Tribeca 2022: The Failings of the Legal System in 'The Courtroom'

By Abe Friedtanzer

 

It's no secret that the way that law works in the United States has serious issues, and archaic rulings often lead to devastating and irreversible consequences for the least fortunate. Meanwhile those with power and access can evade justice. Among the most disproportionately affected groups are immigrants, whose own “legality” is fiercely questioned and denied by those who forget that this country came into being as a nation of immigrants. Lee Sunday Evan's directorial film debut The Courtroom tackles this subject in an experimental manner, one that leaves plenty to be considered...

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Red Flag Alert: "Wicked" will now be two movies long!

by Nathaniel R

Though we've been anxiously awaiting the Wicked movie for (checks IBDB) 18 years, 6 months, and 6 days, we are suddenly dreading it. We were fairly pleased with the casting and the director choice but this new information is a major red flag. In keeping with Hollywood's money-grubbing franchise mania in which they attempt to wrestle as much money from consumers as possible even if they have to pad the stories or extend them well past their breaking point -- popularized by finales that were cleaved in half to guarantee an extra billion in ticket revenue (see Twilight and Harry Potter) or three movies based on a single book (The Hobbit) -- they've decided to make Wicked a two part movie.

Director Jon M Chu (Crazy Rich Asians, In the Heights) writes...

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The Tony Awards return to tradition. Here's what's eligible...

by Nathaniel R

Shery Lee Ralph, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Beanie Feldstein at least season's Tony Awards

The past two years have thrown awards shows (not to mention the whole entertainment industry) for quite a loop.  Nowhere was that more true than the Tony Awards with Broadway entirely shut down and most of the presumed contenders never opening in 2020. The Tony Awards for 2019 and 2020 shows were finally held last September, just under a year after nominations were announced!!! With Broadway theaters reopened for some time now (proof of vaccination and masks still required) the American Theater Wing is resuming the Tony Awards as we know them, returning to their usual month (June!) and their usual venue (Radio City Music Hall) so we're getting the 75th Tony Awards just nine months after the 74th.

The Tony Awards will arrive on June 12th and the four hour show will air live, for the first hour on Paramount+ and the final three hours on CBS. from 7-11 PM EST.  Productions have to open by April 28th to be eligible and the nomimations will be announced on May 3rd, 2022. A list of eligible productions is after the jump...

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Oscar Volley: Adapted Screenplay - a wealth of good choices, but will the Academy make the right ones?

The Oscar volleys continue. Today Lynn Lee, Mark Brinkerhoff, and Eurocheese sound off on this year’s Adapted Screenplay race.

a wealth of options for Oscar voters

Lynn: Gentlemen, I don’t know about you, but from where I’m standing, Adapted Screenplay is an embarrassment of riches this year. There are at least three contenders that tackle the incredibly difficult task of illuminating their characters’ inner lives and psychology (The Power of the Dog, Passing, and The Lost Daughter) with minimal to no voice-over narration and they all do it brilliantly. Then there are the play adaptations – everything from Shakespeare via Coen (The Tragedy of Macbeth) to Shakespeare / Sondheim / Laurents via Kushner (West Side Story) to Jonathan Larson via Lin-Manuel Miranda (tick, tick …BOOM!) to Stephen Karam doing Stephen Karam (The Humans) – where each manages to pull off a bold departure from previous iterations while retaining basic fidelity to the source text. And then there’s my personal favorite, Drive My Car, which manages to be at once an ambitious expansion of a Murakami short story and a spectacularly moving adaptation of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya at once.

That said, we can’t realistically expect most Oscar voters to be familiar with the underlying material for these screenplays. It’s a safer bet the nominations will align pretty closely with the Best Picture nominees or almost-nominees that don’t have original screenplays...

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Sundance: Bill Nighy finds purpose in 'Living'

by Cláudio Alves

To remake a masterpiece is to invite comparison and risk redundancy. Still, filmmakers regularly throw themselves into the pit, asking for trouble. Oliver Hermanus is the latest maverick to tempt fate, joining the ranks of directors who have remade the work of Akira Kurosawa. This time around, the subject is one of the director's most beloved classics, Ikiru. It's the story of a stalwart bureaucrat who finds meaning in the last months of his life, discovering purpose in the shape of a playground when faced with the inevitability of death. The original flick is a sentimental jewel and a showcase for one of Kurosawa's favorite actors, Takashi Shimura. In 2022, the Japanese thespian shoes are filled by Bill Nighy, taking on a new version of the role that reimagines him as a British civil servant in 1952 London. 

While I can't speak for worldwide critics and cinephiles, I confess myself happily surprised by Living. No matter how distasteful the prospect of a Kurosawa remake feels, these modern artists have devised a worthy reinterpretation…

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