Every year, a major Oscar contender emerges from the Sundance Film Festival. This year, a lot of people think that contender is going to be Mudbound. Personally, I think it’s going to be Call Me By Our Name.
Mudbound, after all, was bought by Netflix and, judging from what happened to Beasts of No Nation, the Academy is not quite ready to embrace the Netflix brand.
Call Me By Your Name, on the other hand, is a historic drama that not only won’t be streaming until after the award ceremony but which will probably feel especially timely today. Add to that, Armie Hammer’s in it and every year, film bloggers like me a contractually obligated to announce, ‘This is the year that Armie Hammer gets an Oscar nomination! It may not have happened for The Social Network! It may not have happened for J. Edgar! It definitely didn’t happen for The Lone Rangeror whatever movie he made last year! It might not happen for Free Fire but this year is still going to be the year of the Hammer!”
We all know that Chicago has one of the highest murder rates in the nation. What is not so clear is what to do about it.
Now, some would argue that perhaps a good first step would be for Chicago voters to stop electing douchebags like Rahm Emanuel, reject the city’s political machine, and actually make the sacrifices necessary for actual reform while taking an honest look at the effects of systemic racism, police corruption, and the bloated municipal government.
You could do all that or you could just give Bruce Willis a gun and send him out on a murder spree. Guess which solution Death Wish goes for?
This film, from Eli Roth, will be released on November 22nd. I imagine our resident Charles Bronson experts, Gary Loggins and Jedadiah Leland, will have a lot to say about it.
Todd Haynes should have, at the very least, received an Oscar nomination for Carol. He’s back again this year with another movie that’s being touted as possible Oscar nominee, Wonderstruck.
To be honest, most of the reviews that I’ve seen of Wonderstruck (it premiered at Cannes) have been respectful but not quite enthusiastic. I don’t know, though. I find this teaser to be intriguing, in much the same way that I found the traler for Martin Scorsese’s Hugo to be intriguing.
Wonderstruck is scheduled for an October 20th release, at which point we’ll all get to judge it for ourselves.
Belatedly (because it dropped on July 19th but, at the time, I was busy writing about reality television for another site), here’s the first trailer for Guillermo Del Toro’s The Shape of Water.
If you’ve been reading this site for a while, you know that we’re big Del Toro fans here at the Shattered Lens. Arleigh loved Pan’s Labyrinth and Pacific Rim. I thought Crimson Peak was incredibly underrated. So, you better believe that we’re all really looking forward to seeing The Shape of Water.
Especially after watching this trailer!
And, since I mentioned Pacific Rim, here is the first teaser for the sequel to that beloved film, Pacific Rim: Uprising!
I have to admit that I kind of forgot about The Snowman. Based on a best-selling novel and directed by Tomas Alfredson, The Snowman was one of those films that I was excited about in January but then, somehow, it continually slipped my mind that it would be coming out later this year.
Luckily, on July 19th, this trailer was released and it reminded me of The Snowman‘s existence! Thank you, trailer!
A serial killer drama, The Snowman stars an appropriately haunted-looking Michael Fassbender. It is scheduled to be released on October 20th, just in time to freak everyone out for Halloween!
Well, look, I’m just going to admit it. I failed you last month. Usually, I try to keep this site up to date with all the best trailers. However, last month, I got very busy with another one of my summer projects and, unfortunately, I ended up running behind on keeping up with all the latest trailers and teasers.
So, if you’ll indulge me a little, I’m going to try to get caught up. Admittedly, some of the trailers that I’m going to share today are going to be old news. But I still want to share them because they’re films that we’re excited about here at the Shattered Lens.
And who knows? Maybe I’m not the only one who had a busy July. Maybe you missed some of these trailers as well.
For instance, check out this teaser for James Franco’s latest film, The Disaster Artist. Now, if you’re like me and you love getting together with friends and tossing around plastic spoons while watching Tommy Wiseau’s The Room, then you can’t wait for the chance to see The Disaster Artist. Telling the true story of Greg Sestero’s friendship with Wiseau and his involvement in the production of The Room, The Disaster Artist was one of the best books of 2014. Rumor has it that The Disaster Artist is also one of the best films of 2017.
If nothing else, James Franco is getting Oscar buzz. If James Franco wins an Oscar for playing Tommy Wiseau, my life will be complete. If it happens, I might even take a year off so that I can bask in the glories of fate.
The teaser below features the filming of one of The Room‘s best-known scenes:
Back to the book, I Want My MTV, again. One thing I’d like to make clear before I start is that if there is one group that dominates that book, then it’s Bon Jovi.
Doc McGhee [managed Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, Scorpions, and Skid Row at the height of each band’s career]: I’d just starting to manage Bon Jovi when we did the video for “Runaway.” There’s a chubby girl who’s a runaway, but she has laser eyes, and the band is playing in a warehouse that’s burning. In the ’80s, every video had to look like Escape from New York. Something had to be on fire, and you had to be in an alley that was wet, or else you couldn’t shoot a video.
Seen here! A chubby girl.
Also, lasers!
Okay, so McGhee’s memory might not be so good. I can give him a break on both counts. I have to imagine that in 1984, he was bombarded with so many models trying out for these parts that Jennifer Gatti actually does look chubby reaching back around 30 years in his mind.
You might know Gatti from playing Ba’el on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Star Trek: The Next Generation — Birthright, Part II (1993)
Cut to a few years later after the rocky start with Runaway:
Doc McGhee: I mean, MTV was playing so much Mötley and Bon Jovi, I’d have to tell them, “You’re overexposing my artists. If you don’t take them off the air, I’m not going to give you another video.” I was fighting to get less airplay, not more.
Len Epand [was a video production executive for PolyGram Records]: Once Bon Jovi established a winning style on “Bad Name” and “Livin’ on a Prayer,” we pulled their prior videos out of circulation. They were all deemed embarrassing, or at least not the right image. We notified all video outlets, including MTV, that they were no longer licensed for use. I doubt they ever appeared on broadcast again.
Luckily, the video is up officially on YouTube. While not being fond of the video, the band apparently still plays the song during concerts. It’s on the greatest hits album of there’s that I have. I can understand why they pulled this video back then. They had hit on a winning image with videos like Livin’ On A Prayer. They ran that formula into the ground, but still, it worked.
Len Epand: For “Runaway,” we used a commercial director named Michael Cuesta, who had no music-video experience.
I can’t only find one other credit for Cuesta–Crow Dog (1979). I’m not even sure that entry on IMDb is him because there is another Michael Cuesta who has been successful as a producer and director.
Bob Montgomery (Robert Mont) was the producer. I can only find a couple of music video credits for him.
Conflict of Interest is a by-the-numbers direct-to-video movie about a tough cop named Mickey who is obsessed with taking down a drug dealer and club owner named Gideon. Mickey is a widower. Years ago, his wife was gunned down in front of him and his son. His son is now a teenager with a motorcycle and a mullet. Gideon hires Mickey’s son to work at one of his clubs and then frames him for murder. Even though his superiors order him to back off, Mickey is determined to clear his son’s name.
Why should you watch Conflict of Interest? How about this:
That’s Judd Nelson, going heavy on the sideburns and eyeliner in the role of Gideon. I am not sure if this movie was filmed before or after the famous “puffy shirt” episode of Seinfeld.
Judd chews up and spits out every piece of scenery that he can get his hands on. Matching Judd step-for-step is Alyssa Milano, who plays Eve. She falls in love with Mickey’s son, even though she is already a member of Gideon’s harem.
Mickey is played by Christopher McDonald, who gets a rare lead role in Conflict of Interest. McDonald may not be a household name but he is one of the great Hey, It’s That Guy actors. Usually, he plays smarmy businessmen and game show hosts. He’s a surprisingly good action hero in Conflict of Interest, though his mustache cannot begin to compete with Judd’s sideburns.
About as dumb as dumb can be, Conflict of Interest is enjoyably ridiculous. Conflict of Interest may have been made in 1993 but it is an 80s film all the way through, the type of movie where almost every chase ends with someone’s car exploding. Even Gideon’s nightclubs are “heavy metal clubs,” which are populated by people who would not have been out of place in Heavy Metal Parking Lot.
You’d think by the fourth entry in American-International’s ‘Beach Party’ series, 1965’s BEACH BLANKET BINGO, the formula would be wearing a bit thin. Frankie and Annette are still trying to make each other jealous, Eric Von Zipper and his Rats are still comic menaces, and the gang’s into yet another new kick (skydiving this time around). But thanks to a top-notch supporting cast of characters, a sweet subplot involving a mermaid, and the genius of comedy legend Buster Keaton , BEACH BLANKET BINGO is loads of fun!
Aspiring singer Sugar Kane skydives from a plan into the middle of the ocean and is “rescued” by surfer Frankie. But not really… it’s all been a publicity stunt by her PR agent ‘Bullets’. Sugar is played by lovely Linda Evans, right before she landed on TV’s THE BIG VALLEY, and ‘Bullets’ is none other than the fantastically sarcastic Paul Lynde. But wait… Eric Von Zipper…
Through the Shattered Lens 