Great news, Paul Thomas Anderson is reteaming with Focus Features (“Phantom Thread”) for his next movie.
Read more‘Tenet’ First Look Images: Christopher Nolan's “Most Ambitious Film” To Date May Also Get Trailer on Friday
We have our “first look” at Christopher Nolan’s That’s right, two images for “Tenet” are finally available and I have been hearing that we may get a surprise teaser to go along with “The Rise of Skywalker” this coming Friday.
Read more‘The Rise of Skywalker' Caters Too Heavily to ‘Last Jedi' Haters [Review]
For the last two years, director Rian Johnson and “The Last Jedi” have been on the receiving end of a backlash from a large contingent of “Star Wars” fans. Johnson’s creative decisions pleased film critics, but hardcore Star Wars loyalists despised the fresh new direction Johnson took with the “Last Jedi.” There was no catering to fans, risks were taken in the narrative, more sacrilege, however, Rian’s deconstruction of Star Wars lore, including doing a 180 of Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker by making him do things which, shall we say, went against the “spirit” of the beloved 4 decade-old character.
Read more‘Saint Maud’: A24’s Latest Could Be the Next Great Horror Movie
It’s been a busy day with press screenings for “The Rise of Skywalker” and “Cats,” but I will be writing a little something about “Saint Maud” later today.
Read moreRian Johnson: Catering to Fans, Instead of Challenging Them, Is a ‘Mistake’
Amidst the furious debate regarding “The Last Jedi” and Rian Johnson, people tend to forget that Johnson is actually a very talented director. After all, when you’ve already directed movies like “Looper,” “Brick” and “Knives Out” in your short, but successful, career, it doesn’t really matter whether “The Last Jedi” was good or bad.
Read moreFirst Reactions for ‘The Rise of the Skywalker' Are Mixed
The end of the year is here, and it brings us the release of one of the most highly anticipated movies of the last decade. And no, it’s not “Cats”. Having had its world premiere in LA last night, the first batch of responses to “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” have surfaced online. It’s not unkind to say that responses have been decidedly mixed so far, from calls ranging from ‘major disappointment’ to ‘Intensely satisfying”. The big question on most people’s lips is whether Disney and Lucasfilm will ride the wave of the critically loved but apparent ‘hardcore’ fandom loathed “The Last Jedi” or whether they will play it safe. Judging by the snapshot of reactions below, and online, it seems that may not be the case. Check out some of the takes below and let us know your thoughts. Will Disney revert back to type?
Read moreThese Are the 10 Films Competing For the Foreign Film Oscar in February
Just Ten films advanced to the next round of voting in the International Feature Film category (formerly known as Foreign Language Film) for the upcoming 92nd Academy Awards. Ninety-one films were eligible in the category and two others were disqualified having had too much English dialogue.
Read moreSpike Lee's ‘Bamboozled' Will Finally Be Part of the Criterion Collection
Finally, Spike Lee’s underrated, not to mention unfairly critically maligned, “Bamboozled” will be part of the Criterion collection and released in March, announced via press release today by Criterion. Other titles getting the Criterion treatment for March release include John M. Stahl’s “Leave Me Alone,” David Maysles “Salesman” and, huh, Barbara Streisand’s Oscar-nominated “Prince of Tides,” which doesn’t belong in the collection — it was a heavy-handed dud back in 1991 and it still is to this today.
Read more‘Parasite' Tops IndieWire Critics Poll
With a record of 304 critics participating this year, the IndieWire critics poll, which I completely forgot to fill out my ballot for, has been topped by Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite.” No surprise there, Bong’s film is the overwhelming critical favorite for critics, and audiences, in 2019. Scorsese’s “The Irishman” finished in second place, with Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” third.
Read moreQuentin Tarantino Not Doing ‘Star Trek' Anymore; Wants His 10th & Final Film to Be ‘Smaller'
Quentin Tarantino is, again, insisting that he plans to quit making movies after his 10th feature. Of course, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” is his ninth feature, so that just leaves one more. The more I think about it, the more I realize that ‘Hollywood’ just feels like a towering final statement from Tarantino.
Read more‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Official Trailer: Tom Cruise Is Back in the Danger Zone
Did we really need a sequel to “Top Gun”? Of course not. Cruise is desperately trying to build as many franchises to his name as possible, he knows full well that the “star vehicle” is all but a dying breed in Hollywood. Smart guy.
Read more‘Richard Jewell’ Is a Pertinent Addition to the Clint Eastwood Canon [Review]
“Richard Jewell” is a matter-of-fact, step-by-step procedural that feels so old-school, so simply but powerfully rendered to the viewer, that it could have only come from director Clint Eastwood’s just-tell-the-story brand of cinema.
Read moreBoston Society of Film Critics Go For ‘Little Women'
Consider me shocked that my colleagues over at the Boston Society of Film Critics decided to bestow their top film prize to Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women.” Gerwig’s period drama managed to also win Best Ensemble Cast and Best Actress (Saorise Ronan). This gives a boost to the critically-acclaimed film, which has, for the most part, been snubbed by the majority of this year’s important voting awards bodies. However, don’t despair ‘Little Women’-aholics, it does look as though that little social media backlash post-Globes, after it was snubbed from most categories, might be a driving force for momentum come Oscar voting time. Who knows, maybe the Boston critics actually had that mentality in mind when they walked into the room to vote for this afternoon’s winners.
Read moreBox-Office: ‘Jumanji: The Next Level' Swings to the Top; ‘Richard Jewell' Bombs
Sony’s “Jumanji” sequel picked up where the first one left off two years ago as it opened to major success both domestically and internationally to top this weekend’s charts.
Read more‘A Hidden Life' Bombing at the Box-Office
When Terrence Malick’s “A Hidden Life” was greeted with more-than-decent reviews at the Cannes Film Festival, it got Fox Searchlight all hot and excited by jumping the gun and buying the tepid 3-hour film for an astounding $12 million. I thought it was a terrible sell then and, lo and behold, it looks like I was right as Malick’s latest opus is set to nab an opening weekend, in limited released mind you, of $49,000 dollars. Yikes.
Read moreBOFCA Crowns ‘Parasite,' Sandler
One of the year-end critics groups I have the pleasure of voting for is the Boston Online Films Critics Association (BOFCA), which awarded today its Best Actor trophy to Uncut Gems‘ Adam Sandler (one of my top choices They also, hate to say it, misguidingly, handed their Best Actress prize to Us‘ Lupita Nyong’o. Gawd. That’s one performance I definitely did not have on my ballot. Ditto, Little Women‘s Florence Pugh as 2019’s Best Supporting Actress… really?
‘Just Mercy' Cannot Overcome Its Oscar-Bait Conventions [Review]
The saga of Harvard grad Bryan Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan), a man who has now managed to overturn the death row sentences of over 140 inmates in America, is brought to the screen by way of Destin Daniel Cretton’s frustratingly conventional “Just Mercy.”
Read moreDanny Aiello of ‘Do The Right Thing' and ‘Moonstruck' Dies at 86
Aiello earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his performance as Salvatore “Sal” Frangione in Spike Lee’s landmark “Do The Right Thing.” That, alone, is enough of a lasting legacy for any actor to dream of having, but Aiello was so much more than that. From his big break in the 1973 baseball flick “Bang the Drum Slowly,” to his walk-on role as Tony Rosato in “The Godfather Part II,” Aiello was a well-recognized and immaculately talented character actor through and through.
Read more‘Richard Jewell': AJC Continues its Mission to Deceive and Distract From Its Own Unethical Behavior
As Clint Eastwood’s “Richard Jewell” continues to be embattled by controversies regarding its depiction of the FBI and media, screenwriter Billy Ray decided to fight back against Atlanta Journal-Constitution editor Kevin Riley, who has criticized the movie for “suggesting” that reporter Kathy Scruggs traded sex for news tips while reporting on the investigation into the 1996 Atlanta bombing.
Read moreStunt? Harvey Weinstein Spotted Without his Walker Just 24 Hours After Court Appearance
It seems as though Harvey Weinstein only uses his walker when he enters a courtroom. Only a day after being seen entering a New York City courthouse, looking crippled, aided by a walker, the disgraced ex-Miramax mogul was seen at a Target in Mount Kisco, NY, near Bedford, with his family — striding around the store, no walker in sight.
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Adam Driver is still not over "The Hunt for Ben Solo," but there's a silver lining: Steven Soderbergh has already moved on to a new script, and Driver calls it one of the best things Soderbergh has ever written.