While there’s not much happening right now – at least not regarding Toni’s work and our anticipation towards a first look at Guillermo Del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley”, I went through my archives to add some missing production stills to the photo gallery. The new additions range from the wonderful 1996 Australian independent film “Lilian’s Story” to the most recent “Dream Horse” (if you’ve ever fancied seeing a picture of Toni Collette in a bathtub on the hills of Wales, this is your day :-) For a complete list of new additions, have a look at the list below. Enjoy.

“Dream Horse” is among the first films to receive a theatrical release as cinemas around the world are opening again. Accompanying its theatrical run in, “Dream Horse” will premiere on Amazon Prime the United Kingdom from September 17. A bunch of reviews and news coverage have been added to the photo gallery, including a nice cover story from the Austrlian Telegraph’s Stellar Magazine. Enjoy the new additions.

It feels *almost* normal to cover a new film release and collect all the available press junket videos – how great to have some film coverage back. Last week, Toni Collette sat down for a virtual press junket for the theatrical releases of “Dream Horse” in the United States and the United Kingdom. Clips from lots of news outlets and the British daytime talkshow Lorraine have been added to the video archive, alongside a couple of new clips from the film. A complete list of all added videos can be found below. Screencaptures from all appearances have been added to the photo gallery as well.

In case you have forgotten about “Dream Horse”, it might be because its world-premiere took place at a pre-pandemic Sundance Film Festival in 2020. Cut to 1 1/2 years later, we are still waiting to watch Toni Collette as an Irish bartender who, with no experience, trains an unlikely race horse to compete with the racing elites. The original theatrical release dates in March and April of 2020 have been understandably scrapped – and while I personally feel that cinema viewings are still a longshot on the horizon, the film’s international distributors have set new release dates for the film. “Dream Horse” will open in US theaters on May 21, 2021 and in the United Kingdom on June 04, 2021. Germany has received a release date as well on December 24, 2021 (thank you very much!) Along with the release news, a big batch of new production stills have been added, which you can find in the photo gallery.

As previously covered, “Stowaway” had its world-premiere on Netflix this Thursday in every country of the world except for Germany (for whatever reason, thank you very much). While this means I haven’t been able to watch it myself, my friend Jess has helped me out with screencaptures from the film for us all to enjoy. Thanks so much for this wonderful contribution.

Upon its April 22 release around the world (minus Germany) on Netflix, reviews from all outlets have been released – all praising the film’s cast and story approach – with quite a few criticising its slow-paced storytelling. A selection of reviews have been collected below. New production stills, on-set pictures and posters have been added to the photo gallery as well. There has been a virtual press junket for the film, but Toni didn’t attend, so unfortunately no promotional material this time.

TIME, Stephanie Zacharek (April 23, 2021)
Collette has little to do beyond look at first annoyed, and then resigned, and then anguished by her responsibilities – but Collette, who can do anything, ultimately makes us feel the weight of the latter. Stowaway pulls plenty of pages from the generic space-movie handbook, but it still builds a mood of dread and contemplative ennui, finding its resolution in a final, somber shot.

The Hollywood Reporter, Frank Scheck (April 22, 2021)
Stowaway is more confined and claustrophobic than most films of its type, set entirely aboard the confines of a spaceship and featuring but four characters. That there are four rather than three proves the springboard for the tense scenario in which a crew, manning a rocket bound for Mars, discovers an interloper. For all its thematic heft, however, Stowaway sometimes feels too restrained for its own good. There are times during the extremely slow-paced and talky proceedings that you’ll find yourself desperately wishing for an alien to burst out of somebody’s chest.

Vulture, Bilge Ebiri (April 23, 2021)
Penna keeps the film focused on the people: Each member of the crew responds to the situation differently, and there’s power in watching their differing personalities clash. The cast keeps things admirably grounded as well. Kendrick’s earnestness plays off against Kim’s practicality. Collette, the queen of reaction shots, looks on and mulls her options in gathering horror, anxiety, and despair. Anderson strikes a touching balance between guilt, disbelief, and sorrow. The film’s central tension, between hand-wavingly vague science and the contagious immediacy of the characters’ emotions, becomes most pronounced during the final act, which is somehow both impressively suspenseful and frustratingly confusing. Still, Stowaway is never boring, even as it leaves you with a million unanswered space questions.

The Independent, Clarisse Loughrey (April 22, 2021)
Collette, who makes rare use of her native Australian accent, is especially good. There’s a hardness to her performance that speaks not to cruelty, but to a knowledge that the price of leadership is often some small chunk of humanity.

RogerEbert.com, Christy Lemire (April 22, 2021)
Penna portrays the increasing feeling of doom not with histrionics and a hyperbolic score but rather through long tracking shots and muffled bits of conversation in faraway corridors. As in “Arctic,” he’s wise enough to let his actors convey so much of what their characters are experiencing though their faces: subtle expressions of disappointment, anguish, fear. One call in particular to ground control reveals Collette’s ability to balance the truth of Marina’s anxiety while sounding poised and capable to the folks on the other end about options.