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Exclusive: Longtime collaborators and friends, producer Graham King and actor Ray Winstone, are tapping into their East End roots for It’s a F*cking Liberty, a decades-spanning crime drama series currently in the works.

King will executive produce for his Gk Films banner alongside Hayley King. Winstone will also executive produce and may appear on the series, which will be written by Paul Tomalin.

It’s a F*cking Liberty is described as an epic crime family saga that tears through sixty years of London’s East End gangland history. The series is a turbulent rollercoaster following the story of a fierce matriarch’s rise to power in the 1970s through the murderous betrayals of an underworld/criminal network of bent cops, and scheming politicians – diving into numerous subplots spanning the post WWII era, the mainland Ira’s bombing campaigns, and 21st century repercussions.

This marks Graham...

St. Vincent has released “Doa,” a new song she created for the A24 horror comedy Death of a Unicorn, and added a handful of summer US tour dates. Stream the track below.

Released alongside the movie’s theatrical debut, the song was written, recorded, and performed entirely by Annie Clark, with mixing by Cian Riordan. Propelled by ’80s synths, “Doa” is an ode to the film’s (not-so) mythical creature.

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“Right as I had stopped believing in miracles,” St. Vincent sings. “In comes a unicorn right in front of me/ Oh you’re wild but child you gotta run next to me/ You are the ecstasy in the center of the whole world.”

Written and directed by Alex Scharfman, Death of a Unicorn stars Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter, Téa Leoni, and Richard E. Grant. The film’s score was composed by Dan Romer and Giosuè Greco.

Indie Rights has acquired worldwide distribution rights to “Vincent,” the atmospheric arthouse dark comedy from Australian filmmaker Alan King, it was revealed on the sidelines of Hong Kong FilMart.

The film, which King both directed and stars in as the troubled writer Vincent Tremblay, follows a protagonist who retreats to an isolated location to complete his first novel, only to encounter a mysterious powerful force that disrupts his solitude.

“With ‘Vincent,’ it was my intention for the line between reality and fantasy to be never clearly defined,” King explains. “Many of the events and themes in the film’s narrative serve as metaphoric representations of addiction, isolation, mental health, friendships, family, social prejudices and concepts of identity.”

The film features a cast including Christopher Kirby, Mercia Deane-Johns (“Last Cab to Darwin”), Greg Fleet (“Wolf Creek”) and Zoe Bertram (“Under the Lighthouse Dancing”), with newcomers Bill Evans and Paree Brar rounding out the ensemble.

Philip K. Dick’s novella The Variable Man gets an adaptation from Humans co-creators Jonathan Brackley and Sam Vincent. The author, also behind Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and The Man in the High Castle, has been widely regarded for his prominent impact on the sci-fi genre. Originally released in 1953, The Variable Man focuses on Thomas Cole, who is transported to the future amid a war between Terra and Centaurus.

According to Deadline, Brackley and Vincent are now adapting The Variable Man. Motive Pictures, the British company from Simon Maxwell, is collaborating with Electric Shepherd and the adaptation will air in the UK. However, Maxwell explains that having Brackley and Vincent on board and “exploring the modern world through a genre lens” can help garner a wide release in the United States. He adds that creating shows with strong talent can build “excitement to attract the commissions and co-finance...

SXSW 2025 headed into the weekend with a Friday night full of surprises. On one stage, an under-the-radar appearance from Texas’ own St. Vincent; on another, a vaudeville performance by actor John C. Reilly’s new creation. In every other available space in town, there were great new artists, local legends, visiting superstars, and more. Here are the best things we saw at SXSW on Friday, March 14.

A Visit From St. Vincent

Annie Clark grew up in Dallas, three hours north of Austin, and she’s made some unforgettable appearances at SXSW over the years.

Cartoon Movie opens today in Bordeaux, France, the annual co-production and pitching event for Europe’s feature animation sector.

Backed by Creative Europe Media, the event is part of the Cartoon ecosystem that also includes the annual Cartoon Forum series event and various business development and training initiatives.

Since launching in 1999, nearly 500 films with a total budget value of €3.2billion have been pitched at and raised financing via Cartoon Movie Recent highlights includeLoving Vincent, Flee, and 2025 Oscar winner Flow.

Overseen by general manager Annick Maes, this year’s lineup includes the first animated features of Werner Herzog (The Twilight World...

Cartoon Movie opens today in Bordeaux, France, the annual co-production and pitching event for Europe’s feature animation sector.

Backed by Creative Europe Media, the event is part of the Cartoon ecosystem that also includes the annual Cartoon Forum series event and various business development and training initiatives.

Since launching in 1999, nearly 500 films with a total budget value of €3.2billion have been pitched at and raised financing via Cartoon Movie Recent highlights includeLoving Vincent, Flee, and 2025 Oscar winner Flow.

Overseen by general manager Annick Maes, this year’s lineup includes the first animated features of Werner Herzog (The Twilight World...

Premiering in 2004, ABC's Lost is one of the most iconic and influential television shows of all time. The series centers on the passengers of the doomed Oceanic Flight 815, which crashed on an uncharted island during a flight from Sydney, Australia to Los Angeles, California. Over the course of six seasons, the survivors of the crash come to learn that not only is the island more profound and sometimes terrifying than they thought, but also that they're not alone.

The core group -- which included the likes of Jack Shephard, Kate Austen, James "Sawyer" Ford, John Locke, Sayid Jarrah, and more -- grew exponentially during the show's nailbiting run. By the time of the 2010 finale, fans had already been forced to say goodbye to so many characters they'd come to know and love, but that didn't make the permanent goodbye of the show's very last episode any less painful. However, not...

From rom-coms to intense thrillers, Zoey Deutch continues to propel herself into Hollywood stardom. The daughter of Back to the Future actress Lea Thompson and frequent John Hughes collaborator Howard Deutch, she has worked on a variety of movies, shining in supporting roles and eventually working her way up to prove herself as a lead actor. She has shared the screen with fellow rising stars like Glen Powell as well as Oscar winners like Mark Rylance and Emma Stone.

While her first role was on The Suite Life on Deck, her versatile performances since have made her a growing star. From working with acclaimed director Richard Linklater to leading one of Netflix's most popular romantic comedies, Deutch's performances have been well-received by fans and critics alike while the movies themselves do moderate to well for the most part. Returning to the screen in Clint Eastwood's latest (and possibly...

A firearms expert explains why Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta's Pulp Fiction characters do not get shot at the beginning of the movie. Jackson's Jules Winnfield and Travolta's Vincent Vega are among Quentin Tarantino's best characters, an iconic duo in one of the director's most critically acclaimed movies. Jules and Vincent are widely remembered for their banter, including Vincent's line about "a Royale with cheese," but they are also remembered for surviving outrageous scenarios.

In an Insider video, firearms expert Patrick McNamara reveals how Jules and Vincent survive being shot at close range. The scene occurs toward the beginning of Pulp Fiction when an individual, credited as the Fourth Man, emerges from the bathroom and shoots at Jules and Vincent from a close distance, only for all the bullets to miss them. Jules declares that this is a miracle, but McNamara explains that it is...

Tim Burton is one of the most visually inventive filmmakers of all time, and his work doesn’t just have its own unique visual flair, it is also wonderfully macabre. He came to prominence in the early 1980s with short movies such as Vincent from 1982, and 1984’s Frankenweenie, and followed them up with classic films like Beetlejuice and Batman towards the end of the 80s. Burton went on to make numerous other weird and wonderful movies, and he’s currently putting the finishing touches to the second season of the well-received Wednesday from 2022. And, oh yeah, his latest movie, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice just grossed half a billion dollars!

I’ve always found Burton’s work to be hugely influential from a design perspective, and if you look at any of his creations, from Jack Skellington, to Edward Scissorhands, there’s no doubt that they’re Tim Burton characters. In October of this year,...

We find ourselves tasked with defending what our purpose is in a society that increasingly values machines, unadulterated praise, and PR speak over personalized opinions, ambivalence, and substantive discussion. Casual cultural consumers often view critics as haters who look to tear down carefully constructed art for clout’s sake.

We can’t, though, think of a more vital purpose for our ever-embattled profession than a list like this. With songs, more so than albums or most other media, there are simply way too many to choose from—which is one reason why even a half-discerning listener might throw up their arms and give over control of the aux to the algorithm.

Not so fast. Lend your ears to the extremely varied tunes we’ve assembled here after months of sifting through countless mediocrities and misfires, only to land on the most unique and arresting pieces of songcraft we could scare up.

About 70 years ago, Art Garfunkel formed his first musical duo when he noticed he blended voices nicely with an elementary school friend named Paul. He formed his second one several decades later when he discovered a similar chemistry with his eldest son, Art Garfunkel Jr. After years of performing together on concert stages all across the globe, they released their debut LP last week Father and Son. They’ve dubbed themselves “Garfunkel and Garfunkel.”

Right now, Garfunkel and Garfunkel are sitting in a conference room at New York City’s Pierre Hotel,...

The nominations for the 2025 Grammy Awards have been announced!

The Recording Academy announced the nominees in a YouTube livestream on Friday (November 8).

It was once again a big year for women with Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Charli Xcx, Sabrina Carpenter, and Chappell Roan receiving top nominations.

Keep reading to find out more…Beyoncé received the most nominations with a total of 11.

The 2025 Grammys will take place on February 2, 2025 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

Check out the full list of 2025 Grammys nominations below!

Record of the Year

“Now and Then,” The Beatles

“Texas Hold ‘Em,” Beyoncé

“Espresso,” Sabrina Carpenter

“360,” Charli xcx

“Birds Of A Feather,” Billie Eilish

“Not Like Us,” Kendrick Lamar

“Good Luck, Babe!,” Chappell Roan

“Fortnight,” Taylor Swift feat. Post Malone

Album of the Year

New Blue Sun, André 3000

Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé

Short n’ Sweet, Sabrina Carpenter

Brat, Charli xcx

Djesse Vol. 4, Jacob Collier

Hit Me Hard And Soft,...

2024 has been very kind to Tim Burton. After years of commercial or critical flops, Burton's comeback started in 2022 with "Wednesday" season 1 and peaked with the recently-released "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" — a movie that was not just a success, but also became one of Burton's biggest hits ever. Now, a beloved Tim Burton animated movie is climbing the streaming charts.

Halloween is upon us, and that means the Top 10 charts for streaming services across the United States are filled with spooky titles for all kinds of audiences (as well as a handful of miscellaneous titles that managed to climb the ranks). On Max, for example, Burton's 2005 stop-motion animated film "Corpse Bride" is currently sitting comfortably at the number four spot, sandwiched between M. Night Shyamalan's new film "Trap," the latest adaptation of "Salem's Lot," and two chapters in Ti West's "X" trilogy (via FlixPatrol).

"Corpse Bride" follows Victor (Johnny Depp...

In his new movie Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, director Tim Burton includes a subtle reference to a movie that he very nearly directed back in 1984. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is the highly anticipated sequel to Burton's cult classic, Beetlejuice. The second installment centers on Lydia Deetz and her struggle to connect with her resentful daughter, Astrid. However, when Astrid is tricked into entering the afterlife, Lydia must call upon the mischievous Beetlejuice to get her daughter back. In Beetlejuice Beetlejuice's cast, there is the return of Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, and Catherine O'Hara, alongside newcomer Jenna Ortega.

Because it is a sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice includes all sorts of references to the original movie. There is the return of old beloved characters like Bob and Delia Deetz, and reworkings of previous set pieces, such as the moons of Saturn. Yet, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice also has ties to other movies and series. For example, Burton...

Father John Misty has revealed two brand new songs, “Screamland” and “She Cleans Up.” Update: His new album, Mahashmashana, will arrive in November.

Father John Misty had originally teased new music a couple weeks ago by uploading a cryptic YouTube video simply named “9/17” — assumedly the date that “Screamland” and “She Cleans Up” will hit streaming services — but on September 15th, the singer and songwriter dropped both songs on his Soundcloud account. The two-track file begins with “Screamland” and then segues into the studio version of “She Cleans Up.”

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While “She Cleans Up” is a bluesy, ’70s-inspired rock track a la The Black Keys or St. Vincent, “Screamland” is a sprawling, cinematic cut that evokes Josh Tillman (Father John Misty)’s zeitgeist-lamenting third album, Pure Comedy. With moving strings, a blown-out chorus, and a climactic urgency, “Screamland” strikes the balance between personal and universal. “Keep dreaming/ Screaming,...

The movies of Tim Burton arent explicitly connected to each other, but theres a popular theory connecting some of his most famous works, and another one adds to it while also explaining the origins of The Nightmare Before Christmas Sally. Tim Burton is one of the most beloved filmmakers of his generation thanks to his unique visual style and the type of stories he tells in his movies. Burtons filmmaking career began in 1985 with Pee-wees Big Adventure, and three years later, he fully displayed his style in Beetlejuice.

The following year, Burton joined the world of superheroes with Batman, and since then, he has mixed adaptations of other works with original stories, all of them with his unique style and a combination of horror, comedy, and gothic elements. Burton also adds some of his characters to other movies in Easter eggs, and while this doesnt mean they are connected, it...

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice!Tim Burton put a lot of love into Beetlejuice 2, but the filmmaker also incorporates a subtle insult to Disney after his 2019 project with the studio flopped. 1988's Beetlejuice is considered one of Tim Burton's best movies, but it surprisingly took over 30 years for the sequel to happen. Though Beetlejuice 2 features several returning characters, including Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton, Burton mixes in a few fresh faces and fantastical elements to create a worthy legacy sequel.

Much has changed since the original movie released, and that's reiterated through the major events that happened between Beetlejuice and Beetlejuice 2. The same could be said for Burton's career, considering the kinds of projects he worked on and studios he worked with during his career. Burton's name is often linked to Warner Bros., thanks to his work on movies like Beetlejuice, Batman, and Corpse Bride, but...

Two-time Oscar nominee Tim Burton was honored with the 2,788th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Tuesday, September 3, just days before the director’s film “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” hits theaters. His star is located at 6600 Hollywood Boulevard, appropriately in front of Hollywood Toys & Costumes. Burton received his star in the category of Motion Pictures. Joining emcee Tony Potts were actors Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton. Guests in attendance included actors Danny DeVito, Monica Bellucci and Deep Roy, as well as costume designer Colleen Atwood. Watch Burton’s star ceremony below (beginning at 15:35 mark).

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce administers the legendary Hollywood Walk of Fame for the City of Los Angeles and has hosted the globally iconic star ceremonies for decades. Millions of people from around the world have visited this cultural landmark since the 1960s.

See ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ reviews out of Venice Film Festival: It’s a...

Tim Burton's Vincent short showcases his unique Gothic style and iconic references despite initial Disney disapproval. Vincent includes cameos of Burton's future iconic characters, proving his consistent vision throughout his career. Vincent's success on a shoestring budget exemplifies Burton's determination to break the mold and pursue passion projects.

Tim Burton's work is easily recognizable due to its obscure Gothic motifs and ancient style of animation. Whether it's the creepy joy seen throughout The Nightmare Before Christmas or the whacky energy of Beetlejuice, Burton has managed to appease a generation of horror fans with his unique creativity. Many fans will be aware of Burton's collaboration with Disney, allowing the director to produce a wealth of box office hits, including Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland, and James and the Giant Peach.

Yet, some fans will be surprised to hear that Burton's first run-in with Disney was not very successful, and the...

While many documentaries aim to shine light on hidden aspects of their subject’s life, Tara Wood’s four-part series takes a different approach. Rather than focus on drama or controversy, it celebrates the incredible creative visions of Tim Burton.

Born in sunny California, Burton seemed an unlikely choice to become a master of Gothic fantasy and dark humor. Yet even as a child, his imagination knew no bounds. His earliest drawings featured bizarre hybrid creatures that would later populate his films. Despite facing doubts, Burton persisted in developing his unique artistic style.

Wood crafts the series as a journey through Burton’s career. We witness his animation experiments, from student films stuffed with personality to shorts for Disney that felt stifled by their expectations. Breaking out on his own, Burton began sharing his warped worlds with wider audiences. Pee Wee’s Big Adventure hinted at his flair for the peculiar,...

In his 40-year career, Tim Burton has carved out a niche for himself making quirky, eccentric films that are often box office bonanzas. Let’s take a look back at all 19 of his films, ranked from worst to best, in our photo gallery.

Burton began his career as an animator for Walt Disney Studios before making the short films “Vincent” (1982) and “Frankenweenie” (1984). He directed his first feature when he was just 26 years old: “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” (1985). Burton followed that success with the macabre comedy “Beetlejuice” (1988) before entering the world of blockbusters with the dark, ominous superhero adventure “Batman” (1989).

From the beginning, Burton displayed a talent for crafting visually stunning worlds unlike any seen before. Four of his films, in fact — “Batman,” “Sleepy Hollow,” “Sweeney Todd,” and “Alice in Wonderland” — have won Oscars for their art direction.

Burton often returned to his animation roots, first as a producer on “The Nightmare Before Christmas...

Chicago’s Riot Fest is reversing course, choosing to move back to its long-time home at Douglass Park just months after announcing plans to relocate to SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois, and only weeks before this year’s festivities are set to get underway.

Riot Fest initially announced its move to Bridgeview after festival organizers were unable to reach an agreement with the Chicago Park District. However, the relocation to Bridgeview was met with a mixed reaction from fans due its distance from downtown Chicago and limited access to public transportation.

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In explaining its decision to return to Douglass Park, Riot Fest cited “the overwhelming support” the festival had received from “the City of Chicago and our fans.”

In its own statement, the Chicago Park District said Riot Fest was returning “by community demand” after the two sides were able to “come together with a...

One of Tim Burton's first professional gigs after his stint at the California Institute of Arts was working as an animator, storyboard artist, and graphic designer at Disney. Burton was born and raised in Burbank, California, which is where Disney's offices are located, so he more or less grew up in the company's shadow. He worked at the Mouse House for a few years in the early '80s, working on films like "The Fox and the Hound," "Tron," and "The Black Cauldron." It should be noted that this was a notoriously bad time for Disney, and the financial failure of the ultra-ambitious and very expensive "Cauldron" (it cost $44 million) led to an open conversation about Disney shutting down its animation department. 

Of course, while Disney was floundering financially, they were freer to experiment artistically. I maintain that Disney's most interesting movies came at a time when their kiddie-flick successes didn't define them.

This four-part, so-far-untitled documentary series about the rise and rise of Hollywood’s least likely marquee-name director starts out with a tribute from Christopher Walken that will be very hard for the next three instalments to match. In that inimitable… sta-cc-a-to… Way… of his, the Sleepy Hollow star recalls his former dance teacher saying to him: “Chris, show me something I never saw before. And that’s what Tim does. Every time.”

That, by any metric, is a high bar, and, for the first hour of this docuseries at least, the hyperbole is justified: Whether Tim Burton’s 39-year career in feature films — one imagines the imminent release of Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice must have scuppered the nice, round 40 — will keep viewers glued to the next three is another matter. But while Tara Wood’s documentary is clearly in the director’s corner, it does, convincingly, chart the most unlikely of outsiders...

The 100 Girlfriends Season 2 Cast: Who Are the New and Returning Characters? - Main Image

The cast of 100 Girlfriends season 2 continues to expand as Rentaro Aijo gets another chance to meet new girls who have the potential to become his one true love.

From the tomboyish Iku Suto, the school’s most beautiful student, Utsukushisugi Mimimi, to the short-tempered Kurumi Haraga, Rentaro is set to live every man’s dream in the second season with these new female love interests.

All Confirmed Cast and Characters Appearing in 100 Girlfriends Season 2

As the plot unfolds in 100 Girlfriends, expect that the romance comedy anime series will add more cast members to push its plot forward.

After all, our protagonist, Rentaro Aijo, has yet to find the woman that his heart desires out of all the girls he dated in the first season.

100 Girlfriends season 2 adds more cast members in addition to the returning cast...

We're in an interesting cultural moment. For a while, it seemed like society was becoming more progressive, and the film industry seemed to follow suit; there are more stories being told now, about more kinds of people. However, if you take a cursory look at Film Twitter or FilmTok, you're likely to find people complaining about "unnecessary sex scenes." There's a backlash brewing, a sense that movies need to get back to an imagined past when everything was about plot.

A lot of that concern involves kids, as if the two kinds of entertainment are either "Oppenheimer" or "Bluey." In fact, there's a lot of middle ground, and there used to be even more. Especially in the 1980s and 1990s, a lot of family-friendly films included scenes for adults that felt a bit out of place but made it in anyway. These days, a lot of those violent, strange edges...

Doctor Who has always brought about some of the most unique storylines throughout its course with a runtime of over half a century. From episodes like Blink and The Girl in the Fireplace to The Day of the Doctor and Vincent and the Doctor, there are always ways in which the series has brought about some tearful emotions in the fans.

Ncuti Gatwa as the 15th Doctor

This, however, is only one side of the coin. Despite the many likes storylines and episodes, there are also those that did not sit too well with fans. Some were controversial in their opinion. These included the story of Clara Oswald, the Bad Wolf storyline as well as the most controversial of the lot, the Timeless Child. While the last one got many fans disappointed, Russell T. Davies does not see it the same way.

Doctor Who Will Not Abandon the Timeless Child...

Annie Clark displays a remarkable facility for change, creating constantly morphing songs contained within a shifting panoply of modes, voices, and styles, cutting delicate, glittering pop with forceful fuzz and raunchy, preening guitar work. A multi-instrumentalist with a history of institutional training and anonymous backing-band work, she retains the guitar as her signature instrument and most potent tool, lacerating otherwise divine music with down-and-dirty grit, eyes heavenward and feet muddy.

The gradual expansion of sounds and textures occurring across her seven solo albums as St. Vincent has been accompanied by an inverse sense of simplification, the fine-tuning of music that’s grown less theatrical and more precise, imagery and language filed down to a sharp point. To celebrate the release of her latest release, All Born Screaming, we’ve ranked all eight of the musician’s albums, including her one-off collaboration with David Byrne.

Editor’s Note: This article was...

Beetlejuice 2 brings back Tim Burton's signature stop-motion animation, a feature absent in his recent CGI-heavy films. The return of stop-motion animation in Beetlejuice 2 marks a comeback to Burton's classic filmmaking style. By prioritizing practical effects over CGI, Beetlejuice 2 promises to recapture the essence of Burton's beloved classics.

Tim Burton’s upcoming movie Beetlejuice 2 is bringing back a long-beloved feature of his filmmaking that has largely been absent from his past three movies. Burton is the creative mind behind some of the most beloved horror comedies of the past few decades, such as Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, and The Nightmare Before Christmas (which he didn’t direct), which have often featured trademarks such as gothic fantasy elements, outcast narratives, his frequent collaborators, and stop-motion animation. His last few films, however, took him into a divisive new direction as he elevated his use of CGI effects in big-budget movies.

Track by Track is a recurring feature series in which artists guide readers through every song on their latest release. Today, Declan McKenna takes us through his new record, What Happened to the Beach?.

Declan McKenna has returned with What Happened to the Beach?, the follow-up to 2021’s Zeroes. The album sees McKenna continuing to develop a more relaxed style, allowing for the psychedelic and pop components to shine through even more brilliantly.

What Happened to the Beach? is intentionally a more joyful album than McKenna’s prior efforts. While remaining a powerful songwriter, he’s now more open to a good time or two.

McKenna explains that two main influences for the album were St. Vincent and Unknown Mortal Orchestra. The artist says of St. Vincent: “She takes the guitar to a really cool place. Everything can be manipulated.” Meanwhile, he cites Umo’s hypnotic and spacey energies...

Tim Burton worked on the concept of The Nightmare Before Christmas, but his ideas clashed with Disney's typical style. He made small but significant contributions to Disney films like The Fox and the Hound, The Muppet Movie, and Tron. Burton directed short films like "Vincent" and "Frankenweenie," which got him fired from Disney, but later returned to produce James and the Giant Peach.

Before he was an acclaimed director of many spooky yet mesmerizing movies, Tim Burton was an often uncredited animator in the animation department at Walt Disney Studios. During his time in the two-year young animator's program at Disney, Burton, Henry Selick and Rick Heinrichs first worked on the concept of The Nightmare Before Christmas. However, according to Kathleen Gavin, the co-producer of The Nightmare Before Christmas, Burton's "sensibilities didn't match up with the people who were running the studio" (The Movies that Made Us). And so, Burton moved on to other things.

Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall continued its prize-winning run on Monday at France’s 29th Lumière Awards clinching Best Film and Best Screenplay, while its German star Sandra Hüller won Best Actress.

The Lumières fete the best films, performances and technical achievements of French cinema across 13 categories.

The French equivalent of the Golden Globes, they are voted on by the Académie des Lumières which is made up of France-based international journalists representing 36 countries.

In other key prizes, Thomas Cailley won Best Director for Cannes 2023 Un Certain Regard opener The Animal Kingdom, while Arieh Worthalter won Best Actor for his performance in Cédric Khan’s Cannes Directors’ Fortnight opener The Goldman Case.

Triet’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall, which was nominated in six Lumière categories, is on an award-winning streak.

The movie swept the board at the European Film Awards in Berlin last December...

Plot: A young address (Melissa Barrera) ends up being dumped by her louse of a boyfriend while battling cancer. In her recovery, she also learns that he gave away a role he promised her in his upcoming Broadway debut. Heartbroken, she finds solace in an unlikely figure – the monster under her bed who tormented her as a child.

Review: Your Monster is a terrific showcase for Melissa Barrera. While audiences only know her for being a classic “Final Girl” in the new Scream movies, from which she was unceremoniously dumped, according to her bio, she’s a classic theatre kid. In this movie, Barrera displays a flair for light comedy and shows off her impressive singing voice, with the film being a quasi-musical/ rom-com hybrid with some (light) horror elements mixed in.

Indeed, Barrera is so immensely likeable that you can overlook some of the movie’s shortcomings, including a...

With Loving Vincent, the directors Dk and Hugh Welchman attempted something that had never been done before: to create and edit together 65,000 oil paintings into a feature-length film. The result—which was the labor of 125 painters and numerous actors over the course of six years—was a unique amalgam of flesh, paint, and animation that earned the duo one of the top prizes at Berlinale as well as an Academy Award nomination. But that painstaking process, didn’t discourage the couple one bit. On the contrary, it inspired them to test the limits of filmmaking once again, as their latest film, The Peasants (which not only entailed the same artistic problems but was also interrupted in production by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine), unquestionably proves. Ahead of the January 26 release, the new trailer for Poland’s Oscar entry has now arrived.

Adapted from Władysław Reymont’s beloved four-volume novel of the same name,...

Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall is the frontrunner for France’s Lumiere awards, the country’s answer to the Golden Globes, with 6 nominations, including for best film and best director.

The courtroom drama, starring Sandra Hüller as a writer who may have murdered her husband, won the Palme d’Or in Cannes this year and swept the European Film Awards on the weekend, taking 5 trophies, including best film. Anatomy of Fall, a Neon release in the U.S., has been nominated for 4 Golden Globes.

Tran Anh Hung’s foodie period drama The Taste of Things, which was picked over Anatomy of a Fall as France’s country’s official Oscar contender in the best international feature category, received just one Lumiere nom, for best cinematography.

Another French courtroom drama, Cedric Kahn’s The Goldman Case, picked up 5 Lumiere noms, tying with Thomas Cailley’s sci-fi tale The Animal Kingdom.

For this month’s installment of “TV Terrors” we revisit the animated series adaptation of Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice,“ which aired from 1989 to 1991 on ABC/Fox Network.

In the eighties and nineties, studios were never shy about taking mature intellectual properties and cashing in on them by giving them their own animated spinoffs for kids. Among the rather extensive list were direct G-rated adaptations like “Rambo,” “Conan,” “Ace Ventura,” and even “Police Academy.” One of the most notable, and more widely celebrated adaptations was of Tim Burton’s 1988 hit film Beetlejuice. While the original movie excelled in being as menacing, bizarre, and raunchy as possible, executive producers Tim Burton and David Geffen opted for a more kid friendly variation of the “Ghost with the Most” for the animated series.

Aimed more for the 8-12 Saturday morning cartoon demographic, the animated show thankfully stuck true to much of what made the movie so entertaining.

Jessica Chastain, resplendent in a shimmering silver tasseled jump suit, championed the power of art to bring about positive change at the opening night of the Marrakech Film Festival on Friday evening.

The actress is the attending the Moroccan film festival as the president of the jury.

She was joined on stage by jury members Iranian Holy Spider actress Zar Amir, Call My Agent! star Camille Cottin, Australian actor and director Joel Edgerton, UK director Joanna Hogg, U.S. director Dee Rees and Swedish filmmaker Tarik Saleh and actor Alexander Skarsgård.

“Throughout history art has been used as an accessible tool for communication, raising awareness about social issues and effecting positive change,” she said.

Citing the words of renowned anthropologist Margaret Mead on the power of “a small group of thoughtful committed citizens” to change the world, Chastain called on all those in the theatre to embrace the arts.

“I...

When Henry Selick's animated fantasy "The Nightmare Before Christmas" was first released in October of 1993, it wasn't an overwhelming hit. Made for a budget of $20 million, the film only opened to about $191,000 in its first weekend. It would eventually crawl its way to a respectable but not mind-blowing $50 million overall. Disney, the film's distributor, clearly had little faith in the project and released it under its Touchstone label, feeling it was too weird for little kids. Only a small segment of passionate teenage Tim Burton fans latched onto it (Burton designed the film and wrote the poem on which the script is based), and it was the weirdos and Goths who bought it on VHS and committed the film to memory. For a few brief, sweet years, "Nightmare" was little more than a legitimate cult phenomenon.

Something happened by the late 1990s, however, as Disney slowly discovered that marketing...

Jack Skellington famously sings “What’s this?” when first discovering snow in the seminal stop-motion animated feature The Nightmare Before Christmas, and it’s a question that audiences likely asked upon initial release in October 1993. The strange animated feature that embraces German Expressionism and macabre character designs feels atypical of family-friendly fare yet spends the bulk of its narrative exploring the Christmas holiday as an outsider. Disney understandably felt nervous about releasing the feature, one so removed from their usual output, but misfits everywhere ensured that The Nightmare Before Christmas would eventually become not only a widely embraced classic but one of the most marketable films ever for the brand. It also happened to be the masterful feature debut of filmmaker Henry Selick.

The Nightmare Before Christmas originated from a poem penned by Tim Burton, and, thanks to the success of Burton’s short film “Vincent,” was acquired by Disney for development as a series,...

Jack Skellington actually made his debut in Tim Burton's 1982 short film Vincent, not Beetlejuice as widely believed. Jack's early design in Vincent resembled more of a voodoo doll than a skeleton, with stitches on his head and arrows going through it. Jack Skellington has made cameo appearances in other Tim Burton films, as well as in various TV shows, movies, and video games unrelated to The Nightmare Before Christmas.

The Nightmare Before Christmas’ Jack Skellington is widely believed to have made his first appearance in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice, but his debut actually happened earlier. One of the most popular and beloved animated movies of all time, and one that’s a much-watch during the Halloween and Christmas seasons, is The Nightmare Before Christmas. Directed by Henry Selick from a story by Tim Burton, The Nightmare Before Christmas took the audience to Halloweentown to meet Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon...

Tim Burton's unique visual style has led to theories about connections between his movies, including a possible prequel featuring Johnny Depp's character. Burton has a successful career in fantasy and gothic horror genres, bringing his trademark touch to original stories and adaptations. The theory that Burton's animated movies are all connected suggests Victor Frankenstein, Victor Van Dort, and Jack Skellington are the same character, though this theory is not supported by evidence in the films.

Tim Burton’s movies have a unique visual style that has made way for theories about possible connections between them, and among them is one that suggests Burton secretly made a prequel about one character voiced by Johnny Depp. After making his directorial debut in 1985 with Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Tim Burton was able to show his trademark visual and narrative styles in Beetlejuice, which marked the beginning of a successful career in...

Sony Pictures has snapped up rights in North America, Latin America, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand to The Peasants, the latest animated feature from Loving Vincent helmers Dk Welchman and Hugh Welchman, which world premiered in Special Presentations at this year’s Toronto Film Festival. Further details on release plans have not yet been disclosed.

Recently selected by Poland as its official entry for Best International Feature at the 2024 Oscars, and set to contend in the Best Animated Feature category, as well, The Peasants is based on the same-name, early 20th century novel by Polish author Władysław Reymont. The film tells the story of Jagna, a young woman determined to forge her own path within the confines of a late 19th century Polish village — a hotbed of gossip and ongoing feuds, held together, rich and poor, by pride in their land, adherence to colorful traditions and a deep-rooted patriarchy.

Quick Links The Nightmare Before Christmas Is Based On A 1982 Poem By Tim Burton Why It Took 11 Years For Disney To Turn Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas Poem Into A Movie

So many Disney movies are based on books and fairy tales that it begs the question: is Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas also based on a book? The Nightmare Before Christmas was released in October 1993, and follows the story of Jack Skellington, who is seeking a new purpose, growing tired of his yearly routine. The film was the first full-length stop-motion animation, consisting of 227 puppets, with Jack himself having 400 different heads for his various emotions.

The Nightmare Before Christmas has become a Halloween and Christmas staple over the past three decades, with its enchanting songs from Danny Elfman. The film is full of unique and endearing characters, particularly those from Halloween Town, as they work to spread Christmas...

Tim Burton didn't enjoy seeing Nicolas Cage as Superman in 'The Flash'.The iconic filmmaker was just weeks away from working on 'Superman Lives' in 1998 when the plug got pulled after two years of pre-production work, while the actor did play the role - albeit with a lot of CGI - in a multiverse sequence in the 2023 movie, which also saw Michael Keaton reprise his role as Batman.Asked if he has regrets over missing out on the 'Superman' movie, he told the British Film Institute: "No, I don’t have regrets."I will say this: when you work that long on a project and it doesn’t happen, it affects you for the rest of your life."Because you get passionate about things, and each thing is an unknown journey, and it wasn’t there yet."But it’s one of those experiences that never leaves you,...

Andy Muschietti's recent superhero flick "The Flash" hoped to lure in audiences with a sprawling story that spans several parallel universes. It was the same approach taken by John Watts in "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and Sam Raimi in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," in that all three films assembled multiple versions of certain superhero characters culled from various extant movie franchises. "The Flash" contains the Ben Affleck version of Batman as he appeared in Zack Snyder's "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," as well as the Michael Keaton version of Batman as he appeared in Tim Burton's 1989 film called merely "Batman." The Flash, he finds, can run so fast that he can travel into alternate timelines. 

In the film's climactic final scenes, the Flash -- having time-traveled too much -- unwittingly causes the fabric of reality to rip, allowing cameo appearances from a dozen...

When Hayao Miyazaki’s semi-autobiographical fantasy “The Boy and the Heron” had its international premiere Sept. 7, it wasn’t just the first animated film to open TIFF, or the master director’s first in a decade. It is also part of an unexpected resurgence of animated work at major international festivals.

“When we started doing [2017’s] ‘Loving Vincent,’ only one adult animated film every five years got any kind of recognition,” says Hugh Welchman, who directed ”Vincent” and “The Peasants,” which premiered Sept. 8 at TIFF, with wife D.K. Welchman. “Now it seems that every year one kind of breaks out.”

Their Oscar-nominated Vincent van Gogh biopic helped inspire this trend, earning $42.2 million worldwide on a $5.5 million budget. “Heron” is already continuing arthouse animation’s successful run, taking in $50.6 million since July in Japan alone. And prominent fests are increasing their support: in 2019, Cannes launched an Animation Day in partnership with the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.

Plot: After being badly injured, Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) is nursed back to health by the friendly inhabitants of a town in Southern Italy. When he discovers the Sicilian Mafia is terrorizing them, he does what he does best…

Review: I absolutely love the Equalizer movies. It seems no one is making straight-forward action thrillers nowadays other than Antoine Fuqua, who’s become the greatest master of the genre since the late Tony Scott. His movies are taut, efficient and packed with gruesome, R-rated action. They know precisely what they are, and if this is the final Equalizer film, it perfectly closes out the only big-screen trilogy of Denzel Washington’s career.

Robert McCall is a perfect character for Denzel. At seventy years old, Washington has the right mix of righteous anger, world-weariness and kindness to do the character justice. One thing I always loved about the franchise was how...

Clockwise from left: Tim Burton (Wikipedia), Batman Returns (Warner Bros.), The Nightmare Before Christmas (Buena Vista Pictures), Edward Scissorhands (20th Century Fox), Frankenweenie (Walt Disney Studios) Image: The A.V. Club Director-animator-artist Tim Burton is known for creating memorable on-screen characters that appeal to outsiders, loners, misfits, goths, and anyone who...