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Building on a legacy that profoundly shaped national culture, ‘City of God: The Fight Rages On’ had a significant challenge to face: not only honoring the original film’s narrative but also updating the story to reflect more contemporary issues. City of God ‘City of God’ (2002) is a critically acclaimed Brazilian crime drama set in the favelas (slums) of Rio de Janeiro directed by Fernando Meirelles and co-directed by Kátia Lund. The film is based on the 1997 novel of the same name by Paulo Lins, which was inspired by real events of the rise of organized crime in the neighborhood called “Cidade de Deus” (City of God). Based on the work of the original novel’s writer Paulo Lins, the spin-off takes place twenty years after the events of the feature film, in the early 2000s. Based on the memories of Buscapé “Rocket” (Alexandre Rodrigues), the production portrays the impact of conflicts between rival gangs,...

Peacock Announces “Based on a True Story” Season 2 Premiere, Releases First Look

The Bartletts are back on the case. Peacock has announced the Season 2 premiere date for its hit comedy-thriller series “Based on a True Story,” starring Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina. The series follows Ava (Cuoco) and Nathan (Messina), a married couple feeling the weight of life and work amidst endless bills, marriage squabbles, mounting work pressures, and a baby on the way. But their lives get a shake-up when, spurred by Ava’s passion for true crime, she realizes that plumber-turned-family friend Matt (Tom Bateman) is the serial killer behind a string of unsolved murders in L.A. and the pair blackmail him into co-creating a podcast about his “work.”

Watch the “Based on a True Story” Season 2 date announcement teaser below:

In Season 2, Ava and Nathan are three months into parenthood, and Ava is determined to resist her true-crime obsession,...

The HBO Original series City of God: The Fight Rages On has been renewed for a second season. The series is a sequel to the award-winning 2002 film.

City of God: The Fight Rages On had its global debut on HBO and Max on Sunday, August 25. Details of the second season will be announced at a later date.

The series’ plot follows the characters 20 years after the events of the renowned film, through the lens of Wilson (Rocket), who returns to the community when a young drug dealer’s release from prison puts City of God in dispute once again.

The residents end up trapped between drug dealers, militias, and government authorities. However, their desire to break this cycle drives the community to unite and confront their oppressors.

The cast includes Alexandre Rodrigues, Roberta Rodrigues, Thiago Martins, Sabrina Rosa, Kiko Marques, Edson Oliveira, Andréia Horta, Marcos Palmeira, Eli Ferreira, Luellem de Castro,...

“City of God: The Fight Rages On” has been renewed for Season 2.

The news comes just days after the series debuted on HBO Latino and Max on Aug. 25. The six episode first season will continue to drop new episodes weekly on Sundays at 8 p.m. Et/Pt. The second episode will air on Sept. 1.

Per the official description, the series “follows the characters 20 years after the events of the renowned film, through the lens of Wilson (Rocket), who returns to the community when a young drug dealer’s release from prison puts City of God in dispute once again. The residents end up trapped between drug dealers, militias and government authorities. However, their desire to break this cycle drives the community to unite and confront their oppressors.”

Alexandre Rodrigues reprised his role as Wilson from the original “City of God” film, which was itself based on the novel of the same name by Paulo Lins.

City of God: The Fight Rages On is premiering tonight on HBO!

The six-episode original series is set two decades after the events of the 2002 international award-winning film, and premieres at 8:00 p.m. Et on HBO Latino in the U.S. and will be available to stream globally on Max where the platform is available. New episodes will debut Sundays at the same time.

The series includes the return of memorable characters such as Rocket (Wilson), Berenice, Bradock, Cinthia, Barbantinho and Melonhead, as well as new faces, including Jerusa, Lígia and Genivaldo Curió.

Keep reading to find out more…

Stars include Alexandre Rodrigues, Roberta Rodrigues, Thiago Martins, Sabrina Rosa, Kiko Marques, Edson Oliveira, Andréia Horta, Marcos Palmeira, Eli Ferreira, Luellem de Castro, Jefferson Brasil, Otávio Linhares, Rafael Lozano, Leandro Daniel, Luiz Bertazzo and debuting talents from communities in Rio de Janeiro such as Cidade de Deus, Vidigal and Mangueira.

When Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund’s City of God came out in 2002, it was generally acclaimed — countless Top 10 lists, four Oscar nominations, etc. But it did not go without criticism. There were some who found the violent coming-of-age drama to be exploitative, fetishizing poverty and crime in the Brazilian favelas without digging deeper than misery.

In very meta terms, it’s a duality that haunts the lead of HBO Latino and Max’s new spinoff series, City of God: The Fight Rages On. Wilson (Alexandre Rodrigues) grew up in the sprawling lower-income suburbs of Rio de Janeiro and, after watching many of his friends and rivals die in the film’s escalating violence, found his escape through his camera. Though he’s become one of the country’s most famous photojournalists, even he’s exhausted by how much of his success has come from capturing images of death.

Wilson...

Beat the summer heat with the latest additions at Max! This August, truth is stranger than fiction, and HBO will premiere multiple documentary series and films, including the four-part Original “Chimp Crazy,” a new installment of the Emmy-winning “Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Chicago Bears,” and the streaming premiere of the recent Cannes and Tribeca entrant “Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes.”

The rest of the month at Max includes the Season 3 premiere of the HBO/BBC One finance industry drama “Industry,” returning after a two-year hiatus, and the surprise “City of God” follow-up series “City of God: The Fight Rages On.” All of the new titles, from new series premieres to classic films joining the library, as well as any new games and matches available this month on Bleacher Report, will be available on either an ad-supported Max plan beginning at $9.99 per month or an ad-free plan beginning at $16.99 per month.

This August, Paramount+ is bringing you a lot of entertainment with the highly anticipated streaming release of the biographical film Bob Marley: One Love and a very weird but humorous and heartfelt film Sasquatch Sunset, which follows the daily lives of a Sasquatch family. However, for the purposes of this article, we are only including the films that are coming to Paramount+ this month and have a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score. So, check out the 10 best films that are coming to Paramount+ in August 2024 with a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

Airplane! (August 1)

Airplane! is a disaster absurdist comedy film written and directed by Jim Abrahams, David, and Jerry Zucker. Based on the 1957 drama film Zero Hour! by Arthur Hailey, Hall Bartlett, and John Champion, the 1980 film follows Ted Striker, a former pilot with a fear of flying as he finds himself in the impossible situation of landing a...

City Of God: The Fight Rages On is a television sequel to the acclaimed 2002 film, City Of God. Here’s the trailer.

City Of God is a modern classic, insofar as 2002 can be considered modern. Written by Bráulio Mantovani and directed by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, the film received praise for its stark depiction of the lives of its characters and for filming in real favelas in Rio de Janeiro. It went on to be nominated for four Oscars and is often cited as one of the best films of the 21st century.

A spin-off television drama, City Of Men, ran for four series in 2002 to 2005, which was adapted into a film in 2007.

Back in the present, City Of God: The Fight Rages On is described as a direct sequel to the film, with Alexandre Rodrigues – who played budding photographer Rocket in the original 2002 film – reprising his role.

The...

“City of God: The Fight Rages On” is a 6-episode sequel to a 2002 ‘crime drama’ series, directed by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, starring Alexandre Rodrigues, Roberta Rodrigues, Thiago Martins, Sabrina Rosa, Kiko Marques, Edson Oliveira, Andréia Horta, Marcos Palmeira, Eli Ferreira, Luellem de Castro, Jefferson Brasil, Otávio Linhares, Rafael Lozano, Leandro Daniel, and Luiz Bertazzo, streaming August 25, 2024 on Max:

“…two decades have passed as a photojournalist finds himself dropped into an ongoing drug war. The battle for control over the ‘City of God’ rages on, as ‘Rocket’ finds himself caught up in a daily fight that only seems to escalate.

“Then a young drug dealer from prison puts ‘Cidade de Deus’ right back into conflict. As residents become ensnared between drug traffickers, militias and public authorities, the need to escape this cycle makes the community unite to face the oppression…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

"Someone needs to tell this story." HBO has revealed the first official trailer for a streaming series called City of God: The Fight Rages On, a long-awaited legacy sequel to the iconic masterpiece Brazilian film City of God (from 2002). There was already a sort-of-sequel made in 2007 called City of Men, but it had mixed reviews and didn't make much of an impact. This new series follows the very same kid, Rocket (aka Buscapé), and stars Alexandre Rodrigues bringing him back 22 years after starring in the original. The series will follow in the footsteps of the film by Fernando Meirelles and will also be based on Paulo Lins’ book "City of God”. It's set two decades after that of the original, following the current lives of the characters seen in the 2002 film – showing what happened to them. With excerpts used in flashbacks to reconstruct memories and affective recollections. The cast includes: Roberta Rodrigues,...

Max has just announced that the HBO Original series City of God: The Fight Rages On will premiere on Sunday, August 25, on HBO Latino in the U.S. and will be available to stream globally on Max, where the platform is available.

Produced by O2 Filmes, the series takes place two decades after the events of the internationally award-winning film. The six episodes will be released weekly every Sunday until September 29th.

City of God: The Fight Rages On

City of God: The Fight Rages On is an adapted continuation of Paulo Lins’s literary work and tells the story of its characters, taking the work of the photographer Buscapé as a starting point. The plot unfolds in the early 2000s when the release of a young drug dealer from prison puts Cidade de Deus back into dispute.

Residents find themselves trapped between drug traffickers, militias, and public authorities, but...

"City of God" is so much more than just Brazil's answer to "GoodFellas,". One of the most acclaimed Brazilian films of all time, Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund's 2001 masterpiece is a portrait of Rio de Janeiro and its reality, the ugly and the beautiful sides of it. Set in the favelas of Rio in the '70s, the film centers on two men, each following a different path they say is forced on them by their Dickensian circumstances. One becomes a photographer documenting the drug-related violence that is rapidly increasing in the neighborhood, while the other becomes an ambitious drug dealer climbing the ladder.

In addition to gathering universal acclaim for its acting, cinematography, writing and portrayal of the favelas, "City of God" also got four nominations at the Academy Awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director. Now, over 20 years after the release of the original, Max has announced a sequel series.

The Festival Agency are proud to announce the re-release of Fernando Meirelles’ iconic masterpiece City of God in UK cinemas now. To celebrate we are giving away a bundle of City of God goodies including a limited edition City of God skateboard, t-shirt and poster to a lucky winner!

Twenty-one years after dazzling audiences on its original release, this visually stunning and gripping story of life on the mean streets of Rio, returns to the big screen for an unforgettable cinematic experience.

A searing adaptation of Paulo Lins’ novel, based on real events, City Of God weaves together the compelling stories of a group of kids growing up in the poverty-stricken favelas of Rio from the 1960s to the 80s. The narrator Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues), tries to avoid being drawn in to the usual spiral of violence and crime to become a photographer and win over the beautiful Angélica (Alicia...

Fernando Meirelles’ epic crime drama ‘City of God’ is returning to cinemas to mark the movie’s 21st anniversary.Over two decades on from its original release, this visually stunning and gripping reflection of life on the mean streets of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is back on the big screen – courtesy of Paris-based distributor The Festival Agency partnering with sales company Wild Bunch - for a new generation to experience.The film is an adaptation of Paulo Lins’ 1997 novel of the same name – which is based on real events – that weaves together the compelling stories of a group of kids growing up in the poverty-stricken favelas of Rio from the 1960s to the 1980s. Narrator Rocket – played by Alexandre Rodrigues - tries to avoid being drawn into the spiral of violence and crime to become a photographer and win over the beautiful Angélica (Alicia Braga), whilst gun-toting L’il Zé...

Our countdown of the 100 best films of the 21st century continues. This is Part 2 #75 through 51.

Click here for Part 1 (#100-76)!

The first decade and a half of the 21st century has brought a lot of changes to the landscape of film. The advancement and sophistication of computers has made realistic computer generated effects a mainstay in both big-budget and small-budget films. The internet and streaming technologies have given big Hollywood new competition in films produced independently and by non-traditional means. We went from purchasing films on yards of tape to plastic disks, and now we can simply upload them to the cloud. Advertisements for films have reached a higher, more ruthless level where generating hype through trailers and teasers is crucial for a film’s commercial success. Movie attendance has fluctuated along with the economy, but that hasn’t stopped films from breaking box office records, including having films gross...

Article by Dan Clark

With the recent release of Lawless it had me thinking about one of my favorite movie genres. I’m not sure what it is but the crime genre has produced some of the greatest films of all time. That made creating this list even more difficult. One thing I did do to ease my pain a little was I didn’t include Westerns. I figured I would save those for their own list. After much frustration I was finally able to break it down to the Top 30 Crime Films of All Time. I’m sure some of the list will surprise you while others choices will be far more obvious.

Here’s the Top 10, and for the rest check out the full Top 30 rundown on Gcrn.

10) No Country for Old Men

Directed By: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

Written By: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, and Cormac McCarthy

Starring: Tommy Lee Jones,...

The Film

City Of God is all too often cited as the Brazilian Goodfellas.

While it’s a fine comparison to have made towards the film – there’s far more to it than simply following in the footsteps of Scorsese’s classic. Yes, it has an epic narrative which spans multiple decades and charts the lives of a group of criminals – but Fernando Meirelles’ 2002 masterpiece has its own distinctions which make it culturally and thematically unique. Scorsese wouldn’t begin a movie with Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro chasing a fleeing chicken through the streets of New York.

It’s also significant that City Of God’s characters aren’t drawn to the glitz and glamour of criminality – instead drawn to the path as a way to break free from their oppressive and poverty stricken slum backgrounds. There’s true horror in the films portrayal of gang culture, with...

Craig here (from Dark Eye Socket) with Take Three. Today: Alice Braga

Take One: Blindness (2008)

As per the José Saramago novel that Blindness is based on, no characters have names in the film, thus Braga is known only as ‘Woman with Dark Glasses’. (Julianne Moore is ‘Doctor’s Wife’; Danny Glover is ‘Man with Black Eye Patch’ etc.) She’s one of a gathering of randomly afflicted people who succumb to a mysterious blindness epidemic. All the cast, however big or small the role, collaboratively convey the exact amount of conviction in their roles. They remain true to their characters’ physical, psychological and emotional positions each step of the way. There’s a defiant ‘all in it together’ aspect, in which each actor instinctively plays off one another in rewarding ways, not least when it comes to Braga.

Two prominent scenes stand out. Both speak volumes about who WwDG is...

Fernando Meirelles, 2002

This ground-level report on gang life in the slums of Rio de Janeiro exploded with thrilling and terrible force. An electrifying piece of cinema packed full of visual invention and dazzling set-pieces, it owes a debt to Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas and audaciously pays it off. Though it unfolds at an exhilarating pace and crackles with danger, the film never allows itself to become seduced by the abundant violence of favela life. Instead, it keeps its lens trained on the attendant horrors, which mount up as the narrative jumps forward in time. What is most horrifying of all is how those caught up in the violence – victims and perpetrators alike – keep getting younger and younger.

The film begins in the relative innocence of the late 60s, soon after the City of God (a real-life Rio slum, ironically named) was constructed. Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues) is an 11-year-old at the margins of gang life.

(Director Fernando Mereilles, above. In City Of God, below, Rocket, played by Alexandre Rodrigues, is on the run.)

(This article originally appeared in Venice Magazine and Latin Style Magazine. City Of God was one of my favorite films of the decade, and I regret that I'm just getting this article online now! I recall Mereilles mentioning that he had a dozen offers from the studios, as in "go" projects, at the time. It was a new experience for him, and City Of God was just getting noticed in the States. He would round out the decade with the films The Constant Gardener and Blindness.)

By Terry Keefe

Adapted from the best-selling novel Cidade de Deus by Brazilian author Paulo Lins, Fernando Mereilles' City of God is the story of three decades -- the 60s, 70s, and 80s -- inside the eponymous, impoverished Brazilian housing project (also known as a favela...

When Dustin "Cinnamon" Rowles assigned me to produce a canon of the top ten foreign language films of the aughts, I felt incredibly intimidated. When Dustin assured me that I was the critic for the job, as I had probably seen the most foreign films out of the entire staff, my anxiety only deepened. I admit that I watch a lot of foreign language flicks, thanks to Netflix, the American Cinematheque's wonderful programming, and owning a region-free DVD player. However, when I spoke to my cinema and media studies classmates and colleagues, I quickly began to realize that I had still missed a torrent of films that could have made this list (Caché, Downfall, 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, Maria Full of Grace, and Werckmeister Harmonies to name a few). Moreover, to consolidate all the films I had seen over the past decade from all the non-English speaking countries around the world was,...