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The Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, a global program founded in 1985 to aid emerging writers, announced on Monday its 2024 recipients, who include a writing team from Los Angeles and single writers from L.A.; Brooklyn; Waco, Texas; and West Chester, Pennsylvania.

According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, each individual and writing team will receive a $35,000 prize and mentorship from an Academy member throughout their fellowship year. They also will participate in virtual seminars and in-person networking events, including a gala on October 29.

A total of 5,500 scripts from 80 countries were submitted for this year’s competition. The Academy Nicholl Fellowships Committee is chaired by Julie Lynn (Producers Branch) and the 24 members of the committee include Caitríona Balfe (Actors Branch), Sue Chan (Production Design Branch), Ehren Kruger (Writers Branch) and Allison Anders (Directors Branch).

The 2024 Nicholl Fellows are (listed alphabetically by author):

Alysha Chan and David Zarif (Los Angeles,...

With his long hair, sunglasses and bellbottoms, Hal Ashby was the epitome of the 1970s flower child, even though he was a decade older than most of the filmmakers working at the time. Though his flame burned brightly and briefly, he left behind a series of classics that signified the nose-thumbing, countercultural attitude of the era, with a bit of humanism and heart thrown in for good measure. Let’s take a look back at all 12 of his films, ranked worst to best.

Born on September 2, 1929 in Utah, Ashby ambled around before becoming an apprentice editor for Robert Swink, working for Hollywood legends William Wyler and George Stevens. He moved up the ranks to become an editor for Norman Jewison, with whom he shared a fraternal and professional relationship. They cut five films together, including “The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!” (1966), which earned him his first Oscar nomination,...

Before she became known as one of the best comedy directors of her generation for the now classic “Valley Girl” and “Real Genius,” director Martha Coolidge made her feature debut with the searing drama “Not a Pretty Picture,” a one-of-a-kind documentary/narrative hybrid in which Coolidge recreated her own rape with actors and shot both the recreation and the behind the scenes circumstances of its making. Bravely personal and intensely provocative, “Not a Pretty Picture” announced Coolidge as a major new talent and earned praise from both critics and other filmmakers, yet for decades it has been difficult to see, more talked and written about than screened.

That changed in 2022 when the Academy Film Archive restored “Not a Pretty Picture” in partnership with Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation and the George Lucas Family Foundation. Now, after a series of public screenings at festivals, museums, and repertory theaters, the film is...

Throughout the early 2000s, the rock ‘n’ roll film festival “Don’t Knock the Rock” was one of the highlights of any L.A.-based cinephile’s year, an impeccably assembled program of movies, live performances, and panels celebrating the intersection between rock ‘n’ roll and cinema. Created by writer-director Allison Anders and music supervisor Tiffany Anders, “Don’t Knock the Rock” was beloved for its determination to showcase difficult-to-see music documentaries and for the breadth and depth of its programming.

The festival last graced L.A. screens in 2016, but now it’s returning to Hollywood via the American Cinematheque with a line-up that’s one of the best ever. From May 23-27, “Don’t Knock the Rock” will screen an eclectic mix of documentaries, music-themed narrative films, and essential retrospective programs at the Cinematheque’s Los Feliz venue, with an added virtual component that will stream from May 23-July 31. Among the...

Opening night of the TCM Classic Film Festival next week will also serve as a Pulp Fiction reunion.

Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, Rosanna Arquette and Harvey Keitel are among those joining John Travolta on April 18 for the 30th anniversary, 35mm screening of Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (1994) at the Tcl Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

Fellow actors Eric Stoltz, Julia Sweeney, Frank Whaley, Phil Lamarr and Burr Steers, producer Lawrence Bender and executive producers Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher are expected to be there as well.

As previously announced, actor Billy Dee Williams and makeup artist Lois Burwell will be honored at the 15th annual festival; author Jeanine Basinger will receive the Robert Osborne Award; and Jodie Foster will partake in a hand- and footprint ceremony.

The festival, with the theme “Most Wanted: Crime and Justice in Film,” runs through April 21 at venues including the rejuvenated Egyptian Theatre.

Among those...

“Drive-Away Dolls” is an audacious lesbian road movie inspired by such Kings of the Bs as John Waters and Russ Meyer. Two young women (Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan) rent a drive-away car without knowing there’s cargo in the trunk that could get them in big trouble with a gang of criminals. Sure enough, thugs are soon chasing them down America’s highways.

Luckily, just about every man in the movie is a bumbling idiot. And not everyone keeps their head.

“Drive-Away Dolls” is the definition of ribald. These girls are as randy and on the make as any of their “Porky’s” counterparts. The movie wears no pretensions. It’s not going up for Oscars. It’s coming out in February, for Chrissakes!

To help promote the movie, filmmakers Ethan Coen — who accepted the Best Picture Oscar for “No Country for Old Men” back in 2008 with his usual creative partner,...

The release of "Drive-Away Dolls" has been marked by most of the trades as the first solo directorial feature of Ethan Coen, following his brother Joel's 2021 outing with "The Tragedy of Macbeth." And sure, it's a catchy headline to acknowledge that one-half of one of cinema's greatest directorial partnerships is stepping out on his own, but that doesn't tell the full story. For one thing, Ethan Coen already made his solo directorial debut with the documentary "Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind." More importantly, "Drive-Away Dolls" may have Coen listed as the solo director, but if you ask him, this was yet another co-directed project, but this time with his wife and longtime Coen Bros. editor, Tricia Cooke.

Cooke first worked with the Coens as an editor on "Miller's Crossing" fresh out of film school, seeking out the job not because they were the esteemed directors of "Blood Simple" and Raising Arizona" fame,...

The legendary sibling directing duo of Joel and Ethan Coen went their separate directorial ways after the 2018 film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, and while there’s talk they’re going to be reuniting to make a horror movie, in the meantime we’ve gotten Joel’s first solo directing effort with The Tragedy of Macbeth, and we’ll be seeing Ethan’s first solo directing effort when Focus Features brings the road trip comedy caper Drive Away Dolls to theatres on February 23rd. Some critics have already had a chance to see the movie, and with two weeks to go until its wide release, the first reactions have started showing up online. We have gathered some of them together below.

First, we have a reaction from JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray:

Caught #DriveAwayDolls recently. Very much a loving homage to love on the run b-movies, with it having...

This was a well-kept secret. Two years since his passing we’ve learned of Peter Bogdanoivch’s podcasting project One Handshake Away, which saw the late-in-life filmmaker sit down with modern luminaries. The first two episodes, out today, feature Guillermo del Toro and Quentin Tarantino discussing personal favorites, the former Alfred Hitchcock and the latter Don Siegel––a normal concept made novel by integrating unheard audio from Bogdanovich’s prodigious start interviewing the deceased filmmakers decades ago.

Later episodes will feature conversations with Rian Johnson and Ken Burns; after Bogdanovich’s passing, del Toro continued the series by speaking to Greta Gerwig, Julie Delpy, and Allison Anders. Integrated into these are audio of John Ford, Howard Hawks, and (believe it or not!) Orson Welles. It’s immediately evident that the company of a fellow auteur puts del Toro and Tarantino at ease, the subjects elevating them to enthusiasm––well and...

Late auteur Peter Bogdanovich is still just a handshake away per his posthumous podcast, “One Handshake Away.”

Prior to Bogdanovich’s January 2022 death, the filmmaker recorded a series of interviews with fellow directors such as Guillermo del Toro, Quentin Tarantino, Ken Burns, and Rian Johnson to discuss their biggest cinematic influences.

Per Deadline, Bogdanovich named the podcast “One Handshake Away” to honor the relationship between contemporary directors and pioneering filmmakers, with each filmmaker being “one handshake away” from one another in film history.

After Bogdanovich’s passing, del Toro took over the podcast and recorded the final three episodes, interviewing Greta Gerwig, Julie Delpy, and Allison Anders, which included discussing the works of Howard Hawks, Fritz Lang, and Raoul Walsh.

Filmmakers Alfred Hitchcock, Don Siegel, Orson Welles, and John Ford were reexamined in episodes Bogdanovich recorded; the podcast additionally features exclusive archival interviews with Hitchcock, Welles, and Ford that have...

Exclusive: Peter Bogdanovich, the director of Hollywood classics such as The Last Picture Show and Paper Moon, may have died two years ago but he left behind a “love letter to film.”

The critic-turned-filmmaker was working on One Handshake Away, a podcast series that saw him in conversation with some of the greatest living filmmakers, including Guillermo del Toro, Quentin Tarantino, Rian Johnson and Ken Burns framed through a series of never-before-heard archival interviews with legends including Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles and John Ford.

After Bogdanovich’s death, del Toro took over for the final three interviews with Greta Gerwig, Julie Delpy and Allison Anders.

Each episode pays homage to a master and offers insight and perspective on the influence and impact the legends who came before them had on their career and filmmaking.

Bogdanovich discussed Hitchcock with del Toro, Don Siegel with Tarantino, Welles with Johnson and Ford with Burns.

Cinema favors melodrama, and so fathers and children often engage in big arguments and reconciliations on screen. Writer-director Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio’s In the Summers manages a singularly painful approach to this subject matter, as it’s less concerned with a great fracture than an ongoing erosion. The film has its harrowing moments, but no episode is coded as the moment of fissure in this family. The father keeps doing what he does, his eccentricities and liabilities growing more tedious and negligent, and the children’s love is gradually tempered with frustration, anger, resentment, and, most poignantly, pity.

Setting her film across four summer visits over a period of 20 years, Lacorazza Samudio manages the illusion of capturing a man’s diminishment in something like real time. At the beginning of each episode, we see Vicente (Renè Pérez Joglar) picking up his daughters, Violet and Eva, in front of the small airport in Las Cruces,...

What do Allison Anders, John Cassavetes, and Alfred Hitchcock have in common? Aside from — in spite of? — being great directors, they’ve all made films that for whatever reason failed to land with the critics, the public, or both. But are their “failures” those of the filmmakers or of imagination on the part of the audience?

In the list of underrated movies by great directors that follows, IndieWire argues that often it’s the latter. These are films that were misunderstood — in several cases, by their own makers, which is part of what led to their public dismissal — or that never had the chance to be misunderstood because they were barely seen due to vagaries of timing and marketing. While they don’t necessarily represent the directors’ best work, they’re all better than their reputations and filled with pleasures characteristic of the filmmakers’ oeuvres.

The criteria for selecting these...

Universal Pictures has debuted a poignant trailer for the upcoming documentary on a Hollywood legend ‘Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed.’

The documentary is an intimate portrait of actor Rock Hudson, one of Hollywood’s most celebrated leading men of the 1950’s and ‘60’s and an icon of Hollywood’s Golden Age, whose diagnosis and eventual death from AIDS in 1985 shocked the world, subsequently shifting the way the public perceived the pandemic.

Directed by celebrated documentary filmmaker Stephen Kijak the film features a wealth of interviews from Doris Day, Linda Evans, Piper Laurie, Douglas Sirk and Ross Hunter who all worked alongside Rock Hudson, in addition to interviews with Rock Hudson’s friends Armistead Maupin and Allison Anders, and author of All That Heaven Allows: A Biography of Rock Hudson, Mark Griffin.

Hudson became a number one box-office superstar in sweeping melodramas like ‘All That Heaven Allows,’ ‘Giant’ (starring opposite...

Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro has nominated 27 Latino-driven films for inclusion in the National Film Registry. Among the suggestions are films that brought Oscar nominations to Latino actors and artists, including Salma Hayek, as Mexican artist Frida Kahlo in “Frida” (2002); Catalina Sandino Moreno, who portrayed a desperate undocumented pregnant immigrant in “Maria Full of Grace” (2004) and Demián Bichir, who played an undocumented worker in Los Angeles in “A Better Life” (2011). All were nominated for lead acting Oscars.

Other notable titles nominated by the congressman are Peter Sollett’s coming-of-age indie “Raising Victor Vargas,” Alfonso Arau’s romantic drama “Like Water for Chocolate (1992) and Darnell Martin’s “I Like It Like That” (1994), a story of a Puerto Rican family in the Bronx.

“Given the film industry’s continued exclusion of Latinos, we must make a special effort to ensure that Latino Americans’ contributions to American filmmaking are appropriately celebrated and included in the National Film Registry,...

One of independent film’s key players, Ray Price, died July 16 at the age of 75 from heart failure after a long battle with cancer, his long-term partner Meg Madison confirmed.

Talking to Price about movies, past and present, was an exhilarating sport that could take a while. He knew his stuff — no one loved movies more — but more than anyone during the great indie decades of the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, he was a respected innovator who thought outside the box. He began as an exhibitor in San Francisco and moved on to marketing, releasing, and distributing movies, leaning toward the outrageous in how he lured audiences to sample challenging fare.

“Ray, while being a defiantly singular individual, was also emblematic of a bygone age of independent film,” Magnolia Pictures co-ceo Eamonn Bowles wrote me in an email. “From theatre chain owner to distributor, exquisite marketer, and production exec, he...

Ray Price, a respected producer of indie filmmaking, died July 16 from heart failure after a long battle with cancer. The news was confirmed by his long-term partner Meg Madison. He was 75 years old.

Price launched his film career in 1972, managing the Berkeley storefront theater the Rialto, and went on to build with Allen Michaan Renaissance Theaters, an independent art film chain that became one of the largest (33 at its peak) in the Bay Area and was later sold to the Landmark Theatre circuit.

A tough negotiator and exacting exhibitor, under Price’s stewardship, Renaissance Theaters were renowned for redesigning marketing materials, from posters to press books — designs that fledgling distributors often adopted when the films hadn’t found success in other markets.

At a time when most top arthouse distributors focused on established auteurs from Europe and Asia, Renaissance Theaters exploded those norms by programming new American directors like Martin Scorsese and John Cassavetes.

Ray Price, an indie film producer and marketing veteran, died on July 16 of heart failure after battling cancer, his longterm partner Meg Madison confirmed. He was 75.

During his career in film, Price was president of Francis Ford Coppola’s production company American Zoetrope and First Look Pictures and a marketing and distribution exec for Landmark Theatres, Trimark Pictures and 2929 Entertainment. He also supported up-and-coming filmmakers like Tran Anh Hung (“The Scent of Green Papaya”), Gurinder Chadha (“Bhaji on The Beach”), Carl Franklin (“One False Move”), Allison Anders (“Gas Food Lodging”) and John Sayles (“The Secret of Roan Inish”).

“Ray, while being a defiantly singular individual, was also emblematic of a bygone age of independent film,” said Magnolia Pictures co-ceo Eamonn Bowles in a statement. “From theatre chain owner to distributor, exquisite marketer, and production exec, he always sought out novel ways of approaching things. He truly was a rebel...

Ray Price, the respected indie film innovator who served as president of American Zoetrope and First Look Pictures and as a marketing and distribution executive for companies including Landmark Theatres and Trimark Pictures, has died. He was 75.

Price died Sunday at Whittier Hospital Medical Center from heart failure after a long battle with cancer, his longtime partner, Meg Madison, said.

Throughout his career, Price displayed an encyclopedic knowledge of film, mentored generations of executives and leaned toward the outrageous in the ways he lured audiences to sample challenging movies.

Along the way, he championed filmmakers including Carl Franklin (1992’s One False Move), Allison Anders (1992’s Gas Food Lodging), Tran Anh Hung (1993’s The Scent of Green Papaya), Gurinder Chadha (1993’s Bhaji on the Beach) and John Sayles (1994’s The Secret of Roan Inish).

“Ray, while being a defiantly singular individual, was also emblematic of a bygone age of independent film,...

The most important thing about “Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed” is that, within the essential act of reclamation it provides for the star, it doesn’t just write off the Hollywood icon’s life as sad. That’s a remarkable thing for a documentary in which its last 40 minutes are as harrowing a depiction of AIDS in the ’80s there’s been in a film since “How to Survive a Plague.”

Certainly, it’s infuriating and upsetting on many levels: that Hudson wasn’t allowed to fly on a commercial airliner because of his diagnosis and had to rent an Air France Boeing 747 at the cost of $250,000 to return home to Los Angeles from Paris as it became clear his experimental treatment there had failed. And the revelation that his friend Nancy Reagan even urged her husband to deny him treatment at a military hospital is beyond enraging.

Stephen Kijak...

The legendary sibling directing duo of Joel and Ethan Coen went their separate directorial ways after the 2018 film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, and while we hope they’ll eventually circle back to teaming up with each other, in the meantime we’ve gotten Joel’s first solo directing effort with The Tragedy of Macbeth, and we’ll be seeing Ethan’s first solo directing effort when Focus Features brings the road trip comedy caper Drive Away Dolls to theatres on September 22nd. With that date just three months away, a trailer for Drive Away Dolls has arrived online and can be seen in the embed above.

Scripted by Ethan Coen and his wife Tricia Cooke, Drive Away Dolls follows Jamie, an uninhibited free spirit bemoaning yet another breakup with a girlfriend, and her demure friend Marian, who desperately needs to loosen up. In search of a fresh start, the...

There are few modern filmmakers with a voice as distinctive as Quentin Tarantino’s, a former video-store clerk who transformed his movie love into blockbuster, arthouse, genre-redefining masterpieces that kept grindhouse cinema alive while pushing nostalgia in bold directions.

With a career spanning 27 years and ten feature films (depending on how you count), Tarantino has made an indelible mark on cinema. And his hard-hitting, playful directorial style has, in all that time, made good films great, great films classics, and the faults in bad films sometimes harder to recognize.

Here, then, are Quentin Tarantino’s films from “Reservoir Dogs” to “Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood,” ranked from the very worst to the very, very best:

10. “Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood” (2019)

Sharon Tate is a meaningless footnote in her own life story in Quentin Tarantino’s baffling and insulting ode to 1960s Hollywood. Tate is played by Margot Robbie,...

Today, Outfest announced the centerpiece events and special awardees that will headline the 41st Outfest Los Angeles Summer Festival presented by Warner Bros. Discovery and Genesis Motor America, taking place July 13 – 23 in venues around Los Angeles.

Outfest will honor actor, producer and musician Amandla Stenberg with its Platinum Maverick Award, to be presented at the festival’s opening night celebration on July 13th at the Orpheum Theatre. The award recognizes Stenberg’s artistry in film and music, and her unapologetic use of her platform for fierce advocacy and activism within the LGBTQ+ community. Stenberg will also appear alongside actor Bobbi Salvör Menuez and director Jacqueline Castel at the Redcat in downtown Los Angeles at Outfest’s July 15th Platinum Centerpiece screening of My Animal, the trio’s queer horror romance that world premiered earlier this year at Sundance.

Following the My Animal screening on July 15th will be the Platinum...

As movie lovers, and especially as movie lovers who value the theatrical experience, it’s been a hard few years, even before the Covid-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, which seemed the death knell of the theatrical experience. Movie theaters, those great gathering places to be together, or alone together, taking in big screen dreams, closed as the airborne virus swept the globe, and streaming behemoths filled the void with a never-ending beam of content pointed directly into our homes.

Would movie theaters survive? What of the theaters that specialize in arthouse, international and indie content? Would anyone ever want to leave their house for a movie again? These questions plagued the industry, cinephiles and especially exhibitors in the rocky period of 2020-2021, and we’re not out of the woods just yet.

This is the harrowing context of Rafael Sbarge’s documentary, “Only in Theaters,” which is half celebration of...

New Year’s Day and New Year’s Eve are not exactly known for having movies made about them, at least compared to the volumes of movies made about Christmas. However, there are some movies about that transition time and some of them are great to watch during that short period after Christmas and before life returns to the usual humdrum of work and responsibilities. Here are a few of our favorites:

Happy New Year, Charlie Brown! (1986)

Seemingly, every major holiday has a Charlie Brown special. Well, almost. New Year’s is not to be left out and got its own Charlie Brown special in 1986. While most folks will think of Charlie Brown as a Christmas cartoon or a Halloween one, this special is actually quite good. In the story, Charlie Brown doesn’t want to celebrate, he wants to be left alone so he can read “War and Peace”, however,...

The mean-spirited children’s books of Roald Dahl have, rather oddly, become indelible classics. That’s probably because Dahl — a former British espionage agent, and writer of even grimmer short stories for adults — was under no illusion that childhood was a wonderful time.

Books like “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Matilda” and “The Witches” confirm what most children already suspected: that adults have a general disdain for kids, and that if kids were going to survive, they’d have to save themselves. At their best, adaptations of Dahl’s work capture that cynical spirit. At their worst, they fall prey to Dahl’s basest instincts, an unfortunate tendency towards bigoted portrayals and unhealthy themes.

When exploring every Roald Dahl movie, however, you can’t stop at the kids’ films. Dahl was also a screenwriter who adapted the works of other authors to the big screen, and not every filmmaker was...

Director Luca Guadagnino discusses a few of his favorite films with Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Bones And All (2022)

A Bigger Splash (2015)

Suspiria (2018)

Call Me By Your Name (2017)

Apocalypse Now (1979) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)

Amarcord (1973) – Bernard Rose’s trailer commentary

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Jason And The Argonauts (1963) – Ernest Dickerson’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s review

After Hours (1985) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary

Nashville (1975) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary, Dan Perri’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s review

Journey To Italy (1954)

Empire Of The Sun (1987)

The Flower Of My Secret (1995)

The Last Emperor (1987) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

1900 (1976)

Last Tango In Paris (1972) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary

Psycho (1960) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Suspiria (1977) – Edgar Wright’s U.S. and international trailer commentaries,...

Writer/Director Lucky McKee discusses a few of his favorite movies with Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Tár (2022)

Speed Racer (2008)

The Matrix (1999)

Gloria (1980) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

The Howling (1981) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

Old Man (2022)

Don’t Breathe (2016)

Avatar (2009)

Band of the Hand (1986)

May (2002)

The Piano (1993)

The Crying Game (1992)

Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)

Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Star Wars: Episode VI – Return Of The Jedi (1983)

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)

Star Wars: Episode II – Attack Of The Clones (2002)

Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge Of The Sith (2005)

The Dark Crystal (1982) – Bernard Rose’s trailer commentary

Cockfighter (1974) – Jon Davison’s trailer commentary

Days of Heaven (1978)

Sweetie (1989)

The Power of the Dog (2021)

Do The Right Thing (1989) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

A History Of Violence (2005)

Se7en (1995)

Straw Dogs (1971) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary,...

Josh Olson shares his top 10 movies from his favorite movie year, 1992, with Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)

Star Wars (1977)

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

After Dark, My Sweet (1990)

The Last Of The Mohicans (1992)

Thief (1981) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Manhunter (1986) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

The Last Of The Mohicans (1936)

The Player (1992) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Popeye (1980)

Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson (1976) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Quintet (1979)

​HealtH (1980)

Come Back To the Five And Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)

Secret Honor (1984)

The Graduate (1967) – Neil Labute’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Touch Of Evil (1958) – Howard Rodman’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Dead Alive a.k.a. Braindead (1992) – Mike Mendez’s trailer commentary

Meet The Feebles (1989) – Mike Mendez’s...

Following Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth last year, marking the first team he didn’t work with his brother, Ethan Coen now has made plans to fly solo as well. While he already debuted his Jerry Lee Lewis documentary at Cannes, he’s prepping a narrative feature to shoot this fall and now he’s found his stars.

Deadline reports Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan will lead the film, which is backed by Working Title and Focus Features. Co-written with Coen and his wife Tricia Cooke, official plot details on the untitled project are said to be kept under wraps, but it’s reportedly based on a script they’ve been developing for many years.

The Russ Meyer-inspired story will reportedly center around a lesbian road trip and was initially developed back in the mid-2000s between The Ladykillers and No Country for Old Men era. Originally...

Sterlin Harjo, co-creator of FX’s Reservation Dogs, discusses a few of his favorite movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Mekko (2015)

Boy (2010)

Cool Hand Luke (1967) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

Being There (1979) – Alan Spencer’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

A Woman Under The Influence (1974)

Husbands (1970) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Stand By Me (1986)

Hamburger: The Motion Picture (1986)

This Is Spinal Tap (1984) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

The Princess Bride (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Friday (1995)

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) – Adam Rifkin’s trailer commentary

Dead Man (1995)

Powwow Highway (1989)

Airplane! (1980) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Ghost Dog: Way Of The Samurai (1999)

Stalker (1979) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Come And See (1985) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

A Clockwork Orange...

Producer Mike Finnell (Joe Dante’s long time producing partner) joins Josh and Joe to discuss a few of his favorite movies.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Avalanche (1978)

Airport (1970)

Earthquake (1974) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Matinee (1993) – Illeana Douglas’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s review, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Hollywood Boulevard (1976) – Jon Davison’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

Deceived (1991)

Newsies (1992)

Milk Money (1994)

Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979) – Eli Roth’s trailer commentary

The Howling (1981) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)

Gremlins (1984) – Glenn Erickson’s 4K Blu-ray review, Tfh’s 30th anniversary celebration

Explorers (1985) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Innerspace (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

The ’Burbs (1989) – Ti West’s trailer commentary, Tfh’s ’Burbs Mania

Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)

Small Soldiers (1998)

A Matter of Life and Death (1946) – Glenn Erickson’s...

Writer, director and actor Michael Showalter joins hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante to discuss his favorite movies.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Wet Hot American Summer (2001)

The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021)

The Baxter (2005)

Hello, My Name Is Doris (2015)

Runaway Daughters (1994)

Clueless (1995)

Bagdad Cafe (1987)

Coda (2021)

The Long Goodbye (1973) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Jaws (1975) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Do The Right Thing (1989)

Sugarbaby (1985)

City Slickers (1991)

Attack! (1956) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Paris, Texas (1984) – Karyn Kusama’s trailer commentary

Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)

Pretty In Pink (1986)

Escape From New York (1981) – Neil Marshall’s trailer commentary

Hamburger: The Motion Picture (1986)

The Warriors (1979)

The Thing (1982) – Jesus Treviño’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Innerspace (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Christine (1983)

Crossing Delancey (1988)

Annie Hall (1977) – Robert Weide’s trailer commentary

When Harry Met Sally… (1989)

The Fugitive (1993)

The Big Sick (2017) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Between The Lines...

After a nothing less than extraordinary few decades, it’s looking increasingly likely that 2018’s The Ballad of Buster Scruggs will be the last Ethan and Joel Coen collaboration for some time. Following up the latter’s solo directorial effort, The Tragedy of Macbeth, the former is now getting behind the camera by himself for his next feature.

THR reports that Ethan Coen is teaming with Focus Features and Working Title for a currently untitled project that will shoot this summer. Co-written by Coen with his wife Tricia Cooke, the Russ Meyer-inspired story will reportedly center around a lesbian road trip and was initially developed back in the mid-2000s between The Ladykillers and No Country for Old Men era.

Originally set up with director Allison Anders, the action sex comedy follows “a party girl who takes a trip from Philadelphia to Miami with her buttoned-down friend. Cruising bars...

Seth Willenson, the influential marketing executive and producer of films and home video, died March 18 in Los Angeles, a rep confirmed to Variety. According to their statement, Willenson died from heart disease. He was 74.

Willenson began his career in 1970, as an early hire at the then-young New Line Cinema. He was responsible for one of the company’s earliest successes, by promoting the 1936 anti-cannabis propaganda film “Reefer Madness” as a “midnight movie” to college campuses. As a result of his work, the film became a cult classic, and he would later be responsible for the marketing of other “midnight movies” that New Line distributed, including “Pink Flamingos,” “Sympathy for the Devil” and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” After leaving the company in 1973, he would return over 20 years later to become the president of telecommunications and planning in 1988.

In between, Willenson worked as a senior vice president at Films Inc., then...

With fears our winter travel will need a, let’s say, reconsideration, the Criterion Channel’s monthly programming could hardly come at a better moment. High on list of highlights is Louis Feuillade’s delightful Les Vampires, which I suggest soundtracking to Coil, instrumental Nine Inch Nails, and Jóhann Jóhannson’s Mandy score. Notable too is a Sundance ’92 retrospective running the gamut from Paul Schrader to Derek Jarman to Jean-Pierre Gorin, and I’m especially excited for their look at one of America’s greatest actors, Sterling Hayden.

Special notice to Criterion editions of The Killing, The Last Days of Disco, All About Eve, and The Asphalt Jungle, and programming of Ognjen Glavonić’s The Load, among the better debuts in recent years.

See the full list of January titles below and more on the Criterion Channel.

-Ship: A Visual Poem, Terrance Day, 2020

5 Fingers, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1952

After Migration: Calabria,...

It’s a very musical episode! Director and Tfh Guru, Allan Arkush, returns to talk about his favorite rock and roll movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

No Nukes (1980)

Amazing Grace (2018) – Dennis Cozzalio’s Oscar nominee reactions

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Get Crazy (1983) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979) – Eli Roth’s trailer commentary

Blackboard Jungle (1955) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

Rock, Rock, Rock! (1956) – ​​Jesus Treviño’s trailer commentary

Mister Rock And Roll (1957)

Go, Johnny, Go! (1959) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

Hail Hail Rock And Roll! (1987) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

The Girl Can’t Help It (1956) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary

Hellzapoppin’ (1941)

Innerspace (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Almost Famous (2000) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

Wayne’s World (1992)

The Graduate (1967) – Neil Labute’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Scorpio Rising...

Edgar Wright and Quentin Tarantino are longtime friends, and this friendship ended up playing a role in the titling of Wright’s new psychological thriller, “Last Night in Soho.” It turns out the title was Tarantino’s doing, as Wright recently admitted to Total Film magazine.

“In ‘Death Proof,’ Quentin uses a Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich song, ‘Hold Tight’,” Wright said. “I was talking to him about that song, and that band, and he said, ‘Have you ever heard “Last Night in Soho?”’ He played it for me, and he goes, ‘This is the best title music for a film that’s never been made.’”

The original title for “Last Night in Soho” was “Red Light Area,” but Wright scrapped it once he discovered there was already a Cillian Murphy-starring movie with the title “Red Lights.” Wright’s next title idea was “The Night Has a Thousand Eyes,...

Shelley H. Surpin, a longtime entertainment lawyer and partner at Surpin, Mayersohn & Coghill in Los Angeles, has died. She was 72. Her firm said Surpin died September 3 of complications following a stroke.

A champion for independent film, helped with the careers of such filmmakers as Greg Araki, Nicole Holofcener, Paul Mazur, Allison Anders, Zal Batmanglij, Brit Marling, Mike Cahill and Tom Flynn, among many others.

Surpin began practicing entertainment law at Pollock, Rigrod and Bloom (later Bloom Hergott), eventually becoming partners with Andy Rigrod and founding Rigrod and Surpin.

She produced writer-director Batmanglij’s dramatic feature Sound of My Voice, a 2012 Fox Searchlight release that earned Indie Spirit Award noms for supporting actress Marling — who also co-wrote the pic — and Best First Feature. Surpin also executive produced the feature Jake Squared, which premiered at the 2013 Raindance Festival in London.

Surpin received her law degree from Boalt Hall School of Law at Uc Berkeley,...

Shelley Surpin, the entertainment lawyer who produced a half-dozen movies and championed such independent filmmakers as Allison Anders, Nicole Holofcener and Gregg Araki, has died. She was 72.

Surpin died Friday in Santa Monica of complications from a stroke, her law firm, the Century City-based Surpin, Mayersohn & Coghill, announced.

Surpin was a producer on The Doom Generation (1995) and Nowhere (1997), both written and directed by Araki; Louis & Frank (1998), written and directed by Alexandre Rockwell; Prague Duet (1998), written and directed by Roger L. Simon; Sound of My Voice (2012), directed and co-written by Zal Batmanglij and starring Brit Marling; and Jake Squared (2013), written and ...

Shelley Surpin, the entertainment lawyer who produced a half-dozen movies and championed such independent filmmakers as Allison Anders, Nicole Holofcener and Gregg Araki, has died. She was 72.

Surpin died Friday of complications from a stroke, her law firm, the Century City-based Surpin, Mayersohn & Coghill, announced.

Surpin was a producer on The Doom Generation (1995) and Nowhere (1997), both written and directed by Araki; Louis & Frank (1998), written and directed by Alexandre Rockwell; Prague Duet (1998), written and directed by Roger L. Simon; Sound of My Voice (2012), directed and co-written by Zal Batmanglij and starring Brit Marling; and Jake Squared (2013), written and directed by Howard ...

Consolidation is built into the nature of corporations. If some little upstart is eating into your market, it is easy enough to buy the upstart and add its market share to your own. Capitalism is a lot like Darwinism — put a little fish in the path of a big fish, and the big fish is compelled by its nature to eat it.

But even as little fish are absorbed into big fish, more little fish are being born.

There was a time in contemporary music when there were dozens of iconic record labels, each of which had a distinct identity. Even people who don’t follow music know what a Motown record sounded like. Asylum Records meant LA singer/songwriters; Stax Records was Memphis soul; Island Records began as a reggae label; and Sire Records practically owned New York punk.

Compare that to today, when Universal Music Group owns Capitol,...

Exclusive: The Thinklab Media and Kapers Animation have revealed first images from “Inspector Sun and the Curse of the Black Widow”, the animated noir-ish family thriller now in production in Spain for expected completion in Summer 2022. Director is Julio Soto Gúrpide (Deep) with a screenplay by Rocco Pucillo who won the 2013 Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award for it.

(Full Disclosure) I was one of three judges for the competition that year. Then Tri-Star Chairman (and now Sony Pictures Chairman) Tom Rothman, along with a past 2007 winner joined me as judges of the five finalist screenplays where we all voted separately. At the awards ceremony Rothman and I both discovered we had put Inspector Sun as the clear number one choice,...

Influential director Monte Hellman, whose 1971 film Two-Lane Blacktop starring musicians James Taylor and Dennis Wilson became a counterculture cult classic, died Tuesday. He was 91.

His death at Eisenhower Health hospital in Palm Desert followed a fall at his home, his daughter, producer Melissa Hellman, told The New York Times.

While not as well known as other directors of the New Hollywood of the late ’60s and early ’70s, Hellman was nonetheless influential. His sparse Two-Lane Blacktop , a post-Easy Rider character study about two street racers became a cornerstone among American existentialist road movies.

Hellman worked with the best actors of that New Hollywood generation, including Jack Nicolson and Warren Oates. He made his feature debut like so many other filmmakers of his generation – on a Roger Corman film, in his case called Beast From Haunted Cave.

Mulan and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine star Rosalind Chao chats about a few of her favorite movies with Josh & Joe.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Mulan (2020)

The Joy Luck Club (1993)

The Seven Year Itch (1955)

Mary Poppins (1964)

The Sound Of Music (1965)

My Fair Lady (1964)

Gremlins (1984)

Explorers (1985)

Funny Girl (1968)

What’s Up Doc? (1972)

The Heartbreak Kid (1972)

The Graduate (1967)

Midnight Run (1988)

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

The Lonely Guy (1984)

Waiting For Guffman (1996)

Best In Show (2000)

Hamilton (2020)

Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982)

Misery (1990)

Paris, Texas (1984)

Buena Vista Social Club (1999)

sex, lies and videotape (1989)

The Shining (1980)

Matewan (1987)

Thousand Pieces of Gold (1990)

Lost In Translation (2003)

Mean Streets (1973)

On The Rocks (2020)

Somewhere (2010)

Adaptation (2002)

Mandy (2018)

Possessor (2020)

Midsommar (2019)

The Wicker Man (1973)

Hereditary (2018)

The Lighthouse (2019)

Other Notable Items

The Scott Alexander podcast episodes

Tfh Guru Larry Karaszewski

Star Trek franchise

The It’s A Small World ride

Disneyland

University of the Arts

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine...

Every week, discriminating viewers are confronted with a flurry of choices: new releases on disc and on-demand, vintage, and original movies on any number of streaming platforms, catalog titles making a splash on Blu-ray or 4K. This biweekly column sifts through all of those choices to pluck out the movies most worth your time, no matter how you’re watching.

There’s not much to speak of in terms of new releases this week, aside from a new (and enjoyable) Werner Herzog documentary, but no worries; we’ve got an embarrassment of riches from the catalog, including three great New York movies from Criterion, three engaging Clint Eastwood movies from Kl Studio Classics, a pair of ‘80s comedies, and an Allison Anders gem that’s ripe for rediscovery.

Continue reading The 11 Best Movies To Buy Or Stream This Week: ‘Nomad,’ ‘Gone Girl,’ ‘Ghost Dog’ & More at The Playlist.

I’m a big fan of anything and everything written and directed by Allison Anders, but I’ve always been particularly fond of her 1996 musical Grace of My Heart. A magical blend of the kind of intimate behavior-driven filmmaking Anders is known for with the scale and resources of a big studio movie, it’s one of the most generous films I’ve ever seen in terms of how much it gives its characters (all of whom are presented with deep empathy and respect) and the audience. The heart of the picture is the richly detailed story of a singer-songwriter (a fantastic Illeana […]

The post Grace of My Heart, Hard Eight and Mallrats: Jim Hemphill's Home Video Recommendations first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

I’m a big fan of anything and everything written and directed by Allison Anders, but I’ve always been particularly fond of her 1996 musical Grace of My Heart. A magical blend of the kind of intimate behavior-driven filmmaking Anders is known for with the scale and resources of a big studio movie, it’s one of the most generous films I’ve ever seen in terms of how much it gives its characters (all of whom are presented with deep empathy and respect) and the audience. The heart of the picture is the richly detailed story of a singer-songwriter (a fantastic Illeana […]

The post Grace of My Heart, Hard Eight and Mallrats: Jim Hemphill's Home Video Recommendations first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Star of stage and screen Jenna Ushkowitz joins Josh and Joe to discuss her favorite musical biopics.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Gremlins (1984)

Back To The Future (1985)

Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)

Sixteen Candles (1984)

Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)

National Treasure (2004)

The Sound of Music (1965)

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Star Wars (1977)

La Bamba (1987)

Selena (1997)

The Buddy Holly Story (1978)

De-Lovely (2004)

Night and Day (1946)

All That Jazz (1979)

A Chorus Line (1985)

Star 80 (1983)

Psycho (1960)

Evita (1996)

Love and Mercy (2014)

Grace of My Heart (1996)

Get On Up (2014)

Ray (2004)

What’s Love Got To Do With It? (1993)

El Norte (1983)

The Wedding Planner (2001)

Out of Sight (1998)

Hustlers (2019)

Sweet Charity (1969)

Moulin Rouge! (2001)

Chicago (2002)

Moulin Rouge (1952)

Roxie Hart (1942)

The Greatest Showman (2017)

Other Notable Items

Glee TV series (2009-2015)

The Tony Awards

The Emmy Awards

The Academy Awards

Pee Wee’s Playhouse (1986-1990)

Eric Stoltz

Harry Potter film series

Marvel Cinematic Universe

The Dark Knight trilogy

Christopher Nolan

Julie Andrews...

Actor/Producer David Arquette joins Joe & Josh to discuss the movies that made him.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Scream (1996)

Never Been Kissed (1999)

3,000 Miles To Graceland (2001)

Bone Tomahawk (2015)

Spree (2020)

Gremlins (1984)

Muppets From Space (1999)

It’s A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002)

Unforgiven (1992)

The World According To Garp (1982)

Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969)

Slap Shot (1977)

The World of Henry Orient (1964)

Breakfast At Tiffany’s (1961)

Insomnia (2002)

One Hour Photo (2002)

The Long Goodbye (1973)

A History Of Violence (2005)

Last House On the Left (1972)

The Tripper (2006)

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910)

The Wizard of Oz (1925)

Funny Bones (1995)

There’s Something About Mary (1998)

The Gold Rush (1925)

The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1981)

Wild Style (1982)

The Shining (1980)

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982)

Dreamscape (1984)

Brainstorm (1983)

The Dead Zone (1983)

The Warriors (1979)

Commando (1985)

Somewhere In Time (1980)

Escape From New York (1981)

Being There (1979)

The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980)

Targets (1968)

Pleasantville (1998)

Hidden Agenda...