Bond BS? Plus, Brian Grazer’s New War Movies, 'The Mosquito Bowl' and 'Alone at Dawn,' Score Test Screening Raves

Happy Wednesday, folks! Apologies for the late send this week…

Today, Netflix released another brief teaser for David Fincher’s follow-up to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which apparently remains on track for an IMAX release on Nov. 25. It has also been retitled The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth.

Now, we’ve presumed that Cliff Booth would be an Oscar contender all along, and I told you what I said about Fincher being unhappy with the movie as it was currently constituted — something that is apparently par for the course on every one of his movies.

However, I later heard that screenwriter Quentin Tarantino also expressed disappointment with the current cut, which makes sense, given that he’s an extremely particular filmmaker, and for as great as Fincher is, he and Tarantino are very different directors. It should be a fun press tour!

Is this still my #1 most anticipated movie of the year, if not all time, given the Fincher-Tarantino pairing? Yes! Absolutely. But I wouldn’t be doing my duty to you, dear reader, if I didn’t pass along what I hear, which is the whole point of today’s newsletter.

For example, I hear that Danny Boyle’s new movie Ink, whose star, Jack O’Connell, currently graces the cover of Variety, is good, but hardly the stuff that Best Picture nominees are made of.

So, my question to you is, will this year be yet another year of Netflix misallocating its resources, and backing the wrong movies simply because they’re made by A-list filmmakers?

It seems to me like Los Javis’ Cannes hit, La Bola Negra, is poised to be Netflix’s top contender this year, and to be fair, the streamer is committing to a 47-day theatrical release, which is a big deal. I just hope it doesn’t take a back seat to Cliff Booth and Ink, because I’ve heard it’s the real deal.

Meanwhile, as you’ll read below, I’m hearing really good things about Peter Berg’s war movie/sports drama The Mosquito Bowl, which offers a different kind of contender that may appeal to a different kind of voter — the kind that propelled Green Book to a (well-deserved, in my opinion) Best Picture winner not too long ago. From what I hear, Netflix may want to consider putting more money behind campaigns for this movie…

Finally, I have to say that last night, I watched Julia Hart and Jordan Horowitz’s new movie Don’t Say Good Luck, and it was fucking devastating. I loved it. One of the best films of the year. Sunny Sandler shouldn’t have to wait for her father to get a greenlight at Netflix anymore. She should be on studio lists all around town, because she’s a genuine talent and a rising star. Anyone who calls her a “nepo baby” is completely blind to what she brings to the table.

This movie has no shot at a nomination, largely because I don’t think it received any kind of theatrical release, but if this were a Sony Classics title, it’s the kind of thing that could resonate with people of all ages. Leaving the god damn Oscars aside for a minute, this is a must-watch movie… even if it’ll be a very tough sit for some of you. I’m here for you, though, just as you’ve been there for me these past few years, so just email me if you need to chat after. Watch it with tissues…

Speaking of tissues, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the momentous passing of Dolly Parton, a legend in so many ways, and a true trailblazer for women in entertainment. I was always partial to Dolly’s country music hit “Jolene,” which has been covered by countless artists over the years. Perhaps we’ll see Sydney Sweeney in a Dolly biopic one day, though Parton was certainly more than her world-famous bust, as it was her generosity that knew no bounds.

You know who else was generous? Tim Curry, who passed away at 80 — the same age as Parton. He was a generous scene partner in movies ranging from Annie, Legend, and Clue in the ‘80s to Home Alone 2 and Loaded Weapon 1 in the ‘90s.

But it was two other roles that people most closely identified with Curry — Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which has proven to be an enduring cult classic, and Pennywise the Clown in the original miniseries based on Stephen King’s It, which is one of the most terrifying performances I’ve ever seen. He had tremendous range, and I hope he passed knowing how much he was loved by movie fans.

R.I.P. Tim and Dolly — both of whom were one of a kind.

On the news front this week, Nicholas Hoult dropped out of Season 2 of HBO’s Harry Potter, which replaced him with Kit Harington (yikes). Was he bullied off the project by the very loud critics of author J.K. Rowling, or was he faced with a legitimate scheduling conflict? After all, Days of Thunder 2 star Tom Cruise has been trying to work with Hoult for years; Dan Stevens has been cast in Amazon’s RoboCop series (a great call); Sacha Baron Cohen has released a trailer for his new Ali G movie; Paramount is developing a sequel to How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days with Kate Hudson; Ryan Gosling is producing a live-action Flintstones movie centered around a grown-up Bam-Bam; Focus Features has awkwardly grafted “Robin Hood” onto the title of Paul Greengrass’ new movie The Uprising; and writer-director Richard Kelly is going back to the Donnie Darko well with an 800-page novel that will serve as a proof of concept for a sequel that will never get made without Jake Gyllenhaal’s character returning from the dead. Oh, and Meghan Markle was cast and then immediately uncast from Season 3 of The Gentlemen, though she could always be recast down the line. Stay tuned… LOL.

Premium subscribers may now enter the Sneider-Verse to read my take on today’s hot James Bond headlines. Plus, I’ve got a pair of test screening reviews for two war movies — Ron Howard’s Alone at Dawn and Peter Berg’s The Mosquito Bowl, both of which I’m looking forward to myself.

P.S. Hit the Merch store and buy a hat or a hoodie. I just heard a crazy story about a guy in L.A. who wore one of my hats to a screening at the AMC Burbank, where a producer friend of mine noticed his hat and struck up a conversation with him. Cut to: the producer is now reading the guy’s script! All because of an InSneider hat! Wild…

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