When Quentin Tarantino raved about “Dunkirk” on The Ringer’s “Rewatchables” podcast, I completely omitted another segment from that appearance in which the writer-director also criticizes last year’s sci-fi epic “Ad Astra.” The James Gray-directed space drama featured Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” star Brad Pitt in the leading role.
Read more‘Les Miserables': A French ‘Training Day' With Added Political Resonance [Review]
[Review originally posted at the Cannes Film Festival on 05.16.19]
The fringes of France are about to blow up in Les Misérables, the feature-length directorial debut from 39-year-old Ladj Ly. The film expands on Ly’s documentary and César-nominated 2017 short of the same name, which also starred this feature’s three leads. “Les Misérables” is playing in competition at Cannes, which is an unusual pick, since first-time efforts tend to not be chosen to compete for the Palme D’or. Ly uses a cop-thriller structure to tell his story; in fact, his film bears more than a few similarities to Antoine Fuqua’s movies, albeit a slightly better version of that testosterone-fueled film. If ‘Day’ lacked in socio-political messaging, Ly more than makes up for it with his take on three cops roaming the streets of an impoverished but culturally rich neighborhood in the banlieu of France’s Montfermeil neighborhood.
Read moreMartin Scorsese Says He Almost Quit Filmmaking After Attempted Studio Interference on ‘The Aviator'
The New York Times has published a lengthy profile on Martin Scorsese, written by Times reporter Dave Itzkoff.
Read more‘A Quiet Place II’ Trailer: Was A Sequel Really Necessary?
“A Quiet Place” was a thrilling, near-silent film that brilliantly toyed with the audience’s nerves while deftly avoiding all the familiar clichés which come with the horror genre. Director John Krasinski showed surprisingly assured and suspenseful touches as a filmmaker – the film was impressively cinematic and a brilliantly constructed blend of sight and sound.
Read moreTarantino Says Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dunkirk’ is His #2 Movie of the Decade
I keep hearing about The Rewatchables, a podcast courtesy of The Ringer. The gist of the podcast has the hosts tackling an old-ish film by rewatching it and then discussing that rewatch.
Read moreFinal Thoughts on ‘The Irishman’
After watching Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” at its New York City premiere in late September, I knew how immense the whole thing was. I knew what I had witnessed was some-kind-of masterpiece. And yet, it felt cold and distant, a sort of eulogy to a bygone era. I now know that my initial emotional impressions were actually just confirming what the film was about. It’s titular protagonist, Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro), is a depressing and underwhelming person who is undeserving of hoopla or admiration and who deserves unadorned grievous dismissal. At its climax, some cracks in his inhumanity finally threaten the psychopathic rationale he’s been carrying with him for close to four decades — however, it is too little too late for Sheeran. He’s left in his geriatric home, waiting for the Devil to claim his soul and drag his pathetic ass straight to Hell.
The 10 Best Movies of 2019
Because, like, why not?
Read moreTop 10 Box Office Hits of 2019
As we head to a new year, here are Top 10 box office hits for 2019 (as of Dec. 31).
Read moreDavid Lynch: “If You're Playing a Movie on a Phone, You Will Never in a Trillion Years Experience the Film"
I know it’s not flashback Friday, but, as we are in the thick of the holiday season and the film industry has but shut down its doors until the new year, I wanted to point to your direction a video which is more than a decade old and yet maintains its relevance to this day.
Read moreBong Joon-Ho, Luca Guadagnino, Guillermo del Toro, Paul Schrader and Other Directors Name Their Best Films of 2019
IndieWire has asked numerous high-profile filmmakers to name their best movies of 2019 and some of the ballots are quite interesting. For one, notice how Assayas, Guadagnino, and Schrader have Roman Polanski’s Venice-winning “An Officer and a Spy” on their lists. The film will likely not be released in the U.S. anytime soon, but it has become a major must-see for many cinephiles who don’t mind separating the art from the artist.
Read moreBox-Office: ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ Projected to Fall $100 Million Short of ‘Jedi,’ ‘Little Women' Has Strong Debut
Disney’s “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” continued its impressive haul in a week in which Oscar players “Little Women” and “Uncut Gems” made equally impressive bows.
Read moreSomeone is Trying to Please Film Twitter ...
Much like the year prior, former President Barack Obama’s list of the best movies he’s seen in 2019 feels a little too perfectly curated — as though every movie has been selected to appeal to a specific group of people. The whole thing feels like part of a continued effort by his PR team. There is nothing controversial listed or, at the very least, that goes against the consensus, it all feels a little too … safe. If an algorithm were to choose a list of titles that could create the continued image of Obama as a sophisticated, cultured leader then this would basically be it.
Read more‘Cats' Oscar Ads Dropped as it Becomes One of the All-Time Box-Office Bombs
“Cats” is becoming an absolute disaster for Universal as the big holiday musical release is bombing with critics, at the box-office and has now been taken out of Universal’s awards campaign.
Read moreLittle Women Has A ‘Man Problem'?
If you remember, a heavy-numbered people were outraged when “Little Women“ was snubbed by the Golden Globes as well as SAG, just a few weeks ago. Now, the film’s defenders are implying that “Little Women” is not being nominated by these voting bodies because of gender biases towards it.
Read moreTrent Reznor and Atticus Ross Will Score David Fincher's Upcoming ‘Mank'
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ young, but successful career in movie scoring has been defined by their artistic partnership with director David Fincher in movies such as “The Social Network,” “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” and “Gone Girl.”
Read more‘Clemency': Overpraised Death Penalty Drama Stars Alfre Woodard [Review]
When I saw Alfre Woodard’s acting in “Clemency” almost a year ago when the film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, I wasn’t impressed. And yet, people were raving about Woodard and the film (which won the top prize at the fest).
Read more‘Red Sparrow' Director Says Movie Could Not Get Made Today, Studios More “Desperate For IP-Driven Movies”
The film industry changed dramatically this decade, to the point where maverick directors like Martin Scorsese have sounded the alarm on an impending and dire state of cinema that we do not want to come to fruition. Not to mention the staggering amount of streaming content now available with the additions of Disney+ and Apple TV+ this year. Is it any surprise that the box office is now inundated with mostly franchises? Where are the original ideas and adult-themed films? Nowhere to be found, that’s where. No wonder director Francis Lawrence is paving out a doom-and-gloom prediction for cinema in the new decade to come.
Read moreTrent Reznor: Scoring ‘Bird Box’ Was “a F*cking Waste of Time”
“When we got immersed in it, it felt like some people were phoning it in…. And you’re stuck with a film editor who had real bad taste. That’s kind of our barricade to getting stuff in the film. And the final icing on the sh*t cake was we were on tour when they mixed it. And they mixed the music so low, you couldn’t hear it anyway. So it was like, that was a … (laughs) That was a f*cking waste of time. Then we thought, no one’s going to see this f*cking movie. And, of course, it’s the hugest movie ever in Netflix.”
[Source]
‘Bombshell’: Messy, Uninvolving and Shapeless Oscar-Bait [Review]
The story of former Fox News head honcho Roger Ailes and the epic downfall orchestrated by his female victims at the network is now the stuff of legend. What started off as just a single accusation from fired anchor Gretchen Carlson turned into a domino effect of Shakespearean proportions. All of this occurring during the thick of the 2016 election when candidate Donald Trump’s numbers were rising and Fox News had to juggle their loyalties to both Ailes and his female accusers.
Read more‘The Rise of Skywalker' is Truly a Nail-in-the-Coffin Moment For Disney and ‘Star Wars'
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. As “The Rise of Skywalker” puts the final nail in the coffin of Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Keneddy’s new Skywalker saga, we need to be reminded that the trilogy actually had a decent start with “The Force Awakens.”
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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?