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With a denotative understanding of the idea that revenge is a dish best served cold, Hans Petter Moland’s gelid crime noir “In Order of Disappearance” (2014) opens with a chilling visual of snow-covered mountains and icy roads, a desolate locale where the landscape itself feels as hostile and unforgiving as the path its protagonist, Nils (Stellan Skarsgård), is about to undertake. The wintry setting of Norway serves as much of a character as the ruthless criminals who inhabit it, while also serving as a stark reminder of the isolation and emptiness that accompanies the futile path of revenge.

The film’s first act unfolds with a sense of tragic inevitability. A snowplow driver by trade, Nils leads a peaceful existence in a remote village. But when his wife receives an innocuous phone call, everything falls apart. His son, Erik, has been found dead from what appears to be a drug overdose,...

We all love monsters. From Dracula and King Kong to the Wolfman and Freddy Krueger, our affection for these fictionalized beasts has been satisfied through film and television for over a century. The disconnect between the audience and the world in which these monsters exist is part of the enjoyment and escapism that horror has always sought to provide us. However, a very real evil lurks among us in the shadows and treads the same path as we do. This evil takes the form of individuals with a predatory nature who lack empathy for others. It’s an evil that we find repulsive and fascinating, and much like the fictionalized creations of Hollywood, they’ve also been incarnated on film and television.

Whether it’s the depiction of Adolf Hitler in Downfall or the true-crime series Monster: The Jeffrey Damher Story on Netflix, the humanization of evil attracts controversy but...

At this point, it’s impossible to say World War II films are rare. The world’s most recent global conflict was a dire warning against wanton violence, and its inherent lessons to humanity are (unfortunately) more prescient than ever. Many of these films focus on the mortality of common soldiers, while others highlight the brutality of mechanized warfare and uplift the heroic soldiers who fought and died to give humanity a brief reprieve from the clutches of fascism. However, as with any war, there are also plenty of political thrillers.

One such film, Downfall, was released in 2004 to an abundance of praise, and over 20 years later, it still enjoys a 90% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. However, it’s also one of the most controversial World War II films ever made. By some assessments, its problematic elements are only outpaced by literal wartime propaganda. Others, like historian and professor Hermann Graml,...

Action icon Liam Neeson is headed to Max...but he doesn’t remember that he’s an action icon. The Taken star leads 2011’s Unknown, which finds the acclaimed actor taking the lead as a man who, after waking up from a coma, doesn’t remember who he is. But, even stranger, no one else remembers him either. And another man is claiming to be who he thinks he is. While that may have made the movie sound a little confusing, it’s really not, with the movie allowing Neeson to leap from a frightened everyman to the grizzled action star we’ve all come to know and love.

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, who recently found huge success on Netflix with the Christmas action outing Carry-On, Unknown stars Liam Neeson alongside Diane Kruger, January Jones, Aidan Quinn, Bruno Ganz, and Frank Langella. Based on the 2003 French novel by Didier Van Cauwelaert,...

F.W. Murnau's 1922 silent horror film "Nosferatu" is a "Dracula" adaptation, but it uses none of the character names from Bram Stoker's original novel. In "Nosferatu," actor Max Shreck's central vampire villain is named Orlok, not Dracula. The changes from "Dracula" to "Nosferatu" are commonly attributed to how the film played it loose with copyright laws. (Stoker's widow Florence Balcombe did not give permission to the filmmakers of "Nosferatu" to adapt from her husband's estate and was furious when she learned of the film.)

This has left "Nosferatu" something of a tangled legacy as a "Dracula" adaptation. It can be remade in its own right rather than later "Nosferatu" films being just more "Dracula" flicks.

When Werner Herzog remade "Nosferatu" in 1979, he split the difference. He titled his film as "Nosferatu the Vampyre," but his characters had Stoker's names: Klaus Kinski was Count Dracula, Bruno Ganz was Jonathan Harker,...

1922, 1979, and now 2024. The movie that was a legally distinct, non-copyright infringing version of Bram Stoker’s Dracula has had an impact for over 100 years now. The 1922 version is the one that most people think of not only when the name Nosferatu is said, but when people discuss silent horror films in general. At the other end of the spectrum, we have one of the year’s most hotly anticipated horror films with Robert Eggers releasing only his 4th film on Christmas day that will be his own very unique take on the property. Lost in that shuffle is the 1979 version from famed German director Werner Herzog with his best friend/muse/psychopath actor Klaus Kinski. It isn’t talked about nearly as much and is unique and different enough from the first film that it deserves its own revisit.

The whole reason that 1922’s Nosferatu is the way that it is,...

The war genre has produced some all-time classic movies over the years and has been a firm fixture in the release calendar ever since Georges Mlis released War Fighting in Greece in 1897, all the way to now in 2024. However, for every bona fide classic, such as Apocalypse Now, or Full Metal Jacket, there are often movies that arrive to a lukewarm reception but are actually great films.

While a lot of the very best war movies are from the 1960s, 1970s, or 1990s, there are many great examples of the genre that were released in the 2000s. However, they have been shown very little love from critics and audiences. Some of them were either released at the wrong time, the studio didn't believe in them enough to push the marketing campaigns, or audiences didn't click with how great they were. There are many war movies from the 2000s that deserve to be reassessed.

Gifted children (or prodigy) movies are driven by an intriguing paradox: what if they don’t realize their full potential if not adequately challenged? But what if the pursuit of intense challenges inculcates within them a fear of failure which can adversely impact their childhood and beyond? In a world where individuals can be casually stigmatized for being ‘different’, extraordinary intellect can’t always be a gift. Movies like A Beautiful Mind (2001), Shine (1996), Good Will Hunting (1997), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), The End of the Tour (2015), The Man Who Knew Infinity (2016) dealt with super-smart people burdened with mental or emotional problems. The films mentioned below grapple with such problems or quandary (of kids & teens), some with unflinching profundity and some hide its relevant messages beneath saccharine narrative layers.

Honorable Mention: Vitus (2006)

Fredi M. Murer’s light-hearted and leisurely paced Swiss drama tells the eponymous tale of a 12-year-old piano prodigy (Teo Gheorghiu...

Many of us, whether in the entertainment business or outside of it, choose lives that are constantly on the move with goal after goal being strived for, barely taking a day or even a moment for slowing down to enjoy the sweetness of living. Today’s movies reflect a similar state of mind as many of our favorite protagonists are highly motivated to achieve ambitious dreams, often losing relationships and sanity over their seemingly impossible ends. As if in response to this, Wim Wenders’ newest film 'Perfect Days' (2023) follows a character who acts as the opposite. Shot on location in Tokyo Japan with legendary Japanese star Koji Yakusho giving an award winning performance, Wim Wenders’ newest film, 'Perfect Days' brings a slice of life treat to the modern era of world cinema that is in parts delightful and endearing, other parts somber and thoughtful, and overall encompassed by a feeling...

Margaret Menegoz, the head of French production company Les Films du Losange, who produced the movies of Michael Hanke, Wim Wenders and Éric Rohmer, among others, has died. She was 83.

The company issued a statement confirming that Menegoz died in Montpellier on August 7. They cited her “love of films and work, and her loyalty to her filmmakers that have become the hallmarks of Les Films du Losange,” describing Menegoz as “open-minded towards Europe and the international scene, which she particularly cherished.”

Menegoz led Les Films du Losange for close to 50 years, taking over at the company in 1973. She produced more than 60 films, including Haneke’s Amour, The White Ribbon and Cache, Wenders’ 1977 feature The American Friend, Volker Schlöndorff’s Swann in Love (1984), Agnieszka Holland’s Europa Europa (1990), Rohmer’s A Tale of Springtime (1990) and A Tale of Winter (1992), among many others.

Amour received 5 Oscar nominations in 2013, including a nomination for Menegoz for best feature.

Margaret Menegoz, who led iconic French film company Les Films du Losange for close to 50 years, producing the films of Éric Rohmer, Michael Haneke and Wim Wenders among others, has died at the age of 83.

The German and French film producer was born in Hungary in 1941. Her family, which was of German origin, was expelled from the country in the wake of the 1945 Siege of Budapest, and Menegoz grew up in Germany.

Menegoz entered the film industry as an editor and then connected with the French independent filmmaking scene via her documentarian husband Robert Menegoz, who she met at the Berlin Film Festival in the early 1970s.

She took the reins of Les Films du Losange in 1975, having been originally hired as an assistant on co-founder Rohmer’s 1976 German-language film Marquise Of O, co-starring Edith Clever and Bruno Ganz.

Rohmer and Barbet Schroeder had created the company in 1962, but with...

Every historical drama bears an awesome responsibility to its real-life subjects, but few films bore a weightier burden than Oliver Hirschbiegel's 2004 masterpiece, Downfall. While it was certainly not the first film to portray Adolf Hitler, it does have the distinction of being the first major German film to tackle the topic, with the legendary Bruno Ganz in the lead role. Hirschbiegel and screenwriter Bernd Eichinger recognized the awesome responsibility that was before them, along with the potential controversy they might face for telling the story of the last days of World War II. The national taboos associated with Hitler had been enough to scare off a generation of filmmakers before them, but rather than shirk the responsibility and give in to tired clichs and cheap caricature, the makers of Downfall deliver one of the most authentically realized historical movies ever made. After 20 years, Downfall remains an extremely important film,...

The infamous people-eater Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs and the terrifying John Doe in Seven are among the most sinister serial killers ever to exist on celluloid, but their ranks are growing. Even today, theyre passing the torch to new generations of Hollywood horrors, such as the title character of Longlegs.

Since the 2010s, audiences have been getting some of the strongest contenders for the most spine-chilling serial killers in horror. Many of these villains have been terrifying and fascinating audiences with their ruthlessness and depths of depravity. While serial killer films are not for the faint of heart, they still offer a good look into the darkest sides of humanity. These are among the most terrifying serial killer movies that have graced the screens, beginning with the 2010s.

The House That Jack Built (2018) Sees Its Serial Killer Go to Hell

Related What Horror Movie Took Things Too Far?...

Indian superstar Shah Rukh Khan will be feted by the upcoming Locarno Film Festival with a career achievement award, celebrating his more than 100 credits across a multitude of genres.

The Bollywood star will receive the award in the festival’s Piazza Grande on August 10. He will then also participate in a public conversation the next day.

The festival will also screen 2002 hit costume drama Devdas, in which Khan plays a man whose life spirals out of control after his family forbids him from marrying his childhood sweetheart.

Previous winners of Locarno’s Pardo alla Carriera include Francesco Rosi, Bruno Ganz, Claudia Cardinale, Johnnie To, Harry Belafonte, Peter-Christian Fueter, Sergio Castellitto, Víctor Erice,, Jane Birkin, Dante Spinotti, Costa-Gavras, and, most recently in 2023, Tsai Ming-liang.

“To welcome a living legend like Shah Rukh Khan in Locarno is a dream come true. The wealth and breadth of his contribution to Indian cinema is unprecedented.

Conspiracy thriller films have a way of sticking with our minds maybe it’s because they show that the authorities are hiding something and we know that actually might be true or maybe it’s just thrilling to uncover a large conspiracy even in a fictional world. We thought of compiling a list of the best and most thrilling conspiracy movies and we have only included the films that are entertaining and have a large conspiracy in their story. So, here are the 10 best conspiracy thriller movies you shouldn’t miss out on.

All the President’s Men (Rent on Prime Video)

All the President’s Men is a biographical political thriller film directed by Alan J. Pakula from a screenplay by William Goldman. Based on a 1974 non-fiction book of the same name by authors Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, the 1976 film is set during the 1972 elections and it follows the story...

This year’s Cannes competition began with a film set in a working-class environment where a young woman with a single mother dreamed of escaping it all through dance. It was Agathe Riedinger’s Wild Diamond, but squint the eyes and forget the sunny coastal scenery and you could have been watching Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank, a winner of the jury prize here fifteen years ago. Arnold now returns to the Croisette with Bird, remarkably just her third narrative film since and her closest to it, in many ways––up-and-coming stars next to non-professional actors, kitchen-sink realism, great music, sketchy dudes––although this time with Franz Rogowski playing a queer-coded Mary Poppins who might be a seagull.

Bird stars Nykiya Adams as Bailey, a young girl living with her father, Bug (a tattooed Barry Keoghan in a touching performance), in a free-spirited community house in a British coastal town.

Tom Ripley is back and in a big way. First introduced in Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 psychological thriller novel, Ripley is a sociopath, murderer, and con artist. He’s also the character Highsmith identified with-no wonder she wrote four more novels featuring Ripley. A 2023 New York Times article stated, “her concepts are daring, her portrayals of men in the throes of personality disorder and psychopathic leanings are equally repulsive and propulsive…she was a lesbian who identified more with men; an ardent pursuer of pleasure, especially in her youth…a raging antisemite…she could never hold on to happiness.”

Andrew Scott, the “hot priest” of “Fleabag,” is the latest actor to play the character described as having “an elusive sexuality,” in Netflix’s “Ripley,” a handsome, black-and-white limited series from Oscar-winning screenwriter/director Steve Zaillian (“Schindler’s List”).

Ripley’s a small-time con man living in a seedy room in New York...

Robert Eggers shared his terrifying take on “Nosferatu,” offering up the atmospheric first look at his remake of the famous vampire film to theater owners at CinemaCon this week. In the trailer, Lily-Rose Depp, playing a devout young woman, prays earnestly by candlelight. “Come to me, come to me, hear my call,” she intones before a hand reaches out to grab her neck.

And we’re off, with Eggers’ camera sweeping across wintery villages, dilapidated castles filled with secrets, and rats scurrying across cobblestones, portending some kind of primeval force that’s about to cast a shadow over everything. The movie evokes the best of classic horror — it’s moody, unsettling and also eerily beautiful. But it’s not just artful. There’s also blood gushing from necks and gangs of stake-wielding villagers hoping to use folklore to battle these unseen forces.

“Does evil come from within us or from beyond?...

Exclusive: German broadcasting network Ard has been accused of censorship following its decision to pull a scheduled broadcast of Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir’s 2017 feature Wajib due to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The film’s German co-producer Titus Kreyenberg told Deadline that Wajib had been due to air this Sunday (November 19), with the programming slot set for months and already announced in TV listings.

“It’s been taken off the schedule. Internally, we were told that it was decided that this was not the time to show a Palestinian film,” said Kreyenberg who works under the banner of Berlin and Cologne-based Unafilm with recent credits including Octopus Skin and A Woman.

Deadline has contacted Ard – a joint network involving 10 German regional public broadcasters – as well as Hamburg-based member Ndr, which backed the production. The networks have yet to respond.

Jacir’s drama Wajib is a gentle comedy-drama capturing the reality of Palestinians living within Israeli borders.

There’s a scene in the Paul Reubens-starrer Pee-wee’s Big Adventure that finds its titular character setting off on a vagabond adventure. He hops aboard a train to sit side-by-side with a grizzled, toothless man known as Hobo Jack, and they sing camp songs until Pee-Wee suddenly sours on the moment. The disgust radiates from his face and he makes a rash decision to jump off the moving train and tumble into the dirt below. The scene lasts all of 53 seconds.

“It’s such a committed, incredibly short joke that takes so much effort and I think that that has embedded somewhere deep inside me,” Greta Gerwig explained from the podium inside Tcl Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on Thursday night while introducing a screening of Tim Burton’s 1985 film as part of AFI Fest. The blockbuster Barbie director turned up as part of her guest-directing duties for the Los Angeles-based festival,...

The Barbie phenomenon is spreading to AFI Fest.

Greta Gerwig, who directed and co-wrote the billion dollar blockbuster starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, has been tapped to serve as guest artistic director of the Los Angeles-based festival. In the role, Gerwig will curate a number of films to add to the festival lineup and will be on hand to present one or more of those films depending on her schedule. Filmmakers like Pedro Almodóvar, Bernardo Bertolucci, Ava DuVernay, David Lynch and Agnès Varda have held the role in previous festivals.

On Oct. 10, AFI revealed the list of films Gerwig has selected. Those five films include Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz starring Roy Scheider, Jessica Lange and Ann Reinking, Vincente Minnelli’s An American in Paris starring Gene Kelly, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s A Matter of Life and Death, Tim Burton’s Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure starring the...

Golda is a biographical war drama film directed by Guy Nattiv from a script by Nicholas Martin. Starring Helen Mirren in the lead role of Golda Meir, the fourth Prime Minister of Israel, the film follows Golda’s leadership of Israel during the Yom Kippur War. The film also stars Camille Cottin and Liev Schreiber. So, if you loved Golda here are some similar movies you could watch next.

A Woman Called Golda (Not Streaming in the US) Credit – Syndication

Synopsis: The story of the Russian-born, Wisconsin-raised woman who rose to become Israel’s prime minister in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Darkest Hour (Netflix & Rent on Prime Video) Credit – Universal Pictures

Synopsis: Academy Award® winner Gary Oldman gives a “towering performance” in acclaimed director Joe Wright’s soaring drama Darkest Hour. As Hitler’s forces storm across the European landscape and close in on the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill...

Downfall is a controversial film for humanizing Hitler, but war historian praises Bruno Ganz's accurate portrayal in the movie. Other actors, like Taika Waititi and Charlie Chaplin, have also portrayed Hitler on screen, each with their own approach and tone. Alec Guiness, Anthony Hopkins, David Bamber, and Martin Wuttke have all portrayed Hitler in different films, but Ganz's portrayal in Downfall is considered the most accurate.

A war historian praises Downfall for its controversial take on Hitler and explains why so many other actors have failed in the role. Released in 2004, the German-language film takes place during World War II's Battle of Berlin with the Nazis on the brink of defeat and depicts the final days of Adolf Hitler (played by Bruno Ganz). Downfall is controversial due to how it humanizes Hitler despite his indefensible actions and ideology. The film also inspired the popular parody videos known as "Hitler Finds Out About.

Herzog's Nosferatu the Vampyre is the definitive version of Dracula ever brought to life on screen, thanks to its perpetual dream and mood. The film develops societal commentary through themes of wealth commodification and showcasing impoverished German villages. The makeup and music in Herzog's film are enhanced and haunting, creating a nightmarish atmosphere that rivals the groundbreaking effects of the 1922 original.

Few characters in cinema history have been adapted to the screen as many times as Dracula. Dracula, like Sherlock Holmes or Robin Hood, is part of the public domain, and thus has been brought to life by countless different actors and storytellers. While many would associate the character with his depiction in 1931’s Dracula and his subsequent appearances within the original Universal Monsters saga, there is a generation that grew up with Christopher Lee’s iteration of the character in the Hammer horror films, beginning with 1958’s The Horror of Dracula.

Although the conflict ceased nearly 80 years ago, society's fascination with World War II remains as steadfast as ever. Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer is the latest World War II-era film, causing significant intrigue across the cinematic landscape.

Hollywood has been churning out classic World War II movies ever since the war began in 1939. However, since World War II was a global affair, many countries other than the United States have produced seminal works about the conflict. Italy, France, Japan, Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union are all responsible for some of cinema's best international World War II films.

Related: 10 Great War Movies That Focus On The Losers

The Ascent (1977)

As was the case with many of the Soviet Union's greatest filmmakers, Larisa Shepitko found it extraordinarily difficult to gain permission to direct films under the strict censorship of the Soviet Union's State Committee for Cinematography. Several of her early films were either censored or banned,...

The Locarno Film Festival will fete Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård with its Honorary Career Leopard award at the upcoming edition, running August 2 to 12.

The award ceremony will take place August 4 at the Piazza Grande, followed by an audience Q&a at the Spazio Cinema on August 5, while the actor’s 1990 pic Good Evening, Mr. Wallenberg by Kjell Grede, will screen on August 3.

Alongside his work with European filmmakers such as Lars von Trier, for whom he starred five times, including Breaking The Waves, which won the Jury Prize at Cannes, Skarsgård is known for his roles in big Hollywood films such as Pirates of the Caribbean films, Mamma Mia!, Thor, and Denis Villeneuve’s Dune — the second part of which will be released this fall.

Also active in television, Skarsgård won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a miniseries in the HBO drama Chernobyl. He recently starred in...

The Locarno Film Festival will fete multi-award-winning Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang with an Honorary Career Leopard award at the upcoming edition running from August 2 to 12.

Regarded as a key figure in the Second New Wave of Taiwanese cinema, Malaysian-born Tsai Ming-liang made his debut in the early 1990s, breaking out internationally with Vive L’Amour, which won Venice’s Golden Lion in 1994.

Other award-winning titles include with The River, which won the Jury Award at Berlin in 1996, while in 2009, his work Visage (Face) became the first film to be included in the collection of the Louvre Museum’s “Le Louvre s’offre aux cineastes”.

Tsai’s connections with the art world have grown over the years and he has been invited to participate in various art exhibitions and festivals, while he developed aesthetic ideas such as “Hand-sculpted Cinema” and “The removal of industrial processes from art making”.

The festival’s celebration...

The Force may have been strong with Luke Skywalker, but Mark Hamill is certain that he will be hanging up his lightsaber once and for all. Not only that, but he’s confident that the Star Wars saga will be just fine without the beloved Jedi.

Mark Hamill has been chatting about Luke Skywalker a lot lately, with one notable take saying he’s open to being replaced by a younger actor. But now he has doubled down, saying maybe the character doesn’t need to be in the series anymore at all. “You never say never. I just don’t see any reason to [play him again]. Let me put it that way: I mean, they have so many stories to tell, they don’t need Luke anymore.” Hamill’s wording certainly catches attention, as he’s not saying “they don’t need me anymore” but specifically Luke, who served as the...

A third Wings of Desire centering on the angels that watch over us, is not in the cards, German director Wim Wenders said today at the Cannes press conference for his latest in competition title at the fest, Perfect Days.

“I don’t think I would go back to the idea of angels, if anything this comes pretty close,” Wenders said about Perfect Days.

Wings of Desire, which won Wim Wenders best director in 1987 at Cannes, and its 1993 sequel, Faraway, So Close!, which won him the Grand Jury Prize, explore the lives of angels who opt to lose their immortal wings and fall to Earth, tending to problems on the ground. The first installment took place in a divided Berlin with the Wall, while the sequel was set in the unified German capital.

“My angels forever disappeared in the sky,” said Wenders referring to the franchise’s late actors Peter Falk and Bruno Ganz.

The grand theme of Wings of Desire, Wim Wenders’s fantasy of angels in Berlin before the end of the Cold War, is storytelling in all its forms as a coping mechanism of the human race. Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and his more objective but similarly empathetic cohort, Cassiel (Otto Sander), whose wings are only fleetingly shown, regularly swap tales of the small behaviors and interactions they’ve witnessed after traversing the skies and streets to hear “only what is spiritual in people’s minds.”

Among those observed are an elderly poet, Homer (Curt Bois), wandering the sites of his vanished haunts from the pre-Nazi era, wondering why “an epic of peace” has never been sung; Peter Falk, playing some eternal version of himself, arriving to shoot a film and provide a good measure of American soul and humor to Berliners and angels alike; and waitress turned trapeze artist Marion preparing...

Above: Italian poster for The Lovemakers. Illustration by Mauro Innocenti.Over the past ten years I’ve surveyed the illustrated likenesses of stars like Lauren Bacall, Kirk Douglas, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Bruno Ganz and Monica Vitti as in memoriams after their passing, so I am happy to say that the occasion of this look at Claudia Cardinale in movie posters is simply that, starting today, the 84-years-young Ms. Cardinale is being fêted with a three-week, 23-film retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art.Claudia Cardinale is one of my favorite actors, but while exploring her career for this piece I realized that my affection for her really comes down to one film, albeit one of my all-time favorites: Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). The fact that she is the focus of perhaps my favorite single shot in all cinema—Sergio Leone's magnificent crane shot as Cardinale’s Jill...

Dracula is one of the most recognizable figures in popular culture, having been a mainstay of literature, film, stage, comics, TV, and more for 125 years. And it all flows back to Bram Stoker’s original 1897 novel, Dracula, which not only stands as a milestone in both horror and English literature, but provided the template for the vampire that has influenced a vast swath of entertainment for more than a century.

The ancient Transylvanian Count has appeared in scores of films and TV shows over the years, but while there have been at least eight major, direct adaptations of Stoker’s novel, there has yet to be a version that can be said to be the definitive screen translation of the book. Part of the reason for that is its format: Dracula is an epistolary novel, told from the viewpoints of different characters largely through diary entries, journals, letters, and newspaper reports.

Pilou Asbæk has quickly become one of those actors that many might not immediately know by name, but certainly remember for his villainous characters. From Euron Grayjoy in "Game of Thrones" to Wafner in "Overlord," he's gotten quite good at portraying characters you are either terrified of or want to punch in the face.

When I spoke to him to promote his latest film, "Run Sweetheart Run," it turns out that he loves these types of roles, and this latest one is certainly no different. Asbæk plays Ethan, a mysterious man who meets an aspiring lawyer named Cherie (Ella Balinska) after an internal scheduling error. At least, that's what Cherie thinks. While the two initially hit it off, Cherie realizes that there is something far more sinister about Ethan than he lets on, resulting in a wild chase throughout Los Angeles. Before you turn on the film on Prime Video,...

(Welcome to Year of the Vampire, a series examining the greatest, strangest, and sometimes overlooked vampire movies of all time in honor of "Nosferatu," which turns 100 this year.)

Civilization is a tenuous notion in "Nosferatu the Vampyre," Werner Herzog's 1979 remake of the original "Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror." The movie begins with footage of mummies in a cave, their faces frozen in ghastly, Edward Munch-like expressions. The camera pans down and we see that some of them are wearing shoes and fashionable heels, an image at odds with their half-decayed state and the spooky, ethereal choral chanting of Popol Vuh's "Brüder des Schattens" ("Brothers of the Shadow").

A bat flies in through the window of the bedroom where Lucy Harker, played by Isabelle Adjani ("Possession"), wakes screaming from a nightmare. Her husband Jonathan (Bruno Ganz) tries to console her, but he'll be riding off soon, despite her presentiments...

Cohen Film Collection is continuing its restorations of classic Merchant Ivory productions, among them 1963’s “The Householder,” the first film collaboration between Ismail Merchant and James Ivory.

The classics label of Cohen Media Group, Cohen Film Collection is lining up the restorations of four titles that also include the 1977 episodic romantic drama “Roseland,” with Teresa Wright and Christopher Walken, and two films directed by Merchant, “In Custody” (1994), featuring Shashi Kapoor, and “The Proprietor” (1996), starring Jeanne Moreau.

Tim Lanza, Cohen Film Collection vice president and archivist, says he chose “In Custody” – Merchant’s feature directorial debut — and “The Proprietor” in particular “because James Ivory was keen to have a rerelease of some of the films that were directed by Ismael Merchant himself.”

“The Householder” and “In Custody” are also among Merchant Ivory’s India-set films, which Lanza is likewise excited to reintroduce to audiences.

Cohen Film Collection acquired a number of...

The American Friend director Wim Wenders on Patricia Highsmith: “Amazing strong person.” Photo: courtesy of Swiss Literary Archives

In honour of Patricia Highsmith and the US theatrical première of Eva Vitija’s intimate Loving Highsmith, Film Forum in New York has scheduled movies adapted from the novels of the acclaimed author to show simultaneously with the documentary.

Eva Vitija with Anne-Katrin Titze: “The character of Ripley shows much about Patricia Highsmith herself.”

Highsmith On Screen includes Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers On A Train; René Clément’s Purple Noon; Wim Wenders’s The American Friend (starring Dennis Hopper and Bruno Ganz); Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Todd Haynes’s Carol (screenplay by Phyllis Nagy, adapted from The Price of Salt, starring Rooney Mara, Kyle Chandler, and...

Shot when the city seemed forever divided by the wall, this intensely romantic story of an angel who longs for human love is unlike any other

Wim Wenders’ extravagantly wistful, intensely literary romantic fantasy, co-conceived with Peter Handke, is re-released and right now it looks more than anything like an elegiac “city symphony” about Berlin. How extraordinary to think that just two years after this film came out, the Wall and the city’s division into east and west – which had seemed as poetically fixed and immutable as a river shoreline – disappeared. With its amazing crane and helicopter shots, Wenders’ movie swoops and hovers and floats over the city, pointedly surmounting the hated wall, enacting the longing of Berliners to somehow overcome history’s gravity and get over this ugly barrier.

Bruno Ganz and Otto Sander play Damiel and Cassiel, two angels in the sky above Berlin who amuse themselves...

I feel like I’ve just seen the first movie that — future developments pending — might work better in the breach, so to speak, than in the observance. So to speak.

What do I mean by this? Well, Nude Tuesday is a New Zealand comedy that distinguishes itself in a very Down Under culture-jamming sort of way: It is performed by the cast in a “language” that is mostly gibberish. There are a few words that were agreed upon in advance, for consistency — yaah and ne, for example; chula for “thanks” — but beyond that, the actors are working more with feeling rather than concrete meaning as they deliver their improvised nonsense dialogue.

It’s all the brainchild of director Armağan Ballantyne and actor, filmmaker, and costar here Jackie van Beek. Van Beek wrote the script — more a general outline, it would seem — and then, after production was completed, another writer, comedian Julia Davis,...

Spanish streaming service Filmin has acquired Lars von Trier’s “The Kingdom” trilogy, along with the full library of films by the director, from TrustNordisk.

Von Trier is currently completing the third and final instalment of “The Kingdom,” his cult 1990s TV show about the good, evil and paranormal inside the neurosurgical ward of Denmark’s main hospital.

Filmin is also acquiring the restored Seasons 1 and 2 of the show and will launch the complete series in Spain. The trilogy has already been acquired in several territories, including Germany and Austria (Koch Films), Japan (Synca Creations) and South Korea (AtNine).

“We are pleased to experience this high level of interest in the series among buyers, who are evidently intrigued and excited about the series’ epic story, director and cast, which of course comes as no surprise,” said Susan Wendt, TrustNordisk’s managing director.

Von Trier penned the script in collaboration with Niels Vørsel,...

Harry Styles nearly followed in the footsteps of Robert Pattinson and Anya Taylor-Joy.

In a lengthy, incredibly illuminating profile of director Robert Eggers for The New Yorker, it was revealed that Harry Styles was scheduled to be a part of Eggers’ remake of “Nosferatu,” starring Anya Taylor-Joy. But, alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

The article says that Styles had to drop out due to scheduling concerns. He appeared briefly in Marvel Studios’ “Eternals” last year and has a role in Olivia Wilde’s upcoming “Booksmart” follow-up “Don’t Worry Darling” alongside Florence Pugh and Chris Pine. Styles is releasing a new album in May and then going on an international tour, which may have conflicted with the intended “Nosferatu” shooting dates.

According to the New Yorker profile, Eggers’ cinematographer Jarin Blaschke had already enrolled his daughter in school in Prague when Styles dropped out.

It’s unclear if the project,...

(Welcome to Now Stream This, a column dedicated to the best movies streaming on Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and every other streaming service out there.) The American Friend Now Streaming on The Criterion Channel Release Date: 1997 Genre: Neo-Noir Director: Wim Wenders Cast: Dennis Hopper, Bruno Ganz, Lisa Kreuzer, Gérard Blain Wim Wenders‘ deliberately paced blend of neo-noir and tone […]

The post The Best Streaming Movies to Watch Right Now: ‘The American Friend,’ ‘The Empty Man,’ A Quiet Place Part II,’ ‘Barb and Star,’ and More appeared first on /Film.

TNT is developing a sequel series to the 2011 film “Unknown” with the movie’s star Liam Neeson on board as a producer, TheWrap has confirmed.

“Unknown” starred Neeson as Martin Harris, a doctor who loses his memory after a car accident only to wake up to find out his identity has been stolen and he is now the target of assassins. The series would pick up after the events of the film and follow a new lead character who is thrust into a mind-bending adventure full of twists and turns.

Jaume Collet-Serra, who directed the film, is attached to direct the series and executive produce. Sean Finegan will write the pilot and will executive produce. Karl Gajdusek and Speed Weed will serve as executive producers and showrunners. Ethan Erwin, Alex Mace and Hal Sadoff of Dark Castle are also executive producers, alongside Erik Olsen.

“Unknown” (the film) was written by...

Photo: ‘Winter Journey’/Danmarks Radio Bruno Ganz was a tremendous actor. Born in Switzerland in 1941, he spent the first several decades of his career amassing perhaps the most prestigious filmography in German cinema history, working with auteurs like Werner Herzog and Wim Wenders. He co-starred with Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier in the Nazi hunter sci-fi thriller ‘The Boys From Brazil’, and he unforgettably played Adolf Hitler in the 2004 film ‘Downfall’. In the last fifteen years of his life, he suddenly became a go-to character actor in English-language films, appearing alongside Denzel Washington in ‘The Manchurian Candidate’, Liam Neeson in ‘Unknown’, and Ralph Fiennes in ‘The Reader’. Ganz passed away following a battle with cancer in 2019; ‘Winter Journey’, the new film from Danish director Anders Østergaard, is his final onscreen performance. Related article: ‘The Crossing’ is a WWII Fairytale Adventure Set in the Enchanted Forests of Norway Related article: ‘Supernova...

Atom Egoyan on Christopher Plummer: “I had the honour of working with him twice, with Ararat in 2002 and Remember in 2015.”

In 2016, Atom Egoyan and I met at the Regency Hotel on Park Avenue for a conversation on his terrifically paced thriller Remember, written by Benjamin August. Structured in the spirit of a cumulative tale the film stars Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau, and Bruno Ganz. Since that time Martin Landau and Bruno Ganz have passed away. Sadly, on Friday morning, February 5, Christopher Plummer died at the age of 91.

Christopher Plummer in Atom Egoyan’s Ararat

At the Museum of Tolerance in New York during the post-screening discussion I moderated on Remember with his producer Robert Lantos, I commented to Atom: I would like to start with your choice of actors. It seems to me that their past roles inform the film. Christopher Plummer seems to whisper inaudibly throughout "Remember The Sound Of Music?...

Lars von Trier is set to direct “Kingdom Exodus,” the third and final season of “The Kingdom,” his cult 1990s TV show about the good, evil and paranormal inside the neurosurgical ward of Denmark’s main hospital.

Louise Vesth at Zentropa Entertainments is producing the five-episode season, which will start shooting next year. TrustNordisk handles international sales on the show, which is expected to be delivered in 2022. “The Kingdom Exodus” is a collaboration between Viaplay, Dr and Zentropa, with financial support from Film i Väst and Nordisk Film & TV Fond, among others.

Von Trier penned the script in collaboration with Niels Vørsel, as for the first two runs. A third season was being planned in the late 1990s before being abandoned followed the death of two cast members, Ernst-Hugo Järegård and Kirsten Rolffes.

“The Kingdom” was adapted by Stephen King in the U.S. as a 13-episode drama titled...

Francine Prose will join Roger Berkowitz, head of the Hannah Arendt Center, Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker for a conversation on Doc NYC Facebook Live this Monday at 2:00pm (Est) Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker’s kaleidoscopic investigation into the past and our future takes us on the road of history and the state of the world at this moment in time, featuring interviews with Saul Friedländer and Francine Prose on Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph Of The Will, Martin Amis on political tactics and characterology, Deborah Lipstadt, Beate Klarsfeld, Serge Klarsfeld, and 94-year-old Yehuda Bauer getting the last word. We enter with books by Timothy Snyder, Hannah Arendt, George Orwell, Klaus Theweleit, and the one by Sebastian Haffner that gives the film its name.

Clips from Mel Brooks’s The Producers to Bruno Ganz in Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Downfall to Anthony Hopkins in George Schaefer’s...

Several major distributors return to UK cinemas this weekend.

France, opening Wednesday, October 21

A dozen new films opened in France this week into a complex reality for the country’s distributors and exhibitors following the introduction of a night-time curfew for Paris and eight other major cities on October 17. It was announced yesterday (Oct 22) that the measure will be extended to more than half the country this Saturday (Oct 24) following a further surge in cases over the past week.

Prior to the announcement, a dozen distributors had taken the plunge to release films on Wednesday against already difficult odds. In the backdrop,...

Three-time Oscar nominee Wim Wenders, the director of “Paris, Texas,” “Wings of Desire” and “Buena Vista Social Club,” joined the “Life Through a Different Lens: Contactless Connections” talk earlier this week. Held by the Venice Film Festival and Mastercard, the virtual event allowed him to reminiscence about his beginnings. “I had no intention of becoming a filmmaker. I wanted to be all sorts of things, from a priest to god knows what, and trying to become a painter I ended up in Paris. Where else? That’s where I discovered the Cinémathèque Française, because I lived in a tiny, unheated room and the Cinémathèque was warm!”

Soon, he started to pay attention to the screen as well. “The first retrospective I followed was dedicated to Anthony Mann. He might not be recognised as one of the greats, but I learned so much from this man.” Always inspired by American cinema,...

Both the film itself and its theatrical and day and date streaming releases are of interest to cinephiles and cineastes.

The Tobacconist, a film by Nikolau Leytner based on the international bestseller by Robert Seethaler, is an idealistic story of a seventeen-year-old man who leaves his home in the countryside of Austria where his single mother works as a housekeeper. He journeys to Vienna to apprentice at a tobacco shop where he meets Sigmund Freud, a regular customer. Over time, as the Nazis move in to occupy Vienna, the two very different men form a singular friendship.

The young friend, played by Simon Morzé, succeeds in convincing Freud to leave Vienna and while in real life, this may not have actually happened, the story is a good one in that it illustrates the innate goodness and real friendship that is possible to cultivate during times as dire as the Nazi era,...

Finally, a movie that has the courage to ask: “Was it okay to be horny during the Holocaust?” While Nikolaus Leytner’s “The Tobacconist” poses several other provocative questions along the way, this stiff and milquetoast coming-of-age drama — — fails to ask any of them with the same clarity, and probably would have fared much better had it stuck to the subject at hand rather than try and leverage it toward some kind of deeper meaning. Of course, certain traps are hard to avoid when you’re adapting a Robert Seethaler novel about an über-hormonal Austrian teenager who finds himself getting romantic advice from Sigmund Freud (played by the late Bruno Ganz in the last of the actor’s films to be released in America).

A country boy with Aryan features who grew up on the green shores of Austria’s bucolic lake Attersee, Franz (a strapping but somewhat blank Simon Morzé...