the death of stalin

Game Over, Man

I’m not sure what the point of this “VR Experience” for the Netflix-original movie was other than to show what stoned losers the main characters are, but it’s kind of amusing in and of itself.

The Last Movie Star

There’s a new music video featuring footage from the movie for one of the songs off the soundtrack by Stranger Friends, one of the 12 the young band has on the album.

Love After Love

Another interview with Andie MacDowell about her career and taking on the role in the movie.

Blockers

Leslie Mann has done a few additional press stops including an appearance on “Late Night” to promote the movie and talk about John Cena’s butt.

Director Kay Cannon has given a couple of post-release interviews like this one where she continued talking about creating a raunchy but also emotional comedy.

This is a great example of the kind of story that’s been common throughout the movie’s publicity cycle, one that focuses on rebranding Cena as a comedy star.

Lean on Pete

Director Andrew Haugh speaks here about how he worked to tell the story of working-class residents of the Pacific Northwest in an authentic, respectful and non-cliche way.

You Were Never Really Here

A joint interview here with Joaquin Phoenix and Lynne Ramsay about the working relationship they developed and the story they were trying to tell in the movie.

Annihilation

Great points here at Indiewire that if Paramount found the movie was going to be too tough a sell, that’s partly because of a system that emphasizes IP-based movies and other blockbusters. And if audiences are upset by the movie heading (in international markets) quickly to Netflix, it’s partly because they’ve failed to turn out for difficult, complex movies and made studios question their commercial viability.

Pandas

While I didn’t cover the campaign for the documentary, I couldn’t not mention that an AR app was launched by IMAX that allowed users to see a anthropomorphized panda in the real world they could ask questions to. You can see the trailer here.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Screenwriter Tony Gilroy has made comments about the troubled state of affairs he inherited prior to the much-discussed reshoots the film underwent. I’m not a huge fan of people throwing others under the bus like this, but that was a significant part of the movie’s pre-release media coverage.

A Quiet Place

The movie’s sound design has been a major topic of conversation in the press coverage and reviews, so it’s good that the team behind that work has finally gotten a profile of their own.

Director/star John Krasinski and costar/wife Emily Blunt talk here about what, if any, political messages the movie has for audiences.

Outside In

Star Edie Falco has done a bit more press than she did prior to release, including this “Late Night” appearance where she joked around with host Seth Meyers.

Chappaquiddick

Also getting in on the late night circuit is Jason Clarke, who still oddly dominates the press cycle for this movie over costar Kate Mara. I guess that’s the advantage of playing a Kennedy.

Writer/director Armando Iannucci talks about the need for dark comedy and gallows humor in the midst of a slightly depressing reality.

Chris Thilk is a freelance writer and content strategist who lives in the Chicago suburbs.

A Wrinkle In Time

Great stuff here about how Ava DuVernay immediately sought to make the lead of the story someone who looked different than the usual fantasy film lead, found star Storm Reid and was trying to be more optimistic and hopeful with the story.

Reid gets her own profile based on her breakout performance.

Some of the movie’s posters out in the real, physical world have been part of a test by Facebook of a new augmented reality experience based on trackers. In this case those add effects like those seen in the movie to the poster.

Dundee

The fake movie campaign is apparently being seen as a big boost for Australia’s tourism industry over the next few years, which was exactly the point.

Thoroughbreds

Considering how large a role the house where the action takes place seems to have played in the story it’s only nature that it get a high-end profile of its own.

There’s also a new interview with writer/director Cory Finley.

Mother!

Writer/director Darren Aronofsky made the subtext of the divisive film the text in a keynote address at SXSW, laying out exactly what he was going for, apparently hoping it will get people to revisit or rethink their initial opinions.

The Death of Stalin

How do you create satire in an era where satire is being outpaced by reality three times a day? Armando Iannucci covers that and other issues in this interview about the movie.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Interesting perspective here on whether or not the film holds up a decade later, including how it seems to fit in surprisingly well (in most regards) with today’s cultural climate of female empowerment and men needing to embrace and express their emotions.

Black Panther

One analyst thinks that, as massive a hit as the movie currently is, Disney could have actually done better if it had made it available day-and-date on a proprietary streaming service. Interesting idea, not sure if I completely agree.

Tomb Raider

I totally missed this CNET interview with Alicia Vikander that’s actually much more substantive than most of the other press she did, allowing her to talk about the roots of the character, how the actress was happy there were no guns involved in the action and more.

Oh look, the internet is still a terrible place as “fans” of the game series criticize Vikander for not having an artificially-sexualized body type. What jackweeds.

The source code on the movie’s website may have revealed the release date of a new video game, which it totally was.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

A new profile of breakout star Kelly Marie Tran talks not only about her role in that movie but also what’s next for the actress and how she views the industry as a whole.

I Can Only Imagine

While I didn’t cover the marketing for the movie (it just fell by the wayside), there are a couple stories at IndieWire and The L.A. Times that are worth reading in how Roadside Attractions engaged in some new tactics to try and reach a faith-based audience that’s become more selective about what movies it supports.

Love, Simon

A nice profile here of co-star Natasha Rothwell, who plays one of Simon’s teachers in the movie. And another with director Greg Berlanti where he once more talked about the central themes of the movie’s story plus one more where he discussed his requests regarding the marketing of the movie.Also, new interviews with author Becky Albertalli and costar Keiynan Lonsdale,

Flower

A new interview with star Zoey Deutch has her talking about how she took the role in part because it offered the kind of nuanced, morally ambiguous character women are offered too infrequently.

Chris Thilk is a freelance writer and content strategist who lives in the Chicago suburbs.