2024 SUMMER MOVIE PREVIEW

As the summer movie season approaches, it appears that it's not going to be business as usual. The effects of the pandemic and the Hollywood strikes are still being felt with attendance still significantly below previous years. It's proven to be even more challenging than expected to get people to want to leave their home to see a new movie in a theater after being conditioned to wait until it hits VOD. 

This past Memorial Day weekend has proven to be a big disappointment with the final box-office tally over the four days ended up being the lowest in thirty years. And with the strikes lasting for months, there were no movies being made, leaving not enough major movies available to fill the schedule throughout this year. All of this doesn't seem to bode well for the upcoming summer. But I'm optimistic that there will be several films that will breakout over the next three months that will generate buzz and business. Here are a few upcoming movies that I am looking forward to see this summer:

All release dates are subject to change:

"THE BIKERIDERS"

Release date: June 21, 2024

It has been almost nine years since Jeff Nichols, the filmmaker behind the critically acclaimed, "Take Shelter", "Mud" and "Loving", has directed a feature film. He is finally back with his sixth film, "The Bikeriders", inspired by a real-life Chicago based biker gang. Set in the '60's, the film follows the rise of the Vandals MC, a group of motorcycle riding outcasts and we watch it's members (Tom Hardy, Austin Butler, Mike Faist and Michael Shannon who has appeared in all of Nichols' films) form a surrogate family. But when a violent criminal element enters their group, it creates problems for some members.

"THELMA"

Release date: June 21, 2024

The actor, Josh Margolin, makes his directorial film debut with the action-comedy, "Thelma". June Squibb stars (for the very first time in her seventy year acting career) as the title character, a grandmother who is duped by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson (Fred Hechinger), stealing her hard earned money. Not willing to accept this loss, Thelma is determined to track down the thieves with the help of her friend (Richard Roundtree), much to the horror of her daughter (Parker Posey) and son-in-law (Clark Gregg).

"JANET PLANET"

Release date: June 28, 2024

"Janet Planet" is a coming-of-age drama about the arduous relationship between Janet (Julianne Nicholson), a free-spirited, single mother and Lacy (Zoe Ziegler), her clingy, pre-teen daughter. Over the summer, Janet invites three important people in her life; her boyfriend (Will Patton), her best friend (Sophie Okonedo) and a theater group leader (Elias Koteas), to spend time with her at her home in rural Massachusetts. Lacy, however, is not at all happy about this arrangement. Annie Baker, a playwright who won a Pulitzer for her drama, “The Flick”, makes her cinematic debut as a writer and director.

"MAXXXINE"

Release date: July 5, 2024

In the final film of his horror trilogy, Ti West will deliver "MaXXXine". We follow Maxine (Mia Goth), now living in 1980's Los Angeles and still determined to become a star. Hollywood is not particularly interested in her talents so she settles for a career in adult films. Her fame brings her the unwanted attention of a serial killer known as "the Night Stalker". Elizabeth Debicki, Bobby Cannavale, Giancarlo Esposito and Kevin Bacon also star.

"DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE"

Release date: July 26, 2024

This summer's Marvel Comics movie is "Deadpool and Wolverine", the third in the series of the wisecracking superhuman, this time directed by Shawn Levy. Leaving his life behind as Deadpool, Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) is pulled back into a mission by the Time Variance Authority to stop an existential threat to his home universe. And he's teamed up with an even more reluctant Wolverine (Hugh Jackson, first time back in costume since 2013) to help fight in this battle.

"BORDERLANDS"

Release date: August 9, 2024

I do not play video games and have not been much of a fan of film adaptations of them. But I have to admit I'm intrigued by "Borderlands", the latest venture in trying to develop a narrative around a software program. Based on the space-western game, Lilith (Cate Blanchett) is an ruthless outlaw who is hired by Atlas (Edgar Ramírez) to track down his missing daughter. She assembles a gang of oddball misfits (which includes Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis and the voice of Jack Black) to help find the girl, encountering alien monsters and deranged bandits along the way. The cast is certainly inspired and Eli Roth, a filmmaker best known for his horror thrillers, "Cabin Fever", "Hostel" and "Thanksgiving", is an adventurous choice for director.

"BLINK TWICE"

Release date: August 23, 2024

The actress Zoë Kravitz has moved behind the camera to direct and co-write her first feature film, the psychological comedy-thriller, "Blink Twice". A waitress (Naomi Ackie) is lured by a charming tech mogul (Channing Tatum) to go off to his private island for sun, fun and adventure. She brings along a friend (Alia Shawkat) to keep her company and for safety but odd and disturbing things begin to happen on the isle that prevents them from helping each other. Kravitz has assembled a great supporting cast for her film that includes Christian Slater, Simon Rex, Haley Joel Osment, Kyle MacLachlan and Geena Davis.

WINNERS OF THE 2024 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

The winner of the Palme d'Or at the close of the 77th Cannes Film Festival is "Anora", the latest from American indie filmmaker, Sean Baker. Baker's entire filmography has been focused on marginalized outcasts, in particular sex workers, with the films, "Starlet", "Tangerine" and "Red Rocket" and now with "Anora", the story revolves around a stripper (Mikey Madison) who meets and falls in love with the son (Mark Eidelstein) of a Russian oligarch. But when his parents finds out about her past, they are not pleased and try to end their relationship.

The runner-up Grand Prize went to "All We Imagine as Light" from Payal Kapadia. This feature film debut, which is the first selection for competition from India in many years, follows a couple of nurses in Mumbai who are both having troubled relationships. A road trip they go on together to a beach town opens their minds to other possibilities.

The third place winner of the Jury Prize was awarded to "Emilia Pérez", a Spanish-language musical-comedy from acclaimed French filmmaker, Jacques Audiard, the two-time Palme d'Or winner for "Rust and Bone" and "Dheepan". This film is about a drug cartel leader (Édgar Ramírez) who decides to change the direction of his life and his gender. The four female leads in "Emilia Pérez": Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Adriana Paz and Selena Gomez, all share the Best Actress prize.

Best Director went to Miguel Gomes for his work in "Grand Tour", a period drama set in Rangoon, Burma (now known as Myanmar) involving a Civil servant who takes off and abandons his fiancée on their wedding day. However, she is determined to be married and begins a quest to track him down. And Jesse Plemons won Best Actor for his performance in Yorgos Lanthimos' upcoming absurdist dark comedy, "Kinds of Kindness" where he plays three different roles.

And one of the buzziest films at the fest was "The Substance", Coralie Fargeat's social satire, horror-comedy that features Demi Moore (in a very welcome comeback) as a long-time television host who is fired from her job for being too "old", taking extreme measures in the form of a drug that transforms her into her "best self" which becomes the form of Margaret Qualley. The French director won the Best Screenplay award for this film.

Here is the list of winners of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival:

Palme d’Or: "Anora"
Grand Prize: "All We Imagine as Light"



Jury Prize: "Emilia Perez"



Best Director: Miguel Gomes, "Grand Tour"



Best Screenplay: Coralie Fargeat, "The Substance"



Special Prize: Mohammad Rasoulof, "The Seed of the Sacred Fig"
Best Actor: Jesse Plemons, "Kinds of Kindness"
Best Actress: Adriana Paz, Zoe Saldana, Karla Sofia Gascon and Selena Gomez, "Emilia Perez"
Camera d’Or: "Armand"
Special Mention: Chiang Wei Liang, "Mongrel"
Short Film Palme d’Or: "The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent"
Special Mention: Daniel Soares, "Bad For a Moment"

2024 NEWFEST PRIDE FILM FESTIVAL

With the future of Outfest, the Los Angeles based LBGTQ+ film festival, still up in the air, at least the East coast will have a festival of cinema this summer for the queer community. Newfest, NYC's long-running queer centered film & media fest, will be offering Newfest Pride, a special five day cinematic event beginning May 30th through June 3rd. To help kick off Pride month, this fest serves as a celebration of the community's legacy by offering contemporary stories which explores the various aspects of queer lives.

The Opening Night film will be Brian J. Smith's "A House is Not a Disco" which details the history of Fire Island, the iconic beach town fifty miles outside of New York City, that has long been known for being a queer getaway paradise and explores how the area will try to redefine itself for the next generation.

Other films that will be screened include "Close to You", a drama that stars, Elliot Page (who also produced and co-wrote the screenplay with director, Dominic Savage) as a trans man who returns home to Toronto for the first time since transitioning, reluctantly making the trip back for his father's birthday; "Queen of my Dreams", a romantic-comedy from writer/director Fawzia Mirza tells the story of Azra (Amrit Kaur) who lives with her girlfriend which creates a strained relationship with her conservative Muslim mother, Mariam (Nimra Bucha). A death in the family takes Azra to Pakistan for the burial where she uncovers unexpected connections with her mother; Dakota Johnson stars in "Am I Ok?", a comedy from co-directors Tig Notaro & Stephanie Allynne about self-discovery, life changes and friendship between Lucy (Johnson) and Jane (Sonoya Mizuno) when Lucy reveals a long-held secret and "Sebastian", from writer/director Mikko Mäkelä, is about an aspiring writer (Ruaridh Mollica) in London who secretly at night is a sex worker going by the name, "Sebastian" with these experiences helping to fuel his writing.







Also there will be a free advanced screening of the first two episodes of "Fantasmas", the latest absurdist comedy series from Julio Torres ("Los Espookys", "Problemista"). The show follows Torres (playing a version of himself) on the search for a golden oyster earring and the interesting people he encounters along the way. And there will be free outdoor screening at the Rink at Rockefeller Center with the ground-breaking, drag queen comedy classic, "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar" that starred Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze, and John Leguizamo.





There will be in-person screenings held at various locations in the city as well as virtual access for many of the films presented during the fest. For information on the complete film schedule, parties, filmmaker Q&A's and how to purchase tickets or passes, please click below:

2024 Newfest Pride

CIVIL WAR (2024)

Written & Directed by Alex Garland

Where & When: AMC The Grove, Los Angeles, CA. April 16, 2024  9:00 PM

We are in an election year which means that some American citizens will be hyped up to actively voice which side of the political spectrum they happen to fall on. At one time, not so long ago, a person's politics used to be held close to the vest. But now, not only have people become more aggressively vocal on their views, they feel some inexplicable need to vilify their party rivals to the frightening point of bloodshed.

"Civil War", the latest feature film from writer/director Alex Garland, is a compelling drama that explores the idea of the United States has once again fallen into a deadly conflict that has Americans fighting against fellow Americans over political disagreements. Full of intrigue, intense thrills and controversial observations, Garland paints a disturbing scenario that feels more probable than at any other time in our country's history. 

Our story begins in the middle of this American civil war with the country divided into four sections which includes the odd pairing of an unified alliance between California and Texas called the Western Forces.  We are not given much information in regards to how this conflict started beyond that the President (Nick Offerman) would not leave office, giving himself a third term, and his disbanding of the FBI. 

Joel (Wagner Moura), a hot shot correspondent from Florida and the far more subdued, acclaimed photo journalist, Lee (Kirsten Dunst), are covering a large crowd pushing to get food aid in Brooklyn. A suicide bomber brings Lee into the path of Jessie (Cailee Spaeny), a young aspiring photographer. Realizing who she is, Jessie tries to connect but a weary Lee shuts it down, wishing her luck and sending the novice on her way.

Lee and Joel plan to head to Washington DC in order to get the final interview by the President before the district falls to the Western Forces. However, Lee, despite her protests against the idea, discovers that Joel has invited Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson), a veteran New Times Times reporter, and Jessie to join them on this treacherous road trip.

As they travel across the country, we witness what America has become during this battle. Through the burned out buildings, destroyed cars and decaying corpses, they encounter an armed, motley crew patrolling a gas station, purchasing fuel from them using more valuable Canadian dollars and remaining silent as they watch how they deal with apparent looters, a militia executing captured fellow Americans who were loyalist soldiers for the corrupt President and entering a small town with the residents living life as normal, uninvolved in this violent conflict although there are armed men on building rooftops.

Garland, who began his career as a novelist before turning to script writing ("28 Days Later", "Dredd") and then moving behind the camera with "Ex Machina" (still my favorite of his four feature films), is one of the more innovative filmmakers working in cinema today, using his literary gifts to enhance the less respected genres of action-adventure, horror and sci-fi. With "Civil War", he make an effort to remain objective, staying above the current partisan clash in the US, by keeping the focus of this action-thriller on the human element of the story involving our main characters.

As they proceed through their dangerous journey, these four professional colleges are forced to lean into each other for physical protection and emotional support. All of the performers are excellent but it's Dunst who draws us into this story, playing Lee as a hardened soul, a person who has seen so much death and destruction, that the arrival of Jessie begins to soften her spirit, reminding her of the ambition and doubts she had experienced in her early days as a photojournalist. But this also causes Lee to crack, slowly breaking down the protective wall she had erected which leads her down to the point of inertia.

The scene that is most talked about (and most disturbing) best encapsulates what the film is trying to convey. After Jessie is separated from her team and ends up in a car with a couple of fellow reporters, they are stopped by a menacing figure in red sunglasses armed with an assault rifle, played by an uncredited Jesse Plemons. Joel and Lee arrive to the area, surrounded by piles of bodies being dumped into a makeshift grave, trying to deescalate the situation. As this self-appointed judge questions each of them with "Where are you from?" and "What kind of American are you?", they soon realize that the potential wrong answer could cost them their lives.

This moment is terrifying, reeking of White supremacy and xenophobia, bringing into focus what could happen to our society if we continue to lose our compassion and humanity by only viewing people who disagree with us as a threatening, dangerous enemy. "Civil War" attempts to reveal in this vividly striking and extreme drama a bleak vision of a potential future if we continue down this destructive path of intolerance and a blind allegiance to political party affiliation.

ROGER CORMAN (1926 - 2024)

Roger Corman, the indie producer and filmmaker who found success on his own terms and outside of the studio system, has passed away on May 9th at the age of ninety-eight. Known as "The King of the B-Movies", the highly influential Corman helped launch the careers of several directors, giving some their first opportunity behind the camera, like Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, James Cameron, Jonathan Demme, Peter Bogdanovich, John Sayles as well as giving promising young actors starring roles in his films like Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, Diane Ladd and Sylvester Stallone.

Corman began his career at 20th Century Fox in the mail room, working his way up to a story reader. Becoming disillusioned by his time with the studio, Corman went on to study at Oxford University. After a few years, he returned to Los Angeles to try the movie business again, getting a job as an assistant to a literary agent. Corman completed his first script and sold it to a producer of an independent studio, Allied Artists. It was made as "Highway Dragnet" in 1954 that starred Richard Conte and Joan Bennett with Corman working as an associate producer for no salary in order to gain experience on a film production.

The film's success began Corman's career as a independent producer, working for American International Pictures, and later directed his first film for them in 1955, "Five Guns West", a low budget Western. Over time with an amazing track record of low budgeted films earning high profits, Corman became established as the leading filmmaker at AIP. By 1959, Corman moved into film distribution, founding The Filmgroup, a company producing and releasing low-budget films to serve as double features for drive-ins and action houses.

One of these early movies, "A Bucket of Blood", a horror-comedy in 1959 had completed filming and the very resourceful Corman came up with the idea to shoot another movie using the same sets, much of the same cast and story structure to make another horror-comedy, "The Little Shop of Horrors", reportedly shot over two days and a night. Corman helped make a star out of Vincent Price, appearing in many films including most of Corman's series of eight films largely based on the works of author, Edgar Allan Poe. Corman was also responsible for handling the distribution of many films by acclaimed foreign-language directors, helping them find an audience in the U.S., which included Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, François Truffaut and Akira Kurosawa.

In 1970, Corman founded New World Pictures, which became a small, independently owned production and distribution studio. Some of the films from this time included these cult classics "The Big Doll House", "Black Mama, White Mama", "Boxcar Bertha" (Scorsese's second film as a director), "Candy Stripe Nurses", "Caged Heat" (directed by Demme) and "Big Bad Mama".

Over his seventy year career, Corman directed seventy feature films and produced over three hundred. He went on to earn Lifetime Achievement Awards from more than forty film festivals and received an Honorary Oscar in 2009.

2024 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

The 2024 Cannes Film Festival is on the way, a celebration of new, exciting works of cinema from across the globe running from May 14th to 25th. The poster for the 77th edition of this fest features a screen image from Akira Kurosawa's 1991 feature, "Rhapsody in August" to honor the legendary Japanese filmmaker. A 4K restoration of Kurosawa's "The Seven Samurai" will be screened during the festival to celebrate the 70th anniversary of his illustrious classic.

Cannes will open this year with Quentin Dupieux‘s French-language comedy, "Le Deuxième Acte (The Second Act)",  which stars Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Louis Garrel and Raphaël Quenard, making it's world premiere out of competition.



Greta Gerwig, the director of last year's box-office phenomenon, "Barbie", will be the President of the Main Competition Jury that will select the winners of prizes. The American actress/filmmaker will be joined by fellow jurors Turkish screenwriter, Ebru Ceylan; American actress Lily Gladstone; French actress Eva Green; Lebanese director/screenwriter Nadine Labaki; Spanish director J.A. Bayona; Italian actor Pierfrancisco Favino; Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda and French actor Omar Sy.

Some of the films selected for the Main Competition include new feature films by acclaimed international creators Ali Abbasi ("The Apprentice"), Karim Aïnouz ("Motel Destino"), Andrea Arnold ("Bird"), Jacques Audiard ("Emilia Perez"), Sean Baker ("Anora"), David Cronenberg ("The Shrouds"), Michel Hazanavicius ("The Most Precious of Cargoes"), Christophe Honoré ("Marcello Mio"), Jia Zhang-Ke ("Feng Liu Yi Dai (Caught by the Tides)"), Yorgos Lanthimos ("Kinds of Kindness"), Paul Schrader ("Oh, Canada"), Paolo Sorrentino ("Parthenope") and Francis Ford Coppola with his first film in fourteen years, the self-financed, one hundred million dollar, sci-fi drama, "Megalopolis".









New this year, Cannes will be looking into the future by launching a competitive immersive section featuring works of virtual and augmented reality. In the Cannes Classics section, there is an impressive line-up of restored films. In addition to "The Seven Samurai", we have a 4K restoration of Wim Wenders' 1984 Palme d'Or winner, "Paris, Texas"; the 1964 Palme d'Or winner, "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg", the enchanting musical by Jacques Demy who will be featured in a new documentary, "Jacques Demy: Le Rose et Le Noir" by Florence Platarets that will make it's premiere during the fest; "Gilda", the classic 1946 film starring Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford, which this 4K restoration will help celebrate the 100th anniversary of Columbia Pictures and "The Sugarland Express", Steven Spielberg's early breakthrough will have a 50th anniversary restoration screening.

"Napoleon", the groundbreaking, seven hour silent film by French filmmaker, Abel Gance, will finally be screened again after sixteen years of extensive restoration work. After premiering at the Paris Opera on April 27, 1927, the film was hacked-up by various entities over the years with twenty-two different known versions appearing to date and has not been seen in it's proper, original form since the premiere. "Napoleon" will be screened first in two parts before being shown in it's entirety with a 250 piece, live orchestra before heading to Netflix in France.









New, intriguing documentaries on celebrated actors, Faye Dunaway and Elizabeth Taylor (which utilizes newly discovered recordings); French filmmaker, François Truffaut, music composer, Michel Legrand and "Muppets" creator Jim Henson (in a film directed by Ron Howard) will be presented. And "Scénario", a 18-minute film by Jean-Luc Godard, will be the final new project by the iconic French filmmaker to be screened at the fest, completed the day before his voluntary death in 2022 at the age of ninety-one.