News

Here’s Three Highest-Rated Basketball Movies On Ott! (Photo Credit – Prime Video)

If you have ever watched the 2018 sports comedy film Campeones (or even if you haven’t) and if it left you inspired and craving more sports stories with heart, you’re in for a treat. Here are three top-rated basketball movies that deserve your attention. And the great news: they are all available to stream on Indian Ott platforms. Here’s where you can watch them!

3. Hoosiers (1986) Streaming On – Amazon Prime Video Rt Score – 92% Directed By – David Anspaugh

Plot: The sports drama follows the story of Norman Dale (played by Gene Hackman), a basketball coach with a troubled past, who gets one last chance to turn his life around by training a small-town high school basketball team. With the help of Shooter (Dennis Hopper), a local man who loves the game but struggles with alcoholism, Norman works hard...

Ben Affleck has replaced his friend Matt Damon in 'Animals'. Damon, 54, was due to appear in the Netflix thriller, but he has departed the forthcoming film due to scheduling conflicts with Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey'.But sources have told Deadline that Affleck will now star in the movie as well as direct, and Gillian Anderson has also joined the cast. Connor McIntyre and Billy Ray have penned the script for the film, which is about a kidnapping, but precise plot details are yet to be revealed. 'Animals' is due to shoot in Los Angeles, with Affleck, Damon and Dani Bernfeld producing through their Artists Equity banner. It was initially thought Affleck was only planning to direct the movie, but Damon now has commitments via Nolan's 'The Odyssey', so Affleck has decided to star in the film himself.In August, it was revealed Affleck and Damon...

Exclusive: We’ve seen efforts to share risk and upside in success, and many times they come and go. Artists Equity, hatched by pals Ben Affleck and Matt Damon and backed by a long-term financial commitment from RedBird Capital billionaire Gerry Cardinale, has a real chance to reshape the tenuous pay landscape in a talent-friendly way. Since Deadline first broke their plans, Affleck and Damon have used their personal relationships and the hard-knock lessons from over 30 years of their Oscar careers to create a sound equity participation formula for those involved in their projects. It’s a formula they believe provides more transparency in profit sharing than is available from the studios and streamers that will release the films Artists Equity bankrolls.

Housed in Los Angeles offices with a staff that has swelled past 70 employees working on film, TV, a full-scale ad agency and a lean-in on documentaries, Artists Equity is growing quickly.

John Wick: Chapter 4 star Scott Adkins is set to join Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in their upcoming Netflix crime thriller.

Per Deadline, Adkins has joined the cast for Rip, a crime thriller starring Damon and Affleck. Adkins will reportedly play the brother of Affleck's character in the film. In addition to Adkins, Affleck, and Damon, Rip also stars Sasha Calle, Teyana Taylor, Catalina Sandino Moreno and Nestor Carbonell. The film is written and directed by Joe Carnahan, best known for films such as Smokin' Aces, The A-Team, and The Grey. Adkins was most recently seen in The Killer's Game, an action comedy starring Dave Bautista and Sofia Boutella. Adkins is perhaps best known for playing Killa in John Wick: Chapter 4, one of the many antagonists that Keanu Reeves' vengeful hitman had to battle throughout the course of the film.

Related Matt Damon's Bourne 6 Gets Unfortunate Update From...

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck came together after years to start their very own production company, Artists Equity. And they started it with the feature film Air, based on the Air Jordan partnership between NBA superstar Michael Jordan and the athletic footwear and apparel company, Nike. The movie was released last year, starring Damon in the lead, and Affleck in the directorial chair.

Matt Damon in Air | Prime Video

The story for the movie was written by Alex Convery, who was pretty sure that no one would actually make this movie. The character of Sonny Vaccaro, played by Damon, is a sports marketing executive. And the story is of how he, in a way singlehandedly, established the Nike Air Jordan partnership and took the company to the heights of success.

Air Writer Never Thought The Movie Would Ever Be Made

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in Air | Prime Video

Air (2023) was written by Alex Convery,...

Damon and Affleck's first genre-specific collaboration, Rip, will be their 10th film together, marking a major milestone in their partnership. Despite individual action movie success, Damon and Affleck have never starred in an action thriller together, making Rip a groundbreaking project. With a track record in action films, both stars will bring their unique strengths to Rip, promising an exciting and successful collaboration.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's work together runs 35 years deep, but their next joint movie will mark their first-ever genre-specific collaboration. Long before bursting onto the Hollywood scene, Damon and Affleck were childhood buddies in Boston. Their acquaintance made the earliest film projects of their late teens and early twenties extra special, as in movies like Field of Dreams and School Ties, they got to share the experience. Yet, it wasn't until '97 that they - and the world - got to truly revel in their...

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are set to reunite for a new crime thriller titled Rip. There is currently distribution interest from both theaters and streaming platforms Director Joe Carnahan's involvement in Rip hints at an action-packed film with ensemble casts, violence, and humor.

Oscar winners, Good Will Hunting co-stars, and real-life best friends Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are due to reunite for a new thriller. Titled Rip, plot details currently remain unknown, but the package is currently making its way around town according to The Hollywood Reporter, with shooting planned for this fall.

The movie is described as a crime thriller, with Deadline revealing that Rip is expected to find a distributor soon as interest has been drawn from theatrical and streaming buyers. While we may not know the plot details, the fact that director Joe Carnahan is on board to helm the project should provide some...

Affleck was never in Saving Private Ryan, but he later starred in Pearl Harbor, a less serious WWII movie than Spielberg's. Burns, not Affleck, played a main role in Saving Private Ryan and is often mistaken for his friend due to their physical resemblance. Damon played the title character in Saving Private Ryan, but his career trajectory differs from that of Ben Affleck.

Some viewers misremember Ben Affleck in the Saving Private Ryan cast. Saving Private Ryan is a men-on-a-mission tale at its heart, with Tom Hanks' Captain Miller reluctantly leading his squad in search of a young soldier named Ryan, whose brothers were all killed in combat. The movie is full of then-up-and-coming acting talent, with Giovanni Ribisi and Vin Diesel both being part of Miller's squad, Nathon Fillion playing a young soldier mistaken for Ryan, and even Bryan Cranston in a small role.

However, many people mistakenly...

Long-term friends Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are set to reunite yet again for Netflix thriller ‘Animals.’

Affleck will remain behind the camera at the helm on the project whose plot details are being kept locked up but the story will focus on a kidnapping. Damon will star.

Connor McIntyre and Billy Ray have penned the script. Affleck and Damon are producing the project with Dani Bernfeld through their company Artists Equity.

Also in news – Chris Evans, Aubrey Plaza set for dark comedy ‘Honey Don’t!’

Brad Weston and Collin Creighton are producing ‘Animals’ with Fifth Season. Michael Joe and Kevin Halloran from Artists Equity are executive producing.

The pair have most recently paired up for Amazon Studios’ ‘Air,’ in which Damon starred as Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro opposite Affleck in a supporting role as Nike founder Phil Knight. Affleck also directed the picture. The movie was the first time Affleck directed Damon.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are reuniting for kidnapping thriller Animals for Netflix, and here are the details.

Despite both being equally successful as actors, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have built up quite the portfolio of work behind the camera. T

hey won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 1998 for their work on the wonderful Good Will Hunting, which was directed by Gus Van Sant. Robin Williams also won Best Supporting Actor that time.

It led to Kevin Smith’s brilliant parody in his 2001 film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, where we glimpse a violent clip from Smith’s made up sequel Good Will Hunting 2: Hunting Season.

The pair went on to co-write 2021’s The Last Duel with Nicole Holofcener, and most recently scripted acclaimed drama, Air, the story of how Sonny Vaccaro changed the fortune of shoemaker Nike by signing a young Michael Jordan.

Now,...

The Dream Team is back! Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are teaming up again for Animals, a kidnapping thriller for Netflix. Affleck will direct Animals from a script written by Connor McIntyre with revisions by Billy Ray. In addition to his directorial duties, Affleck will produce alongside Damon, Dani Bernfeld of Artists Equity, Brad Weston, and Collin Creighton of MakeReady, who set the project up with Fifth Season.

Plot details remain a mystery, though we know it focuses on a kidnapping. Michael Joe of Artists Equity and Kevin Halloran executive produce with Fifth Season.

Last year, Affleck and Damon delighted audiences with Air, a sports drama following the history of sports marketing executive Sonny Vaccaro and how he led Nike in its pursuit of the greatest athlete in the history of basketball, Michael Jordan. The emotionally charged film performed like gangbusters for Amazon and banked $90 million at the global box office.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are teaming up once again for “Animals,” a new crime thriller that Netflix has just acquired. Affleck will direct, with Damon starring, from a script by Connor McIntyre and Billy Ray.

Affleck will remain behind the camera for “Animals” — unlike his previous collaboration with Damon, Amazon Studios’ “Air,” in which Damon starred as Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro opposite Affleck in a supporting role as Nike founder Phil Knight. Like “Air,” Affleck and Damon are producing the project with Dani Bernfeld through their company Artists Equity, which they founded in 2022 with the intention of sharing profits with not just fellow actors, but below-the-line crew as well.

Plot details are scarce for “Animals,” but the story will focus on a kidnapping.

Affleck and Damon famously became friends in high school and collaborated as screenwriters for the 1997 indie sensation “Good Will Hunting,” which won them an Oscar for best original screenplay.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are reteaming once again, this time for a new crime thriller that just landed at Netflix.

Affleck will direct Animals, which will star Damon. It could be shooting in Los Angeles by March, if all the pieces come together.

The secretive project was operating under several titles — The Animals of Los Angeles and Be Gentlemen — before landing on simply Animals.

Written by Connor McIntyre with revisions by Billy Ray, the crime thriller concerns a mayoral candidate and his wife whose son is kidnapped. Surrounded by plenty of enemies, political and otherwise, the husband and wife have no choice but to get their hands dirty in order to save their son.

Affleck and Damon will produce via their Artists Equity, along with the company’s Dani Bernfeld. Also producing are Brad Weston and Collin Creighton via their MakeReady banner. Fifth Season, the production, sales and distribution...

Whenever awards season comes around, we start to see a lot of the same movies appear on Top 10 lists from critics or in the roster of nominees from the many Hollywood organizations that vote on year-end cinematic greatness. Whether they're critics circles from around the country, the various guilds for writers, directors, producers, actors, and other filmmaking departments, or the big show from the Academy Awards, there are always a handful of titles that garner attention across the board. 

Some would have you believe this happens because critics and members of Hollywood at large are afraid to go against the grain and adopt a groupthink mentality, which is a big reason why so many general audiences see Rotten Tomatoes as more of an entity representative of all critics as opposed to a review aggregator trying to generalize many voices. But perhaps it's because groups of seasoned filmgoers come to recognize...

The opening minutes of “Air” brilliantly establishes the world in which the movie takes place, the mid-1980s America of Ronald Reagan, “Beverly Hills Cop,” Sony Trintitrons, and Run-d.M.C. For director Ben Affleck and editor William Goldenberg, who have worked together on all but one of Affleck’s features, the goal was not only to evoke an era but also to remind audiences that there was a time when Nike was not a dominant player in the athletic shoe business — the time before Michael Jordan became a basketball phenomenon and lent his name to the company’s most famous sneaker. The solution: a seamless integration of archival footage depicting 1984 touchstones with footage shot by Affleck and his collaborators on a variety of period-appropriate formats.

“The idea was to come out of archival footage into our story,” Affleck told IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, noting that he did something similar in his first feature,...

It doesn’t take much prompting to get actor Chris Messina to list all the ways he and his “Air” character, the iconic sports agent David Falk, diverge. “I’m nothing like David Falk. He’s taller than me. He has no hair. He’s brilliant,” Messina said during a recent interview with IndieWire. “Our one similarity: we’re both from Long Island.”

But Messina’s obvious admiration for the guy — one of the primary movers of the landmark deal his client Michael Jordan struck with Nike as a rookie, a fascinating true-life story that serves as the basis of Ben Affleck’s latest film — shines through, too. As the fierce sports agent, supporting standout Messina spends most of “Air” hamming it up on the phone, negotiating deals, yelling a lot, and having a tremendous amount of fun.

“Falk can be ferocious, and there were some people that when Falk called,...

Ben Affleck’s Air employs a large ensemble cast to tell the story of how Nike landed Michael Jordan and created the iconic Air Jordan line of shoes, with Deloris Jordan brokering a revolutionary deal for her son.

Affleck — who pulls triple duty as director, producer (via his newly formed Artists Equity with Matt Damon, who stars in the film as Nike exec Sonny Vaccaro) and actor, playing Nike CEO Phil Knight — joined his stars Viola Davis (Deloris Jordan), Julius Tennon (Michael’s father, James Jordan; also Davis’ husband), Marlon Wayans (Olympic basketball coach George Raveling) and Jason Bateman (Nike marketing vp Rob Strasser) to discuss acting opposite a phone receiver and fighting for what you are worth, onscreen and off.

This is a large ensemble cast. What role were you most anticipatory of casting?

Ben Affleck Part of the genesis [of casting] was a conversation one afternoon with Michael Jordan. The...

For much of their conversation, Ben Affleck and Michael B. Jordan seem mutually star-struck, even though they’ve known each other for 10 years. They first connected after “Argo,” Affleck’s third directorial effort, won best picture and Jordan’s career skyrocketed following his searing leading performance in Ryan Coogler’s “Fruitvale Station.”

Today, Affleck inundates Jordan with praise for his directorial debut, “Creed III,” the latest entry in the “Rocky” franchise, starring Jordan as the indomitable heavyweight champ Adonis Creed. Jordan, meanwhile, is eager to learn how Affleck directed his lifelong friend Matt Damon for the first time in “Air,” a film about how Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro (Damon) convinces founder and CEO Phil Knight (Affleck) to build a shoe line around NBA rookie Michael Jordan — or, as Affleck puts it, “the other Michael Jordan.”

Michael B. Jordan: “Fruitvale Station” had premiered at Sundance, and I remember you and Matt [Damon] were basically like,...

Oppenheimer.Much of the praise for Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer has highlighted the strength of its ensemble cast. Cillian Murphy has garnered considerable acclaim for his cold and haunted performance as the eponymous father of the atomic bomb, and so has Robert Downey Jr. as his vindictive foil, Admiral Lewis Strauss. Less has been said about Matt Damon’s supporting portrayal of one of the most pivotal figures in the J. Robert Oppenheimer story: Major General Leslie Groves, the American military man who oversaw the Manhattan Project, and hired Oppenheimer. Gruff, difficult to please, exacting in his military objectives, and occasionally comic, Damon plays him with the understated, reliably solid craft that’s defined his career. And in what has proven to be characteristic of Damon’s screen presence, he plays Groves as less conservative than he first appears: he’s a character who’s willing to gently undercut received...

Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the year’s most talked-about scripts continues with first-timer Alex Convery’s screenplay for the Ben Affleck-directed Air.

Did you know that Michael Jordan makes $400 million a year in passive income due to the percentage he gets from the sale of Air Jordans? To understand how this came to be, we must travel back to the 1980s and the campus of famed sneaker label Nike, where Sonny Vaccaro (played by Matt Damon), a daring sneaker salesman, is on an ambitious quest to sign Jordan, arguably the most game-changing sports figure ever.

Affleck plays the role of Nike co-founder Phil Knight, who focuses on Nike’s improbable bid to land Jordan. While it seemed an unlikely feat at the time, it ultimately forged the most impactful partnership between a sports brand and an athlete, turning the global sneaker industry into a multibillion-dollar enterprise.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck won Best Original Screenplay together in 1998 for “Good Will Hunting,” which also earned Damon a Best Actor bid. Since then, they’ve had a separate Oscars history. Damon was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 2010 for “Invictus,” then reaped another Best Actor bid in 2016 for “The Martian.” And, in 2017, he scored a Best Picture nomination for “Manchester by the Sea.” Affleck, meanwhile, has scored only one other Oscar nomination since his “Good Will Hunting” writing win. That was for Best Picture for “Argo” in 2013. He did win that award, though. Neither has taken home an Oscar for acting but that could this year.

The duo reunited on-screen in “Air,” which tells the story of how Nike marketing executive Sonny Vaccaro (Damon) signed Michael Jordan and made the iconic shoe the Air Jordan. Affleck, who also directed this Amazon Prime Video release, plays Damon’s on-screen boss,...

Air screenwriter Alex Convery and editor William Goldenberg represented the film at Deadline’s Contenders Film: Los Angeles. The film tells the story of how Nike signed then-rookie Michael Jordan to the sneaker line that became Air Jordan. Even though Air Jordan is one of the most famous brands in the world, Convery said it remained suspenseful because Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) became such a strong character.

“If you can get the audience to care about the character, they’re going to forget that they know the ending,” Convery said. “Argo was similar. Titanic, you know how that’s going to end but you care about Jack and Rose.”

Goldenberg said the script laid a lot of the groundwork for making the Jordan-adjacent story suspenseful. To make it so, he and director Ben Affleck simply tightened up the events of the plot.

“In pacing it, the more I worked on it,...

Intellectual property — the books, films, characters and properties that get butts into seats — has long been a cornerstone of Hollywood moviemaking. But many of this year’s films have drawn from less likely, though perhaps inevitable, sources of inspiration: products and brands. Movies ranging from “Barbie” and “Air” to “BlackBerry” and Michael Mann’s upcoming “Ferrari” all to one extent or another leverage the namesake of the object, or the business associated with it in the name of attracting audiences to theaters.

This parade of product-driven titles seems to mark an inflection point in a crowded entertainment landscape where consumer recognizability has become one of the most important (or seemingly only) factor when deciding which movies to make.

At their best, these movies hit it out of the park with critics and moviegoers, as in the case with “Barbie,” the biggest movie of the year, or gain critical heat, as with “Air,...

Air

Amazon

Ben Affleck directs this corporate tale that goes behind the scenes of Nike’s partnership with Michael Jordan, in which the shoe company placed a massive bet on the then-rookie basketball player to create the now-ubiquitous Air Jordan shoe line. Matt Damon plays Sonny Vaccaro, the Nike exec who attempts to woo the up-and-coming athlete into signing a major deal, while Viola Davis delivers a meaty supporting performance as Jordan’s mother, Deloris Jordan.

All of Us Strangers

Searchlight

Andrew Haigh’s metaphysical drama, adapted from Taichi Yamada’s 1987 novel Strangers, stars Andrew Scott as a London screenwriter who begins a relationship with a mysterious neighbor played by Paul Mescal. Struggling to write a film inspired by his deceased parents, he is drawn back to his childhood home — only to discover his mother and father (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) living as if they had not died in a car accident 30 years earlier.

2023 has proven to be a pivotal year for moviemaking. The industry itself seems to be in a state of upheaval, and perhaps renewal, as two labor strikes that dominated the calendar between May and November culminated with the writers and actors guilds earning hard-won benefits for their work, as well as securities against the advent of A.I.

Onscreen, too, audience tastes seem to be changing as the biggest films of the year are pictures with strong authorial voices from Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan. The former used a beloved doll IP to make a comedy about growing and growing old in the shadow of the patriarchy; the latter did a character study on the man who invented the most genocidal weapon imaginable. Neither were a sequel or a conventional bet, and both far outperformed the movies that were. The industry is changing, but beyond the news and potential paradigm...

Hypnotic's premise of a cop searching for his missing daughter. Air tells the true story of Sonny Vaccaro and the development of Air Jordan, with Matt Damon's performance driving the engaging underdog story. Air is the better Ben Affleck film, as it is fast-paced and consistently entertaining, while Hypnotic has some moments that drag down the momentum.

In 2023, Ben Affleck starred in two new movies: Hypnotic and Air. Ever since his breakout role as Fred O'Bannion in Richard Linklater's 1993 high school comedy, Dazed and Confused, Affleck has built an impressive film career. While Affleck hasn't fared well in the superhero movie genre, either as Bruce Wayne/Batman in the Dceu or as Daredevil, he has had the opportunity to work with several critically acclaimed directors and starred in movies like Kevin Smith's Chasing Amy, Gus Van Sant's Good Will Hunting, George Clooney's The Tender Bar,...

You know a script is good when you give up your vacation to join the movie. Sound mixer Willie D. Burton was working on “Oppenheimer” with Matt Damon when the actor asked what he was doing next. Burton said he was taking a vacation. Damon countered with an offer he eventually couldn’t refuse: Alex Convery‘s script for “Air.”

“I read the script and it’s pretty incredible. So I said to Matt, ‘I’m not taking a vacation. I’m gonna do your film.’ And he says, ‘It’s gonna be like camp, like summer camp. Just treat it like summer camp. We’ll have a good time and everything will be good and we’ll have some fun,'” Burton tells Gold Derby at our Making of “Air” panel with the Oscar-contending editor William Goldenberg, costume designer Charlese Antoinette Jones and production designer François Audouy. “And sure enough,...

The Gotham Awards have announced that actor and filmmaker Ben Affleck‘s “Air” will be honored with the Visionary Icon and Creator Tribute when awards are handed out on Monday night, November 27, at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.

“Air” follows Sonny Vaccaro (played by Matt Damon), the basketball talent scout for Nike who in 1984 fought to bring fledgling talent Michael Jordan onboard as a new spokesperson for the company’s basketball shoes. In addition to directing the film, Affleck has a co-starring role as Nike co-founder and CEO Phil Knight. This is the fifth feature film Affleck has helmed, following “Gone Baby Gone” (2007), “The Town” (2010), “Argo” (2012) and “Live by Night” (2016). All of those were nominated for Oscars save “Live by Night,” with “Argo” winning Affleck the award for Best Picture.

See‘Air’ will aim for comedy/musical nominations at the Golden Globes

The Gotham Film and Media Institute...

“Air,” the story of Michael Jordan’s game-changing collaboration with Nike directed by Ben Affleck, will receive the Gotham Visionary Icon & Creator Tribute at the 33rd annual Gotham Awards Ceremony, the Gotham Film & Media Institute announced on Monday. The in-person event will take place on November 27, 2023 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. Nominees for the Gotham Awards will be announced on Tuesday, October 24th.

According to the Gotham Film & Media Institute, the Icon & Creator Tribute was developed for the 2023 Gotham Awards to “recognize cultural icons and the filmmakers responsible for bringing that icon’s story to life.” In this case, the recognition goes to both Jordan and Affleck. The Gotham Film & Media Institute had previously announced that George C. Wolfe’s upcoming Rustin would be the recipient of the Icon & Creator Tribute for Social Justice at this year’s ceremony.

In a statement, Jeffrey Sharp, Executive Director...

The Air Jordan movie, directed by Ben Affleck, focuses on the story of salesman Sonny Vaccaro planning to sign Michael Jordan to a contract with Nike. Jordan is intentionally sidelined as a sign of respect and to avoid distracting audiences. Ben Affleck believed that having an actor portray Michael Jordan would be too distracting for audiences, as they would reject the idea of someone pretending to be him. Jordan's absence reinforces his mystique and legacy. The original script for Air included a moment where audiences would see Jordan's face, but the decision was made to leave him out completely due to the potential scrutiny and distraction it could cause. Leaving him out allows the film to focus on the business side and strengthen Jordan's legacy.

The Air Jordan movie is Ben Affleck's take on the story of Nike creating the famous shoes, but Michael Jordan is not in Air for a good reason.

It’s easy to take the underrated Matt Damon for granted. For one thing, he looks like he could be the assistant manager of your local Ralphs. He’s neither particularly handsome nor bad looking. He also has a habit, in life and on screen, of rarely calling attention to himself. So it’s easy to miss him. You know he’s there, you know he’s good, but you’re still not necessarily going to single him out for a rave. Why? Because he’s perhaps even more of an everyman than the guy we’ve come to attach to the term, Tom Hanks. Yes, all Damon does is put his head down and turn in sterling work. Every. Single. Time.

Typically, few people are talking about Damon being a serious Oscar contender in 2024. But he’s got a decent shot all the same – two of them, in fact.

Editor’s Note: This review was published during the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Vertical Entertainment will release “Widow Clicquot” in theaters on Friday, July 19.

Despite being remembered as some of the most prominent voices of 19th century British literature, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë lived lives beset by misfortune. All three siblings were under the age of eight when their mother died of cancer, and they lost two other sisters to a typhoid epidemic in elementary school. And despite her brilliance, Emily died of tuberculosis at the age of 30, never getting a chance to witness the mainstream popularity of “Wuthering Heights.” But those inconveniences pale in comparison to the tragedy that still casts a leaden shadow over their bleak lives: all three sisters lived and died without seeing Ben Affleck’s 2023 film “Air.”

The sludgy river of news flowing across our phones at all hours of the day makes it...

“Air” will shoot for Golden Globes — but not as a drama. The Ben Affleck-helmed film will submit in the comedy/musical categories, Gold Derby has learned exclusively.

Matt Damon will seek his second Golden Globe for Best Comedy/Musical Actor (never forget his first win for 2015’s “The Martian”). The rest of the cast will run in supporting, including Affleck, Jason Bateman, Chris Messina, Julius Tennon, Chris Tucker and Viola Davis. The categorization does not affect them as the Globes have genre-neutral supporting categories.

The sports drama chronicles talent scout Sonny Vaccaro‘s (Damon) quest to sign Michael Jordan to the then-fledgling Nike in 1984, which led to the Air Jordan line that revolutionized athlete endorsement deals. It’s also a slick crowd-pleaser peppered with funny moments, mostly from Messina, who plays Jordan’s agent, David Falk, and has several hilariously vulgar phone call scenes.

See ‘Air’: What are...

The Academy Screening Room is now open to all eligible AMPAS members, with the first wave of films uploaded for Oscar consideration for the upcoming awards season.

Nine notable titles are among the films, including Ben Affleck’s “Air” from Amazon Studios, Michael B. Jordan’s “Creed III” from MGM, Kelly Fremon Craig’s “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” and Chad Stahelski’s “John Wick: Chapter 4,” both from Lionsgate.

The Academy performs a heavy vetting process for each film that chooses to submit for consideration. In 2022, nine movies were among the first added to the members’ portal while in 2020, eight films kicked off that season. Historically, over 300 movies are in the running for best picture consideration. Obviously, more films will be added, and in greater batches, over the next several months. Distributors are the ultimate decision makers on when a movie is placed on the Academy Screening Room for viewing.

Viola Davis shines in Ben Affleck‘s “Air,” which tells the true story of how Nike signed Michael Jordan and made the Air Jordan shoe. Matt Damon portrays Nike marketing executive Sonny Vaccaro who negotiates a deal with Jordan’s mother. As Deloris Jordan, Davis deliver a powerful performance.

The actress imbues quiet strength, a sense of duty and honor, and a fierce motherly love into the stony exterior of an ambitious woman who knows her son’s worth and loves her family. It’s an enjoyable performance and it helps elevate the film from the average depths it likely would have sunken to without her. And critics agree.

Peter Travers (ABC News) explained: “Jordan himself insisted that only one actress could play his mom — Egot winner Viola Davis. Smart choice since the triumphant Davis is a primal force who powers the role of Deloris by nailing every nuance with maternal fire and feeling.

Matt Damon is still bitter about Donald Trump’s “Air”-inspired promotional video.

During a recent interview with CNN’s Chris Wallace, the actor sarcastically shaded the former president when asked about Trump’s repurposed monologue that was used as a promotional video for a fundraiser last month.

Read More: Matt Damon Is Not Moving To Australia Because Of Donald Trump, His Rep Confirms

“I don’t know what to make of it,” Damon said, while simply laughing as he thought about it.

“I’m glad they like our writing,” he sarcastically added.

Elsewhere in the interview, the “Oppenheimer” star poked fun at his “Air” character, agent Sonny Vaccaro, joking that he was also “trying to write speeches for the Trump campaign.”

Read More: Matt Damon Was Planning To Take A Break From Acting — Then This Happened

Trump’s fundraising video, which shows footage of him throughout his life, is...

Matt Damon is laughing off the Donald Trump campaign ad that lifted from his film “Air” without permission.

During a Friday appearance on “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace,” which was taped before the SAG-AFTRA strike, Wallace asked Damon about the Trump campaign ad that was released in June.

Damon, who is now back in theaters with “Oppenheimer,” responded with a chuckle and said, “I think they took it down… We said ‘You don’t have our permission to use that.'”

However, as Wallace pointed out, as of this publishing, the campaign ad is still live and untouched on Truth Social, where it was originally posted.

To that, Damon shrugged and said, “I don’t know what to make of it,” adding with a laugh, “I’m glad they like our writing.”

The campaign ad in question overlays images and videos of the former president with audio of...

One of the most talked-about elements of Christopher Nolan’s ambitious biopic Oppenheimer is its star-studded cast, with each of the actors playing a real-life character. Set during the height of the Second World War, Oppenheimer recreates the events that led to the creation of the first atomic bomb and its tumultuous aftermath. While Cillian Murphy leads the pack as the titular scientist, the visually spectacular epic involves many multi-faceted characters. J. Robert Oppenheimer’s peers and legendary scientists like Albert Einstein make it to the ensemble, along with some of the closest people in his life, such as his wife Katherine Oppenheimer and former romantic partner Jean Tatlock.

The Oppenheimer true story is incomplete without the Manhattan Project, the secretive American military project that involved the creation of a whole new settlement while testing out the atomic bomb. So, naturally, many actual military figures associated with the Project also...

Exclusive: Sean Menard (299 Queen Street West) has been set to direct the docuseries The Sneaker Boom, on basketball shoe marketing of the ’90s, for Rtg Features, the sister studio to basketball-focused media company Slam. Rtg Features CEO Aron Phillips is among the producers of the project, which Sean Menard Productions is co-producing.

Currently in post-production, the series is set amidst the NBA’s rise in global popularity during the early ’90s, watching as a group of marketing mavericks and advertising execs bet millions on unproven rookies as they enlist their talents for wildly creative television commercials. As the players grow into superstars, basketball sneakers go from being a niche sportswear product to everyday fashion, en route to becoming a multi-billion-dollar industry.

The story of The Sneaker Boom is told through the lens of ’90s NBA legends including Dee Brown, Larry Johnson, Penny Hardaway and Grant Hill — who were respectively sponsored by Reebok,...

One of the most exciting parts of a new Oscars season is seeing which over-due artists may finally land their first wins or bids. Last year, Todd Field (“Tár”) and Martin McDonagh (“The Banshees of Inisherin”), two revered filmmakers who have had plenty of acclaimed pictures in the past, finally received the first Best Director nominations of their careers. This year, there are several more filmmakers who are on the lookout for their first bids. So, here’s a rundown of five renowned helmers who could be first-time Best Director nominees this year.

Ben Affleck — “Air” (Amazon Studios/Universal)

Starring: Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Jason Bateman, Viola Davis

Release Date: April 5, 2023

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

“Follows the history of sports marketing executive Sonny Vaccaro, and how he led Nike in its pursuit of the greatest athlete in the history of basketball, Michael Jordan.”

Affleck won Best Picture in his directorial debut...

Donald Trump‘s use of an audio clip Prime Video series Air for a campaign video was definitely not approved, said Matt Damon and Ben Affleck‘s production company, Artists Equity.

Both stars worked on the sports drama that follows Nike’s inventive effort to recruit basketball star Michael Jordan for a shoe line.

In the Trump video, the motivational dialogue is played over slow-mo clips of Trump marching towards choppers, videos from his 2017 inauguration and news reports about his impeachment. The video closes with clips of Trump followers sporting Make America Great Again (Maga) headpieces and shouting “USA” at an assembly center.

“We has no foreknowledge of, did not consent to and do not endorse or approve any footage or audio from Air being repurposed by the Trump campaign as a political advertisement or for any other use”, a spokesperson told EW. “Specifically in terms of any and all...

Clockwise from top left: You Hurt My Feelings (A24), Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (Sony), M3GAN (Universal), Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 (Disney), Chevalier (Searchlight Pictures)Graphic: AVClub

For those who think we’re three years away from re-naming our Midyear Movie Scorecard something like Midyear Ranking of Bloated...

Matt Damon as Sonny Vaccaro and Jason Bateman as Rob Strasser in Air Photo: Ana Carballosa © Amazon Content Services LLC Air may mark the first time that Jason Bateman and Matt Damon have worked together, but they’ve run in the same circles for a long time — in fact, they’re even part of a small, competitive “celebrity Wordle group.” Having become good friends over the years, Bateman told us, actually added a little bit of a challenge to his “Air” assignment, since he had to look beyond his friend to see the character Damon was playing. (Click on the media bar below to hear Jason Bateman) https://www.hollywoodoutbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Jason_Bateman_acting_Matt_Damon_.mp3 Air is currently streaming on Prime Video.

The post In Making ‘Air,” Jason Bateman Had To See Through Matt Damon appeared first on Hollywood Outbreak.

Now this sounds right up Jason Bateman’s alley. Deadline reports that Jason Bateman is set to star in and direct a series adaptation of David Gauvey Herbert’s Esquire magazine article Daddy Ball for Netflix and Aggregate.

Daddy Ball deals with dad-on-dad youth sports rivalries, but on the Long Island Inferno, two fathers, both with complicated pasts, took it all too far. There were claims of stalking, corrupt cops, and mob connections. Neither man was ever the same. Daddy Ball, which will be retitled for the series, has the potential to be exactly the type of dark comedy that Jason Bateman excels at.

Related Interview: Kate Beckinsale and Ken Jeong Talk Fool’s Paradise

Here’s Deadline’s description of the article: “Determined not to follow in his detached father’s footsteps, Bobby Sanfilippo found himself doing quite the opposite with his son. He became entangled in an epic...

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s production banner Artists Equity states that it “did not consent” to the use of a monologue from the film “Air” in a new campaign ad for Donald Trump.

On Saturday, Trump shared a fundraising video on his Truth Social platform. The ad features footage and images of the former president throughout his life, accompanied by audio of Damon’s climactic monologue from the film “Air.” In the spring release, Damon’s Nike exec gives the speech to a young Michael Jordan to convince him to sign a sponsorship deal with the shoe company.

“We had no foreknowledge of, did not consent to and do not endorse or approve any footage or audio from ‘Air’ being repurposed by the Trump campaign as a political advertisement or for any other use,” a spokesperson for Artists Equity told Variety on Sunday. “Specifically in terms of any and...

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are condemning the recent use of an Air monologue being used to promote Donald Trump's presidential campaign. On the Truth Social platform, Trump shared a video promoting his 2024 campaign featuring video clips of himself and his followers cheering him on. Played over the footage is audio of Damon delivering a powerful speech from Air. The post got a lot of attention and has been shared on other social media platforms.

Trump is now cutting web videos w/ Matt Damon’s Air monologue as narration… pic.twitter.com/cBMBOaUr0Q — Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) June 10, 2023

Now, Affleck and Damon are speaking out against the ad, making it clear they don't endorse Trump or his campaign. Affleck, who directed the film and co-stars alongside Damon, released a joint statement announcing that they had no knowledge that the audio from Air would be used for the Trump video.

Donald Trump’s use of a monologue from the Ben Affleck and Matt Damon film Air has been condemned in a statement from the production.

Trump’s campaign posted the video Saturday on his Truth Social network. It shows an inspirational Air monologue by Matt Damon juxtaposed over scenes from Trump’s political career, showing his struggles against his foes, before dissolving into a Trump rally, ending with a donation screen promising to “Make America Great Again.”

It has been shared on Trump’s social media site more than 10,000 times and has more than 34,000 likes.

A statement from Affleck and Damon’s spokesperson condemned the Trump video.

“We had no foreknowledge of, did not consent to and do not endorse or approve any footage or audio from Air being repurposed by the Trump campaign as a political advertisement or for any other use. Specifically in terms of any and all...

On Saturday, former President Donald Trump posted a fundraising video to his Truth Social account that combined a monologue from Matt Damon’s character in the film Air, along with photos and videos of Trump.

In a statement Saturday, Artists Equity, the production company that produced Air and was co-founded by Damon and Ben Affleck, said that it did not approve of the use of the monologue for the Trump ad.

“We had no foreknowledge of, did not consent to and do not endorse or approve any footage or audio from Air being repurposed by the Trump campaign as a political advertisement or for any other use,” the statement said. “Specifically in terms of any & all rights available to us under U.S. copyright and intellectual property law, we hereby, expressly give notice that in the case of any use of material from Air by the Trump campaign where approval or consent is required,...

If you’re looking for a slam dunk movie that tells the true story behind what’s now a household name, find out where to watch Air.

Air is a retelling of the story behind one of the biggest business partnerships the world has ever seen. This partnership was between two surprising underdogs at the time, Michael Jordan and Nike’s basketball division. Nike’s Marketing VP and CEO sent out a basketball talent scout to bring them back a player that would fill some big shoes — being their new spokesperson. The scout came back with Michael Jordan and the rest, as you probably know, is history (that’s explored in an entertaining fashion in this movie)!

Air

Watch On Prime Video

Related: Air Music Supervisor Talks Creating The Movie’s Iconic Soundtrack

Where To Watch Air

Air has wowed audiences as they learn the true story behind one of...

If you’re looking for something new to watch on Amazon Prime Video, you’ve come to the right place. May brings a couple of high-profile 2022 releases to the streaming service for the first time, as well as the streaming debut of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s feel-good sports story “Air,” which opened exclusively in theaters earlier this year. Whether you’re looking for an auteur-driven drama, whimsical comedy or a full-on Western, there’s truly something for everyone in our curated list of the best films newly streaming this month.

Check out some of the best new movies to stream on Amazon Prime Video in May below.

“Air”

Have you ever wondered how Nike secured the rights to Michael Jordan’s likeness and created the unstoppable Air Jordan brand? Well, even if you haven’t, here’s a movie that explains it anyway. Matt Damon stars as Sonny Vaccaro,...