It used to be that, for the last ten years, TIFF would announce almost everything during the third week of July. They’re definitely going with a different approach this year, I don’t know if I like it. I’m also not sure which title will be announced tomorrow, but have a decent idea of what might show up during the big August announcement. I lead you to exhibit A, our list of the 70 anticipated fall fest titles, dated 06....
Wes Anderson’s film already world premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this past July, but hasn’t screened in the United States or Canada yet. It was met with mostly positive reviews at Cannes, but it definitely felt, to my eyes, at least, like a slight step back for Anderson. But, like all of his films, I have this nagging feeling it’ll play much better on subsequent viewings. The director is already shooting his next movie in Spain and may just have the assembled the best cast of his career....
I also feel like Jeremy Saulnier should be included; though he’s only made two films (“Blue Ruin” and “Green Room”), he’s surely made a mark. Ditto Ryan Coogler (“Fruitvale Station” and “Creed”), Mike Mills (“Thumbsucker,” “20th Century Women,” and Beginners") and Ava DuVernay (“Middle of Nowhere,” “Selma” and “The 13th”). Another director I’m not sure about is Judd Apatow, whose best work (“The 40-Year-old Virgin,” Knocked Up," and “Trainwreck”) has been marred by disappointments as well (“Funny People,” and “This Is 40”)....
This does not look like anything the venerable Chinese filmmaker would have made more than a decade ago, it looks .. slick and mainstream. However, it’s visually stunning to look at. Nobody, and I do mean nobody, was as hot a director on the foreign circuit as Wong Kar-wai in the ’90s and ’00s. During that time he went on a stretch that was one of the greatest in modern cinematic history: “Chungking Express,” “Fallen Angels,” “Happy Together,” and, the peak of it all, “In the Mood For Love....
Given Donner’s connections with Feige, I wouldn’t be surprised if she is reinstated for the upcoming versions by Marvel and Disney. There is no date for those but you can bet they will be total reboots. Contribute Hire me Advertise Donate Team Contact Privacy Policy
It has long been believed that the CCP is responsible for mass-genocide towards dissenters. Today’s news that Disney sought help and actually thanked those same people isn’t surprising. The latest controversy started after the release of “Mulan” on Disney+ over the weekend, with the end credits featuring a thank you to the “publicity department of CPC Xinjiang Uighur Autonomy Region Committee,” which is the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda machine. (via THR) Noticeably, the region that is thanked by the studio is precisely where there have been reports of over a dozen concentration camps, of which hold millions of Uighurs (Muslims) have been held in detention....
I was already aware of a test screening that occurred four weeks ago for this anticipated sequel. “Borat 2” is said to have Cohen’s Kazakh character “thinking he’s a big movie star after the success of the original 2006 film made him famous, so he tries to hide from the public by pretending to be someone else, and starts meeting and interviewing people using various different costumes.” There are pranks said to involve abortion clinics, right-wing rallies and Trump consiglieres Rudy Giuliani and Mike Pence....
The Jesus-spinoff-movie was originally titled “Going Places” but is now, quite simply, called “The Jesus Rolls.” Distributor Screen Media are probably trying to imply, a little more explicitly, the ‘Lebowski’ connection, nothing wrong with that. Jesus Quintana was one of the many highlight of the Coen Brothers classic, despite having, what, around 2 or 3 minutes of screen time, This memorable character was immaculately played by John Turturro (“You don’t mess with The Jesus”)....
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Even BAFTA boss, Amanda Berry, had to give in and admit that she was ‘very disappointed’ over the lack of diversity following Tuesday morning’s announcement where not a single actor of colour was honoured in the four major acting categories. Lupita Nyong’o’s snub for “Us” was a major point of concern for the social justice warriors, who took aim at Margot Robbie for having the chutzpah to be nominated twice in the Supporting Actress category....
I don’t care about the middling reviews, I want to see this movie ASAP. It looks and sounds like an experience. Netflix’s Kris Tapley tweeted out this video of Inarritu passionately chatting it up, cigarette in hand, with Chloe Zhao at the Telluride Netflix party last night. Meanwhile, Zhao, Lulu Wang, and Barry Jenkins are doing their best to defend Inarritu and his film on social media. Zhao wrote that she “laughed, sobbed and was overwhelmed with emotion” while watching “Bardo....
The hit Freddie Mercury biopic will have its gay scenes completely edited out of the version being released for Chinese audiences. THR is additionally mentioning that even “several intimate kisses between Malek’s Mercury and other male characters” have been cut out. There seems to be sort of a compromise between the film’s studio, 20th Century Fox, and the Chinese Film Bureau, the latter which has a history of banning movies that have any kind of gay themes or scenes in them....
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“Creed 2” opens in theaters on November 21st. Contribute Hire me Advertise Donate Team Contact Privacy Policy
I’ve spoken to a few people who attended a recent test-screening for “Creed III” and they’re absolutely raving about it. They also believe that it is the best film of the trilogy, yes, better than even Ryan Coogler’s 2015 film. A major highlight most people are pinpointing is Jonathan Major’s performance as Adonis’ nemesis, Damian Anderson — he steals the show. Damian was Adonis’ best friend when they were living in a group home, now he’s out of prison and ready to take on his former compadre....
Recently, we ended up getting more news about the McKay/J-Law project and, suffice to say, it sounds much more politically-charged today, in the era of COVID-19, than it did just a month ago. Speaking to Rolling Stone, McKay says his film was set to tackle a global catastrophe and a bumbling U.S. President who refuses to listen to his White House scientists advice: McKay has decided to bring Lawrence along for a movie which is being billed as his return to comedy, after the dramatic sparks of “The Big Short” and “Vice....
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The feature-based off the hit ITV show of the same name, and starring the likes of Dame Maggie Smith, also added another $10M overseas, pushing its international haul also to $31M, thus bringing its worldwide gross to past $61M. In a slightly disappointing second place this weekend is Fox’s (Disney released) space epic ‘Ad Astra’. The hopeful Oscar contender managed $19.2M, no doubt well below what the studio would have expected for a project that cost almost $80M to produce....
What we do know is that Austin Butler will be part of the Best Actor conversation. Tom Hanks’ polarizing performance? Not so much. The film itself is garnering very good audience scores, but will the academy fall for it? They sure did for “Bohemian Rhapsody,” but that was a much tamer musical biopic than Luhrmann’s more daring film. Or, “Elvis” might go the “Rocketman” way and get absolutely no recognition....
I dug the sheer chutzpah of this film. It comes as no shock that it is directed by Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan AKA The Daniels. These young filmmakers polarized Sundance in 2016 with “Swiss Army Man,” a movie that rode its narrative purely on a flatulence joke, literally, and starred Daniel Radcliffe and Paul Dano. Kwan sat out “The Death of Dick Long” in 2018, but Scheinert directed that pitch-black comedy which I then described as a white trash version of “Fargo....
