Sabtu, 31 Agustus 2019

Tom Holland, Avengers Co-Stars Talk Spider-Man Split From Marvel Cinematic Universe

Free Movie Streaming Sites



Tom Holland, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and some of the stars of the Marvel Cinematic Universe opened up at Disneys D23 expo about the Spider-Man split between Sony and Marvel Studios.

Holland who played Peter Parker in five MCU films despite Sony owning the classic superhero didnt address the situation outright while promoting his animated film Onward at D23, but he did tell the audience, Its been a crazy week, but I want you to know I am grateful from the bottom of my heart and I love you 3,000.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Holland elaborated on the situation, Basically, weve made five great movies. Its been five amazing years. Ive had the time of my life. Who knows what the future holds? But all I know is that Im going to continue playing Spider-Man and having the time of my life. Its going to be so fun, however we choose to do it. The future for Spider-Man will be different, but it will be equally as awesome and amazing, and well find new ways to make it even cooler.

Marvel Unveils Phase 4 Plans: 'Thor 4,' 'Eternals,' 'Blade' RebootSpider-Man's Marvel Cinematic Universe Involvement in Jeopardy as Disney, Sony Face-Off

Under a unique partnership between two rival studios, Sony following a pair of disappointing Amazing Spider-Man films loaned out the character to Marvel Studios as part of a profit-sharing deal. Hollands Spider-Man appeared in three MCU films Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame as well as the standalone Homecoming and Far From Home, both co-produced by the Disney-owned Marvel Studios and Sonys Columbia Pictures.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that the partnership between Sony and Marvel would end after stalled negotiations, making Spider-Mans future in the MCU tenuous. Sony cited Feiges increased workload Phase 4 films and the numerous Disney+ television projects as one of the reasons for the Spider-Man split.

Feige didnt address the situation during Marvels D23 panel, but he told EW, Im feeling about Spider-Man gratitude and joy. We got to make five films within the MCU with Spider-Man: two standalone films and three with the Avengers. It was a dream that I never thought would happen. It was never meant to last forever. We knew there was a finite amount of time that wed be able to do this, and we told the story we wanted to tell, and Ill always be thankful for that.

At D23, Rolling Stone Senior Writer Jamil Smith spoke to several of Hollands Avengers co-stars about Spider-Mans departure from the MCU.

Its really upsetting, Scarlet Witch portrayer Elizabeth Olsen said. Hes such an addition, hes such a light and an energy and a humor. He added so much to the franchise, its really disappointing.

Paul Bettany, who plays Vision in the MCU, told Smith that, more than the Spider-Man character, he would miss Hollands presence at events like D23 and Comic-Con. Having him around on the set and at these events, hes such a shining light and always happy, Bettany said. Im really gonna miss him. Hes so gifted.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier stars Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie echoed their fellow Avengers stars. We havent given up hope yet, Stan said of a possible Sony/Marvel reunion. Were saying, Lets hopefully have them work it out. Because it would be weird to not have him. You have to trust Kevin Feige.

Mackie added, And theres no one else to make fun of My boots would have no heel if we dont have him.

Agent Carter star Hayley Atwell likened the situation to MCU fans emotional attachment to the superheroes on-screen. Its not always just the happy ending; theres got to be the bittersweet reality of people dont always end up where you want them to be or theyre not always going to be around, Atwell sold Smith. Thats an important life lesson to know, its something every human being faces at some point.

Meryl Streep Exposes Worldwide Fraud in Steven Soderberghs The Laundromat Trailer

Streaming Full Movies 2019 Online free



Meryl Streep plays a widow who helps expose worldwide fraud in the dizzying first trailer for The Laundromat, director Steven Soderberghs upcoming Netflix film about the Panama Papers scandal.

The clip opens with a pair of shady law firm partners, Jrgen Mossack (Gary Oldman) and Ramn Mora (Antonio Banderas), breaking the fourth wall as they stare into the camera and outline the broad strokes of the true story. First, you must ask yourself, Are you wealthy?' Mossack says. Simple truth of the world is that [with] most games, for someone to win, well, someone has to lose Think of this as a fairy tale that actually happened.

The preview then cuts to Streeps Ellen Martin, a widow who learns shes victim of insurance fraud and decides to investigate. Bribery, corruption, money laundering, millions and millions and millions of dollars, she says later in the clip. Somebody has to sound the alarm.

David Schwimmer, Jeffrey Wright, Robert Patrick and Sharon Stone also star in The Laundromat, which premieres September 1st at the Venice Film Festival, followed by a theatrical release on September 27th and Netflix streaming on October 18th.

Soderbergh and writer Scott Z. Burns (The Informant!, Contagion) based The Laundromat on Jake Bernsteins 2017 book, Secrecy World: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite, which explored how Panamanian company Mossack Fonseca aided the super-rich in concealing wealth and evading taxes.

Burns also wrote and directed the upcoming film drama The Report, based on the Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture techniques.

Jumat, 30 Agustus 2019

Leslie Jones to Host Supermarket Sweep Game Show Reboot

Free Movie Streaming Sites



Following the news of her departure from the cast ofSaturday Night Live, Leslie Jones will return to the small screen to host a revival of Supermarket Sweep, the classic TV game show.

The revival will be produced by British media company Fremantle, with Jones credited as executive producer. Deadline reports that multiple networks are currently in a bidding war for the show, including ABC, NBC, Fox and Netflix. Jones is already set to appear as a contestant on ABCs revival of The $100,000 Pyramid, facing off against Rosie ODonnell. She also has an upcoming comedy special in the works with Netflix.

In the original Supermarket Sweep, created by Al Howard, contestants race around a supermarket and collect as many high-value grocery items in their shopping cart as they can before time runs out. The team with the most valuable items in their cart wins. The show originally ran from 1965 to 1967 on ABC, followed by a Nineties revival on Lifetime and an early aughts revival on Pax.

Jones upcoming big screen projects include a role in the Coming to Americasequel, as well as starring alongside Kristen Bell in the coupon cartel film Queenpins.

Atlanta Renewed for Season Four

Stream Movies 2020 Online free



Donald Glovers FX showAtlanta has been renewed for a fourth season, Variety reports. FX made the announcement Tuesday at a Television Critics Association tour stop. As with prior seasons, Season Four will be executive produced by Glover and his brother Stephen, along with Paul Simms, Dianne McGunigle and Hiro Murai.

What more can be said about Atlanta than the critical acclaim and accolades that Donald, Paul, Dianne, Stephen and Hiro have earned for two exceptional seasons of what is clearly one of the best shows on television, said Eric Schrier, president of FX Entertainment. This group of collaborators and cast have created one of the most original, innovative stories of this generation and we are proud to be their partners.

Production of Season Four will run concurrently with the previously announced Season Three. Principal photography for both seasons, each including eight episodes, will begin spring 2020. A premiere date for Season Three has yet to be announced.

Atlanta features Glover in the starring role, alongside Brian Tyree Henry, Lakeith Stanfield and Zazie Beetz. Glover also recently starred as the voice of Simba in the Disney CGI adaptation of The Lion King. Under his stage name Childish Gambino, he most recently premiered the hour-long musical film Guava Island, directed by Murai and starring Glover and Rihanna, at Coachella this past April.

Marvel Sets Black Panther 2 for May 2022

Watch free Movies 2019 Online



Marvel and director Ryan Coogler announced at Disneys D23 expo Saturday that Black Panther II will hit theaters in May 2022.

Although a sequel to the blockbuster superhero film was a given considering its massive box office success, when the Marvel Cinematic Universe unveiled its initial Phase 4 schedule, the years 2020 and 2021 were stocked with new franchises (The Eternals, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), Disney+ series (WandaVision, The Falcon and Winter Soldier, Loki, Hawkeye) and sequels like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder, but no Black Panther follow-up.

However, to kick off the D23 expo, Marvel Entertainment put to rest all concerns by announcing that Black Panther II would arrive May 6th, 2022.

Additionally, following a day of speculation that had Game of Thrones star Kit Harington entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe as everyone from Wolverine to a Doctor Strange villain, it was revealed that the Jon Snow portrayer would be in The Eternals as Black Knight Dane Whitman (via Variety), joining a cast that already includes Richard Madden as Ikaris, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Salma Hayek as Ajak and Angelina Jolie as Thena.

During the Disney+ panel Friday, MCU head Kevin Feige announced that three additional series Ms. Marvel,She-HulkandMoon Knight are also in the works for the streaming service.

Kamis, 29 Agustus 2019

Disney Plots Home Alone Reboot for New Streaming Service

Watch this free Movies 2020



Disney plans to reimagine the 1990 family classic Home Alone for its forthcoming streaming service, Disney+. Home Alone is one of several well-known franchises that Disney now owns after it acquired 21st Century Fox for $71.3 billion in March.

During an earnings call Tuesday, Disney CEO Bob Iger said the company had big plans for properties like Home Alone, Night at the Museum, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Cheaper by the Dozen, all of which could be rebooted for Disney+, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Were also focused on leveraging Foxs vast library of great titles to further enrich the content mix on our [direct to consumer] platforms, Iger said. Iger didnt offer any additional details about any of the reboots, such as whether any of the original cast memberswould be involved, or if the properties would be reimagined as films or as television series.

Disneys desire to reimagine classic Fox properties for a new generations isnt that surprising, considering the company has spent the past several years producing live-action remakes of some of its most famous animated films. This year alone, Disney has released new versions of Dumbo, Aladdin and The Lion King, while later this year the studio will unveil a new version of Lady and the Tramp. Forthcoming live action remakes include Mulan and The Little Mermaid.

As for Disney+, the streaming service is set to launch in North America November 12th. Priced at about $7 a month, the service will boast a vast catalogue of film and TV shows, including all the Star Wars and Marvel movies, Disney animated films and Pixar movies, plus new original content.

Peter Fonda Preps 50th Anniversary Easy Rider Screening and Concert

films Movies 2019 Online to Watch for free



Easy Rider will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a screening and concert at Manhattans Radio City Music Hall September 20th. The groundbreaking counterculture biker film, which stars Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson, will be shown in sync with a live performance of the legendary soundtrack.

The score will be performed by Steppenwolfs John Kay and the Byrds Roger McGuinn, who both had songs featured in the film, including Born to Be Wild, Wasnt Born to Follow, and Ballad of Easy Rider. Other musicians will also appear with musical direction by T-Bone Burnett. The film, which has been newly remastered, turned 50 on July 14th.

The event will be produced by Live Nation, Dayglo Presents and Fonda himself, who co-wrote and produced the film. What a ride its been! the actor recently said at the Cannes Film Festival. From a funky motel room in Toronto in 67 to a roar on the shore at Cannes in May 1969. A wild ride up the stairs at the Palais into the history books of cinema. Looking for America. Would we find it today? I think not. Did we really blow it? You bet. 50 years later, are we blowing it now? You bet. Enjoy the new print. Sing along with the songs. Laugh with the humor! Remember the spirit! Find the love.

General tickets go on sale Friday, August 2nd at noon ET.

Rabu, 28 Agustus 2019

Vanessa Kirby, Your New Summer-Movie Action Hero

Streaming Full Movies 2019 Online free



Ask Vanessa Kirby if, as a little girl living in Londons middle-class neighborhood of Wimbledon, she dreamed of punching people in the face. You might hear a giggle on the other end of the phone line. Inquire about the endless hours she must have spent during her formative years wishing she could throw a toaster at someone in the middle of a fight or choke someone out with her thighs that inspires a heartier baritone chuckle from her. Suggest that Kirby must have grown up filled with a burning desire to drive a 360-degree rotating jeep out of a warehouse window. Now the 31-year-old actress makes a sort of pffft sound before laughing uproariously.

The World and 'Hollywood' According to Quentin TarantinoHow I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the 'Fast and Furious' Movies

Im so not an action-movie type, she says. Im a theater nerd from London! But you want a lot of different experiences as an actor. As many as possible. A pause. Which is how you find yourself hanging on the edge of a cliff and a helicopter is spinning around you and youre thinking, What the hell is going on?!

The helicopter scene comes near the end of Hobbs & Shaw, the Fast & Furious spin-off that Kirby stars in alongside Dwayne The Rock Johnson and Jason Statham. By the time we get to that visceral, climactic stunt, however, weve already watched her character Hattie Shaw a rogue MI6 agent and the sister to Stathams bad-guy-turned-good-guy Deckard Shaw do every one of those aforementioned activities. Weve also seen her hop and sprint across the tops of storage containers, slide across a concrete floor to take out two thugs at once, drive a truck sideways through a wall, display an affinity for heavy artillery, ride shotgun in roughly a half dozen high-speed car chases, and kick a chair into a guys midsection before slamming his head into a table. Kirby more than holds her own against her rough-and-tumble costars. Dwayne and Jason have been doing stuff like this for years, director David Leitch says. Vanessa is new to all of this, and she immediately gave as good as she got. Plus, like Ginger Rogers, she occasionally has to do what they do backwards and in heels.

For an actor whose breakthrough role was playing Princess Margaret in Netflixs award-winning series The Crown a part whose biggest physical requirement, she points out, was stubbing a cigarette into a sandwich Kirbys coronation as a bona fide running, jumping, ass-kicking action hero may be the best surprise of the summer movie season. Her brief but memorable turn in Mission: Impossible Fallout proved that she could handle herself in a melee and was handy with a knife. But what shes doing in this F&F franchise standout is some next-level, close-contact, roll-up-your-sleeves kind of work. It suggests that, in addition to playing rebellious royalty and femme fatales, Kirby may very well be the female Bond we deserve.

Yeah, I dont quite know how this happened, yet here we are, she says. When they came to me with this, I suddenly felt like: Ok, well, heres this opportunity to introduce another strong, female character into this series. I mean, you have Michelle Rodriguez and these other wonderful actresses whove been a part of these films in the past. But this is a story where you have these two men, and a woman whos an equal part of their team. Shes not being objectified. Shes not the weak link. She doesnt need them to fight on her behalf. She doesnt need to be saved.

I knew itd be hard, and I knew itd be fun to do, she continues. But what drove me was the idea that somewhere out there, some 13-year-old girl would go to the movies, and while her brothers are freaking out over the Rock, she gets someone to relate to. That girl gets to see herself up there. She gets to have the same experience her brothers or her male friends have when they go to an action movie. It suddenly seemed like this was an important thing to do as well.

Growing up in London, Kirby was more likely to be buried in a book than catching a blockbuster, claiming she preferred Chekhov to action movies, really, before groaning, That sounds so pretentious. God, so sorry. What a wanker! She was not what youd call sporty and caught the theater bug early on, as an outlet and an escape; Kirby has talked about being severely bullied at school and suffering from giardiasis as a teen. After years of doing plays in the U.K., she nabbed the Crown role. One of the shows fans, Tom Cruise, recruited her for M:I duty, and Kirby claims she wanted to make her character kind of weird, a little strangeI liked the idea of subverting the usual stereotype of the femme fatale. (The stare her mystery woman fixes on Cruise before planting a violent kiss on him is as intense as any of the action sequences not involving extreme skydiving.)

But it wasnt until she found herself watching the star on set that she gleaned the appeal of a D.I.Y approach to action filmmaking. Honestly, I didnt understand the whole notion of doing stunts until I saw Tom do what he did. You have to be part athlete, part dancer. A fight sequence is like learning a ballet. And Leitch, a former stuntman and fight co-ordinator who co-directed the first John Wick movie and Atomic Blonde, had a reputation for staging sequences which relied on his performers to be in the middle of things as much as possible. If you can train the actor to stay in 90-percent of the action, its just that much more compelling for the audience, he notes, citing Charlize Therons one-shot shootout in Blonde as a prime example. So to observe Vanessa get to the point where judo-throwing guys on the ground looks like its no big thingit was a blast to see her take to it.

Getting to that point, however, required a lot of training: three days a week, three hours a day, for six weeks. Lots of fighting, lots of parkour, lots of martial arts drills which I was pretty crap at initially, if were being honest, Kirby says. Then once I started to get the basics down, we could add things, take things away, create combinations of moves. I was doing a play at the time [Julie, a riff on August Strindbergs Miss Julie at the National Theatre], sometimes two shows a day Id get up at 7am, train for three hours, rehearse, do a performance at night. So, lots of soreness as well. But I ended up loving it.

Then there were the more complicated stunts the ones involving, say, Kirby being inside a car as it was rotated 360-degrees on a gimbal, with the actress strapped into her seat but still flying about every which way. Or one in which the actor was wired to the outside of car that Statham is driving and drifting at some impressive speeds. (You need a willing participant to make these types of things work, Leitch says. But there were a few things where even we were going, So Vanessa, you really want to do this?') Mention that last one to Kirby, and she replies, Maybe its crazy to say this, but after a while on this shoot, these dangerous stuntsyou kind of get immune to it. You know, Strap myself to a moving car?' She adopts a singsong voice. Just ano-ther daaaaay on the job!' It eventually got to the point where Id go, Oh, today I just have to repeatedly punch someone? Easy!'

And while neither of Kirbys next few projects an untitled low-budget collaboration with Gimme the Loot director Adam Leon; The World to Come, a character study about two women in love set in the 1800s will require her to flip a man by the neck using only her coat, she is now ready, willing and able to employ her new skill set on demand. Its funny, I was thinking about Princess Margaret, she says, referencing her Crown character. I look back on her now, and think, well, half of the time, all she really wanted to do was fight! And she never could. With Hattie, I finally got to do that. So in that way, the role was cathartic. Kirby drops her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. Im in a movie where I get to fight the Rock. And I get to win.

A Tribute to D.A. Pennebaker: Dont Look Back

Stream Movies 2020 Online free



Had D.A. Pennebaker never done anything but hop a flight to London, 16mm camera in tow, and follow around a scrawny young singer who jousted with journalists, was worshipped as a frizzy-haired god and entertained himself with entourage-fueled shenanigans, he would still have secured himself a place in rock history and film history. The best-known picture of the documentarian, known as Penny to friends and colleagues, finds the then-39-year-old wearing a top hat, jauntily tilted to one side. A camera is hoisted on his shoulder, covering one half of his face. His left index finger is pointing up and placed in front of his eye. Hes in the background, right where he always wanted to be. He looks happy to have a ringside seat to history being made. Sitting right in front of him, uncharacteristically in focus, is his subject: the 65 edition of Bob Dylan.

D.A. Pennebaker, Legendary Documentarian, Dead at 94Inside Criterion's Incredible Restoration of Dylan Doc 'Don't Look Back'

We take it for granted now that Dont Look Back, the chronicle of Dylan confronting the modern celebrity game and giving it the Bronx cheer, is the definitive look at the troubadour poised between reluctant prophet and full-on rock star. It took Pennebaker two years to get anyone to show the film in public; he eventually found a porn-theater operator in San Francisco to give it a screen in a small moviehouse, where it ran for over a year. The litany of put-ons and put-downs captured on film still drop jaws. The all-access pass we get still feels thrillingly, and sometimes uncomfortably intimate. (See: Donovan.) You are there in the Royal Albert Halls audience as he plays. You are there in the backrooms as Albert Grossman negotiates deals and in the middle of entourage banter. You are there next to Dylan, getting impatient with reporters, goofing with Joan Baez and Bob Neuwirth, and almost catching up to that thin, mercurial sound he was chasing. You are there because Pennebaker was there.

The filmmaker, who died of natural causes on August 1st at the age of 94, had a knack for being at the right place at the right time, his finger on the Arriflex trigger. He knew that the closer you could get, and the more you could blend into the scenery so the subject forgot you were there, the more likely you were to capture something akin to truth 24 frames per second. Donn Alan Pennebaker had originally studied to be an engineer before a brief apprenticeship with Francis Thompson led him to nonfiction filmmaking. Early works, like Daybreak Express (1953) and Baby (1954) were essentially experimental shorts, with the former demonstrating a nice blend of music and image and the latter proving to D.A. that, in his own words, I should be watching, not directing.

Soon, hed join a documentarian murders row Robert Drew, Richard Leacock, Albert Maysles, Terence Macartney-Filgate and help form a filmmaking unit at Time Inc. Works like Primary (1960) and Crisis (1963) arent just Kennedy-era political time capsules. They helped give birth to an entirely new form of observational moviemaking, often dubbed direct cinema. They are Documentary 2.0s ground zero. [President Kennedy] never saw us as the six oclock news, Pennebaker would say at a panel in 2016. We were history cameras.

Part of the reason Drew & Co. were able to capture moments on the fly was thanks to a technological innovation that Pennebaker helped initiate, in the form of a new camera that could sync-sound with images much more efficiently. (They made Life magazine foot the bill.) Hed further customize his weapon of choice when he went off his own, making it more lightweight and adding a grip that could allow someone to mount it on their shoulder. Thats the camera you see in that famous Dont Look Back shot. Thats the one hed bring to Monterey International Pop Music Festival in 1967, loaded with new high-speed film, when he was invited to cover the event, resulting in Monterey Pop (1968), widely recognized as the first modern concert movie. (Jazz on a Summers Day came in 1959, but this was a whole new ballgame.) Hendrix setting his guitar on fire. The Who smashing their gear. Otis Redding and Janis Joplin, in all of their ragged soul-shouting glory. Mama Cass fangirling out and Mickey Dolenz bopping blissfully to Ravi Shankar. Welcome to the Sixties. Have a nice trip.

Pennebakers music docs god, those music docs. They form their own separate canon. Penny was there at the Hammersmith Odeon in 1973 when David Bowie performed the final Ziggy Stardust concert, which is why we can still thrill to see the performer in his silver spaceman tunic singing about leper messiahs and rock & roll suicides. (Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, 1973.) He was in Toronto in 1969 when John Lennon performed alongside Little Richard, Eric Clapton and Bo Diddly. (John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band: Sweet Toronto, 1971.) He and his longtime professional/life partner Chris Hegedus were at the Rose Bowl in 1988 when Depeche Mode finished off their Music for the Masses tour (Depeche Mode 101, 1989.) in Pasadena and at the Ryman in Nashville, Tennessee in 2000 when Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch and more perform old-timey cuts from the bestselling bluegrass soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou? (Down From the Mountain, 2000.)

What strikes you the most about these movies arent just the grand performances but the smaller, off-the-cuff moments he gets from these famous people: Dylan typing away in London; Mama Cass mouthing wow! after Ball and Chain; Bowie joking with his wife Angie about make-up; T-Bone Burnett trying to get a bluegrass guitarist, of all folks, to speed up a tempo; Dave Gahan singing along to Roxy. Musics Love Is the Drug while playing pinball. And with Depeche Mode 101, Pennebaker and Hegedus had the foresight to embed two fellow filmmakers on a bus that was taking a gaggle of teen-to-twentysomething superfans across the country to that Rose Bowl show, capturing all of their interactions and arguments and drunken revelry. What happens, in other words, when people stop singing the lyrics to Stripped and start getting real? An IRL star is born. Three years later, MTVs The Real Word would codify the notion into an industry.

That combination of putting you in the middle of something as a spectator and behind the scenes as a participant simultaneously wasnt just confined to his music-related projects. Town Bloody Hall (1979) the unsung gem of his vital filmography watches as Norman Mailer and a whos who of second-wave feminists spar in a 1971 intellectual summit in New York City. It took Hegedus convincing D.A. that the footage, which theyd been sitting on for years, could actually be cobbled together in to something usable; to watch this verit masterpiece today is both a thrilling time warp and a sobering reminder that plus a change, etc. The War Room (1993) drops you in the room where it happens as Bill Clinton and his strategists, including George Stephanopoulos and the ragin Cajun himself, James Carville, plot his presidential campaign you wont find a more insightful look at how the political sausage gets made in the 90s and how that was continuously morphing before our eyes. Original Cast Album: Company (1970) catches every bitchy, bleary-eyed, brilliant moment of Stephen Sondheim and the late, great Hal Prince putting the cast members of the Tony-winning play through their soundtrack-recording paces. The fact that people are catching up to this singular cringe-comic doc thanks to Documentary Nows pitch-perfect parody feels like major win-win.

This is what great observational documentarians do: They capture something large in the foreground and something telling in the periphery, preserving everything in amber yet making it all feel so alive. This is what Pennebaker did throughout his career, from the very beginning up until the end, as his last film Unlocking the Cage a 2016 portrait of the animal-rights activist Stephen M. Wise that he co-directed with Hegedus can attest. His contributions regarding how we look at the history of the later half of the 29th century is profound. His impact on nonfiction filmmaking isnt just invaluable but unfathomable. If a new generation of filmmakers is going to be interested in the film form called documentary,' he notes in the book Imagining Reality, it will only be because it throws off new sparks, not old news. Pennebaker turned that concept into a genuine reality every time he turned on a camera and pointed. And each time he did it, he never looked back.

Succession Season Premiere Recap: A Better Plan

Free Movie Streaming Sites



For a show concerned only with power and cruelty, Succession engendered a surprising amount of genuine affection during its first season. The HBO drama, which follows the Roys, a family-owned media dynasty worth billions and their constant jockeying for power, was one of the most critically acclaimed new shows to premiere in 2018. In its relentless documentation of what its like to be rich and utterly delusional it provides no audience surrogates; instead of rooting for a character to succeed or find happiness, you pick a favorite to simply see them get more screen-time and watch their insecurities play out in real time. The predation is the point. Its first season initially played out less as a caustic melodrama and more as a morbid curiosity, difficult to look away if not inherently compelling. Then the series found its footing and deployed a considerable weapons-grade wit in a series of bottle episodes that won it a dedicated following. Its Sunday night premiere required no retraining. Even better, the show wasted no time in getting back to fifth gear.

'Succession': Meet the Man Behind Cousin Greg'GLOW' Season 3: A Little Less Conversation, A Little More Action, Please

Logan Roy, Successions gruff and exacting patriarch, spent much of the last season in recovery after suffering a stroke. His attack, and subsequent instability, served as the catalyst for three of his four children Kendall, Roman and Siobhan, a.k.a. Shiv sniping for power over Waystar Royco, the empire their father built with from the ground up. (Connor, the eldest, isnt much of a contender; hes too busy preparing for his announced Presidential run.) Apparently groomed as his heir apparent, Kendall made a play for CEO. When he was rebuffed, Logans son engineered a hostile takeover of the company, allying with one of his fathers many enemies to attempt to wrest control for himself. It didnt work.

The second season premiere, titled The Summer Palace, opens about a day and a half after the events of last seasons finale. Kendall is dazed and deadened. Hes back in rehab after a bender that resulted in the death of a young man, and capitulating to his fathers every demand in order to cover it up. The first 10 minutes almost feel like a dream sequence the characters are very rarely alone, which lends Kendalls opening journey a sense of unreality as hes roused from a Scandinavian spa. The powers that work for the powers that be ask him to go on TV and defend his father from his own engineered coup. Its never discussed when hell return to recovery; theres a job to do.

Dads plan was better is the talking point Kendall is drilled to say, and he says it convincingly at first. (Thats the first fucking thing my sons ever done right, Logan says after watching his television appearance.) Never mind that there is, and has never been, a contingency plan for the Roys. This is a self-sustaining success story. Like a man clinging to a life raft, Kendall continues to repeat that plan over and over again throughout the episode Dads plan was better even when no one asks. Come on fuckbag, fight back, is Romans response when the talking point gets trotted out once again after his younger brother taunts him. Another character calls him a pusillanimous piece of fools gold. Neither insult elicits a reaction. Kendall is a shell of a man now, and his father enjoys toying with him because of it. Its not long before he recruits Cousin Greg, the hapless star of the show, to get him cocaine. Its from a connection. In the park, the kid says.

Meanwhile, the two siblings still vying for power have been destabilized by Kendalls attempted takeover and quick about-face. Life is a farce for Roman, so he quickly returns to his base level of impudence. Shiv, however, is supposed to be on her honeymoon with her new husband Tom, a loveless partnership in a constant state of negotiation over how much can be faked. Over the course of the episode, shell also realize how much she truly does care about succeeding her father. Though Pinky, as her father affectionately calls her, has long abdicated official involvement with the company, shes steered Toms career in the family business and is easily the smartest of the four siblings. (Its a low bar.) When it seems like Logan may sell the company, she cuts the honeymoon short. Her ambitious, eager-beaver spouse doesnt seem to mind.

The family ultimately convenes for a meeting to decide what to do with the company. Logan, in an uncharacteristic bout of good faith, professes to be genuinely unsure of whether to sell or to fight, a sure indicator that theres a bigger game afoot. The Roys alight to their new winter home the shows interchangeable use of lavish sets, and the characters continued indifference to them, is one of the marked steps up from last season to plot their future. A sale would net the family about 10 billion dollars, but never truly seems like an option on the table. Instead, Dad begins calling in the siblings one by one, to see what they plan to do.

His move is to offer the position of CEO to Shiv, in an emotionally tense scene that sees the mercurial patriarch begin to shift into something kinder and more encouraging than ever before. None of the Roy children are capable of standing up to their authoritarian father but this scene shows why none of them can resist whenever he dangles a carrot. Of course, Shivs appointment must remain a secret. Of course, she must be trained up before they can announce. Of course, Logan likely has another plan hes not telling anyone. But Shiv played to perfection by Sarah Snook cant stop her eyes from glimmering at the thought of being given what she likely always wanted. Its affecting, even as you wait for another shoe to drop. In turn, she lies to her new husband about the meeting, framing it as a promotion for him. Hell find out shes going to be his boss in due time. The wheels never, ever stop spinning.