This Week in Movies is a feature that highlights some of the big news stories from the world of movies that dropped over the past seven days. Below you’ll find a small handful of the week’s headlines you might have missed.

Here are some of the top stories from the week of January 25th – 31st …

• The 2025 Sundance Film Festival kicked off with a full slate of feature films and shorts from a variety people and countries. Several big titles came in with distribution already secured. Others are premiering with hopes of snagging a distribution deal. Among the most talked about movies from this year’s batch include another adaptation of “Kiss of the Spider Woman”, this one starring Jennifer Lopez, “Rabbit Trap” starring Dev Patel, a Josh O’Connor tearjerker titled “Rebuilding”, the star-studded “Train Dreams”, the gonzo cult thriller “Opus”, and Benedict Cumberbatch’s “The Thing With Feathers”.

• Filmmaking auteur and cinema enthusiast Quentin Tarantino announced his next project and it just might surprise a few people. It was originally reported that Tarantino was working on his tenth and final film which would be called “The Film Critic”. However he cancelled the project last year leaving everyone wondering what was next. Well, it appears he’s heading to the stage. During a sit-down with Elvis Mitchell in Park City, Utah, Tarantino revealed he’s currently writing a play and it’s likely going to be the next thing he does. He went on to say if it succeeds he could adapt it into what would be his final movie. We shall see.

• We found out that Denis Villeneuve is currently deep “in the writing zone” with “Dune: Messiah”, the third film in his adaptation of Frank Herbert’s science-fiction classic. We also learned that filming is expected to start sooner than first expected. The movie will be set twelve years after the events of “Dune: Part Two” and will bring the Paul Atreides story arc to a conclusion. “Dune: Messiah” is currently slated to hit theaters December 16, 2026.

• In 2023 Jonathan Majors seemed to be on top on the movie world with a skyrocketing career that included big roles in the Creed franchise and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. At the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, his movie “Magazine Dreams” garnered significant praise including talk of a possible Oscar nomination. But everything derailed after his arrest and conviction for domestic assault and harassment. “Magazine Dreams” was dropped by distributor Searchlight Pictures and left without a release date. This week a new trailer was dropped along with news that the film is now set for release on March 21st via Briarcliff Entertainment.

• This past week a true screen legend celebrated a birthday. Gene Hackman turned 95 on January 30th. Hackman’s magnificent career began in 1961 and over its course he appeared in countless big screen classics including “Bonnie and Clyde”, “The French Connection”, “The Conversation”, “Superman”, “Hoosiers”, “Mississippi Burning”, “Unforgiven”, and “The Royal Tenenbaums”. In 2004 the two-time Academy Award winner announced his retirement from acting. Since then he and his wife have lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he has enjoyed cycling and architecture. Happy Birthday Mr. Hackman.

A film steadily inching its way up my ‘Most Anticipated’ list is Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners”. Following his franchise successes with “Black Panther” and “Creed”, Coogler gets back to an original project with a period-rich vampire movie starring his frequent collaborator Michael B. Jordan. The film sees Jordan in a dual role alongside a killer supporting cast that includes Hailee Steinfeld, Jack O’Connell, Miles Caton, Delroy Lindo, Wunmi Mosaku, Omar Miller, and more. The first trailer was intense. This newest one is even more exciting.

Jordan plays twin brothers, Elijah and Elias, who return to their home town in hopes of putting their troubled lives behind them. But as the trailers have shown, escaping one’s past isn’t always easy. And to make matters worse, there’s something far more sinister and evil awaiting them back home. Coogler looks to go out of his way to immerse us in the 1930s Jim Crow era South, really leaning into the production design, costumes, and music. But it also looks utterly terrifying in the best way possible. I’m all onboard.

“Sinners” hits theaters April 18th. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.

This Week in Movies is a feature that highlights some of the big news stories from the world of movies that dropped over the past seven days. Below you’ll find a small handful of the headlines you might have missed.

Here are some of the top stories from the week of January 18th – 24th….

• Robert Eggers has officially announced his next project. Following the success of his terrific “Nosferatu”, Eggers is reteaming with Focus Features to make “Werwulf”. As its title suggests, the filmmaker’s fifth film is set to be a werewolf horror thriller. Eggers penned the script with Sjón who he previously worked with on “The Northman”. Not much has been revealed about the story, but we do know it will be set in 13th century England and will feature period-accurate dialect. Fans are sure to expect a tense and atmospheric experience similar to the other films in Eggers’ oeuvre. “Werfulf” is currently slated for a Christmas 2026 release.

• Netflix continues to cement itself as the leader of the streaming services by announcing that it has surpassed 300 million subscribers globally. They also shared that the service gained a record 18.9 million subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2024. Netflix is also celebrating the awards season success of “Emilia Perez” which continues to rake in the nominations. On the flipside, Netflix also announced yet another price increase, raising their ad-supported tier a full $1 per month ($7.99) and their premium tier $2 a month ($24.99). Yikes.

• This week we learned that Ryan Gosling is in talks to star in Shawn Levy’s upcoming Star Wars film. It has been five years since we last saw Star Wars on the big screen and during that time there have been countless rumors about what was next for the galaxy far, far away. Levy (“Deadpool & Wolverine”) has been working on his movie for over two years and is set to serve as director, writer, and producer. Gosling’s potential involvement could see Levy’s movie next in line behind 2026’s “The Mandalorian and Grogu”.

• The 2025 Razzie Awards nominations were announced this week and if you blinked you might have missed them. The Razzies were once a silly and fun event leading up to the Oscars that ‘celebrated’ the worst from the year in movies. But several embarrassing missteps in recent years has led to a lot of people losing interest. This year’s nominees seem lazier than usual and not nearly as funny as they want them to be. Among the small handful of movies nominated are “Joker: Folie à Deux”, “Megalopolis”, “Madame Web”, “Reagan”, and “Borderlands”.

• And of course the biggest news of the week was the announcement of the nominees for the 97th Academy Awards. Bowen Yang and Rachel Sennott shared this year’s batch which I couldn’t be less excited about. Among the underwhelming films taking home the most nominations are “Emilia Perez” with 13, “The Brutalist” with 10, and “Wicked” with 10. The excellent “A Complete Unknown” had 8 nominations though it’s not expected to win many (if any). The almost great “Conclave” also received 8 while the grueling awards season darling “Anora” received 6.

The 2025 El Dorado Film Festival is set to return next month. This year’s festival will run from February 26th through March 2nd. The event will once again be held at the South Arkansas Arts Center (SAAC), located at 110 East 5th Street in El Dorado, Arkansas. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased online or at the SAAC box office.

Established in 2014, the EDFF offers a curated selection of independent cinema, narrative and documentary features as well as short films from around the world. The festival recently announced this year’s exciting slate of regional, national, and international feature length and short films. Check them out below…

A Special Opening Night Event – 40th Anniversary Screening of “Fright Night” Featuring El Dorado Native William Ragsdale

On February 26th at 8 PM, the SAAC theater will host a 40th anniversary screening of “Fright Night”. Actor William Ragsdale, who plays Charley Brewster, will introduce the film and participate in a Q&A after the show.

“William Ragsdale has been an inspiration to so many of us El Dorado-raised actors and filmmakers over the years,” EDFF Executive Director Alexander Jeffery. “When I realized that 2025 marked the 40th Anniversary of William’s perennial success, Fright Night, it made all the sense in the world to kick off this year’s festival by celebrating him and his achievements over the years.”

The 2025 El Dorado Film Festival Official Selections

As someone fascinated with the rise and fall of the America Mafia, the new film “The Alto Knights” immediately grabbed my attention. This biographical crime drama is directed by Academy Award winner Barry Levinson (“The Natural”, “Rain Man”) and written by Nicholas Pileggi (“Goodfellas”). And to top it all off it features Robert De Niro in a dual role playing mob bosses Vito Genovese and Frank Costello. While that was all I needed to be excited, seeing the first trailer has me even more hyped.

Set in the 1950s, “The Alto Knights” follows the complex relationship between Italian-American mob bosses Vito Genovese and Frank Costello. It centers on their close friendship as well as the eventual tension that leads to an unsuccessful assassination attempt and a dramatic reshaping of the American Mafia. This is fascinating and fertile material and Warner Bros. look to have all the right people in place to explore it.

“The Alto Knights” releases in theaters on March 21st. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.

Following its wildly intriguing teaser released several weeks ago, the first full trailer for “Companion” just dropped and it adds even more reasons to be interested. Written and directed by Drew Hancock, “Companion” is yet another A.I./robot thriller that joins the numerous others put out over the last several years. But the trailer leaves the impression that this one may have a unique flavor all its own.

Part sci-fi thriller and part breakup comedy, “Companion” sees Sophie Thatcher playing Iris, the android girlfriend to Jack Quaid’s Josh. Problems start when Josh decides to jail-break his companion like an iPhone. Iris suddenly starts malfunctioning and things quickly turn violent. There’s a lot to like about the trailer including the wild premise and some gnarly kills. But there’s also some curious character bits which are a little questionable.

“Companion” hits theaters January 31st. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.