A film like “Booksmart” lives and dies by its two central performances. Beannie Feldstein (Lady Bird) and Kaitlyn Dever (Short Term 12), respectively, play Molly and Amy, two upcoming high school graduates that have built up their own hermit-like worldview together. It’s not like they are anything like the central character in Bo Burnham’s “Eighth Grade” who had to fend her miserable experience all by herself, no, Molly and Amy are two peas in a pod, they are the kind of inseperable friends that complete each other’s sentences and are content with hanging out in their rooms instead of going out and socializing with the rest of their classroom....

“Bros,” co-written and starring Billy Eichner is being touted as the first mainstream Hollywood studio romantic comedy to feature gay men as the lead characters. Directed by Nicholas Stoller, and produced by Judd Apatow, whose comedic DNA is all over this comedy, “Bros” has every studio-backed rom-com cliche you can think of, hell, it even includes clips of “You’ve Got Mail.” Eichner plays Bobby, a Jewish New Yorker who hosts a popular LGBTQ podcast called 11th Brick....

The film follows two men with commitment problems taking a crack at serious relationships. It’s produced by Judd Apatow. Stoller also has more-than-decent track record in the comedy genre having helmed “Neighbours,” “The Five-Year Engagement,” “Get Him to the Greek,” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” I’m being told a screenplay nod is not out of the realm of possibilities when it comes to this film’s Oscar chances. Contribute Hire me...

The fact that “Cocaine Bear” is based on a true story makes it somewhat of a curiosity. But, clearly, director Elizabeth Banks has taken liberties with the actual events. Hey, If you’re going to call a movie COCAINE BEAR, then it better deliver the way this trailer has. The footage shown in the trailer makes it look like the ‘Snakes on a Plane’ of coked-out bear movies: “The bear… it fucking did cocaine....

Jones plays Ruby Rossi, a hearing daughter of deaf parents and sister to a deaf brother, who’s alarm clock goes off every morning at 3am, signifying work with her father (Troy Kotsur) and brother (Daniel Durant) at the Gloucester fisheries before heading out to the local high school where she gets ridiculed for smelling like fish. Thus commences the coming-of-age narrative, which involves an underdeveloped love story with a boy at school named Miles (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) and Ruby’s joining a choir class run by an expressive teacher (scene-stealer Eugenio Derbez) who realizes that her stunning singing voice can get her a scholarship at Berkelee....

The film, which had its world premiere in Sundance’s Midnight program, is an adaptation of a short story by New Zealand writer Owen Marshall. There are shocking moments in this film, but its gore comes off in sobering ways rather than feeling cheap and labored. The plot is simple; Married couple Alan (Erik Thomson) and Jill (Miriama McDowell) go out on a road trip with teenage sons Jordan and Maika (Frankie and Billy Paratene)....

Rome wasn’t built in a day. It’ll take time for the industry to catch up to inclusive filmmaking, despite all that, yeah, count me as disappointed that Debra Granik wasn’t part of the current awards chatter, they made great films this past year. “Crazy Rich Asians” star Michelle Yeoh seems to agree with me: “I think this year there were a few women roles that were really outstanding. And we really need more and more of them,” Yeoh said....

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Now, here comes the surprising news that Oscar Nominated DP Hoyte Van Hoytema (“Dunkirk”, “Her”, “Interstellar”) is shooting Jordan Peele’s new film, “Nope.” Our source comes from Kodak’s new ad, listing DPs who are currently shooting their projects on film In my 12 Best Working Cinematographers piece, I listed Van Hoytema as the 11th best working cinematographer today. The news that he’s teaming up with the always-exciting Peele is a cause for excitement....

Despite this “success,” “F9” didn’t come close to matching opening numbers of the previous installments in the franchise. 2017’s “The Fate of the Furious,” opened to $98 million, and 2015’s “Furious 7” had a staggering $147.2 million in its first three days of release. “A Quiet Place Part II” and “F9” will in turn likely be the highest-grossing films of the summer, no coincidence then that they both refused co-streaming premieres with their theatrical bows....

The Cut’s Anna Silman, knowing full well that Oscar momentum was now with “Green Book,” had posted a hit piece about Farrelly today. Silman unearthed info from the mid to late ’90s that had Farrelly jokingly whipping out his privates in front of then-20th Century Fox boss Tom Rothman and then another incident in which he, again, flashed Cameron Diaz in the same way, right before casting her in “There’s Something About Mary....

I know John Carpenter is producing this one, but couldn’t he have just taken over the directorial reigns? Carpenter’s oeuvre (The Thing, They Live, Escape From New York) has had a serious reevaluation the last decade or so. What was considered exploitative back in the day is now probably the most influential filmography for young horror filmmakers in the 21st century. Carpenter hasn’t made a movie since 2010’s “The Ward....

The titular protagonist (voiced by Jacob Tremblay) is in wonderment at what could possibly be beyond his underwater world, especially when he notices a poster with a Vespa pictured on it. His family forbids him to find out what’s beyond the surface of the water (they are voiced by Maya Rudolph, Jim Gaffigan), even if Granny (Sandy Martin) claims to have gone “to the surface” and “done the change.” Of course, when you forbid a kid to do something, they only want it more, and so Luca goes above the surface, and experiences “the change,” which means he turns into a fully fleshed human....

First things first, this season focuses a lot more on its main characters and less on the notorious individuals sat across the interview table. The lives of Ford, and in particular Tench and Carr are explored in new depths during this only nine episode run. It’s also worth noting that this season picks up straight after the events of season one, with Holden having suffered a panic attack following visits to the undoubted star of season one, the creepy, but captivatingly articulate Ed kemper, better known as ‘The Co-ed Killer’ and played by the Emmy nominated Cameron Britton....

Chloe Zhao‘s “Nomadland,” which just won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, is not going to be a film for the masses, and all the better for it. This is a moody, and mesmerizing third film from the Chinese-American filmmaker, after her triumphant 2018 film, “The Rider.” Much like her previous efforts, this is Zaho’s 21st-century depiction of Americana angst, mixing non-fiction and fiction filmmaking in effortless fashion....

A few tweets went viral today and kickstarted a conversation about Christopher Nolan’s all-white casting of actors for “Oppenheimer.” I even read a post somewhere saying “Someone should investigate where this cast was on January 6th, 2021.” Funny. Of course, there’s no denying that the cast Nolan has assembled here is uber-milky, but it’s also very important to pinpoint the time and place the story he’s telling is set in....

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This would make sense, although most, including myself, we’re predicting a Telluride and/or TIFF bow. If you remember, “She Said” test-screened to positive responses earlier this month in New York. “She Said” is the Harvey Weinstein #MeToo movie starring Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan. The film is based on the book by Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, the reporting duo that exposed Weinstein in the New York Times. Their story created a domino effect and kickstarted the #MeToo movement back in the fall of 2017....

“Soggy Bottom” is Set in a San Fernando Valley High School During the 1970s As Mentioned, little is known about director Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest, curiously titled “Soggy Bottom,” if that’s even the title, except that it is set in Los Angeles’s San Fernando Valley during the 1970s and centers on a high school student who is also a child actor. Bradley Cooper was cast in the film just a few weeks ago and, this past weekend, the 45-year-old actor returned to the set with his Jon Peters-inspired get-up....

Some of the greatest filmmakers (Kubrick, Hitchcock, Lynch) have always used antiheroes to lead their stories. If you do it right, then you’ll find some kind of humanity behind these despicable creatures. In “Sundown,” Franco presents us Neil Bennett (a never-better Tim Roth) who seems to be enjoying a holiday at a Mexican resort with his sister, Alice (Charlotte Gainsbourg), and her two teenage kids. It’s a picturesque vacation with a deep blue sea view, hotel entertainment, and world-class dining....