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15 articles
Matt Jackson Joins Mark Gordon Co. as Film Chief
56 minutes ago
Veteran producer Matt Jackson has joined the Mark Gordon Co. as head of film production and acquisition following two years at Im Global.
He will be charged with overseeing the company’s film operations including managing day-to-day development and production on projects, and identifying feature content for acquisition by the company. The announcement was made today by CEO Mark Gordon, to whom Jackson will report.
“Matt is a terrifically talented producer with great creative instincts and excellent taste. He knows how to put movies together and is an advocate for unique creative voices and captivating original stories. We look forward to building a robust film slate together,” said Gordon.
Jackson said of Gordon, “From ‘Saving Private Ryan’ to ‘Steve Jobs,’ Mark has established himself as a visionary producer whose films generate legacies of their own. He has positioned the Mark Gordon Company as a studio that creates exceptional, story-driven content »
- Dave McNary
Film Review: ‘The Model’
1 hour ago
A shallow but good-looking soap opera-like drama set in the world of high fashion, “The Model” follows a 16-year-old coltish beauty from suburban Denmark as she tries to break into the big time in Paris, where predators with power are ready to prey on the naive and uninformed. The second feature from Danish helmer Mads Matthiesen (“Teddy Bear,” a 2012 Sundance prizewinner) lacks that earlier film’s relatable humanism, but has been a big seller for TrustNordisk, perhaps due to its sexy, easy-on-the-eyes glamour and a pinch of psychological thrills a la “Black Swan.”
Newspapers are full of articles about promising athletes who skipped college for the big leagues and then went off the rails due to their lack of maturity. Matthiesen makes a similar point here as he highlights how totally unprepared young Emma (20-year-old fashion model Maria Palm) is for the high-pressure, nastily competitive career to which she aspires. »
- Alissa Simon
Film Review: ‘Requiem for the American Dream’
1 hour ago
“Requiem for the American Dream” offers a crisp encapsulation of Noam Chomsky’s thoughts on where corporate political influence and expanding economic equality are taking our nation as a whole — in a handbasket or otherwise. Needless to say, the diagnosis is not good, if not quite terminal yet, either. This illustrative lecture of sorts, smartly packaged by the “Spirit: A Divided America” directing/producing trio of Peter Hutchinson, Kelly Nyks and Jared P. Scott, would be a very useful addition to public discourse at any time. But it’s particularly so during this election year, and the pic has indeed been quietly accessing a significant viewership in variably limited bookings around the country since late January. Expect continued play expanding to non-commercial educational outlets and overseas, as campaign season plows onward.
The renowned linguist and political critic-activist has appeared and even been the subject of numerous documentaries over the last 20-plus years, »
- Dennis Harvey
Film Review: ‘Bleed’
1 hour ago
The decent horror melodrama “Bleed” finds some yuppies, newly moved to the countryside, experiencing spooky signs that lead them to a long-burnt-down prison and its unpleasant secrets. Though Tripp Rhame’s Georgia-shot debut feature goes over the top in the last lap and sports plenty of logic gaps, there are enough “boo!” scares and atmosphere here to satisfy the average genre fan. The film opened on limited U.S. screens Friday, but will primarily access its audience via home-format sales.
After a 1979 prologue suggesting dire doings in a nearly abandoned small town — and a dire fate for one red-haired little girl — the present-tense story finds the heavily pregnant Sarah (Chelsey Crisp) and her doctor hubby, Matt (Michael Steger), just settled into a spacious old rural house they’re renovating. They welcome the arrival of her longtime friend Bree (Brittany Ishibashi) and her charming new beau, Dave (Elimu Nelson), for a weekend visit. »
- Dennis Harvey
Jason Blum, Eli Roth-Backed Crypt TV Eyes Expansion
2 hours ago
A year after its launch, Crypt TV is plotting an expansion, bulking up its staff and bringing on partners in order to create more short-form horror content.
Its staff will grow from four to seven people, and the plan is to begin working with studio collaborators and other distribution platforms such as video-on-demand and over-the-top services. Currently the bulk of Crypt TV’s content is accessed via its Facebook page, although the digital genre network has done some exclusive Snapchat programming, such as a live murder mystery it produced last fall.
Backed by “Purge” producer Jason Blum’s company Blumhouse Productions and “Hostel” director Eli Roth, the company has focused on making content that is typically less than three minutes in duration. This year, the fruits of their labor have added up to over 250 pieces of original content.
The network was created to fill a gap in the kind of viral videos being made. »
- Brent Lang
Taryn Manning Coming-of-Age Drama ‘Light Beneath Their Feet’ Gets Release Date
3 hours ago
Emerging Pictures will release coming-of-age drama “A Light Beneath Their Feet,” starring Taryn Manning of “Orange Is the New Black,” in up to 15 theatrical markets in North America on May 6.
Madison Davenport, Kurt Fuller, Nora Dunn, Kali Hawk, Maddie Hasson and Carter Jenkins also star. “A Light Beneath Their Feet” marks Valerie Weiss’ second feature, directing from an original screenplay by Moira McMahon.
Manning plays a mother wrestling with bipolar disorder and an imminent empty nest. Her dedicated daughter has a bright future ahead, but must decide if she will stay near home to care for her unpredictable mom or follow her own path.
Several mental health organizations, such as Glenn Close’s Bring Change 2 Mind, will be supporting and promoting the film through screenings and outreach to the mental health community.
“‘A Light Beneath Their Feet’ is one of those rare opportunities to work on a project that is »
- Dave McNary
Paradigm, Benderspink Sign Mexico’s Emiliano Rocha Minter (Exclusive)
3 hours ago
The Paradigm Talent Agency has signed Mexico’s Emiliano Rocha Minter, screenwriter-director of “Tenemos la carne” (We Are the Flesh), a Mexican movie that is quickly acquiring cult status after its Feb. 2 world premiere at the Rotterdam Festival and endorsement by fellow Mexican cineastes Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu, Alfonso Cuaron and Carlos Reygadas.
L.A.-based production-management company Benderspink has also signed on as his manager. Paradigm’s representation deal comes only three weeks after it moved smartly to ink Maria Evoli, the Mexican actress star of “We Are the Flesh.”
Not since Reygadas’ 2002 “Japan” has a Mexican feature debut attracted so much attention, though that’s currently limited to Rotterdam audiences and cognoscenti who have seen the film.
“Flesh” is set in a seemingly post-apocalypse world, where a teen sister (Fauna, played by Evoli) and brother (Diego Gamaliel) stumble on a grotesque but charismatic man who seems to make a »
- John Hopewell
Watch: ‘Batman v Superman’ Deleted Scene
3 hours ago
“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” just wrapped its first weekend at the box office, and Warner Bros. is already teasing the release of the superhero film’s director’s cut.
The 44-second video clip, which previews a scene entitled “Communion,” shows a band of soldiers invading the Kryptonian scout ship and huddling around a goop-emerged Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg), who appears to be engaging in some form of communion with an unidentified alien creature. The full scene will be included in the R-rated director’s cut of the film, dubbed the “Ultimate Edition,” which will feature 30 minutes of extra footage and will become available after the film’s theatrical run.
Starring Ben Affleck as Batman and Henry Cavill as Superman, the latest Zack Snyder-directed superhero saga — which merges the worlds of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman — grossed $166.1 million over Easter weekend. This figure was $4 million less than Warner Bros. »
- Alyssa Sage
Howard Berk, Writer for TV, Movies, Dies at 91
5 hours ago
Howard Berk, a novelist, producer and screenwriter, died in Los Angeles on March 27 of natural causes. He was 91.
Berk’s credits included numerous episodes of television series including “Columbo,” “Mission: Impossible,” The Rockford Files” and “McMillan & Wife,” and several feature films, including the Arthur Penn-directed “Target” (1985), starring Gene Hackman and Matt Dillon.
Berk most recently wrote two episodes of CBS’ “The New Mike Hammer,” starring Stacy Keach, in the mid-’80s.
A longtime Distinguished Writer in Residence and professor at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia (where he studied journalism as a young man), Berk most recently published an essay entitled “My Lunch With Hemingway” on the National Geographic website in which he recounted a fateful meeting with Ernest Hemingway in 1950s Cuba.
He also wrote four novels.
Berk is survived by his son, Peter; brother Robert; and two grandchildren.
»
- Carmel Dagan
Fox Searchlight Taps Matthew Greenfield, David Greenbaum to Head Production
5 hours ago
Fox Searchlight Pictures has promoted Matthew Greenfield and David Greenbaum to co-heads of production effective immediately.
The duo will take over responsibilities formerly held by president of production Claudia Lewis, who announced on Feb. 16 that she was departing from the post. Greenfield and Greenbaum will be responsible for Fox Searchlight’s annual slate of films as well as all aspects of production for the company, including development, packaging, budgeting, casting and production.
Fox Searchlight chiefs Nancy Utley and Steve Gilula said: “David and Matthew are the best production executives currently working in independent film. Their ability to identify excellence, foster creativity and nurture filmmaker relationships — skills honed as they came up the ranks under former production head Claudia Lewis — will ensure the continued growth and scope of our slate.”
Greenfield has worked as a senior executive at Fox Searchlight for nine years, shepherding “The Descendants” and “Enough Said.” He’s »
- Dave McNary
Blu-Ray Review: ‘Justice League vs. Teen Titans’
5 hours ago
There’s nothing subtle marketing-wise about the latest animated DC movie, “Justice League vs. Teen Titans,” timed to hit the streets mere days after “Batman v. Superman” made its debut. Yet the super-team showdown largely fizzles in this latest offering, which rather squarely focuses on a more serious take on the teenage heroes – generally played for comedy in their TV incarnation – at the expense of their more famous elders. Throw in a subpar villain, and it’s more disposable than the best entries in this animated franchise.
For starters, this latest movie (a brisk 79 minutes) essentially picks up where the 2014 release “Son of Batman” left off, introducing the young son that Bruce Wayne (voiced again by Jason O’Mara) never knew he had, Damian (Stuart Allan). Of course, he’s not just any kid, having been raised by maternal grandfather Ra’s al Ghul and trained in the ways of the League of Shadows, »
- Brian Lowry
‘Batman v Superman’ Versus the Puny Critics? Puh-leeze
5 hours ago
Reactions to the massive box office haul for “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” included a rather lazy old canard – namely, the notion that the Dark Knight and Man of Steel had overcome the slings and arrows of puny critics in the movie’s march toward stratospheric profits.
While that might look true on its face, given the largely negative reviews and the better-than-anticipated opening (revised to $166 million in the U.S.), it ignores the relationship between blockbuster “tentpole” releases and reviewers, while mischaracterizing the role that critics play in terms of steering people away from, or toward, certain kinds of movies.
Simply put, it’s hard to imagine anyone in the opening-weekend audience for this DC Comics adaptation, “Star Wars” or any one of Marvel’s major releases being dissuaded from going to such a film based on reviews. The whole point is to see and experience the project »
- Brian Lowry
‘Lego Batman Movie’ Gets Another Super Trailer
7 hours ago
“When you’re as super as me, you don’t get just one trailer, you get two trailers in one week,” Batman says in the new sneak peek at “The Lego Batman Movie.”
Warner Bros. released a second teaser on Monday for the upcoming animated film — a few days after dropping the first trailer.
After getting hungry in the first promo, Will Arnett’s Dark Knight gets emotional in the new video as he talks to a family portrait hanging in Wayne Manor.
“Hey mom, hey dad. I saved the city again today. I think you would have been really proud,” he says before kicking Alfred, who sneaks up on him.
Alfred (voiced by Ralph Fiennes) then asks if he was looking at family photos again.
“Sir, I’ve seen you go through similar phases in 2016 and 2012 and 2008 and 2005 and 1997 and 1995 and 1992 and 1989 and that weird one in 1966,” Alfred says. »
- Maane Khatchatourian
Box Office: ‘Batman v Superman’ Debuts Lower Than Projected With $166.1 Million
8 hours ago
Box office estimates were too bullish for “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.”
Now that the final numbers have been tallied, it turns out that the superhero gladiator fight grossed $166.1 million, Warner Bros. said Monday. That’s $4 million less than the $170.1 million that the studio initially projected “Batman v Superman” would generate in its first weekend.
It’s still a massive figure, representing a record for a March debut, for Easter weekend and for a DC Comics film. The revised numbers do, however, mean that “Batman v Superman” will drop a rung on the all-time list of top openings. It’s now the seventh biggest debut, behind “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2’s” $169.2 million launch and in front of “The Dark Knight Rises'” $160.9 million bow. “Batman v Superman” ranks as the second biggest debut for Warner Bros.
The film grossed $81.6 million from Thursday pre-shows and on its »
- Brent Lang
‘The Lennon Report’ to Open Beverly Hills Film Festival
8 hours ago
The Beverly Hills Film Festival has set the world premiere of “The Lennon Report” as its opening film on April 6 at the Tcl Chinese Theatres, Variety has learned exclusively.
The film, produced by Gabriel and Rafael Francisco, is directed by Jeremy Profe from a script he co-wrote with Walter Vincent. It re-creates the aftermath of the 1980 murder of John Lennon as police officers, nurses and emergency doctors raced to save Lennon’s life at New York’s Roosevelt Hospital.
The film stars Richard Kind as Dr. Stephan Lynn, Evan Jonigkeit as Dr. David Halleran and Walter Vincent as Alan B. Weiss, the ABC news producer who broke the news about Lennon. Halleran and Weiss are expected to attend the premiere along with nurses Barbara Kammerer and Deartra Sato.
Lennon’s death, which caused a worldwide outpouring of grief, was the subject of 2007’s “The Killing of John Lennon” and 2008’s “Chapter 27, »
- Dave McNary
15 articles