The new James Bond movie is called “Spectre.” It was announced this morning in the UK. Two time Oscar winner Christoph Waltz is going to play a character from Dr. No who’s come back to haunt Bond. (In the “Dr. No” movie, the character ran an evil group called Spectre.) Monica Bellucci will play Bond’s love interest– and that’s a coup for actresses since she’s 50 in real life. (And more gorgeous than ever.) Lea Seydoux is the Bond girl.
Powerhouse Gloria Allred Comes After Bill Cosby with Three Women’s Allegations, Lawsuits (Watch Video)
Things just keep getting worse for Bill Cosby. Gloria Allread has jumped in with three women who claim to be his victims. Allred says Cosby can put up $100 million for settlements, or go to trial. Meantime, Judy Huth has filed suit against Cosby, saying he raped her in 1974 when she was 15 years old.
Here are today’s videos:
Sundance Announces Line Up: No Hollywood Stars, Almost All Unknown Directors
This list has lots of well known actors, but not really Hollywood stars. The directors are mostly unknown, or well known just to the film community. This is a very big change of course for Sundance and maybe it’s intentional. This could be the way to restore Sundance to some sanity. I’m looking forward to Adam Salky’s film.
U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION
Presenting the world premieres of 16 narrative feature films, the Dramatic Competition offers Festivalgoers a first look at groundbreaking new voices in American independent film.
Advantageous / U.S.A. (Director: Jennifer Phang, Screenwriters: Jacqueline Kim, Jennifer Phang) — In a near-future city where soaring opulence overshadows economic hardship, Gwen and her daughter, Jules, do all they can to hold on to their joy, despite the instability surfacing in their world. Cast: Jacqueline Kim, James Urbaniak, Freya Adams, Ken Jeong, Jennifer Ehle, Samantha Kim.
The Bronze / U.S.A. (Director: Bryan Buckley, Screenwriters: Melissa Rauch, Winston Rauch) — In 2004, Hope Ann Greggory became an American hero after winning the bronze medal for the women’s gymnastics team. Today, she’s still living in her small hometown, washed-up and embittered. Stuck in the past, Hope must reassess her life when a promising young gymnast threatens her local celebrity status. Cast: Melissa Rauch, Gary Cole, Thomas Middleditch, Sebastian Stan, Haley Lu Richardson, Cecily Strong. DAY ONE FILM
The D Train / U.S.A. (Directors and screenwriters: Jarrad Paul, Andrew Mogel) — With his 20th reunion looming, Dan can’t shake his high school insecurities. In a misguided mission to prove he’s changed, Dan rekindles a friendship with the popular guy from his class and is left scrambling to protect more than just his reputation when a wild night takes an unexpected turn. Cast: Jack Black, James Marsden, Kathryn Hahn, Jeffrey Tambor, Mike White, Kyle Bornheimer.
The Diary of a Teenage Girl / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Marielle Heller) — Minnie Goetze is a 15-year-old aspiring comic-book artist, coming of age in the haze of the 1970s in San Francisco. Insatiably curious about the world around her, Minnie is a pretty typical teenage girl. Oh, except that she’s sleeping with her mother’s boyfriend. Cast: Bel Powley, Alexander Skarsgård, Christopher Meloni, Kristen Wiig.
Dope / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Rick Famuyiwa) — Malcolm is carefully surviving life in a tough neighborhood in Los Angeles while juggling college applications, academic interviews, and the SAT. A chance invitation to an underground party leads him into an adventure that could allow him to go from being a geek, to being dope, to ultimately being himself. Cast: Shameik Moore, Tony Revolori, Kiersey Clemons, Blake Anderson, Zoë Kravitz, A$AP Rocky.
I Smile Back / U.S.A. (Director: Adam Salky, Screenwriters: Amy Koppelman, Paige Dylan) — All is not right in suburbia. Laney Brooks, a wife and mother on the edge, has stopped taking her meds, substituting recreational drugs and the wrong men. With the destruction of her family looming, Laney makes a last, desperate attempt at redemption. Cast: Sarah Silverman, Josh Charles, Thomas Sadoski, Mia Barron, Terry Kinney, Chris Sarandon.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl / U.S.A. (Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, Screenwriter: Jesse Andrews) — Greg is coasting through senior year of high school as anonymously as possible, avoiding social interactions like the plague while secretly making spirited, bizarre films with Earl, his only friend. But both his anonymity and friendship threaten to unravel when his mother forces him to befriend a classmate with leukemia. Cast: Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler, Olivia Cooke, Nick Offerman, Connie Britton, Molly Shannon.
The Overnight / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Patrick Brice) — Alex, Emily, and their son, RJ, are new to Los Angeles. A chance meeting at the park introduces them to the mysterious Kurt, Charlotte, and Max. A family “playdate” becomes increasingly interesting as the night goes on. Cast: Adam Scott, Taylor Schilling, Jason Schwartzman, Judith Godrèche.
People, Places, Things / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: James C. Strouse) — Will Henry is a newly single graphic novelist balancing being a parent to his young twin daughters and teaching a classroom full of college students, all the while trying to navigate the rich complexities of new love and letting go of the woman who left him. Cast: Jemaine Clement, Regina Hall, Stephanie Allynne, Jessica Williams, Gia Gadsby, Aundrea Gadsby.
Results / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Andrew Bujalski) — Two mismatched personal trainers’ lives are upended by the actions of a new, wealthy client. Cast: Guy Pearce, Cobie Smulders, Kevin Corrigan, Giovanni Ribisi, Anthony Michael Hall, Brooklyn Decker.
Songs My Brothers Taught Me / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Chloé Zhao) — This complex portrait of modern-day life on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation explores the bond between a brother and his younger sister, who find themselves on separate paths to rediscovering the meaning of home. Cast: John Reddy, Jashaun St. John, Irene Bedard, Taysha Fuller, Travis Lone Hill, Eléonore Hendricks.
The Stanford Prison Experiment / U.S.A. (Director: Kyle Patrick Alvarez, Screenwriter: Tim Talbott) — This film is based on the actual events that took place in 1971 when Stanford professor Dr. Philip Zimbardo created what became one of the most shocking and famous social experiments of all time. Cast: Billy Crudup, Ezra Miller, Michael Angarano, Tye Sheridan, Johnny Simmons, Olivia Thirlby.
Stockholm, Pennsylvania / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Nikole Beckwith) — A young woman is returned home to her biological parents after living with her abductor for 17 years. Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Cynthia Nixon, Jason Isaacs, David Warshofsky.
Unexpected / U.S.A. (Director: Kris Swanberg, Screenwriters: Kris Swanberg, Megan Mercier) — When Samantha Abbott begins her final semester teaching science at a Chicago high school, she faces some unexpected news: she’s pregnant. Soon after, Samantha learns that one of her favorite students, Jasmine, has landed in a similar situation. Unexpected follows the two women as they embark on an unlikely friendship. Cast: Cobie Smulders, Anders Holm, Gail Bean, Elizabeth McGovern.
The Witch / U.S.A., Canada (Director and screenwriter: Robert Eggers) — New England in the 1630s: William and Katherine lead a devout Christian life with five children, homesteading on the edge of an impassable wilderness. When their newborn son vanishes and crops fail, the family turns on one another. Beyond their worst fears, a supernatural evil lurks in the nearby wood. Cast: Anya Taylor Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Lucas Dawson, Ellie Grainger.
Z for Zachariah / U.S.A. (Director: Craig Zobel, Screenwriter: Nissar Modi) — In a post-apocalyptic world, a young woman who believes she is the last human on Earth meets a dying scientist searching for survivors. Their relationship becomes tenuous when another survivor appears. As the two men compete for the woman’s affection, their primal urges begin to reveal their true nature. Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Margot Robbie, Chris Pine.
U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Sixteen world-premiere American documentaries that illuminate the ideas, people, and events that shape the present day.
3½ MINUTES / U.S.A. (Director: Marc Silver) — On November 23, 2012, unarmed 17-year-old Jordan Russell Davis was shot at a Jacksonville gas station by Michael David Dunn. 3½ MINUTES explores the aftermath of Jordan’s tragic death, the latent and often unseen effects of racism, and the contradictions of the American criminal justice system.
Being Evel / U.S.A. (Director: Daniel Junge) — An unprecedented, candid portrait of American icon Robert “Evel” Knievel and his legacy.
Best of Enemies / U.S.A. (Directors: Morgan Neville, Robert Gordon) — Best of Enemies is a behind-the-scenes account of the explosive 1968 televised debates between the liberal Gore Vidal and the conservative William F. Buckley Jr., and their rancorous disagreements about politics, God, and sex.
Call Me Lucky / U.S.A. (Director: Bobcat Goldthwait) — Barry Crimmins was a volatile but brilliant bar comic who became an honored peace activist and influential political satirist. Famous comedians and others build a picture of a man who underwent an incredible transformation.
Cartel Land / U.S.A., Mexico (Director: Matthew Heineman) — In this classic Western set in the 21st century, vigilantes on both sides of the border fight the vicious Mexican drug cartels. With unprecedented access, this character-driven film provokes deep questions about lawlessness, the breakdown of order, and whether citizens should fight violence with violence.
City of Gold / U.S.A. (Director: Laura Gabbert) — Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Jonathan Gold casts his light upon a vibrant and growing cultural movement in which he plays the dual roles of high-low priest and culinary geographer of his beloved Los Angeles.
Finders Keepers / U.S.A. (Directors: Bryan Carberry, Clay Tweel) — Recovering addict and amputee John Wood finds himself in a stranger-than-fiction battle to reclaim his mummified leg from Southern entrepreneur Shannon Whisnant, who found it in a grill he bought at an auction and believes it to therefore be his rightful property.
Hot Girls Wanted / U.S.A. (Directors: Jill Bauer, Ronna Gradus) — Hot Girls Wanted is a first-ever look at the realities inside the world of the amateur porn industry and the steady stream of 18- and 19-year-old girls entering into it.
How to Dance in Ohio / U.S.A. (Director: Alexandra Shiva) — In Columbus, Ohio, a group of teenagers and young adults on the autism spectrum prepare for an iconic American rite of passage — a spring formal. They spend 12 weeks practicing their social skills at a local nightclub in preparation for the dance.
Larry Kramer in Love and Anger / U.S.A. (Director: Jean Carlomusto) — Author, activist, and playwright Larry Kramer is one of the most important and controversial figures in contemporary gay America, a political firebrand who gave voice to the outrage and grief that inspired gay men and lesbians to fight for their lives. At 78, this complicated man still commands our attention.
Meru / U.S.A. (Directors: Jimmy Chin, E. Chai Vasarhelyi) — Three elite mountain climbers sacrifice everything but their friendship as they struggle through heartbreaking loss and nature’s harshest elements to attempt the never-before-completed Shark’s Fin on Mount Meru, the most coveted first ascent in the dangerous game of Himalayan big wall climbing.
Racing Extinction / U.S.A. (Director: Louie Psihoyos) — Academy Award-winner Louie Psihoyos (The Cove) assembles a unique team to show the world never-before-seen images that expose issues surrounding endangered species and mass extinction. Whether infiltrating notorious black markets or exploring humans’ effect on the environment, Racing Extinction will change the way you see the world.
(T)ERROR / U.S.A. (Directors: Lyric R. Cabral, David Felix Sutcliffe) — (T)ERROR is the first film to document on camera a covert counterterrorism sting as it unfolds. Through the perspective of *******, a 63-year-old Black revolutionary turned FBI informant, viewers are given an unprecedented glimpse of the government’s counterterrorism tactics, and the murky justifications behind them.
Welcome to Leith / U.S.A. (Directors: Michael Beach Nichols, Christopher K. Walker) — A white supremacist attempts to take over a small town in North Dakota.
Western / U.S.A., Mexico (Directors: Bill Ross, Turner Ross) — For generations, all that distinguished Eagle Pass, Texas, from Piedras Negras, Mexico, was the Rio Grande. But when darkness descends upon these harmonious border towns, a cowboy and lawman face a new reality that threatens their way of life. Western portrays timeless American figures in the grip of unforgiving change.
The Wolfpack / U.S.A. (Director: Crystal Moselle) — Six bright teenage brothers have spent their entire lives locked away from society in a Manhattan housing project. All they know of the outside is gleaned from the movies they watch obsessively (and recreate meticulously). Yet as adolescence looms, they dream of escape, ever more urgently, into the beckoning world.
WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC COMPETITION
Twelve films from emerging filmmaking talents around the world offer fresh perspectives and inventive styles.
Chlorine / Italy (Director: Lamberto Sanfelice, Screenwriters: Lamberto Sanfelice, Elisa Amoruso) — Jenny, 17, dreams of becoming a synchronized swimmer. Family events turn her life upside down and she is forced move to a remote area to look after her ill father and younger brother. It won’t be long before Jenny starts pursuing her dreams again. Cast: Sara Serraiocco, Ivan Franek, Giorgio Colangeli, Anatol Sassi, Piera Degli Esposti, Andrea Vergoni. World Premiere
Chorus / Canada (Director and screenwriter: François Delisle) — A separated couple meet again after 10 years when the body of their missing son is found. Amid the guilt of losing a loved one, they hesitantly move toward affirmation of life, acceptance of death, and even the possibility of reconciliation. Cast: Sébastien Ricard, Fanny Mallette, Pierre Curzi, Genevieve Bujold. World Premiere
Glassland / Ireland (Director and screenwriter: Gerard Barrett) — In a desperate attempt to reunite his broken family, a young taxi driver becomes entangled in the criminal underworld. Cast: Jack Reynor, Toni Collette, Will Poulter, Michael Smiley. International Premiere
Homesick / Norway (Director: Anne Sewitsky, Screenwriters: Ragnhild Tronvoll, Anne Sewitsky) — When Charlotte, 27, meets her brother Henrik, 35, for the first time, two people who don’t know what a normal family is begin an encounter without boundaries. How does sibling love manifest itself if you have never experienced it before? Cast: Ine Marie Wilmann, Simon J. Berger, Anneke von der Lippe, Silje Storstein, Oddgeir Thune, Kari Onstad. World Premiere
Ivy / Turkey (Director and screenwriter: Tolga Karaçelik) — Sarmasik is sailing to Egypt when the ship’s owner goes bankrupt. The crew learns there is a lien on the ship, and key crew members must stay on board. Ivy is the story of these six men trapped on the ship for days. Cast: Nadir Sarıbacak, Özgür Emre Yıldırım, Hakan Karsak, Kadir Çermik, Osman Alkaş, Seyithan Özdemiroğlu. World Premiere
Partisan / Australia (Director: Ariel Kleiman, Screenwriters: Ariel Kleiman, Sarah Cyngler) — Alexander is like any other kid: playful, curious and naive. He is also a trained assassin. Raised in a hidden paradise, Alexander has grown up seeing the world filtered through his father, Gregori. As Alexander begins to think for himself, creeping fears take shape, and Gregori’s idyllic world unravels. Cast: Vincent Cassel, Jeremy Chabriel, Florence Mezzara. World Premiere
PRINCESS / Israel (Director and screenwriter: Tali Shalom Ezer) — While her mother is away from home, 12-year-old Adar’s role-playing games with her stepfather move into dangerous territory. Seeking an escape, Adar finds Alan, an ethereal boy that accompanies her on a dark journey between reality and fantasy. Cast: Keren Mor, Shira Haas, Ori Pfeffer, Adar Zohar Hanetz. International Premiere
The Second Mother / Brazil (Director and screenwriter: Anna Muylaert) — Having left her daughter, Jessica, to be raised by relatives in the north of Brazil, Val works as a loving nanny in São Paulo. When Jessica arrives for a visit 13 years later, she confronts her mother’s slave-like attitude and everyone in the house is affected by her unexpected behavior. Cast: Regina Casé, Michel Joelsas, Camila Márdila, Karine Teles, Lourenço Mutarelli. World Premiere
Slow West / New Zealand (Director: John Maclean, Screenwriters: John Maclean, Michael Lesslie) — Set at the end of the nineteenth century, 16-year-old Jay Cavendish journeys across the American frontier in search of the woman he loves. He is joined by Silas, a mysterious traveler, and hotly pursued by an outlaw along the way. Cast: Michael Fassbender, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Rory McCann, Ben Mendelsohn, Brooke Williams, Caren Pistorius. World Premiere
Strangerland / Australia, Ireland (Director: Kim Farrant, Screenwriters: Fiona Seres, Michael Kinirons) — When Catherine and Matthew Parker’s two teenage kids disappear into the remote Australian desert, the couple’s relationship is pushed to the brink as they confront the mystery of their children’s fate. Cast: Nicole Kidman, Joseph Fiennes, Hugo Weaving, Lisa Flanagan, Meyne Wyatt, Maddison Brown. World Premiere
The Summer of Sangaile / Lithuania, France, Holland (Director and screenwriter: Alanté Kavaïté) — Seventeen-year-old Sangaile is fascinated by stunt planes. She meets a girl her age at the summer aeronautical show, nearby her parents’ lakeside villa. Sangaile allows Auste to discover her most intimate secret and in the process finds in her teenage love, the only person that truly encourages her to fly. Cast: Julija Steponaitytė, Aistė Diržiūtė. World Premiere. DAY ONE FILM
Umrika / India (Director and screenwriter: Prashant Nair) — When a young village boy discovers that his brother, long believed to be in America, has actually gone missing, he begins to invent letters on his behalf to save their mother from heartbreak, all the while searching for him. Cast: Suraj Sharma, Tony Revolori, Smita Tambe, Adil Hussain, Rajesh Tailang, Prateik Babbar. World Premiere
WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Twelve documentaries by some of the most courageous and extraordinary international filmmakers working today.
The Amina Profile / Canada (Director: Sophie Deraspe) — During the Arab revolution, a love story between two women — a Canadian and a Syrian American — turns into an international sociopolitical thriller spotlighting media excesses and the thin line between truth and falsehood on the Internet. World Premiere
Censored Voices / Israel, Germany (Director: Mor Loushy) — One week after the 1967 Six-Day War, renowned author Amos Oz and editor Avraham Shapira recorded intimate conversations with soldiers returning from the battlefield. The Israeli army censored the recordings, allowing only a fragment of the conversations to be published. Censored Voices reveals these recordings for the first time. World Premiere
The Chinese Mayor / China (Director: Hao Zhou) — Mayor Geng Yanbo is determined to transform the coal-mining center of Datong, in China’s Shanxi province, into a tourism haven showcasing clean energy. In order to achieve that, however, he has to relocate 500,000 residences to make way for the restoration of the ancient city. World Premiere
Chuck Norris vs Communism / United Kingdom, Romania, Germany (Director: Ilinca Calugareanu) — In 1980s Romania, thousands of Western films smashed through the Iron Curtain, opening a window to the free world for those who dared to look. A black market VHS racketeer and courageous female translator brought the magic of film to the masses and sowed the seeds of a revolution. World Premiere
Dark Horse / United Kingdom (Director: Louise Osmond) — Dark Horse is the inspirational true story of a group of friends from a workingman’s club who decide to take on the elite “sport of kings” and breed themselves a racehorse. World Premiere
Dreamcatcher / United Kingdom (Director: Kim Longinotto) — Dreamcatcher takes us into a hidden world seen through the eyes of one of its survivors, Brenda Myers-Powell. A former teenage prostitute, Brenda defied the odds to become a powerful advocate for change in her community. With warmth and humor, Brenda gives hope to those who have none. World Premiere
How to Change the World / United Kingdom, Canada (Director: Jerry Rothwell) — In 1971, a group of friends sails into a nuclear test zone, and their protest captures the world’s imagination. Using rare, archival footage that brings their extraordinary world to life, How to Change the World is the story of the pioneers who founded Greenpeace and defined the modern green movement. World Premiere. DAY ONE FILM
Listen to Me Marlon / United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: Stevan Riley, Co-writer: Peter Ettedgui) — With exclusive access to previously unheard audio archives, this is the definitive Marlon Brando cinema documentary. Charting his exceptional career and extraordinary life away from the stage and screen, the film fully explores the complexities of the man by telling the story uniquely in Marlon’s own voice. World Premiere
Pervert Park / Sweden, Denmark (Directors: Frida Barkfors, Lasse Barkfors) — Pervert Park follows the everyday lives of sex offenders in a Florida trailer park as they struggle to reintegrate into society, and try to understand who they are and how to break the cycle of sex crimes being committed. International Premiere
The Russian Woodpecker / United Kingdom (Director: Chad Gracia) — A Ukrainian victim of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster discovers a dark secret and must decide whether to risk his life by revealing it, amid growing clouds of revolution and war. World Premiere
Sembene! / U.S.A., Senegal (Directors: Samba Gadjigo, Jason Silverman) — In 1952, Ousmane Sembene, a Senegalese dockworker and fifth-grade dropout, began dreaming an impossible dream: to become the storyteller for a new Africa. This true story celebrates how the “father of African cinema,” against enormous odds, fought a monumental, 50-year-long battle to give Africans a voice. World Premiere
The Visit / Denmark, Austria, Ireland, Finland, Norway (Director: Michael Madsen) — “This film documents an event that has never taken place…” With unprecedented access to the United Nations’ Office for Outer Space Affairs, leading space scientists and space agencies, The Visit explores humans’ first encounter with alien intelligent life and thereby humanity itself. “Our scenario begins with the arrival. Your arrival.” World Premiere
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Pure, bold works distinguished by an innovative, forward-thinking approach to storytelling populate this program. Digital technology paired with unfettered creativity promises that the films in this section will shape a “greater” next wave in American cinema. Presented by Adobe.
Bob and the Trees / U.S.A., France (Director: Diego Ongaro, Screenwriters: Diego Ongaro, Courtney Maum, Sasha Statman-Weil) — Bob, a 50-year-old logger in rural Massachusetts with a soft spot for golf and gangsta rap, is struggling to make ends meet in a changed economy. When his beloved cow is wounded and a job goes awry, Bob begins to heed the instincts of his ever-darkening self. Cast: Bob Tarasuk, Matt Gallagher, Polly MacIntyre, Winthrop Barrett, Nathaniel Gregory. World Premiere
Christmas, Again / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Charles Poekel) — A heartbroken Christmas tree salesman returns to New York, hoping to put the past year behind him. He spends the season living in a trailer and working the night shift, until a mysterious woman and some colorful customers rescue him from self-destruction. Cast: Kentucker Audley, Hannah Gross, Jason Shelton, Oona Roche. North American Premiere
Cronies / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Michael Larnell) — Twenty-two-year-old Louis doesn’t know whether his childhood friendship with Jack will last beyond today. Cast: George Sample III, Zurich Buckner, Brian Kowalski. World Premiere
Entertainment / U.S.A. (Director: Rick Alverson, Screenwriters: Rick Alverson, Gregg Turkington, Tim Heidecker) — En route to meeting with his estranged daughter, in an attempt to revive his dwindling career, a broken, aging comedian plays a string of dead-end shows in the Mojave Desert. Cast: Gregg Turkington, John C. Reilly, Tye Sheridan, Michael Cera, Amy Seimetz, Lotte Verbeek. World Premiere
H. / U.S.A., Argentina (Directors and screenwriters: Rania Attieh, Daniel Garcia) — Two women, each named Helen, find their lives spinning out of control after a meteor allegedly explodes over their city of Troy, New York. Cast: Robin Bartlett, Rebecca Dayan, Will Janowitz, Julian Gamble, Roger Robinson. World Premiere
James White / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Josh Mond) — A young New Yorker struggles to take control of his reckless, self-destructive behavior in the face of momentous family challenges. Cast: Chris Abbott, Cynthia Nixon, Scott Mescudi, Makenzie Leigh, David Call. World Premiere
Nasty Baby / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Sebastian Silva) — A gay couple try to have a baby with the help of their best friend, Polly. The trio navigates the idea of creating life while confronted by unexpected harassment from a neighborhood man called The Bishop. As their clashes grow increasingly aggressive, odds are someone is getting hurt. Cast: Sebastian Silva, Tunde Adebimpe, Kristin Wiig, Reg E. Cathey, Mark Margolis, Denis O’Hare. World Premiere
The Strongest Man / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Kenny Riches) — An anxiety-ridden Cuban man who fancies himself the strongest man in the world attempts to recover his most prized possession, a stolen bicycle. On his quest, he finds and loses much more. Cast: Robert Lorie, Paul Chamberlain, Ashly Burch, Patrick Fugit, Lisa Banes. World Premiere
Take Me to the River / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Matt Sobel) — A naive California teen plans to remain above the fray at his Nebraskan family reunion, but a strange encounter places him at the center of a long-buried family secret. Cast: Logan Miller, Robin Weigert, Josh Hamilton, Richard Schiff, Ursula Parker, Azura Skye. World Premiere
Tangerine / U.S.A. (Director: Sean Baker, Screenwriters: Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch) — A working girl tears through Tinseltown on Christmas Eve searching for the pimp who broke her heart. Cast: Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor, Karren Karagulian, Mickey O’Hagan, Alla Tumanyan, James Ransone. World Premiere
Angelina Jolie on Making Brutal “Unbroken”: “Some Days My Kids Weren’t Allowed on Set”
Angelina Jolie — everyone will be impressed with her monumental undertaking as director of “Unbroken.” Louie Zamperini’s story of his life as an Olympic gold medal winner and then a prisoner of war is an old fashioned Big Movie that never stints on small details. I spoke to Angie yesterday at a swanky lunch introducing the movie and the cast to the world at the very posh Metropolitan Club. (Men were advised in advance to wear a jacket and a tie, thank you very much.)
Among the guests: Dr. Mehmet Oz, “Arliss” star comedian Robert Wuhl, ABC’s Bob Woodruff, Gayle King, Suze Orman, Arianna Huffington, and scads of media types. Angie was dressed like a severe schoolmarm in a gray suit with a floor length skirt, oversized jacket and crisp white shirt to convey seriousness of purpose. Didn’t work– she’s still sexy as hell. ABC’s George Stephanopolous led an after lunch Q&A with the whole cast– Jack O’Connell, Garrett Hedlund, Japanese rock star Miyaki, and “American Horror Story” star Finn Wittrock.
We learned that Angie showed Zamperini, who died this year at age 97, the whole movie on her laptop in his hospital room. She balanced it over him as he lay dying. So he got to see his whole life in flashback, for real. “He absorbed it like it was familiar. The family, the home, the races.”
We also learned that Miyaki “threw up, vomited”– before and after the major torture scene between his Sgt. Watanabe and O’Connell’s Louie. Miyaki told me he was hired by Jolie because “She was looking for a rock performer, someone who could work in front of a large crowd.” This is very interesting, I think, and a brilliant idea. Watanabe is often torturing and berating huge numbers of American soldiers who are prisoners of war. Despite his sweet face, Watanabe is merciless.
Angelina told me during our talk after lunch that she had all six of her kids with Brad Pitt with her for the shoot. “Some days my kids were not allowed on set, however,” she said but “the rats and sharks were more fun for them.”
RIP Bobby Keys, Age 70, Rolling Stones Legendary Horn Man (Listen, Watch)
Bobby Keys, RIP, Age 70 , the legendary Rolling Stones horn man.
Can’t You Hear Me Knocking:
National Board of Review: Disgraceful Omission of Martin Luther King Movie in Favor of LEGO
No one will say this out loud. But the National Board of Review is a disgrace. Their so called choices today for their awards were ridiculous, laughable and sad. I’d go so far as to say they were racist. Not awarded one regular award was Ava DuVernay’s exceptional “Selma” about Martin Luther King the march of 1965. “Selma” is one of the best movies of the year, and certainly the most important. Members of the NBR who pay exorbitant dues should be embarrassed that “Selma” was relegated to sharing a made up honor– Freedom of Expression Award– along with Jon Stewart’s “Rosewater.” This is just like saying, you can sit in the back of the bus. Read below– “Freedom of Expression” is what they give to black movies.
The NBR didn’t stop there. I am calling for it to be disbanded. Annie Schulhof has made her penchant for choosing Warner Bros. films or anyone who’s made them into a subject publicists and journalist laugh aloud about all over town. For years she’s alternated betweem Clint Eastwood and George Clooney, awarding anything they’ve made.
That Clint Eastwood won Best Director for “American Sniper” is a joke by now. Eastwood might as well live with the NBR. I doubt he wants this kind of attention.
Let’s start 11 years ago. In 2003, “Mystic River” won Best Picture and made the list of top 10 films.
In 2004, Eastwood got a special award for “writing directing producing Million Dollar Baby.”
In 2006, “Letters from Iwo Jima” won Best Picture. “Letters” and “Flags of our Fathers” were in the top 10 film list.
In 2008, two of his films– “Gran Torino” and “The Changeling” — had spots on the top 10. Eastwood won Best Actor for “Gran Torino.”
The following year, his “Invictus” got a top 10 spot and Morgan Freeman won Best Actor from that movie. Eastwood was Best Director and “Invictus” was one of three films tie for Freedom of Expression.
Thereafter, “Hereafter,” made the top 10 in 2010. In 2011, “J Edgar” made the top 10 list. Schulhof had other Warner Bros fish to fry that year: awards to George Clooney, and to the “Harry Potter series.”
This year, Eastwood is back as best director, with a top 10 film, “American Sniper,” from Warner Bros. To make matters worse the NBR awarded both screenplay awards this year to Warner films– “The LEGO Movie” and “Inherent Vice.” The former is a cartoon. The latter is absolutely the most incoherent thing anyone has seen on a screen in years. If there’s a screenplay. I’d like to see it. “Inherent Vice,” which I call “Incoherent Vice,” is gobbledygook, maybe intentionally.
But Schulhof has a long and evidently fruitful friendship with Dan Fellman, long time head of Warner distribution. And the obsession with Eastwood? Jeanine Basinger is on the NBR board. She also teaches at Wesleyan, where she runs Eastwood’s archives. The NBR has given Wesleyan just over $50,000 since 2007, presumably for Basinger to run her Eastwood Fan Club umimpeded.
As for black movies, the NBR and Schuhof have an alarming track record. To be fair they gave Halle Berry Best Actress in “Monster’s Ball” in 2003 and Freeman best actor in “Invictus” (perhaps because it was a Clint Eastwood movie). They snubbed both “Precious” and “Dreamgirls” for their top 10 list. For “Precious” Gabourey Sidibe was thrown a bone for Breakthrough performance. The NBR ignored Mo’Nique, who won the Oscar. For “Dreamgirls.” They snubbed Jennifer Hudson, who went on to win the Oscar, for Amy Ryan in “Gone Baby Gone.”
Last year, even though “12 Years a Slave” and “Fruitvale Station” made the top 10, no actors from them were mentioned including Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o. And Spike Jonze’s “Her,” a Warner film, was chosen over “12 Years” as Best Picture. Ironically, Octavia Spencer won Best Supporting Actress for “Fruitvale Station.” But they ignored “The Help,” the movie for which Spencer won her Oscar, completely. For “Doubt” they skipped giving Viola Davis an actual acting award, and gave her Breakthrough Performance– just like they did later with Sidibe– even though she’d been acting for years.
To note: Denzel Washington has never won an acting award from the NBR. He has two Oscars. His movie “The Great Debaters” won– wait for it– the Freedom of Expression Award in 2007. Derek Luke, who acted in Washington’s “Antwone Fisher,” got an award. What do you think it was? Breakthough Performance.
It’s a sad joke, and a very damning indictment of the movie business that this goes on and on. It’s up to the studios to say “No more.”
National Board of Review Chief’s Family Business Paid U.S. $24.6 Mil in Fraud Case
Annie Schulhof isn’t just busy dictating who wins awards from the National Board of Review this week. Her family company, Quadriga Art, was ordered to pay the US government $24.6 million in the settlement of a major fraud case that went on for years and concluded this summer. The case against Quadriga was cracked open on CNN’s AC360 by reporter Drew Griffin. The original video from 2011 is here:
Annie’s husband, Tom, who negotiated the Quadriga contracts and was chairman of the board of directors, was forced to resign as part of the deal.
The government won the case because Quadriga, a direct mail operation, had been bilking a new veterans organization for millions since 2007. The charity, called Disabled Veterans National Foundation, hired Quadriga to solicit donations. Quadriga was very successful.
But then DVNF turned around and paid most of the money that came in back to Quadriga. For example, on its most recent Form 990, DVNF said it spent over $17 million of $27 million in expenses on direct mail campaigns. Only $48,000 in cash went to two organizations that help vets.
In the filing from the Attorney General of New York, Quadriga and its offshoots is cited for raising $115 million total for DVNF, and receiving 90% it back in fees.
Quadriga (and its many other entities) is owned by Annie and Tom Schulhof’s nephew, Mark. The parent company is called RBS Direct Marketing. Among their other victims, besides veterans, is an animal rights group called SPCA. Here’s the AG report: http://www.ag.ny.gov/pdfs/DVNF-Quadriga-Convergence-AOD_14-145.PDF It’s a doozy of a read. (Maybe this is why the NBR liked “American Hustle” and “Wolf of Wall Street” so much.) Meanwhile, Quadriga– which is now prevented from doing business with start up charities until 2019– has deleted its website. But RBS continues under various names (except of course Royal Bank of Scotland).
http://philanthropy.com/article/NY-Wins-25-Million-in/147445/
Look for NBR winners, as usual, to be heavy on Warner Bros., “American Sniper” and Clint Eastwood. No George Clooney movie this year. But they will figure out a way to get him there. They’re looking for big studio winners to purchase lots of tables at their phony-baloney dinner in January. Paramount and Fox are their other pigeons with fat wallets. I could see “Interstellar” doing very well with Schulhof, also because it’s half-Warner Bros.
Want to know more? Here’s a fun flashback to 2005:
As the movie biz breathlessly awaits annual awards next Tuesday from the fan-based National Board of Review, here is a startling new scandal to go with the old one.
As I told you last month, a group of NBR board members who’ve been “fired” have asked the New York State Attorney General’s office to investigate malfeasance in the organization.
Here’s an update: You may recall a few weeks ago I reported that the board of directors of the NBR now included Berkeley, Calif., psycho (and sex) therapist Daniel Goldstine.
You’ll be pleased to know that Dr. Goldstine, whose connection to the movie business is being on the board of the Pacific Film Archive, also has a conflict of interest. His son is Josh Goldstine, head of creative marketing for Sony Pictures.
He is not, we may conclude, a disinterested party in who gets the NBR’s top awards. The Goldstines are said to be close friends of the current NBR president, Annie Schulhof and her husband, Tom, brother of former Sony chairman Mickey Schulhof.
This would account for last year’s civil war among the NBR leaders over giving the top movie of the year to Miramax’s “Finding Neverland” or Sony/Columbia’s “Closer.” The former won. The latter had to settle for Best Ensemble Acting, an award that other groups like the Screen Actors Guild gave to “Sideways.”
“The larger group wanted ‘Finding Neverland’,” my source says. “But Annie pushed hard for ‘Closer’. It was a fight.”
Closer, directed by Mike Nichols, while having many fine characteristics, was not even nominated for an Academy Award in the long run. “Finding Neverland” was nominated in several categories.
The NBR has been never been a totally “clean” organization. “It’s believability has always been questioned,” says a former member. But Schulhof has turned out to be its most controversial and polarizing leader, appointing friends to the board, giving her veterinarian free ads in the group’s annual fundraising book and turning the place into one of even more secrecy and clique-ishness.
I doubt, for example, that the general public realizes only 12 people select all the winners of the NBR awards. Schulhof, according to sources, runs the elite, Skull and Bones-like Exceptional Photoplay Committee with an iron fist, making sure it’s stocked with her cronies like Inez Glucksman and Keith Edwards.
Though the NBR attends hundreds of screenings, dines with stars and directors, has personal Q&A sessions with them, in the end, I am told, it’s Schulhof and her Gang of 12 who make the final decisions.
All this should be interesting, since Sony/Columbia’s “Memoirs of a Geisha” — a certain Oscar nominee and potential box office hit — has become a hot potato with the NBR. “The group didn’t like it so much,” says one insider, “but Annie will fight for it since it’s Columbia.”
Sony is also represented in this year’s Oscar race by “Capote,” a Sony Pictures Classics release thanks to the merger with MGM/United Artists.
Sony, however, is not Schulhof’s only favorite studio. Warner Bros. is very dear to her, I am told, thanks to a close friendship with longtime Warner exec, Dan Fellman. Warner’s big Oscar movie this year is the well-reviewed “Syriana,” starring George Clooney.
“Annie told several people that ‘Syriana’ was going to get something before it was even shown,” a source tells me. “She said if nothing else, it would win the Freedom of Expression award.”
Last year, Warner’s was an NBR favorite with Clint Eastwood’s “Million Dollar Baby” and Martin Scorsese’s “The Aviator” receiving many citations. Eastwood has also been an NBR favorite in the couple of years.
Even though the Fellmans and Schulhofs are indeed close personal friends, it’s unlikely that Dan Fellman would have made any overt suggestion to Schulhof about getting awards.
But Annie Schulhof may be doing favors on her own without being asked for her friends in the movie business. She’s recently started a production company, Pipedream Films, and has hopes, I am told by sources, of becoming a “player” in the business.
Meantime, I have cleared up one NBR mystery. I’ve reported in the past that inexplicably the not-for-profit group says it spends over $100,000 on “screenings” even though the studios treat them to the screenings. The NBR nevertheless lists the expense that way on their federal tax filing. But Leon Friedman, the group’s attorney, told me yesterday that in fact the $100,000 is for salaries for three NBR employees. Why not list it that way?
“In the past, those people were freelance,” says Friedman. “Now they’re paid and the next tax filing will reflect that.”
But there are clear lines on the Form 990 tax form for salaries and wages even if the people employed are freelance. Less generous types might think the NBR has lied to the Internal Revenue Service for the last several years.
More news: the next tax filing will also reveal that the new group’s newest staff director is getting at least $75,000 a year to screen movies and keep the peace between the 160 or so members and the 12-member Photoplay Committee that actually runs things.
The NBR, by the way, charges $500 a ticket to members and $1,000 a ticket to non-members to attend its annual gala at New York City’s Tavern on the Green. Sources tell me the actual cost per person is around $150 “at the most.”
In 2003, the NBR gave a minuscule $17,000 in grants to filmmakers according to their most recent available filing.
Bill Cosby: Hundreds of This Saturday’s Ticket Holders Have Applied for Refunds
Bill Cosby is sinking, and without a word. More than two thirds of the people who bought tickets for his shows this Saturday have asked for refunds. The two shows are at the Tarrytown Music Hall in Westchester, New York. The Hall seats 843 people at capacity. Before the rape and drug scandal, the tickets were sold out. But theater management offered refunds to anyone who wanted to cancel their tickets. For the 4pm show, 329 people have canceled so far. For the 7pm, it’s 359.
Cosby will face a lot of empty seats in Tarrytown. But so far he’s said nothing in his own defense. On top of that, he resigned Monday from the Board of Trustees of Temple University. Last week, UMass Amherst severed ties with him. Cosby has always been about education, and a revered figure among teachers and educators. These two episodes are earth-shaking.
The Tarrytown situation is on going. By Friday, the theater may be really empty. We’ll stay on top of it….
Edward Snowden Is Going to the Oscars: CitizenFour Wins Second Award of the Day
“CitizenFour” just won the Gotham Award for best documentary, just hours after winning the New York Film Critics Award. Michael Keaton won for Best Actor in “Birdman.” Other categories are being announced.
The doc about Edward Snowden by Laura Poitras has made $1.5 million at the box office. Now it’s sweeping awards season. Maybe Snowden will be persuaded to leave Moscow and appear at the Oscars.
List of winners to follow.
Best Feature– “Birdman”
Best Actor–Michael Keaton
Best Actress– Julianne Moore
Audience Award– “Boyhood”
Brooke Astor’s Criminal Son Anthony Marshall Dead at 90, No Mention of Estate Looting
Charlene Marshall put a paid obit in the NY Times this morning for her husband Tony Marshall, son of Brooke Astor. No mention of his conviction and jail sentence for looting his mother’s estate. I like the part about Charlene’s son, Robert, Marshall’s stepson, “with whom he formed an everlasting bond.” Really.Also no mention of Marshall’s sons Philip and Alec, who testified against him. Here it is in its entirety:
MARSHALL–Ambassador Anthony Dryden. A very great man has died today. Patterning his life after his beloved grandfather, General John H. Russell, 16th Commandant of the Marine Corps, Tony was first and always a Marine. Tony loved animals as much as people and was a talented wildlife photographer working for both for National Geographic magazine and World Books Encyclopedia in the 1950’s and 1960’s, an early conservationist, author of seven books and a highly respected three- time United States Ambassador. Tony very much loved his three stepchildren, Arden, Inness and Robert and three step-grandchildren James, Lyon and Weston who showered him with love, affection and respect particularly his stepson Robert with whom he formed an everlasting and most loving bond. During the course of his life, he helped countless young people get their own start in life by introducing them to those who could provide internships or jobs or sometimes he would write a check to tide one over until they could make it on their own. And then he relished in their success. Tony served his country all his life beginning as a young Marine leading his platoon onto Blue Beach on Iwo Jima earning him a Purple Heart, followed by a job as a decoder at the State Department, Consulate General to Turkey stationed in Istanbul, then 40+ years with the CIA and the U.S. Ambassador to Madagascar, the Seychelles, Trinidad and Tobago, and Kenya where he was beloved by President Kenyatta. Until his death, he remained a member of the prestigious Racquet & Tennis Club, The Brook, The Explorers’ Club and was Founding Chairman of the Marine Corps University Foundation as well as a recipient of the General John H. Russell Leadership Award. Tony had the tenderest of hearts, a brilliant mind and an outrageous sense of humor. It was my honor to love and be loved so tenderly by Tony for more than 25 years. Semper Fi my Tonyness,Your beloved Charlene