Review: "Justice League"

by Chris Feil

Has the DCEU gotten all that brooding out of its system now that the team is finally together? The answer delivered in Justice League is a "yes... but.” Here the combined powers of Batman, Wonder Woman, and (you likely guessed it) the reanimated corpse of Superman are joined by three new cohorts, though they are hardly to blame for the series’s new tonal obstacles that it has created for itself.

As teased in Batman v Superman, we get three new heroes and luckily more texture for the Gotham / Metropolis twin city scene. Ezra Miller as The Flash is the biggest breakout, all snappy wit and wide-eyed amazement at his and the team’s abilities. Cyborg surprisingly plays the film’s emotional core, even though Ray Fisher feels trapped in CGI hell. Aquaman gives Jason Momoa little to do past providing the eye candy. He's also stuck in an unclear characterization that's halfway between this franchise's macho instincts and its uneasy comic relief reaching...

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Stages of Grief: "Difficult People"

By Spencer Coile 

After three hilarious seasons, Hulu has cancelled Difficult People.

The show starred Julie Klausner (also its creator) and Billy Eichner as best friends who will stop at nothing to become famous. We covered the show's third season -- the non-stop jokes, the banter, and the beating heart underneath all of the cynicism. Needless to say, this news has been shocking for many of us here and will continue to sting months after...

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The 2017 Actress Roundtable Lineup

Chris here. There may already Gotham noms and film festivals, but Oscar season doesn't really start until The Hollywood Reporter's Actress Roundtable - at least in our hearts. This year's lineup includes returning folks Jennifer Lawrence (mother!), Emma Stone (Battle of the Sexes), and Jessica Chastain (Molly's Game), while the newbies are Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird), Mary J. Blige (Mudbound - finally arriving on Netflix today!), and Allison Janney (I, Tonya).

The reliance on returning guests is still irksome, and that is particularly felt this year with a smaller lineup. The ongoing reckoning with sexual predators in the industry looms large over the conversation, but we also get the usual soundbites on creative risk, career advice, and dream collaborators. Who who you like to add to this lineup? Or what film would you recast with these ladies? (I'll offer Tiffany Haddish, and a Steel Magnolias where Lawrence plays Ouiser) Tell us your thoughts in the comments!

Blueprints: "Jackie"

In this week’s edition of Blueprints, Jorge takes a trip to the brief shining moment known as Camelot to look how a script can transmit mood.

There can sometimes be a common misconception that what a writer contributes to a script is limited to story structure, action description, and dialogue. These are in no way small feats; after all, it’s the creation of an entire world, the people who inhabit it, and what they do. But it is often thought that his or her job stops there, and it is everyone else's job to fill in the blanks with textures.

Many of cinema’s most deep, emotional, and transcendental moments are a marriage of sound, image, and performance; devoid of any substantial plot or dialogue. So much of what makes cinema powerful is about mood. And while there may be the belief that this is the work of the director, cinematographer, actors, and musicians, mood is also born on the page.

 

Let’s take a look at Jackie, a movie that is more a collection of feelings, images and sounds than a straight forward narrative...

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Review: Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

by Eric Blume

The good news is the bad news:  director Kenneth Branagh’s new adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express is exactly what you think it will be.  It’s a stylish, corny, enjoyable two hours filled with movie stars and that absurd moustache.  It delivers on romantic glamor and old-school moviemaking, but there’s not a surprise to be had.

Out of the gate, Branagh plunges us into a prologue that’s both boring and obvious.  He means to establish Hercule Poirot’s philosophy and fastidious nature, which sadly serves only as clunky groundwork which you know will circle back by the finale (which it does).  He also tries to bring some levity to the piece with a few lame jokes.  At first Branagh seems to be overplaying his hand...  

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