Last night’s Oscars went off without a hitch. No real controversies plagued the 2025 Academy Awards, thanks in part to the “tight ship” that host Conan O’Brien ran. However, for movie fans, there were still plenty of surprises. Anora came out as a big winner, and even though it did have a lot of hype around it, the competition it faced was no picnic. One of the biggest wins of the night went to Adrian Brody as he won his second Best Actor award for his performance in The Brutalist. Twenty-two years ago, Brody would win the award for The Pianist, and as he took to the stage, he gave presenter Halle Berry an unprompted, passionate kiss that attracted some controversy.

Fast-forward to last night. Brody took to the stage again to accept his award. No Halle Berry this time, but Brody gives a lengthy, emotional speech (even denying the band playing him off at one point). However, Variety reports that Berry would still get her smooch as she caught up with Brody during an interview with Access Hollywood prior to the ceremony. As Brody conversed with Access Hollywood‘s Mario Lopez, Berry walked up to Brody and paid him back for blindsiding her back in 2003.

@accesshollywood HALLE BERRY KISSED ADRIEN BRODY AT THE #OSCARS !!! THIS IS NOT A DRILL #AWARDSEASON ♬ original sound – Access Hollywood

Berry joked with Variety, “That was one hell of a night for him, and for me as well. To be a part of his moment… tonight I had to pay him back. I’ve seen him out at parties, but this is the first time since that night that I’ve seen him on the red carpet somewhere. He’s nominated this year. He deserved that.” The night would only get better for Brody as he was announced as the winner of his category and his speech reflected a lot of self-growth and immense gratitude that he was able to bounce back from some career lows to partake in a film like The Brutalist.

Brody’s initial kiss with Berry at the 2003 Academy Awards is especially controversial nowadays after a bevy of sexual abuse cases in Hollywood have been exposed and people are more sensitive to certain behaviors. The Brutalist star is not lost on the iffiness of his past actions as he told Variety fairly recently, “We live in a very conscious time, which is a wonderful thing. And nothing that I ever do or have done or would’ve done is ever done with the intention of making anyone feel bad.”

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Brady Corbet is a director who knows how to stretch a dollar. His Oscar-nominated film, The Brutalist, is a 3-and-a-half-hour drama shot on 70mm and it was made for under $10 million. One of Corbet’s strategic advantages to make such a film with a small budget was to use the benefits of tax credits when shooting the American immigrant tale in a location like Hungary. Corbet explained, “We were shooting in a country where things would cost what they really should cost. Hungary is not that cheap where we shot. It’s cheaper than New York City where we spent $1M in transpo on the last movie.”

Deadline is reporting that despite the attention his film is getting, Corbet hasn’t exactly turned any kind of profit from the A24 drama. Corbet revealed on the WTF Podcast with Marc Maron that it would actually turn out to be a number of advertising gigs in Portugal where it had been “the first time that I had made any money in years.” The director said that he and his wife, who co-wrote The Brutalist, had “made zero dollars on the last two films that we made.” Maron would react in surprise, Corbet confirmed, “Yes. Actually, zero. We had to just sort of live off of a paycheck from three years ago.” He continued, “I’ve spoken to many filmmakers that have films that are nominated this year that can’t pay their rent. I mean, that’s a real thing.”

Corbet and other directors are often spending months promoting their films on a worldwide press tour, but aren’t paid by the studio to it. Corbet expounded, “If you look at certain films that premiered in Cannes [Film Festival], that was almost a year ago … I mean, our film premiered in September. So I’ve been doing this for six months and had zero income because I don’t have any time to go to work. I can’t even take a writing job at the moment.” He adds, “It’s constant travel, but you’re also working Saturdays and Sundays. I haven’t had a day off since the Christmas break.” He also says that he had partaken in “like 90 interviews last week” in a junket-style press run.

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Smoke came up white at this year’s BAFTAs, with Conclave taking home Best Film along with three other honors. Those four tied it with The Brutalist as both films head to the Oscars in just a few weeks.

The 78th BAFTA Awards found Conclave taking not just Best Film but also Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing, and Outstanding British Film. Meanwhile, The Brutalist would end up with Best Director (Brady Corbet), Best Actor (Adrien Brody), Best Cinematography, and Best Original Score. Both have been predicted as possible upsets for the Best Picture Oscar, mostly in the wake of Emilia Pérez’s downfall.

You can see the full list of winners for this year’s BAFTAs below:

Best Film: Conclave

Best Director: Brady Corbet, The Brutalist

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Adrien Brody, The Brutalist

Best Actress in a Leading Role: Mikey Madison, Anora

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez

Best Original Screenplay: A Real Pain

Best Adapted Screenplay: Conclave

Best Animated Film: Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

Best Documentary: Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story

Best Film Not in the English Language: Emilia Pérez

Best Casting: Anora

Best Cinematography: The Brutalist

Best Costume Design: Wicked

Best Editing: Conclave

Best Make-Up and Hair: The Substance

Best Original Score: The Brutalist

Best Production Design: Wicked

Best Sound: Dune: Part Two

Best Special Visual Effects: Dune: Part Two

Outstanding British Film: Conclave

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer: Kneecap

Best British Short Film: Rock, Paper, Scissors

Best British Short Animation: Wander to Wonder

Best Children’s & Family Film: Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

EE Rising Star Award: David Jonsson

A number of winners are major frontrunners at this year’s Academy Awards, although that doesn’t mean everything has lined up perfectly. Adrien Brody, Emilia Pérez’s Zoe Saldaña and A Real Pain’s Kieran Culkin are more than likely taking home Oscar gold, but Best Actress is a bit more wide open. While most are predicting Demi Moore for The Substance, we absolutely can’t count out Anora’s Mikey Madison, especially if she can ride the Sean Baker wave. Missing from the list of BAFTA nominees was I’m Still Here’s Fernanda Torres, who some believe could sneak in if votes split between Moore and Madison.

Going in, Conclave had the most nominations with 12, with Emilia Pérez right behind with 11 and The Brutalist at nine.

What do you think of this year’s BAFTA winners? How close will they get to predicting the top awards at the Oscars? Share your predictions with us below!

The post BAFTAs: Conclave & The Brutalist lead winners. See the full list here! appeared first on JoBlo.

Some cliche somewhere said that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’ This has proven to be the case for me and especially when it comes to fan art. I have always sought out great fan art and have wanted to share it with as many people as possible. “Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net” is the outlet for that passion. In this column, I will showcase the kick-ass artwork of some great artists, with the hopes that these artists get the attention they deserve. That’s the aim. If you have any questions or comments, or even suggestions of art or other great artists, feel free to contact me at any time at theodorebond@joblo.com.

Bram Stokers Dracula by Şahin Düzgün

The Brutalist by Siddharth Vinod

Captain America: Brave New World by Bruno Carvalho

The Fantastic Four: First Steps by Nuno Sarnadas

First Blood by Forsaken Folklore

Invasion Of The Body Snatchers by Joel Herrera

Mars Attacks! by Aurelio Lorenzo

The Monkey by Macaulay Moran

Pulp Fiction by John Dunn

The Silence Of The Lambs by Ben Turner

The post Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net: The Brutalist, Captain America, Fantastic Four, The Monkey, Pulp Fiction appeared first on JoBlo.

After a nearly one month postponement due to the wildfires in California, the Critics Choice Awards were held last night, with Emilia Pérez, The Substance and Wicked the only movies taking home more than two awards.

You can check out the full list of winners for the 30th Critics Choice Awards – for which our own editor-in-chief Chris Bumbray is an active voting member – below:

Best Picture: ANORA

Best Director: John M. Chu, WICKED

Best Actor: Adrien Brody, THE BRUTALIST

Best Actress: Demi Moore, THE SUBSTANCE

Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin, A REAL PAIN

Best Supporting Actress: Zoe Saldaña, EMILIA PEREZ

Best Young Actor/Actress: Marist Stella, MY OLD ASS

Best Acting Ensemble: CONCLAVE

Best Original Screenplay: THE SUBSTANCE, Coralie Fargaet

Best Adapted Screenplay: CONCLAVE, Peter Straughan

Best Cinematography: NOSFERATU

Best Editing: CHALLENGERS

Best Costume Design: WICKED

Best Production Design: WICKED

Best Score: CHALLENGERS

Best Original Song: “El Mal”, EMILIA PEREZ

Best Hair and Make-Up: THE SUBSTANCE

Best Visual Effects: DUNE: PART TWO

Best Comedy: DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE; A REAL PAIN (tie)

Best Animated Feature: THE WILD ROBOT

Best Foreign Language Film: EMILIA PEREZ

On the television front, Shōgun continued its dominant reign throughout awards season, taking home Best Drama Series, Best Actor in a Drama Series (Hiroyuki Sanada) and both Supporting categories (Tadanobu Asano and Moeka Hoshi). Meanwhile, the comedy that fared the best was Hacks, landing Best Comedy Series, Best Actress in a Comedy Series for Jean Smart and Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Hannah Einbinder. The only other shows to win more than one award were The Penguin and Baby Reindeer.

A lot of the major winners at the Critics Choice Awards are in line with many of the predictions for the Academy Awards, especially when it comes to the acting categories. While The Brutalist’s use of AI to enhance Adrien Brody’s Hungarian accent has been under scrutiny and Emilia Pérez’s Karla Sofía Gascón’s unprecedented awards season freefall could lead Ariana Grande to sweep in over Zoe Saldaña, the odds are that those categories are locks for the Oscars. Otherwise, Wicked’s John M. Chu didn’t even get an Oscar nomination, while Anora could be building the steam it needs to win the up-in-the-air Best Picture race.

What did you think of this year’s Critics Choice Awards winners? Which categories would you have voted differently?

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Mel Gibson’s Flight Risk has taken off to become #1 at the box office this week, pulling in $12 million during its debut. This is a pretty unimpressive number to head the box office, and considering Flight Risk had a budget of $25 million, it has a bit of a way to go to recoup its expenses. But those that did check it out over the weekend no doubt did so in part to support Gibson, who hasn’t directed a movie since 2016’s Hacksaw Ridge.

Flight Risk’s take – which we knew would help it get to #1 this weekend based on early projections – would also mean the dethroning of franchise fare at the 2025 box office so far. Even though we’re still in January (yes, we’re still in January…), it’s worth noting that there have only been sequels at the top of the box office so far this year: Mufasa: The Lion King (a late 2024 release) and Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, with the former obviously being the dominant picture.

Now in its sixth week, Mufasa wouldn’t yet retreat entirely into the jungle, earning $8.7 million, which was good enough for the number two spot, its second bump there so far. It has now grossed $221 million domestically. As for Den of Thieves 2, that ended up dropping all the way down to #9, a 55% tumble. Indeed, Flight Risk would be the only non-holdover from previous weeks to crack the top five. The only key debut this weekend, Steven Soderbergh’s Presence, managed $3.4 million, putting it at #6.

In the #3 spot was One of Them Days in its second week, taking in $8 million from its word of mouth, which helped it get #2 in its opening week. That spot saw it fending off returning sequels Sonic the Hedgehog 3, now in its sixth week, and Moana 2, in week nine. Those movies rounded out the top five with $5.5 and $4.3 million, respectively. Notably, both have already outgrossed their predecessors. Landing at #7 in its second week was Wolf Man, which underperformed in its debut weekend and disappointed in quality considering what had been done with Blumhouse’s The Invisible Man.

Oscar contenders also left their mark towards the bottom of the top 10, with A Complete Unknown – James Mangold’s biopic on Bob Dylan, earning eight nominations – landing at #8 with $3.1 million. Meanwhile, The Brutalist – which could be on its way to a Best Picture victory and Best Actor statue for Adrien Brody – coming in at the bottom spot with $2.87. That’s not an incredible showing for The Brutalist. Still, we’re glad it is finally opening up to more theaters (it added nearly 800 this week) after having peaked at just seven during its Oscar-eligible opening.

Next week, we will see the wide releases of Universal’s animated Dog Man, the Briarcliff action flick Valiant One, and New Line horror Companion, which could get a little bump from IMAX. Worth mentioning, too, is You’re Cordially Invited. Even though it will be on Amazon Prime Video, You’re Cordially Invited is yet another reminder of the state of the theater vs. streaming war, as Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon would’ve made bank together back in the day.

As for the weeks after that, we won’t have powerhouse franchise movies until next month, with Captain America: Brave New World and Paddington in Peru arriving on February 14th (after Paddington’s run in its native U.K.). Additionally, The Day the Earth Blew Up is dropping on February 28th, letting us see just how well a Looney Tunes pic can do on the big screen.

What did you catch at the movies this weekend? Which movies do you expect to round out the top five next week?

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Despite the tragic Los Angeles wildfires, Oscar season is in full swing. This week saw the nominees revealed, and while there were certainly a number of snubs, such as Denis Villeneuve getting passed over for directing Dune Part Two, Denzel Washington not getting any love for Gladiator II, and Angelina Jolie being shut out of the best actress race for Maria, there were some good surprises too. For me, one of the best was seeing Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong get recognized for their terrific work in The Apprentice, even if the film’s subject matter made it a hot potato. 

I was also happy to see The Substance get recognized in several major categories, including best actress, picture and director, while The Brutalist was able to overcome that silly AI scandal to emerge a front-runner. On Friday’s live stream, our host Kier Gomes gave you his two cents on the nominees (you can watch the stream embedded above), but now we’re turning it over to you! Which of the ten nominees for Best Picture deserves to take the prize? Take the poll below and let us know! 

The post Poll: What Should Win Best Picture at the Oscars this year? appeared first on JoBlo.

Update: The Brutalist director Brady Corbet has released a statement to Deadline clarifying the use of AI in the film. “Adrien and Felicity’s performances are completely their own. They worked for months with dialect coach Tanera Marshall to perfect their accents,” Corbet explained. “Innovative Respeecher technology was used in Hungarian language dialogue editing only, specifically to refine certain vowels and letters for accuracy. No English language was changed. This was a manual process, done by our sound team and Respeecher in post-production. The aim was to preserve the authenticity of Adrien and Felicity’s performances in another language, not to replace or alter them and done with the utmost respect for the craft.”

Brody’s performance in the film has been praised, with many believing that the actor has a very real shot at a second Academy Award for Best Actor. AI is a touchy subject, particularly when it comes to movies, so Corbet obviously wants to make sure that Academy voters won’t write Brody off because of this. But has the damage already been done?

— Original article follows —

With a little more than one month to go before the 97th Academy Awards, it looks as if The Brutalist will be the one to beat, with many favoring it to take Best Picture and Brady Corbet Best Director. The odds have also skyrocketed for Adrien Brody to land his second Best Actor Oscar. But he may be hitting a roadblock, as it has been revealed he has taken the most powerful performance-enhancing drug in the industry today: AI. While Brody has been earning non-stop praise for his portrayal of Holocaust survivor and architect László Tóth, it turns out that AI was used to improve his Hungarian accent.

As The Brutalist editor Dávid Jancsó (a Hungarian native) told RedShark News, despite Adrien Brody having Hungarian heritage, it is still notoriously hard to nail. “It’s not that simple. It’s an extremely unique language. We coached [Brody and Felicity Jones] and they did a fabulous job but we also wanted to perfect it so that not even locals will spot any difference.”

Even still, as great as Brody is, the team went through multiple routes to ensure his accent was perfect. “If you’re coming from the Anglo-Saxon world certain sounds can be particularly hard to grasp. We first tried to ADR these harder elements with the actors. Then we tried to ADR them completely with other actors but that just didn’t work. So we looked for other options of how to enhance it.” Jancsó added, “Most of their Hungarian dialogue has a part of me talking in there. We were very careful about keeping their performances. It’s mainly just replacing letters here and there. You can do this in ProTools yourself, but we had so much dialogue in Hungarian that we really needed to speed up the process otherwise we’d still be in post.”

While it’s definitely good that The Brutalist team didn’t immediately try to improve Adrien Brody’s accent with AI (instead wisely trying other methods before ultimately making the decision), that the technology was used – even in an apparent minor capacity – is no doubt going to be a sticking point for many when it comes to Oscar voting. Is this fully Brody at work here or does the nudge from artificial intelligence serve to diminish his performance? Oscar nominations are this week and there’s no argument that Brody will be on the ballot, but will this news hurt his chances as the frontrunner for Best Actor?

What do you think? Was the use of AI justified? Will it cost Adrien Brody the Oscar?

The post Update: The Brutalist director explains how AI was used in the film, says Adrien Brody & Felicity Jones’ performances are “completely their own” appeared first on JoBlo.

We don’t necessarily think of Oliver Stone as one who simply accepts everything that’s in front of him. But Oliver Stone spent the last part of 2024 catching up on some movies, all of which are major Oscar contenders – and all of which he had some high praise for.

Oliver Stone took to social media just ahead of the new year to let followers in on which movies he recently watched. One which many are predicting will actually take home Best Picture is Wicked, in which Stone admitted he had no idea who the actresses were going in but loved their performances. “Wow! I never saw the stage play or followed the coverage, but I just purely loved the sensuality and intelligence of the movie. I didn’t know these two actresses, but what a surprise to find both their performances so fresh and different…” He, too, praised its director for managing such a feat within today’s studio system. “@jonmchu is a helluva filmmaker and is working with challenging material in this prequel that turns everything in #TheWizardofOz upside down. All the more amazing that he pulled it off with a Hollywood studio.”

Oliver Stone also caught A Complete Unknown, a territory of movies he’s vaguely familiar with, having directed The Doors. “#BobDylan’s generation should be happy; they seem to have gotten it right. #TimotheeChalamet, who’s always adorable and sensitive, here displays a strength I’ve not seen before.” Stone would also praise Monica Barbaro and Edward Norton.

And while he was a little bit harder on The Brutalist, saying it starts to fall apart in its second half, a gripe he had with Anora but would still liken director Sean Baker to the Coen and Safdie Brothers. We won’t spoil everything Oliver Stone had to say about some of 2024’s most acclaimed movies; instead we urge you to check out his honest critiques of them.

In summation of his end of 2024 journey through the movies, Oliver Stone wrote: “When I see movies like these, I really want to go back into my 30s and make movies again. They give me the urge and break all the rules that prevented us back then, all the “nos” we faced. This is a whole new era. Except for “Wicked,” I don’t think any one of these films would’ve been initiated or even distributed by any Hollywood entity in previous years. That’s why movies will continue to appeal worldwide. They challenge, they generate and regenerate new ideas constantly with new techniques. But within all of this, let’s not lose sight of the worth in the older films. Too many of them have been forgotten. Instead of castigating Hollywood, we should admire it as a treasure museum to a century of our collective history, and now maybe a second century.” Sadly for Stone, Megalopolis won’t be on the awards circuit this year…

What do you think of Oliver Stone’s musings on some of 2024’s most acclaimed movies? Do you agree or disagree overall?

The post Oliver Stone weighs in on some 2024’s top movies: Wicked, A Complete Unknown, The Brutalist, and more appeared first on JoBlo.

The Brutalist is the new and very ambitious feature from actor-turned-director Brady Corbet. It brings to life the story of an immigrant arriving in America in 1947. And speaking honestly, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about an over three-and-a-half-hour fictional tale about an architect. Especially since his Natalie Portman feature Vox Lux did not work for me. Yet stepping into The Brutalist in 70mm with a buddy of mine, we both were completely engaged in this stunning new work. Adrien Brody is exceptional once again, as is Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn, and more. Brady’s latest is a bold interpretation of history, and an exceptional cinematic world if you are willing to take the journey.

I’ve spoken with Adrien Brody twice: once for Predators and once for Splice. Both are very different films from his latest. Yet when I mentioned Splice before the interview, he had high praise for the varied works. Yet those interviews were nothing compared to this. The love that clearly went into this impressive work is staggering. Brody discussed taking on the role and working with a director like Corbet. Just like his amazing talent, the actor offered a lot of insight for such a short interview. He is a genuinely kind and exceptional talent, a true pleasure to speak with. Honestly, his performance was so utterly compelling that I didn’t leave my seat once.

Next up, I had the honor of talking with the great Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce. While I’ve had the honor of speaking with Mr. Pearce before, this was my first with the lovely and wonderfully talented Jones. The two had a terrific conversation about working alongside the talent of Mr. Brody, as well as working with such a visionary story from a Corbet. The Brutalist is an impressive film, and you can check out what our own Chris Bumbray had to say about it here.

This holiday season, numerous films are well worth watching in a dark theatre. Let us know your thoughts on The Brutalist below.

The post Interview: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, and Guy Pearce Talk The Brutalist appeared first on JoBlo.

Guy Pearce has come a long way from his days on the Aussie soap opera, Neighbours, to his newest film, The Brutalist, for which he’s receiving major accolades. When reviewing The Brutalist, our own Chris Bumbray said, “Pearce, in particular, has never played a role like Van Buren, with him hiding his sadism behind a polished mid-Atlantic accent similar to the one used by John Huston when he played one of the screen’s great villains in Chinatown. Pearce plays him as a man of great charisma but little in the way of scruples. Yet, he’s not two-dimensional; he is also capable of great compassion, even if it comes with an asterisk.”

And while the scope of The Brutalist is grand in its own right, it’s still a small movie when compared to big studio blockbusters. GQ recently profiled Pearce and the actor reflected on his attempt to be a leading man for the special effects-laden adventure film The Time Machine. Pearce recalls, “I think the process of it felt way too big for me. I can’t make [sense of] this idea of studio films where you just get told what to do by people afraid to lose their jobs. I remember there were discussions at the beginning about how I was going to look. A couple of the executives say, ‘No, he’ll just cut his hair and he’ll just do this and he’ll do that.’ And I’m in the room going, Hello? I’m immediately feeling like my intuition doesn’t mean anything here. That’s a killer for me.”

He continued, “It was the first time I really felt that there was not just a disconnect, but a kind of greater power up there that you couldn’t even really talk to.” While The Time Machine would do well in the international market, it was not formidable competition against other big movies at the time and would be likened to John Carter‘s reception. Pearce would rebound from this attempt with 2004’s The Proposition, where he finally felt he found his place as an actor. He speaks about how his director on that film, John Hillcoat, knew how to pull the performance he needed out of him, “I think it was clearer to him that I’m a versatile actor. I’m interested in all walks of life, and I just want to explore all walks of life…. I had to really dig in deep with John, do lots of research with him, and create a bit of a character for myself, try to find how vulnerable and who this person was.”

Funnily enough, it was at a screening of The Proposition that Pearce’s agent finally knew what road to lead him down, “I remember seeing The Proposition with my agent Chris [Andrews, of CAA] at the Toronto Film Festival in 2005. And when we came out of the screening, Chris said to me, ‘Okay, I now get what it is you’re trying to do.‘ And that was a real important moment for me…to have him understand the career that I’m trying to create.”

The post Guy Pearce reflects on his attempt to do big studio movies with The Time Machine appeared first on JoBlo.

PLOT: In the aftermath of WW2, László Tóth (Adrien Brody), a Hungarian-born Jewish architect who survived the holocaust, emigrates to America. While there, he gets a taste of the American dream from a wealthy benefactor (Guy Pearce), although success may carry a price too difficult to bear.

REVIEW: It would be fair to say there hasn’t been a movie like The Brutalist in about forty years. One-time actor Brady Corbet, who emerged as a director following The Childhood of a Leader and the underrated Vox Lux, makes movies in the vein of David Lean, with this telling a deeply personal story on an epic scale the likes of which we haven’t seen in a long time. Shooting in 70mm VistaVision, The Brutalist is a three-and-a-half hour masterwork (with an intermission) that will go a long way towards establishing Corbett as one of the great modern directors. 

Indeed, The Brutalist is a full meal (I skipped all the TIFF screenings after it because I needed to digest what I’d seen for a while). It’s a whole lot of movie, but right from the opening scenes, where Adrien Brody’s Toth arrives at Ellis Island and gets a first glimpse at the Statue of Liberty as Daniel Blumberg’s masterful score blares, you know you’re in the hands of a master of his craft.

Adrien Brody has his best role since The Pianist as Toth, who’s survived the holocaust and now has to make do in an America that views him as an interloper. Going to work for his Americanized cousin (Alessandro Nivola), he gets lucky when he scores a gig designing a library at the urging of a Pennsylvania playboy (Joe Alwyn) who wants to surprise his father (Guy Pearce). When the patriarch sees the Bauhaus-style library, he has a fit but eventually sees the light and becomes Laszlo’s benefactor. 

However, the man, Harrison Lee Van Buren, is a tyrant, castigating Laszlo for employing a black man (Isaac De Bankolé) as his assistant and never letting him forget who his boss is. Brody and Pearce are electric opposite each other, with both clearly relishing sinking their teeth into truly great roles after years of toiling (at times) is smaller-scaled fare. Pearce, in particular, has never played a role like Van Buren, with him hiding his sadism behind a polished mid-Atlantic accent similar to the one used by John Huston when he played one of the screen’s great villains in Chinatown. Pearce plays him as a man of great charisma but little in the way of scruples. Yet, he’s not two-dimensional; he is also capable of great compassion, even if it comes with an asterisk. 

While Brody dominates The Brutalist as Laszlo toils for his place in post-war America, with the wounds of the holocaust driving him towards self-destruction through a horrible heroin habit, he has an amazing foil in this movie. Felicity Jones plays Laszlo’s wife, Erzsébet, who finally rejoins them (with their mute niece – played by Raffey Cassidy- in tow) after many years. While physically weak, with her wheelchair-bound, she’s portrayed as a woman of great intellectual and mental strength. She only shows up in the film’s second half (after its intermission), but she has a few of the film’s most arresting moments.

Corbet, who wrote the movie with his partner Mona Fastvold (an accomplished filmmaker in her own right), does an excellent job crafting an allegorical tale that can be applied to anyone who’s ever struggled to overcome personal trauma by creating meaningful work. Technically, this is impeccable, with cinematography by Lol Crawley that makes the most of the 70mm format and the locations filmed in Budapest, Italy and more. Truly, this is a sprawling work.

The Brutalist was the toast of the Venice Film Festival and is already taking TIFF by storm. If it comes out this year and it’s given a proper push, it would be reasonable to expect it to be a major Oscar contender in most categories, with acting nods a no-brainer for Brody, Pearce and Jones. However, it also demands to be seen theatrically, as more than any movie since Oppenheimer, it’s been designed to be enjoyed as a cinematic event – and those belong on the big screen. Hopefully, audiences can see it how intended, as this is pretty close to being a masterpiece. 

Adrien Brody

AMAZING

9

The post The Brutalist Review: A 3.5 Hour 70mm Masterpiece? appeared first on JoBlo.

A24 has unveiled the newest trailer for Brady Corbet’s critical darling, The Brutalist. The three-and-a-half-hour drama was shot on 70mm and it was made for under $10 million. It became a sensation at this year’s Venice Film Festival, garnering a 12-minute standing ovation and winning the Silver Lion, which goes to the film’s director. Now, we see more of the plot and the powerful performances by Adrian Brody and Guy Pearce. The Brutalist is a post-WWII epic that many critics are having a hard time finding the right films to compare it to.

Here is the official plot of The Brutalist: “Escaping post-war Europe, visionary architect László Toth arrives in America to rebuild his life, his work, and his marriage to his wife Erzsébet after being forced apart during wartime by shifting borders and regimes. On his own in a strange new country, László settles in Pennsylvania, where the wealthy and prominent industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren recognizes his talent for building. But power and legacy come at a heavy cost…” 

The Brutalist stars Adrien Brody as Tóth, marking what looks to be just the sort of return to glory that has too-long eluded him since winning Best Actor back in 2003 for The Pianist, another WWII-set film. Felicity Jones – who earned an Oscar nod for The Theory of Everything – plays his wife, while Guy Pearce is the aforementioned industrialist. Joining them is a cast that includes Joe Alwyn, Raffey Cassidy, Stacy Martin, Emma Laird, with Isaach De Bankolé and Alessandro Nivola.

JoBlo’s Chris Bumbray loved the film and stressed that the 70mm should be experienced when he said in his review, “However, it also demands to be seen theatrically, as more than any movie since Oppenheimer, it’s been designed to be enjoyed as a cinematic event – and those belong on the big screen. Hopefully, audiences can see it how intended, as this is pretty close to being a masterpiece.”

Corbet explained how he made a historical epic on such a scope for under $10 million, “We’re not reinventing the wheel. The reality is that we would have been happier and more comfortable if we had more money.” He expounded, “It came at a great personal, physical expense at times because the number of sleepless nights in the last seven years. You have to have blind faith for getting this thing which is completely malnourished across the finish line.” One of Corbet’s advantages was to use the benefits of tax credits when shooting the film in Hungary.

The Brutalist is slated for a December 20 limited release.

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The Los Angeles Film Critics Association aka LAFCA gathered over the weekend to name their award winners for 2024. This year, they chose Palme d’Or winner Anora as Best Picture, with The Brutalist coming in as the runner-up. Anora fared quite well overall with LAFCA, also taking home Lead Performance for Mikey Madison and runner-up recognition for Sean Baker’s direction and screenplay.

Check out LAFCA’s winners below:

Best Picture: Anora

Runner-Up: The Brutalist

Best Director: Mohammad Rasoulof – The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Runner-Up: Sean Baker – Anora

Best Lead Performance: Marianne Jean-Baptiste – Truths / Mikey Madison – Anora

Runners-Up: Demi Moore – The Substance / Fernanda Torres – I’m Still Here

Best Supporting Performance: Yura Borisov – Anora / Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain

Runners-Up: Clarence Maclin – Sing Sing / Adam Pearson – A Different Man

Best Screenplay: A Real Pain – Jesse Eisenberg

Runner-Up: Anora – Sean Baker

Best Cinematography: Nickel Boys – Jomo Fray

Runner-Up: The Brutalist – Lol Crawley

Best Production Design: The Brutalist – Judy Becker

Runner-Up: Blitz – Adam Stockhausen

Best Editing: Nickel Boys – Nicholas Monsour

Runner-Up: September 5 – Hansjörg Weißbrich

Best Music Score: Challengers – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Runner-Up: Evil Does Not Exist – Eiko Ishibashi

Best Film Not in the English Language: All We Imagine as Light

Runner-Up: The Seed of the Sacred Pig

Best Documentary/Non-Fiction Film: No Other Land

Runner-Up: Dahomey

Best Animation: Flow

Runner-Up: Chicken for Linda

In addition to these annual awards, LAFCA – which is comprised of approximately 60 members – also gave out honorary ones and special recognitions. For their New Generation Award, they went with Vera Drew’s The People’s Joker, while on the other side for Career Achievement they went with legendary genre director John Carpenter.

While LAFCA’s Best Picture winner rarely lines up with the actual Best Picture winner at the Academy Awards (it has only happened five times this century), Anora is in a good position to chalk up another match for LAFCA. Meanwhile, Keiran Culkin has been gaining traction for A Real Pain, while we’re all rooting for Demi Moore to land a much-deserved nomination for The Substance, which would be her first in a career that has spanned more than four decades.

Joining LAFCA with announcements this week will be the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association, Chicago Film Critics Association, the New York Film Critics Online and more.

What do you think of this year’s LAFCA winners? Which do you see being major contenders at the Oscars?

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The year is coming to a close and while there are few notable movie releases left in December, some outlets are reflecting on the 2024 year in cinema. Per Deadline, the American Film Institute has just awarded ten movies in their list for the best of the year. There are a number of movies that have already garnered a lot of positive reception and some that you may not have heard much from. The AFI would highlight very few big studio releases in favor of smaller, more independent productions.

The AFI MOTION PICTURES OF THE YEAR are:

• ANORA
• THE BRUTALIST
• A COMPLETE UNKNOWN
• CONCLAVE
• DUNE: PART TWO
• EMILIA PÉREZ
• NICKEL BOYS
• A REAL PAIN
• SING SING
• WICKED

Dune: Part Two and Wicked are the only major big-budget releases to come away with awards. Meanwhile, some of the titles are films that have been critical darlings all year, like Anora, The Brutalist and A Real Pain. A Complete Unknown has yet to be released, but the James Mangold film is already getting good buzz, especially from its subject Bob Dylan. Dylan took to social media to praise the biopic, “There’s a movie about me opening soon called A Complete Unknown (what a title!). Timothee Chalamet is starring in the lead role. Timmy’s a brilliant actor so I’m sure he’s going to be completely believable as me. Or a younger me. Or some other me. The film’s taken from Elijah Wald’s Dylan Goes Electric – a book that came out in 2015. It’s a fantastic retelling of events from the early ‘60s that led up to the fiasco at Newport. After you’ve seen the movie read the book.”

Our own Chris Bumbray would glow about Anora as a possible Oscar contender, saying, “Despite running close to 140 minutes, it’s fast-paced, breezy, and furiously entertaining. Even if the premise doesn’t immediately make this a must-see for you, give it a shot, as Baker’s turning into a modern master. This is his best movie to date, and the performances are too good to miss.”

And Wicked‘s inclusion may surprise many, but the Wizard of Oz universe musical may even win over those who may not seem like the audience for it. In his review, our EIC put it bluntly, “Here’s the thing – Wicked is made with a specific audience in mind, and I wager many of us JoBlo folks aren’t among them. Even still, readers who find themselves watching the movie at behest of someone in their lives may find Wicked goes down a lot easier than they’re expecting. I had a surprisingly good time watching it, and I’m totally on-board to watch Part II when it hits theaters next year.”

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As it stands, the Best Picture race is wide open, with no clear winner at the head of the pack. But one that will no doubt be vying for a number of categories is The Brutalist, a post-WWII epic that many critics are having a hard time finding the right films to compare it to. So as we wait for its prime awards season release on December 20th, A24 has unveiled the first teaser for The Brutalist.

A slow burn that rests on smart pacing, a tense score and only a mere idea of what to expect, this trailer for The Brutalist might be the most fitting way to tease the “monumental” picture.

Here is the official plot of The Brutalist: “Escaping post-war Europe, visionary architect László Toth arrives in America to rebuild his life, his work, and his marriage to his wife Erzsébet after being forced apart during wartime by shifting borders and regimes. On his own in a strange new country, László settles in Pennsylvania, where the wealthy and prominent industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren recognizes his talent for building. But power and legacy come at a heavy cost…” 

The Brutalist stars Adrien Brody as Tóth, marking what looks to be just the sort of return to glory that has too-long eluded him since winning Best Actor back in 2003 for The Pianist, another WWII-set film. Felicity Jones – who earned an Oscar nod for The Theory of Everything – plays his wife, while Guy Pearce is the aforementioned industrialist.

Running just over three and a half hours, The Brutalist may not seem like the film to rush out and see on opening night, but by pretty much all accounts – it holds a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and our own Chris Bumbray gave a 9/10 out of the Toronto International Film Festival – this is one of the essential films of 2024. Maybe, too, Oppenheimer helped open the gates for those who might have been skeptical of seeing a film with such a lengthy runtime on the big screen. Heck, make it a double feature with Sonic the Hedgehog 3 if that’s what gets you to the cinema.

What do you think of the teaser for The Brutalist? Will you be seeing it when it opens in December?

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Whether it be Robert Rodriguez making El Mariachi for just $7,000 or Godzilla Minus One looking like a big Hollywood epic with only a $15 million budget, it’s quite the feat when filmmakers are able to stretch a dollar. This year’s Venice Film Festival darling, A24’s The Brutalist, is a 3-and-a-half-hour drama shot on 70mm and it was made for under $10 million. The Brutalist was a sensation at this year’s Venice Film Festival, garnering a 12-minute standing ovation and winning the Silver Lion, which goes to the film’s director, in this case Brady Corbet. Although originally known as an actor (notably giving a terrific performance in Michael Haneke’s Funny Games remake), Corbet has been making his mark behind the camera. He co-wrote The Brutalist with longtime partner Mona Fastvold.

According to Deadline, Corbet would explain how he made this film with such a budget at a CAA screening. He made sure to note, “We’re not reinventing the wheel. The reality is that we would have been happier and more comfortable if we had more money.” He expounded, “It came at a great personal, physical expense at times because the number of sleepless nights in the last seven years. You have to have blind faith for getting this thing which is completely malnourished across the finish line.” One of Corbet’s advantages was to use the benefits of tax credits when shooting the film in Hungary.

Corbet explained, “We were shooting in a country where things would cost what they really should cost. Hungary is not that cheap where we shot. It’s cheaper than New York City where we spent $1M in transpo on the last movie.” He added, “We want to be in control of how sand is moved around in the box. We think money is frequently misspent; a reality that all of us exist in. I don’t think I’m overstepping by saying that. But also to make this movie for this amount of money meant that it was a real sacrifice from our HODs (heads of departments).”

JoBlo’s Chris Bumbray loved the film and stressed that the 70mm should be experienced when he said in his review, “However, it also demands to be seen theatrically, as more than any movie since Oppenheimer, it’s been designed to be enjoyed as a cinematic event – and those belong on the big screen. Hopefully, audiences can see it how intended, as this is pretty close to being a masterpiece.”

The Brutalist is slated for a December 20 limited release.

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