News

From director William Friedkin came the war drama, Rules Of Engagement. As we re-evaluate the cinema of 2000, does it stand the test of time?

This is the latest in Aj Black’s series of features on films released in the year 2000. He previously looked back at DreamWorks animation, The Road To El Dorado. Potential spoilers lie ahead…

Did William Friedkin steal the plot of Rules Of Engagement from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine?

In that series, the noble Klingon Commander, Worf, is tried by an extradition hearing. In the middle of hostilities between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, Worf commanded a vessel that fired on and destroyed a civilian transporter, mistakenly believing it to be a Klingon warship.

That episode is called – you guessed it – Rules Of Engagement, and it aired just three years before Friedkin’s film came out. Perhaps the original writer of the film, James Webb,...

Considering how well Christian-themed movies have done in recent months, Mel Gibson may be relieved about the box office prospects of his planned sequel to The Passion of the Christ. The animated film The King of Kings exceeded all expectations in its box office run, which was timed around the Easter holidays. It has emerged as the highest-grossing Korean production in domestic box office history — yes, it's a Korean production — while earning over four times its reported budget at the global box office.

With $57 million domestically and over $6 million from overseas markets, The King of Kings has generated nearly $64 million worldwide so far. Produced on a reported budget of $15 million, the religious-themed film is around $1 million shy of passing the lifetime global haul of The Road to El Dorado, a big-budget DreamWorks animated film that tanked upon release in the year 2000, but has developed a cult following. In fact, The King of Kings...

Oof. Beginnings of months are difficult in terms of how many titles on any streaming service we are forced to say goodbye to. Each month, Netflix brings in many new items, meaning some older ones have to leave. Some months are worse than others.

May isn't worse than other months unless you are a fan of a couple of franchises. If you love Spider-Man, we have bad news for you. If you are addicted to watching Thomas & Friends, we have more bad news.

Perhaps the worst part is that a lot of comedies are saying goodbye. Wedding Crashers, the Fockers films, and a couple of the Friday flicks are going away. So are some Oscar-worthy films, such as Schindler's List and Whiplash.

A large number of titles are leaving Netflix this week (April 26 through May 2)

The weird 1978 version of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is also leaving.

Hans Zimmer is one of the most legendary composers in film history, but there's one genre of film he'd rather not compose music for at all. The German composer is decidedly not a fan of musicals, despite having composed the score for one of Disney's most successful musicals of all time. He spoke about being a musical hater with Collider's Steve Weintraub at a Q&a for his new concert film, Hans Zimmer & Friends: Diamond in the Desert.

Zimmer discussed scoring The Lion King, which was later turned into an enormously successful stage musical:

I said to them, “I hate musicals.” They said, “We guarantee you it'll never be a musical.” But we had all these pieces left over and we went back to Africa and recorded the second album, Rhythm of the Pride Lands, which were the leftover bits, and we got into big trouble because we...

It's hard to believe that 25 years have passed since the new millennium, bringing new technology, evolving social change, and, of course, spectacular movies. The stage for the 2000s was set with titles premiering in 2000, featuring fresh comedies, stunning animated films, and captivating dramas.

Many of these films have made a significant impact on cinema and are still consistently referenced and quoted today. Each film is unique in its own way and has served as inspiration for countless other films that parallel their cinematic perspective and narrative structure.

The Road to El Dorado Helped Launch DreamWorks as an Animation Staple Released March 31, 2000

Founded by legendary director Steven Spielberg, American film producer David Geffen, and former Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, DreamWorks is known as one of the most prominent animation studios of the 21st century. Responsible for the Shrek and How to Train Your Dragon franchise, in addition to many other impactful films,...

The 1990s saw Hollywood studios make a rush to 3D animation in the wake of Toy Story. But in the process, it abandoned decades of hand drawn artistry.

When Ron Clements and John Musker got the greenlight to make The Princess And The Frog at Walt Disney Animation Studios, they faced a problem.

Appreciating some hand-drawn animation had been done for the slightly earlier Disney production, Enchanted, remarkably Disney had to outsource those segments as it didn’t have the internal resources to bring them to life. When it then decided to attempt a hand drawn animated film for the first time in over a decade, the apparatus to do so was all but gone.

“They had gotten rid of many of the machines, even the animation desk that had lightboards in them,” co-director John Musker told me on the press tour for The Princess And The Frog in 2009. “They...

In 1994, David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Steven Spielberg -- three of Hollywood's biggest power players -- united to form a brand-new major motion picture studio called DreamWorks, something that hadn't been attempted in decades. The trio of execs had three stipulations: they wouldn't make any more than nine films a year, they would be allowed to make movies for other studios, and they would be able to go home in time for dinner.

For three years, the trio would wrangle contracts and make deals with various music, film, and television entities to make sure it was standing on solid ground and could handle being the outsize business entity they wanted it to be. In 1997, DreamWorks finally released its first three movies: "The Peacemaker," "Amistad," and "Mouse Hunt." The year after, the studio broke into feature animation with the bad-but-popular CGI insect film "Antz" and the highly acclaimed and very good "The Prince of Egypt,...

Fantasy is a wide-ranging genre that provides many exciting stories, but the decade of the 2000s offered up some fantasy films that haven't aged well. Film is one of the best formats to tell a fantasy story, as proven by the many iconic fantasy films. Film is also a broad format that splits the genre into several categories, increasing the opportunity to tell ever-inventive fantasy stories with different flavors. There are incredible animated fantasy movies, sci-fi fantasy movies, and historical fantasy movies that all establish their own cultural impact.

Fantasy films also vary depending on the decade. There are decades, such as the 1980s, that released several fantasy movies that provide magic and wonder. There are several iconic fantasy movies from the 2000s as well. However, though the 2000s was a great decade for the genre, it also had several fantasy movies that made specific narrative or production decisions that impacted the film terribly.

In 1994, Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg resigned from the company and teamed up with Steven Spielberg and music executive David Geffen to form DreamWorks Skg, which later was rechristened DreamWorks Animation. Its first feature film, released four years later, was “Antz,” a brash, adult-oriented CGI production about a worker ant struggling to stick out in the communal colony he slaves away in. The film was successful — it was the first non-Disney animated movie to gross $100 million worldwide — but it was also overshadowed by comparisons to “A Bug’s Life,” Pixar’s film released that year which also focused on a misfit ant trying to save his ant colony.

That beginning encapsulates the perception of DreamWorks Animation in a nutshell — as the decidedly less ambitious, less artful cousin to Pixar. And it’s hard to say that reputation is totally unearned. DreamWorks is responsible for many lazily constructed, irritating animated movies, from “Shark Tale...

Voice actor Peter Renaday, known to fans worldwide for his role as the original voice of Master Splinter in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series, has died. He was 89 years old.

Per TMZ, law enforcement officials discovered Renaday at his Burbank, California home while carrying out a welfare check on Sunday. He was found deceased when police arrived, and it's believed that his death was from natural causes. Renaday's niece, Mindy Zachary, said that her uncle's air conditioning had been out recently, and temperatures inside his home had reached the 90s. It's unclear if the heat directly contributed to Renaday's death, but the family reportedly doesn't feel that any further investigation is necessary.

As an actor, Renaday was best known for providing the voice of Master Splinter in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the widely celebrated animated series that helped launch a massive franchise that remains ongoing. Renaday voiced Splinter...

When it comes to traditional animation, big studios have definitely given arms against the quality and sophistication of animation that comes out of Far East countries. Anime has essentially set the benchmark for traditional animation, and Western animation giants have pivoted to 3D animation to create stories. However, there are a few traditionally animated films that have a special place in the hearts of fans, that are treated like cult classics, despite their abysmal box office runs.

Iron Giant || Credit: Warner Brothers.

There are four animated films that have been part of public discourse and are appreciated for their unique blend of CGI and traditional animation, having essentially perfected a style of animation that became vanishingly rare as soon as it broke into the mainstream. These films were plagued with spotty box office returns, the kind that killed any hopes of these films ever getting sequels or even another look from their respective studios.

Non-Disney animated musicals are diverse classics, deserving recognition for their box office success, critical praise, and artistic legacy. All Dogs Go To Heaven, Corpse Bride, and South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut are standout non-Disney animated musicals with unique stories and impact. Films like FernGully, The Road To El Dorado, Anastasia, Sing, An American Tail, and The Prince Of Egypt prove Disney doesn't monopolize animated musical excellence.

When considering the best animated musicals, it is inevitable that Disney will automatically come to mind, but in reality, there are countless animated musicals not made by Disney, that are truly outstanding watches. These musicals are diverse in their stories and music, and all of them are staples of many generations' childhoods, just as Disney's best movies were. Though some of these films are seemingly inspired by Disney, while others are completely and utterly unique, all of these non-Disney animated musicals are some of the best musicals,...

Kent Melton, the animation sculptor who created maquettes made of clay for iconic characters found in movies including Aladdin, The Lion King, Mulan, The Incredibles and Coraline, has died. He was 68.

Melton died Thursday at his home in Stone County, Missouri, of Lewy body dementia, family members told The Hollywood Reporter.

One of the few artists left in the industry who still sculpted in clay, Melton was a key player in the Disney animation renaissance of the 1990s. Later, he helped Laika Studios become a stop-motion powerhouse. Along the way, he was entrusted by animators to bring their two-dimensional drawings into a three-dimensional world.

Melton’s first Disney credit came on Aladdin (1992), followed by work on such other studio films as Thumbelina (1994), The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Mulan (1998), The Prince of Egypt (1998), Tarzan (1999), The Road to El Dorado (2000), Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron...

Quick Links Monsters vs. Aliens Had a Team of Lovable Characters Nimona Was a Groundbreaking Project From Netflix The Mitchells vs. the Machines is a Colorful and Action-Packed Family Adventure The Road to El Dorado is One of DreamWorks' Most Underrated Films Treasure Planet Deserved a Better Reception Rango Features a Wild Voice Performance From Johnny Depp Rise of the Guardians Brings Together Legendary Characters Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson Collaborated on The Adventures of Tintin The Lego Batman Movie is a Fantastic Love Letter to the Superhero Megamind is a Brilliant Satire of the Superhero Genre

When an animated movie becomes a hit with critics, audiences, and at the box office, the likelihood of them getting a sequel is very high. Popular franchises like Shrek, Toy Story, and Despicable Me have released multiple installments that have become successful. However, not every entertaining and well-received animated movie gets a sequel.

Pictured: Hulk, The Mummy, The Karate Kid, Kung-Fu Panda

A New Year means lots of removals from Netflix and January 1st is looking busy, with over 100 movies set to leave the service already. Below, we’ll be keeping track of all the Netflix departures for the first month of 2024.

First, a few housekeeping notes as to how Netflix removals work before we dive in. Due to licensing agreements, shows and movies added to Netflix aren’t added forever. Instead, they’re essentially rented for a fixed period. All the shows below have their current window on Netflix ending and will likely be bound for a rival streaming service.

We list titles slightly differently from other outlets, with our listings being the actual day of removal. If you want to watch any titles scheduled to expire on January 1st, for example, you’ll need to watch by the end of December 31st.

Today, The Road to El Dorado is beloved by folks of a certain age who grew up on it as a home video staple. Quotes from the movie are go-to fodder for memes and GIFs, while the film’s female lead, Chel (Rosie Perez), is a go-to figure to cosplay. DreamWorks Animation will even occasionally reference it in its modern-day social media posts alongside other titles like Trolls and Shrek.

This generation of filmgoers mostly probably thinks of Irish actor-director Kenneth Branagh as Agatha Christie’s mustachioed detective Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express (2017), Death on the Nile (2022) and the upcoming A Haunting in Venice.

But there is so much more to Branagh’s career. As a director, he’s dabbled in multiple genres, including fantasy, action, science fiction, thriller, comedy and superhero.

Branaghs career as an actor has been equally as diverse. He’s acted in legal thrillers, Westerns, romantic thrillers, animation, fantasy pics and dramedies.

And then there’s Shakespeare. There’s always Shakespeare. Branagh has a self-professed love of the Bard. He’s acted in and directed...

Pixar and DreamWorks are the leading animation studios in the industry, with other studios building on their success. In terms of box office performance, Pixar has consistently outperformed DreamWorks in the past 10 years. While both studios have had successful franchises, Pixar's original films tend to perform better due to positive critical reception.

Pixar and DreamWorks are two of the biggest animation studios still operating today, and here is how the two titans have matched up against each other at the box office over the past 10 years. While there are other studios that specialize in computer animation, such as Walt Disney Animation Studios and Sony Pictures Animation, Pixar and DreamWorks are the two giants that these other studios stand on the shoulders of. These animation pioneers are still active today, with each studio's respective box office performance being particularly interesting. So, here is who is winning at the box office in the Pixar vs.

Dreamworks animation has produced countless stories teeming with heart-pumping adventure and gorgeous animation. From classics like Kung Fu Panda to Shrek, the studio has found success in its edgier storytelling compared to its creative competitors. Its romances, while rarely the main focus of its animated stories, particularly stand out from the rest.

While some of these couples might not fit into the classic fairytale format, that doesn't mean they aren't meaningful. Pairs like Moses and Zipporah from The Prince of Egypt and Astrid and Hiccup from How To Train Your Dragon provide a refreshing sense of romantic realism to the animation genre. While love stories may not be the primary selling point in most Dreamworks movies, these relationships prove a great love story doesn't always need a perfect fairytale ending to make its mark.

Related: 10 Most Believable Disney Movie Romances

Eep and Guy The Croods

Eep and Guy may come...

DreamWorks Animation has produced iconic franchises like Shrek and How to Train Your Dragon, but there are underrated gems within its catalog. Films like The Road to El Dorado and Over the Hedge may have fallen short at the box office, but they are still delightful and enjoyable. DreamWorks has also released impressive short films like Bilby and Bird Karma, showcasing innovative animation techniques and delivering significant moral lessons.

Since its inception in 1994, DreamWorks Animation has produced remarkable films and franchises, but there are plenty of underrated gems within the DreamWorks catalog that deserve more recognition. DreamWorks was established by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen, all of whom leveraged their prior experience in entertainment to secure the company's success. In 2004, DreamWorks branched into a public corporation. The studio has grown over time thanks to iconic franchises like Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda, and Madagascar.

Now that the first weekend of August is in the books, the most competitive part of the summer is over, giving us a reasonably good idea of what this year's biggest movie season looked like. Barring any surprise breakouts over the next few weeks, it's safe to call it a mixed bag. Sure, we had gargantuan hits like "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer," but we had massive flops like "The Flash" and "Haunted Mansion." Yet, while high-profile misfires took the lion's share of the spotlight, it was "Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken" that slipped through the cracks as one of the summer's biggest duds. More than that, it may end up as the lowest-grossing movie in DreamWorks Animation's history.

After a miserable sixth weekend in which the film grossed a mere $30,000 domestically, "Ruby Gillman" has earned just $40.8 million worldwide. This includes a truly miserable $15.6 million domestically. Against a $70 million budget, Universal Pictures...

Prime Video is honestly the streaming platform to be on these days. Every month, they just absolutely kill it. So much as you might dislike Bezos, his streaming service has an excellent selection. Now if they could release a season of Invincible more than every ten years, you wouldn't need another streaming platform.

Talking about movies, though, they really outdid themselves this month with plenty of fantastic titles. Just take a look.

Amadeus (Aug. 1)

A true masterpiece in every sense. Yes, it is long, but it is one of the best movies you'll ever witness. An epic film about the life and times of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart told through the eyes of his embittered and resentful competitor, Antonio Salieri.

To him, Mozart is nothing but a frat boy, and Tom Hulce's characterization as a rude and irreverent man with a laugh that will haunt your dreams is spot on.

Animation has been a staple of the entertainment industry since it was revolutionized by Walt Disney. While Disney wasn't the first to create animated movies, it was the first to use synchronized sound, and its resources as a studio, to churn out some of the biggest animated films to date. By the 2000s, other studios acquired the tools and resources to produce memorable animated films of their own.

The 2000s were marked by the ingenuity of studios such as DreamWorks Animation, Blue Sky Studios, Sony Pictures Animation, and Warner Bros. Animation, as they pushed the boundaries of what traditional animation stories have been. Animation was steering away from princesses finding their prince charming and moving toward telling stories audiences had yet to see but were asking for.

Related: 10 Best Animated Movies That Were Overshadowed By A Disney Film

Bee Movie (2007)

DreamWorks Animation's Bee Movie follows Barry B. Benson, a honey...

Death on the Nile cast and character guide. After starring and directing Murder on the Orient Express, Kenneth Branagh returns as Hercule Poirot in Death on the Nile (which he also directs), leading an ensemble cast of characters. Set in 1937, Death on the Nile follows Poirot on holiday in Egypt. After reuniting with his friend Bouc, who invites him to the marriage party of Simon Doyle and Linnet Ridgeway, an heiress whose family and friends are seemingly drawn to because of her wealth. When Jacqueline de Bellefort, Simon’s ex, reappears, things take a turn. When someone is murdered while on the S.S. Karnak, Poirot searches for the killer.

The casts of murder mysteries are usually large so as to have a lot of potential killers and victims hiding in the bunch. A big part of what makes Death on the Nile intriguing is due to its ensemble cast,...

Disney is known worldwide for their superb films—so much so that great movies from other studios often get wrongly labeled as Disney movies. As the leading maker in children's entertainment, audiences can usually easily identify a House of Mouse project from a mile away. They tend to contain similar themes and animation styles, so fans always know what to expect. However, from time to time, studios like Dreamworks, Warner Bros, and more come out with a film that seems to fit the Disney mold, which causes fans to go years never realizing that they gave credit to the wrong company.

This mistake has become increasingly prevalent as Disney continues rolling out live-action remakes. Fans have begun to request that the studio remake the classic films from their childhoods, but that isn't possible if the House of Mouse never produced the movie, to begin with. In some cases, these were...

Warner Animation Group, the Warner Bros. animation unit responsible for feature-length animation, is getting some new leadership. Bill Damaschke, an animation veteran who started his career as a production assistant on Disney’s “Pocahontas” and eventually became COO of DreamWorks Animation, is in final negotiations to become head of Warner Animation Group, TheWrap has confirmed.

Executive VP Allison Abbate was the last person to lead the unit; she departed in summer 2022 after the merger with Discovery. The fallout of the new leadership included the cancellation of the mostly finished “Scoob: Haunted Holiday,” a follow-up to the 2020 animated feature “Scoob,” as a cost-cutting measure (done at the same time as the shelving of “Batgirl”).

At Warner Bros. Discovery, Damaschke will report to Warner Bros Film Group co-chairpersons and CEOs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy. It hasn’t been announced what Damaschke’s title will be.

Also Read:

Disney Sets Sequels for ‘Frozen,...

Music composer John Powell, who is known for scores of ‘How to Train Your Dragon’, some ‘Ice Age’ films and ‘The Road to El Dorado’, has scored the background for the recently released Harry Styles film ‘Don’t Worry Darling’. The composer shared that the film’s director came with a clean slate to him and the two eventually brainstormed and came up with the soundscape of the movie.

John said: “Olivia was actually looking for a brief. When I met her she was kind of looking out for the sonic textures that would make up the soundscape of her film. That was very natural because a lot of directors including Olivia haven’t worked with a music composer as such.”

Opening up on his process of approaching the music, John added: “I had watched the film without music which is my general practice for every project so when I met her,...

Ralph Eggleston, an animation whiz who was hired by Pixar in the lead-up to the release of “Toy Story,” has died following a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 56.

Over the course of his storied career, Eggleston went on to serve in a variety of roles at Pixar, memorably contributing to everything from “Monsters, Inc.” to both “Incredibles” movies to “Inside Out” and “Soul.” (The animation studio didn’t release an official statement but sent an email to staff confirming the news this morning.)

Also Read:

Animators Voice ‘Deep Distrust’ of Warner Bros. Discovery After Latest HBO Max Purge

Eggleston started his career with former Disney animator Bill Kroyer, working on things like the title sequence for “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” and eventually Kroyer’s directorial debut “Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest.” Eggleston then left to join Disney, working on some of the most celebrated movies in the company...

Marcus King says he was haunted by the Seventies rock band Free when he was writing his new song “Hard Working Man.” King ain’t lying. The high-octane track explodes with an FM radio chorus, a chunky guitar riff, and enough cowbell to satisfy Christopher Walken. Recorded earlier this year with producer Dan Auerbach for King’s upcoming album Young Blood, “Hard Working Man” sounds as if it arrived in the year 2022 by way of a bitchin’, time-traveling 1970 Camaro.

“I was hearing a lot of Free tracks. Paul Kossoff and...

The new year is continuing apace at Hulu. The streamer’s list of new releases for February 2022 is highlighted by one very interesting project.

Pam and Tommy is set to premiere on Feb. 2. Perhaps the Groundhog Day release date is intentional as the show will cover a particular moment of celebrity, sex, and exploitation from the early ’90s that seems to have repeated itself over and over. Sebastian Stan and Lily James star as Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson and the series follows the events and fallout of their homemade sex tape being stolen and unleashed on a nascent internet. If nothing else, getting the promo photos of Stan and James as the ’90s stars was worth it.

Read more Movies Willem Dafoe on Noir, Fate and Geeks in Nightmare Alley By David Crow Movies Matthew Vaughn on Finding The Man Who Would Be King’s Man By David Crow

Another Hulu original,...

While France has a deeply entrenched cinema tradition, drama series have been gaining tremendous ground within the country’s cultural landscape within the past few years, with some of the country’s biggest producers, stars and filmmakers venturing into ambitious television projects. The 3-month-old merger of UniFrance and TV France Intl., the country’s film and audiovisual promotion organizations, into a single entity is probably the best illustration of this blended world.

The growing presence of global streaming services, especially Netflix, in the TV space has played a key role in bolstering a talent drain, catapulting French stars, such as Omar Sy with the Gaumont-produced show “Lupin,” to international recognition. Although Sy broke through a decade ago with the smash hit French comedy “Intouchables,” “Lupin” allowed him to reach many more viewers around the world. Another example is Tahar Rahim, who became known around the world after starring in...

Film aficionados will want to keep an eye on Amazon Prime Video in August, as the streaming giant is set to debut two Cannes Film Festival premieres: “Val,” a new documentary about Val Kilmer that uses archival footage shot by the actor himself, and “Annette,” Leos Carax award-winning musical (it won best director at Cannes) starring Adam Driver and Maron Cotillard and featuring music by Ron and Russell Mael of Sparks.

But beyond the Prime Video originals, the Amazon library content added to the service next month is vast and impressive. Among the major movies coming to Prime Video include “Aliens,” “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” “Jaws,” “Moneyball,” and “Predator.” Meanwhile, IMDb TV, the free service that users can access without a corresponding Amazon Prime subscription, will host “Apollo 13,” “La La Land,” and “Ghostbusters” among many other big titles.

Here’s everything coming to Amazon Prime Video in August...

Shakira has dropped the video for the new song “Don’t Wait Up.” It’s the Colombian star’s first new solo song since 2017’s El Dorado and her first English-language single since 2016’s “Try Everything.”

The track boasts a heavy drum groove and a spare but punchy assortment of synths. The video for the song, which was filmed in Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands, boasts plenty of dance floor footage and slick choreography, although the best sequences are when Shakira’s catching some waves on a neon-lit surfboard.

Not even remotely interested in seeing Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes or The Weeknd do their thing at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium?

We’ve got you. Instead of watching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs go helmet-to-helmet for a shiny Vince Lombardi, head to these platforms and channels to get your Sunday evening fix of series and flicks.

All showtimes listed below are in Eastern Standard Time.

Streaming Alternatives Netflix

Shows: “Kid Cosmic,” “Firefly Lane,” “Hache” (Season 2), “Invisible City,” “The Sinner” (Season 3)

Films: “The Bank Job,” “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” “Zathura: A Space Adventure,” “Shutter Island,” “The Patriot,” “Little Big Women,” “Space Sweepers,” “Strip Down, Rise Up,” “The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity”

Amazon Prime

Shows: “Little Coincidences,” “What’s New, Scooby-Doo?,” “Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men,” “The White Princess” (Season 1), “Billions” (Seasons 1-3), “Black in Latin America” (Season 1), “Finding Your Roots” (Season 1)

Films: “Kiki,” “Dazed and Confused,...

It’s that time of the month where we can give you a look ahead at what Sky Cinema has planned for the coming weeks, and since it doesn’t look like many of us are going very far, hopefully some of these upcoming movies will help to keep us busy during lockdown.

Without further ado, he’s what Sky Cinema has lined up for us…

Premieres

The 24th – 2nd February

BlacKkKlansman and Da 5 Bloods writer Kevin Willmott brings us the story of the all-black Twenty-Fourth United States Infantry Regiment, and delves into the the Houston Riot of 1917.

Weathering With You – 3rd February

In this acclaimed animated film, impressionable young Hodaka meets the conflicted Hina, who can control the weather. It’s really touching, funny and wonderful, and also a perfect movie for fans of Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name.

Bull – 4th February

Bull, which was a hit at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival,...

WME has signed Grammy-winning singer Shakira for representation in all areas.

The “Hips Don’t Lie” pop superstar tore up the Super Bowl Liv Halftime show alongside Jennifer Lopez, a performance that earned the show four Emmy nominations.

Shakira, who was previously at CAA, has sold over 80 million records worldwide and has taken home multiple awards from a number of ceremonies including the Grammys, Latin Grammys, Billboard Music Awards and the American Music Awards.

The “She Wolf” singer’s latest album El Dorado topped the iTunes most popular album charts in 37 countries upon release. Her El Dorado World Tour saw the release of the concert film Shakira in Concert: El Dorado World Tour, which was shown in cinemas worldwide for a one-night global event, and was accompanied by Shakira In Concert: El Dorado World Tour Live Album.

In addition to landing a voice-acting role in Disney’s Oscar-nominated Zootopia, Shakira...

Beginning in mid-July, Marcus King and his band played a series of concerts on a Nashville soundstage with guests including Billy Strings, Brent Hinds from Mastodon, Jennifer Hartswick, Devon Gilfillian and blues singer-songwriter Early James.

The shows were a reminder of what music fans have been missing for the last five months — surprises ranged from a wild cover of Black Sabbath’s “Electric Funeral” with Brent Hinds from Mastodon to an entire Last Waltz-inspired set.

King’s Four of a Kind shows raised a lot of money, bringing in $80,000 for MusiCares,...

Marcus King sets his song “One Day She’s Here” to an inventive new music video that finds the singer-guitarist and his lover just feet apart but walking in opposite directions. When they do connect, it’s fleeting, mirroring the song’s chorus of “one day she’s here/the next she’s gone.”

The South Carolina native filmed the video on the streets of Nashville with director Joshua Shoemaker, who used reverse motion photography to simulate King walking backward as life continues to move forward around him. His umbrella magically sheds its rain,...

After doing the performance of a lifetime at this year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show, global superstar Shakira has released a new video for her chart-topping single, “Me Gusta,” featuring Puerto Rican Latin trap star Anuel AA.

Directed by Drew Kirsch, who also directed Taylor Swift’s “Lover,” the new video presents a colorful fantasy of cosmopolitan life. Together the stars travel through mountains by high-speed rail and prepare breakfast inside a private dining car. At home, Anuel gently prepares sushi, while Shakira languishes on the kitchen table, wearing luxurious pink satin and feathers.

Launched by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen as DreamWorks in 1994, DreamWorks Animation celebrates its silver anniversary, marking 25 years since embarking on its first voyage with the Academy Award-nominated biblical epic “The Prince of Egypt.”

Since then, DreamWorks Animation has released 38 feature films, including the blockbuster “Shrek,” “Madagascar,” “Kung Fu Panda,” “How to Train Your Dragon” and “Trolls” franchises and its newest release, “Abominable.” Earning more than $15 billion at the global box office, DreamWorks has received a multitude of accolades over its history, including three Oscars and three Academy Sci-Tech Awards.

Women have long been in the spotlight at DreamWorks Animation, well known for promoting female talent within their ranks to leadership roles. Here, six female directors share their memories of working at the studio during its first quarter century: Lorna Cook, Vicky Jenson, Elaine Bogan, Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Brenda Chapman, and Jill Culton.

Lorna Cook

Animator-director

For Cook,...

If you’re looking forward to the Birds of Prey film as much as we are, then the past few weeks have probably been pretty exciting for you.

For one, the Cathy Yan-directed flick has finally been given a release date, while Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Jurnee Smollett-Bell were both confirmed as Huntress and Black Canary, respectively. There’s also the fact that Ewan McGregor could wind up stepping into the shoes of the villainous Black Mask.

Honestly, Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn is being given a great cast to work with here and the news just keeps on pouring in, as The Wrap reports that Warner Bros. has found their Renee Montoya tonight, with Rosie Perez snagging the role. Though not a household name, the actress has showed up in Do the Right Thing, The Road to El Dorado and White Men Can’t Jump, among other movies,...

MaryAnn’s quick take… Save us from male artists who think they are dangerously, uniquely innovative. This stew of toxic masculinity and CGI-cartoon violence is nothing but tediously mundane. I’m “biast” (pro): love the cast, mostly

I’m “biast” (con): hated the first film

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Here’s a phrase I do not recall from Kingsman: The Secret Service: “independent intelligence agency.” This is uttered in Kingsman: The Golden Circle in connection with the American counterpart to Kingsman: Statesman, to which we are introduced here. But what does that mean, precisely? It means they’re mercenary spies, doesn’t it? I have a vague recollection of Secret Service mentioning something about Kingsman being funded by the crown heads of Europe, which at least offers a veneer of governmental authority and fealty to law and order — though of course there...

Shakira is taking her act on the road. On Tuesday, the "Me Enamoré" singer announced that her El Dorado World Tour will kick off Nov. 8 in Cologne, Germany. A Latin American leg of the tour will be announced at a later date. "Thank you all so much for listening to my music in so many places around the world," the 40-year-old singer tells E! News in a statement. "I can't wait to be onstage again singing along with all of you, all of your favorites and mine. It's going to be fun! The road to El Dorado starts now!" Here is the complete list of tour dates: Nov. 18, 2017: Cologne, Germany – Lanxess Arena Nov. 10, 2017: Paris, France – AccorHotels...

With Run The Series, The A.V. Club examines film franchises, studying how they change and evolve with each new installment.

Shrek was not the first film to be released by Dreamworks Animation, but it was the one that set the tone for the studio, establishing a blueprint that would be copied, in one form or another, for most of its subsequent features. It was both its Snow White and, given its bizarro-world Disney worldview, an anti-Snow White.

Previous titles had included a pair of overt Mouse House rip-offs (The Prince Of Egypt and The Road To El Dorado, both cel-animated adventures with original music), a stab at claymation (Chicken Run), and Antz, a dialogue-heavy title that skewed a bit more adult and played like a trial run for its overall capabilities, given how relatively primitive the visuals were. All of those have their defenders, but none broke out ...

A version of this article originally appeared on EW.com.

Thanksgiving has arrived and with it comes bingeing of all kinds — but mainly food, shopping and TV. We’ve rounded up all the movie and TV show marathons airing over the long holiday weekend so you can watch your favorite while digesting on the couch.

There’s something for everyone to enjoy, whether you’re a Parks and Recreation fan and just want to spend time with your favorite Pawnee residents or a horror fan looking for a scare-fest like those on IFC and Syfy. Perhaps you’d prefer to...

facebook

twitter

google+

From Flushed Away and Hunchback to Titan A.E. and Sky High - the family movies that don't get the love they deserve...

When I sit through a film such as Zootropolis, Rango, Frozen, Wreck-It Ralph, Eddie The Eagle or Coraline, I can’t help but be thankful somebody has bothered. As a parent as well as a movie lover, I’ve grown to really dislike family movies that just turn up to act as a surrogate babysitter for 90 minutes, with no intention of becoming anybody’s favourite film. The films I'm going to talk about are the family movies therefore that I think both try and do something a bit more, yet continue to fly under many people's radar.

A bonus mention before we get going, and number 26 in the list, much to my surprise: Alvin & The Chipmunks 4. I was expecting next to zero from it, courtesy...

With production to begin soon on 20th Century Fox's Kingsman: The Golden Circle, casting is still under way on the action sequel, set for release on June 16, 2017. Today we have a new report from The Hollywood Reporter, which reveals music icon Elton John is in talks for a role. No details were given for the character he may play, but it sounds like the musician may be playing himself.

Regardless of his role, if a deal is finalized, Elton John joins a cast that already includes original Kingsman: The Secret Service stars Taron Egerton as Eggsy, Mark Strong as Merlin and Edward Holcroft as Charlie Hesketh, who was believed to have died in Kingsman: The Secret Service. They will be joined by new cast members Julianne Moore as the villain Poppy and Halle Berry as the head of the CIA. The sequel will move the action from London to the United States,...

Odd List Ryan Lambie 28 Apr 2014 - 06:21

From Japanese anime to Disney via stop-motion, here are 18 animated films that are mystifyingly unavailable on Blu-ray...

Not all movies need to be seen in HD, but if there's one type of filmmaking that regularly benefits from the Blu-ray format, it's animation. Let us cite one example at random: My Neighbour Totoro. Until fairly recently, the only copy we had on the shelf was an early, imported version on DVD, which was grainy and a little washed-out.

When Studio Canal issued Totoro on Blu-ray in 2012, the difference in image quality was little short of a revelation: Hayao Miyazaki's colours and fluid lines positively shimmered. In short, it was like seeing this fresh, sun-drenched film again for the first time.

The same could be said for so many other animated films, no matter what country they come from: in high-definition, we can truly...

Odd List Ryan Lambie Simon Brew 28 Nov 2013 - 06:04

Our series of lists devoted to underappreciated films brings us to the year 2000, and another 25 overlooked gems...

The new millennium brought with it an eclectic range of hit films. Hong Kong action director John Woo brought us Mission: Impossible II, the most profitable film of the year at the box office. Ridley Scott enjoyed one of the biggest critical and financial successes of his career with Gladiator, while Robert Zemeckis created a memorable drama with Tom Hanks and a ball named Wilson in Cast Away.

From a comic book movie standpoint, 2000 was also a key year. X-Men not only established a successful film franchise which is still going, with X-Men: Days Of Future Past out next year, but also headed up a wave of big-budget Marvel adaptations which shows no sign of slowing down.

As ever, we've travelled far outside the...

I know what you’ve been dreaming about: an all-ages, Disney-style cartoon based on Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead. Dream no longer. It’s a reality…in the form of this art work by Deviant Artist Mirandaareli. The following photo reenvisions the characters of The Walking Dead in the guises of famous Disney characters. See if you can name them all!

Give up? Me too.

Daryl Dixon – Sinbad (Sinbad: Legend Of The Seven Seas) Andrea – Helga (Atlantis: The Lost Empire) Glenn Rhee – Mulan (Mulan) Rick – John Rolfe (Pocahontas II: Journey To A New World) Maggie – Anastasia (Anastasia) Shane – Tulio (The Road To El Dorado) Carol – The Dowager Empress Marie (Anastasia) Carl – Jim Hawkins (Treasure Planet) Lori – Kayley (Quest For Camelot) T-Dog – Dr. Sweet (Atlantis: The Lost Empire) Sophia – Jane (Tarzan) Dale – Vladimir Hershel – Dymas (Sinbad: The Legend Of The Seven Seas) Beth – Arista (The Little Mermaid)

Thanks to...