It’s been a long time since making traditional or even vaguely conventional “movies” has interested legendary French New-Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard. If anything, the director’s movies over the last 20 or so years have been experiential audio/visual collages more interested in pictures, sounds, cuts, and de-saturation, a maddening barrage of dadaist statements. Even with all that being said, his latest, “The Image Book,” playing in competition at Cannes, should be considered as radical a Godard-ian statement as any.
Read moreFirst Look at Disney’s ‘Aladdin’ and Will Smith As The Genie
Robin Williams' take on the Genie in 1992's "Aladdin" is a legendary voice performance. So full of the rich humor and sardonic wit we came to expect from the late great Williams. We all knew it was going to be a frustrating process to find someone to play that role in the live-action Disney remake. However, Will Smith? Really? That’s the best you could come up with to replace what is the best voice acting performance in Disney animated history? I’m all open for Smith to wow me, but I would have probably gone with Eddie Murphy instead. This is a safe, cozy project for Director Guy Ritchie, the filmmaker behind the Tarantino-inspired films of the late ‘90s/early aughts, “Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch."
Read moreWilliam Shatner: #MeToo Hysterical, Like French Revolution; Says He Can’t Tell a Woman She Has “Great legs” Anymore...
Last week Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner, defended the Christmas song 'Baby It's Cold Outside' on Twitter after a radio station in his native Canada took it off the air. The actor tweeted that he enjoyed "the kick of getting somebody upset about something and playing with them verbally."
Read morePenny Marshall Passes Away; Trailblazing Female Director of “Big,” “Awakenings,” and “A League of Their Own” Was 75.
Bronx-born director and actress Penny Marshall has died at age 75.
According to TMZ, Marshall passed away in her Hollywood home on Monday night due to complications from diabetes. She had been battling various health issues over the years, including a 2009 bout with lung cancer which spread to her brain.
Read moreOscars 2019: Foreign-Language Feature Shortlist Includes ‘Roma,’ ‘Shoplifters‘ ‘Burning,’ ‘Cold War’ and More
I approve 8 of the 9 shortlisted film's vying for the foreign film Oscar. I don't particularly like the German entry, but the rest are well-deserved:
Pawel Pawlikowski‘s "Cold War" (Poland), Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra‘s "Birds of Passage" (Columbia), Gustav Moller‘s "The Guilty" (Denmark), Florian_Henckel von Donnersmarck "Never Look Away" (Germany), Hirokazu Kore-eda‘s "Shoplifters" (Japan), Nadine Labaki‘s "Capernaum" (Lebanon), Alfonso Cuaron‘s "Roma" (Mexico), Sergey Dvortsevoy‘s "Ayka" (Kazakhstan) and Lee Chang-dong‘s "Burning" (South Korea).
Read moreOscars: ‘Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,’ ‘RBG,’ ‘Three Identical Strangers’ and Others Make Doc Shortlist
The shortlist for the Best Documentary Oscar has been revealed, there are 15 movies remaining and vying for the final five spots. The biggest snub is Michael Moore‘s “Fahrenheit 11/9” which clearly irked people on both the right and left end of the political spectrum. Moore's film left no person unscathed as it not only condemned Donald Trump's "erratic" behavior, but scolded the D.C. establishment composed of Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama. Other films that are missing on this shortlist: Morgan Nevile‘s Orson Welles documentary for Netflix, “They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead,” Rashida Jones' “Quincy,” Robert Greene's “Bisbee ’17,” and “Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes” by Alexis Bloom. However, all in all, it seems as though the usual suspects have been kept for the final dance.
Read more“Where’d You Go, Bernadette” Trailer: Cate Blanchett Stars In Director Richard Linklater’s Latest Film
Don Shirley’s Family Says “Green Book” is a “Symphony of Lies,” and That He Was Never Friends With Tony
I've been covering the dark cloud of controversy that's been looming over Peter Farrelly’s “Green Book,” a film that, in all likelihood, will be nominated for Best Picture, and all this despite Viggo Mortensen uttering the N-word last month at a Q&A, and despite accusations implying that it goes against the current grain of progressive thought, with the term "white savior" having been uttered more than a few times by film journalists.
Read moreWoody Allen’s Former Teenage Girlfriend Defends Their ‘70s Relationship; He Was 41, She Was 17.
THR's Gary Baum posted an interview-profile about former Woody Allen girlfriend Christina Engelhardt, but more importantly her eight-year relationship with the director, which inspired him to write "Manhattan." Their affair started in 1976 and ended 8 years later in 1984. It was, by all accounts, a very sexual relationship which happened when she was 17 and he was 41. Eventually, Engelhardt would begin partaking in threesomes with Woody and Mia Farrow in the ’80. Baum writes about the menage-a-trois', “Despite the initial shock of jealousy, Engelhardt says she grew to like Farrow over the course of the ‘handful’ of three-way sex sessions that followed at Allen’s penthouse as they smoked joints and bonded over a shared fondness for animals.”
Read moreOscar Watch: “Green Book” Starting to Pick Up Steam at the Box-Office
In its fifth week of release Peter Farelly's "Green Book" is starting to have major legs at the Box-Office. It accumulated an additional $2,780,000 in 1,215 theaters (+34) this weekend for a Cumulative gross of $24,660,000, not too shabby for a film that has been shunned as being "racist" and a "white savior" flick. That it is not. The crowd-pleaser, and that the film surely is, has remained in the top ten since its release back in November. Expect another bump come Christmas, with a plan by the studio to expand it to as many theaters as possible in mid-January once Oscar nominations are announced.
Clint Eastwood’s ‘The Mule’ Surprises With $17M opening; 88-Year-Old Actor Now a Best Actor Contender
Clint Eastwood's "The Mule" had a 3-day box-office debut of $17.2M. This would rank as the writer-director-actor's third best opening ever (right behind 2000’s "Space Cowboys" ($18M) and 2008's "Gran Torino" ($29.4M). The film seems to also be loved by audiences who gave it an A- on CinemaScore and 4 stars on PostTrak. Audience reaction is much more impressive than its 62% RT fresh score, which no doubt has been bolstered by Eastwood's staunch Conservative stance these last few years.
Read moreCinema attendance is highest since 1970 in the UK
More people went to movie theaters in 2018 in the UK than at any time since 1970.
Phil Clapp, chief executive of the UK Cinema Association, claims that close to 176 million admissions were sold in 2018 - the highest number since 1970, "there has been a really strong film slate with a diversity of films performing well," Mr Clapp told Sky News. “Probably one of the reasons why admissions have been higher than they have been is because we’ve been pulling in audiences from a broad range of places.”
Read moreChild’s Play creator Don Mancini isn’t happy about the upcoming remake, says MGM is screwing with his livelihood
Don Mancini wrote all seven Child’s Play films as well as having directed the last three instalments – And yet, MGM decided to not have him be involved in the upcoming remake, set for release next year. During an interview on the Post Mortem podcast, Mancini showed his distaste for the remake and it sounds like he is downright pissed off about it:
Read moreHBO Presents ‘Brexit’ The Movie Starring Benedict Cumberbatch #NotTheOnion
Dominic Cummings is known as the architect of Brexit. So it's then no surprise that a film would be made about his initiative to separate the U.K. from the EU. I presume the film will also have Nigel Farage, for me the face of Brexit. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Cummings in "Brexit," a co-production between HBO and UK’s Channel 4. A look at the just-released trailer and the feeling of an SNL-skit quickly sneaks up on you, not a good thing, but I'll give the film the benefit of the doubt, let's see how this turns out.
Read moreSarah Silverman: Saying “Gay” in a Joke Is Like Saying “Colored People”
Actress-comedian Sarah Silverman compared making gay jokes to describing a black person as “colored.” “I think I can find other ways to be funny. I mean, I used to say ‘gay’ all the time…’Oh, that’s so gay.’ Were from Boston, we’d go, ‘That’s what we say in Boston. I have gay friends. I just say gay,'” Sarah Silverman told TMZ. “And then I heard myself and I realized I was like the guy who said ‘What? I say colored…I have colored friends.’ And I realized it was stupid and I’m certainly creative enough to think of other words besides that, that don’t hurt people. But I fuck up all the time.”
Read moreJennifer Lawrence Slams Harvey Weinstein’s Recent Claims That They Had Sex
We've become so numb to women accusing Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault that when the disgraced ex-Miramax mogul was hit with a new lawsuit on Friday, nobody seemed to care or report it. Yet another actress claims that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her, including repeatedly masturbating in front of her, and threatening to ruin her career if she denied his advances.
Read moreLouisville radio station to play “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” on repeat, for multiple hours, in protest of attempted ban
With a growing number of radio stations wanting to ax the playing of the Christmas tune "Baby, It's Cold Outside," some Louisville radio stations are fighting back by, you guessed it, playing it, not just from time-to-time, but REPEATEDLY, on a never-ending loop.
Read moreCBS Paid Eliza Dushku $9.5 Million Settlement After Offensive Comments Were Made By Her Co-Star
Actress Eliza Dushku believes she was written off the CBS series "Bull" because she complained about inappropriate on-set comments made by her co-star Michael Weatherly. It all culminated in a secret confidential settlement that was reached between CBS and Dushku. The actress made $9.5 million out of the ordeal. The details claim that on-set sexual comments by Weatherly made her uncomfortable when she was beginning a run as a recurring character back in March of 2017.
Read moreJason Momoa 100% Confident that Henry Cavill Will Come Back as Superman in DCEU
Jason Momoa believes that Henry Cavill will be by his side at the DCEU for years to come. This is in sharp contrast to what the "Aquaman" star had said in an earlier interview where he stated that he didn’t know what was happening with Cavill in the role of Superman, as rumors hinted that the latter may just retire from the role.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Momoa is now confident that Cavill would not be leaving the DCEU. When asked if Cavill was done with the role, Momoa said, “He’s absolutely not.” He continued, “He loves the character and he’s not [leaving]. 100%.”
“Aquaman” hits theaters on December 21.
The next original feature from Pixar Animation Studios, “Onward,” will arrive in theaters March 6, 2020
Director Dan Scanlon ("Monsters Uninversity") and producer Kori Rae will helm "Onward" the next project over at Pixar due to be released on March 6th, 2020. The film “centers on two teen elf brothers who go on a quest to discover if there is still magic left in the world.” He went on to add that “at Pixar we try to create stories that come from some kind of personal truth,” said Scanlon, “This film was inspired by my own relationship with my brother.”
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