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Friday morning puzzle time hits different when you’re trying to ease into the weekend. And today’s New York Times Games decided to serve up a mixed bag that’ll either boost your confidence or completely destroy it.

Strands rolled out the red carpet with a poetry theme that’s actually approachable. The difficulty rating says “easy” and for once, they weren’t lying.

Connections, on the other hand, apparently woke up and chose violence. That 3 out of 5 difficulty rating translates to “let’s make you question everything you thought you knew about the English language.” Between corporate brands that became verbs and homophones that’ll twist your brain, this one’s designed to humble you.

Let’s break down what July 11th has in store.

Nyt Strands Solution for July 11, 2025 (#495)

Today’s Strands theme “It could be verse” celebrates different forms of poetry with an easy difficulty that actually delivers on its promise.

Ari Aster would like you to go back in time. The writer-director of Hereditary and Midsommar doesn’t need you to travel too far. Just five years. You probably remember a few of the details from May 2020: social distancing, social-media diatribes, swabs being thrust violently into nasal cavities, “I Can’t Breathe,” uprisings in the streets. It’s crazy to think all of this took place half a decade ago. It’s even crazier to ignore the creeping sensation that we’re still trapped in the moment when social stress fractures became chasms,...

Jonathan Swift's classic tale, Gulliver's Travels, has been adapted for the big screen many, many times since movies were invented (like the 1939 animated film seen in the image above). But it looks like ol' Lemuel Gulliver is about to set sail on the small screen, in a new adaptation from the Oscar-nominated Uberto Pasolini. The Italian writer/director/producer is perhaps most well-known for bringing The Full Monty to cinemas, having conceived of the idea that Simon Beaufoy went on to write and Peter Cattaneo then directed. But unlike other, older iterations of the tale, this one is said to lean heavily into the original story's satirical elements.

According to a new report from Variety, British screenwriter William Ivory is slated to pen all six episodes of the project, but that Pasolini will serve as showrunner. The series is being billed as a "high-end show," with an international pedigree...

Jonathan Swift’s classic satirical novel Gulliver’s Travels is getting a fresh, ambitious retelling for the small screen, with Italian filmmakerUberto Pasoliniattached as the showrunner. The series aims to provide a fun, feel-good vibe to the 18th-century tale, whilst keeping its sharp social commentary. Pasolini, a former investment banker cum director best known for his work on the 2013 drama Still Life and the 1997 hit The Full Monty (as producer), appears to be a fitting choice to steer the revival of Gulliver’s Travels.

Published in 1726, Gulliver’s Travels follows the adventures of Lemuel Gulliver, an intrepid voyager who encounters various societies, including the diminutive Lilliputians, the giant Brobdingnagians, the scientifically-obsessed Laputans, and the noble yet detached Houyhnhnms. A classic part of English literature, the four-part book combines adventure with savage satire, mocking English customs and the politics of the day.

British writer William Ivory has been tapped to pen the screenplay for the six-episode project.

Gulliver's Travels is set to get a 'fun' television series adaptation helmed by The Full Monty producer Uberto Pasolini. More information on the show is expected to be revealed during the 2025 Series Mania festival in Lille.

Per Variety, the Gulliver's Travels TV series will be a six-episode project. Along with Pasolini as showrunner, We Want Sex and The Great Escaper writer William Ivory is confirmed to be on board to pen the show's screenplay. The show is currently in the early stages of development, with no specific casting details available at this time. The next step for the project will be to find broadcasting partners, with production hopefully getting underway at the end of 2025.

While no casting announcements were ready at this time, Pasolini said that they were looking for a "British actor for the main role". He also hinted at a diverse cast for the project, saying the adaptation...

Oscar-nominated multi-hyphenate Uberto Pasolini – who produced “The Full Monty” and most recently directed “The Return,” starring Ralph Fiennes as Odysseus – has embarked on a TV series adaptation of Jonathan Swift’s classic satirical adventure “Gulliver’s Travels.”

Prominent British writer William Ivory is writing the screenplay for the six-episode project on which Pasolini will serve as showrunner. The high-end show, now in early stages, is being produced by Italy’s Roberto Sessa (“The Sea Beyond”) and Germany’s Jan Wünschmann. It will be unveiled to prospective broadcasters during the Series Mania festival in Lille.

World sales will be jointly handled by Germany’s Beta Film and Zdf Studios.

“What Gulliver allows us to do today is to make something really, really fun,” Pasolini told Variety. But at the same time – very much like Swift did in his time – to talk about the world around us; to talk about politics; to talk...

Whether it is encouraging critical thinking or acting as much-needed social commentary Satire uses comedy to analyze flaws and injustices of contemporary society. With its origins traced to Ancient Egypt around the early 2nd millennium BC with ‘The Satire of the Trades’. The satire genre has grown alongside humanity as well as our desire for truth stripped of illusion, a relentless pursuit of clarity that exposes the fragile fabric of our societal constructs across history. The Satire genre evolved from the profound examination of human nature that is seen in Aristophanes’ ‘The Acharnians’ to the shedding of light on the political situations that occurred during England’s early 18th century seen in Jonathan Swift’s ‘Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships’ also known as ‘Gulliver's Travels’, it meticulously adapted to and alongside...

Sword and sandal films cover a wide range of subgenres, from historical dramas, biblical tales, and fantasy, to mythological epics. Through the decades, Hollywood has been enamored by the stunning sets, genius special effects, and colorful pageantry of stories told in bygone times with a romanticized lens. As the palettes of audiences have become saltier for more "grounded" and "gritty" versions of their favorite heroic tales, a surge to remake them has built a monotony in the styles of directors who try to market to this visual flavor.

However, with the dynamic range that Christopher Nolan has showcased over his years of dazzling the world with his films spanning a plethora of genres, audiences are enticed by how he will approach his adaptation of The Odyssey. As a way to prepare for such a revisit of a time-honored legend, here are films that will prime audiences for the kind of...

Since its creation in 1985, Studio Ghibli has enthralled millions of viewers with beautifully crafted stories featuring unforgettable heroes and heroines. In a recent online poll to rate Ghibli's all-time best "masterpieces," Japanese audiences overwhelmingly voted for SpiritedAway, Hayao Miyazaki's iconic coming-of-age fantasy film.

The poll in question was conducted by Ranking.net, which released the results alongside select comments from voters explaining their choices. According to the site, a total of 5,849 people participated, each one ranking their personal favorite Ghibli flicks for the overall data pool. In a landslide victory, Spirited Away (2001) was ultimately deemed Ghibli's #1 magnum opus by 2,476 voters, who collectively awarded it 87 points. In contrast, second and third place winners Castle in the Sky (1986) and Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) respectively received scores of 85.8 and 84.4. The top 10, ordered from most to least popular, are listed below.

Related'It All Began With This': Studio Ghibli Reveals Rare 50-Year-Old Artwork in New...

The literary classic Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift had been adapted for the small screen in the 90s by Jim Henson and Hallmark Productions with a TV mini-series starring Ted Danson. Then, a little over a decade later, a modernized version was made with Jack Black in the role of a man who found himself in a land of micro-citizens. Variety is now reporting that the story is set to be reimagined yet again for a TV series that has been developed and written by Emmy and BAFTA-winning writer Tom Bidwell, who is known for his recent adaptation of another classic tale, Watership Down.

The new show, which is set to be a six-part mini-series, will be titled The Gullivers. Bidwell will be re-adapting the adventure alongside producers Xavier Marchand and Casey Herbert for Moonriver TV and Leo Becker for Federation Studios. The adventure series is said to be in...

Jonathan Swift’s iconic story Gulliver’s Travels is being reinvented for television in a six-part series called The Gullivers, Variety reports. This fresh take is crafted by Emmy and BAFTA-winning writer Tom Bidwell, known for Watership Down. The project is a collaboration between Moonriver TV and Federation Studios, with producers Xavier Marchand, Casey Herbert, and Leo Becker leading the effort.

This upcoming fantasy adventure is being developed for a major European broadcaster. Moonriver recently produced Nautilus, inspired by Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

That series is streaming in various countries and awaiting its US debut. Federation Studios has also brought Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days to screens, showcasing their expertise in adapting literary classics.

Related: 50 Best Magic Fantasy Books of All Time

Bidwell’s version of Gulliver’s Travels shifts the focus to Lemuel Gulliver’s modern-day family. The story follows Gulliver’s wife and...

Jonathan Swift’s classic satirical adventure ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ is getting a contemporary reimagining for the small screen.

Emmy and BAFTA-winning writer Tom Bidwell (“Watership Down”) has created and written a new six-part TV series — entitled “The Gullivers” — and is working alongside producers Xavier Marchand and Casey Herbert for Moonriver TV and Leo Becker for Federation Studios.

The fantasy adventure series is in development with a major European broadcaster, according to the producers, and follows on the heels of Moonriver’s recent series “Nautilus,” inspired by Jules Verne’s “Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea,” currently on Amazon Prime in the U.K., Stan in Australia and France 2 and awaiting rollout by AMC in the U.S. Federation is no stranger to Verne’s universe either, having previously adapted “Around the World in 80 Days” for Masterpiece PBS, BBC and the European Alliance.

Bidwell’s take on the story is...

Last year proved fairly spectacular for Spanish animation with “Robot Dreams” scoring a best animated feature Oscar nomination, “Sultana’s Dream” winning the Annecy Festival’s Contrechamp, its biggest sidebar, and “Buffalo Kids” proving the third most popular local movie in Spain, grossing €5.2 million ($5.4 million) while breaking out to substantial sales abroad.

“Robot Dreams” and “Buffalo Kids” were produced out of Catalan capital Barcelona. Two of the five producers on “Sultana’s Dream,” however, are based out of the Basque Country: San Sebastian’s Sultana Films, the production label of director Isabel Herguera, and UniKo, behind Alberto Vázquez’s “Unicorn Wars,” a Gkids U.S. pickup, and “Homeless Home,” an Annecy Best Short winner.

In 2025, Basque cinema looks on track to grab more international limelight as it builds as an animation hub. Reasons for that growth also suggests why animation is one of the most exciting futures for international cinema.

Studio Ghibli's animated worlds are filled with memorable side characters that charm and delight millions of viewers all around the world. This month, Ghibli's official online shop, Donguri Sora, has brought back a popular toy collection that includes mascots from My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Castle in the Sky.

As detailed on the shop's website, Donguri Sora's "juggling" bean bags are designed to be extra soft and fluffy to the touch. The full set includes at least 11 different characters, including two different versions of the highly iconic Totoro. Donguri Sora's "Big Totoro" depicts the character peacefully sleeping on his back, while "Medium Totoro" resembles the blue-colored spirit that also appears in My Neighbor Totoro. Most of the toys in the collection are palm-sized and stand between 10-16 cm tall. Readers can check them out in the photo gallery below.

Related...

Studio Ghibli's latest re-releases are perfect for model kit enthusiasts. The company's online shop has freshly replenished its stock of Castle in the Sky, Princess Mononoke and Laputa-themed paper crafts.

Donguri Sora's "Paper Theater" craft kits recently resurfaced on the site's digital catalog. As shown below, these paper crafts are assembled via layered pieces of laser-cut paper that is textured to resemble wood. Two of the three kits recreate iconic architectural structures from Castle in the Sky and Porco Rosso. The latter is a highly-detailed blueprint-style model of Marco Rossolini's seaplane, the Savoias 21F. The former, when assembled, depicts "The Tiger Moth" -- the massive airship piloted by Dola's pirate gang. Instead of architecture, Princess Mononoke's kit portrays the Great Forest Spirit (in his non-deer form) against a vibrant moonlit sky. The foreground of the scene also showcases the iconic "Kodama" spirits. Including tax, each model costs...

Lewis Carroll's 1871 fable "Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There" features a notable scene wherein the young titular protagonist runs across a pair of whimsically dunderheaded identical twins while lost in an alternate dimension. The characters are named Tweedledee and Tweedledum and are based on numerous 18th-century folk poems variously attributed to John Byron, John Pope, and Jonathan Swift. In an early epigram by Byron, the two characters agree to have a battle but are startled by a crow, and forget to fight each other. It wouldn't be until the publication of "Through the Looking Glass," and John Tenniel's illustrations therein, that Tweedledee and Tweedledum would be depicted as identical twins. 

In Carroll's book, the twins reenact the Byron epigram and flee when a crow appears. Some might say that Tweedledee and Tweedledum represent easily distracted governments, or merely the capriciousness of children. Either way,...

Studio Ghibli's Castle in the Sky (1986), My Neighbor Totoro (1988) and Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) have one thing in common: they all feature scenes that capture the peace and tranquility of clear, starlit nights. Now, Ghibli's official online storefront has released an all-new set of greeting cards that pay tribute to each of these memorable sequences.

As detailed on Donguri Sora's website, each card in Ghibli's "Night Sky" greeting card collection features beautiful, foil-stamped artwork depicting a well-known scene and a character quote from one of the studio's beloved fantasy films. My Neighbor Totoro's card depicts Satsuki, Mei and their friend Totoro sitting in a tree together playing their ocarinas. The Kiki's Delivery Service card depicts Kiki and Jiji's nighttime journey to the town that ultimately becomes Kiki's home away from home. Finally, Castle in the Sky's card recalls the night that protagonists Sheeta and Pazu navigated the...

In 1986, Studio Ghibli treated moviegoers to a story revolving around a mythical floating island called Laputa. Over two decades later, a dedicated fan artist painstakingly recreated the iconic locale using gorgeous CG animation.

Masayuki Koyama, a 3D Generalist Artist for Industrial Light & Magic, showcased their fan project on YouTube as well as on their official ArtStation page. The video, which recently resurfaced online, opens with a brief shot of one of Laputa's famous guardian robots before cutting to a sweeping overhead view of the magnificent isle. Like its 2D animated counterpart, Koyama's 3D Laputa features multiple domed structures surrounded by miles of lush greenery and irrigation channels -- remnants of an advanced society that lived in perfect harmony with nature. In the description, Koyama explains that he was trying to recreate "the style and atmosphere" of the moment where the castle is revealed to the audience for the first time.

Studio Ghibli has transformed Uncle Pom from Castle in the Sky into a decorative tabletop clock.

Donguri Sora, Ghibli's official online storefront, has just released its "Laputa: Castle in the Sky Old Man Pom Clock," a working clock inspired by the kindly old man that Pazu and Sheeta encounter while exploring the cave system underneath Pazu's hometown. Standing at 100H x 160W mm and crafted from polyester resin, the statue is meticulously detailed, recreating everything from the fabric wrinkles of Pom's clothing to the rough texture of his unkempt beard. The quartz timepiece is cleverly worked into the design, serving as the "glowing" core of Pom's lantern. Including tax, the current retail price is 10,450 yen (roughly US$69).

Related Studio Ghibli's The Boy and the Heron Oscar Statue Gets Limited-Time Public Display Studio Ghibli shares the Oscar joy with fans by publicly displaying The Boy and the Heron's statue...

Studio Ghibli has re-released a fun family game featuring the robot soldiers from Laputa: Castle in the Sky.

Studio Ghibli's official online storefront, Donguri Sora, has restocked the "Castle in the Sky Character Puzzle" -- a children's game that is essentially a reverse version of Hasbro's popular tower-deconstruction game, Jenga. The game comes with six plastic robot soldier models, three cube-shaped stones and three (plastic) Laputian crystals that resemble the ones from the film. The aim is to create a tower from all the pieces before it collapses. As shown below, the robots come in a variety of poses, allowing the tower to be constructed in a number of different ways. Including tax, the game costs 3,630 yen (roughly US$24).

Related "All That's Left Now Is My Worn-Out Self": Ghibli's Miyazaki Appears on Video for Oscars Message Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki reveals relief in a new video at...

Comedies are meant to make you feel good, right? Wrong! A laugh doesn't have to be wholesome or life-affirming. No, gallows humor exists as a coping mechanism to help humanity face the hardships and tragedies of life in defiance, rebelling against grief and despair, not letting even the worst of scenarios get us down. This is the manifesto of dark comedy, and for as long as mankind has faced hardship, jokes have been made at the expense of suffering to survive harsh realities with smiles on our faces. Jonathan Swift, a 17th-century poet, is considered the father of dark comedy, through his pessimistic poems about evil that, through witty remarks and jokes, essentially, laughed at death itself. Since then, "Humour noir" has been a popular approach employed by many. In cinema, films as far back as the '60s have laughed at the ills and sins of humanity, from nuclear holocausts in Dr. Strangelove,...

Jonathan Swift published his popular fantasy-cum-political-satire "Gulliver's Travels" -- a.k.a. "Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships" -- in 1726. Gulliver, in traveling to faraway and bizarre lands, finds several countries and kingdoms whose entire societies are focused on trivial matters, often to the point of ruination. In Lilliput, the citizens are six-inch-tall royals, and the country has split into factions over which side of the egg is more appropriate for cracking. Gulliver also visits the giant country of Brobdingnag, the floating island of Laputa, and several other fantastical places. To this day, Swift's novel is a provocative and pointed read, poking fun at governmental idiocy in general, and foolish obsessives in particular. 

Rob Letterman's 2010 film adaptation of "Gulliver's Travels" is ... not provocative. In fact, it's downright dumb. The 2010 film...

If mainstream American comedy feels like it’s on the ropes at the moment, American satire certainly seems to be in a permanent flatline. It’s not so much that audiences aren’t primed for a fight. Rather, the question is how far do you have to push into absurdity before it registers as an exaggeration in our particular cultural moment? And, even if a modern-day Jonathan Swift managed to score a direct hit on the level of A Modest Proposal, would it not be instantaneously met with a chorus of quote tweets pointing out that it’s actually a moral failing to even entertain the idea of cooking and consuming infants for dinner as a joke?

You wouldn’t assume that an audience award winner at the Toronto International Film Festival would buck this trend, and you’d be right. Writer-director Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction doesn’t come even close.

I’m a Virgo is a triumph of imagination and ideology.

A boomerang throwback to Amazon’s early streaming years when poignant oddballs like Transparent and Patriot dominated Jeff Bezos’ slate, the Boots Riley-created series that launches Friday on Prime Video is a revitalizing return to originality both for the platform and the franchise-heavy small screen itself.

Watch it, with both eyes open.

With dead-end basketball and branding deals, societal toxicity, fast food and a faster-moving love interest played in breakout fashion by Olivia Washington, the heart of the poetic show is 13-foot-tall Cootie, portrayed in towering fashion by Jharrel Jerome. Leading the 19-year-old Oakland native’s unsure steps to the outside world after years of being hidden, the When They See Us Emmy winner ups his already considerable game to unfurl a naturalism that grounds the magical realism all around him.

Too late for this year’s Emmys, regardless...

Let’s just take a moment to stop and smell the sweet bouquet of justice, as it were.

E. Jean Carroll received a very public vindication on Tuesday when a jury of nine people — six men and three women — agreed that she sufficiently proved she was sexually assaulted by Trump in the 1990s. She convinced the same nine jurors that he defamed her by calling her claims “a complete con job” and “a hoax and a lie” on social media.

Carroll is one of dozens of women who have accused...

If anybody deserved a break after completing the acclaimed run of Better Call Saul, it was Bob Odenkirk.

Odenkirk spent six seasons delivering an Emmy-worthy performance as the lead in an Emmy-worthy show, and somehow found a way to star in Amazon’s Undone, do a season of the Mr. Show-adjacent W/Bob & David for Netflix, play a key supporting role in The Post and a surely arduous lead role in Nobody, and to fit in various cameos and guest turns along the way. With all that happening, why aspire to be the cable version of David Boreanaz — a broadcast TV regular without pause since 1997 — at the same time?

Well, if Breaking Bad was Odenkirk’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer (a key supporting role that became more important to the overall show as it progressed) and Better Call Saul was his Angel (a spinoff that didn’t inherently seem like a great idea,...

The "showbiz satire" movie is almost as old as the cinematic medium itself. From "Sullivan's Travels" to "The Player" and most recently "Babylon," a look at the darker, goofier, unglamorous, seedier side of moviemaking has become a perennial for Hollywood in more ways than one.

Yet most of these films utilize an exaggerated effect to make their commentary on show business that much more biting, whether it's surrealism (as in Federico Fellini's "8 1/2"), a musical (like "Singin' in the Rain"), or horror (such as "Wes Craven's New Nightmare"). It's rare for such showbiz films to not be satirized in some fashion, yet David Cronenberg's "Maps to the Stars" is just such a movie.

Of course, that depends on who you ask. Most people would see the uncomfortable and darkly hilarious "Maps to the Stars" as unequivocal satire, seeing as how it brings together an ensemble of bizarrely...

Comedian Jonah Ray discusses his favorite year in cinema (1994) with Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Airport (1970)

Airport 1975 (1975)

Airport ’77 (1977)

Airplane! (1980)

Basket Case (1982)

Destroy All Neighbors (Tbd)

Satanic Hispanics (2022)

Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022)

Black Christmas (1974) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) – Alex Kirschenbaum’s franchise power rankings

Tales From The Crypt (1972)

Donnie Darko (2001)

Pooka! (2018)

Pooka Lives! (2020)

Harvey (1950) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentary

Ed Wood (1994)

Black Dynamite (2009)

Bride Of The Monster (1955) – Alex Kirschenbaum’s review

Glen Or Glenda (1953)

Plan 9 From Outer Space (1957)

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Frankenweenie (2012)

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Dumb And Dumber (1994)

Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery (1997)

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)

The Mask (1994)

Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)

Scream (1996)

Evil Laugh (1986)

The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Forrest Gump (1994)

Clerks (1994)

The Search For One-Eye Jimmy (1994)

Cabin Boy (1994)

Scary Movie 2 (2001)

Scary Movie 4...

Who can forget Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal,” that cheeky work of early-18th-century satire in which the author had the nerve to suggest cannibalism as a means of keeping Ireland’s unwanted kids “from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the publick”? In “Plan 75,” debuting director Chie Hayakawa floats an equally extreme idea of her own without so much as a glimmer of irony, and the suggestion is upsetting enough that the public will likely still be citing it decades down the road. Set in near-future Japan, where it’s a surplus of seniors — versus an abundance of babies — that’s causing trouble, this chilling social drama takes its name from a hypothetical new legislation whereby an overtaxed government offers its elderly citizens an incentive to euthanize.

Candidates, who must be at least 75 years of age, will be offered a...

Since the days of Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal, cannibalism has often served as a metaphor for bigger overarching themes that explore society and the human psyche. It’s true: there’s something fascinating about cannibals, serial killers, and other folks of highly taboo practices. That’s why there are so goddamn many true crime podcasts and why shows like Dexter, Criminal Minds, and Hannibal are so popular. Killers are one thing, though, and cannibals are another. The genre of “Cannibal Film” is unsurprisingly plagued with controversy, with many of the films about this subject matter being condemned—or outright banned—for their brutality and their scandalous subject matter. It’s not always somber-toned blood and guts, however, since some films have dodged the usual expectations that one would understandingly have about cannibal movies, and Luca Guadagnino’s latest film, the Timothée Chalamet-starring Bones & All, is looking to...

In David Cronenberg’s latest genre twister, Crimes of the Future, Viggo Mortensen and Lea Seydoux plays partners who are performance artists, engrossed in performing surgery (largely on the former) for public nightclub spectacle. They’re enthralled with the freedom they can take on each other’s bodies. All of this in a governing society that’s not too fond of it.

The Neon release opens on June 3 at a time when Roe vs. Wade is in jeopardy at Scotus.

Cronenberg acknowledged at the Cannes Film Festival press conference that the movie “addresses, though not overtly political way, the question of who owns whose body.”

“I did write it 20 years ago, but you can feel that this was coming, this kind of oppressive ownership and control,” said the filmmaker about how issues of rights over one’s body against ruling governments hasn’t gone away. “It’s a constant in...

The very first film produced under the Studio Ghibli banner was Hayao Miyazaki's "Castle in the Sky" in 1986. Miyazaki's screenplay was based partly on Jonathan Swift's 1726 novel "Gulliver's Travels," which featured a floating island called Laputa populated by a people known as the Balnibarbi, who have devoted their lives to academics and the arts. In keeping with Swift's satirical nature, the Balnibarbi were also completely useless, having found no practical use for their studies. Miyazaki depicted Laputa has having long been abandoned, now only overseen by rusty, ancient robots. Miyazaki told most of Laputa's story through its design, and was careful to include visual references to...

The post Studio Ghibli's Scripting Process Is Practically Nonexistent appeared first on /Film.

“Gulliver Returns,” a Ukrainian-produced animation film, will be released in the U.S. following a deal between Shout! Studios and sales agent All Rights Entertainment.

The film is adapted from the Jonathan Swift 18th century satire “Gulliver’s Travels” and adopts the framing conceived by Ukraine’s actor-turned-president Volodymyr Zelensky’s that Gulliver is not a giant in size, but a giant in heart and courage.

A new synopsis has world traveler, giant and adventurer Gulliver invited to return to Lilliput, the town he previously saved from the enemy fleet of the neighboring Blefuscu. But when Gulliver returns as an ordinary man, the town folks are less than welcoming. Meanwhile, the invincible Blefuscu armada is at the gates of the city and threatening another attack. Gulliver will have to prove that it is not necessary to be a giant to do great things, but that a little bit of luck, bravery,...

Producers of Ukrainian animated film “Gulliver Returns” will use earnings from further sales on the film to support their country’s defense against Russia.

Oleg Khodachuk, producer of the film through the company Gulliver Films, said: “‘Gulliver Returns’ is based on [Ukrainian President] Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s idea and his ideal: that Jonathan Swift’s classic character Gulliver is not a giant in size, but a giant in heart and courage. And in the context of the current invasion of Ukraine by Russia, its story of the small country of Liliput being threatened by the invasion of the imposing Blefuscu army, takes on a new resonance.”

The film has already sold to Germany (Telepool), U.K. (Signature), Canada (Tva), Latin America (Imagem), Portugal (Nos Lusomundo), Italy (102 Distribution), West Asia and North Africa (Phars Films), Australia/Nz (Rialto Distribution), Taiwan (Av Jet), Vietnam (Viettel), Hungary (Ads), and more.

“All money generated from the...

Writer/director Guillermo del Toro discusses a few of his favorite movies with Josh and Joe.

Show Notes:

Movies Referenced In This Episode

Nightmare Alley (2021)

Nightmare Alley (1947) – Stuart Gordon’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Drive My Car (2021)

Wicked Woman (1953) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022)

Modern Times (1936)

City Lights (1931)

The Great Dictator (1940)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s review, Dennis Cozzalio’s Muriel Awards capsule review

Vertigo (1958) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary, Brian Trenchard-Smith’s review

The Man Who Would Be King (1975) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)

The Young And The Damned (1950)

Gone With The Wind (1939)

The Golem (1920) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Sunrise: A Song Of Two Humans (1927)

Alucarda (1977)

Greed (1924) – Dennis Cozzalio’s Muriel Awards capsule review

Taxi Driver (1976) – Rod Lurie’s trailer commentary

District 9 (2009) – John Sayles...

Created by author/historian Xavier Dollo and illustrator Djibril Morissette-Phan, the graphic novel The History of Science Fiction will be released on November 23rd by Humanoids, and we've been provided with exclusive preview pages that explore the origins of Mary Shelley's groundbreaking novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.

You can check out our exclusive excerpt below, and to learn more about The History of Science Fiction, visit:

https://www.humanoids.com/y_catalog/book/id/1176

This November Humanoids, the publisher of some of the world’s most iconic and groundbreaking science fiction and fantasy graphic novels, will release The History Of Science Fiction from author/historian Xavier Dollo and illustrator Djibril Morissette-Phan. For the first time in illustrated form, this comprehensive history of science fiction traces its origins and, in fascinating detail, charts its history from its beginnings as a “schlock” genre to its respected status today.

Who is...

A day after the European premiere of season three of his HBO series Succession at the London Film Festival, the show’s creator, Jesse Armstrong, took to the stage with comedian Nish Kumar to discuss the art of screenwriting.

In between dispensing pearls of wisdom for aspiring comedy writers, Armstrong recalled a varied and eclectic career that, surprisingly, began on children’s TV with shows such as ITV’s My Parents Are Aliens and BBC’s The Queen’s Nose.

Armstrong discussed his work with veteran writing partner Sam Bain, recalling how an unsuccessful pitch for a stoner comedy called Spencer, about a “mildly sarcastic” video store clerk, was a rare misfire for the duo, who went on to create popular Channel 4 shows such as Peep Show and Fresh Meat. They would go on to collaborate with Armando Iannucci on BBC’s...

The soundtrack to the Terayama Shūji theatrical play Nuhikun – Directions to Servants, by the legendary Tenjō Sajiki troupe, will be released for the first time on vinyl via Devoted Art Propaganda. The album marks the first official release of music for Tenjō Sajiki’s plays outside of Japan. The premiere is set for 19 October 2021 following a debut stream during InlanDimensions International Arts Festival 2021. The album will be released in 2×12” gatefold vinyl format and limited to 300 copies.

J.A. Seazer is a critically renowned film and theatre music composer, as well as co-director of Terayama Shūji plays and leader of the theatre troupe Laboratory of Theatre Play Ban’yū Inryoku. Seazer combines experimental rock with avant-garde theatre. His major music compositions include Heretics (1971), Ship of Fools (1976), Shintokumaru (1978). He also composed music for Terayama’s feature films such as Boxer (1977), Death in the Country (1974) and Farewell to the Ark (1984). It’s his rock...

“Release the Krakken!”

No! You don’t have to travel to Scotland to see the original sculptures and models created by Ray Harryhausen. Just visit the ‘Ray Harryhausen – Titan of Cinema’ Virtual Exhibit at the National Galleries of Scotland. But tickets for the virtual tour Here

In films spanning five decades Harryhausen breathed life into his foam latex creations through the process of stop-motion animation. He set them among living actors to create fantastical creatures that enchanted and terrified audiences worldwide. His film credits include classics such as Jason and the Argonauts, with its uncanny sword-fighting skeletons and towering living statue Talos, and Clash of the Titans featuring Medusa, one of the most frightening and iconic monsters to slither across the flickering screen.

Although the sources for Harryhausen’s monsters often came from existing material – from myths and legends, the fantastic literature of H.G. Wells (First Men in the Moon...

Hong Kong- and Paris-based sales company All Rights Entertainment has teamed up with the Reface face-swapping app to launch high-profile indie animation “Gulliver Returns” at the European Film Market.

The English-language film was initially launched for pre-sales at the American Film Market in November 2019. It was completed last month at the Animation Studio 95 in Ukraine and will make its debut as a finished movie at the EFM, with a market screening on Tuesday.

The film is supervised by animation director Tony Bonilla. The English-language film, directed by Ilya Maksimov, and written by Emmy-nominated Michael Ryan.

Reface, an A.I.-powered face-swapping app previously know as Doublicat, was recently among the top three most shares apps on Apple’s AppStore behind TikTok and Instagram. It has been downloaded close to 50 million times.

The EFM’s new director was among the first to try it out. “It is an innovative tool to...

Late-Night Laughs is Deadline’s weekly look at the business of jokes after dark. We focus on the biggest topics in the world of late-night, the people who make these shows tick and the moments that go viral. Drop me a line at pwhite@deadline.com with tips or suggestions.

This week, we hear from Ziwe Fumudoh about her new Showtime series, her hot take on the state of satire and how she’s the latest figure to join the late-night “renaissance”. We also look at how Jimmy Kimmel Live is quietly creeping up in the ratings and hear from Trevor Noah, who is set to pull double duty with a new weekly show on Paramount+ alongside his daily show.

Ziwe: Pushing Late-night Boundaries

Ziwe Fumudoh is well versed in the world of late-night, having interned on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report to writing on The Rundown with Robin Thede and Desus & Mero.

Davide Maldi's The Young Observant is exclusively showing on Mubi in most countries starting October 29, 2020 in the series Viewfinder. Maldi generously shared with us an excerpt from his logbook and inspirational images from his movie's production.Standing straight! standing straight! Stand still.Stand still! Stand still! Standing straight.Day one, end of March 2017. After a long exchange of emails with the director of the Mellerio Rosmini Hospitality Training Institute, I arrived for the first time at the institute in Domodossola.I have been given the opportunity to visit this fascinating 19th century building and observe some lessons with the students. For the previous three months, I was visiting other institutes in the north of Italy. Domodossola is a very small town near the Swiss border, surrounded—almost guarded—by the Alps. Here, until recent times, there weren’t many options for those who wanted to get away, and one...

Babies and tamales are flying all over the place as Shameless finds some crazy ways to bring the Gallaghers closer together.

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This Shameless review contains spoilers.

Shameless Season 10 Episode 6

“There’s no room for sentiment in business.”

This season of Shameless has jumped all over the place in terms of its storytelling. It’s now at the half-way point and while there have been definite growing pains for these characters, one of the common denominators this year is that the need for money is making these people do crazy things. This has been a sliding scale of craziness so far, but that’s now been pushed to an extreme place. I was nearly expecting Frank Gallagher to pop out of a closing iris at the end of the episode and declare, “Th-Th-Th-That’s all folks!”

Shameless has been playing with some rather broad storylines this season, but...

In his new film “L’apprendistato” (“The Young Observant”), which premiered at the 72nd Locarno Festival in the Cineasti del presente competition, Italian filmmaker Davide Maldi explores a crucial moment in a young life as a teenage boy is forced to grow up after enrolling at a prestigious hotel and catering school.

Building on his background as an artist outside of the cinema — as well as citing Jonathan Swift’s 18th-century book “Directions to Servants” as a source of inspiration — Maldi approached a small group of artists from non-cinematic disciplines in making the film, a quiet, involving story which he shot alone within a carefully-selected educational facility frozen in time, ruled by tradition and discipline.

The result is a well-composed mix of meticulously curated visuals and a rhythmic score, evoking the anxiously anticipated rite of passage that connects to the author’s general focus on coming-of-age, “L’apprendistato” being the...

Chuck Mead roars back with a blast of rocking honky-tonk, Erin Enderlin pours a potent whiskey and Cobie Caillat’s new band Gone West make their debut in this week’s list of the best country and Americana tracks.

Sam Williams, “Gemini”

Hank Williams Jr.’s 22-year-old son bridges the gap between astrology and Americana with this nuanced, nocturnal-sounding anthem about humans’ dual nature. “I’ve been a jailbird, I’ve been a scholar; turned a pure Catholic girl into the devil’s daughter,” he sings over stomp-clap percussion and a minor-key chord progression,...

Olivia Colman and Rachel Weisz in the film The Favourite. Photo by Atsushi Nishijima. © 2018 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved

Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone face off as rivals for the queen’s favor, in the hilarious dark historic comedy The Favourite. This satiric romp mixes bedroom farce, biting satiric wit and history with a touch of the tragic for a very entertaining excursion into rapier wit. Of the two historical films released this week, this is the fun one, while the other is drama. Still, this fact-based story has its serious and tragic undertones. Set in early 18th century Britain in the reign of Queen Anne, The Favourite is a wild ride, a battle of wits and ambition at court mixing history and comedy in a way that brings to mind Jane Austen crossed with Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon with a dash of Moliere.

Watching these...

In Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Favourite,” Emma Stone plays Abigail Masham, the daughter of a disgraced lord who makes a Walter White-esque rise to the top of Queen Anne’s court…at the cost of her morals.

It’s a chilling tale of how corruption and deception can take over a person obsessed with power, but was the real Abigail Masham really like that?

Did she manipulate and betray Sarah Churchill, the woman that took her into Queen Anne’s inner circle, to protect the status she rose to by gaining Queen Anne’s favor?

Also Read: 'The Favourite' Fact Check: Was Queen Anne Really Lesbian?

Historians have had a hard time tracking Abigail’s rise to power, as there is very little historical record of her from court letters and documents. But there are some major differences between some parts of her life that are known and how...

Alongside Alfonso Cuaron‘s “Roma,” Thursday’s other must-see premiere at the Venice film festival was “The Favourite,” an 18th-century royal farce from off-beat Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos. Olivia Colman plays England’s sickly Queen Anne (a distant relation to the current monarch who she will portray in “The Crown”). Oscar winner Rachel Weisz is the ruler’s manipulative favorite, Lady Marlborough. Another Oscar champ, Emma Stone, is Weisz’s noblewoman cousin, Abigail, who has fallen on hard times.

SEECheck out this gallery of fashions worn by stars at the Venice film fest

“Think ‘Mean Girls’ written by Jonathan Swift,” declared Cinevie’s John Bleasdale, who positively swooned over the palace intrigue and praised all the three actresses: “The plotting is of the conniving “Dangerous Liaisons”–style, with everyone after their own agenda: all smiles and tears are fake and the innocent, the most deadly of the species. Lanthimos gives...

Illustration by Mark Summers for Rolling Stone

On July 21st, 2016 – at a time when nearly every political pundit and member of the mainstream media thought that Donald Trump didn't have even a chance of beating Hillary Clinton – Michael Moore went public with his belief that the Republican candidate was going to win. "You are living in a bubble that comes with an adjoining echo chamber where you and your friends are convinced the American people are not going to elect an idiot for president," he wrote in a pleading messages to Americans,...

Since the early days of home video Ray Harryhausen’s films have been a lightning rod for companies eager to one-up the competition with bigger and brighter releases of the beloved animator’s work. Located in the UK, Powerhouse/Indicator is the latest to jump on the bandwagon with lavishly appointed blu ray sets each featuring three of his films. Though all these movies have been previously released through other companies, Powerhouse has upped the ante with fresh transfers and a broad slate of new extras.

The Wonderful Worlds of Ray Harryhausen, Vol. One: 1955-1960

Blu-ray – All Region

Powerhouse/Indicator

2001 / 1:85 / Street Date September 25, 2017

Starring Kenneth Tobey, William Hopper, Kerwin Matthews

Cinematography: Henry Freulich, Irving Lippman, Carlo Ventimiglia, Wilkie Cooper

Film Editor: Jerome Thoms, Edwin H. Bryant, Raymond Poulton

Produced by Sam Katzman, Charles H. Schneer

Music: Mischa Bakaleinikoff, Bernard Herrmann

Directed by Robert Gordon, Nathan Juran, Jack Sher

It Came from Beneath the Sea...