From Sergei Eisenstein to Andrei Konchalovsky, Russian filmmakers perfected a formula for manufacturing social reality out of highly concentrated mixes of activist outrage and artistic chutzpah. Political hindsight overshadows their unparalleled toying with film language, but it also deepens great works of art like Aleksandr Dovzhenko’s Earth and Mikhail Kalatozov’s I Am Cuba. These two enthralling synergies of sight and sound were made with the support of a communist machine that would eventually fail the people of the Soviet Union and Cuba, but they’re first and foremost exaltations of the rebel spirit, hurled at audiences with a fierce conviction and belief in cinema as a propagandistic vehicle for change.
For the Soviet Union, I Am Cuba was an opportunity to promote socialism abroad during de-Stalinization in the Khrushchev era, and for Cuba it was a way of staking out a cinematic presence. So it is that the...
For the Soviet Union, I Am Cuba was an opportunity to promote socialism abroad during de-Stalinization in the Khrushchev era, and for Cuba it was a way of staking out a cinematic presence. So it is that the...
- 4/19/2024
- by Ed Gonzalez
- Slant Magazine
“Godzilla Minus One” already made history at the Oscars on January 23 when it became the first film in the Godzilla franchise’s 70 years to be nominated for Best Visual Effects. Now, director Takashi Yamazaki can claim the title of Japan’s first ever winner of the Best Visual Effects Oscar. Even more, this is the first Godzilla film to win an Oscar, period.
Yet even more history was by the Toho Studios production on March 10 at the 96th Academy Awards: director Yamazaki is also the winner of this particular Visual Effects prize, as he also served as the film’s visual effects supervisor. A director winning the Best Visual Effects Academy Award has only happened once more before, with Stanley Kubrick taking the honor in 1969 for “2001: A Space Odyssey” as VFX supervisor on that Best Picture nominee as well. (That’s also the only Oscar Kubrick won in his nearly 50-year-long career.
Yet even more history was by the Toho Studios production on March 10 at the 96th Academy Awards: director Yamazaki is also the winner of this particular Visual Effects prize, as he also served as the film’s visual effects supervisor. A director winning the Best Visual Effects Academy Award has only happened once more before, with Stanley Kubrick taking the honor in 1969 for “2001: A Space Odyssey” as VFX supervisor on that Best Picture nominee as well. (That’s also the only Oscar Kubrick won in his nearly 50-year-long career.
- 3/11/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook.Newsa Different Man.IATSE, Teamsters, and the Hollywood Basic Crafts unions began bargaining jointly with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers after a thousands-strong rally in Los Angeles. In Variety, IATSE president Matthew Loeb discusses the union’s priorities and the threat of another strike after the current contract expires on July 31.In an open letter, Carlo Chatrian, the outgoing artistic director of the Berlinale, and Mark Peranson, the festival’s head of programming, respond to the backlash that followed the closing ceremony, at which a number of award recipients called for a ceasefire in Gaza: “This year’s festival was a place for dialogue and exchange for ten days; yet once the films stopped rolling, another form of communication...
- 3/6/2024
- MUBI
Paranoia, at least the kind stemming from a lack of confidence, isn’t the dominant sensation permeating Oliver Stone’s frenzied and decidedly campy pledge of malignance JFK, the film that briefly made conspiracy theorizing not just socially acceptable, but practically a cornerstone of citizens’ civic duty. No, in practice, JFK is as sure of itself as a QAnon truther, setting into centripetal motion hundreds of specious theories and dancing around the logical gaps like Max Ophüls’s camera did the titular jewelry of The Earrings of Madame de… It’s the crown jewel of the small but potent batch of mainstream American films of the late Boomer era that seemingly rode the collective insanity of the cultural zeitgeist to financial reward and cultural cachet—two other obvious examples being Network, which explicitly “articulated the popular rage” that had more or less been building since the Kennedy assassination, and the...
- 2/12/2024
- by Eric Henderson
- Slant Magazine
In 2009, Sally Menke, the splicer extraordinaire who cut her way to film industry prominence as Quentin Tarantino's most trusted collaborator, wrote, "Editors are the quiet heroes of movies and I like it that way." I emphatically agree and disagree with this observation. On one hand, the best film editing is seamless; watching a movie should be an entrancing experience, and it's the editor's job to not break the spell. Yes, there are singular, medium-altering cuts (the entire Odessa Steps sequence in Sergei Eisenstein's silent classic "Potemkin;" the blowing out of a match whisking us off to the desert in David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia;" the bone-to-spaceship transition in Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Opera"), but they're grand gestures deftly woven into the fabric of the movie. They pull you deeper into their worlds, not take you out of them.
Watch enough movies, however, and you become attuned to certain editorial rhythms.
Watch enough movies, however, and you become attuned to certain editorial rhythms.
- 1/9/2024
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
‘The Boys in the Boat’ Review: George Clooney’s Inspirational Crew Drama Is Too Hokey to Stay Afloat
You have to admire George Clooney’s unwavering dedication to making the kind of movies that feel like they could’ve been — should’ve been — the fourth-highest-grossing new release of a sleepy weekend in the Clinton era. It takes real star power to keep churning these things out, and rare chutzpah to insist they all play in theaters.
Indeed, Clooney’s side hustle might seem arrogant if the films themselves weren’t so humble and unassuming. Besotted with a vision of Hollywood that was already gone when he got there, the guy has always been a living anachronism who just keeps turning the clock back 35 years until he finally runs out of time. That used to mean channeling the spirit of Dean Martin. Now it means trying to bring Jerry Goldsmith back from the dead.
The stodgiest entry in a dad-core filmography that includes a screwball comedy about American football...
Indeed, Clooney’s side hustle might seem arrogant if the films themselves weren’t so humble and unassuming. Besotted with a vision of Hollywood that was already gone when he got there, the guy has always been a living anachronism who just keeps turning the clock back 35 years until he finally runs out of time. That used to mean channeling the spirit of Dean Martin. Now it means trying to bring Jerry Goldsmith back from the dead.
The stodgiest entry in a dad-core filmography that includes a screwball comedy about American football...
- 12/15/2023
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Walt Disney was the producer and studio mogul who pioneered in the field of animation, proving it could be used for more than just creating amusing shorts for kids. Let’s take a look back at all 19 animated features produced during his lifetime or that he personally worked on, ranked worst to best.
After years producing amusing shorts, most of them staring a lovable mouse named Mickey (voiced by Walt himself), Disney broke new ground with the first feature length animated film: “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (1937). Both a radical experiment in filmmaking and a revolution in storytelling, it proved cartoons were a viable means of artistic expression. Russian director Sergei Eisenstein, in fact, called it the greatest movie ever made, no small praise for the man who made “Battleship Potemkin” (1925).
With each subsequent feature — “Pinocchio” (1940), “Fantasia” (1940), “Dumbo” (1941), and “Bambi” (1942) — Disney and his team of animators refined their visual and narrative techniques,...
After years producing amusing shorts, most of them staring a lovable mouse named Mickey (voiced by Walt himself), Disney broke new ground with the first feature length animated film: “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (1937). Both a radical experiment in filmmaking and a revolution in storytelling, it proved cartoons were a viable means of artistic expression. Russian director Sergei Eisenstein, in fact, called it the greatest movie ever made, no small praise for the man who made “Battleship Potemkin” (1925).
With each subsequent feature — “Pinocchio” (1940), “Fantasia” (1940), “Dumbo” (1941), and “Bambi” (1942) — Disney and his team of animators refined their visual and narrative techniques,...
- 12/1/2023
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
For his tiny, frantically fleeing costars, Godzilla’s a tough scene partner: ungiving improviser, often plays to the camera, goes annoyingly Method on every shoot. But mostly, he’s difficult to share a screen with in a literal, visual capacity, his sheer size either overtaking the frame when glimpsed from mortal vantage or rendering people as puny ants from his.
Every entry in the sprawling, oft-rebooted franchise has wrestled with the question of scale as it finds its place on a spectrum between “human story plagued by giant lizard” or “giant lizard story nagged by humans,” a balance easily miscalculated. The twenty-story-tall poster boy’s recent exploits in Hollywood have managed to have it neither way instead of both, overdosing on lore while dawdling with characters who cannot hope to be as interesting as their reptilian upstager.
Gareth Edwards was onto something with his 2014 take, which abstracted our species as a collective concept,...
Every entry in the sprawling, oft-rebooted franchise has wrestled with the question of scale as it finds its place on a spectrum between “human story plagued by giant lizard” or “giant lizard story nagged by humans,” a balance easily miscalculated. The twenty-story-tall poster boy’s recent exploits in Hollywood have managed to have it neither way instead of both, overdosing on lore while dawdling with characters who cannot hope to be as interesting as their reptilian upstager.
Gareth Edwards was onto something with his 2014 take, which abstracted our species as a collective concept,...
- 12/1/2023
- by Charles Bramesco
- Indiewire
The first installment in a loose trilogy that includes 1967’s Entranced Earth and 1969’s Antonio das Mortes, Glauber Rocha’s Black God, White Devil nonetheless stands alone as a benchmark for the difference between polemic and propaganda. If Rocha’s Italian contemporaries Sergio Corbucci and Damiano Damiani devised the Zapata western to turn the traditional western inside out—critiquing rather than valorizing imperialism—then Black God, White Devil might be called a Lampião western, after the folk hero of Brazilian social banditry who casts a long shadow over the film. More than allegorizing third-world revolutionary and decolonial struggles, Rocha stages a mythmaking intervention into Brazilian history.
As its English title suggests, Black God, White Devil is a film of two halves, each of which slots into a separate western subgenre, and could probably satisfy as a film in its own right. Taken as a whole, though, the film incites a...
As its English title suggests, Black God, White Devil is a film of two halves, each of which slots into a separate western subgenre, and could probably satisfy as a film in its own right. Taken as a whole, though, the film incites a...
- 11/13/2023
- by William Repass
- Slant Magazine
After four months, the Sag-Aftra film and television union has reached a tentative deal, but we may be waiting a while for the art itself to triumph
It’s over. The stream of sweatshirted and placard-wielding Instagram no-filter/no-makeup posts from stars is at an end. The Sag-Aftra film and television actors’ strike in Hollywood is paused after four months, with a tentative deal giving actors larger minimum-pay increases, a streaming bonus and “consent and compensation” provisions against AI, although how exactly this last is to be enforced remains to be seen. For those who had thought of Hollywood as the very epitome of free-marketeerism, the spectacle of an actual strike, which remained reasonably popular and un-demonised in the press, and which produced a result, is quite startling. Especially as British Equity doesn’t have this kind of power.
In the movies themselves, from Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront...
It’s over. The stream of sweatshirted and placard-wielding Instagram no-filter/no-makeup posts from stars is at an end. The Sag-Aftra film and television actors’ strike in Hollywood is paused after four months, with a tentative deal giving actors larger minimum-pay increases, a streaming bonus and “consent and compensation” provisions against AI, although how exactly this last is to be enforced remains to be seen. For those who had thought of Hollywood as the very epitome of free-marketeerism, the spectacle of an actual strike, which remained reasonably popular and un-demonised in the press, and which produced a result, is quite startling. Especially as British Equity doesn’t have this kind of power.
In the movies themselves, from Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront...
- 11/9/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Film geeks, rejoice. Leading indie label Kino Lorber is entering the world of streaming. The company has launched Kino Film Collection, a new subscription video service available in the U.S. via’s Amazon’s Prime Video Channels. The Collection will feature new Kino releases fresh from theaters, along with hundreds of films from its expansive library of more than 4,000 titles, many now streaming for the first time. It will cost users $5.99 per month.
Films available at launch include award-winning theatrical releases and critically acclaimed festival favorites and classics from around the globe, such as The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci), Dogtooth (Yorgos Lanthimos), Taxi (Jafar Panahi), Poison (Todd Haynes), Ganja & Hess (Bill Gunn), The Scent of Green Papaya (Tran Anh Hung), A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour), Computer Chess (Andrew Bujalski), Portrait of Jason (Shirley Clarke), and A Touch of Sin (Jia Zhangke).
Joining them are entries...
Films available at launch include award-winning theatrical releases and critically acclaimed festival favorites and classics from around the globe, such as The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci), Dogtooth (Yorgos Lanthimos), Taxi (Jafar Panahi), Poison (Todd Haynes), Ganja & Hess (Bill Gunn), The Scent of Green Papaya (Tran Anh Hung), A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour), Computer Chess (Andrew Bujalski), Portrait of Jason (Shirley Clarke), and A Touch of Sin (Jia Zhangke).
Joining them are entries...
- 11/2/2023
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Kino Lorber, a leading name in the indie film scene for over 45 years, just launched the Kino Film Collection. This new streaming service is available in the U.S. on Amazon via Prime Video Channels for $5.99 per month. The platform will feature new Kino films fresh from their theatrical release along with hundreds of catalog titles. Many of these films will be available to stream for the first time.
Among the films available will be a new 4K restoration of Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Conformist” and key titles like Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Dogtooth,” Jafar Panahi’s “Taxi,” Todd Haynes’ “Poison,” and Ana Lily Amirpour’s “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night.”
Among the older titles available to stream will be classics like Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis,” F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu,” Robert Wiene’s “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,” and Sergei Eisenstein’s “Battleship Potemkin.” The Kino Film Collection will be...
Among the films available will be a new 4K restoration of Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Conformist” and key titles like Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Dogtooth,” Jafar Panahi’s “Taxi,” Todd Haynes’ “Poison,” and Ana Lily Amirpour’s “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night.”
Among the older titles available to stream will be classics like Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis,” F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu,” Robert Wiene’s “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,” and Sergei Eisenstein’s “Battleship Potemkin.” The Kino Film Collection will be...
- 11/1/2023
- by Scott Mendelson
- The Wrap
Kino Lorber has launched a new subscription streaming outlet, Kino Film Collection.
The $6-a-month destination for recent theatrical releases and hundreds of other films drawn from the company’s vast library will be available in the U.S. on Prime Video Channels.
Kino Lorber also operates Kino Now, a platform for rentals and purchases of arthouse and specialty films. The company has made several streaming moves of late. In 2022, it acquired MHz Choice and installed AMC Networks veteran Ed Carroll and former IFC Films head Lisa Schwartz in key management roles. Schwartz, Kino Lorber’s Chief Revenue Officer, will oversee Kino Film Collection. Last spring, Kino Lorber also formed a joint venture with First Look Media to operate both MHz Choice and First Look’s streaming service Topic.
Films available on Kino Film Collection at launch include new 4K restorations of The Conformist as well as key works by contemporary...
The $6-a-month destination for recent theatrical releases and hundreds of other films drawn from the company’s vast library will be available in the U.S. on Prime Video Channels.
Kino Lorber also operates Kino Now, a platform for rentals and purchases of arthouse and specialty films. The company has made several streaming moves of late. In 2022, it acquired MHz Choice and installed AMC Networks veteran Ed Carroll and former IFC Films head Lisa Schwartz in key management roles. Schwartz, Kino Lorber’s Chief Revenue Officer, will oversee Kino Film Collection. Last spring, Kino Lorber also formed a joint venture with First Look Media to operate both MHz Choice and First Look’s streaming service Topic.
Films available on Kino Film Collection at launch include new 4K restorations of The Conformist as well as key works by contemporary...
- 11/1/2023
- by Dade Hayes
- Deadline Film + TV
Independent film distributor Kino Lorber has officially unveiled streaming service Kino Film Collection, available via Prime Video here.
The Kino Film Collection will be launched in the U.S. on the Amazon Service via Prime Video Channels for $5.99 per month. The Collection will feature new Kino releases fresh from theaters, along with hundreds of films from its expansive library of more than 4,000 titles, with many now streaming for the first time.
New 4K restorations of films like Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Conformist,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Dogtooth,” Jafar Panahi’s “Taxi,” Todd Haynes’ “Poison,” Tran Anh Hung’s “The Scent of Green Papaya,” Ana Lily Amirpour’s “A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night,” and Jia Zhangke’s “A Touch of Sin” are among highlights of the first offerings from Kino Film Collection.
Kino canon films like Fritz Lang’s historic “Metropolis,” F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu,” Robert Wiene’s “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,...
The Kino Film Collection will be launched in the U.S. on the Amazon Service via Prime Video Channels for $5.99 per month. The Collection will feature new Kino releases fresh from theaters, along with hundreds of films from its expansive library of more than 4,000 titles, with many now streaming for the first time.
New 4K restorations of films like Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Conformist,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Dogtooth,” Jafar Panahi’s “Taxi,” Todd Haynes’ “Poison,” Tran Anh Hung’s “The Scent of Green Papaya,” Ana Lily Amirpour’s “A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night,” and Jia Zhangke’s “A Touch of Sin” are among highlights of the first offerings from Kino Film Collection.
Kino canon films like Fritz Lang’s historic “Metropolis,” F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu,” Robert Wiene’s “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,...
- 11/1/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Clockwise from top left: Modern Times (screenshot), Newsies (screenshot), Norma Rae (20th Century Fox), Sorry To Bother You (Annapurna Pictures)Graphic: The A.V. Club
Just in time for Labor Day 2023, The A.V. Club has pulled together a rundown of the best films that celebrate the proletariat. Presented with all working class heroes in mind,...
Just in time for Labor Day 2023, The A.V. Club has pulled together a rundown of the best films that celebrate the proletariat. Presented with all working class heroes in mind,...
- 9/1/2023
- by The A.V. Club
- avclub.com
Harlan County, USA
Filmmakers loves an underdog and movies have a long tradition of supporting the rights of workers, dating all the way back to the silent era. Here are some classic movies that celebrate workers’ right to strike for better wages and safer working conditions and the sometimes unlikely allies they find along the way. Many are based on true stories, including John Sayles’ masterful “Matewan,” about a coal miner strike in West Virginia, as well as Barbara Kopple’s Oscar-winning documentary, “Harlan County, USA.”
Photo credit: Disney
“Newsies” (1992)
“Headlines don’t sell papes, Newsies sell papes!” In this exuberant and pro-worker musical, Christian Bale’s Jack Kelly leads a group of newsboys in a strike against penny-pinching newspaper owner Joseph Pulitzer. They’re aided by Bill Pullman’s kindly, reform-minded journalist and, of course, Teddy Roosevelt, who was then governor of New York.
Photo credit: 20th Century
“Norma Rae...
Filmmakers loves an underdog and movies have a long tradition of supporting the rights of workers, dating all the way back to the silent era. Here are some classic movies that celebrate workers’ right to strike for better wages and safer working conditions and the sometimes unlikely allies they find along the way. Many are based on true stories, including John Sayles’ masterful “Matewan,” about a coal miner strike in West Virginia, as well as Barbara Kopple’s Oscar-winning documentary, “Harlan County, USA.”
Photo credit: Disney
“Newsies” (1992)
“Headlines don’t sell papes, Newsies sell papes!” In this exuberant and pro-worker musical, Christian Bale’s Jack Kelly leads a group of newsboys in a strike against penny-pinching newspaper owner Joseph Pulitzer. They’re aided by Bill Pullman’s kindly, reform-minded journalist and, of course, Teddy Roosevelt, who was then governor of New York.
Photo credit: 20th Century
“Norma Rae...
- 7/24/2023
- by Sharon Knolle
- The Wrap
Many filmmakers and fans over the years have cited "Star Wars" creator George Lucas as an influence on them. The world he designed has changed not only the landscape of film but the shape of pop culture for decades. However, Lucas was, in turn, influenced by one of the medium's pioneers, particularly in "Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones."
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly for issue #654 in 2002, Lucas spoke about writing the script for "Attack of the Clones" in 1999 and how he was influenced by Soviet director, writer, editor, and film theorist Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1948), specifically his "musically influenced processes." For Lucas, it was about tying things together with themes. He said, "I create themes, and I repeat those themes, in different chords and different arrangements, like little bits of chorus." To tie the visuals to familiar moments, he, according to the article, tried to "cite the original trilogy" with lines,...
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly for issue #654 in 2002, Lucas spoke about writing the script for "Attack of the Clones" in 1999 and how he was influenced by Soviet director, writer, editor, and film theorist Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1948), specifically his "musically influenced processes." For Lucas, it was about tying things together with themes. He said, "I create themes, and I repeat those themes, in different chords and different arrangements, like little bits of chorus." To tie the visuals to familiar moments, he, according to the article, tried to "cite the original trilogy" with lines,...
- 4/23/2023
- by Jenna Busch
- Slash Film
(Welcome to 100 Years of Disney Magic, a series examining the history, achievements, and legacy of The Walt Disney Company over the last century. Part 5, "Silly Symphonies: The Oscar-Winning Disney Animation Series That The Studio Forgot" looked at the groundbreaking, critically acclaimed shorts the studio produced in the '30s. In Part 6, we finally talk about "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," the first full-color animated feature film and arguably Disney's most important contribution to cinema.)
What can I say about "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" that hasn't already been said?
The 1937 film changed the world. Mere years after Walt Disney Productions shook up the animation industry by putting sound in "Steamboat Willie" in 1928 and then color in "Flowers and Trees" in 1932, the team set their sights on revolutionizing the world of cartoons once again: with a feature-length, full-color, animated fairy tale.
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was a sensation.
What can I say about "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" that hasn't already been said?
The 1937 film changed the world. Mere years after Walt Disney Productions shook up the animation industry by putting sound in "Steamboat Willie" in 1928 and then color in "Flowers and Trees" in 1932, the team set their sights on revolutionizing the world of cartoons once again: with a feature-length, full-color, animated fairy tale.
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was a sensation.
- 3/25/2023
- by Sarah Milner
- Slash Film
Tár writer/director Todd Field discusses a few of his favorite movies with Josh Olson and Joe Dante.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
You Only Live Twice (1967) – Dana Gould’s trailer commentary
Tár (2022)
Man With A Movie Camera (1929)
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
The Big Parade (1925)
Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)
The Crowd (1928)
Star Wars (1977)
The Servant (1963)
Parasite (2019) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Dennis Cozzalio’s review
The Three Musketeers (1973) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
Figures In A Landscape (1970)
M (1931)
M (1951)
I Am Cuba (1964)
The Cranes Are Flying (1957) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Letter Never Sent (1960)
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965)
Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969)
The Towering Inferno (1974) – George Hickenlooper’s trailer commentary
The Great Waldo Pepper (1975)
The Sting (1973)
The World of Henry Orient (1964) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary
Thelma And Louise (1991)
Murmur Of The Heart (1971)
The Silent World (1956)
Opening Night (1977)
The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie (1976) – Larry Karaszewski’s...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
You Only Live Twice (1967) – Dana Gould’s trailer commentary
Tár (2022)
Man With A Movie Camera (1929)
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
The Big Parade (1925)
Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)
The Crowd (1928)
Star Wars (1977)
The Servant (1963)
Parasite (2019) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Dennis Cozzalio’s review
The Three Musketeers (1973) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
Figures In A Landscape (1970)
M (1931)
M (1951)
I Am Cuba (1964)
The Cranes Are Flying (1957) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Letter Never Sent (1960)
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965)
Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969)
The Towering Inferno (1974) – George Hickenlooper’s trailer commentary
The Great Waldo Pepper (1975)
The Sting (1973)
The World of Henry Orient (1964) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary
Thelma And Louise (1991)
Murmur Of The Heart (1971)
The Silent World (1956)
Opening Night (1977)
The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie (1976) – Larry Karaszewski’s...
- 1/10/2023
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Peter Greenaway thinks cinema needs to start “thinking big, and desperately,” if it wants to start looking fundamentally different than it did in 1895. The erudite Welsh filmmaker best known for “The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and His Lover” has always taken an ironic stance toward the state of filmmaking — though he’s not ready to declare its time of death.
In fact, as revealed in our recent interview timed to the 4K rerelease of 1982’s “The Draughtsman’s Contract” now making the theatrical rounds, he’s rather chipper about cinema’s prospects.
“The Draughtsman’s Contract was made in 1982, and a hell of a lot has happened to cinema in those times,” Greenaway said over the phone. His second film after the 1980 mockumentary “The Falls,” “Draughtsman’s” is a bawdy murder mystery set in rural England about a cocksure artist who agrees to make 12 landscape paintings for a woman...
In fact, as revealed in our recent interview timed to the 4K rerelease of 1982’s “The Draughtsman’s Contract” now making the theatrical rounds, he’s rather chipper about cinema’s prospects.
“The Draughtsman’s Contract was made in 1982, and a hell of a lot has happened to cinema in those times,” Greenaway said over the phone. His second film after the 1980 mockumentary “The Falls,” “Draughtsman’s” is a bawdy murder mystery set in rural England about a cocksure artist who agrees to make 12 landscape paintings for a woman...
- 12/5/2022
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Filmmaker Sally Potter discusses a few of her favorite movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Orlando (1992)
Look At Me (2022)
The Roads Not Taken (2020)
Singin’ In The Rain (1952) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
On The Town (1949)
Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1954) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Whisky Galore! (1949) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
8 ½ (1963) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary
Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1953)
Jules and Jim (1962) – Michael Peyser’s trailer commentary
Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) – Charlie Largent’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Persona (1966)
On The Waterfront (1954) – John Badham’s trailer commentary
Sweet Smell Of Success (1957)
Citizen Kane (1941) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
The Third Man (1949) – George Hickenlooper’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings
Come And See (1985) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
The Cranes Are...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Orlando (1992)
Look At Me (2022)
The Roads Not Taken (2020)
Singin’ In The Rain (1952) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
On The Town (1949)
Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1954) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Whisky Galore! (1949) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
8 ½ (1963) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary
Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1953)
Jules and Jim (1962) – Michael Peyser’s trailer commentary
Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) – Charlie Largent’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Persona (1966)
On The Waterfront (1954) – John Badham’s trailer commentary
Sweet Smell Of Success (1957)
Citizen Kane (1941) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
The Third Man (1949) – George Hickenlooper’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings
Come And See (1985) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
The Cranes Are...
- 11/8/2022
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Media coverage of Jean-Luc Godard’s death will fall short of what he merits. He was a game-changing creator on the level of Sergei Eisenstein, Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith, and others who changed the grammar of film forever, but his best-known films are from a half-century ago. And there’s this: Under the standards by which successful directors are judged today — box office and awards — Godard was strictly a minor-league player.
His lifelong regard as a master is a tribute to his films above all, but it also speaks to a cinephile culture that elevated and supported him for decades despite the general public’s disinterest.
In the U.S., Godard’s films initially received erratic distribution with short-run showings at a few big-city theaters; even his best-known titles like “Breathless” and “Week-end” received marginal releases. They appeared erratically, out of order, and sometimes not until two or three years after their public debuts.
His lifelong regard as a master is a tribute to his films above all, but it also speaks to a cinephile culture that elevated and supported him for decades despite the general public’s disinterest.
In the U.S., Godard’s films initially received erratic distribution with short-run showings at a few big-city theaters; even his best-known titles like “Breathless” and “Week-end” received marginal releases. They appeared erratically, out of order, and sometimes not until two or three years after their public debuts.
- 9/14/2022
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
Peter O'Toole's acting career spanned seven decades and involved hundreds of roles, a million sardonic smirks, and no small amount of liquor. On screen, O'Toole could be heroic, villainous, affable, and off-putting, sometimes all at once. In interviews, O'Toole was frank and unguarded, quick with a jibe, and unwilling to suffer fools. O'Toole and his frequent collaborator, the actor Richard Harris, have both appeared on many talk shows toward the ends of their lives to tell many, many stories of getting drunk together.
Somewhere along the way, O'Toole garnered enough fame and clout to more or less select any project he wanted. By the time he starred in Peter Medak's "The Ruling Class" in 1972, O'Toole had already appeared in 18 feature films, including a James Bond movie. That same year, O'Toole would appear in "Under Milk Wood" and a film adaptation of "Man of La Mancha." One might say...
Somewhere along the way, O'Toole garnered enough fame and clout to more or less select any project he wanted. By the time he starred in Peter Medak's "The Ruling Class" in 1972, O'Toole had already appeared in 18 feature films, including a James Bond movie. That same year, O'Toole would appear in "Under Milk Wood" and a film adaptation of "Man of La Mancha." One might say...
- 9/9/2022
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
“Odessa Steps 2022” by experimental artist and filmmaker Tan Tan is one of the first movies to come in New Asian Filmmakers Collective’s anti-war campaign “Against the war, in the name of cinema”. The short uses scenes from Sergei Eisenstein’s masterpiece “Battleship Potemkin” to explore the current invasion of Ukraine.
on CathayPlay
In many ways, Tan Tan’s short documentary reminds the viewer of “A Monologue about Home” and “News Feed On My…”, both from the same campaign by New Asian Filmmakers Collective. Like the former, it juxtaposes present and past as a way to comment on humanity. Here, however, the scenes from the past are taken not from 1990’s Ussr, but from Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 “Battleship Potemkin.” Later on, Tan Tan draws parallels between the Nazi attacks of Odessa and the current ones, putting into question the official Russian narratives about the invasion.
In her statement about the film,...
on CathayPlay
In many ways, Tan Tan’s short documentary reminds the viewer of “A Monologue about Home” and “News Feed On My…”, both from the same campaign by New Asian Filmmakers Collective. Like the former, it juxtaposes present and past as a way to comment on humanity. Here, however, the scenes from the past are taken not from 1990’s Ussr, but from Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 “Battleship Potemkin.” Later on, Tan Tan draws parallels between the Nazi attacks of Odessa and the current ones, putting into question the official Russian narratives about the invasion.
In her statement about the film,...
- 4/7/2022
- by Martin Lukanov
- AsianMoviePulse
Joachim Trier, writer/director of the multi-Oscar nominated film The Worst Person in the World, discusses his favorite movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
A History of Violence (2005)
Gremlins (1984) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Tfh’s retrospective links
Innerspace (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
The Worst Person In The World (2021)
Back To The Future (1985)
Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)
Hour of the Wolf (1968)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s review
Mirror (1975)
Stalker (1979) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Soylent Green (1973)
Dr. Strangelove (1964) – Michael Lehmann’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Last Year At Marienbad (1961)
The Hunt (1959)
Remonstrance (1972)
Don’t Look Now (1973) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
Bad Timing (1980) – Bernard Rose’s trailer commentary
Walkabout (1971) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary
Performance (1970) – Mark Goldblatt’s trailer commentary
Drive My Car (2021)
491 (1964)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Persona (1966)
The Wild Strawberries...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
A History of Violence (2005)
Gremlins (1984) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Tfh’s retrospective links
Innerspace (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
The Worst Person In The World (2021)
Back To The Future (1985)
Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)
Hour of the Wolf (1968)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s review
Mirror (1975)
Stalker (1979) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Soylent Green (1973)
Dr. Strangelove (1964) – Michael Lehmann’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Last Year At Marienbad (1961)
The Hunt (1959)
Remonstrance (1972)
Don’t Look Now (1973) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
Bad Timing (1980) – Bernard Rose’s trailer commentary
Walkabout (1971) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary
Performance (1970) – Mark Goldblatt’s trailer commentary
Drive My Car (2021)
491 (1964)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Persona (1966)
The Wild Strawberries...
- 3/15/2022
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Jeremy Kagan, filmmaker and USC professor is reaching out to educational institutions about his new film, Shot which tells the story of what one bullet does to many lives.
Called “profound…mesmerizing….powerful….moving” this movie is being used as a stimulating way to engage in the essential conversations we all must have about gun violence.
The movie is an intense first person journey of what happens when you get shot.
Noah Wyle in Shot (2017)
We want high school and college students to see the movie and discuss it, and we have created a balanced study guide to go along with the movie.
You can screen the 90min. dramatic movie in a local theater, or in any screening room or class room, or in homes on TVs. And depending on timing, the filmmakers are available to participate in post screening discussions.
Enclosed are information on ways to show the movie,...
Called “profound…mesmerizing….powerful….moving” this movie is being used as a stimulating way to engage in the essential conversations we all must have about gun violence.
The movie is an intense first person journey of what happens when you get shot.
Noah Wyle in Shot (2017)
We want high school and college students to see the movie and discuss it, and we have created a balanced study guide to go along with the movie.
You can screen the 90min. dramatic movie in a local theater, or in any screening room or class room, or in homes on TVs. And depending on timing, the filmmakers are available to participate in post screening discussions.
Enclosed are information on ways to show the movie,...
- 7/30/2018
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Foreplays is a column that explores under-known short films by renowned directors. Jean-Luc Godard & Anne-Marie Miéville's Liberté et Patrie (2002) is free to watch below. Mubi's retrospective For Ever Godard is showing from November 12, 2017 - January 16, 2018 in the United States.I. One of the most beautiful essay films ever made, Liberté et Patrie (2002) turns out to also be one of the most accessible collaborations of Jean-Luc Godard and Anne-Marie Miéville. The deeply moving lyricism of this short may astonish even those spectators who arrive to it casually, without any prior knowledge of the filmmakers’s oeuvre. Contrary to other works by the couple, Liberté et Patrie is built on a recognizable narrative strong enough to easily accommodate all the unconventionalities of the piece: a digressive structure full of bursts of undefined emotion; an unpredictable rhythm punctuated by sudden pauses, swift accelerations, intermittent blackouts and staccatos; a mélange of materials where...
- 12/11/2017
- MUBI
It’s been a banner year for 65mm film — first “Dunkirk” (predominantly shot with IMAX film cameras) and now “Murder on the Orient Express” (shot with the last four existing Panavision 65mm cameras). And both involved Kenneth Branagh as actor and actor-director, respectively.
However, his dual role as master conductor of this celebrated murder mystery and as Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie’s famed Belgian detective, is more than a mere nostalgia trip. It’s a reminder that the theme of revenge is as relevant today as it was in the 1930s, and that 65mm film can be upgraded to today’s immersive experience. (There were about two dozen 70mm prints struck for exclusive engagements globally, including the ArcLight Hollywood.)
Featuring an all-star cast of suspects (Tom Bateman, Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Josh Gad, Derek Jacobi, Leslie Odom Jr., Michelle Pfeiffer, and Daisy Ridley) and a vainly mustachioed Poirot,...
However, his dual role as master conductor of this celebrated murder mystery and as Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie’s famed Belgian detective, is more than a mere nostalgia trip. It’s a reminder that the theme of revenge is as relevant today as it was in the 1930s, and that 65mm film can be upgraded to today’s immersive experience. (There were about two dozen 70mm prints struck for exclusive engagements globally, including the ArcLight Hollywood.)
Featuring an all-star cast of suspects (Tom Bateman, Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Josh Gad, Derek Jacobi, Leslie Odom Jr., Michelle Pfeiffer, and Daisy Ridley) and a vainly mustachioed Poirot,...
- 11/10/2017
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Ten years after the storming of the Winter Palace, Sergei Eisenstein’s surreal and savage epic October reimagined Russia’s 1917 revolt – and parodied Stalin, who had commissioned it. We revisit its explosive unruliness
Coleridge said that seeing the fiery Edmund Kean act was “like reading Shakespeare by flashes of lightning”. Watching Sergei Eisenstein’s classic silent film October is like watching the Russian revolution the same way. It’s surreally lit up by stark images that sear your retina; gone the next second, to be replaced by others just as mysterious and disorientating. October is not a historical document, more a remembered dream. I sometimes wish we could see it without music, with just a deafening thunderbolt on each of its 3,200 cuts. A violent electrical storm of strangeness.
The film was commissioned in Stalin’s Soviet Russia for the 10th anniversary of the 1917 October revolution, as a suitably fervent propagandist celebration.
Coleridge said that seeing the fiery Edmund Kean act was “like reading Shakespeare by flashes of lightning”. Watching Sergei Eisenstein’s classic silent film October is like watching the Russian revolution the same way. It’s surreally lit up by stark images that sear your retina; gone the next second, to be replaced by others just as mysterious and disorientating. October is not a historical document, more a remembered dream. I sometimes wish we could see it without music, with just a deafening thunderbolt on each of its 3,200 cuts. A violent electrical storm of strangeness.
The film was commissioned in Stalin’s Soviet Russia for the 10th anniversary of the 1917 October revolution, as a suitably fervent propagandist celebration.
- 10/24/2017
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSTwo legends lost this week: actress Jeanne Moreau at 89 and playwright, screenwriter and actor Sam Shepard at 73. That's Moreau, above, with director Michelangelo Antonioni on the set of the great La notte (1961).Recommended Viewing"What brings you to us?" Good question—we know next to nothing about Darren Aronofsky's new film mother! other than that it stars Jennifer Lawrence. The first teaser trailer doesn't help much, but we wish we were attending the Venice Film Festival to catch the premiere.We're intoxicated by the punk-noir trailer for F.J. Ossang's new film, 9 Doigts (9 Fingers), which is premiering later this week at the Locarno Film Festival.Fun of a different kind can be found in the trailer the Coen brothers-scripted, George Clooney-directed Suburbicon. It's headed to Venice as well.If you enjoyed Mubi's...
- 8/1/2017
- MUBI
There are two passages in episode 11 of “Twin Peaks: The Return” that perfectly crystallize why the show, in all of its various iterations, has always been so special. One is a sequence, the other is a single shot. The sequence epitomizes David Lynch’s novel approach to narrative — the shot illustrates how that approach has evolved over the last 25 years, and why David Lynch (the actor) has become so invaluable to David Lynch (the storyteller).
The sequence begins in a small town diner. Three people are wedged into a booth along the wall: A waitress, her police officer ex-husband, and their bleary-eyed adult daughter. They slouch in their seats like they’re unsure of the roles they’re supposed to play, their alien posture suggesting that it might have been years since the last time they all sat down together for a meaningful heart-to-heart — since the last time they felt like a family.
The sequence begins in a small town diner. Three people are wedged into a booth along the wall: A waitress, her police officer ex-husband, and their bleary-eyed adult daughter. They slouch in their seats like they’re unsure of the roles they’re supposed to play, their alien posture suggesting that it might have been years since the last time they all sat down together for a meaningful heart-to-heart — since the last time they felt like a family.
- 7/25/2017
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
More wigs, more mandarin collars, more anachronisms, more phalluses, more Jungian megalomania: The octogenarian, Chilean-born director, comics writer, and guru Alejandro Jodorowsky (The Holy Mountain, El Topo) continues to plumb his early life in Endless Poetry, the sequel to his autobiographical comeback of sorts, The Dance Of Reality. The time is now the early 1940s. The teenage, still virginal Alejandro (Jeremias Herskovits and Adan Jodorowsky, the latter closer to 40) is ready to leave behind his macho father, Jaime (Brontis Jodorowsky), and his long-suffering mother, Sara (Pamela Flores, who sings all of her lines in operatic soprano), to make it as an avant-garde poet in the bohemian circles of Santiago. He is properly outfitted with a futurist collarless jacket—the start of a lifelong love affair, perhaps—and one of those Jean Cocteau or Sergei Eisenstein Bride Of Frankenstein ’dos that attached themselves to the heads of artistic white men ...
- 7/13/2017
- by Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
- avclub.com
'The Doll' with Ossi Oswalda and Hermann Thimig: Early Ernst Lubitsch satirical fantasy starring 'the German Mary Pickford' has similar premise to that of the 1925 Buster Keaton comedy 'Seven Chances.' 'The Doll': San Francisco Silent Film Festival presented fast-paced Ernst Lubitsch comedy starring the German Mary Pickford – Ossi Oswalda Directed by Ernst Lubitsch (So This Is Paris, The Wedding March), the 2017 San Francisco Silent Film Festival presentation The Doll / Die Puppe (1919) has one of the most amusing mise-en-scènes ever recorded. The set is created by cut-out figures that gradually come to life; then even more cleverly, they commence the fast-paced action. It all begins when a shy, confirmed bachelor, Lancelot (Hermann Thimig), is ordered by his rich uncle (Max Kronert), the Baron von Chanterelle, to marry for a large sum of money. As to be expected, mayhem ensues. Lancelot is forced to flee from the hordes of eligible maidens, eventually...
- 6/28/2017
- by Danny Fortune
- Alt Film Guide
'Amazing Tales from the Archives': Pioneering female documentarian Aloha Wanderwell Baker remembered at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival – along with the largely forgotten sound-on-cylinder technology and the Jean Desmet Collection. 'Amazing Tales from the Archives': San Francisco Silent Film Festival & the 'sound-on-cylinder' system Fans of the earliest sound films would have enjoyed the first presentation at the 2017 San Francisco Silent Film Festival, held June 1–4: “Amazing Tales from the Archives,” during which Library of Congress' Nitrate Film Vault Manager George Willeman used a wealth of enjoyable film clips to examine the Thomas Edison Kinetophone process. In the years 1913–1914, long before The Jazz Singer and Warner Bros.' sound-on-disc technology, the sound-on-cylinder system invaded the nascent film industry with a collection of “talkies.” The sound was scratchy and muffled, but “recognizable.” Notably, this system focused on dialogue, rather than music or sound effects. As with the making of other recordings at the time, the...
- 6/28/2017
- by Danny Fortune
- Alt Film Guide
Sfsff 2017 featured films by or with Paul Robeson, Sergei Eisenstein, Ossi Oswalda, Clara Bow, Priscilla Dean, Lon Chaney, Douglas Fairbanks, Harold Lloyd, Bessie Love, Lloyd Hughes, Wallace Beery, and The Lost World dinosaurs. Amazing Tales of the Archives Fans of the earliest sound films would enjoy the first presentation at this year's Amazing Tales Of The Archives. George Willeman examined the Thomas Edison Kinetophone process with a wealth of enjoyable film clips. Between 1913-1914, sound-on-cylinder invaded the nascent film industry with a collection of “talkies”. The sound was scratchy and muffled, but recognizable. It was notable that this effort focused on dialog rather than music or sound effects. As with making other recordings at the time, the technology was acoustic. The actors needed to stand perfectly still and shout into horns suspended overhead to make their voices record on a wax cylinder, which played back when the film was shown. As expected, the device was plagued by many synchronization errors. I can only imagine the effect this distorted sound had on the audience. Next up was a look at The Desmet Collection from 1907-1916 from The Netherlands. Film collector, Jean Desmet (1875-1956), managed to save not only film but a wealth of posters, programs and other documents. I think this supports my theory that hoarding and saving are not always pathological. The last presentation I found the most inspiring. A female documentarian. In the 1920's, Aloha Wanderwell Baker (1906-1996) practically circled the globe documenting people and places from Turkey to Africa to China. Photos from the era showed her roughing it on airplanes, boats, and caravans, much to the amusement of the locals. Her enthusiasm for film and social anthropology made itself evident by the fact that she was still reminiscing about her travelogs when she was in her 80's. This article was originally published at Alt Film Guide (http://www.altfg.com/).
- 6/22/2017
- by Danny Fortune
- Alt Film Guide
Dubbed the “final chapter” in Fox’s prequel trilogy – for now, at least – there’s a profound sense of magnitude and importance resting on the furry shoulders of War For the Planet of the Apes.
Both Dawn and Rise drew praise for the ways in which they balanced spectacle with a sophisticated, fiercely compelling narrative – the franchise’s box office total is a testimony to that feat, too, which currently stands at $1.1 billion – but with War For the Planet, Matt Reeves and Fox’s threequel looks set to tip the scales ever so slightly in favor of a full-blown conflict.
That’s not to say that both parties have engineered a big, loud, and dumb blockbuster, far from it; merely that War For the Planet of the Apes has raised the stakes so high that it’s small wonder why it’s been called the darkest entry in Fox’s saga yet.
Both Dawn and Rise drew praise for the ways in which they balanced spectacle with a sophisticated, fiercely compelling narrative – the franchise’s box office total is a testimony to that feat, too, which currently stands at $1.1 billion – but with War For the Planet, Matt Reeves and Fox’s threequel looks set to tip the scales ever so slightly in favor of a full-blown conflict.
That’s not to say that both parties have engineered a big, loud, and dumb blockbuster, far from it; merely that War For the Planet of the Apes has raised the stakes so high that it’s small wonder why it’s been called the darkest entry in Fox’s saga yet.
- 6/17/2017
- by Matt Joseph
- We Got This Covered
When I first saw The Untouchables as a teenager, I had never heard of Sergei Eisenstein or the Odessa Steps sequence that Brian De Palma masterfully cannibalized for the film's Union Station set-piece shootout. I knew serious actors sometimes transformed their bodies for a part, but never realized — until reading that Robert De Niro wore silk boxers to help identify with Al Capone — the lengths some went with preparations the audience would never see. And I'd never heard of its screenwriter, David Mamet, whose voice I'd soon encounter in both the plays others turned into movies (Glengarry Glen...
- 6/13/2017
- by John DeFore
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In The Overlook, A.V. Club film critic Ignatiy Vishnevetsky examines the misfits, underappreciated gems, and underseen classics of film history.
No movie made in the 1940s is quite like The Iron Crown, Alessandro Blasetti’s sumptuous fantasy epic of one-eyed barbarians, glittering suits of spiky armor, and pseudo-medieval exotica. It’s sort of a blockbuster avant la lettre, very violent and lovably cheesy, closer in aesthetics and spirit to the likes of Krull and Conan The Barbarian than to the costume and fairy-tale movies of its era. In the context of film history, one might call it the midpoint between the spectacular epics of the golden age of Italian silent film and the wondrously corny Italian sword-and-sandal cheapies of the early 1960s—or perhaps an attempt by Blasetti, a student of Soviet film, to outdo Sergei Eisenstein’s classic Alexander Nevsky. But it’s much stranger than that. The...
No movie made in the 1940s is quite like The Iron Crown, Alessandro Blasetti’s sumptuous fantasy epic of one-eyed barbarians, glittering suits of spiky armor, and pseudo-medieval exotica. It’s sort of a blockbuster avant la lettre, very violent and lovably cheesy, closer in aesthetics and spirit to the likes of Krull and Conan The Barbarian than to the costume and fairy-tale movies of its era. In the context of film history, one might call it the midpoint between the spectacular epics of the golden age of Italian silent film and the wondrously corny Italian sword-and-sandal cheapies of the early 1960s—or perhaps an attempt by Blasetti, a student of Soviet film, to outdo Sergei Eisenstein’s classic Alexander Nevsky. But it’s much stranger than that. The...
- 4/11/2017
- by Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
- avclub.com
Sergei Eisenstein. Leni Riefenstahl. Michael Moore. Steve Bannon? At an event entitled “Alternative Facts: The Steve Bannon Reality Show” on the opening weekend of the Copenhagen International Documentary Festival (Cph:dox), writer and host Lars Trier Mogensen argued that Trump’s chief strategist might just be the most influential filmmaker among these titans of polemical documentary. A year ago, that claim might have seemed far-fetched.
Back then, the young crowd now packed into the “Social Cinema,” a performance hall in festival’s new center Kunsthal Charlottenborg, had likely never heard of this alt-right auteur. Lounging on stylish sofas, they were willing to sit through nine tedious Bannon trailers and a two-hour analysis of populism and propaganda with a Princeton professor, political scientist Jan-Werner Müller, and artist Christian von Borries. Given Bannon’s disdain for factual integrity, it would be hard to claim that his 90-minute political screeds could even be called documentaries.
Back then, the young crowd now packed into the “Social Cinema,” a performance hall in festival’s new center Kunsthal Charlottenborg, had likely never heard of this alt-right auteur. Lounging on stylish sofas, they were willing to sit through nine tedious Bannon trailers and a two-hour analysis of populism and propaganda with a Princeton professor, political scientist Jan-Werner Müller, and artist Christian von Borries. Given Bannon’s disdain for factual integrity, it would be hard to claim that his 90-minute political screeds could even be called documentaries.
- 4/3/2017
- by Paul Dallas
- Indiewire
Each month, the fine folks at FilmStruck and the Criterion Collection spend countless hours crafting their channels to highlight the many different types of films that they have in their streaming library. This April will feature an exciting assortment of films, as noted below.
To sign up for a free two-week trial here.
Monday, April 3 The Chaos of Cool: A Tribute to Seijun Suzuki
In February, cinema lost an icon of excess, Seijun Suzuki, the Japanese master who took the art of the B movie to sublime new heights with his deliriously inventive approach to narrative and visual style. This series showcases seven of the New Wave renegade’s works from his career breakthrough in the sixties: Take Aim at the Police Van (1960), an off-kilter whodunit; Youth of the Beast (1963), an explosive yakuza thriller; Gate of Flesh (1964), a pulpy social critique; Story of a Prostitute (1965), a tragic romance; Tokyo Drifter...
To sign up for a free two-week trial here.
Monday, April 3 The Chaos of Cool: A Tribute to Seijun Suzuki
In February, cinema lost an icon of excess, Seijun Suzuki, the Japanese master who took the art of the B movie to sublime new heights with his deliriously inventive approach to narrative and visual style. This series showcases seven of the New Wave renegade’s works from his career breakthrough in the sixties: Take Aim at the Police Van (1960), an off-kilter whodunit; Youth of the Beast (1963), an explosive yakuza thriller; Gate of Flesh (1964), a pulpy social critique; Story of a Prostitute (1965), a tragic romance; Tokyo Drifter...
- 3/29/2017
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveriesNEWS© Bronx (Paris). Photo: Claudia Cardinale © Archivio Cameraphoto Epoche/Getty ImagesThe Cannes Film Festival has released the vibrant poster for their 70th edition. Beautiful, definitely, but how much longer are they going to rely on their glorious past rather than pointing to the present and future?We are excited to announce a collaboration with the Filmadrid festival in Spain to bring you films from their new section, The Video Essay, this June. Submissions are now open, so for video essayists new and experienced we encourage you to send in your work for consideration. Those selected will be screened both at the festival in Madrid and on the Notebook.Recommended VIEWINGWe adored Terence Davies' by turns witty and austere Emily Dickinson biopic A Quiet Passion when it premiered last year at the Berlinale. With its U.S. release coming soon, we finally have a local trailer.
- 3/29/2017
- MUBI
On the occasion of the 67th Berlin Film Festival, from February 7 to 19, 2017 and as a prologue to the major exhibition Alchemy. The Great Art (6 April — 23 July 2017), the American artist Joe Ramirez presents the world premiere of his project “The Gold Projections” at the Staatliche Museum, Kulturforum, Exhibit Hall (just across from Potsdamer Platz on Postdamer Strasse).Joe Ramirez “Somnium” Video still, 2016 © Joe Ramirez
Joe Ramirez, who was born in San Francisco in 1958, has lived and worked in Berlin since 2007. He studied painting and film at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as sculpture at the Royal College of Art, London, before working as a fresco painter. During the restoration of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, Ramirez had the unique opportunity of viewing Michelangelo’s ceiling paintings up close. The journey in the hoist became an initialising experience: the scenes from The Last Judgement rolled past...
Joe Ramirez, who was born in San Francisco in 1958, has lived and worked in Berlin since 2007. He studied painting and film at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as sculpture at the Royal College of Art, London, before working as a fresco painter. During the restoration of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, Ramirez had the unique opportunity of viewing Michelangelo’s ceiling paintings up close. The journey in the hoist became an initialising experience: the scenes from The Last Judgement rolled past...
- 2/6/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
NEWSConcept art from the next project of Paul W.S. Anderson–an adaptation of the beloved Capcom video game Monster Hunter. Anderson discusses the project, and his upcoming Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, alongside producer Jeremy Bolt at Deadline.Toronto International Film Festival has acquired 1,460 prints, including work from Peter Mettler, Alfred Hitchcock, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Abbas Kiarostami. Recommended VIEWINGThe first trailer for Martin Scorsese's Silence.Cristi Puiu puts his unique spin on the festival award acceptance speech in response to recent accolades from the Chicago International Film Festival & Thessaloniki International Film Festival (via Ray Pride).With the recent 15 year anniversary of Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko, the BFI has cut a fantastic new trailer for the films imminent re-release.Recommended READINGAt Keyframe, David Hudson compiles numerous considerations on the role of art in light of the U.S. election results."As the train gathered speed, I began considering what...
- 11/29/2016
- MUBI
Dreyer on the set. Courtesy of Dfi.Located in Glostrup, a quiet suburb of Copenhagen, the Danish Film Institute’s Archive is where a great portion of Danish film history, but also some unique prints of world cinema heritage, have entered a pleasant dormancy of minus 5°C. The mundane looking front building is at the back attached to vaults, sheltering thousands of films and film objects. Inside, there is nothing as ear-pleasing as the silence of a film archive, where the continuous and vague hum of ventilators is the closest thing to the murmur of celluloid.Mikael Braae, film historian and curator of the feature films at the Dfi, generously took me on an tour of the Archive which, after passing through freezing vaults, arrived at a huge storage room where on a temporary platform my attention is brought to a wrapped object: the editing table of the spiritual father of Danish cinema,...
- 11/8/2016
- MUBI
Russian editing whizzes Sergei Eisenstein, Vsevolod Pudovkin, and Lev Kuleshov proved it in the earliest days of silent film: Truth rests in the eye of the beholder. In Fred Schepisi’s 1988 true drama, “A Cry in the Dark,” Meryl Streep starred as the woman who famously cried “a dingo took my baby!” to resounding disbelief in Australia. Police and others looked at her inexpressive face, surrounded by a cowl of dark hair, and decided she was guilty of murdering her child.
Similarly, the court of public opinion — as well as the courts of Italy — declared that 20-year-old party girl Amanda Knox, studying abroad in Perugia, murdered her roommate, Meredith Kercher. It took eight years, but in 2015 the Italian Supreme Court finally declared her innocent, and that she had no motive.
Who supplied her motives? According to Brian McGinn and Rod Blackhurst’s documentary “Amanda Knox” (Netflix, September 30), which took five...
Similarly, the court of public opinion — as well as the courts of Italy — declared that 20-year-old party girl Amanda Knox, studying abroad in Perugia, murdered her roommate, Meredith Kercher. It took eight years, but in 2015 the Italian Supreme Court finally declared her innocent, and that she had no motive.
Who supplied her motives? According to Brian McGinn and Rod Blackhurst’s documentary “Amanda Knox” (Netflix, September 30), which took five...
- 10/6/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Russian editing whizzes Sergei Eisenstein, Vsevolod Pudovkin, and Lev Kuleshov proved it in the earliest days of silent film: Truth rests in the eye of the beholder. In Fred Schepisi’s 1988 true drama, “A Cry in the Dark,” Meryl Streep starred as the woman who famously cried “a dingo took my baby!” to resounding disbelief in Australia. Police and others looked at her inexpressive face, surrounded by a cowl of dark hair, and decided she was guilty of murdering her child.
Similarly, the court of public opinion — as well as the courts of Italy — declared that 20-year-old party girl Amanda Knox, studying abroad in Perugia, murdered her roommate, Meredith Kercher. It took eight years, but in 2015 the Italian Supreme Court finally declared her innocent, and that she had no motive.
Who supplied her motives? According to Brian McGinn and Rod Blackhurst’s documentary “Amanda Knox” (Netflix, September 30), which took five...
Similarly, the court of public opinion — as well as the courts of Italy — declared that 20-year-old party girl Amanda Knox, studying abroad in Perugia, murdered her roommate, Meredith Kercher. It took eight years, but in 2015 the Italian Supreme Court finally declared her innocent, and that she had no motive.
Who supplied her motives? According to Brian McGinn and Rod Blackhurst’s documentary “Amanda Knox” (Netflix, September 30), which took five...
- 10/6/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
The recent rollout of Instagram Stories, a straight rip of the basic Snapchat experience of throwaway content, has launched a thousand complicated responses among influencers, brands, users and others, making it a veritable Helen of Troy of social-media controversy.
Instagram’s offering joins a long, if not quite honorable, tech tradition: If someone else is doing it better than you, buy ‘em. If they don’t want to sell, copy ‘em, then fight it out in the courts years later. It’s played out like this for decades:
Hollywood. Yes, 350 days of light a year was a powerful incentive for filmmakers to come west. But so was space, as in 3,000 miles across the country from Thomas Edison’s New York-based patent enforcers.
Television. Both Philo T. Farnsworth and RCA’s David Sarnoff realized that capturing and transmitting images across the airwaves at scale required an all-electronic technology, not the electro-mechanical methods of previous attempts.
Instagram’s offering joins a long, if not quite honorable, tech tradition: If someone else is doing it better than you, buy ‘em. If they don’t want to sell, copy ‘em, then fight it out in the courts years later. It’s played out like this for decades:
Hollywood. Yes, 350 days of light a year was a powerful incentive for filmmakers to come west. But so was space, as in 3,000 miles across the country from Thomas Edison’s New York-based patent enforcers.
Television. Both Philo T. Farnsworth and RCA’s David Sarnoff realized that capturing and transmitting images across the airwaves at scale required an all-electronic technology, not the electro-mechanical methods of previous attempts.
- 9/23/2016
- by David Bloom
- Tubefilter.com
After a few delays, Frank Ocean‘s Channel Orange follow-up, Blond, has now arrived and, with it, not only an additional visual album, but Boys Don’t Cry, a magazine that only a select few were able to get their hands on. (Although, if you believe the artist’s mom, we can expect a wider release soon.) In between a personal statement about his new work and a Kanye West poem about McDonalds, Ocean also listed his favorite films of all-time and we have the full list today.
Clocking at 207.23 hours, as Ocean notes, his list includes classics from Andrei Tarkovsky, David Lynch, Ingmar Bergman, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, Orson Welles, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Jean Cocteau, Alfred Hitchcock, Francis Ford Coppola, Fritz Lang, Werner Herzog, Akira Kurosawa, Ridley Scott, Bernardo Bertolucci, Sergei Eisenstein, F. W. Murnau, Luis Buñuel, and more.
As for some more recent titles, it looks like The Royal Tenenbaums...
Clocking at 207.23 hours, as Ocean notes, his list includes classics from Andrei Tarkovsky, David Lynch, Ingmar Bergman, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, Orson Welles, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Jean Cocteau, Alfred Hitchcock, Francis Ford Coppola, Fritz Lang, Werner Herzog, Akira Kurosawa, Ridley Scott, Bernardo Bertolucci, Sergei Eisenstein, F. W. Murnau, Luis Buñuel, and more.
As for some more recent titles, it looks like The Royal Tenenbaums...
- 8/23/2016
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Since any New York cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
Metrograph
Throw on your suede and pastels and prepare for the music-filled, light-streaked “Dim All the Lights: Disco and the Movies.”
Nicolas Roeg‘s Roald Dahl adaptation, The Witches, plays on Saturday morning; a print of Abel Ferrara‘s King of New York screens throughout the weekend; Oscar Micheaux‘s Ten Minutes to Live shows this Sunday.
Metrograph
Throw on your suede and pastels and prepare for the music-filled, light-streaked “Dim All the Lights: Disco and the Movies.”
Nicolas Roeg‘s Roald Dahl adaptation, The Witches, plays on Saturday morning; a print of Abel Ferrara‘s King of New York screens throughout the weekend; Oscar Micheaux‘s Ten Minutes to Live shows this Sunday.
- 8/5/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Chicago – Two months ago, producer/director/cinematographer/editor Gordon Quinn received the Baadasssss Award from the 2016 Cimm Fest, for his longtime contributions to the cinema scene in Chicago through Kartemquin Films. The famous production house, known for their documentaries, is celebrating their 50th anniversary.
Kartemquin began in 1966 when three newly minted University of Chicago grads partnered to create socially conscious films, and took part of their names – Stan KARter, Jerry TEManer and Gordon QUINn – to form Kartemquin Films. Towards the end of the 1960s, Karter and Temaner had moved on, and the late Jerry Blumenthal stepped in to become the de facto fourth founder. It is Gordon Quinn that remains after 50 years, and he is the standard bearer for a film company that seeks to be a home for independent filmmakers who develop documentaries that deepen our understanding of society through everyday human drama – focusing on people whose lives are...
Kartemquin began in 1966 when three newly minted University of Chicago grads partnered to create socially conscious films, and took part of their names – Stan KARter, Jerry TEManer and Gordon QUINn – to form Kartemquin Films. Towards the end of the 1960s, Karter and Temaner had moved on, and the late Jerry Blumenthal stepped in to become the de facto fourth founder. It is Gordon Quinn that remains after 50 years, and he is the standard bearer for a film company that seeks to be a home for independent filmmakers who develop documentaries that deepen our understanding of society through everyday human drama – focusing on people whose lives are...
- 6/21/2016
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
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