The Telluride Film Festival has been canceled. I broke the news yesterday and then, less than 24 hours after the fact, the plug was officially pulled. I can’t say I blame the organizers for doing this, there were too many obstacles to overcome for this fest to actually have its 2020 edition occur.
Viola Davis Believes ‘The Help' Was “Created in the Filter and the Cesspool of Systemic Racism.”
In light of the George Floyd killing and the worldwide protests, “The Help” quickly became the most-streamed movie on Netflix, but the reaction to that news has been of backlash and disappointment because, well, much like “Driving Miss Daisy,” Tate Taylor’s Oscar-winning film is a sugarcoated version of racism.
Read more‘Tenet' Runtime Confirmed at 150 Minutes
“Tenet” will be yet another lengthy Christopher Nolan affair. According to the Korea Media Ratings Board, Nolan’s new thriller will clock in at 150 minutes.
Read moreSource: The 2020 Telluride Film Festival Will Be Canceled
I have been told, via a very knowledgable source, that the Telluride Film Festival will most likely not be happening this year. Why? Well, for the simple reason that they just don’t have enough movies or talent to make it a worthwhile event.
Read moreCritics Poll 2020: The Participants
Over 100 critics were part of this fifth edition of the mid-year poll
Read more‘Da 5 Bloods' Named Best Film of 2020 So Far, According to Poll of Over 100 Critics
In what has been a strange year so far, filled with a complete stoppage in theatrical release and the full embracement of VOD and other such streaming platforms, the Netflix-backed and Spike Lee-directed “Da 5 Bloods” has been named the best movie (so far) of 2020, at least according to a group of film critics, journalists, bloggers, and entertainment reporters. Lee’s war movie, which nabbed 48 votes, barely squeezed by its closest competitors, Eliza Hittman’s “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” (42) and Leigh Whannell’s “The Invisible Man” (37).
Read more‘Relic': Aussie Horror Movie Tackles Disturbing Family Dynamics [Review]
Here is another horror movie that refuses to show the demons threatening its main characters in every frame. “Relic,” is all about atmosphere, and has a possessed house dissected as a metaphor for, wait for it, dementia.
Read morePaul Thomas Anderson Scouting Locations For New Movie, Set in 1970s High School
We only know a scant few details about Paul Thomas Anderson’s next movie, which has yet to start shooting. What we do know so far is that Focus Features will be producing it and that rumors are pointing to it being set in a 1970s San Fernando Valley high school. According to Variety, Anderson began casting the film earlier in the year. The film, an ensemble piece with intersecting storylines, is said to primarily follow a young high school student who also happens to be a successful child actor.
Read moreUSC Removes John Wayne Exhibit After Students Protest He Was a “White Supremacist"
USC’s School of Cinematic Arts has finally decided to remove its John Wayne exhibit after months of students and alumni protesting that Wayne deserve didn’t deserve such an honor since he was a “white supremacist.” The removal was announced Friday by Evan Hughes, the assistant dean of diversity and inclusion.
Read more‘Tesla’: Ethan Hawke Plays Inventor Nikola Tesla For Director Michael Almereyda [Trailer]
I’ve been dying to see filmmaker Michael Almereyda’s “Tesla,” starring Ethan Hawke as the visionary inventor. “Telsa” had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, where it won the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize, but, despite watching 40+ movies there, I missed this one.
Read more‘Radioactive’: Amazon's Marie Curie Biopic Stars Rosamund Pike [Trailer]
Director Marjane Satrapi’s film premiered at TIFF last year, but it’s been almost a full 12 months since then. It took an acquisition by Amazon Prime to get the ball rolling and now the film is set to premiere on the streaming platform in exactly two weeks.
Read more‘The Old Guard': Netflix's Latest Action Movie Has Charlize Theron Playing Immortal [Review]
“I’m just so tired of it,” says an exasperated Charlize Theron in Gina Prince-Bythewood’s “The Old Guard,” Can you blame her? Theron plays the oldest member of the Old Guard, a group of immortal mercenaries who have been fighting the good fight for thousands of years. Immortality can be exhausting and this `Netflix-produced “superhero” movie, based on Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernandez’s 2017 comic book, makes a good case against it.
Read moreJoel Schumacher’s 170-Minute Director's Cut Of ‘Batman Forever’ Exists; Does Anyone Care?
According to Variety, the Joel Schumacher Cut of “Batman Forever” does in fact exist. The 170-minute version is said to be “darker” than the original, which was plagued with ‘90s superhero movie campiness. We were almost all disappointed by that film, especially since it was marketed as a follow-up to the darker, more gothic-looking Tim Burton films.
Read moreThe Major Fall Festivals Pen A Letter: “The Art Form We Love Is In Crisis”
The COVID-19 pandemic has left the 2020 film festival schedule in total chaos. We haven’t really had a legitimate film festival experience since January/February when Sundance and Berlin were screening films. Basically every festival from March until now has been either canceled or drastically altered with digital screenings.
Read more‘Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets’: One of the Best Docs of the Year Tackles The Final Days of A Vegas Dive Bar [Capsule]
This was the best documentary I saw at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and it will surely rank as one of the best movies, fiction, or non-fiction, that will be released this summer. There have been rumors have been whether or not some of the film was staged, I wouldn’t know, but, regardless, it’s an incredibly infectious vision.
Read more‘Palm Springs': Heartfelt and Hilarious, This is the Best Comedy of 2020 [Review]
If any movie from this past January’s Sundance Film Festival could have become a major hit, pre-pandemic, of course, it would have been “Palm Springs,” a “Groundhog Day”-esque comedy starring Andy Samberg. Notice, my usage of the past tense to describe this film’s potential theatrical success, mostly because, “Palm Springs,” due to the ongoing pandemic, has now been relegated to a straight-to-HULU streaming release. NEON and Hulu teamed up to buy the film for a whopping $15 million at Sundance, the original deal was to include a theatrical release. The film is now set to debut on HULU this Friday. Don’t miss this compulsively entertaining
Read more‘We Are Who We Are’: Luca Guadagnino’s New Coming-Of-Age HBO Series Was Set for Cannes Debut [Teaser]
Director Luca Guadagnino was bound to premiere his new HBO series, “We Are Who We Are,” a set of coming of age stories in Italy, at Cannes as part of the Director’s Fortnight sidebar.
Read more‘Halloween Kills' Delayed to October 2021 [Teaser]
According to Deadline, Blumhouse has delayed the release of “Halloween Kills,” which has been pushed from October 16 of this year all the way until October 15, 2021. This means the trilogy-ender “Halloween Ends” goes from 2021 to October 14, 2022. Production on ‘Kills’ has been finished for a while, an open letter from the filmmakers involved (David Gordon Green and John Carpenter) makes it clear that the delay is to preserve the theatrical experience for both of these movies.
Read more‘She Dies Tomorrow’: A Woman Is Convinced She’s About To Die In New Thriller [Trailer]
In “She Dies Tomorrow,” a young woman, without any proof, is convinced that she has one more day to live before she dies. She tells her friends. And suddenly, this anxiety is contagious, her friends start to feel the same mortal doom inside of them. It’s all told in a terrifying way by actress-turned-director Amy Seimetz, whose feature was the best film that screened at SXSW this past March.
Read more‘Hamilton' is Not Eligible For the 2021 Oscars
Yes, I have seen the “Hamilton” movie and, no, I don’t think it deserves all the praise it’s been getting. So, consider me satisfied by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences refusing to accept its eligibility from the 2021 Oscars.
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Brady Corbet's “The Origin of the World,” his X-Rated epic about "Northern California’s economy" in the 1970s epic, has now started production in South Africa under the working title “SALT FLATS.”