Posts

“Khraniteli” aired on television in 1991 only once before it disappeared. The film’s score was composed by Andrei Romanov of the rock band Akvarium. For the last 30 years, the movie has remained lost in the Leningrad Television vault and it was not found until 5TV, the successor to Leningrad Television, uploaded it onto YouTube for free. According to Russia’s Tolkien website World of Fantasy, “Lord of the Rings” fans “have been searching the archives but had not able to find this film for decades....

There’s a moment in “Spider Man: No Way Home” (evidently one of the most monumental films of all time, thanks to its $1.3 billion-plus gross worldwide) when the three of the most recent Spideys bro out upon being brought together for the first time. Andrew Garfield (from the “Amazing Spider-Man” series), Tobey Maguire (from the Sam Raimi films), and Tom Holland (from the three most recent films) are all brought together after a spell issued by Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange goes awry....

“Stephen Colbert’s Lost Pilot Project: Sometimes Live” will be closing out the 2020 festival with a special one-night-only performance. As Colbert himself says, in 1998 he and a group of “Saturday Night Live” writers were tasked by ABC’s Michael Eisner to create a show that would usher in the return of the variety show. What they came up with was a show that sought to look behind-the-scenes of a sketch show not unlike “Saturday Night Live....

Nothing can supplant the adrenaline of absorbing the buzz on Park City’s Main Street or experiencing a standing ovation at the Eccles, but the lack of distraction could help direct more attention to this year’s films. “Artists who were able to make great work still did,” said new Sundance director Tabitha Jackson. On a call with IndieWire, Jackson and director of programming Kim Yutani talked through some of the potential highlights and provided guidance on how to parse a program that — even in its reduced form — has a lot to explore....

With reservations for film and episodics screenings open this afternoon, allow us to guide you toward a dozen of our most-anticipated picks for this year’s festival. Some of these titles have appeared at other events, but are just landing on U.S. shores (and screens now), while at least one is a holdover from last year’s truncated SXSW festival. All of them speak to festival’s aim to shine on a light on rising stars and talents taking a chance on something new, all at the tips of your viewing fingers....

Many of the films that Schrader went on to direct himself — especially the ones whose very titles enshrine a certain vocation — have revisited the “God’s lonely man” archetype he received like communion from Robert Bresson, each of these implosive portraits cloaking their lead character’s private anguish underneath whatever profession they’ve chosen to wear like a costume. “You get a job, you become the job.” And that job allows these men to hide in plain sight as they wait for the chance to play their hand....

“The Haunting of Bly Manor” features an ensemble cast that includes Victoria Pedretti, Henry Thomas, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Kate Siegel, T’Nia Miller, Rahul Kohli, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, Amelie Smith, and Amelia Eve. Many of the actors starred in “Hill House,” only this time they will be playing new characters. Henry James’s original ghost story takes place at the Bly Manor mansion and centers around two orphans under the care of a young governess....