Charles Bramesco
Take Your Pills and Watch the Creepy New ‘A Cure for Wellness’ Trailer
At the uppermost level, corporate culture has taken a turn for the New Agey. Silicon Valley has amply parodied the recent fad of nebulously defined spiritualism among the top players in the start-up world, where CEOs journey into the desert for days at a time to trip on ayahuasca and come up with a name for their newly integrated media vertical, or whatever. Corporate types have begun to act like Burning Man attendees, and with his upcoming psychological thriller A Cure for Wellness, Gore Verbinski puts a horrifying spin on this spreading trend.
Harry Shearer Files $125 Million ‘Spinal Tap’ Lawsuit
How much more sued could French movie studios Vivendi and StudioCanal be? The answer is none. None more sued.
New Survey Reveals Stuntwoman Victims of Repeat Sexual Harassment
The gradual exposure of Hollywood’s internal moral rot continues on down the line today with a new report on the bull that stuntwomen must regularly tolerate while on the job. First, actresses spoke out about disparities in pay from their male co-stars...
A Crazy and Exciting New Way of Watching Movies Is Coming to a Theater Near You
With the rise in on-demand and streaming options for home viewership and American reluctance to leave the house at an all-time high, brick-and-mortar theaters have scrambled to keep viewers in the seats. High-end boutique chains have survived by committing themselves to the luxury of the theatrical experience, installing ritzy overstuffed La-Z-Boys in theaters and shrinking down the size of each i
Netflix Joins Pushback Against Anti-LGBT Legislation in Georgia
Up until very recently, Georgia was a haven for film productions, the rolling amber waves of generous tax breaks beckoning to crews from Hollywood to New York. That all changed when the Georgia state legislature moved to pass a new bill that harshly restricts the rights of LGBT individuals under the guise of religious freedom. The Free Exercise Protection Act grants any religious official the option to refuse to officiate a non-hetero couple’s wedding, and permits any employer to discriminate in hiring and service practices on the basis of sexual orientation, all under the rationale that being forced to interact with queer men and women in any capacity would violate their religious freedom. Such giants of the entertainment industry as Disney/Marvel, Warner Bros., AMC, Viacom and Sony have all urged a veto to the bill, with the threat of withdrawing all operations from Georgia looming over the legislators.
Study Indicates Racially Diverse Movies Perform Better at Box-Office
Historically, the number-one rationale behind the overwhelming whiteness of Hollywood has been the financial imperative, the dubious claim that movies with predominantly black casts then become “black movies,” which is to say that they are niche movies, which is to say that they are not profitable. Despite this not being remotely true — Creed is one of, like, a bajillion counterexamples — many stu
Shane Black Outlines Plan for ‘Predator’ Reboot, Wants Dwayne Johnson for ‘Doc Savage’
Today, a dynamite interview with The Nice Guys director Shane Black ran over at Thrillist. It’s a good read — not only does Matt Patches get at some nifty insights about violence on film and working with Ryan Gosling, but he extracts two tantalizing tidbits from Black that will only enflame fan anticipation for his upcoming projects.
Abandoned by Paramount, “The Little Prince” Ends Up at Netflix
French thinker Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s popular novella The Little Prince uses the story of a young boy and a grounded pilot as a portal to hidden worlds of profound emotion, conjuring loneliness, sadness and helplessness from simple language and potent symbols. And so it was weirdly fitting when, a mere week before the film adaptation’s scheduled release, Paramount abruptly dropped it from their slate and pulled it from theaters. Not unlike le petit prince himself, Mark Osborne’s animated rendering of the beloved story was abandoned and left to float around in the vast expanse of the film marketplace. This story has a more straightforwardly happy ending than de Saint-Exupéry’s, though — Netflix has now picked up the rights to the film.
Warner Bros. Jump-Starts ‘Cannonball Run’ Remake
The original film collected Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, Dom DeLuise, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Farrah Fawcett, Jackie Chan, Jamie Farr, and Peter Fonda in a cameo role, which means this new Cannonball Run will be required to cast at least nine beloved famous people if they want to get this up and running. Truly, the Fast and Furious parallels could not be more glaring.
Nicolas Winding Refn’s Hennessy Commercial Is Exactly What You’d Expect
Even for a big-name auteur, there’s no shame in directing a commercial every now and then. Martin Scorsese shilled for casinos in Macau, David Lynch repped Calvin Klein, and Wes Anderson’s probably enjoying a lifetime supply of Stella Artois right about now. It’s a nice fat paycheck, and an easy way to keep busy between jobs. Nicolas Winding Refn has never been shy about corporate partnerships, agreeing to a spot for Gucci featuring Blake Lively, not to mention those stylish but inscrutable Lincoln advertisements with koan-dispensing Matthew McConaughey. Refn has now gotten back in the commercial game while his latest feature The Neon Demon (which, how has that not been the title of any of his films until now?) awaits release with a new spot for Hennessy.