Dora And The Lost City Of Gold Official Poster
Check out the first official poster for Paramount’s live action Dora The Explorer movie, starring Isabela Moner as the iconic children’s character. Full official synopsis bellow.
Having spent most of her life exploring the jungle with her parents, nothing could prepare Dora (Isabela Moner) for her most dangerous adventure ever – high school. Always the explorer, Dora quickly finds herself leading Boots (her best friend, a monkey), Diego (Jeffrey Wahlberg), a mysterious jungle inhabitant (Eugenio Derbez), and a rag tag group of teens on a live-action adventure to save her parents (Eva Longoria, Michael Peña) and solve the impossible mystery behind a lost city of gold.
TIFF Announces New Appointments In Key Roles
Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director and Co-Head, and Joana Vicente, Executive Director and Co-Head, today announced several appointments to the Senior Management team at TIFF.
Diana Sanchez has been appointed to the newly created role of Senior Director, Film, effective April 15, 2019. Sanchez will oversee the programming strategy for the Toronto International Film Festival; TIFF Cinematheque; Film Circuit, the organization’s nationwide film network; and Theatrical release programming at TIFF Bell Lightbox. Sanchez has a long-standing relationship with TIFF that began in the Festival’s Guest Office in 1998. A lover of Spanish-language cinema, she has been responsible for selecting the Festival’s films from Latin America, Spain, and Portugal since 2002. In that time, Sanchez has developed strong relationships with a wide range of filmmakers, including Pedro Almodóvar, Lucrecia Martel, Guillermo del Toro, and Sebastián Lelio. In addition to her work at TIFF, Sanchez has worked as the Artistic Director of the Panama Film Festival since its inception in 2011, and programmed for the Rotterdam Film Festival, the Miami Film Festival, and the Los Angeles Latino Film Festival, where she served as Programming Director.
“The Senior Director of Film position was created to bring our curatorial strategies for the Festival and year-round film programming closer together,” said Cameron Bailey. “Diana and I will work with film programming teams to amplify the cumulative impact of TIFF’s singular resources: a prominent film festival, a globally respected cinematheque, one of the best art-house cinemas in the world, and a national network of Film Circuit groups that reaches film lovers and knowledge seekers across Canada. I look forward to beginning work with Diana as she makes her transition to the new position, and am excited for her to be part of the future of TIFF.”
On the operational and revenue-generating side of TIFF, Laura Ryan, who has been with the organization for four years, takes on the role of Vice President, Visitor Experience. Ryan’s responsibility encompasses all teams that curate customer experience at every touchpoint at TIFF, which include the Event, Technical Production, Ticketing Operations, Retail, and Customer Service teams. Prior to TIFF, Ryan worked in Finance and IT, leading groups responsible for Sales and Customer Service globally.
Jennifer Frees takes on the role of Vice President, Partnerships, which oversees over 100 partner accounts. Frees, who has been at TIFF for eight years, will continue to provide senior sales, negotiation, and property-development direction for the organization’s corporate, festival, event and hospitality partnerships. Under her direction, TIFF Partnerships has become one of the most successful partner programmes in the film festival world.
“We are very excited that both Laura and Jennifer have taken on these newly created leadership roles with TIFF,” said Joana Vicente. “Both of these individuals possess an incredible business acumen and overall leadership vision that will benefit the organization for years to come. Their hard work is a large part of the current day success of TIFF, and we are privileged to have their voices on the Senior Management team.”
Walker Stalker Con Returns To London
Zombie enthusiasts and fans of the number-one show on television, The Walking Dead, will have the opportunity to meet their favorite stars at the upcoming Walker Stalker Con at ExCeL London on March 30-31. In addition, attendees can greet cast members from the worldwide phenomenon, Game of Thrones, as it prepares to enter its pivotal final season.
Walker Stalker Con has become an incredibly popular convention, offering something for everyone – from the diehard fan, to families, to those with a growing interest in the genre. More than 30 of the most popular actors from shows such as The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Fear the Walking Dead, American Horror Story, and more will speak to the audience, meet fans, pose for photos and sign autographs.
Attendees can also participate in a range of engaging and unique activities, including:
● Free panel sessions led by stars from some of television’s most popular shows.
● Zombies and cosplayers roam the convention floor, making for interactive experiences attendees will never forget.
● Vendors who deal in the comic, zombie, and entertainment worlds – among many other genres and industries.
There are even a number of opportunities to volunteer as an ambassador of the event, which can be found on the Walker Stalker Con website. One of the most popular elements of the convention is the chance to meet and hear from stars of your favorite shows.
In London, attendees will be treated to sessions with:
● THE WALKING DEAD: Jeffrey Dean Morgan (“Negan”), Lauren Cohan (“Maggie”), Steven Yeun (“Glenn”), Jon Bernthal (“Shane”), Chandler Riggs (“Carl”), Tom Payne (“Jesus”), Christian Serratos (“Rosita”), Khary Payton (“King Ezekiel”), Michael Cudlitz (“Abraham”), Seth Gilliam (“Father Gabriel”), Alanna Masterson (“Tara”), Michael Rooker (“Merle”), Ross Marquand (“Aaron”), Cailey Fleming (“Judith”), Josh McDermitt (“Eugene”), Cooper Andrews (“Jerry”), Cassady McClincy (“Lydia”), Katelyn Nacon (“Enid”) and more!
● GAME OF THRONES: Isaac Hempstead Wright (“Bran Stark”), Kristian Nairn (“Hodor”), John Bradley (“Samwell Tarly”), Hannah Murray (“Gilly”), Jerome Flynn (“Bronn”), and Richard Brake (“The Night King”)
● AMERICAN HORROR STORY: Alexandra Breckenridge (“Moira O’Hara”), Dylan McDermott (“Ben Harmon”), and Denis O’Hare (“Liz Taylor”) ● Kim Dickens (Madison, Fear the Walking Dead)
And MORE! The full list of guests is on the Walker Stalker Con London website.
Broadcasting Press Guild Awards 2019 Winners
The full list of BPG TV and Radio Awards winners is:
Best Single Drama/Mini-series
A Very English Scandal
A Blueprint Pictures production for the BBC and Amazon Studios
Best Drama Series
Killing Eve
A Sid Gentle Films Ltd production for BBC America, internationally distributed by Endeavor Content
Best Single Documentary
Grenfell
A Minnow Films production for BBC One
Best Documentary Series
Stephen: The Murder that Changed a Nation
An On the Corner production, in association with Rogan Productions, for BBC One
Best Entertainment
Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing
An Owl Power TV production for BBC Two
Best Online First/ Streaming
Killing Eve
A Sid Gentle Films Ltd production for BBC America, internationally distributed by Endeavor Content and first streamed in UK on BBC Three as a box set on BBC iPlayer
Best Comedy
Derry Girls
A Hat Trick Productions production for Channel 4
Best of Multichannel
Patrick Melrose
A Two Cities production in association with Sunnymarch and Little Island for Sky Atlantic and Showtime
Radio Broadcaster of the Year
Lauren Laverne
BBC Radio 6 Music, Late Night Woman’s Hour and Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4
Radio Programme of the Year
Tara and George
A Falling Tree Productions production for BBC Radio 4
Podcast of the Year
Hip Hop Saved My Life – Romesh Ranganathan
Ranga Bee Productions
Best Actor
Hugh Grant for A Very English Scandal (BBC One)
Best Actress
Jodie Comer for Killing Eve (BBC America)
Best Writer
Russell T Davies for A Very English Scandal (BBC One)
Innovation Award
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, for a ground-breaking form of storytelling.
A House of Tomorrow production for Netflix
Breakthrough Award
Alex Scott
Sports broadcaster for BBC and Sky
BPG Chairman’s Prize
Big Brother
EndemolShine Group for Channel 4 and Channel 5
Harvey Lee Award
Nicholas Parsons CBE
Actor, presenter & game show host, in particular, recognition of more than 50 years of presenting Radio 4’s Just A Minute.
Exclusive Winners Interviews Below:
Captain Marvel Review
The Plot
The Marvel Cinematic Universe bring its first female fronted superhero movie to the franchise with this 90s set sci-fi romp that sees Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) try to regain her memory with the help of a young Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson)
The Good
It’s obvious to anyone with even the slightest knowledge of comic book movies that Marvel Studios has been a hell of a long time coming. Even the DC Extended Universe managed to get there first with Wonder Woman nearly 2 years earlier despite the MCU’s 5 year head start in the connected universe race if you will.
With such anticipation surrounding the film it’s refreshing to see that the protagonists gender is never made as important a part of the film as fans have been (arguably rightly) making it to be. While it worked for Wonder Woman’s WWI setting to repeat it here in the 90s just wouldn’t work as well.
Having last seen the world left half in ashes by Thanos in Avengers Infinity War, Captain Marvel bridges the gap to Endgame by jumping back 20 years to finally introduce Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers and it’s far from simple. Landing us into the middle of a hitherto unexplained alien world, directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck don’t make it too easy to allow the audience into the life of Danvers, or Vers as she’s known to begin with.
Before too long the 90s nostalgia is peppered in as Danvers crashes through the roof of a Blockbusters (remember those!) and soon runs into a young Nick Fury with two eyes! Fortunately there’s no Hot Tub Time Machine style repeat joke of wondering when will be the moment he loses use of it. That didn’t stop this critic from wondering throughout though!
Brie Larson wastes no time in winning us over and is simply a delight to watch from the very opening. Having been named the MCU’s strongest character by a country mile, Larson has no trouble at all holding that title. Even as Danvers goes through the oft-treaded origin story of finding one’s self it’s easy to see just how strong she is and how inevitably instrumental she will be in Endgame.
What Boden and Fleck manage to do best in Captain Marvel however is in their use of the films villains, the Skrulls. A race of aliens that are able to change form into whoever and whatever they like, leaving the plot to twist and turn at points but never making you overly cautious at each character that comes on screen. The idea is never overplayed nor underplayed but it does bring forward questions regarding the last decade of MCU films. Surely no one is to be trusted now the Skrulls are involved and arguably have been since the 90s…
The Bad
One of the major downsides to Captain Marvel is it’s timing in regards to Marvel Studios releases. Arriving just in time to bridge the gap between Infinity War and Endgame is both its blessing and its curse. With the conclusion so close it’s hard to start watching Captain Marvel without constantly wondering how it all feeds into the larger story. Without giving too much away, it feels ultimately that had the release schedule been switched around a bit it could have helped.
Meanwhile, Captain Marvel’s unquestionable strength ultimately becomes one of her biggest weaknesses. By it’s third act set pieces, Carol Danvers slips into Superman territory in the fact that she’s so incredibly powerful that nothing feels like a threat to her. It’s a problem Supes has always had for this critic at least and now it seems that it’s a problem Captain Marvel has too. Frankly if she were to swoop into Avengers: Endgame and undo all of Thanos’ work with a snap of her fingers it wouldn’t be at all surprising. Perhaps if the inevitable switch between rediscovering Carol Danvers to discovering Captain Marvel hadn’t been so instantaneous it may have worked better.
The Ugly Truth
For the most part, Brie Larson is a welcome entry to the MCU, with a solo outing that doesn’t try to make too big a deal out of it’s much discussed gender politics. However, impressive though Captain Marvel’s strength may be, it ultimately becomes her downfall by the film’s closing act. Also it’s worth noting that you’ll never look at your cat the same way after you’ve met Goose…
Review By Johnny Ellis