of our lives. These points of divergence can seem insignificant, whilst others stay with you forever. It's the lasting memories of compunction that form the basis of James Ward Byrkit's cerebral debut Coherence (2013), an economical, yet confident sci-fi thriller that tests the boundaries of independent filmmaking. On the night of an astronomical anomaly, eight friends convene for a dinner party but find their evening thrown into disarray when a series of strange events turn the atmosphere sour.

Stars: Emily Foxler, Maury Sterling, Nicholas Brendon, Lorene Scafaria, Elizabeth Gracen, Alex Manugian, Lauren Maher, Hugo Armstrong | Written and Directed by James Ward Byrkit

Coherence centres on eight friends enjoying a very grown up, suburban dinner party. A comet is passing by Earth and changes to the atmosphere are making some of them jumpy and uncomfortable. An unexplainable shattered iPhone screen is an early warning sign that something unusual is coming their way. During what seems like the longest night, their real lives, jarred by this astronomical anomaly, are confronted with multiple, alternative realities of themselves.

Their problems start with a power cut and the intriguing sight of just one house in the entire neighbourhood that still has its lights on. Two of the dinner party go and investigate. When they return one has a cut on his head and doesn’t want to talk about what he’s seen.

Looking for more highbrow fare to supplement your holiday binge-streaming of "Friends" on Netflix? While several of 2014's best films now on Amazon Prime are also up on Netflix—including Pawel Pawlikowski's Oscar-shortlisted beauty "Ida" and Roger Michell's underseen autumn-years romance "Le Week-End"—Amazon Prime subscribers can enjoy even more this weekend. We've rounded up the best of the best: "Borgman" (dir. Alex van Warmerdam) A dark suburban fairytale that takes cues from Yorgos Lanthimos ("Dogtooth") and Michael Haneke ("Funny Games"), while firmly remaining its own strange beast, "Borgman" hovers perilously over a stiff upper-class family whose bearings are unmoored by the appearance of a mysterious vagrant fellow (Jan Bijvoet). A creepy blast from beginning to end. "Coherence" (dir. James Ward Byrkit) "Coherence" is not just smart science fiction: it's a triumph of crafty...

We here at Sound On Sight believe horror transcends explicit gore, jump scares or supernatural content, which is why you’ll soon notice our list ranges from independent art films to psychological thrillers to parodies, satire and more. Surprisingly, vampires lead the pack this year, along with found footage flicks, but there are a few comedies, one remake and even some strange love stories as well.

Every other year, I’ve published the list of best horror films based solely on my picks, but this year, Sound On Sight editor Justine Smith and Sos contributor Felix Vasquez Jr. also participated. Since we couldn’t agree with what is the best horror film of 2014, we decided to publish the list in alphabetical order. That said, here are our individual picks:

Ricky D- Under the Skin

Justine Smith – Cybernatural

Felix Vasquez Jr. - The Babadook

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This list is in alphabetical order

Animal...

As we head into December, awards season is well under way, and though we’ll have to wait until the spring for really big fish like the Oscars and the Golden Globes, this month has a respectable number of ceremonies of its own. Last night, celebrities gathered at Cipriani Wall Street in New York for the 2014 Gotham Independent Film Awards.

It was a long, casual ceremony for those in attendance, but when the night finally wrapped up, few could argue with the results. Birdman spread its wings and took home Best Feature, while Michael Keaton nabbed Best Actor for his revelatory role in the Alejandro G. Iñárritu-directed film. Meanwhile, Julianne Moore continued her unstoppable march to the Oscars, receiving Best Actress for her devastating work as an Alzheimer’s-afflicted linguistics professor in Still Alice. And Laura Poitras was awarded Best Documentary Feature for her eye-opening Edward Snowden doc Citizenfour.

Honored...

Boyhood topped the Gotham Independent Film Awards nominations with four, but it was Birdman that took home the most awards with two, including Best Feature and Best Actor for Michael Keaton, which just so happen to be the only awards the film was nominated for. Winning for Best Actress was the presumed Oscar front-runner Julianne Moore for Still Alice, Best Documentary went to presumed Oscar front-runner Citizenfour and Ana Lily Amirpour (A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night) took home Breakthrough Director and it was Tessa Thompson (Dear White People) taking home Breakthrough Actor for a film I really need to make sure I see. I have listed all the winners below and if you haven't checked it out yet, I did a little updating to my Oscar predictions in the Best Actor and Best Actress categories within the last 24 hours... give them a peek right here. Best Feature The...

It may have taken one off the nose, but the competition just took one off the chin. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) claimed the Best Actor prize, and the Best Feature at the 2014 Gotham Independent Film Awards. Here are the winners & noms.

Best Feature

“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”

“Boyhood”

“The Grand Budapest Hotel”

“Love Is Strange”

“Under the Skin”

Prediction: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Who Won: Boyhood

Who Should Have Won: “Under the Skin”

Best Actress

Patricia Arquette in “Boyhood”

Gugu Mbatha-Raw in “Beyond the Lights”

Julianne Moore in “Still Alice”

Scarlett Johansson in “Under the Skin”

Mia Wasikowska in “Tracks”

Prediction: Patricia Arquette in “Boyhood”

Who Won: Julianne Moore in “Still Alice”

Who Should Have Won: Scarlett Johansson in “Under the Skin”

Best Actor

Bill Hader in “The Skeleton Twins”

Ethan Hawke in “Boyhood”

Oscar Isaac in “A Most Violent Year...

The 2014 Gotham Awards were handed out Dec. 1, 2014 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. "Birdman" walked away the big winner on the night, taking Best Feature and Best Actor, for Michael Keaton. Check out the full list of nominees and winners below, and relive the evening at our live blog here. Best Feature "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" - Winner "Boyhood" "The Grand Budapest Hotel" "Love is Strange" "Under the Skin" Best Documentary "Actress" "Citizenfour" - Winner "Life Itself" "Manakamana" "Point and Shoot" Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award Ana Lily Amirpour ("A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night") - Winner James Ward Byrkit ("Coherence") Dan Gilroy ("Nightcrawler") Eliza Hittman ("It Felt Like Love") Justin Simien ("Dear White People") Best Actor Bill Hader ("The Skeleton Twins") Ethan Hawke ("Boyhood") Oscar Isaac ("A Most Violent Year") Michael Keaton ("Birdman") - Winner Miles Teller ("Whiplash") Best Actress Patricia Arquette ("Boyhood...

From D Films, Sneak Peek director/cinematogapher James Ward Byrkit's impressive, "Twilight Zone"-inspired debut science fiction thriller "Coherence", now available on DVD/VOD/Est:

"Coherence" is based on 'quantum mechanics', referring to a quantum state, where different versions of reality can still interchange with each other.

Director Byrkit did have a specific idea for the film, but cast improvisational actors, giving them the basic outline of their characters, motivations and major plot points:

"...'Emily' (Baldoni) and her boyfriend 'Kevin' (Maury Sterling) are two of several people attending a dinner party at the house of 'Mike' (Nicholas Brendon). 

"Kevin's ex-girlfriend' 'Laurie' (Lauren Maher) will be there, making things tense for both Kevin and Emily.

"The dinner party goes fairly well until the power goes out following a comet sighting. They discover that a house down the road still has power and a few of them decide to investigate.

"Several strange and bizarre occurrences follow,...

The 2014 fall awards season is off to a strong start with the unveiling of the nominees for this year’s Gotham Independent Film Awards. Though not as recognizable as the Oscars or Golden Globes, the Gotham Awards typically mark the start of awards season, honoring the best and brightest in independent cinema. Additionally, many of the films highlighted by the Gotham Awards go on to become Oscar frontrunners – last year’s most nominated film was eventual Best Picture winner 12 Years a Slave, and past winners have included Inside Llewyn Davis, Beasts of the Southern Wild and The Hurt Locker.

This year looks to be no different, with assumed Oscar contenders like Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s technically dazzling Birdman and Richard Linklater’s ambitious 12-year project Boyhood in the mix. Excitingly, Wes Anderson’s brilliant The Grand Budapest Hotel, released way back in March, also made the cut, meaning that its...

The independent film industry is hotter than ever, and the 2014 Gotham Independent Film Awards nominees have just been announced.

Leading the way with an impressive four nods (including Best Feature) is Richard Linklater’s critically-acclaimed “Boyhood.”

Additionally, Tilda Swinton, Bennett Miller and Ted Sarandos will all be honored with special tributes at the December 1st ceremony, slated to be held at Cipriani Wall Street.

The complete list of nominees for the 2014 Gotham Independent Film Awards is:

Best Feature

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Alejandro G. Iñárritu, director; Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher, Arnon Milchan, James W. Skotchdopole, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Boyhood

Richard Linklater, director; Richard Linklater, Cathleen Sutherland, Jonathan Sehring, John Sloss, producers (IFC Films)

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Wes Anderson, director; Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales, Jeremy Dawson, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Love Is Strange

Ira Sachs, director; Lucas Joaquin, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen,...

"Coherence" is not just smart science fiction: it's a triumph of crafty independent filmmaking, made with few resources and big ambition. Gotham-nominated debut director James Ward Byrkit stripped his vision down to the barest of bones to achieve a mind-shifting, metaphysical freakout about a dinner party gone cosmically awry. This film explodes with ideas, and it has that thing we always hope for at the movies: the element of surprise. Shot in sequence, in one location on a beer budget, "Coherence" gathers eight longtime friends and lovers hoping for a pleasant night on Earth -- only they, along with space and time and reality, are about to be torn inexplicably asunder by a comet passing overhead. Inject some heady quantum physics, volatile emotions and parallel realities into the equation, and the film goes completely rogue. Byrkit brought eight unwitting actors to his Santa Monica home, threw them a few red...

Gotham Awards 2014 nominations: Julianne Moore, Michael Keaton among famous names shortlisted Best Feature Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) Alejandro G. Iñárritu, director; Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher, Arnon Milchan, James W. Skotchdopole, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures) Boyhood Richard Linklater, director; Richard Linklater, Cathleen Sutherland, Jonathan Sehring, John Sloss, producers (IFC Films) The Grand Budapest Hotel Wes Anderson, director; Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales, Jeremy Dawson, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures) Love Is Strange Ira Sachs, director; Lucas Joaquin, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, Ira Sachs, Jayne Baron Sherman, producers (Sony Pictures Classics) Under the Skin Jonathan Glazer, director; Nick Wechsler, James Wilson, producers (A24 Films) Best Actress Patricia Arquette in Boyhood (IFC Films) Gugu Mbatha-Raw in Beyond the Lights (Relativity Media) Julianne Moore in Still Alice (Sony Pictures Classics) Scarlett Johansson in Under the Skin (A24 Films) Mia Wasikowska in Tracks (The Weinstein Company) Best Actor Bill Hader...