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Netflix is turning up the heat with its latest addition, Fire Country! Originally a CBS drama, this sizzling series has captivated audiences and built a loyal fan base -- and now season 1 is ready to light up your Netflix queue!

For those just discovering the series, here’s a sizzling sneak peek courtesy of IMDb:

A young convict joins a firefighting program looking for redemption and a shortened prison sentence. He and other inmates work alongside elite firefighters to extinguish massive blazes across the region.IMDb

Intrigued? You should be! Whether you're a longtime fan or a newcomer ready to dive into the flames, we’re here to stoke your curiosity and introduce you to the talented cast that brings this blazing drama to life.

Join us as we get to know the heroic Cal Fire crew from Fire Country season 1 below! But before we meet these brave firefighters,...

For 2024, Queer East Festival launches its fifth year milestone with a remarkable line up of film screenings, arts and performance events across London from 17 to 28 April 2024 and then across the UK later in the year. The programme includes contemporary feature films, documentaries and shorts as well as special anniversary and retrospective screenings that showcase a wide range of LGBTQ+ stories from East Asia, Southeast Asia and their diaspora communities.

Queer East Festival's ground-breaking film programme challenges conventions and stereotypes giving audiences an opportunity to explore the contemporary queer landscape across East and Southeast Asia. Amplifying the voices of Asian communities are the UK Premieres of features, documentaries and shorts exploring young queer love, gender nonconformity and asexual identity, as well as thought-provoking classics with the 20th Anniversary screening of Chinese-American romantic comedy Saving Face and 50th Anniversary screening of the once-considered-lost Japanese title Bye Bye Love. Furthermore, the festival's ‘Expanded'...

It’s Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday — especially when it’s New Music Friday! We’re breaking down this week’s best new tracks to keep on your radar.

New Music Friday – July 14th, 2023

Billie Eilish – “What Was I Made For? From The Motion Picture “Barbie”)

Rita Ora – “You & I”, plus You & I (Album)

Post Malone – “Overdrive”

Renee Rapp – “Talk Too Much”

Demi Lovato – “Sorry Not Sorry (Rock Version) feat. Slash”

Troye Sivan – “Rush”

Karol G – “s91”

Lauren Spencer Smith – “Bigger Person”, plus Mirror (Album)

Crash Adams – “Sugar Mommy”

Spencer Sutherland and Meghan Trainor – “Chicken Little”

Other noteworthy releases include Emei – “Cynical”, Sid Sriram – “The Hard Way“, Ryan Castro and Peso Pluma – “Quema”, Haviah Mighty – “Manifest” plus Crying Crystals (Album), Chloe Stroll – “Run”, Little Monarch – “Tears”, Alana Springsteen and Chris Stapleton – “ghost in my guitar”, (GI)I-dle – “I Do“, Olivia O’Brien – “i should’ve fucked your...

Exclusive: CBS is developing Cal Fire, a drama from Seal Team star Max Thieriot, Grey’s Anatomy alums Tony Phelan and Joan Rater, Jerry Bruckheimer Television and CBS Studios where the company is based.

Cal Fire is inspired by Thieriot’s experiences growing up in Northern California fire country and stems from an original idea by the actor. Phelan and Rater will write the teleplay from a story they co-wrote with Thieriot.

In Cal Fire, seeking redemption and a shortened prison sentence, young convict Bode Donovan joins a firefighting program that returns him to his small Northern California hometown, where he and other inmates work alongside elite firefighters to extinguish massive blazes across the region.

Thieriot, Phelan and Rater executive produce alongside Jerry Bruckheimer, Jonathan Littman and KristieAnne Reed for Jerry Bruckheimer Television. CBS Studios is the studio.

Born and raised in Occidental, CA where he currently lives with his family,...

Korn have announced new album Requiem. Their follow-up to 2019’s The Nothing arrives on Feb. 4 via Loma Vista Recordings. Jonathan Davis and company also shared the video for the first single, “Start the Healing.”

The Tim Saccenti-directed live action and animated visual features footage of the band performing interspersed with morphing creatures and humanoids.

“Our idea for this video was to mutate that aspect of the DNA of Korn, of what makes them so inspiring, their mix of raw power and transportive aesthetics and human emotion,” Saccenti said in a statement.

It seems that every few years, there’s another filmmaker attempting to offer some form of half-hearted commentary on our society’s increased use of the digital devices that seem destined to enslave us all; from the one-two punch of 2013’s dismal “Disconnect” and “Men, Women & Children” the following year to practically every episode of “Black Mirror,” the line on the graph labeled “Quality” tends to ebb and flow with all the frequency of a neglected version of Angry Birds or any number of brightly-colored iPad apps children play that adults can’t even begin to understand.

Continue reading ‘The Mitchells Vs. The Machines’: Robots & Family Collide In This Fun Animated Escape [Review] at The Playlist.

Jasper Polish (Force of Nature), Darren Mann (Fortunate Son), Kevin Csolak (Boardwalk Empire) and Stevie Lynn Jones (Nancy Drew) will join the Animal Kingdom cast in recurring roles for the TNT drama’s sixth and final season.

Animal Kingdom, which features Shawn Hatosy, Ben Robson, Jake Weary, Finn Cole, Leila George, Rigo Sanchez and Jon Beavers, will return for its fifth season this summer. In Season 5, Pope (Hatosy), Craig (Robson), Deran (Weary) and J (Cole) are still dealing with the fallout from the events surrounding Smurf’s death, including family members out for revenge. With their kingdom without a leader, the Codys struggle to maintain their fragile alliance, and to see which of them will come out on top. Meanwhile, they search for more information on Pamela Johnson, whom Smurf made the beneficiary of her estate. And back in 1984, an increasingly volatile 29-year-old Smurf is forging her own path raising...

Hong Kong director Fruit Chan, who somehow manages to be an industry veteran and an enfant terrible at the same time, is currently in post-production on “Coffin Homes.” The film is a satirical horror anthology, that probes the city’s eternal housing problem, especially its micro dwellings known as cubicle apartments or coffin homes.

Chan, who has long played in a social realist riff through titles including “Dumplings,” “The Midnight After” and Hollywood-Hong Kong,” takes the term literally and focuses his film on folks who are ready to live under the same roof as the dead. It stars Tai Bo (“Suk Suk”), Cheung Tat Ming (the Dragon Loaded film series), Loletta Lee (“Ordinary Heroes”) and Susan Shaw (“Gallants”).

Edko Films, part of producer Bill Kong’s cinemas to distribution group, is handling rights, with all territories outside Greater China available at FilMart.

The firm is also proposing “Disconnect’d” a drama-thriller starring Aaron Kwok.

The festival’s 44th edition runs online (due to the pandemic) Jan 29-Feb 8.

The Goteborg Film Festival has unveiled its slimmed-down lineup of 70 films from 39 countries (compared to the usual size of about 400 films); the festival’s 44th edition runs online (due to the pandemic) Jan 29-Feb 8.

Goteborg will open with the Swedish premiere of Zaida Bergroth’s Tove, a biopic of Finnish artist and Moomins creator Tove Jansson; and will close with the European premiere of Frida Kempff’s Knocking, an unnerving psychological drama about a woman hearing strange noises in her new house. Knocking premieres at Sundance and is sold by Bankside.

The streaming giant’s ambitious initiative Made By Africa, Watched By the World is a welcome platform for the continent’s overlooked cinematic talent

‘Have you ever had someone tell your story, take your voice … and replace your face until no one else can see or hear you?” These are the powerful words that Nigerian actor/director Genevieve Nnaji speaks to introduce the Netflix initiative Made By Africa, Watched By the World. Mixing new, original content with older African classics that have not previously been streamed elsewhere, this initiative, much like Strong Black Lead (2018), aims to showcase content that centres black stories but – unlike Strong Black Lead – it will be by and about Africans. It creates a path for stories that specifically address different slices of the African experience to see the light of day and reach a wider audience. Considering that there’s a growing feeling among Africans that...

Lionsgate distributed crime drama in Us last month.

Matthew Shreder’s Concourse Media has closed a raft of sales on Jai Courtney crime drama Semper Fi and is understood to have concluded a multi-territory deal with a major studio.

Lionsgate released the film in the Us last month and rights have gone in the UK (Signature Entertainment), Madman (Australia and New Zealand), France (L’Atelier d’Images), Spain (Twelve Oaks Pictures), Cis (New People Film Company), and Benelux (Three Lines Entertainment).

Further deals closed in Scandinavia (Angel Films), South Korea (Redice), Singapore (Shaw Organisation), and South Africa (M-Net).

The studio deal,...

Company launches tech division Concourse Xr Studios.

Matthew Shreder’s Concourse Media has boarded two new titles for Cannes and launches sales next week on the Jai Courtney crime thriller Edge Of Dawn and music documentary Find Your Groove.

Henry-Alex Rubin directs Edge Of Dawn (formerly Semper Fi) from a screenplay he co-wrote with Sean Mullin. Courtney and Nat Wolff star in the story of a police officer and his friends who must break out his younger brother from prison after a bar fight. The cast includes Finn Whitrock, Beau Knapp, and Arturo Castro.

Karina Miller (To The Bone) of...

FX has set the main cast for the eight-episode limited series “Fosse/Verdon,” Variety has learned.

The series is based on the biography “Fosse” written by Sam Wasson and tells the story of the romantic and creative partnership between Bob Fosse (Sam Rockwell) and Gwen Verdon (Michelle Williams).

Norbert Leo Butz has been cast in the series regular role of Paddy Chayefsky, while Margaret Qually will appear in the series regular role of Ann Reinking.

In addition, the following people have been cast in recurring roles: Aya Cash as Joan Simon, Nate Corddry as Neil Simon, Susan Misner as Joan McCracken, Bianca Marroquin as Chita Rivera, Kelli Barrett as Liza Minnelli, Evan Handler as Hal Prince, Rick Holmes as Fred Weaver, Paul Reiser as Cy Feuer, Ethan Slater as Joel Grey, Byron Jennings as George Abbott, and Laura Osnes as Shirley MacLaine.

Butz is currently starring on Broadway in “My Fair Lady...

Hollywood loves making films about new technology – A couple of years after a tech innovation or trend first appears, the film industry jumps on the bandwagon and makes a slew of movies about it.

Although the science fiction genre explored futuristic technologies as far back as Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927), the use of real-life modern tech as a major theme in film really began in the 1960’s. James Bond’s pager in From Russia with Love (1963) is surely the first time a mobile communications device appeared on the silver screen. By the 1980’s, computers were the big tech theme. Films like War Games (1983), Electric Dreams (1984) and Weird Science (1985) promised a future where computers would help us create the perfect mate and then burn us to a crisp.

In the 90’s the fledging internet and its geeky sibling e-mail were major plot devices in several films, including The Net (1995) and You...

The Producers Guild of America unveiled a new wave of participants for its 10th annual Produced By Conference next month. Among those added to the lineup are Dear White People producer Stephanie Allain, Bridesmaids director-producer Paul Feig, Fast and the Furious producer Neal H. Moritz along with Ian Bryce, Donald DeLine, Tracey Edmonds, Lucy Fisher, Lynette Howell Taylor, James F. Lopez, Chris Moore, Ronald D. Moore, Mary Parent, Stacy Rukeyser, Doug Wick and more.

The event is set for June 9-10 at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles.

In addition to a roster of speakers, the event will include Mentor Roundtables on June 9 which allow attendees a chance to ask questions about their own projects in development and learn in a more personalized, intimate setting with real one-on-one feedback (side note: no pitching allowed in these roundtables). The event will also feature the second annual “Producers Mashup” on June 10. The session...

1. “Friends From College” Season 1 (available July 14)

Why Should I Watch It? Ivy League graduates are largely insufferable, but Netflix is challenging that notion by assembling the most likable cast in recent memory to play a bunch of Harvard alumni reuniting in their late 30s. (Ok, so this list pretty much proves that all famous Ivy Leaguers are awesome, but you know the non-famous are impossible bores. No? Just me? Damn it.) Anyway, “Friends From College” brings together Keegan-Michael Key (Ethan), Cobie Smulders (Lisa), Annie Parisse (Sam), Nat Faxon (Nick), Fred Savage (Max), and Jae Suh Park (Marianne) — plus Kate McKinnon and Ike Barinholtz as guest stars — in a comedic exploration of old friendships from the creative minds of Nicholas Stoller (“Neighbors: Sorority Rising,” “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”) and Francesca Delbanco. Sounds like an ideal mixer, no? Good — at least we can agree on something.

Best Episode: Season 1 of “Friends From College...

Swedish star made several high-profile forays into Hollywood.

Michael Nyqvist, the Swedish star who found international fame with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, died on Tuesday (27) following a battle with lung cancer. He was 56.

Nyqvist’s Us-based representatives issued a statement on Tuesday that read: “On behalf of Michael Nyqvist’s representatives and family, it is with deep sadness that I can confirm that our beloved Michael, one of Sweden’s most respected and accomplished actors, has passed away quietly surrounded by family after a year long battle with lung cancer. Michael’s joy and passion were infectious to those who knew and loved him. His charm and charisma were undeniable, and his love for the arts was felt by all who had the pleasure of working with him.”

Nyqvist will be most famous to non-Scandinavian audiences for his role as investigative reporter Mikael Blomkvist in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Niels Arden Oplev’s 2009 adaptation...

Swedish star made several high-profile forays into Hollywood.

Michael Nyqvist, the Swedish star who found international fame with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, died on Tuesday (27) following a battle with lung cancer. He was 56.

Nyqvist’s Us-based representatives issued a statement on Tuesday that read: “On behalf of Michael Nyqvist’s representatives and family, it is with deep sadness that I can confirm that our beloved Michael, one of Sweden’s most respected and accomplished actors, has passed away quietly surrounded by family after a year long battle with lung cancer. Michael’s joy and passion were infectious to those who knew and loved him. His charm and charisma were undeniable, and his love for the arts was felt by all who had the pleasure of working with him.”

Nyqvist will be most famous to non-Scandinavian audiences for his role as investigative reporter Mikael Blomkvist in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Niels Arden Oplev’s 2009 adaptation...

Michael Nyqvist, the acclaimed Swedish actor known to American audiences for his roles in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and John Wick, has died at 56.

“On behalf of Michael Nyqvist’s representatives and family, it is with deep sadness that I can confirm that our beloved Michael, one of Sweden’s most respected and accomplished actors, has passed away quietly surrounded by family after a year long battle with lung cancer,” a representative for the actor said in a statement to People.

“Michael’s joy and passion were infectious to those who knew and loved him,” the statement continued. “His charm and charisma were undeniable,...

Hunger Games grad Sam Claflin is set to star in upcoming crime-thriller Semper Fi from Oscar-nominated director Henry-Alex Rubin (Murderball, Disconnect).

Claflin, recently seen in Me Before You and Their Finest and set to star in Babadook follow-up The Nightingale, will take the lead as a straight-laced cop who resolves to help his brother – found guilty of killing a man in a bar-room fight – by breaking him out of prison with his life-long friends and fellow Marine Corps reservists.

Cornerstone Films will commence sales in Cannes and co-represent the U.S. rights with CAA, which packaged and arranged financing for...

Kayti Burt May 4, 2017

Sam Claflin is set to play a Marine sergeant with a plan to break his brother out of prison in the crime thriller Semper Fi...

Sam Claflin has been making a tidy little Hollywood career for himself over the last few years, starring in everything from Hunger Games: Catching Fire to Me Before You to Our Finest Hour. What's next for him? A crime thriller called Semper Fi.

See related  Denis Villeneuve interview: Sicario, Kurosawa, sci-fi, ugly poetry Dune reboot: Denis Villeneuve confirmed to direct

According to Variety, Claflin will star in Semper Fi as a straight-laced Marine Corps sergeant who convinces his brother to own up to a bar brawl that ends with a man dead. After coming back from Iraq to find his brother's final court appeal rejected, he comes up with a plan to break his brother out of prison.

There's a lot going on in that premise,...

When it was released in 2011, Gareth Evans' Indonesian film The Raid: Redemption set the bar almost impossibly high for modern action movies. Now, WarParty and Xyz Films are looking to recapture the original movie's martial arts magic with a reimagining of The Raid that will star Frank Grillo (The Purge: Election Year, The Grey), be written and directed by Joe Carnahan (The Grey), and be executive produced by Evans himself.

Press Release: Los Angeles, CA (February 15, 2017) – WarParty and Xyz films have announced that they will partner on the reimagining of the hit Indonesian action film The Raid, which Joe Carnahan will direct and write, and Frank Grillo will star. The film will be produced by WarParty and Xyz. Gareth Evans, the martial arts auteur who directed the original Raid film, will executive produce.

Premiering in 2011 at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Indonesian martial-arts movie The Raid (also known...

Just a few days ago we reported that The Solution Entertainment Group was doing a project called Wheelman, starring Frank Grillo and Joe Carnahan producing, and now Netflix has gotten the rights for it.

Netflix has acquired worldwide rights to the high-concept action thriller Wheelman starring Frank Grillo. Joe Carnahan (The Grey, The A-Team) is producing the film alongside The Solution Entertainment Group’s Myles Nestel (The November Man, Machete) and Grillo who is making his producing debut. Wheelman is written and directed by Jeremy Rush and is scheduled to commence principal photography in fall 2016. J Todd Harris, Chady Mattar and Scott Silver are executive producing.

The Wheelman is Grillo - a getaway driver thrust into a high stakes race-to-survive after a bank robbery goes terribly wrong. With a car full of money and his family on the line, the clock is ticking to figure out who double-crossed him, and...

Biopic to be directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, the filmmaker behind damning SeaWorld documentary Blackfish.

Kate Mara (Fantastic Four) has signed on to star in Megan Leavey, director Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s film about a real-life war hero and her military combat dog Rex who, together, saved countless lives searching for roadside bombs during two tours in Iraq from 2004 to 2006.

Cowperthwaite will follow up to her universally acclaimed documentary Blackfish, which explored an incident surrounding the death of a SeaWorld trainer who was killed by an orca in 2010.

She will direct from a script written by Pamela Gray (Conviction) with additional material by Annie Mumolo (Joy), Tim Lovestedt (Groundlings), and Jordan Roberts (Big Hero 6).

Producers are Mickey Liddell (The Grey), Jennifer Monroe (Disconnect) and Pete Shilaimon (Anthropoid) on behalf of Ld Entertainment.

UTA will be manage sales for North America.

The film is based on the true story of Megan Leavey, a young Marine...

We have big news for fans of Bates Motel. The Psycho-inspired series has been a huge success for A&E and they are confident enough in the creative team that they've placed a twenty-episode order:

Press Release: "New York, NY – June 15, 2015 – A&E Network has ordered twenty episodes of the acclaimed drama series, “Bates Motel” from Universal Television it was announced today by Rob Sharenow, Executive Vice President and General Manager, A&E and Lifetime.

“The vision of our incredible creative team has exposed the steady breakdown of the relationship between Norman and Norma Bates,” said Sharenow. “We are thrilled to bring fans two more seasons to witness the next stages of Norman's transformation into the most notorious psychopath in cinematic history.”

New episodes of “Bates Motel” will begin production later this year and will air over two seasons, starting in 2016.

“Bates Motel” has garnered a truly loyal fan base over the past three seasons.

According to Deadline, Relativity Studios is in negotiations with Andrea Riseborough to play the villain in Corin Hardy's remake of The Crow, which will star Boardwalk Empire's Jack Huston as the doomed Eric Draven. Riseborough ( Birdman, Oblivion, Disconnect, Made in Dagenham, Never Let Me Go) would play a character named Top Dollar, who was originally written as a man and was played by Michael Wincott in the first adaptation back in 1994. Top Dollar runs a crime syndicate, and is indirectly responsible for the deaths or Draven and his fiancée Shelly (Jessica Brown Findlay). The remake is being produced by Edward R. Pressman, Kevin Misher, Relativity’s CEO Ryan Kavanaugh, and Jeff Waxman. James O’Barr is also on board as a consultant. The Crow will take flight in 2016.

Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games franchise, The Riot Club, Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) is set to star in the soccer legend biopic Robin Friday, to be directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker, Henry-Alex Rubin (Murderball, Disconnect), it was announced today by producers Mike Young, Julian Stone and Paolo Hewitt of Rf Movie Productions Ltd. Financing partners include Global Film Partners’ Daniel Koefoed and Guirec van Slingelandt, Telegael’s Paul Cummings and 9Magnan’s Meghana Gupta.

Fortitude International, co-founded by Nadine de Barros, Robert Ogden Barnum and Daniel Wagner, will handle foreign rights and will present the project to buyers at the Cannes Film Market. De Barros will be supported by her sales team including Katie Irwin, VP of International and Samantha Peel, Director of International Sales and Marketing.

CAA, which packaged and arranged financing for Robin Friday, will represent the film’s North American rights.

Based on the biography...

Simon says….look out for Joel Edgerton and his goatee.

The first trailer for The Gift was released on Wednesday, which marks the directorial debut of The Great Gatsby and Exodus star Joel Edgerton. The paranoid thriller also stars Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall.

Edgerton has been a solid actor for some time now with bit parts in multiple movies, both big and small, and this film looks like it has a lot going for it. From the trailer, it seems to be in the same vein as popular horror thrillers such as Insidious (and actually shares a producer with that movie) and could possibly work with a mass audience. Edgerton has only directed short films up to this point, but The Gift could be a step into bigger movies.

The cast is great with Bateman diving into drama, which he has been doing recently with Disconnect and This Is Where I Leave You,...

Scott Free and Principato-Young are developing a film adaptation of battlefield doctor Rich Jadick's memoir "On Call In Hell".

The book tracks Jadick's days as a marine officer and surgeon in Fallujah, risking his life trying to triage and rush gravely wounded American soldiers to safety before they bled out.

In the process he disobeyed orders and put his own survival at risk. He was the first doctor in the armed forces ever to be awarded the bronze star for valor in combat for his work in Iraq.

Andrew Stern ("Disconnect") developed the feature script which producer Allen Fischer. Fischer, Ridley Scott and Michael Schaefer will produce. Scott will not direct but will help in securing a helmer.

Source: Deadline...

I Tumblr For You; The Kids Aren’t Alright in Reitman’s Latest

Parents and their burgeoning teenagers battle their insecurities and repressed sexuality amidst ever present technology in an otherwise hushed community in a tightly woven all-American town. Sound familiar? On the surface, Jason Reitman’s latest effort Men, Women & Children is trying so very much to be American Beauty. There’s the hyper-sexualized cheerleaders, the stifled paternal figures and their mentally or morally absent partners, who all crash into their own devastating denouements. Unfortunately, despite his effort to create a modified updated retelling of Sam Mendes’ masterpiece for the plugged-in age, Reitman’s film is ersatz, and instantly forgotten.

Via Emma Thompson’s voiceover (which was used to far better effect in the underrated Stranger than Fiction), the audience is introduced to the close-knit residents of a Texan town. There’s the sexually frustrated married couple Don (Adam Sandler...

Jason Reitman has decided to follow Labor Day with a closer look at the modern Internet age and how it relates to the Voyager 1 space probe and a Korean couple that neglected their child to the point it died while they played a video game. Overprotective parents, clueless parents, teenage pregnancy, selfies, adultery and much, much more are all part of the equation in a world where the Internet has distracted us to the point of isolation. The film is bookended by voice over from Emma Thompson chattering away about this and that and to be honest I could hardly care about, let alone remember, a word she said and I felt very similarly about nearly every character in this over-stuffed movie. Reitman along with Erin Cressida Wilson (Chloe) have adapted the story from the book by Chad Kultgen, examining the lives of several teenage children and their parents and...

The last time Paramount Pictures tried a Jason Reitman film on the awards season, it was last year's "Labor Day." I thought it was an impressive bit of stretching from the director and was happy to see a certain sect of critics find value in it. Alas, that was a minority view, as most took aim on the film and fired either at Telluride or Toronto and a misguided December release date finished it off after that. But everyone is back up to the plate this year with the Chad Kultgen adaptation "Men, Women & Children," and the first teaser trailer for the film has arrived to set the tone. Paced to a moody Plantains cover of Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" (a ubiquitous track last year in everything from "Gloria" to "American Hustle"), the teaser establishes the film's melancholy world of disconnected people, faces in devices, emotionally detached from everything around them.

The Academy has announced the new class of invited members for 2014 and, as is typical, many of which are among last year's nominees, which includes Barkhad Abdi, Michael Fassbender, Sally Hawkins, Mads Mikkelsen, Lupita Nyong'o and June Squibb in the Actors branch not to mention curious additions such as Josh Hutcherson, Rob Riggle and Jason Statham, but, okay. The Directors branch adds Jay and Mark Duplass along with Jean-Marc Vallee, Denis Villeneuve and Thomas Vinterberg. I didn't do an immediate tally of male to female additions or other demographics, but at first glance it seems to be a wide spread batch of new additions on all fronts. The Academy is also clearly attempting to aggressively bump up the demographics as this is the second year in a row where they have added a large number of new members, well over the average of 133 new members from 2004 to 2012. As far as...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 271 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures.

Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy’s membership in 2014.

“This year’s class of invitees represents some of the most talented, creative and passionate filmmakers working in our industry today,” said Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs. “Their contributions to film have entertained audiences around the world, and we are proud to welcome them to the Academy.”

The 2014 invitees are:

Actors

Barkhad Abdi – “Captain Phillips”

Clancy Brown – “The Hurricane,” “The Shawshank Redeption”

Paul Dano – “12 Years a Slave,” “Prisoners”

Michael Fassbender – “12 Years a Slave,” “Shame”

Ben Foster – “Lone Survivor,” “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”

Beth Grant – “The Artist,” “No Country for Old Men”

Clark Gregg – “Much Ado about Nothing,” “Marvel’s The Avengers”

Sally Hawkins – “Blue Jasmine,...

Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong’o of 12 Years a Slave were two of the 271 artists and industry leaders invited to become members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which determines nominations and winners at the annual Oscars. The entire list of Academy membership—which numbers about 6,000—isn’t public information so the annual invitation list is often the best indication of the artists involved in the prestigious awards process. It’s worth noting that invitations need to be accepted in order for artists to become members; some artists, like two-time Best Actor winner Sean Penn, have declined membership over the years.

Pop quiz: What do Chris Rock, Claire Denis, Eddie Vedder and Josh Hutcherson all have in common? Answer: They could all be Oscar voters very soon. The annual Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences invitation list always makes for interesting reading, shedding light on just how large and far-reaching the group's membership is -- or could be, depending on who accepts their invitations. This year, 271 individuals have been asked to join AMPAS, meaning every one of them could contribute to next year's Academy Awards balloting -- and it's as diverse a list as they've ever assembled. Think the Academy consists entirely of fusty retired white dudes? Not if recent Best Original Song nominee Pharrell Williams takes them up on their offer. Think it's all just a Hollywood insiders' game? Not if French arthouse titans Chantal Akerman and Olivier Assayas join the party. It's a list that subverts expectation at every turn.

• The Fault in Our Stars lead Ansel Elgort will play the title role in Van Cliburn. The film tells the story of the Texan piano prodigy who has been credited as bridging the Cold War gap between America and Russia when, at age 23, he won the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow in 1958. Andrew Stern (Disconnect) is penning the script, and Elgort, a graduate of Laguardia High School of the Performing Arts, will perform the piano playing himself. [Deadline]

• Ewan McGregor (The Impossible) will star in the film adaptation of Philip Roth’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel American Pastoral. McGregor will play...

Chicago – The year caught up with me. 2013 was characterized by a soft start and a strong finish, but overall there were impressive contenders throughout the year and some fine examples of great storytelling and filmmaking. Risks were taken, some truth emerged and even in more “mainstream” films, there were flashes of promise.

This is the second set of top ten 2013 films on HollywoodChicago.com, as offered by film critic Patrick McDonald. Please also sample my colleague Brian Tallerico’s Top Ten. The following films are a testament to the experiences they gave me, what they made me think about afterward and how they fulfilled that feeling – for me – of what makes a movie great.

For every film in those ten spots, there are a number of other films coming in tied at number 11 – Joe Swanberg’s sublime “Drinking Buddies” and the anarchy of “Escape From Tomorrow”; the gutsy honesty of...

Another great week for the streaming services with some good watches from this year, last year, the year before and about ten or twenty years back. I struggle to believe we can keep up this kind of momentum and variety until Christmas but we will see what happens. At the moment this column is just a pleasure to write due to the variety of stuff available.

One thing that has amazed me this week is how a worthy and quite brilliant drama like Disconnect can just squeak out on to streaming with so little fanfare. Have things really changed that much? Is relevant, timely cinema worthy of discussion made independently really such an off-putting thing to studios and distributors? A few years back when the Mubi service was introduced on the PlayStation Network, it threatened to give us free and pay per view independent cinema that you couldn’t see anywhere else.

Disconnect tells the story of a group of people looking to form actual, personal relationships, in today’s technology-focused world. One is a hard-working lawyer who can’t find the time to communicate with his family. Another couple gets sucked into a dangerous situation when their secrets are exposed online. An ex-cop struggles to raise a son who cyber-bullies a classmate. A journalist finds out about a teen performing on an adult site and sees a career-making story in it. The stories of these people collide, showing the impact that today’s wired world can have.

In honor of the film’s release on Blu-Ray, we’re excited to bring you an exclusive special features clip. It features Paula Patton, who plays Cindy Hull in the film, talking about what drew her to the project. We also get to hear director Henry Alex Rubin briefly discussing what made Patton perfect for the role.

In Disconnect, Jason Bateman was given the opportunity to do something he normally never gets asked to do: play a dramatic character. In this exclusive clip from Lionsgate Home Entertainment.s Blu-ray release of the film, Bateman explains why he was grateful for the role, while director Henry-Alex Rubin spends a little time explaining why he feels Bateman was the perfect choice for taking on a more dramatic character. In Disconnect, Bateman plays the father of a teen boy named Ben who has recently been cyberbullied after meeting a girl named Jessica online. Jessica convinces Ben to send a bawdy photo of himself and it is later circulated to all of the members in Ben.s class, leading Ben to harm himself. It is up to Batemen.s character, Rich, to get to the bottom of the cyberbullying mystery and to try to reconnect with his family. Rubin says that...

Check out what's new to rent and own this week on the various streaming services such as cable On Demand, Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, and, of course, Netflix. Cable On Demand: Same-day-as-disc releases, older titles and pretheatrical exclusives for rent, priced from $3-$10, in 24- or 48-hour periods Bless Me, Ultima (drama; Miriam Colon, Luke Ganalon; PG-13) Blue Caprice (drama based on true story of the DC snipers; Isaiah Washington, Tim Blake Nelson; available On Demand and in theaters; rated R) Disconnect (drama; Jason Bateman, Hope Davis, Alexander Skarsgård; rated R) Paradise (Diablo Cody-directed comedy; Julianne Hough, Russell Brand; premieres 9/19 weeks before theatrical; rated PG-13) C.O.G. (comedy; Jonathan Groff, Denis O'Hare; premieres 9/20 the same...

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Moviefone's Top DVD of the Week

"The Bling Ring"

What's It About? Based on the real-life Bling Ring crew, Sofia Coppola's film tells the story of the Los Angeles teens whose claim to infamy was robbing the homes of celebrities. The teens who used the internet to track the whereabouts of rich celebs are portrayed by Emma Watson, Katie Chang, Taissa Farmiga, Israel Broussard, and Claire Julien.

Watch: Go behind-the-scenes with Taissa Farmiga (Video)

Why We're In: Coppola's approach to the tabloid-heavy story is one of the most compelling aspects of "The Bling Ring"," as she neither praises the characters, criticizes, or satirizes them. We get to watch the teens from an honest perspective and arrive at our own deduction of how technology and youth obsession with fame impact contemporary culture. "The Bling Ring" was also one of Moviefone's Best Movies of 2013 (So Far).

Rt & Follow to win #TheBlingRing...

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

As a society, an overwhelming handful of us collectively are shamelessly conjoined to social networking or more specifically, the internet itself. We bury our zombified faces into a monitor – whether it’s for doing daily tasks (paying bills, connecting with long distance relatives) or using anonymity to antagonize others or steal information without so much as fixating a thought on the consequences.

We have progressed (or regressed) to an age where any person (even a child) can get a stripper without so much as leaving their room while aforementioned internet models make a steady financial living. Disconnect has one apparent purpose; to explore the darkest recesses of our digital age without blinking while simultaneously reminding you that every action, even one within cyber space, has repercussions.

A myriad of stories are set on a collision course with each other and Disconnect just perfects it. First we...

Paula Patton stunned in white as she arrived on the red carpet for the 2013 Bet Awards in a Bcbgmaxazria dress. The ‘Disconnect‘ actress wore the sheer Riley Long Color-blocked Pleated Bcbgmaxazria Dress with Sleeves in Alabaster to the awards ceremony. The 2013 Bet Awards were held on Sunday, June 30 at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live in Los Angeles. The awards ceremony, which was hosted by ‘Silver Linings Playbook‘ star Chris Tucker, recognized Americans in music, movies, sports and other fields of entertainment over the past year. Patton is just one actress, including Kristen Stewart, Ashley Greene, Angelina Jolie, Anna Paquin, Jaime King and Lucy Liu, who is a [ Read More ]

The post Paula Patton Steps Out in Bcbgmaxazria at the 2013 Bet Awards appeared first on Shockya.com.

Spencer Boldman, one of the three young stars of Disney Xd's "Lab Rats," will appear as the male lead opposite Haley Ramm ("Disconnect") in adoption drama, "Dakota Rose." Written and directed by Timothy Armstrong ("Cowgirls n' Angels"), the film follows a 17-year-old trick horseback rider, Dakota Rose (Ramm), who finds out she has been adopted and sets out on a quest to discover who she really is and ultimately comes to realize that her adopted family is the family she was always meant to have. Also read: Helena Bonham Carter Cast as Fairy Godmother in...

Another day, another remake. This time it's Jacob's Ladder, the psychological horror-thriller from 1990 starring Tim Robbins. THR posted news on development of a new Jacob's Ladder project that at the least has a screenplay and financiers involved, but no director yet. Mickey Liddell's Ld Entertainment (Killer Joe, Black Rock, Disconnect, The Collection) is financing the remake, which comes with a script from Jeff Buhler (Insanitarium, The Midnight Meat Train) who is revising an early draft penned by Jake Wade Wall (When a Stranger Calls, The Hitcher). Let's hope they can turn out something edgy and unique that will impress us. The original Jacob's Ladder was directed by Adrian Lyne, from a screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin. The story centers around Vietnam veteran Jacob Singer, whose experiences both prior to and during the war have resulted in strange flashbacks and bizarre hallucinations that continue to haunt him in his everyday life.

A man out for revenge after his livelihood is demolished by an identity thief, a newlywed forced to function as the primary caregiver for his neglected six-year-old step daughter, and now the leader of an anarchist collective out to punish the cooperate elite for taking advantage of their customers. Alexander Skarsgård may have skyrocketed to fame courtesy of True Blood (which is about to enter season 6), but you can no longer pigeonhole him as gorgeous Viking vampire Eric Northman – and these past two months prove it. The actor recently starred in two indie dramas - Disconnect and What Maisie Knew - to solid reviews in both.

Now comes Skarsgård’s latest project, The East. The film stars Brit Marling (Sound of My Voice) as Sarah Moss, a former FBI agent just beginning a career at Hiller Brood – an intelligence firm specifically dedicated ...

Click to continue reading ‘The East’ Interview [Video]:...

I like meeting actors for the first time, when their careers are starting to take off, before they've erected that protective coating that movie stars often need to survive. I was curious to check out Andrea Riseborough, especially, because she's one of those actresses--much like Meryl Streep-- who vanishes into every role. She's a chameleon, utterly unrecognizable from one movie to the next. She explains why in our flip cam interview below. Like most folks, I first discovered the Brit stage actress in 2011 as Wallis Simpson in Madonna's "W.E.," and was astonished at how she not only embodied this familiar woman but carried the film, which was critically drubbed, but Riseborough emerged unscathed. Casting directors have jumped on the Rada-trained actress, who is now 31 and lives in Boise, Idaho with her artist boyfriend. This spring she's starred in back-to-back movies "Disconnect," "Welcome to the Punch," replaced Jessica Chastain...

The first season of "Bates Motel" came to a stunning end last night, and we are already chomping at the bit for Season 2 to begin! In the meantime here's a look "inside" Episode 1.10, "Midnight."

In the below video you'll learn from the writers and actors just how far Norma would go with her back up against the wall and uncover how Sheriff Romero's moral compass guides the inner workings of the town. You'll also hear the writers' thoughts on Norman's behavior in the final moments of the season finale.

The series stars Academy Award nominee Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air, The Departed), Freddie Highmore (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Finding Neverland), Max Thieriot (Disconnect), Olivia Cooke (Blackout), and Nicola Peltz (The Last Airbender). “Bates Motel” is produced by Universal Television for A&E Network. Carlton Cuse and Kerry Ehrin serve as executive producers for Carlton Cuse Productions.

"Bates Motel...