The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences is weighing on a potential host-less Oscars this year after comedian Kevin Hart quit amid a hell-storm of criticism over refusing to apologize for gay jokes he made back in 2009.
Read moreSight and Sound names ‘Roma' Best Film of 2018
I abide by Sight & Sound's newly unveiled list of the the best films of 2018. The annual film poll, unsurprisingly, came to the conclusion that Alfonso Cuaron's “Roma” was the best film of the year. The awards-season dominance of Cuaron's film has been unsurpassed, it has won the top prize with seven different critics groups thus far, including the prestigious New York Film Critics Circle and Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
Read moreWhere are the next great American directors?
An interesting observation: The '80s and '90s saw a slew of brilliant American filmmakers making their debut. For example, we saw the likes of Spike Lee, Steven Soderbergh, Jim Jarmusch, Oliver Stone, Jonathan Demme, Michael Mann, John Sayles, Gus Van Sant, Tim Burton, Sam Raimi, Joel and Ethan Coen and Kathryn Bigelow, John Hughes andBarry Levinson. The 1990s were even better, due to the indie film movement blossoming into its peak, with the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Richard Linklater, Kevin Smith, Darren Aronofsky, Spike Jonze, Todd Solondz, Todd Haynes, Alexander Payne, David O Russell, Paul Thomas Anderson, David Fincher, Kelly Reichardt, and Brad Bird,among many others who made their first films that decade.
Read more‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ is a visual groundbreaker [Review]
This was a very pleasant visual experience, to say the least. "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse," an animated take on the Marvel superhero, is the closest a movie has coming to making a comic book spring to life. The film tells the coming-of-age story of Miles Morales (voiced by Sameik Moore), teenage son to an African-American cop and a Puerto Rican nurse, who gets bitten by a radioactive spider and...well you know the set-up.
Read moreFirst Look at J.C. Chandor's ‘Triple Frontier’
J.C. Chandor‘s "Triple Frontier" (Netflix) is most definitely on my must-see list for 2019. I mean, how can it not be? Chandor ("Margin Call," "All Is Lost," "A Most Violent Year") is a first-rate filmmaker that hasn't even hit the peak of his powers yet. He adapts a Mark Boal script here, and has some formidable actors to take the brunt of the work (Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam and Garrett Hedlund.)
Read moreLos Angeles Film Critics Association Names ‘Roma’ Best Picture of 2018
Another week and another Best Picture prize for Alfonso Cuaron's "Roma." What can I say, the most deserving film is sweeping awards season, it has now won the top prize with critics groups inNew York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, and Philadelphia. However, don't expect it to also win the Oscar, no siree. "Roma" is too artsy, too slow and ponder-some for Academy members to jump on that bandwagon. It is still very much a race between "Green Book" and "A Star is Born" as far as I'm concerned.
Read more‘Avengers: Endgame’ Trailer Breaks Record With 289 Million Views in 24 Hours
The just-released trailer for “Avengers: Endgame” earned more 289 million views across streaming platforms in 24 hours, thus becoming the most viewed trailer in 24 hours in movie history.
The trailer, which I completely missed and knew nothing about, was released on Friday at 8am ET, news to me, and eclipsed the previous record-holder, of course it was "Avengers: Infinity War," by almost 60 million views.
Read moreJordan Peele’s ‘Us’ Plot Synopsis Revealed
After giving us the best movie of 2017 ("Get Out") we all were wondering what the next provocation from writer-director Jordan Peele would look like. Plot details for "Us" have been kept very hush-hush, but the plot synopsis has been uncovered [via /Film] courtesy of a few test screenings invites were sent out:
Read moreNick Cannon calls out Hollywood’s “double standard" by posting old homophobic tweets by Schumer, Silverman, and Handler
Nick Cannon is not happy that his friend, Comedian Kevin Hart, was thrown under the bus by the Academy and Hollywood alike. He called out this double standard on Twitter, by zeroing on 3 white, female comedians.
On Friday, Cannon dug up old, anti-gay tweets by Chelsea Handler, Amy Schumer and Sarah Silverman. In these tweets the three comedians use the homophobic f-word. Cannon commented the double standard he saw by tweeting, "Interesting, I wonder if there was any backlash here".
Read moreDirector James Gray: Critics Are Bad at Judging Movies
Director James Gray ("Two Lovers," "The Immigrant"), currently serving as jury president at the 2018 Marrakech Film Festival, thinks critics should not be given as much power at film festivals to criticize movies because, quite frankly, they are bad judges of movie quality:
Read more“Vice" is a sprawling and satirical look into the evil psyche of Dick Cheney [Review]
Forget about the physical transformation that Christian Bale had to make to become Dick Cheney in Adam McKay's "Vice," Yes, the 44-year-old Welsh actor gained 40 pounds to play Dubya's Vice Prez, we expect that from the legendary Welsh method actor. No, this role isn't just an impersonation, it's a genetic inheritance, a cloning, if you will. He carries McKay's film with a towering performance that will be talked about for ages.
Read moreBest Actor: Bale, Cooper, Mortensen, Hawke and Malek
It's safe to say that the Best Actor category is probably the easiest acting category to predict when it comes to this year's Oscar nominations. Unless Willem Dafoe's outstanding performance as Vincent Van Gogh in "At Eternity's Gate" does any damage, then we are left with five sure-thing nominees (Bale, Cooper, Mortensen, Hawke and Malek). Who will win is another story. I believe any of the five can nab that Oscar. A case can be made for all of them.
Christian Bale's transformation in "Vice" is stunning; Bradley Cooper can be toasted as the "it-boy" of the industry for writing-directing-producing and starring in a the high-grossing movie "A Star is Born"; Viggo Mortensen is the heart and soul of "Green Book," a crowd-pleasing film that is already being touted as a serious Best Picture contender; Ethan Hawke, well-loved by everyone, has never won an Oscar and his career-best work performance in "First Reformed" could very-well be too irresistible for the Academy to ignore; Finally, Rami Malek's passionate performance as Freddie Mercury in "Bohemian Rhapsody" is the kind of work that launches a career to the stratosphere.
Lena Waithe on Next Oscar Host: “Let’s make sure [whoever hosts], they’re black.”
After Kevin Hart's stepping down as host of the 2019 Oscars, the question remains: who will replace him?
“The Chi” creator and Emmy winner Lena Waithe tells Variety “Let Donald Glover do it,” adding, “Donald would be dope. He’d be funny. I would like that. Let’s make sure [whoever hosts], they’re black.” Waithe continued, “Wanda [Sykes] would be lit. I vote for Wanda or Donald or get Chris Rock back in there. Let’s get Eddie [Murphy] out of the house. I hope it’s somebody black and somebody funny.”
‘Avengers: Endgame’ URL Being Held Hostage; Owner Wants Premiere Tickets, Threatens to Redirect it to DC Page
The trailer for “Avengers: Endgame” was released yesterday, but don't go to www.AvengersEndgame.com because it'll automatically re-route you to 20th Century Fox’s “Deadpool” movie page.
Read moreJason Momoa on ‘Justice League' Snyder Cut: “F*ck, Yeah I Want to See It”
Joss Whedon‘s extensive reshoots on “Justice League” no doubt clashed with Zack Snyder‘s original vision. Among the changes, Jesse Eisenberg‘s return as Lex Luthor was reportedly axed, and Gal Gadot‘s Wonder Woman is said to have received more scenes and screentime. It’s not just the characters, the overall mood was rumored to get a lighter makeover with Whedon deviating away from Snyder’s darker palettes for a more colorful tone. “Justice League,” in short, was the mix of two visions and you could see that while watching the film. Sure there’s Zack Snyder’s use of ultra slow-mo, the dark interiors and exteriors he so loves to use, and his penchant for the camera zooming in and out of action sequences, but Whedon crashed the party by pulling back on some of that, so much so that as you’re watching the movie you can tell exactly who shot what. The work of these two titan directors that couldn’t be more different, resulted in the “Justice League” that we got.
Read moreViggo Mortensen Says Accusations of Racism are ‘Unfair’ and ‘Dangerous’
Viggo Mortensen spoke to France 24 [video interview] to promote his Oscar-contender “Green Book.” Of course, the conversation had to turn to the actor’s recent use of the N-word. If you remember, Mortensen used the derogatory word during a November post-screening Q&A. Mortensen has always maintained that his intention behind using the word was to explain the inherent core of what racism is about.
Read moreFilm Columnist Claims Sundance Rejected His Press Pass Due to Past Criticism of the Festival's Programming
The name Jeffrey Wells started trending late yesterday on Twitter. If you don't know who that is he is the *ahem* outspoken writer of Hollywood Elsewhere, a film column site which is the very opposite of politically correct. I am friends with Wells. We tend to share guest houses at whichever film fest we go to. He's an all-around good guy, to me at least, but I do know that he's irked his fair share of people over the years and I do know that he has accumulated a herd of haters in the process.
Read moreKevin Hart steps down as Oscar host; Joy Reid, Alec Baldwin and Jimmy Kimmel still have a job.
Kevin Hart has stepped down as the host for the upcoming 91st annual Academy Awards.
“I have made the choice to step down from hosting this year’s Oscars,” he wrote on Twitter. “This is because I do not want to be a distraction on a night that should be celebrated by so many amazing talented artists. I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past. I’m sorry that I hurt people. I am evolving and want to continue to do so. My goal is to bring people together not tear us apart. Much love and appreciation to the Academy. I hope we can meet again.”
Read moreAcademy Asks Kevin Hart to Apologize For Past Homophobic Tweets; Oscar Host Refuses, Says He Won't “Reward Internet Trolls"
James Gray says the Cannes Film Festival is “stuck in 1968" and “protectors of the status quo"
Maybe we can scratch off James Gray's films being selected in the future for the Cannes Film Festival.
The writer-director of "Two Lovers" recently told Variety “The critical establishment [of Cannes] is stuck in 1968. (…) They are protectors of the status quo.” And yet, Gray had the luxury of premiering his 2013 film “The Immigrant” during the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
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Do you really think Ellison fired Gunn before he saw a rough cut of "Man of Tomorrow"? No chance. Clearly, whatever he saw didn't impress him.