All posts tagged: film

Ryan Gosling revs up to play Ghost Rider in new Marvel film by Deadpool & Wolverine director

Ryan Gosling revs up to play Ghost Rider in new Marvel film by Deadpool & Wolverine director

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter After years of speculation, Ryan Gosling will officially be taking over the flaming helmet and fiery motorbike of Ghost Rider. Amid a flurry of news for Marvel fans at Comic-Con this week – including a new Avengers: Doomsday trailer and Black Panther casting announcement – it was also announced on Saturday (25 July) that Gosling will be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Barbie actor, 45, will play supernatural horror hero Johnny Blaze, aka Ghost Rider, in a forthcoming film directed by Deadpool & Wolverine’s Shawn Levy. The character was previously portrayed by Nicolas Cage in a 2007 film co-starring Eva Mendes, who is now married to Gosling. The big reveal was met with huge applause from fans at Comic-Con in San Diego, and follows years of deliberation with several actors throwing their hat in the ring. “Wow, is this really …

John Cena, Jessica Biel Star in Apple Film

John Cena, Jessica Biel Star in Apple Film

Published by Daniella Wilson

John Cena is revving up the action with the trailer for Matchbox the Movie. Apple TV debuted the first footage from filmmaker Sam Hargrave‘s feature during the streamer’s panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday. Jessica Biel, Arturo Castro, Sam Richardson, Teyonah Parris, Danai Gurira, Golshifteh Farahani, Corey Stoll and Bill Camp also star in the movie that begins streaming on Oct. 9. Inspired by Mattel‘s line of toy cars, Matchbox the Movie centers on a group of longtime friends who discover that their leader, Sean (Cena), is an undercover CIA agent. Soon, Sean’s complicated life has thrust them into a globe-trotting adventure to save the world. “It’s been a long since we played Matchbox cars together,” Biel says wistfully in the trailer. Later, Cena realizes that he and his pals appear to be in hot water. “A nuclear warhead went missing,” he says. “The CIA thinks it was me — or us.” Eventually, Biel comes up with a solution that is not exactly simple: “We need to re-steal the bomb so we can get …

‘The Odyssey’ Was Made for Imax 70mm. Good Luck Watching It That Way

‘The Odyssey’ Was Made for Imax 70mm. Good Luck Watching It That Way

Published by skeptic

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey in Imax 70mm is the hottest club in town, if you can get in. While Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s epic is available on thousands of screens around the world, there are only 41—including 25 in the US—that can offer it in full Imax 70mm glory. Many of those are sold out for weeks. Levels of FOMO are off the charts. That’s partly because The Odyssey is the first feature film shot entirely on Imax film with Imax cameras. For the uninitiated, the Imax film format takes an already large 65-mm film negative and runs it through the camera horizontally, resulting in an image 15 perforations wide compared to the standard 5 perf. When projected on a giant Imax screen, the resulting image, with a squarish aspect ratio of 1.43:1, is enormous and incredibly sharp, creating a far more immersive experience than standard cinema offerings. This is real Imax, according to fans of the format, which was first introduced in 1970. Imax, though, comes in a variety of flavors: digital formats in …

In Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest film, Sheep in the Box, he turns to technology to explore grief

In Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest film, Sheep in the Box, he turns to technology to explore grief

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter In his latest cinematic offering, acclaimed Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda delves into the profound depths of grief and technology, presenting a poignant narrative where a bereaved couple seeks solace in a recreated likeness of their lost child. His new film, “Sheep in the Box,” is set to open in U.S. theaters this Friday, promising a deeply emotional exploration of loss and connection. His new film, ‘Sheep in the Box’ is set to open in U.S. theaters this Friday (Neon via AP) The film centers on a married couple grappling with the death of their son, leading them to commission a humanoid crafted in his exact image. The title itself is a nod to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s classic children’s book, “The Little Prince,” where a sheep is imagined hidden within a box. For Kore-eda, this reference underscores the idea that life’s most …

Charli XCX Taps David Cronenberg For a Collab That Explains ‘Music, Fashion, Film’

Charli XCX Taps David Cronenberg For a Collab That Explains ‘Music, Fashion, Film’

Published by Jenni Sidey

Over the last few years, Charli XCX has emerged as the music world’s most high-profile Letterboxd power user. (That’ll come to no surprise of anyone who has a passing interest in online movie culture, has taken a cursory scan at the genre-bending pop titan’s socials.) Yet still, plenty of eyebrows shot up when David Cronenberg, the legendary body-horror auteur behind gnarly hits like Crash—the inspiration for the title of Charli’s fifth studio album—was revealed to feature on the closing track for her new album Music, Fashion, Film. Perhaps the last part of that title should’ve provided some clues. The album artwork also features similarly seminal Hollywood titan Martin Scorsese, alongside Velvet Underground frontman John Cale and designer Marc Jacobs. When revealed, the cover seemed to reflect two things: firstly, Charli’s embrace of film and fashion as new modes of expression, be it through that aforementioned reinvention as an active online cinephile, or her turn towards acting as a side-hustle. But they are also all men who cast long shadows over the art forms they represent; …

Charli xcx Takes a Sharp Turn with Music, Fashion, Film

Charli xcx Takes a Sharp Turn with Music, Fashion, Film

Published by Sam Flores

When Charli XCX walked out for her 2025 Coachella set wearing a sash that said “Miss Should Be Headliner,” all the club kids, pop-girlies, and music nerds in the crowd—many of them dressed exactly like Charli—lost it. The Coachella performance was the height, and supposed end, of Brat summer—a global cultural phenomenon so big that Kamala Harris co-opted it during her presidential campaign. After the music stopped, Charli stood still as giant screens flashed a contentious inner-monologue. “Does this mean that Brat Summer is finally over? Idk? Maybe? Wait, was it? No?? Yeah cuz duh it was already over like last year. Wait. Was it? NO??? I don’t know who I am if it’s over??? F–KKKKKKKK.” Beneath that campy meta-commentary lies real anxiety. In her film The Moment and in interviews joking about escaping “Khia Asylum”— the internet’s imaginary jail for past-their-prime pop-stars—Charli also acknowledged the fear that her biggest breakthrough could also mark its peak; that she’ll forever be known as the Brat girl. It’s a valid concern considering new releases from female pop …

Lucas Museum of Narrative Art Reveals Inaugural Film Program

Lucas Museum of Narrative Art Reveals Inaugural Film Program

Published by Jenni Sidey

As previews continue in advance of showtime upon its opening on September 22, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles—the starry institution conceived by director George Lucas and his wife Mellody Hobson—announced its inaugural film program at San Diego Comic Con. In a panel discussion featuring Lucas Museum senior curator and head of film programs Ryan Linkof alongside DC Comics CEO Jim Lee, actress Keke Palmer, and two founders of ConStoopid Buddy Stoodios, news dropped for what will be on offer in two designated theaters where select films will be screened “on a non-stop basis throughout the day, offering visitors an open-door, drop-in gallery-like experience.” Related Articles The list is eclectic, with films (and excerpts of films) ranging from documentaries on the history of cinema to avant-garde works by artists including Man Ray, László Moholy-Nagy, Stan Brakhage, Kenneth Anger, Mary Ellen Bute, and Jordan Belson. The museum’s Robert Flaherty Theater, named after a documentarian and focused on “tradition of using cinema to capture reality in all its richness,” will feature the newly commissioned …

Universal Denies Unpaid Repair Claims

Universal Denies Unpaid Repair Claims

Published by Jenni Sidey

The replica Viking ship used in Christopher Nolan‘s blockbuster The Odyssey has become the subject of a dispute between its Swedish owners and Universal Pictures over who should pay for repairs after filming.  The nonprofit Värmlands Vikingacenter says its 17.5-meter replica warship, Glad av Gillberga, returned from production in need of repairs including a cracked hull and damaged rigging. According to The New York Times, the organization invoiced Universal roughly $6,000 for repair materials, but says the bill remains unpaid. The center says it did not charge for labor.  Related Articles Universal has a different version. “Our records show that all invoices relating to the Glad av Gillberga were paid in full, including repairs,” a studio spokesperson told The Times. “The studio and the production have contacted the association to clear up any misunderstanding.”  The vessel was hired in late 2024 by a production operating under the working title Charlie’s Tale and appeared as one of the escort ships in the film‘s Viking flotilla. The Odyssey, which opened in theaters on July 17, grossed more than $264 million worldwide during its opening weekend. The …

Charli XCX, Music Fashion Film review – There are moments of excellence in this perplexing, frustrating Brat follow-up

Charli XCX, Music Fashion Film review – There are moments of excellence in this perplexing, frustrating Brat follow-up

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the inside track from Roisin O’Connor with our free weekly music newsletter Now Hear This Get our free music newsletter Now Hear This Get our free music newsletter Now Hear This Charli XCX is in a quandary. Or at least, that’s how it seems on her seventh album, Music Fashion Film. It’s been a strange, disjointed rollout for the pop star’s latest full-length release – her third in just over two years, if we’re including her Wuthering Heights soundtrack – not least because of the mixed messages about what the project is. The sound and themes, too, are confusing and often contradictory. This makes sense if you know how Music Fashion Film came about. The artist born Charlotte Aitchison felt creatively drained from the era-defining sensation that was 2024’s Brat – a work that sparked endless memes, merch, TikTok dances and smoking habits. After that, she was “not inspired to write anything new”. Then her longtime collaborator AG Cook suggested they record while in Paris for fashion week; the idea of working in such …

Critics Are Calling Charli XCX's Brat Follow-Up Music, Fashion, Film 'Fascinating'

Critics Are Calling Charli XCX's Brat Follow-Up Music, Fashion, Film 'Fascinating'

Published by Sam Flores

Charli XCX has unveiled her new album Music, Fashion, Film After the juggernaut success of her 2024 album Brat, Charli XCX has taken a big swing with the follow-up Music, Fashion, Film – and it’s one that appears to have paid off if the first reviews of her new release are anything to go by. It’s well-documented by now that Charli took a very markedly different approach when putting Music, Fashion, Film, together – swerving the dance floor-ready sounds of Brat for something more organic and inspired by rock (though she has dismissed previous reports suggesting that her new material is a full-on “rock album”). The finished product, released on Friday 24th July, sees the British star reflecting on some of the themes of Brat – including fame, success and identity – in new ways, with a series of rave reviews applauding its creativity and bravery, branding it “fascinating”, “triumphant” and proof of her status as one of pop’s “most interesting” figures. And hey – the fact it’s also ruffled some feathers (more critical reviews …