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Francis Ford Coppola doesn’t have a film premiering in Venice this year, but the 86-year-old Oscar winner is duly present for the 82nd edition. His pal Mike Figgis’ behind-the-scenes portrait “Megadoc,” about the production of Coppola’s 2024 cinematic cause célèbre “Megalopolis,” debuts out of competition this week. And at the festival’s opening ceremony Wednesday night, Coppola took to the dais to champion his longtime friend, the German filmmaker Werner Herzog, recipient of the festival’s honorary Golden Lion for lifetime achievement. (“Vertigo” icon Kim Novak will also receive one later this week.)

Herzog’s new film “Ghost Elephants,” about an elusive herd of the Angolan creatures, debuts in Venice this week as part of the festival’s robust documentary slate, which also includes new films from Laura Poitras and Sofia Coppola.

“One must celebrate that someone like him can exist,” said Coppola of Herzog, the 82-year-old documentary and...

The Venice Film Festival opened Wednesday with Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grazia, preceded by a Lifetime Achievement Award for Werner Herzog accompanied by a tribute speech for the German filmmaker from from Francis Coppola.

Sorrentino’s 11th feature, La Grazia reunites the Italian director with longtime collaborator Toni Servillo, star of his 2014 Oscar-winning movie La Grande Bellezza.

The film, the storyline of which was kept under wraps until the world premiere, stars Servillo as a respected Italian president facing three key decisions – around an euthanasia bill and pardons for convicted killers – as his term in power comes to end.

Read Deadline’s review of the movie here.

“It’s a love story about family, law, high politics and taking responsibility,” Sorrentino told commentators on the red carpet as he entered the Palazzo del Cinema tonight.

Prior to the screening, Herzog received the festival’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement from Coppola.

Francis Ford Coppola honored Werner Herzog at the Venice Film Festival opening ceremony on Wednesday night, calling the filmmaker an “unlimited phenomenon working in every nook and corner in cinema” while presenting him the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. The event marked Coppola’s first public appearance since undergoing a heart procedure in Rome earlier in the month.

“I come here to praise Werner Herzog, and it’s not enough to praise Werner Herzog,” Coppola began. “One must celebrate the fact that someone like he can actually exist.” Citing the New German Cinema pioneer’s films like “Aguirre, the Wrath of God” and “Fitzcarraldo,” Coppola called Herzog’s works “all unique and very different from one another and magnificent.”

“He not only can fill the pages of an encyclopedia, Werner is one,” he continued. “If Werner has limits, I don’t know what they are.”

Coppola ended his speech on a triumphant note,...

Francis Ford Coppola will set down at the Venice Film Festival this week to give the Laudatio speech honoring Werner Herzog as the German Oscar-nominated documentarian is awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the opening ceremony on Wednesday.

Both directors are also being celebrated in the program of the festival’s 82nd edition, running from August 27 to September 6.

The Godfather and Apocalypse Now director Coppola, who received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at Venice’s 49th edition in 1992, is the subject of Mike Figgis’ documentary Megadoc.

The film, going behind-the-scenes of Coppola’s passion project Megalopolis, plays as part of the Venice Classics – Documentaries About Cinema section on Thursday.

Herzog will present his new documentary Ghost Elephants, about the search for a mysterious herd of elephants reportedly living in in the highlands of Angola, Out of Competition on Thursday. The director will also hold a Masterclass on the same day.

Ever since he played the sweet-faced teenage boy who stands up for Kevin Kline’s outed gay teacher at the end of 1997’s “In & Out,” Shawn Hatosy has endeared himself to a wide audience.

In the intervening years, he has worked nonstop, popping up in films directed by Robert Rodriguez (“The Faculty)”, Werner Herzog (“Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans”) and Michael Mann (“Public Enemies”) and on TV in acclaimed series like NBC/TNT’s cop drama “Southland” and TNT’s crime saga “Animal Kingdom.” Now his supporting turn as Dr. Jack Abbot, an ER doctor in Max’s “The Pitt,” is earning him a new kind of acclaim. Never mind that the character appears in less than a third of the series’ first 15 episodes.

“I’ve never experienced anything like it,” Hatosy said. Dr. Abbot works the night shift, initially only crossing paths with Noah Wyle’s Dr.

Audition director Takashi Miike is to make a new thriller about police corruption – Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, starring Shun Oguri and Lily James.

Over 30 years after New York filmmaker Abel Ferrara finished making Bad Lieutenant, Japanese director Takashi Miike is about to make another entry in one of cinema’s more unusual film series.

Neon, the indie company behind such hits as Parasite, Longlegs, Anora and this year’s The Monkey is behind the latest production, called Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo. It’s another tale of police corruption and criminality, with Shun Oguri set to take the central role as a gambling-addicted cop on the trailer of a missing woman in the seedier parts of Japan’s capital.

Lily James and WWE wrestler turned actor Liv Morgan are to co-star, while the script will be written by Daisuke Tengan, who previously wrote the adapted screenplay for Audition – perhaps Miike’s best-known film in the west.

Two years after her guest appearance on the “Chucky” television series, Deadline reports tonight that WWE superstar Liv Morgan has landed a gig in Japanese master of horror Takashi Miike’s next movie, Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo.

Shun Oguri (Godzilla v. Kong, No Longer Human) and Lily James (Pam and Tommy, Yesterday) will also star in Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, a U.S./Japan co-production from Neon.

If that title sounds familiar, Deadline notes that the upcoming film is indeed an extension of the IP that launched in 1992 with the film Bad Lieutenant starring Harvey Keitel and directed by Abel Ferrara. The late Edward R. Pressman subsequently produced Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans starring Nicolas Cage, which was directed by Werner Herzog.

Deadline details, “Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo will follow the Bad Lieutenant (Shun Oguri), a corrupt gambler in the Metropolitan Police Force, who finds himself thrown into a tangled case...

Chicago – Val Kilmer passed away on April 1st, 2025, after a long illness. He was once praised by Roger Ebert, “if there is an award for most unsung leading man of his generation, Val Kilmer should get it.” Photographer Joe Arce of HollywoodChicago.com took an Exclusive Portrait of Val Kilmer in 2012.

Val Edward Kilmer was born in Los Angeles. He subsequently became the youngest person in his era to be accepted into the Julliard School’s Drama Division. His first major film role was in the cult classic “Top Secret!” (1984), which paved the way to his next phase of breakout starring roles.

Val Kilmer in Chicago, circa 2012

Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

He followed his debut with the beloved comedy “Real Genius,” then his notable turn in “Top Gun” (and later an unforgettable appearance in “Top Gun Maverick” in 2022 for his last role). These films...

This week, we are pleased to introduce Rushes Extra, a new series of reported pieces that go beyond the headlines to take a closer look at developing stories from throughout the film world. In this first installment, Vikram Murthi reports from the picket lines of the New York cinema workers strike at Alamo Drafthouse.Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on Twitter and Instagram.NEWSFerris Bueller’s Day Off.Chinese authorities are reportedly considering “reducing or banning the import of US films” in response to President Trump’s global tariffs. Though US studio earnings in China have decreased as the country has invested in their own film industry, losing access to the world’s second-largest film market would be a major blow to the American film industry.The...

German director Werner Herzog will be honored with a Golden Lion lifetime achievement award at this year’s Venice Film Festival. The Fitzcarraldo and Grizzly Man director will be honored at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, which runs Aug. 27-Sept. 6.

“I feel deeply honored to receive a Lifetime Achievement Honorary Golden Lion by the Venice Biennale. I have always tried to be a Good Soldier of Cinema, and this feels like a medal for my work,” Herzog stated. “However, I have not gone into retirement. I work as always.”

The director, whose long list of credits as a director includes Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Signs of Life, Bad Lieutenant, Port of Call: New Orleans, Nosferatu the Vampyre, and Cave of Forgotten Dreams, and as an actor turns in Jack Reacher and Disney+’s The Mandalorian, recently completed a new documentary, Ghost Elephants, is currently shooting a feature, Bucking Fastard,...

German filmmaker Werner Herzog will receive the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the 82nd Venice Film Festival (August 27-September 6).

The director has screened several films at the festival including 2009’s Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans.

Of receiving the award, Herzog said: “I have always tried to be a Good Soldier of Cinema, and this feels like a medal for my work. Thank you.

“However, I have not gone into retirement. I work as always. A few weeks ago, I just finished a documentary in Africa, Ghost Elephants, and at this moment, I am shooting my next feature film,...

The Venice Film Festival will fete German filmmaker Werner Herzog with its honorary Golden Lion at its forthcoming 82nd edition.

Accepting the honor, Herzog said: “I feel deeply honored to receive a Lifetime Achievement Honorary Golden Lion by the Venice Biennale. I have always tried to be a Good Soldier of Cinema, and this feels like a medal for my work. Thank you.”

The filmmaker, often known for his biting humor, added: “However, I have not gone into retirement. I work as always. A few weeks ago, I just finished a documentary in Africa, Ghost Elephants, and at this moment, I am shooting my next feature film, Bucking Fastard, in Ireland. I am developing an animated film, based on my novel, The Twilight World, and I am acting the voice of a creature in Bong Joon Ho’s upcoming animated film. I am not done yet.”

Born in Munich in...

The Venice Film Festival will honor iconoclastic German director Werner Herzog — whose body of work comprises “Aguirre, the Wrath of God,” “Fitzcarraldo” and Nosferatu the Vampyre” — with its 2025 Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.

“I feel deeply honored to receive a Lifetime Achievement Honorary Golden Lion by the Venice Biennale,” Herzog said in a statement. “I have always tried to be a Good Soldier of Cinema, and this feels like a medal for my work: Thank you.”

“However,” Herzog went on to note, “I have not gone into retirement.”

“I work as always. A few weeks ago, I just finished a documentary in Africa, ‘Ghost Elephants,’ and at this moment, I am shooting my next feature film, ‘Bucking Fastard,’ in Ireland. I am developing an animated film, based on my novel, ‘The Twilight World,’ and I am acting the voice of a creature in Bong Joon Ho’s upcoming animated film.

For anyone who grew up watching movies in the 1980s, Val Kilmer, who died Tuesday, was something of an anomaly among the young Hollywood actors whose careers blew up during that decade.

Compared to Tom Cruise, Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, Emilio Estevez, Robert Downey Jr., John Cusack or Tom Hanks, to name a handful of stars who emerged back then, Kilmer was not exactly a strapping action hero nor a smooth heartbreak kid. Nor did he come across as a brooding Method-style thespian, or as someone who could provide instant comic relief onscreen.

In some ways, Kilmer was all of these things at once, and therefore unclassifiable. He was mostly a great character actor with the looks of a leading man, capable of melting into roles that almost invariably had an edge to them.

His most memorable films, including Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone and Heat, were popular hits in...

Many film fans and Hollywood peers have taken to social media to pay tribute to their favorite wingman. Val Kilmer is encapsulated in pop culture as Iceman from Top Gun, but his incredible body of work exceeded to some notable performances, which includes the monumental task of portraying Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s The Doors. Deadline reports that Nicolas Cage, who worked with Kilmer on Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, remembered him fondly and praised his turn in The Doors, “I always liked Val and am sad to hear of his passing. I thought he was a genius actor. I enjoyed working with him on Bad Lieutenant, and I admired his commitment and sense of humor. He should have won the Oscar for The Doors.”

Val would also hold his own up against Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Heat. Director Michael Man would also pay tribute by saying,...

Beloved actor Val Kilmer has died at the age of 65 in Los Angeles, his family has confirmed. Kilmer had long faced throat cancer, of which he received a diagnosis in 2014; his daughter Mercedes has said the cause of his death was pneumonia.

After becoming one of the youngest students ever accepted to acting school Juilliard, entering their program at 17, Kilmer went on to star in multiple cinematic favourites. Following roles in Top Secret! And Real Genius, he broke out with his role as pilot Iceman in 1986’s Top Gun. From there, he played swordsman Madmartigan in Ron Howard’s fantasy Willow, on which he met his future wife (and mother of his children) Joanne Whalley. Through the early ‘90s, he starred as Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s The Doors biopic, played Doc Holliday in Western hit Tombstone, and briefly popped up as the spirit of Elvis in True Romance.

Val Kilmer, the celebrated actor known for intensely committing to his performances and for starring roles in films like “Tombstone,” “Top Gun,” “The Doors” and more, died Tuesday from complications of pneumonia. He was 65.

His daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, made the news public.

A Los Angeles native born in 1959, Kilmer grew up in the San Fernando Valley and as a teenager set a record as the youngest student to be accepted into the Julliard school of Drama (the record was broken by Seth Numrich.)

Kilmer pursued a stage career when he started acting professionally in the early 80s, but launched his film career with “Top Secret!” a parody of both World War II dramas and musical comedies starring Elvis Presley directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker, the team behind “Airplane!”

The film, though considered a bomb, showcased Kilmer’s matinee idol looks, impeccable comic timing but also his versatile singing voice,...

Val Kilmer, the star of films such as “Top Gun,” “Batman Forever,” “The Doors,” and many more classics, has died, his daughter told The New York Times. He was 65.

Kilmer died of pneumonia at his home in Los Angeles on Tuesday, April 1, his daughter told Nyt. He had been diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, rendering him unable to speak and having him disappear from Hollywood for years, but he had recovered.

The Iceman in “Top Gun” opposite Tom Cruise, Kilmer was one of the coolest leading men around but also one of Hollywood’s most unsung stars. He had a handsomeness and charm but also a guarded, reserved presence and mystique that made him perfect to play a rock star like Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s “The Doors,” one of his most acclaimed performances, as well as tentpole roles like Bruce Wayne in “Batman Forever.” He broke out in films such as “Real Genius,...

Val Kilmer, who played Bruce Wayne in “Batman Forever,” channeled Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s “The Doors” and starred as a tubercular Doc Holliday in “Tombstone,” died Tuesday in Los Angeles. His daughter Mercedes told The New York Times the cause was pneumonia. He was 65. He had been battling throat cancer for several years.

Kilmer’s reps did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.

The baby-faced blonde actor had a solid run as a leading man with a volatile reputation in the ’80s and ’90s, starring in “Top Gun,” “Real Genius,” “Willow,” “Heat,” and “The Saint.” He returned briefly to screens in 2022’s “Top Gun: Maverick” although he could no longer speak due to his cancer.

In 2021, a documentary on his life, “Val,” was released. His son provided the actor’s voice and the film utilized hundreds of hours of video he had recorded over the years,...

As one of the most prolific actors of any generation, Nicolas Cage has risen through the ranks to become so revered that hes finally getting his own film festival. Its about time, right? Beginning his career with 1982s Fast Times at Ridgemont High, the eclectic Cage has appeared in over 100 movies ranging from the profound to the bizarre, and its some of those flicks that will be on display starting tomorrow in celebration of his massive talent that carries with it an unbearable weight. See what we did there?

The Nicolas UnCaged festival kicks off on Nov. 8 at the Metrograph theater in New York City, which will screen 10 Cage classics on 35mm over the next couple of months, concluding on Jan. 2. A trailer has been released in celebration of the event (seen below), along with a statement from Metrograph explaining why they chose to hold the event. It calls Cage...

Nicolas Cage is one of America’s greatest movie stars, and certainly its most distinctive one. His singular genius will be the subject of a retrospective festival at Metrograph, the wonderful independent movie theater in New York City.

IndieWire reports that “Nicolas Uncaged” will present 35mm showings of 10 of Cage’s iconic films: “Adaptation,” “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans,” “Con Air,” “Moonstruck,” “National Treasure,” “Pig,” “Red Rock West,” “Vampire’s Kiss,” “The Wicker Man,” and “Wild at Heart.”

“Heaped with praise and panegyrics as one of the finest screen actors of his generation, pilloried and parodied as an anything-for-a-paycheck hambone with a weakness for weird wigs and prostheses, Nicolas Cage is a one-man sideshow, a mixture of Marlon Brando, Robert Mitchum, Lon Chaney, and a stick of TNT who takes back ‘serious thespian’ prestige whenever he wants to, dives into grindhouse material and Academy Award hopefuls with the same mad enthusiasm,...

Nicolas Cage’s status as a national treasure is being cemented by the Metrograph.

The New York City-based theater has announced a “Nicolas Uncaged” festival to honor the acclaimed star. The 10-film retrospective opens November 8 at Metrograph In Theater, and will feature 35mm showings of “Con Air,” “Moonstruck,” “The Wicker Man,” and “Wild at Heart.”

“Heaped with praise and panegyrics as one of the finest screen actors of his generation, pilloried and parodied as an anything-for-a-paycheck hambone with a weakness for weird wigs and prostheses, Nicolas Cage is a one-man sideshow, a mixture of Marlon Brando, Robert Mitchum, Lon Chaney, and a stick of TNT who takes back ‘serious thespian’ prestige whenever he wants to, dives into grindhouse material and Academy Award hopefuls with the same mad enthusiasm, and never seems to be having anything less than a total blast in front of the camera,” the Metrograph press statement reads.

Nicolas Cage is no stranger to the horror genre. Hell, hes no stranger to any genre. His bizarre range stretches from the ultra dramatic in Leaving Las Vegas to the hilariously over the top in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. Sometimes, he is the craziest part of a movie that is already truly bizarre, and this is exactly the case with Richard Stanleys body-horror epic, Color Out of Space. This H.P. Lovecraft adaptation is full of atmosphere, terror, and madness, making it a playground for the unpredictable actor, and a delight for cosmic horror fans.

In Michael Samoski's 2021 drama "Pig," Nicolas Cage plays a quiet, bearded recluse named Rob Feld who lives in a remote woodland cabin with his unnamed pet pig. The pig is a skilled truffle forager, and Rob makes a living selling truffles to a restaurant supplier (Alex Wolff) who occasionally drives out to his cabin. Rob clearly has a dark past, but has seemingly found peace in the woods. One night, however, Rob is attacked, and his pig is stolen. Rob has to trek into nearby Portland to retrieve his animal friend, and, we learn, confront his past.

As the film progresses, we discover that Rob had unusual connections in the world of Portland's high-end restaurateurs, and that he participated in eatery-related underground fighting rings (!). He's also still in mourning over the death of his wife years before, which was the primary impetus driving Rob to become a recluse. More than anything,...

How now, what news: the Criterion Channel’s July lineup is here. Eight pop renditions of Shakespeare are on the docket: from movies you forgot were inspired by the Bard (Abel Ferrara’s China Girl) to ones you’d wish to forget altogether (Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing), with maybe my single favorite interpretation (Michael Almereyda’s Hamlet) alongside Paul Mazursky, Gus Van Sant, Baz Luhrmann, Derek Jarman, and (of course) Kenneth Branagh. A neonoir collection arrives four months ahead of Noirvember: two Ellroy adaptations, two from De Palma that are not his neonoir Ellroy adaptation, two from the Coen brothers (i.e. the chance to see a DVD-stranded The Man Who Wasn’t There in HD), and––finally––a Michael Winner picture given Criterion’s seal of approval.

Columbia screwballs run between classics to lesser-seens while Nicolas Roeg and Heisei-era Godzilla face off. A Times Square collection brings The Gods of Times Square,...

Tom Bower, the veteran character actor best known for prominent turns on The Waltons and in Die Hard 2, has died. A family member confirmed the news to Deadline’s sister publication The Hollywood Reporter. He was 86.

Bower never had what one might call a “breakout” part, but he was an actor one recognized from, well, everywhere. His more than 180 screen credits include appearances on The Rockford Files, Lou Grant, Quincy M.E., Miami Vice, Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue, The X-Files, Law & Order and many other TV staples of the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and early 2000s.

And he kept on working. In the past 15 years, Bower was on Ray Donovan, Bosch, Grey’s Anatomy, Criminal Minds, The Office and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. He also played the father of Bob Odenkirk’s character on Lucky Hank and had a part in Vince Gilligan’s El Camino, A Breaking Bad Movie.

Tom Bower, the busy character actor who portrayed Dr. Curtis Willard on The Waltons and the janitor, Marvin, who helps John McClane foil the terrorists at the airport in Die Hard 2, has died. He was 86.

Bower died last week of an unknown cause at his home in Los Angeles, his brother, Robert Bower, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Bower worked on John Cassavetes’ directorial debut, Shadows (1957), and played one of the translators that make a mess of things in the acclaimed Western The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1982), starring Edward James Olmos.

He portrayed the father of the 37th U.S. president in Oliver Stone’s Nixon (1995), starring Anthony Hopkins, and the father of Nicolas Cage’s Terence McDonagh in Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009).

And, he appeared for director Scott Cooper in Crazy Heart (2009) — as the agent of Jeff Bridges’ Bad Blake — and Out of the Furnace...

Brad Dourif has had an incredible acting career that stretches back more than fifty years – and back in the early days of that career, he even earned a “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” Oscar nomination for his performance in the 1975 classic One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Over a decade later, he started playing the role he is best known for, that of Charles Lee Ray, a.k.a. Chucky, a serial killer who uses voodoo to transfer his soul into the body of a doll. Dourif is now 74 years old, so when we hear that he has decided to retire from acting, it’s totally understandable… but while talking about his retirement, Dourif has also made sure to assure fans that his days of Chucky are not over. He will still continue to work on any Chucky projects that might come up.

News of Dourif’s retirement comes...

What happens to film, art and ultimately to our lives when AI, algorithm takes control? This burning question and main theme of the upcoming Göteborg Film Festival, is also at the core of Danish pic “About a Hero,” by versatile artist and helmer Piotr Winiewicz (“Reflector”).

Variety has secured in exclusivity the first still from the movie, due to serve as a case study during Göteborg’s industry confab Nordic Film Market (Jan. 31-Feb. 2). The pic is being produced by Denmark’s Tambo Film and Kaspar, with German co-producers Cineteam, in association with leading U.S. indie prodco Pressman Film.

“Corsage” star Vicky Krieps has just boarded the project, to be sold internationally by Dr Sales.

Broadcasters attached so far include pubcasters Dr in Denmark, Ndr in Germany and European network Arte. Producer Rikke Tambo Andersen said she will negotiate U.S. rights separately, in close coordination with U.S.

Pressman Film is a production company that was founded by Ed Pressman, a prolific producer of over 90 films, including the likes of Wall Street, American Psycho, and The Crow. Sadly, Pressman passed away earlier this year at the age of 79. Now his son Sam Pressman is the CEO of Pressman Film, which recently rebooted The Crow – and landed an eight-figure domestic distribution deal for the film with Lionsgate. Moving forward, the company is working with Antoine Fuqua on a project called The Street, which was written by Goodfellas‘ Nicholas Pileggi, and planning an adaptation of the 1975 Edward Abbey novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, which will be directed by Catfish‘s Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. They’re also trying to figure out how they can exploit titles in the Pressman Film library… and in a recent article, Deadline mentions that endeavor might involve remakes of the 1980 holiday horror film Christmas Evil...

Plot: A detective (Benicio del Toro) living in New England with his wife (Alicia Silverstone) investigates the gruesome death of a local real estate magnate’s (Justin Timberlake) wife.

Review: There’s a version of Reptile that could have been a standard cop noir. After all, how many movies have we seen about a rumpled detective investigating a murder that implicates a well-connected family? Yet, director Grant Singer seems less interested in making the straight-laced neo-noir this could have been and instead turns this into a quirky, darkly comedic riff on the genre that almost functions as a spoof at times. After all, a movie that uses Bob Dylan’s ‘Knocking on Heaven’s Door” for a gunfight can’t expect us to take it entirely seriously.

Reptile is a weird but wonderful surprise. The odd vibe will turn some off, and it took me about thirty minutes to finally...

Exclusive: Xzibit is rolling into the podcast world.

The rapper and actor is launching Lasagna Ganja, a weekly podcast about the world of cannabis. He will co-host the podcast, which comes from Dcp Entertainment, with cannabis advocate Tammy The Cannabis Cutie.

The series, which launches on October 5, will delve into all the layers of the multifaceted cannabis world, from the complicated history and misconceptions of cannabis and the plant’s influence and impact on culture, music, entertainment and more, to the latest trends, scientific breakthroughs, and political issues.

It will also feature reviews of selected products.

It marks the first podcast for Xzibit, best known for songs such as What U See Is What U Get and appearances in movies such as The Bad Lieutenant. He also founded cannabis brand Napalm and later became Creative Director of Buddies Brand.

Tammy, the Cannabis Cutie, otherwise known as Tammy Pettigrew is behind Cannabis Cutie Education,...

A viral video of Nicolas Cage helped push him towards his latest project.

As reported by Entertainment Weekly, Cage discussed his unique experience with online fame at the Toronto International Film Festival. "What happened to me, I think I might've been the first actor who woke up one morning and somebody had put a montage of me, meltdown moments, cherry-picking from different movies, and then put it online," he said. "I think it was called 'Nicolas Cage Losing His Sh*t.' It went viral overnight around the world, I kept going, 'What is happening to me?'"

Related: Rumor: Nicolas Cage's Ghost Rider Will Appear in Future MCU Project

The video, put together by editor Harry Hanrahan, collects some of Cage's biggest acting performances in movies like Vampire's Kiss, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans and The Wicker Man. It was released in 2013 and currently boasts over 1 million views on YouTube.

Werner Herzog And Peter Zeitlinger Set For Camerimage Honors

Camerimage’s special award for cinematographer-director duos will be handed to Werner Herzog and Peter Zeitlinger. Both filmmakers will receive the award in person at Camerimage’s upcoming 31st edition, where they will meet with the festival audience in Toruń, Poland, and present a retrospective review of their films, including both feature and documentary productions. Zeitlinger and Herzog have collaborated for 30 years. Alongside their first joint venture, Death for Five Voices (1995), their productions include the documentaries Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997), My Best Fiend (1999), Wheel of Time (2003), Grizzly Man (2005), Encounters at the End of the World (2007), Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010), Into the Abyss (2011), From One Second to the Next (2013), Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World (2016), Into the Inferno (2016), Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds (2020), Theatre of Thought (2022), and the feature films Invincible (2001), Rescue Dawn (2006), Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009), My Son,...

Celebrated director (and sometime actor) Werner Herzog and his longtime cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger will be bestowed with the Cinematographer-Director Duo Award at this year’s 31st EnergaCamerimage festival this fall in Toruń, Poland, a European celebration of the best-of-the-best cinematographers around the world. The honor will also include a retrospective of their work which will include narrative features as well as documentaries.

Herzog and Zeitlinger first collaborated on the 1995 German film “Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices” and have teamed up for many of the former’s most notable films, including “Grizzly Man,” “Rescue Dawn,” “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans” and “Into the Abyss.” It is expected a number of these films will be shown alongside the soon-to-be-announced competition films at Camerimage.

Joining Herzog and Zeitlinger for honors at the 2023 fest is the already-announced, Oscar-winning cinematographer Peter Biziou, the lenser behind such films as “Time Bandits,” “The Truman Show,...

Clockwise from far left: The Passion Of The Christ (20th Century Fox), The Revenant (20th Century Fox), American History X (New Line Cinema), The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (IFC Films), Sophie’s Choice (Shout! Factory)Graphic: AVClub

When it comes to movie night, we all have guilty pleasures or beloved classics...

Lists are a time-honored tradition in the world of cinema. Best 100 this, Top 10 that. As such, every now and then, actors are asked to name their favorite performances. This week, the prolific Nicolas Cage, who has more than 200 movies to his credit, was tasked with just that.

While appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to promote Renfield, the host asked Nicolas Cage for his top five, well, Nicolas Cage movies. It didn’t take long for Cage to rattle off his picks. And now, in no particular order: Pig (2021), Mandy (2018), Bringing Out the Dead (1999), Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009), and Joe (2013).

As you can see, for the most part, Nicolas Cage picked movies from the more recent phase of his career, with three coming from the last decade. Colbert, meanwhile, cited 1997’s Face/Off as a personal favorite, prompting Cage to declare, “Oh, I like that one a lot!

Nicolas Cage dropped by Thursday night’s edition of “The Late Show”, where host Stephen Colbert posed a provocative question by asking him to name his top five Nic Cage films.

“I will start with ‘Pig’, that’s my favorite movie that I’ve ever made,” Cage replied, referencing the acclaimed 2021 drama in which he plays a brilliant but tormented chef on a mission to retrieve his beloved pig after its been kidnapped.

“I love ‘Mandy’, I love “Bringing Out the Dead’, Martin Scorsese directed,” he continued.

Read More: Nicolas Cage Shares Why Fans Used To Slap Him At The Airport

He rounded out his top five with “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans”, and “Joe”.

Colbert, however, noted that his favourite was “Face/Off”.

“I like that one a lot,” Cage declared. “I love ‘Face/Off’.”

“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. Et/Pt on Global.

Nicolas Cage offers up an interesting list of his favorites among his own movies. An Oscar-winner for 1995’s Leaving Las Vegas, Cage later starred in blockbusters like Face/Off, The Rock and National Treasure before settling in to a long and prolific run as the internet’s favorite unpredictable wild card of an actor. Currently, the star can be seen in one of his wildest roles yet, playing an overbearing Dracula to Nicholas Hoult’s fed-up lackey in the horror comedy Renfield.

Renfield might yet prove memorable enough to wind up on some people’s lists of the best Cage movies, but for now, it’s not on Cage’s own rundown of his favorites, as he presented it in an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Asked by Colbert to list his five favorites among his own films, Cage had no problem coming up with a fascinating and...

Nicolas Cage has named his five favourite films starring himself.

The actor appeared on Wednesday night’s episode (14 April) of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to discuss his new horror-comedy, Renfield.

Midway through the programme, host Stephen Colbert asked: “What are Nic Cage’s top five Nic Cage films?”

Since making his film acting debut at age 17 in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1989), the actor, now 59, has gone on to star in several movies, including Leaving Las Vegas (1995) and National Treasure (2004).

Despite his long career, however, a few of Cage’s favourite movies are relatively recent releases.

“I’m going to start with Pig, that’s my favourite movie I’ve ever made,” he told Cobert.

“I love Mandy, the movie Panos Cosmatos directed. I love Bringing Out the Dead, which Martin Scorsese directed, and I loved Bad Lieutenant, which Werner Herzog directed.”

Finally, Cage added: “And I loved...

In the semi-biographical movie of rapper Eminem's pre-fame life, the best freestyle rap in 8 Mile are why the movie remains so popular. Eminem had already proven himself one of the greatest rappers of all time with his extremely successful and controversial career. Making his acting debut, the rapper, real name Marshall Mathers, brings his story to life in this Curtis Hanson-directed drama that looks at an underground music community providing some of the best freestyle raps in Eminem.

The movie stars Eminem as Jimmy aka B. Rabbit, a young man living in a trailer park with his mom (Kim Basinger) in Detroit who aspires to become a rapper. However, he faces insecurity and stage fright when competing in the intense underground rap battles. With a proposed 8 Mile television sequel on the way, fans can revisit the movie and these epic battles that are its highlight. From...

Shea Whigham has been cast in a recurring guest star role in the “Bass Reeves” series currently in production for Paramount+, Variety has learned.

David Oyelowo stars in the series based on the life of the titular legendary law man. The series also stars Barry Pepper, Dennis Quaid, Forrest Goodluck, Lauren E. Banks, Grantham Coleman, and Demi Singleton.

Per the official logline, the show “will bring the legendary lawman of the wild west to life. Reeves, known as the greatest frontier hero in American history, worked in the post-Reconstruction era as a federal peace officer in the Indian Territory, capturing over 3,000 of the most dangerous criminals without ever being wounded.”

Whigham will appear as Col. George Reeves, described as the “upright and incredibly cruel master of Bass Reeves.”

Whigham is also slated to star in another upcoming Paramount series, as he will reprise the role of Mitch Decker in the...

Werner Herzog's new documentary Theater of Thought, which just had its world premiere at this year's Toronto International Film Festival, has just received an official trailer. The film follows auteur Herzog, who has directed the acclaimed documentaries Grizzly Man and Cave of Forgotten Dreams as well as the narrative films Nosferatu the Vampyre and Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, as he explores the inner workings of the brain. The filmmaker travels around with scientist Rafael Yuste, and is presented with different research data that explains things about our brains that many people have only ever wondered about. The film is produced by Herzog and Ariel Leon Isacovitch.

Martin Scorsese has never had a decade’s slump since breaking out in the 1970s, but the 1990s were an especially fruitful time. From his mob masterpieces Goodfellas and Casino to proving his hand at the sumptuous period piece with The Age of Innocence to showing how to bring something new to the remake with Cape Fear to his spiritual epic Kundun and inching into the new millennium with his overlooked Paul Schrader reunion Bringing Out the Dead, Scorsese also found time to continue his passionate study of cinema.

As he continues to edit Killers of the Flower Moon, we’re highlighting an oldie but goodie from the archives that has recently made the rounds: his list of favorite films of the ’90s as discussed with Roger Ebert. Kicking things off with a pair of “modern American epics” from Spike Lee and Michael Mann, the list also includes work from around the world,...

Filmmaker Tom Gormican discusses his favorite films featuring… Nicolas Cage.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)

Mandy (2018)

Pig (2021)

A History Of Violence (2005)

Lord of War (2005)

The Weather Man (2005)

Moonstruck (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Vampire’s Kiss (1988)

Con Air (1997)

Face/Off (1997)

Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

Jerry Maguire (1996)

Adaptation (2002)

Raising Arizona (1987)

Wild At Heart (1990) – Alex Kirschenbaum’s review

The Wizard Of Oz (1939) – John Badham’s trailer commentary

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)

The Wicker Man (1973) – Mick Garris’s trailer commentary

The Wicker Man (2006)

Being John Malkovich (1999) – Marshall Harvey’s trailer commentary

The Family Man (2000)

Joe (2013)

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

The Rock (1996) – Alex Kirschenbaum’s review

Operation Mad Ball (1957)

Bell, Book and Candle (1958) – Sam Hamm’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

Valley Girl (1983) – Karyn Kusama’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review...

When The Irishman innovated de-aging effects in 2019, few could have foreseen its use to resurrect the batshit, snake skinned Nicolas Cage of 1990’s Wild at Heart. Fewer still would have expected this iteration of Nicolas Cage to appear on screen next to… Nicolas Cage.Seeing the Nick Cage of 2022 argue, fight and even make out with his 26-year-old self are the most outrageous meta moments of The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Tom Gormican’s smartly realised buddy film.

Now, Cage has long been one of Hollywood’s leading idiosyncrasies, building a lengthy filmography that ranges from the bargain bin to the Academy Awards. Yet this filmwould not have worked 10 years ago, even though it draws on his ‘90s blockbusters such as The Rock and Face/Off.

This is because the previous decade or so saw a new kind of appreciation for Nicolas Cage. Around 2010/11, the actor began to indulge his...

Exclusive: Lili Simmons (Power Book IV: Force), Kim Coates (The White Houe Plumbers), Igby Rigney (Midnight Mass), Tom Bower (El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie) and Justin Marcel McManus (Power Book II: Ghost) will topline Southern Gothic (working title), an upcoming indie drama from writer-director Tom Schulman (Dead Poets Society), which has wrapped production.

The story is set in the dangerous and shady world of illegal, high-stakes keno gambling, in a run-down plantation house owned by Nick (Coates) in the rural South, at the turn of the 21st century. Nick is enamored with the smart, tough and charming Keno ace Diana’s (Simmons) intent to win big and is determined to stake her. Little Nick (Rigney), a one-time prodigy keno hustler, now reduced to servicing pool tables, strikes up a friendship with Diana and coaches her to win against the odds. Diana must then prove herself in a man’s...

As unhinged as its muse, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is a curious bit of fan service and perhaps a welcome evolution in the career of Nicolas Cage, who has been one of the more active leading men of late—an output that in some years stretches to six feature titles, some of which he’s served as a producer for. This film posits the theory that our man is broke, down on his luck, and in need of a comeback. Guided (or haunted) by Nicky––the clean-shaven younger version of himself that serves as the beast within––he finds himself seeking one massive hit to survive. He’s in troubled waters, divorcing wife Sally (Sharon Horgan), unable to relate to daughter Addy (Lily Sheen), and deep in debt from a lavish lifestyle. After a potential dream project that he pitches in grand Cagian fashion passes, his agent Richard...

Nicolas Cage’s sometimes over-the-top performances, complete with meme-worthy lifted brows and bulging eyeballs, are getting their own showcase. “People think I’m not in on the joke,” the headline of his 2013 Guardian profile reads. Lest there be any doubt, he’s now acted in and produced a feature-length film to prove his point.

Channeling the meta-ness of “Adaptation,” Cage stars in “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” as a debt-ridden, washed-up actor named Nick Cage and as Nicky, his alter ego and a bad angel of sorts who appears to be 1980s-vintage Cage, here to facilitate internal dialogue. Per the film’s concocted biographical details, he has an ex-wife named Olivia (Sharon Horgan), a makeup artist he met on the set of “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin,” and a teenage daughter named Addy (Lily Mo Sheen), who thinks Humphrey Bogart was an adult film performer.

(Nick Cage is not to be...

Ed Pressman’s five decades of producing credits include everything from Terrence Malick’s “Badlands” to “Wall Street,” “The Crow,” Abel Ferrara’s “Bad Lieutenant” and the reimagining of the same title in another version directed by Werner Herzog. But nothing in his roster has been as singular as the story of the hippie billionaire at the center of “Dear Mr. Brody,” which opens this week, and its existence speaks to the long-tail success of a producer whose assets have accrued unique value with time.

In the ‘70s, Pressman came into possession of material that he knew would make a good movie: Tentatively called “The Last Flower Child” with Richard Dreyfuss in talks to star, the project would recount the bizarre saga of Michael Brody Jr., the 21-year-old heir to the Oleomargarine fortune who announced that he would give $25 million to anyone who asked. In the process of acquiring the rights to the project,...