Film
Sean Penn Says He Considered Joining Ukrainian Armed Forces
Just a few weeks after returning to the US following his pedestrian flee from Ukraine to Poland, Sean Penn says he considered joining Ukraine’s resistance against Russia. In an interview with the new quarterly magazine Hollywood Authentic, the actor said he only would’ve stayed in Ukraine longer to join the country’s armed forces. “The only possible reason for me staying in Ukraine longer last time would’ve been for me to be holding a rifle, probably without body armor, because as a foreigner, you would want to give that body armor to one of the civilian fighters who doesn’t have it or to a fighter with more skills than I have, or to a younger man or woman who could fight for longer or whatever,” Penn said. “So, where I am in life is short of doing that, but if you’ve been in Ukraine ...
Will Smith Banned From Attending Oscars for 10 Years
The Academy has banned Will Smith from attending the Oscars and associated events for a period of 10 years. The punishment was announced by the Academy Board of Governors following a meeting on Friday morning. The meeting had originally been scheduled for April 18th, but was pushed up after Smith announced his resignation from the Academy and said he would not contest any additional punishments. “This action we are taking today in response to Will Smith’s behavior is a step toward a larger goal of protecting the safety of our performers and guests, and restoring trust in the Academy,” the Academy’s president David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson said in a statement. “We also hope this can begin a time of healing and restoration for all involved and impacted.” Advertisement Related Video In a bri...
Metal Lords Review: Game of Thrones’ D.B. Weiss Delivers A Light Comedy About Heavy Metal
The Pitch: Heavy metal, with its knowingly ridiculous embrace of deafening volumes and over-the-top violent imagery, and predominantly young male audience, has been fertile territory for comedy since This Is Spinal Tap. And over the last few decades, some enduring comedies have irreverently paid tribute to hard rock bands and the adolescents who love them, including School of Rock, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and Detroit Rock City. Screenwriter D.B. Weiss, best known as the co-creator and co-showrunner of Game of Thrones, has brought us a potential new addition to that canon with Metal Lords. In 2019, Weiss and his Game of Thrones creative partner David Benioff inked a $200 million deal to produce films and series for Netflix. And while some of Benioff and Weiss’s more ambitious ...
Ambulance Review: Some Deranged Grandeur, Courtesy of Michael Bay
The Pitch: In his 2019 Netflix film 6 Underground, Michael Bay stages an opening car chase where his heroes smash through the streets of Italy, goring bad guys and yelling nonsense at each other. “I’m conducting surgery!” one character screams while, essentially, just tending to a wound. But maybe that moment stuck in Bay’s head. Maybe he regretted not making that set-piece more surgical, to the point where he built an entire movie called Ambulance around the premise: What if you were performing life-saving surgery during a car chase? Technically, Bay did not come up with this premise. Ambulance is a remake of a 2005 Dutch film, and Bay is not a credited screenwriter. But his penchant for breaking tension with over-explained jokes, or breaking jokes with melodramatic bombast, transcend any...
Ana de Armas’ Marilyn Monroe Movie Becomes First Netflix Original Rated NC-17 for Sexual Content
Blonde, the upcoming Netflix movie starring Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe, has been given an NC-17 rating for “some sexual content” by the Motion Picture Association. As The Hollywood Reporter notes, while the streamer has hosted NC-17 films such as Blue Is the Warmest Color, this is seemingly the first time that label has been affixed to a Netflix original. Blonde is a fictional tale based on Joyce Carol Oates’ 700-page magnum opus, which came out in 2000 and which the New Yorker called “the definitive study of American celebrity.” The film is soundtracked by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, and according to director Andrew Dominik, an NC-17 rating was always part of the plan. “It’s a demanding movie,” he told Screen Daily last February. “If t...
Johnny Depp-Amber Heard Defamation Trial to Air on Court TV
Next week, Johnny Depp’s $50 million defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard goes to trial in Fairfax County, Virginia. With expected witnesses including James Franco and Elon Musk, it will draw plenty of media attention on its own and now, Court TV has announced it will be providing the televised feed. The network will be the official pool feed provider for the lawsuit, promising in a press release to “provide viewers unobstructed and unbiased views of the proceedings.” Of course, Court TV will also air its own analysis of the trial. “Court cases that are as high-profile as this one often create a lot of noise, and it can be difficult for viewers to break through these distractions to have a clear picture of the facts, but that’s where we come in,” said Acting Head of Cour...
Comedy Auteur Nancy Meyers Making Directorial Comeback at Netflix
Nancy Meyers, one of the sharpest comedic voices of her generation, will return after a long hiatus to direct a new movie for Netflix. Meyers’ last film was 2015’s The Intern, which earned over five times its $35 million budget despite middling reviews (59% on Rotten Tomatoes). But the flick has a large and devoted fanbase that counts among its numbers Quentin Tarantino, who said it deserved an Oscar. Now, via The Hollywood Reporter, a 72-year-old Meyers is back to write, direct, and executive produce a new movie, though the title and plot details are being kept a secret. For decades Meyers reigned as the queen of the mid-budget comedy, having scripted such hits as Private Benjamin and The Father of the Bride before making her directorial debut with The Parent Trap...
Marcel Searches for Other Shells in Trailer for Marcel the Shell with Shoes On: Watch
Marcel the Shell is going from short film marvel to A24 star. The production company just shared the first trailer for Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, which you can watch below. Over a decade after starring as the shell with a face in Dean Fleischer-Camp’s stop-motion short film, Jenny Slate reprises her role as Marcel in a Finding Nemo-type quest to find his family. Even though “it’s pretty much common knowledge that it takes at least 20 shells to have a community,” Marcel finds himself alone with his grandma, Connie, and their pet lint, Alan. After a documentary filmmaker finds the family while doing some spring cleaning, he documents their journey to reunite with their community. Much like real life, the trailer sees Marcel go viral, with Leslie Stahl, Conan O’Brien, Brian Wil...
Jared Leto Made Morbius Crew Wait While Using Fake Crutches to Go to Bathroom
Jared Leto’s commitment to method acting has wreaked havoc on another movie set. In an interview with Uproxx, Morbius director Daniel Espinosa confirmed the actor was so determined to stay in character that he used his crutches to go to the bathroom, slowing down production so much that the crew instead opted to push him to the bathroom in a wheelchair. Leto’s character, known as the Living Vampire, suffers from a rare blood disease that affects his movement. In the interview, a tight-lipped Espinosa — who does his best to keep his head held high despite the film’s terrible reviews — defended Leto’s decision to use the crutches on set, arguing that it helped the actor really understand the pain his character lives with. “I think that what Jared thinks, what Jared believes, is tha...
Netflix Makes “Short-Ass Movies” Section Following Pete Davidson SNL Sketch
Netflix isn’t big on fan service these days (A $16 standard plan? Charging a fee for sharing passwords?), but thanks to Pete Davidson, the streamer has done one thing right. After the comedian took to Saturday Night Live to bemoan the epic-length movies dominating the industry today, Netflix made Davidson’s dreams of a “Short-Ass Movies” section a reality. “These days, when I sit down to watch a movie, I can find just about anything in the world,” Davidson says to open his musical sketch. “But night after night, there’s only one kind of movie I’m always looking for, and that’s a short ass movie.” The comedian then goes into a rap with Chris Redd about how his short attention span requires a film that’s “like, at most, an hour-forty,” and even starts listing examples. Naturally, musica...
David Duchovny Gets a Little Deep About Working With Judd Apatow on The Bubble
For decades now, David Duchovny hasn’t been afraid to poke a little fun at his own image. The veteran TV star has peppered his career with roles in which he satirizes the nature of being “David Duchovny,” most recently seen in the first season of the Netlfix series The Chair, in which he satirized himself with aching attention to details like his recent literary and musical efforts. But as he tells Consequence, taking on the role of “David Duchovny” was a very different experience from his role in The Bubble, the new Netflix comedy directed and co-written by Judd Apatow. The Bubble tracks a pandemic-era cast and crew assembling to film the latest installment of a fictional blockbuster franchise called Cliff Beasts 6, with Duchovny playing Dustin Mulray, one of the film’s stars, whose compl...
Upcoming Will Smith Projects Paused Following Oscars Slap
Production on several of Will Smith’s upcoming films has been paused following his onstage slap of Chris Rock at the Oscars, The Hollywood Reporter notes. One project now on the back burner is Netflix’s Fast and Loose. Smith was set to play a crime boss who loses his memory. As he tries to piece together his old identity, he finds clues that he lived a double life as a wealthy crime lord and an impoverished CIA operative. Deadpool 2’s David Leitch was attached to direct, but one week before the Academy Awards he moved on to the Ryan Gosling vehicle Fall Guy. THR reports that Netflix had put out an urgent call for an experienced director to replace him, but following the slap, Fast and Loose has no director and a suddenly controversial star. Currently, it’...
