Latest news with #RequiemforaDream
Indian Express
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Austin Butler and Zoe Kravits take on a life unknown in new film Caught Stealing. Watch trailer
Sony Pictures are bringing a whole bunch of confusion and action with their new film Caught Stealing, which will follow the life of Hank Thompson, played by Austin Butler. Director Darren Aronofsky, who is known for films like Requiem for a Dream (2000), Black Swan (2010), The Whale (2022) and The Wrestler (2008), is in the driving seat of the narrative. The film features stars like Austin Butler, Zoe Kravitz, Matt Smith, Bad Bunny, Liev Schreiber, Regina King, Vincent D'Onfrio and Action Bronson. The trailer starts with introducing the protagonist, Hank, who is a bartender and is closing shop for the day when Yvonne (Zoe Kravitz) convinces him to go back to his place together. We meet his obnoxiously dressed neighbour Russ (Matt Smith), who is apparently going out of town and needs Hank to take care of his cat. Yvonne and Hank agree to what seems to be a simple enough assignment and take the cat with them. Soon enough some people come looking for Russ and assault Hank for not telling them where Russ is. They are not the only ones looking for Russ, though, and Colorado ( Bad Bunny) threatens to kill Hank if he doesn't speak up. ALSO READ: Who is the Next James Bond? Theo James, Henry Cavill, and Bridgerton stars lead the top 7 frontrunners to replace Daniel Craig as 007 Once Russ comes back, Hank confronts him and asks him about the entire mess. Russ takes him to a storage facility and shows him a tonne of stolen clothes and merchandise along with $4 million, which seems to be the reason why everyone is after Russ. He explains how everyone was 'supposed to get a cut: the Russians, the Puerto Ricans, and even the Hebrews'. All chaos ensues as Hank decides to drive into the storm rather than away from it while juggling his relationship with Yvonne, who is still wondering where they both stand romantically. Everyone under the sun starts chasing Hank, and the bartender fights back with whatever limited skill he has, considering this is a very strange world for him, and even surprises himself when he knocks one of the Russians out cold. Yvonne tells him, 'That I need a man who handles his stuff,' and Hank kisses her and says, 'I can handle this.' The trailer ends on a confusing and amusing note as Hank is seen eating dinner with the Hebrew gangsters (Liev Schreiber and Vincent D'Onfrio) who were chasing him. Caught Stealing will hit theatres on August 29.
The Hindu
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
‘Caught Stealing' trailer: Austin Butler, Zoë Kravitz in Darren Aronofsky's 90s New York caper
Darren Aronofsky, visionary director of Pi, Requiem for a Dream, and Black Swan, is back with his latest feature, Caught Stealing. A crime comedy with Coen Brothers-esque touches, the film features an eye-catchy cast, including Austin Butler and Zoë Kravitz alongside Regina King, Matt Smith, Bad Bunny and others. Sony Pictures has unveiled the official trailer for Caught Stealing. The film is adapted by novelist and television writer Charlie Houston from his own novel, centred on baseball-crazy anti-hero Henry 'Hank' Thompson. The film is set in New York in the 1990s, following Hank, a bartender, and his girlfriend, Yvonne, as they are embroiled in a criminal conspiracy. Caught Stealing has a flirty, light-hearted tone quite unlike Aronofsky's previous works. The synopsis of the film reads: 'Hank Thompson (Austin Butler) was a high-school baseball phenom who can't play anymore, but everything else is going okay. He's got a great girl (Zoë Kravitz), tends bar at a New York dive, and his favorite team is making an underdog run at the pennant. When his punk-rock neighbor Russ (Matt Smith) asks him to take care of his cat for a few days, Hank suddenly finds himself caught in the middle of a motley crew of threatening gangsters. They all want a piece of him; the problem is he has no idea why. As Hank attempts to evade their ever-tightening grip, he's got to use all his hustle to stay alive long enough to find out…' A teen sensation, Austen Butler has starred in several high-profile films of late, such as Elvis and Dune: Part Two. Caught Stealing is releasing in cinemas in the US on August 29, 2025.
Los Angeles Times
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Darren Aronofsky joins AI Hollywood push with Google deal
Director Darren Aronofsky has pushed artistic boundaries with movies including 'Requiem for a Dream' and 'Mother!' Now his production company is working with Google to explore the edge of artificial intelligence technology in filmmaking. Google on Tuesday said it is working with several filmmakers to use new AI tools as part of a larger push to popularize the fast-moving tech. That effort includes a partnership with Aronofsky's venture, Primordial Soup. Google's AI-focused subsidiary DeepMind and Aronofsky's firm will work with three filmmakers, giving them access to the Mountain View, Calif.-based giant's text-to-video tool Veo, which they will use to make short films. The first project, 'Ancestra,' is directed by Eliza McNitt. Aronofsky is an executive producer on the film. 'Ancestra,' which premieres at the Tribeca Festival next month, combines live-action filmmaking with imagery generated with AI, such as cosmic events and microscopic worlds. 'Filmmaking has always been driven by technology,' Aronofsky said in a statement that referenced film tech pioneers the Lumiere brothers and Thomas Edison. 'Today is no different. Now is the moment to explore these new tools and shape them for the future of storytelling.' The push comes as Google and other companies are making deals with Hollywood talent and production companies to use their AI tools. For example, Facebook parent company Meta is partnering with 'Titanic' director James Cameron's venture, Lightstorm Vision, to co-produce content for its virtual reality headset Meta Quest. New York-based AI startup Runway has a deal with 'Hunger Games' studio Lionsgate to create a new AI model to help with behind-the-scenes processes such as storyboarding. Many people in Hollywood have been critical of AI tools, raising concerns about the automation of jobs. Writers worry about AI models being trained on their scripts without their permission or compensation. Tech industry executives have said that they should be able to train AI models with content available online under the 'fair use' doctrine, which allows for the limited reproduction of material without permission from the copyright holder. Proponents of the technology say that it can provide more opportunities for filmmakers to test out ideas and show a variety of visuals at a lower cost. New York-based Primordial Soup said in a press release that Google's AI tools helped solve 'practical challenges such as filming with infants and visualizing the birth of the universe' in 'Ancestra.' 'With 'Ancestra,' I was able to visualize the unseen, transforming family archives, emotions, and science into a cinematic experience that feels both intimate and expansive,' McNitt said in a statement. The two additional filmmakers and films participating in the Google DeepMind-Primordial Soup deal are not yet named. Google made the announcement as part of its annual I/O developer conference in Mountain View. During the event's keynote address on Tuesday, Google shared updates on its AI tools for filmmakers, including Veo 3, which allows creators to type in how they want dialogue to sound and add sound effects. The company also unveiled a new AI filmmaking tool called Flow that helps users create cinematic shots and stitch together scenes into longer films and short stories. 'This opens up a whole new world of possibilities,' said Demis Hassabis, chief executive of Google DeepMind, in a news briefing on Monday. 'We're excited for how our models are helping power new tools for creativity.' Flow is available through Google's new $249.99 monthly subscription plan Google AI Ultra, which includes early access to Veo 3, as well as other benefits including YouTube Premium, Google's AI models Gemini and other tools. Flow is also available with a $19.99-a-month Google AI Pro subscription. Google is making other investments related to AI. On Tuesday, L.A.-based generative AI studio Promise announced Google AI Futures Fund as one of its new strategic investors. Through the partnership, Promise will integrate some of Google's AI technologies into its production pipeline and workflow software and collaborate with Google's AI teams.
The Guardian
10-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Black Mirror season seven review – Charlie Brooker's thrilling satire gets its warmest, most human season ever
It's tough being an anthology. While other dramas set up their premise and characters and then lazily dole out a little more of the same in every episode, anthologies must constantly seek our approval anew. If critics and viewers think the latest shiny thing is a dud, they toss it into the void and deem all the expert hard work that went into it to be a waste. Even the hits are only celebrated briefly before everyone moves on to the next fresh story, ready to give it a thumbs up or down. In season seven of his collection of digital-age fables, Black Mirror writer Charlie Brooker finally cracks and, for the first time, produces a sequel to an old episode. This year's feature-length finale, USS Callister: Into Infinity, is a straight continuation of season four's fan favourite. But it's the least interesting instalment from the new batch, because it can't replicate the thrill, the hope, of starting without knowing whether this latest adventure will be a success. The other five offerings take that risk, and almost all get their reward. Leading the line is Common People, starring Chris O'Dowd and Rashida Jones as a blue-collar couple who have more love than money. When she is diagnosed with a brain tumour, the lifesaving solution is technology that replaces her mind with servers in the cloud – but it's on a monthly subscription, which is expensive, and the company that runs it keeps altering the terms. The episode has one of the show's common flaws, which is a tendency to bludgeon the audience with satire that makes one big point, then works methodically through a long ledger of further logical consequences. It also once again showcases Brooker's maniacal desire to push beyond what other writers might see as unworkably bleak. But as Common People spirals downwards with grim inevitability, like the film Requiem for a Dream for people who are too online, beneath all the dark gags about signal coverage and annoying advertisements is a study of modern precariousness that shows real compassion for its victims. This is where what was once a hard-edged, occasionally malfunctioning cyborg of a show has slowly evolved: Black Mirror 7.0 has a lot of soft tissue around the metal. Tender sentiment flows through the ingenious Hotel Reverie, which stars Issa Rae as a movie actor cast in a new type of remake that inserts her avatar into an AI simulation of the world created by a classic black-and-white romance. A story with notes of The Truman Show and Steven Moffat-era Doctor Who explores how, for all Hollywood's cynical hammering of lucrative formulae and writers' knowledge of which scripting tricks work, fictional people on screen can mean so much to the viewer – and to their authors – that magic happens and they become real. Even more heartfelt is Eulogy, with a perfectly cast Paul Giamatti as a man given the chance to step inside old photographs and unlock memories of a great lost love. The techno-gubbins barely impact on a sweet, sad, simple tale that steps away from Brooker's growing obsession with characters choosing between online and offline versions of themselves. Here instead is a man looking back on his one and only analogue life, regretting what his younger self didn't know and couldn't recognise. The truth about the happiness he could have had is in a box in his attic full of pictures, letters and cassettes. The dust may get in your eye. But this year's other standout demonstrates that Black Mirror hasn't lost its demon streak. Bête Noire has a premise straight out of a midweek terrestrial drama, with Siena Kelly as Maria, the office high-flyer who is right to suspect that new recruit Verity (Rosy McEwen) is a deranged wrong 'un, but can't prove it in a way that her colleagues can see, so efforts to expose Verity make Maria look like the loose cannon. The cruel chaos smoothly ramps up, gradually revealing the twist before the narrative delivers an ending that will make you not laugh or chuckle, but very specifically cackle. The only skippable episode is Plaything, set in a near future where cops use DNA mouth swabs to solve crimes, and have an interrogation room built in a pleasing asymmetrical-lozenge shape. Inside sits a predictably excellent Peter Capaldi as a mercurial murder suspect who has spent his adult life playing a potent video game that is somewhere between Lemmings, The Sims and a Tamagotchi. What looks like a great first half is followed by … the end credits. The set-up is all there is, the idea doesn't go anywhere, our thumbs are down and Plaything is moved swiftly to the bin. Anthologies are a hard gig. But this warmer, more convincingly human Black Mirror is easier than ever to forgive. Black Mirror is on Netflix.
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
7 Films People Would Rate 10/10 But Could Never Bring Themselves To Watch Again
This year marks seven years since A Star Is Born was released in cinemas and I still cannot, for the life of me, go back to it. While it was a beautiful film with incredible performances, there is only so much emotional turmoil you can willingly subject yourself to more than once and A Star Is Born is definitely my line. Reddit user SDMusic seemingly has a similar thought process with Requiem for a Dream. In a recent post in the /r/Movies community, they asked: 'What are your '10/10 you'll never watch again? For me, one was Requiem For A Dream.' Here's a selection of the other movies that people suggested in the same thread... One user wrote: 'I was working at the movies when Blue Valentine released. Lots of couples went to see it. Lots of couples looking rather uncomfortable as they were leaving.' Understandable, tbh. Another agreed that both this and another Michelle Williams offering, Manchester By The Sea, were no-gos. They said: 'Both of them ruined me for a couple days. Thanks, Michelle Williams.' Another user – who has since deleted their account – spoke for everyone who's seen Adam Sandler's Uncut Gems, saying: 'Every single decision the protagonist makes makes you even more anxious, and the constant and increasing tension makes you feel like you cannot breathe until the movie finishes. 'Good movie, not gonna go through that again.' PregnantSuperman said: 'Hereditary had such a harrowing and realistic portrayal of grief that I can never watch it again. I can't imagine what it must have been like for an actual parent who lost a child to watch that film.' SassyTechDiva added: 'Toni Collette is amazing in all her roles but this one took her to another level for me.' Neat_Following_7761 agreed: 'I love horror movies but it was was one that actually messed me up for a few days afterwords, it's the only horror movie that's done that to me. The car scene and results after were just to gut wrenching for me.' The film – based on the Cormac McCarthy book of the same name – was a popular choice. Ace_of_spade_789 said: 'I've never been to a movie in a theatre where five minutes in everyone was depressed and so quiet as I did with The Road. Fantastic dystopian movie but my god never again.' Vaahkult responded: 'I felt afraid of people after that movie'. This Tilda Swinton movie only requires one viewing, according to Obstruct_Crop_Circle. 'God that movie was something I went into blind and I'm so glad I did,' they said, but insisted: 'Will never watch it again.' Pizza-n-Coffee37 confessed: 'I was going to write this on the list. Heart wrenching and terrifying at the same time. The acting is superb. I think I aged when I watched this.' This Oscar-winning film starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman follows a man in his 80s who is living alone, and experiencing a gradual decline due to dementia. In her role as his daughter, Olivia Colman explores what it is to grieve somebody before they have even gone. And, understandably, for some viewers, this proved to be a bit much. ChrisWizardHippie explained: 'It's too realistic, the tiny details of dealing with a loved one with memory loss diseases like dementia and Alzheimer's. Can never watch it again without a fight.' CryHavok01 added: 'The whole movie is fantastic/brutal, but Hopkins' performance in the final scene is absolutely breathtaking and left me sobbing. I've never even known someone with Alzheimer's so it wasn't personal, he just made it that real.' These 9 Classic Films Hit Very Differently Now That We're Older Here Are Our 10 Top Picks Of The New TV Shows And Films Streaming On Netflix In March 2025 6 Critically-Acclaimed Films That Fans Now Love To Hate
