Any horror movie fan you speak to will tell you that the last decade has been incredible for the genre. And so, what’s the deal? Well firstly, everything that’s coming out seems to be directed by filmmakers that know their horror, cinephiles in fact. These are filmmakers that are allergic to clichés. The genre was in dire need of new blood, and we found it with new talented directors that seemed to be inspired by the works of John Carpenter, Stanley Kubrick, and David Cronenberg.
Read moreAng Lee's Action-Sci-Fi “Gemini Man" Will Be Shot 120 Frames Per Second
Ang Lee decided to shoot 2016’s failed “Billy’s Long Halftime Walk” at 120 frames per second in 3D and at 4K HD resolution, Lee termed it the "Whole Shebang". It was the very first feature film ever to be shot at such a high frame rate, which is five times the standard speed of 24 fps. If his groundbreaking use of 3D in "Life of Pi" was cause enough to have our expectations piqued for "Billy Lynn," the film ended up being a victim of its own technological breakthrough - in fact, it felt like a staged gimmick rather than a fully absorbing cinematic experience.
Read more‘Ash is Purest White’ Is Jia Zhang-ke’s Beautiful Feminist Take On The Gangster Film [Review]
At first glance, Jia Zhang-ke‘s “Ash is Purest White” feels like an immaculately perfect patchwork film, taking cues from his 2013 masterwork “A Touch of Sin” and his flawed, but brilliant, 2015 epic “Mountains May Depart,” as well as the docu-drama Chinese glimpse of “Still Life.” It’s odd, considering that Zhang-ke is not known for repetition — in fact, the only repetitiveness we keep seeing is the use of his wife and muse Zhao Tao in his movies. The director is famous for continuously trying to re-examine and reinvent the language of cinema with every movie.
Read moreJulianne Moore gives one of her best performances in “Gloria Bell" [Review]
Sebastian Lelio‘s "Gloria Bell" is a remake of the director's 2013 film "Gloria," except this time he moves the story from his native Chile to the U.S.
Read moreGaspar Noe's “Climax": Vibrant Dance Movie and Horrific Bad-Trip [Review]
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.
Read moreAsghar Farhadi's “Everybody Knows" is a Crushing Disappointment [Review]
Asghar Farhadi has built a career out of making masterful family dramas. With "About Elly," "A Separation," "The Past," and "The Salesman," the Iranian-born writer-director has put his name on the shortlist of world-class directors. I can count these rare and incisively talented filmmakers in less than two hands. So it pains me to be the bearer of bad news that the 46-year-old filmmaker's latest film, the Spanish-language drama "Everybody Knows," is not a bad movie, in fact it's half-decent, but that we've come to expect much more from him. Sometimes, expectations really do dictate how you feel about a film. This is the perfect example, as Farhadi's latest is a whodunit about a missing daughter and her mother, who painstakingly tries to put the clues together to find her.
Read more‘Glass’ is an Unfortunate Sequel to Better, More Intricate Films [Review]
I can't say I didn't enjoy some moments of M Night Shyamalan's "Glass," the writer-director's follow-up to the surprisingly revealed trilogy which began with 2000's "Unbreakable," then was reshuffled for triple-ordered purposes with 2017's "Split" and now "Glass."
Read moreMads Mikkelsen Can’t Save The Survivor Minimalism Of ‘Arctic’ [Cannes Review]
When a director decides to tackle a genre that has been dealt with many times before, comparisons to far superior films are inevitable. And so, a film like Joe Penna's "Arctic" will no doubt run the risk of being compared to its spiritual predecessors Danny Boyle's "127 Hours," J.C. Chandor's "All is Lost" and Joe Carnahan's "The Grey." That in itself already weakens it, but like all great art, if imitation can transcend or even equal its inspirations then all the better for it.
Read more‘Fyre’ builds on one cringe-inducing WTF moment after another [Review]
The term "clusterfuck" was invented for use when events such as the misbegotten Fyre Festival happen. Fyre was a music fest that was the brainchild of Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule. It was driven by a nifty marketing campaign which promoted musical nirvana on a a deserted island (once owned by Pablo Escobar) in the Bahamas. McFarland would overcharge thousands of music fans to what the ads deemed to be the “most exclusive music festival on the planet.”
Read more‘The Wild Pear Tree’: Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Latest [Review]
Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan already won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festivalback in 2014 with his talky epic "Winter Sleep," a shocking win if you ask me since that film is considered one of his weaker entries. Me? I'll always love "Once Upon A Time In Anatolia" a meditative but thoroughly gripping murder-mystery that very much feels like the more minimalist and, almost, equally brilliant counterpart to David Fincher's "Zodiac."
Read moreClint Eastwood is still a box-office draw at 88-years-old; “The Mule” has amassed a domestic total of $101.4 million
Warner Bros.’ “The Mule” has amassed a domestic total of $101.4 million against a budget of $50 million. Don't be surprised by that total, it's Clint Eastwood.
Read more‘Toy Story 3,’ and ‘Coco’ Director Lee Unkrich Exiting Pixar
I had initially heard about director Lee Unkrich when he was hired as director for "Toy Story 3." Little did I know that he had also worked behind the scenes as an editor on "Toy Story," and has had co-director credits on "Finding Nemo," "Toy Story 2," and "Monsters Inc." Anyway, "Toy Story 3" was his own creation and it was such a success that he then was tasked to helm "Coco“ which ended up making close $800 Million worldwide.
Read morePeter Farrelly’s Green Book Wins PGA; Back to Being Best Picture Front-runner.
Peter Farrelly's "Green Book" has won the Producers Guild of America award, all but sealing its fate as the Best Picture frontrunner for the upcoming 91st Academy Awards. Does that mean it's going to win the whole shebang? Of course not. But it does give us some kind of idea as to who should be favored come Oscar night, especially since this has been such an unpredictable awards season. At some point, during these last few months, more than 5 films have been touted as the frontrunner for the prize. I'm not kidding, "A Star is Born," "Black Panther," "Roma" and "BlackKklansman" have all had their turns. However, if you're an Oscar pundit, the PGA is the most legitimate precursor to adhere to, if you follow the odds of course.
Read moreLeslie Jones Compares Upcoming Ghostbusters Reboot to Donald Trump
Leslie Jones, who starred in director Paul Feig's all-female "Ghostbusters" reboot, is understandably irked about the upcoming Jason Reitman film, which is said to take place in a Ghostbusters-verse which pretends like Feig's film never existed. Jones went to twitter, where else, to voice her discontentment towards Reitman's upcoming film which is supposed to be released in 2020.
Read moreDario Argento claims Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Suspiria’ remake ‘betrayed’ his original version
Luca Guadagnino's remake of "Suspiria" failed to ignite both critics and audience's cinematic juices and now, the original director of the horror classic, Dario Argento, claims he's not too happy either with the remake.
Read moreRichard Linklater’s Latest Has Release Date Bumped Again, Now Set for August 9th Release
As much as I look forward to any film the great Richard Linklater releases, I couldn't help but notice that his name was completely absent from the trailer for his latest venture "Where’d You Go, Bernadette." Rather, the film was being marketed as an adaptation of a very popular mainstream novel.
Read more‘Dogman’ Trailer: Cannes Award Winner is One of the Year’s Best
“Dogman” turns out to be a kind of David vs. Goliath story. Described as an urban western, while the drama does possess traces of Eastwood’s early no-frills gut-punches, it’s also very much a B-movie soaked in horror and revenge. It finds director Mateo Garrone back in fine form and mostly, at the height of his game; the allure of his monstrous antagonistic character is undeniable and he earns extra credit for creating one of the most reprehensible movie villains in recent memory.
Read more“Christopher Robin" Banned in China, Possibly Due to Memes Comparing Leader Xi Jinping to Pooh Bear
In recent years, China's government has intensified its crackdown on any sharing of photos and memes related to Winnie the Pooh. Yes, Chinese social media platforms—among other things—are after the honey-loving bear. Why? Because of comparisons to the country’s President, Xi Jinping.
It was also earlier this month that HBO was banned by China after "John Oliver's Last Week Tonight" aired a segment joking about Pooh's resemblance to Xi. Oliver stated, “Apparently, Xi Jingping is very sensitive about his perceived resemblance to Winnie the Pooh.”
And so, with Pooh playing a significantly important role in today's new release "Christopher Robin," well, China had no choice but to ban the movie. We don’t know for sure if that was the exact reason, but I'd be shocked if it didn't play some part in the decision-making process. THR is hinting at that.
Does that mean the meme market has the power to control the movie market in China? This is only the second time this year, a Disney movie has been denied release in China.
Netflix Claims 80 Million Subscribers Watched “Bird Box”; They Have 139 Million Accounts.
Bear with me here.
Due to Netflix's persistent refusal to release its viewership numbers, a case could be made, and has been made, of the streaming giant skewing with their final tallies. They also have tendency to selectively highlight some of their successes. Take, for example, today's announcement that they have hit 139 million subscribers and that 80 million of them watched the Sandra Bullockhit "Bird Box."
Read moreLouis C.K: “If you ever need people to forget that you jerked off, what you do is you make a joke about kids that got shot.”
The Louis C.K. comedy tour keeps rolling on.
The comedian's latest set is, again, making headlines. According to a report given by The Daily Beast's Stacey Solie, C.K. was greeted by a standing ovation and performed a sold out stand-up show on January 16th in San Jose, California. During the 90-minute set, C.K. tackled the topics of masturbating in front people, the Parkland shooting, 9/11 and the mentally challenged.
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