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The story of a small town honoring its dead white ancestors with a statue that, later on, causes problems has been news fodder for the last few years. But the premise of the new Peacock series “Rutherford Falls,” is: What if that was funny? And while there certainly is entertainment to be mined from the series, it’s not in regard to its central protagonist. “Rutherford Falls” is about the town of the same name, and its biggest cheerleader Nathan Rutherford (Ed Helms). Nathan runs the town’s historical museum, where he documents the exploits of his ancestors that includes harmless pursuits like exterminating a rampant possum population and making a peaceful treaty with the local Native tribe, the Minneshonka. But when the massive...

Rita Moreno has been breaking the glass ceiling in Hollywood since she arrived in 1950. Now, audiences are going to see and hear about everything in her new documentary “Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For it.” Moreno is known to most audiences for being just one of four Latinos to ever win an Academy Award and, at last count, the only Latina to win Best Actress. But Moreno is far more than just the role of Anita in “West Side Story.” As the documentary lays out, she suffered sexual harassment and abuse, as well as racism in the industry. The film will also chart Moreno’s life in Puerto Rico, as well as her relationships and transition into becoming a celebrated television star and EGOT winner. Alongside that, her...

“The Conjuring” franchise is back and bigger than ever in “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It,” which finds Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back in the roles of paranormal investigators Lorraine and Ed Warren. The actors become horror favorites in James Wan’s first two “Conjuring” movies, which grossed over $600 million combined at the worldwide box office. The success of “The Conjuring” films launched an entire universe, including three “Annabelle” movies, “The Nun,” and “The Curse of La Llorona.” But now Farmiga and Wilson’s characters are front and center again for “The Devil Made Me Do it,” directed by “The Curse of La Llorona” filmmaker Michael Chaves. The official synopsis from Warner Bros. reads: “‘The Conjuring: The Devil...

Last Year’s Winner: Eugene Levy, “Schitt’s Creek” Still Eligible: No. Hot Streak: Repeat winners are still trendy in the Best Comedy Actor category. Bill Hader won in back-to-back years for “Barry” (2018 – 2019), Jeffrey Tambor won twice for “Transparent” (2015 – 2016), and Jim Parsons saw repeat wins for “The Big Bang Theory” in 2013 and 2014, after doubling up in 2010 and 2011. With 2020 winner Eugene Levy out of the running, we won’t see a hot streak established in 2021, but there’s no reason to think this won’t be the year that starts one. Fun Fact: Ted Danson has the most nominations in the Best Comedy Actor category with 14, spread across just two shows (three for “The Good Place” and 11 for “Cheers”). Overall, the walking...

The independent film community is not assembling under a billowy white tent for the 36th Independent Spirit Awards on the Saturday before the Oscars. Mounting a live awards show on the Santa Monica beach just wasn’t going to happen. Yes, the Oscars will give it a try April 25 via two Los Angeles hubs and another dozen or so satellite feeds around the world, but the Academy has millions to spend on safety protocols. Nonprofit arts organization Film Independent will hold the annual awards ceremony as a IFC primetime live broadcast April 22 at 7pm PT, 10pm ET. More people voted for the Spirits this year than ever before: Film Independent has grown to over 7,000 members, adding more international voters. Spirits have a $22.5 million budget...

Apple Studios acquired the 2021 Sundance Film Festival’s prize-winning “CODA” for $25 million, creating an all-time record price for a Sundance buy. The perception: A family drama about the hearing daughter of deaf parents, sold at that price, is an audience-friendly film with strong specialized theatrical potential before it goes broader. The reality: It will go day and date on AppleTV+ and in selected theaters August 13. By then theaters should be reopened and capacity restrictions reduced, but for Apple — and perhaps for some studios, too — that’s not the primary market driver. Searchlight will follow a similar plan for Questlove’s “Summer Of Soul (Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised),” which broke a Sundance documentary...

The 2021 Film Independent Spirit Awards are finally upon us, after the nominations were announced three months ago, and the ceremony is taking place just a few days ahead of the Academy Awards. This year, the Spirit Awards won’t be held midday in a hangar in Santa Monica, but will instead live-stream on IFC on Thursday, April 22 at 7:00 p.m. PT/10:00 p.m. ET. In addition to the linear broadcast, the Spirit Awards will also stream simultaneously on AMC+. Following the broadcast, the full awards ceremony will be made available on demand across AMC+ and IFC platforms starting Friday, April 23. This year’s ceremony will be hosted by “Saturday Night Love” comedian Melissa Villaseñor. If you’re cord cutter who doesn’t have cable, you can...

Disney and Sony Pictures on Wednesday announced a major licensing agreement that will bring both library and upcoming film and TV titles to Disney+, Hulu, ABC, and FX and other Disney-owned cable channels. The pact, which covers everything from “Spider-Man” to “Jumanji,” is as sure a sign as ever that Sony will not be launching its own streaming service. The deal gives Disney U.S. streaming and TV rights for Sony’s new theatrical releases from 2022-2026 and begins for each film following its Pay One TV window. Earlier this month Sony and Netflix announced a deal that will see the studio’s theatrical films sent to Netflix during the Pay One window, which begins after movies leave theaters and have been released on DVD/VOD. Under these...

Daniel Craig’s tenure as James Bond started on a high with 2006’s “Casino Royale,” which included a torture scene between Craig and co-star Mads Mikkelsen that instantly became one of the franchise’s most iconic Bond/villain confrontations. The scene finds Craig’s Bond naked in a chair and Mikkelsen’s Le Chiffre using a whip to inflict pain on Bond’s testicles. It was the Bond franchise at its most risqué and provocative, but it turns out the torture scene could have been even wilder had director Martin Campbell not shut down a brainstorming session between Craig and Mikkelsen. “There were a few times when Daniel Craig and I went a little far at the table discussing what the scene might be able to do,” Mikkelsen recently told Vulture...

This season’s Oscar race for production design pits David Fincher’s mighty black-and-white “Mank” (the ADG period winner) against Florian Zeller’s mind-bending “The Father,” Christopher Nolan’s time-inverted “Tenet” (the ADG fantasy winner), Paul Greengrass’ first western, “News of the World,” and the sweltering Chicago period trappings of George C. Wolfe’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” “Mank” is the favorite for meticulously recreating the world of washed up, alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman), who struggles to churn out a first draft of “Citizen Kane.” Oscar-winning production designer Don Burt (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) had to think in terms of black-and-white design to authentically return to...

The Oscar race for costume design is once again devoted to dazzling period pieces: George C. Wolfe’s August Wilson adaptation “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (the CDGA period winner), Autumn de Wilde’s “Emma,” David Fincher’s monochromatic “Mank,” Niki Caro’s live-action “Mulan (the CDGA fantasy winner), and Matteo Garrone’s “Pinocchio.” But “Ma Rainey’s” 89-year-old, Oscar-winning costume designer, Ann Roth (“The English Patient”) is the clear favorite. And it certainly helps that the momentum is with Viola Davis in the Best Actress race. This was her fourth Oscar nomination — the most for any Black actress. She plays the trailblazing ’20s blues singer, who flaunted her flashy wardrobe to convey a sexy, subversive image. Ross put Davis in...

All products and services featured by IndieWire are independently selected by IndieWire editors. However, IndieWire may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. We still have a couple months before the highly anticipated Disney+ series, “Loki,” makes its debut and to help pass the time, we rounded up a list of essential comics and graphic novels about the God of Mischief. The titles listed give you more insight into Loki’s story arc ahead of the new show starring Tom Hiddleston, which marks the third Marvel spinoff series after “WandaVision” and “Falcon and the Winter Soldier.” “Tom Hiddleston, I think, is doing some of his best work...

“Cruel Summer” piques curiosity on several levels. On the surface, Freeform’s marketing has been intense, with trailers and commercials giving just enough intrigue to entice fans — many of whom may not already be regular viewers of the network formerly known as ABC Family, given its common associations with millennial or Disney viewers. But the cable channel’s more recent shows (like “Good Trouble” and “Grown-ish”) have developed extensive followings, and there’s no doubt “Cruel Summer” will attract those same audiences. But there’s another component to “Cruel Summer” that it’s weaponizing, and that’s nostalgia — though not in the same way Disney+ shows and other streaming series are using it. The new drama isn’t recreating its time...