In a new interview with The Ringer, Fincher’s “Videosyncrazy” co-writer Rich Wilkes reflects on the HBO comedy series that never was. The show, which went by the working titles “Living on Video” and “Video Synchronicity,” filmed episodes in the early part of 2015. Fincher had assembled a cast that included Paz Vega, Charlie Rowe, Sam Page, Kerry Condon, and Corbin Bernsen. The first season began with the making of Berlin’s “The Metro” and was written to culminate in the production of Michael Jackson’s iconic “Thriller” music video....

The original version of “Inland Empire” was shot in standard definition video and output to HDCAM-SR tape and 35mm film; for the re-release currently playing in theaters, the footage was downscaled back to SD in order to get rid of false details introduced during the original HD conversion, then upscaled to HD once again using the GaiaHD algorithm. Lynch supervised a new color pass and sound mix that have made the movie even more immersive and affecting than it was before, confirming it as another of the director’s masterpieces about the fragility of identity, the ways in which possessive men destroy the women they love and hate, and the struggle to recognize what’s real in a media-saturated culture....

“The director, writer, and producer should review the script together and agree which physical interactions need to occur between performers and decide whether substitutions can be made,” the report states. “Does a physical act need to be shown? If working within a series format, can the intimacy be delayed?” The report adds, “You may even find inspiration by revisiting classic films such as ‘It Happened One Night’ (1934) or ‘Casablanca’ (1943) – some of the greatest screen romances ever made and all filmed under the Hays Code, which prohibited the depiction of sex on screen....

Since the Academy president David Rubin announced that eight categories would be pre-recorded ahead of the live ceremony to increase viewer engagement, crafts guilds, filmmakers, and crew members alike have voiced their disdain for the “demeaning” decision. “Last Night in Soho” writer-director Wright took to Twitter to weigh in on the discussion. “I’m looking forward to voting in the Academy Awards tomorrow, having watched all the nominees. And while there are real matters of life and death happening all over the world right now, I’d be remiss not to stick up for my crew members who work tirelessly behind the camera,” Wright wrote in a Twitter thread....

“That is fan-casting,” Blunt said about “Fantastic Four” casting rumors while on her promotional tour for “A Quiet Place Part II.” “No one has received a phone call. That’s just people saying, ‘Wouldn’t that be great?’” Blunt said superhero movies are not “beneath her,” but she is no longer sure that’s a genre she wants to explore. “I love Iron Man and when I got offered Black Widow I was obsessed with Iron Man,” the actress said....

During the Apple Event, the tech company premiered a new short film shot by Lubezki using the iPhone 12 Pro. The short plays like Apple’s version of a Terrence Malick movie: Lubezki discusses the virtues of the new Apple product via narration while a collection of gorgeous, sweeping images he shot using the device play as a montage. “When I started shooting movies, you had to rent a very expensive camera, buy film stock, pay for developing, special equipment for editing,” Lubezki says....

“The Wonder” actress Pugh was cast in the pilot for Fox’s “Studio City” dramedy in 2015 when she was 19. Directed by Sanaa Hamri and written by Krista Vernoff, the semi-autobiographical series centered on a singer (Pugh) who discovers her songwriter father (Eric McCormack) is a celebrity drug dealer. Heather Graham also starred as Pugh’s former stepmother. “I felt very lucky and grateful, and couldn’t believe that I had got this top-of-the-game job,” Pugh recently recalled to The Telegraph, citing that she assumed her Los Angeles TV series experience would be similar to that of U....

“Funny Pages,” which debuted at 2022 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, marks the feature directorial debut from Owen Kline (“The Squid and the Whale”), who also penned the script. Starring “Eighth Grade” and “Tales from the Loop” alum Daniel Zolghadri, “Funny Pages” tells the story of an aspiring teen cartoonist who shrugs off mundane suburban comforts and sets out to make it on his own in Trenton, New Jersey. Maria Dizzia and Josh Pais star as the parents, who are trying to get their son to come home, while Stephen Adly Guirgis plays a high school art teacher....

While plot details for “Thousand Years of Longing” remain under wraps, “Fury Road” fans will be excited to learn that Miller has gotten nearly all of the Oscar-winning “Mad Max” craft team back together for his new movie. Oscar-winning cinematographer John Seale has come out of retirement to serve as DP on “Thousand Years of Longing,” making the film just his second project in the last decade (the other being “Fury Road,” of course)....

NBC’s live Golden Globes show has helped to build winners’ momentum, but that didn’t happen this year. And due to the Omicron surge, the live event that was supposed to capitalize on the missing Globes telecast, the Critics Choice Awards, was postponed until another date still to be announced, along with the Academy’s Governors Awards. Meanwhile, the Palm Springs Film Festival and its awards gala were canceled altogether. The net result: a diminution in buzzy interest heading into the Oscar nominations on February 8 and the ultimate kudocast on March 27, which now seems well-timed....

In addition to the 11 competitive categories, the 30th Gotham Awards awarded five Tribute honors throughout the ceremony, including the late Chadwick Boseman (Actor Tribute, Posthumous), Viola Davis (Actress Tribute), Steve McQueen (Director Tribute), Ryan Murphy (Industry Tribute), and the inaugural Ensemble Tribute to the cast of Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7.” The first award of the night went to “One Night in Miami” breakout Kingsley Ben-Adir, who appeared on camera from a hotel in London....

In a new Twitter thread, the hyphenate director highlighted a technically intricate shot from Spielberg’s musical remake, and used it as a jumping-off point to discuss the complexities of directing film. Del Toro described the sequence as “extremely hard to execute. Pure, masterly clockwork precision and a lot more complex than ‘seamed’ shots or Steadicam-to-crane ‘relay’ shots. Baffling, virtuoso- but one of so, so many shots that make the camera ‘dance’ with each musical number....

The women must team up to stop a cycle of violence led by a male-dominated crime syndicate, presided over by the always deliciously nefarious Paul Giamatti. Along the way they encounter a slew of ass-kicking women, played by a veritable embarrassment of riches in Oscar nominee Angela Bassett (“Black Panther”), Michelle Yeoh (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”), and Carla Gugino (“Sin City”). Here is one of the film’s previous synopses: “Gunpowder Milkshake” was written and directed by Israeli filmmaker Navot Papushado and co-written by Ehud Lavski....

Of course, the true center of it all is the hilarious mentorship between Deborah and her millennial protégé Ava (Hannah Einbinder). This time around, they’re on a road trip across the country to workshop Deborah’s new routine, as she’s hoping to evolve her act. And meanwhile, Ava is still reeling from the death of her father, whose funeral concluded the first season. Smart won an Emmy, SAG, and Critics Choice Award for her performance as Deborah, while co-stars Einbinder, Carl Clemons-Hopkins, and Jane Adams were all nominated for Emmys last year for their respective roles....

Curtis, who has played Laurie for almost 50 years since John Carpenter’s 1978 “Halloween,” leads upcoming Universal Pictures’ “Halloween Ends,” co-written and directed by David Gordon Green. The final installment in the re-quel trilogy, “Halloween Ends” is set years after the events of Green’s “Halloween” in 2018 and 2021’s extra bloody “Halloween Kills,” following the aftermath of the death of Laurie’s daughter, played by Judy Greer. “Halloween Ends” premieres in theaters and on Peacock October 14....

Such is the problem with “High Score,” a show that sets out to look at the early decades of gaming, from arcade glory days through to the advent of 3D graphics. With pivotal figures from that evolution as the viewer’s guides, tiny snippets of coding, design and manufacturing history all blend together over distinct eras. The early-’90s console wars, the rise of digital RPGs, and the general cultural intensity of Nintendo each get their own tidy overviews....

Several studios provided sizzle reels, but most of the trailers were familiar. Jon M. Chu and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “In the Heights” (June 11, Warner Bros.) launched the show with the first eight minutes of the film, which will open the Tribeca Film Festival in June. “l and Lin-Manuel Miranda knew we wanted to use every fiber of the cinema experience to show Washington Heights and introduce it to the world and make it feel like home,” said Chu in a video, “and show all the colors and shapes and sizes and hopes and dreams....

“It’s just a tangible closeness between them emotionally, physically — tactile closeness,” Carey told IndieWire over Zoom ahead of the season premiere. But the relationships that might cause quite a stir in Westeros take root in the pilot, which premiered Sunday night on HBO. Rhaenyra is noticeably close with her uncle Daemon (Matt Smith), and Alicent is tasked with “comforting” King Viserys (Paddy Considine) after his wife dies in childbirth....

As trans narratives continue to captivate filmmakers’ imaginations, such questions are being addressed in ever more creative ways. HBO’s excellent four-part docuseries “The Lady and the Dale” used whimsical paper cut-out animation to illustrate its mysterious central character; the forthcoming feature documentary “My Name is Pauli Murray” enlisted trans academics to contextualize the non-binary legal scholar’s shifting relationship to gender identity with nuance and care. In grappling with issues of representation, a compelling meta-narrative runs through “No Ordinary Man,” which uses trans-masculine actors to imagine and recreate key moments in the life of its subject....

One technician grabbed a radio and a pair of wireless headphones as he wandered the open field, making sure that the audio transmission from the movie would play well for the 200 cars expected to fill the space the next night. Rooftop Films artistic director Dan Nuxoll, who had spent the last several weeks sorting through the logistics of the event, watched the strange scene unfold. “We’ve worked with everyone — every park, everywhere you might possibly show a movie in New York City,” he said....