‘To Catch a Killer’ Review: Shailene Woodley Hunts a Mass Shooter on the Loose in Baltimore

Dennis Harvey Film Critic A creeping black spot on a darkening globe suffers some degree of illumination — not voluntarily, of course — in “The Rise of Wagner.” Benoit Bringer’s documentary about the Russian private army of mercenaries relies on a mix of news reports, human rights experts and sometimes anonymous witnesses to expose Wagner Group’s shadowy involvement in various conflicts over the last decade. It’s a damning if necessarily rather fragmented view, since the organization remains cloaked in secrecy, its own government continuing to deny affiliation. Offering global political insights as well as lurid true-crime-type content, this Hot Docs premiere is well-suited to broadcast slots for serious-minded nonfiction.  

Dennis Harvey Film Critic As the saying goes, you can take the man out of Texas … but apparently he’ll drag an arsenal of Lone Star State clichés wherever he goes, at least in “One Ranger.” Stuntman turned writer-director Jesse V. Johnson’s latest action programmer has Thomas Jane as a Texas Ranger so ornery-tough he makes even Chuck Norris look too nice, called upon to chase terrorists overseas for no obvious reason at all. Well, perhaps the reason is simply to indulge some viewers’ notion that Texamurricans just naturally shoot ’n’ smack them foreign evildoers better. Those not buying such logic will find this mediocre effort ridiculous as well as uninspired. Lionsgate is releasing the feature to 11 U.S. theaters as well as digital and on-demand platforms on May 5. 

Brie Larson, Paul Dano and Julia Ducournau are among the eight people chosen to complete the main competition jury at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, Cannes organizers announced Thursday morning in Paris.Swedish director Ruben Ostlund, who won the Palme d’Or last year for “Triangle of Sadness,” was previously announced as president of the jury. The presence of Ducournau, who won the top award for “Titane” in 2021, means that the last two Palme winners will be part of the deliberations to determine who succeeds them this year.Other jurors will be Moroccan writer-director Maryam Touzani, who was in Cannes last year with “The Blue Caftan”; French actor Denis Menochet, who recently appeared in Ari Aster’s “Beau Is Afraid”; Zambian/British writer-director Rungano Nyoni, whose “I’m Not a Witch” premiered in Cannes; Afghan novelist and writer-director Atiq Rahimi, whose film work often adapts his own bestselling books; and Argentinian writer-director Damian Szifron, who landed an Oscar nomination for his 2014 Cannes film “Wild Tales.”The jury’s 5-to-4 split between men and women is typical for Cannes in recent years.

Christian Nodal and Cazzu are awaiting for the arrival of their baby. Ever since the two announced their pregnancy, they’ve been joyfully sharing photos, discussing their relationship and their child.

Manchester United have reportedly been told they will not be able to enter talks with Inter Milan striker Lautaro Martinez.

Gwyneth Paltrow is reflecting on experiencing “love at first sight” with Brad Pitt.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Argentina-Chile coproduction “The Punishment,” directed by Matias Bize, was named best feature over the weekend at the close of the Beijing International Film Festival. Mexico’s Lila Avilés won the Tiantan Award for best director for her film “Totem.” Antonia Zegers and Line Renaud shared the best actress award for “The Punishment” and “Driving Madeleine,” respectively. The best actor award went to Xin Baiqing for Chinese movie “The Shadowless Tower.” The film, which premiered in February in Berlin, was the numerical winner. With the best screenplay, music, cinematography and artistic contribution awards, it won a total of five prizes.

Alicia Keys’s “Keys to the Summer” world tour is stopping by Latin America. Keys informed her fans on social media, sharing her excitement over getting to perform in some of the continent’s most iconic venues and locations. Alicia Keys teases possible duet with Lady GagaTakeoff’s ‘Celebration of Life’: Alicia Keys and Justin Bieber are expected to take to the stage at the rapper’s funeralAlicia Keys and Swizz Beatz are couple goals while visiting QatarA post shared by Alicia Keys (@aliciakeys)Keys posted a video of herself singing the Spanish version of “If I Ain’t Got You,” one of her most famous songs.

Cazzu and Christian Nodal will soon be starting a family. After much speculation that the Argentine rapper was expecting her first child with the Mexican singer, she finally confirmed it on stage during a show in Argentina.

Anna Marie de la Fuente After 25 years, Susana Gimenez, Argentina’s celebrated TV host, actress, model and entrepreneur, is set to make her hotly anticipated return to the big screen in a new Diego Kaplan (“2+2,” “My Boyfriend’s Meds”) comedy.  The still untitled film, penned by Kaplan and Pablo Minces, centers on a preeminent child psychologist who has her own struggles with her 43-year-old son who is reluctant to leave home. Principal photography is slated for October in Buenos Aires. “I can’t believe I’m making a movie after all these years; I certainly wasn’t planning for it,” said Gimenez. “But Diego is a force of nature and a visionary. When he pitched the project to me, I just couldn’t resist it and jumped right in,” she added. Aside from starring in a host of film and TV series, Gimenez hosted a top-rated talk show likened to that of Oprah Winfrey or Italy’s Raffaella Carrà.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire’s “Black Flies” starring Sean Penn, and Catherine Corsini’s “Le retour” have been added to the competition lineup of the upcoming 76th Cannes Film Festival. As many as 13 movies have been peppered across several sections, including the competition, special screening, Un Certain Regard and out of competition. Robert Rodriguez’s “Hypnotic” and Kim Tae-gon’s “Project Silence” are joining the Midnight Screening roster, while Amat Escalante’s Mexican drama “Perdidos en la Noche” and Argentinian helmer Lisandro Alonso’s thriller “Eureka” starring Viggo Mortensen and José María Yazpik, will bow at Cannes Premiere, a non-competitive section launched in 2021. Alonso previously won Cannes’ Un Certain Regard with his 2014 movie “Jauja.” Also slated for Cannes Premiere is Valerie Donzelli’s drama “L’Amour et les forets.”

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Magnolia Pictures International has acquired worldwide sales rights — including U.S. sales rights — to heist comedy-drama “The Delinquents” from Argentinian writer-director Rodrigo Moreno (“The Custodian”). The film will world premiere as part of the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival. In “The Delinquents,” the routine lives of two bank employees, Morán and Román, break down when Morán steals a small fortune from the bank’s vault. On the run, he glimpses a possible alternative to the gray life he’s been living and, in addition, falls in love. But he is forced to choose between this radical alternative and following through on his heist plans, so he resigns himself to a short prison stint. His colleague Román, unwillingly in possession of the stolen money, feels trapped by the secret he’s keeping; his paranoia increases until he too finds a way out, and also discovers a new love. But, bound by their common destiny (highlighted by the similarity of their names), the two protagonists are inevitably drawn together again.

Dennis Harvey Film Critic Artificial Intelligence has been increasingly in the news of late, with observers worried that it will soon become difficult for teachers to tell if students actually completed a project themselves (or a program did it for them), for anyone to recognize whether a supposed breaking evidential video is in fact a deepfake, and so forth. “The Artifice Girl,” however, frames the problems raised by ever-growing technological sophistication in a familiar narrative framework: that of the machine intelligence that begins to surpass its human “masters.”  Unlike portrayals from “2001” to “Ex Machina” and beyond, however, Franklin Ritch’s debut feature does not treat that dynamic in thriller terms, as a hostile takeover. Instead, this smaller-scaled speculative fiction is more concerned with ethics, as pondered in a series of dialogue sequences that aren’t static but might also have worked on stage, and require nothing in the way of FX. The results may not be what fantasy fans in need of action and spectacle are looking for. But Ritch’s film, which won the Best International Feature Audience Award at Fantasia last year, is engaging food for thought for viewers willing to let ideas rather than visuals fire up their futuristic imagination. XYZ Films is releasing it April 27 to limited U.S. theaters, as well as on-demand and digital platforms. 

The filmmaking couple Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin have earned a reputation for making documentaries about people who accomplish the unthinkable – the no-ropes climber Alex Honnold in the Oscar-winning Free Solo, or the divers of The Rescue who, against all odds, saved a group of Thai kids stranded in a flooded cave.

Stanley Tucci has had plenty of memorable roles over the years, including “Big Night,” “Road To Perdition,” “Spotlight,” and “The Hunger Games” franchise, among others. But there’s one role the actor hopes never to play again and almost tried to get out of playing it entirely.

Stanley Tucci earned his first Oscar nomination playing serial killer George Harvey in The Lovely Bones but it’s a role he would never want to revisit.

Benicio del Toro will be recognized with the Platino Honorary Award. The award celebrates Ibero-American filmmaking, being one of the few recognitions that considers Latin American and Spanish talent.

Bourne for this life!  Matt Damon loves being a girl dad  — and was happy to be thrown into the role when he became stepdad to wife Luciana Barroso’s daughter Alexia.  

Michaela Jaé Rodriguez is sending a strong message to Florida lawmaker Webster Barnaby after he addressed the transgender community as “mutants.” The Hollywood star took to social media to share some empowering words, declaring that she is proud to live her truth. “We have people that live among us today on planet Earth that are happy to display themselves as if they were mutants from another planet,” Barnaby said, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.The ‘POSE’ actress decided to post a stunning image of a fan-made illustration, in which she can be seen dressed up as the popular X-Men character Psylocke. Made by Argentinian artist Artecco, the image stole everyone’s attention, accompanied by a positive message by MJ.“Rep.

Addie Morfoot Contributor At Tuesday’s New York City premiere of Nat Geo’s documentary “Wild Life,” Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, shed light on his 2022 decision to donate the entire apparel brand, worth $3 billion, to a trust dedicated to fighting the climate crisis.“I’m kind of pessimistic about the fate of this planet,” Chouinard said. “We’ve been giving one percent of our sales for a long time. We’ve given away $200 or $300 million over the years, but I’m always thinking, ‘What more can I do?”Directed by Oscar winners Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, “Wild Life” chronicles the decades-long efforts by conservationist Kris Tompkins and her late husband and the North Face founder, Doug Tompkins, to create national parks throughout Chile and Argentina. The couple helped Chouinard, who appears in the doc, create and run Patagonia.Chouinard, who joined Vasarhelyi, Chin and Tompkins onstage after the MoMA screening, added that his decision to give the planet $3 billion also had to do with his two children, who have “simple lives” and no desire to inherit Patagonia.  “When we found a way to basically make earth our stockholder, it seemed real logical,” he continued. “It’s a way for Patagonia as a company to give a lot more money. We’ve given away $33 million since November. We’re going to give away another $40 or $50 [million] within the next couple months. It’s a pretty good system. I can tell you this: it’s not a burden. It’s really a lot of fun.”