EARLIER: It’s very hard to decipher the general reaction for “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.” Only five major media have weighed in: IndieWire and The Wrap rave, Variety and THR are positive but with reservations and Deadline pans it. The stop-motion film was directed by del Toro from a from the Mexican filmmaker and Patrick McHale. The film’s voice cast is staggering and includes Ewan McGregor, Cate Blanchett, John Turturro, Ron Perlman, Tim Blake Nelson, Christoph Waltz and Tilda Swinton....

A New York Times piece on Miyazaki reads like the launch of a campaign for the film. The article offers us a glimpse at what to expect: Though the 1937 novel goes unnamed in the article, it appears Miyazaki will adapt the novel “How Do You Live?” The book has long influenced Miyazaki, who cites it as his favorite childhood read. The actual content of the film could be anything — Suzuki has described it as “fantasy on a grand scale” — since Miyazaki doesn’t so much borrow stories as liberate them from their origins....

The Japanese filmmaker tweeted out an on-set photo, writing in caption: “One week left to shoot the new summer movie. I wonder.” Kore-eda returned to Cannes this year with “Broker,” which garnered mixed-to-positive reviews from critics. This was his first film at Cannes since his 2018 Palme d’Or winner “Shoplifters,” but it definitely wasn’t the breakout hit that film was. “Shoplifters” ended up grossing $3.3 million in the U.S, and $69....

The handicap that any biopic will have in telling a whole life’s worth in just 2 hours is understandable. Not to mention the possible restrictions that might come in going for a PG-13 rating. It happens all the time and director Bryan Singer’s film is no exception. However, a few things rather irked me about this film. Screenwriter Brian McCarten has quite clearly tried to change history for major dramatic effect, especially in the film’s final stretch where he posits bogus claims about the band breaking up, Mercury’s HIV diagnosis and the legendary “Live Aid” concert being surrounded by all that aforementioned drama....

According to an anonymous source, “Focus groups [have] shown that people [at test screenings] didn’t realize [“The Girl With the Spider’s Web”] was connected to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” Sony seems to think that Claire Foy‘s punk haircut and dragon tattoo were not enough to communicate to fans that the upcoming “The Girl in the Spider’s Web” is connected to the same popular book series that “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” stemmed from....

Speaking to THR, Cameron is basically saying there is no other director who can pull off what he has made with the “Avatar” movies as the technology is far too complicated for even the most talented of directors: “Obviously, I’m not going to be able to make ‘Avatar’ movies indefinitely, the amount of energy required […] I would have to train somebody how to do this because, I don’t care how smart you are as a director, you don’t know how to do this....

And so, here we have this latest Ferrell endeavor. Starring himself and John C. Reilly, “Holmes and Watson” is a comedic take on the famed detective duo. The below trailer paints a rather infantile proposition for the viewer, but it does carry the luxury of having Reilly and Ferrel’s usually killer chemistry once again on the screen. The jokes in the trailer aren’t that funny, however, you’d think that maybe, just maybe, they’re saving the good stuff for the actual movie....

On the evening of January 29th, Smollett, who is black and openly gay, told the Chicago Police Department that he was attacked by two men while he was walking home to his apartment. He alleged that the men shouted racial and homophobic slurs at him, adding the line “this is MAGA country,” poured an “unknown chemical substance” on him before putting a noose around his neck and exiting the scene of the alleged crime....

A perplexing mix of magical surrealism and grindhouse, “Bacurau” caught me off-guard in its first 20 minutes, but then transported me into a cinematic adventure Iike no other. It’s a thriller, but one filled with indelible artistry and breathtaking cinematic luxury. Concluding paragraph of my 5.16.19 Cannes review: “We are indeed hooked by what is transpiring, very much in the same way that, say, one would be by grindhouse fare such as “I Spit in Your Grave” and “Hostel....

The Film Stage is reporting that May has cast Johnson, who was recently seen in “The Peanut Butter Falcon” and “Wounds,” for “Crackpot.” We don’t know much else about the project, including plot details and what the rest of the cast may look like, but this is very exciting news for those of us that love May’s unique brand of cinema. Despite having only directed four narrative films – 1971’s “A New Leaf”, 1972’s “The Heartbreak Kid”, 1976’s “Mikey and Nicky”, and 1987’s “Ishtar” – May is a total legend of maverick ‘70s American movies....

The English actor, who earned five Oscar nominations throughout his career, died at the age 82. [Associated Press]. His family’s statement read that he “passed away peacefully after a short illness with those closest to him by his side.” Finney was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2007. He will be known, at least in my neck of the woods, as the the “king” of Britain’s “kitchen sink” movement, which was this series of British films about blue-collar characters in the 60s....

The only fair bit of news that is worth reporting from that Screen Daily article is the fact Leos Carax’s long-awaited musical-romance “Annette,” co-starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard as a stand-up comedian and his opera singer wife, was not going to be ready in time for a Cannes debut, even prior to the pandemic. Everything else seems to have been a go with the likes of Wes Anderson, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Paul Verhoeven, Nanni Moretti, Nadav Lapid, Francois Ozon, Edgar Wright and Mia Hansen-Løve making the cut....

Classic hits station WAKY-FM will be playing “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” on a continuous repeating loop beginning Sunday morning, said Chris Randolph, one of the station’s disc jockeys. Meanwhile, WAKY, on 103.5 and 100.1 FM, will also be playing different versions of the song over and over for several hours on Sunday. Randolph put out this statement: “Everyone just seems so sensitive to the lyrics of the song, and we just thought everybody should calm down,” Randolph said....

An excerpt from Person #1: Person #2: I read the book. It’s fantastic. I’d love for Scorsese to give it the same meditative treatment he gave “Silence,” and “The Irishman.” I feel as though the Scorsese of ‘Wolf,’ ‘Goodfellas,’ and ‘Casino’ is far behind us now. Also, “Killers of the Flower Moon” being screened is a good indicator that this will be a 2022 film. We recently reported that Apple/Paramount are eyeing a December release for the film....

The film had its world premiere at the San Sebastien Film Festival back in late September. I can’t find a single positive review online — RT has only counted two of them, both negative. Open Road Films had acquired the North American rights to Jordan’s noir crime thriller which stars Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, Jessica Lange, Danny Huston, and Alan Cumming. Principal photography for “Marlowe” took place for two months, starting in November 2021 and ending in January 2022....

What does this mean? It means Netflix titles such as Scorsese’s “The Irishman,” Steven Soderbergh’s “The Laundromat,” David Michod’s “The King,” the Safdie brothers’ “Uncut Gems”, and an untitled Noah Baumbach film will not debut at Cannes and will most likely wait until fall film festival season. For shame. Variety reports “The Irishman” is, quite simply, not ready for a May premiere. That fact that Scorsese is using the same VFX technology as the one used in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is slowing down the post-production process ....

“I think the more fundamental thing is that they’re [Netflix] the people who are stepping up and spending money on movies that aren’t Marvel comic movies or big action franchise movies and that type of thing, which is pretty much the business of the studios now. We can’t argue with that.” As you know, there has been much discussion about Netflix and its role in promoting, or for some deluding, cinema....

Of course, there are plenty of other noteworthy selections again this year, as the NYFF, in conjunction with the Lincoln Center, have announced their full slate of 30+ films for this year’s edition. Only five of the 29 films selected are in English. Despite a total of nine titles helming from this past May’s Cannes Film Festival, Terrence Malick’s “A Hidden Life” Ken Loach’s “Sorry We Missed You,” Ladj Ly’s “Les Miserables,” Elia Suleiman’s “It Must Be Heaven” and Jessica Hausner’s “Little Joe” did not make the final cut....

Fact of the matter is that Gray’s movies don’t make money, like, practically no money. It is a foregone conclusion that whatever he releases will fall through the cracks at the box-office. It’s what happened this past month with “Armageddon Time” and, yet, Gray still manages to find funding for his next film. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved some of Gray’s films over the years, especially “Two Lovers,” “The Lost City of Z,” “We Own the Night,” and, even, “Armageddon Time,” but not like the French have....

It was the boomerang needed to kickstart a social media frenzy that, uh-oh, the critically-acclaimed teen comedy might be in trouble at the box-office. Soon after, a slew of Hollywood A-listers like Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Swift, and Natalie Portman urged people to go watch “Booksmart.” All in an effort to save the low-budge indie film and support inclusivity at the movies. It all got to be such a controversy, that feminist author Roxanne Gay had to tell social media hounds to calm the F down with their almost forceful pressure demanding audiences go watch the movie: “I’ve seen more than a few tweets basically pressuring people to see Booksmart or else more movies like it won’t get made,” tweeted Gay....