The Best Foreign Language Film category at next year’s Oscars is shaping up to be extremely competitive. With the French drama Les Miserables very much in the mix, you’d think Amazon Studios wouldn’t want to compete against itself, but with the acclaim already heaped upon Karim Aïnouz’s Invisible Life it may be unavoidable.
Set in 1950 Rio de Janiero, Invisible Life tells the story of two close sisters who break free from their conservative upbringing to pursue their individual dreams, all while longing to be reunited someday. The film stars Carol Duarte, Julia Stockler, and Fernanda Montenegro.
Brazil has made Invisible Life its official selection in the Best Foreign Language Film category, where it’ll face stiff competition. Even if Les Miserables doesn’t get selected, one has to think Parasite and Pain & Glory definitely will.
SYNOPSIS: Rio de Janeiro, 1950. Eurídice, 18, and Guida, 20, are two inseparable sisters living at home with their conservative parents. Although immersed in a traditional life, each one nourishes a dream: Eurídice of becoming a renowned pianist, Guida of finding true love. In a dramatic turn, they are separated by their father and forced to live apart. They take control of their separate destinies, while never giving up hope of finding each other. A tropical melodrama from the director of Madame Satã.
It’s no surprise when Disney+ was first announced, the biggest projects revealed early on involved Star Wars and Marvel. As the streaming wars get more competitive, each is leaning on their biggest properties to lure in subscribers. Warner Bros. is looking to do the same for HBO Max, with their DC Comics superheroes possibly headed to the streaming platform.
In Variety’s comprehensive look at Warner Bros.’ future plans, they say HBO Max could become the home of more DC Comics movies and TV series, following a similar model to what Marvel Studios is doing on Disney+. While you can’t expect to live-action projects featuring big guns like Superman and Wonder Woman, lesser-known characters could be in line for their own shows, not to mention live-action films with a budget of around $65M. That number is roughly the cost it took to produce Joker, and we all saw how that turned out.
Something else you’re probably never going to see on HBO Max…or anywhere for that matter, is the “Snyder Cut” of Justice League. Despite constant calls from fans and even cast members, an inside source tells Variety, “That’s a pipe dream. There’s no way it’s ever happening.”
I don’t know why anybody ever thought it would. At this point, nothing anybody at WB says is going to stop the hashtags and petitions. It’s probably going to take Zack Snyder himself to snuff out this fire, and since it keeps his name out there why would he ever do that?
Monsters do exist. They don’t lurk under beds or in closets or faraway lands. They wear expensive suits and hold fancy high-priced dinners and lead billion-dollar multinational corporations peddling products that are slowly killing us. In Todd Haynes’ legal drama/eco-thriller Dark Waters, the crusader sent to take down evil is…a corporate defense attorney. Not exactly the champion we might expect, but if anybody can make us root for a lawyer to win it’s Mark Ruffalo, whose performance as a stalwart defender of justice holds this familiar if terrifying story together.
In his second DuPont-themed drama in a handful of years (following Foxcatcher), Ruffalo plays real-life activist and Cincinnati attorney Robert Bilott, who is approached by West Virginia farmer Wilbur Tennant (Bill Camp) with an unusual proposition. Tennant wants to hire him in a lawsuit against DuPont chemical company, a titan of industry whose products are part of the fabric of this country because he says the runoff from their plant is killing his livestock. The problem is that Bilott is a corporate defense attorney, he usually defends companies like DuPont. He’s the wrong guy to call if holding them accountable is what you’re looking for.
All it takes is one visit to Tennant’s hometown, a place Bilott knows quite well, to witness the nightmarish situation everyone there is living in, whether they realize it or not. The evidence is overwhelming, not only from the fields of dead cows but in the physical deformities of the town’s citizens: birth defects, brown teeth, etc., caused by DuPont’s poison. It compels Bilott to do what’s right, regardless of the threat to his job that’ll come with it.
Matthew Michael Carnahan and Mario Correa’s script, adapted from the 2016 New York Times article by Nathaniel Rich, can get pretty deep in the weeds as it talks about industrial materials such as PFOAs, used in Teflon and other household items. It’s probably been in your house at some point, if not right now, despite recently being labeled as potentially toxic. The technical jargon combined with all of the necessary legal movements Bilott must go through can become overwhelming and tiresome. Unlike The Report, another crusading investigative venture that mostly involves rifling through boxes of documents, Dark Waters doesn’t have as intense a protagonist whose energy propels the drama forward. Bilott is quiet, a bit timid, and in the beginning skirts around the edges of the case so as to ruffle as few feathers a possible. He has reason to be afraid of pissing anyone off.
Where Dark Waters truly captivates is in capturing the way a monolithic corporate entity like DuPont insidiously destroys lives, and hides in plain sight while doing it. In the small West Virginia coal towns Bilott visits, DuPont is all the people know. Companies like DuPont make themselves indispensable, not only to these towns but to the entire country. It makes taking them seem like an impossibility, and they’ve got legions of lawyers to help make it look that way. Bilott knows the game all too well and knowing he was once part of that corrupt system is part of what transforms him from a cautious snooper into a bulldog confronting DuPont CEO Phil Donnelly (Victor Garber) at black-tie dinners. Even then, after Bilott’s hackles have been properly raised, the film unfolds in a grim, workmanlike fashion.
Personally, I prefer fun Mark Ruffalo to studious Mark Ruffalo, but he’s still the right guy to play Bilott. He’s always had an everyman sensibility and it serves him well here, as Bilott seeks to challenge authority in the most humble way possible. The other big name alongside Ruffalo is Anne Hathaway, who plays Bilott’s wife, Sarah. That’s pretty much all she is, too. A former lawyer now a stay-at-home mother, Sarah contributes little to the story despite indications she could’ve played a much larger role. Sporting a thick West Virginia grumble as deep as his bushy eyebrows, Camp stands out as the frustrated Tennant.
Both enthusiastic champions for environmental justice, Haynes and Ruffalo can’t help but walk the audience along through every minute facet of the case and all of the scientific and legal mumbo-jumbo. That does cause the movie to drag for stretches at a time, and yes, it can also get a bit preachy and sanctimonious. For anyone who stays up on the evening news, Dark Waters will be confirmation of the institutional corruption they already knew was weighing on this country like an anvil. For others, Dark Waters will be the wake-up call they need that the things we need to survive, our food, our water, are always under threat and we can’t count on corporations to protect us.
With a pair of $1B-grossing films in Aquaman and Joker under their belt, not to mention Shazam’s critical acclaim, Warner Bros. is finally ready to get serious moving forward with their DC Comics properties. But as before, there continue to be a number of questions as to how they should proceed with Superman, Green Lantern, Batman, and others, without falling into the same slump they were in under the Zack Snyder era.
First off, there appears to be some movement in regards to the future of Superman, and it may not include Henry Cavill despite his insistence the role was still his. Variety confirms Warner Bros. has met with Michael B. Jordan to hear his pitch for the character. Jordan was rumored to be high on their list to replace Cavill, who has played Superman in three films beginning with 2013’s Man of Steel. The issue holding back an immediate deal is Jordan’s busy schedule, keeping him unavailable at least through 2023.
Meanwhile, Matt Reeves’ The Batman is moving right along for its planned 2021 release, but they are preparing for the long haul in case the film hits on a Joker level. Contracts being signed by actors including Zoe Kravitz, Colin Farrell, and Paul Dano, who play villains Catwoman, Penguin, and Riddler, respectively, have options for spinoffs included.
In what has to be seen as another direct response to Joker, which became the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever, Warner Bros. is now open to more films being given the mature tag. Birds of Prey and The Suicide Squad are both expected to be R-rated, even if their tones may not be as grim and dark as Joker was. With Disney possibly considering a PG-13 approach to the newly-acquired Deadpool, there will be a void of R-rated superhero projects that WB wants to fill.
There are also still hopes for Green Lanterns Corps and Flash movies, as well. No, they aren’t dead yet. Geoff Johns, who is working on a separate Green Lantern series with Arrowverse mastermind Greg Berlanti, plans to turn in a Green LanternCorps script by year’s end. J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions may take charge of that one, but if that doesn’t work out Berlanti could move to the film side. Despite the news of It director Andy Muschietti boarding The Flash some time ago, that one is still a long ways off, 2021 at the earliest, due to Ezra Miller’s commitments to Fantastic Beasts 3.
So there’s a lot going on at WB to fully take advantage of their incredible roster of superhero properties, but nothing is set in stone and we could see any plans change depending on how upcoming films perform.
It only takes a single movie to throw an entire franchise off-course. If Solo could derail Star Wars, and The Mummy could sink Universal’s Monsterverse, it’s should come as no surprise the lackluster response to Godzilla: King of the Monsters has upset Warner Bros. plans for Godzilla vs. Kong, which has now been pushed back eight months.
Warner Bros. has moved Godzilla vs. Kong all the way to November 20th 2020, just in time for Thanksgiving. This is the third release date shift for the colossal crossover, which was originally set for May 29th 2020 before being moved up to March, only to now drop all the way to November. Obviously, this is not a good look.
The film is to be directed by Adam Wingard (The Guest) with a cast that includes newcomers to the franchise as well as those who are coming back. Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Zhang Ziyi, Shun Oguri, Eiza González, Jessica Henwick, Julian Dennison, Kyle Chandler, and Demián Bichir are set to star.
Godzilla got the franchise off to an atomic start in 2014, earning $524M worldwide. That was followed up by 2017’s hit Kong: Skull Island with $566M. It was expected that Godzilla: King of the Monsters would keep the momentum going, but it slumped with just $385M, necessitating this delay.
As the final film in the “Skywalker Saga” in the Star Wars franchise draws near you may find yourself wondering, “Just how long do I have left to spend with these characters”. First I’ll say, you need a hobby if you’re just sitting around wondering that. Then I’d tell you that you have exactly 141 minutes (2 hours 21 minutes for those not inclined to math). J.J. Abrams was on EW’s Sirius XM show ‘EW Live’ and confirmed that the final cut was finished and it clocks in at 141 minutes, give or take a minute. Honestly, I would have been just fine if he said it was going to be 3 1/2 hours, I don’t want this to end and after re-watching the prequel trilogy, of which I was always one of those lone fanboys in support of their merits I can happily admit that the sequel trilogy is miles further ahead in quality. The only concern I have is that there is just TOO much to cover. Avengers: Endgame proved you can satisfactorily cover a TON of material in under 2.5 hours but that movie is one of a kind, it’s not an easy feat to accomplish. I mean, we have to understand where the first order is since the last film, how the resistance increased their numbers, why the emperor is back, all about the Knights of Ren, and Lando Freakin’ Calrissian, plus a whole lot more in that time WHILE wrapping up our heroes story in a satisfying way…it just doesn’t seem possible in the time allotted.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker force pushes it’s way into theaters on December 22nd, 2019.
I think the biggest takeaway I got from Rian Johnson’s Knives Out is how much fun he and the cast were having. For Johnson, who is still harassed on social media over The Last Jedi, this star-studded whodunnit was clearly a chance to cut loose and just enjoy making movies again. And you can see him having a good ol’ time in this classic-style trailer.
Johnson introduces an old school, black & white trailer for Knives Out, taking on the style of Hitchcock, Serling, and others. The film is an old-fashioned murder mystery, led by Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Toni Collette, Ana de Armas, Jaeden Martell, Katherine Langford, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, LaKeith Stanfield, and Jamie Lee Curtis. Christopher Plummer plays the wealthy patriarch Harlan Thrombey, who is found murdered on his birthday, with his selfish kin as the likely suspects.
Fans have been pretty hyped for this one, and if it does well Johnson says he may consider returning to do another. That’s if Craig decides to come back as detective Benoit Blanc. Johnson tells Screenrant…
“I would love to. We’ll see how this one does, you know. But if this movie does alright, if I can get together with Daniel every few years and do a new Benoit Blanc mystery? New location, new cast, new mystery. It’d be so much fun.”
Hey, want to watch a movie based on a psychiatric study? Maybe not under normal circumstances, but the trailer for Three Christs may change your mind. The film is based on the controversial 1964 book by psychologist Milton Rokeach, and his treatment of three schizophrenics who each believe they are Jesus Christ. How does a movie with Peter Dinklage, Walton Goggins, and Bradley Whitford suffering from delusions of grandeur sound? Sounds like fun to me.
Richard Gere leads as the doctor looking to make a breakthrough with his patients, without the use of electroshock therapy as was popular at the time. The film marks the return of Fried Green Tomatoes director Jon Avnet, his first since 2008’s Righteous Kill.
Debuting more than two years ago at TIFF, the reviews haven’t been glowing and that probably explains the long wait. Then again, the cast and the subject are worth taking a chance on, if you ask me.
SYNOPSIS: In 1959, psychiatrist Dr. Alan Stone (Richard Gere) arrives at a mental hospital in Ypsilanti, Michigan armed with the radical belief that schizophrenic patients should be treated not with confinement and electroshock therapy but with empathy and understanding. As his first study, he takes on the particularly challenging case of three men—Joseph (Peter Dinklage), Leon (Walton Goggins), and Clyde (Bradley Whitford)—each of whom believes they are Jesus Christ. Hoping that by getting them together in the same room to confront their delusions he can break through to them, Dr. Stone begins a risky, unprecedented experiment that will push the boundaries of psychiatric medicine and leave everyone involved—including Dr. Stone himself—profoundly changed. Based on a remarkable true story, Three Christs is a fascinating and moving look at one man’s journey into the deepest mysteries of the human mind.
Also starring Julianna Margulies, Stephen Root, and Kevin Pollak, Three Christs hits theaters and digital on January 24th 2020.
The Vietnam War was a quagmire the likes of which the United States had never seen up to that point. Our motives for conflict were so cloudy, so murky, that acts of valor were often overlooked until many years later with the benefit of distance and perspective. One such story is recounted in The Last Full Measure, which reunites a trio of Marvel veterans to honor a real-life hero.
Sebastian Stan, Samuel L. Jackson, and William Hurt, star in The Last Full Measure, about Vietnam War hero William Hart Pitsenbarger, an Air Force pararescueman who made the ultimate sacrifice to help protect his fellow soldiers. Stan plays a Pentagon staffer charged with investigating a Congressional Medal of Honor request, only to uncover decades of conspiracy to keep the truth of Pitsenbarger’s final mission a secret.
Jeremy Irvine plays Pitsenbarger, joined by Christopher Plummer, Ed Harris, Lisagaye Hamilton, Peter Fonda, Diane Ladd, Bradley Whitford, Linus Roache, Amy Madigan, and Alison Sudol. The film is written and directed by Todd Robinson, who last directed the 2013 submarine thriller Phantom.
SYNOPSIS: THE LAST FULL MEASURE tells the true story of Vietnam War hero William H. Pitsenbarger (Jeremy Irvine), a U.S. Air Force Pararescuemen (also known as a PJ) medic who personally saved over sixty men. During a rescue mission on April 11, 1966, he was offered the chance to escape on the last helicopter out of a combat zone heavily under fire, but he stayed behind to save and defend the lives of his fellow soldiers of the U.S. Army’s 1st Infantry Division, before making the ultimate sacrifice in the bloodiest battle of the war. Thirty-two years later, respected Pentagon staffer Scott Huffman (Sebastien Stan) on a career fast-track is tasked with investigating a Congressional Medal of Honor request for Pitsenbarger made by his best friend and PJ partner on the mission (William Hurt) and his parents (Christopher Plummer & Diane Ladd). Huffman seeks out the testimony of Army veterans who witnessed Pitsenbarger’s extraordinary valor, including Takoda (Samuel L. Jackson), Burr (Peter Fonda) and Mott (Ed Harris). But as Huffman learns more about Pitsenbarger’s courageous acts, he uncovers a high-level conspiracy behind the decades-long denial of the medal, prompting him to put his own career on the line to seek justice for the fallen airman.
I know what you’re thinking; OF COURSE Jedi can fly they can do pretty much anything. Leia flew through the airless, frozen void of outer space and somehow managed to not die. But that’s not what’s being referred to in the first clip from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
It’s the First Order’s squad of Stormtroopers who are flight-capable now, equipped with jet packs that has them leaping off of speeder bikes as they chase down Rey, Finn, Chewie, and Poe. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like being able to fly has improved their aim that much.
This is a really fun clip, but I hope we don’t get too many more. The less we see of J.J. Abrams’ film the better, and knowing him he’s going to keep a lot of it secret…if Lucasfilm allows it.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens December 20th.
