Alicia Silverstone Confused by Wonder Woman's Acclaim

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I totally respect where she's coming from, but I also don't think she understands the full picture. "Wonder Woman," as underwhelmed as I was by it, is an incredibly important picture in that it actually fully captured the zeitgeist. Literally, everybody in the industry was talking about it. Why? It's a superhero movie, and there hasn't been a female-driven superhero movie that has succeeded this much in capturing the cinematic conversation until now. 

It's made $330M domestically. That is insane. It will most likely surpass "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2" as the second highest grossing movie of the year – "Beauty and the Beast" is far and away unreachable, at the very least, until "The Last Jedi" is released. The films she mentions ("Mean Girls," "Clueless") didn't even make $100M.

A movie like "Wonder Woman" will have teenage girls, hell even younger tweens, look up to a strong and powerful female hero. That is gigantic. All of the juggernaut superhero movies thus far have barely scraped female heroism. Thank God for Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot: because of them it is no longer a dream, it is a reality. Younger girls worldwide can look in the mirror and pretend they are Wonder Woman, Princess of the Amazon, Goddess of truth. 

 “Before ‘Wonder Woman’ … ‘Wonder Woman?’ Before ‘Wonder Woman’ there have been many movies with female leads, so I get a little confused,” Silverstone said. “We have made strides, of course. I think about, what about all those wonderful comedians who are females who have had massive hits? There’s ‘Bridesmaids.'”

 “I don’t know. I just feel like, over the years, there was ‘Mean Girls,’ there was ‘Clueless,’ over time we have had so many movies that have been female-driven.” 

 [The Wrap]

Adam Wingard's 'Death Note' has a trailer and it looks as awesome as we thought it would



Not much is known, but enough to peek our curiosity when it comes to Adam Wingard's "Death Note." iT is said to be very violent and Asia cinema inspired. I had spoken to Wingard ealier last year about his next project, after Death Note," and it seems like he's going to be remaking South Korean Horror flick "I Saw the Devil." My full talk with Wingard can be found HERE.
The Playlist has it going like this:
"Starring Nat Wolff, Margaret Qualley, Keith Stanfield, Paul Nakauchi, Shea Whigham, and Willem Dafoe, the movie follows a young man who uses his superpowers to take vengeance on those who make the world a dangerous place. But of course, his actions are not without consequences, in what looks to be a pretty stylish picture."
"Death Note" streams on Netflix August 25th

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Initial Reactions of fans from the midnight screening of Avatar The Last Airbendor were Epic.



The Last Airbender is a movie in which almost every character was miscast and whitewashed. Based on Avatar: The Last Airbender, the incredibly popular and brilliant Nickelodeon television series (whose title was used by a certain James Cameron flick), the film had the potential to be something truly great. Unfortunately, director M. Night Shyamalan and Paramount Pictures decided that the television show’s characters, clearly modeled on Asian peoples and cultures, would be portrayed by white actors (though the villains remained dark-skinned). Many saw this movie as a missed opportunity for Hollywood to give up-and-coming Asian or Asian-American actors a chance to break through. Unsurprisingly, the movie was a monumental failure.

 "Airbender" was part of M. Night Shyamalan hellish movie phase: "Lady in the Water," "The Last Airbender," "The Happening" and "After Earth." Four of the worst movies released in the last decade or so. Those films greatly affected the latter part of his moviemaking career. They were big-budgeted bomb machines that ended up putting a negative mark on his reputation. Why would a studio ever trust him with a big project ever again? They haven't since "After Earth" and it seems to have sparked a fresh new creative freedom in the director with this year's succesful sleeper hit "Split," but the stench of "Airbender" will forever loom in his filmography.

Paul thomas Anderson will serve as his own cinematographer on 'Phantom Thread'

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Is there a film that I am more looking forward to than Paul Thomas Anderson's "Phantom Thread"? The answer is, obviously, no. PTA is the current master of cinema, despite the mixed reaction his last movie, "Inherent Vice," received back in October of 2014. I dug it, for the most part, but "Phantom Thread" reteams him with, newly retired, "There Will Be Blood" star Daniel Day-Lewis. We can expect the usual Johnny Greenwood score, best in the biz alongside Trent Reznor as far as I'm concerned, but what we didn't see coming was that PTA was also going to serve as the film's principal cinematographer.

 According to Indiewire Paul Thomas Anderson has decided to be his own cinematographer for his upcoming movie "Phantom Thread." PTA has been itching on being a DP for years, something he did regularly in hs music video days. The venerable director has always been creatively involved with his DP's in past films, even sometimes taking over photography duties for specific shots or scenes.

 Mihai Mălaimare Jr. took over photography duties for "The Master," but Robert Elswit has been his go-to DP for the better part of two decades now with "Boogie Nights," "Magnolia," "Punch-Drunk Love," "Inherent Vice," and "There Will Be Blood," winning the Oscar for the latter. Elswit seems to have been very busy shooting Nightcrawler director Dan Gilroy’s second film Roman Israel, Esq, but also wrapped up George Clooney's "Suburbicon." 

Hannibal Buress just had a look-alike attend the Spider-Man Homecoming premiere for him.

Early yesterday, comedian Hannibal Buress, who also has a role in "Spiderman: Homecoming," posted a tweet saying he would pay 500 dollars to anyone who could attend a "special event" for him. Well, if you were watching the Marvel live stream, a look-alike was just on the Red Carpet premiere giving an interview about the film. A particularly hilarious situation, especially given that this guy looks nothing like Hannibal Buress.




Edgar Wright Consulted With George Miller For Help On His "Baby Driver" Car Stunts



"Baby Driver," stars Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Lily James, Jon Bernthal, Eiza González, Jon Hamm, and Jamie Foxx. The film tells the story of a talented, young getaway driver (Ansel Elgort) forced to work on a heist for a crime boss (Kevin Spacey). No surprise here, but the film is a visually driven, candy-colored mashup of “Drive,” The Driver” and Michael Mann’s “Thief.” In other words, it’s a cinematic delight. Wright doesn’t do boring, he’s one of the most visually interesting filmmakers working today and “Baby Driver” proves that once again. You can watch this film with no sound and still get sucked into Wright’s dream of a movie. He drives this film into sheer visual nirvana. Take that Marvel."

The stunts in "Baby Driver" are INSANE. Wright filmed all of the stunts in "Baby Driver" on location, and what's on screen is 95% practical effects, with only 5% CGI for touch-ups. Because they shot in a city and working freeway, they had to rehearse on the Atlanta Motor Speedway and choreograph with Matchbox cars

 A fascinating look at how they managed to pull off those incredible "Baby Driver" car chases. These are the "Fury Road" f car chase sequences, which is then not surprising that he asked the master of practical special effects, George Miller, for his own input

 "During pre-production, Wright also consulted with a modern master of practical automotive action: director George Miller, whose 2015 film Mad Max: Fury Road took on-location car chases to a bonkers level of visceral thrills. The two filmmakers met during Miller’s promotional tour for Fury Road, and after a screening and Wright-hosted Q&A, they had dinner. Wright and Miller stayed in touch afterward, and the elder writer/director offered up some insight that helped shape the production of Baby Driver."

 “He recommended the ... the Pursuit Crane, which is a camera crane on a car for shooting car chases,” Wright says. “It’s rigged on a smallish car, and it can weave in the traffic with the other stunt cars, and you get these amazing shots. A lot of those shots in the movie, where you’re really low to the ground and close to the cars as they’re coming ‘round corners and weaving in between, that’s all from that same arm, and that’s the same one they used on Fury Road."

 "Miller and Wright stayed in touch, too. “In fact, actually, after I finished the first edit of the movie I showed it to George,” Wright said. “I’ve been very lucky to get George Miller’s input.”

 "The first chase is on the I-85, which is the main freeway in Atlanta, and you cannot shut down the I-85,” Wright says with a laugh. “That’s impossible"

 "The production was given a very limited time to nail the intricate, high-stakes stunts on the I-85, which sees about 200,000 drivers per day in the Atlanta area; it’s so heavily trafficked that a portion of the bridge recently collapsed."

Confirmed: 'Avatar 2' To Be Projected in Glasses-Free 3D



Inquisitr reports, following Cameron’s production company Lightstorm Entertainment and Christie Digital are officially working toward making Avatar 2-5 in 3D, but without the goofy 3D glasses. Cameron and Lightstorm Entertainment would gain access to Christie Digital’s brand new technological wizardry: An RGB laser projection system.

 Screenrant says:

 "This new system has been described as “pure laser” in the tech community for its ability to use 60,000 lumens to provide bright images at incredibly high frame rates. The result will be clearer pictures than ever before, which is always preferred – especially in 3D. The deeper details of how the technology works is not yet available, or is it known how widely accessible glasses-free 3D will be initially. Considering the amount of movie theaters that would have to swap out projectors to accommodate for the new system, it could be a slow roll out to start."

 James Cameron has promised innovation with the new Avatar sequels. This would surely get way more people willing to watch 3D if they don't need to incorporate those goofy, uncomfortable glasses. As someone that already wears glasses at the movies, I can't stand wearing these uncomfortably dim specs. Trust Cameron, this is a man that has continuously been ahead of movie technology for decades.

 Earlier last year he had mentioned the attempt to use non-glasses 3D:

“I'm going to push. Not only for better tools, workflow, high dynamic range and high frame rates — the things we are working toward. I’m still very bullish on 3D, but we need brighter projection, and ultimately I think it can happen — with no glasses. We’ll get there.”

“magic has to amaze … and that involves constant creation of new tools and techniques. The audience’s eyes adjust to what we did, and so we need to up our work.”

“Movies are going to look better than they’ve ever looked. They already do and they are going to continue [to look better]. Anything we can imagine, we can put on the screen.”

I'd of, of course, rather have him concentrate on story and characters, but this is the sort of stuff that makes us love the man. Cameron absolutely pushes the technical limit, HOWEVER, his earlier work is superior filmmaking because it had everything to offer. Good storytelling, fantastic visuals and good dialogue.

"Avatar" was well worth seeing because of the technical accomplishment that it was. The story itself, its lazy message and terrible dialogue were not positives that came out of it. 
Full HollywoodReporter coverage of James Cameron at the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers' Centennial Gala can be found HERE

"Downfall" director says you probably shouldn't compare Trump to Hitler

“You can’t compare Trump to Hitler,” Hirschbiegel said. “He’s certainly not a dictator or a tyrant who slaughtered his own people, as Hitler did.” Instead, the director said that the parallel exists only in the impulses that catapulted Trump to the White House. “Overall, there seems to be this tendency where people do not believe in the political system and they feel betrayed by the elite,” he said. “That’s why they’re looking for figures like Trump or Teresa May. They put hope in people like that, which is terrible, because these people only work by a system of right or wrong, or winning and losing. That’s childish. That’s not what civilized people should do in a diverse, globalized society.”

Colin Trevorrow Says It's 'Heartbreaking' the way 'Book of Henry' was received, but still 'stands by the movie'

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Trevorrow is coming off his own worst nightmare, "The Book of Henry." I decided to catch a press screening of the film earlier this week because, well, I wanted to see some of Trevorrow's chops before the "Star Wars" storm hits next year. What I didn't expect was the worst movie of the year, which, as it stands now, "The Book of Henry" most definitely is. A sentimental, misguided, confused and jumbled mess of a movie. A horrid mix of genres that never adds up. 

 Trevorrow has finally weighed in, to Variety, on the hate, and yes it is hate, that the film has received from critics and audiences:
“It’s a little heartbreaking, without getting too personal. It came to us as a bit of a shock because we had screened this movie to so many people, and we’d had reactions from so many people that we felt we knew what we had and we knew how it was affecting the audience. And that actually hasn’t changed. It affects audiences in the same way that we thought it would.”
“We did not anticipate that level of vitriolic dislike for the film. In the end, do I want to be somebody who pleases both audiences and critics? Absolutely. Is that hugely disappointing? It is."
“I do stand by the movie. I know it’s something I am very proud of, and everyone who made it is very proud.” 
"Star Wars" fans buckle your seat belts, the next few months might be a very bumpy ride because there will be no end to the rumors that Trevorrow will be fired from the Episode IX director's chair. If Disney is sticking with their man they will have to publicly back him up, then we can shake off the rumors and hope for the best with Trevorrow's final product. In the meantime, we have speculation and Trevorrow tweeting the saddest of tweets:

George Lucas Supports Ron Howard Directing the Han Solo Movie: "I think he'll be great."



Although it had to come courtesy of a storm of Paparazzi photographers hounding Lucas, he did find a way to sneak in a comment about his old friend Ron Howard nabbing the Han Solo job:  "I think he'll be great." 

 Howard and Lucas go way back, in fact 45 years ago today Lucas and Howard began shooting “American Graffiti” in San Rafael, California. Howard was even quoted as telling a Cannes Lion audience last Friday: “I’ve been around the ‘Star Wars’ universe from the beginning." A famous story has Howard talking to Lucas, in between takes of "American Graffitti," and Lucas telling Howard his next movie will be a "Space opera." “ He said, ‘Yeah, I want to do a science-fiction movie,’ ”Howard said last week, “ ‘but a really fun one like “Flash Gordon” with the effects of Stanley Kubrick’s “2001.” ‘ I thought, ‘That sounds like a kind of crazy idea.’ ”

 Howard was even considered to direct a film from the “Star Wars” prequels, but his response was rather simply “You direct it, George — you direct it.”

'The Batman' Director Matt Reeves Promises 'Noir-Driven' Detective Movie


What Matt Reeves has done in "War For the Planet of the Apes" is bloody brilliant. The third, and presumably final, chapter in the "Apes" series is one of the most entertaining movies I've seen this year. The miraculous thing about it is that it barely has any dialogue. Sure, there are lines uttered here and there, but the fact that 99% of the apes can't speak and the main human character, a teenage girl, is deaf which results in a film that relies HEAVILY, instead of visuals, to tell its story.


"War" is better than "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" as it relies more heavily on character than actual war. There's no excess here, just pure unadulterated thrills that rely on the audiences smarts to pull through. Don't worry summer movie buffs, there is action, gloriously on display, especially in its final third, but Reeves is after much much more here. He's made the closest thing to a silent movie that we will likely have in today's Hollywood zeitgeist.

The director chatted with New Trailer Buzz (via Batman-News) about his love for Batman and the "Apes" series, but more intriguingly what his vision is for "The Batman."

"I see a parallel, emotionally, between Caesar and Batman in that they're both characters who are tortured and trying to sort of grapple within themselves to find a way to do the right thing in a very imperfect, and to some degree corrupt, world, And so it's really that emotionality that I'm interested in. I want to do a very point of view-driven -- you know, this film and with all films what I try to do in an almost Hitchcockian sense is to use the camera and use the storytelling so that you become the character and you empathize with that point of view, and I think there's a chance to do an almost Noir-driven, detective version of Batman that is point-of-view-driven in a very, very powerful way that hopefully is going to connect you to what’s going on inside of his head and inside of his heart."

If this is true at all I would think Riddler would be perfect. Turn Riddler into a Jigsaw for the Saw movies type killer that leaves clues to his next crime. I could also see a movie version of The Long Halloween story, it would very much fit the Noir style. I just don't know how they could translate it from comic to screen well. I know Deathstroke was to be the big bad, just don't know how he would fit the noir style. That's exactly what the character needs, we've had Batman as the superhero and we've had Batman as the vigilante, having Affleck showcase the criminal detective would be a perfect spin on his tenure, providing he stays on which I hope he does. So many villains lend themselves for such a style too; Riddler, Hush, Calendar Man, Court of Owls etc.

Actor Michael Nyqvist dead at 56

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 The actor Michael Nyqvist has died at the age of 56. Sad news, really solid actor. He was great in Swedish "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" and "John Wick." Apparently, cancer which only he and his close ones knew about. His family released this statement:

 "Today, we are sad to announce that actor and author Michael Nyqvist died on Tuesday, June 27, 2017 after a brief illness. Michael Nyqvist was 56 years old and will be greatly missed. The family asks to mourn in silence."

Edgar Wright Will Never Watch Marvel's Ant-Man



“Baby Driver” premiered at the 2017 SXSW Film Festival  with, mostly, rave reviews. This is the first film director Edgar Wright has released since 2013’s “The World’s End.” His aborted plan to direct “Ant-Man” was probably the cause of the delay. Whatever happened with him leaving the Marvel movie we might never fully know, but Uproxx has interviewed Wright and, among the questions that were asked, "Ant-Man" came into the conversation.

 Wright admits that he’s still frustrated by the Ant-Man fiasco, but it's his admitting that he hasn't even seen "Ant-Man" that really strikes home. It was his baby for the better part of a decade before he was "let go" of his duties as director on the project. He says the closest he's gotten to seeing the film was when someone was watching it next to him on a plane. Ouch.

 "I didn’t. I haven’t seen it and I haven’t even seen the trailer. It would kind of like be asking me, “Do you want to watch your ex-girlfriend have sex?” Like, “No, I’m good.”

 Makes total sense to me, why would he even want to watch it? I mean, the film itself wasn't bad, but his version would have most probably been the superior version. This is the guy that made "Shaun of the Dead," and "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World," two of the most visually arresting studio films of the past 10 or so years. 

 His latest, "Baby Driver," stars Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Lily James, Jon Bernthal, Eiza González, Jon Hamm, and Jamie Foxx. The film tells the story of a talented, young getaway driver (Ansel Elgort) forced to work on  a heist for a crime boss (Kevin Spacey). No surprise here, but the film is a visually driven, candy-colored mashup of “Drive,” The Driver” and Michael Mann’s “Thief.” In other words, it’s a cinematic delight. Wright doesn’t do boring, he’s one of the most visually interesting filmmakers working today and “Baby Driver” proves that once again. You can watch this film with no sound and still get sucked into Wright’s dream of a movie. He drives this film into sheer visual nirvana. Take that Marvel.

Capsule Review: "Ingrid Goes West"




This was one of the best movies I saw at Sundance. Over time I can see this being a defining movie of the current generation of click-bait, photo snapping millennials. Aubrey Plaza gives a towering performance. Matt Spicer also gives us auspiciously promising filmmaking debut.

 If there’s any recent film that has dealt with our craze for social media in the most intelligent and assured of ways, it would be Matt Spicer’s “Ingrid Goes West.” The film has a career-making performance from Aubrey Plaza as an emotionally unbalanced, celebrity obsessed millennial who decides to head out west and stalk an Instagram celebrity (a pitch-perfect Elizabeth Olsen) to the brink of martyrdom. It’s one of the best dark comedies to come around in ages and smartly updates the stalker genre for the social media generation.
If you haven’t had the chance to see “Ingrid Goes West,” it expands today in theaters nationwide. What is also being released today is the kick-ass soundtrack that Spicer and company assembled for the film. The compilation has just ten songs, but all of them play an integral part in pushing the movie’s stalker narrative forward.  After all, how can you cover millennial angst on screen without a little dance pop? The soundtrack is an eclectic mix of genres that range from the aforementioned dance pop to new wave and even all the way to 70’s soul. Also, if you’ve seen the film, you know just how important K-Ci & Jojo’s ‘90s ballad “All My Life” is to the tone of the film. 
Here’s the official synopsis:

 "Following the death of her mother and a series of self-inflicted setbacks, young Ingrid Thorburn (Aubrey Plaza) escapes a humdrum existence by moving out West to befriend her Instagram obsession and LA socialite Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen). After a quick bond is forged between these unlikeliest of friends, the façade begins to crack in both women’s lives — with comically malicious results."

 “Ingrid Goes West” opens on August 4th.

GQ Magazine defends original Spider-Man trilogy and calls for Raimi, Maguire & co. to return



Tobey Maguire will always be my Spider-Man.

GQ's Scott Meslow has, more or less, stated what I've been saying all these years: The Raimi Spider-Man movies are still the definitive portrayal of the web-slinger on screen. I am watching "Spider-Man: Homecoming" on Wednesday, but I doubt it could ever reach the peak of the freewheeling, and unconstrained by MCU marketing Raimi series. Hell, I also liked "Spider-Man 3." Sure, it overreached a bit with its running time and the lack of Venom, but it certainly retained the heart of the first two movies, something that the money-grabbing Marc Webb movies had none of. Webb's career has been in limbo ever since those movies.

"Spider-Man 2" may still be the most perfect superhero movie of the Marvel universe, Raimi is the guy who came closest to pouring Stan Lee's brains onto the screen. My favorite thing about Raimi's Spider-Man movies? They're the only Superhero movies I can think of that really indulge in the sheer unadorned fun, goofiness of the comic books. "Homecoming" does look likes it's trying to reattain that, but Raimi's films had a campiness about them which felt genuine.

I wrote this about "Spider-Man 2" back in the day:

"After the watchable "Spider-Man" in 2002, director Sam Raimi made the most important and influential Marvel film imaginable: "Spider-Man 2." This was still 4 years away from "The Dark Knight," but the mind-blowing mix of action, humor, heart, character in "Spider-Man 2" changed the game. In Alfred Molina and his Dr. Octoppus villain, superhero movies had their most complex and scariest villain to date. The film also climaxed on an action sequence, atop a moving train, that could surely be considered one of the very best ever shot on celluloid. And, how about that final shot? Mary Jane finally figuring out Spidey's identity by the subtlest of gestures? Raimi perfected the game with this movie, he took everything that came before him and upped the ante at every level. "Spider-Man 2" was considered by many film fans as the best "Superhero ever made." until Nolan changed the game himself with his Batman trilogy."

Here's an excerpt from Meslow's GQ "Spider-Man 3" defense:

"Well, Sam, it’s still true. I do like Spider-Man 3—and 10 years after its original release, I'm still happy to mount a defense of it. As hot takes go, this one is closer to lukewarm. I’m not making the case that Spider-Man 3 is the best superhero movie of all time, or even that it’s the best Spider-Man movie. It's pretty clearly the worst of the ones Raimi made. But I still think Spider-Man 3 has been unfairly overlooked, and criticized for all the wrong reasons. (Honestly, that dancing-in-the-street sequence is a blast.) Much of the movie is good, and the parts that are bad are still interesting. At the very least, I’ll take a compelling mess like Spider-Man 3 over a by-the-numbers retread like the Amazing Spider-Man franchise any day."

Here's my take on the "Amazing Spider-Man" movies: They just weren't good enough. Webb was coming off a highly stylized film debut, "500 days of Summer," which earned good box-office and rave reviews. He had to contend with the fact that Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 2" was THE best depiction of the the web-slinger we had ever seen at the movies or on television. What happened with that 2004 sequel might never be replicated again. It was such a perfect blend of story, effects, performance, and direction. Webb's two movies didn't even come close to touching that masterpiece. They were O.K, but that just wasn't good enough. That's why the Webb reboots felt like money grabs more than any kind of artistic statements.

Here's Webb defending his films: 

“It’s hard for me to think about it, in terms of regrets. There are so many things that I’m proud of. There was an ambition with the second movie, in particular. The idea that it’s a superhero that can’t save everybody is something that I’m really proud of. I’m really proud of the ambition of that because it’s an important message, and I believe in that. I believe in what we were after,” he told Collider. “They’re really, really difficult movies to make. They’re complex in ways that people don’t fully understand. They weren’t disasters. But in terms of regrets, I don’t think of it in those terms. I felt really, really fortunate to have that opportunity. That’s a whole other long, in-depth conversation that I probably shouldn’t have publicly. I loved everybody involved. I really did. I didn’t have an adversarial relationship with the studio, at all. There were a lot of very smart people. These are just incredibly complicated movies to make. I am proud of them, in many ways, and I stand by them. I’m certainly not a victim, in that situation.”

Warner Bros. developing a live-action Superman: Red Son movie

In this day and age, a Twitter exchange can be considered news, case in point the conversation between Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts and Mark Millar. The back and forth, seen below, they had has revealed that Warner Bros. has some kind of plans in place for a movie based on Millar’s Superman: Red Son. Den of Geek UK has confirmed, from their reliable sources, that there are indeed plans for an adaptation. Ben Affleck as Batman, and Henry Cavill as Superman would not be involved.


"Superman: Red Son was an ultra popular short-run comic series in 2003 which depicted an alternate reality where Kal El landed in the Soviet Union rather than the United States. The comic charted Superman’s entire career, and his battles with Batman, Lex Luthor, Brainiac, the Green Lantern Marine Corps and Wonder Woman. It was incredibly well-received upon its release, with Cavill revealing in an interview that it was one of four comics that inspired his performance in Man of Steel." [Flickering Myth]

 I like Vogt-Roberts, especially what he did with "Kong: Skull Island." I wrote this about the film in February:

 "I was pleasantly surprised by King Kong: Skull Island, an entertaining B-movie with enough guilty pleasures and awe-inspiring action to make you overlook the cliches. No, really, this is a film that just wants to entertain and does so in spades. "Kings of Summer" director Jordan Vogt-Roberts has actually even one-upped the Jurassic Park franchise by making a creature movie that ups the ante in action and suspense. Take that "Jurassic World." 

Daniel Day-Lewis reportedly quit acting to become a dressmaker

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Well, this is shocking. Daniel Day-Lewis, one of the great actors of this, or any, generation, announced his retirement from the acting world for the simple reason that he wanted to pursue .... dressmaking? His role as a dressmaker, in the upcoming Paul Thomas Anderson film "Phantom Thread," was such a pleasurable bout of method acting that he's decided to pursue it as a trade.

 "PageSix has sources confirming that Day-Lewis "strategically planned to align the end of his acting career with the release of his upcoming high fashion movie Phantom Thread (in which he plays a dressmaker) ... He’s so method, it takes him three years to prepare for a role.” 

 "Insiders noted the 60-year-old went method by seriously studying dressmaking for the role and he loved picking up the new skills so much, becoming a professional dressmaker became his new life calling."

 This isn't the first time 60-year-old actor has decided to step away from acting to pick up a new trade. Following 1996's "The Boxer," Day-Lewis took what he called, "a leave of absence" from acting by going into "semi-retirement" and going into woodworking. It was one of the weirder stories to emerge from Hollywood as he was a hot commodity at the time. This newfound passion in shoemaking resulted in him moving to Italy where he embarked on an apprenticeship with shoemaker extraordinaire Stefano Bemer.