Cabaret (1972) Director: Bob Fosse Screenwriter: Jay Allen Starring: Liza Minnelli, Michael York, Joel Grey, Helmut Griem, Fritz Wepper, Marisa Berenson, Elisabeth Neumann-Viertel, Helen Vita When the musical Cabaret first appeared on stage in the late 1960s it shared the conventions of its genre, but Bob Fosse’s 1972 film adaptation transformed its cinematic approach. Fosse, … Read more

When MTV introduced Jackass as a stunt-driven series in 2000, few could have predicted how influential and lucrative the project would become. What began as a low-budget, digitally recorded show evolved into a cultural phenomenon and a highly profitable film franchise. The group—led on-screen by Johnny Knoxville and guided behind the scenes by director-producer Jeff … Read more

Jackass Forever (2022) Director: Jeff Tremaine Starring: Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Preston Lacy, Dave England, Ehren McGehey, Jason “Wee Man” Acuña, Spike Jonze Cinema often promises escape: unfamiliar places, fantastical spectacles and high-budget thrills. Jackass Forever offers a different kind of escape—no CGI set-pieces or stunt-driven blockbusters, but a raw, unvarnished showcase of physical … Read more

Seen by some as a flashy stunt and by others as an impressive display of craft, one-shot films are always a major creative undertaking. Both immersive and self-aware of cinema’s artifice, a one-er or one-shot film is a stylistic choice that can either deepen a story or distract from it, depending on how it’s used. … Read more

One of the most popular franchises in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has long been Guardians of the Galaxy. Directed and shepherded creatively by James Gunn, these operatic space adventures have been both box-office successes—grossing more than $1.6 billion worldwide—and critical favorites, earning consistently high ratings from audiences and critics alike. Now, Gunn has hinted that … Read more

Born from a running joke between writer and star Mike Myers and his wife, the British secret agent Austin Powers — a deliberately flirtatious, overconfident parody of Cold War-era spies — rose from low-budget cult curiosity to mainstream phenomenon between 1997 and 2002. In that short span, Myers, already famous from Saturday Night Live and … Read more

Paul Thomas Anderson is widely regarded as one of the finest American filmmakers working today. Whenever he releases a new movie, its title quickly becomes part of awards-season conversation. He consistently draws top-tier actors, cinematographers and composers who help bring his layered, meticulously crafted films to both critical and commercial success. To date, he remains … Read more

Since the 1980s, Guillermo Del Toro has unsettled and enchanted audiences with a distinctive blend of fantasy and horror, memorable characters and imaginative, often haunting stories. His early short films—ten in total, eight of which remain unreleased—served as a preview of the feature work that would follow: a career of independent and studio projects that … Read more

Flag Day (2022) Director: Sean Penn Screenwriters: Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth Starring: Sean Penn, Dylan Penn, Addison Tymec, Katheryn Winnick, Jaydn Rylee, Josh Brolin, Hopper Penn With much of the Penn family appearing both behind and in front of the camera, Flag Day promised an intimate portrait of a fractured family, centering on the tense, … Read more

Nightmare Alley (2022) Director: Guillermo del Toro Screenwriters: Guillermo del Toro, Kim Morgan Starring: Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman, Richard Jenkins A Guillermo del Toro release is always an event—an auteur’s spectacle that often reaches beyond conventional cinema. In his return to major feature filmmaking after the Oscar-winning … Read more