Another day, another group snubbing Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women.” The Screen Actors Guild ignored Gerwig’s drama, the umpteenth adaptation of Louise May Alcott’s beloved novel. This has puzzled many of the film’s most ardent supporters, and there are many, especially in film criticism circles, I am, sadly, not part of that fan club.
Read moreWhy JJ Abrams, John Boyega and Daisy Ridley Are All of a Sudden Criticizing ‘The Last Jedi'
The creatives over at Disney and Lucasfilm are desperately trying to do a “course correction” to get back some of the fans they lost from “The Last Jedi,” just in time for the December 20th release of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” The cast and crew are now giving their honest opinions about “The Last Jedi.” We had already heard from Daisy Ridley and John Boyega about their problems with Rian Johnson’s controversial SW film, but now comes an even more important voice criticizing Johnson’s vision: ‘Rise of Skywalker’ director, JJ Abrams.
Read moreCan ‘Parasite’ Be the First Foreign-Language Movie to Win Best Picture?
Variety is reporting that the South Korean Palme d’Or winner “Parasite” is now the highest-grossing international film of the year, it passed the $12 million milestone at the domestic box office as of today.
Read moreIs ‘Mad Max: Fury Road' the Movie of the Decade?
George Miller’s “Mad Max: Fury Road” is the best movie of the present decade. ‘Fury Road’ topped the A.V. Club’s published list of the 100 best movies of the 2010s. The movie ended up appearing on all but four of the 18 ballots submitted by The A.V. Club’s film writers. If you remember, back in May, I got a head start on everybody by polling 250 industry critics and industry people. It seems like I started a domino effect because now Paste, Consequence Of Sound and Film School Rejects have all placed Miller’s movie atop their own 2010s lists as well. Let us not forget that it is also currently first on Metacritic’s compilation of all the decade lists.
Read moreThe Difference Between ‘Cinema' and ‘Roller-Coasters'
You are a young filmmaker whose first indie film showed real promise, but you know the industry you’re in is in continuous shape-shifting mode. You don’t want to sacrifice your own art, but at the same time, you know opportunities for artistic freedom are scarce.
Read moreNetflix's Theatrical Rollout for ‘The Irishman' is A Missed Opportunity
Go Woke, Go Broke: ‘Charlies Angels' Bombs at the Box-Office
Is it that surprising for us to learn “Charlie’s Angels” has totally bombed at the box-office? Deadline is reporting that the “woke” reboot is about to open with a God-awful $8.2M. Yikes.
Read moreOp-Ed: Martin Scorsese May Have Just Started A Cinematic Revolution
It was a long time coming, but a universally loved and legendary filmmaker like Martin Scorsese finally came out against Marvel and superhero culture, causing a domino effect, as Francis Ford Coppola followed suit, with many more to follow I’m sure (you can almost certainly bet on that happening as now every single important director will be asked the “Marvel question.” In other words, it took someone of Scorsese’s ilk to finally shake things up.
Read moreOp-Ed: ‘Joker’ is Not the Problem, the Media Is
Todd Phillips’ “Joker,” which I saw at the TIFF earlier in September is a fascinating, dark and despairing arthouse movie that also happens to have been made by a big studio. And yet, the negative media attention on the film is a more problematic issue than the film itself. The backlash from not just news outlets, but critics as well, is trying to sell you the idea that Joker is a dangerous film: a rallying cry for Incels and angry white males who might relate to the film’s murderous lead character. Indiewire’s David Ehrlich claimed in his review that the film spoke: “to the people in our world who are predisposed to think of Arthur as a role model: lonely, creatively impotent white men who are drawn to hateful ideologies because of the angry communities that foment around them.” Oh, fuck off.
Read moreDave Chappelle's ‘Stick and Stones' is a Bold And Fearless Ticking Time-Bomb
I wrote on social media about Dave Chappelle’s subversive “Sticks and Stones” which is his latest Netflix stand-up special.
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The short version: "Woman Unknown" was a compromise. The jury deadlocked over "Possible Love" and "NAZA," not able to com to terms, fell back on their #3, May el-Toukhy's film.