Where to Watch “Animal”: Netflix There’s a well-established nature doc series format. Any decision to stray away from the familiar rests on the edge between distracting and distinctive. Give the audience a POV of the animal in question? Use some special lenses to show activity at night? Zero in on neon-colored creatures so otherworldly they seem alien? All have been (and probably will remain) viable options for other series. But as long as you’re using one, picking a narrator can be one of those key choices....

The “Alice, Darling” actress shared an Instagram video of being stuck in an elevator on the way to her film’s premiere and press conference. “Ah, the classic ‘I’m behind schedule at this film festival because I had to be rescued from an elevator’ excuse #TIFF22,” Kendrick joked in the caption. “Pitch Perfect” co-star Brittany Snow commented, “love u and this scary AF docu series” while fellow alum Anna Camp wrote, “Oh my god!...

The news arrives not long after Armie Hammer was accused of rape by a woman identified as Effie, who held a press conference on March 18 with her attorney Gloria Allred. The woman alleged that the sexual assault took place in April 2017 and that, during an encounter, Hammer “violently raped” her and repeatedly banged her head against a wall. The actress also said that Hammer committed other “violent acts” against her without her consent....

Rivkin, who previously collaborated with Cameron on the first “Avatar” as well as the Cameron-produced “Alita: Battle Angel,” was on “Way of Water” for a total of seven years due to his role in pre-production, when he worked with the art department to put together demonstration reels for the studio. While some of his time was spent working on material for future “Avatar” films, for the most part those seven years were spent on “Way of Water,” which placed incredible demands on the editing team given the performance capture techniques Cameron was using to record his actors’ performances as reference material for the CGI characters that would ultimately populate the film....

James Cameron’s “Avatar” lands a special theatrical re-release in a new 4K high dynamic range restoration on September 23 to remind audiences of the sprawling epic ahead of its sequel, “Avatar: The Way of Water,” premiering December 16. The Oscar-winning adventure movie became the most successful film of all time upon release. Written, directed, and produced by Academy Award winner Cameron, “Avatar” stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, and Sigourney Weaver....

Now, one of Iran’s top filmmakers is using his platform to draw attention to the issue. Bahman Ghobadi, the acclaimed director of Iranian New Wave films such as “Turtles Can Fly” and “A Time for Drunken Horses” has published an open letter to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences encouraging the institution to promote the protests and stand with the people of Iran. “As one of the members of your prestigious Academy, it would be great if you passed this message along to all of the other Academy members,” Ghobadi wrote....

Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas star as a disillusioned married couple in the Hulu film directed by Adrian Lyne, now streaming. And while their chemistry was palpable onscreen, Affleck had a natural connection with another co-star: his character’s snail collection. According to snail wrangler Max Anton, Affleck was “exceptionally good” with the creatures. “Ben was fantastic to work with. He’s a great listener,” Anton told Entertainment Weekly. “And you can tell that when he does his scenes, he will take instructions....

Blue light glare from staring at your electronics all day might not necessarily be permanently damaging to your eyes — according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, it’s really only UVA or UVB radiation that does that, and neither of those are emitted by computer screens — but long hours of staring at your computer screen definitely does contribute to eye strain. Now that things are back open after more than a year of quarantine, remote working, endless Zoom meetings, and socially-distanced activities, we may not be spending as much time staring at computers, notebooks, and phone screens but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t stay protected....

Transforming your old home movies into digital content is a lot easier than you might think. If you have Super 8 and 8mm film that needs to get digitized, purchasing a film converter is the fastest and probably most convenient way to get the job done. To help you out, we rounded up four of the best digital film converters that you can get online. These digital devices can run you anywhere from $200 to $500, depending on how much film you want to get converted, but there’s also an option to have film professionals convert everything for you....

Do you hear that? It’s the sound of the clock counting down to Halloween. While there are still a couple of weeks before the spookiest day of the year, Halloween costumes are selling fast so you might want to get started on your search. Unless you already have a concept in mind, it can be hard to narrow down your options, which is why we did some of the hard work for you....

Don’t look now, but Mother’s Day is just around the corner. If you’ve been procrastinating about picking out a gift (or if you’re just hearing about it now), you still have some time to buy your mom a great present in time for Sunday, thanks to the magic of internet shopping. If you’re stumped about what to buy, you can’t really go wrong with tech items. Anyone can find use out of a new gadget, especially if you’ve been staying home more than usual....

It’s an image that invites rapport: In the most difficult circumstances, a veteran actress returns to the warmth of her childhood home to snooze under vintage pictures of Beyonce. Other parts of Gilpin’s life, however, seem unreal. Gilpin’s career might look different had “The Tomorrow War” or “The Hunt” come out as planned, or if “GLOW” got its promised final season — but all of that would demand no pandemic, no political hysterics, no truncated theatrical releases, no streaming homes....

But as it turns out, the situation is a bit more complicated. Appearing on stage at the New Yorker Festival on Friday night, Eichner spoke more about the film’s box office failure while adding some nuance to his controversial tweet. “There’s a lot of factors to it,” Eichner said. “To open this movie, in this many theaters, a rom-com in 2022 — there are rom-coms with mega-stars which struggle at the box office, and a lot of the biggest comedy stars are taking their movies to streaming....

In the digital age, the transition between the color and monochrome seems like a flick of a switch, one viewers can imitate on televisions and monitors or with a social media filter. But black-and-white cinematography is not just color desaturated. It’s an art of light, shadow, lines, and shapes. Color cinematography is about, well…. color. On Guillermo Del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley,” whose monochrome theatrical run began last weekend, they attempted to combine the two strategies....

Found unresponsive in his hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando January 9, Saget was pronounced dead at the scene by deputies, according to a tweet from the Orange County Sheriff’s office. No signs of foul play or drug use were found. Saget first rose to fame as Danny Tanner, the widowed father of three on “Full House,” a role he played for all eight seasons and then reprised for five seasons of the Netflix revival “Fuller House....

Four new wide releases opened this weekend, an unusually high number. “PAW Patrol” (Paramount), transferring the popular kids TV animated show to the big screen, is also streaming on Paramount+, free for subscribers. With a gross of $13 million, it will gross $5 million more than what the other three new films — two of them theater exclusives — will do. But #1 this time around, and in its second weekend, is “Free Guy” (Disney) at $18....

The new limited series has plenty more on its mind than aping a particular time and place. “Brand New Cherry Flavor” carries all the psychological trappings that come with the curdled glamor of Los Angeles, but this is a specific kind of Hollywood story; one that exists in its own self-contained universe, detached from a conventional decade-signaling aesthetic. Very quickly, the show establishes its primary concern isn’t enduring stardom or lavish luxury....

Mike Mills makes sweet and ineffably gracious movies about how people don’t know what the future holds or how the fuck they’re supposed to get there, and “C’mon C’mon” is definitely one of them. A shaggy black-and-white mood piece about an unmarried radio journalist (Joaquin Phoenix) who unexpectedly finds himself on a cross-country assignment with his nine-year-old nephew (Woody Norman) in tow, Mills’ latest film might bop around from Los Angeles to New York and New Orleans, but it never strays far from an ethos best expressed by Greta Gerwig’s character in “20th Century Women”: “Whatever you imagine your life is going to be like, know your life is not going to be anything like that....

Since announcing her retirement in 2018 and not appearing onscreen since 2014, Diaz is set to co-star with Jamie Foxx in the upcoming Netflix film aptly titled “Back in Action.” Diaz’s fellow “Annie” alum Foxx tweeted, “Cameron, I hope you aren’t mad I recorded this, but no turning back now. Had to call in the GOAT to bring back another GOAT,” while sharing the audio of a three-way call between Diaz, himself, and quarterback Tom Brady, who is also entering Hollywood post-retirement....

“The competition is very international and showcases films with many different styles and topics,” Tesson said in a statement (via Variety). “Many films tackle relationships, friendships, family bonds — especially mothers with their children, loved ones we lost, or fighting to get back into our lives.” Critics’ Week 2021 is opening with Constance Meyer’s “Robust,” starring Gérard Depardieu. The selection makes 2021 the first time since 2014 that Critics’ Week is opening with a movie directed by a French woman....