Though it features brief moments of confrontation with elderly Israeli subjects — some of them soldiers who were present at the time — the film depends too greatly on its sense of academia to unearth its story, and it struggles to fully engage with the explosive topic at hand for its first hour. However, in the final stretch of its 85-minute runtime, this approach proves foundational for chilling revelations and quiet, cinematically self-evident questions about the way we remember history....

This year, the TCA embraced new shows and limited series with Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso” leading the way with five nominations, including nods for Outstanding New Program, Outstanding Achievement in Comedy, and Program of the Year, along with recognition for both Jason Sudeikis and Hannah Waddingham for Individual Achievement in Comedy. (Unlike the Emmys, the TCAs use non-gendered categories and do not delineate between lead and supporting actors; individuals compete in Comedy and Drama groupings, which are open to all types of television programs....

There’s lots of caveats here: About 70 percent of theaters are open in the U.S., but the top-grossing locations in New York and Los Angeles remain closed. This weekend didn’t have a holiday attached, and since “Tenet” played for four days (including Thursday with full shows) before the weekend, that would likely reduce the first weekend’s total. The best news is that Warners reports that among the five top grosses for “Tenet,” four were in newly reopened areas....

Tucked inside these stories of triumph, there is also heartbreak, as no list of 2020’s best performances would be considered close to complete without reflecting back on the late Chadwick Boseman’s final on-screen performance, already an iconic last hurrah. As always, there were also plenty of exciting breakthrough performances this year, as we’ve already documented in a stacked list of rising stars of screens both large and small. And these best-of-the-bunch highlights of the year strike a similar balance: the best leading men onscreen this year either pushed their familiar talents in fresh directions, or took the glimmer of talent visible from previous work and transformed it into a higher plane of creative expression....

Another unexpected top 10 entry: Scott Cooper’s horror thriller “Antlers,” another Searchlight Pictures holdover from its initial 2020 slate, which is trailing just behind “Last Night in Soho.” It’s the second horror-centric entry on the list from Searchlight, clocking in just above David Bruckner’s “The Night House,” which the studio released in August after debuting at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. (Of interest: “The Night House” stars “Passing” filmmaker Rebecca Hall, whose debut feature just enjoyed a brief theatrical run before heading to Netflix this week; too bad then that Netflix does not report box office numbers, as Hall might be in line for a two-fer....

In today’s dollars, “The Godfather” grossed nearly $740 million. That’s enough to make it #26 of all time, with “Gone With the Wind,” “Star Wars,” “The Sound of Music,” “Titanic,” “Avengers: Endame,” and now “Spider-Man: No Way Home selling more tickets. Even so: “The Godfather” may rank higher when it comes to influence. Here’s why. Before it was an iconic film, “The Godfather” was a bestselling book. Mario Puzo’s 1969 novel sold over 9 million copies and revived dormant interest in gangster stories....

“I’m trying to build a world out of all this, like people do these days,” he said in an interview ahead of the SXSW announcement. “You can’t make a slasher movie without a bunch of sequels.” With “X,” West follows the experiences of a young amateur filmmaking team shooting a porn movie in rural Texas, a production interrupted by the murderous advances of the elderly couple who live on the land....

“[Tom Cruise] said, ‘We have to have Val, we have to have him back. We have to have him in the film,’” Bruckheimer said. “And he was the driving force. We all wanted him, but Tom was really adamant that if he’s going to make another ‘Top Gun,’ Val had to be in it.” Bruckheimer added of Kilmer, “He’s such a fine actor, and he’s such a good individual. We had such a good time on the first one and wanted to bring some of the gang back together again…It was a really emotional experience for all of us....

“I had a meeting, after or during ‘Spider-Man 2’ [‘Far from Home’], with Sony to pitch this idea of a young Bond film that I’d come up with,” Holland said. “It was the origin story of James Bond. It didn’t really make sense. It didn’t work. It was the dream of a young kid, and I don’t think the Bond estate were particularly interested.” A James Bond origin story has yet to be made among the latest set of Bond films, though Daniel Craig just finished out his run as 007 in “No Time to Die....

Neamt Culture and Heritage official Rocsana Josanu told Euro Weekly that an investigation has begun. “We have started looking into the strange appearance of the monolith. It is on private property, but we still don’t know who the monolith’s owner is yet,” she said. “It is in a protected area on an archaeological site. Before installing something there, they needed permission from our institution, one that must then be approved by the Ministry of Culture....

Otherwise, the shuffle back and forth at the top remains between “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” (Sony) and “No Time to Die” (United Artists), both now reduced to $5.99. “Venom 2” is #1 at both Google Play and Vudu, while the Bond film leads at iTunes. The lack of any new exclusive-to-home PVOD offerings left studios at what would seem a prime time to score high-end returns from $19.99 rentals....

Fans of Fleischer’s feature will not be at all disappointed by Andy Serkis’ faithful followup, “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” which sticks to the formula of the first — that formula being, of course, “let star Tom Hardy do whatever he wants, even better if that somehow involves crustaceans” — while also inching ever closer to putting the “lethal protector” into a familiar box. Still, even as Eddie Brock (Hardy) and his alien symbiote BFF (once again delightfully voiced by Hardy) hack their way through both Eddie’s messy personal life and the nutty serial killer who wants nothing more than to end it, it’s hard to shake the sense that the dynamic duo’s best years (and movies) might still be ahead of them....

Paramount+ is not ViacomCBS’ first foray into the streaming industry: The service is effectively a rebrand of CBS All Access, which launched in 2014. CBS All Access subscribers will not notice any service interruption and all of the original platform’s content is available on Paramount+. The rebranded service sells the same ad-free $9.99 per month subscription tier as CBS All Access, while a $4.99 ad-supported tier will launch in June and is $1 cheaper than CBS All Access’ ad-supported option....

Similar to “Fences,” the Netflix release “Ma Rainey’s” is adapted from an August Wilson play and features Denzel Washington as a producer. Davis leads the film as Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, the iconic singer who became known as the “Mother of the Blues” during the 1920s. The actress underwent her own physical transformation to play Ma Rainey, some of which she detailed last month during a conversation with the Toronto International Film Festival....

Director James Gunn and producer Peter Safran are set to become the new co-chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery’s superhero film, TV and animation branch next week, starting on November 1. The change was accompanied by the announcement that DC Films is being rebranded as DC Studios — probably not coincidentally, this puts it more in line with its closest rival, Marvel Studios, over at Disney. The duo of Gunn and Safran have worked extensively at the company — Gunn directed “The Suicide Squad” and HBO Max’s “Peacemaker,” while Safran executive produced those projects and other DC films such as “Aquaman” and “Shazam!...

“Warners has entertained broad audiences generation after generation,” she said. “2021 put that reputation and some of those relationships to the test. Warner Bros. Pictures is back here on this stage at CinemaCon, today, having held to its word to start 2022 with renewed focus and commitment to theatrical exhibition.” Coming off the strong theatrical performance of “The Batman” ($760 million worldwide), which waited 45 days before HBO Max, Warners seemed to prove the National Association of Theatre Owners’ new favorite mantra: “Simultaneous release is dead as a serious business model....

In “All I Know for Sure,” fans get a front-row seat as Pink lives out her wildest dreams: touring Europe with a full crew of musicians and dancers, along with her 9-year-old daughter Willow, and 4-year-old son Jameson, in tow. Pink’s husband, Carey Hart, also appears in the film which mixes footage from the road, along with behind-the-scenes interviews, and personal material. Director Michael Gracey (“The Greatest Showman”) takes audiences behind the curtain and into the life of a certified rock star, and it’s one hell of a ride....

The series, based on Colson Whitehead’s 2016 Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, reimagines the Underground Railroad as an actual railroad with engineers, conductors, train tracks, and underground tunnels. Cora’s journey to freedom isn’t without complications. She’s being followed by Ridgeway (Joel Edgerton), a bounty hunter obsessed with forcing her back to the Georgia plantation she escaped from. Ridgeway is fixated with capturing Cora in part because her mother was the only person he never caught....

Directed by Robert Alexander, the 95-minute film explores Cudi’s struggle to adjust to fame after the release of his 2009 debut LP “Man on the Moon: The End of Day.” The genre-bending debut album, featuring songs dealing with depression, anxiety, and loneliness, resonated deeply with young listeners and launched Cudi — whose birth name is Scott Mescudi — as a musical star. Kanye West, Timothée Chalamet, Shia LaBeouf, Willow Smith, Jaden Smith, Lil Yachty, and Pharrell Williams are featured in the documentary....

The halt to the Manilow performance occurred around 7:30 p.m., and saw 60,000 fans in attendance, including those in the VIP area, exit immediately. At the time of the evacuation, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio expressed optimism that the show would still go on. “We need everyone for a brief period of time to move to some place safe because of thunder and lightning, and then we will bring the concert back,” he said, as reported by the New York Post....