‘My Dead Friend Zoe’ Review: Kyle Hausmann-Stokes Film Unveils The Invisible Wounds Of War – SXSW

When is a collection of dreamy, romantic, forlorn, and crestfallen moods just that and not actually much of a movie other than a series of sequences that sum up those big melancholy feelings with achingly dreamy music? Oooh, ooh! “The Greatest Hits,” filmmaker Ned Benson’s latest feature-length effort, would like to field this one. Built one too many many groan-worthy romantic clichés like the relationship breakup phrase, “it’s time to move on,” taken to an implausibly silly genre and literal level, Benson uses a flimsy neurological time travel conceit to tentatively move forward and heal his hopelessly heartbroken protagonist’s heart.

Music, by and large, can be seen as autobiographical; it’s far from uncommon for songwriters not to draw from any number of personal experiences encompassing, say, the lows of heartbreak and loss to life’s triumphs, all of which and more could easily reside within the average person as distant memories but attain a sort of immortality once this narrative is set to music.

Prime Video has unveiled first-look images of its The Narrow Road to The Deep North adaptation starring Jacob Elordi, which has wrapped production in Australia.

SXSW organizers on Monday announced the Audience Award winners for the festival’s recently wrapped 31st edition.

Look, let’s be honest. From the opening seconds of its debut trailer, we all knew that Alex Garland’s “Civil War” would not be a pill that went down easily.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic “I’ve lost more guys here than I did in Iraq,” testifies a veteran during one of the many group therapy sessions featured in “My Dead Friend Zoe,” Kyle Hausmann-Stokes’ affecting look at mental health among ex-servicepeople. Two decades of life experience and personal loss have led the filmmaker to this project, which was inspired by the deaths of friends he served alongside during his own five-year tour of duty with the U.S. Army.

CMAT has revealed that she had a plan to film an epic music video with Jedward for her second album.The singer-songwriter took to X/Twitter to share her love for the group – comprised of twins John and Edward Grimes, who first found fame on X Factor back in 2009.After their time on the show, the Irish pop duo went on to release four studio albums, and have frequently made appearances on reality television across the UK. However, the siblings have been making headlines more recently following the comments made by former X Factor judge Louis Walsh, who described them as “vile” while on Celebrity Big Brother.“They were vile…But they were great.

Director Adam Shankman (“Hairspray”) and Amazon MGM Studios are putting together two action heavyweights for a new film, “The Man With The Bag.” Deadline reports that Arnold Schwarzenegger will make his first big screen debut in years with the Christmas comedy he’ll co-star with rising action star Alan Ritchson. READ MORE: Alan Ritchson Says Marvel’s’ Thor’ Role Was His To Lose Initially, But “Didn’t Take The Audition Seriously” “The Man With The Bag” focuses on Santa’s stolen magic bag, and the Christmas icon turns to the naughty list to find a former thief named Vance to help retrieve the bag in a massive heist.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Fresh off her recent stint hosting “Saturday Night Live,” Sydney Sweeney made her way to Austin and SXSW for the world premiere of her new religious horror film “Immaculate” — and on Tuesday night, she had the crowd screaming (and laughing at their own reactions) at the Paramount Theatre. The jump scares, in particular, had the entire theater jumping — and then giggling at their own fear. “Immaculate” leans into horror but also has plenty of moments of dark humor.

Jake Lloyd played Anakin Skywalker in 1999’s Star Wars: Episode 1 — The Phantom Menace and left the limelight shortly after the film’s release.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The Black Keys named one of their most popular albums “Brothers,” which seems on the face of it to be a positive statement of purpose and, obviously, fraternalism between the rock duo’s two members, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney. But the question remains: what kind of brothers? Like, Oasis’ battling Gallaghers, or some gentler brand of bros? It’s a question fans will think about after seeing “This Is a Film About the Black Keys,” an engaging music documentary that trains a spotlight on some lesser-known, historical tensions between the two as well as what binds them.

From the basement of dingy jam sessions in Akron, Ohio, to arena rock success, a multiplatinum career, and multiple Grammy wins, “This is a Film About The Black Keys” tracks the unlikely rise of one of rock’s biggest duos. Directed by Jeff Dupre (“Soundtracks: Songs That Defined History,” “Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present”), the largely conventional rock doc doesn’t break the mold but engages, nonetheless, telling a captivating story of brotherhood, slow-grinding perseverance, weathering many personal storms, and the heavy tolls that success enacts.

Oppenheimer ended the evening as the top-winning movie. The biopic about the man who created the atomic bomb earned seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor.Poor Things came next, with four trophies. The biggest honor that the film snagged was Best Actress, with Emma Stone beating out fellow favorite Lily Gladstone, nominated for Killers of the Flower Moon.The only other movie to collect more than one Oscar was Jonathan Glazer’s harrowing Holocaust drama The Zone of Interest, which won Best International Feature and an extremely well-deserved Sound Design win.Three of the four acting categories went to first-time winners.

Faye Bradley Hong Kong’s One Cool Film group has announced five new movies, revealed through exclusive teasers and posters on the opening day of FilMart. Upcoming films include “Love Lies,” starring Sandra Ng and M.C. Cheung Tinfu; “The Trier of Fact,” directed by Calvin Tong and featuring Louis Koo and Eddie Peng; “The Way We Talk,” produced, written and directed by Adam Wong, with Neo Yau, Chung Suet Ying and Ng Tsz Ho Marco in leading roles; “Good Game,” helmed by Dickson Leung, written by Lily He Xin and Sheng Ling Xiu Zhong, and starring Andrew Lam, Will Or and Yanny Chan; and “Behind the Shadows,” produced by Soi Cheang, directed by Jonathan Li and Chou Man Yu, and starring Koo, Chrissie Chou and Liu Kuan Ting.

Selome Hailu Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst donned his turn-of-the-millennium apparel for the SXSW world premiere of “Y2K,” the Kyle Mooney-directed teen disaster comedy in which the rapper plays himself. “Y2K” follows two high schoolers (Jaeden Martell, Julian Dennison) who crash a New Year’s Eve party on the last night of 1999 when they realize that the projected computer apocalypse is actually happening before their eyes. Claudette Godfrey, president of SXSW Film and TV, introduced the film by joking that it was an honest depiction of what happened that night.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer When “My Dead Friend Zoe” filmmaker Kyle Hausmann-Stokes set out to adapt his own experiences as an Army vet onto the big screen, he made two very big changes: gender-flipping the main characters and two women of color in the roles. Starring Sonequa Martin-Green and Natalie Morales, “My Dead Friend Zoe” is a dark dramedy that follows Merit (Martin-Green), a U.S. Army Afghanistan veteran who is at odds with her family thanks to the presence of Zoe (Morales), her dead best friend from the Army.

When dealing with an utterly preposterous premise, it’s best to dive straight into the outrageousness of it all and never let the audience have a second to question it. Writer/director Alice Lowe clearly understands the assignment with her clever new absurdist comedy, “Timestalker,” which doesn’t waste a second triggering its ridiculous but enjoyable idea.

Universal Television’s top comedy development executives said business is thriving with EVP Jim Donnelly calling the moment “oddly busy.”  

You can tell it’s spring.

Cecilia Roth will be honored with the Platinum Honor Award at the 11th Edition of the PLATINO XCARET Awards, which will be presented on April 20, 2024, at the Xcaret Park in Riviera Maya, Mexico, in recognition of her outstanding career in the film industry. The career of an Argentinean actress started at the age of 16 while she was attending school.