Film

Only American Films Should Win the Best Picture Oscar, Says Cannes Head Thierry Frémaux

Cannes chief Thierry Frémaux is all for global cinema, with a caveat.

The festival president addressed the recent 2023 Academy Awards ahead of the 76th annual Cannes Film Festival.

“I thought the ceremony was very good and I was happy to see Michelle Yeoh rewarded. And disappointed that Steven Spielberg wasn’t, because his film is a love letter to cinema,” Frémaux told Variety. “I don’t understand either why [2022 Cannes Palme d’Or winner] ‘Triangle of Sadness’ can’t vie for a best international film Oscar, even if it’s in English. How can a non-American film win the Oscar for best film since it’s a ceremony in honor of American cinema? ‘Parasite’ won, it’s great, but it’s a Korean film.”

Academy rules state that an International Feature submission must “...

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Can Tom Really Win ‘Succession’? Weighing the Odds for an Audience Favorite

Throughout the final season of “Succession,” IndieWire will take an extended look at the various power players in HBO’s drama to determine not only if they can win control of the Roy family business, but what they would actually gain in doing so — and what they may lose, simply by playing. After Episode 1, “The Munsters,” it’s time to vet: Tom Wambsgans. 

At the end of “Succession’s” Season 4 premiere, it’s only fitting that Tom is the man in the middle. On one side, perched behind him like a certain smirking lion, is Logan (Brian Cox), eagerly awaiting word from the escalating negotiations over Pierce Global Media. On the other side — of the phone, of the country, of the negotiations, take your pick — is Shiv (Sarah Snook), his wife and current opposition...

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2023 Emmy Awards: Television Academy Has Set Calendar for 75th Primetime Emmys

Though we are months out from the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards, the Television Academy already has set the most important dates leading up to TV’s highest honors.

While FYC events are already underway, the ball really starts rolling on May 9, when programs must solidify what categories they will be in contention for. In addition to having premiered between June 1, 2022 and May 31, 2023, TV Academy rules now dictate the series must have the full season presented on a national platform as well, eliminating what was known as the hanging episode rule.

Once the 2022-2023 television season officially ends on May 31, there will be two more weeks of campaigning, and then voters will have from Thursday, June 15 till Monday, June 26 to vote for what they think should be nominated for the Primetime ...

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Joaquin Phoenix Was Scared He’d Break Character If He Looked Directly at Nathan Lane on ‘Beau Is Afraid’

Joaquin Phoenix was scared of breaking character on “Beau Is Afraid.”

The Oscar winner had to avoid looking directly at co-star Nathan Lane while on production for the upcoming Ari Aster drama. While the plot has long been under wraps, one thing we know is that the film is about a paranoid man (Phoenix) who embarks on an epic odyssey to get home to his mother in a typically depraved and bold new film from the “Hereditary” and “Midsommar” director.

In the trailer, Lane seems to star as Beau’s kidnapper along with Amy Ryan. Stephen McKinley Henderson, Patti LuPone, and Parker Posey also star.

“It’s funny. He and I, Joaquin, we really hit it off, although we have very different sensibilities...

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Film

‘Master Gardener’ Trailer: Paul Schrader Directs Joel Edgerton as a Tortured Horticulturist

The only thing better than Paul Schrader’s Facebook posts is Paul Schrader’s movies, and his latest is only two months away. Magnolia Pictures has released the first trailer for “Master Gardener,” the 24th directorial effort from the “First Reformed” and “American Gigolo” filmmaker, on Tuesday.

A crime thriller written and directed by Schrader, “Master Gardener” stars Joel Edgerton as Narvel Roth, a brilliant horticulturist working at the Gracewoods Gardens estate. Devoted to his work, Roth is forced by his employer, wealthy dowager Mrs. Haverhill (Sigourney Weaver), to take on her troubled great-niece Maya (Quintessa Swindell) as his apprentice. Initially closed off, Roth slowly warms to his young charge, and the two form a close intergenerational friendship...

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Film

‘Elemental’ Trailer: Pixar Goes Back to Its Roots with Adorable Animated Romance

It’s all elemental when Disney’s Pixar releases another classic feature.

“Elemental” is an upcoming animated ensemble comedy where characters are made out of the earth’s elements like air, fire, water, and dirt. A woman made of fire (Leah Lewis) and a man made of water (Mamoudou Athie) find out that their differences aren’t so different after all, despite not being able to touch.

Disney and Pixar’s latest is an original feature film set in Element City, where fire-, water-, land- and air-residents live together. The story introduces Ember (Lewis), a tough, quick-witted and fiery young woman, whose friendship with a fun, sappy, go-with-the-flow guy named Wade (Athie) challenges her beliefs about the world they live in.

The voice cast also includes Ronnie del Carmen, Shila Omm...

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‘Yellowjackets’ S2 Premiere Answers a Burning Question: Who the F*ck Is Lottie Matthews?

As “Yellowjackets” Season 2, Episode 1 makes clear: Lottie Matthews is a big fucking deal.

Played by Courtney Eaton and new cast member Simone Kessell, Lottie is ostensibly the high school soccer star and plane crash survivor who ends up wearing chain mail and an antler headdress in the series’ cold open, commanding (or at least allowing) her peers to hunt, kill, and eat one of their own. Lottie’s ascent to antler queen is still mostly uncharted, but Season 2 finds her dabbling in blood sacrifice and ritual, emerging almost as a religious leader among her teammates.

Where adult Lottie stands apart from her fellow survivors is accepting that she was her truest self in the wilderness — and building her entire adult life around it...

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So What Is Disney Going to Do About Jonathan Majors?

Disney’s got a Majors problem.

Here’s the facts: The red-hot actor — Kang the Conquerer in Marvel’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” the baddie in “Creed III,” and the bodybuilder in Searchlight’s “Magazine Dreams” — was arrested on the morning of March 25 on accusations of assault, strangulation, and harassment after a reported altercation with a woman.

On March 26, according to Manhattan’s D.A. office, he was charged with multiple counts of assault and attempted assault in the third degree, a count of aggravated harassment in the second degree, and a count of harassment in the second degree.

An ABC News report filed that same day, noting the Army paused its recruitment campaign featuring Majors, added that:

“New York City police said the actor was involved...

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Film

Donnie Yen Says Quentin Tarantino Was ‘Obviously’ Making Fun of Bruce Lee: ‘It Was Cartoonish’

Donnie Yen believes “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” makes an obvious statement on Bruce Lee.

Yen, who stars in “John Wick: Chapter 4,” addressed the portrayal of fellow martial arts master, late icon Lee, in Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 Oscar-winning epic film. The depiction of Lee, played by Mike Moh, showed him being pompous on set and getting beaten up by fictional stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt).

“Everybody is entitled to their opinions. Quentin Tarantino is a very renowned filmmaker, and he’s entitled to his status – and I’m entitled to state my own view,” Yen told Variety. “Obviously, he was making fun of Bruce. It was cartoonish.”

Lee’s daughter Shannon Lee previously slammed the controversial fictionalized depiction of her father by Moh, claiming that the fil...

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‘Succession’ vs. ‘Yellowjackets’ Viewership: Which Sunday Season Premiere Reigned Supreme?

Sunday night was a busy one for fans of premium-cable dramas. Hell, with both “Succession” Season 4 and “Yellowjackets” Season 2 bowing at 9 p.m., that one hour alone was stacked.

“Succession” on HBO and HBO Max drew 2.3 million viewers with its fourth- (and final-) season premiere, a new series high. That linear-and-streaming tally was 62 percent better than the Season 3 premiere, which drew 1.4 million viewers, and 33 percent above its finale (1.7 million). The third-season episodes ended up averaging 7.2 million viewers across all platforms — that number includes weeks of delayed viewing per episode.

Over on rival Showtime, “Yellowjackets” Season 2 opened to “nearly” 2 million viewers across all platforms, per Showtime, up 110 percent from the November 2021 series premier...

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