Latest news with #film
CBS News
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Students head to the movies in Massachusetts for opportunity to learn new lessons from films
Middle and high school students in the Boston area are leaving their classrooms to learn lessons at the movie theater. The Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline just wrapped up its first year of the Coolidge Classroom. The program, created with local teachers, is designed to enhance classroom lessons, highlighting everything from social studies to science to language. "Teachers value this program," said Sophie Blum, the director of education at the theater. "We didn't know when we launched this program what the response would be." Enhancing classroom lessons During the pilot year, Coolidge Classroom welcomed more than 2,000 students, showing six films over the course of six months. "It's a change of pace. I feel students want to learn some real life content," said Xiaoxu Jing, a Mandarin Chinese teacher at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. "I think good movies have very good educational value, similarly to how good books have good educational value," said senior Neva Vuletic. Jing's students screened "The Farewell," written and directed by Boston College alumna Lulu Wang. The movie, about a Chinese-American woman who learns her grandmother has a terminal illness, features both English and Mandarin. "It was really good for us to know Chinese to watch this movie," said freshman Hugo Shiung. "There's, like, two layers to the movie, if you know another language. The English layer with the subtitles but also there's a whole other language with slightly altered meanings." Connecting with each other After watching the film, Blum helps lead the conversation, engaging the students as well as their teacher. "The goal of Coolidge Classroom, beyond curriculum, is to give students who wouldn't necessarily have an opportunity to connect with each other something to talk about," said Blum. "Everybody should get the chance to not only see an interesting movie but see with their classmates," said junior Naveen Tuio. Everything, from the lunch and popcorn to the transportation, is free for the schools and students. "The breadth of dialogue that you can get in a program like Coolidge Classroom that you can't get if you just stay in your own classroom, in your own school, in your own neighborhood," said Blum. "That's been my favorite part of the program so far." There are already eight movies scheduled to be screened for the upcoming school year, including the Academy Award-winning film "Flow."
Bloomberg
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Bloomberg
Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer on the making of F1
Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer urges movie goers to watch F1 in cinema versus streaming it at home, calling it a "perfect outing." (Source: Bloomberg)
Forbes
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Josh Duhamel Says Living Off The Grid Prepped Him For New Tech Thriller
Josh Duhamel in "Off the Grid." Ransom Canyon star Josh Duhamel didn't have a rough time getting to know the set of his new film Off the Grid because the actor lives off the grid in real-life. Off the grid for Duhamel — a Minot, N.D. native — is the deep woods of Northern Minnesota, a state the acclaimed Transformers and Shotgun Wedding star and his family call their adopted home. Being in Minnesota also allows Duhamel to catch games of his pro sports favorites, including NFL's Minnesota Vikings and MLB's Minnesota Twins, each of which he's been cheering on for years. In return, Minnesota has embraced Duhamel, awarding him, for example, the 2024 North Star Award from the Twin Cities Film Fest, an honor reserved for actors who hail from the North Star state. Opening in select theaters and arriving on digital streaming via video on demand on Friday, Off the Grid is directed by Johnny Martin and written by Jim Agnew. In the film, Duhamel plays Guy, a brilliant scientist who is forced to go on the run after the unscrupulous company he is working for wants to use a groundbreaking mini cold fusion reactor for nefarious purposes. However, when company owner Belcor (Peter Stormare) and Guy's former mentor, Ranish (Greg Kinnear), locate Guy's whereabouts and send a strike team after him, the scientist has to spring into action. Using his technical wherewithal and survival skills of living off the grid, guy takes on his adversaries in ways they won't see coming. Josh Duhamel Is Unplugged But Locked And Loaded In 'Off The Grid' One benefit that Josh Duhamel didn't exactly expect was that living off the grid in Minnesota would come in quite handy while filming Off the Grid the movie. 'That's one of the reasons why I wanted to do it,' Duhamel said in a recent Zoom conversation, fittingly, from his home in the Northern Minnesota woods. 'I just felt really connected to this idea that Guy was forced to do this because he took his invention of cold fusion technology, which was intended to be free energy to the world, but the government wanted to weaponize it.' As such, Duhamel put his real-life experience of living a simple life far away from the rat race to good use. Thanks to a great tax rebate, Duhamel and director Johnny Martin found their ideal off the grid shooting location in Mississippi. 'Guy had to [embrace] the idea able to build this little life out of the way and unplugged from everything,' Duhamel explained. 'He finds peace in it but also a lot of loneliness and yearning for human connection and all those things. I think that if you're alone, doing this would be really tough. But that's what really drew me to this.' Another bonus is, that Duhamel gets to channel a bit of the character that Minnesota native Richard Dean Anderson made famous for seven seasons on ABC-TV from 1985 to 1992. '[I loved Guy's] innovation and ability MacGyver all these different gadgets. It was really fun,' Duhamel enthused. 'I love that I just thought that it was a great hook for the movie. So, I just love this world. I thought, 'What a great sort of contrast between this simple life and the industrial complex doing everything they can to use to find this guy, but run into a total David versus Goliath sort of situation.' NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 12: Josh Duhamel attends the Men's Health Lab hosted by Hearst Magazines ... More at Hearst Tower on June 12, 2025 in New York City. (Photo byfor Hearst Magazines) On top of utilitizing some MacGyver-type skills, Duhamel brings a bit of Sylvester Stallone's John Rambo to his character in Off the Grid in the way he faces off against the bad guys, even if wasn't intentional. 'I guess there's maybe a little bit [of Rambo in there], but I'm never gonna pretend that I'm Sylvester Stallone. That guy's a badass,' Duhamel said with a smile. 'He is more like a former Green Beret out there in Rambo: First Blood [Part II]." It was just an amazing movie. I guess I never really thought about it [with my character in Off the Grid]. From that point of view, I can see the similarities.' Duhamel, of course, lives a more peaceful existence off the grid away from acting and he hopes to visit his wooded getaway in Minnesota as often as he can. In the meantime, Duhamel is prepping his return to the Netflix hit Ransom Canyon, which was renewed for a second season this week and going into production in September. In the meantime, audiences can see Josh Duhamel in Off the Grid — which also stars María Elisa Camargo, Michael Zapesotsky, Ricky Russert and Michael Papajohn — which opens in select theaters on Friday and is available on Video on Demand.
Geek Girl Authority
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Girl Authority
Movie Review: M3GAN 2.0
Dolls are creepy. We all know this. It's deeply ingrained in our most misunderstood psychology. You know, Freud, 'uncanny valley,' those old chestnuts. Every generation has its traumatic doll. Mine was Chucky. I saw that trailer far, far, far too young. However, M3GAN burst on the scene in 2022 and became all the rage. Everyone wanted that cosplay. Well, M3GAN 2.0 hits theaters this week, and we must ask, is M3GAN the heir to Chucky's quirky crown? Or is this Betsy getting a little wetsy? M3GAN 2.0 M3GAN 2.0 jumps back into the story a few years after the first film. Gemma (Allison Williams) and Cady (Violet McGraw) are settling back into the swing of things. They're finally comfy. It doesn't take long, though, before Gemma is pulled back into her old life when 'Amelia'– an AI entity that closely resembles Gemma's work– sets off on her own mission of terror. Can the humans save the day? Or will M3GAN need to do the heavy lifting? Jen Van Epps, Brian Jordan Alvarez, Aristotle Athari, Ivanna Sakhno and Jemaine Clement costar in the film. Gerard Johnstone directs M3GAN 2.0 from his own script. Full disclosure, I had a decidedly … let's call it a complex relationship with the first M3GAN . This is a franchise that knows exactly what it is, for better or for worse. RELATED: Movie Review: From the World of John Wick: Ballerina The first film can perhaps best be called a horror movie. Well, it wants to be a horror movie. M3GAN is PG-13 horror. This is the Diet Coke of horror. You know, 'Great taste, less filling.' Stepping Away From Horror M3GAN 2.0 makes an interesting decision to step far away from its horror roots. Honestly, this is a smart call. This film is PG-13, too, and it's easy to see where they're cutting for content. Instead of delving into its horror roots, M3GAN 2.0 feels much more like a comedy with some breezy sci-fi elements. There's some light discussion of AI as well as the future of technology, but truthfully, any deep narrative inroads are immediately dulled by the surprising amount of slapstick. RELATED: Movie Review: The Phoenician Scheme In all honesty, I can't recommend M3GAN 2.0 if you're looking for a horror film. This isn't one. Rather, I had a lot more fun watching this as a 'bad' movie. Remember, yours truly is the resident 'drive-in,' 'schlocky' fangirl. I am someone who adores unintentional hilarity with every fiber of my being. Is It All Intentional? It was hard to truly put a finger on what M3GAN 2.0 wants to do. There are moments of wackiness that gave me so much joy, I had to sit back and wonder if it was intentional. There's dialogue that sits strangely on the ear, plenty of winks to the camera and a heavy reliance on slapstick comedy. There were some big 'belly laughs' throughout the theater. Overall, I do think the hilarity is intentional. This is a movie that is smart enough to understand what it is. It's a PG-13 comedy. Do with that what you will. RELATED: Movie Review: Materialists As it relates to the performances, Jemaine Clement steals every scene he's in. His over-the-top performance is a riot, and he's one of the few performers who seems to understand what movie he's actually in. It's just a shame that he's not in it more. His part is deceptively small. Enough said. You know, spoilers. Doesn't Go Far Enough In the grand scheme of things, M3GAN 2.0 , for me at least, is guilty of the same crime as the first film. It doesn't go far enough. This isn't to say that I didn't enjoy the movie. I had a heck of a lot of fun. That said, it's a superficial, easy fun. I never found myself really shocked, and I do wish they would finally just take off M3GAN 's training wheels. While this sequel is an entertaining sit, I can't say it's one you'll remember in two weeks. M3GAN 2.0 opens in theaters around the country on June 27, 2025. 28 YEARS LATER Spoiler Review
Geek Tyrant
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Alex Garland Reveals The Original Very Different Story Idea For 28 YEARS LATER — GeekTyrant
Before 28 Days Later became the haunting, emotional, and feverishly intense and wild film that we got, it was something else entirely, something much different. According to screenwriter Alex Garland, that original idea probably would've tanked the franchise. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Garland opened up about a very early concept for the long-awaited third film in the rage-virus saga. Let's just say, if things had gone that route, we wouldn't be talking about 28 Years Later like we are right now. 'I had a version of this story that was basically a big, dumb action movie,' Garland admitted. The story would've followed a group of Chinese Special Forces soldiers who break quarantine and sneak into the U.K. to find the lab where the virus started hoping to find a cure. But when they arrive, another group is already there... trying to weaponize it. 'It was completely and utterly f***ing generic,' Garland said. 'Shootouts and mass attacks and big, action-adventure-style set pieces.' Oh, and it would've been entirely in Mandarin with English subtitles. Danny Boyle, his longtime creative partner, didn't exactly embrace the idea. 'He just laughed,' Garland recalled, adding that they both eventually tried to rework it, but 'finally, we both gave up on it.' Still, the process wasn't a total loss. Garland said: 'Writing something so generic was the freeing element to all of our problems. It gave us permission to have a totally blank slate.' That 'blank slate' gave way to the film we eventually got, which is a movie that builds on the legacy of the original without trying to imitate it. It centers on a father and son (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Alfie Williams) who leave their isolated island and reenter a U.K. that has mutated with the virus—both biologically and psychologically. The infected have evolved. The recation has been divisive, but I loved it! I liked the big swings that it took and enjoyed what it ultimtely delivered. It also got me super excited about The Bone Temple . It's kind of a small miracle we got this version instead of the Mandarin-language military shoot-'em-up. Sure, Garland's scrapped idea could've made for something interesting, but it's clear the soul of the 28 Days universe lies in something more grounded, personal, disturbing, and bonkers. It's certinaly not a generic film!
