A sequel to Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2006 comedy classic, “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” has been shot and screened for a select few industry types. I had a nice little chuckle today when it was revealed to me that the upcoming Borat sequel will actually be called “Borat: Gift of Pornographic Monkey to Vice President Mikhael Pence to Make Benefit Recently Diminished Nation of Kazakhstan.”
Read moreWhat’s the Deal with Francis Lee's ‘Ammonite’?
Francis Lee’s “Ammonite” has a respectable 80% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 75 Metacritic score, but one does have to beg to ask the question, what is NEON hiding? The studio behind “Ammonite” has been very nitpicky in regard to screening Lee’s film for critics. That’s all fine and dandy, but, as it turns out, this is the only movie of the fall festival season whose publicists refused to send me a digital viewing link. Is it because buzz is dwindling?
Read more‘Mangrove’: Steve McQueen’s Blistering Indictment of the British Legal System [NYFF]
“Lovers Rock” may be the bolder movie, but, in “Mangrove,” director Steve McQueen runs circles around Aaron Sorkin’s “other” 2020 courtroom drama - this, my friends, is how it’s done.
Read more‘Sound of Metal’: Riz Ahmed Loses His Hearing For the Sake of Rock and Roll [Trailer]
“Riz Ahmed has never been better. Playing a metal drummer who starts to lose his hearing, Ahmed turns “Sound of Metal” into a heartbreaking tale of redemption as it goes along, culminating in a final shot that is both necessary and absolutely perfect. Kudos to Nicolas Becker’s landmark sound editing, which deserves an Oscar nomination.”
Read moreLulu Wang Criticizes Ron Howard's Decision to Direct Biopic Of Chinese Pianist Land Lang
I interviewed Lulu Wang back in 2019 when her above-average Sundance hit “The Farewell” was about to get released. The 37-year-old Chinese-born filmmaker struck me as rather snide and rude, which disappointed me, considering I really liked her film.
Read more‘Trial of the Chicago 7' is an Oscar Contender, But Hold On ...
Aaron Sorkin’s bombastic “Trial of the Chicago 7” screened for press last night. The Twitter reactions were mostly positive, some flat-out raves, mostly from Oscar pundits who are currently very hungry for contenders to emerge in such a lame duck year.
Read more‘Black Widow,’ ‘West Side Story,’ ‘Eternals’ Releases Postponed Until 2021
Disney has postponed the release of fall blockbusters such as Marvel’s “Black Widow,” Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” and Kenneth Branagh’s “Death on the Nile” by several months. All will now be released in 2021. The theatrical year continues to be destroyed by this neverending pandemic.
Read more‘Ava': Jessica Chastain Has a Particular Set of Skills in This Mind-Numbingly Dull ‘Taken' Rehash [Review]
How many highly-skilled-assassin-movies have been released since Liam Neeson threatened a villain on the phone with his “special set of skills” in 2008’s “Taken”? An endless, and unsurmountable amount, that’s how many. The genre has spawned countless rehashes, both good (“John Wick”) and bad (“Hitman”). Tate Taylor’s “Ava” belongs with the latter, despite it starring Jessica Chastain as a killing machine with a dark past who gets targeted for elimination by the very organization she is a part of. Sounds familiar? “Ava” adds very little to a genre that badly needed to be shaken up. Taylor’s attempt at giving Chastain her own Taken-esque franchise falls flat by playing like a greatest hits package of the better movies before it, instead of something fresh and riveting.
Read more‘Kajillionaire': Sundance Indie Proves There is No Other Director Quite Like Miranda July [Review]
Miranda July sees the world in such beautifully unique ways. In “Kajillionaire,” she tries to show us how we all need warmth and human connection in life, no matter how much we try to self-isolate ourselves. How’s that for relevance? Although the film feels slight at times, there is an abundance of humanism in July’s screenplay. The strangeness of the whole thing may distance some, but this writer-director is a true original.
Read moreSXSW Film Festival Going Digital in 2021
A stark reminder of the long-lasting cultural effects of COVID-19 was reaffirmed this morning when The South By Southwest Film Festival announced that it was already planning a digital edition of the March festival. SXSW thus joins next January’s Sundance Film Festival, as another major U.S. film festival going the way of digital screenings.
Read moreTom Cruise Going to Space in October 2021
If you’ve seen any of the Tom Cruise-starring Mission Impossible movies then you already know just how brazenly reckless Cruise can be when it comes to performing his own stunts. The 55-year-old actor went as far as firing his own insurance company so he could perform some of the stunts he executed in those films.
Read moreSurprise: Aaron Sorkin's ‘Trial of the Chicago 7' Being Released in Theaters This Friday
I didn’t expect Aaron Sorkin’s “Trial of the Chicago 7” to get a theatrical release via Netflix, although there was a rumor that it could happen in October, however, nobody expected it to hit cinemas this coming Friday. That’s exactly what we’ve learned tonight. Of course, the release won’t include any New York or Los Angeles theaters since they are still closed in those states. The rest of the country will be able to catch Sorkin’s latest, which is being touted as a major Oscar contender for next year’s Oscars ceremony (I have my doubts).
Read moreMichael Chapman, Cinematographer of ‘Raging Bull' and ‘Taxi Driver,' Dies at 84
Michael Chapman, one of the great American cinematographers, has passed away at his home aged 84. Chapman was married to screenwriter Amy Holden Jones. His father-in-law, Joe Brun, was an Oscar-nominated cinematographer who had emigrated from France in the early 20th century.
Read moreChloe Zhao's ‘Nomadland' Wins TIFF People's Choice Award
I watched 36 out of the 50 films that were part of this year’s TIFF lineup. I’ll write about my ten favorites tomorrow, but today TIFF announced that Chloe Zhao’s “Nomadland” won the prestigious People’s Choice Award, which is usually seen as a very good precursor for the Best Picture statuette at the Oscars. Searchlight will release the movie on December 4th.
Read more‘Shiva Baby': A Hilarious and Awkward Ode to Jewish Neuroticism [TIFF Review]
Emma Seligman’s “Shiva Baby,” her feature debut, was originally slated to premiere at SXSW this past March. A few days before its world premiere, the COVID-19 virus was declared a pandemic, and every event in the country, including SXSW, was forced to be canceled.
Read moreWoody Allen's ‘Rainy Day in New York' Finally Being Released in the U.S. This October
Woody Allen’s 49th film as writer-director, “A Rainy Day in New York,” put in the can in 2018, never came out in the U.S. due to Allen being axed via 25-year-old #MeToo allegations, which he still fervently denies. The film was completed in 2018, but its distributor, Amazon Studios, halted the release of the film following the controversy.
Read moreThe 2020 Venice Film Festival Bravely Defied the Pandemic
It wasn’t that there weren’t any good movies, no, as you will read below, there were highlights, but this year’s 77th Venice Film Festival bravely taking place during a pandemic resulted in obvious limitations and most definitely hampered the quality of the usually stellar lineup Festival boss Alberto Barbera is known for churning out year after year.
Read more‘Lovers Rock': Steve McQueen's Artfully Shot '80s House Party [NYFF]
Steve McQueen’s “Lover’s Rock” is a formally bold 70-minute dance party. McQueen uses his camera in unique & original ways. Some moments in this movie feel damn-near transcendent in the way they use moving bodies, music & photography to immerse the viewer in moments of pure ecstasy.
More to come …
‘The Nest': Scenes From A Marriage [Review]
“The Nest,” director Sean Durkin’s follow-up to his acclaimed 2011 feature “Martha Marcy May Marlene” premiered at Sundance in January to, mostly, positive reviews. I was told it would be part of Cannes’ Un Certain regard selection. Alas, that film festival was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read more‘Good Joe Bell' is a Very Bad Movie [TIFF Review]
“Good Joe Bell” is a statement very confused with itself. In fact, it’s as confused as its wide-eyed titular protagonist (played by a miscast Mark Wahlberg), a short-tempered man who doesn’t seem to understand the plight his openly-gay and bullied son went through in high school.
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