Top Movie News provided by Rolling Stone©

• ‘Anna’ Review: A Girl, Some Guns and a Recycled Plot
  Luc Besson returns with another tale of a beautiful, deadly young woman caught in a bind — and one very problematic movie
• ‘Midsommar’ Gets the Goofy Rom-Com Treatment in Latest Trailer
  Florence Pugh faces scariest challenge of all: bingo
• ‘I Don’t Want to Be Your Pinch Hitter’: Why Brian Tyree Henry Is Hollywood’s New MVP
  The actor steals every show (and film and play) he’s in — now, he says, he’s ready to be a leading man
• ‘Child’s Play’: Even Aubrey Plaza Can’t Save This Botched Reboot
  Mark Hamill is the new villainous voice of Chucky, the next-gen killer doll who's handy with a knife
• Watch Himesh Patel Cover ‘Yesterday’ on ‘Kimmel’
  The actor performs The Beatles' song in support of his new film
• ‘Wild Rose’ Star Jessie Buckley’s Grand Ol’ Opportunity
  How the Irish actor transformed into a crack country-and-western singer for this musical underdog story — and turned it into a breakout role
• Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake Discover the Six Types of Music in ‘Trolls World Tour’ Trailer
  Plus the seventh, hip-hop (performed by a baby troll)
• Angry Birds Form Unlikely Partnership in ‘Angry Birds Movie 2’ Trailer
  Movie arrives in theaters on 10th anniversary of Angry Birds video game
• ‘Toy Story 4’: Your Favorite Animated Toy Franchise Does It Again
  The fourth chapter in the Disney/Pixar series is still flying high on visual pow, pinwheeling fun and soulful feeling
• ‘The Quiet One’ Review: Bill Wyman Doc Goes Wide, Not Deep
  Portrait of legendary bassist recounts how ex-Rolling Stone gathered no moss — and gets selective with his legacy

LA Times©

• How country music crosses borders in Scottish indie ‘Wild Rose’
  Nicole Taylor grew up in Glasgow loving country music, an obsession that transformed itself into her first feature screenplay. Now playing in limited release, “Wild Rose,” directed by Tom Harper from Taylor’s script, is about finding expression through song — and finding yourself in your hometown....
• ‘Toy Story 4’s’ softer-than-expected opening delivers limited box office relief
  Dolls ruled the weekend as "Toy Story 4" and "Child’s Play" revived the box office after a three-week-long slump, but overall numbers continue to lag behind last year. Disney and Pixar's latest entry in the two-decade-spanning "Toy Story" franchise raked in $118 million, well below studio predictions...
• Jill Soloway will write, direct ‘Red Sonja,’ replacing Bryan Singer
  The long-delayed “Red Sonja” reboot is forging ahead yet again, now with “Transparent” showrunner Jill Soloway stepping in for Bryan Singer to write and direct. “I can’t wait to bring Red Sonja’s epic world to life,” Soloway said Friday in a statement to The Times. “Exploring this powerful mythology...
• Indie Focus: A new star blooms in 'Wild Rose'
  Hello! I’m Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies. The relatively new film series known as Projections continues to host some of the freshest events on the local film calendar. On Sunday, June 23, at the Bootleg Theater, they screen a restored...
• How the ‘Child’s Play’ remake redesigned Chucky, a smart doll with a killer glitch
  Tasked with re-imagining the pint-sized killer doll Chucky, one of the most iconic villains in the horror canon, “Child’s Play” reboot helmer Lars Klevberg (“Polaroid”) found inspiration from an unlikely source: adorable, innocent babies. More specifically, toddlers — including his own — and the...
• Review: Luc Besson’s slick, over-the-top ‘Anna’ is overshadowed by its creator’s issues
  In his over 35-year career, French writer-director-producer Luc Besson has been responsible for blockbuster hits like “The Fifth Element” and spectacular flops like “The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc.” But at his highest and lowest, Besson could usually count on the support of a devoted subset...
• Review: ‘Madam Yankelova’s Fine Literature Club’ gives cannibalism a bad name
  In the strange and unsatisfying Israeli import “Madam Yankelova's Fine Literature Club” we’re plunked down, context-free, into a secret society of women who lure attractive men into their “reading group” only to kill them and grind them (off-screen) into hot dogs. Talk about subtle. The film, directed...
• Review: ‘Mad?’ explores a woman’s psych-ward struggle with experimental verve
  Psych ward-set character study “Mad?” is the formally experimental quasi-sequel to director Saskia Rifkin’s 2017 black-and-white debut “Can Hitler Happen Here?” Both efforts depart from screenplays by Catherine May Levin and feature 4:3 aspect ratio as preferred visual format. Suzanne Bertish,...
• ‘Easy A’ screenwriter teases sequel details and how it’ll reflect today’s teens
  When “Easy A” debuted in 2010, it spoke frankly about teenagers’ sex lives, captured the zeitgeist pastime of vlogging and solidified Emma Stone as a movie star. Nearly a decade after the release of that romantic comedy, a sequel is in the works, The Times has confirmed. Bert Royal, who wrote the...
• Review: Golf and prayer team up in bland drama ‘Round of Your Life’
  Golf drama “Round of Your Life” wears its Christian faith on its sleeve, but its approach is less a screaming street preacher and more the oh-so-nice kid who keeps inviting you to a meeting of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at school. The latter actually happens in the film, made all the...
• Review: ‘Into the Mirror’ boasts impressive visual style but uneven storytelling
  Dreamlike and glittering, “Into the Mirror” is drenched in saturated colors and driven by a pulsating score from “Drive” composer Johnny Jewel. But it isn’t just the music that bears resemblance to a Nicholas Winding Refn movie; Lois Stevenson’s directorial debut displays an impressive visual style...
• Critic’s Choice: Still thrilling and disturbing, ‘Chinatown’ turns 45
  Can it be 45 years since “Chinatown,” that most thrilling and disturbing of modern noirs, nominated for 11 Academy Awards, debuted? Yes, it can, and a screening and panel to commemorate the anniversary will take place June 27 at 7 p.m. at the Laemmle Royal Theatre. Though it's a tale squarely in...
• Review: Vera Farmiga elevates the silly, sweet dramedy ‘Burn Your Maps’
  It's taken nearly three years for "Burn Your Maps" to receive a perfunctory theatrical release since it premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival, and it arrives as neither a buried treasure nor a massive folly. Instead, it's merely a routinely quirky indie about coping with death...
• Review: The controversy-stirring ‘Child's Play’ remake is creepy fun before it malfunctions
  Beneath all the nasty jolts and vicious bloodlettings in the new “Child’s Play” is almost enough material to furnish a mildly interesting episode of “Black Mirror.” A high-tech, ultra-gory reboot of the 1988 thriller that spawned a still-ongoing horror franchise, this new movie also turns on a...
• Review: ‘True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight For Equality’ focuses on ideals
  Though his name is in the title and incidents from his personal story are told, “True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight For Equality” is not really a biographical documentary. Rather this coolly passionate film mostly deals with Stevenson’s thoughts rather than his life, providing an involving examination...
• Review: Dhanush stars in agreeable ‘The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir’
  The comic-romantic adventure “The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir” takes a winding path, but the trip is pleasant enough. According to Merriam-Webster, “fakir” can mean Hindu ascetic or wonder-worker — or con man. The protagonist of “Fakir,” appropriately, perpetrates a fake-mystic act on the...
• Reviews: Matthias Schoenaerts stars in ‘The Command’; plus ‘Nightmare Cinema’ and more
  'The Command' The popularity of HBO’s recent miniseries “Chernobyl” proves yet again that audiences are drawn to disaster stories — especially when they’re also cautionary tales about hard-working people betrayed by corner-cutting, responsibility-dodging bureaucrats. The new naval thriller “The...
• Writers Guild rejects latest offer from talent agencies
  In an ominous development for TV and movie production, the Writers Guild of America has rejected the latest offer from talent agencies in their ongoing dispute that has pitted Hollywood writers against their agents. David Goodman, the president of the WGA’s West Coast branch, said in a video posted...
• Judy Garland remains an enduring legend 50 years after her death
  She was only 47. On June 22, 1969, Judy Garland died of an accidental drug overdose in London. The death of the “Wizard of Oz” and “A Star Is Born” actress and singer 50 years ago stunned the world, although her troubled personal life had made headlines for decades. Garland’s legacy has endured,...
• Review: Tender romance finds its way ‘In the Aisles’ of a German supermarket
  Workplace minutiae filtered through a tenderhearted lens results in the subdued charm of Thomas Stuber’s “In the Aisles,” a German supermarket romance starring prodigious thespians Franz Rogowski (“Transit”) and Sandra Hüller (“Toni Erdmann”) in mutedly poignant parts. Hired as a stock handler...
• Review: Doc captures essence of Bill Wyman, the Rolling Stones’ ‘Quiet One’
  You don’t often see a biographical rock ’n’ roll documentary that’s not peppered with bad behavior, self-destruction, wild excess, booze and drugs and/or egomania, but “The Quiet One,” director Oliver Murray’s nostalgic documentary about Rolling Stones founding member and bass player Bill Wyman...
• Review: Jessie Buckley soars as a Scots country singer in the crowd-pleaser ‘Wild Rose’
  Rose-Lynn Harlan, the fiery-haired heroine of the hugely satisfying kitchen-sink fairy tale “Wild Rose,” isn’t the kind of gal who whistles while she works. She sings while she vacuums, running the cleaner across the carpet and crooning her favorite country tunes, her voice a startling distillation...
• Review: FBI surveillance of Muslims hits home in ‘The Feeling of Being Watched’
  When director Assia Boundaoui begins investigating the FBI surveillance of her family’s Arab American neighborhood, one of her mother’s friend’s lovingly calls her a “troublemaker.” But with the digging that leads to the startling and effective documentary “The Feeling of Being Watched,” the journalist...
• Here’s why Carrie Fisher won’t get Trump’s star on Walk of Fame
  “Star Wars” icon Mark Hamill has renewed interest in a Hollywood Walk of Fame star for his late costar Carrie Fisher. And he has an idea for whose star she should take. On Wednesday, the actor tweeted an old news story calling for the removal of President Trump’s star on the famed sidewalk. “Good...
• Writers Guild lawsuit against talent agencies gets a fourth judge in latest twist
  The lawsuit brought by the Writers Guild of America against Hollywood’s biggest talent agencies has changed judges for a third time, potentially adding further delay to a dispute that has left the TV industry in a state of uncertainty. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Highberger is now...

NY Times©

• ‘Toy Story 4’ Review: Playtime’s Over
  In this latest entry in the long-running series, Woody and Buzz hit the road and cross paths with a scary, scarily unloved doll.
• Tom Hanks on the Pleasures and Perils of Voicing Woody
  The actor says he had to turn his back as he was working on the end of “Toy Story 4.” “I don’t think I could’ve done the last few recording sessions the other way.”
• ‘Child’s Play’ Review: A Robot Chucky Goes Rogue in a Soulless Remake
  This slasher retread adds a cautionary tale about artificial intelligence, but its plausibility makes the character less scary.
• ‘Toy Story 4’ Tops Box Office, but Falls Short of Studio’s Hopes
  The Pixar sequel made around $118 million in domestic theaters, $22 million less than Disney expected. It still flattened the competition.
• Suzan Pitt, 75, Wildly Inventive Animation Filmmaker, Dies
  Ms. Pitt’s short films were vivid, immersive fantasies influenced by her dreams, underground comics and the cartoons of Max Fleischer.
• Review: ‘Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am’ Basks in the Presence of a Beloved Writer
  An informative, admiring documentary is brought alive by the charisma and brilliance of its subject.
• ‘Wild Rose’ Review: A Glaswegian Singer Walks the Line
  Jessie Buckley shines as a working-class performer with aspirations of country music stardom.
• ‘The Command’ Review: A Real-Life Submarine Tragedy Gets the Big Screen Treatment
  Thomas Vinterberg’s new movie relives the sinking of the Russian submarine Kursk.
• Jon M. Chu: Young Filmmakers Don’t Have the Baggage of Self-Hatred
  For our project on the future of movies, the director is mostly hopeful that diversity will take hold, but still realistic.
• J.J. Abrams: Even Giant Event Movies Aren’t a Given at the Box Office
  For our project on the future of movies, the director argues that when filmgoers want something, they will find a way to get it now.
• Jessica Chastain: Stars Needn’t Let Studios Decide Which Women Are Valuable
  For our project on the future of movies, the actress says she and her peers are showing how creatives can take control from executives.
• ‘Anna’ Review: a Curiously Familiar Female Assassin
  Luc Besson’s latest film often turns on seduction and shifting power dynamics between men and women.
• From a Tibetan Filmmaker, an Unvarnished View of His Land
  Pema Tseden’s portraits of Tibet are not the heavenly, mist-shrouded Himalayan paradise of popular Western imagination, but an unsentimental view of a windswept plateau on the fringes of modernity.
• Kumail Nanjiani: It’s Harder for Smaller Movies to Succeed
  For our project on the future of movies, the actor-writer wonders if small and midsize films will still have a shot in theaters.
• Why Are the Movies So Obsessed With Pop Stars?
  From “Rocketman” to “Her Smell,” “Blaze” to “Vox Lux,” the film industry seems to think all musicians have the same ups and downs.
• Lena Waithe: Why Aren’t Black Stars Funding Films by Black Auteurs?
  For our project on the future of movies, the writer and producer argues that “there’s a way for us to change the business from the inside out.”
• What to Do in New York This Weekend
  The cultural offerings are varied and vast, from ‘Toy Story 4’ in movie theaters to numerous ways to celebrate the first day of summer and NYC Pride.
• How ‘The Dead Don’t Die’ Handles Its Zombies
  The writer and director Jim Jarmusch discusses a scene featuring Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloë Sevigny and Carol Kane.
• ‘The Dead Don’t Die’ | Anatomy of a Scene
  Jim Jarmusch narrates a scene from his zombie comedy featuring Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloë Sevigny and Carol Kane.
• 3 Film Series to Catch in N.Y.C. This Weekend
  Our guide to film series and special screenings.
• Are Your Children Seeing ‘Toy Story 4’? Send Us Their Movie Reviews
  We want to hear young moviegoers’ takes on the film.
• ‘Starfish’ Review: A Sci-Fi Mystery Shrouded in Grief
  A.T. White’s experimental debut feature is patient and introspective horror, anchored by a charismatic performance by Virginia Gardner.
• ‘Endzeit’ Review: Once Upon a Zombie Apocalypse
  A German movie goes into the woods with the dead, morphing into a fairy tale that is by turns uneasy and beguiling.
• Jason Blum: This Is the Biggest Shift in Hollywood History
  For our project on the future of movies, the producer foresees his horror films living on in theaters, but something like his Oscar-winning “Whiplash”? Nope.
• Ava DuVernay: Real People Aren’t Seeing Most Movies
  For our project on the future of movies, the director has harsh words for the industry. A theater “is not the reality of most people’s experience with film.”
• Octavia Spencer: Studios Are Calling Me. That’s a Paradigm Shift.
  For our project on the future of movies, she says Hollywood has a new attitude toward her (“a woman of a certain age and demographic”).
• J.J. Abrams and Son to Write Spider-Man Comic
  The two discuss their collaboration, which introduces a new villain, Cadaverous, and how the project came to be.
• ‘The Quiet One’ Review: Bill Wyman Opens His Archives, and His Mouth
  A new documentary explores the Rolling Stones bassist’s musical prowess and avoidance of excess.
• ‘Burn Your Maps’ Review: The Mongolian Steppes as a Stage for Grief
  Vera Farmiga plays a mother who has lost a child and travels all the way to Central Asia to help heal her still-living one.
• ‘The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir’ Review: A Bustling, Whimsical Voyage
  Dhanush plays a poor Indian magician whose trip to Europe takes a series of unexpected turns.
• ‘Billboard’ Review: An Underdog Story Misses the Mark
  Zeke Zelker’s film about a radio promotional stunt gone awry suffers from awkward pacing and stilted dialogue.
• A Clearer Picture of ‘A Bigger Splash’
  The 1974 documentary anticipated David Hockney’s success and the rise of reality TV. A new 4K restoration screens at the Metrograph this week.
• Peter Whitehead, 82, Swinging-’60s Filmmaker, Is Dead
  He captured the Rolling Stones on tour and both captured and helped define an era with “Tonite Let’s All Make Love in London.”
• Inclusion Rider? What Inclusion Rider?
  Nearly a year and a half after Frances McDormand made the term famous, few Hollywood productions are using this contractual tool.
• Happy Birthday, Pauline Kael, My Old Foe
  On the 100th anniversary of the influential film critic’s birth, a cinephile tries to pinpoint the moment he stopped resisting her work.
• Review: ‘Edge of Democracy’ Looks at Brazil With Outrage and Heartbreak
  Petra Costa’s documentary chronicles the impeachment of one president, the imprisonment of another and the triumph of authoritarian politics.
• Women Make Gains in Indie Films, Study Says
  They’re directing, writing and producing independently made movies at record levels. They are also hiring more women.
• J.J. Abrams Said to Be Near $500 Million Deal With WarnerMedia
  WarnerMedia will get a first look at projects developed by the media company run by Mr. Abrams and his wife, which made hits like “Star Trek Beyond.”
• Goodbye Yellow Lycra: See Elton John’s ‘Rocketman’ Looks Up Close
  The costume designer Julian Day didn’t simply copy the star’s outfits over the years (or those glasses — dozens of pairs were crafted for the film).
• ‘The Hunger Games’ Prequel Is in the Works
  Suzanne Collins’s dystopian trilogy about children fighting to the death, later adapted as a series of blockbuster movies, is getting a prequel.

NPR©

• Skywalker, The Joker, Now Chucky: Mark Hamill Takes On Another Iconic Character
  The murderous doll comes back to life in the reboot of the 1988 horror classic Child's Play. "Good stories are meant to be told over and over," Hamill says of the remake.
• Despite Lukewarm Critics, Audiences Flock To Netflix's 'Murder Mystery'
  NPR's Michel Martin speaks with journalist David Sims about the new Netflix movie Murder Mystery and what makes a good movie for a streaming platform versus what does well in theaters.
• Himesh Patel On The Beatles And 'Yesterday'
  NPR's Scott Simon talks to Himesh Patel, who stars in the new movie Yesterday, which imagines a world in which no one knows The Beatles, except one man.
• 'Toy Story 4' Reaches For An Even More Resonant Sense Of Closure Than Last Film
  Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the gang are back for a new adventure involving Bonnie's newest toy, Forky, a spork, in Pixar's Toy Story 4.
• Randy Newman, The Musical Voice Of 'Toy Story'
  Randy Newman wrote the songs and scores for all of Pixar's Toy Story movies. As the fourth film opens on June 20, Newman reflects on his time with Woody, Buzz and friends.
• The Toys Are Back: A Review Of 'Toy Story 4'
  Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the rest of the gang are back on an adventure in Toy Story 4. NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan about the new film.
• 'The Edge Of Democracy' Offers An Intimate Look At Brazilian Politics In Flux
  Petra Costa's urgent, engrossing documentary mixes memoir and reportage, raising more questions than it manages to answer about the past, present and future state of Brazilian democracy.
• 'Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am': A Defiant Tour Of A Beloved Author's Life, Work
  Timothy Greenfield-Sanders' discursive documentary features Morrison addressing the camera and dispensing earned wisdom and zingers by the bushel.
• A 'Wild Rose' Grows In Glasgow, With Dreams Of Getting Transplanted
  Rose-Lynn (Jessie Buckley) is a scrappy Glaswegian single mom, fresh out of prison, who chases Nashville dreams in this beguiling, emotionally resonant film.
• Ava DuVernay Focuses On The Central Park 5's Perspective: 'Now People Know'
  DuVernay's Netflix series, When They See Us, tells the story of how five black and brown teenagers were manipulated into confessing to a brutal rape they did not commit.
• To Infinity And ... Be Done: After 4 Films, Have We Finally Outgrown 'Toy Story'?
  Though it's as dazzling as you'd expect from a Pixar animation, Toy Story 4 is also more ungainly than its predecessors, with coarser humor and audacious plot leaps that don't always pay off.
• 'Avengers,' But Make It Without Women, Or Men Hugging, Or Levity In General
  A fan edit of smash hit Avengers: Endgame circulating online has cut out anything deemed feminist or gay. Such "defeminized edits" are now notorious in some corners of fandom.
• Documentary About Charleston Church Shooting Explores Forgiveness
  On June 17, 2015, a white supremacist walked into a bible study and murdered nine African Americans. The film Emanuel is the story of the victims and survivors of that night.
• Father's Day Movie Picks
  NPR's Michel Martin speaks with journalist and critic Jimi Izrael about the best movies to watch on Father's Day.
• The Score Of 'The Last Black Man In San Francisco' Sounds Like No Other In 2019
  The Last Black Man in San Francisco is a whimsical elegy to a fading San Francisco. It features a score by Emile Mosseri that's exuberant and poetic, positioning music front and center in the film.