Feature: Wallace & Gromit return to the big screen with ‘Vengeance Most Fowl,’ we talk to the directors

It’s been 19 years since the intuitive, Wensleydale-loving Wallace and Gromit graced the big screen, with their last feature being The Curse of the Wererabbit; now the duo returns with Vengeance Most Fowl, which also marks the return of an old foe, the silent penguin Feathers McGraw. Having begun as a graduation project at the National Film and Television School, and now being a three-time Academy Award-winning cast of characters, Wallace & Gromit creator Nick Park has teamed up with longtime collaborator Merlin Crossingham to direct this latest feature. So for this week’s FilmWeek feature, Larry sits down with Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl directors Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham to discuss all the work that went into making this stop-motion animated feature a reality.

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl will be released in select theaters on December 18 and streaming on Netflix on January 3.

FilmWeek: 'The Brutalist,' 'Sonic the Hedgehog 3,' 'Mufasa: The Lion King,' 'The Count of Monte Cristo,' and More

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

• The Brutalist

• Mufasa: The Lion King

• Sonic the Hedgehog 3

• Homestead

• The Room Next Door

• The Count of Monte Cristo

• Counted Out

• The Wages of Fear (1953)

Feature: 1972 Munich Hostage Crisis broadcast gets revisited in ‘September 5,’ we discuss the film with its director.

Movies centered on journalists have been somewhat of a trend over the years, with Spotlight and The Post serving as recent examples, and some older classics like All The President’s Men and The Insider. Writer-director Tim Fehlbaum’s latest project, September 5, looks to add to the tradition with a timely story of broadcast journalists attempting to cover an international incident in real-time. The film follows the 1972 Munich Olympics, with its inciting incident being 11 Israeli hostages held by Palestinian militants. It was coverage that was watched by roughly 900 million viewers, showing just how serious this event was. Hansjörg Weißbrich, the film’s editor, creates tension despite most of the film being set in one building; his work on the film has since been acknowledged by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, which awarded September 5 for its Best Editing category. For this week’s feature, we talk to filmmaker Tim Fehlbaum about the making of September 5 and the work it took to revisit a dark moment in history.

FilmWeek: 'Kraven the Hunter,' 'Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,' 'Nickel Boys,' and More

Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Manuel Betancourt, Peter Rainer, and Charles Solomon review this weekend’s new movie releases on streaming and on-demand platforms.

• Kraven the Hunter

• Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

• September 5

• Nickel Boys

• The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

• Oh, Canada

• The Last Showgirl

• The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes

• Carry-On

• Endless Summer Syndrome

Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Wade Major and Christy Lemire review this weekend’s new movie releases on streaming and on-demand platforms.

• Nightbitch

• Y2K

• The Order

• Day of the Fight

• The End

• Unstoppable

• The Girl with the Needle

• Mary

• Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary

• The Return

• Lake George

From 'Jonny Quest' to 'The West Wing' and beyond: Actor Tim Matheson on his decades spent in Hollywood

Actor Tim Matheson has been working in showbiz since he was a young kid. He took up roles in some shows from the 1960s, like Leave it to Beaver and Window on Main Street. In 1964, he became the leading voice for the animated adventure series Jonny Quest. He'd go on to play Eric "Otter" Stratton in one of his best-known roles in the 1978 comedy film Animal House, and he was Emmy-nominated for his role as John Hoynes in The West Wing. For this week’s feature, we re-air an interview Larry recently did with Matheson, tied to his new memoir Damn Glad to Meet You: My Seven Decades in the Hollywood Trenches (Hachette Books, 2024)

FilmWeek: 'Moana 2,' 'Queer,' 'Maria,' 'That Christmas,' and More

Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Tim Cogshell, Peter Rainer and Charles Solomon review this weekend’s new movie releases on streaming and on-demand platforms.

• Moana 2
• Queer
• Maria
• The Seed of the Sacred Fig
• Ernest Cole: Lost and Found
• Porcelain War
• That Christmas
• Queens (Reinas)

As we enter a major weekend for Hollywood, how successful are Wicked and Gladiator II projected to be?

Although Thanksgiving cooking is a major event on its own, the next two weekends serve as a time when major studios try to cash in on the audience’s free time. The two major releases this weekend, John M. Chu’s Wicked and Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II, have bot h heavily campaigned for eyeballs, leaving questions about whether both can find box office success during the first week of their respective domestic releases. Internationally, Gladiator II has been released in some territories and made more than $80 million dollars in the process; Wicked has yet to open up its wide release but is projected to make more than $100 million in its opening weekend. With many referencing Barbenheimer, due to both films’ heavy promotion and different audience demographics, it does beg folks to wonder how each film will ultimately do financially and during awards season. Rebecca Rubin, senior film and media reporter for Variety, joins us to discuss this.

Feature: Critics discuss what’s behind the idea of movies being longer, and how to best prep for them

At a time when rolls of film dominated the land, making a blockbuster was going to be expensive when you had to consider a physical film that had to be distributed across the globe. It’s an issue that made films longer than 120 minutes feel like an occasion. However, in the world of digital cameras, the unique quirks that came with the film were no longer an issue, making it easier to extend the length of a given feature. Auteurs like Christopher Nolan and Martin Scorsese have tried their best to keep viewers’ attention, with recent projects like Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon, respectively. In the vein of West Side Story (1961) and Lawrence of Arabia, Brady Corbet’s upcoming film The Brutalist uses an intermission to give viewers a break. But ultimately… are Hollywood’s movies longer now? And for viewers interested in watching these long movies– what are ways to fully devote yourself to a film?

FilmWeek: 'Gladiator II,' 'Wicked,' 'Joy,' 'Spellbound,' and More

Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Charles Solomon, Amy Nicholson, and Claudia Puig reviewthe latest releases on FilmWeek.

• Gladiator II
• Wicked
• Flow
• Joy
• Spellbound
• Agent of Happiness
• The Merry Gentlemen
• The Glassworker

FilmWeek: 'Red One,' 'Elton John: Never Too Late,' 'Daruma,' and More

Larry Mantle and FilmWeek critics Lael Loewenstein, Manuel Betancourt, and Charles Solomon review the latest releases on FilmWeek.

• Red One
• All We Imagine as Light
• Elton John: Never Too Late
• Bird
• The World According to Alle Willis
• Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes
• Ghost Cat Anzu
• Daruma
• Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy
• Night Is Not Eternal
• Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom
• The Lost Children