- Siskel & Ebert To Be Immortalized With Bronze Statue in Chicago (October 23, 2026)
Just over a quarter century after my late husband Roger Ebert made his final television appearance with his fellow film critic, sparring partner, and friend, Gene Siskel, on their iconic show, “Siskel & Ebert At the Movies,” their legacies will be immortalized with a bronze statue in the town where they made their home: Chicago.
I approve and support this fundraising campaign for the sculpture of Roger and Gene, and I am so glad Pam Kasper suggested it. It will be a six-foot-five bronze, and I also approved the name: “Siskel & Ebert: Two Thumbs Up.” I understand the statue’s permanent location will be at Prudential Plaza, off Michigan Avenue, not far from the television stations and newspaper offices where Roger and Gene once worked. I extend hearty thanks to the property owners for approving its location.
The acclaimed Illinois sculptor, painter, and educator Preston Jackson, Professor Emeritus of Sculpture at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, is tasked with bringing this sculpture to life. He has previously sculpted such notable figures as Ernie Banks, Gwendolyn Brooks, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, Martin Luther King Jr., and Richard Pryor. Spearheading this public tribute is Chicago film producer Pam Kasper, who is leading the fundraising campaign via Heritage Auctions, in partnership with Chicago Gateway Green, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization serving as the project’s fiscal sponsor.
“Gene and Roger were smart, entertaining, opinionated, and weren’t afraid to have passionate disagreements over a film,” said Kasper in a statement. “Yet underneath the arguing was a genuine respect for one another. They became national celebrities, yet Chicago always remained their home. They had an enormous influence on movies, filmmakers, and audiences, and their legacy deserves a permanent tribute.” Ms. Kasper and documentary filmmaker Mike Bonfiglio are also working on a documentary about Roger and Gene.
Up for bid in the live auction, which runs through Saturday, November 14th, are over 300 television and movie items, including vintage film posters and lobby cards signed by stars such as Julie Andrews, Tom Cruise, Robert De Niro, Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman, Helen Mirren, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep and Denzel Washington, as well as cast-signed posters from “The Sound of Music,” “The Big Lebowski” and “The Odyssey.”
All auction items are available for viewing at auction.siskelandebertstatue.org. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
- An Act of Devotion: Travis Knight on “Wildwood” (October 23, 2026)
Travis Knight’s “Wildwood,” the latest stop-motion film from the Portland studio Laika, foTravis Knight’s “Wildwood,” the latest stop-motion film from Portland studio Laika (formerly Will Vinton Studios), is, in many ways, the culmination of his career in the form. Adapting the novel of the same name by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis, it takes us into the vast woods outside Portland as the young Prue McKeel searches for her missing brother. She discovers a world of magical animals and a potential war she could soon find herself caught up in.
While this story may sound more than a little familiar, seeing it brought to life through meticulous stop-motion animation by a dedicated team of artists who spent thousands of hours on it makes it something all its own. For Knight, son of Nike founder Phil Knight, who previously directed the stop-motion film “Kubo and the Two Strings” and the live-action films “Bumblebee” and “Masters of the Universe,” it’s been a project he’s pursued for more than a decade. It also reflects years of Laika artists exploring new stop-motion techniques, making it the studio’s most ambitious and expansive feature film to date.
Knight spoke with RogerEbert.com about this long journey, the value of preserving stop-motion as an artistic endeavor in an increasingly automated world, seeing Portland become the center of the world when it comes to the form, the experience of working in live action vs. stop-motion, reckoning with the pains of the past while looking forward to the future, and more.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Can you take a breath after all of this and soak in the moment? Or is it on to the next one for you?
It’s a little column A, little column B. I have been working on this movie for a good long while. I literally finished the movie three weeks ago, which is crazy when you think about it, for something I’ve been working on for 16 years, we got that close to the wire of releasing it when we finished. Part of that, I think, is probably self-inflicted, just because this movie is so dear to me; it’s hard for me to let it go.
I would say I’d never watched the film with a real audience until our premiere in London just a little over a week ago. I was a ball of stress and nerves. Every muscle in my back was just knotted up. Even though I love something, that doesn’t mean anyone else will, and I put everything I had into this movie without knowing how people would respond.
It was incredibly gratifying, I have to say, to see people react to and connect with the material, because that is why we do what we do. We tell stories to connect with other people. So when something we’ve done has meant something to somebody else or has moved them or has made them feel something and/or made them reflect on an aspect of their own lives, it really is the greatest feeling, because that’s why. So I’m not really taking a breath, but I am breathing a sigh of relief that something I care dearly about has meant something to somebody else.
Tucked away in an opening scene is an artist with a sign that says, “Enjoy handmade art before it’s gone forever,” which is funny but also relevant. When you think about these moments, I don’t know how many of these films you have in you, as they take a long time; where do you think the form itself stands now?
Well, you’re right. These things take a lot out of you. There’s only so many of these things you can make. That sign is a funny visual gag; it goes by in a moment; it’s very Portland. As someone who lives in Portland, I see that kind of thing all the time. But I also think it’s true. I think that we see kind of how society is moving in one particular direction, where it’s increasingly frictionless, where things are designed to be faster and easier and more automated.
If stop motion is anything, it’s the opposite. It’s slow, tedious, painful, and fundamentally human because it forces you to take your time. Each of these movies is an act of devotion and care over many, many years. That’s hard to do. It’s not something people take on easily. Not everyone sees the value in it, and yet I think it is deeply meaningful.
So yeah, I do worry. These sorts of things are going to be extraordinarily disruptive to our world, to our society, to our industry. And yet I think that if enough of us push back and resist and say, “You know, there is value in the human touch,” then maybe we can stem the tide.
And you’re building on a history in Portland, going back to Will Vinton Studios, to the point that it’s become now, in some ways, the stop-motion center of the world. Where do you see Laika going in the future? Do you think they’ll always be in Portland?
Portland is where I was born and raised, and where our studio is. There’s no small amount of delight in seeing other productions set up shop in Portland and make their stop-motion movies here, as if the universe designed it. It’s not. It’s only because we’re there and because we’ve created a community there over the last twenty some odd years.
But I think that’s wonderful because stop-motion is something that needs champions. Art is something that needs champions. It needs advocacy. I’ll keep doing it until I can’t anymore. This means a great deal to me. It’s my life’s work. I’ve devoted my entire career to this form of art, and I think it means something, which is why I do it.
In terms of what’s next for us, we’ve got more stories to tell than I can even begin to explain to you. And the exciting thing for me is that they’re the types of stories that we’ve never even attempted before. They take animation into territories it’s never explored before. They challenge us as filmmakers, as artists, as storytellers. They will challenge the audience in ways we haven’t seen in the medium before.
One of the things that gets me most excited is taking this art form, this medium I love, and pushing it forward, making it more than we’ve been told it can be. I think “Wildwood,” on some level, represents that. But looking ahead at what I hope we can achieve in the years to come, I think we’ll push it even further.
As someone who has directed live action and then also stop-motion, where do you see your role in all of this? Because there are thousands and thousands of hours being put in by so many collaborators.
I can say there are definitely parallels in how these processes work. There are many ways that working in stop-motion is similar to working in live action. And there are ways that they are not even remotely alike. I would say that on the performance side, stop-motion is like live action, but in slow motion. There is truth to that because, in stop-motion, you have a physical set, lights, a puppet, a camera, and a performance with a beginning and an end.
Unlike other forms of animation, like CG or hand-drawn animation, those forms are iterative. So you can set key frames, you can do in-betweens, you can do your breakdowns, and you can go back and continue to refine over and over and over again until you get the exact performance that you want.
With stop-motion, like live action, it has a beginning; you work your way through the performance, and then it has an end. And you can’t go back and change it. You are stuck with whatever this is. Whatever humanity, imperfections, and changes happen along the way, this is the performance, and it’s one of the things I love about it. It’s one of the things that makes it most difficult.
But I also think it’s what makes it most human, because you are essentially watching an artist coax something to life with their hands, frame by frame. It’s what gives this form of filmmaking its humanity, and it’s what makes it special. So to whatever extent I have a part in keeping that alive, I’m very proud of that.
This film feels, in some ways, like it’s about a younger generation reckoning with a world that, while built by adults who may have tried to create a better one for them, is also crumbling. I’m curious about how you felt making that as a parent, as someone who’s had your kids grow up with these films as well?
Making a film and living a life for over 16 years teaches you many things. The world is certainly in a different place now than it was. I am, in many ways, a different man than I was 16 years ago. I’ve had a lot of experiences I couldn’t have anticipated, many joyful, many heartbreaking, and some I wish hadn’t happened. But if you’re a storyteller, if you’re an artist, if you’re a filmmaker, these are the types of things that you pour into your work.
Oftentimes I get slightly uncomfortable speaking openly about them because they make you feel vulnerable, but that’s what you do when you make these movies. You have a kind of a scrim between you and your own experiences because you’re looking, in this instance, at a puppet on a stylized set that was shot frame by frame.
But what you’re seeing, those are people’s lives; those are people’s pain. Those are moments of joy, sorrow, and heartbreak on screen, brought to life authentically. And so that’s why, when we’ve gotten to the end of one of these experiences, and someone is connecting with a moment, and they’re moved by it, what they’re moved by isn’t the thing itself; it’s the humanity behind it. They’re moved by another person. When you connect with a story, you’re not connecting with the story; you’re connecting with the person who’s telling it.
That’s what’s so beautiful about this form of filmmaking. We all bring our own perspectives, challenges, joys, pain, and sorrow to these experiences. If we can put them authentically into the stories, hopefully they’ll reach another person and make them feel slightly less alone. Those are the experiences I had as a kid, the things I connected with, and the things that really stuck with me. Our great hope is that we can do that for others.
“Wildwood” opens in U.S. theaters Oct. 23, via Fathom Events.
- Sexy, Gripping Folk Horror Series “Yaga” Is a Surefire Hit (October 23, 2026)
Modern adaptations of popular myths are easy to come by, but the new Crave (and AMC+) original series “Yaga” turns its attention to a tale many people won’t know: the Slavic legend of Baba Yaga. Often described as a disheveled old woman living in a decrepit hut on chicken legs and surrounded by human bones, this series, an adaptation of the Kat Sandler play of the same name, reimagines the figure in various ways.
From a college professor to a hospitalized elderly woman to a detective on a mission, the Baba Yaga may look different in each story. But one thing remains the same across each rendition: she is a woman on a quest for revenge.
The series largely focuses on Henry Park (Hudson Williams), the missing heir to a billionaire commercial fishing company, whose disappearance from the coastal town of Whittock has thrown the community into disarray. Local, no-nonsense detective Carson (Clark Backo) takes the case, but private investigator Charlie Rapp (Noah Reid), hired by Henry’s parents to uncover what happened to their son, soon complicates it. Although they’re both trying to do the same job, the two couldn’t be more different, and their new working relationship breeds a fascinating toxicity that bleeds into the town and takes root in its residents’ spirits.
Yaga (AMC+)
“Yaga” quickly makes clear that this hostility isn’t simply brought on by Charlie’s appearance or Carson’s digging; it’s something that has lain dormant beneath the town’s soil, and its inhabitants have nurtured it for too long. As the two detectives search for Henry, they meet his peculiar roommate, Logan (also played by Williams); his suspicious professor, Katherine (Carrie-Anne Moss); and his secretive ex-girlfriend, Pam (Ezra Franky).
Each character clearly knows more than they’re letting on, and as the series unfolds, so do their lies and truths. After the two detectives attend a drug-fuelled party Logan is hosting at the house he shares with Henry, a body turns up, and the case of a missing young man turns into a homicide investigation.
After an entertaining, albeit quaint and scattered, first two episodes, the show finally kicks into gear with its third outing and never looks back. As the stakes rise and mysteries unravel, Sandler’s screen adaptation slowly morphs into one of the year’s most thrilling and sexy series.
Getting to the truth of Henry’s disappearance and the deaths that follow it forces both Carson and Charlie into a world that Whittock has long attempted to keep secret. It’s one that brings on hallucinations and mutterings from elderly women in hospitals, and one where powerful men have been coddled, leaving the women of this community to deal with the subsequent fallout of their heinous actions.
Yaga (AMC+)
Each character is helmed by an actor who clearly has a blast with the material Sadler has given them. The chemistry between Backo and Reid crackles each time they share the screen, until it threatens to shatter and transform not only their relationship, but the series itself. As the two unlikely allies slowly begin to trust one another, they’re pulled deeper into a world hidden at the center of Whittock’s past, present, and future, forcing them to reach conclusions that often seem incomprehensible. Soon they set their eyes on Katherine, who has a dubious reputation for sleeping with her male students. Yet from her first appearance on screen, where Moss is as enchanting as ever, it’s clear there’s more to her than meets the eye.
“Boys…men…they need to be protected from their base nature. We need to protect them from themselves,” a character tells Carson, fully putting into perspective how the town of Whittock has long been shaped by wealthy and powerful men who manipulate and harm the women around them.
Thus, the series becomes a thrilling examination of how rural communities can, and often do, foster the harm these men inflict, leaving a town forced to reckon with violence that spans generations. As this thread unfolds, the series becomes something entirely different from what was initially promised, shapeshifting like the Baba Yaga herself and becoming a timely, captivating thriller.
In this version of “Yaga,” sex, magic, and violence are inherently intertwined, no matter how hard Carson, Charlie, and others may try to pry them apart from one another. Excavating these themes forces the characters to confront the skeletons in their closets they would rather see collect dust; this exposure will delight the audience this wicked new series is guaranteed to cultivate.
With this adaptation, Kat Sandler has transformed her own work for the better, breaking down her play and molding it into a story that not only translates well on screen, but gets even better in this entirely different medium.
Seven episodes were screened for review. Premieres October 23rd on AMC+.
- CIFF 2026: Liz Here Now, Three Colors: Pan-African (October 23, 2026)
Celebrating its 30th anniversary, the Black Perspectives program at Chicago International Film Festival is always rich with indelible stories from the Black diaspora. This dispatch highlights two selections from the program that testify to its immense range, featuring characters grappling with impossible situations made all the more tenuous by systemic inequality. This dispatch may feature only two films, but it’s bursting with complexity.
Adapted from Todd Connor’s same-titled book, Sterling Macer Jr.’s “Liz Here Now” tells the true story of Connor’s indomitable Black maid and her refusal to let him and his sister fall to the violence of their neglectful parents. What could’ve been a mash-up of “The Help” and “Driving Miss Daisy” ends up a bit knotty, yet still too neat and broad.
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor plays Liz Baxter, a hardworking mother residing in Oakland in 1967 who recently lost her son-in-law’s life to oppressive white police but still believes her white employers, Jane (Rachelle Lefevre) and Frank (Ryan Wesley Gilreath), are truly nice people. When a Black Panther member pushes back against her assumption by telling her she should ask Frank to influence the mayor to not target Black people, she realizes, after the mayor’s rejection, that they’re no different than any other racist white people.
Instead, encouraged by her family, including her husband Clayman (Cedric Mays), Liz tries to open her own bakery so she can leave her job as Jane and Frank’s housekeeper. Her plans are diverted, however, when she discovers that Jane is brutally abusing her son Todd (Brady Wagner) and his sister Chrissy (Aniela Zeig).
“Liz Here Now” uses Liz’s conundrum to comment on the political strife of the late 1960s. If she tries to protect Todd and Chrissy, Jane and Frank will retaliate—the latter know no one will believe a Black woman like Liz. The presentation of the Black Panthers can still feel a bit safe, putting the group on the periphery in the same way the racist city officials are doing. But within the textured photography, one sees Ellis-Taylor’s committed performance as a woman compelled to help, not by race but by empathy for two defenseless children.
And while the film can be betrayed by its conventional source material, Ellis-Taylor’s range and depth give this historical drama’s overly familiar turns new resonance and incredible presence.
An earnest, thoughtfully rendered anthology film, “Three Colors: Pan-African” comprises a prologue and three separate films inspired by the trio of colors in the Pan-African flag: red, black, and green. Three directors—Elijah Davis, Tyler Ocasio Holmes, and Allison A. Waite—helm each respective section. Davis helmed the opening and the first chapter, which sees Loretta Devine as a grandmother telling parables to her trio of grandchildren about remembering what it means to be Black. Each segment centers on one of her grandchildren, giving these short films a clear throughline.
In the first section, “RED: Black Men Don’t Cry,” a young Ahmari (Tiberius Byrd) grows up to become a successful college football player (played in his older years by Peyton ‘Alex’ Smith) at the behest of his demanding uncle (Stephen Bishop). As Ahmari’s body begins to break down, he must consider whether his life can still have meaning outside athletics.
The second segment, “BLACK: Breadman,” features a Ghanaian migrant, Joana (Sibongile Mlambo), searching for a job to support her daughter (Lathan Ava) after a confrontation with a violent white man causes her to lose her in-home nursing gig.
In “GREEN: Meet The Greens,” the final part, Jontavious ‘John’ Rodgers (Bashir Salahuddin) is an actor in a Black-cast sitcom attempting to keep his role on a problematic show in the hopes of funding his son’s (Kel Kirby-Smith) expensive school.
Despite their obvious intent—each film concerns a Black person navigating exploitation—the well-crafted anthology never feels overly preachy. Some of the project’s influences suggest a similar restraint. The final segment, which features a Black British actress hired to be “ghetto” and ends with Rodgers’ cathartic scream, recalls “Hollywood Shuffle” without becoming pastiche. The films also envision community and family as tools for Black folks to survive the hurdles a predatory world throws at them. In “BLACK: Breadman,” her neighbors give Joana strength, and Ahmari’s uncle eventually inspires him to build a different future for himself.
Sometimes the anthology reaches for a dreamlike sheen in its photography that isn’t wholly flattering to its actors, particularly during the prologue, and the visual language surprisingly remains consistent between the filmmakers. The punch-the-air ending could also be accused of being too cute and saccharine, especially when it commits the egregious imagery of the three kids wearing paper crowns as they stare out to the sun.
And yet, it’s hard not to be taken with its intent, emboldened by a conception of Black joy that doesn’t feel like a buzzword but like something genuine and achievable.
- Seeking Truth: Tom Skerritt (1933-2026) (October 22, 2026)
Like all great storytellers, Tom Skerritt was an observer. He loved to say he learned acting and filmmaking on the job, lucky enough to stand alongside masters like Robert Altman and Ridley Scott early in his career and absorb everything he could about the art of moviemaking. He loved telling stories about those early years, when he learned so much about his craft by watching.
Many grizzled old men love to tell you about their glory days from the corner of a bar, but what made Skerritt special was how easily his intertwined interests in learning, storytelling, and observing showed up in his work. Great character actors, and Skerritt was a truly underrated one, study the human condition, taking in what they learn not just about filmmaking but the people that they meet, turning those habits, dreams, and personality quirks into art.
Tom Skerritt rarely took on what one might call “quirky” roles. For many, he played father figures for as long as they can remember, and he often imbued those authoritative roles with gravitas. But he found that weight through very specific choices. There’s a certain type of world-weary performer—think Tom Waits, Harry Dean Stanton, or Sam Shepard—that people mistakenly assume is easy: crotchety old men playing variations on themselves. This is wildly untrue, especially for Skerritt.
It’s not easy to imbue every part you play with specific history, but it felt true for Skerritt. His characters existed before the cameras started rolling, and, if they were lucky enough not to meet an alien, kept going when the credits rolled. That’s where the gravitas comes from: detailed choices made by someone who honestly loved both the form of acting and the people who made it possible.
Born in Detroit, Thomas Skeritt served a four-year stint in the U.S. Air Force before heading to the University of California, where he caught the acting bug. His breakthrough wouldn’t come until 1970’s “M*A*S*H,” but by then he’d already been working for nearly a decade, appearing on huge ‘60s shows like “My Favorite Martian,” “The Fugitive,” “Gunsmoke,” and “Bonanza.”
He would use the Altman comedy as a springboard to work with some of the pioneers of the era, including Hal Ashby (“Harold and Maude”), Herbert Ross (“The Turning Point”), and even a Roger Corman classic (“Big Bad Mama”), but the role for which he will always likely be most remembered is that of Captain Arthur Dallas in Ridley Scott’s “Alien.”
Tom Skerritt at the 2019 Chicago Critics Film Festival for the 40th anniversary of “Alien”
The film is so strongly remembered for the work of Sigourney Weaver and the creature design that people often forget how essential the entire ensemble of “Alien” was to make it a classic. John Hurt, Yaphet Kotto, Ian Holm, Harry Dean Stanton, Veronica Cartwright, and Tom Skerritt filled out a cast that would change sci-fi/horror history by finding that aforementioned veracity.
“Alien” is about working-class space travelers, and Skerritt grounds that aspect by letting his confident leadership give way to abject terror. He also smartly knew that he wasn’t the hero, never stealing focus with the kind of showy performance that wouldn’t have worked opposite Weaver. Like so many people on the Nostromo, Dallas is just trying to do his job, and Skerritt’s smart choices as an actor reflect that reality.
Skerritt gave a few fun performances in the ‘80s, like “SpaceCamp” and “Steel Magnolias,” but his turn as CDR “Viper” Metcalf in “Top Gun” shot him back into the pop culture stratosphere. His most underrated run as a performer might be in the ‘90s, when he made “A River Runs Through It,” “Singles,” and “Contact” back-to-back. The big break between those last two came with “Picket Fences,” a huge CBS hit that won Skerritt an Emmy. He kept popping up on TV shows and helped carry the legacy of “Cheers,” “Roseanne,” “Will & Grace,” and “The West Wing.”
Film roles became more sporadic in his old age, but he loved working into his eighties, including a memorable role in the excellent “Lucky,” his last great turn, and a fitting epitaph to his career. So many incredible people in that movie are gone now: Stanton, David Lynch, and Skerritt. But the work remains.
Watch the clip below and experience these two lost legends finding so much truth in such a simple interaction. In the film, Stanton’s Lucky says, “The truth of the universe is waiting.” Tom Skerritt didn’t wait; he found that truth in everything he did.
- Another Extra Boring Baseball-Themed 'Avengers: Doomsday' Teaser (October 24, 2026)
"Wow I've never seen that kind of stretch." Huh? This is how they're promoting this movie? Ugh. It's all so dull and boring and exceptionally unexciting. Disney debuted another brand new promo teaser trailer for Marvel's Avengers: Doomsday movie, landing in theaters December 2026 at the end of this year. (Same day as Dune: Part Three release - which is the one to really watch). This crossover movie will bring EVERY superhero from two decades of Marvel movies together to battle the villain Doctor Doom (starring Robert Downey Jr. once again). But no one still knows what the actual plot is. The huge cast includes Chris Evans, Vanessa Kirby, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Paul Rudd, Wyatt Russell, Simu Liu, Florence Pugh, Kelsey Grammer, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Joseph Quinn, Tom Hiddleston, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, Channing Tatum, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Pedro Pascal, Ebon Moss-Bachrach & more surprises. This new teaser is baseball-themed for a promotion with the MLB during their games. Apparently all the footage of the Fantastic Four at a baseball game is an actual scene in the movie. Then they're still recycling the same shots from the previous trailers. This movie is going to be one giant, boring, ugly-looking dud – that millions of people will happily go watch. Aren't they getting tired of all this unnecessary rehashing & retconning, too? Oh well, it's Marvel. Play ball! // Continue Reading ›
- Final Featurettes for Laika's 'Wildwood' Must See Fantasy Adventure (October 23, 2026)
"Simply with the human voice, you have to imply intention and purpose..." Now playing in theaters is this incredible animated work of art - Wildwood. In celebration of its release, Laika has debuted the last promo featurettes for this stop-motion adventure. One spends time with the fabulous voice cast bringing all these characters to life, the other one looks at the "magic" of making all of this stop-motion design feel real. An expansive, emotional, wondrous adventure into the woods - with the same extraordinary scale as Lord of the Rings and so many wonderful characters to meet. I've seen this movie and it is an absolute must watch right away! It's terrific! Prue McKeel (voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee) and her friend Curtis are drawn into a hidden, magical forest near Portland, Oregon after Prue's baby brother Mac is kidnapped by crows and a mysterious woman. The robust voice cast includes Angela Bassett, Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan, Awkwafina, Jemaine Clement, Charlie Day, Jake Johnson, Amandla Stenberg, Tom Waits, Richard E. Grant, and Mahershala Ali as the Bandit King of Wildwood. One of my favorite characters. From the recording booth to the screen, the voice cast of Wildwood helps the characters of the hand-crafted epic to life. This movie is an utterly spectacular creation made entirely by hand & passionate artists. See it. // Continue Reading ›
- Amusing Trailer for Animated Movie 'Cloud Girl' About a Magical Pen (October 23, 2026)
"One magical quill. One unlikely hero. One world worth saving." Viva Kids Film has revealed their official US trailer for an animated adventure movie called Cloud Girl, another new French animation creation. It already premiered at the 2026 Annecy Film Festival in the summer and it opened in France in July during the summer. "What if everything you imagined could become real?" Providence, a 12-year-old dreamer, and her hilarious guinea pig Airbag (which she gives the power to talk), suddenly find themselves in possession of a magic pen that makes everything written with it come true. With this superpower, they embark on an incredible journey. Filled with breathtaking voyages, unexpected friendships, laugh-out-loud moments, and a vivid message about courage, creativity, and protecting our beautiful planet, Cloud Girl is an enchanting adventure that reminds us all that the power to change the world begins with our imagination. The original French title is La Fille dans les nuages which translates to Girl in the Clouds. This US release version includes an English voice cast featuring Faith Delaney as Providence and Hugh Laurie as Airbag. Enjoy. // Continue Reading ›
- Freaky Trailer for French Sci-Fi 'Just After Dawn' All People Are Gone (October 23, 2026)
"If you go out now, you'll never escape the signal!" Futurikon and Cine+ OCS have debuted the full official trailer for a French indie film titled Just After Dawn, a sci-fi thriller / post-apocalyptic mystery. This is getting a direct-to-VOD release in France on the Cine+ OCS platform this month if anyone wants to watch it. Alas it doesn't look good enough to break out of France at all. Returning from the Atlas lunar mission, the astronauts discover an Earth where humanity has vanished. Cut off from anyone/everything, they soon find themselves confronted with an unfathomable mystery that defies reason...and threatens their very existence. Starring Charlie Anson, Mehmet Kurtuluş, Aïssa Maïga, and Vincent Grass. Where did they all go? What is with this signal and why is it controlling humanity? Any guesses? The early reviews of this film on Letterboxd from French viewers are pretty harsh - mostly negative reviews about how "boring" & "awful" it is. Nonetheless, I want to feature new trailers for any/every indie sci-fi film even if they don't look any good. // Continue Reading ›
- Full Trailer for Doc 'threeASFOUR: Full Circle' About Fashion Designers (October 23, 2026)
"Are we making fashion or are we making something else?" The trailer has debuted for a documentary film titled threeASFOUR: Full Circle, a profile of the design consortium known as "threeASFOUR" based in New York City. This is directed by John Lennon's famous son Sean Ono Lennon as his very first feature film. It first premiered at the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival. For "threeASFOUR", fashion is an act of creativity, collaboration and cultural connection. But after more than two decades of acclaim, can these three artists who refuse to sell out survive in an industry built on compromise? Avant-garde NYC designers Gabi Asfour, Angela Donhauser, and Adi Gil create "couture-on-the-street" designs in a radical collaborative act shaped by war, identity, and hope. This diverse group of designers, who hail from Lebanon/Palestine, Russia, and Israel, combine cutting-edge technologies with their expert couture craftsmanship to promote international, intercultural and interspecies unity. This new documentary about them, threeASFOUR: Full Circle featuring Kai Kühne, is a meditation on friendship, resilience, and the pursuit of peace and creativity. This looks like a compelling profile of vibrant fashion artists + a look at how much their industry has changed over the years. // Continue Reading ›
