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Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman, which is up for five Oscars this year, will skip cinemas in the UK and debut directly on Sky Cinema. It will be released by the broadcaster on April 16, 10 days before the Oscars. The deal was made by Focus Features and Universal with Sky, all of which are owned by Comcast. The pic premiered at Sundance in 2020 and was released stateside by Focus on December 25, grossing $5.8M to date in the pandemic-hit theatrical market.

HBO Europe has given the green-light to The Informant, an 8 x 40” Hungarian drama written by Bálint Szentgyörgyi, who also directs alongside Áron Mátyássy and Bence Miklauzic. Filming is now underway on the series, which follows 20-year-old Geri (Gergely Váradi) who is starting university in 1980’s Hungary. Unbeknownst to his friends, Geri lives a second life as a government informant. Cast includes Váradi with Márton Patkós, Júlia Szász, Abigél Szőke and Szabolcs Thuróczy.

Today marks the release of Season 5 of Apex Legends, and with the update comes a bevy of huge changes to characters, guns, and gameplay mechanics that you’re really going to want to familiarize yourself with before jumping into King’s Canyon again. Let’s take a look at some of the most notable changes you need to know about.

Of course, one of the most important new additions to the game is the newest legend, Loba, who we’ve been learning about via trailers over the past few weeks. This new character will be very focused on loot, with a passive that allows her to view loot through walls and an ultimate that lets her teleport those items to other teammates. She’ll also have the ability to use her Jump Drive bracelet to teleport herself around the battlefield and gain access to all this shiny loot. All in all,...

Currently in the Netflix showcase with his work Earth and Blood, the French filmmaker has already shot another film for the platform, with Olga Kurylenko shining bright in its cast. Shot in November and December last year, Sentinelle by Julien Leclercq will soon be in a position to resume post-production activities, which were put on pause as a result of the health crisis. This will be the second consecutive film the director has made for Netflix, following on from Earth and Blood (released worldwide via the platform on 17 April) and the 7th feature film in his career after Chrysalis (2007), The Assault (2011), The Informant (2013), The Crew (2016) and The Bouncer (2018).Standing tall in the cast is the French actress of Ukrainian origin Olga Kurylenko (revealed in Quantum of Solace, and especially well received in To The Wonder, Land of Oblivion and Just A Breath Away, not to...

This story first appeared in the appeared in the Actors/Directors/Screenwriters issue of TheWrap Oscar magazine.

For Scott Z. Burns, the biggest challenge in writing (and directing) “The Report” wasn’t deciding how closely to stick to the facts of the CIA’s use of torture post-9/11 — it was figuring out which set of facts he should place at the center of the movie.

Burns came to the story in 2014, just as journalists were reporting on the scandal, ex-military members were speaking out, and the CIA was trying to spin its own version of events. Following the tangled story, Burns originally wanted to make a film about the two psychologists who persuaded the CIA that its extreme methods were the key to effective interrogation. But then he ran across Daniel J. Jones, and all that changed.

After Jones had submitted his 6,700-page report to the Senate Intelligence Committee, he...

In The Report, Adam Driver plays Daniel Jones, a real-life Senate staffer who spent years working in a basement office on a 7,000-page Senate Intelligence Committee report concluding that the CIA’s post-9/11 use of torture in interrogations was not only inhumane but entirely ineffective — only to discover powerful forces determined to suppress his work. Scott Z. Burns, making his directorial debut after a long screenwriting career (The Bourne Ultimatum, The Informant), turns the true story into a lean political thriller about this dark corner in recent American history, with...

Melanie Lynskey has been cast in one of the main roles of the Showtime ensemble drama pilot “Yellowjackets,” Variety has learned exclusively.

The project tells the story of a team of talented high school girls soccer players who survive a plane crash deep in the Ontario wilderness. The series chronicles their descent from a complicated but thriving team to warring, cannibalistic clans, while also tracking the lives they’ve attempted to piece back together nearly 25 years later.

Lynskey will play Shauna Sheridan, one a handful of survivors of the plane crash. 25 years later, Shauna is on a mission to reclaim her agency — her life — while doing everything in her power to keep her darkest secrets safe.

Lynskey is the first person cast in the pilot, which is set to go into production in Los Angeles later this year. She recently appeared in the Hulu series “Castle Rock” and the Australian series “Sunshine Kings.

Steven Soderbergh loves making heist movies. That was obvious from the “Ocean’s Eleven” trilogy, and the more recent “Logan Lucky;” in less explicit ways, it’s also evident in many of his other films. And while it’s likely that Soderbergh has a soft spot for thieves, it’s more accurate to say that he’s drawn to stories about people who try to steal back a measure of self-worth.

“Erin Brockovich” has the trappings of a legal drama, but it builds to a final scene in which its heroine scores a personal supply of restorative justice from the pockets of a corrupt system. “The Informant!” is an off-kilter comedy about a whistleblower who embezzled millions from his own company while snitching on his employers to the FBI, but Soderbergh can’t resist asking why someone would commit fraud after being granted amnesty. “Side Effects” might be misdiagnosed as a psychological thriller,...

Jean-Claude Van Damme has got a new action-thriller coming out called The Bouncer, and today we have trailer to share with you for it.

Van Damme takes on the role of a seasoned nightclub bouncer named Lukas, “who's taken punches, literally and figuratively, struggles to raise his 8 year old daughter. One day, Lukas loses control during an altercation with a client and ends up in jail, while his daughter gets placed under the care of social services. But things take an unexpected turn when Interpol recruits Lukas to bring down a Dutch ringleader operating from Belgium in exchange for his daughter's custody.”

These kinds of movies aren’t always top-quality, but most of the time I find them enjoyable. This one looks like it could be decent. I just still enjoy watching Van Damme kick some ass.

The Bouncer was directed by French filmmaker Julien Leclercq and will be released on January 11th.

The 2019 Sundance Film Festival line-up was just announced and as usual, there’s a cornucopia of exciting new films on the horizon. Several new photos have arrived for most of the newly-announced films so we thought we’d dive in with some first looks. To jump right in, one of the most exciting movies headed to Utah is “The Report,” next directorial effort by Scott Z. Burns, the longtime Steven Soderbergh screenwriter/producer/collaborator who wrote “Contagion,” “Side Effects,” “The Informant!

Continue reading Sundance First Looks: Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Directorial Debut, Scott Z. Burns’ ‘The Report’ & Many More at The Playlist.

It would be kind of neat to see Scott Z. Burns premiere his directorial debut at the same time as his frequent collaborator Steven Soderbergh unveils High Flying Bird (#32 on our Predictions list). A scribe who first got into the game via Pu-239 (2006), arguably his best gigs have been for 2007’s The Bourne Ultimatum, 2009’s The Informant! and 2013’s Side Effects. A mentor-in-residence for Sundance Screenwriters Labs, Burns began production on The Torture Report in April this year in NYC with the likes of Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Morrison, Tim Blake Nelson, Ben McKenzie, Matthew Rhys, Ted Levine, Michael C.…...

Daniel Day-Lewis may go to extreme lengths as a method actor when it comes to portraying physically handicapped individuals or Abraham Lincoln, but that level of dedication may not be as readily obvious to the average observer. The typical movie goer takes notice when an actor goes through such a physical transformation that you can hardly recognize them. The most recent double-take moment was in the trailer for Jay Roach’s “Vice,” in which Christian Bale, you know, Batman, plays Vice President Dick Cheney. Yeah, we couldn’t believe it either. This isn’t the first time Bale put on — or lost — a lot of weight for a part. Here are some other actors who went through similar bulk ups all for a role.

Christian Bale – “American Hustle”

While Christian Bale turned some heads for getting dangerously thin for his part in “The Machinist,” even Robert De Niro didn’t...

It started on a fateful day in July of 2015, when we stumbled upon the story of Ron Stallworth, a black man who managed to successfully convince the Ku Klux Klan he was a white supremacist. Ron had penned a memoir about his experiences called “Black Klansman.”

We both had the same reaction to Ron’s story: “This should be a movie.” It had a hooky high concept, the potential for both suspense and comedy, a compelling lead character, and political undertones.

The problem was, the story was written about in several major publications. We presumed that Hollywood had already gotten its sticky paws on this one, and that inquiring about the rights would be a hopeless venture. We scoured the internet to see if the story was set up with a studio. We didn’t see any news. Still, many projects in development don’t get announced in the trades.

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

The Dark Knight and Batman Begins (Christopher Nolan)

What can be said about The Dark Knight that hasn’t already been? To paraphrase The Joker, this movie changed things forever. Although 2005’s Batman Begins resurrected the series from its unfortunate Joel Schumacher era, it was The Dark Knight where Christopher Nolan began to explore the idea of doing a genre piece that just happens to feature Batman. What we...

The summer season is winding down, but please don’t feel the urge to rush outside and take part in outdoor activities. Instead, stay inside and stream all this stuff on Netflix. Next month, Netflix is offering a wide variety of that hot content you crave, including The Aviator, Constantine, The Lord of the Rings, The Informant!, The Good Place season […]

The post The Best TV Shows & Movies Coming to Netflix in August 2018 appeared first on /Film.

Next month’s Netflix offerings are decidedly top-heavy, as the streaming giant will add a number of its starriest titles on the first of the month, including “Batman Begins,” “Clerks,” “Million Dollar Baby,” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” along with classic tearjerker “Steel Magnolias” and the also classic Matt-Damon-being-dumb entry “The Informant!” The rest of the month holds other treasures, however, including “No Country for Old Men” and “Hostiles,” a solid double feature for anyone who loves witnessing the brutal dissection of the American dream.

Netflix will also debut a number of original films next month, including the Kristen Bell-starring “Like Father,” their Ya adaptation “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” and the mouth-filling “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.” Tasty!

Check out all the films coming to Netflix this August below.

August 1

Batman Begins

Chernobyl Diaries

Clerks

Constantine...

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is expanding its cast for the upcoming season. Ramona Young is set as a series regular in the role of Alaska Yu, and Tom Wilson (The Informant) will recur as Hank’s (Nick Zano) father, Hank Heywood. The castings were announced during the show’s panel Saturday afternoon at San Diego Comic-Con.

Young’s Alaska is a typical twentysomething easily swept up by romantic notions and fantasy novels, and she’s something of an expert in the world of the magical creatures that the Legends encounter in Season 4. In the company of the Legends, she soon learns to get her head out of the clouds to become a kickass superhero.

With a lifetime in the military and Department of Defense, Hank (Wilson) is part of a long line of Heywoods to serve the country. Charming and charismatic, he’s left big...

Surprise, surprise: famous people and big companies have an interest in the latest Steven Soderbergh picture. The Hollywood Reporter reports from Hollywood that his Panama Papers movie, The Laundromat, has secured Meryl Streep as “the emotional throughline,” which could mean literally anything depending on the source’s perspective — per Deadline, possibly “an anonymous whistleblower” — while Antonio Banderas and Gary Oldman have been engaged in early talks. Juicing up this project a bit more, though evidence you might not see this in a movie theater, is word that Netflix has taken active interest in production.

Said project comes from a script by Scott Z. Burns and Jake Bernstein’s Secrecy World: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite. (Nice work on reading that and extrapolating from it “the laundromat.”) A Soderbergh-ready lesson in how rich and powerful people use riches and power to fuck over those less rich and powerful,...

The first time I saw the 'halo gradient' character poster was in the marketing for Judd Apatow's The 40 Year Old Virgin. Since then, it has become kind somewhat of a key art cliche. This is mainly due to the 'angelic' aspect it imparts on its focus subject. (Notably: Steven Soderbergh's The Informant! effectively picked up on this attribute and subverted it.) But along comes Morgan Neville's astute and emotional documentary on TV personality and all around nice guy, Mister Rogers. Combining his incredible empathy, passion for treating children with dignity, and radically unafraid to address issues both timely and universal, like everything else Fred Rogers, this poster for Won't You Be My Neighbor is unapologetically earnest. My only gripe here is why the designers,...

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

Rob Zombie‘s next film 3 From Hell is off and running. Production of the film began mid March as the newest film in the Firefly Family trilogy was announced. Since the announcement of the film, there have been quite a few new members added to the cast. Rob Zombie has been very kind in updating his fans on the daily cast changes via Instagram. We have a list of the updated cast of today.

Danny Trejo (The Devil’s Rejects. Machete, Desperado)

Emilio Rivera (Sons of Anarchy, Mayans M.C.)

Austin Stoker (Assault on Precinct 13, Battle for the Planet of the Apes)

Dee Wallace (E.T. The Extraterrestrial, Critters, Cujo)

Jeff Daniels Phillips (Lords of Salem, 31, The Gifted)

Daniel Roebuck (The Fugitive, Final Destination)

Clint Howard (Apollo 13, Star Trek, The Andy Griffith Show)

David Ury (31, Breaking Bad, Community)

Tom Papa (The Informant!)

Dot-Marie Jones (The Boondock Saints,...

MaryAnn’s quick take… An unsettling true story smartly told, from a moment in time at once uniquely its own and a harbinger of things to come. Colin Firth is subtle, unflinching, extraordinary. I’m “biast” (pro): love Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto) women’s participation in this film

(learn more about this)

If you do not already know the story of Donald Crowhurst, who set off from England in 1968 in an attempt to sail singlehandedly and nonstop around the world, keep it that way. (I knew nothing, and was glad of it.) Don’t even watch the trailer for The Mercy, the genteelly brutal new movie about his adventure, before you see the film. Though his odyssey was global news at the time, he has mostly been forgotten… and whether or not he...

The Blacklist The Informant (No. 118) Review The Blacklist: Season 5, Episode 10: The Informant (No. 118). This The Blacklist The Informant (No. 118) review finds the episode to be a gloriously dark entry that casts shadows on the characters’ souls. The show starts off strong with a gripping, if somewhat misleading, stinger. The second part of that [...]

Continue reading: TV Review: The Blacklist: Season 5, Episode 10: The Informant (No. 118) [NBC]...

Good riddance, Prescott!

Sometimes there are characters you just can't stand, and Prescott has always been one of those characters. He was never a true, formidable villain, just a weak shadow with no real substance.

Ressler got out from under his thumb on The Blacklist Season 5 Episode 10 thanks to Red, but now his debt belongs to the man in the hat. Is there anyone on the Task Force that Red doesn't own?

Harold said it best when he told Ressler that none of them were the same people they were before Reddington. All of them have secrets to hide, and they've all walked a very slippery path since the Task Force started and Red came into their lives.

None of us are the people we were before this task force started. Before Reddington.

Harold Permalink: None of us are the people we were before this task force started. Before Reddington.

★★☆☆☆Gibraltar's contentious political situation might well be the basis for something darker in Julien Leclercq's The Informant (2013), an atmospheric if melodramatic French crime thriller from A Prophet (2009) scribe Abdel Raouf Dafri. Only 10% of drug trafficking is supposedly detected in the territory, one of tension between not just Europeans and Africans, but also British, Spanish and French, where, on the shores of the Cote d'Azur, most of the uncharted drugs end up. Gilles Lellouche plays Marc Duval, a French expat running a tavern in 1987 Gibraltar whose money worries lead him to become an informer for the French state on disreputable customers that come in to his bar.

The Informant – a gripping crime thriller by Julien Leclercq’s that is inspired by real events – will be available on DVD and Blu-ray from 25 August 2014 and to celebrate, we have 3 Blu-rays to give away!

In order to free his family from financial worries, Marc Duval (Gilles Lellouche – Mesrine: Killer Instinct, Little White Lies, Tell No One), a Frenchman expatriated to Gibraltar, becomes a spy for French customs. From petty trafficking to shady cargo, he progressively wins the trust of Claudio Lanfredi (Riccardo Scamarcio – Loose Cannons), a powerful cocaine importer tied to the dangerous Columbian cartels.

This in-depth immersion in the world of drug trafficking forces Marc to take increasing risks. But, as he rises in the cartel hierarchy, he also discovers easy money, temptation and a luxury lifestyle.

Permanently living on a knife edge, only his lies keep him alive. When the English customs join the game to arrest Lanfredi,...

With the debts piling up, French ex-pat and father Marc Duval (Gilles Lellouche) agrees to be a spy for French customs in Gibraltar. Quickly getting the hang of the duplicity, he wins the trust of Claudio Lanfredi (Riccardo Scamarcio), a powerful cocaine importer tied to the dangerous Columbian cartels. However, he also realises how easy it is to make big money...

Director Julien Leclercq's tale of a snitch working for the French border patrol has a smart premise, but fails to inspire

France's Julien Leclercq specialises in meat-and-potatoes thrillers based on true events: hijack saga The Assault, in 2010, was broadly functional, but this tale of shady dealings in late-80s Gibraltar seems underpowered. The script, by Abdel Raoul Dafri (A Prophet), smartly outlines how debt-laden publican Gilles Lellouche removes himself from one hole, by snitching to French customs, only to face another dug by Italian traffickers. However, nothing much distinguishes the twitchy confabs that follow. Tahar Rahim is wasted in a dull desk-jockey role, while Lellouche looks more concerned than we ever become. Some shonky British accents among the smugglers won't help its chances in these waters.

Continue reading...

In spite of the dramatic potential in the real events this Julien Leclercq thriller is based upon, not to mention the credentials of the leading cast – regrettably The Informant is a somewhat generic production, that neither does little to impress nor offend. While making for extremely easy viewing in that regard, you can’t but expect something more accomplished and distinctive.

Set in 1980s Gibraltar, Gilles Lellouche plays Marc Duval, a seemingly untroubled owner of a bar, living a secluded existence with his wife Clara (Raphaëlle Agogué) and young child. However his lust for a more affluent lifestyle is put to the test when he’s approached by customs officer Redjani Belimane (Tahar Rahim) to work as an informant, and tell the authorities of any drug smuggling he comes across. As the money starts flowing, Marc becomes obsessed with this vocation, and though his family are put in danger, he...

★★☆☆☆Not to be confused with Steven Soderbergh's comic caper of the same name starring a moustachioed Matt Damon, Julien Leclercq's The Informant (2013) is a thriller based on an autobiographical novel by Marc Fievet. In this instance, it's a title that seems a little less unique than the French original - Gibraltar - but arguably one more fitting. The prospect was of a smuggling yarn made ever more enticing by a handful of engaging leads including Gilles Lellouche and Tahar Rahim. Regrettably, however, hough Leclercq's customs thriller begins well, it never manages to get its engine going, its solid performances unable to inject some much-needed dynamism into the bland proceedings.

They called him the French Al Pacino, but the award-winning star of A Prophet is not to be typecast. Here Rahim talks about his latest role – in the tight emotional drama The Past – and there's a Christmas comedy in the pipeline

Back in 2005, studying in Montpellier, in south-eastern France, Tahar Rahim found himself the subject of a documentary named Tahar the Student. In one scene, we see him in his bedroom, with a poster on the wall for Al Pacino in Scarface; four years on, the young French actor would be widely compared to Pacino in that very film.

Rahim had only appeared in one feature, a bit part in a horror movie, before his explosive breakthrough in Jacques Audiard's 2009 thriller A Prophet. He played Malik, a gauche young petty criminal who rises through the ranks of prison society to become a ruthless gangster, and the performance – quiet but assured,...

You probably won’t understand a thing, but we definitely think that Julien Leclercq‘s crime-thriller Gibraltar (also known as The Informant) deserves your full attention, so we’re here to share the official trailer and some great (character) posters today. As you’re about to see, some seriously good cast is on board for the story of an ordinary guy who gets into a mean game. Sounds (and looks) pretty cool, head inside to take a look! Julien Leclercq, who stands behind 2010′s The Assault, directed the whole thing from a script written by Abdel Raouf Dafri which revolves around a man who works as an informant for...

Click to continue reading Full Trailer For Julien Leclercq’s Gibraltar (aka The Informant) Plus 3 Character Posters on http://www.filmofilia.com...

A tropical environment, plentiful guns and bricks of hashish. Other than actors Gilles Lellouche and Tahar Rahim these are the primary factors at play in Julien Leclerq's Gibraltar, a stylish based-on-a-true-story crime thriller that - if the materials thus far are to be trusted - would not appear out of place in Michael Mann's filmography.The Informant is the extraordinary true story of ordinary Frenchman, Marc Fiévet, moonlighting as a customs informant in Gibraltar. Caught up in a web of political intrigue and illicit drug trade, Fiévet quickly becomes a pawn in an international power play among drug lords and customs officials.The first teaser arrived in May and has now been followed by a very impressive full trailer along with a series of posters. Check the...

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

Cannes, France — The magic and glamour of Cannes can be hard to spot on a day when rain is lashing the palm trees, roiling the gray Mediterranean and pooling in puddles along the Croisette.

But the world's leading film festival can transform careers – something no one knows that better than actors Berenice Bejo and Tahar Rahim, stars of director Asghar Farhadi's festival entry "The Past."

Bejo shimmered on-screen in Cannes two years ago in "The Artist," her director husband Michel Hazanavicius' vivacious silent homage to Hollywood's Golden Age. It went on to win five Academy Awards, including best picture.

Rahim was the breakout star of the 2009 festival in Jacques Audiard's poetic and brutal prison drama "A Prophet," as a youth growing to manhood behind bars.

Cannes exposure helped boost both performers onto the international stage. While once most European actors could choose between stay at home and playing Hollywood villains,...