This is a before/after screenshot of Rotten Tomatoes’ purge of “troll” user reviews for “Captain Marvel,” which led to the review aggregate site deleting, from what I was told, close to half of the reviews they deemed to be by “trolls” of the Marvel film. The user score went from 32% to 60% due to the actions that were taken. Actual critic tomato-meter seems unchanged.
What is Happening with David Fincher's Movie Career?
David Fincher, currently in Austin for SXSW, has been endlessly promoting his animated oddity “Love, Death and Robots” (premiering on Netflix, 3.15), an “anthology animated short series made by different artists from around the world.” This is his first public appearance, that I can think of, since he had his sequel to “World War Z” scrapped by Paramount earlier this month.
Read moreCelebrating Anton Yelchin's 30th Birthday
The late Anton Yelchin would have celebrated his 30th birthday today.
Read moreDespite Death of Freddie Mercury at the end of “Bohemian Rhapsody," sequel being discussed
Don't get greedy now.
Read more‘Ash is Purest White’ Is Jia Zhang-ke’s Beautiful Feminist Take On The Gangster Film [Review]
At first glance, Jia Zhang-ke‘s “Ash is Purest White” feels like an immaculately perfect patchwork film, taking cues from his 2013 masterwork “A Touch of Sin” and his flawed, but brilliant, 2015 epic “Mountains May Depart,” as well as the docu-drama Chinese glimpse of “Still Life.” It’s odd, considering that Zhang-ke is not known for repetition — in fact, the only repetitiveness we keep seeing is the use of his wife and muse Zhao Tao in his movies. The director is famous for continuously trying to re-examine and reinvent the language of cinema with every movie.
Read moreSeparating Art From the Artist
There have been countless racists and anti-Semites over the years in the arts; Virginia Woolf, Patricia Highsmith, T.S. Eliot, Flannery O’Connor, H.P. Lovecraft, Dr. Seuss, Walt Disney (!!!) just to name a few. William S. Burroughs killed his wife, Phil Spector is also a murderer and, yet, his immaculate wall-of-sound productions are still blasting, justifiably so, on the radio on hot summer days (is there a better sensory-filled, audio-driven feeling than those great songs he created back in the 60s?) J.D. Salinger was, supposedly, a pedophile; Lord of the Flies author William Golding tried to rape a 15-year-old girl, both of these men have written books that are practically mandatory reading at almost ever high school in this country. Caravaggio was a pimp and a murderer. Charles Dickens, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald all treated their wives like total crap. Chuck Berry, by all accounts, was a hot-tempered asshole that also tried to sleep with a 15-year-old girl. I could go on and on.
History has always found a way to separate art from the artist.
How Nerd Culture Destroyed American Cinema
“Captain Marvel” has so far made, since Wednesday, close to $155M domestically, not to mention $455M worldwide. This is yet another spring success for Marvel, as practically at the same time last year, “Black Panther” was nearing record-breaking domestic box office receipts.
Read more“Green Book" Becomes Box-Office Phenomenon in China
Jordan Peele's “Us" Opens to Positive Reactions at SXSW
I am, sadly, not going to SXSW this year at Austin, but I will be reviewing whatever publicists send me via screeners .. I’m all eyes and ears boys and girls of the PR world. Yesterday Jordan Peele‘s Us (being released on 3.22) was, for the most part, greeted with near universal praise after premiering over there. However, I wouldn’t count on it having a smooth landing with critics just yet, there’s a certain sense of hyperbolic fever that runs down Austin every year at this time — last year Spielberg’s “Ready Player One” was greeted after its world premiere as if it were the second-coming when it was, in fact, just a decently entertaining film. It happens every year at SXSW. I’ve heard from a few well-trusted journos covering the fest this year that “Us” is not that great. I adored Peele’s directing-debut, the time-capsule worthy “Get Out,” which also happened to top my ten best list of 2017 It was a film that came out at the exact right time — A manifest of the social anxieties, both consciously and subconsciously, going on right now in America.
Look for my review of “Us” to be posted on March 19th.
2020 Congressional Candidate Calls For Government Legislation In Response to Negative “Captain Marvel" Reviews
Last week, negative comments for “Captain Marvel” led internet review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes to remove their audience scores across the website. This caused a major firestorm across the industry. I wrote:
Read more“True Detective” Season 3 Was An Improvement Over Last Season, But Continued to Show Its Creator's Flaws As An Artist
The exposition in “True Detective” Season 3 almost broke the season apart for me. When you have an actor like Mahersala Ali, who can give off emotional resonance with just a facial stare, and you give him incredibly expanded dialogue, well, that’s creator Nic Pizzolatto’s ego for you.
Read moreDoc Backlash; Michael Jackson Ban Happening on Radio, Television and, Even, Museums.
A total freakout is happening over the unsubstantiated Michael Jackson sex-abuse doc “Leaving Neverland,” including radio stations banning Jackson’s songs, The Simpsons axing their MJ episode, and his statue being taken down at the British Museum.
Read moreIt Looks Like the Venice Film Festival Will Also Ban Netflix Movies in Their 2019 Lineup
Eric Kohn has an interesting report in IndieWire about the Netflix-Cannes issue. However, before we get into that topic, he lays out the cards for us, in terms of this year’s upcoming festival, and, as mentioned of WoR, not only is Scorsese’s “The Irishman” a potential competition title, but there’s also a new untitled Noah Baumbach starring Adam Driver and Scarlet Johansson, Steven Soderbergh’s “The Laundromat,” and Joshua and Benny Safdies’ A24-produced “Uncut Gems,”
Read moreJulianne Moore Reveals She Was Fired From “Can You Ever Forgive Me?" During Rehearsals
Melissa McCarthy was perfectly cast in Marielle Heller “Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” an Oscar-nominated role that also happened to be the best performance of her career. In the film she played biographer Lee Israel, who had a knack for forging celeb letters in the early ‘90s.
Read moreReport: Marvel/Disney Working on “X-Men vs Avengers" Movie
The Disney/Fox deal is expected to close and be confirmed later this month. This give Marvel Studios total authority in bringing the X-Men into the MCU, imagine the monetary possibilities … they’re endless. I presume crossover projects are being planned.
Read moreMark Hamill Hints Luke Skywalker Has Cameo In Star Wars 9
In an interview with Den of Geek, Mark Hamill hints at a potential Luke cameo for Star Wars IX
Read moreMedia Freaks Over Manafort's Light Sentence; Still Don't Tackle Why His Partner Tony Podesta Was Not Indicted
I do need to get this off my chest. I know this is a movie site but I am utterly fascinated by the way the media in 2019 are complicit in so much hatred in this country. Whether it’d be MSNBC, CNN or Fox News, it doesn’t matter, I am trying to approach this matter in a neutral manner. I am utterly fascinated by the way the media works in 2019, to the point where this isn’t journalism anymore, it’s utter propaganda, that’s the only way to get ratings.
Read moreJulianne Moore gives one of her best performances in “Gloria Bell" [Review]
Sebastian Lelio‘s "Gloria Bell" is a remake of the director's 2013 film "Gloria," except this time he moves the story from his native Chile to the U.S.
Read moreDirector Peter Bogdanovich on working with Cher on "Mask": “She Can’t Act; She won Best Actress at Cannes Because I Shot Her Very Well. "
Peter Bogdanovich’s peak streak of films in the 70s happened with 1971’s “The Last Picture Show,” 1972’s “What’s Up Doc,” and 1973’s “Paper Moon.” Ever since then? Nothing worth shouting about, some out and out disasters and a couple of victorious successes such as 1985’s “Mask” starring Cher.
Read moreNetflix, Amazon, Sony Classics, and Focus Features all passed on ‘First Reformed' before A24 picked it up, reveals director Paul Schrader.
“First Reformed” was the second most-listed movie on critics top ten lists last year (357), right behind Roma’s 388 lists. [Via CriticsTop10] That in itself is a miraculous achievement for the Bressonian indie, which premiered at festivals such as Telluride and Toronto back in the fall of 2017 and was only released a year later. It’s a richly detailed, but minimalist film, which features an all-time best performance from unfairly Oscar snubbed Ethan Hawke, and which tried to be a sort of state-of-the-union address, an encapsulation of sorts, for 2018 America.
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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.