Todd Phillips’ “Joker,” which I saw at the TIFF earlier in September is a fascinating, dark and despairing arthouse movie that also happens to have been made by a big studio. And yet, the negative media attention on the film is a more problematic issue than the film itself. The backlash from not just news outlets, but critics as well, is trying to sell you the idea that Joker is a dangerous film: a rallying cry for Incels and angry white males who might relate to the film’s murderous lead character. Indiewire’s David Ehrlich claimed in his review that the film spoke: “to the people in our world who are predisposed to think of Arthur as a role model: lonely, creatively impotent white men who are drawn to hateful ideologies because of the angry communities that foment around them.” Oh, fuck off.
Read moreOscars: 89 Countries Vying For Best International Feature
The Best International Feature Oscar race is starting to take shape. Previously known as Best Foreign Language Film, the category this year has plenty of contenders vying for the final five spots. EW assembled a full list of the films submitted to the Academy for Best International Feature consideration this year (a shortlist of 10 finalists will be announced in December, while the final five nominees will be revealed on Monday, Jan. 13). I have narrowed that list down to 18 likeliest contenders:
Read more‘Joker’: Joaquin Phoenix Gives the Performance of the Year [Review]
Here’s my review of Todd Phillips’ “Joker,” which I saw at the TIFF earlier in September. It’s a fascinating, dark and despairing arthouse movie that also happens to have been made by a big studio. Why are critics complaining that this could spark violence by way of “incels”? Because they can’t handle the truth. What is the truth? That “Joker” is a film mirroring our own society, and it dares us to look at ourselves in the mirror. The parallels to today’s world are there — societal alienation has never felt more current than it does today. Joker aka. Arthur Fleck’s situation could attest to 21st-century anxieties; his descent into madness is immaculately horrifying because it feels all too real and anchored up by present-day realities and tensions. The film comes out at a time when the country feels at a crossroads between civility and chaos. It’s understandable that many critics are calling the film dangerous in its, supposed, call to arms and revolution, but the fact that this movie is actually sparking panic in people must mean that it has hit a societal nerve, which renders it an indelible statement of current-day socio-political anxieties.
Read moreBong Joon-ho's ‘Parasite' Has Become a Phenomenon
I do look forward to audiences catching Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite.” It is no doubt going to be a movie that will have people talking, it’s an excellent post-screening conversation starter to boot. However, one thing that irked me most about the film was that there was absolutely no subtlety being used by Joon-ho. That’s why I wrote in my Cannes review that watching it felt like “Kore-eda on steroids.” Regardless, it’s a rather over-the-top but immensely watchable movie.
Read more‘The Gentleman': Director Guy Ritchie Goes Back to his Roots [Trailer]
Director Guy Ritchie built a career in the British crime comedy genre, from “Snatch” to “Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels,” the English filmmaker built up a fanbase in the late ‘90s and early aughts that would follow him anywhere he went. The problem was that where he went, the ensuing paycheck-driven studio fare he decided to make, wasn’t what his fans signed up for. I mean, would you call “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword,” “Aladdin,” “Swept Away,” and two “Sherlock Holmes” movies as anything but paycheck fare.
Read more‘Lucy in the Sky’ Aims for the Stars But Can’t Even Achieve Liftoff [Review]
Noah Hawley’s “Lucy in the Sky” turned out to be one of the big critical. disappointments at the Toronto International. Hawley (FX’s “Fargo”) is no doubt a man of visionary talents who has earned the right to make his feature directing debut ‘Lucy,’ but by golly, his film falls completely flat.
Read moreMartin Scorsese Raves About Ari Aster's ‘Hereditary'
The day after Martin Scorsese premiered “The Irishman” at the New York Film Festival, he had an on-stage chat with the fest's outgoing director Kent Jones at Alice Tully Hull. The whole conversation is worth a watch, as, during the course of the 30 minutes they had, Scorsese and Jones ended up talking about a host of topics, including Scorsese’s love for Joanna Hogg and Ari Aster.
Read morePolanski's Venice-Winning ‘An Officer and a Spy' Still Has No U.S. Distributor
When Roman Polanski’s "The Ghost Writer" was released in 2010, somebody wrote to the late great Roger Ebert complaining about his decision to see and review the film. Ebert replied: "A film is a film. It is good or bad. If I began making moral judgments of directors -- or actors, or writers -- where would it end?"
Read more‘Joker’ Director Todd Phillips Says ‘Woke Culture' Ruined Comedy; ‘Far-Left' Censorship Dangerous.
Before triumphing with “Joker,” [my review] director Todd Phillips was more known as the helmer behind raunchy but funny (“The Hangover,” “Old School,” “Road Trip,” “Starsky and Hutch”). However, he now claims that he has no interest in returning to the comedy genre due to the current-day far-left censorship of comedy.
Read more‘6 Underground' Trailer: Because Oscar Season Wouldn't Be Complete Without a Michael Bay Movie
Did we really need another Michael Bay movie? Well, Netflix seemed to think so. The auteur of such stinkers as “Transformers,” “Pearl Harbor,” “The Island,” “Armageddon,” “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” “Transformers: The Last Night,” “Transformers: The Age of Instinction,” and “Bad Boys II” is back with the streaming giant’s latest big-budgeted extravaganza “6 Underground.”
Read more‘Birds of Prey' Trailer: Same old, Same old?
Whenever a DC and/or Marvel movie is greenlit, the first thing I always look for is for the director behind the project. That can make it or break it for me when it comes to these uber-capitalist entities, most of which are just silly franchise movies trying to make a quick buck. A talented filmmaker can raise the bar of quality, bring some artful resonance to the stakes at hand, case in point would be what Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight), James Mangold (Logan), Sam Raimi (Sam Raimi), and Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok) did with their respective franchise films.
Read moreFirst Trailer For Clint Eastwood's 'Richard Jewell' Arriving This Week
A top-notch source has the trailer for Clint Eastwood’s “Richard Jewell” being released “imminently.” Probably alongside the WB’s “Joker.”
Directed by Eastwood himself, the film, starring Sam Rockwell, Kathy Bates, Jon Hamm and Olivia Wilde, is based on the true story of Richard Jewell, a security guard during the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games who discovered a bomb and tried to evacuate the grounds before it would detonate. However, as the police started investigating the drama they realized that Jewell could be a suspect and, in fact, responsible for entire the bomb hoax.
“Richard Jewell” is set for release on December 13th, 2019.
Oscar Poker: Martin Scorsese's ‘The Irishman' is Unveiled
Hollywood-Elsewhere’s Jeffrey Wells and I spoke about “Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” as part of this morning’s Oscar Poker podcast.
We need to stop complaining that this is “yet another Martin Scorsese mob movie.”
Movies that are mob/crime/violence related in the Scorsese canon: Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, Casino, Goodfellas, The Departed, The Wolf of Wall Street, Cape Fear, and The Irishman.
That's only 9 out of the 25 movies in his filmography. If Scorsese had only made The King of Comedy, After Hours, The Age of Innocence, The Last Temptation of Christ, Silence, Bringing Out the Dead, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Shutter Island, and The Aviator, he'd still be regarded as a top-tier director.
Again, the mp3
‘Abominable’ Soars To $30M Opening Weekend
Universal transferred its late-summer form to the fall as it locked out the front row of the box office yet again.
Read moreWhat's Left?
With “The Irishman” having been screened in both New York and L.A,. we now turn to the AFI Film Festival, set to take place during the first week of November, and where - cross your fingers - the premieres of Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women,” Jay Roach’s “Bombshell,” Clint Eastwood’s “The Ballad of Richard Jewell,” and, most importantly, Sam Mendes’ “1917” will happen. Those are four important movies left to be screened before film writers around the country can start making their top ten lists and prestigious critics groups are ready to give out their awards. Of course, there could be a totally out of the blue surprise, hell, even Tom Hooper’s “Cats” may join the fray (don’t bet your house on it).
‘The Irishman' and its Oscar Chances
“The Irishman” is …an incredibly Dostoyevskian statement from Scorsese. Its 209 minutes, for the most part, fly by. There’s an unfortunate shapelessness to the first 20 or so minutes which introduces us to a very young and, off-puttingly, de-aged De Niro and how he managed to go from meat-packing driver to finally get into the mob business as a hitman. At that point, the drama starts to elevate, the de-aging a little less of a distraction and we are thrust into a 1960s America filled with crime, both societal and political. It doesn’t let up for the next three hours, with only a few (very short) dull stretches here and there, as a whirlwind of characters and plot twists are thrown at us at fervorous speed. “The Irishman” could have surely benefitted from being, actually, a little longer. Sometimes Scorsese speeds us through its events at such breakneck-speed that a few of the supporting players end up having their stories not as well-developed as they should have been.
Read moreThe Divide Between Audiences and Film Critics Keeps Growing
The last few weeks have been full of discussion about the differing opinions of critics and audiences. From Brad Pitt’s new sci-fi epic, “Ad Astra,” and it’s dwindling audience reactions (43% audience score on rotten tomatoes, and a 7.1 IMDb score which is still falling fast), to both Ansel Elgort (with the help of his mum) and Frank Stallone (brother of Sly) appearing to take aim at critics following their ravaging of “The Goldfinch” and “Rambo:Last Blood” respectively. Both of which, if you look at aggregators rotten tomatoes and IMDb, have significantly higher audience ratings than critical scores. And these instances aren’t the most high profile discrepancies in the last year either. Both Sony’s Spider-Man spin off “Venom,” and Fox’s Oscar winning “Bohemian Rhapsody,” especially the latter almost starting a full-scale war. Both films were ripped apart in reviews for their ‘poison of dullness’ (Venom) or their appearance as having gone through the ‘rusty machinery of the Hollywood biopic’ (Boh Rap), however it didn’t stop either marching north of 700M at the worldwide box office, and the latter from sweeping home some Academy Awards, with its star Rami Malek taking home the best actor Oscar for one.
Read moreClint Eastwood’s ‘The Ballad of Richard Jewell’ Enters Oscar Race With December 13th Release Date
Clint Eastwood’s “The Mule” amassed box-office earnings of $103 million on a budget of just $50 million. No one should be surprised by the monetary success, it's Clint Eastwood. That's right, the legendary actor-director proved that his 89-year-old self was still a major attraction to moviegoers nationwide. It also helped that “The Mule” was a fantastic straight-shooting drama that could only be made by an old-school veteran like Eastwood.
Read more‘The Irishman’ is …
Oscar Buzz: ‘1917’ Momentum Keeps Building
I have already heard three first-hand accounts from people who have actually seen Sam Mendes’ “1917.” Two of them were from a test-screening that occurred in Jersey two weeks ago and the third from a well-seasoned awards pundit (initials P.H.) — all three used the “M” word to describe their feelings on it. The buzz is deafening for this film, so much so that I’m now hearing an exclusive just-for-press screening is about to occur in the coming days in Los Angeles, with New York not too far behind.
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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.