9 movies from the New York Film Festival you can watch this fall

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Philippe Petit (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) in TriStar Pictures' THE WALK.

Philippe Petit (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) in TriStar Pictures’ THE WALK.

The Walk – In theaters now

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Truly a Robert Zemeckis film, The Walk is best watched as Liz and I did – IMAX 3D. Even those with only a slight fear of heights will be kept pinned to their seats, gripping the armchair, as we both did. There’s so much to appreciate about people who have dreams.


 

ST. JAMES PLACEBridge of Spies – in theaters now

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EXPERIMENTER-2Experimenter – in theaters & VOD now

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The story behind the story, Experimenter tells the tale of the man as he begins the most famous of his experiments. With several high-profile cameos, director Michael Almereyda uses several creative ways to punch up ordinary scenes.



 

 

Heart of a DogHeart of a Dog – in theaters October 21st

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Michael Stuhlbarg, Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs – nationwide October 23rd

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Liz’s non-iPhone user review here!


 

Brooklyn-2Brooklyn – in theaters November 6th

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MIA MADRE_1304Mia Madre – in theaters November 6th

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Liz loved it! Find out why in her review!


 

Ingrid Bergman In Her Own Words-1

Ingrid Bergman – In Her Own Words – in theaters November 13th

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Liz tells you why you’ll love the personal story of the Hollywood starlet in her review!


 

(L-R) KYLE CHANDLER and CATE BLANCHETT star in CAROL

(L-R) KYLE CHANDLER and CATE BLANCHETT star in CAROL

Carol – in theaters December 18th

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What did I think of it? Find out in my review!

Top 10 of the 53rd New York Film Festival

NYFF 53 bannerThis year’s New York Film Festival was full of surprises. While you can always count on big names, great directors (old and new), splendid writing, and some of the most stunning cinematography, there were quite a few films that truly stood out from the pack. Here are the Top 10 films that we saw this year.

Coming soon… RND’s Top 10 Honorable Mentions and an update on Release Dates of each of the fest’s selections thus far!

In Alphabetical Order:

079

Arabian Nights: Volume 2, The Desolate One

Miguel Gomes, 2015, DCP, 131 minutes
U.S. Premiere, Entrant for Academy Award for Best Foreign Film
Unfolding in a more melancholic register, the second part of Miguel Gomes’s monumental yet light-footed magnum opus shifts tones and genres at will (deadpan neo-Western, Brechtian courtroom farce, tear-jerking melodrama), all the while treating its fantasy dimension as a path to a more meaningful truth.

LIZ

While this is the 2nd film in a series of three, this installment blew the others out of  the water. Presented in s storytelling fashion to keep a murderous king at bay, Arabian Nights 2 gives us three distinct tales. After Volume 1, I was prepared for the structure of the trilogy: Political satire meets serious political situations that occurred in Portugal from 20121-2013. Shaharazad narrates the tales intertwined with real footage and interviews of actual effected countrymen and women. The tales are downright absurd, very loosely based upon those appearing in the original Arabian Nights stories. While at times completely nonsensical, the dialogue is quippy and unapologetic in it’s farcical nature and use of profanity. These films are certainly dynamic and completely uncategorical when it  comes to a genre label. In fact, Volume 2 is being entered into the Best Foreign Language Film in this year’s Oscar race. The tale that I, by far, enjoyed the most is title “Tears of a Judge.” I want this dialogue for my very own performing purposes at some point. It is that far out there a filled with ridiculous levity.


everythingiscopy1-1600x900-c-defaultEverything Is Copy

Jacob Bernstein, 2015, DCP, 89 minutes
World Premiere
This extremely entertaining film is a tribute to director Jacob Bernstein’s mother, the sparkling but caustically witty Nora Ephron: Hollywood-raised daughter of screenwriters who grew up to be an ace reporter turned piercingly funny essayist turned novelist/screenwriter/playwright/director.

LIZ

Let me start by saying, I want to be Nora Ephron when I grow up. Jacob’s intimate portrait of his late mother, a woman we all came to love, adore, and respect is one of my favorites of the entire film festival this year. Admittedly, I am the exact target audience for this doc. 35, pregnant, writer, brash, unapologetic, ambitious. What I learned from all the footage of Nora’s life and sit down interviews with family, friends and colleagues was an insight into how I want to live my own life. While Nora was an open book through her essays and interviews in the public, she was still very much private when it came to her illness in the end, keeping it from her own children for longer than many may have deemed necessary. With beloved films like When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, Julie & Julia, and incredible books like I Feel Bad About My Neck, Ephron was a tore de force as a human and an artist. She made me feel good about my own eclectic life choices thus far. She made me feel like it was alright (in fact brilliant) to be the only girl in “boy’s club”. She proved that a mixture of boldness, outspokenness, humility, love, kindness, and admitting your faults to yourself and world is the only way to live. Everyone adored her. She was one of a kind. Everything Is Copy captures her essence perfectly.


Ingrid Bergman In Her Own Words-5Ingrid Bergman – In Her Own Words

Stig Björkman, 2015, DCP, 114 minutes
Now Available on demand
This lovingly crafted film is composed from Ingrid Bergman’s letters and diaries, the memories of her children and a few close friends and colleagues, photographs, and moments from thousands of feet of Super-8 and 16mm footage shot by Bergman herself.

Liz was delighted by this doc as well. Having not known very much about Ingrid’s life prior to the screen, she found this film to be charming and effective. Read her review here!



lescowboys-1600x900-c-defaultLes Cowboys

Thomas Bidegain, 2015, DCP, 104 minutes
U.S. Premiere
In this unpredictable update of John Ford’s The Searchers, a father embarks on an obsessive quest to bring back his daughter, who has disappeared with her Muslim boyfriend. As the years pass and his life falls apart, the father passes the mission on to his son and the action assumes near-epic proportions as it shifts to post-9/11 Afghanistan.

LIZ

This timely look into race and religion is a two fold story of sorts. While Alain and his son, George, search for his estranged daughter, we are privy an intertwining of their search and the ramping up of Muslim extremism based around actual terror attacks. From before 9/11 to the 2005 London underground bombings, we follow the two as they navigate rival faiths and the yearning to find a loved one. The film is incredibly poignant in so many ways. The script takes some unexpected turns.Oftentimes,  frustrating but always touching and meaningful. Les Cowboys is rich in culture relations and I enjoyed this film on more levels than I ever expected.


THE LOBSTER_06930The Lobster

Yorgos Lanthimos, 2015, DCP, 118 minutes
Releases March 2016
In the future, single people are rounded up and sent to a seaside compound, given a finite number of days to find a match, and turned into animals if they fail. Welcome to the latest dark, dark comedy from absurdist Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos. Winner of a Cannes Jury Prize.

MELISSA

The plot is enough to lift your eyebrows and peak your interest. In, The Lobster, originality is not dead and lives on in this absurdly funny drama. While Colin Farrell is rather flat, it makes you focus on everything around him. Would you consider this the future or an alternate reality? There’s no limit to the conversations you’ll have every time it’s mentioned.



MIA MADRE_1252Mia Madre

Nanni Moretti, 2015, DCP, 106 minutes
U.S. Premiere
A filmmaker (Margherita Buy) tries to cope simultaneously with a mercurial American movie star (John Turturro) and the impending death of her mother (Giulia Lazzarini) in Nanni Moretti’s moving, hilarious, and subtly disquieting new film.

Liz loved it! Find out more and read her review!


MICROBE ET GASOIL-4

Microbre & Gasoline

Michel Gondry, 2015, DCP, 103 minutes
U.S. Premiere
Michel Gondry’s fresh, lyrical, handmade-SFX comedy is a story of two teenage misfits who build a house on wheels and take to the road, sputtering, pushing, and coasting their way across France.

Liz was a huge fan of this new Gondry classic. Check out her thoughts here!


Son of Saul stillSon of Saul

László Nemes, Hungary, 2015, 35mm, 107m
Hungarian and German with English subtitles
A film that looks into the abyss, this shattering portrait of the horror of Auschwitz follows Saul (Géza Röhrig), a Sonderkommando tasked with delivering his fellow Jews to the gas chamber. Determined to give a young boy a proper Jewish burial, Saul descends through the death camp’s circles of Hell, while a rebellion brews among the prisoners. A bombshell debut from director and co-writer László Nemes, Son of Saul is an utterly harrowing, ultra-immersive experience, and not for the fainthearted. With undeniably virtuoso plan-séquence camerawork in the mode of Nemes’s teacher Béla Tarr, this startling film represents a new benchmark in the historic cinematic depictions of the Holocaust. A deeply troubling work, sure to be one of the year’s most controversial films. A Sony Pictures Classics release.

LIZ

There is so much to say about this film. Centered specifically around one man’s story, Son Of Saul, is one of the most emotionally powerful films about the concentration camps realities. Ripe with extended takes and 100’s of extras, this film is one of a kind in it’s technicality. Some of the most impactful moments are created with the sound editing. Yelps and murmured conversations set the tone of the mind. What could be happening just out of focus and out of frame. Son Of Saul is a tribute to all those lost in the Holocaust. Géza Röhrig‘s performance must not be overlooked. His presence grabs you from the first moment on screen and his sincerity to tell a story of man trying to survive while making right with God is one that simply cannot be missed.


SteveJobs-NYFF53-fullSteve Jobs

Danny Boyle, 2015, DCP
Centerpiece
Danny Boyle and Aaron Sorkin joined forces to create this dynamically character-driven portrait of the brilliant man at the epicenter of the digital revolution, working from Walter Isaacson’s best-selling biography and starring Michael Fassbender in the title role, Kate Winslet as Joanna Hoffman, Seth Rogen as Steve Wozniak, Jeff Daniels as John Sculley, Michael Stuhlbarg as Andy Hertzfeld, and Katherine Waterston as Chrisann Brennan.

LIZ

I expected to abhor this film, simply based upon Alex Gibney‘s new doc Steve Jobs: The Man In The Machine (You can hear a Girls On Film Podcast all about his feature here!) I assumed that it would be a glorifying picture of a worldwide idol. Little did I realized that Walter Isaacson‘s book, one I own and have not yet cracked the spine on, would be anything but a fanboy’s essay. Find out how wrong I truly was in my review.


wheretoinvadenext-1600x900-c-defaultWhere to Invade Next

Michael Moore, 2015, DCP, 110 minutes
U.S. Premiere
In his new film, Michael Moore ponders the current state of the nation from a fresh perspective—that is, from the outside looking in—and gives us a film that is as provocative, funny, and impassioned as the rest of his work.

LIZ

With very current viral footage of the mess we find ourselves in currently as a country, from police brutality, Ferguson, wrongful imprisonment, and abortion rights, one might assume that this is yet another typical, angry, leftist doc cobbled together to specifically speak to a base I happen to be a part of politically. Well, think again. This has got to be Michael Moore‘s most upbeat film to date. Presented in a structure of having Michael himself, “invade” countries around the world, Moore travels to discuss the best ideas from each nation. Visiting Finland, Germany, Portugal, and Iceland, just to name a few, Michael chats with citizens and government officials to find out what makes them healthier and happier  than Americans in many ways. Delving to issues such as women’s homework, health clinics, banning drug arrests, paid vacation, free university, sex ed, school lunches, female run government agencies, and prison rehabilitation. The funny part about this film, besides Michael’s own levity and calm demeanor, is that all of these ideals are straight out of what Michael called “America’s Playbook.” In the press conference following the screening, Moore explained that every one of the countries came out to say that these ideas cam from The United States, originally.

“The American dream seemed to be alive and well… everywhere except America.” – Michael Moore

He goes on to say that we should not be mistaken, that he would not want to live in any other country other than the US. He admits that each of these countries certainly has their own problems, as well. The point in making this particular documentary was to show that we can make America even better, if we sit down and have civil conversations, one at a time. Where To Invade Next will be a winner on both sides of the aisle and around the world.

New York Film Festival Review: ‘STEVE JOBS’ The idol and the narcissist.

SteveJobs-NYFF53-fullSteve Jobs posterSteve Jobs: Humanity may recognize his face quicker than any religious leader, sports icon, historical figure… even Kardashian. The world knows this man. But, do they really?  Danny Boyle‘s new film, based upon the biography by Walter Isaacson, focuses on three specific moments in the life of Jobs; the launches of the Macintosh, Next, and the iMac. You may think you know the man that inspired the internet in your pocket, but truly you have no idea.stevejobs0004

The unmistakable dialogue from Aaron Sorkin breathes life into this film. Steve Jobs takes off running right out of the gate without a moment’s rest in it’s 122 minute run time. Each of the three sequences appearing in “real time” as they play out on screen. Sorkin admitted in the press conference following the screening that he has a bit of an obsession with time itself. The pacing is unreal. You have no idea how far you are into the movie at any given time as his dialogue is lush but never verbose. The entire cast nails each beat precisely.

steve jobs michael fassbender Lisa Still

If you haven’t read Isaacson’s book, you may not have a clear picture of Jobs. While he was adored by those in the public and those closest to him, the man was no saint. Self obsessed, “my way or the highway attitude” and in total denial, each move in his career was 1000% calculated. Oftentimes, to the detriment of those personal relationships. This is another brilliant aspect that the film brings in its editing. Each of the three launches is inter-cut with a pivotal moment from the past in which a character had a confrontation with Steve. While the adoration remains, let it be known that everyone in his path at some point reached their emotional limit and let him know it. I would be remiss to ignore the look and feel of each era, including wardrobe, music, and sporadic text visuals that serve to quietly highlight it’s excellence. Michael Stuhlbarg, Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet Steve Jobs

This cast is beyond perfection. Michael Fassbender, who admits he looks nothing like Jobs, did his actor’s due diligence studying YouTube clips of Steve. The rhythm and timbre of his voice and his physicality. Kate Winslet plays Joanna Hoffman, Job’s head of marketing and perhaps closest female friend ever, with a delicious ease. The leftover Polish accent of Hoffman is perfectly captured on Winslet’s lips. Seth Rogen is the ever forgotten genius Steve Wozniak. Rogen’s performance should not be overlooked in this year’s awards nominations. His quiet power does not go unnoticed and the scenes between he and Fassbender are spellbinding. Jeff Daniels, who perhaps has the most experience with Sorkin’s writing with his work on The Newsroom, gives us a knockout performance as Apple CEO John Sculley. Butting heads with Jobs but revealing a while boat load of truth in the process, Daniels also deserves accolades for this role. The cast is rounded out by exceptional portrayals of Crisann Brennan, Jobs’ thrown to the wind ex and mother of his first child, by Katherine Waterston. The emotional torture this woman endured is evident in each scene. Finally, Michael Stuhlbarg is Andy Hertzfeld, Mac software system designer, who often argued with Steve about his closed source software (the reason Mac is incompatible with anything other than Mac, which was probably his most calculated decision ever). Stuhlbarg, like the majority of the cast, spent time with his real life counterpart, getting to know the true ins and outs of who they were to  Steve and who they were as individual innovators. Seth Rogen Steve JobsSTEVE JOBS is both a pretty picture and a not so pretty picture of a man the world still worships. It will take you by surprise in every way possible. A triumph from start to finish, look for, at the very least, massive nominations for all involved come award season. STEVE JOBS comes to theaters in limited release Friday, October 3rd, followed by it’s nationwide release Friday, October 23rd. Stay tuned to Reel News Daily for the latest updates.

  • Directed By Danny Boyle
  • 2015
  • USA
  • DCP

Anyone going to this provocative and wildly entertaining film expecting a straight biopic of Steve Jobs is in for a shock. Working from Walter Isaacson’s biography, writer Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network, Charlie Wilson’s War) and director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours) joined forces to create this dynamically character-driven portrait of the brilliant man at the epicenter of the digital revolution, weaving the multiple threads of their protagonist’s life into three daringly extended backstage scenes, as he prepares to launch the first Macintosh, the NeXT work station and the iMac. We get a dazzlingly executed cross-hatched portrait of a complex and contradictory man, set against the changing fortunes and circumstances of the home-computer industry and the ascendancy of branding, of products, and of oneself. The stellar cast includes Michael Fassbender in the title role, Kate Winslet as Joanna Hoffman, Seth Rogen as Steve Wozniak, Jeff Daniels as John Sculley, Katherine Waterston as Chrisann Brennan and Michael Stuhlbarg as Andy Hertzfeld. A Universal Pictures release.

The New Steve Jobs Trailer is Here!

stevejobs0004

Universal Pictures and Legendary Pictures have released the new Steve Jobs trailer and we have it for you below!

Set backstage at three iconic product launches and ending in 1998 with the unveiling of the iMac, Steve Jobs takes us behind the scenes of the digital revolution to paint an intimate portrait of the brilliant man at its epicenter.

Steve Jobs is directed by Academy Award® winner Danny Boyle and written by Academy Award® winner Aaron Sorkin, working from Walter Isaacson’s best-selling biography of the Apple founder. The producers are Mark Gordon, Guymon Casady of Film 360, Scott Rudin, Boyle and Academy Award®winner Christian Colson.

Michael Fassbender plays Steve Jobs, the pioneering founder of Apple, with Academy Award®-winning actress Kate Winslet starring as Joanna Hoffman, former marketing chief of Macintosh. Steve Wozniak, who co-founded Apple, is played by Seth Rogen, and Jeff Daniels stars as former Apple CEO John Sculley. The film also stars Katherine Waterston as Chrisann Brennan, Jobs’ ex-girlfriend, and Michael Stuhlbarg as Andy Hertzfeld, one of the original members of the Apple Macintosh development team.

The film is scheduled for release on Friday, October 9.

Girls On Film Podcast: ‘Steve Jobs: The Man In the Machine’ – Liz & Melissa discuss Alex Gibney’s Documentary

Steve Jobs, Woodside CA 1984

This week’s podcast is dedicated to Alex Gibney‘s documentary, Steve Jobs: The Man In the Machine. Liz and I attended a screening, Q&A and reception where Gibney spoke with the press audience. After, Liz and I realized that as a user and non-user of Apple products, we had a great opportunity to discuss the film from both perspectives. Read More →

New York Film Festival Announces Main Slate – ‘Bridge of Spies’ ‘Carol’ & ‘Maggie’s Place’

NYFF 53 bannerAdditional NYFF special events, documentary section, and filmmaker conversations and panels, as well as NYFF’s Projections and the full Convergence programs, will be announced in subsequent days and weeks.

The 17-day New York Film Festival highlights the best in world cinema, featuring top films from celebrated filmmakers as well as fresh new talent. The selection committee, chaired by Jones, also includes Dennis Lim, FSLC Director of Programming; Marian Masone, FSLC Senior Programming Advisor; Gavin Smith, Editor-in-Chief, Film Comment; and Amy Taubin, Contributing Editor, Film Comment and Sight & Sound.

Tickets for the 53rd New York Film Festival will go on sale to Film Society patrons at the end of August, ahead of the General Public. Learn more about the patron program at filmlinc.org/patrons. Becoming a Film Society Member offers the exclusive member ticket discount to the New York Film Festival and Film Society programming year-round plus other great benefits. Current members at the Film Buff Level or above enjoy early ticket access to NYFF screenings and events ahead of the general public. Learn more at filmlinc.org/membership.

For even more access, VIP Passes and Subscription Packages give buyers one of the earliest opportunities to purchase tickets and secure seats at some of the festival’s biggest events including Opening, Centerpiece, and Closing Nights. VIP passes also provide access to many exciting events including the invitation-only Opening Night party, “ An Evening With…” Dinner, Filmmaker Brunch, and VIP Lounge. Benefits vary based on the pass or package type purchased. A limited number of VIP Passes and Subscription Packages are still available. For information about purchasing Subscription Packages and VIP Passes, go to filmlinc.org/NYFF.

Films & Descriptions

The Walk NYFF 53Opening Night
The Walk
Robert Zemeckis, USA, 2015, 3-D DCP, 100m
Robert Zemeckis’s magical and enthralling new film, the story of Philippe Petit (winningly played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and his walk between the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers, plays like a heist movie in the grand tradition of Rififi and Bob le flambeur. Zemeckis takes us through every detail—the stakeouts, the acquisition of equipment, the elaborate planning and rehearsing that it took to get Petit, his crew of raucous cohorts, and hundreds of pounds of rigging to the top of what was then the world’s tallest building. When Petit steps out on his wire, The Walk, a technical marvel and perfect 3-D re-creation of Lower Manhattan in the 1970s, shifts into another heart-stopping gear, and Zemeckis and his hero transport us into pure sublimity. With Ben Kingsley as Petit’s mentor. A Sony Pictures release. World Premiere
SteveJobs-NYFF53-fullCenterpiece

Steve Jobs
Danny Boyle, USA, 2015, DCP, TBC
Anyone going to this provocative and wildly entertaining film expecting a straight biopic of Steve Jobs is in for a shock. Working from Walter Isaacson’s biography, writer Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network, Charlie Wilson’s War) and director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours) joined forces to create this dynamically character-driven portrait of the brilliant man at the epicenter of the digital revolution, weaving the multiple threads of their protagonist’s life into three daringly extended backstage scenes, as he prepares to launch the first Macintosh, the NeXT work station and the iMac. We get a dazzlingly executed cross-hatched portrait of a complex and contradictory man, set against the changing fortunes and circumstances of the home-computer industry and the ascendancy of branding, of products, and of oneself. The stellar cast includes Michael Fassbender in the title role, Kate Winslet as Joanna Hoffman, Seth Rogen as Steve Wozniak, Jeff Daniels as John Sculley, Katherine Waterston as Chrisann Brennan and Michael Stuhlbarg as Andy Hertzfeld. A Universal Pictures release.

Miles Ahead poster NYFF53Closing Night
Miles Ahead
Don Cheadle, USA, 2015, DCP, 100m
Miles Davis was one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. And how do you make a movie about him? You get to know the man inside and out and then you reveal him in full, which is exactly what Don Cheadle does as a director, a writer, and an actor with this remarkable portrait of Davis, refracted through his crazy days in the late-70s. Holed up in his Manhattan apartment, wracked with pain from a variety of ailments and sweating for the next check from his record company, dodging sycophants and industry executives, he is haunted by memories of old glories and humiliations and of his years with his great love Frances Taylor (Emayatzy Corinealdi). Every second of Cheadle’s cinematic mosaic is passionately engaged with its subject: this is, truly, one of the finest films ever made about the life of an artist. With Ewan McGregor as Dave Brill, the “reporter” who cons his way into Miles’ apartment. A Sony Pictures Classics release. World Premiere

Arabian Nights: Volume 1, The Restless One
Miguel Gomes, Portugal/France/Germany/Switzerland, 2015, DCP, 125m
Portuguese with English subtitles
An up-to-the minute rethinking of what it means to make a political film today, Miguel Gomes’s shape-shifting paean to the art of storytelling strives for what its opening titles call “a fictional form from facts.” Working for a full year with a team of journalists who sent dispatches from all over the country during Portugal’s recent plunge into austerity, Gomes (Tabu, NYFF50) turns actual events into the stuff of fable, and channels it all through the mellifluous voice of Scheherazade (Crista Alfaiate), the mythic queen of the classic folktale. Volume 1 alone tries on more narrative devices than most filmmakers attempt in a lifetime, mingling documentary material about unemployment and local elections with visions of exploding whales and talking cockerels. It is hard to imagine a more generous or radical approach to these troubled times, one that honors its fantasy life as fully as its hard realities. A Kino Lorber release. U.S. Premiere

Arabian Nights: Volume 2, The Desolate One
Miguel Gomes, Portugal/France/Germany/Switzerland, 2015, DCP, 131m
Portuguese with English subtitles
In keeping with its subtitle, the middle section of Miguel Gomes’s monumental yet light-footed magnum opus shifts into a more subdued and melancholic register. But within each of these three tales, framed as the wild imaginings of the Arabian queen Scheherazade and adapted from recent real-life events in Portugal, there are surprises and digressions aplenty. In the first, a deadpan neo-Western of sorts, an escaped murderer becomes a local hero for dodging the authorities. The second deals with the theft of 13 cows, as told through a Brechtian open-air courtroom drama in which the testimonies become increasingly absurd. Finally, a Maltese poodle shuttles between various owners in a tear-jerking collective portrait of a tower block’s morose residents. Attesting to the power of fiction to generate its own reality, the film treats its fantasy dimension as a license for directness, a path to a more meaningful truth. A Kino Lorber release. U.S. Premiere

Arabian Nights: Volume 3, The Enchanted One
Miguel Gomes, Portugal/France/Germany/Switzerland, 2015, DCP, 125m
Portuguese with English subtitles
Miguel Gomes’s sui generis epic concludes with arguably its most eccentric—and most enthralling—installment. Scheherazade escapes the king for an interlude of freedom in Old Baghdad, envisioned here as a sunny Mediterranean archipelago complete with hippies and break-dancers. After her eventual return to her palatial confines comes the most lovingly protracted of all the stories in Arabian Nights, a documentary chronicle of Lisbon-area bird trappers preparing their prized finches for birdsong competitions. Right to the end, Gomes’s film balances the leisurely art of the tall tale with a sense of deadline urgency—a reminder that for Scheherazade, and perhaps for us all, stories can be a matter of life and death. A Kino Lorber release. U.S. Premiere

The Assassin
Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan/China/Hong Kong, 2015, DCP, 105m
Mandarin with English subtitles
A wuxia like no other, The Assassin is set in the waning years of the Tang Dynasty when provincial rulers are challenging the power of royal court. Nie Yinniang (Shu Qi), who was exiled as a child so that her betrothed could make a more politically advantageous match, has been trained as an assassin for hire. Her mission is to destroy her former financé (Chang Chen). But worry not about the plot, which is as old as the jagged mountains and deep forests that bear witness to the cycles of power and as elusive as the mists that surround them. Hou’s art is in the telling. The film is immersive and ephemeral, sensuous and spare, and as gloriously beautiful in its candle-lit sumptuous red and gold decor as Hou’s 1998 masterpiece,Flowers of Shanghai. As for the fight scenes, they’re over almost before you realize they’ve happened, but they will stay in your mind’s eye forever. A Well Go USA release. U.S. Premiere

Bridge of Spies
Steven Spielberg, USA, 2015, DCP, 135m
The “bridge of spies” of the title refers to Glienicke Bridge, which crosses what was once the borderline between the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR. In the time from the building of the Berlin Wall to its destruction in 1989, there were three prisoner exchanges between East and West. The first and most famous spy swap occurred on February 10, 1962, when Soviet agent Rudolph Abel was traded for American pilot Francis Gary Powers, captured by the Soviets when his U-2 reconnaissance plane was shot down over Sverdlovsk. The exchange was negotiated by Abel’s lawyer, James B. Donovan, who also arranged for the simultaneous release of American student Frederic Pryor at Checkpoint Charlie. Working from a script by Matt Charman and Joel and Ethan Coen, Steven Spielberg has brought every strange turn in this complex Cold War story to vividly tactile life. With a brilliant cast, headed by Tom Hanks as Donovan and Mark Rylance as Abel—two men who strike up an improbable friendship based on a shared belief in public service. A Touchstone Pictures release.World Premiere

Brooklyn
John Crowley, UK/Ireland/Canada, 2015, 35mm/DCP, 112m
In the middle of the last century, Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) takes the boat from Ireland to America in search of a better life. She endures the loneliness of the exile, boarding with an insular and catty collection of Irish girls in Brooklyn. Gradually, her American dream materializes: she studies bookkeeping and meets a handsome, sweet Italian boy (Emory Cohen). But then bad news brings her back home, where she finds a good job and another handsome boy (Domhnall Gleeson), this time from a prosperous family. On which side of the Atlantic does Eilis’s future live, and with whom? Director John Crowley (Boy A) and writer Nick Hornby haven’t just fashioned a great adaptation of Colm Tóibín’s novel, but a beautiful movie, a sensitively textured re-creation of the look and emotional climate of mid-century America and Ireland, with Ronan, as quietly and vibrantly alive as a silent-screen heroine, at its heart. A Fox Searchlight Pictures release.

Carol
Todd Haynes, USA, 2015, DCP, 118m
Todd Haynes’s adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s debut novel stars Cate Blanchett as the titular Carol, a wealthy suburban wife and mother, and Rooney Mara as an aspiring photographer who meet by chance, fall in love almost at first sight, and defy the closet of the early 1950s to be together. Working with his longtime cinematographer Ed Lachman and shooting on the Super-16 film he favors for the way it echoes the movie history of 20th-century America, Haynes charts subtle shifts of power and desire in images that are alternately luminous and oppressive. Blanchett and Mara are both splendid; the erotic connection between their characters is palpable from beginning to end, as much in its repression as in eagerly claimed moments of expressive freedom. Originally published under a pseudonym, Carol is Highsmith’s most affirmative work; Haynes has more than done justice to the multilayered emotions evoked by it source material. A Weinstein Company release.

Cemetery of Splendour
Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand/UK/France/Germany/Malaysia, 2015, DCP, 122m
Thai with English subtitles
The wondrous new film by Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul (whose last feature, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, was a Palme d’Or winner and a NYFF48 selection) is set in and around a hospital ward full of comatose soldiers. Attached to glowing dream machines, and tended to by a kindly volunteer (Jenjira Pongpas Widner) and a young clairvoyant (Jarinpattra Rueangram), the men are said to be waging war in their sleep on behalf of long-dead feuding kings, and their mysterious slumber provides the rich central metaphor: sleep as safe haven, as escape mechanism, as ignorance, as bliss. To slyer and sharper effect than ever, Apichatpong merges supernatural phenomena with Thailand’s historical phantoms and national traumas. Even more seamlessly than his previous films, this sun-dappled reverie induces a sensation of lucid dreaming, conjuring a haunted world where memory and myth intrude on physical space. A Strand Releasing release. U.S. Premiere

Les Cowboys
Thomas Bidegain, 2015, France, DCP, 114m
French and English with English subtitles
Country and Western enthusiast Alain (François Damiens) is enjoying an outdoor gathering of fellow devotees with his wife and teenage children when his daughter abruptly vanishes. Learning that she’s eloped with her Muslim boyfriend, he embarks on increasingly obsessive quest to track her down. As the years pass and the trail grows cold, Alain sacrifices everything, while drafting his son into his efforts. The echoes of The Searchers are unmistakable, but the story departs from John Ford’s film in unexpected ways, escaping its confining European milieu as the pursuit assumes near-epic proportions in post-9/11 Afghanistan. This muscular debut, worthy of director Thomas Bidegain’s screenwriting collaborations with Jacques Audiard, yields a sweeping vision of a world in which the codes of the Old West no longer seem to hold. A Cohen Media Group release. U.S. Premiere

Don’t Blink: Robert Frank
Laura Israel, USA/Canada, 2015, DCP, 82m
The life and work of Robert Frank—as a photographer and a filmmaker—are so intertwined that they’re one in the same, and the vast amount of territory he’s covered, from The Americans in 1958 up to the present, is intimately registered in his now-formidable body of artistic gestures. From the early ’90s on, Frank has been making his films and videos with the brilliant editor Laura Israel, who has helped him to keep things homemade and preserve the illuminating spark of first contact between camera and people/places. Don’t Blink is Israel’s like-minded portrait of her friend and collaborator, a lively rummage sale of images and sounds and recollected passages and unfathomable losses and friendships that leaves us a fast and fleeting imprint of the life of the Swiss-born man who reinvented himself the American way, and is still standing on ground of his own making at the age of 90. World Premiere

Experimenter
Michael Almereyda, USA, 2014, DCP, 94m
Michael Almereyda’s brilliant portrait of Stanley Milgram, the social scientist whose 1961, Yale-based “obedience study” reflected back on the Holocaust and anticipated Abu Ghraib and other atrocities carried out by ordinary people who were just following orders, places its subject in an appropriately experimental cinema framework. The proverbial elephant in the room materializes on screen; Milgram (Peter Sarsgaard) sometimes addresses the camera directly as if to implicate us in his studies and the unpleasant truths they reveal. Remarkably, the film evokes great compassion for this uncompromising, difficult man, in part because we often see him through the eyes of his wife (Winona Ryder, in a wonderfully grounded performance), who fully believed in his work and its profoundly moral purpose. Almereyda creates the bohemian-tinged academic world of the 1960s through the 1980s with an economy that Stanley Kubrick might have envied. A Magnolia Pictures release.

The Forbidden Room
Guy Maddin & Evan Johnson, Canada, 2015, DCP, 120m
The four-man crew of a submarine are trapped underwater, running out of air. A classic scenario of claustrophobic suspense—at least until a hatch opens and out steps… a lumberjack? As this newcomer’s backstory unfolds (and unfolds and unfolds in over a dozen outlandish tales), Guy Maddin, cinema’s reigning master of feverish filmic fetishism, embarks on a phantasmagoric narrative adventure of stories within stories within dreams within flashbacks in a delirious globe-trotting mise en abyme the equals of any by the late Raúl Ruiz. Collaborating with poet John Ashbery and featuring sublime contributions from the likes of Jacques Nolot, Charlotte Rampling, Mathieu Amalric, legendary cult electro-pop duo Sparks, and not forgetting muses Louis Negin and Udo Kier, Maddin dives deeper than ever: only the lovechild of Josef von Sternberg and Jack Smith could be responsible for this insane magnum opus. A Kino Lorber release.

In the Shadow of Women / L’Ombre des femmes
Philippe Garrel, France, 2015, DCP, 73m
French with English subtitles
The new film by the great Philippe Garrel (previously seen at the NYFF with Regular Lovers in 2005 and Jealousy in 2013) is a close look at infidelity—not merely the fact of it, but the particular, divergent ways in which it’s experienced and understood by men and women. Stanislas Merhar and Clotilde Courau are Pierre and Manon, a married couple working in fragile harmony on Pierre’s documentary film projects, the latest of which is a portrait of a resistance fighter (Jean Pommier). When Pierre takes a lover (Lena Paugam), he feels entitled to do so, and he treats both wife and mistress with disengagement bordering on disdain; when Manon catches Pierre in the act, her immediate response is to find common ground with her husband. Garrel is an artist of intimacies and emotional ecologies, and with In the Shadow of Women he has added narrative intricacy and intrigue to his toolbox. The result is an exquisite jewel of a film. U.S. Premiere

Journey to the Shore / Kishibe no tabi
Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan/France, 2015, DCP, 127m
Japanese with English subtitles
Based on Kazumi Yumoto’s 2010 novel, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s latest film begins with a young widow named Mizuki (Eri Fukatsu), who has been emotionally flattened and muted by the disappearance of her husband Yusuke (Tadanobu Asano). One day, from out of the blue or the black, Yusuke’s ghost drops in, more like an exhausted and unexpected guest than a wandering spirit. And then Journey to the Shore becomes a road movie: Mizuki and Yusuke pack their bags, leave Tokyo, and travel by train through parts of Japan that we rarely see in movies, acclimating themselves to their new circumstances and stopping for extended stays with friends and fellow pilgrims that Yusuke has met on his way through the afterworld, some living and some dead. The particular beauty of Journey to the Shore lies in its flowing sense of life as balance between work and love, existence and nonexistence, you and me. U.S. Premiere

The Lobster
Yorgos Lanthimos, France/Netherlands/Greece/UK, 2015, DCP, 118m
In the very near future, society demands that we live as couples. Single people are rounded up and sent to a seaside compound—part resort and part minimum-security prison—where they are given a finite number of days to find a match. If they don’t succeed, they will be “altered” and turned into an animal. The recently divorced David (Colin Farrell) arrives at The Hotel with his brother, now a dog; in the event of failure, David has chosen to become a lobster… because they live so long. When David falls in love, he’s up against a new set of rules established by another, rebellious order: for romantics, there’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Welcome to the latest dark, dark comedy from Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth), creator of absurdist societies not so very different from our own. With Léa Seydoux as the leader of the Loners, Rachel Weisz as David’s true love, John C. Reilly, and Ben Whishaw. An Alchemy release.

Maggie’s Plan
Rebecca Miller, USA, 2015, DCP, 92m
Rebecca Miller’s new film is as wise, funny, and suspenseful as a Jane Austen novel. Greta Gerwig shines brightly in the role of Maggie, a New School administrator on the verge of completing her life plan with a donor-fathered baby when she meets John (Ethan Hawke), a soulful but unfulfilled adjunct professor. John is unhappily married to a Columbia-tenured academic superstar wound tighter than a coiled spring (Julianne Moore). Maggie and the professor commiserate, share confidences, and fall in love. And where most contemporary romantic comedies end, Miller’s film is just getting started. In the tradition of Woody Allen and Paul Mazursky, Miller approaches the genre of the New York romantic comedy with relish and loving energy. With Bill Hader and Maya Rudolph as Maggie’s married-with-children friends, drawn to defensive sarcasm like moths to a flame, and Travis Fimmel as Maggie’s donor-in-waiting. U.S. Premiere

The Measure of a Man / La Loi du marché
Stéphane Brizé, France, 2015, DCP, 93m
French with English subtitles
Vincent Lindon gives his finest performance to date as unemployed everyman Thierry, who must submit to a series of quietly humiliating ordeals in his search for work. Futile retraining courses that lead to dead ends, interviews via Skype, an interview-coaching workshop critique of his self-presentation by fellow jobseekers—all are mechanisms that seek to break him down and strip him of identity and self-respect in the name of reengineering of a workforce fit for an neoliberal technocratic system. Nothing if not determinist, Stéphane Brizé’s film dispassionately monitors the progress of its stoic protagonist until at last he lands a job on the front line in the surveillance and control of his fellow man—and finally faces one too many moral dilemmas. A powerful and deeply troubling vision of the realities of our new economic order. A Kino Lorber release. North American Premiere

Mia Madre
Nanni Moretti, Italy/France, 2015, DCP, 106m
Italian and English with English subtitles
Margherita (Margherita Buy) is a middle-aged filmmaker contending with shooting an international co-production with a mercurial American actor (John Turturro) and with the fact that her beloved mother (Giulia Lazzarini) is mortally ill. Underrated as an actor, director Nanni Moretti, offers a fascinating portrayal as Margherita’s brother, a quietly abrasive, intelligent man with a wonderfully tamped-down generosity and warmth. The construction of the film is as simple as it is beautiful: the chaos of the movie within the movie merges with the fear of disorder and feelings of pain and loss brought about by impending death. Mia Madre is a sharp and continually surprising work about the fragility of existence that is by turns moving, hilarious, and subtly disquieting. An Alchemy release. U.S. Premiere

Microbe & Gasoline / Microbe et Gasoil
Michel Gondry, France, 2015, DCP, 103m
French with English subtitles
The new handmade-SFX comedy from Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Be Kind Rewind) is set in an autobiographical key. Teenage misfits Microbe (Ange Dargent) and Gasoline (Théophile Baquet), one nicknamed for his size and the other for his love of all things mechanical and fuel-powered, become fast friends. Unloved in school and misunderstood at home—Microbe is overprotected, Gasoline is by turns ignored and abused—they decide to build a house on wheels (complete with a collapsible flower window box) and sputter, push, and coast their way to the camp where Gasoline went as a child, with a stop along the way to visit Microbe’s crush (Diane Besnier). Gondry’s visual imagination is prodigious, and so is his cultivation of spontaneously generated fun and off-angled lyricism, his absolute irreverence, and his emotional frankness. This is one of his freshest and loveliest films. With Audrey Tatou as Microbe’s mom. U.S. Premiere

Mountains May Depart
Jia Zhangke, China/France/Japan, 2015, DCP, 131m
Mandarin and English with English subtitles
The plot of Jia Zhangke’s new film is simplicity itself. Fenyang 1999, on the cusp of the capitalist explosion in China. Shen Tao (Zhao Tao) has two suitors—Zhang (Zhang Yi), an entrepreneur-to-be, and his best friend Liangzi (Liang Jin Dong), who makes his living in the local coal mine. Shen Tao decides, with a note of regret, to marry Zhang, a man with a future. Flash-forward 15 years: the couple’s son Dollar is paying a visit to his now-estranged mother, and everyone and everything seems to have grown more distant in time and space… and then further ahead in time, to even greater distances. Jia is modern cinema’s greatest poet of drift and the uncanny, slow-motion feeling of massive and inexorable change. Like his 2013 A Touch of Sin, Mountains May Depart is an epically scaled canvas. But where the former was angry and quietly terrifying, the latter is a heartbreaking prayer for the restoration of what has been lost in the name of progress. A Kino Lorber release. U.S. Premiere

My Golden Days / Trois Souvenirs de ma jeunesse
Arnaud Desplechin, France, 2015, DCP, 123m
French with English subtitles
Arnaud Desplechin’s alternately hilarious and heartrending latest work is intimate yet expansive, a true autobiographical epic. Mathieu Amalric—Jean-Pierre Léaud to Desplechin’s François Truffaut—reprises the character of Paul Dédalus from the director’s groundbreaking My Sex Life… or How I Got Into an Argument (NYFF, 1996), now looking back on the mystery of his own identity from the lofty vantage point of middle age. Desplechin visits three varied but interlocking episodes in his hero’s life, each more surprising and richly textured than the next, and at the core of his film is the romance between the adolescent Paul (Quentin Dolmaire) and Esther (Lou Roy-Lecollinet). Most directors trivialize young love by slotting it into a clichéd category, but here it is ennobled and alive in all of its heartbreak, terror, and beauty. Le Monderecently referred to Desplechin as “the most Shakespearean of filmmakers,” and boy, did they ever get that right. My Golden Days is a wonder to behold. A Magnolia Pictures release. North American Premiere

No Home Movie
Chantal Akerman, Belgium/France, 2015, DCP, 115m
French and English with English subtitles
At the center of Chantal Akerman’s enormous body of work is her mother, a Holocaust survivor who married and raised a family in Brussels. In recent years, the filmmaker has explicitly depicted, in videos, books, and installation works, her mother’s life and her own intense connection to her mother, and in turn her mother’s connection to her mother. No Home Movie is a portrait by Akerman, the daughter, of Akerman, the mother, in the last years of her life. It is an extremely intimate film but also one of great formal precision and beauty, one of the rare works of art that is both personal and universal, and as much a masterpiece as her 1975 career-defining Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles.U.S. Premiere

Right Now, Wrong Then
Hong Sangsoo, South Korea, 2015, DCP, 121m
Korean with English subtitles
Ham Chunsu (Jung Jaeyoung) is an art-film director who has come to Suwon for a screening of one of his movies. He meets Yoon Heejung (Kim Minhee), a fledgling artist. She’s never seen any of his films but knows he’s famous; he’d like to see her paintings and then go for sushi and soju. Every word, every pause, every facial expression and every movement, is a negotiation between revelation and concealment: too far over the line for Chunsu and he’s suddenly a middle-aged man on the prowl who uses insights as tools of seduction; too far for Heejung and she’s suddenly acquiescing to a man who’s leaving the next day. So they walk the fine line all the way to a tough and mordantly funny end point, at which time… we begin again, but now with different emotional dynamics. Hong Sangsoo, represented many times in the NYFF, achieves a maximum of layered nuance with a minimum of people, places, and incidents. He is, truly, a master. U.S. Premiere

The Treasure / Comoara
Corneliu Porumboiu, Romania, 2015, DCP, 89m
Romanian with English subtitles
Costi (Cuzin Toma) leads a fairly quiet, unremarkable life with his wife and son. He’s a good provider, but he struggles to make ends meet. One evening there’s a knock at the door. It’s a stranger, a neighbor named Adrian (Adrian Purcarescu), with a business proposal: lend him some money to find a buried treasure in his grandparents’ backyard and they’ll split the proceeds. Is it a scam or a real treasure hunt? Corneliu Porumboiu’s (When Evening Falls on Bucharest or Metabolism, NYFF 2013) modern-day fable starts like an old Honeymooners episode with a get-rich-quick premise, gradually develops into a shaggy slapstick comedy, shifts gears into a hilariously dry delineation of the multiple layers of pure bureaucracy and paperwork drudgery, and ends in a new and altogether surprising key. Porumboiu is one of the subtlest artists in movies, and this is one of his wryest films, and his most magical.

Where To Invade Next
Michael Moore, USA, 2015, DCP, 110m
Where are we, as Americans? Where are we going as a country? And is it where we want to go, or where we think we haveto go? Since Roger & Me in 1989, Michael Moore has been examining these questions and coming up with answers that are several worlds away from the ones we are used to seeing and hearing and reading in mainstream media, or from our elected officials. In his previous films, Moore has taken on one issue at a time, from the hemorrhaging of American jobs to the response to 9/11 to the precariousness of our healthcare system. In his new film, he shifts his focus to the whole shebang and ponders the current state of the nation from a very different perspective: that is, from the outside looking in. Where To Invade Next is provocative, very funny, and impassioned—just like all of Moore’s work. But it’s also pretty surprising. U.S. Premiere

ABOUT FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER
Founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, the Film Society of Lincoln Center works to recognize established and emerging filmmakers, support important new work, and to enhance the awareness, accessibility, and understanding of the moving image. The Film Society produces the renowned New York Film Festival, a curated selection of the year’s most significant new film work, and presents or collaborates on other annual New York City festivals including Dance on Camera, Film Comment Selects, Human Rights Watch Film Festival, New Directors/New Films, New York African Film Festival, New York Asian Film Festival, New York Jewish Film Festival, Open Roads: New Italian Cinema and Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. In addition to publishing the award-winning Film Comment magazine, the Film Society recognizes an artist’s unique achievement in film with the prestigious Chaplin Award, whose 2015 recipient is Robert Redford. The Film Society’s state-of-the-art Walter Reade Theater and the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, located at Lincoln Center, provide a home for year-round programs and the New York City film community.

The Film Society receives generous, year-round support from American Airlines, The New York Times, Stella Artois, HBO, The Kobal Collection, Variety, Row NYC Hotel, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Support for the New York Film Festival is also generously provided by Jaeger-LeCoultre, FIJI Water, KIND Bars, Portage World Wide Inc., WABC-7, and WNET New York Public Media.

Universal Pictures through 2018 – The good, the bad & 15 sequels

Universal Studios logo

Universal announced their slate through 2018 and there’s lots to chat about. I’ll sum up each year, then give a more detailed view after.

2015 RELEASES

For the rest of this year, I’m pretty excited about the lineup, save for one. Can you guess which?

  • Straight Outta Compton – Not really my jam, but I’ve heard good things.
  • The Visit – M. Night, you’ll probably disappoint me, but I can’t help but give you another shot.
  • Everest – Epic mountain climbing and adventure. I’m in.
  • Legend – Tom Hardy times two? Yes, please.
  • Steve Jobs – YES, please erase Ashton Kutcher from my mind.
  • Crimson Peak – I’m not a horror fan in general, but Guillermo del Toro & Tom Hiddleston will put my but in the seat.
  • Jem and the Holograms – No. NO. If you’re gonna do this, do it right. Jem was a business woman by day and a rock star by night. This is just WRONG.
  • By the Sea – Jolie-Pitt will always get my vote.
  • Krampus – Horror Comedy with Adam Scott & Toni Collette
  • Sisters – Tina Fey & Amy Poehler. That’s it.

2016 RELEASES

Of the 21 movies announced, 7 are sequels or continuation of a series. Only one of them has real potential, then there’s 4 more that really could be great.

  • Ride Along 2 – The first was successful, people loved it. Alright, whatever.
  • My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 – Seriously? Let it go.
  • The Huntsman – Can it survive without Snow White? Totally could.
  • Neighbors 2 – I just don’t understand.
  • The Purge 3 – Eh. Another horror sequel. Not a surprise.
  • Untitled Next Bourne Chapter – Matt Damon is back. THANK GOD.
  • Ouija 2 – Again with the horror sequel. Blah.

Now for the good stuff.

  • Hail, Caesar! – Coen Brothers. COEN BROTHERS.
  • The Huntsman – Prequel with the Charlize Theron & Chris Hemsworth with Emily Blunt. I’ll watch anything with Emily Blunt.
  • Top Secret Untitled Lonely Island Movie – Andy Samberg movie. YES.
  • Warcraft – Didn’t have an interest until I saw it was going to be directed by Duncan Jones, the director of Moon and Source Code.
  • The Secret Lives of Pets – Adorable. Adorable adorable adorable.

2017 RELEASES

Over half of the 2017 are sequels/series continuation and only 1 peaks my interest.

  • Fifty Shades Darker – The first wasn’t actually that bad. Not good, mind you, but not what all the hype was about.
  • The Mummy – No, not another Brenden Fraser, but it is being produced by a guy who worked on it. Is it a sequel? Who cares?
  • New Chapter in Fast & Furious Saga – IT WILL NEVER END.
  • Despicable 3 – So, Minons wasn’t Despicable 3? Could have fooled me.
  • Kong: Skull Island – Sequel? Kinda. With Tom Hiddleston? I’ll allow it.
  • Pitch Perfect 3 – Not really for me, but more power to them.
  • Pacific Rim 2 – Let’s hope there’s a story this time.

2018 RELEASES

Sequels, what else?

  • Fifty Shades Freed – There’s only 3 books. Whew.
  • Jurassic World Sequel – Alright, I suppose I’ll watch it. 🙂

 

straightouttacompton0006Straight Outta Compton
August 14, 2015

In 1987, five young men, using brutally honest rhymes and hardcore beats, put their frustration and anger about life in the most dangerous place in America into the most powerful weapon they had: their music. Taking us back to where it all began, Straight Outta Compton tells the true story of how these cultural rebels—armed only with their lyrics, swagger, bravado and raw talent—stood up to the authorities that meant to keep them down and formed the world’s most dangerous group, N.W.A. And as they spoke the truth that no one had before and exposed life in the hood, their voice ignited a social revolution that is still reverberating today.

Straight Outta Compton stars O’Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins and Jason Mitchell as Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Eazy-E, and is directed by F. Gary Gray (Friday, Set It Off, The Italian Job).  The drama is produced by original N.W.A members Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, who are joined by fellow producers Tomica Woods-Wright, Matt Alvarez, Gray and Scott Bernstein. Will Packer serves as executive producer of the film alongside Adam Merims, David Engel, Bill Straus, Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni. www.straightouttacompton.com


The Visit posterThe Visit
September 11, 2015

Writer/director/producer M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Signs, Unbreakable) and producer Jason Blum (Paranormal Activity, The Purge and Insidious series) welcome you to Universal Pictures’ The Visit.  Shyamalan returns to his roots with the terrifying story of a brother and sister who are sent to their grandparents’ remote Pennsylvania farm for a weeklong trip.  Once the children discover that the elderly couple is involved in something deeply disturbing, they see their chances of getting back home are growing smaller every day.

Shyamalan produces The Visit through his Blinding Edge Pictures, while Blum produces through his Blumhouse Productions alongside Marc Bienstock (Quarantine 2: Terminal).  Steven Schneider (Insidious) and Ashwin Rajan (Devil) executive produce the thriller. www.stayinyourroom.com


Everest posterEverest
(IMAX) September 18, 2015 / (2D/3D) September 25, 2015

Inspired by the incredible events surrounding an attempt to reach the summit of the world’s highest mountain, Everest documents the awe-inspiring journey of two different expeditions challenged beyond their limits by one of the fiercest snowstorms ever encountered by mankind.  Their mettle tested by the harshest elements found on the planet, the climbers will face nearly impossible obstacles as a lifelong obsession becomes a breathtaking struggle for survival.  The epic adventure stars Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Robin Wright, Michael Kelly, Sam Worthington, Keira Knightley, Emily Watson and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Everest is directed by Baltasar Kormákur (2 Guns, Contraband) and produced by Working Title Films’ Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, Cross Creek Pictures’ Brian Oliver and Tyler Thompson, as well as Nicky Kentish Barnes and Kormákur.

Universal Pictures and Cross Creek Pictures’ presentation of Everest—in association with Walden Media—is adapted for the screen by William Nicholson (Gladiator) and Oscar® winner Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire).

The film was shot on location in Nepal on the foothills of Everest, the Italian Alps and at Cinecittà Studios in Rome and Pinewood Studios in the U.K.  Universal will distribute Everest worldwide.


Legend posterLegend
October 2, 2015

From Academy Award® winner Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential, Mystic River) comes the true story of the rise and fall of London’s most notorious gangsters, Reggie and Ron Kray, both portrayed by Tom Hardy in an amazing double performance. Legend is a classic crime thriller taking us into the secret history of the 1960s and the extraordinary events that secured the infamy of the Kray twins.

Written and directed by Helgeland, the Studiocanal, Working Title and Cross Creek film co-stars Emily Browning, David Thewlis, Christopher Eccleston, Chazz Palminteri, Tara Fitzgerald and Taron Egerton. Working Title Film’s Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner produce Legend alongside Chris Clark, Quentin Curtis and Cross Creek Pictures’ Brian Oliver. Universal will release the thriller in the U.S., and Studiocanal will distribute in the U.K., France, Germany and Australia/New Zealand.


Steve Jobs
October 9, 2015

From Academy Award® winner Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential, Mystic River) comes the true story of the rise and fall of London’s most notorious gangsters, Reggie and Ron Kray, both portrayed by Tom Hardy in an amazing double performance. Legend is a classic crime thriller taking us into the secret history of the 1960s and the extraordinary events that secured the infamy of the Kray twins.

Written and directed by Helgeland, the Studiocanal, Working Title and Cross Creek film co-stars Emily Browning, David Thewlis, Christopher Eccleston, Chazz Palminteri, Tara Fitzgerald and Taron Egerton. Working Title Film’s Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner produce Legend alongside Chris Clark, Quentin Curtis and Cross Creek Pictures’ Brian Oliver. Universal will release the thriller in the U.S., and Studiocanal will distribute in the U.K., France, Germany and Australia/New Zealand.


Crimson Peak posterCrimson Peak
October 16, 2015

When her heart is stolen by a seductive stranger, a young woman is swept away to a house atop a mountain of blood-red clay: a place filled with secrets that will haunt her forever. Between desire and darkness, between mystery and madness, lies the truth behind Crimson Peak.

From the imagination of director Guillermo del Toro comes a supernatural mystery starring Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska and Charlie Hunnam. www.crimsonpeakmovie.com


Jem & the Holograms postserJem and the Holograms
October 23, 2015

As a small-town girl catapults from underground video sensation to global superstar, she and her three sisters begin a one-in-a-million journey of discovering that some talents are too special to keep hidden. In Universal Pictures’ Jem and the Holograms, four aspiring musicians will take the world by storm when they see that the key to creating your own destiny lies in finding your own voice.

Directed by Jon M. Chu (Step Up series, G.I. Joe: Retaliation), the musical adventure stars Aubrey Peeples, Stefanie Scott, Aurora Perrineau, Hayley Kiyoko, Ryan Guzman, Molly Ringwald and Juliette Lewis. Jem and the Holograms, based on the iconic Hasbro animated TV series, is written by Ryan Landels and produced by Chu, Jason Blum for Blumhouse Productions, Scooter Braun for SB Projects, Bennett Schneir, and Brian Goldner and Stephen Davis of Hasbro Studios. www.jemthemovie.com


By the Sea
November 13, 2015

In her directorial follow-up to the Universal Pictures’ epic Unbroken, Academy Award® winner Angelina Jolie Pitt writes, directs and produces By the Sea. The dramatic film stars Brad Pitt and Jolie Pitt, who are supported by an international ensemble led by Mélanie Laurent, Niels Arestrup, Melvil Poupaud and Richard Bohringer.

By the Sea follows an American writer named Roland (Pitt) and his wife, Vanessa (Jolie Pitt), who arrive in a tranquil and picturesque seaside resort in 1970s France, their marriage in apparent crisis. As they spend time with fellow travelers, including young newlyweds Lea (Laurent) and François (Poupaud), and village locals Michel (Arestrup) and Patrice (Bohringer), the couple begins to come to terms with unresolved issues in their own lives.

In its style, and its treatment of themes of the human experience, By the Sea is inspired by European cinema and theater of the ’60s and ’70s.

Jolie Pitt is joined behind the scenes by a key crew that includes cinematographer Christian Berger (The White Ribbon), who used his Cine Reflect Lighting System to shoot the film; production designer Jon Hutman (Unbroken); editor Patricia Rommel (The Lives of Others); and costume designer Ellen Mirojnick (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps). Pitt joins her in production duties, while Chris Brigham (Inception), Holly Goline (Unbroken) and Michael Vieira (Unbroken) serve as executive producers.


Krampus posterKrampus
December 4, 2015

Legendary Pictures’ Krampus, a darkly festive tale of a yuletide ghoul, reveals an irreverently twisted side to the holiday. The horror-comedy tells the story of young Max (Emjay Anthony), who turns his back on Christmas as his dysfunctional family comes together and comically clashes over the holidays.

When they accidentally unleash the wrath of Krampus—an ancient entity from European folklore—all hell breaks loose and beloved holiday icons take on a monstrous life of their own. Now, the fractured family is forced to unite if they hope to survive.

Krampus and his mischievous underlings are being created by the combined efforts of Weta Workshop and Weta Digital, both renowned for their epic work on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies and King Kong, among many others.

Written and directed by Michael Dougherty (Trick ’r Treat), Krampus is co-written by Zach Shields and Todd Casey and produced by Legendary’s Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni, Alex Garcia and Dougherty. The film will be released by Universal Pictures.


Sisters
December 18, 2015

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler reunite for Sisters, a new film from Pitch Perfect director Jason Moore about two disconnected sisters summoned home to clean out their childhood bedroom before their parents sell the family house. Looking to recapture their glory days, they throw one final high-school-style party for their classmates, which turns into the cathartic rager that a bunch of ground-down adults really need.

Fey produces the comedy alongside Jay Roach (Meet the Parents series) and John Lyons (Austin Powers in Goldmember), and Poehler executive produces alongside Jeff Richmond and Brian Bell from a script by Paula Pell (TV’s Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock). www.sistersfilm.com


2016 RELEASES

Untitled Blumhouse Horror* (working title)
January 8, 2016


Ride Along 2
January 15, 2016

Kevin Hart and Ice Cube lead the returning lineup of Ride Along 2, the sequel to the blockbuster action-comedy that gave us the year’s most popular comedy duo.  Joining Hart and Cube for the next chapter of the series are director Tim Story, as well as Cube’s fellow producers—Will Packer, Matt Alvarez and Larry Brezner—who will produce alongside Cube.


Hail, Caesar!
February 5, 2016

Four-time Oscar®-winning filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men, True Grit, Fargo) write and direct HAIL, CAESAR!, an all-star comedy set during the latter years of Hollywood’s Golden Age.  Starring Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum, Scarlett Johansson and Jonah Hill, HAIL, CAESAR! follows a single day in the life of a studio fixer who is presented with plenty of problems to fix.  The comedy is produced by the Coen brothers under their Mike Zoss Productions banner, with Working Title Films and Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan.


My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2
March 25, 2016

Gold Circle Entertainment and HBO present a Playtone production of My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, the long-awaited follow-up to the highest-grossing romantic comedy of all time.  Written by Academy Award® nominee Nia Vardalos, who stars alongside the entire returning cast of favorites, the film reveals a Portokalos family secret that will bring the beloved characters back together for an even bigger and Greeker wedding.

Kirk Jones (Nanny McPhee, Waking Ned Devine) directs the next chapter of the film that will be once again produced by Rita Wilson and Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman.  Paul Brooks and Steven Shareshian return to executive produce alongside Vardalos and Scott Niemeyer.  Universal Pictures will distribute the comedy domestically and in select international territories.


Michelle Darnell
April 8, 2016

Academy Award®-nominated star Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids, The Heat, Tammy) headlines MICHELLE DARNELL as a titan of industry who is sent to prison after she’s caught for insider trading.  When she emerges ready to rebrand herself as America’s latest sweetheart, not everyone she screwed over is so quick to forgive and forget.  Based on an original character created by McCarthy, the comedy will be directed by Ben Falcone (Tammy) and is written by McCarthy and Falcone alongside their Groundlings collaborator, Steve Mallory.  MICHELLE DARNELL will be produced by McCarthy and Falcone through their On the Day Productions and Will Ferrell and Adam McKay through their Gary Sanchez Productions.


The Best Man Wedding
April 15, 2016

The cast of THE BEST MAN series returns to celebrate the group’s most unexpected wedding to date.  Malcolm D. Lee again writes and directs the third film in his signature hit series, and Sean Daniel (The Best Man Holiday) returns to produce THE BEST MAN WEDDING alongside Lee.


The Huntsman
April 22, 2016

The fantastical world of 2012’s global hit SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN expands to reveal how the fates of two characters, The Huntsman Eric and Ravenna, intersected before they met Snow White.  Chris Hemsworth and Oscar® winner Charlize Theron return to their roles in a new epic action-adventure, THE HUNTSMAN.  Cedric Nicolas-Troyas-directs and Emily Blunt and Jessica Chastain also star.  Producer Joe Roth (Maleficent, Alice in Wonderland) once again leads the team in a breathtaking new tale from the legendary saga.


Neighbors 2
May 20, 2016

Returning stars Seth Rogen, Zac Efron and Rose Byrne are joined by Chloë Grace Moretz for NEIGHBORS 2, the follow-up to 2014’s most popular original comedy.  Also back in the same duties are director Nicholas Stoller and series producers Evan Goldberg, James Weaver and Rogen, who produce under their Point Grey Pictures banner.  Andrew Jay Cohen and Brendan O’Brien serve as executive producers alongside Good Universe’s Nathan Kahane and Joe Drake.  The comedy’s writers include Rogen, Stoller, Goldberg, Cohen and O’Brien.


Top Secret Untitled Lonely Island Movie*
June 3, 2016

Set in the world of music, Universal Pictures’ TOP SECRET UNTITLED LONELY ISLAND MOVIE stars digital-shorts superstars Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, who are collectively known as The Lonely Island.  Co-directed by Schaffer and Taccone, the comedy from blockbuster producer Judd Apatow (Knocked Up, Bridesmaids, Trainwreck) will also be produced by Rodney Rothman (producer of Get Him to the Greek, Forgetting Sarah Marshall; co-writer of 22 Jump Street), as well as producers Samberg, Taccone and Schaffer.


Warcraft
June 10, 2016

Set in the world of music, Universal Pictures’ TOP SECRET UNTITLED LONELY ISLAND MOVIE stars digital-shorts superstars Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, who are collectively known as The Lonely Island.  Co-directed by Schaffer and Taccone, the comedy from blockbuster producer Judd Apatow (Knocked Up, Bridesmaids, Trainwreck) will also be produced by Rodney Rothman (producer of Get Him to the Greek, Forgetting Sarah Marshall; co-writer of 22 Jump Street), as well as producers Samberg, Taccone and Schaffer.


The Purge 3
July 1, 2016


The Secret Life of Pets
July 8, 2016

Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment announce THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS their fifth fully-animated feature-film collaboration.  Comedy superstars Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet and Kevin Hart will voice characters, and all three performers will make their animated feature-film debuts in the 3D comedy-adventure.  Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri and his longtime collaborator Janet Healy will produce the film directed by Chris Renaud (Despicable Me, Despicable Me 2), co-directed by Yarrow Cheney and written by Cinco Paul & Ken Daurio.

For one bustling Manhattan apartment building, the real day starts after the folks on two legs leave for work and school.  That’s when the pets of every stripe, fur and feather begin their own nine-to-five routine: hanging out with each other, trading humiliating stories about their owners, or auditioning adorable looks to get better snacks.  The building’s top dog, Max (voiced by Louis C.K.), a quick-witted terrier rescue who’s convinced he sits at the center of his owner’s universe, finds his pampered life rocked when she brings home Duke (Eric Stonestreet), a sloppy, massive mess of a mongrel with zero interpersonal skills.  When this reluctant canine duo finds themselves out on the mean streets of New York, they have to set aside their differences and unite against a fluffy-yet-cunning bunny named Snowball (Kevin Hart), who’s building an army of Ex-Pets abandoned by their owners and out to turn the tables on humanity…all before dinnertime.


Untitled Next Bourne Chapter
July 29, 2016

Global superstar Matt Damon returns to his most iconic role as Jason Bourne in the fifth installment of Universal Pictures’ BOURNE franchise.  Acclaimed director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Legacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, Captain Phillips) also returns for this much-anticipated chapter, and Frank Marshall again produces alongside Jeffrey Weiner for Captivate Entertainment.  Greengrass, Damon and Greg Goodman also produce.  The action-thriller is written by Greengrass, Damon and Christopher Rouse.


Spectral
August 12, 2016

Legendary Pictures’ SPECTRAL, a 3D action thriller that tracks an elite Spec Ops team on a mission to take down an aggressive phantom threat that cannot be explained, will be directed by Nic Mathieu and star James Badge Dale, Emily Mortimer, Max Martini and Bruce Greenwood.  Legendary’s Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni will produce the film from writers Ian Fried, George Nolfi and John Gatins that is executive produced by Jillian Share and Guy Riedel.  SPECTRAL will be released by Universal Pictures.


Monster High
October 7, 2016

Surviving high school’s tough enough when your parents aren’t the most legendary monsters in history.  Finding your real identity while figuring out what to do with your secret one is just part of what the teenagers who attend super-secret academy MONSTER HIGH go through every day—and night.  Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage (TV’s Gossip Girl and The O.C.Endless Love) wrote the screenplay based on the hugely successful Mattel franchise.  Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (HairsprayChicago) will produce under their Storyline Entertainment banner, and Schwartz and Savage will produce for Fake Empire.


Kevin Hart: What Now?
October 14, 2016

In Universal Pictures’ KEVIN HART: WHAT NOW?, comedic rock-star Kevin Hart follows up his 2013 hit stand-up concert movie LET ME EXPLAIN, which grossed $32 million domestically and became the third-highest live stand-up comedy movie of all time.  Hart takes center stage in this groundbreaking, record-setting, sold-out performance of “What Now?”—filmed outdoors in front of 50,000 people at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field—marking the first time a comedian has ever performed to an at-capacity football stadium.


Ouija 2
October 21, 2016

In OUIJA 2, the sequel to fall 2014’s sleeper hit that opened to No. 1 at the box office, a group of unsuspecting friends must confront their most terrifying fears when they unleash an evil from the other side that only they can send back.  The next chapter of the supernatural thriller series inspired by the ancient spirit board is once again produced by Platinum Dunes partners Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Purge series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Blumhouse Productions’ Jason Blum (The Purge and Insidious series, upcoming Jem and the Holograms), alongside Hasbro’s Brian Goldner (Transformers and G.I. Joe series, upcoming Jem and the Holograms) and Stephen Davis (Jem and the Holograms).  Mike Flanagan & Jeff Howard (Oculus) wrote the screenplay, and Universal will distribute the film worldwide.


A Meyers Christmas
November 11, 2016

A new comedy from producer Will Packer (Ride Along and Think Like a Man series) and writer/director David E. Talbert (Baggage Claim), A MEYERS CHRISTMAS is the unlikely story of an estranged family that must reunite for their first Christmas since the death of the beloved family matriarch.


Untitled Great Wall Project
November 23, 2016

Directed by Zhang Yimou (Hero, House of Flying Daggers), UNTITLED GREAT WALL PROJECT tells the story of an elite force making a last stand for humanity on the world’s most iconic structure. Matt Damon, Willem Dafoe and Pedro Pascal star alongside notable Chinese actors Andy Lau, Jing Tian, Zhang Hanyu, Eddie Peng, Lu Han, Lin Gengxin, Zheng Kai, Chen Xuedong, Huang Xuan and Wang Junkai The first English language production for Yimou is also set to be the largest film ever shot entirely in China.  Production is set to begin in Spring 2015.  UNTITLED GREAT WALL PROJECT will be released in the U.S. in 3D by Universal Pictures with the goal of being released in China in early December 2016.


Let It Snow
December 9, 2016

Weaving together three unexpected romances that take place over the course of one Christmas Eve, Universal Pictures’ LET IT SNOW is based on the beloved short story collection written by John Green (“The Fault in Our Stars”), Maureen Johnson (“13 Little Blue Envelopes”) and Lauren Myracle (“Internet Girls” series).  Bluegrass Films’ Scott Stuber (Ted series, Identity Thief) and Dylan Clark (Planet of the Apes series, Oblivion) will produce the holiday film from a script by Kay Cannon (Pitch Perfect series).


Untitled Illumination Entertainment 2016 Project 2
December 21, 2016


2017 RELEASES

Mena
January 6, 2017

In Universal Pictures’ MENA, TOM CRUISE reunites with his Edge of Tomorrow director, Doug Liman, to portray a pilot recruited by the CIA who finds himself in charge of the one of the biggest covert operations in the history of the United States. Cross Creek Pictures will fully finance the thriller that is based on a true story.  MENA is produced by Cross Creek’s Brian Oliver and Tyler Thompson, alongside Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer and Kim Roth, and Quadrant Pictures’ Doug Davison.


Untitled Blumhouse Horror
January 27, 2017


Fifty Shades Darker
February 10, 2017

Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson return as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele in FIFTY SHADES DARKER, the second chapter based on the worldwide bestselling “Fifty Shades” phenomenon.  Expanding upon the events set in motion in FIFTY SHADES OF GREY, which has grossed more than $560 million globally, the films will again become the motion-picture events for Valentine’s Day 2017.  Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti, alongside E L James, the creator of the series, also return to produce.


Kong: Skull Island
March 10, 2017

In the spirit of its worldwide blockbuster Godzilla, Legendary Pictures presents a bold new take on the mythos of another iconic beast with KONG: SKULL ISLAND, which stars Tom Hiddleston (The Avengers and Thor series).  Directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts (The Kings of Summer) and written by John Gatins (Flight) and Max Borenstein (Godzilla), KONG: SKULL ISLAND will fully immerse audiences in the mysterious and dangerous home of the king of the apes as a team of explorers ventures deep inside the treacherous, primordial island.  Legendary’s story honors the foundations of existing King Kong lore, but places it in an entirely new, distinct timeline.  Thomas Tull (GodzillaThe Dark Knight, Pacific Rim) and Jon Jashni (Godzilla, upcoming Warcraft) will produce and Alex Garcia (Godzilla) will executive produce.  The film will be released in 3D and IMAX 3D by Universal Pictures.


The Mummy
March 24, 2017

A legend that has endured since the dawn of man is reborn in THE MUMMY, Universal Pictures’ all-new epic action-adventure.  THE MUMMY is conceived with dramatic intensity by an imaginative creative team led by director/producer Alex Kurtzman and producers Roberto Orci, Chris Morgan (Fast & Furious series, Wanted) and Sean Daniel (The Mummy trilogy, The Best Man series).  Jon Spaihts (Prometheus) wrote the screenplay, and Bobby Cohen executive produces.


New Chapter in Fast & Furious Saga
April 14, 2017

On the heels of FURIOUS 7, the fastest movie to reach $1 billion worldwide in box-office history, comes the new chapter in one of the most popular and enduring motion-picture serials of all time.  Vin Diesel leads the returning cast forward in the next film of Universal Pictures’ FAST & FURIOUS saga, which will be released on April 14, 2017.  Neal H. Moritz and Diesel return as producers.


Despicable Me 3
June 30, 2017

The team who brought you DESPICABLE ME and the biggest animated hit of 2013, DESPICABLE ME 2, returns to continue the adventures of Gru, Lucy, their adorable daughters—Margo, Edith and Agnes—and the Minions.  Get happy on June 30, 2017.


Pitch Perfect 3
July 21, 2017

Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow and Rebel Wilson headline the returning cast of PITCH PERFECT 3, the follow-up to summer 2015’s blockbuster hit.  The film that took the honor of highest-grossing movie-musical opening of all time will be produced by series fixtures Paul Brooks of Gold Circle Entertainment and Max Handelman & Elizabeth Banks of Brownstone Productions.


Pacific Rim 2
August 4, 2017

Guillermo del Toro returns to direct Legendary Pictures’ PACIFIC RIM 2, the next chapter of the epic action-adventure he created with 2013’s hit original film.  Zak Penn will write the script with del Toro.  Legendary’s Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni once again produce alongside del Toro, Mary Parent and Callum Greene.  Jillian Share will executive produce.  Universal Pictures will release the film worldwide in 3D and IMAX 3D.


Untitled Blumhouse Horror*
October 20, 2017


Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas 
November 17, 2017

Guillermo del Toro returns to direct Legendary Pictures’ PACIFIC RIM 2, the next chapter of the epic action-adventure he created with 2013’s hit original film.  Zak Penn will write the script with del Toro.  Legendary’s Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni once again produce alongside del Toro, Mary Parent and Callum Greene.  Jillian Share will executive produce.  Universal Pictures will release the film worldwide in 3D and IMAX 3D.


2018 RELEASES 

Fifty Shades Freed
February 9, 2018

Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson return as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele in FIFTY SHADES FREED, the third chapter based on the worldwide bestselling “Fifty Shades” phenomenon.  Expanding upon the events set in motion in FIFTY SHADES OF GREY, which has grossed more than $560 million globally, the films will again become the motion-picture events for Valentine’s Day 2018.  Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti, alongside E L James, the creator of the series, also return to produce.


Untitled Universal Monster Franchise Film*
March 30, 2018

A new epic action-adventure in a series produced and overseen by the creative team of Alex Kurtzman (Star Trek series) and Chris Morgan (Fast & Furious series), the UNTITLED UNIVERSAL MONSTER FRANCHISE FILM will follow The Mummy in their new initiative to revive and reimagine Universal’s classic monsters for a modern audience.


Jurassic World Sequel
June 22, 2018

Executive producer Steven Spielberg and stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard return for Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment’s JURASSIC WORLD SEQUEL, a follow-up to one of the biggest blockbusters in the history of cinema.  Producer Frank Marshall once again joins Spielberg in leading the team of filmmakers for the next chapter in the franchise.  The film will be written by Jurassic World’s director, Colin Trevorrow, and Derek Connolly.  Spielberg will be joined by Trevorrow as executive producer.

Trailer & poster for Steve Jobs documentary from Alex Gibney ‘Steve Jobs: The Man In the Machine’

jobs.poster

Written & Directed by Alex Gibney

In his signature black turtleneck and blue jeans, shrouded in shadows below a milky apple, Steve Jobs’ image was ubiquitous. But who was the man on the stage? What accounted for the grief of so many across the world when he died? From Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney, ‘Steve Jobs: The Man In The Machine’ is a critical examination of Jobs who was at once revered as an iconoclastic genius and a barbed-tongued tyrant. A candid look at Jobs’ legacy featuring interviews with a handful of those close to him at different stages in his life, the film is evocative and nuanced in capturing the essence of the Apple legend and his values which shape the culture of Silicon Valley to this day.

Running time: 120 min