‘Soldado’ Screenwriter Taylor Sheridan on Why Emily Blunt Won’t be in ‘Sicario’ Sequel: “Her arc was complete … I couldn’t figure out a way to write a character that would do her talent justice.”

emily blunt sicario

"That was my decision, and at some point I’m going to have to talk to her about it,” Sheridan said in a recent interview for TheWrap. “Her arc was complete … I couldn’t figure out a way to write a character that would do her talent justice."

“Look what she went through. It was a difficult role. Here I write this lead character and then I use her as a surrogate for the audience. I make her completely passive against her own will so the audience feels the same impotence that a lot of law enforcement officers feel, I drag her through hell, and betray her in the end. It was an arduous journey for the character, and for Emily. That character had arc,” Sheridan said."

 “What do you do next? She moves to some little town and becomes a sheriff and then gets kidnapped and then we have ‘Taken?'” he joked about Blunt’s role. “I had to tell the story that was true to this role, and I didn’t feel like I could create something with that character that would further that world that would do Emily’s character justice. That said, there could be room for Kate somewhere else down the road.”
Ain't it just great when screenwriters know when enough is enough? When to stop? Sparing any of the characters they created on page from becoming caricatures of themselves? 

 Sheridan also wrote a very similar screenplay, in structure, to "Sicario" this year, the great "Hell of High Water." 

"Moana" set for an estimated $62 Million Weekend Box-Office, "Allied" to open with around $18 Million


Source: Box Office Mojo

"Moana" pulled in $21.8 Million, it looks like Disney has a hit.

I missed the press screenings for the film, I was out of town, but the reviews look great. I will likely make it a double bill on Monday with "Miss Sloane," which is finally being screened here for critics on that day.

The respectable, amiably old-school "Allied" from director Robert Zemeckis made an estimated $4.9 Million on Friday. I really enjoyed the vibe Zemeckis created with this movie, it's not a groundbreaker by any stretch of the imagination, but it's good entertainment. Just lower your expectations a bit and try to give in to its storytelling.

We'll have a clearer picture of the way the weekend tallies will turn out by tomorrow mid-afternoon ....

Paul Schrader on today's cinema

This quote from The Guardian interview dated 11.13.16

"There’s probably more talented people making films today than there were back then (1970s),” says Schrader. “The biggest and only difference – and people don’t understand this – was the audiences were better. The audiences were going through social uncertainty and they wanted artists to help them out. And the moment that a society turns to artists for answers, great art emerges.”
Sure sounds like our time. Will people rely on artists again "for answers" in the age of Drumpf?

The "Best Actor" Oscar showdown this year: Casey Affleck vs Denzel Washington


Source: Gold Derby


Speak to any of the supposed Oscar "pundits" and you'll get the same response: "Everyone in the industry knows it's Affleck vs Washington" replied a pundit friend of mine by email recently, "It's not even like there's a third contender" he added. I would agree with that sentiment and it seems like most people do as well. Affleck's delicate, sombre, nuanced performance in "Manchester By The Sea" had me at hello ever since I saw the film at Sundance in January. To say the performance, and the film, stayed with me would be an understatement. "Manchester By The Sea" belongs on the, very, short list for Best film of 2016, right up there with "La La Land," "Paterson," "Made in America: OJ Simpson," "Moonlight" and, the ever so underrated, "Krisha."

"Fences," on the other hand, is an actor's showcase through and through. If the film's problem is that it never fully translates well from the stage to the screen that doesn't detract from the fact that the performances in the film are astounding. Viola Davis is all, but assured to win the Supporting Actress Oscar and Denzel Washington, in the director's chair as well, gives us one of the defining performances of his career as Troy, an African American father struggling to raise his family in the 1950s, but also not able to cope with own demons, still lurking, brewing, from a failed baseball career and the restrictions a black man has in 1950s America. You can tell Washington and Davis know their parts front and back, they live and breathe their characters and flesh them out just enough to let them roll on a cinematic level. 





Source: AwardsCircuit

Source: AwardsWatch

At the moment Affleck is the odds-on favorite to win, but, to be honest with you, Washington stands just as great of a chance to win. He's Hollywood royalty and well beloved throughout the industry + don't discount the little movement called #Oscarssowhite which caused much controversy last year and will likely result in this year being a record-breaking year for African-Americans getting nominated by the Academy.

 FRONTRUNNERS

1) Denzel Washington, "Fences"
2) Casey Affleck, "Manchester By the Sea"
3) Tom Hanks, "Sully"
4) Ryan Gosling "La La Land"
5) Michael Keaton, "The Founder"


MAJOR THREATS

Viggo Mortensen, "Captain Fantastic"
Joel Edgerton, "Loving"
Andrew Garfield, "Silence"
Andrew Garfield "Hacksaw Ridge"
Dev Patel, "Lion"
Miles Teller, "Bleed For This"
Warren Beatty "Rules Don't Apply"
Mark Wahlberg "Patriots Day"
Mattew McConaughey "Gold"

Martin Scorsese's "Silence" to premiere at the Vatican - Director will be joined by 400 priests for screening of film


I find this immensely respectful and quite a different reception as compared to how "The Last Temptation of Christ" was received by the community. It also makes sense given the circumstances that there is a Jesuit pope at the helm of the Vatican. The movie will be screened this coming Tuesday in Rome.

Courtesy of The Guardian

The film is also set to be screened for New York Film Critics Circle members on November 30th, just a day before they vote for their annual awards. After that, I believe, the next set of press screenings will occur on December 6th in L.A.

A very exciting time to be a movie fan we have a new Scorsese coming out imminently. Will it exceed our expectations? I sure hope so, the movie year as a whole feels like it's missing its epic. "Silence" is the last of the awards contenders to be screened this year and has in fact missed the cut for the BFCA awards given that is was not screened for its members in time. It is no secret that Scorsese has been working adamantly on the picture and didn't finish it until the 11th hour, is that just a sign of perfectionism on the part of its director? Or are there problems brewing within the 159 minute film? Only time will tell, but I have a feeling we are in for something very special with this latest epic from the great American director.

This was the poster Luc Besson created, as a blueprint, with the intention of shooting "Mathilda," a sequel to 1994's "Leon: The Professional."



This was the poster Luc Besson created as a blueprint with the intention of shooting a sequel to "Leon: The Professional." 

Besson’s "Leon" has gained such a fervent following ever since the rather mixed reaction it got upon its release back in 1994. It was the emergence of Natalie Portman and Luc Besson in American cinema. Ever since then there have been countless rumors going around about a possible follow-up that would be centered around Portman’s character, Mathilda, and her life after the events of the first movie. A decade ago there even was a rumor about Portman having already signed on for the sequel. That was proven to be false by her reps.  However, Portman has always stated she would be open to the idea of making sequel. 

Here is Portman in her own words talking about the possibility of a sequel to IndieWire

Ten years ago we decided to make ‘Mathilda,’ which was the ‘Professional’ sequel, but we couldn’t do it because of the evolution of a lot of things – about Natalie [Portman], about [estranged distributor] Gaumont. Luc tried to do this movie again and again—he proposed it to me 12 years ago. But when we decided to change the script and to make another movie with a revenge story like ‘Mathilda,’ he had to give up everything about Mathilda. When you write a script you always think about what your heart is asking. If Mathilda was there, she should have done this or that. He had to forget everything, because it’s a new story.

During promotional rounds for his movie "Colombiana," director Olivier Megaton -yeah that's really his last name- stated that he actually intended for the script to be the follow-up to "Leon," called "Mathilda." He claims that he had been working on the script with Besson for 12 years, but there were just too many problems securing Portman to star in the vehicle and the original distributor was making their lives dificult in allowing the rights to be used. Besson ended up producing "Colombiana." That turned out to be a mediocre film, there were no scenes that really grabbed me and I have officially disregarded it as having anything to do with "Leon" or "Mathilda." 
With an 8.6 rating out of more than 745,000  votes on IMDB, "Leon: The Professional" is ranked 27th on the IMDB all-time top 250 list. A vast difference from the original, mixed reviews the film got back in 1994.

 The original script of "Leon" actually had her committing suicide at the end of the movie. Leon is killed and Matilda is the one who kills all of them (Gary Oldman and the police) because she has grenades strapped to her jacket. 

 Also, they have sex.


Would have made for one hell of an awkward moment. Good thing they got rid of that scene. Even though it is insinuated throughout the film how much of a flirt Mathilda is towards Leon, this is the kind of risky scene that could easily kill a film's vibe or momentum.

Isla Fischer Pasted Amy Adams' Face on Her Family Christmas Cards and No One Noticed

Isla Fischer Pasted Amy Adams' Face on Her Family Christmas Cards and No One Noticed


From Today show interview:

"While sending out Christmas cards with her husband Sacha Baron Cohen and their kids, Fischer opted to paste Adams' face over her own. Hilariously, no one noticed."

 "I cut-and-pasted Amy Adams' face over mine, so it was Sacha, Amy, and the kids, and then we said 'Seasons greetings from Sacha and Isla,'" Fischer recalled. "And no one noticed. Everyone was like, 'Oh, your card was so cute.' I was like, 'It was a joke, it's not me, it's Amy!'"

2017 Has EPIC potential. Movies from PTA, Nolan, Aronofsky, Haynes, Cuaron, Spielberg, Bigelow, Villeneuve, Soderbergh, Von Trier, Haneke and Payne.

The year is almost over and most of the important films have been seen. I promised myself I'd do something like this once "Silence" had a trailer, so here we are, it's Thanksgiving and it looks like Scorsese's epic actually does exist. What titles are you looking forward to the most for 2017? I split the titles I found into three categories. If there's anything, worthy of a mention, missing on this list please let me know and I'll add it.


Must-sees

"Dunkirk" (Chrisopher Nolan)
"Downsizing" (Alexander Payne)
"Untitled Detroit Riots Project" (Kathryn Bigelow)
"The Kidnapping of Edgardo Montara" (Steven Spielberg)
"Blade Runner 2049" (Denis Villeneuve)
"Untitled PTA/Daniel Day-Lewis 1950s Fashion Drama" (Paul Thomas Anderson)
"Mother" (Darren Aronofsky)
"Wonderstruck" (Todd Haynes)
"Logan Lucky" (Steven Soderbergh)
"Star Wars: Episode VIII" (Rian Johnson)
"Untitled Mexico City Project" (Alfonso Cuaron)
"Baby Driver" (Edgar Wright)
"Annihilation" (Alex Garland)
"Coco" (Lee Unkrich)

Possibly good

"T2" (Dany Boyle)
"Stronger" (David Gordon Green)
"Darkest Hour" (Joe Wright)
"The Beguiled" (Sofia Coppola)
"Alien: Covenant" (Ridley Scott)
"American Made" (Doug Liman)
"The Snowman" (Thomas Alfredson)
"Okja" (Jonn Ho Bong)
"Suburbicon" (George Clooney)
"Yen Din Ka Kissa" (Noah Baumbach)
"War Machine" (David Michod)
"The Shape of Water" (Guillermo Del Toro)
"Under the Silver Lake" (David Robert Mitchell)
"Tully" (Jason Reitman)
"The Circle" (James Ponsoldt)
"Inner City" (Dan Gilroy)
"Murder on the Orient Express" (Kenneth Branagh)
"Mute" (Duncan Jones)
"Battle of the Sexes" (Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton)
"Untitled Dick Cheyney Biopic" (Adam Mackay)

The first official poster for ‘Alien: Covenant' is just about perfect.


This was just posted on the film's Facebook page. 

 Also, the release date appears to have been moved up from its August 4th release, now scheduled for May 19th.

 What does this drastic date change mean for the film's prospects? Well, it certainly shows confidence. It's funny how a simple date change has drastically increased my expectations for the film. May 19th is around the time the big guns usually get released in Hollywood. 

 Past rumors have suggested that the future of Neil Blomkamp's "Alien 5" would heavily depend on how well "Alien: Covenant" does at the box-office. The film is being releaed during a blockbuster month of summer movie season: "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2," and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales" will also be released around that time. Is that a risk Fox can afford to take with this? 

 The film is part of the "Alien" franchise and is a sequel to Ridley Scott's HIGHLY underrated 2012 film "Prometheus." We don't know much beyond that, but Michael Fassbender is returning with a much bigger role this time and Noomi Rapace, the film's main protagonist, will be there, in some capacity.

 In 12.9.12 I had this to say about "Prometheus"

 "Ridley Scott's prequel to his "Alien" is the kind of movie I love. Filled with ambitious ideas about creation "Prometheus" can be seen as a great bookend to last year's "Tree Of Life". It is a deep, satisfying, visually rewarding experience. It asks questions that most filmmakers don't dare to ask and is acted and directed in such high fashion. I just wish Scott would forget the idea of making a sequel to a movie that asks us questions and dares us not to answer them by letting us ponder its far-reaching outcome instead."

First Color Image for ‘Logan’ Revealed, Director James Mangold: Film Is Not “A City-Block Destroying CG F*ckathon”


Many thanks to my colleagues over at The Playlist for this news, click HERE

The picture above is the first color image for James Mangold's "Logan"

Mangold tweeted the second page of the script which basically gives you everything you need to know about his vision for the film.


"Now might be a good time to talk about the ‘fights’ described in the next 100 or so pages. Basically, if you’re on the make for a hyper choreographed, gravity defying, city-block destroying CG fuckathon, this ain’t your movie."
"In this flick, people will get hurt or killed when shit falls on them. They will get just as hurt or just as killed if they get hit with something big and heavy like, say, a car. Should anyone in our story have the misfortune to fall off a roof or out a window, they won’t bounce. They will die."
"As for our hero, well, he’s older now and it’s clear his abilities aren’t what they once were. He’s fading on the inside and his diminished healing factor keeps him in a constant state of chronic pain — hence booze as a painkiller."
"Logan" comes out on March 3rd, 2017

Here comes the smear campaign for Casey Affleck's precious Oscar


The Daily Beast has just published what seems to be the start of a scathing smear campaign towards Best Actor frontrunner Casey Affleck. Amanda White, who served as producer for "I'm Still Here," the Affleck directed mockumentary starring Joaquin Phoenix, allegedly complained that she was "repeatedly harassed by Affleck" during the shoot back in 2009.

Seems like you can dig up dirt on just about anyone these days. News travels, and it travels fast and furiously. Trump might change the hypersensitivity that is happening around the country and make us numb to these kinds of things, who knows. Is that good thing? Don't know, but what I do know is that some people will take this story VERY seriously. As they should?

As my buddy just told me "I guess people figure if they can destroy the "Birth of a Nation" guy this way ..."

"She claimed that Affleck ordered a crew member to take off his pants and show White his penis—even after she vehemently objected. She claimed that Affleck repeatedly referred to women as “cows,” and recounted his sexual exploits with reckless abandon. In her complaint, White recalled Affleck asking her “Isn’t it about time you get pregnant?” once he learned her age, and suggesting that she and a male crew member reproduce. White’s accusations go on, ranging from incredibly unprofessional behavior to actual physical intimidation. She described an instance where she was prevented from returning to her bedroom during shooting, because Affleck and Phoenix had locked themselves in her room with two women where they had sex with them."

 "Affleck was married with two children to Phoenix’s sister, Summer, at the time—though the couple recently split). She also alleged that Affleck attempted to manipulate her into sharing a hotel room with him. When she resisted, White claimed, he grabbed her threateningly and attempted to scare her into submission. Affleck then allegedly proceeded to send White abusive text messages, calling her “profane names” for refusing to stay with him. White filed a $2 million lawsuit against Affleck in Los Angeles Superior Court on July 23, 2010."

 But, there's more. I'm not going to get into the whole thing, but make what you will of this. He is the leading frontrunner to win the Oscar so a smear campaign was going to show up sooner or later, the question is how serious is this? If proved to be accurate will a downfall come into fruition? This is all speculation and I tend to try and not resort to that kind of writing. So, for now, click HERE if you want to read more about it from The Daily Beast. This is probably the last you'll hear about this unless it completely explodes into the news stratosphere, but let's just say The Daily Beast has not always been a credible source for professional writing.

‘Allied'



"Allied" is a triumph of craft. Director Robert Zemeckis is, just like his buddy Steven Spielberg, an expert at the cinematic tropes that have enriched film history over the last 100+ years. This is an ode to old-fashioned storytelling and, if you're willing to accept this, the film is a richly satisfying ride. Of course, if the central relationship between Pitt and Cotillard was a little more developed, defined, established, whatever you will, the final punch in the gut the film delivers in its final shot might have stirred the emotions a little more. Alas, this is the movie we get: A well-told and well-acted film that does its job and does it well. Earlier today I spoke about how "un-cinematic" "Fences" felt, well "Allied" is the complete opposite, a film that is eerily nostalgic for a time and place that it seems almost completely out of step with the now. THAT, in essence, makes it feel like a very touching cinematic valentine to a bygone era of filmmaking.

Review: Denzel Washington and Viola Davis swing for the ‘Fences'



'Fences' is a 130 minute acting showcase for Denzel Washington and Viola Davis. That's what it is, that's what you'll be hearing critics say about it and that's what most of you will gather once the credits start rolling in this powerfully ambitious epic adapted for the screen from August Wilson's stirring play, by Wilson himself no less, which also stars the play's original leads, Washington and Davis. 

 You will also be hearing people complain that the theatrics are intact and that it does not feel cinematic. I would agree with that as well. In trying to adapt Wilson's play, director Denzel Washington was going to fall into the trappings that have bogged down past talky adaptations to the screen such as "Closer" and "Doubt." That's fine and it comes with the ambitious territory of trying to make theatrics come alive in a cinematic way. 

 'Fences' might drag at times, but the heart and soul of Wilson's play is not lost. No thanks to Washington who plays Troy, an African American father struggling to raise his family in the 1950s, but also not able to come to terms with his personal life and the inner demons still lurking from a failed baseball career. He is married to Rose, a lovely, loyal woman, as played by an Oscar-bound Viola Davis. Rose gives Troy many free passes in life, maybe one too many, but she accepts what she has and feels satisfied by her situation. Much of it having to do with their high-school son Cory (Jovan Adepo) being such a succesful student and athlete. Cory and Troy don't get along, and it is with those scenes, between Adepo and Washington, that the film's true fireworks come out.

 Marriage, poverty and the struggles between father and son are tackled in Wilson's play and the treatise is competently rendered by Washington in an un-stylized way. You can tell Washington and Davis know their parts front and back, they live and breathe their characters and flesh them out just enough to let them roll on a cinematic level.

 The film is episodic with some of the passages encompassing enormous power, but others feeling strained and forced in their delivery. It is in the powerful scenes that Washington gains his stride and ensures his film is, at the very least, watchable and faithful to August Wilson. There really was no other way around the flaws, especially if you wanted to do Wilson (who wrote the screenplay) primal justice. This is a beast of a movie, but one done with the upmost of cumulative restraint [B]

‘Rogue One’ to Be the First Star Wars Movie without an Opening Crawl

rogue-one-opening-crawl

What'd you know? It is the 'rogue' one after all. Ha, ok, I'll stop with the lame puns for now. Anyway, Kathleen Kennedy says only the saga films have a crawl, but that doesn't seem to be the case. The comic books have a crawl. The video games have a crawl. Who cares? That's what I think, I just want to have a good movie and the reshoots, director problems have been worrisome. Kennedy has this to say:

“We felt that’s so indicative of what those saga films are. Initially, we probably will begin the film in a way that is traditional, with just the title.”

It is part of what we expect from Star Wars. The crawl should remain with the saga trilogy films and not the side films like 'Rogue One.' I get that. To stylistically differentiate them. I tend to agree with this. The film comes out in a few weeks, I haven't received any press invites just yet, but crossing my fingers it happens before I submit my year-end list to various polls.

More on Kathleen Keneddy's interview with Variety click HERE