Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products released each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.
Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!
Vincent Price Figure from Super 7
Vincent Price is joining Super 7’s ReAction Figure line. The 3.75″ retro-style toy has five points of articulation and comes with a raven. Ed Repka designed the backer card art. Shipping in November, it’s available to pre-order for 20.
The master of mayhem, sporting a red ascot, is labeled as “Wave 1,” so we can expect more Price figures in the future.
Halloween III Shirt from Uglie Kids Club
Halloween III is celebrating its 40th anniversary and Boo Buckets are back at McDonald’s in the same week, making Uglie Kids Club’s mash-up as timely as it is clever.
The Halftone Horror design is available to pre-order on T-shirts for...
Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!
Vincent Price Figure from Super 7
Vincent Price is joining Super 7’s ReAction Figure line. The 3.75″ retro-style toy has five points of articulation and comes with a raven. Ed Repka designed the backer card art. Shipping in November, it’s available to pre-order for 20.
The master of mayhem, sporting a red ascot, is labeled as “Wave 1,” so we can expect more Price figures in the future.
Halloween III Shirt from Uglie Kids Club
Halloween III is celebrating its 40th anniversary and Boo Buckets are back at McDonald’s in the same week, making Uglie Kids Club’s mash-up as timely as it is clever.
The Halftone Horror design is available to pre-order on T-shirts for...
- 10/21/2022
- by Alex DiVincenzo
- bloody-disgusting.com
Throughout the landscape of cinema, love appears in many different forms. From those iconic relationships between the more stereotypical pairings to the ones centering on offbeat individuals, there's no limit to the types of affection Hollywood showcases. But the category that contains some of the more creative examples of love is science fiction. After all, science fiction is known for its imaginative tales of intergalactic adventures, time travel, and soundlessly fascinating stories -- making their intimate moments anything but ordinary.
As a tribute to the bold pairings within this ever-evolving genre, we'll look at the most memorable love scenes within sci-fi films. has to offer. From the sexy to the strange to the beautiful and the bizarre, we'll cover all of the cinematic bases (pun intended) to prove why cinematic intimacy is at its best within this unique genre. So buckle up, and let's explore the chaotic yet stunning world of science fiction love sequences!
As a tribute to the bold pairings within this ever-evolving genre, we'll look at the most memorable love scenes within sci-fi films. has to offer. From the sexy to the strange to the beautiful and the bizarre, we'll cover all of the cinematic bases (pun intended) to prove why cinematic intimacy is at its best within this unique genre. So buckle up, and let's explore the chaotic yet stunning world of science fiction love sequences!
- 10/19/2022
- by Dalin Rowell
- Slash Film
Every once in a while a movie makes me think, ‘this one’s too good to review, just tell them to see it and they’ll understand.’ John Cusack is a penny-ante small stakes cheat, his girlfriend Annette Bening hooks on the side while seeking a partner for ‘long cons,’ and his mother is an operative for the Mob, placing large bets at the race track to manipulate the odds on select horses. Each worships the ‘left-handed form of human endeavor’ and depends on it to the degree that human trust just can’t be maintained. Paramount’s plain wrap re-issue touts the film’s four Oscar nominations; the Stephen Frears film is the best adaptation yet of a Jim Thompson crime novel.
The Grifters
Blu-ray + Digital
Paramount
1990 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date July 27, 2021 / 13.99
Starring: John Cusack, Anjelica Huston, Annette Bening, Pat Hingle, J.T. Walsh, Noelle Harling, Charles Napier,...
The Grifters
Blu-ray + Digital
Paramount
1990 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date July 27, 2021 / 13.99
Starring: John Cusack, Anjelica Huston, Annette Bening, Pat Hingle, J.T. Walsh, Noelle Harling, Charles Napier,...
- 9/7/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Cinematographer Charlie Jenkins won two prizes.
The UK’S National Film and Television School (Nfts) has awarded prizes to its students at the 2021 Graduation Showcase, held in-person at the BFI Southbank and Odeon Leicester Square in London.
The showcase took place over four days of socially-distanced screenings and networking at the Southbank venue, following the graduation ceremony on Monday May 24 at the Odeon, where Sam Mendes was awarded an Nfts honorary fellowship.
Cinematography Ma student Charlie Jenkins won two key awards – the £1,000 prize for Most Promising Student; and the best cinematographer award for his work on fiction film Muse, for...
The UK’S National Film and Television School (Nfts) has awarded prizes to its students at the 2021 Graduation Showcase, held in-person at the BFI Southbank and Odeon Leicester Square in London.
The showcase took place over four days of socially-distanced screenings and networking at the Southbank venue, following the graduation ceremony on Monday May 24 at the Odeon, where Sam Mendes was awarded an Nfts honorary fellowship.
Cinematography Ma student Charlie Jenkins won two key awards – the £1,000 prize for Most Promising Student; and the best cinematographer award for his work on fiction film Muse, for...
- 5/28/2021
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The U.K.’s National Film and Television School (Nfts) has successfully returned to production with some 60 films of varying lengths and genres, including graduation films, being shot since courses resumed in June.
The first test project to shoot trialling the U.K.’s Covid-19 production guidelines was the short “Our Love Is Here To Stay,” which looks at the practicalities of production in the time of coronavirus, and gets across its safety-first message in a light-hearted manner. It was shot on Stage One at the Nfts facilities in Beaconsfield.
Richard Lingard, course leader for assistant directing and floor managing at the Nfts, said there was some initial nervousness about going back into production. “The more we thought about it from the faculty level, the more we realized that it would be unfair to put students through something we haven’t done ourselves,” Lingard told Variety.
To instil confidence, the faculty,...
The first test project to shoot trialling the U.K.’s Covid-19 production guidelines was the short “Our Love Is Here To Stay,” which looks at the practicalities of production in the time of coronavirus, and gets across its safety-first message in a light-hearted manner. It was shot on Stage One at the Nfts facilities in Beaconsfield.
Richard Lingard, course leader for assistant directing and floor managing at the Nfts, said there was some initial nervousness about going back into production. “The more we thought about it from the faculty level, the more we realized that it would be unfair to put students through something we haven’t done ourselves,” Lingard told Variety.
To instil confidence, the faculty,...
- 9/17/2020
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Versatile veteran actor and multihyphenate Danny DeVito, whose memorable roles include such projects at TV’s “Taxi” and Miloš Forman’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” will receive a Lifetime Achievement award for acting at the Camerimage International Film Festival, which runs in Toruń, Poland, on Nov. 9-16.
In the awards arena, DeVito shared a best picture Oscar nom with Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher as producer on Steven Soderbergh’s “Erin Brokovich” (2001). He also won a Golden Globe as best actor in a supporting role for “Taxi” in 1978.
Camerimage is a cinematography-focused event and festgoers are sure to ask DeVito about his collaborations with such DPs as Oliver Stapleton on Taylor Hackford’s “The Comedian” (2016), Dante Spinotti on Curtis Hanson’s “L.A. Confidential” (1997), Donald Peterman on Barry Sonnenfield’s “Get Shorty” (1995), Stefan Czapsky on Tim Burton’s “Batman Returns” (1992) and Dean Cundey on Robert Zemeckis’ “Romancing the Stone...
In the awards arena, DeVito shared a best picture Oscar nom with Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher as producer on Steven Soderbergh’s “Erin Brokovich” (2001). He also won a Golden Globe as best actor in a supporting role for “Taxi” in 1978.
Camerimage is a cinematography-focused event and festgoers are sure to ask DeVito about his collaborations with such DPs as Oliver Stapleton on Taylor Hackford’s “The Comedian” (2016), Dante Spinotti on Curtis Hanson’s “L.A. Confidential” (1997), Donald Peterman on Barry Sonnenfield’s “Get Shorty” (1995), Stefan Czapsky on Tim Burton’s “Batman Returns” (1992) and Dean Cundey on Robert Zemeckis’ “Romancing the Stone...
- 10/25/2019
- by Peter Caranicas
- Variety Film + TV
Just 20 movies.
First starting in the brilliant John Schlesinger film Sunday Bloody Sunday, Daniel Day-Lewis has become arguably one of the greatest and most highly regarded thespians in the history of cinema. And yet he has only 20 credits to his name. For a craft that sees even the biggest of Hollywood stars sign on for just about any project that comes their way, Daniel Day-Lewis has become a genre defining actor on almost a part-time like schedule.
It’s not something new for the actor either.
Look at one of his greatest achievements, Stephen Frears’ My Beautiful Laundrette. 14 years after his debut, this marked his first performance of any real note, taking secondary billing in what would become one of the definitive cinematic achievements of 1980s British cinema.
Penned by Hanif Kureishi, My Beautiful Laundrette stars Gordon Warnecke as Omar, a young man who convinces his uncle Nasser (Saeed Jaffrey...
First starting in the brilliant John Schlesinger film Sunday Bloody Sunday, Daniel Day-Lewis has become arguably one of the greatest and most highly regarded thespians in the history of cinema. And yet he has only 20 credits to his name. For a craft that sees even the biggest of Hollywood stars sign on for just about any project that comes their way, Daniel Day-Lewis has become a genre defining actor on almost a part-time like schedule.
It’s not something new for the actor either.
Look at one of his greatest achievements, Stephen Frears’ My Beautiful Laundrette. 14 years after his debut, this marked his first performance of any real note, taking secondary billing in what would become one of the definitive cinematic achievements of 1980s British cinema.
Penned by Hanif Kureishi, My Beautiful Laundrette stars Gordon Warnecke as Omar, a young man who convinces his uncle Nasser (Saeed Jaffrey...
- 7/24/2015
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
When Hot is Cold: Fletcher’s Tone Deaf Comedy a Frivolous Altercation
For those familiar with director Anne Fletcher’s studio track record, including the rom-com platitudes of The Proposal (2009) and the broad mother and son road trip comedy The Guilt Trip (2011), it will hardly be surprising to find a similar lack of comical finesse on hand in the shrill insistence of her latest venture, Hot Pursuit. Basically another blacktop jaunt desperately trying to amuse with a countless host of familiar squirming scenarios, television alums David Feeney and John Quintance try to inject their small screen inclined tropes into the old odd couple formula with a surprising lack of success. This had to have been something that seemed like it could have worked thanks to the talent it attracted to headline, but the vehicle serves a complete disserve to its leading ladies, on both content and visual fronts.
We’re...
For those familiar with director Anne Fletcher’s studio track record, including the rom-com platitudes of The Proposal (2009) and the broad mother and son road trip comedy The Guilt Trip (2011), it will hardly be surprising to find a similar lack of comical finesse on hand in the shrill insistence of her latest venture, Hot Pursuit. Basically another blacktop jaunt desperately trying to amuse with a countless host of familiar squirming scenarios, television alums David Feeney and John Quintance try to inject their small screen inclined tropes into the old odd couple formula with a surprising lack of success. This had to have been something that seemed like it could have worked thanks to the talent it attracted to headline, but the vehicle serves a complete disserve to its leading ladies, on both content and visual fronts.
We’re...
- 5/8/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Anne Fletcher has had an admirably diverse career, and as a director, she's proven herself to be at least somewhat commercially adept. "Step Up" inspired a slew of sequels, "The Proposal" was one of the biggest of Sandra Bullock's hits, and now she's back with what looks like a big easy summer comedy hit, "Hot Pursuit." It would be a lot easier to give the film a soft pass if it wasn't so aggressively lazy. I get it. Formula is easy, and there are plenty of films that exist largely to play directly to expectations. Not every film has to be some radical reinvention of the form. A movie like "Hot Pursuit" is incredibly easy for the people who are giving out the greenlights to understand. "Two stars, on the road, mistaken for bad guys, lots of jokes." If you strike gold with that basic formula, you get "Midnight Run.
- 5/6/2015
- by Drew McWeeny
- Hitfix
Birdman, Fury and Leviathan among main competition titles; Roland Joffé to preside over main jury.
Alejandro G Ińárritu, Yimou Zhang, Mike Leigh and Jean-Marc Vallée are among the directors with films screening in competition at the 22nd Camerimage (Nov 15-22), the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography.
The main competition at the festival, held in the Polish city of Bydgoszcz, comprises:
Alejandro G Ińárritu’s Birdman (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance); USA, 2014; Cinematographer: Emmanuel Lubezki
Yimou Zhang’s Coming Home (Gui lai); China, 2014; Cinematographer: Zhao Xiaoding
Richard Raymond’s Desert Dancer; UK, 2014; Cinematographer: Carlos Catalán Alucha
Lech J. Majewski’s Field of Dogs - Onirica (Onirica - Psie pole); Poland, 2014; Cinematographers: Paweł Tybora and Lech J. Majewski
Krzysztof Zanussi’s Foreign Body (Obce cialo); Poland, Italy, Russia, 2014; Cinematographer: Piotr Niemyjski
David Ayer’s Fury; USA, 2014; Cinematographer: Roman Vasyanov
Tate Taylor’s Get on Up; USA, 2014; Cinematographer: Stephen Goldblatt
Łukasz Palkowski’s Gods (Bogowie); Poland, 2014; Cinematographer:...
Alejandro G Ińárritu, Yimou Zhang, Mike Leigh and Jean-Marc Vallée are among the directors with films screening in competition at the 22nd Camerimage (Nov 15-22), the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography.
The main competition at the festival, held in the Polish city of Bydgoszcz, comprises:
Alejandro G Ińárritu’s Birdman (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance); USA, 2014; Cinematographer: Emmanuel Lubezki
Yimou Zhang’s Coming Home (Gui lai); China, 2014; Cinematographer: Zhao Xiaoding
Richard Raymond’s Desert Dancer; UK, 2014; Cinematographer: Carlos Catalán Alucha
Lech J. Majewski’s Field of Dogs - Onirica (Onirica - Psie pole); Poland, 2014; Cinematographers: Paweł Tybora and Lech J. Majewski
Krzysztof Zanussi’s Foreign Body (Obce cialo); Poland, Italy, Russia, 2014; Cinematographer: Piotr Niemyjski
David Ayer’s Fury; USA, 2014; Cinematographer: Roman Vasyanov
Tate Taylor’s Get on Up; USA, 2014; Cinematographer: Stephen Goldblatt
Łukasz Palkowski’s Gods (Bogowie); Poland, 2014; Cinematographer:...
- 10/31/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Polish film festival sets competition juries; Roland Joffe to preside over main competition.
Camerimage (Nov 15-22), the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography, has set an impressive roster of jurors for its various competition categories.
The Killing Fields director Roland Joffe will preside over the main competition jury, which incldues cinematographers Christian Berger and Manuel Alberto Claro.
Caleb Deschanel has been appointed president of the Polish Films Competition.
The full list of jurors is below.
Main Competition
Roland Joffé – Jury President (director, producer; The Killing Fields, The Mission, Vatel)
Christian Berger (cinematographer; The Piano Teacher, Hidden, The White Ribbon)
Ryszard Bugajski (director, screenwriter; Interrogation, General Nil, The Closed Circuit)
Ryszard Horowitz (photographer)
David Gropman (cinematographer; The Cider House Rules, Chocolat, Life of Pi)
Arthur Reinhart (cinematographer, producer; Crows, Tristan + Isolde, Venice)
Oliver Stapleton (cinematographer; The Cider House Rules, Pay It Forward, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark)
Manuel Alberto Claro (cinematographer; Reconstruction, Melancholia, Nymphomaniac...
Camerimage (Nov 15-22), the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography, has set an impressive roster of jurors for its various competition categories.
The Killing Fields director Roland Joffe will preside over the main competition jury, which incldues cinematographers Christian Berger and Manuel Alberto Claro.
Caleb Deschanel has been appointed president of the Polish Films Competition.
The full list of jurors is below.
Main Competition
Roland Joffé – Jury President (director, producer; The Killing Fields, The Mission, Vatel)
Christian Berger (cinematographer; The Piano Teacher, Hidden, The White Ribbon)
Ryszard Bugajski (director, screenwriter; Interrogation, General Nil, The Closed Circuit)
Ryszard Horowitz (photographer)
David Gropman (cinematographer; The Cider House Rules, Chocolat, Life of Pi)
Arthur Reinhart (cinematographer, producer; Crows, Tristan + Isolde, Venice)
Oliver Stapleton (cinematographer; The Cider House Rules, Pay It Forward, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark)
Manuel Alberto Claro (cinematographer; Reconstruction, Melancholia, Nymphomaniac...
- 10/31/2014
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
The Guilt Trip stars Seth Rogen as Andy Brewster, an inventor about to embark on the road trip of a lifetime, and who better to accompany him than his overbearing mother Joyce, played by Barbra Streisand. After deciding to start his adventure with a quick visit at mom’s, Andy is guilted into bringing her along for the ride. Across 3,000 miles of ever-changing landscape, he is constantly aggravated by her antics, but over time he comes to realize that their lives have more in common than he originally thought. His mother’s advice might end up being exactly what he needs. The Guilt Trip is directed by Anne Fletcher, written by Dan Fogelman and produced by Lorne Michaels, John Goldwyn and Evan Goldberg.
The Guilt Trip opens everywhere December 19th.
Paramount Pictures and Wamg invite you to enter to win a pass (good for 2) to the advance screening of The Guilt Trip...
The Guilt Trip opens everywhere December 19th.
Paramount Pictures and Wamg invite you to enter to win a pass (good for 2) to the advance screening of The Guilt Trip...
- 12/13/2012
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Chicago – Just as Peter Jackson’s adaptation of “The Lovely Bones” suffered from visual over-saturation, writer/producer Guillermo del Toro’s remake of John Newland’s 1973 TV movie succumbs to ineffectual excess. As soon as its fearsome creatures appear for longer than a flash frame, they instantly lose their scare-factor. Didn’t del Toro and his crew learn anything from “Signs”?
Audiences have become so accustomed to the fluid movement of computer animation that it has lost its power to truly terrify. The fantastical beings in del Toro’s 2006 masterpiece, “Pan’s Labyrinth,” benefited from fusions of intricate costumes and nearly seamless digitalized details. It’s clear that the filmmaker is most skilled at making creature features, yet his unrestrained approach is all wrong for “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” which is a thriller that’s meant to play on the mind.
Blu-ray Rating: 2.0/5.0
Admittedly, del Toro’s...
Audiences have become so accustomed to the fluid movement of computer animation that it has lost its power to truly terrify. The fantastical beings in del Toro’s 2006 masterpiece, “Pan’s Labyrinth,” benefited from fusions of intricate costumes and nearly seamless digitalized details. It’s clear that the filmmaker is most skilled at making creature features, yet his unrestrained approach is all wrong for “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” which is a thriller that’s meant to play on the mind.
Blu-ray Rating: 2.0/5.0
Admittedly, del Toro’s...
- 1/12/2012
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
It seems like it’s been forever since we’ve gotten a new film from Guillermo del Toro. Looking back at his filmography confirms that his last directorial turn was just about three years ago, when he brought us Hellboy II. Of course, if you’ve been following the man’s career during the time after that film, then you likely know that a good part of the reason he’s been out of the Director’s chair for so long is that he was working on bringing The Hobbit to the big screen; until that particular project fell apart and Peter Jackson rescued it.
To be honest, it seems like a lot of Del Toro’s projects as of late have suffered that same fate. At one time, he was all set to bring us a big-budget adaptation of Lovecraft’s At The Mountains Of Madness. Unfortunately for us,...
To be honest, it seems like a lot of Del Toro’s projects as of late have suffered that same fate. At one time, he was all set to bring us a big-budget adaptation of Lovecraft’s At The Mountains Of Madness. Unfortunately for us,...
- 1/8/2012
- by Jeff
- The Liberal Dead
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark opens with a basement-set flashback set over one hundred years ago, and it’s a fantastic sequence. Disturbing and chilling without being graphic, the beginning builds in intensity to a deliciously horrific payoff. Yet, as well-made as the rest of the film is, the majority of it is decidedly restrained and, ultimately, nothing impresses as much as its opening moments.
Depressed youngster Sally (Bailee Madison) is especially unhappy with being sent across the country to live in a creepy old mansion with her workaholic, house-renovating father (Guy Pearce) and his new girlfriend, Kim (Katie Holmes). Pouting, Sally takes to playing in the dark basement and starts to hear strange sounds. She soon discovers the mansion houses little creatures who possess an odd penchant for feeding on children’s teeth. Naturally, her father doesn’t believe her. He’s only interested in finishing the...
Depressed youngster Sally (Bailee Madison) is especially unhappy with being sent across the country to live in a creepy old mansion with her workaholic, house-renovating father (Guy Pearce) and his new girlfriend, Kim (Katie Holmes). Pouting, Sally takes to playing in the dark basement and starts to hear strange sounds. She soon discovers the mansion houses little creatures who possess an odd penchant for feeding on children’s teeth. Naturally, her father doesn’t believe her. He’s only interested in finishing the...
- 8/26/2011
- by Glenn Kay
- newsinfilm.com
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
Directed by Troy Nixey
Written by Guillermo del Toro & Matthew Robbins
2011, USA
It’s been nearly 40 years since the 1973 ABC telepic Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark terrified youngsters across the globe – one of them being a 9-year-old Guillermo del Toro, who has since cited it as a major influence on his career. Now comes a remake/re-imagination of that film, penned by Del Toro and Matthew Robbins, and directed by comic book artist Troy Nixey. The trio set out to make a G-rated supernatural thriller for a new generation and despite the absurd MPAA R-rating, Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark is just that: a perfect gateway into the world of horror films, a tantalizing spine-tingler and one that will hopefully inspire the next Guillermo del Toro.
The 2011 version opens with an unsettling prologue featuring an old man named Emerson Blackwood,...
Directed by Troy Nixey
Written by Guillermo del Toro & Matthew Robbins
2011, USA
It’s been nearly 40 years since the 1973 ABC telepic Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark terrified youngsters across the globe – one of them being a 9-year-old Guillermo del Toro, who has since cited it as a major influence on his career. Now comes a remake/re-imagination of that film, penned by Del Toro and Matthew Robbins, and directed by comic book artist Troy Nixey. The trio set out to make a G-rated supernatural thriller for a new generation and despite the absurd MPAA R-rating, Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark is just that: a perfect gateway into the world of horror films, a tantalizing spine-tingler and one that will hopefully inspire the next Guillermo del Toro.
The 2011 version opens with an unsettling prologue featuring an old man named Emerson Blackwood,...
- 8/7/2011
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Director: Anne Fletcher
Writer: Pete Chiarelli
Cinematographer: Oliver Stapleton
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Mary Steenburgen, Craig T. Nelson, Betty White
Studio/Run Time: Walt Disney Studios, 107 mins.
Never underestimate the power of comedic timing
In trying to keep from being deported back to Canada, successful New York book editor Margaret Tate (Bullock) convinces her American assistant Andrew (Reynolds) to marry her—then has to convince a skeptical I.N.S. agent that her wedding plans are genuinely blissful. The couple heads to Andrew’s home of Sitka, Alaska to meet his family, who persuades the couple to get married there, not knowing their true intentions.
Writer: Pete Chiarelli
Cinematographer: Oliver Stapleton
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Mary Steenburgen, Craig T. Nelson, Betty White
Studio/Run Time: Walt Disney Studios, 107 mins.
Never underestimate the power of comedic timing
In trying to keep from being deported back to Canada, successful New York book editor Margaret Tate (Bullock) convinces her American assistant Andrew (Reynolds) to marry her—then has to convince a skeptical I.N.S. agent that her wedding plans are genuinely blissful. The couple heads to Andrew’s home of Sitka, Alaska to meet his family, who persuades the couple to get married there, not knowing their true intentions.
- 6/19/2009
- Pastemagazine.com
Release Date: Oct. 3
Director: Robert B. Weide
Writers: Peter Straughan (screenplay), Toby Young (book)
Cinematographer: Oliver Stapleton
Starring: Simong Pegg, Kirsten Dunst, Megan Fox, Gillian Anderson
Studio/Run Time: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 110 mins.
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People is the dark twin of 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada. Instead of Anne Hathaway playing a young and determined writer, How to Lose features Simon Pegg as Sidney Young, British pseudo-equivalent running a small Spy-esque magazine falling on hard times. He attracts the notice of famous editor Clayton Harding (Jeff Bridges), whose first magazine was in the same vein, and is offered a job writing for Sharp, a clear stand-in for Vanity Fair. But due to incompetence and a general unlikeability, he has a hard time getting anywhere and seems destined to return home without fulfilling his dreams of writing about the stars.
Director: Robert B. Weide
Writers: Peter Straughan (screenplay), Toby Young (book)
Cinematographer: Oliver Stapleton
Starring: Simong Pegg, Kirsten Dunst, Megan Fox, Gillian Anderson
Studio/Run Time: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 110 mins.
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People is the dark twin of 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada. Instead of Anne Hathaway playing a young and determined writer, How to Lose features Simon Pegg as Sidney Young, British pseudo-equivalent running a small Spy-esque magazine falling on hard times. He attracts the notice of famous editor Clayton Harding (Jeff Bridges), whose first magazine was in the same vein, and is offered a job writing for Sharp, a clear stand-in for Vanity Fair. But due to incompetence and a general unlikeability, he has a hard time getting anywhere and seems destined to return home without fulfilling his dreams of writing about the stars.
- 10/14/2008
- Pastemagazine.com
Family films that won't make adults gag are always in short supply, so a pleasing British fantasy, "The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep," is a welcome addition to the holiday season.
While it boasts a lower profile than many other Christmas releases, it might catch on with parents who want to take their kids to a movie that the entire family will actually enjoy. Nifty special effects and a first-rate British cast elevate this production.
Director Jay Russell showed his talent for intelligent family fare with My Dog Skip a few years ago. This film is more ambitious; the script by Robert Nelson Jacobs (adapted from a book by Dick King-Smith) spins a more complex narrative than most children's films.
The movie begins with an older man in a pub (the splendid Brian Cox) regaling a younger couple with a magical story that began during World War II. The film then flashes back to young Angus (Alex Etel) discovering a strange encrusted egg on the beach near his country house in Scotland. He takes it home, and it hatches, bringing forth the title character, who looks like an equine version of E.T.
Angus' father has gone off to war, and his mother (Emily Watson) is a bit distracted because a local regiment is billeted at her estate to watch for German submarines. Angus and his older sister (Priyanka Xi), with the help of a taciturn handyman (Ben Chaplin), try to conceal the water horse, which grows at alarming speed. When the army finally discovers the creature, Angus and his confederates must engineer its escape.
The script admirably melds whimsical fantasy, rambunctious comedy (much of it provided by a bulldog that is the water horse's chief nemesis), suspense, and poignant family drama. There's even a hint of romance, as Watson's Anne is an object of attraction for both the handyman and the platoon captain (David Morrissey). The film gets a boost from the classy cast. Watson demonstrates her innate warmth, while Chaplin radiates movie star charisma. Morrissey, who co-starred with Watson in Hilary and Jackie, lends able support. But it's Etel who anchors the movie. Unlike some American child actors, Etel is winsome without being cloyingly cute. He holds the screen as commandingly as the young Roddy McDowall, who might have played the part if the film had been made in the 1940s.
The film also benefits from the handsome cinematography of Oliver Stapleton, who takes advantage of the spectacular settings. (Although a few scenes were shot in Scotland, most of the movie was filmed in New Zealand.) While there's nothing groundbreaking about Water Horse, it provides a couple of hours of soothing escapism.
THE WATER HORSE: LEGEND OF THE DEEP
Columbia
Revolution Studios, Walden Media, Beacon Pictures
Credits:
Director: Jay Russell
Screenwriter: Robert Nelson Jacobs
Based on the book by: Dick King-Smith
Producers: Robert Bernstein, Douglas Rae, Barrie M. Osborne, Charlie Lyons
Executive producers: Charles Newirth, Jay Russell
Director of photography: Oliver Stapleton
Production designer: Tony Burrough
Music: James Newton Howard
Costume designer: John Bloomfield
Editor: Mark Warner
Cast:
Anne MacMorrow: Emily Watson
Angus MacMorrow: Alex Etel
Lewis Mowbray: Ben Chaplin
Capt. Hamilton: David Morrissey
Kirstie MacMorrow: Priyanka Xi
Sgt. Strunk: Marshall Napier
Sgt. Walker: Joel Tobeck
Lt. Wormsley: Erroll Shand
Old Angus: Brian Cox
Running time -- 111 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
While it boasts a lower profile than many other Christmas releases, it might catch on with parents who want to take their kids to a movie that the entire family will actually enjoy. Nifty special effects and a first-rate British cast elevate this production.
Director Jay Russell showed his talent for intelligent family fare with My Dog Skip a few years ago. This film is more ambitious; the script by Robert Nelson Jacobs (adapted from a book by Dick King-Smith) spins a more complex narrative than most children's films.
The movie begins with an older man in a pub (the splendid Brian Cox) regaling a younger couple with a magical story that began during World War II. The film then flashes back to young Angus (Alex Etel) discovering a strange encrusted egg on the beach near his country house in Scotland. He takes it home, and it hatches, bringing forth the title character, who looks like an equine version of E.T.
Angus' father has gone off to war, and his mother (Emily Watson) is a bit distracted because a local regiment is billeted at her estate to watch for German submarines. Angus and his older sister (Priyanka Xi), with the help of a taciturn handyman (Ben Chaplin), try to conceal the water horse, which grows at alarming speed. When the army finally discovers the creature, Angus and his confederates must engineer its escape.
The script admirably melds whimsical fantasy, rambunctious comedy (much of it provided by a bulldog that is the water horse's chief nemesis), suspense, and poignant family drama. There's even a hint of romance, as Watson's Anne is an object of attraction for both the handyman and the platoon captain (David Morrissey). The film gets a boost from the classy cast. Watson demonstrates her innate warmth, while Chaplin radiates movie star charisma. Morrissey, who co-starred with Watson in Hilary and Jackie, lends able support. But it's Etel who anchors the movie. Unlike some American child actors, Etel is winsome without being cloyingly cute. He holds the screen as commandingly as the young Roddy McDowall, who might have played the part if the film had been made in the 1940s.
The film also benefits from the handsome cinematography of Oliver Stapleton, who takes advantage of the spectacular settings. (Although a few scenes were shot in Scotland, most of the movie was filmed in New Zealand.) While there's nothing groundbreaking about Water Horse, it provides a couple of hours of soothing escapism.
THE WATER HORSE: LEGEND OF THE DEEP
Columbia
Revolution Studios, Walden Media, Beacon Pictures
Credits:
Director: Jay Russell
Screenwriter: Robert Nelson Jacobs
Based on the book by: Dick King-Smith
Producers: Robert Bernstein, Douglas Rae, Barrie M. Osborne, Charlie Lyons
Executive producers: Charles Newirth, Jay Russell
Director of photography: Oliver Stapleton
Production designer: Tony Burrough
Music: James Newton Howard
Costume designer: John Bloomfield
Editor: Mark Warner
Cast:
Anne MacMorrow: Emily Watson
Angus MacMorrow: Alex Etel
Lewis Mowbray: Ben Chaplin
Capt. Hamilton: David Morrissey
Kirstie MacMorrow: Priyanka Xi
Sgt. Strunk: Marshall Napier
Sgt. Walker: Joel Tobeck
Lt. Wormsley: Erroll Shand
Old Angus: Brian Cox
Running time -- 111 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 12/14/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
RomaCinemaFest
ROME -- Lasse Hallstrom's The Hoax, based on an autobiographical book by Clifford Irving, starts off jauntily but gradually moves into darker emotional and political territory.
The story about a writer (Richard Gere), who fakes an authorized biography of Howard Hughes only to be manipulated by the reclusive genius, is entertaining and piquant. The film does possess some of the bittersweet qualities that usually mark Hallstrom's films, but it's generally a tougher, more incisive work that ranks as one of his best.
The Hoax, which played out of competition at the first edition of the RomaCinemaFest, opens in Italy this month to capitalize on the fest's publicity. The film certainly has enough appeal to cross over to a wider audience in the domestic market where Miramax is releasing it. Gere's portrayal of the dishonest anti-hero is engaging, and the story of corruption, deception and political manipulation has a contemporary ring to it.
The story is set in 1972 and based on fact. Clifford Irving is a writer who is so obsessed with becoming famous, he decides to fabricate an insider's biography of legendary recluse Hughes. This initially seems like an impossible task, but it gets easier when he steals a tell-all manuscript from an addled one-time associate of Hughes.
With his co-writer, played by a fraught Alfred Molina, Irving talks up the story into a million dollar book deal. Hughes finds out about the book and instead of stopping it, he lets it go ahead on the strange condition that it include some dirt about Richard Nixon accepting bribes from Hughes. Irving's plan unravels when it transpires that he's been manipulated by Hughes into giving Nixon a hefty slap on the wrist for not playing ball with his business requests.
The story is very well plotted and contains many historical references. But it's actually the characterization that makes it engaging. Gere portrays Irving as a natural born liar. It's interesting to watch him spin a web of deceit that ultimately only traps himself as Gere funnels his usual onscreen charm into a seamy and duplicitous character. At the same time, he manages to be playful and energetic. The result is a classic anti-hero -- someone who we are interested in even though we don't sympathize with him.
To compensate for Irving's failings, Molina -- as his worried researcher and co-writer -- acts as the films moral compass. He's drawn toward honesty in the same way that Gere's Irving is drawn to corruption. And he gets all the funny lines.
Interior scenes have a '70s corporate look, and the office milieu recalls All the President's Men. Cinematography by Hallstrom regular Oliver Stapleton uses diffused lighting, and the color is a bit washed out as with films from that era. Early scenes are jaunty and play like Catch Me If You Can, but as the film progresses it takes on the paranoid atmosphere of '70s conspiracy dramas. In spite of these references, Hallstrom keeps attitudes contemporary, so it never feels like a period piece. As with Good Night, and Good Luck, real newsreel footage of events and TV broadcasts is used, in which the reclusive Hughes, of course, never appears.
Although The Hoax makes no direct comparisons to today's national affairs, it can't help but fit the mood of the times. The story of government coverups, businessmen buying political influence in the White House and an overall mood of deceit and deception make it a surprisingly relevant film.
The HOAX
Miramax Films
Mutual Film Co./Stratus Film Co./City Entertainment/Yari Film Group
Credits:
Director: Lasse Hallstrom
Screenwriter: William Wheeler
Based on the book by: Clifford Irving
Producers: Mark Gordon, Leslie Holleran, Joshua D. Maurer, Betsy Beers, Bob Yari
Executive producers: Anthony Katagas, Gary Levinsohn
Director of photography: Oliver Stapleton
Production designer: Mark Ricker
Music: Carter Burwell
Co-producers: Erin Eggers, Suzanne Patmore Gibbs
Costume designer: Davi Robinson
Editor: Andrew Mondshein
Cast:
Clifford Irving: Richard Gere
David Susskind: Alfred Molina
Edith Irving: Marcia Gay Harden
Andrea Tate: Hope Davis
Nina Van Pallandt: Julie Delpy
Noah Dietrich: Eli Wallach
Shelton Fisher: Stanley Tucci
Running time -- 116 minutes
No MPAA rating...
ROME -- Lasse Hallstrom's The Hoax, based on an autobiographical book by Clifford Irving, starts off jauntily but gradually moves into darker emotional and political territory.
The story about a writer (Richard Gere), who fakes an authorized biography of Howard Hughes only to be manipulated by the reclusive genius, is entertaining and piquant. The film does possess some of the bittersweet qualities that usually mark Hallstrom's films, but it's generally a tougher, more incisive work that ranks as one of his best.
The Hoax, which played out of competition at the first edition of the RomaCinemaFest, opens in Italy this month to capitalize on the fest's publicity. The film certainly has enough appeal to cross over to a wider audience in the domestic market where Miramax is releasing it. Gere's portrayal of the dishonest anti-hero is engaging, and the story of corruption, deception and political manipulation has a contemporary ring to it.
The story is set in 1972 and based on fact. Clifford Irving is a writer who is so obsessed with becoming famous, he decides to fabricate an insider's biography of legendary recluse Hughes. This initially seems like an impossible task, but it gets easier when he steals a tell-all manuscript from an addled one-time associate of Hughes.
With his co-writer, played by a fraught Alfred Molina, Irving talks up the story into a million dollar book deal. Hughes finds out about the book and instead of stopping it, he lets it go ahead on the strange condition that it include some dirt about Richard Nixon accepting bribes from Hughes. Irving's plan unravels when it transpires that he's been manipulated by Hughes into giving Nixon a hefty slap on the wrist for not playing ball with his business requests.
The story is very well plotted and contains many historical references. But it's actually the characterization that makes it engaging. Gere portrays Irving as a natural born liar. It's interesting to watch him spin a web of deceit that ultimately only traps himself as Gere funnels his usual onscreen charm into a seamy and duplicitous character. At the same time, he manages to be playful and energetic. The result is a classic anti-hero -- someone who we are interested in even though we don't sympathize with him.
To compensate for Irving's failings, Molina -- as his worried researcher and co-writer -- acts as the films moral compass. He's drawn toward honesty in the same way that Gere's Irving is drawn to corruption. And he gets all the funny lines.
Interior scenes have a '70s corporate look, and the office milieu recalls All the President's Men. Cinematography by Hallstrom regular Oliver Stapleton uses diffused lighting, and the color is a bit washed out as with films from that era. Early scenes are jaunty and play like Catch Me If You Can, but as the film progresses it takes on the paranoid atmosphere of '70s conspiracy dramas. In spite of these references, Hallstrom keeps attitudes contemporary, so it never feels like a period piece. As with Good Night, and Good Luck, real newsreel footage of events and TV broadcasts is used, in which the reclusive Hughes, of course, never appears.
Although The Hoax makes no direct comparisons to today's national affairs, it can't help but fit the mood of the times. The story of government coverups, businessmen buying political influence in the White House and an overall mood of deceit and deception make it a surprisingly relevant film.
The HOAX
Miramax Films
Mutual Film Co./Stratus Film Co./City Entertainment/Yari Film Group
Credits:
Director: Lasse Hallstrom
Screenwriter: William Wheeler
Based on the book by: Clifford Irving
Producers: Mark Gordon, Leslie Holleran, Joshua D. Maurer, Betsy Beers, Bob Yari
Executive producers: Anthony Katagas, Gary Levinsohn
Director of photography: Oliver Stapleton
Production designer: Mark Ricker
Music: Carter Burwell
Co-producers: Erin Eggers, Suzanne Patmore Gibbs
Costume designer: Davi Robinson
Editor: Andrew Mondshein
Cast:
Clifford Irving: Richard Gere
David Susskind: Alfred Molina
Edith Irving: Marcia Gay Harden
Andrea Tate: Hope Davis
Nina Van Pallandt: Julie Delpy
Noah Dietrich: Eli Wallach
Shelton Fisher: Stanley Tucci
Running time -- 116 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 10/17/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
RomaCinemaFestROME -- Lasse Hallstrom's "The Hoax", based on an autobiographical book by Clifford Irving, starts off jauntily but gradually moves into darker emotional and political territory.
The story about a writer (Richard Gere), who fakes an authorized biography of Howard Hughes only to be manipulated by the reclusive genius, is entertaining and piquant. The film does possess some of the bittersweet qualities that usually mark Hallstrom's films, but it's generally a tougher, more incisive work that ranks as one of his best.
"The Hoax", which played out of competition at the first edition of the RomaCinemaFest, opens in Italy this month to capitalize on the fest's publicity. The film certainly has enough appeal to cross over to a wider audience in the domestic market where Miramax is releasing it. Gere's portrayal of the dishonest anti-hero is engaging, and the story of corruption, deception and political manipulation has a contemporary ring to it.
The story is set in 1972 and based on fact. Clifford Irving is a writer who is so obsessed with becoming famous, he decides to fabricate an insider's biography of legendary recluse Hughes. This initially seems like an impossible task, but it gets easier when he steals a tell-all manuscript from an addled one-time associate of Hughes.
With his co-writer, played by a fraught Alfred Molina, Irving talks up the story into a million dollar book deal. Hughes finds out about the book and instead of stopping it, he lets it go ahead on the strange condition that it include some dirt about Richard Nixon accepting bribes from Hughes. Irving's plan unravels when it transpires that he's been manipulated by Hughes into giving Nixon a hefty slap on the wrist for not playing ball with his business requests.
The story is very well plotted and contains many historical references. But it's actually the characterization that makes it engaging. Gere portrays Irving as a natural born liar. It's interesting to watch him spin a web of deceit that ultimately only traps himself as Gere funnels his usual onscreen charm into a seamy and duplicitous character. At the same time, he manages to be playful and energetic. The result is a classic anti-hero -- someone who we are interested in even though we don't sympathize with him.
To compensate for Irving's failings, Molina -- as his worried researcher and co-writer -- acts as the films moral compass. He's drawn toward honesty in the same way that Gere's Irving is drawn to corruption. And he gets all the funny lines.
Interior scenes have a '70s corporate look, and the office milieu recalls "All the President's Men." Cinematography by Hallstrom regular Oliver Stapleton uses diffused lighting, and the color is a bit washed out as with films from that era. Early scenes are jaunty and play like "Catch Me If You Can", but as the film progresses it takes on the paranoid atmosphere of '70s conspiracy dramas. In spite of these references, Hallstrom keeps attitudes contemporary, so it never feels like a period piece. As with "Good Night, and Good Luck", real newsreel footage of events and TV broadcasts is used, in which the reclusive Hughes, of course, never appears.
Although "The Hoax" makes no direct comparisons to today's national affairs, it can't help but fit the mood of the times. The story of government coverups, businessmen buying political influence in the White House and an overall mood of deceit and deception make it a surprisingly relevant film.
The story about a writer (Richard Gere), who fakes an authorized biography of Howard Hughes only to be manipulated by the reclusive genius, is entertaining and piquant. The film does possess some of the bittersweet qualities that usually mark Hallstrom's films, but it's generally a tougher, more incisive work that ranks as one of his best.
"The Hoax", which played out of competition at the first edition of the RomaCinemaFest, opens in Italy this month to capitalize on the fest's publicity. The film certainly has enough appeal to cross over to a wider audience in the domestic market where Miramax is releasing it. Gere's portrayal of the dishonest anti-hero is engaging, and the story of corruption, deception and political manipulation has a contemporary ring to it.
The story is set in 1972 and based on fact. Clifford Irving is a writer who is so obsessed with becoming famous, he decides to fabricate an insider's biography of legendary recluse Hughes. This initially seems like an impossible task, but it gets easier when he steals a tell-all manuscript from an addled one-time associate of Hughes.
With his co-writer, played by a fraught Alfred Molina, Irving talks up the story into a million dollar book deal. Hughes finds out about the book and instead of stopping it, he lets it go ahead on the strange condition that it include some dirt about Richard Nixon accepting bribes from Hughes. Irving's plan unravels when it transpires that he's been manipulated by Hughes into giving Nixon a hefty slap on the wrist for not playing ball with his business requests.
The story is very well plotted and contains many historical references. But it's actually the characterization that makes it engaging. Gere portrays Irving as a natural born liar. It's interesting to watch him spin a web of deceit that ultimately only traps himself as Gere funnels his usual onscreen charm into a seamy and duplicitous character. At the same time, he manages to be playful and energetic. The result is a classic anti-hero -- someone who we are interested in even though we don't sympathize with him.
To compensate for Irving's failings, Molina -- as his worried researcher and co-writer -- acts as the films moral compass. He's drawn toward honesty in the same way that Gere's Irving is drawn to corruption. And he gets all the funny lines.
Interior scenes have a '70s corporate look, and the office milieu recalls "All the President's Men." Cinematography by Hallstrom regular Oliver Stapleton uses diffused lighting, and the color is a bit washed out as with films from that era. Early scenes are jaunty and play like "Catch Me If You Can", but as the film progresses it takes on the paranoid atmosphere of '70s conspiracy dramas. In spite of these references, Hallstrom keeps attitudes contemporary, so it never feels like a period piece. As with "Good Night, and Good Luck", real newsreel footage of events and TV broadcasts is used, in which the reclusive Hughes, of course, never appears.
Although "The Hoax" makes no direct comparisons to today's national affairs, it can't help but fit the mood of the times. The story of government coverups, businessmen buying political influence in the White House and an overall mood of deceit and deception make it a surprisingly relevant film.
- 10/17/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
ROME -- Lasse Hallstrom's "The Hoax", based on an autobiographical book by Clifford Irving, starts off jauntily but gradually moves into darker emotional and political territory.
The story about a writer (Richard Gere), who fakes an authorized biography of Howard Hughes only to be manipulated by the reclusive genius, is entertaining and piquant. The film does possess some of the bittersweet qualities that usually mark Hallstrom's films, but it's generally a tougher, more incisive work that ranks as one of his best.
"The Hoax", which played out of competition at the first edition of the RomaCinemaFest, opens in Italy this month to capitalize on the fest's publicity. The film certainly has enough appeal to cross over to a wider audience in the domestic market where Miramax is releasing it. Gere's portrayal of the dishonest anti-hero is engaging, and the story of corruption, deception and political manipulation has a contemporary ring to it.
The story is set in 1972 and based on fact. Clifford Irving is a writer who is so obsessed with becoming famous, he decides to fabricate an insider's biography of legendary recluse Hughes. This initially seems like an impossible task, but it gets easier when he steals a tell-all manuscript from an addled one-time associate of Hughes.
With his co-writer, played by a fraught Alfred Molina, Irving talks up the story into a million dollar book deal. Hughes finds out about the book and instead of stopping it, he lets it go ahead on the strange condition that it include some dirt about Richard Nixon accepting bribes from Hughes. Irving's plan unravels when it transpires that he's been manipulated by Hughes into giving Nixon a hefty slap on the wrist for not playing ball with his business requests.
The story is very well plotted and contains many historical references. But it's actually the characterization that makes it engaging. Gere portrays Irving as a natural born liar. It's interesting to watch him spin a web of deceit that ultimately only traps himself as Gere funnels his usual onscreen charm into a seamy and duplicitous character. At the same time, he manages to be playful and energetic. The result is a classic anti-hero -- someone who we are interested in even though we don't sympathize with him.
To compensate for Irving's failings, Molina -- as his worried researcher and co-writer -- acts as the films moral compass. He's drawn toward honesty in the same way that Gere's Irving is drawn to corruption. And he gets all the funny lines.
Interior scenes have a '70s corporate look, and the office milieu recalls "All the President's Men." Cinematography by Hallstrom regular Oliver Stapleton uses diffused lighting, and the color is a bit washed out as with films from that era. Early scenes are jaunty and play like "Catch Me If You Can", but as the film progresses it takes on the paranoid atmosphere of '70s conspiracy dramas. In spite of these references, Hallstrom keeps attitudes contemporary, so it never feels like a period piece. As with "Good Night, and Good Luck", real newsreel footage of events and TV broadcasts is used, in which the reclusive Hughes, of course, never appears.
Although "The Hoax" makes no direct comparisons to today's national affairs, it can't help but fit the mood of the times. The story of government coverups, businessmen buying political influence in the White House and an overall mood of deceit and deception make it a surprisingly relevant film.
The story about a writer (Richard Gere), who fakes an authorized biography of Howard Hughes only to be manipulated by the reclusive genius, is entertaining and piquant. The film does possess some of the bittersweet qualities that usually mark Hallstrom's films, but it's generally a tougher, more incisive work that ranks as one of his best.
"The Hoax", which played out of competition at the first edition of the RomaCinemaFest, opens in Italy this month to capitalize on the fest's publicity. The film certainly has enough appeal to cross over to a wider audience in the domestic market where Miramax is releasing it. Gere's portrayal of the dishonest anti-hero is engaging, and the story of corruption, deception and political manipulation has a contemporary ring to it.
The story is set in 1972 and based on fact. Clifford Irving is a writer who is so obsessed with becoming famous, he decides to fabricate an insider's biography of legendary recluse Hughes. This initially seems like an impossible task, but it gets easier when he steals a tell-all manuscript from an addled one-time associate of Hughes.
With his co-writer, played by a fraught Alfred Molina, Irving talks up the story into a million dollar book deal. Hughes finds out about the book and instead of stopping it, he lets it go ahead on the strange condition that it include some dirt about Richard Nixon accepting bribes from Hughes. Irving's plan unravels when it transpires that he's been manipulated by Hughes into giving Nixon a hefty slap on the wrist for not playing ball with his business requests.
The story is very well plotted and contains many historical references. But it's actually the characterization that makes it engaging. Gere portrays Irving as a natural born liar. It's interesting to watch him spin a web of deceit that ultimately only traps himself as Gere funnels his usual onscreen charm into a seamy and duplicitous character. At the same time, he manages to be playful and energetic. The result is a classic anti-hero -- someone who we are interested in even though we don't sympathize with him.
To compensate for Irving's failings, Molina -- as his worried researcher and co-writer -- acts as the films moral compass. He's drawn toward honesty in the same way that Gere's Irving is drawn to corruption. And he gets all the funny lines.
Interior scenes have a '70s corporate look, and the office milieu recalls "All the President's Men." Cinematography by Hallstrom regular Oliver Stapleton uses diffused lighting, and the color is a bit washed out as with films from that era. Early scenes are jaunty and play like "Catch Me If You Can", but as the film progresses it takes on the paranoid atmosphere of '70s conspiracy dramas. In spite of these references, Hallstrom keeps attitudes contemporary, so it never feels like a period piece. As with "Good Night, and Good Luck", real newsreel footage of events and TV broadcasts is used, in which the reclusive Hughes, of course, never appears.
Although "The Hoax" makes no direct comparisons to today's national affairs, it can't help but fit the mood of the times. The story of government coverups, businessmen buying political influence in the White House and an overall mood of deceit and deception make it a surprisingly relevant film.
- 10/17/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Despite solid, albeit constrained, performances from Robert Redford, Jennifer Lopez, Morgan Freeman and adolescent newcomer Becca Gardner, "An Unfinished Life" all too accurately lives up to its title. The film never realizes its dramatic potential, choosing to take predictable story paths with obvious characters. Indeed, the characters all but wear signs that sum up their essence: Bitter Old Cowboy, Abused Woman, Noble Wise Friend, Neglected Child. The story, for all its good intentions, never digs deep into their souls.
"An Unfinished Life", made by the usually reliable Lasse Hallstrom two years ago, is among many films caught up in Miramax's unfortunate change-of-business sale as the one-time indie darling is clearing its shelves in a troubling manner. The cast should mean a solid opening weekend, but without an enthusiastic marketing campaign, the film is not likely to dwell long in theaters.
In the end, even enthusiastic marketing probably won't save the stale story. For one thing, a traffic accident is a hard thing on which to hang a drama about nearly a lifetime's worth of regret, recrimination and sorrow. Lopez's Jean Gilkyson was driving a car that flipped over and killed her young husband many years earlier. Her father-in-law, Redford's Einar Gilkyson, still blames and detests her as if she were guilty of premeditated murder. Now the two are forced back together against their wishes.
Fleeing an abusive relationship with her boyfriend (a surly, two-dimensional Damian Lewis), Jean has little money and nowhere to go. So she shows up at Einar's gone-to-seed Wyoming ranch with his granddaughter, Griff (Gardner). The kicker is, she never told Einar he had a granddaughter.
The only person glad to see the two is Freeman's Mitch Bradley, Einar's hired hand and best friend for 40 years. He now needs a daily shot of morphine to keep going after being mauled by a grizzly bear. He is virtually the only person left in Einar's life following Einar's battle with the bottle.
The bear (Bart the Bear II) also shows up at the ranch, but Sheriff Crane Curtis (Josh Lucas) captures it before Einar can kill it. Strangely, Mitch insists that Einar feed the captive animal and later asks him to free it. So you get it? One forgives, the other doesn't. And boy, does that grizzly become one lumbering symbolic bear before the movie is done.
All plot developments are predictable. The granddaughter softens up the irascible cowboy. Jean hooks up with the handsome sheriff, but her daughter disapproves. Her boyfriend tracks her down and issues threats. Granddad gets to demonstrate that this young punk is no match for his aging macho. (He warms up by beating up a couple of drunks who harass Camryn Manheim's Nina in a coffee shop.)
The movie's best moments come in the older actors' interaction with young Gardner. The actors seem to genuinely relax in their scenes with her. Otherwise, the roles hem everyone in, forcing each to hit the same notes again and again.
Redford mumbles under his breath much of the time, playing the grumpy, mean old man to the hilt without ever suggesting what kind of a man he once was. On the other hand, Lopez could have used a dose of true grit as she looks too glamorous for her surroundings. Freeman, we now know, used this role to prepare for Scrap-Iron Dupris in "Million Dollar Baby". (At times, the Redford-Freeman old-codger quarrels echo those between Freeman and Clint Eastwood in "Baby".)
British Columbia substitutes nicely for Wyoming, as Oliver Stapleton's appreciative cinematography, David Gropman's Western design and Christopher Young's spare musical score luxuriate in those wide-open spaces.
AN UNFINISHED LIFE
Miramax Films
Miramax and Revolution Studios present in association with Initial Entertainment Group a Ladd Co. production
Credits:
Director: Lasse Hallstrom
Screenwriters: Mark Spragg, Virginia Korus Spragg
Producers: Leslie Holleran, Kellian Ladd, Alan Ladd Jr.
Executive producers: Joe Roth
Graham King, Mark Rydell, Matthew Rhodes, Harvey Weinstein, Bob Weinstein, Michelle Raimo, Meryl Poster
Director of photography: Oliver Stapleton
Production designer: David Gropman
Music: Deborah Lurie
Costumes: Tish Monaghan
Editor: Andrew Mondshein
Cast:
Einar Gilkyson: Robert Redford
Jean: Jennifer Lopez
Mitch Bradley: Morgan Freeman
Crane: Josh Lucas
Nina: Camryn Manheim
Gary: Damian Lewis
Griff: Becca Gardner
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 108 minutes...
"An Unfinished Life", made by the usually reliable Lasse Hallstrom two years ago, is among many films caught up in Miramax's unfortunate change-of-business sale as the one-time indie darling is clearing its shelves in a troubling manner. The cast should mean a solid opening weekend, but without an enthusiastic marketing campaign, the film is not likely to dwell long in theaters.
In the end, even enthusiastic marketing probably won't save the stale story. For one thing, a traffic accident is a hard thing on which to hang a drama about nearly a lifetime's worth of regret, recrimination and sorrow. Lopez's Jean Gilkyson was driving a car that flipped over and killed her young husband many years earlier. Her father-in-law, Redford's Einar Gilkyson, still blames and detests her as if she were guilty of premeditated murder. Now the two are forced back together against their wishes.
Fleeing an abusive relationship with her boyfriend (a surly, two-dimensional Damian Lewis), Jean has little money and nowhere to go. So she shows up at Einar's gone-to-seed Wyoming ranch with his granddaughter, Griff (Gardner). The kicker is, she never told Einar he had a granddaughter.
The only person glad to see the two is Freeman's Mitch Bradley, Einar's hired hand and best friend for 40 years. He now needs a daily shot of morphine to keep going after being mauled by a grizzly bear. He is virtually the only person left in Einar's life following Einar's battle with the bottle.
The bear (Bart the Bear II) also shows up at the ranch, but Sheriff Crane Curtis (Josh Lucas) captures it before Einar can kill it. Strangely, Mitch insists that Einar feed the captive animal and later asks him to free it. So you get it? One forgives, the other doesn't. And boy, does that grizzly become one lumbering symbolic bear before the movie is done.
All plot developments are predictable. The granddaughter softens up the irascible cowboy. Jean hooks up with the handsome sheriff, but her daughter disapproves. Her boyfriend tracks her down and issues threats. Granddad gets to demonstrate that this young punk is no match for his aging macho. (He warms up by beating up a couple of drunks who harass Camryn Manheim's Nina in a coffee shop.)
The movie's best moments come in the older actors' interaction with young Gardner. The actors seem to genuinely relax in their scenes with her. Otherwise, the roles hem everyone in, forcing each to hit the same notes again and again.
Redford mumbles under his breath much of the time, playing the grumpy, mean old man to the hilt without ever suggesting what kind of a man he once was. On the other hand, Lopez could have used a dose of true grit as she looks too glamorous for her surroundings. Freeman, we now know, used this role to prepare for Scrap-Iron Dupris in "Million Dollar Baby". (At times, the Redford-Freeman old-codger quarrels echo those between Freeman and Clint Eastwood in "Baby".)
British Columbia substitutes nicely for Wyoming, as Oliver Stapleton's appreciative cinematography, David Gropman's Western design and Christopher Young's spare musical score luxuriate in those wide-open spaces.
AN UNFINISHED LIFE
Miramax Films
Miramax and Revolution Studios present in association with Initial Entertainment Group a Ladd Co. production
Credits:
Director: Lasse Hallstrom
Screenwriters: Mark Spragg, Virginia Korus Spragg
Producers: Leslie Holleran, Kellian Ladd, Alan Ladd Jr.
Executive producers: Joe Roth
Graham King, Mark Rydell, Matthew Rhodes, Harvey Weinstein, Bob Weinstein, Michelle Raimo, Meryl Poster
Director of photography: Oliver Stapleton
Production designer: David Gropman
Music: Deborah Lurie
Costumes: Tish Monaghan
Editor: Andrew Mondshein
Cast:
Einar Gilkyson: Robert Redford
Jean: Jennifer Lopez
Mitch Bradley: Morgan Freeman
Crane: Josh Lucas
Nina: Camryn Manheim
Gary: Damian Lewis
Griff: Becca Gardner
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 108 minutes...
- 9/15/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
John Irving's sixth and finest novel, "The Cider House Rules", is one of those resonant, inventive works of literature that persistently works against being reconfigured for the movies. Lasse Hallstrom is a fine director, and Irving has adapted his own novel, but their resulting collaboration is deeply flawed. It is neither the novel nor a satisfying alternative to the novel but rather bits and pieces imperfectly strung together.
Premiering in competition here before playing at the Toronto International Film Festival in preparation for its highly touted December opening, the movie is certainly not an embarrassment, but the incandescent prose -- a freewheeling mixture of social portrait, outrageous incident and scabrous commentary -- has been lost in its transfer to the screen. The edges have been dulled, made more palatable for mainstream audiences.
The stylistic audacity of the novel -- the loopy structure, the Nabakovian wordplay -- jumps off the page, but Hallstrom would have to be Orson Welles to vivify that prose on screen. With its intriguing cast, strong production values and the full marketing weight of Miramax, the movie will make an impression, but the varying tone, leisurely pace and difficult material don't augur a long life in theaters.
The best passages are in the first third, set during World War II in the snowbound, brooding Maine landscape. It's the site of St. Cloud's orphanage, a holding ground for unwanted children where its top administrator and only doctor, Wilbur Larch (Michael Caine), performs illegal abortions. The initial story establishes the deeply elemental, paternalistic affection Larch holds for Homer (Tobey Maguire), a twice-adopted, twice-returned child who becomes Larch's aide-de-camp. An ostensible doctor despite never even entering high school, Homer naturally begins to feel claustrophobic and unfulfilled staying at the orphanage and begins avidly seeking out new experiences.
Saved from induction because of his defective heart, Homer gets his chance to escape when a beautiful young woman, Candy (Charlize Theron), and her boyfriend, Wally (Paul Rudd), an Air Force pilot, turn up at St. Cloud to terminate her unwanted pregnancy. Homer leaves with them and takes a job working Wally's family farm as an apple picker. Wally's understated grace and empathy allow him to quickly insinuate himself into the lives of the black migrant workers, headed by Mr. Rose (the superb Delroy Lindo) and his daughter, Rose (Erykah Badu). The book is much more forceful on 1940s racism; the film never even touches on the subject. More problematic, the movie begins to tell separate stories, grounding Homer's story as a coming-of-age tale against the bleak realities of St. Cloud, which the state board of health is threatening to close unless Larch brings in additional medical personnel.
Dramatically, the story loses momentum. Worse yet, it becomes inert and closed off. With Wally stationed in the Pacific theater, Homer is finally free to consummate his deep attraction to Candy. But their scenes don't have any electricity or heft between the pair. Theron is constantly being summoned up in magazines as "the next great thing," but she is a curiously remote, opaque performer whose absence of expression denies a fuller emotional investment.
In the other dominant sections -- Homer's relationship with the migrant workers -- the necessary cutting and reshaping of the novel obliterates the development of the personal relationships and drops key events, so a devastating turn in the narrative seems patently unreal and dramatically unmotivated.
When the landmark theater production of "Cider House" opened at L.A.'s Mark Taper Forum last year, the running time was eight hours. As obvious as that kind of length is commercially impossible here, that appears to be the only way to adequately convey the peculiar interior logic, narrative depth and brilliance of the novel.
Hallstrom's American films have outlined his strengths and weaknesses, his ability to conjure up community and culture, an affinity for unorthodox characters and offhanded narrative structures, but all four of the American-made movies suffer from a detached outsider perspective that comments on the action without ever fully getting inside the material. There are some haunting images here -- Candy and Homer alone in a deserted drive-in theater, an imperiled boy entrapped in a special breathing apparatus -- but the incidental detail, the ecstatic flow of language are lost.
Technically, Oliver Stapleton's impressionistic photography is the film's finest, most assured element. Unfortunately, Rachel Portman's score is inflated and overscaled, and Hallstrom relies on it much too frequently to overwhelm the audience.
THE CIDER HOUSE RULES
Miramax International
Film Colony
Producer: Richard N. Gladstein
Director: Lasse Hallstrom
Writer: John Irving
Based on the novel by: John Irving
Director of photography: Oliver Stapleton
Editor: Lisa Zeno Churgin
Costume designer: Renee Ehrlich Kalfus
Production designer: David Gropman
Music: Rachel Portman
Cast:
Homer: Tobey Maguire
Candy: Charlize Theron
Dr. Wilbur Larch: Michael Caine
Wally Worthington: Paul Rudd
Mr. Rose: Delroy Lindo
Rose Rose: Erykah Badu
Nurse Angela: Kathy Baker
Buster: Kieran Culkin
Running time -- 134 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Premiering in competition here before playing at the Toronto International Film Festival in preparation for its highly touted December opening, the movie is certainly not an embarrassment, but the incandescent prose -- a freewheeling mixture of social portrait, outrageous incident and scabrous commentary -- has been lost in its transfer to the screen. The edges have been dulled, made more palatable for mainstream audiences.
The stylistic audacity of the novel -- the loopy structure, the Nabakovian wordplay -- jumps off the page, but Hallstrom would have to be Orson Welles to vivify that prose on screen. With its intriguing cast, strong production values and the full marketing weight of Miramax, the movie will make an impression, but the varying tone, leisurely pace and difficult material don't augur a long life in theaters.
The best passages are in the first third, set during World War II in the snowbound, brooding Maine landscape. It's the site of St. Cloud's orphanage, a holding ground for unwanted children where its top administrator and only doctor, Wilbur Larch (Michael Caine), performs illegal abortions. The initial story establishes the deeply elemental, paternalistic affection Larch holds for Homer (Tobey Maguire), a twice-adopted, twice-returned child who becomes Larch's aide-de-camp. An ostensible doctor despite never even entering high school, Homer naturally begins to feel claustrophobic and unfulfilled staying at the orphanage and begins avidly seeking out new experiences.
Saved from induction because of his defective heart, Homer gets his chance to escape when a beautiful young woman, Candy (Charlize Theron), and her boyfriend, Wally (Paul Rudd), an Air Force pilot, turn up at St. Cloud to terminate her unwanted pregnancy. Homer leaves with them and takes a job working Wally's family farm as an apple picker. Wally's understated grace and empathy allow him to quickly insinuate himself into the lives of the black migrant workers, headed by Mr. Rose (the superb Delroy Lindo) and his daughter, Rose (Erykah Badu). The book is much more forceful on 1940s racism; the film never even touches on the subject. More problematic, the movie begins to tell separate stories, grounding Homer's story as a coming-of-age tale against the bleak realities of St. Cloud, which the state board of health is threatening to close unless Larch brings in additional medical personnel.
Dramatically, the story loses momentum. Worse yet, it becomes inert and closed off. With Wally stationed in the Pacific theater, Homer is finally free to consummate his deep attraction to Candy. But their scenes don't have any electricity or heft between the pair. Theron is constantly being summoned up in magazines as "the next great thing," but she is a curiously remote, opaque performer whose absence of expression denies a fuller emotional investment.
In the other dominant sections -- Homer's relationship with the migrant workers -- the necessary cutting and reshaping of the novel obliterates the development of the personal relationships and drops key events, so a devastating turn in the narrative seems patently unreal and dramatically unmotivated.
When the landmark theater production of "Cider House" opened at L.A.'s Mark Taper Forum last year, the running time was eight hours. As obvious as that kind of length is commercially impossible here, that appears to be the only way to adequately convey the peculiar interior logic, narrative depth and brilliance of the novel.
Hallstrom's American films have outlined his strengths and weaknesses, his ability to conjure up community and culture, an affinity for unorthodox characters and offhanded narrative structures, but all four of the American-made movies suffer from a detached outsider perspective that comments on the action without ever fully getting inside the material. There are some haunting images here -- Candy and Homer alone in a deserted drive-in theater, an imperiled boy entrapped in a special breathing apparatus -- but the incidental detail, the ecstatic flow of language are lost.
Technically, Oliver Stapleton's impressionistic photography is the film's finest, most assured element. Unfortunately, Rachel Portman's score is inflated and overscaled, and Hallstrom relies on it much too frequently to overwhelm the audience.
THE CIDER HOUSE RULES
Miramax International
Film Colony
Producer: Richard N. Gladstein
Director: Lasse Hallstrom
Writer: John Irving
Based on the novel by: John Irving
Director of photography: Oliver Stapleton
Editor: Lisa Zeno Churgin
Costume designer: Renee Ehrlich Kalfus
Production designer: David Gropman
Music: Rachel Portman
Cast:
Homer: Tobey Maguire
Candy: Charlize Theron
Dr. Wilbur Larch: Michael Caine
Wally Worthington: Paul Rudd
Mr. Rose: Delroy Lindo
Rose Rose: Erykah Badu
Nurse Angela: Kathy Baker
Buster: Kieran Culkin
Running time -- 134 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 7/20/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Opens Thursday, March 27
Australia
SYDNEY -- Australian actor Heath Ledger is still chasing a hit. A fixture on magazine covers and drawing all kinds of heat, he's yet to go over the top at the boxoffice.
After the slightly soft results of "A Knight's Tale" and the disappointment of "The Four Feathers", Ledger stays on horseback but leads the charge in a far more accomplished film with "Ned Kelly", the story of the famous outlaw. (Kelly is best remembered from the 1975 film starring Mick Jagger as the outlaw.) Directed by Gregor Jordan ("Two Hands" and the still-in-limbo "Buffalo Soldiers") with a mix of lyricism and muscular energy, "Ned Kelly" stirs together all of the best conventions of the Hollywood Western -- gunfights, horseback chases, bank robberies, compromised honor, loyalty and betrayal -- while maintaining the story's Australian qualities.
The presence of Ledger and the film's high-profile subject almost guarantee strong box-office locally. The debut Australian production from Working Title Films, this co-production with Universal Pictures is clearly a film aimed at a large international market. The film should have wide appeal as it is intelligent, well-cast and compelling from beginning to end.
In Victoria in the 1800s, Irish settlers are an op-pressed minority, brutalized and exploited by British landowners and police. Ned (Ledger), an Irishman who won't back down, is falsely accused of stealing a horse and ends up in prison. When Ned returns home years later, he finds that nothing has changed. When a policeman forces himself on Ned's sister, it is Ned's family who are persecuted when they defend her.
His mother is thrown in prison. Ned flees into the bush with his best friend, Joe Byrne (Orlando Bloom), his brother Dan (Laurence Kinlan) and another friend, Steve Hart (Philip Barantini). Forced into supporting themselves as outlaws, Ned and his gang cut across the rugged countryside, robbing banks and holding up entire towns. Soon the most wanted men in Australia, they provoke the sympathy of other Irish settlers and bring down the wrath of the British Empire in the form of the relentless Superintendent Hare (Geoffrey Rush), who leads the manhunt to bring them in.
The rich, burnished cinematography of Oliver Stapleton ("The Cider House Rules") gives the Australian countryside a depth rarely seen on film, while some of the nation's biggest acting names deliver uniformly excellent performances. Ledger is the epitome of rugged rebelliousness but tempers his taciturn restraint with a welcome humor and sensitivity. Rush has limited screen time but manages to create a fascinating, fully rounded character with only a handful of lines.
Rachel Griffiths makes the most of her cameo, playing a sexually aggressive bank manager's wife. Naomi Watts ("The Ring") is hemmed in by her standard "romantic interest" role. Her insipid subplot with Ledger is the film's only completely fictional conceit, and it rings false at every turn. Joel Edgerton mixes charm and snaky malice as a traitor in the midst. And stealing all of his scenes is Orlando Bloom, whose rakish swagger and commanding screen presence suggest a formidable star in the making.
Expertly combining the personal and the epic, Jordan has crafted an excellent historical saga that doesn't collapse under the weight of too much history. Held together by Ledger's earthy charisma and Jordan's vigorous mix of action and character, "Ned Kelly" is a striking, stately and ultimately deeply moving experience.
NED KELLY
Universal Pictures, StudioCanal and Working Title Films present an Endymion Films production in association with WTA
Credits:
Director: Gregor Jordan
Screenwriter: John Michael McDonagh
Based on the novel "Our Sunshine" by: Robert Drewe
Producers: Nelson Woss, Lynda House
Executive producers: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Tim White
Co-producers: Debra Hayward, Liza Chasin
Director of photography: Oliver Stapleton
Production designer: Steven Jones-Evans
Costume designer: Anna Borghesi
Music: Klaus Badelt
Editor: John Gregory
Cast:
Ned Kelly: Heath Ledger
Joe Byrne: Orlando Bloom
Julia Cook: Naomi Watts
Superintendent Hare: Geoffrey Rush
Aaron Sherritt: Joel Edgerton
Dan Kelly: Laurence Kinlan
Steve Hart: Philip Barantini
Kate Kelly: Kerry Condon
Mrs. Scott: Rachel Griffiths
Running time -- 109 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Australia
SYDNEY -- Australian actor Heath Ledger is still chasing a hit. A fixture on magazine covers and drawing all kinds of heat, he's yet to go over the top at the boxoffice.
After the slightly soft results of "A Knight's Tale" and the disappointment of "The Four Feathers", Ledger stays on horseback but leads the charge in a far more accomplished film with "Ned Kelly", the story of the famous outlaw. (Kelly is best remembered from the 1975 film starring Mick Jagger as the outlaw.) Directed by Gregor Jordan ("Two Hands" and the still-in-limbo "Buffalo Soldiers") with a mix of lyricism and muscular energy, "Ned Kelly" stirs together all of the best conventions of the Hollywood Western -- gunfights, horseback chases, bank robberies, compromised honor, loyalty and betrayal -- while maintaining the story's Australian qualities.
The presence of Ledger and the film's high-profile subject almost guarantee strong box-office locally. The debut Australian production from Working Title Films, this co-production with Universal Pictures is clearly a film aimed at a large international market. The film should have wide appeal as it is intelligent, well-cast and compelling from beginning to end.
In Victoria in the 1800s, Irish settlers are an op-pressed minority, brutalized and exploited by British landowners and police. Ned (Ledger), an Irishman who won't back down, is falsely accused of stealing a horse and ends up in prison. When Ned returns home years later, he finds that nothing has changed. When a policeman forces himself on Ned's sister, it is Ned's family who are persecuted when they defend her.
His mother is thrown in prison. Ned flees into the bush with his best friend, Joe Byrne (Orlando Bloom), his brother Dan (Laurence Kinlan) and another friend, Steve Hart (Philip Barantini). Forced into supporting themselves as outlaws, Ned and his gang cut across the rugged countryside, robbing banks and holding up entire towns. Soon the most wanted men in Australia, they provoke the sympathy of other Irish settlers and bring down the wrath of the British Empire in the form of the relentless Superintendent Hare (Geoffrey Rush), who leads the manhunt to bring them in.
The rich, burnished cinematography of Oliver Stapleton ("The Cider House Rules") gives the Australian countryside a depth rarely seen on film, while some of the nation's biggest acting names deliver uniformly excellent performances. Ledger is the epitome of rugged rebelliousness but tempers his taciturn restraint with a welcome humor and sensitivity. Rush has limited screen time but manages to create a fascinating, fully rounded character with only a handful of lines.
Rachel Griffiths makes the most of her cameo, playing a sexually aggressive bank manager's wife. Naomi Watts ("The Ring") is hemmed in by her standard "romantic interest" role. Her insipid subplot with Ledger is the film's only completely fictional conceit, and it rings false at every turn. Joel Edgerton mixes charm and snaky malice as a traitor in the midst. And stealing all of his scenes is Orlando Bloom, whose rakish swagger and commanding screen presence suggest a formidable star in the making.
Expertly combining the personal and the epic, Jordan has crafted an excellent historical saga that doesn't collapse under the weight of too much history. Held together by Ledger's earthy charisma and Jordan's vigorous mix of action and character, "Ned Kelly" is a striking, stately and ultimately deeply moving experience.
NED KELLY
Universal Pictures, StudioCanal and Working Title Films present an Endymion Films production in association with WTA
Credits:
Director: Gregor Jordan
Screenwriter: John Michael McDonagh
Based on the novel "Our Sunshine" by: Robert Drewe
Producers: Nelson Woss, Lynda House
Executive producers: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Tim White
Co-producers: Debra Hayward, Liza Chasin
Director of photography: Oliver Stapleton
Production designer: Steven Jones-Evans
Costume designer: Anna Borghesi
Music: Klaus Badelt
Editor: John Gregory
Cast:
Ned Kelly: Heath Ledger
Joe Byrne: Orlando Bloom
Julia Cook: Naomi Watts
Superintendent Hare: Geoffrey Rush
Aaron Sherritt: Joel Edgerton
Dan Kelly: Laurence Kinlan
Steve Hart: Philip Barantini
Kate Kelly: Kerry Condon
Mrs. Scott: Rachel Griffiths
Running time -- 109 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 3/18/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Hollywood's hottest dead scribe strikes again.
With a little reconfiguring from writer-director Michael Hoffman, the latest rendering of William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is a lush, lusty and appropriately enchanting romantic comedy.
Graced by wonderful performances and sparkling production values, the Fox Searchlight release has the makings of -- to borrow a line from one of the Bard's other notable efforts -- a hit, a very palpable hit.
Shifting the place and time to Tuscany at the close of the 19th century, Hoffman effectively mines the lush backdrops of the Italian countryside to spin the love-crossed saga of Hermia and Lysander and Helena and Demetrius.
When her father fully expects her to marry Demetrius (Christian Bale), Hermia (Anna Friel) and true love Lysander (Dominic West) flee to the woods on bicycles. They're soon followed by Demetrius and eternal fifth-wheel (or, in this case, third wheel) Helena (Calista Flockhart), whose deep affections for Demetrius are hopelessly unrequited.
Things, of course, will happen to change the course of their lives as the quartet unwittingly park themselves on the home base of Oberon, King of the Fairies (Rupert Everett) and his beauteous and strong-willed Queen, Titania (Michelle Pfeiffer) and their impish, potion-dispensing minion, Puck (Stanley Tucci).
Landing coincidentally in the same vicinity is a band of actors in search of rehearsal space including the irrepressibly hammy Bottom (Kevin Kline), who is destined to make a complete and utter ass of himself before the day is done.
While the picture takes a little time to weave its own spell, once all the elements click firmly into place, the ultimate effect is beguiling and moving. Hoffman, while reshaping things here and there, has left the dialogue reasonably intact.
Among his dream team of players, Kline makes a top-notch Bottom, full of the requisite pomposity but also equally adept at tapping into a sweetly introspective side. As his surprise love match, you couldn't find a more perfect Titania than the preternaturally beautiful and very game Pfeiffer; Tucci makes for an ideally mischievous Puck.
Flockhart, too, does a fine job relating the spirited comic determination of the neurotic Helena.
Leading the stellar lineup of behind-the-scenes players is production designer Luciana Arrighi ("Howards End", "Remains of the Day"), who does a richly rewarding job in merging the worlds of 19th century Tuscany and Oberon and Titania's timeless fairy kingdom. So does costume designer Gabriella Pescucci ("The Age of Innocence").
Cinematographer Oliver Stapleton ("The Grifters") nicely captures both the verdant, sun-drenched landscapes and the nocturnal starry-skied magic in equal measure. Simon Boswell's score seamlessly weaves Felix Mendelssohn's famous music for the play with a little Puccini and Verdi to complete the unapologetically theatrical mood.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
Fox Searchlight
Fox Searchlight Pictures and Regency Enterprises present
a Michael Hoffman film
Director-screenwriter: Michael Hoffman
Based on the play by: William Shakespeare
Producers: Leslie Urdang, Michael Hoffman
Executive producer: Arnon Milchan
Director of photography: Oliver Stapleton
Production designer: Luciana Arrighi
Editor: Garth Craven
Costume designer: Gabriella Pescucci
Music: Simon Boswell
Casting: Lora Kennedy.
Color/stereo
Cast:
Nick Bottom: Kevin Kline
Titania: Michelle Pfeiffer
Oberon: Rupert Everett
Puck: Stanley Tucci
Helena: Calista Flockhart
Hermia: Anna Friel
Demetrius: Christian Bale
Lysander: Dominic West
Theseus: David Strathairn
Hippolyta: Sophie Marceau
Running time -- 115 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
With a little reconfiguring from writer-director Michael Hoffman, the latest rendering of William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is a lush, lusty and appropriately enchanting romantic comedy.
Graced by wonderful performances and sparkling production values, the Fox Searchlight release has the makings of -- to borrow a line from one of the Bard's other notable efforts -- a hit, a very palpable hit.
Shifting the place and time to Tuscany at the close of the 19th century, Hoffman effectively mines the lush backdrops of the Italian countryside to spin the love-crossed saga of Hermia and Lysander and Helena and Demetrius.
When her father fully expects her to marry Demetrius (Christian Bale), Hermia (Anna Friel) and true love Lysander (Dominic West) flee to the woods on bicycles. They're soon followed by Demetrius and eternal fifth-wheel (or, in this case, third wheel) Helena (Calista Flockhart), whose deep affections for Demetrius are hopelessly unrequited.
Things, of course, will happen to change the course of their lives as the quartet unwittingly park themselves on the home base of Oberon, King of the Fairies (Rupert Everett) and his beauteous and strong-willed Queen, Titania (Michelle Pfeiffer) and their impish, potion-dispensing minion, Puck (Stanley Tucci).
Landing coincidentally in the same vicinity is a band of actors in search of rehearsal space including the irrepressibly hammy Bottom (Kevin Kline), who is destined to make a complete and utter ass of himself before the day is done.
While the picture takes a little time to weave its own spell, once all the elements click firmly into place, the ultimate effect is beguiling and moving. Hoffman, while reshaping things here and there, has left the dialogue reasonably intact.
Among his dream team of players, Kline makes a top-notch Bottom, full of the requisite pomposity but also equally adept at tapping into a sweetly introspective side. As his surprise love match, you couldn't find a more perfect Titania than the preternaturally beautiful and very game Pfeiffer; Tucci makes for an ideally mischievous Puck.
Flockhart, too, does a fine job relating the spirited comic determination of the neurotic Helena.
Leading the stellar lineup of behind-the-scenes players is production designer Luciana Arrighi ("Howards End", "Remains of the Day"), who does a richly rewarding job in merging the worlds of 19th century Tuscany and Oberon and Titania's timeless fairy kingdom. So does costume designer Gabriella Pescucci ("The Age of Innocence").
Cinematographer Oliver Stapleton ("The Grifters") nicely captures both the verdant, sun-drenched landscapes and the nocturnal starry-skied magic in equal measure. Simon Boswell's score seamlessly weaves Felix Mendelssohn's famous music for the play with a little Puccini and Verdi to complete the unapologetically theatrical mood.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
Fox Searchlight
Fox Searchlight Pictures and Regency Enterprises present
a Michael Hoffman film
Director-screenwriter: Michael Hoffman
Based on the play by: William Shakespeare
Producers: Leslie Urdang, Michael Hoffman
Executive producer: Arnon Milchan
Director of photography: Oliver Stapleton
Production designer: Luciana Arrighi
Editor: Garth Craven
Costume designer: Gabriella Pescucci
Music: Simon Boswell
Casting: Lora Kennedy.
Color/stereo
Cast:
Nick Bottom: Kevin Kline
Titania: Michelle Pfeiffer
Oberon: Rupert Everett
Puck: Stanley Tucci
Helena: Calista Flockhart
Hermia: Anna Friel
Demetrius: Christian Bale
Lysander: Dominic West
Theseus: David Strathairn
Hippolyta: Sophie Marceau
Running time -- 115 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 5/11/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A pleasant surprise, English director Stephen Frears' latest dip into mainstream Hollywood filmmaking (after the twin disasters "Hero" and "Mary Reilly") is an engaging post-World War II western with a volatile mixture of American idealism and winner-take-all competition.
Starring Woody Harrelson and Billy Crudup as returning vets and friends who both pursue married woman Patricia Arquette, "The Hi-Lo Country" is a little out of step with the times (no vampires, no city slickers) and probably won't kick up much of a fuss at the boxoffice.
It's a shame -- what with Oliver Stapleton's excellent widescreen cinematography and Carter Burwell's Oscar-worthy original music evoking classic oaters of the past -- that the holiday glut will claim such an unworthy victim. The literate story, based on Max Evans' novel, is a project Sam Peckinpah struggled for decades to get made.
Small-town ranchers in New Mexico's Hi-Lo Country (near the top of the Texas Panhandle), Pete (Crudup) and Big Boy (Harrelson) return from the war to little fanfare and are all set to continue their rough-living ways -- driving cattle, womanizing, drinking and brawling.
In Walon Green's leisurely paced screenplay, and with Frears displaying a strong grasp of the material, the fates of these two macho guys becomes intertwined when they realize their rough-and-tumble view of life is the one thing they will gladly fight for.
They are largely successful at first, with Pete taking up again with a prewar sweetheart (Penelope Cruz), who rightly fears that he doesn't really love her and won't stay around long. Indeed, when he learns that beguiling Mona (Arquette), a longtime obsession, has married, he again becomes hotly interested in her.
Seemingly unhappy, with her husband (John Diehl) employed by the land-grabbing local kingpin (Sam Elliott), Mona flirts with Pete enough to whet his appetite, but he's crushed when he learns that his pal Big Boy has already made a move on her.
While the two guys struggle to stay in business with the help of another local maverick (James Gammon), loyal-but-frustrated Pete is drawn into the dangerous game played by Big Boy and Mona.
In various tense and violent encounters with Elliott's men, the leads' backs are watched by cool-headed Levi Gomez (Enrique Castillo). But Big Boy's brother Little Boy (Cole Hauser) is firmly in the enemy camp. Ultimately, the violence escalates and wild passions are unleashed with tragic consequences, with Big Boy (who fought as Marine in the bloody invasion of Tarawa in the Pacific) seemingly at peace with himself even as he sets a fateful course.
Both an homage to the fading cowboy lifestyle and a believable rendering of the times, "Hi-Lo" boasts another strong, commanding performance from Harrelson. Big Boy is equal parts boastful charmer and punchy cowpoke -- a might-have-been equal to Elliott's wily old boy -- and Harrelson, in one of his best outings, rises to the occasion.
With his starring role in Robert Towne's "Without Limits", Crudup has had a terrific year. Although his character gets somewhat overshadowed by Big Boy and Mona, this rising talent should ride off with a lot more fans. Arquette, on the other hand, is not particularly special or memorable in her role, though her slinky, laconic approach is appropriate to the character.
THE HI-LO COUNTRY
Gramercy Pictures
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment presents
in association with Martin Scorsese
A Working Title production
with Cappa/De Fina Prods.
Director: Stephen Frears
Screenwriter: Walon Green
Producers: Barbara De Fina,
Martin Scorsese, Eric Fellner, Tim Bevan
Executive producer: Rudd Simmons
Director of photography: Oliver Stapleton
Production/costume designer: Patricia Norris
Editor: Masahiro Hirakubo
Music: Carter Burwell
Casting: Victoria Thomas
Color/stereo
Cast:
Pete: Billy Crudup
Big Boy: Woody Harrelson
Little Boy: Cole Hauser
Mona: Patricia Arquette
Jim Ed Love: Sam Elliott
Hoover: James Gammon
Josepha: Penelope Cruz
Levi Gomez : Enrique Castillo
Les Birk: John Diehl
Running time - 115 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Starring Woody Harrelson and Billy Crudup as returning vets and friends who both pursue married woman Patricia Arquette, "The Hi-Lo Country" is a little out of step with the times (no vampires, no city slickers) and probably won't kick up much of a fuss at the boxoffice.
It's a shame -- what with Oliver Stapleton's excellent widescreen cinematography and Carter Burwell's Oscar-worthy original music evoking classic oaters of the past -- that the holiday glut will claim such an unworthy victim. The literate story, based on Max Evans' novel, is a project Sam Peckinpah struggled for decades to get made.
Small-town ranchers in New Mexico's Hi-Lo Country (near the top of the Texas Panhandle), Pete (Crudup) and Big Boy (Harrelson) return from the war to little fanfare and are all set to continue their rough-living ways -- driving cattle, womanizing, drinking and brawling.
In Walon Green's leisurely paced screenplay, and with Frears displaying a strong grasp of the material, the fates of these two macho guys becomes intertwined when they realize their rough-and-tumble view of life is the one thing they will gladly fight for.
They are largely successful at first, with Pete taking up again with a prewar sweetheart (Penelope Cruz), who rightly fears that he doesn't really love her and won't stay around long. Indeed, when he learns that beguiling Mona (Arquette), a longtime obsession, has married, he again becomes hotly interested in her.
Seemingly unhappy, with her husband (John Diehl) employed by the land-grabbing local kingpin (Sam Elliott), Mona flirts with Pete enough to whet his appetite, but he's crushed when he learns that his pal Big Boy has already made a move on her.
While the two guys struggle to stay in business with the help of another local maverick (James Gammon), loyal-but-frustrated Pete is drawn into the dangerous game played by Big Boy and Mona.
In various tense and violent encounters with Elliott's men, the leads' backs are watched by cool-headed Levi Gomez (Enrique Castillo). But Big Boy's brother Little Boy (Cole Hauser) is firmly in the enemy camp. Ultimately, the violence escalates and wild passions are unleashed with tragic consequences, with Big Boy (who fought as Marine in the bloody invasion of Tarawa in the Pacific) seemingly at peace with himself even as he sets a fateful course.
Both an homage to the fading cowboy lifestyle and a believable rendering of the times, "Hi-Lo" boasts another strong, commanding performance from Harrelson. Big Boy is equal parts boastful charmer and punchy cowpoke -- a might-have-been equal to Elliott's wily old boy -- and Harrelson, in one of his best outings, rises to the occasion.
With his starring role in Robert Towne's "Without Limits", Crudup has had a terrific year. Although his character gets somewhat overshadowed by Big Boy and Mona, this rising talent should ride off with a lot more fans. Arquette, on the other hand, is not particularly special or memorable in her role, though her slinky, laconic approach is appropriate to the character.
THE HI-LO COUNTRY
Gramercy Pictures
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment presents
in association with Martin Scorsese
A Working Title production
with Cappa/De Fina Prods.
Director: Stephen Frears
Screenwriter: Walon Green
Producers: Barbara De Fina,
Martin Scorsese, Eric Fellner, Tim Bevan
Executive producer: Rudd Simmons
Director of photography: Oliver Stapleton
Production/costume designer: Patricia Norris
Editor: Masahiro Hirakubo
Music: Carter Burwell
Casting: Victoria Thomas
Color/stereo
Cast:
Pete: Billy Crudup
Big Boy: Woody Harrelson
Little Boy: Cole Hauser
Mona: Patricia Arquette
Jim Ed Love: Sam Elliott
Hoover: James Gammon
Josepha: Penelope Cruz
Levi Gomez : Enrique Castillo
Les Birk: John Diehl
Running time - 115 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 12/24/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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