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“The Whistlers” premiered at Cannes Film Festival and opens on February 28. Contribute Hire me Advertise Donate Team Contact Privacy Policy

This is a tale narrated by a Hindu driver for the rich, Balram (Adarsh Gourav), who recounts his own rags-to-riches story, tracing his start as a work slave in an impoverished town to being a major wheeler and dealer in the Indian crime world. Balsam sees himself as a white tiger, a rare animal, said to be born only once every few decades, who manages to defy the odds and escape the fate given to him of being born in a poor Indian village....

Reviews are embargoed until tomorrow, so don’t consider this a “review,” but I did signal out on social media Mark Rylance, Frank Langella and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as the film’s best performances, whenever they are onscreen, the movie is nothing short of gripping. Most of those scenes take place inside a courtroom. Some of the bigger name actors are, unfortunately, miscast - especially Sacha Baron Cohen, Jeremy Strong, and Eddie Redmayne....

“Wendy” test-screened on the West Coast this past summer, but it was a no-show at the fall festivals. Does this mean the film wasn’t submitted? Well, sort of. The gist of the matter is, according to a source at Fox Searchlight, Zeitlin’s picture was screened for and accepted by Toronto but decided to skip the fest after its writer-director decided to go back to the editing room. According to this same FSL source, the screening for TIFF was more courtesy for the friendship the studio has built with TIFF over the years than an actual “wanting-it to-be-screened” kinda thing....

Based purely on the trailers, the 156-minute film looks beautifully shot and choreographed. Spielberg looks is coming off the subdued quadfecta of “The Post,” Bridge of Spies,” “Lincoln” and War Horse.” Not to mention the CG-infused “Tintin,” “Ready Player One” and “The BFG.” Now at 71-years of age, Spielberg will release the Tony Kushner-penned remake of the classic 1961 musical. It’s a risky endeavour. However, judging by the footage we’ve seen so far of it, Spielberg looks re-energized....

I had heard rumblings that it was a very hot title for the upcoming fall fests and CJ Prince’s tweet yesterday basically confirmed it. Polley is born in Toronto and TIFF would like nothing more than to have a big splashy world premiere for the hometown filmmaker. Venice and Telluride want in on the action as well, they’re proposing a primo slot for “Women Talking”. What are Polley and United Artists to do with this dilemma?...

DC Comics and DC Universe truly outdid themselves this afternoon at the virtual Comic-Con@Home as DC’s summer event, titled DC Fandome, premiered a slew of new goodies including the latest “Wonder Woman 1984” trailer. I thought the first “Wonder Woman” was, mostly, fine. Gadot and Chris Pine’s scenes were solid, but, given the fact that this was a DCEU movie, there wasn’t much risk involved in the storytelling. Robin Wright‘s Antiope was unfathomable, ditto Connie Nielsen‘s Hippolyta....

I’ll give the edge to the 2000s, or as many people call them, the aughts. This was the post-9/11 decade, one in which plenty of creative juices were still occurring in American filmmaking. The booming DVD market also expanded the possibilities of quality distribution and content. Comic book movies hadn’t yet stormed the industry during the aughts and there very much was an inventive nature to some of the best films from this decade: “There Will Be Blood,” “Mulholland Drive,” “No Country For Old Men,” “Spirited Away,” “Children of Men,” “Zodiac,” and many more, have all, in one form or another, contributed greatly to the advancement of the medium....

“Luce is a dangerous minefield and simply crackles with the kind of distressing pressure that is beginning to define America in every conversation we have about race, marginalization, social strata, woke politics and even marriage.” - Jordan Ruimy “So much of Luce is about what’s happening beneath the surface and between the lines. Everyone says they’re searching for the truth — even as they lie and obfuscate and bend the facts to suit their particular agendas and world views....

I guess you had to see “Mektoub: Intermezzo” in Cannes because it’s definitely not going to be released in the United States. Its status in France has been relegated to oblivion, let alone the next — already shot — chapter, ‘Canto Duo.’ A real shame, if you ask me. I was a fan of “Intermezzo” when I saw it at Cannes 2019, writing that it was a “212-minute cinematic revolution....

After a five-year absence, Iñárritu is already shooting his comeback vehicle in his native Mexico City, with a colossal production, tentatively titled “Limbo”. The drama is said to be a political and social statement of Mexico. No further story details have been divulged. Inarritu wrote the film himself and a crew member has confirmed that it is being shot in Spanish. The lead actor is said to be played by Daniel Giménez Cacho, with Oscar-nominated Darius Khondji (“Amour,” “Seven,” “Uncut Gems”) hired as Cinematographer....

So it comes as no great shock that first reactions from critics are just as polarizing as we thought, if not more so. This is clearly a movie that will infuriate a lot of people. I’ll be seeing it next Wednesday. The writer-director of “Ex-Machina” and “Annihilation” is reuniting with A24 for this latest film. Jessie Buckley plays a woman who goes on a solo vacation to the English countryside after the death of her ex-husband....

The major surprise was the lack of silent films on the list, such as, quite possibly, the greatest silent film of them all, the German-expressionist-influenced 1927 masterwork “Sunrise,” shot by Charles Rosher and Karl Struss. Another major snub of note; My personal top 10 pick, 1958’s “Vertigo,” shot by Robert Burks. The lists were voted on by ASC members. Contribute Hire me Advertise Donate Team Contact Privacy Policy

Of course, there could technically be an outsider who upsets and steals it from these two actors, but who are we kidding here? The narrative for both Smith and Cumberbatch is too hard to resist. Both have never won and both are well-loved by both the industry and audiences. Smith has been going at it since the early ’90s and his “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” days. However, despite picking mediocre scripts over the years, and contrary to what some may believe, Smith is actually a very talented actor....

I found 14 titles which could be considered: “Dogman,” “Dragged Across Concrete,” “Us,” “Gloria Bell,” “Diamantino,” “Triple Frontier,” “High Life,” “Ash is Purest White,” “Avengers: Endgame,” “Ask Dr. Ruth,” “Hail Satan,” “Climax,” “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote,” “Holiday,” “Booksmart,” “Long Shot,” “Under the Silver Lake” Contribute Hire me Advertise Donate Team Contact Privacy Policy

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Underwhelming? Not necessarily. If his name might sound foreign to Americans, Lindon is one of the great French actors and the first one to be Jury President in over a decade, since Isabelle Huppert helmed the mantle back in 2009. His jury will be composed of Rebecca Hall, Deepika Padukone, Noomi Rapace, Asghar Farhadi, Ladj Ly, Jeff Nichols, and Joachim Trier. Farhadi was originally rumoured to be the President of the jury until he was slapped with plagiarism charges in his native Iran, which he is currently fighting in court....

We won’t really know the answers to these questions for a few years, at least, and probably a couple more Cannes editions in the books. However, one troubling factor to have emerged from this last 75th edition of the fest is the number of competition titles that have yer to be picked up by a US distributor. Out of curiosity, I checked to see which competition filns still don’t have US distribution: Boy from HeavenBrother and SisterForever YoungLeila’s BrothersMother and SonNostalgiaTchaikovsky’s WifeThe Eight Mountains There’s eight....

Can Hollywood stop pretending that it’s bowing down to Chinese demands is not a problem? If you’re going to stand for civil rights then you can’t also be in bed with an authoritarian regime that has millions in prison camps, murders innocent journalists, silences protestors, punishes doctors for telling the truth, and stifles freedom of speech. It’s an inconvenient truth. If you stand for human rights, then you should stand with it EVERYWHERE....

Bale has been in the game now since the ‘80s . His acting in “Amsterdam” is also pretty damn great, no matter the flaws that movie might have, and it’s got plenty. Now it’s just become routine to get great performances out of him. His finest work,: Dicky Eklund in “The Fighter,” Patrick Bateman in “American Psycho,” Dick Cheney in “Vice,” Trevor Reznik in “The Machinist,” Dieter Dengler in “Rescue Dawn,” Michael Blurry in “The Big Short,” and Ken Miles in “Ford v Ferrari....