Ford v Ferrari
Director: James Mangold
Writer: Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, Jason Keller
Cast: Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Jon Bernthal, Caitriona Balfe, Tracy Letts, Josh Lucas, Noah Jupe, Remo Girone, Ray McKinnon
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Rated PG-13 | Minutes: 150
Release Date: November 15, 2019

Great sports cinema goes far beyond what happens on the field, the court, or in this case, the racing track. It explores the unseen drama and relationships that are created off of them. Ford v Ferrari, directed by James Mangold, is just that kind of film as it chronicles the building of a better, faster, and stronger American car, while also elevating the story with a real-life grounded human drama.

Though it may check off all the boxes when it comes to biographical sports films, it also makes and checks off a few more with its editing and technical designs in sound, production, and costumes, and has audiences consuming what they are watching thanks in part to terrific performances from Matt Damon and Christian Bale. Check out the full review below.

20th Century Fox’s Ford v Ferrari looks at the real-life rivalry between Ford and Ferrari over dominance at the Le Mans endurance race, and how American car designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and the fearless British-born driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale) put their own differences and personal demons aside to win the ultimate prize at the world’s most coveted race. The biographical film has gotten huge praise over at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival and is expected to earn some nominations during awards season. So check out the new trailer for the film here below.

Back in May we saw a trailer for Lord of the Rings, Planet of the Apes, and King Kong star Andy Serkis‘s new adaptation of Rudyard Kipling‘s The Jungle Book titled Mowgli.

At the time the movie was set up at Warner Brothers, where it had been housed over the past four years since we first heard about it. But since that time Warner Bros. lost confidence in the film, and eventually sold it to Netflix. In the acquisition Netflix obtained a film with a hell of a cast, which includes Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Freida Pinto, Matthew Rhys, Naomie Harris, and Serkis, all joining young Rohan Chand, who plays the title character.

Now Netflix has released their own official trailer for the movie, now titled Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, and you can check it out below along with a synopsis for the movie.

Christian Bale has done a few things to get into character. He lost enough weight to become nothing but skin and bone in The Machinist. He bulked up for The Dark Knight trilogy. Now he will do something that is opposite all of that and become almost unrecognizable. Gain weight to become Vice President Dick Cheney.

A new trailer for Adam McKay‘s Vice has just been released by Annapurna Pictures, and it gives us a glimpse at another possible awards contender. Check out the trailer below.

Andy Serkis is perhaps best known for his amazing motion-capture work in the Lord Of The Rings and rebooted Planet Of The Apes film series than anything else in his entire career. But now the master of creating characters like Gollum and Caesar takes a turn behind the camera for Mowgli. While the Serkis had previously done double-duty as actor and second-unit director for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, he’s making his feature directorial debut with Mowgli, a darker adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. The film had which been delayed to work on the technology and presentation, as well as to get some distance from Disney’s recent live-action adaptation.

Now, for the first time, we are getting a look at the trailer for Mowgli. Check it out here below.

A teaser trailer has made its way online for Hostiles, a western drama from Crazy Heart, Out of the Furnace, and Black Mass director Scott Cooper starring Christian Bale.

The movie made waves with screenings at the Telluride Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival, and it has been compared to the 1956 John Wayne classic The Searchers directed by John Ford.

Continue reading for more info on Hostiles and to give the first trailer a watch.

I don’t know if people will be talking about Zack Snyder’s and Ben Affleck’s Batman when the year 2026 or so rolls around or not. What I do know is that people are still talking about Christopher Nolan‘s and Christian Bale‘s Batman, especially 2008’s The Dark Knight, which featured the late Heath Ledger‘s unforgettable Oscar-winning performance as the Joker.

An excellent new YouTube channel (only a couple of months old) called Lessons from the Screenplay takes a closer look at Ledger’s Joker in a recently released video, and what truly made him the perfect villain to face off with the Batman.

You can check it out below.

Disney’s live-action adaptation of The Jungle Book set the bar pretty high not only for future adaptations of Rudyard Kipling‘s novel of the same name but also for filmmakers who will use the same stunning crystal clear visual technology that had audiences awestruck.

So there are a lot of eyes on Andy Serkis‘s Jungle Book: Origins, which uses pretty much the same-level star power and will employ a higher-level of visual effects given that Serkis is the one who is behind the camera. Warner Bros. recently decided to push the release date for the film. While that may have been a worry for some, the director says the new date would help him with perfecting the visuals for this very ambitious project, which he says will be “breaking new ground with realistic non-humanoid animal faces” and “convincingly communicate with human language and emotion via performance capture, and are able to stand up to real scrutiny in richly complex dramatic scenes.”

Now he is also talking about the film’s tone, which he says will be “dark” and explore a few different themes that Disney’s film didn’t. More on the story below.

It wasn’t more than few years ago when Alfonso Cuarón brought us a dazzling look at space with the Academy Award-winning Gravity. Now the filmmaker will be taking his talents to the jungle to help out Andy Serkis. New reports are coming in saying that Cuarón has been brought in to consult with Serkis on Jungle Book: Origins. Just a couple of weeks back, Warner Bros. pushed the film’s release back a full year in an effort to perfect the visual effects. But with a big name filmmaker already on board, it still remains to be seen how much of Cuarón’s involvement will have an impact on the film.

More on the story below.

On Sunday night, Hollywood will get together for its biggest party of the year, the 88th Annual Academy Awards, otherwise known as the Oscars. The night promises laughs, shocks, and plenty of controversy as for the second straight year all 20 acting nominees are white. With comedian Chris Rock hosting, expect some jabs directed at the Academy.

I love the Oscars, even when I hate them. Movies are my passion and the biggest night in movies has become a holiday akin to the Super Bowl. Every year, I try earnestly to see all the films nominated for top honors, and I went over and beyond this year. Not only did I watch all 8 nominated films, but I watched 19 of the 20 of the ranked Oscar performances (sorry Charlotte Rampling). Since this is my first of several Oscars 2016 columns to come, I thought it best to start in the same way the big show begins… no sorry, not with a huge musical number. Nearly every year, they open the awards distribution with a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Last year, JK Simmons accepted his trophy for playing the deliciously malicious orchestra leader in Best Pic nominee Whiplash. Simmons, much more resigned than his ferocious role as Fletcher, encouraged everyone to call their moms.

So without further ado, let’s introduce the Best Supporting Actor and Actress nominees, and then move on to the Best Actor and Actress nominees. I’ll tell you who will likely will win… but more importantly, who I think should win.