Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Donald Sutherland and Jamie Kennedy costar in “Ad Astra.” Last we heard from Gray was his 2017 film “The Lost City of Z,” a beautiful, surreal and ambitious project which had some meandering parts but the overall impact was stunningly surreal, mainly due to the incredible jungle sequences. Gray has become one of the very best, most interesting American filmmakers around, I believe it all started with 2007’s “We Own the Night,” mainly due to its 70s American cinema aesthetic and some of the best car chase sequences I have ever seen, but especially with 2009’s “Two Lovers,” one of the most underrated films of the last 20 years....

This new film is said to be a fictional story inspired by the photography of Danny Lyon and his 1967 book The Bikeriders. If you’ve been following Nichols over the years then you know he’s been trying very hard to get this passion project greenlit. “The Bikeriders” is set in the 1960s following the rise of a fictional, midwestern motorcycle club. Seen through the lives of its members, the club evolves over the course of a decade from a gathering place for local outsiders into a full-out gang, threatening the original group’s unique way of life....

Waters has posted up his top ten of 2020 on Baltimore Fishbowl. Butt Boy, directed by Tyler Cornack tops his list this year. A peculiar choice as the film hasn’t gained much traction since its release back in April. However, the synopsis does sound bonkers. Check out the list below via , which will appear in the next issue of Artforum: Butt Boy (Tyler Cornack)2) Swallow (Carlo Mirabella-Davis)3) The Hunt ( Craig Zobel)4) Why Don’t You Just Die!...

It’s tough now seeing Von Trier shaking during his last interview, with a Danish media outlet. He says he will continue to film the third season “The Kingdom Exodus.” Maybe he has a few more of his brilliantly provocative films left in him. Von Trier established himself as one of the great auteurs of world cinema thanks to films such as “Breaking the Waves,” “Melancholia,” “Dancer in the Dark” and “Dogville....

She also wants THR to take her name off the article, which they refuse to do. Wright’s requests have been ignored and Feinberg has gone into hiding, setting his Twitter to private. The trade is hoping that the long holiday weekend will sweep this under the rug for them. Thing is, in the era of social media, this narrative can keep going longer than just a weekend … This controversy would have easily been avoided had Feinberg simply not mentioned Wright’s name in his piece — she’s not an awards contender, there was no reason to lump her next to Will Smith and Brad Pitt....

This switch to gender-neutral performance categories follows the same thing the Berlin Film Festival did a year ago. Locarno is claiming they are already working on next year’s 76th edition “as an even more open and inclusive event, capable of fully representing its universe of talents.” As I’ve said before, these switches to gender-neutral categories only hurts women more. You strip away a potential female acting prize that could launch a career in favour of gender inclusive claptrap....

Scorsese’s 3-hour-plus opus is yet another Netflix addition within the Criterion library, after “Marriage Story,” and “Roma” earlier this year. Nominated for 10 Oscars, for which it won a grand total of zero, ”The Irishman” is a crime epic starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci.” After its New York Film Festival premiere back in October of 2019, I described the film as “Scorsese’s eulogy to gangster cinema....

According to Deadline, the streaming giant has bought Aaron Sorkin‘s “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” from Paramount Pictures in a reported $56 million deal. Netflix hopes that ‘Chicago 7’ can be released this year ahead of the presidential election in November. Paramount was originally planning to release Sorkin’s film on September 25, before going wide on October 16. “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, is the true story of a group of seven activists that were charged by the federal government with inciting a riot stemming from anti-Vietnam War protests during the 1968 Democratic National Convention....

Software specialist Synamedia says they have new technology that can track down users sharing accounts and passwords for Netflix. The technology, it says, “combats the rapid rise in account sharing between friends and families, turning it instead into a new revenue-generating opportunity for operators.” Media research firm Magid claims that 26 percent of millennials share passwords for video streaming services. Rumors have been pointing towards the streaming service potentially cracking down on those sharing their account widely....

Baumbach’s latest has a 97 Metacritic score (based on 9 reviews) and a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes (based on 13 reviews). The movie will roll out at the Telluride Film Festival in the coming few days and then TIFF the following weekend. Will the reception be just as rapturous at those fests? I would think so. As we speak, the two movies gaining the most traction this fall fest season are Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” and Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman....

The budget on this Netflix original is said to have been over $120 million. Of course, there is no way an adaptation of DeLillo’s novel should be more than $30-50 million, there is no CGI needed , except for the toxic gas sequence, as it’s mostly characters monologuing with each other in various rooms. And yet, the budget completely ballooned for this one. The film is 136 minutes, but it still feels rushed....

“Director-screenwriter Oliver Stone, currently the Noam Chomsky of Hollywood filmmakers, is still fully engaged, plugging away and firing on all cylinders. He’ll probably remain that way until the day he drops dead. But from ’86 through ’91 Stone was incandescent and untouchable— Salvador (’86), Platoon (’87), Wall Street (’87), Talk Radio (’88), Born on the Fourth of July (’89), The Doors (’91), JFK (’91). You could extent the streak, I suppose, to Natural Born Killers (’94), even though Heaven and Earth (’93) was a problem....

“Just Mercy” tells the true story of the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, civil rights defense attorney Bryan Stevenson. The movie focuses on Stevenson’s first case, as he took on the goal of freeing innocent death-row prisoner Walter McMillan (Jamie Foxx). Cretton’s “Short Term 12” star Brie Larson is in the film as well. Their last venture together was the misbegotten biodrama “The Glass Castle.” Let’s hope this one’s a little better than that saccharine-inducing mess....

The embargo for “The King of Staten Island” lifts on Monday, June 8th. Can I say, based on what I have seen and heard from others, that Judd Apatow’s movie will be the first official Best Picture contender of this pandemic year? Normally, a Judd Apatow movie, no matter how good it might be, wouldn’t be considered as “Oscar-Bait,” but we’re living in very unique times at the moment and the fact that plenty of movie fans will be experiencing this movie via VOD could very well build buzz and change the game in terms of 2020 streaming content....

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Japan has decided to korosu Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “Broker” and instead submit the Cannes-hailed “Plan 75” as its selection for the International Film category. Solid decision as it’s an absolutely fascinating sci-fi movie about aging. If any of you had Broker’s Song Kang-Ho as a Best Actor contender, please, take him off your predictions. The film just isn’t any good and its 73 MC score a tad too generous. I panned the movie at Cannes this past May, writing: So far, there have been twelve countries that have submitted their picks to academy:...

“Power of the Dog,” “Belfast,” “Spencer” and “King Richard” are the ones who have benefited the most from their festival presence. Other possibilities include “The Lost Daughter,” “Dune,” and “C’mon C’mon.” You can scratch off “Last Night in Soho” which garnered a mixed response. I am hearing Joe Wright’s “Cyrano” is very niche, even though that hasn’t stopped a few pundits from proclaiming it an Oscar contender (don’t believe it)....

Late last year, PTA had revealed to a WGA audience that he had been working on another film before hopping onboard “Licorice Pizza” in late 2020. No further details had been revealed. It could have very well been his long-gestating 1940’s Harlem Renaissance film, that he’s been working on since 2018, or this rumored science fiction film. Fact of the matter is that we just don’t know and the people I’ve emailed have no clue either....

Take this with a grain of salt as it is nothing more than a rumor, albeit one which was started by a fairly credible source. Supposedly, the budget for Scorsese’s upcoming Paramount-distributed “Killers of the Flower Moon” has soared to a worrisome $225M. This had led Paramount to get a little anxious about the commercial prospects of the film which has led Scorsese to call on Netflix to take over rights and production of the film....

As one can see below, about a quarter of the Sight and Sound’s too 100 list changed from 2012, with major showings for a number of women filmmakers—Agnès Varda, Chantal Akerman, Julie Dash, Jane Campion, Barbara Loden, Céline Sciamma, Maya Daren, and Věra Chytilová. The male filmmakers who cracked the top 100 we’re Wong Kar-wai, Hayao Miyazaki, Charles Burnett, Spike Lee, Jordan Peele, Barry Jenkins, and Bong Joon-ho. Additions: Get Out, Black Girl, Tropical Malady, Parasite, Chungking Express, The Shining, Céline and Julie Go Boating, Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, The Gleaners and I, The Red Shoes, Goodfellas, Daughters of the Dust, Moonlight, The Apartment, News from Home, The Piano, Wanda, Killer of Sheep, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Daisies, Do the Right Thing, Meshes of the Afternoon, Cléo from 5 to 7 Dropped: The Godfather Part II, Gertrud, Raging Bull, Touch of Evil, The Mother and the Whore, Pickpocket, Rio Bravo, Chinatown, Nashville, Le Grande Illusion, Les Enfants du Paradise, L’Eclisse, Lawrence of Arabia, The Magnificent Ambersons, Fanny and Alexander, The Seventh Seal, Un Chien Andalou, Aguirre the Wrath of God, Greed, The Wild Bunch, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Intolerance, A Day in the Country, The Color of Pomegranates Lost amidst the chaotic debate was the fact that Scorsese’s “Goodfellas” (#32) finally made the top 100....