Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba has been one of the most popular manga adaptations in recent years, becoming a global phenomenon and inspiring fans of all ages. Following the story of a young swordsmith who joins a group of demon slayers after his family is murdered and his sister herself is turned into a demon, the anime debuted in 2019 and has run for four seasons, including a feature film that continued the story following season 1.
The series now concludes with a trilogy of films released on the big screen, the first of which, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle, debuts this week. Just a few reviews originally began trickling in back in August, but several more have now been published, and critics say it’s a beautifully animated, visually dazzling, exciting new chapter that promises a glorious finale to the series.
Here’s what critics are saying about Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle:
Working alongside animation director Akira Matsushima, longtime Demon Slayer director Haruo Sotozaki has elevated his already stunning series to new cinematic heights. From intricate background details to the propulsive fight choreography, everything is just seamless, vividly rendered to perfection… Infinity Castle effectively sets the tone for what’s to come, promising diehard fans the spectacle they’ve been craving which newcomers will also find enjoyable, if somewhat confusing at times.
— David Opie, IndieWire
This latest smash hit… is a spectacular treat… The challenge of sustaining the narrative is tempered by the use of flashbacks, providing a backstory for each of the formidable foes. Though packed with emotional impact, such detours occasionally hamper the pacing of the combat sequences, which are the film’s visual highlights… While ardent fans might wish to see more of Muzan, this wonderful instalment gives a splendid taste of what is surely soon to come.
— Phuong Le, Guardian
It may be one of the longest anime movies ever made, but Ufotable’s masterful deployment of backstory means Infinity Castle feels tighter than it has any right to be… The anime movie is less concerned with cliffhangers and, instead, fixated on continuation… But despite all the sticks you could beat Demon Slayer with – its structure, its runtime, its lack of a definitive ending – Infinity Castle emerges from the other side unscathed, all while showcasing the best-in-class action, a gripping story, and entertaining characters that have made it such a worldwide sensation.
— Bradley Russell, GamesRadar+
While this is absolutely not a film for newcomers or those who are multiple seasons behind (unless they’re into spoilers), fans who’ve been keeping up with the worldwide phenomenon that is Demon Slayer will be more than happy with the finale’s first slice… Weekly episodes in the anime definitely have cinematic flair, but with the latest feature-length budget, the results are staggering… Even when considering the manga, it’s both the most gorgeous and the most gripping Demon Slayer has been yet, and makes us want to jump into part 2 right away
— Ben Williams, Radio Times
Infinity Castle may wobble in matching the emotional depth and narrative finesse that Demon Slayer fans have come to expect. Still, it more than earns its place on the big screen, with studio Ufotable delivering gorgeous animation and blisteringly fast action choreography so explosive it outpaces the franchise’s own high-water marks.
— Isaiah Colbert, io9.com
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle is absolutely epic… Fight scenes in Infinity Castle are many. The inventiveness of them is consistently a major part of the film’s appeal.
— Mike McGranaghan, Aisle Seat
A propulsive experience with dazzling animation, exquisite action, and high drama, Infinity Castle does struggle to maintain its momentum as the finale blasts off by clinging too tightly to the structure of its source material… As one expects, Infinity Castle can’t just cover everything that audiences want in one film, so temper your expectations about which characters will be focused on… Infinity Castle is a ride, a blood-soaked, revenge-filled, no-holds-barred ride, and it’s only getting started.
— Douglas Davidson, Elements of Madness
Full disclosure: I was overwhelmed… This is a dramatic thriller about meaningful battles, and the feature length — some 155 minutes — allows for extended battle scenes, both one on one and one against many, that are spectacular and stirring.
— Peter Martin, Screen Anarchy
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle kicks off the series finale in spellbinding fashion. Its pacing and prolonged flashbacks can get a bit headache-inducing at times, but such issues are but droplets against the tidal wave of joyful and melancholic tears that spew forth from witnessing such finessed action and drama.
— Cain Noble-Davis, FILMINK
The anime fights herein are in the running for the best that 2025 has to offer within the medium… When it comes to the original Japanese iteration of the film and its English Dub, both are worthy recommendations regarding the respective casts giving it their all… Where Infinity Castle truly stumbles is how it really feels as though this was a season of a television series slammed together to make a movie.
— Nick Valdez, ComicBook.com
While it nearly wears out its welcome with a repetitive cycle of encounter, flashback, reflection and fight, its mix of vibrant visuals, melodrama and low-key comedy kick the story into gear in the final hour… The fights are creative, the sprawling – indeed infinite – castle stronghold is visually imposing, and the narrative’s emotional beats land.
— Elizabeth Kerr, Screen International
Believe the fanboys. Japan’s cinematic event of the year is top-tier animation, spectacular yet intimate.
— Whang Yee Ling, The Straits Times
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Infinity Castle Arc Part 1 is such a discouraging first chapter in what’s designed to be a grand farewell to one of the decade’s most popular shonen series. It has all the right elements and there’s still so much that works here… This is just a movie that is definitively not greater than the sum of its parts.
— Daniel Kurland, Bloody Disgusting
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle opens in theaters on September 12, 2025.
It was nearly 20 years ago, back in 2007, that we first heard director Guillermo del Toro gush about his love for Mary Shelley’s classic novel Frankenstein and his deep desire to helm his own adaptation of it. After several starts and stops, del Toro has finally brought his long-gestating “dream project” to life with the help of Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz, and Netflix, and critics at the Venice International Film Festival who were at the premiere have begun to chime in with their thoughts. According to them, del Toro’s Frankenstein carries his signature stylistic flair and reinforces themes that have become a calling card for the writer-director’s work, but it’s not without its flaws.
Here’s what critics are saying about Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein:
The genre-defying craftsman’s sumptuous retelling of Frankenstein honors the essence of the book in that it’s not so much straight-up horror as tragedy, romance and a philosophical reflection on what it means to be human… There are jaw-dropping visuals throughout… One of del Toro’s finest, this is epic-scale storytelling of uncommon beauty, feeling and artistry.
— David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter
The best way to describe del Toro’s Frankenstein is indulgent… Frankenstein feels like a production for which del Toro had every final say, and for which nothing was left on the cutting room floor… Despite the oppressive length of the film’s 149-minute runtime, you can’t quite be mad at a movie that looks as stunning as this. There are breathtaking images of the Creature against the horizon, or blood-stained tulle that will remain burned in my mind. And some wild performance choices from Isaac or Elordi feel like they’re increasingly rare in today’s safe cinematic landscape.
— Hoai-Tran Bui, Inverse
The visual style of the movie is utterly distinctive and unmistakably that of Del Toro: a series of lovely, intricate images, filigreed with infinitesimally exact cod-period detail; deep focus but also strangely depthless, like hi-tech stained glass or illustrated plates in a Victorian tome; pictures whose luxurious beauty underscores the film’s reverence for the source material and for itself, but which for me impedes the energy of horror… I have to concede the ingenuity and verve with which Del Toro pulls off a storytelling switch to the creature’s own point of view, allowing him to narrate his own experiences after escaping Frankenstein’s lab: absurd, and yet that shift is the lightning-flash that jolts the movie into some semblance of life.
— Peter Bradshaw, Guardian
Given the opportunity to bring his childhood favourite to life, Del Toro throws everything he can at the screen. Frankenstein is loud, bombastic, sublime and silly. This is a universe in which towers totter above precipices, cellars drip hollowly and women wear impossible dresses in the snow… As with The Shape of Water, del Toro makes no secret of where his sympathy lies and who the real monsters are, but there are surprises here. Not least of which is how moved you might feel in the end.
— John Bleasdale, Time Out
Cleaving closely to the source material, del Toro wants to explore the trauma that makes us, mankind’s capacity for cruelty, the death we bring on ourselves through war, and the catharsis of forgiveness… Beautiful mirroring and colour signalling are key to the visual syntax of del Toro’s expectedly lush direction, and a treat in themselves… Though a feast for the eyes and peopled with acting excellence, Frankenstein moves at a stately pace, which may frustrate..
— Jane Crowther, GamesRadar+
If the writer/director doesn’t significantly reimagine the source material, he certainly invests it with emotion and passion… When Frankenstein attempts emotional delicacy, del Toro’s occasionally awkward, on-the-nose screenplay undercuts the quieter moments… Frankenstein is frequently a triumph of spectacle over nuance — grand gestures over precise character insights.
— Tim Grierson, Screen International
A big, juicy, glossy, expensive mounting of the Mary Shelley classic novel for Netflix, [Frankenstein] lacks the voiciness, the edge, the perverse streak of del Toro’s great run of films from the ‘90s and into the early aughts, from Cronos and Mimic to The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth… [Elordi] brings a quiet watchfulness to this Frankenstein’s monster, and he becomes the soul of a movie that may not have had one without him… If you want your del Toro weirder, Frankenstein might not be your cup. But if you want a period monster movie that’s solid, almost oaken in its sturdiness, you don’t need to knock on wood to assure that del Toro is keeping the innermost essence, the soul of cinema, alive at least.
— Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire
The movie roars to life but seemingly forgets to breathe. That is, until it finally does. For that we must at least give some credit to Jacob Elordi… Elordi makes the creature’s awakening, his growing curiosity and hurt, feel fresh, vital, new… Whatever its flaws, the director has filled Frankenstein with seemingly everything he loves, and it reflects his obsessions. It feels like the work of a true madman, and that’s really the only way anyone should make a movie of Frankenstein.
— Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture
Few contemporary directors can match Del Toro’s visual flair or his imagination… In terms of craft, there is much to admire here… Unfortunately, Frankenstein continually risks losing its footing. The film lurches between scenes of lush romantic melodrama and moments of Grand Guignol bloodletting.
— Geoffrey Macnab, Independent
There’s something a bit off about the film tonally, as if it or Mr. del Toro isn’t in the right mood… Even with a 2-hours-and-29-minutes runtime, Frankenstein feels rushed. It’s trying to cram in so much that there’s no time left for character development… There’s no horror or suspense whatsoever, just magical dismemberments under golden hues and glittering harps on the soundtrack. It’s all kind of perverse, and I’m not sure if Mr. del Toro really meant it that way.
— Martin Tsai, Critic’s Notebook
Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein opens in theaters in limited release on October 17, 2025 and streams on Netflix on November 7, 2025.
(Photo by Jason Schmidt/Netflix)
Guillermo del Toro‘s singular filmmaking style makes each of his projects feel both unique and familiar at the same time, whether it’s a giant blockbuster about robots fighting monsters, an Edwardian gothic romance, a dark fantasy set in fascist Spain, or a stop-motion reimagining of a classic children’s story.
After more than 15 years, del Toro is finally making his feature directorial debut in animation with Pinocchio. Based on Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio, this take on the story is set in 1930s fascist Italy and places a bigger focus on Pinocchio’s relationship with his father Geppetto and his struggles with expectations than we’ve seen in other adaptations.
It is a beautifully animated film with character acting more detailed and nuanced than we normally see in Western animation and a finale that won’t leave a dry eye in the house. The film also boasts a star-studded voice cast that includes Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Cate Blanchett, Tim Blake Nelson, Christoph Waltz, Tilda Swinton, and more.
Rotten Tomatoes met the Oscar-winning writer-director over Zoom to discuss his approach to animated acting, writing Mussolini as a character, and writing lyrics to musical numbers.
(Photo by Netflix)
Rafael Motamayor for Rotten Tomatoes: You’ve talked about wanting the animators to have more agency over the characters’ performances, but how does that translate to the practical day-to-day of production? Where do your directions end and the animators’ improvisations begin?
Guillermo del Toro: In my movies, the camera never is on a tripod or static. In animation, I have to have some static shots, because with so many units shooting at the same time, we can’t have motion controls on all of them. I think animation sometimes is over-animated, both in the characters and the camera — it has sort of a sitcom-y rhythm. And we wanted to be very punctual with the gestures, almost like neurolinguistic programming — you know, little input, eye shaves, looking away, not looking at each other when the characters are talking, we dictated very punctually.
And then we said to the animators, “Look, this is what we want, but if you find something with the puppet during the course of the shoot—” because this is very much like live action, the shot is happening as they go along. And we said, “If you find a gesture or something you want to try, try it.” What this means is that whoever is giving them instruction has to be involved with production, because you’re gonna have to respond about giving somebody a day or two or three for an unnecessary gesture. If somebody’s gonna do an improv, a one-and-a-half-second movement, it could take as much as two or three days, and that’s money. That’s animator time, studio rental. And we wanted that that leeway to evoke sort of the expressiveness and quiet moments that you get in live-action, where you are watching an actor think or emote.
We dictated failed gestures like trying to close a door and having to do it two times, and some of the animators would do it on their own. My favorite that I saw, and it was a surprise, was Geppetto in the scene in the church, and he sits a little far away from the box with his paint, and he scooches over and then he goes for the box and he notices that a paint jar is open, tightens a lid, and then closes it. And that was a complete surprise. Neither Mark [Gustafson, co-director] nor I dictated that one.
(Photo by Netflix)
RT: One thing that was surprising and special about this take on the story is that you make Pinocchio explicitly immortal, and we see him die over and over again. Why was this important to you?
Del Toro: I love the idea of having a dialogue with things that are superior to you, like destiny or death or fate or God or an angel. And I thought it would be really nice to have the most innocent or the purest creatures, somebody like Pinocchio, who doesn’t remember who he is, but Death recognizes that the soul is Carlo’s soul, and knows her sister [the Wood Sprite] did it.
I love the idea of life being very generous, but in a haphazard way. And the life-giving entity just gives without thinking of the consequences, and death is very thoughtful. Death, more than anybody else, more than Geppetto or cricket, teaches Pinocchio to be a human being, and shows him that his lack of a real human lifespan doesn’t make him human. She gives him a choice, and this is very similar to Pan’s Labyrinth, where every decision is what makes it clear that Ophelia is a princess; her decisions are tests.
(Photo by Netflix)
RT: Despite having some serious and complex themes, the film is also filled with humor. I particularly liked your portrayal of Mussolini. What inspired it?
Del Toro: Cartoons and politics go hand in hand, throughout history. There have always been cartoonists satirizing, editorializing, and diminishing the fact that most people that yield or wield power are very, very ridiculous people. And we thought it was interesting to have this country be in the hands of this ridiculously pompous tiny character, but if any recent events in our own history are to be taken as a model, we can all be governed by very ridiculous characters.
The other idea was the war in the movie, much like I did in The Devil’s Backbone. I like the war to exist in the horizon, in the periphery, but affect the lives of everybody. You know, in Devil’s Backbone, I wanted the war never to be near the orphanage, but all the dynamics of that war — death, jealousy, rebellion, pride, anger — all that is at play in the orphanage. The same thing happens in Pinocchio. We are never in a battlefield, but we got to the equivalent of Pleasure Island, which is the youth reeducation camp. You see the boys enjoying playing at war, and then it gets serious. Fascism was of a piece with the rest of the father and son stories. Fascism is an obsession of sorts with a paternal figure, a very corrosive paternal figure. It’s about weaving in and never letting it take center stage. It has to be balanced with the story of the fascist bureaucrat and the son, and Volpe and Spazzatura, and Pinocchio and Geppetto, and Geppetto and Carlo.
RT: Is that part of why you place dogs in the background during certain scenes? To show the effects of the war?
Del Toro: Yes. If you count the legs of the dogs, the first dog that appears in the school fountain is missing a leg, meaning that dog went to war. And then, the next time you go through the town, you see dogs and soldiers. So it’s a little bit like having characters that are not human indicating a little bit of the consequences of the war, or reminding you of that, and we wanted to do it early. Then the last dog appears when Pinocchio is going to the tent and Spazzatura is being beaten up by Volpe. I would ask for them very punctually; I said, “Put a dog here on the right,” or “Put two dogs here in the alley.” We had the dogs made in Guadalajara because we didn’t have any puppeteers that could make them, so they shipped the dogs from Mexico.
(Photo by Netflix)
RT: This is also your first musical, but the songs don’t feel like traditional animated musical numbers. How was the experience of writing song lyrics?
Del Toro: Well, the first time we talked about making the movie, we talked to Nick Cave. This is when Gris Grimly was going to direct it. It was a very different screenplay, but with the same story points arranged completely differently. And it was really a great idea, I thought, for Nick Cave. Then when I took over the project, after we got turned down by every studio with the first incarnation, I went to Beck, but again, it became really hard to schedule the meetings. Eventually I said to Alexandre [Desplat], “Why don’t I take a crack at the lullaby, and maybe it will work.” So I wrote the lyrics to “My Son” alone. And Alexandre was very enthusiastic and very encouraging and told me to take a stab at all the songs, and I did, then Alexandre said “You need help. You’re not a lyricist.” But it helped that the basic ideas, like the words “Ciao papa, now I’m gone, I don’t know when I’ll come back,” even if they were not great lyrics, the idea of the lyrics is still there.
And then [Roeban] Katz, who had worked with Alexandre on a hit summer song Alexandre wrote in the ’80s called “Mon bateau” — they got together and Katz really shaped the lyrics, and they preserved some of my little figures. But other than “My Son” and the song that the rabbits sing, which I wrote with Patrick McHale, Katz and Alexandre did a good deal of the heavy lifting. But it’s great to hear some of the phrases on “Ciao Papa.” I don’t expect to be releasing an album any time soon.
RT: Lastly, I’m curious, did you get to keep any of the puppets used in the film?
Del Toro: Yes. Every movie I make, I have a clause that says that I can choose as many props as I want. I’m keeping a full set of the main puppets. The problem is, I don’t know, they’re gonna end up in the kitchen because I have no more space!
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is currently streaming on Netflix.
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Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro’s films are known for their magical stories and fantastical settings, so his latest is a bit of a departure, even if it’s no less bewitching. Based on the 1946 novel of the same name, Nightmare Alley stars Bradley Cooper as a carnival worker-turned-high-profile mentalist and con man whose life begins to unravel after he meets a manipulative psychologist (Cate Blanchett). It’s a more grounded tale than we’ve previously gotten from del Toro, but equally as dark and mysterious as anything he’s done before. Ahead of the film’s release, RT correspondent Nikki Novak spoke about the new film with del Toro, who revealed that he rediscovers who he is as a director on every new project and explained how he had to relinquish control in order to capture his “heavyweight actors” at their best. Then, Novak also spoke with cast members Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, and David Strathairn about what it was like to work on the carnival set (“It was real. I don’t know any other way to describe it.”), how Guillermo del Toro’s directorial style allowed them to come alive, and, at least for Willem Dafoe, what it was like to live out a childhood dream and run away with the carnival for real.
Nightmare Alley opens in theaters on Friday, December 17, 2021.
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(Photo by Neon)
This morning, the Critics Choice Association (CCA) announced the film nominees for the 27th annual Critics Choice Awards. Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast and Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story led with 11 nominations each, followed by Denis Villeneuve’s Dune and Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog with 10 each. The nominees include several expected names like Denzel Washington, Will Smith, Olivia Colman, and Aunjanue Ellis, but perhaps the surprise of the morning was Nicholas Cage’s nomination for Pig, a quiet indie about a man on the hunt for his lost truffle pig that critics loved but did not get a huge awards push.
The winners will be revealed live on The CW on Sunday, January 9th, 2021 from 7-10pm EST with star Taye Diggs returning to co-host alongside Nicole Byer. Read on to to see the full list of nominations.
Are you as obsessed with awards as we are? Check out our Awards Leaderboard for 2021/2022.
BEST PICTURE
BEST ENSEMBLE
DIRECTOR
ORIGNAL SCREENPLAY
BEST EDITING
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
BEST HAIR & MAKEUP
PRODUCTION DESIGN
VISUAL EFFECTS
(Photo by Courtesy of 20th Century Pictures)
BEST COMEDY
ANIMATED FEATURE
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
BEST SCORE
BEST SONG
“Be Alive” – King Richard
“Dos Oruguitas” – Encanto
“Guns Go Bang” – The Harder They Fall
“Just Look Up” – Don’t Look Up
“No Time to Die” – No Time to Die
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It’s been four years since the release of The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro’s romantic fantasy film that won four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director for the fan-favorite auteur. Now comes his dream project follow-up, Nightmare Alley, which, aside from being another period piece, looks to be totally different from del Toro’s usual fare.
Based on a 1946 novel and its first adaptation from 1947, del Toro’s latest is an homage to film noir and a showcase for an ensemble cast led by Bradley Cooper, Rooney Mara, and Cate Blanchett. Will it be another hit with the filmmaker’s fanbase and awards voters alike? Given the general favor of the first reviews, with particular emphasis on the visuals and performances, the road ahead for the movie seems promising.
Here’s what critics are saying about Nightmare Alley:
Nightmare Alley is classic del Toro and yet sharply departed from the horrors we have come to expect. – Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho? A Geek Community
It’s a perfect match of material to auteur. – Peter Debruge, Variety
Yet another winner from del Toro, a director who loves the weird, the strange, the wicked, the perverse. – Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm
Nightmare Alley will surprise some… but to devoted fans of the filmmaker’s work, the new feature feels like a movie he’s been building towards for some time now. – Mike Reyes, Cinema Blend
Sadly, the setting is too straightforward and grounded for del Toro to infuse much of his signature styling. – Mike Massie, Gone With The Twins
(Photo by Kerry Hayes/©20th Century Studios)
Del Toro has frequently championed outcasts and misfits, but in Nightmare Alley he has at last found an outsider who isn’t deserving of our sympathy. – Tim Grierson, Screen International
Del Toro creates a story so focused on the grime of humanity that empathy is left at the door. And it works…. It’s a del Toro film like you haven’t seen before. – Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho? A Geek Community
The most significant departure this glossy abscess of a noir makes from its director’s previous work is here, men are the only monsters (along with a woman or two). – David Ehrlich, IndieWire
It’s a rare misstep. – Alonso Duralde, The Wrap
The movie ranks as the most stunning modern noir to behold since Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables. – Peter Debruge, Variety
Guillermo del Toro’s effort in Nightmare Alley succeeds with flying colors because he and co-writer Kim Morgan truly understand the what makes this sort of movie tick. – Mike Reyes, Cinema Blend
With a semi-playful nod to the 1945 film Detour and more than a few rain-drenched streets, Nightmare Alley pays tribute to noir. But it’s also its own dark snow globe, luminous and finely faceted. – Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter
It’s a welcome throwback entertainment that noir and del Toro fans should devour. – Pete Hammond, Deadline
(Photo by Kerry Hayes/©20th Century Studios)
Del Toro opts to thrill the viewer in a way that keeps his feet firmly planted on the ground but allows for that trademark gore and brutality to peek out when it’s most needed. – Mike Reyes, Cinema Blend
You’ll be shocked by some of the quick bouts of horrors that shade the final moments. – Jimmy O, JoBlo’s Movie Emporium
There’s a burst of violence so unexpected I impulsively uttered “holy s–t” under my breath in the theater. – Robert Kojder, Flickering Myth
The director can hardly resist a bit of the old ultra-violence — a weakness that infects nearly all his films, as he insists on pushing our faces into the gory, bone-crunching consequences of his characters’ behavior. – Peter Debruge, Variety
The gruesome imagery on display can’t live up to the provocations of the mind. – Mike Massie, Gone With The Twins
It is a more expansive version than the first film iteration of the book… [and the] ending is truer to the source material than the Tyrone Power movie was. – Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter
Everything here is visually more elaborate and grotesque than in the original 1947 picture. – Mike Massie, Gone With The Twins
While the remake occasionally delivers R-rated gore, sex, or language, the older one still registers as the more shocking, more intense film. – Alonso Duralde, The Wrap
Del Toro’s natural empathy for even the most damnable creatures… sparks new life into Nightmare Alley. – David Ehrlich, IndieWire
The ’47 movie is a bit nastier; a bit meaner. Perhaps del Toro is too much of a dreamer and a lover of darkness to recreate such acidity. – Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm
(Photo by Kerry Hayes/©20th Century Studios)
So twisty that you’ll be surprised by the clues lying right in front of your eyes. – Mike Reyes, Cinema Blend
When the plot seems to have reached the point of becoming too thick, it’s cut open, allowing each element of the story to fall into place. – Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho? A Geek Community
The film’s spell is broken, somewhat, as it lurches towards its grim, foreshadowed end… Story elements don’t so much unravel as abruptly blow-up in violence. – Roger Moore, Movie Nation
Del Toro often lets the genre trappings and lush production values overwhelm the narrative. – Tim Grierson, Screen International
The screenplay can at times be too literal. – Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter
The script is ill conceived, a disaster that squanders all of the good faith it tries to cultivate in the first half hour, tossing reason and empathy to the side. – Roger Friedman, Showbiz 411
Del Toro knows how to conjure images, and does so with his usual brio. – Roger Friedman, Showbiz 411
From a rain-soaked carnival midway to a glossy, Art Deco therapist’s office, everything in Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley looks gorgeous. – Alonso Duralde, The Wrap
With show-stopping set pieces and costuming that goes a mile past just fitting to the era, Nightmare Alley is a visual feast. – Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho? A Geek Community
From the production design to the photography from Dan Laustsen, Nightmare Alley is a beauty. – Robert Kojder, Flickering Myth
The real star attraction is the brilliant and vibrant production design from Tamara Deverell and Dan Laustsen’s sumptuous cinematography. – Pete Hammond, Deadline
Mercifully less plastic-looking than del Toro’s recent work, but… the sleek patina the director brings to all of his digital work is still a poor fit for a film so bleak that every ray of light feels like a lie that Stanton is selling. – David Ehrlich, IndieWire
Gloomy visuals are additionally marred by the over-reliance on CGI. – Marya E. Gates, The Playlist
(Photo by Kerry Hayes/©20th Century Studios)
Extraordinary. – Robert Kojder, Flickering Myth
Building on the rise-and-crash arc of his A Star Is Born has-been, Bradley Cooper delivers another terrific tragic turn as ambitious huckster Stanton Carlisle. – Peter Debruge, Variety
This is the most transformative performance of his career… His charisma slowly chipped away throughout the 140 minutes runtime and yet bolstered at the same time. – Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho? A Geek Community
Cooper has one of his best roles here… He does exceptionally well, bringing far more depth and risk-taking than [Tyrone Power in the original] was allowed to display. – Pete Hammond, Deadline
The true heavy hitting charisma at the heart of this movie… delivered with the actor aligning the ferocity we’ve seen him exhibit previously along with key doses of restraint. – Mike Reyes, Cinema Blend
A career-best performance. – EJ Moreno, Flickering Myth
Cooper brings Stan’s duplicity constantly to the surface, so it’s hard to buy that he’s pulling one over on anyone when it’s always so obvious that he’s putting on an act. – Alonso Duralde, The Wrap
Cooper can’t seem to get a handle on the material, always feeling out of his element but not in a purposeful way. – Marya E. Gates, The Playlist
David Strathairn is an early standout. – David Ehrlich, IndieWire
Props to Rooney Mara. She is like a quiet storm in this film. – EJ Moreno, Flickering Myth
Collette and Blanchett make the deepest impressions among the supporting cast… Mara has the tricky job of playing the jaded innocent, and pulls it off. – Roger Moore, Movie Nation
Blanchett clearly was born for noir and as usual steals the show. – Pete Hammond, Deadline
As good as the first half of Nightmare Alley may be, it really comes to life when Lilith shows up, played by Cate Blanchett. – Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm
With a smorgasbord of talented and charismatic actors in front of the camera, it’s shocking that none overpower the other. – Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho? A Geek Community
(Photo by Kerry Hayes/©20th Century Studios)
Blanchett and Cooper’s pairing is one of the cinematic joys of 2021. – Mike Reyes, Cinema Blend
Cooper and Blanchett chart a course all their own… and the dance between the two is elegant and intimidating. – Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho? A Geek Community
It’s such a thrill to watch Blanchett spar with Cooper during their characters’ private sessions. – David Ehrlich, IndieWire
The ensuing power dance between these two master manipulators puts Nightmare Alley right up there with Sunset Boulevard, There Will Be Blood and other period studies of opposing forces. – Peter Debruge, Variety
Overlong… slow-moving and plodding. – Mike Massie, Gone With The Twins
Nightmare Alley crawls along at a bloated 2 hours, 20 minutes. – Roger Friedman, Showbiz 411
This version runs 40 minutes longer than the original and could have used a bit more trimming in the second half. – Pete Hammond, Deadline
Nightmare Alley does suffer from problems of pacing. – Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm
The near two and a half hour runtime may be slightly excessive, but not problematic. – Jimmy O, JoBlo’s Movie Emporium
At a comfortable 140 minutes, del Toro takes his time. – Matt Oakes, Silver Screen Riot
(Photo by Kerry Hayes/©20th Century Studios)
By the end, I was like this is what I really wanted. – EJ Moreno, Flickering Myth
One of the most satisfying endings I’ve seen. – Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho? A Geek Community
The final shot of this movie is an all-timer. – Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm
One of the best films of 2021. – Roger Moore, Movie Nation
Nightmare Alley is in theaters on December 17, 2021.
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(Photo by Everett Collection, Imaginal Disc and Labocine, and Touchstone Television)
“Know Your Critic” is a column in which we interview Tomatometer-approved critics about their screening and reviewing habits, pet peeves, and personal favorites.
Four years ago, Rosa Parra wasn’t nearly as well-versed in film history as she is now. She’d just seen Wonder Woman, which sparked her interest in – now a love for – cinematic spectacles and women’s representation on- and off-screen. That was the launchpad for Parra’s film education and career in criticism – and her star just keeps rising.
Parra’s passion is palpable. She’s driven not just by a love of visual storytelling, but by a desire to uplift Latinx stories. She started out writing movie reviews on a site she ran herself. In 2020, she co-founded the Latinx Lens podcast with her co-host Catherine Gonzales, where the two discuss history, icons, and recent releases. She’s also earning a bachelor’s in Film and Media Studies from Arizona State University.
And that’s all on top of her day job as a lab technician. (In addition to her love of movies, she’s a self-identified “science person.”)
“Everything I do with writing and preparing for podcasting, I do it after work,” Parra told Rotten Tomatoes. She dedicates her work commute and weekends to learning about film, too – sometimes with her kids, who she lovingly calls her “movie buddies.”
“Having to balance it all is not easy, but if you are determined and you plan out, literally to the last minute of the day that you’re awake – like, I have five minutes to do this in the morning – it’s doable.”
Rosa Parra is the co-host and co-founder of the Latinx Lens podcast. Find Rosa on Twitter: @rosasreviews.
Have you returned to theaters? What was the first film you saw?
Yes, I did. The day they opened! I had to go in there and watch something that deserved to be watched on the big screen, so I went in and watched Tenet. Man, that was an incredible experience.
Do you have a favorite snack while you’re watching movies?
Ooh. I would probably say nachos. I love nachos.
Are you pro- or anti-note-taking when you’re reviewing?
I will if I’m at home because I have the ability to pause the film and actually take notes, and try to analyze what I just watched. If I’m in the theater, I probably won’t, because I don’t want to miss anything that I’m seeing.
Do you read other people’s reviews before you write your own?
No, I try to do my own thing before reading someone else’s thoughts.
What is your favorite release of 2021 so far?
So far, my favorite movie of the year is Identifying Features. It’s a Mexican film that follows a mother who is seeking the whereabouts of her son who decides to cross the border and come to the United States. But then she doesn’t hear from him, so she takes it upon herself to go in search of him. It’s a smaller independent film, but it’s so moving, it’s so touching, and it’s so riveting that it’s haunted me since I watched it.
And actually, not that long ago, I watched Pig… I was like, oh, it might become my favorite of the year. But just by a little bit – by thin a margin, like a hair – it didn’t make it. It’s my number two, but Identifying Features still holds my top spot.
What makes a good movie?
It’s going to differ from people to people. Because at the end of the day, film is subjective. It’s an art. What I think is good, other people might not. It is a subjective medium.
To me, a good movie is one that leaves me thinking about it hours, days, after I’ve seen it – a movie that’s re-watchable… But also that makes me feel something, whether it’s sadness or it takes me back to my childhood, any childhood memories, or just makes me cry, or just overwhelms me with any form of emotion. I think that’s certainly my definition of a good movie.
(Photo by Everett Collection)
What motivated you to become a critic, and what remains your motivation as you continue your career?
To be honest, I wasn’t raised a cinephile, I didn’t grow up going to the movie theater frequently. If anything, I went to the movie theater once, twice every – I don’t know – three or four years.
As I’ve learned more about filmmaking, and as I’ve learned more about the power of movies – I’m still currently working on my degree, just to build a stronger foundation – I’ve come to love film. I’m doing it because it’s actually exciting. Everything I’m doing, whether it’s covering film or trying to provide a platform for Latinos, women, and Latinas in general. It’s important, of course, for representation, to highlight what we’re doing or what we’re capable of doing, but at the end of the day, I just fell in love with film. And I would rather do nothing else but to just talk about and analyze them.
You’re revisiting film history right now – for your podcast, with your degree, and on your own time. What are some of your favorite things that you learned?
It’s been so fascinating to learn about film history, because all of this is happening literally a few minutes away from where I’m standing right now. Driving down Hollywood Boulevard or Sunset and seeing these buildings, seeing the locations where a lot of these movies were filmed – it’s just mind-boggling to me.
We just recently did this episode on Anthony Quinn, who is one of the very few Latinos to be an Academy Award acting winner. To learn about his story, to learn about the studio system… Seeing that relationship between the actors and how they were pretty much handled as property… Watching those older movies has certainly given me that perspective of always coming to these older movies with a set of expectations.
I cannot be evaluating these movies the same way I’m doing the newly released ones – completely different eras, completely different visions. Just to see how long we’ve come with film history, and how society, certainly sociopolitical events, shape all of that. I’m fascinated by it.
If you could interview anyone, alive or dead, who would you want to speak to?
I would love to talk to Dolores del Río… She was one of the first two Mexican actresses to start in the silent era, successfully transition into the talkies, and when she was done in Hollywood, she went back to Mexico and she was one of the pioneers of the Mexican Golden Age of cinema.
And right now, I would have to go with Guillermo del Toro. I think Guillermo del Toro’s is just a brain that I would like to pick. And just to learn about how his brain is networked, and how he functions on a molecular neurological level.
What is your favorite classic film?
It Happened One Night is certainly one of my favorites. Singin’ in the Rain, absolutely. It’s just a feel-good movie. Absolutely love it. And I’m going to sound very cliché, but Citizen Kane.
(Photo by Warner Brothers/courtesy Everett Collection)
Is there someone in your life, who is not a critic, whose opinion you regularly seek out on movies?
My oldest daughter… This whole time, she’s been my movie buddy.
Seeing movies from her perspective is very interesting, and talking to her about them… She’s very much into horror, I’m not. Little by little, she’s been slowly but surely convincing me to watch horror movies with her. It works both ways – her getting me out of my comfort zone.
What is your favorite movie from your childhood?
These are the two movies that I remember watching in the theater.
One of them is actually Twister – I’ll never forget watching that movie on the big screen and having that big tornado coming at me.
Selena is another film that I remember watching in the movie theater. I was a big Selena fan, so my mother was able to save a little bit of money, take me to the movie theater and watch the movie. On an emotional and personal level, that movie meant a lot to me.
What is something that is Rotten on the Tomatometer but you love it and will defend it to the death?
I’ve been vocal about this multiple times. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, which is the third film of the trilogy and it’s actually my favorite. Nobody is ever going to make me change my mind!
It’s because it’s so big, and it’s no nonsensical… And I guess having a little crush on Jack Sparrow comes in handy a little, too. But in terms of visuals and the spectacle, the CGI on Davy Jones still holds up today and it has one of the most epic third acts I’ve ever seen in a movie. They went all out, and I love it for that.
(Photo by Imaginal Disc and Labocine)
What were you watching the first time you saw yourself on screen, and what did you relate to about that character or that story?
It just happened earlier this year at Sundance with Son of Monarchs – seeing a Mexican, dark-skinned like myself, with Indigenous complexion, be in the medical field. He uses a lot of microscopes, which is something I do on a daily basis. Just to see that, to see that it’s somebody from the same culture that I belong to, who communicates just like I do, who has the same passion for science, that was mind-boggling to me. I had never seen anything like that represented so accurately, and that I was able to relate to. It goes on a journey about finding yourself emotionally, but also spiritually, and it has some beautiful scenery, beautiful imagery. It deals with the monarch butterfly, which is very symbolic in Mexico.
What is the hardest review you’ve ever written?
Certainly talking about The Tax Collector wasn’t easy to do. Because I mean, I’m a Chicana, I was born and raised in East LA. And I guess being a minority critic comes with an additional baggage of, you are in a way forced or expected, per se, to like films that are either about your culture or anything like that. And The Tax Collector wasn’t necessarily my cup of tea. I got a lot of criticism for it because … it’s like going against my own people in a way.
What is the movie or show that you’ve watched more than any other?
I think there’s a tie for TV shows.
I grew up watching I Love Lucy. My mother loved that show. And I think that was the first time I was able to relate to somebody, to some extent, with the character of Desi Arnaz. Every time he would be mad, he would start talking in Spanish and everything. I was like, “oh, I know what he’s saying, this is very interesting.”
And The Golden Girls. I love, I adore The Golden Girls… On the weekends, I watch it on Hulu or just watch it on TV and just laugh my butt off because they’re still hilarious! They were so progressive for their time. They’re one of the very few shows to highlight a lot of issues and challenges that the elders often face.
The movie I’ve seen the most is Stand and Deliver. Of course, it’s from East LA, depicting Jaime Escalante’s story – a Bolivian math professor who believed that low-income Chicano students were capable of learning calculus and passing the AP exam.
I attended that same high school. I attended Garfield High School. I grew up learning about Jaime Escalante. He’s literally a legend in East LA. So, that movie has been the one I’ve seen the most – I’ve perhaps lost count by now how many times I’ve seen it – and it helped me pass my calculus class when I was in college. I owe that movie a whole lot. It gave me the confidence I needed, and the motivation to continue doing what I’m doing now.
What, if anything, do you consider required viewing for everyone?
If I’m narrowing it down to Latino films… I always see these lists of must-watch movies, whether they’re Latino-centric, or during Latino Heritage Month or Hispanic Heritage Month. I never see them talk about Salt of the Earth from 1954, which is a movie that, in my opinion, is the first ever to depict a Mexican-American experience. Sadly, it doesn’t get the attention or the much-needed love it deserves. Firstly because not everybody knows about it – I wouldn’t have known about it if it weren’t for film class! And secondly, I guess it had a little bit of backlash because it was produced and made by blacklisted directors and filmmakers. It had that against it at the time.
To see a movie from the ’50s to be so progressive, so feminine, and telling a story like this, about some zinc miners in New Mexico, was truly something that I had never seen before. A lot of these movies just focus either in New York or East LA. To see something in New Mexico, that was certainly kind of new, innovative.
Rosa Parra is the co-host and co-founder of the Latinx Lens podcast. She is a member of the Hollywood Critics Association and the Online Association of Female Film Critics. Her reviews can also be found at In Their Own League and Shuffle Online. Find Rosa on Twitter: @rosasreviews.
What’s more exciting to genre fans than a horror anthology series led by the great Guillermo del Toro? A horror anthology series led by GDT populated by some of the most exciting filmmakers in horror – and the best actors around – all handpicked by the man himself. That particular project leads a busy week in TV in streaming news, with Paramount+ making its claim for relevance with a Television Critics Association (TCA) presentation jam-packed with big reveals. For all that and more, read on!
TOP STORY
(Photo by Margaret Malandruccolo)
Oscar winner Guillermo Del Toro has added an all-star cast for his upcoming Netflix horror anthology series Cabinet of Curiosities, with some equally impressive writers and directors also in the mix.
Netflix released some specific episode details for the series previously known as Guillermo del Toro Presents 10 After Midnight, and they include our favorite MIA Walking Dead star:
— Essie Davis (The Babadook), Andrew Lincoln (The Walking Dead), and Hannah Galway (Sex/Life) star in an episode written and directed by Jennifer Kent (The Babadook; The Nightingale), based on an original story by Del Toro
— Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham (Mythic Quest), Glynn Turman (Fargo), and Luke Roberts (Black Sails) will appear in an episode written by David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight; Batman Begins) and based on a short story by Michael Shea, and directed by David Prior (The Empty Man; AM1200)
— Tim Blake Nelson (Watchmen), Elpidia Carrillo (Predator), Demetrius Grosse (Fear The Walking Dead), and Sebastian Roché (The Man in the High Castle) star in an episode written by Regina Corrado (Deadwood; The Strain), based on an original story by Del Toro, and directed by Guillermo Navarro (Godfather of Harlem; Narcos)
(Photo by ©IFC Midnight)
— Crispin Glover (Back To The Future) and Ben Barnes (Shadow and Bone; The Punisher) star in an episode written by Lee Patterson (Curve; The Colony), based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft, and directed by Keith Thomas (Firestarter; The Vigil)
— Peter Weller (RoboCop) stars in an episode directed by Panos Cosmatos (Mandy), who also writes along with Aaron Stewart-Ahn
— Mika Watkins (Black Mirror) writes an episode, based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft, directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen; Lords of Dogtown; Twilight), with cast to be announced
— David Hewlett (The Shape of Water; Stargate: Atlantis) stars in an episode based on a short story by Henry Kuttner and written and directed by Vincenzo Natali (Hannibal)
— Haley Z. Boston (Brand New Cherry Flavor) serves as writer of an episode based on a short story by comic book author Emily Carroll and directed by Ana Lily Amirpour (A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night; Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon; The Bad Batch) with cast to be confirmed.
The already impressive list of creatives on camera and behind the scenes on Paramount+’s upcoming family crime drama Mayor of Kingstown got just that much more impressive with the newly-revealed addition of Kyle Chandler. Friday Night Lights Emmy-winner and Bloodline alum Chandler will play Mitch McLusky, the older brother of Jeremy Renner’s Mike McLusky, the town mayor of Kingstown, Michigan, with a local economy and power structure that revolves around the town’s prison system. As the local fixer inside and outside the prisons, Mitch may actually have more power than Mike. The series, created by Oscar nominee and Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan and actor Hugh Dillon, also features Antoine Fuqua as an executive producer and director, Oscar-nominated Renner as an EP, and among the cast: Oscar- and Emmy-winner Dianne Wiest as the McClusky family mama, Taylor Handler as the youngest McClusky brother, The Wire and Game of Thrones alum Aidan Gillen, and Sons of Anarchy and Third Watch alum Michael Beach. Mayor of Kingstown premieres Nov. 14.
(Photo by Marcus Ingram/Getty Images for BET, Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
The above Chandler casting news was revealed at Paramount+’s Television Critics Academy presentation. Other big reveals from the new-kid-on-the-block streamer included…
— The streaming network announced the new half-hour, “genre-bending” series Guilty Party, starring Kate Beckinsale as a disgraced journalist who tries to use the case of a woman accused of murdering her husband to help her redeem her own career and reputation. The 10-episode series premieres Oct. 14.
— Paramount+’s revival of the 2006-15 BET and The CW dramedy The Game will premiere on Nov. 11. The reboot moves from San Diego to Las Vegas, and puts a modern spin on the examination of Black culture via pro football, starring Wendy Raquel Robinson (above left) as sports agent Tasha Mack, Hosea Chanchez (above right) as football player Malik Wright, Adriyan Rae as Brittany Pitts, the daughter of original series characters Jason and Kelly Pitts, Vaughn as free agent player Jamison Fields, and Analisa Velez as Brittany’s best friend Raquel Navarro. Brittany Daniel and Coby Bell will make special appearances as Kelly and Jason Pitts, while Pooch Hall will also make special appearances as original series character Derwin Davis. New cast members and characters announced for the reboot include Tim Daly as billionaire team owner Col. Ulysses S. Thatcher and Toby Sandeman as Garret Evans, the league’s best player.
— And in the session of the animated Star Trek kids series Prodigy, star Kate Mulgrew said her Captain Janeway “has never left me, and I am thrilled to be back and to be introducing this to children.”
Here is the main title sequence for Star Trek: Prodigy, which premieres this fall, and also features the voice-work of John Noble and Jimmi Simpson. The series follows a group of six young aliens who try to make the world better with the help of a ship they commandeer, and the Starfleet teaching that come along with it.
Red Notice is an adventure movie in which the world’s top FBI profiler (Dwayne Johnson) is drawn into a heist with two of the world’s most wanted art thieves (Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds), who are also rivals. Premieres Nov. 12 (Netflix)
More trailers and teasers released this week:
• You Season 3 finds Joe Goldberg living his best domesticated life with wife Love and baby… well, watch the trailer for the name. But as much as he once loved Love, he’s now got his eyes on some new women … and the people who might stand between them. Stars Penn Badgley, Victoria Pedretti, Saffron Burrows, Shalita Grant, Scott Speedman, Mackenzie Astin, Scott Michael Foster, and Dylan Arnold. Premieres Oct. 15 (Netflix)
• The Problem with Jon Stewart is a new bi-weekly current affairs series featuring the return of the former Daily Show host and his special spin on the world (and in this trailer, his face). Premieres Sept. 30 (Apple TV+)
• CSI: Vegas is the limited-series sequel to CBS’ original drama, featuring the return of William Petersen and Jorja Fox to the Sin City action, along with co-stars Wallace Langham and Paul Guilfoyle. New cast members include Paula Newsome, Mel Rodriguez, Matt Lauria, and Mandeep Dhillon. Premieres Oct. 6 (CBS)
• It’s Doom Patrol Season 3, and things get a lot more complicated for the gang, as Madame Rouge (Michelle Gomez) arrives in a time machine with a very specific mission … if only she could remember it. Stars Brendan Fraser, Matt Bomer, April Bowlby, Diane Guerrero, and Timothy Dalton. Premieres Sept. 23 (HBO Max)
• Untold: Breaking Point is the final entry in the five-part docuseries from Netflix, this one focusing on one-time top-ranked American tennis star Mardy Fish, who dealt with life- and career-changing mental health issues while climbing the tennis ranks. Premieres Sept. 7 (Netflix)
• All Creatures Great and Small Season 2 finds the Yorkshire Dales crew returning for more heartwarming and humorous stories based on James Herriot’s bestselling novels. Stars Samuel West, Nicholas Ralph, Anna Madeley, Rachel Shenton, and Callum Woodhouse. Premieres 2022 (PBS)
• The Show is a behind-the-scenes documentary about the massive amount of preparations that were necessary to pull off the Super Bowl LV Halftime Show with The Weeknd. Premieres Sept. 24 (Showtime)
• The Circle, Season 3, is the four-week event/social media experiment with a new group of eight contestants looking for clout and cash. Mostly cash. Michelle Buteau returns as host. Premieres Sept. 8 (Netflix)
• The Sinner Season 4 launches a new mystery with Bill Pullman’s Harry, who is supposedly retired, but gets drawn into another case when he goes to Maine on vacay. Also stars Jessica Hecht and Frances Fisher. Premieres Oct. 13 (USA)
For all the latest TV and streaming trailers subscribe to the Rotten Tomatoes TV YouTube channel.
(Photo by Des Willie / Netflix)
The Crown star Emma Corrin, who’s up for a Lead Actress/Drama Emmy for her performance as Princess Diana in Season 4 of The Crown, will next play the lead in Netflix’s adaptation of the steamy D.H. Lawrence novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover, about a married woman who has an affair with an employee at her estate. Jack O’Connell (Seberg) and Matthew Duckett will co-star.
Newcomer Jabari Banks has been cast in Will Smith’s role in the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air dramatic reboot Bel-Air for Peacock. Smith delivered the news to the younger actor in a Zoom call. (THR)
Poison Ivy is on the scene: Jane the Virgin star Bridget Regan is joining the cast of The CW’s Batwoman for Season 3, playing Pamela Isley, a.k.a. Poison Ivy, the scientist who had intentions to change the world until her colleague experimented on her and led her to turn to villainy.
The Resident star Emily VanCamp will not return to the medical drama for Season 5. Since her nurse practitioner Nic had a baby with hubby Conrad (Matt Czuchry) in the Season 4 finale, and the trailer for Season 5 shows Conrad holding the baby alone when cops come to his door, there could be a very sad season premiere on the way on Sept. 21.
Peacock’s Queer as Folk remake has added four regulars to its cast: Fin Argus (The Gifted) as a cocky, but inexperienced high school student; Candace Grace (Acts of Crime) as a non-binary professor trying to get used to being a new parent; Johnny Sibilly (Hacks and Pose) as a successful lawyer whose life is not as together as it appears; and Devin Way (Grey’s Anatomy and Station 19) as a charming commitment-phobe who stays in New Orleans after tragedy rocks his community. They join previously announced Blue Sky star Jesse James Keitel, who will play a trans, semi-reformed party girl who is struggling to grow up.
(Photo by Raymond Liu/ABC via Getty Images)
The Thing About Pam, the true-crime limited series on NBC, has cast Katy Mixon (above) as Betsy Faria, the woman whose husband was falsely accused of killing her, while Judy Greer has been cast as the prosecutor who tried Russ Faria twice. Renee Zellweger plays Pam Hupp, Betsy’s one-time friend who was up to no good instead. (Deadline)
The Girl from Plainville, Hulu’s upcoming limited series about Michelle Carter (Elle Fanning), the young woman convicted of involuntary manslaughter for encouraging her mentally ill boyfriend in text messages to end his own life, has added to its cast: Bloodline star Norbert Leo Butz will play the father of Conrad Roy III (Colton Roy), the young man who died by suicide, Deadline reports. Meanwhile, Cara Buono (Stranger Things) and Kai Lennox (Falling Water) have been cast as Carter’s parents. (Deadline)
Grey’s Anatomy alum Jesse Williams has joined the cast of the Hulu drama pilot Olga Dies Dreaming, based on the upcoming book of the same name by author Xóchitl Gonzalez. Aubrey Plaza and Ramón Rodríguez are already set to star as siblings Olga and Pedro, she a wedding planner for wealthy Manhattanites and him a congressman in Brooklyn, who, despite their successful public lives, are still dealing with the aftermath of their mother abandoning them when they were children. Williams will play Matteo, a charming love interest for Olga, while CSI: Miami and Sons of Anarchy alum Wanda De Jesús has signed on to play Olga and Pedro’s absent mom. (Deadline)
Dave Annable (Brothers & Sisters) has joined the Season 2 cast of The CW’s Walker, where he’ll play a rival of Cordell (Jared Padalecki) and family. (Deadline)
Netflix’s Addams Family spin-off Wednesday, the coming-of-age comedy revolving around the Addams family’s daughter, has added several new cast members, including Thora Birch (The Walking Dead) as Wednesday’s dorm mother at Nevermore Academy; Riki Lindhome (Knives Out) as Wednesday’s therapist; Jamie McShane (Bloodline) as the local sheriff who has a beef with Gomez; Hunter Doohan (Your Honor) as Tyler, a townie who befriends Wednesday; Georgie Farmer (Treadstone) as shy Nevermore student Ajax; Moosa Mostafa (The Last Bus) as quirky Nevermore student Eugene; Emma Myers (Girl in the Basement) as Enid, Wednesday’s super-upbeat roommate; Naomi J. Ogawa (Skylin3s) as Yoko, one of the cool kids; Joy Sunday (Dear White People) as Bianca, one of Nevermore’s most popular students; and Percy Hynes White (The Gifted), as Xavier, an artistic student whose father is a celebrity psychic. Jenna Ortega was previously announced as Wednesday, while Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzmán will play Morticia and Gomez, her parents, Tim Burton will direct, and Smallville creators Al Gough and Miles Millar will write the series. (Deadline)
(Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for SCAD aTVfest 2020)
Peacock has announced the cast for its supernatural YA drama, Vampire Academy, based on the bestselling book series by author Richelle Mead, and adapted by Vampire Diaries creator Julie Plec: J. August Richards (Angel, above) leads the ensemble as Victor Dashkov, a noble vampire with a heart of gold who’s highly regarded for his role as advisor and political strategist. Other regulars include Sisi Stringer (Mortal Kombat) as outspoken Rose Hathaway, a vampire-human hybrid known as a Dhampir; Daniela Nieves (Sex Appeal) as vampire princess Lissa Dragomir; Kieron Moore (Sex Education) as Dimitri Belikov, a bodyguard; André Dae Kim (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds) as Christian Ozera, a smart and thoughtful social pariah because of sins committed by his parents; Anita-Joy Uwajeh (King Lear) as Tatiana Vogel, a political underdog who shouldn’t be underestimated; Mia Mckenna-Bruce (The Dumping Ground) as ruthless social climber Mia Karp; Rhian Blundell (Doctor Who: The Dread of Night) as Meredith, a smart strategist who is considered a valuable asset; Jonetta Kaiser (Breakwater) as quiet outsider Sonya Karp; and Andrew Liner (Grown-ish) as chraming, popular Mason Ashford, Rose’s rival who’s also in love with her.
30 Rock star Jane Krakowski has joined the cast of NBC’s upcoming special Annie Live!, where she’ll play Lily St. Regis, partner of Rooster Hannigan. Rooster will be played by Tituss Burgess, Krakowski’s co-star on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. The production will air on Dec. 2.
David Makes Man star Daniel Augustin will replace Brandon Micheal Hall in Hulu’s How I Met Your Mother spin-oof, How I Met Your Father, because of a scheduling conflict for Hall, Deadline reports.
(Photo by Brian Dowling/Getty Images)
Eddie Murphy is reteaming with Kenya Barris – who was a writer on Coming 2 America – on an untitled comedy movie that will star Murphy and Jonah Hill, with a script written by Barris and Hill. THR.com reports the film will be “an incisive examination of modern love and family dynamics and how clashing cultures, societal expectations and generational differences shape and affect relationships,” with Murphy and Hill on opposite sides of many issues. (THR)
Oscar-winners Kevin Costner and Barry Levinson are teaming up for the limited series One Giant Leap, about the 1969 moon landing. Stephen Kronish (24) will write and serve as showrunner on the series, which will focus on the personality conflicts within the flight team that nearly derailed the mission before it could launch. Costner will be an executive producer on the project, while Levinson will direct. (Deadline)
Steve Urkel returns! Did I Do That to the Holidays? A Steve Urkel Story is an upcoming animated holiday musical special that brings the iconic Family Matters character (voiced by actor Jaleel White) back to the tube as part of WarnerMedia Kids & Family’s new ACME Night, Sunday night lineups on Cartoon Network and HBO Max that will center on family programming. Holiday comedy special Merry Little Batman, a new Looney Tunes Cartoons movie, a Harry Potter competition series, and Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai will also be part of ACME Night, which launches on Cartoon Network on Sept. 19 and HBO Max next year.
The CW has officially ordered Nancy Drew spinoff Tom Swift to series. Swift, a billionaire inventor who is Black and gay (and played by Tian Richards), was introduced to viewers at the end of Nancy Drew’s second season. In the spinoff, he’ll be off on a quest to find his missing father, while solving mysteries and fighting off an illuminati-type group that wants to stop him.
(Photo by NBC)
Manifest fans’ save-the-show campaign worked: one final season of their missing-plane drama, dropped by NBC, has been picked up by Netflix for a super-sized, 20-episode fourth season, with leads Josh Dallas and Melissa Roxburgh set to return, and other cast members still negotiating.
Reservation Dogs co-creator Sterlin Harjo and writer-director Erica Tremblay are teaming with House of Cards creator Beau Willimon as executive producer and Paramount+ to develop Yellow Bird, a series adaptation of author Sierra Crane Murdoch’s Pulitzer Prize-finalist book Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder and a Woman’s Search for Justice in Indian Country. It’s the true story of Lissa Yellowbird, who, newly released from jail and trying to repair her relationships with family, became obsessed with solving the mystery of what happened to a missing oil worker on her reservation in North Dakota. (Deadline)
American Vandals creators Dan Perrault and Tony Yacenda are developing a Paramount+ sports mockumentary called Players, about a fictitious esports league team that’s trying to win its first championship, if only its 17-year-old and 27-year-old video-game–playing stars can put their egos aside. (Variety)
It’s been an unnecessarily long, messy process, but Mike Richards is not only out as Jeopardy! host, he’s been fired as the series’ executive producer. (L.A. Times)
Disney+ is planning a series about the life and career of fashion legend Karl Lagerfeld and his rise to the top of the global fashion industry. Titled Kaiser Karl, the series will be shot in France. (THR)
Because you’ve only seen every episode 37 times, mark your calendars for Oct. 1, when Seinfeld debuts on Netflix, which has global streaming rights to the classic sitcom.
More classic sitcom news: with the success of the interactive Friends Experience in New York, Chicago will soon play host to The Office Experience, also an interactive exhibit with two stories, 17 rooms of set recreations, and the chance for fans to put themselves in some of the show’s best scenes. The exhibition opens in Chicago on Oct. 15. (THR)
Umbrella Academy star Elliot Page has signed a first-look deal to develop scripted and unscripted programming for NBCUniversal’s UCP studio.
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Ron Perlman has played some monster characters throughout his career, notably the titular Hellboy in two Guillermo del Toro–directed films about that red, horned, cigar-smoking comic book anti-hero; the grizzled gang leader Clay Morrow in FX biker drama Sons of Anarchy; and even his breakout role as Vincent from CBS’s live-action Beauty and the Beast series, in which he starred opposite Linda Hamilton. With his latest series, he adds to the list.
“A lot of the characters that I’ve played without makeup that are, you know, seemingly human are the most monstrous things I’ve ever done,” Perlman told Rotten Tomatoes when discussing new Peacock series, The Capture, which premieres on the launch day of NBC’s new streaming service.
The Capture — “so incredibly well-rendered” and “so smart,” the actor said — takes viewers deep into a highly surveilled world in which anyone with the wherewithal, and motive, can alter video footage and place a crime that never happened at the foot of a would-be criminal of their choosing.
In the six-episode series, which was recently renewed by the BBC for a second season, Perlman plays Frank Napier, a CIA official leading a small team that monitors CCTV, the UK’s expansive network of security cameras, in the name of upholding justice. But at what cost does such “justice” come where video evidence of a crime that was supposedly committed, may have been a hoax all along?
(Photo by BBC/Heyday Films/Nick Wall)
Perlman co-stars opposite Holliday Grainger (Patrick Melrose) as DI Rachel Carey and Callum Turner (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald) as Shawn Emery, a former soldier framed for murder. With recent technological breakthroughs in deep-fake technology and the ever-growing trend of distrusting facts, the series’ fictional concept of “Correction” (the truth-altering tech featured in the series) feels both completely terrifying and absolutely plausible.
“[It’s about] things I’m personally obsessed with, in regards to the people that we look to in order to keep us safe and protected,” Perlman said. “How pure can we expect their motivations to be? Are their personal agendas spilling over into the things that (we hope) they do for purely ideological reasons? You know, for, hopefully, the greater good?”
These are all important questions to ask, especially when the news cycle is continuously recounting stories of law enforcement entities and government agencies that aren’t exactly serving the people’s best interests.
Speaking on the series, and the many issues currently facing Americans, Perlman is quick to identify the “ripped apart” nature of our politics where “you don’t know what you’re being sold or who’s selling it to you, a lot of the time.” And for an actor who has been famously outspoken in his progressive beliefs on Twitter — he was briefly suspended from the platform in 2019 for comments made in a now-deleted tweet celebrating the death of Koch Industries Vice Chairman David Koch, and he recently got involved in an online scuffle with Republican Sen. Ted Cruz — his decision to play a conservative-leaning character in a questionable position of power becomes more intriguing.
In The Capture, Perlman’s Frank makes some callous choices and steps over the line of morality more than once in the interest of upholding national and international security. When asked if Napier is a monster, the actor has trouble giving a definitive answer.
“You can make an argument that Frank is so multifaceted that it’s hard to figure out where the monster in him ends and the humanity begins,” Perlman explained. “So I mean, one of the fascinating things about trying to figure out how to play the guy is, for the whole history of the show, you’ll walk away not knowing, was he a good guy? Was he a bad guy? I just don’t know.”
(Photo by Sony Pictures)
On the big screen, Perlman continues to team up with his close friend Del Toro. In the long-awaited new adaptation of Pinocchio, he plays Mangiafuoco, a character known to many as Stromboli, thanks to Walt Disney’s 1940 film classic.
He also appears in Paul W.S. Anderson’s upcoming Monster Hunter, a big-budget movie adaptation of Capcom’s action role-playing video game of the same name that stars Milla Jovovich and Tony Jaa. The movie was scheduled to open this September, but has been pushed back to April 2021. Perlman, who described his role as Admiral in the flick to Comic Book Movie as “a lot of chewing the scenery,” was mostly mum about specific story details, but gave an impression of what to expect.
“I’m not a gamer, so I’m not familiar with the video game,” Perlman said. “I know that it has a huge following and huge popularity. I know that the production that Sony gave it, under the great leadership of Paul W.S. Anderson, was top draw. You know, it was just such a phenomenal experience and seemed like we were making a big-time movie — lots of titillating juicy battle scenes and chase scenes. There are a lot of high stakes, so this should be a good one to watch.”
And what about that a highly-publicized Twitter spat between Perlman and Cruz? The whole thing began after the U.S. Soccer Federation repealed its policy that prohibited athletes from kneeling during the national anthem as an act of protest against police brutality.
The news drew ire from the likes of President Donald Trump and Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz who shamed the sports institution. Perlman soon added his two cents on Twitter, saying, “The US Soccer team called and you guessed it… said they couldn’t give any less of a f–k about what you two dips–ts think.”
A follow-up tweet, directed at Gaetz and showing a photo of Rep. Jim Jordan, a former wrestling coach accused of ignoring athletes’ reports of abuse by a doctor at Ohio State University, caught the attention of Cruz and sparked the war of words between the actor and the senator, who challenged Perlman to a wrestling match — with Jordan.
The bizarre back-and-forth led Perlman to present a counteroffer to Cruz, promoting the idea that if the senator himself would face him in the ring, he’d donate $50,000 dollars to Black Lives Matter. They traded a few more barbs before things quieted down, but Perlman is still up for the challenge.
Though he has made it very clear that he’ll never play Hellboy on the big screen again, Perlman said he may be willing to reprise the role through voice-over in a virtual wrestling match with Cruz — perhaps in an animated special akin to, say, MTV’s old Celebrity Death Match cartoon series. Would he step into Hellboy’s shoes one more time for such a special occasion?
“Absolutely,” said Perlman, laughing. “[Cruz has] just said so many things that are so damaging to the concept of human discourse. He’s one of the guys who has the most deleterious effect on the American consciousness, which is: He’s designed to make us cynical. He’s designed to make us disengaged. He’s designed his whole modus operandi to say stuff that makes us into disbelievers rather than people who are rallying around some beautiful concepts that Americans pledge allegiance to. He’s a diabolical villain. And so any chance I get virtually to have a smackdown with this motherf—er, I would jump at the opportunity.”
The Capture launches on Peacock on July 15.
(Photo by © NEON)
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association announced the winners of the 2019 LAFCA Awards on their Twitter page this weekend. Parasite was named the Best Picture of 2019, while director Bong Joon-ho was named Best Director, and in a welcome surprise, Parasite star Kang-Ho Song was named Best Supporting Actor. This marks LAFCA as the first major voting group to recognize his performance – could he sneak into the Golden Globes nominations on Monday?
Read through for the full list of winners below.
Best Picture: Parasite (2019) 99%
Best Director: Bong Joon-ho — Parasite (2019) 99%
Best Actor: Antonio Banderas — Pain and Glory (2019) 96%
Best Actress: Mary Kay Place — Diane (2018) 93%
Best Supporting Actor: Kang-Ho Song — Parasite (2019) 99%
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lopez — Hustlers (2019) 88%
Best Screenplay: Noah Baumbach— Marriage Story (2019) 95%
Best Production Design: Barbara Ling— Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood (2019) 86%
Best Editing: Todd Douglas Miller — Apollo 11 (2019) 99%
Best Cinematography: Claire Mathon— Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) 97% & Atlantics (2019) 96%
Best Music Score: Dan Levy— I Lost My Body (2019) 97%
Best Foreign Language Film: Pain and Glory (2019) 96%
Best Non-Fiction Film (Documentary): American Factory (2019) 95%
Best Animated Film: I Lost My Body (2019) 97%
Douglas Edwards Independent/ Experimental Film/ Video Award: The Giverny Document
Are you as obsessed with awards as we are? Check out our Awards Leaderboard for 2019/2020.
In the 1970s and 1980s, a horror renaissance rocked the film industry, riding on the wave of George Romero’s 1969 low-budget zombie breakout Night of the Living Dead. There was a general feeling that something special was happening, where even directors as esteemed as Stanley Kubrick, Nicolas Roeg, and Peter Medak were flocking to the genre, while others more dedicated to horror, like Tobe Hooper, John Carpenter, and Wes Craven were pushing the goal posts for scares. Even though the enthusiasm for innovative horror waned somewhat in the past couple of decades, with notable exceptions from the likes of Craven and newcomers like James Wan, the special feeling of a “movement” in horror seems to have finally returned, and with it a new class of the Masters of Horror who will lead us through the dark.
Whittling this list to 21 was a near-impossible task when you’ve got so many visionary filmmakers working in the genre, including queen Karyn Kusama (The Invitation), the Soska sisters (Rabid), Julia Ducournau (Raw), Coralie Fargeat (Revenge), Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani (Amer), Chelsea Stardust (Satanic Panic), Ana Asensio (Most Beautiful Island), Nia DaCosta (the upcoming Candyman), Na Hong-jin (The Wailing), Ti West (The Innkeepers), Jorge Michel Grau (We Are What We Are), Jennifer Wexler (The Ranger), Joko Anwar (Satan’s Slaves), Mattie Do (Dearest Sister), Gigi Guerrero (Culture Shock), Xander Robin (Are We Not Cats), and Demian Rugna (Terrified). (That’s not to mention producers like Jason Blum, dedicating their professional lives to scaring us stupid; but we’re limiting this roll call to directors, though some of those produce, as you’ll see. )
The list goes on and on, but here’s 21 that have made our blood pump and eyes pop recently, and are pushing the genre forward with every new work they make.
(Photo by James Minchin /© A24 /Courtesy Everett Collection)
Ari Aster, much like George Romero, did not see himself as a horror director before his breakout debut. Hereditary, starring Toni Collette in an awards-worthy performance, is a family drama that plays out like one long exhilarating gasp for breath. Aster’s follow-up, Midsommar digs around in the same psychological playground, though this time covering the dissolution of a romantic relationship. Both films recategorize the meaning of “scare,” as Aster mines the terror of simply being uncomfortable with other people to a nearly wacky psycho-comedy effect.
(Photo by Claudette Barius / © Universal)
What else is there to say about Jordan Peele? He single-handedly proved that black people want to see themselves in horror films and that other people all over the world would like to see it too. His films stray so far from what many would deem commercially acceptable — a lengthy monologue about inequality delivered amongst a bunch of rabbits in a kind of magical basement world? And yet his stories are compelling because they’re unlike anything else in theaters, their cinematic influences evident but not overbearing. Peele’s making horror weird again, and he’s making it matter.
(Photo by ©IFC Midnight/Courtesy Everett Collection)
When Jennifer Kent’s debut horror The Babadook shocked audiences, the potential for horror to mine desperate grief came into 20/20 view. Not only that, but distinctly down-and-dirty, terrible, feminine grief. It’s not unusual for horror films to star women — this has been a defining characteristic of the genre — but it was unusual to see a heroine slowly morph into a highly relatable villain in such a visceral manner. In her newest film The Nightingale, Kent continues to push her heroines past a point of likeability with an eye on doing away with the “strong woman” trope that has rendered so many female characters into caricatures of femininity.
(Photo by Justin M. Lubin/© Universal Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection)
Mike Flanagan has toiled in the genre fields for almost two decades, writing, directing, and editing his own films, which included Ghosts of Hamilton Street, Absentia, Oculus, and Hush, before he got his name-making box office hit, Ouija: Origin of Evil. Flanagan has a rare ability to please mainstream audiences while still pushing boundaries of horror, as he did with the wildly popular Haunting of Hill House Netflix series, which, among other cool tricks, hid a number of ghosts in the frame. That kind of subtle innovation comes from a filmmaker who’s familiar with all tools at their disposal, and his adaptation of a sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep, is much anticipated for that reason.
Mexican director Issa Lopez made a name for herself in her native country by directing a series of comic films, but her debut horror film Tigers Are Not Afraid (trailer above) couldn’t have been a bigger departure from her earlier career. Filled with wonder and grit and meaningful insights into childhood, trauma, and the human soul in the harshest environment imaginable, the film has been racking up fans and awards long before its U.S. release on Shudder. Guillermo del Toro luckily saw the film and immediately signed up to produce her next movies, so this Master in the making is already well on her way.
(Photo by Kerry Hayes/©Universal Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection)
Speaking of Guillermo del Toro, it’s difficult to overstate how much of a boon for horror this visionary director has been, but del Toro was pioneering new directions for horror years before it came back in fashion. From Cronos and The Devil’s Backbone all the way up to Pan’s Labyrinth and the slept-on Crimson Peak, del Toro’s body of work feels so ingrained in the culture that it’s almost easy to take him for granted. Not to mention that he’s spent a great deal of time championing the newer generation of horror directors like Issa Lopez, Scott Cooper, and André Øvredal, producing double the number of films he directs himself. He is, for all intents and purposes, the godfather of the new Masters of Horror.
(Photo by © Netflix)
This pair of collaborators burst on the scene with last year’s Netflix horror hit, Cam (pictured above), about a cam girl sex worker whose identity is stolen and used against her. In a novel twist, the film was also respectful of women, Johns, and sex workers, never resorting to staid clichés, signaling that the pair could inclusively expand the frontiers of horror. Announcements for their next project with Blumhouse have been thin, but the film is certainly driven by women, and they’ll also be wading into TV horror with a segment for Quibi’s new 50 States of Fear.
(Photo by ©Weinstein Company/Courtesy Everett Collection)
Martyrs (pictured above) is not what many would call an easy film to watch. But Pascal Laugier’s most notorious feature is quite masterful. A story that opens like a revenge flick but closes with a hammer-to-the-nose of philosophical insights into perceived womanhood and spirituality, Martyrs follows in the New French Extremity footsteps of Claire Denis’ Trouble Every Day. After Martyrs, Laugier tried his hand at American horror with Jessica Biel starrer The Tall Man, but returned to his roots in 2018’s Incident in a Ghostland. Laugier shows that gore with a brain is on the menu for horror fans.
(Photo by Brooke Palmer/© Warner Bros. /Courtesy Everett Collection)
In 2013, Argentine director Andy Muschietti had an international hit on his hands with Mamá, about a young couple who take in their two young nieces but find that a malicious supernatural entity has decided they’re her next victims of a haunting. The film starred Jessica Chastain, setting up Muschietti’s desire to make genre but with actors of high esteem attached, which led to his re-envisioning Stephen King’s It in a two-movie release, vaunted for its playful but serious take on the story. Next up, Muschietti’s going the monster route with an adaptation of Hajime Isayama’s Attack on Titan, and is rumored to be directing DC’s The Flash.
(Photo by © Kimstim Films / courtesy Everett Collection)
Kiyoshi Kurosawa is not a newcomer by any means. He’s been working steadily in genre and outside of it since the 1980s, as a critic, commercial artist, and a creative filmmaker. In 2001, he released his most well-known cult film Pulse, but his recent return to genre suggests he’s not quite finished being a Master. In 2016, he released Creepy, a thrilling hardboiled mystery, which he then followed up with Before We Vanish, which is an alien invasion story equal parts horror and humor that opens with a risky, bloody bang.
(Photo by © Magnet Releasing /Courtesy Everett Collection)
The Eyes of My Mother (pictured above), Nicolas Pesce’s debut feature, bucks so many contemporary trends of horror, shot in black and white like a high-art film but with the creeping childishness of Tobe Hooper. He followed that up with a Cronenberg Crash-style film called Piercing that turns a sex-torture story into a screwball comedy of errors and power dynamics. Pesce’s films explore loneliness and connection with wry humor, and yet somehow it’s his visual style, evocative of classic films filled with texture and tactile pleasantness like every object has meaning and purpose, that make him a new Master.
(Photo by © Oscilloscope / courtesy Everett Collection)
Anna Biller’s version of horror feels akin to classic fairy tales. They are rife with artifice yet also completely honest. Focused on sex and sexuality but coy and childlike. There is the sense that the director is telling the story of the world as it is while simultaneously wishing the world to be different. Viva is more an off-kilter soapy drama, while her film The Love Witch (pictured above) more fully embodies horror. Rumor has it she’s been shopping another horror story based on the Bluebeard tale, but be patient for her next one: Biller’s obsessive about costuming, locations, and production design, and makes most everything herself, which is a time-consuming act but is ultimately the key to her success as a modern Master.
(Photo by ©Janus Films)
Half the fun of Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s debut feature The Lure (pictured above) is describing it for those who don’t know: a gritty, glittery Polish mermaid horror disco musical. The film was a time capsule of Cold War-era dancing clubs, mixed with classic fairy tales and contemporary rage-filled feminism. Music that’s as catchy as it is dark and an almost surreal, theatrical production design set The Lure apart, earning it an almost instant Criterion release. Her follow-up, Fugue, looks inward for a more cerebral melodrama of psychological terror, with the kind of innovative camera work and sensitivity that display Smoczynska’s ability to play with mind as well as body in her horror.
(Photo by © A24)
Peter Strickland digested decades of Italian gore and giallo films, then washed it down the exploitation work of Jess Franco and spit out such atmospheric insta-classics as Berberian Sound Studio and The Duke of Burgundy. His newest film In Fabric (poster above) had so much hype and magic behind it that A24 quickly snapped it up out of the festivals. Both eerie and ethereal, In Fabric tells the story of a murderous red dress; like a chilling version of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, this thing will fit everyone but also kill them. And like his predecessors, Strickland squeezes every inch of terror out of sound design and trippy, mirrored effects, perfectly marrying the past with the present.
(Photo by ©Kino Lorber)
Ana Lily Amirpour’s low-budget indie hit A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (pictured above) thrilled for its simple but fully realized black-and-white graphic novel aesthetics. It’s not every filmmaker whose first film creates some of the most memorable iconography in recent horror film history, but Amirpour’s vision of a young woman gliding on a skateboard with her veil flowing behind her struck a chord for women, a seeming statement about feminine violence and traditional values butting up against Western ideals. Her follow-up The Bad Batch was a sunny apocalyptic trip through the desert, but in the meantime she directed a beloved episode of the new Twilight Zone and has been attached to the remake of Cliffhanger.
(Photo by Kit Fraser / © Vertical Entertainment / courtesy Everett Collection)
Babak Anvari’s Under the Shadow (pictured above) broke new ground in folk horror and is a rare Certified Fresh at 99%. In it, he exploited the tale of jinn, those malevolent spirits of Islamic mythology, but grounded the story in the very real cultural conflict of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, as told through a belabored mother who’d much rather finish her medical degree than stay at home with the young daughter who acts almost like an anchor to a more traditional life. Vivid and tense, the film found an international audience, leading to his newest release, an American production called Wounds and a new television series titled North American Lake Monsters, where Anvari can further dig into local lore.
(Photo by Justin Lubin. ©Warner Bros.)
David F. Sandberg’s short “Lights Out” terrified audiences internationally with a simple light trick that harkened back to the early days of horror. That short, made for nothing and starring his charismatic wife Lotta Losten, was then developed into a feature starring Teresa Palmer. James Wan continued to help Sandberg develop his career, giving him a spot in The Conjuring franchise, directing Annabelle: Creation. Sandberg has temporarily waded into superheroes with the lighthearted Shazam!, but he’s stated he’s looking forward to coming back to horror real soon, hopefully utilizing the same creative low-budget ideas that gave him his big break.
(Photo by Michael Tackett/©Warner Bros. Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection)
Speaking of James Wan, no Masters of Horror list would be complete without the Aussie who harnessed the powers of surprise and low budgets to flip the entire industry on its head with the Saw and Insidious franchises, and then again with The Conjuring. He’s the pop filmmaker of our time, delivering the kind of popcorn fare that actually brings people to the theater, a rare feat. Like his Mexican counterpart Guillermo del Toro, Wan is also producing others’ work at a breakneck pace, passing the torch to his longtime collaborator Leigh Whannell, and Patrick Brice, Akela Cooper, and Michael Chaves.
(Photo by Kerry Hayes / © Paramount / courtesy Everett Collection)
Starry Eyes wasn’t Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer’s first feature, but it was the one that got them long applause at SXSW and a whole lot of horror cred with its black comic take on the entertainment industry, imagining the casting couch as a place to reap souls for Satan. Alex Essoe’s performance as a desperate starlet was one for the history books. At times gruesome and wacky, the film got them the gig remaking Pet Sematary and working on the Scream TV series.
(Photo by ©A24)
Robert Eggers may be known for The VVitch, but he might also be known for his obsessively detailed nature, which had him mastering settler’s English for the script and getting the period details correct down to the tiniest nib, likely from his time as a production and costume designer in theater and film. Like Kubrick before him, Eggers is intent on crafting worlds, and his newest film The Lighthouse (pictured above), though more horror-adjacent than his debut, is just as meticulous, digging again into hysteria and how isolation and harsh environments can unravel the mind.
(Photo by . © Oscilloscope / courtesy Everett Collection)
Sophia Takal’s trajectory into horror began with low-budget psychological romps through feminine hysteria, in both Green and then her more defined follow-up Always Shine (pictured above), which pitted two young actresses against one another in a remote Big Sur cabin. Her episode of Into the Dark marked an entry into the world of slashers, marrying the cerebral with the bloody physical, and her next film, a remake of the very first slasher, Black Christmas [disclosure: the author of this article is the co-writer of this film], will test that marriage and the viability of slashers in general in this day and age.
Don’t see our favorite horror filmmaker above? Let us know whose scares you’re loving right now in the comments.
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association announced the winners of the 2018 LAFCA Awards on their Twitter page this weekend. Roma was presented with Best Picture of 2018, while in the other categories, gongs were fairly evenly spread. In a welcome surprise, Debra Granik, director the 100% Fresh Leave No Trace, took home Best Director. Read through for the full list of winners below.
Best Picture: Roma (2018) 96%
Best Director: Debra Granik — Leave No Trace (2018) 100%
Best Actor: Ethan Hawke — First Reformed (2017) 94%
Best Actress: Olivia Colman — The Favourite (2018) 93%
Best Supporting Actor: Steve Yeun — Burning (2018) 95%
Best Supporting Actress: Regina King — If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) 95%
Best Screenplay: Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whittey — Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018) 98%
Best Production Design: Hannah Bleachler— Black Panther (2018) 96%
Best Editing: Joshua Altman & Bing Liu— Minding the Gap (2018) 100%
Best Cinematography: Alfonso Cuarón— Roma (2018) 96%
Best Music Score: Nicholas Britell— If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) 95%
Best Foreign Language Film (Tie): Burning (2018) 95% and Shoplifters (2018) 99%
Best Non-Fiction Film (Documentary): Shirkers (2018) 99%
Best Animated Film: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) 97%
New Generation Award: Chloé Zhao
Douglas Edwards Independent/ Experimental Film/ Video Award: Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson, and Guy Maddin – The Green Fog
Career Achievement: Hayao Miyazaki
(Photo by )
Thank goodness Fox Searchlight Pictures saw the potential in Guillermo del Toro‘s off-kilter romantic fantasy about a mute woman who falls in love with a fish-man. The gamble paid off, too; The Shape of Water took home four Oscars — including Best Director and Best Picture — from a whopping 13 nominations and earned a slew of accolades along the way.
Yesterday, the presidents of Fox Searchlight announced not only that they had officially inked a deal with del Toro to cover his live-action features, but also that they planned to create a new label for horror, sci-fi, and fantasy films, including movies produced and curated by del Toro himself. It sounds like a match made in heaven. Or a top secret Cold War research facility.
All of this got us thinking about the countless projects del Toro has been forced either to abandon or postpone indefinitely through the years, and what this new deal could mean for some of them. Del Toro’s a passionate filmmaker, and he’s famous for trying to keep half a dozen plates spinning at any given time, so this list isn’t comprehensive by any means. But if this Fox Searchlight deal does open up some new opportunities for him, here are a few long-gestating films and passion projects he could finally bring to fruition.
The Haunted Mansion, 2003 (Photo by Walt Disney Studios courtesy Everett Collection)
We’ve already talked about the as-yet-not-finalized acquisition of 21st Century Fox by The Walt Disney Company and how it could impact the future of Marvel Studios (for the better, mostly). The hope and expectation is that Disney will leave Fox Searchlight alone, since the former lacks a proper distribution outlet for prestige projects.
So now that Fox and Disney will presumably hold hands and make nice, the Searchlight deal with del Toro could mean he’ll have the opportunity to revive the Haunted Mansion remake that Disney initially recruited him to write and produce almost eight years ago. Del Toro is a self-professed megafan of the Disneyland ride, calling it a “way of life” for him when he spoke at the 2010 Comic-Con panel where his involvement was first announced, and he already had a specific vision for the film.
We’ve only gotten a few updates here and there since then, noting that del Toro had written and submitted a script that was well-received; that some revisions were being done; that Ryan Gosling was in talks to star; and that del Toro would love to direct it himself if his schedule permitted. As far as we know, this thing is still in limbo, but if nothing else, we’d like to see it get made just to erase our memories of the 2003 film starring Eddie Murphy, a dud that scored just 13% on the Tomatometer.
The Strain (Photo by FX Networks)
If you watch FX’s The Strain, which was co-created by del Toro, you’re already familiar with the character of Angel (Joaquín Cosío), a former wrestler who made his first appearance in the show’s second season. In an episode titled “The Silver Angel”, he’s introduced in a pre-credits scene via a fictional low-budget black-and-white action flick about a luchador who fights vampires. You see where this is going.
It turns out del Toro has wanted to film a feature-length version of that little snippet for a long time, and The Strain simply provided him a taste of what it could be like. Reports of this first surfaced when some eagle-eyed journalists spotted a few curious lines in a 2015 interview with the Guardian, mentioning a pet project of del Toro’s called “Silva” and centering on “a Mexican masked wrestler who discovers that all politicians are vampires.” (Del Toro quickly clarified that it was “Silver”, not “Silva”, and the mistake was due to his accent.)
Fast forward a couple years to mid-2017, and in an interview about the “The Silver Angel” with SYFY (AU), del Toro casually mentions, “It’s a character I’ve been thinking about for ages. I wanted to do a whole feature film at one point, and I may still do it. It’s just a genre that I love.” He also specifies that the movie he wants to make is literally the one on display in that pre-credits sequence.
Sure, it sounds a lot like something Robert Rodriguez dreamed up between filming Spy Kids sequels, but this is an idea that del Toro has been mulling over for decades, and the minutes-long sequence he shot for The Strain likely left him (blood)thirsty for more. It’s the type of project that sounds perfectly suited for the new label Fox Searchlight announced.
Adam Robitel (Photo by Justin Lubin/Universal Pictures)
Back in 2012, when he was still primarily referred to as “a protégé of Bryan Singer”, Adam Robitel (Insidious: The Last Key) wrote a spec script for a film about a real-life family known as the Bloody Benders, who murdered an estimated 20 people in their one-room Kansas inn during the 1870s. Most of us only found out about the script because in late April of that year, Deadline reported that Guillermo del Toro had optioned it alongside Angry Films, the producers of the only-just-Rotten Real Steel. Because serial murder is a great palate cleanser when you’ve spent a year with Hugh Jackman and giant rock’em sock’em robots.
In actuality, Angry Films’ Susan Montford and Don Murphy had partnered on films with del Toro before, including probably the biggest missed opportunity of del Toro’s career (more on that below). But around the time they decided to buddy up on The Bloody Benders, del Toro had just wrapped shooting Pacific Rim, so they had to put it off for a while. We are currently still in the midst of that “while”, and we’ve heard pretty much nothing else since the initial announcement. This would be a great time to revive that project, and considering del Toro never planned to direct the film himself, it would make a pretty excellent addition to the yet unnamed genre branch of Fox Searchlight.
The Count of Monte Cristo, 2002 (Photo by Walt Disney courtesy Everett Collection)
In the late 1990s, Guillermo del Toro’s father was kidnapped and held for ransom for 72 days, and upon his release, del Toro packed up his whole family and left Mexico for good. The experience left its mark on the director, who, in his own words, lives “in involuntary exile.”
Years prior to that, Roman Coppola had approached del Toro about working on a Western adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo, and del Toro had completed a draft with Kit Carson and Matthew Robbins (co-writer on Mimic and Crimson Peak). When his father was taken, he furiously worked on a rewrite, pouring all of his anger and frustration into its revenge fantasy narrative, just to “stay sane.” Imagine what that script must look like, and how it must feel to read it. (Seriously, if anyone wants to slip us a copy…)
In interviews, del Toro subsequently explained that his vision was a steampunk Western in which the Count possesses a mechanical hand built specifically to draw his gun faster than anyone else. He also stated that Legendary came real close to financing the film, but opted to go with Crimson Peak instead. With that in mind, we think this is another del Toro passion project that could benefit from the Fox Searchlight deal, and we’re pretty sure it would turn out a whole hell of a lot better than Wild Wild West.
(Photo by IFC Midnight)
You knew this was coming. This adaptation of the H.P. Lovecraft novella has been in the works for decades, and around the same time that del Toro was first attached to The Haunted Mansion in 2010, At the Mountains of Madness almost — almost — got made. Del Toro had gone to great pains to secure the rights to the book and did a decade and a half’s work of his own in preparation, even before he went into preproduction with it for Universal. Monster designs and storyboards were created, and Tom Cruise had been attached to star with James Cameron on board as producer. Del Toro actually learned the studio had pulled the plug on it while he was on a location scouting trip, for crying out loud.
But the big reason Universal closed down the production, reportedly, was del Toro’s insistence that the film be rated R, and that kind of logic went the way of the red balloon after the success of last year’s It, a smash with audiences and critics alike (85% on the Tomatometer). Some changes and updates would obviously need to be made to all the prep work del Toro did over the years, but with so much of it at the ready, and a production company at his back, would it really be so difficult to fire up the movie-making machine and crank this out? OK, yes, we realize it wouldn’t be quite that simple, but he’s compared losing this film to having a miscarriage, in rather graphic fashion. Just let the man make his damn movie already.
Guillermo del Toro just took home the Best Director Oscar (hell, let’s thrown in a Best Picture statue as well) for The Shape of Water. Look, everyone who’s been paying attention to Del Toro knows he’s your guy to turn a monster romance movie into the best of the year. But if you’re new to GDT, then watch this video with his highest-rated movies, including Pan’s Labyrinth, Pacific Rim, and the Hellboy series.
The 90th Academy Awards ceremony, which will take place on Sunday, March 4, promises to be an interesting one, featuring a mix of high profile films like Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk and Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water and smaller surprise hits like Jordan Peele’s Get Out and Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird, among others. It’s always a tricky proposition to try and guess who’s going to win, but we here at Rotten Tomatoes have crunched the numbers, weighed the intangibles, and held lively discussions to determine who we think will come out on top. Read on for our full list of Oscar predictions, and let us know if you feel differently about any of them. Then, you can also pop over to our audience poll to see what fellow movie fans think will win, and you can even download your own RT Oscar ballot to keep score on the big night!
(Photo by Merrick Morton /Fox Searchlight Pictures)
A couple of months ago, we would have told you that the Best Picture category was still too close to call. Suddenly, though, Martin McDonagh’s pitch black comedy picked up a lot of steam, winning top honors at the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs, while stars Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell earned accolade after accolade along the way. With all of that in mind, we think Three Billboards will likely prevail over its competition.
(Photo by Kerry Hayes /Fox Searchlight Pictures)
It took deep passion and a lifelong obsession and empathy for movie monsters to make a love story like this work. And with Martin McDonagh not nominated in this category, here’s a fine opportunity to award a Best Director statue to del Toro over his Best Picture loss.
(Photo by Jack English/Focus Features)
Industry favorite Oldman completely transformed into British Prime Minister Winston Churchill for his role in Darkest Hour. Previously nominated in the same category for 2011’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, he fully inhabits the stooped, gruff Churchill, who struggles with a decision that will literally determine the fate of England and the rest of Europe, perhaps even the world: whether to negotiate with Adolf Hitler or continue the fight — each at a terrible price.
(Photo by Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Got enough money to buy three billboards in Times Square, New York? Then bet it all on McDormand, the prohibitive favorite. She took out the SAG. She took out the Golden Globe (in the drama category). She took out the Oscar back in 1997 for Fargo. And she delivers a fierce performance in the most serious, emotionally draining role of the bunch. Only two questions remain: Will there be enough space on that stacked mantle for her 2018 trophy? And just how awesome will her speech be.
(Photo by Merrick Morton/Fox Searchlight Pictures)
No matter where you stand on the character — the small-town cop’s journey from repugnant racist to near-hero has riled some viewers — there’s no doubting the impact of Rockwell’s performance. Any thought that Willem Dafoe would prove a neck-and-neck rival has long been buried under a pile of Golden Globes, SAGS, and BAFTAs all bearing the Moon star’s name.
(Photo by 30West)
Best Supporting Actress is truly Janney’s to lose. She’s been dominating the awards circuit for her portrayal as Tonya Harding’s loveless, abusive, bird-shouldered mother in a role that was literally written for her.
(Photo by Universal Pictures)
Get Out has proven it has steam. Jordan Peele’s hit has won most of the major awards in this category, and as rumors swirl that older academy voters aren’t even considering it for Best Picture, this seems like a (well deserved) consolation prize.
(Photo by Sony Pictures Classics)
The year’s big kids are playing in the Original Screenplay category (where Three Billboards, Get Out, and Lady Bird will duke it out) leaving James Ivory with a fairly clear path to victory for his much-lauded take on André Aciman’s novel. It will be the 89-year-old’s first Oscar victory — ever. Ivory received directing nods for Merchant-Ivory classics The Remains of the Day, Howards End, and A Room with a View, but he never won, and this is his first nomination for writing.
(Photo by Walt Disney Studios)
This one is easy. You’d be pretty hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t like Coco.
(Photo by Magnolia Pictures)
The Square may have the lowest Tomatometer score of any of the nominees in the category (still a not-too-shabby 82%), and some of the smart money is on the dazzling A Fantastic Woman, but hear us out. The Square has earned multiple Film Critics groups awards, contains one of 2017’s most memorable scenes, was seen by a decent thwack of people (it made almost $1.5 million during its theatrical run) and co-stars a couple of Americans with whom Academy members are familiar. We’re calling an upset.
(Photo by Cohen Media Group)
With its investigation into Russian sports doping, Icarus is a heavy hitter in this category, as is Last Man in Aleppo, a look at recovery missions in war-torn Syria. Our favorite, though, is Faces Places, the charming collaboration between French New Wave godmother Agnès Varda and photographer/artist JR that weaves a rich tapestry of fading working-class life in the French countryside. Also, we’d love to see a repeat of Varda’s acceptance dance moves from the Governors Awards.
(Photo by Stephen Vaughan/Warner Bros.)
We’re predicting a lot of “it’s time” prizes, and there’s nothing more timeist than Roger Deakins’ previous 13 nominations without a single win. Though there’s a lot of CGI in Blade Runner 2049, think about Jared Leto’s wooden sanctuary with reflective water or Harrison Ford’s Vegas stronghold as the intimate areas blessed with Deakins’ trademark splash of hue and color.
(Photo by Warner Bros.)
While Baby Driver certainly makes splashy use of editing, we think Christopher Nolan’s war epic will take the crown simply because its entire narrative structure absolutely hinges on its ability to transition between concurrent storylines seamlessly. Nolan is no stranger to creative storytelling devices, and his considerable skill has never been employed more poignantly than here.
(Photo by Warner Bros.)
Bigger is better this year. This is a movie where every room and location had to be imagined to exist 32 years in the future, but from the vantage point of a dystopian 1981. The sets feel lived-in with bleak purpose and history, the city skylines rising mystic and ominous.
(Photo by Focus Features)
The film, starring Daniel Day-Lewis as a renowned dressmaker in 1950s London, has fashion at its very core. Costume designer Mark Bridges, who previously won an Oscar for his work on 2011’s The Artist and was also nominated for 2014 drama Inherent Vice, here evokes the most glamorous work of fashion icon, 35-time Oscar nominee, and eight-time winner Edith Head.
(Photo by Fox Searchlight Pictures)
A great musical score can often go unnoticed because it blends so seamlessly into its film, and there are certainly a couple of nominees in this category this might apply to. That said, Alexandre Desplat’s enchanting music, magical with a hint of a sinister streak, goes a long way in making The Shape of Water feel like the quietly haunting fairy tale that it is.
(Photo by Niko Tavernise/20th Century Fox Film Corp.)
We love “Remember Me” and “Mystery of Love” just as much as the next person with even a modicum of taste. But we aren’t arguing with your mom’s Spotify play count.
(Photo by Warner Bros.)
With the series frequently and purposely bereft of emotion, a lot of watching Blade Runner is simply luxuriating in its world. The visual effects take us there, and make something as simple as a three-way sex scene with an android, an imprinted human, and a bounty hunter a thing of beauty.
(Photo by Jack English/Focus Features)
Darkest Hour impressed for its thorough and seamless transformation of its lead, Gary Oldman, into British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. This is the third nomination for Kazuhiro Tsuji and first for David Malinowski and Lucy Sibbick.
(Photo by Melinda Sue Gordon/Warner Bros.)
Some will be quick to point out Baby Driver‘s clever use of gunfire and windshield wipers to keep time with the action onscreen, but Dunkirk relies so heavily on sound to immerse audiences in the thick of battle that we find it difficult to imagine it will be beat. Plus, war movies traditionally do very well in the sound categories, and we’re expecting that to be the case here.
(Photo by Melinda Sue Gordon/Warner Bros.)
Having said all that about sound mixing, it’s worth noting that Dunkirk‘s supervising sound editor, Richard King, went to great lengths to create the aural experience of the film. How great, you ask? He interviewed actual veterans to gain insight into what they heard on the battlefield. He researched and rebuilt from scratch one of the famous German dive-bombing sirens — which don’t exist anywhere any more — to capture its signature wail. This all may not be immediately apparent, but the overall effect of King’s work is a rich soundscape that plays a huge part in the film.
(Photo by ShortsTV)
Look, we’re not saying Dear Basketball is the best entry in this category — the handmade wonder Negative Space seems to be the favorite in terms of cinematic quality. That said, you probably shouldn’t underestimate the sheer number of nostalgic Lakers fans in the academy.
(Photo by ShortsTV)
Riveting, tense, and powerfully acted, DeKalb Elementary would be a good bet to win this category in any year. However, in the midst of a national debate about gun violence, the film — based upon a real-life school shooting incident — is an absolute lock.
A hopeful film about a heartbreaking subject, Heroin(e) is the tale of three strong women fighting the scourge of opioid abuse in Huntington, WV. It’s also on Netflix, which means it’s readily available for Academy voters to watch.
The EE British Academy Film Award winners for 2018 were announced on Sunday, February 18, at the Royal Albert Hall in London in a ceremony hosted by Joanna Lumley. Top honors went to Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which won five trophies overall. Read on for the full list of winners.
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The EE British Academy Film Award nominations for 2018 were announced this morning on a press conference streamed live on Facebook. The Shape of Water leads the race with 12 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actress. Darkest Hour and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri come in second with nine nominations each. The EE British Academy Film Awards take place on Sunday February 18 at the Royal Albert Hall, London.
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The CFCA announced the winners for the 2017 Chicago Film Critics Association Awards this week. Lady Bird took home 4 awards including, Best Picture and Best Actress. Read through for the full list of winners below.
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The CFCA announced the nominees for the 2017 Chicago Film Critics Association Awards today, December 10. Call Me by Your Name leads with 8 nominations. Read through for the full list of nominees.
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The Los Angeles Film Critics Association announced the winners of the 2017 LAFCA Awards on their Twitter page. Call Me by Your Name was presented with Best Picture of 2017, and also took home the awards for Best Director (Luca Guadagnin), and Best Actor (Timothée Chalamet). Read through for the full list of winners below.
Each December, LAFCA members vote on the year’s Achievement Awards, honoring screen excellence on both sides of the camera. Plaques of recognition are presented to winners during LAFCA’s annual ceremony held on January 13, 2018.
Best Picture: Call Me by Your Name (2017) 95%
Best Director (Tie): Guillermo del Toro — The Shape of Water (2017) 92% and Luca Guadagnino — Call Me by Your Name (2017) 95%
Best Actor: Timothée Chalamet — Call Me by Your Name (2017) 95%
Best Actress: Sally Hawkins — The Shape of Water (2017) 92%
Best Supporting Actor: Willem Dafoe — The Florida Project (2017) 96%
Best Supporting Actress: Laurie Metcalf — Lady Bird (2017) 99%
Best Screenplay: Jordan Peele — Get Out (2017) 98%
Best Production Design: Dennis Gassner — Blade Runner 2049 (2017) 88%
Best Editing: Lee Smith — Dunkirk (2017) 92%
Best Cinematography: Dan Lausten— The Shape of Water (2017) 92%
Best Music Score: Jonny Greenwood — Phantom Thread (2017) 91%
Best Foreign Language Film (Tie): BPM (Beats Per Minute) (2017) 99% and Loveless (2017) 94%
Best Non-Fiction Film (Documentary): Faces Places (2017) 99%
Best Animated Film: The Breadwinner (2017) 95%
New Generation Award: Greta Gerwig
Douglas Edwards Independent/ Experimental Film/ Video Award: Lee Schmitt, Purge This Land
Career Achievement: Max von Sydow
Christmas comes early this month for fans of Marvel, Guillermo del Toro, and USA’s Psych with their long-awaited returns to the small screen — and that’s not to mention The Librarians and two season 2 installments of some of our favorite Netflix series. Catch the full breakdown with December’s binge guide below.
(Photo by ABC/Matthias Clamer)
What it is: S.H.I.E.L.D. is the kind of agency you want in your corner of the ring. Led by fan-favorite Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg, who caused uproar upon his character’s death in 2012’s The Avengers), Marvel Comics’ fictional Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division fights the behind-the-scenes battles that the average human wouldn’t dare face (see: Project Centipede and more). It’s wild, it’s crazy, and it’s a heck of a fun time for Marvel superfans.
Why you should watch it: While at first a series that was at its best when calling back to the movies that put the Marvel Cinematic Universe on the map (it maintains continuity with these releases, as well), ABC’s Emmy-nominated hit entered its fifth season with a two-hour December 1 premiere as entirely its own entity. Sure, it’s part of the same world, maintains the franchise call-backs, and tonally checks all the boxes of what we look for in a Marvel romp, but you don’t have to be a die-hard lover of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and co. to fall for S.H.I.E.L.D.’s knack for extraterrestrial adventure and now-beloved ensemble of characters built over its nearly 100 episodes and counting. The cast also includes Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestaecker, and Elizabeth Henstridge.
Where to watch it: Amazon, FandangoNOW, Google Play, Hulu, Microsoft, Netflix, Vudu
Commitment: Approx. 66 hours
(Photo by Netflix)
What it is: With Netflix’s romantic comedy series, the second season of which premiered in full December 1, it’s all in the name. That’s because there’s nothing, well, easy about modern love. Easy season 1 follows eight couples living and loving in Chicago.
Why you should watch it: The best of television is often character-driven, and Easy gives you plenty of characters to work with. While this Windy City-set series focuses on people and relationships that occasionally overlap, each episode largely stands on its own as a singular meditation on a given couple’s romantic dynamic and exploration of intimacy. No two are the same. And with “Drinking Buddies” writer-director Joe Swanberg at the helm, the whole thing goes down easy. While some have soured to the quiet naturalism overtaking many an indie screen big and small, few filmmakers can seduce with negative space like Swanberg. Plus, it’s just a hoot to see some of our favorite talents (from Judy Greer to Aubrey Plaza to Dave Franco to Orlando Bloom) pop in for a quick half-hour installment.
Where to watch it: Netflix
Commitment: Approx. 4 hours
(Photo by USA Network)
What it is: As if you haven’t wondered by Shawn Spencer (James Roday) and Gus Guster (Dulé Hill) have been up to for the last three years? Psych: The Movie reunites the oddball detective duo in San Francisco (a.k.a. “psychphrancisco”) for the holidays after an unknown assailant targets one of their own. Of course, you can expect the shenanigans typical of this pairing to ensue.
Why you should watch it: No, Shawn is not a real psychic, but he’ll have you rooting for him anyway. The original USA series, which premiered back in 2006 and wrapped in 2014, followed Shawn as he utilized his impressive observational skills and memory as a Santa Barbara–based crime consultant to trick people into thinking he’s the real deal. But the series succeeds because it does just the opposite: It never tries to be something it’s not. Putting affable goofiness to the forefront is what earned Psych it’s devoted “Psych-O” fan base and is what ensures the laughs are going to be hearty with the December 7 film premiere. Catch up now so you can spot all the Easter eggs and call-back guest stars!
Where to watch it: Amazon, FandangoNOW, Google Play, Microsoft, Vudu
Commitment: Approx. 90 hours
(Photo by Netflix)
What it is: While The Crown as a whole will ultimately chart Queen Elizabeth II’s life from her 1947 wedding to Philip, Duke of Edinburgh through to the present day, season 1 of this sprawling royal drama covers the first eight years of that period of the early days of her reign. Golden Globe winner Claire Foy stars as the titular queen while a robust John Lithgow supports as her first prime minister, Winston Churchill.
Why you should watch it: As one of the most decorated series of the 2016–17 season, The Crown should be mandatory viewing for anyone with not just an interest in world history and the British monarchy, but an interest in first-rate prestige TV. Exquisitely acted, written, directed, and designed, The Crown marked upon its premiere Netflix’s most expensive series to date — and it proves well worth the investment. We can wait to see what’s realized in season 2, which premieres December 8.
Where to watch it: Netflix
Commitment: Approx. 10 hours
(Photo by Scott Patrick Green/Turner Broadcasting System)
Why you should watch it: With its world history, slapstick comedy, and Indiana Jones by way of The Goonies style, adventure runs high in this long-running TNT series, which makes it a particularly fun escapist highlight this month. Season 4 premieres December 13.
Where to watch it: Amazon, Google Play, Hulu, Microsoft, Vudu
Commitment: Approx. 22.5 hours
(Photo by Netflix)
What it is: In Dreamworks and Guillermo del Toro’s animated series for Netflix, Jim Lake Jr. (voiced by the late Anton Yelchin) is given his sword-in-the-stone moment and, upon finding a mystical amulet, becomes the Trollhunter. With that title comes the responsibility of protecting the troll civilization that lives under his town from impending war with their evil counterparts from the Darklands.
Why you should watch it: If The Shape of Water isn’t enough del Toro for you this holiday season, then Trollhunters should do the trick. It captures the filmmaker’s unmatched finesse with magic and otherworldly beasts and through first-rate animation infuses it with a childlike wonder and family-friendly appeal. Season 2 features the voice talents of Yelchin (who finished his work on the series’ second installment), Mark Hamill, Lena Headey, David Bradley, Kelsey Grammer, Steven Yeun, Anjelica Huston, Jonathan Hyde, Amy Landecker, and Charlie Saxton. Catch it in full December 15.
Where to watch it: Netflix
Commitment: Approx. 9.5 hours
(Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
If you’ve seen a sci-fi/fantasy film in the past 30 years, chances are you’ve seen Doug Jones transform himself into some of the most recognizable creatures captured on celluloid — even if you never quite knew it was him.
The actor has played a fish-man mutant in the Hellboy movies, a friendly zombie in Halloween classic Hocus Pocus, the titular superhero in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and the nightmare-inducing Pale Man in Pan’s Labyrinth — among many, many others. He’ll soon play a different fish-man in Guillermo Del Toro’s festival favorite The Shape of Water, out Friday, and can be seen as alien Saru on CBS All Access’ Star Trek: Discovery.
Rotten Tomatoes enlisted Jones, movie monster extraordinaire, to pick the Five Favorite Movie Monsters that influenced his career — and to reflect on five of his own favorite characters as well.
The first horror movie I ever remember even seeing was The Mummy with Boris Karloff, so that would be my first monster that is beloved to me. Boris channeled something so haunting with that role, and close-ups on his eyes were enough to give me the heebie-jeebies for the rest of my life. The way he physically channeled that walk and the creaky movement of someone who’s been dead for that long and decaying for that long in bandages, he really gave it something beyond that era.
Number two would be also Boris Karloff, as Frankenstein’s monster in Frankenstein. That was another performance that left me just chilled and with such imagery that’s emblazoned in my mind, and he channeled something completely different for that. He was a completely different character. It showed his diversity as an actor, and his subtleties. That was an era of filmmaking where people over-did it a lot, and he found subtleties as Frankenstein’s monster that I just thought were [wonderful]. Less was more, and he knew that.
Number three would be Lon Chaney as Phantom of the Opera. I think what struck me was his theatrics. Again, he did go over and big, as that era of acting would dictate, but he did it with such conviction and such truth that I bought every single minute of it. He left me, again, terrified and chilled.
Number four would be the Creature from the Black Lagoon. That one, of course, was split up; two actors played him. Ricou Browning was the Gill-man in the water, and Ben Chapman was the Gill-man out of the water, on the land. The most memorable imagery for me would be Ricou in those underwater sequences, when he’s swimming underneath Julie Adams. She’s innocently having a swim in her little white bathing suit, like “la la la,” having no idea that this thing is lurking underneath her. But that underwater performance of his has channeled its way into my own creatures. I’ve played two fish-men now in my career, so I think that the Creature from the Black Lagoon actually left a huge thumbprint on me from that.
The last one on my list of five would be Tim Curry as Darkness in 1985’s Legend. He was a big, demon, Satan kind of character, which normally is not what I’m drawn to, but he — gosh. He was so present in that role, and gave it a voice and a physicality that no one else would have thought of but Tim Curry. So I just love him as Darkness.
Jean Bentley for Rotten Tomatoes: You mentioned the two fish-men you’ve played. They’re Abe Sapien from Hellboy, and what’s the other one?
Doug Jones: The most recent one, my most recent Guillermo del Toro film — which is coming out December 8th, of course — which would be The Shape of Water, and I play the amphibian man in that. He doesn’t have a name, so they just call him the amphibian man.
RT: The Shape of Water has been getting great reviews. What was your experience like on that film?
Jones: I was tickled pink with the reception it’s gotten just from the festival circuit so far. It was magical. With Guillermo I knew we were making something very special with this movie, the kind of feeling I had when we were making Pan’s Labyrinth together. This is my sixth movie with him, but most of them, the other four, have been big-budget things. We did Hellboy 1 and 2, and Crimson Peak and Mimic. But Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water are both films that were passion projects for him personally, you know? There was something very much more personal going on in those films for him, so a more artistic thing would come out of those experiences.
The Shape of Water is a love story unlike anything I knew was possible on film. But only Guillermo del Toro could pull off a young lady falling in love with a fish-man from the wild, and make it look sexy and plausible. I’ve played many creatures on film before, but never in that kind of a story, with that kind of emotional attachment to my co-star.
(Photo by Picturehouse courtesy Everett Collection)
RT: You’ve listed five movie monster performances that made big impressions on you, but what are some of your own roles that stand out to you?
Jones: Over 30 years of acting, all the characters I’ve played have become like children to me. It’s very hard for a parent to pick their favorite child, right? They’re not supposed to have one anyway. I think it was maybe Tom Cruise who said in an interview once, like, “What’s your favorite character you’ve ever played?” and his answer was, “My most recent.”
But truly, honestly, the two characters that I have that are present in the public eye most right now are the amphibian man from The Shape of Water that I just mentioned, because it’s getting so much hype and it’s coming out soon, and Saru from Star Trek: Discovery. Saru as an alien character is different than anything I’ve ever played before. He’s got the most layers, and the most backstory to figure out, and the most wide array of emotion, and the most storyline I think I’ve been given on an ongoing basis. Over the arc of this first season we just finished, I get to go everywhere emotionally and intellectually with this character. So he absolutely has become a favorite, along with the fish-man from The Shape of Water, because of that.
RT: What are some other ones?
Jones: Probably the most scary thing I’ve ever played, and that has a long shelf-life as a scary character, is the Pale Man from Pan’s Labyrinth — the guy with the eyeballs in his hands.
RT: Oh, I’m familiar. He haunted my dreams for a time.
Jones: Yeah, right? He made his way onto many magazine covers the year that movie came out because it was such a striking image and such innovative character design. So channeling him and getting him through my body was an honor; another creation of Guillermo del Toro’s.
RT: What’s another favorite role?
Jones: I would say probably the most lovable, charming, of my characters might be Billy Butcherson from Hocus Pocus. I loved him so much. He’s a goofy zombie. I got to play a zombie before zombies were a cool thing. He was goofy and floppy, and could relate to the kids in the movie, and it was in a Disney, family-friendly, fun film that also has had a very long shelf-life. It comes back around this time of year, every year, with high-rotation television play. Even revival theaters are putting it up all the time. It’s playing at the El Capitan Theatre right now in Hollywood. So that movie lives on and on and on. I just adore Billy.
(Photo by Universal courtesy Everett Collection)
I would say, for overall physicality, and what I had to put into a character, Abe Sapien from the Hellboy movies. In a comic-book movie setting I had to make a fish-man mutant believable, but with a heightened comic-book sensibility, so that was quite a challenge for me. He’s wordy, he’s intelligent, he’s well-read, he’s cultured, he’s a gentleman, so to make all that happen in a fish-man body was — he was one of my biggest challenges, and the way the public has taken to him [is wonderful]. Also, those movies have a long shelf-life. When I’m doing convention appearances, that will be one of the biggest sellers at my tables. People love Abe Sapien. They want to talk about that movie, and a lot of people had their first date watching one of those movies. I hear lots of stories of people’s connection to Abe.
I would say, for sexy heroism, the Silver Surfer. I played him in the Fantastic Four sequel, the Rise of the Silver Surfer. That was probably the best physique I’ve ever been given, and I say “given” because I didn’t earn it. It was sculpted on me with a rubber suit, right? So at the end of the day I had to give that amazing body back to the people that made it. Which is unfortunate.
RT: Even just temporarily, that’s got to feel good.
Jones: Right, right, right. Oh my gosh, yeah. It’s funny because when people know me just as the Silver Surfer, and they haven’t really looked me up to find out anything else I’ve done or what I look like in real life, and they’re meeting me at one of those fan/comic-book conventions, the look on people’s faces. “Oh wait. Did you play the Silver Surfer? Where is he?” I’m sitting at the table, this skinny old man in a tie, in a vest, going, “Hey, it’s me. I’m sorry, that’s all you get today.”
I owe all of the above, by the way, to not only the great directors I’ve worked with, but also the creature effects and makeup people who have [collaborated]. Every one of those characters I mentioned has a completely different team attached to it that were just amazing artists. I’ve had the best makeup artists in the world put their hands on my face, so really, I owe a lot to them.
Star Trek: Discovery airs Sundays on CBS All Access, and The Shape of Water hits theaters Dec. 8.
(Photo by Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Guillermo del Toro has a new movie on the way, which on its own is very exciting. Plus, the trailer makes it look amazing, sort of like a cross between Hellboy and Pan’s Labyrinth. Well, it’s time to raise your anticipation even further, becauese The Shape of Water just premiered at the Venice Film Festival, and the response from critics is overwhelmingly positive.
The Shape of Water stars Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, and frequent del Toro collaborator Doug Jones in a Cold War-set fairy tale of sorts, about a lonely woman who forms an unlikely new bond when she and a co-worker discover a secret experiment in the top secret lab where they work. Del Toro has been up and down with critical favor throughout his career, but more than half of his features as a director are Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and his average review score is 77.8%. Currently, The Shape of Water has a unanimously favorable 100% score right out of the gate, and we can assume it will remain one of his higher-rated efforts.
Here’s what critics are saying in reviews and on social media:
A ravishing 60s-set romance, sweet, sad and sexy.
– Xan Brooks, The Guardian
A ravishing, eccentric auteur’s imagining, spilling artistry, empathy and sensuality from every open pore, it also offers more straight-up movie for your money than just about any Hollywood studio offering this year…incontestably del Toro’s most rewarding, richly realized movie since Pan’s Labyrinth.
– Guy Lodge, Variety
A visually and emotionally ravishing fantasy that should find a welcome embrace from audiences starved for imaginative escape…del Toro’s most satisfying work since Pan’s Labyrinth.
– David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
Sweet and scary movie magic. [Del Toro’s] best film since Pan’s Labyrinth. It perhaps even equals it.
– Jessica Kiang, The Playlist
For first half-hour or so, I thought The Shape of Water might be an all-timer. It’s not, but by far Gullermo del Toro’s best since Pan’s Labyrinth. Richard Jenkins is particularly fantastic.
– Paul O’Callaghan, Sight and Sound
I expected lots from The Shape of Water, but not for it to be, among other things, a musical. Surprising and delightful.
– Jill Lawless, Associated Press
There are elements of Beauty and the Beast, E.T., Amelie and The Creature from the Black Lagoon at play…something here for lovers of all kinds of movies — even silents and musicals.
– Alonso Duralde, The Wrap
An immense achievement…this is del Toro’s Beauty and the Beast with the delicate time period touches and social awareness of Far from Heaven.
– Brian Formo, Collider
Guillermo del Toro channels all the streams that make him unique into The Shape Of Water, pouring his heart, soul and considerable craft into an exquisite creature fable.
– Fionnuala Halligan, Screen International
Not only is The Shape of Water one of del Toro’s most stunningly successful works, it’s also a powerful vision of a creative master feeling totally, joyously free.
– Ben Croll, IndieWire
Loved The Shape of Water…visually sumptuous monster movie/love story. Commanding and moving.
– Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News
Like the best bath you’ve ever had, it sends tingles coursing through every part of you that other films don’t reach.
– Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph
The Shape of Water opens in theaters on December 8.
Sometimes you need a couch instead of a beach chair. We invite you now to spend a July afternoon with any of these fine series. Catch up before they return with a new installment.
(Photo by USA)
What it is: Creator Aaron Korsh struck gold in 2011 with this popular legal drama—and it’s still going seven seasons strong! The premise is simple: Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams) is a law school dropout and brilliant fraudster who, upon impressing New York City’s top closer, Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht), lands a job as Harvey’s associate despite not having a license. Mike proves, however, that he’s up to snuff, and together, he and Harvey work to keep his sordid past and illegitimacy a secret.
Why you should watch: Suits works because it’s in on its own fun. Its high concept rags-to-riches premise especially works thanks to the chemistry of Adams and Macht. It’s a steep order to binge six seasons, of course, but the show’s two charming leads along with their formidable supporting cast have kept us coming back for more. Suits returns for its seventh season on July 12.
Where to watch: Amazon, FandangoNOW, Google Play, iTunes, Microsoft, PlayStation Video, Vudu
Commitment: Approx. 62 hours
What it is: This critical darling and fan-favorite fantasy series needs no introduction. Based on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire book series, Game of Thrones charts the rise and fall of families and kingdoms in the mythical Westeros as one after another fights for the Iron Throne.
Why you should watch it: Over the course of its six seasons, Game of Thrones has tapped into the cultural zeitgeist, become Monday’s mandatory water-cooler conversation, and stirred national debate on what’s to come for its ensemble of beloved characters. Fan theories abound, so if you’re new to Westeros, stay away from Reddit until you’re all caught up. We promise it’s an adventure you don’t want to miss. Season 7 premieres July 16.
Where to watch: Amazon, FandangoNOW, Google Play, HBO NOW, iTunes, Microsoft, PlayStation Video, Vudu
Commitment: Approx. 55 hours
(Photo by FX)
What it is: If you’re a horror fan craving a different kind of bite than Sharknado, The Strain may well be for you. From visionary creators Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, this graphic novel-inspired horror series imagines a world where a vampiric viral outbreak risks wiping out humanity as we know it.
Why you should watch: While The Strain brings little new to the table of vampire-themed scares, you can rest assured that you’re in good hands with del Toro and Hogan, who here are adapting their own book series. We also love seeing Corey Stoll — forever a standout supporting player and scene-stealer — boosted to leading man as Dr. Ephraim Goodweather. The Strain returns for its fourth and final season on July 16.
Where to watch: Amazon, FandangoNOW, Google Play, Hulu, iTunes, Microsoft, PlayStation Video, Vudu
Commitment: Approx. 27 hours
(Photo by HBO)
What it is: From creator and multi-Emmy nominee Stephen Levinson (Entourage), Ballers stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Spencer Strasmore, a Miami Dolphins retiree who finds a second wind as a financial manager for the footballers and friends he left behind.
Why you should watch it: Sure, Johnson is one of the world’s highest paid and biggest movie stars, but Ballers is definitive proof that he’s got the acting chops to back his paycheck up. Plus — like Entourage before it — watching high-rolling men butting heads and behaving badly makes for good TV. Ballers returns for season 3 on July 23.
Where to watch: Amazon, FandangoNOW, Google Play, HBO NOW, Microsoft, PlayStation Video, Vudu
Commitment: Approx. 10 hours
(Photo by HBO)
What it is: Inspired by creator Issa Rae’s web series, Awkward Black Girl, Insecure follows the awkward day-to-day happenings of Issa Dee, her best friend Molly, and her love-on-the-rocks boyfriend, Lawrence.
Why you should watch it: Upon its premiere last year, Insecure was praised for its inspired take on gender and race in millennial America and contributed to a larger discussion about diversity on TV. While that’s certainly important, the series is also much more than a hot-button pusher. Hilarious and heartfelt, it’s the kind of off-kilter take on love and life that’s immediately relatable. The series returns for season 2 on July 23.
Where to watch: Amazon, FandangoNOW, Google Play, HBO NOW, iTunes, Microsoft, PlayStation Video, Vudu
Commitment: Approx. 4 hours
(Photo by TBS)
What it is: Wyatt Cenac stars as Ozzie Graham, a journalist who is assigned to cover an alien abduction support group. The characters he meets there are equal parts strange and engrossing. And unexpectedly, he begins to learn that maybe he, too, has been victim of E.T. examinations.
Why you should watch: The sort of oddball characters that are good for a sideline gag and laugh in other series are put centerstage here to transcend the gag and become characters that we actually care about and empathize with. Whip-smart scripts with a penchant for the absurd allows this quick 30-minute comedy to go down easy. Spend an afternoon to catch up before season 2, premiering July 24.
Where to watch: Amazon, FandangoNOW, iTunes, Microsoft, PlayStation Video, Vudu
Commitment: Approx. 4 hours
(Photo by Cartoon Network)
What it is: This half-hour Adult Swim sci-fi sitcom follows the misadventures of mad scientist Rick Sanchez and his nervous grandson Morty. Alcoholic Rick moves in with his daughter Beth’s family after a 20-year absence and splits his time between interdimensional travel and domestic tedium.
Why you should watch: Creators Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon offer up audacious comedy in the animated series aimed squarely at adults. While Roiland provides the voices of both Rick and Morty, the voice cast includes the talents of Chris Parnell, Spencer Grammer, and Sarah Chalke. The new season premieres July 30.
Where to watch: Amazon, Google Play, Hulu, iTunes, Microsoft, Vudu, YouTube
Commitment: Approx. 8 hours
(Photo by Showtime)
What it is: Ann Biderman’s Ray Donovan ranks as one of the finer character studies in recent memory, with Liev Schreiber playing the titular L.A. “fixer” with smoldering grit and Jon Voight as his no-good father who’s straight out the slammer. Ray may be the man L.A.’s rich and famous call to get out of trouble, but upon the return of his father, Donovan, a family man himself, finds he has problems of his own.
Why you should watch: When Ray Donovan premiered on Showtime in 2013, it promised the arrival of an exciting new anti-hero. It’s since stayed true to that promise and hasn’t let up, bringing us into the hidden underbelly of Los Angelean elite and slowly unveiling the many layers of a complicated and troubled man. With the addition of the great Susan Sarandon for season 5, which premieres August 6, there’s sure to be more goods to come.
Where to watch: Amazon, Google Play, Hulu, iTunes, PlayStation Video, Showtime, Vudu
Commitment: Approx. 40 hours
(Photo by SYFY)
What it is: Just as it sounds, the City of Angels becomes one of flying sharks in this instant horror-camp classic franchise.
Why you should watch: What started as an unlikely TV phenomenon in 2013 with Tara Reid at top billing has become an annual must-watch for B-movie fans the world over. Surprisingly compelling, the TV movie series seems to get more creative and daring with each outing. See what we mean by watching the four previous films before Sharknado 5: Global Swarming’s big premiere August 6.
Where to watch: Amazon, FandangoNOW, Google Play, Hulu, iTunes, Microsoft, Netflix, PlayStation Video, Vudu
Commitment: Approx. 6 hours
This week at the movies, we’ve got a captured pilot (Bridge of Spies, starring Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance), terrified teenagers (Goosebumps, starring Jack Black and Dylan Minnette), a haunted novelist (Crimson Peak, starring Mia Wasikowska and Jessica Chastain), and a team of underdogs (Woodlawn, starring C. Thomas Howell and Sean Astin). What do the critics have to say?
Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks are about as dependable as any director-star combo in movie history, and with Bridge of Spies, they bring gravitas to a little-known slice of Cold War intrigue. Critics say the film is finely crafted and deeply involving, its old-fashioned-ness belying some inspired stylistic touches. Hanks stars as James Donovan, an American attorney called upon to defend a Soviet agent at a trial, and who subsequently finds himself involved in a clandestine prisoner exchange between the CIA and the KGB. The pundits say Bridge of Spies simmers with low-key tension, and Spielberg captures the uneasy mood of the period with painstaking detail.
What if all the monsters, ghouls, and creepy-crawlies in R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books were real? And what if they got loose and wreaked havoc on a small town? That’s the premise behind Goosebumps, a spooky, family-friendly adventure that critics say is charming enough to overcome some minor flaws. Dylan Minnette stars as Zach, a big city teen who moves in next door to Stine (Jack Black) and his daughter Hannah (Odeya Rush). When Zach inadvertently unleashes the very real creatures that Stine has been keeping captive within the pages of his books, the three of them must act quickly to save their town. The pundits say Goosebumps is mostly a fun, over-the-top ride that should please fans of the source material, even if the cheeky humor is hit-or-miss.
Guillermo del Toro is undoubtedly one of contemporary cinema’s most distinctive visual stylists — and critics say his unparalleled eye goes a long way toward making Crimson Peak watchable, though this old-fashioned ghost story is decidedly short on scares. Set in turn-of-the-century Buffalo, the film stars Mia Wasikowska as Edith Cushing, an aspiring novelist who’s swept off her feet by Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), a mysterious, rakish Englishman who spirits her away to a crumbling estate haunted by both ghosts and grim secrets. The pundits say Crimson Peak is extravagantly crafted and always pleasing to the eye, though its narrative is often far less compelling.
The inspirational sports drama Woodlawn was barely screened for critics prior to its release in theaters this weekend. Based on a true story, it’s a faith-based drama about a high school football team struggling to come together in racially-divided Birmingham in the early 1970s. Guess the Tomatometer!
Season two of Fargo retains all the elements that made the series an award-winning hit, successfully delivering another stellar saga powered by fascinating characters, cheeky cynicism, and just a touch of the absurd.
Jane the Virgin stays true to its over-the-top telenovela roots in season two while layering in more humor and increasingly complex storytelling.
Lively musical numbers and a refreshing, energetic lead performer in Rachel Bloom make Crazy Ex-Girlfriend a charming, eccentric commentary on human relationships.
The Last Kingdom fuses beautiful cinematography and magnificent action sequences to create highly gratifying historical drama.
Six seasons in, The Walking Dead is still finding ways to top itself, despite slow patches that do little to advance the plot.
Red Oaks offers an affectionate nod to 1980s sex comedies that — largely thanks to a talented ensemble cast — finds fresh humor in its familiar premise.
Also Opening This Week In Limited Release
