THE BRIEF
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association and Dick Clark Productions has set a date for the 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards – Sunday, January 8, 2017. The ceremony will air on NBC from 5-8 pm PST and 8-11PM ET live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Every so often a writer shines in our huddled little world of film coverage. That writer this week is Mark Harris, on the Oscar beat at Vulture this year. Harris chose to write up the success of Melissa McCarthy whose films must always be filtered through that “straight white guy” gaze each and every time they come out. I don’t see this as sexist, particularly, or misogynist or anything like that – it’s just this idea that the films might be aimed at women. And if they aren’t aimed at women, they would be aimed at people laughing AT McCarthy. Well, whatever the reason it does seem as though she could be suffering from Hillary Clinton syndrome – it doesn’t matter how successful or ambitious she becomes, she will always be painted as “struggling” or failing somehow.
Harris writes:
Critics can like or dislike these movies and her work in them, but to survey them in toto and perceive uniformity feels like a willful refusal to see her at all, an insistence that the difference between her various performances matters less than the sameness of her strange determination to continue to be Melissa McCarthy while starring in movies. Is it because she looks so different than other movie stars that some people have convinced themselves she’s always the same?
The powerful trailer offering us a first look at Birth Of A Nation has arrived. Produced, Written, and Directed by Nate Parker, the film tells the story about Nat Turner, a slave who led a rebellion in 1831 Virginia.
Fox Searchlight will release the film on October 7.
(Press Release) – Disney’s “The BFG” is to receive a Gala screening at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. The fantasy-adventure film will screen out of competition at the Palais des Festivals as part of this year’s festival, which runs May 11-22, ahead of its July 1, 2016 release date.
The talents of three of the world’s greatest storytellers – Roald Dahl, Walt Disney and Steven Spielberg – finally come together to bring “The BFG” to life. Continue reading…
Announced just a few hours as one of the films in competition next month at Cannes, here’s the official trailer for The Neon Demon, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, co-written by Mary Laws and Refn, and starring Elle Fanning and Keanu Reeves. Amazon Studios acquired The Neon Demon last November at the AFI festival and is expected to release the film in June alongside early-window availability on Amazon Prime Instant Video.
When aspiring model Jesse moves to Los Angeles, her youth and vitality are devoured by a group of beauty-obsessed women who will take any means necessary to get what she has.
After a brief delay due to labor-law protests by French entertainment workers, the Official Selection for the 69th Cannes Film Festival has been unveiled this morning in Paris. The festival begins on May 11.
Opening Night Film
Cafe Society – directed by Woody Allen
Ariel Vromen is an Israeli film director who discovered Gal Godot just weeks before she signed on to play Wonder Woman. She stars in his latest movie, Criminal, alongside Gary Oldman and Kevin Costner. Costner plays a dangerous criminal whose mind has been implanted with the skills of a dead C.I.A agent. I recently had the chance to catch up with the director while he was in LA promoting the thriller to talk about The Iceman, Criminal and the Frankenstein aspect that drew him to the film.
Awards Daily: One thing I noticed in the film, not only did you shoot in London, but you shot in Croydon, right?
Ariel Vromen: [laughs] That’s right. I was like, “Who recognizes Croydon?” Only people who’ve been in London for a long time and know it very well. Or people who know all about the model Kate Moss, because she was born there.
Zootopia has already made a staggering amount of coin, with a domestic total at $297,849,421, and international box office at $2,147,483,647. The Disney zoo animation pic was released March 4, a few months before Inside Out was (June, 2015) but it nonetheless has the same kind of buzz swirling around it. Last year at the Cannes Film Fest Zootopia was featured on a Disney/Pixar sizzle reel that also contained some footage – albeit minimal – for Finding Dory. Now, more footage of Finding Dory was shown at cinema-con to much excitement. Is this year going to be between Finding Dory and Zootopia?
Continue reading…
The LA Film Festival announced that Ricardo de Montereuil’s Lowriders will be the opening film. Produced by Brian Grazer and Jason Blum, Lowriders stars Eva Longoria and Gabriel Chavarria. Grazer said, “It is such an honor that the LA Film Festival has chosen Lowriders to open this year’s Festival. From their humble beginnings to their modern-day status as works of extraordinary art, these aren’t simply cars…they hold the imagination of the people and culture that create them.” He added, “Danny’s coming-of-age story is one of a son, a brother and a visionary, and we cannot wait to share Ricardo’s film with the world.”
Warner Bros. has released the first trailer for Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, and now we have a clear picture of what America’s wizarding world looked like in 1926. Eddie Redmanye plays Newt Scamander who has just arrived in New York, and Scamander has smuggled some magical beasts. However, one of the creatures escapes and Colin Farrell’s Percival Graves comes after him.
The film is based on the JK Rowling book which is a prequel to the Harry Potter series. Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them is released in November, and is part of a trilogy with the sequel coming out in 2018 and the final coming out in 2020.
Watch the trailer below:
