Author: Alex Billington

"Terrified of the spotlight? These kids will show you what real bravery looks like." Disney+ has unveiled an official trailer for Choir, a documentary series streaming later this month on their service. Looks like an uplifting & inspiring tale of how much of a difference passion & determination can make. Take centerstage and sing your heart out with Detroit Youth Choir. Even though this is just a series about this youth choir, it's produced by Blumhouse (and Jason Blum) and Maniac Productions, plus Brian Grazer & Ron Howard. Lots of big names involved with this! But that's because this group made an appearance on "America's Got Talent." A teacher, mentor and father figure in the heart of Detroit, Anthony has impacted and empowered more than 1000 kids through music for over two decades. His efforts captivated America in the rise to the finale of "America's Got Talent" in 2019. This looks like it should be quite moving and entertaining to watch. Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Disney+'s doc series Choir, direct from Disney+'s YouTube: Choir is a 6-part documentary ...

"They told me you were tougher than this!" Proteus Entertainment has unveiled the first look teaser trailer for a movie titled Lawson, set for release sometime later in 2024. A covert operative for a race of living vampires battles a sinister conspiracy to resurrect an ancient god while an old enemy resurfaces from his past in this supernatural espionage film, based on the bestselling series of novels by Jon F. Merz. The book series has been referred to as "Jason Bourne with fangs" to get an idea of what they're aiming for. Brandon S. Stumpf stars in the lead role, joined by Shahjehan Khan, Liz Eng, Jam Murphy, Pamela Jayne Morgan, Jose Guns Alves, Jay Street, Morgan Barnsley, plus Brian McDonald as the Assassin, and Jon F. Merz as Crawford. Not a lot of footage to watch yet, keep an eye out for more updates on this soon. Here's the first teaser trailer (+ poster) for Dan Scarlatelli's Lawson movie, direct from YouTube: The film's story follows Lawson (Brandon S. Stumpf), a covert operative for a race of living vampires, as he ...

"After we met, I had a bit of a crush on you." "So what happened to it...?" Meet the new Emma and Dexter! Netflix has revealed the first official trailer for One Day, the brand new adaptation of the book of the same name. The upcoming limited series One Day will launch globally with all 14 episodes available in February. Emma and Dexter meet for the first time on the night of their graduation, in July of 1988. Tomorrow they must go their separate ways. One Day is a decades-spanning love story, based on the worldwide bestseller by David Nicholls. Each episode finds Dex and Em, one year older, on this one particular date, as they grow and change, move together and apart, experience joy and heartbreak. This story was already made into a movie back in 2011, starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, also called One Day. Netflix's new One Day stars Ambika Mod as Emma and Leo Woodall as Dex, also featuring Essie Davis, Tim McInnerny, Amber Grappy, Jonny Weldon, Eleanor Tomlinson, Joely Richardson, and Toby Stephens. This ...

"I would ask him about the people in the pictures, and he would say 'these are our people.'" Abramorama has revealed an official trailer for a documentary film titled Vishniac, about a photographer who has been forgotten in time. Difficult and flamboyant, Roman Vishniac captured iconic images of Jewish life, from the cafes of pre-war Berlin to the shtetls of Eastern Europe. But it would be up to his daughter to preserve his legacy. American-Israeli Director Laura Bialis (Rock in the Red Zone), along with executive producer Nancy Spielberg and producer Roberta Grossman, take us on a journey through the various chapters in the life of the photographer. From the cosmopolitan streets of pre-war Berlin, to the shtetlach in Poland and Lithuania to the Princeton offices of Albert Einstein, Vishniac's achievements in art & science invited praise and controversy. Vishniac explores the person behind the photos, while illuminating the many surprising chapters of his life. It's opening in NY & LA cinemas first before expanding to a few more art house theaters. Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Laura Bialis' ...

"Blemish, you don't even like music!" "Who ever said that?" Time for something a bit funky and tons of fun. The Quarry is an 11-minute animated short film comedy made by the illustrator / animation filmmaker Graham Mason based in NYC. it was originally created for Adult Swim Smalls, their short films spin-off featuring all kinds of wacky, weird creations. The Quarry is described as a "soap opera about rocks" though it's much more of a sitcom about rocks working at a quarry. One of them tries to ask out his co-worker on a date, and things don't go as planned. Featuring the voices of Brad Howe, Matthew Maher, Grace Rex, and Peter Smith. It likely won't be turned into a primetime sitcom anytime soon, but it's a fun escape into the wacky world of rocks trying to, uh, have a solid life. I laughed the most at the rock keyboard at the start. Thanks to Vimeo Staff Picks for the tip on this film being available to watch online. Brief intro from Vimeo: "A soap opera about rocks." Enough said! ...

"On air!" Peacock has revealed an official trailer for a streaming series debuting later in January called In The Know, a fun riff on NPR office life. It's co-created by Brandon Gardner, Zach Woods, and comedy mastermind Mike Judge (known for Office Space, Idiocracy, "Beavis & Butt-Head", "Silicon Valley"). This public radio parody follows the making of NPR's fictional "third most popular host" Lauren Caspian's radio program, where he conducts in-depth interviews with special guests – including Kaia Gerber, Ken Burns, Finn Wolfhard, Norah Jones, Mike Tyson, Hugh Laurie, Jorge Masvisdal, and more. "He's a well-meaning, hypocritical nimrod, just like you and me. He's also a stop motion puppet." The show features stop-motion animation from ShadowMachine (the same place that also made Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio) and a voice cast featuring Zach Woods as Lauren, Charlie Bushnell, J. Smith-Cameron, Mike Judge, Caitlin Reilly, & Carl Tart. The cleverest part are the interviews with real people spliced with all the other antics. Here's the first official trailer for Hulu's stop-motion series In The Know, direct from Hulu's YouTube: In the Know is set ...

"I can't forget how you accepted me so naturally... I felt that, more than any person, it was YOU who actually saw me." This highly acclaimed animated short film is included on the shortlist for the Oscars this year. It originally premiered in 2022, but made the cut for 2023 and will likely end up nominated later this month. Letter to a Pig is an animated short film created by Israeli artist / filmmaker Tal Kantor. After playing on the festival circuit for years, Short of the Week has premiered the full 16 minute short online to watch. A Holocaust survivor reads a letter he wrote to the pig who saved his life while on the run in WWII. A young schoolgirl hears his testimony in her class and sinks into an inner dark journey, where she confronts questions of identity as the boundary between animalism and the extremes of human nature blurs. It's a fascinating short because it's not what you're expecting just from that intro - there's much more going on in it. The animation is also distinct, ...

"Every year there is another." What does it all mean? Any ideas? Any theories? Neon has revealed a strange and mysterious 30-second teaser trailer video for a film that they don't actually name. Very freaky. Though we're pretty damn sure it's a viral teaser for the horror film Longlegs. Yesterday night, a moviegoer posted a video on social media showing a brand new teaser trailer for Longlegs playing in theaters right now - but it's not online yet (and the video was pulled). This teaser features audio of a 911 call, along with a photo that switches at the end. The title card on this teaser is the same red title card with symbols or cryptic text, exact same as seen in the trailer playing in theaters. It could also be for another Neon horror film called Cuckoo, that's premiering at the 2023 Berlin Film Festival next month. Longlegs is the latest from horror filmmaker Oz Perkins, and it stars Maika Monroe as an FBI agent searching for a serial killer. She finds connections to the occult, then things get ...

"The world is changing. Reforming. This is your moment." Another year, another Top 10. After watching more than 400 films throughout 2023 (always logging everything on my Letterboxd for anyone curious) it's time to share my final selection of My Top 10 Favorite Films of 2023. I try to watch as much as I can and give myself time to catch up with any extra films at the end of the year, but my favorites can come from anytime in 2023. I fell hard for all the major ones - Oppenheimer, Spider-Verse, Past Lives, Poor Things, and American Fiction. Before anyone asks about the ones missing: I'm not that big on Killers of the Flower Moon (it's good not great), I quite like Anatomy of a Fall but it didn't make the cut, Godland and The Eight Mountains are on last year's Top 10, Saltburn is bad (yeah it's meh), and Godzilla: Minus One is great also didn't make the cut. I stuck to my gut and chose these 10 that made me passionate for cinema all over again. For the ...

"I do what I do because I want to be loved!" Shudder has revealed an official US trailer for the documentary film titled Dario Argento Panico (also called just Panico). "Experience the world of Dario Argento like never before." This originally premiered at the 2023 Venice Film Festival last year in the "Venice Classics" section. It is the first biopic doc ever dedicated to Argento. The film zooms in on titular Italian filmmaker Dario Argento as he finishes writing the script for his last feature in a hotel as a film crew shoots a movie about him. "It is an immersive deep dive into the creative process and life of Argento and features exclusive interviews with the legendary filmmaker and insight from other acclaimed directors like Gaspar Noé, Guillermo del Toro and Nicolas Winding Refn about his impact on the horror genre and generations of other directors." Argento is now 83 years old and continues to make films - Dark Glasses was out in 2022, and this film covers a bit of the making of that one. If you've never ...