Don’t be too taken aback by Dom Nero‘s “It’s Time To Redeem Prometheus,” which appeared in the 9.1 edition of Esquire. He calls it a “masterpiece.” He’s closer to the truth than you think. Give the film another look if you don’t believe me.
Read moreSteve McQueen: ‘Ozark' is a ‘Breaking Bad' rip-off; Says Cinema is Superior to Television.
It is thrilling to see all these great directors make the switch from movies to TV. Legendary filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, David Fincher, Woody Allen, Steven Soderbergh, Spike Lee, Todd Haynes, Joel Coen and Ridley Scott are all giving us their own serialized statements on the small-screen, hell, even this past year Steve McQueen made the jump to streaming with his powerful “Small Axe” anthology.
Read moreJoel Coen: Movies Have Beginning/Middle/End; TV Shows Have Beginning, Middle & Then Are Beaten to Death
The 2010s: A Decade When Comedy Lost Its Mojo
Starting in 2003, with the release of “Old School” then “Anchorman,” a comedy renaissance started with the boom of the Will Ferrell/Judd Apatow/Seth Rogen era (“The 40 Year Old Virgin,” “Superbad,” “Step Brothers” and “Walk Hard.”) Then, the immense success of 2009’s “The Hangover” and 2011’s “Bridesmaids,” which led us to where we are now, which, while despite a few great chucklers having been released, most of the recent comedy releases this past decade have been safe “star-based” movies (think Kevin Hart or Melissa McCarthy).
Read moreMartin Scorsese's ‘The Irishman' Scheduled For November 1st Theatrical Release and November 27th Streaming Debut on Netflix
Casey Affleck: ‘It Scares Me’ to Talk About #MeToo Movement'
An Oscar smear-campaign against “Manchester by the Sea” nominee Casey Affleck turned an actor’s Oscar-buzz into a 3 year bout to try and save his good name.
Read more‘Love, Antosha' is An Immensely Personal Doc Tribute to Anton Yelchin [Review]
Anton Yelchin was only blossoming as a young actor when he tragically died of a freak accident back in June of 2016. As a performer, it’s so easy talking about his talents, because he was unequivocally brilliant and intensely into his art. It has to be said, but his career was mostly filled with supporting turns, and some lead roles, but he always found a way to steal the show. The last time we saw Yelchin on-screen, he stole scenes from the highly talented Anya Taylor-Jones and Olivia Cooke in “Thoroughbreds,” a pitch-black crime drama in which his drug-dealing smack-talker turned out to be the moral compass of the film. That was the beauty of Anton, he always loved to choose bizarre characters and fully flesh them out to make them feel humane.
Read more‘It: Chapter Two’ Trailer: Chastain!
Director Andy Muschietti's horror remake of Stephen King's clown movie “It” was a box-office smash in 2017. It even surpassed "The Exorcist" at the top spot to become the highest-grossing horror movie in box-office history, nabbing more than $327M domestically at the box-office.
Read moreTIFF Imposing Stricter Rules to Nab World Premieres
There have been whispers about TIFF trying to one-up its impressive lineup of world premieres last year. For the last decade or so its had to give up its glory days of the ‘90s and 00’s to competitive fests such as Venice and Telluride. However, last year there seemed to be a resurgence of World Premieres at the fest. Toronto’s WP slate was the most impressive its been in over a decade: Green Book, Widows, If Beale Street Could Talk and High Life (just to name a few) all premiered at the fest, bypassing Venice and Telluride.
Read moreIndieWire Critic Bashes ‘Forrest Gump' Because It “Preaches Conservatism"
Forrest Gump made $708M adjusted back in 1994; Never would a movie like that be able to make that much money today. Nope, a movie like Forrest Gump wouldn't even make 1/4 of that today. Disney has monopolized movie culture and tastes at the box-office. Simple as that. There is no room for original drama.
Read more2019 Box-Office Revenue Down 10 Percent; Original Hits Are Nearly Extinct.
Just a few weeks ago, Bloomberg's Anousha Sakoui wrote an alerting piece on the Hollywood’s disappointing summer at the Box-Office. Sakoui opened the piece by stating "more than a month into the summer movie season, one thing has become clear: Many of Hollywood’s sequels, reboots and reimaginings are falling flat."
Read moreSpike Lee's ‘Do The Right Thing' Is 30
"My people, my people, what can I say, say what I can. I saw it but didn't believe it, I didn't believe what I saw. Are we gonna live together, together are we gonna live?" — Mister Señor Love Daddy, “Do the Right Thing”
Read morePaul Schrader Attacks Brian De Palma's Artistry: “Brian Is Trite, Brian Is Artistically Weak”
Paul Schrader’s Facebook page is a delirious must-follow for any cinephile out there. The legendary writer-director has a, more or less, “fuck it” attitude towards everything. This could sometimes be a dangerous balancing act, especially when it comes to today’s P.C. attitudes online — I mean, at some point last year, during A24’s “First Reformed” awards campaigning, he was put in “Facebook jail,” as he put it, by the indie studio because of his all-too-honest approach on social media.
Read moreFantasia Film Festival’s Full 2019 Lineup Includes ‘Ready or Not' World Premiere
The 2019 Fantasia Film Festival will be happening in just a few weeks from now (more precisely July 11th), I will be there for full coverage of the event in Montreal, Canada.
Read moreJohn Cooper To Step Down as Sundance Head in 2020
I had heard more than a few months ago that John Cooper was going to step down as head director of the Sundance Film Festival. It was, however, only officially announced today that, after just 10 years on the job, Cooper will move into a newly-created “emeritus director” role after the 2020 edition of the festival next January.
Read moreTerrence Malick's ‘A Hidden Life’ Set For Oscar-Ready December 13th Release
When Fox Searchlight nabbed the rights to distribute Terrence Malick's "A Hidden Life" for $13 Million, eyebrows were raised. It is a film so perplexing that even at the "high-brow" Cannes Film Festival there were hundreds of walkouts, you figured they’s go for Oscar. All this, despite the mixed reviews.. The film itself is problematic — you can read my review of it here.
Read moreIs Todd Phillips' ‘Joker' Premiering at Venice?
Another day, another Venice Film Festival preview. This time Deadline tries to tackle the upcoming festival, set to take place from August 28th to September 9th. And yet, most of the stuff they tackle is Hollywood-centric, no mention of Reichardt, Zhao, Zeitlin, Kore-eda or the Safdies. Hell, they don’t even want to mention Woody Allen’s “Rainy Day in New York,” even though I have it under good authority that it is definitely premiering on the Lido.
Read moreMartin Scorsese's ‘The Irishman' Skipping Fall Festivals
“The Irishman” producer Irwin Winkler is now saying that Martin Scorsese’s highly anticipated mob drama, starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci and Anna Paquin, will be released on Netflix this Thanksgiving.
Read moreClint Eastwood Will Produce/Direct Next Film In Georgia Despite Hollywood Abortion Bill Boycott
It doesn’t look like the Hollywood boycott of Georgia will have any effect on Clint Eastwood’s next movie.
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