It’s that time of year again. While some directors annually share their favorite films of the year, Steven Soderbergh lists everything he consumed, media-wise. For 2023––another year in which he not only Magic Mike’s Last Dance Review: Steven Soderbergh and Channing Tatum Take a Familiar, Gentle Bow”>released a new film, but dropped two TV series (Full Circle and Command Z“>Command Z) and shot another film (the Sundance-bound Presence)––he still got plenty of watching in.
Along with catching up on 2023’s new releases, Ferrari, Anatomy of a Fall, How to Blow Up a Pipeline, Air, Reality, Dead Reckoning, among others), he took in plenty of classics, including Eyes Wide Shut, Kind Hearts and Coronets, Casablanca, Out of the Past, The Shining, the epic War and Peace, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and, following Tom Wilkinson’s passing, Michael Clayton. He also got an early look at Pussy Island,...
Along with catching up on 2023’s new releases, Ferrari, Anatomy of a Fall, How to Blow Up a Pipeline, Air, Reality, Dead Reckoning, among others), he took in plenty of classics, including Eyes Wide Shut, Kind Hearts and Coronets, Casablanca, Out of the Past, The Shining, the epic War and Peace, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and, following Tom Wilkinson’s passing, Michael Clayton. He also got an early look at Pussy Island,...
- 1/4/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
These days Jane Campion – Palme d’Or and Oscar-winning film director – is celebrated for a vein of heartfelt cinema that is aching and quirky, rather than gushing. She’s also an intelligent and determined female pioneer who has had to struggle for her present standing in a male-dominated industry.
The Sydney Film Festival this week is showcasing and contextualizing her body of work. Its screening program includes all nine of her feature works, from “Two Friends” to “The Power of the Dog,” and a selection of her short films.
“For our 70th edition, we wanted to present a retrospective commensurate with the milestone, reflecting the audacious and boundary pushing filmmaking synonymous with our festival and region. There was no one more appropriate than Jane Campion,” said Sff director Nashen Moodley in notes ahead of the event.
On Saturday, the festival screened Julie Bertucelli’s 2022 documentary “Jane Campion, the Cinema Woman...
The Sydney Film Festival this week is showcasing and contextualizing her body of work. Its screening program includes all nine of her feature works, from “Two Friends” to “The Power of the Dog,” and a selection of her short films.
“For our 70th edition, we wanted to present a retrospective commensurate with the milestone, reflecting the audacious and boundary pushing filmmaking synonymous with our festival and region. There was no one more appropriate than Jane Campion,” said Sff director Nashen Moodley in notes ahead of the event.
On Saturday, the festival screened Julie Bertucelli’s 2022 documentary “Jane Campion, the Cinema Woman...
- 6/11/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
For Variety‘s Writers on Writers, Susanna Moore pens a tribute to “Power of the Dog” (screenplay by Jane Campion).
Jane Campion’s film “The Power of the Dog” is an adaptation of the 1967 novel of the same name, written by Thomas Savage and set in Montana in 1925. The landscape, rich with beauty and meaning, soon reveals the characters in all of their solitude and torment, and we realize that “The Power of the Dog” is something far more complex than an amplification of an idealized West and its codes of conduct. The tension that pervades the film is hard to reconcile with the masculine vitality and even brash gallantry inherent in the myth of the American cowboy.
The actors in the film, Benedict Cumberbatch (the rancher Phil Burbank), Jesse Plemons (Phil’s brother George), Kirsten Dunst, all of whom are averse to personal revelation and exposure, leave it to...
Jane Campion’s film “The Power of the Dog” is an adaptation of the 1967 novel of the same name, written by Thomas Savage and set in Montana in 1925. The landscape, rich with beauty and meaning, soon reveals the characters in all of their solitude and torment, and we realize that “The Power of the Dog” is something far more complex than an amplification of an idealized West and its codes of conduct. The tension that pervades the film is hard to reconcile with the masculine vitality and even brash gallantry inherent in the myth of the American cowboy.
The actors in the film, Benedict Cumberbatch (the rancher Phil Burbank), Jesse Plemons (Phil’s brother George), Kirsten Dunst, all of whom are averse to personal revelation and exposure, leave it to...
- 12/22/2021
- by Susanna Moore
- Variety Film + TV
Michael Laughlin, a filmmaker and producer whose credits included the likes of 1971’s “Two-Lane Blacktop” and 1981’s “Strange Behavior,” died on Oct. 20 from complications related to Covid-19. He was 82 years old.
Laughlin’s death was confirmed to Variety by his friend Brooke Nasser. He died in Honolulu, Hawaii, where had been living for many years.
Laughlin was born and raised in Illinois. He was recruited to play basketball at Stanford University and graduated from Principia College in 1960.
After moving to London, Laughlin began a career as a film producer, working on projects such as Bryan Forbes’ 1967 thriller “The Whispers” and the 1968 feature “Joanna,” director Michael Sarne’s precursor to “Myra Breckinridge.” He met and married French actress and ballerina Leslie Caron during his time abroad. The two separated in 1975.
During the 1970s, Laughlin helped bring eight independent features to fruition, including the Monte Hellman-directed cult classic “Two-Lane Blacktop.” Interviews...
Laughlin’s death was confirmed to Variety by his friend Brooke Nasser. He died in Honolulu, Hawaii, where had been living for many years.
Laughlin was born and raised in Illinois. He was recruited to play basketball at Stanford University and graduated from Principia College in 1960.
After moving to London, Laughlin began a career as a film producer, working on projects such as Bryan Forbes’ 1967 thriller “The Whispers” and the 1968 feature “Joanna,” director Michael Sarne’s precursor to “Myra Breckinridge.” He met and married French actress and ballerina Leslie Caron during his time abroad. The two separated in 1975.
During the 1970s, Laughlin helped bring eight independent features to fruition, including the Monte Hellman-directed cult classic “Two-Lane Blacktop.” Interviews...
- 10/31/2021
- by J. Kim Murphy
- Variety Film + TV
Michael Chabon's "The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" could be coming to a screen near you.
According to Collider, director Stephen Daldry wants to turn the novel into a miniseries for HBO.
"I would love to do something for TV," he said. "I wanna do Kavalier & Clay on HBO as an eight-parter. It'll be so much better as a series, honestly."
There's just one catch -- Daldry doesn't have the rights to the book. Paramount does -- though Daldry himself was signed on at one point to direct a film version, the project has continued to languish.
"I spent a year working on it with Michael Chabon, so we're pretty close," Daldry told Collider. "And the rights, good question. Will Paramount give them to me? I don't know. It'll be a really good one. It'd go great with 'Boardwalk Empire.'"
HBO is already working with Chabon and...
According to Collider, director Stephen Daldry wants to turn the novel into a miniseries for HBO.
"I would love to do something for TV," he said. "I wanna do Kavalier & Clay on HBO as an eight-parter. It'll be so much better as a series, honestly."
There's just one catch -- Daldry doesn't have the rights to the book. Paramount does -- though Daldry himself was signed on at one point to direct a film version, the project has continued to languish.
"I spent a year working on it with Michael Chabon, so we're pretty close," Daldry told Collider. "And the rights, good question. Will Paramount give them to me? I don't know. It'll be a really good one. It'd go great with 'Boardwalk Empire.'"
HBO is already working with Chabon and...
- 12/13/2011
- by The Huffington Post
- Huffington Post
Joel Schumacher is reportedly in talks to direct a new HBO drama pilot. The Phone Booth director could helm The Big Girls, according to Deadline. The Big Girls, based on the 2007 novel by Susanna Moore, will follow a young psychiatrist at a women's prison who treats the criminally insane while also dealing with her own psychological issues. Adam Mazer will adapt the book for television. The writer won an Emmy last year for his work on HBO television movie (more)...
- 6/28/2011
- by By Morgan Jeffery
- Digital Spy
Susanna Moore's The Big Girls series teams producers Charlie Corwin, Ben Silverman and Joel Schumacher. Producer Charlie Corwin will, together with Ben Silverman and director Joel Schumacher, develop a series based on The Big Girls by Susanna Moore which Adam Mazer is scripting. Original Media and Corwin are also working with Schumacher on the development of a feature thriller. Corwin is on a strong role, having thirteen shows on the air or about to make their premiere, most falling in the "docu-soap" genre, reports Variety.
- 6/28/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Susanna Moore's The Big Girls series teams producers Charlie Corwin, Ben Silverman and Joel Schumacher. Producer Charlie Corwin will, together with Ben Silverman and director Joel Schumacher, develop a series based on The Big Girls by Susanna Moore which Adam Mazer is scripting. Original Media and Corwin are also working with Schumacher on the development of a feature thriller. Corwin is on a strong role, having thirteen shows on the air or about to make their premiere, most falling in the "docu-soap" genre, reports Variety.
- 6/28/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Susanna Moore's The Big Girls series teams producers Charlie Corwin, Ben Silverman and Joel Schumacher. Producer Charlie Corwin will, together with Ben Silverman and director Joel Schumacher, develop a series based on The Big Girls by Susanna Moore which Adam Mazer is scripting. Original Media and Corwin are also working with Schumacher on the development of a feature thriller. Corwin is on a strong role, having thirteen shows on the air or about to make their premiere, most falling in the "docu-soap" genre, reports Variety.
- 6/28/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Screened
Toronto International Film Festival
Jane Campion has applied her considerable filmmaking talents to the complex psychological thriller genre with some erotically charged but ultimately disappointing results.
Taking Susanna Moore's 1995 noir best seller as her blueprint, Campion has crafted a female-driven vehicle that doesn't shy away from the darker, not-always-pretty corners of human impulses.
But though she has drawn a couple of admirably courageous performances from leads Meg Ryan and Mark Ruffalo, In the Cut fails to hit those all-important marks intrinsic to the success of every screen crime thriller.
Serious character credibility issues aside, the tension in the film keeps going slack when it should be winding ever so tightly, while the obligatory twist ending (with a coda that differs significantly from the novel) comes as a major, dramatically limp, letdown.
Those steamy encounters, combined with Campion's own deserved following, should help the Screen Gems picture generate some initial business, but critical word-of-mouth isn't going to be encouraging.
Stripped of nonessential cosmetics as well as her bag of perky acting tricks, Ryan delivers a fearless, emotionally raw performance as Frannie Avery, a single New York writing professor who seems to use her lank, mousy brown hair to shield herself from the city's colder elements.
One such element surfaces in the form of the grisly murder of a young woman that took place near Frannie's apartment, and NYPD Detective Michael Malloy (Ruffalo) turns up to question her in the hope that she might have seen the potential perp.
Frannie has reason to believe that she recognizes Malloy as the man with the odd tattoo on his wrist whom she spied having a quickie encounter with a woman in the murky basement of a local bar.
Although she tries to keep her distance, Frannie finds herself being increasingly attracted to Malloy, and with the approval of her half sister, Pauline Jennifer Jason Leigh), she enters into a sordid relationship with him.
Meanwhile, as the killer continues to go about his business, the whodunit possibilities also mount, and Frannie begins to suspect Malloy. Or could it be her stalker of an ex-boyfriend (Kevin Bacon)? Or one of her more intense students (Sharrieff Pugh), who's writing a paper contending the innocence of serial killer John Wayne Gacy?
Campion, in tandem with cinematographer Dion Beebe (Chicago) and production designer David Brisbin (City of Ghosts), does an effective job of creating the dread-soaked atmosphere. There's a palpable menace lurking around every neon-flickering corner.
She also gets those sweaty liaisons down cold, or rather hot, with a matter-of-fact frankness that might have felt less convincing in the hands of a male director.
But it's the scripting, handled by Campion and Moore, that proves the picture's ultimate undoing. There's nothing wrong with grafting a psychological study of the boundaries of contemporary intimacy onto the thriller framework, provided that all the analysis doesn't interfere with the genre's constantly spinning wheels.
In the end, by not respecting those fundamental rules, In the Cut emerges as a frustrating cop-out.
In the Cut
Screen Gems
Credits:
Director: Jane Campion
Executive producers: Effie T. Brown, Francois Ivernel
Producers: Laurie Parker, Nicole Kidman
Screenplay: Jane Campion and Susanna Moore
Director of photography: Dion Beebe
Production designer: David Brisbin
Editor: Alexandre de Franceschi
Costume designer: Beatrix Aruna Pasztor
Music: Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson
Cast:
Frannie Avery: Meg Ryan
Detective Malloy: Mark Ruffalo
Pauline: Jennifer Jason Leigh
John Graham: Kevin Bacon
Detective Rodriguez: Nick Damici
Cornelius: Sharrieff Pugh
Running time -- 113 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Toronto International Film Festival
Jane Campion has applied her considerable filmmaking talents to the complex psychological thriller genre with some erotically charged but ultimately disappointing results.
Taking Susanna Moore's 1995 noir best seller as her blueprint, Campion has crafted a female-driven vehicle that doesn't shy away from the darker, not-always-pretty corners of human impulses.
But though she has drawn a couple of admirably courageous performances from leads Meg Ryan and Mark Ruffalo, In the Cut fails to hit those all-important marks intrinsic to the success of every screen crime thriller.
Serious character credibility issues aside, the tension in the film keeps going slack when it should be winding ever so tightly, while the obligatory twist ending (with a coda that differs significantly from the novel) comes as a major, dramatically limp, letdown.
Those steamy encounters, combined with Campion's own deserved following, should help the Screen Gems picture generate some initial business, but critical word-of-mouth isn't going to be encouraging.
Stripped of nonessential cosmetics as well as her bag of perky acting tricks, Ryan delivers a fearless, emotionally raw performance as Frannie Avery, a single New York writing professor who seems to use her lank, mousy brown hair to shield herself from the city's colder elements.
One such element surfaces in the form of the grisly murder of a young woman that took place near Frannie's apartment, and NYPD Detective Michael Malloy (Ruffalo) turns up to question her in the hope that she might have seen the potential perp.
Frannie has reason to believe that she recognizes Malloy as the man with the odd tattoo on his wrist whom she spied having a quickie encounter with a woman in the murky basement of a local bar.
Although she tries to keep her distance, Frannie finds herself being increasingly attracted to Malloy, and with the approval of her half sister, Pauline Jennifer Jason Leigh), she enters into a sordid relationship with him.
Meanwhile, as the killer continues to go about his business, the whodunit possibilities also mount, and Frannie begins to suspect Malloy. Or could it be her stalker of an ex-boyfriend (Kevin Bacon)? Or one of her more intense students (Sharrieff Pugh), who's writing a paper contending the innocence of serial killer John Wayne Gacy?
Campion, in tandem with cinematographer Dion Beebe (Chicago) and production designer David Brisbin (City of Ghosts), does an effective job of creating the dread-soaked atmosphere. There's a palpable menace lurking around every neon-flickering corner.
She also gets those sweaty liaisons down cold, or rather hot, with a matter-of-fact frankness that might have felt less convincing in the hands of a male director.
But it's the scripting, handled by Campion and Moore, that proves the picture's ultimate undoing. There's nothing wrong with grafting a psychological study of the boundaries of contemporary intimacy onto the thriller framework, provided that all the analysis doesn't interfere with the genre's constantly spinning wheels.
In the end, by not respecting those fundamental rules, In the Cut emerges as a frustrating cop-out.
In the Cut
Screen Gems
Credits:
Director: Jane Campion
Executive producers: Effie T. Brown, Francois Ivernel
Producers: Laurie Parker, Nicole Kidman
Screenplay: Jane Campion and Susanna Moore
Director of photography: Dion Beebe
Production designer: David Brisbin
Editor: Alexandre de Franceschi
Costume designer: Beatrix Aruna Pasztor
Music: Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson
Cast:
Frannie Avery: Meg Ryan
Detective Malloy: Mark Ruffalo
Pauline: Jennifer Jason Leigh
John Graham: Kevin Bacon
Detective Rodriguez: Nick Damici
Cornelius: Sharrieff Pugh
Running time -- 113 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 11/18/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Hollywood sweetheart Meg Ryan appears to be shedding her girl-next-door image - her latest movie is based on a gritty and sadistic novel. The French Kiss actress plays teacher Franny Thorstin in Jane Campion's film In The Cut, based on the book by Susanna Moore. The grim story deals with murder, sadism, and sex and "the book ends suddenly in a sick and sadistic way," according to one reader. Another reviewer remarked on Amazon's website, "To me, Susanna Moore's novel is more porn than literature." One Hollywood insider says, "Meg hasn't been that well received in her last few roles. She must really be looking to reposition herself." However Meg's spokesperson explains, "She's not repositioning herself. She's just excited about working with Campion." Her spokesperson adds Meg has done "intense, dramatic films before, such as Courage Under Fire and Hurly Burly. It's just that people remember her comedies."...
- 7/24/2002
- WENN
Actress Meg Ryan's to get sexy in her next movie after signing up for Nicole Kidman's producing debut. Kidman originally eyed erotic thriller In The Cut after optioning Susanna Moore's book out of her own pocket in 1996, but has since chosen to executive produce the film. The movie, to be directed by Oscar winner Jane Campion, will start filming in April in New York, and focuses on a teacher who lives to take chances by night.
- 2/15/2002
- WENN
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