Disclosure Day, Toy Story 5, & The Death of Robin Hood Reviews; Provincetown Film Festival

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0:35welcome to screen talk indy wires weekly podcast bringing you up to speed on what's going on in hollywood i'm ann thompson and i took a brief sojourn to hancock point maine after being in new york for the tribeca festival and ryan went to the provincetown film festival and he's going to talk about that and he's also going to talk about disclosure day with me the death of robin Hood and I'll do Toy Story 5.

1:02Ryan Lattanzio:And this is Ryan Latanzio in New York, just back from Provincetown. My first time at this festival, I got back in New York on Monday. I have to say I had the best time ever at this festival, partially because, well, I'd never been to Provincetown. The weather was truly perfect. All of the locals were marveling at how good the weather was. It really was stunning. It was like being at Cannes on the most perfect, sunshine-filled, perfect temperature day. The festival opened with Adam Shankman's Stop That Train, which is a RuPaul's Drag Race movie. It has a lot of the queens and is a kind of airplane-esque, Zucker Brothers kind of spoof movie.

1:42Ryan Lattanzio:But then John Waters in the audience, who I think this was his 63rd year visiting Provincetown. and he is a regular at the festival. He pointed out that it was actually more like a parody of Catherine Bigelow's House of Dynamite, which I thought was really funny. I enjoyed this movie a lot. I also saw this Barbara Hammer documentary called Barbara Forever that was at Sundance about the pioneering lesbian filmmaker who died seven years ago. This was excellent. It's a killer films release. And I actually spent a lot of time with the killer films gang, including Christine Vichon and ultimately culminating - And she learned that she was going to be an Oscar winner, right?

2:22Ryan Lattanzio:Exactly. Yeah. She is the first queer woman recipient of the Irving Thalberg Award, along with her partner, Pamela Koffler. I watched the Knicks. I'm very detached from what's been going on with the Knicks, to be honest, despite living in New York. And I mean, I'm mired in it, right? But I haven't really had my finger on the pulse. I ended up going to watch the game with people like Eugene Hernandez, Raj Roy, Christine Vachon. And it was the winning game, of course. It's funny, there's a video of me. Everyone around me is screaming and cheering, and I just am stoic. I had a lot of FOMO because I would have wanted to hang out with the very same folks that you were with.

3:01I love all those folks. So we did Screen Talk Live last week at Tribeca with Ronan Farrow. And that's up if you ever want to check it out. It was a really wide ranging, bracing conversation about the current state of media and a lot of good stuff about AI, which he has been looking into. Also playing at Tribeca was In the Hand of Dante, which is the extraordinary epic. I don't know about extraordinary. No, it's beautiful. It's a beautiful movie. A beautiful bad movie, a beautifully, gorgeously mounted bad movie from the great auteur in his own mind, Julian Schnabel, the artist turned filmmaker Julian Schnabel.

3:48And that played Tribeca.

3:50Ryan Lattanzio:I just want to query that I don't think that In the Hand of Dante, which I reviewed out of Venice last year, is beautiful or extraordinary in any way. It is about a fictional lost manuscript from Dante Alighieri, who in the present day, Oscar Isaac is playing an author who has been tasked by the mafia, which includes John Malkovich, to find this manuscript. And then he's also playing Dante Alighieri in the 1300s. And everyone's in this kind of Renaissance fair style costuming. You have Gal Gadot, who even as a corpse, her performance is really bad. This movie is going to be on Netflix on June 24th.

4:27Ryan Lattanzio:I don't know why Netflix bought this movie other than as perhaps a favor to Julian. Perhaps there's some friendships there, relationships. I don't know. I can see people watching it for a couple of days and then tuning out. I don't think they paid very much, Ryan. No, I don't. Why would you? There's nothing to gain there. I don't think anyone was interested in it. It certainly was never going to get a theatrical release. I mean, I saw it at the Sonoma Film Festival and he sat through the movie and quite a few people walked out. And he witnessed that because he was sitting right in the front on the aisle and he was really pissed off and said so.

5:04And really, he was being interviewed by the patient, Eugene Hernandez, and I did not envy him.

5:12Ryan Lattanzio:This movie is over a decade in the making. And so it really is his kind of megalopolis. So I understand his preciousness. That's a good comparison. Yeah. About people walking out, but how could you not? I mean, it's almost three hours and it is lugubrious. And I still think he did a good job visually with it. It's not, there's a lot to see in it. That's beautiful. So what did you see at Tarabeka that might be worth telling people about? Out of the narrative features, one that I think could travel and would like to see travel is this backstage psychological thriller called Act One, which is written and directed by Sophia to call.

5:47Ryan Lattanzio:She's been around the block for a bit. She's done a couple other films and directed some television. And it stars Ella Beatty, who is the daughter of Warren and Annette Bening, in fact. And she plays this high school acting ingenue who is drawn into the spell of a nefarious acting teacher who's played by Ari Grainer. And her methods are not of the Stanislavski or Meisner sort, but instead involve grooming and psychological, psychosexual manipulation. And there is a borderline campy Eve Harrington, Margot Channing element to this movie that I think a smart indie audience, particularly gay men who are film fluent, and maybe audiences on streaming, which could be likely for this one, would resonate with.

6:31It's looking for a buyer. I would like to see that. I'd like to see, is Ella Beatty a good actress?

6:37Ryan Lattanzio:She's very good. Okay. And I can't decide which of her parents she looks more like. It just depends on the angle. All right. Right. So we never got around for various reasons, partly because we were talking to Ronan Farrow. We never got around to talking about Disclosure Day, which has already opened to 44 million domestic. But it got to be CinemaScore, which is low for Spielberg. I wondered what you thought of it, Ryan. And Spielberg and Disclosure Day, I think they've been accused of being perhaps old fashioned. but I would argue that it's more classicist and not so much old fashioned, but that the movie is very earnest and unironic, right?

7:16Ryan Lattanzio:But after movies like Arrival, no quiet plays. And I would even argue some of the recent Alien movies, terrible as they've been. I'm talking about the Alien franchise. I suspect that audiences might want a little bit more from their extraterrestrials, because in this movie, Spielberg opts for the traditional little gray men, which I know is to keep the movie in the canon of Roswell and even in Close Encounters, but you kind of end up being not as wowed as you are supposed to be. The movie's telling you to be by the end, and I felt like I kind of missed some of the practical effects wizardry of Close Encounters and E.T.

7:50I enjoy the movie. It's an inside the Spielberg comfort zone film, as comfortable as an old sweater. No surprises. You've got the same DP, Janusz Kaminski, the composer John Williams, the Jurassic Park screenwriter David Koepp. He's not going to veer off the track in this situation. And, you know, God, nobody directs better than he does. It's gorgeous. And there are a few too many black SUVs chasing our heroes who are well played by Josh O 'Connor and Emily Blunt. I could have used more of Josh O 'Connor and less of Emily Blunt, But she's the one who's going to get into the actress race because Spielberg gives her all the histrionics.

8:34And the ending, I think, pulls it out. I actually liked the ending. I thought it worked and saved the movie almost because I was getting tired of the repetitive bad guys versus good guys. And that's, you know, I needed something to pull it together at the end. And I thought he did.

8:52Ryan Lattanzio:There's also a very long train chase sequence. That was good. where but you know that Emily Blunt and Josh O 'Connor they're going to get on that train they're not dying so it does kind of take the piss out of it a little bit I would say and Emily Blunt is great though and she plays this character sometimes almost like a screwball heroine very daffy and I liked that but you're right that Josh gets very little to do here Janusz Kaminski's images feel kind of familiar and even does David Kemp's story if you've seen just a handful of episodes from the original X-Files mythology. I recognized all of that, but that's because it's classic alien lore.

9:29Ryan Lattanzio:It's not reinventing the wheel. I recommend it. I think it's fun. It may be a little old-fashioned, but, and it is playing to an older audience, by the way. So we'll see if it gets younger as word of mouth goes around. What about Toy Story 5? That, and I highly recommend that. You know, Pixar does not go wrong. It's a swiftly moving champagne bubble, airy, sweet. It has big stakes for the kids in the film and the toys. And they bring back Buzz, even though it's mostly Jesse who's running the show. And nothing could stop Toy Story 3, which is the peak of the Toy Stories. but Andrew Stanton, who is an original Pixar man, he's the one who brought us WALL-E and the original Toy Story, he comes close with this one.

10:21There are some sections with Buzz Lightyear and his, I want to say minions, but you know, his troops that with a boost from Randy Newman's score, they're just hilarious. I just found myself laughing my head off and I'll give everyone And kudos for that. And Conan O 'Brien voices a cheeky new character, a potty training device called Smarty Pants, which is a great new introduction to the acting floor.

10:51Ryan Lattanzio:I missed this because I was in Provincetown, so I'll be seeing it in the theater this weekend. I'm very excited. It's very early for the animation race, but what do you feel about Academy Awards recognition here? It seems like fait accompli that Taylor Swift will be nominated. She'll perform at the Oscars. The song will happen. it'll be great for the ratings i wish i they invited me to the premiere and i was sorry to miss it because i was in new york and she performed with randy newman and it looked wonderful i would have loved to have gone to that well if anyone's listening norah wanted me to have taken her she would have loved to have gone to that to those who are listening i watched a video of it and actually i feel like i like the taylor swift song but the acoustic version she does where it's just her on the piano, I think does it a little bit of a disservice because you realize that it's really just two to three chords.

11:40Yeah, it's simple. It's a simple song. So what did you think of the death of Robin Hood, Ryan?

11:45Ryan Lattanzio:I actually liked the death of Robin Hood. And I am fascinated by how audiences might respond to this movie, which comes from Michael Saronovsky, who directed Pig, which was great and a better than it needed to be. But hampered, I think, by studio interference, a quiet play sequel called day one and this is a revisionist take i'm sort of tired of hearing that word applied to this film but that's what it is on the robin hood myth which here he's kind of depicted almost as a sociopath relative to the mary bandits that we know from errol flynn and even kevin costner and this movie at the start is a sepulchral dirge of doom and death until all this extreme brutal violence, whether it's children's skulls being impaled or a torch that's being shoved down a foe's mouth, eventually dissolves into something that is more contemplative and philosophical when we are brought into this priory that's run by the abbess Jodie Comer.

12:44Ryan Lattanzio:Even the aspect ratio change is actually of the movie, which is shot really beautifully on film. So I think that viewers expecting a brutally violent spectacle in something like the Game of Thrones register need to gird themselves for a major tonal shift that happens with the Gird their loins. I really liked this movie. I agree with you. I also think that Hugh Jackman gives a terrific performance, and I applaud him. He's an interesting actor because he takes chances on things that other actors might not. They might be wanting to preserve their so-called stardom, and he's at a stage in his life where he just doesn't seem to care anymore, and he's taken these big shots like The Greatest Showman or even Song Sung Blue or and he gets away with it or Logan for that matter, which it was hard to get that made people really rejected the idea So he is pushing he's using his stardom to push these things forward and then they work I'm not sure this will be a commercial success I highly doubt it because it's very dark and grim and as you say it doesn't deliver as an action film as much as a thoughtful kind of unforgiven kind of movie where he's examining the mythology.

14:05It's actually more pensive in a way and spiritual than anything else. So I send you to it because I doubt that it will last in theaters for very long.

14:17Ryan Lattanzio:It's funny you say unforgiven because it actually, I don't know that it, another thing it doesn't really deliver on is the East Woody and payoff that you perhaps would expect. And so I do agree that I think that audiences will have a harder time in the second half, which has a lot of grasps at profundity, which I don't find always land. And there are languid moments where the mind sort of wanders. I do like this part of the movie where Robin Hood, Hugh Jackman, he's been at this priory for some time. He's convalescing after another horrific battle. He kind of snaps out of the sentimentality of the movie and is, what am I doing in this world of tenderness and feelings?

14:54Ryan Lattanzio:I'm Robin Hood. I'm a fucking monster. And then he like immediately disembowels a grizzly bear. Yeah, you liked that part. I did like that. What do you feel about this movie at the Oscars? Because the crafts on this film are very impressive and I really relish. And I think people who get off on historical detail will really enjoy the craftsmanship in this film. They should, they should. but I don't get the feeling that this is getting a huge push. And I don't get the feeling that it's going to last in theaters very long. So I would say by the time we get to Oscar time, it could be a blip. But Hugh, Jackman, is a big enough star that they may, and Jody is too, that they may make a push for them.

15:39And they should make a push for the crafts, but all of that costs money. And they're going to have to make that decision at some point.

15:46Ryan Lattanzio:Right. That is where I see the movie moving forward. the most likely would be the crafts of the film, despite the really good performances. But we'll see a lot of passionate defenders in the press of this movie at the end of the year, the essays and the late-breaking interviews and so forth. We will indeed. So I think that the push will come from a grassroots sort of groundswell if it happens. Well, the critics would help if the critics were to push this movie. All right. The next thing that's coming up is that Alejandro González Señorito, to the great Mexican filmmaker as is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Amoris Peros.

16:26And I saw that when it came out and it introduced the great Gael Garcia Bernal. It was his breakout role and it broke out at Cannes. They didn't accept it in the main competition or main sidebars. It was accepted in Critics Week and won the Grand Prix in Critics Week. and that broke it out. He was picked up. He was brought to Hollywood. I mean, the whole thing happened out of Amoris Peris where everybody recognized a world-class filmmaker from day one and the rest is history. So if you get a chance to see this, you should tone it. It's a 4K restoration with an amazing soundtrack, a new soundtrack.

17:08Ryan Lattanzio:And this is coming from Mubi. They're handling the re-release. This is why you can't sleep on Critics Week. There are often breakouts that come out of that little section. yeah Amoris Perros actually my introduction to Gael was Ichimama Tambien as a young person I love that movie so much then I went backward and then I got very into Inyoritu and yeah no this movie remains as powerful as ever I've seen it a few times over the years and it doesn't feel like a first film that was interesting I interviewed him and there's a we have a long conversation that's up on IndieWire if you're curious about that because it was interesting to hear him talk about what the state of the Mexican film industry was at the time, where you would like work yourself up to make one movie that would be it.

17:54And so when he made this movie, it was as if it was the only movie he was ever going to make. And he put everything into it, you know, so it's it's definitely intense. So do you have a weekend recommendation?

18:09Ryan Lattanzio:I have a couple movies I just want to plug for a second there. I think they're both only opening in New York, unfortunately, this week, but then they'll be expanding to LA next. And of course, I have to plug John Early's Maddie's Secret because I had him on the podcast. And this is a kind of a showgirls meets Douglas Sirk kind of inspired movie in which he plays a woman, but not in drag. He's earnestly playing a woman who's a food influencer who has a secret, as the title promises, that is much darker than the movie suggests. But the tone is handled very well. John Early is a loved comedian, creative partner of Cape Verland.

18:46Ryan Lattanzio:Really great work from him on this movie. And then another one, Mark Jenkins, Rose of Nevada, which stars George McKay and Callum Turner as fishermen on a time traveling trawler outside of a Cornish seaside village. And what's interesting is the movie was shot in a 16 millimeter Bolex camera, which only can capture about 30 seconds per take because you have to wind it up. And all of the sound, literally all of the sound was recorded in post-production from the dialogue to the footsteps to the sound of an anchor plunking into the water. It's an experimental movie and it's not for everyone, but I found it very beautiful and haunting.

19:25Ryan Lattanzio:You make me want to see it. And I like those two actors very much. So I will go. So I'm recommending a documentary. It's called Peter Asher everywhere man and yes it's probably going to appeal to fellow boomers like me but because it gives you a close-up view of the music scene in the swinging 60s in starting in London and of course Peter Asher was the Peter in Peter and Gordon and he was friends with Paul McCartney he was dating his sister Jane and he actually lived Peter Paul actually lived in there the family house for a while when they were together and wrote songs in the basement and stuff like that.

20:05Asher's heyday was as a producer in Hollywood, a record producer working with James Taylor, Carole King, Linda Ronstadt, and a lot of other notable musicians. And I had a lot of fun with it. You know, I learned things. And that'll be in theaters June 19th.

20:21Ryan Lattanzio:No, I think it appeals to more than just boomers. I think people my age and younger are very interested in the swinging 60s as an escape from our current era that is hardly as glamorous and exciting. and so I definitely am going to check this one out. All right, until next week, Ryan. See you then. See you then.