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Art The Clown exploded the latest quarter for Cineverse as the company’s revenue shot higher to $40.7 million in the last three months of 2024 from $13.3 million the year earlier.

Net income swing to $7.2 million (38 cents a share) from a loss of $2.9 million, (22 cents).

“The Company is now in an extremely strong financial position with more than $13 million in cash-on-hand as of today and no debt, having a zero draw on our current $7.5 million line of credit with East West Bank. We have multiple alternatives to further expand our credit if necessary and have no plans at this time to issue equity to fund our current operations.”

The shares, which at this time last year were in danger of falling short of compliance with Nasdaq market’s listing requirements, popped 5% after market to $4.75 on the numbers.

Terrifier franchise creator, writer and director Damien Leone is currently working on script for Terrifier 4,...

CBS is hot for firefighter dramas.

Damon Wayans Jr.’s Two Shakes Entertainment, the actor’s production company with Kameron Tarlow, is developing with CBS Studios a New York-set firefighter drama titled Ten House, Deadline reports.

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Written by Pilar Golden (God Friended Me, Beyond Black Beauty), the series is set at the titular Fdny engine and ladder company, which...

Thelma the Unicorn features a talented voice cast, including Brittany Howard and Will Forte, bringing colorful characters to life. The film has received mixed but mostly positive reviews, with a 67% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 62% audience approval rating. Thelma the Unicorn explores the cost of fame as an ordinary pony is transformed into a celebrity overnight, with magical and comedic twists.

The new Netflix animated film Thelma the Unicorn has a talented voice cast behind the colorful main characters. The latest in the trend of non-Disney animated musicals such as the Sing and Trolls franchises, Thelma the Unicorn is Netflixs foray into the musical performance film genre. It follows the story of a pony named Thelma who has dreams of becoming a pop star, but has not yet made her big break. When a glitter-filled truck comes by and spills contents onto Thelma, making her look like a unicorn, she...

The melancholic tone of Luke Hemmings’ latest solo single “Shakes” culminates in an emotional downpour in the song’s newly-released music video.

Directed by George Gallardo, the “Shakes” video was filmed in Bogota, Colombia with cinematic influences at the core of the shoot. Like when Hemmings recreates moments of solitude from Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation. He’s alone in hotel rooms that overlook the vast city, but also surrounded by people in airports and elevators.

The video captures what Hemmings recently described to Rolling Stone as the “existential,...

Welcome to our weekly rundown of the best new music — featuring big new singles, key tracks from our favorite albums, and more. This week, Ariana Grande returns with a big, glitzy pop song about moving on, Bleachers mix cynical vibes and upbeat rhythms, and Young Miko promises she’s the perfect cure for her crush’s heartbreak. Plus, new music from 4Batz, Girl In Red, and Grupo Frontera.

Ariana Grande, “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” (YouTube)

Bleachers, “Jesus Is Dead” (YouTube)

Young Miko, “Curita” (YouTube)

4Batz feat.

It’s not often that Luke Hemmings finds himself on his own. For the better part of the past 12 years, the 27-year-old singer and songwriter has shared the stage with his three bandmates in 5 Seconds of Summer. The Australian pop-rock band has built its career around being a relentless touring act, playing to thousands-deep audiences on nearly back-to-back runs in support of five studio albums. Four years ago, when that cycle was interrupted for the first time, Hemmings retreated into himself.

His first solo album, When Facing the Things We...

This comedy sees a troupe of clowns, living statues and ravers roaming about a dystopia where electricity has been stopped by a solar flare

For years, Bobcat Goldthwait’s cult classic Shakes the Clown was the only adult-oriented black comedy featuring an almost all-clown list of dramatis personae. But hooray – now there’s another one! Or nearly, because admittedly there are a few nonclown characters here. This superbly titled film is a goofy, wildly uneven but ultimately watchable low-budget Irish caprice that mostly revolves around an ad hoc troupe of outsider clowns (a phrase that may be a tautology) who are thrown together when a freak solar flare wipes out all the electricity in Ireland, or maybe the world.

Luckily, Bobo (David Earl), a washed-up clown with a squirty-flower boutonniere and little to no talent, does have a wind-up car that doesn’t need electricity. He ends up piling in...

Maybe this show’s original title Retreat was more appropriate.

Hulu’s upcoming limited series A Murder at the End of the World, which was set to premiere on Aug. 29, has now been pushed back to November, according to FX, who produces the series for the streamer. No official reason for the shift has been announced, but it comes as both the Hollywood writers guild the WGA and the actors union SAG-AFTRA are on strike, with no end in sight. (Actors are prohibited from promoting their projects until the strike ends.)

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One of independent film’s key players, Ray Price, died July 16 at the age of 75 from heart failure after a long battle with cancer, his long-term partner Meg Madison confirmed.

Talking to Price about movies, past and present, was an exhilarating sport that could take a while. He knew his stuff — no one loved movies more — but more than anyone during the great indie decades of the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, he was a respected innovator who thought outside the box. He began as an exhibitor in San Francisco and moved on to marketing, releasing, and distributing movies, leaning toward the outrageous in how he lured audiences to sample challenging fare.

“Ray, while being a defiantly singular individual, was also emblematic of a bygone age of independent film,” Magnolia Pictures co-ceo Eamonn Bowles wrote me in an email. “From theatre chain owner to distributor, exquisite marketer, and production exec, he...

Ray Price, a respected producer of indie filmmaking, died July 16 from heart failure after a long battle with cancer. The news was confirmed by his long-term partner Meg Madison. He was 75 years old.

Price launched his film career in 1972, managing the Berkeley storefront theater the Rialto, and went on to build with Allen Michaan Renaissance Theaters, an independent art film chain that became one of the largest (33 at its peak) in the Bay Area and was later sold to the Landmark Theatre circuit.

A tough negotiator and exacting exhibitor, under Price’s stewardship, Renaissance Theaters were renowned for redesigning marketing materials, from posters to press books — designs that fledgling distributors often adopted when the films hadn’t found success in other markets.

At a time when most top arthouse distributors focused on established auteurs from Europe and Asia, Renaissance Theaters exploded those norms by programming new American directors like Martin Scorsese and John Cassavetes.

Ray Price, an indie film producer and marketing veteran, died on July 16 of heart failure after battling cancer, his longterm partner Meg Madison confirmed. He was 75.

During his career in film, Price was president of Francis Ford Coppola’s production company American Zoetrope and First Look Pictures and a marketing and distribution exec for Landmark Theatres, Trimark Pictures and 2929 Entertainment. He also supported up-and-coming filmmakers like Tran Anh Hung (“The Scent of Green Papaya”), Gurinder Chadha (“Bhaji on The Beach”), Carl Franklin (“One False Move”), Allison Anders (“Gas Food Lodging”) and John Sayles (“The Secret of Roan Inish”).

“Ray, while being a defiantly singular individual, was also emblematic of a bygone age of independent film,” said Magnolia Pictures co-ceo Eamonn Bowles in a statement. “From theatre chain owner to distributor, exquisite marketer, and production exec, he always sought out novel ways of approaching things. He truly was a rebel...

Prime Video has set a premiere date for The Boys‘ long-awaited spinoff.

The college-set Gen V will arrive on Friday, Sept. 29. Three episodes will drop on premiere day, followed by weekly episodes (leading up to the Nov. 3 finale).

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A previously released teaser trailer can be seen here.

“Gen V explores the training of the first generation of superheroes to know about Compound V,...

Kevin, Jake and Papa mark the end of their high school careers in The Chi‘s full Season 6 trailer, but it feels like Emmett’s the one getting a real education — whether he wants it or not.

The two-minute spot shows the teens experiencing a bunch of adolescent milestones: prom, graduation and the like. Meanwhile, Emmett proudly tells Kiesha, “Douda investing in me is the best thing that ever happened to us. Everything he promised is coming true.” But she’s not impressed, and by halfway through the trailer — right around the time Douda is pressing a gun into Emmett’s hand and telling him,...

Watch out, fans of Nailed It!, a bigger and more intense baking show is coming to Netflix in the form of The Big Nailed It Baking Challenge.

Similar to its predecessor, the offshoot will feature 10 amateur chefs attempting to bake a variety of confections from plain vanilla to cake in the shape of pizza. However, the grand prize is a whopping $100,000 to the last wannabe chef standing instead of Nailed It!‘s $10,000 per episode. In addition, two professional pastry chefs will guide the contestants through all of the slip-ups and disasters as seen in the trailer above.

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For Brittany Howard, Grammy-winning solo artist and frontwoman for the Alabama Shakes, Tina Turner was a lifelong hero. After Turner’s death on Wednesday, May 24, at age 83, Howard shared some thoughts on her life and work. (Meanwhile, Howard reveals that her own second solo album will be “coming quicker than you think.”)

Since I was just a little kid, my mother wanted me to see Tina Turner. The first time I saw Tina on television, my mom was like, “This is really important. You need to see this.” And it was legs,...

Season 5 of The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs will make its premiere on both the Shudder streaming service and AMC+ TV tomorrow, April 21st – and today the names of some of the special guests who will be appearing on the show during the premiere have been revealed! Joe Bob took to social media to announce, “So this morning I was sharing a Bud Light with Bobcat Goldthwait, Danhausen, Peaches Christ and David Dastmalchian, and I decided, what the hell, all y’all are invited to the Season 5 premiere, you’re gonna love the 80s slasher band I hired from Italy. They said yes!“

Bobcat Goldthwait is a comedian and actor who has also directed several films and TV shows: Misfits & Monsters, Willow Creek, God Bless America, Shakes the Clown, etc. Danhausen is a wrestler currently signed to Aew. Peaches Christ is a drag performer and filmmaker who directed...

The Gotham Film & Media Institute will honor Adam Sandler with a Performer Tribute at its annual ceremony, presented by Josh and Benny Safdie, co-writers and directors of the actor’s 2019 crime thriller Uncut Gems.

Nomination for the 32nd annual event will be announced Tuesday at 9 am Pt/12 pm Et. Awards will be handed out Nov. 28 at Cipriani Wall Street in NYC for the first major ceremony of the fall season, which can draw early critical recognition and media attention to indie films and series.

“Adam Sandler’s spectacular performances across some of the most popular films of the past three decades have inspired the community of filmmakers that we represent here at The Gotham time and time again,” said Jeffrey Sharp, Executive Director of The Gotham Film & Media Institute, the awards’ parent organization. “Adam has proven that he is a brilliant talent who can deliver genuine heart and hilarious comedy in any role.

Chicago – The career of comedian Bobcat Goldthwait is a wild roller coaster of hilarity and passion, so it stands to reason that his latest film is called “Joy Ride.” The film, one of the funniest stand up docs you’ll ever see, also features Bobcat’s comedy partner Dana Gould on a stand up tour right before the pandemic. It’s available through VOD and iTunes, click Joy Ride for details.

“Joy Ride” is essentially a stand-up comedy tour documentary, because it is rooted in the career overviews of Bobcat and Dana. Both men have had trials and tribulations in show business, based on backgrounds that included difficulties in their youth. These situations become their comedy in the film, with Gould especially opening up on a complete meltdown in the 1990s. The Bobcat past highlights are especially telling, and has precipitated a long running feud between the comic and his fellow traveler Jerry Seinfeld.

Chicago – The career of comedian Bobcat Goldthwait is a wild roller coaster of hilarity and passion, so it stands to reason that his latest film is called “Joy Ride.” The film, one of the funniest stand up docs you’ll ever see, also features Bobcat’s comedy partner Dana Gould on a stand up tour right before the pandemic. It’s available through VOD and iTunes, click Joy Ride for details.

“Joy Ride” is essentially a stand-up comedy tour documentary, because it is rooted in the career overviews of Bobcat and Dana. Both men have had trials and tribulations in show business, based on backgrounds that included difficulties in their youth. These situations become their comedy in the film, with Gould especially opening up on a complete meltdown in the 1990s. The Bobcat past highlights are especially telling, and has precipitated a long running feud between the comic and his fellow traveler Jerry Seinfeld.

The stars of the excellent new comedy doc Joy Ride discuss some of their favorite two handers with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Graduate (1967) – Neil Labute’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Cocoon (1985)

Mission: Impossible III (2006)

Santa Claus Conquers The Martians (1964)

Police Academy 3: Back In Training (1986)

Crooklyn (1994)

Call Me Lucky (2015)

Shakes The Clown (1991)

A History Of Violence (2005)

You Only Live Twice (1967)

Artists And Models (1955) – Tfh’s global trailer search

Joy Ride (2021)

Joy Ride (2001)

Stay (2005)

Sleeping Dogs Lie (2006)

Capturing The Friedmans (2003)

Bela Lugosi Meets A Brooklyn Gorilla (1952) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s review

Sleepless In Seattle (1993)

The Producers (1967) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

My Friend Irma Goes West (1950)

Delicate Delinquent (1957)

Keyholes Are For Peeping (1972)

The Brain That Wouldn’t Die (1962) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Charlie...

Chicago – The career of comedian Bobcat Goldthwait is a wild roller coaster of hilarity and passion, so naturally his latest film is called “Joy Ride.” The film will be co-presented by the Chicago Critics Film Festival at the Music Box Theatre on October 22th, 2021. Bobcat and Dana Gould, his tour partner in the documentary, will attend. Click Joy Ride for details.

“Joy Ride” is one of the funniest examples of stand-up comedy tour documentary, because it is rooted in the career overviews of Bobcat and Dana. Both men have had trials and tribulations in show business, based on backgrounds that included difficulties in their youth. These situations become their comedy in the film, with Gould especially opening up on a complete meltdown in the 1990s. The Bobcat past highlights are especially telling, and has precipitated a long running feud between the comic and his fellow traveler Jerry Seinfeld. “Joy Ride” is an ironic title,...

Katherine Heigl is Team Jo.

The former Grey’s Anatomy actress is weighing in for the first time on the ABC drama’s decision last year to reunite Alex and Izzie as a means to explain the abrupt departure of Justin Chambers.

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Asked about the twist by Entertainment Tonight, Heigl mused, “Wasn’t [Alex] with someone?...

The World's Best Dad podcast is back with their second episode. This week, hosts Christian Jacobs and Jimmy Arrighi return in the bus, where they get into some crazy stories with legendary filmmaker Bobcat Goldthwait. The comedian gets into the time he set The Tonight Show's couch on fire, which earned him quite a bit of free publicity. Well, it wasn't exactly free. He was fined nearly $3,000 and had to do some PSAs too. Luckily, he was never really barred from the show, despite rumors he was banned for life.

In addition to the infamous Tonight Show fires, Bobcat Goldthwait talks about growing up and learning humor from his dad, touring and opening up for Kurt Cobain and Nirvana (on what would become the band's last shows in the United States), his best pal Robin Williams, being a dad and much more. Goldthwait even talks about how much Martin Scorsese enjoyed Shakes the Clown,...

Things have been pretty quiet on the movie front for a while, given the pandemic, but this weekend marks a major upswing in content for cinema lovers, with multiple brand new releases available. Judd Apatow’s The King of Staten Island is unfortunately not up for streaming at present, but Netflix Original Da 5 Bloods, the latest effort from the Oscar-winning Spike Lee, is. For family audiences, there’s also Artemis Fowl over on Disney Plus, which was originally set for a theatrical release back in May.

Even outside of these new films though, there’s plenty of fresh titles coming to the various streaming services this weekend, from classic movies, recent hits, new TV series, old TV series, etc. Whatever combination of services you’re subscribed to, you can fill your whole weekend watching what’s coming to Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon, HBO Max and the rest over the next few days.

From the haunted dreams of A Nightmare on Elm Street to the vampiric shores of Santa Carla in The Lost Boys, the "I Like Scary Movies" immersive art experience in Los Angeles recently opened its doors to let fans and celebrities get up close and creepy with new creations based on iconic Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema films. If you haven't made it to "I Like Scary Movies" yet, we've been provided with a new set of photos that may convince you to move the immersive experience to the top of your must-see list this spring.

Press Release: Los Angeles, CA – April 3, 2019 – In celebration of the April 4th opening of the I Like Scary Movies Experience, fans and industry icons came out to immerse themselves in the reimagined worlds of The Shining, Beetlejuice, A Nightmare on Elm Street, the first chapter of It, and The Lost Boys. Experiential artist Maximillian,...

Actor and comedian Steven Levy, aka Steve Bean, died Jan. 21 after a battle with cancer. He was 58 years old.

Born in Lynn, Mass. and raised in Providence, R.I, Levy attended Carnegie Mellon University and cut his theatrical teeth performing stand-up at local Pittsburgh area nightclubs. In 1980, Levy teamed up with comic Chris Zito, a duo that became known as Zito and Bean. In Boston, Zito and Bean garnered an enthusiastic following. They became mainstays of the Boston comedy scene and enjoyed a three-year run with their own show at a popular club, Play It Again Sam’s. After about a decade, Levy split from the duo to move to Los Angeles, where he joined the Groundlings Improv Group and wrote for such shows as the “Tim Conway Show” and ABC’s “Dot Comedy.” As an actor he landed roles on such series as “Quantum Leap,” “Murder She Wrote,” “Married with Children” and “Monk,...

Billy Chapin, best known for his role in the 1955 film “The Night of the Hunter,” died Friday after battling a long illness. He was 72.

The news of his death was announced on Saturday afternoon by his sister Lauren Chapin on Facebook.

“It is with a saddened heart that I say goodbye to my precious brother Billy Chapin, wonderful star of movies, television and radio,” wrote Lauren. “He passed away last night after a long illness but now is in the arms of his Savior. Billy was a wonderful brother to both Michael and me…He will be greatly missed.”

Read More: Florence Henderson Dies: See Her Career in Photos, From ‘The Brady Bunch’ to ‘Shakes the Clown’

Born on Dec. 28, 1943, in Los Angeles, Chapin first appeared in uncredited roles in films like “Casanova Brown” and “The Cockeyed Miracle.” He then made his Broadway debut in “Three Wishes for Jamie.”

Chapin...

James Burrows, perhaps the most successful TV director in history, owes his lengthy small screen career to Grant Tinker.

Tinker, who died Monday at 90, was a towering television titan who turned Mtm Enterprises into one of the most successful production companies in the 1970s, then took over NBC and led that network from worst to first in the 1980s.

But his legacy lives on, thanks to the writers, producers, directors and stars he championed during his long career. Burrows, who recently directed his 1,000th episode of television (which NBC celebrated with a primetime special), is one of them.

“I owe my entire television career to him,” Burrows told IndieWire.

Burrows was a theater director and stage manager in New York when he worked on the musical “Holly Golightly” (later retitled “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”), starring Mary Tyler Moore and Richard Chamberlain. The show closed after just four nights, but by the end,...

“The Brady Bunch” matriarch Florence Henderson, quite possibly the most beloved TV mom for a generation of viewers, died Thursday in Los Angeles. She was 82.

According to the Associated Press, Henderson died Thanksgiving night at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, after being hospitalized the day before. Her manager to the news service that Henderson had suffered heart failure, and that family and friends had surrounded Henderson’s hospital bedside.

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Henderson had just been seen earlier this week on “Dancing with the Stars,” offering support to fellow “Brady Bunch” star Maureen McCormick, who was a contestant on the competition series this season. (Henderson similarly competed on the show in 2010.)

Henderson was best known for playing Carol Brady on “The Brady Bunch” and its several reincarnations (and TV movies) over the years. But her expansive...

Since any New York cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.

Museum of Modern Art

Leo McCarey and the great Gaumont series are continuing their ongoing retrospectives, both of which make for a densely packed lineup.

Metrograph

Relive your traumatized childhood with “This Is PG?!” Jaws, Temple of Doom, and Poltergeist are but a few of the first weekend’s titles.

Helen DeWitt will present a print of Seven Samurai on Sunday.

Subverting the Unexpected

At the end of the 20th century, Bobcat Goldthwait’s legacy read like a cheap joke: He was a screaming comedian from the eighties best known as Zed in the “Police Academy” franchise who once tried at his hand at directing a movie (“Shakes the Clown”). Those achievements barely skimmed the surface of Goldthwait’s ability, as the ensuing years made clear, when Goldthwait completely transformed his career into one of the most provocative American filmmakers working today. With the microbudget “Sleeping Dogs Lie” (aka “Stay”), Goldthwait showed his potential to funnel taboo subject matters into oddly touching, relatable human dramas, a proclivity he kicked up to a whole new level with the subversive black comedy “World’s Greatest Dad,” which features Robin Williams in one of his all-time great roles.

Goldthwait has kept innovating, with each new movie offering a fresh perspective on the naive assumptions...

There are a lot of good movies about alcoholism, that doesn’t make them easy to watch, by no means. The very idea of making a movie, an entertainment, about addiction, of any kind, if it’s done with any amount of honesty, can make for a grueling experience to watch.

Just from memory you have The Lost Weekend, Leaving Las Vegas, Shakes the Clown, Everything Must Go and the more recent Blue Jasmine with a pill popping, wine swilling woman in deep denial at its center.

I’m sure there are many more, all of these are worthwhile films. To this list you can definitely add Glassland, an independent movie from Ireland. What irony that a movie about alcoholism, and a good one at that, would come from Ireland. I’m Irish myself, and Ireland, much like countries such as Australia, Scotland, Japan and…the United States for that matter,...

Comedian turned film-maker Bobcat Goldthwait’s first documentary profiles a comedian who was raped as a child. Despite the tough subject matter, the film is Goldthwait’s most mainstream effort to date. Just don’t tell him that

Bobcat Goldthwait is worried.

The bad boy comedian turned adventurous filmmaker has long prided himself on being edgy. Hell, John Waters himself awarded him with the Filmmaker on the Edge award at the Provincetown international film festival in June. But Goldthwait’s new film – and first documentary – Call Me Lucky, threatens to soften the edge that’s distinguished his output since he turned heads with his twisted comedy Shakes the Clown.

Continue reading...

Read More: Provincetown Film Festival Releases Lineup For 17th Edition  Comedian-turned-filmmaker Bobcat Goldthwait's movies are by all accounts edgy, just like his brand of standup comedy that first brought him recognition. It's therefore no surprise that the Provincetown International Film Festival (Piff) named him this year's "Filmmaker on the Edge." The "Police Academy" star made his feature debut with "Shakes the Clown," a twisted comedy that centers on a party clown who spends his free days getting wasted. "Sleeping Dogs Lie," his sophomore film, is a comedy about a woman whose life is thrown into turmoil after she confesses to her fiancé that she once gave a blowjob to a dog. With "World's Greatest Dad," Goldthwait sent up the feel-good comedy genre with a redemptive tale of a father (Robin Williams) who finds his voice after his son dies of autoerotic asphyxiation. His hero in "God Bless America" at one.

If you know who Bobcat Goldthwait is, chances are you’re keenly aware that comedy tends to have a strong pull on basically everything he’s ever done. His feature film career includes dark comedies like Shakes the Clown, World’s Greatest Dad, and God Bless America, and between those ventures he’s a driving force behind stand-up comedy specials or series for well-known jokers like Patton Oswalt, Demetri Martin, Marc Maron, and even Dave Chappelle back when he had his own show. With that strong trend of comedy, Goldthwait’s sudden venture into the lands of horror with Willow Creek, a film about sasquatches in the Pacific Northwest, will catch any fan off-guard. It’s easy to find the traces of Goldthwait’s sense of humor amidst the horror, but it’s just also quite clear that Goldthwait has a firm grasp of what creates and fuels the undercurrent...

Park City - When you cover film and pop culture for 17 years, you end up writing about an incredibly broad spectrum of topics. Even so, there are things that are obviously more important to you or that you care about more, and for me, one of the things that I have always felt strongly about is stand-up comedy. I took a shot at it early on in life, and very quickly realized that it wasn't for me. As much as I admire the craft, the lifestyle was simply not something I would have survived. There were a number of reasons, but it was a very basic decision when it came down to it. I had something else I loved more, and I can't imagine putting yourself through everything it takes to become a truly great stand-up if you don't love it above and beyond anything else. I'm still friends, though,...

FX has given a series order to "Baskets," a new comedy from the creative all-star team of Zach Galifianakis, Louis C.K. and Jonathan Krisel. But don't get too invested in "Baskets," because its premiere is a mighty long way away. Seemingly the "Shakes the Clown" for the 21st Century, "Baskets" focuses on a Bakersfield, California resident named Chip Baskets (Galifianakis), who dreams of becoming a professional clown. When things go wrong at a prestigious French clowning academy, he's forced to make ends meet as a rodeo clown, while never giving up his true lofty aspirations. "Baskets" will begin production next year, but the 10-episode first season won't premiere until 2016. "Zach Galifianakis, Louis C.K. and Jonathan Krisel have created an absolutely brilliant show," blurbs Eric Schrier, half of FX's two-headed President of Original Programming team with Nick Grad. "To say Zach’s portrayal of the lead character Chip Baskets is hilarious...

"Suicide is a permanent solution to temporary problems." - Robin Williams, "World's Greatest Dad" This is a very emotional "Ask Drew." This is, I would suspect, the closest you're ever going to see to me losing it on camera completely. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when there was a Robin Williams question, since it's still so fresh and so raw for so many people, but I couldn't have known just how hard it would be to talk about him. I mean, I have stared at the blinking cursor on my blank document page for almost two days now, grappling with one question: how in the hell do you even remotely begin to sum up someone as huge as Robin Williams? We could start from the personal angle. I could tell you about the occasional e-mails I got from him when I was at Ain't It Cool, or the...

"People over here are going, 'What the hell's he doing now?'" Robin Williams says, halfway through his career-making 1982 stand-up special. Then he unleashes a demonic laugh and gives an order. "Catch up!" That was Robin Williams at his best — a wild-eyed one-man comic rampage, riffing at warp speed about sex and drugs and politics, faster than other human brains could follow. The world spent years trying to catch up to Williams — his motormouth energy seemed inexhaustible. He became such a beloved figure, twinkling and grinning in so many feel-good family flicks,...

It's been nearly a year since we saw a trailer and a wild poster for the horror film Willow Creek from comedian turned filmmaker Bobcat Goldthwait, and the film is finally coming to limited theaters and VOD this summer. The found footage film has been described as The Blair-Squatch Project since it follows a bigfoot believer who heads into California’s Six Rivers National Forest in order to finally capture footage of the infamous Bigfoot. Now we get another trailer hyping the release next month, and there's also a cool new poster that cleverly uses the footprint of the possibly mythical creature. This looks pretty fun. Watch now! Here's the latest trailer for Bobcat Goldthwait's Willow Creek from Entertainment Weekly: The magazine also debuted this cool poster teasing the film's release next month: Willow Creek is written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait (Shakes the Clown, World's Greatest Dad, God Bless America...

Chicago – The legend of Bigfoot, the half ape and half human that had its heyday in the 1970s, is kept alive gratefully in the new film “Willow Creek,” directed by comedian and filmmaker Bobcat Goldthwait. The stand-up comic icon was in Chicago last week to present his film at the 2014 Chicago Critics Film Festival.

“Willow Creek” is done in the style of “found video footage,” and involves a couple (Bryce Johnson and Alexis Gilmore) who are seeking the remote area in California where the famous film of Bigfoot was shot in 1967 by Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin. As events surrounding their journey get stranger and stranger, the pair find that they bit off more than they can chew.

Bobcat Goldthwait Mugs it Up at the Chicago Critics Film Festival, May 14th, 2014

Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

The horror comedy theme is par for the filmmaking course of Bobcat Goldthwait.

Chicago – Now in its second year, the Chicago Film Critics Festival opens tonight, May 9th, 2014, with the Chicago Premiere of “They Came Together,” starring Paul Rudd, Amy Poelher, Ellie Kemper, Bill Hader and Ed Helms, and directed by David Wain. Wain makes an appearance after the 7pm screening at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago. Click here for details and the complete schedule for the week long festival.

The Chicago Critics Film Festival is the first of its kind, with members of the Chicago Film Critics Association coordinating the events and selecting the films. The schedule features mainstream and independent film premieres – weeks before their general release – plus two short film programs, late night horror films, revivals and one-of-a-kind live appearances. The festival runs through May 15th.

Included in the week-long presentations are after-film Q&As by filmmakers, actors and even the subjects of the movies on tap. Here is...

Found-footage horror by a former Police Academy star about a couple searching for America's mythical Sasquatch apeman gets properly creepy

As un film de Bobcat Goldthwait, the former comedian co-star of Police Academy films turned cult auteur, Willow Creek is a mild disappointment, lacking as it does in the out-there wackitude of Shakes the Clown or the scrappy satirical vigour of World's Greatest Dad or God Bless America. But as a horror film using that now-tired device, "found footage" supposedly shot by the characters themselves,, it's quite passable. Alexie Gilmore and Bryce Johnson star as a semi-likable, semi-obnoxious hipster couple who venture into the woods of northern California to shoot a YouTube documentary about the legend of Bigfoot, aka Sasquatch. (Goldthwait has described the film as The Blair Squatch Project.) In town, they snark at the tacky Bigfoot merchandising and wryly interview the locals (played by real people), but once...

“This isn’t about you, asshole.” It’s a line we hear on a pretty frequent basis (give or take an expletive), and it’s very, very problematic. When confronted with their own, tragic insignificance in the context of the vast expanses of time and space, people are prone to suss themselves out as the center of the universe. You’ve only ever seen been inside your own head, so surely you’re the only one who’s actually really there? We regress to the small picture because we can’t comprehend the big one – that pothole in the middle of your street is a result of fascism; you and that girl you like are destined for one another; that demo you recorded on your iPhone will make you a star. So many of us live in our own little, self-absorbed bubbles, and it’s just like David Cross to come along and burst them.

Here’s the story, of a TV mother, and her kids with birthday wishes on “The Talk”…. CBS’s daytime talk show “The Talk” will host a reunion of “The Brady Bunch” cast on Thursday’s episode, in honor of “Brady Bunch” mom Florence Henderson’s 80th birthday. (Henderson, also known for her work on the big-screen comedy classic “Shakes the Clown,” actually turns 80 on Friday.) See video and photos: ‘Full House’ Reunion: John Stamos, Dave Coulier and Bob Saget Sing Jimmy Fallon to Sleep During the Henderson will reunite with “Brady Bunch” cast members Christopher Knight, Mike Lookinland, Susan Olsen and Barry Williams on.

In case it isn’t obvious, I’m a pretty big fan of the horror genre, and so I wanted to spotlight some of my most anticipated horror films of 2014. Between the big studio releases and the crop of independent features from some of our favourite directors, 2014 looks to be a great year.

Note: I am not including such movies as Big Bad Wolves or Cheap Thrills, or any other film I had the pleasure of watching at a film festival in 2013. For those, you should check out my list of favourite horror films of 2013. I am also not including Godzilla, since it appears on our list of most anticipated sci-fi films.

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Special Mention: Cold in July

Directed by Jim Mickle

Written by Nick Damici

USA

Release date: Tba

Based on the novel by cult author Joe R. Lansdale, Cold In July will make it’s premiere this January at the Sundance Film Festival,...

Get ready for 10 truly terrifying nights when Washington, D.C.’s Spooky Movie International Horror Film Festival haunts the AFI Silver Theatre on Oct 10-19 for the fest’s 8th annual edition.

Things really jolt alive on the 10th with the Opening Night film Willow Creek, a surprising genre entry by comedian-turned-director Bobcat Goldthwait, who tells the tale about a couple of amateur Bigfoot hunters who get in way over their heads in the woods. Goldthwait will be on hand for a post-screening Q&A moderated by Film Comment‘s Laura Kern. Also playing on this opening night are a program of scary short films and the feature An American Terror, a post-Columbine fright flick by Haylar Garcia.

As for the other nine nights, sticking true to the “International” in the fest’s name are movies such as the Ireland/France/Sweden co-production Dark Touch by Marina de Van about...

After films like Shakes the Clown (1991), Sleeping Dogs Lie (2006), World's Greatest Dad (2009), and God Bless America (2011), you surely know what to expect from writer/director Bobcat Goldthwait by now, right? Loud, colorful, perhaps even garish social commentary and raunchy farce from a stand-up comic turned actor turned surprisingly good filmmaker. Wrong!

  The man's latest film is a refreshingly matter-of-fact horror/thriller called Willow Creek, and to my eyes, it's the best sort of "homage" you can do. Based solely on Willow Creek it seems plainly evident that Goldthwait is a fan of A) "found footage" horror films in general, and B) The Blair Witch Project in particular, and so he packed up a few (very good) actors, a handful of cameras, and hit the road to make a low-key scary movie that works for all the reasons I just mentioned.   Right off the bat I'll "warn" you that the 78-minute...

With the onslaught of Comic-Con coverage beaming your way right now, this a firm reminder that Fantasia, one of the world’s preeminent genre film festivals, is also kicking off today; and we have a list of our Top 11 most anticipated entries.

The Fantasia Film Festival, now in its 17th year after debuting in 1996, will likely be making heads explode with this year's lineup so we thought we'd point you in the direction of those films that look dressed to impress. So take off your Hulk Smash Hands for a few minutes and give these talented filmmakers a little bit of your time!

24 Exposures (USA) Dir: Joe Swanberg (World Premiere)

Joe Swanberg has been an indie darling for years for his intimate portraits of twenty-something hipsters, but it’s his latest stint in the horror genre that has us turning our heads. After the director’s effort in last year...

We recently posted three big announcements from the Fantasia Film Festival which included Edgar Wright’s The Worlds End (closing the fest), a special Live theatre event for Clive Barker’s A History of the Devil, and a lifetime achievement award for Andrzej Żuławski. Additional first wave highlights have also been announced, and so far the line-up is shaping up to be better than last year’s batch. Hit the jump to view the current roster.

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Across The River

Italy Dir: Lorenzo Bianchini

A brilliant opposition of new and old narratives, this chilling discovery from Italy is the most downright efficient atmospheric horror film you’ll see anywhere this year, haunting with a slow-building, intense crescendo approach to its atmosphere of disorientation and dread. From the director of Custodes Bestiae.

World Premiere.

Big Bad Wolves

Israel Dirs: Aharon Keshales & Navot Papushado

Described in its official marketing as “a brutal comedy...