Category Archives: Film

Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘final’ film The Boy and the Heron hits No 1 at North American box office

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The Japanese director’s animation beats The Hunger Games prequel and Godzilla Minus One on its opening weekend in the US and Canada

The Boy and the Heron, reportedly the final film from Japanese master animator Hayao Miyazaki, has taken the number one spot at the box office on its North American release, as well as achieving record figures for the director.

Preliminary box office returns report that The Boy and the Heron took $12.8m in the US and Canada on its opening weekend, putting it a significant distance ahead of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which managed $9.4m. In third place was another Japanese film, the monster movie Godzilla Minus One, on $8.3m.

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Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall wins best film at European Film Awards

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Drama also claims the prizes for best director, best screenwriter and best actress for Sandra Hüller

An arthouse whodunit about sexual jealousy and simmering creative rivalry between two married writers was everyone’s envy at Saturday night’s European Film Awards (EFA) in Berlin, with Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall beating her competitors to take home four of the five major awards.

Centred around a deadly fall from the top floor of a chalet in the French Alps, Triet’s drama scooped the European equivalent of the Oscars’ coveted prizes for best film, best director and best screenwriter, as well as a best actress award for the film’s lead, Sandra Hüller.

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Ryan O’Neal, Hollywood actor known for Love Story, dies aged 82

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Death of star of Paper Moon, What’s Up, Doc? and Barry Lyndon announced by his son Patrick O’Neal

Ryan O’Neal, a leading star in the Hollywood in the 1970s known for iconic films such as Love Story and Paper Moon, has died, according to a series of emotional posts from his son. He was 82.

On Friday, Patrick O’Neal shared on Instagram that his father had died “with his loving team by his side supporting him and loving him as he would us”. He went on to “share some feelings to give you an idea of how great a man he is”. Patrick described his father as “my hero.

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Oppenheimer to finally be released in Japan after ‘Barbenheimer’ backlash

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Internet references conflating the two films drew anger in Japan, which was twice attacked by nuclear weapons during the second world war

Audiences in Japan will finally get to see Oppenheimer – Christopher Nolan’s hit biopic about the creator of the nuclear bomb – following criticism that it was marketed in a way that trivialised the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The movie’s distributor in Japan, Bitters End, said on Thursday that the film, which examines L. Robert Oppenheimer’s moral quandary over his key role in the world’s first nuclear attack on 6 August 1945, would be released in 2024.

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Majors trial: actor demanded ‘Michelle Obama’ behavior, ex-girlfriend testifies

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Grace Jabbari detailed the highs and lows in an allegedly toxic relationship and prosecutors played a recorded argument at trial

Jonathan Majors’s ex-girlfriend detailed a tumultuous and toxic relationship at his assault trial in New York on Tuesday, where she is expected to detail how he allegedly assaulted her.

Prosecutors accused the Creed III and Marvel star of assaulting Grace Jabbari in March after she saw a text message from another woman on his phone. Majors faces three charges of misdemeanor assault, aggravated assault and harassment. He has pleaded not guilty.

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Spanish cinema chain fined for banning customers who bring their own snacks

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Consumer rights group took action against Yelmo, which runs a nationwide cinema chain

Parents frazzled by entreaties for barrels of popcorn, otherwise law-abiding citizens sweating over the contraband sweets in their pockets, and anyone else sick of spending more on drinks and snacks than on cinema tickets can rest easy. If, that is, they live in certain parts of Spain.

The Basque Country’s consumer affairs department, Kontsumobide, has fined Yelmo, the huge Spanish cinema chain, €30,000 for refusing entry to customers who buy their food and drink outside its premises.

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Beyoncé rules box office at weekend with Renaissance film

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Post-Thanksgiving box office is notoriously slow, but concert movie defied odds, opening in first place with $21m in ticket sales

Beyoncé ruled the box office this weekend.

Her concert picture, Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé, opened in first place with $21m in North American ticket sales, according to estimates from AMC Theatres Sunday.

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HBO to develop George Santos’s ‘Gatsby-esque journey’ into movie – report

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News that the book The Fabulist will be adapted into film comes after congressman was expelled last week

A book about the improbable rise and rapid fall of former congressman George Santos has been optioned by HBO Films, it was reported Saturday, and will be produced under the guidance of Frank Rich, a former New York Times columnist known for executive production credits on Emmy awards-winning Succession and Veep.

HBO reportedly optioned the rights to Mark Chiusano’s The Fabulist: The Lying, Hustling, Grifting, Stealing, and Very American Legend of George Santos, published last week.

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Donald Trump biopic: Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong and Maria Bakalova cast in The Apprentice

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Stan, who recently played Tommy Lee in Pam & Tommy, will play the former US president in new film, joined by Strong as Roy Cohn and Bakalova as Ivana Trump

Marvel star Sebastian Stan will play Donald Trump in an upcoming biopic, to be joined by Succession’s Jeremy Strong and Oscar nominee Maria Bakalova in leading roles.

Directed by Iranian film-maker Ali Abbasi, The Apprentice, which commenced production this week, is billed as an exploration of power and ambition in a world of corruption and deceit.

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Jonathan Majors trial begins for assault charges over alleged domestic dispute

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Creed actor accused by then girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, of slapping her across the face, twisting her arm, and throwing her into a car

The trial of the actor Jonathan Majors for assault and harassment against a former girlfriend following an alleged domestic dispute kicked off on Wednesday.

Jury selection began in the morning for the highly publicized case, according to Deadline, with Majors appearing in the courtroom. The 34-year-old actor, known for his role in the Creed movie franchise, Lovecraft Country and several current and forthcoming Marvel projects, faces several assault and harassment misdemeanours. He has pled not guilty to all counts; if found guilty, he faces up to a year in prison.

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Robert De Niro says anti-Trump speech censored at Gotham awards ceremony

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Actor said that his address had been edited to remove polemic against falsifying history

Robert De Niro said that his speech at the Gotham awards in New York was censored without his knowledge due to his anti-Trump comments.

De Niro came to the stage as part of the Gotham historical icon and creator tribute for the Martin Scorsese-directed Killers of the Flower Moon, and after reading out some remarks about the film, said that the first part of his speech had been removed from the prompter.

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Critics of Napoleon epic have fallen for emperor’s fibs, says film’s military expert

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The ex-para who advised Ridley Scott on the new movie’s battle scenes claims historians who attacked it have fallen for Bonaparte’s own hype

Critics of the “damaging” and “inaccurate” portrayal of Napoleon Bonaparte in Ridley Scott’s new cinematic epic Napoleon are just victims of the French emperor’s enduring propaganda, according to the military adviser behind the film’s vast battle scenes.

Paul Biddiss claims that “Old Boney”, as he was known to the Duke of Wellington’s British troops, was promoted largely because he elaborated on his own successes. Bonaparte’s fibs impressed all France and intimidated his enemies – until, that is, he met his Waterloo in 1815.

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Jamie Foxx denies sexually assaulting woman in New York bar

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Lawsuit alleges the Hollywood star assaulted a woman while at Catch NYC & Roof, a restaurant and rooftop bar, in summer 2015

Hollywood star Jamie Foxx has denied accusations that he sexually assaulted a woman while at a New York rooftop bar eight years ago.

The lawsuit alleges in summer 2015, Foxx made comments such as, “Wow, you have that supermodel body,” while at Catch NYC & Roof, a restaurant and rooftop bar, before grabbing the woman by the arm and pulling her to the “secluded” back of the rooftop.

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New Karate Kid movie with Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan in the works

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A global casting call from the two actors – looking for a new teenage star – suggests the separate strands of the series will be brought together

Following the success of the TV series Cobra Kai, a new Karate Kid movie featuring Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan has been announced, along with a global casting call to find a teenage star for the film.

Macchio, who starred in the first three Karate Kid movies between 1984 and 1989 before returning to anchor Cobra Kai which first aired in 2018, and Chan, who appeared in the 2010 reboot starring Jaden Smith, appeared together in a short video to make the announcement. The casting notice suggested the film will also feature a new character called Li Fong, who is “Chinese or mixed-race Chinese [aged] between 15-17 years old [and] speaks fluent English”. The website added: “Conversational Mandarin is a strong plus. He’s smart, scrappy and a skilled martial artist.”

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Joss Ackland, star of White Mischief, dies aged 95

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British veteran actor also starred in the Hunt for Red October and the TV version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Joss Ackland: a life in pictures

British actor Joss Ackland has died at the age of 95, his family have said in a statement.

He appeared in films such as White Mischief, on TV playing CS Lewis in Shadowlands and in many stage productions including as Juan Perón in Evita.

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Emperor’s new clothes: why the French are ready to embrace Napoleon again

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With Ridley Scott’s epic set to launch, there has been renewed discussion about the military leader’s legacy – and film fans can’t wait

A Hollywood war epic about the world’s most famous Frenchman – directed by an Englishman – was bound to contain its share of historical inaccuracies. So Ridley Scott’s big-budget battle extravaganza, Napoleon, which opens worldwide next week, has inevitably seen every aspect of its trailers scrutinised in France.

From the age of the actors (Joaquin Phoenix is older than the military leader he plays and Vanessa Kirby is younger than his wife, Joséphine), to a scene in which Napoleon’s cannons fire at the Egyptian pyramids when in reality his troops were kilometres away, nothing has escaped.

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Jimmy Kimmel to host Oscars for fourth time

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‘I always dreamed of hosting the Oscars exactly four times,’ said the late-night show, who hosted the Academy Awards in 2017, 2018 and 2023

Jimmy Kimmel is returning as host of the Academy Awards for the second straight year and fourth time overall, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday.

Broadcaster ABC is turning again to its late-night host a year after bringing Kimmel back for a 2023 ceremony that drew 18.7 million viewers, the most since 2020’s pre-pandemic broadcast but still the third worst ever recorded. In the wake of Will Smith’s slap of Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars, Kimmel led a cautious ceremony that helped stabilize the Academy Awards after years of turmoil.

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Édith Piaf’s voice re-created using AI so she can narrate own biopic

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In-development film comes after controversy around the re-creation of late stars’ voices, such as Anthony Bourdain

Sixty years after her death, Édith Piaf’s voice will be re-created using AI to narrate her biopic.

As reported by Variety, Warner Music Group (WMG) has partnered with the Piaf estate to produce the feature-length film Edith. Artificial intelligence has been trained to replicate Piaf’s voice by feeding it hundreds of voice clips, with WMG promising the resultant re-creation will “further enhance the authenticity and emotional impact of her story”.

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Michel Ciment, veteran French film critic, dies aged 85

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The longtime chief of Positif film magazine started working there in 1968, and was a passionate advocate of cinema until his death

Michel Ciment, the celebrated French film critic and longtime editor of Positif magazine, has died aged 85. The magazine reported the news on social media, describing him as Positif’s “master architect” after a 60-year career.

Born in Paris in 1938, Ciment fell in love with cinema as a student, and joined Positif in 1968, becoming editorial director in 1973; he said he admired Positif over Cahiers du Cinéma because the magazine was “left wing” and influenced by surrealism. Ciment published a string of books about prominent film directors, including Kazan by Kazan (1973), Conversations with Losey (1979) and Stanley Kubrick (1980).

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Netflix’s movie Hurricane Season stirs debate over violent depiction of Mexico

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Based on the prize-winning book by Fernanda Melchor, film depicts brutality stemming from ‘war on drugs’ that began in 2006

A group of children find a body in the river: the village witch, her throat slit, writhing with snakes.

The opening scene of Hurricane Season, a new Netflix movie based on Mexican novelist Fernanda Melchor’s book, plunges the viewer straight into a tropical, lawless, superstitious version of rural Veracruz, Melchor’s home state.

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