Writer-director brothers Josh and Benny Safdie talk about their latest film, “Uncut Gems,” and why it took them 10 years to finally get it off the ground. Plus, host Mark Olsen talks with Times reporter Amy Kaufman about the latest on Harvey Weinstein.
Mark Olsen talks with director Melina Matsoukas about her transition from directing music videos to her directorial debut in feature film for “Queen & Slim.” Matsoukas is also known for directing Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” as well as “Formation,” which won her a Grammy Award for Best Music Video. Plus, Olsen sits down with Los Angeles Times entertainment reporters to talk everything about the Golden Globes nominations.
Host Mark Olsen talks with Taron Egerton, who plays Elton John in the film “Rocketman.” They discuss how Egerton prepared to portray the music-icon in the film. Egerton also talks about the close friendship he’s formed with the “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” singer. Plus, Olsen talks with television critic Lorraine Ali about all that’s happening with Gabrielle Union and “America’s Got Talent.”
*** SPOILER ALERT in second half of the show *** Heading into the Thanksgiving holiday, here's a replay episode from one of our most popular shows. With a title that suggests the opening of a child’s storybook, Quentin Tarantino revisits the Hollywood of 1969 and that summer night 50 years ago when members of the Manson family set out for Benedict Canyon with murder in their hearts. The grisly slayings on Cielo Drive — including that of a very pregnant Sharon Tate — cast a long shadow over the r...
Host Mark Olsen talks with “Knives Out” director Rian Johnson about his latest Agatha Christie-style whodunit movie. Johnson describes his film as a mystery with a Hitchcockian thrill set in 2019 America. Plus, Olsen talks with corporate media reporter, Meg James, about the so-called Paramount decrees that are being tossed out by the U.S. Justice Department.
Host Mark Olsen sits down with “Ford v Ferrari” Director James Mangold to talk about his latest action film starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale. Mangold also responds to the latest comments from Martin Scorsese about Marvel movies. Plus, you’ll hear from entertainment columnist Glenn Whipp, who talks about his experience following around comedian Louis C.K. on his latest world tour.
Host Mark Olsen speaks with director Lauren Greenfield about her latest documentary, “The Kingmaker,” which explores the extravagant lifestyle and rise to power of former First Lady Imelda Marcos in the Philippines. They discuss the origin of the story and what it was like for Greenfield to meet and cover Imelda Marcos. You’ll also hear from Glenn Whipp about the latest awards season buzz. Plus, Olsen talks with Jen Yamato about the Martin Scorsese controversy over Marvel movies.
Host Mark Olsen sits down with “Harriet” director and co-writer Kasi Lemmons to talk about creating a biopic based on the life of abolitionist leader Harriet Tubman. The movie is based on the true-events of Tubman’s life as freedom fighter. Lemmons tells Olsen that she’s not surprised it had taken so long to make a big-screen biopic of Tubman. She also elaborates on using research to accurately tell Tubman’s story. She says she read multiple books and all the research she could find on the subje...
An empty nest and a midlife sexual awakening do not seem like things that normally go hand in hand. But that is the launching point for “Mrs. Fletcher,” the Tom Perrotta novel that’s now been adapted into a new limited HBO series, starring “Transparent’s” Kathryn Hahn. Perrotta, who is also the showrunner and executive producer for the series, tells host Mark Olsen that the seed for the story came to him seven years ago, when he dropped his daughter off at college. “Mrs. Fletcher” also follows t...
Taika Waititi is not interested in making movies that please everyone — he says that would be too safe and boring. The writer and director of “Jojo Rabbit” — who also plays a cartoonish Adolph Hitler in a comic coming-of-age story about a Nazi youth who discovers a Jewish girl hiding in his attic — tells host Mark Olsen that he prefers making films that could end his career. Balancing satire and the Holocaust was always going to be tricky, and “Jojo Rabbit” has already divided critics. But only ...
“Parasite” is poised to be South Korea’s first-ever nomination for Best International feature, but it also looks to be competitive for best director, original screenplay and even best picture. Rave reviews have poured in for the darkly comedic drama about social inequality, with some critics calling it director’s Bong Joon Ho’s masterpiece. The much-anticipated movie is now out in limited release, and host Mark Olsen (@IndieFocus) talks with film critic Justin Chang (@JustinCChang) and film repo...
Even before “Joker” opened in theaters, the film sparked debate over its violent content, and a narrative that seemed to track with that of the alienated, white male shooter who’s become our real-life recurring horror story. An exploration of a familiar comic book character who has scared us for nearly 80 years, this iteration of his creation story is dividing critics over the sympathy it seeks to elicit for the Joker, played by Joaquin Phoenix. Members of the Times film staff discuss “Joker” an...
Heading into this year’s Emmy Awards, there may have been tension between coronating beloved, long-running series and recognizing impressive, convention-bending newcomers, but in the end voters largely seemed to favor a recent crop of fresh, forward-thinking shows, including “Fleabag.” That choice may have been because of what fans and critics were saying on social media about the programs they watch, says the Times TV editor Matt Brennan But it could also reflect that in the age of Peak TV with...
Two films designed for grown-ups hit theaters this weekend. “Ad Astra,” a space thriller starring Brad Pitt, takes a moody, meditative approach to science fiction. Director James Gray invests in character development and emotion, and the film is that rare fusion of blockbuster spectacle and thoughtful sensibility, says the Times’ Justin Chang ( @JustinCChang ). Chang also tells host Mark Olsen ( @IndieFocus ) that the plot of “Ad Astra” is “kind of preposterous,” but that’s why he likes it. Pitt...
In this special bonus episode, a team of Times reporters at the Toronto International Film Festival give the low-down on this year’s crop of films at the festival — both the hits and the misses. Among the films premiering at this year's festival are “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood," starring Tom Hanks as Mister Rogers and Matthew Rhys as a cynical journalist who interviews him; "Knives Out," a whodunit with an all-star cast, including Jamie Lee Curtis, Daniel Craig, Chris Evans and LaKeith ...
Only eight months passed between the green light for “Hustlers” and its release date, but writer-director Lorene Scafaria fought for years to get the project off the ground. Scafaria said films about women doing “bad things” are always hard to get made, but she found that the stigma associated with sex workers was also being attached to her telling of the real-life story of strippers who turned the tables on their Wall Street clients. Speaking from the Toronto International Film Festival — where...
Awards season is around the corner and highly anticipated movies are on full blast at film festivals across the world. Mark Olsen (@IndieFocus) talks with Amy Kaufman (@AmyKinLA), Glenn Whipp (@GlennWhipp) and Jen Yamato (@jenyamato) about what to expect from the onslaught of movies premiering across festivals as we head into awards season. The Venice and Telluride Film Festivals kicked off this fall season, screening major titles like James Gray's “Ad Astra,” Todd Phillips' “Joker,” Steven Sode...
Set during World War II and the internment of Japanese Americans, AMC’s “The Terror” weds that real-life horror story with a tale of the supernatural. But showrunner Alex Woo says the second season of the anthology series, titled “Infamy,” is not just a period piece. Instead, it uses the horror genre to bring a story from the past into the present to represent the fear and terror of American citizens betrayed by their own government. “Infamy” was intentionally cast with actors of Japanese descen...
While Netflix’s “Mindhunter” is based in a time when serial killers were shocking and terrifying Americans, the second season of David Fincher’s true-crime drama feels especially topical and relevant for our time. With a primary focus on the Atlanta child murders — a series of killings, mostly of black children in and around the city between 1979 and 1981 — the show examines disturbingly contemporary topics like distrust of police, embedded racism and white supremacist violence. It also addresse...
From the very first line of dialogue, Craig Mazin makes clear that “Chernobyl” is far more than a dramatization of the 1986 nuclear meltdown in the USSR. Mazin, the creator and writer of the HBO miniseries, tells a story of the “cost of lies” and the real-life dangers that result from a culture disconnected from the truth. The Soviet system was built on propaganda and misinformation, and the heroes of the nuclear disaster are the people who sought the truth and stuck to the facts — even at great...
HBO’s “Succession” wears its contempt for the billionaire class on its sleeve. Back for its second season, heroes are in short supply while an ensemble of entertainingly loathsome and amoral characters backstab and sabotage each other as they battle for power and control within a global media empire. The scheming family serve as stand-ins for the Murdochs or the Redstones. But the siblings’ angling for affection and love of their father has distinct echoes of President Trump’s adult offspring. “...
"The Fast and the Furious" franchise had a humble beginning with muscle cars and sweat, and two guys in Los Angeles who found common ground. But the series long ago added an espionage element that took it to another level of wild storytelling and even wilder action. Now in its first spin-off, “Hobbs and Shaw,” the multi-billion dollar franchise has also added science fiction and a heavy dose of comedy, mainly the lead characters — Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw, played by Dwayne Johnson and Jason S...
*** SPOILER ALERT*** Spoilers start at 15:08. With a title that suggests the opening of a child’s storybook, Quentin Tarantino revisits the Hollywood of 1969 and that summer night 50 years ago when members of the Manson family set out for Benedict Canyon with murder in their hearts. The grisly slayings on Cielo Drive — including that of a very pregnant Sharon Tate — cast a long shadow over the romance of the ‘60s counterculture. Tarantino has said that Charles Manson’s ability to manipulate and ...
‘The Farewell,’ a film about a Chinese American woman with an all-Asian cast and dialogue that is largely in Mandarin, has surpassed ‘Avengers: Endgame’ with the largest per-theater box office average this year. Starring Awkwafina — the scene-stealer from ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ — the heartfelt dramedy provides the latest evidence of the power of a key underserved audience. But ‘The Farewell’ also tells a universal story of family, love, and grief that anyone can relate to. When filmmaker Lulu Wang ...
In a world of instant clicks and information on demand, director Nicolas Winding Refn took his time to tell the tale of 'Too Old to Die Young,' his new series on Amazon Prime. The Danish filmmaker — best known for the film 'Drive,' starring Ryan Gosling — has fully embraced the streaming revolution to experiment with pacing, narrative and character development. The 10-episode neon-lit noir features extended pauses between lines of dialogue. Miles Teller, who plays a crooked cop and vigilante ass...
Michael Mann’s 1995 'Heat' has become the definitive LA crime film, but probably no one has done more lately to celebrate the epic tale of cops and robbers than a movie critic in Sydney, Australia. Since the summer of 2017, Blake Howard (@BlakeisBatman) has been subjecting the film — starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro — to a minute-by-minute analysis on his podcast, One Heat Minute . He and his guests have unpacked the nearly three-hour cat-and-mouse caper with admiration and reverence, and a...
Once upon a time in America, reality TV used to be about the rich and the famous. But THE HILLS changed the rules of the game in 2006 — merely being rich or appearing to be — was good enough to get you famous. The MTV docu-soap spawned a thousand copycats — including the Housewives and the Kardashian franchises — and turned the US into a country obsessed with reality TV, the genre that launched a presidency. Eager to get back in the limelight, some of the stars of THE HILLS are back on MTV with ...
HBO is pushing the envelope with its new teen-centered drama, EUPHORIA. Sex influenced by pornography, wanton drug use, aimless youth: It’s a horror movie for parents. But is it a fair representation of the 9/11 generation — the first set of kids to come of age with smartphones perpetually in tow? Host Mark Olsen (@IndieFocus) talks with Times TV reporter @villarrealy. On a lighter note, Olsen also talks with @cashleelee and @thefilmgoer about the return of YOUNGER, the hit romantic dramedy back...
"The Last Black Ma In San Francisco" is a film about a friendship, a family, a house, a city, and its community. San Francisco serves as a stand-in for cities across the country undergoing gentrification. The film — which won two prizes at the Sundance Film Festival — captures the deep sense of loss that overcomes families who are pushed from their homes and stripped of their communal experience. It’s another installment in the recent wave of films out of the Bay Area, made by people of color — ...
The revolution is being televised after all. On streaming platforms, a rebellion against powerful political, social and cultural forces is growing stronger than ever. THE HANDMAID'S TALE is eerily channeling American women’s fears over the future of reproductive rights. The four-part series WHEN THEY SEE US, is powerfully capturing the racial bias and inequities in the criminal justice system. Netflx, Hulu and other platforms are also challenging the old rules of the casting game and increasing ...
