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by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Just when you thought Hollywood might be DOA for 2021, or at least dormant for the Pandemic, Aaron Ryder just established Ryder Picture Company, and nabbed a first-look feature deal with MGM.
Read on, from Screenmancer...
LOS ANGELES: Academy Award nominated producer Aaron Ryder has launched a new production company, Ryder Picture Company (RPC), which will develop and produce commercially viable, elevated films. Ryder, a prolif...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
“I am America’s original sin…" and a patriot, opens Director Jon Alston’s AUGUSTUS, spoken by the titular character. With this brief introduction, here is Alston in his own words on making the short for consideration in the current Award Season. But first, a quick synopsis of the 15 minute film.
“Augustus, a literate escaped slave masquerading as a free man in Massachusetts in 1841, experiences nightmares of ...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
“Times are changing, Mr. Mankiewicz,” says GOT’s Charles Dance as William Randolph Hearst in the Gary Oldman starrer MANK, but have they really changed? Hearst is TPTB or the powers that be, paying half the salary of CITIZEN KANE screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz without his knowledge. And that’s the only spoiler you’ll find here. Netflix released MANK in theaters back in mid-November, and the Dec. 4 streaming relea...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
She’s won BAFTA awards and other industry accolades, but hasn't gone beyond Oscar Nominee yet; so will 2021 ring in the gold for Carey Mulligan for PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN? With a special 48-hour at home rental period on Jan. 15, the Focus Features film has already generated noise in an odd year for Award Season.
Margot Robbie (BOMBSHELL) is a producer for PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, which is directed by KILLING EVE’s Emera...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
You might flash on Regina King as Cuba Gooding Jr’s fierce wife in the Jerry Maguire movie, but flash-forward to her 2019 Oscar win for IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK. Follow that with her directorial turn in ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI… to be released on Jan. 15 as an Amazon Original, and fierce has new meaning.
Adapted from the same-titled play by Kemp Powers, who also wrote the screenplay, King may have just topped herself in the jump from T...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Ever since the word “Megxit” was coined off the back of the anxiety-provoking term Brexit, Royal Family ex-pat Prince Harry, 36, and Meghan Markle, 39, have been tested by the slings and arrows of derisive social media from the UK.
The Daily Mail, which has routinely pilloried Meghan and slated Prince Harry, has even been sued by the couple for these routine thrashings. They could not “put a foot right,” as the say...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Has the cultural-appropriation boom finally been dropped on the BORAT franchise? If you are Sacha Baron Cohen right now, you might be wondering. Remarkably, the Association of Turkish Americans of Southern California and the Kazakh Cultural Media Association have teamed up for a public pillorying of the most recent release, BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM.
In fact, these organizations want it banned as an award season option for Oscar v...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Ever watch a movie and get an allergic reaction? Okay that’s heavy on light sarcasm, but “visionary” Russian director Victor Kossakovsky’s GUNDA could give some cinephiles hives when NEON releases it on Dec. 11. While director-turned-film critic Paul Thomas Anderson dubs GUNDA “more like a potion than like a movie,” it is basically farm yard chic all the same. Imagine roosters strutting about like ko...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
More good news from Hollywood today, with MGM and The Black List joining up to scour the globe for talent in screenwriting. Okay, actually, you have to find them. But it's a legit huge opportunity to tell your story from anywhere in the world about anything we've never seen. Or even things we've seen, but haven't seen it told your way yet. Read on...
From Screenmancer
LOS ANGELES, CA: MGM, the studio that brought you the ...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Once upon a Pandemic, before we wore masks and were 24/7 at home on lockdown, there was a beginning to this scary tale. Although some now say Postives showed up on the Continent, or that South America effluvia revealed COVID-19 antibodies present, 76 DAYS from Director Hao Wu tells an in-country story from China. Not an indictment, this is a human-scale documentary chronicle about a superbug that changed all our lives. Kudos to MTV Documentary F...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
When is news about Hollywood not hyped enough? Even in bold italic caps, COUNCILMEMBER O’FARRELL INTRODUCES RESOLUTION PROCLAIMING DECEMBER 1 AS “TCM WOMEN MAKE FILM DAY” IN THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES, it still doesn’t sink in right away.
“Since its very beginnings, cinema has been blessed with the outstanding creativity, skills, labor and vision of countless women, ” said Councilmember O’Farrell, ...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
During the holidays, how many of us know our loved ones are finding new ways to get their adrenaline rush? In the great un-lockdown outdoors, a lot of rugged adventures can go sideways. Life is about risk, but not without a mask lately. In MUSIC GOT ME HERE, an entire family pulls back the mask on traumatic brain injury from a devastating winter sport accident.
Much like the years-long recovery of Formula One ace Michael Schumacher, their teen ...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Before reviewing ZAPPA, which is available to view now from Magnolia Pictures, the question is whether only a musician is qualified to speak with authority on the influential totality of Frank Zappa. Then you realize anyone who is part of his fandom has felt Zappa’s musical influence. That being his sonic fearlessness, and in a way, personal pain expressed through notes and lyrics. Meaning the real Zappa music is classically infused, ...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
You've heard that phrase, "The Show Must Go On?" Nowadays it is "The Show Must Go Online." Special, a streamer in beta (the soft lauch phase), offers a new venue to showcase your films. This fairly innovative platform is being funded by some Hollywood heavyweights to offer a niche for indepdendents. There's a link to follow at the close of this news item.
LOS ANGELES, CA: Special provides filmmakers and distribu...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
No one is sure how public opinion is on Johnny Depp's UK verdict (that labels him a 'wife-beater'), but there is a petition to return him to the roles he was fired from by Warner Bros. How do you assess a life-long career by one relationship... Then again?
It only takes one circumstance to get "cancelled" these days, thanks to Cancel Culture.
However, what if audiences were allowed to decide?
Audiences, pros, fans, or an...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Hey, the Rudy Giuliani thing was just the beginning, everyone gets a shellacking in BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM, which is now available on Amazon Prime. But for everyone who got an afterparty invite like the one pictured below?
It was black mirror time for most as the link would not load.
So, Screenmancer got the Link’n’Load embed code for us, and anyone who tried to join the festivities last week, since “allegedly&rdquo...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Who isn't tired of "hurry up and wait" with this Superbug? American Film Market has some good news for this year's event. They have figured out how to socially distance this massive film gathering into what looks like a fun time to be had by all, despite the masks and COVID-19 related tasks associated with the Pandemic.
You could say AFM has set the stage for innovation in medically correct shindigs.
All the details are here ...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Did you know that "until 1952, federal law prohibited immigrants of Asian descent from becoming U.S. citizens and voting? Today, Asian Americans are the fastest growing population in the United States." FIRST VOTE, from director Yi Chen, is about "what it means to be American through personal stories of America’s fastest growing political constituency’s diverse experience at the pol...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
UNCLE FRANK from Prime Video has a trio of your favorite character actors, the remarkable Lois Smith from MINORITY REPORT, Stephen Root who was also scared in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, and the always amazing Margo Martindale. Add in Judy Greer, plus Steve Zahn; but it’s Paul Bettany from the Avengers franchise that shows up this Thanksgiving as the titular Uncle Frank. In this Alan Ball movie, there are a lot of autobiographic hints as he is...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
This news is literally a dream come true for short filmmakers, as 20th Digital Studio is showing shorts as part of "Huluween" - but also airing on FX and Freeform. Might want to make a note of who these fans of bite-sized films are, so read on... ;)
From Screenmancer Ghostwriter
HOLLYWEEN: 20th Digital Studio will premiere a series of 30 diverse, genre-bending short films for Halloween 2020. Bite Size Halloween ra...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
It’s a running joke right now in Los Angeles that Halloween will be shortened to Half-o-ween this year due to Social Distancing, No Hands Candy, and Trick or Trick no Treats. But not for MGM, which has something really fun planned for the homebound and the Hollywood-bound with a chance to be in their new movie, along with the talent-heavy cast already signed, read on…
Curated by Screenmancer Ghostwriter - The sequel ...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
"You have cameras in your jewelry," is one line you won't hear from Q in 007, but Mr. Bond has nothing on these five eyes in THE 355, starring Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Fan Bingbing ,Diane Kruger, Lupita Nyong’o, from Universal to drop in Jan. 2021.
Chastain is the driving force behind this one as producer/star. And there’s a spy-twist-worthy plot here in the mix as Chinese beauty Fan BingBing, who rank...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
There is a serendipity to life, even in the Pandemic lockdown, as yesterday it turns out Masterclass has an Annie Leibovitz photography tutorial, and today is another discovery, Burk Uzzle, a trenchant photojournalist who has been showing his work since 1969. F11 AND BE THERE is his filmic journey, or “A Look at the Life and Work of Iconic American photographer Burk Uzzle" directed by Jethro Waters. First Run Features will o...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
This might seem like a double-edged ‘Get Well Soon’ message to the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, but renowned filmmaker Alex Gibney “secretly spent the last five months” making a power-packed documentary entitled TOTALLY UNDER CONTROL about the lifespan of this virus. Oscar-winner Gibney actually co-directed with Ophelia Harutyunyan and Suzanne Hillinger. Needless to say, Gibney and company w...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
It seems not too long ago, but it was a decade ago back in April 2010, that TCM held its first classic movie film festival in Hollywood, with great parties at the Roosevelt Hotel. That's where the first Oscar presentation took place. Thurs. May 16, 1929 in the Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The show honored movies released from Aug. 1927 to Aug. 1928. These are the details TCM fans love. So, with that nostaglic spirit revived...
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Johnson Quendrith 
