Intimate and beautifully rendered, “Funny Boy” is a visually lush coming-of-age drama set amidst a vicious ethnic conflict that is regionally specific, but tragically universal. It is the latest feature film from revered Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta, who first rose to international renown in 1996 with “Fire,” a groundbreaking lesbian romance that was censored in India after screenings led to violent protests and the destruction of movie theaters. Though “Funny Boy” is a far more chaste film, it may find more controversy for its portrayal of the 1983 riots, or Black July, the anti-Tamil pogroms that began the 26-year Sri Lankan Civil War....

“First of all, if you want to be true to the facts then Cleopatra was Macedonian,” Gadot told BBC Arabic host Sam Asi. “We were looking for a Macedonian actress that could fit Cleopatra. She wasn’t there, and I was very passionate about Cleopatra.” “I have friends from across the globe, whether they’re Muslims or Christian or Catholic or atheist or Buddhist, or Jewish of course,” Gadot continued. “People are people, and with me I want to celebrate the legacy of Cleopatra and honor this amazing historic icon that I admire so much....

HBO is in early development on the first “Game of Thrones” sequel series, a show set to take place after the events of the much maligned finale and centered on Kit Harington’s Jon Snow. THR first reported the news. Franchise creator George R.R. Martin was involved in advising on the original series and wrote several teleplays, but he has publicly expressed his own frustration with how the series wrapped up. Considering that he’s heavily involved with “House of the Dragon,” the first prequel show, set to debut on HBO August 21, it’d be hard to imagine he wouldn’t be involved with this show in some way....

Since the program was introduced in 2008, Georgia has grown from a state that hosted a smattering of productions into a full-fledged “Hollywood of the South.” Even amid the pandemic, the state reported that 234 movies and TV shows filmed there during the 2020 fiscal year. The 30 percent tax credit, unlike in other states, is uncapped and covers above-the-line costs, making it a wildly attractive place to shoot big-budget projects like the $356 million “Avengers: Endgame” and $8-million-per-episode “Stranger Things....

The remainder of the WGA’s top 10 consists of Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight,” Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood,” Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds,” Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous,” and Christopher Nolan’s “Memento.” Anderson has three scripts in the top 101 (“There Will Be Blood” at #7, “The Master” at #84, and “Phantom Thread” at #87), as does Tarantino (“Inglorious Basterds” at #8, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” at #22, and “Django Unchained” at #74)....

Alas, as of initial publication, this trailer has not been made available for the public, but here’s the description of what we say of the film, written and directed by James Gunn. stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, and Sylvester Stallone. Maria Bakalova is voicing Cosmo the Space Dog, a sometime foil for Rocket Raccoon in the comics. The appearance makes sense because this film will explore Rocket’s backstory....

It’s one of Maddin’s nuttiest experiments and a blueprint for the sort of stories he’d go on to tell. Set in the eponymous unincorporated village in Manitoba, “Gimli” centers on a fisherman who brings a smallpox epidemic to his community. The film blends Icelandic-Canadian lore and real-life occurrences with historical fact-bending, a pre-Code sensibility, and wild, outrageous sequences of necrophilia and homoeroticism, as the ailing fisherman jockeys against another smallpox patient for the affections of the hospital’s nurses....