Those attending the 15th annual TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood next month will have an opportunity to engage with Mel Brooks and Vitaphone, both born in 1926. One’s extinct, the other’s still going strong.
While Brooks, 97, will be on hand for a closing-night screening of his 1987 comedy Spaceballs, six Vitaphone vaudeville shorts from the 1920s will be projected in 35mm, with sound played back from their original 16-inch discs on a turntable designed and engineered by Warner Bros.’ postproduction engineering department.
Also announced Thursday:
• Steven Spielberg will participate in a Q&a with Howard Suber — the UCLA faculty member at the center of the recent six-part TCM documentary The Power of Film — ahead of a director’s cut of Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977);
• Nancy Meyers and Alexander Payne, respectively, will introduce world premiere restorations of Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (1959) and John Ford’s The Searchers...
While Brooks, 97, will be on hand for a closing-night screening of his 1987 comedy Spaceballs, six Vitaphone vaudeville shorts from the 1920s will be projected in 35mm, with sound played back from their original 16-inch discs on a turntable designed and engineered by Warner Bros.’ postproduction engineering department.
Also announced Thursday:
• Steven Spielberg will participate in a Q&a with Howard Suber — the UCLA faculty member at the center of the recent six-part TCM documentary The Power of Film — ahead of a director’s cut of Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977);
• Nancy Meyers and Alexander Payne, respectively, will introduce world premiere restorations of Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (1959) and John Ford’s The Searchers...
- 3/21/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
October 6, 1927, was a pivotal date in the history of Cinema. It was on this date that Warner Bros. released “The Jazz Singer,” the feature film that marked the end of the silent movie era and brought a whole new dimension to the world of video editing: sound.
Today, the music, dialogue and foley that sound editors add to our favorite films are as integral to the experience as the images and script themselves. From Hollywood blockbusters to low-budget short films, sound drives stories forward. It sets the emotional tone, aids in making actors’ performances feel more genuine, and ensures audiences hear exactly and feel exactly what filmmakers want them to hear and feel throughout their viewing experience.
In short, sound editors turn the muffled dialogue and noise recorded by a boom mike and elevate it into the crisp, emotive audio that brings visual storytelling to life.
With the 2024 Sundance Film Festival taking over Park City,...
Today, the music, dialogue and foley that sound editors add to our favorite films are as integral to the experience as the images and script themselves. From Hollywood blockbusters to low-budget short films, sound drives stories forward. It sets the emotional tone, aids in making actors’ performances feel more genuine, and ensures audiences hear exactly and feel exactly what filmmakers want them to hear and feel throughout their viewing experience.
In short, sound editors turn the muffled dialogue and noise recorded by a boom mike and elevate it into the crisp, emotive audio that brings visual storytelling to life.
With the 2024 Sundance Film Festival taking over Park City,...
- 1/24/2024
- by IndieWire Staff
- Indiewire
Given how often one of the lead characters in the rollicking Belfast-set comedy Kneecap flashes his bare bottom, adorned with the words “Brits Out,” “cheeky” is truly the best way to describe this film premiering in Sundance’s Next strand.
The gleefully irreverent feature offers an origin story for the real-life band of the title, whose members also play themselves with admirable naturalism. It’s a meet-cute success story about two working-class drug dealers — Naoise Ó Cairealláin, known onstage as Móglaí Bap, and Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh (aka Mo Chara) — who team up with a schoolteacher (JJ Ó Dochartaigh, or DJ Provaí, the one with the arse) to form a hip-hop group who rap mostly in Irish Gaelic. Writer-director Rich Peppiatt’s (doc One Rogue Reporter) exuberant sophomore feature blends truth with print-the-legend fiction. In its own sweet way, Kneecap is just like nearly every other music-focused rags-to-riches movie ever made.
The gleefully irreverent feature offers an origin story for the real-life band of the title, whose members also play themselves with admirable naturalism. It’s a meet-cute success story about two working-class drug dealers — Naoise Ó Cairealláin, known onstage as Móglaí Bap, and Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh (aka Mo Chara) — who team up with a schoolteacher (JJ Ó Dochartaigh, or DJ Provaí, the one with the arse) to form a hip-hop group who rap mostly in Irish Gaelic. Writer-director Rich Peppiatt’s (doc One Rogue Reporter) exuberant sophomore feature blends truth with print-the-legend fiction. In its own sweet way, Kneecap is just like nearly every other music-focused rags-to-riches movie ever made.
- 1/19/2024
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
With the Screen-to-Stage-back to Screen adaptation of Mean Girls landing in first place this weekend, we wanted to know what film based on a play has been your favorite? Are Oscar winning musicals such as Chicago or Amadeus your favorite? Maybe the classics like Grease or Little Shop of Horrors are more your speed? Or perhaps a nice court room drama such as A Few Good Men ranks number one for you? If you don’t see your favorite listed click the “Other” button and let us know what your favorite is in the comments.
Favorite Stage-to-Screen AdaptationCasablanca (1943)West Side Story (1961)My Fair Lady (1964)The Sound of Music (1965)A Man For All Seasons (1966)Oliver! (1968)Amadeus (1984)Driving Miss Daisy (1989)Chicago (2002)Alfie (1966)American Buffalo (1996)Annie (1982)Annie Get Your Gun (1950)A Bronx Tale (1993)Bug (2007)Cabaret (1972)Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)Children of a Lesser God (1986)Closer (2004)The Crucible (1996)Cyrano (2021)Dear Evan Hansen...
Favorite Stage-to-Screen AdaptationCasablanca (1943)West Side Story (1961)My Fair Lady (1964)The Sound of Music (1965)A Man For All Seasons (1966)Oliver! (1968)Amadeus (1984)Driving Miss Daisy (1989)Chicago (2002)Alfie (1966)American Buffalo (1996)Annie (1982)Annie Get Your Gun (1950)A Bronx Tale (1993)Bug (2007)Cabaret (1972)Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)Children of a Lesser God (1986)Closer (2004)The Crucible (1996)Cyrano (2021)Dear Evan Hansen...
- 1/14/2024
- by Brad Hamerly
- JoBlo.com
Amid Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas, Jewish entertainment figures have come together to issue an open letter to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences criticizing their exclusion from being specified as an underrepresented group.
“An inclusion effort that excludes Jews is both steeped in and misunderstands antisemitism,” reads the letter, organized by the group Jew in the City’s Hollywood Bureau for Jewish Representation. “Jewish people being excluded from the Motion Picture Academy’s Representation and Inclusion Standards is discriminating against a protected class by invalidating their historic and genetic identity.”
The Academy’s standards, unveiled in 2020 as part of its Aperture 2025 diversity initiative, describes a number of identities that it considers “underrepresented groups”: women, LGBTQ+, having cognitive or physical difficulties or being deaf or hard of hearing, as well as underrepresented racial or ethnic groups. The standards, which ask productions to submit self-identifying demographic information...
“An inclusion effort that excludes Jews is both steeped in and misunderstands antisemitism,” reads the letter, organized by the group Jew in the City’s Hollywood Bureau for Jewish Representation. “Jewish people being excluded from the Motion Picture Academy’s Representation and Inclusion Standards is discriminating against a protected class by invalidating their historic and genetic identity.”
The Academy’s standards, unveiled in 2020 as part of its Aperture 2025 diversity initiative, describes a number of identities that it considers “underrepresented groups”: women, LGBTQ+, having cognitive or physical difficulties or being deaf or hard of hearing, as well as underrepresented racial or ethnic groups. The standards, which ask productions to submit self-identifying demographic information...
- 1/9/2024
- by Rebecca Sun
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Steve McQueen Erases Al Jolson’s Blackface in New Film at L.A.’s Newly Opened Marian Goodman Gallery
Long-time New York and Paris gallery Marian Goodman has opened in Los Angeles with a show of director and artist Steve McQueen’s short film, Sunshine State. Shown on two back-to-back screens in a capacious room, the work finds McQueen training his artistic vision on the history of blackface in Hollywood. The 30-minute piece includes footage of the late actor Al Jolson in blackface in the 1927 film The Jazz Singer, considered the first feature-length movie with synchronized dialogue and the winner of an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay.
McQueen included the scenes from The Jazz Singer in Sunshine State after the movie’s copyright expired on Jan. 1, 2023. “It’s been about 20 years that I’ve wanted to work with this material,” McQueen told AnOther Magazine at International Film Festival Rotterdam where Sunshine State premiered in January. “I wanted to work with it because I wanted to erase Al Jolson.
McQueen included the scenes from The Jazz Singer in Sunshine State after the movie’s copyright expired on Jan. 1, 2023. “It’s been about 20 years that I’ve wanted to work with this material,” McQueen told AnOther Magazine at International Film Festival Rotterdam where Sunshine State premiered in January. “I wanted to work with it because I wanted to erase Al Jolson.
- 10/28/2023
- by Degen Pener
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Emmy-winning production designer and a past president of the Art Directors Guild Thomas Walsh is in prepro and raising funds to make a documentary about pioneering art director and painter Ben Carré (1883-1978), whose little-known story, which begins in Paris with the invention of motion pictures, also serves as an early history of his art form.
“The history, origin and profession of art direction for motion pictures has never been properly documented and Ben’s journey is our Rosetta Stone,” explains film history enthusiast Walsh, who is writing, producing and directing the project based on Carré’s unpublished 400-page memoir, archival material and exhaustive research.
Ben Carré: A Parisian in Hollywood will trace the subject’s life, starting in silent movies in Paris, before moving to Fort Lee, New Jersey, when the Hudson River region was an early filmmaking destination, and then to Hollywood. Carré is credited with set designs...
“The history, origin and profession of art direction for motion pictures has never been properly documented and Ben’s journey is our Rosetta Stone,” explains film history enthusiast Walsh, who is writing, producing and directing the project based on Carré’s unpublished 400-page memoir, archival material and exhaustive research.
Ben Carré: A Parisian in Hollywood will trace the subject’s life, starting in silent movies in Paris, before moving to Fort Lee, New Jersey, when the Hudson River region was an early filmmaking destination, and then to Hollywood. Carré is credited with set designs...
- 10/20/2023
- by Carolyn Giardina
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Clockwise from top left: A Trip To The Moon (Flicker Alley), 2001: A Space Odyssey (Warner Bros.), King Kong (Warner Bros.), Avatar (Disney), The Matrix (Warner Bros.)Graphic: AVClub
Though they may seem a recent phenomenon, special-effects driven movies have been with us since the dawn of cinema. From the...
Though they may seem a recent phenomenon, special-effects driven movies have been with us since the dawn of cinema. From the...
- 6/8/2023
- by Luke Y. Thompson
- avclub.com
Here’s looking at Warner Bros. which is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Earlier this year, Turner Classic Movies, which is a member of the Warner Bros. Discovery family, celebrated the centennial with a monthlong tribute to the studio that gave the world such landmark films as 1927’s “The Jazz Singer,” the first feature with synchronized recorded singing and some dialogue; the ultimate gangster flick 1931’s “Public Enemy,: the glorious 1938 swashbuckler “The Adventures of Robin Hood”; and the beloved 1942 “Casablanca.
And during its Golden Age, its roster of stars included such legends as Rin-Tin-Tin, John Barrymore, Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Kay Francis, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Paul Muni, John Garfield and Sydney Greenstreet.
Max is currently streaming the four-part documentary series “100 Years of Warner Bros.” (the first two episodes premiered at Cannes). And also arriving this week is the lavish coffee table book “Warner Bros.
And during its Golden Age, its roster of stars included such legends as Rin-Tin-Tin, John Barrymore, Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Kay Francis, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Paul Muni, John Garfield and Sydney Greenstreet.
Max is currently streaming the four-part documentary series “100 Years of Warner Bros.” (the first two episodes premiered at Cannes). And also arriving this week is the lavish coffee table book “Warner Bros.
- 5/30/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
With HBO Max transitioning to Max on May 23, the studio is unveiling new content to entice people to check out the new combined HBO Max/Discovery+ streaming service. One such piece is “100 Years of Warner Bros.,” a four-part documentary that honors the centennial of the studio that gave us the entire Max universe.
Directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Leslie Iwerks (“The Imagineering Story”), granddaughter of Disney legend Ub Iwerks, the documentary series looks at the founding of the iconic Warner Bros. studio, founded in 1923, all the way to present-day. Talking heads include a cavalcade of stars from George Clooney and Keanu Reeves, to directors Baz Luhrmann and Martin Scorsese.
The first trailer certainly whets the appetite, showcasing nearly every major Warner Bros. movie, from “The Jazz Singer” to “Elvis,” with an eye towards showing why the studio was considered an outlier in the game. The fractious relationship between the four Warner brothers themselves is discussed,...
Directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Leslie Iwerks (“The Imagineering Story”), granddaughter of Disney legend Ub Iwerks, the documentary series looks at the founding of the iconic Warner Bros. studio, founded in 1923, all the way to present-day. Talking heads include a cavalcade of stars from George Clooney and Keanu Reeves, to directors Baz Luhrmann and Martin Scorsese.
The first trailer certainly whets the appetite, showcasing nearly every major Warner Bros. movie, from “The Jazz Singer” to “Elvis,” with an eye towards showing why the studio was considered an outlier in the game. The fractious relationship between the four Warner brothers themselves is discussed,...
- 5/18/2023
- by Kristen Lopez
- The Wrap
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If you look at the coverage around the current Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike, or the one that took place in 2007-2008, it tends to revolve around television. With TV taking less time to produce more content, a strike of any significant length of time will affect that medium well before the big-budget world of film, where the average length of pre-production can range anywhere from six months to a year.
As the writer John Gregory Dunne once wrote in his essay “Hollywood: Opening Moves,” “From the earliest days of the motion picture industry … the screenwriter has been regarded at best as an anomalous necessity, at worst a curse to be born.” Though audiences starting in Hollywood’s earliest days came to know the names of some prominent screenwriters,...
If you look at the coverage around the current Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike, or the one that took place in 2007-2008, it tends to revolve around television. With TV taking less time to produce more content, a strike of any significant length of time will affect that medium well before the big-budget world of film, where the average length of pre-production can range anywhere from six months to a year.
As the writer John Gregory Dunne once wrote in his essay “Hollywood: Opening Moves,” “From the earliest days of the motion picture industry … the screenwriter has been regarded at best as an anomalous necessity, at worst a curse to be born.” Though audiences starting in Hollywood’s earliest days came to know the names of some prominent screenwriters,...
- 5/3/2023
- by Kristen Lopez
- The Wrap
Jeopardy! fans have noticed a pattern of consistent failures in Final Jeopardy over the last few weeks. And the April 26 episode added another game to the list of recent final-round stumpers. Heading into the last round on April 26, the scores were Johanna Stoberock at $12,000, Liz Everhart at $11,000, and Jesse Matheny at $10,800. The category was Hollywood History, and the clue: “Last name of 3 men who missed the 1927 premiere of The Jazz Singer because a 4th of that name had died hours before.” The answer was, “What is Warner,” but none of the players guessed correctly. Jesse was in last place at the top of the round. He made a large wager at $8,200, but it was still smaller than his two opponents. Johanna wagered $10,001, and Liz bet $10,000, taking Jesse from last to first place with a difference of just $601. The final scores were Johanna at $1,999, at Liz at $1,000, and Jesse at $2,600 — a very low-score game for Jeopardy!
- 4/27/2023
- TV Insider
Bill Butler, the self-taught, Oscar-nominated cinematographer whose work on the landmark 1975 horror film Jaws unleashed a wave of anxiety for beachgoers that lasts to this day, has died. He would have turned 102 on Friday.
Butler died Wednesday evening in Los Angeles, according to the American Society of Cinematographers. He is survived by five daughters and his wife, Iris.
During his five-decade career, Butler also shot Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rain People (1969) and The Conversation (1974); Peter Hyams’ Capricorn One (1977); Randal Kleiser’s hit musical Grease (1978); and Rocky II (1979), Rocky III (1982) and Rocky IV (1985), all written and directed by and starring Sylvester Stallone.
On another noteworthy 1975 release, Butler replaced the fired Haskell Wexler midway through production on Milos Forman‘s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Both shared an Oscar cinematography nomination for their work.
Butler also had replaced Wexler on The Conversation after creative differences forced Wexler off that production early on.
Butler died Wednesday evening in Los Angeles, according to the American Society of Cinematographers. He is survived by five daughters and his wife, Iris.
During his five-decade career, Butler also shot Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rain People (1969) and The Conversation (1974); Peter Hyams’ Capricorn One (1977); Randal Kleiser’s hit musical Grease (1978); and Rocky II (1979), Rocky III (1982) and Rocky IV (1985), all written and directed by and starring Sylvester Stallone.
On another noteworthy 1975 release, Butler replaced the fired Haskell Wexler midway through production on Milos Forman‘s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Both shared an Oscar cinematography nomination for their work.
Butler also had replaced Wexler on The Conversation after creative differences forced Wexler off that production early on.
- 4/6/2023
- by Rhett Bartlett
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
David Zaslav went office-furniture shopping when he moved into the executive building on the Warner Bros. lot last year. The new CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery had Jack L. Warner’s large dark-wood desk pulled out of storage for his use. He also found a leather legal pad holder once clutched by another of his predecessors at the storied studio: Steven J. Ross.
Zaslav wanted these totems in his sunken workspace overlooking Olive Avenue in Burbank to show the formidable legacy, in business and in popular culture, he has inherited.
“I wanted them to remind me that we need to show as much courage now in leading this business as the Warner brothers did in launching it one hundred years ago,” Zaslav says. As the studio marks the centennial of its incorporation as Warner Bros. Pictures Inc., the company has never been more focused on using the wealth of intellectual property assets,...
Zaslav wanted these totems in his sunken workspace overlooking Olive Avenue in Burbank to show the formidable legacy, in business and in popular culture, he has inherited.
“I wanted them to remind me that we need to show as much courage now in leading this business as the Warner brothers did in launching it one hundred years ago,” Zaslav says. As the studio marks the centennial of its incorporation as Warner Bros. Pictures Inc., the company has never been more focused on using the wealth of intellectual property assets,...
- 4/6/2023
- by Cynthia Littleton
- Variety Film + TV
Warner Bros. today celebrates its centennial milestone as April 4, 2023, marks 100 years of its iconic contribution to film and television.
Its rich heritage stretches back to the four brothers, Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner, born to Polish-Jewish immigrants, who founded the studio in 1923 and became mavericks of the film industry. They not only created some of Hollywood’s greatest movies and film stars, but they also were pioneers behind the innovative technology of the Vitaphone that synchronized sound and put them in the forefront as major players in Hollywood.
Related: Warner Bros. Top-Secret Archives: Treasure Trove Of Film Memorabilia From ‘The Matrix’, ‘Batman’, ‘My Fair Lady’ & Dozens More
Sam Warner spearheaded the movement by applying the technology with sound effects and music, but no dialogue, in the 1926 film Don Juan, and then in two scenes from one of the first “talkies,” 1927’s The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, that featured...
Its rich heritage stretches back to the four brothers, Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner, born to Polish-Jewish immigrants, who founded the studio in 1923 and became mavericks of the film industry. They not only created some of Hollywood’s greatest movies and film stars, but they also were pioneers behind the innovative technology of the Vitaphone that synchronized sound and put them in the forefront as major players in Hollywood.
Related: Warner Bros. Top-Secret Archives: Treasure Trove Of Film Memorabilia From ‘The Matrix’, ‘Batman’, ‘My Fair Lady’ & Dozens More
Sam Warner spearheaded the movement by applying the technology with sound effects and music, but no dialogue, in the 1926 film Don Juan, and then in two scenes from one of the first “talkies,” 1927’s The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, that featured...
- 4/4/2023
- by Robert Lang
- Deadline Film + TV
One of the most time-consuming aspects of being a cinephile is worrying about the health and longevity of TCM. The venerable broadcast television channel dedicated to classic Hollywood cinema has grown since its 1994 launch into a kind of preservationist and enthusiast's empire that includes an annual film festival, an original film distribution arm, a releasing imprint, and a slew of diverse programming initiatives (not to mention a wine club). TCM certainly seems to be in better health than most entities dedicated segments of the film ecosystem that are -- by virtue of not being focused on the biggest, brightest, latest thing -- not exactly profit drivers. It has survived both a massive merger between AT&T and its parent company, Time Warner, and a subsequent divestment of AT&T and acquisition by Discovery in all but five years, after all.
But the brand's new overlord, Warner Bros. Discovery, shelving completed films...
But the brand's new overlord, Warner Bros. Discovery, shelving completed films...
- 3/23/2023
- by Ryan Coleman
- Slash Film
The exhibition end of the motion picture business — where moviegoers go when they leave their domiciles and travel thorough geographical space for a communal, in-person experience before a big screen — is in trouble. Again.
Whether at the repertory house or the multiplex, box office has not yet rebounded from the one-two punch of Covid-19 and Roku. The first virus has lifted but the second seems to have converted a huge slice of a once-loyal demo to the homebody comforts of digital streaming. At times last year, domestic revenue was down 40 percent from pre-pandemic 2019. Among motion picture exhibitors, there is a gnawing sense that the defection may be permanent, that the full houses and packed concession stands of the world before March 2020 may never be seen again at the same levels.
By way of perspective and maybe solace, it is worth remembering that the present emergency is not the first time...
Whether at the repertory house or the multiplex, box office has not yet rebounded from the one-two punch of Covid-19 and Roku. The first virus has lifted but the second seems to have converted a huge slice of a once-loyal demo to the homebody comforts of digital streaming. At times last year, domestic revenue was down 40 percent from pre-pandemic 2019. Among motion picture exhibitors, there is a gnawing sense that the defection may be permanent, that the full houses and packed concession stands of the world before March 2020 may never be seen again at the same levels.
By way of perspective and maybe solace, it is worth remembering that the present emergency is not the first time...
- 3/17/2023
- by Thomas Doherty
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Many filmmakers yearn for their work to be at the centre of a public conversation. But it’s not always a good thing.
Sometimes, movies – even great ones – are put under the microscope for problematic characters, plotlines or moments.
Often, this is a result of changing social standards. Films like The Jazz Singer utilised blackface at a time when it was more or less completely socially acceptable. Watch it now, however, and you’ll likely be mortified.
Other films, of course, are problematic the moment they hit cinemas – such as Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
In some cases, the question of whether or not a film is offensive can provoke strong debate among fans and even those involved in making the film. This week, Michael Caine was in the news after hitting back at claims that the 1964 film Zulu was a “key text” for white supremecists.
Sometimes, movies – even great ones – are put under the microscope for problematic characters, plotlines or moments.
Often, this is a result of changing social standards. Films like The Jazz Singer utilised blackface at a time when it was more or less completely socially acceptable. Watch it now, however, and you’ll likely be mortified.
Other films, of course, are problematic the moment they hit cinemas – such as Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
In some cases, the question of whether or not a film is offensive can provoke strong debate among fans and even those involved in making the film. This week, Michael Caine was in the news after hitting back at claims that the 1964 film Zulu was a “key text” for white supremecists.
- 3/10/2023
- by Louis Chilton
- The Independent - Film
Many filmmakers yearn for their work to be at the centre of a public conversation. But it’s not always a good thing.
Sometimes, movies – even great ones – are put under the microscope for problematic characters, plotlines or moments.
Often, this is a result of changing social standards. Films like The Jazz Singer utilised blackface at a time when it was more or less completely socially acceptable. Watch it now, however, and you’ll likely be mortified.
Other films, of course, are problematic the moment they hit cinemas – such as Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
In some cases, the question of whether or not a film is offensive can provoke strong debate among fans and even those involved in making the film. This week, Michael Caine was in the news after hitting back at claims that the 1964 film Zulu was a “key text” for white supremecists.
Sometimes, movies – even great ones – are put under the microscope for problematic characters, plotlines or moments.
Often, this is a result of changing social standards. Films like The Jazz Singer utilised blackface at a time when it was more or less completely socially acceptable. Watch it now, however, and you’ll likely be mortified.
Other films, of course, are problematic the moment they hit cinemas – such as Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
In some cases, the question of whether or not a film is offensive can provoke strong debate among fans and even those involved in making the film. This week, Michael Caine was in the news after hitting back at claims that the 1964 film Zulu was a “key text” for white supremecists.
- 3/9/2023
- by Louis Chilton
- The Independent - Film
(Welcome to Did They Get It Right?, a series where we take a look at an Oscars category from yesteryear and examine whether the Academy's winner stands the test of time.)
If you were to ask the average moviegoer what the best movie of all time is, chances are pretty good that Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" would be one of the most responded answers. Since it was released in cinemas back in March 1972, Coppola's examination of corruption, violence, and capitalism through the lens of organized crime has entranced viewers and inspired countless numbers of future filmmakers. A line from this film gets quoted every single day, from "Leave the gun, take the cannoli" to, of course, "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse." When we think of the canonical greats of American cinema, "The Godfather" stands there right alongside "Citizen Kane" as the cream of the crop.
If you were to ask the average moviegoer what the best movie of all time is, chances are pretty good that Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" would be one of the most responded answers. Since it was released in cinemas back in March 1972, Coppola's examination of corruption, violence, and capitalism through the lens of organized crime has entranced viewers and inspired countless numbers of future filmmakers. A line from this film gets quoted every single day, from "Leave the gun, take the cannoli" to, of course, "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse." When we think of the canonical greats of American cinema, "The Godfather" stands there right alongside "Citizen Kane" as the cream of the crop.
- 2/20/2023
- by Mike Shutt
- Slash Film
There's one thing you can say about every single Academy Award nominee: whether they're good films or bad films, beloved or obscure, they are officially in the history books. Future movie lovers will read about them and, often, watch them out of either passionate interest or mild curiosity, decades later.
And that's a very good thing because a lot of the films that are nominated for the Oscars fall into obscurity pretty quickly. We may remember most of the Best Picture winners, for example, but what about the other films in contention? "Casablanca" won Best Picture at the 16th Academy Awards and it's a film most people can quote directly, even if they've never watched it before. But there's a good chance that many of its fellow nominees that same year — films like "The Human Comedy," "The More the Merrier," and "Watch On the Rhine" — aren't nearly as well known today.
And that's a very good thing because a lot of the films that are nominated for the Oscars fall into obscurity pretty quickly. We may remember most of the Best Picture winners, for example, but what about the other films in contention? "Casablanca" won Best Picture at the 16th Academy Awards and it's a film most people can quote directly, even if they've never watched it before. But there's a good chance that many of its fellow nominees that same year — films like "The Human Comedy," "The More the Merrier," and "Watch On the Rhine" — aren't nearly as well known today.
- 2/9/2023
- by William Bibbiani
- Slash Film
Steve McQueen’s Oscar-winning “12 Years a Slave” was released almost a century after D. W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation,” the first film ever to be screened at the White House. McQueen’s film, however, was not shown at the U.S. President’s official residence. The British director spoke Saturday about this issue while at an in-conversation event at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.
“It was just after that situation with Skip Gates,” said McQueen, referring to the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis “Skip” Gates by Sergeant James Crowley, a suspected case of racial profiling that stirred great controversy for then-President Barack Obama, who was alleged to have taken sides after publicly stating the local police department had acted “stupidly.” “So, at that time, everything Obama was doing was being scrutinized,” continued the director, “and that was the theory of why ‘12 Years a Slave’ was...
“It was just after that situation with Skip Gates,” said McQueen, referring to the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis “Skip” Gates by Sergeant James Crowley, a suspected case of racial profiling that stirred great controversy for then-President Barack Obama, who was alleged to have taken sides after publicly stating the local police department had acted “stupidly.” “So, at that time, everything Obama was doing was being scrutinized,” continued the director, “and that was the theory of why ‘12 Years a Slave’ was...
- 1/29/2023
- by Rafa Sales Ross
- Variety Film + TV
The year 1927 was quite the significant one in the silent film era and was actually the year that marked the end of it. With The Jazz Singer being released to audiences and revealing to them the new development of including dialogs in a film and bringing to their years the first dialog that was ever spoken in it, “Wait a minute, wait a minute. You ain’t heard nothing yet”, the year was quite an eventful one in cinematic history. Of course, the movie itself was quite the entertainer too, and although it didn’t really match up to the other
What A Night Out At The Movies In 1927 Would Have in Store For You...
What A Night Out At The Movies In 1927 Would Have in Store For You...
- 4/23/2022
- by Stanley Anto
- TVovermind.com
Musicals had a rough go in 2021. Despite garnering amazing reviews, In The Heights and Westside Story bombed hard at the box office and didn’t even come close to meeting half of what The Greatest Showman made back in 2017. In fact, musicals have been bombing a lot as of late since that Hugh Jackman vehicle with Cats being the most notable flop of the bunch. Musicals have an interesting history when it comes to movies. 1927’s The Jazz Singer is the first movie musical for Americans and the genre in itself has no shortage of unforgettable movies such as
Why Musicals Barely Exist Anymore...
Why Musicals Barely Exist Anymore...
- 2/17/2022
- by Jeffrey Bowie Jr.
- TVovermind.com
You know "Dracula," Tod Browning's landmark Universal horror film, but have you seen the director's first dip into vampiric waters?
It was 1927, years before Bela Lugosi would make horror history as Count Dracula; amid the opening of the Holland Tunnel and the advent of talkies with "The Jazz Singer," Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures released "London After Midnight," also known as "The Hypnotist." The story, written by Browning, presents vampires as the prime suspects in an unsolved murder – a Londoner's death is ruled a suicide, but something's not adding up, and Lon Chaney plays the dual roles of cop and criminal as...
The post Why Lon Chaney's London After Midnight is the Holy Grail of Lost Cinema appeared first on /Film.
It was 1927, years before Bela Lugosi would make horror history as Count Dracula; amid the opening of the Holland Tunnel and the advent of talkies with "The Jazz Singer," Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures released "London After Midnight," also known as "The Hypnotist." The story, written by Browning, presents vampires as the prime suspects in an unsolved murder – a Londoner's death is ruled a suicide, but something's not adding up, and Lon Chaney plays the dual roles of cop and criminal as...
The post Why Lon Chaney's London After Midnight is the Holy Grail of Lost Cinema appeared first on /Film.
- 2/2/2022
- by Anya Stanley
- Slash Film
Bill Maher took aim at what he perceives to be the work of cancel culture during his usual Friday night “Real Time with Bill Maher” slot, sending up potentially problematic classic movies that could warrant a more contemporary content warning. Maher is riffing off Turner Classic Movies’ recent series “Reframed: Classic Films in the Rearview Mirror,” which reconsiders old movies due for a new cultural context.
“Of course in this new era, they had to reframe the classics. So they have to have a guy come on at the beginning, and give a little speech about why movies that you used to just enjoy because you understood, you understood the times change, people change and mores change it’s called evolution, but now it’s called problematic,” Maher said. Check out the clip below.
Among the films in TCM’s series are “My Fair Lady,” “Gone with the Wind,” “The Searchers,...
“Of course in this new era, they had to reframe the classics. So they have to have a guy come on at the beginning, and give a little speech about why movies that you used to just enjoy because you understood, you understood the times change, people change and mores change it’s called evolution, but now it’s called problematic,” Maher said. Check out the clip below.
Among the films in TCM’s series are “My Fair Lady,” “Gone with the Wind,” “The Searchers,...
- 3/20/2021
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Isidore Mankofsky Dies: ‘Jazz Singer’, ‘Muppet Movie’ Cinematographer & Multiple Emmy Nominee Was 89
Isidore “Izzy” Mankofsky, a longtime cinematography who worked on such films as The Jazz Singer, The Muppet Movie and Somewhere in Time and enjoyed a prolific career in TV, earning three Emmy nominations, has died. He was 89. The American Society of Cinematographers said he died March 11 but did not provide details.
He received the President’s Award from the American Society of Cinematographers in 2009 for his decades of leadership and service to the organization and was nominated three times for its ASC Awards: twice for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography for a Miniseries or Special and once for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Cinematography for a Miniseries or Special.
Born on September 22, 1931, to Ukrainian immigrant parents in New York City and raised there and in Chicago, Mankofsky served in the Air Force before embarking on his showbiz career. He got his start behind the lens...
He received the President’s Award from the American Society of Cinematographers in 2009 for his decades of leadership and service to the organization and was nominated three times for its ASC Awards: twice for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography for a Miniseries or Special and once for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Cinematography for a Miniseries or Special.
Born on September 22, 1931, to Ukrainian immigrant parents in New York City and raised there and in Chicago, Mankofsky served in the Air Force before embarking on his showbiz career. He got his start behind the lens...
- 3/15/2021
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
Isidore “Izzy” Mankofsky, who shot The Muppet Movie, Somewhere in Time and dozens of telefilms including the Farrah Fawcett-starring The Burning Bed, died Thursday, the American Society of Cinematographers announced. He was 89.
He also was the Dp on Richard Fleischer’s The Jazz Singer (1980) and two movies directed by Savage Steve Holland and starring John Cusack: Better Off Dead … (1985) and One Crazy Summer (1986).
A three-time Emmy nominee, Mankofsky got his start at Encyclopedia Britannica Films, then made his feature debut on the Aip sequel Scream Blacula Scream (1973), starring William Marshall.
In a 2009 interview, Mankofsky said in enjoyed working with Jim Henson and ...
He also was the Dp on Richard Fleischer’s The Jazz Singer (1980) and two movies directed by Savage Steve Holland and starring John Cusack: Better Off Dead … (1985) and One Crazy Summer (1986).
A three-time Emmy nominee, Mankofsky got his start at Encyclopedia Britannica Films, then made his feature debut on the Aip sequel Scream Blacula Scream (1973), starring William Marshall.
In a 2009 interview, Mankofsky said in enjoyed working with Jim Henson and ...
- 3/15/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Isidore “Izzy” Mankofsky, who shot The Muppet Movie, Somewhere in Time and dozens of telefilms including the Farrah Fawcett-starring The Burning Bed, died Thursday, the American Society of Cinematographers announced. He was 89.
He also was the Dp on Richard Fleischer’s The Jazz Singer (1980) and two movies directed by Savage Steve Holland and starring John Cusack: Better Off Dead … (1985) and One Crazy Summer (1986).
A three-time Emmy nominee, Mankofsky got his start at Encyclopedia Britannica Films, then made his feature debut on the Aip sequel Scream Blacula Scream (1973), starring William Marshall.
In a 2009 interview, Mankofsky said in enjoyed working with Jim Henson and ...
He also was the Dp on Richard Fleischer’s The Jazz Singer (1980) and two movies directed by Savage Steve Holland and starring John Cusack: Better Off Dead … (1985) and One Crazy Summer (1986).
A three-time Emmy nominee, Mankofsky got his start at Encyclopedia Britannica Films, then made his feature debut on the Aip sequel Scream Blacula Scream (1973), starring William Marshall.
In a 2009 interview, Mankofsky said in enjoyed working with Jim Henson and ...
- 3/15/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
A new Billie Holiday documentary prompts a look at the films that best capture the spirit of the jazz greats
The first thing anyone ever heard in the movies was jazz – in cinema’s first sound film, The Jazz Singer, of course, a creaky 1927 backstage drama that now only really has historical-milestone status to recommend it. (It’s on Amazon if you’re curious.) By now, happily, the cinema of jazz is a sophisticated, richly stocked subgenre, with British director James Erskine’s Billie (Barbican Cinema on demand) the latest addition.
The tumultuous life and death of Billie Holiday has long demanded a major documentary study, and Erskine’s film digs in with the advantage of a vast, hitherto unheard interview archive: candid testimonies from friends and associates such as Count Basie and Tony Bennett, recorded in the 1970s by the late journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl, for a planned biography that never came to pass.
The first thing anyone ever heard in the movies was jazz – in cinema’s first sound film, The Jazz Singer, of course, a creaky 1927 backstage drama that now only really has historical-milestone status to recommend it. (It’s on Amazon if you’re curious.) By now, happily, the cinema of jazz is a sophisticated, richly stocked subgenre, with British director James Erskine’s Billie (Barbican Cinema on demand) the latest addition.
The tumultuous life and death of Billie Holiday has long demanded a major documentary study, and Erskine’s film digs in with the advantage of a vast, hitherto unheard interview archive: candid testimonies from friends and associates such as Count Basie and Tony Bennett, recorded in the 1970s by the late journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl, for a planned biography that never came to pass.
- 11/14/2020
- by Guy Lodge
- The Guardian - Film News
Harry Clein, a veteran film publicist who wrote the original press notes for Star Wars and helped develop the innovative internet campaign for The Blair Witch Project, died June 18 of chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder in Atlanta. He was 82.
His death was announced by spokesperson Mark Pogachefsky.
Clein, along with Bruce Feldman, cofounded the Clein + Feldman agency in 1981. Their first client was director Alan J. Pakula and his film Sophie’s Choice.
With offices on both coasts and quickly developing a reputation as an innovative shop for independent distributors, producers and filmmakers, the agency became Clein + White in 1989, with the addition of Cara White as a partner and the departure of Feldman for a studio career. Clein + White closed in 2000, with Clein focusing on producing and marketing consultation. He also taught at the Los Angeles Film School.
Earlier in his career, Clein was a unit publicist on such films as All the President’s Men,...
His death was announced by spokesperson Mark Pogachefsky.
Clein, along with Bruce Feldman, cofounded the Clein + Feldman agency in 1981. Their first client was director Alan J. Pakula and his film Sophie’s Choice.
With offices on both coasts and quickly developing a reputation as an innovative shop for independent distributors, producers and filmmakers, the agency became Clein + White in 1989, with the addition of Cara White as a partner and the departure of Feldman for a studio career. Clein + White closed in 2000, with Clein focusing on producing and marketing consultation. He also taught at the Los Angeles Film School.
Earlier in his career, Clein was a unit publicist on such films as All the President’s Men,...
- 7/24/2020
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Sky, the Comcast-backed pay-tv broadcaster in the U.K., has added “outdated attitudes” disclaimers to a batch of films, including the original animated “Jungle Book,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and “The Last Samurai.”
Upon searching for Disney’s “The Jungle Book” on movie service Sky Cinema, a description now reads, “This film has outdated attitudes, language and cultural depictions which may cause offence today.” The same warning has been applied to Jon Favreau’s 2016 re-imagining of the classic movie.
A check of nascent streamer Disney Plus, whose content is also available on Sky under the companies’ output deal, shows that that service already makes clear that films such as the original “Jungle Book” “contains outdated cultural depictions.” As previously reported, Disney had the warnings in place around the 2019 launch of the streamer.
Altogether, some 16 films on Sky Cinema now have an attached disclaimer, including Disney’s 1941 animated film “Dumbo;” kids...
Upon searching for Disney’s “The Jungle Book” on movie service Sky Cinema, a description now reads, “This film has outdated attitudes, language and cultural depictions which may cause offence today.” The same warning has been applied to Jon Favreau’s 2016 re-imagining of the classic movie.
A check of nascent streamer Disney Plus, whose content is also available on Sky under the companies’ output deal, shows that that service already makes clear that films such as the original “Jungle Book” “contains outdated cultural depictions.” As previously reported, Disney had the warnings in place around the 2019 launch of the streamer.
Altogether, some 16 films on Sky Cinema now have an attached disclaimer, including Disney’s 1941 animated film “Dumbo;” kids...
- 6/21/2020
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound, out Oct. 25, dives into game-changing films from The Jazz Singer to Star Wars.
Documentary director Midge Costin, herself a sound editor (Armageddon, Crimson Tide), tells the story of sound through interviews with filmmakers such as George Lucas, Barbra Streisand, Steven Spielberg and Ryan Coogler, and sound trailblazers including Ben Burtt — who ...
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Documentary director Midge Costin, herself a sound editor (Armageddon, Crimson Tide), tells the story of sound through interviews with filmmakers such as George Lucas, Barbra Streisand, Steven Spielberg and Ryan Coogler, and sound trailblazers including Ben Burtt — who ...
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- 11/13/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound, out Oct. 25, dives into game-changing films from The Jazz Singer to Star Wars.
Documentary director Midge Costin, herself a sound editor (Armageddon, Crimson Tide), tells the story of sound through interviews with filmmakers such as George Lucas, Barbra Streisand, Steven Spielberg and Ryan Coogler, and sound trailblazers including Ben Burtt — who ...
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Documentary director Midge Costin, herself a sound editor (Armageddon, Crimson Tide), tells the story of sound through interviews with filmmakers such as George Lucas, Barbra Streisand, Steven Spielberg and Ryan Coogler, and sound trailblazers including Ben Burtt — who ...
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- 11/13/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Midge Costin’s inspiring and educational documentary “Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound” seems destined to wind up in the curriculum of film schools across the country. In a short but jam-packed 90 minutes, the film gives a broad but effective overview of the history of one of the industry’s most vital, yet misunderstood art forms, with a variety of participants from all ages and groups.
There’s a very good chance it will inspire a whole new generation to pursue a career in sound design, or at least to upgrade their home theater system.
“Making Waves” has a lot of ground to cover, and Costin — a sound editor on hit films like “Armageddon,” “Crimson Tide” and “Hocus Pocus,” now making her directorial debut — wisely doesn’t try to tackle it all at once. The first half of the documentary covers the history of sound design from the silent era to the present day,...
There’s a very good chance it will inspire a whole new generation to pursue a career in sound design, or at least to upgrade their home theater system.
“Making Waves” has a lot of ground to cover, and Costin — a sound editor on hit films like “Armageddon,” “Crimson Tide” and “Hocus Pocus,” now making her directorial debut — wisely doesn’t try to tackle it all at once. The first half of the documentary covers the history of sound design from the silent era to the present day,...
- 10/25/2019
- by William Bibbiani
- The Wrap
The centerpiece of Scott Ora’s cluttered San Fernando Valley apartment is the 1939 Oscar his step-grandfather, the late lyricist Leo Robin, was presented for co-writing “Thanks for the Memory.” Sung by Bob Hope and Shirley Ross in the film “The Big Broadcast of 1938,” the trophy sits proudly on the piano where Robin worked on some of his biggest hits. The movie marked the comedian’s breakout role and Leo’s tune, co-written with frequent collaborator Ralph Rainger, soon became Hope’s theme song. It was Robin’s only Academy Award win out of a total of 10 nominations.
Over the course of 20 years, from 1934 (when the best original song category was introduced and he was nominated for “Love in Bloom”) through 1954, Robin, a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame who died in 1984 at the age of 84, earned 10 Oscar nominations (two in 1949 alone). His impressive catalog includes signature tunes for Maurice Chevalier...
Over the course of 20 years, from 1934 (when the best original song category was introduced and he was nominated for “Love in Bloom”) through 1954, Robin, a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame who died in 1984 at the age of 84, earned 10 Oscar nominations (two in 1949 alone). His impressive catalog includes signature tunes for Maurice Chevalier...
- 10/1/2019
- by Roy Trakin
- Variety Film + TV
Directed by sound editor Midge Costin, Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound provides a rich overview of motion picture sound, from the era in which sounds were performed in theaters to Dolby Atmos, breaking down in detail the multiple elements that comprise a film’s sonic soundscape. With an extensive list of credits including action pictures like The Rock, Broken Arrow, and Crimson Tide, Costin makes excellent uses of industry contacts from mixers, composers, filmmakers, executives, and stars to provide the kind of broad overview that feels custom-made for the first day of an introduction to sound class.
The film largely proceeds with a basic chronology of sound as the practice evolves over some 90 years with Warner Brothers’ Vitascope taking the first step with The Jazz Singer. The art and practice of sound design, is credited to Murray Spivack who, while working on 1933’s King Kong, conceived of a whole new roar for Kong,...
The film largely proceeds with a basic chronology of sound as the practice evolves over some 90 years with Warner Brothers’ Vitascope taking the first step with The Jazz Singer. The art and practice of sound design, is credited to Murray Spivack who, while working on 1933’s King Kong, conceived of a whole new roar for Kong,...
- 5/13/2019
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
This article marks Part 16 of the Gold Derby series analyzing 84 years of Best Original Song at the Oscars. Join us as we look back at the timeless tunes recognized in this category, the results of each race and the overall rankings of the winners.
The 1980 Oscar nominees in Best Original Song were:
“People Alone” from “The Competition”
“Fame” from “Fame”
“Out Here on My Own” from “Fame”
“On the Road Again” from “Honeysuckle Rose”
“9 to 5” from “9 to 5”
Won: “Fame” from “Fame”
Should’ve won: “9 to 5” from “9 to 5”
1980 marks a refreshingly sensational year for Best Original Song at the Oscars – and that’s even in spite of voters not recognizing the memorable likes of Blondie‘s “Call Me” (from “American Gigolo”); Kenny Loggins‘ “I’m Alright” (from “Caddyshack”); Olivia Newton-John‘s “Magic” (from “Xanadu”); and Neil Diamond‘s “America” (from “The Jazz Singer”).
What voters did offer...
The 1980 Oscar nominees in Best Original Song were:
“People Alone” from “The Competition”
“Fame” from “Fame”
“Out Here on My Own” from “Fame”
“On the Road Again” from “Honeysuckle Rose”
“9 to 5” from “9 to 5”
Won: “Fame” from “Fame”
Should’ve won: “9 to 5” from “9 to 5”
1980 marks a refreshingly sensational year for Best Original Song at the Oscars – and that’s even in spite of voters not recognizing the memorable likes of Blondie‘s “Call Me” (from “American Gigolo”); Kenny Loggins‘ “I’m Alright” (from “Caddyshack”); Olivia Newton-John‘s “Magic” (from “Xanadu”); and Neil Diamond‘s “America” (from “The Jazz Singer”).
What voters did offer...
- 12/28/2018
- by Andrew Carden
- Gold Derby
In today’s film news roundup, Jodie Foster is remaking Iceland’s “Woman at War,” the Art Directors Guild honors production designers Anthony Masters and Ben Carre, “47 Meters Down: Uncaged” gets cast and Melissa Takal directs “New Year New You” for Hulu.
Project Announcement
Jodie Foster will direct, co-produce and star in an English-language remake of the thriller “Woman at War,” Iceland’s submission to the Foreign Language competition at the upcoming 91st Academy Awards.
The Icelandic movie centers on a music teacher who’s escalating her sabotage against the local aluminum industry when she discovers that her adoption application has been approved and a baby girl is awaiting her in the Ukraine. The script won the best script prize in the Critics’ Week section of the Cannes Film Festival.
Foster plans to relocate the setting to the American West. It will be her fifth directorial gig following “Money Monster,...
Project Announcement
Jodie Foster will direct, co-produce and star in an English-language remake of the thriller “Woman at War,” Iceland’s submission to the Foreign Language competition at the upcoming 91st Academy Awards.
The Icelandic movie centers on a music teacher who’s escalating her sabotage against the local aluminum industry when she discovers that her adoption application has been approved and a baby girl is awaiting her in the Ukraine. The script won the best script prize in the Critics’ Week section of the Cannes Film Festival.
Foster plans to relocate the setting to the American West. It will be her fifth directorial gig following “Money Monster,...
- 12/11/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Legendary production designers Anthony Masters and Ben Carré, whose work appeared in some of the most iconic films of the 20th century, will be inducted into the Art Directors Guild’s Hall of Fame at the organization’s 23rd annual Excellence in Production Design Awards.
Masters, who died in 1990, was Oscar-nominated for 2001: A Space Odyssey. His other work in a career that spanned 45 years included Lawrence of Arabia, Dune, Papillon, Tai-Pan, The Clan of the Cave Bear and The Deep. His sons, Giles and Dominic, both followed in their father’s footsteps. Giles was the art director of such films as The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons and Women in Gold, while Dominic was the art director of Wonder Woman and Murder on the Orient Express.
Carré, who died in 1978, is best known for his design of the Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz, the sets for The Jazz Singer,...
Masters, who died in 1990, was Oscar-nominated for 2001: A Space Odyssey. His other work in a career that spanned 45 years included Lawrence of Arabia, Dune, Papillon, Tai-Pan, The Clan of the Cave Bear and The Deep. His sons, Giles and Dominic, both followed in their father’s footsteps. Giles was the art director of such films as The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons and Women in Gold, while Dominic was the art director of Wonder Woman and Murder on the Orient Express.
Carré, who died in 1978, is best known for his design of the Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz, the sets for The Jazz Singer,...
- 12/10/2018
- by David Robb
- Deadline Film + TV
For over ninety years cinema has been catering to and exerting two of the five senses. Well mainly, since gimmicks like “Smell-o-Vision” and “Odorama”, used with the films Scent Of A Mystery and Polyester, never really connected with the film going public. They were cards that emitted aromas when a number was scratched (after prompting by seeing the number flash on-screen). I’m guessing certain fragrances didn’t mix well with concession treats. Well before that, The Jazz Singer introduced movie audiences to sound, allowing them to hear actors reciting lines rather than reading “title cards’ (along with sound effects and music). Now, instead of those cards, subtitles are run at the frame’s lower part for most foreign films (the subtitles help the “hearing impaired” watching films on home video). But how do film makers simulate the “point of view” of those “impaired’ or “challenged”? The wizards of sound mixing can manipulate the audio,...
- 10/27/2017
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Ninety years ago, in October 1927, Warner Bros was facing ruin. It staked its future on a film called The Jazz Singer – and turned an entire industry upside down
It was just a short scene in a movie, in which a diminutive actor utters a few unscripted words to the orchestra leader, reciting a line that went down in history: “Wait a minute … you ain’t heard nothin’ yet.” But it was a scene that changed the entertainment world and heralded the dramatic arrival of sound to the movies.
Never again would audiences have to read “titles” to explain the action or translate the sweet nothings of lovers. In the space of just over an hour, the silent film was dead.
Continue reading...
It was just a short scene in a movie, in which a diminutive actor utters a few unscripted words to the orchestra leader, reciting a line that went down in history: “Wait a minute … you ain’t heard nothin’ yet.” But it was a scene that changed the entertainment world and heralded the dramatic arrival of sound to the movies.
Never again would audiences have to read “titles” to explain the action or translate the sweet nothings of lovers. In the space of just over an hour, the silent film was dead.
Continue reading...
- 10/7/2017
- by Michael Freedland
- The Guardian - Film News
The AppleThe musical possesses a unique form of power rarely afforded to other Hollywood genres. In the words of film scholar Rick Altman, “The musical invites us to forget familiar notions of plot, psychological motivation, and causal relationships.” In contrast to other commercial genres, the musical is almost one-of-a-kind in its ability to arrest time and space, to suspend disbelief, to defy our lived understanding of human relationships and even the very conventions of filmgoing. In what other mainstream genre can fictional characters get away with looking into the camera lens so often? Dramatic logic is replaced in the Hollywood musical by spectacle and raw emotional appeal, with singing as the defining device for such purely cinematic priorities.But what happens to the musical when singing is taken out of it? This was the conundrum of the short-lived disco musical, a sub-genre that ended as soon as it began.Popular...
- 7/10/2017
- MUBI
How what you hear can tell a story as sure as what you see.
In the 1920s, sound started creeping in to motion pictures, first via shorts then later making its feature debut in 1927’s The Jazz Singer. In those first formative years, sound was an accessory, it was a flashy new gimmick and that’s how it was used, for the enjoyment and amusement of the audience. Sound was for musical numbers or punching up comedic scenes, and, of course, for dialogue, but it wasn’t yet considered to be the storytelling element, an equal to film’s visual aspect, that it is today.
Until 1931, that is, and Fritz Lang’s M.
A serial-killer thriller and Lang’s first time working with sound, M is also the first major feature to utilize sound as a narrative and filmmaking tool: it advances the plot, it serves as a transition between scenes, it...
In the 1920s, sound started creeping in to motion pictures, first via shorts then later making its feature debut in 1927’s The Jazz Singer. In those first formative years, sound was an accessory, it was a flashy new gimmick and that’s how it was used, for the enjoyment and amusement of the audience. Sound was for musical numbers or punching up comedic scenes, and, of course, for dialogue, but it wasn’t yet considered to be the storytelling element, an equal to film’s visual aspect, that it is today.
Until 1931, that is, and Fritz Lang’s M.
A serial-killer thriller and Lang’s first time working with sound, M is also the first major feature to utilize sound as a narrative and filmmaking tool: it advances the plot, it serves as a transition between scenes, it...
- 3/29/2017
- by H. Perry Horton
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
David Crow Dec 19, 2018
With Mary Poppins Returns putting the movie musical back in style, we decided to rank 10 of the best toe-tappers old Hollywood.
The musical is back!
… Well, in actuality, it’s been here for a while. Ever since the one-two punch of Moulin Rouge! in 2001 and Best Picture winner Chicago the year after that, we’ve had a toe-tapper almost every December. Yet with the exception of Rouge!, there hadn’t been an original Hollywood musical written for the screen during this century until very recently. And if you also exclude those without original songs, it’s been over 20 years since the last time we’ve had a live-action, unapologetically song-and-dance fantasy in that classic movie musical vein.
Yet even that is changing. In the past few years, we got La La Land and then The Greatest Showman, and this holiday season has brought us both Mary Poppins Returns...
With Mary Poppins Returns putting the movie musical back in style, we decided to rank 10 of the best toe-tappers old Hollywood.
The musical is back!
… Well, in actuality, it’s been here for a while. Ever since the one-two punch of Moulin Rouge! in 2001 and Best Picture winner Chicago the year after that, we’ve had a toe-tapper almost every December. Yet with the exception of Rouge!, there hadn’t been an original Hollywood musical written for the screen during this century until very recently. And if you also exclude those without original songs, it’s been over 20 years since the last time we’ve had a live-action, unapologetically song-and-dance fantasy in that classic movie musical vein.
Yet even that is changing. In the past few years, we got La La Land and then The Greatest Showman, and this holiday season has brought us both Mary Poppins Returns...
- 12/11/2016
- Den of Geek
The film industry has been around for well over 100 years. Today, Cinelinx looks at some of the famous firsts that set the foundation for the movie industry and made cinema what it is today.
As a bit of trivia to begin with, the first known piece of moving film footage was the The Horse in Motion (1878), a 3-second experiment consisting of 24 photographs shot in rapid succession. It’s just a scene of a jockey riding a horse, but it ultimately led to the development of modern film.
Most early films were short, silent bits of daily life, showing such exciting events as boarding a train, which was captured in The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station (1895). This film footage supposedly scared the bejesus out of the viewing audience, who thought a real train was coming at them and ran for cover. Early films began to include documentary footage and newsreels,...
As a bit of trivia to begin with, the first known piece of moving film footage was the The Horse in Motion (1878), a 3-second experiment consisting of 24 photographs shot in rapid succession. It’s just a scene of a jockey riding a horse, but it ultimately led to the development of modern film.
Most early films were short, silent bits of daily life, showing such exciting events as boarding a train, which was captured in The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station (1895). This film footage supposedly scared the bejesus out of the viewing audience, who thought a real train was coming at them and ran for cover. Early films began to include documentary footage and newsreels,...
- 11/27/2016
- by feeds@cinelinx.com (Rob Young)
- Cinelinx
Chicago – One of the great nights at the 52nd Chicago International Film Festival is the short film presentation celebrating the best of area filmmakers, the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois. Included in the program were three notable filmmakers, Anne Beal (“Positioning”), Filip Kojic (“Huh”) and Brian Zahm (“The Nude”).
Every year, HollywoodChicago.com seeks out these filmmakers, to talk about the challenges of using cinema as a expressive platform, in addition to finding their style and artistic energy through the process of creating their films.
Anne Beal, Director of “Positioning”
‘Positioning,’ Directed by Anne Beal
Photo credit: Chicago International Film Festival
Anne Beal is a local artist and academic who spent a year filling a book called “Know How” – that she randomly found – with self portraits. After that project was done, she decided to create an animated film using the artwork.
HollywoodChicago.com: Your film is very timely,...
Every year, HollywoodChicago.com seeks out these filmmakers, to talk about the challenges of using cinema as a expressive platform, in addition to finding their style and artistic energy through the process of creating their films.
Anne Beal, Director of “Positioning”
‘Positioning,’ Directed by Anne Beal
Photo credit: Chicago International Film Festival
Anne Beal is a local artist and academic who spent a year filling a book called “Know How” – that she randomly found – with self portraits. After that project was done, she decided to create an animated film using the artwork.
HollywoodChicago.com: Your film is very timely,...
- 11/1/2016
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Blame it on Al Jolson. Ever since that infernal crooner delivered the line “You ain’t heard nothin’ yet!” in 1927’s The Jazz Singer, audiences have demanded to hear actors speak in movies. The very next year, Mickey Mouse spoke in Steamboat Willie, and the era of the talkie had truly arrived. Displaced silent actress Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) would bemoan the situation in 1950’s Sunset Boulevard: “They had to have the ears of the whole world, too. So they opened their big mouths and out came talk, talk, talk!” The only silent films that have been made in recent decades have been deliberate throwbacks, like Michel Hazanavicius’ Oscar-winning The Artist. But maybe the silent movie, or at least the dialogue-free movie, has not yet breathed its last. On September 7, The Hollywood Reporter accidentally uploaded a wordless version of the trailer for the upcoming sequel Bridget Jones ...
- 9/8/2016
- by Joe Blevins
- avclub.com
Can a single film appeal to all five senses? Movies exist primarily to stimulate the viewer’s sense of sight and (from 1927’s The Jazz Singer onward) sound. There have been various attempts, including Smell-o-Vision and Odorama, to add olfactory sensations to the cinematic experience. And shows like Dinner And A Movie manage to excite the spectator’s taste buds as well. But what about the sense of touch? Aldous Huxley theorized some form of entertainment called “feelies” in his 1932 novel Brave New World, and there was also See You Next Wednesday and its remarkable “Feel-Around” gimmick.
Meanwhile, movies offer a whole range of tactile sensations, as evidenced by a new supercut from Now You See It host Jack Nugent simply entitled “Touch.” The premise could not be more basic. For a minute and a half, movie characters just touch things, including each other. Rings are fondled. Couches ...
Meanwhile, movies offer a whole range of tactile sensations, as evidenced by a new supercut from Now You See It host Jack Nugent simply entitled “Touch.” The premise could not be more basic. For a minute and a half, movie characters just touch things, including each other. Rings are fondled. Couches ...
- 8/30/2016
- by Joe Blevins
- avclub.com
On this day in history as it relates to the movies...
1828 Feral teenager Kaspar Hauser is discovered wandering Nuremberg, claiming to have been raised in total isolation. Theories abound and the story inspires many artists down the road including Werner Herzog in the film The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974).
1877 Influential dancer Isadora Duncan is born. Vanessa Redgrave gets an Oscar nomination playing her in Isadora! (1968)
1886 Al Jolson is born. Will later star in the first "talkie" The Jazz Singer (1927)
1894 Silent film star Norma Talmadge is born
1897 Bram Stoker's epistolary novel "Dracula" is published. Never stops being adapted for film and television but our hearts will always belong to Francis Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) despite the aggravating double possessive
1907 John Wayne was born. Did he always talk like that?
1913 Peter Cushing is born in England. Later stars in Hammer Horror films with his irl best friend Christopher Lee, the Dracula to his Van Helsing.
1828 Feral teenager Kaspar Hauser is discovered wandering Nuremberg, claiming to have been raised in total isolation. Theories abound and the story inspires many artists down the road including Werner Herzog in the film The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974).
1877 Influential dancer Isadora Duncan is born. Vanessa Redgrave gets an Oscar nomination playing her in Isadora! (1968)
1886 Al Jolson is born. Will later star in the first "talkie" The Jazz Singer (1927)
1894 Silent film star Norma Talmadge is born
1897 Bram Stoker's epistolary novel "Dracula" is published. Never stops being adapted for film and television but our hearts will always belong to Francis Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) despite the aggravating double possessive
1907 John Wayne was born. Did he always talk like that?
1913 Peter Cushing is born in England. Later stars in Hammer Horror films with his irl best friend Christopher Lee, the Dracula to his Van Helsing.
- 5/26/2016
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
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