News

Max Winkler is set to direct the pilot for American Love Story, the first installment of Ryan Murphy’s FX anthology series, sources tell Deadline. The series chronicles the whirlwind courtship and marriage of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessett, starring newcomer Paul Kelly (The Venery of Samantha Bird) as Kennedy Jr., Sarah Pidgeon as Bessett and Naomi Watts as JFK Jr’s mother, Jackie O.

American Love Story, the latest offshoot in FX/20th TV’s American Crime Story franchise, is a scripted anthology series of sweeping true love stories that captured the world’s attention.

In the first season, focused on JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette, what started out as a beautiful union for the young couple, widely regarded as American royalty, began to fray under the stress of the relentless microscope and navel gaze of tabloid media. The pressures of their careers and rumored family discord...

Tom Bergeron will emcee a very different kind of dance floor for Discovery’s Dancing With Sharks (working title).

The Dancing With the Stars vet is set to host the aforementioned Shark Week 2025 special, in which expert divers and their shark partners compete in underwater dances.

More from TVLineMichael J. Fox Joins Shrinking Season 3, Marking His First TV Role in 5 Years and Reunion With Bill LawrenceMeet the Buffy Reboot's New Slayer: Ryan Kiera Armstrong to Play The Chosen One Opposite Sarah Michelle GellarMark Ruffalo's Task, From Mare of Easttown EP, to Premiere on HBO in September - Watch First Trailer

“Blending skill,...

Ryan Murphy has given us chills so far with American Horror Story, courtroom drama with American Crime Story, and even sports scandals with American Sports Story. However, the creator is about to show us romance with a feel of everything that has been said before. The upcoming FX series American Love Story, starring Naomi Watts, will show the tragic story of one of America’s most popular couples in the ’90s.

The story of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy was almost like a fairytale, but because of heavy media scrutiny, it was not without rumors and controversy. It has everything a filmmaker would love to work on, but it also raises the question of how closely the series will stick to real life. Let’s explore.

What is American Love Story about? John F. Kennedy, Mrs. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, Jr., and Caroline Kennedy | Image by Robert LeRoy Knudsen – U.

Since the hit first season, eyes have been on any news about The Watcher season 2. Hopes for the season dim further with the latest casting news for another Ryan Murphy series.

Netflix renewed The Watcher for a second season back in November 2022, and since then, there have been crickets about the show. Both creator Murphy and star Naomi Watts have shared little news or hope for the second season, and that’s dimmed even more as Watts has been casted in another of Murphy’s shows, American Love Story.

Significant delays for The Watcher season 2 explained

At first, the delays could be explained pretty easily. After the initial renewal in November 2022, there was a shutdown in Hollywood. The writers and then the actors went on strike, so between May and September 2023, there was no movement on any project that involved the WGA and SAG-AFTRA members.

However, it’s been two...

Ryan Murphy has reportedly found his John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy for his American Love Story anthology spinoff for FX.

Pop culture writer Evan Ross Katz on his Instagram page revealed Naomi Watts will play Jackie Kennedy and newcomer Paul Kelly will fill the role of her son, John F. Kennedy. Sarah Pidgeon was earlier announced to play Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy.

FX and 20th Television, where Murphy has an overall deal with Disney, declined comment on the casting news. American Love Story will chart the whirlwind courtship and marriage of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Bessette-Kennedy.

The latest Murphy anthology series will look to portray famous romances that captured global attention. John F. Kennedy Jr. and Bessette-Kennedy, who worked as a publicist at Calvin Klein, were considered American royalty during the 1990s.

But their celebrated love story and marriage began to wilt under the constant scrutiny of the tabloid media.

Ryan Murphy's upcoming TV series American Love Story has cast its lead role, with an Academy Award-nominated star as Jackie Kennedy. Ryan Murphy's best TV shows include massive cultural hits like American Horror Story and Glee, and he's bringing in star talent for his new FX anthology series, which will explore the historic relationship between John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette.

Actress Naomi Watts has landed the role of Jackie Kennedy in American Love Story (via Variety). She's previously collaborated with Ryan Murphy on shows like Capote vs. The Swans and The Watcher. Watts' best movies and shows also include critically acclaimed works like Mulholland Drive, Twin Peaks, and Birdman. Newcomer Paul Kelly has also joined the cast in the leading role of JFK Jr, where he'll star opposite Sarah Pidgeon's Carolyn Bessette.

View this post on InstagramA post shared by Evan Ross Katz (@evanrosskatz) What Naomi...

Ryan Murphy‘s American Love Story has found its core cast!

Newcomer Paul Kelly is set to play John F. Kennedy Jr. in the FX anthology series, opposite Sarah Pidgeon, who will portray Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy.

In addition, Naomi Watts has signed on to star as Jackie Kennedy, Evan Ross Katz first reported.

Keep reading to find out more…

Paul is an actor and model, and this looks to be his big Hollywood break! We found his Instagram, and he has done a fair amount of modeling. He did a video for the brand Rhone, and we’ve embedded that below.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by paul anthony widziszewski-kelly (@ofishalpak)

The series will follow JFK Jr. and Carolyn‘s whirlwind romance. The couple passed away in a plane crash in 1999 when she was 33 and he was 38. They were the subject of lots of media scrutiny when their romance began,...

“American Love Story,” Ryan Murphy’s upcoming FX series following the relationship between John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, has found two of its major players: Naomi Watts will play Jackie Kennedy, while newcomer Paul Kelly leads the series as JFK Jr.

They join the cast alongside Sarah Pidgeon, who was previously announced to be playing Bessette-Kennedy.

The series will mark the fourth collaboration between Murphy and Watts. Most recently, in 2024, she played Babe Paley in “Capote vs. The Swans,” the second season of Murphy’s FX anthology series following historic celebrity rivalries. In 2022, she led Murphy’s Netflix horror series “The Watcher” opposite Bobby Cannavale, and next, she will appear in “All’s Fair,” Murphy’s upcoming Hulu legal drama starring Kim Kardashian.

Besides her projects with Murphy — each of which she has served as an executive producer on — Watts is best known for her work in film. She...

“American Love Story” has found its Jackie Kennedy in Naomi Watts, TheWrap has learned. Meanwhile, newcomer Paul Kelly will play John F. Kennedy Jr. in the upcoming FX anthology series from Ryan Murphy.

Both join the previously announced Sarah Pidgeon, who will play Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy. FX and 20th Television declined to comment on this story.

The latest spinoff in the “American Story” universe, “American Love Story” was ordered in 2021 and has been described as “a scripted anthology series of sweeping true love stories that captured the world’s attention.” Its first season will portray the whirlwind courtship and marriage of JFK Jr. and Bessette-Kennedy. When the two first got together, they were regarded as American royalty. But the more they were scrutinized by the tabloid media, the more their relationship began to fray. It all came to an end in 1999 with the tragic plane crash that resulted in the deaths of JFK Jr.

Jason Isbell dropped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday night to debut new song “Ride to Robert’s” from his upcoming album, Foxes in the Snow. Watch the replay below.

During the intimate solo performance, Isbell deftly strummed his acoustic guitar while singing about good times. “We’ll ride to Robert’s on a Friday night,” he crooned. “And hear Don Kelley play/ And I’ll catch you dreamin’ in the neon light.”

Get Jason Isbell Tickets Here

Isbell previously shared “Bury Me” and the album’s title track. Foxes in the Snow is out March 7th via Southeastern Records, and pre-orders are ongoing.

The folk singer is currently on a solo tour through the end of March before teaming back up with his band, The 400 Unit, for more shows in the late spring and summer. See the full schedule below, and get tickets here.

Jason Isbell 2025 Tour Dates:

02/27 — Washington,...

Paul Kelly’s song “How to Make Gravy” captures a deeply personal story of family tension and redemption. The film adaptation by Nick Waterman and Megan Washington expands the track’s emotional landscape, transforming its compact narrative into a broader cinematic experience.

The adaptation skillfully sidesteps literal interpretation. Instead of direct song quotations, the directors craft a nuanced backstory for Joe (Daniel Henshall), a troubled father who ends up in prison after a violent confrontation with his brother-in-law.

This narrative approach allows exploration of complex themes like family dynamics and personal struggle. The film examines Joe’s internal conflicts and attempts to reconnect with his family, creating a rich emotional terrain that echoes the song’s raw sentiment.

While the expanded narrative sometimes feels stretched, the central emotional thread remains compelling. Joe’s journey of self-reflection and potential redemption drives the film’s dramatic core, staying true to the spirit...

Organised by Sos (Save Our Selves), Live Earth is a series of concerts set to take place around the world on July 7th, 2007 to engage people on a mass scale to combat our climate crisis.

Concerts will include performances by more than 150 of the world’s top musicians performing at various venues around the world.

Venues and musicians include:

Sydney, Australia:

Blue King Brown Crowded House Eskimo Joe Ghostwriters Jack Johnson John Butler Trio Missy Higgins Paul Kelly Sneaky Sound System Toni Collette and The Finish Wolfmother

Shanghai, China:

12 Girls Band Anthony Wong Eason Chan Evonne Hsu Huang Xiao Ming Joey Sarah Brightman Soler Winnie Shin

Hamburg, Germany:

Chris Cornell Jan Delay Juli Katie Melua Lotto King Karl Mana Mando Diao Michael Mittermeier Reamonn Roger Cicero Sasha Silbermond Snoop Dogg Shakira Enrique Iglesias

Tokyo, Japan

AI Abingdon Boys School Ai Otsuka Ayaka Bonnie Pink Cocco Genki Rockets Kumi Koda Linkin...

Gary Cooper is one of the most enduring and beloved figures in Western cinema, carving out a tenured career that saw him reach the pinnacle of the genre. He was best known for playing heroic roles that are morally complex, which added grandeur and dignity to the roles he portrayed and the films he starred in. Gary Cooper's films highlighted the intricacies of the Western lifestyle on the American frontier, and he cemented his status as a true icon in cinema.

Cooper was an extraordinary acting talent who also starred in many different genres of films, but his most famous works were iconic Westerns like High Noon and The Hanging Tree. His quiet vulnerability and ability to display a vast range of emotions in characters who would usually be played as black-and-white roles, influenced the next generation of both actors and filmmakers. His Westerns have gone down in cinematic history...

Musicals may be having a moment at the box office but its music-based films have led the charge in 2025 Aacta nominations today, with Michael Gracey's upcoming Robbie Williams-inspired 'Better Man' and Nick Waterman's adaptation of Paul Kelly's 'How To Make Gravy' securing 16 and 15 nods, respectively.

The post ‘Better Man’, ‘Boy Swallows Universe’ top Aacta nominations appeared first on If Magazine.

Ama, the leader in dynamic creative for audio, today announced a significant update to its Api integration tool to streamline the management of first-party data for brands. This update allows brands to easily upload and manage both static and live data through a seamless Google Sheets integration, offering a more efficient and user-friendly solution for handling large data sets.

The enhanced tool helps brands maintain highly personalized, data-driven campaigns using any custom data source and up-to-the-minute information. With Ama’s new “data library” feature, brands can store first-party data centrally, allowing them to access it across multiple campaigns without having to re-add.

“As data becomes increasingly critical to effective advertising, brands need tools that make it easier to manage and leverage that information,” said Paul Kelly, Cro at Ama. “On top of our existing contextual data points, our new update gives brands the ability to seamlessly control their first-party data so campaigns are always relevant,...

This soupy Christmas drama based on Paul Kelly’s song tips into corny sentimentalism – and comes dangerously close to suggesting that gravy is actually magic

Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email

How to Make Gravy is a rare example of a film that originated as a song – in this case, the beloved ballad by Paul Kelly. Maybe, given the entertainment industry’s addiction to recycling pre-existing IP, transforming popular tracks into movies will one day become a thing. Not that I’m looking forward to it: this soupy Christmas drama from first-time feature director Nick Waterman demonstrates how lyrics can become a series of reference points, with an obvious temptation to be very visual and literal – to give us that shot of a gravy boat being passed reverentially around the dinner table.

Waterman deploys the gravy early in the runtime, staging it as a moment of quasi-religious significance. This...

Megan Washington and Hugo Weaving share how Kelly’s anthem inspired a ‘beautiful opportunity for redemption’, while Kelly reveals he’s ‘playing around with a sequel’ to his song

Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email

There’s a stunning sleight of hand to How to Make Gravy in that it’s almost impossible to pin the film down to an era. An earthy, 70s colour palette. The fashion and cars are 90s shabby. The backyard trestle table, tinselled up for Christmas lunch, and the screen doors, banging more insistently as the red wine flows, are perennial. Eventually I spot a vape, but the overall effect is to drench the brain with nostalgia.

Binge commissioned How to Make Gravy as its first original feature film, based on the 1996 Paul Kelly song of the same name. Its creators have been loyal to those early fans who vividly remember discovering the song...

The movie, adapted by musician Meg Washington and director Nick Waterman, involves expanded stories of all the Christmas anthem’s characters

Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email

The first trailer has been released for How To Make Gravy, the upcoming film based on the much-loved song by Paul Kelly that has become an Australian Christmas anthem.

Kelly’s lyrics, which take the form of a letter from a man named Joe who is writing home from prison four days before Christmas, contain a whole host of characters including Joe’s brother Dan – the recipient of the letter – and Joe’s wife Rita.

Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning...

With the 2024 NFL football season just around the corner, it’s not only time to get ready for your fantasy football draft, it’s also time to experience draft tournaments featuring experts. Over the next few weeks, tune in to SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Ch. 87) to hear live drafts from the Scott Fish Bowl, Fantasy Sports and Gaming Association Conference, and more.

The events will broadcast live on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio during the times below and be available on the SiriusXM app after they air by searching “Fantasy Drafts.”

24/7 Fantasy Sports TalkAdvice to dominate your league and moreListen on the App

Listen on the App

Broadcast Schedule Scott Fish Bowl New York Date Saturday, July 13 Time 3pm-5pm Et Show “Rotoballer Radio” Hosts Anthony Aniano and Scott Engel Site Celtic Pub in New York City

Scott Fish Bowl Philadelphia Date Sunday, July 14 Time Noon-4pm Et Show “Fantasy Football...

Exclusive: Stuff the British Stole, the Australian-Canadian doc series about the impact of British colonialism, is being remade as a six-part scripted heist caper.

Anchuli Felicia King, who wrote on HBO’s The Sympathizer and The Baby and Deadloch for Prime Video, is creating and writing the series, which is coming out of Australia and billed by producers as “an exploration of the the nuanced debate around repatriation through a sharply funny lens.”

Ben Chessell (The Great, Giri Haji, Doctor Who) is attached to direct and write episodes, with Kacie Anning and award-winning First Nations writer and playwright Dylan Van Den Berg also on the creative team.

Aussie indie Wooden Horse, which made Disney+ series The Clearing, is co-producing with Warner Bros International Television Production (Wbitvp) Australia, known for the likes of The Twelve, on which King was a writer, and Love Me.

Spoiler alert: The following article contains spoilers from Pretty Little Liars: Summer School episodes 1 through 8.

"Pretty Little Liars: Summer School" offers a bright summer slasher vibe with familiar characters and a new villain. Returning characters face new challenges as they navigate summer school and encounter the mysterious "Bloody Rose." The Max show's soundtrack includes popular songs like "School's Out" by Alice Cooper and "Cruel Summer" by Bananarama.

Pretty Little Liars: Summer School is a stark contrast to Original Sin, with brighter tones, sunny vibes, and, of course, several pop hits that are perfect for summer break. The slasher and horror elements are still present (proven by the haunting instrumental additions to the show's score) as the five teenagers recover from their experience with "A," aka Archie Waters, and try to move on. However, a new villain named "Bloody Rose" throws a wrench into the characters' plans in Pretty Little Liars: Summer School.

Social media is always posting clips of belligerent airline passengers having meltdowns even getting into fisticuffs with flight attendants and fellow travelers. But today’s outbursts look positively tame to compared to the ill-behavior of the passengers and even the crew on a plane bound to San Francisco from Honolulu in “The High and the Mighty,” which opened in L.A. on May 27, 1954. The film went into general release in July. They drink, they cry, they fight and even restrain a passenger who has a gun.Meanwhile, the young pilot nearly loses it, the veteran pilot is haunted with memories of a crash, the navigator is a nervous wreck. Smoking, even by the crew, is allowed.

Directed by William A. Wellman, who helmed another airplane classic 1927’s Oscar-winner “Wings,” adapted by Ernest Gann from his best seller and produced by star John Wayne and his partner Robert Fellows, “The High and the Mighty...

Foxtel is backing the screen adaptation of Paul Kelly's Christmas classic 'How to Make Gravy' as a recipe for Binge's entry into feature films, with the project to shoot on the Gold Coast and star Hugo Weaving and Daniel Henshall.

The post Good gravy: Binge orders first feature ‘How to Make Gravy’ with Hugo Weaving, Daniel Henshall appeared first on If Magazine.

Exclusive: Hugo Weaving is leading Australian streamer Binge’s first original film, How to Make Gravy.

The Lord of the Rings and The Matrix star will lead an ensemble cast alongside side Daniel Henshall in the feature.

Brenton Thwaites (Titans, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales), Damon Herriman (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Mr Inbetween), Kate Mulvany (The Twelve, Hunters) and French actress Agathe Rouselle (Titane) in her debut English-language performance will also star, with more cast members to be announced. The film will also feature cameo performances from Australian musicians, including Adam Briggs and rising rap talent Dallas Woods.

How to Make Gravy is based on Paul Kelly’s iconic Australian song that tells the story of an inmate writing a letter home as his family prepares to celebrate their first Christmas without him. The 1996 song has such a place in Australian hearts that Gravy Day,...

MediaRadar is an award-winning advertising intelligence and sales enablement platform. Their software tracks and analyzes ad campaigns across millions of brands through various media channels, including podcasts, online, TV, mobile, and print.

So far in 2023, 42% of Americans over the age of 12 reported having listened to a podcast in the past month, indicating the medium's enduring appeal. Through July 2023, MediaRadar's sample data of U.S. podcasts shows ad spending increased 5% YoY, underscoring its broad appeal, authenticity, and lack of reliance on third-party cookies.

MediaRadar's analysis further reveals that podcasts centered on comedy, true crime, and business experienced year-over-year growth. The top five programming categories were comedy, news, true crime, politics, and business, along with society & culture. The combined spending on these categories accounted for 58% of the total ad spend on podcasts.

"Our analysis provides valuable insights into how advertisers are leveraging the power of podcasts to connect with their audiences," said Todd Krizelman,...

Ama (A Million Ads), the global leader in dynamic creative and personalization for digital audio advertising, today announced the launch of its innovative AI-powered product features, Studio.AI, designed to further enhance the speed and precision of the Ama dynamic decisioning engine. The new solution intelligently syncs audio files with script lines and selects relevant data triggers for highly-personalized ad experiences and is available for use across leading audio platforms, including Spotify, Pandora, Acast and iHeart.

The digital audio advertising market has skyrocketed, fueled by consumer adoption of premium content through music streaming services and podcasts, increased programmatic availability of inventory for advertisers, and advertiser interest in investing in privacy-safe channels. In 2023, digital audio ad investments are expected to surpass $10 billion, and within the next four years, will climb to nearly $13 billion.* To continue to unlock growth, particularly from new and smaller brand advertisers, however, the production and targeting of...

Canberra, June 6 (Ians) Australia’s influenza cases have soared by more than 40 per cent over two weeks as the nation heads into winter.

According to the latest Australian Influenza Surveillance Report (Aisr) for 2023 from the Department of Health, there has been 57,816 confirmed influenza cases and 57 deaths in the country as of May 28, reports Xinhua news agency.

The figure represents an increase of 43 per cent from the 40,318 cases reported as of May 14.

The report warned that children have accounted for a disproportionately high number of infections, with 5-9, 0-4 and 10-14 the three age groups with the highest notification rates.

Since surveillance began in April, 76 per cent of influenza cases who were admitted to hospitals across Australia were younger than 16.

Experts have expressed concerns over the low rate of influenza vaccine uptake amid children.

Paul Kelly, Australia’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO), in March wrote to vaccination providers urging them to...

Canberra, Feb 20 (Ians) Australians who are not vaccinated against Covid-19 are five times more likely to die after contracting the virus than those who are fully inoculated, a report published on Monday revealed.

The South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (Sahmri) published an analysis of 70,450 confirmed coronavirus cases in Sa between August and October 2022, reports Xinhua news agency.

It revealed that cases who had zero vaccine doses were eight times more likely to be hospitalized and five times more likely to die than those who had three or four doses.

People who had just one or two vaccines were three times more likely to be hospitalised than their fully inoculated peers.

The data was released to coincide with the start of a national rollout of an additional booster vaccine.

From Monday, every Australian aged 18 and over who has not had Covid-19 or a vaccine dose in the last six...

Canberra, Dec 12 (Ians) The Australian government has revealed its plan to continue fighting the Covid-19 pandemic in 2023, focusing support on the country’s most vulnerable people.

Health Minister Mark Butler and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Paul Kelly on Monday released the national Covid-19 health management plan for 2023, Xinhua news agency reported.

A significant change is that Australians will require a referral from their doctor to receive a free polymerase chain reaction (Pcr) test for Covid-19 from Jan. 1, 2023.

Vaccinations against coronavirus will continue to be entirely subsidized by the government and the availability of oral antiviral treatments will be scaled up for elderly Australians.

“We will continue to protect those most at risk, while ensuring we have the capacity to respond to future waves and variants,” Butler said in a media release.

The end of free Pcr tests for all came 12 months after testing services were overwhelmed amid a wave of Omicron variant infections.

The first movie to directly confront McCarthyism! Or so said the editorials touting this ‘Long-Awaited Screen Event’ in which ‘Bette Davis Hits the Screen in a Cyclone of Dramatic Fury!’ The storm of the title was based on a real activist in Oklahoma who lost her job for promoting equal rights. Bette’s polite librarian is victimized by small-minded civic types; a subplot depicts the traumatic reaction of one of her patrons, a child expected to despise her as a traitor to the country. Daniel Taradash’s movie is an excellent starting point to discuss the thorny dramatic subgenre of liberal social issue movies.

Storm Center

Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 155

1956 / B&w / 1:78 widescreen / 86 min. / Street Date September 30, 2022 / Available from / au 39.95

Starring:

Bette Davis, Brian Keith, Kim Hunter, Paul Kelly, Joe Mantell, Kevin Coughlin, Sallie Brophie, Howard Wierum, Curtis Cooksey, Michael Raffetto, Joseph Kearns, Edward Platt, Kathryn Grant, Howard Wendell, Malcolm Atterbury,...

Canberra, Nov 8 (Ians) Australia’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Paul Kelly on Tuesday said the country is in the midst of another wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kelly urged Australians to take additional precautions against Covid-19 infection, including wearing masks, staying at home if experiencing symptoms and staying up to date on vaccinations, reports Xinhua news agency.

In a statement, the CMO said the government was closely monitoring the spread of Omicron variants Xbb and Bq.1.

In the week to November 4 Australia recorded an average of 5,300 new Covid-19 cases every day, representing an average increase from 4,891 cases per day in the previous week ending on October 28.

“All indications are that this is the start of a new Covid-19 wave in Australia. This was to be expected and will be part of living with Covid-19 into the future,” Kelly said in a statement.

“The overseas experience is that these new variants...

Warner Bros International Television Production Australia, in partnership with Speech & Drama Pictures, has acquired exclusive international rights to develop holiday-themed ballad “How To Make Gravy” into a Christmas film.

Written by Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly, and originally released in 1996, “How To Make Gravy” tells the story of a prisoner named Joe who writes a letter to his brother Dan about his longing to be with family at Christmas. (Check out the official video below.)

The soulful rock lament has become iconic in Oz and will now see its lyrics and story adapted into a feature. Says Kelly of the characters that feature in the tune, ”Dan and Joe and Rita and Angus and Dolly and all the others have been stuck inside that song so long, I’m glad they’re going to get a chance to live life a different way!”

Michael Brooks, Managing Director of Warner Bros International Television Production Australia,...

Jonathan Alley’s Love in Bright Landscapes looks back at The Triffids and the rise and untimely demise of frontman, David McComb.

The feature documentary features interviews with Paul Kelly, triple j’s Richard Kingsmill and the late scholar Niall Lucy, as well as never-before-seen family footage and snippets of newly-discovered writing by McComb.

Producers are Danielle Karalus and Tait Brady.

The post ‘Love in Bright Landscapes’ (Trailer) appeared first on If Magazine.

Hollywood learns to imbed a social message into a crime thriller. John Paxton’s adaptation of Richard Brooks’ neat murder tale is solid noir because it sheds light on the malaise of returning soldiers. No parades and confetti here: Robert Ryan is the hateful bigot but the other characters live amid equally shadowy values — laid-back Robert Mitchum, unhappy bar girl Gloria Grahame. Edward Dmytryk puts a polish on a fine screenplay with a fresh viewpoint, that avoids thriller clichés.

Crossfire

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1947 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 86 min. / Street Date , 2021 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Gloria Grahame, Paul Kelly,

Sam Levene, George Cooper, Jacqueline White, Steve Brodie, William Phipps, Lex Barker, Marlo Dwyer.

Cinematography: J. Roy Hunt

Film Editor: Harry Gerstad

Art Direction: Albert S. D’Agostino, Alfred Herman

Original Music: Roy Webb

Written by John Paxton from the novel The Brick Foxhole by...

Michael Gudinski, founder and chairman of the Mushroom Group, died overnight at home in Melbourne. He was 68.

One of the key figures in the Australian music industry, Gudinski started Mushroom Records in 1972 at just 20 years old.

Over the decades, the label worked with some the biggest names in Australian music, such as Jimmy Barnes, Kylie Minogue, Archie Roach, Hunters & Collectors, Paul Kelly, The Angels and Yothu Yindi.

The Mushroom Group also grew to become an entertainment empire, with brands across touring, record labels, publishing, merchandising, booking agencies, film and television production and creative services.

Mushroom Pictures, its production and distribution arm, was formed in 1993.

Gudinski was the executive producer on feature films such as Chopper, Horseplay, Gettin’ Square, Wolf Creek, Macbeth, Storm Warning, Cedar Boys, Mad Bastards, Killing Ground and Boys in the Trees, as well as Seven miniseries Molly.

His most recent project was Stan’s eight-part series The Gloaming,...

Courtney Barnett has unveiled her MTV Australia Unplugged Live in Melbourne album via stream. The physical album will be released on February 21st and is available for pre-order. The performance, which was filmed in October at Howler in her hometown of Melbourne, spans covers and songs from her catalog as well as her original new song, “Untitled (Play it on Repeat).”

Backed by bandmates Dave Mudie and Bones Sloane, her intimate, stripped-down performance also features cellist Lucy Waldron. Guest collaborators include Paul Kelly, Marlon Williams and Evelyn Ida Morris.

For her new song,...

Antony Partos.

Antony Partos won the prize for best TV theme for Bloom and shared the awards for best music in a TV series or serial, also for Bloom, and feature film score for I Am Mother at the Screen Music Awards in Melbourne on Wednesday night.

First time nominee Piers Burbrook de Vere is now a first time Screen Music Awards winner as his work on Abe Forsythe’s zombie comedy Little Monsters was named best soundtrack album at the awards hosted by Justine Clarke at the Forum.

The guest presenters were actors Susan Prior, Amali Golden, Mark Coles Smith and Damon Herriman and screen composer Burkhard Dallwitz.

In her welcoming address Australian Guild of Screen Composers (Agsc) president Caitlin Yeo said: “The Agsc is stronger, more unified and more able to advocate for everyone’s interests because of your dedication, hard work, and service.

“This year I have...

Top: Anthony Partos, Brett Aplin and Bryony Marks. Bottom: Caitlin Yeo, David Bridie.

Bryony Marks, Caitlin Yeo, Antony Partos, Brett Aplin and David Bridie have received three nominations each for the upcoming Screen Music Awards, staged by Apra Amcos and the Australian Guild of Screen Composers (Agcs).

They are among a group of 40 composers who have been nominated across 12 award categories, spanning more than 36 works. The awards will be held in late November in Melbourne, hosted by Justine Clarke.

Nominated for Best Feature Film Score of the Year is Yeo for Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan, Partos and Dan Luscombe for I Am Mother; Aj True for Jirga and François Tétaz for Judy & Punch.

Yeo is also nominated for Best Television Theme for The Pacific: In the Wake of Captain Cook with Sam Neill and also the category of Best Music for an Advertisement, while Partos is nominated...

Like many singer-songwriters, Olivia Hally and Pepita Emmerichs are good at pouring their melancholy into their music. But that only hints at what makes the Australian duo, who record as Oh Pep!, so great. They’re even better at transforming mundane experiences into anecdotal gold, as heard on their recent LP I Wasn’t Only Thinking About You…, which features songs about waiting in line for a social security card and distancing yourself from your parents to form your own identity.

“Often when I’ve written a song, the audience hears it,...

As sports-centric digital content studio and multi-channel network Whistle Sports continues to turn its focus toward original content, the four-year-old company has parted ways with chief revenue officer Paul Kelly -- whom it hired away from AwesomenessTV almost exactly one year ago.

Kelly had been charged with spearheading Whistle’s branded content efforts, and the company has no immediate plans to replace him. Whistle CEO John West tells Tubefilter that the decision was “very amicable and mutual,” and cited the “dynamic changes” occurring within the digital industry every day. Looking ahead, Whistle’s branded efforts will be headed up by COO Michael Cohen and VP of brand partnerships Dustin Fleischman.

Noteworthy projects on the branded front, for instance, include Courtyard: Unstoppable, a Facebook Watch series produced in collaboration with Marriott Content Studio that profiles 12 football figures who have broken barriers in their respective fields. The first episode (below) garnered roughly 1.2 million views.

It's the Indians fault.

Well, at least, indirectly.

The origin of the child killer seemed to lie in the American West on The Alienist Season 1 Episode 7.

And it actually took Roosevelt to make the connection, based on his exposure to the victims of Indian massacres during his time as a rancher.

Roosevelt's observation that Rosie, the latest victim, appeared to have been scalped sent Kreizler's team on a new line of inquiry. Kreizler and Moore talked to an expert at the Museum of National History, who cleared Indians in general but who agreed that the M.O. could be that of someone who had been exposed to Indian atrocities.

Then Sara, aided by the Isaacson brothers, found a likely suspect after sifting through the correspondence of mental patients for a connection to the West. She tracked Rudoph Bunz, first to Blackwell Island, then to St. Elizabeth's in Washington, D.C., the government's asylum for military members.

Constance Cummings in 'Night After Night.' Constance Cummings: Working with Frank Capra and Mae West (See previous post: “Constance Cummings: Actress Went from Harold Lloyd to Eugene O'Neill.”) Back at Columbia, Harry Cohn didn't do a very good job at making Constance Cummings feel important. By the end of 1932, Columbia and its sweet ingenue found themselves in court, fighting bitterly over stipulations in her contract. According to the actress and lawyer's daughter, Columbia had failed to notify her that they were picking up her option. Therefore, she was a free agent, able to offer her services wherever she pleased. Harry Cohn felt otherwise, claiming that his contract player had waived such a notice. The battle would spill over into 1933. On the positive side, in addition to Movie Crazy 1932 provided Cummings with three other notable Hollywood movies: Washington Merry-Go-Round, American Madness, and Night After Night. 'Washington Merry-Go-Round...

'The Devil Strikes at Night,' with Mario Adorf as World War II era serial killer Bruno Lüdke 'The Devil Strikes at Night' movie review: Serial killing vs. mass murder in unsubtle but intriguing World War II political drama After more than a decade in Hollywood, German director Robert Siodmak (Academy Award nominated for the 1946 film noir The Killers) resumed his European career in the mid-1950s. In 1957, he directed The Devil Strikes at Night / Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam, an intriguing, well-crafted crime drama about the pursuit of a serial killer – and its political consequences – during the last months of the mass-murderous Nazi regime. Inspired by real events, The Devil Strikes at Night begins as war-scarred Hamburg is deeply shaken by the horrific murder of a waitress. Through the Homicide Bureau, inspector Axel Kersten (Claus Holm) begins an investigation that leads him to a mentally disabled laborer,...

The KissMuch of my problem with so-called experimental cinema is a matter of language, and my marriage to it as both a viewer and a critic, despite language’s inevitable failure in the face of other forms of meaning. Some of my difficulty is based on background and affinities, some of it exposure and/or familiarity; most is plain obduracy. For whatever reason we may chose to fixate on, I have a hard time letting non-narrative films tell me how to read them beyond the sense I can put into words. After all, I am inarticulate without them.One friend says the trick is to bring the films “down” to the most fundamental ways in which they work, how the pieces may “add up”—but again this is a metaphor, which is of course the premise of language—an arbitrary equation of different things—and awfully teleological in a realm...

The File on Thelma Jordon

Written by Ketti Frings

Directed by Robert Siodmak

USA, 1950

Cleve Marshal (Wendell Corey), assistant district attorney, arrives at the office of colleague and close friend Miles Scott (Paul Kelley) as the latter converses on the phone with Cleve’s wife Pamela (Joan Tetzel). The Marshals are experiencing rocky waters in their marriage, what with Cleve intentionally ducking frequent visits with his influential father-in-law, with whom he shares a strained relationship, a strain which has now soured life with his wife. His attempt to leave the frying pan lands him straight into the fire, however, as later that night, while drunk, Cleve is visited in the office by a beautiful woman named Thelma Jordan (Barbara Stanwyck). The visitor, under the impression that Cleve is actually Miles, explains that she and her wealthy aunt are regularly visited by burglars at night. This proves too great an opportunity for dissatisfied,...

The 37th Toronto International Film Festival® will roll out the red carpet for hundreds of guests from the four corners of the globe in September. Filmmakers expected to present their world premieres in Toronto include: Rian Johnson, Noah Baumbach, Deepa Mehta, Derek Cianfrance, Sion Sono, Joss Whedon, Neil Jordan, Lu Chuan, Shola Lynch, Barry Levinson, Yvan Attal, Ben Affleck, Marina Zenovich, Costa-Gavras, Laurent Cantet, Sally Potter, Dustin Hoffman, Francois Ozon, David O. Russell, David Ayer, Pelin Esmer, Tom Tykwer, Lana Wachowski, Andy Wachowski, Andrew Adamson, Michael McGowan, Bahman Ghobadi, Ziad Doueiri, Alex Gibney, Stephen Chbosky, Eran Riklis, Edward Burns, Bernard Émond, Zhang Yuan, Michael Winterbottom, Mike Newell, Miwa Nishikawa, Margarethe Von Trotta, David Siegel, Scott McGehee, Gauri Shinde, Goran Paskaljevic, Baltasar Kormákur, J.A. Bayona, Rob Zombie, Peaches and Paul Andrew Williams.

Actors expected to attend include: Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jackie Chan, Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Bill Murray, Robert Redford,...

It came, it saw, it conquered. Taking a massive, £38 at the cinemas, Strippers Vs Werewolves was every bit the success we all hoped and dreamed it would be. The Avengers did alright too apparently. Joss Whedon’s superhero epic more than lived up to the hype and laid financial waste to all before it.

Out this week are a sizable number of releases with the main one being the belated American Pie Sequel, American Pie : Reunion. The whole gang is back together, all grown up and with successful careers, which is ironic given the vast majority of returning actors. Zing.

Also out is the Zac Efron drama The Lucky One, in which the posters assure me he is ‘hotter than ever’. Plus, tense horror thanks to Silent House, 3D vintage animation in the form of Beauty and the Beast and Jason Statham once again flexing his proverbial acting muscles in Safe.

Side Street

Directed by Anthony Mann

Screenplay by Charles Schnee

U.S.A., 1950

There is a favourite saying used among film reviewers when espousing the virtues of a film that uses the story’s locale to the full extent: location ‘x’ is a character in of itself. While an admittedly clever term, it has been slightly overused in recent years to the point where it seems that just about any film’s geographical setting can be deemed a figurative character. Rare are the movies for which a director will take that saying to heart to the extent that the location actually feel like its own character, perfectly complementing the overall picture. Anthony Mann is one such director, whose stunningly brings Manhattan, the city that never sleeps, to life in Side Street.

Struggling through life as a part-time mail carrier, Joe Norson (Farley Granger) is not the most accomplished fellow in the world.

Fans of old-school grind-house films may find interest in this short. The film is directed by Greg Hanson, an underground/genre filmmaker based in New York who produced Beneath Contempt, which was a hit at this past year’s Slamdance. There is a lot to like in this short, so I do recommend checking it out.

Thy Kill Be Done has screened in more than 20 festivals worldwide, including the 2011 Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival and recently took home “Best Exploitation Short” at the 2011 Pollygrind Film Festival in Las Vegas.

Synopsis: When the Monsignor priest of an inner city church is killed by a gang of hoodlums and their drug lord leader, the nuns in the church’s clergy vow bloody revenge. But these are no ordinary nuns…

Thy Kill Be Done (2010) from Greth Productions on Vimeo.

Starring:

Jessica Webb – Sister Yvonne

Chaseedaw Giles – Sister Morgan

Rachel Cervarich – Sister St. Claire...

Bette Davis, Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak, Three on a Match Ann Dvorak on TCM Part I: Scarface, I Was An American Spy Another cool Ann Dvorak performance is her drug addict in Mervyn LeRoy's Three on a Match (1932), which features a great cast that includes Warren William, Joan Blondell, and a pre-stardom Bette Davis. Never, ever light three cigarettes using the same match, or you'll end up like Ann Dvorak, delivering a harrowing performance without getting an Academy Award nomination for your efforts. As Three on a Match's young Ann Dvorak, future Oscar nominee Anne Shirley is billed as Dawn O'Day. (And for those who believe that remakes is something new: Three on a Mach was remade a mere six years later as Broadway Musketeers: John Farrow directed; Ann Sheridan, Marie Wilson, and Margaret Lindsay starred.) I've never watched David Miller's family drama Our Very Own...