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In 2020, as a pandemic raged around the world, audiences found comfort in the fractious love life of Marianne and Connell. The adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel, “Normal People,” captured audiences in the U.S., where the series debuted on Hulu, at a time where a story of two people weaving in and out of each other’s lives felt romantic and engaging.

Now, director Lenny Abrahamson, who beautifully rendered Rooney’s “Normal People” for the screen, has returned with another Rooney book. And no doubt it will play equally with an audience’s emotions. “Conversations with Friends” is the story of Frances (Alison Oliver) and her free-spirited friend, Bobbi (Sasha Lane). But their friendship is tested when they meet married couple Melissa and Nick.

Abrahamson talked with IndieWire via Zoom about adapting another Rooney novel, working with Alwyn, and how internalized characters can be their own challenge. Interview has...

No matter what kind of story you’re trying to tell, getting two talented actors for central roles is an excellent first step. In the case of Castle in the Ground, even a premise that descends into some questionable territory is heavily mitigated by who you’re watching engage in these acts. Here, it’s Imogen Poots and Alex Wolff, with the latter having a truly tough leading role to play. The movie goes to some dark places and makes some debatable narrative decisions, but Poots and Wolff are so inherently watchable that you’re willing to forgive some of its trespasses. The movie is a drama about addiction. Henry (Wolff) is taking care of his sick mother Rebecca (Neve Campbell). She doesn’t have long to live, with her pain managed by medicine that Henry dispenses to her. When she passes away, Henry is at a loss, breaking up...

In movies as in life, there is a familiar exasperation that often comes with witnessing people personally (rather than professionally) involved with addicts, as they try to make excuses for manipulative, mercurial behavior, chasing the user’s “new leaf” promises like a carrot on a stick. Fervently hoping for positive change, their desire to help can curdle into unintentional enabling. Plus, as engrossing as addiction may be from the inside, when viewed externally it sure can be monotonous.

Those are problems “Castle in the Ground” can’t quite escape in dramatic terms, as this well-acted second feature from actor-turned-director Joey Klein charts a grieving youth’s terrible choice of succor in the company of his junkie neighbor. Part gritty portrait of a mutually destructive drug-based relationship à la “Crush” or “Panic in Needle Park,” part crime thriller, the film never quite grips enough on either plane. The result is an earnest,...

Action comedies can often feel old fashioned. That’s not a criticism either, just a fact of the matter. They don’t necessarily represent a trip to a whole different era, but more simply a throwback to 1980’s type cinema. As such, it either needs to lean into a modern transgression of the tropes, or it needs to lean in to the throwback vibe. It’s hard to not choose one direction and succeed. Stuber, the new action comedy pairing Dave Bautista with Kumail Nanjiani, opts for the former, bringing ride share apps to the forefront. Though hardly groundbreaking, the comic stylings of Nanjiani help to set this one apart and make it worth a watch. The film is, obviously, an action comedy pairing a cop with a civilian for a wild ride. A prologue sets up Vic (Bautista), a detective with vision problems. While investigating a drug dealer named...

“The Other Half” is a film built on withholding. Whether it’s writer/director Joey Klein’s general approach to dispensing key character details or the information that two lovers choose to keep hidden from each other, there’s a pervasive kind of obfuscation that can be at turns refreshing and frustrating. It’s a series of preludes and aftermaths, following an arc of persistent loss and newfound love. But when Klein trusts his actors and leans on the strength of the genuine moments they’re able to create together, the story of Emily (Tatiana Maslany) and Nickie (Tom Cullen) moves beyond the usual constraints of characters with similar pasts.

True to form with the rest of the film’s strongest elements, Nickie and Emily’s relationship has a simple beginning. After making eyes at each other across the room at the café where Nickie works, the two strike up a relationship.

The revamped The X-Files series doesn't air until January of next year, but we are getting a look at some more teaser images to hold us over until then. Also: a trailer for Body, Mystery Science Theater 3000 Kickstarter details, a Bang Bang Baby release announcement, and TeeFury's ugly Christmas sweaters.

The X-Files Series: "David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson reprise their iconic roles as Agent Fox Mulder and Agent Dana Scully in the upcoming event series which will encompass a mixture of stand-alone investigative episodes and those that further the original show’s seminal mythology. In the opening episode, Mulder and Scully take on a case of a possible alien abductee. The all-new episodes will feature appearances by guest stars, including Joel McHale (“Community”), Robbie Amell (“The Flash”), Lauren Ambrose (“Dig,” “Six Feet Under”), Annabeth Gish (“The Bridge”), Annet Mahendru (“The Americans”), Rhys Darby (“Flight of the Conchords”), Kumail Nanjiani...

All Stepphy (Jane Levy) wants is to get out of her small town. In Bang Bang Baby, the 1960s-set musical that could easily be the result of David Lynch remaking Hairspray, getting as far away from her small town is an incredibly wise decision, as there’s a chemical leak at the local plant.

While a mysterious purple mist begins to permeate the town, Stepphy happens upon her chance at fulfilling her Hollywood-bound ambitions. Rock idol Bobby Shore (Justin Chatwin) is having a bit of car trouble just down the street from her house and – luck would have it – her father (Peter Stormare) owns the local chop shop.

Canadian director Jeffrey St. Jules’ Bang Bang Baby plays select theatres in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal starting on August 21. Before it hits theatres, Cineplex had the opportunity to chat with Chatwin about the film, his co-stars, and the very real origins of his vain heartthrob character,...

It’s the movie genre we’ve all been awaiting for: a campy sci-fi throwback to the 1960’s musical. Bang Bang Baby offers all that and more as Jane Levy (“Suburgatory”) stars opposite Justin Chatwin (“Shameless”) in the brand new film that mixes music with mass mutations. And what better way to check it out than in our exclusivevirtual reality trailer?

The film, which picked up the Best First Feature award at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival is hitting theatres in select locations across Canada this month. The breakout indie musical follows the story of small-town teenager Stepphy (Levy) who believes her dream of becoming a famous signer will finally come true when her rock star idol Bobby Shore (Chatwin) is stranded in town. Stepphy’s dream soon becomes a nightmare when a leak at a nearby chemical plant starts causing mutations. Co-starring Peter Stormare and David Reale...

Read More: Watch: Exclusive Trailer for Tiff Entry ‘Bang Bang Baby’ Looks Insane (In a Good Way) Random Media has acquired all domestic rights for Jeffrey St. Jules' debut feature, the sci-fi musical "Bang Bang Baby," which won the Canadian First Feature Film Award at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. Jane Levy stars as Stepphy, who lives in a 1960s town with her alcoholic father and dreams of escaping to a life of stardom on the stage and screen. Justin Chatwin stars as Bobby Shore, a rock star who may hold the key to making those dreams a reality. However, a dangerous chemical spill that causes human mutations puts a pause on all that. A theatrical release for "Bang Bang Baby" is planned for later this year. Read More: Random Media Acquires 'Camilla Dickinson' and 'The Jokesters' at 2015 Berlinale...

With How to Train Your Dragon 2 Oscar-nominated for Best Animated Feature and his nutty Fxx comedy Man Seeking Woman in the midst of its first season, January has been a big month for Jay Baruchel. But if the actor has his way, this is only the start of a truly massive year; during an interview with Collider, Baruchel revealed that he’s hoping to make his feature directorial debut on Random Acts of Violence sometime in 2015.

An adaptation of the comic by Jonah Hex scribes Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, Random Acts of Violence will center on two comic-book writers who hit the road to promote their new character Slasherman. When real bodies start piling up in ways that mirror the murderous creation’s work on the page, though, the two realize that Slasherman may have taken on a life of his own.

“My writing partner [Jesse Chabot] and I adapted...

Campy Histrionics at Their Most Mediocre

Canadian director Jeffrey St. Jules has demonstrated an aptitude for experimenting with the cinematic form and creating hyper-realized, wildly stylized environments in his short film work. With his feature film debut, Bang Bang Baby, he’s created a similarly idiosyncratic, insulated world that ultimately succumbs to an inability to account for the demands of a longer, more involved and complex narrative.

The story, which blends the faux-aspirational insincerity of the American Dreams/American Idol ethos and the fever-dream sensibilities of Mulholland Drive, is an amalgam of all things pertaining to the 1960s. Stepphy (Jane Levy), a whimsical, idealistic high school student with a penchant for crooning, looks to an American televised singing competition as her mode of escape from small town Canadian life. This standard-issue, coming-of-age template reaches its obvious state of conflict early when teen heartthrob Bobby Shore (Justin Chatwin) randomly shows up in town,...

Bang Bang Baby, developed by Jeffrey St. Jules in the Cannes Film Festival’s Cinéfondation, is an otherworldly musical about Stepphy (Jane Levy), who is trapped in the sleepy 1960′s town of Lonely Arms taking care of her alcoholic father (Peter Stormare). Stepphy dreams of escaping to a better life on the stage and screen, and when rock star Bobby Shore’s (Justin Chatwin) car breaks down in Lonely Arms, it seems her impossible dream might actually be coming true. But when Fabian (David Reale), the town creep, tells Stepphy that the local chemical factory is leaking dangerous purple fumes that can cause human mutations, Stepphy becomes obsessed with hiding these dark secrets from Bobby until they can escape together and make all of her fantasies a reality.

This unique and stylized film stars Jane Levy (Evil Dead, Suburgatory) in a defining turn as Stepphy, a small town girl who...

Jane Levy (“Suburgatory”), Justin Chatwin (“Shameless”) and Peter Stormare (“Fargo”) will star in director Jeffrey St. Jules’ indie movie “Bang Bang Baby” for Scythia Films and JoBro Productions, TheWrap has learned. Principal photography began earlier this week in Toronto. “Bang Bang Baby” is a 1960s musical about Stepphy (Levy), who lives in the sleepy town of Lonely Arms with her alcoholic father, played by Stormare. Stepphy's dream of escaping to a better life on the stage and screen seems to be coming true when rock star Bobby Shore's (Chatwin) car breaks down in Lonely Arms. When the town creep tells Stepphy.

By Christopher Stipp

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Check out my other column, This Week In Trailers, at SlashFilm.com and follow me on Twitter under the name: Stipp

Interview- Michael Dowse

Make no mistake about Fubar: Balls to the Wall, it is hilarious. It is downright funny in a way that Jackass 3 was funny with the exception that the talent of David Lawrence and Paul Spence, who play Terry and Dean, respectively, are comedic actors who are so in tune to these characters that they feel like second skin that’s easily gotten into. They sell their performances by leaning on their abilities and it’s not really the story that’s compelling about this film, it’s them.

When director Michael Dowse (Take Me Home Tonight, It’s All Gone Pete Tong, the upcoming Goon) sat down to flesh out the second installment he knew what he wanted to...

I wouldn't be willing to call Michael Dowse Canada's answer to Harmony Korine, but the Fubar folk sorta remind me of some of the characters I've seen in Gummo-Trash Humpers worlds. Dowse is returning to his Fubar roots - producing a sequel to his 2002 original. - I wouldn't be willing to call Michael Dowse Canada's answer to Harmony Korine, but the Fubar folk sorta remind me of some of the characters I've seen in Gummo-Trash Humpers worlds. Dowse is returning to his Fubar roots - producing a sequel to his 2002 original. The original played out at Sundance and fast forwards a decade into the terrible twosome's future: even beer drinking slackers need to find work and its the tar sands of the province of Alberta that give the biggest paychecks. Fubar II: Terry and Dean Head North will see the headbanger relics Dean (Paul Spence) and...