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“1917” is also one of four major Oscar contenders left to be screened this year, alongside “The Irishman,” “Bombshell” and “Little Women.” (I’m sorry, I just can’t count “Cats,” the trailer was ridiculed to no ends and even went viral online for all the wrong reasons). Regardless, “1917” was test-screened tonight to positive reaction. In fact, an instantaneous, multiple minute applause greeted the end of the film at Wednesday night’s screening....

I had hoped that Terrence Malick‘s “A Hidden Life” would finally be the movie to bring the auteur back into tip-top shape, after a trio of bad movies (“To the Wonder,” “Knight of Cups,” “Song to Song”), however, alas, that is not the case. The story of Franz Jagerstatter (August Diehl), the Austrian farmer who refused to fight for the Germans during World War II, is a fascinating one, but Malick decides to self-indulge yet again....

This rural-America-set zombie statement has shades of George A Romero; hell, the Zombie godfather is even mentioned a few times in the script. The film also has Jarmusch’s usual dry, droll and deadpan-infused humor as an added bonus. The result is uneven, at best, and crushingly disappointing, at worst. The self-aware cool that Jarmusch brought to many of his best movies feels rather unearned here, as Bill Murray, Adam Driver and Chloë Sevigny play cops in the fictional US town of Centerville....

However, somehow this highly-rated and most beloved season of TV also remains (in some corners) still under-seen. “Time is a flat circle”. The iconic line delivered by Matthew McConaughey’s Rust Cohle as he carved apart beer cans while retracing his steps in the unsolved Dora Lange murder of 1995, some 17 years later. The use of time in itself is probably what this 8-hour spectacle was praised for the most upon release....

In the Netflix film, “6 Balloons,” they are dead serious in their roles. It takes some getting used to but they do sneak up on you. Netflix has the official synopsis: “Over the course of one night, a woman drives across LA with her heroin addict brother in search of a detox center, with his two year old daughter in tow.” The film marks the directorial debut of Marja-Lewis Ryan, who also wrote the script....

The estimate is now at $350-$400 million in production costs. This is not counting the onslaught of advertisement/marketing that will back James Cameron’s 192 minute epic. This would beat previous record holders “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” and “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” With that being said, I’m trying to wrap my head around Cameron saying that to “break even” his sequel would have to be the fourth highest grossing film of all-time....

“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm““Judas and the Black Messiah” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” “Mank” “Minari” “Nomadland”“One Night In Miami” “Promising Young Woman” “Sound Of Metal” “The Trial of the Chicago 7” Of course, one or two of these movies will have to be sidelined when Oscar nominations are announced on January 13th. There are usually 7-9 spots reserved for the Best Picture category, depending on aggregates and percentages in voting, so, if I were a betting man, I would scratch off “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” which was the big shocker nominee....

Reznor/Ross have been one of the most sought-out film composers of the last decade, having created the scores for “The Social Network”, “Gone Girl”, Pixar’s “Soul.” They are also scoring another upcoming fall title, Luca Guadagnino’s “Bones and All.” “Empire of Light” has Olivia Colman playing a lonely theatre manager, who runs the Empire theatre, suffering from schizophrenia. Colin Firth cameos as the owner of the theatre who takes advantage of Colman’s character sexually and emotionally....

Most intriguing of all, “Good Luck to you, Leo Grande” for which HULU somehow convinced the Academy to wave its non-streaming rules and make eligible for Oscars consideration. Again, the film did NOT open in US theaters. What was the point of the Oscars changing the rules if they can just let this one slide? Regardless, the Academy took the bait. Searchlight actually found a way to get Emma Thompson back in contention....

This is the biggest deal out of the TIFF lineup this year and it’s not even close. It’s been a very weak batch of films this year in Toronto. ‘Pipeline’ will probably be the biggest acquisition. I was a major fan Goldhaber’s “Cam,” but he delivered again with this eco-thriller which follows a crew of young environmental activists who execute a daring mission to sabotage an oil pipeline. It’s a heist movie that features the best editing of any film I’ve seen at TIFF....

With that being said, the amount of negative mail I got from posting “The Many Saints of Newark’ to be Turned Into An HBO Series” on 10.03.21 was rather confounding. I stuck by the story, the source was very real and today we have HBO basically implying what I had reported weeks ago. WarnerMedia executive Ann Sarnoff spoke to Deadline, revealing that the studio is currently in discussions with Chase about continuing the ‘Sopranos’ story in a new series for HBO Max....

A re-evaluation of Ari Aster’s “Midsommar” was high on my list of writing priorities as I finally watched the 3-hour director’s cut — a fuller, more depth-filled and coherent version than the theatrically released one. Director Aster, adding 30 minutes to the original cut, has claimed that “Midsommar” is his “breakup movie.” After all, the screenplay was written when the director, as he acknowledged at the New York premiere I attended back in the summer, was going through a rough patch in a long-term relationship....

Jones is Laura, a stalled writer, tired mother, and unloved wife, whose husband, Dean (Marlon Wayans), seems to always be on business travels, as he manages his tech startup. Laura’s sleepwalking through life gets a burst of sudden energy when her womanizing father, Felix (Bill Murray), comes knocking at the door and starts filling her head with paranoid thoughts that her husband may be cheating on her with his assistant Fiona (Jessica Henwick)....

Despite retreading the familiar time-loop trope, this is an incredibly entertaining movie — probably the funniest movie you will see this year. A summer release is perfect for “Palm Springs”, which follows a man and woman forced to continuously relive a day in their life at a friend’s wedding. It’s better than it sounds. Samberg, along with director Max Barbakow, finds new and original ways to make us laugh with this usually tiresome narrative gimmick....

“Possessor” is the second feature film from Cronenberg, the son of legendary Canadian director David Cronenberg. Cronenberg Jr. debut feature “Antiviral” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, but this latest film, which premiered this past January at the Sundance Film Festival, is a major step up for the 40-year-old director. An NC-17-worthy visionary sci-fi that shocks and provokes in equal measures. Here’s my capsule review of the film from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival: “Only a Cronenberg could direct something like “Possessor,” a bloodily convoluted and erotic sci-fi caper that is never dull to watch....

The movie wasn’t even on my radar, but these last few weeks I was starting to notice some including it in their Oscar predictions. The film stars the ultra-underrated Colman Domingo. Wolfe directed 2020’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and his upcoming “Rustin” revolves around gay, civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, who organized the 1963 March on Washington — the ingredients are most definitely there for prime Oscar bait. I am not entirely sure what happened to it, just that “it’s not ready....

“Riz Ahmed has never been better. Playing a metal drummer who starts to lose his hearing, Ahmed turns “Sound of Metal” into a heartbreaking tale of redemption as it goes along, culminating in a final shot that is both necessary and absolutely perfect. Kudos to Nicolas Becker’s landmark sound editing, which deserves an Oscar nomination.” The film is set to arrive in select theaters on November 20 and on Prime Video on December 4....

As seen in the newly released NSFW trailer, the film plays like a found-footage thriller (which means things will end very badly for all involved) and is filmed from the point of view of a young celeb-obsessed Uber driver. This guy is desperate, a clear heir to Rupert Pupkin, an individual who would do absolutely anything in order to gain notoriety and fame. The trailer only shows a fraction of his grotesque behavior; we see him kidnapping, drugging rideshare passengers, and running over people with his vehicle There’s a lot more that isn’t shown....

With New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles theaters still shut down, they happen to be the three biggest movie markets in the country, “Tenet” launched during the holiday weekend in around 2,800 cinemas, despite only about 65-70% of multiplexes having reopened in the U.S Warner Bros. has a plan to slowly, but surely, rollout “Tenet” in U.S. theaters on a week-to-week basis, that means that New York and California could eventually screen it, whenever that may be, but with those states’ governors’ refusing to adhere to the rest of the country’s reopening guidelines, albeit for political and/or non-political reasons, then don’t expect those states to all-of-a-sudden see the light next week and reopen, in fact, I’d be shocked if they relent before the November election is over....

This is sharply polished visual storytelling. And yet, it doesn’t come even remotely close to matching the ultra-grounded, hyper-realism of Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. None of the psychological nuances are there; this is mostly an excuse to have Batman back at the box-office and to watch him crack a few skulls. That’s not to say that this is a lazy attempt. “The Batman” is very well made, the acting excellent (Pattinson nails the role), but Reeves just sucks the fun out of it....