Sony Pictures Classics will open László Nemes‘ Sunset, which premiered at the 2018 Venice Film Festival, on 3.22. The reviews have been mixed to mixed-positive. The general response has been that it’s no Son of Saul, but is worth seeing for the Nemes imprimatur alone.

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Adults don’t eat ketchup as a rule — only kids do. They pour ketchup on their burgers and dip their french fries in the stuff. I haven’t even looked at a bottle of ketchup since I was 14 or 15, and I’m actually proud to say that. I despise the taste of the stuff. When I was 15 or 16 I bailed on ketchup and became a burger with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise guy. I certainly don’t make a habit of hamburgers, but when I have one I always revert to the old LTM. And I never pour ketchup on steaks. I never pour it on anything. I hate the very thought of that red glop.

My first thought when I heard about Sen. Cory Booker being with Rosario Dawson was that she was acting as a kind of beard for the guy, at least while his Presidential campaign is up and running. But apparently Booker is straight (or at least bi — I’m good either way) and their relationship is for real. Buzzfeed says they’re “not just dating” but “truly, madly in love.” Fine, although it seems a tiny bit odd that Dawson is talking openly about their mutual feelings just as Booker’s presidential campaign is gearing up.

Taron Egerton is a better-than-average singer, granted, but his recent Oscar-night performance of “Tiny Dancer” simply doesn’t cut it. Because he’s offering an approximation of an “Elton voice” rather than the voice itself. It didn’t have to be this way.

Bryan Singer‘s Bohemian Rhapsody delivered a believable, satisfying Freddie Mercury voice, but for some reason Rocketman will not do the same. Fatal error.

I’m sorry but when a film is chosen to close a major festival, this almost always indicates more of an agreeable crowd-pleaser than any kind of brazen, cutting-edge thing. Most of us suspected this about Danny Boyle‘s Yesterday earlier, but now we’re more certain.

Himesh Patel plays “Jack Malik”, the only guy in the world who can recall the entire Beatles library of tunes, which leads to great fame and fortune.

Honest excerpt from official Universal-supplied synopsis: “But as his star rises, Jack risks losing Ellie — the one person who always believed in him. With the door between his old life and his new closing, Jack will need to get back to where he once belonged and prove that all you need is love.” Aaaagghh!

The fact that the trailer cutters chose to show clips of Patel singing “Yesterday”, “Let It Be” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand” speaks volumes.

If this film was even half-cool, Patel/Malik would be shown singing “Girl”, “Things We Said Today”, “Norweigan Wood,” “I’m Only Sleeping”, “Cry Baby Cry”, “You Never Give Me Your Money”, “Here, There, Everywhere,” “Lovely Rita”, “Savoy Truffle”, “Got To Get You Into My Life”, “Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except For Me and My Monkey”, “You Know My Name — Look Up The Number” and “Tomorrow Never Knows.”

But no — he can only croon the sappy top-40 Beatles tunes that everyone has heard 17 million times and is sick to death of.

Yesterday will have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on 5.5.19. Universal will release the musical fantasy on 6.28.19.

The 2019 Tribeca Film Festival (4.24 — 5.5) will offer a whoop-dee-doo gala presentation of the 40th anniversary of Francis Coppola’s Apocalypse Now at the Beacon Theatre. Great — but the people behind this are misleading audiences by calling it Apocalypse Now: Final Cut.

No new footage, nothing to do with re-editing or extra bells and whistles — it’s strictly a technical upgrade thing. “Remastered in 4K Ultra HD with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos from a 4K scan of the original negative,” etc.

Hollywood Elsewhere urges Coppola to remove the words “final cut” and replace them with “spit-shined.” Because that’s what this is.

Coppola statement: “Restoring Apocalypse Now: Final Cut forty years later has been a tremendous undertaking and joy that I am thrilled to be able to share with the world for the first time at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. The audience will be able to see, hear and feel this film how I always hoped it could be — from the first ‘bang’ to the final whimper.”

There are many great 20th Century films that could use some spiffing up, but in my judgment Apocalypse Now is not among them. By my criteria it has always looked and sounded terrific from the very first screening at the Ziegfeld in 1979. God, the moment when I felt those Ziegfeld bass woofers in my ribs…

The only Avenger I really want to see endure is Paul Rudd‘s Ant-Man — the rest can suck it. Sick of these bloodsuckers. Over and out.

Even if the Cannes-Netflix dispute was resolved, there’s no way Scorsese’s The Irishman would play there in two months. No way in hell.

The 2020 race for the Democratic presidential nomination is burning a little brighter this morning…new runner, new feeling…does it sound overly partisan to say fresh goose bumps?…bang.