Charles Bramesco
Ireland Looks Bloody Brutal in First ‘Bad Day for the Cut’ Trailer
This morning, our trusty staffers Matt Singer and Erin Whitney head off to Park City, Utah for the Sundance Film Festival, the biggest week in American indie cinema. For us commoners who won’t be able to attend, however, we’ll have to subsist on the steady stream of coverage along with the deluge of trailers that always accompanies these parade of premieres. The next week-or-so will offer first looks at the toast of the fest in an effort to get the general public gassed for an eventual wide release, and the fun got going today with a sneak peek at one of the Midnight selections.
Michael Keaton’s Batsuit and George Reeves’ Superman Suit Going to Auction
Good news: fans are finally getting their shot to lay claim to two highly sought-after pieces of comic book memorabilia, with George Reeves’ original Superman costume and the Batsuit worn by Michael Keaton during his stint as the Batman both up at auction until January 26. The bad news: you’re going to have to part with at least tens of thousands of dollars if you want to get your mitts on that spandex.
Hear Mark Hamill Make Trump Tweets Slightly More Villainous as the Joker
The most widely recognized iterations of Batman’s constant foe the Joker would probably have to be Heath Ledger as the unchained mad-dog of The Dark Knight, Jack Nicholson as an urbane creep in Tim Burton’s 1989 film, and to a lesser extent, Cesar Romero’s campy turn in the goofy TV series from the ’60s. But Mark Hamill logged more hours as the Clown Prince of Crime than the rest of them put together, voicing the Joker in the long-running animated series and its many spin-offs. The man with the greatest claim to the Joker persona dusted off his special crazy-voice this week for a more pointedly political purpose than the usual cocktail-party entertainment.
Robert De Niro Responds to Meryl Streep Speech with Letter of Support
When Meryl Streep took the stage at the Golden Globes ceremony and delivered an impassioned speech calling out President-Elect Donald Trump as an overbearing bully, everyone had their reaction. Many rose up in support of the esteemed actress, celebrating her fiery diatribe as a heroic display of speaking truth to power. Others took issue with her anti-Trump stance, painting the woman as another pampered Hollywood liberal trapped within her bubble of privilege. A third, smaller faction of mixed martial arts enthusiasts took grave offense to Streep’s fleeting diss leveled at MMA and NFL football, and invited the multiple Academy Award winner to settle the matter in the octagon.
Honor the Man, Honor the Film: Watch the ‘Deadpool’ For Your Consideration Ad
It’s been a topsy-turvy week for awards prognosticators, relative even to the usual topsy-turviness of an industry based entirely on guesswork and speculation. Deadpool frightened and confused Oscar oddsmakers when it unexpectedly snatched up a Best Picture nomination from the Producers Guild Awards program on Tuesday, and then officially rejiggered everyone’s slate of predictions when director Tim Miller earned a nomination from the Directors Guild of America. What had been all but forgotten as a superhero oddball is staging a late-phase charge among the groups of professionals that vote for Oscar nominees — nothing is out of the question.
Watch Stephen Colbert’s Trailer for ‘Hidden Fences,’ the Golden Globe Breakout That Isn’t
At the Golden Globes on Sunday night, both Jenna Bush and Michael Keaton made the embarrassing faux pas of conflating new releases Hidden Figures and Fences into the single title Hidden Fences. It’s an easy enough mistake to make — when there are a whopping two movies featuring black ensembles in theaters at the same time, who can expect anyone to keep them straight, least of all people whose one job revolves around the ability to keep them straight? It was a real foot-in-mouth moment for both celebrities, reflective of the minimal attention that white audiences pay to film championing black performers and creators.
After Five Years, One Woman’s Bizarre ‘Drive’ Lawsuit Rages On
Truly, there is no greater type of entertainment industry news story than “bizarre legal proceedings.” Strange and ill-fated court cases pepper the world of showbiz, and today brought a long-awaited conclusion to one of the weirdest and most nonsensical in recent memory.
J.J. Abrams Wants Out of the Reboot/Remake/Re-Whatever Business
J.J. Abrams made his bed, stuffed it with money and gold bricks, but now he‘d rather not lie in it. The director has risen to the top of Hollywood’s most-wanted list in recent years as a serviceable conductor of franchise pictures; he did right by the Mission: Impossible series, then moved on to mount the massive Star Trek resurgence, and brought Star Wars back to the grateful people of Earth with Episode VII. But this whole money-in-the-bank reputation comes with its downsides. Speaking with People, Abrams indicated that he‘s had his fill of franchise pictures and would prefer to explore some original concepts in the years to come.
Geoffrey Rush Plays Albert Einstein for Ron Howard in ‘Genius’ Trailer
It was only a matter of time. The long string of biographical depictions of troubled geniuses, an ignominious tradition more recently carried on by the likes of The Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything, had to inevitably yield an Albert Einstein biopic...
Watch Vin Diesel Ski Through the Freaking Jungle in New ‘Return of Xander Cage’ Clip
Vin Diesel is a pro when it comes to doing awesome things in places where they should not be done. He drove a muscle car out of a skyscraper in the most recent installment of the Fastly Furious franchise. In 2005 family comedy The Pacifier, Diesel brought white-knuckle secret agent action to a sleepy suburban neighborhood. And in a newly revealed clip from the upcoming xXx sequel Return of Xander Cage, he straps on a pair of skis and speeds through the jungle like it’s an Alpine black diamond trail. This is the poetry and pain of Vin Diesel, always pulling the raddest of stunts in the unlikeliest of spots — unstuck in time and place, an innovator unappreciated in his era, the Van Gogh of shredding the gnar.
David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust Movie Returning to Theaters (in Europe, But Still)
A few days from now, January 10 will mark the one-year anniversary of David Bowie’s surprising death and the beginning of the unending parade of horrors that was 2016. The tributes poured out in the wake of the announcement with commemorative parades and parties taking place in cities across the globe. But while the flow of memorials to the musical pioneer may have ebbed, it hasn’t stopped completely. A new report from Variety indicates that later this year, Bowie’s spirit will continue to live on at cineplexes across Europe with what is now the closest a person can get to attending an actual David Bowie concert.
Sylvester Stallone to Direct a Limbless Adam Driver in ‘Tough as They Come’
Just as Rocky Balboa inspired the world with his perseverance and courage in the face of overwhelming opposition, Sylvester Stallone inspired the people of America last month by not accepting President-elect Donald Trump’s offer to head the National Endowment for the Arts, stating that he’d rather devote his energies to moviemaking. In a gesture alien to Trump and his administration, Stallone has now followed through on his earlier words, bringing increased attention to the plight of soldiers reintegrating into society with a planned new feature. And he‘s going to start by cutting off Adam Driver’s arms and legs.