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Animation will possibly always be inextricably linked with and thought of as family-friendly content. Even though it's a medium of storytelling, animation continues to be widely perceived as a genre. As a result, it's simply considered a children's genre by most, even though the best R-rated animated films demonstrate that there's nothing inherently child-friendly about animation. Horror as a genre, on the other hand, barring horror comedy movies which are hilarious and terrifying, is largely considered to be an adult genre, exploring adult themes and featuring visuals inappropriate for children.

So, the blend of horror and animation is very commonly appropriate only for adults. In fact, one of the best horror movies of the past 10 years is an animated movie called The Wolf House. But the most interesting area of intersection between the two categories is the family-friendly animated horror movie, which doesn't always come in the form of horror comedy.

The UK industry gathered at the Cannes UK pavilion yesterday (May 16) to celebrate the work of the eight projects taking part in this year’s Cannes Great 8 showcase.

Christopher Andrews’ Bring Them Down starring Barry Keoghan and Christopher Abbott, Sean Dunn’s The Fall Of Sir Douglas Weatherford and Marianne Elliott’s The Salt Path were among the eight titles taking part, with filmmakers taking to the stage to discuss their projects.

Scroll down to see the full line-up

The only documentary in this year’s line-up is Witches, from Elizabeth Sankey, in which the filmmaker explores the unexpected connections...

Christopher Andrews’ Bring Them Down starring Barry Keoghan and Christopher Abbott, Sean Dunn’s The Fall Of Sir Douglas Weatherford and Marianne Elliott’s The Salt Path, featuring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, are among the eight films taking part in the Great 8 showcase, which presents new UK feature films from first-and second-time UK filmmakers to international distributors and festival programmers.

Now in its seventh year, the 2024 Great 8 showcase is funded and produced by the BFI and the British Council, with support from the Great Britain & Northern Ireland campaign, BBC Film and Film4.

In preparation for Cannes, unseen footage from...

The Fall Of Sir Douglas Weatherford, the debut feature from Scottish filmmaker Seán Dunn, has been boarded by France’s Charades for international sales, excluding UK and Ireland. Mubi will release the film theatrically in the UK and Ireland.

Screen can also exclusively reveal a first-look image.

Ozark’s Peter Mullan and The Greatest Showman’s Gayle Rankin star in the Scotland-shot dark comedy, which was produced by Alex Polunin for the UK’s Ossian Pictures, Scott Macaulay for New York-based Forensic Films and Jennifer Monks for UK outfit The Fold, and developed with BBC Film which co-financed the project alongside the BFI Filmmaking Fund,...

Netflix has become a reliable destination for movies that may have slipped from public consciousness since their premieres. We’ve seen a lot of solid older content be added to the platform in recent weeks, as the pandemic continues to keep us mostly stuck at home and one upcoming title that’s worth checking out is the Liam Neeson-starring A Monster Calls, which will be available on the US version of the service on January 16th.

Released in 2016, A Monster Calls is based on Patrick Ness’ novel and sees Conor (Lewis MacDougall) deal with the terminal illness of his mother (Felicity Jones) by entering into a fantasy where he befriends a giant yew tree voiced by Neeson. The tree explains that he’ll tell Conor three stories, and will receive one in return, setting up a touching tale about learning to accept loss. Some excellent special effects also help...

Young actor Lewis MacDougall’s life changes when ‘A Monster Calls’ in the 2016 fantasy drama. In order to contend with his suddenly changing life, the performer’s protagonist, Conor, enters a animated world where the title character comes to life. ‘A Monster Calls’ was directed by J.A. Bayona (‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’), and written by Patrick […]

The post Actor Lewis MacDougall’s Life Changes When A Monster Calls in BBC One Broadcast appeared first on Shockya.com.

Christopher Plummer and Vera Farmiga in Boundaries. Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

With a fine cast headed by Christopher Plummer and Vera Farmiga, Boundaries looked promising but the road trip dramedy manages to hit every cliche pothole along its way. Which is a shame – such a good cast deserved a better script.

Laura (Vera Farmiga) has daddy issues, and talks with her therapist about how she needs to set “boundaries” with her charming but unreliable father Jack (Christopher Plummer). Laura’s problem is a big heart, taking in endless strays and bordering on animal hording, but she is most devoted to her 13-year-old son Henry (Lewis MacDougall). It has been just them since her equally unreliable ex (Bobby Cannavale) abandoned them early on but Laura has carved out a stable life for her son.

When she gets a call that her dad has been kicked out of his retirement home for dealing pot.

MaryAnn’s quick take… Mildly wacky road-trip shenanigans meet mildly uncomfortable family dramedy. The saving grace? The cast is a joy to spend time with. I’m “biast” (pro): love the cast, desperate for stories about women

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto) women’s participation in this film

(learn more about this)

Laura (Vera Farmiga: The Commuter) has vowed never to see or talk to her unreliable, former–drug dealer father, Jack (Christopher Plummer: All the Money in the World), ever again, not least because of the bad influence he would be on her teenaged son, Henry (Lewis MacDougall: A Monster Calls). But now Jack has been kicked out his nursing home for bad behavior, and she has to drive him across three states to deposit him with her sister, JoJo (Kristen Schaal: Captain Underpants...

Chicago – Combining an intimate, personal story with a superstar cast, writer/director Shana Feste realized a semi-autobiographical journey in her new film “Boundaries.” The cast includes Oscar winners Christopher Plummer and Vera Farmiga, as well as Lewis MacDougall (“A Monster Calls”), Kristen Schaal, Bobby Cannavale, Christopher Lloyd And Peter Fonda in a road trip picture that reunites ne’er do well Dad Jack (Plummer) with his desperate-to-connect-with-him daughter Laura (Farmiga).

Lewis MacDougall, Vera Farmiga & Christopher Plummer of ‘Boundaries’

Photo credit: Sony Pictures Classics

Dad is a marijuana dealer, and uses the journey to distribute the last of his supply. That means stopping by old friends Stanley (Lloyd) and Joey (Fonda) on their way to meet up with Laura’s sister JoJo (Schaal). Along for the ride is Laura’s son Henry, portrayed by Lewis MacDougall, who seeks to find his soul through his art. With a side stop at Laura...

Let us now praise Christopher Plummer, the 88-year-old actor, Oscar winner and professional savior of nearly scuttled prestige projects. He's played everyone from Rommel to Kipling, Mike Wallace to Sherlock Holmes; played everything from New World imperialists to old-world explorers, tycoons to Klingons. Maybe your favorite Plummer is the singing-family patriarch of The Sound of Music, a film he'll never be able to escape no matter how many times he flees across those alive hills; maybe it's the diabolical wolf-in-Santa-Claus-clothing in The Silent Partner, a Seventies heist movie ripe for rediscovery,...

Two very different road trip movies are among this weekend’s Specialty theatrical debuts. After its world premiere at SXSW and later festival showings in Seattle as well as Nantucket this weekend, Sony Pictures Classics is opening father-daughter journey, Boundaries by Shana Feste in New York and L.A. Oscilloscope, meanwhile, is bowing doc, The King by Eugene Jarecki in Manhattan. Jarecki takes to the road in Elvis Presley’s 1963 Rolls-Royce on a musical road trip across America, painting a portrait of the current state of the ‘American Dream.’ Cohen Media Group spearheaded fellow non-fiction title Spiral, which examines the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe and the world, opening in two locations in New York and L.A. And Robert Pattinson and Mia Wasikowska star in the Zellner brothers’ comedic Western, Damsel.

Other limited releases headed to theaters this weekend include IFC Films’ The Catcher Was a Spy with Paul Rudd,...

“Boundaries” opens with the kind of percolatingly funny character peek that gives you hope for the journey ahead. Writer-director Shana Feste, her camera trained on Vera Farmiga’s face during a therapy session focused on her character Laura, allows you to watch an open-hearted, well-meaning woman trying to assert herself, yet all too easily revealing just how uphill this particular challenge is.

The cracks in the armor come in Farmiga’s amusing little bursts of defensiveness, until the last disappointment: a professional voice offscreen gently pointing out how the rescue dog in Laura’s bag violates the limits previously set for her excessive adopting. It ends the scene with that sweet spot for any comedy that strives at all to feel human: frailty, goodness, and humiliation in equal measure.

Laura’s biggest self-help concern, as she struggles with relationships and raising a bullied misfit of a teenager, is processing how...

You don’t get to choose your family. Some of us get lucky and get along with who the universe has chosen for us, but others aren’t so lucky. Take Laura Jaconi (Vera Farmiga) in the trailer for “Boundaries,” talking about her father in her therapist’s office. She clearly has issues to spare.

Laura’s family is a highly-functional, dysfunctional family. She’s a struggling single mother in her thirties whose maladjusted, yet exceptionally talented, 14-year-old son Henry (Lewis MacDougall) just got kicked out of school.

Girl Talk is a weekly look at women in film — past, present, and future.

This week, IndieWire will be rolling out our annual Summer Preview, including offerings that span genres, niche offerings for dedicated fans, a closer look at festival favorites finally headed to a theater near you, and plenty of special attention to all the new movies you need to get through a jam-packed summer movie-going season. Check back throughout the week for a new look at the best the season has to offer, and clear your schedule, because we’re going to fill it right up.

Today — a selection of features directed (or co-directed) by female filmmakers to get excited about seeing, including works from rising stars, indie favorites, and more.

Read More: Check out our entire Summer Preview right here

“Rbg,” May 4

When she was growing up, Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s beloved mother Celia gave her two...

"Who are these people?" Sony Pictures Classics has released an official trailer for an amusing road trip film titled Boundaries, from writer/director Shana Feste. It just premiered at the SXSW Film Festival, and stars Christopher Plummer as Jack. The story follows Laura and her son Henry who are forced to drive Jack, her "estranged, pot-dealing, carefree father", across the country after he is kicked out of his nursing home. The film's cast includes Vera Farmiga as Laura, Lewis MacDougall as Henry, plus Christopher Lloyd, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Kristen Schaal, Bobby Cannavale, Peter Fonda, and Dolly Wells. I don't recall hearing much about this during the festival, but it does look like a fun road trip film. Always up for another kooky performance from Plummer, plus Vera Farmiga is always enjoyable to watch. Take a look. Here's the first official trailer for Shana Feste's Boundaries, direct from YouTube: Laura...

Talk about a road trip. “Country Strong” director Shana Feste is back on the big screen with a very funny, very personal slice of life that’s, well, literally sliced right from her own life.

In “Boundaries,” Vera Farmiga steps in as a Feste-surrogate (the film is loosely based on the filmmaker’s own family life and a trip she took with her dad back in the ’80s), who is forced to embark on a wacky road trip with her drug dealer dad Jack (Christopher Plummer). It already sounds ill-fated on paper — Jack has recently been kicked out of his nursing home for his bad behavior, and he’s hellbent on living it up while the family drives cross-country to deliver him to Farmiga’s sister, played by Kristen Schaal — but only gets more off-kilter as the wheels keep spinning.

The film also features “A Monster Calls” breakout Lewis MacDougall as Farmgia’s son,...

Road trip movies are among the oldest indie film clichés in the book, and often one of the lamest, especially when they involve estranged relatives healing their differences. To the credit of “Boundaries,” Shana Feste’s comedy about single mom Laura (Vera Farming) hauling her pot-dealing dad Jack (Christopher Plummer) across California, these familiar beats have a ring of maturity that elevates the stale material. While it never quite shakes the deja vu, a set of sharp performances and insightful character details elevate the material above low expectations.

Read More:Patty Jenkins Helped Ridley Scott Secretly Cast Christopher Plummer in ‘All the Money in the World’

As “Boundaries” begin, Laura’s problems have nothing to do with her deadbeat dad. Her cramped Seattle home is overrun with abandoned animals she can’t stop taking in, nabbing every stray that falls into her sight (in the first scene, she sneaks a...

Girl Talk is a weekly look at women in film — past, present, and future.

While Hollywood continues to struggle towards parity in the director’s chair, the film festival world is playing major catch-up. At this year’s SXSW Film Festival, the push towards parity is becoming more of a reality than ever before, as 33% of all feature films at the fest are directed by women, while the shorts section boasts 59% female directorship across its slate. It’s a stark difference to the studio side of the industry.

The USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative’s latest study, “Inclusion in the Director’s Chair? Gender, Race & Age of Directors across 1,000 films from 2007-2017,” found that, of the 109 film directors associated with the 100 top movies of 2017, 92.7 percent were male; 7.3 percent were female. Days later, the San Diego State University’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film followed with the “Celluloid Ceiling” study,...

Simon Brew Dec 28, 2017

Nearly a year after its release in the UK, A Monster Calls remains one of the absolutely cinematic highlights of 2017...

Films of the year: A Monster Calls (6th place)

See related 35 must-watch movies in 2017

The first film I saw in 2017 was director Juan Antonio Bayona’s adaptation of Patrick Ness’ novel, A Monster Calls. A film for which Ness wrote the screenplay himself, and a film that proved to take some beating. Nothing hit me in quite the same way.

I didn’t know much about it, came to it as cold as I could, and have duly spent much of the rest of the year thinking about it. Thinking how such an accessible piece of work deals with some huge topics. Thinking of how it does it to such a broad audience. And thinking that this is what fantasy cinema can do. That amidst the special effects,...

I’m not actually sure what angle to take on ‘A Monster Calls‘. I’m not familiar with the award-winning children’s book it’s based on, so I can’t really come at it from that angle, although the animation and special effects, are impressive and seem special at moments. I’m certainly not gonna pan the movie outright, it’s too well-done for that, but I’ve just seen too many movies beforehand. Too many movies, read too many books, seen too many similar projects…, this is the kind of movie that’s either gonna work on you or it’s not, and I’ve just become a little too jaded over the years, or maybe I’ve just outgrown the narrative.

Actually, that’s not true, I’ve never liked this narrative structure. Structurally, the movie that ‘A Monster Calls‘ reminds me of, is Tim Burton‘s...

Back to the Future, Monster Trucks, and more headline our July Family Favourites!Back to the Future, Monster Trucks, and more headline our July Family Favourites!Jenny Bullough6/28/2017 10:06:00 Am

Summer's here and while we are overjoyed to finally welcome longer days and more sunshine, sometimes it's harder than pulling teeth to get the kids off the couch and away from their phones. One way to entice them out is with a movie on the big screen, whether it's a timeless classic, or a recent first-run movie. With the lineup of Family Favourites this month, there’s plenty to choose from!

If you have a free Saturday morning, check out one of this month’s Family Favourites! At only 2.99 per ticket, it’s a great deal and a fun way to spend some quality family time at the movies.

July 1 - Back to the Future

In this 1980s blockbuster...

Author: Scott Davis

This week saw the Blu-ray and DVD release of the critically-acclaimed drama A Monster Calls, which first debuted at last year’s Toronto and London Film Festivals.

The film, directed by J.A. Bayona, the filmmaker behind The Impossible and who is currently filming Jurassic World 2, is a rich and visual delight but also a touching and profound story of a family rip apart by grief. Newcomer Lewis MacDougall stars as the lead character Connor, who is trying to come to terms with his sick mother Lizzie (Felicity Jones), who is suffering from cancer. His grandmother (played by Sigourney Weaver) arrives to take care of him but it’s only through the guidance of a magical monster (voiced by Liam Neeson) that helps him come to terms with what is happening around him.

Recently, we sat down with stars Jones and MacDougall about the film, what it was...

Author: Competitions

To celebrate the release of A Monster Calls which is available now on Digital Download and releases on Blu-ray and DVD on 8th of May, we’re giving away 3x Copies of A Monster Calls on Blu-ray.

From the Academy-Award winning team behind Pan’s Labyrinth and The Impossible together with an incredible cast including Liam Neeson (Batman Begins, Schindler’s List), Felicity Jones (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Theory of Everything), Sigourney Weaver (Avatar, Alien) and Toby Kebbell (War Horse, Kong: Skull Island) A Monster Calls is a spectacular story of one boy’s quest for hope and courage that explores the miraculous power of imagination and the remarkable strength we can discover within.

With his mother fighting a life-threatening illness, an absent father and his strict grandmother imposing new rules on his life, 12-year-old Conor O’Malley (newcomer Lewis MacDougall) is faced with a future beyond his control.

Our resident VOD expert tells you what's new to rent and/or own this week via various Digital HD providers such as cable Movies On Demand, Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, Google Play and, of course, Netflix. Cable Movies On Demand: Same-day-as-disc releases, older titles and pretheatrical A Monster Calls – (fantasy-drama; Sigourney Weaver, Felicity Jones, Lewis MacDougall, Liam Neeson; rated PG-13) Why Him? (comedy; James Franco, Bryan Cranston, Zoey Deutch; rated R) Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (action-fantasy; Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston; available on cable Mod to coincide with release on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray and DVD; rated PG-13) Patriots Day (action-drama; Mark Wahlberg, Kevin Bacon, John Goodman; rated R) Silence (Martin Scorsese-directed...

Read More...

Author: Zehra Phelan

Last night we embraced the red carpet at the Empire Awards at Camden’s Roundhouse to chat to a whole host of stars that were in attendance including Free Ffire’s Ben Wheatley, Eddie The Eagle’s Dexter Fletcher, A Monster Calls’ Lewis MacDougall and many more including Godzilla and Rogue One director Gareth Edwards, who surprised us with a Kong Skull Island revelation.

There are spoilers for the post credits sequence for Kong Skull Island, so if you don’t want to know – click away.

The highly successful release of Kong Skull Island has taken the box office by storm and with the post credit scene unearthing the possibility of a sequel or two could very well make an appearance we asked Godzilla director; Gareth Edwards if a Kong, Godzilla team-up would entice him back into this shared universe.

With a cheeky smile, Edwards said “It was always on the cards,...

Author: Jon Lyus

This evening saw the Empire Awards take place at the Camden Roundhouse to honour the passing of a great year in film. Sir Patrick Stewart was quite rightly inducted in the Hall of Legends with I, Daniel Blake, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them taking home a few awards each.

Among those attending the ceremony were The VVitch duo Anya Taylor-Joy and Ralph Ineson, Eddie the Eagle maestro Dexter Fletcher, Free Fire’s handler Ben Wheatley , Lewis McDougall, Rogue One’s Gareth Edwards, Sherlock’s Louise Brealey, literary magician Neil Gaiman, Sennia Nanua (from Girl with all the Gifts), Hayley Squires, Hayley Atwell, Luc Besson, Sir Patrick Stewart (there to receive the Empire Legend Award), Tom Hiddleston and many more. You can see all of our interviews just below.

Gareth Edwards is a man whose relief at the success...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

20th Century Women (Mike Mills)

That emotional profundity most directors try to build to across an entire film? Mike Mills achieves it in every scene of 20th Century Women. There’s such a debilitating warmness to both the vibrant aesthetic and construction of its dynamic characters as Mills quickly soothes one into his story that you’re all the more caught off-guard as the flurry of emotional wallops are presented.

The Oscar frontrunner and BAFTA nominee charmed the UK’s leading critics to win top prize at the 37th Critics’ Circle Film Awards on Sunday night at The May Fair Hotel.

Another Academy Award favourite, Casey Affleck, was named best actor for Manchester By The Sea, while Isabelle Huppert, gaining strength as the season progresses, claimed best actress for Things To Come and took the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film.

Laszlo Nemes was the surprise of the night as he won best director for Son Of Saul, while awards heavyweight Kenneth Lonergan earned the best screenwriter award for Manchester By The Sea.

Moonlight claimed both supporting acting categories for Naomie Harris and Mahershala Ali, who tied with Tom Bennett for Love & Friendship.

Kate Beckinsale won the British/Irish Actress prize for Love & Friendship and Andrew Garfield took corresponding actor honours for Hacksaw Ridge and Silence.

Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann won the foreign-language category, [link...

The Oscar frontrunner and BAFTA nominee charmed the UK’s leading critics to win top prize at the 37th Critics’ Circle Film Awards on Sunday night at The May Fair Hotel.

Another Academy Award favourite, Casey Affleck, was named best actor for Manchester By The Sea, while Isabelle Huppert, gaining strength as the season progresses, claimed best actress for Things To Come and took the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film.

Laszlo Nemes was the surprise of the night as he won best director for Son Of Saul, while awards heavyweight Kenneth Lonergan earned the best screenwriter award for Manchester By The Sea.

Moonlight claimed both supporting acting categories for Naomie Harris and Mahershala Ali, who tied with Tom Bennett for Love & Friendship.

Kate Beckinsale won the British/Irish Actress prize for Love & Friendship and Andrew Garfield took corresponding actor honours for Hacksaw Ridge and Silence.

Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann won the foreign-language category, [link...

J.A. Bayona‘s latest film packs a heavy punch. Bayona’s adaptation of author and screenwriter Patrick Ness‘ novel is a pure tearjerker, a movie that mixes the grand with the intimate. The film follows a young boy (Lewis MacDougall) struggling with his mother’s terminal illness. In need of help, he calls upon a monster (Liam Neeson), a […]

The post Interview: Director J.A. Bayona on Exploring Destruction and Storytelling ‘In A Monster Calls’ appeared first on /Film.

Most box office prognosticators presumed that Disney and LucasFilm's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story would have no trouble winning the last few weeks of 2016, along with the first few weeks of 2016. So far, that prediction has come true, with the Star Wars spin-off winning the last three weeks of 2016, and now the first weekend of 2017, but just barely. Rogue One came out on top with $21.9 million, just barely beating Hidden Figures which expanded nationwide to earn $21.8 million. Since these movies are so close together, they may switch places when the actual figures are released tomorrow, but we'll have to want and see.

Box Office Mojo reports that the only new movie opening in wide release, Underworld 5, starring Kate Beckinsale as Selene, opened in 3,070 theaters, which is much higher than the estimated 2,300 theaters it was expected to open in, with Hidden Figures expanding into 2,471 theaters, an increase of 2,446 theaters. Another movie expanding nationwide,...

Lewis MacDougall is remarkable as a young boy dealing with grief in an excellent adaptation of the Patrick Ness novel

A piercing sadness runs through this impressive adaptation, by Patrick Ness, of his acclaimed young adult novel. You ache for Conor, the 13-year-old boy at the heart of the story, as he struggles to process bereavement. You will be likely to weep with him as he comes to terms with the loss of his mother. This emotional authenticity, the palpable pain in a remarkable central performance from relative newcomer Lewis MacDougall, is both the film’s main asset and a factor that makes it a tough sell. This is not just a film about grief; it’s a film that immerses you in grief’s journey.

With his huge, hungry eyes, MacDougall has the vulnerability of David Bradley’s Billy in Kes. He tackles a complex, conflicted role with a confidence far beyond his years.

Chicago – The nature of dying, especially in process with a close loved one, is a testing ground for unwieldy and alien emotions. When, why and how we’re challenged does not have a timetable, nor a convenience. All of this is played out as fantasy in the vital “A Monster Calls.”

Rating: 4.5/5.0

The origin of this story, which began life as a novel, even traces its source to a situation with dying. The conceiver of the story, Siobhan Dowd, was a terminal patient and passed away before she could write it. The novel was formulated and completed by Patrick Ness – who also wrote the screenplay for the film version. It is a very unusual type of fantasy, in which a monster is sprung from a tree, and visits a young boy whose mother is dying. It’s full of that grief, symbolism and the nature of our own reaction to the inevitable.

A Monster Calls, Hidden Figures and Underworld top Tanner's What to Watch weekend preview!A Monster Calls, Hidden Figures and Underworld top Tanner's What to Watch weekend preview!Tanner Zipchen1/6/2017 9:12:00 Am

This weekend, a boy finds a friend in a giant monster, Kate Beckinsale returns to the underworld, and, what might just be the coolest use of math (or at least in a movie!).

Felicity Jones has had a busy couple of months at the box office! First we saw her in Inferno with Tom Hanks, then she stole those famous Death Star plans in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and now now she's playing a terminally ill mother in A Monster Calls. This was one of the most intriguing movies I previewed at Tiff last year as it beautifully blends real-life, raw emotion, with a fantasy world where Liam Neeson voices a talking tree-monster. The lines...

Okay you “horror-hounds”, just put the brakes on. Despite the “M” word in this film’s title, this is not a “creature-centric” rehash of the 70’s stalker classic When A Stranger Calls. This is actually a sensitive look at one young lad’s difficult pre-teen years. And he’s not just dealing with skin problems or vocal changes, but a major family tragedy. Why the title monster? Perhaps he’s an allegory, a towering stand-in for the boy’s, nearly insurmountable future. Or this “beastie” may be his “bestie”, a friend he desperately needs. In Hollywood’s golden age it was thought that children would be repulsed and horrified by Frankenstein’s monster and his ilk, but when their stories became TV staples in the late 1950’s , the lil’ ones embraced them. They weren’t villains, but heroes (or anti-heroes) to youngsters (giving birth to the “monster kid” phenom). Just as with the superheroes,...

When is a kids movie not for kids? Well, it doesn’t happen often, but Patrick Ness’ screen adaptation by of his award-winning children’s novel A Monster Calls is not for the little ones at all, or maybe even the semi-little ones. This story of 15-year-old Connor O’Malley (Lewis MacDougall) is a decidedly dark and often disturbing experience, and I’m not just talking about the monster here. Connor is dealing with a lot. His young mother (Felicity Jones) is dying from…...

Before “A Monster Calls” powerfully overflows its banks with deeply felt tides of emotion. Before you are trying to keep watching the screen through eyes welled with tears, the first thing you’ll notice about young Conor (Lewis MacDougall) — who is “too old to be a kid, yet too young to be a man” — is that he’s tired. He’s tired and angry. His mother Lizzie (Felicity Jones) is dying, he’s being bullied at school, his father (Toby Kebbell) lives halfway around the world with a new family in California, and should things turn for the worst, Conor will have to live with his grandmother (Sigourney Weaver).

Continue reading ‘A Monster Calls’ Is A Beautifully Structured, Emotionally Rich Fable [Review] at The Playlist.

Spanish director J.A. Bayona was rather unlucky when it came to his big push into American theaters, The Impossible, because it wasn’t a story that actually fit his abilities. It’s serviceable direction, if an ultimately unengaging story, but it screams of something like Wes Anderson trying to direct Sully.

A Monster Calls is a fairy tale, and one that is provocative and depressing while trying to deconstruct difficult hideaways of the human mind, and that’s something Bayona knows how to work with. He constructs wild imaginings, whether special effects are in play at the moment or not, without going too far or not far enough, which is more difficult than it might seem.

Most importantly Bayona weaves the narrative together here with a complex mix of familiar and outlandish notes that struggle against themselves, adding to the ability to relate to our hero’s circumstance.

Based on the novel by Patrick Ness,...

Felicity Jones and the cast of A Monster Calls talk their heart-warming children's storyFelicity Jones and the cast of A Monster Calls talk their heart-warming children's storyAdriana Floridia1/5/2017 10:05:00 Am

Based on the novel by Patrick Ness, A Monster Calls tells the story of a young boy who copes with his mother's illness through his friendship with a tree monster.

The film stars Felicity Jones, Sigourney Weaver, Liam Neeson and newcomer Lewis MacDougall. Directed by J.A. Bayona, who is best known for the disaster film The Impossible, A Monster Calls is a metaphorical vision of grieving, but also of the many different ways we can cope with a difficult situation, and the hope that pulls us through.

Watch our interviews with Felicity Jones, Lewis MacDougall, Sigourney Weaver and J.A. Bayona below, and see A Monster Calls at Cineplex theatres on December 23rd, 2016.

Felicity Jones and Lewis MacDougall

Sigourney Weaver...

Welcome back to the first Weekend Warrior of 2017, your weekly look at the new movies hitting theaters this weekend, as well as other cool events and things to check out (when applicable).

We’ll bypass the past couple holiday weekends cause that was so 2016, and we’ll instead get right into the new movies opening on Friday including two that opened in select cities and are expanding nationwide.

Underworld: Blood Wars (Sony/Screen Gems)

Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Theo James, Tobias Menzies, Lara Pulver, Charles Dance, James Faulkner, Peter Andersson, Clementine Nicholson, Bradley James, Daisy Head

Director: Anna Foerster (debut feature from director of TV shows Outlander & Criminal Minds)

Genre: Action, Horror, Thriller

Rated R

Plot: The vampire death dealer Selene (Kate Beckinsale) finds herself facing both Lycans and vampires, both of them trying to use the blood of her daughter to create new hybrids, so she and David (Theo James...

Patrick Ness' A Monster Calls is brought to the screen in superb style from J A Bayona. Here's our review...

Grief is something that we all have to deal with at some point in our lives. Like a number of recent films that use fantasy conventions to process themes of mortality and emotional upheaval, A Monster Calls makes its thunderous impact feel real. The earth shakes, heavy breathing is heard, pencils roll off on their own and the rage and sadness of a little boy is made monstrous.

J.A. Bayona's third feature is adapted from the acclaimed novel by Patrick Ness, Jim Kay and the late Siobhan Dowd, and tells the story of Conor O'Malley (Lewis MacDougall), a 12-year-old boy coming to terms with his mother's long-term illness. Lizzie (Felicity Jones) has always understood him and been there for him, while his absent father (Toby Kebbell) and distant grandmother (Sigourney Weaver) have not.

When you mix genres and filmmaking styles, you always run the risk of things not gelling together properly. This week, director J.A. Bayona avoided that with his top notch new movie A Monster Calls. Out previously for its Oscar qualifying run on Christmas weekend before a general release in a few days, the film seeks to be an unusual Academy Award player. It has an uphill battle, but there’s always the possibility of a surprise. This is the sort of thing that probably will be almost shut out, precursor wise, but you need to keep in the back of your head for nomination morning. The more voters who see and are affected by it, the better a chance it has to shock on the big day. The film is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Patrick Ness (based on an idea by Siobhan Dowd). It...

Long before Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hit theaters last month, most box office analysts predicted that it would have no trouble winning the last three weeks in a row of 2016, with its reign possibly stretching into 2017 as well. So far, the analysts have been right, with Rogue One recently overtaking Captain America: Civil War as the second highest grossing movie at the domestic box office ($439.7 million) and seventh highest at the worldwide box office ($789.7 million). Entering its fourth weekend in theaters, it will go up against Sony's Underworld: Blood Wars as the only new movie in wide release, with limited release titles A Monster Calls and Hidden Figures also expanding nationwide. Even with this new competition, we're predicting that Rogue One will still find a way to end up on top of the box office heap this weekend.

Even with this influx of new competition, following a weekend...

Patriots Day, Live By Night, A Dog's Purpose and more to watch in JanuaryPatriots Day, Live By Night, A Dog's Purpose and more to watch in JanuaryAdriana Floridia1/3/2017 11:11:00 Am

The holidays are officially over, but that doesn't mean you can't take a break from it all with a good movie to watch in theatres this January.

In the midst of awards season, there's plenty to see at the movies. You may choose to spend your time catching up on hot awards contenders like Moonlight, Manchester by the Sea, and La La Land, but there's also a great slate of other new releases this month that you'll want to check out as well.

From true stories, the latest from M. Night Shymalan, and a buzzed-about German comedy, here are our top 10 picks for what to see in theatres this January!

Underworld: Blood Wars

Release Date: January 6th, 2017

See it...

Author: Competitions

To mark the release of A Monster Calls on 1st January, we’ve been given a set of merchandise which includes an A Monster Calls themed A4 artists wiro-bound notepad, a high quality range of x12 graphite pencils ranging from soft to hard, a short sleeve t-shirt printed with the film title, themed bookmarks and a copy of the book to give away to one winner.

A Monster Calls Exclusive Interviews

12-year-old Conor O’Malley (Lewis MacDougall) is a young boy growing up whilst struggling to take care of his sick mother, cope with an absent father and tolerate his difficult grandmother, with a daily existence at school that provides little respite. Withdrawing into a world of monsters and fairy tales, Conor seeks to find solace from the events unfolding around him. The Academy-Award winning team behind Pan’s Labyrinth and The Impossible bring together an incredible cast including Liam Neeson,...

Any movie that manages to blend a human story with fantastic computer-generated imagery is deserving of applause. Spanish director J.A. Bayona’s (The Impossible) latest film, A Monster Calls, accomplishes exactly that. ‘A Monster Calls’ Movie Review The movie centers around a pre-teen British boy named Conor O’Malley (Lewis MacDougall), who is going through a rough period in his life: he is […]

Source: uInterview

The post ‘A Monster Calls’ Movie Review: A Touching Story Of A Child’s Escape appeared first on uInterview.

The process of contending with grief, particularly over the loss of the person they love the most, can be a difficult experience for anyone. That occurrence can be even more harrowing for adolescents as they’re forced to realize the meaning of life and death at a young age, particularly as they witness a close relative […]

The post Interview: Lewis MacDougall Talks A Monster Calls (Exclusive) appeared first on Shockya.com.

Neeson voices a monster who helps a bullied boy cope with his mother’s terminal illness in a dramatic, affecting tale

Ja Bayona, director of The Orphanage, shows how a child’s fantasy can make sense of the world and our feelings about it: we create our own monsters to exorcise anger and grief. This sweet, sad movie reminded me at various stages of Let the Right One In, Pan’s Labyrinth and Ted Hughes’s The Iron Man; there’s also a briefly visible model of Frankenstein’s monster, maybe alluding to Victor Erice’s The Spirit of the Beehive. It is based on an idea by children’s author Siobhan Dowd, who poignantly conceived of the story as she was dying of cancer; Patrick Ness wrote the book and the screenplay adaptation.

Newcomer Lewis MacDougall plays Conor, a lonely kid whose mum (Felicity Jones) is dying; he is...

Everyone could use a giant tree monster at some point in their life, especially when going through the sort of problems that can typically be solved by a giant tree monster. Luckily, those happen to be the exact sort of problems that Lewis MacDougall is suffering from in J.A. Bayona’s upcoming film A Monster Calls, and he just so happens to have a giant tree monster (voiced by Liam Neeson) as a friend.

If you’re really eager to meet this tree monster, The A.V. Club is giving a few lucky readers a chance to see A Monster Calls for free at an early screening before the film’s wide release on January 6. The screening will be held on January 5 at Chicago’s AMC River East 21, and all you have to do to get tickets is provide your information at this link. Remember: Advance ...

Ah yes, January – when Oscar hopefuls platforming into wide release meets the sort of stuff that studios treat like dumpster fires. (Monster Trucks, coming soon to a theater near you!) But this upcoming month has more to offer than you might assume, with a number of worthy prestige films getting bigger audiences and well-pedigreed indies making their debuts. That, and Vin Diesel motorbiking off of a moving truck. Here's what you'll be plunking down ticket-money for at the theater over the next few weeks.

The Founder (Jan. 20th)

Imagine The Social Network,...