FilmWeek: 'Mickey 17,' 'Last Breath,' 'Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse', 'On Becoming a Guinea Fowl ' and More Guest host Austin Cross and LAist film critics Claudia Puig and Tim Cogshell review this weekend’s latest movie releases in theaters and on streaming platforms. Mickey 17 Riff Raff Last Breath Art Spielgelman: Disaster Is My Muse Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna Eephus On Becoming a Guinea Fowl The Accidental Getaway Driver The Rule of Jenny Pen The Empire...
Mar 07, 2025•32 min
At this year’s Academy Awards, the comedic drama Anora , came away 5 Oscar wins, including Best Picture. The film follows Ani, an exotic dancer and escort in Brighton Beach, who’s relationship with a Russian oligarch’s son takes her on an emotional rollercoaster. Having premiered at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, it received the festival’s prestigious Palme d’Or. Since then, it’s received critical acclaim and many awards. So for this week’s FilmWeek feature, we re-air our conversation on Anor...
Mar 07, 2025•18 min
The 97th annual Academy Awards is this Sunday— with dozens of films having campaigned across 23 categories this awards season— and many spectators are unsure on which folks will come home with Oscars. With all that drama comes our 23rd annual FilmWeek Oscars Preview, which was held this year at the historic Alex Theatre in Glendale, CA. Eight of our FilmWeek critics joined host Larry Mantle on stage and broke down their picks in all the major categories; categories mentioned include Best Picture...
Feb 28, 2025•50 min
With Hollywood getting ready for the biggest awards show in movies, this episode of the new LAist Studios podcast NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING is all about the Oscars! Hear Oscar nominees Peter Straughan and Kris Bowers, and actress Caitlin Reilly duke it out for the ultimate award — winning a game show where the points are made up by our host, Franklin Leonard. Guests: Screenwriter Peter Straughan (“Conclave”), composer Kris Bowers (“The Wild Robot”), and actress and comedian Caitlin Reilly (“Hacks,” ...
Feb 27, 2025•1 hr 3 min
The Best International Feature category at the Academy Awards has grown in prominence over the years, coinciding with the inclusion of more international voters . It’s now meant more films typically confined to the Best International Feature category are now making their way to the conversation for Best Picture. This year, I’m Still Here and Emilia Perez serve as examples of films being nominated in both categories. In the recent past, we’ve seen the likes of Drive My Car and Parasite gain recog...
Feb 21, 2025•22 min
FilmWeek: 'The Monkey,' 'Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy,' 'Millers in Marriage,' 'Cleaner' and More Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Manuel Betancourt and Lael Loewenstein review this weekend’s latest movie releases in theaters and on streaming platforms. The Monkey Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy Millers in Marriage Ex-Husbands Cleaner The Unbreakable Boy Old Guy...
Feb 21, 2025•28 min
FilmWeek: 'Captain America: Brave New World,' 'Paddington in Peru,' Becoming Led Zeppelin,' 'Sky Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius),' and More Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Christy Lemire and Tim Cogshell review this weekend’s latest movie releases in theaters and on streaming platforms. Captain America: Brave New World Paddington in Peru Becoming Led Zeppelin Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius) Universal Language The Gorge Mom I Love You Forever Kid Snow Rez Comedy...
Feb 14, 2025•31 min
Feature: ‘Nickel Boys’ writer-director RaMell Ross discusses creative ways of adapting Colson Whitehead’s novel Since the book was released in 2019, Colson Whitehead's historical fiction novel The Nickel Boys has reached great critical acclaim, having most notably won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. So to adapt the book into a feature-length film seems like it’d offer a lot of pressure, but it’s one the RaMell Ross seemed willing to take on following his Oscar-nominated documentary Hale Cou...
Feb 14, 2025•19 min
Feature: 'Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat' director discusses Jazz greats and their relationship to post-colonial Africa The Oscar-nominated documentary Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat has received critical success through it’s focus on an international incident, a relationship between developing countries in a post-colonial era, and how artists can unknowingly play a role in this. The documentary, directed by Johan Grimonprez, uses jazz music from the likes of Louis Armstrong and Max Roach as an entryw...
Feb 07, 2025•19 min
FilmWeek: 'Love Hurts,' 'Jazzy,' 'Parthenope,' 'Bring Them Down,' and More Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Manuel Betancourt and Tim Cogshell review this weekend’s latest movie releases in theaters and on streaming platforms. Love Hurts No Other Land Parthenope Suze Jazzy Armand Dark Nuns Bring Them Down Hazard...
Feb 07, 2025•31 min
FilmWeek: 'Companion,' 'Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story,' 'Dog Man,' and More Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Charles Solomon , Lael Loewenstein , and Tim Cogshell review this weekend’s latest movie releases in theaters and on streaming platforms. Companion Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story Dog Man You're Cordially Invited Love Me Valiant One Lucca's World Oscar Animated Shorts *Only one film (Wander to Wonder) is available online; all the animated shorts will be bund...
Jan 30, 2025•33 min
New Book ‘Falling in Love at the Movies” highlights the history of the romantic comedy In her new book Falling in Love at the Movies , entertainment journalist Esther Zuckerman takes readers through the history of romantic comedies. A beloved genre, having built a reliable audience at the box office and some films even winning Academy Awards, the romcom has held a cultural impact that’s left many longing for romances depicted in Roman Holiday and When Harry Met Sally . So for this week’s FilmWee...
Jan 30, 2025•17 min
Feature: New book ‘Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg: The Whole Equation’ tells the story of two MGM visionaries Moviegoers nowadays might not know much of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios’ history outside of its iconic mascot, a lion who introduced each film with it’s iconic roar. It was an introduction that was meant to prepare viewers for not just a film, but a spectacle. A new book by retired film critic Kenneth Turan shares the studio’s rich history of spectacle through the work of co-founder L...
Jan 24, 2025•19 min
FilmWeek: 'Presence,' 'Flight Risk,' 'Eternal You,' and More Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Christy Lemire and Peter Rainer review this weekend’s latest movie releases in theaters and on streaming. Presence Flight Risk Inheritance Eternal You Brave the Dark Grafted Rose Global Harmony...
Jan 24, 2025•31 min
Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Manuel Betancourt and Amy Nicholson review this weekend’s latest movie releases in theaters and on streaming. FilmWeek: 'One of Them Days,' Wolf Man,' 'I'm Still Here,' 'Hard Truths,' and More Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Manuel Betancourt and Amy Nicholson review this weekend’s latest movie releases in theaters and on streaming. One of Them Days Wolf Man I’m Still Here Grand Theft Hamlet Hard Truths Eno DIG! XX Don't Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Fore...
Jan 17, 2025•31 min
David Lynch, the filmmaker celebrated for his uniquely dark vision in such movies as “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive” and the TV series “Twin Peaks,” has died just days before his 79th birthday. His family announced the death in a Facebook post on Thursday. The cause of death and location was not immediately available, but Lynch had been public about his emphysema. Lynch was a onetime painter who broke through in the 1970s with the surreal “Eraserhead” and rarely failed to startle and inspir...
Jan 17, 2025•19 min
Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Tim Cogshell , Manuel Betancourt , and Peter Rainer review this weekend’s latest movie releases in theaters and on streaming. A Complete Unknown Babygirl Nosferatu Better Man The Fire Inside 2073 Vermiglio From Ground Zero Harbin...
Dec 25, 2024•50 min
Feature: Wallace & Gromit return to the big screen with ‘Vengeance Most Fowl,’ we talk to the directors It’s been 19 years since the intuitive, Wensleydale-loving Wallace and Gromit graced the big screen, with their last feature being The Curse of the Wererabbit; now the duo returns with Vengeance Most Fowl , which also marks the return of an old foe, the silent penguin Feathers McGraw. Having begun as a graduation project at the National Film and Television School, and now being a three-tim...
Dec 20, 2024•19 min
FilmWeek: 'The Brutalist,' 'Sonic the Hedgehog 3,' 'Mufasa: The Lion King,' 'The Count of Monte Cristo,' and More Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Christy Lemire and Wade Major review this weekend’s latest movie releases in theaters and on streaming. The Brutalist Mufasa: The Lion King Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Homestead The Room Next Door The Count of Monte Cristo Counted Out The Wages of Fear (1953)...
Dec 20, 2024•30 min
Feature: 1972 Munich Hostage Crisis broadcast gets revisited in ‘September 5,’ we discuss the film with its director. Movies centered on journalists have been somewhat of a trend over the years, with Spotlight and The Post serving as recent examples, and some older classics like All The President’s Men and The Insider . Writer-director Tim Fehlbaum ’s latest project, September 5, looks to add to the tradition with a timely story of broadcast journalists attempting to cover an international incid...
Dec 13, 2024•19 min
FilmWeek: 'Kraven the Hunter,' 'Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,' 'Nickel Boys,' and More Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Manuel Betancourt , Peter Rainer , and Charles Solomon review this weekend’s new movie releases on streaming and on-demand platforms. Kraven the Hunter Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl September 5 Nickel Boys The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Oh, Canada The Last Showgirl The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Carry-On Endless Summer Synd...
Dec 13, 2024•31 min
Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Wade Major and Christy Lemire review this weekend’s new movie releases on streaming and on-demand platforms. Nightbitch Y2K The Order Day of the Fight The End Unstoppable The Girl with the Needle Mary Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary The Return Lake George...
Dec 06, 2024•32 min
From 'Jonny Quest' to 'The West Wing' and beyond: Actor Tim Matheson on his decades spent in Hollywood Actor Tim Matheson has been working in showbiz since he was a young kid. He took up roles in some shows from the 1960s, like Leave it to Beaver and Window on Main Street. In 1964, he became the leading voice for the animated adventure series Jonny Quest. He'd go on to play Eric "Otter" Stratton in one of his best-known roles in the 1978 comedy film Animal House, and he was Emmy-nominated for hi...
Nov 27, 2024•18 min
FilmWeek: 'Moana 2,' 'Queer,' 'Maria,' 'That Christmas,' and More Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Tim Cogshell , Peter Rainer and Charles Solomon review this weekend’s new movie releases on streaming and on-demand platforms. Moana 2 Queer Maria The Seed of the Sacred Fig Ernest Cole: Lost and Found Porcelain War That Christmas Queens (Reinas)...
Nov 27, 2024•32 min
As we enter a major weekend for Hollywood, how successful are Wicked and Gladiator II projected to be? Although Thanksgiving cooking is a major event on its own, the next two weekends serve as a time when major studios try to cash in on the audience’s free time. The two major releases this weekend, John M. Chu’s Wicked and Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II , have bot h heavily campaigned for eyeballs, leaving questions about whether both can find box office success during the first week of their respe...
Nov 22, 2024•9 min
Feature: Critics discuss what’s behind the idea of movies being longer, and how to best prep for them At a time when rolls of film dominated the land, making a blockbuster was going to be expensive when you had to consider a physical film that had to be distributed across the globe. It’s an issue that made films longer than 120 minutes feel like an occasion. However, in the world of digital cameras, the unique quirks that came with the film were no longer an issue, making it easier to extend the...
Nov 22, 2024•10 min
FilmWeek: 'Gladiator II,' 'Wicked,' 'Joy,' 'Spellbound,' and More Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Charles Solomon , Amy Nicholson , and Claudia Puig reviewthe latest releases on FilmWeek. Gladiator II Wicked Flow Joy Spellbound Agent of Happiness The Merry Gentlemen The Glassworker...
Nov 22, 2024•31 min
FilmWeek: 'Red One,' 'Elton John: Never Too Late,' 'Daruma,' and More Larry Mantle and FilmWeek critics Lael Loewenstein , Manuel Betancourt , and Charles Solomon review the latest releases on FilmWeek. Red One All We Imagine as Light Elton John: Never Too Late Bird The World According to Alle Willis Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes Ghost Cat Anzu Daruma Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy Night Is Not Eternal Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom The Lost Children...
Nov 15, 2024•36 min
Feature: As Hollywood begins its “Christmas creep,” we talk our favorite holiday movies The holidays are here… or at least film distributors are under that impression. It’s been two weeks since Halloween has wrapped, and in that time we’ve seen some new Christmas-centric films make their ways to theaters and streamers. This week’s most-promoted theatrical release being the Christmas, action-comedy Red One ; the film includes stars like Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, and J.K. Simmons. Las...
Nov 15, 2024•13 min
Feature: New book ‘Opening Weekend’ provides insider perspective on film marketing Although the film industry can be quite lucrative, there are a lot of moving parts to how a film gets to be a “success” or “flop.” As it relates to building up hype for a movie, marketing teams play a huge role in growing excitement and finding ways to resonate with general audiences. A new book, Opening Weekend: An Insider's Look at Marketing Hollywood's Hits and Flops , by longtime film marketing executive Jim F...
Nov 08, 2024•20 min
