Exclusive: Kevin Durand (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes) is the newest addition to the cast of the as-yet-untitled monster thriller that Radio Silence’s Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett are directing for Universal.

The actor joins an ensemble which also includes Melissa Barrera, Alisha Weir and Dan Stevens, as previously announced.

In the vein of Universal’s recent films like The Invisible Man and Renfield, the Radio Silence thriller will provide a unique take on legendary monster lore, representing a fresh, new direction for how to celebrate these classic characters. Universal monster films are rooted in the horror genre, with no restrictions on budget, rating or genre — and they are not part of a shared interconnected universe, which allows each to stand on its own. This new direction is filmmaker-driven, inviting innovative filmmakers with original, bold ideas for these characters to develop the stories and pitch them.

Stephen Sheilds wrote the script,...

Click here to read the full article.

Minka Kelly (Euphoria, Titans), Maggie Grace (Fear The Walking Dead, Taken) and Dermot Mulroney (My Best Friend’s Wedding, The Family Stone, Shooting Stars) are set to star in the psychological thriller Blackwater Lane, based on the New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling book The Breakdown by British author B.A. Paris.

The film marks the first adaptation of one of Paris’ books and has now started shooting in the U.K.

Jeff Celentano (The Hill, Glass Jaw) directs the psychological thriller with supernatural elements that tells the story of a woman, played by Kelly, who drives by a stranded motorist later revealed to have been murdered. After a series of terrifying events, the woman becomes convinced she is the killer’s next victim while her husband, played by Mulroney, and her best friend, played by Grace, worry about her sanity.

Elizabeth Fowler (Official Secrets,...

Stars: Aj Bowen, Sophie Dalah, Scott Poythress | Written by Meghan Leon | Directed by Meghan Leon, Brad Baruh

Russell is a rideshare driver with a Porsche. That’s about all he has left after his career and marriage fell apart. So when Charlotte (Sophie Dalah; Satanic) starts offering him large amounts of cash to cancel his plans and drive her around the city, and not log it in his app, he agrees. She comes running out of her first stop with a small box, and her ex in hot pursuit. But that’s just a taste of what’s to come. When they accidentally hit a pedestrian Charlotte convinces him not to call the police, she can help him get rid of the body. When the body steals the Porche and drives off into the night, that’s when it really gets weird.

Set against the backdrop of Christmas in Los Angeles,...

Puppets

BritBox U.K.’s “Spitting Image” will return to the airwaves on Sept. 11, with a lineup featuring several new puppets of prominent national figures. Last year, the program was a massive hit for BritBox, the streaming platform co-developed by the BBC and ITV, reaching an audience of more than 4.4 million viewers for the series’ U.S. Election Special and over 200 million global online viewers for the year. In 2020 series creator Roger Law returned to “Spitting Image” as head of the series’ creative team, with Jeff Westbrook joining as showrunner. Avalon produces. Earlier this year it was also announced that a new local version of “Spitting Image” will be made for Sky Germany, featuring the most internationally relevant bits of the English-language original with original German-language skits added for the local audience.

Theater

Composer and theater impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber’s £6 million ($8.2 million) West End production of “Cinderella” will resume Aug.

Ethan Hawke stars

Scott Derrickson’s horror thriller “The Black Phone” will hit theaters on Jan. 28, 2022, Universal and Blumhouse announced on Tuesday.

Derrickson and frequent collaborator C. Robert Cargill adapted the script based on Joe Hill’s short story. Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames (“For All Mankind”) and Madeleine McGraw are set to star in the film.

According to the studio, the film is about Finney Shaw, a shy but clever 13-year-old boy who is abducted by a sadistic killer and trapped in a soundproof basement where screaming is of little use. When a disconnected phone on the wall begins to ring, Finney discovers that he can hear the voices of the killer’s previous victims. And they are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesn’t happen to Finney.

The film is produced by Derrickson & Cargill’s Crooked Highway and presented by Universal and Blumhouse. Jason Blum,...

Atom Egoyan's They Will Take My Island collaboration with Mary Kouyoumdjian to have a digital première. Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

The MetLiveArts will host the world première of Atom Egoyan and composer Mary Kouyoumdjian’s film They Will Take My Island on Armenian American abstract painter Arshile Gorky on Tuesday, January 26 at 7:00pm (Est).

Kouyoumdjian’s score is performed by the Jack Quartet and the Silvana Quartet with interviews of Saskia Spender, President of the Arshile Gorky Foundation and granddaughter of Arshile Gorky, Parker Field, Managing Director of the Arshile Gorky Foundation, and Michael Taylor, Chief Curator and Deputy Director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. They Will Take My Island includes original short films by Egoyan and never before seen scenes from his films.

The event is supported by the Nazar and Artemis Nazarian, the Armenian...

Guest Of Honour director and rabbit competition winner Atom Egoyan with Anne-Katrin Titze’s Steiff Dürer Bunny at the Seven Grams Caffe in New York Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

At the Canada Now Opening Night U.S. premiere on February 13, of Atom Egoyan’s Guest Of Honour, starring David Thewlis and Laysla De Oliveira with Luke Wilson and Arsinée Khanjian, 99 Records founder Ed Bahlman asked Atom about his work with longtime composer Mychael Danna and Shannon Graham.

Guest Of Honour China poster from Atom Egoyan’s phone Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Ed Bahlman: Atom, it’s a beautiful score. Can you talk a little bit how you worked with the composer?

Atom Egoyan: The composer is someone I’ve been working with since Family Viewing, Mychael Danna. He’s a very brilliant composer. Because of the relationship, a lot of the visual composing...

In 2010, the disappearance of 24 year old Shannan Gilbert, on Oak Island in New York state helped trigger the finding of four bodies. The bodies all belonged to young women who had been sex workers, all wrapped in burlap and buried in shallow graves. Further bodies, dating back to the 90s, were later found and the killer (or killers) has never been caught.

Lost Girls focuses on the beginning of this case, the aftermath of the disappearance of Shannan and the effect it had on her mother Mari (Amy Ryan) and younger sisters (Thomasin McKenzie and Oona Laurence) as well as on the families of the first four girls found.

The title Lost Girls has a dual meaning here, it of course refers to the victims, who were women whose killer appears to have assumed had nobody to miss or look for them, in many cases women who still don’t have names.

Shadowhunters may have come to a bittersweet conclusion, but another one of its actors had landed a new TV role.

Dominic Sherwood, who played Jace on the recently canceled Freeform drama, has joined the cast of Showtime's Penny Dreadful: City of Angels.

He is one of six new additions, joining the series alongside Adam Rodriguez, Michael Gladis, Lorenza Izzo, Thomas Kretschman, and Ethan Peck.

The new series is set in 1938 Los Angeles, and focuses on Det. Tiago Vega (Daniel Zovatto), who becomes embroiled in an epic story following a murder that shocks the city.

It quickly paves the way for Tiago and his family “grappling with powerful forces that threaten to tear them apart,” according to the official logline.

Related: Penny Dreadful Sequel Ordered to Series

Sherwood will play Kurt, the chauffer and bodyguard for Richard Goss (Kretschmann). There's more to Kurt than meets the eye: an unexpected depth and surprising background.

It's been a while since one can be super excited about a new Atom Egoyan film. His last two, Devil's Knot, a film about the West Memphis Three case, and Captive, a chilly thriller about a child sex ring, found few champions. It's all the more reason to applaud Remember, a return to form of sorts that echoes the handheld looseness of Egoyan's earliest films like Next of Kin. The key to the enjoyment lies in a compelling turn by Christopher Plummer playing a man with dementia who's sent off to hunt down a Nazi commander of Auschwitz. Playing out like an extended road movie, the film is sentimental without being trite. Along the way the film explores issues of loss intertwined with the human...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Making a Murderer, Netflix's original true-crime series captivated the country this Christmas, with critics hailing it as the next Serial-esque obsession.

Online sleuths are already positing their own theories as to who killed young photographer Teresa Halbach in 2005. We'll leave the question of whether Steven Avery – a man who already served prison time once before for a gruesome crime he didn't commit – to the meticulous Redditors poring over the infamous case. Though Making a Murder has already been compared to HBO's Robert Durst miniseries The Jinx, here are three more true tales dealing with police corruption, wrongful convictions and crimes...

It's been a while since one can be super excited about a new Atom Egoyan film. His last two, Devil's Knot, a film about the West Memphis Three case and Captive, a chilly thriller about a child sex ring, found few champions. It's all the more reason to applaud Remember, a return to form of sorts that echoes the handheld looseness of Egoyan's earliest films like Next of Kin. The key to the enjoyment lies in a a compelling turn by Christopher Plummer playing a man with dementia who's sent off to hunt down a Nazi commander of Auschwitz. Playing out like an extended road movie, the film is sentimental without being trite. Along the way the film explores issues of loss intertwined with...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

I have not seen much of director Atom Egoyan's work, this includes his Oscar-nominated feature The Sweet Hereafter, so I can't speak to the director he was. I can, however, speak to what I've seen as of late, that being Chloe and Devil's Knot, and I can't say I'm necessarily impressed or all that inclined to stand in line for whatever he has coming out next. Then again, when what's coming next stars Christopher Plummer and Martin Landau I have to admit my ears perk up a little bit as seeing these two chew scenery alongside one another does sound intriguing. The film I'm speaking of is Remember and it's set to premiere at Venice followed by a North American premiere in Toronto and today, on top of some first look pictures, I have the first trailer for the movie. First, here's the plot: Remember is the contemporary story...

There was a time when a new film from Atom Egoyan was an exciting prospect, but recently that isn't as true. The filmmaker has swung very hard and missed with recent efforts like the "Prisoners"-lite "The Captive," movie-of-the-week style "Devil's Knot," and the corny, erotic thriller "Chloe." But could this new effort find him back on the right track? We'll see, as the first trailer for "Remember" has arrived. This thriller, in which history and a tale of revenger come together, has a pretty solid cast. It includes Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau, Bruno Ganz, Dean Norris, and Jurgen Prochnow. Here's the official logline: “Remember” is a compelling thriller in which the darkest chapter of the 20th century collides with a contemporary mission of revenge. No word yet on a release date, but given that Egoyan is a Cannes regular, perhaps this will make its World Premiere on the Croisette?...

Birdman executive producer Sarah Johnson has filed a $70m lawsuit against Worldview Entertainment.

Johnson filed the suit on March 12, claiming that the company behind the Oscar-winning film misused her investments and lied to her about its financial situation for years.

She says that this has caused her to lose around the sum of $20 million, and as a result is seeking $70m in damages for a total of 28 counts of alleged mismanagement, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

The executive producer has made investments to Worldview since 2011, for projects including Welcome to the Punch, The Immigrant and Devil's Knot.

The suit claims that the company "made repeated representations to Plaintiff regarding the status of her investments in order to induce her to make continued financial contributions to the Worldview Film Funds".

It is also alleged that former CEO Christopher Woodrow and Maria Cestone told Johnson that she would receive a 20% return on her investments,...

Simon West has signed up to direct a remake of The Blob.

The Con Air and Expendables 2 filmmaker has teamed up with producers Richard Saperstein and Brian Witten (Devil's Knot) for the project, which may begin shooting this summer.

"With modern CGI we can now fully realise the potential of The Blob," West told Deadline. "The world I create will be totally believable, immersive and emotionally satisfying. It's a thrill to introduce an enduring icon to a wider audience and a whole new era of fans."

Steve McQueen starred in the original 1958 B-movie horror, in what was his first leading role.

The Blob centred around a gelatinous alien goo that arrived on Earth via a meteorite and began increasing in size each time it consumed people.

Dallas star Larry Hagman directed a low-budget sequel in 1972 titled Beware! The Blob, while Frank Darabont co-wrote a remake in 1988.

Rob Zombie also planned...

[Editor's Note: This post is presented in partnership with Time Warner Cable Movies On Demand in support of Indie Film Month. Today's pick, "The Captive," is available now On Demand. This interview originally ran during the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.] Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan has been a fixture on La Croisette since his 1994 breakout feature "Exotica," which took the Fipresci prize. "The Sweet Hereafter" won that same award in addition to the Grand Prix honor in 1997. The filmmaker's career has by no means taken a nosedive since, but to many, he hasn't lived up to the promise set by his earlier efforts (save for "Felicia's Journey," which featured a great performance by the late Bob Hoskins). "Where the Truth Lies," "Adoration" and "Chloe" were all met with mixed reviews, while his latest to open in theaters, the West Memphis Three drama "Devil's Knot," was his worst...

It seems every year I have this debate with myself whether or not to do a "worst of" list. Aren't the worst films of any year best forgotten, ignored, never to be mentioned againc Well, yes and no. Let's definitely forget them, but not forget the lessons they've taught us, lessons in what not to do, lessons of which 2014 was full of. Now before you go digging into this list, clicking the reviews and wondering how something that received a "D+" review could make the list over something that received a "D-", just understand grading movies isn't a science and, for me, what makes something the "worst" is very similar to what makes something the "best", it's the legacy the film holds in my mind. The films that made my "Top Ten Movies of 2014" are films I not only love, but films I hold fond memories for and would most...

Pink is also her signature colorWe haven't done a Reese episode of Posterized yet?

I Object!

America's one time sweetheart (we go through them rapidly) is currently courting hearts again, albeit in much thornier and more adult settings. She's uptight and deskbound, if not quite straight-laced, as Deputy D.A. Penny Kimball in Inherent Vice and wandering and raggedy as the grieving Cheryl Strayed on the Pacific Crest Trail in Wild. The latter is expected to bring her Nomination #2 for Best Actress (more on that category tomorrow) and the former reunites her with Joaquin Phoenix, who helped her to Oscar win #1 in Walk the Line.

Since her Oscar win, Reese has been doing her own sort of wandering... away from the A list. Not really -- you can't really rub that off you when you're as charismatic as she! But a wandering away from something. The films weren't grabbing people...

This review originally ran as part of JoBlo.com's Tiff 2014 coverage. Plot: A young woman (Reese Witherspoon) hits the Pacific Crest Trail after suffering through a messy divorce and the death of her mother (Laura Dern). Review: After a rough patch, following the back-to-back failures of This Means War and The Devil's Knot, star Reese Witherspoon is rebooting her career in a big way, with Wild being the first of two Tiff star vehicles helmed by Quebec directors that...

A new trailer has been released for Ryan Reynolds intense looking psychological thriller The Captive. The movie was directed by Atom Egoyan (Chloe, The Devil's Knot), and it also stars Scott Speedman, Mireille Enos, Rosario Dawson, Kevin Durand, Alexia Fast, and Bruce Greenwood. 

The story follows Matthew (Reynolds) and Tina (Enos), "a couple torn apart by the circumstances behind the mysterious disappearance of their daughter, who seems to be alive in captivity eight years later with her unknown location being broadcast online, leaving officials perplexed as they attempt to find her."

The movie is set to be released on December 12th. It looks like a great, thrilling flick that will be worth checking out. ...

Normally we're used to Colin Firth starring in films that are either politely funny (like Bridget Jones' Diary or Love Actually) or blisteringly dramatic (such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy or, more recently, Devil's Knot.) However, there comes a time in an actor's career when they decide it's time to switch things up a bit and get a little more action-y. Which means that the trailer to Kingsman: The Secret Service marks Colin Firth's entry into the "later career badass" phase that Liam Neeson has been occupying as of late. 20th Century Fox's official YouTube channel dropped the latest trailer to Matthew Vaughn's latest directorial venture into the world of comic books last night, and it's even more stylish than the first trailer we received earlier this year. Kingsman: The Secret Service tells the story of Harry Hart (Firth,) a top spy for a secret branch of...

The last six years of Atom Egoyan's career have not been particularly kind to the director. Once considered one of the great voices of Canadian cinema, Egoyan's offerings over the last few years have been a case of diminishing returns. It seems that the addition of Hollywood stars has actually hurt rather than improved the films and Egoyan hit movie rock bottom with last year's poorly received Devil's Knot (review) which turned out to be one of the worst movies I had the misfortune to see last year.

Being a fan of the director's previous work, it was great to see that Egoyan's kidnapping thriller The Captive looked like a winner and perhaps a return to form for th [Continued ...]...

— Reese Witherspoon (@RWitherspoon) September 11, 2014 As beautiful then as she is now! In honor of Throwback Thursday on Sept. 11, Reese Witherspoon took to Twitter and Instagram to share a photo of herself from 1991, when she appeared in the TV movie Wildflower — only her second film ever. (Her first was the coming-of-age drama The Man in the Moon.) The picture shows the now-38-year-old Devil's Knot actress on set and in costume as Ellie Perkins. Her hair in the shot is darker and more strawberry-blonde [...]...

Ryan Reynolds has a new psychological thriller coming out called The Captive, and it looks like it's going to be a very intense movie. It was directed by Atom Egoyan (Chloe, The Devil's Knot), and it also stars Scott Speedman, Mireille Enos, Rosario Dawson, Kevin Durand, Alexia Fast, and Bruce Greenwood. 

The story follows Matthew (Reynolds) and Tina (Enos), "a couple torn apart by the circumstances behind the mysterious disappearance of their daughter, who seems to be alive in captivity eight years later with her unknown location being broadcast online, leaving officials perplexed as they attempt to find her."

There's no official release date set yet.

Ryan Reynolds and Mirielle Enos star in the forthcoming thriller The Captive, directed by Atom Egoyan. A new trailer's here...

Trailer

Atom Egoyan's the Canadian director behind such acclaimed films as The Sweet Hereafter and Where The Truth Lies, while his most recent feature was last year's crime thriller, Devil's Knot.

The Captive is another thriller, this one starring Ryan Reynolds and Mirieille Enos as a husband and wife whose daughter vanishes, only to suddenly reappear again eight years later. Then the parents discover that they've been spied on the whole time. What's that all about?

The intriguing premise is joined by a great supporting cast, including Rosario Dawson, Bruce Greenwood and the great Kevin Durand. Early reviews from Cannes weren't glowing, but the frosty, paranoid atmosphere in the trailer (below) still leaves us wanting to know what happens next.

The Captive doesn't have a firm release date yet,...

Back when the film premiered at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, we got a teaser trailer for The Captive starring Ryan Reynolds. Now that the film is poised for a release in the United States this fall, a new theatrical trailer for Atom Egoyan's film has arrived, showing off more of the mystery thriller. The story, which also stars Rosario Dawson and Mireille Enos, centers around the disappearance of young girl, and the plot thickens when clues begin to surface that she's alive eight years later. The film didn't really get that warm of a reception at Cannes back in May, and the trailer is edited in a rather peculiar way. Watch? Here's the Us trailer for Atom Egoyan's The Captive from YouTube: The Captive is directed by Atom Egoyan (Chloe, The Devil's Knot), who also co-wrote the script with David Fraser. The film follows  Matthew and Tina...

Fox Searchlight has released the first trailer for Wild, the new film starring Reese Witherspoon and directed by Jean-Marc Vallee (Dallas Buyers Club) based on Cheryl Strayed's memoir of the same name. Witherspoon plays Strayed whose just experienced the dissolution of her marriage and the death of her mother, and after years of reckless, destructive behavior, she makes a rash decision. With absolutely no experience, driven only by sheer determination, Cheryl hikes more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, alone. Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddens, strengthens, and ultimately heals her. Searchlight will open the film on December 5 and it's an easy candidate for one if not several of the upcoming fall film festivals. This is a film that seems much better suited to Witherspoon's talents than a film such as...

Reese Witherspoon has not had much of a career since her Best Actress win for Walk The Line. In fact, you could say she pretty much disappeared, turning in a handful of forgettable performances in comedies and thrillers. Like Matthew McConaughey, Witherspoon has been trying something of a comeback over the last year having appeared in Mud (opposite McConaughey) and with Colin Firth in Devil's Knot. Neither seemed to boost her back into the limelight, so how about an adaptation of a major...

"Deliver Us From Evil" is the latest in a long line of "inspired by true events" horror films.

This tale of cops, criminals, and swarthy, renegade priests opens this week to try and scare up some summer box-office business.

So who is this Scott Derrickson guy?

Derrickson is a genre director perhaps best-known for his other true story, religo-horror film, "The Exorcism of Emily Rose." He's beloved by many horror fans thanks in part to a very open and engaging presence on social media. His 2012 film "Sinister" did fantastically well at the box office, turning a $3M budget into an almost $90M take.

Derrickson has also written several screenplays, including "Devil's Knot" for Canada's Atom Egoyan. He's also recently been picked by Marvel to tackle one of the more challenging characters in their canon, set to write and direct the "Dr. Strange" film for the megastudio.

Is this really a true story?...

In looking at the films I consider to be the best of 2014 so far compared to those I consider the worst and most disappointing I have to say, it isn't looking like 2014 is really all that great of a year. Then again, I'm quite fond of my "best of" list so far which includes a nice variety from a couple blockbusters (Edge of Tomorrow, X-Men: Days of Future Past) to a couple films I saw in Cannes last year (Only Lovers Left Alive, Venus in Fur), Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel, two great A24 releases in Locke and The Rover and Richard Linklater's Boyhood, which is a bit of a cheat since it doesn't come out until July. Looking at that list of eight films, with two films I saw last year and one that hasn't hit theaters yet, it leaves me with five films I saw...

Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon doesn't typically do more than a movie a year, but already 2014 is already off to an inauspicious start. After months of touring around the festival circuit, Atom Egoyan's Devil's Knot finally arrived in U.S. theaters in May, and despite having star-power that included both Witherspoon and Colin Firth, the film ended up being a complete dud, presenting no new insight or depth to the case of the West Memphis Three. As a change of pace, however, Witherspoon actually has a number of projects that could wind up tipping the scales in her favor in the back nine of this year. One of the titles is the new drama The Good Lie, which has just launched its first trailer. Directed by Philippe Falardeau, a Canadian filmmaker making his U.S. debut, The Good Lie stars Reese Witherspoon as Carrie Davis, a woman who agrees...

It's been a rough couple of years to be a fan of Reese Witherspoon: when the actress picked up her Oscar eight years ago for "Walk the Line," the universe appeared to have better things in store for her than, say, "This Means War." Even when her films have worked out -- the critically-endorsed Americana of "Mud" or the ripe Camembert pleasures of "Water for Elephants" -- they haven't showcased her especially well. So it's nice to see Witherspoon getting busy again with a range of upscale projects this year. We've already seen her recently in Atom Egoyan's West Memphis Three thriller "Devil's Knot" -- a film best described as superfluous, though she does some fine, flavorful work in it. Will another true-life drama fare better for Witherspoon? In Philippe Falardeau's "The Good Lie," she plays Carrie Davis, a straight-talking American assigned to help a quartet of...

★★☆☆☆Based on the previously well-documented true story of the West Memphis Three, Canadian director Atom Egoyan's Devil's Knot (2013) attempts to dramatise Mara Leveritt's novelisation of the same name. The result is a melodramatic, calculable and subsequently dull procedural that makes you baffled by its inertness. When three boys are found brutally murdered in an area ominously known as the "Devil's Den", locals - including one of the boys' mother's Pam Hobbs (Reese Witherspoon) - are left paralysed. Three teenagers, Damien (James Hamrick), Jessie (Kristopher Higgins) and Jason (Seth Meriwether), are soon charged as accused members of this sinister satanic cult.

22 Jump Street has topped the UK box office for the second consecutive weekend.

Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill's comedy sequel leads the top ten ahead of Angelina Jolie's Maleficent and X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Tom Cruise action movie Edge of Tomorrow is close behind in fourth, meaning that the top four films are all unchanged from last week.

The chart saw three new releases make the top ten, with Karen Gillan's Oculus the most successful. The horror movie debuted at number five ahead of period drama Belle (number six) and Devil's Knot (number nine).

Rio 2, which has been on release for 11 weeks, climbs up a spot to round out the top ten.

The UK box office top ten in full is as follows:

1. (1) 22 Jump Street - £2,255,100

2. (2) Maleficent - £1,570,437

3. (3) X-Men: Days of Future Past - £902,146

4. (4) Edge of Tomorrow - £744,496

5. (-) Oculus - £413,578

6. (-) Belle - £407,120

7. (6) Godzilla...

Director: Atom Egoyan; Screenwriters: Paul Harris Boardman, Scott Derrickson; Starring: Colin Firth, Reese Witherspoon, Kevin Durand, Stephen Moyer, Dane DeHaan; Running time: 114 mins; Certificate: 15

"If these boys are innocent, would you want three more families to lose their children too?"

Based on a compelling true tale of murder and moral corruption that shocked America almost as much as a Janet Jackson nipslip, The Devil's Knot should have proven a perfect fit between auteur and subject matter. Yet the themes of loss and familial tragedy that Atom Egoyan explored so effectively in The Sweet Hereafter are squandered as The Devil's Knot veers awkwardly between docudrama realism and aesthetic expressionism.

Egoyan's film charts the horrific murders in 1993 of three young boys in Arkansas and the subsequent arrest of three teenagers, whose interest in Satanism and heavy metal appears to compel the authorities into labeling them guilty. The staggering inconsistencies in the prosecution's...

In 1993, the shocking murder of three young boys rocked the city of West Memphis, Arkansas. The murders were attributed to satanic worship, and three suspects, Damien Echolls, JessieMisskelly Jr., and Jason Baldwin, local teenage boys with an interest in the occult, were quickly tried and convicted. Dubbed the West Memphis Three, aspects of their trial were brought into question, with one of the boys confessions being taken under suspect circumstances, and several pieces of evidence being mishandled and not put forward in the trial at all. Several documentaries, namely the Paradise Lost trilogy and West of Memphis, have been made, declaring the boys innocence, and now Atom Egoyan (Chloe, The Sweet Hereafter) presents us with Devil's Knot, based on the book by Mara Leveritt, a dramatic, but sadly unengaging, retelling of those fateful events. Egoyan succeeds in capturing the horror of these events, and the injustice and controversy surrounding the trial,...

Nearly every month, Netflix adds new films and TV shows while its licensing deals for others lapse. We recently listed all of the movies coming to Netflix this month, but here's a curated look at select indies that are new to the streaming service -- including "Devil's Knot," the latest from Atom Egoyan. They're listed below in alphabetical order, along with their average Criticwire rating. Perfect weekend viewing! "Decoding Deepak" (Dir: Gotham Chopra) Average Criticwire Rating: B- "Devil's Knot" (Dir: Atom Egoyan) Average Criticwire Rating: C- "Drinking Buddies" (Dir: Joe Swanberg) Average Criticwire Rating: B+ "The Family" (Dir: Luc Besson) Average Criticwire Rating: C "Girl Most Likely" (Dir: Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman) Average Criticwire Rating: C "Magic Camp" (Dir: Judd Ehrlich) Average Criticwire Rating: N/A...

The story of the West Memphis Three is brought to the screen in unsatisying fashion by director Atom Egoyan...

The Devil's Knot is a film with a lot of actors acting in it. It's not something we'd ordinarily mention first up in a review, save for the fact that here, you simply can't help but notice it. Some of the acting is really rather good, but, after a horrific, impactful opening 20 minutes, you're never left in any doubt that this is a dramatic take on a thoroughly nasty real life collection of events.

For the film dramatises the West Memphis Three story - so hauntingly dealt with in the likes of Paradise Lost and West Of Memphis - which saw three boys brutally murdered, and the clamour for justice overtaken by a clamour for legal retribution.

Director Atom Egoyan makes no attempt to obscure which side of the story he sits on,...

Andrew Pulver and Peter Bradshaw join Xan Brooks for our weekly round-up of the big cinema releases. This week the team see race rile the Regency in Belle; watch Atom Egoyan bind himself to hokum with West Memphis Three drama Devil's Knot; set off on a sickly-sweet adventure with Ts Spivet; then gallop off into the strange and wonderful with Of Horses and Men.

Video a no-go? Listen to the audio version of this week's show Continue reading...

Atom Egoyan's Memphis Three drama Devil's Knot dropped on Blu-ray and DVD yesterday. We have a deleted scene from the film to share with you. Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth star in this gripping film based on the true story of the murder of three young boys in West Memphis, Ark. and the murder trial that shocked the nation....

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

When Colin Firth is good, he's very, very good. And when he's bad, he's in Mamma Mia!. Or Gambit. Or St Trinian's. You can really take your pick.

Judging by the reviews to date, this week's true crime drama Devil's Knot - which stars Firth as a private investigator looking into the case of the West Memphis Three - falls into the latter category. Which, given that Firth's co-stars include Reese Witherspoon, Amy Ryan and Dane DeHaan, is a pretty substantial disappointment.

But why linger on the negative? Instead, we've taken a look back on five of Firth's finest hours across the big and small screens.

1. Tumbledown

Four years after his breakthrough role in Another Country (which just barely missed out on a spot in this list), Firth earned the first of many BAFTA nominations in Richard Eyre's Falklands War drama. He gives a raw and unflinching central performance...

Moviefone's Top DVD of the Week

"True Detective: The Complete First Season"

What's It About? This creepy HBO series stars Woody Harrelson and

Matthew McConaughey as troubled detectives on the hunt for a killer in 1995, and as the possible subjects of an investigation in the present day. The crazy conspiracies and weird worldviews presented by writer/creator Nic Pizzolatto and the masterful direction by Cary Fukunaga make this a series to obsess over. Time overlaps as our antagonists and their associates are interviewed in the

Why We're In: The Internet exploded with theories about "True Detective," and although they didn't necessarily prove to be fruitful, there's still plenty to examine and re-examine in each episode. Plus, there are audio commentaries, deleted scenes, interviews, and other behind-the-scenes goodies.

Moviefone's Top Blu-ray of the Week

"All That Heaven Allows" (Criterion)

What's It About? Jane Wyman stars as a rich widow named...

True Detective I have told quite a few people to check out "True Detective" and even loaned my father-in-law this new Blu-ray to check out as he had not yet watched it. Considering how each season will be one contained storyline I'd say this is an easy buy if you liked it and not something you need to wait until several seasons are made available as one giant box set.

Non-Stop It's easy to laugh and dismiss a movie like Non-Stop, but it's actually not that bad. It does have a rather typical ending as they opted to go the standard direction with the "what's really going on questionc", but it's still a movie you won't mind renting, though a buy is out of the question.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit On the other hand, Jack Ryan isn't even worth the rental, just flat out not a good movie. Too bad,...

Atom Egoyan's film about The West Memphis Three, Devil's Knot, is coming to DVD and Blu-ray on June 10th. We have two posters signed by the Canadian director to give away prior to the release date. All you have to do is e-mail us here with your answer to this skill testing question. Where was Atom Egoyan born? Because it was not Canada: we just like to think he was. The contest is open to U.S. residents only and we will take entries up to Midnight Pst on Wednesday, June 4th. ...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

With the month almost in the books, it's time for Rolling Stone movie critic Peter Travers to bring out his handy scum bucket, tossing in the "10 scummiest movies of the merry month of May." It's an especially gross list this time around, so our critic brought along a special guest – monster-movie legend Godzilla – to help digest the waste.

Watch All of Peter Traver's Videos at The Travers Take

Fittingly, the creature's Bryan Cranston-starring reboot is up first at Number 10. While Travers isn't too harsh on the flick, saying...

Usually June is associated with the first real month of summer -- a time to go out and frolic through the wilderness like a snowman that doesn't know any better. But it also gets really, really hot, which has people retreating to their local multiplex or, even better, their luxuriously air-conditioned living rooms. With that in mind, take a look at the television shows and movies that will be available on Netflix's steaming service come June (via Vulture).

Thought the snail-who-dreamed-of-being-a-racecar saga ended with last summer's DreamWorks Animated joint "Turbo?" Think again. Apparently there's a television spin-off. And you can watch it on Netflix. We also have to give it up for a pair of wonderful sequels that are going to be on in June: the obviously-shot-in-Canada-even-though-it's-set-in-New York robo-epic "Short Circuit 2" (a favorite since childhood) and the far darker and more sinister "Wolf Creek 2," a sequel to the...

June 6, 2014

22 Jump Street

Director: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller

Starring: Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill

Running time: 112 mins

Certificate: 15

Fruitvale Station

Director: Ryan Coogler

Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Octavia Spencer

Running time: 85 mins

Certificate: 15

Grace of Monaco

Director: Olivier Dahan

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Tim Roth

Running time: 103 mins

Certificate: PG

Pulp: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets

Director: Florian Habicht

Starring: Jarvis Cocker, Nick Banks

Running time: 90 mins

Certificate: Tbc

June 13

Belle

Director: Amma Asante

Starring: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Matthew Goode, Emily Watson

Running time: 104 mins

Certificate: 12A

Devil's Knot

Director: Atom Egoyan

Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Colin Firth

Running time: 114 mins

Certificate: 15

Oculus

Director: Mike Flanagan

Starring: Karen Gillan, Brenton Thwaites, Katee Sackhoff

Running time: 104 mins

Certificate: 15

Young and Prodigious Ts Spivet

Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Starring: Helena Bonham Carter, Robert Maillet

Running time: 105 mins

Certificate: Tbc

The Wizard of Oz - IMAX

Director: Victor Fleming, George Cukor

Starring: Judy Garland,...

Each Monday (or Tuesday, if it's a holiday weekend) we present you with the most up-to-date list of the top 10 indie movies in the iTunes store, combining rentals and purchases. This week, Spike Jonze's offbeat romance "Her" continues to top the list of top indies in the iTunes store, along with Oscar-winning mainstays "12 Years a Slave" and "Dallas Buyers Club" and longtime performer "Philomena." Meanwhile, "Someone Marry Barry" and "The Bling Ring" returned to the this week as 99 cent "Movie of the Week" rentals and "Enemy," the Denis Villeneuve thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal, joined the list in its first week on iTunes. Atom Egoyan's latest film, "Devil's Knot,' in current theatrical release, also made the list. The top 10 indies in iTunes are listed below (number represents North American gross, where applicable): 1. Her (Warner Bros., $25,568,251) 2. The Bling Ring (A24, $5,845,732) 3. Enemy (A24, $1,008,726) 4. Vampire Academy (The Weinstein Company,...

The final red carpet has been walked, the Palme d'Or has been awarded, and the Cannes Film Festival is officially over for another year.

The general consensus on the Croisette seemed to be that 2014's Competition slate wasn't one of the strongest in recent memory, with several strong contenders but few standouts - although Andrey Zvyagintsev's Leviathan barreled in at the last minute to change some minds on the latter.

But there was still plenty to discuss in the Competition selection, not to mention gems across the Un Certain Regard, Directors' Fortnight and Critics' Week strands. We've rounded up the best and worst of this year's crop below.

The Best

Foxcatcher

Bennett Miller's psychologically searching sports drama is the first surefire Oscar contender of the year, propelled by a trio of career-best performances from Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo and Steve Carrell.

Tatum and Ruffalo play Olympic wrestling champions Mark and Dave Schultz,...