Everyone notices the eyes first, languid, those of a somnambulist. Robert Mitchum, calm and observant, is a presence that, through passivity, enamors a viewer. His face is as effulgent as moonlight. The man smolders, with that boozy, baritone voice, seductive and soporific, a cigarette perched between wispy lips below which is a chin cleft like a geological fault. He’s slithery with innuendo. There’s an effortless allure to it all, a mix of malaise and braggadocio, a cocksure machismo and a hint of fragility. He’s ever-cool, a paradox, “radiating heat without warmth,” as Richard Brody said. A poet, a prodigious lover and drinker, a bad boy; his penchant for marijuana landed him in jail, and in the photographs from his two-month stay he looks like a natural fit. He sits, wrapped in denim, legs spread wide, hair shiny and slick, holding a cup of coffee. His mouth is...
- 9/29/2017
- MUBI
After polling critics from around the world for the greatest American films of all-time, BBC has now forged ahead in the attempt to get a consensus on the best comedies of all-time. After polling 253 film critics, including 118 women and 135 men, from 52 countries and six continents a simple, the list of the 100 greatest is now here.
Featuring canonical classics such as Some Like It Hot, Dr. Strangelove, Annie Hall, Duck Soup, Playtime, and more in the top 10, there’s some interesting observations looking at the rest of the list. Toni Erdmann is the most recent inclusion, while the highest Wes Anderson pick is The Royal Tenenbaums. There’s also a healthy dose of Chaplin and Lubitsch with four films each, and the recently departed Jerry Lewis has a pair of inclusions.
Check out the list below (and my ballot) and see more on their official site.
100. (tie) The King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese,...
Featuring canonical classics such as Some Like It Hot, Dr. Strangelove, Annie Hall, Duck Soup, Playtime, and more in the top 10, there’s some interesting observations looking at the rest of the list. Toni Erdmann is the most recent inclusion, while the highest Wes Anderson pick is The Royal Tenenbaums. There’s also a healthy dose of Chaplin and Lubitsch with four films each, and the recently departed Jerry Lewis has a pair of inclusions.
Check out the list below (and my ballot) and see more on their official site.
100. (tie) The King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese,...
- 8/22/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Last month, Warren Beatty hosted an Academy screening on the Fox lot for his new film, “Rules Don’t Apply.” The actor and Oscar-winning director cheerfully greeted new arrivals, but when he introduced his movie it was in his typically controlling fashion: “It’s not a Howard Hughes biopic!”
People can be forgiven for the mistake. Beatty, 79, has wanted to make a movie about the neurotic aerospace and movie mogul since 1973, when he noticed during a stay at the Beverly Hills Hotel that a room was always occupied by two crewcut men in dark suits. The self-protective movie star thought the hotel was spying on him, but a manager told Beatty that the men worked for Howard Hughes, who at the time reserved seven rooms, plus five private bungalows for his girls.
At the time, Beatty was working with Robert Towne on the Oscar-nominated script of “Shampoo” (1975). Hal Ashby directed...
People can be forgiven for the mistake. Beatty, 79, has wanted to make a movie about the neurotic aerospace and movie mogul since 1973, when he noticed during a stay at the Beverly Hills Hotel that a room was always occupied by two crewcut men in dark suits. The self-protective movie star thought the hotel was spying on him, but a manager told Beatty that the men worked for Howard Hughes, who at the time reserved seven rooms, plus five private bungalows for his girls.
At the time, Beatty was working with Robert Towne on the Oscar-nominated script of “Shampoo” (1975). Hal Ashby directed...
- 11/16/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Last month, Warren Beatty hosted an Academy screening on the Fox lot for his new film, “Rules Don’t Apply.” The actor and Oscar-winning director cheerfully greeted new arrivals, but when he introduced his movie it was in his typically controlling fashion: “It’s not a Howard Hughes biopic!”
People can be forgiven for the mistake. Beatty, 79, has wanted to make a movie about the neurotic aerospace and movie mogul since 1973, when he noticed during a stay at the Beverly Hills Hotel that a room was always occupied by two crewcut men in dark suits. The self-protective movie star thought the hotel was spying on him, but a manager told Beatty that the men worked for Howard Hughes, who at the time reserved seven rooms, plus five private bungalows for his girls.
At the time, Beatty was working with Robert Towne on the Oscar-nominated script of “Shampoo” (1975). Hal Ashby directed...
People can be forgiven for the mistake. Beatty, 79, has wanted to make a movie about the neurotic aerospace and movie mogul since 1973, when he noticed during a stay at the Beverly Hills Hotel that a room was always occupied by two crewcut men in dark suits. The self-protective movie star thought the hotel was spying on him, but a manager told Beatty that the men worked for Howard Hughes, who at the time reserved seven rooms, plus five private bungalows for his girls.
At the time, Beatty was working with Robert Towne on the Oscar-nominated script of “Shampoo” (1975). Hal Ashby directed...
- 11/16/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
The King Baggot Tribute will take place Wednesday September 28th at 7pm at Lee Auditorium inside the Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). The 1913 silent film Ivanhoe will be accompanied by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra and there will be a 40-minute illustrated lecture on the life and career of King Baggot by We Are Movie Geeks’ Tom Stockman. A Facebook invite for the event can be found Here
Here’s a look at the final phase of King Baggot’s career.
King Baggot, the first ‘King of the Movies’ died July 11th, 1948 penniless and mostly forgotten at age 68. A St. Louis native, Baggot was at one time Hollywood’s most popular star, known is his heyday as “The Most Photographed Man in the World” and “More Famous Than the Man in the Moon”. Yet even in his hometown, Baggot had faded into obscurity.
Here’s a look at the final phase of King Baggot’s career.
King Baggot, the first ‘King of the Movies’ died July 11th, 1948 penniless and mostly forgotten at age 68. A St. Louis native, Baggot was at one time Hollywood’s most popular star, known is his heyday as “The Most Photographed Man in the World” and “More Famous Than the Man in the Moon”. Yet even in his hometown, Baggot had faded into obscurity.
- 9/20/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
NEWSMost exciting for us this week is the news that the Cannes Un Certain Regard prizewinner this year, Juho Kuosmanen's wonderful debut film The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki, will be having its North American premiere in the Discovery section of the Toronto International Film Festival. Mubi is distributing the film theatrically and digitally in the United States and United Kingdom.Recommended VIEWINGCourtesy of the Criterion Collection, excerpts of Ingrid Bergman's home movies, which include Alfred Hitchcock, made around the time of their collaboration on Spellbound. With the full lineup of the Toronto International Film Festival announced and the autumn film season nearly upon us, wonderful trailers have been released in an overwhelming deluge. Here are some of the highlights:The much-anticipated restoration and re-release of Julie Dash's Daughters of the Dust.Hong Sang-soo's Yourself and Yours, which gets a typically wacky trailer.Bertrand Bonello's Nocturama,...
- 8/24/2016
- MUBI
Merle Oberon movies: Mysterious star of British and American cinema. Merle Oberon on TCM: Donning men's clothes in 'A Song to Remember,' fighting hiccups in 'That Uncertain Feeling' Merle Oberon is Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month of March 2016. The good news: the exquisite (and mysterious) Oberon, whose ancestry has been a matter of conjecture for decades, makes any movie worth a look. The bad news: TCM isn't offering any Oberon premieres despite the fact that a number of the actress' films – e.g., Temptation, Night in Paradise, Pardon My French, Interval – can be tough to find. This evening, March 18, TCM will be showing six Merle Oberon movies released during the first half of the 1940s. Never a top box office draw in the United States, Oberon was an important international star all the same, having worked with many of the top actors and filmmakers of the studio era.
- 3/19/2016
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Greta Garbo movie 'The Kiss.' Greta Garbo movies on TCM Greta Garbo, a rarity among silent era movie stars, is Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” performer today, Aug. 26, '15. Now, why would Garbo be considered a silent era rarity? Well, certainly not because she easily made the transition to sound, remaining a major star for another decade. Think Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, William Powell, Fay Wray, Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, John Barrymore, Warner Baxter, Janet Gaynor, Constance Bennett, etc. And so much for all the stories about actors with foreign accents being unable to maintain their Hollywood stardom following the advent of sound motion pictures. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer star, Garbo was no major exception to the supposed rule. Mexican Ramon Novarro, another MGM star, also made an easy transition to sound, and so did fellow Mexicans Lupe Velez and Dolores del Rio, in addition to the very British...
- 8/27/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Vivien Leigh ca. late 1940s. Vivien Leigh movies: now controversial 'Gone with the Wind,' little-seen '21 Days Together' on TCM Vivien Leigh is Turner Classic Movies' star today, Aug. 18, '15, as TCM's “Summer Under the Stars” series continues. Mostly a stage actress, Leigh was seen in only 19 films – in about 15 of which as a leading lady or star – in a movie career spanning three decades. Good for the relatively few who saw her on stage; bad for all those who have access to only a few performances of one of the most remarkable acting talents of the 20th century. This evening, TCM is showing three Vivien Leigh movies: Gone with the Wind (1939), 21 Days Together (1940), and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Leigh won Best Actress Academy Awards for the first and the third title. The little-remembered film in-between is a TCM premiere. 'Gone with the Wind' Seemingly all...
- 8/19/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Olivia de Havilland picture U.S. labor history-making 'Gone with the Wind' star and two-time Best Actress winner Olivia de Havilland turns 99 (This Olivia de Havilland article is currently being revised and expanded.) Two-time Best Actress Academy Award winner Olivia de Havilland, the only surviving major Gone with the Wind cast member and oldest surviving Oscar winner, is turning 99 years old today, July 1.[1] Also known for her widely publicized feud with sister Joan Fontaine and for her eight movies with Errol Flynn, de Havilland should be remembered as well for having made Hollywood labor history. This particular history has nothing to do with de Havilland's films, her two Oscars, Gone with the Wind, Joan Fontaine, or Errol Flynn. Instead, history was made as a result of a legal fight: after winning a lawsuit against Warner Bros. in the mid-'40s, Olivia de Havilland put an end to treacherous...
- 7/2/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Marc Allégret: From André Gide lover to Simone Simon mentor (photo: Marc Allégret) (See previous post: "Simone Simon Remembered: Sex Kitten and Femme Fatale.") Simone Simon became a film star following the international critical and financial success of the 1934 romantic drama Lac aux Dames, directed by her self-appointed mentor – and alleged lover – Marc Allégret.[1] The son of an evangelical missionary, Marc Allégret (born on December 22, 1900, in Basel, Switzerland) was to have become a lawyer. At age 16, his life took a different path as a result of his romantic involvement – and elopement to London – with his mentor and later "adoptive uncle" André Gide (1947 Nobel Prize winner in Literature), more than 30 years his senior and married to Madeleine Rondeaux for more than two decades. In various forms – including a threesome with painter Théo Van Rysselberghe's daughter Elisabeth – the Allégret-Gide relationship remained steady until the late '20s and their trip to...
- 2/28/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Simone Simon: Remembering the 'Cat People' and 'La Bête Humaine' star (photo: Simone Simon 'Cat People' publicity) Pert, pretty, pouty, and fiery-tempered Simone Simon – who died at age 94 ten years ago, on Feb. 22, 2005 – is best known for her starring role in Jacques Tourneur's cult horror movie classic Cat People (1942). Those aware of the existence of film industries outside Hollywood will also remember Simon for her button-nosed femme fatale in Jean Renoir's French film noir La Bête Humaine (1938).[1] In fact, long before Brigitte Bardot, Annette Stroyberg, Mamie Van Doren, Tuesday Weld, Ann-Margret, and Barbarella's Jane Fonda became known as cinema's Sex Kittens, Simone Simon exuded feline charm – with a tad of puppy dog wistfulness – in a film career that spanned two continents and a quarter of a century. From the early '30s to the mid-'50s, she seduced men young and old on both...
- 2/20/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Simone Simon in 'La Bête Humaine' 1938: Jean Renoir's film noir (photo: Jean Gabin and Simone Simon in 'La Bête Humaine') (See previous post: "'Cat People' 1942 Actress Simone Simon Remembered.") In the late 1930s, with her Hollywood career stalled while facing competition at 20th Century-Fox from another French import, Annabella (later Tyrone Power's wife), Simone Simon returned to France. Once there, she reestablished herself as an actress to be reckoned with in Jean Renoir's La Bête Humaine. An updated version of Émile Zola's 1890 novel, La Bête Humaine is enveloped in a dark, brooding atmosphere not uncommon in pre-World War II French films. Known for their "poetic realism," examples from that era include Renoir's own The Lower Depths (1936), Julien Duvivier's La Belle Équipe (1936) and Pépé le Moko (1937), and particularly Marcel Carné's Port of Shadows (1938) and Daybreak (1939).[11] This thematic and...
- 2/6/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Martha Stewart: Actress / Singer in Fox movies apparently not dead despite two-year-old reports to the contrary (Photo: Martha Stewart and Perry Como in 'Doll Face') According to various online reports, including Variety's, actress and singer Martha Stewart, a pretty blonde featured in supporting roles in a handful of 20th Century Fox movies of the '40s, died at age 89 of "natural causes" in Northeast Harbor, Maine, on February 25, 2012. Needless to say, that was not the same Martha Stewart hawking "delicious foods" and whatever else on American television. But quite possibly, the Martha Stewart who died in February 2012 -- if any -- was not the Martha Stewart of old Fox movies either. And that's why I'm republishing this (former) obit, originally posted more than two and a half years ago: March 11, 2012. Earlier today, a commenter wrote to Alt Film Guide, claiming that the Martha Stewart featured in Doll Face, I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now,...
- 11/11/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The King Baggot Tribute will take place Friday, November 14th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium beginning at 7pm as part of this year’s St. Louis Intenational FIlm Festival. The program will consist a rare 35mm screening of the 1913 epic Ivanhoe starring King Baggot with live music accompaniment by the Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra. Ivanhoe will be followed by an illustrated lecture on the life and films of King Baggot presented by Tom Stockman, editor here at We Are Movie Geeks. After that will screen the influential silent western Tumbleweeds (1925), considered to be one of King Baggot’s finest achievements as a director. Tumbleweeds will feature live piano accompaniment by Matt Pace.
Here’s a look at the final phase of King Baggot’s career.
King Baggot, the first ‘King of the Movies’ died July 11th, 1948 penniless and mostly forgotten at age 68. A St. Louis native, Baggot...
Here’s a look at the final phase of King Baggot’s career.
King Baggot, the first ‘King of the Movies’ died July 11th, 1948 penniless and mostly forgotten at age 68. A St. Louis native, Baggot...
- 11/6/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
By Anjelica Oswald
Managing Editor
The Fault in Our Stars features Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort as Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus “Gus” Waters, two teens who meet at a cancer-survivor support group. Though Hazel is initially skeptical about getting close to Gus and warns him of her worsening condition, Gus still falls for her. As the two fall in love, Gus relapses, and he dies shortly after they return from their romantic trip to Amsterdam. The adaptation of John Green’s novel of the same name was a box-office smash and has earned Woodley some Oscar buzz. Should Woodley receive a nomination for this role, she would join the list of best actress nominees who have been nominated for their roles in heartbreaking films.
Some of the most well-known tragic love stories didn’t score any leading actress nominations, though. For example, Natalie Wood was not nominated for her...
Managing Editor
The Fault in Our Stars features Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort as Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus “Gus” Waters, two teens who meet at a cancer-survivor support group. Though Hazel is initially skeptical about getting close to Gus and warns him of her worsening condition, Gus still falls for her. As the two fall in love, Gus relapses, and he dies shortly after they return from their romantic trip to Amsterdam. The adaptation of John Green’s novel of the same name was a box-office smash and has earned Woodley some Oscar buzz. Should Woodley receive a nomination for this role, she would join the list of best actress nominees who have been nominated for their roles in heartbreaking films.
Some of the most well-known tragic love stories didn’t score any leading actress nominations, though. For example, Natalie Wood was not nominated for her...
- 10/3/2014
- by Anjelica Oswald
- Scott Feinberg
Claudette Colbert movies on Turner Classic Movies: From ‘The Smiling Lieutenant’ to TCM premiere ‘Skylark’ (photo: Claudette Colbert and Maurice Chevalier in ‘The Smiling Lieutenant’) Claudette Colbert, the studio era’s perky, independent-minded — and French-born — "all-American" girlfriend (and later all-American wife and mother), is Turner Classic Movies’ star of the day today, August 18, 2014, as TCM continues with its "Summer Under the Stars" film series. Colbert, a surprise Best Actress Academy Award winner for Frank Capra’s 1934 comedy It Happened One Night, was one Paramount’s biggest box office draws for more than decade and Hollywood’s top-paid female star of 1938, with reported earnings of $426,944 — or about $7.21 million in 2014 dollars. (See also: TCM’s Claudette Colbert day in 2011.) Right now, TCM is showing Ernst Lubitsch’s light (but ultimately bittersweet) romantic comedy-musical The Smiling Lieutenant (1931), a Best Picture Academy Award nominee starring Maurice Chevalier as a French-accented Central European lieutenant in...
- 8/19/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Above: Pedro Costa's Horse Money
The Locarno Film Festival has announced their lineup for the 67th edition, taking place this August between the 6th and 16th. It speaks for itself, but, um, wow...
"Every film festival, be it small or large, claims to offer, if not an account of the state of things, then an updated map of the art form and the world it seeks to represent. This cartography should show both the major routes and the byways, along with essential places to visit and those that are more unusual. The Festival del film Locarno is no exception to the rule, and I think that looking through the program you will be able to distinguish the route map for this edition." — Carlo Chatrian, Artistic Director
Above: Matías Piñeiro's The Princess of France
Concorso Internazionale (Official Competition)
A Blast (Syllas Tzoumerkas, Greece/Germany/Netherlands)
Alive (Jungbum Park, South Korea)
Horse Money (Pedro Costa,...
The Locarno Film Festival has announced their lineup for the 67th edition, taking place this August between the 6th and 16th. It speaks for itself, but, um, wow...
"Every film festival, be it small or large, claims to offer, if not an account of the state of things, then an updated map of the art form and the world it seeks to represent. This cartography should show both the major routes and the byways, along with essential places to visit and those that are more unusual. The Festival del film Locarno is no exception to the rule, and I think that looking through the program you will be able to distinguish the route map for this edition." — Carlo Chatrian, Artistic Director
Above: Matías Piñeiro's The Princess of France
Concorso Internazionale (Official Competition)
A Blast (Syllas Tzoumerkas, Greece/Germany/Netherlands)
Alive (Jungbum Park, South Korea)
Horse Money (Pedro Costa,...
- 7/25/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Every year, we here at Sound On Sight celebrate the month of October with 31 Days of Horror; and every year, I update the list of my favourite horror films ever made. Last year, I released a list that included 150 picks. This year, I’ll be upgrading the list, making minor alterations, changing the rankings, adding new entries, and possibly removing a few titles. I’ve also decided to publish each post backwards this time for one reason: the new additions appear lower on my list, whereas my top 50 haven’t changed much, except for maybe in ranking. I am including documentaries, short films and mini series, only as special mentions – along with a few features that can qualify as horror, but barely do.
Come Back Tonight To See My List Of The 200 Best!
****
Special Mention:
Wait until Dark
Directed by Terence Young
Written by Robert Carrington
USA, 1967
Directed by Terence Young,...
Come Back Tonight To See My List Of The 200 Best!
****
Special Mention:
Wait until Dark
Directed by Terence Young
Written by Robert Carrington
USA, 1967
Directed by Terence Young,...
- 10/31/2013
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Women in Film: Marilyn Monroe, Ava Gardner, and dozens of movie actresses in curious morphing montage A few dozen top international female movie stars, most of them Hollywood celebrities, are seen in the Women in Film morphing montage below created by Philip Scott Johnson. The faces belong to actresses from the 1910s to the early 21st century. (Image: The ‘Daughter’ of Marilyn Monroe and Ava Gardner — who sort of looks like a cross between Eleanor Parker and Cyd Charisse as well — in the Women in Film morphing montage.) Just as interesting as trying to identify each of the famous faces is stopping the video while the morphing is going on, so you get Daughter of Marilyn Monroe and Ava Gardner, or Daughter of Audrey Hepburn and Dorothy Dandridge, or Daughter of Michelle Pfeiffer and Sigourney Weaver. Some of those Daughters are quite pretty; others look like they’ve just landed on this planet.
- 7/31/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Everybody's favorite movie decade: Which ones are the best movies released in the 20th century's second decade? Best Film (Pictured above) Broken Blossoms: Barthelmess and Gish star as ill-fated lovers in D.W. Griffith’s romantic melodrama featuring interethnic love. Check These Out (Pictured below) Cabiria: is considered one of the major landmarks in motion picture history, having inspired the scope and visual grandeur of D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance. Also of note, Pastrone's epic of ancient Rome introduced Maciste, a bulky hero who would be featured in countless movies in the ensuing decades. Best Actor (Pictured below) In the tragic The Italian, George Beban plays an Italian immigrant recently arrived in the United States (Click below for film review). Unfortunately, his American dream quickly becomes a horrendous nightmare of poverty and despair. Best Actress (Pictured below) The movies' super-vamp Theda Bara in A Fool There Was: A little...
- 3/27/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
It’s Monday, so we all know what that means! Yes, it’s time for another rundown of DVDs and Blu-ray’s hitting stores online and offline this week. It’s a very light week this week, so let us breakdown the new releases and highlight what you should – and shouldn’t – be buying from today, February 4th 2013.
Pick Of The Week
Death Race 3: Inferno (DVD/Blu-ray)
Repentant convict Carl Lucas (Luke Goss) aka Frankenstein is a legendary driver in the brutal prison blood sport known as Death Race. Only one victory away from winning freedom, Lucas is plunged into his most vicious competition yet: the first-ever desert Death Race. Through South Africa’s infernal Kalahari Desert, Lucas is pitted against ruthless adversaries and powerful forces at work behind the scenes to ensure his defeat. Also starring Danny Trejo and Ving Rhames, Death Race: Inferno is an insane, action-packed thrill ride.
Pick Of The Week
Death Race 3: Inferno (DVD/Blu-ray)
Repentant convict Carl Lucas (Luke Goss) aka Frankenstein is a legendary driver in the brutal prison blood sport known as Death Race. Only one victory away from winning freedom, Lucas is plunged into his most vicious competition yet: the first-ever desert Death Race. Through South Africa’s infernal Kalahari Desert, Lucas is pitted against ruthless adversaries and powerful forces at work behind the scenes to ensure his defeat. Also starring Danny Trejo and Ving Rhames, Death Race: Inferno is an insane, action-packed thrill ride.
- 2/4/2013
- by Phil
- Nerdly
My high-school class once spent an afternoon watching the 1956 movie War and Peace, and we susceptible sophomores fell hard for the Hollywood-ized love story with Audrey Hepburn, swoony Mel Ferrer and Henry Fonda (despite that flat drawl of "Nataaaahsha," all I can remember about the film now). I decided it would be fun to read Leo Tolstoy's novel (I was also show-offy, but never mind). I found out quickly that the story we adored in the movie was only a small, stripped-down part of a far more complicated novel, which included more of the war and much less of the romance. Plus, everyone had 10 names. The epilogues in particular were quite disappointing. At age 15, I preferred Hollywood over epic Russian literature.
The latest lavish adaptation of Anna Karenina, like that version of War and Peace, focuses is on love and romance and passion, although at least this time the...
The latest lavish adaptation of Anna Karenina, like that version of War and Peace, focuses is on love and romance and passion, although at least this time the...
- 12/2/2012
- by Jette Kernion
- Slackerwood
Michael Haneke's bleak portrayal of an elderly couple's last days will strip filmgoers of the delusion that love can conquer all
Love has been the lifeblood of cinema, yet its portrayal on the big screen has been narrowly focused. Scroll through the 6,609 titles keyworded "love" on IMDb and you'll notice that most of the films rely on a rather particular notion of what love might be.
They tend to deal with the phenomenon dubbed "limerence" by psychologist Dorothy Tennov. This has been described as "an involuntary interpersonal state that involves an acute longing for emotional reciprocation, obsessive-compulsive thoughts, feelings and behaviours and emotional dependence on another person". The condition arises when the hypothalamus prompts the pituitary gland to release a cocktail of dopamine, norepinephrine, phenylethylamine, oestrogen and testosterone. Unless requited, it usually fades away quite quickly. Only 5% of the population are reckoned to be afflicted at any one time,...
Love has been the lifeblood of cinema, yet its portrayal on the big screen has been narrowly focused. Scroll through the 6,609 titles keyworded "love" on IMDb and you'll notice that most of the films rely on a rather particular notion of what love might be.
They tend to deal with the phenomenon dubbed "limerence" by psychologist Dorothy Tennov. This has been described as "an involuntary interpersonal state that involves an acute longing for emotional reciprocation, obsessive-compulsive thoughts, feelings and behaviours and emotional dependence on another person". The condition arises when the hypothalamus prompts the pituitary gland to release a cocktail of dopamine, norepinephrine, phenylethylamine, oestrogen and testosterone. Unless requited, it usually fades away quite quickly. Only 5% of the population are reckoned to be afflicted at any one time,...
- 11/19/2012
- by David Cox
- The Guardian - Film News
All Good Movies Are the Same: Joe Wright’s Lavish Tolstoy Adaptation a Decadent Affair
Groaning beneath the weight of its classic source material, not to mention the reputation of past perennial adaptations, appearing every decade or so, Joe Wright’s Anna Karenina manages to bugle itself forward successfully, though this train doesn’t quite avoid significant gaps in its well grooved track. After the success of his 2005 adaptation of Pride & Prejudice, Wright’s decision to tackle another world literary classic for cinematic repolishing is not entirely surprising, though his ingratiating determination to fling muse Keira Knightley into nearly every vehicle doesn’t quite pay off as well as it has with his past projects.
To those uninitiated, in late 19th century Imperial Russia, two somewhat related love stories unfold, tempered by societal obligations and conceptions. We’re first introduced to an infidelity in Moscow, where Oblonsky (Matthew Macfayden), whose wife,...
Groaning beneath the weight of its classic source material, not to mention the reputation of past perennial adaptations, appearing every decade or so, Joe Wright’s Anna Karenina manages to bugle itself forward successfully, though this train doesn’t quite avoid significant gaps in its well grooved track. After the success of his 2005 adaptation of Pride & Prejudice, Wright’s decision to tackle another world literary classic for cinematic repolishing is not entirely surprising, though his ingratiating determination to fling muse Keira Knightley into nearly every vehicle doesn’t quite pay off as well as it has with his past projects.
To those uninitiated, in late 19th century Imperial Russia, two somewhat related love stories unfold, tempered by societal obligations and conceptions. We’re first introduced to an infidelity in Moscow, where Oblonsky (Matthew Macfayden), whose wife,...
- 11/16/2012
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Love Leo Tolstoy and VH1's Pop Up Video? Well, it's your lucky day! Focus has released an interactive trailer of the big screen adaptation, "Anna Karenina," which allows you to get into the nitty gritty of the Russian classic. Here, Joe Wright ("Pride and Prejudice") reunites with his on-screen muse, Keira Knightley, who plays the Russian aristocrat, trapped in a loveless marriage. Karenina then finds herself in the passionate throes of adultery with Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), who urges Anna to leave her marriage and begin a new life with him. Take a look at the new trailer -- and be sure to check our all the additional interactive facts and posters and interviews. "Anna Karenina" hits theaters on November 16.
- 11/9/2012
- by Jessie Heyman
- Moviefone
Throughout the month of October, Editor-in-Chief and resident Horror expert Ricky D, will be posting a list of his favorite Horror films of all time. The list will be posted in six parts. Click here to see every entry.
As with all lists, this is personal and nobody will agree with every choice – and if you do, that would be incredibly disturbing. It was almost impossible for me to rank them in order, but I tried and eventually gave up.
****
Special Mention:
American Psycho
Directed by Mary Harrron
Written by Mary Harron
2000, USA
Bret Easton Ellis’s dark and violent satire of America in the 1980s was brought to the big screen by director Mary Harron. Initially slapped with the MPAA’s kiss of death (an Nc-17 rating), American Psycho was later re-edited and reduced to a more commercially dependable “R”. Perhaps the film works best as a slick satire about misogyny,...
As with all lists, this is personal and nobody will agree with every choice – and if you do, that would be incredibly disturbing. It was almost impossible for me to rank them in order, but I tried and eventually gave up.
****
Special Mention:
American Psycho
Directed by Mary Harrron
Written by Mary Harron
2000, USA
Bret Easton Ellis’s dark and violent satire of America in the 1980s was brought to the big screen by director Mary Harron. Initially slapped with the MPAA’s kiss of death (an Nc-17 rating), American Psycho was later re-edited and reduced to a more commercially dependable “R”. Perhaps the film works best as a slick satire about misogyny,...
- 10/25/2012
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Special From
By Barbara Lovenheim
It seems improbable for a new slant on Katharine Hepburn to emerge, but the upcoming exhibit Katharine Hepburn: Dressed for Stage and Screen at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center and the five excellent essays in the new Skira/Rizzoli companion book "Katharine Hepburn: Rebel Chic" are provocative and eye-opening. Contrary to Hepburn’s public image as an indifferent fashion rebel who wore slacks in public years before pant suits came into vogue, Hepburn cultivated her counter-culture image deliberately and with great precision when she became aware of its publicity value, eventually ordering custom-made slacks and shoes and, on the sly, ordering handmade French lingerie.
“I think you should pretend you don’t care,” she once remarked to Garbo, who captivated Hollywood with her mannish suits, hats, and Ferragamo flat-heeled shoes. “But it’s the most outrageous pretense.
By Barbara Lovenheim
It seems improbable for a new slant on Katharine Hepburn to emerge, but the upcoming exhibit Katharine Hepburn: Dressed for Stage and Screen at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center and the five excellent essays in the new Skira/Rizzoli companion book "Katharine Hepburn: Rebel Chic" are provocative and eye-opening. Contrary to Hepburn’s public image as an indifferent fashion rebel who wore slacks in public years before pant suits came into vogue, Hepburn cultivated her counter-culture image deliberately and with great precision when she became aware of its publicity value, eventually ordering custom-made slacks and shoes and, on the sly, ordering handmade French lingerie.
“I think you should pretend you don’t care,” she once remarked to Garbo, who captivated Hollywood with her mannish suits, hats, and Ferragamo flat-heeled shoes. “But it’s the most outrageous pretense.
- 10/12/2012
- by NYCityWoman.com
- Huffington Post
The Observer's film critic, CA Lejeune, applauds a 'mature, rich, mellow' take on Tolstoy's tragic heroine
I suppose more nonsense has been written and talked about Greta Garbo than about any other actress on the screen. Because she has never been interested in imposing her own viewpoint on the public, a legend has grown up around her. She has become the archetype of the cinema woman, adulated, burlesqued, imitated, envied. It is almost impossible to approach her work today without some kind of vivid preconception. And between her disciples and her traducers, the people who defend so hotly and the people who attack her so coldly, the real Garbo, I fear, has been badly let down.
Greta Garbo is, quite simply, a great screen actress. That is to say, she adapts every technical resource of voice and body to the exact scope of the cinema medium, and adds warmth to...
I suppose more nonsense has been written and talked about Greta Garbo than about any other actress on the screen. Because she has never been interested in imposing her own viewpoint on the public, a legend has grown up around her. She has become the archetype of the cinema woman, adulated, burlesqued, imitated, envied. It is almost impossible to approach her work today without some kind of vivid preconception. And between her disciples and her traducers, the people who defend so hotly and the people who attack her so coldly, the real Garbo, I fear, has been badly let down.
Greta Garbo is, quite simply, a great screen actress. That is to say, she adapts every technical resource of voice and body to the exact scope of the cinema medium, and adds warmth to...
- 9/29/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
The Toronto International Film Festival is regarded as one of the premier stops for the film industry on their road to Oscar glory. Hollywood and independent cinema converge to showcase their movies.
Luckily, I was invited to partake in this year.s festivities. From one-on-one interviews with film directors and movie stars to late night screenings of their respective work, I was there to witness it all. Here are the movies that are creating major buzz in the film festival we know as Tiff.
.Anna Karenina. (Release Date: Nov. 16 -- limited)
Keira Knightley shines in the title role based on the beloved Leo Tolstoy novel. The actress reteams with her .Pride and Prejudice. and .Atonement. director, Joe Wright, for this visually dazzling spectacle. Jude Law co-stars as Anna.s husband, Karenin, and Academy Award-winning screenwriter, Tom Stoppard (.Shakespeare in Love.), adapts the book. Watch out for this movie that features the many facets of love.
Luckily, I was invited to partake in this year.s festivities. From one-on-one interviews with film directors and movie stars to late night screenings of their respective work, I was there to witness it all. Here are the movies that are creating major buzz in the film festival we know as Tiff.
.Anna Karenina. (Release Date: Nov. 16 -- limited)
Keira Knightley shines in the title role based on the beloved Leo Tolstoy novel. The actress reteams with her .Pride and Prejudice. and .Atonement. director, Joe Wright, for this visually dazzling spectacle. Jude Law co-stars as Anna.s husband, Karenin, and Academy Award-winning screenwriter, Tom Stoppard (.Shakespeare in Love.), adapts the book. Watch out for this movie that features the many facets of love.
- 9/11/2012
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
UK gets first 18-cert chart-topper for two years, but new entrants and existing titles alike wilt in the heat
The winner: the weather
Sunny weather in September is always a particular challenge for cinemas, as audiences tend to consider that this may be the last chance of the year to enjoy the sun, and are not going to pass it up. Arriving at the end of a summer that's had more than its fair share of rainfall, the sunshine proved an irresistible attraction for most of us, with any cinema plans put on hold until another, greyer day. Despite the arrival of some significant cinematic attractions, box-office fell 42% from the previous weekend, and overall the frame was the third worst of the past year.
Emerging the winner of a thin field with £1.05m, Dredd was able to claim bragging rights, the first 18-certificate film to top the chart since 2010. But...
The winner: the weather
Sunny weather in September is always a particular challenge for cinemas, as audiences tend to consider that this may be the last chance of the year to enjoy the sun, and are not going to pass it up. Arriving at the end of a summer that's had more than its fair share of rainfall, the sunshine proved an irresistible attraction for most of us, with any cinema plans put on hold until another, greyer day. Despite the arrival of some significant cinematic attractions, box-office fell 42% from the previous weekend, and overall the frame was the third worst of the past year.
Emerging the winner of a thin field with £1.05m, Dredd was able to claim bragging rights, the first 18-certificate film to top the chart since 2010. But...
- 9/11/2012
- by Charles Gant
- The Guardian - Film News
Keira Knightley has revealed that she does not mind getting naked for films. The Anna Karenina star said that she finds it easier to reveal her body than her personal life. Knightley told The Mirror: "I'm not prudish when it comes to nudity. If the role calls for nudity, then I'm going to be naked. I'm not afraid to expose myself that way." In the new film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's classic, the British actress appears in several love scenes where she has to reveal her body. She has also stripped in earlier movies including 2008's Edge of Love. Knightley confessed that she (more)...
- 9/8/2012
- by By Alice Stewart
- Digital Spy
Keira Knightley is at ease with filming sex scenes. The 'Anna Karenina' actress has learned to avoid the spotlight while off-screen and admits that she finds it easier to reveal her body than her personal life. She told the Daily Mirror newspaper: 'I'm not prudish when it comes to nudity. If the role calls for nudity, then I'm going to be naked. I'm not afraid to expose myself that way.' She appears in a new film adaptation of the classic Leo Tolstoy novel in which she takes part in love scenes. The 27-year-old star has stripped off for roles before including 2008's 'Edge Of Love'. While she is not shy about revealing her body, Keira finds it more difficult...
- 9/8/2012
- Monsters and Critics
Tom Stoppard says his original approach to writing the screenplay for Joe Wright's new film adaptation of Anna Karenina was for a fast, modern movie about being in lust. Then wiser counsels – including his own – prevailed
The latest film adaptation of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina began in what Tom Stoppard calls "a normal kind of way", though it did not exactly have a normal outcome. Sitting in his penthouse flat in west London with his back to a stunning view of the Thames, he lights the first of the six cigarettes that will measure out this conversation.
"Somebody rang my agent, Anthony Jones," he says, before adding: "It was to ask if I was up for adapting Anna Karenina for Joe Wright. It was Joe's choice of movie."
This is an ideal moment to talk to one of Britain's leading contemporary playwrights. Stoppard is in that limbo that writers experience...
The latest film adaptation of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina began in what Tom Stoppard calls "a normal kind of way", though it did not exactly have a normal outcome. Sitting in his penthouse flat in west London with his back to a stunning view of the Thames, he lights the first of the six cigarettes that will measure out this conversation.
"Somebody rang my agent, Anthony Jones," he says, before adding: "It was to ask if I was up for adapting Anna Karenina for Joe Wright. It was Joe's choice of movie."
This is an ideal moment to talk to one of Britain's leading contemporary playwrights. Stoppard is in that limbo that writers experience...
- 9/1/2012
- by Robert McCrum
- The Guardian - Film News
Joe Wright's "Anna Karenina" (November 16) looks to be a highly original take on the Leo Tolstoy classic, but it's certainly not the first time (or even the 10th) that the Russian romance has been adapted for the big screen. Below, a compare-and-contrast of six film versions. "Anna Karenina," 1935: Greta Garbo stars in the title role, with Fredric March as Vronsky. Clarence Brown ("National Velvet" and another Garbo vehicle, "Anna Christie") directs. This was Garbo's second outing as Anna K., with her first go-around in 1927's "Love" (see below). The film's budget is estimated at just north of $1 million, with the domestic take at $865K. The film is 100% Fresh, and Emmanuel Levy writes: "In her 23rd film, Garbo's luminous performance, as the adulterous protag of Tolstoy's novel, is way above the mediocre level of the narrative and direction; the film is a remake of 'Love,' in which.
- 8/20/2012
- by Beth Hanna
- Thompson on Hollywood
Joe Wright’s anticipated new adaptation of Anna Karenina sees him returning to work once more with the Oscar-nominated Keira Knightley (Atonement) for what promises to be one of the most bold and beautiful dramas of the year.
The first trailer for the film was so impressive when it landed last month, and now a wonderful new featurette has debuted online, in which Knightley tells us a little about their approach to the adaptation:
“The rules of a period film have been completely broken. Anna Karenina is a story that’s been done a lot. What is the point in doing a safe adaptation?”
A very good question. And one that suggests we’re in for something rather brilliant this autumn.
Starring alongside Knightley will be a fantastic cast, headed up by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jude Law, Matthew Macfadyen, Kelly Macdonald, Emily Watson, Domhnall Gleeson, Holliday Grainger, and Olivia Williams.
“The...
The first trailer for the film was so impressive when it landed last month, and now a wonderful new featurette has debuted online, in which Knightley tells us a little about their approach to the adaptation:
“The rules of a period film have been completely broken. Anna Karenina is a story that’s been done a lot. What is the point in doing a safe adaptation?”
A very good question. And one that suggests we’re in for something rather brilliant this autumn.
Starring alongside Knightley will be a fantastic cast, headed up by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jude Law, Matthew Macfadyen, Kelly Macdonald, Emily Watson, Domhnall Gleeson, Holliday Grainger, and Olivia Williams.
“The...
- 7/31/2012
- by Kenji Lloyd
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Jayne Mansfield.s Car
Piers Handling, CEO and Director of Tiff, and Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director of the Toronto International Film Festival, made the first announcement of films to premiere at the 37th Toronto International Film Festival. Films announced include titles in the Galas and Special Presentations programmes. The announced films include 17 Galas and 45 Special Presentations, including 38 world premieres.
Toronto audiences will be the first to see the world premieres of films from directors Andrew Adamson, Ben Affleck, David Ayer, Maiken Baird, Noah Baumbach, J.A. Bayona, Stuart Blumberg, Josh Boone, Laurent Cantet, Sergio Castellitto, Stephen Chbosky, Lu Chuan, Derek Cianfrance, Nenad Cicin-Sain, Costa-Gavras, Ziad Doueiri, Liz Garbus, Dustin Hoffman, Rian Johnson, Neil Jordan, Baltasar Kormákur, Shola Lynch, Deepa Mehta, Roger Michell, Nishikawa Miwa, Ruba Nadda, Mike Newell, François Ozon, Sally Potter, Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman, Eran Riklis, David O. Russell, Gauri Shinde, Ben Timlett & Bill Jones & Jeff Simpson, Tom Tykwer & Andy Wachowski & Lana Wachowski,...
Piers Handling, CEO and Director of Tiff, and Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director of the Toronto International Film Festival, made the first announcement of films to premiere at the 37th Toronto International Film Festival. Films announced include titles in the Galas and Special Presentations programmes. The announced films include 17 Galas and 45 Special Presentations, including 38 world premieres.
Toronto audiences will be the first to see the world premieres of films from directors Andrew Adamson, Ben Affleck, David Ayer, Maiken Baird, Noah Baumbach, J.A. Bayona, Stuart Blumberg, Josh Boone, Laurent Cantet, Sergio Castellitto, Stephen Chbosky, Lu Chuan, Derek Cianfrance, Nenad Cicin-Sain, Costa-Gavras, Ziad Doueiri, Liz Garbus, Dustin Hoffman, Rian Johnson, Neil Jordan, Baltasar Kormákur, Shola Lynch, Deepa Mehta, Roger Michell, Nishikawa Miwa, Ruba Nadda, Mike Newell, François Ozon, Sally Potter, Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman, Eran Riklis, David O. Russell, Gauri Shinde, Ben Timlett & Bill Jones & Jeff Simpson, Tom Tykwer & Andy Wachowski & Lana Wachowski,...
- 7/24/2012
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
By Sean O’Connell
Hollywoodnews.com: Earlier, we brought you a snapshot glance at the first wave of programming announced for the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. Shortly after, the fest released a thorough breakdown of the Galas and Special Presentations for this year’s event, which kicks off on Thursday, Sept. 6.
So far, 17 Galas and 45 Special Presentations have been announced, including 38 world premieres. Andrew Adamson, Ben Affleck, David Ayer, Maiken Baird, Noah Baumbach, J.A. Bayona, Stuart Blumberg, Josh Boone, Laurent Cantet, Sergio Castellitto, Stephen Chbosky, Lu Chuan, Derek Cianfrance, Nenad Cicin-Sain, Costa-Gavras, Ziad Doueiri, Liz Garbus, Dustin Hoffman, Rian Johnson, Neil Jordan, Baltasar Kormákur, Shola Lynch, Deepa Mehta, Roger Michell, Nishikawa Miwa, Ruba Nadda, Mike Newell, François Ozon, Sally Potter, Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman, Eran Riklis, David O. Russell, Gauri Shinde, Ben Timlett & Bill Jones & Jeff Simpson, Tom Tykwer & Andy Wachowski & Lana Wachowski, Margarethe von Trotta, Joss Whedon and...
Hollywoodnews.com: Earlier, we brought you a snapshot glance at the first wave of programming announced for the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. Shortly after, the fest released a thorough breakdown of the Galas and Special Presentations for this year’s event, which kicks off on Thursday, Sept. 6.
So far, 17 Galas and 45 Special Presentations have been announced, including 38 world premieres. Andrew Adamson, Ben Affleck, David Ayer, Maiken Baird, Noah Baumbach, J.A. Bayona, Stuart Blumberg, Josh Boone, Laurent Cantet, Sergio Castellitto, Stephen Chbosky, Lu Chuan, Derek Cianfrance, Nenad Cicin-Sain, Costa-Gavras, Ziad Doueiri, Liz Garbus, Dustin Hoffman, Rian Johnson, Neil Jordan, Baltasar Kormákur, Shola Lynch, Deepa Mehta, Roger Michell, Nishikawa Miwa, Ruba Nadda, Mike Newell, François Ozon, Sally Potter, Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman, Eran Riklis, David O. Russell, Gauri Shinde, Ben Timlett & Bill Jones & Jeff Simpson, Tom Tykwer & Andy Wachowski & Lana Wachowski, Margarethe von Trotta, Joss Whedon and...
- 7/24/2012
- by Sean O'Connell
- Hollywoodnews.com
2012′s Toronto International Film Festival is set to officially announce its initial line-up later today, but Variety let the cat out of the bag, at least partially; and it’s quite astounding. Most of our most-anticipated films of the year will be premiering at the Canadian festival, notably Terrence Malick‘s To the Wonder, Wachowskis & Tom Tykwer‘s epic-sounding Cloud Atlas, Rian Johnson‘s Looper (which will open the fest), Ben Affleck‘s Argo, Dereck Cianfrance‘s The Place Beyond the Pines and much, more more.
Coming from Sundance, the only mentioned film was Ben Lewis‘ John Hawkes-starring The Sessions, while Cannes premieres include Matteo Garrone‘s Reality, Thomas Vinterberg‘s The Hunt, Pablo Larrain‘s No and Jacques Audiard‘s Rust and Bone. One of the biggest surprises is a new film from Noah Baumbach, starring Greta Gerwing titled Frances Ha. There’s also The Avengers director Joss Whedon...
Coming from Sundance, the only mentioned film was Ben Lewis‘ John Hawkes-starring The Sessions, while Cannes premieres include Matteo Garrone‘s Reality, Thomas Vinterberg‘s The Hunt, Pablo Larrain‘s No and Jacques Audiard‘s Rust and Bone. One of the biggest surprises is a new film from Noah Baumbach, starring Greta Gerwing titled Frances Ha. There’s also The Avengers director Joss Whedon...
- 7/24/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
I hate when legends pass away, and yesterday delivered us a toughy: Ernest Borgnine, who won the Best Actor Oscar for 1955's Marty (delivered by Miss Grace Kelly!) and charmed us on McHale's Navy, died at 95. Now the oldest living Best Actor is the noble and towering Sidney Poitier, who was born over 10 years after Borgnine. While our octagenarian Oscar winners deserve the utmost reverence, there's something downright superhuman about the nonagenarian awardees, if I do say so myself. Today, in honor of Borgnine, we're toasting five such winners who are alive, kicking, and ruling. Just start applauding now and don't stop until the end of the post.
1. Luise Rainer (aged 102)
Won: Best Actress (twice) for 1936's The Great Ziegfeld and 1937's The Good Earth
Why She Rules: Rainer is a German-Austrian actress who walked away with her first Oscar -- a Best Actress win in the first year Best...
1. Luise Rainer (aged 102)
Won: Best Actress (twice) for 1936's The Great Ziegfeld and 1937's The Good Earth
Why She Rules: Rainer is a German-Austrian actress who walked away with her first Oscar -- a Best Actress win in the first year Best...
- 7/9/2012
- by virtel
- The Backlot
DVD Playhouse—April 2012
By Allen Gardner
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Warner Bros.) An eleven year-old boy (newcomer Thomas Horn, in an incredible debut) discovers a mysterious key amongst the possessions of his late father (Tom Hanks) who perished in 9/11. Determined to find the lock it matches, the boy embarks on a Picaresque odyssey across New York City. Director Stephen Daldry and screenwriter Eric Roth have fashioned a film both grand and intimate, beautifully-adapted from Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel, thought by most who read it to be unfilmable. Fine support from Jeffrey Wright, Sandra Bullock, John Goodman, Viola Davis and the great Max von Sydow. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-hd 5.1 surround.
Battle Royale: The Complete Collection (Anchor Bay) Adapted from Koushun Takami’s polarizing novel (compared by champions and detractors alike as a 21st century version of A Clockwork Orange) and set in a futuristic Japan,...
By Allen Gardner
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Warner Bros.) An eleven year-old boy (newcomer Thomas Horn, in an incredible debut) discovers a mysterious key amongst the possessions of his late father (Tom Hanks) who perished in 9/11. Determined to find the lock it matches, the boy embarks on a Picaresque odyssey across New York City. Director Stephen Daldry and screenwriter Eric Roth have fashioned a film both grand and intimate, beautifully-adapted from Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel, thought by most who read it to be unfilmable. Fine support from Jeffrey Wright, Sandra Bullock, John Goodman, Viola Davis and the great Max von Sydow. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-hd 5.1 surround.
Battle Royale: The Complete Collection (Anchor Bay) Adapted from Koushun Takami’s polarizing novel (compared by champions and detractors alike as a 21st century version of A Clockwork Orange) and set in a futuristic Japan,...
- 4/13/2012
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Jean Dujardin Actor Jean Dujardin won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical for his performance as a fading silent-film star in Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist. In the above photo, Dujardin — who also won the Best Actor Award for The Artist in Cannes last year — poses backstage in the press room with his Golden Globe at the 2012 Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, CA, on Sunday, January 15. In many ways, The Artist borrows elements from George Cukor's What Price Glory?, in which Constance Bennett plays a rising star and Lowell Sherman a troubled producer, and the first two A Star Is Born movies, the first directed by William A. Wellman, and starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March; the second directed by Cukor, and starring Judy Garland and James Mason. All three movies, in turn, were inspired by real-life...
- 1/19/2012
- by D. Zhea
- Alt Film Guide
More Dickens and even more Shakespeare, but also new novels from Toni Morrison, Hilary Mantel, Zadie Smith, plus exciting new voices – 2012's literary highlights
January
10 Charles Dickens's The Mystery of Edwin Drood, starring Matthew Rhys and Tamzin Merchant, begins – and, unlike the book, ends – on BBC2.
13 Michael Morpurgo's much-loved children's novel War Horse, a long-running favourite at the National and on Broadway, gets the Hollywood treatment. A tearjerking saga about a young soldier and his horse – it was only a matter of time before it was Spielberged.
16 Ts Eliot prize. Despite withdrawals from the shortlist over objections to a hedge fund's sponsorship of the prize, the Eliot remains the UK's premier poetry award, and its eve-of-event reading is always a treat. This year's shortlist includes Daljit Nagra, Carol Ann Duffy and John Burnside.
20 Release of film of Coriolanus, an Orson Wellesian effort directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes,...
January
10 Charles Dickens's The Mystery of Edwin Drood, starring Matthew Rhys and Tamzin Merchant, begins – and, unlike the book, ends – on BBC2.
13 Michael Morpurgo's much-loved children's novel War Horse, a long-running favourite at the National and on Broadway, gets the Hollywood treatment. A tearjerking saga about a young soldier and his horse – it was only a matter of time before it was Spielberged.
16 Ts Eliot prize. Despite withdrawals from the shortlist over objections to a hedge fund's sponsorship of the prize, the Eliot remains the UK's premier poetry award, and its eve-of-event reading is always a treat. This year's shortlist includes Daljit Nagra, Carol Ann Duffy and John Burnside.
20 Release of film of Coriolanus, an Orson Wellesian effort directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes,...
- 1/6/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
More than a homage to the silent era, Michel Hazanavicius's The Artist is a dazzling tale of love and loss
What better way could one year end and another start than with a pair of charming, funny, moving films celebrating the cinema itself? Three weeks ago Martin Scorsese gave us Hugo, a deeply felt picture about the creation of the cinema in France during the final years of the 19th century. Now the French cineaste Michel Hazanavicius returns the compliment with the complementary The Artist, about the coming of sound to Hollywood. The directors of the Nouvelle Vague were born around the time the talkies began. Hazanavicius was born seven years after Truffaut's Les quatre cents coups and Godard's Breathless but is as steeped in movies as they were. His first feature film, La classe américaine, which I haven't seen, was apparently compiled entirely of clips from old Warner Brothers films,...
What better way could one year end and another start than with a pair of charming, funny, moving films celebrating the cinema itself? Three weeks ago Martin Scorsese gave us Hugo, a deeply felt picture about the creation of the cinema in France during the final years of the 19th century. Now the French cineaste Michel Hazanavicius returns the compliment with the complementary The Artist, about the coming of sound to Hollywood. The directors of the Nouvelle Vague were born around the time the talkies began. Hazanavicius was born seven years after Truffaut's Les quatre cents coups and Godard's Breathless but is as steeped in movies as they were. His first feature film, La classe américaine, which I haven't seen, was apparently compiled entirely of clips from old Warner Brothers films,...
- 1/1/2012
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
"The movies in The Silent Roar, Film Forum's ongoing Monday-night series of silent masterpieces from MGM studios, all date from 1924 to 1929, the glorious last half-decade before the coming of sound," writes Imogen Smith for Alt Screen. "While the series includes some director-dominated films, like Erich von Stroheim's Greed and The Merry Widow, the line-up consists mainly of star vehicles constructed around singular personalities: Greta Garbo, Buster Keaton, Lon Chaney, and Lillian Gish. Each of these icons presents a case study in silent acting, and taken together, The Silent Roar makes for an excellent primer in this lost art." The series runs through February 6.
"2011 has been a good year for silent cinema on DVD," writes Kristin Thompson, presenting "an overview of some of the highlights."
Fandor's Keyframe is dedicated this week to "The Silent Artists."
Listening (18'49"). Kevin Brownlow talks about restoring Abel Gance's Napoleon (1927) on the Leonard Lopate Show.
"2011 has been a good year for silent cinema on DVD," writes Kristin Thompson, presenting "an overview of some of the highlights."
Fandor's Keyframe is dedicated this week to "The Silent Artists."
Listening (18'49"). Kevin Brownlow talks about restoring Abel Gance's Napoleon (1927) on the Leonard Lopate Show.
- 11/29/2011
- MUBI
With love well and truly in the air recently with Prince William tying the knot with the rather lovely Kate Middleton a few days ago, it seems an appropriate time to take a look at some of the most legendary on/off screen couples that have fascinated us film lovers over the years. Chemistry sparks when a real romance lies behind the scenes and when a new relationship begins the tabloids go crazy!
So to celebrate the union of the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge – and to appease my wife’s (yes, we just beat the Royals by getting married on 24th April!) constant requests to chronicle the following – here are the top ten on/off screen lovers the past century has immortalised…
10. Kim Basinger & Alec Baldwin
Back in the early 90s, Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin were one of the more popular on and off screen couples in Hollywood. Meeting...
So to celebrate the union of the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge – and to appease my wife’s (yes, we just beat the Royals by getting married on 24th April!) constant requests to chronicle the following – here are the top ten on/off screen lovers the past century has immortalised…
10. Kim Basinger & Alec Baldwin
Back in the early 90s, Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin were one of the more popular on and off screen couples in Hollywood. Meeting...
- 5/4/2011
- by Stuart Cummins
- Obsessed with Film
April 13-18
Fifty years after Jean-Luc Godard, Serge Bozon and the .young turks. of Cahiers du cinéma resolved that the best way to criticize movies was to make their own films. The result was the creation of another exciting .new wave. of critic-filmmakers, hailing from the iconoclastic film magazine La lettre du cinéma(1997-2005), boldly storming the gates of the French film establishment.
The Film Society of Lincoln Center brings writer, director, actor and DJ, Serge Bozon to New York to present this first major North American survey of films by the Lettre du cinéma circle as well as to curate and present a series of screenings of rarities (along with Anthology Film Archives) that have influenced his work. Also introducing and discussing their films will be his fellow filmmakers, Jean-Charles Fitoussi and Aurélia Georges. And if that weren.t enough, Bozon will also put his DJ skills on display,...
Fifty years after Jean-Luc Godard, Serge Bozon and the .young turks. of Cahiers du cinéma resolved that the best way to criticize movies was to make their own films. The result was the creation of another exciting .new wave. of critic-filmmakers, hailing from the iconoclastic film magazine La lettre du cinéma(1997-2005), boldly storming the gates of the French film establishment.
The Film Society of Lincoln Center brings writer, director, actor and DJ, Serge Bozon to New York to present this first major North American survey of films by the Lettre du cinéma circle as well as to curate and present a series of screenings of rarities (along with Anthology Film Archives) that have influenced his work. Also introducing and discussing their films will be his fellow filmmakers, Jean-Charles Fitoussi and Aurélia Georges. And if that weren.t enough, Bozon will also put his DJ skills on display,...
- 3/15/2011
- by Melissa Howland
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
In honor of the 83rd Academy Awards, Extra" brings you AFI's 100 Best Movie Quotes of all time! From "The Wizard of Oz" to "Taxi Driver," see if your favorites made the list.
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie QuotesGone with the Wind (1939)
"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." — Clark Gable as Rhett Butler to Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara
The Godfather (1972)
"I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse." — Marlon Brando as Don Corleone...
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie QuotesGone with the Wind (1939)
"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." — Clark Gable as Rhett Butler to Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara
The Godfather (1972)
"I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse." — Marlon Brando as Don Corleone...
- 2/27/2011
- Extra
I absolutely adore the flashback episodes of "The Vampire Diaries," because I think that they're the ones that really showcase the show's greatest strength: the relationship between Stefan and Damon.
You can 'ship until you're blue in the face, but at the end of the day, the relationship between the brothers Salvatore is undeniably the most complex one in the series. It's a centuries-old rivalry driven, firstly, by the inherent blood-borne love anyone has for his family. When it's easier to hate someone, loving them is a giant pain in the ass, because you can't just shake it and you can't walk away from it.
Seeing the way Damon and Stefan related to each other just after they turned, when they were essentially all each other had in the world, is absolutely heartbreaking. I rarely feel the urge to give Damon a hug... tonight I did. "The Dinner Party" was...
You can 'ship until you're blue in the face, but at the end of the day, the relationship between the brothers Salvatore is undeniably the most complex one in the series. It's a centuries-old rivalry driven, firstly, by the inherent blood-borne love anyone has for his family. When it's easier to hate someone, loving them is a giant pain in the ass, because you can't just shake it and you can't walk away from it.
Seeing the way Damon and Stefan related to each other just after they turned, when they were essentially all each other had in the world, is absolutely heartbreaking. I rarely feel the urge to give Damon a hug... tonight I did. "The Dinner Party" was...
- 2/18/2011
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
I hope you don’t mind staring at the men of ‘The Vampire Diaries,’ because we’ve got smolder-y shots from the Feb. 3 episode!
The countdown is on! We’re just Nine days away from new episodes of The Vampire Diaries, but you don’t have to wait until then for a glimpse of the Mystic Falls gang’s supernatural shenanigans. Just feast your eyes on these photos from the Feb. 3 episode, titled “Daddy Issues.” The daddy in the title is probably referring to Elena’s (Nina Dobrev) biological — and vamp-hating — father John Gilbert (David Anders), who makes his highly anticipated return that week, as well. So grab a plate of bunny meat, and enjoy these fresh pics of Damon (Ian Somerhalder), Stefan (Paul Wesley) and the furry fury himself, Tyler Lockwood (Michael Trevino.)
View Poll
Love The Vampire Diaries? Click here to follow Andy on Twitter!
— Andy Swift...
The countdown is on! We’re just Nine days away from new episodes of The Vampire Diaries, but you don’t have to wait until then for a glimpse of the Mystic Falls gang’s supernatural shenanigans. Just feast your eyes on these photos from the Feb. 3 episode, titled “Daddy Issues.” The daddy in the title is probably referring to Elena’s (Nina Dobrev) biological — and vamp-hating — father John Gilbert (David Anders), who makes his highly anticipated return that week, as well. So grab a plate of bunny meat, and enjoy these fresh pics of Damon (Ian Somerhalder), Stefan (Paul Wesley) and the furry fury himself, Tyler Lockwood (Michael Trevino.)
View Poll
Love The Vampire Diaries? Click here to follow Andy on Twitter!
— Andy Swift...
- 1/19/2011
- by Andy
- HollywoodLife
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.