After months of discussions with the Osage Nation about making “Killers of the Flower Moon” into a movie, Martin Scorsese is set to film his adaptation of the grisly murder-mystery novel in Osage County this coming Spring, according to musician Robbie Robertson who will be scoring the film (much like he did on “The Irishman”).
Read moreChristopher Nolan's ‘Tenet': Prologue to Be Shown Right Before ‘The Rise of Skywalker' Showings
A new movie by Christopher Nolan is always a cause for celebration. The British-born filmmaker rarely follows the rules as a mainstream filmmaker — he’s a maverick in an industry that is a total and utter sea of muck for creativity.
Read morePeople Are Actually Congratulating Ava DuVernay for Directing ‘Harriet’ and ‘Queen & Slim’
Ava DuVernay has admitted on Twitter that a problem has arisen, she has “been congratulated by non-black folks in Hollywood 11 different times” about directing ‘Harriet’ and ‘Queen & Slim.” The filmmaker added, “When I share that I didn’t direct those films, that they are made by black women directors who are not me? Nervous chuckles. Apologies. This place…”
Read more‘Bombshell’ Trailer: Fox News Bio-Drama Tackles Roger Ailes’ Victims
Spike Lee's Upcoming Film ‘Da 5 Bloods' Said to Be ‘Oscar Worthy'
The “BlacKkKlansman” director had a solid outing with the aforementioned movie last year, which was deemed a comeback of sorts after a rough 10-year stretch of films which included “Miracle at St. Anna,” “Red Hook Summer,” “Oldboy,” “Da Sweet Blood of Jesus” and, to a lesser extent, “Chiraq.” Those were the five worst Lee movies of his career (as far as I’m concerned).
Read moreBBC Critics Poll: Jane Campion's ‘The Piano' Named Greatest Film Ever Directed By a Woman
The BBC has decided to publish another Critics Poll, this time they are tackling the 100 Greatest Films Directed by Women. 761 different films were voted for by 368 film experts – critics, journalists, festival programmers, and academics – who came from 84 countries, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. The same number of women contributed as men to create a gender-balanced poll, with 185 female voters, 181 male voters, one non-binary person, and “one who preferred not to say”. Each voter listed their 10 favorite films directed by women. The results are, actually, quite agreeable. The oldest film on the list would be Lois Weber’s silent film “Shoes” (1916) – right up to 2019 releases “The Souvenir” (Joanna Hogg) and “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” (Céline Sciamma). Of note; The majority of films on the list were made since the 1990s. The late, great Agnès Varda was the most popular director overall, with six films in the top 100, followed by Kathryn Bigelow, Claire Denis, Lynne Ramsay and Sofia Coppola.
Read moreBest Picture: Are These Our Five Front-Runners?
Every Best Picture contender has now screened for press in major cities. So now comes the fun part, where we try to assess it all. I presume this year we will again get 8-10 nominees vying for the Best Picture prize, which means that of the 12 Front-Runners listed below, probably 3-4 will be ousted from nabbing a nomination.
Read moreFirst Reviews For Greta Gerwig's ‘Little Women' Are Excellent
I will be giving Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women” another shot on December 2nd, but, for the time being, I am not in agreement with the critical consensus building up around it. A 90 score on Metacritic (based on 21 reviews) seems way too generous for my tastes. These reviews do, however, significantly raise its chances of garnering a Best Picture nomination.
Read more#BestActressSoWhite?
Vanity Fair contributor Mark Harris has decided to go back his overtly-woke ways, hitting the Gold Derby pundits on their Best Actress predictions. Why, you may ask? Partly because they’re currently favoring four white actors and one Asian actor — Judy‘s Renée Zellweger, Marriage Story‘s Scarlett Johansson, Little Women‘s Saoirse Ronan, Bombshell‘s Charlize Theron, and The Farewell‘s Awkwafina. But more specifically because they’re relegated Harriet‘s Cynthia Erivo, Clemency‘s Alfre Woodard and Us‘s Lupita Nyong’o to slots #6, #7 and #8.
Read moreKathleen Kennedy Met With George Lucas Before Writing ‘Rise Of Skywalker’: “We Took Down A Lot Of Notes”
Hardcore Star Wars fans are unabashedly pro-George Lucas. That’s just how it’s been ever since “A New Hope” was released to mass fandom and hysteria back in 1977. Hell, a majority contingent of the SW fan base even stuck around with Lucas when critics were bashing his prequel trilogy, which included the worst installment of the entire series “The Phantom Menace.”
Read more‘The Two Popes': Conservative-Minded Vatican Drama Features Oscar-Worthy Jonathan Pryce [Review]
In 2013, progressive Cardinal Bergoglio and soon-to-be Pope Francis (Jonathan Pryce) paid a visit to conservative Pope Benedict (Anthony Hopkins) so that he could tend his letter of resignation to him. Surrounded by controversy, Benedict shunned it off, saying it was bad timing for his cohort to exit at a time when he was being accused of turning a blind eye on inner corruption at the Vatican. What followed was a debate between two very different mindsets and their particular views on the best path forward for the Catholic Church in the 21st century.
Read more‘Knives Out': Rian Johnson's Expertly Crafted Whodunnit is Irresistibly Entertaining [Review]
There was a time when Hollywood would churn out Agatha Christie-inspired whodunits like it was nobody else’s business. You know how it goes, a plot filled with highly suspicious characters, all connected by a mysterious murder, but who among them did the dirty deed? Eventually, this genre got tiresome and clichéd, but in an era of cinema where most big-studio movies aren’t interested in doing adult-oriented dramas, director Rian Johnson has decided to bring it back.
Read moreBox-Office: ‘Frozen 2' Continues Disney Dominance With $130 Million Opening
Disney returns in monster fashion as the long-awaited animated sequel “Frozen 2” destroys the competition on its opening weekend.
Read more70th Berlin Film Festival: The 21 Best Bets for Competition include Wes Anderson's Latest
The Berlin Film Festival’s 70th Anniversary edition is happening in 2020. The prestigious Berlinale will be kicking off its latest edition on February 20th with a new President -Dieter Kosslick- who has big plans to reorganize the festival, not to mention former Locarno programmer Mark Peransen becoming Kosslick’s new head of programming..
Read moreDirector Josh Trank Negatively Reviewed His Own ‘Fantastic Four' On Letterboxd
Josh Trank (“Chronicle”) had a rough time making “Fantastic Four.” It reportedly went through a disastrous production, reshoots were involved, there also included supposed “erratic behavior” from Trank on the set of the film. However, when finally released, it bombed at the box-office and earned itself a tepid 9% on Rotten Tomatoes. That has, somehow, not stopped Trank from deciding to add his own negative review of the film on Letterboxd.
Read more‘1917’ First Reactions: Sam Mendes' WWI Movie Shakes Up the Best Picture Race
In a Hollywood that has all but shunned artistic freedom for directors this past decade, it must have been hard for Sam Mendes to find the right project to satisfy his creative juices. Alas, that’s why his upcoming WWI film “1917” should be a cause for celebration. The film stars Mark Strong, Colin Firth, and Benedict Cumberbatch and will have the luxury of being shot by DP extraordinaire Roger Deakins.“1917” is also the last of the four major Oscar contenders to have been screened this year, "Bombshell,” “Richard Jewell” and “Little Women” have all now been shown to press in the big cities. (I’m sorry, I just can’t count “Cats,” the trailer was ridiculed to no ends and even went viral online for all the wrong reasons).
Read moreMatt Reeves' Has Assembled Quite the Cast for ‘The Batman'
Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” is revving up its engines for a scheduled-to-begin early 2020 production date. We already know that Robert Pattinson is set to play the caped crusader, following in the footsteps of Ben Affleck, Christian Bale, and Michael Keaton.
Read moreIs ‘Mad Max: Fury Road' the Movie of the Decade?
George Miller’s “Mad Max: Fury Road” is the best movie of the present decade. ‘Fury Road’ topped the A.V. Club’s published list of the 100 best movies of the 2010s. The movie ended up appearing on all but four of the 18 ballots submitted by The A.V. Club’s film writers. If you remember, back in May, I got a head start on everybody by polling 250 industry critics and industry people. It seems like I started a domino effect because now Paste, Consequence Of Sound and Film School Rejects have all placed Miller’s movie atop their own 2010s lists as well. Let us not forget that it is also currently first on Metacritic’s compilation of all the decade lists.
Read moreMichael Mann Praises ‘Joker' and Todd Phillips
Director Michael Mann has been missing in action this decade, a surprising disappearance act from the great director of such muscular achievements as “The Insider,” “Collateral,” and “Heat.” So, what happened? He’s released only one movie in the last ten years, which sadly had to be 2015’s misbegotten “Blackhat.” (although I hear there are some newly added fans of the recently released “Director’s Cut.”)
Read more‘Dark Waters': Todd Haynes' Eco-Thriller Covers Familiar Territory [Review]
The toxic waters in Parkersburg, West Virginia are at the center of director Todd Haynes’ “Dark Waters,” a conventional but well-shot eco-thriller with a screenplay written by Steven Zaillian (“The Irishman”).
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In the Academy’s 97-year history, no documentary has ever been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar? Fielder’s doc is being tipped as potentially making history — but is it even non-fiction?