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Marvel’s Kid Loki Star Jack Veal Seeks Help After Revealing Homelessness In A Video (Photo Credit – Instagram)

Marvel actor Jack Veal, known for his role as Kid Loki in the Disney and Marvel hit series Loki, has posted a distressing video on social media. In the clip, the MCU star reveals his current homelessness and implores for assistance.

The 17-year-old also appeared in the 2022 TV series The Peripheral and had an uncredited part in The Favourite, starring Emma Stone.

Jack Veal Shared A Chilling Account Of His Living Conditions

Jack took to Instagram to share the clip on Tuesday, December 3, 2024. He gave a harrowing account of his living conditions and ongoing mental health struggles. The actor revealed that he is currently staying in a dangerous trailer with shattered windows. Jack even shared that he has sometimes been compelled to sleep on the streets.

Trending Bel-Air Season 4: Will Smith...

Tom Cruise Teams Up For Lovecraft Adaptation (Photo Credit – Facebook/Instagram)

Guillermo del Toro, the Academy Award-winning director of acclaimed horror stories such as The Shape of Water and Pan’s Labyrinth, has long entertained audiences with his visually absorbing worlds of darkly whimsical plots. While the Mexican filmmaker’s rendition of Dr. Frankenstein is currently under production at Netflix for a 2025 release, many of his ambitious projects never saw the light of day. Among these was a bold and epic tentpole that involved notable Hollywood powerhouses like James Cameron and Tom Cruise.

The now-defunct passionate endeavor of del Toro involved bringing author H. P. Lovecraft’s sci-fi horror novella, At the Mountains of Madness, to the big screen for an adaptation that would turn out to be as epic as it would cost. In an interview with Collider, the filmmaker opened up about his failed attempt during the late 2000s...

[Editor’s note: This guide was published in fall 2021 and has been updated multiple times since.]

As Netflix’s library of films ebbs and flows, finding the right movie to watch can feel like bailing out an ocean with a spoon. And if you’re looking for a quality horror movie in particular, the search only gets harder. With the reality that Horror is one of the cheapest genres to produce, streamers like Netflix are cluttered with a veritable tsunami of bloody titles that sometimes seem indistinguishable from one another. Curating the 25 scariest movies on Netflix is then quite a process of selection and reduction.

If you’re looking for a good horror movie to watch on Netflix that will truly scare you, picking a final selection can prove a more daunting task than sitting through yet another “Haunting of Hill House” rewatch; with or without its beloved “Bly Manor” chaser. But while the streamer’s priorities seem to shift as quickly as its content selection grows,...

Universal Pictures’ blockbuster musical “Wicked” has been named best picture by the National Board of Review, the organization announced on Wednesday, in addition to taking home the directing prize for Jon M. Chu and a special award for the collaboration of stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.

Over the last 40 years, most of the winners of NBR’s best film has gone on to receive an Oscar nomination for best picture, with the exception of films like 1998’s “Gods and Monsters,” 2000’s “Quills” and 2014’s “A Most Violent Year.” In the 1980s, there were technically two misses with 1987’s “Empire of the Sun” and 1983’s “Betrayal,” the latter of which won in a tie with “Terms of Endearment.” So far this decade, Spike Lee’s war drama “Da 5 Bloods” (2020) is the only film to fail to achieve Oscar recognition. Notably, since the Academy expanded the best picture lineup from...

Two years ago, the black & white version of Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar-nominated Nightmare Alley debuted on Hulu after its theatrical run. Today, the filmmaker revealed on Bluesky that not only is he hard at work on a Nightmare Alley remaster of this version, but it’ll be an extended cut.

“I am remastering the B&w Nightmare Alley w an extended cut. Stay tuned,” Del Toro shared on the social media app.

“Although we shot Nightmare Alley in color, we lit it as if it were black and white,” said del Toro previously of his dubbed Nightmare Alley: A Vision in Darkness & Light. “You can see exactly the same level of design, and we wanted to give viewers this special vantage as a take of the classic noir genre that the film is part of.”

Director of Photography Dan Laustsen had explained, “When we designed and shot, we were always...

Director Guillermo del Toro’s noir thriller / Best Picture nominee Nightmare Alley (watch it Here) was released into the world in December of 2021, and a black and white version of the film, called Nightmare Alley: Vision in Darkness and Light, was released soon after. Both the color and b&w versions of the film had a running time of 150 minutes – but now, del Toro has revealed that he’s working on an extended cut of the black and white version!

Del Toro posted on Bluesky, “I am remastering the B&W Nightmare Alley w an extended cut. Stay tuned.” We definitely will stay tuned to find out more information.

Del Toro had this to say about the black and white version of Nightmare Alley when it was first released: “Although we shot Nightmare Alley in color, we lit it as if it were black and white. You can see exactly the same level of design,...

Polish filmmaker Bartosz M. Kowalski, known for his works ‘Hellhole’ and ‘Nobody Sleeps in the Woods Tonight’, is gearing up to thrill audiences with his latest horror fantasy film, ‘Night Silence’.

The recently released teaser of the film takes viewers into the eerie confines of a nursing home where monsters begin to prowl, reminiscent of the haunting atmosphere in Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’.

The plot revolves around Lucjan, a retired actor portrayed by the late Maciej Damiecki. Lucjan finds himself temporarily placed in a countryside nursing home by his son while his house undergoes renovations.

Initially hesitant, Lucjan’s apprehensions are soon put to rest by the warm reception from the home’s staff and residents.

However, peace is short-lived as a series of murders and terrifying nightmares plunge the nursing home into chaos, forcing Lucjan to confront a grotesque threat.

The film not only promises to deliver...

Up next from Hellhole and Nobody Sleeps in the Woods Tonight filmmaker Bartosz M. Kowalski is a new dark horror fantasy that sees a nursing home invaded by eerie monsters: Night Silence. The official Night Silence teaser gives glimpses of the creatures in a story and tone akin to Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth.

Kowalski co-wrote the screenplay with Pawel Maslona and Mirella Zaradkiewicz.

In Night Silence, “Lucjan, a retired actor, is placed in a nursing home in the middle of the countryside by his son. Nothing definitive, just for a few months while the house is being renovated. Reluctant at first, he is won over by the hospitality of the staff and residents. Soon, however, a wave of murders terrorizes the place. Tormented by terrifying nightmares, Lucjan must face a grotesque threat if he wants to get out of there alive.”

Maciej Damiecki, Zdzislaw Wardejn, and Wlodzimierz Press star.

The box office failure of the Mad Max: Fury Road prequel Furiosa would seem to prove that movie-goers aren’t particularly interested in seeing entries in the “Mad Max Saga” that don’t give Max Rockatansky himself a prominent role – but that isn’t stopping Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel from daydreaming about making his own, potentially Max-lite contribution to the franchise. During an interview with Collider, Kurzel even said that’s considering pitching the idea to Mad Max franchise creator George Miller!

Kurzel is currently doing the press rounds for his thriller The Order, and his directing credits also include The True History of the Kelly Gang and Nitram. While speaking with Collider, he said, “I’ve always been curious about what happened before the first Mad Max – what was that world with the Nightrider, pre-Mad Max? I’ve always been very curious about that and very tempted to...

Rupert Grint, best known for playing Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter franchise, owes £1.8 million ($2.3 million) to the United Kingdom’s Hmrc tax agency.

The actor’s residual earnings from the wizarding series were incorrectly classified as capital assets instead of income, leading to a significant tax bill.

Grint attempted to reduce his taxable income in 2011 by establishing Clay 10 Limited, a company to which he sold his residual rights as capital. Despite this strategy, Judge Harriet Morgan ruled in favor of Hmrc, stating that the residuals — primarily from TV and DVD sales of the Harry Potter films — are income and not capital.

Clay 10 currently holds over £27 million ($34 million) in equity, according to a December 2023 filing.

Using the so-called “Beatles clause,” a similar tax avoidance strategy employed by the Beatles in the 1960s, Hmrc claimed that Grint sought to pay a lower capital gains tax instead of income tax by selling his rights to the company.

Did Jamie Dornan nearly lose Fifty Shades of Grey? (Photo Credit – Amazon)

Back in 2013, the casting drama was spicier than Christian’s Roomm. Hunnam was locked in to play the brooding billionaire, setting Sons of Anarchy fans on fire. But—plot twist—Hunnam had already given his word to Guillermo del Toro for Crimson Peak and couldn’t juggle both. Loyalty? Unshakable. So, Hunnam stepped aside, leaving Christian Grey up for grabs.

Enter Jamie Dornan, who was kind of like, “Wait, me?” And honestly, he wasn’t even sure at first, Dornan admitted in a British GQ interview, “I felt a certain amount of relief when he got it, to be honest. I thought, ‘This would have been fun, but it would have been a strange ride. Better not to be on that ride.'” Dornansaide, “I’m good, but… if you want me, I’ll bring the heat.” And the rest,...

There's no doubt that 2024 was an excellent year for Netflix movies. No matter what your favorite kind of movie is, whether it's romantic comedies or action movies or award seasons dramas, the streaming service had something for everyone. As usual, Netflix looks to keep that tradition alive in 2025 with some of its best movies yet coming down the pipeline.

Prior to the ball dropping on the new year, Netflix had already went ahead and announced release dates for some of its most exciting new movies that will be kicking off 2025 in style. Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx team up in the action-comedy Back in Action in January, while Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt fire up spring with the Russo Brother's sci-fi blockbuster The Electric State in March.

The Witcher fans have been waiting patiently for season 4, but in February, the new animated movie The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep...

Deadman is a character that is long overdue a live-action adaptation. We have been talking about him again recently as there have been rumors of an animated show possibly set in DC Studios' upcoming DC Universe. If that were to be the case, co-chairmen and CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran have revealed before that characters in animated projects could indeed reprise the role in live-action Dcu projects.

With that in mind if the animated show does go ahead and Deadman finds his way to the Dcu in live-action form, who could play the role? Well, this writer believes that there's one name in the acting world that'd be a perfect fit to play Deadman, and that person's name is Doug Jones!

11th Annual Location Managers Guild International Awards | Monica Schipper/GettyImages

Doug Jones is a man of many talents and many faces. His claim to fame is his numerous...

If you are a connoisseur of dark fantasy series that will take your breath away, then it will be normal to come across the greatness of Kentaro Miura and his magnum opus, Berserk. The series is renowned among the otakus for its intriguing art style and unfiltered action, with a gripping storyline in a fantasy world that has kept it so relevant in the anime and manga industry.

A panel from the Berserk manga. Credits: Hakusensha

Hence, many consider it to be the greatest manga, and its anime adaptation has added to its popularity. Since the trend of live-action adaptations of manga has been going on, fans wonder if Berserk will hop on the trend too. And what better to see Guts, the protagonist of the series, played by none other than Henry Cavill, and it might just become a reality because one of the richest families in the world...

Fluff up those couch cushions, and bring out your carving knife – it’s Thanksgiving. The holiday is all about coming together, indulging in food, and taking a moment to be grateful. And once the the pie’s polished off, and the football games are a wrap, what better way to end the day than with a movie marathon?

A still from Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio | Netflix

Thanksgiving movies are in a class of their own. Unlike Christmas films that crank up the sentimentality, Thanksgiving flicks tend to focus on family dynamics—both heartwarming and sometimes hilariously unhinged. So, whether you’re here for some family bonding, dinner-table bickering, or a soft tale to match the spirit of the season, we’ve got the perfect lineup for you.

10. Holidate (2020)

If you’ve ever been single during the holidays, you’ll relate to Holidate—a lighthearted rom-com about dodging awkward family...

Christopher Nolan recently moderated an FYC conversation with Denis Villeneuve after a screening of “Dune: Part Two” and raved about his love for the sequel, calling it “a miraculous job of adaptation.” The “Oppenheimer” Oscar winner joins the likes of Steven Spielberg and other top directors in praising “Dune: Part Two,” which is one of Warner Bros.’ top Oscar contenders this season.

“I watched the second half and I think it’s a miraculous job of adaptation, of taking that second half and making an incredible conclusion of the story,” Nolan said. “I have a lot of questions about how you did that, starting with: Usul, Muad’Dib, Paul, Lisan al Gaib. How many fucking names can you give one character and expect us to keep up with it?”

“There is a serious question behind that,” Nolan continued. “Most adaptations, it’s a process of condensing things and simplifying things.

While we know Christian Bale for his role as Batman, the actor has a diverse and versatile portfolio. From American Psycho to The Machinist, Bale is a multifaceted actor. But most importantly, he’s a jack of all trades.

This holds especially true with his stint as a voice actor involved in Studio Ghibli’s projects. With Miyazaki’s final project, Bale’s casting was nothing short of a tedious task.

Mahito in a still from the movie | Credit: Studio Ghibli

Gkids president David Jesteadt revealed the process behind Bale’s casting in The Boy and The Heron. The distribution company has previously worked with Ghibli on The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.

Jesteadt also sheds light on the secrecy regarding Miyazaki’s final film and how it came to fruition. This also boosted the film’s success in the long run.

Christian Bale was the topmost priority for The Boy...

There are few actors more synonymous with wonderful performances beneath layers of prosthetics and makeup than Doug Jones. Having appeared as Abe Sapian in the Guillermo Del Toro Hellboy films, the Creature in The Shape of Water, and even Billy Butcherson in Hocus Pocus, Jones has had a career that most actors simply dream of.

Doug can be seen in the recently released Nosferatu: Symphony of Horror, where he plays the title character; a role that Jones has wanted to play for decades. We spoke about the process of filming using elements from the original 1922 film as green screen backdrops, and how wonderful Max Schreck’s performance in the first film was. Doug is also starring in the final season of What We Do In The Shadows as The Baron, a role which has been an absolute highlight over the series’ 6 season run (and it was originally just supposed to be a one-episode cameo) Finally,...

TheWrap is thrilled to announce the launch of “Visionaries,” a new video series featuring in-depth conversations between Hollywood’s most innovative creators during awards season.

This all-new series pairs creative forces in candid, one-on-one discussions about their craft, the overall process and artistic vision. The format creates an intimate environment where filmmakers and artists can share personal insights and experiences that shaped their award-contending works.

The series premiere will feature a compelling dialogue between Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning actor Colman Domingo and director Greg Kwedar, discussing their powerful collaboration on “Sing Sing.” Domingo, who both stars in and executive produces the film, has attracted critical acclaim for his performance, while Kwedar’s innovative direction has established him as one of Hollywood’s most promising new voices — both creatively and financially, where he and his fellow producers made “Sing Sing” under a novel arrangement in which every cast and crew member was...

Lots of folks trace the origins of cinema to Eadweard Muybridge’s timed sequence photography or William Kennedy Dickson’s kinetoscope, but Ken Burns makes a convincing case that the true spirit of filmmaking starts with Leonardo Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.”

Burns and co-directors Sarah Burns and David McMahon broke out every tool in their documentary belt in order to demonstrate how Da Vinci brought emotion and intention to his painting in “Leonardo Da Vinci.” And the filmmaking in this two-part PBS series really does feel akin to the dynamism of Da Vinci’s work, within a documentary framework.

Split screens between the usual archival material and modern photography of bodies, animals, and objects in motion act as visual proof of the lateral connections Da Vinci saw between everything. “There’s a huge explosion of technique here. But the process is the same as every film I’ve ever worked on,...

Meryl Streep hosted a star-studded screening of Emilia Pérez on Wednesday at the San Vicente Bungalows, followed by a Q&a with her Only Murders in the Building co-star Selena Gomez, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively.

Guests at the intimate gathering included fellow Only Murders alums Martin Short, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Jesse Williams, as well as Nia Vardalos, Jeremy Piven, Jason Bateman, Annette Bening, Pom Klementieff and Thora Birch, among others.

After Streep posed a number of questions to Gomez, the three-time Oscar winner invited questions from the audience. Bening was the first who was called on. A portion of the Q&a appears below.

(L-r) Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Selena Gomez attend the Emilia Pérez screening and Q&a at San Vicente Bungalows on Nov. 20 in West Hollywood.

Emilia Pérez, written and directed by Jacques Audiard, stars Gomez alongside Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón and Adriana Paz.

Will Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein Have a Theatrical Run? - Main Image

Netflix has been able to secure some contracts with several creatives over the past few years, but recently the streaming giant has been getting flak for refusing to release their movies theatrically—which loses some potential for profit when it comes to movies.

Hellboy and Pacific Rim director Guillermo del Toro had recently teamed up with Netflix for an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein book, and some have been wondering if this movie is going straight to streaming or going to actually break the usual Netflix mold.

Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein Set for Theatrical Run

As del Toro has officially confirmed on BlueSky, his Frankenstein adaptation will have a theatrical run. Sharing a first look at the movie from Vanity Fair, del Toro captioned the post, "Frankenstein will have a theatrical run..."

He doesn’t...

Regardless of how many times directors like Guillermo del Toro, Phil Lord, and Chris Miller try to kill the stereotype that the medium of animation isn’t just for kids but for adults as well, and establish that “animation is cinema,” the evidence points to the fact that most animated properties are primarily aimed towards children. Just as an experiment, if I look at some of my favorite animated projects from the 2020s, I’ll come across stuff like Wolfwalkers, Cryptozoo, Luca, Mad God, Turning Red, Apollo 10 ½, The Bad Guys, My Love Affair with Marriage, The Sea Beast, Entergalactic, Oni: Thunder God’s Tale, Gdt’s Pinocchio, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Across the Spider-Verse, Nimona, Carol & the End of the World, The Peasants, Orion and the Dark, and Ultraman Rising. And maybe only 7 of them can be considered unsuitable for children. The rest are uncomplicated and digestible enough for little kids.

Guillermo del Toro’s career is filled with gems, with only a few dings along the way. One of those rare hiccups was Mimic, his 1997 sci-fi horror flick starring Norman Reedus, Mira Sorvino, and Jeremy Northam. Released during an era when teen slashers were all the rage, this bug-monster filled thriller struggled to lure audiences in theaters.

Norman Reedus and Alix Koromzay in Mimic (1997) Credits: Miramax Film Corp.

While creepy creatures and a dose of sci-fi should’ve been a killer combo, Mimic just couldn’t find its footing. Here’s why this eerie experiment didn’t quite take flight!

How Mimic Became A Bump in Guillermo Del Toro’s Career

Based on Donald A. Wollheim’s short story, Mimic spins a wild tale about disease-carrying cockroaches evolving into human-hunting monsters.

Related Guillermo del Toro on Why His Father Getting Kidnapped Wasn’t Worse Than Working for Harvey Weinstein:...

It's alive!

Following some recent set photos, Vanity Fair has shared the first official still from Guillermo del Toro's upcoming Netflix adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which the filmmaker has been trying to get made for a long time.

The image is not very revealing, and keeps the Jacob Elordi's Monster (assuming that is who's lying on the table) mostly under wraps as brilliant scientist Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) faces the window.

Click the link below to get a better look at the image, along with a number of other promo stills from various 2025 releases.

Anne Hathaway is ‘Mother Mary,’ Jacob Elordi is ‘Frankenstein’ and ‘M3GAN’ returns—meet the movies of 2025. https://t.co/ZB06xtyBHm

— Vanity Fair (@VanityFair) November 21, 2024

It’s a movie I have been wanting to do for 50 years since I saw the first Frankenstein," Del Toro said back when the project was first confirmed.

With Guillermo Del Toro apparently the latest to eke a theatrical release from the streamer, is Netflix’s fear of the big screen coming back to haunt it?

Cinemataphobia, an unspecified search engine helpfully informs me, is a form of agoraphobia commonly associated with trips to the local picture palace. Non-local picture palaces too, I presume – unless your local’s “turn off your phone” announcement is particularly frightening.

It’s a term Netflix and its CEO, Ted Sarandos, must be particularly familiar with. For much of the last decade, the streaming juggernaut has bet the content-farm on keeping its original films as far from a projection booth as humanly possible, occasionally to its own detriment. Analysts suggested Rian Johnson’s follow-up to Benoit Blanc mystery Knives Out, Glass Onion, left as much as $37m on the table in its domestic opening weekend alone when it debuted in a week-long limited...

An adaptation of the classic Mary Shelley novel Frankenstein has long been a dream project for director Guillermo del Toro, the filmmaker with such credits as Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water, Hellboy, and Blade II. He’s been talking about it for at least 17 years – and now he’s actually making it! After previous attempts to get the project going fell through, Netflix stepped up to let del Toro make the Frankenstein movie he’s been dreaming of. They haven’t announced a release date for the film yet, but while we wait for that news to come along, here’s Everything We Know About Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein:

Long Road To Production

Del Toro has named Frankenstein as his favorite novel, and in 2007, he told us that the project he “would kill to make” is a faithful “Miltonian tragedy” version of Frankenstein. He said that he...

Guillermo del Toro is adapting Mary Shelley’s classic novel Frankenstein for Netflix, and with production now wrapped, Vanity Fair has shared a first look photo from the set.

“Gothic romance was born partially out of the fascination with ruins,” del Toro tells Vanity Fair in the 2025 preview piece that ran this morning. “Sometimes they’re more beautiful than the building complete because it’s the clash of creation and destruction.”

Check out your very first look at Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein below, which takes you inside Dr. Frankenstein’s lab – a place of creation and destruction, to say the very least.

And please note that the below photo is a behind the scenes shot from the film’s set.

Expect Frankenstein sometime in 2025. And yes, it will have a theatrical run.

Jacob Elordi will be playing Frankenstein’s monster in Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of the classic Mary Shelley novel,...

In an article called “Meet the Movies of 2025,” Vanity Fair has just unveiled a batch of images that go behind the scenes of several upcoming films – including genre movies like the sci-fi thriller sequel M3GAN 2.0, the Jordan Peele-produced sports horror film Him, director Scott Derrickson’s The Gorge (that’s an image from The Gorge above), and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein. Let’s take a look at them:

From M3GAN 2.0, we see an image of the killer doll M3GAN, reunited with returning M3GAN star Violet McGraw. Allison Williams is also back for the sequel, as are Brian Jordan Alvarez and Jen Van Epps. This time, they’re joined in the cast by Ivanna Sakhno (Ahsoka), who is said to have landed a major part in the sequel, Jemaine Clement (What We Do in the Shadows), Timm Sharp (Blunt Talk), and Aristotle Athari (Saturday Night Live). Gerard Johnstone...

The search is over. Cronos will be released on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on February 25 via The Criterion Collection.

Writer-director Guillermo del Toro supervised the new 4K digital restoration, presented in Dolby Vision Hdr with 2.0 surround DTS-hd Master Audio.

Del Toro made his feature debut on the 1993 Mexican vampire film, which stars Federico Luppi, Ron Perlman, Claudio Brook, Margarita Isabel, and Tamara Shanath.

Special Features include:

Optional original Spanish-language voice-over introduction Audio commentary by Guillermo del Toro Audio commentary by producers Arthur H. Gorson and Bertha Navarro and co-producer Alejandro Springall Geometria – An unreleased 1987 short horror film by del Toro, finished in 2010, alongside an interview with the director Welcome to Bleak House – A tour by del Toro of his home office Interviews with del Toro, cinematographer Guillermo Navarro, and actors Ron Perlman and Federico Luppi Stills gallery captioned by del Toro Trailer An essay by film critic Maitland McDonagh and...

We all know that there’s no age limit to appreciating animation. Sure, animated movies are still strongly associated with your childhood favorites, but there are plenty of them with themes big enough for adults to relate to, and no limits to what the format can do. Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro perhaps said it best while accepting the animated feature Oscar for his stop-motion Pinocchio: “Animation is cinema, animation is not a genre.”

There are tons of options for you to check out, but we took the liberty of assembling a list of animated movies that audiences of all ages can enjoy. Whether you’re looking for something to watch with the whole family or you’re looking to give your own inner child a treat, our selection has everything from fantastical adventures to retellings of classic tales to superhero stories. If you like your movies told via stunning animation,...

There has been no shortage of thoughts on the effects of artificial intelligence, with the most notable names in Hollywood – we’re talking James Cameron, Guillermo del Toro, Nicolas Cage, Robert Downey Jr., etc. etc. – giving their opinions and predictions on just where it could lead the industry. Now we can add Ben Affleck to the conversation, as the actor/director/you name it at this point recently gave his thoughts on both the limitations and dangers of AI.

Speaking at CNBC’s Delivering Alpha Summit (via The Hollywood Reporter), Ben Affleck took the stance that certain parts of the film industry will be safe from the harm of artificial intelligence for a while because, unlike monkeys with all the time in the world, it can never actually reproduce works of brilliance. “Movies will be one of the last things, if everything gets replaced, to be replaced by AI. AI...

Guillermo del Toro has a way of turning dark and fantastical worlds into something magical. His films often flip the script, making monsters the misunderstood heroes and humans the real villains. Over the years, he’s earned critical acclaim and a dedicated fan base, picking up Oscars for The Shape of Water and Pinocchio. Interestingly, much of his inspiration comes from unlikely sources, including Guillermo del Toro’s favorite Kubrick films, Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut—two movies that reveal a side of Kubrick not everyone appreciates.

In a 2015 interview with Little White Lies during the release of Crimson Peak, del Toro revealed that his favorite Kubrick films are two that often get overlooked: Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut. “I like the Kubrick that nobody likes,” he said, pointing out that these aren’t the iconic blockbusters like 2001: A Space Odyssey or The Shining. Instead, they’re quieter,...

More than 500 years after his death, the works of Leonardo da Vinci have never been more ubiquitous. “Mona Lisa” just got her own Lego set, and recently played a central role in Rian Johnson’s “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.” A controversial allusion to his famed “The Last Supper” during this summer’s Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony reacquainted the masses with the iconic image’s origins, and his “Vitruvian Man” is still a staple on the walls of anatomy classrooms across the globe.

The Italian Renaissance painter and intellectual, who produced only around 20 paintings in his lifetime, was the epitome of a man ahead of his time. He also happens to be exactly the kind of posthumously appreciated figure about which Ken Burns has spent his career making seminal documentary films. Yet, more so than any of his previous subjects, the Emmy-winning filmmaker thinks da Vinci could have mastered the modern day.

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on Twitter and Instagram.NEWSPoison.Former talk show host and current digital media emperor Conan O’Brien will host the 97th Academy Awards. He has previously hosted the Primetime Emmy Awards and the White House Correspondents dinner, twice apiece, as well as the Fifth Annual NFL Honors ceremony in 2016.Director Todd Haynes is set to head the jury of the 75th Berlin International Film Festival in February. Haynes’s feature film debut, Poison (1991), won the festival’s Teddy Award.The UK arthouse theater chain Curzon Cinemas has been sold to the New York investment company Fortress for $5 million as part of a foreclosure auction of assets owned by Cohen Realty Enterprises. The Curzon group reportedly believes that Fortress is “more likely to invest...

Max has announced that Juror #2, Clint Eastwood’s latest (and likely final) movie, will arrive on the streaming service on December 20th.

The announcement comes after a bit of controversy surrounding the film’s release — Warner Bros., Juror #2’s distributor, chose an extremely limited release, screening the movie in fewer than 50 domestic theaters before it inevitably headed to Max. Furthermore, the studio opted for little-to-no advertising, declined to report domestic ticket sales, and even initially removed it from the awards page of their website.

The minimized strategy is said to be an effort by the studio to protect Eastwood from a major box office or critical disappointment. Yet, despite having strong audience impressions and favorable reviews, Warner Bros. still seems totally indifferent to giving Eastwood’s film a larger release.

Even director Guillermo del Toro wondered why Eastwood’s work was getting stifled by the studio, raving about the film on Bluesky.

$3.8 billion. That’s the amount of money Clint Eastwood’s films have grossed at the North American box office throughout his career. A superstar since the 1960s, Eastwood is rare in that almost all of his biggest blockbusters, including all the Dirty Harry movies, were all made for Warner Bros. It’s been his home studio since about the time he made The Outlaw Josey Wales. He’s made everything from Oscar-winners to action movies, to movies where he’s chilling with his pal Clyde the Orangutan for them, and they almost always ended up at least breaking even. Sure, he’s had a few flops, but even in his golden years, he still cranked out smash hits for them, with American Sniper making over half a billion dollars, while The Mule and Sully both made over $100 million domestically. Even when his movies didn’t do well, Eastwood keeps his...

Academy Award winner Clint Eastwood’s legal thriller Juror #2, starring Nicholas Hoult (upcoming Superman), has been set to begin streaming exclusively on Max on Friday, December 20.

News of the premiere date follows the film’s quite limited theatrical release on November 1 to less than 50 theaters nationwide. The move saw distributor Warner Bros. Pictures draw criticism from many corners for not properly supporting perhaps one of the final films of a legendary 94-year-old director — a project that has also happened to garner positive reviews, from someone with a longstanding history with the studio.

Among the prominent voices in the filmmaking community who have advocated on Eastwood’s behalf is Guillermo del Toro, who recently took to rising social platform Blue Sky to discuss his experience with the film. Said Del Toro in part, “We saw [the film] at the Grove with a significant crowd that was vocal and responsive all the way. I...

A trickle is becoming a flood for Bluesky, the social media company that has seen spectacular growth since the presidential election. On Tuesday, the microblogging platform hit 20 million users, after averaging 1 million new users per day over the past five days.

According to a Nov. 13 post by Bluesky CEO Jay Graber, the site had 6 million users in late August, nearly 11 million in late October and hit 15 million users on Nov. 15. It added another 5 million users in just five days, with the explosive growth seen since Nov. 5, the day of the election, accelerating.

Bluesky has been one of the main beneficiaries of millions of users leaving Elon Musk’s X, as the site formerly known as Twitter descends into a mess of bots, extreme content, crypto scams, ads, pornography, racism, transphobia and misinformation.

Hollywood has been quick to adopt Bluesky, particularly with the entertainment industry’s aversion to the political views of Musk,...

There's no place like a courtroom for the holidays. Warner Bros. Discovery announced today that Clint Eastwood's Juror #2, starring Nicholas Hoult, will begin streaming on Max starting December 20. Controversially, the legal thriller only had a limited release in the U.S.—after opening in theaters on November 1, it will...

PBS’ new two-part, four-hour Leonardo da Vinci probably won’t redefine the identity of Ken Burns, renowned as a documentary chronicler of all things Americana.

But it does find the director, working with frequent collaborators Sarah Burns and David McMahon, in markedly different terrain, both historically and culturally. More than that, Leonardo da Vinci (we’ll see how many times I write Leonardo DiCaprio as the title here) finds the team working with a very different visual and rhetorical approach, making a project that isn’t really enlightening about da Vinci as a person, but explores the polymath’s intellectual and artistic processes in a way that’s effectively cumulative and often fascinating.

It remains my consistent feeling that Burns and company are better the more primary source interview subjects they have. It’s why I love Baseball, why I think The Dust Bowl is underrated and why I prefer...

Guatemala isn’t known for having a particularly vibrant film industry, but filmmaker Jayro Bustamante is trying his best to change that. His third feature, the acclaimed horror-tinged drama La Llorona, got the international spotlight when it made the shortlist for Best International Feature at the 93rd Oscars. Now, his fourth film — Rita — is Guatemala’s submission for this year’s awards.

Inspired by a true story, Rita tells the story of a teenager placed in an abusive state-run orphanage, where a tragedy occurs as they plan an escape. It’s a dark fantasy full of magical realism, reminiscent of some of the modern classics of Latin American cinema like Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth.

We at FandomWire got to speak with Bustamante about Rita and his approach to telling such a harrowing, tragic story through magical realism. Check out the full interview below!

Rita Interview Giuliana Santa Cruz...

Physical media collectors, take note. The Criterion Collection has announced six new Blu-ray releases coming in February 2025, including titles from some of today’s most beloved auteurs and one famously elusive late-career work from a French New Wave legend.

The slate is headlined by Jean-Luc Godard’s “King Lear,” an essential work from the “Breathless” director’s experimental period that has long been unavailable to own or stream. The film uses William Shakespeare’s tragedy as a jumping off point for a postmodern riff on art in a world decimated by the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown. While it shares little DNA with the actual play that shares its name, “King Lear” contains some of the most striking imagery of Godard’s filmography, including the director himself donning a Rastafarian wig made entirely of electrical cables. The nonlinear film is a pastiche of influences, references, and ideas that stands out to many...

The Criterion Collection has unveiled its February 2025 lineup, featuring 4K Uhd upgrades for Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love and Guillermo del Toro’s Cronos. Also among the lineup is one of the great rom-coms, Joan Micklin Silver’s Crossing Delancey, alongside Gus Van Sant’s second feature Drugstore Cowboy.

Jean-Luc Godard’s first English-language feature King Lear and Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg’s Performance are also coming to the collection, the latter featuring Donald Cammell: The Ultimate Performance (1998), a documentary by Kevin Macdonald and Chris Rodley Influence and Controversy: Making “Performance” (2007), a documentary about the making of the film.

Check out the cover art below and learn more here.

The post Criterion Collection’s February 2025 Lineup Features Paul Thomas Anderson, Jean-Luc Godard, Crossing Delancey & More first appeared on The Film Stage.

There are a lot of people making a move from the Elon Musk-owned X (formerly Twitter) to Bluesky.

The micro-blogging social media platform, considered by some to be an alternative to X and the Meta-owned Threads, has gained millions of additional new users, especially since the 2024 presidential election, amid criticism of X’s toxic nature and bot overload.

“We’re excited to welcome everyone looking for a better social media experience,” Bluesky CEO Jay Graber told CNBC in a statement. Find out more about what it is!

Lots of celebrities are also setting up accounts on Bluesky now as well, and there are over 18.5 million users and counting.

Keep reading to find out who is on Bluesky…

Hola ! I am now here- and will drop in more and more. Good to be back!!

— RealGDT (@realgdt.bsky.social) November 10, 2024 at 6:06 Pm

Guillermo Del Toro

18M + 1.

With Ultraman: Rising,” animator-turned-director Shannon Tindle combined his love of the superhero anime franchise with a parenting drama wrapped around Ilm’s dazzling 2D animated look drawn from manga and anime.

It all comes together in an epic water battle involving Ultraman (Christopher Sean), Ultradad (Gedde Watanabe), and baby Kaiju, Emi. First Ultraman and Emi fight Mecha Gigangtron, only to discover that the real Gigantron (Emi’s mom) is still alive underneath. She then joins Ultradad as part of a foursome to fight Dr. Onda, head of the Kaiju Defense Force, who commands the robotic Destroyer.

Tindle, who participated in a recent press confab at Skywalker Ranch and Ilm in San Francisco, told IndieWire that his choice of water for the climactic battle was purely economical. He couldn’t afford to destroy a city and crowds. “I knew that I could make it on the water, and it would allow...

Gabrielle Union is the latest Hollywood figure to leave X (formerly known as Twitter).

In a post shared on Friday, Union wrote, “There are pivotal moments in life when we must declare that enough is enough and for me, today is that day. Platforms like X were founded on authentic connections, true engagement and creative expression, all anchored in respect for user privacy and trust. Yet, with the recent and upcoming changes to the terms of service — and the return of volatile figures — I find myself at a crossroads, facing a direction I can no longer fully support. I am committed to engaging in spaces that truly value inclusivity, respect and integrity in the digital world. Sometimes, that means recognizing the last straw and knowing when to step away.”

Union went on to thank those who she “connected with” on the social media platform. “Thank you for the laughs, the insights and the endless support.

Guillermo del Toro is being the judge on the theatrical rollout for Clint Eastwood’s “Juror #2.”

The Academy Award-winning director took to social media to question why Warner Bros. only gave an extremely limited theatrical release to Eastwood’s critically acclaimed legal thriller. The film opened November 1 in merely 31 U.S. and Canadian theaters, as well as in six European countries; it expanded to a handful of additional U.S. cities for its second week in theaters.

Del Toro is now urging audiences to go to the theaters to support “Juror #2,” while also asking Warner Bros. to hopefully leave the feature in theaters for longer.

“Went to the theatre to see ‘Juror #2,’ Clint Eastwood’s latest film. We enjoyed it tremendously. It’s — in some ways — his ‘Crimes and Misdemeanors,'” Del Toro wrote, via World of Reel. “The film is precisely and assuredly filmed and it’s Nicolas Hoult’s to lead.

Call it a blue wave. A host of actors, directors, musicians, journalists and other prominent people are dumping X (formerly Twitter) and flocking to social media platform Bluesky.

In the past week, an increasing number of bold-faced names have announced that they plan to post less on X, or leave the platform altogether, citing myriad issues with the social media company, including far right content, hate speech, transphobia, racism, harassment, pornography, crypto scams, bots and the political views of owner Elon Musk, the billionaire oligarch who is a vocal supporter and financial backer of Donald Trump.

Musk’s ownership of X and his updates to content moderation on the platform have been pushing brands and media groups closer and closer to the exit. This week, The Guardian media group announced that it will stop posting on X, describing the site as a “toxic media platform.” On Nov. 4, the Berlin Film...

A sprawling lineup of filmmakers, including Sean Penn, Tim Burton, Alfonso Cuaron, Justine Triet, Ava DuVernay and David Cronenberg will attend the Marrakech Film Festival and take part in conversations in front of audiences.

In total, 18 directors, actors, screenwriters and producers from six continents will participate in on-stage discussions to reflect on their craft, lives and careers at the festival, which kicks off Nov. 29 and runs until Dec. 7.

Surpassing the talent roster of major international festivals such as Cannes or Venise, this year’s Marrakech conversations program will also includes Iranian director, screenwriter and producer Mohammad Rasoulof; Australian director and screenwriter Justin Kurzel; French director and screenwriter François Ozon; British actor Gemma Arterton; Brazilian director and screenwriter Walter Salles; Russian director and screenwriter Kirill Serebrennikov; Mauritanian director and screenwriter Abderrahmane Sissako (“Timbuktu”); Moroccan filmmakers Alaa Eddine Aljem (“The Unknown Saint”), Yasmine Benkiran (“Queens”), Ismaël El Iraki (“Zanka Contact”) and Kamal Lazraq...