Pete Hammond and Tom O’Neil, two considerably reliable Oscar pundits, seem to be split on whether to choose “Green Book” or “Roma” as their Best Picture front-runner.
Read moreWill Smith Should Have Never Taken the Impossible Task of Playing Genie
It was a risk that Disney knew would generate pushback from its fans. After all, Robin Williams’ voice work as Genie, which felt very much like fully-fleshed physical work as well, despite the animated constrictions, should be considered the greatest voicework in the history of animation. It’s not even close. Williams was already a brilliant, live-wire comedic performer when he decided to tackle the Genie in 1992’s “Aladdin”, but there’s no film that better captured Williams’ spirit and energy than his voice-over work in that movie. It felt like improvisation, and, based on some first-hand accounts, it seems like some of it was, which is unheard of in animation.
Read more‘The Image Book’: Jean-Luc Godard’s Offers Another Radicalist, Experimental Assault
It’s been a long time since making traditional or even vaguely conventional “movies” has interested legendary French New-Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard. If anything, the director’s movies over the last 20 or so years have been experiential audio/visual collages more interested in pictures, sounds, cuts, and de-saturation; a maddening barrage of dadaist statements. Even with all that being said, his latest, “The Image Book,” playing in competition at Cannes, should be considered as radical a Godard-ian statement as any.
Read more“Cold Pursuit" Makes $10.8M at Weekend Box-Office; Has Liam Neeson Now Entered Nicolas Cage Direct-To-Video Territory?
Lionsgate's s Cold Pursuit “slightly exceeded [box-office] expectations with an $10.8 million opening,” according to BoxOfficeMojo. The film played to a 58% male audience, with 79% of the overall audience coming in aged 25 or older. Neeson's The Commuter, opened last January with $13.7 million and went on to gross around $36 million domestically. If anything, the “slightly’ exceeded expectations might have to do with the controversy which hit the actor earlier this week, it probably alerted audiences who may have not known that he had a new movie out that “Cold Pursuit” was being released.
Read moreJames Cameron Claims in the Future We Will Have ‘AI creating movies – and it’ll suck’
“I think you’ve got plenty of AI experts around who would say, yeah, sure. They’d take every movie every made, throw it into a massive database, feed all that into an AI, deep learning neural networks will analyse why they work, and you’ll have an AI create a movie – and it’ll suck. Because the AI is not embodied, it’s not having the human experience. It’ll be like a filmmaker who only knows other movies as opposed to being human.” - James Cameron
‘Glass’ is an Unfortunate Sequel to Better, More Intricate Films [Review]
I can't say I didn't enjoy some moments of M Night Shyamalan's "Glass," the writer-director's follow-up to the surprisingly revealed trilogy which began with 2000's "Unbreakable," then was reshuffled for triple-ordered purposes with 2017's "Split" and now "Glass."
Read more“Moonlight" director Barry Jenkins says growing up he was inspired by “Aliens," “Die Hard," and “Coming To America"
“Which films inspired him, growing up? “I wasn’t really inspired by film,” he says, “but I admired Spike Lee’s movies because they just felt very, very, very black. I remember watching School Daze and thinking, ‘What the hell is this?’ There were colleges for black people that just black people go to? And those colleges had all this shit going on? This is so energizing!
“Otherwise, it was the really big Hollywood stuff – The Color Purple, Aliens, Die Hard, Coming To America. I would catch the bus to go to the AMC theatre downtown. But I never thought, ‘Hey, maybe one day I might like to do that.’ It just didn’t seem possible.”
James Cameron reveals title for new “Terminator" movie is “Dark Fate"
James Cameron has been doing press for his misbegotten Alita: Battle Angel, which he co-wrote and produced, but in an exclusive interview with Yahoo!, the director revealed the title for the next Terminator movie": “We’re calling it, Terminator: Dark Fate,” Cameron said. “That’s our working title right now.”
Read moreScorsese’s longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker on “The Irishman": “Please don’t think it’s gonna be Goodfellas, because it isn’t.”
Martin Scorsese’s longtime Oscar-winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker will be honored with the Fellowship award at the BAFTA’s this coming Sunday evening.
Read moreMads Mikkelsen Can’t Save The Survivor Minimalism Of ‘Arctic’ [Cannes Review]
When a director decides to tackle a genre that has been dealt with many times before, comparisons to far superior films are inevitable. And so, a film like Joe Penna's "Arctic" will no doubt run the risk of being compared to its spiritual predecessors Danny Boyle's "127 Hours," J.C. Chandor's "All is Lost" and Joe Carnahan's "The Grey." That in itself already weakens it, but like all great art, if imitation can transcend or even equal its inspirations then all the better for it.
Read more‘Fyre’ builds on one cringe-inducing WTF moment after another [Review]
The term "clusterfuck" was invented for use when events such as the misbegotten Fyre Festival happen. Fyre was a music fest that was the brainchild of Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule. It was driven by a nifty marketing campaign which promoted musical nirvana on a a deserted island (once owned by Pablo Escobar) in the Bahamas. McFarland would overcharge thousands of music fans to what the ads deemed to be the “most exclusive music festival on the planet.”
Read moreSean Penn Defends Bradley Cooper's “A Star is Born": “It's One of My Favorite Films of All-Time"
Sean Penn has decided to write an op-ed [via Deadline] defending his friend Bradley Cooper amidst his Best Director snub at the Oscars. Penn acknowledges that “A Star is Born” is most likely toast as far as winning Best Picture but that the film itself will stand the test of time and age like fine wine, at least when compare to some of the other nominees that “pander to the politics of the day,” according to the actor.
Read moreLegendary Actor Albert Finney Dies Aged 82; King of “Kitchen Sink"
It’s quite strange sitting here and writing about Albert Finney’s death because earlier this week I had dreamt he had died. Weird coincidence.
Read more‘The Wild Pear Tree’: Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Latest [Review]
Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan already won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festivalback in 2014 with his talky epic "Winter Sleep," a shocking win if you ask me since that film is considered one of his weaker entries. Me? I'll always love "Once Upon A Time In Anatolia" a meditative but thoroughly gripping murder-mystery that very much feels like the more minimalist and, almost, equally brilliant counterpart to David Fincher's "Zodiac."
Read more“Hala" is a coming-of-age drama that feels unique and vital [Sundance Review]
A film based on women trying to break through the restrictive barriers of their parent’s religious upbringing is nothing new. However, Minhal Baig‘s “Hala” is unique because it tackles a gifted, hijab-wearing, skateboarding Pakistani (Geraldine Viswanathan) student who tries to navigate both her duties as a Muslim and her academic social life with poetic grace. The complications that arise in Baig’s film can be deemed conventional for this type of film but regardless they feel fresh and, more importantly, authentic because of the way Baig’s camera relates, in such intense ways, to Hala’s on-screen plights. Her sudden and out-of-the-blue romance with Jesse (Jack Kilmer) takes Hala away from the restrictions of her religion, the arranged marriage her father has in mind. And her own parent’s disintegrating relationship, threatened by her dad’s infidelities with a white woman in his office, only makes her life worse. Expanded from Baig’s 2016 similarly titled short film, the American female perspective in “Hala” is unique, bringing a new, much-needed perspective to the coming-of-age genre. Despite being apart from the intense Muslim world our main character lives in, there’s a relatability to her tribulations that hits home. Viswanathan (“Blockers”) proves to be a formidable actress, showcasing a woman trying to take the liberties that come in living as a woman in America and creating her own destiny, free of restrictions. [B/B+]
‘Cold Case Hammarskjöld’ Is An Astonishing Murder Mystery Investigation Doc [Sundance Review]
It’s a cliché, but “more than you bargained for” documentaries are typically the best ones. Those films that feature a filmmaker on an odyssey quest for one piece of truth, but discovers something richer and more profound along the journey. Such is the case with what Mads Brügger‘s astonishing “Cold Case Hammarskjöld,” about an investigation into a mysterious murder that strikes a vein and the blood of discovery comes gushing. What begins as a look into a plane crash, and the consequent death of United Nations secretary-general Dag Hammarskjöld in the early 1960s, quickly turns into something much more transfixing: the confirmation of a conspiracy theory that has existed for more than five decades.
Bryan Singer's BAFTA nomination Suspended by Academy
Bohemian Rhapsody director Bryan Singer’s name has been removed from the film's Bafta Awards nomination. ‘Rhapsody’ itself will remain nominated for the Outstanding British Film award on Sunday - but Singer's nomination has been "suspended,” which, in all likelihood, means removed.
Read moreThe Rock turned down Oscars hosting gig...
With a hostless 91st Academy Awards about to be unveiled to us on February 24th, here comes the news that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, was approached to host the gig. Which only amplifies the obvious fact that the Academy is trying to turn the Oscars into the MTV movie awards, what with Kevin Hart/The Rock touted as hosts, the technical categories being announced during commercial break and the pathetic Best Popular Oscar category trying to adhere to the fanboy contingent of viewers.
Read more‘Shaft' Trailer: Badass Motherf***er Now Has a Son
I remember being severely disappointed by Samuel L. Jackson’s remake of “Shaft” back in 2000, then again I’m not necessarily a fan of the 1972 Richard Roundtree-starring original, it’s all part of the silliness of Blaxploitation, give me “Superfly” any day of the week. But, count me as looking forward to this father and nephew duo sequel, along with Shaft III aka John Shaft Jr. aka JJ (played by Jessie Usher) in the upcoming, still, titled “Shaft.” Yup, three film with the same goddamn title. It was originally titled “Son of Shaft.”
Read moreMichelle Rodriguez Says Liam Neeson Not a Racist Due to Way He Kissed Viola Davis in ‘Widows'
Steve McQueen's “Widows” begins with the wondrously set-up image of Viola Davis and Liam Neeson in bed together and passionately kissing. Some of the audience I saw the film with actually gasped at the scene and how, quite frankly, erotic the smooching was. Was it because Davis is an African-American woman and Liam Neeson is pure Irish white? Quite possibly. The reaction was telling; it showcased how some people are still in total denial that an interracial couple can have a passionate on-screen romance.
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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.