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I’m going to be trying something a little bit new today, as an experiment. For those of you who don’t know, I’m now a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, so I want to attempt to give more of what I see a write up, in order for it to show up there. So, for a busy week like this, I decided to lump three films into one long post. It’s essentially a trio of slightly shorter articles in one shot. Perhaps it’ll be a recurring thing. We’ll see. For this inaugural attempt, the three movies that open this week are the satire Bodied, the family flick The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, and the long lost Orson Welles curiosity The Other Side of the Wind. Here goes nothing… — *Bodied* It’s incredibly satisfying to see a satire really go for broke. Too often, the razor is on the dull side.

"You ready for this?" Neon + YouTube Premium have debuted a fantastic new official red band trailer for Joseph Kahn's film Bodied, a highly acclaimed, foul-mouthed, provocative film about a young, nerdy white kid who decides to join the rap battle scene. It's a very bold, outspoken satire about racism and the artistry in rapping, and how we need to open our eyes and gain more perspectives. Calum Worthy stars as Adam, with a cast including Anthony Michael Hall, Debra Wilson, Ryan Ochoa, Daffany McGaray Clark, Charlamagne tha God, Loaded Lux, Dizaster, Dumbfoundead, and Hollow Da Don. This comedy is produced by Eminem, with a script co-written by Toronto rapper Alex Larsen (aka Kid Twist). I saw this earlier in the year and it's awesome; an extra loud, totally hilarious, and impressive film. Check it out below. Here's the new red band trailer (+ official posters) for Joseph Kahn's Bodied, direct...

Platform lines up theatrical release for 2018.

YouTube Red has set a sneak preview in Sundance for Bodied after acquiring the battle rap satire that won the Grolsch People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award in Toronto and is produced by Eminem.

The ambitious platform plans a 2018 theatrical release on the film by music video director Joseph Kahn about a progressive grad student whose accidental battle rap success sparks outrage. Battle rapper turned screenwriter Alex Larsen wrote the script.

Eminem and his manager and Def Jam Records CEO Paul Rosenberg produced with Adi Shankar and Jil Hardin.

Calum Worthy, Jackie Long, Shoniqua Shondai, Walter Perez, and Rory Uphold star. Bodied also features battle rappers Dizaster, Dumbfoundead, Hollow Da Don, and media personality Charlamagne Tha God.

The satire also won audience awards at AFI Fest and Fantastic Fest. YouTube Red negotiated the dal with ICM Partners on behalf of the filmmakers.

The sneak preview in Park City builds on YouTube...

The American Film Institute (AFI) has announced the films that will be featured in their New Auteurs and American Independents sections at the upcoming AFI Fest 2017 presented by Audi. Selections include a number of lauded features from around the festival circuit, including Cannes offerings like “I Am Not a Witch,” SXSW favorites like “Gemini” and “Mr. Roosevelt,” the Sundance breakout “Thoroughbreds,” and Joseph Kahn’s Toronto Midnight Madness favorite “Bodied,” among others.

Highlighting first- and second-time feature film directors, New Auteurs is designed as the festival’s platform for upcoming filmmakers from all over the world to showcase their new films. This year, the section includes 11 films, nine of which come from female directors. Similarly, AFI Fest’s American Independents section aims to represent the best of this year’s independent filmmaking. Pushing boundaries of form and content across narrative and documentary cinema, this section includes 11 films from both fresh...

From the moment Bodied opens with a promotional advert for the Killafornia Battle League (in which we’re *immediately* told to “suck a dick!”) to the very last insert-rap-lyric-here outro line, director Joseph Kahn and co-writer Alex Larsen assassinate political correctness with pop-culture lyricisms and heat-seeking regard. Ninjas of the rapped word in their ranks, racial appropriation and misrepresented social justice tenacity in their crosshairs. We no longer can share a single thought without offending someone, somewhere, who wants to score uncashable “woke points” – and Kahn wants to make their fragile little minds explode. This is two straight hours of offensive battle rap bars, non-stop hilarity, layered introspection and the most stylized, take-no-prisoners commentary on what a black-and-white minefield our behavioral ethics have become.

That, and it’s the most motherflippin’ fun you’ll have in a theater of any kind this year, the next, and probably many to come.

"Words are weapons!" Tiff has dropped a trailer for a film premiering at the fest this fall in the Midnight category. Titled Bodied, from director Joseph Kahn, the film is about a white graduate student who gets deep into the battle rap world to write his thesis. He ends up discovering he has a competitive obsession with battle rap. This seems like it might be a perfect double feature with Patti Cake$ also from this year. Calum Worthy stars as Adam, with a cast including Anthony Michael Hall, Debra Wilson, Ryan Ochoa, Daffany McGaray Clark, Charlamagne tha God, Loaded Lux, Dizaster, Dumbfoundead, and Hollow Da Don. This film is produced by Eminem, with a script co-written by Toronto rapper Alex Larsen (aka Kid Twist). This trailer is hilarious, and it grabbed my attention, I'm so down for this. Bring it. Here's the first festival trailer for Joseph Kahn's Bodied,...