Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone Team Up for Musical 'La La Land'

Well, it's now the time for Oscar season movies to start getting their trailers out there. This will definitely be one of them, from Whiplash director Damien Chazelle, as it was selected to play the opening night of the Venice film festival, which means it will then go on to play the other fall festivals...thinking about last year's Spotlight, that's certainly the way to do it. I'm always wary of throwback movies though- they run the risk of feeling overly artificial and keeping viewers at a distance, like something that plays for a film buff crowd only. And since this is obviously kind of a tribute to 1950's musicals, I wish they would get actors who can actually sing and dance, since those movies were populated by real musical performers like Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, etc. These two won't pull off any kind of genuinely impressive dance or musical numbers, I can tell you that much. It's all on the director, which makes it more of an exercise in style than anything else. But a beautiful one I'm sure.

More Talking Animals in the Trailer for 'Sing'

I think we have an obvious theme for the year 2016 in animation, don't you? And it's also obvious that this will be a huge hit as well, given that it jumps on the Zootopia craze with anthropomorphic animals on top of hit songs and celebrity voices...it can't miss. Who else thinks that this is kind of an excessive trailer though, at four minutes long? Also, this is cutesy stuff all the way, there's no way turns out as good as Zootopia.

Molly Shannon and Jesse Plemons Star in 'Other People'

This movie got a pretty good reception at this year's Sundance film festival, and if nothing else, the acting certainly looks good, especially for Molly Shannon, who I don't believe has ever gotten this much of a showcase role before. It might be worth checking out. And Jesse Plemons sure is making the rounds, isn't he? I think he might actually be the Friday Night Lights cast member that's had the busiest, most varied career ever since that show ended, surprisingly enough.

Teaser Poster for 'Beauty and the Beast' is Exactly What You Expect

Of course, it's the rose. What else would it be? It's a nice poster, but I can't say I'm as excited for this film as everyone else seems to be. Frankly, my wish is that they'd restore the original theatrical version of the cartoon for the upcoming 25th anniversary blu-ray edition in September, but I have a feeling I'm out of luck. The only restoration on the old blu-ray is the extended one, and I can't stand it when the original versions of films are ignored in favor of the ones that were messed with later. Give me my originals, please. This applies to Star Wars too.

Mel Gibson Takes on Drug Dealers in 'Blood Father'

This might be the most Mel Gibson-y movie he's starred in quite some time. On one level it looks like he's doing his best Liam Neeson in Taken, but Gibson setting off to wipe out a bunch of drug dealers who are trying to kill his daughter seems like something a little more tailor-made for him personally. And hey, I heard after this premiered at Cannes that it was surprisingly pretty good, with critics saying it was easily his best lead role in many years. The question is of course is anybody willing to watch Mel Gibson in a movie these days. It's hard to separate him from the insanity in those leaked tapes, isn't it? Blood Father is coming out August 26th.

Daniel Radcliffe Becomes a Neo-Nazi in 'Imperium'

I suppose this feels like a timely movie right now, what with the insanity of the Trump campaign and all, but I'm not sure I buy Daniel Radcliffe as an undercover spy for anything, really. I know he's trying, but I can't help but wonder if he'll ever break out of that "I'm Harry Potter" image. Eight movies and your entire childhood growing up onscreen will do that to you. Plus, the story looks kinda routine and mediocre, but still...it's yet another film with name actors (Toni Collette's pretty legit, isn't she?) not getting a real release in theaters, as it's coming out on VOD and in limited on August 19th. Shame.

Michael Cimino 1939-2016

Hollywood director Michael Cimino died today at the age of 77. Best known for making films in the 1970's and early 80's, most notably Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, The Deer Hunter, The Rose, Heaven's Gate and Year of the Dragon. He won the Oscar for Best Director for The Deer Hunter, which also won Best Picture in 1979, as one of the most searing films about war ever made, particularly the Vietnam War. His career went largely off course after his follow-up film Heaven's Gate, which has the reputation of being one of the worst financial failures in Hollywood history, and eventually contributed to the collapse of its studio, United Artists, although critical re-assessments of the film have been made in recent years, helping to rehabilitate its image as a movie that was unfairly tarnished in its day.

Original 1978 trailer for The Deer Hunter:

New Trailer for 'War Dogs' Changes the Tone

I thought this looked awful based on that first trailer, so this new one gives Miles Teller a bit of a conscience and emphasizes the "badness" of what they're doing a little more, but I still don't really trust Todd Philips to tell a story like this. I mean, this is the guy who directed the three Hangover movies, people. Bottom line though, is that it doesn't look as bad as the first trailer made it seem, so that's a point in their direction I guess.

See the Trailer for 'The Red Turtle'

This animated film is a co-production with the legendary Studio Ghibli, and managed to stun audiences at Cannes this year, so you can count on it being nominated for the Animated Feature Oscar. The animation branch goes out of its way to nominate hand drawn, international films to recognize the work of other countries, even if the rest of the Academy never even glances at them. That's how the Disney or Pixar hit wins every single year, no matter what else is nominated. I really don't think most of the voters in AMPAS give a shit about this category or bother watching any of the films, which is a real shame. Maybe they ought to let just the branch vote on this one, as opposed to the rest of the group, just to give someone else a shot once in a while. This looks outstanding, and I can't wait to look for it when it comes out in limited release this fall.