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Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:

Dream Recast Movie of the Day:

Here you are, everyone who wants to see what Idris Elba would be like as James Bond, specifically in the upcoming Spectre:

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Replaced Actor of the Day:

Eric Stoltz was famously Marty McFly for four weeks before he was let go from starring in Back to the Future, but here’s video evidence that he wasn’t erased completely from the movie (via Geek Tyrant):

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Movie Takedown of the Day:

Furious 7 is out on DVD and Blu-ray today, so Honest Trailers ran over it and whacked it about with a tire iron:

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Vintage Image of the Day:

With news that Disney is making a Mary Poppins sequel, here’s a look at the original being made with Julie Andrews and a little friend:

Adorable Star Wars Cosplay of the Day:

Little girls are already finding great new role models in Star Wars: The Force Awakens characters, this one in Rey (via Fashionably Geek):

Adorable Star Wars Toy Purchase of the Day:

And here’s another little girl excited about another new female character in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (via Gabbing Geek):

I have to say, hearing her shout “it’s the girl stormtrooper!” was pretty cool #StarWarsTheForceAwakens pic.twitter.com/Hy7wB7TIOL

— Eric Alt (@Eric_Alt) September 13, 2015

Movie Character Conference Call #1:

A bunch of movie characters, including Rambo, Ferris Bueller, Jason Bourne, Ron Burgandy and Marty McFly all seem to be on a party line in this phone call supercut:

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Movie Character Conference Call #2:

Coincidentally, there’s another brand new supercut of movie characters seeming to be on the same call, and it includes many of the same people, plus E.T. (via Cinematic Montage Creators):

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Fan Art of the Day:

Why should recent movies be the only ones with Lego re-creations? Here’s one for Harold Lloyd‘s Safety Last (via Holmfirth Silents):

Classic Trailer of the Day:

Today is the 20th anniversary of the release of Hackers, the cult classic starring a young Angelina Jolie. Watch the original trailer below.

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A big-budget Iranian biopic depicting the childhood of the Prophet Muhammad has already faced a fair amount of backlash. But now the film’s director and its composer — the hugely popular Indian musician A.R. Rahman — have had a fatwa, or religious edict, issued against them by the Raza Academy, a Mumbai-based Sunni Muslim organization.

The director of Muhammad: The Messenger of God is Iran’s Majid Majidi, who has released this as the first in a planned trilogy chronicling Muhammad’s life. According to the BBC, the Raza Academy has also asked the Indian government to ban the film, which cost a reported $40 million to make. It was released in Iran and was screened at the Montreal World Film Festival in August.

In its fatwa, the Raza Academy says that both Majidi and Rahman must recite the kalimas, or professions of Muslim belief, and repeat their marriage ceremonies — in essence, reestablish themselves as Muslims. The film project has also been denounced by Al-Azhar University in Cairo, according to the Guardian in the U.K.

Outside the Muslim world, a fatwa is often misinterpreted as a threat of violence, particularly after the infamous fatwa issued against author Salman Rushdie following the publication of his book The Satanic Verses in 1988. However, a fatwa is supposed to be no more than an edict issued by a religious scholar, ranging from matters mundane to profound, and is not necessarily linked to negative action. (For example, one prominent Muslim cleric issued a fatwa against ISIS last year.)

However, the Raza Academy has been linked to violence in the past. In 2012, protests in Mumbai that were alleged to have been organized by the Raza Academy turned violent; two people died and 54 were hurt in the rioting that ensued.

Rahman, also a singer and instrumentalist, has become one of the world’s most popular artists. He is known primarily in the West for his Oscar-winning score to the film Slumdog Millionaire (and the ensuing hit single version of his song “Jai Ho,” a collaboration with The Pussycat Dolls). He is a massive superstar in other parts of the world, primarily for his scores to movies not just from Bollywood, but in several regional Indian film markets, including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada-language movies. As of 2009, he had written some 130 film scores and reputedly sold more than 100 million records worldwide (though that number is hard to track, given widespread music piracy across South Asia).

Rahman converted to Islam in the late 1980s and identifies as a Sufi, following a path within the Muslim faith that emphasizes a personal, mystical connection with the divine. In a 2006 interview I did with the composer for the now-defunct Global Rhythm magazine, Rahman told me: “Sufism is of course about the love for God, and that love above everything else. Whatever comes in between us, we must release. Music connects that love with God, and Sufism in turn connects music with God. I also believe that music has healing qualities, and that it can heal hatred and so many of the world’s other ills.”

After the Raza Academy’s objections became public, Rahman posted a lengthy letter that he distributed Monday via his official Facebook page. In it he responds directly as a practicing Muslim himself, including quotes from the Quran as well as attaching honorific phrases to the names of God and of Muhammad.

“I didn’t direct or produce the movie ‘Muhammad (PBUH), Messenger of God,'” he wrote. “I just did the music. My spiritual experiences of working on the film are very personal and I would prefer not to share these.” (PBUH is an English abbreviation of the Arabic phrase “Alayhi as-salaam” or “Peace be upon him,” a traditional phrase that follows mention of the Muslim prophets.)

But, as Rahman continues:

“What, and if, I had the good fortune of facing Allah (Sbt), and He were to ask me on Judgment Day:

“‘I gave you faith, talent, money, fame and health … why did you not do music for my Beloved Muhammad (sals) film? A film whose intention is to unite humanity, clear misconceptions and spread my message that life is about kindness, about uplifting the poor, and living in the service of humanity and not mercilessly killing innocents in my name.’ …

“Let us set a precedent in clearing conflict with grace and dignity and not trigger violence in words or actions.”

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Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:

Kill Count of the Day:

Superman movies used to be pretty low on death, especially as caused by the hero himself. Until Man of Steel, of course. Watch the numbers rise fast as Mr. Sunday Movies counts up the Superman movie kill count:

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Fan Theory of the Day:

We all know that Neo is “the one” in The Matrix movies. What this video supposes is, maybe he isn’t? Guess who is. Or just watch.

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Fan Art of the Day:

We’re less than three years away from the release of Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1, so here’s a fan-made poster for the set (via Geek Tyrant):

Supercut of the Day:

When you mash together all the shootouts in Westerns, the genre definitely looks like it’s the same movie every time (via Cinematic Montage Creators):

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Shooting Location of the Day:

Clearly inspired by the documentary Los Angeles Plays Itself, Every Frame a Painting pays tribute to the third-largest movie production city in North America with “Vancouver Never Plays Itself”:

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Vintage Image of the Day:

Carrie Fisher poses with the stars of Postcards From the Edge, which she scripted based on her memoir. In the movie, which opened 25 years ago today, Meryl Streep plays a fictionalized version of the Star Wars star and Shirley MacLaine plays her a version of her mother, Debbie Reynolds.

National Cinema of the Day:

British Cinema is not studied or celebrated enough, but this retrospective montage does a pretty good job of doing the latter in just five minutes (via Cinematic Montage Creators):

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Cosplay of the Day:

This Groot is pretty amazing, and the rest of his friends’ Guardians of the Galaxy cosplay isn’t so bad either. See Star-Lord and Gamora by Sunji Cosplay at KamiKame.

Filmmakers in Focus:

Emily Axford’s latest NFSW satire of filmmakers for College Humor imagines what it’s like to sleep with the Coen Brothers by equating their movies with sex acts:

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Classic Trailer of the Day:

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the Toronto International Film Festival premeire of Mike Figgis‘s Leaving Las Vegas, which would go onto cement Nicolas Cage as an honorable thespian, Oscars-wise. Watch the original trailer below.

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The 2015 Toronto International Film Festival is in full swing, with many of this fall’s most anticipated movies rolling out over the course of several days here in one of Canada’s friendliest (and cleanest) cities.

This year I’m here seeing as many movies as I possibly can, and in between them all I’m recording 15-second instant reviews for you to devour. Plenty more can be said about each and every one of these films, but if you want a quick bite-sized nugget to help give you a sense of what to expect, check this out.

The Martian

Party line: Matt Damon stars in this adaptation about an astronaut who gets stranded on mars after his team leaves thinking he died in a storm. In order to survive long enough to be rescued, he’ll have to get crafty and, well, science the sh*t out of everything he has at his disposal.

Biggest surprise: This is a major Oscar contender.

Watch my 15-second review

YO! Here’s my 15-second review of Ridley Scott’s excellent THE MARTIAN. #tiff15 #themartian #fandango pic.twitter.com/vh4IreSLME

— ErikDavis (@ErikDavis) September 11, 2015

Watch the trailer

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Green Room

Party line: A hard rock band desperate for money takes a gig playing at a neo-Nazi bar and accidentally witnesses something they shouldn’t, forcing the bar owner — a smooth, calculated and violent Patrick Stewart — to hold the band hostage until they can figure out how to clean up the mess. Chaos ensues.

Biggest surprise: Director Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin) is the real deal. Watch out for this kid.

Watch my 15-second review

Yo, here’s my 15-second review of GREEN ROOM, from the director of the excellent BLUE RUIN #TIFF15 pic.twitter.com/qkd5zRlzFp

— ErikDavis (@ErikDavis) September 11, 2015

Watch a clip

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Demolition

Party line: When his wife dies in a car accident, a successful businessman (Jake Gyllenhaal) begins to literally demolish everything in his life in an attempt to feel something, anything, in this witty and moving drama about picking up the pieces before you even begin to put them back together.

Biggest surprise: There really is nothing more therapeutic than banging the crap out of a wall with a giant mallet.

Watch my 15-second review

Hey, here’s my 15-second review of Jake Gyllenhaal’s DEMOLITION #TIFF15 pic.twitter.com/unny5YfCwO

— ErikDavis (@ErikDavis) September 11, 2015

Watch the trailer

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Dheepan

Party line: A somewhat surprising winner of the Palme D’or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Dheepan tracks the story of a man, woman and child who pretend to be a family in order to flee their warring country only to find themselves trapped in a very different — and more intimate — war between each other.

Biggest surprise: I know a lot more about Sri Lanka now than I ever did before.

Watch my 15-second review

Here’s my 15-second review of the darkly intimate (and timely) Cannes darling, DHEEPAN #tiff15 #dheepan pic.twitter.com/lNmwy1mdrv

— ErikDavis (@ErikDavis) September 11, 2015

Watch the trailer

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I Saw the Light

Party line: Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen star as legendary country singer Hank Williams and his wife Audrey Mae in a biopic that follows Williams’ historic rise as one of the most successful country singers of all time — a man whose personal life was often plagued by alcoholism and health problems.

Biggest surprise: Wow, who had any idea that Tom Hiddleston was such a great singer?

Watch my 15-second review

Watch a clip

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Still to come: Lotsa buzz from Toronto, including thoughts on films like Beasts of No Nation, The Danish Girl, Trumbo, The Lobster, High-Rise and more.

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The Important News

First Look: Matt Damon showed off his bare chest for Bourne 5.

Franchise Fever: King Kong vs. Godzilla will happen again. Sam Smith is singing the new Bond song. Disney’s Jungle Cruise will be set in the 1920s. Animorphs might be the next big YA movie series.

Casting Net: Rebecca Ferguson might play Captain Marvel. Tom Cruise will re-team with Doug Liman for Luna Park. Olivia Cooke will star in Ready Player One.

Remake Report: Ronda Rousey will star in the Road House remake.

New Directors/New Films: Christopher Nolan’s next feature got a release date. Johnny Depp wants to make a movie about an Australian race car driver.

Star Wars Updates: Star Wars: The Force Awakens will open early in some cities.

Film Legacies: Back to the Future-inspired power laces are finally coming next month. The Goonies is being turned into an immersive theatre experience.

Oscar Talk: Steve Jobs, Black Mass and The Danish Girl are receiving great early buzz.

Format Fever: IMAX is going to make movies again.

Box Office: War Room took over the top spot from Straight Outta Compton.

The Videos and Geek Stuff

New Movie Trailers: Krampus, The Lobster, AWOL-72, Demolition, Our Brand Is Crisis, I Smile Back, Carol and 99 Homes.

Clips: Tom Hiddleston singing in I Saw the Light. Alejandro Brugues’s episode of From Dusk Till Dawn.

Watch: An honest trailer for The Happening.

See: A sneaky Easter egg slipped into Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Learn: How to be James Bond. And how to make your own homemade Deadpool costume. And the science behind the Ghostbusters proton packs.

Watch: Key & Peele presents Ray Parker Jr.’s other movie theme songs.

See: What the hot new BB-8 toy is made of.

Watch: A mashup of Inception and A Nightmare on Elm Street.

See: This week’s best new movie posters.

Our Features

Film Festival Guide: What’s the deal with the Toronto International Film Festival? See the latest news from the festival.

Geek Movie Guide: Fantasy football with movie characters.

Comic Book Movie Guide: On the supposed feud between Marvel and DC.

Home Viewing: Here’s our guide to everything hitting VOD this week. And here’s our guide to everything hitting DVD this week.

and

MORE FROM AROUND THE WEB:

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English vocalist Sam Lee has an amazing backstory: He found his way to singing professionally after stints as a wilderness survival expert and a burlesque dancer. But what really matters are his mesmerizing performances, as well as his incredible ability to connect with people — certainly with the audience in front of him, but also with the elders he’s sought out to learn these songs.

Lee has dedicated himself to preserving centuries-old folk songs of the U.K. and Ireland, particularly from “outsider” communities like the Roma (Gypsies) and the Scottish and Irish Travelers. But he and his bandmates — ukulele player and vocalist Jon Whitten, violinist and vocalist Flora Curzon, and percussionist and vocalist Josh Green — put these ancient songs in thoroughly 21st-century arrangements that feel creative, fresh and surprising, but also deeply human.

Above it all, Lee’s voice blazes through with strength, clarity and confidence. This is an artist who has found his destiny as a singer, a folk-song collector and a steward of stories, keeping them alive and relevant for a new generation.

The Fade In Time is available now. (iTunes) (Amazon)

Set List

• “Over Yonders Hill”
• “Lovely Molly”
• “Goodbye My Darling”

Credits

Producers: Anastasia Tsioulcas, Morgan Walker; Audio Engineer: Suraya Mohamed, Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Morgan Walker, Lani Milton; Assistant Producer: Elena Saavedra Buckley; photo by Lydia Thompson/NPR

For more Tiny Desk Concerts, subscribe to our podcast.

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Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:

Movie Mashup of the Day:

It’s Freddy vs. Leo in this combination of A Nightmare on Elm Street and Inception (via Geek Tyrant):

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Alternative Movie Poster of the Day:

Speaking of A Nightmare on Elm Street, Indian artist Raj Khatri uses broad brush strokes for a new kind of minimalist movie poster design. See his take on Wes Craven‘s horror classic below and posters for Kill Bill, The Dark Knight and The Matrix at Design Taxi.

Movie Science of the Day:

Want to know how the proton pack works in Ghostbusters? Kyle Hill explains the science of these ghost-catching weapons for Nerdist:

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Cosplay of the Day:

All comic book characters get a gender-swapped version eventually. Drax the Destroyer from Guardians of the Galaxy got one in the form of cosplay (via All That’s Cosplay):

Movie Comparison of the Day:

See how much Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull recycled parts of the previous three Indiana Jones movies in this side-by-side comparison video (via Cinematic Montage Creators):

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Filmmaker in Focus:

He’s not dead yet. Check out a trailer for Terry Gilliam‘s “pre-posthumous memoir” Gilliamesque, which hits stores in a few weeks:

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Supercut of the Day:

Another filmmaker in focus, here’s a montage of kisses in Alfred Hitchcock movies:

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Fan Art of the Day:

This cartoon rendition of the Doof Warrior from Mad Max: Fury Road is one of a handful of character portraits by Tim Odland. See his Furiosa, Immortan Joe, Nux and Max art at Live for Films.

Scene Analysis of the Day:

CineFix looks at the “box climax” of David Fincher‘s Se7en for The Art of the Scene:

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Classic Trailer of the Day:

Today is the 35th anniversary of the initial South African release of The Gods Must Be Crazy, which would become a phenomenal hit in the U.S. four years later and spawn official and unofficial sequels. Here is the original trailer for the American release:

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This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.

Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:

Movie Merch Breakdown of the Day:

If you’re wondering how your new Star Wars: The Force Awakens BB-8 toy works but don’t want to throw all that money away to dissect it yoursel, here’s a video showing of people who did it for you (via Geekologie):

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Star Wars Art of the Day:

Many people do Lego recreations of movie scenes, but few are as artful as those by Finnish photographer Vesa Lehtimäki. Below is one he did for The Empire Strikes Back. See others for Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark and more at Screen Crush.

Supercut of the Day:

This video is 60 seconds of movie characters yelling “go go go,” and yes appropriately Gone in Sixty Seconds is represented:

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Cosplay of the Day:

When cosplay gets political: here’s a mashup of presidential hopeful Donald Trump and Mad Max: Fury Road villain Immortan Joe (via My Mad Existence):

DIY Film Fandom of the Day:

You don’t need a lot of money for cosplay. If you want to dress as Deadpool, Cinefix has your homemade solution:

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Retro Video Game of the Day:

Here’s a look at the 1985 Infocom game of The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which is now available to play online thanks to the BBC (via Open Culture):

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Vintage Image of the Day:

Gladys Hulette is Alice pieced together with the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter and the Dormouse in Edwin S. Porter‘s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland for Thomas Edison. The now-rare film made its debut 105 years ago today.

Filmmaker in Focus:

Get to know Stanley Kubrick through this supercut of his films set to Beethoven’s 7th (via The Playlist):

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Movie Comparison of the Day:

We don’t talk enough about Christopher Nolan‘s Insomnia, so here’s a recent video essay by Kevin B. Lee for Fandor comparing it shot-for-shot against the Norwegian original by Erik Skjoldbjærg:

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Classic Trailer of the Day:

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the premiere of Welcome to the Dollhouse at the Toronto International Film Festival. Watch the original Red Band trailer for the indie classic, which is getting a big sequel for release next year:

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