It's astonishing to look back at John Lasseter's 1995 film "Toy Story" and regard how rudimentary it looks by today's standards. "Toy Story" was the first widely distributed CGI-animated feature film, and it felt overwhelmingly revolutionary at the time. Many were astonished at how expressive and fun CGI characters could be, and the film's success effectively ushered in a sea change in the animation world. In 2024, traditional cel animation is incredibly uncommon, and CGI is the naturally assumed standard.
CGI characters are designed to essentially be "puppets," in terms of their elasticity. Animators, at least at the time, were forced to stay on-model, only able to expand eyeballs or raise eyebrows so high. It wouldn't be for years that CG characters could mutate, squash, and stretch the way hand-drawn characters could. "Toy Story" benefitted from being about, well, toys. Its characters were all made of plastic, so there was an...
CGI characters are designed to essentially be "puppets," in terms of their elasticity. Animators, at least at the time, were forced to stay on-model, only able to expand eyeballs or raise eyebrows so high. It wouldn't be for years that CG characters could mutate, squash, and stretch the way hand-drawn characters could. "Toy Story" benefitted from being about, well, toys. Its characters were all made of plastic, so there was an...
- 4/1/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
I’ll admit I didn’t expect to see an overt Vertigo homage in the middle of this rather matter-of-fact Isabelle Huppert procedural. Fixating for a second on the bun on the back of her noticeable-through-the-runtime blonde wig, La Syndicaliste affords some time, in the middle of all its backroom dealings and court hearings, to ponder her as a star and film history. For all the dramatic proceedings surrounding her, the icon––who’s essentially been anointed France’s Meryl Streep (though far less annoying and mechanical a performer)––is given some opportunities to “serve” throughout; chiefly she looks very poised answering her cell phone.
She portrays real-life figure Maureen Kearney, who as a rep on behalf of the nuclear-workers union was a figure under constant threat from the country’s corporate establishment. But despite the nation shifting from the right-wing Sarkozy to left-wing Hollande in the early goings of its narrative,...
She portrays real-life figure Maureen Kearney, who as a rep on behalf of the nuclear-workers union was a figure under constant threat from the country’s corporate establishment. But despite the nation shifting from the right-wing Sarkozy to left-wing Hollande in the early goings of its narrative,...
- 12/1/2023
- by Ethan Vestby
- The Film Stage
Over the last year I’ve noticed an increase in advertisements for so-called “immersive experiences,” or exhibits that use 360-degree projections and virtual reality headsets to display famous paintings in convention centers and galleries. In Toronto alone you can pay 50 to 100 dollars for a ticket to Immersive Klimt, Immersive Van Gogh, Beyond Monet, or Frida: Immersive Dream. Such spectacles profit from the idea that enlargement yields a more enriching, more generative experience of painting than an encounter with the true size of a canvas. Meanwhile, at the Art Gallery of Ontario and for less than half the price, I was surprised to find that Pablo Picasso’s The Blue Room is only 50 by 60 centimeters. Despite the need to squint I understood that I was the smaller subject. Less is not always more, but more is so often less. In essence a Matrix-themed immersive experience, Lana Wachowski’s The Matrix Resurrections...
- 1/10/2022
- MUBI
One of the great restorations of recent years, premiering in the 59th New York Film Festival’s Revivals section, is Wendell B. Harris Jr.’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Chameleon Street. Originally debuting at the 1990 edition of the Park City festival, the film is both an enormously entertaining con man film and illuminating study of race. Following a con man from Detroit as he alters identities in an attempt to penetrate different pockets of American life that can be out of reach in a classist system.
Largely unavailable aside from an out-of-print VHS edition and a DVD released in 2007 (now also out-of-print), it has now been newly restored in 4K from the original camera negative under the supervision of the director. Following its NYFF screenings, the film will now roll out in theaters––specifically beginning at Bam Cinemas beginning on October 22––and we’re pleased to debut the first trailer.
Largely unavailable aside from an out-of-print VHS edition and a DVD released in 2007 (now also out-of-print), it has now been newly restored in 4K from the original camera negative under the supervision of the director. Following its NYFF screenings, the film will now roll out in theaters––specifically beginning at Bam Cinemas beginning on October 22––and we’re pleased to debut the first trailer.
- 10/7/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
A column chronicling conversations and events on the awards circuit.
This crazy season is starting to heat up.
The National Board of Review, usually first up in a “normal” season, settled for bringing up the rear this time since the Oscars were moved so late to April 25, and same goes for the Indie Spirit Awards which also offered up its nominations this week. Titles like Nomadland, One Night In Miami, Sound off Metal, Da 5 Bloods and Minari are all happy campers because most of these movies have scored repeatedly during the critics-list phase of Oscar season. Pundits looking to forecast the race based on these early precursors beware: a lot of these groups follow each other like sheep and generally prefer minimalist filmmaking, not necessarily the taste of those voters who toil in the industry itself, particularly from the various crafts. And, in this extended season, we are now...
This crazy season is starting to heat up.
The National Board of Review, usually first up in a “normal” season, settled for bringing up the rear this time since the Oscars were moved so late to April 25, and same goes for the Indie Spirit Awards which also offered up its nominations this week. Titles like Nomadland, One Night In Miami, Sound off Metal, Da 5 Bloods and Minari are all happy campers because most of these movies have scored repeatedly during the critics-list phase of Oscar season. Pundits looking to forecast the race based on these early precursors beware: a lot of these groups follow each other like sheep and generally prefer minimalist filmmaking, not necessarily the taste of those voters who toil in the industry itself, particularly from the various crafts. And, in this extended season, we are now...
- 1/30/2021
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Michael Apted by Andrew H. Walker. Filmmaker Michael Apted, best known for an eclectic filmography that includes Coal Miner's Daughter, The World is Not Enough, and the Up documentary series, has died at 79. In his obituary, Peter Bradshaw writes that the Up series, Apted's epic masterpiece, "had an incalculable effect on [...] the thinking of the British progressive left – as it asked us to ruminate on the inescapability or otherwise of class, and what narratives were possible for working people."Recommended VIEWINGAbove: John Gianvito's Her Socialist Smile (2020). John Gianvito's Her Socialist Smile, one of the best films of 2020, is now playing at the National Gallery of the Arts' website. Read our review of the film by Michael Sicinski here.To commemorate avant-garde filmmaking titan Stan Brakhage's birthday on January 14, Re:voir will be...
- 1/13/2021
- MUBI
What have film critics ever done to Charlie Kaufman? It’s much easier to appreciate what film critics have done for Charlie Kaufman. Why would someone drawn to meaningless but desperately narcissistic characters who strive in vain to find order in a chaotic world — self-loathing clowns who resent the success of others, reject people without risking judgment themselves, and consistently retreat to the safety of a reality-bending dream world that allows them to be audience and protagonist all at once — want to write a book about a film critic? Answering that seemingly impossible question might be the only honest way to get to the murmuring heart of Kaufman’s blisteringly satirical novel “Antkind.”
“Antkind” protagonist B. Rosenberger Rosenberg isn’t your stereotypical film critic. An outlier in his occupation (clearly!), he’s pretentious and insufferable and lacks his colleagues’ self-awareness. B. enters “Antkind” the same way he does everything else in his life: Beard first.
“Antkind” protagonist B. Rosenberger Rosenberg isn’t your stereotypical film critic. An outlier in his occupation (clearly!), he’s pretentious and insufferable and lacks his colleagues’ self-awareness. B. enters “Antkind” the same way he does everything else in his life: Beard first.
- 7/28/2020
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
The last couple of months have been filled with plenty of Best of the Decade lists. We’ve released quite a few of our own, actually. But no list that we’ve previously come across can really be described as similar to the Best Films of the Decade list released by writer Armond White of National Review.
Now, that isn’t to say that White is necessarily wrong to have the opinions he has, but there’s something almost angry about the picks he makes for his Best of the 2010s list that it’s worth mentioning a few of the controversial entries.
Continue reading Armond White’s Best Of The Decade Features ‘Man Of Steel,’ ‘Batman V. Superman’ & Michael Bay’s “Masterpiece” ‘Pain & Gain’ at The Playlist.
Now, that isn’t to say that White is necessarily wrong to have the opinions he has, but there’s something almost angry about the picks he makes for his Best of the 2010s list that it’s worth mentioning a few of the controversial entries.
Continue reading Armond White’s Best Of The Decade Features ‘Man Of Steel,’ ‘Batman V. Superman’ & Michael Bay’s “Masterpiece” ‘Pain & Gain’ at The Playlist.
- 1/9/2020
- by Charles Barfield
- The Playlist
Yes, we’re already halfway through January, but it’s never too late to look at one more Best of 2018 list, right? Well, maybe this isn’t the best one to end on, as it’s clearly a list meant to enrage film fans and spark some debates about the merit of 2018’s best films. Especially because the list is quite obviously trying to bring a healthy dose of political conversation into a discussion about 2018’s films. Oh, joy.
Continue reading Armond White’s “Better-Than” 2018 Film List Calls ‘Roma’ A “Turdscape” & Says ‘Uncle Drew’ Beats ‘Black Panther’ at The Playlist.
Continue reading Armond White’s “Better-Than” 2018 Film List Calls ‘Roma’ A “Turdscape” & Says ‘Uncle Drew’ Beats ‘Black Panther’ at The Playlist.
- 1/14/2019
- by Charles Barfield
- The Playlist
More than a month after “The Last Jedi” was released, Rian Johnson still finds himself defending his film. A segment of diehard “Star Wars” fans haven’t exactly taken kindly to “The Last Jedi,” with some even launching an ill-fated petition to have it removed from the canon; Johnson has been diplomatic in his responses to the backlash, though he now admits that it initially gave him a “dark hour of the soul.”
Read More:Kevin Smith Blasts ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Backlash: ‘It’s As If Somebody F*cked Up Their Childhood’
“The crazy thing is, I had no perspective on these tweets. I had no perspective in terms of how big a group of people this was, even what they were upset about specifically,” Johnson said during an appearance on the /Filmcast. “Over the next few weeks, I was able to contextualize it and feel much better about it.
Read More:Kevin Smith Blasts ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Backlash: ‘It’s As If Somebody F*cked Up Their Childhood’
“The crazy thing is, I had no perspective on these tweets. I had no perspective in terms of how big a group of people this was, even what they were upset about specifically,” Johnson said during an appearance on the /Filmcast. “Over the next few weeks, I was able to contextualize it and feel much better about it.
- 1/25/2018
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
Just when you thought all of the hot takes were done for 2017, here comes Armond White to prove you wrong. The controversial critic has published his annual “Better-Than List” on the National Review, and it’s full of his controversial takes on which overlooked or critically maligned films were better than the movies a majority of writers felt were the year’s best. Because let’s face it, Mr. White can’t agree with anyone on anything.
Read More:‘Justice League’ is a ‘Masterpiece’ and the ‘Epic We Deserve,’ According to Armond White
One take that is bound to get readers riled up is White’s belief that “Justice League” is a much better film than “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” Even those viewers who support the backlash against the Rian Johnson-directed sequel may not even agree that “Justice League” is the better movie.
“Zack Snyder’s best moments...
Read More:‘Justice League’ is a ‘Masterpiece’ and the ‘Epic We Deserve,’ According to Armond White
One take that is bound to get readers riled up is White’s belief that “Justice League” is a much better film than “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” Even those viewers who support the backlash against the Rian Johnson-directed sequel may not even agree that “Justice League” is the better movie.
“Zack Snyder’s best moments...
- 1/8/2018
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Last week, before Hollywood got dressed up to hand out the Golden Globes, Armond “I”m not a contrarian” White dropped his annual Better Than list. Of course, he starts it off with this pretty tasty line — “Ten Best Lists are Fake News and have been for years” [fire emoji!] — and then rolls up his sleeves, and gets right into one increasingly #hottake after another.
You’ll have to go over to National Review to read his full run down, but here are some examples of his shots fired at “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” “Wonder Woman,” and “Phantom Thread“:
Justice League > The Last Jedi
Zack Snyder’s best moments raise comic book sci-fi to eye-widening, soul-stirring art while the unoriginal, interminable Star Wars series trains kids of various IQs to be mindless consumers.
Continue reading Armond White Declares ‘Justice League’ Better Than ‘The Last Jedi’ & More 2017 Hot Takes at The Playlist.
You’ll have to go over to National Review to read his full run down, but here are some examples of his shots fired at “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” “Wonder Woman,” and “Phantom Thread“:
Justice League > The Last Jedi
Zack Snyder’s best moments raise comic book sci-fi to eye-widening, soul-stirring art while the unoriginal, interminable Star Wars series trains kids of various IQs to be mindless consumers.
Continue reading Armond White Declares ‘Justice League’ Better Than ‘The Last Jedi’ & More 2017 Hot Takes at The Playlist.
- 1/8/2018
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Criterion lavishes a major upgrade to its older box set celebrating the first major rock concert event, the ‘California Dreamin’ idyll that some say marked the beginning of the Summer of Love. Get ready to hear and see some history-making performances from Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and The Who. Plus two more features and a bundle of ‘extra’ music sets . . . including Tiny Tim.
The Complete Monterey Pop Festival
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 167
1968 / Color / 1:33 flat / 79 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 12, 2017 / 69.95
Cinematography: James Desmond, Barry Feinstein, Richard Leacock, Albert Maysles, Roger Murphy, D.A. Pennebaker
Film Editor: Nina Schulman
Original Music: The Animals, The Association, Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Byrds, Canned Heat, Country Joe and the Fish, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Al Kooper, Hugh Masekela, Jefferson Airplane, The Mamas and the Papas, Laura Nyro, Otis Redding, The Quicksilver Messenger Service,...
The Complete Monterey Pop Festival
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 167
1968 / Color / 1:33 flat / 79 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 12, 2017 / 69.95
Cinematography: James Desmond, Barry Feinstein, Richard Leacock, Albert Maysles, Roger Murphy, D.A. Pennebaker
Film Editor: Nina Schulman
Original Music: The Animals, The Association, Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Byrds, Canned Heat, Country Joe and the Fish, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Al Kooper, Hugh Masekela, Jefferson Airplane, The Mamas and the Papas, Laura Nyro, Otis Redding, The Quicksilver Messenger Service,...
- 12/9/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Everyone’s a critic, but some are more agreeable than others. Gizmodo has put together a list of the most contrarian film reviewers around, using a just-for-fun methodology that, like all such endeavors, gives a general idea of its subject while being far from definitive.
Read More:The Academy Advances 15 Titles for Its Oscar Documentary Shortlist
Using individual critics’ average scores on Metacritic — and, more importantly, how far they diverge from a movie’s overall score — they listed 366 people from most contrarian to most agreeable. All your favorite IndieWire writers are represented: Eric Kohn (who’s singled out as one of the “barometers” of critical opinion) comes in at 311, David Ehrlich is 78, Kate Erbland shows up at 229, and yours truly is practically her neighbor at 235.
Read More:‘Phantom Thread’ Review: Paul Thomas Anderson’s Riveting ’50s Romance Is a Screwball Comedy In Disguise
Armond White, often cited as the most contrarian critic around,...
Read More:The Academy Advances 15 Titles for Its Oscar Documentary Shortlist
Using individual critics’ average scores on Metacritic — and, more importantly, how far they diverge from a movie’s overall score — they listed 366 people from most contrarian to most agreeable. All your favorite IndieWire writers are represented: Eric Kohn (who’s singled out as one of the “barometers” of critical opinion) comes in at 311, David Ehrlich is 78, Kate Erbland shows up at 229, and yours truly is practically her neighbor at 235.
Read More:‘Phantom Thread’ Review: Paul Thomas Anderson’s Riveting ’50s Romance Is a Screwball Comedy In Disguise
Armond White, often cited as the most contrarian critic around,...
- 12/8/2017
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
The methodology is weird, and the concept is strange, but the folks at Gizmodo (god bless ’em) have used actual science to calculate which film critic is the most contrarian. Now, before you yell “Armond White!” he’s not included, because Metacritic doesn’t tally his reviews, thus he’s ineligible for this list. Plus, he’d bristle at the idea.
“I never accepted the term contrarian,” White told Flicks last month. “I think that’s offensive, frankly.
Continue reading The Playlist Has The 8th Most Contrarian Critic According To Science at The Playlist.
“I never accepted the term contrarian,” White told Flicks last month. “I think that’s offensive, frankly.
Continue reading The Playlist Has The 8th Most Contrarian Critic According To Science at The Playlist.
- 12/7/2017
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
As is tradition in the DC Universe, “Justice League” has opened to mixed reviews and disappointing box-office numbers. The superhero team-up movie, which was finished by Joss Whedon after Zack Snyder had to step down to deal with a family tragedy, begins with Batman defeating an evildoer in a scene that few have singled out as being especially memorable.
According to the actor who played said ruffian, the scene was envisioned as being much funnier by Whedon — but Warner Bros. made him change it.
Read More:‘Justice League’ Box Office Bomb: Warner Bros. Could Lose Up to $100 Million on Superhero Tentpole
“I love Joss Whedon. My scene with Batman was originally conceived as a comedic scene. That’s how Joss wrote it, and that’s how we shot it,” Holt McCallany tells Men’s Fitness in a new interview. “I thought it came out great, but the studio felt it...
According to the actor who played said ruffian, the scene was envisioned as being much funnier by Whedon — but Warner Bros. made him change it.
Read More:‘Justice League’ Box Office Bomb: Warner Bros. Could Lose Up to $100 Million on Superhero Tentpole
“I love Joss Whedon. My scene with Batman was originally conceived as a comedic scene. That’s how Joss wrote it, and that’s how we shot it,” Holt McCallany tells Men’s Fitness in a new interview. “I thought it came out great, but the studio felt it...
- 11/26/2017
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
The DC Extended Universe just can’t catch a break. Warner Bros.’ tentpole franchise was hoping to continue the critical and commercial success of “Wonder Women” with “Justice League,” but critical reviews and box office returns have been anything but generous. The superhero epic sports a 41% on Rotten Tomatoes and didn’t even cross the $100 million mark in its first weekend in theaters.
Read More:‘Justice League’ is a ‘Masterpiece’ and the ‘Epic We Deserve,’ According to Armond White
The lackluster opening for “Justice League” doesn’t just make it the weakest debut for a superhero film in 2017 (which is shocking considering it brings three popular superheroes together and introduces three popular new ones), but it also sets up Warner Bros. for a major financial loss. According to Forbes, the studio could lose up to $100 million on “Justice League.” The company reports that Warner Bros. will lose $50 million at the very least,...
Read More:‘Justice League’ is a ‘Masterpiece’ and the ‘Epic We Deserve,’ According to Armond White
The lackluster opening for “Justice League” doesn’t just make it the weakest debut for a superhero film in 2017 (which is shocking considering it brings three popular superheroes together and introduces three popular new ones), but it also sets up Warner Bros. for a major financial loss. According to Forbes, the studio could lose up to $100 million on “Justice League.” The company reports that Warner Bros. will lose $50 million at the very least,...
- 11/24/2017
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
With mostly terrible reviews (40% on Rotten Tomatoes) and a disappointing opening weekend at the box office, “Justice League” is not the momentum-builder the DC Extended Universe needed after “Wonder Woman.” IndieWire’s own Eric Kohn called the film a “wannabe ‘Avengers’ movie,” and most critics agreed the film is haphazardly plotted and has distractingly bad special effects. Unsurprisingly, Armond White doesn’t agree.
Read More:‘Justice League’ Review: D.C.’s Epic Action Showdown is a Wannabe ‘Avengers’ Movie
The controversial film critic’s “Justice League” review on the National Review is glowing, hailing the film as a “masterpiece” and the “epic we deserve.” White previously gave a praiseworthy review to “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” which received even worse reviews than “Justice League.” The critic has been a vocal proponent of Zack Snyder’s superhero movies, and the love continues on “Justice League.”
“It’s one of those...
Read More:‘Justice League’ Review: D.C.’s Epic Action Showdown is a Wannabe ‘Avengers’ Movie
The controversial film critic’s “Justice League” review on the National Review is glowing, hailing the film as a “masterpiece” and the “epic we deserve.” White previously gave a praiseworthy review to “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” which received even worse reviews than “Justice League.” The critic has been a vocal proponent of Zack Snyder’s superhero movies, and the love continues on “Justice League.”
“It’s one of those...
- 11/21/2017
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Stephen Cone has the tenacity of first-time director, yet he has eight feature films and dozens of shorts to show for it. His vision for filmmaking, grit in self-fundraising, and ability to collaborate with fresh faces (like Joe Keery of Stranger Things fame) and veteran actors alike results in nimble productions with a quick turn-around.
The Film Stage’s Jose Solís reviewed Cone’s newest film Princess Cyd, which opens today in NY and Chicago, saying: “With this, Cone also continues to be one of the few directors who has chosen to contextualize faith rather than demonize it. He shows greater interest in the places where we are like each other, all while celebrating what makes us different.”
Offering a look into his still-young career, Eric Hynes, Associate Curator of Film at the Museum of the Moving Image, programmed Talk About the Passion: Stephen Cone’s First Act, going from...
The Film Stage’s Jose Solís reviewed Cone’s newest film Princess Cyd, which opens today in NY and Chicago, saying: “With this, Cone also continues to be one of the few directors who has chosen to contextualize faith rather than demonize it. He shows greater interest in the places where we are like each other, all while celebrating what makes us different.”
Offering a look into his still-young career, Eric Hynes, Associate Curator of Film at the Museum of the Moving Image, programmed Talk About the Passion: Stephen Cone’s First Act, going from...
- 11/3/2017
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
This year’s edition of the Los Angeles Film Festival (June 14–22) abounds with directorial debuts and movies that are probably worth seeing for their title alone (“Izzy Gets the Fuck Across Town,” anyone?). As the fest continues to carve its niche in the L.A. film world, it puts increasing emphasis on discovering new talents rather than the best-of-fest strategy that pulls from Sundance and SXSW.
Since you probably don’t need us to tell you about the big titles that have played elsewhere — “The Beguiled,” “Patti Cake$,” “Ingrid Goes West” — here are 10 more out-there selections to seek out. Timing is everything: Laff only screens each movie once.
Read More: Laff 2017 Announces Full Slate, Including Competition and Episodic Offerings
“Dark Blue Girl” (World Fiction)
Just as everyone is the hero of their own story, so too is every child the center of their own universe. That would appear to be...
Since you probably don’t need us to tell you about the big titles that have played elsewhere — “The Beguiled,” “Patti Cake$,” “Ingrid Goes West” — here are 10 more out-there selections to seek out. Timing is everything: Laff only screens each movie once.
Read More: Laff 2017 Announces Full Slate, Including Competition and Episodic Offerings
“Dark Blue Girl” (World Fiction)
Just as everyone is the hero of their own story, so too is every child the center of their own universe. That would appear to be...
- 6/13/2017
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
We all knew this day would come. Earlier this year, Jordan Peele (of Key and Peele fame) released his directorial debut effort, Get Out. It was a horror flick that managed to rise above its genre by making a social commentary about racism. Critics raved about the film's quality, and right now, the film sits at 99 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and only one "rotten" review from Armond White. Audiences also responded greatly to this film, as the flick has received an A- CinemaScore, along with over $150 million at the box office. Given its $4.5 million budget, there is no question that this is a breakout success for Peele and his career.
It was inevitable that he would be courted by studios to take on bigger budget films, and maybe even full franchises. Well, a new report from Jeff Sneider over at The Tracking Board is now reporting that Warner Bros is...
It was inevitable that he would be courted by studios to take on bigger budget films, and maybe even full franchises. Well, a new report from Jeff Sneider over at The Tracking Board is now reporting that Warner Bros is...
- 3/30/2017
- by Joseph Medina
- LRMonline.com
Jordan Peele is a hot name in Hollywood right now. His directorial debut “Get Out,” which he also wrote, debuted #1 at the box office and greatly outperformed expectations. On top of that, the film has an amazing 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the only “rotten” review coming from the routinely contrarian Armond White. Well, it seems Peele would like to stay in the thriller game with not one, but four (!) films over the next decade.
Continue reading ‘Get Out’ Director Jordan Peele Has 4 More “Social Thrillers” He Wants To Make at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Get Out’ Director Jordan Peele Has 4 More “Social Thrillers” He Wants To Make at The Playlist.
- 3/2/2017
- by Charles Dean
- The Playlist
It’s the question of the week: Where were you when the %100 Rotten Tomatoes score for Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” was broken? The Jordan Peele-directed social thriller had gotten all perfect reviews across the board from 149 critics, a rare feat that is pretty awesome considering the movie is a Jason Blum horror film and not the prestige dramas that usually rank high on the Tomatometer.
Read More: ‘Get Out’ Is the First of Many Jordan Peele ‘Social Thrillers’ Has Planned
But then came the 150th review from the infamous Armond White, who, let’s face it, was never going to agree with the status quo. He bashed the film as an “Obama movie for Tarantino fans” and criticized Peele for exploiting racial discomfort and “irresponsibly playing racial grief and racist relief off against each other, subjecting imagination and identification to political sway.”
Fans were heartbroken when the film...
Read More: ‘Get Out’ Is the First of Many Jordan Peele ‘Social Thrillers’ Has Planned
But then came the 150th review from the infamous Armond White, who, let’s face it, was never going to agree with the status quo. He bashed the film as an “Obama movie for Tarantino fans” and criticized Peele for exploiting racial discomfort and “irresponsibly playing racial grief and racist relief off against each other, subjecting imagination and identification to political sway.”
Fans were heartbroken when the film...
- 3/2/2017
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
“Get Out” co-star Lakeith Stanfield apparently had a bad review of his own for film critic Armond White, after the notorious contrarian ruined the hit horror film’s perfect 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating. “Armond White is a Bitch,” Stanfield tweeted Monday evening after White, who writes for the conservative magazine National Review, gave “Get Out” its first and so far only negative review. Stanfield later deleted the diss, but film critic Charles Bramesco captured a screen-grab beforehand. N O M E R C Y pic.twitter.com/TJCiQbFrmq — Charles Bramesco (@intothecrevasse) February 28, 2017 Also Read: Critic Armond White Ruins Perfect '...
- 2/28/2017
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
For days, Jordan Peele’s acclaimed “Get Out” enjoyed a perfect 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. But that’s over now, thanks to contrarian film critic Armond White. In his review of the film for the conservative National Review, White called “Get Out” a “get whitey” film that is “tailored to please the liberal status quo.” He criticized director Peele and actors Daniel Kaluuya and Lil Rel Howery for their portrayal of the protagonists, Chris and Rod, calling them “attitudes, not complex beings.” “Get Out” is a horror film in which a black man (Kaluuya) visits the mysterious family estate of his white girlfriend.
- 2/28/2017
- by Jeremy Fuster
- The Wrap
It’s January, which means Armond White is here for his annual bit for momentary, contrarian relevancy before he disappears for the rest of the year. The cranky critic has long stood proudly outside of the critical consensus; essentially, whatever most people like, he’ll hate. And so it goes for 2016, and at National Review, he once again unleashes his yearly better-than list, which offers a string of hot takes which are simultaneously hilarious and eye-rolling.
Continue reading Armond White Says ‘Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk’ Is Better Than ‘La La Land’ Plus More Cinematic Hot Takes at The Playlist.
Continue reading Armond White Says ‘Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk’ Is Better Than ‘La La Land’ Plus More Cinematic Hot Takes at The Playlist.
- 1/6/2017
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Longtime Filmmaker readers will instantly recognize writer/director Matt Ross as our former Managing Editor, whose intelligent and probing interviews with directors like Robert Altman, Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney — to say nothing of his sit-down with critic Armond White — were staples in this publication in the early to mid-aughts. In 2006, Ross, who had made two short films and written a pair of scripts left the magazine to go make his debut feature, the darkly compelling Frank & Lola. A Vegas-set psychosexual love story, Frank & Lola stars Michael Shannon as an ambitious, tightly-wound star chef working in […]...
- 12/12/2016
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film and TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday morning. (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?”, can be found at the end of this post.)
This week’s question: In the wake of the election, Filmmaker Magazine published a piece about the intrinsically political nature of movies, in which the writer argued: “For the next four years (and long afterwards), every time someone leaves a movie theater feeling contented, feeling set in their values, feeling numbed and entertained and nothing else, that’s a problem.”
How does filmmaking — and film criticism — need to adapt in the age of Trump?
Richard Brody (@tnyfrontrow), The New Yorker
Filmmakers need to make films and film critics need to write about them. None of them need instruction; the hardest thing in good and bad times...
This week’s question: In the wake of the election, Filmmaker Magazine published a piece about the intrinsically political nature of movies, in which the writer argued: “For the next four years (and long afterwards), every time someone leaves a movie theater feeling contented, feeling set in their values, feeling numbed and entertained and nothing else, that’s a problem.”
How does filmmaking — and film criticism — need to adapt in the age of Trump?
Richard Brody (@tnyfrontrow), The New Yorker
Filmmakers need to make films and film critics need to write about them. None of them need instruction; the hardest thing in good and bad times...
- 11/14/2016
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight” is garnering awards buzz and praise from the industry’s most respected critics, but if that film came out 10 years ago, the gay coming-of-age story could have counted on a more specific foundation: The Lgbt film festival circuit. San Francisco’s Frameline, Los Angeles’ Outfest, and New York’s NewFest were once the go-to market for queer filmmakers and films, but once they break out, many directors with enough clout can easily graduate to a bigger arena.
Lgbt filmmakers rarely face the stigma that once limited opportunities, but for the emerging and mid-career filmmaker, as well as foreign filmmakers looking to break into international markets, queer film festivals remain a vital opportunity to get their work in front of an often adoring audience. At a time when gay identity has yet to truly permeate Hollywood filmmaking, that support system is more vital than ever.
Read More: Outfest...
Lgbt filmmakers rarely face the stigma that once limited opportunities, but for the emerging and mid-career filmmaker, as well as foreign filmmakers looking to break into international markets, queer film festivals remain a vital opportunity to get their work in front of an often adoring audience. At a time when gay identity has yet to truly permeate Hollywood filmmaking, that support system is more vital than ever.
Read More: Outfest...
- 10/25/2016
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
“It can be said with certainty that any reviewer who pans [Mission to Mars] does not understand movies, let alone like them,” declared Armond White in 2000. While perhaps an over-corrective to the critical drubbing the film had just received, there’s nonetheless a grain of truth in his statement. Far from being a pale imitation of 2001: A Space Odyssey, as many reviewers accused, Mission to Mars actively deflates its predecessor’s misanthropy and grandeur – on one level, it’s a lavish, epic-scale lark from a director who’s often been as much a satirist as a craftsman.
With a budget of $100 million, it was and still is the most expensive project Brian De Palma has tackled. It’s also the only straight-up piece of science fiction among his filmography, as well as a relatively wholesome, PG-rated affair – a rarity for this most salacious of mainstream American filmmakers. Originally to be directed by...
With a budget of $100 million, it was and still is the most expensive project Brian De Palma has tackled. It’s also the only straight-up piece of science fiction among his filmography, as well as a relatively wholesome, PG-rated affair – a rarity for this most salacious of mainstream American filmmakers. Originally to be directed by...
- 8/22/2016
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
The Slifr Movie Treehouse (the acronym stands in for the title of my blog, Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule) is a place where I like to gather a few of my movie-writing pals and exchange long e-mails on the way the movies shaped up for us in the year just left behind. It’s been a few years since I’ve undertaken this project, but the time felt right again, so I invited the very talented critical voices of Brian Doan, Odie Henderson, Marya Murphy and Phil Dyess-Nugent to take part, and to my great happiness they all agreed. (Bios for each writer can be found at the conclusion of each of their individual posts, which can be accessed by clicking below on the title of each post.)
What follows here are samples from the 16 posts we submitted over the week of January 11-17, and we’ll start...
What follows here are samples from the 16 posts we submitted over the week of January 11-17, and we’ll start...
- 1/19/2016
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
Armond White, the critic bent on throwing around million dollar words in his pursuit to remain a singular contrarian, has published his latest Better-Than list in the National Review. In case you're unfamiliar with his schtick, White, who maintains moviegoing these days demands "political rigor," has for the past decade released a pretty reductive and often bizarre list in which he compares the virtues of a variety of movies. And this year, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" gets picked on twice because "Its menace is no phantom." You just can't make this up. Read More: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2016 So what movies were "better than" the Disney blockbuster? According to White, John Boorman's "Queen And Country" is, because it succeeds in conveying "the roots of family, citizenship, and morality, all conveyed in cinematic mythology" (it's a sequel to 1987's "Hope & Glory"), as well as Justin Kurzel's...
- 1/12/2016
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
While we’re not yet allowed to expand on our thoughts when it comes to Quentin Tarantino‘s The Hateful Eight, its placement on our December preview should tell you everything you need to know before our official review is posted. As we still await the full list of theaters showing the snowy western in 70mm, today we have a number of (mostly spoiler-free) pieces to notch up the anticipation to even greater level.
First up, and most substantial, the director recently sat down with Ben Mankiewicz for an extensive one-hour conversation in which they discuss all things Tarantino. Beginning with talk about The Hateful Eight, Tarantino compares the 70mm experience versus the digital (which he notes might be more intense, as there’s no intermission). They also discuss the intriguing casting, as there are few major A-list stars in the ensemble, perhaps aside from a cameo.
Segueing into Jackie Brown,...
First up, and most substantial, the director recently sat down with Ben Mankiewicz for an extensive one-hour conversation in which they discuss all things Tarantino. Beginning with talk about The Hateful Eight, Tarantino compares the 70mm experience versus the digital (which he notes might be more intense, as there’s no intermission). They also discuss the intriguing casting, as there are few major A-list stars in the ensemble, perhaps aside from a cameo.
Segueing into Jackie Brown,...
- 12/6/2015
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
New beginnings for 2012 Pulitzer Prize winner Wesley Morris - film critic at Grantland. Next to Armond White, both gents are 2 of the most prominent and widely-read African American film critics working today. Morris has been named critic at large covering all things cultural for The Gray Lady, also known as the The New York Times. “As a critic at large in Culture, Wesley will occupy a newly created position allowing him to write essays and criticism across multiple disciplines and to respond to cultural moments as they unfold,” Danielle Mattoon, the Times‘ culture editor, wrote. Mr. Morris, who is 39, has worked at Grantland since 2013, where he wrote incisively about film and...
- 9/17/2015
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
An international panel of critics has put Orson Welles’s much-praised debut first in a list of great American films, with Coppola’s The Godfather as runner-up
A critics poll conducted by the BBC has named Citizen Kane as the greatest American film ever made.
The BBC Culture website said it had asked 62 critics from publications across the world – including the Guardian’s Jordan Hoffman, National Review’s Armond White, and the Village Voice’s Stephanie Zacharek – to submit a list of the 10 films they considered the greatest in American cinema, and Orson Welles’s celebrated debut film, released in 1941, came out on top.
Continue reading...
A critics poll conducted by the BBC has named Citizen Kane as the greatest American film ever made.
The BBC Culture website said it had asked 62 critics from publications across the world – including the Guardian’s Jordan Hoffman, National Review’s Armond White, and the Village Voice’s Stephanie Zacharek – to submit a list of the 10 films they considered the greatest in American cinema, and Orson Welles’s celebrated debut film, released in 1941, came out on top.
Continue reading...
- 7/22/2015
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
Cinema can certainly use a few more professional black film critics - especially those who are well-respected, and are nationally (and even globally) read. There aren't exactly a lot of them (emphasis on the words "respected" and "professional," as in, this is what they do for a living, and you'd find them in the same club as legends like Pauline Kael and Andrew Sarris). Other than names of veterans like Armond White and Elvis Mitchell, who else can you name? I'd throw in Wesley Morris (the youngest of the bunch), Lisa Kennedy and Omar Moore. There are others, many up-and-comers whose work I'm sure will be featured far more prominently than they are...
- 7/8/2015
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Rushes collects news, articles, images, videos and more for a weekly roundup of essential items from the world of film.Above: Bound to get taken offline by the time you read this, hurry up and watch Star War Wars: All 6 Films At Once (Full Length)Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory visit the famed closet of the Criterion Collection and recount their experiences encountering Godard's Weekend and films by Antonioni.At the invaluable chrismarker.org, Chris Marker's short film 2084 (1984) has been remixed.At its premiere at the Berlinale, Queen of the Desert, Werner Herzog's long-awaited return to epic filmmaking, garnered an unfortunate, uneven response. Now the full trailer for the film is out, and we hope it grows in our estimation upon re-viewing. As a recap, read impressions from Daniel Kasman and Adam Cook, as well as our interview with long-time Herzog cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger about working on the film.
- 6/17/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Armond White. David Cronenberg. Oscar prognosticators and the National Society of Film Critics. Terence Stamp’s priggish art critic in “Big Eyes.” Lindsay Duncan’s poisonous theatre critic in “Birdman.” For a profession that’s supposedly dying, criticism -- of film, in films -- has elicited more than its fair share of hand-wringing recently, though the anxiety seems to be in the eye of the beholder. Alternately cast as industry shills, out-of-touch snobs, digital amateurs, fearsome gatekeepers, and failed artists, critics provoke passionate responses, but it can be difficult to suss out what the critic’s role in the current cinema actually is, or should be. Toh!’s Anne Thompson, Ryan Lattanzio, and Matt Brennan take up the subject in the debate below, including the biggest question of all: Do critics still matter? Matt Brennan: I haven’t been at this long enough to possess much hoary nostalgia for the good ol’ days,...
- 1/14/2015
- by TOH!
- Thompson on Hollywood
Celebrating this year’s honorees at the trendy Meat Packing District restaurant Tao, the New York Film Critics Circle offered starry salutes to Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, double-winner Marion Cotillard (for The Immigrant and Two Days, One Night), and a broad range of other films and stars. The presenters also seemed determined to make sure no one forgot the alleged villain of last year’s festivities. Critic Armond White was ousted from the group in the wake of the 2014 ceremony following accusations that he insulted 12 Years A Slave director Steve McQueen. White, who writes for National Review, denied having made the remarks both at the time and in an essay published yesterday, in which he also slagged the group as “just one among dozens of celebrity-worshipping awards-givers.”
Circle Chairman Stephen Whitty quoted those words Monday night during his opening remarks at the group’s 80th awards ceremony. Sometime later, film polymath Paul Schrader cryptically wondered,...
Circle Chairman Stephen Whitty quoted those words Monday night during his opening remarks at the group’s 80th awards ceremony. Sometime later, film polymath Paul Schrader cryptically wondered,...
- 1/6/2015
- by Jeremy Gerard
- Deadline
Well, we suppose it wouldn't be an awards season without Armond White chiming in. Last year, he was the center of minor storm of controversy after he allegedly heckled Steve McQueen during the New York Film Critics Circle awards ceremony (and while he denied he did anything of the sort, he already had a reputation for being something of a boor during the show in previous years). But in 2014 he crossed the line and was ousted from the group, and the Nyfcc also issued an apology to "12 Years A Slave" studio Fox Searchlight. But White is back in 2015 and is now worried about the state of film criticism, because if he can't heckle filmmakers, what has become of the cinematic discourse? Okay, I'm being a bit cheeky, but White's guest column at The Hollywood Reporter finds him clumsily using his own ejection from the New York Film Critics Circle as...
- 1/5/2015
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
By Armond White
The Hollywood Reporter
This article first appeared in The Hollywood Reporter’s January awards special issue.
Editors note: At last year’s New York Film Critics Circle awards dinner, critic Armond White was reported to have heckled Steve McQueen, who was accepting a best director award for 12 Years a Slave, by calling out, “You’re an embarrassing doorman and garbage man.” White denied the charge at the time, saying reports of the event were inaccurate. But the critics group expelled him, saying, “Disciplinary measures had to be taken to prevent any reoccurrence.” As the Nyfcc holds its awards dinner tonight, White takes a look back at the controversy and what it says about the state of film criticism.
Critics rarely have history, or greatness, thrust upon them, but being the first film critic publicly ejected from the New York Film Critics Circle one year ago allows me...
The Hollywood Reporter
This article first appeared in The Hollywood Reporter’s January awards special issue.
Editors note: At last year’s New York Film Critics Circle awards dinner, critic Armond White was reported to have heckled Steve McQueen, who was accepting a best director award for 12 Years a Slave, by calling out, “You’re an embarrassing doorman and garbage man.” White denied the charge at the time, saying reports of the event were inaccurate. But the critics group expelled him, saying, “Disciplinary measures had to be taken to prevent any reoccurrence.” As the Nyfcc holds its awards dinner tonight, White takes a look back at the controversy and what it says about the state of film criticism.
Critics rarely have history, or greatness, thrust upon them, but being the first film critic publicly ejected from the New York Film Critics Circle one year ago allows me...
- 1/5/2015
- by Anjelica Oswald
- Scott Feinberg
★★★★☆Writing about Justin Simien's barnstorming debut feature Dear White People (2014), critic Armond White drew a line between the film and the Hollywood gatekeepers' usually self-congratulatory cinematic response to race in America: "Simien's humorous sensibility must deal with the fact that the racial...attitudes of American film culture are controlled by a social class that demands its own recognition first." It's a searingly prescient jab that gets to the heart of race in American film in the 21st century. Dear White People cuts straight through prejudice, identity hang-ups and guilt complexes, laying out its thesis with such raw intelligence that nobody, regardless of background, will come away unruffled.
- 10/21/2014
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
★★★★★In his barbed review of Richard Linklater's Boyhood (2014) Armond White stated the film celebrated the "emblematic figure" of white patriarchy. Céline Sciamma's Girlhood (2014) could easily be the antithesis to Linklater's expansive coming-of-age drama. An intimate and tender portrait of a young black girl realising the finite boundaries of her ambition whilst growing up in a deprived suburb of Paris, Sciamma's latest is an adrenaline shot of socially aware filmmaking that's an invigorating and perspicacious exploration of adolescence. Girlhood opens with a slow motion montage of an American football match - an explosive introduction you'd usually associate with emphatic displays of testosterone.
- 10/16/2014
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
The New York Film Critics Circle said today it will vote for its 2015 awards on December 1, again placing it first in the derby for what critics think during awards season. The gala dinner is set for January 5, 2015. Over the past couple of years, the Nyfcc has jumped to the front of the pack among a spate of early Oscar predictors — for a third consecutive year, its vote comes one day before the National Board of Review makes its picks.
Last year, American Hustle was named Best Film among three overall wins, and Steve McQueen was named Best Director for helming eventual Oscar Best Picture winner 12 Years A Slave.
The Nyfcc’s membership includes critics from daily and weekly newspapers, magazines and online publications. This year it has added Variety’s Scott Foundas and Grantland’s Wesley Morris to its roster after a very public parting of the ways with CityArts critic Armond White,...
Last year, American Hustle was named Best Film among three overall wins, and Steve McQueen was named Best Director for helming eventual Oscar Best Picture winner 12 Years A Slave.
The Nyfcc’s membership includes critics from daily and weekly newspapers, magazines and online publications. This year it has added Variety’s Scott Foundas and Grantland’s Wesley Morris to its roster after a very public parting of the ways with CityArts critic Armond White,...
- 10/14/2014
- by The Deadline Team
- Deadline
For those who, like Armond White, thought Linklater's "Boyhood" celebrated the "emblematic figure" of white patriarchy, consider Céline Sciamma's "Girlhood," which is now playing Toronto in the Contemporary World Cinema section. This all-black, female-skewing coming-of-age drama stunned Cannes, where French director Sciamma's previous features "Water Lilies" and "Tomboy" -- which grasped controversial material and eventually wound up small-scale arthouse hits in the Us -- met acclaim. "Girlhood" premiered in the Directors' Fortnight sidebar. I had the pleasure of working with Sciamma on a Cannes Critics' Week jury in 2012. She is a smart, perceptive filmmaker and, above all, a cinephile who cares about telling human stories with a style that she utterly owns. I have not seen "Girlhood" but this looks beautiful. Read Eric Kohn's Indiewire rave here. Pity there is no Us distribution yet.
- 9/9/2014
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Thompson on Hollywood
Fear in a Handful of Dust: Van Hees Completes Trilogy with Dark Metaphor
Belgian director Pieter Van Hees completes his trilogy that began with 2008’s Left Bank, the thematically connected “Anatomy of Love and Pain,” with the third chapter, Waste Land, exploring the idea of ‘soul’ with a neo-noir tinged mystery concerning the unraveling of a relationship and the loss of love. So named for T.S. Eliot’s famed 1922 poem, Van Hees has crafted a surreal nightmare that contains some profound mutations concerning historical atrocities from Europe’s colonialist past, of which Belgium also figured into. A director whose previous titles haven’t been able to tap into the offbeat English speaking audiences that are sure to embrace his bizarre flavor, the international renown of star Jeremie Renier should afford Van Hees’ latest work a higher visibility.
Detective Leo Woeste (Renier) is a high strung, yet effective homicide detective happily...
Belgian director Pieter Van Hees completes his trilogy that began with 2008’s Left Bank, the thematically connected “Anatomy of Love and Pain,” with the third chapter, Waste Land, exploring the idea of ‘soul’ with a neo-noir tinged mystery concerning the unraveling of a relationship and the loss of love. So named for T.S. Eliot’s famed 1922 poem, Van Hees has crafted a surreal nightmare that contains some profound mutations concerning historical atrocities from Europe’s colonialist past, of which Belgium also figured into. A director whose previous titles haven’t been able to tap into the offbeat English speaking audiences that are sure to embrace his bizarre flavor, the international renown of star Jeremie Renier should afford Van Hees’ latest work a higher visibility.
Detective Leo Woeste (Renier) is a high strung, yet effective homicide detective happily...
- 9/7/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
The new issue of Cineaste is out, featuring interviews with Joaquim Pinto (What Now? Remind Me) and Andrew Rossi (Ivory Tower). Also in today's roundup of news and views: Henry K. Miller on 1963 as a watershed year for film criticism; an interview with Armond White; Michael Koresky on Terence Davies; David Bordwell looks back on the evolution of archives; Fabrice du Welz (Alleluia) revisits a moment in Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon; R. Emmet Sweeney writes about Jacques Tourneur's Out of the Past; Bob Fosse on All That Jazz; a trailer for a David Lynch exhibition—and more. » - David Hudson...
- 9/4/2014
- Fandor: Keyframe
The new issue of Cineaste is out, featuring interviews with Joaquim Pinto (What Now? Remind Me) and Andrew Rossi (Ivory Tower). Also in today's roundup of news and views: Henry K. Miller on 1963 as a watershed year for film criticism; an interview with Armond White; Michael Koresky on Terence Davies; David Bordwell looks back on the evolution of archives; Fabrice du Welz (Alleluia) revisits a moment in Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon; R. Emmet Sweeney writes about Jacques Tourneur's Out of the Past; Bob Fosse on All That Jazz; a trailer for a David Lynch exhibition—and more. » - David Hudson...
- 9/4/2014
- Keyframe
Look, you make a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, people are gonna have opinions. Clearly some of those opinions are unwanted. And some are needed, nay, essential. Are we talking about critics like A.O. Scott or Armond White? Are we talking about Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, the creators of the Ninja Turtles? No, you fool. We're talking about Vanilla Ice, the creator behind the immortal "Ninja Rap", overheard in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Secret of The Ooze. The champions at GQ have sought out Mr. Ice (aka Mr. Rob Van Winkle) to ask about his feelings in regards to "Shell-Shocked", the new pop song tie-in for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Mr. Van Winkle did not mince words. "With respect to all of the artists, the song doesn't really do it for me. It feels a little artificial.what I mean by that is that it sounds...
- 8/5/2014
- cinemablend.com
As with all Friday episodes we have reviews for you today including 22 Jump Street and How to Train Your Dragon 2, plus some comments after Brad saw Snowpiercer and The Rover. On top of that we have a HomeDepot.com story for you, more chatter regarding today's movie stars, your questions, games and even a voice mail. If you are on Twitter, we have a Twitter account dedicated to the podcast at @bnlpod. Give us a follow won'tchac I want to remind you that you can call in and leave us your comments, thoughts, questions, etc. directly on our Google Voice account, which you can call and leave a message for us at (925) 526-5763, which may be even easier to remember at (925) 5-bnl-pod. Just call, leave us a voice mail and we'll add those to the show and respond directly. An alternative to that option is a new way of...
- 6/13/2014
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.