Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film and TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?”, can be found at the end of this post.)
This week’s question: Inspired by Baby Groot’s “Mr. Blue Sky” dance sequence at the beginning of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” what movie has the best opening credits sequence?
April Wolfe (@awolfeful), La Weekly
Hands down, it’s R.W. Fassbinder’s “The Marriage of Maria Braun.” I watch the opening sequence at least three times a year and show it to every filmmaker I can. I love any film that begins with a bang, and this one does quite literally: We open up on an explosion that rips out a hunk of brick wall, exposing a German couple in the middle of a rushed marriage ceremony.
This week’s question: Inspired by Baby Groot’s “Mr. Blue Sky” dance sequence at the beginning of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” what movie has the best opening credits sequence?
April Wolfe (@awolfeful), La Weekly
Hands down, it’s R.W. Fassbinder’s “The Marriage of Maria Braun.” I watch the opening sequence at least three times a year and show it to every filmmaker I can. I love any film that begins with a bang, and this one does quite literally: We open up on an explosion that rips out a hunk of brick wall, exposing a German couple in the middle of a rushed marriage ceremony.
- 5/8/2017
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Actor known for his roles in the films of Pier Paolo Pasolini
Franco Citti, who has died aged 90, made a memorable screen debut playing the title role of a pimp in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s first film, Accattone (1961), which was inspired by several characters whom Pasolini had met in the barren areas on the impoverished Roman outskirts.
Franco was one of the non-professionals cast in the film after Pasolini had met him through his brother, the writer and director Sergio Citti. The producer Alfredo Bini, who took over Accattone after its stuttering start with Federico Fellini’s production company, accepted Pasolini’s choice of Franco, but insisted that his dialogue be postsynched by a professional, something that Pasolini later regretted. However, Franco’s extraordinarily expressive face was more important than his voice in the film which, respecting the director’s love for Masaccio’s paintings and the films of Carl Theodor Dreyer,...
Franco Citti, who has died aged 90, made a memorable screen debut playing the title role of a pimp in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s first film, Accattone (1961), which was inspired by several characters whom Pasolini had met in the barren areas on the impoverished Roman outskirts.
Franco was one of the non-professionals cast in the film after Pasolini had met him through his brother, the writer and director Sergio Citti. The producer Alfredo Bini, who took over Accattone after its stuttering start with Federico Fellini’s production company, accepted Pasolini’s choice of Franco, but insisted that his dialogue be postsynched by a professional, something that Pasolini later regretted. However, Franco’s extraordinarily expressive face was more important than his voice in the film which, respecting the director’s love for Masaccio’s paintings and the films of Carl Theodor Dreyer,...
- 1/14/2016
- by John Francis Lane
- The Guardian - Film News
The maestro’s thumb-through of Petronius finds ancient Rome to be as joyless and overheated as modern Rome. Fellini described it as “science fiction of the past”. Much revelry, debauchery and grotesquery ensues in a world that bears less resemblance to history than to Fellini’s subconscious. A gorgeous but deeply pessimistic film. Fellini’s name was later added to the title to distinguish his film from the previous year’s copycat Satyricon from producer Alfredo Bini.
- 4/22/2015
- by Trailers From Hell
- Thompson on Hollywood
With a gigantic budget of 127 million Euro, a huge cast of more than a thousand actors and extras and 42 weeks of shooting in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the U.S, Dante’s Inferno will be produced as a 125-minute motion picture and a 7-episode television series. The capital vices will be the focus of this modern version of Dante’s work, realized with the most advanced 3d acquisition system and showing fantastic scenarios of volcanoes, petrified forests, glaciers and salt plains. Director Simone Orlandini and producers David Bush and Teresina Moscatiello presented the project during the 63rd Berlinale.
The ambitious project of translating the everlasting masterpiece by Dante Alighieri for the first time onto the big screen has a noble father: it was conceived as the last visionary dream of Alfredo Bini, producer of Pasolini and Orlandini’s “grandfather”. Bini’s film should have had a stellar cast, with Vittorio Gasmann in the role of Dante, and Orson Welles as director; yet, the latter died shortly after accepting the job. Orlandini now takes up the immense challenge, thanks to the extraordinary material put together by Bini, but also availing himself of the immense progress of current technology: “Cinema – says Orlandini – has now reached such a technical as well as artistic maturity as to be able to confront and tackle this universal and immortal work, which has already over the centuries inspired the greatest artists in the fields of literature, music and visual arts”. There will be a grandiose studio reconstruction (all the nine infernal circles) and myriads of effects to create all the characters, the allegorical figures, the fantastic animals, the terrifying scenes and all the astonishing situations conjured up by Dante’s incomparable poetic imagination. The sceneries have already been designed by the prestigious art director Danilo Donati, winner of two Oscars and of countless international awards.
Today’s script, designed for a young audience, is an adaptation of the original script written by professor Luigi Pruneti, renowned writer and essayist, and Florentine just like the great poet.
"We have already put together - say Bush and Moscatiello - 45% of the productive forces and the artistic and technical talents required to make the film; significantly, all of the professionals are Oscar winners. We have contacted major studios in New Zealand and Germany’s Babelsberg for the studio shoot. The film will be produced in stereo 3d and with extensive use of digital technology.”
As for the cast, the roles of Dante, Virgil and Beatrice will be covered by International A-list stars, and among the numerous actors and extras dozens of extraordinary world-class artists, dancers and musicians will appear. The release 2015 is the 750th anniversary of Dante's birth and given the very high cultural value of the project, the production will ask for patronage from the President of the Italian Republic and the collaboration of Unesco.
The ambitious project of translating the everlasting masterpiece by Dante Alighieri for the first time onto the big screen has a noble father: it was conceived as the last visionary dream of Alfredo Bini, producer of Pasolini and Orlandini’s “grandfather”. Bini’s film should have had a stellar cast, with Vittorio Gasmann in the role of Dante, and Orson Welles as director; yet, the latter died shortly after accepting the job. Orlandini now takes up the immense challenge, thanks to the extraordinary material put together by Bini, but also availing himself of the immense progress of current technology: “Cinema – says Orlandini – has now reached such a technical as well as artistic maturity as to be able to confront and tackle this universal and immortal work, which has already over the centuries inspired the greatest artists in the fields of literature, music and visual arts”. There will be a grandiose studio reconstruction (all the nine infernal circles) and myriads of effects to create all the characters, the allegorical figures, the fantastic animals, the terrifying scenes and all the astonishing situations conjured up by Dante’s incomparable poetic imagination. The sceneries have already been designed by the prestigious art director Danilo Donati, winner of two Oscars and of countless international awards.
Today’s script, designed for a young audience, is an adaptation of the original script written by professor Luigi Pruneti, renowned writer and essayist, and Florentine just like the great poet.
"We have already put together - say Bush and Moscatiello - 45% of the productive forces and the artistic and technical talents required to make the film; significantly, all of the professionals are Oscar winners. We have contacted major studios in New Zealand and Germany’s Babelsberg for the studio shoot. The film will be produced in stereo 3d and with extensive use of digital technology.”
As for the cast, the roles of Dante, Virgil and Beatrice will be covered by International A-list stars, and among the numerous actors and extras dozens of extraordinary world-class artists, dancers and musicians will appear. The release 2015 is the 750th anniversary of Dante's birth and given the very high cultural value of the project, the production will ask for patronage from the President of the Italian Republic and the collaboration of Unesco.
- 3/28/2013
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
(1963, Eureka! PG)
This fascinating portmanteau film, supposedly "recounting the joyous beginning of the end of the world", was the brainchild of Italian producer Alfredo Bini as a way of using four leading directors he was working with on other projects. Despite creating a furore it failed to find a theatrical distributor in Britain. The title translates as Let's Wash Our Brains, expressing a shared disillusionment with society on the part of its four directors whose names make up the other part of the title: Roberto Rossellini, Jean-Luc Godard, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Ugo Gregoretti.
Rossellini's Virginity is a slim tale about a rapacious American TV executive pursuing an Italian air hostess (Rosanna Schiaffino, producer Bini's wife). Godard's The New World is an elegant, talkative picture set in a Paris little affected by a nuclear holocaust. Then best-known for his innovative TV documentaries, Gregoretti's Free-Range Chicken is a funny if dated assault...
This fascinating portmanteau film, supposedly "recounting the joyous beginning of the end of the world", was the brainchild of Italian producer Alfredo Bini as a way of using four leading directors he was working with on other projects. Despite creating a furore it failed to find a theatrical distributor in Britain. The title translates as Let's Wash Our Brains, expressing a shared disillusionment with society on the part of its four directors whose names make up the other part of the title: Roberto Rossellini, Jean-Luc Godard, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Ugo Gregoretti.
Rossellini's Virginity is a slim tale about a rapacious American TV executive pursuing an Italian air hostess (Rosanna Schiaffino, producer Bini's wife). Godard's The New World is an elegant, talkative picture set in a Paris little affected by a nuclear holocaust. Then best-known for his innovative TV documentaries, Gregoretti's Free-Range Chicken is a funny if dated assault...
- 9/8/2012
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Last week’s most viewed commentaries!
Let’s try this: every week, we’ll put together a list of fan-favorited videos from the last week, judging simply by what’s been the most popular (and excluding any of last week’s new releases, which tend to tip the scales unfairly). Over the years, we’ve accumulated a massive library of titles, so if nothing else, it should be fun to see what’s been jumping on and off people’s radars. So here they are, the top 5 most viewed Trailers From Hell commentaries for the week of March 18th.
Jack Hill on The Big Doll House
Jack Hill recalls the making of his mega-hit, the Roger Corman/Cirio Santiago jungle prison flick that started the avalanche of busty-broads-behind-bars pix that packed the drive-ins throughout the 70s.
John Landis on Fellini Satyricon
The maestro’s thumb-through of Petronius finds ancient Rome...
Let’s try this: every week, we’ll put together a list of fan-favorited videos from the last week, judging simply by what’s been the most popular (and excluding any of last week’s new releases, which tend to tip the scales unfairly). Over the years, we’ve accumulated a massive library of titles, so if nothing else, it should be fun to see what’s been jumping on and off people’s radars. So here they are, the top 5 most viewed Trailers From Hell commentaries for the week of March 18th.
Jack Hill on The Big Doll House
Jack Hill recalls the making of his mega-hit, the Roger Corman/Cirio Santiago jungle prison flick that started the avalanche of busty-broads-behind-bars pix that packed the drive-ins throughout the 70s.
John Landis on Fellini Satyricon
The maestro’s thumb-through of Petronius finds ancient Rome...
- 3/25/2012
- by Danny
- Trailers from Hell
The maestro’s thumb-through of Petronius finds ancient Rome to be as joyless and overheated as modern Rome. Fellini described it as “science fiction of the past”. Much revelry, debauchery and grotesquery ensues in a world that bears less resemblance to history than to Fellini’s subconscious. A gorgeous but deeply pessimistic film. Fellini was added to the title to distinguish his film from the previous year’s copycat Satyricon from producer Alfredo Bini.
- 3/16/2012
- by admin
- Trailers from Hell
Producer of Pier Paolo Pasolini's early films
Though an enterprising film producer, often ahead of his times, Alfredo Bini, who has died aged 83, is best remembered for having given the poet Pier Paolo Pasolini the chance to make his debut as a film-maker with Accattone (1960), when no other film company was prepared to back it. Bini produced more than 40 films, including all the features made by Pasolini up until 1967, including Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo (The Gospel According to St Matthew, 1964). Among his other films were many starring his wife, Rosanna Schiaffino.
Bini was born in Livorno, Tuscany, and, during the second world war, ran away from home to join the army. He was wounded and got a medal, but went back to finish his studies in biology. He soon gave up the idea of a scientific career and in 1945 moved to Rome, where, after taking on various jobs, he managed a theatre group.
Though an enterprising film producer, often ahead of his times, Alfredo Bini, who has died aged 83, is best remembered for having given the poet Pier Paolo Pasolini the chance to make his debut as a film-maker with Accattone (1960), when no other film company was prepared to back it. Bini produced more than 40 films, including all the features made by Pasolini up until 1967, including Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo (The Gospel According to St Matthew, 1964). Among his other films were many starring his wife, Rosanna Schiaffino.
Bini was born in Livorno, Tuscany, and, during the second world war, ran away from home to join the army. He was wounded and got a medal, but went back to finish his studies in biology. He soon gave up the idea of a scientific career and in 1945 moved to Rome, where, after taking on various jobs, he managed a theatre group.
- 11/2/2010
- by John Francis Lane
- The Guardian - Film News
Italian model and film actor, she left the cinema and joined the jet set
Rosanna Schiaffino, who has died aged 69, was one of those Italian beauty queens who began a promising acting career in the post-neorealist cinema of the 1950s. She gave up the cinema in the 1970s and married the handsome playboy and steel industry heir Giorgio Falck. Their marriage and, a decade later, their break-up and divorce, had overtones of melodrama more piquant than the content of any of the 45 films in which Schiaffino had starred.
She was born in Genoa, in north Italy, into a well-off family and, although her father wanted her to pursue studies as a surveyor, her mother encouraged her showbusiness ambitions, helping her to study privately at a drama school and then to take part in beauty contests, which she usually won. These led to modelling jobs, with photographs in important magazines, including Life.
Rosanna Schiaffino, who has died aged 69, was one of those Italian beauty queens who began a promising acting career in the post-neorealist cinema of the 1950s. She gave up the cinema in the 1970s and married the handsome playboy and steel industry heir Giorgio Falck. Their marriage and, a decade later, their break-up and divorce, had overtones of melodrama more piquant than the content of any of the 45 films in which Schiaffino had starred.
She was born in Genoa, in north Italy, into a well-off family and, although her father wanted her to pursue studies as a surveyor, her mother encouraged her showbusiness ambitions, helping her to study privately at a drama school and then to take part in beauty contests, which she usually won. These led to modelling jobs, with photographs in important magazines, including Life.
- 11/18/2009
- by John Francis Lane
- The Guardian - Film News
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