During the end of Marvel’s Hall H presentation at Comic Con, Marvel spearhead Kevin Feige dropped the news all fans were waiting to hear. The return of The Fantastic Four and the reboot of the X-Men. But who will they turn to shepherd these valuable assets into the MCU, will they turn to old and trusted hands aka Joss Whedon, or will they, as they have done many times e....
I’m not one that has completely warmed up to Danny Boyle’s stylistic flourishes over the years, however I don’t deny the guy has talent. I dug Slumdog Millionaire for what it was, a preposterous but exciting movie-going exercise and I still think Trainspotting is his best film. 127 Hours, his latest exercise in stylistic overkill is a rather Jekkyl and Hyde type of film, it represents the best and worst of Boyle’s mannerisms....
One thing people fail to mention about “Casablanca” is what a cynical movie it was. Its production started at a time when it wasn’t a sure thing that the Nazis were going to lose WWII. And so, its thematic resonances lie in its depictions of lost love, lost chances and, above all else, resistance. Fully filmed in the Warner Bros. lot, with a cast of immigrants and French exiles who had fled the Third Reich, politics weren’t withheld in “Casablanca....
I have not seen De Palma’s latest critical bomb “Domino” (31% on RT) but I am a completist and I intend to give it a fair shot in the coming week. I do hope millennials know that there is more to De Palma than just the infamous stinkers he’s given us in the aughts and twenty-teens (“Passion,” “The Black Dahlia,” “Redacted,” “Femme Fatale” and “Mission To Mars.”) His last five movies also happen to be the five worst of his career (“Bonfire of the Vanities” notwithstanding....
After an Academy board members meeting on Tuesday, a rule has been instilled which would not require a film to get a seven-day theatrical run in L.A. and/or NYC to qualify for the Academy Awards. [via Variety] Instead, films released digitally, without playing in theaters, could take part. However, films that were already meant for VOD or streaming would not qualify. To be considered, the streamed film would have already had a planned theatrical release and been forced to go digital due to the COVID-19 shutdown....
AMC has struck a historic deal with Universal, shortening the number of days their films need to run in theaters before going digital on VOD. Considering how backloaded profits for theaters are, this could effectively kill them if it becomes standard practice. The gist of the deal has AMC Theaters agreeing to show Universal Pictures films on the big screen by granting Universal a smaller theatrical window so it could make its titles available on-demand sooner....
“Reps have equated this role to the female version of the Elvis biopic, which saw Hollywood’s up-and-coming leading men jostle to curry favor with Baz Luhrmann, only for Austin Butler (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) to beat out bigger names such as Harry Styles and Miles Teller. Speaking of which, a source who has seen Elvis believes that Butler will receive an Oscar nomination for his performance, which they insist is going to surprise a lot of people, but they were less enthusiastic about Tom Hanks’ turn as Colonel Tom Parker, or his uneven accent....
The 49-year-old Brit is riding high on his last three critically-acclaimed films (Weekend, 45 Years, Lean on Pete). This latest one stars Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Claire Foy and Jamie Bell. “Strangers” follows screenwriter Adam (Scott) who, one night in his near-empty tower block in contemporary London, has a chance encounter with his mysterious neighbor Harry (Mescal) that punctures the rhythm of his everyday life. As Adam and Harry get closer, Adam is pulled back to his childhood home where he discovers that his long-dead parents (Foy and Bell) are both living and look the same age as the day they died over 30 years ago....
Miller is now developing the ‘Furiosa’ prequel film and has already begun assembling his cast. First up, taking on Charlize Theron’s role of Furiosa will be Anya Taylor-Joy [via Variety]. Joining her in the cast will be Chris Hemsworth and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in unspecified roles. Details about the plot are still unknown, but this ‘Furiosa’ prequel will focus on the early days of the character, and how she grew to be the war captain under Immortan Joe....
Also, it seems as though “The Matrix” now counts as a film directed by a female director since its filmmakers, Lily and Lana Wachowski, both transitioned a couple of years ago. Jane Campion’s masterpiece “The Piano” topped the list, and you won’t hear any complaints about that choice on my part. Campion’s “The Piano” is the most personal movie of her astonishing filmography. This almost plotless story about a group of people who aren’t, on the whole, particularly easy to sympathize with, is a stunning mood piece and a haunting adult fairy tale about a woman’s quest to control her identity and destiny....
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“Tom and Jerry” now holds the record for the most profitable three-day total in the pandemic era. “Wonder Woman 1984,” which was released in December, has the 5-day opening record with $16.7 million Nothing else that has been released in the past 10 months has been able to make more than $10 million; “The Croods: A New Age” ($9.7 million) and “Tenet” ($9.35 million) were the ones that came closest....
The staffers were also taken aback by the new owners’ insistences that the 70-year-old publication be refurbished “into a more relaxed and fashionable read.” In other words, they want Cahiers, which nary has an online presence, to get with the program and modernize itself to the 21st century. Yeah, fat chance. Cahiers du Cinema, which started in 1951, will always be known as the birthplace of the French nouvelle vague....
It took Claire Denis 34 years to finally return to Cannes competiton. The French filmmaker will be vying for the Palme d’Or as the very-late-submitted “The Stars at Noon” was included in the lineup of 18 competition titles. In fact, Denis’ film shook up the competition process, that meant that a French title had to be bumped to meet the quota of French filmmakers. Fremaux hinted this morning that a few more titles could be added in the last minute and that could very well include the wet print of Ira Sachs’ “Passages,” which was submitted just last week to the festival....
EARLIER: This is getting ridiculous. Another key title has been shuffled around to next year, this time it’s Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale.” I’ll have more details about this soon, emails have been sent, I want to be 100% certain that the source is accurate. Contribute Hire me Advertise Donate Team Contact Privacy Policy
The screen adaptation of “Consumed” will surely please aficionados of Cronenberg’s past cinematic endeavors, as the novel is stacked with exquisitely detailed, voyeuristic body-horror. The novel follows a French couple in their sixties, who travel around the world in search of the most unusual people they can find to photograph. Cronenberg, a maverick who has always flown by his own artistic free will, may not again deliver big-screen thrills such as “Videodrome,” “The Fly,” “Dead Ringers,” “A History of Violence” and “Eastern Promises,” but it doesn’t mean he can’t still make smart, urgent films about his deepest obsessions....
Jackson’s Santa Barbara sexual molestation trial of ’04 and ’05 didn’t involve Safechuck and Robson, but Gavin Arvizo. These are new victims, never heard of before until they came forward for the Reed doc. The Jackson estate quickly rebutted the presence of the doc at Sundance: “This is yet another lurid production in an outrageous and pathetic attempt to exploit and cash in on Michael Jackson. This so-called ‘documentary’ is just another rehash of dated and discredited allegations....
The announced titles also include Cannes hit “The Gangster, The Cop and The Devil” and Lupita Nyong’o Sundance zombie comedy “Little Monsters,” However, the personal highlight for me will be a 45th anniversary screening of Brian DePalma’s wicked 1974 satire “Phantom of the Paradise,” with producer Edward R. Pressman on-hand to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award on Saturday, July 13. Many more titles and premieres are set to be announced, so stay tuned....
The writer/director revealed today that “Megalopolis” will be the first feature shot on the LED volume stage at newly opened Prysm Stages at Trilith Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. Per an official statement, Coppola aims to have “one foot in the past and one in the future.” The Prysm Stage is said to have top of the line practical lighting, grip and camera, all integrated into a state-of-the-art virtual production volume....
Take the Lone Survivor movie of 2015, for example, which was based on the similarly named book by Marcus Luttrell. The book was based on a team of Navy SEALS who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan in 2005 during Operation Red Wings. In that movie, Ben Foster acts as Matthew “Axe” Axelson, who uses a Berretta M9 pistol as backup when his main rifle runs out of ammunition. This product placement was boasted by the Los Angeles-based Brand-in Entertainment, the brand integration company that orchestrated the whole thing....
