John Travolta's Upcoming Stalker-Thriller Film Retitled to ’The Fanatic' - Directed by Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit

John Travolta's career looks like it desperately needs a second comeback. We thought it might happen with his excellent turn as OJ Simpson's lawyer, Robert Shapiro, in 2016’s “The People V. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.” Ever since then? Nada. Zilch. Zero.

His next project does sound fascinating. TMZ asked Travolta about “The Fanatic,” a film directed by Fred Durst, yes of Limp Bizkit fame, and the actor had nothing but raves for his filmmaker,  “Maybe my favorite experience I’ve had. He’s so generous and he’s such an artist. And he allowed me to create a character that no one else would allow.”

The best experience that Travolta ever had? In a film directed by Limp Bizkit's frontman? 

“The Fanatic” is based on a real-life experience that Durst had. The film is about an obsessed fan, played by Travolta, who begins stalking his favorite action-film star, played by Devon Sawa (Remember him? From “Idle Hands” and “SLC Punk?”).

Previously titled “Moose,” Bloody Disgusting is reporting that principal photography took place in Alabama.

‘Under the Silver Lake' Isn't As Bad As You Think It Is [Review]

The Initial release for David Robert Mitchell's "Under the Silver Lake" was supposed to be last summer, but, after negative reviews greeted it at Cannes, A24 cut the chord and changed its release for December 7th, then that date was bumped again to, supposedly, this coming Friday. I presume Mitchell’s film is indeed coming out in 4 days hence, so it’s time to give my two cents on this polarizing film, which I happened to catch almost a year ago at Cannes.

"Under the Silver Lake" actually works decently well, up until its lazy and infuriating payoff, which feels flat and uninspired. David Robert Mitchell (“It Follows”) is a filmmaker that wants to break rules, his work here with DP Mike Gioulakis is commendable. The problem is that there just is no there there, an L.A. odyssey about Sam (Andrew Garfield), a Peeping Tom-turned-amateur-detective who tries to crack the conspiracy case of a missing person which he believes may be hidden in pop-culture artifacts. That missing person is Sarah, and who wouldn’t have a thing for this stoner chick, especially since she’s played by Riley Keough. The evidence he uncovers leads him to vanish into the L.A. underworld, where nothing is as it seems; girl gangs, tween vandalists, a dog killer, a missing millionaire among other distractions Mitchell lays out for us.

The goal here is to build up a cult following, and, make no mistake about it, there will be people that'll respond to Mitchell's film in that very way. Clocking in at 139 minutes, this shapeless L.A. noir wants to be like "The Big Lebowski" and "The Long Goodbye," but tries too hard to attain the level of those classics. Mitchell's intention with this film was for it to be a purposeful and confusing California-flavored mental haze. However, the whole notion of a story revolving around a surreal dive into L.A's hipster community is nothing new at the movies. We’ve seen it all before. [B-]

Wes Anderson Says ‘The French Dispatch' Could Be Released by End of Year

Speaking to the French outlet Charente Libre, Wes Anderson mention his upcoming movie “The French Dispatch'“ may be released before the end of the year. The director said that no release date has been decided but he thinks an end of 2019 deadline is doable. So, maybe there’s going to be a Wes Anderson movie this holiday season.

Cannes 2019 Official Poster Pays Tribute To The Late Agnès Varda

The just-released Cannes ’19 poster has the late Agnes Varda shooting her first film, La Pointe Courte, sometime in the summer of ’54. Well done, Cannes.

BOX OFFICE: ‘ Shazam’ Remains at the Top

More to come ….

Out-of-Compeition Films at Cannes 2019? ‘Rocketman' and ‘Toy Story 4' Lead the Pack

We’ve been endlessly speculating about the competition slots at Cannes, but what about all the other Out-Of Competition stuff? This is where we see major potential for the starry glitz and glamor most of the Americabn media was desperately clamoring for last year. I think we’ll get it this year.

“Rocketman,” the Elton John biopic is all but sealed as a sure-thing to premiere on the croissettE; Starring Aaron Edgerton, the film is coming off the immense success of “Bohemian Rhapsody” and is directed by Dexter Fletcher who took over directing duties for Bryan Singer in that film.

“Toy Story 4” is another film that could potentially be an Oscar contender come next year. Its presence for an OOC slot has been fervently rumored on. Pixar has had a history with Cannes over the years — “Inside Out” and “Up!” both premiered there.

Armando Iannucci’s “The Disappearance of David Copperfield” is also receiving a lot of Cannes traction. The director has been gaining steam these last few years as the creator of “Veep” and the director of political satires such as “In the Loop” and “The Death of Stalin.”

The upcoming Roger Ailes biopic “Fair and Balanced,” directed by Jay Roach and starring Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie could absolutely prove to be a major get for the fest. Its December release date seems suspect for it to debut at the fest next month but there is already Showtime series being released this summer that it would make sense Roach would want to premiere this film ahead of its competition.

JJ Abrams consulted with George Lucas to help craft ‘Episode IX'

There were rumors, months ago, that George Lucas had been consulted for Episode 9 to help make it a satisfying conclusion for all fans, including the ones that were turned off by “The Last Jedi,” and there were many of those.

That, my friends, is no longer a rumor. Director JJ Abrams has confirmed [via IGN] that he spoke to Lucas during the creative process and hinting that it was Lucas who came up with the idea to have Palpatine return in “The Rise of Skywalker.” Abrams claims that Lucas was the person who came up with the idea to put Palpatine in The Rise of Skywalker, but given that Abrams brought up Lucas while discussing the fallen Emperor, it may well have been him.

“This movie had a very, very specific challenge, which was to take eight films and give an ending to three trilogies, and so we had to look at, what is the bigger story? We had conversations amongst ourselves, we met with George Lucas before writing the script,” Abrams revealed. “These were things that were in real, not debate, but looking at the vastness of the story and trying to figure out, what is the way to conclude this? But it has to work on its own as a movie, it has to be its own thing, it has to be surprising and funny and you have to understand it.”

‘Her Smell' Is Absolute Movie Hell [Review]

Alex Ross Perry is a filmmaker that I’ve never fully warmed up to. His films tend to be both slight and pretentious. His latest film is titled “Her Smell” and it is no doubt an audience-test movie — a story about an unlikable character in the form of manic-crazy rock star Becky (played by Elizabeth Moss) who is the lead singer of a fictional all-female band named Something She. Since this film is set in the ‘90s, and these gals hail from Seattle, I presume the music they perform is grunge, although there are definitely punk remnants to it as well. This trio of gals all wear heavy mascara and eyeliner makeup and like to flick their tongues in demonic punk-rock fashion any chance they get, whether it be on-stage of off. I honestly was not down with this movie within the first 10 minutes, I just knew this wasn’t for me, but I stuck around, waiting for the film to gradually improve.

However, clocking in at 135 minutes, “Her Smell” should very much be qualified as an endurance-test for anyone except Alex Ross Perry’s most ardent of fans.  The fact that you have to succumb to the camera and follow Becky’s point-of-view during the entirety of this film feels like hell because she’s nothing more than a mean-spirited individual who gets her endorphin rush not just from the drugs she injects, in what seems to be an hourly basis, but most especially from putting down anyone and everyone around her orbit; Some of her victims include her two bandmates (Agyness Deyn, Gayle Rankin), the opening act (Cara Delevigne, Dylan Gelula, Ashley Benson), her ex-husband (Dan Stevens), a record-label owner (Eric Stoltz) and her manager (Virginia Madsen). Rather than putting a stop to Becky’s mayhem, these individuals stick around, facilitating her bullying by not calling her out for a good portion of the film, that is until they are near the breaking point of their sanity. Coincidentally enough, that’s how we feel watching the movie.

Things do get better in the final few minutes, when Becky tries to find redemption and make amends for her grotesque behavior, especially when she decides to play a piano rendition of Bryan Adams’ ‘Heaven’ to her little baby girl. It’s a wonderfully humane and intimate moment in a film filled with vile degradation and mean-spiritedness. This is absolute movie hell. [D+]

Werner Herzog Thinks Film Schools Should Die

I have, countless times, mentioned on here that, when it comes to film school, you can easily create your own “film school” at home through the magic of the internet. Hell, I’m currently working on a screenplay that I plan to shoot on my iphone. Think about that, folks, the internet has all the answers you need. There are enough writings and videos to make you learn everything you need to learn. Also, I’ve long maintained the best film education is to just watch as many of the classics as you can.

In a three-year-old interview with The Verge, Werner Herzog claimed that today’s technology makes learning film at University a prehistoric thing:

“Because today it’s fairly easy; you can make a film with a very high caliber camera that’s not expensive anymore,” said the filmmaker. “You can record sound on your cell phone if you add a good microphone and you can edit your film on your laptop.”

Cannes 2019: Jay Roach's ‘Fair and Balanced' to Premiere Out of Competition? Iannucci as well?

Cineuropa has always been one of the more reliable European outlets for Cannes rumors. Today they posted their annual preview of the fest, which is set to take place May 14th through May 25th.

Yes, most of the Cineuropa article is comprised of rumors we’ve been reporting for a few weeks now, but there is surprisingly new intel to be found:

• Jay Roach's Roger Ailes biopic "Fair and Balanced" is rumored to premiere out-of-competition.

• Armando Iannucci's "The Personal History of David Copperfield” also seems to be headed towards an OOC slot.

• A major find for American cinema will be director Danielle Lesowitz’ debut, "Port Authority," which is rumored to be part of the Un Certain Regard section of the fest.

• Rumor has it that Pablo Larrain’s “Ema” will not make it to Cannes because…wait for it…Netflix is in the midst of finalizing a deal to buy it. Ouch.

I have also been told that the new Cristi Puiu is 199 minutes. Also, Marco Bellocchio’s new movie has major ‘Godfather’ vibes.

23 SOLID BETS for competition:

BACURAU | Kleber Mendonça Filho & Juliano Dornelles
PORTRAIT DE LA JEUNE FILLE EN FEU | Céline Sciamma
PAIN AND GLORY | Pedro Almodóvar
RADEGUND | Terrence Malick
OH MERCY | Arnaud Desplechin
ABOUT ENDLESSNESS | Roy Andersson 
AHMED | Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
PARASITE | Bong Joon-ho
THE BEANPOLE | Kantemir Balagov
UNTITLED | Brillante Mendoza
IT MUST BE HEAVEN | Elia Suleiman
FRANKIE | Ira Sachs
THE DEAD DON´T DIE | Jim Jarmusch
MANOR HOUSE | Cristi Puiu
MATTHIAS & MAXIME | Xavier Dolan
FIRE NEXT TIME | Marti Diop
SATURDAY FICTION | Lou Ye
THE TRAITOR | Marco Bellochio
SIBYL | Justine Trite
SORRY WE MISSED YOU | Ken Loach
UNE FILLE FACILE | Rebecca Zlotowski 
THE WHISTLERS | Corneliu Porumbuiu
ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD | Quentin Tarantino

RUMORED POSSIBILITIES:

GLORIA MUNDI | Robert Guédiguian 
LA CORDILLÈRE DES SONGES | Patricio Guzmán 
THE NEST | Sean Durkin
NOMADLAND | Chloe Zhao
WICKED GAMES | Ulrich Seidl 
MIENTRAS DURE LA GUERRA | Alejandro Amenabar
WENDY | Benh Zeitlin
FIRST COW | Kelly Reichardt
THE LIGHTHOUSE| Robert Eggers
WAVES | Trey Edward Shults
COOK, FUCK, KILL | Mira Fornay
GUEST OF HONOR | Atom Egoyan
ETRE VIVANT ET LE SAVOIR | Alain Cavalier
C'EST EXTRA | Guillaume Nicloux 
THE THOUSAND MILES | Sylvain Chomet

Director Neil Marshall Seems to be Disowning His Own ‘Hellboy' Reboot

As far as I’m concerned, Guillermo del Toro gave us as perfect an adaptation as you can get of underground comic “Hellboy” with 2008’s "Hellboy II: The Golden Army." He fought for Ron Perlman to be cast, he fought for the budget and he fought for creative control. There was just no way we could have a better Hellboy without Del Toro at the reign.

Perlman and, his "Hellboy" co-star, Selma Blair seem to be in agreement with my assessment; the pair even took to social media to indirectly criticize the reboot.  Blair reacted by posting a photo of herself kissing a poster of Perlman’s Hellboy. “This man, Ron Perlman,” Blair wrote on Instagram. “Forever my Red. You are always the realest deal, a diamond.” Perlman, meanwhile, posted  a reminder on his Instagram that the del Toro original can be streamed on Netflix right now.

Perlman and del Toro not being part of this reboot has been a source of controversy for many fans. This “Hellboy” reboot has “Stranger Things” actor David Harbour playing the titular character. Director Neil Marshall, who made the excellent horror film “The Descent,” is replacing del Toro.

The Wrap is even now reporting of production hell during the shoot of the film. That Harbour, and director Marshall consistently fought on-set. The report goes even further in insinuating that the studio undermined the filmmaker at every turn.

It all, supposedly, started when producers Lawrence Gordon and Lloyd Levin fired Marshall’s longtime collaborating cinematographer, Sam McCurdy. This firing was supposedly a warning shot at Marshall to let him know who was in charge … Then they gave permission to Ian McShane and Harbour to re-write their own scenes on set, ignoring Marshall.

“Hellboy” currently sits at 14% on RottenTomatoes and opens in theaters on Friday.