A24 has dropped the brand new trailer for writer-director Ti West’s, MaXXXine, the third installment of the X film series.
In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx finally gets her big break. But as a mysterious killer stalks the starlets of Hollywood, a trail of blood threatens to reveal her sinister past.
Starring Mia Goth, Elizabeth Debicki, Moses Sumney, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Halsey, Lily Collins, with Giancarlo Esposito and Kevin Bacon, check out the first look now.
The X series includes an original film, its prequel, and now its star-filled sequel.
Writer-director Ti West (The House of the Devil) followed-up to his hit slasher movie X, with PEARL in 2022. Revisiting the unforgettable character Pearl, the film was about the obsessive old voyeur who relentlessly stalked Mia Goth’s Maxine Minx character across the Texas farm that Pearl never managed to escape. Played in the first film by Mia Goth in a dual role, Maxine/ Pearl explored the dualities and longings of two very different women—a young porn actress in 1979 dreaming of stardom and an octogenarian born at the turn of the last century who yearns for youthful attention.
Pearl remained an indelibly strong, empathetic, even winsome character. Viewed in tandem with X, West’s second installment in the franchise made a poignant statement on aging, regret, and the passage of time. (review)
Written and Directed by Ti West, MaXXXine is produced by Jacob Jaffke, Ti West, Kevin Turen, Harrison Kreiss, Mia Goth.
Director of Photography Eliot Rockett, Production Design by Jason Kisvarday, Editing by Ti West Costume Design by Mari-An Ceo, Sound Design by Karen Baker Landers and Casting by Jessica Kelly. Composer Tyler Bates returns as composer for the third film.
Class is now in session for Film History 101. And this will be on the final. Hopefully, that didn’t inspire too many nervous flashbacks, though I always looked forward to the few cinema courses I could take. Now the intro is spot on because this new film is mainly about another film that did make history, for lots of reasons. It truly stood out despite being produced during the second greatest year of Hollywood’s Golden Age (just two years after the prolific 1939). Yes, like 2012’s HITCHCOCK it is a biography of a very creative artist, but it focuses on one seminal work (PSYCHO for that earlier film). Oh, and instead of a director we now shine a much-deserved spotlight on the lowly, neglected writer, much like 2015’s TRUMBO. Well perhaps in this case not too neglected since he shared in the classic film’s only Oscar win. That iconic masterpiece is CITIZEN KANE, and its co-screenwriter is the talented Herman J. Mankiewicz, known to his many friends, and a few foes, as MANK.
Slow fade in on a dusty road near Victorville California early 1940s. A caravan of sedans pulls up to a rustic house just off a dirt road. It’s a place far away from the distractions of “Tinsel-Town”, ideal for the hard-drinking screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman). He’s been tasked to pen the movie debut of the current media darling, the 24-year-old “wunderkind” Orson Welles (Tom Burke). Along with “Mank” is one of the project’s producers John Houseman (Sam Troughton), a young typist/transcriber, British “war-bride” Rita Alexander (Lily Collins), and his personal nurse “Fraulein” Frieda (Monica Gossman), an essential aide after an auto accident (he was the unlucky passenger) has encased much of his lower body in plaster. Before leaving, Houseman phones Welles who shortens the deadline from 90 to 60 days. As Mank settles in, his mind recalls incidents from his movie work a decade prior. His nights back then are spent “in his cups” despite the efforts of his wife “poor” Sara (Tuppence Middleton). His hung-over days are confined to the legendary writers’ room at MGM under the watchful eye of its prickly, manipulative figurehead Louis B. Meyer (Arliss Howard). And despite his indulgences he becomes the adored friend and confidant of film star Marion Davies (Amanda Seyfried), not-so-secretly the “kept woman” of newspaper magnate William Randolf Hearst (Charles Dance). As the story bounces from the present to past and back again, Mack attends the lavish parties at Hearst’s San Simeon while learning of his host’s plan (helped by Meyer) to use staged propaganda newsreels to thwart Upton Sinclair’s campaign for governor. Eventually the drawbridge to Hearst Castle is closed to Mank. Could the Welles screenplay be his revenge against his former chums? As Mank denies this, will Davies really believe him? What of the efforts to shut down the production? Will Mank be banned from the movie biz?
The title role provides a great showcase for the always compelling Oldman who plays Mank almost as a “world-weary” private eye who’d be a fixture in flicks later in that decade. Even in those flashbacks, we know that Mank’s been through enough heartache and disappointment to send most screenwriters off to the pawnshop to “hock” their typewriters. But as “down” as he gets, Mank still has the perfect verbal “burn”, which Oldman tosses off effortlessly. Despite his dour demeanor, Oldman shows us Mank’s humanity whether he’s helping out a panhandling pal or commiserating with screen royalty. Speaking of which, the film’s most delightful surprise is the dazzling turn by Seyfried as Davies. With her bright expressive eyes, she projects a magnetism that captivates everyone around her from lowly laborers to boozy writers to “gazillionaires”. Seyfried conveys her mischievous wit but really gets to the heart of her character as she opens up about her “beau”. It seems that the “princess locked in the tower” (she keeps a radio-telephone stashed away for private calls) is really in love with her “captor”. Let’s hope this leads to more frequent film roles for the talented Ms. S. As for the other women in Mank’s life, Collins is good as the no-nonsense assistant, but the role seems too similar to the secretary in Oldman’s DARKEST HOUR. Much the same can be said for Middleton who tries, often in vain, to steer her hubby away from her indulgent impulses. Troughton is perfectly prim and pompous as the stuffy Houseman, while Burke is the ultimate “big dog” treating every room as his theatre, as the bellowing Welles. And happily, there are some great villains for Oldman to confront. Howard’s Meyer projects a “kindly grandpa” persona that masks a cruel vindictive “penny-pincher”, while Dance is a looming, smiling cobra as Hearst, ready to strike at any affront, his venom poisoning his decadent opulent surroundings.
Director David Fincher, working with the screenplay by his late father Jack, has crafted a wonderful homage to the legacy of KANE while utilizing many of its techniques (the slow fade to black, focused foregrounds and backgrounds, high angle shots, etc.). Though there are a few movie trivia slip-ups (no Wolfman in the early 30s), most of the film lore is solid. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross contribute a lush, haunting score that has just a hint of Herriman. But the film’s greatest asset (aside from Oldman and Seyfried) may be the superb silvery black and white cinematography by Erik Messerschmidt with its languid deep shadows shattered by blazing white shafts of sunlight. He captures the glorious kitsch of Simeon while hinting that it may be a gilded gold prison in the future. The visuals make some of the pacing problems a bit more bearable. The whole “sacrificial lamb” to the power-grabbing duo subplot feels heavy-handed and obvious. Plus the countless scenes of a shuffling, drunken chain-smoking Mank with his comb-over dangling over one eye as he slurs sloshy soliloquies becomes repetitive as the film lurches slowly forward. At least we have ample time to gaze longingly at the fabulous fashions and aristocratic autos of the long-gone gods of the screen. MANK is an adoring, slightly bloated, look back at the creative process that birthed a true piece of cinema that will inspire generations to come.
3 out of 4
MANK is playing in select theatres and streams exclusively on Netflix beginning Friday, December 4th, 2020.
One thing you learn early on in TOLKIEN is that it is pronounced “Tol-keen,” contrary to the way many fans have been saying it. That is one of many facts you learn in the J.R.R. Tolkien biopic TOLKIEN, which covers the early life of the “Lord of the Rings” author. It was not an easy life, as the young Tolkien, played by Nicholas Hoult (THE FAVOURITE, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD), endured personal tragedies and hardships, but it was also a time of deep friendship, challenges, growth, and even young love, capped by the singular horrors of World War I, experiences which the author later wove into his fantasy tales of hobbits, elves and the fellowship of a ring.
Actually, TOLKIEN is more an
interesting film than the deeply involving one audience might hope it
would be. This is despite the fact that Tolkien’s early life was
marked by strikingly dramatic, even tragic, events. Finnish director
Dome Karukoski, a big Tolkien fan, and screenwriters David Gleeson
and Stephen Beresford carefully researched their subject but the
films suffers from some flaws common to biopics. The director takes
care draw attention to parallels between events in Tolkien’s life and
his writings, and how these early experiences shaped the author’s
later fantasy novels. It is a fascinating approach for fans, where
one is constantly thinking “so that’s where that came from”
as you watch the film. However, that observational, even analytical
tact has a distancing effect, and the film often has a surprisingly
restrained emotional tone.
Tolkien’s early life feels like
something out of Dickens. The film opens with Tolkien (Hoult) in the
trenches of World War I, and then periodically flashes back to his
earlier life. Born in British-ruled South Africa, young John Ronald
Reuel Tolkien (played as a child by Harry Gilby) learned to speak
several languages and was steeped in languages, art and legends.
Widowed when Tolkien was four, Mabel Tolkien (Laura Donnell)
eventually relocates him and his younger brother to England, where
they face financially dire circumstances. When Tolkien is 12, his
mother dies and her friend Father Francis (Colm Meaney) takes charge
of the two penniless orphaned boys, placing them in a boarding house
run by Mrs. Faulkner (Pam Ferris) and arranging for their education.
From this point, the film focuses primarily on the friendships Tolkien forms with three other boys at the posh private school he attends and his budding romance with future wife Edith. The four boys create a fellowship of artists who encourage each other as they hope to transform the world. Lily Collins plays pretty, lively and musically-gifted Edith, another penniless boarder at the house, who earns her keep playing piano for Mrs. Faulkner.
The three friends, Christopher Wiseman,
Robert Gilson and Geoffrey Smith, are played as young men by Tom
Glynn-Carney, Patrick Gibson and Anthony Boyle. The friends engage in
adventures, talk about literature and art, play rugby, and encourage
each other as they grow from young schoolboys to college students,
until their fellowship is tested by war.
In the war sequences in particular,
director Karukoski draws direct visual links between those
experiences and Middle Earth, with dragons and wraiths rising out of
the smoke and fire of the battlefield. Other scenes evoke echoes to
elements of Tolkien’s fantasy world, with Edith and their walks in
the forest suggesting Elves and Ents, but none as powerfully as the
war ones.
The story builds on themes of struggle,
friendship, courage, love and war, mixed in with a love of legends
and languages. Yet in the midst of all this drama, the film feels
more focused on pointing out parallels between the author’s life and
his books than in actually involving audience in the drama of that
life. The director allows a bit more emotion to seep in for the love
story between Tolkien and Edith but even here, there is a certain
amount of restraint.
The approach has its problems. Nicholas
Hoult has demonstrated his considerable acting talents in previous
roles but under Karukoski’s restrained direction, he often seems to
do little more than look handsome and occasionally a bit pained, the
ultimate British stiff upper lip. Lily Collins as Edith gets a bit
more latitude, bringing a bit more dramatic fire to her role. There
are other problems. Tolkien’s younger brother all but vanishes from
the story early on, and we never really get to know Tolkien’s closest
friends beyond an superficial level. Even Edith never reveals the
backstory on how she came to live in the boarding house. As the
priest/guardian, Colm Meaney gets a little more room to stretch, and
Derek Jacobi is charmingly eccentric as the Cambridge language
professor who sets Tolkien on his academic career in languages. But
overall, the characters feel a bit thin. It is all about pointing out
those literary links.
Still, TOLKIEN does have much to offer
Tolkien fans, even casual ones, who might be curious to know the
personal roots of his fantastical fictional worlds. The film is
packed full of intriguing references to Tolkien’s books, and insights
on the origins of his fantastical fictional worlds. Young Tolkien
would escape his troubles into tales of mythology, which turn up in
his stories. With a gift for language, he amused himself by creating
his own language, and by drawing imaginative worlds, long before the
novels. While we don’t see an obvious hobbit inspiration, we
certainly meet an elvish one, in the form of the musical, graceful
Edith. The close friendships he forms at school clearly serves as a
template for the fellowship of the ring. Even the ring of power and
the heroic quest get a nod, when Tolkien and Edith visit a concert
hall for a performance of Wagner’s Ring Cycle operas.
TOLKIEN is an interesting film, well
worth a look for J. R. R. Tolkien fans, if a less engrossing one than
one might have hoped. TOLKIEN opens Friday, May 10, at several area
theaters.
Tune in to the TOLKIEN – ‘Facebook Live Q&A’ Moderated by George R.R. Martin, an American novelist and short story writer in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres, screenwriter, and television producer. Also live will be TOLKIEN stars Nicholas Hoult and Lily Collins and Director Dome Karukoski – Tune in HERE at May 8th, 9pm PST (11pm CT)
TOLKIEN explores the formative years of the renowned author’s life as he finds friendship, courage and inspiration among a fellow group of writers and artists at school. Their brotherhood strengthens as they grow up and weather love and loss together, including Tolkien’s tumultuous courtship of his beloved Edith Bratt, until the outbreak of the First World War which threatens to tear their fellowship apart. All of these experiences would later inspire Tolkien to write his famous Middle-earth novels.
Only In Theaters May 10, 2019
The trailer looks terrific
TOLKIEN stars Nicholas Hoult, Lily Collins, Colm Meaney, Anthony Boyle, Patrick Gibson, Tom Glynn-Carney, Craig Roberts, Laura Donnelly, Genevieve O’Reilly, Pam Ferris and Derek Jacobi
TOLKIEN explores the formative years of the orphaned author as he finds friendship, love and artistic inspiration among a group of fellow outcasts at school. This takes him into the outbreak of World War I, which threatens to tear the “fellowship” apart. All of these experiences would inspire Tolkien to write his famous Middle-Earth novels.
TOLKIEN stars Nicholas Hoult, Lily Collins, Colm Meaney, Anthony Boyle, Patrick Gibson, Tom Glynn-Carney, Craig Roberts, Laura Donnelly, Genevieve O’Reilly, Pam Ferris and Derek Jacobi
Directed by: Dome Karukoski Written by: David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford
Regency Enterprises and 20th Century Fox have released a new trailer for the Romantic Dramedy RULES DON’T APPLY. Starring Lily Collins, Alden Ehrenreich and 15 time Academy Award nominee, Warren Beatty, RULES DON’T APPLY follows an aspiring young actress and her ambitious young driver struggle hopefully with the absurd eccentricities of the wildly unpredictable billionaire, who they work for. RULES DON’T APPLY hits theaters on November 23!
Watch the NEW trailer for RULES DON’T APPLY :
SYNOPSIS
An aspiring young actress (Lily Collins) and her ambitious young driver (Alden Ehrenreich) struggle hopefully with the absurd eccentricities of the wildly unpredictable billionaire Howard Hughes (Warren Beatty) for whom they work. It’s Hollywood, 1958. Small town beauty queen, songwriter, and devout Baptist virgin Marla Mabrey (Collins), under contract to the infamous Howard Hughes (Beatty), arrives in Los Angeles. At the airport, she meets her driver Frank Forbes (Ehrenreich), who is engaged to be married to his 7th grade sweetheart and is a deeply religious Methodist. Their instant attraction not only puts their religious convictions to the test, but also defies Hughes’ #1 rule: no employee is allowed to have any relationship whatsoever with a contract actress. Hughes’ behavior intersects with Marla and Frank in very separate and unexpected ways, and as they are drawn deeper into his bizarre world, their values are challenged and their lives are changed.
Regency Enterprises and 20th Century Fox have released a new trailer for the Romantic Dramedy RULES DON’T APPLY, written, directed and produced by 15 time Academy Award nominee Warren Beatty.
An aspiring young actress (Lily Collins) and her ambitious young driver (Alden Ehrenreich) struggle hopefully with the absurd eccentricities of the wildly unpredictable billionaire (Warren Beatty), who they work for.
It’s Hollywood, 1958. Small town beauty queen and devout Baptist virgin Marla Mabrey (Collins), under contract to the infamous Howard Hughes (Beatty), arrives in Los Angeles. At the airport, she meets her driver Frank Forbes (Ehrenreich), who is engaged to be married to his 7th grade sweetheart and is a deeply religious Methodist. Their instant attraction not only puts their religious convictions to the test, but also defies Hughes’ #1 rule: no employee is allowed to have any relationship whatsoever with a contract actress. Hughes’ behavior intersects with Marla and Frank in very separate and unexpected ways, and as they are drawn deeper into his bizarre world, their values are challenged and their lives are changed.
Watch the trailer now then tune in at 11:30amPT/2:30pmET for a Reddit AMA with Director Warren Beatty.
The film stars Alec Baldwin, Annette Bening, Haley Bennett, Candice Bergen, Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman, Lily Collins, Steve Coogan, Alden Ehrenreich, Taissa Farmiga, Ed Harris, Megan Hilty, Oliver Platt and Martin Sheen.
RULES DON’T APPLY opens in theaters everywhere November 23, 2016.
Legendary filmmaker Warren Beatty stars as Howard Hughes in RULES DON’T APPLY, which Beatty wrote, directed and produced. Photo Credit: Francois Duhamel.
Regency Enterprises and 20th Century Fox have released the trailer for the upcoming dramedy RULES DON’T APPLY, written, directed and produced by 15 time Academy Award nominee Warren Beatty (HEAVEN CAN WAIT, REDS).
Opening in theaters on November 23rd, the movie stars Alec Baldwin, Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Haley Bennett, Candice Bergen, Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman, Lily Collins, Steve Coogan, Alden Ehrenreich, Taissa Farmiga, Ed Harris, Megan Hilty, Oliver Platt and Martin Sheen.
An aspiring young actress (Lily Collins) and her ambitious young driver (Alden Ehrenreich) struggle hopefully with the absurd eccentricities of the wildly unpredictable billionaire (Warren Beatty), who they work for.
It’s Hollywood, 1958. Small town beauty queen and devout Baptist virgin Marla Mabrey (Collins), under contract to the infamous Howard Hughes (Beatty), arrives in Los Angeles. At the airport, she meets her driver Frank Forbes (Ehrenreich), who is engaged to be married to his 7th grade sweetheart and is a deeply religious Methodist. Their instant attraction not only puts their religious convictions to the test, but also defies Hughes’ #1 rule: no employee is allowed to have any relationship whatsoever with a contract actress.
Hughes’ behavior intersects with Marla and Frank in very separate and unexpected ways, and as they are drawn deeper into his bizarre world, their values are challenged and their lives are changed.
Screen Gems has released the first trailer for the fantasy-action film THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES from director Harald Zwart (THE KARATE KID 2010). The film stars Lily Collins, Jamie Campbell Bower, Robert Sheehan, Kevin Zegers, Lena Headey, Kevin Durand, Aidan Turner, Jemima West, Godfrey Gao, with CCH Pounder, with Jared Harris, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.
It’s really trying to be the next TWILIGHT, isn’t it. Although CCH Pounder and Jared Harris add a little more weight to what could be the next big series for young adults.
Set in contemporary New York City, a seemingly ordinary teenager, Clary Fray (Lily Collins), discovers she is the descendant of a line of Shadowhunters, a secret cadre of young half-angel warriors locked in an ancient battle to protect our world from demons. After the disappearance of her mother (Lena Headey), Clary must join forces with a group of Shadowhunters, who introduce her to a dangerous alternate New York called Downworld, filled with demons, warlocks, vampires, werewolves and other deadly creatures.
Based on the worldwide best-selling book series by Cassandra Clare, her Mortal Instruments series is compiled of City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls, and City of Heavenly Fire. The prequels to the Mortal Instruments series are called The Infernal Devices (Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince, and Clockwork Princess). The last book of the Infernal Devices, Clockwork Princess, will be released March 19, 2013.
THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES is in theaters August 23, 2013.
Lily Collins is featured in Relativity Media’s latest MIRROR MIRROR photo. In theaters March 16th, the reimagining of the classic Snow White fairy tale stars Oscar® winner Julia Roberts, Lily Collins (The Blind Side), Armie Hammer (The Social Network), Sean Bean (“The Game of Thrones”, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King) and Nathan Lane (The Lion King, The Birdcage).
An evil queen steals control of a kingdom and an exiled princess enlists the help of seven resourceful rebels to win back her birthright in a spirited adventure comedy filled with jealousy, romance and betrayal that will capture the imagination of audiences the world over.
Visionary director Tarsem Singh (Immortals) rewrites fairy tale history as a wicked enchantress (Roberts) schemes and scrambles for control of a spirited orphan’s (Collins) throne and the attention of a charming prince (Hammer). When Snow White’s beauty wins the heart of the prince that she desperately pursues, the Queen banishes her to the forest, where a ravening man-eating beast hungrily awaits.
Rescued by a band of diminutive highway robbers, Snow White grows into an indomitable young woman determined to take back her realm from the treacherous Queen. With the support of her subjects, she roars into action in an epic battle that blends spectacle, magic and contemporary humor in Singh’s signature, jaw-dropping visual style.
