Screens
Spaceballs Found the Money
Rick Moranis came back, Mel Brooks found the money, and 'Spaceballs' arrived at Comic-Con with an eleven-phase cinematic universe. The flamethrower now looks restrained.
Argument
The Big Bang Theory Shows Up at Comic-Con Dressed as You
The Stuart spinoff premiered last night, at the end of day one of San Diego Comic-Con, and the laughter is gone at last. The new show gets a fair hearing here. The old one has run out of appeals.
Revival
Moana, Again, Already
The Disney film opening at my local cinema this week is called 'Vaiana'. Sweden has only ever known her by that name, and so has Germany, where the remake arrived a day ahead of the United States. Seen from a country where no film called 'Moana' has ever existed, the ten-year turnaround looks even stranger.
Ledger
The Amazing Digital Circus Beat Hollywood in Cinemas, Then Posted the Finale for Free
A free Australian YouTube cartoon topped cinema charts across Europe, then posted its finale online for nothing. How a Sydney studio beat the studios at their own game.
Handover
Pixar Built the Screen, Then Cast It as the Villain
The villain of 'Toy Story 5' is a tablet. The studio warning your kids off screens is the one that taught a generation to sit still and watch.
Handover
What Scorsese's Name Is For
Martin Scorsese has become an adviser to the German AI firm Black Forest Labs, and the film unions are furious. A note on what a famous name actually buys.
Argument
Fjord-Sitting: Europe Can Both-Sides Too
Last Tuesday at the press conference for 'Fjord', Sebastian Stan refused to laugh at a Trump question. Four days later, his director Cristian Mungiu took home the Palme d'Or for what he calls a meditation on "left-wing fundamentalism." Notes on what Cannes chose to crown.
Review
'Send Help' Is Sam Raimi's First Real Raimi Movie Since 'Spider-Man 2'
'Darkman' aired on German TV one night in the early nineties. I was thirteen, maybe fourteen, already keeping mental lists of directors, watching a man in bandages set things on fire with a kind of glee I didn't know movies were allowed to have. The name in the credits was Sam Raimi.
