Steven Soderbergh‘s upcoming 1950-set crime thriller, “No Sudden Move,” will make its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in June. The film, written by Ed Solomon (Soderbergh’s “Mosaic“), will be part of the Centerpiece Gala picture at this year’s festival, set to run June 9-20.
Read moreChris Rock Blames Cancel Culture For Making Comedy ‘Unfunny.’ He’s Right.
Comedians like to push boundaries until that very fine line of what is deemed acceptable and unacceptable is squeezed to its very limit. That, to me, is what the very best of comedy can do. Regardless of the situation that we find ourselves in today when it comes to what can and cannot be said, which is primarily being lead by 'activists' on social media, a movie such as Ben Stiller's "Tropic Thunder" existing in this maddening stratosphere, released a little more than 10 years ago, shows just how much things have changed at the movies the last decade.
Read moreRobert Eggers' ‘The Northman' Test-Screens, Reactions ...
I have been a major advocate of Eggers’ filmmaking skills, at least ever since I saw “The Witch” at Sundance 6 years ago. He’s the real deal, even if I thought “The Lighthouse,” a compulsively watchable film, was a tad beneath Eggers’ skills as a filmmaker. “The Northman,” which finished production just a few months ago, stars Nicole Kidman, Alexander Skarsgård, Anya Taylor-Joy, Bill Skarsgård, and Willem Dafoe. There is no word yet on what the plot is about, and I doubt, much like with his other films, we will get plot detail before release.
Read moreZack Snyder’s ‘Army of the Dead’ Pummels You to Submission [Review]
After a while, I just couldn’t deal with Zack Snyder’s “Army of the Dead.” I tried, I really did. It starts off great, but then it goes on and on. The fact of the matter is, that unless you infuse some much-needed fresh DNA Into a zombie movie like in “28 Days Later,” then you won’t convince me that it’s a movie worth seeing.
Read more‘New Order' Makes the Case Against Violent Social Movements [Review]
Mexican director Michel Franco’s “New Order,” a dystopian shocker that resonates in these deeply troubling times, is not just his most grueling movie to date, and that’s already a feat in itself, but also his best and most accomplished work. If you were already not a fan of the guy’s work, then this won’t necessarily convert you, but regardless, it’ll convince you of his technical talents as a director.
Read more‘There is No Evil’: Berlin Winner is a Harrowing Portrait of Iranian Capital Punishment [Capsule]
Shot in secret and smuggled out of Iran in 2019, Mohammad Rasoulof’s “There is No Evil” is comprised of four short stories about men connected to the death penalty. Why was Rasoulof’s film snuck out of the country and sent to the Berlin Film Festival, where it won the top prize in 2020? The answer lies in Rasoulof’s anthology being subtly critical of its home country’s horrid usage of capital punishment.
Read moreCannes 2021: Joel Coen’s ‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’ Screened; Julia Ducournau’s ‘Titane’ Set For Official Competition
After its production got delayed last year due to France locking down, it does look as though Julia Ducournau’s “Titane” will be part of this coming July’s Cannes Film Festival. At least, that’s according to French film rag “Les Inrockuptibles.” Ducournau’s festival breakout “Raw” turned many heads back in 2017 and sources says that buzz around “Titane” is so deafening that an official competition slot is very much on the table.
Read moreDavid Fincher’s Embattled ‘Alien 3’ Impressed Christopher Nolan
“I’ve never dared mention (Alien 3) to him (Fincher). I think he’s very aware of the flaws and he’s very aware of the appalling experience he had making it, and how put-upon he was, and I truly can only imagine. But his talent shines through in that movie. I came out of that film and had a conversation with a guy I was with and I said, ‘I’ve just seen the new Ridley Scott. I know who the new Ridley Scott is, it’s David Fincher,’ and I wasn’t wrong. It’s there in the movie, whether he knows it or not.”
Christopher Nolan Interview with Collider 12.20.20
35 Oscar Contenders for 2021; ‘The Northman’ Moved to 2022
‘The Woman in the Window’: Hitchcock Rip-Off is Either a Very Bad Movie or a Future Cult Classic [Review]
Director Joe Wright’s “The Woman in the Window,” a psychological thriller starring Amy Adams, is an adaptation of Dan Mallory’s bestselling novel of the same name.
Read moreWes Anderson’s Next Movie Will Be Set and Shot in Spain This July
According to reliable Spanish newspaper El Pais, director Wes Anderson will be shooting his next movie in Spain, near Madrid. The article confirms the sets are currently being built there to create a desert-like location typically seen in westerns, although the outlet says the film, despite plot details being kept under wraps, will not be a western. Shooting is set to start in mid-July, after “The French Dispatch” premieres at Cannes. They will be filming there until September. [thanks Fotodude, via AW]
‘Those Who Wish Me Dead’: Angelina Jolie Plays Heroic Firefighter in Violent Action-Adventure [Review]
Angelina Jolie plays a firefighter dabbed in professional makeup in Taylor Sheridan’s “Those Who Wish Me Dead” (HBO Max, 05.12.21) a mid-budget, action adventure that’s the kind of release Hollywood used to churn out a dime-a-dozen back in the ’90s. In 2021, it plays in damn-near ridiculous (albeit entertaining) ways.
Read moreFirst Trailer For Céline Sciamma's ‘Petite Maman'
Céline Sciamma has become an overnight sensation in the American indie scene, but in France, her body of work has been well-known for close to a decade
Read moreThe 2022 Sundance Film Festival Will Be Both Online and In-Person
Following the wonderful success of the digital 2021 Sundance Film Festival, where a record number of tickets got sold, the Sundance Institute has announced a hybrid plan for its 2022 fest. The dates announced for next year’s event will be from Jan. 20-30. Next year’s fest will be both in-person in Park City and online. More to come …
I had skepticism going into this year’s all-virtual Sundance Film Festival, but count me as wholly impressed by the way they pulled it off. This should be the way every other festival does it digitally this year. The streaming was smooth, the sense of community very present and the quality of the movies was, surprisingly, decent. Especially given the fact that most of the titles that screened this year were shot in 2019. That won’t be the case next year, which is why they’ve expanded the fest back to its original 11-days of screenings.
Quality could be found, albeit sparsely, but, again, given the fact that most indie productions have been shut down for most of the year, it was quite an accomplishment to find strong cinema with the likes of “Passing,” “Luzzu,” “In the Same Breath,” “Summer of Soul,” and “Pleasure.”
Hitchcock Rankings So Far …
Mitch from Columbus, Ohio wrote asking what my ranking of Alfred Hitchcock’s movies would be, that is after I mentioned “Saboteur” in the Norman Lloyd obit
Read moreNorman Lloyd, Worked With Hitchcock, Welles, Renoir, Chaplin, and Oldest Working Actor in History, Dies at 106.
He’s most well known for his role as the headmaster in “Dead Poets Society”. He was already in his mid-70s then. However, in my movie-crazed world, Lloyd will always be most associated for his role as the titular agitator in Alfred Hitchcock‘s “Saboteur.’ But, really, Lloyd has been acting since the `30s. He starred in two Orson Welles-directed stage plays (“Julius Caesar” and “Shoemaker’s Holiday”) also worked with Elia Kazan, Jean Renoir (“The Southerner”), Charlie Chaplin (“Limelight”), and Martin Scorsese (“The Age of Innocence”).
Read moreEmily Blunt Admits She Isn’t A Fan Of Superhero Movies: “It’s Been Exhausted. We are Inundated With Them”
Emily Blunt is taking the Scorsese school of thinking when it comes to superhero movies (via Insider)
Read moreDonald Glover Thinks Fear of Being ‘Canceled’ Is to Blame for Boring Films and TV
To all of the world’s film creatives … Do not take the United States as an example of what is and isn’t allowed to be in a given movie. Don’t be stymied by creative restrictions just for the sake of appeasing the politically correct. That is not how Citizen Kane, Vertigo, The Godfather and many more classics were made. Those films were all rebelling over oppressive ways of thinking, but they resisted that and have now stood the test of time.
Read more‘Oxygen’: American-French Horror Thriller Ups the Ante of Suspense [Capsule]
Alejandro Aja’s “Oxygen” (Netflix, 05.12.21) his follow up to “Crawl” is an extremely watchable understated horror film. With the “buried alive” aspect almost being a genre of its own, this French thriller does really well to break out of what, if not paced well, could have easily become a tedious 90 minutes.
Read more‘Stillwater’ Trailer: Matt Damon and Director Tom McCarthy Team Up For Thriller
Actor-turned-Director Tom McCarthy has turned into one of the great indie directors of his era. Before his Oscar-winning “Spotlight,” there was the delightful trio of “The Station Agent,” “The Visitor” and “Win-Win.”
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It’s been seven years since Alma Har’el’s feature debut, “Honey Boy,” which was written by and starred Shia LaBeouf — she is now set to direct her next film, with a very talented cast.