Bring your own pre-popped Jiffy Pop in a pear-cake bag, and then use their liquid butter machine. And bring your own drinks. Simple. AMC trailer reels run between 17 and 20 minutes. Okay, I’ll allow for the possibility of 22 or 23 if you count Nicole Kidman. They certainly don’t run a half-hour. @cledevon My … Read more
Robert Eggers‘ The Witch (’15) and The Lighthouse were films of enormous haunting power and riveting integrity. I didn’t much care for The Northman (’22…Nicole Kidman‘s excellent performance aside) and I pretty much hated Eggers’ Nosferatu and now fecking Ebenezer Scrooge? What the hell is going on?
My understanding is that the first motion-picture camera sound blimps (i.e., foam-filled housing attached to a camera which reduces shutter sounds, designed with holes for the lens and viewfinder) began to be used with noisy three-strip Technicolor cameras back in the late ’30s. Imagine having to work with a blimp of this bulk…it’s nearly the … Read more
I’ve been saying from the get-go that Joseph Quinn‘s performance as George Harrison in Sam Mendes‘ quartet of Beatles films…I’ve said right from the start that Quinn is the Wrong Guy…a terrible fit in a physical-biological way, starting with his pale freckly complexion and reddish-auburn hair. Ginger or copper-haired actresses have never had the slightest … Read more
Recently arrived Venice Film Festival advice from a veteran journo… “The festival adds two special vaporetto lines — Line 20 and Line MC — that you can use to get from the city to the Lido Casino. They will give you a card when you collect your press badge. This festival card allows you to … Read more
Stateside friendo (received in Cannes late Thursday morning, right after the 8:30 am Grand Lumiere screening of M:I-8 was letting out): “So how was Final Reckoning, Jeff?” HE to stateside friendo: “It’s a completely nutso, excessively self-regarding, deranged lunatic heebie-jeebie whackathon…an advertisement for itself and its own 30-year legacy…a superflick that welcomely won’t stop explaining … Read more
Nothing turns me on like luscious, highly detailed, well-rendered HD black-and-white films. I’ve loved watching them all my life and especially, since the aughts, in 1080p or 4K. And by the same token, of course, I have no interest in watching crudely colorized monochrome knockoffs. No honorable cineaste tolerates them. But — but! — if … Read more
Welcome to the world of Valerie Van Galder, a 25-year veteran of big-studio publicity and marketing (a total hotshot in her day) and currently a mental health advocate. A resident of one of L.A.’s westside communities, Van Galder recently posted an audio-visual Facebook essay that caught my eye. VVG basically said that while tourists see … Read more
Here once again is HE’s best spitball roster of 2025’s strongest, most distinctive films…40 in all. This is not about the likelihood of big box-office but about films that people may feel riveted, disturbed, challenged, gobsmacked or turned on by, or might even feel compelled to nominate for awards. HE readers went to sleep on … Read more
The last year in which Nicole Kidman‘s AMC Theatres turned a profit was 2018 — $110M in the black. They lost $4.56B in 2020, $1.27B in ’21…pandemic. They lost nearly a billion in ’22 ($974M), a mere $397M in ’23 and $352M in ’24…closer and closer to breaking even! AMC’s total 2024 revenue was $4.6B. … Read more
Yes, another Blue Velvet of sorts, right?…another take on the dark underbelly of an idyllic American picket-fence domesticity?…a midwestern Diary of a Mad Housewife? Obviously something in that realm. Older white male = perverse-to-the-max bad guy…shocker! The folks at Amazon MGM are presenting. Nicole Kidman, Gael García Bernal, Matthew Macfadyen (whose Succession performance landed him … Read more
An excerpt from Nicolas Niarchos‘ reaction (i.e., not really a “review”) to Michael Wolff‘s just-published “ALL OR NOTHING: How Trump Recaptured America“: