Photos of the Day #2: Snapshots from FOCUSFEST!

Richard T. Par

Earlier today, I went to the Universal Studios backlot near Hollywood to attend FocusFest...a film festival held by Focus Features that showcased the production company's movies such as Obsession, Sense and Sensibility, Nosferatu, EMMA. and Elsinore.

As shown in these photos, I went to FocusFest primarily to watch Obsession (again) as well as Sense and Sensibility. In regards to the latter film, which won't be released till October 16, I wanted to attend the Q&A after the screening. The two main leads, Daisy Edgar-Jones (who was also in 2024's Twisters) and Esmé Creed-Miles—made an appearance to obviously discuss the latest cinematic adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel.

In terms of Obsession, director Curry Barker and Cooper Tomlinson (who played Ian in the film) were supposed to do a Q&A afterwards. Instead, they appeared on stage before the movie started to address the audience. They were accompanied by their close friend Malcolm Kelner...who appeared as the Bartender (if you see Kelner's posts on social media, you'll know why Bartender is capitalized) near the beginning of Obsession.

FocusFest was a blast! If it wasn't for the price of admission (I paid around $106 for my ticket), I'd say that I'll definitely attend this event next year. The main reason being that I want to watch Barker and Tomlinson's next film, Anything but Ghosts (out in theaters nationwide on May 7), at this festival.

Hope y'all are having a nice weekend!


Richard T. Par


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Curry Barker and Cooper Tomlinson, as well as Malcolm Kelner (aka the Bartender), addressed the crowd before tonight's screening of #Obsession at FocusFest in Universal Studios! https://t.co/awVSBoAnuy

— Richard Par (@RichTPar) October 10, 2026

Photos of the Day: Snapshots from NIGHT FRIGHTS LA...

Richard T. Par

A week ago today, I drove down to Gardena Cinema to attend Night Frights LA, which hosted the premiere of a short horror film called Too Tight to Move.

Too Tight to Move was an awesome film! Directed by The Winchester Brothers (Gavin and Tristan...not Sam and Dean from the hit TV series Supernatural), Too Tight to Move was definitely inspired by the runaway success of Obsession—utilizing the same warm but ominous cinematography, twisted sense of humor and bloody climax seen in Curry Barker's hit movie. Also, the main character, Louis (Chris Lucchi), has a bit of an uncanny resemblance to Bear (Michael Johnston) in Obsession.

Not to be overlooked are the terrific performances by Kelsi Davies (as Tanya) and Ricky Michlig (as Gregory) in the Winchesters' film!

Here are a few photos from Night Frights LA, including snapshots of some of Too Tight to Move's set props. In case you're wondering what's the significance behind that severed eyeball, watch Too Tight to Move when it's available online or is shown at another film festival! Have a great weekend.


Richard T. Par


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A Q&A with the cast and filmmakers for "Too Tight to Move" after the screening at Gardena Cinema Awesome film! I love the horror genre 🙂 https://t.co/Ybg2syh8iP

— Richard Par (@RichTPar) October 3, 2026

Photos of the Day: An Alien and Robots in Los Angeles...

Richard T. Par

Just thought I'd share these photos that I took of replicas for the Xenomorph from Alien: Romulus and Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, Megatron and Elita-1 from Transformers One currently on display at Century City in Los Angeles.

I was at work inside AMC Century City 15 yesterday when I saw these cool exhibits out in the main lobby. For those of you wondering, in Transformers One, Bumblebee is known as B-127; Optimus is Orion Pax, Megatron is D-16; and Elita-1 is called...Elita-1.

I look forward to watching Transformers One when it opens in theaters later this month. But yea, that Alien Xenomorph statue is really awesome!


Richard T. Par


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The GLADIATOR II Teaser Poster and Trailer Are Here!

After the teaser poster for Gladiator II was released online yesterday, Paramount and Universal Pictures unveiled the trailer for Ridley Scott's upcoming sequel to 2000's Oscar-winning epic Gladiator this morning!

Here are some screenshots from the sneak preview...showing Paul Mescal's Lucius taking on a rhinoceros-riding gladiator inside the Roman Colosseum, Denzel Washington's Macrinus being a schemer, a fierce Roman battle taking place at sea, Joseph Quinn's Emperor Geta following in the footsteps of Commodus (portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix in the first film) and his predecessors, Pedro Pascal's Marcus Acacius ready to take on a horde of gladiators inside the Colosseum as well, and Connie Nielsen's Lucilla handing Lucius a memento from the late and great Maximus (the Oscar-winning role played by Russell Crowe in the previous movie).

Sadly, there are no snippets of the music that will be composed by Harry Gregson-Williams for Gladiator II in this trailer. I guess we're just gonna have to wait till November to find out if the sequel has a riveting score like Gladiator does (thanks to Hans Zimmer) when it was unveiled to the masses 24 years ago!

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Photos of the Day: Our First Sneak Peek at GLADIATOR II...

Earlier today, Vanity Fair shared a couple of promotional stills from this November's Gladiator II...which is once again helmed by Ridley Scott and stars Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, Joseph Quinn, Djimon Hounsou (Quinn and Hounsou are also in the recently-released A Quiet Place: Day One, which I watched at the theater last weekend) and Barry Keoghan.

Based on these images, the Gladiator sequel looks to be just as intense as the 2000 original film (starring Russell Crowe, Nielsen, Hounsou and Joaquin Phoenix)—which went on to winning the Oscar for Best Picture in early 2001. Crowe himself won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as Gladiator's Maximus Decimus Meridius.

I surely hope that Gladiator II is just as good as its predecessor and will be an awards favorite come this winter...though I'm still disappointed that Hans Zimmer isn't returning to compose the music score for the upcoming epic. Harry Gregson-Williams, who worked on such movies as The Martian, Shrek, Man on Fire and The Equalizer, respectively, will have that duty.

The teaser trailer for Gladiator II will be released online next Tuesday, July 9...with the film itself being unleashed in theaters nationwide on November 22. Can't wait!

Photo of the Day - A Sneak Peek at JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX...

Lady Gaga

So I just found out that Lady Gaga tweeted this picture (back on Valentine's Day) from next year's Joker: Folie à Deux...in which she'll appear as Harley Quinn alongside Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck.

As recently been the case with Warner Bros' other DC Comics movies, Lady Gaga will portray Harley at the same time that Margot Robbie is playing the Joker's ex-girlfriend in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU)...specifically in the Suicide Squad films. Of course, I'm not sure if this is actually still the case—since James Gunn's shakeup of the DCEU might also mean that Robbie, just like Henry Cavill as Superman, won't be calling Joker "puddin" on the big screen anymore. I got mixed results after looking this up on Google!

Also, Robert Pattinson will reportedly begin filming The Batman: Part II this November, while Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck will both appear as the Dark Knight in this June's The Flash. Very amusing.

The image below is of Soundstage 16, which briefly served as holding for background actors when I worked at Warner Bros. Studios last fall and a month ago. I took tons of photos of this building...mostly because of that cool WB logo and not because I was initially unaware of the fact that this stage was where the pirate ship's cave scene in The Goonies was filmed!

Oh, and Joker: Folie à Deux is reportedly being shot inside Soundstage 16 as well! Happy Friday.


Richard T. Par

Photos of the Day: Gettin' Up Close and Personal with the Darkstar from TOP GUN: MAVERICK!

Earlier today, I went to the Aerospace Valley Air Show at Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California...where I saw the full-size model used for the Darkstar hypersonic aircraft in Top Gun: Maverick!

The Darkstar looked much smaller in person than in the film itself (as with the case for a lot of things, and actors, in Hollywood), but it was just as sleek as the SR-71 Blackbird, the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Lightning II also on display at the Mojave Desert-based event.

The stealth-like design of the Darkstar doesn't come as a surprise seeing as how the model, just like the three actual aircraft mentioned above, was also built by Lockheed. To be more specific, Darkstar was assembled by Lockheed's famed 'Skunk Works' division!

This is why the Skunk Works logo is visible on the vertical stabilizer of the Darkstar (as shown below) and even the joystick used by Maverick (Tom Cruise) inside the plane's cockpit if you watch the film again. Carry on!