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Even more than decades after its release, Max Payne still continues to be a popular name among the gaming community, thanks to the indelible mark it left in the industry.

A still from Max Payne. (Image via Remedy Entertainment)

Remedy Entertainment’s title is a highly rated, award-winning shooter that’s regarded as one of the best action games in the genre. What will truly surprise you is that the entire project and the protagonist were inspired by one violent game that you’d never even thought about.

Max Payne Comes From a Forgotten Remedy Entertainment Game Sam Lake’s inspiration for his biggest success. (Image via Remedy Entertainment)

Remedy Entertainment’s creative director, who provided their likeness for Max Payne‘s character model, Sam Lake, has been a popular figure among gamers and has a celebrity-like status. If it weren’t for his key contributions to the series, it...

Simon Cowell’s never been one to hold back, but sometimes his sharp tongue hits harder than a talent show’s buzzer. On America’s Got Talent, he threw out a jab aimed straight below the belt at none other than Mel B, comparing a lackluster performance to her wedding night. Ouch. While the joke was meant to get some laughs, it actually marked the beginning of one of the most uncomfortable moments in AGT history.

A Still from America’s Got Talent | Credits: Syco Entertainment

Mel B’s reaction? Let’s just say it wasn’t all Spice Girls-level, girl power. That offhand comment snowballed into drama both on and off-screen, leading to one of the show’s darkest chapters. Here’s how a single quip turned the AGT stage into a storm of controversy.

Simon Cowell’s Joke Sparks an Ice-Cold Showdown on America’s Got Talent Simon Cowell from America’s Got Talent...

Sarah Danser, whose reality TV career included a memorable run on Warner Brothers Discovery’s Naked and Afraid franchise, died Tuesday in Kahala, Hawaii. She was 34 years old.

According to Honolulu police, Danser was the passenger in a parked car that was struck by a vehicle whose driver lost control on the road. The accident occurred on Sunday, Oct. 20, at which time Danser was listed in critical condition. She died two days later.

More from TVLineBaywatch Vet Michael Newman Dead at 68 - 18 Years After Parkinson's Diagnosis16 and Pregnant Star Autumn Crittendon's Cause of Death RevealedLiam Payne's Death Leaves One...

As the world continues to mourn the death of Liam Payne, those who knew him best are sharing their pain.

This includes perhaps his most famous ex-girlfriend.

Though Cheryl Cole and Liam only dated for two years, their time together made a huge impact on both their lives. Her grief is felt that much more deeply knowing that along with her own pain, she’s left to care for their 7-year-old son who no longer has a dad.

This one is just going to wreck your heart.

Liam Payne and former partner Cheryl pose on the red carpet on arrival for the Brit Awards 2018 in London on February 21, 2018. (Tolga Akmen/Afp via Getty Images) Cheryl Cole’s Tribute To Liam Payne

“As I try to navigate this earth shattering event, and work through my own grief at this indescribably painful time, I’d like to kindly remind everyone that we have lost a human being,...

Zayn Malik paid tribute to Liam Payne in an emotional post dedicated to his former One Direction bandmate.

“Liam, I have found myself talking out loud to you, hoping you can hear me, I can’t help but think selfishly that there was so many more conversations for us to have in our lives,” Malik wrote on Instagram. “I never got to thank you for supporting me through some of the most difficult times in my life.”

Malik continued, “When I was missing home as a 17 yr old kid you would always be there with a positive outlook and reassuring smile and let me know you were my friend and that I was loved. Even though you were younger than me you were always more sensible than me, you were headstrong, opinionated, and gave no fucks about telling people when they were wrong.”

Related: Liam Payne Cause Of Death Revealed...

As the world continues to mourn the death of Liam Payne, those who knew him best are sharing their pain.

This includes his One Direction brothers.

Louis Tomlinson expressed his grief in a touching tribute that reflected on their bond as band mates.

A bond that wasn’t always so easy, but ultimately endured. And he included a promise to look after Liam’s young son as an “uncle” in his absence.

Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson from One Direction with their British Artist Video of the Year award on stage at the Brit Awards 2016 at The O2 Arena on February 24, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images) Louis Tomlinson’s Tribute To Liam Payne

Louis and Liam were connected for life through their stint in One Direction, arguably one of the most successful boy bands of all time.

After news of Liam’s tragic death broke, Louis...

Charlie Puth, DJ Zedd, Rita Ora, Backstreet Boys and his fellow One Direction bandmates are among the celebrities paying tribute to Liam Payne, who died tragically Wednesday at 31.

The former One Direction member fell from the third-floor balcony of a hotel room in Buenos Aires, Argentina, according to state police, per ABC and CNN.

He was best known for his work in the boy band made up of Payne, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik. He went on to have a fairly successful solo music career after leaving the band in 2016. Payne’s debut single, “Strip That Down” featuring Quavo, was released that year. He also collaborated with artists such as DJ Zedd and J Balvin.

Payne’s family, including mother Karen and father Geoff, released a statement Thursday following the news. “We are heartbroken,” they said, according to the BBC. “Liam will forever live in our...

Liam Payne, a founding member of the popular British-Irish boy band One Direction, died Wednesday in Buenos Aires, Argentina, after falling off a balcony from the hotel’s third floor. He was 31.

La Nación reports that before the incident, police were called by Hotel Casa Sur staff to report “an aggressive man that could’ve been under the influence of drugs or alcohol.”

“We were alerted about a person who was in an internal courtyard of Casa Sur Hotel. [First responders] arrived and confirmed the man’s death. We later learned that he was a singer in a musical group. Unfortunately, he had injuries incompatible with life as a result of his fall, so we had to confirm his death. There was no possibility of resuscitation,” Alberto Crescenti, head of the state emergency medical system, said.

Related: Liam Payne Tributes: Paris Hilton, Charlie Puth & More Remember One Direction Alum

Although they were...

Sam Lake is one of the most consistent video game auteurs in our industry. Each new creation only hones his game design philosophies and profound method of storytelling. The man’s portfolio, from Max Payne to Alan Wake 2, speaks for itself, after all.

Sam Lake as Max Payne – Image Credit: Remedy Entertainment.

So when the man says that he wants to try his hand at a genre tailor-made for him and that he already has an idea for how it plays out, we can’t help but wonder what’s stopping him from diving right in.

Sam Lake Might Take On One of the Most Ill-Utilized Genres in Gaming Alan Wake fighting the Taken – Image Credit: Remedy Entertainment.

Let’s talk for a minute about Sam Lake’s work and expertise in game design. With Max Payne, the game’s dark, gritty narrative and intense action sequences set a new...

The idea of a non-linear time-spanning look at a marriage is not new. The absolute pinnacle of the idea still to me is director Stanley Donen’s and writer Fredric Raphael’s wonderfully sophisticated 1967 comedy Two For the Road, in which Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney flip back and forth in the course of their 12-year marriage. It was so ahead of its time, not just with the idea but in the editing technique used throughout. An absolute classic that didn’t get its full due in its day.

Now the latest in this subgenre is We Live In Time, the romantic comedy from director John Crowley and writer Nick Payne, which attempts to chronicle the decade-old relationship and marriage between Almut (Florence Pugh) and Tobias (Andrew Garfield). The style isn’t as tricky as Two For the Road’s, but what it undeniably shares in common...

Starz has announced the movie and TV titles that will be available on the service in September. The Starz September 2024 schedule includes the premiere of Three Women, a limited series based on the New York Times bestselling book that explores female desire through the compellingly raw and honest stories of three women on a crash course to radically change their lives.

Part Two of the final season of Power Book II: Ghost will also premiere. On the film front, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, Imaginary, Arthur the King, Knock at the Cabin, The Strangers: Chapter 1, Training Day, Ant-Man, and several other notable titles will join the Starz app this month.

Three Women Starz Highlights

Power Book II: Ghost Season 4 Part 2

The second half of the fourth and final season of “Power Book II: Ghost” premieres on Friday, September 6, at midnight Et on the Starz app. On linear, it will air on Starz at 8:00 p.

In a galaxy far, far away, a psychotic wasteland dweller is strapped to a pole with explosives. Thirteen-year-old Tiny Tina comes skipping along, singing “Pop Goes the Weasel” before detonating the explosives and causing bits of the psychotic wasteland dweller to litter the landscape. She then introduces our hero to “the fine-ass ladies”—two explosive-stuffed rabbits named Mushy Snugglebites and Felicia Sexopants—who can help them with a major heist.

As juvenile as that description is, I wish I could tell you that Eli Roth’s Borderlands starts by directly copying an iconic scene from the Borderlands 2 game that introduces the ever-chaotic and maniacally performed Tiny Tina in an act of cartoonish violence. At least that would show that, like the games in the series, the film had some semblance of a personality, even if it’s a 4chan anon’s idea of one. And that would at least be...

June Squibb has loved working with auteur Alexander Payne, but that doesn’t mean it was an easy road to start.

The actress detailed during SiriusXM’s “The Jess Cagle Show” with Julia Cunningham just how much she had to convince Payne to cast her in 2002 film “About Schmidt.”

“Well, to be honest, it was very difficult to get them to look at me for ‘About Schmidt,'” Squibb said. “My agents tried and tried. They were in L.A. and going to shoot in Nebraska and I was in New York and they really didn’t want to use New York actors. They ended up, I think using one or two, but not very many. And they kept saying, ‘No, we’re not interested. We’re not interested.'”

The “Inside Out 2” star continued, “Finally, I think my agents wore them down and they said, ‘Yeah, just send us a tape.

Exclusive: The Martin cast reunion was a highlight of this year’s Emmy Awards, tapping into nostalgia to bring the 90s sitcom back into the pop culture conversation. The beloved comedy is now looking for a more permanent return with Young Martin, a new hourlong drama series from Martin Lawrence and his production company, RunTelDat, in collaboration with Marvin Peart’s WonderHill Studios.

The hourlong Young Martin is contemporary origin story centering on Martin Payne, a charismatic teenager navigating the complexities of transitioning from youth to adulthood. It reimagines the character played by Lawrence on Martin, paying homage to the original show, which aired on Fox from 1992-97.

Young Martin‘s dramatic bent resembles the route another signature 1990s sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, starring Lawrence’s Bad Boys co-lead Will Smith, took with Bel-Air, executive produced by Smith.

Executive producing Young Martin are Lawrence, Rae Proctor, Robert Lawrence...

The Matrix franchise has left an indelible mark on pop culture ever since the groundbreaking film’s release in 1999. The mind-bending, way-ahead-of-its-time concept of a simulated reality, combined with stunning visuals and thrilling action sequences, captivated audiences worldwide.

Naturally, the success of the movies led to the creation of several video games aiming to immerse players in the Matrix universe.

In this article, we’ll rank all the Matrix games released so far—from the least impressive to the most outstanding. Let’s take a look at how each game attempted to capture the spirit of The Matrix, evaluate their storylines and gameplay mechanics, and judge their overall influence on the gaming industry!

4. The Matrix Online ‘Tis the Matrix Mmorpg! | Image via AlphaYellow YouTube Channel

The Matrix Online, an ambitious Mmorpg developed by Monolith Productions, sought to continue the story of the Matrix universe after the events of The Matrix Revolutions.

Mark Wahlberg had a lot of regret in terms of movie projects he made in the past, but nothing as embarrassing as his streak of flop films. The actor notably starred in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening in 2008, which of course, failed critically.

Mark Wahlberg in Max Payne / 20th Century Studios

He booked another project that he thought would finally save his career, but John Moore’s Max Payne only worsened his bad luck. The movie also tanked miserably both at the box office and critic reviews.

Mark Wahlberg Thought Max Payne Will Save His Career

During his interview with Hollywood.com at the 2008 Comic-Con, actor Mark Wahlberg raved about his new Max Payne film after suffering from the failure that was M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening. He indirectly slammed the movie by claiming Max Payne saved him from utter embarrassment.

I remember The Happening had just come out,...

Alan Wake 2 was a major recent release and has garnered numerous awards and widespread love from players. Despite this, Remedy Entertainment Studio has yet to recoup the game’s production costs. The game’s captivating narrative and engaging gameplay have contributed to its popularity, but it has not been without controversy.

The decision to only sell the game as a digital-only release has been a significant point of conflict among players. Recent earnings reports suggest that these controversies may have impacted the game’s profitability, as it has yet to break even on its budget.

Is Alan Wake 2’s Steam release soon?

Alan Wake 2 is still not profitable for Remedy

Remedy Entertainment’s Q1 earning report showed that the company is not making a profit but there are many factors for that. The biggest one is the acquisition of Control which is very good for their future. The second reason...

The first preview for the West End adaptation of “Fawlty Towers — The Play,” based on the legendary British comedy series created by and starring John Cleese and Connie Booth, hits the boards later this week. The show is an amalgamation of three of the 12 episodes of the zany resort-set series, one of which is the most famous: “The Germans.”

Most remember that episode for the catchphrase “don’t mention the war,” the talking moose, and Cleese goosestepping around his humble Torquay hotel lobby. But it also included its share of envelope-pushing material. Indeed, the character The Major – an old senile drunk played by Ballard Berkeley – tells a rambling story about his time in India in which someone got their racial slurs confused. The scene includes the use of the N-word, as well as a derogatory term for Indians.

In 2020, UKTV removed it, but later reinstated it after Cleese called the move “stupid.

Reese Witherspoon as Tracy Flick Screenshot: Paramount Pictures This May, Glee turns 15. For better or worse—often both, within the same episode—the series is singular. It ushered in a wave of musical TV shows, and with it a new era of merchandising. Its young cast might not have become Euphoria famous,...

Campaign poster Paul Metzler You BET-zler!! in Alexander Payne’s Election, starring Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick, designed by Nate Carlson

In the second instalment with Alexander Payne’s longtime 'secret weapon' graphic designer Nate Carlson, we discuss their latest multiple award-winning collaboration The Holdovers’ stained glass windows and memorial inscriptions in the school chapel, a running theme of pharmacies and prescription bottles, the mastery of punctuation humour from Election to Marcus Aurelius, the art of combining the pre-existing with the new, and the family polaroid.

Nate Carlson on Alexander Payne: “He always likes to put those little hidden gems in there and I am certainly open to accommodate.”

The Holdovers (screenplay by David Hemingson), stars Golden Globe winner Paul Giamatti, Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA winner Da'Vine Joy Randolph and BAFTA Best Supporting Actor nominee Dominic Sessa and has a terrific supporting cast led by Carrie Preston with Brady Hepner,...

With Unreal Engine 5 being the hottest thing out there, fans cannot wait to experience the realism and rich graphics of the engine. This has led many fans and modders to remake their favorite games on the latest game engine.

The Elder Scrolls 6

Among them are fans of the Elder Scrolls franchise. And with Elder Scrolls 6 on the way, and devs confirming that the game will be built on Creation Engine 2, fans are upset with the devs over skipping the Unreal Engine 5.

Starfield recreated on Unreal Engine 5

Bethesda’s Starfield, which launched in September 2023 was built on the second version of the developer’s in-house engine, Creation Engine 2.0. However, at that time Unreal Engine 5 was already out there. This led to many wonder what Todd Howard‘s massive space game would have looked like had been on Epic’s revolutionary Unreal Engine 5.

A fan reimagined the game and recreated the game...

Remedy had a great year last year. Alan Wake 2 was a long wait, and the game didn’t disappoint us. It won several awards in prestigious awards shows such as the BAFTA. The game also sold a million copies by February. With all the success around Alan Wake 2, many are eagerly waiting to know about the next games from Remedy.

Alan Wake 2

Rest assured, Remedy is working on multiple games currently. As we all know, the company is working on Control 2, and Condor. Both of these games have become the talk of the town, thanks to the success of Alan Wake 2.

Sam Lake’s comments on the Max Payne remake

Apart from Control 2, and Condor, there is another game that many are looking forward to. This is none other than the Max Payne remake. The remake is highly anticipated and will be developed by Remedy and funded by Rockstar Games.

Apart from the main protagonist Max Payne, fans of the Max Payne games will remember Mona Sax. Sax as one of the most important characters in Max Payne 2. She was shown in the first Max Payne game during the cut scenes. She is a professional assassin in the game, and not much is known about her background story.

A still from Max Payne

Sax also appeared in the second game where she is the second playable character. Max Payne 2 revolved around the love story of Payne and Sax. However, in the game, Payne and Sax’s love story meets a tragic end.

Mona Sax’s secret ending in Max Payne 2

As Mona Sax became one of the protagonists in Max Payne 2, the game focused more on her love story with Payne. However, their love story had a tragic end in the game, when Sax got shot in the back by Lem.

The Matrix movie became an instant box office as soon as it came to the big screens. The popular movie franchise has also inspired many video games in one way or another. The Matrix had people living in virtual reality, and this was similar to many video games. Additionally, the combat scenes of the movie also were similar to other action games out there.

The Matrix (1999)

During the time of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, several games came out that used the bullet time effect in their action scenes. These games were well-liked by fans, and therefore the movie still inspires a lot of games even today.

A fan makes a Max Payne meets The Matrix-styled game

Bullet time in The Matrix

A Reddit user posted that they have created a new game taking inspiration from a hit game, and a movie. The Reddit user has also uploaded a short clip from the game,...

The Silent Hill 2 Remake is on the horizon as fans wait for an official release date. While many are still hoping for a Fall 2024 release window, the possibility of 2025 is still in the air.

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (Esrb) recently published the upcoming remake’s rating and it’s what you would expect from the series. Blood, violence, guns, and creatures like Pyramid Head are in the rating summary for Silent Hill 2 Remake. However, one sentence towards the latter half of the summary is tripping up the community.

The game contains some suggestive/sexual material: characters pole-dancing in strip-club settings.

Was this a mistake? Or are Bloober Team and Konami adding pole-dancing into Silent Hill 2 Remake?

Silent Hill 2 Remake Esrb Rating Suggests Sexual Themes Silent Hill 2 Remake still has blood, violence, and gore.

It’s common for games to get rated by the Esrb before they officially release.

Max Payne’s remakes may be in development, but who said that doesn’t give other developers to cook up their own bullet time experiences? On that note, there’s a new exciting project in the works that looks like a serious combination of Max Payne, My Friend Pedro, and John Wick making the most of the cinematic gameplay experience you could hope for.

The game is called The Hong Kong Massacre and is being crafted by two individuals, working in a studio called Vreski that is based in Malmö, Sweden. Even though the game’s press kit shows a trailer of a game that looks very different, the narrative seems to have stayed unchanged over the course of its development.

Max Payne’s remakes will take a while, until then, have a taste of The Hong Kong Massacre This one is really looking like a first-person version of Max Payne!

Pyper Braun as Alice in ‘Imaginary’ (Photo Credit: Parrish Lewis / Lionsgate)

At first glance, it would seem as if Blumhouse’s new horror movie Imaginary is just another killer doll movie along the lines of Child’s Play or Annabelle. And after a watch, that’s pretty much what it is. But with a few twists.

Imaginary is about a children’s book author/illustrator named Jessica (DeWanda Wise from Jurassic World Dominion) who moves into her childhood home with her husband, Max (The Walking Dead’s Tom Payne), and his two girls, the teenaged Taylor (Monarch’s Taegen Burns) and the younger Alice (Desperation Road’s Pyper Braun). Lonely in her new place, Alice immediately makes an imaginary friend named Chauncey who takes the form of a cute little teddy bear. But there’s more to Chauncey than meets the eye – and he has history with Jessica.

Directed by Jeff Wadlow...

Like everyone else during the pandemic, Paul Giamatti found solace on Zoom. The veteran actor caught an online talk presented by Stephen Asma, an author and philosophy professor at Columbia College Chicago. Giamatti liked what Asma had to say about imagination and consciousness, so he did what any well-connected fan would do and reached out.

“We were Zooming when Zoom was a new thing. It was nice to chat with this guy, and we found each other having these longer and longer chats,” says Giamatti during a rare break from his best actor Oscar campaign for his role in Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers. “Stephen jokingly said, ‘We ought to do something with this.’ ” The joke then turned serious. To craft their pitch, they sent one of their chats to visual artist Alex Sokol, who added animation and striking images to represent things they bantered about, like aliens, UFOs and bigfoot.

The films in the running for the 2024 Best Film Editing Oscar are “Anatomy of a Fall,” “The Holdovers,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Oppenheimer,” and “Poor Things.” Our current odds indicate that “Oppenheimer” (31/10) is the frontrunner, followed in order by “Anatomy of a Fall” (4/1), “Killers of the Flower Moon” (9/2), “Poor Things” (9/2), and “The Holdovers” (9/2).

Having previously bagged trophies for “Raging Bull” (1981), “The Aviator” (2005), and “The Departed” (2007), Thelma Schoonmaker could now become this category’s first quadruple champion by winning for “Killers of the Flower Moon.” The 84-year-old is also the first cutter to reach a total of nine nominations, with all but her first for “Woodstock” (1971) having come for films directed by Martin Scorsese. Their other collaborations that brought her academy attention are “Goodfellas” (1991), “Gangs of New York” (2003), “Hugo” (2012), and “The Irishman” (2020).

This year’s second of two female nominees is Jennifer Lame (“Oppenheimer”), who would be the 14th unique woman to win this award,...

Alexander Payne movies always do well in two areas come the Oscar nominations: writing and acting. Five of Payne’s movies have been nominated for writing while five of his flicks have also snagged acting bids. However, while “Sideways” and “The Descendants” both took home Oscars for their writing (both for Best Adapted Screenplay), no Payne movie has ever won for acting. Here’s the record.

“About Schmidt” procured a Best Actor nomination in 2003 for Jack Nicholson. He was in a two-horse race for the Best Actor gong with “Gangs of New York” star Daniel Day-Lewis but it was Adrien Brody (“The Pianist”) who ended up winning by splitting the votes. Kathy Bates was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress for “About Schmidt” but she lost to Catherine Zeta-Jones (“Chicago”).

Paul Giamatti was cruelly snubbed for a Best Actor bid for “Sideways” in 2005 but two of his costars were nominated.

"Night Court" was part of the legendary NBC Thursday night lineup back in the mid-1980s. It ran in a block with "The Cosby Show," "Cheers," and "Family Ties," a proud part of a sitcom renaissance that lasted through to the end of the decade. Of that lineup, "Night Court" was the black sheep, offering up broader characters, wackier scenarios, and a surrealist tone that kept it just a few steps removed from reality. The series was set in a Manhattan Criminal Court, but only during its night shift, when all the weird cases came in. Harry Anderson played Judge Harry Stone, although the late hours had made him playfully unbalanced. Also often on the night shift was prosecutor Dan Fielding (John Larroquette), a lascivious narcissist and amusingly crude a-hole. 

Larroquette was exceptional in the role. "Night Court" ran from 1984 to 1992, and Larroquette won Primetime Emmys four of those years,...

You might not have known it, but The Holdovers is actually the feature screenwriter debut of David Hemingson after a lengthy career in television. But now it seems like the bug has bitten — and that bug is named Alexander Payne. Hemingson recently revealed that he and The Holdovers director Payne are teaming up, this time for a western.

Speaking at a recent post-The Holdovers Q&a (via Deadline), Hemingson revealed some details about the project, saying, “Alexander and I are writing a Western together, so we’re going to co-write something, and it’s set in Nebraska in 1886, and it’s like no Western you have ever seen before, because it’s an Alexander Payne Western. So, all those interpersonal dynamics, all the stuff that he does, so brilliantly. He’s such a brilliant humanist. He’s going to suffuse this thing.”

Hemingson also teased other aspects that would...

After her supporting role in HBO’s critically panned series The Idol, which was canceled after one season, Da’Vine Joy Randolph is now an Oscar nominee for her supporting role in The Holdovers. In an interview for Vanity Fair‘s Hollywood Issue, she was asked about the response to The Idol in light of the praise she’s received for the Alexander Payne film, specifically, “Does it sting?”

Randolph responded, “No, because I know what I did, and I’m very proud of what I did in the role that I created. How people respond and people’s feelings don’t have nothing to do with me. And I don’t have anything to do with contributing to that narrative either. So I just let it go. I enjoy my contribution.”

The Idol came from Euphoria creator Sam Levinson and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, who also starred. The series centered...

Every year, I get a kick out of interviewing the Oscar-nominated screenwriters at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. This year’s panel included two rookie film writer-directors (Cord Jefferson of “American Fiction” and Celine Song of “Past Lives”), two first-time feature screenwriters (Samy Burch of “May December” and David Hemingson of “The Holdovers”), two who studied law (Hemingson and Josh Singer of “Maestro”) and two co-writers with live-in partners (Burch and Arthur Harari of “Anatomy of a Fall”). And oddly, three have westerns in the works as their next projects.

Here’s a few highlights of what I gleaned from these brilliant writers.

1. David Hemingson leaned on his relatives for “The Holdovers.”

The television writer first wrote a pilot about an East Coast boarding school that his agent told him he could use as a writing sample. But the script got to Alexander Payne who liked it and cold-called...

From Alexander Payne and starring Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers is getting a surprise 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release in the UK.

A pleasant surprise, this. Currently in the midst of an awards run that at the very least should bring a Best Actor Oscar to the cabinet of the marvellous Paul Giamatti is The Holdovers, the latest film from Alexander Payne.

As has been heavily reported pretty much everywhere, this is the film that reunites the pair following the exquisite Sideways, and there are superb performances too from Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Dominic Sessa as well.

The surprise isn’t all of that: we kind of figured you knew most of that bit. No, the surprise is that The Holdovers has been selected for 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release in the UK.

It’d already been revealed that the DVD and Blu-ray are coming to UK stores on 22nd...

The Beekeeper and Mean Girls were locked in a race for number one at the North American box office, although the more interesting results saw most of last week’s Oscar nominees surge after theatrical expansions or re-releases.

Amazon MGM Studios’ Jason Statham thriller The Beekeeper earned an estimated $7.4m and Paramount’s Mean Girls musical delivered $7.3m in their third weekends in a slow session overall. The studios will report final numbers on Monday when the box office winner will be determined.

Warner Bros’ Wonka ranked third on $5.9m for an excellent $195.2m in its seventh weekend, followed by...

The Beekeeper and Mean Girls were locked in a race for number one at the North American box office, although the more interesting results saw most of last week’s Oscar nominees surge after theatrical expansions or re-releases.

Amazon MGM Studios’ Jason Statham thriller The Beekeeper earned an estimated $7.4m and Paramount’s Mean Girls musical delivered $7.3m in their third weekends in a slow session overall. The studios will report final numbers on Monday when the box office winner will be determined.

Warner Bros’ Wonka ranked third on $5.9m for an excellent $195.2m in its seventh weekend, followed by...

Paul Giamatti turned the tables on Leonardo DiCaprio when Oscar nominations were announced, with Giamatti nominated for Best Actor for “The Holdovers” while DiCaprio was snubbed for “Killers of the Flower Moon.” But 19 years ago it was the other way around.

SEETop 20 Oscar snubs of performers: Margot Robbie, Leonardo DiCaprio, Willem Dafoe …

In 2004 the Oscar lineup for Best Actor consisted of Don Cheadle (“Hotel Rwanda”), Johnny Depp (“Finding Neverland”), DiCaprio (“The Aviator”), Clint Eastwood (“Million Dollar Baby”), and the eventual winner Jamie Foxx (“Ray”). Someone who was notably absent that year was Giamatti for “Sideways.”

Prior to the nominations announcement DiCaprio was recognized at every major precursor for his performance as Howard Hughes, a real-life filmmaker, pilot and businessman, in Martin Scorsese‘s “The Aviator.” Among those plaudits, he won the Golden Globe for Best Film Drama Actor. The movie itself received 13 Oscar noms overall, including DiCaprio’s Best Actor bid.

It was a big morning for Barbie when the 2024 Oscar nominations were announced on Tuesday. The Warner Bros. film scored eight nominations, including one for the top prize of best picture. But Greta Gerwig was unexpectedly left out of the best director category, and star Margot Robbie failed to land a best actress nod for her role as the titular character in the summer box-office smash.

Gerwig is nominated with partner Noah Baumbach in the best adapted screenplay category for their Barbie script and Robbie, as one of Barbie‘s producers, is nominated for best picture and would take home an Oscar if the film wins the top prize.

Meanwhile, fellow Barbie star America Ferrera was somewhat of a surprise inclusion in the best supporting actress category, as she missed out on precursor nominations at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild Awards, where she is nominated as part of the Barbie cast,...

2024 BAFTA Awards Nominations Unveiled ( Photo Credit – IMDb; Facebook )

After the Emmys and Golden Globes, it’s time for the British Academy Film Awards or the BAFTA Awards 2024. The nominations have been unveiled, with Oppenheimer again enjoying multiple nods at the prestigious awards. Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo’s Poor Things has also earned numerous nominations.

The streaming giant Lionsgate Play will telecast the event live, and eminent actor David Tennant will host it. The ceremony will take place at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The first ceremony was held in 1949 and was telecasted on the BBC. There are over twenty film-related categories. Keep scrolling for more.

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer has received 13 nominations at the BAFTA Film Awards 2024, followed by 11 nominations by Poor Things and nine nods by Killers of the Flower Moon. Margot Robbie led Barbie, which is lagging and has only five nods.

Trending Did Jason Momoa...

Alexander Payne's story of a cantankerous teacher holed up for Christmas with a wayward teen and the school cook is expertly told with gentle, grownup comedy

The year’s best Christmas movie arrives in the UK a bit late for Christmas: it is a genial, gentle, redemptive dramedy from Alexander Payne which hits the happy/sad sweet spot with Payne’s sure aim. It is taken from TV writer David Hemingson’s impeccably crafted screenplay, a masterclass in incremental, indirect character revelations and plot transitions. The Holdovers is set in 1970, consciously (or maybe self-consciously) crafted to look like a film which its characters could have gone to see at the time, with the funny, rueful dialogue and melancholy sense of place that you might find in something by Hal Ashby or Bob Rafelson, and a madeleine soundtrack from Cat Stevens, Labi Siffre and more.

But of course it also...

Following last week’s Golden Globes, the following days were filled with seemingly endless events, in which film and TV stars gathered at venues on both coasts to collect more honors. For the winners at the 2024 Critics Choice Awards, mustering up an impressive acceptance speech was mostly feat of stamina.

Several postponements in response to the dual WGA and SAG strikes stacked things up to create arguably the busiest week of all time for awards contenders. One could theoretically have attended the Governors Awards in Hollywood on Tuesday, January 9, flown to New York City to make it to the National Board of Review Awards on Thursday, January 11, and then rushed back to Los Angeles for the the AFI Awards in Beverly Hills on Friday, January 12.

Who would blame any Critics Choice attendees for feeling a little disoriented on Sunday night?

What may not have helped was new venue the Barker Hangar,...

Alexander Payne’s heart-tugging Christmas movie “The Holdovers” has been building upbeat word of mouth since it wowed crowds at Telluride, was runner-up at TIFF for the People’s Choice Award, and pulled audiences back to theaters ($18 million domestic).

Which is why it’s likely to score a scad of Oscar nominations. Payne has been nominated three times for Best Director and won twice for Adapted Screenplay (“Sideways” and “The Descendants”), but “The Holdovers” marks the feature-screenwriting debut of sitcom veteran David Hemingson, the sole credited writer on the film.

Payne’s lead actors usually land nominations, although Paul Giamatti was robbed for 2004’s “Sideways.” Now Academy voters have a chance to show their love for Giamatti, who is in rare form in “The Holdovers” as a hidebound prep school professor playing against rookie Dominic Sessa as a rebellious student, and wily veteran Da’Vine Joy Randolph as the school cook...

One of our top 10 films of the year, Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers is already on its way to becoming a recurring Christmas classic. It’s also had an expedited journey to digital and home video despite doing quite well at the box office. Arriving on January 2, the Blu-ray––like the film––is a throwback in a sense as it actually features some substantial special features, including a collection of mostly wordless deleted scenes and a deep dive into the casting and Payne’s approach. Perhaps most interesting is an alternate ending, which ends the movie with a different character.

In the film’s final cut, we end with Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti), after he gets fired, saying a heartfelt goodbye to Angus (Dominic Sessa). Hunham takes a swig of the Remy Martin cognac he stole from the dean who fired him, spits it out his window, and drives off...

Alexander Payne’s bittersweet Christmas dramedy “The Holdovers” is hitting Peacock on Dec. 29.

The movie, from Focus Features, follows three lonely people stuck at a snowy boarding school over the holidays. It debuted in theaters in October and earned rave reviews, including from Variety‘s own chief film critic Peter Debruge, who wrote that Payne’s “portrait of a prickly history teacher is the rare exception to the complaint that ‘they don’t make ’em like they used to.'”

Set in 1970, “The Holdovers” stars Paul Giamatti as Paul Hunham, a hard-ass, curmudgeonly history teacher at an elite boarding school who is tasked with looking after the teens who can’t come home for the holidays. When all of the other students are thrown a life raft, Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) is left shipwrecked with just his teacher and the kitchen manager Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), who is grieving the loss of her son.

James McCaffrey, the actor who was the voice of Max Payne in the eponymous video game franchise, has died after a battle with cancer. He was 65 years old.

McCaffrey’s death was confirmed on Monday by TMZ, who reported that a representative of McCaffrey informed them that the actor had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, and passed on Sunday surrounded by his friends and family.

McCaffrey is perhaps best known for portraying detective-turned-vigilante Max Payne, but had a decades-long career that began in the late ‘80s with a direct-to-video film titled New York’s Finest. By the mid-1990s, he had appeared in several films and television shows, played the role of Captain Arthur O’Breun in the Fox series New York Undercover, and landed a starring part in a short-lived NBC series called Viper.

Going into the 2000s, McCaffrey made appearances on Sex in the City, Law & Order,...

James McCaffrey, who portrayed the firefighter and 9/11 victim Jimmy Keefe on Rescue Me and provided the voice of the title character in Max Payne video games, has died. He was 65.

McCaffrey died Sunday at his home in Larchmont, New York, after a battle with myeloma, his wife, actress Rochelle Boström, told The Hollywood Reporter.

McCaffrey also starred in the 1990s as expert driver Michael Payton/Joe Astor on the first and fourth seasons of the NBC drama Viper and as Capt. Arthur O’Byrne on the Fox crime series New York Undercover.

McCaffrey’s Jimmy was killed on 9/11, and his vision hounded friend and fellow New York firefighter Tommy Gavin (Denis Leary) over all seven seasons (2004-11) of the acclaimed FX drama Rescue Me. He said it was his favorite role.

He voiced Max Payne — the avenging former NYPD officer turned DEA agent whose wife and daughter were murdered by...

The Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) is celebrating the cinematic contributions of Oscar winner Alexander Payne, including his latest film, “The Holdovers.”

The Queens-based MoMI is curating a special Payne retrospective, culminating in a screening of “The Holdovers” with Payne in attendance on January 10. The exhibit kicks off January 5 with Payne’s feature debut “Citizen Ruth,” which was released in 1996. The independent dark comedy stars Laura Dern as a pregnant woman being used on opposing ends of the abortion debate.

“Alexander Payne has always put this country’s cultural, political, and emotional realities under a microscope — while never forgetting to also make viewers laugh,” the official MoMI press statement reads. “This rare talent, coupled with an enormous skill directing actors, many of whom give career performances under his watchful eye, has carried him through all his films, psychologically acute and often poignant inquiries into the lives of taciturn American...

Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Emma Corrin among cast.

Focus Features will release Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu reimagining in the US on December 25, 2024.

Universal Pictures International handles distribution outside the US on the gothic horror starring Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, Simon McBurney. and Willem Dafoe.

Eggers also serves as a producer alongside Chris Columbus and Eleanor Columbus (Maiden Voyage), Jeff Robinov, and John Graham.

The story of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her reunites Focus with Eggers following 2022 release The Northman. It also brings the...

Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers is my favorite film of the year. I saw it at TIFF this year and was blown away. The story of a crusty teacher at a New England prep school in 1970, who’s stuck watching a bunch of his students over the Christmas holidays, seems legitimately fated to become a holiday classic. The film’s heart revolves around the friendship that grows between Giamatti’s Paul Hunham and a rebellious student named Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), whose mother has ditched him at school to go on vacation with her new, rich husband. Initially at each other’s throats, the two find a bit of common ground and, along with the school’s heartbroken cook, Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), whose son was just killed in Vietnam, they form an impromptu family over the holidays.

The movie has been a solid word-of-mouth hit in theatres but now...