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David Dastmalchian is the first actor in the Dexter franchise history to be killed by Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) twice, playing two different characters in the same season of Dexter Resurrection. This rare opportunity, as Dastmalchian himself puts it, is something no one has done before on the show. He plays the twin serial killer known as The Gemini Killer. Talking to Deadline, he shared,

I want to give a major thank you and share my gratitude [executive producers] Clyde [Phillips] and Scott [Reymonds], because I got to do with the Gareths is something that no one has done… Not only did I get to play two characters, but I had two performance to craft.

Already known for roles in The Dark Knight, The Suicide Squad, Prisoners, Oppenheimer, and One Piece, Dastmalchian brings another chilling villain to life in Showtime’s reboot. Dexter Resurrection Season 1 centers on a secret society of murderers...

New company Incantor AI has launched with what the tech company calls the “first AI model that enables creator attribution and IP rights tracking across all gen AI-derived content created on its platform.”

Agency Verve will advise the startup as it rolls out its content creation platform and help Incantor “navigate the entertainment industry and explore practical applications of its technology, including content localization, rights management, and creative production workflows – while also advocating for the creative community and artists entering this new realm.”

Incantor’s launch announcement comes on the heels of Disney and NBCUniversal filing a federal lawsuit Tuesday against Midjourney, becoming the first Hollywood players to take a shot across the bow of a generative AI company that they claim has stolen their copyrighted characters.

Per Incantor, the company’s “core technology stands apart from large language models (LLMs) such as OpenAI’s Gpt, Google’s Gemini, and DeepSeek,...

Exclusive: Legendary Canadian talk show host and broadcaster Dini Petty is returning to network TV aged 80.

She will host the one-hour special Trailblazing Talks on Canadian channel The News Forum this summer, with production completed in Toronto.

In the show, Petty will have candid conversations with Canadian Senator, former rower and three-time Olympian gold-medalist Marnie McBean, and actor, producer and Reelworld Screen Institute founder and Executive Director Tonya Williams.

She will also share highlights of memorable moments from her original interviews with both guests, who appeared on The Dini Petty Show, the Canadian daytime talk show that ran from 1989 to 1999.

Petty is one of Canada’s most recognizable broadcasters and radio hosts, known for her trademark pink jumpsuits. While working for Canadian radio station Ckey, she became the first female traffic reporter to pilot her own helicopter, clocking 5,000 hours of flight.

She went on to be co-anchor of CityTV’s...

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Time to make some room in that virtual shopping cart — Samsung has unleashed a massive Discover Samsung sale just in time for summer, with new discounts of up to 30% off on a huge list of devices, gadgets, and smart appliances.

shop Samsung summer sale Deals

The tech giant is no stranger to a great sale, but Samsung’s latest round of deals can’t be missed — and it...

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a hot topic in more recent years, with the development of tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and many more. While it can aid workspaces in some ways, it also threatens the livelihoods of people in the arts sector. The increased use of AI scripts and art is concerning, to say the least.

The most recent usage of it that caused immense controversy was ChatGPT’s image generation, but in Studio Ghibli’s art style, which directly stole their artwork. Since AI art does learn and borrow elements from published artwork, valid criticisms have been raised about this.

For an industry as creative as the anime industry, AI is a terror. It cannot replicate the hard work and soul of the animators, or the charm. However, as AI keeps developing, it has become a serious threat. Still, it’s not like Japan isn’t aware of this.

New York Asian Film Festival/Japan Cuts Festival of New Films

NEW YORK -- Such works as the sci-fi classic Tetsuo: The Iron Man and the outlandish costume drama Gemini have established Shinya Tsukamoto as an auteur of the strange -- a kind of intellectual version of Takashi Miike. This riff on the J-horror genre certainly is imaginative, though it lacks the visual experimentation of his previous films. Nightmare Detective occasionally is effective but suffers because it relies more on gore and bloodshed than suspense for shocks.

There's a nastiness at the core of Nightmare that many will find off-putting. It has a sadistic approach to its characters, and the violence is often misogynistic. The film has more in common with the discomfiting Marebito -- in which Tsukamoto starred -- than standard J-horrors. But the Weinstein Co., which will release here on its Dragon Dynasty imprint, should find a willing audience of horror buffs looking for a different approach to what's now become an exhausted J-genre.

The story, by Tsukamoto, revolves around Keiko (pop star Hitomi), a yuppie cop who is investigating a series of gory suicides. Keiko realizes that the deaths may not actually be suicides at all, as they happen while the victims are asleep. It transpires that something or someone is entering their dreams and causing the violence. Keiko enlists Kyoichi (Ryuhei Matsuda), a reclusive young man who has the power to enter people's nightmares, to help her.

The narrative often is befuddling. The links between the real world and the nightmares aren't made sufficiently clear, even within the bizarre world of the script. The film's psychology is basic, and doesn't tell viewers much about the characters' actions. A fast-moving story line tries to mask this confusion but only ends up making it worse.

But the tone is consistent. It's a relentlessly grim view of Human Nature where people have no defense against those with baser, crueler instincts. Its aesthetic is even gloomier than David Fincher's Seven -- a hell on earth with no respite for the civilized. Tsukamoto is adept at taking viewers into this dark world, though they might find it's a place they don't care to visit.

Makeup, rather than computers, supplies most of the effects, and Tsukamoto relishes depicting nasty slashes on the bodies of the victims. This might be ugly, but it's not particularly scary, as the editing doesn't build up much suspense.

Tsukamoto seems to be trying to make an anti-suicide statement, as most of his characters change their minds about the act when it's too late. Suicide is ritualized in Japan with traditions like hari-kari, and it also has become a social problem there: Young students commit suicide because of bullying or exam pressure. Yet Tsukamoto has chosen a bizarre way to make his point.

Tsukamoto directed, wrote, produced, shot, edited and did the production design. He also plays Zero. Apparently, all this activity didn't tire him out. A sequel is on the way.

NIGHTMARE DETECTIVE

Dimension Extreme

A Movie-Eye Entertainment presentation of a Kaijyu Theater production

Credits:

Director/screenwriter/director of photography/production designer: Shinya Tsukamato

Producers: Shinya Tsukamato, Shinichi Kawahara, Yumiko Takebe

Executive producer: Taku Uhiyama

Music: Chu Ishikawa

Editor: Shinya Tsukamoto

Cast:

Kyoichi: Ryuhei Matsuda

Keiko: Hitomi

Wakayama: Masanobu Ando

Running time -- 105 minutes

No MPAA rating...