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As the industry encounters a wave of diversity, equity and inclusion rollbacks, Amy Adams, filmmaker Karyn Kusama and Telluride Film Festival executive director Julie Huntsinger are booked to discuss representation in front of the next generation.

The trio will participate in a student-led Q&a panel as part of the Archer Film Festival at the Writers Guild Theater in Los Angeles on April 11. The chat, for Archer School for Girls students and aspiring filmmakers, is designed to focus on “pressing questions of how to create meaningful change for women in film, both in front of and behind the camera, within a rapidly shifting industry,” per the school.

The Archer Film Fest is an entirely student-led and organized effort that seeks to empower female filmmakers and amplify underrepresented voices. In addition to the Q&a, the fest will screen a selection of finalist films. More than 300 student-produced film submissions were received from more than 30 countries.

By Nathaniel R

It took me a second viewing to appreciate what Margaret Qualley was up to in "The Substance". Great work!

Reckless sex workers, repressed CEOs, witches-in-training, and a triple helping of “Elizabeths” (!?!) factor into the incredible characterizations offered up by gifted actresses in leading roles this past film season. As we say goodbye to the year in cinema just behind us, a tribute to my personal dozen favourites (alpha order) from leading ladies. Though it’s a full dozen I still had to leave out highly enjoyable star turns from June Squibb in Thelma and Scarlett Johansson in Fly Me to the Moon, as well as Amy Adams' funny and underappreciated juggling of dowdy and feral as “Mother” in Nightbitch. The actual shortlist for my own Best Lead Actress honors is revealed at the end.

top dozen - alpha order...

When there aren’t Avengers to save you, who you do call on in world-ending circumstances? You plump for the members of Thunderbolts*, with a ragtag bunch of anti-heroes and former villains teaming up in search of a bigger purpose. The new issue of Empire gets the inside story on the MCU’s most unexpected movie yet – and you can find it on newsstands from Thursday 13 March.

Before it hits the shelves, here’s a sneak peek inside the issue.

Thunderbolts*

Get ready for a very different kind of Marvel team-up. Empire goes on set of Thunderbolts*, speaking to the likes of Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, director Jake Schreier – and many more – about the misfits and misanthropes tasked with saving the world.

The Last Of Us: Season 2

Bring on the tears and the terror – The Last Of Us returns for Season 2, bigger and bleaker than before. Empire goes...

It's been five years since Disney+ arrived in the UK, changing the streaming game almost overnight and making the daily struggle to choose what to watch next that bit harder. (We know — poor us!) Armed with the Infinity Gauntlet of IP — Marvel, Disney, Star Wars, Pixar, and Fox — and an ever-growing catalogue of offerings pooled from elsewhere, the House of Mouse has created a veritable content utopia where there truly is something for everyone. How many other platforms do you know where you can have the bejeezus scared out of you by xenomorphs (Alien: Romulus), the cockles of your heart warmed by some family friendly space opera (Skeleton Crew), and see a Daredevil born again (we reckon you can figure that one out) all without having to switch streamers?

However, when faced with a platform where you can journey to a galaxy far, far away with a Star Wars-y smorgasbord...

Exclusive: Giancarlo Esposito (Better Call Saul), Aya Cash (The Boys) and Jessica Harper (Suspiria) have joined Charlie Day and Allison Williams in the comedic thriller Kill Me, which has now wrapped in Utah.

In the film, Jimmy (Day) wakes up in a bathtub after having tried to kill himself. Or, at least, that’s what it looks like to his friends and family. Jimmy is pretty sure he didn’t do it…Maybe. Together with Margot (Williams), the 911 operator who took his call, Jimmy sets out on a mission to solve a vitally important whodunit: did someone try to kill him, or are they chasing the specter of depression?

Directed and written by Peter Warren (The Auteur), the film is produced by XYZ Films, Mike Richardson and Keith Goldberg for Dark Horse Entertainment, Charlie Day and Peter Warren. Natalie Metzger of Vanishing Angle is also producing. Pic is financed by...

Mikey Madison as Ani and Mark Eydelshteyn as Ivan in ‘Anora’ (Courtesy of Neon)

Anora continues to pick up speed heading into the Oscars, scoring Critics Choice Awards and DGA wins and snagging a Best Feature win at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. Anora also captured Best Director (Sean Baker) and Best Lead Performance (Mikey Madison) wins. A Real Pain and Didi each earned two awards during the February 22, 2025 Spirit Awards ceremony hosted by Aidy Bryant.

On the television side, Baby Reindeer dominated with three wins. The critically acclaimed limited series took home the Best Lead Performance (Richard Gadd), Best Supporting Performance (Nava Mau), and Best Breakthrough Performance (Jessica Gunning) wins. Other television winners included Shogun and How to Die Alone.

2025 Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominees and Winners

Best Feature

Winner: Anora

Producers: Sean Baker, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan

I Saw the TV Glow

Producers: Ali Herting, Sam Intili, Dave McCary,...

Film Independent handed out its 2025 Spirit Awards on Saturday afternoon (February 22), in a Santa Monica ceremony that saw Anora claim three prizes for best feature, director Sean Baker, and lead performance Mikey Madison in the gender-neutral category.

Sean Wang’s Didi took two prizes for best first feature and first screenplay, whileGints Zilbalodis’s Latvian animation Flow won international film and No Other Land was named best documentary. A Real Pain also nabbed two awards for screenplay and supporting actor Kieran Culkin.

While it is too late for the Spirit Awards to have any bearing on the Oscars next weekend...

The 2025 Film Independent Spirit Awards have wrapped! And now we know, as the full winners list for the Spirit Awards has been revealed, just how much momentum “Anora” has going into the Oscars: a lot. It already got the most Spirits nominations with six, and it ended up winning Best Feature, Best Director for Sean Baker, and Best Lead Performance for Mikey Madison.

Kieran Culkin won Best Supporting Performance for “A Real Pain,” which also won Best Screenplay. “No Other Land” won Best Documentary, and the extraordinary animated film “Flow” won Best International feature.

“Baby Reindeer” collected the most prizes on the TV side with Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series going to Richard Gadd, Jessica Gunning won Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series, and Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series went to Nava Rau. “Shogun” won Best New Scripted Series.

Host Aidy Bryant...

The best in independent film and new television shows were honored at the 2025 Independent Spirit Awards and we have the full winners list here.

Anora and I Saw the TV Glow led the film nominations with five nods each while Shogun led the television nominations with five nods as well.

In the end, Anora and Baby Reindeer led their respective categories with three wins each!

Make sure to check out the recap of every celeb who attended the event and take a look at our Best Dressed list as well.

Keep reading to find out more…

Scroll down for the full list of winners…

Best Feature

Anora – Winner

Producers: Sean Baker, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan

I Saw the TV Glow

Producers: Ali Herting, Sam Intili, Dave McCary, Emma Stone, Sarah Winshall

Nickel Boys

Producers: Joslyn Barnes, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, David Levine

Sing Sing

Producers: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Monique Walton...

In hosting the 2024 Spirit Awards, Aidy Bryant took on the dual strikes, AI and her ex-boyfriend’s obsession with indie cinema. But this year she went less topical and more broad, chiefly serving up a memory from her days on Saturday Night Live.

At the top of her monologue, Bryant spoke about a sketch that was cut from SNL whereby she had to go in for a kiss with the Indie Spirit winning and Oscar-nominated A Real Pain actor Kieran Culkin.

“The sketch was cut and never made it to air,” she told the crowd at the Santa Monica Pier, hard to tell if she was telling the truth or joking. “It’s a thing that I had to live with. I’m sorry to Kieran and Kieran’s wife.”

Then she went for the punchline: “I’m being told that Kieran is not here. Well, I guess, I’ll...

Aidy Bryant returned as host of the Film Independent Spirit Awards Saturday and immediately welcomed the audience to “Hollywood’s third or fourth biggest night.” She also had plenty to say about an apparently unaired kiss with Kieran Culkin, and at the time “was doing like a normal, nothing-ass kiss, because if I had gone for it, his ass would be divorced.”

The awards show turns 40 this year, “the most disgusting age in Hollywood,” she added. “But honestly, 40 is the new 20. You know, hell, look at Scorsese and Coppola. I guess 80 is the new 30. I’m telling you, old is the new young.”

“You know, I saw a lot of your old asses sad as hell that TikTok got banned, and that is not for you,” Bryant joked. “Okay, now you’re 40, you gotta head on over to Facebook. Start making long, sincere posts about how great the staff was...

The 40th annual Independent Spirit Awards took place in Santa Monica on Feb. 22, with Aidy Bryant as host for the second year in a row.

“Anora” was the biggest winner of the day, being named best feature while Sean Baker and Mikey Madison took home individual trophies for best director and lead performance. “Baby Reindeer” also won big, with Richard Gadd, Nava Mau and Jessica Gunning clinching the awards for lead, supporting and breakthrough performance, though “Shogun” won best new scripted series. And Sean Wang’s “Dìdi” clinched both awards in the debut film category: best first feature as well as best first first screenplay.

See the full list of winners below.

Best Feature

“Anora” (Winner)

“I Saw the TV Glow”

“Nickel Boys”

“Sing Sing”

“The Substance”

Best First Feature

“Dìdi” (Winner)

“In the Summers”

“Janet Planet”

“The Piano Lesson”

“Problemista”

John Cassavetes Award – Given to the best feature made...

Film Independent handed out its 2025 Spirit Awards on Saturday afternoon (February 22), in a Santa Monica ceremony that saw Anora claim three prizes for best feature, director Sean Baker, and lead actor Mikey Madison in the gender-neutral category.

Sean Wang’s Didi took two prizes for best first feature and first screenplay, while Gints Zilbalodis’s Latvian animation Flow won international film and No Other Land was named best documentary. A Real Pain also nabbed two awards for screenplay and supporting actor Kieran Culkin.

Baker gave an impassioned speech calling for higher upfront fees for independent directors who he said take...

What’s with all the maternity angst lately? First came Nightbitch, then If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, and now — in keeping with the rule that three makes it a trend — please welcome Mother’s Baby. Led by a fiercely compelling performance from Marie Leuenberger, Johanna Moder’s psychological thriller ticks along with exceptional confidence while it maintains ambiguity as to whether post-partum depression is feeding Julia’s paranoia or there really is something unsettling about her infant son, making her suspect a switcheroo at the private fertility clinic where she gave birth. It’s when the script starts providing answers that things get shaky.

Part of the issue is that the movie often seems to be itching to make a decisive turn into horror but keeps holding back. Moder and co-writer Arne Kohlweyer commit to that shift so late in the action that it all becomes a bit,...

Amy Adams joins Javier Bardem in the Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese-produced TV remake of Cape Fear.

Amy Adams has joined the cast of the upcoming TV adaptation of Cape Fear, a project that just got a little bit more exciting with the news that another quality actor of is set to lead the production.

Adams joins Javier Bardem in ‘the story of two happily married attorneys, Anna Bowden and Tom Bowden, who face a growing storm when a notorious killer from their past named Max Cady gets out of prison.’

Javier Bardem is taking on the role of Max Cady, last seen on screen played by Robert De Niro.

There’s no word as yet regarding who will play the role of Tom Bowden, but with Adams and Bardem occupying two of the film’s lead roles, anticipation just went up a notch for the next casting announcement.

Golden Globe-winner Amy Adams has been cast in a lead role in Apple TV+’sCape Fear series and will join Oscar-winner Javier Bardem in the show, Variety reports. The new series is based on the 1957 novel The Executioners by John D. MacDonald as well as the 1962 Universal Pictures' Cape Fear, starring Gregory Peck, and Martin Scorsese’s 1991 remake, which starred Robert De Niro and Nick Nolte.

Apple TV+’s Cape Fear was announced back in November 2024 and was given a 10 episode order. The series’ official logline reads: “A storm is coming for happily married attorneys Anna (Adams) and Tom Bowden when Max Cady (Bardem), a notorious killer from their past, gets out of prison.”

Related15 Great Hollywood Actresses Who Never Won An Oscar

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Adams is an Accomplished Actor

Adams has starred in films like Arrival,...

Another high-profile casting selection has been made for Apple’s upcoming limited series version of the iconic thriller, “Cape Fear.” Apple has announced this morning that Oscar-nominee Amy Adams (“Nightbitch”) will take a lead part alongside Javier Bardem (“No Country For Old Men”), who was tapped to play a new incarnation of former inmate turned stalking menace Max Cady.

Continue reading ‘Cape Fear’: Amy Adams To Star Opposite Javier Bardem In Apple’s Limited Thriller Series at The Playlist.

Multi-Emmy and Academy Award nominee Amy Adams will star in and executive produces the Apple TV+ series Cape Fear, from Nick Antosca, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg. Adams will star opposite Javier Bardem who also exec produces.

Cape Fear is based on John D. MacDonald’s novel The Executioners — which inspired the 1962 feature of the same name directed by J. Lee Thompson from storyboards devised by original director Alfred Hitchcock — and the 1991 remake directed by Scorsese.

The 10-episode series greenlit in November, is described as a tense, Hitchcockian thriller and an examination of America’s obsession with true crime in the 21st century. In Cape Fear, a storm is coming for happily married attorneys Amanda (Adams) and Steve Bowden when Max Cady (played by Bardem), a notorious killer from their past, gets out of prison.

Gregory Peck and Polly Bergen and Nick Nolte and Jessica Lange played...

Amy Adams is set to star in and executive produce Apple TV+’s upcoming “Cape Fear” series, which hails from Hollywood legends Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.

Adams will star in the Hitchcockian thriller alongside Javier Bardem, who will also serve as an executive producer. The “Cape Fear” remake hails from Nick Antosca, who will write and showrun.

In the series, Adams will star as Anna, an attorney who is married to another attorney named Tom, who face a storm when Max Cady (Bardem), a notorious killer from their past, gets out of prison, per the official logline. The casting for Tom has yet to be announced.

The 10-episode series is billed as an examination of America’s obsession with true crime in the 21st century, according to Apple TV+.

Adams recently starred in “Nightbitch,” which scored her a Golden Globe nomination for best performance by a female actor in...

Apple has lined up a second A-list name for its Cape Fear series.

Amy Adams will star opposite Javier Bardem in the thriller, which counts Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese — who teamed for a 1991 remake of the original 1962 film — among its executive producers. Adams will also be an EP.

As with the two films (and the John D. MacDonald novel The Executioners that served as their source material), the Cape Fear series will follow the events when a killer, Max Cady (Bardem), is released from prison and begins to harass the couple he deems responsible for his sentence, married attorneys Anna and Tom Bowden. Adams will play Anna.

The 10-episode series will also add a present-day element that examines America’s obsession with true crime.

Cape Fear comes from writer and showrunner Nick Antosca (The Act, A Friend of the Family). Universal Studio Group’s UCP, where Antosca has an overall deal,...

Look who’s joining Javier Bardem on a trip to Cape Fear.

Amy Adams (Sharp Objects) will star in and executive-produce Apple TV+’s upcoming series adaptation of the big screen thriller, TVLine has learned.

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In the series, married attorneys Anna (played by Adams) and Tom Bowden are in peril when Max Cady (Bardem,...

The Set Decorators Society of America revealed its 2024 Sdsa Awards winners on Friday. The announcement was made live on the Set Decor YouTube page at 8 p.m. Et/5 p.m. Pt. A Complete Unknown won Best Film and Best Period Design even though it wasn’t nominated for Best Production Design at the 2025 Oscars.

Among the nominees were all five Oscar contenders for Best Production Design: The Brutalist, Conclave, Dune: Part Two, Nosferatu, and Wicked. The five Oscar nominees were split between four categories, avoiding a direct clash prior to the 2025 Oscars on March 2. Conclave prevailed in Contemporary against co-nominees Anora, Civil War, Emilia Pérez, and The Substance. In Fantasy/Sci-Fi, winner Beetlejuice Beetlejuice bested Alien: Romulus, Beetlejuice, Dune: Part Two, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, and Megalopolis. In Comedy/Musical, Wicked soared to victory over Deadpool & Wolverine, Kinds of Kindness, Nightbitch, and Wolfs. The only two Oscar nominees...

Some of the biggest stars of awards season stopped by TheWrap’s Palm Springs Film Festival Portrait Studio on Jan. 3, including Mikey Madison, Timothée Chalamet, Amy Adams, Demi Moore, Colman Domingo, Adrien Brody and Kieran Culkin. The annual festival in the desert resort town east of L.A. is the first big stop on the awards circuit in the new year — and TheWrap has been welcoming talent to our exclusive photo studio there for the past 13 years.

This year, we partnered with our sister publication TheWrapBook to bring in renowned portrait photographer Platon for a bold new look. In addition to the names above, he snapped shots of Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, Isabella Rossellini, John Lithgow and other members of the “Conclave” cast, plus “A Real Pain” writer-director-star Jesse Eisenberg, “Dune: Part Two” director Denis Villeneuve and the “Emilia Pérez” gang: Zoe Saldaña, Edgar Ramirez, Selena Gomez and Karla Sofía Gascón.

At the controversial intersection of graphic violence in pop culture and women’s liberation in politics, you’ll find the taboo and too often overlooked subgenre of feminist body horror. In 2025, Coralie Fargeat, Demi Moore, and Margaret Qualley are changing all that with “The Substance”: a triumphant all-timer that was nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director.

These extreme female-centric movies wield over-the-top gore and violence like exacting scalpels, peeling away society’s thick skin of deference and niceties to reveal an insidious underbelly of gendered violence, gendered shame, gendered betrayal, gendered hell. You’ll see flourishes of those themes in all kinds of movies, including last year’s “The First Omen” and “Alien: Romulus.” But movies like “The Substance” and Marielle Heller’s “Nightbitch” — starring Amy Adams as a young mom who shape-shifts into a dog — make a meal of them for their movie’s entire duration.

Quick LinksWhat Is Nightbitch About?How Nightbitch Does Wolf Man's Big Theme Better

The following contains spoilers for Wolf Man and Nightbitch, now playing in theaters.

In the 2020s, creature features and monster shows are back in full swing. Hollywood has been churning out vampire properties such as Robert Eggers' Nosterfatu and TV series like Interview with the Vampire. However, werewolves are getting a fair crack at the whip, with Eggers even making a werewolf movie soon.

The Underworld franchise has also used werewolves, as has shows like Wolf Like Me. Of course, fans always gravitate to the Universal Pictures classic: The Wolf Man. The movie has been updated once more with Leigh Whannell's Wolf Man, which focuses more on the cerebral aspect of becoming a beast than the actual feral rampage. Interestingly, for fans who do like what Whannell has done in his remake, there is one psychological...

Many films, from the classic melodrama Mildred Pierce to last year’s playful dramedy Nightbitch, have tried to depict the unique struggles of motherhood with a focus on the special intimacy of child-rearing. Mothers have long borne the brunt and most of the blame for how their children behave in the world. Fatherhood is considered more optional, and the bar to clear for being good at it is much lower. These may seem like obvious statements, but they bear repeating in an American society that villainizes birth control and abortion. America wants women to bear children and then provide them with none of the emotional or monetary support for them to thrive and have their own personal lives. In recent years, filmmakers have tried to illustrate the darker side of motherhood, with films like Tully getting at the exhaustion and loss of self that can happen therein. In the aforementioned Nightbitch,...

While we wait for Orphan 3, which was officially announced last November, franchise star Isabelle Fuhrman has set up her next project. Fuhrman will star in the thriller Die by Night.

Variety details this afternoon that Ben Hardy and Scoot McNairy will also star in the dystopian movie.

The outlet also reports, “The feature is being launched by Protagonist Pictures ahead of the upcoming EFM in Berlin. Protagonist is handling international sales while UTA Independent Film Group is representing North American rights.”

Die by Night is set over the course of one night in a world where “the only way to survive to see a new day is to trust each other and stay in the light until you make it to The Wall.”

Creatures known as The Horde hunt down surviving humans in the dark in the film’s post-apocalyptic world, where long stretches of darkness plunge the world into chaos.

Plot: After the sudden death of his wife, a grieving father (Benedict Cumberbatch) starts to believe that a giant black crow is menacing him and his two sons.

Review: The Thing With Feathers offers star Benedict Cumberbatch yet another impressive showcase, with him riveting as a father collapsing under the weight of uncontrollable grief. It’s his first major film since The Power of the Dog. It’s a heavy watch but is an interesting counterpoint to recent mother-focused parental dramas such as Nightbitch and If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You (which I also saw at this year’s Sundance), as it tackles the weight of parenthood from the father’s perspective, and also uses a surreal twist. While Cumberbatch’s unnamed father never thinks he’s turning into a dog, like Amy Adams in Nightbitch, he does start to believe he’s being haunted by a giant,...

Plot: With her husband away for work, a working mother (Rose Byrne) whose daughter suffers from a chronic illness finds her sanity hanging by a thread.

Review: While it’s not a horror movie, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is the scariest movie playing at Sundance this year. A depiction of how motherhood can occasionally seem oppressive, this is the pitch-black nightmare version of the ultimately reassuring Nightbitch. Written and directed by Mary Bronstein, this intense, grim, but also darkly humorous film will likely be a controversial release for A24, with it playing out like a descent into madness that offers no reassuring moments of catharsis.

Rose Byrne gives a tour-de-force performance as Linda. Despite working as a therapist, her sanity is hanging by a thread, with her husband (Christian Slater) in the Navy and away for an eight-week deployment, which has left her juggling a myriad of weighty responsibilities.

The star of Sundance’s annual gala in 2025 was not newly-minted Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo, or Oscar winner Olivia Colman, or even Sara Bareilles, who earned a standing ovation for a brief performance to close out the evening. Instead it was Michelle Satter, whose name the general public may not know but was beloved in the room at the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley in Park City.

Satter is the Founding Senior Director of Artist Programs for the Sundance Institute. She has been with the non-profit since quite literally the very beginning. In her speech at the honorees dinner, Satter recalled getting five minutes of Robert Redford’s time and working up the courage to tell him that he needed her to open a Los Angeles office for the Sundance Institute.

His response? “Sure. Call me when you get there.” The rest is history.

Satter launched the Filmmakers Lab for the...

Sundance film festival: The often under-utilised actor gives a monumental performance as a mother on the edge in an exhausting spiral of a movie

Last year’s toothless adaptation of Rachel Yoder’s Nightbitch, premiering then disappearing during fall festivals, tried to bring attention to the specific hell of motherhood. But valid points were clumsily underlined, highlighted and circled by a heavy hand, a missed opportunity that’s now been pushed even further in the shade by Mary Bronstein’s superior Sundance offering, the suitably aggressive-sounding If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.

It’s a far darker film (A24 vs Disney) but it focuses on a similarly fatigued mother, exhausted not just by the act of childcare but by the total lack of awareness and assistance afforded by those in her life. She’s played here by Rose Byrne, someone who has long deserved something more substantial to sink her teeth into,...

Most folks seek escapism when going to the movies, while others get off on seeing other people’s anxiety, drawing either catharsis or comedy from the idea that someone else has it worse. Sporting a poisoned-fortune-cookie title like “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” there can be little question as to which category best describes Mary Bronstein’s stress-fueled second feature. With her husband away and her daughter hooked up to a constantly beeping medical device, exasperated Linda (Rose Byrne) may be going out of her mind, but Bronstein puts us squarely inside it, as the walls close in, the ceiling collapses and the floor buckles beneath her.

An A24 release forged in much the same mold as “Good Time” or “Uncut Gems” (which Bronstein’s partner Ronnie co-wrote), the Safdie-esque — but refreshingly female-centered — indie movie could be “Mommy No-Legs” to those guys’ crazy-making “Daddy Longlegs”: a...

Park City – You may be dealing with a lot of stress in your life, I mean, who isn’t? But it’s highly unlikely anyone in your vicinity is experiencing the cascade of anxiety Linda (Rose Byrne) endures in Mary Bornstein’s long-awaited second feature, “If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You.” A world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, this A24 release makes, Marianne Heller’s “Nightbitch,” a contemporary film with similar themes, seem as tame as an episode of “Sesame Street.” That’s quite an accomplishment.

Continue reading ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’ Review: Rose Byrne Is A Mother On The Verge [Sundance] at The Playlist.

Ever since Disney’s streaming strategy has changed to add mature content to its platform, the viewership data has become consistently fascinating. As the entertainment giant adds more content to its platform — and given there's a clear distinction between kids' and adult profiles on Disney+ — R-rated content is getting more and more traction. At the start of the year, titles like Night Bitch, the John Wick franchise, and Deadpool and Wolverine dominated the charts, reflecting fans’ interest in mature content.

The second iteration of The Inclusion List from Dr. Stacy L. Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative has identified the 150 most inclusive films from 2019 to 2023, adding to its initial class of 100 films by naming 50 new titles for the year 2023.

Four films from that year have made it into the Top 10 Most Inclusive Films for that timespan, according to the study released Wednesday, with A Thousand and One taking the No. 2 spot overall, Bottoms coming in seventh, The Color Purple ninth and The Blackening in 10th.

The list’s point system took into account talent both in front of and behind the camera, with a total of 20 points broken down into 10-point halves for both on-screen and off-screen inclusion. Two distinct processes were used, one for leads/co-leads and the other for all speaking characters. A film could earn up to 10 points for on-screen inclusion based on the five inclusion indicators across leads/co leads (up to 5 points) and all speaking characters (up to 5 points).

A Thousand and One ranks second with a score of 13.6/20, while Bottoms scores a 12.2/20. The Color Purple and The Blackening are tied with a score of 11.8/20. The highest scoring film on the list remains Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Woman King (2022) with a 15/20.

The list also evaluated 2023 films displaying the best inclusivity across five categories: gender, race/ethnicity, LGBTQ+, disability, and age. It named five of the most inclusive 2023 films within each of those categories.

The 2023 films that scored the highest for the gender indicator of inclusion were A Thousand and One, You Hurt My Feelings, The Marvels, Priscilla and Barbie. A Thousand and One also scored high on the race/ethnicity list alongside 2023’s Joy Ride, The Color Purple, The Blackening and House Party. In the LGBTQ+ category, the top five films of 2023 were All of Us Strangers, Theater Camp, Bottoms, Knock at the Cabin and Saltburn. 2023 releases ranking high in the disability category included What Happens Later, John Wick: Chapter 4, Moving On, Golda and The Holdovers. Films from 2023 that scored highest in their representation of age on the big screen were Moving On, Book Club: The Next Chapter, Marlowe, The Miracle Club and Golda.

Researchers also took into consideration the race and ethnicity of crew members in the roles of director, writer, producer, cinematographer, editor, composer, production designer, costume designer, casting director and assistant director.

The second Inclusion List also names 25 top achievers across inclusion metrics and 50 new winners for 2023 cinema. Released Jan. 22, the results calls attention to directors, editors and distributors involved in projects with the highest percentage of women and people of color employees who aided in the process of production from start to finish line.

Related: Women-Led Films Fell Close To 30% In 2023, Near A 10-Year Low, Per Study

Out of 400 evaluated directors, five were named the most inclusive: Catherine Hardwicke, Olivia Wilde, Destin Daniel Cretton, Reinaldo Marcus Green and Kasi Lemmons.

Eight editors were noted for their work in film over the past five years, including Annette Davey, Anne McCabe, Blair McClendon, Catrin Hedström, Hilda Rasula, Harry Yoon, Mary Jo Markey.

Related: Hispanics & Latinos Still Invisible In Hollywood, A Trend Across 16 Years, New Study Reveals

The top distributors — companies responsible for bringing top-ranking diverse films to audiences — were listed by the quantity of how many films released: Universal (29), Sony Pictures (21), Warner Bros (18) and, for smaller distributors, A24 (14), MGM (10) and Bleecker Street (9).

A panel discussing the results featuring Smith, Sumi Parekh, Executive Director, Group Effort Initiative, Tracy Oliver, Screenwriter, Director, Producer and Showrunner, Jesse Williams, Actor, Director, Activist, Dewayne Perkins, Writer, Actor, Producer, and Amy White, Global Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, Adobe, is set for Friday at Adobe House on the ground at the Sundance Film Festival.

Netflix's new World War II movie has become a big streaming hit shortly after its release in 2025. Since the 2020s, the streaming service has produced and distributed several original World War II movies. Operation Mincemeat (2021), starring Colin Firth, recounts a real British deception operation that misled Nazi Germany about the Allied invasion plans. Munich: The Edge of War (2022), starring 1917's George MacKay, reimagines Neville Chamberlain's appeasement efforts through the lens of a fictional spy thriller.

Other Netflix original movies have explored the human cost of war, most prominently 2022's German-language All Quiet on the Western Front, though set during World War I, shares many similar themes with World War II movies, portraying the brutal realities of combat. Netflix's The Forgotten Battle (2020) also highlights the pivotal Battle of the Scheldt during World War II, offering multiple perspectives from the Dutch, German, and Allied soldiers. More recently, Tyler Perry's The Six Triple Eight,...

This article contains mention of sexual assault.

There are plenty of exciting young voices on the independent film scene. From Sean Baker breaking through to the mainstream this past year with Anora to Barry Jenkins shedding his indie roots and trying his hand at the live-action sequel to The Lion King (2019), Mufasa: The Lion King. Filmmakers waver in and out of the independent sphere as they get their breakthrough film, but those with humble beginnings mostly tend to make their grand return back home. Some directors, however, leave the grit and grind of the indies by the wayside and set their sights higher and higher as zeros get added to their paycheck, and it's perfectly understandable why one would do that. It's important not to forget these filmmakers' earliest efforts because if audiences forget them, then the filmmakers will as well. One exciting voice, in particular, has managed to keep...

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has unveiled its nominees for the 2025 WGA Awards, highlighting a mix of familiar Oscar frontrunners, unexpected entries, and the creative reshuffling prompted by ineligible contenders.

Sean Baker’s critically acclaimed “Anora” is leading the original screenplay list, which many consider the Oscar frontrunner in this category. Another strong contender is Jesse Eisenberg’s “A Real Pain,” a personal, semi-autobiographical drama that has been a critical favorite this season.

The inclusion of Justin Kuritzkes’ “Challengers” — a romantic sports drama starring Zendaya — is significant. After its high-profile shutout at the BAFTA Awards, this nomination could rejuvenate its awards season momentum. Adding variety to the category is Alex Garland’s bold post-apocalyptic thriller, “Civil War,” and Megan Park’s sweet yet irreverent comedy, “My Old Ass.” Park, who won praise for her directorial debut “The Fallout,” is also a DGA nominee for first-time director.

The adapted screenplay...

In 2024, Amy Adams appeared in the movie Nightbitch, and although the critical ratings are somewhat divisive, there's a chance that this film could win Adams her very first Oscar. Based on a novel of the same name by Rachel Yoder, Nightbitch follows an unnamed protagonist simply known as Mother. After abandoning her art career to care for her toddler, Mother begins to feel restricted, and as a result, starts to notice strange changes in her body. More specifically, Mother starts to believe that she and other mothers are turning into dogs.

Adams has enjoyed an outstanding career over the course of several decades, and arguably, her somewhat odd role in Nightbitch is not a huge surprise. Adams has proven her incredible versatility, from portraying a naive Disney princess in Enchanted to a conniving liar in American Hustle. Adams is not afraid to act in unique worlds or take on heavy characters.

Netflix's controversial crime movie, which has a 48% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, has become a streaming hit after winning four Golden Globes. Now that the calendar has turned, 2024 was another mixed year for Netflix movies. The streaming service regularly produces original films – such as Trigger Warning, Atlas, A Family Affair, and The Union – that are panned by critics but still watched by subscribers. However, Netflix did manage to produce a few standout movies in 2024 that garnered critical acclaim and have been contenders this awards season, including at the Golden Globes.

Netflix's black-comedy crime movie, Richard Linklater's Hit Man, featured a charismatic performance from Glen Powell, who earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. Pablo Larraín's latest biopic, Netflix's Maria, starred Angelina Jolie as the eponymous opera singer, who earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama.

The Oscars 2025 race for Best Actress is positioned to be highly competitive as former winners, nominees, and first-time hopefuls compete for the five available nominations. Following the tight race in 2024 that ended with a surprise as Emma Stone beat presumed winner, Lily Gladstone, the next crop of contenders for Best Actress in 2025 is just as tight. The category for rewarding the best lead performance by an actress is likely to have some crossover with the 2025 Oscars Best Picture nominees, even if male-centric films dominate the potential field.

That could put the Best Actress nominees in a starkly different position than the 2025 Oscars Best Actor nominations. Several actresses in contention currently have leading roles in movies predicted to be outside the Best Picture lineup, even if they are ultimately recognized elsewhere among all Oscars 2025 nominations. Category jockeying is even at play, with two former Oscar winners from the same film confirmed...

The new year has brought with it another streaming service announcing it will be raising prices. Per The Wrap, Discovery+ is increasing the price of its ad-supported tier as well as its ad-free tier by $1 each. That brings the ad-supported tier price to $5.99 per month and its ad-free version to $9.99 monthly. New subscribers will see the price hike effective immediately and existing subscribers have received 30 days' notice that the price increase will start on their next bill, on or after Feb. 7.

In October 2023, Discovery+ increased its ad-free tier from $6.99 a month to $8.99. The $1 increase for the ad-supported version is the first increase for that plan since the streamer launched in 2021.

Discovery+ includes content from a variety of cable channels, including the Food Network, ID, HGTV, TLC, Discovery Channel, and more. Shows like 90 Day: The Last Resort, Moonshiners, Gold Rush, Evil Lives Here, Hometown, My 600-lb Life, and Worst Cooks...

Exclusive: Bond Group Entertainment, Linden Productions, 51 Entertainment and Seaview have acquired rights to Eliza Kennedy’s Lucky Night ahead of its anticipated March 25, 2025 sale date from Crown Publishing Group. Kennedy will adopt the novel as an original play.

Lucky Night is centered on Nick Holloway and Jenny Parrish, who will finally spend their first night together after maintaining an ongoing six-year affair. Expectations are running high for this brief reprieve from ordinary life, where they both need a good bout of ravishing sex and witty conversation. But of course, that’s not what they get. As they barely get settled in a new luxury Manhattan hotel, a smoke alarm goes off. The reality of their situation becomes apparent, and all their secrets, evasions and regrets come spilling out. Stripped of their defenses, Nick and Jenny are forced to be honest — with each other and themselves— about what they want,...

By all accounts, Nikki Glaser did a bang up job hosting the 82nd annual Golden Globes on Sunday night. The comedian's trademark quick wit and acid tongue were on full display, of course, but Glaser managed to both celebrate and poke fun at the movie industry at the same time - something certain previous hosts haven't been able to do. All her jokes landed, and it seems a good time was had by all. But Glaser is also a perfectionist when it comes to her work, and the next morning after hosting, she told Howard Stern (via The Hollywood Reporter) there was one particular joke she actually flubbed, just a little. The punchline in question: her crack about Ben Affleck's coital utterances.

On stage, Glaser said, "Wicked, Queer, Nightbitch - these are not just words Ben Affleck yells after he orgasms. These are some of the incredible movies nominated tonight.

Gold Derby’s top news stories for Jan. 6, 2025. A Real Pain comes to Hulu

One day after winning a Golden Globe, Searchlight Pictures’ A Real Pain now has a real plan for streaming. The dramedy film from writer-director-producer-actor Jesse Eisenberg, which won the Globe for supporting player Kieran Culkin, is coming to Hulu on Thursday, Jan. 16. Hulu and Searchlight — formerly Fox Searchlight — are both owned by Disney, so Hulu has become the home of a number of Searchlight titles, also including Poor Things, Kinds of Kindness, and Nightbitch.

A Real Pain made its first splash at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, where Eisenberg won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. Since being picked up by Searchlight and released to general audiences in November, the film has been named one of the top 10 films of the year by the American Film Institute and received a long string of plaudits for Culkin. In addition to the Globe,...

Nikki Glaser has been widely praised for her turn as host of the 2025 Golden Globes on Sunday night, during which she roasted the celebrities in attendance without crossing the line. During a morning-after appearance on The Howard Stern Show, our 2024 Comedian of the Year revealed some of the jokes that were left on the cutting room floor.

Ranging from a second Diddy joke to a Hitler mention to a dig at Alec Baldwin, Glaser shared the pitches for jokes that she knew she couldn’t say on CBS and so they were earmarked for the “Stern file.”

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One of the jokes, “This is the last time all of you will be in the same room together until the Diddy trial,” was cut in favor of another Diddy mention because they decided there could only be one.

Another would have built on her joke about “two-time...

Nightbitch's cast extends boasts some impressive talent opposite Amy Adams' commanding performance. Nightbitch is a black comedy riff on a classic creature feature, combining the themes of films like An American Werewolf in London with an exploration of motherhood. The film centers around Amy Adams' nameless Mother, who finds herself increasingly frustrated by her domestic life as a mother and wife above all else. Mother finds new freedom in the evenings however, especially as she steadily seems to begin transforming into a dog.

Although the overall film received mixed reviews from critics, Amy Adams' Nightbitch has become a streaming success on Hulu. While the film is anchored by Amy Adams' impressive central performance, the movie also features a strong supporting cast who bring out different shades of the lead character. The stars of Nightbitch range from veterans of the silver screen to modern character actors, all in service of...

Wow! The first big award show of the year has come and gone just like that. On Jan. 5, the 82nd Golden Globe Awards aired live on CBS, and this year’s ceremony was definitely one for the books. Stand-up comedian Nikki Glaser took over hosting duties from last year's Jo Koy, and she had the audience laughing nonstop.

Actors, directors, writers, producers, and others who had been nominated in various categories arrived at the award ceremony dressed to impress, eager to see if they would take home any wins. Now that the glamorous occasion has concluded and all of the 2025 Golden Globe winners have been announced, we thought we would round up the full list of the amazing individuals and projects that claimed an award this year. Check out our list below!

Best Motion Picture, DramaNominees: The Brutalist, A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Dune: Part Two, Nickel Boys and September 5Winner: The BrutalistBest Motion Picture,...

Hosting an awards show can be a thankless gig. Yet critics agree Nikki Glaser crushed her first time hosting the 2025 Golden Globes on Sunday night.

The comedian deftly walked the line between mocking and celebrating the entertainment industry and overall seemed genuinely happy to be on the Beverly Hilton stage. Yet Glaser, who’s rather perfectionistic about her craft, has some next-day gripes about her own performance and is now revealing some of the harsh jokes she cut from her monologue — which range from quips about Alec Baldwin to Nicole Kidman to a Hitler reference.

Talking to Howard Stern for his SiriusXM show on Monday morning, Glaser performed several jokes that would have almost certainly gone over well with most audiences, if not some of the people in the room.

“This is the last time all of you will be the same room together until the Diddy trial,” was one of the jokes.

Nikki Glaser hosted the 2025 Golden Globes and has been praised for her opening monologue that took a soft approach to her often savage roast jokes.

Glaser seemingly restrained herself from going too hard on the Hollywood celebrities in the ballroom on Sunday night and left some jokes on the cutting room floor.

The standup comedian went on SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show on Monday, January 6, and read jokes from the “Stern file,” or jokes that she cut from the main broadcast.

“The Golden Globes is the only show where you can see the biggest stars and movies and television joined together with the same goal — getting out of here tonight before Dax Shepard asked them to do his podcast,” Glaser read. “This is the last time all of you will be in the same room together until the Diddy trial.”

Glaser explained that this Diddy joke didn’t make...