“I remember once we started getting closer to production, [director] Justin [Lin] and I would talk about how harrowing it would be to actually cast a new Toretto, the brother of Toretto,” Diesel said during a recent “F9” press conference, according to ComicBook.com. “There’s so many different directions you could go.” Diesel continued, “And I remember John Cena coming into this Dom Shrine that I had where I would kind of go to meditate and train and start getting into that Dom state of mind....

“Fire Island” stars Booster, Bowen Yang, Zane Phillips, James Scully, Matt Rogers, Tomas Matos, Torian Miller, and Margaret Cho in the vacation rom-com, out on Hulu June 3. Yet after first being acquired as a TV series by Quibi, “Fire Island” was greenlit by Disney-owned Searchlight Pictures, which will premiere the film on Disney-backed streamer Hulu. That partnership is now being called into question following Disney’s financial support of Florida’s homophobic bill that banned discussions of sexual orientation or gender identity in Florida primary schools....

“Back in 2008 I starred opposite Clint Eastwood in ‘Gran Torino’ playing the lead Hmong role in a tale of two people transcending their differences to form an unlikely human bond,” Vang writes in an essay published by NBC News. “It was a historic cinematic moment for Hmong people around the world, despite its copious anti-Asian slurs.” Vang continues, “At the time, there was a lot of discussion about whether the movie’s slurs were insensitive and gratuitous or simply ‘harmless jokes....

Despite ticking off all the boxes of standard issue rom-com plotting, Jason Orley’s “I Want You Back” eventually twists itself into something much more complicated, frazzled, and ultimately less satisfying than the film’s log line would lead audiences to believe. Pulling liberally from other rom-coms before it — think of it as a spin on Griffin Dunne’s “Addicted to Love,” though less mean-spirited and with its own set of convoluted plot turns — “Love, Simon” screenwriters Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger’s latest retains the sweet center that drives the genre, but gets woefully lost in the details....

Lining up with LA3C’s mission to celebrate Los Angeles as the capital of creativity and culture, the IndieWire event will bring an international selection of short films to the City of Angels just in time for awards season. In order to qualify for the Oscar, shorts must either win a top prize at an Oscar-qualifying festival or receive a qualifying theatrical run. The program for this event was co-curated by IndieWire staff and ShortsTV, the worldwide network dedicated to short films....

“I put in a drawer, and didn’t think about it,” said Hancock, who went on to direct “The Rookie,” “The Alamo,” and “The Blind Side.” “But every couple years, Johnson called.” (That would be Oscar- and Emmy-winning producer Mark Johnson, who worked with Hancock on “The Rookie” and “the Alamo.” “I was patient,” Johnson said. “Someday we’ll make this.”) “The Little Things” seems commercial enough: Set in the 1990s, it’s a thriller about grizzled ex-LAPD detective Joe Deacon (Denzel Washington) who goes into exile after an unsolved serial killer case goes terribly wrong....

A first look at “John Wick Chapter 4” shows Keanu Reeves as Wick standing in front of what appears to be a candlelit altar. The neon-tinted press image was circulated via text message by Lionsgate to fans who signed up for updates on the fourth film, set to be released in theaters March 24, 2023. “John Wick Chapter 4” also stars Laurence Fishburne, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, Bill Skarsgard, Clancy Brown, Donnie Yen, Shamier Anderson, Hiroyuki Sanada, Scott Adkins, and Rina Sawayama....