In fact, though, “Khorshid” (or “Sun Children”) is quite the thrill ride, mixing a Dickensian, social-realist account of children in poverty in Tehran with a kinetic, far-fetched heist movie and a well-meaning drama about a kindly teacher who would, in a 1980s American film, have been played by Robin Williams. Majidi’s “Children of Heaven” was the first Iranian film to be nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, back in 1999 (Roberto Benigni’s “Life is Beautiful” won)....

“The Batman” now looks like it could corral $400 million or more domestically. That would put it ahead of “Batman v Superman,” which opened better in 2016 but then collapsed (-69 percent second weekend) and totaled only $333 million (unadjusted). Credit positive reaction to the film for that, but also credit the new reality that the accepted norm is that more people see fewer movies. Which brings us to the other big story, in which these “Batman” returns are only part of an interwoven set of results that all relate to the biggest issue theaters now face: The major titles are doing better than ever, but the lack of a wider flow of new product is resulting in a still challenging exhibition situation....

The upcoming PBS documentary reveals how Black people have worshipped and, through their spiritual journeys, improvised ways to bring their faith traditions from the African continent to the New World while interpreting them into a form of Christianity that was truly their own, in a nation whose original sin was the enslavement of their ancestors across the Middle Passage. “The Black church is the oldest, the most continuous and most important institution created in the history of Black people in this country, and I’m honored that we have made this series, and will be sharing it with audiences at a time when these stories of grace and resilience, struggle and redemption, hope and healing would be so desperately needed, given all that we’ve lost and all that we’ve endured in the last year,” Gates said on Friday during the TCA’s Winter Press Tour virtual PBS panel....

“Chapter 16 – The Rescue” is essentially the big-budget CGI equivalent of watching a small child smash their collection of action figures into one another. It’s messy, incoherent, and utterly mindless. But hey, at least the kid is having fun. “The Mandalorian” Season 2 finale marks the long-awaited showdown between Mando (Pedro Pascal) and Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) following the latter’s abduction of Grogu earlier in the season. Though the episode delivers on that front, features a team-up between many of the show’s standout characters, and resolves the quest Mando set off on at the beginning of the season, it does so with so many noisy and plodding action scenes — and aggravating unanswered questions — that the end result isn’t particularly cathartic....

“I saw the film in Berlin in September. It’s really good,” Mitchell said. “I cannot tell you what this film is about, but I could explain what it is not. It’s certainly not yet one more sequel, but something autonomous that contains the three Matrix that preceded in a really ingenious way. It’s a very beautiful and weird creation. It also achieved a couple of things that we do not see in action films, meaning it subverts the rules of blockbusters....

Anya Taylor-Joy stars as Margot, a skeptical diner accompanying her partner Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) to an elite restaurant tucked away on a remote island. The tasting menu, curated by a famed chef played by Ralph Fiennes, has surprising delicacies in store for the guests who may or may not be trapped. A teaser for the film already hinted at the underbelly of a lavish yet mysterious meal. “The Menu” is set to premiere in theaters November 18 from Searchlight Pictures after world-premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival....

That Clooney’s “Midnight Sky” would resemble Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Oscar-winning adventure epic “The Revenant” is not by accident, as the project was written by “Revenant” screenwriter Mark L. Smith. Clooney stars in the film as Augustine, a cancer-stricken scientist who ties to prevent a group of astronauts from returning to Earth after a global catastrophe wipes out the planet. Augustine and a child named Iris (Caoilinn Springall) are the last survivors....

“The Midnight Sky” stars Clooney as a cancer-stricken scientist who tries to prevent a group of astronauts from returning to Earth after a global catastrophe wipes out the planet. If the astronauts make it back to Earth, they’ll most likely die. To send a message to the spaceship, the scientist must venture out into the toxic environment to reach an observatory that has enough power to send a communication through the atmosphere....

“The Suicide Squad,” like all of Warner Bros.’ 2021 titles, will debut day and date in whatever theaters are open later this summer and on HBO Max for 31 days. The release date is currently set for August 6, 2021. Director James Gunn has long billed the film as a gritty, 1970s war movie with comedic sensibilities. The 2016 “Suicide Squad” was memorable for introducing Margot Robbie’s fan-favorite turn as Harley Quinn, who later got her own spinoff with last year’s “Birds of Prey....

“Geralt’s big turn is about giving up neutrality and doing anything that he has to do to get to Ciri [Freya Allan],” Hissrich said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “And to me, it’s the most heroic sendoff that we could have, even though it wasn’t written to be that.” Although she didn’t discuss Hemsworth’s interpretation of the character, Hissrich further told EW that Season 4 will see Geralt take on a new goal, with the changes of the character helping to mirror the change in actors....

Also known as OMM, the organization launched campaigns to boycott “Thor: Love and Thunder” due to its “blatant LGBTQ content.” “One Million Moms needs your help to make sure as many people as possible are aware that Marvel Studios is pushing the LGBTQ agenda on families in their newest superhero movie,” the online petition states. “Rated PG-13, ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ includes many LGBTQ innuendos and an abundance of euphemisms, but a few scenes are not downplayed at all....

“Totally Under Control” is far from the first documentary to tackle coronavirus fallout (recent efforts “76 Days” and Ai Weiwei’s “Coronation” reveal the struggle inside Wuhan), but it’s the first serious assessment outside of nightly news shows to illustrate how much America bungled its response. Gibney and his collaborators fold in a lot of material into two hours, from the tick-tock of CDC efforts to downplay the virus and Donald Trump’s lunacy in conflicting science at every turn, to the horrible miscalculations that led to a dearth of tests and PPE supplies....

The official synopsis for “Turning Red” reads: “Young actress Rosalie Chiang lends her voice to Mei Lee, a 13-year-old who suddenly ‘poofs’ into a giant red panda when she gets too excited (which is practically ALWAYS). Sandra Oh voices Mei Lee’s protective, if not slightly overbearing mother, Ming, who is never far from her daughter—an unfortunate reality for the teenager.” IndieWire spoke to Shi in 2018 about “Bao” and her journey to joining Pixar....

If his deal closes, Chung would work from a script by “The Revenant” writer Mark L. Smith and a story from “Top Gun: Maverick” director Joseph Kosinski, and the individual adds that Chung was just one of many top directors attracted to working on the film. What’s more, “Twisters” is looking to start up shooting quickly sometime this spring. As of right now, there’s no talent in talks to star, and no word on if Helen Hunt, the original film’s star, would be among those returning....

Seamón’s character is also wrestling with her gender identity, and that begins to manifest physically, as she shaves her entire head early in the season. Seamón really did that. “That was the very first scene that we shot. Every time you see me with hair besides that scene, it’s a wig,” said Seamón in a recent Zoom interview. “It was the first day on set. They told me originally when I first auditioned […] your character needs to cut their hair....

The old saying goes, “a promise made is a promise kept.” But for Fraser (Jack Dylan Grazer) and Caitlin (Jordan Kristine Seamón), two teenagers living in defiance to the status quo, their promise is made stronger by not being kept. Early in the series, when the two burgeoning friends told each other they would never kiss, little did either know the kind of journey they’d go on together; that Caitlin would explore the world as Harper, that Fraser would become their righteous defender, or that they’d find such a powerful connection in each another....

IndieWire’s Kate Erbland described the unusual premise: “The film follows MacKay as Jacob, a young man who suffers from ‘species dysphoria’ and believes himself to be a wolf. Sent to a clinic that specializes in the disorder, Jacob is forced to confront his true nature, while also falling under the spell of Wildcat (Lily-Rose Depp), a mysterious fellow patient at what’s blithely termed ‘the zoo.’” Though not currently recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, species dysphoria is an umbrella term applied to a disorder in which individuals believe they have been born into the body of the wrong species....

If anyone doubted the grim outlook for domestic theaters right now, look to this weekend, where all films barely took in $13 million total, smack dab in the middle of the extended Christmas period. And that’s with only around 40 percent of domestic theaters open at the moment, and the outcome representing 56 percent of the potential normal gross. But even if all theaters were open, that the total might have been $25 million shows how weak the result is....

According to director of photography Christina Alexandra Voros, that is entirely intentional. “Taylor’s mantra is that we’re not making a TV show, we’re making a 10-hour movie, and that extends to every facet of how the show is made,” she told IndieWire. “There’s not a pattern. The pattern is how do you make the best show possible, and that means some episodes may shoot eight days and some are 14 and there may be an episode that’s all on the ranch and another one that has 30 different locations....

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