By Armando
Rogue One finally has a new trailer, and it features Darth Vader himself. Gareth Edwards’ movie, which comes out on December 18th, takes place before 1977’s A New Hope, the prime of Vader’s rule as the Emperor’s galactic enforcer. This new trailer shows the rebellion plotting a mission to steal the plans for the Death Star. Check out the new trailer here:
Opens 16 December 2016 (USA)
Director: Gareth Edwards
Stars: Riz Ahmed, Felicity Jones, Ben Mendelsohn
The 2016 PORTLAND FILM FESTIVAL will screen 54 narrative and documentary feature films and 89 short films selected from over 3,800+ submissions.
The fourth annual Portland Film Festival will take place August 29 – September 5, 2016, at Portland’s iconic Laurelhurst Theater, and will includeover 20 educational panels & forums, 12 archival presentations, and many parties, events, and industry networking opportunities throughout the week.
The festival will present two opening and closing night films (a documentary and a narrative film on each night) and feature films in the following sections: Narrative Competition Feature, Documentary Competition Feature, Narrative Spotlight, Stranger Than Fiction, Tribute: Visionaries, and Milestones.
Complete festival lineup and passes available:
www.portlandfilmfestival.com
*Individual website ticket sales will start Monday, 8/15.
By AICreativeMedia
Universal announced on Monday that Tom Cruise’s movie from director Doug Liman has been renamed American Made, with a release date delayed to Sept. 29, 2017. The movie was originally set for Jan. 6, 2017 release, going up against Amityville: The Awakening and Under World: Blood Wars, as fall of 2017 is shaping up to be a crowded season for action pictures.
Dough Liman previously worked with Cruise on Edge of Tomorrow, a critically-acclaimed action sci-fi from 2016.
“American Made” is based on the real-life exploits of Barry Seal (Cruise), a TWA pilot and a hustler for drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. He was unexpectedly recruited by the CIA as an informant and run one of the biggest covert operations in US history. Cruise himself is a trained pilot.
American Made also stars Domhnall Gleeson, Jesse Plemons, Lola Kirke, Sarah Wright, Benito Martinez, Jayma Mays, E. Roger Mitchell, Alejandro Edda, and Caleb Landry Jones.
Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer, Cross Creek Pictures’ Brian Oliver and Tyler Thompson, Quadrant Pictures’ Doug Davison and Kim Roth are producing. Cross Creek Pictures is financing the film, with Universal handling distribution.
**RARE FILM AND TV MEMORABILIA WORTH IN EXCESS OF
£1.5 MILLION TO BE AUCTIONED IN THE UK**
OVER 500 ORIGINAL ITEMS TO BE
MADE AVAILABLE TO BIDDERS:
– BATMAN’S THE DARK KNIGHT BATSUIT
– STEVEN SPIELBERG’S JAWS CLAPPERBOARD
– MULDER AND SCULLY’S ID & BADGES FROM THE X-FILES
– TIE FIGHTER PILOT HELMET FROM STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE
= Film & TV memorabilia worth in excess of £1.5 million will be auctioned on 27 September
= The Dark Knight Rises Batpod vehicle is expected to be one of the highest selling lots with an estimated sale price of between £60-80k
= Other items for auction include Arnold Schwarzenegger’s original Terminator 2 Judgment Day costume – expected to sell between £14-18k – and the Leonardo Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles costume – expected to sell between £6-8k
= A free to enter preview exhibition will be open to the public ahead of the Prop Store auction at London’s BFI IMAX, proudly presented by ODEON, from 14 -27 September
= Last year’s auction saw an original Stormtrooper Helmet from Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back sell for a world-record £78,000
By Armando
Multiple Oscar winner Mel Gibson is back behind the camera with “Hacksaw Ridge,” a World War II drama based on a true story of Desmond Doss, the first conscientious objector to be warded the Congressional medal of honor.
The film follows Desmond from his childhod in Blue Ridge Mountains to his army training to the battlegrounds of Okinawa, Japan but refused to kill people and did not carry a weapon.
Former “Spider-Man” star Andrew Garfield plays Desmond Doss. This is Gibson’s first directorial outing since 2006’s “Apocalypto.
The topical drama is slated for a Nov. 4 US theatrical release and will also play at the 73rd Venice Film Festival
Here is the official synopsis for Hacksaw Ridge:
HACKSAW RIDGE is the extraordinary true story of conscientious collaborator Desmond Doss [Andrew Garfield] who, in Okinawa during the bloodiest battle of WWII, saved 75 men without firing or carrying a gun. He believed the war was just, but killing was nevertheless wrong; he was the only American soldier in WWII to fight on the front lines without a weapon. As an army medic, Doss single-handedly evacuated the wounded from behind enemy lines, braved fire while tending to soldiers and was wounded by a grenade and hit by snipers. He was the first conscientious objector to ever earn the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Opens 4 November 2016 (USA)
Director: Mel Gibson
Stars: Teresa Palmer, Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington, Vince Vaugh, Hugo Weaving, Luke Bracey
By AICreativeMedia
Marvel Studios brought their big guns and the stars on Saturday at San Diego Convention Center. The studio revealed a new trailer for Doctor Strange, early footage of Spider-Man: Homecoming, some behind-the-scenes look at Thor: Ragnarok, and the first trailer from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2.
To begin its presentation at this year’s Comic-Con, the studio also unveiled its new logo with a fanfare music score by composer Michael Giacchino (Up).
Here’s some of the photo highlights of Marvel Studio’s Comic-Con 2016 panel:
By AICreativeMedia
Warner Bros. Pictures shared their plans at SDCC and brought in the stars and filmmakers of their upcoming slate of films hosted by Conan O’Brien on Saturday, July 23 at San Diego Convention Center, Hall H.
The studio also gave sneak peaks of their spectacular lineups such as Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, The Lego Batman Movie, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Kong: Skull Island, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
The Warner Bros. Comic-Con panel also made it official that Ben Affleck’s Batman movie is officially happening, with the actor both directing and starring as the Caped Crusader. “It’s really inspiring. It’s like taking on a great play. It’s been reinvented so many times, it’s terrifying but it’s exciting,” Affleck said.
See photos below of WB’s Comic-Con panels.
By Josh Wilding
The marketing blitz for David Ayer’s Suicide Squad continues today via EW’s Instagram account, where photographer Clay Enos (who worked on Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and is also hard at work on Justice League), shared several photos from the set of the upcoming DC Comics adaptation. Unlike the stills EW released earlier this week, these ones feature a bunch of the film’s props, giving us some neat BTS shots in the process.
Seen in the gallery above, Enos’ photos show off Ayer immersing himself in the Joker’s massive collection of “toys,” Harley Quinn’s bats and a Joker playing card. Nothing too revealing, but we’ve already seen a hell of a lot from Suicide Squad and at this stage, I think Warner Bros. is better off holding back on new material. After all, we don’t want everything to be spoiled before we even walk into the theatre.
By Armando
Michael Cimino, who won Oscars for director and best picture for the seminal Vietnam War movie of the 1970s The Deer Hunter, has died. He was 77. He was found dead Saturday after friends called the police when they couldn’t reach him.
Thierry Fremaux, Cannes Film Festival director, tweeted the news Saturday that Cimino died in peace surrounded by those close to him and the two women who loved him. “We loved him too,” wrote Fremaux.
Cimino also directed ‘Thunderbolt & Lightfoot’ and the misunderstood epic and financial failure ‘Heaven’s Gate’. The latter incinerated the director’s career and changed the way movies are made towards more studio control of film production. Somehow with the passage of time, Heaven’s Gate is considered by many to be a masterpiece.
Michael Cimino was born in New York City on February 3, 1939. His father was a music publisher. He graduated from Westbury High School on Long Island in 1956. He later entered Michigan State University where majored in graphic arts. At the university, he became an art director and later managing editor of the school’s humor magazine Spartan. He was later accepted in Yale and also enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve.
In the early 70s, Cimino moved to Los Angeles to pursue a screenwriting career, subsequently getting representation from the prestigious Hollywood-based talent agency William Morris Agency. His Thunderbolt and Lightfoot script was bought by Clint Eastwood and allowed Cimino to direct with Eastwood himself as starring in the film. The film was a resounding boxoffice success and earned co-star Jeff Bridges an Academy Award Best Supporting Actor nomination.
Cimino went on to direct the The Deer Hunter (1978), considered by many to be one of the greatest films ever made. In 1996, The Deer Hunter was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
After the massive success of The Deer Hunter came the low-point of his career, Heaven’s Gate, a boxoffice and critical failure which put his career on a halt, and he never recovered since. The Heaven’s Gate debacle was chronicled in a 1999 book written by former UA executive Steven Bach, Final Cut: Art, Money, and Ego in the Making of Heaven’s Gate, the Film That Sank United Artists.
The high and low of Cimino’s career is so extreme that it has become a cautionary tale about the struggle between artists and executives in Hollywood.
By Armando Inquig
In “The Bicycle Thieves,” the harrowing reality of post-war Italy is laid bare. Released during a time of economic hardship in 1948, the film reflects the stark reality of the ruins of war. Directed by Vittorio De Sica, “The Bicycle Thieves” is a cornerstone of Italian neorealism, and often cited as one of the best films ever made.
The film follows Antonio Ricci, luckless yet optimistic in post-war Rome. He is unemployed and desperate for work to support his family. His fortunes seemingly improve when he lands a job that requires a bicycle for posting advertising bills. His wife, Maria, pawns their bed linen to retrieve their pawned bicycle, and Antonio starts work, filled with renewed hope.
However, while at work, hoisting an advertising up a ladder, Antonio’s bicycle is snatched by a man. He chases the thief but loses him in the busy urban sprawl.
Antonio, along with his son Bruno, then sets out to search for the bicycle, which sets off a series of misadventures.
Their search leads them through various districts of Rome, and its economic and social diversity. They visit a market where stolen goods are, but they don’t find the bicycle. Desperation soon sets in as Antonio’s hope starts to dwindle. They encounter an old man who might know the thief’s whereabouts. They follow the suspect to his neighborhood. Antonio then accuses the man, but the suspect is released by the police as there is no proof. As Antonio and Bruno navigate the city, the day wanes and with it Antonio’s virtues.
In a moment of utter despair, he attempts to steal a bicycle himself. He is caught and humiliated in front of a crowd and, most importantly, in front of his son Bruno. The owner, seeing father and son’s distress, chooses not to press charges, and they are released.
“The Bicycle Thieves” culminates with Antonio and Bruno walking hand in hand, swallowed by the crowd, their future as uncertain as when the day began. The bicycle, and the hope it represented, remains lost to them.
De Sica’s portrayal of Antonio’s plight, his fallibility under the shadow of poverty, reflects a universal struggle against societal indifference.
“The Bicycle Thieves” is a poignant depiction of the human condition, a narrative that reaches beyond the constraints of time and place to echo the enduring spirit and trials of humanity.
The Criterion Collection recently released Bicycle Thieves in Blu-ray earlier this year. The 4K digital restoration is a special edition release that includes the previously released documentary from 2003 on screenwriter and longtime De Sica collaborator Cesare Zavattini, directed by Carlo Lizzani.
