“The Irishman” budget has reportedly ballooned to $175M

Page Six writer Richard Johnson has reported a “source” claiming Martin Scorsese‘s "The Irishman" could very well cost upwards of $175 million, without even the marketing involved in such endeavors.

Last month Deadline had reported and provided us with an overall clearer picture of the expensive post-production costs of "The Irishman": 

“we are now hearing from multiple sources that the film’s budget is well over $125M and more in the $140M range (and climbing).” 

Forbes writer Scott Mendelson more or less confirmed our suspicions.

Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Bobby Cannavale, Harvey Keitel and Ray Romano are part of the Irishman cast, which is said to be released in 2019.

The film is quite clearly the most anticipated film of the decade for many cinephiles who have been craving for another Scorsese/De Niro partnership. The cinematic director/actor duo have not made a film together since 1995's "Casino," their past collaborations also include "Goodfellas," "Raging Bull," "The King of Comedy," Mean Streets," "Taxi Driver," and "Cape Fear." 

Tommy Wiseau’s Joker Audition Tape


That was as bad as I expected.

Nerdist found a way to convince Tommy Wiseau to make an audition tape as The Joker for the WB. Wiseau hasn't been shy on social media of his interest in playing The Joker, campaigning relentlessely on Twitter these last few weeks. In the 3 minute video a wild and loud Wiseau gives his best shot at attaining the same artistic level as Heath Ledger did in 2008's "The Dark Knight." 

“Black Panther” writer thinks 2008’s “Iron Man” wouldn’t work in today’s world, says Tony Stark is unlikable as “boozing, womanizing, billionaire weapons maker.”

Oh, shut up already.  “Black Panther” co-writer Joe Robert Cole was at the “Superhero Science” panel here at SXSW, and he had some harsh words to say about 2008’s “Iron Man.”

According to IndieWire Cole said, “Think about where we are now, with this very vapid, unintelligent president and our world is crackling on the edges because of that. Think back to Tony Stark, him being douchey and being okay. If that character, Stark, was created in a movie today, I wonder if the response would be like, ‘Oh, it’s cool that he’s douchey and disrespectful to women … That’s fine.’ I think we’re at a different place. I think it’s a better place.”

Yes, Tony Stark, is a boozing, womanizing, billionaire weapons maker, but the movie didn't hide the fact that he was a sort of anti-hero that ultimately does find redemption. This kind of thinking is what could set back movies for years to come.

Spielberg might be working on a Leonard Bernstein biopic

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Steven Spielberg is here in Austin, having just premiered “Ready Player One,” (review forthcoming). He has quite a few projects on the horizon after that film is released on March 30th,  “Indiana Jones 5,” followed by a“West Side Story” story.
And now, according to Variety, Spielberg held a secret table read for an unknown movie which, rumor has it, seems to be a biopic of conductor Leonard Bernstein which could leapfrog ahead of the planned West Side Story remake.
The supposed “top talent”that attended the table read is unknown as of yet,  they all signed non-disclosure agreements, but what's quite clear is that whether this secret project happens or not, Indy 5 is next for the director and will start to shoot next year.
Spielberg is 71 and not slowing down.

Box Office Week: BLACK PANTHER is #1 for the 4th consecutive weekend and surpasses $1 billion in worldwide box office, A WRINKLE IN TIME opens to $33.3 million, THE SHAPE OF WATER surges 63% in box office post-Oscars, and TOMB RAIDER opens in Asia to $14.1 million



1. Black Panther — $41.7M ($562.6M Overall)
2. A Wrinkle in Time — $34M (Debut)
3. Strangers: Prey at Night — $10.5M (Debut)
4. Red Sparrow — $8.4M ($31.4M)
5. Game Night — $7.9M ($45M)
6. Peter Rabbit — $6.5M ($93.1M)
7. Death Wish — $6M ($23.3M)
8. Annihilation — $3.2M ($26.1M)
9. The Hurricane Heist — $3M (Debut)
10. Gringo — $2.8M (Debut)

Cameron Diaz Has Retired From Acting, Says Selma Blair


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Cameron Diaz has given up acting, according to her friend Selma Blair. 

"I had lunch with Cameron the other day. We were reminiscing about the film. I would have liked to do a sequel but Cameron’s retired from acting. She’s like ‘I’m done.”  Selma added: "I mean, she doesn’t need to make any more films. She has a pretty great life, I don’t know what it would take to bring her back. She’s happy."

Diaz last film was the misbegotten remake of "Annie" in 2014, ever since then, again according to Blair, she's rejected every movie offer that has been layed down on table for her.

Diaz is only 45. In my books, she'll always be known for "There's Something About Mary," to a lesser but still significant extent as Jim Carey's plump, sumptuous love interest in "The Mask," but the role of her career is no doubt as John Cusack's whacked-out significant other in "Being John Malkovich," where she de-glammed, that frizzled hairdo is a classic, and showed her true strengths as as an actress. She was also badly miscast in Martin Scorsese's 'Gangs of New York."

[Metro]

Oliver Hirschbiegel’s “Downfall” is still the best movie ever made about Hitler

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My colleague Jeffrey Wells over at Hollywood-Elsewhere alerted me of the new Bluray for Oliver Hirschbiegel‘s masterful  "Downfall," a fictionalized 2004 account of Hitler's final days.

The film is quite clearly Hirschbiegel, Ganz and Eichinger’s greatest film.However, the "Hitler YouTube parody-rant phenomenon" "that was inspired by a single conference-room scene," is what this film will be most famous for, sadly. Wells claims there must be over 2000 parody videos of the famous scene. The parodies have, of course, done a severe disservice to the film, which made my top ten list back in 2005 and is, by all accounts, the best film ever made about Adolf Hitler. 

"Downfall" only made $5.5 million in the U.S. but the worldwide gross is $92.2 million is, quite frankly, ASTONISHING. It will no doubt have a lasting impact as a classic.

Hirschbiegel's career started off with a bang as he directed both "Das Experiment" and "Downfall," two incredibly realized and absorbing films. I liked his third film, his first in America,' "The Invasion," but I seem to be in the minority with that assessment.  After going back to the German film system with "Five Minutes of Heaven," he threw away any chances at success in Hollywood with 2013's "Diana" starring Naomi Watts as the Princess of Wales, which is known as an infamous bomb. 

In 2005 I wrote this about “Downfall” —

"The final days of Hitler. It's as simple as that. How a once mighty man, just like any ill-fated emperor of Rome. filled with grand ambitions and egotistical evil fell flat as he neared certain defeat. Director Hirschbiegel brings us into Hitler's bunker and it's as if you are actually there waiting for the man to have the titular downfall. The attention to detail is incredible. The fact that nothing has been Hollywood-ized, that this was a German movie, made with German actors only brings more authenticity to the film. This will most likely be shown in history classes for years to come."

Michael Caine on Woody Allen: “I wouldn’t work with him again, no”

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Oh give me a break, Michael Caine. He's just joined a, sadly, growing list of actors that are saying they just won’t work with Woody Allen again. If you remember, Caine won the Oscar for his role in Allen's classic “Hannah and Her Sisters.” He does say he doesn’t regret that collaboration, but would never work with him again.” 

 “I am a patron of the NSPCC [National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children] and have very strong views about pedophilia,” Caine told the Guardian. “I can’t come to terms with [the allegation], because I loved Woody and had a wonderful time with him. I even introduced him to Mia [Farrow]. I don’t regret working with him, which I did in complete innocence; but I wouldn’t work with him again, no."

So Caine now joins Greta Gerwig, Rebecca Hall, David Krumholtz, and Ellen Page. His best role was in Woody Allen's film, where he also wore  the coolest glasses in cinematic history, but, come on, give me a break, you're telling me he didn't know about these accusations all these years? He's only condemning Allen now? 

Hypocrite.

“The Dude” celebrates 20 years

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Joel and Ethan Coen’s The Big Lebowski celebrated its 20 year anniversary (3.6.98) this past Monday, and it seems like everyone’s celebrating this landmark release. A film which most people will admit demands repeat viewings and rewards them to greater degrees every single damn time. It's an American comedy classic, which has even spawned The annual Lebowski Fest, where fans dress up as the characters, oddly enough started in Louisville, Kentucky, back in 2002 and now an annual event at almost every major English-speaking city in the world.

Surprisingly critics weren't necessarily on-board with the film back in 1998, the mixed reviews "Lebowski" receive is seen as rather dumbfounding today, but I remember the time of its release, its anticipation coming off the heels of the Coen's best movie "Fargo," people expected the second-coming. They kind of got it but didn't realize it at the time because "Lebowski" was tonally and structurally at odds with the Coen's wintry 1996 masterpiece. Something that's affected Stanley Kubrick's career as well, always delivering the unexpected and dumbfounding critics to the point where his films would later be re-analyzed as the classics that they are today.  

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David Denby wrote in a New Yorker write-up back in 2008 that the film “received mediocre reviews and did little initial business.” Denby counted himself as one the film's dissidents “It’s only amusing the first time the Dude gets lost in his own story—a story so incoherent that he can’t explain it to anyone,” Denby was quoted as saying in 1998, “What’s the point of scoring off morons who think they are cool? Jeff Bridges has so much dedication as an actor that he sacrifices himself to the Coen brothers’ self-defeating conception. Even Bridges can’t open up a character who remains unconscious.” Roger Ebert chimed in himself with a mixed review, again because of the confusing, Raymond Chandler-esque plot which “rushes in all directions and never ends up anywhere.” However more than a decade later he reconsidered the film, said he was wrong and included it in his "Great Movies" book. 

The film's plot was all over the place, as Jeet Heer of the New Republic described it as about "A supposed kidnapping of a rich man’s trophy wife, and a Cheech &Chong–style stoner comedy. Interspersed throughout are Busby Berkeleyesque musical numbers about the Dude’s imaginative inner life ... viewed through a haze of marijuana smoke and White Russians. The characters in the movie are not realistic but parodic or even grotesque: not just the Dude, with his Buddha-like calm that verges on complete disengagement, but also his manically aggressive bowling buddy Walter (John Goodman), the browbeating millionaire who shares the Dude’s birth name of Jeffrey Lebowski (David Huddleston), the runaway nympho Bunny Lebowski (Tara Reid), and fleeting roles that include a high-talking Heffner-esque pornographer and a feminist performance artist."

Some of the critics who didn’t like it included L.A. Times' Kenneth Turan, Variety’s Todd McCarthy, Chicago Reader’s Jonathan Rosenbaum, and Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman. His 3.6.98 EW review: “Nearly everything in The Big Lebowski is a put-on, and all that leaves you with is the Coens’ bizarrely over-deliberate, almost Teutonic form of rib nudging,” he wrote. “It’s as if the film itself were standing off to the sidelines, saying ‘Look, isn’t this a hilarious concept?’”

The trick in "understanding" the film lies in whether you dare to accept a film where the plot is less important than the characters themselves. Some people just can't fathom watching a film purposely overstuffed with a plot so as to make it almost irrelevant to even follow. The film is part of a rich, almost exclusive club of films that fall into a stoner, almost inexplicable cinematic medium of plotless detective stories (Robert Altman's "The Long Goodbye," Paul Thomas Anderson's "Inherent Vice," and Arthur Penn's "Night Moves").

Marvel officially announces “Black Panther 2"

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While speaking with EW, the Marvel Studios head was asked about the prospect of more Black Panther, and he was quick to say there was more in store for the now-beloved world of Wakanda. [Thanks to Comic Book]

"Nothing specific to reveal, other than to say we absolutely will do that," Feige said of the Black Panther sequel. "One of the favorite pastimes at Marvel Studios is sitting around on a Part One and talking and dreaming about what we would do in a Part Two. There have been plenty of those conversations as we were putting together the first Black Panther. We have ideas and a pretty solid direction on where we want to head with the second one.


2018

  • Black Panther

  • Avengers: Infinity War

  • Ant-Man and the Wasp

2019

  • Captain Marvel

  • Avengers 4

  • Spider-Man 2

2020

  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

  • Doctor Strange 2

  • TBD

2021

  • Black Panther 2

  • Ant-Man 3

  • TBD

Anya Taylor-Joy spoke to me about "New Mutants" and how reshoots and an additional character were added.

One avenue Fox seems to be heading into is a blend of Y.A. fiction and horror for their teen mutant movie “The New Mutants” directed by Josh Boone (“The Fault in Our Stars“). A trailer hit late last year and an April 13 date was looming for a film about a ragtag bunch of mutant outcasts. But the film’s narrative quickly tilted sideways when “New Mutants” was suddenly delayed until 2019. Speculation ran amok about the movie’s qualities and flaws, as it usually does, only to be strengthened by the news of reshoots, rewrites and the addition of an entirely new character (rumored to be the CGI character, Warlock) being inserted into what was an already completed film.

What went wrong? That’s unclear, but 20th Century Fox seems to have panicked with the footage they saw. Now slotted for February 14, 2019, “New Mutants” features an ensemble cast that includes Anya Taylor-Joy, known to many as the breakout star of “The Witch.” She also leads the upcoming Focus Features black comedy, “Thoroughbreds,” and during my interview with her about the film (coming soon) I had the chance to ask her about the “New Mutants’ drama.

She was treading carefully, clearly concerned about what she could and couldn’t say; nevertheless, you could hear the disenchantment in her voice.

“Well, the only thing that I could say, without being in trouble, is that it being delayed is disappointing, frustrating in fact,” she admitted. “Because we were all very excited for it to be released on April 13th, and I don’t mean just disappointing for me, but I’m sure there are a lot of other fans that were looking forward to seeing it.”

What’s interesting is that while Taylor-Joy also defends the film’s delay, it appears none of those reshoots have even started yet; it doesn’t sound like she knows where it’s all heading yet.

“I do think that there is a great responsibility to make sure the movie is done right and that we deliver the fans something that they can all feel happy about and excited about,” Taylor-Joy said. “So, I don’t think it being delayed is a bad thing because it’s definitely more important to make sure that we get it right than rushing to make a date. So, hopefully, all of these reshoots and adding of the new character that will give the fans an altogether satisfactory, wonderful product.”

I don’t think fans should lose hope yet and, the cast, especially Anya, are incredibly talented. Furthermore “Deadpool” and “Logan” posted great numbers in February released and received fantastic reviews from critics as well. We’ll keep you posted on the latest in this neverending saga of “New Mutants,” but it looks like things might finally be taking shape and the problematic production a thing of the past.

Review: “The Death of Stalin”

A film about the final days of Joseph Stalin, and the aftermath, done as a comedy? Well you better believe it, Armando Iannucci's "The Death of Stalin," adapted from the French graphic novel by Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin, flies on the fumes of its own wild, wacky invention. It's unlike anything I have seen before. Its mix of slapstick laughs mixed with stunning tragedy is rarely done in this kind of brilliantly realized way. Iannucci is the British political satirist that gave us 2009's nastily comedic "In the Loop," which took place in British parliament, and, more importantly, HBO's Veep, which had a never-better Julia Louis-Dreyfuss scrambling to maintain sanity in a rambunctious White House she wants to take over as her own.

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Rumor: Danny Boyle to Direct Bond 25 This Year If Script is Approved

The 25th entry in the James Bond series will be released next year and, yet, here we are and there still isn't a director chosen for the damn thing. Christopher Nolan axed the idea this week, ditto Denis Villeneuve who will be working on "Dune" for the next two years, there are other candidates but the name that always keeps popping up is Danny Boyle ("Slumdog Millionaire," "Trainspotting," "127 Hours," "28 Days Later").

Deadline had reported that Boyle pitched an idea for his own version of a Bond movie to Producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson and they loved it, which then had the director and, his go-to writing partner, John Hodge starting work on a script.

Rumor is that once the screenplay has been written, it will be sent to Broccoli and Wilson who will decide if they want it or not. The producers already have a screenplay courtesy of Bond-veteran screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (“The World Is Not Enough,” “Die Another Day,” “Casino Royale,” “Quantum Of Solace,” “Skyfall,” “Spectre“), which would have Yann Demange (”’71,” the upcoming “White Boy Rick“) directing. That's plan B at the moment. All this to say, it's rather classless to have Demange waiting on the wings like this, but that's what happens when you're an up and coming filmmaker in the business. “James Bond 25,” opens on November 8, 2019.

Denis Villeneuve says “Dune” will be released in two parts

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Initially, Denis Villeneuve was expecting somewhat of a more "intimate cinema lesson" as he told the packed crowd at Place des Arts' Théâtre Maisonneuve  which  holds more than 1400 seats. Usually at the Rendez-Vous du Cinema Quebecois, which is what this talk was for, these kind of intimate discussions hold up anywhere between 100-200 people in attendance. Villeneuve has become such a national hero here in Quebec that when he finally walked on-stage the applause was rapturously ecstatic from 1400 strong. The talk was meant to reveal the intimate creative details of an artist at the peak of creative powers, the person asking Villeneuve the question during this Q&A was Marie-Louise Arsenault, a former college roommate of his during film school. He spoke for 90 minutes in what felt like a fascinating career retrospective of an artist whose art continues to expand and fascinate with ever movie.

Looking rather surprised by the audience reaction, Villeneuve uttered "I feel like an imposter at Rendez-vous." Sure, his French-Canadian films ("Maelstrom," Polytechnique," and "Incendies") were what put him in the international map, but the filmmaker admitted to wondering if he really is a "Quebecois filmmaker" anymore, for no less than the reason that he's taken Hollywood by storm these last few years and become an auteur to eb reckoned with ever since his American 2013 debut "Prisoners." He followed that up with critically acclaimed films such as "Enemy," Sicario," "Arrival" and last year's "Blade Runner 2049."

For all the complaints that American filmmakers might have with the lack of creative freedom they are given for their films, Villeneuve is that rarity, somebody that has actually managed to make no concessions and have studio heads give him the freedom that he needed to make the movie that he wanted to make, “I must admit that strangely, I feel at home there [in Hollywood]. Their system is not perfect, but it certainly has qualities.”

His next film will be an adaptation of Frank Herbert‘s classic science fiction novel “Dune,” which was made into a misbegotten film by David Lynchback in 1984. Now Villeneuve is taking a crack at it and taking his time to not make the same mistakes Lynch had done. But a particularly interesting tidbit was revealed by the 50-year-old filmmaker, he plans in making two separate films, "Dune will probably take two years to make. The goal is to make two films, maybe more. "

This would no doubt be the perfect way to adapt “Dune.” There’s a timeskip in the middle of the book which makes it quite easy to pull off this split, this would also make it much easier for Villeneuve to cut less scenes and give us the full 4 hour version, or more, he envisions. If you remember, back in December, Villeneuve had revealed an urge he had in the “Blade Runner 2049" editing room to release the film in two separate parts as he originally had a 4 hour cut of the film. Then there was the urge to release the aforementioned 240 minute cut in its entirety, saying that cut was “quite strong,” which, of course, didn’t make much sense commercially as that kind of running time tends to be a box-office kiss of death. Nevertheless, when it comes to”Dune,” we are quite excited for it and crossing our fingers that a newly Oscar-ized Roger Deakins will be back for a fourth collaboration with Villeneuve.

Black Panther as a best picture Oscar nominee is a no-brainer, even Christopher Nolan seems to think so.

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Yes, it does seem rather silly but I do believe Marvel has its first serious Oscar contender with "Black Panther." Disney would really have to royally mess it up for this not happen.  At the very least recognition in the technical categories, especially Best Costume Design, feels like a given.

 Also, it's not a coincidence that “Black Panther” was mentioned more than a few times at the 90th Academy Awards ceremony, let alone its entire main cast had VIP-worthy seats at the auditorium,  what with its box-office currently standing at $900 million worldwide et all. However, the critical acclaim is what's leading people to speculate that next year's Oscars will no doubt have 'Panther' as a Best Picture nominee. A Disney executive even admitted to Deadline that “Black Panther” will be a movie the company will push for awards consideration next season.

Christopher Nolan is a fan as well as he gave Deadline his support for “Black Panther” to be included in the Oscar race next year. There was no actual quote given in the article but Deadline says “[Nolan] predicted Black Panther will be among the Best Picture nominees in 2019.”
If “Black Panther” is nominated next year, then I will surely be in disagreement given that I had a mixed reaction to the film, but most of the film critics will most likely be doing somersaults as its 88 Metascore and 97% Rotten Tomatoes rating indicate. It would, no doubt, be a major accomplishment as no superhero movie has ever been nominated for Best Picture.
It's not like films in the past weren't buzzed as potential Best Picture contenders,  “Wonder Woman,” "Logan," and "The Dark Knight" were all touted at some point as potential nominees, however that never happened. The latter, in fact, resulted in such embarrassment for the academy that they ended up going from 5 nominees to 10 the next year.  

It's not like people aren't talking about 'Panther' and Oscar. However, for a February released film to keep its momentum until next year is not the easiest thing, but I just can't see the movie not being nominated. It's just that sure of a bet. Usually critical acclaim and record-breaking box-office success are indeed the formula for a non-brainer Oscar contender.

SHOCK: Alex Garland Actually Directed “Dredd”, Says Karl Urban

"Dredd" was a reboot of "Judge Dredd," a terrible 90s action movie starring -yikes- Sylvester Stallone. What we got instead with 2012's "Dredd" was a genuinely visionary film.

Director Pete Travis made something quite beautiful out of the savagery he depicted onscreen. Paul Leonard's exalting techno soundtrack also gave the film an avant-garde edginess that fit perfectly with the film's atmosphere. The 3D was also second to none. Travis, using color and the best use of slo-mo I could recall in ages, made a film that was wholly auteur-ed and singular in its vision. Let us not forget that the screenplay was written by Alex Garland, a man who burst to the directorial scene last year with his brilliant "Ex-Machina." His lean, mean scenario had none of the superfluous tropes that would hamper down most of the action movies we see today. I can't fail to mention Karl Urban ("Star Trek Beyond) who played a great, nasty hero as the titular character himself.

Now, what if we told you that Travis didn't direct Travis and it was actually Garland? Shocking, right? Well, that's what Urban has said to JoBlo. When asked the question of when he might reprise the titular role in a “Dredd” sequel came up, Urban, who was promoting his latest film “Bent,” shocked sci-fi fans by saying Alex Garland is the true director of the cult classic.

“A huge part of the success of ‘Dredd’ is in fact due to Alex Garland and what a lot of people don’t realize is that Alex Garland actually directed that movie,” said Urban.

A “Dredd” sequel is now something that is high atop our must-see lists, not that it wasn’t before, but now its been amplified. Garland has made a name for himself as a director with “Ex-Machina” and “Annihilation” both receiving positive reviews. 

Urban seems keen on the idea of having Garland officially direct:  “Right? That would rock my world. I just hope when people think of Alex Garland’s filmography that ‘Dredd’ is the first film that he made before ‘Ex Machina.’ You think about it in those terms; it goes ‘Dredd,’ ‘Ex Machina,’ ‘Annihilation.’”

Garland has been credited as a writer and producer on “Dredd.” Was Travis fired during production? Who knows but more news will surely come from this bombshell courtesy of the actor.

Despite critics missing the boat by giving it mixed reviews and it completely fizzling at the Box-office, "Dredd" has become a cult classic over time with a solid, loyal fan-base that has basically become a monster in itself. You can thank home video for that and streaming services as well. I can understand the fascination with the film. It is such a re-watchable film. Hell, I remember being sent a copy of the DVD by the studio and seeing it around 5 or 6 times in a span of a few months, which is a LOT for me, I rarely re-visit a film that soon. Why and how has this cult fanbase happened? Because "Dredd" is not just an artful piece of work, but it's also just a damn entertaining film. 

Urban has mentioned countless times that he is very interested in making a sequel. This all leads me to the rather disappointing news that Fox seems to have turned down the script for a potential second chapter. Its co-creator John Wagner spoke to ScreenGeek last year about recently pitching Garland's screenplay, "Judge Death," to FOX:

“That was actually the first script that Alex Garland did was a Judge Death script but Fox, who they were dealing with at the time, turned it down. They wanted more nuts and bolts before they went into the [metaphysical].”

For the time being there are fan petitions for a sequel a little bit everywhere on the web, most notably "Bring Back Dredd," which has gathered 152,000 signatures thus far. You can sign up right HERE.

The 20 Best Movies of 2017

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I’m right on top of things calendar-wise, right?… I could have easily just stayed true to convictions and said the list I posted in December was the final deal, as I had seen most of what I wanted to see, but the following, newly thought-out list means that I could re-watch, ponder, decipher, what really merited inclusion and what didn’t. Yes, 2017 was not a breakthrough year for cinema as it was filled with countless cash cow remakes, reboots, sequels, superhero flicks, not to mention reboots of reboots (I’m looking at you “Spider-Man: Homecoming“),  but, guess what? I still managed to find 20 indisputably great movies, plus another 15 runners-up that could have easily made this list.

What was astounding about this year’s crop of movies was just how good they were despite people’s misconceptions that we are somehow living in this kind of cinematic doomsday filled with one dreadful movie after another being released on a weekly basis.  Quite the contrary, if you look beyond the American studio system and seek stuff in the foreign and indie circuits then you’re in for an abundance of artful treats.

The following are 20 great movies that were released this year.

#20: Joshua Z Weinstein’s “Menashe” 

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You have never seen a movie quite like Joshua Weinstein‘s “Menashe.” Shot by Weinstein on a low-budget, in near cinema-verite style, deep in the heart of New York City’s Hasidic community, it’s even presented in Yiddish with English subtitles. Talk about a gamble even for an indie production. The film chronicles the trials and tribulations of recently widowed Hasidic Jew Menashe (Menashe Lustig in his big-screen debut) whose community forces his son to be raised by his openly contemptuous brother in-law. Menashe’s endeavor to regain custody of his son is at the heart of the film’s narrative. This is a quiet drama that stitches together an ordinary life faced with impossibly tasked religious restrictions, yet Menashe persists. Weinstein’s film is a slice of America that you’ve rarely seen before on screen, a world that largely remains foreign to the mainstream, but one that Weinstein shows us a bird’s eye view of here.

#19: Michael Haneke’s “Happy End”

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Michael Haneke’s Happy End will be divisive, but it’s also the film that Haneke needed to make at this stage in his career, a sort of reinvention that tackles his obsessive, familiar themes, but feels purposely polarizing and creatively freeing for Haneke. in its lack of a narrative structure. Yes, Happy End even has comedic moments, a rarity for the venerable Austrian filmmaker whose reputation has been that of heavy, morosely-driven dramas. The film stars Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Matthieu Kassovitz and revolves around a dysfunctional family falling apart. Each have their own problems and, yet, the represent what is wrong with the bourgeoisie these days: all pent-up, airless frustration at the most unimportant topics. In fact, this is Haneke’s most meta movie, a self-referential farce about all the themes that he’s tackled so far in his illustrious career. The film is reminiscent of a Luis Bunuel’s provoking cinema of the 1970’s. The film might as well be called The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie.

#18:  “Icarus” (Bryan Fogels)

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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.

17. “Ingrid Goes West” (Matt Spicer)

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Matt Spicer‘s “Ingrid Goes West” dealt with our craze for social media in the most intelligent and assured of ways. The film has a career-making performance from Aubrey Plaza as an emotionally unbalanced, celebrity obsessed millennial who decides to head out west and stalk an Instagram celebrity (a pitch-perfect Elizabeth Olsen) to the brink of martyrdom. It’s one of the best dark comedies to come around in ages and smartly updates the stalker genre for the social media generation. It also captures a part of L.A. that as screenwriter and friend Matthew Wilder told me make it’s not just “a wacky satire but a documentary portrait of an L.A. with girls reading Joan Didion’s “The White Album” and sipping on their green cappuccino at Urrth Cafe, which has the spiritual mantra of “Another day, another avocado toast.” ‘Ingrid’ could become a defining movie of the current generation of click-bait, photo snapping millennials.

#16: “War For the Planet of the Apes” (Matt Reeves)

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What Matt Reeves has done in “War For the Planet of the Apes” is quite an accomplishment. The third, and presumably final, chapter in the ‘Apes’ series is one of the most entertaining movies of the year. The miraculous thing about it is that it barely has any dialogue. Sure, there are lines uttered here and there, but the fact that 99% of the apes can’t speak and the main human character, a teenage girl, is deaf, results in a film that relies heavily on visuals to tell its story. There’s no excess fat here, just pure unadulterated thrills that rely on the audience’s smarts to pull through. This is action, gloriously displayed on an epic scale, with a thrilling and groundbreaking blend of CGI and kinesthesism, especially in its breathtaking finale. Reeves has found a way to bring back expressionism and make “silent cinema” hip again this summer. Who’d a thunk it?

#15: “Brawl in Cellblock 99” (S Craig Zahler) 

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In “Brawl in Cell Bock 99” Vince Vaughn plays Bradley Thomas. With a cross tattooed on the back of his skull, and impressively added muscle tissue to his physique, Vaughn’s transformation is a harrowing but impressive feat for the 47-year-old actor best known for his comedic roles in “Old School” and “Wedding Crashers. Bradley, the violent, but honorable man he plays in the film is sentenced to seven years for selling drugs, and is then blackmailed by none other than 72-year-old Udo Kier, and is forced to cause as much damage as possible to get transferred to the incarceration hell that is “Red Leaf.” The warden of that prison is played by none other than Don Johnson who runs the place like a psycho bent on behavioral punishment. Once there, Bradley has to put himself in cell block 99 where he will have to kill a gangster in order to protect his kidnapped wife (Jennifer Carpenter) and unborn daughter. It’s all from the twisted mind of writer-director S. Craig Zahler whose “Bone Tomahawk” came and went in cinemas but gained cult classic status on home video and is now considered a western classic. His “Brawl in Cell Block 99” is destined for cult fame too. It’s a 132-minute gut punch which wears its ’70s grindhouse-inspired heart on its sleeve.  Zahler is a step ahead at every twisted turn and when the first bone breaks, and he makes sure you hear it loud and clear. 

#14: “Good Time” (Josh and Ben Safdie)

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A botched bank robbery starts off the madcap lunacy of the Safdie Brothers’ “Good Time.” Constantine Nikas (Robert Pattinson) has his brother land in jail and, to try and find bail money, embarks on the most surreal of Odysseys in NYC’s underworld. Think Scorsese’s “After Hours” on coke. The adrenaline filled night is filled with time-capsule worthy moments filled with madness and the most disturbing of violence. This is a richly textured genre exercise that is filled with indelibly unforgettable images, many of which are hard to take. The Safdies have always been masters at discomfort and “Good Time” is surely no exception, here they create their most fully realized movie by invoking a cinematic style, but still maintaining the docu-style realism that has always been at the forefront of their work. Robert Pattinson is an enthralling lead, he builds up his character through facial expression and bottled-up anger which lingers inside of him in every scene. He’s in survival mode throughout, but, thanks to the Safdies, so are we.

#13: “Baby Driver” (Edgar Wright)

Edgar Wright consulted with “Mad Max: Fury Road” director George Miller, the master of practical effects, for help on his car-chase movie “Baby Driver.” That tells you everything you need to know about the detail that went into making this tale of hot-rod heaven. The stunts in “Baby Driver” are INSANE. Wright filmed all of the action sequences on location, and what was on screen was 95% practical effects, with only 5% CGI for touch-ups. Because they shot in a city and working freeway, they had to rehearse on the Atlanta Motor Speedway and choreograph with Matchbox cars. The film tells the story of a talented, young getaway driver (Ansel Elgort) who’s forced to work on a heist for a crime boss (Kevin Spacey) and two for-hire crooks (Jamie Foxx and Jon Hamm). The film is a candy-colored mash-up of “Drive,” The Driver” and Michael Mann’s “Thief.”

#12: “Faces Places” (Agnes Varda)

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Far-removed from her Nouvelle Vague heydays, Agnès Varda teams up with the celebrated photographer J.R. and heads on a road trip through a rural France that is rarely depicted onscreen. JR, a street artist well-known for his photography on random French murals, decides to take Varda on a trip to meet the blue-collar. It’s not just the beautiful art, which focuses on the forgotten, that strikes a major chord with us, it’s also the loose, freewheeling conversations between both artists, and the populace of the streets, corners, farms they visit. The timeless themes touched upon range from the jobs, families, philosophies, and histories of these beautifully complex people. There’s no politics, just life itself. It’s a disarmingly charming film that’s impossible not to like, spryly light on its feet and “Faces Places” even has time to include a final, touching coda involving Jean-Luc Godard and the friendship, or lack thereof, that he and Agnes have had over the course of 60 years of cinematic history. At 89 years of age, Varda doesn’t seem to want to stop, she releases these non-fiction treats every few years and puts to shame most of the supposed auteurs that are supposed to be at the peak of their careers.

#11: “Lady Bird” (Greta Gerwig)

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There isn’t a scene in Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut “Lady Bird,” that lasts for more than two minutes. Each vignette is a gem. This episodic and effortlessly realized film blooms like an ever expanding flower. Christine McPherson (the amazing Saoirse Ronan) is a high school teenager that demands everyone refer to her as Lady Bird. She wants to move to the liberal-minded northeast and leave her suburban Sacramento neighborhood behind. Laurie Metcalf plays Lady Bird’s affectionate mother, working double shifts as a nurse. There is plenty of Gerwig's signature charm and wit in the film, which, as an actress for Husband/director Noah Baumbach, she has refined to rose-gold perfection in films like Frances Ha and Greenberg. Christine is the autobiographical account of Gerwig's Sacramento adolescence, where, as a high-school senior, she attended Roman Catholic tutelage. The scenes between mother and daughter, Ronan and Metcalf's chemistry feels all too real, are the cornerstones of depth in the film. The reason why this peculiarly neurotic teenager wants to be referred to as "Lady Bird" isn't necessarily mentioned, instead, we can only assume it has to do with trying to distance herself from family, specifically mom, in an age-old angsty, teen-driven campaign to find oneself in the midst of hormonal chaos and confusion. Gerwig's film feels like a memoir about the end of adolescence. Its montage-like bursts feel novelistic and like a 21st century "Catcher in the Rye."  

#10: “Personal Shopper” (Olivier Assayas)

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Olivier Assayas’ latest, “Personal Shopper” was the infamous film that got booed. Although highly stylized, the film didn’t deserve that reaction. Revolving around a ghost story that, not by accident, happens to take place in a fashion industry filled with artifice, the film is meant to be absorbed for what it is: A taut, terrific venture into the unknown. Kristen Stewart stars as Maureen, a top-model’s personal shopper that also, supposedly, happens to be telepathic. When her brother dies she begins to question the many curious events happening around her, which includes a mysterious texter. The texting scene is close to half an hour long and is the make it or break point for many of the film’s champions and detractors. I found it entirely absorbing. Same for the rest of the movie, except for a unfortunate weak coda that ends the movie on an ambiguous note, instead of in a clear and concise manner.” No matter, this is top-notch filmmaking with an impeccable performance by Stewart, who hasn’t really had to carry a full movie on her own until this one. She is alone in many scenes throughout the picture and does an admirable job leaving you in a state of hypnosis with her mannerisms and quirks. Assayas, a great director, quite clearly wanted to create a supernatural atmosphere, with much influence on the 1960 classic “The Haunting.” As far as those kind of movies go, there is nothing wrong in putting “Personal Shopper” next to them.

9. “Wakefield” (Robin Swicord)

The most underrated and underappreciated movie of the whole year. ”Wakefield” is a movie for its time, as Howard Wakefield, a New York City lawyer, decides to shelter himself in the attic of his home for weeks. He does come out in the daytime when his family is at work and school. It’s a withdrawal from society that matches the scary era we live in. This would not be as fascinating if its central performance wasn’t as fully fleshed out as Bryan Cranston makes it. In the best performance of his career on the silver screen, it’s made even more impressive by the fact that he is mostly alone for the majority of the film, but what he does is never less than riveting. He infuses his character with humor, heartbreak, and scathing cynicism. His Howard Wakefield is not necessarily a man one is supposed to like and, in many ways, he represents a kind of anti-hero that not many actors could pull off. Swicord, mostly known for her screenplays such as “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and “Little Women,” shows a surprising amount of restraint compared to her previous works. Here she makes a film stripped of artifice designed to ponder deep, humane questions about existence. With an ending meant to spark debate and cause both anger and provocation in its audience, Wakefield fights formula and creates its own unique cinematic language.

#8: “The Disaster Artist” (James Franco)

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In 2003, “The Room,” a film financed by self-proclaimed impresario Tommy Wiseau for $6 million, was supposed to be the culmination of his imagined talents, his ultimate artistic statement, and the capstone to his suspiciously vague career. But what turned out instead was what many consider one of the very worst movies of all time. The fact that James Franco (director, actor) and company — which includes Seth Rogen, Zac Efron and Kristen Bell as collaborators in the hapless menagerie — have decided to put on a straight face and take it all very seriously, brings a hilariously endearing vibe to the festivities. Wiseau was an L.A. oddball whose age, source of income, and nationality were blatantly fishy. He claimed his entire family hailed from New Orleans, but his distinct Eastern European accent belied that tale. Unlike most directors, his only prior claim to fame in the public eye had been as a street vendor in San Francisco. One way or another Wiseau somehow amassed a fortune as a real-estate entrepreneur and invested $6 million in his folly “The Room.” Though universally ridiculed, it enjoyed an unexpected resurrection as a cult classic in its own right, with recurrent, raucous screenings worldwide. “The Disaster Artist,” therefore, arrives as a double-dip of cinematic devotion separated by 15 years and a million gasps. It’s a valentine to movies that went wrong in all the right ways, an ode to the stinkers which we love and can’t live without.

#7: “Nocturama” (Bertrand Bonello, France)

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Hyper-realized, Bertrand Bonnello‘s “Nocturama” can sometimes make the viewer uneasy, especially in its finale, which refuses to condemn the actions of the film’s terrorists. The visually masterful film, think Jacques Rivette, seems to take sides with the Marxist terrorists at the forefront of the story, even though Bonnello has been quite outspoken about his film NOT being political. “Nocturama” seems to be saying that these are not really terrorists, but “troubled youth” that have been hampered down by a flawed social and economical system. Owing to Robert Bresson’s “The Devil, Probably” and George A. Romero’s “Dawn of the Dead.” “Nocturama” presents no easy answers; what it does offer is one of the 21st century’s most stirring cinematic experiences. Yes, the ending is ideologically dubious, which is what has irritated French critics the most. Bonnello has talent, his views are complex and the film also raises interesting questions. He should be taken seriously and I’m looking forward to the response from American critics.

#6: “The Big Sick” (Michael Showalter)

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All hesitations you might have had about this Judd Apatow-produced film were thrown out the window once Kumail Nanjiani appeared in Michael Showalter’s millennial romantic comedy “The Big Sick.” Najiani, known for his supporting role in HBO’s “Silicon Valley,” doesn’t need to act as much as just be himself on-screen. The film is a touching and heartfelt personal account of his real-life relationship with his wife Emily Gordon (as played beautifully by Zoe Kazan), which was initially troubled by an undisclosed illness which left her hospitalized in a coma. “The Big Sick” is one of the best romantic comedies to come around in ages, a future classic of the genre. Sometimes the movie Gods align and everything in a production ends up working; the actors, the screenplay, the director, the photography. An effortlessly great film is born in the process. This is the best Judd Apatow movie and it wasn’t even directed by Apatow.

#5. “Columbus” (Kogonada)

Jin (John Cho), a Korean-born man arrives in Columbus, Indiana, one of the great, but relatively-unknown-to-the-laymen architectural cities in the world, where his legendary architect father is in a coma. He meets Casey (Haley Lu Richardson) a young enthusiast of his father’s, who wishes to pursue her dreams outside of the small city but is burdened to take care of her recovering addict mother. The bond these two lost souls create in this magical city of Architectural heaven is not just touching but has a surreal aspect to it that makes the viewer feel as if they just got lost in a dream. Columbus, Indiana’s famous modern architecture is featured prominently throughout as Casey guides Jin to her favorite spots. Their corresponding conversations, filled with cigarette smoke, gradually become more detailed and more revealing. Director Kogonada, in his impressive debut, conveys emotion through site and sound. He turns out to be a master of not just visual setting, but of conversational filmmaking, and his “Columbus” might just be a masterpiece.

#4: “The Florida Project” (Sean Baker)

After “Tangerine,” Sean Baker sets up his camera again with an eye towards uncharted America with “The Florida Project.” This time his eye goes towards the makeshift motels that litter the main avenues towards Disneyland, distilling a moist, colorful, and shimmering atmosphere, thanks to Alexis Zabe‘s beautiful photography. Moonee (Brooklynn Prince) is 6 years old and lives in a motel with her mother Halley (Bria Vinaite). On summer break, Mooney and her ragtag group of friends look for adventure as they roam through the outskirts of the motel while the adults around them struggle to make ends meet. Baker shoots his own “400 Blows” with his little band of insolent misfits. The atmosphere, paradoxically decadent and disenchanted, mixes what filmmaker himself calls “pop verité” cinema, to create a hybrid of hope and misery that feels both transcendent and groundbreaking. Like “Tangerine,” it is this sense of freedom, freshness and energy that, in Baker’s mise-en-scene, from the camera to the non-professional actors, the film maps contemporary America. Baker doesn’t succumb to the sirens of miserabilism, even though the final, sad frame might hint at this. Instead, he prefers the fanciful fantasy of the children who, in their flight forward, give themselves moments of happiness by the simple light of a blue sky.

#3: “Call Me By Your Name” (Luca Guadagnino)

The romance between a seventeen-year-old Italian boy named Elio (Timothée Chalamet), and an American summer guest, Oliver (Armie Hammer), staying at his parents’ cliffside mansion in southern Italy. “Call Me By Your Name” is a film that is simply told, but packs a wallop by the end of its 130 minute running time.  The film is filled with intense emotions as director Luca Guadagnino lingers on the sheen of sweat that shimmers in a southern Italian summer filled with first love. Armie Hammer’s performance is a career-peak and merits every award destined to come his way this season. Ditto newcomer Chalamet who might just win the Oscar. The chemistry between these two actors is electrifyingly real. This is an erotic and mesmerizing movie that exemplifies cinematic artistry in scope, theme, and tone.  A late-film monologue by Michael Stuhlbarg is a particular highlight and brings it all together beautifully. Guadagnino is a master at eliciting senses, and the audience’s sense of senses are used to full effect to simulate the true feelings of being in Italy. From luscious depictions of peaches and apricots grown in the countryside, to the streets in gorgeous Italian towns and the steamy espresso, every sight and sound in the film feels truly authentic and impactful on the viewer. I have not seen such an effective use of reflecting on audiences’ senses to create a more immersive viewing experience in a film in years. I wanted to immediately go to Italy and … feel.

#2: “Phantom Thread” (Paul Thomas Anderson)

Paul Thomas Anderson said he was inspired by fashion designer Cristóbal Balenciaga in creating the character of Reynolds Woodcock – a controlling, obsessive stylist, aided by his sister assistant (an excellent Lesley Manville) and who doesn’t have time for love in his life. “Phantom Thread,” Anderson’s 8th movie as writer-director, has Woodcock, played by Daniel Day-Lewis,  falling for strong-willed Alma (Vicky Krieps), who soon becomes a turbulent fixture in his life as his muse and lover. The opening sequences are entrancing. With barely any dialogue, and Jonny Greenwood‘s score weaving a beautiful, lush symphony of pianos and violins, PTA draws you into his world of models and dressmakers at the House of Woodcock. The entry of a perfect muse in the form of Vicky Krieps’ Alma brings about an unequal affair between the dressmaker and the young lady. Their strong will, intense romance, breathless moments of pure expression all set in the fashion era of 1950 is very much breathtakingly served by Anderson, who seems really keen in showing us a love story that is more than just about lust, but about the most primal and internal motherly affection most men still crave in their adulthood.  The chemistry between the unlikely duo flies off the screen in the forms of upturned lips, gentle touches, and warm laughter. The viewer is always on the outside looking in, we never see them having sex, nor do we truly witness important personal moments between the two, that creates an unusual pacing that will surely put off unadventurous moviegoers. Although it might be deemed his most classically structured film, “Phantom Thread” is a true original. It is less esoteric than the director’s last couple of films, and he even serves as his own DP here. The breathtaking cinematography, shot on a 35mm camera, is a clear highlight. There’s a dazzling array of tracking shots and intense close-ups that make this truly feel like a PTA movie. It might also be his most experimental picture, even more so than “Punch-Drunk Love,” in that the narrative is replaced for ambiance and character studies of the highest cinematic order.

#1: “Get Out” (Jordan Peele)

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Chris Washington, a young African-American male (Daniel Kaluuya) is about to meet the parents of his white girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams) for a weekend in their posh, but the secluded cottage. The old adage of trust none of what you heard and even less of what you see is put to full-throttle here. Don’t expect “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” speechifying, at least not in the hands of first-time director Jordan Peele, one-half of the comedic duo Key and Peele, who has the time of his life messing with our heads his horror-satire “Get Out.” The clever film packed plenty of tension was the most fun I had in a movie theater all year, but it also found a way to skewer and make critical insights about the race relations in America. “Get Out” wasn’t just a horror comedy, but it was filled with political fireworks that made it a lot more nuanced and thought-provoking than your average B-movie flick.  The film was refreshingly incisive for its stab at the white liberal and conservative elite. Something you don’t see much in the media or at the movies these days. Peele was smart enough to skewer all of white America and demand they wake up to the elephant in the room. Hypocrisy seems to be the name of the game and “Get Out” was the most relevant movie of the year.

I could have easily made this a top 40. Know what? Here are sixteen other titles that shouldn’t be neglected: “The Square," "Colossal," "Logan," "Human Flow," "Mudbound," "Norman," "Raw," "The Wall," "Detroit," "Quest," "The Lost City of Z," "A Ghost Story," "Wonder," "Stronger," "The Shape of Water," "Dunkirk."