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Taken from a review I wrote at Cannes titled: “Gaspar Noe’s “Climax”: Vibrant dance movie and horrific bad-trip” (5.18.18) “Gaspar Noe‘s Climax is split into two movies, both running about 45 minutes, both relying on risky, over-the-top camerawork and both heavily relying on an EDM soundtrack.” “The first half, one of the best dance sequences I have ever seen on film, feels alive and vibrant with cinematic prowess, it’s the far better half....

A New York Times report on Apple’s major headache regarding the Smith-starring “Emancipation” reads like a biblical dilemma. According to three anonymous sources, there have been discussions inside Apple to release the $120 million costing “Emancipation” by the end of the year, which would make it eligible for awards consideration. Others within Apple are against the idea of releasing it at thhe risk of potentially damaging their brand. Also, notice how this NYT piece is being released just days after Apple’s big Oscar horse, “The Greatest Beer Run Ever,” completely tanked with critics at TIFF....

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James Bond – Casino Royale Casino Royale is the 21st part of the famous Eon Productions James Bond franchise and follows the popular character on yet another adventure. James Bond, a British spy known under his code name 007, embarks on a new journey. This time, his job is to prevent a powerful mob banker named Le Chiffre from winning at a high-stakes poker game. With his skills and a bit of help from some alliances, Bond participates in a dangerous casino game only to reveal the situation is much more complicated than it seems....

We were all left wondering, did his scenes get snipped after the Keke Palmer #MeToo incident on the set of “Being Mortal”? After all, Murray was livestreamed at the last NYFF alongside Anderson, Adrian Brody, and others from the set of “Asteroid City”. He was clearly in the movie, right? Not only that, he’s the person who revealed the title of the film during a BFI Q&A last November. Well, it turns out that Murray apparently got COVID as he was just about to shoot his “Asteroid City” scenes and that, in the process, his character was just scratched off the story....

Wim Wenders kickstarted Ganz’ career with the critically acclaimed “The American Friend” in 1977 and then solidified that inimitable German ennui with “Wings of Desire” in 1987. However, millennials will forever recognize him as the guy that played Adolf Hitler in Oliver Hirschbiegel‘s “Downfall,” which will live in infamy on YouTube because of those thousands of mock videos. But it also is the definitive cinematic portrayal of Adolf Hitler. No doubt about it....

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 was the number of competition titles that have yet to be picked up by a US distributor. However, you can scratch one off the list. Tarik Saleh’s taut, tense and terrific thriller “Boy From Heaven” was picked up today by Samuel Goldwyn for US distribution....

Opening Film Deerskin (Quentin Dupieux) Official Selection Alice and the Mayor (Nicolas Pariser)And Then We Danced (Levan Akin)The Halt (Lav Diaz)Dogs Don’t Wear Pants (Jukka-Pekka Valkeapää)First Love (Takashi Miike)Give Me Liberty (Kirill Mikhanovsky)Ghost Tropic (Bas Devos)Song Without a Name (Melina León)The Lighthouse (Robert Eggers)Lillian (Andreas Horwath)Les Particules (Blaise Harrison)The Orphanage (Shahrbanoo Sadat)Blow it to Bits (Lech Kowalski)Oleg (Juris Kursietis)An Easy Girl (Rebecca Zlotowski)To Live to Sling (Johnny Ma)Sick Sick Sick (Alice Furtado)For the Money (Alejo Moguillansky)Perdrix (Erwan Le Duc)Tlames (Ala Eddine Slim)Zombi Child (Bertrand Bonello)Wounds (Babak Anvari)...

Conspicuously absent, and part of the ire of the disappointed, are Jane Campion’s “Power of Dog,” Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” Chan Wook-Park’s “Decision to Leave,” Ruben Östlund‘s “Triangle of Sadness,” Paul Schrader’s “The Card Counter,” and Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Soggy Bottom.” Then again, if you’ve been reading this column then you know those films were not going to show up. As for my presence at this year’s festival, it’s all up in the air for now....

Ticket sales were fairly low this past week at the Chinese box-office as people were clearly still fearful of the virus. The Zhongying Golden Palm Cinema in Xinjiang provincial capital Urumqi became the first movie theater in China to reopen its doors on March 22nd, but not a single moviegoer showed up to catch a movie that day. That theater’s owner had publicly stated that “we can’t stay closed forever....

If you look at the chart below you will realize that with each passing day there is a clear dip in the fatality numbers. In fact, the current numbers still don’t tell us the whole story, as hospitals and urgent care clinics continue to turn potential COVID-19 victims away on a daily basis due to officials only concentrating on the seriously ill. That means the current mortality rate is SIGNIFICANTLY lower if you factor in ALL OF THE CASES that are not being reported, especially the people who have the virus but are immune to symptoms....

“Learned the beautiful Czech language for the role of Tomas and refused to break character for nearly the entire 8-month shoot.” “A pretty well known example of Day-Lewis’ method acting. While playing the paralysed poet Christy Brown, he refused to leave his wheelchair and had (pissed off) crew members carry him around the set. He also insisted that all of his meals would be spoon-fed to him.” “To prepare for his role in Last of the Mohicans, D-Lewz (his rapper name) taught himself how to live as a survivalist and learned how to hunt animals for food....

However, what tickled my fancy most was about the interview was Sandler admitting that Daniel Day-Lewis loved “Uncut Gems” so much that he now regularly texts and hangs out with him. “He’s the best, he texted me some funny shit today. He really is hysterical,” Sandler said. “It’s exciting, every time I talk to him, I love him so much, and I’ve hung out with him, and even when I eat with him, just eating he makes food feel succulent, he chews cool....

During this coffee timeout, I managed to get out of him the potential of a possible Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson movie directed by him. Could you imagine that? He already has an idea. It definitely won’t be his next movie though, as he has made it clear that he will be shooting “Shrouds” next Spring. The 79-year-old director doesn’t seem to be slowing down. He already has the brilliant “Crimes of the Future” about to be released during the first week of June and will start shooting “Shrouds” early next year....

Lynch is also apparently having a blast during this never-ending pandemic. Speaking in an interview with PCS Literary Magazine, the legendary director says he’s stopped worrying and learned to love quarantine: “I’m in isolation. I love isolation,” Lynch said. “So, I’m not able to make films, but I’m able to paint and work on sculpture and work on my YouTube channel. And it’s pretty great. I really kind of like isolation ....

Melissa McCarthy added to the choir, saying that misogyny was to blame for the movie’s poor success. “I just don’t know why people are so afraid of women. It’s fascinating to me,” McCarthy told Yahoo in 2018. Jones and McCarthy failed to mention that their “Ghostbusters” was also guilty of ignoring the previous installment(s) and that Sony lost close to $70+ million with that movie. Not too many people wanted a sequel with the same all-female cast, but that didn’t stop Jones and McCarthy from vocalizing their conspiracy theories, not to mention the insults targeted at the film’s detractors, who they call “fanboys,” on Twitter....

On the one hand, you have celebrities such as Tom Hanks, Idris Elba, and Olga Kurylenko having been infected with the virus, but then on the other, there’s Evangeline Lilly, one of the stars of Marvel Studios’ ‘Ant-Man’ franchise, who is clearly peeved off by the over-the-top reaction that’s been happening in the States, with business shutdowns and social distancing becoming the norm. In a recent post on Instagram, Lilly shared controversial thoughts on the pandemic, writing, “Just dropped my kids off at gymnastics camp....

“Today’s announcement ensures that fans will have access to these films from the Criterion Collection as well as films from WarnerMedia’s deep and extensive library in what will be a rich and curated experience, which will further expand the audience footprint for these classic and acclaimed movies,” Criterion said in a statement. The company added, “The Criterion Channel will be picking up where FilmStruck left off, with thematic programming, regular filmmaker spotlights, and actor retrospectives, featuring major classics and hard-to-find discoveries from Hollywood and around the world, complete with special features like commentaries, behind-the-scenes footage and original documentaries....

Principal photography on “Ad Astra” began in mid-August 2017 in Santa Clarita, California and finished, more or less, in early October of 2017. Whatever happened after that is still up for debate, but, according to an anonymous source I had spoken to, reshoots were most definitely done, despite Gray’s vehement disapprovals. The main conflicts between Gray and 20th Century had to do with a few specific aspects of the film, including inserting “more action” and, at Brad Pitt’s insistence, adding in flashbacks starring Liv Tyler as Pitt’s ex-wife....

You just have to put two and two together. “Mon Crime” has been given a March 2023 release date in France, that erases any chance for a Cannes or Venice bow next year. Ozon also premiered his last film, “Peter Von Kant,” at the Berlinale this past February. Isabelle Huppert stars in “Mon Crime” (originally titled “Madeleine”) which was written by Ozon and is being kept under wraps for the time being....