PSIFF is back with Stars: Cate Blanchett, Colin Farrell, Austin Butler, Sarah Polley, and Steven Spielberg,  with 35 contenders for Best International FIlm, & great documentaries like "The Grab."     I speak annually with Palm Springs Lead Programmer, and former Newsweek critic David Ansen about film.   This year he attended the New York film festival, and saw twenty-five films in Toronto—many narrative, and many wonderful document...

She Said, Review: One Movie Magnate, 82 Female Victims An Agatha Christie detective movie, released in 1961 was titled Murder She Said. In 2022, it is not murder she said, but another heinous crime, and the ‘she’ is not one woman but 82 victims of a movie bigwig in Hollywood (actually Indiewood). Unlike the fiction film of yore, this film is based on solid fact, as chronicled by the best-seller book, She Said, and borne out by the Me Too movement worldwide, with minimum fictionali...

I’m Gonna Tell God Everything, Pre-Review: May peace be on earth A special screening of the award-winning film - 'I'm Gonna Tell God Everything', produced by Jay Patel and Abhishek Dudhaiya, and presented by Sanjay Dutt, was held earlier this week at the PVR Icon Multiplex, Andheri, Mumbai. Among the invitees were film journalists and actress Mandakini, of the film Ram Teri Ganga Maili fame, who came with her son, a young man who is about a foot taller than her. She was ther...

Everything Everywhere All at Once, Review: Good, bad and worse, All at Once Trying to define Everything Everywhere All at Once is like trying to define a feature film itself. A narrative. A beginning middle and an end, an assembly of actors, some known some unknown, some from one country, others from other countries, playing roles or characters, an entity shot by a camera, consisting of motion and still pictures, mainly motion pictures. Of 70 minutes+ duration. Can currently be viewed on cine...

All selected short films will participate in the competition for the Audience Award after they are ed on the Cittador International Film Festival´s website. The award is determined by Internet viewers using a voting tool. The film in each category with the highest number of voting will receive the Audience Award. Be part of the public voting jury - visit our website, watch films and vote on: https://iff.cittador.com You can submit your short film!   ...

  We consider short films up to 10 minutes length and there are no film premiere requirements or date of completion requirements. The screenings of the winning films will take place at the beautiful Studio Cinema Lugner City Vienna.   Cittador IFF awards films in the following categories: Narrative Short, Original Film Music, Arthouse Short, Feminist Short, Animated Short, Sci-Fi Short, Experimental Short, and LGBTQ+ Short. We want not only to select the inspiring...

Bullet Train, Review: Brad luck Pitt A Japanese book adapted into an American film, with Brad Pitt in the leading role, set on a high speed train, with armed and dangerous Mafia agents and gangsters on board, seems to be the menu for a high-octane entertainer. And for once, a film delivers most of what it promises. It is a quaint mix of mayhem, mirth and thrills. Bullet Train re-works the gangster genre with a twist that is so obvious that you wonder why did nobody think of it before. And tha...

Minions-The Rise of Gru, Review: One in a minion Minion and Villain don’t rhyme. They shouldn’t. After all, what is a primary school kid doing? Yes, he is almost a dwarf, and we would love to see his rise. But rise as what? An arch-villain? A super-villain? There are some movies in which good, clean, animation fun turns into adult stuff that can affect the mind-set of millions of viewers. Films need not preach or moralise, but they need not glorify villainy either. This is one suc...

Trailer success meet and song launch of Major: Lookout, big fish, here comes the goldfish Three big, real BIG pictures are on the verge of release, simultaneously. Two are from the South, and one from Mumbai. Anybody who has been following release schedules will know that these three are Prithviraj from Yash Raj Films, KamalHaasan’s Vikram and a major film from Hyderabad, called, Major. I wonder whether the other two have been shown to anybody except the most selected of selective audie...

Trailer launch of Nikamma: Useful insights into the making of a ‘Useless’ (Nikamma) film Sony Pictures International Productions have put their faith in producer-director Sabbir Khan and a relatively new hero, an absolutely new heroine and a veteran who made her debut 30 years ago to deliver a vehicle that goes by the moniker of Nikamma. Translated, it means Useless. Abhimanyu, who has already acted in Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota and Meenakshi Sundareshwar, is the son of Himalaya Dassa...

Dr. Strange-The Multiverse of Madness, Review: Averse, obverse, inverse, diverse, reverse, converse, traverse, transverse Of all the screen movements in Dr. Strange-The Multiverse of Madness, floating and jumping are the main competitive events, closely followed by light rings that are twirled and hurled as weapons by either side. If you can excel in these events, you win the battle. The battle, yes, but the war, no. It is a completely unequal war, with a witch who keeps winning any which way...

Memory, Review: Contract killer with Alzheimemory In India, as I guess in many other parts of the world, Liam Neeson is instantly associated with Schindler’s List (1992), when he was 40, wherein he played a businessman who saves several Jews from being sent to concentration camps. In the thirty years since, we have seen him play several action heroes. But after 2008, he became synonymous with Bryan Mills of the Taken series. Taken 2 came in 2012 and Taken 3 in 2015. At the Toronto Film ...

Guilty Minds: Amazon Prime’s new series brings the court-room into your drawing room A first in the genre for Amazon, the series dramatises ten court-room cases and encapsulates the proceedings, one in each episode. In real-life, court cases in India often take decades to reach conclusion, but directors Shefali Bhushan and co-director Jayant Digambar Somalkar make sure that each case reaches its end at the end of the episode. The series will start streaming on 22 April, can be seen by ...

“Jurassic World: Dominion” trailer just released giving us a dramatic glimpse at the “epic conclusion to the Jurassic era” — a hint that this might be the final film of the “Jurassic ” franchise. Until they decide otherwise...by demand!   Watch the prologue 5 minutes from the movie (which releases june 10). ...

Spiderman - No Way Home, Review: Spidermen Indian release today, American release tomorrow. How exciting! Shot during the Covid 19 Coronavirus pandemic. How daring! Third part of a Trilogy – Homecoming (2017) and Far from Home (2019). How challenging, if you are not a die-hard fan and do not the previous homings well-enough! A cast that consists of Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Jamie Foxx, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Benedict Wong, J.K...

FEATURED RELEASE: WORKING MAN (International Territories Only) Directed by Robert Jury   When the last factory in a small Rust Belt town closes its doors, an unlikely hero emerges in dutiful, quiet Allery Parkes (Peter Gerety, HBO’s “The Wire”). A career employee of the factory, the aging Allery can’t reconcile how to live a life simply sitting at home doing nothing, and against the advice and pleas of his loving wife, Iola (two-time Oscar nomine...

The much-anticipated summer crime drama LANSKY by writer/director Eytan Rockaway is set to hit theatres and digital streaming channels on June 25. The film’s star-studded cast features Harvey Keitel, Sam Worthington, Danny A. Abeckaser, David James Elliott, Minka Kelly, David Cade, John Magaro, and AnnaSophia Robb, among others. Danny A. Abeckaser |  Photo: Ben Draper The script was inspired by actual conversations that took place between Rockaway’s father, Rob Rockaway and ...

The much-anticipated summer crime drama LANSKY by writer/director Eytan Rockaway is set to hit theatres and digital streaming channels on June 25. The film’s star-studded cast features Harvey Keitel, Sam Worthington, Danny A. Abeckaser, David James Elliott, Minka Kelly, David Cade, John Magaro, and AnnaSophia Robb, among others. Danny A. Abeckaser |  Photo: Ben Draper The script was inspired by actual conversations that took place between Rockaway’s father, Rob Rockaway and ...

I have some wonderful news. I am proud to announce that I am now listed as a Connecticut author on the Connecticut Center for the Book organization’s website, having met their criteria. Here is the link to my listing: https://ctcenterforthebook.org/ct-authors/hawk-james-w/ ...

Verdugo Entertainment To Unveil Newly Restored 4K Edition Of Lost Classic Mackintosh and T.J.,  Starring The Legendary Roy Rogers In His Final Film Appearance   Featuring Music by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, the American Western is Set for Debut on Blu-ray and DVD on May 18     On Tuesday, May 18, Verdugo Entertainment will launch the newly restored 4K version of the 1975 classic Mackintosh and T.J. on Blu-ray and DVD through Amazon (North...

The Courier, Review: Delivers on time A spy story with no fights, no gadgets, agents who neither carry guns nor seduce each other, The Courier is a hark-back to the genre that can be traced at least to deglamourised espionage outings like The Ipcress File and Funeral in Berlin, way back in the 60s. It’s not positioned as a competitor for the James Bond or Mission Impossible series, or their spin-offs, and is, in fact, based on a true story. Unwavering focus on the plot, and all round co...

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles announced a slate of programs it will offer to the public beginning September 30, 2021, when it will celebrate its grand opening. The museum’s inaugural programs are made possible by the kind of donors, including Richard Roth Cinema-Arts Fund, Participant, Pritzker Foundation, Eric and Melina Esrailian, Dr. Kathy Fields and Dr. Garry Rayant in honor of Sid and Nancy Ganis, Julia and Ken Gouw, Robert and Miryam Knutson, and Dr. Pe...

Breaking News in Yuba County, Review: Last one standing gets the millions It’s genre-defying film, with a most unlikely protagonist, and several parallel tracks, all intertwined. Re-affirming the myth that, in America, anybody can get away with anything, and that killing and violence are about as common as pizza and burgers, Breaking News in Yuba County makes a messed-up attempt to say that amidst all this mayhem, loyalty to your wife and love for her are values worth cherishing. But it...

Our Friend, Review: Cancer kills, friendship lives Several things are going right for this American true story. Slice of life characters, casting, a lead actress who looks really beautiful enough to justify the lead actor calling her the ‘most beautiful he has ever seen’, credible performances, locales shot from all angles, having its heart in the right place, generating heart-wrenching emotions, just that touch of humour, portraying an almost perfect marriage, as against divorced...

Bull City International Film Festival Trailer ...