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by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Before you can say you knew him well, Carl Reiner (1922-2020), who left earth on June 29 for better comedic opportunities, will be feted by TCM for a life very well lived on July 28. Mr. Reiner was not only a funny, funny man, but once Garry Marshall told me that Reiner dismissed his writing as “one liner” comedy. Marshall (1934-2016), who has also left us for comedy heaven, never forgot those words, and said he incorp...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Boys, Texas, a mock election, what could go wrong? Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner for 2020, BOYS STATE, chronicles 1100 eager teenage mini-men as they vie for a week-long bid to make their own state government, in this Apple Original to hit theaters on July 31.
Directed by Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine, this all-male shindig down in the Lone Star State may come off as tone-deaf in a ‘woke,’ hashtag MeToo environment, but boys wi...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Official word is that Woody Allen’s world premiere venue for his latest film RIFKIN’S FESTIVAL, about a guy who goes to a film festival (imagine that), will unspool in Spain at the 68th edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival.
This comes on the heels of the dismissal without prejudice of his four-year, $80 M USD legal tussle with Jeff Bezos and Amazon that was settled out of court for “an undisclosed sum,” as they say...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Although Cannes 2020 is the focus right now, and the films we should see, consider taking a glimpse at this Op-Ed from Peter Workman's enterprise, Workman Publishing.
It will keep you updated on the American fracturing happening right now. Perhaps things break before the enlightenment comes?
Or just chaos before a critical election in the United States put into context...
Curated by Screenmancer Staff - Workman Publishing Op-Ed
As we as ...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
This is a Cannes First Look, or what's on display for sale during this debut year as the storied festival goes strictly online thru June 26, 2020. RAJAH is an adventure epic set against the backdrop of the former Borneo (now Kalimantan, Indonesia), the third largest isle in the world, full of mystery. Jonathan Rhys Meyers stars as Sir James Brooke, in Margate House Films' RAJAH, the biographical true story of an English expl...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Cannes makes history this week, online for the first time in - forever? So the internet show must go on. Business gets done, films get made, and HUNTERS IN THE DARK from DDI adds Aneurin Barnard to the I AM NUMBER FOUR actor, and more...
LOS ANGELES, CA: Jason Moring, DDI CEO, announced today that BAFTA nominated actor Aneurin Barnard has been cast opposite award-winning actor Alex Pettyfer (I AM NUMBER FOUR, MAGIC MIKE) in HUNTERS IN THE DARK,...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Sometimes a listicle is better than a... review. Thought it was going to be a blue rhyme, didn't you?
Spike Lee's new film for Netflix has many baffled, so without further ado, let's add some more blood in the water of discontent.
The June 12 release has been dubbed a visionary essay, a visual screed, even a disjointed "joint" from this legendary auteur. However?
No matter how many mechanical issues one...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Hollywood makes a shorthand distinction between Westerns and Bollywood with "dots or feathers," and while in this woke climate that phrase may die out, there is no doubt what a powerhouse India is in terms of filmmaking. Whether you call it the cinema of Bollywood, or the artistic treasures from the second most populous country on earth, Indian output in the undustry far outstrips all others. That said, here is a chance to really enjoy...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Federico Fellini is being feted by FARE Cinema in collaboration with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association through June 21, and you can learn more here, plus you're invited to attend virtually...
Los Angeles, CA: FARE CINEMA, a free initiative to promote Italian cinema and film industry in the world by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Italy, is virtual for the third edition since Ju...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Writer David Koepp became a Director years ago, but his freshest scarer is YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT starring Kevin Bacon and Amanda Seyfried from Universal Pictures. PANIC ROOM’s Koepp will fry Bacon and toast Seyfried, no doubt in this nailer-biter for Blumhouse Productions. You have only to peruse their description, as the goosebumps appear prior to the 6/19 release.
On a personal note, Koepp was my mentor at UCLA Film School and uses the f...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
This Coronaviral envrinoment has upped the bar for distance or remote learning, which - while enforced by lockdown - might not be a bad thing. So, while your coffee pot is pinging you from the cloud, as part of the IoT (Internet of Things) it might be a time to brush up on some history, hysteria, and hype that is Artificial Intellgence (AI) or "machines who think," lolz.
Op-Ed by The Screenmancer
Consider this our Jerry Maguire writi...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Ever since WHIPLASH, Miles Teller has landed some interesting gigs - as Lt. Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw in Top Gun: Maverick from Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films for one. But he's not just going after franchises like the Tom Cruise big sky-bang box office remake. He's on deck for Rupert Wainwright's take on the novel "Not Without Hope" and also produces for this one.
Here's the premise...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
For a while now we’ve been thrilled to follow filmmaker Betsy Kalin and her remarkable camera's eye. Kalin, who we found through the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) years ago when Carol Marshall and staffers set up these great indie filmmaker roundtables, previously filmed an East LA exploration, that you can find on her IMDb page, along with her other films. You can find her bio here.
For 2020, s...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Everything you thought you knew about Lee Grant is not everything there is to know about this longstanding player, and the stats from AFI Docs are interesting this year... Read on.
The American Film Institute has revealed its full slate of films being presented online for the AFI DOCS 2020 festival. The lineup features 59 films from 11 countries and 12 virtual World Premieres, with 61% of the films directed by women, 25% by POC directors and 14...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
“Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon” is the innocuous language used in the 1948 iconic New Yorker short story by writer Shirley Jackson, whereby a wife and mother named ‘Tessie’ is stoned to death in her typical American small town by the friendly village folk, a longstanding tradition. ‘Old Man Warner’ insists doing away with the lottery proves the young generation are “damn fools,” and on that n...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
So, the opening of CAPONE, written, directed and edited by Josh Trank, begins with “October 17, 1931.” A second and third set of title cards create confusion, since the last year of Al Capone’s life is 1947. In fact, when THE WIZARD OF OZ comes up in his private screening room? You might think it’s 1939, because that is the film’s release date. The title cards give it “a decade later” but audiences ...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Sometimes the people who say things best are the ones who lived the experience, which means veteran Adam Driver and his AITAF non-profit want your full attention now and forever... For everyone, man, woman, child (at 19) and service dog who gave their lives for our freedom. Worldwide this message applies in the West. #HonorAndRemember
AITAF on Memorial Day
At Arts in the Armed Forces (AITAF), we believe deeply in the power of st...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Where has Jamie Kennedy been? In lockdown like the rest of us. But Monday, May 25 (also his milestone birthday), his one-hour comedy special JAMIE KENNEDY: STOOPID SMART breaks out on Tubi TV. Tubi is the self-title “#1 free streaming app” thinly disguised as a start-up.
Kennedy puts it this way: “I have starred in movies. I have had my own television shows. But tonight I am playing the back of a bowling alley in Huntington Be...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Suddenly everyone is Robert Osborne online - if you don’t remember him, he was a Turner Classic Movies Host who literally brought back “old movies” to a new generation - but now there are so many liner-note commenters. You've got a cinema ga-lazy of Blogstars and Podcast heroes, so it's unremarkable when all-comers comment on films…
However, tonight MGM is casting Sylvester Stallone as a L...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Tribeca thriller DON'T TELL A SOUL was just bought buy Saban, and is described by producer Chris Mangano as "a special film that will surprise a lot of people, and Saban Films genuinely understands its appeal to both commercial and critical audiences. We could not be in better hands.” Read on...
LOS ANGELES: Saban Films announced today that they have acquired North American rights to Alex McAulay’s (Flower) directo...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Some may consider Lena Dunham of HBO’s “Girls” an over-sharer when it comes to intimate details, but you’ll be surprised to learn she is a huge fan of the demure rom-com genre. Specifically where Tom Hanks (lately recovered from MyCorona) and Meg Ryan are concerned. Dunham does the late Nora Ephron proud with an intro to SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE, from a story by Jeff Arch, for AFI MOVIE CLUB.
The screenplay was crafted by Dire...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Perhaps the racial fault lines of another era resulted in America’s once-sweetheart Jean Seberg (1938-1979) suicided in the back of a sedan at age 40, nevertheless Kristen Stewart shines a meaningful klieg light on her short life in SEBERG, debuting on Prime Video today as an Amazon Original. Jean-Luc Godard plucked this waif from America, framed her look and iconic status in his French New Wave classic BREATHLESS. But she also made (arguabl...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Who doesn’t love a little riot grrrl to kick off this hellish Pandemic Spring of 2020? That raised a smile, hopefully, and once-popstar Kate Nash’s own true(ish) film story will do the same. Because right now, this musician’s gritty comeback from near-homelessness to doc star through the freedom she reclaimed with her art is one narrative everyone in lockdown can use as a personal pick-me-up. Kate Nash at 18 was a wunderkind turn...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
So there’s a poll, source may have some bias, that has determined that “80 percent of Americans want to go out to the movies in July.” We thank our friends at DDAPR for that stat, and with it comes the first movie out of the Pandemic box. UNHINGED starring Russell Crowe from Solstice Studios is set for July 1.
“We made this decision after extensive consultation with the National Association of Theater Owners and leading...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
What do Elliot Gould, filmmaker Billy Ray, and Jethro Tull have in common? The greater good of mankind it seems. The Man/Kind Project, whose funder is Richard Stellar (see bio below), is supported by this unusual grouping, as well as many others. And they are doing good things in COVID-19 times.
Curated by Screenmancer Staff from The Man/Kind Project
LOS ANGELES, CA: The Man/Kind Project, Inc. announced today that they are distributing thei...
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Johnson Quendrith 
