Matt Reeves NOT directing THE BATMAN

Why don't they just ask me to direct The Batman? I'll do it for free.
"A week after entering negotiations to direct The Batman, Matt Reeves has exited the talks, The Hollywood Reporter has learned."
"A studio source confirms that negotiations have broken down. The possibility, however, exists that talks could resume when heads cool. The studio is intent on making the movie no matter what, as the Batman franchise has proven to be bigger than one person."
[THR]

LOGAN is not only the most violent Marvel movie ever made, but also one of the very best












Logan is a bold, risk-taking superhero film. For the most part, it is a character-driven piece on mortality and past mistakes. Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart give the best performances of their careers and director James Mangold takes full advantage of the R rating at his disposal. This is the most legit take on Wolverine, a hard R rating that does the Wolverine justice and possibly the most violent superhero movie I have ever seen or, at the very least, right up there with Blade. 

 A vastly different comic book movie simply because it decides to focus on chracter more than action, there has never been a grimmer movie in the Marvel catalogue than "Logan." The film opens with a bang as Wolverine mutilates a Mexican gang in Texas trying to steal his ride. It's in these opening moments that you realize this won't be your average comic book movie. This is a mature take on the genre and the most essential addition to to the X-Men catalogue.

 Jackman's performance is incendiary. His Logan is now a alcoholic hermit, forced into solitude and prone to suicidal tendencies. Jackman brings the mentality of an aging Logan that's coming to terms with mortality and it hurts just watching it. There is depth and humanity to his performance which fully fleshes out whatever half-sketch might have been portrayed in past X-men films. You don't just see it, but you feel his physical and emtional pain. Logan’s screams of pain make your cringe, he's not able to heal the same way he used to and one can only assume the worst outcome for him. Dread fills every frame and that's exactly what Mangold seeks in his delivery.

 Newcomer Dafne Keen is young, mute mutant Laura/ X-23, she's on the run from evil government agents that want to use her gifts as lab experimentation. Dont be fooled by her appearance, X-23 will rip your head off if you try to do her harm. Keen, in  a star-making performance, is transcendant. Putting a child performance at the heart of any film is a risk, but Mangold has a true talent here, a young actress that can give off emotional resonance through stares instead of words.

 Logan and a dying Professor X (Patrick Stewart) are on the run with her to a place called Eden, a sanctuary for runaway teenage mutants. Although we expected Jackman to deliver a monumental performance, Patrick Stewart is every bit as good as Xavier, bringing touching depth, but also small moments of immaculately needed humor amidst the overall grim tone. He deserves an Oscar nomination and might just get it since he is such a well-respected and legendary actor that has NEVER been nominated.

 While watching Logan one can't help but feel like they are watching a neo-western film. The fact that there is also, purposeful, partial detachment from the Marvel cinematic universe allows Mangold to have more flexibility to go his own way and create his own vision. Which doesn't mean the action is kept to a minimum. Mangold stages numerous, incredibly-staged action sequences, especially one at a farmhouse where three sides collide in brutal and deadly ways. Mangold gives the R rating at his a disposal a run for its money. He stretches it to its limits with beheadings, disembowelments and countless limb amputations. The action in Logan is, for a better word, insane.
While overlong and poorly-paced, with a weak climax that feels like it's straight out of Spielberg's "Hook," "Logan" earns the buzz it has created ever since its hypnotic black and white, Johnny Cash scored trailer made its debut late last year. It is a film that will be talked about for years to come and will even be welcomed by non-superhero movie fans. Movie fans rejoice, we have an excellent movie coming out in the dire months of March [B+]

MOONLIGHT is 2/3 of a great movie



Moonlight is, quite clearly, the most critically acclaimed movie of last year. There's no disputing that fact. It topped well over 100 critics lists and has been deemed a landmark of cinema by many. Is it a coincidence that Moonlight's acclaim comes a year after #Oscarssowhite? Of course not. Just like it wasn't a coincidence that Birth of A Nation was seen as the second coming at Sundance and was on its way to multiple Oscar nominations UNTIL controversy hit that film's director, Nate Parker, and the film, all of a sudden, was shunned and met with divisive reviews. Moonlight's transition from festival to release was much smoother. Its director Barry Jenkins is a genuinely nice guy who volunteered for many years at the Telluride Film Festival. I met him once and we ended up speaking about director Wong Kar-Wai, an influence that seems to be all over Moonlight. His first film, Medicine For Melancholy, was a well-intentioned, but ultimately failed attempt at the atmospheric cinema of Wong Kar-Wai. It did show promise of a unique voice to come. His second film, Moonlight, came out of nowhere. Unanticipated and not really thought about before it's Telluride debut.
What can be said about  “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 kissing onscreen. Unheard of, but an incredibly important landmark moment. 

 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 molded relevant themes in Moonlight. Tackling masculinity in ways that are both fresh and perceptive, he created a stylized and, sometimes, remarkable, film about a gay black man.

The first two acts are revelatory and uncompromising. They, however, set us up for a third act that fails to deliver on the promise that was built up in the film's first 70 minutes. Now a drug dealer with an overtly muscular build and gold grillz, the vicious circle has been set. Chiron has become Juan, the only father figure he could ever look up to in his childhood. The transition feels almost too facile and Jenkins' approach not very subtle. It's also dramatically flat and doesn't adhere to the first two acts' suspensful intrigue and fascinating dissection of masculinity. Instead of being this deep, heartfelt resolution it ends up feeling contrived and filled with empty, uninvolving words. Hitchcock once said "Drama is life with the dull parts edited out." Something Jenkins clearly hasn't learned that.

Netflix' latest Sandler opus "Sandy Wexler"

















1.19.17

"There was a time when I really did try to defend Adam Sandler. I was trying to get people to truly appreciate and understand the sheer Jerry Lewis-like lunacy of the neurotic Jewish schlub in "The Waterboy," "Billy Madison," "Happy Gilmore," "The Wedding Singer," "Punch-Drunk Love" "50 First Dates," and, even, "Big Daddy." Those days seem to be gone. With the exception of "That's My Boy," which seemed to harken back to his comedic glory days of the '90s, yes I will defend it with every inch I could muster ... I mean, please do watch it, it's a hoot, Sandler has been stuck in the kind of cinematic hell that makes me almost regret defending him some 20 odd years ago."

"His Netflix fare has been unwatchable at best, and he seems to have lost an edge that would almost be instantly recognizable in his more succesful films. Oh well, will I still watch this? Probably. It is, after all, completely sacriligious as a critic to say you like Adam Sandler, but what do I really care. Isn't the whole point of the profession to be honest and truthful? Sandler was good at what he did and he made me chuckle more than a few times. Did I possibly lose a brain cell here and there? I would guess so, but you only live once. Again, please watch "That's My Boy."

Mel Gibson in early talks to direct SUICIDE SQUAD 2

David Ayer helmed the initial outing.

 Yikes! "Bloody Mel" is at it again. We all know he never skimps on the violence with his movies: "Braveheart," "Passion of the Christ," "Apocalypto" and "Hacksaw Ridge" are four of the most violent movies I have ever seen. He seems to revel in staging beheadings and grisly deaths.

 It has been ten years since Mel Gibson gave us "Apocalytpo," a bloody, surreal, but cinematically brilliant dissection of the Mayan's final days. "Hacksaw Ridge" was his fifth movie as a director. It was also the film that officialized his comeback in Hollywood with a bunch of Oscar noms, especially in the Picture and Director categories. 

What was he going to follow-up "Hacksaw Ridge" with? It certainly wasn't going to be a superhero movie. According to The Playlist he was even quoted as saying “What did they spend on ‘Batman v Superman’ that they’re admitting to?” “And it’s a piece of shit,” “I’m not interested in [superhero movies]. Do you know what the difference between real superheroes and comic book superheroes is? Real superheroes didn’t wear spandex. So I don’t know. Spandex must cost a lot.” 

Well, guess what? According to Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, Gibson is in talks to direct "Suicide Squad 2":
"Mel Gibson is mulling joining the DC Extended Universe … as a director. Warner Bros. is courting the actor-director to helm Suicide Squad 2 and the sides are early in talks, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. No official offer has been made nor has any commitment. Sources say that Gibson is familiarizing himself with the material. But the studio is not being passive and is also looking at other directors, Daniel Espinosa among them."
The only way this would work is if he actually is given an R rating for the project. There is no way Mel could truly get the vision he wants with a PG-13 rating. 
[THR]

Criterion Announces New Titles: GHOST WORLD, OTHELLO, DHEEPAN, GOOD MORNING, JEANNE DIELMAN and more

Press release:

The Criterion Collection
May 2017 New Releases

This May, the collection welcomes an offbeat teen comedy from Terry Zwigoff, a Palme d’Or winner from Jacques Audiard, Orson Welles’s take on Othello, and six rarities restored by Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project. Plus, Ozu’s Good Morning and Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman arrive on Blu-ray







"La La Land" continuing to get backlash from PC Police. This time Kareem Abdul-Jabbar says it "Sends a bigoted message."



















Here we go again. More "La La Land" backlash. The amount of hate this film has gotten from the P.C. crowd is ridiculous. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar now calls "racism!" on the film's "white depiction" of Jazz in a think-piece he wrote for The Hollywood Reporter.

 He makes good points, but I don't think this should distract or prevent a person from going to watch La La Land, which is a brilliant work of art. I've loved Jazz and Blues since I first discovered the greats when I was 13. The fact that these were genres populated by African American geniuses over the last century made it feel mystical and unique. Even moreso the blues, which invented almost every single genre of music we now know today, especially rock and roll, and was started in the delta by slaves in the fields and freed African Americans in grainy kitchen recordings. The history of these genres is important and it seems like La La Land failed to tackle it. That's what the issue is. NOT that a white person is trying to save it, because, sadly, most of the jazz bars I go to these days in the North East have white people on sax, piano, trumpet etc. mostly due to the fact that many of the original Jazz and Blues musicians have faded away in time due to age. African Americans have moved on to other, more current forms of music, especially Hip-Hop.

In the alley scene in Collateral, Tom Cruise executes this firing technique so well that it's used in lessons for tactical handgun training




"Here’s something I found out today.  There’s a scene in the movie Collateral where Tom Cruise is being held up in an alley.   He is approached by a couple of thugs who have a gun pointed at him.   Cruise then uses his signature double tap to the chest and one in the head move.  The whole draw and punch takes 1.3 seconds.  It was so impressive that this very scene is now used in lessons in tactical handgun training.  Not bad Mr. Cruise."

[Source]

Back in 2004 I wrote:

"Bless Michael Mann for, yes, being Michael Mann. The director of The Insider, Manhunter, Ali and Heat has always been one to delve into the deepest, darker thoughts of the male psyche. In Collateral, his 8th film as director, he gives us the story of a hitman -indelibly played by Tom Cruise- and the Cabbie -Jamie Foxx- he meets one night to bring him to numerous hitjobs. Along the way we learn more about these two fascinating characters as their journey leads them to an underground L.A. Filled with violence and corruption that cannot be shaken. The way the city of angels is lit by ace cinematographer Dion Beebe is half the journey of this mesmerizing after hours classic. The journey is half the battle as Mann springs surprises that no one can see coming. He has crafted yet another world that will haunt your dreams."

LIFE poster should be renamed GOOD LOOKING ASTRONAUTS




There are just so many things wrong with this poster. Oh look, the names don't match the actors. Also, that tagline ("Be careful what you search for") is just weak. The poster looks like a cliche-ridden lesson of how to NOT fuck up a movie poster. As for the film: Alien life form threatens/infects heroic spacefarers. I feel like I've already seen this movie a thousand time before. Finally, Whenever I see the title I keep being reminded of the 1999 Martin Lawrence/Eddie Murphy film of the same name. Couldn't they choose a better title? 

 The film opens March 24th, 2017

Source says that Ben Affleck doesn't want to play or be involved in The Batman anymore













Adam West calling his manager as we speak.

Well, this is a shock. Of course I'm joking, we all knew something was wrong when it came to pre-production of The Batman.

"Over the past four days I've talked to three seperate people, both one way or another connected in soe way to what's going on in Warner Bros. and what all three have told me was that ... they're telling me Ben Affleck, make no mistake, he wants out. He doesn't want to be Batman anymore."

[Collider]

‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Teaser Released by Marvel

















Yay or Nay? Captain America: Civil War was the best Avengers movie we have gotten thus far in the Marvel: Cinematic Universe. Will be hard to top what the Russo brothers created with that film, but I'm all eyes and ears for Infinity War, which comes off the utter disappointment that was Age of Ultron. I had partially given up on The Avengers until I saw Civil War. My expectations are still fairly low for this next chapter. I do look forward to the next Captain America and Guardians of the Galaxy, but Thor? Give me a break. Why don't they give Robert Downey another shot at an Iron Man film. The third film was great and had a loose, eccentric vibe that is severely lacking in many of the Marvel movies these days. His paycheck must be too steep for billionaire Disney.

2Pac movie "All Eyez on Me" has eerie Tupac lookalike Demtrius Shipp Jr.


It's about time they made a film about Tupac Shakur. Notorious was a dud, but Straight Outta Compton was such fresh and vitally alive filmmaking experience that I have to say I'm quite excited for this. I know many Tupac songs, maybe not enough, but his life story should be told. It looks a gangster film through and through, but check out Tupac lookalike Demetrius Shipp Jr. Did they wait two decades to make this movie just to get a guy that looks EXACTLY like Shakur? Danny Boom directs and his directing credits include episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles, 90210, and 50 Cent: Special Edition - The Massacre. Yikes.

"Cloverfield" director Matt Reeves offered directing job for "The Batman"

matt-reeves-ben-affleck-batman




Deadline has just broke the news that Matt Reeves has been ofered the gig to direct The Batman. Reeves is well known as a JJ. Abrams protege whose films (Cloverfield, Let Me In, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) were well received critically and commercially. He has a keen directorial eye and a great flair at using visual effects, but keeping the human element of his story very present.

"EXCLUSIVE: I’ve heard Warner Bros has offered the directing job on its Batman franchise to Matt Reeves, the filmmaker who just finished War For The Planet Of The Apes for Fox. This comes weeks after Ben Affleck decided that directing and starring in such a massive undertaking was too much. The emergence of Reeves is hardly a surprise; it was known he was the filmmaker the studio engaged when Affleck made his decision after weeks of wavering."

 [Deadline]

‘Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2’ Just Got The Highest Test Screening Score (100) In Marvel History




The Hollywood Reporter has just given us interesting insight into how the first ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2’ test screening went down in California: A perfect score of 100, besting "The Avengers" record score of 97. 

 The hype-machine is in full-swing and this will surely be the second highest-grosing film of the year, behind, of course, Star Wars: Episode IX.

 This is how these type of secretive test screenings usually work:

 "All studios conduct audience test screenings of their movies, mostly through a process of recruiting people (sometimes at grocery stores or malls) in areas outside of Los Angeles. The audience is shown the movie and asked to rate in on a scale of 1 to 100."

 The film opens May 5th, 2017.

20 Odds-on Favorites for Cannes '17 Official Competition



"Based on a True Story" (Roman Polanski)
"Happy End" (Michael Haneke)
"High Life" (Claire Denis)
"The Death and Life of John F Donovan" (Xavier Dolan)
"Mektoub is Mektoub" Abdelattif Kechiche)
"Ismael's Ghosts" (Arnaud Despechin)
"Thelma" (Joachim Trier)
"Where Life is Born" (Carlos Reygadas)
"The Square" (Ruben Ostlund)
"Loveless" (Andrey Zvyagintsev)
"Zama" (Lucrecia Martel)
"The Killing of a Sacred Deer" (Yorgos Lanthimos)
"You Were Never Really Here" (Lynn Ramsay)
"Wonderstruck" (Todd Haynes)
"Logan Lucky" (Steven Soderbergh)
"Downsizing" (Alexander Payne)
"Okja" (Jonn Ho Bong)
"Kings" (Deniz Gamze Erguven)
"The Waves Are Gone" (Lav Daz)
"Jeanette" (Bruno Dumont)

 The 2017 Cannes Film Festival runs from the 17 to 28 May. 

 Am I missing any here? Based on research these seem like the most set-in-stone. Of course, there's always surprises. Just look at last year with "Toni Erdmann." Anyways, I will be there again this year covering the fest.