SURPRISE! JJ Abrams’ “The Cloverfield Paradox” Will Hit Netflix Tonight, Right After The Super Bowl.

In a historic move, "Cloverfield Paradox” will hit Netflix right after the Super Bowl is over. The streaming giant has yet again proved themselves to be geniuses at marketing. This basically looks like “Cloverfield” in space, although I’ve only read the synopsis but “The Cloverfield Paradox” is the third installment in the J.J. Abrams franchise. The director here is Julius Onah, the screenwriters are Oren Uziel and Doug Jung.

The film quietly started filming in the summer of 2016 and we really had no idea when a release date would actually happen. It was originally supposed to be released on February 24, 2017 then it was altered to October 27, 2017, then back again to February 2nd and finally to April 20th. Paramount ended up selling the rights to Netflix, never a good sign, but who knows how the film will be. We will have some answers at around 9:30 PM EST.

The cast includes  David Oyelowo, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ziyi Zhang, Elizabeth Debicki, Daniel Brühl and Chris O’Dowd. 

Writers, Actors, Directors chime in on Uma/QT

I like reading Owen Gleiberman, he has always had interesting and not-always popular opinions on just about anything. However, he seems to be going with the grain here, saying, more or less, that Quentin Tarantino over-stepped his boundaries when he "forced" Uma Thurman to perform a car stunt on Kill Bill: Volume Two. I'm staying neutral on this topic because Uma Thurman could have easily refused and gone to SAG, which would surely have taken her side. However, Tarantino's attitude that day seems to be fairly douche-based and forceful towards Thurman. Uma does deserves the benefit of the doubt in that QT, as the director, does overpower her and seems to have abused it, a problem that seems to be as relevant as ever.

From Gleiberman’s Variety essay: 
"[Tarantino] certainly needs to address the Kill Bill car scandal in a far more detailed and confessional manner. Because he’s in the murky middle of it, obviously, but also because Tarantino is in a position to shed light on how the vertiginous power dynamics of Hollywood operate, and how they might now change."
“There’s no denying that the car incident didn’t just happen out of ‘negligence.’ It was the result of a recklessness, an arrogance, a so-ingrained-it’s-taken-for-granted pattern of unchecked aggressive male dominion in the film business. Seen against the backdrop of #MeToo, against the pileup of accusations and a landscape that’s shifted, overnight, to a policy of zero tolerance, the Kill Bill incident looks, perhaps, like a second cousin of harassment: the cold exploitation of talent by those who surely knew better.”
"[Tarantino is] not accused of sexual harassment — but he was, of course, very close to Harvey Weinstein, so the question of what he knew and when he knew it, and what responsibility (if any) he holds for enabling Weinstein’s behavior, remains relevant. Tarantino has already spoken out on these matters, in an October interview with The New York Times that seemed, at the time, to keep the world at bay. He may now have to say more."





Guillermo del Toro Wins DGA for “The Shape of Water,” Cementing His Film As The Best Picture Front-runner

Yesterday Guillermo del Toro won the Directors Guild of America. Now, let’s just pause for a moment and ponder what that means. This essentially positions “The Shape of Water” to win Best Picture come Oscar night on March 4th. After all, the film’s already won the Producers Guild of America. Usually, when a film wins both of these prizes, it’s a no-brainer to believe it will also win the Oscar. However, what I’m noticing, is a kind of reluctance to admit that “The Shape of Water” will win it all. Why? Are they ashamed to admit that they fucked up once again? It’s the safe choice for many since the other best movies of 2017 all took risks that were enough to divide the voting body. “Get Out”? Too much genre. “Lady Bird”? Too episodic. “Dunkirk”? Too little emotional investment. “Call Me By Your Name”? Too gay. “The Florida Project”? Too EVERYTHING. The latter wasn’t even nominated. Del Toro’s film isn’t bad at all, it’s a visionary, lavishly cinematic take on “Creature From the Black Lagoon.” But that’s pretty much it. If “The Shape of Water” wins the top prize on March 4th then it will go down, with recent winners “Argo,” “The Artist,” “The King’s Speech,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” as an underwhelming, potentially forgettable winner. I’m willing to give it another shot in the coming week, and I will, but I’m not too sure it is an indisputably great movie. The industry knows that as well but is going along with it.

Carnage’s Role In “Venom” Revealed?

A new rumor has shed some light on just how Carnage will fit into Sony’s Venom movie starring Tom Hardy.

"A report from That Hashtag Show claims that Cletus "Kasady, perhaps better known as Carnage, will have a small, self-contained part in the film. The movie, which adapts the Lethal Protector miniseries, focuses mainly on Eddie Brock and the Life Foundation — seemingly involving multiple symbiotes. The report cites an unknown source whom claims Carnage’s involvement will appear towards the end of the feature, perhaps in a post-credits scene."

"Kasady will find himself under the care of Dr. Ashley Kafka, who then introduces him to Brock. From there, much like the events of the comic book origin of Carnage, an offshoot of the symbiote will make its way towards to Kasady – leaving it open for the famed Marvel villain to appear further down the line in a sequel or another Marvel movie by Sony."

"Kasady first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #344. A serial killer, Cletus shares a cell with Brock during his time at Ryker’s Island. When Brock finally manages to escape, his symbiote leaves a part of itself behind and it bonds with the his former cellmate. From there, Kasady becomes even more mentally unstable, and subsequently, more dangerous."

[CBR]

Confirmed: Heath Ledger was going to come back as The Joker for “The Dark Knight” sequel

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When "The Dark Knight“ was released almost 10 years ago, the big story was not necessarilly Christopher Nolan's seamless, atmospheric direction, which was and still is a landmark of the superhero genre, no, Heath Ledger's The Joker stole Nolan’s thunder. Ledger’s Joker just about stole the movie from everyone involved, so much so that he won a well-deserved posthumous Supporting Actor Oscar for his work. Of course, Ledger’s sudden death just a few months before the film’s release only brought forth more attention towards his role and how it had consumed his every being. Some people think the actor died because the method acting went too far and he, quite literally, became The Joker. Of course, that is not true at all, on-set photos have shown Ledger in a rather happy mood, chuckling with the cast and crew, but it is no secret that he took his portrayal of the villainous jokester very seriously when the cameras were on.

There have always been rumors that Ledger was going to come back for the sequel, "The Dark Knight Rises," especially since the character's arc was not closed in "The Dark Knight," he was left to fend for his life, wobbling from a building.

Today, we do know now a little bit more about what Ledger and Nolan's intentions were for The Joker.  According to an interview with his sister, Katie Ledger, Heath had indeed planned to return for the sequel. The actor's sister spoke to Australian press outlet news.com.au over a year ago and yet this news has only made the rounds in the States this weekend, maybe news does travel much slower in the land own under.

"He was so proud of what he had done in Batman. And I know he had plans for another Batman," she said, "He loved working with Chris Nolan and Christian Bale and Gary Oldman. He just had the best time ever doing that film. When he came home at Christmas, he couldn't wait to tell us all about it, and he was doing the voice and laughing, showing me all the rushes. We had a great time."

Of course, Nolan had not yet committed to making a third film, but we all knew it was going to be a trilogy and that the director was most likely going to helm the cap off. Nolan writing partner David S. Goyer supposedly had an outline for the third movie, with The Joker being included in it. So what Katie Ledger's interview does confirm is that her brother was very interested in returning. Would we have still gotten Bane if Ledger were still alive? Who knows, but Tom Hardy's portrayal of Batman's backbreaking nemesis is iconic in its own way as well. What we do have instead is "The Dark Knight," which is still the best superhero movie ever made.

Uma Thurman says QT Pressured her into disastrous stunt

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Uma Thurman was surely going to chime in with her two cents about the whole Harvey Weinstein sexual assault fiasco that has rampaged Hollywood fort he better part of 6 months now. Last November, when asked by Access Hollywood for a comment on Weinstein Thurman was visibly angry but not ready to tell her story just yet.

“I don’t have a tidy soundbite for you, because I’ve learned — I’m not a child, and I’ve learned that when I’ve spoken in anger I usually regret the way I express myself. So I’ve been waiting to feel less angry. And when I’m ready, I’ll say what I have to say.”

Today, in a scathing interview with The New York Times, Thurman revealed to Maureen Dowd that Weinstein indeed sexually assaulted her in a hotel room. 

“I was ultimately compliant,” she remembers. “I tried to say no, I cried, I did everything I could do. He told me the door was locked but I never ran over and tried the knob. When I got home, I remember I stood in front of the mirror and I looked at my hands and I was so mad at them for not being bloody or bruised. Something like that tunes the dial one way or another, right? You become more compliant or less compliant, and I think I became less compliant.”

This wall in promotion for "Kill Bill: Volume Two," which, it turns out, was a total nightmare for Uma.

“I am one of the reasons that a young girl would walk into his room alone, the way I did. Quentin used Harvey as the executive producer of ‘Kill Bill,’ a movie that symbolizes female empowerment. And all these lambs walked into slaughter because they were convinced nobody rises to such a position who would do something illegal to you, but they do.” ... “I used the word ‘anger’ but I was more worried about crying, to tell you the truth,” she says now. “I was not a groundbreaker on a story I knew to be true. So what you really saw was a person buying time.”

It's not just Weinstein, Thurman has, more or less, thrown Quentin Tarantino under the bus for forcing her to perform a car stunt in "Kill Bill: Volume Two," which resulted in Thurman hitting a palm tree. 

“The steering wheel was at my belly and my legs were jammed under me,” Thurman says. “I felt this searing pain and thought, ‘Oh my God, I’m never going to walk again.’ When I came back from the hospital in a neck brace with my knees damaged and a large massive egg on my head and a concussion, I wanted to see the car and I was very upset. Quentin and I had an enormous fight, and I accused him of trying to kill me. And he was very angry at that, I guess understandably because he didn’t feel he had tried to kill me.”

The actual video is available below.

Thurman's then-husband  Ethan Hawke wasn't too happy about the incident either, The actor is interviewed in the NYT article stating “I approached Quentin in very serious terms and told him that he had let Uma down as a director and as a friend," telling QT  “Hey, man, she is a great actress, not a stunt driver, and you know that.” Hawke did add that QT “was very upset with himself and asked for my forgiveness.”

“Two weeks after the crash, after trying to see the car and footage of the incident, she had her lawyer send a letter to Miramax, summarizing the event and reserving the right to sue. Miramax offered to show her the footage if she signed a document ‘releasing them of any consequences of my future pain and suffering,’ she says. She didn’t.

“Thurman was in ‘a terrible fight for years’ with Tarantino, she says. ‘We had to then go through promoting the movies. It was all very thin ice. We had a fateful fight at Soho House in New York in 2004 and we were shouting at each other because he wouldn’t let me see the footage and he told me that was what they had all decided.’

“Now, many years later, inspired by the #MeToo movement,  thurman says she has come to terms with her ‘dehumanization to the point of death’ during that car stunt mishap, so much so that she “ramped up the pressure to cajole the crash footage out of Tarantino.”

“’Quentin finally atoned by giving it to me after 15 years, right?’ she says. ‘Not that it matters now, with my permanently damaged neck and my screwed-up knees.'”

That seems highly unfair, for an actress to be forced to perform a dangerous stunt. One would say she could have easily just not done the stunt, refused, but one cannot imagine the pressure of being put into the situation she was in. QT comes off as immature, but he did apologize afterward and felt very bad. This isn't a career-killing moment for the director but it is no doubt a shot to the head of his reputation. 

It does sound like Thurman and Tarantino were still talking to each other as early as 2014, in an interview with Vs. Magazine she mentioned how they both had a good laugh with the rumors they were dating:  "I was discussing [the rumors] with Mr Tarantino last night. He was angry at me for not calling him back because as he said, 'According to the papers we are practically married!' and he laughed hysterically." This was probably a way for Thurman to just vent off demons that have been lurking inside her for many years.

Marvel Head Kevin Feige Says Superhero Fatigue Not Happening

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Let us not forget what Steven Spielberg said, in 2013, about the superhero genre "imploding" like the Western did in the '60s. 
“We were around when the Western died and there will be a time when the superhero movie goes the way of the Western. It doesn’t mean there won’t be another occasion where the Western comes back and the superhero movie someday returns. Of course, right now the superhero movie is alive and thriving. I’m only saying that these cycles have a finite time in popular culture. There will come a day when the mythological stories are supplanted by some other genre that possibly some young filmmaker is just thinking about discovering for all of us.”
We all wanted to believe him, I mean I love superhero movies more than the other but the amount being thrown at us year after year is a little too much. For every "Guardians of the Galaxy" there's a "Suicide Squad" or "Batman vs Superman." However, Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige says don't bet on it happening anytime soon, superhero fatigue is just not happening. Here's an excerpt from an interview he conducted with Vulture:
“For years, predating the history of Marvel Studios itself, people asked me about superhero fatigue and if it was a fad or a phase. I say, if they’re all different, if they’re all special, nobody will get tired of these things before we at Marvel Studios will, since we live and breathe these things 24 hours a day. You make films like ‘Thor: Ragnarok,’ like [‘Spider-Man:] Homecoming,’ like ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ certainly like [‘Black] Panther,’ and the upcoming ‘Infinity War‘ to keep it interesting and change it up. And we will continue to do that.”
Up next for Feige is "Black Panther," which I'm catching on 2.13.18

N.Y. Times film critic A.O. Scott writes a scathing indictment of Woody Allen: “It’s a matter of who deserves the benefit of the doubt”

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N.Y. Times

 critic 

A.O. Scott

 has 

indicted Woody Allen

 in his latest article entitled "My Woody Allen problem." Listen, no rebuttal writeup would do justice to the 

Robert Weide essay

, which is really a must read for anyone that has an open-mind and is willing to go past the witch hunt mentality that has infested our social media, especially Twitter.

Surely people like Scott have decided that it´s worth being despised and ridiculed, time will not be kind to him, just for the sake of keeping his job. The gist of it all is this: There has not been a single

other accuser

that has come forth and accused Allen of anything. Usually, these "predators" have a few victims. This is embarrassing for not Just Scott, but all the others trying to cling to some kind of relevance like Richard Brody who wrote a scathing review of "Wonder Wheel" in December in which he admitted he couldn't separate the man from the artists anymore, whatever the hell that means.

“It’s a matter of who deserves the benefit of the doubt,” Scott explains in the article. 

Posted by yours truly on 1.9.18:

"Disgusting, bullshit...McCarthyism...people crumbling and turning out of fear...mass public shaming....this is a disgraceful moment. Will Woody get hounded out of moviemaking? I don't know. I hope not. That would honestly crush my heart. I mean, I feel there are European financiers that would fund him. People know that Mia is a brainwasher who abused her kids. But they CAN'T SAY THAT Because that would be BLAMING THE VICTIM. I think we are fucked. The more times Trump does something like "shithole"...all white males pay. You can protest Trump 24 hours a day...you will still pay."

Rebecca Hall, Timothy Chalamet, Greta Gerwig, Ellen Page, Griffin Newman, and David Krumholtz, have expressed regret in working with him. What does this ever-growing list of actors and actresses condemning Allen mean for his future in moviemaking? We’re not sure yet, but one suspects that if more stars come out to condemn him then he might be hounded out of moviemaking for good, at least in Hollywood. American actors are surely going to think twice about working with him now and it will be really interesting to see what happens with the announcement of Allen’s next film if it happens because the writer/director typically announces and shoots a new film about every 12-16 months.

There would surely be European financiers ready to back his next projects, but a total ousting from Tinstletown would be a significant event. Following the allegations of child abuse, Allen’s much-publicized split with Mia Farrow back in the 1990’s ended in hostility, most of which has been unresolved almost two decades later. Ronan’s brother Moses has vehemently defended his dad over the years saying “My mother [Mia Farrow] drummed it into me to hate my father for tearing apart the family and sexually molesting my sister, and I hated him for her for years. I see now that this was a vengeful way to pay him back for falling in love with Soon-Yi.” However, Ronan Farrow, a reputable journalist, who helped uncover the Harvey Weinstein scandal for The New Yorker a few months ago (and signed a three-year deal this week with HBO to head up investigative documentaries), stands by his assertions that sexual abuse did happen. It’s a polarizing and infuriating scandal and the noise around it is not about to quell anytime soon.

Rose McGowan has quite possibly lost her mind





Rose McGowan‘s strange behavior on Stephen Colbert the other night has raised concerns in regards to her mental health. We can't forget either her Barnes & Noble meltdown on Wednesday.



 I cannot stress enough how important the American actress-model-singer has been to the #MeToo movement, she and Asia Argento we're the first to admit being abused by Harvey Weinstein right before the movement was about to be unleashed. However, Rose needs to take a step back and realize just how mentally fragile and unbalanced her recent appearances have looked. 
Yes, she might be driven by honesty and the experiences she endured in the past that have, visibly, shaken her, but I'm thinking there's more to this than meets the eye. I contacted a friend that, more or less, confirmed my concerns. He's known McGowan for the better part of 20 years:

 "Lotta drugs. Lotta plastic surgery. Talks weird in this way that only multi-pharmaceutical-taking people do. She didn't used to talk like that. You gotta understand, ROSE IS TRUMP This is all about her All her dumb language about I come from Planet Xenon and I don't speak like you people, that is all real megalomania (probably spiked with meth and Adderall)Sadly Rose was once a funny, vivid girl. Really could make you laugh out loud hard. Used to love House of Pies. Bought whole cars while on Ambien."

 Whatever the case may be, she tweeted today that no more public appearances will be made to promote her book Brave, but also mentioned the infamous Barnes and Nobles book appearance. McGowan is condemning her team of publicists, assistants, and managers who she claims did nothing when she was being "verbally assaulted" by the heckler (whom she claims was a hired actor):

‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ Trailer Will Be Released on Monday


“Solo: A Star Wars Story.” Can we please go past all the problems and just try to go into this film with an open mind? Who am I kidding. We have quite literally never seen anything quite like the production nightmare that happened on the Han Solo movie. Director's Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired way into the shoot, replaced by Ron Howard, but another problem arose: lead Alden Ehrenreich's acting. I mean, if you're Disney, and you really do believe that this is a film worth promoting and investing large sums of money towards then you show us a trailer, but it's never come, an oddity compared to the rest of the Star Wars films we've gotten since "The Force Awakens." 
Trailer Track confirms that this most-elusive trailer for “Solo: A Star Wars Story” will launch on Monday during “Good Morning America.” 
UPDATED:

The 80-Minute movie is such a lost art in Hollywood. There are far and few of them these days.

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Whenever one goes to a film festival, the main objective is to put together a clear and concise schedule of films and, hope to god, it all works out in the end and you've seen what you had to see. What really helps are those 70-80 minute movies that can really give you a little more breathing room in between the films to, you know, eat something. 

Jeffrey Wells' over at Hollywood Elsewhere mentioned how Sally Potter‘s The Party is just 71 minutes, which seems to be a major selling point for the both of us. I love 80 minute movies. They are such a lost art, very rarely do you have a movie that runs less than 90. Producers don't want to leave the audience member short-changed, but the art of making a film in the 80-minute mark, or less, is such a meticulous editing process. It has to be tight, have a sort of drive that keeps you in it, because, essentially, the film only has two acts.

As mentioned, a great lost art.

These would probably be the cream of the crop in terms of this kind of movie:

Dumbo (64 Minutes,), Frankenstein (70 minutes), Pickpocket (75 minutes), Before Sunset (80 minutes), Zelig (79 minutes), Rope (80 minutes), Primer (77 Minutes), Toy Story (81 minutes), Borat (84 minutes), Elephant (81 Minutes), Run Lola Run (81 minutes), This is Spinal Tap (82 Minutes)

Sundance 2018: The Best of the Fest.


The 2018 Sundance Film Festival might just be remembered as the festival that preceded the incredible 38th edition, where some of the best movies of 2017 had their debut (“Call Me By Your Name,” “Get Out,” “The Big Sick,” “Mudbound,” “A Ghost Story,” “Columbus,” “Wind River.”) This 39th edition has, more or less, been seen as a disappointment for many, there was no movie that could unite all journalists attending this year’s edition. And yet, if you could burst out of that bubble, and look beyond the major premieres that disappointed, you would find gem after gem. This is the year the midnight section came to be more than an excuse to shock, horrify or disturb. There was all that and so much in more in artfully rendered midnight entries such as “Hereditary,” and “Mandy,” which has Nic Cage avenging his wife’s murder in ways that are too good to reveal.
No, if Sundance 2018 proved anything it was that the festival had reached a point in its history where it was damn near impossible not to find great movies scattered through its program. If you were adventurous enough to look beyond the premieres at the 1500 capacity Eccles theater, you would find incredible independent cinema, made by tomorrow’s visionaries, stamped all over the festival’s NEXT section, or even the Documentary sections which have become a hotbed for Oscar-nominated non-fiction, just this year 3 of the 5 Best Documentary nominees made their premieres at Sundance in 2017 (“Icarus,” “Strong Island,” and “Last Men in Allepo). This year’s crop of Docs that will surely make waves include Robert Greene’s “Bisbee ’17,” Bing Liu’s “Minding the Gap,” RaMell Ross’ “Hale County,” Tim Wardle’s “Three Identical Strangers,” Alexandria Bombach’s “On Her Shoulders,” and Morgan Neville’s “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” which told the touching, humane story of Fred Rogers.
I saw close to 50 movies at this year’s festival, many were inconsequential and non-starters, but that’s always been the case here, as Sundance is a festival which aims to give first-time filmmakers a shot, despite the rookie mistakes that may arise from such a venture. More than 32% of this year’s films were made by women, a festival high and you could feel the difference everywhere you went. The cinematic female voices that were being shown on-screen resonated throughout town. In fact, eight of the ten movies I included in my top ten of the festival were led by a female performance, five of the ten films were directed by women.
1) The Tale
Jennifer Fox won the grand jury prize at the 1988 Sundance Film Festival for her documentary “Beirut: The Last Home Movie.” The Tale comes as her first narrative feature. However, any thought that this would be a by-the-books movie would be sorely mistaken. Driven by a soulful, brave performance from Laura Dern as Jennifer Fox, she has to give so much of herself here that this damn near qualifies as one of the bravest female performances ever given onscreen, who else could pull this off? This is a messy and ambitious effort about the traumatic sexual experiences Fox had when she was just 13-years-old, raped by a man she thought she was in love with. Memories blur which makes this bold and brave movie always a step ahead of us as it feels like a confessional from someone that is discovering herself through art. The trauma buried deep in Fox’ subconscious has been there for many years. You have never seen anything quite like Jennifer Fox’ “The Tale.”  Sure, the film has relevance due to today’s #Metoo and Time’s Up-driven zeitgeist, but the artfulness that comes with this movie is second to none. This is a film that is indescribable, something that is all too rare these days which is why it is by far the best movie I have seen at Sundance 2018. “The Tale” is a masterpiece.

2) Hereditary
Sometimes a horror film comes along that you just feel will change the game. Ari Aster‘s “Hereditary” is just that movie – a spooky, hypnotic film that feels like the culmination of the last 50 years of horror. Aster gives us a melange of “The Shining,” “The Exorcist,” and “Rosemary’s Baby,” three of the greatest of the genre, and creates his own masterpiece in the process. This is a remarkable, triumphant, and confident picture by Aster, who gives the film an almost meditative-like sensation, as you feel every space you’re in, every emotion, every moment of grief. “Hereditary” refuses to employ cheap thrills, creating its cinematic scares with atmosphere, and continuously reinventing itself at every turn. Best of all, it’s anchored by an incredible performance from Toni Collette who is so good that, believe it or not, people were already chattering Oscar towards her direction. She’s that good.

3) Eighth Grade
Bo Burnham‘s “Eighth Grade,” an altogether impressive debut from the comedian, follows Kayla (Elsie Fisher), whose constant self-reflectiveness is familiar enough to make you cringe at every stutter. Kayla’s dad (Josh Hamilton) is as good a single dad as you can be, given the fact that he has to contend with his teenage girl entering the most awkward and uncomfortable phase of her life. What Burnham tries to give us with this movie is a snapshot of history in the making. This is a generation like no other, one that will most-likely grow up to be very different adults than anyone could have ever imagined. The zombie-like student body in “Eighth Grade” are slaves to technology, almost robot-like in their movements.

4) Leave No Trace
Eight years ago, director Debra Granik along with a then-unknown Jennifer Lawrence premiered “Winter’s Bone” to a stunned Sundance audience. Granik has given us another outstandingly talented young actress by the name of Thomasin McKenzie. She plays the teenage Tom who, along with her dad Will (Ben Foster), tries to live off the grid in a state park in Oregon. The 17-year-old cinematic debutante has so much talent that she carries this film in the palm of her hands. The charisma, authenticity and grace she displays is incredibly mature and restrained. “Leave No Trace” is a lovely film to behold, unspooling very much in the tradition of David Lynch‘s humane, good-hearted Americana masterpiece “The Straight Story. It is about an rarely depicted on-screen. They are the lost voices and they make “Leave No Trace” a universal, unforgettable experience.

5) Search
“Search” has been dubbed as the movie “that’s completely set on a computer screen.” Ok, fine. However, an inventive gimmick can only go so far if the story doesn’t involve or make you care for the stakes at hand. Making his feature-debut, Aneesh Chaganty, a former Google commercials creator, overcomes those hurdles with this touching and tense movie worthy of Hitchcock. As a father tries to scramble and find his missing daughter, “Search” uses all the technological forms of communication to make a taut, tense and terrific thriller. If this is in fact how some stories will be told in the eventual future then so be it, the potential is there.

6) Tully
In Jason Reitman’s beautiful love letter, a fairy tale of sorts, Charlize Theron is Marlo, a mother of three, whose hesitance towards hiring a night nanny Tully (Mackenzie Davis)by her brother quickly turns into a truly heavenly experience once the aforementioned nanny is hired. Marlo and Tully form a bond that feels so touching and heavenly that it effectively works as the driving force of the whole movie. Not much happens in Tully except for conversation, this is screenwriter Diablo Cody’s ruthless, authentic love letter to women all over the world, those that have to go through all the obstacles that man don’t. They say you have to experience to fully know what it feels, Theron, in a performance of immense honesty makes you feel every ache, every strain, of her character’s everyday struggles. This is the fiercest of feminism portrayed on-screen. 
7) The Kindergarten Teacher
Maggie Gyllenhaal is a Staten Island early-childhood educator who starts obsessing over a gifted student, which leads to problems too good to reveal in this capsule. Sara Colangelo’s American remake of the similarly-titled Israeli drama maintains its own unique identity. However, the movie belongs to Gyllenhaal, who keeps playing with our heads throughout the film. The fact that she maintains the sympathetic nature of her character makes this brilliant film all the more mysterious.

8) Puzzle
From its first elegantly shot frame, you know “Puzzle” is going to be something special. When we meet Agnes (a remarkable Kelly Macdonald, riveting even in her quietest moments), she’s in her comfort zone, readying her home for a party, meticulously vacuuming and cleaning every inch of dirt in the living room. Even when the party begins she is still at work, focusing on what might be “off” in the living room, but here’s the kicker: she emerges from the kitchen carrying a birthday cake filled with candles and her guests starts to singing “Happy Birthday” to her. Eventually, things do get somewhat complicated in Moverman’s script, with a struggle to tie things up, if they should be tied-up at all, but Agnes’ dilemma to pursue her personhood is never overdone. Just like her own personality, the film is restrained enough to always leave a mystery lingering behind every decision. Turtletaub does have a hard time finding a way to conclude Agnes’ story, but he ends “Puzzle” on such a delightful note of simplicity, that this near-perfect movie nevertheless stuns. 
9) Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Oscar-winning documentarian Morgan Neville decided to tackle Mister Fred Rogers, America’s favorite neighbor, in a way that we had never seen him before. Moving past the zip-up cardigans, Neville’s film is about kindness and compassion. The film manages to take such a beloved show for children to tell us why it mattered. Shows like “Mister Rogers Neighborhood” don’t exist anymore. Programs would rather go for the ads and marketing than maintain their integrity. Not Rogers, he refused to be bought, there were no toys, no lunchoxes, just the message.
10) On Her Shoulders
Sundance has been known to include many films about what’s happening in the middle east throughout its yearly Documentary competition and premieres sections.  However, Alexandria Bombach’s documentary “On Her Shoulders” is a unique addition. With the well-honed eyes of her camera lenses, Bombach tackles the incredible story of Nadia Murad, a 23-year-old Yazidi woman who was kept as a sex slave for ISIS when she was just 19.  The terrorist group had invaded her village of Kojo in Sinjar, Iraq and cause a genocide of her people. As Bombach’s camera follow’s Murad around the world advocating help for the Yazidi people she gives interview after interview, speech after speech, describing her people’s plights and her own experiences. Reliving her trauma, over and over again in order to help her people, Nadia tries to keep herself on track despite the toll this has taken on her. The film’s final image, which has Nadia returning to her homeland, is nothing short of stunning.

Paramount has all but disowned “Annihilation” after test screenings deemed it “too intellectual,” and demands for its director Alex Garland to radically change the movie were met with resistance.

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Good or bad, I was always going to see Alex Garland’s #Annihilation anyway. However, in light of recent news, I urge all of you who already planned on going, to bring AT LEAST one person with you to the theater & prove to these studio executives that they don’t know everything.— Matt Neglia (@NextBestPicture) January 31, 2018

Studios just want to know what Joe Average will think of a picture. It's the bottom line. They want to sell tickets. That could make or break a film. In the case of Alex Garland‘s “Annihilation,” it sent two producers into battle.

Paramount and Netflix are in charge of the international rights to “Annihilation,” the deal has Garland’s film opening 17 days after the theatrical release.  You want to see it theatrically? U.S., Canada and China will get a theatrical release. This would look like a deal to make any losses on the part of Paramount, which has quite clearly had a horrifying response to the finished product.

THR had reported that the film was testing very poorly and that the complaints Paramount layed forth to Garland were that "Annihilation" was “too intellectual” and “too complicated” for audiences. "As a result, he wanted Garland to make changes to the ending of the movie, and craft a more sympathetic portrayal of Portman’s character." Enter the film’s co-producer Scott Rudin (“No Country For Old Men,” “The Social Network,” “Lady Bird“), a maverick, he basically refused Paramount's orders. Rudin has final cut according to the contract and the fact that Garland's intended vision is being released, has made Paramount very nervous, so much so that they went to Netflix who will be in charge of half the film's 55 million budget. 

“Intellectual” is a phrase that should be mentioned when it comes to Garland (“Ex Machina,” “Sunshine,” “Never Let Me Go“). Paramount knew that.

I've heard whispers here and there of Garland's movie being as accesible as "2001: A Space Oddysey," which means, yes, it won't be as accessiblre to the Marvel/DC mainstream crowd, but there is a whole market out there for thoughtful sci-fi. The excitement of watching Garland's vision onscreen has me anticipating this new opus. 

“Annihilation” opens on Febraury 23, 2018.

Justin Hurwitz on the music for Damien Chazelle’s Neil Armstrong movie, “First Man”: “I’m getting away from jazz and old-fashioned orchestral sounds and experimenting with electronic music”

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As Damien Chazelle is no doubt smackdab busy with his next film, the Neil Armstrong biopic "First Man," his composer Justin Hurwitz, he scored "Whiplash" and "La La Land," has revealed that this third collaboration with Chazelle will not be jazzy at all and, in fact, will veer towards electronica.

Duncan Jones says “Mute” is his “love letter to Blade Runner.”

I’m surprised that they would actually mention on the poster that this is from the director of “Warcraft.” Duncan Jones became one of the very exciting directors to emerge from Hollywood with “Moon,” and “Source Code,” but “Warcraft” was a step back. This, looks like a step forward. Visually it looks and feels like “Blade Runner.” 

EDIT: It is not surprising for me to learn that Jones has describe “Mute” as a love letter to "Blade Runner." Also that "Mute" and “Moon” actually take place in the same universe. "Moon was supposed to be his directorial debut.

Netflix has invested a lot of money to this film, their last attempts at this were "Okja," and "Bright," both somewhat succesful, especially the latter which reached a record-breaking audience for the stream service. 

Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos: “[Director] Duncan Jones is such a dynamic directing force, and the team he has assembled in-front-of and behind-the-camera will continue to reinvigorate the science fiction genre.” 

The official plot synopsis:"Berlin, the future, but close enough to feel familiar: In this loud, often brutal city, Leo (Alexander Skarsgård) – unable to speak from a childhood accident – searches for his missing girlfriend, the love of his life, his salvation, through dark streets, frenzied plazas, and the full spectrum of the cities shadow-dwellers. As he seeks answers, Leo finds himself mixed up with Cactus Bill (Paul Rudd) and Duck (Justin Theroux), a pair of irreverent US army surgeons on a mission all their own. This soulful sci-fi journey from filmmaker Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code, Warcraft) imagines a world of strange currencies in which echoes of love and humanity are still worth listening to."

“Mute” is released on Netflix on February 23rd.

Richard Roeper suspended by Chicago Sun-Times because he bought “fake” Twitter followers

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It's odd that someone would actually pay for Twitter followers, I mean what's the point, right? But a  1.27.18 N.Y. Times story is saying that Richard Roeper has been found guilty of such a "crime." Of all people, why Roeper? He has 224,000 followers.

Now, it sounds like that's a nono in journalism as Roeper has reportedly  been suspended by the Chicago Sun-Times who "will no longer be publishing anything by Roeper until it completes an investigation of his Twitter followers." I figure he'll eventually come back from this, althought the accusations are quite odd and very 2018, the reppercussions of such an act still unknoen.

Chicago Sun Times editor-in-chief Chris Fusco: 

“We became aware over the weekend of issues relating to Rich Roeper’s Twitter account. We’re investigating these issues. We will not be publishing any reviews or columns by Rich until this investigation is complete.”

Lou over at HE said this:

"There's no shame in having bought followers - it's not about false ego, it's about increasing the visibility/priority of your tweets. The more followers you have, the higher your tweet gets placed in everyone else's streams - twitter considers you more influential. It's the backdoor way to buy premium service."

First reactions to “Black Panther” are universally positive, it’s a “game-changer”

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