5 foreign films vying for the Oscar

Image result for oscar foreign nominees
Listen, we know the academy wants and will most probably reward Sebastian Lelio's good but not great "A Fantastic Woman," a film so overpraised by critics last year that you couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, it was because of how progressive its subject matter was rather than the way it was delivered. 
15 of the 23  Gold Derby pundits have Lelio‘s film to win the Best Foreign Language Feature Oscar. That's fine, it's a good movie that features a great performance from transgender actress Daniela Vega who plays the titular character, a transsexual woman who's older boyfriend suddenly dies of a heart attack. 
In my mixed review of the film last year I wrote:
 "With all these ingredients in place Lelio tries to concoct something gripping that feels like you're being transported by Marina's rummaging, confused psyche. It works and it doesn't work. The film is put together with enough passion and verve that, at times, one might be reminded of Pedro Almodovar's noir melodramas. The film's tensions, humor, moments filled with sheer transcendence, occur in the first half  where we are left to discover the characters, the motives, with Lelio seemingly a step ahead of us. There's intrigue looming in ever frame, but that intrigue fades in the second hour as the writer-director isn't sure where he wants his film to go. It's a good thing that Vegaare's magnificent performance is able to carry us through the finish line but the commitment we once had for her truly heroic story is stretched a bit too thinly. "A Fantastic Woman" might be 104 minutes, but it's 20 too long for a story in which the drama slowly fades away."
There are far worthier films that deserve to win this year, most notably Ruben Ostlund's "The Square" and  Andrey Zvyagintsev's "Loveless," both the crowning peaks of foreign cinema at last year's Cannes Film Festival. The problem with both is that they don't necessarily adhere to the current politics. In the Russian "Loveless" shades of Putin's Russia lurk in every frame but there isn't any outright condemnation, just subtle gesturing and details which hint at the repressiveness of the regime. "The Square," hailing from Sweden tackles how our society has delved into the deep end with political correctness and lost a part of out vitality, spontaneity if you will, in the process. There's nothing worse than shunning movements that are in the know these days, which gives both these films a rather harder chance to win come Oscar night, but please do seek them. The other two "The Insult," and "On Body and Soul" just didn't do it for me.

Trailer: 14 years later, “The Incredibles 2" comes at a time when superhero movies are everywhere.

Good news if you're an "Incredibles" fan, like me, the sequel to the brilliant 2004 Pixar film has been moved up to Summer of 2018. The bad news? Toy Story 4 has been bumped to 2019. Nevertheless, we have a trailer for the sequel to the superhero saga which will surely be a potent moneymaker this year. "The Incredibles" is still considered one of the very best movies of the superhero genre and for good reason. Back in 2004 I wrote this about the film:

"While we get relentlessly pummeled by countless superhero movies every single year, it is a breath of fresh air to see the genre work so triumphantly well. Brad Bird has proven his worth in the past, most notably with the criminally underrated animated movie “The Iron Giant”. Bird gives us another visual treat by tackling the superhero genre and coming out with a classic that can stand alongside “The Dark Knight” and “Spider-Man 2″. The action scenes are breathtakingly staged, with Bird’s incredible eye for detail and pacing coming in handy. Unlike many superhero movies, this is one of the rare cases where a sequel would be welcome and well-deserved."

Paulette Goddard, in 1936’s Charlie Chaplin starring “Modern Times,” looked like she could be in a contemporary film

"City Lights" is probably Charlie Chaplin's greatest achievement, but "Modern Times," ah yes, now that movie is my favorite Chaplin. It's no surprise that he found an incredible starring partner in Paulette Godard, who also starred with him in "The Great Dictator." She was also great in her non-Chaplin roles, but her legacy is those two Chaplins she was win.  She married the actor in 1936 but would later divorce him in 1942, no coincidence that she garnered a reputation as an actress that was hard to work with, but that might have to do with Chaplin spreading the aforementioned toxicity post-divorce than any other conceivable reality, but who knows. I must have seen "Modern Times" around 2004, when I was in film school and, suffice to say, her modern beauty struck me immediately. I've seen hundreds upon hundreds of films from that era with most of the women looking rather dated and of their time, not Goddard. Today, she still has that modern beauty to be a movie star.  This is a timeless example of how sporting the latest hairdo in a movie can date a woman. Another great example, from the other end of the spectrum, is just about every movie from the 80s. Goddrd's chemistry with Chaplin in "Modern Times" was incredibly intense and brought forth an extra layer of realism to the film. On a side note; in the film "Chaplin," in which Robert Downey Jr. portrayed the titular star, he was portrayed as seeming to feel the best about Goddard out of all of his ex-wives because she was the only one that didn't try to take him to the cleaners in the divorce. Go figure.

[Reddit]

George Lucas was developing a Han Solo Movie with “Solo: A Star Wars Story” scribe Lawrence Kasdan before Disney bought Lucasfilm

Image result for george lucas han solo movie

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, writer Lawrence Kasdan confirmed that before the Disney deal, he was already working on a Han Solo screenplay for George Lucas. However, when the Disney purchase of Lucasfilm happened, he put the unfinished screenplay on the backburner and started to work on ’The Force Awakens.’ Feeling burned out, the screenwriter enlisted his son Jon Kasdan to help him on the uncompleted ‘Solo’:

"When I was done, I was sort of burned out. And I said, ‘I don’t know, do we still want to do this Han thing?’…And they said, ‘Yeah! We really want you to go ahead with Han.’ And I said, ‘Well, my son, Jon, is very enthusiastic and full of ideas about the saga.’ And he had directed two movies and had done other things. ‘What if he came on and worked with me? Because that would give me a shot in the arm.’ And so, that’s exactly what happened. They made a deal with Jon, and he and I have been writing since for three years."

I’m sure Lucas had a very different movie in mind, but, alas, Disney has taken over and Kasdan can do the best he can to maintain whatever original vision he had for Lucas’ version. The creative freedom, or lack thereof, that Disney gives to its creatives is well-known and so what we will surely have is a film very much in the spirit of the last three Disney-Star Wars movies. We could have gotten something a little more unique with Lord and Miller at the reigns, but we all know what happened with their movie.

“Solo: A Star Wars Story” opens on May 25th.

“Get Out” is returning to theaters for free on President’s Day

Daniel Kaluuya and Allison Williams in a scene from

That Writer's Guild of America award sure helped build back momentum for what, quite frankly was, the movie of the year: Jordan Peele's "Get Out." Yes, Peele's film is back in contention as a Best picture contender and my dark horse pick to win come Oscar evening. To say the movie is important would be an understatement, it is a product for and of its time, one of the most culturally important genre films to come around ever. A hybrid of horror, comedy, social commentary, the film was made on a scant $4.5 million budget and made more than $110 million domestically. The way the film dealt with the hypocrisy of white liberalism's tackling of race was not just eye-opening but immensely risk-taking. However, the film's greatest achievement was its showing of what it really felt like to be African-American, a sort of forced empathy that resonated deeply as we looked at the world through the eyes of Daniel Kaluuya's African-American and suddenly we saw the world in in whole a new perspective we never thought to be possible. That's the magic of cinema. Plus, it was just so damn funny and strange.

One year later, the conversation continues. And to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Get Out, AMC theaters has decided to re-release it to theaters on February 19, for one day only, just a handful of days shy of the film's one year anniversary (February 24). And to boot, that’s a Monday and, yes, that’s President’s Day. Coincidence? I think not. So that all the people who would've voted for Obama a 3rd time can enjoy!

In a video shared on Peele's Twitter account, the writer-director had this to say about the event:

"It's been a year since Get Out opened in theaters. As a small thank you to the fans who made the film a success, Universal and I wanted to give something back."

Peele’s movie is one that greatly benefits from the theatrical experience, as he mentions, this is part of the reason why the film is being re-released:

“It’s all about that theatrical experience, so please go, enjoy it with other people, get ready to use your voices,” he said. “I don’t care if you’ve seen it one time, two times, three times, if you bring somebody who’s never seen it and you watch them watch it — whatever. You get to enjoy a free screening of “Get Out” this President’s Day.”

The film  will be shown on President's Day at select AMC Theaters at 7 p.m.So far, 55 locations have marked themselves down as participating, according to the press release from Universal, some of the major cities included are Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, Philadelphia, San Diego, Washington, D.C. and more.

The tickets will be given on first come, first served basis. More info can be found on the film's website, which has been reconfigured for the President's Day event.

James Franco spared for now

The sexual misconduct allegations against James Franco that surfaced last month slowed the multi-hyphenate’s momentum. Five women came forward and accused Franco of sexually exploitative behavior, and the actor quickly responded, saying the allegations were “not accurate” during appearances on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” and “Late Night With Seth Meyers.”
Franco had just written, directed, starred and won a Golden Globe for “The Disaster Artist” (pundits have surmised that Franco lost a chance at a Best Actor Oscar nomination due to the allegations which surfaced just days before voting closed) and was also a part of one of the best TV shows of the year. HBO‘s “The Deuce.”
If you’ve watched Franco’s dual performance as twin brother Vincent and Frankie Martino in David Simon‘s brilliant “The Deuce,” you know how important his presence is to the saga, which details the rise of the porn industry in early ’70s New York City. However, with these new allegations, it remained unclear what HBO would decide to do about Franco and the series, which they renewed for a second season in the fall.
ET reveals that during last night’s Writers Guild Awards ceremony, writer Megan Abbott spoke to the media and confirmed that  Franco would “of course” be part of the second season. She didn’t elaborate further.
Plenty of questions still remain. Will there be a pushback on this decision? In the current #MeToo climate, can Franco survive what will surely be a contentious debate surrounding his return to “The Deuce”? The series can’t really continue without Franco, but it’s hard to imagine this will be the last we hear of the controversy.

Sony Thinking About Leaving Quentin Tarantino's Manson Movie

Image result for tarantino
Roger Friedman over at Showbiz 411 is reporting that Paramount are having “second thoughts” about producing Tarantino's Charles Manson era movie.The studio is supposedly concerned about the controversies that have surrounded Tarantino the last few weeks. Uma Thurman, interviewed by the NYT, accused the director of forcing her to do a car stunt, which left her injured with permanent chronic pain, then a 2003 interview on “The Howard Stern Show” resurfaced which had Tarantino claiming that Samantha Geimer, who was raped by Roman Polanski when she was 13 years-old, “wanted to have it….she was down with this.” QT apologized for both incidents, but it was a matter of too little too late for many on social media and in the industry.
It's no doubt a risk for Sony to embark on this project, forget about QT's recent controversies, the fact that the film will have Polanski as a side character is also ridiculous and badly-timed. It also costs upwards of $100 million, and the fact that it will have to earn $375M to break even is something that should be considered here. “Django Unchained,” earned $425 million worldwide. “Inglourious Basterds,” $321 million worldwide, but Tarantino’s last movie, “The Hateful Eight,” earned a very tepid $155 million globally. I just can't see the studio moving along with this project, but who knows.

Is “The Thin Red Line” Still A Masterpiece?

Image result for the thin red line 600x200

Jeffrey Wells over at Hollywood-Elsewhere had  an interesting write-up on Terrence Malick's "The Thin Red Line," saying that any kind of excitement he had for the movie upon initial viewings has evaporated away the last few years: "I’m always excited when I watch scenes from Malick’s 1998 film on YouTube, but I found it labored and ponderous during my two full-boat viewings. I was exhausted at the end of both."

To which I replied: "The Thin Red Line" is long, pedantic if you will, but also has some truly astonishing moments scattered throughout its 3 hour running time. It can sometimes be a chore to watch but who cares? It's as much a work of art as "2001," "L'Avventura" or "Andrei Rublev," meaning just because it moves at a snail's pace doesn't mean it's not worthy It's also significantly better than any of Malick's last 3 features."

Update on Scorsese's “The Irishman"

Martin Scorsese‘s “The Irishman” isn’t slotted as a 2018 movie "The Irishman," the official byline says 2019, but it’s already skyrocketed to the top of most cinephiles “most anticipated” films lists for this year. Film nerds like us want it that bad and hope that Netflix will push for a December 2018 Awards season bow. But the movie is a deceptively complex one may arrive later than we think.

Wrote more about this on The Playlist. 

There is no more timely Doc than "Icarus"

Image result for icarus doc

Netflix has a goldmine with “Icarus,” its documentary about Russia’s doping program, especially  with the recent announcement by the International Olympic Committee that bans Russia from the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.  "Icarus" is about an elaborate doping scheme involving Russian government and its athletes. Many are saying that because Fogel stumbled onto an international scandal while making the film, it led to the IOC ban.

The film is expected to screen this weekend in Los Angeles and the same next weekend in New York. “Icarus” is available to Netflix subscribers on its streaming platform. Controversy or not, “Icarus” is an incredible documentary and quite possibly a contender for a best documentary Academy Award, it just needs this theatrical release to be eligible for the award.

On 2.1.17 I wrote:

"Given all the attention that Russia’s Vladmir Putin has been getting of late, it would be very hard to find a more relevant film than Bryan Fogel’s documentary Icarus, which deals with the Russian government’s Olympic cheating scandal. The scandal was uncovered by accident by Fogel, who was following a Russian scientist for a doping documentary, but found out he had a much bigger story at hand. This is the kind of film where a twist happens in almost every frame and the filmmaker, Fogel, seems to have stumbled upon a goldmine of a narrative."

Two months ago, it was announced that Russia’s was banned from the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Many claim the reason for this punishment was "Icarus" and the evidence it layed forth onscreen.

A N.Y. Times report has gone a little more in-depth with the whole Russia/IOC debacle, and investigated the massive state-run doping program. Grigory Rodchenkov, the main subject of "Icarus," was the mastermind behind Russia’s antidoping laboratory during 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Thanks to Jeff Wells over at Hollywood-Elsewhere for these quotes from the two-month old N.Y. Times story:

“Russia’s government officials are forbidden to attend, its flag will not be displayed at the opening ceremony and its anthem will not sound.

“Any athletes from Russia who receive special dispensation to compete will do so as individuals wearing a neutral uniform, and the official record books will forever show that Russia won zero medals.

“That was the punishment issued Tuesday to the proud sports juggernaut that has long used the Olympics as a show of global force but was exposed for systematic doping in previously unfathomable ways.

“The International Olympic Committee, after completing its own prolonged investigations that reiterated what had been known for more than a year, handed Russia penalties for doping so severe they were without precedent in Olympics history.”

Amy Schumer “Feels Pretty” and It’s Causing Social Media to Freak

I Feel Pretty written by Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein will no doubt have some celebrating its message, which has been used over and over again in the 100+ year history of cinema, but probably feels like it's all of a sudden relevant to the #MeToo crowd. Fine by me. The character Amy Schumer plays here has low self-esteem, mostly due to her weight, but suddenly feels reinvigorated after some kind of mainstream magical surrealism happens to her after an awesome workout session at the gym. What she sees in the mirror is a stunning woman.

Schumer's "Trainwreck" was released three years ago and that movie was a breath of fresh air, despite its pat ending, in that it showcased a new, feminist talent in Schumer. cut to 2018 Schumer's had a single other movie released sinced her "Trainwreck" triumph, the incomprehensibly bad "Snatched which also starred Goldie Hawn. Not just that, she seems to have gained a good 25-30 pounds in the process. Just take a look at the before and after Jeffrey Wells did below [Article].

But if you think this movie won't escape the wrath of social media witch hunts then think again. The movie is already being accused of "white privilege," being  "too-white," and Schumer actually not being all that fat.

#MeToo: “Amour” Director Michael Haneke denounces “hatred of men” and “witch hunt”

Image result for haneke

The French seem to have had a totally opposite reaction to the #MeToo movement, at least judging by the number of actors, actresses, and directors that have shown their disdain towards it. Take for example an open letter published in Le Monde that compared the movement to “puritanism,” but insisted that although “rape is a crime, insistently or awkwardly hitting on someone is not,” additionally blaming the #MeToo campaign for “expeditious justice” to men who “may have touched a knee, tried to steal a kiss” or “spoken of ‘intimate’ things during a professional dinner.” More than 100 “prominent French women,” from the industry had signed that letter, including Catherine Deneuve,  as a right to try and defend “sexual freedom.” Oh and lest we forget the immense amour French cinephiles have given Woody Allen over the past 3 decades, even as his work stateside has been much less popular with critics and audiences. His French distributor Stéphane Célérier, the head of Mars Films, last week defended Allen when it came to the tumultuous and controversial sexual accusations brought forth against him by his daughter Dylan Farrow, with Célérier even going as far saying “This affair makes me think of the case of the Witches of Salem which Arthur Miller used so expertly in his play [‘The Crucible‘] as an allegory for McCarthyism.”

Today, possibly the biggest name in the French film industry spoke out against #MeToo, as "Amour" and "Cache" director Michael Haneke. denounced "the hatred of men"-- the most well-respected public figure to use such harsh words thus far.

In an interview with Austrian daily Kurier the 75-year-old filmmaker stated: “This new puritanism imbued with a hatred of men, which comes in the wake of the #Metoo movement, concerns me.” The important and groundbreaking movement, which has helped free women’s voices and denounce sexual abuse, was described as having turned into a “witch hunt” by Haneke and “a new kind of  puritanism which could hinder artistic creation.” He went on to say “As an artist, we are beginning to face the fear of this crusade against all forms of eroticism,” and went on to give as an example Nagisa Oshima’s sexually explicit classic “The Empire of the senses” which he says would “never be shot or accepted today.”

Haneke maintains that he believes firmly in the spirit of the #MeToo movement and why it was started, but that it may have run its course and gone over the edge  “Of course, any form of rape or sexual coercion must be punished, but I find hysteria and condemnations without trial that we now witness quite disgusting.” He went on to add that the “thoughtless rage” manifested has “destroyed lives even with a lack of evidence to back up the accusations.” He then took it a step further by condemning the media who he claims have “murdered lives and careers in the process.”

Haneke's assertion that "each shitstorm that these revelations triggers poisons the climate within the society" tells us so much about the rage that is brooding deep inside him at the moment. I had spoken to him late last year about social media which he described as a "Machiavellian chain of horrors" and went on to say "social media wars that happen on a daily basis eventually lead to larger, more destructive wars." The whole interview was really just a fascinating rumination on what he saw as an explicit change happening in social interactions today. His statements today on #MeToo are thus not all that surprising to me and further exemplify the divide between French and American cultures. Two deeply different western societies that both have their own issues to address, but are clearly not on the same page when it comes to this.

Director Ron Howard Says Lord & Miller’s “Fingerprints Are All Over” ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story.’

Image result for lord miller solo'

The questions pertaining to just how much of “Solo: A Star Wars Story” was original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller's footage before they were fired. How much of the material they shot, and there was plenty, was used in the movie before Ron Howard came to save the day? These are undoubtedly questions we will never know the exact answer to, but an estimate would be nice. “As Han says, ‘Don’t tell me the percentages.’ Never tell me the percentages,” Howard told EW. 

However, Howard does mention that Lord and Miller's footage is very much part of the film:

“It’s disappointing that any company ever feels like they have to make a change like that,” he said. “It’s rough on everybody and disappointing for everybody, and I’ve just tried to come in and — of course, Phil and Chris’s fingerprints are all over the movie, given how much they put into it and the time they put into it. I hope fans won’t even think about how the movie was made. They should just lose themselves in it.”

“I don’t really want to explain it. I don’t really want to be specific about that because, again, I don’t even want that to matter to fans. I could understand why you’d ask, and some might even be curious, but look, everybody who has been involved in this has done nothing but love what this movie could be, and that’s been the vibe around it. I think audiences are gonna feel that love and excitement.”

Shooting a tentpole like "Star Wars" or any movie from the MCU comes with a blueprint of what you can and cannot do as a director, writer, cinematographer, it's just part of the game. In the same EW interview Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy chimed in by saying Lord and Miller were just going off-script, improvising if you will, something that just can't be done with these sort of films which are limited by their creative freedoms:

“I think these guys are hilarious, but they come from a background of animation and sketch comedy and when you are making these movies you can do that and there’s plenty of room for improvisation, we do that all the time, but it has to be inside of a highly structured process or you can’t get the work done and you can’t move the armies of people to anticipate and have things ready. So, it literally came down to process. Just getting it done,” she explained. “There comes a point where there’s only so much you can do and then you have to take a different course and that’s where we ended up. These are really great guys and you know, nobody wanted this to happen. It was just one of those unfortunate things. ” 

As for George Lucas, this is a neat little story, he had his own imprint on the film, he and Howard go way back and did communicate throughout the shoot

“There’s even one little moment in a scene that — I can’t tell you what, sorry — but in the scene on the Millennium Falcon where George said, ‘Why doesn’t Han just do this,’ ” Kennedy shared. “It actually is a funny little bit that will probably get a laugh. And Ron happened to be by the monitor and not inside the Falcon and he goes, ‘Oh that’s a great idea,’ and ran in and said, ‘George wants us to do this.’ So that was pretty cool. I think George felt pretty great about that. He could revisit these characters, and I think he felt so comfortable, obviously with Ron being there, that it was just fun for him.”