A Brief Jog Right Past "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk." Get Me Outta Here!

a belated finale NYFF moment with your host, Nathaniel R

Before the world premiere of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk the great director Ang Lee appeared and asked the crowd at the NYFF screening to "keep an open mind." He was speaking about the new technology he used to shoot the 3D movie about a Texas soldier named Billy Lynn (played by talented newcomer Joe Alwyn) on leave from Iraq who is used as a patriotic prop at a football game's halftime show. The movie is shot in 4K (much higher clarity than usual) with a "revolutionary" 140 frames per second as opposed to the standard for decades upon decades now which is 24. As a cinephile without much technical savvy and who doesn't get too caught up in aspect ratios or film stocks or whatnot, I thought "no problem, Ang!"  I always attend movies with eyes wide open and the mind ready to join the party should the movie engage it.

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Movie News in 4 Questions and a Video

by Murtada

Today's movie news offered questions and head scratchers more than usual. So I’ll present you with the questions and maybe you can help me with the answers. Or just join in the bewilderment:

• Why would David Fincher want to direct the sequel to World War Z? Obviously Pitt is a favorite of his but a sequel, really? Is this related to the fact that HBO passed on the two series he was developing for the past couple of years?

• How will Margot Robbie play 4 foot 9 trapeze artist  Lillian Leitzel in Queen of the Air? Will they employ the inverse of whatever they did to make Meryl Streep taller in Julie and Julia (2009)?

• Do we care about the feud between The Rock and Vin Diesel? And doesn’t “candy ass” sound like a euphemism for something?

• What was the extent of Tony Kushner’s involvement in the script for Fences? It was always known that they were working from an August Wilson penned screenplay that both Kushner and Denzel Washington worked on polishing.

• And finally, if you've googled "Who is Awkwafina?" after the news broke out about the cast for Ocean's 8, here's a clue:

 Take it away, dear readers!

Say What? Helen Mirren in 'Fast 8'

Charlize Theron isn't the only Oscar-winning lady cashing in on the Fast and Furious franchise - Helen Mirren is also revving up to join the cast. Here she is in some kind of hushed exchange with Vin Diesel in our first look at her overbloused character.

Whatever could he be whispering into Dame Helen's ear? Let us know in the comments!

YNMS: "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk"

Not to be outdone by all the Cannes buzz starting this week, we have our first teaser trailer for Oscar hopeful Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk. Ang Lee follows up his Oscar winning Life of Pi with this film about a young veteran's Victory Tour after fighting in Iraq. Like Pi, his new work blends a flashback narrative with technical wizardry: Lee utilized a high frame rate to create hyperreal action, aiming to create unprecidentally real 3D.

Backed by a massive ensemble including Kristen Stewart, Vin Diesel, Garrett Hedlund, Chris Tucker, Ben Platt, and Steve Martin, the master director looks to be back in the Oscar hunt once again.

Let's break down the highs, lows and inbetweens of the first look:

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Thoughts I Had... while staring at this photo from the set of "xXx: The Return of Xander Cage"

Thoughts I had in the order they came to me after the jump...

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