THE AMATEUR
The Amateur is an upcoming American vigilante action spy film directed by James Hawes and written by Ken Nolan and Gary Spinelli, based on the 1981 novel of the same name by Robert Littell, which was previously adapted into a Canadian film that same year. It stars Rami Malek, Rachel Brosnahan, Caitríona Balfe, Jon Bernthal, Michael Stuhlbarg, Holt McCallany, Julianne Nicholson, Adrian Martinez, Danny Sapani, and Laurence Fishburne.
The film is scheduled to be released in the United States by 20th Century Studios on April 11, 2025.
Premise
After Charles Heller, a CIA cryptographer, loses his wife in a London terrorist attack, he realizes his bosses will not act due to conflicting internal priorities. Having blackmailed the agency to train him as a field operative, Charles embarks on a one-man mission to hunt down his wife’s killers.[2]
Cast
- Rami Malek as Charles Heller, a CIA cryptographer and vigilante[3]
- Laurence Fishburne as Robert Henderson, Charles’s boss[4]
- Rachel Brosnahan as Sarah Horowitz, Charles’s wife[4]
- Caitríona Balfe as Inquiline Davies[4][5]
- Jon Bernthal as Jackson O’Brien, a.k.a. The Bear
- Michael Stuhlbarg as Sean Schiller
- Holt McCallany as CIA Deputy Director Alex Moore[6]
- Julianne Nicholson as Samantha O’Brien[6]
- Adrian Martinez as Carlos[7]
- Danny Sapani as Caleb Horowitz
- Takehiro Hira as The Professor[8]
- Marc Rissmann as Mishka Blazhic
- Joseph Millson as Ellish
- Alice Hewkin as Ali Park
- Henry Garrett
_____________________________________________________________________
DROP
DROP
Drop is a 2025 American thriller film[2] directed by Christopher Landon and written by Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach. It stars Meghann Fahy, Brandon Sklenar, Violett Beane, Jacob Robinson, Reed Diamond, Ben Pelletier, Gabrielle Ryan, Jeffery Self, Ed Weeks, and Travis Nelson.
Drop premiered at SXSW on March 9, 2025, and is scheduled to be released in the United States by Universal Pictures on April 11, 2025. The film has received positive reviews from critics.
Premise
Violet, a widowed mother, is on a date with Henry when she is terrorized by a series of anonymous messages on her phone. The caller instructs her to tell nobody and follow increasingly malicious instructions, or her younger sister, Jen, and her son, Toby, will be killed, culminating with her being told to kill Henry.[3]
The title refers to the AirDrop feature on Apple’s iPhone, which allows you to share pictures and videos with other phones within your proximity.
Cast
- Meghann Fahy as Violet, a single mother
- Brandon Sklenar as Henry, Violet’s date
- Violett Beane as Jen, Violet’s younger sister and babysitter of her son
- Jacob Robinson as Toby, Violet’s son
- Reed Diamond as Richard
- Gabrielle Ryan Spring as Cara
- Jeffery Self as Matt
- Ed Weeks as Phil
- Travis Nelson as Connor
_____________________________________________________________________
THE TEACHER
THE TEACHER
The Teacher (Arabic: الأستاذ) is a 2023 drama film written and directed by British-Palestinian filmmaker Farah Nabulsi. It stars Saleh Bakri, Imogen Poots, and Muhammad Abed Elrahman. It premiered at the 48th Toronto International Film Festival on 9 September 2023.
Set in the present-day West Bank in the occupied Palestinian Territories, Nabulsi described the film as a “human drama set in a political landscape” and “a story about characters that represent a severely marginalized and underrepresented people,” stating that she “needed to make this film to cope with the injustice I’ve witnessed.”[3]
Plot
Basem is a Palestinian schoolteacher who finds himself caught between his commitment to political resistance and his role as a father figure to one of his students, Adam.
Cast
- Saleh Bakri as Basem El Saleh
- Imogen Poots as Lisa
- Muhammad Abed Elrahman as Adam
- Stanley Townsend as Simon Cohen
- Muayyad Abd Elsamad
- Andrea Irvine
- Nabil Al Raee
- Mahmood Bakri
- Paul Herzberg
_____________________________________________________________________
ONE TO ONE: JOHN & YOKO
ONE TO ONE: JOHN & YOKO
One to One: John & Yoko is a 2024 documentary film co-directed by Kevin Macdonald and Sam Rice-Edwards. [2]The film follows the couple of years that John Lennon and Yoko Ono spent in a Greenwich Village apartment while also tracing developments in American politics like the presidency of Richard Nixon and opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War. It is centered around Lennon and Ono’s “One to One” benefit concert for the children at Willowbrook.[3] Sean Ono Lennon, son of Lennon and Ono, oversaw audio mastering for the concert footage.[4]
The film was announced on May 29, 2024.[5] It later premiered at the Venice Film Festival on August 30, 2024, and was followed by showings at the Telluride Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival with distribution by Mercury Studios. [6]On January 21, 2025, Magnolia Pictures announced their acquisition of North American rights for the film, after which they announced an April 11 release date in IMAX theaters, as well as plans for streaming releases later in the year.[4]
Synopsis
The film is centered around concert footage and audio from Lennon and Ono’s “One to One” benefit concert held at Madison Square Garden in August 1972 on behalf of children at the Willowbrook institution in Staten Island. The “One to One” benefit concerts were the only performances that Lennon performed following The Beatles‘ split in 1970.[7]
The film also follows the trajectory of their 18-month stay in a Greenwich Village apartment from 1971–1973.[8]
Background
The project began when Macdonald was presented with remastered, restored, never-before-seen footage of the “One to One” benefit concert. Macdonald then considered why the concert happened, probing further questions about Lennon and Ono’s lives and careers.[9]
Macdonald then sought to create a film around the benefit concert and the couple’s “political engagement” and their relationship with watching television.[9]
The original release of this concert is the Live in New York City album and home video in 1986.
Composition
Between clips of the “One to One” benefit concert, the film additionally cuts together video and audio recordings from television, phone calls, and other contexts from the same time, highlighting historical events such as Lennon’s failed “Free the People” tour and controversies around Ono’s relationship to Lennon and The Beatles.
The film also uses “newly transferred and restored footage” from the years Lennon and Ono spent in Greenwich Village “alongside previously unseen and unheard items from the couple’s archives, including phone calls and home movies”.[10] It additionally features a replica construction of Lennon and Ono’s apartment.[11]
_____________________________________________________________________
4/8/2025 #TheAmateur #Drop #TheTeacher #OneToOne:John&Yoko