Berlinale 2016: A Recap
With Meryl Streep presiding over the festival’s international jury, the 66th Berlinale handed out awards yesterday and drew to a close. The Golden Bear went to Fuocoammare, or Fire at Sea, a tragic and topical Italian-French co-production from the director Gianfranco Rosi. Taking place on the Sicilian island Lampedusa, the documentary thoughtfully and powerfully examines the ongoing refugee crisis, through the lens of a 12-year-old Italian boy,
Disney Unveils New Alice Through the Looking Glass Trailer
Walt Disney Pictures dropped a new Alice Through the Looking Glass trailer at “The Wonderful World of Disney: Disneyland 60” special on Sunday night. If you're not hip to what's happening in Wonderland, here's a quick refresher: Alice (Mia Wasikowska) is returning to a Wonderland that's under siege, reuniting with friend and foe alike, to face off against Time itself, or in this case, himself. Time is a bizarre half clock, half human creature played by Sacha Baron Cohen.
New Batman v Superman Batmobile Clip
From their clever partnership with Turkish Air and these two great Super Bowl spots, to the last official trailer (which was, by far, the best of the bunch), Warner Bros. has been feeding us ample Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice bits. The latest little taste of titanic battle between Gotham's Dark Knight and Metropolis's alien god is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it clip of Batman (Ben Affleck) behind the wheel of cinema's most beloved car. It'll be interesting to see just how dark Snyder took the Dark Knight—
Watch the New Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny Trailer
Netflix dropped a fresh Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny trailer, and it reminds us once again of how Michelle Yeoh as Yu Shu-Lien is still one of the most underrated bad asses in film this century. You remember her from Ang Lee’s 2000 Academy Award-winning original film, and now she's the center of Netflix's followup. Sword of Destiny will hit IMAX theaters and Netflix worldwide on February 26. Crouching Tiger,
Judd Apatow Brings the Love to Netflix
The warts and all view of relationships we know and love from Judd Apatow’s comedies is set to become bingeable with today’s premiere of his Netflix series Love. Love follows dorky nice guy Gus (Paul Rust) and freewheeling tough girl Mickey (Gillian Jacobs) as they embark on a relationship. The half hour comedy series was created, written and executive produced by Apatow, Rust and Lesley Arfin. It was originally conceived as a film by husband and wife team Rust and Arfin (who was a writer on the Apatow-produced Girls) and Apatow helped them develop it into a TV rom-com about a slow-burning romance.
Berlinale 2016: Jude Law Works the Good and Bad in Genius
Opening yesterday at the 66th Berlinale was Genius, a reflective tale of extreme talent and the monstrosity that can be wrought by it, based on the short creative life of early 20th century writer Thomas Wolfe (Jude Law). The movie is the directorial debut of British theater director Michael Grandage, who does an admirable job re-creating New York on the edge, crashing from Jazz Age paradise into slummy Great Depression chaos (Wolfe’s first novel,
Stephan James Trained Like Olympic Legend Jesse Owens for Race
The punishing training regimes that actors undergo to transform their bodies for roles is well-documented: think Hugh Jackman, Chris Pratt, Michael B. Jordan, Chris Hemsworth and Ryan Reynolds, who have all pumped up the volume on their muscles at various times to play heroes on the silver screen. Jordan, in particular, turned his body into a credible fighting machine for his outstanding performance in Creed.
But for Canadian actor Stephan James,
This The Other Side of the Door Clip is Very Creepy
Director Johannes Roberts' The Other Side of the Door teases out two oft-used conceits in horror films; 1) people always disobey grave warnings, no matter how dire the promised consequences are, and 2) a mother will do anything, anything for her child. In this case, the mother (Sarah Wayne Callies) will do anything to bring her son (Jax Malcolm) back to life, which includes using an ancient ritual and disregarding a warning about the portal between life and death.
10 Cloverfield Lane Hides Subliminal Images in New Trailer
For those of you who saw Deadpool over President's Day weekend, you also got a chance to see the new trailer for 10 Cloverfield Lane, the horror/thriller/sci-fi romp by J.J. Abrams production company Bad Robot. Now the film was already shrouded in secrecy, so the news emerging from the latest trailer is, if not surprising, at least interesting. According to ScreenCrush,
Idris Elba Makes a Strong Case in Bastille Day Trailer
Bastille Day has the opportunity to be two things; a potentially exciting original film in its' own right, and, a two hour test reel proving that there’s no one better suited to take over the role of James Bond than Idris Elba. Period. End of story.
Now back to Bastille Day—the film follows a young American artist (Richard Madden, Game of Thrones) living in Paris mainly off the proceeds of his pick pocketing.
Midnight Special Tests Information-Free Waters at the Berlinale
Science fiction, thriller, or family drama? Jeff Nichols’ latest film, Midnight Special, which opens this week after premiering at the Berlinale, absorbingly mixes all three genres. Lead actor and perpetual Nichols collaborator Michael Shannon is a valiant dad on the run, trying to save his eight-year-old son, Alton (Jaeden Lieberher), from both a religious cult and the US government. These two entities are equally fervent — if sometimes mysteriously so —
Watch the new Alice Through the Looking Glass TV Spot
Alice Through the Looking Glass opens in theaters on May 27, but Disney used last night's Grammy Awards as a prime spot to showcase this spot for their fantasy sequel. Alice (Mia Wasikowska) is coming back to Wonderland, reuniting with The Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter), the Blue Caterpillar (the late, great Alan Rickman), and the White Queen (Anne Hathaway). Your newcomers are director James Bobin (replacing Tim Burton), Sacha Baron Cohen as Time and Rhys Ifans as Zanick Hightopp.
The Wild Hail, Caesar! Press Conference at the 66th Berlinale Film Festival
An unwitting, kidnapped communist. A gay (or so implied) tap dancing undercover agent. Very angry rival twin gossip columnists. These are George Clooney, Channing Tatum, and Tilda Swinton in Joel and Ethan Coen’s latest, Hail Caesar!, which doesn’t have quite the gravitas of, say, No Country For Old Men, or even A Serious Man, but more than makes up for that in chuckles,
Jesus Returns (Again) to the Big Screen in Risen
Another year, another dramatic Bible rendering. The latest in a pantheon of Jesus film depictions, the movie Risen opens on February 19, dramatizing Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. The action is seen through the eyes of some of the bad guy Roman non-believers, Clavius (Ralph Fiennes) and his assistant, Lucius (Tom Felton), who are tasked with finding out where exactly Jesus disappeared to after crucifixion. More action than spiritual reflection, many red paludamentums are angrily swung around during the sturm and drang that ensues in the hunt for Christ’s body.
Rebel Wilson Continues Her Hilarious Sidekick Reign of Terror in How to Be Single
For audiences revolted by romantic comedies and in equal measure, for those who love them, How to Be Single, which opens Friday, should attract them both thanks to Rebel Wilson, the comedic sidekick who really makes this girl-buddy comedy. The Australian actress plays the confident, sassy happily single foil to Dakota Johnson’s mousy Alice, a not-so-happily single co-worker looking for love and a new life, the girl-who-needs-to-learn-to-let-it-all-hang-out.
And who better to impart that skill than Robin (Wilson),
Morena Baccarin on Not Playing the Good Girl in Deadpool
As the tough-talking prostitute/love-interest Vanessa in Deadpool, Morena Baccarin gets to shake off her good-girl persona. We chat with her about playing an unconventional character, how the comic book genre is creating some surprisingly complex roles for women, and why she won’t be signing up to star in an action movie any time soon.
How Deadpool’s Tight Budget Helped Create a New Kind of Marvel Film
To understand how we ended up with the wisecracking, dirty-talking, unapologetically murderous Deadpool we already know and love- thanks to an aggressive marketing campaign- we have to go back to the origin story of this origin story.
The project had been kicking around at Fox for more than a decade when in July, 2014, two minutes of test footage was leaked on the web, portraying a very different kind of superhero.
Deadpool set to Crush President’s Day Weekend
With the reviews of Deadpool solid (it’s sitting at an 83% fresh rating on RottenTomatoes.com) and the full court press media blitz leading up to the film release on Friday, you will probably not be surprised to hear the film is going to do very well this weekend. The critical consensus about Deadpool is that the wiseass mercenary played by Ryan Reynolds brings the funny, foul-mouthed, fourth-wall-obliterating central character off with vim and vigor.
Charlize Theron May Go From Furiosa to Fast 8 Villain
All it took was a little axle grease mascara, a claw for an arm the ability to plausibly beat the snot out of Tom Hardy in Mad Max: Fury Road to make Charlize Theron’s Furiosa one of the most iconic characters of the past few years. Theron’s Furiosa immediately warrants mention with other deathless big screen heroines like Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor in The Terminator and T2 and Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley in Alien and Aliens.
Jane Fonda Honored With The Coolidge Award for Excellence in Film
After a career spanning 1960 to the present, Jane Fonda may be entitled to be called an icon or Hollywood royalty. But when the two-time Oscar winner, author, heath and fitness entrepreneur, activist and humanitarian was in Boston recently to be feted by the independent, non-profit Coolidge Corner Theater, she was the opposite of regal.
Yes, Fonda dressed in elegant, bejeweled black and exuded a classy professionalism. But she engaged with audiences at a fundraising dinner and at
