Marielle Heller at Tribeca

by Murtada Elfadl

Marielle Heller has built quite a reputation as a director based on two films; Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015) and Can You Ever Forgive Me (2018). We attended a talk at the Tribeca Film Festival in which she was interviewed by the writer Jo Piazza. They talked about how she started as an actor and her transition to writing and directing. Of course she mentioned her next project, scheduled to come out later this year, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. Tom Hanks plays Mr. Rogers in the film, but Heller was adamant that it’s not a biopic. She said it's a story about fathers and sons and based on journalist Tom Junod (Matthew Rhys) profile of Mr. Rogers. 

“Mr. Rogers is not the lead character. You can’t create a narrative around Mr. Rogers because he’s too good...”

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Auditions: "La La Land"

Our new series from Ginny O'Keefe, who knows from auditions as an actress in Los Angeles...

One of the most notable audition scenes in recent years comes from the sugar-coated musical hit film about how hard it is to make it Hollywood, whether you’re an aspiring actress or an attractive White guy who (for some reason) really wishes jazz music would go back to its roots. [I can’t even tell you how many White guys I’ve met in LA who constantly preach about how we need to save jazz music ... /sarcasm]. Yeah, you guessed it. This week's audition is from La La Land.

This film has its flaws. One of which is casting two A-list actors who pretend to be struggling artists in the unforgiving Tinseltown. (I personally think this film would have come across better if they cast two unknowns for the lead roles. Keep John Legend though, he’s good).  

But one particular sparkly gem in this film is an audition scene which puts Emma Stone’s character, Mia, in the spotlight to show her talent and how good she really is. Sometimes (most of the time) in Hollywood, good just isn’t enough...

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Chan's the Man

By Salim Garami

What's good?

This past Tuesday saw the home video Criterion Collection release of a 4K restoration for Police Story and Police Story 2, two of movies that made a household name out of Hong Kong international superstar Jackie Chan. Chan is ostensibly a man who needs no introduction in the world of action cinema, but put it this way: the bodily injury and risk, the way this man twists and flips his body and face for our entertainment, the rigorous and grueling discipline that he pushes despite looking so rubbery and clownish... it all makes Tom Cruise's high-altitude climbs and dives look like square cowardice.

The Hong-Kong-based actor-director is a more painful descendent of the school of physical comedy that Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton opened up, utilizing his background in the Peking Chinese Opera to make things as small as answering multiple phone calls look like athletic feats...

In order to illustrate his excellence and to celebrate this canonization and recognition through the Blu-Ray set release, I've opted to provide two mini-lists here: his top five fights in this post and his top five solo stunts in a post later tomorrow...

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What did you see this weekend?

Weekend Box Office Estimates May 3rd-5th (ESTIMATES) 🔺 = New or Expanded Theater Count
W I D E 800+ screens	PLATFORM / SPECIALTY TITLES 800 screens or less
Long Shot	El Chicano
1 Avengers: Endgame  $145.8 (cum. $619.6)	1🔺 El Chicano  $700k on 605 screens *NEW*
2 🔺 The Intruder $11 *NEW*	2 🔺 Amazing Grace $367k on 263 screens (cum. $2.7)
3 🔺 Long Shot  $10 *NEW* REVIEW	3 🔺 Red Joan $253k on 139 screens (cum. $527k) DAME JUDI
4 🔺 Uglydolls  $8.5 *NEW*	4 The Mustang  $151k on 229 screens (cum. $4.8)
5 Captain Marvel $4.2 (cum. $420.7) REVIEW	5 🔺 The White Crow $98k on 19 screens (cum. $210k)

Though they didn't hit the top five among limited releases both Olivier Assayas's Non-Fiction and Zhang Yimou's Shadow opened with decent per screen averages in very limited release so expect them to expand a bit soon. Meanwhile Claire Denis's High Life just crossed the million dollar mark making it her biggest hit in the US since Chocolate back in 1989. 

Avengers Endgame is already the 2nd biggest film of all time globally (not adjusted for inflation) having beaten Titanic's total gross this weekend by just a single million at this writing. Only Avatar remains to be conquered. 

Yes No Maybe So: "Gemini Man"

by Eurocheese

Let's do a Yes No Maybe So on a strangely under the radar film (given the names involved). When Nathaniel put out the call for more trailer coverage, I though I'd give the Gemini Man trailer a second look because honestly, when I saw the trailer in theaters I was completely confused. This is not what I expected as a next step for either Ang Lee or Will Smith, two names none of us might have ever thought to link. If I had predicted them working together, I would not have pictured a somber sci-fi action film. 

The YNMS breakdown is after the jump... 

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