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Don’t get me wrong, this beautifully shot film—its majestic lighting feels almost ethereal—is an incredibly risky endeavor into the dark unknown of 1950s America. It means to shake you with its depiction of the pseudo-science industry back in the day, but ends up further isolating the viewer, as Alverson’s ambitions overreach, and the film becomes less interested in any kind of coherent semblance. I felt a similar way to Alverson’s last picture, “Entertainment....

Judging by this reaction, and the fact that not much editing needs to be done, you’d think Apple would want to release this one as their main contender this year instead of “Emancipation,” alas I don’t think that’s going occur. Anyway, here’s the reaction: “It’s 150 minutes. Covers the sweep of Napoleon’s life from his promotion around the time of the revolution, to the end. I think it’s bigger, better and MORE PSYCHOLOGICAL than Scott’s epics like Kingdom of Heaven and Gladiator....

The legislation Cruz is trying to implement is called “The Stopping Censorship, Restoring Integrity, Protecting Talkies Act” (SCRIPT Act), which would block cooperation between the U.S. Defense Department and any film studios that edit or alter their movies for audiences in China. They really wanted that acronym/backronym … The following is Ted Cruz’ statement on the matter: Chinese content, whether on TV, at the movies or online, is heavily censored in China, but, most especially, American TV and movies, which are heavily embraced by the population....

We’re all wondering whether David Fincher’s “The Killer” will be released this year, or in 2023. I did some hard research a few weeks back, asking around about Fincher’s latest. I got an assortment of different responses. The truth is, nobody really knows, not even Netflix. They’re just letting Fincher take his time and if it’s ready by December then maybe we’ll have a surprise release. With that being said, it sure looks like the odds are that it will be out during the first quarter of 2023....

Morris has been criticized for not being tough enough on Bannon in this doc, I say phooey. Morris not only calls Bannon “racist,” “evil” and “scary” to his face, but he is there to counterbalance and debate him throughout. Of course, deciding to boycott this doc plays right at the hands of the alt-right, who won the election because of the safe-space mentality inflicting America today. The former editor in chief of Breitbart and self-proclaimed “populist” warrior, turns out to also be a hardcore cinephile and Morris models much of the film on Bannon’s favorite films, including the Gregory Peck vehicle “Twelve O’Clock High”....

Of note: These are the big studio movies being released this summer, not the indies, all of which, at least the noteworthy ones, have been seen by yours truly and those include “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Vile and Evil,” “Knock Down the House,” “Booksmart,” “The Farewell,” “David Crosby: Remember My Name,” “Luce,” and “Blinded by the Light.” Ad Astra I don’t know how and why 20th Century Fox decided to give arthouse director James Gray (“Two Lovers,” “The Immigrant”) a $50 million budget to make a sci-fi epic, but bless their souls for doing that....

This is why the Rocky character worked in “Creed” and, I suspect, will as well in “Creed II.” Rocky has aged. He’s lost everyone that’s important in his life, and I’m guessing he will die in one of these films. Maybe when it does happen it’ll garner him another Oscar nomination, he’s already been nominated twice for playing Rocky Balboa. Seeing the journey Balboa is having in these films, you just know it won’t end well for the character....

There are three distinguishable branches in the film industry — production, distribution, and exhibition. There’s also the commercial side of the business, where markets like TV and movie merchandise play a defining role in the longevity of a franchise’s relevance. TV and movie merchandise includes toys, accessories, video games, apparel, and casino games, and the global market is projected to grow by $79 billion between the forecast period, 2020-2025. For perspective, that marks a CAGR growth of around 8% during the period....

AMC is said to be saddled with debt nearing the $5 billion range. “Tenet” was supposed to be the savior of cinema but failed to deliver at the box office, which then had fall blockbusters like “Black Widow,” “Wonder Woman 1984,” “No Time to Die” and “Dune” pushed to 2021 release dates. Theaters rely on these big movies to bring in the money, but any signs of life for a revival of the theatrical experience before the year is done has been squashed by the delays and pushbacks....

Another option would be for TIFF to collaborate with other festivals and exclusively screen the highlights of their lineups. Already canceled events include SXSW, Tribeca, and, more intriguingly, Cannes. Still-not-canceled marquees include the Telluride, New York, and Venice Film Festivals — all of which will have to also figure out a way to adapt to COVID-19 social distancing rules. Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera, who spoke to ANSA (via Variety), described the 2020 edition of the fest as potentially being “experimental,” adding that there will be “use of surgical masks and social distancing” as well as “probably less accredited attendees....

Other TIFF additions today include Joachim Trier’s Cannes-winning “The Worst Person In The World,” Eva Husson‘s. “Mothering Sunday,” and Michel Franco‘s“Sundown.” No sign of another Clifford the Dog movie. Thank God. The full line-up can be found here. I am told there are still around 40 movies left to be announced. Now if one were to make the trek to Toronto this year, and logistically it would be a headache given the rising number of COVID cases and border restrictions, then you would have to narrow down the 79 films announced thus far to the nitty gritty....

Rocky (1976) The first movie in this list has to be Rocky because if not this movie, this whole genre would probably go unnoticed. Starring Sylvester Stallone as the main character of Rocky Balboa, this movie is about how an unknown underdog managed to take a challenge and fight against the world champion. The movie revolves around Rocky’s insignificant life as a wanna-be boxer. He struggles in his life both personally and financially....

We already knew that “Bardo,” “Bones & All,” “Blonde”, “No Bears”, “Other People’s Children,” “Saint Omer,” and “Love Life” were part of the fest. We can now add new films by Darren Aronofsky, Frederick Wiseman, and Santiago Mitre to the mix. I was told 20-22 films in competition, the below predictions will surely not be the final lineup, but might be most of it: These are FINAL: “Bardo” (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)“The Eternal Daughter” (Joanna Hogg)“The Son” (Florian Zeller)“The Whale” (Darren Aronofsky)“Bones and All” (Luca Guadagnino)“Blonde” (Andrew Dominik)“Le Lycceen” (Christophe Honore)”1985” (Santiago Mitre)“Tar” (Todd Field)“No Bears” (Jafar Panahi)“Walk Up” (Hong Sang-soo)“Rheingold” (Fatih Akin)“Chiara” (Susanna Nicchiarelli)“Other People’s Children“ (Rebecca Zlotowski)“Monica” (Andrea Pallaoro)“Athena” (Romain Gavras)“Love Life” (Koji Fukada)“L’Immensita” (Emanuele Crialese)“The State of the Empire” (Amat Eacalante)“White Noise” (Noah Baumbach)“Untitled” (Frederick Wiseman) Out of Competition “Don’t Worry Darling” (Olivia Wilde)“Copenhagen Cowboy” (Nicolas Winding Refn)“The Kingdom Exodus” (Lars von Trier)“The Master Gardener” (Paul Schrader) This lineup of names will surely give Cannes a run for its money: Inarritu, Aronofsky, Dominik, Panahi, Baumbach, Schrader, Hong, Guadagnino, Wiseman … There might be more surprises that we’re missing here, but these are the obvious ones as of now....

Yesterday, Baker “liked” a Tulsi Gabbard tweet about how the Rittenhouse Jury “got it right” by finding the 18-year-old shooter not guilty on all counts. Then darts started to be shot at Baker from all sides of the woke faction of film twitter. All of a sudden, Baker had put himself in the bull ring, wearing all red, or so it seemed. Forget the fact that Baker made one of the best movies this year (“Red Rocket”) he was now persona non grata to these fans....

After Wes Anderson, and Jonathan Glazer, it’s may now be Yorgos Lanthimos’ turn to skip the fall festivals. His “Poor Things” is said to not be ready on time for Venice, Telluride and Toronto in September. The reason why? I’m looking into it. I’ll update this article when I get a definite confirmation. This one I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around. The film finished shooting last November....

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When it does focus on its main character, plus-sized 27-year-old woman Brittany (Jillian Bell), the movie is nothing short of a pleasure to behold. Much of the film’s initial success is carefully stitched together by its debut writer-director Paul Downs Colaizzo’s and Bell’s star-making performance, as a millennial deciding to take control of her life by running. Colaizzo, a prize-winning playwright, gives Bell some delectably humorous dialogue to chew on....

Director Matthew Vaughn has decided to name the latest installment in this series “The King’s Man” — I know, very creative. This third film will be set in the 1900s, and concentrate on how the ‘Kingsmen’ fraternity of spies came to be. Judging by the newly dropped trailer, it may be a considerable improvement upon the last one, I’m sure returning director Vaughn was no doubt irked by the negative reviews “The Golden Circle” received....

If anything, “8:46” is more of an opportunity for Chappelle to vent his frustrations about George Floyd’s death. Chappelle titled this set, “8:46,” in reference to how long Floyd was suffocated and killed by cop Derek Chauvin. And that’s why Netflix released it for free worldwide on YouTube. “I don’t mean to get heavy, but we gotta say something!” Chappelle says at the start of his set. Noted. Comedy seems to be beside the point here....

Willem Dafoe’s performance as Van Gogh is exhilarating; pouring heart and soul into the role of a man so open to ache and despair that he can’t help but drive himself to passionately paint. At some point Van Gogh tells a friend that he paints because it’s the only way to “drain out the noise” the anxiety that would lead him to eventually cut off his own ear, something that Schnabel smartly avoids re-ennacting....