The Best International Feature category at the Academy Awards has grown in prominence over the years, coinciding with the inclusion of more international voters. It’s now meant more films typically confined to the Best International Feature category are now making their way to the conversation for Best Picture. This year, I’m Still Here and Emilia Perez serve as examples of films being nominated in both categories. In the recent past, we’ve seen the likes of Drive My Car and Parasite gain recognition from Academy voters in both categories. For this week’s FilmWeek feature, we’ll focus on this year’s crop of films for Best International Feature, and discuss our critics’ favorites. Joining us are Manuel Betancourt, Lael Loewenstein, and Christy Lemire.

FilmWeek: 'The Monkey,' 'Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy,' 'Millers in Marriage,' 'Cleaner' and More

Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Manuel Betancourt and Lael Loewenstein review this weekend’s latest movie releases in theaters and on streaming platforms.

The Monkey

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy

Millers in Marriage

Ex-Husbands

Cleaner

The Unbreakable Boy

Old Guy

FilmWeek: 'Captain America: Brave New World,' 'Paddington in Peru,' Becoming Led Zeppelin,' 'Sky Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius),' and More

Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Christy Lemire and Tim Cogshell review this weekend’s latest movie releases in theaters and on streaming platforms.

Captain America: Brave New World

Paddington in Peru

Becoming Led Zeppelin

Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius)

Universal Language

The Gorge

Mom

I Love You Forever

Kid Snow

Rez Comedy

Feature: ‘Nickel Boys’ writer-director RaMell Ross discusses creative ways of adapting Colson Whitehead’s novel

Since the book was released in 2019, Colson Whitehead's historical fiction novel The Nickel Boys has reached great critical acclaim, having most notably won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. So to adapt the book into a feature-length film seems like it’d offer a lot of pressure, but it’s one the RaMell Ross seemed willing to take on following his Oscar-nominated documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening. This year, Ross now finds his Nickel Boys adaptation nominated for multiple Oscars, including Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture. Similar to the book, the film follows the lives of two boys at the now-defunct Nickel Academy, a reform school in Florida that had a track record of abusing the African American children who attended. Ross also takes a unique approach, leaning heavily into his protagonist’s perspective, with most of the film switching between Elwood and Turner’s first-person point of view. Joining us to discuss the work put into Nickel Boys is the film’s co-writer and director, RaMell Ross.

Nickel Boys is out in select theaters and is now on VOD/digital.

Feature: 'Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat' director discusses Jazz greats and their relationship to post-colonial Africa

The Oscar-nominated documentary Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat has received critical success through it’s focus on an international incident, a relationship between developing countries in a post-colonial era, and how artists can unknowingly play a role in this. The documentary, directed by Johan Grimonprez, uses jazz music from the likes of Louis Armstrong and Max Roach as an entryway into post-colonial Africa. Grimonprez spends much of the documentary getting into newly independent African nations, the most notable being the Democratic Republic of Congo, and how their relationship with colonial powers involved in the United Nations can impact their new democracies. This narrative is put together with prominent jazz musicians at the time and how their performances in these new nations were used for political purposes unbeknownst to them. So, for this week’s FilmWeek feature, we sit down with Johan Grimonprez, director of Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat.

“Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat” is out now in select theaters and available on VOD

FilmWeek: 'Love Hurts,' 'Jazzy,' 'Parthenope,' 'Bring Them Down,' and More

Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Manuel Betancourt and Tim Cogshell review this weekend’s latest movie releases in theaters and on streaming platforms.

Love Hurts

No Other Land

Parthenope

Suze

Jazzy

Armand

Dark Nuns

Bring Them Down

Hazard

FilmWeek: 'Companion,' 'Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story,' 'Dog Man,' and More

Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Charles Solomon, Lael Loewenstein, and Tim Cogshell review this weekend’s latest movie releases in theaters and on streaming platforms.

• Companion

• Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story

• Dog Man

• You're Cordially Invited

• Love Me

• Valiant One

• Lucca's World

   

Oscar Animated Shorts

*Only one film (Wander to Wonder) is available online; all the animated shorts will be bundled up in a limited theatrical release starting February 14*

• Beautiful Men

• In the Shadow of the Cypress

• Magic Candies

• Wander to Wonder

• Yuck! 

New Book ‘Falling in Love at the Movies” highlights the history of the romantic comedy

In her new book Falling in Love at the Movies, entertainment journalist Esther Zuckerman takes readers through the history of romantic comedies. A beloved genre, having built a reliable audience at the box office and some films even winning Academy Awards, the romcom has held a cultural impact that’s left many longing for romances depicted in Roman Holiday and When Harry Met Sally. So for this week’s FilmWeek feature, we speak to Esther Zuckerman about the rich history and extensive research that went into Falling in Love at the Movies: Rom-Coms from the Screwball Era to Today.

Esther will be doing a book signing, in partnership with Skylight Books, on Friday, Feb. 14 at 6:30 PM at the Los Feliz 3. Following that, she’ll be introducing a 7 PM screening of “Broadcast News.” For ticket information, click here.

Feature: New book ‘Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg: The Whole Equation’ tells the story of two MGM visionaries

Moviegoers nowadays might not know much of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios’ history outside of its iconic mascot, a lion who introduced each film with it’s iconic roar. It was an introduction that was meant to prepare viewers for not just a film, but a spectacle. A new book by retired film critic Kenneth Turan shares the studio’s rich history of spectacle through the work of co-founder Louis B. Mayer, and Irving Thalberg, who served as its head of production following MGM’s inception. For this week’s FilmWeek feature, we’ll speak to former film critic Kenneth Turan, about his forthcoming book Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg: The Whole Equation, and give listeners a glimpse as to how they contributed to Hollywood.

“Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg: The Whole Equation” is available for pre-order, and releases February 4th; click here to learn more.

FilmWeek: 'Presence,' 'Flight Risk,' 'Eternal You,' and More

Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Christy Lemire and Peter Rainer review this weekend’s latest movie releases in theaters and on streaming.

Presence

Flight Risk 

Inheritance

Eternal You

Brave the Dark

Grafted

Rose

Global Harmony