NYFF: Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Before We Vanish"

by Jason Adams

I want you to close your eyes. I want you to close your eyes, and picture Love. Not Valentine's Day Heart Cards or little sugary candies that say Eat Me, and not the faces of the people you've held hands with on cold afternoon walks, although the latter will probably help you on your way of getting there. I want you to picture the entire concept of Love. The warmth and the palpable agony of it - the electricity of fingertips and further parts intertwining and entangling, and the aftershock of separation - the whole dang lot.

Now I want you to imagine the violence of all of that being torn out of your body...

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Will "Bright" be a Netflix Blockbuster? And how do you even define that?

By Ben Miller

If you haven’t heard already, Netflix will continue their quest for world domination with a tentpole feature film, Bright, in December.  Directed by David Ayer (End of Watch, Fury), the film stars Will Smith as a Los Angeles police officer who is teamed up with an orc cop (Joel Edgerton) to fight crime and try to make sense of whatever the hell is happening in the trailer.  There are fairies, magic wands, elves, swords, Noomi Rapace, and all sorts of other fantastical elements involved.

Let’s talk money.  Bright cost $90 million for Netflix to pick up.  Half of that cost went in to the film to shoot, while the other half goes to the talent (mostly Smith, Ayer and screenwriter Max Landis).  These days, $90 million seems pretty reasonable for a fantasy film starring an A-List “Movie Star”.  Suicide Squad, the most recent Smith-Ayer fantasy foray, cost $175 million. [More...]

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Justice Link

Boy Culture want to see a web or tv series sequel to Boy Culture  (2006)?
Film School Rejects a new short film starring Oscar Isaac available to watch online
Deadline a huge list of in-development franchises - what's the next big sci-fi fantasy hit?
Coming Soon Nicholas Hoult is in talks to play the Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien in a forthcoming biopic. Those unfamiliar with Tolkien but for book jacket photos, Hoult seems like odd casting but the movie will be about his youth and service in World War I (which of course informed his iconic books)

 

AV Club Raising Arizona was on the cover of a Serbian biology textbook!
/Film Wonder Woman 2 is aiming for a December 2019 release date. Patty Jenkins still not confirmed to return as director
MNPP has a new crush in François Arnaud
Towleroad Ezra Miller kisses a male fan at Comic Con. Crowd goes wild
Ceros why are directors like Christopher Nolan enamored with 70 mm?
Variety Producer vows to "vigorously defend" Feud: Bette and Joan from Olivia de Havilland's lawsuit. But they might not want to harp on and on about "meticulously researched" since we spotted several errors without doing any research at all!
/Film contrary to reports Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) will not be appearing in Avengers: Infinity War

A Detour to the Stage
Playbill in an upcoming revival of Stephen Sondheim's masterpiece (well, one of them) Company, the genders will be reversed
Playbill Kathleen Turner's speaking voice is, of course, legendary but now comes word that she's going to sing on stage!!! What? She's debuting a cabaret show "Finding My Voice" in Philadelphia
Broadway Blog Mandy Patinkin is taking over the lead male role in Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 on Broadway for 3 weeks only. MANDY PATINKIN.
Theater Mania Frozen is deep in rehearsals now - Instagram pics of the cast

Celebrating "The Fifth Element"

by Seán McGovern

Occasionally I receive a text message from my mother that The Fifth Element is on television. Why she feels the need to tell me, I'm never quite sure. Possibly because my adoration for the film is palpable, or because she like many critics at the time believes that it "may or may not be the worst movie ever made." But The Fifth Element does not need to be defended. It can only be celebreated. As Valerian launches from the imagination of Luc Besson into cinemas everywhere, now is the perfect time to celebrate France's greatest foray into a very American genre: the intergalactic sci-fi action movie.

There's a blonde Bruce Willis, Leeloo Dallas Multipass and of course - Ruby Rhod - all after the jump...

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BYO YNMS x 3: Shape of Water, The Snowman, Proud Mary

Having an entirely unproductive day. (It happens). But the trailers are coming fast & furious. Are you a yes no or maybe so on three following pictures. Do tell.

THE SHAPE OF WATER

YES - Sally Hawkins. This could well be magical. 
NO - Guillermo Del Toro tends to be more of a genius in concept than in execution
MAYBE SO - Hate it when trailers show the whole movie. In some ways this feels like a demented fan fiction version of the 10 minutes near the end of Ron Howard's Splash. Is there more to it than this?

THE SNOWMAN

YES - Tomas Alfredson is a very impressive director (Let the Right One In and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) who is pretty great and sustaining tension for a whole running time. He's gathered his usual array of impressive craftsmen in all departments
NO - Is any single subgenre more plagued by violence against women as its ignition or more overworked than the serial killer procedural?
MAYBE SO - How's the chemistry between Fassbender and Ferguson?

PROUD MARY

YAAAS - Taraji P Henson deserves a star vehicle
NO - Like the Kingsman series this looks like a pornographic fetish movie about guns and how cool it is to kill people... which... given the US addiction to guns and explosions in gun massacres each year, is really starting to feel like irresponsible movie behavior.
MAYBE SO - Who knows? This teaser is very very light on anything about the movie though we hear she's an assassin. We're guessing with a conscience. the movies are very obsessed with assassins who have that pre-existing condition.