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Producers Guild Nominations Snub Two Films Directed by Women
5 January 2015 9:29 AM, PST | Thompson on Hollywood | See recent Thompson on Hollywood news »
The Producers Guild of America (PGA) is still picking ten Best Feature Producer nominations. The producers not only dovetail with one of the large voting blocks at the Academy, but are also dominated by white men. They also tend to favor bigger productions of scale and scope. While several women producers are included among the nominees, two notable films directed by women, Ava DuVernay's well-reviewed indie "Selma" and Angelina Jolie's Christmas hit "Unbroken," did not make the cut. Thus box office hits from popular Clint Eastwood, rising star "American Sniper" (Warner Bros.), David Fincher, thriller "Gone Girl," and Open Road's indie thriller "Nightcrawler," gain needed momentum in the Oscar derby, joining the usual tonier suspects that have been anointed by critics and awards pundits as Oscar frontrunners. Also nabbing a slot is dark mystery "Foxcatcher," which clearly »
- Anne Thompson
Check out a List of Star Wars: The Force Awakens Toys You Can Buy before Seeing the Movie
12 minutes ago | Collider.com | See recent Collider.com news »
Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens December 18th, seven days before Christmas. You can believe that Star Wars: The Force Awakens toys will be on sale long before that seven day window. The movie was basically forced into 2015 in order to appease Disney shareholders, and appeasing them means selling lots of Star Wars: The Force Awakens merchandise. Action figures, books, and more will litter store shelves starting in the fall, and people will buy them and hope that they're from a good movie. It will be the critical mass of teaser culture—buying things for a movie you haven't seen because Christmas is coming. So what kind of Star Wars: The Force Awakens toys will be on sale before the movie opens? Hit the jump to find out [minor spoilers ahead]. Rebel Scum has found a list of products Hasbro is soliciting for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, »
- Matt Goldberg
Watch: Ethan Hawke and Andrew Niccol Talk Drone Thriller 'Good Kill' (New Trailer, Interview)
28 minutes ago | Thompson on Hollywood | See recent Thompson on Hollywood news »
There was a time that a brainy anti-drone movie like "Good Kill" would be mid-priced studio fare. Kiwi native Andrew Niccol, who launched his Hollywood career by writing "The Truman Show," is one of those maverick indies who writes the movies that interest him, from "Gattaca" and "Lord of War" to "In Time." And Ethan Hawke is eager to collaborate with the filmmaker, even when the global marketplace is resistant to thoughtful original movies like "Good Kill." Returning for his third go-round with Niccol, Hawke stars as a former Top Gun who is benched in a Las Vegas military base trailer piloting drone aircraft. He goes home to his wife (January Jones) every night, but dropping bombs in Yemen and Afghanistan from 7,000 miles away is not his idea of how to fight a war--especially when the CIA gets involved. The film also stars Zoe Kravitz, Bruce Greenwood, and Jake Abel. »
- Anne Thompson
U.S. DVD Release Of 'Pride' Called Out For Removing References To Homosexuality
33 minutes ago | The Playlist | See recent The Playlist news »
Critically acclaimed, a box office success at home, and the winner of Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor at the British Independent Film Awards, "Pride" had no shortage of accolades in 2014. But when it came to releasing the film, CBS Films couldn't seem to figure out what to do with it. They dropped the movie in limited release on September 26th and try as they might, they couldn't get audiences to show up. But you might think that the awards accolades and critical praise might give them another shot on home video, but it seems they've bungled that too. PinkNews have pointed out that the U.S. DVD release of "Pride," which hit stores on December 23rd, was curiously absent of any references to homosexuality. And it's a bit odd considering the movie is based on the true story of Lgbt activists and mining union groups coming »
- Kevin Jagernauth
Good Kill Trailer Has Ethan Hawke Facing the Mental Trauma of Carrying out Drone Strikes
36 minutes ago | Collider.com | See recent Collider.com news »
The first Good Kill trailer has gone online. The new drama from Andrew Niccol (Gattaca) stars Ethan Hawke as a former pilot frustrated with his current assignment of flying drone missions from the safety of American soil. As the moral cost of his actions further weigh on his conscience, his mental composure begins to deteriorate. I saw the film last year at Tiff, and it yet again showed Niccol as someone who can come up with good ideas for movies, but sometimes has trouble executing his vision. The film plays more like an editorial on drone strikes, and you can already see that in this trailer with Bruce Greenwood pontificating about modern warfare. The topic is certainly worth discussion, but it would probably be better handled in a documentary, or at least a fiction film with more nuance. Hit the jump to check out the Good Kill trailer. The film »
- Matt Goldberg
What Would Steven Soderbergh Watch? Learning from the Director’s 2014 Media Diet
54 minutes ago | Filmmaker Magazine - Blog | See recent Filmmaker Magazine news »
In a world of countless choices — and insistent demands by others on your viewing time — the simple act of choosing a movie, a TV show, a book, a play can be fraught with indecision. After all, you only have so many hours left… For fans of Steven Soderbergh looking to step away from the algorithmic in terms of their media consumption — or just anyone looking for insight on the relationship between that director’s inputs and his output — there is his year published media diet, a list of everything he consumed the prior year. 2014’s has just […] »
- Scott Macaulay
First Demonic Trailer: Could the James Wan-Produced Haunted House Movie Be Worth the Wait?
54 minutes ago | Collider.com | See recent Collider.com news »
Demonic has been around for a while. Director Will Canon shot the film back in February of 2013, but it didn’t score a release date until late July 2014 and then in September, The Weinstein Company and Dimension Films nixed the December 12th release entirely. So when’s the film coming out? A new date has yet to be set, but according to the film's very first trailer, it’s coming soon. Demonic stars Frank Grillo as a detective and Maria Bello as a psychologist, and follows what happens when the pair investigates a brutal massacre inside an abandoned home that took the lives of five college students. Hit the jump to check out the first Demonic trailer. The film also stars Cody Horn, Dustin Milligan, Megan Park, Scott Mechlowicz and Aaron Yoo, and is produced by James Wan. You’d think a film that keeps getting delayed wouldn’t look too promising, »
- Perri Nemiroff
New Images from 2015 Blockbusters Avengers: Age Of Ultron, Mad Max: Fury Road, Terminator Genisys, and More
1 hour ago | Collider.com | See recent Collider.com news »
We're six days into the New Year, so it's time to get hyped for this summer's blockbusters. USA Today has released new images from Avengers: Age of Ultron, Mad Max: Fury Road, Terminator Genisys, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. None of these images are too spectacular on their own (Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America are looking at something!), but they're a reminder that we're headed to one of the biggest summers we've ever seen. And of these four, I'm most curious to see more from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. because it's the closest thing we have to an original picture since many audience members won't have seen the 1960s TV series. Hit the jump to check out the new Avengers: Age of Ultron image along with new stills from Mad Max: Fury Road, Terminator Genisys, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Via USA Today. Avengers: Age of Ultron (May 1st »
- Matt Goldberg
Watch: Xavier Dolan Video Essay Traces the 25-Year-Old Filmmaker's Evolution
1 hour ago | Thompson on Hollywood | See recent Thompson on Hollywood news »
Xavier Dolan exploded onto the international arthouse scene with his first film, 2009 Cannes Director's Fortnight breakout "I Killed My Mother," when he was just 19 years old. His latest and fifth film "Mommy," opening January 23, returns to the Oedipal themes of this accomplished debut, and in this well-executed video essay created by The Seventh Art, we see his lush, formally inventive filmmaking style evolve across his first four features leading up to "Mommy" (which was left off the Foreign Oscar shortlist despite enthusiasm for the film in both Canada and the Us). As Dolan explained in our recent interview, his fourth film, stormy psychosexual thriller "Tom at the Farm," has yet to be acquired for Us distribution even though it in Venice in 2013. Despite gay overtones, this film shouldn't have been a hard sell. It's accessible, darkly funny and contains beautiful people doing very bad things. So what gives? His other two films, »
- Ryan Lattanzio
Review: Jay & Mark Duplass' Terrific 'Togetherness' Is The Next Must See HBO Dramedy
1 hour ago | The Playlist | See recent The Playlist news »
Currently on HBO, there is no shortage of high concept, top tier television. The network's most popular show is the fantasy series "Game Of Thrones," their most critically acclaimed is the brooding "True Detective," while their comedy lineup takes viewers to the White House ("Veep"), tech industry ("Silicon Valley"), hospitals ("Getting On"), and into lives of young twenty-something women ("Girls"). But what sets "Togetherness" apart is just how unspectacular or controversial it is. The series follows four regular, middle-aged adults living in Los Angeles, just trying to make ends meet, make their relationships work, and find happiness in their lives. It sounds like the synopsis that launched a thousand Sundance movies, but the most remarkable thing about the show created by Mark and Jay Duplass is how new it all feels. Brimming with heart, humor, and a depiction of adult life that feels honest and real, »
- Kevin Jagernauth
Hard Road To Oscar: ‘Big Eyes’ Scribes Paint Picture Of 11 Years Being Knocked To The Canvas
1 hour ago | Deadline New York | See recent Deadline New York news »
When Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski came across the bizarre story of Walter and Margaret Keane, they thought they’d found a seamless vehicle on which to make their directorial debut. It was cheap, and had all the requisite characteristics of their best known scripts, Ed Wood, Man On The Moon and People Vs. Larry Flynt; charming oddball characters that never rose above the zeitgeist B-list. Tim Burton, who directed Ed Wood and Big Eyes, puts it best: “It’s what they excel at, their strongest work is finding weird real stories, torn from headlines you never read.” So why should their 11-year struggle to get Big Eyes made be anything but quirky and colorful?
Deadline: Where did you find this delightfully nutty tale of a man who stole credit for massively popular paintings art critics loved to slam, with his wife allowing herself to be shuttered in a studio, »
- Mike Fleming Jr
Watch Disney's Beauty And The Beast Villain Destroy A Cocky Tourist In A Push-Up Contest
1 hour ago | cinemablend.com | See recent Cinema Blend news »
Gaston from Beauty and the Beast is just vapid. He.s a living, breathing embodiment of misogyny, making him one of the most hated Disney villains of all time, especially after the pro-gender-equality effect Frozen.s had. In an attempt to out-man Gaston, though, a Disney park-goer challenged him to a push-up competition with the hopes of besting him at his own game. Unfortunately, that.s not how things played out. As you can see in the video, posted online by Blake Platt, Gaston once again earns the disdain of everyone around him by besting a civilian. "Perhaps he could use a hand," he taunted before turning this into a one-handed push-up contest. It.s fine, loyal park-goer. No one likes this guy anyway. The man shown losing horribly is Platt.s brother, and he had no idea his video would become a viral hit. To date, though, it has »
‘Boyhood’ Sweeps New York Film Critics Circle Awards
1 hour ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
In what could be a preview of the awards season ahead, “Boyhood” swept the New York Film Critics Circle Awards in downtown Manhattan on Monday night. The drama by Richard Linklater, which took twelve years to make, picked up best picture, best director and best supporting actress for Patricia Arquette; more prizes than any other film.
Timothy Spall won best actor for “Mr. Turner,” Marion Cotillard received best actress for her dual leading performances in “Two Days, One Night” and “The Immigrant,” and J.K. Simmons was named best supporting actor for “Whiplash.” The winners, which were announced in advance, were on hand to accept their prizes at a seated dinner at Tao Downtown from presenters such as Jake Gyllenhaal, Ethan Hawke, Bill Murray and Jon Stewart, who gave “Boyhood” the top prize.
“Why am I here?” Stewart asked. “When you win this many awards, you run out of people.” Stewart »
- Ramin Setoodeh
Geena Davis Launching Bentonville Film Festival to Push for Diversity in Film
1 hour ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Geena Davis is teaming with Arc Entertainment to launch the Bentonville Film Festival with the aim of highlighting diversity in film.
The festival, set for May 5-9 in the Arkansas city, is touting itself as the only film competition in the world to offer guaranteed theatrical, TV, digital and retail home entertainment distribution for its winners.
The festival — hosted by Arc Entertainment, Walmart, Coca-Cola and AMC Theatres — will be chaired by Davis and screen approximately 75 films in competition. Members of the advisory board are Angela Bassett, Bruce Dern, Samuel L. Jackson, Randy Jackson, Eva Longoria, Julianne Moore, Paula Patton, Natalie Portman, Nina Tassler and Shailene Woodley.
Davis noted that she has been a longtime advocate for increasing participation by women and minorities in the entertainment industry.
“The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media is dedicated to improving the representation in gender and diversity of talent, filmmakers, and business leaders by growing awareness through research, »
- Dave McNary
Martin Luther King III on ‘Selma': ‘A Very Emotional Experience’
1 hour ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
The children of Martin Luther King Jr. have been fairly quiet so far on the subject of Paramount’s “Selma,” the Ava DuVernay-directed drama about their father’s 1965 voting-rights march through Alabama. This should come as little surprise to anyone familiar with the King family’s fractious dynamics in recent years, as the three surviving heirs — Martin Luther King III, Bernice King and Dexter Scott King — have often been at odds on matters related to the civil rights leader’s celebrated legacy. (Their older sister, Yolanda Denise King, died in 2007, at age 51.)
In recent months, however, Paramount has courted the King children’s support, not without a measure of success. Bernice King attended a screening that producer Oprah Winfrey hosted at her home in Montecito, Calif., for legends of the civil rights movement, while Martin Luther King III was present at the film’s New York premiere.
King III, »
- Justin Chang
Germain’s Not Quite Top 10 Movies of 2014
1 hour ago | Slash Film | See recent Slash Film news »
Top-ten lists can be predictable. They often feature the same 15 or so movies, recycled and reshuffled to a point where it’s pretty obvious those were the best movies of the year — or at least the ones that made it to the top of the consensus pile. But out of the hundreds of films […]
The post Germain’s Not Quite Top 10 Movies of 2014 appeared first on /Film. »
- Germain Lussier
Trailer Watch: The Frankensteined Remains of David O. Russell’s Nailed
1 hour ago | Filmmaker Magazine - Blog | See recent Filmmaker Magazine news »
You may remember this one: six years ago, Nailed, David O. Russell’s proposed follow-up to I Heart Huckabees, had massive financing problems. The would-be political satire about a waitress (Jessica Biel) who gets a nail to the head was ultimately scrapped and lain aside. In the meantime, the once-galvanizing director embarked on his Huckabees‘ apology tour, going from the not-bad The Fighter to the increasingly dispiriting (but renumerative) The Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle. Now whatever footage was shot (it’s unclear, though the Internet says crucial plot parts were never filmed) has been cobbled into some kind of grotesque thing that walks the earth, with […] »
- Vadim Rizov
Geena Davis, Arc launch Bentonville Film Festival
1 hour ago | ScreenDaily | See recent ScreenDaily news »
Geena Davis and Arc Entertainment have launched the Bentonville Film Festival (Bff) to champion women and diversity in film.
The festival will take place from May 5–9 in Bentonville, Arkansas, and styles itself as the first and only competition in the world to offer guaranteed theatrical, television, digital and retail home entertainment distribution for its winners.
Arc Entertainment, Walmart, Coca-Cola and AMC Theatres will host the event, to be chaired by Davis, which will screen 75 films in competition ranging from studio premieres to independent features and documentaries.
The festival’s advisory board is comprised of entertainment industry leaders and artists such as Angela Bassett, Bruce Dern, Samuel L Jackson, Randy Jackson, Eva Longoria, Julianne Moore, Paula Patton, Natalie Portman, Nina Tassler and Shailene Woodley.
“I have been an advocate for women for most of my adult life,” said Davis. “The Geena Davis Institute On Gender In Media is dedicated to improving the representation in gender and diversity of talent »
- jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
Podcast: Oscar Talk, Most Disappointing Movies of 2014 & Revisiting the 'Beyond the Lights' Conversation
1 hour ago | Rope of Silicon | See recent Rope Of Silicon news »
It's the first episode of 2015 and we're ready for the new year. We get things started with a couple of stories from the last week or so, revisiting some of what we watched and read, before getting into our most disappointing movies of 2014. Then it's listener questions, which lead us to reevaluating our Beyond the Lights conversation as well as the casting of Scarlett Johansson in Ghost in the Shell as well as some awards discussion such as what the hell Paramount is doing with Selmac Then it's games and some playoff predictions before signing off. Hope you enjoy. If you are on Twitter, we have a Twitter account dedicated to the podcast at @bnlpod. Give us a follow won'tchac I want to remind you that you can call in and leave us your comments, thoughts, questions, etc. directly on our Google Voice account, which you can call and leave »
- Brad Brevet
Watch: First 10 Minutes Of SyFy Series '12 Monkeys' Takes You To The Year 2043
1 hour ago | The Playlist | See recent The Playlist news »
Even though Terry Gilliam isn't involved, that small screen adaptation of one of his best movies, "12 Monkeys," still holds lots of potential. The premise is ripe to be explored in an episodic format, and even though it's set in the future, there is a certain timeliness to the subject matter. But can SyFy make it work? Well, here's the first ten minutes of the series, so you be the judge. And straight off, we'll just say this — the acting leaves a lot to be desired. Granted, this is SyFy, but there is something stilted and slightly too serious in the material here, and it's missing Gilliam's touch of surreality and humor. But to be fair, this is just the pilot, and if we based every series off the first episode, we'd have given up on all of our favorite shows ages ago. Here's the official synopsis: The show follows the journey of a time traveler, »
- Kevin Jagernauth
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