A re-evaluation of Ari Aster’s “Midsommar” was high on my list of writing priorities as I finally watched the 3-hour director’s cut — a fuller, more depth-filled and coherent version than the theatrically released one.

Last October, 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 the Alice Tully Hull. The whole conversation is worth a watch on YouTube, as, during the course of the 30 minutes they had, Scorsese and Jones ended up talking about a host of cinematic topics, including Scorsese’s love for Joanna Hogg and Ari Aster.

The current Top 15 most-watched TV and movies on Netflix include the first German-language series to enter the list, the critically acclaimed “Dark,” to shows like Breaking Bad (excellent) and Space Force (BAD) However, fittingly, the most-watched movie on the streamer over July 4th weekend was the Mark Wahlberg thriller “Patriots Day,” which dramatized the events surrounding the Boston Marathon bombing back in 2013 and the search for the two terrorists behind it.

Shia LaBeouf went full-on method by getting his chest and torso heavily tattooed for David Ayer's upcoming movie “The Tax Collector.”

Netflix has become the go-to American studio for creative freedom and auteur-driven cinema. It’s not even a debate anymore. The studio system has become a cinematic cesspool of formulaic drivel. Netflix isn’t destroying cinema, rather, it’s actually saving it. Just look at the directors who decided to bring their passion projects to the streaming giant these last 5 years: Scorsese, Coen, Fincher, Soderbergh, Cuaron, Baumbach, Lee, and Bong.

A THR study polled a number of US moviegoers about if they’d feel comfortable going back to theaters once they reopen. As you know, AMC, Regal, and Cinemark are set to reopen on July 31, just to prep up and stretch their legs for Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet,” which is, supposedly, set to be released two weeks later, followed by “Mulan” the week after that.

Seth Rogen’s HBO Max comedy “An American Pickle” has an immigrant worker (Rogen) at a pickle factory accidentally preserved for 100 years and waking up in modern-day Brooklyn where he meets his grandson (also played by Seth Rogen). Sold.

Studios are quite clearly panicking at the moment, which means streaming platforms such as Netflix are trying to take advantage of that panic by buying up 2020 releases. After all is said and done, we might have to call next year’s Oscars, the Netflix awards.

Netflix is creating a limited series based on the life of former NFL star and Anthem protestor Colin Kaepernick. The series will be focusing on his early years as a high school student growing up in California. “Selma” director Ava DuVernay will be head creator of the project along with Kaepernick.

This past weekend, California Democrats in Orange County asked for the county’s John Wayne Airport to be renamed over “racist and bigoted statements” made by the Western legend more than four decades ago. It was another attempt by the social media mob to defame and delegitimize a historical figure, this time a late cinematic legend who has very much become a controversial figure in the recent age of social media mobs.

It didn’t take much time for director Pedro Almodóvar's next movie to be announced. The Spanish-Language “Madres Paralelas” (Parallel Mothers), which will be the legendary director’s 23rd feature-length film, is set to start production this October and will star Almodóvar regular Penelope Cruz [via El Diario]

An Aretha Franklin biopic is coming in 2020. Not just that, but Jennifer Hudson will be playing the “Queen of Soul” in this cinematic adaptation of the legendary singer.