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Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Across the River and Into the Trees (Paula Ortiz)

Hemingway’s work across novels and short stories has been adapted for film countless times over, yet Across the River and Into the Trees has never properly been rendered onscreen. Until now. Written by Peter Flannery and directed by Paula Ortiz, here is a handsome film that is decidedly modest in its endeavor. The best thing going for it is Liev Schreiber as Colonel Richard Cantwell, the lead of the picture. Schreiber is one of those actors who has somehow always been underrated, despite being capable of playing nearly any kind of part. A kind boyfriend thrust into an impossible familial situation (The Daytrippers)? Check. Tough-but-fractured fixer living on the edge (Ray Donovan)? Check.

November 2024, Criterion Channel is set to deliver an exceptional lineup of films that will excite cinephiles and casual viewers alike. The month promises a rich exploration of genres, featuring a strong selection of Coen Brothers classics such as Blood Simple (1984) and The Big Lebowski (1998), along with their more recent works like A Serious Man (2009) and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013). Noir and crime enthusiasts will revel in an array of titles, including The Maltese Falcon (1941), Gilda (1946), and The Big Heat (1953), showcasing the genre’s iconic narratives and stylistic depth. International cinema also shines through with compelling French dramas like Fat Girl (2001) and Dheepan (2015), highlighting diverse storytelling from around the globe.

The lineup doesn’t shy away from classic drama, featuring timeless films like On the Waterfront (1954) and Seven Samurai (1954), which continue to resonate with contemporary audiences. Additionally, viewers can look forward to a variety of documentary and experimental films, including Wild Wheels...

For almost 40 years, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen – better known as the Coen Brothers – have created a number of quirky, singular titles spanning a variety of genres. They’ve also become industry and academy favorites, picking up four Oscar wins for writing, directing and producing. Celebrate this dynamic duo by taking a look back at all 18 of their films together, ranked worst to best.

The Coens made their feature debut with the Southwestern neo-noir “Blood Simple” (1984). Shot on a shoestring budget with a then largely unknown cast, the film established the brothers’ talent for visually striking, wholly original stories.

They followed their breakout hit with a series of increasingly ambitious, wildly different features: the wacky Southern farce “Raising Arizona” (1987), the moody gangster saga “Millers Crossing” (1990), the bizarre Hollywood satire “Barton Fink” (1991), and the nostalgic screwball comedy “The Hudsucker Proxy” (1994).

It wasn’t until “Fargo” (1996), a comedic thriller about a pregnant...

John Turturro, one of this year’s recipients of an honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award for career achievement took time between his sold-out masterclass and presenting an open-air screening of “Barton Fink” to visit the Variety Lounge, presented by the Sarajevo Film Festival and Bh Telecom.

Turturro, who said he was making his first visit to the Bosnian capital, described visiting various mosques, the Jewish Museum, Grand Synagogue and Jewish cemetery along with other historical sites.

Turturro, who acted in two of the fall film festival’s most hotly anticipated titles, discussed playing the ex-boyfriend of Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton in Pedro Almodóvar’s upcoming English-language feature, “The Room Next Door.” He will be going to Toronto to support that film and Sean Ellis’s “The Cut.”

Turturro mentioned the advantages of having a long-term relationship with a filmmaker, noting that, “It’s a big advantage because you develop...

John Turturro with his Heart of Sarajevo award Photo: Courtesy of Sarajevo Film Festival John Turturro received a Heart of Sarajevo award at the Sarajevo Film Festival last night for his career.

The actor, known for films including Barton Fink and Quiz Show, took part in a conversation event at the festival yesterday to talk about his work in front of and behind the camera.

He partially credits his love of film to his parents who were big film lovers. He also says that as they didn’t travel around much as a family films were “emotional transportation for me”.

He said his big inspiration was when he saw a clip of Dustin Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy when he was about aged 12.

He recalls: “I couldn’t see it because it was rated X at the time.”

He adds: “I was shocked because I was thinking, well, that guy looks like someone in our family.

Crispin Glover is a man in search of an exit — from a hotel — in the TIFF-bound “Mr. K.” The cult-favorite character actor — known for “Willard,” “River’s Edge,” “Dead Man,” and, who could forget, Cousin “I’m making my lunch!” Del in David Lynch’s “Wild at Heart” — stars in Tallulah H. Schwab’s surreal tale headed for the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival’s Platform section. IndieWire shares the exclusive trailer for the film ahead of the festival, which runs September 5-15 in the thick of the fall fest season.

Here’s part of the synopsis courtesy of TIFF: “The ordeal for Mr. K’s misfortunate protagonist — a traveling magician played by Crispin Glover in one of the richest performances in his long and continually surprising career — begins when he checks into a once-stately hotel. The following morning, Mr. K is understandably confused by his inability to find the exit. Then again,...

Acclaimed character actor John Turturro, known for his unforgettable roles in films like “Do the Right Thing,” “The Big Lebowski,” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” will receive the prestigious Heart of Sarajevo Award at this year’s Sarajevo Film Festival. Taking place August 16-23, the festival honors Turturro for his considerable contributions to cinema over a career spanning four decades in front of and behind the camera.

With a versatile repertoire of both leading and supporting roles under directors like Spike Lee, Martin Scorsese, and the Coen Brothers, Turturro has continuously showcased his dedication to his craft and ability to inhabit any character with conviction. His acclaimed turn as Jesus Quintana in “The Big Lebowski” became one of the most iconic performances of the 1990s comedy genre. Turturro took home the Best Actor prize at Cannes for his bold performance in the Coens’ “Barton Fink,” highlighting his talents for unpredictable and compelling roles.

John Turturro is to receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award at the 30th Sarajevo Film Festival in Bosnia, which runs from Aug. 16 to 23. The award is in recognition of his contribution to the film industry and his talent as an actor, director and screenwriter.

Jovan Marjanović, director of Sarajevo Film Festival, said: “With a career spanning over four decades, he has delivered unforgettable performances in a diverse range of roles. His dedication to his craft, versatility, and ability to bring depth and authenticity to every character he embodies have made him a joy to look at every time he enters the scene.”

Turturro studied at Suny New Paltz and the Yale School of Drama. He has worked with a number of acclaimed filmmakers, appearing in Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” and “Jungle Fever,” Martin Scorsese’s “The Color of Money,” Robert Redford’s “Quiz Show,” Francesco Rosi’s “La Tregua,...

John Turturro will receive the honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award at the 30th Sarajevo Film Festival (August 16-23).

US actor and filmmaker Turturro will give a masterclass about his career; and will attend a screening of Joel Coen and Ethan Coen’s 1991 film Barton Fink, for which Turturro won Best Actor at Cannes.

That was one of several collaborations between Turturro and the Coen brothers, alongside O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Miller’s Crossing and The Big Lebowski.

Turturro received the Cannes Camera d’Or for best debut feature in 1992 for Mac, which he also starred in. His other directorial work includes 2020 feature The Jesus Rolls,...

Forty years old this year, the neo-noir Blood Simple marked the debut of Joel and Ethan Coen, and remains a captivating example of low-budget filmmaking.

To date, Joel and Ethan Coen haven’t made a pure horror film (though they’ve talked about it). Blood Simple, their 1984 debut, undoubtedly comes close. A neo-noir shot on a low budget, it shows that the writer-director brothers had their style down right from the beginning of their careers. Its script is witty and terse; its photography is fluid and stylish; its characters and tone are somehow both mundane and off-beat. Like so many of their later film, Blood Simple also defies easy categorisation; it’s a neo-noir, it’s a black comedy, and in several visceral scenes, dips gleefully into horror.

Much like Fargo or The Big Lebowski or any other thriller-infused Coen brothers film you could name, there are no criminal masterminds in Blood Simple – just ordinary,...

Although John Goodman is best remembered for his role as working-class father Dan Conner on TV’s “Roseanne” and “The Conners,” he’s also enjoyed a very successful big screen career as well, working with such directors as the Coen brothers, Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis. Let’s look back at 20 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Surprisingly (and criminally), not one of these roles brought Goodman an Oscar nomination. He did compete at the Golden Globes as Best Supporting Actor for “Barton Fink” (1991), but the academy went for his co-star Michael Lerner instead. Goodman also contended at the Globes four times as Best TV Comedy Actor for “Roseanne”, winning in 1993.

At the Emmys, Goodman earned seven consecutive Best Comedy Actor bids for “Roseanne” (1989-1995) and won for his guest performance on “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” (2007). He’s also contended for his TV-movie work: once as...

One of our great character actors, John Turturro, is equally adept at at drama, comedy and tough-guy roles. A New York stage veteran, he made his way to Hollywood following a character actor’s path, but thanks to several influential mentors, his career soared as he appeared in film after film that would prove to become classics.

Although he continues to have a successful career in television — he is an Emmy winner from two nominations and has earned a Golden Globe nod and three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for his TV work — I suspect that it will be for his work in film for which he will be most remembered, from small indelible roles in “Do the Right Thing” and “The Big Lebowski” to great leading parts, such as in the Coens’ “Barton Fink” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

So let’s raise a glass to Turturro by...

The release of "Drive-Away Dolls" has been marked by most of the trades as the first solo directorial feature of Ethan Coen, following his brother Joel's 2021 outing with "The Tragedy of Macbeth." And sure, it's a catchy headline to acknowledge that one-half of one of cinema's greatest directorial partnerships is stepping out on his own, but that doesn't tell the full story. For one thing, Ethan Coen already made his solo directorial debut with the documentary "Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind." More importantly, "Drive-Away Dolls" may have Coen listed as the solo director, but if you ask him, this was yet another co-directed project, but this time with his wife and longtime Coen Bros. editor, Tricia Cooke.

Cooke first worked with the Coens as an editor on "Miller's Crossing" fresh out of film school, seeking out the job not because they were the esteemed directors of "Blood Simple" and Raising Arizona" fame,...

Director Ethan Coen – collaborating with wife Tricia Cooke instead of brother Joel – delivers a disposable but not entirely unentertaining lesbian-centered crime caper comedy in Drive-Away Dolls. With its raunchy sex and vivid violence, the film is more an affectionate tribute to hard R drive-in B movies that more resembles something from the mind of Russ Meyer than anything resembling smart, Oscar-y movies like the Coen Brothers’ No Country For Old Men, Big Lebowski, Barton Fink, Fargo, Blood Simple etc.

Drive-Away Dolls definitely retains the quirkiness of the Coen brand, but key inspirations this time were Meyers’ Motorpsycho, Bad Girls Go To Hell and even something really good like ’50s noir Kiss Me Deadly, with which it shares some plot details.

But “plot” doesn’t really matter much here. Coen and Cooke throw everything against the wall to see what sticks. If it makes narrative sense, it likely is an accident.

Joel and Ethan Coen, the Coen brothers, have directed eighteen feature films together over the decades, giving us such classics as Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Miller’s Crossing, Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy, Fargo, The Big Lebowski; O Brother, Where Art Thou?; No Country for Old Men, True Grit, and more. A while back, they decided to split off in their own directions, with Joel directing The Tragedy of Macbeth and Ethan making the documentary Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind as well as the upcoming crime comedy Drive-Away Dolls (which reaches theatres on February 23rd) and the recently announced Honey Don’t. Last summer, Ethan revealed that he was developing a new project with Joel… and now it looks like the Coen brothers might be reuniting to make a horror movie!

The website Montages reported that, while sitting down for a Q&a at the Tromsø International Film Festival in Norway,...

"Say Anything" marked America's transition into the 1990s by sealing off the heyday of feel-good high-school rom-coms and goth rock in the '80s. It was a major and much-needed send-off that is probably still an all-time favorite among many a Gen-x-er today.

The coming-of-age hit from 20th Century Fox featured breakout stars like John Cusack and Ione Skye. Even the supporting roles were played by soon-to-be major players like Pamela Adlon or the children of mega-famous stars like Jason Gould.

But not every actor featured in the 1989 romance movie survived into 2024. Unfortunately, John Mahoney, who played Diane's hypercritical (and hypocritical) father, James Court, passed away back in 2018. The late actor was the oldest major cast member by quite a few years and was in his late 70s when he passed. Before his death, Mahoney had an incredible career in film and television — his supporting role as Martin Crane in...

According to Ethan Coen, he and his sibling Joel are “working on writing something” for the first time in years, hinting at a Coen brothers reformation…

We like good news mornings, and this morning certainly qualifies as one of those.

Along with the news that Ryan Coogler and Michael B Jordan are renewing their creative partnership which runs back over a decade, we’re hearing that another established duo are reuniting to work together once again. According to comments made to Empire, Ethan Coen has confirmed that he and his brother Joel are “working on writing something” together again, which is hopefully a precursor to them reuniting once again as directors.

The duo have been writing and directing as a partnership ever since their 1984 debut, Blood Simple. However, the last project that each filmmaker worked on was a solo outing: in 2021, Joel made The Tragedy Of Macbeth while Ethan has co-directed Drive Away Dolls,...

Emmy-winning Roseanne star John Goodman will head up this year’s jury at the 2023 Monte-Carlo TV Festival, the festival announced Thursday.

The tireless and versatile film and TV actor, whose credits range from voicing Sully in Monsters, Inc. to supporting roles in several Coen Brothers’ films (Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, The Big Lebowski) to a phenomenally productive small-screen career that includes such series as Alpha House, Dancing on the Edge and Roseanne sequel The Conners, will head up this year’s fiction jury. Joining him are fellow jurors Camilla Rydbacken, senior vp, scripted content at Viaplay Sweden; Vikings actor Travis Fimmel; the Italian actress and presenter Francesca Chillemi; U.S. producer and Big Light Productions CEO Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files, The Man in the High Castle); and Marcus Ammon, managing director content for German production group Bavaria Fiction.

Acclaimed documentarian Tom Jennings (Apollo: Missions to the Moon) will head up...

Michael Lerner, the character actor known from films like “Godzilla,” “Elf,” and “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” and who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role in “Barton Fink,” has died, as per a report in Variety. He was 81 years old.

The news was broken by his nephew, actor Sam Lerner, a series regular on “The Goldbergs.” He wrote on his Instagram page that “it’s hard to put into words how brilliant my uncle Michael was, and how influential he was to me. His stories always inspired me and made me fall in love with acting. He was the coolest, most confident, talented guy, and the fact that he was my blood will always make me feel special.” He added, “Rip Michael, enjoy your unlimited Cuban cigars, comfy chairs, and endless movie marathon.”

A carousel of images included pictures of Lerner on set in various costumes over the years,...

Elf star Michael Lerner has died aged 81.

The Oscar-nominated actor, best known for his roles in films such as Godzilla and Barton Fink, died on Saturday (8 April) night.

The news was announced on Instagram by his nephew Sam Lerner, an actor in his own right who appears in The Goldbergs, on Sunday (9 April).

Sharing a series of old photos of Lerner, Sam wrote that the family had “lost a legend last night”.

“It’s hard to put into words how brilliant my uncle Michael was, and how influential he was to me,” Sam wrote. “His stories always inspired me and made me fall in love with acting. He was the coolest, most confident, talented guy, and the fact that he was my blood will always make me feel special.

“Everyone that knows him knows how insane he was – in the best way. I’m so lucky I got to spend so much time with him,...

Character actor Michael Lerner, known for his Oscar-nominated role in Joel and Ethan Coen's "Barton Fink," has died at the age of 81. Lerner passed away on Saturday, April 8, 2023. His nephew, "The Goldbergs" star Sam Lerner, confirmed the news in an Instagram post the following day (via Variety).

Michael Lerner was born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 22, 1941. In the 1960s, he appeared on sitcoms like "The Brady Bunch" and "The Doris Day Show" and studied at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre before landing his first film role in "Alex in Wonderland" in 1970. In the decade that followed, Lerner would continue juggling movies, TV shows, and TV movies, making a number of guest appearances on shows like "Ironside," "The Bob Newhart Show," "M*A*S*H," "The Odd Couple," "Starsky and Hutch," "The Rockford Files," "Kojak," and "Wonder Woman."

In the 1980s, Lerner costarred in "The Postman Always Rings Twice...

Michael Lerner — the actor who appeared in numerous stage, film and TV roles and whose portrayal of movie mogul Jack Lipnick in Barton Fink earned him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination — died on Saturday. He was 81.

Lerner’s nephew and The Goldbergs actor Sam Lerner confirmed his uncle’s death in a tribute he penned via Instagram on Sunday. A cause of death was not immediately available.

“We lost a legend last night. It’s hard to put into words how brilliant my uncle Michael was, and how influential he was to me,...

Michael Lerner, the Oscar-nominated actor who played studio exec Jack Lipnick in the Coen brothers’ film “Barton Fink,” died on Saturday at the age of 81, his nephew and fellow actor Sam announced on Instagram.

“It’s hard to put into words how brilliant my uncle Michael was, and how influential he was to me,” Sam Lerner wrote.

“His stories always inspired me and made me fall in love with acting. He was the coolest, most confident, talented guy, and the fact that he was my blood will always make me feel special. Everyone that knows him knows how insane he was — in the best way,” he continued.

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In “Barton Fink,” Lerner played the head of the fictional Capitol Pictures, who hires the pretentious playwright Barton Fink, played by John Turturro, to write a film about wrestling.

Lerner also appeared in the...

Michael Lerner, the longtime character actor who earned an Oscar nomination for his performance as the artistically disinterested studio executive Jack Lipnick in “Barton Fink,” has died at the age of 81. The news was announced by Lerner’s nephew, actor Sam Lerner, on his personal Instagram page. While he did not offer any specifics about his uncle’s death, he used the post to pay tribute to the late Oscar nominee.

“We lost a legend last night,” Sam Lerner wrote. “It’s hard to put into words how brilliant my uncle Michael was, and how influential he was to me. His stories always inspired me and made me fall in love with acting. He was the coolest, most confident, talented guy, and the fact that he was my blood will always make me feel special. Everyone that knows him knows how insane he was— in the best way. I’m...

Michael Lerner, an actor who appeared in television shows like Clueless and Glee and was nominated for an Oscar for his role in Barton Frink, has died. He was 81 years old.

Lerner died Saturday evening, his nephew and The Goldbergs actor Sam Lerner confirmed in a tribute post on Instagram.

“We lost a legend last night. It’s hard to put into words how brilliant my uncle Michael was, and how influential he was to me,” Sam posted. “His stories always inspired me and made me fall in love with acting. He was the coolest, most confident, talented guy, and the fact that he was my blood will always make me feel special.”

Sam continued, “Everyone that knows him knows how insane he was — in the best way. I’m so lucky I got to spend so much time with him, and we’re all lucky we can continue to...

Michael Lerner, the busy Oscar-nominated character actor who had memorable turns as bombastic types in Barton Fink, Harlem Nights, Eight Men Out and so much more, has died. He was 81.

Lerner died Saturday night, according to an Instagram post from his nephew, Sam Lerner, who is also an actor (ABC’s The Goldbergs). The cause of death was not immediately known.

“It’s hard to put into words how brilliant my uncle Michael was, and how influential he was to me,” Sam wrote. “His stories always inspired me and made me fall in love with acting. He was the coolest, most confident, talented guy, and the fact that he was my blood will always make me feel special. Everyone that knows him knows how insane he was — in the best way.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sam Lerner (@samlerner)

Raised in a Brooklyn housing project as...

Michael Lerner, an actor who featured in films such as “Elf,” “Godzilla” and “X-Men: Days of Future Past” and who received an Oscar nomination in best supporting actor for his performance in Joel and Ethan Coen’s 1991 psychological comedy “Barton Fink,” died Saturday evening. He was 81 years old.

Lerner’s death was confirmed by his nephew, “The Goldbergs” actor Sam Lerner, who paid tribute to his uncle through a post on Instagram Sunday afternoon. No further details regarding Lerner’s death are available at this time.

“We lost a legend last night. It’s hard to put into words how brilliant my uncle Michael was, and how influential he was to me,” Lerner wrote. “His stories always inspired me and made me fall in love with acting. He was the coolest, most confident, talented guy, and the fact that he was my blood will always make me feel special. Everyone...

The Coen Brothers injected their 1998 cult crime-comedy, "The Big Lebowski," with a medley of thematic and aesthetic inspirations, ranging from hard-boiled crime noir to deliberately eccentric dream sequences. Although the basic plot points of the film follow the beats of a convoluted kidnapping mystery that meanders in several directions, "The Big Lebowski" is more of a vibe, an amalgamation of idiosyncrasies that work due to a loose, free-flowing narrative structure. On many occasions, the Coen Brothers have credited the works of Raymond Chandler for inspiring parts of "The Big Lebowski," especially Chandler's 1939 hardboiled crime novel, "The Big Sleep," which seems to share slight similarities with the film. In the event of the 25th anniversary of "The Big Lebowski," let us look past the superficial threads that tie the L.A. noir classic and the comedic crime mystery by looking at the overlapping sensibilities these films share, despite being very different in tone,...

Has there ever been a better filmmaking duo than the Coen Bros? Joel and Ethan Coen have made some of the greatest modern films, hitting it out of the park with their 1983 debut Blood Simple. From there, the list of classics goes on and on. There’s Raising Arizona, Miller’s Crossing, Barton Fink, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, True Grit, O Brother Where Art Thou, A Serious Man, Inside Llewyn Davis – the list goes on and on. Yet, following the release of 2018’s The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, this formerly inseparable duo split, with Joel directing The Tragedy of Macbeth and Ethan making the Jerry Lee Lewis documentary, Trouble in Mind. What gives?

In this episode of Wtf Happened to this Celebrity, which is written (with Brad Hamerly), narrated and produced by Taylor James Johnson (with the enigmatic Roderick Jaynes editing), we dig into the careers...

This story about Roger Deakins first appeared in the Below-the-Line issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.

Roger Deakins remembers the moment he figured out what he was going to do for a living. It didn’t come as a child in Torquay, a seaside town on the coast of South West England, where he grew up surrounded by movies. “I think there were five or six cinemas within walking distance of where I lived,” he said. “And now there’s only two, which is a shame.”

It didn’t come in his teenage years, even though he gravitated toward film then, too. “I used to go to the cinema a lot, but what I remember most was when I was still at school and I joined a film club,” he said. “They just had a temporary screen and a 16mm projector, and they put up about 20 folding chairs. But they...

Avatar: The Way of Water‘s mega-publicized opening has brought movies back into the conversation, but movie-makers seem to have been lost in the mist. James Cameron’s persona is ablaze across the media but, by contrast, the very personal work of Sam Mendes, James Gray and even Steven Spielberg has done a fade-out in recent weeks.

“Cinema is a language that’s about to get lost,” Wim Wenders once predicted at a Cannes Film Festival, but filmmakers keep trying. Witness the likes of Empire of Light (Mendes), Armageddon Time (Gray) or even The Fabelmans (Spielberg), all exploring the efforts of young filmmakers trying to discover that language. None so far has discovered an audience.

Then there is Damien Chazelle, who calls Babylon, his new film, both a “hate letter or a love letter to movies.” Having both won and lost an Oscar with La La Land, Chazelle has a claim on mixed messages,...

Jim Carrey once called himself the “Tom Hanks of the Golden Globes” after his second straight victory with the Hollywood Foreign Press in 2000 (for “Man on the Moon” following “The Truman Show”). He could win with that group but somehow couldn’t impress Oscar voters. And he’s not the only actor in that situation. Our photo gallery features Carrey among the 20 actors who’ve never been nominated for an Oscar.

Even Academy Awards hosts such as Billy Crystal and Steve Martin haven’t been noticed by Oscar voters other than seeing them perform on the ceremony stage. They have both received critics awards and Golden Globe nominations in their long careers. Martin has at least received an honorary Oscar, as has Donald Sutherland, but alas no individual nomination for either one throughout their careers.

SEETop 20 greatest living actresses never nominated for an Oscar

Other Golden Globe film winners have...

Sterlin Harjo, co-creator of FX’s Reservation Dogs, discusses a few of his favorite movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Mekko (2015)

Boy (2010)

Cool Hand Luke (1967) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

Being There (1979) – Alan Spencer’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

A Woman Under The Influence (1974)

Husbands (1970) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Stand By Me (1986)

Hamburger: The Motion Picture (1986)

This Is Spinal Tap (1984) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

The Princess Bride (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Friday (1995)

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) – Adam Rifkin’s trailer commentary

Dead Man (1995)

Powwow Highway (1989)

Airplane! (1980) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Ghost Dog: Way Of The Samurai (1999)

Stalker (1979) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Come And See (1985) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

A Clockwork Orange...

Throughout their career, the Coen Brothers have excelled at writing verbose characters and snappy dialogue. You have the screwball back-and-forth in "The Hudsucker Proxy," John Goodman's folksy salesman in "Barton Fink," and Frances McDormand's overbearing gossip in "Raising Arizona," to name just a few examples. There are exceptions, of course. Billy Bob Thornton's smalltown barber in "The Man Who Wasn't There" did more smoking than talking, but generally their quieter characters are there to provide a counterpoint to the chatterboxes around them.

From their debut "Blood Simple" onwards, the Brothers have almost exclusively written their own screenplays, building their distinctive style from...

The post How No Country For Old Men Landed In The Coen Brothers' Lap appeared first on /Film.

Michaela Coel, John Turturro, and Paul Dano are joining in the “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” series at Amazon, Variety has learned exclusively.

The trio join previously announced series leads Donald Glover and Maya Erskine, who will star in the title roles. Exact character details for the other three actors are being kept under wraps, aside from the fact they will appear in guest star roles. John (Glover) and Jane (Erskine) as they are hired by a mysterious spy agency, venturing into espionage, marriage, and learning to intimately navigate both.

The castings represents a reunion of sorts for Turturro and Dano, who both starred in the hit DC film “The Batman,” though they did not share any scenes.

Coel is best known for the limited series “I May Destroy You. Coel created, directed, and executive produced the critically-acclaimed show in addition to starring in the lead role. She received four Emmy nominations for her work,...

Following its world debut at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight this May, Kino Lorber has snagged North American distribution rights to “1976,” a gripping Pinochet-era drama directed by Manuela Martelli.

The film is the first feature for Martelli, produced by Chilean writer-directors Omar Zuniga (“The Strong Ones”) and Dominga Sotomayor (“Too Late to Die Young”) for Cinestación, Alejandra Garcia and writer-director Andres Wood (“Violeta Went to Heaven”) for Wood Producciones, and co-produced by Nathalia Videla Peña and Juan Pablo Gugliotta for Argentina’s Magma Cine.

“1976” takes place in a small seaside town where Carmen (Aline Kuppenheim) reflects on her life as she transforms from a side-lined housewife into an integral caretaker. Putting her sanity and the values of her peers on the line, she steps further into uncertainty by aiding a weary and wounded opponent to Pinochet’s regime, Elías (Nicolás Sepúlvda), at her priest’s request.

“As the tone of Manuela Martelli...

The Coen brothers' 1991 film "Barton Fink" is a wonderful evocation of 1940s Hollywood in all its seedy glory and professional exploitation, but it's a magnificent and expressionistic glimpse into the mind's eye of a tortured artist (and possible hack) as he struggles with one particular screenplay. That was a feeling that the Coens knew well by the time they wrote it.

In "Barton Fink," the titular character (John Turturro) is a New York playwright newly arrived to 1940s Hollywood, handed a B-movie assignment for which he lacks the skills. For his residence, he chooses the ominous Hotel Earle. Tasked with writing a...

The post The Coen Brothers Wrote Barton Fink Just to Break Their Writers' Block appeared first on /Film.

The films competing for the 2022 Best Production Design Oscar are “Dune,” “Nightmare Alley,” “The Power of the Dog,” “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” and “West Side Story.” Our odds currently indicate that “Dune” (16/5) will be the winner, followed in order of likelihood by “Nightmare Alley” (39/10), “West Side Story” (4/1), “The Tragedy of Macbeth” (9/2), and “The Power of the Dog” (9/2).

Six of the individual craftspeople in this lineup have been nominated before and four have won at least once. The only newcomers in the bunch are production designers Stefan Dechant (“The Tragedy of Macbeth”) and Tamara Deverell (“Nightmare Alley”) and set decorators Amber Richards (“The Power of the Dog”) and Zsuzsanna Sipos (“Dune”).

Nancy Haigh (“The Tragedy of Macbeth”) is on her ninth bid and could add a third trophy to her collection after having triumphed for “Bugsy” (1992) and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (2020). The only other woman who has achieved three...

Filmmakers Albert Birney and Kentucker Audley discuss the movies that inspired their latest film, Strawberry Mansion.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Strawberry Mansion (2022)

The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (1962) – Glenn Erickson’s trailer commentary

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

The Neverending Story (1984)

A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary

Pretty Woman (1990) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

Barton Fink (1991)

Being There (1979) – Alan Spencer’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

Salesman (1969)

The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

Eraserhead (1977) – Karyn Kusama’s trailer commentary

The Shining (1980) – Adam Rifkin’s trailer commentary

The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Bottle Rocket (1996)

Rushmore (1998)

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Beetlejuice (1988) – Alex Kirschenbaum’s review

Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) – Axelle Carolyn’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s trailer commentary

Honey I Shrunk The Kids (1989)

Re-Animator (1985) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review...

Starting with their feature film debut in 1984, Joel and Ethan Coen have been power players in the world of American indie cinema. Throughout the late '80s and the whole of the '90s, the filmmakers put out a ling string of critically revered and Award-winning films. Their 1996 film "Fargo" still tops lists of the best films of its decade, "Barton Fink" has been called one of the best films ever made about screenwriting, and both 1986's "Raising Arizona" and 1998's "The Big Lebowski" are still on regular rotation at midnight movie houses. 2000's "O Brother, Where Art Thou?," a 1930s retelling of "The Odyssey," boasts one...

The post The Coen Brothers Consider This Their Worst Movie appeared first on /Film.

The Coen Brothers are often cagey about the meaning of their films, and in the case of "Barton Fink" — their uncategorizable 1991 film starring John Turturro and John Goodman — perhaps there is no grand unifying message to it. That hasn't stopped critics and academics from analyzing the movie to death, and there are now long Wikipedia sections about its symbolism and themes.

While the Coens may be a national treasure, U.S. critics aren't the only ones who have spent time analyzing "Barton Fink" and developing pet theories about it. The press tour for the Coens' 2016 comedy, "Hail, Caesar!" came 25 years after "Barton Fink," and...

The post The Funniest Fan Theory the Coen Brothers Have Ever Heard appeared first on /Film.

Exclusive: Emmy winner Steve Buscemi has wrapped production on his newest feature The Listener, starring Emmy nominee Tessa Thompson, Deadline has learned.

The contained film written by Oscar nominee Alessandro Camon (The Messenger) features only one on-screen role. It tells the story of Beth (Thompson), a helpline volunteer who is part of the small army that gets on the phone every night across America, fielding calls from all kinds of people feeling lonely, broken, hopeless, worried.

Over the last year, the tide has become a tsunami, and as Beth goes through her shift, the stakes rise: is this the night she will lose someone? Save someone? Put a mind at ease? Make someone smile?

Eventually, Beth’s own story comes to light, revealing why she does it. All along we remain with her: listening, comforting, connecting – patching the world back together, one stitch at a time…...

In the 18 feature films he has made with his brother Ethan, Joel Coen has proved himself, over and over again, to be as fetishistically visual a director as anyone from the independent film world of the last four decades. Wes Anderson might be a more extreme example, but even there it would be hard to imagine the Wes Anderson life-as-a-dollhouse school had it not been for the example of the Coen brothers: the obsession they’ve always had with rendering a story in meticulously organized images, with each shot framed just so, the sets designed almost like dioramas, the whole sense of camera placement and cutting and spatial dynamics creating a heightened graphic-novel approach that, for the Coens, often seems to be the main reason they’re making the movie.

So it’s no surprise that in “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” an adaptation of the Shakespeare play that is Joel...

Lou Ye’s embattled 2019 film “Saturday Fiction” will have a theatrical outing in the Chinese auteur’s home country nearly two years after its planned high-profile premiere there was abruptly cancelled.

After its long time in the dark, the black-and-white drama will return triumphantly to the official limelight as the closing film of the Beijing Intl. Film Festival on Sept. 10, then go on to light up Chinese theaters Oct. 15. Its star, the iconic Gong Li, is this year’s chairman of the international jury for the festival’s top Tiantan Awards.

“Saturday Film” originally debuted in competition at Venice in 2019 and was set to premiere in China soon after as the opening film of the country’s highly politicized government-run Golden Rooster Film Festival. It was yanked without warning from the line-up the night before due to unspecified “internal production problems” and replaced by a low-budget documentary about traditional bamboo flutes.

The films competing for the 2021 Best Production Design Oscar are “The Father,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Mank,” “News of the World,” and “Tenet.” Our odds currently indicate that “Mank” (31/10) will be the winner, followed in order by “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (4/1), “News of the World” (9/2), “The Father” (9/2), and “Tenet” (9/2).

Set decorator Karen O’Hara (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”) previously prevailed for “Alice in Wonderland” (2011) after first receiving a bid for “The Color of Money” (1987). She has now earned a spot on the list of 12 most-nominated female set decorators, which includes last year’s champion, eight-time nominee Nancy Haigh. O’Hara could become the third of the dozen to win more than once, after Francesca Lo Schiavo and Haigh.

“Mank” production designer Donald Graham Burt is also a previous champ for his work in another David Fincher film, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (2009). This is also the second bid for Burt’s set-decorating partner,...

Writer, director, producer Nicole Holofcener joins podcast hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante to discuss some of her favorite films.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Enough Said (2013)

True Romance (1993)

Coming Home (1978)

Bound for Glory (1976)

Hal (2018)

The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946)

The Cowboys (1972)

Harold And Maude (1971)

Conrack (1974)

Norma Rae (1979)

Midnight Cowboy (1969)

Miller’s Crossing (1990)

Naked (1993)

The Short And Curlies (1987)

Short Cuts (1993)

Nashville (1975)

McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)

Heaven Can Wait (1978)

Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)

The Father (2020)

Carnal Knowledge (1971)

Sex, Lies And Videotape (1989)

Jaws (1975)

Abbott and Costello Meet The Mummy (1955)

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

World Without End (1956)

Boogie Nights (1997)

Blue Velvet (1986)

Goodfellas (1990)

Adaptation (2002)

Synecdoche, New York (2008)

Lolita (1962)

The Shining (1980)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Paths of Glory (1957)

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

12 Angry Men (1957)

A Serious Man (2009)

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

The Big Lebowski (1998)

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)

Intolerable Cruelty (2003)

Capote (2005)

A History of Violence (2005)

The 400 Blows...

You Can’t Handle the Fugue: Schroeter Burns Bright with Infamous Bachmann Adaptation

What is it about Werner Schroeter’s Malina so seemingly repellant it resulted in almost immediate obscurity, as dismissed in cinematic form in 1991 as Ingeborg Bachmann’s 1971 novel remains a celebrated, nearly unparalleled cornerstone of the female psyche? Initially, it premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, where the Roman Polanski led jury awarded the Coen Bros. Barton Fink with the Palme d’Or and Irene Jacob took home the Best Actress prize for her work in Krzysztof Kieslowski’s The Double Life of Veronique, both films which are strangely similar in content and form, the former a Kafkaesque nightmare about Hollywood filmmaking and the latter a twin refraction of two profoundly connected women played by the same person, mirror images of opposing desires and needs.…...

The “Team Deakins” podcast released a long-hoped-for episode this week as Joel Coen joined Roger Deakins for a nearly 90 minute discussion about their collaboration. Deakins has worked with the Coen Brothers more than any other filmmakers over his career, shooting 12 of their movies starting with “Barton Fink” and earning Oscar nominations for his work on “Fargo,” “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” “No Country for Old Men,” and “True Grit.” Deakins told Joel during the podcast conversation that the Coen Brothers remain the most confident directors he’s ever worked with when it comes to the amount of footage shot.

“You never shot much film,” Deakins said. “Your film-to-cut ratio is so low relative to any other director I’ve worked with. ‘Fargo’ was 150,000 feet of film, which is ridiculous. Sometimes after the first take you’d nod to Ethan and I’d be like, ‘Another take,...

Daniel Walber's series on Production Design. Click on the images to see them in magnified detail.

What is the wallpaper of the Common Man? It’s a strange question, but Barton Fink is a strange movie. The titular writer (John Turturro) is a man consumed by passion for the clichéd unsung hero, though he would never go so far as to actually ask a Common Man what he thinks. His obsession is really with the idea of the Common Man, abstract and waiting to be tossed onstage or slapped onto the blank canvas of a movie screen.

In his defense, the Common Man was not yet a cliche when Fink arrived in Hollywood, sometime in 1941. Henry Wallace’s famous “Century of the Common Man” speech wouldn’t be delivered until May of 1942, inspiring Aaron Copland to write his “Fanfare for the Common Man” soon after. Maybe someday the Coen Brothers will make a sequel,...

Before each Smackdown, Nick Taylor looks at possibilities for an alternate ballot...

Barton Fink and Naked Lunch are two 1991 films with more in common than you'd expect. Both follow writers - one a lifelong devotee of the trade, one quite new to it - who are suddenly plucked from their old lives and dropped into entirely alien worlds, with few reliable sources to guide them. Both tackle the incredibly mundane ache of loneliness and toil of their work, albeit against obstacles like axe murderers and global drug conspiracies. Both are directed by major auteurs and styled to the fucking nines, making their settings as accessible as they need to be while fulfilling some impenetrably strange narrative conceits. And both serve as vivid showcases for the talents of Judy Davis, 1991’s Nyfcc winner for Best Supporting Actress, who unfussily acquits herself to two very different, aesthetically demanding milieus. Her brainy, abrasive...