Ewan and Clara McGregor shine in this family road trip drama. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment is thrilled to announce that Bleeding Love, the compelling indie drama starring real-life father-daughter duo, Golden Globe Winner, Ewan McGregor, and Clara McGregor, will be available on all major digital platforms on July 22, 2024. (Strike Media, Ltd, 2024)
Following its World Premiere at SXSW, the debut feature from Emma Westenberg was selected as the Opening Gala at the 20th Glasgow Film Festival, playing to sell out audiences. Bleeding Love went on to have a successful theatrical run earlier this year where Collider praised the film for its “mesmerising authenticity”. The road-trip drama now heads home for the digital release.
Bleeding Love – In hopes of reconnecting with his estranged child, a father (Golden Globe®-Winner Ewan McGregor) embarks on an impromptu road trip with his now-adult daughter (Clara McGregor) after she has a near-fatal drug overdose. He is planning to take her to rehab – though she doesn’t know that. En route to their destination of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and encountering an eccentric array of characters along the way, the two are forced to confront the issues of their past. The trip proving to be less about the road that they’re on and more about the troubled one from their past.
Bleeding Love plays things close to home with fan favourite, Ewan McGregor starring alongside his real-life daughter Clara, who co-wrote the script with Vera Bulder and Ruby Caster. She has said that though it is fiction, aspects of it draw on her sometimes tricky relationship with her dad in the past.
Where to watch: Digital Platforms: iTunes / Amazon / Sky / Virgin / Google Play/Youtube Movies / Xbox/Microsoft / Rakuten
Director: Emma Westenberg
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Clara McGregor, Kim Zimmer, Devyn McDowell, Sasha Alexander, Jake Weary & Vera Bulder
Producers: Christine Vachon, Mark Amin, Clara McGregor, Vera Bulder, Greg Lauritano, Mason Plotts & Cami Winikoff
The series Unsinkable launches on July 10, 2024. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
In today’s movie news, there’s a new audio movie series coming to Wondery+. Audio movies, also known as audio dramas or audio plays, transport listeners into vivid worlds using only sound. These productions rely on voice acting, sound effects, and music to tell compelling stories without visual elements. They stimulate the imagination, painting scenes and emotions through dialogue and soundscapes while creating a theater of the mind where every listener interprets and visualizes the story in their own way. If you’re looking for a new series to binge and like military movies about heroic battles during World War 2, this is one worth checking out.
The star-studded character-driven binge worthy series “UNSINKABLE” launches on July 10 with the first two episodes on Wondery+.This compelling, wholly immersive original audio movie series is from creators Misha Crosby and John Mawon. (Cinematic Red PR, 2024)
“UNSINKABLE” is an immersive new 11-part audio movie series presented in Dolby Atmos from creators, directors, and showrunners, who also voice key characters, Misha Crosby, and John Mawson, and stars a multi-award-winning cast led by Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Brian Cox, Nathalie Emmanuel, John Malkovich, and Harry Hamlin, as well as Blair Redwood, Paul Telfer, Juliet Aubrey, Rupert Vansittart, John Altman, and Hugh Fraser.
The series launches on July 10with the first two episodes with an additional episode dropping weekly.
“UNSINKABLE” tells the true story of the British tanker, the San Demetrio – one of the most extraordinary tales of heroism, fortitude, and seamanship of World War 2. When the ship is attacked thousands of miles from home in enemy infested seas, a raw young officer and a handful of desperate seamen fight to survive both against the elements and themselves.
* This epic story experience is told over 3 hours 30 mins broken into an 11-episode series, each roughly 20 mins in length.
* The story transitions from deadly action at sea to heartbreaking events in Blitz-torn London and the extraordinary High Court case that resulted.
* This is not an audiobook, podcast or radio-play, there is no narrator. This is a movie for the ears.
* Led by extraordinary A-List Talent, a cast of over 37 actors created more than 100 distinct roles. The series is flooded with moments of blockbuster action, high drama, romance, comedy, deep jeopardy, and gripping tension all presented through the lens of our characters in an immersive Dolby Atmos mix.
What is an Audio Movie: This is a movie for the ears; presented through the lens of the characters in an immersive Dolby Atmos mix. The 11-part series is flooded with action, drama, romance, comedy, and gripping tension that brings this epic event to life. It is NOT a radio play, audiobook, docudrama, or an ordinary podcast. There is no narration. This wholly immersive original audio movie series embraces the production style and values of cinematic feature films by creating an immersive narrative blockbuster experience through sound design and original orchestral score. The sound design has been led by Jimmy Boyle and his team and delivered in Dolby Atmos, mixed by Academy Award® Winner Ben Wilkins.
‘The Tattooist of Auschwitz’ has been adapted into a Peacock original series. Photo: Amazon
Historical fiction transports readers to bygone eras, blending fact with imaginative narrative. They resurrect ancient civilizations and wartime landscapes with meticulous research and vivid storytelling. Through the eyes of fictional characters, readers explore crucial events, from epic battles to intimate moments of daily life, offering insights into the human condition across time. These stories often combine real historical figures with invented protagonists, creating a rich tapestry of emotion, intrigue, and adventure. These books not only entertain but also educate, inviting readers to ponder the echoes of the past in our present and future. One such historical novel is The New York Times and International bestseller “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” by Heather Morris.
Heather Morris is a native of New Zealand, now living in Australia. For several years, while working in a large public hospital in Melbourne, she studied and wrote screenplays, one of which was optioned by an Academy Award-winning screenwriter in the US. In 2003, Heather was introduced to an elderly gentleman who ‘might just have a story worth telling.’ The day she met Lale Sokolov changed both their lives. Their friendship grew and Lale embarked on a journey of self-scrutiny, entrusting the innermost details of his life during the Holocaust to her. Heather originally wrote Lale’s story as a screenplay – which ranked high in international competitions – before reshaping it into her debut novel, “The Tattooist of Auschwitz.” It is a tale of hope and courage based on interviews that were conducted with Holocaust survivor and Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov—an unforgettable love story in the midst of atrocity. It has now been adapted into a Peacock original series (6 episodes) and will be available for streaming starting May 2, 2024. (Amazon, 2024)
“The Tattooist of Auschwitz” – In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. When his captors discover that he speaks several languages, he is put to work as a Tätowierer (the German word for tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners.
Imprisoned for over two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific atrocities and barbarism—but also incredible acts of bravery and compassion. Risking his own life, he uses his privileged position to exchange jewels and money from murdered Jews for food to keep his fellow prisoners alive.
One day in July 1942, Lale, prisoner 32407, comforts a trembling young woman waiting in line to have the number 34902 tattooed onto her arm. Her name is Gita, and in that first encounter, Lale vows to somehow survive the camp and marry her.
A vivid, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful re-creation of Lale Sokolov’s experiences as the man who tattooed the arms of thousands of prisoners with what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust, “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” is also a testament to the endurance of love and humanity under the darkest possible conditions.
The French macabre horror movie Pandemonium leads ARROW’s May 2024 lineup. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Arrow Video is excited to announce the May 2024 lineup of their subscription-based ARROW platform, available to subscribers in the US, Canada, the UK, and Ireland. Enjoy a selection of new titles, from carefully cultivated curations, shorts by new talent, and deep dives into the tastes of filmmakers whose talents have delighted audiences and shaped genre filmmaking. (Arrow Video, 2024)
The May 2024 lineup leads with the exclusive ARROW release of Quarxx’s French macabre horror Pandemonium, available May 27 in the US, Canada, UK, and Ireland.
Drawing on themes found in Dante’s Inferno and Milton’s Paradise Lost, Pandemonium is a multi-textured existential fantasy, topped with signature notes of visceral horror, disturbing fairy tale, wry comedy, and dark thriller. From the creative mind of Quarxx, comes this aesthetically stunning and relentlessly macabre tale. Pandemonium made its world premiere at Neuchâtel and went on to screen at Fantasia, Frightfest, Fantasy FilmFest, Sitges, Grimmfest, Trieste, and Screamfest and you can see it at home on ARROW with a host of brand new extras.
May Seasons bloom May 3 with Jennifer Reeder Selects (UK/IRE/US/CA) Titles include Switchblade Sisters, The Sacred Spirit, Lady Morgan’s Vengeance.
Also on May 3, subscribers in all territories can enjoy a pair of underseen violent short films. The Host (UK/IRE/US/CA): In this tense-as-hell 1960 short from Jack Hill, Sid Haig plays an on-the-run cowboy who is laying low. But, to remain safe and appease a local tribe, he must commit another terrible crime. Hill and Haig’s incredible talents were burning bright right from the beginning in an atmospheric, violent debut feature that is not to be missed.
The Adventures of Denchu-Kozo (UK/IRE/US/CA): Hikari is a boy who is bullied at school because he has an electricity pole growing out of his back. One of his classmates named Momo comes to his rescue and he thanks her by sharing his secret possession with her: a time machine. Activating the time machine transports him 25 years into a dark, dystopian, world of the future. There he encounters members of the Shinsengumi Vampire Gang who are hunting a woman named Dr. Sariba who is revealed to be Momo’s future self. He and he alone must save the world.
On May 10, head to the fields and forests and watch Cunning Folk (UK/IRE/US/CA). Cunning Folk is a collection of folklore and folktales, the locals who believe in them and the outsiders who inevitably fall foul of them. If you know what’s good for you, you will fear, respect and uphold the Old Ways of the Cunning Folk. Or else… Titles include The Wyrm of Bwlch Pen Barras, Threshold, Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji.
On May 10, enjoy a trio of recent additions to the indie horror lexicon. Legs (UK/IRE/US/CA): Joy and Harry are trying to have a baby. One night, Joy swallows a spider in her sleep. When Joy subsequently develops an insatiable appetite for flies, it dawns on her that there may be more than one way of becoming a mother.
The Afterlife Bureau (UK/IRE/US/CA): “There’s something which comes after death and before you meet your maker… paperwork.” The Afterlife Bureau is a dark comedy in which brings Earthly nuisances such as bureaucracy to the afterlife.
Ouzo and Blackcurran (UK/IRE/US/CA): Two old friends take a trip down memory lane, but they are not alone – there’s someone there who never left.
On May 17, stay up all night and watch The City that Never Sleeps (UK/IRE/US/CA). On ARROW, the Big Apple is known as The City That Never Sleeps because the films set on its streets will give you nightmares. Psychopathic gangsters, deranged killers, out-of-control street gangs, even zombies and misshapen, deadly ex-conjoined twins, get a taste of an older, scarier, grittier, scuzzier New York in The City That Never Sleeps. Titles include: The Driller Killer, Basket Case, Mammoth.
Also on May 17, enjoy origin stories of genre legends. Eaten Alive (UK/IRE/US/CA): Nearly a decade before he donned Freddy Krueger’s famous red and green sweater, horror icon Robert Englund delivered a supremely sleazy performance in Eaten Alive, another essay in taut Southern terror from Tobe Hooper, director of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Oozing atmosphere from its every pore, Eaten Alive matches The Texas Chain Saw Massacre for sheer insanity helped in no small part by some marvelous histrionics from Chain Saw star Marilyn Burns and William Finley.
Spider Baby (UK/IRE/US/CA): This was the first solo feature by Jack Hill, whom Quentin Tarantino dubbed “the Howard Hawks of exploitation filmmaking,” and it remains one of his wildest and weirdest. Lon Chaney Jr gave one of his most memorable late performances as Bruno, their guardian and protector, who has managed to cover up their crimes until two distant relatives lay claim to their house. When they insist on moving in, Bruno has to cross his fingers and hope that the ‘children’ behave towards their new guests.
On May 24, slide into The Ick (UK/IRE/US/CA). Guaranteed to gross you out and featuring the sleaziest and skeeziest films on ARROW, this one is bound to give you The Ick. Titles include Doom Asylum, Hellish Flesh, The Baby.
On May 31, ARROW closes out the lineup by sending audiences to Heaven or (Mostly) Hell (UK/IRE/US/CA). Recently dead and stuck in limbo with a very important choice to make, up or down. Who knows if we get a choice of paradise or the abyss à la the beginning of Quarxx’s film Pandemonium? We’ve tried to give you a choice in this collection, but let’s be honest, on ARROW, the choice favors purgatory more than the pearly gates. Titles include Pandemonium, Hotel Poseidon, A Ghost Waits.
Head over to ARROW to start watching now. Subscriptions are available for $6.99 monthly or $69.99 yearly.
ARROW is available in the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland on the following Apps/devices: Roku (all Roku sticks, boxes, devices, etc.), Apple TV & iOS devices, Samsung TVs, Android TV and mobile devices, Fire TV (all Amazon Fire TV Sticks, boxes, etc.), and on all web browsers.
With a slickly designed and user-friendly interface, and an unparalleled roster of quality content from westerns to giallo to Asian cinema, trailers, Midnight Movies, filmmaker picks and much, much more, ARROW is the place to go for the very best in on-demand entertainment.
In the coming months, ARROW will be adding Oscar-winning hits, European classics, Asian cinema masterworks, rediscovered Westerns, offbeat gems and much more as part of ARROW’s international strategy to support and celebrate the medium of film.
The television adaptation of ‘Dark Matter’ will premiere on Apple TV + on May 8, 2024. Photo: Amazon
Speculative fiction is such an imaginative genre, which is why it’s one of my favorites. Blake Crouch’s “Dark Matter” resolves around the concept of the Many-Worlds Interpretation (MWI) of quantum mechanics – that every quantum event spawns a branching universe, creating an infinite number of parallel realities. I’ve always found the concept intriguing, and luckily this book has been adapted into a television series.
Blake Crouch is a bestselling novelist and screenwriter. His novels include the New York Times bestseller “Dark Matter,” and the internationally bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy, which was adapted into a television series for FOX. Crouch also created the TNT show Good Behavior, based on his Letty Dobesh novellas. “Dark Matter” is a speculative thriller about an ordinary man who awakens in a world inexplicably different from the reality he thought he knew. It has been adapted into a television series for Apple TV + and will premiere the first two episodes on May 8 for a total of nine episodes. (Amazon, 2024)
Book synopsis: From bestselling author Blake Crouch, “Dark Matter”is a mind-bending thriller about choices, paths not taken, and how far we’ll go to claim the lives we dream of.
“Are you happy with your life?” Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the kidnapper knocks him unconscious. Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before a man he’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.”
In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college professor but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible. Is it this life or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how will Jason make it back to the family he loves?
Series synopsis: Jason Dessen is abducted into an alternate version of his life. To get back to his true family, he embarks on a harrowing journey to save them from the most terrifying foe imaginable: the alternate version of himself. It stars Joel Edgerton as Jason Dessen, Jennifer Connelly as Daniela Dessen, and Alice Braga as Amanda.
The series adaptation of ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’ will be available on Showtime/Paramount +. Photo: Amazon
Amor Towles is an American novelist who graduated from Yale College and received an M.A. from Stanford University. He is the author of New York Times bestsellers “Rules of Civility,” “A Gentleman in Moscow,” and “The Lincoln Highway,” as well as the short story collection “Table for Two.” His books have collectively sold more than six million copies and have been translated into more than thirty languages. His 2016 novel “A Gentleman in Moscow” was adapted into an 8 episode series and will be available on Showtime/Paramount + starting on March 31, 2024. It stars Ewan McGregor as Count Alexander Rostov. (Amazon, 2024)
“A Gentleman in Moscow” is a beautifully transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel.
In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.
Brimming with humor, a glittering cast of characters, and one beautifully rendered scene after another, this singular novel casts a spell as it relates the count’s endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose.
The television series adaptation of ‘One Day’ is now streaming on Netflix. Photo: Amazon
David Nicholls is a British novelist and screenwriter best known for “Starter for Ten,” “The Understudy,” “Us,” “Sweet Sorrow,” and “One Day.” “One Day” was published in 2009 to extraordinary critical acclaim and was translated into 40 languages. It became a global bestseller, selling millions of copies worldwide. His fourth novel, “Us,” was longlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction. He is the executive producer and a contributing screenwriter on a new Netflix series adaptation of “One Day.” The series consists of 14 episodes and the first one is available now.
“One Day” – Two people, one day. What starts as a fleeting connection between two strangers soon becomes a deep bond that spans decades. It’s 1988 and Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley have only just met. But after only one day together, they cannot stop thinking about one another. Over twenty years, snapshots of that relationship are revealed on the same day—July 15th—of each year. They face squabbles and fights, hopes and missed opportunities, laughter and tears. Dex and Em must come to grips with the nature of love and life itself. As the years go by, the true meaning of this one crucial day is revealed. (Amazon, 2024)
About the Authors TV on Tubi profiles the world’s greatest storytellers. Photo: Google
If you are a fan of books and entertainment in general, this is a series worth checking out. The new streaming series on Tubi, About the Authors TV, profiles and tells the story behind some of the world’s greatest storytellers. Seasons 1 through 4 are available now. I know what I will be bingeing next. (MVD Publicity, 2023)
The documentary/lifestyle show’s new seasons 3 and 4 feature the creators of Oscar-winning The Martian movie, the Lincoln Rhyme franchise, Star Wars, Fox’s Bones TV show, the Indiana Jones film franchise, HBO’s True Blood, billion-dollar box office hit Rambo, Apple TV sensation Shining Girls, Donnie Brasco, The Goonies, Poltergeist, Netflix’s Blonde, Longmire, Trollhunters, Spike TV’s The Mars Trilogy, Sundance’s Hap and Leonard, Judy Moody, the Dark Hunter universe, and more.
Born out of the Covid-era boom of new shows that rose to popularity with 2020s viewing audiences, the show targets both the readers of these authors and aspiring writers alike. About the Authors TV has grown to over 2 million viewers and counting in the past two years since Tubi began airing the show.
Seasons 1 and 2 featured episodic interviews with best-selling writers Scott Turow, Karin Slaughter, T.C. Boyle, Brad Meltzer, Ian Rankin, Catherine Coulter, Heather Graham, Chris Bohjalian, Jonathan and Faye Kellerman, John Lescroart, Tess Gerritsen, F. Lee Bailey (in his final TV interview), Mindhunter’s John Douglas, Laurie R. King, Steve Alten, and Rob Bell, in more than 60 episodes.
Seasons 3 and 4 features another 68 of the world’s best-selling authors with Joyce Carol Oates, Andy Weir, Jeffery Deaver, Barry Eisler, James Rollins, JA Jance, Dr. Kathy Reichs, Daniel Kraus, Homer Hickam, Craig Johnson, Sara Paretsky, Erica Jong, Charlaine Harris, Joe R. Lansdale, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Ret. FBI agent Joe Pistone, David Morrell, Dean Koontz, Riley Sager, Victoria Aveyard, Kim Stanley Robinson, Candice Fox, Lauren Beukes, Christopher Paolini, Jay McInerney, Janet Fitch, Jeanine Cummins, Charles and Caroline Todd (in her final filmed interview), Megan Miranda, Christina Lauren, Joyce Maynard, novelizer James Kahn, Ruth Ware, Dr. Naomi Wolf, JD Barker, Lois Lowry, Mary Kay Andrews, Megan McDonald, Jay McInerney, Ben Mezrich, Hank Philippi Ryan, and more.
Patricia Cornwell declared to her 1.1 million Twitter followers that she had “a BLAST!” on the show. Gillian Flynn selected About the Authors TV as one of only four media appearances celebrating the 10 year anniversary of Gone Girl, alongside the Today Show. Legendary Irish author John Banville recently said, “I enjoyed our talk, and I must say I’m full of admiration for the panache with which you carried the thing off – you managed to mention all of my books in a neat hour. A pleasure to deal with a professional.” Joyce Carol Oates found her episode to be “brimming with enthusiasm & energy!”
Host/Creator Jake Brown, himself an award-winning author of 55 books says, “We’re so grateful for the opportunity to continue our relationship with Tubi TV and MVD Entertainment in delivering 68 more episodes over Seasons 3 and 4 as we work to make About the Authors TV the largest streamed episodic archive of author interviews across all genres and generations. With 80 more new episodes coming in Seasons 5 and 6, being filmed now, and recently completed Science Fiction and UK Editions, as well as an upcoming Horror Edition, there are hundreds of more episodes coming and we hope readers, aspiring authors and fans of each specific author will take a look and join our growing audience!”
About the Authors TV airs on Tubi and recently landed its first sponsor in partnership with International Literary Properties. Visit their YouTube Channel for daily promos from newly interviewed authors, extended previews of upcoming episodes and early exclusive premieres. The series is shot weekly at a Nashville, Tennessee-based studio and edited by the team of Ray Riddle, Allan McCall, Jake Brown, and Chris Lucas.
SA Examiner 