You can now listen to the score for Scorsese's 'Silence' online


  
Just a heads up that the score for Martin Scorsese's "Silence" is now available for streaming as an FYC  goodie. Just click HERE. I haven't listened to it yet, but will update this post with my thoughts. 


Of note concerning "Silence," it was screened this morning for the New York Film Critics Circle, although social media thoughts are not under embargo there have been no tweets or reactions on the film, I spoke to a few people that did attend the screening and I can't say they were overtly enthusiastic about it. A lot of "good, but not great" sentiments lurking around, but it's too early to really judge this film. I am really looking forward to it. I know there's an L.A. Films Critics screening happening around 2:30 pm EST.


Also, in case you missed it, Marty met with the pope today as "Silence" was shown at a private screening.

"The Eyes Of My Mother" Director Nicolas Pesce [Interview]

Image result for the eyes of my mother









Nicolas Pesce stunned more than a few audiences at Sundance with his horrifically hypnotic goth show. The story was disturbing, with a precisely constructive narrative that never let up in its dark, twisted surprises. No fair revealing any plot details about this one, except to say that it is from film collective Borderline Films, which gave us in the past few years Martha Marcy May Marlene, James White, and Simon Killer. This might be the best one of the bunch, it's that good.

We spoke to the writer-director about his absorbing gothic-horror fairy tale.

Original interview with The Playlist

No Surprise: 'Rogue One' Writer Tony Gilroy Made Millions Off Reshoots



















What's even more worrisome is the fact that this goes exactly the way my insider source described to me the on-set friction and how Edwards was pushed aside. Gilroy basically became the main director when the reshoots started. I got a lot of heat from fanboys for posting the article, but, fact of the matter is, I believe what he said and he was credible. You can find the whole article HERE.

The Hollywood Reporter has the following:

"The 'Bourne' scribe's pay has grown from $200,000 a week to north of $5 million as work on the Star Wars standalone film expanded to include postproduction and tackling several issues including the ending. Rogue One might be about a group of rebels absconding with plans for the Death Star, but they aren't the only ones making out like bandits. Tony Gilroy, who was brought in to rewrite and help oversee reshoots for the Gareth Edwards-directed Star Wars film, out Dec. 16, will pocket north of $5 million for his efforts, say sources. Gilroy, writer of several Bourne movies and director of best picture Oscar nominee Michael Clayton, first was brought in to help write dialogue and scenes for Rogue’s reshoots and was being paid $200,000 a week, according to several sources. That figure is fairly normal for a top-tier writer on a big-budget studio film. But as the workload (and the reshoots) expanded, so did Gilroy's time and paycheck."

"Is it a small price to pay for not receiving the appropriate 'directed by' credit that Gilroy deserves? He directed all of the reshoots, brought in a new composer, supervised all the post production and locked the picture last week. All while Gareth Edwards was doing press for the film. Why does the DGA not get involved when it comes to these matters? Kathy Kennedy I'm sure is just hoping all the millions will keep Gilroy quiet."

"From what I heard, the original version of the movie was far to violent and not family friendly (AKA Disney approved) - So they brought in Gilroy to rework it to pass the Disney smell test."

Reshoots are an infringement on the voice of the director that will only result in a jumbled heap of incohesive scenes that independently look great, but, when combined, damage the original message and limit a developed story. I won't say this movie is going to be bad, but it will in no way live up to its potential. I'm sorry that some studio executive thinks Darth Vader chopping up rebels with his lightsaber is too dark for today's audience but that does not mean we should surrender an entire aspect of the saga and replace it with feel good Disney crap. Remember, ten years ago we saw him murder a bunch of kids. It damages the entirety of Star Wars to neglect the "dark side" of it, so to speak.

 Here's an excerpt of what my source had to say about the friction that came with production few months back:

 "That Hollywood Reporter fluff piece was just ego boosting for Felicity and damage control PR for Disney. From what else I've learned Disney ordered 40% of the film to be re-shot. They had to rebuild entire sets and they didn't know who would come on the film to help save it. So they asked Christopher McQuarrie to come back to help save the film. For whatever reasons he walked off the production. I think they couldn't see eye to eye on things and too much was going to leveled onto his feet. Anyway he balked. They were considering getting JJ Abrams to come by and helm/direct the film but he seemed not to want to get involved. That's when Tony Gilroy was brought in to save the film. According to sources he took over from Gareth Edwards in the director's chair. He also took responsibility for the writing as well. It seems that Edwards was kicked off his own film. I don't know how they are going to gloss this fact over for credits or how they are going to cover it up, but that's what happened. They'll probably just say he "helped", but that's as close to the truth they'll admit to."

Lucasfilm President: There Will Be No 'Rogue One' Sequel




Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy has set the record straight about a potential sequel to "Rogue One," it ain't happening. Director Gareth Edwards one-ups her by saying if a sequel does happen  “that sequel will be directed by George Lucas,” as a subtle nod/reference to that first Star Wars film.

 Phew. Now that we have that out of the way ...

 In case you're looking for a link to the news it can be found HERE, courtesy of the kind folks over /Film who found a copy of the upcoming Empire issue, read and reported about it. Kudos guys. 

 This is not surprising news given that If you remember last year, Kennedy herself said the Star Wars Story standalone movies “are not being designed to necessarily build new franchises” and will “very definitely have a beginning, middle, and end.”

Cars 3 Official Poster



I had this to say on 11.21.16

"I love Pixar. The classics they've released over the past 20 years have been tremendous (Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Wall-E, Up, Toy Story 3) yet there's always been much hate directed towards 2006's Cars which, I'll admit it, did not have the inventiveness of the previously said titles but had a sweet, good natured simplicity to its Americana vibe. I loved every second of it when I saw it 10 years ago, while on vacation, at a screening room in Alberta's Lux movie theater. Cars 2, on the other hand, I did not love. It is by far the worst movie in Pixar's short 21 year history. While the original had a sweet, western-like, small town simplicity to its delivery, "Cars 2" was all flash and turned into a, gosh, Bond-esque spy caper. The characters were wooden and the marketing for the film's products was all over the screen. Not surprising considering Cars is a major business for Pixar, from lunchboxes to toys, Pixar has been milking it ever since the original's release. Another big mistake was concentrating the center of its plot on red-neck talkin Mater, a caricature that ranks amongst Pixar's worst characters. With all that being said, I do not look forward to "Cars 3."

"Manchester By The Sea" Named Best Movie Of 2016 by National Board Of Review

casey-affleck-and-kenneth-lonergan-on-the-set-of-manchester-by-the-sea

 I have no problem with this choice whatsoever, it might even top my list. I haven't decided yet, but it's right up there.

 Anyway, NBR announcing their picks is the start of awards movie season and I couldn't be happier, look for a lot of more in-depth coverage from hereon in. 


Best Film: “Manchester by the Sea”
Best Director: Barry Jenkins, “Moonlight”
Best Actor: Casey Affleck, “Manchester by the Sea”
Best Actress: Amy Adams, “Arrival”
Best Supporting Actor: Jeff Bridges, “Hell or High Water”
Best Supporting Actress: Naomie Harris, “Moonlight”
Best Original Screenplay: Kenneth Lonergan, “Manchester by the Sea”
Best Adapted Screenplay: Jay Cocks and Martin Scorsese, “Silence”
Best Animated Feature: “Kubo and the Two Strings”
Breakthrough Performance (Male): Lucas Hedges, “Manchester by the Sea”
Breakthrough Performance (Female): Royalty Hightower, “The Fits”
Best Directorial Debut: Trey Edward Shults, “Krisha”
Best Foreign Language Film: “The Salesman”
Best Documentary: “O.J.: Made in America”
Best Ensemble: “Hidden Figures”
Spotlight Award: Creative Collaboration of Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: “Cameraperson”
TOP FILMS
“Arrival”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“Hail, Caesar!”
“Hell or High Water”
“Hidden Figures”
“La La Land”
“Moonlight”
“Patriot’s Day”
“Silence”
“Sully”
TOP FIVE FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILMS
“Elle”
“The Handmaiden”
“Julieta”
“Land of Mine”
“Neruda”
TOP FIVE DOCUMENTARIES
“De Palma”
“The Eagle Huntress”
“Gleason”
“Life, Animated”
“Miss Sharon Jones!”
TOP 10 INDEPENDENT FILMS
“20th Century Women”
“Captain Fantastic”
“Creative Control”
“Eye in the Sky”
“The Fits”
“Green Room”
“Hello, My Name is Doris”
“Krisha”
“Morris from America”
“Sing Street”

Indian movies are flooding the IMDb 250. Just last month, out of the 14 new movies entering the top, 10 were Indian.


There are supposed 'ratings farms' in India, Turkey and South East Asia. These countries are using the farms to get a bunch of 10/10 votes registered to their movies. BRUTAL. Even Well-received foreign movies never have such a huge disparity between US votes and non-US votes. This is voter manipulation and it seems like IMDB isn't going to be doing anything about, but they should. The IMDB Top 250 is now as iconic a "best of" list as we have in the industry.

Martin Scorsese to screen 'Silence' for Pope Francis privately before the Vatican premiere of the film


The Vatican Press Office has announcted that tomorrow morning at 8:45am Martin Scorsese and Pope Francis will watch "Silence," in a private screening. Afterwards Scorsese and the Pontiff will discuss the film and the mission of the Jesuits, which is the priestly order Pope Francis belongs to. Oh, to be a fly on the wall for this.

As we speak these are the screenings "Silence" has for the next few days:

Thursday, November 30th Vatican City
Thursday, November 30th New York Film Critics Circle
Sunday December 4th Los Angeles Press, Industry

About the New York Film Critics Circle, they vote for their awards on Friday, which means we can somewhat know a little more about the the quality of Scorsese's film by then. That will be interesting to see since NYFCC has not always been kind to Scorsese, his last film to win their Best Picture award was "Goodfellas" more than 26 years ago. Nothing else has come close to taking their big award since then.

We will surely know the consensus being gathered about the film on Sunday evening when the first tweets show up for Scorsese's picture. I'll be covering it, as I always do with these types of big events, right here by updating the page with every new reaction I can gather from social media. Stay tuned people.

Robert De Niro wants to make a movie with Scorsese/Dicaprio and keeps trying to get Joe Pesci to come out of retirement


It's no secret Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese had one of the most iconic actor/director partnerships in cinema history. Think about it: "Goodfellas," "Raging Bull," "Casino," "Mean Streets," "The King of Comedy," "Taxi Driver," "Cape Fear." (We'll forget "New York, New York" ever existed). It's also well known that Scorsese's recent partnerships with Leonardo Dicaprio have given the De Niro films a run for their money. 

 So it's with that in mind that we bring you the news that De Niro is, well, a very big fan of the Scorsese/Dicaprio partnership, so much so that he wants to join them for a movie.

 “Leo loves Marty the way I do, so it’s great. I’d love for the three of us to do something.” he tells Scott Feinberg for The Hollywood Reporter podcast that can be found HERE.

For the time being Scorsese has "Silence" coming out a few weeks from now, but his follow-up film, "The Irishman," might just star De Niro himself. That would be the first time they team-up since 1995's "Casino." Scorsese's 'The Irishman' will star De Niro, Al Pacino, Harvey  Keitel and, possibly, Joe Pesci. Why possibly? Because Pesci is retired, doesn't want anything to do with movies and, yet, De Niro still persists by calling the actor ever so often to convince him otherwise

 “I’m trying to get him in. I hope I can. I don’t know what’ll happen . . . we’ve gotta talk. So far all he keeps saying is ‘Go fuck yourself.”

 If, as a cinephile, just imagining that conversation doesn't bring a smile to your face I don't know what will.

Natalie Portman might just win the Oscar for her career-best performance as the former first lady in "Jackie"



Natalie Portman’s performance as Jaqueline Bouvier Kennedy is masterful. If you thought there was nothing else that could be said about that fateful day when JFK was shot and killed in Dallas then you were wrong. "Jackie" has plenty to say about the events that occurred and the fact that it is told in such an artfully seducing way makes it all the more relevant. 

 Director Pablo Larraín (Neruda) dissects the incident through Jackie’s own eyes, as played by a hypnotic Natalie Portman in a career best performance that will be talked about for years to come. The film takes place, for the most part, in the hours following JFK’s death as the First Lady tries to comprehend the magnitude of the event. 

 Through the use of finely crafted flashbacks, Larrain strips the cinematic conventions that come with bio-pics and gets to the core of Jackie’s psyche both before and after the tragedy. Through Sebastián Sepúlveda brilliant editing and Noah Oppenheim's maze-like screenplay, Larrain finds the core Jackie's tortured soul. 

 Portman’s performance is a high-wire act of intrigue. She never fully reveals the exact reasons for some of Jackie’s behavior and though we can never truly know if there was manipulation involved with her grief, this is hinted at. In a way Larrain and Portman are playing with the audience with an immaculate mix of enigma, grief and cynicism. It’s an artfully crafted thing, this “Jackie.

Cannes 2017 Poster?


A French colleague, who has worked for Cannes in years past, sent me this supposed poster for the 2017 edition. Of course, the poster usually comes out in March, but always fun to speculate whether this is the real thing or not. I wouldn't mind having Marlene Dietrich on it at all.

Ivan Reitman Says There Are ”Many” More ‘Ghostbusters’ Movies in Development



Director Ivan Reitman, who helmed the original series of films in the 80s, doesn't seem to care that Sony Pictures had a Box-Office disappointment this year with the all-female cast "Ghostbusters" reboot. Earlier this month we already mentioned that director Paul Feig wanted to come back and make a sequel (click HERE), but now we also have Reitman who says others might be in development. In keeping with the same female cast? back to an all-male cast? mixed sexes cast? Who knows, but this is the quote we got when he was interviewed for the Mr. Wavvy podcast:

 "There’s going to be many other Ghostbusters movies, they’re just in development right now."

"Come Together"– an H&M Christmas ad directed by Wes Anderson


So instead of hiring an ad agency with a creative director who desperately imitates Wes Anderson, they just hired Wes Anderson. Smart. This film actually felt kinda self-aware in how Wes Anderson it was. I think it was a supposed to be a bit self-parody. But I don't know, it is hard to tell sometimes. His style really works for this and I doubt H&M will make a better, more playful commercial. Very well done. 

 I think it's safe to say that we all prefer this more than regular, mindless commercial advertising, and it's certainly more beneficial for everyone involved, including the audience. The brand gets an attentive audience (who will even share the content, such as what I'm doing at the moment). The audience ends up enjoying the content and the work of their favorite filmmaker/actor in the short film. And the filmmakers and actors get a small, low-stakes gig to make use of their talents.

Wes Anderson loves his trains. In fact I can just imagine him retiring from being a filmmaker to become a train conductor of some sorts. It also almost seems like Anderson is trying to out Wes Anderson himself with every ensuing thing he releases. "Grand Budapest Hotel" was definitely the most Wes Anderson-y movie Wes Anderson ever made, which took the title from Moonrise Kingdom before that and etc. etc.

"Moana" rules the week-end Box-Office with $55 Million intake, "Fantastic Beasts" nabs a solid second week with $45 Million, "Allied" under-performs, Warren Beatty's "Rules Don't Apply" has the sixth worst opening all-time for a film debuting in 2,000+ theaters.


Source: Box Office Mojo

It's really no big secret that Waren Beatty's "Rules Don't Apply" was going to be a tough film to market. Its trailer was really all over the place. I don't think I met a single person that was impressed by the trailer. The film ended up garnering mixed reviews and, to nobody's surprise, bombed this coming weekend at the box-office. Not just that, it garnered the 6th worst showing ever for a film that opened in 2000+ theaters nationwide. I didn't even think it would open in that many theaters. Who had the brilliant idea of opening this film wide? 


Trailer for Sean Penn's abysmal "The Last Face" starring Penn, Charlize Theron and Javier Bardem.



I actually walked out of this movie at Cannes, I could only take so much. I mean, I believe there was around half an hour or so left to the movie, but, man, this one is bound for the record books. It's bad. What hurts most is the fact that its director - Sean Penn - is not a bad filmmaker. Don't believe me? Check out "The Pledge" with Jack Nicholson in fine form.

 You know there's a problem with your film when the Cannes audience, consisting of mostly press and industry, starts laughing at the opening title card. So to recap: Elapsed time in "The Last Face" before the audience started laughing at it was, maybe, max, 30 seconds. That's not an exaggeration. 

 Penn's film is a landmark bad movie. The story is about AIDS workers and African suffering, but what stings even more is that the romance at the core of the film, between Bardem and Theron, is even worse than the political agenda Penn tries to shove down our throats. I even heard a few people utter the same exactjoke after the screening: "No wonder Penn and Theron broke up during the filming of this film." Ouch.