#jacob koskoff

[blogdemocratesjr]

Macbeth (2015) by Todd Louiso, Jacob Koskoff, Michael Lesslie

[byneddiedingo]

Michael Fassbender in Macbeth (Justin Kurzel, 2015)

Cast: Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Paddy Considine, Sean Harris, Jack Reynor, Elizabeth Debicki, David Thewlis, David Heyman, Maurice Roëves, Brian Nickels, Ross Anderson. Screenplay: Todd Louiso, Jacob Koskoff, Michael Lesslie, based on a play by William Shakespeare. Cinematography: Adam Arkapaw. Production design: Fiona Crombie. Film editing: Chris Dickens. Music: Jed Kurzel.

Translating a play from its theatrical mode into a cinematic one is never easy, but Justin Kurzel and his screenwriters, Jacob Koskoff, Michael Lesslie, and Todd Louiso, do several smart things in their adaptation of Macbeth. They open the film with a scene not in Shakespeare's play, the funeral of a small child presumably born to Macbeth (Michael Fassbender) and his Lady (Marion Cotillard), an extrapolation from Lady Macbeth's later claim that she has "given suck" to an infant. It establishes the sense of unsettling loss and grave disorientation that feeds the Macbeths' ambition. The film also scraps the witches' cauldron scene, its "double, double, toil and trouble" and "eye of newt" incantations, which can become ludicrous even in a well-done modern production, turning the witches into Halloween hags instead of the eerie prophets Shakespeare portrayed. In their place, the witches become three peasant women, one of whom has a baby in her arms, accompanied by another child. They seem indigenous, gifted with the air of prophecy attributed to those close to the land. Another problematic element of the play, the movement of Birnam Wood to Dunsinane, which can look silly on stage, with soldiers carrying branches in their hands, is resolved into something terrifying: Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane in the form of ashes and sparks, after the forest is set fire to by the troops of Macduff (Sean Harris) and Malcolm (Jack Reynor). This also creates a hellish landscape for the final duel of Macbeth and Macduff. There are some other touches that, though cinematic, don't work quite so well. Lady Macbeth's line, "screw your courage to the sticking place," is turned into a kind of dirty joke: an encouragement for Macbeth to penetrate her sexually. The banquet scene and the appearance of Banquo's ghost (Paddy Considine) are awkwardly staged. The lady's sleepwalking scene is shorn of its witnesses, and despite Cotillard's fine performance, it becomes a disjointed monologue in which she returns to the scene of the original crime, the murder of Duncan (David Thewlis). And worst of all, I think, the fear that speaking Shakespeare's verse aloud could become "stagey," leads Kurzel to reduce much of the dialogue and soliloquies to murmurs and whispers. The "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" speech is barely coherent when Macbeth mutters it as he hauls Lady Macbeth from her deathbed. Fassbender and Cotillard are formidable actors, but they have been done a severe disservice by not allowing them to use their voices to full effect.

[ljones41]

“MARSHALL” (2017) Review

"MARSHALL" (2017) Review I have a confession. I had no interest in seeing the recent movie, "MARSHALL", when I first heard about it. I thought it would turn out to be one of those solemn biography flicks about some "great man in history" and his struggles to become successful in his endeavors. But when I learned about the movie's plot, I changed my mind and decided to see it.

Directed by Reginald Hudlin, "MARSHALL" was about a "great man in history" - none other than the first African-American to be an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall. However, this film focused on his position as a defense counselor for and director of NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and his role in the 1941 case of "the State of Connecticut v. Joseph Spell". Following the successful end of a case in Oklahoma in 1941, NAACP defense attorney Thurgood Marshall returns to New York City for a rest. However, his rest and reunion with his wife, Vivien "Buster" Burey, is short-lived when NAACP Director Walter Francis White sends him to Bridgeport, Connecticut to defend Joseph Spell, a chauffeur accused of rape by his white employer, Eleanor Strubing. In order to get Marshall admitted to the local bar and defend Spell, a local member of the Bridgeport NAACP office tries to recruit an insurance attorney named Sam Friedman to help. However, Friedman is more interested in keeping his distance from the controversial case, until his brother Irwin coerces him into getting involved. Judge Foster a family friend of prosecutor Lorin Willis, agrees to admit Marshall to the local bar. But he forbids Marshall from speaking during the trial. This act forces Friedman to act as Spell's lead counsel, while Marshall guides the former through the jury selection process and the actual trial. Judge Foster's refusal to allow Marshall to speak proves to be the first of several stumbling blocks in his and Friedman's efforts to defend Spell. Despite the movie's narrative, "MARSHALL" could have remained one of those stately biopics that usually ends up boring me senseless. Thanks to Reginald Hudlin's direction and the screenplay written by Michael and Jacob Koskoff, the movie proved to be a lot different. Instead, "MARSHALL" proved to be a very interesting re-creation of the 1941 controversial case in which a black man is accused of raping a white woman. Stories or real life incidents involving interracial rape - especially that of white women - have been around for decades. Stories about racism in the U.S. South have been around for a long time, as well. However, I have also noticed that in recent years, Hollywood has turned its eye upon Northern racism, especially in the Northeast. In its portrayal of the "the State of Connecticut v. Joseph Spell" case, "MARSHALL"turned out to be one of those movies that exposed Northern racism. I was also impressed by how the Koskoff brothers treated the Spell case as a legal mystery. Ironically, the movie did not begin with scenes that led to Joseph Spell's arrest. I must admit that I had expected "MARSHALL" to begin with a sequence featuring vague details of the crime. Instead, it began with Thurgood Marshall finishing a case in Oklahoma. The audience learned about the Spell case around the same time Walter White assigned him to defend Joseph Spell. This led me to realize that the entire movie was told from the viewpoint of two people - Marshall and Sam Friedman. Some have criticized the movie for including Friedman as a leading character in the film. They believed this situation robbed the Thurgood Marshall character some of his agency as the film's leading character, by having Friedman as a co-lead. Personally, I did not mind occasionally watching the film from Friedman's point-of-view. I found it interesting. And to be honest, history itself set up this situation, due to the trial's presiding judge refusing to recognize Marshall as Spell's primary attorney. However, dealing with a potentially hostile judge and a patronizing prosecutor, and being regulated to secondary attorney for the defense seemed to be a walk in the park for Marshall. He also has to deal with Bridgeport's racially hostile citizens; pressure from the N.A.A.C.P. to successfully defend Spell; and Friedman, who turned out to be a reluctant and wary co-defender, worried about how his defense of Spell would affect his practice. Marshall also has to deal with Friedman's lack of experience in criminal law. But the biggest roadblock proves to be Marshall's growing suspicion that his client is lying about the latter's relationship with the alleged victim. And I thought the movie did an excellent job keeping these aspects of the story balance, due to the Koskoffs' screenplay and Hudlin's direction. I have a minor quibble regarding the movie. Although the movie made it plain that the N.A.A.C.P. regarded Marshall's successful defense of Spell as a means to lure more donations for the agency, I believed that it ignored an even more important topic. A part of me wished that the movie had also touched upon Northern blacks' feelings of being ignored by the agency and the latter's illusion that most of American racism was focused in the South. Another reason why a "not guilty" for Spell was so important was to convey the message that confronting racism from the North and other parts of the country was just as important as confronting as Southern racism. But I get the feeling that the movie's producers, writers and director were wary of approaching, let alone exploring this topic. Considering that "MARSHALL" is not what one would consider a large budget film, I was impressed by its production values. Now I cannot say that any of the film's technical details blew my mind. Well . . . perhaps two of them did. I found Newton Thomas Sigel's cinematography colorful, sharp and lovely to look at. This seemed especially apparent in the film's exterior shots. I also enjoyed Ruth E. Carter's costume designs. Not only did I find them to be a close representation of fashion for both men and women in 1941, but they also seemed to be good representations of the major characters' economic class. As for Richard Hoover's production designs, Kara Lindstrom's set decorations and Jeff Schoen's art direction; I found satisfying, but not particularly memorable. "MARSHALL" featured solid performances from supporting cast members like Jeffrey DeMunn, John Magaro, Zanete Shadwick, Derrick Baskin, Barrett Doss, Keesha Sharp, Rozanda Sharp, and Jeremy Bobb. Jussie Smollett gave a brief, yet subtle performance as the famous poet, Langston Hughes. And Roger Guenveur Smith was effectively commanding as N.A.A.C.P. director Walter White. Dan Stevens did an excellent job in conveying the patronizing and self-privileged prosecutor Loren Willis. James Cromwell gave a very interesting performance as Judge Foster. Although Cromwell managed to convey his character's obvious bigotry, it seemed that some of his character's decisions - including a willingness to allow Marshall to act as second chair for the defense - seemed to express the latter's unwillingness to put Northern racism on display for the world to see. Kate Hudson's portrayal of the alleged victim, Eleanor Strubing struck me as effectively ambiguous. Hudson did an excellent job in conveying mixed signals over her character. I felt anger over her character's charges of rape against the defendant. Yet at the same time, I felt pity toward the character being an obvious victim of spousal abuse. Ironically, Sterling K. Brown also managed to effectively convey the ambiguity of his character, the defendant Joseph Spell. Now, one might wonder why I would regard Spell as an ambiguous character. Brown did an excellent job in expressing his character's innocence. And yet, the actor also managed to convey the air that his character was lying to Marshall on a certain level. I have seen Chadwick Boseman in three other films before "MARSHALL". And I was impressed. But I felt a lot more impressed by his portrayal of Thurgood Marshall in this film. The actor did a superb job in conveying the different aspects of Marshall's personality - his charisma, witty sense of humor, intelligence and more importantly, a slight perverse streak in his nature. Boseman was very subtle in expressing Marshall's arrogance and slight tendency of needling . . . especially with Langston Hughes and Sam Friedman. Another first-rate performance came from Josh Gad, who portrayed Friedman, the man forced to act as Spell's primary defender. I noticed that although Friedman seemed friendly with the head of Bridgeport's N.A.A.C.P. office, he seemed very wary of helping Marshall with defending Spell. I understood this. He was worried how his participation in the case would look with his own clients and Bridgeport's Jewish community. But I realized that if Friedman had truly been that racially tolerant at the time, he would not care . . . like his brother. This is why I found it very satisfying to watch Gad develop into that openly tolerant man who no longer cared about how others would regard his views on race and especially African-Americans. I would never regard "MARSHALL" as one of the best movies of 2017. To be honest, I do not believe in any "best movies of the year" list. But I enjoyed "MARSHALL" so much that in the end, it became one of my favorite movies of that year. And I can thank director Reginald Hudlin, screenwriters Jacob and Michael Koskoff and an excellent cast led by the always talented Chadwick Boseman for making this film so enjoyable and fascinating for me.

[redcarpetview]

Chadwick Boseman Stars as Thurgood Marshall in Film “Marshall”

Chadwick Boseman in MARSHALL. Photo credit:  Barry Wetcher / Distributor: Open Road Films

    By Naomi Richard

     Actor Chadwick Boseman plays the Honorable Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, as he battles through one of his career-defining cases in the biopic Marshall, in theaters nationwide now. Marshall, appointed to the Supreme Court in 1967, is most famous for his victory in the landmark 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education case, which desegregated public schools.

        Boseman is an established and accomplished actor, slated as the upcoming Black Panther (2018) and he played baseball great Jackie Robinson in the biopic 42. In a recent press interview, Boseman explained the journey to landing the roll as Marshall. “Every biopic that comes through my attorneys and agents are like, ‘we will read it first before it gets to you.’ Second of all I’ll be like, ‘no, no, no.’ So it took me knowing Reggie [Reginald Hudlin] and wanting to work with Reggie and Paula Wagner, a long time successful producer. She was friends with my agent…Then John Marshall [Thurgood Marshall’s son] wrote a letter saying he wanted me to play the role. Then it was a yes!”

        The biopic Marshall depicts a young Thurgood Marshall facing one of his greatest challenges while working as a lawyer for the NAACP.  Marshall travels to conservative Connecticut when wealthy socialite Eleanor Strubing (played by Kate Hudson) accuses black chauffeur Joseph Spell of sexual assault and attempted murder. He soon teams up with Sam Friedman, a local Jewish lawyer who's never handled a criminal case. Together, the two men build a defense while contending with racist and anti-Semitic views from those who deem Spell to be guilty.

         Chadwick Boseman and Josh Gad in MARSHALL. Photo credit:  Barry Wetcher / Distributor: Open Road Films             

       The screenplay, co-written by Michael and Jacob Koskoff was sold to producer Paula Wagner, who is the powerhouse behind the Mission Impossible franchise, Jack Reacher, The Last Samurai, The Eye and Vanilla Sky, to name a few. Wagner also sits on the National Board of Directors for the Producers Guild of America.

        As mentioned, the film is directed by Reginald Hudlin, movie producer of the box office sensation Django Unchained, which grossed over $400 million dollars worldwide. Other cast members include Josh Gad -- a multi-talented comedian, dancer and dramatic actor with a recent Beauty and the Beast credit -- Sterling K. Brown, Dan Stevens, James Cromwell, Keesha Sharp, Jussie Smollett and more. It Is rated PG-13 and distributed by Open Road Films.

                                                                                                                        # # #

[dekster184-blog]

MACBETH

Macbeth is a 2015 British-French-American war historical drama film

Based on William Shakespeare's play of the same name

Directed by Justin Kurzel

Written by Jacob Koskoff, Todd Louiso, and Michael Lesslie. 

The film stars Michael Fassbender in the title role and Marion Cotillard as Lady Macbeth.

Starring Paddy Considine, Sean Harris, Jack Reynor, Elizabeth Debicki

[milliondollarbaby87]

Marshall (2017) Review

In America in the 1940s young layer Thurgood Marshall travels across the country defending innocent African-Americans from the unjust and very biased courts. The case in Connecticut sees him work with Sam Friedman to defend Joseph Spell who has been accused of raping a wealthy white woman.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

(more…)

[envisiontv]

Marshall – Trailer Young Thurgood Marshall faces one of his greatest challenges while working as a lawyer for the NAACP.

[supportblackart]

@blackonblackbk & @IKINSIGHTS & @thebrowncrayonproject cordially invite you to an advanced movie screening of the film "Marshall" at the Weeksville Heritage Center. . Join us for an intimate viewing of the new film ahead of the October 13th release date. Watch the official trailer here. . Space is limited so register early. Tickets are FREE but required for admission. Seating is first come, first served, so plan to get there early. Doors open at 6pm and the film will start promptly at 6:30p. . Ticket includes Popcorn + Refreshments* courtesy of Kaiso Cocktail. ••• ABOUT THE MOVIE: Long before he sat on the United States Supreme Court or claimed victory in Brown v. Board of Education, Thurgood Marshall (Chadwick Boseman) was a young rabble-rousing attorney for the NAACP. The new motion picture, MARSHALL, is the true story of his greatest challenge in those early days – a fight he fought alongside attorney Sam Friedman (Josh Gad), a young lawyer with no experience in criminal law: the case of black chauffeur Joseph Spell (Sterling K. Brown), accused by his white employer, Eleanor Strubing (Kate Hudson), of sexual assault and attempted murder. . Release date: October 13, 2017 (USA) Director: Reginald Hudlin Distributed by: Open Road Films Language: English Language Screenplay: Jacob Koskoff, Michael Koskoff . *** The Weeksville Heritage Center works to celebrate and preserve the history of Weeksville, Brooklyn - one of America’s first Free Black communities. To learn more about the center’s mission and events, be sure to check out their website: http://www.weeksvillesociety.org/ . #supportblackart #filmscreening #blackart #blacketyblack #blackonblackbk #blackskin #blacknose #blacklips #blackhair #blackeverything #blacklivesmatter #alliesandchampions #wefight #weresist #wewillwin #outfittingtherevolution #deconstructtheconstruct #blaaaaacknificent #blackpower #blackpride #america #supportblackbusiness #MarshallMovie #IntrinsikImpact #IKInsights #StandUpForSomething (at Weeksville Heritage Center)

[blogdemocratesjr]

Macbeth (2015) by Todd Louiso, Jacob Koskoff, Michael Lesslie

[trentteti]

Marshall, the film: Our Review

Thurgood Marshall: Second-ever Special Counsel to the NAACP. All-time record holder for most civil rights cases argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, where he boasted an impressive record of 29-3. The guy who successfully extended voting rights, ended racially restrictive housing covenants, desegregated law schools and grad schools. Oh, and later public schools in general in a little case called Brown v. Board of Education. A titanic figure in public interest law and impact litigation. The first African-American Supreme Court Justice, a position he used to tirelessly defend individual’s constitutional rights from the bench.

In other words, it’s crazy difficult to pick which of the many accomplishments in his long and storied legal career is his most significant. But it’s easy to pick one that probably isn’t his most significant: Thurgood Marshall has been mentioned by name on the LSAT more than any other historical figure. And really, that means there have just been a couple Reading Comprehension passages about him and a few Logical Reasoning questions that mentioned him.

Nonetheless, we at Blueprint have developed a semi-healthy obsession with him based on his semi-ubiquity on the LSAT. We use Thurgood as an example several times throughout our classroom curriculum. Our instructors sing his hosannas while we teach Reading Comprehension passages about him. We used to proudly feature a Thurgood Marshall action figure on the cover of one of our coursebooks.

So when Marshall — the new film about a case a young Thurgood tried as an attorney for the NAACP — came out, we were first in line to see it. OK, we were not actually first in line. Chance the Rapper — who bought all of the tickets to the film at a few Chicago theaters and invited fans to see it for free — was first in line. He was even more stoked than we were about the film, but that dude is positively gleeful.

Anyway, we were still very excited to get a hit of uncut Thurgood Marshall on celluloid this weekend. And I am eager to share my review: It’s a well-acted and briskly-paced courtroom drama with far too little Thurgood Marshall in it.

From the very first scene, in which Thurgood dons a freshly ironed white button-up shirt like a cape, Thurgood is a dude you want to spend time with. Throughout the film, he’s more or less presented like a legal super hero. Charismatically played by Chadwick Boseman (the guy you call when your film is about an important 20th-century African-American figure, even when the historical figure in question looks nothing like Chadwick Boseman), his young Thurgood is dapper, supremely confident, and sardonic, but with a pithy one-liner for every legal query that comes his way. Basically Tony Stark, Esq. There’s even a running joke involving Walter White, head of the NAACP, firing up the equivalent of a bat signal whenever a new case requires Thurgood.

So Chadwick is a lot of a fun getting some pre-Black Panther reps in as Thurgood the Legal Eagle. And some of the best scenes — whether it’s him at jazz club teasing quasi-rivals Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston (both of whom are also subjects of Reading Comprehension passages) or joking about the apparently-true story about the time he lost one of his, uh, Thurgoods — just involve him holding court, being funny and open and engaging. Or the little comic grace notes that find Thurgood blithely ignoring racially instilled expectations of him, whether it’s directing a white attorney to carry his bags (full of his traveling legal library) or blithely walking into the dining room of a members-only club.

But those scenes are less plentiful than they should be for a movie bearing Thurgood’s surname. Which, by the way, Marshall? Terrible title. I get that going with the much more awesome sounding Thurgood would risk confusion with the 2011 HBO film of the same name, in which Morpheus played the eponymous judge. But Marshall risks confusion with We Are Marshall, U.S. Marshals, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and Marshal Law. They may as well gone with Thurgod or ThurGREAT or That’s Some Thurgood Lawyering.

Anyway, the plot: It’s 1941 and Thurgood is the only attorney at the NAACP, which has the legal mission to represent those falsely accused of crimes because of their race. Which brings Thurgood to the case of Joseph Spell (Sterling K. Brown of This Is Us and The People vs. OJ Simpson, and the most compelling screen presence here), a black man with a checkered past who has been accused of the rape and attempted murder of Greenwich, Connecticut socialite Eleanor Strubing (Kate Hudson). You’re expecting that we’re going to get to see Thurgood dunk on some racists in the courtroom and exculpate an innocent man and, if you hold the real-life Thurgood in as high esteem as we do, you’re hyped.

Except, as a result of the wonders of state bars, Thurgood has to team up with a nebbish local attorney named Sam Friedman (Josh Gad) to represent Spell. And due to deeply ingrained institutional racism, here represented by the judge (James Cromwell, channeling the appearance and demeanor of Gregg Popovich at his grumpiest), Thurgood isn’t permitted to make arguments in the case — only offer advice and support to the decidedly less charismatic Friedman, an insurance attorney who has never tried a criminal case before.

Yes, you read that correctly. In the major motion picture about one of the greatest litigators of all time, we don’t get to see our titular protagonist litigate, really at all. Seems like an unforced error. In fact, Thurgood disappears from the movie for large stretches of run-time. Director Reginald Hudlin and screenwriters Michael and Jacob Koskoff devise a few clever work-arounds to show us how effective Thurgood was in the courtroom, but nearly the entire legal showdown in Marshall pits Friedman against the smarmy blue-blood prosecutor Lorin Willis (Dan Stevens). And the big Oscar bait-y climactic speech of the film goes to Sterling K. Brown, not Boseman.

So the movie’s biggest blunder seems to be the case it chose to serve as its subject matter. At the NAACP, Thurgood argued hundreds of cases on a near-constant basis, as this movie makes clear. The one they chose has Thurgood sitting on the sidelines. The movie could uncharitably be interpreted as not a snapshot of one of the great legal minds of our time, but as a story about a white attorney who learns to be brave and stand up for civil rights. And, while this is obviously not the filmmakers’ fault, now is maybe not the moment when Hollywood should put out a movie in which the plot turns on whether a woman accusing a man of sexual assault is lying. So there’s that, too.

But overall, the movie is an enjoyable legal drama about an early case for two legal figures, Marshall and Friedman, at various stages in their developments as civil rights attorneys. And the movie’s most interesting ideas also stem from the film’s choice of case, such as showing how the bigotry of this era was not limited to the Jim Crow South, whether its the institutional racism confronting Thurgood and Spell or the anti-Semitism facing Friedman. We could have used some more Thurgood in our Marshall, but pretty much every movie gets an expanded universe at this point, so perhaps we’ll get that in Marshall II.

159/180.

Marshall, the film: Our Review was originally published on LSAT Blog

[the-kino-blog1]

Las películas seleccionadas para los Golden Globes, BAFTA, SAG y Oscars 2017-18, por estudios cinematográficos.

Paramount: 

“Downsizing” (Paramount Pictures/Annapurna Pictures) – Dec. 22

Director: Alexander Payne 

Guión: Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor

Elenco: Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig, Christoph Waltz, Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Sudeikis, Alec Baldwin, Margo Martindale

“mother!” (Paramount Pictures) – Sept. 15

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Guión: Darren Aronofsky

Elenco: Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Domhnall Gleeson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ed Harris, Jovan Adepo

“Suburbicon” (Paramount Pictures) – Nov. 3

Director: George Clooney

Guión: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, George Clooney, Grant Heslov

Cast: Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin

Sony Pictures Entertainment:

“All the Money in the World” (TriStar) – Dec. 8

Director: Ridley Scott

Guión: David Scarpa

Elenco: Michelle Williams, Kevin Spacey, Mark Wahlberg, Charlie Plummer, Timothy Hutton

“Roman Israel, Esq” (Columbia) – Nov. 3

Director: Dan Gilroy

Guión: Dan Gilroy

Elenco: Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell, Carmen Ejogo

IFC Films:

“Personal Shopper” (IFC Films) – March 10

Director: Olivier Assayas

Guión: Olivier Assayas

Elenco: Kristen Stewart, Anders Danielsen Lie, Lars Eidinger

“Rebel in the Rye” (IFC Films) – Sept. 15

Director: Danny Strong

Guión: Danny Strong (based on the biography “J.D. Salinger: A Life” by Kenneth Slawenski)

Elenco: Nicholas Hoult, Zoey Deutch, Sarah Paulson, Kevin Spacey, Victor Garber, Hope Davis, Eric Bogosian, Brian d’Arcy James

Bleecker Street:

“Breathe” (Bleecker Street/Participant Media) – Oct. 13

Director: Andy Serkis

Guión: William Nicholson

Elenco: Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy, Tom Hollander, Hugh Bonneville, Dean-Charles Chapman

“Logan Lucky” (Fingerprint Releasing/Bleecker Street) – Aug. 18

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Guión: Rebecca Blunt

Elenco: Daniel Craig, Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Katherine Waterston, Riley Keough, Sebastian Stan, Katie Holmes, Hilary Swank, Seth MacFarlane.

“The Lost City of Z ” (Amazon Studios/Bleecker Street) – April 14

Director: James Gray

Guión: James Gray (based on the book by David Grann)

Elenco: Charlie Hunnam, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Sienna Miller

“The Man Who Invented Christmas” (Bleecker Street) – Nov. 3

Director: Bharat Nalluri

Guión: Susan Coyne (based on the book of the same name by Les Standiford)

Elenco: Dan Stevens, Christopher Plummer, Jonathan Pryce

Open Road:

“Marshall” (Open Road Films) – Oct. 13

Director: Reginald Hudlin

Writers: Jacob Koskoff, Michael Koskoff

Elenco: Chadwick Boseman, Sterling K. Brown, Dan Stevens, Kate Hudson, Josh Gad, James Cromwell, Jussie Smollett

“Home Again” (Open Road Films) – Sept. 8

Director: Hallie Meyers-Shyer

Guión: Hallie Meyers-Shyer

Elenco: Reese Witherspoon, Nat Wolff, Jon Rudnitsky, Pico Alexander, Michael Sheen, Candice Bergen

Focus Features:

“The Beguiled” (Focus Features/Gramercy Pictures) – June 23

Director: Sofia Coppola

Guión: Sofia Coppola (based on the novel by Thomas Cullinan)

Elenco: Nicole Kidman, Elle Fanning, Kirsten Dunst, Colin Farrell

“Darkest Hour” (Focus Features/Working Title Films) – Nov. 24

Director: Joe Wright

Guión: Anthony McCarten

Elenco: Gary Oldman, John Hurt, Ben Mendelsohn, Lily James, Kristin Scott Thomas, Stephen Dillane

“Phantom Thread” (Annapurna Pictures/Focus Features) – Dec. 25

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Writer: Paul Thomas Anderson

Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Leslie Manville, Vicky Krieps, Sarah Lamesch

“Victoria and Abdul” (Focus Features) – Sept. 22

Director: Stephen Frears

Guión: Lee Hall (based on the book by Shrabani Basu)

Elenco: Judi Dench, Ali Fazal, Olivia Williams, Michael Gambon, Eddie Izzard, Simon Callow

Fox Searchlight:

“Battle of the Sexes” (Fox Searchlight) – Sept. 22

Directors: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris

Guión: Simon Beaufoy

Elenco: Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Elisabeth Shue, Andrea Riseborough, Alan Cumming, Sarah Silverman, Natalie Morales

“Gifted” (Fox Searchlight Pictures) – April 7

Director: Marc Webb

Guión: Tom Flynn

Elenco: Chris Evans, Jenny Slate, Octavia Spencer, Mckenna Grace

“Goodbye Christopher Robin” (Fox Searchlight Pictures) – Oct. 13

Director: Simon Curtis

Guión: Frank Cottrell Boyce, Simon Vaughan

Elenco: Domhnall Gleeson, Margot Robbie, Kelly Macdonald

“My Cousin Rachel” (Fox Searchlight Pictures) – June 9

Director: Roger Michell

Writer: Roger Michell (based on the novel by Daphne Du Maurier)

Cast: Rachel Weisz, Sam Claflin, Holliday Grainger, Iain Glen

“The Shape of Water” (Fox Searchlight Picture) – Dec. 8

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Guión: Daniel Kraus, Vanessa Taylor, Guillermo del Toro

Elenco: Michael Shannon, Octavia Spencer, Michael Stuhlbarg, Sally Hawkins, Doug Jones, Richard Jenkins

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” (Fox Searchlight Pictures) – Nov. 10

Director: Martin McDonagh

Guión: Martin McDonagh

Elenco: Frances, McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Peter Dinklage, Abbie Cornish, Sam Rockwell, Lucas Hedges Zeljko Ivanek, John Hawkes, Clarke Peters

[deepartnature]

Marshall - Reginald Hudlin (2017)

Wikipedia - "Marshall is a 2017 American biographical legal drama film directed by Reginald Hudlin and written by Michael and Jacob Koskoff. It stars Chadwick Boseman as Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, and focuses on one of the first cases of his career, the State of Connecticut v. Joseph Spell. It also stars Josh Gad, Kate Hudson, Dan Stevens, Sterling K. Brown, and James Cromwell. ... In 1940, Thurgood Marshall is an NAACP  lawyer traveling the country defending people of color who are wrongly  accused of crimes because of racial prejudice.  Upon his return to his New York office, he is sent to Bridgeport, Connecticut,  to defend Joseph Spell, a chauffeur accused of rape by his white employer, Eleanor Strubing, in a case that has gripped the newspapers. In Bridgeport, insurance lawyer Sam Friedman is assigned by his brother to get Marshall admitted to the local bar, against his will.  At the hearing, Judge Foster, a friend of the father of prosecutor Lorin Willis, agrees to admit Marshall, but forbids Marshall from speaking during the trial, forcing Friedman to be Spell's lead counsel.  Marshall  must guide Friedman through notes, such as when he advises Friedman to  allow a woman of Southern white descent into the jury because of her   assertive and questioning personality. ..."

Wikipedia

Smithsonian: The True Story Behind “Marshall”

Roger Ebert

amazon

YouTube: MARSHALL | Trailer 1

[tabloidtoc]

Hollywood Reporter, November 20

Cover: Spotify’s Daniel Ek and Dawn Ostroff unveil a plan to harness Hollywood talent and exclusive podcasts to become the world’s #1 audio platform 

Page 10: Contents 

Page 14: Contents 

Page 21: The Report -- Star Wars Uncertainty Extends to Disney’s Lucasfilm Leader Too 

Page 22: What the End of the Paramount Decrees Actually Means 

Page 24: Taylor Swift vs. Scooter Braun and the Imminent Rerecording War 

Page 26: More Joker -- Warners’ 1B Reasons to Say Yes

Page 28: Box Office, Broadcast TV, Cable TV, Billboard Hot 100, Billboard 200, Closer Look -- Apple TV + Audience So Far 

Page 30: Awards Season -- Best Picture -- Joker, The Good Liar, Ford v Ferrari, Best Original Screenplay -- Lena Waithe for Queen & Slim, Best Actress -- Jessie Buckley in Wild Rose, Best Supporting Actress -- Margot Robbie in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Zhao Shuzhen in The Farewell 

Page 32: 7 Days of Deals -- It’s Showtime for A24-produced Features on Television, $500M Price Is Right for Sony’s GSN Takeover, Rights Available -- The Districts by Johnny Dwyer, Revelation by Bobi Gentry Goodwin, Film -- Nicolas Cage, Spike Lee, Mark Wahlberg and Tom Holland, Sam Worthington and Russell Crowe, Michael De Luca 

Page 33: Television -- Sarah Michelle Gellar, Vanessa Bayer, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Nick Cannon, Clive Owen, Jenni Konner and Sarah Treem, Digital -- Joe and Anthony Russo, Riley Keough, Bill Murray and Alyssa Milano, Eddie Murphy, Gary Oldman, Real Estate -- Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Rep Sheet -- Mia Maestro, Valerie Weiss, Drake Doremus, Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, Victoria Mahoney, Julia Fox, Next Big Thing -- Jonah Hauer-King 

Page 37: About Town -- Cenk Uygur: ‘I’m Going to Maul Them’ 

Page 38: R.I.P. Retail Therapy: A Fond Farewell to Barneys, Mike Nichols and Sidney Lumet and Roman Polanski: Three New Reads on Larger-Than-Life Moviemaking

Page 40: Yes, I Did Say That! Taylor Swift, John Stankey, Elizabeth Banks, Byron Allen, Julia Wolov on Louis C.K., Gayle King, Alex Zhu, Jeff Probst, Flashback -- Courteney Cox in 2014 

Page 42: HFPA and THR’s Golden Globes Ambassador Party -- Kaitlyn Dever and Olivia Wilde and Beanie Feldstein, Daniel Kaluuya and Emilia Clarke, Jacob Tremblay and Rob Gronkowski, Kate Beckinsale and Jamie Foxx and Tyrese Gibson, Adam Scott, Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd and Robert Pattinson, Greta Gerwig and Amy Pascal, Ali Wong and Chrissy Metz, Florence Pugh and Joe Keery and Ginnifer Goodwin and Jameela Jamil, Natasha Lyonne and Jill Soloway and Shakina Nayfack, Dylan Brosnan and Pierce Brosnan and Lorenzo Soria and Paris Brosnan, Justin Hartley and Bonnie Arnold, Sam Taylor-Johnson and husband Aaron 

Page 43: The Big Bash Gala -- Megan Colligan and son Lukas Roybal, Nina Jacobson, Mike Shumard, Susan Moseley and Priscilla Valldejuli and Sherry Lansing and Laura Lizer, Mike Daly, Michael Green and Rob Steinman and Dan Gardenswartz 

Page 44: Rambling Reporter -- Finding Jack’s directors originally wanted Elvis Presley to bring back from the dead but had to settle for James Dean, Noah Baumbach’s agent Jeremy Barber has cameos in three of his films including Marriage Story, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington finally won the top prize at the 1939 Cannes Film Festival, Idris Elba is now shilling for Ford but he used to work on their assembly line, Power Dining -- Dana Walden, Jeremy Zimmer, T Bone Burnett, Billy Porter, Halm Saban, JoJo Siwa, Bruce Willis, Olivia Munn, Michael Ovitz, Ben Stein, Bob Simonds, Roy Price, John Branca, Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez, Common, Laura Dern 

Page 46: Hitched, Hatched, Hired 

Page 50: The Business -- Lisa Katz and Tracey Pakosta 

Page 52: Law & Policy -- The Streaming Wars’ Wild West: Programmers vs. Distributors 

Page 54: The Race -- Are Films About Slavery Good for African Americans? 

Page 56: Behind the Screen -- Finding the Revs and Roars of Ford v Ferrari 

Page 62: Style -- Wine for Everyone on Your List 

Page 64: Send Me the Same Stuff the Guys Get -- Don’t buy into antiquated stereotypes and assume women want wine as gifts

Page 66: Cover Story -- Spotify the Storyteller 

Page 72: Producers Roundtable -- Debra Martin Chase, Peter Chernin, Charlize Theron, Dan Lin, Emma Tillinger Koskoff and David Heyman 

Page 80: Awards Season Playbook -- Directing -- James Mangold of Ford v Ferrari, Taika Waititi of Jojo Rabbit, Destin Daniel Cretton of Just Mercy, Noah Baumbach of Marriage Story, Quentin Tarantino of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Bong Joon Ho of Parasite, Melina Matsoukas of Queen & Slim, Dexter Fletcher of Rocketman, Robert Eggers of The Lighthouse, Benny and Josh Safdie of Uncut Gems, Trey Edward Shults of Waves 

Page 82: Writing -- These screenplays might seem fantastical but the exploration of how a dad’s love (or lack of it) shapes a man couldn’t be more real 

Page 84: The making of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood 

Page 88: Critic’s Notebook -- The “Plus TV” Era Is Upon Us 

Page 89: Social Climbers -- Actors -- Lili Reinhart, Tom Felton, Scripted TV -- Stranger Things, TV Personalities -- Jimmy Fallon 

Page 90: Backlot -- Hollywood’s Top 25 Marketing Masterminds 

Page 94: How Singapore Is Shaping Asia’s Digital Future 

Page 96: 90 Years of THR -- 1982 -- Tom Hanks Got His Start in Splatter and D&D Flicks

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Where to Watch Chadwick Boseman Movies

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The late Chadwick Boseman made just 15 films before his shocking, devastating death last week from colon cancer. But many of those 15 movies (one, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, is coming soon from Netflix) had already left an undeniable and in some cases massive impact on cinema, even before becoming the permanent legacy of an incredible actor taken from us far too soon.

Not only did his portrayal of King T’Challa in Marvel’s Black Panther and three other Marvel Cinematic Universe entries change film history itself, but he brought some of the most important figures in both Black and American culture to the screen. Jackie Robinson and Thurgood Marshall were American heroes of gigantic stature, and Boseman managed to introduce them to new generations of viewers through his sensitive, complex portrayals.

By all accounts, Chadwick Boseman wanted each of his roles to mean something. He wanted to tell the story of Black history and push that story forward every time he stepped in front of a camera. While so much of his filmography achieved that, there was clearly much more than this gifted artist was going to give us had he lived. You can see his power, his decency, his dignity and his charisma in every frame of the work we have, and fortunately it’s almost all available to us. Sadly, it will have to be enough.

Universal Pictures

The Express: The Ernie Davis Story (2008)

Chadwick Boseman had appeared on a handful of TV programs before landing his first role in a theatrical feature. While his role as a young version of real life Pro Football Hall of Famer Floyd Little was relatively minor, it did presage Boseman’s star turns in later sports movies like 42 and the fictional Draft Day. As for The Express itself, the story of Ernie Davis — the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy — was sadly a box office disappointment despite good reviews, but might be rediscovered now.

Available on Amazon

101 Films

The Kill Hole (2012)         

It was four years before Boseman showed up on the big screen again, in a military thriller with Peter Greene and Billy Zane. It’s significant because it’s Boseman’s first lead role in a film: he plays Lt. Samuel Drake, an ex-Marine suffering from PTSD who is tasked by intelligence operatives to track down and kill another Iraq vet who’s gone off the deep end. The low-budget entry only holds a 25% score on Rotten Tomatoes, but completists may want to see what Boseman was doing before he landed his breakout gig.

Available on Amazon

Brooklyn Dodgers first baseman Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) acknowledges the crowd in 42.

42 (2013)            

The film that first got Boseman the attention he deserved as a major upcoming talent is only the second theatrical feature (after 1950’s The Jackie Robinson Story, which starred Robinson himself) to tell the historic story of the first African-American baseball player to make it to the major leagues.

Boseman is full of strength, presence and grace, and he plays beautifully off Harrison Ford as Brooklyn Dodgers owner Branch Rickey in one of that actor’s best latter-day performances. An inspirational, moving film.

Available on Amazon

Summit Entertainment

Draft Day (2014)              

Boseman followed up 42 with another sports drama, this time a fictional tale of how Cleveland Browns general manager Sonny Weaver (Kevin Costner) makes an unexpected first draft pick in linebacker Vontae Mack (Boseman) and must deal with the aftermath of that. Boseman’s role is a supporting one here and he’s fine in it, while the film itself may be enjoyable for NFL fans but a bit confusing for general viewers. There was better to come in 2014 from the actor.

Available on Amazon

Universal Pictures

Get on Up (2014)

Boseman lights up the screen in this biopic of the legendary James Brown, doing all his own dancing and even some singing as the Godfather of Soul. The movie itself, directed by Tate Taylor (The Help) is not perfect, playing with different narrative structures and omitting a number of incidents from Brown’s life. But the main attraction is once again Boseman, who doesn’t so much imitate Brown as inhabit his wild, untamed, often troubled spirit.

Available on HBO Max

Lionsgate

Gods of Egypt (2016)      

This half-baked fantasy saga set in ancient Egypt is probably among the low points of Boseman’s career, not the least because of the whitewashing controversy surrounding some of the casting. Boseman himself took the role of Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom, to make sure there was a person of African descent in the mix, but even his usual dignity can’t save this CG-addled mess.

Available on Amazon

Disney

Captain America: Civil War (2016)             

When Marvel revealed Boseman as the man who would play T’Challa/Black Panther at a 2014 fan event, it seemed like the most natural pick in the world. And it proved to be right off the bat: Boseman’s introduction in the role in Civil War was electrifying, with the actor showing off not only his action chops but the regality and force of personality necessary to play the young king of the Afro-futuristic nation of Wakanda. His turn in Civil War only whetted the fans’ appetites for what was to come.

Available on Disney+

Netflix

Message from the King (2016)     

Jacob King (Boseman) travels from Cape Town, South Africa to Los Angeles to find out what happened to his sister, ultimately embarking on a mission to avenge her death against a seedy backdrop of gangs, politics and depraved Hollywood producers. Boseman was also an executive producer on the project, which was directed by Belgian filmmaker Fabrice Du Welz, who made the brutal Calvaire in 2004.

Available on Netflix

Open Road Films

Marshall (2017) 

Boseman’s last portrayal of a major Black figure in American history was underseen at the time of its release and will hopefully get some revived attention now (albeit under terrible circumstances). Director Reginald Hudlin and writers Jacob and Michael Koskoff focus on the early years of the first African-American to sit on the Supreme Court, and while that unfortunately leaves out some of his titanic later accomplishments, the movie is still a gripping courtroom drama that shows a giant in the making.

Available on: Amazon

Disney

Black Panther (2018)       

What can be said about Black Panther that hasn’t already been said? Thrilling, game-changing, and historic, the first superhero film not just led by a person of color but steeped wholly in African culture was a magnificent achievement in nearly every way. You can feel the passion from director Ryan Coogler in every frame, and a dazzling cast is led powerfully by its King, who embodies T’Challa in such a wholly formed way that he will always be associated with the character.

Available on Disney+

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

With so many characters to juggle in Marvel’s all-in clash against Thanos, it was inevitable that some got less to do than others. T’Challa plays a key role in corralling Wakanda’s armies to stand against the Mad Titan in the latter half of the film, and Boseman again brings a formidable presence even with less to do. Yet it’s no accident that some of the loudest gasps in the audience came when T’Challa was dusted at the end of the film — only hammering home just what an impact he had already made on the MCU.

Available on Disney+

Disney

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

With most of the Avengers and their allies dematerialized until the closing sequences of the movie, T’Challa is not much of a factor in the events of Endgame. But as with the audience reaction to his dusting in Infinity War, the response when he, Shuri (Letitia Wright) and Okoye (Danai Gurira) are the first to emerge from a portal to join the final fight remains a high point of seeing Endgame with an audience. It is beyond sad that we’ll never get to see Boseman in the role again.

Available on Disney+

Matt Kennedy/STX Films

21 Bridges (2019)             

A good cast and interesting premise — Boseman plays a detective who shuts down all 21 bridges on and off the island of Manhattan to catch two cop-killers — can’t save this film from being just average. Boseman is unfortunately given little to work with in terms of his character. The movie boasts a handful of striking action and chase sequences, but ultimately ends up as a rather generic thriller.

Available on Amazon (coming to Showtime Sept. 5)

Netflix

Da 5 Bloods (2020)          

Boseman’s Norman Earl “Stormin’ Norm” Holloway is only seen leading his squadron in Viet Nam during flashbacks in Spike Lee’s messy but often brilliant war drama. But his presence is the linchpin on which this powerful, poignant story rests, as the surviving members of that squad head back to the country decades later to find Holloway’s remains (and a buried stash of gold). This searing commentary on war through the filter of the Black experience is likely to be a major Oscar contender.

Available on Netflix

The post Where to Watch Chadwick Boseman Movies appeared first on Den of Geek.

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Sterling K. Brown Interview for "Marshall"

Sterling K. Brown Interview for “Marshall”

Shawn Edwards Interviews Sterling Brown about his new film “Marshall”.

Sterling Kelby Brown (born April 5, 1976) is an American actor. He is known for playing Christopher Darden in The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story, for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. Brown is also known for his role as Roland Burton on the…

[vfxexpress]

Macbeth VFX Breakdown VFX Done By BlueBolt

Macbeth VFX Breakdown VFX Done By BlueBolt

Macbeth is a 2015 British-French epic historical drama film directed by Justin Kurzel and written for the screen by Jacob Koskoff, Todd Louiso, and Michael Lesslie. The screenplay is based on William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth.

The film stars Michael Fassbender in the title role and Marion Cotillard as Lady Macbeth, with Paddy Considine, Sean Harris, Jack Reynor, Elizabeth Debicki, and David…