TIFF 2019: Getting Weird With Synchronic‘s Director Aaron Moorhead and Star Ally Ioannides
Anthony Mackie (Avengers: Endgame) and Jamie Dornan (Fifty Shades of Gray) are well known for playing superheroes and super seducers, respectively. For Aaron Moorhead and Justin Aaron Moorehead’s trippy, gripping new drama Synchronic, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, the two stars went a decidedly different direction. Mackie and Dornan play a pair of paramedics in New Orleans, longtime best friends plying the same job but at very different points in their lives...
TIFF 2019: Legendary Cinematographer Roger Deakins on Capturing The Goldfinch
Cinematographer Roger Deakins, best known for his work on the films of the Coen brothers, Sam Mendes, and Denis Villeneuve, whose Blade Runner 2049 earned Deakins his first Oscar last year after 14 nominations, is no stranger to complex adult dramas. For The Goldfinch, Deakins and director John Crowley worked carefully to bring Donna Tartt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel to the screen without falling into the traps that often snare book adaptations...
Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker Won’t Meet Robert Pattinson’s Batman
It ain’t happening, folks. Todd Phillips’ Joker made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival (where it won the fest’s big prize, the Golden Lion) and has been drawing huge crowds at the Toronto International Film Festival. This has meant that Phillips has found himself at a lot of press events recently, and so the inevitable question had to arise at some point; would Joaquin Phoenix‘s Joker ever meet Robert Pattinson’s Batman?...
TIFF 2019: Tammy’s Always Dying Director Amy Jo Johnson on her Bittersweet Mother/Daughter Drama
Director Amy Jo Johnson‘s second feature film manages to coax humor from situations that are not terribly funny. Terminal alcoholism, cancer, and feelings of loneliness, isolation, and insecurity are not usually the ingredients for laughs, but Johnson and her stellar cast turn these devastating pieces into a bittersweet whole. Johnson, a former actress (Felicity, Flashpoint), has a deft touch with her game ensemble, which stars Felicity Huffman in a bravura performance as the always dying Tammy,...
Angelina Jolie is Back in Black in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil Video
Sometimes the simplest promo ideas are the most effective. Hat’s off to whoever conceived of this new Maleficent: Mistress of Evil video. It’s just Angelina Jolie getting her hair and makeup done, in black and white, set to AC/DC’s “Back in Black.” It’s a time-lapse video, so we see a sped-up version of Jolie becoming the powerful fairy Maleficent in under a minute. The coup-de-grace is a moment after the large, horned headpiece is put on,...
It: Chapter Two Composer Benjamin Wallfisch on Scoring Pennywise’s Final Act
Benjamin Wallfisch is an award-winning composer of over 60 feature films, best known for scores like Hidden Figures and Blade Runner 2049. He created the score for Andy Muschietti’s 2017’s adaptation of Stephen King’s It, and was brought back to help finish the two-part epic in It: Chapter 2. The Credits talked to Wallfisch about his experience building on the first film, and how he brought nuance,...
Directors Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman on Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice
There are few musicians as giving as Linda Ronstadt. Throughout her robust career, she gave new life to the songs she covered, from “Blue Bayou” to “Different Drum,” rendering them more heartbreaking and affecting than the previous versions. She gave her blessing to her old band, who went on to form The Eagles, and also their first, “Desperado.” She was happy to give the spotlight to her contemporaries, and collaborated with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris (for the iconic Trio albums),...
TIFF 2019: Noah Baumbach’s Devastating Marriage Story
One of the buzziest films at this year’s TIFF was writer/director Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story. Starring Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver as Nicole and Charlie Barber, a couple who have already agreed to divorce by the time our story begins, Baumbach’s latest is a bittersweet gem. The lead performances from Johansson and Driver are as good as you’d both hope and expect. Baumbach’s script offers no villains, no easy outs, and no clean explanations on why, exactly, a marriage falls apart,...
TIFF 2019: Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit Makes the Heart Leap
There’s a reason Taika Waititi has become, to film lovers at least, a household name. For longtime followers, his genius hasbeen evident for years. From What We Do in the Shadows (2014) to Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), Waititi’s unique blend of comedy, compassion, and fearlessness has been apparent in spades. Once he deployed his one-of-a-kind sensibility for the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Thor: Ragnarok (2017), his abilities and his name became widely known...
TIFF 2019: Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite Gets Under Your Skin
There are no gentle super pigs (Okja), jellied roach bars (Snowpiercer), or colossal monsters (The Host), yet writer/director Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite manages to shock and surprise aplenty. There are dastardly deeds, masterful performances, and diabolical twists. The film reminds you that there is a very, very good reason this South Korean auteur is considered one of the best filmmakers alive; only he seems capable of making these movies...
TIFF 2019: The Mad Genius of The Lighthouse
Mythic, surprisingly funny, and gleefully mad, Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse does for the craggy, wind-blasted island what his first feature, The Witch, did for the New England woods. Man is menaced and made small by nature but is also revealed to be as monstrous and volatile as nature itself. Featuring two go-for-broke performances by Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson, The Lighthouse manages to convey a sense of merriment within its misery...
Director Zach Lipovsky on Becoming and Believing in Canadian Filmmakers
Alejandro González Iñárritu’s epic The Revenant about fur trappers in the icy forests of South Dakota and Montana in 19th century was filmed largely in British Colombia and Alberta. Andy Muschietti’s It and It: Chapter Two, set in the fictional Derry, Maine, was filmed largely in Ontario. These films, and many, many other made-in-Canada productions, utilize Canada’s talented local film crews, natural splendor,...
Director Nimisha Mukerji is one of Canada’s Many Rising Filmmakers
A rising tide lifts all boats, and the tide of productions in Canada has been rising fairly steadily for years. Many blockbuster productions and popular television series’ are utilizing Canada’s large film crew community, natural splendor, and tax incentives. From the forbidding icy forests of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant (filmed largely in British Colombia and Alberta) to the postcard-perfect but deeply sinister setting of Derry for Andy Muschietti’s It and It: Chapter Two, ...
Composer David Newman Talks Heathers, Serenity, and West Side Story
On August 23rd, Varese Sarabande released a limited edition version of the score of the cult classic Heathers on vinyl in honor of the film’s 30th anniversary. For fans, it’s high time. The original movie score, which was created by composer David Newman, has been surprisingly difficult to access but represents one of the better examples of early electronic-based compositions. Stranger Things, which coincidentally stars Heathers’ Winona Ryder, is in part responsible for renewed interest in music with that 80s aesthetic...
Who is Noami Ackie’s Jannah in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker?
Talk about a hero shot. This new image of Naomie Ackie’s Jannah, who has a significant role in J.J. Abrams Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is, in a word, commanding. What we know about Jannah could maybe fill a thimble. Ackie was on hand at the recent Star Wars Celebration in Chicago, where moderator Stephen Colbert asked her to verify or deny a rumor that Jannah was the daughter of Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams)...
Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are Back in First Bad Boys for Life Trailer
Folks, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are back for Bad Boys for Life, the third and seemingly final installment in their Miami-set action series. Mike Lowery (Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) know a thing or three about causing trouble (and driving Joe Pantoliano’s Captain Howard bananas) and stopping even worse trouble (mostly the villainy kind). Sony has released the first trailer for directing duo’s Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah’s upcoming film, which sees Burnett in a new role of police inspector,...
Michael B. Jordan is Trailblazing Civil Rights Attorney Bryan Stevenson in Just Mercy Trailer
A stellar cast, an incredible true story, and a super talented co-writer and director? Such are the ingredients of Destin Daniel Cretton‘s Just Mercy, which stars Michael B. Jordan as civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson (the film is adapted from Stevenson’s book “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption”), as he tries to free a death row inmate who had been sentenced for a murder that he didn’t commit. Warner Bros. has released the film’s stirring first trailer,...
It: Chapter Two Featurette Teases Final Battle With Pennywise
“This is the end of It,” director Andy Muschietti promises us at the start of this featurette, appropriate titled “It Ends.” You know that Muschietti, his screenwriter Gary Dauberman, and the cast and crew have pulled off something special in their two-part adaptation of Stephen King’s iconic novel when King himself has become not only a fan but (spoiler alert) makes a small cameo in Chapter Two. King’s also on hand in this featurette,...
Matthew McConaughey Pays the Price in First Between Two Ferns: The Movie Trailer
You never know what’s going to happen when you find yourself sitting across from Zack Galifianakis and betwixt two ferns. Behold, the first trailer for Between Two Ferns: The Movie, which takes Galifianakis’s beloved Funny or Die web sketch and gives it the feature film adaptation we’ve been waiting for. There is nobody better at playing painfully awkward and emotionally volatile like Galifiaiankis, and his celebrity interviews gone horribly wrong has been one of Funny or Die‘s most consistently funny bits over the years...
Robert Pattinson on Trying on the Batsuit for The Batman
Now that Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker made its startling debut at the Venice Film Festival, the era of a whole new Gotham is upon us. You can include Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson’s upcoming The Batman as part of a brand new look at DC’s reigning champs, supervillain and superhero, respectively. While Joker will be hitting theaters on October 4, we won’t know what kind of Gotham Reeves and Pattinson have conjured up for quite some time; ...
