Picrow has added director Peter Lydon to its roster. Known for his comedy spot work (Ikea, Discovery Channel, Carlsberg), Lydon has a filmography that also spans documentaries (Peter Sellers…As He Filmed It) and both comedic and dramatic television shows (British series Shameless, Teachers, Vincent, Garrows Law)…..Director Noah Conopask has joined The Sweet Shop for global representation. The NY-based director combines more than a decade’s worth of experience in photography, motion graphics and design….Director Carolyn Corben has signed with TWC Films, Los Angeles, for exclusive representation in the U.S. Her filmography includes music videos and fashion/beauty spot work…..Hollywood-based Über Content has expanded to the East Coast, opening an office in New York. Michael Lobikis, who Über concurrently named as East Coast director of sales, will operate from the new shop. The move marks continuing growth for Über Content which has signed directors Charlie Todd, Lucia Aniello and Daniel Strange in the last six months. Lobikis joins Über after representing directors at GO Film and editors at Spot Welders on the East Coast. He has also worked at The Brand Gallery, a boutique digital agency in NYC….Believe Media has launched iBelieve, a digital and interactive division under the aegis of online entertainment pioneer, director David van Eyssen….NY-based Carbon has opened a Santa Monica office helmed by EP Matt Thunell and creative director Chris Noellert. Launched in 2009 by creative director Kieran Walsh and executive producer Frank Devlin in partnership with Whitehouse Post, Carbon specializes in high-end visual effects, motion graphics, and design. Thunell joins Carbon LA from Motion Theory/Mirada, where he was sr. producer. Noellert also comes over from Motion Theory/Mirada where he was sr. Flame artist….
Review: Writer-Director Mark Anthony Green’s “Opus”
In the new horror movie "Opus," we are introduced to Alfred Moretti, the biggest pop star of the '90s, with 38 No. 1 hits and albums as big as "Thriller," "Hotel California" and "Nebraska." If the name Alfred Moretti sounds more like a personal injury attorney from New Jersey, that's the first sign "Opus" is going to stumble.
John Malkovich leans into his regular off-kilter creepy to play the unlikely pop star at the center of this serious misfire by the A24 studio, a movie that also manages to pull "The Bear" star Ayo Edebiri back to earth. How both could be totally miscast will haunt your dreams.
Writer-director Mark Anthony Green has created a pretty good premise: A massive pop star who went quiet for the better part of three decades reemerges with a new album — his 18th studio LP, called "Caesar's Request" — and invites a select six people to come to his remote Western compound for an album listening weekend. It's like a golden ticket.
Edebiri's Ariel is a one of those invited. She's 27, a writer for a hip music magazine who has been treading water for three years. She's ambitious but has no edge. "Your problem is you're middle," she's told. Unfortunately, her magazine boss is also invited, which means she's just a note-taker. Edebiri's self-conscious, understated humor is wasted here.
It takes Ariel and the rest of the guests — an influencer, a paparazzo, a former journalist-nemesis and a TV personality played by Juliette Lewis, once again cast as the frisky sexpot — way too much time to realize that Moretti has created a cult in the desert. And they're murderous. This is Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous" crossed with Mark Mylod's "The Menu."
It's always a mistake to get too close a look at the monster in a horror... Read More