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The highly-anticipated adaptation of the Broadway classic is banking on the film being just as relevant today as it was back in the ‘50s, this, in essence, is what prompted Spielberg to jump on-board: “This story is not only a product of its time, but that time has returned, and it’s returned with a kind of social fury,” the filmmaker said. “I really wanted to tell that Puerto Rican, Nuyorican experience of basically the migration to this country and the struggle to make a living, and to have children, and to battle against the obstacles of xenophobia and racial prejudice....

A Venice premiere is being envisioned for both films. You know what? If the Netflix feud were over and “Blonde” and “Bardo” were part of this year’s Cannes competition then they would instantly become the two hottest titles of the 75th edition. That’s how crushing the Netflix feud has become to Cannes. Fact of the matter is that Netflix are one of the few major US studios producing critically acclaimed films year in and year out....

The films released in France, and that premiered in festivals like Cannes and Venice, we’re plentiful. It came to the point that French movies won both the Palme d’Or and Golden Lion. The 2021 French film slate speaks for itself: “Titane,” “Petite Maman,” “Happening,” “Benedetta,” “Annette,” “Vortex,” “Bergman Island,” “France,” “Onoda,” “Lost Illusions,” “The Restless,” “Paris 13th District,” “Anais in Love,” and “Everything Went Fine.” This year, it’s a whole other story....

Spike Lee‘s “Da 5 Bloods” was the big loser, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s distaste for the film was relayed to me a few days ago, I expected this, as not even Delroy Lindo got nominated in the Actor category. It’s going to be an awkward Golden Globes for Lee, as his two kids, Satchel and Jackson Lee, had earlier been selected as special presenters for the ceremony. You expect out-of-left-field stuff from the Globes, but having James Corden‘s flamboyant performance in “The Prom” nominated the Supporting Actor category is a total farce....

Although “Making a Murderer” has been credited with starting the genre’s domination on the airwaves, and via streaming, people tend to forget that David Fincher started it with 2007’s “Zodiac,” one of the great movies of the 2000s. The film that dealt with the real-life Zodiac killings, for the murderer has still not been found, but an abundance of theories, as to who it was, still exist all over the web....

This stagnation comes after a decade of landmark growth for Disney, what with its colossal reign over the box-office with Pixar, Marvel, and the “Star Wars” franchise becoming conglomerate behemoths. They were supposed to continue that success this year, but two of their most anticipated movies of 2020, Marvel’s “Black Widow” and Pixar’s “Soul,” have been postponed, while their live-action version of “Mulan” was rescheduled from April to July. “From great to good to bad to ugly,” Michael Nathanson, a leading media analyst, told Brooks in the piece....

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Confirming that the official title will be “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” filming on the film, which Joel calls a “thriller,” had begun on February 10th and Coen confirmed that they were about 2/3 of the way done with the shoot before production shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For those of us wishing for a Coen-esque feature, expect disappointment since Joel admits that his adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic tale will be very faithful to the original text, with around “85% of the language” being kept for the film version....

The fact that Netflix took in “The Irishman,” his $140 million mob movie starring Robert De Niro, Al PacinoandJoe Pesci, when most other studios balked at the idea, was a clear sign that the times were changing for the 76-year-old director, “People such as Netflix are taking risks. ‘The Irishman’ is a risky film. No one else wanted to fund the pic for five to seven years. And of course we’re all getting older....

The Playlist has finally posted my interview with the talented 37-year-old filmmaker, in which she spoke to me about her native Senegal, what inspired “Atlantics” and the ghosts which haunt her movie. “Atlantics” is now available to stream on Netflix. Contribute Hire me Advertise Donate Team Contact Privacy Policy

Sadly, I don’t think newly promoted Warner CEO David Zaslav gives a damn. A recent conference call Zaslav had with the movie studio’s executives leaked and it looks like this hotshot would not flinch if he wanted to let go of Eastwood’s partnership with the studio. The major point of contention was Eastwood’s box-office flop “Cry Macho.” After executives told Zaslav that they had doubted the movie would turn a profit, Zaslav asked “then why did you make it if you had reservations?...

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“Just discovered something interesting. With one exception (MILLION DOLLAR BABY in 2004), the Best Picture Oscar has always gone to a film that either won the PGA OR one of the two WGA awards. THE POWER OF THE DOG only won a DGA, and I’d be shocked if Campion doesn’t win Best Director. But it didn’t win the PGA or the WGA. CODA won both.”“With the exception of the eight-year streak we saw between 2007 (NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN) and 2014 (BIRDMAN), the PGA isn’t always an accurate Best Picture predictor....

One could assume that a ninth nomination is very possible for “The Fablemans,” due out this coming November. What an incredible career. He is a master. And yet, I don’t think I’d put “West Side Story” in my Spielberg top 10, it’s certainly not in the same league as “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, “Jaws”, “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Schindler’s List”, “Saving Private Ryan”, “Artificial Intelligence”, “Munich”, “Minority Report”, “Catch Me If You Can,” or even “Empire of the Sun....

The Daniels, Michelle Yeoh and the rest of the cast have been campaigning hard for the film this awards season. They’ve been the toast of the town. It is a hit with the younger branch of academy voters. The older ones, at least the ones I’ve spoken to, aren’t as enthused by this batshit crazy movie. One attendee at the screening was filmmaker Park Chan-wook who confessed that EEAO was the “wildest and weirdest“ movie he’s ever seen and that it actually made him cry....

“Wonder Woman” director Patty Jenkins, told Vulture that the Academy is “still very, very limited.” “I have no idea,” Jenkins said of the shutout, “I’ll tell you this: The Academy is working on this, but the real issue to me is that at the end of the day, no matter what movie you make and no matter how much money it makes, and no matter how diverse the audience is, the voting academy is still very, very limited....

Social media is abuzz about why production on Aziz Ansari’s “Being Mortal” has been indefinitely shut down. All we know is that the film was halfway done shooting and that the now infamous “filed complaint” was not directed towards Ansari. It’s a bizarre thing to do, for Fox Searchlight to just shut everything down over a “complaint.” There was almost certainly some sort of sexual harassment or assault against a woman that occurred on the film set....

In a video interview with Rolling Stone Troubador Peter Travers, Tarantino opened up about his future plans post-retirement: “I kind of feel this is the time for the third act [of my life] to just lean a little bit more into the literary, which would be good as a new father, as a new husband,” Tarantino said. “I wouldn’t be grabbing my family and yanking them to Germany or Sri Lanka or wherever the next story takes place....

With that being said, we should not count out Ron Howard’s “Thirteen Lives.” At an academy screening on Sunday night, the Thai rescue drama received a roaring reaction from Oscar voters: “At an Academy screening for THIRTEEN LIVES. Almost everyone I spoke to hadn’t seen The Rescue beforehand but they all really loved this. Lots of tears and applause at the end. I don’t expect it to do well with critics groups, but I’d watch out for it when we get to the guilds....

Barr has been on a bit of a tear lately though, refusing to adhere to any politically-correct demeanor, even after being axed by ABC for a “controversial” tweet. No, she has decided not to conform to any of the political activists that want her to just go away and shut up. If anything, Roseanne has doubled down on her free-flowingly outspoken thinking of late. Barr’s off-the-rails interview on Candace Owen’s radio show will likely cause a stir....