by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent Last night at the 37th Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) when Kristen Stewart arrived, you could actually hear the crowd roar outside in the light rain behind the makeshift metal gates along the street outside the Arlington Theater. And that’s how #KStew, in her fan shorthand, brought the post-pandemic thrill back to SBIFF when she accepted the American Riviera Award. Part of the magic was a black and white feathery mini...

by Quendrith Johnson, Film Critic  Finally Kristen Stewart has had a real sunrise since the early Twilight of her career. That would be SPENCER, her peckish portrait of Princess Diana from Director Pablo Larrain. This is the “hellish Christmas” Princess Diana moment of thirty years ago, set in 1991, that released Nov. 5 from NEON.  Now playing up to six times a day, viewers can see the grandeur and the grotesque in “Peaky Blinders” screenwriter Steven Knight...

©Photo: La Biennale di Venezia   Chilean director Pablo Larrain and Kristen Stewart at debut of Spencer at Venice. Larrain calling Stewart a "miracle" made her wince. The film operates around the "mystery" of Diana Spencer and the projections those who didn't know her made. Pablo Larrain's vision was to "make a film his mother would like", a film that took three days to make, a visual choreography set to Jonny Greenwood though when filmed, the ...

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent Zeitgeist moments happen with movies, and Pablo Larrain’s upcoming Netflix release SPENCER starring Kristen Stewart may just be that spark that brings back the power of Lady Diana into the world. Forgive the hyperbole. With the House of Windsor fractured, meaning Prince Harry in California and HRH Prince William as the King-in-the-making back home in the UK? There couldn’t be a better time to reintroduce the woman who set a t...

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...

Charlie’s Angels, Review: Bossy angels and Bosleys A dozen or more women in breath-taking action is not a common feature on the Hollywood screen, or, for that matter, on any screen. Charlie’s Angels take on a charity thief and some invention grabbers in an adventure that takes them from Brazil to Hamburg to Turkey. Along the way, you discover that all the men in the film, bar two, are either evil or bumped off or both. There is an action overdose on occasions when it was not requi...

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent Coming off her $287 M USD outing on PITCH PERFECT 2, Director Elizabeth Banks also writes the screenplay in this new incarnation of CHARLIE’S ANGELS from SONY on Nov. 15. “Sworn to Secrecy. Bound by Sisterhood” is the tagline here, with the story by Evan Spiliotopoulos and David Auburn. Drew Barrymore and Nancy Juvonen, from their previous retool of the Angel’s franchise, executive produce. Cast includes some other great...

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent Woody Allen’s newest film Café Society just opened July 15, and it fits into a cinematic history of stories about Hollywood that audiences love. But Woody Allen himself has been a lightning rod for so long, the electricity generated off the attendant controversies could power a small town. That said, we’re talking about a movie, folks, not the personal life of the director. With that caveat, Café Soc...

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent When Michael Keaton “was frozen” in a scene for the newly released Birdman, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, according to Edward Norton, who appeared with him at an AFI conversation on 11/8, “you could see he was having trouble.” “I mean, I don’t know if this story is apocryphal,” Norton offered, “but there’s this story I heard (from a director), that when Greta ...

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent It is a little early for Julianne Moore to run away with Best Actress heat for Still Alice, but Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) and Shailene Woodley (The Fault in Our Stars) already have made traction in the Oscar race so far.  The festival noise from Still Alice is deafening, and will catch up with the buzz early next month, but even the anticipation at seeing an early November pre-screening is adrenaline rush enough. Keep in mind, Julianne Mo...

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent   If the rumors are true, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 reboot actually nixed Shailene Woodley's cameo, you have to wonder what they were thinking. She's on the cover of Marie Claire (read: "This is What a Badass Looks Like"), giving workout tips in People Magazine, and breaking big at the box office. In fact, Shailene Woodley, 22, went from George Clooney sidekick in The Descendants to fronting Divergent with bullets to ...

  by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent   In the 1920's, Louise Brooks (Pandora's Box, Diary of a Lost Girl) famously took a 50 percent pay cut to work with German director G. W. Pabst, from $1000 a week to $500 a week, and flew to Berlin to make the best movies of the Kansas-born actor's career. In 2014, Jonah Hill cheerfully admits he accepted scale, around $60,000 USD, for a chance to be directed by Martin Scorsese in Wolf of Wall Street, for which he, along...

By Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent Last night two of the biggest stars from the TWILIGHT franchise, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner, made a surprise appearance on the red carpet for the world premiere of Summit Entertainment's A BETTER LIFE at Los Angeles Film Festival.    Half the folks crowded outside were probably there just for TWILIGHT reasons, but this won't bother the director of A BETTER LIFE, Chris Weitz, since he helmed NEW MOON. Both Kristen and Taylor...

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent   TWILIGHT's Peter Facinelli: Making His Own Movies While worldwide audiences may credit Summit Entertainment's TWILIGHT franchise with introducing the world to Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and highest-paid teen acting sensation Taylor Lautner, the clutch of vampire movies based on Stephenie Meyers' best-selling books is also responsible for launching independent production companies for Peter Facinelli and series scr...

Interview: Michael Welch on “Twi-Hards” and Not Getting Robert Pattinson's Role, PSby Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles CorrespondentTwilight’s Michael Welch, 23, is only human. While Robert Pattinson gets to be main squeeze vampire to Kristen Stewart’s Bella, Welch admits “my character stays human in all three movies, well, hopefully four movies -- there are four books.”Since the Santa Clarita, CA, native became an actor “at age 10,” he has been counting his lucky scars ever since....