SXSW’s documentary grand jury prize winner comes hot off the heels of other powerful documentaries about the Syrian war, those include “Of Fathers and Sons,’” “Last Men in Aleppo” and the upcoming Sundance-winning “Midnight Traveller.” However, directors Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts’ “For Sama” might be the most poignant. not to mention the hardest watch out of any of them. Waad documents her last five years in Aleppo with the kind of intimacy and unrestraint of a true artist having to capture the essence of a impossibly bleak situation. Not only does Waad first-person narrate the whole thing, addressing her daughter Sama, but she manages to film everything and I do mean everything. Her camera is there when life is taken and when life is given, it’s an exemplary work of art in the midst of near apocalyptic times for the Syrian people, who have to manage both the invasion of ISIS and, even worse, the constant bombings by the Russian airforces on a daily basis.. Pregnant with Sama, Waad isn’t sure if she should go on about bringing a new person while she lives in Allepo, a city which quickly became the most dangerous in the world, according to many geography experts, but Waad goes on with it, and her revealing home video footage turns out to bring us the most fully-fleshed document of the Syrian war thus far. The horrific imagery from the hospital, where her husband resides as a doctor, is impossibly grim, but what Waad creates with “For Sama” is a historical document that will be re-watched for years to come and will bear viewers to ask the same question over and over again: where were we and why didn’t we help?
‘Star Wars: Episode IX’: Unused “Force Awakens" Carrie Fisher Footage Will Develop Poe and Leia’s Relationship
We know that the late Carrie Fisher will posthumously appear, for the final time, as Leia Organa in next year's J.J. Abrams-directed Star Wars: Episode IX.
Read moreAfter “Black Panther” and “Captain Marvel,” Marvel Now Tackling First Asian-Led Superhero Movie, “Shang-Chi"
On the heels of “Black Panther” and “Captain Marvel,” Disney and Marvel Studios have hired “Short Term 12” director Destin Daniel Cretton to helm “Shang-Chi.” This will be the first DC or Marvel movie to feature an Asian superhero in the lead role and have a predominantly Asian cast. Marvel has stated that it was their top-priority to find an Asian or Asian-American director for the movie. After the excellent “Short Term 12,” Cretton reunited with Larson for the misbegotten drama “The Glass Castle.”
Read moreDavid Robert Mitchell's “It Follows" is one of the best and most influential horror movie of the decade.
Any horror movie fan you speak to will tell you that the last decade has been incredible for the genre. And so, what’s the deal? Well firstly, everything that’s coming out seems to be directed by filmmakers that know their horror, cinephiles in fact. These are filmmakers that are allergic to clichés. The genre was in dire need of new blood, and we found it with new talented directors that seemed to be inspired by the works of John Carpenter, Stanley Kubrick, and David Cronenberg.
Read moreLil Peep Doc “Everybody's Everything" Is A Haunting and Touching Statement on Millennial Angst [SXSW Review]
Born Gustav Elijah Åhr to white Harvard graduate parents, in suburban Pennsylvania of all places, Lil Peep stormed the independent music industry with his own brand of “Mumble Rap,” a genre that is defined by its unlimited amount of genre mashups and has its melodic flows and indecipherable lyrics mixed in with a thematic consciousness about anxiety, depression and being a millennial.
Read more‘Long Day’s Journey Into Night’ Trailer: Bi Gan’s “Flat-Out Masterpiece” Looks Beyond Gorgeous
“In an era where digital fakery can masquerade for the real thing, Bi Gan brings back the possibilities, no the magic, of cinema”, I wrote in my Cannes review, I even went as far as calling Bi-Gan’s “Long Day’s Journey” a “flat-out masterpiece.” A compelling three-dimensional experience like Jean Luc Godard‘s “Goodbye to Language.”
Read moreJames Gunn Rehired as “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” Director
James Gunn had been fired, in July of 2018, by Disney and Marvel after old, offensive tweets from the filmmaker resurfaced on Twitter. However, in a remarkable turn of events, Disney has decided to reinstate Gunn as the director of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.” Variety is reporting that the sudden rehiring of Gunn happened “after a series of meetings with Walt Disney Pictures honcho Alan Horn.”
Read more“Forrest Gump" Bollywood Remake in the Works
In a rather surprising move, India’s billion-dollar movie industry has decided to tackle the world of ‘Gump.’
Read moreCannes 2019 Update
It’s not secret that Cannes and Netflix are trying to reach a deal in order for the streaming service to enter its films in the prestigious main competition of the festival. The latest proposal included a clause that would say if a Netflix film were to win an award at Cannes, then the streaming service would have to release that film in French theaters. Problematic, since Netflix is still uninterested in doing that.
Read more‘Avengers: Endgame’ Official Trailer: This Is The End, My Beautiful Friend.
I badly need to rewatch “Infinity War.” I was underwhelmed by my initial watch, maybe expectations were, for some reason, too high but it has quickly become one of the most popular MCU entries ever for comic book movie fans. At the very least, I should respect the overall consensus, its 8.5 IMDB user rating just seems a tad too ridiculous, and give it another shot before I embark into watching the Anthony and Joe Russo’s “Avengers: Endgame,” which is easily the most highly anticipated MCU entry in the decade-long franchise’s history.
Read moreTrailer For “Yesterday”: Director Danny Boyle Imagines A World Where The Beatles Never Existed
Danny Boyle‘s “Yesterday” has an agreeable concept; What if The Beatles never existed and you happened to be the only person in the world that can recall their entire repertoire of great tunes?
Read moreJ.C. Chandor talks “Triple Frontier" and How Netflix Is Saving Cinema [Interview]
We spoke to Chandor about "Triple Frontier," its thematic similarities to his other movies and, of course, working with Netflix.
Read more‘Wayne’s World’ Director Penelope Spheeris Says She's Done With Hollywood: ‘They Can Blow Me’
‘Wayne’s World” director Penelope Spheeris, who hasn’t directed a movie since the 2011 comedy “Balls to the Walls,” but don’t look for her name to be attached to another movie, ever again.
Read moreBryan Singer Dropped from Directing “Red Sonja”
It was strange that Millennium Films were sticking to their guns and defending Bryan Singer’s involvement as director for the upcoming “Red Sonja,” after all, the filmmaker was all but shunned by the industry amidst multiple sexual abuse allegations. However, it does appear like the studio has finally decided to give Singer the ax.
The Hollywood Reporter has a report stating that Singer is no longer involved with the film. Prior to today’s news, Millennium head Avi Lerner was a persistent defender of Singer’s, despite all of the allegations that were continuing to surface against the director. Lerner even went as far as releasing a statement in support of Singer, calling the backlash against his friend "agenda driven," adding that he knew the difference between "fake news and reality, and [that he was] very comfortable with this decision. In America people are innocent until proven otherwise."
The problem is that, despite his avid defense, Lerner was not able to get a single domestic distributor to touch the project, let alone even negotiate with him unless Singer was a goner. Money talks.
‘The Simpsons’ Showrunner Al Jean Theorizes, Without Evidence, That Michael Jackson Used ‘Simpsons' Episode to ‘Groom Boys’
‘The Simpsons’ Showrunner Al Jean likes to theorize and invent stories on-the-spot.
Read more“Long Shot” Trailer Asks Us to Buy Into the Concept That Charlize Theron Can Be Attracted to Seth Rogen
“Long Shot” has Charlize Theron plays 40ish Secretary of State Charlotte Field, who is also planning a presidential run for the White House. Seth Rogen’s Fred Flarsky is the political journalist whom Theron hires to be her speechwriter, in part because she babysat him when she was in her teens. The slogan for the film reads “unlikely but not impossible.” At least they are in admittance that a story such as this one would be highly unlikely in the real world, right?
Read moreAng Lee's Action-Sci-Fi “Gemini Man" Will Be Shot 120 Frames Per Second
Ang Lee decided to shoot 2016’s failed “Billy’s Long Halftime Walk” at 120 frames per second in 3D and at 4K HD resolution, Lee termed it the "Whole Shebang". It was the very first feature film ever to be shot at such a high frame rate, which is five times the standard speed of 24 fps. If his groundbreaking use of 3D in "Life of Pi" was cause enough to have our expectations piqued for "Billy Lynn," the film ended up being a victim of its own technological breakthrough - in fact, it felt like a staged gimmick rather than a fully absorbing cinematic experience.
Read moreDisney’s New ‘Aladdin’ Trailer Is An Improvement But Still Has Genie Will Smith
Ok fine, I was suckered into humming “A Whole New World” while watching the new trailer for Disney’s upcoming live-action “Aladdin.” Disney probably expected a backlash to happen — after all, I hear they now have the technology to read our minds— when they decided to resurrect the late Robin Williams’ Genie by casting *gulp* Will Smith. The anger from fans was scathing. Nobody and I mean nobody would be happy with whomever took the task of replacing WIlliams as Genie, possibly the best voice acting in the history of animation.
Read moreOscar Isaac Says It's The “End Of The Entire Skywalker Saga” In ‘Star Wars: Episode IX’
“It is the end of the entire Skywalker saga,” the actor said on the ‘Today’ Show (via IndieWire). “Nine stories. This is the culmination of the entire thing. What J.J. has done, and the entire Lucasfilm team, is incredibly fulfilling. It’s also special for us because you get to learn a lot more things about these characters.”
Despite #MeToo Mobbing, Morgan Freeman Joins Ryan Reynolds & Samuel L. Jackson In ‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard’ Sequel
Freeman is a legendary actor that had a peak streak of well-celebrated films between 1989 and 2008; “Glory,” “Unforgiven,” “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Seven,” “Million Dollar Baby,” and “The Dark Knight.”
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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.