It was panned by the critics but the Freddie Mercury biopic has proven a hit with cinemagoers. Did critics get it wrong? ? The Favourite, Black Panther, Roma and more: read the rest of our best picture Oscar hustingsIt took me a while to get round to watching Bohemian Rhapsody. After all, I?d read the reviews. Our own Steve Rose said that the story ?skirts dangerously close to Spinal Tap territory? ? only without the laughs. AO Scott in the New York Times wrote that ?the film seems engineered to be as unmemorable as possible, with the exception of the prosthetic teeth worn by Rami Malek.? And there was the film?s moralising stance on Freddie Mercury?s sexuality. As Alexis Petridis put it: ?It seems to view the fact that he was gay as little short of a tragedy.?Then the film was unleashed on an unsuspecting public ? and became a smash hit. At time of writing, it has taken $844m (Ł645.5m, twice as much as A Star Is Born), astonishingly making it the highest grossing drama ever. My mum and dad went to see it and thought it was brilliant. A friend with usually impeccable taste also told me it was a hoot. ?But isn?t it really homophobic?? I asked. ?Yes,? he admitted, but even that didn?t entirely detract from his, or his boyfriend?s, viewing pleasure. Continue reading...
The online commentary about a Playboy interview unearthed from 1971 shows a lack of education about the western actor, his times and even American historyDusting itself off after the excitement of Liam Neeson?s racist meltdown, the film world has settled on its next talking point, an old interview of John Wayne, recently dug up, in which the actor is revealed to have been racist and homophobic. ˇEscándalo!In the interview with Playboy magazine from 1971, the actor born Marion Morrison states, among other things ?I believe in white supremacy? and calls Midnight Cowboy ?a story about two fags?. Shocking stuff from an actor famous for his contribution to the notoriously liberal cowboys and indians genre, who supported Richard Nixon, and directed The Green Berets in support of the US Army during the Vietnam war. Who would have thought? While these views appear shocking now, they aren?t a particular point of astonishment to anybody who knows anything about Wayne, or cinema, or history. Continue reading...
The actor?s real-life revelation intensifies the discomfort of this violent drama about a snowplough driver hunting his son?s murdererEven without Liam Neeson?s bizarre promotional ?rape revenge? anecdote, this violent movie would leave a weird taste in the mouth, lumbered as it is with odd sub-Coen, sub-Tarantino stylings.As all the world knows, Neeson caused universal embarrassment in the run-up to the film?s release by regaling an interviewer with a bizarre recovered memory, perhaps most tactfully described as unverifiable. Decades ago he allegedly stalked the streets looking for a black man to beat up, because a black man had raped his friend ? before nobly thinking better of it. Neeson evidently expected to be congratulated on his righteous machismo, then on his maturity in turning away from violence, and finally on his alleged honesty about racism, having belatedly grasped that point in the ensuing row. Continue reading...
Felicity Jones plays the real-life US supreme court justice in a watchable drama about her personal struggle against injustice and prejudiceThere?s a bit of ham and cheese in this forthright, likable biopic celebrating the early career of legendary lawyer and supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The director is Mimi Leder, experienced in socking over the action in pictures like The Peacemaker (1997) and Deep Impact (1998) and efficiently dotting the i?s and crossing the t?s of every scene in her work on TV shows such as The West Wing and ER.Well, by-the-numbers this might be, but it?s watchable and sympathetic, with Felicity Jones and Armie Hammer sweetly idealistic in the youthful roles of Ruth and her devoted husband, Martin. Continue reading...
Australia has a long history of banning films, but many of those blocked in the past are now easily available to watch Tobe Hooper?s 1986 film, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, was made available to stream on Stan on 9 February. But for 20 years the film wasn?t even allowed in the country: it was banned by the Australian Classification Board, with the ban only being lifted in 2006.In the cool, calm light of 2019 it seems ludicrous that a film like this, a gory but broad black comedy starring Dennis Hopper, a sequel to Hooper?s 1974 film of the same name, could be deemed unfit for the delicate sensibilities of Australian audiences. But then and now, both the Board and the Australian Federal Police took the importing of contraband media very seriously. Continue reading...
The car visible in the background in Braveheart? Kevin Spacey in Baby Driver? The money must be raised via Kickstarter to excise these and other crimes against film-makingThe Departed is Martin Scorsese?s financially most successful film, and the only one to earn him a best director Oscar. And yet, thanks to its final shot, it might also his most divisive. Fans have long decried the fact that a movie in which police officers and criminals rat on each other ends with a ham-fisted shot of a real rat scurrying across a railing.Now they are doing something about it; a Kickstarter campaign has been launched to digitally erase the rat from The Departed, permanently undoing cinema?s most heavy-handed metaphor. This feels like the start of a movement; no longer is the power to retcon beloved films confined to the likes of George Lucas and JK Rowling. Someone, please, initiate Kickstarters to erase these other movie missteps: Continue reading...
In Dworkin Report podcast, SNL sketch actor wonders what ?retribution? will look like, and jokes about jail for Trump JrAlec Baldwin has spoken of his fear that Donald Trump is stirring up some supporters to exact ?retribution? against him for his satirical performance of the president on Saturday Night Live, saying the president ?signals people? to become angry and bitter ?and then the actions flow from there?.The actor also offered a joking reply to Donald Trump Jnr who tweeted that Baldwin?s claims he was afraid for his safety were ?bullshit?, saying the president?s son would have ?a lot of time to watch SNL? in prison. Continue reading...
Thor star to take on famed wrestler in film from Hangover director Todd Phillips that will focus on Hogan?s origin storyChris Hemsworth is to take on the role of Hulk Hogan in a new biopic.According to the Hollywood Reporter, the as-yet-untitled film will come from Todd Phillips, director of The Hangover trilogy and the forthcoming DC Comics prequel Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix. Continue reading...
The actor had been due to voice a role in Luck but left the film after Skydance controversially hired the former Pixar chief who has been accused of sexual harassment Emma Thompson has pulled out of a role in a large-scale animated film after former Pixar chief John Lasseter joined the production.Thompson had been due to voice a role in Luck, produced by Skydance Animation, but reportedly left the film after Skydance controversially hired Lasseter to head its animation division. Lasseter, who was chief creative officer of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, took a leave of absence in 2017 after admitting to sexual conduct ?missteps?, before leaving the company in 2018. Continue reading...
Disgraced movie mogul issues a rare public statement to reject Gwyneth Paltrow?s assertion he wanted her then-boyfriend to co-star in 1999?s Shakespeare in LoveHarvey Weinstein, the movie producer who was arrested on charges of rape last May is currently on bail, has issued a rare statement rebuffing a detail in a lengthy profile of Gwyneth Paltrow.In the Variety interview, Paltrow recalls working with Weinstein over the years, including on the multi-Oscar-winning Shakespeare in Love, which triumphed at the Academy Awards 20 years ago. Just before shooting began, Paltrow says, ?Harvey wanted Ben Affleck to take over and play Shakespeare. I said, ?No, you can?t do that. You have to have an English person.?? Continue reading...
After announcing a few months ago that the principal cast have wrapped filming Avatar 2 and 3, James Cameron has clarified that there's more work to do be done on them.
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Groundhog Day