Joel and Ethan Coen wrote the film, which will be fully financed by Teddy Schwarzman's Black Bear Pictures
Nearly two months after TheWrap[1] reported that they were in negotiations, Matt Damon[2] and Julianne Moore[3] are now confirmed to star in director George Clooney[4]'s next film, "Suburbicon," for which plot details are finally available.
Josh Brolin[5] had been in negotiations to star alongside Damon and Moore as recently as December, though it's unclear whether he will ultimately be involved in the project, according to insiders.
Clooney and his Smokehouse Pictures partner, Grant Heslov[6], will produce "Suburbicon" with Joel Silver[7] of Silver Pictures and Teddy Schwarzman, whose Black Bear Pictures will fully finance the film.
Joel and Ethan Coen[9] wrote the script, which is set in the quiet family town of Suburbicon, where the best and worst of humanity is hilariously reflected through the deeds of seemingly ordinary people. When a home invasion turns deadly, a picture-perfect family turns to blackmail, revenge and betrayal.
Bloom will begin selling international rights at the Berlin Film Festival this month. CAA is handling the U.S. rights.
"Clooney is an incredible force in the industry. We're thrilled to be collaborating with the teams at Silver Pictures, Smokehouse Pictures, and Black Bear Pictures. The script is written in true Coen Brothers fashion, which Clooney and the starry cast will bring to life," said Alex Walton[10] of Bloom.
Clooney next stars in the Coen brothers' showbiz comedy "Hail, Caesar!," which will open the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival on February 11. He also has Jodie Foster[12]'s "Money Monster" on the horizon.
CAA represents Clooney and Moore, while WME reps Damon.
Sundance 2016: Ellen Page, Craig Robinson, Nick Jonas, Abigail Spencer and Danny DeVito are among the stars who sit for our camera
Hey kids! Here's a hot driving tip: if you can't see shit, slow down! Now have your gramma cross-stitch that into a pillow and then shove that in a time machine and send it to Slovenia yesterday, where dense fog caused this awful 70 car pileup.
This nightmare happened near about 42 miles southwest of Ljubljana, Slovenia, where visibility that seems to be three or four car lengths at the most made driving especially difficult. Thirty people were injured, and four killed in the pileup of around 70 cars.
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This video is pretty disturbing to watch, with people leaving their cars and seeking safety on the steep grassy embankment, away from the cars slamming into the growing clot of disabled vehicles.
With the dashcam facing forward, you only have the audio and the terrified faces of the people to read to know when another car hits the group, which makes this whole scene even more chilling.
In visibility like this, you just can't go fast. You just can't. If you can't see what's right ahead of you, you can't prepare to stop in time, and you end up with awful messes like this.
DIRECT Cinema to launch the Lance Armstrong movie, The Program
DIRECTV and Momentum Pictures[1] today announced their exclusive premiere of The Program, the Lance Armstrong movie from Academy Award-nominated director Stephen Frears (The Queen, Philomena), on DIRECTV Cinema this February.
The film, which made its world premiere in September at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, is about disgraced cycling champion Lance Armstrong's doping scandal and downfall. Ben Foster and Chris O'Dowd co-star in the film which will be premiering on DIRECTV Cinema, one month before its March 18 specialty theatrical and VOD debut.
The Program documents the true story of the meteoric rise and fall of one of the most celebrated and controversial men in recent history: Lance Armstrong (Foster), the world-renowned Tour de France champion.
Frears directed The Program from a screenplay by John Hodge (Trainspotting) who adapted the script from David Walsh's book "Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong." The film also stars Guillaume Canet (Tell No One), Jesse Plemons ("Breaking Bad," Black Mass), Lee Pace ("Halt and Catch Fire," Guardians of the Galaxy) and Academy Award winner Dustin Hoffman (The Graduate).
"We are excited to be working with Momentum Pictures," said Hanny Patel, Vice President, Revenue & Content Marketing, AT&T. "DIRECTV delivers a unique film experience that can't be found anywhere else and we are thrilled to continue that tradition by bringing 'The Program' to our customers."
"We are thrilled to be teaming up with DIRECTV on an exclusive basis and eager to share this compelling and topical true story with audiences," said Berry Meyerowitz, President, Momentum Pictures.
DIRECTV Cinema is a premium pay-per-view service that brings customers exclusive access to select, new films before they are released in theaters. The DIRECTV Cinema Exclusives Premiere program has premiered over 45 films to date. DIRECTV works with a number of studios to secure films for this program to release films exclusively on DIRECTV during a 30-day window prior to their theatrical debut. This release marks Momentum Pictures' first exclusive film with the satellite TV provider.
The first time I ever visited the Ziegfeld, I didn't recognize it as an anomaly or a relic. But why would I? I'm a Brooklyn kid: It was the first theater I had ever visited in Manhattan. It was big. It was grand. But I guess I thought that was just the way everything in the city was. I was so naïve.
But, in a bigger context, I'm talking about 1997 here: The multiplex explosion was still a rather recent thing. In fact, at the time the only one I'd ever been to was the UA Sheepshead Bay, which opened ten years prior. Movie theaters in New York were still pretty easy to find, period -- even with so many shutting (or turning into porn theaters) down during the hard times of the '70s and '80s. But my friends had picked the Ziegfeld as the place to see the Star Wars special editions, so I joined them.
Devindra
I didn't realize it at the time, but watching Coraline at the Ziegfeld in early 2009 pretty much convinced me that I had to live in New York City. Between its ornate decor (chandeliers! red velvet curtains!), enormous screen and tremendous sense of community, it was unlike any cinema I'd visited before. The Ziegfeld wasn't just a movie theater; it was a full-fledged movie palace, the sort of thing I could only dream about growing up in Hartford. Sure, you had to wait out in the cold for your screening, and the seats weren't exactly comfortable, but it was a singular experience.
Kris
Ha, I saw Coraline there too!
It's funny how we think about the Ziegfeld as a "classic movie theater," mostly because of its association with the original Ziegfeld Theatre[1] -- a Broadway venue that's probably best known for its eponymous Follies. The current Ziegfeld replaced that theater. Looking back, that was an odd decision. A lot of old theaters shut down starting in the late '60s, and here they are, opening a classic-style movie palace in the heart of Manhattan! However, the Ziegfeld ultimately didn't need that borrowed history because over the past few decades it's accumulated its own set of stories and, as you mentioned, community.
Some of the people we saw at the final screening last week are people I first met waiting outside to see Star Wars: The Phantom Menace back in 1999. Some of these people have fallen in love and had kids and taken those kids to see movies there. (I once dated a guy I met at the Ziegfeld -- it didn't work out. He was there on Thursday too.) And, oh yeah, the infamous Triumph the Insult Comic Dog Star Wars sketch was filmed outside.
Devindra
While I was waiting in line, I met a guy who saw Jaws at the Ziegfeld as a kid. Its closure breaks my heart, but I can't imagine the sense of loss that he -- or you, Kris -- are feeling.
In many ways, cinemas like the Ziegfeld are exactly what we need today: a premium experience that's worth leaving your couch and whatever the heck is streaming on Netflix. But I guess the convenience of multiplexes is a bigger draw to New Yorkers, rather than trekking out to 54th street.
I can't help but think of the ways Comcast Cablevision (which owns the Ziegfeld) and Bow Tie Cinemas (which operated it) could have saved the cinema. It was able to survive so far by hosting gala premiere events for films and TV shows, but perhaps there were other specialized screenings they could have pursued. Or maybe there could have been a concerted effort to run it as a non-profit, like the Film Forum and Brooklyn Academy of Music. (People in the know say it would have been too expensive to operate[2], even if that change were made.) What the Ziegfeld really needed was more butts in its seats, and perhaps it could have managed that with a more diverse screening schedule, more screening times and some facility updates (the flat seats in the orchestra level really make you miss stadium seating).
Kris
I love the Ziegfeld, but in some ways I was complicit in its death. How often did I really go there over the years? I saw six out of seven Star Wars films there and many other things since my first visit to the theater almost 19 years ago, but the last time I was there was in October to see The Martian. Before that? I can't remember offhand; it was the first time I'd visited in 2015, that's for sure.
Like many, I found it easier to hit up other theaters because they had better schedules, a more convenient location and, yeah, a better variety of movies. Do you know what was playing there right before Star Wars: Episode I premiered? Pushing Tin. I hardly saw anyone walking into the theater before May 19th in 1999.
We lament the passing of old-guard institutions, but sometimes our nostalgia blinds us to their faults. Multiplexes were a revelation when they started to spread across the country. On the consumer end it meant more choices, which in turn benefits the industry by allowing a more diverse slate of films to be released. I'd call the AMC Empire[3] on 42nd Street a great example of this: It screens plenty of big studio releases, but also plenty of indie fare. Right now the Empire is playing Star Wars and The Revenant, but I could also catch Lazer Team and Ip Man 3 there if I wanted to.
So though it breaks my heart to see the Ziegfeld close, it's been in the cards a long, long time. But what galls me is that while the building will remain, it will no longer be used as a theater of any sort. Instead we're getting another events hall, which I'm sure will host plenty of parties and corporate events and other things where the public isn't necessarily welcome. At least the Kings Theatre[4] in Brooklyn, an old "Loew's Wonder Theater" from 1929 which reopened early last year, is used as a performance venue. Same with the Astor Plaza in Times Square, which currently operates as the PlayStation Theater[5].
I can't help but feel the conversion of the Ziegfeld into a private events space is part of an increasing trend in New York toward transitory space usage: unoccupied pieds-à-terre and Airbnb units. No one wants to put down roots anymore, because more money can be made in a rental economy. But for a city to thrive it needs the continuity that long-term residents and businesses bring. And it needs public spaces for culture to thrive. That's what ultimately destroys me about losing our last great movie palace.
Devindra
I'm also guilty of not visiting the Ziegfeld nearly enough -- even though I end up seeing dozens of theatrical releases every year for my film podcast, the /Filmcast[6]. But as I sat in a tight seat with a tall dude obscuring my view of The Force Awakens, I was quickly reminded of why I end up going elsewhere most of the time.
Still, it was moving to see the Ziegfeld's community come together for one last show. The theater ended up giving everyone free popcorn, soda and water (because what else are they going to do with all that stuff?). The audience cheered throughout the film; it was, after all, the second or third viewing for most of us. Not a soul left their seats when the credits rolled on The Force Awakens. And when the lights came up, everyone rushed to take photos, as if they were trying to capture the essence of the Ziegfeld on Instagram.
If you've seen writer-director Kenneth Lonergan's work before — the handful of films and half-dozen one-acts and plays he's penned to date — you understand why he's racked up numerous theater awards, Oscar nods and a Pulitzer nomination. And if you're lucky enough to meet Lonergan, you'll understand where that singular voice comes from. Sitting in a crowded Sundance Film Festival lodge off of Main Street, the shaggy, bespectacled 53-year-old acts like a Kenneth Lonergan character. Within seconds of meeting an interviewer, he'll jokingly call him an asshole and then affectionately pat him on the arm. He stumbles through answers only to suddenly, passionately verve into eloquence and righteousness. He comes off as simultaneously happy, Eeyorish-ly sad, and constantly radiating a deep sense of empathy. Most of all, he seems genuinely surprised to hear that he's just made a masterpiece.
Immediately establishing itself as the must-see film at this year's festival, Manchester by the Sea follows a Boston-based handyman named Lee (Casey Affleck) who goes about his daily chores with a sense of quiet desperation. A phone call summons him back to the seaside town of his youth that gives the movie its name, with unexpected news: His brother (Friday Night Lights' Kyle Chandler) has passed away. When he gets there, he discovers that his sibling's will names him as the guardian of his surly teen nephew (Lucas Hedges, in a starmaking role). A series of flashbacks reveal that Lee and the boy have long had a tight bond — and that this reluctant surrogate parent has an old-wounds history that makes returning to the old neighborhood impossible to contemplate.
"I don't like the fact that, nowadays, it feels like it's not permissible to leave something unresolved," Lonergan says. "I mean, what the fuck is closure? Some people never get that. Some people live with their trauma for years. I'm not interested in rubbing people's faces in suffering, or in saying, 'These are the tough facts of life that I know and you don't!' But I don't like this lie that everybody gets over things easily that. Some people can't get over something major that's happened to them at all; why can't they have a movie too? Why can't there be one film about somebody who doesn't magically bounce back?"
The genesis for Manchester originally started with actor John Krasinski (The Office) and Beantown native Matt Damon, who'd starred in a production of a Lonergan play over a decade ago and had appeared in the director's sophomore feature, Margaret (2011). The duo had been kicking around an idea about an emotionally crippled jack-of-all-trades for a while when they approached Lonergan to help them flesh it out. "They came to me with the idea," the filmmaker confirms. "I think Matt was going to direct and John was going to star in it; they wanted me to write the script. They eventually had to go off and do other things, but I really liked the initial idea. So I kept working on it for three years. The original draft was just written straight through; it wasn't until I had the notion of presenting the relationships through flashbacks that it began to open up."
Kenneth Lonergan, the writer-director of 'Manchester by the Sea.' Claire Folger/Sundance
At the premiere's post-screening Q&A, Damon filled in a few of the blanks[1]: "Once I read a very, very rough draft — it was about 4,000 pages — I just begged Kenny ... 'You have to direct it.' It's one of the most beautiful things I've ever come across. I was going to be in it, he was going to direct, and then ... I had a full slate. I couldn't do it for a year. And in a bizarre kind of fit of generosity, I gave it to Casey. I wouldn't give this role up to anybody but Casey Affleck."
Thank god he did. Though the entire cast brings their A-game — from Gretchen Mol, who plays a recovering alcoholic, to Michelle Williams as Lee's bitter, brittle ex-wife — Affleck is the revelation here; this is his movie from frame one. Whether quietly rebuffing people who want to get closer to him or trash-talking with his spiky ward, the actor gives what is easily his most layered, nuanced performance to date. He's given impressive turns before — see Gone Baby Gone or The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford — but the way Affleck gradually shows you the man's bone-deep grief and emotional damage makes you believe that one of this generation's finest actors has simply been waiting to be coaxed out.
"I mean, what the fuck is closure? Some people can't get over something major that's happened to them at all; why can't they have a movie too? Why can't there be one film about somebody who doesn't magically bounce back?"
"I don't think people recognize just how good Casey is here," Lonergan says, nodding. "He just threw himself into this, pressing me on every detail and wanting to know the thought process behind every decision. There were a lot of discussions about how we'd be able to show what's going on in the head of someone who's closed off to the world. We eventually came up with the idea that Lee is obsessed with performing tasks: If something is broken, he fixes it. He keeps moving because if he stops, he has to think about this great past tragedy that's scarred him for life. [Hint: It involves his family.] If it hadn't been for his brother, Lee probably would have left this world long ago. And when he dies, that protective feeling gets transferred to the nephew."
The bickering back and forth between Affleck's battened-down character and Hedges' boundary-pushing angry young man does genuinely feel like an actual longtime ball-busting family relationship — a dynamic that apparently describes Lonergan and his actor's dynamic on set. "Yeah, Casey is also an immense pain in my ass," the director says, laughing. "He didn't want to do any sort of Boston accent! I spent weeks up in Manchester researching the area, because I'm not from there and I wanted to get the region right. And while it's not like a Southie accent, you can still hear it. But he just said, 'No one talks like that over the age of 40, Kenny, I'm not fucking doing it.'
"Not two hours later," Lonergan continues, "some 12-year-old local boy wanders by the set, and I hear him say" — he adopts a caricaturish Northern Massachusetts voice — "'Oh my gawd, is that Casey Affleck?!? I just gotta meet him!' I just yelled, 'Hey, Casey, I think this kid is under the age of 40, can you please do the fucking accent!' Once, we were doing this tense scene at a dinner table, just doing take after take. I said, 'So for this next one, maybe look away from Lucas, just stare down at your plate or something.' And he goes, 'Oh, the old stare-down-at-your-plate trick!'" Lonergan cracks up. "Our editor would get footage back and ask the crew, 'Have they killed each other yet? Is everything okay on set?' Because we'd just lay into each other. But that's how I talk to people I love."
And it's talk — specifically, the kind of dialogue that feel painful (and painfully funny), remarkably intimate and often uncomfortably real — that distinguishes Lonergan's screen work from the rest of what passes for movies aimed at people over the age of 14. That a playwright would have a facility for dialogue is not a surprise; that this same person would be able to bring the sort of complex person-to-person interactions to the big screen without making things chatty and inert is a bit of a shock, and makes his infrequent forays into filmmaking worth the wait. (His last film, the beleaguered and cult-beloved Margaret, was finished in 2005 and came out in 2011; his 2000 debut, You Can Count on Me, is now old enough to obtain a driver's license.) Despite his repeated claims that he's "not a real filmmaker," Lonergan knows how to use the medium to communicate the human condition in all its ragged glory. He's the closest thing we have to an American Yasujiro Ozu — and Manchester by the Sea proves he's practically peerless in portraying loss as a living, breathing thing without resorting to the vocabulary of griefporn.
"It's funny, I started out trying to make a film about grief," he says, when the phrase comes up. "About telling a story involving sorrow and regret. And as it went on, it occurred to me that it's a lot more about love than I'd realized. I think I'm always just interested in stories about people who love each other. I find it very touching how much people care about each other, even when people don't get along or something terrible happens between them. People don't always care about their parents, their children, their brothers or sisters — but when they do, it's pretty powerful. It's almost not worth being alive if you don't have that connection."
When Spotlight won Outstanding Performance By a Cast in a Motion Picture at the Screen Actors Guild awards Saturday night, Mark Ruffalo said the honor was unexpected — and, as People[1] reported, took a moment to acknowledge those who lived through the events central to the film's story. Spotlight is about the Boston Globe reporting team that uncovered decades of sexual abuse by priests in the Catholic Church and the Church's attempts to keep the information hidden.
"These victims who are dead, and the survivors who are still alive, of one of the most horrific things that our culture has allowed to happen.
"This movie allows them to be seen in a world that has been blind to them. And so it is such an honor to be standing in front of you on behalf of them. And this amazing cast."
Michael Keaton, who stars alongside Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci and Billy Crudup, spoke about those who are "disenfranchised," and noted the water crisis in Flint, Michigan[2].
Michael Keaton speaks onstage at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on January 30, 2016. The film 'Spotlight' won best cast performance and is up for a Best Picture Oscar. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images Entertainment)
The film is one of the eight nominees for Best Picture[3] at this year's Academy Awards. But for fans of a film that has achieved such widespread critical acclaim, it may be a surprise to learn that it was not easy to get the film made. Despite its compelling true story, a highly regarded script, and big name actors signed on, a major production house pulled out as the movie was coming together.
Michael Keaton starred in 'Spotlight' and last year's Oscar for Best Picture winner, 'Birdman.' (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images Entertainment)
The Hollywood Reporter[4] revealed last November that DreamWorks had originally signed on to contribute half of Spotlight's modest $15 million budget. But the company abandoned the project while it was in development. Producer Nicole Rocklin said no explanation was given, but she was willing to hazard a guess.
"They never told us. But I can speculate. It's a movie about pedophilia in the Catholic Church."
Rocklin and her producing partner had secured the life rights to the Globe reporters back in 2008, but every stage of production proved to be a challenge due to the uncomfortable subject matter. The problems went back to their initial search for a screenwriter to put together a script — a script that would eventually go through a dozen drafts.
"Let's put it this way. We got a lot of nos. We have really good relationships, but we got a lot of nos."
Ruffalo is also quoted by The Hollywood Reporter as defining why Spotlight took a great deal of time to get made, making reference to a scene the film doesn't actually contain.
"[N]o one wants to watch a priest molesting a kid. That's very hard for an audience to watch."
A new review of the film by The Guardian[5] calls Spotlight "authentic" in its portrayals, although some of the real-life individuals have taken issue with how they are shown on-screen. It identified Ruffalo as one of the few actors who has an emotional scene in the movie that focuses almost entirely on the nitty-gritty details of investigative reporting. The movie does not exclusively fault the institution for its cover up, showing how the entire community was silent about the issues.
In addition to Spotlight's Best Picture nod, McAdams and Ruffalo were nominated for acting Oscars. The film is also up for Best Screenplay, Best Editing and Best Director. The Academy Awards will be broadcast on February 28, 2016.
Share the post "Movie Review – Fifty Shades of Black (2016)"
Fifty Shades of Black, 2016.
Directed by Michael Tiddes. Starring Marlon Wayans, Kali Hawk, Affion Crockett, Jane Seymour, Florence Henderson, Jenny Zigrino, Fred Willard, and Mike Epps.
SYNOPSIS:
An inexperienced college student meets a wealthy businessman whose sexual practices put a strain on their relationship.
Normally, whenever I'm about to watch a modern-day Marlon Wayans comedy (I use that term loosely as to not insult actual comedies) I am mentally crying inside, trying to prepare myself for the next 90 minutes that will inexplicably feel as long as some epic Christopher Nolan movie. This time though, I had some hope coming in. After all, this time around it is Fifty Shades of Grey being parodied and roasted; a movie so unintentionally hilarious and plagued with both despicable and idiotic characters, it feels as if the spoof material would write itself.
The answer to that inquiry is both yes and no, as Fifty Shades of Black is certainly aware of how preposterous and dumb the material that is being sent up (or rather down in this case) is, to the point where some of the scenes being mocked could be edited into the original movie and fit right in, aside from the fact that the characters are now black. And those small moments are when Fifty Shades of Black does elevate itself from the typical garbage you would expect from Marlon Wayans (who I will once again defend as being a legitimately capable great actor when he's not feeling lazy) to intelligent parody. It also knows how to poke fun, or rather simply point out, that the actual character of Christian Gray is nothing more than a sick freak only interested in mentally and physically abusing women, but I'll stop there and just let you go read my actual review of Fifty Shades of Grey if you want those thoughts.
As always, Marlon Wayans is game to get a rise out of his audience regardless of how far he has to go in terms of degrading himself. Basically, that sentence means that there are quite a few visual dick jokes from multiple characters; it's the bottom of the barrel trash humor you would expect from a comedy in this style. On another note, who is actually laughing at all of these cartoonishly graphic penis gags that seemingly inhabit every current R-rated comedy? I rarely ever laugh at one, so having three or four in the same movie is beyond overkill.
It's also a shame that once again, Wayans is relying on the oldest black stereotypes in the book to elicit laughs. No, it's not funny that the parents of Hannah have decided to give Christian Black a bunch of fried chicken for his meal at the culturally educational family dinner. That joke has been done to death to the point where if that is all it takes to write a successful comedy, then sign me up because I sure as shit could do this too. The only thing missing from the scene was some grape soda.
The rest of the jokes are all centered on physical slapstick comedy that make no earthly sense. There's a scene where Christian tries spanking Hannah as punishment, but since his hands are so weak he begins using strong physical objects like wooden stools, that even when swung and shattered across her ass, faze her not one bit. I'm really not sure which is most lazy; this style of humor, penis jokes, or stereotypical racially charged quips.
Still, it's tough to outright hate Fifty Shades of Black considering that Wayans legitimately does understand how horrendous both the source material and character he is mocking truly is. Wayans also injects his own interpretation of the character as someone essentially frustrated from being terrible at sex, along with the molestation revelation from the actual movie (except this time there's an absolutely amazing Whiplash homage tossed in).
It's also worth noting that it is really only the final act that truly begins scraping the bottom of the barrel for laughs (there's an extended stripping dance sequence by Wayans that is completely superfluous), as if they were running out of promising scenes to spoof. Fifty Shades of Black rapidly misfires jokes, but the ones that land are gold and successfully put into perspective how stupid and absurd this whole phenomenon is. Honestly, the whole experience would fare better as a skit rather than a feature-length film.
Kris
Devindra
Kenneth Lonergan, the writer-director of 'Manchester by the Sea.' 
