Author: Alex Billington

"You came despite everything." Of course, she misses that big kitty! Studiocanal has revealed the official trailer for Autumn and the Black Jaguar, the latest animal friendship adventure movie from the same French filmmakers behind Mia and the White Lion and The Wolf and the Lion previously. So pretty much the same thing all over again - another girl and a wild cat. The film also goes under the title Ella and the Black Jaguar, or Le dernier Jaguar, because it's a French production and the her original name in that version Ella. However, the film is in English anyway. A new adventure in the heart of the Amazon, the story follows a girl who befriends a black Jaguar in the Amazon, and returns years later to find the Jaguar and save her from those who seek to destroy the rainforest and all of its wildlife. Lumi Pollack stars as Ella / Autumn, with Wane Baker, Paul Greene, Emily Bett Rickards, and Kelly Hope Taylor. This looks exceptionally cheesy and saccharine, with as many cute shots of the baby jaguar ...

"Now even though you're the King, you're quite taken with me. In celebration of the release of the film for streaming on Netflix worldwide, Netflix has debuted one final 60-second promo trailer for Bradley Cooper's Maestro. It's another triumphant look at this film about the life of this great conductor. It first premiered at the 2023 Venice Film Festival and it also played at NYFF. Maestro is a "towering love story" chronicling the lifelong relationship between Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein. A love letter to life and art, Maestro at its core is an emotionally epic portrayal of family and love. Co-written by, produced by, directed by, and starring Cooper, starring Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan, with Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke, Sarah Silverman, Josh Hamilton, Gideon Glick, Sam Nivola, Alexa Swinton, and Miriam Shor. One of the best things about Maestro is the cinematography by DP Matthew Libatique, which is featured plenty in this final trailer. If you're interested to see how Cooper handles this story about Bernstein, then this is a must watch film - add to ...

"Don't let the monster win." "No, never again." Saban Films has revealed an official trailer for a mysterious crime thriller film called Cult Killer, which is a new title instead of the original The Last Girl. This is now set to open in January, another boring early-in-the-year dumping grounds release to ignore. Set in Ireland, a renowned private investigator and his partner are drawn into a web of intrigue when they start tracking a serial killer targeting a wealthy family with a dark secret. The PI is forced into a dangerous alliance with the killer in order to uncover a quiet town's grisly criminal underbelly and clear the name of her mentor, who is implicated in the crimes. Starring Alice Eve in the lead role, Shelley Hennig, Paul Reid, and Antonio Banderas, with Olwen Fouéré, Kim DeLonghi, Nick Dunning. Not really much worth watching here. Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Jon Keeyes' Cult Killer, direct from Saban's YouTube: When a renowned private investigator is murdered, his protege Cassie Holt (Alice Eve) takes on the case. As her investigation unfolds, she ...

This strange, one-of-a-kind animated short film has finally made its way online after originally premiering over 6 years ago. [O] is an animated made by filmmakers Mario Radev and Chiara Sgatti - both based in London. It debuted in 2017 at Raindance and other fests, played in 2018 at the Sundance and Annecy Film Festivals, with many other stops. Originally an animation school graduation film for both Mario and Chiara. "This film imitates the functioning of nature. Life cycles are represented in a world entirely based on sound frequency and vibration." Perhaps a few of you already caught this at a festival, if not, you are in for a treat. I'd put this high on a list of "I've never seen anything like it" visuals. The 6-minute short is a 2D animated film with some of the kookiest, freaky creatures & characters - reminds me of other horror shorts Something in the Garden and Playground. The sound design is as important as the visuals in this, with some eerie and disturbing sounds that you will never forget. It's hard to ...

"Just remember, the thing you're running from is almost always the thing you're running towards." We're all running towards the movie theater - right?? Happy Holidays movie buffs! It's time for a look back at the year in movies. Our good friend the "Sleepy Skunk" has released his annual end-of-the-year recap video - the 2023 Movie Trailer Mashup - utilizing footage from every major movie trailer released throughout 2023 edited together to make you laugh and grin and get all emotional. Louis, who makes this mashup every year, puts a lot of time and effort into making sure this plays perfectly. I'm delighted to see him include clips from films like Scrapper, Godzilla: Minus One, Skinamarink, Sanctuary, BlackBerry, La Chimera, The Boy and the Heron, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, & so many others. One of his best - click play below. This 2023 retrospective comes direct from SleepySkunk's YouTube page. For the full list of films (with time-stamps) featured in the video mashup, head right to this Tumblr page. As usual with these year-end video retrospectives, there's probably a ...

"Have some pride! Let me do my work and grateful" HBO Max has debuted a second teaser trailer for The Regime, one of their highly anticipated upcoming series launching in early 2024. And boy does it look good – very good! The Regime is a new political thriller dark comedy series created by Will Tracy, now known as the writer of The Menu screenplay (love this film), working with British filmmaker Stephen Frears. The series stars Kate Winslet as the dictator of a fictional Middle European autocracy, following along as her regime begins to crumble and her power begins to wane. Ohhh yeah this seems like a wicked story twist into a dark satire about how insane all these power hungry, autocrat politicians always are. The supporting cast includes Andrea Riseborough, Matthias Schoenaerts, Martha Plimpton, Guillaume Gallienne, Hugh Grant, and Danny Webb. Even better than the first teaser! It looks so delectable and twisted and insane, just the right kind of mockery of these autocrats and dictators that the world needs right now. Enjoy. Here's the second teaser trailer for Max's ...

"Every frame has our fingerprints on it." The one-of-a-kind movie design house Weta Workshop based in New Zealand has dropped a video online showcasing their work on the sci-fi epic The Creator. Directed by Gareth Edwards, this A.I. robots vs imperialist humans action thriller opened in theaters in the fall a few months ago. While it didn't do as well as expected at the box office, there are still many fans worldwide who fell hard for this sci-fi spectacular. Weta Workshop, the ingenious creators behind all the Lord of the Rings movies, designed and created almost every futuristic costume, weapon, military outfit, and other specialty prop pieces for the movie. "Know the world first before we start designing for it" is the mantra they discuss in this. It's a remarkable behind-the-scenes look, showcasing a whole book's worth of images and sketches and more. Weta Workshop is still the best at what they do! Mesmerizing to watch this look at their process. Here's the official "Behind the Scenes with Wētā Workshop on The Creator" featurette, from YouTube: You can rewatch the teaser for ...

"That's what entertainment's supposed to do..." Strand Releasing has unveiled the official US trailer for the fascinating documentary film called Fantastic Machine, made by two Swedish filmmakers, out to watch on VOD in January. This premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and played at tons of fests all year long (it's the exact same trailer as the festival promo). The original full title is "And the King Said, What a Fantastic Machine", which is taken from the reaction of King Edvard VII of England about Georges Méliès' staged recreation of his coronation (in 1902), his one-liner resonating with a double meaning today: "What a fantastic machine the camera is." From the first camera to 45 billion cameras worldwide today, the visual sociologist filmmakers widen their lens to expose both humanity's unique obsession with the camera's image and the social consequences that lay ahead. I watched this at Sundance and it's a compelling, brutally honest film that shows both the good and bad sides of humanity's obsession with cameras. Yes, it gets into what's wrong and bad about TikTok / ...

"Live and resist in a world of black and white." Toho in Japan has unveiled plans to release a special black & white version of Godzilla: Minus One in theaters in January 2024 in Japan. The studio has dubbed this new version as "Godzilla-1.0/C", meaning Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color. It's a "monochrome video version" that will be playing in theaters - only in Japan for now, but perhaps later in the US. One can hope! Post war Japan is at its lowest point when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster, baptized in the horrific power of the atomic bomb. This epic action sci-fi movie stars Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sakura Ando, Kuranosuke Sasaki. This is the latest B&W release of a great action movie, following Mad Max: Fury Road and The Mist, among others. It's actually much more of a throwback to the first 1954 Gojira movie, which was originally in B&W anyway. This is an awesome trailer, properly evoking that classic 1954 feel. This movie rules! Go see ...