Independent films

Independent films

Marie Sherlock, Labour TD for Dublin Central, told the Irish Independent: "Max was an incredibly talented filmmaker and obviously this is devastating for the family. Our hearts go out to them." Sinn Féin councillor for Cabra Séamas McGrattan, said: "People are shocked. This was such a very young, talented man. He was only 17 when he won that film award. It's just a very sad loss."

With this muscular, heartfelt and sombre new picture set in 1980s New York, James Gray again resurrects the spirit of Elia Kazan in a blue-collar tragedy of fraternal loyalty and betrayal; a movie about men and their horror of appearing weak and failing to protect their families. Paper Tiger has that distinctive Gray colour palette: a perpetual late-afternoon autumn of subdued ochres, reds and browns.

In Little Odessa, a Russian-Jewish hit man played by Tim Roth can't help but pull his younger brother Edward Furlong into his dark orbit when he goes back to his old neighborhood, as if the kid represents some kind of karmic toll for the life he's been living.

A widely televised violence, the images of 9/11 are among the most shocking and enduring images the world has ever seen, sadly to the point of heightening America's messianic complex and the anti-Muslim rhetoric across the globe - and perhaps what made most Americans, and white people at large, so inured to livestreamed genocides. In this way, "I'll Be Gone in June" converses with the current terror even as the film is set in the past, capturing what it's like to witness a violence of this scale play out in real-time, especially for not-so-clueless young people at the turn of the millennium.

They look at him and they don't know who Tom Cruise is, recalls screenwriter Jack Epps Jr. They do what they like to do: they took him up, they shook him around, he barfed on himself, and he came out and said, I love this.' From that moment, he was on. Cruise's experience that day with the Blue Angels, the US navy's premier flight demo squadron, would inspire him to become a licensed pilot.

Bardem plays Esteban, a movie director and celebrated Oscar and Cannes Palme winner: a charming and worldly man who, in the film's increasingly disturbing sequence, reveals himself to be at the moment of opaque midlife crisis. He is married with two children but has chosen to make contact with his grownup daughter from an earlier relationship, having been out of touch for many years: the child of the co-star of his debut movie who (tellingly) quit acting right after that.

His films have been hailed as damning allegories of the Russian population's apathy in the face of state oppression. Yet when director Andrey Zvyagintsev learned of his country's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he too was paralysed, and literally so. A severe infection with Covid-19 had left the film-maker stranded at a clinic in Hanover, Germany, struggling to breathe with 90% lung damage and unable to move or feel his limbs for several months.

Matt Reeves has been posting on social media to introduce his cast, person by person, using clips from previous projects. Pretty much everyone involved was announced, including Scarlett Johansson and Sebastian Stan, but fans quickly noticed one glaring absence: Barry Keoghan, who was introduced at the end of The Batman as the Joker, living within the walls of Arkham Asylum.

However, that one stalled out, not because of the whole high-end call girl thing, but because by 2022, Millennium Films' Jeffrey Greenstein said "that project was always trying to find a way to justify why we'd have a woman team."

Steven Soderbergh has a certain superpower, not always bestowed on even the most important directors: a capacity to surprise. This is a restlessly productive film-maker, travelling light creatively, developing eclectic projects, shooting on digital, using intimate locations and getting the very best from an invariably classy cast. He has recently found himself in the UK and his latest London-set movie is terrifically exhilarating and funny, as bracing as a large vodka and tonic before lunch: fast, literate and funny with a key plot progression elliptically and unsentimentally managed.

Hokum follows a Sanderson-esque fantasy author, Ohm Bauman (Adam Scott), on a trip to spread his parents' ashes near Ireland's Bilberry Woods Hotel--their favorite vacation spot, according to Bauman. Prior to the trip, Bauman is seen struggling with writing the epilogue of his critically acclaimed Conquistador trilogy. The initial idea he has for its ending is bleak, seemingly reflecting his own mental state--and perhaps reinforcing his need to leave his home and do literally anything else.

Universal’s announcement confirms that digital copies will feature “over one hour of exclusive behind-the-scenes bonus content featuring your favorite characters,” including the following featurettes: NEXT LEVEL: MAKING THE SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE - Go behind the scenes of this epic journey across the cosmos as the visionary creators at Nintendo, the acclaimed filmmakers and artists of Illumination, and the extraordinary cast who redefined these iconic characters reveal the artistry behind every meticulously crafted moment.

Few movies have been discussed so much and seen so little as Hitler, A Film From Germany, the 1977 magnum opus from German director Hans-Jurgen Syberberg. It played a succession of international festivals, including Cannes, then got very slowly got released in a handful of countries (in the US as Our Hitler)-but to what extent? It's quite possible this seven-hour behemoth hasn't been screened in the Bay Area since a reported Palace of Fine Arts showing 48 years ago.

Set on a major motion picture set, in which the chaotic soundstage mimics the real-world climate crisis, the director, Maria, tries to keep her production on track in this sharp-witted, energetic comedy. Egos clash, secrets spill and hard truths are faced as the crew responds to an existential predicament with movie magic.

On this sleepy New England island filled with cedar shingle houses, working harbors and coastal charm, the legacy of Jaws feels less like a Hollywood film set and more like something you can still step into. When Steven Spielberg arrived over fifty years ago to shoot the now-classic film, he barely had to do anything by way of set dressing-he merely had to capture Martha's Vineyard as it was in order to portray the fictional Amity Island.

Fascinated by the intimacy of Nicolas, Theo and Nita and apparently grasping immediately what they're doing for a living, not easy, surely, for a luddite typewriter-user Sylvie has dreamed up for them a steamy t

“The film is really kind of about invisible labor and what that means - people that are working behind the scenes getting stuff done, but they're not being recognized for it.”

Butterfly Jam is contrived, tonally uncertain, implausible and frankly plain silly in its underpowered kind of magic-unrealism, with some clunky secondhand Mean Streets mob-fraternal dialogue and pedantic ethnic-foodie cred, and elliptically positioning key scenes off camera for no obviously satisfying reason.

The program, which kicks off on May 13, will bring a series of family-friendly films to 285 Cinemark theaters across the country. Showings will run from June 1 through August 6, but tickets are already available on Cinemark.com, in the app, and at participating box offices. The price for tickets? Just $1.75.

Through May 25th, The Criterion Collection is taking 30 percent off every disc on its site, including standard Blu-rays, 4K releases, box sets, and even films that are currently only available to preorder.

Genre gem Steve Buscemi, Ben Foster, Devery Jacobs, Lochlyn Munro, Tantoo Cardinal, Joel D. Montgrand, Sofia Grace Clifton, and Oscar-winner Amy Madigan are joining the series. That a handful of these actors are indigenous might speak somewhat to the focus or setting of the season - but it's also interesting to see Madigan's name on the list. It's only been a few months since the actress took home the Oscar for her chilling role in Weapons, but her long and prosperous road to the Academy Awards quickly cemented her as a new horror icon.

“Good, but never gonna be great,” Jimmy says. “The machine is fast and cooperative, I'll give it that. But I saw every one of those jokes coming, and so did you. Surprising only comes from a group of writers, huddled in a corner, beating themselves up to beat out a better joke. It's the chubby guy who's a secret alcoholic. It's the gay guy who, despite all the work he's done, still hates himself a little. Or the funny woman who's been invisible for way too long. They turn all that pain into a joke. Val, those broken, beautiful souls are what make something great. And you didn't see it coming.”

The significance of kabuki in Japanese society - the dynasties of famous actors who pass down their stage name to male heirs, the allegorical play structures, and the intensive technique men follow while playing female roles - makes it a ripe source of melodrama and stylistic invention for Japanese artists who have been inspired and impacted by classical theatre.

Nippon Sangoku was absolutely not on my radar this season. I heard the manga was good, but that's all I knew. Although I consider myself a bit of an anime nerd, the animation studio behind it, Studio Kafka, was also a blind spot for me-and for good reason. Other than animating one episode of the Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 compilation, Studio Kafka is only known for working on season two of The Ancient Magus' Bride .

The actor Gary Lydon had the ideal face for a policeman, and the look of a man who had seen almost everything, yet in most of his roles there remained an air of humanity behind that lurking suspicion so admired by casting directors.

Amidst the crumbling post-war city is Murakami (Toshiro Mifune), a recently-promoted homicide detective. In the overwhelming sticky heat, he's on an overcrowded bus, the waft of stale perfume and a screaming baby creating an unbearable atmosphere. As he finally exits, he realizes his gun has been stolen. Despite chasing the assailant, Murakami comes up short, unable to get his weapon back.