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As it stands, Zhao’s “Eternals” has a 54 on Metacritic, this places it slightly behind the worst reviewed MCU movies, “Thor: Dark World,” (52) “Iron Man 2,” (53). Meanwhile, its 57 score over at Rotten Tomatoes makes it the worst-reviewed MCU movie of all-time. It’s not like I was big fan of “Nomadland,” but at least it was an artful and risk-taking venture for her. Her previous efforts, “The Rider” and “Songs My Brother Taught Me,” were superior and beautifully made....

We initially thought that maybe “Fire” could be a late-addition at Venice, that never materialized, she was still caught up in her usual lengthy post-production process, but now we’re hearing that the film is all set and ready for the Berlin Film Festival in January (which, I’m told, might be a hybrid edition of digital and in-person screenings). “Fire” stars Binoche as a woman caught between her long-term boyfriend and his best friend, who just happens to be her former beau....

Chinese officials are also claiming that more than 500 cinemas in China have reopened with, according to them, the Coronavirus threat having completely receded in Hubei Province [via Variety]. State media CGTN reported that 486 theaters were open for business on Friday. On Monday, the number had risen to 507, representing less than 5% of all cinemas. The official number reported by the Chinese government, so far, has a tally of 80,967 positive cases, with 3,248, having died from the Coronavirus....

Coming off a certain peanut-shaped man trying to, in failing fashion, put his pretentious finger to the pulse of this whole Sight and Sound debacle, here comes another critic calling out Paul Schrader’s S&S criticism as “white supremacy!” It’s quite alarming and downright revelatory how so many critics are full-on supporting what happened on Thursday. And if you disagree with them then … WHITE SUPREMACY! Contribute Hire me Advertise Donate Team Contact Privacy Policy

More and more critic scores and audience scores are diverging. It was always a known fact that, for decades, critics’ tastes did not align with what the audience wanted to see. Is it a matter of these same critics being out of touch with the general public’s tastes? A film like “Memoria” might be praised by critics, but its 40% RT audience score sticks out like a sore thumb. Some of the more critically-heralded films of the last few years with low audience ratings include “Tree of Life” (59%), “Uncut Gems” (52%), “I’m thinking of ending things” (50%), “The Souvenir” (36%), Ad Astra (40%), Under the Skin (55%), The Green Knight (50%), “The Master” (62%), “Zama” (55%), “The Assassin” (48%), and The Last Jedi (41%)....

“Mank” is a very dry, dialogue-driven ode to a bygone era of industry guys wheeling and dealing behind the scenes. A passion project, if you will, shot in black and white, and semi-inspired by Pauline Kael’s (in)famous essay, “Raising Kane,” which made the case that Mankiewicz was the main driving force behind the ‘Kane’ script and not Orson Welles, who ended up getting co-credit and winning the Oscar. The esteemed Fincher, unsatisfied by the negative portrayal of Welles in his latest movie, doubled-down on the legendary ‘Kane’ director by insinuating that he was, sorta, kinda over-rated — a lucky theater prodigy who was aided by Gregg Toland’s groundbreaking photography and Mankiewicz’ brilliant pen....

Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed this intriguing bit of news on Tuesday, speaking at Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit: “But by and large, almost all of it is there,” Iger said about the Disney catalog. “And if you’re a subscriber, you can download it and put it on a device, and it will stay on the device as long as you continue to subscribe.” “If you wanted to download 10 classic Disney films that may not have all been available at once before, you can do that, basically fill all of your hard drive on one of your devices, and you or your child can watch wherever they are,” he said....

Just two weeks before principal photography would start on their Roger Ailes biopic, ‘Fair and Balanced,’ they bailed. The film, in all likelihood, was going to be a player for awards contention in 2019, not just because of its topical subject matter but also because it starred John Lithgow as Ailes, Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson, Charlize Theron as Megyn Kelly, Malcolm McDowell as Rupert Murdoch and Margot Robbie as a fictional Fox News-employed character....

“And also with… Christian Bale [for The Pale Blue Eye]. Wonderful young actor. And in fact, I think Coppola approached him to play the lead in his new big movie…” I guess any actor under 50 is considered “young” to Duvall. Bale would be a marvelous addition to Coppola’s long-gestating passion project. Oscar Isaac was originally sought for the role, but had to drop out, no doubt due to “Dune, Part II” likely starting production this fall....

According to Variety, Miller is now developing the ‘Furiosa’ prequel film and has already begun speaking with possible actresses to take over the Theron role, with Anya Taylor-Joy at the very top of the list. Taylor-Joy is well known to indie film fans as the lead actress in films such as “The Witch,” “Thoroughbreds,” Split,” and this year’s “Emma.” The ‘Furiosa’ prequel will focus on the early days of the character....

However, it managed to sweep the awards season and become one of the most critically-acclaimed releases of last year, with critics praising the unforgettable performances and jaw-dropping cinematography. The film had extra resonance for those of us who are fans of Arthurian legend, since the original poem is probably the most well-known tale in the canon, one that has been crying out for a big-budget film adaptation for decades. While there are no further Arthurian films in the pipeline, there are plenty of games out there that will sate the appetites of fans of this epic medieval genre....

Since its release, “Prometheus” has taken a rather harsh beating from the film community, but why? Yes, it was promoted as Ridley Scott’s return to the “Alien” franchise, which he created back in 1979, but what we got instead was a heady, richly-detailed and incredibly thoughtful movie about humanity, not the slasher film in space that most people wanted. Many of the great movies of our time were initially received with lukewarm reviews before being embraced much later down the road....

The film, written by Chandor and journalist turned screenwriter Mark Boal of “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty” fame, begins rather familiarly as Oscar Isaac’s Santiago reconnects with his former Special Ops buddies hoping they will join him on a high-paying, very illegal legal heist in South America, it eventually turns into a cautionary tale about greed, very much akin to past classics “Treasure of the Sierra Madre” and “Wages of Fear” Ben Affleck’s Tom is a former op, divorced dad, struggling with his real-estate job who decides to join Santiago’s mission....

French outlet La Liberation says it was assisted suicide in Switzerland: “He wasn’t sick, he was just exhausted. It was his decision and it was important for him that it be known. This is. practice authorized and supervised in Switzerland. During an 85-minute conversation last year with the virtual International Film Festival of Kerala (via The Film Stage), Godard said he planned to retire from directing after the completion of his next two films: One of the greatest ever....

It seems as though Balagov’s application was successful and he is now in the process of attempting to extend his stay in the United States with a more durable O1B Visa. Balagov originally planned to shoot “Monica” in Russia. Now, he’s in the process of rewriting the story and setting it in a Circassian diaspora community of New Jersey. The film will be both English and Russian. I wrote a review for Balagov’s “Beanpole” at Cannes 2019....

Reichardt was part of the Cannes jury last year, alongside artists that included directors Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Yorgos Lanthimos, and actress Elle Fanning. Surprisingly, that jury, which honored Bong Joon-ho the Palme d’Or for “Parasite,” didn’t give a single award to Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.” Suffice to say, Reichardt doesn’t seem to be much of a fan of Tarantino’s latest opus, accusing it of being “too macho” in a recent interview with Mel Magazine: To each their own, I guess, but, If you remember, Tarantino had put Reichardt’s “Meek’s Cutoff” on his list of the worst movies of 2011....

It has been a meteoric rise for Driver since he entered public consciousness as one of the standout characters on Lena Dunham’s hit HBO show “Girls”. In the show Driver played the aptly named ‘Adam Sackler’, a crazy, mercurial, and depth ridden character, who Driver breathed life into, and in doing so scored himself three Emmy nominations. The start of things to come. Those of you out there unfamiliar with ‘Girls’, I suggest if not watching it then to search up the scene in which Driver and Jemima Kirke’s ‘Jessa’, turn an argument into all out war....

“The word was I was the favorite for the best actor award,” Douglas told Del Toro. “[Spielberg] put the kibosh on that, because it was an HBO film. So when I now see this argument and beef about Showtime or Netflix, in this case, doing feature films, I think they’ve got to get this resolved.” In Steven Soderbergh’s “Candelabra” Douglas gave the performance of his career as Liberace, with Matt Damon almost just-as-good playing Liberace’s partner, Scott Thorson....

Judging by a Deadline report, Mann will be making his much-anticipated comeback with the upcoming HBO Max series “Tokyo Vice.” “Baby Driver” actor Ansel Elgort is set to star in Mann’s show. “Shang-Chi” filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton was originally supposed to direct the episodes, but something changed during pre-production and now Cretton is only being credited as a producer on the project. “Tokyo Vice” was written by JT Rodgers and is based on the non-fiction book by Jake Adelstein, about his time serving as a beat reporter in Tokyo, following the local police....

There have been rumors pointing towards the character Cooper plays in the film actually being Peters, the producer of 1976’s “A Star is Born,” leading to speculation that this could be about the making of the Streisand-Kristofferson film (cheeky kind-of-casting when you realize Cooper also wrote, directed and starred in his own remake of the film back in 2018). Based on leaked pictures from the secretive set, actress-musician Alana Haim’s does, in fact, look like Barbra Streisand from the same era....