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Martin Scorsese is producing Aldeas – A New Story, a feature-length documentary created in collaboration with Scholas Occurrentes, the global educational foundation established by Pope Francis. The film includes what is described as the pope’s final in-depth on-camera interview recorded for cinematic release.

The project was developed before Pope Francis’ death and reflects his involvement in the ongoing Aldeas initiative. The program invites communities from around the world to produce scripted short films through locally organized workshops, combining storytelling, cultural preservation, and education. Participants in Indonesia, The Gambia, and Italy are among the first to contribute films to the project. Their creative process will be featured in the documentary alongside previously unreleased conversations between Pope Francis and Scorsese.

The pope supported the initiative as part of a broader effort to encourage community storytelling and promote cultural exchange. In a statement made before his passing, he described Aldeas as “extremely poetic and very constructive,...

Martin Scorsese will release Aldeas – A New Story, a full-lengthy documentary film featuring Pope Francis’ “final in-depth on-camera interview for cinema.”

The film will reflect on the work of Scholas Occurrentes, a non-profit, global education project founded by Pope Francis in 2013. Part of the project has been cultivating filmmaking in communities around the world to help create “the culture of encounter from the peripheries, gathering together the beauty of human diversity, and fostering unity in a divided world.” Aldeas – A New Story will feature short narrative films made in Indonesia,...

Martin Scorsese will honor the late Pope Francis by producing “Aldeas – A New Story,” a feature-length documentary and worldwide cultural project developed by Scholas Occurrentes, the global educational movement founded by the Pope.

“Aldeas — A New Story” is rooted in Pope Francis’ belief in the sacred nature of creativity. The film chronicles the work of Scholas Occurrentes’ latest “Aldeas” cinema initiative, which brings together education, film production and community building to make some of the deepest calls of his papacy a reality: creating the culture of encounter from the peripheries, gathering together the beauty of human diversity and fostering unity in a divided world.

The documentary also features the Pope’s final in-depth on-camera interview for cinema, filmed exclusively for “Aldeas — A New Story.”

In a statement before his death, Pope Francis said: “‘Aldeas’ is an extremely poetic and very constructive project because it goes to the roots of what human life is,...

Martin Scorsese is producing a feature length documentary about the late Pope Francis and the educational movement founded by the Pope prior to his passing.

The film, titled “Aldeas — A New Story,” was developed in collaboration with Francis’ Scholas Occurrentes, and it features Scorsese in conversation with His Holiness upon Scorsese’s return to his hometown in Sicily, and it also features the Pope’s final in-depth, on-camera interview, which was conducted exclusively for the film.

The film will focus specifically on a cinema initiative called “Aldeas,” which has the purpose of bringing together film production with education and community building. The program allows participants to create scripted short films celebrating their identities, histories, and values, and the documentary goes behind the scenes in the making of these short films. Indonesia, The Gambia, and Italy were the first countries to participate in the Aldeas initiative, and the shorts made for...

Even after his recent passing, a life-long passion project of Pope Francis looks to be coming together with the film, Aldeas–A New Story, a new feature-length documentary and worldwide cultural project developed by Scholas Occurrentes, the global educational movement founded by Pope Francis, in collaboration with Academy Award-winning director Martin Scorsese.

Rooted in the Pope’s belief in the sacred nature of creativity, the Aldeas–A New Story film chronicles the work of Scholas Occurrentes’ latest “Aldeas” cinema initiative whose purpose brings together education, film production, and community building to make some of the deepest calls of his papacy a reality: creating the culture of encounter from the peripheries, gathering together the beauty of human diversity, and fostering unity in a divided world. Through hands-on workshops, communities from around the globe will create scripted short films that celebrate their unique identities, histories, and values. The behind-the-scenes stories of these...

On Dec. 22, 1999, Warner Bros. released the Oliver Stone-directed NFL drama Any Given Sunday in theaters, where it went on to cross the $100 million mark globally. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review is below:

Oliver Stone is one of the movies’ foremost portrayers of warfare, so it’s only logical he should turn his attention to those gladiators of sports, professional football players. Any Given Sunday is the result, a film loaded with cynicism and choking on overbearing imagery that nevertheless winds up buying into many of the myths surrounding the sport. Of two minds about nearly every issue the film tackles anyway, Stone further lets his point of view get smothered in high-impact action and turbocharged editing.

Jocks and sports-minded guys appear the most logical audience for Any Given Sunday, but even they can’t be blamed for recoiling from the visual assault. Starring Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz and...

The American Society of Cinematographers presented a discussion about artificial intelligence, focused on how it’s being used today in filmmaking and its legal implications, during cinematography festival EnergaCamerimage.

To the latter, there were a lot of questions for panelist Angela Dunning, an attorney at Cleary Gottlieb, including those surrounding copyright class-action suits against developers for the training of AI models.

“The position that I think will prevail in the U.S. when all the dust settles after court decisions and appeals, is that that training is fair use,” she said, noting that this is an area in which she is currently working and suggesting that it’s “very much like the human process of ingesting information.” As an example, she suggested that one might “learn what a flower is from a garden, from your books your mom used to read you, from pictures of flowers in a magazine, from...

Your eyes do not deceive you. Giovanni Ribisi — the same Giovanni Ribisi who boasts more than a hundred acting credits since 1985 — photographed and produced J.T. Mollner’s critically acclaimed thriller Strange Darling. The film’s nonlinear narrative is told through six chapters, and it explores the fallout of a calamitous one-night stand involving Kyle Gallner’s serial killer character, The Demon, and Willa Fitzgerald’s circumspect next target who’s credited as The Lady.

Throughout his four decades on film and TV sets, Ribisi has taken a keen interest in the work of his various directors of photography, and he credits a number of those DPs for sharing their know-how, beginning with Dante Spinotti, whom he worked with on Michael Mann’s Public Enemies (2009) and Garry Marshall’s The Other Sister (1999). The late Andrew Lesnie, who shot Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy and won an Oscar...

Here’s a video about Ben Affleck and cinematographer Sal Totino taking the Sony CineAlta Burano for a test drive and talking about how it’s changing the way they tell stories. And it didn’t go so well…

Ben Affleck & the Sony Burano Ben Affleck tries to advertise Burano

Actor Ben Affleck is known for his passion to cinematography. Sometimes he likes to take the camera from the Dp and shoot by himself. Affleck belongs to the generation of actors who love to play with the camera on set, by helping to film the scenes. Affleck is one of the ideal candidates to test new camera tech. Hence, most probably Sony has approached him to advertise to Burano. So he and his cinematic partner, cinematographer Sal Totino took the Burano for a spin, inside a car. Affleck mentions the solid advantages of the Burano which are its high dynamic range,...

Mama said knock you out! Well, LL Cool J did at least. Look, we all know egos and testosterone can be a dangerous combination in the locker room, but when you put that locker room on the set of a major motion picture, things can really blow up. And that’s just what happened during the making of Any Given Sunday, when Jamie Foxx – then trying to make a name as a dramatic actor – and LL Cool J – the hero of Deep Blue Sea – got into it, with the rapper trying to get ahead of an entirely different kind of shark.

In the Any Given Sunday scene in question, Foxx’s Willie Beaman and LL Cool J’s Julian Washington were to get into it over mishandling the ball. With tensions building apparently just from being on the same field as one other, LL Cool J reached over star Al Pacino...

Yorgos Lanthimos drama ‘Poor Things’ won two prizes.

Warwick Thornton was awarded the Golden Frog at Poland’s Camerimage International Film Festival on Saturday (November 18) for drama The New Boy.

The Australian Indigenous filmmaker received the festival’s top prize at a ceremony in the Polish town of Torun, where the director was recognised for his role as cinematographer on the film. Accepting the award, Thornton paid tribute to his fellow filmmakers and said: “I’ve had tears in my eyes the whole week and it’s not because of the alcohol or the cold weather. It’s the love of cinematography,...

Cinematographer and director Warwick Thornton scored top honors Saturday at the Camerimage cinematography film festival for his magical tale of an aboriginal youth, “The New Boy,” which film jurors called a distinctive “portrait of an extinguished spirituality.”

Thornton, in accepting the Golden Frog, said he had been so moved by the cinematography work onscreen at the fest, a top global event for directors of photography, he’d been “tearing for a week.”

Ed Lachman, director of photography for Pablo Larrain’s horror fantasy “El Conde,” inspired by the life of Chilean tyrant Augusto Pinochet, won the Silver Frog for what the jury called “cinematic high poetry,” while the Bronze Frog and Audience Award went to cinematographer Robbie Ryan for his Gothic dream-like imagery in Emma Stone-starrer “Poor Things,” directed by Yorgos Lanthimos.

Actor Peter Dinklage, honored with a festival director’s prize, expressed his gratitude for the Frog statuette,...

For the second year in a row, a film starring Cate Blanchett has taken the lead prize at Poland’s EnergaCamerimage Festival, celebrating the work of the world’s best cinematographers. This year, the Aboriginal drama “The New Boy” won the Golden Frog for its cinematographer Warwick Thornton, who also happens to be the picture’s director.

The film follows a 9-year-old Aboriginal orphan taken in by a rural monastery. It premiered to kind notices at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. However, the film still does not have a U.S. release date at this time. In 2022, Todd Field’s “Tár” won the Golden Frog for Oscar-nominated cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister and also starred Blanchett.

The Silver Frog went to Pablo Larrain’s moody vampire picture “El Conde,” for whom its legendary cinematographer Ed Lachman was honored. Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” continued its awards streak by winning the Bronze Frog for lenser Robbie Ryan,...

This year’s winners at Camerimage Film Festival in Toruń, Poland were unveiled Saturday, with The New Boy, Warwick Thornton’s drama about an indigenous boy taken in at a mysterious remote monastery, taking the top prize.

Poor Things, Searchlight’s Yorgos Lanthimos drama starring Emma Stone, won the Audience Award at the festival, which focuses on the art of cinematography.

Camerimage’s Golden Frog is widely considered an Oscar precursor, with three of the past five Golden Frog winners going on to earn Oscar nominations in cinematography. Those titles include Lion (2016), Joker (2019) and Nomadland (2020).

Below is the complete list of this year’s winners.

Main Competition

Golden Frog: The New Boy

cin. Warwick Thornton

dir. Warwick Thornton

Silver Frog: El Conde

cin. Ed Lachman

dir. Pablo Larraín

Bronze Frog: Poor Things

cin. Robbie Ryan

dir. Yorgos Lanthimos

Fipresci Award

The International Federation of Film Critics Award for Best Film: The Zone of Interest

cin.

The New Boy — the story of a young Aboriginal Australian orphan boy that was written, directed and lensed by Warwick Thornton — collected the Golden Frog in the main competition of the 31st EnergaCamerimage international cinematography film festival, which closed Saturday night in Torún, Poland.

Cinematographer Ed Lachman received the Silver Frog for Pablo Larraín’s El Conde, which positions Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet as a vampire. Robbie Ryan’s lensing of Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, the story of a young woman (Emma Stone) brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist, claimed the Bronze Frog as well as the Audience Award. (Ryan collected the Golden Frog two years ago, for Mike Mills’ C’mon C’mon, and Lachman won the Golden Frog in 2015, for Todd Haynes’ Carol.).

The Fipresci Prize was awarded to Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, a chilling look at the life of Auschwitz concentration camp commander Rudolf Höss and his family,...

There was an emotional start to the 31st EnergaCamerimage cinematography film festival as news spread that John Bailey — the cinematographer behind films such as Ordinary People, The Big Chill and As Good As It Gets, and former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — died Friday at age 81.

During Saturday’s opening ceremony, festival director Marek Żydowicz gave a heartfelt tribute to the Dp as he opened Camerimage, which is held annually in Toruń, Poland. “It is very difficult for me to talk about it,” he said, introducing a black-and-while clip featuring portions of Bailey’s 2019 speech when he accepted the Camerimage Lifetime Achievement Award. Bailey and his wife, Oscar-nominated editor Carol Littleton, had attended the festival on multiple occasions. Żydowicz also emphasized the bond between Camerimage and the Motion Picture Academy that Bailey helped to strengthen. He said, “John, you will forever be in our hearts.

Screenwriting and directing duo Álex Pastor and David Pastor face the enormous task of crafting a story that is as engaging, thrilling, and unique as Bird Box without relying on the same themes and plotting. Bird Box Barcelona suffers from the reality that the creatures cannot truly be revealed, as the premise thrives on the characters and audiences not knowing what they are. This may lead to repetitive actions and scenarios, requiring creativity on the part of the filmmakers. However, the franchise can’t continue without feeling redundant or evolving to the next step, figuring out how to defeat these beings or developing a cure. Both of these possibilities are hinted at in Bird Box Barcelona, but they're not fully explored. The Pastors work on this by honing in on personal narratives and teasing the possibility that humans can resist and defeat these creatures. The allure of the unknown is still very much intact,...

Prolific actor, director, and producer Adam Arkin directs four episodes of The Offer on Paramount+, including the upcoming penultimate episode and the finale.

We had a chance to chat with him about his work on The Offer and his other work just before he began shooting a series in Vancouver.

Catch his latest work with the final two episodes of The Offer Season 1 on June 9 and June 16 on Paramount+.

You have directed, starred in, and produced some of the best shows on TV over the decades. How have you managed to keep such a vibrant career going in so many different directions?

Oh, well, first of all, thank you. I wish that I could list some kind of divine plan that I came up with about doing any of it. I've generally tended to put one foot in front of the other and act on those opportunities that were opening...

I didn’t get it. When Ron Howard’s The Da Vinci Code took the world by storm in 2006, I was far from being a professional critic, but I could still be highly critical of something like this. It was an adaptation of the biggest literary phenomenon of the decade not starring Harry Potter, and it was arriving in cinemas with the kind of media frenzy usually reserved for Star Wars. All the while, its rollout suggested it had aspirations to be an awards contender. How could something that high-handed live up to that kind of hype?

As a splashy Hollywood version of Dan Brown’s most popular potboiler, The Da Vinci Code premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May and was the subject of countless faux-examinations about early Christianity on the cable news circuit—as well as the object of ire for some modern Christians’ growing need for perpetual outrage.

There are several constants that you find in a David Ayer movie. He loves to explore the world of crime, as well as the thin lines of good and evil that exist within the criminal underworld. The same goes for when he’s focusing on cops. We’ve seen Ayer’s best with End of Watch and Fury (plus his script for Training Day), as well as his worst with Suicide Squad (even if that wasn’t completely his fault). His newest outing, The Tax Collector, has several elements of good Ayer, as well as bad Ayer. The end result is a frustrating experience that hints at his talents but manages to let you down. The film is a mix of crime drama and action outing, more or less what you’d come to expect from this particular storyteller. David Cuevas (Bobby Soto) is a family man, first and foremost,...

Shia Labeouf can give complex, transportive performances, with rough and edgy bursts of messy antics slathered on top of soul. Sadly, “The Tax Collector” is not “American Honey.” In writer-director David Ayer’s bland L.A. crime saga about a pair of drug lord minions caught in the crosshairs of a larger war, Labeouf stares and struts his way through a cartoonish and culturally insensitive performance as a troublemaking thug named Creeper that most certainly did not require him to get his character’s name tattooed across his chest.

If the two-bit Latino burlesque was the only problem with “The Tax Collector,” it would have to work overtime to make up for it. Yet even when “The Tax Collector” finds a steadier purpose as a taut revenge thriller, it’s mostly just a slog of vulgar threats and violent outbursts, trading substance for anger until the credits bring some measure of peace.

There was a time when a serial killer film, based on a novel written in part by James Patterson, would be a hot commodity in Hollywood. In fact, at one point, The Postcard Killers (the novel’s original name) had no less than famed cinematographer Janusz Kamiński signed to direct, after filmmakers like Paul Greengrass and Gavin O’Connor had flirted with helming. However, those incarnations were not to be, and this weekend The Postcard Killings (a retitling meant to make it seem even more generic) opened, destined to be quickly forgotten about. Without the same talent behind the camera, the flaws are even easier to spot than they otherwise would have been. Misguided, boring, and even often tasteless, this is a real dud. The movie is a crime drama, following a series of brutal murders. When his daughter is murdered, along with her husband, while on her honeymoon in Europe,...

Famke Janssen has joined Jeffrey Dean Morgan in the cast of crime thriller “The Postcard Killings.” Variety has been given the first-look image from the movie.

Morgan plays Jacob Kanon, the New York detective intent on capturing his daughter’s murderer. Janssen plays Valerie Kanon, the mother of their now deceased daughter.

Across Europe, newlywed couples are being targeted in a string of bizarre killings that leave the young victims’ bodies looking like the murders have been staged.

Bosnian filmmaker Danis Tanovic, who won an Oscar for “No Man’s Land,” and Berlin Grand Jury winner “Death in Sarajevo,” directs the pic.

The film is an adaptation of James Patterson and Liza Marklund bestselling novel. It is produced by Good Films Collective, and is being sold in Cannes by Christian Mercuri’s Capstone.

As well as Morgan and Janssen, the film features Denis O’Hare, Naomi Battrick, Ruairi O’Connor and Cush Jumbo.

Oscar-winner Danis Tanovic’s chilling crime story “The Postcard Killings” has rounded out its cast with the addition of “American Horror Story’s” Denis O’Hare, “A Very English Scandal’s” Naomi Battrick and “The Spanish Princess’s” Ruairi O’Connor as shooting gets underway in London.

The movie, based on the James Patterson and Liza Marklund bestseller, stars “The Walking Dead’s” Jeffrey Dean Morgan and “Wonder Woman’s” Connie Nielsen, and features Cush Jumbo. The production will also shoot in Norway and Sweden.

The pic follows Jacob Kanon (Morgan), a hardened New York detective, in search of the person responsible for the murder of his only daughter. Across Europe, newlywed couples are being targeted in a string of bizarre homicides that leave the young victims’ bodies looking like copies of great works of art.

Tanovic’s first feature film, “No Man’s Land,” won the 2002 Oscar for best foreign-language film,...

Last week, I got the chance to check out Marvel’s latest outing, the combined production with Sony that relaunched Spider-Man. Yes, I’m talking about Spider-Man: Homecoming. The film screened pretty early for critics, which is almost always a sign of quality, and that sure was the case here. With it opening this week, it’s worth raving about, just a little bit more. This movie is outstanding, one of the year’s best. It also marks a really strong entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So, with that, today I’m going to be running down a list of the McU titles so far, focused on where Peter Parker and his web slinging alter ego fit in on the list. You see this list at least once or twice a year, but this is the most up to date one yet, obviously. First though, a quick bit more on this flick.

Marvel really can’t seem to do any wrong these days. They just have a feel for how to make some of the best blockbusters in the business. That trend will continue in a big way next month with the release of Spider-Man: Homecoming, a team up between Marvel and Sony. Getting the webslinger into the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a nice little cue, though the best part is just how amazing the movie is, no pun intended. Basically every part of this new Spider-Man franchise is the best that this character has ever been treated. It’s truly a spectacular comic book flick. The McU is lucky to have this friendly neighborhood wall crawler. Thankfully skipping over another origin story, this reboot puts Peter Parker (Tom Holland) already on the ground, having established him briefly in Captain America: Civil War. Following those events, we follow teenager Peter as he...

Here's the third futile attempt by director Ron Howard to turn the bestselling claptrap of author Dan Brown into something watchable. He comes close, but not close enough. This time Robert Langdon, the Harvard symbologist played as if against his will by Tom Hanks, suffers from retrograde amnesia. Lucky guy – I can remember all too well how the film's plodding predecessors, The Da Vinci Code (2006) and Angels & Demons (2009), stubbornly refused to come to life. Howard, shooting in Florence and Istanbul, makes things look compellingly atmospheric. And Hanks is one of...

Whatever you might say about the quality of novelist Dan Brown’s writing, he’s created a terrific character in symbolist sleuth Robert Langdon – an indomitable, if reluctant hero, a Jack Ryan spliced with Umberto Eco’s William of Baskerville. And with adventures that combine mystery, cerebral riddle-solving and globe-trotting action adventure, surely it’s impossible to go wrong when bringing Langdon to the screen. Well, actually, no, it’s entirely possible.

In fact, after “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels & Demons,” “Inferno” makes it three duds in a row. Thanks to Tom Hanks, Langdon is a palpable, enjoyable presence. But once again Ron Howard and his screenwriters have failed to satisfactorily adapt the material around him. If the first film was ploddingly, airlessly faithful to its source, this follows the second in being frantically paced, chaotic and increasingly exasperating.

Brown has upped the stakes considerably. Whereas the earlier stories...

Exclusive: A number of promotions and changes were just made at Dattner Dispoto and Associates, a talent agency founded in 1987 that represents below-the-line crew. nm2374492 autoJuanita Tiangco[/link] was named VP Commercials and Music Videos. Tiangco ran Dda's New York office for five years, repping such talent as Harris Savides, Lance Acord, Salvatore Totino, Tami Reiker and Jim Fealy. She returned to Dda in Los Angeles in 2005. She has been an agent for 26 years, including 16 at…...

Exclusive: A number of promotions and changes were just made at Dattner Dispoto and Associates, a talent agency founded in 1987 that represents below-the-line crew. nm2374492 autoJuanita Tiangco[/link] was named VP Commercials and Music Videos. Tiangco ran Dda's New York office for five years, repping such talent as Harris Savides, Lance Acord, Salvatore Totino, Tami Reiker and Jim Fealy. She returned to Dda in Los Angeles in 2005. She has been an agent for 26 years, including 16 at…...

Unbridled ambition, a ferocious storm, and the limits of human endurance collide at the top of the world in the white-knuckle adventure Everest, coming to Digital HD on December 22, 2015, and 3D Blu-ray™, Blu-ray™, DVD and On Demand on January 19, 2016, from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

Following a pair of expeditions to the highest point – and most dangerous place – on Earth, Everest captures the brutal majesty of the deadly peak, and the boundless courage required to conquer it, with breathtaking cinematography and spectacular storytelling. Exclusive extras make Everest a can’t-miss, must-own event, bringing viewers behind-the-scenes for a look at the making of the film, as well as astonishing insights about the real-life 1996 summit attempt that inspired it.

Wamg is giving away copies of the film to celebrate the Blu-ray/DVD release.

Enter Your Name And E-mail In Our Comments Section Below. We Will Contact You If You Are A Winner.

Read More: Review: Thrilling 'Everest' is Guaranteed to Enhance Mountain Climbing Fears "Everest," Baltasar Kormákur's fact-based survival thriller that gripped audiences last year, has announced its DVD release for later this month, which will feature exclusive behind-the-scenes footage set to test audiences' endurance. The clip above teases prominent cast and crew members talking about their experiences with director Kormákur and how they faced intense and dangerous weather while shooting. While filming at levels of over 10,000 feet, many felt the severe consequences of such an endeavor. Cinematographer Salvatore Totino had to take Diamox for brutal altitude sickness, and wound up getting nerve damage in both of his feet despite taking many precautions. The semi-biographical film documents the journey of two different expeditions as they attempt to reach the summit of the highest mountain in the world, struggling to survive fierce snowstorms,...

At last, an adventure movie that does without action-epic superhero Bs. It's simply You Are There with a dozen likeable, determined climbers coping with calamity in a place that, for all the help that can be sent, 'might as well be on the moon.' The excellent depth effects all but nail us to the screen. Everest Blu-ray + DVD Universal Studios Home Entertainment 2015 / Color / 2:40 widescreen / 121 min. / Street Date January 19, 2016 / 49.98 Starring Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, Keira Knightley, Jake Gyllenhaal, Robin Wright, Martin Henderson, John Hawkes, Naoko Mori, Michael Kelly, Emily Watson, Sam Worthington. Cinematography Salvatore Totino Film Editor Mick Audsley Original Music Dario Marianelli Written by William Nicholson, Simon Beaufroy Produced by Nicky Kentish Barnes, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Baltasar Kormákur, Brian Oliver, Tyler Thompson. Directed by Baltasar Kormákur

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

I've heard no Oscar buzz surrounding Baltasar Kormákur's Everest, which makes sense. It isn't the kind of movie that courts awards,...

Concussion focuses on an important topic. But is it the movie people want to see on Christmas Day? Perhaps it will pull in NFL fans, and it could garner a few Oscar nominations. But this is not the feel good family movie you and your family will want to sit and enjoy this holiday season. As the second trailer teases, Concussion is going to weigh heavily on your brain. This drama stars Will Smith and is based on a true story that delves into NFL brain trauma.

Will Smith plays Dr. Bennet Omalu, the forensic neuropathologist who made the first discovery of Cte (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) and fought for the truth to be known. Concussion is based on the David vs. Goliath journey of Dr. Omalu, who treats the football-related brain trauma of a pro player while fighting to bring awareness to the public. In his search for the truth behind the devastating malady,...

Cinematographer Salvatore Totino ("Concussion," "Inferno") now has a greater understanding of what the real-life climbers encountered when they were hit with one of the fiercest blizzards during their final ascent toward the summit of Mount Everest in 1996. "It was hard for all of us," recalled Totino who was forced to take Diamox for altitude sickness, which felt like being hit on the head with a baseball bat. "There were days when we wouldn't break for lunch, which was fine because it goes by quicker. I wore these mountain climbing boots but my feet froze and I wound up getting nerve damage in both of my big toes after the shoot," he said. "You had to be really loose in a lot of ways because the weather was constantly changing and you couldn't control it. We filmed in Italy on the Austrian border at 10,000 feet and they had the coldest winter in 25 years.

Emily Watson steals the show in this real-life story based on an expedition to climb Everest in 1996

Top-flight cinematography by Salvatore Totino, deftly edited by Mick Audsley, lends gravitas to Baltasar Kormákur’s tale of mountaintop disaster, based on real-life events from 1996. Jason Clarke is the leader of an “adventure consultants”’ climb beset by bad weather and overcrowding. The climbers are a mixed bag, ranging from Josh Brolin’s gruff Texan, Beck Weathers, to John Hawkes’s amiable but ailing postal worker, Doug Hansen, and Naoko Mori’s Yasuko Namba, a Japanese businesswoman dedicated to summiting the highest mountains of the seven continents.

For the most part, screenwriters William Nicholson and Simon Beaufoy (the latter co-wrote the physical endurance tester 127 Hours) attempt to avoid the sentimental tropes of the disaster movie, although radio contact with distant partners leaves both Keira Knightley and Robin Wright simply waiting for tear-jerking phone calls. Emily Watson is terrific as the base camp controller trying to manage the unfolding chaos, and it’s her scenes that pack the greatest punch, her face and voice a pitch-perfect portrayal of alarmed restraint. Powerful sound design effectively accentuates the sense of stormy isolation, giving the mountain the last word.

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Emily Watson steals the show in this real-life story based on an expedition to climb Everest in 1996

Top-flight cinematography by Salvatore Totino, deftly edited by Mick Audsley, lends gravitas to Baltasar Kormákur’s tale of mountaintop disaster, based on real-life events from 1996. Jason Clarke is the leader of an “adventure consultants”’ climb beset by bad weather and overcrowding. The climbers are a mixed bag, ranging from Josh Brolin’s gruff Texan, Beck Weathers, to John Hawkes’s amiable but ailing postal worker, Doug Hansen, and Naoko Mori’s Yasuko Namba, a Japanese businesswoman dedicated to summiting the highest mountains of the seven continents.

For the most part, screenwriters William Nicholson and Simon Beaufoy (the latter co-wrote the physical endurance tester 127 Hours) attempt to avoid the sentimental tropes of the disaster movie, although radio contact with distant partners leaves both Keira Knightley and Robin Wright simply waiting for tear-jerking phone calls.

Everest

Written by William Nicholson & Simon Beaufoy

Directed by Baltasar Kormákur

UK/USA/Iceland, 2015

The phrase “visually stunning” is used pretty liberally these days, what with a new blockbuster extravaganza arriving nearly every weekend. The new disaster drama, Everest, quite literally takes things to new heights. Director Baltasar Kormákur mixes breathtaking cinematography, dizzying special effects, and pummeling sound to bring the infamous mountain to life. Unfortunately, the script can’t keep pace, as it sidesteps the shortcomings of its characters in order to preserve an emotional denouement. It’s worth an afternoon at the IMAX theater to take in the sights, but don’t expect any new insight into this harrowing ordeal.

In 1996, eight climbers comprising two expedition groups died after being overtaken by a vicious storm atop Mt. Everest. One group, Adventure Consultants, was led by the amiable Kiwi, Rob Hall (Jason Clarke), while the other was helmed by the hard-living American,...

The NFL probably isn't going to like this. But it's a topic that must be discussed, and what better forum than a crowded movie theater on Christmas morning. Sure there will be plenty of fun movies opening on December 25. But with the NFL season really heating up, a lot of fans are going to want to go behind the scenes of one of the more controversial issues. Concussion stars Will Smith and is based on a true story as it delves into NFL brain trauma. Sony Pictures has released the first trailer and poster for this important topic.

Will Smith plays Dr. Bennet Omalu, the forensic neuropathologist who made the first discovery of Cte (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) and fought for the truth to be known. Concussion is based on the David vs. Goliath journey of Dr. Omalu, who treats the football-related brain trauma of a pro player while fighting to bring awareness to the public.

© 2015 Ctmg, Inc. All rights reserved.

Principal photography has commenced on Inferno, the new film in Columbia Pictures’ Robert Langdon series, which has taken in more than $1.2 billion worldwide to date. The film is slated for release on October 14, 2016.

In the film, Academy Award winner Tom Hanks reprises his role as Robert Langdon. He is joined by an international cast of actors, including Felicity Jones, Irrfan Khan, Omar Sy, Ben Foster, and Sidse Babett Knudsen.

The film is directed by Ron Howard and produced by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard. The screenplay is by David Koepp, based on the book by Dan Brown. The project’s executive producers are David Householter, Dan Brown, Anna Culp, and William M. Connor.

Inferno continues the Harvard symbologist’s adventures on screen: when Robert Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Sienna Brooks, a doctor he hopes will help...

Sony Pictures announced today that it has scheduled the Will Smith drama Concussion for a Christmas Day release. The film is opening at a prime time, not only because of the holiday movie season but also just as the NFL will be preparing for the playoffs. Concussion follows Dr. Bennet Omalu, the forensic neuropathologist who made the first discovery of football-related brain trauma in a pro player and fought to bring awareness to the public. In his search for the truth, Omalu, a total outsider to pro football, takes on the sports industry’s status quo. His studies on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (Cte), prompted the NFL to take brain-related injuries seriously. Cte was cited in the suicides of former NFL stars Junior Seau and Dave Duerson. Deadline announced Smith’s attachment to the film back in June.

Written and directed by Peter Landesman (Parkland), Concussion is based on the GQ...

Production has started on the thrilling mountain climbing drama Everest. We have our first look at the film featuring Jason Clarke at the head of a team of climbers. The movie is being directed by Baltasar Kormákur (Contraband), and the cast also includes Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, and Jake Gyllenhaal. The movie tells the true story of two groups of climbers who attempted to climb the world’s highest mountain during an insane snowstorm.

It will be released in IMAX 3D on February 27th, 2015, and here's the full press release with all of the details on the story. This seems like it will be a pretty intense film.

Universal Pictures, Walden Media and Cross Creek Pictures, announce the start of principal photography on the Working Title Films production of Everest. Universal Pictures will release Everest in North American theaters in 3D and IMAX 3D on February 27, 2015.

Inspired by the incredible...

Universal Pictures, Walden Media and Cross Creek Pictures, announce the start of principal photography on the Working Title Films production of Everest. Universal Pictures will release Everest in North American theaters in 3D and IMAX 3D on February 27, 2015.

Inspired by the incredible events surrounding a treacherous attempt to reach the summit of the world's highest mountain, Everest documents the awe-inspiring journey of two different expeditions challenged beyond their limits by one of the fiercest snowstorms ever encountered by mankind. Their mettle tested by the harshest of elements found on the planet, the climbers will face nearly impossible obstacles as a lifelong obsession becomes a breathtaking struggle for survival.

The epic adventure stars Jason Clarke (The Great Gatsby, Zero Dark Thirty), Josh Brolin (True Grit, No Country for Old Men), John Hawkes (Lincoln, Martha Marcy May Marlene) and Jake Gyllenhaal(Source Code, Brokeback Mountain). They are joined by Martin Henderson (The Ring...

Universal Pictures, Walden Media and Cross Creek Pictures, announce the start of principal photography on the Working Title Films production of Everest. Universal Pictures will release Everest in North American theatres in 3D and IMAX 3D on 27th February 2015. The studio has debuted the first photo from this true-story adaptation featuring Jason Clarke, which you can check out below.

Inspired by the incredible events surrounding a treacherous attempt to reach the summit of the world's highest mountain, Everest documents the awe-inspiring journey of two different expeditions challenged beyond their limits by one of the fiercest snowstorms ever encountered by mankind. Their mettle tested by the harshest of elements found on the planet, the climbers will face nearly impossible obstacles as a lifelong obsession becomes a breathtaking struggle for survival.

The epic adventure stars Jason Clarke (The Great Gatsby, Zero Dark Thirty), Josh Brolin (True Grit, No Country for Old Men), John Hawkes (Lincoln,...

Universal Pictures have released the first image and press release from their new movie Everest which has a stonking cast and is set for erlease in IMAX 3D 27th February 2015. Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, Jake Gyllenhaal and John Hawkes all star in the movie helmed by Baltasar Kormákur which has begun principle photography in Nepal.

The full press release is below and here’s the image which you can click to enlarge. The movie is set to shoot right here at Pinewood Studios, Rome and Nepal.

More on it as we get it. Wrap up warm people!

Universal City, CA & London- 12th February 2014 – Universal Pictures, Walden Media and Cross Creek Pictures, announce the start of principal photography on the Working Title Films production of Everest. Universal Pictures will release Everest in North American theatres in 3D and IMAX 3D on 27th February 2015.

Inspired by the incredible events surrounding a treacherous...

In the latest video in our Craft Truck series, Sal Totino, who was the cinematographer on features like Frost/Nixon, Cinderella Man and The Da Vinci Code, advocates knowing the rules but only in order to break them. Using an apt metaphor of cooking, he says that one could follow a recipe step-by-step or break away and “put a little bit of your soul into it.” Nothing is guaranteed, as Totino cautions, especially not when straying from convention, but you have to know where the edge is — and sometimes fall off — to learn your limits. Watch the full interview here.

In the latest video in our Craft Truck series, Sal Totino, who was the cinematographer on features like Frost/Nixon, Cinderella Man and The Da Vinci Code, advocates knowing the rules but only in order to break them. Using an apt metaphor of cooking, he says that one could follow a recipe step-by-step or break away and “put a little bit of your soul into it.” Nothing is guaranteed, as Totino cautions, especially not when straying from convention, but you have to know where the edge is — and sometimes fall off — to learn your limits. Watch the full interview here.

Showtime has acquired director Ron Howard's concert documentary Made in America that gives fans an all-access glimpse into the life of rapper Jay-z. The network has released the first trailer, and announced that the documentary will debut Friday, October 11 at 9 Pm Et, following its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival next month. Take a look at the first footage, then read the official press release for more details on this documentary.

Last year, Grammy Award-winning music icon Shawn "Jay-z" Carter united the biggest names in music (with a few notable locals) to perform at a star-studded, multi-genre, two-day Budweiser Made in America festival in Philadelphia. He then approached Oscar-winning filmmakers Brian Grazer and Ron Howard of Imagine Entertainment to join forces and produce a film chronicling the inspirational event. The result is the highly anticipated documentary Made in America, world premiering on television exclusively on Showtime on Friday,...

A character-driven drama is not something many would assume to place in writer Alex Kurtzman‘s wheelhouse. Kurtzman and his writing partner, Roberto Orci, usually churn out rather artificial, set piece-driven, basic-minded blockbusters. As fun as many of them are - The Island, Stark Trek and Mission: Impossible III - there’s a lack of humanity in nearly all of them. It’s refreshing, then, that Kurtzman’s foray into directing, the not-so-subtlely titled People Like Us, contains much of the humanity missing in many of his previous works.

When Sam’s (Chris Pine) distant father dies, he discovers the other life and family another life his father abandoned. In debt and at the risk of losing his job, Sam is asked to deliver $100,000 to the sister he never knew, a barmaid and mother named Frankie (Elizabeth Banks). As he starts to get to know his sister, Sam isn’t...

Release Date: May 15

Director: Ron Howard

Writer: David Koepp and Akiva Goldsman, Dan Brown (novel)

Cinematographer: Salvatore Totino

Starring: Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer, Stellan Skarsgård

Studio/Run Time: Sony Pictures, 138 mins.

Having it both ways in a film that’s more thrilling than thoughtful

Everyone's favorite symbologist Robert Langdon is back in Angels & Demons, the sequel to the inane Da Vinci Code. With a new haircut and graying temples Tom Hanks looks even more like an insurance agent, but don't let his unassuming nature fool you. He's more active and focused this time, and with an impulsive, attractive physicist at his side—one who can read Latin, perform CPR, and explain antimatter to laymen—no wild goose could best him in a chase. And these wild geese want very much to be chased.