In December 2021, Jon Watts found himself standing in the back of the Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard on the opening night of his last film, Spider-Man: No Way Home. The entry was one of the first major studio theatrical releases following the pandemic shutdown, and the audience was standing, screaming, crying and generally carrying …
Labor Day weekend is never a big hoiday for movieoing, and this year is no exception as most moviegoers mark the end of summer with other activities. Deadpool & Wolverine is the biggest headline of the four-day weekend as it stays No. 1 in its sxith outing and crosses $600 million domestically, becoming only the …
The White House Effect, Bonni Cohen, Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk’s new documentary, doesn’t make viewers wait long for its most shocking moment. In a small press conference in August of 1988, then-Vice President George H.W. Bush makes a bold declaration about stopping global warming. The White House Effect The Bottom Line A persuasive primer. …
Harmony Korine, puffing a cigar and flanked by an artistic collaborator wearing a neon ski mask, brought his signature antic energy to Italy’s Venice Film Festival Saturday as he discussed his latest video game-inspired art film Baby Invasion. The project, which Korine took pains to emphasize isn’t really a “film” at all, follows a group …
Director Edward Berger, who made one of the best movies of 2022 with a vivid adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front, shifts gears rewardingly to a movie set almost entirely inside the Vatican. Conclave, adapted from the popular novel by Robert Harris, demonstrates Berger’s versatility and also offers one of the best roles …
RaMell Ross’ arresting narrative debut Nickel Boys does not, like the Colson Whitehead novel on which it’s based, begin with an exhumation. It opens, instead, with signs of life: oranges dangling from the branches of a tree; a hand caressing the grass, a beckoning voice calling “Elwood, Elwood, Elwood” like a song. Details like these …
The cast of The Order went to some pretty dark places to tell a true story of American racism. The new film from Justin Kurzel (Macbeth, Assassin’s Creed) stars Jude Law, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, Jurnee Smollett, and Zach Baylin, all of whom were in attendance for the film’s world premiere in competition at the …
Israeli director Amos Gitai has batted back calls for a boycott of his new film Why War and said both sides of the Israel–Palestine conflict need to clean out their current leaderships for peace to prevail. Premiering this weekend of out of competition at the Venice Film Festival, Why War takes its cue from correspondence …
Nicolas Winding Refn, is one of the few directors who deserves the enfant terrible label. The Danish filmmaker, best-known for his neon-drenched tales of sex, violence and revenge — Drive, Only God Forgives, The Neon Demon — is at the Venice Film Festival this year with two works that, he says, represents both his “classic …
The last time the journeyman Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa was at the Venice Film Festival, he took home the event’s prestigious best director award for his period drama Wife of a Spy. He is back in the Italian festival’s main competition this week with Cloud, the first action film of his expansive and acclaimed filmography. The …