Movie News

Pedro Pascal hosted Saturday Night Live with musical guest Coldplay this weekend, and he did something specifically special for me—he played two Italian characters. The first being famous Italian plumber Mario Mario in a sketch for a fake HBO series about the Super Mario Bros. And the second is an Italian waiter at Antonio's Real Italian Restaurant. Which, when you think about it, is incredibly true to how it feels to go to an Italian restaurant.

Saturday Night Live brought out the big guns for host Pedro Pascal and he knocked every sketch out of the park! One of the first moments we got to really see him shine was in a sketch called "The Big Hollywood Quiz" and boy was it surprisingly funny. Overall, the night had some incredible sketches and characters for Pascal to play but Robert, a man who doesn't know anything about movies made in the last five years, may be one of my favorites.

Welcome to the weird world of theatrical movies, the weekly scramble to find a formula that fills seats. “Knock at the Cabin” returned Universal to #1 for the first time since October, despite several big hits including “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” and “M3GAN.”

“80 for Brady” closely followed, with most theaters (with Paramount’s encouragement) capping prices all day to matinee cost. It grossed 12.5 million, significantly above expectations, to take second place. After seven weeks at the top, “Avatar: The Way of Water” dropped to #3.

That meant three films over 10 million and its the first time that’s happened on this weekend since 2017. (This February weekend usually faces Super Bowl competition, which we’ll see next week.) In 2017, the #1 film was another M. Night Shylamalan title, “Split.” It also opened to 14 million; with today’s higher ticket prices, it would be around 17 million.

The industry hoped for a bigger

Raise your hands if you are lowkey missing Jimmy McGill since August 2022. We all are, however, the silver lining is that Bob Odenkirk is returning to AMC in and as Lucky Hank, After Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, the drama marks the actor’s third project with the network. At the Television Critics Association’s 2023 Winter Press Tour, AMC announced the premiere date of the series as a part of AMC’s Spring 2023 programming slate, and also released the series’ teaser video. But more on that in a bit. Lucky Hank follows the story of William Henry “Hank” Devereaux Jr., the bitter and grumpy chairman of the English department in the fictional Railton College. The series focuses on how his self-proclaimed “difficult” nature affects everyone around him and, in a way, his own life. The series is created by Aaron Zelman and Paul Lieberstein and was formerly titled Straight Man,

Quirky father-child pairings are becoming exceedingly common in television and film these days. Heck, Pedro Pascal has made his recent career capitalizing on this dynamic in both The Last of Us and The Mandalorian. There's nothing more heartwarming than a precocious child softening the heart of a less-than-perfect father figure. Charlotte Regan's debut feature follows this formula when it comes to her film Scrapper, and although it at times feels a little predictable, the trope is no less effective and thanks to her talented cast, it's insanely charming.

Another weekend of the masses enjoying motion pictures at the cinema worldwide and Avatar: The Way of Water continues to rake in dollars at the global box office. Director James Cameron's science-fiction juggernaut has now reached a total of 2.174 billion globally, per Sunday's estimates, placing it just a fraction behind third place in the all-time standings. That birth belongs to another Cameron film, namely Titanic, which has a global gross of 2.2 billion.

I will admit that I avoided watching 20 Days in Mariupol for much of my time at Sundance Film Festival. That wasn't a reflection on its quality as a documentary, on the contrary, I had every confidence that it would be an informative and emotional watch. What I also knew was that it could be potentially traumatizing and difficult to swallow. A documentary covering the first 20 days of the siege of the port city of Mariupol laid in the fact meant that I knew I would see horrific imagery of Russia's invasion of the country.

Regarded as one of the finest actors of his generation, Sir Ian McKellen had been a pillar of British theatre for decades before venturing to Hollywood. After his early days in London theatre, including a stint in the 1970s with the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company, he crossed the pond in 1981 to play Antonio Salieri in a Broadway production of "Amadeus" — and took home a Tony Award. The movies beckoned, bringing McKellen to a new level of fame that crested when he was tapped to play the wise and courageous wizard Gandalf in Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Meanwhile, McKellen also made headlines in 1988 when he came out as openly gay in 1988 and was then knighted by the Queen in 1991.

While Gandalf is the most iconic of his many roles, by no means is it his only memorable performance in film and television. For a refresher course on his extraordinary career,

These days, the idea of a low-budget found footage horror film doesn’t turn heads. It’s been done to death after all. From the successful Paranormal Activity movies to other franchises like V/H/S and Hell House, as well as countless other films, audiences have seen it all. Before any of these scared viewers, however, there was The Blair Witch Project in 1999, a movie that frightened people by not showing it all. It wasn’t the first found footage film. Most notably, there was the very controversial Cannibal Holocaust in 1980. It couldn’t match what The Blair Witch Project did though. Cannibal Holocaust relied on shock value (along with some very real animal killings) and a multitude of gory scenes. It showed you what they wanted you to be afraid of. The horror in The Blair Witch Project worked by whispering a suggestion into your ear and then

Ben Tanaka (Justin H. Min) is our negative, pretentious, hipster, movie-loving protagonist in Randall Park's feature debut Shortcomings. Based on Adrian Tomine's graphic novel of the same name, the film follows Ben's own struggle after he gets dumped by his girlfriend Miko (Ally Maki), who abruptly moves to New York. While there is certainly a laundry list of reasons why Miko bolts, with Ben's personality probably being one of them, one of the reasons the film makes clear is the fact that Ben seems to be more physically attracted to white women over Asian women. We watch as the other Asian Americans around Ben criticize him for his preference, and it clearly chafes at him even if he can't really deny it.

Two of the season’s most formidable awards contenders had plenty to celebrate at the 43rd annual London Critics’ Circle Film Awards on Sunday night. Todd Field’s “TÁR” and Martin McDonagh’s “The Banshees of Inisherin” both walked away with several of the night’s biggest awards, adding yet another wrinkle to a very competitive Oscar race.

“TÁR” received the ceremony’s top prize, Film of the Year, along with Director of the Year for Field and Actress of the Year for Cate Blanchett. Most of the other acting categories went to the cast of “The Banshees of Inisherin,” with Colin Farrell receiving Actor of the Year, Kerry Condon winning Supporting Actress of the Year, and Barry Keoghan taking home Supporting Actor of the Year. McDonagh also won Screenwriter of the Year, and “Banshees” was awarded British/Irish Film of the Year.

In other categories, Park Chan-wook’s “Decision to Leave

Aubrey Plaza has always been great, but everyone seems to be catching on these days. If her dramatic roles in "Black Bear" and "Emily the Criminal" weren't enough to convince you of her dramatic abilities, she's also turning up in everything from season 2 of "The White Lotus" to Marvel's upcoming "Agatha: Coven of Chaos." Oh, and she's currently working on Francis Ford Coppola's "Megalopolis." In other words, she's come a long way from her role as the April Ludgate in "Parks and Recreation."

But of all those projects, it's arguably "Emily the Criminal" that went furthest in establishing Plaza as a versatile actor capable of more than sardonic humor. Though it only made just over 2 million at the box office, it was one of the most talked about entries at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, and has since grown in popularity due to word of mouth. The tale of a

Paramount Pictures’ 80 For Brady has been well received by audiences in theaters, with the movie grossing 12.5 million at the box office for its domestic opening weekend just behind Knock at the Cabin which grossed 14.2 million. Despite targeting older audiences 80 For Brady has performed well and become a phenomenal success for Paramount Pictures, following in the footsteps of movies like Book Club, Las Vegas and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

M. Night Shyamalan's new psychological thriller, Knock at the Cabin, has hit theaters, and is another twisty, high-concept piece that stars Dave Bautista alongside Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Rupert Grint, and Kristen Cui. The filmmaker's 25th film follows the story of a small family that are seeking to escape for a weekend vacation at a small, remote cabin when they are confronted by Bautista, who leads an unsavory group of strangers that inform them that they have to make a decision to avoid a disatrous apocalypse. It is the latest project from the curve ball ending, master of twist Shyamalan who is best known for his rich, dark films like The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, and Split.

When Saturday Night Live gets to be absurd, that's when it can really shine; and with host Pedro Pascal, we got to see them really lean into some of the more outrageous ideas. One being Lisa from Temecula and her need to have an extra well done steak at her sister's birthday dinner. Sometimes, sketches don't have to be reinventing the wheel to work and that's what happened with this one. It's just pure dumb fun and makes it that allows viewers to laugh without having to think about it.

Meeting anyone's mother is hard but when she's Pedro Pascal? Watch out! Pascal took to Saturday Night Live to host with musical guest Coldplay and the entire night was filled with hilarious characters for Pascal to play. One sketch that stood out features him playing Marcello Hernández's mother meeting his white girlfriend Brittany (Chloe Fineman) for the first time. The sketch is great because it brings in Pascal's incredible comedic timing and uses both Pascal's and Hernández's fluency in Spanish to Fineman's disadvantage.

A deadly virus that wipes out most of the population; a scarcely inhabited post-apocalyptic world; a man traveling with a young girl he's just met (and accidentally adopted). I'm talking, of course, about the sensational HBO series — not the one that's currently taking Sunday nights by storm — but the one that dropped on HBO Max last year. "Station Eleven" is a miniseries following a small group of survivors, whose lives are connected in unexpected ways. We see their stories told through time, from the crumbling days of society to the new worlds they create in its wake. At the center of it are two people: Kirsten (a role shared by Matilda Lawler and Mackenzie Davis) and Jeevan (Himesh Patel), two strangers who find each other before everything falls apart. Unable to abandon the little girl he meets just when the world is ending, Jeevan sticks by Kirsten and heads to

For more movies to arrive on a streaming platform, a few of the titles already available on that platform must be removed. HBO Max, for example, is adding films like Sam Mendes' Empire of Light and an original documentary entitled All that Breathes into its catalog this month. However, there are a few worthwhile films that won't be on the platform for much longer. From the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy to rom-coms like Crazy Rich Asians, here are a few recommendations for you to check out before they leave HBO Max throughout February 2023.

Charles Kimbrough, a stage and screen actor best known for his performance as anchorman Jim Dial on the CBS comedy series “Murphy Brown,” died Jan. 11 in Culver City, Calif. He was 86 years old.

Kimbrough’s death was confirmed to the New York Times by his son, John Kimbrough.

A celebrated theater actor who earned a Tony Award nomination for his performance as Harry in the original 1970 Broadway production of the Stephen Sondheim musical “Company,” Kimbrough’s talents reached the mainstream in the late-’80s, starring alongside Candice Bergen on the newsroom sitcom “Murphy Brown.” Kimbrough earned an Emmy nomination for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series in 1990 for the show’s second season.

Kimbrough played the comically conservative Jim Dial throughout the original run of “Murphy Brown,” serving as a main cast member for all 10 seasons. He later reprised the role for a handful of episodes in the 2018 revival of the series.

Last week, Creed and Fruitvale Station star Michael B. Jordan made his Saturday Night Live hosting debut alongside musical guest Lil Baby. He got covered in food, played a stripper, and showed us that he was just like a good neighbor as Jake from State Farm. Last night, The Last of Us leading man Pedro Pascal made his hosting debut alongside Coldplay. It was an episode coated in silliness that featured an HBO version of Mario Kart, an angry Punxsutawney Phil, and Lisa from Temecula.