• Out Scarlett Johansson leaves the upcoming trans drama Rub & Tug post-backlash • THR In unrelated news Scarlett is finally getting her Black Widow solo movie. Australian Cate Shortland (Lore) will direct, beating out finalists Amma Asante and Maggie Betts. • MovieMaker the 25 coolest film festivals in the world (the giant A list fests are not listed in favor of quirkier ones that use their location in interesting ways.) • Gizmodo only one Blockbuster video store is still open in the United States!
More after the jump including Die Hard, Danai Gurira, Tab Hunter, Joss Whedon, If Beale Street Could Talk, West Side Story revival, and more...
My assignment for TFE was a review of the movie Rough Night. But since I was not raised in a barn, nor raised by wolves, my mother once told me if you can’t find something nice to say, don’t say anything at all. So we’ll keep it short on Rough Night itself. It’s actually depressing how bad this movie is, a twist on a rather good mainstream movie called Very Bad Things, back in the Cameron Diaz days of 1998. That Peter Berg film had a bit of an edge as it followed several guy friends on a bachelor party who find themselves in a dead hooker situation. Rough Night is the distaff version of this tale, but the inept script, bad performances, and bland direction make it a tough sit. The film’s five actresses (Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Zoe Kravitz, Jillian Bell, and Ilana Glazer) are winning, talented ladies and deserved a far better vehicle.
Sitting through Rough Night your mind may wander, as did mine, to the state of mainstream comedy in the cinema these days...
Playlist Adam McKay (The Big Short) planning a Dick Cheney biopic which may star Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Steve Carell LA Times comedian Don Rickles has died at 90 Vulture Interesting observations: blockbuster filmmakers are making the same single parent family drama inbetween their visual fx movies Movie City News on the tired false notion that 'movie stars don't matter anymore' in terms of box office which we're seeing a lot of post Ghost in the Shell opening and which we see every time a star driven movie fails essentially. Movie stars obviously do still matter but the economics of movies are always changing.
/Film in this week's strangest news: Actor/Hunk Joe Mangianello has written a Dungeons & Dragons movie Washington Post another 'Nicole Kidman is awesome and always has been' essay. Glad we're getting a wave of these but kind of annoyed that people haven't taken our word for it all these years ;) Billboard Adele's "21" album from 2011 just broke a record long held by Carole King's "Tapestry" IndieWire ranks the top 14 female action stars. The top three are unassailably major (Jolie, Johansson, Theron) but the list gets weird and debatable thereafter even including Cara Delevigne who's not yet headlined an action film at #14 YahooAmerican Crime Story's Versace murder cast keeps growing and it's always celebrities. Ricky Martin has signed on as Versace's longtime partner Antonio D'Amico Telegraph Stage star and sometime screen actor Tim Pigott-Smith has died at 70. Screen credits include V For Vendetta, Downton Abbey, and The Jewel in the Crown (BAFTA award) Variety Angelina Jolie rumored to be buying a $25 million estate (less than two miles from Brad Pitt's home) that used to belong to Cecil B DeMille EW Alexander Skarsgård worries he won't get work after Big Little Lies because Perry was such a monster
P.P.S. Have you begun thinking of the Emmy race yet?
We're still in the eligibility period and the nominating doesn't begin until early June but the campaigning has already begun in force for many shows, both Emmy darlings and other.
A post shared by Vincent Rodriguez III (@vrodrigueziii) on Apr 6, 2017 at 10:25am PDT
It must be frustrating to be on great TV shows that the television Academy ignores. History has shown that they don't change course unless they're basically forced to which they will be this year at least in one category: Best Drama Series has a single new opening since Game of Thrones isn't eligible for the very first time. The Emmys would be so much more exciting, and frankly mean a lot more, if the nominations were done by special committees forced to watch a bunch of things. Imagine if the nominations actually shifted per season depending on quality. All series have ups and downs!
THR amazing casting news: the great Patricia Clarkson will play Amy Adams estranged mother in HBO's Sharp Objects. Both roles are so juicy. Filming starts soon but we're talking next summer's Emmy nomination's not 2017's. Speaking of... Decider Joe Reid's already thinking of the Lead Actress in a Miniseries Emmy race: 10 women, only 6 slots /Film original Ghost in the Shell actors will dub the new film for Japanese relates
Salon looks back at memorable Russian villains in movies and on TV All Things Considered wonders if you can make a King Kong movie without perpetuating racial undertones Variety winners for the Miami Film Festival: Family Life and Maria (and Everybody Else) Awards Daily 77 films about women on the way. That sounds like a lot, so, yay! The Sun a couple of more pictures from the set of Mary Poppins Returns. A polka dot bowtie on Mary! DeciderGirls found the line that HBO wouldnt cross for sex scenes /Film Edgar Wright's Baby Driver starring Ansel Elgort premiered at SXSW so here's the trailer W Mag classic Linda Evangelista photo. Love.
French Waves, Not New The New Yorker has an article / theory on why France hasn't produced a great director in three decades. Interesting ideas but I disagree with the thesis. France may never be the critical hotspot in international cinema -- there's always some exciting country of the moment in international cinema and it changes every handful of years -- but they're consistently strong.
Thirty years ago was 1987. Directors who made their first feature films after 1987 include Claire Denis (1988), Arnaud Desplechin (1991), Jacques Audiard (1994). Does The New Yorker really exclude all of them from a list of great French directors? I admit France isn't turning out the greats as consistently as they once did and Brody is right that the new exciting directors dont seem to stay as exciting for as long as they should now (what happened to Christophe Honore, for example?) but let's be reasonable! I personally have high hopes for Celine Sciamma (Girlhood), Deniz Gamze Ergüven (Mustang) and Alice Winocour (Disorder) so maybe the future is female?
"Complicit" Did you see SNL's perfume ad of Ivanka Trump starring Scarlett Johansson? The Titanic joke is rich.
Yes, I'm trying to stave off the annual Post Oscar Depression. It's a real thing even if the medical community doesn't yet recognize it. So herewith some random final screengrabs from Oscar night and accompanying thoughts on topics we haven't totally covered yet over the past 3 days of Oscar reactions, recapping, post-mortem. (I promise we'll quit with Oscar 2016 by tonight and move on to other topics for those of you who've already moved on)
Friday, July 13, 2018 at 5:11PM 
