By Armando

Legendary film director Milos Forman, known for his work in Academy Award winning films “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Amadeus,” has died. The news was confirmed by his manager to NPR. Forman was 86.

Forman won an Oscar for helming “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” considered by many film critics, historians and film buffs as one of the best films ever made. The film won the so-called “Big Five” categories at academy awards in 1976, winning best director, best picture, best actor for Jack Nicholson, best actress for Louise Fletcher, and best adapter screenplay for Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman.

The film joins “It Happened One Night” (1934) and “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991) as the only three films to achieve such feat. “Cuckoo’s Nest” was later selected by the United States Library of Congress in 1993 for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Nine years after ‘Cuckoo’s Nest’, Forman collected his second best director Oscar award for Amadeus, a fictionalized biography of prolific and influential composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

In 1997, Milos Forman had another shot at Academy Award best director trophy when he was nominated for “The People vs. Larry Flynt,” a biographicl drama chronicling 35 years of the life of adult magazine publisher and editor Larry Flynt. Though Forman did not win, the film was critically acclaimed and won numerous awards and nominations.

In spite of all his international acclaim throughout those years, Forman’s biography was not an easy journey.

Born in Čáslav, Czechoslovakia (currently known as Czech Republic), the director was an orphan of Nazi Holocaust victims. After living with relatives, he later discovered that his biological father was in fact a survivor of the Holocaust and living in Peru.

He was known primarily as a Czech filmmaker until he moved to America in 1968. His first film in the United States “Taking Off” was a flop and critically panned. It wasn’t until he was hired by producers Michael Douglas and Saul Zaentz to direct “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” that he finally found his footing.

Forman was initially apprehensive about his immigrant background not being able to give justice to the story’s very American sentiments.

But it was precisely that background which provided him unique inspiration.

“To me it was not just literature but real life, the life I lived in Czechoslovakia from my birth in 1932 until 1968. The Communist Party was my Nurse Ratched, telling me what I could and could not do; what I was or was not allowed to say; where I was and was not allowed to go; even who I was and was not.”

By Creative Media Times

Well this certainly makes it official. According a report in Variety, streaming giant Netflix will not be screening any of its films at the festival.

“We want our films to be on fair ground with every other filmmaker,” says Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer. “There’s a risk in us going in this way and having our films and filmmakers treated disrespectfully at the festival. They’ve set the tone. I don’t think it would be good for us to be there.”

Though stunning, the decision isn’t surprising as there has been speculation in the past few days that Netflix would not be participating. This comes after last year’s controversy at Cannes where two Netflix films, Bong Joon-ho’s “Okja” and Noah Baumbach’s “The Meyerowitz Stories” played at the festival and competed for the Palme d’Or, but did not play in the cinemas in France, something which French theater exhibitors reportedly protested against.

Shortly after last year’s opening ceremonies, the festival changed its rules which states that that no movies will be play in competition if they’re not committed to be released in French theaters.

Last month, festival director Thierry Fremaux said that Netflix could play their films outside of competition, though effectively ineligible to play in the competition for refusing theatrical distribution in France.

“I don’t think there would be any reason to go out of competition. The rule was implicitly about Netflix, and Thierry made it explicitly about Netflix when he announced the rule,” Sarandos tells Variety.

Cannes Film Festival will run from May 8 to 19, with the competition jury headed by Cate Blanchett. Asghar Farhadi’s psychological thriller “Everybody Knows” starring Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem is scheduled to open the festival.

By Creative Media Times

With $300 million global box-office haul after a week in release, the nostalgia-fueled “Ready Player One” becomes one of director Steven Spielberg’s biggest hit in many years.

By the end of this weekend, the film could potentially surpass the lifetime gross of 2011’s “The Adventures of Tintin” ($374 million) thereby becoming the Academy Award winning director’s biggest hit since Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, released in summer of 2008.

The virtual reality sci-fi adventure is doing gangbuster business particularly in China, where it has so far made $143 million, as reported by Hollywood Reporter. This makes Ready Player One the biggest Warner Bros. release in the Middle Kingdom after merely a week in release. The film opens in Germany this weekend and the following weekend on April 20 in Japan.

Domestically, the feature adaptation of the eponymous Ernest Cline novel topped the boxoffice over the Easter weekend. It is expected to drop behind “A Quiet Place”, the critically acclaimed horror thriller from John Krasinski, which is poised to take the lead this weekend.

“Ready Player One” follows protagonist Wade Watts (played by Tye Sheridan) as he enters the virtual-reality world of OASIS in search of an Easter egg, the discovery of which will lead to the game creator’s fortunes. The film co-stars Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, T.J. Miller, Philip Zhao, Win Morisaki, Hannah John-Kamen, Simon Pegg, and Mark Rylance.

By Creative Media Times

New York got some real cold weather this week as Frozen The Musical opened on Broadway. After a trial run at the Buell Theatre in Denver, Colorado last year, the stage musical finally opened Thursday night at New York City’s St. James Theatre.

Expectations are high for the musical, given the built-in audience that comes with its film version. Produced by Disney Theatrical Productions, Frozen is a stage adaptation based on the popular 2013 Disney movie of the same name and is directed by Tony winner Michael Grandage, with its characters created by Jennifer Lee (Zootopia), who also wrote the film and wrote the book.

The film Frozen brought Disney to its animation glory, grossing more than $1.2 billion at worldwide boxoffice, with a sequel set for release next year.

The film’s popular anthem “Let It Go,” about the film’s lead Elsa’s realizing her dark magic, was similarly successful, becoming one of that year’s best-selling songs. Performed on the stage by Caissie Levy as Elsa, the song is undoubtedly one of the musical’s most anticipated highlights.

So far, “Frozen” is a big seller in its debut. According to Variety, it has grossed $926,840 for just four performances, and may be on its way to joining other Disney hits on Broadway such as The Lion King and Aladdin.