Here’s the latest episode of the The Filmmakers Podcast, part of the ever-growing podcast roster here on Nerdly. If you haven’t heard the show yet, you can check out previous episodes on the official podcast site, whilst we’ll be featuring each and every new episode as it premieres.
For those unfamiliar, with the series, The Filmmakers Podcast is a podcast about how to make films from micro budget indie films to bigger budget studio films and everything in-between. Our hosts Giles Alderson, Dan Richardson, Andrew Rodger and Cristian James talk how to get films made, how to actually make them and how to try not to f… it up in their very humble opinion. Guests will come on and chat about their film making experiences from directors, writers, producers, screenwriters, actors, cinematographers and distributors. They also shoot the breeze about their new films, The Dare, World of Darkness,...
For those unfamiliar, with the series, The Filmmakers Podcast is a podcast about how to make films from micro budget indie films to bigger budget studio films and everything in-between. Our hosts Giles Alderson, Dan Richardson, Andrew Rodger and Cristian James talk how to get films made, how to actually make them and how to try not to f… it up in their very humble opinion. Guests will come on and chat about their film making experiences from directors, writers, producers, screenwriters, actors, cinematographers and distributors. They also shoot the breeze about their new films, The Dare, World of Darkness,...
- 4/13/2020
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Here’s the latest episode of the The Filmmakers Podcast, part of the ever-growing podcast roster here on Nerdly. If you haven’t heard the show yet, you can check out previous episodes on the official podcast site, whilst we’ll be featuring each and every new episode as it premieres.
For those unfamiliar, with the series, The Filmmakers Podcast is a podcast about how to make films from micro budget indie films to bigger budget studio films and everything in-between. Our hosts Giles Alderson, Dan Richardson, Andrew Rodger and Cristian James talk how to get films made, how to actually make them and how to try not to f… it up in their very humble opinion. Guests will come on and chat about their film making experiences from directors, writers, producers, screenwriters, actors, cinematographers and distributors. They also shoot the breeze about their new films, The Dare, World of Darkness,...
For those unfamiliar, with the series, The Filmmakers Podcast is a podcast about how to make films from micro budget indie films to bigger budget studio films and everything in-between. Our hosts Giles Alderson, Dan Richardson, Andrew Rodger and Cristian James talk how to get films made, how to actually make them and how to try not to f… it up in their very humble opinion. Guests will come on and chat about their film making experiences from directors, writers, producers, screenwriters, actors, cinematographers and distributors. They also shoot the breeze about their new films, The Dare, World of Darkness,...
- 3/6/2019
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Moments ago, the Film Independent Spirit Awards announced their nominations for 2018. Essentially the Oscars of indie film, this is a time when certain movies can see their only true moment in the sun. As you’ll see below, the nominees this year represent both some major Academy Award players as well as some tiny titles that will go no further. That’s actually part of the real appeal of the Spirits, in that they place these flicks side by side. This seems like one of those years where the Spirit Award winners won’t cross over too much with Oscar, but that remains to be seen. First up, we can just go over the nominees. The Spirit Awards, nomination wise, were led this year by, in a surprise…We the Animals. Scoring five nominations, that led the field, with Eighth Grade, First Reformed, and You Were Never Really Here next in line with four.
- 11/16/2018
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
Special jury award goes to Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz for ensemble performance in The Favourite.
Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite, Josephine Decker’s Madeline’s Madeline, and Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk are among best picture nominees in the running for honours at the 28th annual Ifp Gotham Awards, while Paul Schrader’s First Reformed leads the pack on three nods overall.
First Reformed and Chloé Zhao’s The Rider are also in contention for best picture following Thursday’s (18) announcement, with First Reformed earning additional recognition for best screenplay and best actor for Ethan Hawke.
Roma was a notable absentee,...
Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite, Josephine Decker’s Madeline’s Madeline, and Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk are among best picture nominees in the running for honours at the 28th annual Ifp Gotham Awards, while Paul Schrader’s First Reformed leads the pack on three nods overall.
First Reformed and Chloé Zhao’s The Rider are also in contention for best picture following Thursday’s (18) announcement, with First Reformed earning additional recognition for best screenplay and best actor for Ethan Hawke.
Roma was a notable absentee,...
- 10/18/2018
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
We may still have two months left in the year, but considering nearly all independent films have already made their debuts, it’s time for the 2018 Gotham Awards to reveal their nominations. Leading the pack are Paul Schrader’s First Reformed and Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite, both picked up a trio of nominations.
Rounding out the Best Feature nominations are Madeline’s Madeline, If Beale Street Could Talk, and The Rider. Other highlights include Minding the Gap, Hale County This Morning, This Evening, and Bisbee ’17 earning Best Documentary nominations, while Roma‘s Yalitza Aparicio, Sorry to Bother You‘s Lakeith Stanfield, Support the Girl‘s Regina Hall, Hereditary‘s Toni Collette, and more.
Presented by the Independent Filmmaker Project, the 2018 Gotham Awards will take place on November 26. See the nominations below.
Best Feature
“The Favourite”
Yorgos Lanthimos, director; Ceci Dempsey, Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday, Yorgos Lanthimos, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
“First Reformed”
Paul Schrader,...
Rounding out the Best Feature nominations are Madeline’s Madeline, If Beale Street Could Talk, and The Rider. Other highlights include Minding the Gap, Hale County This Morning, This Evening, and Bisbee ’17 earning Best Documentary nominations, while Roma‘s Yalitza Aparicio, Sorry to Bother You‘s Lakeith Stanfield, Support the Girl‘s Regina Hall, Hereditary‘s Toni Collette, and more.
Presented by the Independent Filmmaker Project, the 2018 Gotham Awards will take place on November 26. See the nominations below.
Best Feature
“The Favourite”
Yorgos Lanthimos, director; Ceci Dempsey, Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday, Yorgos Lanthimos, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
“First Reformed”
Paul Schrader,...
- 10/18/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
First Reformed, The Favourite and Eighth Grade were among the most-recognized films in the 28th annual Gotham Awards nominations, which were announced this morning.
First Reformed, from writer-director Paul Schrader, is up for Best Feature, Best Screenplay and Best Actor (Ethan Hawke). Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite, which won the Golden Lion at Venice, captured noms for Best Feature and Best Screenplay as well as a special ensemble acting citation from the jury for the trio of Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz. Sundance breakout Eighth Grade got a nod for Breakthrough Director (Bo Burnham) as well as Breakthrough Actor (Elsie Fisher).
See the full list of nominees below.
The noms for the indie-heavy honors from the Independent Filmmaker Project are considered the unofficial kickoff to the annual film awards season, beginning this year’s accelerated sprint to the Oscars, which are set for February 24.
This year’s Gotham winners...
First Reformed, from writer-director Paul Schrader, is up for Best Feature, Best Screenplay and Best Actor (Ethan Hawke). Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite, which won the Golden Lion at Venice, captured noms for Best Feature and Best Screenplay as well as a special ensemble acting citation from the jury for the trio of Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz. Sundance breakout Eighth Grade got a nod for Breakthrough Director (Bo Burnham) as well as Breakthrough Actor (Elsie Fisher).
See the full list of nominees below.
The noms for the indie-heavy honors from the Independent Filmmaker Project are considered the unofficial kickoff to the annual film awards season, beginning this year’s accelerated sprint to the Oscars, which are set for February 24.
This year’s Gotham winners...
- 10/18/2018
- by Dade Hayes and Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Paul Schrader’s “First Reformed,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Favourite,” Barry Jenkins’ “If Beale Street Could Talk,” Joseph Decker’s “Madeline’s Madeline” and Chloe Zhao’s “The Rider” have been nominated for the top award at the Ifp Gotham Awards, the Independent Filmmaker Project announced on Thursday.
In nominations that were evenly distributed among 19 independent movies, “First Reformed” led all films with three nominations – one for the film, one for lead actor Ethan Hawke and one for Schrader’s screenplay about a pastor tortured by the death of his son in Iraq.
“The Favourite,” a twisted period piece set in early 18th century England, received nominations for film and screenplay, as well as a special Gotham Awards voted to its three leading actresses: Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz.
Also Read: 'First Reformed' Film Review: Paul Schrader and Ethan Hawke Channel Robert Bresson
Other films with multiple nominations included “Beale Street,...
In nominations that were evenly distributed among 19 independent movies, “First Reformed” led all films with three nominations – one for the film, one for lead actor Ethan Hawke and one for Schrader’s screenplay about a pastor tortured by the death of his son in Iraq.
“The Favourite,” a twisted period piece set in early 18th century England, received nominations for film and screenplay, as well as a special Gotham Awards voted to its three leading actresses: Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz.
Also Read: 'First Reformed' Film Review: Paul Schrader and Ethan Hawke Channel Robert Bresson
Other films with multiple nominations included “Beale Street,...
- 10/18/2018
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Paul Schrader’s austere, intense thriller is billed as a return to the director’s ‘transcendental’ roots, although we suspect he never really left them at all. Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried and Victoria Hall immerse us in a country pastor’s dreadful impulse to act on spiritual values and strike back against evil.
First Reformed
Blu-ray
Lionsgate
2017 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 108 min. / Street Date August 21, 2018 / 24.99
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, Cedric Antonio Kyles, Victoria Hill, Philip Ettinger, Michael Gaston, Bill Hoag.
Cinematography: Alexander Dynan
Film Editor: Benjamin Rodriguez Jr.
Original Music: Brian Williams
Produced by Jack Binder, Greg Clark, Gary Hamilton, Victoria Hill, David Hinojosa, Frank Murray, Deepak Sikka, Christine Vachon.
Written and Directed by Paul Schrader
No Spoilers.
Paul Schrader begins his commentary on the new Blu-ray of First Reformed practically spelling out my review criticism — he says his movie is made from pieces of other movies, a truth that...
First Reformed
Blu-ray
Lionsgate
2017 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 108 min. / Street Date August 21, 2018 / 24.99
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, Cedric Antonio Kyles, Victoria Hill, Philip Ettinger, Michael Gaston, Bill Hoag.
Cinematography: Alexander Dynan
Film Editor: Benjamin Rodriguez Jr.
Original Music: Brian Williams
Produced by Jack Binder, Greg Clark, Gary Hamilton, Victoria Hill, David Hinojosa, Frank Murray, Deepak Sikka, Christine Vachon.
Written and Directed by Paul Schrader
No Spoilers.
Paul Schrader begins his commentary on the new Blu-ray of First Reformed practically spelling out my review criticism — he says his movie is made from pieces of other movies, a truth that...
- 9/4/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
A24 has acquired the U.S. rights to Paul Schrader's thriller First Reformed, the company announced Friday.
In the film, Ethan Hawke plays a church minister and ex-military chaplain who, after losing his son in war, befriends a pregnant woman (Amanda Seyfried) who is suffering from the loss of her husband. He dives deeper into his church’s suspicious affairs and discovers hidden secrets about its complicity with unethical corporations.
Schrader wrote and directed the film. Christine Vachon, David Hinojosa, Frank Murray, Jack Binder, Greg Clark, Victoria Hill, Gary Hamilton and Deepak Sikka produced, with Brian Beckmann, Philip Burgin, Brooke Lyndon-Stanford,...
In the film, Ethan Hawke plays a church minister and ex-military chaplain who, after losing his son in war, befriends a pregnant woman (Amanda Seyfried) who is suffering from the loss of her husband. He dives deeper into his church’s suspicious affairs and discovers hidden secrets about its complicity with unethical corporations.
Schrader wrote and directed the film. Christine Vachon, David Hinojosa, Frank Murray, Jack Binder, Greg Clark, Victoria Hill, Gary Hamilton and Deepak Sikka produced, with Brian Beckmann, Philip Burgin, Brooke Lyndon-Stanford,...
- 9/15/2017
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
A24 has acquired the U.S. rights to Paul Schrader's thriller First Reformed, the company announced Friday.
In the film, Ethan Hawke plays a church minister and ex-military chaplain who, after losing his son in war, befriends a pregnant woman (Amanda Seyfried) who is suffering from the loss of her husband. He dives deeper into his church’s suspicious affairs and discovers hidden secrets about its complicity with unethical corporations.
Schrader wrote and directed the film. Christine Vachon, David Hinojosa, Frank Murray, Jack Binder, Greg Clark, Victoria Hill, Gary Hamilton and Deepak Sikka produced, with Brian Beckmann, Philip Burgin, Brooke Lyndon-Stanford,...
In the film, Ethan Hawke plays a church minister and ex-military chaplain who, after losing his son in war, befriends a pregnant woman (Amanda Seyfried) who is suffering from the loss of her husband. He dives deeper into his church’s suspicious affairs and discovers hidden secrets about its complicity with unethical corporations.
Schrader wrote and directed the film. Christine Vachon, David Hinojosa, Frank Murray, Jack Binder, Greg Clark, Victoria Hill, Gary Hamilton and Deepak Sikka produced, with Brian Beckmann, Philip Burgin, Brooke Lyndon-Stanford,...
- 9/15/2017
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A24 has acquired the U.S. rights to Paul Schrader's thriller First Reformed, the company announced Friday.
In the film, Ethan Hawke plays a church minister and ex-military chaplain who, after losing his son in war, befriends a pregnant woman (Amanda Seyfried) who is suffering from the loss of her husband. He dives deeper into his church’s suspicious affairs and discovers hidden secrets about its complicity with unethical corporations.
Schrader wrote and directed the film. Christine Vachon, David Hinojosa, Frank Murray, Jack Binder, Greg Clark, Victoria Hill, Gary Hamilton and Deepak Sikka produced, with Brian Beckmann, Philip Burgin, Brooke Lyndon-Stanford, Martin McCabe, Luca Scalisi,...
In the film, Ethan Hawke plays a church minister and ex-military chaplain who, after losing his son in war, befriends a pregnant woman (Amanda Seyfried) who is suffering from the loss of her husband. He dives deeper into his church’s suspicious affairs and discovers hidden secrets about its complicity with unethical corporations.
Schrader wrote and directed the film. Christine Vachon, David Hinojosa, Frank Murray, Jack Binder, Greg Clark, Victoria Hill, Gary Hamilton and Deepak Sikka produced, with Brian Beckmann, Philip Burgin, Brooke Lyndon-Stanford, Martin McCabe, Luca Scalisi,...
- 9/7/2017
- by Ashley Lee
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Latoya Luckett will play Warwick in the forthcoming film from the writer of The Doors.
Lady Gaga is to play Warwick’s rival and “musical nemesis” Cilla Black in an upcoming biopic of singer Dionne Warwick.
The Us singer-songwriter will play the late Liverpudlian performer in Dionne, it was announced at a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival today.
Mario van Peebles is in advanced discussions to direct and legendary singer Warwick was in town herself to tell the press that she will be played as a younger woman by Latoya Luckett - an original member of Destiny’s Child.
Other cast names confirmed include Danny Glover as Warwick’s father Mansell and Olympia Dukakis, who will co-star as Marlene Dietrich, Warwick’s mentor. Dietrich, the singer joked, was the woman who introduced her to high couture and made a hefty dent in her bank balance in the process.
Randall Jahnson (The Doors...
Lady Gaga is to play Warwick’s rival and “musical nemesis” Cilla Black in an upcoming biopic of singer Dionne Warwick.
The Us singer-songwriter will play the late Liverpudlian performer in Dionne, it was announced at a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival today.
Mario van Peebles is in advanced discussions to direct and legendary singer Warwick was in town herself to tell the press that she will be played as a younger woman by Latoya Luckett - an original member of Destiny’s Child.
Other cast names confirmed include Danny Glover as Warwick’s father Mansell and Olympia Dukakis, who will co-star as Marlene Dietrich, Warwick’s mentor. Dietrich, the singer joked, was the woman who introduced her to high couture and made a hefty dent in her bank balance in the process.
Randall Jahnson (The Doors...
- 5/13/2016
- by geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk (Geoffrey Macnab)
- ScreenDaily
Former "Destiny's Child" member LeToya Luckett is set to star while Olympia Dukakis and Danny Glover are also onboard a biopic about R&B and pop music legend Dionne Warwick for Ambi Pictures.
Warwick announced the project in Cannes on Friday and included Lady Gaga in the list of cast members with Gaga to play Cilla Black, her 'musical nemesis'. Reps for Gaga however quickly sent out a statement saying she had never heard of the project.
In "Dionne," Luckett will play Warwick while Dukakis is her mentor Marlene Dietrich and Glover her father Mansel Warwick. Mario Van Peebles is in talks to direct while Andrea Iervolino, Jack Binder and Monika Bacardi will produce.
Randall Jahnson ("The Doors") wrote the screenplay for the film which covers the period early in Warwick's career from 1962 to 1968. Filming begins later this year.
Source: THR...
Warwick announced the project in Cannes on Friday and included Lady Gaga in the list of cast members with Gaga to play Cilla Black, her 'musical nemesis'. Reps for Gaga however quickly sent out a statement saying she had never heard of the project.
In "Dionne," Luckett will play Warwick while Dukakis is her mentor Marlene Dietrich and Glover her father Mansel Warwick. Mario Van Peebles is in talks to direct while Andrea Iervolino, Jack Binder and Monika Bacardi will produce.
Randall Jahnson ("The Doors") wrote the screenplay for the film which covers the period early in Warwick's career from 1962 to 1968. Filming begins later this year.
Source: THR...
- 5/13/2016
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Spoiler Alert: In the current issue of Savage Dragon, writer/artist Erik Larson murdered a bunch of children. All I have to say about that is… it’s about time!
Larson’s book has been around about as long as Image Comics and presently is in its 188th issue, not counting crossovers, spin-offs and mini-series. That’s quite an accomplishment. It’s also one of the most consistently entertaining comics on the racks, and that’s even more of an accomplishment. He’s also a nice guy, but that’s only marginally important to my thoughts right now.
Back before there was Daredevil, there was Daredevil – in a sense, the world’s second homeless superhero. But instead of being homeless because his planet exploded went blooie, he was homeless because he was squeezed out of his own comic book by a group of know-it-all brats called the Little Wise Guys,...
Larson’s book has been around about as long as Image Comics and presently is in its 188th issue, not counting crossovers, spin-offs and mini-series. That’s quite an accomplishment. It’s also one of the most consistently entertaining comics on the racks, and that’s even more of an accomplishment. He’s also a nice guy, but that’s only marginally important to my thoughts right now.
Back before there was Daredevil, there was Daredevil – in a sense, the world’s second homeless superhero. But instead of being homeless because his planet exploded went blooie, he was homeless because he was squeezed out of his own comic book by a group of know-it-all brats called the Little Wise Guys,...
- 6/12/2013
- by Mike Gold
- Comicmix.com
This review was written for the festival screening of "Reign Over Me".AUSTIN -- Comedy-inflected dramas about grief are hard enough to get right when the loss at hand is purely fictional, tailored to suit one story's dramatic needs. How much harder it is when a character's loss is linked to a real catastrophe that each member of the audience has processed in a deeply individual way.
"Reign Over Me" makes the effort seem natural, displaying sensitivity without over-reverence, tacitly acknowledging a nation's (and a city's) trauma without ever suggesting that its character is somehow a stand-in. It doesn't exploit our emotions about Sept. 11; it simply tells a story that exists because of what happened that day -- one that should resonate with a wide, appreciative audience.
Barely alluding to the World Trade Center attacks, the script makes delicate reference to "the man whose family was on the plane" and leaves it there. The man in question, Adam Sandler's Charlie Fineman, has purged the event from his mind, willfully rejecting any memory connected to the wife and three daughters who died.
A dentist who has abandoned his practice and all the relationships formed during his marriage, he now relies on insurance money and lives in the city as few professionals can, haunting the streets at off-hours on a scooter.
This isn't a Manhattan of postcard skylines but of street-level (if solitary) life, of take-out Chinese and St. Mark's Place record shops -- a headphone-cocooned world punctured by the arrival of Alan Johnson (Don Cheadle), a dental-school roommate who hasn't seen Fineman since before his marriage. Fineman claims not to recognize him at first, but eventually warms up, bonding with the family man over video games and vintage LPs.
Whenever Johnson alludes to his past life, though, Fineman erupts in frustrated violence, accusing Johnson of being sent by those (his in-laws, it turns out) who want to push him into grieving over what he refuses to acknowledge.
Sandler's bottled-pain potential has been exploited before (to best dramatic effect in "Punch-Drunk Love"), but it feels new here, further removed from any familiar schtick or comic intent. When it's time for him to be funny, as it often is in the film's light-footed first half, that's fresh as well, with an ease that keeps "Reign" from feeling like an affliction drama.
It's a graceful performance that screenwriter-director Mike Binder matches. From the opening images of Sandler's Go-ped sailing through lonely intersections to the simplicity of Rolfe Kent's stripped-down score, the picture insists on intimacy. False universalities aren't just avoided in the film's aesthetics, but in its plot: the biggest roadblock in Fineman's life comes from those who expect his grief to resemble their own.
That conflict, with in-laws who seemingly need to see tears to know their daughter's husband loved her, comes to a head in the closest thing the movie has to a weak spot: a court hearing in which Charlie is threatened with hospitalization, and an unscrupulous lawyer goes over the top trying to push his buttons. For a few minutes (here, and in the emotional assist Charlie gets from a supporting character), the picture feels almost ordinary -- a hazard one notices only because it has been avoided so successfully through most of this deeply heartfelt film.
REIGN OVER ME
Columbia Pictures
Mr. Madison Prods.
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Mike Binder
Producers: Jack Binder, Michael Rotenberg
Executive producers: Jack Giarraputo, Lynwood Spinks
Cinematographer: Russ T. Alsobrook
Production designer: Christian Winter
Music: Rolfe Kent
Co-producer: Rachel Zimmerman
Costume designer: Deborah L. Scott
Editors: Steve Edwards, Jeremy Roush
Cast:
Charlie Fineman: Adam Sandler
Alan Johnson: Don Cheadle
Janeane Johnson: Jada Pinkett Smith
Angela Oakhurst: Liv Tyler
Donna Remar: Saffron Burrows
Bryan Sugarman: Mike Binder
Running time -- 128 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
"Reign Over Me" makes the effort seem natural, displaying sensitivity without over-reverence, tacitly acknowledging a nation's (and a city's) trauma without ever suggesting that its character is somehow a stand-in. It doesn't exploit our emotions about Sept. 11; it simply tells a story that exists because of what happened that day -- one that should resonate with a wide, appreciative audience.
Barely alluding to the World Trade Center attacks, the script makes delicate reference to "the man whose family was on the plane" and leaves it there. The man in question, Adam Sandler's Charlie Fineman, has purged the event from his mind, willfully rejecting any memory connected to the wife and three daughters who died.
A dentist who has abandoned his practice and all the relationships formed during his marriage, he now relies on insurance money and lives in the city as few professionals can, haunting the streets at off-hours on a scooter.
This isn't a Manhattan of postcard skylines but of street-level (if solitary) life, of take-out Chinese and St. Mark's Place record shops -- a headphone-cocooned world punctured by the arrival of Alan Johnson (Don Cheadle), a dental-school roommate who hasn't seen Fineman since before his marriage. Fineman claims not to recognize him at first, but eventually warms up, bonding with the family man over video games and vintage LPs.
Whenever Johnson alludes to his past life, though, Fineman erupts in frustrated violence, accusing Johnson of being sent by those (his in-laws, it turns out) who want to push him into grieving over what he refuses to acknowledge.
Sandler's bottled-pain potential has been exploited before (to best dramatic effect in "Punch-Drunk Love"), but it feels new here, further removed from any familiar schtick or comic intent. When it's time for him to be funny, as it often is in the film's light-footed first half, that's fresh as well, with an ease that keeps "Reign" from feeling like an affliction drama.
It's a graceful performance that screenwriter-director Mike Binder matches. From the opening images of Sandler's Go-ped sailing through lonely intersections to the simplicity of Rolfe Kent's stripped-down score, the picture insists on intimacy. False universalities aren't just avoided in the film's aesthetics, but in its plot: the biggest roadblock in Fineman's life comes from those who expect his grief to resemble their own.
That conflict, with in-laws who seemingly need to see tears to know their daughter's husband loved her, comes to a head in the closest thing the movie has to a weak spot: a court hearing in which Charlie is threatened with hospitalization, and an unscrupulous lawyer goes over the top trying to push his buttons. For a few minutes (here, and in the emotional assist Charlie gets from a supporting character), the picture feels almost ordinary -- a hazard one notices only because it has been avoided so successfully through most of this deeply heartfelt film.
REIGN OVER ME
Columbia Pictures
Mr. Madison Prods.
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Mike Binder
Producers: Jack Binder, Michael Rotenberg
Executive producers: Jack Giarraputo, Lynwood Spinks
Cinematographer: Russ T. Alsobrook
Production designer: Christian Winter
Music: Rolfe Kent
Co-producer: Rachel Zimmerman
Costume designer: Deborah L. Scott
Editors: Steve Edwards, Jeremy Roush
Cast:
Charlie Fineman: Adam Sandler
Alan Johnson: Don Cheadle
Janeane Johnson: Jada Pinkett Smith
Angela Oakhurst: Liv Tyler
Donna Remar: Saffron Burrows
Bryan Sugarman: Mike Binder
Running time -- 128 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 3/23/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This review was written for the festival screening of "Reign Over Me".
AUSTIN -- Comedy-inflected dramas about grief are hard enough to get right when the loss at hand is purely fictional, tailored to suit one story's dramatic needs. How much harder it is when a character's loss is linked to a real catastrophe that each member of the audience has processed in a deeply individual way.
"Reign Over Me" makes the effort seem natural, displaying sensitivity without over-reverence, tacitly acknowledging a nation's (and a city's) trauma without ever suggesting that its character is somehow a stand-in. It doesn't exploit our emotions about Sept. 11; it simply tells a story that exists because of what happened that day -- one that should resonate with a wide, appreciative audience.
Barely alluding to the World Trade Center attacks, the script makes delicate reference to "the man whose family was on the plane" and leaves it there. The man in question, Adam Sandler's Charlie Fineman, has purged the event from his mind, willfully rejecting any memory connected to the wife and three daughters who died.
A dentist who has abandoned his practice and all the relationships formed during his marriage, he now relies on insurance money and lives in the city as few professionals can, haunting the streets at off-hours on a scooter.
This isn't a Manhattan of postcard skylines but of street-level (if solitary) life, of take-out Chinese and St. Mark's Place record shops -- a headphone-cocooned world punctured by the arrival of Alan Johnson (Don Cheadle), a dental-school roommate who hasn't seen Fineman since before his marriage. Fineman claims not to recognize him at first, but eventually warms up, bonding with the family man over video games and vintage LPs.
Whenever Johnson alludes to his past life, though, Fineman erupts in frustrated violence, accusing Johnson of being sent by those (his in-laws, it turns out) who want to push him into grieving over what he refuses to acknowledge.
Sandler's bottled-pain potential has been exploited before (to best dramatic effect in "Punch-Drunk Love"), but it feels new here, further removed from any familiar schtick or comic intent. When it's time for him to be funny, as it often is in the film's light-footed first half, that's fresh as well, with an ease that keeps "Reign" from feeling like an affliction drama.
It's a graceful performance that screenwriter-director Mike Binder matches. From the opening images of Sandler's Go-ped sailing through lonely intersections to the simplicity of Rolfe Kent's stripped-down score, the picture insists on intimacy. False universalities aren't just avoided in the film's aesthetics, but in its plot: the biggest roadblock in Fineman's life comes from those who expect his grief to resemble their own.
That conflict, with in-laws who seemingly need to see tears to know their daughter's husband loved her, comes to a head in the closest thing the movie has to a weak spot: a court hearing in which Charlie is threatened with hospitalization, and an unscrupulous lawyer goes over the top trying to push his buttons. For a few minutes (here, and in the emotional assist Charlie gets from a supporting character), the picture feels almost ordinary -- a hazard one notices only because it has been avoided so successfully through most of this deeply heartfelt film.
REIGN OVER ME
Columbia Pictures
Mr. Madison Prods.
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Mike Binder
Producers: Jack Binder, Michael Rotenberg
Executive producers: Jack Giarraputo, Lynwood Spinks
Cinematographer: Russ T. Alsobrook
Production designer: Christian Winter
Music: Rolfe Kent
Co-producer: Rachel Zimmerman
Costume designer: Deborah L. Scott
Editors: Steve Edwards, Jeremy Roush
Cast:
Charlie Fineman: Adam Sandler
Alan Johnson: Don Cheadle
Janeane Johnson: Jada Pinkett Smith
Angela Oakhurst: Liv Tyler
Donna Remar: Saffron Burrows
Bryan Sugarman: Mike Binder
Running time -- 128 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
AUSTIN -- Comedy-inflected dramas about grief are hard enough to get right when the loss at hand is purely fictional, tailored to suit one story's dramatic needs. How much harder it is when a character's loss is linked to a real catastrophe that each member of the audience has processed in a deeply individual way.
"Reign Over Me" makes the effort seem natural, displaying sensitivity without over-reverence, tacitly acknowledging a nation's (and a city's) trauma without ever suggesting that its character is somehow a stand-in. It doesn't exploit our emotions about Sept. 11; it simply tells a story that exists because of what happened that day -- one that should resonate with a wide, appreciative audience.
Barely alluding to the World Trade Center attacks, the script makes delicate reference to "the man whose family was on the plane" and leaves it there. The man in question, Adam Sandler's Charlie Fineman, has purged the event from his mind, willfully rejecting any memory connected to the wife and three daughters who died.
A dentist who has abandoned his practice and all the relationships formed during his marriage, he now relies on insurance money and lives in the city as few professionals can, haunting the streets at off-hours on a scooter.
This isn't a Manhattan of postcard skylines but of street-level (if solitary) life, of take-out Chinese and St. Mark's Place record shops -- a headphone-cocooned world punctured by the arrival of Alan Johnson (Don Cheadle), a dental-school roommate who hasn't seen Fineman since before his marriage. Fineman claims not to recognize him at first, but eventually warms up, bonding with the family man over video games and vintage LPs.
Whenever Johnson alludes to his past life, though, Fineman erupts in frustrated violence, accusing Johnson of being sent by those (his in-laws, it turns out) who want to push him into grieving over what he refuses to acknowledge.
Sandler's bottled-pain potential has been exploited before (to best dramatic effect in "Punch-Drunk Love"), but it feels new here, further removed from any familiar schtick or comic intent. When it's time for him to be funny, as it often is in the film's light-footed first half, that's fresh as well, with an ease that keeps "Reign" from feeling like an affliction drama.
It's a graceful performance that screenwriter-director Mike Binder matches. From the opening images of Sandler's Go-ped sailing through lonely intersections to the simplicity of Rolfe Kent's stripped-down score, the picture insists on intimacy. False universalities aren't just avoided in the film's aesthetics, but in its plot: the biggest roadblock in Fineman's life comes from those who expect his grief to resemble their own.
That conflict, with in-laws who seemingly need to see tears to know their daughter's husband loved her, comes to a head in the closest thing the movie has to a weak spot: a court hearing in which Charlie is threatened with hospitalization, and an unscrupulous lawyer goes over the top trying to push his buttons. For a few minutes (here, and in the emotional assist Charlie gets from a supporting character), the picture feels almost ordinary -- a hazard one notices only because it has been avoided so successfully through most of this deeply heartfelt film.
REIGN OVER ME
Columbia Pictures
Mr. Madison Prods.
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Mike Binder
Producers: Jack Binder, Michael Rotenberg
Executive producers: Jack Giarraputo, Lynwood Spinks
Cinematographer: Russ T. Alsobrook
Production designer: Christian Winter
Music: Rolfe Kent
Co-producer: Rachel Zimmerman
Costume designer: Deborah L. Scott
Editors: Steve Edwards, Jeremy Roush
Cast:
Charlie Fineman: Adam Sandler
Alan Johnson: Don Cheadle
Janeane Johnson: Jada Pinkett Smith
Angela Oakhurst: Liv Tyler
Donna Remar: Saffron Burrows
Bryan Sugarman: Mike Binder
Running time -- 128 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 3/16/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARK CITY -- Not an easy thing, finding mirth in rage and drunkenness. Yet writer-director Mike Binder's examination of the ups and downs -- mostly downs -- of a wife and mother abandoned by her husband locates genuine humor in her pain.
If Binder had chosen an actress other than Joan Allen to play the angry woman, who knows how "The Upside of Anger" would have turned out. Even Allen must wrestle with this devil of a role -- a woman who is constantly mad or drunk and usually both. But Allen turns the character into a tour de force that unleashes an unexpected comedy about compassion and self-loathing.
The film beautifully pairs Allen and Kevin Costner as two people who find momentarily solace in the bottle and each other. It then surrounds them with the aura of intoxicating femininity in Allen's four beautiful teenage daughters played by Erika Christensen, Keri Russell, Alicia Witt and Evan Rachel Wood. When released in March, the New Line comedy could cross over from adult venues into the mainstream to earn solid boxoffice coin.
The story spans three years and is set almost exclusively in the woodsy suburbs of Detroit. Things begin on a note of high drama -- dad's gone and mom's drunk -- and the movie never really climbs down from those stress levels. You must take it on faith that, as youngest daughter Popeye (Wood) says in a voice-over narration, her mom, Terry Wolfmeyer (Allen), was the sweetest, nicest person ever.
When her husband, who has been fooling around with his Swedish secretary and has lost his job, disappears at the same time as the secretary, a dark malignancy of unholy wrath settles in her bowels. The eldest daughter, Hadley (Witt), who blames her mother as much as her dad, can escape the suddenly poisonous household for college. Meanwhile, Andy (Christensen), who wants to be a journalist, and Emily Russell), who wants to be a dancer so she doesn't see much point in eating, take over the kitchen while mom hits the sauce. In her upstairs room, Popeye puts together a video on her laptop that explores the nature of anger and violence.
Surprisingly, there is one person in whose company Terry regains her equilibrium and sense of normalcy. This is their neighbor, Denny Davies (Costner), an ex-baseball star who is nearly as big a drunk as Terry. Denny makes his living as a radio talk-show deejay along with making paid personal appearances and autographing baseballs.
That Denny insinuates himself so easily into the family and into mom's bedroom is a bit of a stretch. Yet over time the daughters accept his presence. He even gets Andy a job at the station, where his producer (played by Binder himself), a smarmy fellow with a thing for girls half his age, all too willingly takes her under his wing.
Binder ably juggles the twists and turns of the tumultuous relationship between Terry and Denny with plot lines involving all the daughters. Terry is a Loose Cannon from the opening scene, so the threat of an emotional outburst hovers over most of the film. The movie never lets on whether this is the real Terry -- the one suppressed during her marriage by all that false niceness and sweetness -- or something that happened to her after her husband's betrayal. Nor does Binder see any need to explain Denny's drinking. You feel that if something better came along he might tone it down, and then you realize that Terry might just be that "something better."
The film has a bit of a trick ending that underscores Binder's point about the futility of endless rage yet adds an unfortunate fictional feel to a film that wants you to relate to the commonality of divorce and broken homes.
The actors tune in to their individual characters perfectly, but this is Allen's show. Her raging, desperate housewife is a tigress trapped in a suburban hell, who takes refuge in her primal instincts and lacerating wit.
Tech credits are excellent, especially Richard Greatrex's cinematography, which features moodier lighting than one expects from a comedy. But then "The Upside of Anger" is not quite a comedy.
THE UPSIDE OF ANGER
New Line Cinema in association with Media 8 Entertainment presents a VIP Medienfonds 2/VIP Medienfonds 3/ MDP Filmproduktion co-production of a Sunlight production
Credits:
Writer/director: Mike Binder
Producers: Alex Gartner, Jack Binder, Sammy Lee
Executive producers: Mark Damon, Stewart Hall, Andreas Grosch, Andreas Schmid
Director of photography: Richard Greatrex
Production designer: Chris Roope
Music: Alexandre Desplat
Costumes: Deborah Scott
Editors: Steve Edwards, Robin Sales
Cast:
Terry Wolfmeyer: Joan Allen
Denny Davies: Kevin Costner
Andy: Erika Christensen
Emily: Keri Russell
Hadley: Alicia Witt
Popeye: Evan Rachel Wood
Shep: Mike Binder
MPAA rating: R
Running time -- 116 minutes...
If Binder had chosen an actress other than Joan Allen to play the angry woman, who knows how "The Upside of Anger" would have turned out. Even Allen must wrestle with this devil of a role -- a woman who is constantly mad or drunk and usually both. But Allen turns the character into a tour de force that unleashes an unexpected comedy about compassion and self-loathing.
The film beautifully pairs Allen and Kevin Costner as two people who find momentarily solace in the bottle and each other. It then surrounds them with the aura of intoxicating femininity in Allen's four beautiful teenage daughters played by Erika Christensen, Keri Russell, Alicia Witt and Evan Rachel Wood. When released in March, the New Line comedy could cross over from adult venues into the mainstream to earn solid boxoffice coin.
The story spans three years and is set almost exclusively in the woodsy suburbs of Detroit. Things begin on a note of high drama -- dad's gone and mom's drunk -- and the movie never really climbs down from those stress levels. You must take it on faith that, as youngest daughter Popeye (Wood) says in a voice-over narration, her mom, Terry Wolfmeyer (Allen), was the sweetest, nicest person ever.
When her husband, who has been fooling around with his Swedish secretary and has lost his job, disappears at the same time as the secretary, a dark malignancy of unholy wrath settles in her bowels. The eldest daughter, Hadley (Witt), who blames her mother as much as her dad, can escape the suddenly poisonous household for college. Meanwhile, Andy (Christensen), who wants to be a journalist, and Emily Russell), who wants to be a dancer so she doesn't see much point in eating, take over the kitchen while mom hits the sauce. In her upstairs room, Popeye puts together a video on her laptop that explores the nature of anger and violence.
Surprisingly, there is one person in whose company Terry regains her equilibrium and sense of normalcy. This is their neighbor, Denny Davies (Costner), an ex-baseball star who is nearly as big a drunk as Terry. Denny makes his living as a radio talk-show deejay along with making paid personal appearances and autographing baseballs.
That Denny insinuates himself so easily into the family and into mom's bedroom is a bit of a stretch. Yet over time the daughters accept his presence. He even gets Andy a job at the station, where his producer (played by Binder himself), a smarmy fellow with a thing for girls half his age, all too willingly takes her under his wing.
Binder ably juggles the twists and turns of the tumultuous relationship between Terry and Denny with plot lines involving all the daughters. Terry is a Loose Cannon from the opening scene, so the threat of an emotional outburst hovers over most of the film. The movie never lets on whether this is the real Terry -- the one suppressed during her marriage by all that false niceness and sweetness -- or something that happened to her after her husband's betrayal. Nor does Binder see any need to explain Denny's drinking. You feel that if something better came along he might tone it down, and then you realize that Terry might just be that "something better."
The film has a bit of a trick ending that underscores Binder's point about the futility of endless rage yet adds an unfortunate fictional feel to a film that wants you to relate to the commonality of divorce and broken homes.
The actors tune in to their individual characters perfectly, but this is Allen's show. Her raging, desperate housewife is a tigress trapped in a suburban hell, who takes refuge in her primal instincts and lacerating wit.
Tech credits are excellent, especially Richard Greatrex's cinematography, which features moodier lighting than one expects from a comedy. But then "The Upside of Anger" is not quite a comedy.
THE UPSIDE OF ANGER
New Line Cinema in association with Media 8 Entertainment presents a VIP Medienfonds 2/VIP Medienfonds 3/ MDP Filmproduktion co-production of a Sunlight production
Credits:
Writer/director: Mike Binder
Producers: Alex Gartner, Jack Binder, Sammy Lee
Executive producers: Mark Damon, Stewart Hall, Andreas Grosch, Andreas Schmid
Director of photography: Richard Greatrex
Production designer: Chris Roope
Music: Alexandre Desplat
Costumes: Deborah Scott
Editors: Steve Edwards, Robin Sales
Cast:
Terry Wolfmeyer: Joan Allen
Denny Davies: Kevin Costner
Andy: Erika Christensen
Emily: Keri Russell
Hadley: Alicia Witt
Popeye: Evan Rachel Wood
Shep: Mike Binder
MPAA rating: R
Running time -- 116 minutes...
- 1/21/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Gina Gershon, Amber Valletta and Kal Penn are hitching on to Media 8 Entertainment's Man About Town opposite Ben Affleck and Rebecca Romijn for helmer Mike Binder. The project is set to start shooting Oct. 12 with Binder directing from his own script and Jack Binder, Michael Rotenberg and Sammy Lee producing. Man About Town is the story of a top Hollywood talent agent (Affleck) who seems to have it all -- success, money and a beautiful wife (Romijn). But it all starts to unravel when he finds out she is cheating on him and his journal has been stolen by a journalist who could expose him.
- 10/5/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- MDP Worldwide Entertainment on Tuesday said New Line Cinema had picked up the U.S. rights to the Mike Binder family comedy The Upside of Anger, which stars Joan Allen and Kevin Costner. Written and directed by Binder (The Mind of the Married Man), The Upside of Anger is a co-production of Montreal-based MDP Worldwide and the German film financier VIP Medienfonds. Terms of the distribution deal were not disclosed. " 'The Upside of Anger' hits the perfect note of dramatic performances with hilarious moments, delivered by an incredibly talented cast," Rolf Mittweg, president and chief operating officer of New Line Worldwide Distribution and Marketing, said in a statement. The comedy portrays Terry, a single mother played by Joan Allen, and her four daughters in a comedic and dysfunctional relationship with a family friend, played by Kevin Costner. Also starring in The Upside of Anger is Evan Rachel Wood, Erika Christensen, Keri Russell and Alicia Witt. Producer credits on the project go to Alex Gartner, Jack Binder and Sammy Lee, with Stewart Hall, Andreas Grosch and Andreas Schmid sharing executive producer credits.
Joan Allen and Kevin Costner are in discussions to star in MDP Worldwide's feature The Upside of Anger for filmmaker Mike Binder. Production is set to begin in late summer. Binder wrote and will direct the project, which is a family drama about a mother (Allen) and her four strong-willed daughters who must suddenly deal with life without a husband/father. Costner would play a former baseball player and friend of the family. Producing the project are Binder, his brother Jack Binder and former MGM executive Alex Gartner. Mike Binder will take on a small role in the film. Costner, repped by CAA, next directs, produces and stars in the Walt Disney Co. feature Open Range. Allen, repped by ICM, next stars in New Line Cinema's The Notebook. Binder, repped by UTA and 3 Arts Entertainment, wrote, directed, starred in and executive produced HBO's series The Mind of the Married Man. The multihyphenate also wrote, directed and starred in the features Sex Monster, The Search for John Gissing and Londinium. He wrote and directed the features Crossing the Bridge and Indian Summer. Other credits include directing Blankman, writing Coupe de Ville and acting in Minority Report and The Contender. MDP Worldwide, the producers and CAA declined comment on the project.
- 4/22/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
There's lots of sex in this low-budget comedy, but it's monstrously unfunny if one isn't in the ranks of horny, bored male yuppies that represent its de facto audience.
A one-joke movie stroked into a veritable marathon of screwing and wooden farce, writer-director-lead actor Mike Binder's "Sex Monster" is more big tease than anything-goes sleaze, reflecting the always nagging guilty consciousness of the leads.
A world premiere blind date at the U.S. Comedy Arts Film Festival in Aspen, Colo., "Sex" won't be shagging many paying customers beyond a limited domestic release and unarousing exposure in post-theatrical markets.
Mariel Hemingway and Stephen Baldwin in the cast, heaps of gags about lesbianism and bisexuality, even the "Sex Monster Dancers" -- a half-dozen young gals bumping and grinding to Joe Cocker's "Woman to Woman" over the opening and closing credits -- all fail to lure one into Binder's smutty scenario.
While the direction could have been perkier, the real mood-killers are the screenplay and two-dimensional characterizations.
A successful housing contractor in L.A., Marty Barnes (Binder) is happily married but obsessed with the idea of talking his wife, winsome hairdresser Laura (Hemingway), into a threesome with another woman.
She at first reacts with mild umbrage but grows more used to the idea. He struggles to make it all sound healthy and natural, finally hitting on the concept of "home court advantage" -- i.e., a woman knows best how to make love to another woman.
Binder tries to flesh out the characters in the subsequent awkward scenes of Laura and Marty's mutual experimentation, but there are no serious obstacles to their dalliances with more than one new playmate, starting with her sweet, flirtatious co-worker Didi (Renee Humphrey). The big chuckle is that Laura becomes enthusiastically bisexual, with Marty quickly growing jealous of her all-night sessions that continue after he's withdrawn from action.
The other central conceit is that many a woman longs to be, has been, or will be a lesbian. Once Laura gets started, she aggressively pursues Marty's engaged assistant (Missy Crider) and succeeds. Even Marty's sister is not safe around his voracious wife, while he periodically endures detection and treatment of a polyp on his colon from bored Dr. Berman (Kevin Pollak).
Baldwin and Taylor Nichols are refreshing diversions as Marty's bar pals, with the latter playing a larger role when his wife is drawn toward Laura. Christopher Lawford is suitably smug and judgmental as a conservative business partner whose trophy wife (Joanna Heimbold) has a wicked streak. The sweaty climax involves a business deal that Marty and Laura flub while their marriage and dignity survive.
SEX MONSTER
Molly-B Prods.
Writer-director: Mike Binder
Producers: Jack Binder, Scott Stephens
Executive producers: Peter Savarino, Jim Harbaugh, Marc Frydman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Laura: Mariel Hemingway
Marty: Mike Binder
Didi: Renee Humphrey
Billy: Taylor Nichols
Diva: Missy Crider
Dave: Christopher Lawford
Evie: Joanna Heimbold
Dr. Berman: Kevin Pollak
Murphy: Stephen Baldwin
Running time -- 97 minutes
No MPAA rating...
A one-joke movie stroked into a veritable marathon of screwing and wooden farce, writer-director-lead actor Mike Binder's "Sex Monster" is more big tease than anything-goes sleaze, reflecting the always nagging guilty consciousness of the leads.
A world premiere blind date at the U.S. Comedy Arts Film Festival in Aspen, Colo., "Sex" won't be shagging many paying customers beyond a limited domestic release and unarousing exposure in post-theatrical markets.
Mariel Hemingway and Stephen Baldwin in the cast, heaps of gags about lesbianism and bisexuality, even the "Sex Monster Dancers" -- a half-dozen young gals bumping and grinding to Joe Cocker's "Woman to Woman" over the opening and closing credits -- all fail to lure one into Binder's smutty scenario.
While the direction could have been perkier, the real mood-killers are the screenplay and two-dimensional characterizations.
A successful housing contractor in L.A., Marty Barnes (Binder) is happily married but obsessed with the idea of talking his wife, winsome hairdresser Laura (Hemingway), into a threesome with another woman.
She at first reacts with mild umbrage but grows more used to the idea. He struggles to make it all sound healthy and natural, finally hitting on the concept of "home court advantage" -- i.e., a woman knows best how to make love to another woman.
Binder tries to flesh out the characters in the subsequent awkward scenes of Laura and Marty's mutual experimentation, but there are no serious obstacles to their dalliances with more than one new playmate, starting with her sweet, flirtatious co-worker Didi (Renee Humphrey). The big chuckle is that Laura becomes enthusiastically bisexual, with Marty quickly growing jealous of her all-night sessions that continue after he's withdrawn from action.
The other central conceit is that many a woman longs to be, has been, or will be a lesbian. Once Laura gets started, she aggressively pursues Marty's engaged assistant (Missy Crider) and succeeds. Even Marty's sister is not safe around his voracious wife, while he periodically endures detection and treatment of a polyp on his colon from bored Dr. Berman (Kevin Pollak).
Baldwin and Taylor Nichols are refreshing diversions as Marty's bar pals, with the latter playing a larger role when his wife is drawn toward Laura. Christopher Lawford is suitably smug and judgmental as a conservative business partner whose trophy wife (Joanna Heimbold) has a wicked streak. The sweaty climax involves a business deal that Marty and Laura flub while their marriage and dignity survive.
SEX MONSTER
Molly-B Prods.
Writer-director: Mike Binder
Producers: Jack Binder, Scott Stephens
Executive producers: Peter Savarino, Jim Harbaugh, Marc Frydman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Laura: Mariel Hemingway
Marty: Mike Binder
Didi: Renee Humphrey
Billy: Taylor Nichols
Diva: Missy Crider
Dave: Christopher Lawford
Evie: Joanna Heimbold
Dr. Berman: Kevin Pollak
Murphy: Stephen Baldwin
Running time -- 97 minutes
No MPAA rating...
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