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Plex is gearing up for an exciting lineup of films and series in November 2024. Viewers can look forward to a variety of new additions, including Blue Ridge, But I’m A Cheerleader, Call Jane, and Empire State. Cult classics like The Grudge, Hard Candy, House of 1000 Corpses, and The Midnight Meat Train are also hitting the platform, alongside more recent hits like Wind River and Where’d You Go, Bernadette? For fans of horror, thrillers, and emotional dramas, there’s no shortage of options. However, Plex is also bidding farewell to a number of films and shows in November. Among those leaving are 24 Hours to Live, Drive Angry, The Devil’s Rejects, Snowpiercer, and USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage. If you’ve been meaning to watch these titles, now is the time to catch them before they disappear. For those looking to binge their favorites, many notable titles are still available for streaming.

Joe Berlinger’s hit Netflix “Crime Scene” franchise has expanded to Germany. “Crime Scene Berlin: Nightlife Killer” marks the first international local market produced version of the true crime doc series, which is being released globally on April 3.

“Nightlife Killer” is a German language docuseries that was produced in Berlin and managed by Netflix Germany. Berlinger served as an executive producer on the three-part series that reconstructs the case of several mysterious murders in Berlin’s nightlife that became nationally known as the “Coma Killer” in 2012. Like the three previous U.S. versions of the franchise, “Night Life Killer” explores not just a story of crime but how the geography and social values of the crime scene location contributed to the crime itself.

“We were looking for a crime story in a location whose history and social values contributed to the crime,” Berlinger says, who is in year four of a multi-year deal with Netflix.

Michel Franco’s heartbreaking drama “Memory” earned a strong eight-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival on Friday night as stars Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard wiped away tears.

Franco, Chastain and Sarsgaard embraced as the audience cheered them on, with each taking their turn in the spotlight to accept the applause. After the crowd clapped for several minutes, Chastain was visibly emotional, dabbing at her eyes as she smiled with pride. Sarsgaard, too, got teary-eyed, and his wife Maggie Gyllenhaal was there to capture it all, taking a video of the ovation.

As she walked into the theater prior to the screening, Chastain signed autographs and took selfies with fans extensively, making sure the desires of nearly everyone in sight were met.

Directed and written by Michel Franco, the film also stars Peter Sarsgaard and Elsie Fisher. “Memory” centers around Sylvia (Chastain),a “social worker who leads a simple and structured life,...

Jessica Chastain made an impassioned appeal to U.S. actors, urging them to promote indie movies on Friday at the Venice Film Festival press conference for Michel Franco’s drama “Memory.”

“I was very nervous about coming,” said Chastain, who was wearing a black “SAG-AFTRA on Strike” T-Shirt, revealing that “there were actually some people on my team who advised me against it.”

Chastain then noted that actors are “often made to keep quiet in order to protect future working opportunities, and we are often told and reminded how grateful we should be. And that is the environment that I think has allowed work to be abused, to go unchecked for many decades. And is also the environment that has saddled members of our union with unfair contracts.”

Since “Memory” obtained an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA, Chastain and co-star Peter Sarsgaard were present at the press conference.

“I am here...

Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields, the third entry in Netflix’s Crime Scene series, suggests many possible suspects responsible for the murders of the killing field victims, including one William Reece. In the documentary, Reece received limited coverage, despite having the highest body count of any suspect put forth. Out of the 33 murders connected to the Texas Killing Fields, Reece was convicted of at least two of them - although investigators suspect he may be responsible for far more in addition to other murders outside the killing fields.

Reece was the third suspect mentioned in Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields, but took a backseat to the other two suspects. One suspect was Clyde Hedrick, who would be convicted of involuntary manslaughter in one of the cases mentioned in the series. The other suspect was Robert Abel, who was initially suspected of being responsible for some of the murders,...

In Broad Daylight: The Navarte Case mentions that one of the people possibly implicated in the brutal 2015 murders of five people was governor Javier Duarte. Although he has never been arrested for the murders, many have thought he had a hand in organizing the crime, given two of the victims were vocal critics of his administration. Much has changed since then, though, and his current situation is a far cry from the position of power he held years prior.

Three suspects were ultimately arrested for the murders, although the case is still considered unsolved, as the Netflix true crime series covers. To this day, it is still not entirely clear what the motive is. The police have speculated it was a robbery gone wrong or was related to drug use. However, many in Mexico feel that it follows a worrying trend of violence against journalists and people critical of the government.

Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields tells the story of the Texas Killing Fields murders and suspects in the case, such as Clyde Hedrick. Since the 1970s, over 33 bodies have been found in a desolate area of land near Galveston and League City, Texas. The show primarily focuses on four bodies that were found on one specific property known as the Calder Road Oil field. These cases led to a variety of suspects being posited as the culprit for these deaths and others in the surrounding area.

Although several murderers have been linked to the Texas killing fields, Clyde Hedrick was touted as the main suspect in Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields. Hedrick lived in the area during the time of the murders and was known by many people to have a charming personality. Despite this, Hedrick had a dark side and a lengthy rap sheet for a variety...

Article contains topics of sexual abuse

Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields shared the deadly history linked to the Great Houston area, but there are many things the show left out. The show primarily focused on four victims who were found in the Calder Road Oil Field, as well as three potential suspects in those cases. In reality, though, the case of the killing fields has a far wider scope than what was covered in the series.

There have been at least 33 murders and several disappearances connected to the killing fields as opposed to only four in the focus of The Texas Killing Fields. Given the magnitude and time span over which these cases have occurred, there are also many more suspects than only three. It makes sense to some degree why Netflix would leave out several of these aspects of the case, given it would take dozens of episodes...

Content Warning: Article contains topics of self-harm, domestic violence, and animal cruelty

Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields, the third entry in Netflix’s Crime Scene series, suggests many possible suspects responsible for the murders of the killing field victims. Chief among these suspects was Robert Abel. Although Abel’s potential role in the killings was touched upon in episode 2, many still wonder what happened to him outside the allegations made against him.

Even though the Texas Killing Fields case involves 33 victims, suspicion of Abel's role was mainly directed toward the four bodies found between 1986 and 1991 that were recovered in the Calder Road Oil field. Abel, a former NASA engineer, owned a small horseback riding business that was located directly next to the Calder Road Oil field. Additionally, Abel also had many peculiarities about him that led many to suspect he played a direct role in the women's demise.

Related:...

Netflix viewers have been sharing their anger after watching the streamer’s number one documentary, Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields.

The series looks at how, since the early 1970s, dozens of bodies have been found on a stretch of fields about 25 miles southeast of Houston. Most of these bodies belong to young women and, despite the assistance of the FBI and local authorities, the vast majority of these cases remain unsolved.

Many viewers of the show have taken to Twitter to share their outrage at the police’s failure to bring the killer – or killers – to justice.

“Watched The Texas Killing Fields that s*** was F***Ed Up How Did They Let That Happen For So Long,” posted one person.

A second wrote: “Good lord!! Who saw Texas Killing Fields on Netflix? What the f*** was that? Why was the Pd so chill? Oh man, my heart goes out to all the parents.

Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields tells the story of the Calder Road Oil Field, colloquially known as the Texas Killing Fields, a 25-acre patch of land where dozens of bodies connected to several different suspects have been found. Although the documentary primarily focuses on four unsolved murders that occurred directly in the field, investigators have linked over 30 murders to the area, as well as several disappearances. The vast majority of these crimes are unsolved with no known suspect(s). However, there are some that have either been solved and led to convictions or have very strong suspects who were never definitively convicted.

Currently, there have been four suspects convicted of crimes connected to the killing fields, and these four suspects are collectively responsible for three murders and one disappearance. Additionally, at least three other suspects have been posited as suspects in other cases but were never convicted due to a lack of evidence.

Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields chronicles the lurid history of a 25-acre patch of land outside League City, Texas, while documenting the shocking number of murdered victims linked to the area. Since the early 1970s, dozens of bodies have been found on this desolate stretch of fields and bayous located approximately 25 miles southeast of Houston. Most of these bodies belong to young women. Additionally, several women have also gone missing in or around the area with their bodies never recovered. Moreover, despite the assistance of the FBI and local authorities, the vast majority of these cases remain unsolved to this day.

Although this true-crime Netflix series primarily focuses on four unsolved murders that occurred during the 80s and 90s, there are far more victims that have been found in the Killing Fields. The numbers are hard to pin down, but it is estimated that in the last 50 years, there...

Netflix has found another hit in the Jenna Ortega-led drama series Wednesday.

The streaming service announced Tuesday that the Addams Family series amassed a further 411.29 million hours viewed in its second week.

In just two weeks, the new comedy mystery is now Netflix’s third Most Popular English-language TV series ever with 752.52M hours viewed, behind Stranger Things 4 and Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.

Since its premiere on November 16, nearly 115M households globally have seen the series (752.25M hours viewed divided by 6.8 hours).

Wednesday held the #1 spot on the weekly Top 10 English TV List for the second week in a row with a mega 411.29M hours viewed – smashing its record-breaking first week number of 341.23M hours viewed.

Wednesday has also reached #1 in 89 countries.

Netflix has yet to officially pick up a second season of Wednesday, but these numbers are excellent.

It will likely be around for several years,...

Exclusive: Jimmi Simpson (Pachinko) and Clancy Brown (Dexter: New Blood) have boarded Audrey’s Children — the biopic that Ami Canaan Mann (Texas Killing Fields) is directing for Amasia Entertainment (Wild Mountain Thyme) and Resonate Entertainment (Sitting in Bars with Cake) — with Brandon Micheal Hall (Search Party), Julianna Layne (Prodigal Son), Ben Chase (The Thing About Pam) and Evelyn Giovine (The Crowded Room) also signing on for roles.

The film currently in production in Philadelphia tells the story of Dr. Audrey Evans (Natalie Dormer), the revolutionary pediatric oncologist best known as the co-founder of Ronald McDonald House Charities — the world-famous organization that provides housing and support to millions of families in 62 countries around the world. Pic’s set in 1969 and follows her as she bursts onto the scene as the Chief of Pediatric Oncology at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, when the survival rate for children with cancer was less than 10. In...

Exclusive: Erin Young’s recently published crime thriller The Fields is in the works for the small screen. Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories (Big Little Lies), Jennifer Todd Pictures and Endeavor Content have acquired the rights to the book to adapt into a television series, with Kate Brooke attached as writer/showrunner.

Young is the pseudonym of bestselling historical novelist, Robyn Young, and The Fields is her crime thriller debut.

Per the book’s description: The Fields starts with a body – a young woman found dead in an Iowa cornfield, on one of the few family farms still managing to compete with the giants of Big Agriculture. When Sergeant Riley Fisher, newly promoted to head of investigations for the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office, arrives on the scene, an already horrific crime becomes personal when she discovers the victim was a childhood friend,...

Exclusive: Ami Canaan Mann (Texas Killing Fields) is gearing up to direct the biopic Audrey’s Children for Amasia Entertainment (Wild Mountain Thyme) and Resonate Entertainment (Sitting in Bars with Cake).

The film will tell the story of Dr. Audrey Evans, the revolutionary pediatric oncologist best known as the co-founder of Ronald McDonald House Charities—the world-famous organization that provides housing and support to millions of families in 62 countries around the world. A rebel with a cause, Evans burst onto the scene at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in 1970, discovering groundbreaking treatment methods for pediatric cancer. She then put her own career on the line, in a bid to administer her new methods to dire patients, and to provide housing for out-of-town families seeking care, going to extreme lengths to save her children.

Julia Fisher Farbman (Modern Hero) wrote the screenplay, which was based on years of research and conversations with Evans,...

Welcome to the latest edition of our regular crowdfunding feature here on Nerdly – Back This! – where we take a look at some of the cool content taking the crowdfunding route on sites such as Indiegogo and Kickstarter. This time we’re taking a look at 2 different campaigns, one for a comic book based wrestling federation and the other a new horror movie from the people behind The Special.

Championship Wrestling League #1

Championship Wrestling League is a brand new wrestling promotion, except it’s not on your TV or on YouTube, it’s in a comic book. Pretty much combining two of our favourite things (besides movies) that we love here at Nerdly! The Kickstarter campaign, which ends this week, is for the first issue in a five issue arc that will showcase the Cwl roster as well as follow the feud between Cwl Champion King Terrance King and Scotty Sundown...

Updated with Saturday Am B.O.: There’s a great axiom when it comes to success in Hollywood; a saying which remains true through good times and bad, even at a moment when streaming is stepping on theatrical’s feet, and that is, “Talent rules.”

Such talent is Russian filmmaker Ilya Naishuller, whose Universal action movie Nobody literally turns the genre on its head.

Sure, it had a John Wick sensibility in its screenplay and is even penned by that franchise’s creator, Derek Kolstad. But shot-wise, angle-wise, and protagonist wise, Nobody shakes up the action space in an invigorating way. The movie headlines 58 year-old SNL alum-Mr. Show architect-turned-leading man wisenheimer Bob Odenkirk, who shows sublimely here that one is never, ever too old to be an action star.

At a time when Los Angeles and NYC theaters are looking to get back on their feet with a fresh feature,...

Early in “Irradiated,” a powerful but troublesome documentary howl of despair from Cambodian director Rithy Panh, the narration describes an act that must be familiar to anyone similarly transfixed by history. Referring to the black and white archival war footage that marches in triplicate across a screen that’s divided into three panels, the narrator speaks of “searching the eyes of the soldiers… but finding nothing there.” Anyone who has ever stared long and hard at a photograph of a deceased loved one, or at a picture of conflict reportage must relate to the frustration: It’s as though somehow we believe that an image must have within it some clue to the understanding of the incomprehensible loss or tragedy it depicts, and we can be acutely disappointed to find no such enlightenment.

This urge informs and complicates “Irradiated,” a film that is broader, wider and more ambitious in scope...

The way Jessica Chastain burst on to the scene, it’s hard now to envision a cinematic landscape that doesn’t involve her. One of Hollywood’s biggest stars, she mixes charisma, activism, and sheer talent to be one of the most high profile A-listers in the business. Already a favorite for the Oscars, nomination wise, she’s an icon. As such, and wish a new movie on the way this weekend, it’s a perfect time to pay her some tribute. Chastain makes for a perfect spotlight subject. That’s exactly what’s going to be happening today too, so let’s get this show on the road! Chastain began her career by having a ton of films come out almost at the same time. There was Jolene, which shot first, but then The Debt, followed by the 2011 deluge of Coriolanus, The Help, Take Shelter, Texas Killing Fields, and The Tree of Life.

This weekend at the PGA’s Produced By: New York — the very same conference where Anthony Bourdain criticized longtime Harvey Weinstein collaborator Quentin Tarantino for his “life of complicity and shame and compromise” — women’s-rights champion Jessica Chastain called her former self “complicit” in another Hollywood epidemic: systematically denying women equal pay, screen time, and ownership of their work.

Seated alongside fellow actress-producer Sarah Jessica Parker, their producing partners Alison Benson and Kelly Carmichael, and PGA president Lori McCreary, the two-time Oscar nominee explained that she founded Freckle Films in February 2016 “because I was realizing that being part of the industry meant that I was a part of the problem.” She added that “we don’t acknowledge the fact that we’re complicit in our inaction — and that goes across many areas.”

Even if she didn’t explicitly mention them, Chastain had Weinstein’s alleged victims on her mind. Following...

ITV Studios America and One-Two Punch Productions have optioned Alan Glynn's upcoming psychological thriller novel "Paradime" with plans to adapt it into a scripted TV series.

The story follows Danny Lynch, a man who has returned to New York City after a stint in Afghanistan. Trying to make ends meet, he gets a job as a line cook in a high end restaurant.

From his prep station he views the privileged clientele including a billionaire tech mogul who couldn't be more different to him except for one thing: in appearance, they are identical.

The closer Danny looks at Trager's life, the more fixated he becomes. His reality blurred, Danny starts making decisions that will irrevocably change his life.

"Medium" creator Glenn Gordon Caron is attached to write and direct. Caron, Deborah Spera and Maria Grasso will executive produce. Glynn's novel "The Dark Fields" served as the source material for...

By Patrick Shanley

Managing Editor

Earlier this year, Kristen Stewart became the first American actress to earn a César Award (France’s Oscar), in the best supporting actress category, for her performance as a movie star’s assistant in Clouds of Sils Maria. Earlier this month, Stewart also received the best supporting actress award from the New York Film Critics Circle and from the Boston Society of Film Critics and the Boston Online Film Critics. If that weren’t enough praise for her performance, Stewart was also the runner-up for the best supporting actress award from the Los Angeles Film Critics (losing out to Alicia Vikander in Ex Machina).

Prior to this recent slew of awards, Stewart’s performance had all but fallen off the Oscar radar, as Clouds of Sils Maria was initially released far too early in the season to be considered a legitimate threat (it was released in May of 2014). However,...

Here’s something to think about when you go looking for your favorite movie: it might be a TV show. Stephen King first published “The Mist” in 1980, Frank Darabont adapted it as a movie in 2007, and now The Weinstein Company is developing it for television. That’s similar to what happened to “The Dark Fields,” which was turned into Limitless in 2011, and is currently on CBS on a TV near you. Going in reverse, the late ’80s TV show 21 Jump Street has been converted into two films (with probably more on the way, which also happened with The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Get Smart, Charlie’s Angels, The A-Team, Dark Shadows, Mission: Impossible and Veronica Mars (although that last one is admittedly a spin-off film featuring most of the same actors in their original roles). However, Veronica Mars (like Entourage) helps illustrate an interesting difference from all of the TV shows that decided they needed a movie (not...

Back in 2011, he same red-haired woman seemed to be in every movie you saw. That was Jessica Chastain who by year's end had racked up six roles on her resume -- “Coriolanus,” “The Help," “Take Shelter,” “Texas Killing Fields.” “The Tree of Life” and “Wilde Salome,” The buzz was so hot for her that she landed a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for “The Help." She may have lost that race to co-star Octavia Spencer, but a star was born nonetheless. This year another fresh-faced ingenue has arrived in town by the name of Alicia Vikander. -Break- Dish the Oscars with Hollywood insiders in our red-hot forums Over the past several years, this Swedish import has been slowly building her profile with small roles in “A Royal Wedding” (2012), “Anna Karenina” (2012), and “The Fifth Estate” (2013). This year, she’s been just...'...

The latest movie-turned-tv-show is CBS’ Limitless, which wraps slick visuals around a generic, empty centre…

This review contains spoilers.

1.1 Pilot

The thematic centre of Neil Burger’s 2011 feature Limitless, based on Alan Glynn’s novel The Dark Fields, was what we’d all be willing to sacrifice for knowledge and power. If you were offered a psychotropic devil’s bargain that would make you an uber-capable genius at the cost of your safety, would you take it?

The CBS spin-off show poses no such question. Not in the pilot at least. It doesn’t use its neural-enhancement-drug premise to probe the ethics of an issue that’s recurred in myth for centuries, from Prometheus to the Garden of Eden to Doctor Faustus to a shelf of comic books a mile long. Instead, it uses it to populate network TV with yet another super-powered crime-solver.

Because by the end of the Limitless pilot,...

The Australian actor has found himself working for Oliver Stone, Michael Mann and Terrence Malick but can also lend blockbusters a more thoughtful face

Jason Clarke, the star of Everest, is a mountain of a man: six foot two with square shoulders and a vast sheer cliff of a forehead. When Christian Bale dropped out of this adventure story, based on real events, it was Clarke who stepped into his climbing boots to play Rob Hall, leader of a commercial expedition to the summit in May 1996 that went horribly wrong. Clarke, blokey and dependable, has the look of someone you would follow confidently into a fight, whereas Bale comes across as the sort of man who would start one. What makes the 46-year-old Australian more intriguing than a standard tough nut is the wounded quality in his eyes. Easygoing in nature, he always seems to have something on his mind.

This is a reprint of our review from the 2014 Venice Film Festival. Perhaps stung by the middling-to-poor reviews for her last film “Texas Killing Fields,” director Ami Canaan Mann (daughter of Michael) returns to screens under cover of absolute directorial anonymity with “Jackie & Ryan,” a movie hamstrung in its attempts to be a “Crazy Heart” or even a “Country Strong”-ish vehicle for Katherine Heigl by being more bland than a mashed potato dinner. It’s a strangely old-fashioned film, yielding a big enough crop of corn to revive the entire Midwestern economy, putting forth a dubiously romanticized view of the philosophical beauty of the train-hopping lifestyle. And while Ben Barnes does the film's decent music great justice with his surprisingly lovely singing voice, that’s really the only authentic feeling thing therein. “Jackie & Ryan" is supposedly all about learning how to git where ya gotta go, but none of...

Ballad of the Sad Doublet: Mann’s Warm, Simplistic Tale of Lonely Hearts

Recalling an era of simple, but warmly rendered studio features fitted specifically for their romantic lead properties, Ami Canaan Mann’s sophomore film Jackie & Ryan is indeed as plain as its aseptic title would indicate. A portrait of Middle American woes that could have easily been set in the Depression era, Mann’s straight laced storytelling makes for a surprisingly pleasant venture, even as top lined by a pair of dubious leads. But as warmly rendered as the film happens to be, it’s doubtful whether anything will remain very memorable once the credits roll.

Modern day drifter Ryan (Ben Barnes) is an aspiring folk singer, hopping around the country by train, the happy-go-lucky sort who seems to be engaged with life exactly as he wants to be. He stops off in Ogden, Utah, and while performing one day,...

The criminal caper that goes wrong is always good for a suspenseful, absorbing thriller movie. Just from memory there is The Asphalt Jungle, The Killing, (almost any classic film noir dealing with a criminal undertaking, if it didn’t go wrong it wouldn’t be noir now would it?) Odds Against tomorrow, Reservoir Dogs, Bob Le Flambeur, Rififi, and Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.

The list is just about endless, in fact, precious few movies about criminals show the heist going off without a hitch. Add to that list 7 Minutes, a tough, unblinking look at a caper done by amateurs so desperate they are willing to risk everything to try and pull it off.

Sam (Luke Mitchell), Mike, (Jason Ritter, son of John and showing some good acting chops) and Owen (Zane Holtz) lead small town lives of quiet desperation. They try and make some money through drug...

Hill Harper has booked a co-starring role opposite Jake McDorman and Jennifer Carpenter in CBS’ drama pilot, "Limitless," which is based on the 2011 feature that starred Bradley Cooper, itself based on the novel, "The Dark Fields," by Alan Glynn. The film told the story of a struggling writer who becomes a financial wizard, with the help of a mysterious pill that enables the user to access 100 percent of their brain abilities; but it also thrusts him into a dangerous new world. The TV pilot adaptation, which will be executive produced by Bradley Cooper, follows a similar narrative, except the lead character will use his newfound drug-enhanced abilities to...

International sales exec follows Bill Block out of the sales, financing and production company behind District 9, Fury and W.

John Friedberg, evp of international sales and distribution at Qed International, is the latest high profile exec to exit the La-based production, financing and sales distribution company.

He joined the business in 2006 and his responsibilities crossed into all areas of the company.

In 2011, Friedberg was promoted to vp of international sales and was involved in sales and distribution on films including Sabotage, directed by David Ayer and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger; Fading Gigolo, directed by John Turturro and starring Turturro and Woody Allen; and Alex Cross, directed by Rob Cohen and starring Tyler Perry.

He took on his most recent role in 2013 and handled international sales on David Ayer’s tank thriller Fury, starring Brad Pitt, which reportedly carried a $68m production budget and has grossed more than $211m worldwide.

Friedberg was also instrumental in bringing equity to [link...

Exclusive Q&A: It arrived too late to factor in guild and critics awards, but the Clint Eastwood-directed American Sniper has established such a connection with American movie audiences that its dark horse chances of upsetting the Oscar status quo cannot be ignored. It passed Saving Private Ryan to become the highest domestic grossing war movie ever; it even shot past the U.S. gross of Bradley Cooper’s previous biggest hit, The Hangover, and trails only The Passion Of The Christ for biggest-ever R-rated domestic grosser. This, for a hard R film about the wartime exploits and horrors faced by the most dangerous sniper in U.S. military history, and the price paid by Chris Kyle, wife Taya, and his fellow soldiers tasked with door to door searches in Sadr City when it was the most dangerous place in Iraq.

Nominated for Best Actor for his spare portrayal of the Navy Seal sharpshooter,...

By Anjelica Oswald

Managing Editor

From a newcomer award at the Deauville Film Festival in 2011 to a career tribute this fall, two-time Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain has come a long way in just three years. This year, she has been a part of four films: Christopher Nolan’s potential best picture nominee Interstellar, which opens in select theaters Nov. 5; J.C. Chandor’s A Most Violent Year, which is opening AFI Fest Nov. 6; Liv Ullmann’s Miss Julie, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival; and Ned Benson’s The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and is a combination of 2013’s The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her and The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him.

After graduating from Juilliard in 2003, Chastain was plucked from relative obscurity by Al Pacino to star in his production of Salome at Los Angeles’ Wadsworth Theatre in 2006. Pacino chronicles...

★★☆☆☆Returning to the Venice Lido in the Orizzonti sidebar after her mildly gripping thriller Texas Killing Fields premièred here back in 2011, Ami Canaan Mann's Jackie & Ryan (2014) is a fleetingly entertaining romantic drama set in the world of street music. Former Prince Caspian Ben Barnes plays Ryan, a postmodern train-hopping troubadour, whose Athena poster boy looks and guitar plucking skills intrigue ex-pop country singer Jackie (rom-com regular Katherine Heigl). She first sees him busking with a buddy on the street and asks if he ever plays his own material. He shrugs her off, but later when Jackie is lightly knocked down by a car while texting, Ryan escorts her back to her mother's house in the Utah wastes.

Perhaps stung by the middling-to-poor reviews for her last film “Texas Killing Fields,” director Ami Canaan Mann (daughter of Michael) returns to screens under cover of absolute directorial anonymity with “Jackie & Ryan,” a movie hamstrung in its attempts to be a “Crazy Heart” or even “Country Strong”-ish vehicle for Katherine Heigl by being more bland than a mashed potato dinner. It’s a strangely old-fashioned film, yielding a big enough crop of corn to revive the entire Midwestern economy, putting forth a dubiously romanticized view of the philosophical beauty of the train-hopping lifestyle. And while Ben Barnes does the film's decent music great justice with his surprisingly lovely singing voice, that’s really the only authentic feeling thing therein. “Jackie & Ryan" is supposedly all about learning how to git where ya gotta go, but none of the characters start or end in particularly interesting places, and the journey is...

Since she is the daughter of iconic filmmaker Michael Mann, it seems surprising that director Ami Canaan Mann’s first screenplay would focus on a modern-day train-jumper musician who sneaks onto freight cars, armed with guitar and Sterno to cook and make coffee as he heads from city to city to busk on the streets and stay true to a century-old music and lifestyle.

That is the subject of Jackie & Ryan, a collision between the singer (Ben Barnes) and a married woman and former singer (Katherine Heigl) who is nearly broke after fleeing with her daughter from a loveless marriage in New York to go home to Portland with her litigious husband in hot pursuit.

This is Mann’s third film as a director, the most recent being the gritty thriller Texas Killing Fields. From the Coppolas on down, there have been enough cross-generational director success stories to make you...

After bringing her police procedural Texas Killing Fields to Venice competition three years ago, writer-director Ami Canaan Mann returns in the Horizons section with a small, beautifully modulated work about recession-strapped America and the power of a fortuitous meeting to alter the course of two musicians’ lives for the better. The sunny, soap-and-water characters and thoroughly upbeat message may not be the stuff great films are made of, but in Jackie & Ryan the modesty of the story, the simple story-telling and honest emotions all come together in a satisfying whole. As a bonus, rollicking

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Katherine Heigl is taking a break from big budget romantic comedies to sing a song of sadness and romance in the upcoming indie drama "Your Right Mind," directed by Ami Canaan Mann ("Texas Killing Fields," TV's "Friday Night Lights"). The first still from the film has been released. Take a look at the top of the story. "Mind" centers on Ryan (Ben Barnes, the "Chronicles of Narnia" films), a touring folk singer who puts his burgeoning career on hold when he meets and forms a bond with a struggling country singer named Jackie (Heigl), who is locked in a dramatic custody battle over her daughter. "Mind" also stars Clea DuVall ("Argo"), Sheryl Lee ("Winter's Bone"), Emily Alyn Lind ("J. Edgar"), and musician/actor Ryan Bingham Molly Hassell is producing with Ami Canaan Mann and John Jencks. Jon Avnet ("Black Swan"), Rodrigo Garcia ("In Treatment"), Highland Film Group's Arianne Fraser and Delphine Perrier,...

Odd List Ryan Lambie Simon Brew 13 Mar 2014 - 05:44

Our voyage through history's underappreciated films arrives at the year 2011, and a great year for lesser-seen gems...

Even a cursory glance at the top 10 grossing films of 2011 reveals something strange: nine of the entries are sequels. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 brought the fantasy franchise to a close with a staggering $1.3bn haul. Transformers: Dark Of The Moon wasn't too far behind with just over $1.1bn. On Stranger Tides continued the Pirates Of The Caribbean series' wave of success, despite mixed reviews.

Elsewhere in the top 10, you'll find another Twilight, a fourth Mission: Impossible, a second Kung Fu Panda, a fifth Fast, another Hangover, and further Cars. Standing alone on the list is The Smurfs, the adaptation of Peyo's Belgian comic strip. In fact, 2011 saw the release of no fewer than 28 sequels - the most we've yet seen in any given year.

Berlin -- Clea DuVall, Sheryl Lee, Emily Alyn Lind and musician/actor Ryan Bingham have joined Katherine Heigl and Ben Barnes in the romance film Your Right Mind. Ami Canaan Mann (Texas Killing Fields) wrote and will direct the film, which is currently shooting in Utah. Highland Film Group (Hfg) is shopping the film to buyers at Efm in Berlin. Story: Berlin: Bruce Willis Sci-Fi Action Pic 'Vice' to Be Shopped to Buyers Molly Hassell is producing with Mann and John Jencks. Jon Avnet, Rodrigo Garcia, Hfg's Arianne Fraser while Delphine Perrier and Main Street Films’ Craig Chang are serving as

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Clea DuVall ( Argo , pictured), Sheryl Lee ( Winter's Bone ), Emily Alyn Lind ( J. Edgar ), and Academy Award Winning musician/actor Ryan Bingham have joined the cast of the contemporary romance Your Right Mind starring, Katherine Heigl ( Knocked Up ) and Ben Barnes ( The Chronicles of Narnia ). Ami Canaan Mann ( Texas Killing Fields ) is directing her script with principal photography currently underway in Utah. Molly Hassell is producing with Ami Canaan Mann and John Jencks. Jon Avnet ( Black Swan ), Rodrigo Garcia ("In Treatment"), Highland Film Group's (Hfg) Arianne Fraser and Delphine Perrier, and Main Street Films' Craig Chang are serving as executive producers. Hfg represents the worldwide rights and will continue to shop it to buyers at Efm in Berlin. Your...

Anchor Bay Entertainment is set to release the second season of Magic City on DVD and Blu-ray November 5th. From creator/writer and executive producer Mitch Glazer (The Recruit, Scrooged), executive producer Geyer Kosinski (Changeling, The Astronaut Farmer), co-executive producers Fred Berner (Pollock) and Colin Callender (“The White Queen”) comes all 8 intense new episodes of the steamy drama, plus some very cool bonus features. The Blu-ray will have a suggested retail price of $54.99 and $44.98 for the DVD. Magic City: The Complete Second Season stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Watchmen, Texas Killing Fields), Golden Globe® nominee Danny Huston (Hitchcock), Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace), Jessica Marais (“Packed to the Rafters”), Steven Strait (City Island), Christian Cooke (Cemetery Junction), Kelly...

While it is doubtful the phrase .Academy Award winner Sam Worthington. is going to sincerely come out of someone.s mouth anytime soon, the guy definitely has an enviable career, mixing gigantic budget affairs like Avatar and Wrath of the Titans with low-budget flicks like Texas Killing Fields. Put him in anything, and he.ll be serviceable. So why not a Civil War thriller? Deadline reports he's the latest to join The Keeping Room, the second film from Harry Brown director Daniel Barber - and I think it.s safe to call him the male lead. He joins Brit Marling (Sound of My Voice), Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) and Nicole Beharie (42) in the film, which was written by Julia Hart. In The Keeping Room, Worthington will play a soldier in the last days of the Civil War who breaks off from the impending Union Army and stumbles upon a group...

It seems it has been forever and then some since we last saw a film from Michael Mann. Since directing 2009's Public Enemies, Mann produced his daughter's film, Texas Killing Fields, the now canceled HBO show "Luck" and the HBO documentary series "Witness". A Blu-ray edition of his 1999 thriller The Insider recently debuted, but new work from Mann has been hard to find. That will change soon enough. Details on his upcoming cyber-thriller starring Chris Hemsworth (The Avengers) has recently emerged with The Hollywood Reporter saying it will revolve around a U.S.-China task force pursuing a hacker hailing from the Balkans and based in a Southeast Asian country. Rumor has it Mann has been scouting locations in Hong Kong and meeting with talent including the likes of Tang Wei (Lust, Caution), Shawn Yue Man-lok (Infernal Affairs) and Nick Cheung Ka-fai (Election). The film is being produced by Legendary...

Character-driven thriller Candy Store has cast The Intouchables' Omar Sy with Zero Dark Thirty's Jason Clarke. According to Deadline, Lionsgate will distribute Stateside, while Good Universe is handling the film's international release field. Stephen Gaghan directs, and co-writes with Shannon Burke, with interweaving stories set in the criminal underworld in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn where Clarke's former covert operative learns that the organization he's been fighting, is no operating in his vicinity. After joining forces with a disgraced police officer, the investigation takes them to Sy's character, and a beautiful girl caught up in a threat against Manhattan. Clarke's previous credits also include Weinstein Co's Lawless with Tom Hardy, Shia Labeouf, Gary Oldman, Guy Peace, Mia Wasikowska and Jessica Chastain, Texas Killing Fields, as well as TV's The Chicago Code. He's up next in Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby...

Character-driven thriller Candy Store has cast The Intouchables' Omar Sy with Zero Dark Thirty's Jason Clarke. According to Deadline, Lionsgate will distribute Stateside, while Good Universe is handling the film's international release field. Stephen Gaghan directs, and co-writes with Shannon Burke, with interweaving stories set in the criminal underworld in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn where Clarke's former covert operative learns that the organization he's been fighting, is no operating in his vicinity. After joining forces with a disgraced police officer, the investigation takes them to Sy's character, and a beautiful girl caught up in a threat against Manhattan. Clarke's previous credits also include Weinstein Co's Lawless with Tom Hardy, Shia Labeouf, Gary Oldman, Guy Peace, Mia Wasikowska and Jessica Chastain, Texas Killing Fields, as well as TV's The Chicago Code. He's up next in Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby...

Sixteen-year-old actress Chloë Moretz is already no stranger to the darker genres of cinema, having starred in the ultra-violent Kick-Ass movies, Matt Reeves’ haunting vampire love story Let Me In, and the crime thriller Texas Killing Fields - as well as providing voice talent for the rat-ridden steampunk assassination-themed video game, Dishonored. She will also be seen later this year as the lead in Kimberley Peirce’s Carrie remake, and early teaser images show her drenched from head to toe in pig’s blood, following the film’s most iconic scene.

It’s fair to say that Moretz’s career has already been to some pretty dark places, so it only makes sense that her next should follow suit. Deadline reports that Moretz is in talks to join Exclusive Media’s new thriller, Dark Places, ...

Click to continue reading Chloë Moretz Joins ‘Dark Places’ Cast Alongside Charlize Theron...

Chloë Moretz, at just 16 years old, has already participated in a bevy of thematically grim and/or bleakly titled work — films like Today You Die, The Amityville Horror, Wicked Little Things, Kick-Ass, Texas Killing Fields, Let Me In, Dark Shadows, and the upcoming Carrie remake. It stands to reason she'll sign on to join Charlize Theron in an adaptation of Gillian Flynn's Dark Places. If you've read the novel, Moretz is eyeing the role of Diondra. If you haven't read the novel, Moretz is still eyeing that same role.

People are always complaining about how much Americans suck at doing accents, whether it's Kevin Costner as "Robin Hood" or Keanu Reeves seemingly coming off a heroin addiction in "Bram Stoker's Dracula." And we do suck sometimes, yes.

However, we want to at least even the playing field a little by pointing out some bafflingly bad American accents perpetrated by thesps from overseas. Europe and Australia may have the best acting academies and such, but not every graduate is as versatile as they should be, starting with a certain Gerard Butler from this past weekend's "Olympus Has Fallen."

Gerard Butler

This week's "Olympus Has Fallen" is cheesy fun, but Butler's American cadence is just … off. Granted, he's a bit more convincing than his oft-compared Scottish soul mate Sean Connery, but the "300" star has tried his hand at miming our accent in disasters like "The Bounty Hunter" and the recent surfing drama "Chasing Mavericks.