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Magicians Penn Jillette and Teller receive their Hollywood Walk of Fame stars in 2013. (Photo via Wikimedia Commons)

The following is a press release; its contents were not editorially vetted by The Desk.

The National Association of Broadcasters (Nab) will present the Television Chairman’s Award to renowned magicians and television personalities, Penn Jillette and Teller. The award will be presented at the 2025 Nab Show in Las Vegas, Nevada during the We Are Broadcasters session on Tuesday, April 8, at 10 a.m. on the Main Stage.

The Nab TV Chairman’s Award recognizes individuals for groundbreaking work in one or more television-specific art disciplines. The award was first presented in 2009 to four-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe-winning actor Kelsey Grammar. Past recipients include “This Is Us” and “Black Panther” star Sterling K. Brown, television and film actress Kristen Bell, award-winning actor and activist Terry Crews and Emmy-winning host Mario Lopez. Last year...

It’s a new month, and Hulu subscribers are getting a slew of new movies and TV shows to enjoy.

June 1 is jam-packed with more than 30 titles that have landed on the streamer, including the seventh and final season of Ava DuVernay’s “Queen Sugar,” the Jack Nicholson-led film “Hoffa,” Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Borat” and the entire “Twilight” franchise.

Mixing in a little of the old with new come goodies from 2023, like “Flamin’ Hot,” which tells the story of Mexican migrant Richard Montanez who came up with the idea for Flamin’ Hot Cheetos while working as a janitor at Frito Lay. The film lands on Hulu June 9.

Ending June with a bang will the be second season of “The Bear,” (June 22), Season 20 of “The Bachelorette” (June 27) and the sixth and final season of “Grown-ish.”

Here’s everything you can expect to hit Hulu this June.

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The Best Free Movie Streaming Sites,...

It’s summer time on Hulu and that can only mean one thing. With its list of new releases for June 2023, Hulu is bringing back last summer’s unexpected hit.

FX’s The Bear season 2 premieres all episodes on June 22. If you’re not already captivated by this intense culinary story about the little Italian beef shop that could, definitely catch up now. This time around, Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and friends will attempt a major foodie rebrand. The only other Hulu series of note this month is the docuseries The Age of Influence. Premiering on June 5, this doc will examine the dark side of influencer culture.

Just like its corporate partner Disney+, Hulu will premiere Eva Longoria’s directorial debut, Flamin’ Hot, in June 9. The movie tells the true story of Frito-Lay janitor Richard Montañez (Jesse Garcia) who created an iconic snack that forever changed the food industry. Also...

Season 2 of last summer’s hit breakout series “The Bear” is set to premiere on Hulu on Thursday, June 22. After a tumultuous return to his family’s hole-in-the-wall Chicago restaurant, chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) and his staff transform the greasy sandwich joint into a first-class dining experience after he discovers the slush fund his brother left behind. Despite having the extra money to make his dreams a reality, the future proves to be both a personal and professional challenge for Carmy and the crew.

Watch the trailer for Season 2 of “The Bear”:

Beginning on June 14, the new series continuation of the beloved film “The Full Monty” arrives on Hulu. It’s 25 years later and the men and women of Sheffield, England, are in reboot mode, navigating life and family. The original 1997 movie focused on a group of down-on-their-luck, blue-collar men who put on a strip show to make ends meet.

Film, TV and digital public relations firm Falco Ink has promoted seven-year company veteran Annie McDonough to VP, the company said today. McDonough, who joined Falco Ink in 2007, has managed several successful PR campaigns including for Still Alice, for which Julianne Moore received an Academy Award; the Kristen Wiig comedy Welcome To Me; Robert Kenner's Merchants Of Doubt; Penn and Teller's Tim's Vermeer; and Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Don Jon. “Annie McDonough has been…...

Film, TV and digital public relations firm Falco Ink has promoted seven-year company veteran Annie McDonough to VP, the company said today. McDonough, who joined Falco Ink in 2007, has managed several successful PR campaigns including for Still Alice, for which Julianne Moore received an Academy Award; the Kristen Wiig comedy Welcome To Me; Robert Kenner's Merchants Of Doubt; Penn and Teller's Tim's Vermeer; and Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Don Jon. “Annie McDonough has been…...

Tim's Vermeer sees an inventor try to recreate a famous 17th century painting. So why is it a great geek documentary? Ryan explains...

In a San Antonio warehouse, Tim Jenison slaves over his canvas. He gently caresses its surface with a tiny brush, leaving minute strokes of oil paint behind as he painstakingly recreates the delicate weave of a Persian rug. It's the latest stage in a project that has taken this inventor-turned-artist years of research and months of intricate rendering, and from his posture and the intense look in his eyes, we can tell that both physically and psychologically, it is s hard, hard work.

The obsessive recreation of a famous painting by 17th century Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer might sound like an unlikely subject for a documentary, but Tim's Vermeer isn't really just about painting at all. It's about invention and the nature of genius. It's about testing...

When we look back on our lives, there are always key individuals who have an immeasurable influence on us. Not just our family (and relatives), but friends, mentors, teachers, those with learned wisdom to impart and lessons to teach. If they say the right things they can alter our destiny forever, or remind us why/how life is worth living in the midst of the constant stress and chaos of this world. Seymour: An Introduction is a documentary by actor Ethan Hawke introducing us to his inspiration - the piano legend Seymour Bernstein, who is such a humble, charming, considerate man. This wonderful doc spends intimate time with him, showing us his own history, who he is, and how much the emotion of music is important to life. As odd as this may sound, the comparison that came to mind while I was watching Seymour at Telluride was something like...

Here's a chart of 2014's twenty-five highest grossing films (so far, clearly) tracked by Indiewire's box office charts. It's not exactly an impressive list just yet, with Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel" easily at the top (and is now Anderson's highest grossing film ever), though "Belle," "Chef" "The Lunchbox," "Fading Gigolo," "Gloria," "Tim's Vermeer" and the 2014 Oscar short film program all warrant mention as success stories. The list should evolve drastically into the summer, with a much more aggressive specialty release schedule in place. Note this list only includes North American grosses for specialty films -- indie, foreign and/or documentary -- that opened in limited release (initially under 500 screens) in 2014 and were released by an independent distributor or a studio specialty division. It also includes films that screened only as an Academy-qualifier in 2013 ("Tim's Vermeer,"  etc). Grosses as of June 17, 2014. 1. The Grand Budapest...

Our resident VOD expert tells you what's new to rent and own this week on the various streaming services such as cable Movies On Demand, Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, and, of course, Netflix. Cable Movies On Demand: Same-day-as-disc releases, older titles and pretheatrical exclusives for rent, priced from $3-$10, in 24- or 48-hour periods Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (action; Chris Pine, Keira Knightley, Kevin Costner; rated PG-13) Non-Stop (high-altitude thriller with an extraneous titular hyphen; Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, Lupita Nyong'o; rated PG-13) Repentance (thriller; Forest Whitaker, Anthony Mackie; rated R) Tim's Vermeer (documentary; Tim Jenison, Penn Jillette, Teller; rated PG -13) Hellion (drama; Aaron Paul, Juliette Lewis Premieres; premieres 6/13 on Mod...

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Moviefone's Top DVD of the Week

"True Detective: The Complete First Season"

What's It About? This creepy HBO series stars Woody Harrelson and

Matthew McConaughey as troubled detectives on the hunt for a killer in 1995, and as the possible subjects of an investigation in the present day. The crazy conspiracies and weird worldviews presented by writer/creator Nic Pizzolatto and the masterful direction by Cary Fukunaga make this a series to obsess over. Time overlaps as our antagonists and their associates are interviewed in the

Why We're In: The Internet exploded with theories about "True Detective," and although they didn't necessarily prove to be fruitful, there's still plenty to examine and re-examine in each episode. Plus, there are audio commentaries, deleted scenes, interviews, and other behind-the-scenes goodies.

Moviefone's Top Blu-ray of the Week

"All That Heaven Allows" (Criterion)

What's It About? Jane Wyman stars as a rich widow named...

True Detective I have told quite a few people to check out "True Detective" and even loaned my father-in-law this new Blu-ray to check out as he had not yet watched it. Considering how each season will be one contained storyline I'd say this is an easy buy if you liked it and not something you need to wait until several seasons are made available as one giant box set.

Non-Stop It's easy to laugh and dismiss a movie like Non-Stop, but it's actually not that bad. It does have a rather typical ending as they opted to go the standard direction with the "what's really going on questionc", but it's still a movie you won't mind renting, though a buy is out of the question.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit On the other hand, Jack Ryan isn't even worth the rental, just flat out not a good movie. Too bad,...

This week’s new Blu-ray releases include a trio of very television offerings, a pair of new Criterion releases, and more. Briefly: True Detective [Blu-ray] - $39.96 (50% off) Non-Stop (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD with UltraViolet) - $19.99 (43% off) Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD) - $12.99 (68% off) Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey [Blu-ray] - $29.99 (50% off) Ray Donovan: Season 1 [Blu-ray] - $34.99 (55% off) Alan Partridge [Blu-ray] - $14.96 (50% off) Devil's Knot (DVD/Bd Combo) [Blu-ray] - $16.49 (53% off) Tim's Vermeer [Blu-ray] - $29.96 (27% off) L'eclisse (Blu-ray + DVD) - $33.96 (15% off) All That Heaven Allows (Blu-ray + DVD) - $33.96 (15% off)

The post New to Blu-ray: True Detective, Non-stop, Cosmos, Ray Donovan, Jack Ryan, and More appeared first on Collider.

Escape from Tomorrow Shot guerrilla style at Disneyland, I haven't seen Escape from Tomorrow, but it seems to have gained most of its attention based on the way it was made more than based on what was made. Nevertheless, this film seems as if it's destined to be a curiosity for a long time coming.

The Legend of Hercules I received a review copy of this and I can't imagine being bored enough to ever watch what will probably one of the films looked back on at the end of the year as one of the biggest flops of 2014.

Devil's Due The 18% at RottenTomatoes says Devil's Due is "derivative and mostly uninspired", but that doesn't mean as a rental it wouldn't satisfy. Then again, I don't really plan on finding out. Youc

Gimme Shelter Yet another release hitting shelves this week that I have not yet seen. This one features...

 

I'm somewhat embarrased to admit that I never took an art history course in college. My knowledge and awareness of 17th-century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer even more embarrasingly begins and ends with Scarlett Johansson portraying the young woman who is the subject of Vermeer's painting in Girl with a Pearl Earring. I felt slightly more knowledgable after watching the documentary Tim's Vermeer, directed by Teller of the comedy/illusionist duo Penn and Teller, which opens in Austin today.

If you take a look at Vermeer's work, it's easy to be struck by how realistic his paintings are. Hundreds of years before photographs, he captures light and his subjects in a way that leaps off the canvas almost as if it's a video image. That's how Tim Jenison sees these classic paintings and, over the years, it has started to become a bit of an obsession. Tim is an internet streaming...

Kind of a dreary week, with the Pompeii failing to erupt and 3 Days To Kill a different kind of disaster. The Wind Rises hits theatres more widely, and while some adore this (last?) film by Myazaki I found it to be a tedious bore.On the other hand, opening wider this week is the glorious and magical Tim's Vermeer, the extraordinary doc by Teller (and Penn!) that months after I saw it at Tiff continues to fill me with wonder....

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Last night the 2014 BAFTA Awards took place, hosted by Stephen Fry from London's Royal Opera House and it was 12 Years a Slave taking Best Film and Best Actor for Chiwetel Ejiofor while Gravity was honored for Outstanding British Film and Alfonso Cuaron was named Best Director. Interestingly enough, 12 Years a Slave only won the two awards while Gravity was the night's biggest winner taking home an additional four awards in technical categories, including Score (Steven Price) and Cinematography (Emmanuel Lubezki). It's interesting to see a list of winners where Dallas Buyers Club wasn't nominated for a single award considering its two main characters played by Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto are, more or less, considered locks to win Best Actor and Supporting Actor. As for the BAFTA Awards, it was Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips) taking Best Supporting Actor and while Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine) added another Best Actress award to...

All the Baftas winners (and nominees) as they come in through the night

Best picture

Winner: 12 Years a Slave

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Gravity

Philomena

Best British film

Winner: Gravity

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Philomena

Rush

Saving Mr Banks

The Selfish Giant

Best director

Winner: Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity

Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips

Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave

David O Russell, American Hustle

Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street

Best actor

Winner: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave

Christian Bale, American Hustle

Bruce Dern, Nebraska

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street

Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips

Best actress

Winner: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

Amy Adams, American Hustle

Sandra Bullock, Gravity

Judi Dench, Philomena

Emma Thompson, Saving Mr Banks

Best supporting actor

Winner: Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips

Bradley Cooper, American Hustle

Daniel Brühl, Rush

Matt Damon, Behind the Candelabra

Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave

Best supporting actress

Winner: Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle

Sally Hawkins,...

Please note: The BAFTAs commenced at 7pm GMT, and the ceremony is being broadcast on delay from 9pm onwards on BBC One. The list below was updated in real time as the winners were announced.

Digital Spy presents a list of winners from the 67th annual BAFTA Film Awards, hosted by Stephen Fry on Sunday, February 16 at London's Royal Opera House:

BAFTAs 2014: Red carpet pictures

Best Film

12 Years a Slave - Winner

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Gravity

Philomena

Outstanding British Film

Gravity - Winner

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Philomena

Rush

Saving Mr Banks

The Selfish Giant

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer

Colin Carberry, Glenn Patterson - Good Vibrations

Kelly Marcel - Saving Mr Banks

Kieran Evans - Kelly + Victor - Winner

Paul Wright, Polly Stokes - For Those in Peril

Scott Graham - Shell

Film Not in the English Language

The Act of Killing...

The top stories of the week from Toh! Awards:Awards Campaigns Continue with Santa Barbara Festival and Academy Nominees LuncheonCrafts Roundup: Talking Production Design with the Five Oscar NomineesEmmanuel Lubezki Wins for "Gravity" at American Society of Cinematographers AwardsFour Oscar Contenders Win Big at Ace Eddie AwardsBox Office:Arthouse Audit: "Tim's Vermeer" Shows Life; "Gloria" Expands WellFriday Box Office: 'Lego Movie' Has Robust Opening Day, 'Monuments Men' in Distant Second PlaceSuper Bowl Weekend Saved by Strong Holdovers "Ride Along" and "Frozen"; "Labor Day" Opens in Seventh PlaceFeatures:How Screenwriter Terry Southern Prepared Me for a Career in HollywoodFestivals:Berlin: "Grand Budapest Hotel" Press Conferences Sets the Bar High, with Anderson, Fiennes, Murray, Swinton and MoreEight Great Quotes from Cate Blanchett at the Santa Barbara Film FestivalThings I Learned at the Rotterdam Film FestivalInterviews:Nine Things I Learned at the Hilarious Santa Barbara Film...

In a mildly interesting turn of events, if below-the-line categories at the Oscars are your thing, occurred last night as Captain Phillips was named the Best Edited Feature Drama by the American Cinema Editors (Ace) at the 2014 Eddie Awards while American Hustle won in the comedy category. Now this doesn't mean anything in the Best Picture race at the Oscars as we're still looking at a battle between 12 Years a Slave and Gravity there, but this does make the Editing race a little more interesting. In the animated category it was Frozen taking the win and 20 Feet from Stardom won for Best Documentary Editing. I've listed the winners below, highlighted in bold red text and updated the Oscar Overture with the wins for American Hustle and Captain Phillips. Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic): 12 Years a Slave - Joe Walker Captain Phillips - Chris Rouse, A.C.E. Gravity - Alfonso Cuar?...

Penn Jillette is a man obsessed with what's beneath the surface of things. He and his silent partner Teller have been shining a light on the secrets of magic for decades on stage and screen. Their controversial series Penn & Teller: Bullshit made debunking its full-time mission. Even their latest doc Tim's Vermeer demystified, offering a solid and fascinating argument about how the Dutch master must have painted. So we should expect nothing less of Jillette's upcoming dip into horror, Director's Cut. Jillette made some details of the film very public when the project began crowd-funding. In the video viewable below, he entreated his fans to chip in so he could go from "your mom's favorite atheist" to the kind of guy who inspires nightmares. Recently, I had the chance to talk to Jillette about Director's Cut, and he surprised me by confessing it's not just a crowd-funded movie, but...

It was a great year for documentary film, and Indiewire was fortunate enough to catch up with three directors who brought exceptional stories to the screen this past year.  Read More: Spotlight on director and producer Penn and Teller for "Tim's Vermeer" Penn and Teller ("Tim's Vermeer"), Gabriela Cowperthewaite ("Blackfish") and Joshua Oppenheimer ("The Act of Killing") speak about how they came upon their three very different documentary films. While Cowperthewaite was drawn to the unique and untold stories of Sea World tragedies, Oppenheimer reveals how he "stumbled upon" the horrific genocide that occurred in Indonesia. Read More: Spotlight on director Joshua Oppenheimer for "The Act of Killing" Over the last two months, we've featured many of the awards season's best actors and directors, as selected by Indiewire editors, and honored them with original photography by Daniel Bergeron and video shot by our partners at Movies On Demand. Check out all of.

Moviegoing took a back seat to American football as Kate Winslet and Zac Efron films failed to ignite the Us box office

• More from Us box office analysis

Life stops when it's Super Bowl

There's really only one show in town come Super Bowl Sunday, which is why the weekend session is traditionally a slow one. As fans across the country settled in to watch the Seahawks clobber the Broncos, moviegoing took a back seat.

The top 12 pictures combined for an anaemic $72.4m (£44.2m), which actually gained around 5% on the same session last year, when the top 12 produced $68.9m.

Regular service should be restored next weekend, when families are expected to rush in to see The Lego Movie and teens may well flock to Vampire Academy.

Labor Day misses out

The writing was on the wall last September. It was the world premiere of Jason Reitman's new movie at...

For the second straight week, a specialized film whose release was initially timed to follow a hoped-for Oscar nomination that didn't happen opened to decent results anyway. "Tim's Vermeer" (Sony Pictures Classics) was thought to be a prime contender for the Documentary Feature award after strong festival showings, but like the similarly anticipated "Gloria" (Roadside Attractions) in the Foreign Language category, failed to make the list of semi-finalists. "Gloria" in the meantime had a strong second week expansion. Thus two early 2014 films may fill in for the declining (but still decent) actual awards contenders that have dominated the art market over recent months. Opening "Tim's Vermeer" (Sony Pictures Classics) - Criticwire: A-, Metacritic: 75; Festivals include: Telluride 2013, Toronto 2013, New York 2013 $57,900 in 4 theaters; PSA (per screen average): $14,475 This opened in the mid-range of recent limited documentary openings, behind "Stories We Tell" and "20 Feet from...

Even though it ended up being snubbed for a best documentary Oscar nomination, the show must got on for Penn & Teller's "Tim's Vermeer," and it did so to the tune of a healthy $57,873 from 4 theaters, averaging $14,468. That bodes well for the Sony Pictures Classics release as it expands. Edited down from a remarkable 2,400 hours of footage,  the film follows the epic quest of Penn & Teller's buddy Tim Jenison, an inventor based in San Antonio whose creations include the NewTek firm, the videotoaster, an airplane made entirely from elements that he bought at WalMart, and a lip-synching duck. Tim's latest project is attempting to prove a theory that 17th century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer employed technology in painting his works. The release date had clearly been set to benefit from a potential Oscar nomination, though while the film -- a hit on the festival circuit last year-- made the Academy's doc shortlist,...

Tim Jenison decided to use his expertise as an inventor to try to recreate Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer’s “The Music Lesson” using technology that would have been available in the 17th century. When Penn Jillette learned of his friend’s passion project, he knew it had to be a film – and soon got his business partner Teller to come on as the director for Tim's Vermeer.

“You see a Vermeer on the wall next to a bunch of paintings and it jumps out. They have a very different look to them. Even among the Dutch masters, who all painted extremely well, there's something about a Vermeer,” Jenison explained to Uinterview exclusively. “It's like when a little kid brings in a picture he made of a superhero and you go, 'Oh, did you lay this over the top of a comic book and trace it?' 'Yes, I did. How did you know?...

The steady stream of Oscar prestige movies has finally cooled, so with the end of an era come two last-minute Academy shut-outs, "Labor Day" and "Tim's Vermeer," as well as a romantic comedy for the guys, "That Awkward Moment." Trailers below. Jason Reitman's Joyce Maynard adaptation "Labor Day" intercuts several plots and narrators in different time frames to reveal the back stories behind depressed Adele (Kate Winslet) living in New England solitude with her 12-year-old son Henry (Gattlin Griffith). On an outing to the store, the mother and son are commandeered by a threatening escaped prisoner (Josh Brolin). Reitman takes us on a ride that never flags and often surprises with real emotion, and Winslet gives a delicately sensual performance. Fair to say it's being creamed by mostly male critics. Clearly, this relationship drama plays better for women than men. A fascinating look at one genius inventor's obsession with...

You don't paint; I don't paint. But we both like painting. Could one of us, in our first time ever picking up a brush, re-create by hand, with no one's assistance, an exact replica of one of the most beautifully complex paintings in art history — Johannes Vermeer's The Music Lesson? The question is like something out of a Borges short story, imagining the impossible possibility of a one-to-one scale map of the world that covers the world, or the old statistical saw about monkeys and typewriters. The mind-blowing answer given in this documentary foray into the depths of human drive is: Not only can this be done, but we can see it, over the course of 80 quietly intense minutes. Far from deflating our sense of art or giving the lie to past definitions of artistic ability, Tim's Vermeer, which opens in New York this weekend, proves that the...

Are you heading to the movies this weekend? We've got you covered! Our take on the new releases: Labor Day is every bit as gooey a romance as you've heard, but it still works - thanks, in part, to its stars, Oscar winner Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin. On the other hand, Zac Efron's romantic comedy That Awkward Moment can't quite get over itself - though it does have its moments ... and its merits. Plus, why you should check out this year's Oscar-nominated shorts. See This:Labor Day var brightcovevideoid = '3132464550001'; What is it about bad romance that feels so good?...

Penn & Teller are generally known for their magic tricks and prankish energy, but "Tim's Vermeer" -- a documentary directed by Teller and produced by Penn Jillette -- stands apart from the rest of their oeuvre. A spirited look at the quest of an eccentric entrepreneur intent on uncovering the cryptic technique of Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, "Tim's Vermeer" plays less like the sort of exposé of trickery one might expect of Penn & Teller and instead focuses on the nature of desiring answers to unsolvable mysteries. At its center is middle aged technologist Tim Jenison, the owner of a successful computer graphics company obsessed with Vermeer's art. Having read David Hockney's controversial tome "Secret Knowledge," which argues that Vermeer used a camera obscura to trace a projection of real images as a means of explaining the painter's extraordinary attentiveness to the behavior of light, Jenison can't stop thinking about ways to prove the theory.

"Tim's Vermeer" is one of those magical documentaries. It's a film that makes you see the world in an entirely different way. Directed by Teller, the taciturn member of the famed magician duo Penn & Teller, the film follows the artistic and scientific experiments of Tim Jenison.

Jenison is a respected pioneer in computer graphics, as well as an avid tinkerer. The film follows his investigation of a hypothesis -- that Dutch master Vermeer used optics to aid in creating his photo-realistic art. Along the way, Jenison's investigation gets to the core of artistic expression and engineering ingenuity, and how the split of art and science may not be quite as stark as many believe.

Moviefone Canada sat down with Teller and Jenison during last September's Toronto International Film Festival.

Moviefone Canada: This may be the definitive statement about what you do as Penn and Teller. This is a reflection upon...

Tim Jenison introduced his idea for an experiment in which he’d try to recreate a painting by Joannes Vermeer using technology he believed the Dutch painter used to his longtime friend Penn Jillette. Before long, his passion project was in development as a documentary called Tim's Vermeer with Teller at the helm.

Jenison was drawn to Vermeer’s paintings for their near-perfect photorealism and was determined to figure out what the catch was. “You see a Vermeer on the wall next to a bunch of paintings and it jumps out. They have a very different look to them,” Jenison told Uinterview exclusively. “Even among the Dutch masters, who all painted extremely well, there’s something about the Vermeer. It’s like when a little kid brings in a picture he made of a superhero and you go, ‘Oh, did you lay this over the top of a comic book and trace it?...

Penn and Teller's documentary Tim's Vermeer made the fall festival rounds last year, and I'm sorry I missed it. It has a terrific premise: Inventor Tim Jenison attempts to recreate the photorealistic paintings of of Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer. Since Vermeer’s works predate the invention of the camera by 150 years, Jenison seeks to discover the painter’s secrets, and his revelation may just send shockwaves through the art history community. Today, we have a behind-the-scenes clip, and it has Jenison breaks down how he recreated the setting of one of Vermeer's paintings. What Jenison explains is fascinating from the compromises he made, getting the angles right, and much more. It's like a cross between Antiques Roadshow and a crime scene. Hit the jump to check out the behind-the-scenes clip, and click here for the trailer. Tim's Vermeer opens in limited release on Friday.

Tim Jenison tried for a whole year to recreate a Vermeer painting – and all he got was a pedantic imitation

Tim's Vermeer is a film about a man who totally fails to paint a Vermeer.

That's right – fails. This is not how the acclaimed cinema documentary by American TV magicians Penn and Teller bills itself or how it has been received by reviewers. Inventor Tim Jenison, we're told, set out to discover how the 17th-century artist used optics, hoping to prove his theory by painting his own version of Vermeer's The Music Lesson. The result, we are told, is almost uncannily convincing – Tim uses simple technology to create a perfect Vermeer.

At the risk of offending the education secretary, I have to quote Blackadder here. It's a brilliant theory, with just one tiny flaw: it's bollocks.

Tim's painting does not look anything like a real Vermeer. It looks like what...

Sony Pictures Classics presents the Los Angeles Premiere of Tim's Vermeer directed by Teller and starring Tim Jenison, Teller, Artist David Hockney, and Vermeer's paintings. The screening will be held Wednesday January 29th at Pacific Design Center (8687 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood CA 90069)

Tim’s Vermeer explores boundaries between art and technology and between art and creativity. Vermeer is one of the world’s most loved painters, but this 17th century Dutch master was mostly ignored until 19th century Parisians “rediscovered” him. The jewel-like beauty of his small pictures captures your eye and has a near mystical effect in the realistic portrayals of scenes such as a woman reading a letter or pouring milk from a jug or drinking a glass of wine.

Raised in Delft, Holland, a city where perspective was treated as an optical illusion and in the 17th century where “the art of describing” typified Dutch art, Johannes Vermeer may have been using his painting more as a technical inventor than as an artist. This film sets out to test a theory of Tim Jenison, a Texas based inventor, (Video Toaster, LightWave, TriCaster) as he attempts to solve one of the greatest mysteries in all art: How did 17th century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer (“Girl with a Pearl Earring”) manage to paint so photo-realistically – 150 years before the invention of photography?

Tim Jenison himself is not a “mere” inventor, his ideas have changed technology and art. After founding NewTek in 1985 he led the way in the development of Digiview, one of the first video digitzers for a computer, DigiPaint and the Video Toaster. He saw the personal computer as the mode for incorporating his varioius interests in electronics, music, film and video. Testing his theory on how Vermeer captured his scenes is very much in keeping with his own uses of technology. As he tests his theory, his journey itself is as extraordinary as what he discovers. Tim sets out to reproduce a Vermeer painting using optical instruments which he believes Vermeer actually used. The work was so tedious, I got a bit overwhelmed by it as did Tim himself, but the excitement of discovering the same tools Vermeer probably used, conjecture over the fact that perhaps Vermeer was using science to depict life and may or may not have had “art” in mind with his own creations is fascinating.

Tim’s wanting to discontinue the work and his tears at finally completing his work are candid and endearing. The question of “art vs. science” is an interesting one, something akin to the question of “art vs. commerce” vis a vis the moving picture industry. The separation between art and science may be a contemporary separation, but on a closer look, one can stay that all art changes its forms as technology advances and changes our reality. Vermeer truly created art, whether he knew it or not at the time. That has been judged by history itself. Perhaps his “secret” use of technology (no one ever wrote of how he painted) is akin to the producer Penn Jillette, half of the magic team Penn and Teller. The secrets die with the artists.

On the other hand, Tim is not creating art, but true to his nature, he is creating a technology in such an “artistic”, that is to say, in such a pure way, that he too ranks among the “greats” much like the science/ technology participants in the film business are. As they receive their own Academy Awards, so Tim deserves accolades for the purity of his investigations and ultimate creations. He handmade the lens, handcrafte the paint and pigments, calculated and designed the room, built replicas of the furniture and all the objects in the room as he set out to reproduce The Music Lesson by Vermeer in order to prove, over 130 days of painting, how Vermeer could use a camera obscura and two mirrors to duplicate the color and light of real objects in a real room.

As three “older” men discuss Vermeer as colleagues, the stature of Tim to that of David Hockney himself and their mutual interest and curiosity in the great master Vermeer makes this investigation into Vermeer’s techniques into an event we the viewers are able to share in as equals. I felt like I was a part of their discussions which were on a visibly normal plane and yet at the same time were discussions by masters about another great master of art. I felt accomplished at speaking the same language as they used to express their thoughts.

Spanning eight years and edited from over 2400 hours of footage, Jenison’s adventure takes him to Delft, Holland, where Vermeer painted his masterpieces; on a pilgrimage to the North coast of Yorkshire to meet artist David Hockney; and eventually to Buckingham Palace, to see the Queen’s Vermeer. Directed by Teller, Tim’s Vermeer was produced by Penn Jillette and Farley Ziegler and features Tim Jenison, Penn, David Hockney, Philip Steadman and Martin Mull. Executive producer, Peter Adam Golden.

Huffington Post features an interview with Tim here by Kristine McCracken.

Martin Scorsese's comedy enjoys the third-biggest UK box-office debut for an 18-certificate film, while 12 Years a Slave holds steady in second place

• Peter Bradshaw's review of The Wolf of Wall Street

• The Wolf of Wall Street attracts new complaints from disability groups

The winner

You might have thought the market was already crowded with Oscar fare. A three-hour 18-certificate comedy might be considered a distribution challenge. But Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street bulldozered past any such concerns, posting a sensational UK opening of £4.66m. That's the third-biggest debut for an 18-certificate film, behind just Hannibal (£6.40m) and Bruno (£5.00m). It's also well up on the openings of recent Scorsese films such as Hugo (£1.23m), Shutter Island (£2.25m) and The Departed (£2.30m). Previously, Scorsese's biggest opening was Gangs of New York, with £2.62m.

In the Us, The Wolf of Wall Street opened on Christmas Day (a...

The Wolf Of Wall Street | Crystal Fairy & The Magical Cactus | Devil's Due | Tim's Vermeer | Oh Boy | The Night Of The Hunter

The Wolf Of Wall Street (18)

(Martin Scorsese, 2013, Us) Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Kyle Chandler, John Bernthal, Matthew McConaughey. 180 mins

Perhaps Scorsese has more of a right than anyone to make a banking epic in the mould of a crime epic – and sure enough, this is Gordon Gekko, GoodFellas-style: a sprawling, seriocomic, voiceover-tracked rise-and-fall with a morally dubious hero. Excess is the name of the game here, to the point there's actually an excess of excess; endless choreographed tableaux of cash, drugs, cars, naked women, shouting men and celebrity cameos. These regular shots of energy keep the story buzzing, even as they bloat the running time, but Scorsese is aiming for greatness here, and there's no reining him in.

Crystal Fairy & The Magical Cactus (18)

(Sebastián Silva, 2013, Chi) Michael Cera,...

They've geared up for one of the biggest night Hollywood has to offer, and the stars were ready for the 2014 Critics' Choice Movie Awards on Thursday (January 16).

The most popular and idolized names in the business strolled down the red carpet at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, CA before swaggering in, seeing their peers accept and take home the most highly sought-after awards.

The greatest wins of the night went to "Dallas Buyers Club" stud Matthew McConaughey for Best Actor and "Blue Jasmin" babe Cate Blanchett for Best Actress.

The Best Movie Award went to "12 Years a Slave," and check down below out the full list of 2014 Critics' Choice Movie Awards!

Best Picture

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Dallas Buyers Club

Gravity

Her

Inside Llewyn Davis

Nebraska

Saving Mr. Banks

Winner: 12 Years a Slave

The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Actor

Christian Bale – American Hustle

Bruce Dern – Nebraska

Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years...

Digital Spy presents the major winners and nominees at the 19th Annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards, held on Thursday, January 16 at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California. Eligible films were released in 2013.

Best Picture

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Dallas Buyers Club

Gravity

Her

Inside Llewyn Davis

Nebraska

Saving Mr Banks

12 Years a Slave - Winner

The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Actor

Christian Bale - American Hustle

Bruce Dern - Nebraska

Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years a Slave

Tom Hanks - Captain Phillips

Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club - Winner

Robert Redford - All Is Lost

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine - Winner

Sandra Bullock - Gravity

Judi Dench - Philomena

Brie Larson - Short Term 12

Meryl Streep - August: Osage County

Emma Thompson - Saving Mr Banks

Best Supporting Actor

Barkhad Abdi - Captain Phillips

Daniel Bruhl - Rush

Bradley Cooper - American Hustle

Michael Fassbender...

Tonight the Broadcast Film Critics Association (Bfca) announced the winners of the 2014 Critics Choice Awards, a show that isn't necessarily influential as to how the Oscars will turn out, but has been rather predictive over the last few years and a couple of curve balls were thrown tonight, perhaps suggesting what's in store for the Oscars and making this weekend's 2014 Screen Actors Guild Awards that much more interesting. To begin, 12 Years a Slave took home top honors, winning Best Picture as well as Best Supporting Actress (Lupita Nyong'o) and Best Adapted Screenplay (John Ridley), but perhaps most interesting was Chiwetel Ejiofor watching Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club) accepting Best Actor. Oh, and yes, I have already updated my Best Actor Oscar predictions as a result. The film also played backseat in the Best Director category as Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity) followed up his Golden Globe win with a Critics Choice Award.

The 2014 Critics' Choice Awards were awarded on Thursday, Jan. 16. As one of the big predictors of the Oscars, some of the best films get honored at this event. Who were the big winners? Check out this list to find out.

Winning nominees are highlighted in bold.

Best picture

"American Hustle"

"Captain Phillips"

"Dallas Buyers Club"

"Gravity"

"Her"

"Inside Llewyn Davis"

"Nebraska"

"Saving Mr. Banks"

"12 Years a Slave"

"The Wolf of Wall Street"

Best actor

Christian Bale -- "American Hustle"

Bruce Dern -- "Nebraska"

Chiwetel Ejiofor -- "12 Years a Slave"

Tom Hanks -- "Captain Phillips"

Matthew McConaughey -- "Dallas Buyers Club"

Robert Redford -- "All Is Lost"

Best actress

Cate Blanchett -- "Blue Jasmine"

Sandra Bullock -- "Gravity"

Judi Dench -- "Philomena"

Brie Larson -- "Short Term 12"

Meryl Streep -- "August: Osage County"

Emma Thompson -- "Saving Mr. Banks"

Best supporting actor

Barkhad Abdi -- "Captain Phillips"

Daniel Bruhl --...

With Chris Hemsworth announcing the Oscar nominations on behalf of the Academy yesterday, this week's Empire Podcast is chock-full of awards-based chit-chat. So if you want to be in the know about who's (probably) going to win, listen no further.Elsewhere, the team talks to James Purefoy about Noel Edmunds, Mr. Blobby and Season 2 of The Following, while Juliette Lewis takes the time to talk August: Osage County and, um, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.Reviewed: The Wolf Of Wall Street, Tim's Vermeer and Devil's Due. Discussed: foody films and movies that "Shawshank" you. It'll make sense soon enough, promise.P.S. You can check out our podcast photo gallery here and subscribe to the Empire Podcast via our iTunes page or this handy RSS feed.

Confetti gun - it's the final pre-nomination podcast episode of the season with Nathaniel, Nick, Katey and Joe. This installment, recorded last week but airing now due to jammed schedules is not a "prediction" session. That would be rendered meaningless come Thursday morn. Instead we've opted for a rambling festive discussion of general Oscar feelings... all the feelings. This podcast is dedicated with love and fan-fic to Sharon Stone and Jessica Lange chief among many others*

00:01 Intro + Golden Globe prep

03:00 Imaginary couples via Charlize + Sean rumors

10:00 Supporting Actor plus James Franco

14:00 Actress Lockdown vs. Actor Free-For-All

19:00 Cinematography/Costumes: Gravity, Grandmaster, Her, The Invisible Woman, Great Gatsby and more...

24:30 Out of the Furnace tangent

26:00 Original Score: Hans Zimmer, Desplat, Newman, Arcade Fire

32:00 Foreign Finalists but why no Gloria? >sniffle<

36:00 Documentary: Blackfish & Tim's Vermeer hate, 20 Feet From Stardom love

46:00 Dream dates for...

12 Years A Slave | The Railway Man | Delivery Man | After Tiller | 1: Life On The Limit | Exposed: Beyond Burlesque

12 Years A Slave (15)

(Steve McQueen, 2013, Us/UK) Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong'o, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano. 134 mins

What with the acclaim, the awards buzz and the harrowing subject matter, finally seeing McQueen's slavery drama now feels like a duty. But this is an "issue movie" unlike any other, both in its deliberate formalism and its under-represented history. Along with Ejiofor's abductee, we're fully immersed in a slavery system so brutally oppressive even the expression of suffering is forbidden. McQueen gives us a study of institutionalised cruelty, the forces propping it up and its innumerable victims.

The Railway Man (15)

(Jonathan Teplitzky, 2013, Aus/UK) Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman. 116 mins

Middle-aged romance is rapidly derailed by events of the past in this earnest bio-drama, as Kidman spurs Scotsman Firth to revisit his Asian prisoner-of-war days,...

Spike Jonze's Her may be competing at the Golden Globes on Sunday as a comedy, but as far as the American Cinema Editors (Ace) are concerned it's a drama as the org announced the nominees for the 2014 Ace Eddie Awards this morning in three categories. Last year these nominations were announced before the Oscars, giving little reason to look at them and add to the speculation as to which films would eventually be nominated for Best Editing at the Oscars. Looking over the list, I must say I'm surprised to see Daniel P. Hanley and Mike Hill's work on Rush didn't make the cut, instead replaced by Mark Livolski's Saving Mr. Banks. I guess editing in all those flashbacks was looked at as impressive. Otherwise, while I haven't touched my Best Film Editing predictions since first posting them, four of my top five were nominated by the Ace...

Last night the 2014 BAFTA Award nominations were announced and Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity led the way with 11 nominations, followed closely by 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle with ten and Captain Phillips with nine. This is no real surprise as I currently have Gravity taking nine nominations at the Oscars where it remains a player alongside American Hustle and, you guessed it, my Best Picture front-runner 12 Years a Slave. There's a lot of talk about the fact Dallas Buyers Club wasn't nominated, but it hasn't been released in the UK yet making it ineligible for this year's awards. Per BAFTA rules: "Films must be released theatrically in the UK, within the Academy awards year: 1 January to 31 December 2013. Films that open between 1 January and 14 February 2014 inclusive may be 'qualified' by Distributors by being screened to Academy Film Voting Members by 19 December 2013." I have no idea if Dallas Buyers was screened, but...

Best Film 12 Years a Slave American Hustle Captain Phillips Gravity Philomena Outstanding British Film Gravity Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom Philomena Rush Saving Mr Banks The Selfish Giant Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer Colin Carberry, Glenn Patterson - Good Vibrations Kelly Marcel - Saving Mr Banks Kieran Evans - Kelly + Victor Paul Wright, Polly Stokes - For Those in Peril Scott Graham - Shell Film Not in the English Language The Act of Killing Blue is the Warmest Colour The Great Beauty Metro Manila Wadjda Documentary The Act of Killing The Armstrong Lie Blackfish Tim's Vermeer We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks Animated Film Despicable Me 2 Frozen Monsters University Original Screenplay Eric Warren Singer, David O Russell - American Hustle Woody Allen - Blue Jasmine Alfonso Cuarón, Jonas Cuarón - Gravity Joel Coen, Ethan Coen - Inside Llewyn Davis Bob Nelson - Nebraska Adapted...

Video: Mark Kermode talks BAFTA nominations with Digital Spy

The nominations for the 2014 Ee British Academy Film Awards were unveiled by Luke Evans and Helen McCrory at BAFTA's Piccadilly headquarters this morning (January 8).

The ceremony will take place on Sunday, February 16 at London's Royal Opera House, hosted by Stephen Fry, and will be broadcast on the BBC.

Gravity, 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle up for BAFTA Film Awards 2014

Best Film

12 Years a Slave

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Gravity

Philomena

Outstanding British Film

Gravity

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Philomena

Rush

Saving Mr Banks

The Selfish Giant

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer

Colin Carberry, Glenn Patterson - Good Vibrations

Kelly Marcel - Saving Mr Banks

Kieran Evans - Kelly + Victor

Paul Wright, Polly Stokes - For Those in Peril

Scott Graham - Shell

Film Not in the English Language

The Act of Killing

Blue is the Warmest Colour...

A New Year is now upon us, and with 2014 comes another full 12 months of new films to look forward to. It will no doubt be filled with its fair share of disappointments, but right now we’re full of optimism as we look towards the first quarter. The next three months host a promisingly varied slate of films that include a goofy animated adventure, a World War II picture, a new Muppets movie, a Biblical epic, and much more. In the latest installment of our Most Anticipated series, Matt, Adam, and Dave have compiled a list of the films that they are most looking forward to in the first quarter of 2014. Read on after the jump. Matt’s Picks Tim's Vermeer Director: Teller Release Date: January 28th Why I'm Excited: This one got by me at the Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival, so I'm a...