-
News & Updates
careering
September 23, 2018
‘Overlord’ Review: J.J. Abrams’ Nazi Monster Movie Is Intense, Ravishing, and Surprisingly Deep — Fantastic Fest
“Overlord” invites low expectations and gleefully rises above them. Yes, this is a B-movie produced with studio resources about American soldiers battling Nazi zombies in WWII. But despite some underdeveloped characters and obvious B-movie tropes, “Overlord” goes beyond the call of duty with a riveting story that digs far deeper than this material usually goes for.
In the J.J. Abrams-produced genre hybrid, director Julius Avery takes the real-world horrors of Josef Mengele’s WWII Holocaust experiments to a more terrifying extreme: the Nazis have developed a special serum to reanimate their dead. Either by picking up deceased troopers off the side of the road, or simply kidnapping and murdering the locals, the S.S. has weaponized the villagers of an occupied town. This queasy premise sets the stage for a special kind of payoff, as a black man flips the script on these sadistic sociopaths’ final solution with a much better one.
Avery’s movie is a strange genre brew, merging the framework of a war movie with horror and intense action. The result plays like a mashup of “Dead Snow” (a comparatively straightforward zombie-Nazi movie), “Universal Soldier,” and the video game series “Wolfenstein.” It’s an exhilarating ride through the tumultuous life of a WWII soldier, amplified by its boisterous sound design, and grounded by intimate, personal performances by Jovan Adepo and Wyatt Russell. The movie’s gorgeous imagery show the considerable talents of the movie’s two credited cinematographers, Laurie Rose (Ben Wheatley’s “Kill List” and “Free Fire”) and Fabian Wagner (“Game of Thrones”), who capture the scope of a mission into enemy territory with a realistic edge and no shortage of visual effects. The result merges the harshness visceral qualities of wartime with the scope of the battlefield.
Dropped behind enemy lines mere hours before the allied forces storm the beaches of Normandy, Boyce (Adepo) and his Corporal (Russell) have one mission in mind: destroy the German transmitter atop a fortified church in France so American planes can supply air support to the invasion. Nazi scum have been rapidly spreading their control over Europe like a sickness, conquering one nation at a time, with world domination in sight. On June 6, 1944, Hitler’s treacherous trek across the globe is about to be terminated – at least, that was the plan, until the soldiers see what’s lurking underneath this holy sanctuary.
One of the most striking moments arrives after Boyce’s plane is shot down and he parachutes into the ocean. Bound by loose cords and trapped at the bottom of the sea, the terrified combatant cuts himself free and floats to the surface, only to wind up entombed within a blanket of nylon, gasping for air. Watching his face emerge under a coat of suffocating white fabric is akin to a baby bursting from the womb as he slits a hole in the surface and takes his first breath. “Overlord” excels at generating this sort of visual tension even as it careens further into its ludicrous plot.
Admittedly, on the level of character, there’s not much here that we haven’t seen before. Boyce falls into the familiar archetype of a morally sound newcomer to this harsh, war-torn environment; the corporal is the jaded veteran unafraid to get his hands dirty, but commits questionable acts in the name of military orders. They’re not the most developed action heroes, but “Overlord” at least gives them a more developed context. (As a black soldier in WWII, Boyce’s unique placement in this genre is left refreshingly unacknowledged; the movie’s taking enough liberties already, so the historical fiction that ignores America’s history of segregated troops isn’t much of an issue.)
The story juggles a surprising degree of sophistication with playful scares and tense ultra-violence. Screenwriters Billy Ray and Mark L. Smith push for deeper questions throughout. Chief among them: What separates the Allied forces from their enemies when the only way to beat the Nazis is to sink to their level? When the Corporal tortures a captured S.S. soldier Willis for information, nearly beating the man to death, Boyce stands by and begs his superior officer to stop. The violence is disturbing to the point that it flips the moral compass in play to provocative effect.
A subliminal commentary on the science of human behavior through a supernatural lens, “Overlord” manages to satisfy expectations of pure escapism even as it digs deeper, and it’s a welcome alternative to so many movies that don’t even try.
Grade: B+
“Overlord” premiered at the 2108 edition of Fantastic Fest. Paramount releases it November 9, 2018.
Source: IndieWire film
September 22, 2018
4 Tips Every Editor Should Know From Emmy-Nominated ‘Black Mirror’ Editor Selina MacArthur
The first episode of Season 4 was the product of a relationship 20 years in the making.<p>If you’re not already watching, Netflix’s <i>Black Mirror</i> is a …
Source: CW’s Flipboard Feed
September 20, 2018
“Blaze” Red Carpet and Q&A with Ethan Hawke, Ben Dickey & More at SXSW 2018 [Video]
Directed by Ethan Hawke, BLAZE is inspired by the life of Blaze Foley, the unsung songwriting legend of the Texas outlaw music movement that spawned the likes of Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson. The film weaves together three different periods of time, braiding re-imagined versions of Foley’s past, present, and future. The different strands explore his love affair with Sybil Rosen; his last, dark night on earth; and the impact of his songs and his death had on his fans, friends, and foes.
The film has an all star billing of Benjamin Dickey, Alia Shawkat, Charlie Sexton, Josh Hamilton, Wyatt Russell, Jenn Lyon, Kris Kristofferson, Sam Rockwell, Steve Zahn, and Richard Linklater. Hawke co-wrote the film with Rosen.
“It’s been 29 years since he [Blaze Foley] died and he’s about to be played through the biggest amplifier he’s ever been through.”- Benjamin Dickey
The SXSW Film Festival screening of Blaze marks the sixth time that Rosen had watched the film, “I still have this feeling of disbelief. I can’t believe from this little seed that was planted in a tree house; these songs grew, a life grew, and forty years later the music inspired Ethan. Blaze’s music will be out in the world in a way it’s never been before and that is so moving to me,” said Rosen.
Watch coverage from the red carpet and Q&A moderated by SXSW Director of Film Janet Pierson. Blaze is currently playing in theaters.
Join Us For SXSW 2019
The early bird gets the best SX savings! Register and book your hotel now and save.
The Film Badge gets you primary access to all SXSW Film events including Film Keynotes and Featured Sessions, world premieres, round tables, workshops, parties, and more. Over the course of nine days, the SXSW Film Festival hosts over 450 screenings! Film registrants also have primary access to Convergence events, including the Comedy Festival and nine unique conference tracks, as well as secondary access to most Interactive and Music events.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and SXSW News for the latest SXSW coverage.
See you in March!
Blaze – Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
The post “Blaze” Red Carpet and Q&A with Ethan Hawke, Ben Dickey & More at SXSW 2018 [Video] appeared first on SXSW.
Source: SxSW Film
September 19, 2018
Startup Village Returns to SXSW Trade Show for 2nd Year
Is your startup looking to find new business opportunities, connect with existing clients, or seek potential investors? Join us for the 2019 Trade Show and take your business to the next level!
Running March 10-13, the SXSW Trade Show is bringing back Startup Village for the second year. We hosted over 75,000 attendees from 102 countries in 2018, and businesses from 27 countries exhibited. We’re confident we can give your startup the perfect platform to showcase your industry-disrupting ideas to a diverse international crowd of participants and investors.
Startup Village gives center stage to the best and brightest up-and-coming businesses from all industries and sectors, including mobile apps, 3D printing, SaaS, FinTech, and more. It brings together startups, entrepreneurs, investors, and innovators alike. Exhibitors range from B2B, B2C, Bootstrapping, Business Strategy, Colleges, Entrepreneurs, Future of Money, Film, Music, Startups, and everything in between.
SXSW provides a great platform to launch a new product and promote your startup. In fact, approximately $5.43 billion* has been invested in startups participating in events at SXSW between 2009-2018.
We are still looking for more creative entrepreneurs and forward-thinking innovators to apply to participate. Come show off your latest and greatest ideas and take advantage of the unrivaled exposure and networking opportunities at SXSW!
*Does not include certain undisclosed funding. This data is as of May 30, 2018.
Photo by Randy & Jackie Smith
The post Startup Village Returns to SXSW Trade Show for 2nd Year appeared first on SXSW.
Source: SxSW Film
September 19, 2018
SNAP Matters: Stories Recorded with Support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
In summer 2018, StoryCorps recorded 49 conversations as part of a project focused on changing the the narrative about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the program formerly known as food stamps. We recorded conversations between close to 100 participants, most of whom were SNAP beneficiaries, in partnership with 15 community-based organizations in Alabama, Texas, Michigan, and Kansas. Made possible with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the project also aimed to emphasize the critical support SNAP provides for children and families across the country.
In Alabama, Texas, Michigan, and Kansas, StoryCorps’ participants talked about what compelled them to apply for SNAP and how the program has improved their lives. In the stories we share below, you’ll hear from participants who received SNAP benefits when they lost a job, required emergency surgery, or needed to purchase expensive, allergy-friendly food. SNAP enabled these folks to cover gaps in income and buy affordable, nutritious food at local markets, grocery stores, and farmers’ markets.
Individuals with whom we recorded asserted that SNAP had inspired them to become food justice activists. SNAP beneficiaries described going on to earn multiple degrees and passing forward the benefit as mentors in their own communities. Farmers who accept SNAP spoke about finding fulfillment in serving communities in health crises and food deserts, areas in which it is difficult to buy affordable or good-quality fresh food. SNAP allies described changing their minds about the value of the program when they connected with customers who lived plate to plate.
Below, you’ll also hear from participants who shared stories of confrontations — at the grocery store and at the Health department — in which members of their own communities questioned their motives in accessing these benefits. These folks’ experiences demonstrate that negative stereotypes long associated with food stamps persist with SNAP. Participants described the difficulty of accepting what is still perceived as a handout rather than a “hand-up.”
You can listen to some of the stories we recorded below, and learn more here at the home of the project, the State of Obesity.
Jeremy Huffman and Adam Ingrao
Michigan
“It’s not just about access to food; it’s about access to hope.”
Fellow veterans and friends talk about transitioning from the military to their roles as farmers and healthy food advocates supporting families who participate in SNAP.
Emily and Tim Brown
Kansas
“One thing I feel I’ve learned in life over the long run is that you never know what a day may bring.”
Husband and wife Tim and Emily Brown recall how SNAP helped their family get through a difficult time after Tim lost his job.
Jennifer Wells-Marshall and Helen Jones
Alabama
“I worked every single day of the week, but it wasn’t enough.”
Dr. Jennifer Wells-Marshall tells her friend and colleague, Helen Jones, about when she received SNAP benefits for a period of time when her daughter was young before going on to get her Ph.D.
Max Gage and Catherine Gage
Michigan
“It’s been huge to actually see firsthand what food does to us and our health, to see how it can turn your life around.”
Catherine and her 16-year-old son Max talk about the importance of having access to food and how SNAP helps their family get the nutrition they need.
Kolia Souza and Brian Johnson
Kansas
“Having those benefits was my way out and my way to make a better life for myself and my daughters.”
Kolia Souza reflects on how SNAP enabled her to get back on her feet after leaving an abusive relationship.
Andrika Harmon and Kristi Gay
Alabama
“I had to turn around to her and explain, look, this is what is going on in my life.”
Andrika Harmon talks with Kristi Gay, her nurse home visitor, about how SNAP helps her buy healthy food to support her young family while she is working and finishing college.
Source: SNPR Story Corps
September 16, 2018
‘Museo’ Leads Crowded Field of Specialty Box Office Openers as ‘The Wife’ Continues to Soar
“Museo” (Vitagraph) led a slew of new specialized releases this week. The Mexican heist film starring Gael Garcia Bernal topped all other fresh titles. The fall season is already taking off with an astonishing 40 films opening theatrically this weekend, including at least six Sundance 2018 titles, two of which just played the Toronto International Film Festival.
And to confuse audiences even more, even more movies were available on home-viewing platforms as well as theaters, from the Nicolas Cage cult film “Mandy” to three films directed by established female directors. Netflix opened Nicole Holofcener’s suburban drama “The Land of Steady Habits” and Ricki Sundberg and Anne Sundberg’s timely documentary “Reversing Roe” on Friday after their TIFF premieres; and Amma Asante followed two Fox Searchlight releases (“Belle,” “A United Kingdom”) with controversial Nazi Germany romance thriller “Where Hands Touch” (Vertical), which played in over 100 theaters with an estimated gross of under $70,000 while also streaming.
Dwarfing any release in recent weeks is “The Wife” (Sony Pictures Classics). The Glenn Close-starring film is doing very well with its targeted adult audience. The strategy of getting out ahead of this year’s festival hits is working very well, aided by strong word of mouth.
Kristen Stewart and Chloë Sevigny in “Lizzie”
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Opening
Museo (Vitagraph) – Metacritic: 87; Festivals include: Berlin, Toronto 2018
$17,500 in 1 theater; PTA (per theater allowance): $17,500
Gael Garcia Bernal heads the cast of this Mexico City museum heist thriller, which scored rave reviews to boost its initial exclusive opening at New York’s Angelika Theater, marking a considerably above average gross for a specialized subtitled film. This is a YouTube Original film with a simultanenous theatrical release.
What comes next: South Florida, Washington, and Los Angeles open over the next two weeks.
Lizzie (Roadside Attractions) – Metacritic: 61; Festivals include: Sundance 2018
$49,895 in 4 theaters; PTA: $12,473
Developed by Chloe Sevigne as a starring vehicle for herself, this indie also lured Kristen Stewart in a gender fluid co-starring role in this retelling of the Lizzie Borden legend. The low-budget movie found some interest in four initial New York/Los Angeles theaters with mixed reviews.
What comes next: This has a quick national expansion to around 250 theaters this Friday.
“Science Fair”
Nat Geo/Screenshot
Science Fair (National Geographic) – Metacritic: 71; Festivals include: Sundance, South by Southwest 2018
$12,250 in 1 theater; PTA: $12,250
This Sundance documentary about students from around the world showing their discoveries won the Audience Award. It debuted exclusively in Manhattan with a decent initial result.
What comes next: Los Angeles opens this Friday ahead of further nationwide dates ahead.
The Dawn Wall (The Orchard) – Metacritic: 81; Festivals include: South by Southwest 2018
$21,658 in 2 theaters; PTA: $10,829
In advance of its one night Fathom Event showing on Tuesday, this documentary about an attempt to scale a 3,000 foot sheer wall at Yosemite opened in New York and Los Angeles for reviews and awards qualification. As often happens, the rock climbing audience responded initially with decent results for these week-long dates.
What comes next: The Tuesday shows are the main event.
“Mandy”
Mandy (RLJ) – Metacritic: 81; Festivals include: Sundance, Cannes 2018; also available on home platforms
$(est.) 175,000 in 89 theaters; PTA: $(est.) 1,966
Parallel to its home venue release, this critically hailed revenge thriller features perhaps the ultimate Nicolas Cage over-the-top performance. Considering its limited release and streaming availability, these numbers are not bad.
What comes next: Mostly home viewing.
“Bel Canto”
Screen Media
Bel Canto (Screen Media) – Metacritic: 52
$14,036 in 2 theaters; PTA: $7,018
Given star Julianne Moore and name-brand director Paul Weisz (“About a Boy,” “Little Fockers”) this adaptation of Ann Patchett’s bestseller would seem to be a higher profile movie, but met negative reviews. Recreating a South American embassy hostage crisis (Moore plays a singer hired for a private concert), this eschewed festival showings and opened at two New York and Los Angeles theaters. Its distributor usually handles day and date video on demand releases, which suggests this is headed for a limited theatrical life.
What comes next: ITunes lists this as available next Friday.
Hale County, This Morning, This Evening (Cinema Guild) – Metacritic: 81; Festivals include: Sundance, New Directors/New Films 2018
$9,914 in 2 theaters; PTA: $4,457
This documentary, shot in the same part of black Alabama covered by Walker Evans’ photos and James Agee’s later writing, opened in two New York theaters to strong reviews and some modest initial interest.
What comes next: Los Angeles opens this Friday.
“The Children Act”
courtesy of TiFF
The Children Act (A24) – Metacritic: 62; Festivals include: Toronto 2017, Seattle 2018; also available on Video on Demand
$20,362 in 3 theaters; PTA: $6,787
A year after its Toronto premiere, this British drama comes with significant pedigree. Based on an Ian McEwan novel and directed by Richard Eyre (“Notes on a Scandal”), the story centers on Emma Thompson as a complacent English judge who is surprised by complications in her marriage to Stanley Tucci. This opened in four U.S. theaters plus additional screens in Canada (estimated $80,000). The U.S. gross comes parallel to domestic Video on Demand availability.
What comes next: This could have some niche theatrical interest ahead, but home viewing will be its main venue.
The Public Image Is Rotten (Abramorama) – Metacritic: 66; Festivals include: Tribeca 2017
$8,485 in 1 theater; PTA: $8,485
John Lydon (better know from his Sex Pistols name John Rotten) has had a major presence after his best known band. This documentary about him opened to decent initial results in New York.
What comes next: This will open in big cities, including some calendar and similar event dates this week.
American Chaos (Sony Pictures Classics) – Metacritic: 53; Festivals include: Montclair 2018
$7,963 in 26 theaters; PTA: $306
A documentary filmed in the states won by Donald Trump in the weeks leading up to the election opened nationally to an average of only around ten customers per theater.
What comes next: Not likely to go much further.
Week Two
Kusama – Infinity (Magnolia) 2-49
$(est.) 45,000 in 10 theaters (+8); PTA: $(est.) 4,500; Cumulative: $(est.) 94,000
The second-week expansion for this documentary on a legendary Japanese artist showed continued interest in her work after its strong initial week.
“Bisbee ’17”
Bisbee ’17 (Fourth Row)
$25,150 in 8 theaters (+7); PTA: $3,144; Cumulative: $35,718
This documentary about labor strife a century ago in Arizona mining country added theaters across that state this week after its New York opening to respectable results for this unusual early release. Other top cities start opening this week.
Hal (Oscilloscope) 1-8
$12,150 in 1 (no change) theater; PTA: $12,150; Cumulative: $20,369
A Los Angeles exclusive at Landmark’s Nuart had a strong result after its one week initial Manhattan date. Director Hal Ashby’s legacy clearly resonates among cinephiles. This will expand to other top markets in upcoming weeks.
Ongoing/expanding (grosses over $50,000)
The Wife (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 5
$1,228,000 in 541 theaters (+388); Cumulative: $3,536,000
This marital drama starring Oscar contender Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce as her Nobel Prize-winner husband continues its expansion. So far the movie is pulling ahead of nearly all of SPC’s recent films. This looks to have significant further business ahead.
“Juliet, Naked”
Courtesy of Sundance Institute, photo by Alex Bailey.
Juliet, Naked (Roadside Attractions) Week 5
$288,483 in 265 theaters (-202); Cumulative: $3,020,000
This adaptation of Nick Hornsby’s music world romantic triangle is winding down after a wide national break that achieved modest results.
The Bookshop (Greenwich) Week 4
$185,361 in 131 theaters (+7); Cumulative: $1,121,000
Isabel Coixet’s English seacoast-set period piece, the fifth release from new distributor Greenwich Entertainment, has become their first to pass the $1 million mark.
Three Identical Strangers (Neon) Week 12
$106,886 in 95 theaters (-37); Cumulative: $12,090,000
There’s continued interest for this breakout documentary about separated triplets nearly three months after its release.
Eighth Grade (A24) Week 10
$88,000 in 101 theaters (-75); Cumulative: $13,428,000
Late in its run, Bo Burnham’s acclaimed middle school drama is still finding additional viewers.
“Pick of the Litter”
Pick of the Litter (IFC) Week 3; also available on Video on Demand
$85,473 in 33 theaters (+23); Cumulative: $172,823
The training of service dogs is clearly an appealing topic. This documentary, while also on home viewing platforms, is doing decent business as it expands in theaters.
Blaze (IFC) Week 5
$73,381 in 34 theaters (-2); Cumulative: $349,508
Ethan Hawke’s biopic of a cult Austin-based performer added Los Angeles to its circuitous release pattern (initially mostly in Texas) with continued positive reviews.
Also noted:
Puzzle (Sony Pictures Classics) – $39,205 in 60 theaters; Cumulative: $1,889,000
Leave No Trace (Bleecker Street) – $34,467 in 76 theaters; Cumulative: $6,046,000
We the Animals (The Orchard) – $28,805 in 48 theaters; Cumulative: $339,012
The Miseducation of Cameron Post (FilmRise) – $16,750 in 20 theaters; Cumulative: $881,849
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
Source: IndieWire film
September 16, 2018
TIFF 2018 Awards: ‘Green Book’ Wins the People’s Choice Award, Upsetting ‘A Star Is Born’
Peter Farrelly’s “Green Book” has triumphed at TIFF, winning the coveted Grolsch People’s Choice Award over films like “A Star Is Born” and “If Beale Street Could Talk.” Often considered an Oscar bellwether — “La La Land,” “The King’s Speech,” and “12 Years a Slave” are all previous honorees — the prize helps awards season take shape a week after Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma” took home the Golden Lion from Venice.
Last year’s prize went to “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” which won Best Actress (Frances McDormand) and Best Supporting Actor (Sam Rockwell) and was nominated for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.
It wasn’t the only People’s Choice Award, as Vasan Bala’s “The Man Who Feels No Pain” won in the Midnight Madness category and “Free Solo,” directed by E. Chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy Chin, took home the Documentary prize. Other honorees include Wi Ding Ho’s “City of Last Things,” which was awarded the Platform Prize; Prize for the Discovery Programme winner “Float Like a Butterfly,” directed by Carmel Winters; and Sébastien Pilote’s “The Fireflies Are Gone,” which was named Best Canadian Feature Film.
This year’s edition of the festival ran from September 6–16 and included more than 300 features and shorts. Among the other high-profile selections were Venice premieres “Roma,” “First Man,” and “Vox Lux,” as well as Telluride debuts “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” and “The Old Man and the Gun.”
Source: IndieWire film
September 16, 2018
The 12 Best Movies of the Fall Festivals, From ‘Roma’ to ‘High Life’
The fall movie season is far from over, but its first chapter has come to a dramatic conclusion. The Telluride, Venice, and Toronto film festivals unleashed dozens of highly anticipated new movies into the conversation, and many of them did not disappoint. There are still a few high-profile titles around the corner, from “Bohemian Rhapsody” to the still-untitled Dick Cheney movie starring Christian Bale — but with no major world premieres at the New York Film Festival, the premieres of the past month have provided us with the bulk of 2018 fall movies worthy of discussion. Here are the highlights from those festivals.
“At Eternity’s Gate”
Julian Schnabel’s radical, you-are-there approach to his Vincent van Gogh biopic, though sure to alienate some, is in keeping with its subject. “Maybe God made me a painter for people who aren’t here yet,” the penniless artist played by an inspired Willem Dafoe says during one of several stints in a sanitarium; Schnabel seems intent on honoring Van Gogh by eschewing convention even if it means his film is similarly misunderstood. He’s hardly the first to make a movie about the one-eared painter, but none of his predecessors were this daring. The “Diving Bell and the Butterfly” director fuses form and content in a way that’s rarely attempted and even more rarely achieved; in risking the same derision with which Van Gogh was sometimes met, he transcends the limitations of the conventional biopic and creates something that feels genuinely new. —MN
“The Favourite”
“The Favourite”
Fox Searchlight
A cross between a court jester and a mad king, Yorgos Lanthimos has been on his way toward reigning over world cinema since “Dogtooth” introduced new meaning to words like “sea” and “excursion.” Apropos of its subject, “The Favourite” feels like a crowning achievement: a royal period piece led by the majestic triumvirate of Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz. Unlike the three women’s self-interested schemes, this 18th century drama isn’t a zero-sum game. Its palace intrigue is at once seductive and repellant, and there’s a kind of catharsis in seeing it reach its natural conclusion; as is often the case with Lanthimos, there’s a deep well of sadness beneath the humorous surface. —MN
“Green Book”
“Green Book”
Universal Pictures
This crowdpleaser (November 21) was the surprise TIFF hit, bringing multiple theaters to their feet. Comedy director Peter Farrelly (“Something About Mary”) jumped on the true story of erudite jazz musician Don Shirley and the beefy New Yawk bouncer who drove and protected him on a 60s concert tour of the Deep South and co-wrote a terrific screenplay brought to vivid life by two great actors with chemistry, Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen. It’s like jazz. This funny and serious charmer about two very different men learning to appreciate each other is hard to capture in a trailer, so Universal plans to screen the hell out of it. —AT
“The Hate U Give”
Amanda Stenberg in “The Hate U Give”
In George Tillman, Jr.’s “The Hate U Give,” adapted by Audrey Wells from Angie Thomas’ National Book Award winner of the same name, star Amandla Stenberg easily embodies both sides of her complex and engaging character, continuing to prove why she is one of the most exciting young actresses working today. Part coming-of-age story, part ripped-from-the-headlines drama, the story was initially inspired by the police shooting death of Oscar Grant. Tillman and Wells ably weave together a story with massive commercial appeal that also carries a timely message. Stenberg’s Starr is consumed by her seemingly disparate existences as a whipsmart teen in a mostly white high school and as a longtime resident of a fraught community. Those identities collide after a horrific tragedy. As Starr cycles through a “normal” teenage experience, from prepping for prom to fighting with her boyfriend, she must also grapple with emotional trauma and her growing awareness of the movements taking shape outside her door, getting hip to #BlackLivesMatter just as her own classmates are using the same revolution as a way to act hip. For all of its weighty subject matter, “The Hate U Give” is consistently entertaining and unabashedly designed for a wide audience. —KE
“Her Smell”
“Her Smell”
TIFF
Alex Ross Perry’s work has always had the courage to be profoundly unpleasant, but none of his previous stuff can prepare you for the incredible sourness of “Her Smell,” which is one of the most noxious movies ever made before it hits bottom and tunnels out through the other side. Not coincidentally, it’s also Perry’s best.
Imagine if Danny Boyle’s “Steve Jobs” was about Courtney Love in the mid-’90s, and you’ll have a pretty good sense of how this raw punk epic has been structured. Chronicling the reckless fall and tentative rise of punk rocker Becky Something — lead singer of the band Something She — “Her Smell” is told across five long scenes that stretch over 10 years, each of the vignettes unfolding in real time, and most of them set in the snaking bowels of a concert venue’s backstage area. Anchored by a bravely loathsome and unhinged Elisabeth Moss in the lead role, Perry’s film boasts one of the year’s very best supporting casts (including Eric Stoltz, Agyness Deyn, and Amber Heard), and it puts them all to great use in the service of a difficult but extremely rewarding story about the strength we get from the people in our lives. —DE
“High Life”
“High Life”
In many respects, the mesmerizing “High Life” is a first for writer-director Claire Denis: the first of her films to be shot in English, the first of her films to be set in space, and the first of her films to follow Juliette Binoche inside a metal chamber that’s referred to as “The Fuckbox,” where the world’s finest actress — playing a mad scientist aboard an intergalactic prison ship on a one-way trip to Earth’s nearest black hole — straddles a giant dildo chair and violently masturbates. Needless to say, “High Life” isn’t your average science-fiction movie. Co-starring Robert Pattinson as a death row inmate who’s sentenced to a lifetime of space exploration, this perseverant meditation on the end of human existence is a hypnotic voyage straight into the heart of the void, as Denis goes to the ends of the known universe to reaffirm that she’s one of the most exciting filmmakers on the planet. —DE
“If Beale Street Could Talk”
“If Beale Street Could Talk”
Annapurna
James Baldwin’s 1974 novel “If Beale Street Could Talk” depicts the experiences of a pregnant black teen in Harlem with a cinematic quality that practically reads like a screenplay. It’s no wonder that writer-director Barry Jenkins takes his cues from the source, transforming Baldwin’s evocative vision of young lovers grappling with race and class into a masterful poetic romance as Baldwin envisioned it. Yet Jenkins’ follow-up to “Moonlight” also maintains his own profound, expressionistic aesthetic, with its lush colors and entrancing faces that speak volumes in few words, resulting in a fascinating hybrid experience — a seminal voice of the past merging with one of the present in a mesmerizing burst of creative passion. —EK
“Roma”
“Roma”
Netflix
Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma” (December 14, Netflix) is the movie movie the Academy is most afraid of: an art film so extraordinary that it could vie for both the Best Foreign Language and Best Picture Oscar. More than one director who saw the film at fall festivals recognized the high-dive difficulty of Cuarón elaborately detailed long-shot sequences that pull the viewer into an immersive experience enhanced by rich, dense atmospheric sound. Participant’s David Linde helped him finance his most ambitious, personal, and autobiographical film, an upstairs/downstairs family drama which he shot himself in black-and-white with the Arri Alexa 65 camera and layered Dolby Atmos sound in the Mexico City neighborhood where he was raised. The “Gravity” Best Director Oscar-winner deploys all the tricks of digital technology to tell a deeply personal 1971 story from the point of view of his household nanny, Cleo (pre-school teacher Yalitza Aparicio). Over a series of stunning set pieces, we follow Cleo and the extended family through everyday challenges like the parents’ breakup and Cleo’s sexy romance with a man who first abandons her and then turns up unexpectedly during a violent student uprising. Before he returns to big-scale filmmaking, Cuarón joins his Best-Picture winner amigos Alejandro Gonzales Iñárritu (“Birdman”) and Guillermo del Toro (“The Shape of Water”) in showing us how to merge the personal and the political with art.
“A Star Is Born”
Lady Gaga in “A Star Is Born”
Warner Bros./YouTube
Believe the hype. Bradley Cooper’s long-gestating take on a Hollywood premise so classic that it’s already spawned three previous films is fresh, smart, and surprisingly emotional. It’s difficult to pinpoint its very best part, from Cooper managing to craft a screenplay and a performance that makes his male lead (in this one, country rocker Jackson Maine) to Lady Gaga utterly transforming into a believably worn-down wannabe singer-turned-major star to the songs (oh, the songs!) to Sam Elliott breaking hearts with just a glance, and that’s only the showiest stuff in a film that’s also gently wise to the demands of fame, the price of addiction, and what it means to give your very best to a world perhaps not good enough to deserve it. At its heart, it’s a big, bruising love story that seems destined to blow up the box office, but there’s deeper, darker stuff here worth the price of admission. —KE
“Sunset”
“Sunset”
Mátyás Erdély / Laookon Filmgroup
Béla Tarr may have retired, but Hungarian cinema has found a worthy standard-bearer in László Nemes. “Sunset” confirms the Oscar-winning “Son of Saul” director as a major talent, one whose sophomore feature is both astonishingly beautiful and profoundly sorrowful: It unfolds like a cross between a memory of pre-war Budapest and a dream, the kind so vivid you’ll swear it was real as you hang on to every half-remembered detail. Nemes displays flashes of his mentor’s formal mastery even as he emerges as a unique cinematic voice in his own right, one that may only grow louder and more prominent in the years to come. There’s sadness and beauty in every frame, as though the writer/director is nostalgic for this era despite not being born until many decades after the sun had indeed set on the Austro-Hungarian Empire. —MN
“Vox Lux”
“Vox Lux”
Venice Film Festival
As the coarse, moody pop singer Celeste, Natalie Portman deliver a stormy interpretation of an icon saddled with a culture that projects its sentiments onto her. Beginning with a traumatic high-school shooting and culminating in a performance that feels like a very different sensory assault, “Vox Lux” is a jarring deconstruction of the industry that “A Star is Born” explores in more familiar terms. brings a near-cartoonish intensity to her monstrous singer that elevates the movie to surreal heights. Writer-director Brady Corbet’s fascinating narrative unfolds across two time periods: In the first, set in the years leading up to 9/11, the teenage Celeste (breakout Raffey Cassidy, terrifically subdued) survives a near-death experience that leaves many of her classmates dead; when she sings a gentle ballad at a memorial service, it goes viral, instantly propelling her to national attention. Years later, she’s transformed into Portman’s angry caricature — a seething monstrosity whose entire existence embodies the national mood. Her climactic performance is a spectacular explosion of narcissism and rage that’s unique to modern times. —EK
“Widows”
“Widows”
Fox
A visual artist whose movies have dealt with starvation, sex addiction, and slavery, Steve McQueen has never been considered a safe commercial bet. That just makes “Widows,” his bracing, moody heist thriller about women who finish the robbery their husbands started, all the more satisfying: McQueen has made a first-rate genre exercise — led by a defiant Viola Davis in one of her very best roles — that doubles as a treatise on race and gender, juggling dramatic payoff with heavier themes. “Widows” embraces its trashy, melodramatic twists while deepening their potential. If all escapism looked like this, America would get smart again. —EK
Source: IndieWire film
September 15, 2018
Nicolas Cage Calls Ethan Hawke’s ‘First Reformed’ Performance ‘Extraordinary,’ Making This the Bromance of Our Dreams
Ethan Hawke recently won a Lifetime Achievement award at the Locarno Film Festival, but his fans aren’t confined to Switzerland. One of them is Nicolas Cage, who responded to praise from Hawke with kind words of his own: “Ethan is someone I have admired for a very long time, not only because he’s the compelling thespian that he is but also because he’s a multiple published novelist and a great filmmaker in his own right,” Cage tells Rolling Stone in a new interview. “For him to say that, I’m very touched.”
Cage continues, “especially at a time when actors can be very negative about each other in the press. That usually comes from insecurity. But because Ethan is a confident man and he has nothing to compete with, he’s someone I think we all look up to. He was very graceful about that, and I’m deeply moved by it.”
The Oscar winner then turns his attention to Hawke’s rightly acclaimed performance in “First Reformed.” “And, by the way, ‘First Reformed,’ well, it certainly has my vote for both Best Actor and Best Director. I thought what Paul [Schrader] and Ethan got up to in that movie was a collision of topical, relevant events in terms of the environment, fractured spirituality, and a tragic character that was very compelling to watch.”
“I’ve always been a fan, I’ve always thought he was extraordinary, but I’ve never seen Ethan go there in that way, and it was shocking and very powerful,” he adds. “I think they’re gonna have a great year.” One can only hope.
Source: IndieWire film
September 15, 2018
Anna Kendrick Tells Stephen Colbert About the Time She Called Obama an ‘A—hole’ to His Face — Watch
Anna Kendrick counts herself among President Barack Obama’s many fans, but that didn’t stop her from calling him an asshole the first time they met. The “Up in the Air” and “Pitch Perfect” star recalled the incident during an appearance on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” explaining how it began innocently enough: “I got an email saying, ‘Hey, do you want to meet the president?’” Kendrick said. “Naturally, I said, ‘Of what?’ and they were like, ‘The country, you idiot.’”
During the group meeting, Obama used a discussion of the economy as a segue to bring up “Up in the Air.” Later, when they met one-on-one, he told her, “I hope I didn’t embarrass you earlier.” Her response: “Yeah, you’re such an asshole.” Kendrick was clearly mortified, but appears to have recovered gracefully.
“Thinking about my conversation with the Secret Service agent, I said, ‘Yes, and actually I was the first person here,’” she went on to explain, referring to an earlier moment when she met a fellow Mainer. “And I start to talk about his Secret Service agent and he goes, ‘Are people from Maine really punctual?’ And I was like, ‘You didn’t know that? You’re the president.’” Watch the full exchange below, with the relevant portion beginning at 2:48:
Source: IndieWire film