And so, what happened? The mainstream studio comedy has suffered quite a bit the last few years. Nobody has really cracked the code since the Apatow/Hangover era. It’s incredibly telling that “Game Night” is considered one of the bigger hit comedies recently and, yet, it could only scrape $69 million domestically. Here’s a theory. Comedians like to push and push and push until that very fine line of what is deemed acceptable and unacceptable is somewhat squeezed to its very limit....

Numerous technical glitches were to be found in this mostly-virtual ceremony celebrating the “best and brightest” of movies and television. For an organization worth millions, you’d think the the Hollywood Foreign Press (HFPA) would have made sure to check if winner Daniel Kaluuya’s mic was on mute or told Catherine O’Hara’s husband not to use his phone, albeit jokingly, during her acceptance speech. Also, did Tracey Morgan pronounce the Animated winner as “Saul” instead of “Soul”?...

In my 09.30.21 piece titled Is Paul Thomas Anderson Still The Current ‘Master’ of Cinema? I pondered who were the best directors working within the American studio system. I came up with the following 10 names: Paul Thomas Anderson Alfonso CuarónJoel and Ethan Coen Martin ScorseseDavid LynchQuentin TarantinoDavid FincherWes AndersonSteve McQueenChristopher Nolan This was an article that generated a lot of Facebook and Twitter shares, but also plenty of requests to expand the list to more than ten....

The four late-breaking Oscar players have been seen. “Licorice Pizza,” driven by its excellent reviews, and industry love for PTA, is destined to nab one of the 10 Best Picture slots. Alana Haim could get a Best Actress nomination for her lovely performance. A screenplay nod is also a real possibility for Anderson. When it comes to “Don’t Look Up,” the industry love is abundantly clear. The embargo hasn’t lifted yet and reviews might turn out be all over the place, but those who love it REALLY love it....

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We had also already reported Luca Guadagnino’s “Bones and All” was Venice-bound back in March — Barbera officially confirmed that one today as well. People are right when they say that Venice skews more towards Hollywood. It’s become a recurrent theme so far since Barbera took over the prestigious fest. If I am correct in my surmising, so far we have these titles going to the Lido: “The Whale,” “Bones and All,” “The Son,” “Don’t Worry Darling,” “The Banshees of Inisherin,” “Tar,” “White Noise,” “The Master Gardener,” and “Blonde....

Notice, all three of those films are from 2019 and, although I wouldn’t choose this particular trio as my last truly levitating cinematic experiences, I can safely say I haven’t been blown away by a film since 2019. That, Tapley got absolutely right. The currently decade has, obviously, been hampered down by a pandemic and a very dry creative output by studios. These are dire times for the cinematic experience, and I truly don’t know when we’ll get back on track, but, for now, there will always be 2019....

As you know, there is currently no host for the event, rumors are pointing to a hostless Oscars, but now THR‘s Scott Feinberg claims “The Avengers"may be used in some form or fashion to emcee the proceedings. “An Avengers all-star Oscar reunion wouldn’t be unprecedented. Following the success of 2012’s Avengers, the 2013 telecast featured Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/The Hulk), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) and Samuel L....

I wrote on 05.20.19: “Fox Searchlight has just nabbed the rights to distribute Terrence Malick’s “A Hidden Life,” a film so perplexing that even at the “high-brow” Cannes Film Festival there were hundreds of walkouts at the initial press screening on Monday afternoon. Don’t believe me? I was there. The film itself is incredibly problematic — you can read my review of it here. Regardless, this shows Fox must be in don’t-give-an-F mode when it comes to buying, they also have a now-or-never attitude towards nabbing a few Oscars before they are officially Disney property in 2020....

A perfect example is Kogonada’s “After Yang.” The sci-fi film earned raves in the US, but has fallen completely flat in France. A 3.1 score on AlloCine, the French equivalent of Rotten Tomatoes, isn’t good at all. Here’s a blurb from Cahiers du Cinema’s 1-star review: Elusive video-essayist-turned-filmmaker Kogonada blew me away with his 2017 debut “Columbus.” Boasting a cast that includes Colin Farrell, Jodie Turner-Smith, and “Columbus” beauty Haley Lu Richardson, “After Yang” is a meditative sci-fi movie that just had too many ideas and a failed execution....

However, the most critically-acclaimed non-fiction film of the year, Laura Poitras’ “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” wasn’t nominated for Best Doc. Poitras did garner a Best Director nod. If you remember, it was the only film this year to be selected for the four major fall festivals (Telluride, Toronto, Venice, New York). Best Documentary Feature “Aftershock” “The Automat”“Descendant” “Fire of Love” “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down”“Good Night Oppy”“The Janes” “Moonage Daydream” “Navalny” “Sidney”...

Sounds familiar? Well, only because this is the exact same plot of countless other spy movies. I presume Chastain will have to fight her way out of this mess and, at the same time, get revenge. “Ava” co-starring Geena Davis, Colin Farrell, and John Malkovich, has been picked up by Vertical Entertainment and is set for some sort of VOD release. No release date yet, but the rumor mill has it coming out before the summer is done....

A 174 minute cut of “Bardo” had been exclusively shown at both Venice and Telluride, where it received mixed-to-negative reviews. Then Inarritu decided to go to war with film critics over the negative reactions, speculating the ill response to his film had to do with racism. Inarritu finally snipped 22 minutes of the original runtime, which now has the film sitting at 152 minutes. Reviews didn’t necessarily get any better....

This is a film that takes itself way too seriously, to the point of ad nauseum. Here is a Moroccan hip-hop version of “School of Rock,” only without the the self-aware humour or Richard Linklater’s artful camera. The film does start off well enough as we meet a former-rapper-turned-teacher hailing from the mean streets of Casablanca. He’s just landed a gig at a community arts center where he will be teaching a ragtag ensemble of desolate teenagers how to rap....

FULL LIST OF CRITICS POLLED Close to 100 critics submitted their picks for the fifth annual poll of this kind. Votes were spread out among critics. Participants included leading critics from IndieWire, Variety, USA Today, The A.V. Club, Forbes, and Rolling Stone. Critics were asked to submit a list of up to 10 films (some could only come up with 5), unranked, released between January 1st and June 30th, that they thought were the cinematic highlights of the year thus far....

Tarantino also adds that he will do re-editing for “Kill Bill.” I was initially mixed on Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained” but, over time, I’ve warmed up to it, it’s just a very entertaining 3 hour movie. That’s it, that’s all. Jamie Foxx is great, Christoph Waltz is worthy of the Oscar that he won for his role as Dr. King Schultz and Samuel L Jackson steals the show. Of course, it still doesn’t belong next to Tarantino’s three best films, all released during his peak years in the ‘90s (“Reservoir Dogs,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Jackie Brown”), but it’s an incredibly re-watchable trifle....

Harry Styles gave us further proof of his vacant intelligence. Florence Pugh decided not to show up for the film’s press conference. Pugh also refused to make eye contact with her director (Wilde) during the film’s closing credits. Nick Kroll and Styles randomly made out. Pugh and Wilde’s stylists engaged in an instagram feud. Also, did Styles actually spit on Chris Pine at the premiere? #SpitGate The embargo has lifted and it’s as bad, if not worse, than I could have ever imagined....

Warner Bros took a risk by releasing Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” a whole month before its U.S. theatrical date (10.22.21). That gamble has, thus far, paid off, at least in Europe where “Dune” has so far grossed an impressive $76 million. Pre-release forecasting had been pretty dour for the film, with many even predicting record-breaking second-week drops, but that never materialized. However, for such a massive blockbuster, these numbers won’t even come close to recouping the budget of the film ($165 million not including marketing), and in the pre-pandemic era would have been deemed an underwhelming box-office performance....

Villeneuve also confirmed during the Q&A that he has no intentions of ever releasing an extended cut of Part One: “What you see on screen is the only version of the movie” “Dune: Part Two” is expected to land in theaters on October 2023. A full theatrical release is planned, and without an HBO Max day and date release. Contribute Hire me Advertise Donate Team Contact Privacy Policy