Fan petition, and Ryan Reynolds, want Tarantino to direct "Deadpool 2"

After having reported this weekend that Tim Miller had dropped out of the sequel to "Deadpool" due to "creative difference," there is a Change.org online petition to get Quentin Tarantino to direct "Deadpool 2." The match wouldn't be that crazy a stretch, watch "Kill Bill: Vol 1," but I can't see Tarantino doing any of this, especially since he usually chooses his projects based on his own whacked out obsessions and I don't really think "Deadpool" could qualify as a QT obsession at this point. He's in fact hinted that his next project might have to do with the year 1970.

Ryan Reynolds has mentioned many years ago that his dream director for a "Deadpool" movie would be Tarantino and, after having seen Miller's film earlier this year, I can see why. Speaking to MTV in 2009 Reynolds was quoted as saying “You think directors for a movie like this and you immediately picture [Quentin] Tarantino or somebody like that. Obviously Tarantino is a guy that likes to direct his own material, so there’s a good chance he wouldn’t be the guy. We all have our lists of dream directors.”

"Deadpool" has frames soaked in blood and some of the inventive kills are reminiscent of Tarantino's style, but this ain't gonna happen folks. 

Here is what the petition says: 

"If there was ever a chance to see Tarantino do a project almost guaranteed to make a billion dollars, this is it. We got a great taste of what this could be like in Kill Bill, but imagine having a guy like Tarantino write dialogue for The Merc with the Mouth! It would be so glorious. Join me!"

Whomever the next director of the film might be it probably will have to be a name we're familiar with because to build up some kind of additional buzz after this downer of an exit you probably need someone that will wet our appetites in anticipation. "Guardians of the Galaxy" director James Gunn has also come out and commented on the controversy regarding Miller's exit from the sequel, tweeting:

'Madea' beats 'Jack Reacher' with $27M opening at weekend Box-office

Graph courtesy of BoxOfficeMojo

No, you did not read wrong. "BOO! A Madea Halloween," which I did not know even existed until ... now, has taken the top spot at the weekend Box-Office ending October 23rd with a $27M intake. That's 4 Million more than "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back" which still fared fairly well all things considering. The 2012 original "Reacher" opened up with a scant $15M opening, but built up a solid core of fans through home video, plus it will likely get high-grossing domestic receipts.

Take a look at "Keeping Up with the Joneses". Brutal. That's the second Galafianakis dud in less than a month, after "Masterminds" choked just a few weeks ago.

On the indie side "The Birth of a Nation" is all but done. Nate Parker's controversy has dimmed any hopes of not only box-office success, but any kind of Oscar hopes. The film has made only $14M in three weeks and gotten mixed reviews. Going in a completely different direction is Barry Jenkins' "Moonlight" which is the best reviewed movie of the year and got a per-screen average of 100K this weekend, playing in only four theatres total in LA and NY, but going wider in the next few weeks.

What happened between 'Deadpool' director Tim Miller and its star Ryan Reynolds?

As we reported yesterday, director Tim Miller left the Deadpool sequel over “creative differences” with star Ryan Reynolds.

We had the studio try the damage control route by saying the departure was "amicable," but sources tell us that Miller and Reynolds haven't been in the friendliest of terms since the first "Deadpool" came out earlier this year.

So what happened exactly to this fruitful partnership which resulted in the biggest sleeper hit of the year? 

Miller was on-board for the sequel, but problem was Reynolds signed a deal that granted him casting approval and creative controls according to The Wrap. That is basically where conflicts started to arise between Miller and Reynolds. Never give an actor more creative control than the actual director ....

The Wrap goes on to say:

"Miller, who owns a visual effects studio and we’re told did much of the polishing work on the original “Deadpool” for free, wanted more of a stylized sequel, while the actor placed his focus more on the raunchy comedy style that earned the first movie its R rating."

"The casting issue also eventually came to a head over the possible booking of Kyle  Chandler in the sequel. Mashable movie reporter Jeff Sneider first reported Chandler’s potential involvement with the “Deadpool” sequel during a "Meet the Movie Press" podcast, saying that the actor’s name has been “floating around for Cable for months.” The insider close to the situation tells TheWrap that Miller wanted the “Bloodline” star to play Cable, though Reynolds did not and that the studio, ultimately, backed its marketable star."

At least we have the same writers back on board for the sequel which has been written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, but will that be enough? "Deadpool" was such a success because of how well Reynolds and Miller fed off of each other's talents. Miller is a CGI wiz that created some of the slapstick visual imagery that made the film stand out. Reynolds was the ACTOR that fed off of Miller's palette. If I were Reynolds I'd man up and reach out to Miller and ask him to come back on-board.

'Rogue One' will have a 133 Minute running time

According to MakingStarWars.net

"Event Cinemas has revealed the run time for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The film will be 133 minutes (two hours and 13 minutes). This time could be inaccurate but if memory serves, last year when Star Wars: The Force Awakens run times hit in this form they were accurate."

Past "Star Wars" films:

"Attack of the Clones" 144 Minutes
"Revenge of the Sith" 140 Minutes
"Return of the Jedi" 137 Minutes
"The Force Awakens" 135 Minutes
"The Phantom Menace" 136 Minutes
"The Empire Strikes Back" 127 Minutes
"A New Hope" 125 Minutes

It's been a pretty crazy last few weeks here at "World of Reel" in terms of "Rogue One"

An insider exclusively reported to us about the shooting problems director Garth Edwards had to face on and off the set (HERE) We received a great new trailer hiding any of the reported 'problems' the film might be having (HERE) AND star Felicity Jones tried to defend the reshoots to Variety (HERE). All this in a span of less than 14 days. 

The film gets released on December 16th

'Deadpool 2' director, Tim Miller, exits sequel over creative differences

According to Variety, Director  Tim Miller has dropped out of  'Deadpool 2' due to creative to creative differences with his star Ryan Reynolds.

Miller and Reynolds hit pay dirt with 'Deadpool' earlier in the year having grossed $786M worldwide and becoming the surprise success of year.

This is a major blow on the sequel. 'Deadpool' felt like fresh counter-programming to the usual superhero movie and had many fans highly anticipating its sequel. I do stand by my notion that shooting a sequel to a film that seems to be against the money-making super-hero machine is a bad idea and will not resonate as much the second time around. This is nevertheless very disappointing considering Miller's direction in the original felt fresh and inventive.

You can read my review of the film HERE

Little did he know ....

Donald Glover will play Lando Calrissian in 'Star Wars' spinoff

If you haven't yet caught up with FX's new series "Atlanta" then you are missing out on some of the best, most original TV ever produced in the medium. It is up to episode 8 at the moment, but it doesn't take much time to catch up to it since each episode is around 20 minutes in length. The show was created by and stars Donald Glover, he's a Jack of all trades talent of the highest order. If you know him by face, but can't pinpoint where you might have seen him then try maybe his comedic, but brilliant turn in Ridley Scott's "The Martian" just last year.

Via press release it was announced late this afternoon that Glover will have his shot at the big time nabbing the role of Lando Calrissian in the upcoming Hans Solo spinoff film. That film is set for a 2018 release. 

Press release read as follows:

Hello, what have we here?

Lucasfilm announced today that Donald Glover, an acclaimed actor, award-winning writer, and Grammy-nominated artist, will be playing the part of Lando Calrissian in the still-untitled Han SoloStar Wars film, helmed by directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Glover will join Alden Ehrenreich — previously cast as Han Solo — in bringing two iconic Star Wars characters back to the big screen, but at a time in their lives previously unexplored. This new film depicts Lando in his formative years as a scoundrel on the rise in the galaxy’s underworld — years before the events involving Han, Leia, and Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back and his rise to Rebel hero in Return of the Jedi.

“We’re so lucky to have an artist as talented as Donald join us,” said Lord and Miller. “These are big shoes to fill, and an even bigger cape, and this one fits him perfectly, which will save us money on alterations. Also, we’d like to publicly apologize to Donald for ruining Comic-Con for him forever.”

Glover is best known for creating and starring in the critically acclaimed FX series Atlanta (which had the highest premiere numbers for any basic cable comedy show since 2013), as well as for starring in four seasons of the showCommunity, and for his Grammy-nominated album Because the Internet, performed under the name Childish Gambino. In addition, Glover appeared in the Academy Award-nominated The Martian, and will be seen in the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming.

JJ Abrams confirms he cut a Vader vs Skywalker duel in 'The Force Awakens'

Rumors have always persisted about a Vader vs. Skywalker scene that never made the final cut. It was supposed to occur after Rey touches the Lightsaber for the first time. Then, told through flashback obviously, we'd get a short history of the famous Jedi weapon. In fact Abrams wanted to recreate the sequence from different angles that he actually hired actors in the roles of Vader and Skywalker

Courtesy of "The Star Wars Show":

"Touching the lightsaber triggers what we call the ‘Forceback.’ There were many iterations of this. In one, from the Cloud City Corridor, she looked down and saw Vader fighting Luke, which we ended up cutting. We wanted it to be a more personal story, something that she couldn’t comprehend, that was overwhelming to her, frightening to her, that was taking her through all of these elemental experiences, of fire, of rain, snow, wind. But also that she was being confronted with truths about the Force, about the past. The Knights of Ren here, the past for herself. She realizes that the cries she heard were actually her own cries as a young girl being taken away from her family. And then she hears a voice, ‘Rey,’ and that’s Obi-Wan Kenobi."

Frank & Lola' is a mix of 'Eyes Wide Shut,' 'Blue Velvet' and Hitchcock

Check out today's just released "Frank & Lola" trailer HERE.

"Frank & Lola" slyly snuck into its Sundance premiere this past January. In fact, I don't think I wrote anything about it, almost too consumed with the bigger films that premiered over there. That's not fair. "Frank & Lola" is an engrossing, narratively patchy, but visionary work from writer-director Matthew Ross. It didn't deserve the shrug it got in Park City, but I do hope people will get a chance to see this film. Its take on male jealousy, but more specifically the male psyche, is hauntingly rendered. Notice I said narratively patchy, that's because you've never seen a film quite like this one. It's a very hard film to absorb in just one sitting. Ross manages to balance various different tones and moods that it's very easy to be taken off guard by the film. Ross is a talent to watch.

Frank (Michael Shannon) and Lola (Imogen Poot) are lovers that, after an old flame of Lola's reappears, have their lives shaken up and delivered into a surreal nightmare: think "Eyes Wide Shut" meets "Blue Velvet." The film has all the familiar elements of a noir turned inside out to reveal a story that is so frightening all based on the sheer fact that you really have no idea what's coming next - a rarity these days. It starts off as a "boy meets girl" romance, but shocks you in its change of style and pace with twist after twist slowly being peeled off.

Shannon is phenomenal in the film, his Frank is the only person you can trust and he lets you ride along with all the emotional shifts that happen in his head and there are PLENTY. Shannon is one of the best working actors at the movies right now. He's had three exquisite performances this year in "Frank & Lola" "Loving," and "Nocturnal Animals" where he completely steals the show from the leads. That role should nab him the second Oscar nomination of his career this coming January.

As previously mentioned Ross does a great job balancing the various moods and does manage to maintain coherence with his story. His influences are all over the map, but Polanski comes to mind for the way the Ross continuously has you second-guessing the motivations of his characters, I'd also add in De Palma, and since we have both of these directors mentioned, I might as well add the man that influenced them: Alfred Hitchcock. Now that I think about it, what Ross has done here is not completely different from the way Hitchcock toyed with his audiences many decades ago. What bigger compliment can you ask for as a filmmaker? [B+]

The film opens on December 9th, seek it out.

'Doctor Strange' Roundup of Critical Reactions after NY, LA screenings

It looks like we have a winner, although, like one of the critics so eloquently put it, doesn't look like it cracks the "Marvel Top 5." Hmm, thinking about it, that could make for an interesting list. Stay tuned, I might start working on that list today. In the meantime I'm catching "Doctor Strange" on Wednesday and consider me a little more excited after these tweets, I do want a mindfuck and it seems like that's what we're going to be getting. The trailer looked like some kind of Marvel movie directed by Christopher Nolan. Doesn't that sound great? I think it does. The following tweets are from professional critics that attended the L.A/NY screenings of the film on Thursday.

"Keeping Up With the Joneses" (**)

I had high hopes for this film, after all Greg Mottola directed it. Mottola is the creator behind both "Superbad" and "Adventureland" two of the best coming of age movies of the 21st century. So what went wrong? The idea of "Keeping Up With the Joneses" itself is decent enough, but the execution is atrocious.

Zach Galifianakis, him again, and Isla Fisher play a boring suburban couple, they are the Gaffneys and their mundane life gets shaken up when mysterious new neighbors, The Joneses, played by Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot, move right next door and drag them into the kind of James Bond-inspired plot that would have Flemming rolling in his grave. 

As much as I didn't think Doug Liman's Mr. & Mrs. Smith, an obviously comprabale plot to this film, was any kind of special movie, it looks like "Les Règles du Jeu" compared to Mottola's film. "Keeping Up With the Joneses" is duller and less exciting than even the horrid reviews (check out that 13% RT Score) make it out to be. Also, when is Hollywood going to stop typecasting Zach Galfianakis? Michael LeSieur's screenplay seems to have been tailor-made for his brand of idiot comedy.

I get why Mottola wanted to tackle this movie, he wanted to make a commercial film which had themes about relationships, how they work, the ins and outs of marriage etc but to make such a film work you need a good screenplay and "Keeping Up With the Joneses" has a screenplay that is just bad. One look at LeSieur's IMDB page tells us he hasn't written much, but when he has it was "You, Me and Dupree". Remember that film? it shares a lot of the same type of humor "Keeping Up With the Joneses" has and that is clearly not meant as a compliment. 

2017 Oscar Predictions: The "Goodbye 'Billy Lynn' Edition"

I usually update these every few weeks or whenever something happens, such as last week's disappointing NYFF screening of Ang Lee's "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk." (HERE) Also Scorsese's "Silence" actually being confirmed for release has it now as a contender (HERE). I took off "Patriot's Day" after the "America rah rah" trailer premiered last week (HERE).




10.20.16

Best Picture
1) "La La Land"
2) "Manchester By The Sea"
3) "Fences"

4) "Silence"

5) "Sully"

6) "Lion"

7) "Loving"

8) "Jackie"
9) "Arrival"

10) "Moonlight"

Best Actor

1) Casey Affleck, "Manchester By the Sea"

2) Tom Hanks, "Sully"

3) Denzel Washington, "Fences"

4) Ryan Gosling "La La Land"

5) Joel Edgerton, "Loving"
6) Viggo Mortensen, "Captain Fantastic"

7) Andrew Garfield, "Silence"

8) Dev Patel, "Lion"
9) Miles Teller, "Bleed For This"

10) Michael Keaton, "The Founder"

Best Actress

1) Emma Stone, "La La Land"

2) Natalie Portman, "Jackie"

3) Amy Adams, "Arrival"

4) Viola Davis, "Fences" 

5) Ruth Negga, "Loving"

6) Isabelle Huppert, "Elle"

7) Meryl Streep "Florence Foster Jenkins"

8) Jessica Chastain, "Miss Sloane"

9) Marillon Cotillard, "Allied"

10) Annette Benning, "20th Century Women"

Best Supporting Actor 

1) Mahershala Ali, "Moonlight" 

2) Michael Shannon, "Nocturnal Animals" 

3) Jeff Bridges, "Hell or High Water"

4) Lucas Hedges, "Manchester By the Sea"

5) Liam Neeson, "Silence"

6) Ben Foster, "Hell or High Water"

7) Hugh Grant, "Florence Foster Jenkins"

8) Aaron Eckhart, "Bleed For This"

9) Stephen Mckinley Henderson, "Fences"

10) Timothy Spaal, "Denial"

Best Supporting Actress

1) Naomie Harris, "Moonlight"

2) Nicole Kidman, "Lion"

3) Octavia Spencer, "Hidden Figures"

4) Felicity Jones "A Monster Calls"

5) Michelle Williams, "Manchester By the Sea"

6) Margo Martindale, "The Hollars"

7) Molly Shannon, "Other People"

8) Greta Gerwig, "20th Century Women"

9) Helen Mirren, "Eye in the Sky"

10) Lupita Nyong'o, "Queen of Katwe"

Best Director

1) Damien Chazelle, "La La Land"

2) Ang Lee, "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk"

3) Kenneth Lonergan, "Manchester By the Sea'

4) Denzel Washington, "Fences"

5) Martin Scorsese, "Silence"

6) Pablo Larrain, "Jackie"

7) Barry Jenkins, "Moonlight"

8) Paul Verhoeven, "Elle"

9) Clint Eastwood, "Sully"

10) Jeff Nichols, "Loving"

Best Foreign Language Film
"Elle"
"Toni Erdmann"
"Neruda"
"The Salesman"
"Under the Shadow"
"From Afar"
"Fire At Sea"
"The Age of Shadows"
"Julieta"
"Land of Mine"

Best Animated Film
"Zootopia"
"Kubo and the Two Strings"
"Finding Dory"
"Moana"
"The Red Turtle"
"Sing"

Best Documentary Feature
"OJ: Made in America"
"The 13th"
"Lo and Behold"
"Before the Flood"
"Weiner"
"Gleason"
"Cameraperson"
"Jim: The James Foley Story"
"Amanda Knox"
"Zero Days"

A list of Paramount's alternate title suggestions for "Vertigo" (1958)

"While Hitchcock had to fight for his title, both he and the studio did not like the source novel’s literal translation: "From Among the Dead"

Perhaps the greatest movie ever made, definitely up there for me, but the title is also sheer perfection. Many of these titles are horrendous!

'Logan' teaser looks - shock - meditative and sublime

Tim Burton's Gothic vision created the successful "Batman" series, but after "Batman & Robin" choked out any hope that was left when Burton left, we had 3 years of Hollywood being quiet and trying to reassess the superhero question. Cue in the year 2000 and Bryan Singer's "X-men" which started the new wave of Superhero movies, Hugh Jackman's Wolverine was born and the rise of the comic book movie into a billion-dollar Hollywood money-making machine was created. 

It is well-known that "Logan" will be the final film about Wolverine. In 2013 James Mangold took over for Gavin Hood and made, by far, the best Wolverine movie aptly titled "The Wolverine." Mangold is back for a final goodbye and the trailer does, in fact, look sublime and carried by Johnny Cash's doom-filled "Hurt." It almost feels like a swan song for the Superhero era, which has turned into a total and utter capitalistic machine of the highest order. A far cry from Burton's "Batman." "Logan" gets released on March 3rd, 2017. 

The official synopsis for the film reads as follows:

"Set in the future, Logan and Professor Charles Xavier must cope with the loss of the X-Men when a corporation lead by Nathaniel Essex is bent on destroying the world. With Logan's healing abilities slowly fading away and Xavier's Alzheimer's forcing him to forget Logan must defeat Nathaniel Essex with the help of a young girl named Laura Kinney, a female clone of Wolverine."

Final trailer for Denis Villeneuve's brilliant 'Arrival'

From my TIFF review 9.19.16

"Toronto was a kind of homecoming for Canadian boy Denis Villeneuve whose “Arrival” had very successful showings at both Telluride and Venice just a week prior. Amy Adams plays Louise Banks, a linguist who is recruited by the military after enormous Alien pods show up across the globe. Many countries are prepared for war, but Louise believes that the visitors might actually be on earth for non-violent reasons. Adams, in one of her very best performances, gives a touching and rewarding performance in a film that feels like a better version of Christopher Nolan’s well-known sci-fi blockbusters. The sentimentality is somewhat stripped down for a more concrete and profound look at the ties that bind us all on earth. It’s a thought-provoking adventure that isn’t about war, but communication instead. Villeneuve once again proves to be the real deal. The 49-year-old Quebecois filmmaker is building up a solid, loyal fan-base that could one day rival Nolan’s. The fact that his next movie is “Blade Runner 2” only gets us more excited about his future."

Writer-Director of 'In a Valley of Violence' Ti West [Interview]

My full interview for The Playlist with writer-director Ti West can be read HERE

Excerpts from my SXSW/Fantastia Film Festival thoughts on his latest, the retro-western "In A Valley of Violence:

"Ti West has made a career out of deconstructing the horror genre with genre classics such as "The House of the Devil" and "V/H/S." Who would have thought that the 36 year-old writer-director would be making the best movie of his career by delving into the Western genre with Ethan Hawke and John Travolta along for the ride."

"In A Valley of Violence" has Hawke's mysterious pale rider Paul involved in a random act of violence that turns a small town, bossed by Travolta's Marshal, into a violent mess. West directs this lovely, but absurdist, homage to the Western with a newfound energy and style we didn't think he had in him. "

"The most surprising aspect of the film is how funny it is, clearly influenced by Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns and West's own brand of darkly comic thrills. It's a ride that gallops into a cinematic territory with fresh new eyes and ears. We spoke to West about the film earlier this week and the mind-set he had going into this latest twisted cinematic endeavor."

Mel Gibson's problematic "Hacksaw Ridge" (***) has harrowing battle sequences

It has been ten years since Mel Gibson gave us "Apocalytpo," a bloody, surreal, but cinematic-ally brilliant dissection of the Mayan's final days. "Hacksaw Ridge" is his fifth movie as a director. I missed it when it premiered at Venice because I was out covering the Toronto International Film Festival, so I was highly anticipating watching this latest film from "Bloody Mel." 

Tackling WWII for the first time as a director, Gibson sets his film on the true story of Desmond T. Doss (Andrew Garfield) a soldier that refuses to handle a gun or shoot a bullet, but willing to risk his own life to save the lives of others. Cue in the Christian imagery, a Gibson staple, which gets milked for all its worth in this movie. Why does Desmond not want to shoot or kill? the commandment "Thou Shalt Not Kill." His religious convictions are too strong that he would rather be imprisoned than take the life of the enemy. He's a "conscientious objector" driven to join the army out of patriotic duty, even if he has a romance going on back home with a beautiful nurse (Teresa Palmer).

Of course, things don't go as planned, he is ridiculed by his peers in boot-camp, beaten up, abused, and imprisoned for his refusal to bear arms. He does end up getting his wish and going to the battleground with nary a weapon, thanks to his father, himself a war veteran, who turns to a old army friend with power to grant the permission.

The first half of the film is somewhat flawed, convoluted and reveals a softer side to Gibson, that I'd rather never see again, with a cliched and calculating setup and one-too many christian allegories. The bubble-gum cinematography by Simon Duggan ("Warcraft," "I, Robot," "The Great Gatsby") is also a large misstep, stripping off the grittiness that should come with such a visceral experience. The second half reveals what "Bloody Mel" is best at doing on-screen: passionate, visceral mayhem. It's no secret that he loves shooting violence on-screen, check out "Braveheart," "The Passion of the Christ" and Apocalypto" if you have your doubts, and "Hacksaw Ridge" is no exception.

The close-combat between the USA and Japan on the Hacksaw Ridge in Okinawa is a no-holds barred spectacle from a man that knows how to shoot fury. He means to make us see hell on screen with limbs flying all over the place. Bullets, bombs, grenades and rocket launchers take up most of the screen-time from thereon in. Caught up in the middle of all this Doss does his best to save lives and makes amends with a troupe that took him for granted. 

After a failed attempt to take over Hacksaw, Doss receives an epiphany from God, yeah I know. He'd rather die saving lives than not try at all. Taking advantage of the surreal Japanese evening he attempts to sneak into combat territory and drag injured soldiers out of harm's way. This tense game of suspense is the film's real high-point and reveals Gibson at the top of his filmmaking game. 

Gibson believes in the goodness of this world and this is an "inspirational faith film" that bears many resemblances to Angelina Jolie's, yes, slightly superior "Unbroken" which had more at stake than Gibson's film. "Hackaw Ridge" is much more brutal in its depiction of violence, but also doesn't fully flesh out the characters it portrays.

Andrew Garfield is commendable as a wide-eyed hero that will, cross your fingers, likely be a far cry from his character in Scorsese's "Silence." There aren't many complexities to Doss, which does tend to narrow down the film into caricature. This is a well-made blockbuster with a killer second-half, but we expected a little more. [B/B+]

'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2' trailer and poster revealed

Am I looking forward to this? Yes. The first film had enough smarts and well-drawn out characters to compensate for a, rather, formulaic film. The soundtrack was great though. This has its many fans and it will no doubt be the highest grossing film of 2017, but I just hope the storyline is a little better this time around and we don't get the messy jumble that accompanied the first film. 

“Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2” will open on May 5, 2017.

Scorsese's 'Silence' has a new photo: Our first look at Adam Driver's Father Garrpe

This film can't come out any sooner. We've only had two official photos from Scorsese's "Silence" thus far, that of Andrew Garfield's Father Sebastio Rodrigues head to head with Mokishi and the second having to do with Liam Neeson's Father Cristovao Ferreira kneeling, praying - for his life?


A new official still has been released today and it's another intriguing, mysterious picture all around and our first look at Adam Driver as Father Garrpe.

As mentioned last week, Scorsese is 'deep at work' on "Silence" and won't be finishing it until the "11th hour." You can read the rest of that article by clicking HERE. We also reported that Scorsese has cut 36 minutes from the film which now stands at 159 minutes, for more on that click HERE.

Barry Jenkins' 'Moonlight' deserves to be called a 'cinematic milestone'

An excerpt from my 9.19.16 thoughts for Sasha Stone's AwardsDaily. Full article HERE.

"What can be said about Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight” that hasn’t already been said? Set during three transformative periods in the life of an African-American  gay man, the film is not only a mesmerizing journey into the “African-American experience,” but it also shatters cinematic taboos that not many have dared touch before it. This was the first major film I can recall to feature two black men who kiss onscreen. Unheard of, but an incredibly important landmark moment and the very definition of a film that can change lives. Jenkins splits the film into three different time frames as he follows his protagonist Chiron’s struggle for self-identity in a society that refuses to acknowledge his sexual freedom. The three actors playing Chiron (Alex R. Hibbert, Ashton Sanders and Trevante Rhodes) were all revelatory and Jenkins (a former Telluride Film Festival volunteer) makes good on the promise of his first feature “Medicine for Melancholy.” His “Moonlight” deserves to be called a milestone."

The film opens this Friday, October 19th.