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“Hi, James Cameron here and today I’m coming to you from the set of the Avatar sequels — and behind me you can see our performance-capture stage. Today we’re capturing some stunt scenes filming some stunt scenes but our principal cast are all wrapped: Sam [Worthington], Zoe [Saldana], Sigourney [Weaver], Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet.” The Oscar-winning filmmaker added: “They’re done now but they gave us incredible performances. And I can’t tell you how proud I am of the work that they did on these films....

I recently spoke to my next door neighbor, who had just seen “Green Book,” she’s a hardocore Hilary Clinton supporter with a bunch of “resist” and “love conquers all” stickers all over her car. You know, one of those types. She, of course, fell in love with Farrelly’s movie, telling me that she had no idea the titular book even existed until she saw the movie. I didn’t either, which is another informative bit of history the film brought to the forefront of the conversation....

Colette’s marriage to the well-off Willy (a slyly playful and equally up to the task Dominic West), is a challenge to both her feminist ideals and definition of what love truly means. He is an author of somewhat limited talent that takes his wife’s ideas to write about the fictional Claudine, a character filled with sexual freedom and uproarious adventures that spark a fury in the French literary world. Of course, after the initial success, Willy wants more books to be written, and endeavors to build not just an empire around this promiscuous and daring female character, but to solidify the literary reputation he’s been craving for years....

It is now the turns of Ken Loach and Fernando Meirelles to bash the mighty corporate greed of Marvel. If anything, these are far worse comments than what Scorsese ever dreamed of saying [via Variety] : “They’re made as commodities…like hamburgers,” Loach said about Marvel films. “It’s about making a commodity which will make profit for a big corporation. They’re a cynical exercise. They’re a market exercise, and it has nothing to do with the art of cinema....

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However, just when you thought the Italian filmmaker would go back to his Italian-summer cinematic roots of yore, the director of “Call Me By Your Name,” “I Am Love,” and “A Bigger Splash” has decided to throw us yet another curveball by confirming that he is currently in talks to direct an adaptation of …. “Lord of the Flies”? According to Variety, Warner Bros. wants Guadagnino to adapt the famous novel....

It’s a dire situation and Martin Scorsese has chimed in on it via a new essay he wrote primarily about the late great Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini. Titled “Il Maestro,” and published in the March 2021 edition of Harper’s Magazine (full essay), Scorsese tackles Fellini’s classic films and uses them as a way to attack streaming platforms’ usage of “content”. Of course, Scorsese knows that there would no “The Irishman” with Netflix, nor would his upcoming movie, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” be able to go into production next month if it weren’t for Apple, but he believes “the art of cinema is being systematically devalued, sidelined, demeaned, and reduced to its lowest common denominator” by presenting films as “content....

“Far more solid highlights included Mid90s which has writer-director Jonah Hill reliving his youth in a skateboard coming of age drama. It focuses on the plight of 13-year-old Stevie (Sunny Suljic), tormented by his older brother (a surprisingly threatening performance by Lucas Hedges), who decides to take a crack at hanging with the cool kids at a skateboarding store. Hill’s directorial debut shows a relaxed agility for the craft. The screenplay, written by Hill, feels thoroughly authentic, with dialogue that’s delivered with offhand naturalism....

“Cinema is critically hit,” said David Hancock, director for cinema at Omdia. “Major distributors rushed to rework their film slates with knock-on effects two years down the line. The period from March to July is almost devoid of any new films being released — the most important part of the year.” As for the return of the theatrical experience, Hancock states that it’s going to take some time before mainstream audiences feel comfortable and safe enough to go back to the movie theater: “The key issue now is reassurance,” said Hancock....

Moretti premiered his last film, “Tre Piani,” at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, where he has become a regular in competition. He won the Palme d’Or in 2001 for his incredible tragedy drama “The Son’s Room.” I don’t believe he’s been able to match that film in his ensuing 4 features, although he came damn close with 2015’s “Mia Madre.” I did not like the soap-ish “Tre Piani” when I saw it last July....

The news comes as it has been revealed by IndieWire’s Anne Thompson that Sony will indeed be campaigning Brad Pitt for his fourth acting nomination in the supporting category, while Leonardo DiCaprio is going lead. Pitt is currently the front-runner to win the supporting actor award, at least based on my own -very accurate- predictions, whereas DiCaprio probably stands no chance to win, but could very well be nominated as the lead actor field is stacked to the rafters this year with Adam Driver (“Marriage Story”) and Joaquin Phoenix (“Joker”) being the frontrunners to win....

Ever since those six films, with his signature style stamped all over them, Shyamalan has been dabbling mostly in Hollywood crap that has none of the carefully calibrated voice he created between 1999-2008: “After Earth,” and “The Last Airbender” completely crushed his and our souls. These films greatly affected the latter part of his moviemaking career and enhaced his potential as a has-been filmmaker. Why would a studio trust him with a big project ever again?...

“Discussion of Joker trailer and themes therein, echoes of present-day shooters lost in despair; Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg‘s fight scene in The Yards; The King with Timothee Chalamet, “perhaps not the greatest casting call.” All eyes on Venice Film Festival. Ad Astra and Marriage Story screening tomorrow [Thursday, 8.29]. How will Marriage Story compare with Kramer vs. Kramer? Strong emotional current. Flinty, aggressive vibes emanating from ScarJo character? Attention spans have definitely weakened, hence sporadic complaints about The Irishman length, and why didn’t Netflix ask Scorsese (who spoke of “300 scenes” in the film during a May 2018 appearance) to create a six-episode Irishman miniseries?...

The above casting call is looking for a teenage girl who excels at Martial Arts. The big gimme is that this same CC claims that a July 2023 production date is being eyed. Rejoice! The production will again take place in and around Los Angeles, PTA has shot most of his films and set them in California. His last movie, “Licorice Pizza,” was set in his favourite spot, the San Fernando Valley....

The director wrote the script during COVID-19 quarantine in Spain, and Penelope Cruz’s role was written specifically for her. According to Almodóvar, it is a drama about “two women who give birth on the same day and who have parallel trajectories”. He went on to add that “It will be a story about the feminist world of recent mothers, of mothers who are raising children during their first and second year, and the many things that happen during that time....

Of course, the PGA has not completely matched Oscar in the past (giving “La La Land” its prize the year “Moonlight” won the Oscar ditto “The Big Short” winning the year “Spotlight” took the other) but it has a decent 80% ratio in predicting the correct winner. That’s something. It also helps that the thousands of producers that vote for the prize are also, almost of them, Oscar voters. And so, fact of the matter is this, “Green Book” is an audience crowd pleaser like no other....

We only know a scant few details about PTA’s latest, which has yet to start shooting. According to Variety, Anderson began casting the film earlier in the year. The film, an ensemble piece with intersecting storylines, is said to primarily follow a young San Fernando Valley high school student who also happens to be a successful child actor. We then had the lighting people from PTA’s last film, “Phantom Thread,” revealing that they are already scouting locations for the mysterious new movie....

For Barry Jenkins, it’s Carlos Reygadas’ 2007 Cannes-winner “Silent Light.” Terrence Malick’s Palme d’Or winner “The Tree of Life” is Richard Linklater’s pick, whereas “The Souvenir” director Joanna Hogg wisely decided on Kennth Lonergan’s masterful “Margaret.” Full list of director’s picks and comments can be found on The Guardian, but here’s a sampling — Barry Jenkins, “Silent Light (2007)Andrew Haigh, “Uzak” (2002)Hirokazu Kore-eda, “Secret Sunshine” (2007)Joanna Hogg, “Margaret” (2011)Mike Leigh, The Death of Mr Lazarescu (2005)Richard Linklater, “The Tree of Life” (2011)Kenneth Lonergan, “Talk to Her” (2002)Lucrecia Martel, “Familia Sumergida (A Family Submerged)” (2018)Steve McQueen, ”Café Lumière” (2003)László Nemes, “Meek’s Cutoff” (2010)Trey Parker and Matt Stone, “Mad Max: Fury Road” (2015)Sarah Polley, ”A Hidden Life” (2019)Paolo Sorrentino, “The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)Michael Winterbottom, “Theo Who Lived” (2016) Contribute Hire me...

Reiner is now mostly known for vehement anti-Trump political activism, but he was once responsible for churning out “This is Spinal Tap,” “Stand By Me,” “The Princess Bride,” “When Harry Met Sally,” “Misery” and “A Few Good Men” within a span of 8 years. All of those are still considered “classics” today, albeit I wouldn’t use that term for all of them. Maybe that’s the problem. “Misery,” “When Harry Met Sally” and “Stand by Me” do feel less impressive today than when they were initially released, it doesn’t help, that they have been copied to death both at the movies and, even, on television (‘Harry’ almost feels like a blueprint for ‘Seinfeld’)....

Yannis Vasileiou Interviewed Skolimowski for the media outlet Lifo and asked him about the current status of “The Palace.” Skolimowski told him that Polanski is in the final editing stages of the film, and that it “is almost ready”. He also stated that, from what he’s seen, it’s a “really fun movie”. So, that may be another reason why “The Palace” skipped the fall film festivals. It probably won’t get released in any country this year....