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The Cannes Film Festival made a statement last week by releasing 56 stamp-approved films that would have made it to this year’s canceled edition, which is usually held every May. Missing from this year’s “lineup” were much some anticipated films, such as Leos Carax’s “Annette,” Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta,” Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Memoria,” Nadav Lapid’s “Ahed’s Knee,” and Mia Hansen-Love’s “Bergman’s Island.” Why were these titles conspicuously absent? Because rumor has it they are opting for the 2021 edition of the festival instead....

I had heard from one critic who attended, but was impressed by the film, calling it a “marvellously black as coal film noir that greatly distances itself from Nolan, Burton and Snyder.” The majority of film critics, including myself, will get to watch “The Batman” on Thursday. The film is said to be a 179-minute film noir/detective story. Reeves’ PG-13 vision cost the WB a total of $185 million. Social and review embargos are said to be lifted on February 28th at 12:00 PM ET....

If you remember, Chalamet starred in Allen’s “A Rainy Day In New York,” around the same time the #MeToo movement peaked, which meant celebrities with past sexual abuse allegations were brought back into the spotlight. At the time, Chalamet had some major Best Actor buzz going for his performance in “Call Me By Your Name,” however, after Allen became a target of the #MeToo movement, Chalamet came out against the filmmaker, with the star donating his payment for the film to charity....

We already know from the very start that Chastain’s Ava, recruited by the military, will not let the bounty on her head get the best of her. The endless bodies of villains will pile up, ditto the inevitable climactic clash with protégé Simon (Colin Farrell), who wants Ava out of the picture after a botched job. The fight between Chastain and Farrell doesn’t hold back on the thrills and hints at the better movie hidden underneath this mosaic of cliche-ridden plot strands....

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Anyway, this leads me to “When They See Us,” which, even before it was seen, was bound to be raved upon and spoken of highly by critics because, you know, DuVernay-Central Park Five. We already had Ken and Sarah Burns‘ more-than-decent doc (“The Central Park Five”) released just a few years ago, but DuVernary has decided to make a four-part mini-series about the case which dealt with the assault and rape of Trisha Meili, in Central Park, which led to the arrest of five young black men— Anton McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Kharey Wise and Yusef Salaam....

Bigger than its masterful predecessor, and less subtle in its intensity but never missing a step. Writer/director John Krasinski, clearly filled with ideas born out of the first film, and armed with a bigger budget, takes the set pieces up a notch, each of them making you wince, squirm, and jump out of your seat (or jump so far out of your own skin that you get friction burn from the seat)....

Could these movies get made in today’s climate? Well, let’s take “Airplane!” as an example, that comedy classic features gags on “jive” talk, slapping women silly and a young girl saying she likes her coffee black, just like her men. Probably not. Our society has lost its sense of humor. In a recent interview, Zucker has sounded the alarm on the dire state of the comedy genre today and how it compares to when he made all those famous movies back in the ‘80s: “We could be as offensive as we liked,” Zucker said....

“Athena” currently has a 70 on Metacritic — not, by any means, an all-timer. However, this film could have very well have been France’s Oscar submission if it weren’t for its ineligibility due to Netflix. Thank the heavens Alice Diop’s “Saint Omer” took that spot instead. I wrote my “Athena” reaction on 09.09.22: I know Bilge Ebiri quite well and, although our tastes don’t always align, he sure as hell wouldn’t just throw hyperbole at a film....

The film begins life almost as a sort of high school coming of age drama, as we witness the meeting, and blossoming love between ‘Cherry’ our nameless lead (Tom Holland) and Emily (Bravo), before an amalgamation of decisions sends them both on a paths (both alone and together) of pain and self-destruction. Holland and bravo unquestionably shine here, more so in the films earlier (and much stronger half). Conveying the sense of longing for one another, even though it seems like much of their early life hit the cutting room floor....

The globe-spanning doc follows the story of United Nations secretary-general Dag Hammarskjöld and the mystery behind his death following a mysterious plane crash in 1961. Was the crash actually meant as an assassination of Hammarskjöld? By investigating the “tragedy,” Brügger stumbles upon a rabbit hole of conspiracies, including the CIA spreading AIDS all over Africa back in the ‘80s. Brügger blends different kinds of documentary storytelling and blurs the lines between journalist and agitator....

Tallying ticket sales, VOD and Blu-ray sales, and TV revenue, Deadline came to the conclusion that “Dark Phoenix” must have lost around $133 million last year, despite a worldwide box office tally of $252 million. Finishing close behind the X-Men movie was “Terminator: Dark Fate” ($122.6 million) and “Cats” ($113.6 million). With a $200 million budget and advertising expenses and such totaling $143 million, “Dark Phoenix” cost Fox $343 million to produce and release....

I was promised, and it’s still being mentioned in some of these reviews, the first horror movie of the MCU. That turned out to be untrue. Yes, Raimi plays around with genre elements here and there, but the Disney-led PG-13 constraints kind of numb the whole thing down. There’s nothing tense or thrilling about ‘Multiverse of Madness.’ The whole film just hammers you down with its CGI-obsessed hijinks. I should have known better to think that Raimi would get some kind of voice in this film — instead, his familiar auteur imprint gets buried somewhere in the endless rubble of this very bad movie....

Stark explores the controversy that has invaded the pop star’s life now for more than 13 years: her father, Jamie Spears, unusually and legally serving as her conservator, the title given to someone by a court to control someone’s daily affairs and financial decisions. Daddy received the conservatorship after Spears’ public meltdowns, which, we’re told, was a result of post-partum depression and the media’s constantly invasive obsession with her. After Spears shaved her head and chased a paparazzi’s van with an umbrella, a county judge bluntly ruled that she was in no shape or form to be in charge of her estate’s finances (one worth in the upwards of $60 million)....

This was a film originally headed to Cannes 2020 before the event’s inevitable cancelation last year. Set in a post-modern looking house in the Massachusetts woodlands, inhabited by a privileged family of four, whose silent family dinners indicate a coldly detached form of bonding, Sisto’s film immediately presents itself as a controlled, almost too controlled, exercise in futility. John’s father, Brad (a playfully, darkly comic Michael C. Hall), mother Anna (Jennifer Ehle), and older sister Laurie (Taissa Farmiga) are all spiked by the 13-year-old with Anna’s sleeping pills....

I wouldn’t expect anything else from PTA, to kind of go by his own artistic free will and not adhere to the mainstream. A Linklater hangout movie vibe seems to emanate within the whole thing. It’s 133 minutes of non-linear narrative, episodes come and go, so do many of the supporting characters who seem to be all cameos. The thick of the plot revolves around the two lovebirds at the Center of the film....

The result is a neorealist triumph as Camilleri focuses his lens on Jesmark, a Maltese fisherman, whose life goes spiraling out of control after he spots a leak in his wooden luzzu boat. The repairs are pricey, and it doesn’t help that he’s barely making ends meet, having an unhealthy newborn whose medical bills keep accumulating. Jesmark’s desperation thrusts him out into an the illicit fishing black-market where politics and dirty cash go hand in hand....

“Nope” made around $2 million this past weekend. Contrast that with “Elvis,” which skyrocketed to #1 on VOD two Sundays ago, but still managed to make close to $3 million at the weekend box-office — it’s now grossed $145 million domestically. As we speak, “Nope” has grossed $107 million domestically, it won’t reach the $175 million Peele’s first two films nabbed. Nope’s budget is said to be in and around $90 million — in comparison “Us” had a $20 million budget and “Get Out” a measly $4....

“Overwhelm the Sky” has to do Eddie Huntly, a radio personality who moves to San Francisco, to inherit a friend’s graveyard hours late-night radio program, but to also marry Thea, the sister of his best friend Neil, a successful entrepreneur. However, the plot thickens once Neil is found murdered in Golden Gate Park. The police shrug it off as nothing more than a mugging-gone-bad, but not Eddie who regularly visits the scene where Neil’s corpse was found....

Samoan local newspaper the Samoa Observer claims local censors thought the film “was not suitable “ with the country’s Christian values. “We’re concerned with the cultural values and also the Christian beliefs here in Samoa — it’s not appropriate for public viewing,” censor Leiataua Niuapu Faaui said. If performed in Samoa, sodomy is punishable for up to seven years in jail. Over 97% of the population is Christian. [Via Reuters] Contribute Hire me...