Notícias

Joanna Scanlan won best actress at this year’s Baftas for the film.

UK-based Vertigo Releasing has acquired North American rights to Aleem Khan’s Bafta-winning After Love and will release the film via a distribution partner in cinemas across North America from summer 2022.

The distributor has previously handled the streaming-led North American releases of films including Sam Kelly’s Savage and Thomas Clay’s Fanny Lye Deliver’d. It is also releasing Saeed Roustaee’s Iranian thriller Just 6.5 in North America on approximately 15 screens in July. After Love is expected to be a wider release still.

“We work...

Actor Jake Ryan stars in writer-director: Sam Kelly’s crime drama, ‘Savage.’ The most demanding, stressful situations that happen to people in their childhoods and adolescence often leave the most influential, prolific effect on the rest of their lives. Actor Jake Ryan and writer-director Sam Kelly, who both worked hard honing their respective crafts in school […]

The post Exclusive: Jake Ryan and Sam Kelly Video Interview and Clip For Savage appeared first on Shockya.com.

One can get the impression that in recent years gangster cinema has been experiencing a kind of renaissance, or at least an increase in the interest of creators. The bloody gangster pulp, familiar from the 1980s and 1990s has been replaced cinema more reminiscent of the 1930s gangster pictures – portraits of a gangster as an ambiguous man, torn by doubts and the weight of his actions and, above all, sentiment. The turning point for this new outlook would be Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman from 2019, a kind of sentimental journey of settling accounts with the character model – a ruthless gangster. Sam Kelly is taking a similar path in his Savage.

The New Zealand director bases his sentimental journey on a broadly drawn socio- economic background and a portrait of New Zealand gangs over the course of 30 years – from the 1960s...

Sam Kelly’s crime drama Savage, releasing in the US on January 29th. Starring Jake Ryan, John Tui, Chelsie Preston Crayford, and Seth Flynn, Savage follows Danny at three defining moments in his life as he grows from a boy into the violent enforcer of a gang. Release Date: January 29, 2021 Distribution Company: Quiver Distribution …

The post Crime drama Savage debuts US trailer & January release date appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.

‘Dirt Music.’

The launches last weekend of Gregor Jordan’s Dirt Music and Alister Grierson’s Bloody Hell underline the challenges facing independent films in a theatrical market that is severely weakened by the Victorian shutdown, limits on seating capacity and the absence of Hollywood tentpoles.

Universal mounted a substantial marketing campaign for Jordan’s romantic drama based on the Tim Winton novel, while Grierson’s dark comedic thriller opened on 50 screens across the Event Cinemas, Birch Carroll & Coyle and Greater Union circuits.

Starring Kelly Macdonald, Garrett Hedlund and David Wenham, Dirt Music grossed $188,000 on 201 screens and $300,000 including previews, more than a year after its world premiere in Toronto.

Exhibitors were disappointed. “I would definitely have expected more from a high profile Aussie film based on a best seller,” Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace Gm Alex Temesvari tells If.

Majestic Cinemas’ CEO Kieren Dell says: “Dirt Music has been struggling; I...

This touching character study of a live-wire gang member has a bruising moral weight and pulsing vulnerability

A pulse of vulnerability beats at the heart of Sam Kelly’s outwardly imposing but unexpectedly touching debut feature. Across three decades, it charts the punk’s progress of young New Zealander Danny into copiously tattooed street-gang life. After being sent to borstal in the 1960s for stealing food and brutalised there, he befriends a Tongan New Zealander boy called Moses. The two later form a gang, the Savages – named to nihilistically expose society’s true core – but torn by his loyalty to his birth family, Danny’s position is never secure. By the 80s, Danny has become “Damage”, a hulking, live-wire enforcer who wears his allegiances on his face in a bluish nose guard of gang-crest ink.

Kelly occasionally gives in to the odd crime-drama mannerism, like the Savages swaggering out, Reservoir Dogs-style,...

Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” suffered a precipitous 60% decline, but stayed on top of the U.K. and Ireland box-office in its second week.

The Warner Bros. release collected £2,151,490 from 613 locations and has now amassed £10,006,540 in the territory, according to final numbers released by Comscore.

Disney’s “X-Men” universe film “The New Mutants” collected £686,407 from 538 sites on debut.

Disney holdover “Onward” declined 27%, collecting £135,669 from 456 locations, and now has a total of £6,942,823.

Altitude Film Distribution’s “Unhinged,” starring Russell Crowe, declined 14% to collect £97,221 from 351 sites and has now grossed £1,436,244 in six weeks of release.

Rounding off the top five is Vertigo U.K.’s “100% Wolf,” which declined 31% to record £96,970 from 455 locations in its sixth week of release. The film has now collected £1,026,699.

Shear Entertainment’s young adult romance “After We Collided” debuted at sixth position with £65,797 from a limited 22 site release.

Ladj Ly’s Oscar-nominee and Cannes-winner “Les Miserables,” from Altitude,...

Vertigo releasing has launched a new trailer for Sam Kelly’s ‘Savage’ starring Jake Ryan.

Inspired by the true stories of New Zealand’s street gangs across 30 years, Savage retraces the footsteps of one of its founding members at three different critical moments in his life. Torn between his biological family and the gang he now calls his own, Danny has to make a choice.

Written and directed by Sam Kelly, the film stars Jake Ryan, John Tui (Solo: A Star Wars Story), Chelsie Preston Crayford (What We Do In The Shadows).

Also in trailers – Letitia Wright stars in first look trailer for Steve McQueen’s ‘Small Axe’

The film hits cinemas September 4th

The post New trailer drops for ‘Savage’ appeared first on HeyUGuys.

"Everyone should see who you are!" Madman Films has released the first official trailer for a New Zealand drama titled Savage, which premiered at the London Film Festival last year. Inspired by the true stories of New Zealand's street gangs across 30 years, Savage follows Danny at three defining moments in his life as he grows from a boy into the violent enforcer of a gang in New Zealand. "Danny and Moses, who were both raised on the streets, shuffled through New Zealand's juvenile justice system, and ultimately became high-ranking members of an infamous Maori street gang -- despite the fact that Danny is white." Starring Jake Ryan as Danny, and John Tui as Moses, along with Chelsie Preston Crayford and Olly Presling. This looks like one hell of a film. Not a story I was expecting to see, but I dig it - some solid footage in this trailer. Here's...

Jeff Goldblum will voice the lead in ’They Shot The Piano Player’, about the birth of Bossa Nova

London-based production, finance and sales company Film Constellation has come on board to finance the new musical animation feature They Shot The Piano Player from Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal, Oscar nominees in 2012 for Chico & Rita.

Jeff Goldblum is attached to voice the lead character, a New York music journalist on a quest to uncover the truth behind the disappearance of young Brazilian piano virtuoso Tenorio Jr.

The film tells the story of the emergence of Bossa Nova in Brazil, at...

Sony has acquired international rights to Annie Silverstein’s featured debut “Bull” which world premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section and went on to win three awards at Deauville.

The deal with Sony was negotiated by London-based Constellation Film which represents the film in international markets. Samuel Goldwyn acquired U.S. rights to the movie from 30West.

A portrait of a rebellious teenage girl from South Texas, “Bull” marks Silverstein’s follow up to her short “Skunk” which won Cannes’s Cinéfondation prize in 2014. The movie follows the relationship between a troubled adolescent from West of Houston whose mother is in jail and an ageing African American bullfighter.

The film was written by Silverstein and Johnny McAllister. Producers are Monique Walton, Bert Marcus, HeatherRae, Ryan Zacarias, and Audrey Rosenberg, while the executive producers are Cassandra Thornton, Johnny McAllister and Jess Jacobs. Bert Marcus Film...

Werner Herzog’s ’Family Romance LLC’, his first Japanese-language film, is to be released in the UK by Modern Films.

London-based production, finance and sales outfit Film Constellation has secured UK deals on three of its titles screening at this year’s BFI London Film Festival.

Firstly, German auteur Werner Herzog’s Family Romance LLC, his first Japanese-language film, is to be released in the UK by Modern Films. The film premiered as a special screening at Cannes.

Rashaad Ernesto Green’s second feature, Premature, which premiered at Sundance, will be distributed by Signature Entertainment. It stars Zora Howard, who also co-wrote the script.

“Stardust,” the drama about David Bowie’s early days, has scored a raft of key pre-sales for London-based Film Constellation.

The movie, written by Christopher Bell, charts the moments that inspired Bowie to create his alter-ego Ziggy Stardust. It follows the singer, played by British actor-musician Johnny Flynn, as he embarks on his first road trip to America in 1971. Marc Maron (“Joker”) co-stars as publicist Ron Oberman, who worked for Bowie’s label, Mercury Records, on the tour. Jena Malone also stars.

“Stardust” is directed by Gabriel Range and produced by Salon Pictures and Wildling Pictures.

Since unveiling the movie at the European Film Market in Berlin earlier this year, Film Constellation has sold it to Elevation Pictures (Canada), Nfp, Icon (Australia/New Zealand), Culture Entertainment Co. (Japan), Falcon (Middle East), Russian World Vision (Cis/Baltics), Outsider (Portugal), Noori Pictures (Hong Kong/Taiwan), PVR (India) and Captive Entertainment (Airlines). Film Constellation...

Kiwi gang picture “Savage” has been sold to The Jokers for France and Falcon Films in the Middle East. The deals are the first for the film, which follows one man’s journey through New Zealand’s street gangs over several decades. Film Constellation is expecting further sales at the Efm in Berlin.

Inspired by true stories of New Zealand’s street gangs, the film stars Jake Ryan as Danny, who is pushed and pulled between his family and the gang. John Tui and Chelsie Preston Crayford also star.

Sam Kelly wrote and directed “Savage,” his first feature. It was shot on location in New Zealand late last year and is currently in post-production. Film Constellation came on board the project at script stage and is handling worldwide sales. Madman will be distributing in New Zealand and Australia.

The movie was financed by the New Zealand Film Commission with the support of Avalon Studio Productions,...

Australian actor Jake Ryan has skipped across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand for this exclusive first look from Sam Kelly’s directorial debut Savage.

The drama — inspired by the true stories of the country’s street gangs and their founding members — is among Film Constellation’s Afm lineup.

Production has now wrapped on the film, starring Ryan (The Great Gatsby, Wolf Creek), John Tui (Solo: A Star Wars Story, Battleship) and Chelsie Preston Crayford (Beyond the Known World, What We Do in the Shadows).

Written and directed by Kelly (Lambs, Darlene), Savage follows the story of Danny at three critical moments ...

Australian actor Jake Ryan has skipped across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand for this exclusive first look from Sam Kelly’s directorial debut Savage.

The drama — inspired by the true stories of the country’s street gangs and their founding members — is among Film Constellation’s Afm lineup.

Production has now wrapped on the film, starring Ryan (The Great Gatsby, Wolf Creek), John Tui (Solo: A Star Wars Story, Battleship) and Chelsie Preston Crayford (Beyond the Known World, What We Do in the Shadows).

Written and directed by Kelly (Lambs, Darlene), Savage follows the story of Danny at three critical moments ...

London-based sales and financing house Film Constellation has sold North American rights for Annabel Jankel’s “Tell It to the Bees,” which stars Anna Paquin and Holliday Grainger, to Good Deed Entertainment.

Good Deed, which is aiming for a spring theatrical release, has partnered with FilmRise on streaming and linear rights for the film.

The period drama, which received its world premiere as a special presentation at the Toronto Film Festival, is based on Fiona Shaw’s novel of the same name. It follows Dr. Jean Markham (Paquin) as she returns to the town she left as a teenager. A school-yard scuffle lands Charlie (Gregor Selkirk) in her medical practice, and this brings his mother Lydia (Grainger) into the doctor’s world. The two women are drawn to one another but in 1950s small-town Britain, their secret can’t stay hidden forever.

Other movies on Film Constellation’s Afm slate...

Modern Films boards Berlin premiere.

John McEnroe: In The Realm Of Perfection, the feature documentary that premiered in Berlin and also played the BFI London Film Festival, has been picked up for UK distribution.

Sales agent Film Constellation has struck a deal with Eve Gabereau’s Modern Films – the latter is planning to release the film around the Wimbledon tennis tournament in 2019.

Director Julien Faraut’s experimental film documents tennis legend John McEnroe’s performance at the 1984 French Open, when he was no.1 in the world, and is narrated by Mathieu Amalric. It premiered in Berlin’s Forum strand...

Inspired by real-life stories of New Zealand’s fearsome street gangs of the 60s, 70s, and 80s, shooting has started on “Savage,” and the sales effort is getting underway in Toronto. Jake Ryan (“The Great Gatsby”), John Tui (“Solo: A Star Wars Story”), and Chelsie Preston Crayford (“What We Do in the Shadows”) are starring in the movie, which is helmed by Sam Kelly.

It tells the story of Danny at three different ages and critical moments in his life, which push and pull him towards and away from gang life. Each of the chapters is set at a defining moment in New Zealand’s gang culture, from their emergence to them becoming more organized and focused on crime. It is being shot on location in New Zealand.

“I want to depict flawed but real characters, to find what I call the ‘sharp edge’: where it feels raw, charged and bold,...

MaryAnn’s quick take… As harshly beautiful as its landscape, this is a stark corrective to the American western it echoes, and a pragmatic confrontation with the deep, tenacious roots of modern racism. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto) women’s participation in this film

(learn more about this)

Australia’s Northern Territory in the 1920s is “sweet country,” drools Sergeant Fletcher, “cattle country.” But it’s not his country to do anything with, and this is not his story, except as the villain… or, rather, as a personification and representation of the villainy of colonialism and racism.

As the title of the story of Sam Kelly (Hamilton Morris), Sweet Country is ironic at best: it’s no longer sweet for him, and its sweetness is what has enticed his invaders. Sam is an Aboriginal...

The vast, open landscape of the Australia outback so closely resembles the Old West that it’s a wonder there aren’t more Australian westerns. “Sweet Country,” Warwick Thortnon’s hypnotic sophomore effort, makes up for missed time. This gorgeous, sprawling tale of early 20th century desert survival and racist villains packs the brutal punch of Sam Peckinpah, but folds the majestic vistas and gunplay into a disquieting statement on persecution with echoes of “12 Years a Slave.” Thortnon’s leisurely approach applies the Dirty Dozen formula to a historic tragedy, and the uncompromising narrative doesn’t always resolve the tension between those two ingredients, but it’s nevertheless a remarkable elevation of the Western trope to poetic heights.

Set in 1929, “Sweet Country” unfolds across the desolation of Alice Springs, a sweaty, red-tinted region of the Eastern Arrente Nation, which may as well be Mars. Aborigine in the Northern region...

Author: Daniel Goodwin

In his incredible forty year career, legendary Northern Ireland and New Zealand raised actor Sam Neill has starred in a multitude of both mainstream movies and independent films, spanning continents, characters, genres and budget sizes. His latest film, Sweet Country, is an Australian frontier drama inspired by true events that embraces traits from the Western genre.

Australian native Warwick Thornton adapts Steven McGregor and David Tranter’s screenplay which tells the tale of Aboriginal farmhand Sam Kelly (Hamilton Morris), who accidentally kills an irate white bigot tormenting his family. Kelly goes on the run from law enforcement which takes the shape of the affable Sergeant Fletcher (Bryan Brown), accompanied by his Good Samaritan employer Fred Smith (Neill) who wishes to guide Kelly home to safety.

Before Sweet Country, Neill featured in critically acclaimed commercial thrillers (Dead Calm, The Hunt For Red October), prestige dramas (A Cry in the Dark,...

Warwick Thornton's Sweet Country opens with Sam Neill's preacher Fred Smith sharing a meal with his Aboriginal farmhands Sam and Lizzie Kelly (exceptional newcomers Hamilton Morris and Natassia Gorey-Furber). "We're all equal in the eyes of the Lord," the preacher sermonizes as he says grace with the couple. This scene serves as a fitting yet ironic prelude to this slow-burning tale on the volatile race relations in 1929 Australia. Rife within these lands are normalized racial tension and double standards, evident in how white outlaws are cheered upon and mythologized on-screen while an indigenous man guilty of only shooting someone in self-defense is clamored to be hung under the rule of law. Based on real accounts, Sweet Country tells the story of Aboriginal stockman Sam Kelly who finds himself on the...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

At the very end of Sweet Country, director Warwick Thornton’s stunning, somber outback western, an emotionally devastated cattle rancher played by the great Sam Neill offers two questions to the clouds: “What chance have we got? What chance has this country got?” It’s the sorrowful capper to a powerfully upsetting film. And it’s entirely fitting. Sweet Country is many things — a stark western, a gripping chase story, a tale of slavery and self-defense, and a searing drama in which the stakes are horrifically high.

Set in Australia’s Northern Territory in the late 1920s, the film is anchored by Hamilton Morris, a non-professional actor who gives a simple, tremendously engaging performance. Morris plays Sam Kelly, an aboriginal stockman who works for Neill’s Fred Smith. The latter is a vocal Christian and one of the few onscreen whites who does not openly discriminate. Thus he is the...

It’s been a weekend full of reviews from the Toronto International Film Festival, and along with the premieres, it means producers or (if the film is lucky enough) distributors releasing the first look at footage in an attempt to drum up interest and stand out of the pack of hundreds of others at the festival. Well, it seems to have done the trick as we’re posting a round-up today.

First up, we have the first trailer for Let the Corpses Tan, the latest film from Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, the duo behind Amer and The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears. We reviewed it here, and the preview displays some of the visual inventiveness at play. Along with that, there are previews for three other anticipated projects, including the Netflix documentary One of Us, arriving on the platform on October, as well as a pair of...

Sam Kelly, a British actor whose career in television, theater and film spanned four decades, died Saturday. He was 70.  Kelly "died peacefully on Saturday morning after a long illness bravely fought," his manager, Lynda Ronan, confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.  Photos: Notable Deaths of 2014 The actor is remembered for his role on the 1980's British World War II sitcom 'Allo 'Allo, in which he played German Captain Hans Geering. He also was featured in the 1974 BBC prison system series Porridge.  Kelly's numerous other credited roles on British television series include turns in Now and

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Not even a week after Florian Habicht’s documentary about Britpop outfit Pulp is released, comes a sweet drama from first time filmmakers Stewart Alexander and Kerry Skinner, that shares the same name of the band’s signature hit. However that is where similarities end, as this ensemble piece instead bears comparisons to Ed Blum’s 2006 endeavour, Scenes of a Sexual Nature.

Set on a London common, predominantly across one day – we delve into the lives of various people, some passing through, some staying for the afternoon. We meet the widowed Ian (Iarla McGowan) and his young daughter, the pregnant Jenny – played by co-director Skinner, the alcoholic Harry, played by other director Alexander, and elderly couple Derrick (Sam Kelly) and Pam (Diana Payan), to name just a few. Each character with their own respective problems, but as the day turns to night, the varying narratives combine, and blend in to one another.

Wicked, the long-running hit West End musical that tells the incredible untold story of the Witches of Oz, welcomes international Wicked star Willemijn Verkaik Elphaba, Savannah Stevenson Glinda, Jeremy Taylor Fiyero Sue Kelvin Madame Morrible and Olivier award-winning actor Paul Clarkson Doctor Dillamond to the new London cast at the Apollo Victoria Theatre, beginning today, Monday 18 November 2013. Sam Kelly returns to play The Wizard, a role he previously played in 20092010. Katie Rowley Jones Nessarose and Sam Lupton Boq continue in their current starring roles. Emma Hatton is the Standby Elphaba and current ensemble cast member Sophie Linder-Lee is now the Standby Glinda.

Stewart Alexander is a Canadian actor and writer based in London, England. He was born and raised in Lachine, Quebec, and moved to the UK shortly after graduating from McGill University. Having made a number of short films on Super-8 in college, he embarked on a self-appointed apprenticeship assisting in the lighting, sound and editorial departments for a number of production companies in the UK. He also wrote and directed a short film called, “The Leather Jacket,” which was shot on 16mm, and edited, in a pre-digital age, on a Steenbeck. After meeting Kerry Skinner while studying to be an actor, he wrote the stage-play “Body Checks,” which they co-produced to considerable critical acclaim, and then adapted into a screenplay.

Now Alexander and Skinner have co-directed their first feature, the comedy-drama Common People. The film weaves together six stories and over thirty characters to present a dramatic, humorous and sometimes magical tale of romance,...

Digital Spy readers named David Tennant as Doctor Who's greatest ever Doctor - now, with just weeks to go until the 50th anniversary, DS is embarking on a new quest... to list the top 10 Who stories of all time.

This week, as this campaign reaches its midpoint, it's the second entry in our list from the nu-Who era and the first from Russell T Davies' tenure as showrunner - a chilling and claustrophobic tale that pushed the 10th Doctor to his very limit...

5. Midnight (2008) - written by Russell T Davies

"Shamble bobble dibble dooble."

What's so fantastic about Midnight is that it feels like a great big middle finger from Russell T Davies to his critics - a spectacularly successful response to those who belittled his work, branding it "camp" or "silly" or "lightweight".

In 45 minutes, Rtd subverts every supposed staple of his era as head writer and...

Feature Simon Brew 28 Jun 2013 - 07:11

Ever watched a big movie, and stopped with a jolt when a star of a British sitcom pops up? Us too...

This feature is all the fault of the late Richard Marner. As the incompetent Colonel in 'Allo 'Allo, he built a performance that was indelible in our eyes. Thus, when he turned up in a big Hollywood thriller as the President of Russia, we unsuccessfully stifled a guffaw. A big guffaw.

And it got us thinking: what other times has a British sitcom star appeared out of the blue in a big movie, causing a sedentary double take from the comfort of our local Odeon? Glad you asked.

Two things. Firstly, this isn't designed to be a complete list, and also, we've covered films made after the actor or actress confirmed rose to prominence in a sitcom. Oh, and another thing: none of...

David Suchet is filming his final Hercule Poirot film 'Dead Man's Folly'.

The film is one of the final five starring Suchet in his 13th series as author Agatha Christie's detective, alongside 'Elephants Can Remember', 'Curtain; Poirot's Last Case', 'The Labours of Hercules' and 'The Big Four'.

Zoë Wanamaker returns as Poirot's unwitting sidekick Ariadne Oliver and the pair are joined by a cast including Sean Pertwee, Sinead Cusack, Tom Ellis, Martin Jarvis, Sam Kelly and Stephanie Leonidas.

'Dead Man's Folly' is written by Nick Dear, directed by Tom Vaughan and produced by David Boutler.

The book was published in 1956 and centres around a house inspired by Christie's former holiday home Greenway, now a National Trust-owned property.

While it has already been shot, the last film to air will be 'Curtain; Poirot's Last Case'.

Suchet was cast as Poirot for ITV in...

Britain's Got Talent star Sam Kelly has revealed to Digital Spy why he wanted to take part in the variety programme rather than The X Factor. Kelly was one of the standout contestants in last weekend's launch show, performing his own acoustic version of 'Make You Feel My Love'. Despite wowing Simon Cowell and the other judges with his vocals, Kelly insisted that he doesn't regret applying for Bgt rather than the singing series. "Playing my own music is a massive thing me. I learned to play instruments before I could sing. Originally I played the drums actually," he told Digital Spy. "But I'm never comfortable without an instrument. I think if I'd gone on X Factor without a guitar I'd have made a proper fool of myself. "It isn't just hiding behind it, though, it's an extra (more)...

Britain's Got Talent singer Sam Kelly has admitted to Digital Spy that he was "scrounging around" and struggling for gigs before he took part in the ITV1 talent show. Kelly, 19, from Norwich, was one of the hit acts on the Simon Cowell talent show last weekend, after his acoustic performance of 'Make You Feel My Love' silenced the crowd and judges. Speaking about the response, Kelly said: "It's incredible. I've had under 100 followers for a year on Twitter, so to get to 6,000 in days is incredible. "After scrounging around for money and trying to get as many gigs as possible to keep myself in pocket, it's amazing to now have all these people talking to me and wanting to hear more from me. "I do four or five gigs a week and I've been doing open mics all the time. I was doing original stuff, folksy blues (more)...

The Britain's Got Talent judges have been "blown away" by a 19-year-old singer's talent. Sam Kelly from Norfolk left the audition theatre in complete silence when he performed Adele's 'Make You Feel My Love', to be shown on tonight's episode of the reality television show. As he entered the audition, Kelly was wolf-whistled by the audience as judge David Walliams asked him if he had a girlfriend. He then said that winning Britain's Got Talent would mean "everything" to him, claiming that he is "useless at everything except music". Kelly warned Walliams and fellow panel members Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon that his mum would "kill" them if they didn't let him through, adding that she is his biggest supporter and thinks he is "the (more)...

London – Asif Kapadia’s The Odyssey is one of four specially commissioned short films to unspool as part of the London 2012 Festival. Backed by way of a BBC Films and Film4 co-commission of four short films, Kapadia’s film will play out as one of four projects aimed at showcasing U.K. filmmaking talent during the 12 week Britain-wide cultural celebration. A Running Jump by Mike Leigh featuring Eddie Marsan, Sam Kelly and Samantha Spiro, The Swimmer by Lynne Ramsay and What If, directed by Streetdance directing duo Max Giwa and Dania Pasquini starring Noel Clarke, George Sargeant and Theo

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The Britain's Got Talent judges have been wowed by a 20-year-old auditionee in Manchester already tipped to progress deep into the show. Simon Cowell, Alesha Dixon, David Walliams and Amanda Holden gave their backing to Norfolk-based singer Sam Kelly, who performed a cover of Adele's 'Make You Feel My Love' on Friday (January 20). Insiders say that Holden was moved to tears by the rendition, while Cowell gushed that the young star had been "brilliant". "I think you have got something really unique," he told the guitar player. "I really like you Sam, brilliant." (more)...

Comes a Bright Day

"With another twelve world premieres and three international premieres, Generation’s feature-length film program is now complete," the Berlinale's announced today. "A total of 58 short and full-length films from 32 countries have been selected for the Generation Kplus and Generation 14plus competitions." Straight from the release, then, with descriptions from the festival:

Generation 14plus

Comes a Bright Day (Great Britain, by Simon Aboud) – Against the backdrop of an armed robbery at a London jewellers, much more is at stake than money. Where diamonds are involved, love is not far. Cast: Craig Roberts, Imogen Poots, Kevin McKidd, Timothy Spall and others. World Premiere. Site.

Lal Gece (Night of Silence, Turkey, by Reis Çelik) – When the groom lifts the bride’s veil, he is looking into the face of a 14-year-old girl. As tradition has it, a night in the bridal chamber seals the marriage. Cast: Ilyas Salman, Dilan Aksüt and others.

"[A]lmost as long as there's been a Hollywood in Los Angeles, there has been an off-Hollywood too, the provenance of those toiling at the edge and far outside the mainstream," writes Manohla Dargis in a historical overview for the New York Times. "It's possible to follow one thread in the off-Hollywood story, its histories, productions and personalities in Alternative Projections: Experimental Film in Los Angeles 1945-1980, a six-month series coordinated by Filmforum, the longest-running avant-garde film organization in Los Angeles, and one of several moving-image programs in Pacific Standard Time. (Another, La Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema, was coordinated by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, where it runs until Dec 17.) An initiative of the Getty Institute, Pacific Standard Time is a sprawling collaboration of more than 60 Southern California cultural institutions that aims, as a Getty news release puts it, 'to tell the birth of the Los Angeles art scene...

Crucible, Sheffield; Cottesloe; Olivier, both London

For fans of the television series The Wire, it is impossible not to be on patrol, trying to spot detective Jimmy McNulty in Dominic West's Iago and Lester Freamon in Clarke Peters's Othello. But it is to the credit of both actors and to Daniel Evans's triumphant production at the Sheffield Crucible that such distractions do not persist as the tragedy gathers pace. Besides, Dominic West is in complete Shakespearean disguise as Iago. He has grown a beard, cut his hair savagely short, wears curious brown leather knickerbockers with slits in them and has acquired a Yorkshire accent to play the greatest villain of all time. The choice of accent is inspired because it sounds so trustworthy – it turns Iago into Mr Common Sense. Noisy comedy is this Iago's cover. You can imagine him propping up the bar at a 16th-century tavern,...

Cottesloe, London

An air of mystery surrounds any new Mike Leigh project. Like a dedicated scientist, he works behind closed doors researching with his chosen team: his latest experiment didn't even have a name until a few days ago.

And, while it doesn't disappoint in its exploration of the hermetic strangeness of English family life, it lacks the richness of texture of Leigh's finest work for stage and film.

Criticism inevitably spoils the surprise of a play in which information seeps out gradually. But it's fair to reveal that we are in London's south-west suburbs in the late 1950s and that the focus is on a family of three.

Dorothy, a war widow, is a painfully uptight figure who busies herself with household affairs and who even regards wearing a pinny in front of visitors as a breach of decorum. Her brother, Edwin, has worked for the same city insurance...

Every summer, parents of anxious teens spend thousands on elaborate abroad programs to boost their kids' college chances. But are the trips worth it? Top schools reveal summer admissions secrets. Plus, the 10 most outrageous programs.

On a sunny June afternoon, a suburban 16-year-old arrives in rural Ghana. She's greeted by a family with whom she'll live for a month, while working at a local orphanage, teaching English, and helping out with construction projects. Along with a dozen fellow American high school students, she'll visit historic slave trade fortresses, learn traditional crafts, and take language lessons in Ashanti Twi.

Related story on The Daily Beast: Best Summer Hikes: Appalachian Trail to Yosemite

For this, her parents will pay close to $10,000, in hopes that the experience will boost her chances of admission to the country's top colleges.

Over the past two decades, as applying to college has become-at least for the well-off-a...

Chicago – Magical nannies, dancing animals, great gusts of wind, lyrical life lessons and cute kids in need of a father. You don’t need to be practically perfect in every way in order to find these ingredients a trifle familiar. Robert Stevenson’s 1964 masterpiece “Mary Poppins” used these elements better than anyone has before or since, resulting in what is unquestionably the best live-action Disney film ever made.

“Poppins” is also one of the most influential children’s pictures ever made, inspiring countless variations and copy-cats. Yet Cristianna Brand’s “Nurse Matilda” books took the formula and peppered it with gleefully macabre wit. They centered on a hideously ugly nursemaid who resembled the Supernanny from Hell, until her charges started to become well behaved, thus erasing her multiple blemishes. In 2005, Emma Thompson adapted the books into “Nanny McPhee,” a thoroughly enjoyable fantasy that felt like the offspring of P.L. Travers and Roald Dahl.

Emma Thompson's sequel charms many critics, but it's way too saccharine for others.

By Eric Ditzian

Emma Thompson in "Nanny McPhee Returns"

Photo: Universal Pictures

This weekend is set to be a crowded one at the cinema, as five new flicks receive the wide-release treatment. None of them — from "Piranha 3D" to "Vampires Suck" — are likely to come out on top at the box office, as "The Expendables" looks to commandeer the top spot for a second straight week.

Of all the fresh faces, though, Emma Thompson might well perform the best, as "Nanny McPhee Returns," which the 51-year-old Brit both wrote and stars in, arrives on U.S. shores more than four years after the original film. The latest installment has already grossed $62.6 million overseas.

How will it fair domestically? Reviews are largely positive, though it remains to be seen if "Nanny McPhee" can overtake the "Twilight" parody,...

Emma Thompson's sequel charms many critics, but it's way too saccharine for others.

By Eric Ditzian

Emma Thompson in "Nanny McPhee Returns"

Photo: Universal Pictures

This weekend is set to be a crowded one at the cinema, as five new flicks receive the wide-release treatment. None of them — from "Piranha 3D" to "Vampires Suck" — are likely to come out on top at the box office, as "The Expendables" looks to commandeer the top spot for a second straight week.

Of all the fresh faces, though, Emma Thompson might well perform the best, as "Nanny McPhee Returns," which the 51-year-old Brit both wrote and stars in, arrives on U.S. shores more than four years after the original film. The latest installment has already grossed $62.6 million overseas.

How will it fair domestically? Reviews are largely positive, though it remains to be seen if "Nanny McPhee" can overtake the "Twilight" parody,...

Edinburgh's Napier University has become the first institute in Britain to offer the academic study of comic books and graphic novels. The university has incorporated the module into its masters level creative writing course. The subject will be taught by tutors with experience in the industry, including former 2000 Ad and Judge Dredd Megazine editor David Bishop. "Some of the most exciting and innovative work emerges from genre fiction. We're embracing the kinds of creative writing that get ignored or patronised by other courses," Bishop said. Programme leader and tutor Sam Kelly added: "We're expecting (more)...