Michelle Wolf and Kanye

Michelle Wolf, is a 32-year-old standup comedian that I have always found to be extremely bright and funny, especially in her work as contributor and writer for "The Daily Show With Trevor Noah." She's also going to host a Netflix talk show. Her star is clearly rising.  She surely put herself on the national map last night with what she did at the White House Correspondents Association dinner, which was held at the Washington Hilton. 

 Her stand-up routine last night, sans Trump in attendance, of course, blasted 45, but what people didn't expect were the blistering insults that Wolf laid down on White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Some of the more controversial Wolf blurbs:

 “Every time Sarah steps up to the podium, I get excited,” Wolf said. “I’m not really sure what we’re going to get, you know? A press briefing, a bunch of lies or divided into softball teams. ‘It’s shirts and skins, and this time don’t be such a little bitch, Jim Acosta.’

 “I actually really like Sarah. I think she’s very resourceful. But she burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smokey eye. Like maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies. It’s probably lies.

 “I’m never really sure what to call Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Is it Sarah Sanders, is it Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is it Cousin Huckabee, is it Aunt Huckabee Sanders? What’s Uncle Tom but for white women who disappoint other white women? Ah, I know…Aunt Coulter.”

 Ok, fine, Wolf did what she had to do. She had a career to advance, took the opportunity to make headlines, so she went a-little-too-far in her standup routine, opting to degrade Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Fine. I mean, that's is what it is. 

 Do I think she went a little too far? Not really, I've heard far worse things said about Huckabee Sanders. Last night's jokes were relatively tame in comparison to what some in the media have described the WH Press secretary in the past. 
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 So why the pushback? The reason for this "controversy" is quite simple. This is coming off a week where the Seven-decade war ended between the two Koreas, and Kanye West completely changed the way America perceived the President and his administration. 

 Want to know why what West did was so important? He humanized Donald J. Trump. The fact that Kanye West, maybe the most influential and groundbreaking musician of the decade, said he "loves Donald Trump," and even, to the shock of many, wore his red "Make American Great Again" hat in public, is a total humanization of a President, the same president that has been pushed as rather dangerous and capable of anything, by most of the mainstream media. 

 Then the conversation of critical thinking happened. Kanye, or anybody. sharing abstract thoughts on social media should not be deemed "crazy". It just reinforces the idea that people should be allowed to think critically, expressive of their own free will. If a person believes Donald Trump is doing a good job then who are we to call them "crazy" or a "Nazi." These kinds of questions are now being asked by millions of Americans thanks to Kanye.

 I can't say I am an unadorned fan of Donald Trump's, but the same week Kanye went MAGA, there also was sudden peace in the Korean peninsula, the market did great again, and unemployment was still at an all-time low, all those things, whether you believe they were Obama's doing or the reverse, have suddenly made some skeptics realize that things are going ok in America. And that degrading this administration further may be counterproductive to the overall cause. When it comes to Trump, his morality always comes to be questioned, but now that Kanye has all but humanized him to the pop culture crowd, a man that was all but described as a monster by most of the press and who claims all news against him is "fake" has just been given the greatest boost of all by a musician that many consider to be a God of American culture.

Danny Trejo Joins Rob Zombie’s “The Devil’s Rejects” Sequel

Rob Zombie's best movie, and it's not even close, is "The Devil’s Rejects." Although it was a sequel to 2003 subpar "House of 1000 Corpses," the film was a beast of its own and I haven't been shy here at WoR in my enthusiasm about a potential rumored sequel. Last January we were told that a Devil’s Rejects sequel was in the works, and now, we know a little more about the project. Not only is it happening, but it's filming as we speak, with the title "3 From Hell. Zombie confirmed it all on Instagram that Sheri Moon Zombie and Bill Moseley coming back in their respective roles. 

Now, curiously, we're all wondering how exactly Zombie plans to make Baby and Otis return for in this sequel, but the title does suggest they might just be sent from purgatory.I don't mind the supernatural element, but what made "The Devil's Rejects" so good was how it felt so real and grounded in a world where evil does exist. Zombie's last film was the disappointing 31 in 2016, but a much-welcome return to familiar territory is just what the doctor ordered. 

Rob Zombie‘s currently filming "3 From Hell," a direct sequel to "The Devil's Rejects" has now cast Danny Trejo, who will reprise his role as Rondo from the original film. Now, all we need is Diamond Dallas Page‘s Billy Ray Snapper and we're set for an epic adventure.

"3 From Hell" is set for release later this year.

Simon Pegg Says That J.J. Abrams Wanted to Give Rey ‘A Relevant Lineage’ That May Not Exist Now Because of Rian Johnson

Rian Johnson’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” broke so many rules in terms of the "Star Wars" universe that we will likely hear countless stories of the process.

Take for example this: In "The Last Jedi" Rey tells Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) that her family “were nobody.” With Ren adding that “They were filthy junk traders. [They] sold you off for drinking money. They’re dead in a pauper’s grave in the Jakku desert.” 

According to Simon Pegg, who seems to be close-knit bud of Abrams' from “Star Trek” to "Mission: Impossible," Rey's family history was supposed to be very different.  Pegg said that Abrams had another plan:

“I know what J.J. kind of intended or at least was being chucked around. I think that’s kind of been undone slightly by the last one. There was some talk of a relevant lineage for her,” Pegg said. By “relevant lineage,” he surely means to say “belongs to some other recognizable member of the universe.” Johnson nixed it.

No wonder Mark Hamill's been quite vocal with his disapproval to the media.

James Cameron says he tried to make “Jurassic Park”, but Spielberg beat him by a few hours. Describes his version as “‘Aliens’ with dinosaurs.”

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I really want to try and interview James Cameron when his "Avatar" sequel is released, I think that the conversation would veer towards sheer movie fandom.  The guy loves talking movies and always has interesting tidbits about the process. Take for example his being at the Titanic Museum in Belfast, where Cameron admitted that he was trying to win the rights to Michael Crichton's novel "Jurassic Park," but was bested by Spielberg by only a few hours. Cameron does admit he wasn't the right person for the job: 

“But when I saw the film, I realized that I was not the right person to make the film, he was. Because he made a dinosaur movie for kids, and mine would have been aliens with dinosaurs, and that wouldn’t have been fair.  Dinosaurs are for 8-year-olds. We can all enjoy it, too, but kids get dinosaurs and they should not have been excluded for that. His sensibility was right for that film, I’d have gone further, nastier, much nastier.” 

I think the Spielberg film is alright, I wasn’t wowed by it but I respected its importance. I think a lot of Gen X millennials that grew up with it have sealed its reputation. It was a movie event back in the day, the special effects have aged well, but the Spielberg-ian, Kiddie aspect of it always turned me off. What can I say...

Asghar Farhadi’s “Everybody Knows” Will Open Cannes Film Festival

You can mark off another film out of the official competition for the upcoming Cannes Film Festival. 

Variety is reporting that “Everybody Knows,” a Spanish-language psychological thriller from Iranian writer-director Asghar Farhadi ("A Separation") will open the festival. “Everybody Knows” stars Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, and Ricardo Darin.

Official Synopsis:

“Everybody Knows” tells the story of Laura (Cruz) and her family, as they travel from Buenos Aires to Spain for a celebration. However, upon arriving in Spain, their reunion is disrupted by unexpected events that bring family secrets to light."

I am in no way dismissing Farhadi's film as subpar, but the fact that it is not in competition is worrisome. Take, for example, other opening night slots such as "Moulin Rouge," and "Moonrise Kingdom," which were both IN COMPETITION. What this basically means for Farhadi's film is that Fremaux didn't deem it worthy enough to be in competition. 

The Cannes Film Festival will start on May 8 and we are starting to have an idea of what to expect for competition. Now that Farhadi's film will open, we are left with these possible contenders:

Lars von Trier‘s The House That Jack Built, Laszlo Nemes‘ Sunset, Nuri Bilge Ceylan‘s The Wild Pear Tree, Brian De Palma's Domino, Olivier Assayas‘ NonFiction, Jafar Panahi's Three Faces, Pawel Pawlikowski's Cold War, Mia Hansen-Løve's Maya, Alfonso Cuaron's Roma, Spike Lee's Black Klansman, Jean-Luc Godard Le livre d’image, Matteo Garrone’s Dogman, Hirokazu Kore-eda's Shoplifting, Mamoru Hosada's Mirai, Jia Zhangke’s Ash Is Purest White, Terrence Malick‘s Radegund, Alice Rohrwacher's, Ciro Guerra Birds of Passage, David Robert Mitchell's Under the Silver Lake, Jennifer Kent's Nightingale, Lee Chang-Dong's Burning, Sergei Loznitsa's Donbass, Kirill Serebrennikov’s Leto, Lazarro Felice, Mike Leigh‘s Peterloo, Stéphane Brizé's Un Autre Monde, Catherine Corsini’s, Christophe Honore’s Plaire, Aimer et Courire Vite, Catherine Corsini's, Mikhael Hers' Amanda,  An Impossible Love, Bi Gan, Long Day's Journey Into Night, Paolo Sorrentino, Loro, Thomas Vinterberg’s Kursk, Harmony Korine's Beach Bum, Carlos Reygadas's Where Life is Born, Gaspar Noé's Psyché, Felix van Groeningen’s Beautiful Boy, Ramin Bahrani’s “Fahrenheit 451”, Stefania Solluima‘s Soldado, James Gray‘s Ad Astra, Amos Gitai's Tramway to Jerusalem.

Other contenders:

Koji Fukada The Man from the Sea
Pablo Trapero's The Quietude
Gabriel Mascaro’s Overgod
Joe Penna’s Arctic 
Pierre Schoeller's One Nation, One King, 
Vanessa Filho's Gueule d’Ange
Nadine Labaki’s Cafarnaúm

Terry Gilliam’s Luck-Sucking ‘The Man Who Killed Don Quixote’ Having Legal Problems, Which Means No Cannes and No May Release

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I won't go into great detail about the bad luck and mishaps that have hampered-down Terry Gilliam's passion project "The Man who Killed Don Quixote" for the better part of three decades now. At some point, it seemed like the cursed project, which finished production on June 4th and is now practically completed in the editing room, was on course to be released this year with even a Cannes premiere booked in advance. They most definitely resolved the last setback, John Hurt's death, which was settled with Gilliam regular Jonathan Pryce taking over the role. 

Gilliam to the The New York Times:

“Well, we’ve almost finished the cut, we’re just fiddling now, figuring out a few things here and there so it’s pretty much what it is. We’ve got still months of work to do on visual effects, sound, music. But as far as the tale, it’s pretty tight now and it’s surprisingly wonderful. I always hesitate to get too optimistic or too excited about the work I’m doing,” he told The Times. “I’d rather try to stay cynical and slightly distant from it. When you fall in love with something, it’s painful when it doesn’t work for everybody else. But all the people who’ve seen it so far — they used the words, ‘We’re in love with this.’ So let’s see if they’re right.”

Yep, things were lookin' quite rosy for Gilliam that is until today's news that the film's release is now again in question.
France Inter is reporting that Gilliam and producer Paulo Branco are butting heads on the film. A few years back they had both reached an agreement about the production of “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.” The deal was simple, Branco would fund "Quixote," give Gilliam creative freedom and reap the benefits.
Those aforementioned benefits never came to Branco, Gilliam found another producer finance the film, and the film then started production. Branco has now re-entered the picture and claims the film cannot be released until eh gives permission, pointing to a 2016 contract between he and Gilliam. Gilliam says the contract was nullified due to Branco, quite frankly, not giving him any funding.
The case is in court, but ruling won't be done until June 15. That means no Cannes and no planned May release.
At least Gilliam has finished the film. His struggles to make it were well documented in the 2002 documentary "Lost in La Mancha." Here is an excerpt from my review which summarizes the plight in making the movie:
"Terry Gilliam was able to start shooting his dream project “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote," in 2000, starring Johnny Depp and, in the title role of Don Quixote, French actor Jean Rochefort. That was the only positive news that happened it seems because, due to budget problems, shooting schedule problems, horrible weather problems, and the unfortunate ill health of actor Rochefort, the production was a disaster before production even began. There were only 6 days of shooting before the entire thing was scraped and "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" was completely abandoned."

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

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

Christopher Nolan Watches ‘Pather Panchali’ Says It's One of the ‘Best Films Ever Made,' Pledges to Watch More Indian Cinema

If it took him this long to watch ‘Pather Panchali’ then I wonder what other classics he's missed over the years. That's kind of a high bar of quality though Mr. Nolan, 'Pather' is pretty much the apex of Indian cinema, anything after that goes downwards, but there's nevertheless tremendous jewels to uncover.
“I wanted to meet Indian filmmakers and learn more about India,” Nolan said. “I am looking forward to watching more Indian films in future. I have had the pleasure of watching [Satyajit] Ray’s ‘Pather Panchali’ recently, which I hadn’t seen before. I think it is one of the best films ever made. It is an extraordinary piece of work. I am interested in learning more about Indian film industry and that is the reason why I came.”

John Cameron Mitchell’s Disappointing ‘How To Talk To Girls At Parties’ - Official Trailer | A24

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My C- review from Cannes of last year:

John Cameron Mitchell is a more-than-talented writer-director whose first three features (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Shortbus, and Rabbit Hole) have all contributed to making him a distinct voice in American cinema. Perhaps it can be attributed to a slimming movie market, or maybe that there just wasn’t anything developing creatively for him, but he hasn’t directed a feature in seven years. If How to Talk to Girls at Parties is what he perceived as a comeback vehicle, Mitchell made an ill-suited choice, as his latest film offers a thinly-sketched culture clash that misses the romanticism of its source material.

Based on the 2006 short story by novelist Neil Gaiman, How to Talk to Girls at Parties is both an ode to punk rock and to 1970s sci-fi, especially 1976’s The Man Who Fell to Earth. The film tells the story of Enn (Alex Sharp), a punk enthusiast who’s really just a sweetheart hiding under a glam-rock disguise. He falls for Zan (Elle Fanning), who is actually an extra-terrestrial sent down to Earth for the sake of experimenting on humans, or something along those lines.

Before the narrative takes a turn for the worst, the film begins strongly with opening scenes of angst-filled youths feeling the music scene in 1977 London, the attention to detail and the way these scenes invoke a time and place encouraging for what’s to come. Mitchell is no slouch to music in film: those who’ve seen Hedwig and the Angry Inch, his 2001 rock musical about a botched sex change operation, know just how vital and important music is to him, and The Dyschords, Enn’s favorite band, perform at a dive bar with the visual and authentic excitement Mitchell brought to Hedwig more than 16 years ago.

If the aforementioned opening does give us hope, it is ultimately squashed in favor of an overcooked sci-fi plot. Enn and Dyschords manager, Boadicea (Nicole Kidman, in glam rock hair and attire), head out to party, but it’s the wrong address — the mansion they stumble upon is occupied by inexpressive aliens with an evil scheme up their sleeves. Their skin-tight latex looks horrible, as if out of a 1980s music video. There is nothing compelling or incisive about these aliens, and it doesn’t help that when we first see them they are doing some odd movements that invoke a Jane Fonda exercise video. As the narrative proceeds, we barely find out exactly what these aliens want. There is no concrete explanation as to what they are doing on Earth and why they rented out that big mansion, if they even did “rent” it.

Enn does fall for Zan, spurring a pregnancy, which happens only a few hours after they have sex. Enn doesn’t want her to leave Earth because he loves her, but her duty is to reproduce on her own home planet. The quality of the film should not be attributed to the actors — especially Sharp and Fanning, who do their best to find some kind of three-dimensionality in their characters, which are written as flat and dull caricatures. Mitchell adapting Gaiman, a great novelist, is an understandable decision, but the artistic union here fails to produce a compelling experience.

The lack of narrative propulsion or powerful subtext of any kind results in little dramatic substance beyond its cult-like ambitions. Much of it stems from Mitchell’s clearly unabashed love for 1970’s silly sci-fi, but Gaiman’s source material never called for that. The beauty that arose from Gaiman’s graphic novel was in its simplicity, in how it could take this infectious sci-fi romance and add beautifully realized imagination to it. The story of Enn and Zan does not need to be abrasively surrounded and interrupted by the psychedelic culture-clash of alien and human characters the film overstuffs in its script. The ideas are there, but the execution isn’t.

Report: Woody Harrelson Will Play Carnage in “Venom”

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A rumor suggests that Woody Harrelson will be playing Carnage in the upcoming "Venom."  

According to Bleeding Cool, Harrelson will most definitely appear in “Venom” in the role of the symbiote villain. I personally wanted a solo Carnage movie much more than a Venom, and that might just happen with Harrelson, especially if his appearance in the movie is met with success. 

Carnage, aka Cletus Kasady, is the most R-rated comic book villain imaginable. In fact, an NC-17 rating is needed for some of the hijinks he's done in page. Marvel lore has Kasady growing up as a child and murdering animals, which to many experts is an early sign of a serial killer, which then leads to the murder of his grandmother and then it just escalates from there. Fun stuff. 

Zachary Quinto Clears Up Quentin Tarantino's "Star Trek" Involvement and Says There Are Three 'Star Trek 4' Scripts

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Quentin Tarantino making a “Star Trek” film is something more of an idea than an actual concrete plan, right? I mean, it's impossible to even fathom such a project happening.  Hell, even those that don't really care for ‘Trek’ would watch the film. The story goes that the venerable writer-director director was working with J.J. Abrams on a screenplay for a new R-rated "Star Trek" film. However,  Zachary Quinto, who plays Spock in the new “Star Trek” films, told ET Canada that fans should calm down and come back to earth when it comes to QT ever helming such a film:

“First of all, I think there’s a couple of scripts. Because there was a script being written before Quentin Tarantino came up with his idea for a potential film. And so I think they are kind of developing more than one. So I don’t know what is going to happen. Quentin is off doing another movie. So, I feel like we are in a state of anticipation. All of us are really excited about the idea of working with Quentin on a Trek film, but I know Simon Pegg and Doug Jung, who wrote the last film, are writing a script and there are another set of writers writing a script. So, I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Quinto goes on to say that there are at least three scripts being worked on. QT's, Simon Pegg and Doug Jung's, and probably JD Payne and Patrick McKay's rumored work. 

 Tarantino has recently stated that he wants to retire after 10 films, which means that his upcoming “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” would be number 9 and that the 10th, the swan song, would be "Star Trek"? Yeah, we don't see that happening, then again, we never believed QT was gonna stop making movies after that number. So, who knows?

“It Belongs In A Museum”: Spielberg reveals that he owns the Rosebud sled from Citizen Kane. Is this the greatest movie memento ever? How can anyone beat that?

Dorothy’s ruby slippers? I don't think there is any other more cherished memento. Supposedly, Peter Jackson owns the boat used in "Titanic," where do you put it for safe keeping? private beachfront? 

The MGM lion, stuffed. Which was originally owned by Ted Turner. He kept it at CNN in his office. You could see it through his window.

There is a famous story about Steven Spielberg and Orson Welles, one that has been repeated so often that it is perhaps better to assume that the details are all wrong. But the story holds that Welles had asked Spielberg and his then-wife, Amy Irving, to dinner. Ostensibly, Welles was to interview Irving for a part in his latest film — a film that would never be made.

But Welles was alert to the fact that this was Steven Spielberg, and that Spielberg was a fan. Spielberg had bought at auction Welles’ shooting script for Citizen Kane; he had spent some $55,000 to acquire one of the Rosebud sleds used in the movie (presumably not the one we see burned at the end). Welles was hoping Spielberg would give him money.

But Spielberg didn’t volunteer and Welles was finally required to ask. And Spielberg said “no.” And then the check came. And Spielberg — whose Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was at that moment earning about $10 million a day — did not reach for the check.

The story may not be true, but it makes a good story.

This is from a 1985 New York Times article about Welles, and is probably what actually happened:

After the collapse of the ''Cradle'' project, Welles met the director and producer Steven Spielberg for the first time and found himself in a familiar and painful predicament - talking about his illustrious past when it was his new projects he longed to discuss. As a disappointed Welles reported afterward, he appreciated Spielberg's attempts to help, but ''we spoke almost entirely in the past tense at dinner.''

[Reddit]

Underrated Horror Movie: David Sandberg’s “Lights Out”

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As kids, most of us will go through a stage in which we are afraid of the dark. It’s part of human DNA, seemingly hardwired in our subconscious: stay away from the dark, because there could be danger. 

David F. Sandberg‘s “Lights Out” plays with a fear of the dark. The director surely knows that innumerable prior horror films have used this trope indiscriminately to scare audiences. But the difference between “Lights Out” and any other mainstream horror movie is that it actually uses the dark as the center of its plot, organically drawing out the majority of its jump scares in the process.

In “Lights Out,” a fearsome entity starts haunting a family, but the fact that this wholly evil spirit can only attack if the lights go out is a way for Sandberg to think of creatively different ways for his heroes to find the light. Whether it might be unlocking the car door, using a phone’s flashlight or lighting candles, the film’s protagonist family needs to survive, and to do so they have to steer away from any darkness.

Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) and her little brother Martin (Gabriel Bateman) realize that their mother Sophie, thought to be mentally ill for many years, was actually not insane at all. The moments they thought she was talking to herself turned out to be conversations with an evil entity named Diana. The problem is that Rebecca and Martin have now angered the entity and are being chased by it.

The plot is not the film’s strong point, which Sandberg likely recognizes. That’s why, when the narrative eventually plays out and concludes in the film’s finale, it turns out to be by far the weakest moment of “Lights Out.” But beforehand, Sandberg delights in finding new, twisted ways to use our fear of the dark to pull us into his web of scares.

Palmer and Bateman make a formidable team in the picture and are served well by Sandberg’s concerted effort to develop his characters in the film. Rebecca and Martin might be estranged siblings, but when they do finally bond and try to save their mother (Maria Bello), it’s a strikingly poignant moment.

The remarkably accomplished Bello brings out the torment and frustration within Sophie. Her best performances, in “A History of Violence” and “The Cooler,” defined her career in the aughts with intelligence, restraint and eroticism. Although her role here is somewhat underwritten, Bello makes the best of it, bringing out the terror of a person trapped in a place she’s given up escaping from.

“Lights Out” is not only about what goes bump in the night, but is also a modest look at clinical depression. Sophie has been battling demons throughout her life, due to a refusal to take her medication. The fact that the devilish entity would disappear if she only took her antidepressants is metaphorical enough to create an abundance of fan theories by film’s end. It’s not bad for a film that is wrapped in the fabric of a B-movie.

At 81 minutes, “Lights Out” feels a touch overlong, but it doesn’t overstay its welcome. A highlight is the opening scene which introduces Diana and the film’s harrowing use of the dark. The horror genre is known for having terrifying openings, but the one in “Lights Out” is one of the very best in recent years, setting up the main antagonist where she is frightened the most: a constrained, subterranean facility, but more importantly, in one that has no windows for the light to shine through. In “Lights Out,” the sun rarely shines in, but when it does, it feels like a momentary pause from the horror creeping in the dark. 

Time-Capsule Cameron Diaz?

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I seemed to have missed this week's edition of Indiewire‘s Kate Erbland and her, always interesting, column “Girl Talk” which tackled newly-retired Cameron Diaz in a write-up entitled:  "As Cameron Diaz Announces Her Retirement, Her Contributions to Women in Comedy Can’t Be Overstated". 

A career-summary of sorts, I understand that Erbland knows her stuff, but Kate, what's the deal with Roger Kumble‘s The Sweetest Thing being a fave of yours? I was as irked by the strange rave as HE's Jeffrey Wells was on his own site. As Jeff mentioned, the film has a 26% Rotten Tomatoes rating. Not just that, Kate completely ignored Diaz' top-tier performance in the late Curtis Hanson's "In Her Shoes," wha!? No mention either of her scathing and daring turn in "The Last Supper" or as the late owner's daughter in Oliver Stone's "Any Given Sunday."

Time-capsule Diaz for me will always be her acting in these films: “The Mask,” “There’s Something About Mary,” “Being John Malkovich,” and “Vanilla Sky”.

Edie Falco defends friend Louis C.K and hope he nabs “another chance”

I absolutely adored watching Louis C.K. standup. It was the best in the world, nobody came close, his shocking, knee-jerk-styled comedy routines were so authentic that you could connect, in some fashion, to the fucked-upness that was C.K's own life.

And so, despite Louis C.K. facing multiple sexual harassment claims against him (five women in a report by The New York Times) and not lawyering up, the industry is"swiftly backed away from the director, actor, and writer."  Was his career done? We still don't know. I mean, at some point he was outright refusing to comment on the allegations, which started as early as last April by saying “I’m not going to answer to that stuff, because they’re rumors. If you actually participate in a rumor, you make it bigger and you make it real.”

And so, with not much choice left but to release a statement, the 50-year-old comedian did just that by releasing a statement in which he apologized for his actions [Via THR]

I won't go into the nitty-gritty and analyze it all. Suffice to say, it's nevertheless was an actual apology, he didn't try and redirect the topic, unlike Mr. Spacey's infamous coming-out party a week earlier. He didn't run from the issue either, unlike Mr. Weinstein's exit to Europe and total lack of compassion. No, it wasn't a full apology, but he did not victim blame, he owned up, confessed, and somewhat apologized, most of all he also realized the power he held over these women. That's what I gathered most from it. 

Edie Falco, who starred with C.K. in “Horace and Pete” and “I Love You, Daddy,” told Vulture in a new interview that she wants him to have a second chance:

“He’s someone who admitted that he did what he was accused of doing and admitted that it wasn’t right. If I was not given another chance a couple of times, there is no way we’d be having this interview right now,” she continued. “People who are committed to becoming aware of what they’ve done and changing, they can be our strongest proponents in an issue like this.”

My thoughts on "I Love You, Daddy" from last September can be found HERE, but despite some decent reviews the film was dropped by its studio and never released, Falco feels bad about that situation, "I was sad. I know that he worked very hard on it,” she explained. “He shoots that thing and two minutes later he’s ready to release it, which is incredible when you see all the bullshit that goes on between the end of a movie and when it’s released. Louis makes his own stuff and puts it out, and I love that chutzpah.”

“Black Panther” is set to become the 3rd highest-grossing movie of all-time at the end of the week

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Steven Spielberg's "Ready Player One" did not disappoint this weekend with an estimated $42M at the box-office. Tyler Perry's vast fanbase followed him again with a new release, "Tyler Perry's Acrimony" nabbing an impressive $17M three-day total. 

However, despite all that, "Black Panther" is still on everybody's mind and is set to become the 4th highest-grossing movie of all-time this coming week. It might even reach "Titanic" and become the third before the end of next weekend.

"Marvel and Disney's Black Panther landed in third position with an estimated $11.2 million, pushing the film’s domestic cume over $650 million. The film currently places as the fifth largest domestic release of all-time and will soon top Jurassic World ($652.2m) and Titanic ($659.3m), likely finishing its domestic run as the third largest domestic release of all-time."

The Safdie Brothers (‘Good Time’) To Make ‘Uncut Gems’, Drama About the Corrupt World of New York City’s Diamond District - Martin Scorsese to Produce, Adam Sandler Attached to Star

Adam Sandler's acting in last year's "The Meyerowitz Stories" was riveting. Sandler was way off his comfort zone there, and that's excellent for movie fans. The guy has acting chops that are put to waste in infantile comedies, some of which do work, if you read this site you know my unadorned love for the old-school Sandler comedy of "That's My Boy." "The Meyerowitz Stories" was possibly his best performance since his touching turn in 2002's "Punch-Drunk Love." Even in his earlier comedies such as "Happy Gilmore," "Billy Madison," "The Waterboy," "Big Daddy," and "The Wedding Singer" there was an excellent gift for comedic timing and those movies, as stupid as they were, could not work without him. 

It's no surprise then that his versatility showed whenever he made the rare jump to drama with the aforementioned films.  And so, coming off their triumphant "Good Time," the Safdie Brothers seem to be keen in casting Sandler in the lead role for their next movie; “Uncut Gems.” Sandler is currently in discussions according to The Tracking Board to star in the Martin Scorsese-produced film that would take place in the corrupt world of New York City’s diamond district. It was written by the brothers and their writing-partner Ronald Bronstein who co-wrote other Safdie affairs such as “Good Time,”“Heaven Knows What” and “Daddy Longlegs.”

The Safdies were recently hired to write and direct a remake of the Eddie Murphy/Nick Nolte crime drama, “48 Hours.” We don't know yet which of these two upcoming projects will be released next, but, suffice to say, we're fascinated to see what they will do with a higher budget given that all their other movies were made with extremely thin-budgets.

Beautiful and touching “Love, Simon" banned in China and not allowed to be seen by anyone younger than 21 in Singapore

There’s been a lot of talk about “Love, Simon” in recent weeks, a YA adaptation that, more or less, does the job in portraying the teenage identity struggle in being gay and closeted. I dug its bravado and the risks it took; to my knowledge there hasn’t been a major studio film that’s tackled the subject matter for mass audiences. Suffice to say, the film has been a major breakthrough at the box-office and has even sparked a social media movement of closeted teenagers having the courage to tell their family and friends that they are gay. I don’t know how the film went over in bible-belt states, many of which have a majority that still frown upon homosexuality, but the fact that a movie like “Love, Simon” would play in a theatre in that part of the country is a miracle in itself. The film is actually compulsively watchable up until is last 15 or so minutes when it succumbs to cliches but even in those closing moments there’s tremendous joy that seeps through the screen, the audience I saw it with applauded when a key moment happened during a roller coaster ride which, in a different movie having to do with a straight couple, would have otherwise been deemed sappy and unconvincing.

Here's what I wrote in my notes a few weeks ago:

There’s been a lot of talk about “Love, Simon” in recent weeks, a YA adaptation that, more or less, does the job in portraying the teenage identity struggle in being gay and closeted. I dug its bravado, the risks it took, to my knowledge there hasn’t been a major studio film that’s tackled the subject matter for mass audiences. Suffice to say, the film has been a major breakthrough at the box-office and has even sparked a social media movement of closeted teenagers having the courage to tell their family and friends that they are gay. I don’t know how the film went over in bible-belt states, many of which have a majority that still frown upon homosexuality, but the fact that a movie like “Love, Simon” would play in a theatre in that part of the country is a miracle in itself. The film is actually compulsively watchable up until is last 15 or so minutes when it succumbs to cliches but even in those closing moments there’s tremendous joy that seeps through the screen, the audience I saw it with applauded when a key moment happened during a roller coaster ride which, in a different movie having to do with a straight couple, would  have otherwise been deemed sappy and unconvincing.

With all that being said, I’m actually shocked to hear the news that that “Love, Simon” is even showing in Singapore. It’s still illegal to be gay there. In China the movie was banned. Sadly some countries are quite backwards but at least Singapore is allowing it to be shown.

"A petition has been launched to protest the fact that “Love, Simon” has received a rating of R21 in Singapore, meaning that no one under the age of 21 will be permitted to see it. Given that the drama concerns a gay teenager coming to terms with his sexuality, that includes much of its target audience. The Infocomm Media Development Authority’s (IMDA) classification information specifically cites the film’s “homosexual theme” as part of the reason for its advisory."

"Nearly 12,000 people have signed the petition, which calls upon the IMDA to give “Love, Simon” an NC16 rating instead. “By making ‘Love, Simon’ NC16, I am positive that it will have a huge impact on young teenagers struggling to find acceptance from family and friends,” reads the petition. “It will also educate people that being free and accepted is just what everyone in this extensive community wants. Hopefully, it will also change people’s negative perception of the LGBTQ+ community.”

[IndieWire]

Director Catherine Breillat: I’m against #MeToo, Harvey Weinstein isn’t “that bad,” and Asia Argento Is a ‘Traitor’

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.” Oh and there's Austrian director Michael Haneke, whom the French have adopted as one of their own, that had harsh words to say about the #MeToo movement a month ago.

All this to say that Catherine Breillat is now the latest filmmaker to condemn the movement, the director of "Fat Girl" and" Abuse of Weakness" appeared on the the Murmur podcast to discuss Harvey Weinstein and Asia Argento to #MeToo and Jessica Chastain. [Update: For some stupid, surely political, reason, the Murmer podcast episode has been deleted.] 

On Harvey Weinstein: 

Despite everything, I think that Europeans have lost a lot with the loss of Harvey Weinstein,” Breillat said “You have to remember that there are French producers who we haven’t denounced — I won’t mention them; I won’t mention names, although I know three who are extremely respected — I don’t know why they weren’t denounced as well. They absolutely had their place.


On Jessica Chastain:

Long before the #MeToo movement started, I was very upset when Jessica Chastain made statements against the film ‘Last Tango in Paris.’ If you listen to her, that film should never have been made. To listen to her, Maria Schneider was raped. But Jessica Chastain wasn’t there, and it’s not true — I was on set. The scene was fiction. What’s more, the scene was totally intellectual, the scene with the butter — they didn’t show anything. I think society would do better to protect children from porn movies than to protect them from ‘Last Tango in Paris.’ I was really upset by what Jessica Chastain said; I was indignant.


Despite the backlash from respected artists, the French still have their equivalent of #MeToo: #BalanceTonPorc. 

“I’m absolutely against #BalanceTonPorc [“denounce your pig”],” she said of the movement. “It’s too easy to accuse people via hashtags anonymously; we have a justice system. And France, too, has a history with ‘balance ton juif,’ ‘denounce your jew.’ We know the hashtag #BalanceTonPorc was invented out of vengeance. This isn’t to diminish women; there are real rapes and real violence. In French, the word violence contains viol: rape. That’s why the reception of my films was frequently so devastating.” “Women mustn’t be afraid to speak out, but still, you can’t resort to #MeToo about verbal violence. Of course, if you’re 14, verbal violence can be the same as actual physical aggression, but when you’re 25 or 30 and you go to a man’s hotel room, you know the game,” she continues. “Women shouldn’t present themselves as bimbos or innocent young things regardless of their age. Rather, we have to educate young girls so that they’re better equipped to defend themselves and so they don’t feel soiled just because someone said something to them. That’s not sufficient. They have to know how to respond.” “All of which is to say, “I’m not for #BalanceTonPorc, or for #MeToo for that matter. #MeToo, we knew all about it. My films deal with that, and the same people who saw #MeToo are those who attack my films — and with a lot of violence.” 

On still being a feminist despite her hate for #MeToo: 

“I’m a feminist, but not in my films,” she says, “Feminism can go too far, into a kind of respect that’s unnecessary, but of course rape is a crime, attempted rape is a crime. They must be harshly punished and condemned, and they aren’t always.” 

On Asia Argento being a "traitor": 

Argento, who accused Weinstein of rape, starred in Breillat’s “The Last Mistress.” 

“To be very honest, I don’t believe Asia,” she says bluntly. “I know her, and she was very, very young…If there’s anyone I don’t believe, it’s Asia Argento. As a person, Asia Argento is quite servile. I never asked her to kiss my feet, but she’s that kind of person. I don’t believe Asia. If there’s anyone capable of defending herself, who’s not timid about sex, who does it a lot, and has lots and lots of desire for both men and women, it’s her. So I don’t believe Asia.” “For Asia, it was obviously, let’s say, motivated by self-interest — it was a kind of semi-prostitution. Harvey Weinstein’s not the worst man there is; he’s not the most stupid, either. Asia may have been disappointed that she didn’t become a great Hollywood actress she might have been, but there were lots of other things: drugs, many other things. She feels bitter. Because bitterness, too, can lead people to denounce if you wanted to obtain something and you didn’t obtain it, if you feel humiliated. Quite honestly, I don’t like Asia. I think she’s a mercenary and a traitor.” As for why she’s comfortable being so outspoken, the explanation is simple. “Since I’m an artist, I don’t have to be politically correct.”