Film

Women still aren’t good enough to direct Star Wars, apparently

by Kaitlyn Tiffany Nov 22, 2016, 3:49pm EST

In an interview with Variety, current head of Lucasfilm Kathleen Kennedy said the studio is looking for a female filmmaker to direct a Star Wars movie. Great! She then implied that the process is a slow one because "they’re gigantic films, and you...

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Cults, chaos, and community: how The Tension Experience rewrote the rules of storytelling

by @bcbishop Nov 22, 2016, 3:23pm EST

The future of immersive entertainment is here, and it is bloody

The proposed Snowpiercer TV series could fix the film’s mistakes

by Tasha Robinson Nov 21, 2016, 3:34pm EST

Back in 2014, one of the biggest stories in the cinema world was the long-running war between studio mogul Harvey Weinstein and Korean director Bong Joon-ho over the American edit of Bong’s science fiction dystopia movie Snowpiercer. Weinstein...

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Question Club: What even is Fantastic Beasts?

by Chaim Gartenberg Nov 21, 2016, 12:44pm EST

The past weekend saw the release of the much-anticipated fantasy film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the latest movie to take place in J.K. Rowling’s world of Harry Potter. It’s the first Rowling film to not feature Potter and his...

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To tie up the loose strings of Fantastic Beasts, you have to dig back into old Harry Potter lore

by @cgartenberg Nov 21, 2016, 10:00am EST

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a complicated addition to the Harry Potter canon. While the film certainly has its problems, for fans, it’s a major expansion of the Wizarding World. As the title suggests, it introduces new beasts, along...

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Why stories about aliens are always stories about humanity

by Charles Bramesco Nov 21, 2016, 9:49am EST

When it comes to depicting aliens on-screen, we’ve come a long way from little green men with bulbous heads and jet-black tea-saucer eyeballs. Cinematic aliens have assumed every shape and size, from the gorilla-suit-and-diving-bell monster...

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Arrival’s director also made Enemy, a movie that argues history will repeat itself

by Kaitlyn Tiffany Nov 20, 2016, 9:00am EST

French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve premiered his first two English-language films in 2013. One was the blockbuster psychological thriller Prisoners. The lesser-known, Enemy, is a moody, enthralling nightmare of a movie that seems to be...

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10 new trailers you should watch this week

by Jacob Kastrenakes Nov 19, 2016, 10:10am EST

Last week, I went to see Citizen Jane: Battle for the City, a documentary on Jane Jacobs' work as an urban planning writer and activist, with a particular focus on her battles to save New York City from some godawful ideas about cutting up more of...

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Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke joins the young Han Solo movie

by @nickstatt Nov 18, 2016, 7:05pm EST

Emilia Clarke, who you probably recognize as the dragon-taming queen Daenerys Targaryen on HBO’s Game of Thrones, has joined the young Han Solo standalone film, according to the official Star Wars website. The announcement does not make clear what...

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Manchester by the Sea is a beautiful tragedy, and Casey Affleck's finest role

by @plante Nov 18, 2016, 1:46pm EST

Eleven months after its Sundance premiere, Manchester by the Sea has opened in limited release. In hindsight, the drama is not just one of the best films from Sundance 2016; it's one of the best films of the year. This review was originally...

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Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them really wants to be the first Harry Potter story for adults

by Tasha Robinson Nov 18, 2016, 1:09pm EST

But the franchise still has one stubborn foot caught in adolescence

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The latest trailer for Kong: Skull Island shows off a wonderful, monstrous world

by @AndrewLiptak Nov 17, 2016, 9:06am EST

When the first trailer for Kong: Skull Island premiered at San Diego Comic-Con earlier this summer, it looked as though it came with a simple, entertaining premise: the US Army vs. the king on an island in the middle of the Pacific. A new trailer...

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Watch Lost Boy, a gorgeous and gritty cyberpunk short film

by Andrew Webster Nov 16, 2016, 1:52pm EST

If you’re a fan of artist and designer Ash Thorp, there’s a good chance you’ve heard him talk about “Lost Boy,” a personal project that looked to blend together elements of Akira and Mad Max into some kind of new sci-fi universe. Well, now that...

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Feel like you’re in hell? Let this forgotten Anna Kendrick comedy guide you

by Charles Bramesco Nov 16, 2016, 11:56am EST

In 2013, the Anna Kendrick comedy Rapture-Palooza had the misfortune of opening exactly one week ahead of Seth Rogen’s This Is The End, another absurdist envisioning of Judgment Day. (They even shared a primary cast member: Craig Robinson, in both...

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How the short story that inspired Arrival helps us interpret the film’s major twist

by @nickstatt Nov 16, 2016, 11:06am EST

This post contains major plot spoilers about Arrival. In one of the final scenes of Arrival, the new first-contact science fiction film with a focus on linguistics, Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams) explains why she got divorced. “He said I made the...

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The science, aliens, and painfully timely messages of Arrival

by Kaitlyn Tiffany Nov 15, 2016, 10:25am EST

Question Club explores our reactions to Denis Villeneuve’s science-fiction mystery movie

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Women still aren’t good enough to direct Star Wars, apparently

Cults, chaos, and community: how The Tension Experience rewrote the rules of storytelling

The proposed Snowpiercer TV series could fix the film’s mistakes

Question Club: What even is Fantastic Beasts?

To tie up the loose strings of Fantastic Beasts, you have to dig back into old Harry Potter lore

Why stories about aliens are always stories about humanity

Arrival’s director also made Enemy, a movie that argues history will repeat itself

10 new trailers you should watch this week

Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke joins the young Han Solo movie

Manchester by the Sea is a beautiful tragedy, and Casey Affleck's finest role

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them really wants to be the first Harry Potter story for adults

The latest trailer for Kong: Skull Island shows off a wonderful, monstrous world

Watch Lost Boy, a gorgeous and gritty cyberpunk short film

Feel like you’re in hell? Let this forgotten Anna Kendrick comedy guide you

How the short story that inspired Arrival helps us interpret the film’s major twist

The science, aliens, and painfully timely messages of Arrival

The live-action Ghost in the Shell gets the look right

The Martian VR Experience is coming to PSVR and Vive tomorrow

Watch the first trailer for Disney's live-action Beauty and the Beast

Anime master Hayao Miyazaki is coming out of retirement to make one last film

Westworld vs. Jurassic Park: when playing god is clearly a bad idea

Ghost in the Shell director defends controversial Scarlett Johansson casting

Watch Scarlett Johansson in the first Ghost in the Shell trailer

10 new trailers you should watch this week

Arrival is a soulful sci-fi instant classic

Doctor Strange or Trolls: Which is the trippier movie?

Star Wars: Rogue One’s international trailer gives us a better look at Vader

J.R.R. Tolkien biopic Middle Earth will add new depth to Lord of the Rings

The first trailer for Luc Besson’s Valerian promises a dazzling space opera romp

I voted Kodos: relishing the presidential politics of science fiction

Cat-collecting game Neko Atsume is getting a live-action movie release

Doctor Strange: the good, the bad, and the awkward