This post contains spoilers for "Metropolis" and Tim Burton's "Batman."
The colossal Gotham Cathedral, which stands more than 800 feet tall and towers over every other skyscraper in Gotham, is turned into a battleground towards the end of Tim Burton's "Batman." The director's distinct, often eccentric visual aesthetic directly informs the film's moody, noir-tinted visuals, the atypical camera angles and editing choices adding more palpable depth to the climactic Gotham Cathedral confrontation between Batman (Michael Keaton) and Joker (Jack Nicholson).
The cathedral's massive gargoyles, traditional symbols of warding off evil, take on new meaning as Joker toys with journalist Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger), who is forced to climb the rickety steps and play along with Joker's twisted game. There are many reasons why this scene feels singular — be it Batman stumbling over the pews and knocking them in his weakened, vulnerable state or the Joker dropping Vicki's shoe down the...
The colossal Gotham Cathedral, which stands more than 800 feet tall and towers over every other skyscraper in Gotham, is turned into a battleground towards the end of Tim Burton's "Batman." The director's distinct, often eccentric visual aesthetic directly informs the film's moody, noir-tinted visuals, the atypical camera angles and editing choices adding more palpable depth to the climactic Gotham Cathedral confrontation between Batman (Michael Keaton) and Joker (Jack Nicholson).
The cathedral's massive gargoyles, traditional symbols of warding off evil, take on new meaning as Joker toys with journalist Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger), who is forced to climb the rickety steps and play along with Joker's twisted game. There are many reasons why this scene feels singular — be it Batman stumbling over the pews and knocking them in his weakened, vulnerable state or the Joker dropping Vicki's shoe down the...
- 5/27/2024
- by Debopriyaa Dutta
- Slash Film
Sci-fi films and special effects have gone hand-in-hand for over the last 120 years. For much of that time, the idea of going to see the latest sci-fi movie has partially been based on the appeal of seeing what incredible effects its filmmakers would bring to the biggest screen possible. Though the evolution of special effects on film certainly isn’t limited to the sci-fi genre, it’s remarkably easy to trace the evolution of movie special effects by discussing some of the most significant sci-fi films ever.
These are the sci-fi films with revolutionary special effects that showed us the impossible wasn’t quite as fantastical as we thought.
A Trip to the Moon (1902)
A Trip to the Moon wasn’t technically the first movie with special effects, though it often feels worthy of that honor. Still, at the very least, it was decades ahead of its time in terms...
These are the sci-fi films with revolutionary special effects that showed us the impossible wasn’t quite as fantastical as we thought.
A Trip to the Moon (1902)
A Trip to the Moon wasn’t technically the first movie with special effects, though it often feels worthy of that honor. Still, at the very least, it was decades ahead of its time in terms...
- 5/18/2024
- by Matthew Byrd
- Den of Geek
When it comes to the indie movie business, you don’t get more old-school than Kino Lorber. The New York outfit, founded as Kino International in 1977, has been the first source of independent cinema for U.S. audiences. It was the first to distribute films from Yorgos Lanthimos, Aki Kaurismäki, Wong Kar-wai, Andrei Tarkovsky and Michelangelo Antonioni in U.S. theaters and the first to restore and rerelease silent classics like Metropolis, The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari, and the films of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.
In 2009, when Richard Lorber’s home entertainment company Lorber Ht Digital acquired and merged with Kino International, physical media got added to the mix, and the newly minted Kino Lorber became known for its home entertainment releases, ranging from classic (Nosferatu, The Sacrifice) to cult (Mad Max, Emmanuelle). The Kino Lorber library now counts more than 4,000 titles and the company is continually adding to the list,...
In 2009, when Richard Lorber’s home entertainment company Lorber Ht Digital acquired and merged with Kino International, physical media got added to the mix, and the newly minted Kino Lorber became known for its home entertainment releases, ranging from classic (Nosferatu, The Sacrifice) to cult (Mad Max, Emmanuelle). The Kino Lorber library now counts more than 4,000 titles and the company is continually adding to the list,...
- 5/17/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A reference point for Francis Ford Coppola’s $120m epic Megalopolis was the 1936 sci-fi classic, Things To Come, written by Hg Wells.
Given its title and city-of-the-future setting, our initial assumption was that Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis took some inspiration from Fritz Lang’s hugely influential 1927 film, Metropolis. It turns out, though, that Coppola is drawing on a slightly less celebrated speculative sci-fi film – 1936’s Things To Come, written by Hg Wells.
It’s a small yet intriguing detail which emerged in Vanity Fair’s new piece on Coppola’s upcoming opus – a famously risky project with a budget of around $120m.
Although Coppola has drawn on a rich stew of writers and filmmakers for Megalopolis, about a visionary architect’s ambition to rebuild a Manhattan-like city shattered by disaster, Things To Come is one the director singles out for praise.
“The seeds for Megalopolis were planted when as...
Given its title and city-of-the-future setting, our initial assumption was that Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis took some inspiration from Fritz Lang’s hugely influential 1927 film, Metropolis. It turns out, though, that Coppola is drawing on a slightly less celebrated speculative sci-fi film – 1936’s Things To Come, written by Hg Wells.
It’s a small yet intriguing detail which emerged in Vanity Fair’s new piece on Coppola’s upcoming opus – a famously risky project with a budget of around $120m.
Although Coppola has drawn on a rich stew of writers and filmmakers for Megalopolis, about a visionary architect’s ambition to rebuild a Manhattan-like city shattered by disaster, Things To Come is one the director singles out for praise.
“The seeds for Megalopolis were planted when as...
- 4/30/2024
- by Ryan Lambie
- Film Stories
The second part of Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou’s adaptation of the epic poem, Kriemhild’s Revenge picks up directly where the first part, Siegfried, left off. The legendary hero is dead, and his wife – though it was partly her stupidity that led to it – is seriously pissed off. She blames royal advisor Hagen Tronje (Hans Adalbert Sclettow), but her brother King Gunther (Theodor Loos) won’t let her kill him – to do so would be to break a bond of honour. Engaging directly in violence, as a woman, is apparently not something she can conceive of, but she does have other options. She is still young and beautiful, and with access to Siegfried’s famous hoard of treasure, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find a new husband.
Kriemhild has a very particular husband in mind: one of history’s most famous conquerors, Attila the Hun.
Kriemhild has a very particular husband in mind: one of history’s most famous conquerors, Attila the Hun.
- 4/27/2024
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Even among the more underrated Akira Kurosawa films are timeless masterpieces.
If films like “Dersu Uzala” and “The Idiot” and “Kagemusha” aren’t talked about as much, it’s because the best-known Kurosawa titles — “Seven Samurai,” “Rashomon,” “Throne of Blood” — also happen to be among the most influential movies ever made, casting their shadow over the Spaghetti Western genre, “Star Wars,” and so many more.
Just within the past few weeks, a movie loosely based on “Seven Samurai,” Zack Snyder’s misbegotten “Rebel Moon Part 2,” started streaming, Spike Lee confirmed he’ll direct an adaptation of “High and Low,” and, let’s face it, there’d probably be no “Shogun” at all without the Kurosawa-immortalized Japanese samurai culture onscreen. Probably no director other than Fritz Lang and John Ford has influenced as many genres as Kurosawa, who died in 1998.
But instead of focusing so much on his impact, look at the films.
If films like “Dersu Uzala” and “The Idiot” and “Kagemusha” aren’t talked about as much, it’s because the best-known Kurosawa titles — “Seven Samurai,” “Rashomon,” “Throne of Blood” — also happen to be among the most influential movies ever made, casting their shadow over the Spaghetti Western genre, “Star Wars,” and so many more.
Just within the past few weeks, a movie loosely based on “Seven Samurai,” Zack Snyder’s misbegotten “Rebel Moon Part 2,” started streaming, Spike Lee confirmed he’ll direct an adaptation of “High and Low,” and, let’s face it, there’d probably be no “Shogun” at all without the Kurosawa-immortalized Japanese samurai culture onscreen. Probably no director other than Fritz Lang and John Ford has influenced as many genres as Kurosawa, who died in 1998.
But instead of focusing so much on his impact, look at the films.
- 4/25/2024
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
“You know you can watch that at home, right?” Such was the advice directed my way by a wisecracking passerby while queued up for a screening at the 2024 Turner Classic Movies Film Festival in Hollywood, California. They were clearly not a festival passholder, but the indifference heard right there on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was another instance of the trampling of history that both the festival and its parent channel aim to counter.
Probably the most even-handed response to that trampling would be a reminder—to flip a well-known phrase—that a home is not a house (not a movie house anyway). The folks who flock to Los Angeles every year from all over the world to attend this festival, probably all subscribers or rabid devotees of the channel that bears its name, cough up a prodigious amount of money to do so. It’s clear that for them,...
Probably the most even-handed response to that trampling would be a reminder—to flip a well-known phrase—that a home is not a house (not a movie house anyway). The folks who flock to Los Angeles every year from all over the world to attend this festival, probably all subscribers or rabid devotees of the channel that bears its name, cough up a prodigious amount of money to do so. It’s clear that for them,...
- 4/23/2024
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Slant Magazine
Zendaya’s seemingly futuristic body armor actually has a long history steeped in cinema and pop culture.
At the root of it all is the likeness to the female robot, often called “Maria,” in Fritz Lang’s masterwork of futurism, Metropolis. Maria has inspired countless cultural references including the images of Lang’s robot used in David Bowie and Queen’s video for “Under Pressure”; a profound influence on Ralph McQuarrie’s designs for C-3Po in Star Wars; inspiring looks worn by Beyoncé, Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Lady Gaga; providing the concept of Janelle Monáe’s Metropolis: The Chase Suite album; and serving as a background for Whitney Houston’s music video for “Queen of the Night” as well references in the The Bodyguard.
The actual suit that Zendaya wore to the world premiere is an archival creation from fashion designer Thierry Mugler’s fall/winter 1995 couture collection. Per...
At the root of it all is the likeness to the female robot, often called “Maria,” in Fritz Lang’s masterwork of futurism, Metropolis. Maria has inspired countless cultural references including the images of Lang’s robot used in David Bowie and Queen’s video for “Under Pressure”; a profound influence on Ralph McQuarrie’s designs for C-3Po in Star Wars; inspiring looks worn by Beyoncé, Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Lady Gaga; providing the concept of Janelle Monáe’s Metropolis: The Chase Suite album; and serving as a background for Whitney Houston’s music video for “Queen of the Night” as well references in the The Bodyguard.
The actual suit that Zendaya wore to the world premiere is an archival creation from fashion designer Thierry Mugler’s fall/winter 1995 couture collection. Per...
- 4/9/2024
- by Robert Lang and Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
While it was fascinating to see the results of the 2022 Sight & Sound poll, we’re just as curious to see what lies outside the established canon. As part of a comprehensive project at the essential resource They Shoot Pictures, Don’t They?, Ángel González polled nearly 839 critics on the best films that didn’t receive a single vote on the Sight & Sound poll, which they’ve now compiled into a massive Beyond the Sight & Sound Canon, which initially features 1,030 films but expands to a whopping 14,558 total films.
As a preview, we’ve collected the films that received at least 20 votes in this new poll, which is 263. It’s led by Spike Jonze’s Her, and they’ve also noted the directors that were most represented. Fritz Lang leads the pack with eight films mentioned, while François Truffaut has seven, and Anthony Mann, Clint Eastwood, Eric Rohmer, John Ford, Samuel Fuller,...
As a preview, we’ve collected the films that received at least 20 votes in this new poll, which is 263. It’s led by Spike Jonze’s Her, and they’ve also noted the directors that were most represented. Fritz Lang leads the pack with eight films mentioned, while François Truffaut has seven, and Anthony Mann, Clint Eastwood, Eric Rohmer, John Ford, Samuel Fuller,...
- 4/8/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Brazil’s Fantaspoa film festival is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and the festival is breaking numerous records, presenting an impressive total of 114 feature films, 22 of these as World Premieres, marking the largest number of feature films in Fantaspoa’s long history.
The final selection of feature films for Fantaspoa’s highly-anticipated 20th edition has been exclusively presented to Bloody Disgusting, so read on for everything you need to know!
The festival tells us this week, “With a diverse selection, the feature films screening at Fantaspoa Xx have been divided into seven distinct competitive categories: International, Ibero-American, National, Documentary, Animation, All-Nighter, and Low Budget, Great Films. These categories promise audiences a variety of cinematic experiences, from the fringes of horror and fantasy to the depths of the human imagination.
“In addition to feature films, Fantaspoa will screen 123 short films, totaling 237 participating works, making this edition of the festival the largest in its history.
The final selection of feature films for Fantaspoa’s highly-anticipated 20th edition has been exclusively presented to Bloody Disgusting, so read on for everything you need to know!
The festival tells us this week, “With a diverse selection, the feature films screening at Fantaspoa Xx have been divided into seven distinct competitive categories: International, Ibero-American, National, Documentary, Animation, All-Nighter, and Low Budget, Great Films. These categories promise audiences a variety of cinematic experiences, from the fringes of horror and fantasy to the depths of the human imagination.
“In addition to feature films, Fantaspoa will screen 123 short films, totaling 237 participating works, making this edition of the festival the largest in its history.
- 3/28/2024
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival will celebrate the centennial of Columbia Pictures with an expansive retrospective titled The Lady with the Torch, mounted in collaboration with the studio’s parent company, Sony.
Organized in partnership with the Cinémathèque suisse, The Lady with the Torch will be curated by Ehsan Khoshbakht, co-director of Il Cinema Ritrovato, an annual festival in Bologna dedicated to film history and film restoration. The official unveiling will take place at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles on Thursday.
Locarno has said the retrospective will present the studio in “all its glory,” shining a light on lesser-known genre filmmakers like Max Nosseck, Seymour Friedman, and William A. Seiter, as well as celebrating auteurs like Howard Hawks, Frank Borzage, Fritz Lang, Frank Capra, George Stevens, and John Ford. After launching at the 77th Locarno Film Festival, running August 7-17, the retrospective will tour the world. The Retrospective will...
Organized in partnership with the Cinémathèque suisse, The Lady with the Torch will be curated by Ehsan Khoshbakht, co-director of Il Cinema Ritrovato, an annual festival in Bologna dedicated to film history and film restoration. The official unveiling will take place at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles on Thursday.
Locarno has said the retrospective will present the studio in “all its glory,” shining a light on lesser-known genre filmmakers like Max Nosseck, Seymour Friedman, and William A. Seiter, as well as celebrating auteurs like Howard Hawks, Frank Borzage, Fritz Lang, Frank Capra, George Stevens, and John Ford. After launching at the 77th Locarno Film Festival, running August 7-17, the retrospective will tour the world. The Retrospective will...
- 3/28/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Night Shift: " While working her first night shift at a remote motel, a young woman, Gwen Taylor (Phoebe Tonkin), begins to suspect that she is being followed by a dangerous character from her past. As the night progresses, Gwen’s isolation and safety, however, are made all the more worse when she starts to realize that the motel might also be haunted."
Writer & Director: The China Brothers (Paul & Ben) Cast: Phoebe Tonkin, Lamorne Morris, Madison Hu, Patrick Fischler, Lauren Bowles, Christopher Denham. Producers: Eric B. Fleischman, Maurice Fadida, John Hodges, Bradley Pilz, Dennis Rainaldi Runtime: 82 minutes Rated: TV-ma Distributor: Quiver Distribution
---
Queer Horror - A Film Guide: "From the beginning, horror has been part of the cinema landscape. Despite some of the earliest genre films with gay directors such as F.W. Murnau (Nosferatu) and James Whale, Lgbtqia characters have rarely been portrayed in full view. For decades, filmmakers have...
Writer & Director: The China Brothers (Paul & Ben) Cast: Phoebe Tonkin, Lamorne Morris, Madison Hu, Patrick Fischler, Lauren Bowles, Christopher Denham. Producers: Eric B. Fleischman, Maurice Fadida, John Hodges, Bradley Pilz, Dennis Rainaldi Runtime: 82 minutes Rated: TV-ma Distributor: Quiver Distribution
---
Queer Horror - A Film Guide: "From the beginning, horror has been part of the cinema landscape. Despite some of the earliest genre films with gay directors such as F.W. Murnau (Nosferatu) and James Whale, Lgbtqia characters have rarely been portrayed in full view. For decades, filmmakers have...
- 3/8/2024
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
It’s Millie Bobby Brown versus dragon in Netflix’s dark fantasy adventure. Here’s our review of Damsel:
By pure coincidence, Damsel arrives on Netflix almost exactly a century after German director Fritz Lang introduced what was likely cinema’s first dragon in 1924’s Die Nibelungen. Lang and his collaborators brought their fearsome creature to life with a mixture of rubber, mechanical joints and puppetry (plus a bit of cocaine if one account is to be believed), and the result has a physical presence that is still captivating 100 years later.
In Damsel, director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and production designer Patrick Tatopoulos used CGI to create their dragon, but it still has plenty of weight, personality, and most importantly, menace. Unlike the gigantic winged beasts of, say, 1981’s Dragonslayer (which had terrific animation from Phil Tippett) or 2002’s Reign Of Fire, Damsel’s dragon is also relatively compact – it’s...
By pure coincidence, Damsel arrives on Netflix almost exactly a century after German director Fritz Lang introduced what was likely cinema’s first dragon in 1924’s Die Nibelungen. Lang and his collaborators brought their fearsome creature to life with a mixture of rubber, mechanical joints and puppetry (plus a bit of cocaine if one account is to be believed), and the result has a physical presence that is still captivating 100 years later.
In Damsel, director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and production designer Patrick Tatopoulos used CGI to create their dragon, but it still has plenty of weight, personality, and most importantly, menace. Unlike the gigantic winged beasts of, say, 1981’s Dragonslayer (which had terrific animation from Phil Tippett) or 2002’s Reign Of Fire, Damsel’s dragon is also relatively compact – it’s...
- 3/8/2024
- by Ryan Lambie
- Film Stories
Micheline Presle, the standout French actress who starred in the controversial Devil in the Flesh before making a foray into Hollywood that included roles opposite John Garfield, Tyrone Power, Errol Flynn and Paul Newman, has died. She was 101.
Presle died Wedneday in the Paris suburb of Nogent-sur-Marne, her son-in-law Olivier Bomsel told Le Figaro.
Presle came to international attention when she portrayed a nurse having an affair with a student (Gérard Philipe) in the World War I drama Devil in the Flesh (1947), which the National Board of Review voted as one of the 10 best films of the year.
Because it featured a woman who took a lover while her husband was away at war, it generated a great deal of discussion.
In 1949, Presle met American actor William Marshall, who had been married to another French star, Michèle Morgan, and followed him to America. They would wed that year in Santa Barbara.
Presle died Wedneday in the Paris suburb of Nogent-sur-Marne, her son-in-law Olivier Bomsel told Le Figaro.
Presle came to international attention when she portrayed a nurse having an affair with a student (Gérard Philipe) in the World War I drama Devil in the Flesh (1947), which the National Board of Review voted as one of the 10 best films of the year.
Because it featured a woman who took a lover while her husband was away at war, it generated a great deal of discussion.
In 1949, Presle met American actor William Marshall, who had been married to another French star, Michèle Morgan, and followed him to America. They would wed that year in Santa Barbara.
- 2/22/2024
- by Rhett Bartlett and Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Within the same broad outline as Jean Renoir’s La Chienne, Fritz Lang’s Scarlet Street strikes many notes to emphasize the emasculation of Christopher “Chris” Cross (Edgar G. Robinson): at a dinner in his honor, the lowly bank cashier sees his boss (Russell Hicks) rush through a ceremonial toast to make time with his mistress; in his own home he’s obligated to indulge his unwelcome hobby of picture painting in the bathroom; and there’s a bit of business with a frilly smock he puts on to do the dishes.
Against the grain of what we might assume about put-upon little guys in movies and the way they lash out, Lang only dwells on the tableaux of Chris eunuchized doldrums to make one almost invisible moment work—when, over drinks with Katherine “Kitty” March (Joan Bennett), Chris doesn’t really correct her when she makes the fateful...
Against the grain of what we might assume about put-upon little guys in movies and the way they lash out, Lang only dwells on the tableaux of Chris eunuchized doldrums to make one almost invisible moment work—when, over drinks with Katherine “Kitty” March (Joan Bennett), Chris doesn’t really correct her when she makes the fateful...
- 2/6/2024
- by Jaime N. Christley
- Slant Magazine
Late auteur Peter Bogdanovich is still just a handshake away per his posthumous podcast, “One Handshake Away.”
Prior to Bogdanovich’s January 2022 death, the filmmaker recorded a series of interviews with fellow directors such as Guillermo del Toro, Quentin Tarantino, Ken Burns, and Rian Johnson to discuss their biggest cinematic influences.
Per Deadline, Bogdanovich named the podcast “One Handshake Away” to honor the relationship between contemporary directors and pioneering filmmakers, with each filmmaker being “one handshake away” from one another in film history.
After Bogdanovich’s passing, del Toro took over the podcast and recorded the final three episodes, interviewing Greta Gerwig, Julie Delpy, and Allison Anders, which included discussing the works of Howard Hawks, Fritz Lang, and Raoul Walsh.
Filmmakers Alfred Hitchcock, Don Siegel, Orson Welles, and John Ford were reexamined in episodes Bogdanovich recorded; the podcast additionally features exclusive archival interviews with Hitchcock, Welles, and Ford that have...
Prior to Bogdanovich’s January 2022 death, the filmmaker recorded a series of interviews with fellow directors such as Guillermo del Toro, Quentin Tarantino, Ken Burns, and Rian Johnson to discuss their biggest cinematic influences.
Per Deadline, Bogdanovich named the podcast “One Handshake Away” to honor the relationship between contemporary directors and pioneering filmmakers, with each filmmaker being “one handshake away” from one another in film history.
After Bogdanovich’s passing, del Toro took over the podcast and recorded the final three episodes, interviewing Greta Gerwig, Julie Delpy, and Allison Anders, which included discussing the works of Howard Hawks, Fritz Lang, and Raoul Walsh.
Filmmakers Alfred Hitchcock, Don Siegel, Orson Welles, and John Ford were reexamined in episodes Bogdanovich recorded; the podcast additionally features exclusive archival interviews with Hitchcock, Welles, and Ford that have...
- 2/5/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Peter Bogdanovich, the director of Hollywood classics such as The Last Picture Show and Paper Moon, may have died two years ago but he left behind a “love letter to film.”
The critic-turned-filmmaker was working on One Handshake Away, a podcast series that saw him in conversation with some of the greatest living filmmakers, including Guillermo del Toro, Quentin Tarantino, Rian Johnson and Ken Burns framed through a series of never-before-heard archival interviews with legends including Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles and John Ford.
After Bogdanovich’s death, del Toro took over for the final three interviews with Greta Gerwig, Julie Delpy and Allison Anders.
Each episode pays homage to a master and offers insight and perspective on the influence and impact the legends who came before them had on their career and filmmaking.
Bogdanovich discussed Hitchcock with del Toro, Don Siegel with Tarantino, Welles with Johnson and Ford with Burns.
The critic-turned-filmmaker was working on One Handshake Away, a podcast series that saw him in conversation with some of the greatest living filmmakers, including Guillermo del Toro, Quentin Tarantino, Rian Johnson and Ken Burns framed through a series of never-before-heard archival interviews with legends including Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles and John Ford.
After Bogdanovich’s death, del Toro took over for the final three interviews with Greta Gerwig, Julie Delpy and Allison Anders.
Each episode pays homage to a master and offers insight and perspective on the influence and impact the legends who came before them had on their career and filmmaking.
Bogdanovich discussed Hitchcock with del Toro, Don Siegel with Tarantino, Welles with Johnson and Ford with Burns.
- 2/5/2024
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
How far will you go to deny your identity in order to be a somebody? What happens when you make a deal with a devil whom you might normally despise, but has transfixed much of an entire nation’s population? And how long can you will yourself to ignore evidence of the intolerable? These are just a few of the questions raised — sometimes with allusive finesse, sometimes with blunt-force impact — during “The Performance,” an enthralling period drama with often disquieting contemporary relevance.
If you have roamed through this cinematic territory before, you may discern in Shira Piven’s exceptional film traces of “Cabaret,” “Mephisto” and other tales of ambitious entertainers striving for the spotlight as Adolf Hitler’s shadow spreads over 1930s Germany. But this largely faithful adaptation and intelligent expansion of a 2002 short story by Arthur Miller ultimately stands on its own merits as both vivid historical recreation and riveting cautionary fable,...
If you have roamed through this cinematic territory before, you may discern in Shira Piven’s exceptional film traces of “Cabaret,” “Mephisto” and other tales of ambitious entertainers striving for the spotlight as Adolf Hitler’s shadow spreads over 1930s Germany. But this largely faithful adaptation and intelligent expansion of a 2002 short story by Arthur Miller ultimately stands on its own merits as both vivid historical recreation and riveting cautionary fable,...
- 1/15/2024
- by Joe Leydon
- Variety Film + TV
February––particularly its third week––is all about romance. Accordingly the Criterion Channel got creative with their monthly programming and, in a few weeks, will debut Interdimensional Romance, a series of films wherein “passion conquers time and space, age and memory, and even death and the afterlife.” For every title you might’ve guessed there’s a wilder companion: Alan Rudolph’s Made In Heaven, Soderbergh’s remake, and Resnais’ Love Unto Death. Mostly I’m excited to revisit Francis Ford Coppola’s Youth Without Youth, a likely essential viewing before Megalopolis.
February also marks Black History Month, and Criterion’s series will include work by Shirley Clarke (also subject of a standalone series), Garrett Bradley, Cheryl Dunye, and Julie Dash, while movies by Sirk, Minnelli, King Vidor, and Lang play in “Gothic Noir.” Greta Gerwig gets an “Adventures in Moviegoing” and can be seen in Mary Bronstein’s Yeast,...
February also marks Black History Month, and Criterion’s series will include work by Shirley Clarke (also subject of a standalone series), Garrett Bradley, Cheryl Dunye, and Julie Dash, while movies by Sirk, Minnelli, King Vidor, and Lang play in “Gothic Noir.” Greta Gerwig gets an “Adventures in Moviegoing” and can be seen in Mary Bronstein’s Yeast,...
- 1/11/2024
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Any film that combines the talents of Emma Stone and acclaimed director, Yorgos Lanthimos, is likely to get your average cinephile excited. Throw in Willem Dafoe, Mark Ruffalo, and an eccentric story riffing on the classic tale of Frankenstein, and you have a film that absolutely demands the attention of anyone who has a penchant for the peculiar. Despite all the expectations resting on its shoulders, Poor Things lives up to the hype and then some, as Lanthimos delivers another bizarre, brilliant, and very twisted comedy movie; one which excels in every aspect of filmmaking and shows all the signs of a director who continues to push the boundaries of storytelling with his lofty ambitions and provocative concepts.
Based on the novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray, Poor Things is the story of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman who is not quite what she seems. As the...
Based on the novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray, Poor Things is the story of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman who is not quite what she seems. As the...
- 1/10/2024
- by Jakob Barnes
- Talking Films
Alice Walker published her acclaimed novel “The Color Purple” in 1982. It sold five million copies; Walker became the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize and she also received the National Book Club Award. Three years later, Steven Spielberg directed the lauded film version which made stars out of Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover. It earned 11 Oscar nominations. The story revolves around a young woman who suffers abuse from her father and husband for four decades until she finds her own identity. Not exactly the stuff of a Broadway musical.
But the 2005 tuner version received strong reviews, ran 910 performances and earned ten Tony nominations, winning best actress for Lachanze. The 2015 production picked up two Tonys for best revival and actress for Cynthia Erivo. The movie musical version opened strong Christmas Day with $18 million and is a strong contender in several Oscar categories especially for Fantasia Barrino and Danielle Brooks.
But the 2005 tuner version received strong reviews, ran 910 performances and earned ten Tony nominations, winning best actress for Lachanze. The 2015 production picked up two Tonys for best revival and actress for Cynthia Erivo. The movie musical version opened strong Christmas Day with $18 million and is a strong contender in several Oscar categories especially for Fantasia Barrino and Danielle Brooks.
- 1/2/2024
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Few existential threats in Hollywood are as universally feared (and loathed) as artificial intelligence. In the wake of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike resolutions — finally coming to an end after an uncertain year that put thousands out of work and had just as many questioning the future of the entertainment industry altogether — the threat of robots taking over some creative jobs still looms large.
Plenty of organizations have received protections against A.I. supplanting their roles in productions, including actors and writers (although many still worry negotiations for performers didn’t go far enough). But the quickly evolving technology is changing how we see what’s possible across industries, and the ever-closer future can make it hard to keep up with regulating how machine learning can be used to shape and change both union and non-union arts jobs.
On screen, robots have entertained for almost a century with mechanical creations...
Plenty of organizations have received protections against A.I. supplanting their roles in productions, including actors and writers (although many still worry negotiations for performers didn’t go far enough). But the quickly evolving technology is changing how we see what’s possible across industries, and the ever-closer future can make it hard to keep up with regulating how machine learning can be used to shape and change both union and non-union arts jobs.
On screen, robots have entertained for almost a century with mechanical creations...
- 12/11/2023
- by Alison Foreman and Wilson Chapman
- Indiewire
The opening minutes of Silent Night promise something fun. There’s Joel Kinnaman, dressed in a Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer sweater, sprinting in super-slow-motion through his neighborhood’s back alleys. There are the warring Mexican gang members he’s chasing, spraying bullets at each other as they rampage through residential streets. There’s the glittery soundtrack of a music box filtering out the distant sirens and tire-screeching. And then there’s a red balloon, floating above the chaos, doing its best Fritz Lang impression. It’s gloriously, ludicrously over-the-top.
But who are we kidding? Nobody does melodrama better than John Woo, returning to Hollywood after a 20-year hiatus (his last American movie was 2003’s Paycheck) to deliver some of his signature thrills and recapture the theatrical style that made him one of the world’s most influential directors. A few decades ago, thanks in part to Hard Boiled, The Killer,...
But who are we kidding? Nobody does melodrama better than John Woo, returning to Hollywood after a 20-year hiatus (his last American movie was 2003’s Paycheck) to deliver some of his signature thrills and recapture the theatrical style that made him one of the world’s most influential directors. A few decades ago, thanks in part to Hard Boiled, The Killer,...
- 11/30/2023
- by Jake Kring-Schreifels
- The Film Stage
If John Woo had permitted the characters in “Silent Night” to speak, chances are that audiences would laugh them off the screen. Instead, the director gets right down to business, opening with a wordless chase sequence in which a sad dad (Joel Kinnaman) in a corny Christmas sweater sprints after a pair of speeding cars. Inside the vehicles, bad men blast machine guns, while our nameless hero is armed with … just his wits and the jingle bell around his neck.
By the time this guy — identified as Brian Godlock in the end credits — catches up to the gang members who murdered his son, “Silent Night” has already demonstrated that Woo has no intention of letting logic get in his way. And why should we expect any different from the director of “Face/Off,” whose title-says-it-all gimmick had two rivals swapping identities via plastic surgery? The movie dedicates a lot of time...
By the time this guy — identified as Brian Godlock in the end credits — catches up to the gang members who murdered his son, “Silent Night” has already demonstrated that Woo has no intention of letting logic get in his way. And why should we expect any different from the director of “Face/Off,” whose title-says-it-all gimmick had two rivals swapping identities via plastic surgery? The movie dedicates a lot of time...
- 11/27/2023
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Michel Ciment, the esteemed French film critic, historian, author, radio producer and editor of the influential film magazine Positif, has died. He was 85.
His death was reported Monday by the French radio channel France Inter, the home of his culture program Le Masque et la Plume since 1970.
Ciment was “perhaps the freest and most encyclopedic mind that film criticism has ever produced,” Le Masque et la Plume producer Jérome Garcin in a statement. He made what would be his last appearance on the show in September.
The Paris native also produced Projection privée on France Culture radio from 1990-2016. He was “an immense critic and historian who devoted his entire life to passing on, in words and in writing, his erudition and his passion for the seventh art,” a statement from the channel said.
Ciment joined Positif after sending in a story about the Orson Welles film The Trial in 1963 and would become its editor,...
His death was reported Monday by the French radio channel France Inter, the home of his culture program Le Masque et la Plume since 1970.
Ciment was “perhaps the freest and most encyclopedic mind that film criticism has ever produced,” Le Masque et la Plume producer Jérome Garcin in a statement. He made what would be his last appearance on the show in September.
The Paris native also produced Projection privée on France Culture radio from 1990-2016. He was “an immense critic and historian who devoted his entire life to passing on, in words and in writing, his erudition and his passion for the seventh art,” a statement from the channel said.
Ciment joined Positif after sending in a story about the Orson Welles film The Trial in 1963 and would become its editor,...
- 11/14/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
French critic, historian and author was loyal contributor to Screen’s Cannes jury grid.
Iconic French film critic and historian Michel Ciment has died, his entourage confirmed on Monday evening to French radio station France Inter, home to his world-renowned radio show Le Masque et la Plume since 1970. He was 85.
Born in 1938 in Paris, Ciment devoted his life to cinema and became a pillar of French film criticism and history for more than half a century.
He served as a juror at major festivals including Cannes, Venice, Berlin and Locarno and received numerous French civic honours including the Legion of Honour,...
Iconic French film critic and historian Michel Ciment has died, his entourage confirmed on Monday evening to French radio station France Inter, home to his world-renowned radio show Le Masque et la Plume since 1970. He was 85.
Born in 1938 in Paris, Ciment devoted his life to cinema and became a pillar of French film criticism and history for more than half a century.
He served as a juror at major festivals including Cannes, Venice, Berlin and Locarno and received numerous French civic honours including the Legion of Honour,...
- 11/13/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
Above: 1963 German re-release poster by Heinz Edelmann for Kind Hearts and Coronets.If you are near Berlin during the next four months there is a movie poster exhibition that you must not miss. It opens today at the Kulturforum and it is called Grosses Kino: Filmplakate aller Zeiten, which translates as The Big Screen: Film Posters of All Time.Grosses Kino has been curated by Dr. Christina Thomson and Christina Dembny of the Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (the Art Library at the Berlin State Museum) in collaboration with the Berlin International Film Festival and the Deutsche Kinemathek. The Kunstbibliothek has an extraordinary collection of over 5,000 film posters, 300 of which—dating from 1905 to 2023—have been selected for the exhibition. Earlier this year I was asked to be one of 26 “film industry experts” from the fields of acting, directing, cinema management, film studies, art, and graphic design selected to choose one...
- 11/8/2023
- MUBI
Explore where to stream the best films of 2023.
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Drylongso (Cauleen Smith)
Writer-director Cauleen Smith made Drylongso when she was in college, 25 years ago, premiering at Sundance in 1998. She has gone on to create dozens of short films, art installations, and more experimental work, focused on similar themes of feminism, racial violence, and Black communities. The low-key hangout movie should have been a stepping stone for Smith, but, as with many other works by Black female filmmaking of the last half-century, it fell out of circulation. – Michael F. (full interview)
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Fingernails (Christos Nikou)
Is love quantifiable? No, but that doesn’t stop Greek filmmaker Christos Nikou from exploring that question over two dull, excruciating hours in Fingernails,...
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Drylongso (Cauleen Smith)
Writer-director Cauleen Smith made Drylongso when she was in college, 25 years ago, premiering at Sundance in 1998. She has gone on to create dozens of short films, art installations, and more experimental work, focused on similar themes of feminism, racial violence, and Black communities. The low-key hangout movie should have been a stepping stone for Smith, but, as with many other works by Black female filmmaking of the last half-century, it fell out of circulation. – Michael F. (full interview)
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Fingernails (Christos Nikou)
Is love quantifiable? No, but that doesn’t stop Greek filmmaker Christos Nikou from exploring that question over two dull, excruciating hours in Fingernails,...
- 11/3/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Film geeks, rejoice. Leading indie label Kino Lorber is entering the world of streaming. The company has launched Kino Film Collection, a new subscription video service available in the U.S. via’s Amazon’s Prime Video Channels. The Collection will feature new Kino releases fresh from theaters, along with hundreds of films from its expansive library of more than 4,000 titles, many now streaming for the first time. It will cost users $5.99 per month.
Films available at launch include award-winning theatrical releases and critically acclaimed festival favorites and classics from around the globe, such as The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci), Dogtooth (Yorgos Lanthimos), Taxi (Jafar Panahi), Poison (Todd Haynes), Ganja & Hess (Bill Gunn), The Scent of Green Papaya (Tran Anh Hung), A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour), Computer Chess (Andrew Bujalski), Portrait of Jason (Shirley Clarke), and A Touch of Sin (Jia Zhangke).
Joining them are entries...
Films available at launch include award-winning theatrical releases and critically acclaimed festival favorites and classics from around the globe, such as The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci), Dogtooth (Yorgos Lanthimos), Taxi (Jafar Panahi), Poison (Todd Haynes), Ganja & Hess (Bill Gunn), The Scent of Green Papaya (Tran Anh Hung), A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour), Computer Chess (Andrew Bujalski), Portrait of Jason (Shirley Clarke), and A Touch of Sin (Jia Zhangke).
Joining them are entries...
- 11/2/2023
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Kino Lorber, a leading name in the indie film scene for over 45 years, just launched the Kino Film Collection. This new streaming service is available in the U.S. on Amazon via Prime Video Channels for $5.99 per month. The platform will feature new Kino films fresh from their theatrical release along with hundreds of catalog titles. Many of these films will be available to stream for the first time.
Among the films available will be a new 4K restoration of Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Conformist” and key titles like Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Dogtooth,” Jafar Panahi’s “Taxi,” Todd Haynes’ “Poison,” and Ana Lily Amirpour’s “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night.”
Among the older titles available to stream will be classics like Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis,” F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu,” Robert Wiene’s “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,” and Sergei Eisenstein’s “Battleship Potemkin.” The Kino Film Collection will be...
Among the films available will be a new 4K restoration of Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Conformist” and key titles like Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Dogtooth,” Jafar Panahi’s “Taxi,” Todd Haynes’ “Poison,” and Ana Lily Amirpour’s “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night.”
Among the older titles available to stream will be classics like Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis,” F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu,” Robert Wiene’s “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,” and Sergei Eisenstein’s “Battleship Potemkin.” The Kino Film Collection will be...
- 11/1/2023
- by Scott Mendelson
- The Wrap
Kino Lorber has launched a new subscription streaming outlet, Kino Film Collection.
The $6-a-month destination for recent theatrical releases and hundreds of other films drawn from the company’s vast library will be available in the U.S. on Prime Video Channels.
Kino Lorber also operates Kino Now, a platform for rentals and purchases of arthouse and specialty films. The company has made several streaming moves of late. In 2022, it acquired MHz Choice and installed AMC Networks veteran Ed Carroll and former IFC Films head Lisa Schwartz in key management roles. Schwartz, Kino Lorber’s Chief Revenue Officer, will oversee Kino Film Collection. Last spring, Kino Lorber also formed a joint venture with First Look Media to operate both MHz Choice and First Look’s streaming service Topic.
Films available on Kino Film Collection at launch include new 4K restorations of The Conformist as well as key works by contemporary...
The $6-a-month destination for recent theatrical releases and hundreds of other films drawn from the company’s vast library will be available in the U.S. on Prime Video Channels.
Kino Lorber also operates Kino Now, a platform for rentals and purchases of arthouse and specialty films. The company has made several streaming moves of late. In 2022, it acquired MHz Choice and installed AMC Networks veteran Ed Carroll and former IFC Films head Lisa Schwartz in key management roles. Schwartz, Kino Lorber’s Chief Revenue Officer, will oversee Kino Film Collection. Last spring, Kino Lorber also formed a joint venture with First Look Media to operate both MHz Choice and First Look’s streaming service Topic.
Films available on Kino Film Collection at launch include new 4K restorations of The Conformist as well as key works by contemporary...
- 11/1/2023
- by Dade Hayes
- Deadline Film + TV
Independent film distributor Kino Lorber has officially unveiled streaming service Kino Film Collection, available via Prime Video here.
The Kino Film Collection will be launched in the U.S. on the Amazon Service via Prime Video Channels for $5.99 per month. The Collection will feature new Kino releases fresh from theaters, along with hundreds of films from its expansive library of more than 4,000 titles, with many now streaming for the first time.
New 4K restorations of films like Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Conformist,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Dogtooth,” Jafar Panahi’s “Taxi,” Todd Haynes’ “Poison,” Tran Anh Hung’s “The Scent of Green Papaya,” Ana Lily Amirpour’s “A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night,” and Jia Zhangke’s “A Touch of Sin” are among highlights of the first offerings from Kino Film Collection.
Kino canon films like Fritz Lang’s historic “Metropolis,” F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu,” Robert Wiene’s “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,...
The Kino Film Collection will be launched in the U.S. on the Amazon Service via Prime Video Channels for $5.99 per month. The Collection will feature new Kino releases fresh from theaters, along with hundreds of films from its expansive library of more than 4,000 titles, with many now streaming for the first time.
New 4K restorations of films like Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Conformist,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Dogtooth,” Jafar Panahi’s “Taxi,” Todd Haynes’ “Poison,” Tran Anh Hung’s “The Scent of Green Papaya,” Ana Lily Amirpour’s “A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night,” and Jia Zhangke’s “A Touch of Sin” are among highlights of the first offerings from Kino Film Collection.
Kino canon films like Fritz Lang’s historic “Metropolis,” F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu,” Robert Wiene’s “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,...
- 11/1/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Maria Photo: courtesy of Frightfest
One of the liveliest entries at this year’s Halloween Frightfest, Argentinian grindhouse thriller Maria is the story of a porn star who goes through a strange transformation and becomes a feminist avenger. It was written by Nicanor Loreti and directed by Gabriel Grieco, who kindly agreed to join me for a chat the night before he was due to fly to London for the festival. Readers should be aware that this interview contains a spoiler, though it’s one which you’re likely to guess pretty quickly when you start watching, and it doesn’t really spoil the fun.
Like many of the best grindhouse films, Maria mingles entertainingly trashy ideas with little slips which reveal the skill and cinematic knowledge of its creators. The first thing I shared with Gabriel was my first impression of the film: that it was drawing heavily on Fritz Lang classic Metropolis.
One of the liveliest entries at this year’s Halloween Frightfest, Argentinian grindhouse thriller Maria is the story of a porn star who goes through a strange transformation and becomes a feminist avenger. It was written by Nicanor Loreti and directed by Gabriel Grieco, who kindly agreed to join me for a chat the night before he was due to fly to London for the festival. Readers should be aware that this interview contains a spoiler, though it’s one which you’re likely to guess pretty quickly when you start watching, and it doesn’t really spoil the fun.
Like many of the best grindhouse films, Maria mingles entertainingly trashy ideas with little slips which reveal the skill and cinematic knowledge of its creators. The first thing I shared with Gabriel was my first impression of the film: that it was drawing heavily on Fritz Lang classic Metropolis.
- 10/27/2023
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Sam Esmail’s years-in-the making adaptation of Fritz Lang’s classic 1927 sci-fi film Metropolis became one of the first major casualties of the 2023 Hollywood strikes. Seven weeks into the WGA work stoppage, the UCP studio, where Esmail has been under an overall deal, pulled the plug on the big-budget series, which had been prepping in Australia with a partial cast set, including Briana Middleton and Lindy Booth.
Because of the strike, Esmail could not comment on the cancellation at the time. He shared his reaction tonight on the red carpet for his upcoming Netflix movie Leave the World Behind starring Julia Roberts and Mahershala Ali.
“Obviously, it was heartbreaking,” he told Deadline. “But during the strike, we all understood. And I got to work with a lot of talented people out in Australia, where we were mounting the production. It was a really good experience, and I don’t regret it for a second.
Because of the strike, Esmail could not comment on the cancellation at the time. He shared his reaction tonight on the red carpet for his upcoming Netflix movie Leave the World Behind starring Julia Roberts and Mahershala Ali.
“Obviously, it was heartbreaking,” he told Deadline. “But during the strike, we all understood. And I got to work with a lot of talented people out in Australia, where we were mounting the production. It was a really good experience, and I don’t regret it for a second.
- 10/26/2023
- by Nellie Andreeva and Natalie Sitek
- Deadline Film + TV
Above: 1973 New York Film Festival poster designed by Niki de Saint Phalle.The 61st edition of the New York Film Festival, which opens tonight, has 32 films in its Main Slate, fifteen films in its Spotlight section, ten films and seven collections of shorts in the Currents sidebar, and eleven revivals. That's over 60 feature films. Fifty years ago, in 1973, the 11th edition of the festival had just eighteen feature films and nineteen shorts. Just like this year’s opener—Todd Haynes’s May December—1973’s opening night film, François Truffaut’s Day for Night, had premiered four months earlier at the Cannes Film Festival. And as with this year’s festival, the 1973 edition opened, fifty years and one day ago exactly, in the shadow of an artists' strike. Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians had been picketing the New York Philharmonic outside Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, where the festival was taking place,...
- 9/29/2023
- MUBI
Plans to ax several screen funding programs in Australia are “hard to comprehend” and will be a “disaster” for the country’s film and TV industry, the country’s producers body has warned.
The New South Wales government, which presides over Sydney and its surrounding areas, is planning to cut a number of existing programs, including the Made in Nsw Fund.
The program funds domestic high-end TV and features and has been credited attracting overseas investment into local productions. The likes of local drama Mystery Road, Mad Max 2: Furiosa, Mother and Son, Disney+’s The Artful Dodger and Thor: Love and Thunder have benefitted from the fund, which Screen Producers Australia says created “jobs and multiples of economic activity in in Sydney and regional areas of the state.”
Also impacted by the cuts are the Post Digital and Visual Effects and the Digital Games Development Rebate Program, both...
The New South Wales government, which presides over Sydney and its surrounding areas, is planning to cut a number of existing programs, including the Made in Nsw Fund.
The program funds domestic high-end TV and features and has been credited attracting overseas investment into local productions. The likes of local drama Mystery Road, Mad Max 2: Furiosa, Mother and Son, Disney+’s The Artful Dodger and Thor: Love and Thunder have benefitted from the fund, which Screen Producers Australia says created “jobs and multiples of economic activity in in Sydney and regional areas of the state.”
Also impacted by the cuts are the Post Digital and Visual Effects and the Digital Games Development Rebate Program, both...
- 9/11/2023
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
When George Lucas and his special effects house Industrial Light and Magic finished shooting "Star Wars" back in the late 1970s, they boxed up all of their props and widgets -- then stored in the San Fernando Valley -- and moved their operation north, just north of the San Francisco Bay. While most of the "Star Wars" props made the trek undamaged, at least one of the X-wings models remained behind by accident. "Star Wars" fans will instantly note X-wings as the single-occupancy, biplane-like spacecraft that the film's heroes used to attack the Death Star in the film's climax.
One of the more forwardly visible models used to shoot the Death Star sequence -- the Red Leader X-wing -- was 20 inches long and was equipped with lights and servos to control the "expanding" of the ship's four wings. It was massively detailed and was painted to look like it had seen some action,...
One of the more forwardly visible models used to shoot the Death Star sequence -- the Red Leader X-wing -- was 20 inches long and was equipped with lights and servos to control the "expanding" of the ship's four wings. It was massively detailed and was painted to look like it had seen some action,...
- 9/9/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Clockwise from top left: Modern Times (screenshot), Newsies (screenshot), Norma Rae (20th Century Fox), Sorry To Bother You (Annapurna Pictures)Graphic: The A.V. Club
Just in time for Labor Day 2023, The A.V. Club has pulled together a rundown of the best films that celebrate the proletariat. Presented with all working class heroes in mind,...
Just in time for Labor Day 2023, The A.V. Club has pulled together a rundown of the best films that celebrate the proletariat. Presented with all working class heroes in mind,...
- 9/1/2023
- by The A.V. Club
- avclub.com
Exclusive: Keshet International is doubling down on its German business by launching a standalone scripted arm in the European country.
Keshet Germany will launch with a slate that includes another remake of False Flag, the Israeli format that was recently remade by Keshet UK as Suspicion, starring Uma Thurman and Kunal Nayaar. Also on the slate is a reboot of the Dr Mabuse crime franchise from Paradise writer Boris Kunz and a reimagining of 14th century German pirate myth Klaus Störtebeker.
The division is born out of Keshet’s Tresor TV, which launched scripted division Keshet Tresor Fiction (Ktf) five years ago. Following the adaptations of Stockholm, known locally as Unter Freunden Stirbt Man Nicht (You Don’t Die Among Friends), for Rtl+, and production of How to Dad for Ard Degeto and thriller Der Schatten for ZDFneo, it’s been decided to relaunch Ktf as a standalone business.
Officially...
Keshet Germany will launch with a slate that includes another remake of False Flag, the Israeli format that was recently remade by Keshet UK as Suspicion, starring Uma Thurman and Kunal Nayaar. Also on the slate is a reboot of the Dr Mabuse crime franchise from Paradise writer Boris Kunz and a reimagining of 14th century German pirate myth Klaus Störtebeker.
The division is born out of Keshet’s Tresor TV, which launched scripted division Keshet Tresor Fiction (Ktf) five years ago. Following the adaptations of Stockholm, known locally as Unter Freunden Stirbt Man Nicht (You Don’t Die Among Friends), for Rtl+, and production of How to Dad for Ard Degeto and thriller Der Schatten for ZDFneo, it’s been decided to relaunch Ktf as a standalone business.
Officially...
- 9/1/2023
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Mubi has announced its lineup of streaming offerings for September, including the exclusive streaming premieres for Rebecca Zlotowski’s Other People’s Children; and Lola Quivoron’s Rodeo; and Rotting in the Sun by Sebastián Silva, whose work is highlighted in a series that also includes The Maid, Life Kills Me, and Nasty Baby.
Additional selections include a mini-retro of last year’s TIFF (Pacifiction and the newest film by Sophy Romvari among them), 10 by Pedro Almodóvar, and David Lynch’s rare 1988 short The Cowboy and the Frenchman, starring Harry Dean Stanton and Jack Nance.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
September 1
Volver, directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Matador, directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Dark Habits, directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Law of Desire, directed by Pedro Almodóvar
High Heels, directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Kika, directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Live Flesh,...
Additional selections include a mini-retro of last year’s TIFF (Pacifiction and the newest film by Sophy Romvari among them), 10 by Pedro Almodóvar, and David Lynch’s rare 1988 short The Cowboy and the Frenchman, starring Harry Dean Stanton and Jack Nance.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
September 1
Volver, directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Matador, directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Dark Habits, directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Law of Desire, directed by Pedro Almodóvar
High Heels, directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Kika, directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Live Flesh,...
- 8/31/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Being an independent producer was never easy. But these days, it’s near impossible. Even before the dual writers and actors strikes, changes in the international film and TV market had made life tough for the indies. Old models of art house moviemaking have been ravaged by a combination of decline in the specialty box office, the collapse of ancillary revenue for home entertainment and TV licensing, and the more recent pullback by streaming companies, who have begun to back fewer, and more mainstream, movies.
But one indie production company has gone from making just a handful of movies a year to dozens, finding a way to turn the turbulent new reality into a business model for making cutting-edge art house cinema that, shockingly, can actually turn a profit. It’s the company behind five of the most hotly anticipated titles at the Venice Film Festival this year: Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things,...
But one indie production company has gone from making just a handful of movies a year to dozens, finding a way to turn the turbulent new reality into a business model for making cutting-edge art house cinema that, shockingly, can actually turn a profit. It’s the company behind five of the most hotly anticipated titles at the Venice Film Festival this year: Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things,...
- 8/25/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Artificial intelligence is everywhere. Well, perhaps not literally, but AI is certainly expanding its reach, its power, and its uses. Its potential – both good and bad – is on the minds of anyone who works in technology, communications, journalism, and just about every other walk of life.
Of course, science fiction saw all this coming, just as it foretold the arrival of nuclear deterrence, bioweapons, superflus, climate change, the internet, mobile communications, and so much more. Artificial intelligence, whether embedded in the bowels of a supercomputer or ensconced in the head of an android, has been part of the genre since at least 1907, when L. Frank Baum included a mechanical character called Tik-Tok in his book Ozma of Oz. It’s played a variety of roles in books, comics, TV shows, and films ever since – often working for humankind’s benefit but just as frequently mapping our doom.
It’s the...
Of course, science fiction saw all this coming, just as it foretold the arrival of nuclear deterrence, bioweapons, superflus, climate change, the internet, mobile communications, and so much more. Artificial intelligence, whether embedded in the bowels of a supercomputer or ensconced in the head of an android, has been part of the genre since at least 1907, when L. Frank Baum included a mechanical character called Tik-Tok in his book Ozma of Oz. It’s played a variety of roles in books, comics, TV shows, and films ever since – often working for humankind’s benefit but just as frequently mapping our doom.
It’s the...
- 8/22/2023
- by Don Kaye
- Den of Geek
I'm not sure if "Loki" season 1 is Marvel's best Disney+ series to date, but it may be the most consistent quality-wise. While other Marvel Cinematic Universe shows have flown higher before stumbling in the final stretch (not naming names), director Kate Herron was steady-handed in her efforts behind the camera on the God of Mischief's solo outing, as were head writer Michael Waldron and his fellow scribes.
At the bare minimum, "Loki" season 1 is one of the best-looking MCU shows. The interiors of the Time Variance Authority (Tva) headquarters, where the "Avengers: Endgame" variant of Tom Hiddleston's trickster god is essentially taken prisoner after evading his fate, have a stylishly retro-futuristic yet mundane aesthetic. It's like someone crossed the titular city in Fritz Lang's 1927 German Expressionist classic "Metropolis" with your local Dmv. Waldron, speaking to The Wrap in 2021, likened the Tva to the Tyrell Corporation from "Blade Runner...
At the bare minimum, "Loki" season 1 is one of the best-looking MCU shows. The interiors of the Time Variance Authority (Tva) headquarters, where the "Avengers: Endgame" variant of Tom Hiddleston's trickster god is essentially taken prisoner after evading his fate, have a stylishly retro-futuristic yet mundane aesthetic. It's like someone crossed the titular city in Fritz Lang's 1927 German Expressionist classic "Metropolis" with your local Dmv. Waldron, speaking to The Wrap in 2021, likened the Tva to the Tyrell Corporation from "Blade Runner...
- 8/19/2023
- by Sandy Schaefer
- Slash Film
Science fiction on film has been around almost as long as cinema itself. Starting in 1895 when the first public showings of motion pictures commenced in France and the United States, and as filmmakers began to realize that they could string scenes together to tell a complete, coherent story, the genres of sci-fi, horror, and fantasy were part of the equation.
Celluloid offered ambitious storytellers the chance to put images on the screen—crude at the time, but still groundbreaking—that had only been glimpsed in the pages of novels, short stories, and later, comic books and pulp magazines. And as filmmaking techniques themselves progressed, and the motion picture industry began to take shape in the early 20th century, visionaries came along with audacious ideas that moved the art form, the technology, and the genres forward well into the new millennium.
Below are 16 such visionaries; men and women who either grew...
Celluloid offered ambitious storytellers the chance to put images on the screen—crude at the time, but still groundbreaking—that had only been glimpsed in the pages of novels, short stories, and later, comic books and pulp magazines. And as filmmaking techniques themselves progressed, and the motion picture industry began to take shape in the early 20th century, visionaries came along with audacious ideas that moved the art form, the technology, and the genres forward well into the new millennium.
Below are 16 such visionaries; men and women who either grew...
- 8/18/2023
- by Don Kaye
- Den of Geek
“The [sci-fi] film has never really been more than an offshoot of its literary precursor, which to date has provided all the ideas, themes and inventiveness. [Sci-fi] cinema has been notoriously prone to cycles of exploitation and neglect, unsatisfactory mergings with horror films, thrillers, environmental and disaster movies.” So wrote J.G. Ballard about George Lucas’s Star Wars in a 1977 piece for Time Out. If Ballard’s view of science-fiction cinema was highly uncharitable and, as demonstrated by some of the imaginative and mind-expanding films below, essentially off-base, he nevertheless touched on a significant point: that literary and cinematic sci-fi are two fundamentally different art forms.
Metropolis, Fritz Lang’s visionary depiction of a near-future dystopia, is almost impossible to imagine as a work of prose fiction. Strip away the Art Deco glory of its towering cityscapes and factories and the synchronized movements of those who move through those environments and what’s left?...
Metropolis, Fritz Lang’s visionary depiction of a near-future dystopia, is almost impossible to imagine as a work of prose fiction. Strip away the Art Deco glory of its towering cityscapes and factories and the synchronized movements of those who move through those environments and what’s left?...
- 8/6/2023
- by Slant Staff
- Slant Magazine
"It's not the same as coming in and being inspired." They got Nolan! Wow! Dive into movie geek heaven in this latest offering of the "Vidéo Club" series made by Konbini exploring an old video store in Paris with famous filmmakers. We've posted videos of Brad Pitt and Terry Gilliam and M. Night Shyamalan and Wes Anderson already in this classic video store. This time they got to bring in director Christopher Nolan to visit with his lead actor Cillian Murphy from Oppenheimer while they were in Paris on their promo tour (before the strike a few weeks ago). Nolan makes me want to watch Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent (aka Correspondent 17 in French), The Hill starring Sean Connery, and Nagisa Ôshima's Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, and he also chats about how Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse had a big influence on his Joker. Murphy talks about working with Ken Loach,...
- 7/24/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
It was more than a little heartening to see Roger Corman paid tribute by Quentin Tarantino at Cannes’ closing night. By now the director-producer-mogul’s imprint on cinema is understood to eclipse, rough estimate, 99.5% of anybody who’s touched the medium, but on a night for celebrating what’s new, trend-following, and manicured it could’ve hardly been more necessary. Thus I’m further heartened seeing the Criterion Channel will host a retrospective of Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe adaptations running eight films and aptly titled “Grindhouse Gothic,” though I might save the selections for October.
Centerpiece, though, is a hip hop series including Bill Duke’s superb Deep Cover, Ghost Dog, and numerous documentaries––among them Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest, making Michael Rapaport a Criterion-approved auteur. Ten films starring Kay Francis and 21 Eurothrillers round out series; streaming premieres include the Dardenne brothers’ Tori and Lokita,...
Centerpiece, though, is a hip hop series including Bill Duke’s superb Deep Cover, Ghost Dog, and numerous documentaries––among them Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest, making Michael Rapaport a Criterion-approved auteur. Ten films starring Kay Francis and 21 Eurothrillers round out series; streaming premieres include the Dardenne brothers’ Tori and Lokita,...
- 7/19/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Based on Emile Zola’s 1980 novel La Bête Humaine, Fritz Lang’s Human Desire is an entirely different beast than Jean Renoir’s 1938 adaptation. The Renoir film’s pointed humanism and everybody-has-their-reasons ethos is swapped out here for a considerably steelier point of view. Indeed, the film is less interested in its characters’ interiority than it is in viewing their lives through a fatalistic lens.
What’s most compelling about Lang’s film is how elegantly it toys with noir tropes and subverts our expectations, particularly with regard to Vicki (Gloria Grahame), who’s initially presented as your prototypical femme fatale. Vicki is trying to convince her new lover, Jeff (Glenn Ford), to murder her slovenly, abusive husband, Carl (Broderick Crawford). It’s a setup familiar from countless noirs, most notably Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity and Tay Garnett’s The Postman Always Rings Twice, so the audience is already...
What’s most compelling about Lang’s film is how elegantly it toys with noir tropes and subverts our expectations, particularly with regard to Vicki (Gloria Grahame), who’s initially presented as your prototypical femme fatale. Vicki is trying to convince her new lover, Jeff (Glenn Ford), to murder her slovenly, abusive husband, Carl (Broderick Crawford). It’s a setup familiar from countless noirs, most notably Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity and Tay Garnett’s The Postman Always Rings Twice, so the audience is already...
- 7/19/2023
- by Derek Smith
- Slant Magazine
To mark the release of Le Mépris which is available on 4K Uhd, Blu-Ray, DVD & digital, from June 26, we have 2 Blu-Rays to give away!
To mark the 60 th anniversary of one of the most notable examples of the French New Wave, Studiocanal is delighted to announce a brand-new 4K restoration of Le MÉPRIS. Fresh from its inclusion in the Cannes Classic selection at this year’s festival, this landmark in world cinema from cinema’s original enfant terrible; Jean-Luc Godard will be available to own on 4K Uhd for the first time, on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital on 26 June.
Featuring the style icon Brigitte Bardot as Camille, and legendary French talent Michel Piccoli as Paul, Le MÉPRIS boasts a strong and eclectic supporting cast featuring ‘master of darkness’ Director, Fritz Lang as himself, renowned American actor Jack Palance as Jeremy, and the infamous Giorgia Moll as Francesca. The restoration also...
To mark the 60 th anniversary of one of the most notable examples of the French New Wave, Studiocanal is delighted to announce a brand-new 4K restoration of Le MÉPRIS. Fresh from its inclusion in the Cannes Classic selection at this year’s festival, this landmark in world cinema from cinema’s original enfant terrible; Jean-Luc Godard will be available to own on 4K Uhd for the first time, on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital on 26 June.
Featuring the style icon Brigitte Bardot as Camille, and legendary French talent Michel Piccoli as Paul, Le MÉPRIS boasts a strong and eclectic supporting cast featuring ‘master of darkness’ Director, Fritz Lang as himself, renowned American actor Jack Palance as Jeremy, and the infamous Giorgia Moll as Francesca. The restoration also...
- 6/25/2023
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Metropolis is not headed to Apple TV+ after all. The streaming service has dropped its plans for the series based on the classic film and book of the same name. Sam Esmail is behind the adaptation of the 1927 film by Fritz Lang. He had been working on the project for the last seven years, and Apple TV+ ordered the series in March 2022.
Read More…...
Read More…...
- 6/20/2023
- by TVSeriesFinale.com
- TVSeriesFinale.com
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.