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Chicago – When we last reported on Davis Cameron Chu & Meezahn Senbetta’s short film “Hand Job,” it had just started its festival run. Well, now it’s up for an award from the ShortCut100 Fest, and voting is open until October 24th at noon. Click here to add your vote.

The lover of an inert man (Davis Cameron Chu) is trying to get a hold of him over the phone, but he is unresponsive. The pills he took are beginning to have their effect … except for one saving grace. One of his hands is still aware and sentient, and is the only thing between him and potential tragedy. Can it muster enough courage to save the day?

Filmmakers Davis Cameron Chu & Meezahn Senbetta of ‘Hand Job’

Photo credit: Insta @HandJobShortFilm

I met the filmmaker couple where all good film people meet, Chicago’s historic Music Box Theatre, shortly after they began writing,...

Superstar South Korean boy band Stray Kids are back with another banger opening and ending song pair for Tower of God as the anime enters its "Workshop Battle" arc! A creditless version of the new ending sequence, featuring the song "Falling Up", is now available to watch below. Related: Stray Kids to Perform New Opening, Ending Theme Song for Tower of God Season 2 Based on the webtoon by Siu, Tower of God Season 2 is chief-directed by Kazuyoshi Takeuchi and directed by Satoshi Suzuki at The Answer Studio, with series composition by Erika Yoshida ( Bocchi The Rock! ), character designs by Miho Tanino, Seigo Kitazawa and Yoshimitsu Kashima and music by Kevin Penkin ( The Apothecary Diaries ). Crunchyroll is simulcasting the anime and describes the latest story: Ja Wangnan can’t seem to pass the 20th floor. Even after failing time and time again, he refuses to give up. On his journey, he...

Chicago – Last week, filmmakers Meezahn Senbetta & Davis Cameron Chu had their friends/family premiere of their debut short “Hand Job” … and don’t let the title lead you astray. The film is an incredibly expressive and unique journey of one man’s savior hand. They reserved their first interview for HollywoodChicago.com and Pat Über-Critic McDonald.

The lover of an inert man (Davis Cameron Chu) is trying to get a hold of him over the phone, but he is unresponsive. The pills he took are beginning to have their effect … except for one saving grace. One of his hands is still aware and sentient, and is the only thing between him and potential tragedy. Can it muster enough courage to save the day?

Filmmakers Davis Cameron Chu & Meezahn Senbetta of ‘Hand Job’

Photo credit: Insta @HandJobShortFilm

I met the filmmaker couple where all good film people meet, Chicago’s historic Music Box Theatre,...

Now that he’s done playing Tommy Wiseau, James Franco is turning his attention to a much less disastrous artist: Shel Silverstein. Deadline reports that the multi-multi-hyphenate is now in talks to both direct and star in a biopic about the children’s author, songwriter, poet, and cartoonist, whose books have adorned many a classroom for decades.

Read More:James Franco Recreated 25 Minutes of ‘The Room’ Shot-for-Shot in ‘The Disaster Artist’

Chris Shafer and Paul Vicknair are writing the as-yet untitled project, which is based on the Lisa Rogak book “A Boy Named Shel.” Deadline’s report notes that the film “will focus on the personal and professional struggles that made Silverstein a unique voice.”

Read More:James Franco Reveals Why He Became ‘Frustrated’ After 10 Years of Acting and Had to Do More — Watch

Silverstein, who was born in 1930 and died in 1999, is best known for books like “The Giving Tree,...

It looks like James Franco has found a great new film project to jump on board. According to Variety, he is in talks to in and direct a film that will tell the story of prolific children’s book author, cartoonist, and lyricist Shel Silverstein.

Shel Silverstein is best known for his children's books such as The Giving Tree, Where The Sidewalk Ends, Falling Up, A Light in the Attic, Everything On It, The Missing Piece and more. I own all of these books and I enjoyed reading many of them all the time when I was growing up!

In case you didn't know, Silverstein was also a singer, songwriter, and screenwriter. According to the report, the movie will focus "not only on his struggles professionally, but personally as well, and trace how he became the iconic author he is today."

This is actually incredibly cool and James Franco is...

Exclusive: Tammy Blanchard, Dominic Fumusa, Bryan Greenberg and Emanuela Galliussi are set to star in Fourever, an indie dramedy to be directed by Dean Ronalds. Ronalds and Galliussi are producing, and they co-wrote the film with Francesco Plazza. Production is set to start this month in New York City. The pic revolves around friendship, love, secrets and lies between two couples in one New York apartment that will disrupt their lives forever. Falling Up Films is…...

Liv Tyler is one busy woman! Among her many hats, the pregnant star was recently named the brand ambassador for Belstaff, and while chatting with E! News' Catt Sadler at the pop-up shop, where Tyler's campaign film Falling Up (which she starred in and executive produced) debuted, last night, the brunette beauty and explained how she juggles all of her duties along with motherhood. "Every day I'm like, 'Oh my, God!' But then I stop and take a deep breath and just focus on gratitude and how grateful I am for all the opportunities that I have," she tells us. "I always say this little mantra to myself that the Universe only gives you what you can handle, so then I...

Liv Tyler was announced as Belstaff's brand ambassador in September, and now we've gained an exclusive first look at her upcoming campaign film for the brand, "Falling Up," which she executive produced as well as starred in. In the film, Tyler retraces the footsteps of pioneering 1920's aviatrix, Amelia Earhart—one of the first women Belstaff dressed—and how she broke free from the expectations of women in her time by following her personal desires. Tyler is the perfect fit for a character that cuts her own path, on her own terms. The 15-second leaked clip shows a series of scenes from the film, including Tyler building the plane, mapping her flight plans and smiling as she watches a...

After a dismal outing over the Labor Day holiday weekend, the box office started to show signs of life again, with The Perfect Guy fending off The Visit in a very close race. The Perfect Guy took in $26.7 million over the weekend, with The Visit just behind it in second place with $25.6 million. Since these estimates are so close to each other, it's possible these results could change when the actual box office figures are announced on Monday, but, for now The Perfect Guy has the top spot, according to the estimates at Box Office Mojo.

Both The Perfect Guy ($12 million budget) and The Visit ($5 million) have already turned a profit after just one weekend, but The Perfect Guy's win is more impressive since it opened in far fewer theaters than The Visit. The Perfect Guy opened in 2,221 theaters, earning an robust $12,022 per-screen average. The Visit, on the other hand,...

After pulling off an improbable holiday win at the box office, the War Room faces some stiff competition this weekend, going up against a pair of thrillers, The Visit and The Perfect Guy, and yet another faith-based film, 90 Minutes in Heaven. Now that the summer movie season is over, the box office receipts have already started to dwindle, which was part of the reason War Room was able to take the top spot over Labor Day. Don't expect this trio of new releases to put up big numbers, but, according to the projections at BoxOffice.com, War Room's reign atop the box office should be a short one.

The Visit is expected to take in $17 million at the box office, which should easily give it the top spot over The Perfect Guy, which is expected to earn $13 million in its opening frame. War Room is expected to drop to third place this weekend,...

Director David M. Rosenthal (Falling Up, See This Movie) assembles an all-star cast including Sam Rockwell (Iron Man 2, Moon), Academy Award® nominee William H. Macy (Best Supporting Actor, Fargo, 1996), Ted Levine (TV’s “The Bridge”), Kelly Reilly (Flight, TV’s “The Black Box”), Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter franchise), Joe Anderson (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2) and Jeffrey Wright (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, TV’s “Boardwalk Empire”), for the tense thriller A Single Shot, debuting on Blu-ray™ and DVD January 14th from Well Go USA Entertainment. The tragic death of a beautiful young girl starts a tense and atmospheric game of cat and mouse between hunter John Moon (Rockwell) and the hardened backwater criminals out for his blood. A Single Shot comes loaded with more than...

Oh man. If this isn't the best Tiger Woods story since Tiger Woods crashed his SUV and then we heard about all of those porn stars and waitresses and whatever, then people have a really strange, unfathomable sense of humor, because what's funnier than someone (safely) falling down the steps? Falling up the steps, that's right. Sources at a Met Gala afterparty that Tiger Woods and new girlfriend, Lindsey Vonn, attended have come forward and claimed that Tiger was allegedly "tipsy" and that, when leaving the party, "embarrassed" Lindsey Vonn by falling up a short set of stairs -- and not only did he trip up them, he didn't get up until Lindsey had to physically help him off the steps. We reached out to Tiger's rep for a comment on his fall, but received no response, but Rofl all over the place, right? Hope it's just your ego that's bruised,...

Last time we reported on A Single Shot, it was 2009 and an up-and-coming young star called Michael Fassbender was attached to take the lead. Fast-forward to now and the film is complete, but stars a ruggedly hirsute Sam Rockwell instead. Heralding its premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival, a handful of new stills has arrived.The film started shooting last April, and has managed to stay more-or-less under the movie news radar, despite a powerhouse cast sees Rockwell supported by Willam H. Macy, Jeffrey Wright, Jason Isaacs, Melissa Leo and Kelly Reilly. It's directed by cinematographer and former documentarian David M. Rosenthal (Janie Jones, Falling Up), and written by Matthew F. Jones, who adapted his own novel.The story involves a hunter, John Moon (Rockwell) who's down on his luck after the loss of his family farm but is able still to put food on the table as a master poacher.

New York -- At 51, Melissa Etheridge isn't coasting on her accomplishments. Take her guitar work.

The Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, whose 12th studio album has been released this week, challenged herself to play all the guitar parts this time around for the first time.

"I kind of thought when I was 30 that you're as good as your going to get. And that's not true," she says. "I have gotten so much better and I'm celebrating it on this album."

The album, "4th Street Feeling," has a dozen songs that mostly look backward – to her parents, childhood and breakups. It's named after a street in Etheridge's hometown of Leavenworth, Kan.

"I'm exploring being 51. I'm exploring the maturity, the wisdom that just comes from having gone around the sun 50 times," she says. "My experience is, `Oh, I'm never really going to get it right. I'm never going to get it done. But that's not the point here.

Getty Images Filmmaker Pen-ek Ratanaruang at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.

In the opening scenes of “Headshot,” a man sporting a shaved head and clad in the orange robes of a Buddhist monk enters a courtyard, turns toward a group of thugs, pulls a gun from a small bowl and fires at them. The imposter is a hitman, not a holy man, and in the subsequent chaos he’s shot in the head.

Three months later he wakes from a coma...

Cee Lo Green, Jason DeRulo, Sean Kingston joined them for the gig.

By Gil Kaufman

Fergie and will.i.am perform at the Black Eyed Peas' final concert in Miami on Thursday

Photo: Larry Marano/ Getty Images

The Black Eyed Peas had a lot to be thankful for on Thursday, namely, a major break from nearly non-stop touring and recording. The multiplatinum group announced before their show on Wednesday night at Miami's Sun Life Stadium that they were going on indefinite hiatus to work on other projects.

"Tonight is our graduation. It's a very special night for all of us," singer Fergie announced at the gig. "We're so thankful to be sharing this night together." The band didn't go into the good night all alone, though, as they packed the show with appearances from a number of pals, including T-Pain, Sean Kingston, Cee Lo Green, Jason DeRulo and Queen Latifah.

Headshot is from director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, considered one of Thai cinema’s leading “new wave” auteurs. He is best known for his 2003 film Last Life in the Universe and if his new film is half as good, than it is well worth your time. Based on a novel called Rain Falling Up the Sky by a well-known Thai writer, Win Lyovarin, who actually originally intended it to be a sceenplay.

Intresting progam note from Tiff:

Working with his regular cinematographer, Chankit Chamnivikaipong, Pen-ek evokes Tul’s journey into the underworld in unusually muted and dusky tones. Vichaya Vatanasapt’s music gives us a sense of perpetually downward movement. And in Jayanama, with whom the director has now worked twice, Headshot finds its perplexed soul, always struggling to make the closest thing to a moral choice in a deeply immoral world.

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International (meaning English subtitled) trailer for Headshot by Thai director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang who some of you might remember from his 2003 drama Last Life in the Universe. The film will is based on the novel Rain Falling Up the Sky by Win Lyovarin and will premiere on the Toronto International Film Festival

[See full post to watch this video]

Synopsis:

Present-day Thailand is rife with corruption. Tul, a straight-laced cop, is blackmailed by a powerful politician and framed from a crime he did not commit. Disillusioned and vengeful, he is soon recruited to become a hitman for a shadowy group aimed at eliminating those who are above the law. But one day, Tul is shot in the head during an assignment. He wakes up after a three-month coma to find that he sees everything upside down, literally.

Unaware of whether the condition is medical or a result of karmic retribution, Tul begins to have second thoughts about his profession.

The first trailer for the drama Janie Jones has been released. The film centers on a musician whose life is turned upside down when a daughter he never knew he had is left in his custody. Abigail Breslin and Alessandro Nivola star as the daughter and father, with Elizabeth Shue and Peter Stormare in supporting roles. Breslin looks to be in fine form here, and the tone seems like a cross between Crazy Heart and Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere. It doesn’t appear to be as interesting as those two films, and the trailer’s fairly predictable, but the performances look to be promising. Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The film opens nationwide and VOD on October 28. Here’s the official synopsis: A faded rock star is forced to take responsibility for the daughter he never knew he had in Janie Jones, a funny and touching road trip...

When we last reported on the article over at WiseKwai he was asked to report about Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's next film as a rumor. Rumor or not, the idea of Pen-Ek going back into crime film territory had us very excited indeed. So this was back in the summer and the rumor/news would have had production beginning somewhere in July. 

Lo and behold it would appear that nothing has really happened since until I spotted this bit of news over at ThaiCinema.org. Whether or not any of this is substantiated the test of time will tell. 

So. The film will be called Headshot. Chris Horwang [Bangkok Traffic Love Story] and Peter Noppachai [Nypmh] are the leads. Yes, it is adapted from the novel Rain Falling Up The Sky and will be a film noir about a hitman who gets shot in the head, goes into a two month coma, then awakens to discover...

Last night I finished watching a new straight-to-video comedy called Falling Up. It was pretty mediocre, but I watched it mainly because it had a good cast: Annette O'Toole, Mimi Rogers, Joe Pantoliano and Snoop Dogg. Ok. I didn't watch it for them, entirely, but because of Rachael Leigh Cook. I have had a movie crush on Rachael for years and this will be the fourth straight-to-video movie I have endured just for another glimpse of those amazing eyes. But the question is: why is she in all these straight-to-video movies? If my adoration for her has endured, why has her career not done the same thing? But the scariest thing of all is that Rachael is not the only movie crush of mine that has seen a marked dip in her career. Are my affections somehow cursed? Am I a career killer?

Rachael first made a splash as the...