“David Fincher’s 11th feature film, Mank, is a passion project like no other on the director’s résumé — a drama, shot in black-and-white, about the formative years of Hollywood’s sound era, the agony and the ecstasy of what he calls “enforced collaboration” between directors and writers, and the political ruthlessness of Golden Age studios, told through the journey of an unlikely hero — Herman J. Mankiewicz (played by Gary Oldman), the newspaperman turned screenwriter who co-wrote (or wrote, depending on your POV) the screenplay for Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane....

Production on ‘Impeachment’ began in February 2020, with an almost-too-close-to-election-day premiere date of September 27th, 2020. Amidst pressure from Democrats, it was delayed to 2021 To say I’m excited about this would be an understatement. It’s about time someone adapted this story for the screen. Whether you’re on the right or left side of the political aisle, this is a story that has so many layers that I don’t even think a whole season could actually do this one justice....

“With Fan Bingbing accused of tax fraud, ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ failing to land a Chinese release and film stocks plummeting, president Xi Jinping’s crackdown on “money worship” is reshaping the country’s cultural landscape: “The government is going to make examples out of a lot of high-profile people.” On Sept. 16, Jia Zhangke premiered his film “Ash Is Purest White” in Beijing, yet nowhere to be found were actors Feng Xiaogang and Fan Bingbing....

There is a review embargo for Josh Trank’s “Capone” until May 11th. The film is set to be released direct-to-VOD the following week on the 18th. I was not told of any social media embargo so, I figured, why not post some brief thoughts on Twitter about it. Contribute Hire me Advertise Donate Team Contact Privacy Policy

He publicly bashed the film as sheer “propaganda” at the closing ceremony, adding that a film like this never belongs at film festivals and that fourteen of the fifteen films in competition were of good quality. Directed by Vivek Agnihotri, “Kashmir Files” is based on the “exodus” of Kashmiri Pandits in the 1990s. The film is said to be very cozy to the Indian government’s narrative. A general unwritten rule if you’re chosen as the president of a film festival jury is to not call out the festival that paid for your travels, accommodation and gave you the honourable task of leading the event....

Jane Campion has finally responded to Sam Elliot’s nasty comments regarding her Oscar nominated neo-Western “The Power of the Dog.” Speaking at tonight’s DGA red carpet, Campion didn’t mince words when asked about Elliot’s recent remarks that her film was a “piece of shit,” among many other insults the veteran actor threw at Campion’s film: “Hit The Trifecta Of Misogyny And Xenophobia And Homophobia. I’m sorry, he was being a little bit of a B-I-T-C-H....

Monáe was onstage at the BFI Southbank, where she headlined the London Film Festival’s final major keynote ‘screen talk’ in the weekend. Her elegiac words for Depp are ballsy, given the actor’s current reputation, but Monáe seemed unphased: Deadline is reporting that when Monáe uttered Depp’s name, the festival audience grunted and gasped. Oh my God, shocking. People tend to forget that Johnny Depp was once an incredibly well-respected actor who carefully chose his film roles....

“I’m finishing my movie life—yes, my moviemaker’s life—by doing two scripts,” the 90-year-old Godard added about his plan to retire in the near future. “After, I will say, ‘Goodbye, cinema.’” Godard is a God of the medium, having advanced it more than any other person safe for the Lumieres brothers or George Melies. His astounding streak of films in the ’60s is the stuff of legend; “Breathless,” “Band of Outsiders,” “Pierrot Le Fou,” “Contempt,” Vivre Sa Vie,” “Week-End....

The film was poorly received but did make nearly $800M at the global box office. According to Kathleen Kennedy (via Cinemablend), the Lucasfilm CEO believes that the weak story was the reason why the fourth instalment failed to register with fans. When you strip out the expectations, ‘Crystal Skull’ wasn’t a terrible movie, but it was a disappointing one. Spielberg admitted it. Ford admitted it. Now Kennedy joins in their disappointment....

The other World Premieres expected to be at T-Ride include “King Richard,” “C’mon C’mon,” “Cyrano,” and “The Electric Life of Louis Wain.” There will, of course, be the big Venice World Premieres there as well (Campion, Schrader, Sorrentino, Larrain) The Telluride Film Festival begins on Wednesday. Contribute Hire me Advertise Donate Team Contact Privacy Policy

There’s no discounting the fact that Gunn infused the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies with his unique style and managed to create a sort of “Star Wars” inspired enterprise for the 21st century. With the Guardians success, the MCU quickly adopted Gunn’s brand of humor and action into their other movies as a result. In other words, GOTG and its characters were the future of the MCU and the direction it was going to take, with Gunn leading the way....

A longtime veteran of film criticism, I count McCarthy as a legend of the field — up there with Ebert, Kael, Sarris … McCarthy’s perceptive and eloquent writing merged into books (read “Kings of the Bs”) and non-fiction filmmaking, his 1992 film “Visions of Light” is, far and away, the best documentary ever made about cinematography. Best of luck, Mr. McCarthy, can’t wait to see your writing reappear soon. The gutting of THR marks the end of an era....

C.K. — whose career got derailed in 2017 after it was revealed that he was a chronic public serial masturbator – has been trying to mount a comeback by performing stand-up shows on a sellout tour of small comedy clubs. C.K. was accused of masturbating in front of fellow female comedians backstage before and after shows. Despite the backlash, fellow comedians such as Rob Schneider, Janeane Garofalo, and Sarah Silverman have vehemently defended C....

In honor of Giving Tuesday, Marvel and director Coogler have decided that, despite making$1.3B at the worldwide box-office, why not give everyone another chance to see ‘Panther’ on the big screen. And for free. This is serious Oscar campaigning on the part of Marvel. They desperately want their films to be legitimized, artistically speaking, by getting that Best Picture nomination. Marvel Studios released a new trailer for the promotion, and of course the focus in the ad isn’t even about the plot of the movie but how the film is culturally relevant and promotes world peace....

The film now has $473 million in the bank stateside. The film is closing in on $900 million globally. It will probably finish as one of the top 10 highest grossers of all time. Since Cruise’s contract stipulates that he get 10% of the film’s overall gross, the actor has already made $55 million off “Top Gun: Maverick.” As much as I’m mixed on the film, how can we not call this a potential Best Picture nominee at this point?...

The problem is that she’s absolutely not the main actress in “Women Talking,” there is no lead performance. The screentime is almost equally shared by Mara, Jessie Buckley, and Claire Foy. The one performance that left any sort of impression on me was Buckley’s. It’s the chewiest role, her character is the most volcanic and outspoken of the bunch. Foy’s is more contemplative and has much less presence to, really, warrant any kind of Oscar buzz....

Netflix tweeted the news by saying “Took off my blindfold this morning to discover that 45,037,125 Netflix accounts have already watched Bird Box — best first 7 days ever for a Netflix film!” The movie stars Sandra Bullock as a mother fighting a supernatural force that kills you if you see it. Stephen King tweeted that he was ‘riveted’ by it and slammed critics claiming they suffered from ‘Netflix Prejudice’: “Don’t believe the lukewarm reviews, which may in part have been caused by reviewers’ ambivalence to the streaming platform, as opposed to theatrical releases....

So today’s announcement of the ten PGA nominees for Best Picture is telling us this: “Crazy Rich Asians,” “A Quiet Place,” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” have a really good shot at getting nominated for an Oscar. Also, despite mixed reviews, Hollywood seems to really like the Dick Cheney Biopic, “Vice.” Snubs today include “Mary Poppins,” “If Beale Street Could Talk"and “First Man,” but they could, of course, sneak into the Best Picture race, time will tell....

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In 2016, Universal hired Jenkins to adapt the documentary “T-Rex.” Three years later, Morrison hopped on-board as director. Universal offloaded the film a year ago, only for MGM to pick it up. “Flint Strong” is set for a test-screening this coming Thursday in the West Coast. This is a potential indicator that it might have its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January. The film tackles the true story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields as she trains to box in the 2012 Summer Olympics....