“Candyman” director Bernard Rose has helmed a new Japanese film, “Samurai Marathon,” which HanWay Films will introduce to buyers in Berlin. The picture has an original score by Philip Glass and is produced by HanWay’s Jeremy Thomas. Thomas has a pedigree in Japanese cinema, making films including “13 Assassins” and “Hara-Kiri.” He has again teamed with Toshiaki Nakazawa, who produced the Academy Award-winning “Departures,” on “Samurai Marathon.”

The film is rooted in real events and set in the 1850s, when the country was beginning to interact with the West. Danny Huston (“Stan & Ollie”) plays Commodore Perry, who was instrumental in that process. The marathon is still run in Japan.

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BAFTAS (The winners will be announced on 10 February)
Outstanding British Film: Stan & Ollie
Leading Actor: Steve Coogan Stan & Ollie
Make up & Hair: Stan & Ollie
For a full list of nominations click here

An under-the-radar title Netflix plans to release early next year is IO, from director Jonathan Helpert. In the film, Sam (played by “The Leftovers’”Margaret Qualley, pictured), a teenage girl, is one of the last people on a post-cataclysmic Earth. With the final shuttle scheduled to leave the planet, she must decide whether to journey to the launch point and join the rest of humanity, or remain on Earth, a castaway in the only home she has ever known.

Danny Huston (30 Days of Night) and Anthony Mackie (several Marvel Universe films) also star.

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The winners will be revealed Jan. 11, when the 24th annual ceremony airs live on The CW Network.

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY: John C. Reilly – Stan & Ollie

For a complete list of nominees click here

The winners will be revealed Jan. 11, when the 24th annual ceremony airs live on The CW Network.

BEST COMEDY: Game Night
BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY: Jason Bateman – Game Night
BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY: Rachel McAdams – Game Night

For a complete list of nominees click here

To step into the roles of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in the upcoming Stan & Ollie biopic, actors Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly went to great lengths both on and off screen to try and embody their characters….who just happened to be one of the most iconic comedy duos of all time. In this new featurette, courtesy of Empire Online, the cast and crew of Stan & Ollie explain the process they went through to capture what made them so special. Read more here

Lionsgate will release Angel Has Fallen, the third in the series of amped-up action movies in which Gerard Butler plays Secret Service agent Mike Banning, on Aug. 23, 2019. The only competition currently occupying that date is Alex Kendrick’s Overcomer, an inspirational drama about a high school coach who takes on a cross-country runner, from Sony’s Affirm label. In the upcoming Fallen film, directed by Ric Roman Waugh, Banning is framed for the assassination of the president. Butler is joined by a cast that includes Morgan Freeman, Jada Pinkett Smith, Lance Reddick, Nick Nolte, Danny Huston, Piper Perabo and Tim Blake Nelson. Read More here

Added screencaps from the following to the Gallery.
* Game Night

I’m not sure why the two-season series “Magic City” (2012-13) wasn’t a hit, although I sometimes wonder if it might have thrived had it not been on Starz, which often gets lost in the shuffle. Perhaps “Power,” “Outlander,” and “American Gods” have lifted the channel’s visibility in recent years, but even so, the Starz brand remains hard to define, and therefore easy to dismiss. Read More here