When you think of the great directors in cinema history – Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock, etc. – chances are the first films that come to mind are Goodfellas, Jaws and Vertigo. But every brilliant filmmaker has their duds. Now, Rolling Stone – you know, the publication that doesn’t think Roseanne and Bill Cosby had historic shows just because of their wrongdoings – has put out a list of the 50 worst movies by some of the most renowned directors…And yes, they have missed the mark considerably.
In the list, titled “50 Terrible Movies by Great Directors”, there are plenty of bottom-barrel films, those that are absolutely anomalies in otherwise remarkable careers. We wouldn’t argue that man-child family comedy Jack (#1) isn’t Francis Ford Coppola’s worst movie or that Rob Reiner’s North (#2) wasn’t worthy of Roger Ebert’s famed “hated, hated, hated, hated, hated” review. Those guys didn’t...
In the list, titled “50 Terrible Movies by Great Directors”, there are plenty of bottom-barrel films, those that are absolutely anomalies in otherwise remarkable careers. We wouldn’t argue that man-child family comedy Jack (#1) isn’t Francis Ford Coppola’s worst movie or that Rob Reiner’s North (#2) wasn’t worthy of Roger Ebert’s famed “hated, hated, hated, hated, hated” review. Those guys didn’t...
- 3/27/2024
- by Mathew Plale
- JoBlo.com
Cinephiles will have plenty to celebrate this April with the next slate of additions to the Criterion Channel. The boutique distributor, which recently announced its June 2024 Blu-ray releases, has unveiled its new streaming lineup highlighted by an eclectic mix of classic films and modern arthouse hits.
Students of Hollywood history will be treated to the “Peak Noir: 1950” collection, which features 17 noir films from the landmark film year from directors including Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock, and John Huston.
New Hollywood maverick William Friedkin will also be celebrated when five of his most beloved movies, including “Sorcerer” and “The Exorcist,” come to the channel in April.
Criterion will offer the streaming premiere of Wim Wenders’ 3D art documentary “Anselm,” which will be accompanied by the “Wim Wenders’ Adventures in Moviegoing” collection, which sees the director curating a selection of films from around the world that have influenced his careers.
Contemporary cinema is also well represented,...
Students of Hollywood history will be treated to the “Peak Noir: 1950” collection, which features 17 noir films from the landmark film year from directors including Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock, and John Huston.
New Hollywood maverick William Friedkin will also be celebrated when five of his most beloved movies, including “Sorcerer” and “The Exorcist,” come to the channel in April.
Criterion will offer the streaming premiere of Wim Wenders’ 3D art documentary “Anselm,” which will be accompanied by the “Wim Wenders’ Adventures in Moviegoing” collection, which sees the director curating a selection of films from around the world that have influenced his careers.
Contemporary cinema is also well represented,...
- 3/18/2024
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
April’s an uncommonly strong auteurist month for the Criterion Channel, who will highlight a number of directors––many of whom aren’t often grouped together. Just after we screened House of Tolerance at the Roxy Cinema, Criterion are showing it and Nocturama for a two-film Bertrand Bonello retrospective, starting just four days before The Beast opens. Larger and rarer (but just as French) is the complete Jean Eustache series Janus toured last year. Meanwhile, five William Friedkin films and work from Makoto Shinkai, Lizzie Borden, and Rosine Mbakam are given a highlight.
One of my very favorite films, Comrades: Almost a Love Story plays in a series I’ve been trying to program for years: “Hong Kong in New York,” boasting the magnificent Full Moon in New York, Farewell China, and An Autumn’s Tale. Wim Wenders gets his “Adventures in Moviegoing”; After Hours, Personal Shopper, and Werckmeister Harmonies fill...
One of my very favorite films, Comrades: Almost a Love Story plays in a series I’ve been trying to program for years: “Hong Kong in New York,” boasting the magnificent Full Moon in New York, Farewell China, and An Autumn’s Tale. Wim Wenders gets his “Adventures in Moviegoing”; After Hours, Personal Shopper, and Werckmeister Harmonies fill...
- 3/18/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Welcome to The B-Side, from The Film Stage. Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between.
Today we chat about the action heroine: Sigourney Weaver! But what were the films she made in between Alien and Aliens? Other than A-sides The Year of Living Dangerously and Ghostbusters, there was Eyewitness, Deal of the Century, One Woman or Two (a French film!), and Half Moon Street.
Our guest is the incomparable Joe Reid, co-host of the essential podcast This Had Oscar Buzz. Be sure to check them out as Oscar season races to an exciting conclusion over the next few weeks.
Topics in this episode include: When exactly did the horse stables in midtown Manhattan shut down? What exactly was an early ‘80s film set like with both William Hurt and James Woods on it?...
Today we chat about the action heroine: Sigourney Weaver! But what were the films she made in between Alien and Aliens? Other than A-sides The Year of Living Dangerously and Ghostbusters, there was Eyewitness, Deal of the Century, One Woman or Two (a French film!), and Half Moon Street.
Our guest is the incomparable Joe Reid, co-host of the essential podcast This Had Oscar Buzz. Be sure to check them out as Oscar season races to an exciting conclusion over the next few weeks.
Topics in this episode include: When exactly did the horse stables in midtown Manhattan shut down? What exactly was an early ‘80s film set like with both William Hurt and James Woods on it?...
- 2/23/2024
- by Dan Mecca
- The Film Stage
Director William Friedkin, best known for his Oscar-winning “The French Connection” and blockbuster “The Exorcist,” died Monday in Los Angeles. He was 87.
His death was confirmed by Chapman University dean Stephen Galloway, a friend of Friedkin’s wife Sherry Lansing.
His final film, “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial,” starring Kiefer Sutherland, is set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
Along with Peter Bogdanovich, Francis Ford Coppola and Hal Ashby, Friedkin rose to A-list status in the 1970s, part of a new generation of vibrant, risk-taking filmmakers. Combining his experience in television, particularly in documentary film, with a cutting-edge style of editing, Friedkin brought a great deal of energy to the horror and police thriller genres in which he specialized.
“The French Connection” was an incredibly fast-paced and morally ambiguous tale, shot in documentary style and containing one of cinema’s most justifiably famous car chase sequences. “Connection” won several Oscars including best picture,...
His death was confirmed by Chapman University dean Stephen Galloway, a friend of Friedkin’s wife Sherry Lansing.
His final film, “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial,” starring Kiefer Sutherland, is set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
Along with Peter Bogdanovich, Francis Ford Coppola and Hal Ashby, Friedkin rose to A-list status in the 1970s, part of a new generation of vibrant, risk-taking filmmakers. Combining his experience in television, particularly in documentary film, with a cutting-edge style of editing, Friedkin brought a great deal of energy to the horror and police thriller genres in which he specialized.
“The French Connection” was an incredibly fast-paced and morally ambiguous tale, shot in documentary style and containing one of cinema’s most justifiably famous car chase sequences. “Connection” won several Oscars including best picture,...
- 8/7/2023
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
How do you solve a problem like Chevy Chase? Throughout his lengthy career, the actor has had a long, troubled history of acting like a jerk to nearly everyone he's worked with, from the infamous backstage fight he had with Bill Murray upon leaving Saturday Night Live to his much-publicized feud with showrunner Dan Harmon while co-starring on the beloved NBC sitcom "Community." By many accounts, the star is, at best, annoying to work with, and, at worst, an insufferable jerk.
That behavior would seem to be the end-all, be-all explanation for why Chase's film career eventually floundered despite having a pretty strong start. Yet, like most things, that isn't the whole story: for one, Chase is an incredibly talented actor and comedian, despite his personal shortcomings. For another, his persona being what it is — this is the man who made a splash announcing himself on SNL as "I'm Chevy Chase,...
That behavior would seem to be the end-all, be-all explanation for why Chase's film career eventually floundered despite having a pretty strong start. Yet, like most things, that isn't the whole story: for one, Chase is an incredibly talented actor and comedian, despite his personal shortcomings. For another, his persona being what it is — this is the man who made a splash announcing himself on SNL as "I'm Chevy Chase,...
- 8/7/2023
- by Bill Bria
- Slash Film
Sigourney Weaver is formidable. Intimidating. When she steps in front of a camera, she instantly becomes the most powerful presence in the scene, even if her character isn't. She projects fierce intelligence, and rightfully seems to disdain every single character in her orbit as less than. She's devoured the daunting likes of Bill Murray, Mel Gibson, and Gene Hackman without breaking a sweat. At 5'11", Weaver towers and struts with Amazonian grace. She's as captivating as she is impenetrable. But then she lets the facade crack, and you realize, even when she's playing an ice queen like Katharine Parker in Mike Nichols' "Working Girl," that these forces of nature are concealing a mess of neuroses.
In a less patriarchal world, Weaver would've been the female equivalent of Harrison Ford. She's a movie star top-to-bottom, but she's long worked against society's view of determined, independent women. There have been films that...
In a less patriarchal world, Weaver would've been the female equivalent of Harrison Ford. She's a movie star top-to-bottom, but she's long worked against society's view of determined, independent women. There have been films that...
- 4/8/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
In the wake of his amazing run of seventies classics, director William Friedkin found himself somewhat adrift in the eighties. The failures of Sorcerer and Cruising had damaged his clout at the box office, culminating in him directing the Chevy Chase movie, Deal of the Century, a film he seemed ill-suited for. Clearly, a comeback was in need, and to that end, he decided to return to the…...
- 3/25/2021
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Here comes a new big-data approach trying to crack the age-old problem of understanding what a TV show or movie is really about.
Entertainment-analytics startup Vody is coming out of stealth after more than two years of development and testing. Co-founders and co-CEOs Stephanie Horbaczewski and Jeremy Houghton, who both were previously top execs at YouTube network StyleHaul, claim they’ve built a better mousetrap. The company’s proprietary system, they say, uses machine-learning tech to trawl the internet and compile a comprehensive database of entertainment titles — designed to plug into streaming services for more accurate content recommendations.
The L.A.-based company was formed by Horbaczewski, previously founder/CEO of StyleHaul, and Houghton, who was StyleHaul Cto. They both left the Rtl Group-owned fashion and beauty digital network before Rtl shuttered StyleHaul last year.
“We want to give platforms the understanding of content that human beings have,” Horbaczewski told Variety.
Entertainment-analytics startup Vody is coming out of stealth after more than two years of development and testing. Co-founders and co-CEOs Stephanie Horbaczewski and Jeremy Houghton, who both were previously top execs at YouTube network StyleHaul, claim they’ve built a better mousetrap. The company’s proprietary system, they say, uses machine-learning tech to trawl the internet and compile a comprehensive database of entertainment titles — designed to plug into streaming services for more accurate content recommendations.
The L.A.-based company was formed by Horbaczewski, previously founder/CEO of StyleHaul, and Houghton, who was StyleHaul Cto. They both left the Rtl Group-owned fashion and beauty digital network before Rtl shuttered StyleHaul last year.
“We want to give platforms the understanding of content that human beings have,” Horbaczewski told Variety.
- 10/23/2020
- by Todd Spangler
- Variety Film + TV
Johnnie To’s Three Should Be Subtitled ‘Out of Ten’Fantasia Film Festival 2016
Steven Spielberg’s 1941. Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones. John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars. William Friedkin’s Deal of the Century. Dario Argento’s entire post-Opera filmography.
Great directors sometimes make mediocre or downright awful films. It happens to the best, and with the release of Johnnie To’s Three the director of Election, Mad Detective, Drug War, and countless other action gems has joined the club.
Shun (Wallace Chung) is a master criminal whose most recent clash with the law leaves him rushed to a hospital with a bullet in his brain. Inspector Chan (Louis Koo) has been after the thief and his violent gang for a while, and now that he has him he wants Shun to spill details of their next target. Dr. Tong (Vicki Zhao) couldn’t care less about Chan’s needs though as Shun’s condition requires...
Steven Spielberg’s 1941. Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones. John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars. William Friedkin’s Deal of the Century. Dario Argento’s entire post-Opera filmography.
Great directors sometimes make mediocre or downright awful films. It happens to the best, and with the release of Johnnie To’s Three the director of Election, Mad Detective, Drug War, and countless other action gems has joined the club.
Shun (Wallace Chung) is a master criminal whose most recent clash with the law leaves him rushed to a hospital with a bullet in his brain. Inspector Chan (Louis Koo) has been after the thief and his violent gang for a while, and now that he has him he wants Shun to spill details of their next target. Dr. Tong (Vicki Zhao) couldn’t care less about Chan’s needs though as Shun’s condition requires...
- 7/19/2016
- by Rob Hunter
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
This month's film Book Club choice is a study of director William Friedkin that spends as much time on the failures as the successes...
Some films catch your attention for reasons other than being good. Cruising (1980) has stuck in my memory for years. It’s very weird. Al Pacino plays a cop who works undercover in New York’s gay club scene, tracking down a serial killer. Or possibly more than one serial killer; it's difficult to tell in the darkness, the double bluffs, and the uncomfortable and unclear nature of the action. Few critics liked it, even less people went to see it, and William Friedkin wrote and directed it. When I think of Friedkin's work I think of Cruising as much as I think of The Exorcist, or The French Connection. How could the same person have made these films?
Clagett's book embraces the failures as much as the successes,...
Some films catch your attention for reasons other than being good. Cruising (1980) has stuck in my memory for years. It’s very weird. Al Pacino plays a cop who works undercover in New York’s gay club scene, tracking down a serial killer. Or possibly more than one serial killer; it's difficult to tell in the darkness, the double bluffs, and the uncomfortable and unclear nature of the action. Few critics liked it, even less people went to see it, and William Friedkin wrote and directed it. When I think of Friedkin's work I think of Cruising as much as I think of The Exorcist, or The French Connection. How could the same person have made these films?
Clagett's book embraces the failures as much as the successes,...
- 4/14/2015
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
iRobot: Blomkamp’s Latest Sentimentally Inclined Sci-Fi is Pleasantly Familiar
Sentient technological constructs and expanding the definition of what constitutes the essence of consciousness as it applies to the essence of humanity is at the core of Neill Blomkamp’s latest feature, Chappie, so named for the eponymous, experimentally self-aware robot at the heart of his narrative. It is almost impossible to discuss the film without acknowledging many of its derivative elements, namely the film’s striking similarity to RoboCop (either version) and the family friendly sentiments of Short Circuit, and because of this, the film’s larger ideas feel too familiar, which undercuts Blomkamp’s ability to truly reach the poignant potential of the material.
There are a handful of emotionally rewarding sequences, but Blomkamp’s attentions are saturated by the film’s innovative protagonist to such a degree that most of the supporting players are reduced to archetypes,...
Sentient technological constructs and expanding the definition of what constitutes the essence of consciousness as it applies to the essence of humanity is at the core of Neill Blomkamp’s latest feature, Chappie, so named for the eponymous, experimentally self-aware robot at the heart of his narrative. It is almost impossible to discuss the film without acknowledging many of its derivative elements, namely the film’s striking similarity to RoboCop (either version) and the family friendly sentiments of Short Circuit, and because of this, the film’s larger ideas feel too familiar, which undercuts Blomkamp’s ability to truly reach the poignant potential of the material.
There are a handful of emotionally rewarding sequences, but Blomkamp’s attentions are saturated by the film’s innovative protagonist to such a degree that most of the supporting players are reduced to archetypes,...
- 3/6/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
“Money alone sets all the world in motion.”
—Publilius Syrus, Maxim 656
The desire for money, for personal gain or business interests, is a frequent catalyst for dramatic action in William Friedkin’s films. In The Night They Raided Minsky’s (1968), The French Connection (1971), Sorcerer (1977), The Brink’s Job (1978), Deal of the Century (1983), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Blue Chips (1994) and, more recently, Killer Joe (2011), the pursuit of money entails underhand tactics, struggle, betrayal and violence. Dollar bills are passed from one person to another, in plain view or sight unseen; or promised at the completion of a job; or seized, burned or spent. But the money always materializes again, somehow, coursing into the narrative economy and organizing social relations.
In a notable sequence in To Live and Die in L.A. we see this material created illegally, and witness its eruption and flow into the system. Friedkin here offers an...
—Publilius Syrus, Maxim 656
The desire for money, for personal gain or business interests, is a frequent catalyst for dramatic action in William Friedkin’s films. In The Night They Raided Minsky’s (1968), The French Connection (1971), Sorcerer (1977), The Brink’s Job (1978), Deal of the Century (1983), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Blue Chips (1994) and, more recently, Killer Joe (2011), the pursuit of money entails underhand tactics, struggle, betrayal and violence. Dollar bills are passed from one person to another, in plain view or sight unseen; or promised at the completion of a job; or seized, burned or spent. But the money always materializes again, somehow, coursing into the narrative economy and organizing social relations.
In a notable sequence in To Live and Die in L.A. we see this material created illegally, and witness its eruption and flow into the system. Friedkin here offers an...
- 4/22/2014
- by Yusef Sayed
- MUBI
Deal of the century -- some mystery buyer just purchased the massive engagement ring Hugh Hefner gave to Crystal Harris ... for a fraction of the original $90,000 price tag. Sources tell TMZ, the unidentified bidder won Crystal's auction this morning -- bidding $38,000 for the 3.39 carat circular-cut diamond. With taxes and fees, the final bill was $47,500. Shockingly, the ring actually exceeded auctioneer expectations -- because it was only supposed to sell for $20 -$30k. Hugh reportedly shelled...
- 10/18/2011
- by TMZ Staff
- TMZ
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