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The classic fairytale gets an unexpectedly dark and adult update in Cinderella the Cat (Gatta cenerentola), a strikingly animated tale from the Italian directorial foursome Ivan Cappiello, Marino Guarnieri, Dario Sansone and Alessandro Rak (all newcomers except for Rak, who earlier directed European Film Award winner The Art of Happiness). Set almost entirely aboard a retro-futuristic ship in the harbor of Naples, the story re-imagines Cinderella as a 17-year-old, vaguely emo-punk chick who’s about to be married off to a megalomaniac drug dealer who wants to turn Naples into the crime capital of the world. Of course, there’s an evil stepmother...

The feelgood comedy will feature veteran Hong Kong actor Richard Ng.

Malaysia’s prolific writer-director Ryon Lee is directing House Of Happiness as the first feature film project of local Chinese-language radio station 988.

The feelgood comedy, which started production in early March, is scheduled for a 2018 Chinese New Year release. The cast includes veteran Hong Kong actor Richard Ng, Malaysian actor Steve Yap and various popular 988 DJs such as Chan Fong.

Lee is co-directing with his assistant director Jy Teng. The film is produced by Lomo Pictures, a new Malaysia-based company founded by Lee and producer Aron Koh.

Lomo is also bringing to Filmart another two new projects directed by Lee: drama The Dream and horror Haunted Road 2, both of which are co-produced with China’s Zhejiang Hewen TV & Film.

Lee made his name as a writer of box-office hits such as The Journey and Nasi Lemak 2.0 before turning to directing. He has directed...

'Tis the season to annoy everyone by using "'tis the season" way too many times when talking about holiday stuff. Halloween hasn't even happened yet, but the Christmas decorations are already taking over drug stores so ABC is just going ahead and announcing its 2015 holiday lineup. It's something to look forward to after the candy is gone, anyway, and since the "Toy Story 20th Anniversary Special" and "It's Your 50th Christmas, Charlie Brown" are involved, you should definitely mark your calendars.

Here's a chronological list of holiday programming highlights, via ABC:

Friday, November 27

"Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" - In the perennial favorite created in 1970 by Rankin-Bass Productions ("Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "Frosty the Snowman"), Fred Astaire narrates this timeless tale of Kris Kringle (Mickey Rooney), a young boy with an immense desire to do good things for others. The vocal cast features Mickey Rooney as Kris Kringle, Keenan Wynn as Winter,...

We return with another edition of the Indie Spotlight, highlighting recent independent horror news sent our way. Today’s feature includes first details on The Crypt’s 13 Days of #HalloVine, The Rage Vol. 1, and Ink, a trailer for Honeyspider, and much more:

13 Days of #HalloVine First Details: “13 Days of #HalloVine! The Crypt and 13 of your favorite horror directors invade your phone!

The Crypt, Eli Roth’s multi-channel horror studio and iPhone app, is bringing fear to your phone this Halloween as 13 directors are participating in The Crypt’s 13 Days of #HalloVine!

#HalloVine begins October 3rd and ends with Eli Roth himself on October 15th! Find these scary Vines by following The Crypt on Vine or checking out any of The Crypt’s social media channels.

The director of the day will conquer the realm of digital scares and take over The Crypt’s Twitter, Vine, Instagram, Facebook and the Crypt...

Joe Carroll might have been put in handcuffs in the season finale of The Following back in May but that doesn’t mean he won’t be factoring into the storyline when the series returns this fall with new psychological thrills. After their panel at Comic-Con on Sunday morning, Kevin Bacon, Shawn Ashmore, Jessica Stroup, and Sam Underwood, along with executive producer Marcos Siega and new showrunner Jennifer Johnson, sat down with press for round table interviews in which they discussed what’s in store for Season 3. During our chat, they explained why they’re calling it a Following “reboot,” revealed that we’ll be seeing a much happier Ryan Hardy when the show returns in October, and talked about Max’s tough moral choices, among other things. Hit the jump for more. Question: Can you explain why you’re referring to next season as a “reboot?” Marcos Siega:...

The BBC has released a first-look image of Paul Whitehouse in new comedy drama Nurse.

The image follows the BBC's announcement earlier today (July 10) that the sitcom has begun filming.

The series is based on the acclaimed Radio 4 series of the same name, which features Esther Coles as community psychiatric nurse Liz. The Fast Show comedian takes on multiple roles as Liz's patients, as the show sees a mixture of returning characters from the radio series as well as many new additions.

Whitehouse and David Cummings, who have collaborated previously on The Fast Show, Down the Line and Happiness, have written the comedy.

"Nurse has gone down very successfully on radio and we are very excited about the TV version," Shane Allen, comedy commissioning for the BBC, said.

"Paul is the leading character comedian of his generation and he has the ability to make you cry with laughter one minute...

Interview Simon Brew 28 Mar 2014 - 06:15

We talk to the director of Muppets Most Wanted, James Bobin, about the film, about Alice In Wonderland 2, and about Jason Statham...

Heading into UK cinemas today is the brand new Muppets movie, Muppets Most Wanted. Directed once more by James Bobin, he spared us some time to talk about working with The Muppets, the complexities, the preparation, the bits that were cut and more. Here's how it went...

Mild spoilers for Muppets Most Wanted lie ahead...

The Muppets continue to popularise quite an old fashioned craft. More than just puppeteering, too. What are your feelings on it? Because my understanding of doing a Muppets film is that the preparation is arduous, the shoot is arduous, the post-production is a little bit lighter?

It is to a degree, but remember too that in post we have to deal with the fact that they...

I'm fairly sure I would have more to relate from my trip to "The Vampires Diaries" PaleyFest panel if not for the screaming. Oh, yes, screaming. Before the panel began, there was screaming. During a short video tribute to Katherine Pierce (more on that later), there was screaming. When Paul Wesley spoke, there was screaming. When Ian Somerhalder spoke, there was screaming. When anyone spoke, there was screaming. Did I mention the screaming? Needless to say, a lot of dishy details were drowned out by, yes, screaming. Here are the 15 things we learned about "The Vampire Diaries" when there was slightly less screaming: 1) We can't rule out a visit from Rebekah to Mystic Falls. Even though the red carpet for "The Vampire Diaries" took place during the panel for "The Originals," I caught a few minutes of that panel, so this is a little bit of a cheat. The door...

It’s time.

Yes, it’s Emmy time. But it’s also time for the Outstanding Host of a Reality or Reality-Competition Program to finally go to the host that, in my opinion, is long overdue to take the statuette home. That host is Cat Deeley, who has been bringing her charm, quick thinking and infectious enthusiasm to her So You Think You Can Dance for nine seasons now.

The British-born Deeley has been nominated the past three years (with Survivor’s Jeff Probst winning in 2011 and Dancing With The Stars’ Tom Bergeron taking it home last year) and when she spoke to me in her dressing room after a recent taping, we made sure to talk about what it means for her to be nominated.

We also discussed how she’d like to win only to channel a popular TV icon at the Emmy parties, how the Downton Abbey...

6'5" British TV and film acting veteran Clive Russell has joined the cast of HBO's "Game of Thrones" for its soon to shoot third season says WinterIsComing.Net. Russell has scored the role of Brynden 'The Blackfish' Tully, Catelyn Stark's uncle and a skilled warrior who becomes a key player in Robb Stark's war effort.

Russell has had a long and distinguished career on the small screen with roles in the likes of "Middlemarch," "Cracker," "Roughnecks," "Neverwhere," "Spaced," "Happiness," "Waking the Dead," "Coronation St," "Merlin," "The Bill," "Jam and Jerusalem" and "Casualty". On the big screen he's appeared in "Sherlock Holmes," "The Wolfman," "The Wicker Tree," "King Arthur," "The 13th Warrior" and "The Power of One"

In other small screen casting news, "Lost" actress Elizabeth Mitchell is returning to the J.J. Abrams fold as she's joined the cast of NBC's "Revolution" reports The Live Feed.

Abrams and "Supernatural" creator Eric Kripke...

Chinese New Year is traditionally a time to celebrate with your family together and in that spirit, PepsiCo has produce a short film Bringing Happiness Home (把乐带回家) for this joyous occasion. Its directed by TV commercial director David Tsui who brings an endearing quality to every of his projects with the most recent being the Solvil et Titus commerical. The cast include Zhang Guo Li, Louis Koo, Zhou Xun, Show Luo and Angela Chang. Other product placement include Lays and Tropicana. You'll find the 10-minute short (English subtitles included) embedded below....

Adapted from Chris O’Dowd’s own comedy short for Sky 1 HD screened during last December’s Little Crackers series, O’Dowd will write and also star in a part autobiographical comedic look at his life growing up in Ireland in 1989 in Moone Boy which will start production in the actors hometown of Boyle, Co. Roscommon and Dublin in the New Year and will be broadcast on Sky 1 HD next summer.

Moone Boy is set in a small town in Ireland in 1989 and follows the antics of the youngest member of the Moone family, 11 year old Martin Moone. Martin has a unique perspective on life aided by an imaginary friend, Sean Murphy, played by Chris O’Dowd. Martin’s imagination comes into play both in his childish drawings, which come alive through animation, and in the ridiculous schemes he comes up with, against Sean’s better judgement. With Sean’s help,...

Sean Hayes has sold a Western to NBC.  It's going to center around a doctor who moves to the Rockies and stands out because he doesn't fight with guns, but rather new theories that are being practiced in the East. So it's largely Doctor Quinn, Medicine Women with a male lead. Someone get Chad Allen on the phone.

PETA is upset. What, you need me to be more specific? Well, this time it's about the New York Times picture of the "sexy chicken" which has been drawing raves. But according to PETA, "It's necrophilia. It's not amusing. It's just ghastly and sickly. It's not fitting for The New York Times." After watching Mitchell and Cam go nuts on a juice fast last night, I can't help but think PETA would be less angry if they'd just eat a steak.

Another judge has ruled that Illinois is perfectly within their rights...

'Michael Jackson called me once. I didn't get to speak to him'

Jackie Chan, 56, was born in Hong Kong. He trained in martial arts and acrobatics at the China Drama Academy and appeared in his first film at the age of eight. At 17, he worked as a stuntman on the Bruce Lee films Fist Of Fury and Enter The Dragon, and landed his first starring role in Little Tiger From Canton. In the 1980s he became famous in Asia for performing all his own stunts and went on to break into Hollywood with the films Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon. Little Big Soldier, which he wrote, produced and starred in, won the Golden Palm at the 2010 Valencia International Film Festival and is out now on DVD.

What is your greatest fear?

Needles.

Which living person do you most admire, and why?

Wow, so many – Robert De Niro, James Cameron,...

 

"The Case of the Grinning Cat shows [Chris] Marker as light on his feet as you'll ever find him, segueing from the important (émigrés and descendants of émigrés rallying against Le Pen's anti-immigrant platform) to the trivial (a cat stuck in a tree)," writes Michael Fox atSF60: "It's a deceptively free-flowing style, but it's anything but random.... At a brisk 42 minutes, Remembrance of Things to Come is a perfect length to simply start from the beginning after you've watched it once. If you don't see 10 or 20 things you missed the first time, I'll be amazed. You may have already concluded that DVD is a perfect medium for Chris Marker, since his cunning, calculated work requires and repays multiple viewings.... Marker's great talent as a filmmaker is giving us the impression that any digression is welcome, any accident is providence and anything can happen, even as he is firmly in control.

By Michael Atkinson

I'm sorry, but if my choices are superheroes, Sarah Jessica Parker's handbag materialism, Ashton Kutcher, learn-to-love-again indies and an Adam Sandler comedy that couldn't even muster enough jokes for a two-minute trailer, then I'll stay home and have a conversation with Chris Marker. I'll at least be assured of having truthful contact with a real human consciousness, of having learned, of having been made aware of cultural connections no other artist would make and of bearing witness to first-hand history. An integral soldier in the French New Wave, Marker is famous here only for "La Jetée" (1962), the beloved all-stills time travel mega-short that was remade by Terry Gilliam as "12 Monkeys." Though he's remained a prolific manufacturer of cinema into his 80s, he's never been a meta-acrobat like Godard and Resnais and Rivette, nor a romantic ironist like Truffaut or Rohmer or Demy, and it's been virtually impossible to see his films,...