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On Thursday November 7 2024, Nickelodeon broadcasts Dora!

Papi’s Picnic Party Season 1 Episode 26 Episode Summary

The upcoming episode of “Dora,” titled “Papi’s Picnic Party,” promises to be a fun-filled adventure. In this episode, Dora is excited to prepare for a picnic with her family. However, as she travels to the picnic spot, she finds herself giving away ingredients along the way. Each encounter leads to a new challenge, making the journey both exciting and unpredictable.

As Dora meets various friends and characters, she generously shares the ingredients she has gathered. This act of kindness teaches young viewers about sharing and the importance of helping others. The episode highlights teamwork and problem-solving as Dora and her friends work together to gather what they need for the picnic.

“Papi’s Picnic Party” is sure to be filled with catchy songs, engaging activities, and vibrant animation. Dora’s adventures always bring valuable lessons,...

Shabana Azmi turns all gooey-eyed while talking about dear friend Aparna Sen. “I’m sorry this is going to sound hagiographic but that’s because you’ve caught me in this frame of mind ! She is my dearest dearest friend. I love and respect her. She is an extremely intelligent person and one can discuss any subject with her. She and I have formed a relationship over the years where I immediately fall into a daft mode in her presence and she scolds me like a school teacher!”

Shabana loves Aparna not only as a friend but also as a cineaste. “Her understanding of cinema is deep and I wish I could get her funds to make films without ever caring about budget constraints. It’s not that I adore all her films . I am honest with her about my appraisal of her films and she takes it in the...

Tadanobu Asano is set to receive The Hollywood Reporter’s Trailblazer Award at the upcoming 37th installment of the Tokyo International Film Festival next month.

The chameleonic screen actor has been a mainstay of Japanese cinema for nearly three decades while regularly appearing in prominent supporting parts in big Hollywood productions. But his swaggering recent performance as the irascible samurai Yabushige on FX‘s smash-hit series Shogun has given him an all-new level of global recognition over the past year. In the process of becoming an indelible fan favorite, Asano also received his first Emmy nomination for the part.

THR’s Trailblazer Award, whose recent honorees include six-time Emmy winner Jean Smart, David Oyelowo, Eva Longoria, Matt Bomer, Niecy Nash-Betts and America Ferrera, is given to artists whose work and careers illuminate stories and characters who have been traditionally marginalized in Hollywood. International editor Abid Rahman will present Asano with the award on Oct.

South Korea’s Barunson E&a has secured international sales rights to My Dearest Fu Bao, a documentary about the first giant panada born in Korea who became a beloved local celebrity before being returned to China. Pre-sales will begin ahead of Venice and Toronto.

Directed by Shim Hyeong-jun and Thomas Ko, the feature is set for a theatrical release in South Korea on September 4, of which the distribution will also be handled by Barunson E&a.

The documentary follows the journey of giant panda Fu Bao and zookeepers Kang Cher-won and Song Young-kwan from the time of her birth in July...

Having seen ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,’ I can say bringing Sam Raimi into the MCU fold was an excellent choice, especially given the source material. Fourteen years in, the MCU and larger superhero genre have begun to feel stale. So bringing in a director who can offer an auteur approach to one of the franchise’s films is a fresh change of stylistic pace. ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ kept me on the edge of my seat and with a pit in my stomach far more than the average Marvel flick. But this is not the first time Raimi has worked with Marvel, nor helmed a wildly successful superhero film. Many MCU fans my age likely started their journey into Marvel movies with 2002’s ‘Spider-Man,’ also directed by the filmmaker, and now all MCU fans have been loosely associated with the picture, as that film...

10 Weird but Surprisingly Great Anime Like Train to the End of the World - Main Image

As the summer 2024 season approaches, spring anime like Train to the End of the World will come to a close soon. If you can’t get enough of the unpredictable adventures of Shizuru and her friends in Train to the End of the World, you’ll also like these weird but surprisingly great anime.

From School-Live to Otherside Picnic, our anime list will surely remind you of the uniqueness and weirdness of the events that unfolded in Train to the End of the World.

So, buckle up and brace yourselves for the adventure of a lifetime with the following anime, which are similar to Train to the End of the World.

Do you have any anime recommendations similar to Train to the End of the World? Let us know in the comments below and...

In the upcoming episode of “The Makery” titled “Indoor Picnic,” viewers are in for a treat as Brooke’s plans for a countryside picnic get disrupted by a thunderstorm. Instead of letting the weather dampen her spirits, Brooke decides to bring the picnic indoors and get creative in the kitchen. She whips up some delicious dino eggs and a quirky breakfast beard for an indoor feast that promises to be both fun and tasty.

The episode, set to air at 9:38 Am on Sunday, 26 May 2024, on Ukids, showcases Brooke’s ingenuity and resourcefulness as she transforms a disappointing situation into a delightful culinary adventure. With her infectious enthusiasm and inventive cooking skills, Brooke’s indoor picnic is sure to inspire young viewers to get creative in their own kitchens.

Fans of “The Makery” can look forward to a heartwarming and entertaining episode that highlights the joy of cooking and the...

If Criterion24/7 hasn’t completely colonized your attention every time you open the Channel––this is to say: if you’re stronger than me––their May lineup may be of interest. First and foremost I’m happy to see a Michael Roemer triple-feature: his superlative Nothing But a Man, arriving in a Criterion Edition, and the recently rediscovered The Plot Against Harry and Vengeance is Mine, three distinct features that suggest a long-lost voice of American movies. Meanwhile, Nobuhiko Obayashi’s Antiwar Trilogy four by Sara Driver, and a wide collection from Ayoka Chenzira fill out the auteurist sets.

Series-wise, a highlight of 1999 goes beyond the well-established canon with films like Trick and Bye Bye Africa, while of course including Sofia Coppola, Michael Mann, Scorsese, and Claire Denis. Films starring Shirley Maclaine, a study of 1960s paranoia, and Columbia’s “golden era” (read: 1950-1961) are curated; meanwhile, The Breaking Ice,...

William Holden was an Oscar-winning performer who starred in dozens of movies, remaining active until his untimely death in 1981. But how many of his titles remain classics? Let’s take a look back at 15 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born on April 17, 1918, Holden made his film debut with a starring role in the boxing drama “Golden Boy” (1939) when he was just 21 years old. Though his career lagged for the next decade, he came roaring back with Billy Wilder‘s Hollywood noir “Sunset Boulevard” (1950), playing a struggling screenwriter who becomes involved with a fading, delusional silent film star (Gloria Swanson). The role brought him his first Oscar nomination as Best Actor.

He joined the winner’s circle just three years later with a Best Actor victory for Wilder’s “Stalag 17” (1953), which cast him as a cynical American Pow who’s suspected of being a German informant during WWII.

Days of Our Lives spoilers for Thursday, April 11, 2024, reveal that Stephanie Johnson (Abigail Klein) grills Everett Lynch (Blake Berris).

Coming Up On Days Of Our Lives

Ava Vitali (Tamara Braun) frets about Clyde Weston (James Read). Konstantin Meleounis (John Kapelos) gives Maggie Horton Kiriakis (Suzanne Rogers) bad news.

Plus, Holly Jonas (Ashley Puzemis) and Tate Black (Jamie Martin Mann) have a romantic picnic.

Days Of Our Lives Spoilers – Everett Lynch Grilled

Dool spoilers for Thursday, April 11 reveal that Stephanie will grill Everett after hearing his conversation with Jada Hunter (Elia Cantu).

Now, Jada thought they were divorced but Everett never signed the divorce papers. Jada begged Everett to just sign them as Robert “Bobby” Stein so she they can both move on.

For some reason, Everett refuses. Everett said, “I can’t sign them the way you want me to.” That sounds like Everett refuses to sign Bobby’s name.

Veteran Japanese character actor Tadanobu Asano is having a very overdue breakthrough moment. The chameleonic film star has been a mainstay of Japanese cinema for nearly three decades, while also regularly appearing in prominent supporting parts in big Hollywood productions. But his irresistible performance in FX’s period series Shōgun is giving him an all-new level of global recognition.

Asano co-stars in Shōgun as Kashigi Yabushige, the scheming lord of Izu, a rugged region of feudal Japan where much of the series takes place. Playing the character with lived-in swagger and a fatalistic sense of humor, Asano has become one of the show’s clear fan favorites, with Reddit and Twitter threads popping up to revel in his character’s antics. Asano announced himself early in Shōgun‘s run: As many have marveled, Yabushige makes his entrance to the show by boiling a man alive but then wins the audience...

As secrets come out and the body count grows, a character in Bloodmoon says to another: “This is nightmare night, the end-of-the-fuckin’-world night… all the bugs and the bats and the goblins are coming out tonight and no one can stop them.” Based on that rather dramatic statement, one delivered by actor Christine Amor without her even batting an eyelid, this underseen 1990 Australian film sounds a bit deranged. Rest assured, that assumption isn’t off the mark. Of course, this shouldn’t come as a surprise; audacity and nuttiness tend to go hand in hand in classic Ozploitation. Nevertheless, director Alec Mills and screenwriter Robert Brennan’s collaboration was not quite like anything to come out of Aussie Horror at the time. Even today, parts of Bloodmoon feel singular when compared to films from that first slasher cycle.

Warning: Major spoilers below.

Based on one of its several striking...

Hollywood’s Egyptian Theatre will host a special screening series to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the podcast “You Must Remember This,” created and hosted by Karina Longworth.

Longworth has now spent a decade examining the untold histories of show business — including watercooler seasons spent revisiting the Manson murders, the Star Wars franchise and the life and career of Joan Crawford. The Egyptian, owned by Netflix, has curated a three-day screening series featuring the films of Hollywood bombshell Kim Novak.

Novak was the subject of the “lost” and first-ever recorded episode of “You Must Remember This.” Longworth has previously said a corrupted audio file and “large swaths” of copyrighted music led to the shelving of the episode, which will finally be released [Editor’s note: In the TV series that launched and catapulted Ryan Murphy to stardom, “Popular,” a fictional girl’s room at a Southern California high school was named for Novak after a donation from the star. We love...

Francis Ford Coppola's "The Conversation" is his masterpiece in between masterpieces. The legendary filmmaker wrapped principal photography in late February 1973, just one month before he would win the Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars for "The Godfather" (Albert Ruddy took home the Best Picture Oscar as the mafia classic's producer). Had Paramount released the film that year, it almost certainly would've received nominations for Best Picture and Director (over the wholly forgotten "A Touch of Class"), giving Coppola three consecutive nods in the latter category, a feat only accomplished once in Academy Awards history (by William Wyler). Instead, he wound up competing against himself a year later, when he added three more Oscars to his trophy case with "The Godfather Part II."

While "The Godfather" movies placed him atop Hollywood's director A-list for the rest of the decade, some cinephiles believe "The Conversation" is the superior film. The...

“Exhuma,” a locally produced occult drama-thriller, expanded its domination of the South Korea box office on its second week of release. That left the newly-released “Dune 2” several sand dunes behind in second place.

“Exhuma,” about two shaman, a feng shui master and a mortician who attempt to undo the mysterious events happening to a U.S.-based Korean family, earned $17.2 million between Friday and Sunday, representing a 69% share of the overall box office market.

Unusually, its second weekend performance was also 19% higher than its opening score of $14.5 million a week earlier. That gave “Exhuma” a $43.5 million total since its debut in theaters on Feb. 22, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).

Its 11-day total makes “Exhuma” the top-grossing Korean film of the year, overtaking “Wonka” on $23.8 million. In terms of admissions, which Korea uses to prepare film ranking charts, “Exhuma” sold...

Occult drama-thriller “Exhuma,” dominated the South Korea box office in its opening weekend with a scarily good debut approaching $17 million.

The film, about two shaman, a feng shui master and a mortician who attempt to undo the mysterious events happening to a U.S.-based Korean family, grabbed $14.5 million between Friday and Sunday, representing a 77% share of the overall box office market. Including the earnings since its Wednesday debut, the film earned $16.8 million in its full opening session, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).

That total should, when weekend estimated are confirmed, give “Exhuma” the status as the second highest grossing film so far in 2024 in Korea, behind only “Wonka,” and the claim to be the biggest Korean production, after overtaking “Citizen of a Kind.”

“Exhuma,” which stars the veteran Choi Min-sik and rising star Kim Go-eun, is directed by Jang Jae-hyun,...

The delayed release of “Wonka” continued to pay dividends as the Timothee Chalamet-starring fantasy headed the box office in South Korea for a third weekend. But the theatrical market contracted sharply after the Lunar New Year holiday.

“Wonka,” which released in much of the world in December, took $1.95 million between Friday and Sunday in Korea. That represented a 50% week-on-week tumble but it put “Wonka” on a cumulative total of $16.7 million after 19 days on release and confirmed the title as the top performing film of 2024 in Korea, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). Warner Bros. announced that with this weekend’s increment, the film has now grossed $600 million worldwide.

The wider Korean cinema market, however, dropped more steeply – from $11.8 million over the Lunar New Year holiday to $5.26 million in the latest session. That was the fourth lowest weekend over the past 12 months.

Timothee Chalamet’s Wonka Vs Henry Cavill’s Argylle At South Korean Box Office (Picture Credit: IMDb)

Timothee Chalamet, ahead of the release of Dune: Part Two, got the highest-grossing film of his career with the musical fantasy Wonka. The film did an incredible business at the North American box office. It is also doing well in South Korea. Meanwhile, Henry Cavill-led Argylle opened to a poor reception here, and it is also the same at the South Korean box office. Keep scrolling to know.

The film, directed by Paul King, tells the origin story of Willy Wonka. The fictional character first appeared in the children’s novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. In 2005, Johnny Depp appeared as Willy Wonka in Tim Burton’s movie and was widely appreciated by the people. He and Gene Wilder set the standards too high for this character with their performances,...

Hollywood fantasy film “Wonka” held strongly at the top of the South Korean box office on a weekend boosted by the Lunar New Year holidays. But Hollywood spy comedy “Argylle” opened disappointingly in seventh position.

Korea allocates three days of public holiday to the Lunar New Year and took them this time from Friday to Sunday. The extra holiday footfall in cinemas drove up box office and gave “Wonka” an almost unchanged weekend haul, despite a declining share of the overall market.

“Wonka” earned $3.88 million in its second weekend, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). After 12 days in Korean cinemas, it has a cumulative total of $11.6 million.

The overall theatrical market climbed 50% due to the holiday, from $7.47 million to $11.3 million this weekend.

“Citizen of a Kind” was also boosted by the holiday traffic. It expanded so that its third weekend score...

The Criterion Collection reaches out to encompass more radical works of cinema in April 2024, led by Mathieu Kassovitz's completely unsettling La Haine (1995); the seminal Werckmeister Harmonies (2000), described by Criterion as "a hypnotic parable of societal collapse from auteur Béla Tarr and codirector-editor Ágnes Hranitzky;" the remarkable I Am Cuba (1964) from director Mikhail Kalatozov; Nancy Savoca's under-appreciated Dogfight, starring Lili Taylor and River Phoenix; and Peter Weir's dreamy and mysterious Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), available in 4K. La Haine, Werckmeister Harmonies, and I Am Cuba are also being issued in 4K, so it's a splendid time for world cinema fans to dust off their wallets and indulge. (I say that knowing that April 15 is also looming as an important date...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

After gaining international critical acclaim with his short and art house films, Song Il-gon's directed first mainstream film “Always” that opened the 2011 Busan International Film Festival. It was also the first feature film for actress Han Hyo-joo. Song Il-gon (1971) studied Fine Arts at the Seoul Institute of the Arts. After graduation he attended the National Academy of Film in Łódź, Poland. During his time there he made several short films that were influenced by psychology and Western mythology such as Liver and Potato(1998) inspired by the biblical story of Cain and Abel and The Dream of the Clowns (1998). Receiving the Jury Prize for Best Short Film for Picnic (Sopoong,1999) Song became the first Korean to win an award at the Cannes Film Festival. This international success continued with his first feature Flower Island (2001) wining a prize at the Venice Film Festival

“Always” is screening at Hong Kong Arts Centre,...

A new cast of characters is joining Niall Horan’s The Show. Nearly five months after the release of his third studio album, the singer and songwriter has announced an extended edition titled The Show: The Encore, with special appearances from Lizzy McAlpine and John Legend. The record will arrive on Nov. 3 featuring nine new versions of songs from its original track list.

Ahead of the album’s release, Horan will share his collaborative rendition of “You Could Start a Cult” with McAlpine. Earlier this year, the former One Direction...

Prince William and Kate Middleton attended a very special wedding on Thursday.

The Prince and Princess of Wales headed to Jordan to see Crown Prince Hussein tie the knot with Rajwa Alseif.

The couple married in an Islamic ceremony at Zahran Palace. It’ll then be followed by a reception at Al Husseiniya Palace with over 1,700 guests.

Kate donned a pink patterned gown by Elie Saab for the outing, while William looked dapper in a navy suit, pale blue tie and white shirt.

The British royals had a chat with the parents of the groom, King Abdullah II and Queen Rania, when they arrived, People reported, before greeting the newlyweds after the ceremony.

The Prince and Princess of Wales have arrived in Jordan ahead of Crown Prince Hussein’s wedding to Rajwa Alseif.

#PrinceandPrincessofWales

ITV News pic.twitter.com/n5gIvJbqGD

— Thomas – Royal Watcher (@_windsorroyal_) June 1, 2023

Watch: The royal wedding...

Will “Top Chef Mexico” winner Gabri Rodriguez be eliminated from the competition tonight in episode seven of “Top Chef: World All-Stars”? That’s what fans think who have placed their bets over the last week here in our predictions center. Make or update your own forecasts before tonight’s show.

Indeed, no one has been on as much of a roller coaster as Rodriguez. He’s the only chef who has been at the top or the bottom for all six challenges this season so far. Overall he has been at the bottom four times, more than any other chef this season. That includes the last three challenges in a row. He was on the losing team in “Spurred Lines” and had to compete in a cookoff to stay in the competition. Then his emotions got the better of him when making a mole in “Holiday Vacation.” And he was...

We’re almost halfway through “Top Chef: World All-Stars,” so we’re getting a better and better idea of how the competition is shaping up. Some chefs have been all over the map, and some were eliminated suddenly after earlier rock-star culinary performances — pour one out for Begoña Rodrigo — but there are four who have never once landed at the bottom in an Elimination Challenge. Will one of them be the eventual winner?

The first lucky chef is Charbel Hayek. The “Top Chef Middle East and North Africa” alum actually won the very first challenge of the season, “London Calling.” He has been safe in every challenge since, and he aced the team battles in “Spurred Lines” and “Top Chef is No Picnic.”

See‘Top Chef’ spoilers: Who was eliminated in season 20 of Bravo cooking competition?

Nicole Gomes from “Top Chef Canada,” Sara Bradley from “Top Chef: Kentucky,” and Victoire Gouloubi...

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Celebrating The Lives Of The Legendary Hollywood Couple

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New York, 28 February 2023 – In the early 1950s, two young aspiring actors arrived in New York to fulfill lifelong dreams of taking center stage. Shortly thereafter in 1953, Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman were cast in the Broadway production of William Inge’s “Picnic”, sparking what would become a decades-long romance and cementing the stars as Hollywood’s ‘golden couple.’ The two would team up again four years later to film The Long, Hot Summer – a time which Paul fondly recounted in his recently published memoir, The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man, in which “Joanne and I could do what we longed for years to do in public, as well as put on screen what...

The bell just rang, school is out for summer. Maybe it’s out forever—leaving school behind as our heroes and antiheroes spend long, hot days laying about in the city or countryside, anticipating college dreams or fearing a return to the classroom. Or, more likely, not thinking of studies at all, just anticipating the next summer day and how to score more thrills.As the season winds down, here is a mix that is an ode to the teenage summer—so wonderfully captured in many films—a choice selection that evokes endless possibilities: sweat, love, passion, booze, drugs, and questions of the great unknown just around the corner. The characters of these summertime stories are either breaking hearts, heartbroken, running from hell or somewhere lost in between.Some favorite moments include the confusion, chaos and otherworldly essence of Gheorghe Zamfir’s flute from the unforgettable score for Peter Weir...

Cinematography retrospectives are the way to go—more than a thorough display of talent, it exposes the vast expanse a Dp will travel, like an education in form and business all the same. Accordingly I’m happy to see the Criterion Channel give a 25-film tribute to James Wong Howe, whose career spanned silent cinema to the ’70s, populated with work by Howard Hawks, Michael Curtz, Samuel Fuller, Alexander Mackendrick, Sydney Pollack, John Frankenheimer, and Raoul Walsh.

Further retrospectives are granted to Romy Schneider (recent repertory sensation La piscine among them), Carlos Saura (finally a chance to see Peppermint frappe!), the British New Wave, and groundbreaking distributor Cinema 5, who brought to U.S. shores everything from The Man Who Fell to Earth and Putney Swope to Pumping Iron and Scenes from a Marriage.

September also yields streaming premieres for the recently restored Bronco Bullfrog, Ang Lee’s Pushing Hands,...

Elizabeth Marvel has joined the star-studded cast of Blitz Bazawule’s adaptation of “The Color Purple”.

The forthcoming Warner Bros. musical movie is an adaptation of Alice Walker’s iconic American novel, as well as the Oscar-nominated 1985 film and Tony Award-winning Broadway musical that it inspired.

Production is currently underway for the project in Georgia, where the story is set. Directed by Bazawule, from a screenplay by Marcus Gardley (“The Chi”), the story spotlights Celie, a Black woman whose personal awakening in the American South of the early 20th century is at the center of this epic story.

Told through a lens of magical realism, dance and an uplifting musical score infused with African American jazz, gospel and blues, the movie aims to astonish lovers of earlier adaptations and introduce these beloved characters to a new generation.

Marvel will assume the role of Miss Millie — the unpleasant and overbearing mayor...

TCM premiered a welcome restoration of this honorable Louis de Rochemont drama last year, and now it’s on a pristine-quality Blu-ray. Almost an ‘anti- film noir,’ the story of a labor conflict in a tiny New England hamlet is a docu-drama that actually has a positive, if not Utopian, ending. Fine direction by Robert Siodmak breathes life into the thesis that Yankee ingenuity and ethical fair play can still save the day. A superb underdog cast — Lloyd Bridges, Carleton Carpenter, Murray Hamilton, James Westerfield, Lenore Lonergan, Russell Hardie, Helen Shields, Doro Merande, Diana Douglas, Anne Francis, Ernest Borgnine, Arthur O’Connell and even Dorothy Gish — bring this odd ‘Pepperidge Farms’ neo-realist tale to life.

The Whistle at Eaton Falls

Blu-ray

Flicker Fusion

1951 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 96 min. / Street Date March 15, 2022 / Richer Than the Earth / Available from Flicker Alley / 24.95

Starring: Lloyd Bridges, Dorothy Gish, Carleton Carpenter, Murray Hamilton, James Westerfield, Lenore Lonergan,...

Everything old is new again. Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed remake of “West Side Story” has garnered seven Oscar nominations. That haul is impressive but pales next to that of the 1961 original which reaped a whopping 11 bids. Not surprisingly, it was the big winner at the 34th annual Oscars. These took place at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on April 9, 1962 with Bob Hope hosting.

The Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins adaptation of the Leonard Bernstein–Stephen Sondheim landmark Broadway musical waltzed away with 10 wins including Best Picture, Director (shared for the first time) and for supporting players Rita Moreno and George Chakiris.

Robbins also received an honorary Oscar that night for his “brilliant achievement in the art of choreography on film.” Ironically, Robbins had received his walking papers from his directing duties 45 days into production. Wise told me in a 2002 L.A. Times interview that the production was behind schedule and over-budget.

Few television series boast an ensemble as rich as HBO’s “The Gilded Age,” at least in terms of Tony Awards. Julian Fellowes’ new period drama, which takes place in 1882 New York during a period of American industrialization and affluence, was shot predominantly in New York City. It draws on the wealth of theatre performers available due to the pandemic. The result is a cast of Broadway luminaries whose accolades total in the dozens, or 64 nominations and 23 wins, to be exact.

At the center of the action are a pair of two-time Tony winners — Christine Baranski and Cynthia Nixon — who play sisters Agnes van Rhijn and Ada Brook. These doyennes of old, moneyed New York try to bar the door to the new wealth elbowing their way into high society. Baranski won her first Tony for her performance in Tom Stoppard’s “The Real Thing,” which featured Nixon as Baranski’s daughter.

Exclusive Stage director and choreographer Chase Brock, who choreographed the Broadway productions of Be More Chill and Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark, has signed with Verve for representation in all areas.

Brock recently choreographed Be More Chill‘s West End transfer, and in 2019 choreographed the Public Works/Free Shakespeare in the Park production of Disney’s Hercules.

Brock made his Broadway debut at age 16 in the original cast of Susan Stroman’s revival of The Music Man. His other choreography credits include William Inge’s Picnic on Broadway, and the North American, German and Japanese productions of Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Brock also serves as the Artistic Director of Brooklyn-based The Chase Brock Experience, where he has created over 30 original works of dance theater during the past 15 years, including The Girl with the Alkaline Eyes with original score and scenario by Eric Dietz, American Sadness to the songs of Gabriel Kahane,...

Back in October 2019, before the pandemic, we brought you news about American Civil War movie Freedom’s Path.

The feature, which charts the friendship between a Union soldier and a runaway slave who is helping facilitate the Underground Railroad, stars Ewen Bremner (Trainspotting), Rj Cyler (Me And Earl And The Dying Girl) and Gerran Howell (Catch 22). Post-production has just wrapped.

As it turned out, the project would mark the final stops on the journey of two veteran actors who died while the movie was in post-production: Thomas Jefferson Byrd, a frequent Spike Lee collaborator, and New Orleans native Carol Sutton, both of whom had supporting roles.

Both actors died in sad circumstances. Tony-nominee Byrd was murdered in Atlanta and Sutton died of complications from Covid.

Today, the production has chosen to release two images of the admired actors in their final film, marking the first official stills from the movie.

Reed Birney, the stage and screen veteran best known for his Tony-winning turn in “The Humans,” has joined the packed cast of Mark Mylod’s “The Menu.” The Searchlight Pictures dark comedy has already lined up an impressive ensemble of heavyweight talent, including the previously announced Anya Taylor-Joy and Ralph Fiennes. The rest of the cast includes such award winners and film favorites as Hong Chau, Nicholas Hoult, John Leguizamo, Janet McTeer, and Judith Light.

“The Menu” follows a young couple on a trip to a remote island, where they have traveled to eat at an exclusive restaurant. There, the chef has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises.

Mylod, who has helmed episodes of “Succession” and “Entourage,” directs from a script by Will Tracy and Seth Reiss. Adam McKay and Betsy Koch are producing the picture. Overseeing for Searchlight are film production heads DanTram Nguyen and Katie Goodson-Thomas,...

Shunji Iwai always thrived in the portrayal of youths in various transitional stages of their life, with a significant part of his filmography focusing on this topic. “April Story” is another testament to the fact, although in a much tamer fashion than the majority of his work, which did not forbid it, however, from winning the audience award in Busan in 1998.

“April Story” is screening at Fantasia International Film Festival

Uzuki Nireno is a genuine country bumpkin from northern Hokkaido, who has just moved to Tokyo to study in the university. Adapting however, is not particularly easy, and the girl finds herself, either helping when not needed, interacting with men who seem anything but normal, and being pushed by a quirky girl in her classroom, the only one who wants to hang with her, into joining an air fishing club, presided by Fukatsu, an equally quirky young man. As time passes,...

The Criterion Channel has unveiled their lineup for next month and it’s another strong slate, featuring retrospectives of Carole Lombard, John Waters, Robert Downey Sr., Luis García Berlanga, Jane Russell, and Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman. Also in the lineup is new additions to their Queersighted series, notably Todd Haynes’ early film Poison (Safe is also premiering in a separate presentation), William Friedkin’s Cruising, and Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Teorama.

The new restorations of Manoel de Oliveira’s stunning Francisca and Francesco Rosi’s Christ Stopped at Eboli will join the channel, alongside Agnieszka Holland’s Spoor, Bong Joon Ho’s early short film Incoherence, and Luc Dardenne & Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s Rosetta.

See the lineup below and explore more on criterionchannel.com.

#Blackmendream, Shikeith, 2014

12 Angry Men, Sidney Lumet, 1957

About Tap, George T. Nierenberg, 1985

The AIDS Show, Peter Adair and Rob Epstein, 1986

The Assignation, Curtis Harrington, 1953

Aya of Yop City,...

Despite the proliferation of streaming services, it’s becoming increasingly clear that any cinephile only needs subscriptions to a few to survive. Among the top of our list are The Criterion Channel and Mubi and now they’ve each unveiled their stellar April line-ups.

Over at The Criterion Channel, highlights include spotlights on Ennio Morricone, the Marx Brothers, Isabel Sandoval, and Ramin Bahrani, plus Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard, Frank Borzage’s Moonrise, the brand-new restoration of Joyce Chopra’s Smooth Talk, and one of last year’s best films, David Osit’s Mayor.

At Mubi (where we’re offering a 30-day trial), they’ll have the exclusive streaming premiere of two of the finest festival films from last year’s circuit, Cristi Puiu’s Malmkrog and Nobuhiko Obayashi’s Labyrinth of Cinema, plus Philippe Garrel’s latest The Salt of Tears, along with films from Terry Gilliam, George A. Romero,...

Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021 announces the members of the Competition Jury and the Housen Short Film Award Jury.

Competition Jury Members

Ariyoshi Tsukasa (有吉司) / Japan / Representative of the movie distribution company Magic Hour

Ariyoshi was in charge of film programming at Tokyo Theatres Company Inc. for ten years. While there, he participated in the production of “Charisma” (1999) directed by Kurosawa Kiyoshi, and “Eureka” (2011) directed by Aoyama Shinji. After leaving the company, he founded Magic Hour. He has distributed the “McDull” series of Hong Kong animated films in Japan, the Iranian film “A Separation” (2011), the Filipino film “The Woman Who Left” (2016), the Danish film “Uncle” (2019), and the Vietnamese movie “Rom”, which will be screened at Oaff 2021.

Kimbara Yuka (金原由佳) / Japan / Film Journalist

Kimbara grew up in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture. After graduating from Kwansei Gakuin University, she worked for a financial institution before entering the film industry. Over the past 30 years, she...

Exclusive: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has a warrant out, in a manner of speaking, for Broadway actors. Next week’s episode features Tony-nominated Hadestown actor Eva Noblezada and Beetlejuice himself Alex Brightman, and showrunner Warren Leight tells Deadline that’s just the beginning.

Last night, after the episode casting was announced, Leight tweeted, “We are trying to hire every Broadway actor we can while we and they wait for the curtains to rise again.” And he wasn’t joking.

“We know how hard the community has been hit here,” Leight said in an interview. “The goal is to get as many jobs to as many theater actors as we possibly can.”

The offer couldn’t come at a more opportune time. The National Endowment for the Arts recently released figures indicating that while the overall unemployment rate has averaged 8.5 percent, the average among actors was 52 percent.

The NBC New York-based L&o franchise has long been known as a steady source of employment for the city’s theater performers – rare is the stage actor whose Playbill credits don’t include at least one of the L&o series – but the pandemic has pushed Leight’s team to ramp up even those efforts for the current Season 22.

Stage actors already cast in parts for this season include the Tony-winning Adriane Lenox, Elizabeth Marvel, Jane Bruce (Jagged Little Pill), Jelani Alladin (Disney’s Frozen), Michael Mastro (Love! Valour! Compassion!), and Betsy Aidem (Steel Magnolias).

Even Raúl Esparza, a four-time Tony nominee known to the wider TV audience for his six-season Svu run as Assistant D.A. Rafael Barba, is making a temporary franchise comeback to reprise the role for this week’s episode “Sightless in a Savage Land.”

Leight says the Broadway-filled roles range in scope from one-day parts to more substantial turns, but have an important practical impact for the actors, adding to the work day minimums required for Actors Equity-Broadway League health insurance.

The casting offers a significant logistical benefit to the show as well: casting New York actors is the more practical and efficient option during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the prospect of long-distance flights from Hollywood and required quarantine protocols can complicate using Los Angeles-based actors.

“In the past we’ve done what you could call Hollywood stunt casting,” Leight says, “but a lot of those players aren’t going to be willing to get on a plane and quarantine right now. We realized early on that we’ll have to cast locally much more.”

The Broadway shutdown also allows the show to get around the planning issues that Broadway’s usual performance schedule demands: Coordinating a shoot around the identical eight-performance weeks of working stage actors like Noblezada and Brightman (who Leight says enact “a horribly failed virtual romance” in the Jan. 14 episode) is daunting. There’s only so much guest-starring that can be crammed into a dark Broadway Monday.

Yet another plus for the production: Stage actors, accustomed to the tightrope walk of eight shows a week, are what Leight calls “money players,” guest stars who “hit their marks and can do it over and over” quickly. With pandemic safety precautions enforced on set – minimal personal contact, Covid testing, noisy stop-and-start ventilation, among other things – the production, he says, “doesn’t have time for actors who need to find it.”

“Our directors need to know that [guest actors] can do two scenes with Olivia and not be nervous,” he adds, referring to star Mariska Hargitay’s Olivia Benson character.

Leight himself has an extensive stage background, including his 1998 Tony-winning Best Play Side Man, a Pulitzer finalist that starred the Tony-winning Frank Wood.

And yes, Wood will be popping up on Svu this season. Leight says Svu‘s medical examiners office has been “augmented” to include a role for his old friend.

Leight’s Tuesday night tweet was met with a quick response from New York stage actors. Jennifer Mudge, whose Broadway and Off Broadway credits include Into The Woods, Rocky and The Philanthropist, tweeted, “Warren, I feel like now is the time to tell you that only Svu is missing from my L&o trifecta completion. (Mothership twice!),” to which Leight responded, “On it.”

Three-time Tony nominee Carolee Carmello tweeted a simple, “Much appreciated,” while West Side Story actor Danny Wolohan wrote, “Broadway’s Officer Krupke says thank you!”

And Chris Orbach – actor, writer, musician and, as the son of the late Jerry Orbach, a member of an L&o royal family – weighed in. “God love you,” he responded to Leight’s tweet. “You cats are good like that.”

Law & Order: Svu, from Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, airs Thursdays at 9 pm on NBC.

Thank you, @warrenleightTV! My last L&o stint was an episode staring John Ritter! I think it's time I came back for a visit! ❤️

— Erin Leigh Peck (@ErinLeighPeck) January 6, 2021

God love you, you cats are good like that ❤️

— Chris Orbach (@chrisorbach) January 6, 2021...

After nearly nine years as head of scripted at Fremantle Australia, Jo Porter is moving on to lead Playmaker Media.

Sony Pictures Television (Spt) announced her appointment as managing director today, starting in 2021.

Porter succeeds Playmaker founders David Maher and David Taylor, who announced their departure from company in July to return to independent production.

At Fremantle, Porter executive produced hits such as Foxtel’s Wentworth, which has sold to 171 countries worldwide and Picnic at Hanging Rock, which opened at Berlinale and sold to 160 territories, including Amazon for the US and the BBC for the UK. She also oversaw the production of Mary: Making of a Princess, Olivia Newton-John: Hopelessly Devoted to You, Hoges and Wonderland.

Prior to joining Fremantle, Porter worked as a producer at the Seven Network, with credits that included Packed to the Rafters, Always Greener and All Saints.

Of her new role, Porter said: “I have...

Posh frocks, smoldering sexuality and a trail of intriguing but ultimately frustrating clues made for a great mystery back in 1975, when Peter Weir’s “Picnic at Hanging Rock” first appeared on the big screen. The tale of schoolgirl disappearances, deception and voyeurism remains a beacon of Australian cinema and launched Weir’s directing career.

But these days, those narrative qualities are being explored in greater depth on the small screen by top screenwriting and directing talent. “Picnic at Hanging Rock” has itself returned as a new TV miniseries piloted by FremantleMedia and picked up by Amazon for the U.S. and the BBC for Britain. Pay-channel Foxtel has it in Australia – where the novel of the same title is a classic of Australian literature – and sees the show as a subscriptions magnet.

“Picnic,” which opens the Berlinale’s TV strand Monday, is the highest-profile Australian project in Berlin this year.

Conchata Ferrell, a three-time Emmy nominee who appeared in more than 200 episodes of Two and a Half Men and was a regular on L.A. Law‘s sixth season, died Monday at Sherman Oaks Hospital of complications following a cardiac arrest. She was 77 as a result She died peacefully surrounded by family.

Ferrell probably is best known for her role as no-nonsense housekeeper Berta on the hit CBS comedy Two and a Half Men. The role earned her a pair of Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy nominations in 2005 and 2007.

“She was a beautiful human,” Two and a Half Men star Jon Cryer said. “I’m crying for the woman I’ll miss, and the joy she brought so many.” Added fellow Men star Charlie Sheen, “An absolute sweetheart, a consummate pro, a genuine friend. Berta, your housekeeping was a tad suspect, your ‘people’ keeping was perfect.”

The veteran...

Actor and sometimes filmmaker Ethan Hawke is set to direct a documentary about Hollywood couple Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. Newman met Woodward while they were both working on the Broadway production Picnic, and the two married in 1958, and would remain married for 50 years until Newman’s death in 2008. Woodward is still alive as […]

The post Ethan Hawke Directing Documentary About Paul Newman And Joanne Woodward appeared first on /Film.

Exclusive: Nook House Productions has tapped Ethan Hawke to direct a documentary project about the lives and careers of Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman, authorized by the family.

The producers include Emily Wachtel and Lisa Long Adler of Nook House Productions and Adam Gibbs, and Ryan Hawke of Under the Influence Productions.

In a statement Hawke said he promises a “rare and exclusive look at the careers of both actors and a complex 50-year relationship that ultimately managed to beat incredible odds.”

Newman and Woodward’s love story is truly one that seems written for Hollywood. They first met as colleagues in the early 1950s while working in New York City on a Broadway production of the romantic drama Picnic. They would head to Hollywood right after that, and would eventually work together again on the film in The Long, Hot Summer. By the end of that shoot, their love...

A few years before Roy Thomas Baker gained fame as the producer for some of the greatest albums by Queen and the Cars, he was one of several engineers to work with the ever-prolific Frank Zappa.

A new four-disc box set, The Mothers 1970, spotlights some of the work Baker did with Zappa, including a rare early mix of “Sharleena,” the track that closed out Zappa’s Chunga’s Revenge LP.

Interestingly, it’s cleaner sounding and doesn’t have as much of the mushy background guitar that creeps up in the Chunga version,...

‘Bad Education’ (Photo credit: HBO)

Launched today, Foxtel’s low-cost entertainment streaming service Binge offers 10,000 hours of content, rising to 20,000 hours by the end of the year – but no exclusives and relatively few Australian shows.

Yet executives are confident the curated mix of drama, movies, lifestyle and reality shows and documentaries will appeal to the younger segment of the population who will never subscribe to Foxtel and are hooked on streaming content.

With similar pricing to Netflix and Stan, its monthly fees range from $10 for one stream in Standard Definition to $14 for two streams in HD and $18 for four streams.

It may well be the last throw of the dice if the platform co-owned by News Corp. and Telstra is to succeed in arresting the slide in Foxtel’s customers and the company’s revenues and profits.

Executives at Streamotion, which houses Binge and Kayo Sports, tested the concept and...

Unheard recordings from Frank Zappa’s short-lived but beloved 1970 lineup of the Mothers feature in the upcoming box set The Mothers 1970, a four-disc set featuring 70 unreleased studio and live tracks out of the legendary guitarist’s Vault.

The Zappa Trust announced the June 26th-bound release with the newly unearthed “Portuguese Fenders,” a searing live instrumental boasting a fiery Zappa solo; the track was discovered among other live performances Zappa recorded himself on his personal tape recorder.

The release celebrates the 50th anniversary of that Mothers (formerly “of Invention”) iteration, which...

Else Blangsted, a Holocaust survivor who went on to a 35-year career as a film music editor who worked with some of the industry’s most successful directors, producers and composers – Robert Redford, Steven Spielberg, Quincy Jones, Dave Grusin, Sydney Pollack, among others – died Friday, May 1, from natural causes at her home in Los Angeles. She was 99.

Blangsted’s death, which occurred just three weeks short of her 100th birthday, was confirmed by her cousin, the Oscar–winning filmmaker and producer Deborah Oppenheimer.

Though she occasionally worked in TV throughout the years – Hazel, Dennis the Menace, Apple’s Way and the 1976 miniseries Helter Skelter, among others – it was in film that Blangsted left her most indelible professional mark. A partial roster of her film credits, spanning 1955’s Picnic to 1990’s The Bonfire of the Vanities, includes On Golden Pond, The Great Santini, Ordinary People, The Color Purple, The Goonies, In Cold Blood,...

Brian Walsh.

The Covid-19 crisis and loss of live sport have taken a heavy toll on Foxtel, resulting in mass redundancies and stand-downs – but Brian Walsh sees several positives for the platform.

Foxtel’s executive director of TV believes the additional time writers are devoting to development will result in even higher quality drama.

He’s confident its low-cost entertainment streaming service, a sibling to Kayo Sports, which is due to launch in four or five weeks, will appeal to the 70 per cent of the population that doesn’t subscribe to Foxtel or who aren’t willing to pay for its premium product.

And he hopes that giving Fox Sports’ customers free access to the drama, movies and lifestyle tiers will reinforce to sports fans the value of the platform’s scripted and non-scripted content.

In addition, with most of the population in lockdown, Foxtel has seen a 105 per cent...