And so, with all that laid out as an intro, take a deep breath and realize that 2021 will likely be the same kind of ordeal, movie-wise, as last year’s shitshow. We’re all going to have to rely on streaming platforms and VOD and that’s fine because we had an innumerable amount of great movies released during the pandemic last year. Digital editions of film festivals (Toronto, Sundance, SXSW, New York) helped as well, turning into launch pads for a number of great films, but not the Cannes Film Festival....

“There’s a whole audience that needs to learn more about Anton,” editor and first-time director Garret Price told Entertainment Weekly today. “I met with Viktor and Irina (Anton’s parents), and they started telling me stories about Anton, and I was hooked from day one. I knew the story needed to be told.” Like Crazy director, Drake Doremus: “He was one of my favorite people I ever met in my life,” adding, “I loved him so much, and we had such a special, life-changing experience together, so obviously I really wanted to be a part of the film and really wanted to help bring this movie to life....

Whereas this past year’s most awarded film, Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma,” had to settle with only winning Best Foreign-Language Film, Best Director, and Best Cinematography Sad face emoji, Best Actress went to “The Favourite” star Olivia Colman, Best Actor to Ethan Hawke of “First Reformed,” “If Beale Street Could Talk’s” Regina King won Supporting Actress, and Supporting Actor went to Steven Yeun of “Burning.” Best Foreign Language Film: “Roma”. Runners-Up: “Cold War,” “Burning,” “Shoplifters”....

I know, I’m in the minority when it comes to my belief that “Nomadland” is an unexceptional film. Alas, time will not be kind to Zhao’s opus, it’s just a very well-timed film for the current virtue-signaling zeitgeist. it also helps that it was released in a year where most of the great movies got delayed to 2021 or until theatres fully re-open. Not “Nomadland,” it made sure to jump on the opportunity and take advantage of the skimp amount of quality films....

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Sandler states that this mysterious Safdie film will be shooting in “late winter” 2023, which probably means a 2024 or late 2023 release: Sandler collaborated with Benny and Josh Safdie for A24’s brilliant “Uncut Gems” in 2019. This was another essential addition to the Safdies canon after “Heaven Knows What,” and “Good Time.” This latest one will surely be worth the wait. As mentioned a few days ago, this latest Safdies joint will not be produced by A24, with Netflix potentially eyeing the project....

Despite polarizing reviews, Julia Ducournau’s “Titane,” this year’s Palme d’Or winner, managed to snag second place with close to half the participants listing it. It’s a testament to not just the immense power that comes with winning the top prize at Cannes, but the ubiquitous journey of this highly original body-horror classic-in-the-making. Two 2021 Oscar-nominees made the top 10: “Judas and the Black Messiah,” and “The Father,” both released during the first few weeks of 2021, but eligible for this past April’s Oscars....

Is Pennebaker the godfather of the cinema vérité movement? Well, he surely is one of them. How else would you describe the man who is responsible for “Bob Dylan: Don’t Look Back,” which feels as stunningly intimate today as it probably did 50 years ago. It’s the closest that anyone’s ever come in the capturing the hysteric fervor of Dylan back in 1966, a year that would not only change music but the whole country as well....

Gary Oldman is set to play the legendary screenwriter. On a recent appearance in the Pardon My Take podcast, “Mank” screenwriter Eric Roth confirmed that Fincher’s film will be released in October, adding that the director has “made a black and white ‘30s movie, it’s really incredible to see what he’s done.” Roth is referring to the film being shot entirely in black and white. “Mank” will tackle the Welles-vs-Mankiewicz feud, which has been a controversial point of contention for the last 60 years, especially after the publication of Pauline Kael’s much-disputed 1971 essay, which claimed that the mastermind behind the ‘Kane’ screenplay was solely Mankiewicz and not Wells....

Recent Oscar nominee Margot Robbie was the first to be announced, followed by Christian Bale. Unlike Robbie, this will not be Bale’s first time working with O. Russell, after the actor won the supporting actor Oscar for his work in “The Fighter”, and also received acclaim for his performance in “American Hustle”. The final announcement yesterday for the story, believed to revolve around the unlikely partnership of a doctor and a lawyer, is the supremely talented Michael B Jordan, who was last seen and praised for his work in Destin Daniel Cretton’s courtroom drama “Just Mercy”....

With that being said, we are expecting an inevitable sequel to “Dune” (that is, if it isn’t a box-office-bomb), but, in a recent interview, Villeneuve hinted that he might first tackle the Queen of Egypt: Cleopatra. Speaking to Montreal outlet TVA, Villeneuve has confirmed that “Cleopatra” is very much on the way: There has already been a famous Cleopatra movie released. That one starred Elizabeth Taylor and received mixed reviews in 1963....

Francois Truffaut on Michelangelo Antonioni: “Antonioni is the only important director I have nothing good to say about. He bores me; he’s so solemn and humorless.” Ingmar Bergman on Michelangelo Antonioni: “Fellini, Kurosawa, and Bunuel move in the same field as Tarkovsky. Antonioni was on his way, but expired, suffocated by his own seriousness. He’s done two masterpieces, you don’t have to bother with the rest. One is Blow-Up (1966), which I’ve seen many times, and the other is La Notte (1961), also a wonderful film, although that’s mostly because of the young Jeanne Moreau....

“This is all well and good, and some fine work has come out of it, but I wouldn’t call his choices adventurous either: huge studio prestige productions with established male directors,” Lodge wrote. “He hasn’t acted in a film with a female director since 1995, which I don’t think is an insignificant fact… I like that he’s choosy, and resistant to franchise fodder: he’s played his career well. But at this level of stardom, he has the clout to get riskier ideas (and talents) off the ground....

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) Guy Ritchie has become a household name in Hollywood thanks to his unique take on even the most familiar stories. While some of his movies are pretty controversial - his take on the Arthurian legends in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword was frowned upon by many - his older works became instant cult classics. 1998’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, his feature film debut, is no exception....

Throughout its ambitious 134-minute runtime, you can sense the faux self-satisfaction oozing from Gerwig and her on-screen performers. This is not a movie that will convert people to read Alcott’s novel, nor will it convert detractors of the “American heritage cinema” genre. Rather, Gerwig’s film is likely to die a slow and meandering death with movie audiences, despite the critical acclaim it is currently getting. It doesn’t help that Gerwig, and admirably so, decided to shake up Alcott’s dry novel by telling her story in non-linear flashback mode....

Yesterday, Scorsese was the subject of a highly controversial new essay in The Critic, which claims that director is overpraised and, quite frankly, not that talented. Writer Sean Egan put it this way: “Scorsese has lazily settled on Mafia-Picture Director as a main calling” going on to describe Scorsese as an “uneven talent.” The article has no doubt caused predictable controversy around the film community, but it severely triggered Guillermo del Toro who took to Twitter on Friday to criticize the essay and defend Scorsese’s cinema....

The February 24th verdict found him guilty of sexually assaulting Miriam Haley at his Soho apartment in July of 2006, while the third-degree rape charge involved the assault of actress Jessica Mann at a hotel in New York back in March of 2003. Weinstein has been sent to Rikers Island prison. Variety reports that during the sentencing, Weinstein expressed “deep remorse” to the courtroom; he also “pushed back at the #MeToo movement, implying that it had gone too far....

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“Armageddon Time” brings Gray back to New York. If you remember, his first 5 movies ( “Little Odessa,” “The Yards,” “We Own the Night,” “Two Lovers,” and “The Immigrant”) were all set in the Big Apple. A reader of this site saw Gray’s Cannes-bound “Armageddon Time,” and gave me his impressions. Not good, he says. Overall, the responses have been pretty mixed. According to the person I spoke to the film runs somewhere between 115 or 120 minutes....

“It’s a terrible shame,” Law told The New York Times about “A Rainy Day in New York” not being released in theaters. “I’d love to see it. People worked really hard and put a lot in, obviously himself included." Contribute Hire me Advertise Donate Team Contact Privacy Policy

I had a sneaking suspicion Palmer might have been the one who submitted the “complaint” to Searchlight and today those suspicions have only been enhanced. I’m not sure how anyone missed this Monday rant from Palmer, but she had posted on Instagram what could basically amount to criticizing Murray’s “unprofessional behaviour”: Whew. Where to start? Maybe we just shouldn’t. Again, why would Fox Searchlight stop a marquee production with an 8-figure budget over a “complaint”?...