The documentary, titled “A Disturbance in the Force,” and directed by Jeremy Coon (“Napoleon Dynamite”) and Steve Kozak, aims to offer a deep dive into the making-of the special. Coon recently told io9 that he and Kozak interviewed a variety of crew members who worked on the project and aimed to provide greater context to the special beyond just discussing its negative reception. “Most attention on the ‘Holiday Special’ just focuses on how bad it is and doesn’t go deeper,” Coon told io9....

Last week may have been dominated by “Avatar: The Way of Water,” but — wait, what are we saying? “but”? but what? it looks as if James Cameron’s much-anticipated sequel just might lure in a fresh audience this weekend at the box office, perhaps setting up for a second week of ruling the seas and the moons and the whathaveyou. But for those who have a) already seen the film or b) didn’t want to in the first place, there are a variety of other options....

What follows is a TV thriller centered on the hunt for an algorithmic super-intelligence; a self-learning program that the series’ main characters believe is murdering people to protect its secrets. In the process, “neXt” is a serial killer story and a detective show and a prophet of catastrophe, delivered together in one-hour chunks. LeBlanc’s alarm-sounding eventually weaves its way into the work of Shea Salazar (Fernanda Andrade), leader of an FBI cybercrime task force based out of Portland....

Mark Wahlberg cleared up co-star Tom Holland’s confusion over a massage gun gift. A shirtless and mustachioed Wahlberg took to Instagram to share a gym trick with viewers. “Mr. Tom Holland, you see this? Power Plate Pulse, this is a massage tool, for muscle recovery, nothing else,” Wahlberg captioned. Last week, Holland told Access Hollywood that he at first mistook the “Uncharted” co-star’s present as a sex toy. “Mark Wahlberg was kind enough to give me a massage gun after I left his house in L....

It could take shape as a platform release — a one-week qualifying run, possibly only in the area surrounding New York City. If worse comes to worst, it could end up being limited to a virtual cinema platform, and it might: Southern California theaters are already closed, and the New York region could follow suit. Sources indicate the full run would start February 19, nearly four weeks before the March 15 announcement of Oscar nominees....

It’s rare to see something that dares to perform an entire Cirque du Soleil routine on the narrow tightrope between smart and silly; rare enough that it’s tempting to forgive “Outside the Wire” for how frantically it struggles to retain its balance. The film’s paradoxical obsession with preserving the humanity of warfare is compelling enough to keep things moving even when everything around it feels bland and gray, and the po-faced goofiness of the whole endeavor — emboldened by Mikael Håfström’s (“Escape Plan”) resourceful direction — is consistent in a way that makes you want to focus on the movie’s pulpy extrapolation of Asimovian concepts instead of how it beats them into the ground....

Where to Watch “Painting with John”: HBO Max I don’t envy the person who has to write the episode descriptions for “Painting with John.” It is true that “John recounts how the obsession he and his brother had for John Coltrane’s ‘Live at Birdland’ resulted in an unfortunate Sunday breakfast” is an accurate statement about the contents of the third episode. But a few words summarizing a couple distinct anecdotes from the life of John Lurie is a drop in the lake of things that give this show its value....

In a new interview with The Film Stage, Park explained that “Decision to Leave” should not be read as an homage to film noir. In fact, he was far more influenced by mystery novels than he was by any cinema genre. “This might sound surprising, but I’m not the biggest fan of the noir genre,” he said. “I’m not really a film buff either. I don’t rewatch the same movie multiple times....

“When there started to be backlash about WW3 not happening, the attractive clickbait false story that it was me that killed it or walked away started to spread,” Jenkins wrote in a statement on Twitter. “This is simply not true. I never walked away. I was open to considering anything asked of me. It was my understanding there was nothing I could do to move anything forward at this time....

“The first time he shared with me something about this story, we were here in New York, and doing press for ‘All About My Mother,’” said Cruz, who in the film forms a fascinating bond, via an erotic twist, with Smit’s character. “He told me a few things about this story that changed, evolved a lot into something else, but that was the root of the story.” Cruz said that “when we were in total lockdown, we did one of our calls, FaceTime, and he told me, ‘Oh, by the way, I took this story out of the drawer and I’m writing it again and I’m thinking about you for the character....

“I was born as a film director in 1983 in Venice,” said Almodóvar in a statement, “in the Mezzogiorno Mezzanotte section. Thirty-eight years later I am called to open the festival. I cannot explain the joy and the honor, and how much this means to me without falling into complacency. I am very grateful to the festival for this recognition and hope to be up to it.” Here’s the synopsis for the film courtesy of Venice: “Two women, Janis and Ana, coincide in a hospital room where they are going to give birth....

You know you’re in calm hands as the opening credits fade in and out without pageantry across the chilly backdrop of the Pacific Northwestern woods, where Rob (Nicolas Cage) lives on the land with his pig. His only interaction (and ostensibly his only source of income) is with Amir (Alex Wolff), a smarmy rich kid who buys the truffles Rob’s pig unearths and hauls them back to Portland. But Rob’s ecosystem is thrown horrifically out of orbit when, in the middle of the night, two people beat him over the head and run off with the pig, squealing into the night....

The announcement of the Innovation Award winner will take place at a new event for the organization, entitled “A Day with the PGA Awards Nominees.” The virtual celebration will be held Saturday, March 20 and will feature panels with nominated producers, as an expansion of the traditional PGA Nominees breakfast which would typically be held the morning of the Awards ceremony itself. The event will also honor the winners of the Sports, Children’s, and Short Form categories, whose nominations were previously announced....

Liotta was publicly pronounced dead on May 26 at the age of 67. IndieWire confirmed that the actor passed away in his sleep while filming the upcoming crime thriller “Dangerous Waters” in the Dominican Republic. Liotta was best known for portraying the rise and fall of mob man Henry Hill in Scorsese’s 1990 classic gangster biopic, while continuing to showcase organized crime in “Blow” and the “Silence of the Lambs” sequel “Hannibal,” “Killing Them Softly,” “No Sudden Move,” and most recently “Sopranos” prequel film “The Many Saints of Newark....

Forgive the familiar lede, but some things bear repeating, particularly in the context of a new movie that unfolds like a mission statement for its irrepressible creator. The poet emeritus of ero guro nansensu (literally, “erotic grotesque nonsense”) has been prolific as ever since rolling out of his hospital bed two years ago, with Sono’s recent credits including psychosexual bloodfeast “The Forest of Love,” a segment of the omnibus “State of Emergency,” and the post-nuclear Western “Prisoners of the Ghostland” starring Nicolas Cage....

“There are people who their favorite thing in the world as a kid was comics and they want to go into that world, and I fully support that,” Stearns said. “I just don’t think people want want me directing a comic book movie. I didn’t read comics. If I directed one, I would probably make a bad one. I think that it’s better that I stick with the stuff that I like and the trajectory I like....

Notable films on the year’s lineup include Chloe Okuno’s “Watcher,” a Sundance horror hit in the tradition of paranoid classics like “Rosemary’s Baby;” James Morosini’s “I Love My Dad,” a comedy that took the top prizes in the Narrative category at SXSW; and Andrew Semans’ “Resurrection,” a psychological thriller that earned high marks from critics and fans alike at Sundance this year. Tickets for select upcoming screenings are on sale now via the Rooftop Films website, with additional dates and tickets to be released in the coming weeks....

“Barbie” star Ryan Gosling couldn’t help but continue to gush over co-star Ncuti Gatwa after the “Sex Education” breakout was cast in beloved BBC series “Doctor Who.” Gatwa is set to make history as the first Black Doctor to lead the long-running show. “I am such a big fan of Ncuti’s, he’s the coolest,” Gosling said during “The One” show with hosts Alex Scott and Roman Kemp (via The Independent)....

However, the season was almost a lot buzzier, as Donald Glover recently revealed that the series almost landed a massive guest star for Season 3. Speaking to People, Glover revealed that Ryan Gosling almost appeared in the new season. The actor is apparently a fan of the show, and spoke with Glover on the phone about a role before backing out at the last minute due to a scheduling conflict....

The official synopsis for “And Just Like That…” reads: “[The series] follows Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), and Charlotte (Kristin Davis) as they navigate the journey from the complicated reality of life and friendship in their 30s to the even more complicated reality of life and friendship in their 50s.” Michael Patrick King, the executive producer of the series, said in a statement, “Everyone at ‘And Just Like That…’ is beyond thrilled that a dynamically talented actor such as Sara Ramírez has joined the ‘Sex and the City’ family....