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As the progenitor of the Real Robot mecha subgenre of anime, the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise was a veritable trendsetter. This mostly manifested in mecha anime in particular, but science fiction anime as a whole is indebted to this brand. Nevertheless, as influential as it is, Gundam has a rather strange history with plagiarism in the most surprising way.

Many Gundam anime have songs that are seemingly outright stolen from other sources, which is a rather odd thing to associate with the mecha franchise. Some of these can actually be explained away due to one album in particular, while others are simply a result of Japan's loose copyright laws. Ironically, Gundam isn't even necessarily an anime franchise known for its music, further explaining how it's "gotten away" with this.

Zeta Gundam Doesn't Actually Steal Its 1st Opening Theme Neil Sedaka Had a “Pure Time” With the Theme Image via Sunrise...

Kevin Macdonald and Sam Rice-Edwards’ John Lennon and Yoko Ono documentary One to One: John & Yoko will get its Asia premiere as the closing film for the second edition of the Red Lorry Film Festival in India. The country’s international cinema showcase is organized by BookMyShow.

This year’s second edition of the festival features a lineup of more than 120 films, including premieres, retrospectives and special screenings. Among its titles are Oscar winner Anora, The Last Showgirl and such classics as Pretty Woman.

At the heart of the doc are the One to One Concerts, John Lennon’s only full-length performances after The Beatles, for which he was joined by Yoko Ono, The Plastic Ono Band, Elephant’s Memory and special guests. With remixed concert audio produced by their only son, musician Sean Ono Lennon, the film showcases newly restored and transferred footage, along with previously unseen and unheard personal archives,...

While it once seemed improbable, it looks like Coyote vs. Acme may soon be coming to a theater near you!

According to Deadline, Ketchup Entertainment is in advanced negotiations to acquire the animated/live-action hybrid feature from Warner Bros, in a deal that's estimated to be in the $50 million range. The independent distributer-financier previously rescued The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, which is currently playing in theaters.

In recent years, Ketchup has also been behind the releases of Weekend in Taipei, Goodrich, Hellboy: The Crooked Man, Memory, Ferrari, Hypnotic, and Bushwick.

The trade does note that the deal could still fall apart, but things are progressing in the right direction for now. If/when the deal is finalized, expect to see Coyote vs. Acme hit theaters sometime in 2026.

The studio previously tried to sell the film early last year for approximately $70 million, which is believed to...

While it once seemed improbable, it looks like Coyote vs. Acme may soon be coming to a theater near you!

According to Deadline, Ketchup Entertainment is in advanced negotiations to acquire the animated/live-action hybrid feature from Warner Bros, in a deal that's estimated to be in the $50 million range. The independent distributer-financier previously rescued The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, which is currently playing in theaters.

In recent years, Ketchup has also been behind the releases of Weekend in Taipei, Goodrich, Hellboy: The Crooked Man, Memory, Ferrari, Hypnotic, and Bushwick.

The trade does note that the deal could still fall apart, but things are progressing in the right direction for now. If/when the deal is finalized, expect to see Coyote vs. Acme hit theaters sometime in 2026.

The film stars Will Forte (MacGruber; The Last Man on Earth; Nebraska), John Cena (Peacemaker; The Suicide Squad...

It turns out that’s not all, folks. The “Looney Tunes” live-action hybrid film “Coyote vs. Acme” has finally found a new home — and with a theatrical release. Ketchup Entertainment is set to acquire the Warner Bros. Discovery (Wbd)-axed film, according to reports. IndieWire has reached out to reps at Wbd and Ketchup for confirmation. Wbd had no comment. A source close to the film said the Ketchup deal is indeed in the works.

As Deadline reported on Wednesday, Ketchup Entertainment is negotiating an all-rights acquisition in the $50 million range for “Coyote vs. Acme,” with respect to the film’s reported $70-million budget.

If the deal closes, “Coyote vs. Acme” will also receive a theatrical release, much like the critically acclaimed “The Day the Earth Blew Up.” Originally commissioned for Max, “The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie” also landed at Ketchup Entertainment. The film has...

More than a year after Warner Bros. shelved “Coyote vs. Acme” for tax incentives, the Looney Tunes-inspired film is close to finding a new home.

Ketchup Entertainment is expected to land distribution rights for “Coyote vs. Acme.” Thought the sale has not closed, the price tag is reportedly in the $50 million range, according to Deadline, which broke the news.

Ketchup Entertainment, an independent distributor, recently spearheaded the theatrical release of “The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie” after Warner Bros. Discovery decided to shop that film as well. “The Day the Earth Blew Up” opened in theaters on March 14 and has grossed $3.9 million at the domestic box office to date.

“Coyote vs. Acme,” a live action-animation hybrid starring John Cena and Lana Condor, was directed by Dave Green and produced by DC Studios co-chief James Gunn. Warner Bros. shelved the completed film in November 2023 as a $30 million tax write-off,...

For cinematographer Joe Passarelli, it was a smooth transition going from the stop-motion “Anomalisa” (2015) to the live-action “The Actor” with director Duke Johnson. That’s because both films are formally bold, mind-bending tales about the search for identity.

“Anomalisa” explores Fregoli syndrome, where people appear as the same person in disguise, by marrying distinctive stop-motion designs with stylized action; “The Actor,” by contrast, tackles a variation of amnesia, where people appear as a troupe of actors playing multiple roles, with more dream-like theatricality.

Based on Donald E. Westlake’s surreal novel, “Memory,” Johnson’s newest film focuses on André Holland as a man who suffers from both long-term and short-term memory loss; he’s trying to get back to New York from a ’50s Midwestern town, but his only anchor in a shifting reality is the woman he befriends played by Gemma Chan. Holland’s continually refreshing blank slate is...

André Holland is on a roll with three new films, ‘The Last Supper’ tests the faith-based market, hot Vietnamese director Tran Thanh is back, and documentary October 8 examines the explosion of antisemitism after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

A handful of big indies are out with wide releases from Focus Features (Black Bag) to A24 (Opus) to Falling Forward Films and Ketchup Entertainment (Looney Tunes: The Day The Earth Blew Up).

Neon, the indie distributor of the moment, is out with mystery-thriller The Actor, André Holland’s third leading role this year after Sundance-premiering Love, Brooklyn by Rachael Abigail Holder, which Holland also produced, and The Dutchman, by Andre Gaines, which just debuted at SXSW. The Actor opens in NYC at the Angelika, Holland doing Q&As, at The Grove in LA and top 10 markets – 20+ screens in all.

Based on the novel Memory by Donald E. Westlake, the film,...

The Actor is a true film experience — artistically and intellectually gripping, or confusing and boring, depending on the audience. Its superb lead performance, production design, and poetically philosophical approach will be eagerly imbibed by some viewers who will be quick to call The Actor a masterpiece, while most mainstream audiences will be left restless by its odd pacing and lack of romantic chemistry. Your reaction to the film utterly depends upon your cinematic proclivities. The arthouse crowd will surely gush while the Average Joe may want to steer clear. If you're somewhere in between the two, summon an adventurous spirit and rush to see the film before it disappears from theaters all-too-soon.

Initially set in 1950s Ohio, an actor (André Holland) wakes up in a small town's hospital after being attacked for a dalliance with a married woman. He has no memory of the violent incident or his life before.

One of the great pleasures of director Duke Johnson‘s haunting and beautiful new film “The Actor” is, appropriately enough given the film’s title, the abundance of terrific performances. André Holland anchors the movie as the title character, an actor struggling to figure out who he is and where he belongs after an accident leaves him with amnesia. He’s surrounded by a gallery of equally fascinating supporting players — most of whom play multiple characters, with the actors often unrecognizable under layers of elaborate hair and makeup.

For Johnson, the decision to create a troupe of actors who would play different characters throughout was both practical and philosophical. “There are the limitations of shooting in Europe and getting your actors,” Johnson told IndieWire on an upcoming episode of the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, noting that getting a huge cast to Budapest for production would have been prohibitively expensive — once he...

Andre Holland stars in the new indie movie The Actor, though the role was originally developed with Ryan Gosling to play the lead role.

Director Duke Johnson is opening up about Ryan being attached to the film and how the actor stayed on as a producer after deciding not to star in the project.

“In 2019, the script initially found its way to Ryan, and he came on board, and we developed the script together through the pandemic,” Duke told The Playlist. “And the way Hollywood works, it’s so hard to schedule people that have really intense schedules, and ultimately there became some conflicts in that department. But I’m so blessed with how this one worked out. I’m very grateful to have had that time to develop the script with Ryan, but this movie was always destined for Andre; he’s the ultimate blessing to me. He’s my muse,...

Based on the novel “Memory” by Donald E. Westlake, “The Actor,” a Kafka-esque crime-noir fantasy about identity and memory, is the latest directorial effort by filmmaker Duke Johnson, known for his work in animation and co-directing “Anomalisa” with screenwriter/director Charlie Kaufman (“Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind”).

But as Johnson reminds you, you’re more than just your IMDb page, and while “The Actor” is his feature-length live-action directorial debut, the filmmaker went to film school, directed his fair share of shorts, and learned his live-action chops in college.

Continue reading Director Duke Johnson Talks ‘The Actor,’ Learning From Charlie Kaufman & André Holland As Collaborator For Life [Exclusive] at The Playlist.

Of all the things we forget in life, dreams may be the most frequent. No matter how much you journal or try to find ways to cling to these subconscious fragments, they always seem to slip away as we re-enter the waking world. It’s then interesting that, for all the ways it populates the films we conjure up, only rarely does cinema truly capture a sense of this half-remembered dreaming. Too often, it’s made overly literal and less hazy even as this is what defines so much of our lives. However, this makes the works that successfully tap into this all the more special to dream with.

“The Actor” is one such film. A captivating portrait of a man who can’t seem to remember who he is and may not ever be able to, Duke Johnson’s live-action feature debut is an enrapturing film that speaks in...

There’s something initially alluring about the way Duke Johnson uses surrealism in his solo directorial feature The Actor. The film stars the gifted André Holland as a theater performer who becomes an amnesiac after suffering a violent blow to the head. His attacker is the angry husband of the woman with whom he’s having a torrid affair. We don’t see much of the instigating incident, but Johnson offers enough glimpses at the start of the film to help us figure out what happened.

The Anomalisa co-director adapted this screenplay, which he wrote with Stephen Cooney, from Donald E. Westlake’s thriller Memory. The novel is propulsive; its drama immediate and matter-of-fact. Johnson slows it down for us in The Actor, choosing a gauzy style and languid pace to shape his film like a dream you might appreciate but ultimately struggle to remember.

When we meet Paul Cole...

It can be difficult to step out of the shadow of a creative collaborator, which Duke Johnson does fitfully with “The Actor,” his first live-action theatrical feature. Though Johnson has had a steady career for close to two decades, principally in stop-motion animation for television, he is perhaps best known for co-directing “Anomalisa” with Charlie Kaufman. A full decade later, Kaufman (who serves as an executive producer on “The Actor”) still has a marked influence on Johnson’s solo directorial debut, though it is awkwardly grafted onto a noir-inflected tale — based on the novel “Memory” by Donald E. Westlake — of a man recovering from amnesia and attempting to rediscover who he is.

That man is Paul Cole (André Holland), a member of a New York City theater troupe on the last leg of a Midwest tour. As the film begins, he is preparing to bed a married woman before her...

Co-directed by Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson, 2015’s “Anomalisa” told a walking nightmare of a story about a motivational speaker who perceives (almost) everyone he meets to be the same identical stranger. They all share the same face, they all speak with the same voice, and they all reflect the inescapable self-absorption of the main character, whose hell is that he can only see the world through the prism of his own two eyes.

“The Actor” — Johnson’s solo feature debut — is a similarly dream-like film about a man suffering from the exact opposite problem. His name is Paul Cole, he’s a rising star of the New York stage, and we’re first introduced to him on a dark and fateful night in the fictional town of Jeffords, Ohio, where his theater troupe has just performed their latest show. Paul takes a local gal to his hotel room for a nightcap,...

Giancarlo Esposito, Aya Cash and Jessica Harper are to star in the murder mystery movie ‘Kill Me’.The ‘Breaking Bad’ star, 66, ‘The Boys’ actress Cash, 42, and ‘Memory’s Harper, 75, will be joining Charlie Day, 49, and Allison Williams, 36, in the upcoming thriller from XYZ Films.‘Kill Me’ will follow Jimmy (Day) as he wakes up in a bath tub after he seemingly appears to have tried to end his life.While his friends and family believe Jimmy did try to take his own life, he is nearly certain he didn’t. Soon, Jimmy and the 911 operator who took his call - Margot (Williams) - set out to try to solve the whodunnit case.According to Deadline, principal photography for ‘Kill Me’ has now wrapped in Utah, meaning Esposito, Cash and Harper may be involved in reshoots for the film.Directed and written by ‘The Auteur’ moviemaker Peter Warren, ‘Kill Me’ will...

Exclusive: Giancarlo Esposito (Better Call Saul), Aya Cash (The Boys) and Jessica Harper (Suspiria) have joined Charlie Day and Allison Williams in the comedic thriller Kill Me, which has now wrapped in Utah.

In the film, Jimmy (Day) wakes up in a bathtub after having tried to kill himself. Or, at least, that’s what it looks like to his friends and family. Jimmy is pretty sure he didn’t do it…Maybe. Together with Margot (Williams), the 911 operator who took his call, Jimmy sets out on a mission to solve a vitally important whodunit: did someone try to kill him, or are they chasing the specter of depression?

Directed and written by Peter Warren (The Auteur), the film is produced by XYZ Films, Mike Richardson and Keith Goldberg for Dark Horse Entertainment, Charlie Day and Peter Warren. Natalie Metzger of Vanishing Angle is also producing. Pic is financed by...

When fans get into mecha anime, they start out by coming for the giant robots. After watching a while, they start to see mecha anime can be so much more than just the robots, discussing politics and showing the indomitable will of the human spirit. Yet at the heart of it all, there's still a thrill to watching cool giant robots throwing down.

Sometimes, viewers want the cool robot fights just as much as they want the political intrigue and strong character writing. Fortunately, some of the best mecha anime know how to do both. These series can manage an awesome story while also showing off pulse-pounding action and perfectly choreographed combat to keep viewers invested all the way to the end.

Related10 Essential Mecha Anime That Changed the Genre Forever (& Aren’t Gundam)

Mobile Suit Gundam might be the biggest name in Mecha anime, but several other popular franchises...

In recent years, General Hospital’s cast, crew, and fans have been troubled by the deaths of many of its stars, including Tyler Christopher, Billy Miller, Sonya Eddy, and Johnny Wactor. Each passing has been difficult to process, and among those fallen stars was the legendary Leslie Charleson. She has played Quartermaine matriarch Monica since 1977, touching the lives of every actor on the show. Her recent passing has prompted the stars of the show to share their celebration of her life.

Charleson Was Lovingly Remembered

Gh cast members and friends recently participated in Leslie Charleson’s ‘Celebration of Life’ in Los Angeles. Among the attendees were Lynn Herring (Lucy), Finola Hughes (Anna), Ian Buchanan (ex-Duke), Lisa LoCicero (Olivia), and many more. Several of these stars took to Instagram to share their thoughts and memories.

Finola Hughes

Hughes shared a photo of the event invitation on Instagram that was set to...

Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard are teaming up for an important cause.

Keep Memory Alive held their 28th annual Power of Love gala on Saturday (February 22) at MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The gala celebrated and honored Jimmy Kimmel, and featured appearances by celebs and artists supporting the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health.

Keep reading to find out more…

Earth, Wind & Fire hit the stage at the event, which featured stars like Anthony Anderson, Jason Bateman, Maria Shriver, Billy Crystal, and Jeff Ross.

The Power of Love gala generates funds to “enable the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health to find, fund, and facilitate the most effective and innovative research, treatment, and educational support programming for patients and their families affected by brain disorders, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, multiple system atrophy and multiple sclerosis,” per the official release.

“The monies raised at...

Hot off his searing social indictment “Dreams,” Michel Franco will next produce “Moscas” (“Flies”) for director Fernando Eimbcke.

Now finishing pre-production, with cameras set to roll next month, the project follows an 8-year-old boy and a middle-aged woman as they crisscross contemporary Mexico City. Eimbcke wrote the script with frequent collaborator Vanesa Garnica, and will produce alongside Franco and Eréndira Núñez Larios through their respective Kinotitlán and Teorema banners.

“I’ve known Michel for a long time,” says Eimbcke. “We started out together, making shorts three decades ago, and I’ve learned a lot from him. Our work is very different – and l love that — so after not making a film for 10 years, I wanted to ask how to be more prolific!”

In 2004, Eimbcke broke out of Cannes’ Critics Week with his feature debut, “Duck Season.” Shot in black and white, and set entirely within a Mexico City apartment, the...

“The Actor”, the new live-action ‘crime-mystery’ feature, based on the 2010 novel “Memory” by Donald E. Westlake is directed by Duke Johnson, starring André Holland, Gemma Chan, May Calamawy, Olwen Fouéré, Toby Jones, Simon McBurney, Joe Cole, Tracey Ullman, Tanya Reynolds, Asim Chaduhry, Youssef Kerkour, Edward Hogg, Thomas Dominique, Fabien Frankel and Scott Alexander Young, releasing March 14, 2025 in theaters:

“…’Paul Cole’ (Holland) finds himself stranded in a mysterious small town with no memory of who he is or how he got here.

“Without a sense of identity or purpose, he starts from scratch and begins courting a local costume designer ‘Edna’ (Chan).

“As bits and pieces of his past slowly emerge, he attempts to find his way home, but time is slippery, appearances can’t be trusted, and it’s unclear which of his identities is real…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

Neon has unveiled the official trailer and teaser poster for “The Actor,” an upcoming noir drama directed by Duke Johnson, known for co-directing the animated film “Anomalisa.” This marks Johnson’s live-action directorial debut. The film is set to hit theaters on March 14, 2025.

Based on Donald E. Westlake’s 2010 novel “Memory,” “The Actor” stars André Holland as Paul Cole, a man who finds himself stranded in a mysterious small town with no recollection of his identity or how he arrived there. As he starts anew, he forms a relationship with local costume designer Edna, portrayed by Gemma Chan. As fragments of his past gradually surface, Paul endeavors to uncover his true self, navigating a reality where time is elusive and appearances are deceptive.

The supporting cast includes May Calamawy, Olwen Fouéré, Toby Jones, Simon McBurney, Joe Cole, Tracey Ullman, Tanya Reynolds, Asim Chaudhry, Youssef Kerkour, Edward Hogg, Thomas Dominique, Fabien Frankel,...

Neon is behind a new memory thriller titled, “The Actor,” from director Duke Johnson and the studio has unleashed a trailer for the upcoming pic based on the novel “Memory” by Donald E. Westlake with a script penned by Stephen Cooney and Johnson. The studio has sent along a trailer for the pic and gives audiences some insight into what to expect ahead of the film’s release on March 14.

Continue reading ‘The Actor’ Trailer: André Holland, Gemma Chan, May Calamawy & More Star In Duke Johnson’s New Memory Thriller at The Playlist.

Duke Johnson is making his solo directing debut with the highly-anticipated noir, “The Actor.”

Johnson reunites with his “Anomalisa” co-director Charlie Kaufman to executive produce “The Actor,” which stars André Holland as a man who realizes he has no idea what his true identity is after surviving a brutal attack in 1950s Ohio. Johnson co-wrote the script with Stephen Cooney, which is based on the novel “Memory” by Donald E. Westlake.

The official synopsis reads: “Paul Cole (Holland) is stranded in a mysterious small town with no memory of who he is or how he got here. Without a sense of identity or purpose, he starts from scratch and begins courting a local costume designer Edna (Gemma Chan). As bits and pieces of his past slowly emerge, he attempts to find his way home, but time is slippery, appearances can’t be trusted, and it’s unclear which of his identities is real.

Martin Campbell has been on an unusual directorial journey since directing what is largely agreed to be the best of the modern James Bond films, Casino Royale. In the nearly 20 years since then, the New Zealand-born director has stuck to seldom-watched actioners with impressive casts likeThe Foreignerwith Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan, The Protégé with Maggie Q and Michael Keaton, Liam Neeson in Memory, and last year he reunited with Eva Green for Dirty Angels. Cleaner,starring Daisy Ridley, is the latest in the long list of well-acted B-movies, with scripts that don’t quite live up to expectations.

Some images have become metonymic by nature, reflecting the political problems of today with little to no context needed. Such a shot opens Michel Franco’s newest offering, Dreams, and it is one of a huge truck abandoned next to a railway: illegal border-crossing. It rattles and shakes with the screams of people locked inside, clamoring for help; one already anticipates the dire condition the fugitives all are in once the police break open the back door. One of those “illegals” manages to escape amidst the chaos: a youngish, strong-looking man (Isaác Hernández) whose determination is made clear by every step he takes on that desolate road. We don’t know who he is, but he surely knows where he’s going, and there’s a fierceness to him that overpowers the pain he’s obviously in.

After hitchhiking to San Francisco, he breaks into the lavish house of Jennifer McCarthy...

If for nothing else, Michel Franco’s wan and repetitive new effort gives us a crystalline definition for “victim of one’s own success.” For there is really no way to separate the deflation that sets in early in “Dreams” from the surprise that so agreeably built throughout his prior entry, “Memory.”

That earlier, Venice-acclaimed film shocked by threading a bleak narrative with glimmers of hope; this latest, Berlin-launched title lulls by offering little more than notes on a theme, tracing the contours of privilege and power so single-mindedly that the film ends up spinning in circles.

That both star Jessica Chastain — and that both were apparently filmed near back-to-back — certainly encourages the comparison.

Here, Chastain stars as Jennifer, a Bay Area heiress who spends her days half-heartedly running her father’s philanthropic organization, and who might have otherwise been named Karen had the filmmaker not deigned for subtlety. Not that Franco pulls many punches,...

Magnificent Obsession: Franco Finds Love is a Hopeless Place

Michel Franco lassos Jessica Chastain into his continued class conflict examinations in Dreams, an intimate portrait of a doomed love affair ruined by power hierarchies. Reuniting with Chastain after 2023’s Memory (read review), Franco fashions his headliner as an elitist who chooses to remain oblivious about her exploitative tendencies, even while seemingly head-over-heels in love with a younger, Mexican dancer. Ironically, they share similar versions of the same dream, and clearly neither are being realistic about what the end goal is supposed to look like. Toxic tendencies from both parties generate shifting balances of control, with which Franco spins his wheels on until he’s ready to deliver the venom and violence underlining nearly all his films.…...

Less than two years after making Memory, in which Jessica Chastain falls for a man with galloping dementia, Mexican director Michel Franco has once again set her on a romantic obstacle course in which nothing, including her own moral compass, runs smoothly. As the monstrously moneyed patron of arts organizations in both the United States and Mexico, she is involved in a passionate but discreet liaison with a Mexican ballet dancer, Fernando (Isaac Hernandez). Separated by status, money, ethnicity and a border that the footloose Fernando is forbidden to cross, these star-tangled lovers lurch towards an inevitably messy endgame.

Do we care? Not really. As a heartbreaker, Dreams is flat and entirely affectless. We first encounter Fernando walking away from a truck somewhere near the border, one of a gaggle of hopeful braceros who are systematically robbed by the traffickers before being tipped out into the borderland desert. There is...

Michel Franco is back in a pissed-off register about the world we live in with his crisply directed class critique “Dreams,” where the Mexican writer/director rails into the limousine liberal American one-percent identity with all the subtlety of a power drill. But the film’s quietly disturbing power lies in how Franco packages his U.S.-Mexico border metaphor — with rich philanthropist Jennifer (Jessica Chastain) and her young ballerina lover Fernando standing in for each — into an addictive and destructive love story as sharply wrought as the movie’s grander political concerns.

Chastain gives her riskiest performance in some time as a rich arts patron who encourages Fernando to cross the border illegally in order for her foundation to give an American showcase of his art. Many of Chastain’s recent movies, including her Oscar-winning “Eyes of Tammy Faye” and even Franco’s own bittersweet dementia romance “Memory,” have...

Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco has arrived in the German capital to debut his latest feature, Dreams, in competition at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.

The film is led by Oscar-winner Jessica Chastain, who joined the prolific filmmaker this afternoon at a presser for the flick. The session was politically-orientated, with most questions directed at Chastain. Early on, the Oscar winner was quizzed on political affairs in her native U.S., and her answer was resolute.

“I make my home in the U.S. because I’m a hopeful person,” Chastain said. “I believe you have to participate to create the environment, culture, and society you want. I’m not going to give up on my country. So yes, I would like to say there’s a lot of us there that are still quite hopeful, and we’re fighting the good fight.”

In Dreams, Chastain stars as wealthy San Francisco socialist and philanthropist Jennifer.

Exclusive: Mexican director Michel Franco touches down at the Berlin Film Festival this weekend with drama Dreams starring Jessica Chastain, who is also an associate producer under the banner of her company Freckle Films.

A twist on the star-crossed lovers romance, Chastain stars as wealthy San Francisco socialist and philanthropist Jennifer

When her younger Mexican lover Fernando– a dancer she met through a dance school program run by her family’s foundation in Mexico – turns up at her home in San Francisco after making a perilous illegal journey across the border, their love story gets complicated.

Celebrated Mexican ballerina Isaac Hernández, who is currently a principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre, co-stars opposite Chastain as Fernando.

The movie, the second collaboration between Franco and Chastain after Memory, arrives at the festival as the long-running debate over illegal immigration over Mexico-u.S. border heats up with President Donald Trump’s second term in office.

Mubi, which recently planted a flag in the U.S. with the wide release of Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance,” has welcomed Zhang Xin to its board of directors, as part of a new chapter for the rapidly expanding company which will also see Zhang’s New York-based film production and financing group Closer Media become an investor in Mubi.

A billionaire entrepreneur, Zhang co-founded Closer Media and previously co-founded Soho China, a construction giant in Beijing and Shanghai known for its iconic projects designed by leading architects from around the world. She left the company in 2022 and partnered with William Horberg, a veteran producer whose credits include “The Queen’s Gambit” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” to break into the media world.

A patron of the arts, Zhang also serves as a Trustee of MoMA, and is a member of both the Harvard Global Advisory Council and Asia Business Council.

Plot: A woman (Amy Adams) who gave up her career as a stay-at-home mom begins to think she’s turning into a dog.

Review: I don’t know why, but when I first heard the premise for Nightbitch, I assumed it was going to be a horror movie. I’m definitely not the only one, as if you Google the film, it’s still classified as horror, and the posters make it look like dark, edgy fare. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Nightbitch, despite its provocative title, is actually a sweet tribute to motherhood and the pressures therein, similar to Jason Reitman’s Tully.

It’s a good little movie, with Amy Adams getting her best role in a couple of years as the increasingly harried and unnamed protagonist (she’s credited only as mother). Once a noted bohemian artist, her days mostly consist of caring for her toddler son,...

Anisong unit Jam Project released their new song "Dunbine ~Monogatari wa Kioku no Kakera" ("Dunbine ~ A story is a piece of memory") digitally on November 2 and posted the song's music video on Sunrise's official YouTube channel . The song was newly produced as the theme song for Japanese pachinko company Sammy's new smart pachislot machine inspired by Sunrise's classic fantasy robot anime in 1983-1984, Aura Battler Dunbine . The lyrics were written by two members of the unit, Masami Okui and Hiroshi Kitadani , while the latter also worked on music. The music video makes extensive use of visuals used in the machine to introduce the characters and aura battlers. Jam Project "Dunbine ~Monogatari wa Kioku no Kakera" Music Video Digital jacket Smart Pachislot "Aura Battler Dunbine" Trailer Featuring The Theme Song Related: Sunrise Robot Laboratory Project Releases Experimental Movie "Aura Battler Dunbine Side L" Source : Jam Project official website , Sunrise...

Liam Neeson is making some major decisions related to his action movie career. Neeson has starred in several popular action movies, such as The Grey, The Commuter, The Marksman, and of course, the Taken movies. However, the actor recently admitted that he is planning to retire from action movies. Neeson acknowledged that he is 72 years old now, and doesn't want to film an action movie if he can't even do most of his stunts. Therefore, Neeson predicted he would retire from action films by the end of 2025.

While Neeson's name has become quite synonymous with the action genre in recent years, he actually did not get his start in action films. It was 2008's Taken that led Neeson further and further into the action genre. Taken grossed $226 million at the worldwide box office on a budget of just $25 million, so it only made sense for Neeson to star in more action movies.

Despite having gone into production in the summer of 2023 (in Mexico City and San Francisco), Dreams was not a film that Michel Franco wanted to rush for a 2024 drop. Today, The Match Factory officially launches sales on the project (easily be among our most anticipated features for 2025) and provides us with a better breakdown on what to expect. As we already knew, Jessica Chastain, newbie Isaac Hernández and Rupert Friend were part of the cast, but learn that Hernández plays a more significant role in the film and as was the case with Memory, Chastain will more or less be equal footing with – here we go with the synopsis:

Fernando (Hernández), a young ballet dancer from Mexico, dreams of being internationally recognized and living in the US.…...

The Match Factory has officially launched sales on Michel Franco’s upcoming movie Dreams at the AFM in Las Vegas, having been attached to the film for the past year.

The second collaboration between Franco and Jessica Chastain, the film is in post-production and Tmf is sharing a first promo with buyers.

Chastain plays socialite and philanthropist Jennifer, whose young ballet dancer lover Fernando leaves everything behind in Mexico to join her in the U.S., narrowly escaping death in the process.

He believes she will support him in his dreams of being internationally recognized and living in the U.S. His arrival disrupts Jennifer’s world, and she will do anything to protect both their futures—and the carefully curated life she’s built.

Isaac Hernández co-stars as the young dancer. He is currently a principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre,...

The Match Factory has launched sales for the new feature by acclaimed Mexican director Michel Franco, “Dreams,” at the American Film Market, and made a promo available for buyers. The film marks the second collaboration between the director and Jessica Chastain.

Variety revealed in July that the Match Factory would be the sales agent on the project (here).

Franco’s “Memory,” starring Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard, premiered last year in competition at the Venice Film Festival, where Sarsgaard was awarded the Coppa Volpi for best actor.

“Dreams” features Chastain in the leading role, alongside dancer Isaac Hernández. Currently a principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre, Hernández has worked with the English National Ballet in London, the San Francisco Ballet, and most of the major ballet companies. He made his acting debut in the film “The King of All the World” (2021). The cast also includes Marshall Bell (“Stand by Me”), and Rupert Friend.

Tim Fehlbaum’s September 5 stars John Magaro, Peter Sarsgaard, Leonie Benesch, and Ben Chaplin as ABC sports journalists unexpectedly put in the position of narrativizing the hostage crisis of the 1972 Munich Olympics. It’s an effective thriller––one couldn’t accuse it of being boring––but takes what feels like the safest possible approach to its fraught subject matter.

September 5 opens with ABC’s vintage logo as a cheerful voice announces these as the first Olympic Games to be broadcast live, promising that the Munich edition will remind the world of what unites us––an irony-loaded statement for those who know what’s coming. The handheld camera follows the ABC journalists as they begin their day in the studio. It is director Geoffrey’s (Magaro) first day on the job. He’s hoping to impress his bosses: the ambitious Roone Arledge (Sarsgaard) and “voice of reason” Marvin (Chaplin). Soon, shocking...

“Venom: The Last Dance” topped the box office again as newcomer “Here,” a fantasy drama that uses AI so Tom Hanks and Robin Wright can play younger (and older) versions of themselves, fizzled in its debut.

“Here,” which was produced and financed by Miramax and distributed by Sony, opened in fifth place with $5 million from 2,647 North American theaters. The film, which reunites the “Forrest Gump” co-stars with their director Robert Zemeckis, follows the inhabitants of a single house over the course of 100 years — allowing Hanks and Wright to portray teenagers and octogenarians across 105 minutes thanks to de-aging technology. Critics and audiences rejected the movie with a 36% on Rotten Tomatoes and “B-” grade on CinemaScore. So, word-of-mouth may not help bolster attention for “Here” in its box office run. The movie cost $45 million and needs a long life in theaters to justify that price tag.

Hanks has been a massive big screen draw over the years,...

Peter Sarsgaard, the guest on this episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast — which was recorded in front of an audience at the Newport Beach Film Festival, where Sarsgaard was honored with the Film Performance of the Year Award — is a remarkable character actor who is enjoying the biggest year of his career. He shines in both the new Paramount film September 5, playing Roone Arledge as ABC Sports covers 1972 Munich Olympics terrorist attack, and on the new Apple TV+ drama series Presumed Innocent, as a prosecutor tasked with convicting a former colleague of a murder.

The 53-year-old, who has a distinctive voice and sleepy-eyed gaze, has been acting professionally on the stage and screens big and small for 30 years. Early in his career, it was fashionable to describe him with sort of backhanded compliments — for instance, the New York Times noted in 2004 that he has a “tendency to...

Ketchup Entertainment founder Gareth West has partnered with Zero Gravity Management and Ozark producer Mark Williams on a new television division.

The venture will operate as a division of Ketchup Entertainment dedicated to producing and acquiring premium series, with Ketchup also serving as the US distributor.

The partnership will focus on shows across multiple genres, ranging from thrillers and historical dramas to sci-fi and crime. The first slate of original projects is in development, while the acquisitions team is looking at completed shows. The partners anticipate releasing the inaugural series by mid-2025.

“This partnership allows us to create and distribute entertaining,...

Days of Our Lives spoilers for the week of September 16, 2024, are here! Next week, fans can expect Connie Viniski (Julie Dove) to spiral out of control.

Chad Dimera (Billy Flynn) is moved by Abigail Dimera’s (AnnaLynne McCord) memory. Ava Vitali (Tamara Braun) has a knife to her throat. Plus, Steve Johnson (Stephen Nichols) interrogates Clyde Weston (James Read). Keep reading to find out what is coming up next week in the Peacock soap opera.

Days Of Our Lives Spoilers – Monday, September 16: Fiona Cook Confesses

Dool spoilers for Monday, September 16 reveal that Fiona Cook (Serena Scott Thomas) tells a shocking secret to Xander Cook Kiriakis (Paul Telfer). Fiona walked in on Xander about to beat Brady Black (Eric Martsolf) with a baseball bat.

So, will Fiona tell Xander that she was the one that paralyzed Sarah Horton Kiriakis (Linsey Godfrey)? Or could Fiona just tell Xander about boozing and shaking her booty with Brady?...

While The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is over a year old, there are still important subtleties being uncovered, even though the game is generally light on narrative compared to its predecessors in the series. Ganondorf is the series' most famous villain, being intricately woven into the fabric of Hyrule's recursive conflict, but it can often seem like his plans involve little more than laying waste to Hyrule. Even Ganon's show of force in Ocarina of Time would seemingly have him ruling over the kingdom's ruins.

At first glance, Ganondorf's plan in Tears of the Kingdom is similar, challenging the armies of Hyrule with a horde of monsters after transforming into the Demon King. But more easily overlooked details from Totk's Dragon Tear memories show that Ganondorf was exceptionally ruthless in his quest for power. Ganondorf always being a Gerudo has long been an important part of his characterization,...

Alejandro Jodorowsky's ambitious vision for Dune led to the most significant cinematic failure ever. Special effects supervisor Dan O'Bannon turned his failed Dune dreams into the screenplay for Alien. Documentaries like Jodorowsky's Dune and Memory chronicle the evolution of Alien arising from Dune's ashes. (104)

Thanks to the gigantic success of Denis Villeneuve's recent adaptations of Dune, everyone seems to know about David Lynch's first attempt to turn that epic story into a feature film that, unfortunately, turned into one of the biggest disappointments in cinematic history. The story of the first attempt to adapt Dune for the silver screen is lesser known and flamed out even more spectacularly than Lynch's, leading to the development of one of the most iconic horror films ever made.

Alejandro Jodorowsky, a filmmaker with a potent vision for Dune, was in charge of this first adaptation. His dream was to make an epic ten-hour film,...

Days of Our Lives (Dool) spoilers for Friday, August 23 hint at some major moments in Salem as fans head into the weekend. There’s some steamy action at the Horton Cabin, while a husband demands answers about a crime, and someone’s memory is *seemingly* triggered.

Learn more about what to expect during Friday’s show, below!

Days Of Our Lives Spoilers – Sophia Choi Makes Her Move

Dool spoilers for Friday, August 23 reveal that Sophia Choi (Madelyn Kientz) will make her move on Tate Black (Leo Howard).

This week’s Days preview shows a scantily clad Sophia at the cabin, seductively approaching Tate, while asking what he feels like doing.

Sophia knows that Tate and Holly Jonas (Ashley Puzemis) haven’t made love yet, and she seems to think she can tempt him away from his girlfriend.

Sounds like she won’t succeed; however, she may still be able to...

After getting to see Michael Keaton reprise his role as Beetlejuice later this year, the Oscar nominee will be shifting to something much harder than trying to come back from the afterlife: parenthood.

Keaton stars alongside Mila Kunis in “Goodrich,” a heartwarming dramedy written and directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer (“Home Again”) in which Keaton needs to learn to be a father to two different sets of kids at very different ages.

According to the synopsis, Keaton plays Andy Goodrich, “whose life is upended when his wife and mother of their nine-year-old twins enters a 90-day rehab program, leaving him on his own with their young kids. In order to get by, he leans on the help of his adult daughter from his first marriage, Grace (Kunis), ultimately evolving into the father Grace never had.”

The first trailer for “Goodrich,” which you can watch below, shows Keaton trying to convince his...