First image of Rooney Mara in 'Mary Magdalene' (starring opposite Joaquin Phoenix who plays Jesus Christ)

‘Justice League’: WB Offered To CGI Henry Cavill’s Mustache For M:I6

The "Justice League" reshoots, which wanted to accommodate with the success of "Wonder Woman" among other things, cost the WB upwards of $25M, with Joss Whedon, who took over Zack Snyder's leave of absence, overseeing it all. Those reshoots dragged on for roughly two months. It wasn't just reshooting scenes that plagued the film, it was also the fact that Henry Cavill's was a major issue for the filmmakers. “Justice League” was expected to finish shooting before the sixth “Mission: Impossible” film, starring Cavill, was tobegin production. Sadly, this being DC and production issues always seeming to be a problem, the new scenes that were being shot required Cavill to jump back and forth between films. Having to sport a mustache he grew for his character in the “Mission: Impossible” sequel, Paramount, which was in charge of MI:6, would not allow Cavill to shave his 'stache in order to shoot his scenes as Superman for "Justice League." The WB, with not many options to show for, figured the only option they had was to just digitally remove the facial hair in post-production.



The very idea of them digitally removing Henry Cavill's mouth brow was a running joke for many fans and, surprise surpise, a major qualm for the many more that saw "Justice League." If you look closely you can definitely see the CGI erasement, of course, one can just let go and, you know, watch the film instead of focusing on Cavill's upper lip, but it turned out to be quite the distraction for many.



Over on Reddit, the VFX artist in charge of Cavill's mustache said the WB offered Paramount the option to digitally create a CGI mustache for the Mission: Impossible film, in return for Cavill to shave the damn thing. It was obviuously a pain and very complex process to digitally remove the mustache, but Paramount didn't budge, they said Cavill keeps the lip rug:

“A mix – to some people it’s a cool little project to get stuck in to and another problem to solve, which is what a lot of VFX is about. Challenging. To me, as a fan, I was annoyed haha Paramount should’ve shaved him and stuck a fake one on for MI6. Ridiculously petty of them. We did tests on already shot footage of Superman to add a beard as well to show the MI6 team at Paramount it was loads easier, and Warner Bros offered to pay for all the beard adding shots in MI6. They said no.”

How important could the dirty Sanchez Cavill was sporting be for the plot of "Mission: Impossible 6"? We won't really know until the film is released next summer, but suffice to say it was important enough that the WB had to go through a digital removal of it and be the butt of jokes of many film fans.

Image of the day: George Lucas framing the iconic intro of Darth Vader in "Star Wars" 1977

Does he have any idea how he was about to change the world?  Here he was, around 1977, setting up a shot on a constructed sound stage for a scene on board a spaceship, in a space opera, where an evil half-man half-robot galactic lord with telekinetic powers is about to board a spaceship to capture a princess who, unbeknownst to him, is actually his own daughter fighting a rebellion against this lord but who is completely unaware it is her own father. Phew. To have gotten as far as he did at this photo's moment, he would have had to have conceived and then set into motion everything that would lead up to his filming this particular scene, and with it, millions of dollars and hundreds of actors, crew, and jobs on the line. He knew exactly what he was doing and what was to come, maybe not to the letter, but he didn't stray far from the vision he had in mind all along.

"Darkest Hour" is a by-the-books biopic anchored by a towering performance.

Many Political Science scholars believe Winston Churchill was perhaps the greatest politician of the 20th century. With that in mind, director Joe Wright, who showed considerable chops with WWII in "Atonement," has been given the almost impossible task to cover Churchill's most crucial moment as leader of the British republic. The story covers the events that happened in May of 1940, just before the fall of France during WWII. Prime Minister Chamberlain, in over his head with the war, is ousted from office, as his appeasement strategy with Hitler has turned out to be a complete failure. Enter Churchill whom, despite being unpopular before even being sworn in, attempts to lead the British back on track to defeat Hitler and his Nazi thugs. 

Churchill is played by Gary Oldman and it has already become a cliche to say that this is a towering performance from the 59-year-old-actor. He is, unsurprisingly, the actor that most pundits are predicting to win the Best Actor Oscar come next February. Deservedly so might I add. Oldman is spellbinding, you don't feel like you're watching an actor act, you feel like you're watching Churchill. The enveloping nature of his performance is, of course, unsurprising for fans, such as me, of this highly underrated thespian of an actor, whom, by the way, was never nominated for his work in "Leon," "True Romance," and "Sid & Nancy." 

Lighting a cigar in bed and constantly terrorizing his shy, young typist (Lily James), the 66-year-old Churchill is ready for battle when asked to go to the chambers, underground war rooms and the halls of Parliament to unite a country. Kudos to cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel ("Amelie") whose fluidly moving camera and darkly lit rooms convey a cinematic sense of impending dread throughout. Yes, this is Oscar-Bait delivered in a full-throttled, preachy way by Wright, but I'm not sure the academy will bite this time around, The film, from a dialogue-heavy script by Anthony McCarten (The Theory of Everything), relies on an easy and reliant trope of national unity and patriotism, something that has become uncool not just for voters but audience members as well. This is certainly a film that's engaging in parts but feels bland and uninvolving in others. It's weirdly forgettable and sets the notion that if it weren't for Oldman's virtuoso, showstopping performance, filled with a brilliant reliance on every speech pattern Churchill ever had, it might as well have been an HBO movie.

The tracking shots Wright uses through tunnels are remarkably acute, especially in a memorable scene involving Churchill sneaking off and going through the London Subway system, asking passengers on the train what their thoughts are about the war.  To Wright, the shouts of "Never!" -roared by passengers when Churchill asks if they would be OK in seeing a Nazi flag fly over Buckingham palace- is reason enough for the leader to decide not surrender to the Nazis. It's a hokey, sentimental moment but it works because Wright accepts the ridiculousness of the moment and embraces the bait and switch that could come with such an Oscar-ready scene. "Darkest Hour" is just that kind of a movie, a by-the-books film anchored by a towering performance. [C+]

Whedon's Original "Justice League" Opening Was Too Funny for Warner Bros.

“Justice League” opens with Batman in full "Caped Crusader" mode as he catches a notorious criminal, played by “Mindhunter” star Holt McCallany. It's all fairly standard and played pretty seriously, but according to McCallany, it originally had the dry humor that Whedon is well known for.

“I love Joss Whedon. My scene with Batman was originally conceived as a comedic scene. That’s how Joss wrote it, and that’s how we shot it,” he told Men’s Fitness (via Collider). “I thought it came out great, but the studio felt it would be a mistake to open the film with a completely comedic scene, so it was re-edited a little bit. I was disappointed, but when I got home to New York I found a bottle of my favorite champagne and a note from Joss that said ‘To Battles Lost. Gratefully, Joss.’ I can’t tell you how much it meant to me that he took the time to write to me. Joss Whedon is a class act. I had the letter framed.”

With people pressuring the WB to release Zack Snyder's cut of the film, why not have a double set with both Snyder and Whedon's versions included? It would surely be a popular seller and we could decide ourselves which version was better.

Noah Baumbach Defends Netflix, But Explains Why Smaller Movies Must Be Seen In Cinemas

Originally published for The Playlist

It didn’t take much time for the screening of Bong Joon Ho‘s “Okja” to create a stir at Cannes. The film started off being booed not for its alliance to producer Netflix, but because of a technical glitch which projected the film in the wrong aspect ratio. The film came to a screeching halt and a seven-minute delay followed. Once the film started again, booing happened for the reason we all thought it would: the Netflix logo appearing on the screen. The controversy didn’t stop there, as NoahBaumbach‘s Netflix produced “The Meyerowitz Stories” premiered two days later and was booed again once the Netflix logo hit the screen. Let’s be clear here, the films weren’t booed for their quality, they were booed because of Netflix not playing by the rules of the way film’s are released in France.It’s an issue that caused so much controversy in the country’s movie industry, that Cannes has effectively barred the streaming giant from debuting film’s on the Croisette.

Baumbach’s film is split into three sections, each for a Meyerowitz sibling, and is edited like a series of little portraits. Dustin Hoffman gives one of the best performances of his career, ditto Adam Sandler, but talking to Deadline about the film this week, Baumbach actually saved his most in-depth answers for the questions surrounding the Netflix controversy:

“To be clear, I didn’t make the movie with Netflix. I made the movie independently, as I’ve made all my movies. I wasn’t even thinking of an alternative — I was thinking this would be shown in theaters, as all my movies are. Netflix acquired it from my producer in post and they have their way that’s important to them. We all end up there anyway — all movies are going to end up on these servers, and that’s great,” the director said.

He goes on to say that while it’s great that his movie has the chance to be seen by a larger mainstream audience, he believes that an audience should be given the choice as to whether  they want to see a film at home or in theaters, something Netflix rarely does, and that seeing a movie at the cinema is and should always be the way to go:

“It’s great that people can find things that they’ve missed, or they wouldn’t find otherwise. I think it’s a great thing. I didn’t have that as a kid. VHS came around, but it took a while for that to be as thorough as what it is now. But I think it’s a singular experience, seeing a movie in the theater. I think audiences should be given the opportunity to see things for the first time that way,” he explained.

Martin Scorsese is one of the detractors of home viewing, despite his next film “The Irishman” being distributed by Netflix. He recently observed that the detriment that comes in watching something at home has to do with all the distractions lying around the screen (your phone, your laptop, people passing by), something Baumbach agrees with.

“I believe, actually, passionately about it. My girlfriend, Greta [Gerwig], who’s got a movie coming out as well [‘Lady Bird‘], was asked this question at the New York Film Festival, and I was initially annoyed because she had such a good answer. I was like ‘How did you keep this to yourself?’ She was paraphrasing [editor] Walter Murch, who I guess had written an addendum to this book, In the Blink of an Eye, about home viewing versus theatrical. He was saying that when you go into a theater, you are vulnerable. You’re giving yourself over to the experience in a way that when you’re watching it at home — no matter what, no matter how good your system is — you’re the master,” he said. “You can shut it off, walk out of the room, make a phone call. And that doesn’t even get into watching things in a communal environment, versus watching things alone, which is also a different experience.”

“It’s important for me to stress how I think movies like mine, and what would be considered more intimate stories than a movie like ‘Dunkirk‘ — where the benefit of seeing it in the theater is obvious on paper — is that it’s equally important to see movies like mine and ‘Moonlight‘ in the theater, because you’re more emotional in that way,” Baumbach continued. “It’s just a different thing. Not only do I think it shouldn’t go away, I really think it won’t go away. Things will change, but I think that experience will continue to live on.”

This is all music to my ears as I have always tried to watch movies, big and small, in theaters precisely because it is just a more personal endeavor. There’s less of an inclination to check your phone, and the large screen and loud sound make it a more enveloping experience, making you less inclined to quit on a movie after only a few minutes. And you’re surrounded by cinephiles who are witnessing the same work of art as you are, which makes for such a beautifully memorable moment that cannot ever be duplicated anywhere else.

‘Star Wars’: Rian Johnson Discusses The Upcoming New Trilogy

Originally written for The Playlist.

Earlier this month, Lucasfilm gave us the surprising news that Rian Johnson, director of the forthcoming “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” would be starting a brand new “Star Wars” trilogy from scratch and that it wouldn’t be related to the original Skywalker story. Details are being kept hush-hush at the moment, we don’t know necessarily where this latest trilogy would take place nor do we know if any familiar characters would be jumping into this latest vision of the franchise.

However, while doing press in Mexico, Johnson further elaborated on what we already knew, continued to be tight-lipped about the whole project, but did mention it was still very early days and that he couldn’t be more excited to jump into the creative process.

“Well, we’re gonna have to see. I mean, I’m just in the very beginning of starting to come up with what the new trilogy is going to be. But I can tell you this, what makes me so excited about it, is the idea of doing a new story on the big canvas of three movies in this world. There’s just so much potential and I can’t wait to jump into it,” he said.

Johnson was originally rumored to be Lucasfilm’s top choice to direct ‘Episode IX,’ after Colin Trevorrow left the project earlier in the year (J.J. Abrams took over the gig). It did make sense that Johnson would be in contention, as it appears that Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has been very happy with how “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” turned out. Johnson has also suggested in the past that he’d love to take on another “Star Wars” film — but a whole trilogy? We didn’t see that coming.

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” opens on December 15th.

Zack Snyder's son: 'Justice League' “Not What It Could Have Been,” Demands For a "Director's Cut" As a Petition of 100k Signatures Circulates

Originally written for The Playlist.

Joss Whedon‘s extensive reshoots on “Justice League” no doubt clashed with Zack Snyder‘s original vision. Among the changes, Jesse Eisenberg‘s return as Lex Luthor was reportedly axed, and Gal Gadot‘s Wonder Woman is said to have received more scenes and screentime. It’s not just the characters, the overall mood was rumored to get a lighter makeover with Whedon deviating away from Snyder’s darker palettes for a more colorful tone. “Justice League,” in short, was the mix of two visions and you could see that while watching the film. Sure there’s Zack Snyder’s use of ultra slow-mo, the dark interiors and exteriors he so loves to use, and his penchant for the camera zooming in and out of action sequences, but Whedon crashed the party by pulling back on some of that, so much so that as you’re watching the movie you can tell exactly who shot what. The work of these two titan directors that couldn’t be more different, resulted in the “Justice League” that we got. 

The mixed response to the film was expected, however, while “Justice League” currently has 37% on Rotten Tomatoes, fans seemed to have liked it. The film’s CinemaScore is a solid B+ and its 7.4 IMDB rating is pretty solid for DCEU flick. Also, “Justice League” has done well in China, with its $51 million debut weekend marking the second highest launch for a Warner Bros. movie after “Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice.”

Meanwhile, fans are rallying behind an online petition demanding Zack Snyder’s original director’s cut. The film’s cinematographer has also added his voice to the mix, hoping to see Snyder’s fully realized film, and now the director’s son, Jett, has spoken up, pointing out the flaws he saw in the finished product and the unfairness of the WB  “meddling” with his dad’s vision. Posting on Vero, Jett wrote:

“On a more serious note, I did enjoy the movie, although it is clearly not what it could have been due to the meddling of Warner Brothers and the forced comedy. The runtime was my biggest gripe with the movie, with events that should take a long time over in a flash;$ but still definitely a fun movie to watch, and would recommend it.”

As much as Whedon’s flair for humor works in most of his films, it seemed out of place in “Justice League,” in which, before leaving production, Snyder set a tone of grim darkness into its frames. Jett isn’t wrong in saying the full vision wasn’t seen on-screen; the film was reportedly originally much longer than its 121 minute running time.

The call for a director’s cut grows louder each day, with even the film’s stuntman Richard Cetroneweighing in, sharing the online petition on Facebook along with the following comments:

It remains to be seen if Warner Bros. will fulfill the request from fans or if Snyder will be given the keys back to the movie he, unfortunately, had to leave due to a personal tragedy. But one thing is clear: fans would warmly embrace a version of “Justice League” that’s pure Snyder.

"Phantom Thread" embargo on social media and reviews is worrisome

Just when you thought the #embargo was over, "Phantom Thread" from Paul Thomas Anderson will not have any social media or reviews until Thursday, December 7 at 9:00am PT / 12:00pm ET. Gotta love awards season! #Oscars

— Clayton Davis (@AwardsCircuit) November 21, 2017

Greta Gerwig wrote an adorable letter to Justin Timberlake to receive permission to use "Cry Me A River" in "Lady Bird"

Terry Gilliam on 'The Man Who Killed Don Quixote': "We’ve almost finished the cut"

I won't go into great detail about the bad luck and mishaps that have hampered Terry Gilliam's passion project "The Man who Killed Don Quixote" for the better part of three decades, but, suffice to say, it seems like the cursed project finished production on June 4th and is now practically completed in the editing room. The last setback, if you remember, was John Hurt's death, which was settled with Gilliam regular Jonathan Pryce taking over the role.

“Well, we’ve almost finished the cut,” Gillima recently told The New York Times. “We’re just fiddling now, figuring out a few things here and there so it’s pretty much what it is. We’ve got still months of work to do on visual effects, sound, music. But as far as the tale, it’s pretty tight now and it’s surprisingly wonderful."

“I always hesitate to get too optimistic or too excited about the work I’m doing,” he told The Times. “I’d rather try to stay cynical and slightly distant from it. When you fall in love with something, it’s painful when it doesn’t work for everybody else. But all the people who’ve seen it so far — they used the words, ‘We’re in love with this.’ So let’s see if they’re right.”

Gilliam's struggles to make the film were well documented in the 2002 documentary "Lost in La Mancha." Here is an excerpt from my review which summarizies the plight Gilliam's had in making the movie:

"Terry Gilliam was able to start shooting his dream project about Don Quixote  "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote," in 2000, starring Johnny Depp and, in the title role of Don Quixote, French actor Jean Rochefort. That was the only positive news that happened it seems because, due to budget problems, shooting schedule problems, horrible weather problems, and the unfortunate ill health of actor Rochefort, the production was a disaster before production even began. There were only 6 days of shooting before the entire thing was scraped and "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" was completely abandoned."

"Lost In La Mancha," a documentary that captures the first eight weeks of pre-production (another nightmare experience for Gilliam) to the disastrous six-day shoot that followed. It is frustrating to watch because one moment we see Gilliam all giddy and ready to go, and the next minute he's having a mental breakdown over the sheer bad luck happening all around his dream project."

"A feeling of what could have been exudes throughout the picture, the terrific sets, costumes and production design that were created for the movie (including perfectly synchronized Gilliam-esque life-size marionette puppets) give out an over all feeling of what might have been. Maybe there will be a day when it can be realized, but it seems like the dark cloud looming over this picture at the moment is too compromised to just easily go away"

First Image of Tom Cruise & Simon Pegg in 'Mission Impossible 6'

You can always count on the Mission Impossible movies to deliver much needed jolts during the summer movie season. It helps tremendously that Tom Cruise, playing Ethan Hawke, always wants to do his own stunts, which brings an authentic feel to the set pieces that many summer blockbusters would lack in their CGI-filled action. "Ghost Protocol" had Tom Cruise hanging on for dear life on the Burj Khalifa skyscraper. "In Mission Impossible" - Rogue Nation , one of the chief pleasures was how director Christopher McQuarrie could shoot the living hell out of an action sequence. The Vienna State Opera House scene was the highlight, bringing in a Hitchcockian vibe to the film. The setup has Ethan Hunt, Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), Ilsa Faust(Rebecca Ferguson), and a menacing bad guy knocking around the opera sets, the rafters, and the balconies—as Hunt attempts to find a terrorist and prevent an assassination. McQuarrie was clearly inspired by Hitchcock, as he used shadows, darkness and flashes of color to grab the viewers attention and brought a little clarity to a logistically complicated series of fights and chases, measures and counter-measures. Its 12 minutes were as terrific a bit of pure filmmaking as anything in the series and might only be rivaled by another sequence in the film -- an underwater stunt that has Cruise holding his breath for nearly 6 minutes. You can never fault Cruise for not trying to entertain us with these movies.







If you also saw "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol" in IMAX, for my money the best installment of the never-ending franchise, the Burj Kalifa scene was the ultimate test of thrills. The story goes that Tom Cruise fired his own insurance company so he could perform this gravity-defying stunt atop Dubai's famous skyscraper. In the scene, Cruise runs, slides, crawls and, yes, even flies around the tall skyscraper. That's 28,000 feet above the ground. The fact that Cruise looked so comfortable and at ease doing this stunt does show the high that results from performing such a risk-taking, death-defying endeavor.  I wholly recommend you check out the behind-the-scenes featurette of the stunt HERE.

Another Mission Impossibe stunt nobody seems to be talking about is when Tom Cruise Held His Breath For 6 and a Half Minutes. 

Scientology stuff aside, Cruise is a genuine actor that is serious about his craft. I'm not sure how they're going to top the aforementioned stunts but in this latest installment of the "Mission: Impossible" series, the sixth, a stunt involving strapping the world's biggest movie star to an actual plane during take off has been shot. It has the potential to top anything the man has done before.

MI:6 stars Cruise and includes supporting roles from Henry Cavill, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, Michelle Monaghan, Alec Baldiwn, Ving Rhames, Angela Bassett.
The film is set for release on July 27, 2018.

‘The Terminator’ reboot adds ‘Captain Phillips’ writer Billy Ray

The “Terminator” franchise has been all but dead to me. The last two films, “Terminator: Salvation” and “Terminator: Genisys,” well, they were soul-crushing. The only way I could hop back onto the bandwagon would be if James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton would make their return. Well, I wouldn't be writing this if that weren't the case. Yes, Hamilton, Arnie and James Cameron, as producer, are coming back for T6. “Deadpool” helmer Tim Miller will be directing, that's a good thing. In a chat with THR, Cameron and Miller are confirming that “This is a continuation of the story from ‘Terminator 1’ and ‘Terminator 2,’ Cameron further elaborates “And we’re pretending the other films were a bad dream. Or an alternate timeline, which is permissible in our multi-verse.” Amen!

The major surprise in all of this? Cameron luring back Hamilton, the main star of his two films in the franchise, and, gulp, his ex-wife. “Jim was fucking terrified,” Miller jokes. “I was,” Cameron confirms. “It took me a week just to get up the nerve. No, that’s not true. Linda and I have a great relationship. We’ve stayed friends through the thick and thin of it all. And she is the mother of my eldest daughter. So I called her up, and I said: ‘Look, we could rest on our laurels. It’s ours to lose, in a sense. We created this thing several decades ago. But, here’s what can be really cool. You can come back and show everybody how it’s done.’ Because in my mind, it hasn’t been done a whole lot since the way she did it back in ’91.”

So with all that in mind, what’s missing? A screenwriter of course. A competent, professional wordsmith would be the next step to lay ground to Cameron’s creative plan, and it seems like, according to The Wrap, a scribe has been found in Billy Ray. Ray, if you remember, wrote and directed the highly underappreciated “Shattered Glass” where Hayden Christensen gave, by far, the best performance of his career. Ray’s other works include directing another excellent film, “Breach,” and writing solid genre fare (“Flightplan,” “The Hunger Games,” and “Captain Phillips.”)
So now all we need is a release date. Well, guess what?  A July 26th, 2019 date has been announced, which means this project better hurry up into production sooner rather than later. This has just sky-rocketed at the top of my must-see list for 2019.

'Call Me By Your Name,' 'Lady Bird,' 'Get Out' Lead 2018 Independent Spirit Awards Nominations

Best Feature

“Call Me by Your Name”
Producers: Peter Spears, Luca Guadagnino, Emilie Georges, Rodrigo Teixeira, Marco Morabito, James Ivory, Howard Rosenman

“The Florida Project”
Producers: Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch, Kevin Chinoy, Andrew Duncan, Alex Saks, Francesca Silvestri, Shih-Ching Tsou

“Get Out”
Producers: Jason Blum, Edward H. Hamm Jr., Sean McKittrick, Jordan Peele

“Lady Bird”
Producers: Eli Bush, Evelyn O’Neill, Scott Rudin

“The Rider”
Producers: Mollye Asher, Bert Hamelinck, Sacha Ben Harroche, Chloé Zhao

Best First Feature

“Columbus”
Director: Kogonada
Producers: Danielle Renfrew Behrens, Aaron Boyd, Giulia Caruso, Ki Jin Kim, Andrew Miano, Chris Weitz

“Ingrid Goes West”
Director: Matt Spicer
Producers: Jared Ian Goldman, Adam Mirels, Robert Mirels, Aubrey Plaza, Tim White, Trevor White

“Menashe”
Director/Producer: Joshua Z. Weinstein
Producers: Yoni Brook, Traci Carlson, Daniel Finkelman, Alex Lipschultz

“Oh Lucy!”
Director/Producer: Atsuko Hirayanagi
Producers: Jessica Elbaum, Yukie Kito, Han West

“Patti Cake$”
Director: Geremy Jasper
Producers: Chris Columbus, Michael Gottwald, Dan Janvey, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Noah Stahl, Rodrigo Teixeira

Best Director

Sean Baker, “The Florida Project”

Jonas Carpignano, “A Ciambra”

Luca Guadagnino, “Call Me by Your Name”

Jordan Peele, “Get Out”

Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie, “Good Time”

Chloé Zhao, “The Rider”

Best Screenplay

Greta Gerwig, “Lady Bird”

Azazel Jacobs, “The Lovers”

Martin McDonagh, “Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri”

Jordan Peele, “Get Out”

Mike White, “Beatriz at Dinner”

Best First Screenplay

Kris Avedisian, Story By: Kyle Espeleta, Jesse Wakeman, “Donald Cried”

Emily V. Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani, “The Big Sick”

Ingrid Jungermann, “Women Who Kill”

Kogonada, “Columbus:

David Branson Smith, Matt Spicer, “Ingrid Goes West”

Best Cinematography

Thimios Bakatakis, “The Killing of a Sacred Deer”

Elisha Christian, “Columbus”

Hélène Louvart, “Beach Rats”

Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, “Call Me by Your Name”

Joshua James Richards, “The Rider”

Best Editing

Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie, “Good Time”

Walter Fasano, “Call Me by Your Name”

Alex O’Flinn, “The Rider”

Gregory Plotkin, “Get Out”

Tatiana S. Riegel, “I, Tonya”

Best Female Lead

Salma Hayek, “Beatriz at Dinner”

Frances McDormand, “Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri”

Margot Robbie, “I, Tonya”

Saoirse Ronan, “Lady Bird”

Shinobu Terajima, “Oh Lucy!”

Regina Williams, “Life and nothing more”

Best Male Lead

Timothée Chalamet, “Call Me by Your Name”

Harris Dickinson, “Beach Rats”

James Franco, “The Disaster Artist”

Daniel Kaluuya, “Get Out”

Robert Pattinson, “Good Time”

Best Supporting Female

Holly Hunter, “The Big Sick”

Allison Janney, “I, Tonya”

Laurie Metcalf, “Lady Bird”

Lois Smith, “Marjorie Prime”

Taliah Lennice Webster, “Good Time”

Best Supporting Male

Nnamdi Asomugha, “Crown Heights”

Armie Hammer, “Call Me by Your Name”

Barry Keoghan, “The Killing of a Sacred Deer”

Sam Rockwell, “Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri”

Benny Safdie, “Good Time”

Best Documentary (Award given to the director and producer)

“The Departure,” Director/Producer: Lana Wilson

“Faces Places,” Directors: Agnés Varda, JR, Producer: Rosalie Varda

“Last Men in Aleppo,” Director: Feras Fayyad, Producers: Kareem Abeed, Søeren Steen Jespersen, Stefan Kloos

“Motherland,” Director/Producer: Ramona S. Diaz, Producer: Rey Cuerdo

“Quest,” Director: Jonathan Olshefski, Producer: Sabrina Schmidt Gordon

Best International Film (Award given to the director)

“BPM (Beats Per Minute)” (France), Director: Robin Campillo

“A Fantastic Woman,” (Chile), Director: Sebastián Lelio

“I Am Not a Witch,” (Zambia), Director: Rungano Nyoni

“Lady Macbeth,” (U.K.), Director: William Oldroyd

“Loveless,” (Russia), Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev

Paul Feig On ‘Ghostbusters’: “It Was A Great Regret In My Life That The Movie Didn’t Do Better”

“I think it kind of hampered us a little bit because the movie became so much of a cause. I think for some of our audience, they were like, ‘What the fuck? We don’t wanna go to a cause. We just wanna watch a fuckin’ movie,’ ” he said. “It was a great regret in my life that the movie didn’t do better, ’cause I really loved it,” Feig added. “It’s not a perfect movie. None of my movies are perfect. I liked what we were doing with it. It was only supposed to be there to entertain people.”

I wrote more about Feig's regrets in regards to his "Ghostbusters" for The Playlist.

Exclusive new scene from PTA's "Phantom Thread'" stuns

We are a month away from Paul Thomas Anderson's "Phantom Thread" being released and, yet, we still find ourselves in need of many answers to some of the film's hidden mysteries, mostly revolving around the plot.

PTA has mentioned that it's not your standard love story and that Alfred Hitchcock's "Rebecca" was his inspiration for the film:

"It’s not your standard love story. It’s more peculiar for sure. A lot of directors have tried and failed to make Rebecca. I’m probably next in line, but it’s a different story. I’m a large aficionado of those large Gothic romance movies as the old masters might do them. What I like about those kinds of love stories is that they’re very suspenseful. A good dollop of suspense with a love story is a nice combination."

"Rebecca" was Alfred Hitchcock early-career gothic-romance. It dealt with the director's masterful use of suspense but also had an invigorating "love story" at its central core. Joan Fontaine's character, filled with youthful innocence and abundant clumsiness in fitting into the bourgeois world, was a simple working-class woman that felt like the outsider. She shacked up with millionaire Maxim De Winter (Laurence Olivier,) but he was still haunted by his deceased wife Rebecca and struggling to move on. That wasn't the only problem for Fontaine's character, she also has to contend with Olvier's housekeepr Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson) who seemed to be in denial mode in regards to Rebecca's death and saw De Winter's new wife as a threat. This only scratches the surface and the film was basically a fight between these two women for the attention and love of their millionaire husband, who had his own demons to contend with. Great film.

“Phantom Thread” will be released on December 25th.

Box Office Week: Justice League opens to disasterous $96M at #1, $70M less than than the opening of Batman v Superman and the worst DCEU opening ever. Meanwhile, Wonder surprises with an excellent $27M opening at #2 while The Star has the worst opening ever for a Sony animated film at #6 with $10M.

1. Justice League—$96,000,000
2. Wonder — $27,050,000
3. Thor: Ragnarok — $21,786,000 
4. Daddy’s Home 2 — $14,800,000 
5. Murder on the Orient Express —$13,800,000 
6. The Star — $10,000,000
7. Bad Moms Christmas — $6,890,000 
8. Lady Bird — $2,529,915 
9. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri — $1,115,000 
10. Jigsaw — $1,070,000

TOP 20 Domestic Box-Office 
[SOURCE] [Source]

"Justice League" Box-Office: What happened?! How DC and the WB messed up the DCEU.

Ok, so you're probably wondering how did things become so bad for the WB and the DCEU? In a nutshell, it's more complicated than the following 400 words thesis.

The WB was desperately in need of a franchise, The Dark Knight trilogy was done ditto Harry Potter and the Hobbit.  "Man of Steel" was made with the intent to be followed by a sequel, however, the WB decided to turn that sequel into the misbegotten "Batman vs Superman" and had that film launch their unprepared cinematic universe.  That same year, the WB interfered a lot with David Ayer's  "Suicide Squad," production rumors were swirling all around and, as you know, the film is now the stuff of cinematic infamy.

We all thought they had set-up a concrete cinematic universe by that point. Ten movies were announced, to be released from 2016 to 2020. Not even halfway through that slate of films, and banking on Patty Jenkins' "Wonder Woman" having surprise success at the Box-Office, the WB decided to have "Wonder Woman 2" released before "Flash" and "The Green Lantern." Not just that, they also decided to add in a slew of new projects in the span of 6 months: "Suicide Squad 2," "Justice League Dark," "The Batman," "Batgirl," "Gotham City Sirens," "Nightwing," "Man of Steel 2," "Black Adam," "Deadshot," "Lobo" "Deathstroke" and the untitled Joker and Harley Quinn film, produced by Martin Scorsese. Phew, suffice to say, the plans of a DCEU are all but fucked. In fact, there never really was a plan, they were changing their plan every month. They haven't even announced if Ben Affleck will return as Batman. They were supposed to rebuild around Affleck and now he may be done, with Jake Gyllenhaal being sought for the caped crusader role. That much anticipated "Flash" movie?  It's lost, multiple directors have quit or been fired. 

Who is to blame for all this? The WB of course, they set their sights on Zack Snyder to herald the DCEU forward, that didn't work so well. They wanted Avengers-sized success but didn’t want to put the time, effort, thought and resources into building it up in a thoughtfully conceived manner. At this point, my advice to them would be to do what they did with "Wonder Woman" and actually hire competent directors that have talent and that can put their own signature to the films. You might as well get on the critics good side because, and I do say this with the utmost confidence, I do believe bad reviews have contributed to this debacle.

Spielberg's "The Post," a few reactions.

Spoke to a few people that said it was similar to the way he shot and told "Lincoln," and "Bridge of Spies," meaning the story does the talking, there's a lot of patient, held-back filmmaking, a very slow and dry affair. "Slightly square, old-school Hollywood craftsmanship," somebody told me, adding "It's no Spotlight." In other words, a movie that underplays its strengths. I thought "Lincoln" and "Bridges" were both ok, but that seems to be the direction Spielberg has decided to take on the last 5 or so years with his dramas.

Here are the top 15 Oscar-eligible films so far this year by RT average critic's score:

The Oscar-eligible part removes a couple of films that were submitted for the last Oscars. Minimum of 50 RT reviews,  please correct me if I missed any:

1) Call Me By Your Name (98%, 9.1, 90 reviews) 

2) Lady Bird (100%, 8.8, 147 reviews) 

3) The Florida Project (95%, 8.7, 186 reviews) 

4) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (94%, 8.7, 135 reviews) 

5) Faces Places (100%, 8.7, 65 reviews)

6) Dunkirk (92%, 8.6, 357 reviews) 

7) The Shape of Water (97%, 8.5, 79 reviews) 

8) Mudbound (97%, 8.4, 104 reviews) 

9) Columbus (97%, 8.4, 75 reviews))

10) Get Out (99%, 8.3, 290 review) 

11) City of Ghosts (99% 8.3, 85 reviews)

12) Blade Runner (87% 8.2, 329 reviews)

13) The Big Sick (98%, 8.2, 236 reviews)

14) War for the Planet  of the Apes (93% 8.1, 283 reviews)

15) Baby Driver (93%, 8.0, 302 reviews)