‘Self Reliance’ Review: Jake Johnson’s Directorial Debut Has An Interesting Premise But Spoils It With Unfocused Execution – SXSW

Jesse Lee Soffer has returned home to NBC’s Chicago P.D. but not as Jay Halstead. Instead, he’s making his debut as a director in tonight’s episode “Deadlocked.”

Halstead is back in the Windy City — but in a new role. Jesse Lee Soffer is making his directorial debut on Chicago P.D.’s Wednesday, March 22, episode, titled “Deadlocked.”

the critically acclaimed 2019 film Parasite, is set to make his directorial debut.Han has been confirmed as the director of South Korean streaming platform TVING’s upcoming K-drama series Running Mate (literal title), which is expected to premiere sometime in 2024, as reported by Sports Chosun.Aside from his work on Parasite, Han was also previously an assistant director for Netflix’s Ojka, the second season of Sense8, as well as the 2016 South Korean disaster film Pandora.The forthcoming series will follow high school student Se-hoon, who decides to run for student council elections in order to reinvent himself, but ends up becoming the focus of the election cycle.Meanwhile, Running Mate will reportedly star Seasons of Blossom‘s Yoon Hyun-soo in the lead role of Se-hoon. The series will also feature Tracer actor Lee Jung-sic, Mr.

Eva Longoria is getting ready to release her feature directorial debut “Flamin’ Hot”, which is set to have an unprecedented release debuting on both Hulu and Disney+ on June 9, 2023.

Marta Balaga “Succession” star Brian Cox gushed about wife Nicole Ansari-Cox at Series Mania, after she expressed solidarity with women of Iran at the fest’s opening, demonstrating the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom” to the photographers.   “My wife is half Iranian and she was one of the first people to cut her hair as part of the protest. We are living in such a difficult, dangerous time, particularly for women. In Afghanistan, in Iran. It’s unacceptable. I am very proud of my wife: She is a very strong woman with very strong opinions, and she taught me so much,” Cox told Variety during a roundtable interview.  

Riley Keough shared what it was like for her to receive the Caméra d’or prize for her directorial debut in War Pony at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor When Teresa Hsiao (“Family Guy”), Cherry Chevapravatdumrong (“Family Guy”) and Adele Lim (“Crazy Rich Asians”) set out to write “Joy Ride,” the aim was to develop a story that they wished they could have had seen in their twenties. “Joy Ride” sees Lim transition from writer to director in this “Girls Trip” meets “The Hangover” ride of a film where Stephanie Hsu, Sherry Cola, and Sabrina Wu follow Ashley Park’s Audrey across the world on a business trip to Asia. Things go awry when she has to track down her birth mother to close a huge business deal. The writers wanted a film that would show young Asian women having fun and being messy, smashing past narratives of Asian women as exotic fetishes. This was a story they wanted to tell on their terms.

Ghost shirts, which are sacred to certain Indigenous communities, were thought to guard the wearer against bullets through spiritual power. This precious heirloom is at the center of Tony Tost’s directorial debut film at SXSW, Americana. This western dramedy has some tricks up its sleeve, thanks to the brilliant writing and the script’s comedic timing. It boasts a big cast of actors including Sydney Sweeney, Halsey, Paul Walter Hauser, Zahn McClarnon, Simon Rex, Eric Dane and Gavin Maddox Bergman.

Demi Lovato is ready to explore new career paths. The talented singer will be making her directorial debut in an upcoming Hulu documentary, diving into the complexities and struggles of child stars, using her “first-hand experience and personal relationships” for the “exploratory film.”Many details of the upcoming project titled ‘Child Star’ have yet to be revealed, including the rest of the participants.

With a forthcoming Hulu documentary on the lives of child stars, Demi Lovato is making her directorial debut.

Demi Lovato partnered with Hulu to make their directorial debut.

Ellise Shafer Demi Lovato is stepping into the director’s chair. The singer, songwriter and actor will make their directorial debut with “Child Star” (working title), a feature-length documentary that aims to “deconstruct the highs and lows of growing up in the spotlight through the lens of some of the world’s most famous former child stars, including Lovato,” according to a press release. Lovato will co-direct alongside Nicola Marsh (“Stay on Board: The Leo Baker Story,” “Song Exploder). Producers include Michael D. Ratner’s OBB Pictures, Lovato’s production banner DLG and Scooter Braun’s SB Projects. The three companies have worked together before on the pop star’s docuseries “Dancing With the Devil,” which premiere at SXSW in 2021 and received critical acclaim. “Dancing With the Devil” dove deeper into Lovato’s personal life and struggles with addiction, particularly their near-fatal overdose in 2018.

Demi Lovato is making her directorial debut with a Hulu original feature documentary about former child stars.

When I saw the poster for Problemista, I wondered why Tilda Swinton–who stars in the film–was on the poster. After seeing this, I now understand. Written and directed by Julio Torres, the movie tackles issues of immigration, and isolation, all packaged in a sweet surrealist bow. Alongside Torres, the film stars Tilda Swinton, Rza, Isabella Rossellini, Catalina Saaverdra, and James Scully. 

The "New Girl" star tells a wildly goofy story with the right mixture of silliness and sweetness.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Jake Johnson describes his new film “Self Reliance,” which he wrote and directed, as “‘Jacob’s Ladder’ with some laughs.” The film is a comedy with real stakes: Johnson stars as a man who winds up in a game where he’s trying to win a million dollars while hunters try to kill him. The twist is he discovers that the hunters can only attack him when he’s alone. But when none of his friends or family believe the game is real, Johnson’s character must figure out how to survive on his own. There are scary moments, but more often it’s also really funny. And the audience screening it on Saturday night at the South by Southwest festival in Austin rocked the Paramount Theatre with big laughs throughout the film’s tight 85 minutes.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic There are movies made during the pandemic, and movies made because the pandemic, and though debuting director Jake Johnson had been kicking around the idea for “Self Reliance” for years, it took COVID to motivate him to make it. Why? Because the “New Girl” actor’s absurdist concept — about a sad-sack bored enough with his life that he agrees to risk it in a “Most Dangerous Game”-style reality show — assumed both profundity and relevance as soon as the species went into lockdown. Coming up for connection, Johnson delivers a silly and frequently surprising why-we-need-people parable. The helmer plays Tommy, who’s been a passive bystander in his own life for as long as he can remember, until one day famous dude Andy Samberg (who also happens to be among the film’s producers) randomly pulls up in a stretch limo and offers Tommy a ride. Should he take it? Probably not, but Tommy’s bored enough to accept, agreeing to meet a pair of eccentric producers who inform him that he’s been selected for a chance to win a million dollars. All he has to do is survive for 30 days, while a team of highly trained “hunters” try to take him out.

The "Pitch Perfect" actor takes on body image and mental illness in this sometime uncomfortable but often rewarding indie.

Anna Kendrick hit the red carpet with several of her castmates for a screening of her new movie Self Reliance at The Paramount Theater during the 2023 SXSW Conference and Festivals on Saturday (March 11) in Austin, Tex.

There can be no doubt why Searchlight Pictures was excited to bring Flamin’ Hot, the true life story of the man known as the ‘godfather of hispanic marketing’, to the screen. Premiering today at SXSW, the life story of Richard Montanez — a high school dropout from a struggling Latino family who worked as a janitor in a Southern California Frito-Lay factory for 10 years — is, at its heart, really a Rocky-style inspirational tale perfect for the Hollywood treatment. He eventually realized the American dream and rose to one the highest ranks of the company,