Guilty as charged. Sometimes, just to keep up with the critical zeitgeist, I will tweet out my thoughts about a film the moment I leave the movie theater. I don't like doing it, great films usually need time to be processed, but at film festivals it's almost a requirement that comes with job, especially if you're at the world premiere. I'll admit, I've been tempted to stop this practice, especially since, from time to time, my opinion has evolved and slightly changed on films I had originally tweeted about.
Read moreDespite Rape Accusation, Director Bryan Singer Reportedly Hired to Helm 'Red Sonja'
Bryan Singer. A storm was slowly but surely brewing over the writer-director’s rumored past. It felt like it was just around the corner and ready to explode into the zeitgeist. In fact, many were just waiting for the bomb to come down after word came out of his erratic behavior on the set of the Freddy Mercury biopic "Bohemian Rhapsody."
His time did finally come when earlier this year , a series of tweets appeared from a man named Justin Smith, who alleged that Singer sexually assaulted him in the early aughts. The tweets have since been deleted, according to The Daily Wire.
Read moreMel Gibson Writing and Directing ‘Wild Bunch’ Remake
Deadline has the exclusive that "Mel Gibson has been set by Warner Bros to direct "The Wild Bunch," a new version of the 1969 Sam Peckinpah-directed classic Western. Gibson is writing the script with Bryan Bagby. Gibson will be executive producer."
"Bloody Mel" is at it again. We all know that he never skimps out on the on-screen violence with his films as director ("Braveheart," "Passion of the Christ," "Apocalypto" and "Hacksaw Ridge"), having created some of the most violent imagery to date in modern cinema. He seems to revel in staging be-headings and grisly deaths. A madman indeed.
Read moreFan petitions Grow for Jon Hamm to be Cast as Next Batman, Kevin Smith Says it Would be "Brilliant Idea"
In a recent episode of Kevin Smith's Fatman Beyond podcast, the well-known writer-director, and uber-superhero enthusiast, stated that Jon Hamm needs to be cast as the next Batman in director Matt Reeves' upcoming DC reboot.
"I roll deep on Jon Hamm as Batman," Smith said. "I think that's a brilliant idea, I've been saying it for f*cking years, I've been saying it even when they cast Ben I was like 'look, he's great and yeah, he'll do a great job' but f*ck Jon Hamm was right there and stuff."
Read moreDirector Dan Fogelman Backtracks on His Blaming White Male Critics for Poor 'Life Itself' Reviews
Los Angeles Times interview with "Life Itself" director Dan Fogelman has the filmmaker backtracking on his previous comments, made a few days ago, blaming his film's terrible reviews on “white male critics who don’t like anything that has emotion.” As I had pointed out at the time, of the 19 female film critics that reviewed "Life Itself," 17 were rotten, just two were positive.
Anyway, now Fogelman is just blaming critics in general: “I think I just have a wildly different creative palette than the cynical film critic” Fogelman told the LAT. “And that’s OK. I like different things than they like sometimes but not — not in a bad way. My hope is that it will be warmly received in that way and kind of be able to split the difference of both worlds the way that [‘This Is Us’] has.”
‘Outlaw King’ Director David Mackenzie Went to the Editing Room and Snipped His Netflix Epic By 20 Minutes After Toronto Premiere
Deadline is reporting that David Mackenzie went straight back to the editing room after his latest film, the epic "Outlaw King" was met with mixed reviews at its TIFF premiere a few weeks ago.
The filmmaker has cut 20 minutes from the movie, which will have another festival bow on October 17th at the BFI London Film Festival.
Read more'Green Book' will most likely be your Best Picture front-runner
Awards Watch writer Erik Anderson, who I finally had the pleasure of meeting at TIFF this year, knows his stuff and his list of the ten films most likely to be rewarded with a Best Picture nomination, is, more or less, what we'll likely be greeted with come nominations day January 24th. Although, I would replace the impenetrable "If Beale Street Could Talk" with "Eighth Grade." Also, if "Vice," the Dick Cheney movie, fails critically and/or commercially, I can see "The Hate U Give," which is going to get a huge push with reviews and box-office intake, sneak into the Best Picture race.
Read more'The Rider' Director Chloe Zhao to Direct Marvel Studios' 'The Eternals'
Variety is reporting that director Chloe Zhao has been hired to helm the big screen adaptation of Jack Kirby’s “The Eternals” for Marvel. Count me as a tad disappointed by this decision, Zhao directed one of the year's very best films “The Rider,” merging a groundbreaking blend of fiction and non-fiction into her story of a horse rider torn by injury, but signing on to a Marvel movie as a follow-up is not something I anticipated this talented artist to follow-up that triumph with.
The Playlist has this update on the project:
Robert Redford may not be retiring from acting, after all.
Robert Redford spoke to Variety at the premiere of his upcoming film “The Old Man & the Gun,” a film we all thought would be his final film. Redford even said he was retiring back in August.
Read moreDisney CEO admits, Star Wars movies were "a little too much, too fast" and to "expect some slowdown"
Courtesy of THR:
"I made the timing decision, and as I look back, I think the mistake that I made — I take the blame — was a little too much, too fast. You can expect some slowdown, but that doesn't mean we're not going to make films. J.J. [Abrams] is busy making [Episode] IX. We have creative entities, including [Game of Thrones creators David] Benioff and [D.B.] Weiss, who are developing sagas of their own, which we haven't been specific about. And we are just at the point where we're going to start making decisions about what comes next after J.J.'s. But I think we're going to be a little bit more careful about volume and timing. And the buck stops here on that."
Disney CEO confirms Kevin Feige will oversee the X-Men, Fantastic 4, and Deadpool
When Disney bought Fox, Marvel head Kevin Feige was saying don't expect the X-Men or any other Fox entities to join the MCU for, at least, a handful of years after the deal is done.
He stated the characters weren't under Marvel's control yet so until the deal goes through and that happens he's not planning anything.
However, the deal has gone through and Feige's boss over at Disney Bob Iger, speaking to [THR], is saying Feige is ready to oversee the X-Men, Fantastic 4, and Deadpool.
"I think it only makes sense [that Feige takes over]. I want to be careful here because of what's been communicated to the Fox folks, but I think they know. It only makes sense for Marvel to be supervised by one entity. There shouldn't be two Marvels."
On If Deadpool could become an Avenger:
"Kevin's got a lot of ideas. I'm not suggesting that's one of them. But who knows?"
Director Dan Fogelman: Negative ‘Life Itself’ Reviews Have to do With ‘White Male Critics Who Don’t Like Anything That Has Emotion’
I did not catch “This Is Us” creator Dan Fogelman's movie “Life Itself” at the Toronto International Film Festival, but the reviews were rather harsh, to say the least (the movie has a 14% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 42 reviews).
n an interview with TooFab magazine, Fogelman went on a rant about today's film criticism and the bad reviews which greeted his film:
Read moreHollywood and China: Chinese Movie Star Still Missing, "Crazy Rich Asians" Not Being Released in China and Government Crackdowns
Something very sketchy is happening in China's film community. A THR article has this subheadline:
"With Fan Bingbing accused of tax fraud, 'Crazy Rich Asians' failing to land a Chinese release and film stocks plummeting, president Xi Jinping's crackdown on "money worship" is reshaping the country's cultural landscape: "The government is going to make examples out of a lot of high-profile people."
Read moreBond 25’ Gets Cary Fukunaga As New Director For 007 Daniel Craig; The First American-Born Director to Helm a Bond Film
The 25th entry in the James Bond series will be released next year. Christopher Nolan axed the idea to direct. Ditto Denis Villeneuve who will be working on "Dune" for the next few years, there were other candidates but the name that always kept popping up was Danny Boyle's ("Slumdog Millionaire," "Trainspotting," "127 Hours," "28 Days Later").
The rumors ended up being true, Boyle signed on for Bond 25. However, then came the news that he left the project due to 'creative differences.'Enter director, Cary Fukunaga, who has just been announced as the new director of Bond 25. He will be the first American-born director to helm a Bond film.
Read moreEthan Hawke Hated ‘Independence Day’ Script So Much He Threw It Out Of a Moving Car
Hawke was on Conan last night and, when asked if there’s a role that he regretted turning down, he began telling the story about how he nixed the Will Smith leading role in "Independence Day."
“Okay listen, ‘Reality Bites’ just came out and I’m the bee’s knees, right?” says the actor, setting the stage. He then begins to describe how he and a buddy decided to take a road trip from Austin, Texas to New York City. And along the way, he pulled out a script for the film “Independence Day,” which was being offered to him.
Read moreDirector Jacques Audiard says he will refuse a Cannes invitation in the future
The Cannes Film Festival made quite a few enemies this year. After all, it rejected filmmakers such as Mike Leigh, Carlos Reygadas, Luca Guadagnino, Lazslo Nemes, Mia Hansen-Love, Jennifer Kent, Paolo Sorrentino, and Tomas Vinterberg, not to mention the four Netflix titles it had accepted but then had to rescind due to its ongoing spar with the streaming giant; films by Alfonso Cuaron, Paul Greengrass, Orson Welles, and Jeremy Saulnier were all given the boot.
Read more‘Captain Marvel’ Trailer: Brie Larson Storms Through as Groundbreaking Female Superhero
The 1990s-set Marvel film serves as Marvel movie’s their first prequel. It also is their first superhero movie with a female lead. If you're going to do that, might as well hire Oscar-winner.
Brie Larson is set to play Carol Danvers, a pilot with superpowers. Here's my problem with this latest Marvel extravaganza: this is about some kind of galactic war between two alien races. Ugh.
Read moreViggo Mortensen & Mahershala Ali Drama ‘Green Book’ Wins 2018 Toronto Film Festival People’s Choice Award
The very worthy winner of the coveted Grolsch People’s Choice Award, Peter Farrelly’s Green Book is the dictionary definition of crowd-pleaser. Featuring one of the funniest scripts I’ve seen in ages, it has immense relevance to America’s current flareup of racial animosity. It’s the true story of an Italian-American driver Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen) hired in the early ’60s to drive renowned African-American pianist Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) on a concert tour through racist bible-belt states. From casting, to direction, to wry witty writing, this movie fires on all cylinders. [Review]
Read moreTIFF Recap: The Best Movies of the Fest
In previous years, I would include films in my TIFF recap that had also premiered at Telluride and Venice. But this year’s slate in Toronto was so strong, we can fill a full report with nothing more than the note-worthy world premieres that screened at the festival’s 42nd edition. There was plenty to cheer. Although Venice and Telluride perhaps featured the peak title of the festival season — Alfonso Cuaron’s masterful Roma — TIFF managed to deliver a memorable week. Artistic director Piers Handling and festival programmer Cameron Bailey year’s carved out an outstanding group of films, distinct from the other competitive festivals they compete with every September.
Read moreTodd Phillips Releases Image of Joaquin Phoenix as The Joker
The Joaquin Phoenix/Joker movie is actually happening. Phoenix will indeed be playing the clown-terrorist in an origin film directed and co-written by Todd Phillips. Shooting is supposed to begin this fall, if it hasn't already. Phoenix will follow in the footsteps of Caesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, and Jared Leto (who must be royally pissed this is happening).
If it were up to me, I'd totally scrap the Leto projects and concentrate on Phoenix, who might just be the most talented actor to have ever partaken in this type of movie, and, yes, I am including Heath Ledger, whose legendary performance as The Joker in 2008's "The Dark Knight" will surely be very hard to beat.
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