Author: ADMIN

(Photograph credit: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty)

If you follow film festivals closely, you know his name. Just like Thierry Frémaux, dedicated film lovers and festival followers must hear his name for a while at least a few times a year when they give interviews on the films they’ve chosen.

Alberto Barbera was widely-praised for his 2020 festival, which Venice held under strict COVID-19 safety protocols. It opened up possibilities for other festivals in the corona era.

La Biennale di Venezia, the parent organization that oversees the Venice Fest, announced Tuesday that it was re-upping Barbera as its head of cinema for another four-year term, from 2021-2024. Barbera had his fair share of criticisms in the past as well;

for allowing controversial directors like Roman Polanski into the line-up as well as lack of female directors in the competition for which he kept defending that he chose the films based on the strength of the movies but not because of directors and this year he said he wanted to get Sofia Coppola’s “On the Rocks”.

Despite the criticisms, what he achieved this year certainly helped the most for his presidency. Filmiere.com wishes him good luck and is hopeful to see better and better line-ups in following Venice competitions films in the next years.

Credit: Mensur Zeinal

(Photograph credit: Netflix/Vanity Fair)

Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, Netflix seems the only major company that didn’t affect by it when it comes to their movie releases and their schedule.

So they keep releasing trailers for their countless new material. The next one from this week was “Midnight Sky”, directed by George Clooney, based on the novel Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton. It stars Clooney himself alongside Felicity Jones, Kyle Chandler, David Oyelowo, and Demián Bichir.

Clooney’s directorial career has started out strong with much-acclaimed “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” and Oscar-winning “Good Night and Good Luck”. However, his recent efforts had all been received with strongly negative reviews including “The Monuments Men”.

Will Clooney get back to form is yet to be seen. It’s new ground for him; a science-fiction. Filmiere.com shares the official synopsis with you:

“This post-apocalyptic tale follows Augustine (George Clooney), a lonely scientist in the Arctic, as he races to stop Sully (Felicity Jones) and her fellow astronauts from returning home to a mysterious global catastrophe.”

Credit: Mensur Zeinal

(Photograph credit: AP)

The second wave of the corona pandemic is rolling mercilessly across Europe and most governments are trying desperately, but unfortunately in vain, to get the situation under control. This could partly be due to visible, but ultimately not very effective measures.

Although in 43 million confirmed cases of infection worldwide, not a single outbreak could be traced back to a cinema screening (in contrast to almost all other public events). Cinemas are once again among the first institutions to be cracked down on.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced that bars and restaurants must cease daily service as of 6 PM beginning Monday.

Cinemas, live theaters, gaming halls, and discos will be closed altogether. Filmiere.com will keep you updated on the news around the world about how cinemas keep shutting down and re-opening, as well as its effects on the box office of the films around the world.

Hopefully, we’ll get rid of the virus altogether and will be back at movie theatres sooner than we expect.

Mensur Zeinal

(Photograph credit: Image Entertainment)

Adam Sandler in a space movie? He had been in films with fantasy or magic realism elements, so why not? Filmiere.com reports that Sandler keeps on doing more dramas after his hit role in “Uncut Gems”.

First, he signed on to make a basketball drama-comedy and now he’s signed to work with “Chernobyl” Johan Rench on a new film. The story follows an astronaut (Sandler) sent to the edge of the galaxy to collect mysterious ancient dust.

He soon finds his earthly life falling to pieces and he turns to the only voice who can help him try to put it back together. It just so happens to belong to a creature from the beginning of time lurking in the shadows of his ship and will be titled “Spaceman of Bohemia”.

It’ll be distributed by Netflix. Another news is Roland Emmerich has started to shoot his new 136 million+ budget independent science fiction. Just recently Canadian acting legend Donald Sutherland has joined the cast of Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, Stanley Tucci, and Charlie Plummer.

The film will be about a mysterious force knock the Moon from its orbit around Earth and send it hurtling on a collision course with life as we know it.

With only weeks before impact, a ragtag team launches a last-ditch mission into space to land on the lunar surface and save the planet from annihilation. So there will be all kinds of movies for sci-fi fans sometime next year hopefully.

Mensur Zeinal

(Photograph credit: Warner Bros.)

Ryan Coogler’s “Creed” was a surprise hit that brought Michael B. Jordan to stardom and helped Sylvester Stallone to get awards buzz years after playing his iconic part. While the first film was a critical success, the second one got a more lukewarm response.

Now there will be the third part and most interestingly, Filmiere.com reports you based on Deadline that Michael B. Jordan has been tapped to both direct and star in Creed 3. The trade made mention of the development while discussing MGM’s handling of “No Time to Die”’s release.

It only makes sense since they follow a similar route to the “Rocky” franchise and the third part was directed by Sylvester Stallone himself, however, the third and fourth parts of the franchise were criticized for its political content.

It’ll be interesting to see what else they have to offer in this storyline and how this young actor will do behind the camera.

Mensur Zeinal

(photograph credit: Nicole Dove)

Filmiere.com kept inform you about the delays regarding “No Time to Die”, latest James Bond film directed by Cary Fukunaga and was supposed to be the last time Daniel Craig portraying the iconic character.

No Time to Die was scheduled for release in April 2020 but was postponed worldwide twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is now scheduled for release on 2 April 2021 but the rumors arise that Apple, Netflix, and other streaming services explored the possibility of acquiring “No Time to Die,”.

Paramount and Sony had sold some of their films to streaming services but an MGM spokesperson said “We do not comment on rumors. The film is not for sale. The film’s release has been postponed until April 2021 in order to preserve the theatrical experience for moviegoers.”

However, according to Variety, some insiders say that they were somewhat open to the possibility of selling the movie if any of the streaming services would give them around 600 million. Obviously, a huge number, no one came close to it but it’s unpredictable times. We will see what happens with the movie.

Mensur Zeinal

(Photograph credit: Relativity Media)

Chilean director of “A Fantastic Woman” and “Gloria Bell” will collaborate with A24 and also Apple Original Films again in his new film “Bride”, which will star Scarlett Johansson. The movie is described as some kind of new and modern version of the Bride of Frankenstein.

According to the officially given description, Johansson will play a “woman who is created and designed by a brilliant entrepreneur to be the ideal wife. But when she rejects her creator and is forced to flee her confined existence, she’s confronted with a world that sees her as a monster.

While on the run, she discovers her true identity, some surprising power, and the strength to remake herself as her own creation.”

Sebastian Lelio will not only direct but also co-write the screenplay. Johansson, who has said “it is long overdue for Bride to step out of the shadow of her male counterpart and stand-alone” in her statement, will also produce the movie.

It’s not the first film of A24-Apple collaborations. Just this week “On the Rocks” premiered on Apple services, Filmiere.com reports. Sofia Coppola-directed film received great reviews.

Mensur Zeinal

(Photograph credit: Universal Pictures)

Filmiere.com gladly reports you that Spike Lee will receive the American Cinematheque Award and will be honored during a virtual tribute on Jan. 14, 2021, the first time it’ll behold virtually because of obvious reasons.

Lee is one of the most accomplished directors of American cinema and had an incredible breakthrough with “Do the Right Thing” back then. Since then he made a lot of different films; mostly on political and social issues and had been vocal for black causes.

His films include “Malcolm X”, “He Got Game”, “Inside Man” and “25^th Hour” alongside “Blackkklansman” for which he earned an Oscar recently. Lee had an excellent year once again with the much-acclaimed feature film “Da 5 Bloods” and David Byrne’s concert film “American Utopia”.

Most recent honorees include Steve Martin (2004); Al Pacino (2005); George Clooney (2006); Julia Roberts (2007); Samuel L. Jackson (2008); Matt Damon (2010); Robert Downey Jr. (2011); Ben Stiller (2012); Jerry Bruckheimer (2013); Matthew McConaughey (2014); Reese Witherspoon (2015); Ridley Scott (2016); Amy Adams (2017); Bradley Cooper (2018) and Charlize Theron (2019).

Credit: Mensur Zeinal

(Photograph credit: Pjnews)

South Korea has not been successful with Oscars forever but this year everything has changed when “Parasite” won a bunch of Oscars including “Best Picture” and “Best International Film”. Is it a change for the Academy’s taste? We’re yet to know but Korea this time sends a different kind of movie.

“The Man Standing Next” political drama film directed by Woo Min-ho. Based on an original novel of the same title, the film stars Lee Byung-hun, Lee Sung-min, Kwak Do-won, and Lee Hee-Joon as the high ranking officials of the Korean government and the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) during the presidency of Park Chung-hee 40 days before his assassination in 1979.

The film did a very fine box office in Korea. “It is a fascinating film in that it squarely shows the somewhat dark history of South Korea, which made rapid leaps in post-war economic development and is now leading cultural trends,” said the committee in a statement which also lauded Lee Byung-hun’s performance.

Will Korea make it into the Oscars again? Filmiere.com will inform you.

Credit: Mensur Zeinal

(Photograph credit: Quibi)

Quibi was an over-the-top American short-form streaming platform that generates content for viewing on mobile devices. It was founded in August 2018, in Los Angeles, as NewTV by Jeffrey Katzenberg and is led by Meg Whitman, its CEO.

It’s interesting to say ‘was’ because it only lasted six months, Filmiere.com reports. Surely, we’re living in the world of streaming services and Quibi tried something new but their “new” is actually old format. Despite star-sudden power to their televisions shows and possible films, most of them didn’t get much popularity.

In fact, many people are not too aware of the platform despite their shows starring some famous names like Liam Hemsworth, Anna Kendrick, and Kiefer Sutherland. Some of the shows are criticized for being feature films that are just put in five-minute-long episodes.

They earned some Emmy love from weak categories but again, given the shows’ short content even the awards recognition didn’t matter much. It’s unclear if they’ll keep on releasing or what will happen to unreleased the material yet.

Still, it was an interesting experiment and we’ll see what else new streaming services will have to offer to stream films and series.

Credit: Mensur Zeinal