HBO Documentary Films Scoops Up Oscar Nominee ‘When We Were Bullies’

J. Kim Murphy SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for “The Best Is Yet to Come,” the March 20 episode of “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty,” which is now streaming on HBO Max.On the third episode of HBO’s “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty,” audiences are introduced to an NBA figure that even a fair-weather basketball fan should be familiar with.

Joe Leydon Film CriticIt may sound counterintuitive at best, tone-deaf at worse, to label a documentary focused on food providers aiding people in the wake of disasters as a feel-good movie. But that’s an honest, accurate and, yes, appreciative label for “We Feed People,” Ron Howard’s technically polished and emotionally stirring close-up view of celebrity chef José Andrés and his nonprofit World Central Kitchen.The movie effectively begins in media res, with the robustly gregarious Andrés and his dedicated crew  years into their vocation, providing hot meals to isolated residents of Wilmington, N.C., in the wake of 2018’s Hurricane Florence — and coming perilously close to tasting their own disaster when floodwaters almost topple their delivery truck — before backing up to explain just who Andrés is and what started him on his mission.A native of Spain, Andrés moved to the U.S.

Zack Sharf Al Pacino celebrated the 50th anniversary of “The Godfather” this month in a interview with The New York Times. While the actor reminisced on often-told stories about Paramount Pictures executives battling Francis Ford Coppola over his casting as Michael Corleone, Pacino also revealed a moment on set when he saw the director at his most vulnerable. The constant tension between Coppola and Paramount resulted in the filmmaker “profusely crying” on set after the studio cut the filming of one iconic scene short.“You remember the funeral scene for Marlon, when they put him down?” Pacino said.

Jon Burlingame Film composers are always looking for novel ways to express ideas and convey character in music. Two of this year’s original-score nominees were especially innovative in finding musical solutions for storytelling challenges.“Dune” demanded a sonic landscape unlike anything composer Hans Zimmer had ever tackled (including such sci-fi projects as “Inception” and “Interstellar,” which brought him two of his previous 11 Oscar nominations).

Sony Pictures Classics announced today that its feature documentary Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story, co-directed by five-time Oscar nominee Frank Marshall (The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart) and Ryan Suffern (Mr. A & Mr. M: The Story of A&M Records), will hit theaters in New York and Los Angeles on May 13, before expanding to additional markets in the following weeks. It will open against IFC Films’ horror-thriller The Innocents, Roadside Attractions’ comedy Family Camp and Universal’s horror-thriller Firestarter starring Zac Efron and more.

The joy of playing the guitar radiates from Really Good Rejects, Alice Gu’s SXSW documentary about Reuben Cox. Cox is a modern-day “luthier” – he makes stringed instruments, and his custom guitars grace stages all over the world. Artists clearly have a passion for his work: those lining up to praise him include Jackson Browne, Carrie Brownstein, Aaron Dessner of The National, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Madison Cunningham, and Andrew Bird.

Brent Renaud has sadly died.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefBrent Renaud, a U.S. filmmaker and journalist, was killed in Kyiv, Ukraine on Sunday, while reporting on the Russian invasion of the country.

Mike Wass Nicki Minaj is reclaiming the narrative. After opening up a dialogue with fans in last night’s Instagram Live, the rapper sat down with Joe Budden for an exhaustive interview. While the 39-year-old steered clear of the hot-button issues that have plagued her of late, she addressed a long list of topics including plastic surgery, upcoming projects, chart manipulation, motherhood, and the state of female rap.The “Do We Have A Problem?” hitmaker was particularly transparent about the latter subject, explaining how she feels about being the blueprint and avoiding trends that many of her contemporaries jump on.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterHBO was hit with a class action lawsuit on Tuesday alleging that it shares subscribers’ viewing history with Facebook, in violation of a federal privacy law.A class action law firm, Bursor & Fisher, filed the suit in federal court in New York on behalf of two HBO Max subscribers, Angel McDaniel and Constance Simon. The suit alleges that HBO provides Facebook with customer lists, which allows Facebook to match customers’ viewing habits with their Facebook profiles.The suit alleges that HBO never receives consent from subscribers to do this, thereby violating the Video Privacy Protection Act.

Reflection, a film set during the war in Donbass in eastern Ukraine in 2014 [via Variety].Switzerland’s Visions du Réel docs festival has announced that its selections for its April event will comprise four works directed and/or produced in Ukraine. Simon Lereng Wilmont’s A House Made Of Splinters, which won a directing prize at Sundance in January, is one of the included films.In November, the Stockholm Film Festival will host film screenings, director visits and masterclasses in order to promote the country’s cinema.The Czech Republic’s Karlovy Vary Intl.

EXCLUSIVE: Jay Duplass (The Chair), Sonny Poon Tip (Holby City) and Katrine De Candole (Crow) are set as new series regulars opposite Myha’la Herrold for Season 2 of HBO/BBC’s investment banking drama Industry, from creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay.

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Diversified holding company Ballantyne Strong has launched Strong Studios, a new wing of its entertainment division, with two scripted series already in the works for 2022.

Will Smith’s “Welcome to Earth” will likely premiere its second season at the end of the year. An Instagram reel published in Will’s Instagram shows him having fun in Guatemala, suggesting the country will make an appearance on the Disney+ series.Will Smith is the screen parent of Venus and Serena Williams in their upcoming biopic ‘King Richard’King Richard star says she ‘freaked out’ when she met Serena WillamsA post shared by Will Smith (@willsmith)The video shows Will having a blast in Guatemala, dancing with people, signing autographs and making the most of his time there. “Thank you Guatemala for all of your love!” he captioned the reel.

Hollywood icons! Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s boundary-breaking relationship and career evolution is the subject of Amazon Prime Video’s Lucy and Desi documentary.

HBO Max and WarnerMedia OneFifty are partnering with the Georgia Latino Film Festival, the Houston Latino Film Festival, the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, the Miami Film Festival, the New York Latino Film Festival and the Philadelphia Latino Film Festival to expand their annual Latino Short Film Competition, with submissions open as of yesterday and closing on May 2nd at 11:59 p.m. PT.

J. Kim Murphy The Oscar-nominated “Flee” took home the top prize at the 15th annual Cinema Eye Honors on Tuesday evening at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York.Going into the evening, Neon and Participant Media’s “Flee” led the field with a total of seven nominations, while “Summer of Soul (…Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)” followed with six.Filmmaker Cheryl Dunye also received the organization’s legacy award during the ceremony.