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March Madness of Movies: Introducing the Brackets

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Now that it’s March and the NCAA will be hosting its annual March Madness tournament soon, we at MovieMinis thought to have our own tournaments, but, of course, with movies.

In the bracket style of March Madness, we will run through four different topics in what we’re calling the March Madness of Movies.

But rather than stick to general topics, such as Best Superhero Movie or Best Animated Movie, we wanted to get specific, to vote on aspects of film that could potentially make for a much more fascinating tournament.

The four topics we ended up on are:

  • Best A24 Films
  • Best Superhero Villain of the 21st Century
  • Best Big Budget Directing of the 21st Century (cutoff at a $75 million production budget)
  • Best Cinematography Since 2010

In this write-up, we’re introducing the brackets, and in subsequent weeks, we will release the results of each round.

For each bracket, we laid out tons of potential contenders, and after a week of painful voting, we seeded each bracket. We must note that, in working through the seeding process, we were reminded of a terrible reality in the film industry.

In the potential contenders for Best Big Budget Directing of the 21st Century, with a cutoff at a $75 million production budget, there were only nine films directed by women, many of them with male co-directors. Only one ended up making our bracket, certainly not as a representation of talent, but as a magnification and emphasis of the problem. For perspective, there were literally hundreds directed by men, and the men were mostly white. This is a rampant problem in Hollywood. Women and people of color — and above all, women of color — are not only not given many chances, but when they are, failure, in any way, results in horribly unfair consequences; in essence, they’re less likely to get another chance than a white man is. This problem applies to cinematography too. In the potential contenders for that bracket, there was a proportionally similar compilation. While female cinematographers received votes, none made our bracket — again, not as a representation of talent, but as a magnification and emphasis of the problem. Hollywood must change, and part of that change comes from not ignoring the problem anymore. We need more big budget films directed by women and people of color, and we need more films, in general, lensed by women and people of color. We need women and people of color involved in every level of pre-production, production and post-production. For more statistics on female directors of big budget films, read Terry Huang’s piece on The Black List blog.

With that in mind, let’s move into how the brackets shaped up:

Best A24 Films

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Moonlight and Lady Bird earned #1 seeds. Joining them were The Florida Project and A Ghost Story. Those four films will face off against #8 seeds Green Room, Morris From America, De Palma and Menashe.

The next set of top films, the #2 seeds, were Swiss Army Man, 20th Century Women, The Lobster and Ex Machina, which will face off against #7 seeds The Lovers, While We’re Young, Krisha and Spring Breakers.

The #3 seeds were a mix of widely awarded films and incredibly acclaimed genre/indie pictures: Locke, Room, The Witch and Good Time. The #6 seeds that they’ll compete against leaned more toward the indie darling: The Spectacular Now, The Bling Ring, Under the Skin and Enemy.

Finally, in the middle of the pack were #4 seeds American Honey, Obvious Child, A Most Violent Year and It Comes At Night, as well as #5 seeds Amy, The End of the Tour, The Disaster Artist and The Killing of a Sacred Deer.

Best Superhero Villain of the 21st Century

This bracket is made up of four subcategories — MCU villains, DC villains, X-Men villains and villains from other properties — and we pulled eight contenders from each subcategory to compete. Instead of leaving them in their own sections, however, we then mixed them up and seeded from there. And we kept it to just eight per subcategory because it seemed more interesting than a likely lopsided MCU bunch had we not had that limit.

And this bracket is not just about performances. It’s about the villain, the character. That involves the writing and the directing of that character too.

With that said, the first three #1 seeds were rather simple to come to: Heath Ledger’s The Joker from The Dark Knight, Michael B. Jordan’s Erik Killmonger from Black Panther and Ian McKellen’s Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto from X-Men, X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand. 

Perhaps surprisingly to some who dislike the character, our staff showed strong support for Tom Hardy’s Bane from The Dark Knight Rises, who took that final #1 seed.

Those four will take on #8 seeds Kevin Bacon’s Sebastian Shaw from X-Men: First Class, Ed Skrein’s Francis/Ajax from Deadpool, Mark Strong’s Frank D’Amico from Kickass and Kurt Russell’s Ego from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

The #2 seeds went to Tom Hiddleston’s Loki from various MCU films, Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock from Spider-Man 2, the other Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto (played by Michael Fassbender) from the most recent X-Men trilogy and the second The Dark Knight inclusion, Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent/Two Face.

The #7 seeds who will battle these four are Zach Galifianakis’ The Joker from The LEGO Batman Movie, Hugh Jackman’s X-24 from Logan, James Franco’s Harry Osborn/New Goblin from Spider-Man 3 and Michael Shannon’s General Zod from Man of Steel.

Two of the #3 seeds went to the last two Captain America films; Daniel Brühl’s Helmut Zemo from Civil War and Sebastian Stan’s The Winter Soldier (not Bucky Barnes) from The Winter Soldier. Liam Neeson’s Ra’s al Ghul from Batman Begins and Jason Lee’s Buddy Pine/Syndrome from The Incredibles earned the other two #3 seeds. 

Competing against them are #6 seeds James Cromwell’s Professor Robert Callaghan from Big Hero 6, Dane DeHaan’s Andrew Detmer from Chronicle, Peter Dinklage’s Bolivar Trask from X-Men: Days of Future Past and the Sentinels that Trask unleashed onto the X-Men, also from X-Men: Days of Future Past.

In the middle of the pack, earning #4 seeds, were Cillian Murphy’s Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow from the entire The Dark Knight trilogy, Willem Dafoe’s Norman Osborn/Green Goblin from Spider-Man, Samuel L. Jackson’s Mr. Glass from Unbreakable and Andy Serkis’ Ulysses Klaue from Avengers: Age of Ultron and Black Panther. They’ll match up against #5 seeds Hugo Weaving’s Johann Schmidt/Red Skull from Captain America: The First Avenger, Brian Cox’s Col. William Stryker from X2, Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes/Vulture from Spider-Man: Homecoming and Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Best Big Budget Directing of the 21st Century

This bracket was split up into four different subcategories. Those were “Superhero Directing” (in the upper left), “Franchise Directing” (in the lower left), “Prestige/Original/Non-Studio Franchise Directing” (in the upper right) and “Animated Directing” (in the lower right). We took some liberties with this. Mad Max: Fury Road is a part of a franchise, but we concluded that it felt more in line with its current group than it would’ve among the franchise contenders.

In Superhero Directing:

Christopher Nolan easily earned a #1 seed; many even believe that he should’ve gotten an Oscar nomination for his efforts on The Dark Knight. He’ll face off against #8 seed Tim Miller for the subversive Deadpool.

Coming in behind Nolan in the #2 seed was Ryan Coogler for Black Panther, a cultural phenomenon that many believe could become the first superhero film nominated for Best Picture.

The #3 seed went to Joe Russo and Anthony Russo for Captain America: Civil War; the Russo brothers also placed in the #7 seed for Captain America: Civil War. James Gunn will take on the Civil War Russos with #6 seed Guardians of the Galaxy.

The middle match-up comes from 2017 films: the #4 seed James Mangold for Logan and the #5 seed Patty Jenkins for Wonder Woman.

In Franchise Directing:

Peter Jackson quite easily snagged the #1 seed for his directing job on The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. He’s the only Best Director winner out of five nominated efforts in this bracket. Facing of against him is #8 seed Martin Campbell for the first Daniel Craig James Bond film Casino Royale.

Sam Mendes, director of another Craig Bond film, Skyfall, made the bracket as the #6 seed. He’ll compete with #3 seed Matt Reeves for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

Like Bond, Matt Reeves made his subcategory twice, earning the #2 seed for War for the Planet of the Apes. He’ll take on our perhaps surprising Star Wars inclusion, #7 seed Gareth Edwards for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Finally, with some of the most acclaimed films of the subcategory, #4 seed Alfonso Cuarón for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban will battle #5 seed Denis Villeneuve for Blade Runner 2049.

In Prestige/Original/Non-Franchise Studio Directing

David Fincher’s Zodiac has become regarded as on the best films, in general, of the 21st century, so he glided into a #1 seed pretty smoothly. But his contender is a tough one: #8 seed Alfonso Cuarón for landmark sci-fi film Children of Men.

George Miller earned the #2 seed for his masterful work on Mad Max: Fury Road, and will face of against legendary director and #7 seed Martin Scorsese for The Wolf of Wall Street.

Scorsese made this subcategory twice, taking the #3 seed for his directing job on The Aviator. His opponent is #6 seed Christopher Nolan for Dunkirk, who also made this subcategory twice, placing as the #4 seed for Inception. He’ll take on #5 seed Peter Jackson for King Kong.

In Animated Directing:

Quite predictably, Pixar dominated this bracket, with #1 seeds Pete Docter and Bob Peterson for Up, #2 seed Brad Bird for The Incredibles, #3 seed Lee Unkrich for Toy Story 3, #4 seed Andrew Stanton for WALL-E, #6 seeds Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen for Inside Out and #8 seeds Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina for Coco.

But other animation directors made it through with their beloved films. Rounding out the eight were #5 seeds Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders for How to Train Your Dragon, and #7 seeds Ron Clements, John Musker, Don Hall and Chris Williams for Disney’s Moana.

Best Cinematography Since 2010

Even with setting the parameter of cinematography since 2010, there were still an overwhelming number of potential contenders and our votes were widely varied, resulting in a bracket that truly represents a mix of our opinions.

The #1 seeds did stand out, however: Mihai Malaimare Jr.’s lensing of The Master, Andrew Droz Palermo’s work on A Ghost Story, Roger Deakins Oscar-winning efforts on Blade Runner 2049 and Hoyte van Hoytema’s unforgettable photography on Her.

In fact, both Deakins and van Hoytema made this bracket three times. Deakins also earned a #3 seed for Skyfall and a #6 seed for Sicario. van Hoytema’s other two were Christopher Nolan films, a #2 seed for Dunkirk and a #6 seed for Interstellar.

Bradford Young also made this bracket three times, taking a #2 seed for Arrival, a #7 seed for A Most Violent Year and a #8 seed for Mother of George.

But, of course, 3-time Oscar winner Emmanuel Lubezki placed more than everyone with four spots: a #2 seed for The Tree of Life, a #3 seed for Gravity, a #5 seed for The Revenant and a #7 seed for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).

The rest of the bracket is filled with stunning photography. Oscar winner Linus Sandgren earned a #2 seed for his work on La La Land. Other cinematographers of 2016 took spots as well, with James Laxton earning a #4 seed for Moonlight and Rodrigo Prieto earning a #4 seed for Silence.

Work from 2015 films rounded out the #3 seeds: Dick Pope for Mr. Turner and John Seale for Mad Max: Fury Road. The other #4 seeds were Luca Bigazzi for The Great Beauty and Bruno Delbonnel for Inside Llewyn Davis.

While Hoyte van Hoytema may have two Nolan films on this bracket, Nolan’s former cinematographer, Wally Pfister, earned a #5 for his Oscar-winning work on Inception. Rather recent photography also seeded #5: Rob Hardy for Annihilation and Sayombhu Mukdeeprom for Call Me by Your Name.

In fact, a couple of Roberts placed here. Robert D. Yeoman placed in the #6 seed for The Grand Budapest Hotel and the #7 seed for Moonrise Kingdom. Robert Richardson also seeded #6 for Django Unchained, while Robert Elswit was another Paul Thomas Anderson cinematographer to place, earning a #8 seed for Inherent Vice..

Finally, the last few contenders are #7 seed Masanobu Takayanagi for Hostiles, #8 seed Darius Khondji for The Lost City of Z and #8 seed Seamus McGarvey for Godzilla.

 

Follow along throughout March as we vote on these brackets and determine the best of each topic!

 

Featured image via Marvel Studios/Warner Bros./A24.

Box Office Report: In only 37 theaters, ‘Lady Bird’ flies into the top 10

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While there are nine films that earned more than it, Lady Bird is, undoubtedly, the story of the week. In only 37 theaters — 826 less than any other in the top 10 — writer-director Greta Gerwig’s film, starring Saoirse Ronan, averaged $33,766 for a total of $1.249 million. After a 2017 record per-theater-average the weekend prior, Gerwig’s picture now stands at $1.781 million and will only continue to make money. Audiences know Gerwig from brilliant films such as 20th Century Women, Jackie, Frances Ha and Mistress America; combine that with wonderful marketing by A24, and it looks like they’ve got the perfect storm. It already has the critical acclaim, still at 100% on RottenTomatoes after 115 reviews, and now the financial success that could push it to not only contend, but possibly win big during the awards season.

In first place, expectedly, was Thor: Ragnarok. Marvel’s third Thor film took home an estimated $56.6 million to put it at $211.5 million domestically and $650 million worldwide — already past Thor and Thor: The Dark World in only its second weekend. The film will take a hit this upcoming weekend with the release of Justice League, but it should easily cross $800 million.

The comedy sequel Daddy’s Home 2 made an estimated $30 million for the second spot. The opening is $8 million less than the original, but still a solid start that should set the film on a path toward profitability. It seems as though Mel Gibson is all but forgiven in Hollywood.

Behind that was Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express with an estimated $28.2 million. The Agatha Christie adaptation was produced for $55 million and, with $57+ million so far overseas for a total of $85.4 million, the film will look to make its money back in due time.

In other limited release news, Oscar contender Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri earned a per-theater-average of $80,000 in four theaters, close to Lady Bird last. As the Oscar players continue to release, we should be seeing similar performances — but next weekend will be dominated by Justice League.

*All weekend numbers are domestic, meaning that they’re from theaters in the US and Canada, and are also estimates, reported by Box Office Mojo, with actuals coming out in the next few days.*

 

Featured image via A24.

Jennifer Lawrence’s top 5 performances

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Jennifer Lawrence is one of the biggest superstars on the planet right now, deemed by many as the next Meryl Streep; she’s already been nominated for four Oscars at the young age of 27, meaning that she has 31 years to catch up to Streep’s current number of 20 nominations — a task not too unthinkable.

Looking back at her career, Lawrence has surprisingly fewer notable appearances than one may first expect — perhaps a reminder of how young she is. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing because each performance is one that sticks, whether because of her immense talent, showcased in films such as Silver Linings Playbook and Winter’s Bone, or because she’s already cemented herself as a big franchise A-lister with leading roles in X-Men and The Hunger Games.

With Darren Aronofsky’s mother! releasing this Friday, Lawrence will only remind those that sadly and systemically undervalue her that she’s not going anywhere. She’s not the next Meryl Streep because she’s the only Jennifer Lawrence. And while this list may not host as many hot takes as others, it’s a rightful celebration of an undeniable talent.

5. The Hunger Games

Lionsgate/Courtesy

In The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) captures the fascination of the public, but in a slightly meta twist, Lawrence herself catapulted to the broader public’s radar. By then she had already been nominated for Best Lead Actress for her work in Winter’s Bone, but with The Hunger Games, Lawrence established herself as a heroine for the ages — the highest grossing action film heroine, to be precise. But don’t let the memory of Barnes and Noble’s endless supply of Katniss merch sully the performance Lawrence gives in the first Hunger Games film. She gives us a heroine who’s vulnerable and sympathetic, but never lets that get in the way of being a badass. Amid the flood of YA novel adaptations that descended upon cinemas in the wake of The Hunger Games, Lawrence’s turn as Katniss shows that the phenomenon began and ended with her undeniably strong performance.

— Harrison Tunggal

4. Joy

20th Century Fox/Courtesy

David O. Russell’s Joy is a bit of an unengaging slog, but Jennifer Lawrence isn’t one of the reasons why. In fact, she’s the only reason why the film is watchable in the first place. She embraces and envelops herself in the dynamic familial conflict and vulnerability of the character of Joy — a young inventor and businesswoman who builds a dynasty — reacting with a quiet energy and taking charge with such lively fervor; we almost feel the line “never… speak… on my behalf… about my business… again” in our bones, each brief pause breathing with badassery. She may not dive as deep into the mentality of the character as she does in performances ranked higher, but her utterly firm and assured commitment to the role reverberates off the screen.

— Kyle Kizu

3. Winter’s Bone

Roadside Attractions/Courtesy

The performance that started the hype around her talents, Winter’s Bone was a tiny little indie that did significantly better than anyone would have expected, largely in part due to Lawrence’s captivating leading character. Set in the rural Ozarks, Winter’s Bone features Lawrence as a 17-year-old tasked with taking care of her mentally ill mother and her two younger siblings within a financially destitute family that is being threatened to have their housed foreclosed on since her meth-addicted father put the house up for bail. And he, for reasons waiting to be discovered in this twisty film, has yet to make his court date.

What’s so immediate about this film’s portrayal of this kind of life is both Lawrence and director Debra Granik’s refusal to allow stereotypes to percolate into the story. There’s an authenticity to the sadness, the courage and, ultimately, the hope Lawrence brings to this young heroine. One could immediately see the star power that Lawrence possesses, which has only been further proven in each film since.

— Levi Hill

2. American Hustle

Sony Pictures/Courtesy

Bat-shit crazy Jennifer Lawrence is the best Jennifer Lawrence: so it is written.

As Rosalyn Rosenfeld in American Hustle, Lawrence injects what could have been a stereotypical “wronged, manipulative wife” role with charisma, intensity and a touch of true malice. In one memorable scene, Christian Bale’s character calls his wife “the Picasso of passive-aggressive karate.” She does indeed spend a good portion of the film attempting to sway events through careful manipulation, but when the dam breaks, no one throws a tantrum like Lawrence. And for what it’s worth, just overcoming the sheer extravagance of American Hustle’s costuming was a feat for all involved— from that slinky white gown to her teased blond updo, it’s a noteworthy accomplishment that the most “extra” thing in the film was Lawrence herself.

— Kate Halliwell

1. Silver Linings Playbook

The Weinstein Company/Courtesy

While Jennifer Lawrence was already an Oscar nominated actress with seemingly endless potential at such a young age, it was really 2012 that catapulted her into super stardom and the charts of Best Actresses Working Today. Between The Hunger Games and Silver Linings Playbook, any actor could claim they owned the year. Leading a massive franchise and the biggest crowd-pleasing prestige film is quite the accomplishment, yet it’s her performance in that second film, David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook, that stands as her best performance in her already acclaimed career. With the premise of the film centered around deeply flawed people, Lawrence plays Tiffany, a young widow who battles depression and is ostracized in her town for having casual sex with many of the men in it after her husband’s passing. While the film rests on Bradley Cooper’s shoulders, who convincingly plays the manic-depressive Pat Solitano, Jr., Lawrence steals the show. Given almost equal weight in this tight balancing act of mental-issues-drama with dysfunctional family comedy, without Lawrence’s performance — which gives off bubbly optimism and a cold cynicism — the movie may not have had its silver lining.

— Levi Hill

Featured image via Paramount.

For your consideration: Bill Skarsgård, Pennywise and horror’s “time to float”

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Andrés Muschietti’s It, based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King, has surpassed fiscal and cultural expectations as it boasts an impressive $123 million opening weekend gross and widespread critical praise. The accuracy of the adapted narrative and chemistry of its young protagonists have both been singled out by critics as contributing to the film’s runaway success. Well, those and a shape-shifting clown named Pennywise.

The immediately identifiable pale-faced and red-lipped antagonist of the film, Pennywise the Dancing Clown has been front and center for It since the film revealed his look at the end of 2016, and for good reason. Portrayed by Bill Skarsgård with utterly terrifying grace, Pennywise stands out in a film filled with unique and bone-chilling imagery. Although the movie was only recently released, it’s time to address the demonic child-eating clown in the room: Bill Skarsgård deserves an Oscar nod for this role.

The odds were most certainly stacked against him. Tim Curry’s performance as the clown from the 1990’s mini-series of the same name has been the definitive (and only other) portrayal of the entity and is traumatically seared into the psyches of 90’s kids everywhere. The troubled pre-production of the film, which saw original director, Cary Fukunaga, depart also caused his pick for Pennywise, Will Poulter, to leave as well. Once Muschietti took over directorial duties, he and his crew cast Skarsgård, and the newcomer seemed like a hasty replacement. Fortunately for Pennywise’s newest inhabitant, he not only acutely differentiates himself from Curry but also eradicates the notion that anyone else could have played the role nearly as well.

Curry played Pennywise as two beings housed in one form. At first, he was calm, collected and persuasive to lure in his prey, before turning brutish and bullying. While understandably scary, the performance lacks nuance. Curry’s Pennywise is polar through and through. While that approach may have worked for a two-part mini-series with a significantly smaller budget than the 2017 adaptation, Muschietti’s feature needed a Pennywise that wasn’t so binary to suspend an audience’s disbelief, and it found that in Skarsgård.

Warner Bros./Courtesy

From the opening scene with little Georgie Denbrough and the sewer grate, to his final confrontation with the Losers’ Club, Skarsgård’s Pennywise exudes a sort of appalling irreverence about his killings – the hunt – making him all the more disturbing. Like a child, he giggles and plays off the horrific nature of his crimes with a sly smirk and almost no dialogue. The character’s longest, uninterrupted, speeches bookend the film and even then, they’re no more than a few sentences. Physically, Skarsgård saunters towards the various children of Derry, ME, like a ragdoll learning to walk on its own for the first time. The immaturity he brings to the character is bolstered by the creature’s malevolent intent. The actor intertwines animalistic brutality with playfulness rather than separating them, making his encounters with the members of the Losers’ Club wrought with tension. In these sequences, Skarsgård relaxes and really lets loose as though each limb were independent of the body as a whole. He plays Pennywise as the character should be played, powerful and aware of it.

Perhaps the most unnerving trait that Skarsgård adeptly taps into is an element of unabashed glee. His Pennywise is a monster and he loves being one. Whereas Curry’s Pennywise seemed only superficially satisfied toying with his victims, Skarsgård’s take on the character practically oozes with delight in psychologically torturing his food. Even when wounded, a smile is plastered on his face as though pain poses no threat which makes him all the more powerful and captivating on screen.

Skarsgård more than rightfully earns an Academy Award nomination, at the very least, because of how seamlessly he plays a character devoid of any semblance of humanity who is defined by the most human of emotions – sheer joy. But even that statement is not entirely accurate. The actor’s portrayal is so haunting because of the very fact that Pennywise ceases to be just a character for Skarsgård. The clown is so viscerally insidious in his execution that he, arguably, raises the poignant nature of the narrative in which he plays villain. Skarsgård so vehemently becomes ‘It’ that he surpasses the film itself. The transformation of actor into what feels like an actual autonomous being is classic Academy nomination fodder.

Warner Bros./Courtesy

The only other contemporary actor who evoked a similar response was, ironically enough, Heath Ledger for his portrayal of the Joker in 2008’s The Dark Knight. Both Ledger and Skarsgård manage to unshackle themselves from reality, from the bonds of familiarity in their performances so that they stop being just performances. Each actor literally refocuses a film on himself even when he, debatably, is not intended to be the center of attention. Ledger’s Joker makes Batman a supporting player in his own movie, and Skarsgård’s Pennywise weaponizes innocence in a film dealing with its loss. Skarsgård is just as magnetic and therein lie his Academy-worthy qualifications.

Come January, will Skarsgård’s name be among those announced to compete for the latest iteration of Hollywood’s ‘who’s who?’ Probably not. Despite his incomparable performance, Skarsgård is still bogged down by the core of It’s success – its place in the annals of horror cinema. The Academy has a history of neglecting genre films, particularly those dealing with the supernatural or horror, even if they harbor critically-acclaimed performances. Maybe it’s because of tradition, maybe it’s because genre films are simply not consistently well-made or maybe, hypothetically speaking of course, it’s because the Academy is just pretentious and finds comfort in safety rather than in risk and innovation, but who’s to say really? Perhaps with It’s massive opening weekend and rave reviews, coupled with a tepid response to other summer blockbusters and indie films alike, perhaps it’ll be the horror film to upset a status quo of cinematic pedantry at the Oscars. Perhaps with such a big splash in such a monotonously oversaturated market, Bill Skarsgård’s Pennywise and It can float straight to the top.           

Featured image via Warner Bros.

‘Suicide Squad 2’ finds writer-director in Gavin O’Connor

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Gavin O’Connor has been tapped to write and direct Suicide Squad 2, as reported by Deadline.

While the David Ayer-directed first film was critically thrashed, with a 25% on RottenTomatoes and a score of 40 on Metacritic, it did end up becoming a box-office hit — making $745 million worldwide. It also won an Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.

It was only a matter of time before a sequel would be announced with its director and writer. A rumored list of potential directors had been circulating for quite some while, with Mel Gibson and Jaume Collet-Serra (The Shallows) being the reported favorites to win the job.

However, O’Connor has won out both the pen and the directing chair. O’Connor comes from films such as Warrior, which garnered Nick Nolte an Oscar nomination, and The Accountant, which stars Ben Affleck and has had a sequel start development with both O’Connor and Affleck. And with Affleck appearing in a cameo role in the first Suicide Squad, many are speculating if he might return now that O’Connor is attached.

O’Connor’s scripting partner from Warrior, Anthony Tambakis, will co-write the script.

The gang of villains, specifically the Joker and Harley Quinn, have a lot in store for the future. David Ayer moved on from the sequel, prompting for the search that ended with O’Connor, to work on Gotham City Sirens, a film centering around Harley Quinn and the many other villainous women of DC. In addition, the Joker and Harley Quinn will appear together in a film from the Crazy, Stupid, Love. directors John Requa and Glenn Ficarra. The character of the Joker will find another actor in a origin film separate from the DC Extended Universe, which will come from The Hangover’s Todd Phillips.

No official release date for Suicide Squad 2 has been announced. The principle cast members, including Jared Leto as The Joker, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and Will Smith as Deadshot, will return. Warner Bros. and DC will release Justice League on November 17, 2017, which has undergone extensive reworking under the guidance of Joss Whedon, who now officially has a writing credit and may get a directing credit depending on the Directors Guild’s judgment.

Featured image via Warner Bros.

Christian Bale is a Western cavalryman in first ‘Hostiles’ trailer

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Christian Bale and writer-director Scott Cooper have reteamed, after Out of the Furnace, for the upcoming Western Hostiles, which follows Captain Joseph J. Blocker (Bale) as he reluctantly escorts a Cheyenne chief (Wes Studi) and a grieving woman (Rosamund Pike) through hostile territory. The film premiered this weekend at Telluride Film Festival to incredible acclaim, with The Hollywood Reporter and Variety saying that Bale could be a very strong Oscar contender for his performance. Riding that buzz, Hostiles has dropped its first trailer, released through Deadline Hollywood.

Hostiles finds itself in a very unique position this fall, currently without a distributor, which may be why the trailer landed with Deadline instead of being released through a film company online. The film accompanied a tribute to Christian Bale’s career at Telluride, which started the buzz of who might acquire the title — with companies such as Annapurna (new to distribution), Sony Pictures Classics and Netflix rumored as in the mix. But Variety says that Telluride isn’t particularly a festival where titles get picked up and suggests that there won’t be any official news until, at the earliest, Toronto International Film Festival, where the film is set to screen next on September 11.

With a trailer dropping, it seems as though the film is eyeing a 2017 release, considering that, with the Oscar buzz, it would be a strange move to release a trailer now and then wait over a year to release it next fall. A distributor would have to act fast to put together a marketing campaign that can get enough people in the theater to then realize that awards potential. And it also seems, with the subject matter, that 2017 is the prime window for a release, as the film deals with themes of hatred, racism and reconciliation, and can compare to today’s times, as talked about by Scott Cooper in Variety’s film podcast Playback.

Featured image via Lorey Sebastian, Le Grisbi Productions and Waypoint Entertainment.

Top ten films premiered at Telluride Film Festival since 2010

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Amid the swaths of festivals, Telluride, taking place between September 1-4, stands out as an unpretentious yet incredibly prestigious venue for some of the most honest films of the year. Like the town in which it takes place, Telluride is small and intimate. It evokes the best of what a film community can be, in genuine artistry, but also in just being fans of movies and of movie-makers; it was a key moment in the great friendship between the La La Land and Moonlight creative teams, which maintained despite the audience split that sprouted during the awards season. And while many of the Oscar hopefuls look to the Venice Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival for their starts, the quieter premieres at Telluride often have the grander impact. Since 2010, the best of the best from Telluride Film Festival are breathtaking. From Oscar winners to profound independents to landmark documentaries, the top ten Telluride films of the last seven years show the best of what cinema can be.

10. Wild

Fox Searchlight Pictures/Courtesy

While many may point to Dallas Buyers Club and Big Little Lies when thinking of Canadian filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée, it would be a shame to ignore the gem that is Wild. First and foremost, any film that features the sublime, timeless, astounding Laura Dern in even just a slightly weighty role is one to adore. But Wild crafts not only its character, Reese Witherspoon’s Cheryl, so instinctively, but it also crafts the journey of Cheryl so tenderly and affectingly. Cheryl confronts the wild in her long walk from the top of the U.S. to the bottom, and the film follows suit, embracing a sort of vulnerable physicality in its color palette, in its subtle sound and intimate cinematography. Wild may not be the most jaw-dropping or impressive film, but it’s one that finds its way underneath one’s skin and into one’s bones because it is so human.

— Kyle Kizu

9. Frances Ha

IFC Films/Courtesy

Frances Ha is director Noah Baumbach’s ebullient tribute to the cinema of the French New Wave. We follow the titular Frances (the incredible Greta Gerwig, who co-wrote the screenplay with Baumbach) as she meets friends, moves from apartment to apartment and tries to reconcile her dreams of dancing with the possibility that they’ll remain dreams and nothing more. Though the film is in black and white, the spread of emotions that Frances endures is hardly so — the film pinwheels from her trademark levity to crushing lows, before rising to a strained melancholy and finally settling on a relieved contentedness. That such dichotomies coexist in the film isn’t jarring, but rather endearing. We’ve all had nights that started out perfectly, but then take a hard left into awfulness that only seems to get worse, and that’s a sentiment that the film understands and addresses with humor and sensitivity. Befittingly, the film isn’t reliant on plot, but that’s okay — we’re happy to have known Frances, if but for an hour and a half.

— Harrison Tunggal

8. The Descendants

Fox Searchlight Pictures/Courtesy

Against all odds, Alexander Payne’s 2011 film The Descendants pairs adultery, comatose spouses and Hawaiian real estate in a simultaneously heartwrenching and hilarious examination of what family really means. The film follows Matt King (George Clooney) as his wife is injured in a jetskiing accident and he is forced to decide whether or not to leave his now comatose wife on life support — a decision made more difficult by the realization that she had been having an affair. Clooney and Shailene Woodley, in arguably both their finest work to date, carry the film on their transparently expressive faces, captured lovingly in close-up by cinematographer Phedon Papamichael. True to the book on which it is based, The Descendants almost veers too far into cruel, biting satire at times, but no one is better suited to walk the balance between bleak humanity and the humor found in everyday life than Alexander Payne. While certain scenes stand out as all-timers (Clooney’s famous hospital monologue, Woodley’s character revealing her mother’s affair), The Descendants in its entirety is a hard look at dealing with the past, managing the present and confronting the future.

— Kate Halliwell

7. Steve Jobs

Universal Pictures/Courtesy

Steve Jobs had such a dramatic journey to the big screen — an intensely buzzed-about Aaron Sorkin script originally connected to David Fincher and with Leonardo DiCaprio and Christian Bale rumored to star. But the creative team it ended up with was a perfect match. Danny Boyle’s high-energy direction scores Jobs with an electric edge and Michael Fassbender transforms subtly yet entirely, embodying the icon with a domineering physicality, especially in vocal tone, while deconstructing his problematic persona and humanizing his core — not necessarily sacrificing one for the other. The film has massive ambitions, with a story structure similar to a play and carrying a character in light of Citizen Kane. It might not reach all of its goals, but it finds a place in contemporary cinema that so many films have tried for but failed.

— KK

6. Under the Skin

A24/Courtesy

On very simple terms, Under the Skin is an astonishing vehicle for the auric, subtle physicality that Scarlett Johansson can take hold of in a performance, as well as for the viscerally invasive work of composer Mica Levi — many critics still cite her score as one of the best of the 21st century. But, quite obviously, Under the Skin is anything but simple. Delving deep into the avant garde, as well as other more visually focused traditions, Jonathan Glazer’s sci-fi picture, about an alluring woman, is oftentimes terrifying without us even realizing how intensely so until afterward, or until the pop of a body contorted by forces beyond its control. As viewers, we oftentimes feel like a victim trapped beneath — a purposeful effect that produces a pure sense of the image, oftentimes simple in color and composition but wildly unnerving in context, that only cinema could. Of course, this leaves little easy explanation and few paths for traditional absorption, making Under the Skin difficult to encounter. But if we surrender ourselves to visual language, the film will prove deeply human, without much of the sentimentality, and gendered in its experience, deconstructivist in its angle and, honestly, just fucking weird — in a good way.

— KK

5. Prisoners

Warner Bros./Courtesy

The sense of mounting dread that director Denis Villeneuve builds in Prisoners is staggering to behold. Drenched in darkness and shadow by the master himself, Roger Deakins, this film transports the viewer into a world of ubiquitous horror, one where corpses fill basements, families descend into violence and even moments of reprieve contort into the realization that we’re all shackled to those we love, for better or worse. This is a film where your heart keep sinking to depths you didn’t know existed, right to its final shot. Prisoners also sports a stellar cast firing on all cylinders — Hugh Jackman’s intensity makes his performance in this film one of his finest, Jake Gyllenhaal showcases the cold determination he would later dial to eleven in Nightcrawler and Paul Dano ratchets up the tension by keeping the audience on its toes. Additionally, Viola Davis brings her eminent gravitas while Terrence Howard matches Jackman’s fear and desperation as they search for their missing daughters. Prisoners is arguably Denis Villeneuve’s best film, and we can’t wait to see how his sensibilities translate to Blade Runner 2049 and other future projects.

— HT

4. Anomalisa

Paramount Pictures/Courtesy

This stop-motion picture is difficult to confront, venturing into the abstract in many areas. But, as one should expect with Charlie Kaufman, Anomalisa, a film without actual humans, is filled with a humanity unlike most other films. It is, in large part, because of the voice work. David Thewlis and Jennifer Jason Leigh provide an affectingly raw basis within this world, conveying vulnerability and the weight of the human condition through tiny inflections. And Tom Noonan, literally voicing every other figure, is shockingly hilarious and horrifyingly scary at the same time. Yet, the voices become that profound because of the imagery within which they inhabit. Kaufman and co-director Duke Johnson frame each shot with a deep understanding of theme, that everything so blandly and terrifyingly blends together, that the world is unrewarding and depressing, that finding someone within the void is miraculous and losing them to the blend is a nightmare. The amalgamation brings about an intimacy that only a masterful film could build.

— KK

3. Room

A24/Courtesy

Book-to-movie adaptations, as a rule, are difficult to pull off, and that challenge increases exponentially when the source material in question is narrated in entirety by a five year old boy with a limited understanding of the world. It gets even harder when that world consists of a tiny one-room shed, and the boy’s mother — the room’s only other occupant — chooses to raise him as if that one room really is the entire universe. So begins Lenny Abrahamson’s adaptation of Room, starring Jacob Tremblay and Brie Larson as a mother and son held in captivity until their eventual escape. Room is effectively split in two halves, which places the duo’s plotting and escape at odds with their tentative transition back into the outside world. The film would go on to win Larson her first Oscar and cement Tremblay’s place as Hollywood’s cutest kid, but it served as far more than a vehicle for its stars-to-be. Bleak, hard-to-watch moments combine with an enduring sense of childlike curiosity in what is already deservedly considered to be one of the best book adaptations of all time.

— KH

2. The Act of Killing

Final Cut for Real/Courtesy

The Act of Killing is a difficult film to watch, and if you’re at all connected to the killings that took place in Indonesia from 1965-1966, then Joshua Oppenheimer’s documentary is downright excruciating. The film’s two main subjects, Anwar Congo and Herman Koto, belonged to a government death squad that extorted from and killed more than one million communists and Chinese Indonesians. They gloat about the lives they took and how they took them, going to obscene lengths to reenact their methods. It’s a sick parody of cinephilia — Congo and Koto claim to be inspired by the violence in the films they idolized, and some of the reenactments are draped in the trappings of their favorite genres. And these are just barely the reasons why The Act of Killing is a disturbing watch — ultimately, we’re left wondering if there’s redemption in remorse. After seeing the utter impunity of the murderers, such a question becomes disturbingly difficult, if not impossible, to answer. Unpleasant as it may be, The Act of Killing is truly an essential film, reminding us that the soul is at stake when blind nationalism supersedes morality.

— HT

1. Moonlight

David Bornfriend/A24/Courtesy

With a rare 99 on Metacritic, Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight is cinematic perfection. For anyone who’s seen the film, such a statement stands on its own, though additional validation comes from its historic Best Picture win at the 89th Academy Awards. But forget the craziness surrounding the moment of its victory — such things are much too loud for a film like Moonlight. It is a film predicated on an intimate viewing experience, one in which quiet subtleties in the performances of its all black cast and precise details in the filmmaking precipitate an immense significance. From the close-ups of Trevante Rhodes and Andre Holland as their characters reunite, we see heartbreak and hope at the same time, and years of toxic, performative masculinity erode with just one look. From the final embrace of these two men, we see a moment of LGBTQ+ representation that is executed with the utmost sensitivity and tenderness. Then there’s James Laxton’s cinematography, where a shallow depth of field puts us with the characters, exacting a sense of empathy that lends the film its total hold over our emotions. It is impossible to overstate the significance of Moonlight, especially when empathy and sensitivity are becoming ever rarer, but with Barry Jenkins behind the camera, there’s hope that such qualities will persevere, at least on the big screen.

— HT

Featured image (modified) via Ken Lund.

Willem Dafoe plays father figure in ‘The Florida Project’ trailer

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In 2015, director Sean Baker released his film Tangerine, shot on augmented iPhones, to some of the best critical success of the year, further progressing his career as an indie filmmaker to look out for.

And look out for him we must, as A24 has just released the trailer for Baker’s follow-up film The Florida Project, which follows young Moonee (Brooklynn Prince) and her mother Halley (Bria Vinaite) during their stay at “The Magic Castle,” a motel run by Bobby (Willem Dafoe). As Halley finds herself falling into troubling circumstances, Bobby looks to step up to not only help her, but to be a father figure to the many children at the motel. Yet, it seems as though Moonee has no problem creating her own fun with her imagination.

The Florida Project premiered at Cannes Film Festival to outstanding reception. It currently sits at 96% on RottenTomatoes with 22 fresh reviews out of 23 total, and at a score of 91 on Metacritic with 9 positive reviews. The film then went to the Champs-Élysées Film Festival in France and will visit the Toronto International Film Festival in September before a limited theatrical release on October 6, 2017.

Willem Dafoe has already received extensive praise for his performance, with many calling him a near-lock for an Oscar nomination. Some critics have predicted the film to be nominated for Best Picture.

Baker shot The Florida Project on 35mm film, but it is unclear how many theaters will be able to project it in that format.

A24’s A Ghost Story, Menashe and Good Time are still in theaters. The production-distrubtion company will release Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Killing of a Sacred Deer, which premiered at Cannes to slightly divisive reviews and stars Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman and Barry Keoghan (of Dunkirk), on October 27. Its other end of the year plays include Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut Lady Bird, releasing on November 10, and the James Franco directed-starring The Disaster Artist, which premiered as a work-in-progress at South by Southwest to nearly unanimous acclaim and will visit Toronto International Film Festival, releasing on December 1.