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“True Detective: Night Country” is true to its name in that it makes the night — specifically 30 days of polar night in the fictional town of Ennis, Alaska — feel like a monster waiting to swallow you up. Or, as cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister puts it, “​​If you switch off the lights in Alaska, you’ll die.”

Achieving a dark look for HBO’s mystery series of murder, and maybe something a little bit more supernatural, counterintuitively meant focusing on the elements of light. There’s precious little knowledge to be illuminated when Ennis police chief Liz Danvers (Jodi Foster) and her former partner, Alaska State Trooper Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis), begin looking into a tangle of bodies found frozen near the Tsalal Research Station.

But there are a lot of choices that people who live that far north make to feel a little more human, from how they light their homes to...

Cornerstone has closed worldwide distribution deals for Andrea Arnold’s latest feature film Bird, which debuted at last month’s Cannes Film Festival.

The film has been picked up by Mfa (Germany), Lucky Red (Italy), Avalon (Spain), Benelux (Cineart), Cinobo (Greece), New Cinema (Israel), Front Row (Middle East), and Lusomundo (Portugal).

Further deals include Nonstop (Scandinavia), Frenetic (Switzerland), Discovery, Provzglyad (C.I.S), Aerofilm, Impacto Cine (Latin America), New Select (Japan) and Challan (South Korea). Mubi previously announced it had bought the film for North America, Turkey, the UK and Ireland. Ad Vitam is the French distributor.

Written and directed by Arnold, Bird stars BAFTA-winner and Academy-Award nominee Barry Keoghan, Gotham-Award nominee Franz Rogowski, and newcomers Nykiya Adams and Jason Buda. The film’s synopsis reads: 12-year-old Bailey lives with her single dad Bug and brother Hunter...

Andrea Arnold’s drama “Bird,” starring Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogowski and a recent contender for the Palme d’Or in Cannes, has been sold around the world by Cornerstone.

With Mubi having snapped up the film before Cannes for the U.K and Ireland and during the fest for North America and Turkey, the new deals include Mfa (Germany), Lucky Red (Italy), Avalon (Spain), Benelux (Cineart), Cinobo (Greece), New Cinema (Israel), Front Row (Middle East), Lusomundo (Portugal), Nonstop (Scandinavia), Frenetic (Switzerland), Discovery, Provzglyad (C.I.S), Aerofilm, Impacto Cine (Latin America), New Select (Japan) and Challan (South Korea). As previously announced, Ad Vitam is the French distributor.

Written and directed by Arnold, “Bird” sees the director return to the social realist world of her dramas “Red Road” and “Fish Tank” (both of them Cannes jury prize winners). The film sees Keoghan play Bug, a tattoo-covered young father living by the British...

Claire Foy and Richard E. Grant are set to lead a new period drama directed by Peter Glanz.

Titled “Savage House,” the eighteenth century black comedy also stars Bel Powley (“A Small Light”) and Jack Farthing (“The Lost Daughter”).

Kila Lord Cassidy (“The Wonder”), Richard McCabe (“Napoleon”), Vicki Pepperdine (“Poor Things”) and Pip Torrens (“The Iron Lady”) round out the cast. The film recently wrapped in the U.K.

“Set against the backdrop of eighteenth century England, a massive pox outbreak, and Jacobite uprising – this is a timely and darkly satirical story of Sir Chauncey Savage (Grant) and Lady Savage (Foy) and their blind pursuit of a better life,” reads the logline. “It is not without a tinge of irony that their family name is the Savages, for this is a Savage House indeed. Filled with duels, decadence, and bloodshed, this is a madcap play on class and power.”

Foy...

Nothing is free in the world of “The White Lotus” — not even Mike White‘s beloved breakfast buffets come without confronting the frayed nerves, petty arguments, and thwarted yearnings of rich people on vacation. But not least among the pleasures of the HBO series’ second season is what changes in the move from Hawaii to Sicily. There’s a specifically European romance reflected in the look of the show and an at-times feverish rhythm to how its different plot lines fit together, bounce off each other, or both.

The show’s lush, ostentatious Italian setting allows for the same thing its predecessor did: a bunch of rich people, their hangers-on, and the folks who have to deal with them to all lose their minds in one way or another. The challenge for both the production and post teams on the series was to create an enveloping and aspirational sense of...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is expanding its membership.

According to a press release, the organization that hands out Oscars each year at the Academy Awards has extended invitations to join the Academy to 398 artists and executives who have made notable contributions to the motion picture industry.

“The Academy is proud to welcome these artists and professionals into our membership. They represent extraordinary global talent across cinematic disciplines and have made a vital impact on the arts and sciences of motion pictures and on movie fans worldwide,” said Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang in a joint statement.

Read More: The Academy Announces 2024 Oscars Date As Well As Submission Deadline

There are some big names and familiar faces among the invitees, including musicians Taylor Swift and David Byrne, and numerous actors, ranging from Selma Blair to Keke Palmer to “Elvis” Oscar nominee Austin Butler.

“Everything Everywhere All At Once” Oscar winners Ke Huy Quan, Daniel Kwan, and Daniel Scheinert, recent acting nominees Austin Butler, Paul Mescal, and Stephanie Hsu, and bold-face names for the extremely online like Taylor Swift, Abel Tesfaye (a.k.a. The Weeknd), and Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav were among the 398 people announced as new members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Wednesday.

“The academy is proud to welcome these artists and professionals into our membership. They represent extraordinary global talent across cinematic disciplines and have made a vital impact on the arts and sciences of motion pictures and on movie fans worldwide,” said academy CEO Bill Kramer and academy president Janet Yang in a joint statement.

This year’s class of new members is heavy on 2022 breakouts, like the aforementioned Kwan and Scheinert – invitees in both the directors’ brand and the producers’ branch. In keeping with academy practice,...

It’s that time of year again — the break between Cannes and the fall festivals, when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences makes its membership invitations. The Oscars group said today that it has extended offers to 398 artists and execs — one more than last year — who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to motion pictures.

The list includes actors, directors, writers, producers, musicians, executives, artist reps, publicists and below-the-liners such as casting directors, cinematographers, costume designers, film editors, makeup artists and hairstylists, production designers and sound pros.

“The Academy is proud to welcome these artists and professionals into our membership,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang said in a statement. “They represent extraordinary global talent across cinematic disciplines and have made a vital impact on the arts and sciences of motion pictures and on movie fans worldwide.”

As usual, the invitees include newly minted Oscar winners,...

“Elvis” got a big boost in its Oscar bid for Best Costume Design with a win for period pictures at the Costume Designers Guild Awards on Feb. 27. It prevailed over two of its Oscar rivals, “Babylon” and “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris,” plus “Don’t Worry Darling” and “The Woman King.”

In a sign of its strength, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” pulled off an upset in the fantasy/sci-fi race over “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Those films round out the Oscar race for Best Costume Design. The other CDG winner was the contemporary film “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.”

In its 24-year history, the CDG has previewed only 12 of the Oscar winners for Best Costume Design: nine of these have been period pictures and three have been sci-fi or fantasy flicks. Of the last five Costume Designers Guild Awards winners three have gone on to repeat at the Academy...

The winners of the 25th Costume Designers Guild Awards were announced February 27 during a ceremony at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

All five Oscar nominees received Cdga noms, with “Babylon,” “Elvis,” and “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” competing in Excellence in Period Film and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” nominated for Excellence in Sci-Fi / Fantasy Film, with “Elvis” costume designer Catherine Martin and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” costume designer Shirley Kurata winning in their respective categories. Jenny Eagan and “Glass Onion” won in the Excellence in Contemporary Film category.

In the TV categories, “House of the Dragon,” “Wednesday,” and “The Crown” took home the top prizes.

As previously announced, Bette Midler was honored with the Distinguished Collaborator Award, while “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Oscar nominee Angela Bassett received the Spotlight Award. Additionally, Academy Award winner Deborah L. Scott received the Career Achievement...

Celebrating their 25th iteration, the Costume Designers Guild Awards named eight winners in competitive categories tonight in a ceremony at the Fairmont Century Plaza hosted by Tituss Burgess.

For film, Shirley Kurata (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Jenny Eagan (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery) and Catherine Martin (Elvis) all won awards; both Kurata and Martin are also nominated for Oscars for costume design this year.

In television, Jany Temime (House of the Dragon), Colleen Atwood and Mark Sutherland (Wednesday), Amy Roberts (The Crown) and Carrie Cramer and Jason Rembert (Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls) were the night’s winners. And Natasha Newman-Thomas won for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ music video “Spitting off the Edge of the World.”

From tonight going forward though, the statuettes given out will not simply be called Costume Designers Guild awards. They now have a name, akin to the Academy Award also being...

On January 9, we heard from the first three guilds — art directors, cinematographers and sound editors — with their nominees for the best of the year in their respective fields. On Jan. 10, it was the turn of the casting directors and sound mixers to weigh in with their choices. The actors, directors, and makeup artists & hairstylists were heard from on Jan. 11. And the costume designers and producers piped in just as Oscar nominations voting kicks off on Jan. 12. The visual effects wizards added their say on the last day of Oscar voting on Jan. 18. The writers revealed their roster the day after Oscar nominations were announced. And the film editors announced who made the cut on Feb. 1

One film reaped bids from 12 of these 13 precursor prizes: “Top Gun: Maverick.”

Below, a breakdown by picture of guild nominations.

Ace = American Cinema Editors (report)

Adg = Art Directors Guild (report)

ASC = American Society of Cinematographers...

It's that time of year again for Fangoria's anticipated Chainsaw Award nominations for horror movies and terrifying television, and we have a look at the full list of nominations, including Ti West's Pearl, Jordan Peele's Nope (leading with 10 nominations), and the second season of Don Mancini's Chucky TV series:

Press Release: Fangoria and Fangoria Studios have released their 2023 Chainsaw Award nominations, which recognizes outstanding achievements in horror film and television. Since 1992, the Chainsaw Awards have honored top achievements in the horror genre, with past recipients including Wes Craven, George A. Romero, Lupita Nyong’o, Anthony Hopkins, and Elisabeth Moss.

“Nope,” written and directed by Jordan Peele, leads the pack with ten nominations including Best Wide Release Movie and Best Director. Other nominees include “Barbarian,” “Pearl,” “Hellraiser,” “Chucky” and “Yellowjackets.” Fangoria has also introduced two new categories this year: Best Short and Best Cinematography.

Editor-in-chief of Fangoria Phil Nobile Jr. states,...

On Friday, Fangoria and Fangoria Studios released their 2023 Chainsaw Award nominations, which recognize outstanding achievements in horror film and television. First established in 1992, the Chainsaw Awards honor works and artists in a genre frequently overlooked by traditional organizations and critics groups. Past recipients include Wes Craven, George A. Romero, Lupita Nyong’o, Anthony Hopkins and Elisabeth Moss.

“Nope,” Jordan Peele’s follow-up to “Us,” received the most nominations of any film in Chainsaw Award contention, with 10 nominations including best wide release movie and best director. Other nominees include “Barbarian,” “Pearl,” “Hellraiser,” “Chucky” and “Yellowjackets.” Fangoria also introduced two new categories this year: Best Short and Best Cinematography.

Founded in 1979, Fangoria has become one of the most influential horror brands in the genre, living up to its moniker as “First in Fright.” At one time the only place on newsstands where fans could read about the world of contemporary horror, Fangoria...

The costumes for “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “Glass Onion,” “Top Gun,” “Babylon” and “Elvis” are among the nominees for the 25th annual Costume Designers Guild Awards, which were announced Thursday.

Fifteen films, 20 television programs and five short-form projects were nominated by the guild, which will announce the winners on Monday, Feb. 27, at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.

In the Excellence in Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film category, the nominees were “Avatar,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “Everything Everywhere,” “Hocus Pocus 2” and “Thor: Love and Thunder.” The nominated costume designer for “Avatar,” Deborah L. Scott, is also receiving this year’s Career Achievement Award at the Cdga ceremony.

Also Read:

Every ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ Costume Was Made in Real Life Before Being Scanned Into a Computer

In the Excellence in Contemporary Film category, the nominees are the costume designers of “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,...

Four of our five predicted nominees for Best Costume Design at the 2023 Oscars reaped bids on January 12 for the Costume Designers Guild Awards.

“Babylon,””Elvis,” and “The Woman King” contend here in the period picture category against “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” and “Don’t Worry Darling,” which rank seventh and 21st in our Oscar odds respectively.

The Oscar frontrunner, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” vies here in the sci-fi/fantasy race against “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “Hocus Pocus 2” and “Thor: Love and Thunder.”

Our fifth predicted Oscar nominee, “The Fabelmans,” can take heart that the guild often overlook films that go on to contend at the Academy Awards. Indeed the 2020 Oscar winner for Best Costume Design, “Little Women,” was snubbed by the CDG as were two of the other nominees, “The Irishman” and “Joker.” The guild honored one of the other academy nominees, “Jojo Rabbit.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the Costume Designers Guild Awards (Cdga) have announced their 2023 nominees in eight categories across film and television. The awards, to be held Monday, Feb. 27, at the Fairmont Century City, recognize excellence in costume design in such areas as contemporary, period, reality, shortform and sci-fi/fantasy.

Costume and set designer Deborah L. Scott, an Academy Award winner for Titanic, is set to receive the Career Achievement Award at the awards show. Scott — whose credits include Back to the Future, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Transformers, The Amazing Spiderman 2 and Avatar — also is nominated this year in the category of sci-fi/fantasy film for her work on Avatar: The Way of Water. “We basically built everything from the ground up, including a lot of the props, the masks, the breathing masks,” Scott recently told THR.

The designers behind several movies that won acting, directing and score...

The Costume Designers Guild has unwrapped the nominees for its 25th anniversary Cdga Awards next month. See the full list below.

Celebrating excellence in film, television, and short form costume design, the 2023 Cdga ceremony is set for Monday, February 27, at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

Vying for the Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film prize are the designers behind Avatar: The Way of Water, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Hocus Pocus 2 and Thor: Love and Thunder. Up for Contemporary Film are Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Nope, Tár, Top Gun: Maverick, Women Talking. And the Period Film race will be among Babylon, Don’t Worry Darling, Elvis, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris and The Woman King.

“I’m honored to congratulate our Cdga nominees,” said Terry Gordon, President of the Costume Designers Guild, IATSE Local 892. “This year is particularly exciting as it’s the 25th anniversary of our awards gala.

The White Lotus featured several hints that essentially revealed who would die in season two.

All season long, viewers have been turned into sleuths, attempting to discern which character’s body was discovered by Daphne (Meghann Fahy) in the opening scene.

White there were several theories doing the rounds that make strong arguments for several different characters, fans were ultimately left heartbroken when it was finally revealed who the deceased person was.

It turns out, though, that creator and writer Mike White dropped in several hints throughout the season, which retroactively makes it obvious who the unlucky charcater was.

*Spoilers follow – you have been warned*

It’s revealed in the finale that Tanya McQuoid, the beloved character played by Jennifer Coolidge, was the one who died.

Tanya dies in a fall while she’s trying to escape a yacht, on which she killed her captors, led by Tom Hollander’s Quentin,...

When she found out that Season 2 of “The White Lotus” would be set in Sicily, costume designer Alex Bovaird knew she’d have to up the ante.

“When people, especially Americans, go to Italy, they dress up a bit more. They bring their A-game,” she says, nodding towards the more beachy and casual wardrobe seen in Season 1, when the series’ rich and morally bankrupt characters cared little about impressing the Hawaiian people surrounding them.

Season 2 also traverses further outside of the White Lotus hotel than Season 1 did — again, because wealthy Americans are more likely to take a holistic interest in a Western European country than in the Pacific Islands, where the resort was treated like it was the entire world. And the more locations there were, the more the costumes varied.

“But it’s the same general flavor that [series creator] Mike White likes, which is, you know, ‘Go big. Go bold,...

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A new crew of rich, snobby vacationers makes their introduction in the highly anticipated second season of “The White Lotus,” this time set in a picturesque town on the Sicilian seaside. With the updated resort location and its very stylish visitors is a whole season’s worth of luxe swimsuits from which to pull inspiration.

For the new season, costume designer Alex Bovaird pulled pieces from global luxury houses, local designers and vintage racks. From Daphne’s Pucci bikini top to Harper’s Mavi bikini, here are the best swimsuits featured in the second season of “The White Lotus.”

And if you aren’t in the market for a swimsuit, maybe one of Tanya’s (Jennifer Coolidge) many, many embellished caftans from the first season will catch your eye instead.

For as much money and effort as she spends pretending that White Lotus hotels are the luxurious safe havens she so craves, Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge) nonetheless sees them for what they truly are. “What a beautiful view!” she coos at the cliffside Sicilian seascape greeting her upon arrival. Then, in practically the same breath: “I wonder if anyone’s jumped from here.” As meticulously designed by television puppet-master Mike White, “The White Lotus” is the archetypal gilded cage, luring the rich and ambitious to its shores, only to dash them against the rocks with ruthless ease.

Before the HBO series was a word-of-mouth hit in summer 2021, turned recent Emmys sensation, it was an experimental season of TV that cannily used a single location to tell overlapping stories of restlessness, lust, anger and pain. Its stellar casting and White’s directing drew out some of the best performances of its actors’ lives,...

“It’s a really fun time for contemporary costumes,” declares first-time Emmy nominated costume designer Alex Bovaird (“The White Lotus”) about the state of contemporary costume designing. For our recent webchat she adds, “I’ve noticed people are taking a lot more risks. People want to maybe be a little more upbeat, a little more colorful,” she says. “There is just a lot of variety compared to 10 years ago. I remember walking through Barneys New York, and everything was black. Absolutely everything. I think it’s quite different now. It’s a fun time for fashion and I’ve noticed people are making all kinds of interesting choices.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.

See over 200 interviews with 2022 Emmy contenders

“The White Lotus” was created by Mike White, who wrote and directed all six episodes of the anthology drama. The series follows a week in the life of the employees...

After the huge success of Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” (2017) – four Oscar nominations and a win for Best Original Screenplay – and its 2019 follow-up “Us” – no Oscar nominations but a SAG Award bid for Lupita Nyong’o – many people had very high expectations for his latest movie, “Nope.”

Like Peele’s previous two films, “Nope” is a straight-up genre movie, but it’s also one that sublimates itself with layers that dig deep into old Hollywood and its treatment of historically excluded racial minorities as well as animals. In the movie, Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer have inherited their father’s business, Haywood Hollywood Horses, a ranch that breeds and trains horses used for films, television, and commercials, though they’re confounded by a mysterious object in the sky that keeps knocking out the power.

It’s another strong spin on a few popular film genres from Peele, although it isn’t...

Click here to read the full article.

To older generations, the newest generation coming up always feels the most confounding and intimidating — as exemplified by small-screen portrayals of the formidable Gen Z. In The White Lotus, an affluent co-ed, dressed in a relaxed college sweatshirt and denim shorts, scathingly and astutely mocks fellow guests vacationing at a luxury resort in Maui. In Euphoria‘s fictional Los Angeles suburb, a high schooler teeters and stomps in vintage Prada kitten heels and a tight minidress while attempting to assert herself during a teenage rite of passage: a New Year’s Eve party.

Sydney Sweeney plays and deftly distinguishes the formidable, complex and often-contradictory Cassie on Euphoria and Olivia on The White Lotus — and earned nominations for both turns. Similarly, their Emmy-nominated costumes — by Euphoria‘s Heidi Bivens and The White Lotus‘ Alex Bovaird — also are distinctive depictions of young women navigating expectations...

From bringing back the 1990s in Hulu’s “Pam & Tommy” to styling for a lesbian cruise on “Hacks,” the Emmy-nominated costume designers delivered a wealth of contemporary looks.

Kameron Lennox landed her first nom for “Pam & Tommy,” which took audiences back a couple of decades as Lily James and Sebastian Stan captured the wild antics and looks of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee.

Perfecting the iconic “Baywatch” red swimsuit was imperative. The original suit was made by Tyr swimwear, which was not only able to match the red precisely but also helped her find the right fabric and cut. “On Pam, the way that it was cut was very sexy,” says Lennox. “The leg was high-cut to elongate her leg and cut low on the sides to accentuate her bust.”

Rock star Lee, meanwhile, wore a plethora of thongs around the house, so Lennox turned to eBay to procure vintage cheetah prints,...

[Editor’s note: The following story contains spoilers for “Nope.”]

This past weekend saw the much-anticipated release of Jordan Peele’s third film, the tantalizingly named UFO thriller “Nope.” Billed by IndieWire’s chief film critic David Ehrlich as a “thoroughly modern popcorn movie for and about viewers who’ve been inundated with — and addicted to — 21st century visions of real-life terror,” the film follows the Haywood siblings (Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer) and assorted friends and associates as they deal with the appearance of one very big, very bad extraterrestrial threat.

Both IndieWire executive editor, film Kate Erbland and associate editor Jude Dry delighted in Palmer’s performance as Emerald Haywood, particularly in the ways in which Peele and his star use the role to reinvent that classic horror film trope: the Final Girl. Ahead, the pair break down Palmer’s stellar work, Emerald’s many elements, and what this says about Peele as a filmmaker (and maybe even...

Even in a fast-moving film like Jordan Peele’s “Nope,” there are some easter eggs you just can’t ignore — and one that has caught more than a few viewers’ eyes is the bizarre preponderance of characters wearing T-shirts featuring alt-rock bands from the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.

It starts with the character Angel (Brandon Perea) wearing a Wipers T-shirt — the legendary Portland band beloved by Kurt Cobain. Then you see one with a Mr. Bungle logo — the oddball California group Faith No More singer Mike Patton was originally in, and which he pursued as a parallel career. And by the time you see Emerald (Keke Palmer) prominently wearing a Jesus Lizard T-shirt (above) and O.J. (Daniel Kaluuya) wearing a Rage Against the Machine one — and then, for a brief moment, Butthole Surfers and Earth tees flash by — it’s like, “Ok, these aren’t your garden-variety Nirvana tees.

HBO’s “The White Lotus” comes to an end on Sunday, at least for now. Mike White’s drama series will be back for a second season with a new location and new hotel guests. Viewers can spend one final episode luxuriating in the show’s uneasy mix of sun, disfunction, luxury and loathing amidst a setting of tropical splendor.

Several characters have had notable style moments during the six episodes, thanks to costume designer Alex Bovaird, who pulled together a closet tailored to each of the wealthy characters checking in to the luxury resort. Alexandra Daddario’s newlywed character Rachel, for example, was influenced by New York’s East Village. “Her style was preppy, fun and chic,” Bovaird says. “She can also put outfits together and take risks.”

In contrast, disaffected teen Quinn, played by Fred Hechinger, sports t-shirts with messages that silently comment on the capitalists of the show,...

“The White Lotus” creator Mike White gave production designer Laura Fox a unique direction when it came to designing the sets of his new HBO series: “Think of The Madonna Inn and The Four Seasons having a baby.”

Fox’s job was to take the normally restrained and tasteful decor of the Four Seasons Maui just a few steps farther, with too many patterns, too many tropical colors and too many slightly-dated accessories. The series follows a group of American tourists who stay at a luxurious Hawaiian resort that doesn’t quite live up to their standards. The mood is set through the production design, their costumes and the golden cast of the cinematography, which combine to make their stay feel slightly dreamlike and surreal.

Connie Britton, Jennifer Coolidge, Alexandra Daddario, Fred Hechinger, Jake Lacy, Brittany O’Grady, Sydney Sweeney and Steve Zahn all star as the spoiled rich guests around whom Fox centered her designs,...

by Peter Belsito

“Thoroughbred” is a two character piece set in an imposing residence where the young women, teenagers, come together for tutoring but it quickly develops beyond that into new — and dangerous — territory.Director Cory Finley with stars Olivia Cooke, Anya Taylor-Joy

Emotionally challenged Amanda and contemptuous Lily reboot their childhood friendship after years of instability and judgment, thrown back together by standardized-test tutoring.

When Lily’s icy stepdad, Mark, conspires to ship her off to reform school instead of her dream college, Amanda’s nonchalant quips about killing him suddenly seem enticing. Even as Amanda’s sinister tendencies surface and the girls hatch a plan, the mutual manipulation that has always defined their relationship threatens to derail their ambitions.

They have a history which enables them to confide and challenge and manipulate one another.

Part of the attraction of this film is the unstable emotional ground each inhabits...