As the COVID-19 pandemic surges all across the country, Netflix is destined to become a nirvana for cinephiles this coming year. Want proof? The streaming giant just announced its 2021 lineup, accompanied by a spiffy new trailer, and the goal is a rather ambitious one this year for them: make sure to deliver new movies every week, from January to December.
Read moreSXSW 2021: ‘The Fallout’ Wins Dramatic Jury Prize, But Docs Dominated Online Edition
The South by Southwest Film Festival is wrapping up this weekend. I had a more or less enjoyable time screening films these last few days. Of course, the virtual component did stagnate the quality of the lineup, so did the fact that we’re now entering a phase in the industry where the well is running dry and not enough new films are being made to fully compensate for a large-scale film festival. That’s why Sundance, Berlin, and now SXSW shortened the duration of their virtual editions this year.
Read moreDenmark's ‘Another Round' Leads the 2021 International Film Oscar Shortlist
With the Oscars still three months away, there’s the growing sense that this coming year’s ceremony is going to be one of the stranger awards events in recent years. And now, the latest revelation that the International Film Oscar’s shortlist, which usually narrows down the 90+ submissions from countries all over the world to just five nominees, has been announced.
Read moreCannes Film Festival Delays Until July
Berlin Film Festival Going Virtual; Delayed Until March
If you thought film festivals were just going to be affected by the pandemic in 2020 then think again. It appears the 2021 Berlin International Film Festival, originally set for February, is the latest film victim of the pandemic.
Read moreWarner Bros. Set to Premiere These 20 Movies on HBO Max Next Year
Warner Bros. announced earlier today that its entire 2021 film slate will open via a “distribution model in which Warner Bros. will continue to exhibit the films theatrically worldwide, while adding an exclusive one month access period on the HBO Max streaming platform in the U.S. concurrent with the film’s domestic release.”
Read moreDigital Sundance 2021 Will Have Over 70 Feature Films Selected
The Sundance Film Festival shared details about the shape of its upcoming 2021 edition, providing for the first time how the Festival will take place and where. Suffice to say, the online expression of the Festival will be unique, what we have here is a primarily virtual festival via an online platform, which was designed and custom-built. Feature films will each make their premiere at a set start time followed by a live Q&A. There will also be in-person screenings in over 28 U.S. States (as health and safety protocols permit) through a network of partnerships in arthouse communities.
Read moreBest Actor: Kaluuya, Hopkins, Oldman, Hanks, and Lindo?
Steven Yeun‘s performance in Lee Isaac Chung‘s “Minari” Is solid, but squeezing him as one of the five Best Actor nominees? Nah. It’s a stretch, but a 10.23 Clayton Davis Variety piece about how Yeun “could become the first Asian American Best Actor nominee” is setting down a narrative for the upcoming awards season. However, there’s fundamentally nothing stunning about Yeun’s performance in the film. in which he plays a struggling South Korean man-of-the-house who moves his entire family to the American heartland.
Read moreLana Wachowski is Directing ‘The Matrix 4' Without Sister Lily
The Wachowskis (Lilly and Lana), the brains behind "The Matrix" trilogy, "Bound," "V for Vendetta" "Speed Racer," and "Cloud Atlas," hit rock bottom after their Netflix series "sense8" was canceled despite having ended with a cliffhanger in expectation of a third season, then under negotiation. Netflix did eventually produce a two-and-a-half-hour series finale, released on June 8, 2018.
Read moreSteven Spielberg's ‘Indiana Jones 5' Could Very Well Happen
It’s remarkable that in 2020 we are still talking about this legendary screen creation, some 40 years after he burst onto our screens in “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. Yet here we are, with Harrison Ford and the great Steven Spielberg onboard for another crack at Indy’s famous whip.
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