“Thank you for your service.” The words have become a cliché, but Hollywood has tried long and hard to make them matter. The industry has produced countless films about warfare and those who died for their country (whom we remember this week). But it has had a mixed record on presenting characters suffering the after-effects of putting their lives on the line. They may have survived, but lost comrades and innocence. It is their moment, too.
World War II brought the most cinematic treatment, and one of the directors who himself served — William Wyler — later had the guts to depict the challenges soldiers faced when the fighting stopped. Vietnam was likely the most troublesome to depict, it being the one we lost. Right-winger John Wayne was up first, with “The Green Berets,” gung-ho in flavor. It wasn’t until the late ‘70s that a pair of exceptional movies focused less...
World War II brought the most cinematic treatment, and one of the directors who himself served — William Wyler — later had the guts to depict the challenges soldiers faced when the fighting stopped. Vietnam was likely the most troublesome to depict, it being the one we lost. Right-winger John Wayne was up first, with “The Green Berets,” gung-ho in flavor. It wasn’t until the late ‘70s that a pair of exceptional movies focused less...
- 5/27/2024
- by Michele Willens
- The Wrap
The Zone of Disinterest: Hazanavicius Reanimates the Holocaust in Moral Fable
What’s most interesting about director Michel Hazanavicius are his valiant attempts at dabbling in multiple genres and styles, clearly exemplifying a broad taste in cinematic subjects and inspirations. Unfortunately, most of these attempts often feel as if they’re missing key ingredients to make them noteworthy. After an earnestly disastrous remake of Fred Zinneman’s The Search (2014), a curiously dull biopic with Godard Mon Amour (2017) and a remake of a meta Japanese zombie comedy in Final Cut (2022), it would seem Hazanvicius works best when navigating humorous elements (like his Oss Bond spoofs from earlier in his career).…...
What’s most interesting about director Michel Hazanavicius are his valiant attempts at dabbling in multiple genres and styles, clearly exemplifying a broad taste in cinematic subjects and inspirations. Unfortunately, most of these attempts often feel as if they’re missing key ingredients to make them noteworthy. After an earnestly disastrous remake of Fred Zinneman’s The Search (2014), a curiously dull biopic with Godard Mon Amour (2017) and a remake of a meta Japanese zombie comedy in Final Cut (2022), it would seem Hazanvicius works best when navigating humorous elements (like his Oss Bond spoofs from earlier in his career).…...
- 5/27/2024
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
The Hollywood Blacklist ruined dozens of lives. United States-based artists who were sympathetic to, or even curious about, communism were demonized as traitors to their country and, due to hysterical pressure from The House Committee on Un-American Activities (aka Huac), banned from working in the industry. Disgraced and unemployed, blacklisted individuals were forced to leave the country if they wanted to continue working or, if they could not afford to relocate, find a line of work where being an alleged communist wasn't frowned upon. This latter option was, of course, dismally unlikely. The mental and financial burden of being completely shunned from one's industry was so unbearable that it led actor Philip Loeb to die by suicide.
This put Hollywood at war against itself. Anyone suspected of having communist ties was pressured to come clean and, if they wanted to continue working, name names (a cowardly practice savaged by films...
This put Hollywood at war against itself. Anyone suspected of having communist ties was pressured to come clean and, if they wanted to continue working, name names (a cowardly practice savaged by films...
- 5/25/2024
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Gary Cooper was a two-time Oscar winner who starred in dozens of movies before his death in 1961, but how many of those titles remain classics? Let’s take a look back at 15 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.
Born in 1901, Cooper got his start in silent movies, most notably the aerial drama “Wings” (1927), which won the very first Academy Award as Best Picture. He would collect his own statuette as Best Actor for another WWI film: the biographical drama “Sergeant York” (1941). Directed by Howard Hawks, it helped create Cooper’s screen persona of an ordinary man capable of extraordinary courage in the face of adversity.
He won a second Best Actor trophy for playing a similar character in Fred Zinnemann‘s western “High Noon” (1952), which cast him as a retired marshal who must stand up to a gang of killers arriving on the noon train. Cooper earned additional nominations for similarly idealistic,...
Born in 1901, Cooper got his start in silent movies, most notably the aerial drama “Wings” (1927), which won the very first Academy Award as Best Picture. He would collect his own statuette as Best Actor for another WWI film: the biographical drama “Sergeant York” (1941). Directed by Howard Hawks, it helped create Cooper’s screen persona of an ordinary man capable of extraordinary courage in the face of adversity.
He won a second Best Actor trophy for playing a similar character in Fred Zinnemann‘s western “High Noon” (1952), which cast him as a retired marshal who must stand up to a gang of killers arriving on the noon train. Cooper earned additional nominations for similarly idealistic,...
- 5/4/2024
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Obviously it wasn’t by design, but the early-1950s renewal of the western genre, aided in large part by the success of Winchester ’73, which heralded a career second act for both its director, Anthony Mann, and its star, James Stewart, was answered in other quarters of the industry by multiple endeavors to take the once disreputable genre, previously dismissed as Roy Rogers/Saturday-matinee bunkum, all the way into the hallowed halls of state-sanctioned, capital-a art. And, as it happened, the two westerns that made a big runner-up showing at the 1952 and 1953 Oscars, High Noon and Shane, respectively, also served, by virtue of holding what wide swaths of the future cinephile demographic would come to view as Vichy letters of transit, as high-value targets for skeptics of the official cultural narrative.
These auteurist critics and film buffs, whose philosophy acquired definite contours some 10-odd years later, observed a different watershed moment: Rio Bravo.
These auteurist critics and film buffs, whose philosophy acquired definite contours some 10-odd years later, observed a different watershed moment: Rio Bravo.
- 5/3/2024
- by Jaime N. Christley
- Slant Magazine
It is the spring of “Baby Reindeer.” Netflix’s addictive limited series about a struggling comedian (Richard Gadd) working at a bar who makes the biggest mistake of his life when he gives a lonely woman (Jessica Gunning) a cup of tea on the house is the most watched series currently on the streamer and viewership is growing. And the fact that it’s based on a true story, makes “Baby Reindeer” even more creep and chilling. It’s a must-see voyeur thriller.
The same was true in the fall of 1987 with Adrian Lyne’s “Fatal Attraction.” Audiences flocked to the hard R-rated thriller which starred a wild-haired Glenn Close as an editor with a publishing company who has one-night stand with a happily married attorney (Michael Douglas) whose wife and daughter are out of town. Though it’s “understood” that it’s just a fling, Close’s Alex just won’t let go.
The same was true in the fall of 1987 with Adrian Lyne’s “Fatal Attraction.” Audiences flocked to the hard R-rated thriller which starred a wild-haired Glenn Close as an editor with a publishing company who has one-night stand with a happily married attorney (Michael Douglas) whose wife and daughter are out of town. Though it’s “understood” that it’s just a fling, Close’s Alex just won’t let go.
- 5/2/2024
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
If Criterion24/7 hasn’t completely colonized your attention every time you open the Channel––this is to say: if you’re stronger than me––their May lineup may be of interest. First and foremost I’m happy to see a Michael Roemer triple-feature: his superlative Nothing But a Man, arriving in a Criterion Edition, and the recently rediscovered The Plot Against Harry and Vengeance is Mine, three distinct features that suggest a long-lost voice of American movies. Meanwhile, Nobuhiko Obayashi’s Antiwar Trilogy four by Sara Driver, and a wide collection from Ayoka Chenzira fill out the auteurist sets.
Series-wise, a highlight of 1999 goes beyond the well-established canon with films like Trick and Bye Bye Africa, while of course including Sofia Coppola, Michael Mann, Scorsese, and Claire Denis. Films starring Shirley Maclaine, a study of 1960s paranoia, and Columbia’s “golden era” (read: 1950-1961) are curated; meanwhile, The Breaking Ice,...
Series-wise, a highlight of 1999 goes beyond the well-established canon with films like Trick and Bye Bye Africa, while of course including Sofia Coppola, Michael Mann, Scorsese, and Claire Denis. Films starring Shirley Maclaine, a study of 1960s paranoia, and Columbia’s “golden era” (read: 1950-1961) are curated; meanwhile, The Breaking Ice,...
- 4/17/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
It had all the elements of a good action movie – jeopardy, revenge, a mega budget – with even some casualties thrown in (albeit corporate).
The Bob Iger vs Nelson Peltz (who?) war is over now and Iger has won. But some filmmakers and ticket buyers might wonder: Did any of it matter? Would a modest change on the Disney board of directors have had any impact on the future of entertainment? (Peltz himself runs a hedge fund called Trian Partners and has no background in entertainment.)
To be sure, it’s been a good show, albeit a throwback to an era when Hollywood was run by Big Personalities, not monoliths like Amazon or Apple. The battles of that era were ego wars, not proxy wars — Redstone vs Diller or Murdoch vs Ted Turner, with bewildered stars and their reps huddled in the middle.
But now Iger has won – again. The onetime...
The Bob Iger vs Nelson Peltz (who?) war is over now and Iger has won. But some filmmakers and ticket buyers might wonder: Did any of it matter? Would a modest change on the Disney board of directors have had any impact on the future of entertainment? (Peltz himself runs a hedge fund called Trian Partners and has no background in entertainment.)
To be sure, it’s been a good show, albeit a throwback to an era when Hollywood was run by Big Personalities, not monoliths like Amazon or Apple. The battles of that era were ego wars, not proxy wars — Redstone vs Diller or Murdoch vs Ted Turner, with bewildered stars and their reps huddled in the middle.
But now Iger has won – again. The onetime...
- 4/4/2024
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
Everyone remembers their first time. That is the first time they saw Marlon Brando.
For the late Mike Nichols, seeing Brando on Broadway in 1947 in his seminal turn as Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams‘ “A Streetcar Named Desire,” was the catalyst that lead to his career in the arts which saw him become a rare Egot winner. The teenage Nichols and his then girlfriend’s mother were given tickets for the second night of the Elia Kazan-directed production. “There had never been anything like it, I know that by now,” Nichols recalled in a 2010 L.A. Times interview. It was, to this day, the only thing onstage that I had ever seen that was 100% real and 100% poetic. Lucy and I weren’t exactly theater buffs, but we couldn’t get up at the intermission. We were just so stunned. Your heart was pounding. It was a major experience.”
Susan L.
For the late Mike Nichols, seeing Brando on Broadway in 1947 in his seminal turn as Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams‘ “A Streetcar Named Desire,” was the catalyst that lead to his career in the arts which saw him become a rare Egot winner. The teenage Nichols and his then girlfriend’s mother were given tickets for the second night of the Elia Kazan-directed production. “There had never been anything like it, I know that by now,” Nichols recalled in a 2010 L.A. Times interview. It was, to this day, the only thing onstage that I had ever seen that was 100% real and 100% poetic. Lucy and I weren’t exactly theater buffs, but we couldn’t get up at the intermission. We were just so stunned. Your heart was pounding. It was a major experience.”
Susan L.
- 4/2/2024
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Italy’s Torino Film Festival will celebrate the centennial of Marlon Brando’s birth with a 24-title retrospective of films featuring the groundbreaking two-time Oscar winner, known for his naturalistic acting style and rebellious streak.
The Brando retro will be “the backbone” of the fest, according to its new artistic director, Italian actor/director Giulio Base. Accordingly, an image of Brando – photographed when he was shooting Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Last Tango in Paris” – is featured on the poster for the fest’s upcoming 42nd edition, which will run Nov. 22-30.
Torino is Italy’s preeminent event for young directors and indie cinema, and is where Matteo Garrone and Paolo Sorrentino screened their first works. The festival’s lineup will be announced at a later date.
“As an actor, Brando has always been my guiding star and I had been wondering for a while – since way before being appointed at Torino...
The Brando retro will be “the backbone” of the fest, according to its new artistic director, Italian actor/director Giulio Base. Accordingly, an image of Brando – photographed when he was shooting Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Last Tango in Paris” – is featured on the poster for the fest’s upcoming 42nd edition, which will run Nov. 22-30.
Torino is Italy’s preeminent event for young directors and indie cinema, and is where Matteo Garrone and Paolo Sorrentino screened their first works. The festival’s lineup will be announced at a later date.
“As an actor, Brando has always been my guiding star and I had been wondering for a while – since way before being appointed at Torino...
- 2/27/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Hollywood actor who was Oscar-nominated for his first role, playing opposite Marilyn Monroe, and later became a TV star
The actor Don Murray, who has died aged 94, made his big screen debut in 1956 opposite Marilyn Monroe in Bus Stop. His performance as the gangling, wide-eyed cowboy who falls for a saloon bar singer earned him an Oscar nomination as best supporting actor and a Bafta nomination as most promising newcomer. Monroe was superb as Chérie and Murray as Beauregard, besotted and eager to marry, made the perfect foil.
His career continued strongly in 1957 with The Bachelor Party, in which he played a married man unhappy about the dubious happenings at a stag party, and A Hatful of Rain, as a Korean war veteran addicted to heroin. The director, Fred Zinnemann, described it as “the grimmest film I ever made”. Murray’s performance displayed the commitment that was to characterise much of his work.
The actor Don Murray, who has died aged 94, made his big screen debut in 1956 opposite Marilyn Monroe in Bus Stop. His performance as the gangling, wide-eyed cowboy who falls for a saloon bar singer earned him an Oscar nomination as best supporting actor and a Bafta nomination as most promising newcomer. Monroe was superb as Chérie and Murray as Beauregard, besotted and eager to marry, made the perfect foil.
His career continued strongly in 1957 with The Bachelor Party, in which he played a married man unhappy about the dubious happenings at a stag party, and A Hatful of Rain, as a Korean war veteran addicted to heroin. The director, Fred Zinnemann, described it as “the grimmest film I ever made”. Murray’s performance displayed the commitment that was to characterise much of his work.
- 2/8/2024
- by Brian Baxter
- The Guardian - Film News
Don Murray, who rose to fame co-starring with Marilyn Monroe in 1956’s Bus Stop and enjoyed a prolific career that stretched into the 21st Century with Twin Peaks: The Return in 2017, has died. He was 94.
His death was announced by his son Christopher to The New York Times. No additional details were provided.
Murray was Oscar-nominated for his debut performance as Beauregard “Beau” Decker, the lovestruck cowboy who falls for Monroe’s saloon singer Cherie in Joshua Logan’s Bus Stop, an adaptation of the William Inge play.
A conscientious objector during the Korean War who fulfilled his service obligation by working in German and Italian refugee camps, Murray became known for building an acting career in what were once called “message” movies, films with socially responsible themes. In Fred Zinnemann’s A Hatful of Rain (1957), he played a morphine-addicted war veteran, and in 1962 starred as a closeted (and blackmailed...
His death was announced by his son Christopher to The New York Times. No additional details were provided.
Murray was Oscar-nominated for his debut performance as Beauregard “Beau” Decker, the lovestruck cowboy who falls for Monroe’s saloon singer Cherie in Joshua Logan’s Bus Stop, an adaptation of the William Inge play.
A conscientious objector during the Korean War who fulfilled his service obligation by working in German and Italian refugee camps, Murray became known for building an acting career in what were once called “message” movies, films with socially responsible themes. In Fred Zinnemann’s A Hatful of Rain (1957), he played a morphine-addicted war veteran, and in 1962 starred as a closeted (and blackmailed...
- 2/2/2024
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Don Murray, who received an Oscar nomination for his performance opposite Marilyn Monroe in the 1956 film adaptation of William Inge’s play “Bus Stop,” has died. He was 94.
His son Christopher confirmed his death to the New York Times.
In the 2017 reboot of “Twin Peaks,” he played Bushnell Mullins, the chief executive of Lucky 7 Insurance.
Murray also starred in the fourth entry in the “Planet of the Apes” franchise, “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes”; played Brooke Shield’s father in “Endless Love”; and recurred on prime-time soap “Knots Landing” as Sid Fairgate.
Reviewing “Bus Stop,” directed by Joshua Logan, the New York Times said: “With a wondrous new actor named Don Murray playing the stupid, stubborn poke and with the clutter of broncos, blondes and busters beautifully tangled, Mr. Logan has a booming comedy going before he gets to the romance. A great deal is owed to Mr.
His son Christopher confirmed his death to the New York Times.
In the 2017 reboot of “Twin Peaks,” he played Bushnell Mullins, the chief executive of Lucky 7 Insurance.
Murray also starred in the fourth entry in the “Planet of the Apes” franchise, “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes”; played Brooke Shield’s father in “Endless Love”; and recurred on prime-time soap “Knots Landing” as Sid Fairgate.
Reviewing “Bus Stop,” directed by Joshua Logan, the New York Times said: “With a wondrous new actor named Don Murray playing the stupid, stubborn poke and with the clutter of broncos, blondes and busters beautifully tangled, Mr. Logan has a booming comedy going before he gets to the romance. A great deal is owed to Mr.
- 2/2/2024
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
Don Murray, the venturesome actor who earned an Oscar nomination for playing a rodeo cowboy smitten by Marilyn Monroe in Bus Stop, then spurned Hollywood’s attempts to mold him, has died. He was 94.
Murray’s son Christopher announced his dad’s death to The New York Times without providing details.
The actor was also known for the interesting parts he went after in such serious films as A Hatful of Rain (1957), The Hoodlum Priest (1961) and Advise & Consent (1962).
Fresh off a starring role in a 1955 Broadway revival of Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth, Murray was sought by director Joshua Logan to portray Bo Decker, the naive Montana man who falls for the chanteuse Chérie (Monroe), in Bus Stop (1956). It was his first movie, and he was 26 at the time.
“No one could have been less equipped for the job,” he once said. “I was a New...
Murray’s son Christopher announced his dad’s death to The New York Times without providing details.
The actor was also known for the interesting parts he went after in such serious films as A Hatful of Rain (1957), The Hoodlum Priest (1961) and Advise & Consent (1962).
Fresh off a starring role in a 1955 Broadway revival of Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth, Murray was sought by director Joshua Logan to portray Bo Decker, the naive Montana man who falls for the chanteuse Chérie (Monroe), in Bus Stop (1956). It was his first movie, and he was 26 at the time.
“No one could have been less equipped for the job,” he once said. “I was a New...
- 2/2/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Glynis Johns, the upbeat leading lady with the British charm who starred as the spirited feminist mother Winifred Banks in Mary Poppins, has died. She was 100.
Johns lived in West Hollywood and died Thursday of natural causes at an assisted living facility in the area, her manager, Mitch Clem, told The Hollywood Reporter.
A multitalented actress, dancer, pianist and singer, Johns earned a best supporting actress Oscar nomination for playing the widowed saloon and hotel owner Mrs. Firth in Fred Zinnemann’s Australia-set The Sundowners (1960).
Plus, she memorably sang “Send in the Clowns,” which Stephen Sondheim wrote just for her, in her Tony Award-winning performance as Desiree Armfeldt in the original 1973 production of A Little Night Music.
The husky voiced Johns was nominated for a Golden Globe for portraying a daffy older socialite who is stirred by the young stud she meets on the beach in a then-controversial film about sex,...
Johns lived in West Hollywood and died Thursday of natural causes at an assisted living facility in the area, her manager, Mitch Clem, told The Hollywood Reporter.
A multitalented actress, dancer, pianist and singer, Johns earned a best supporting actress Oscar nomination for playing the widowed saloon and hotel owner Mrs. Firth in Fred Zinnemann’s Australia-set The Sundowners (1960).
Plus, she memorably sang “Send in the Clowns,” which Stephen Sondheim wrote just for her, in her Tony Award-winning performance as Desiree Armfeldt in the original 1973 production of A Little Night Music.
The husky voiced Johns was nominated for a Golden Globe for portraying a daffy older socialite who is stirred by the young stud she meets on the beach in a then-controversial film about sex,...
- 1/4/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Moms loved actor Robert Shaw. He wasn’t traditionally handsome, but he was sexy with his piercing blue eyes and forceful British accent. There was a gravatas to his performances, a danger that was appealing to women of a certain age. And he knew how to make an entrance on the big screen. Who could forget his introduction as the fanatical shark hunter Quint in the 1975 blockbuster “Jaws” when he runs his fingernails down the blackboard. He was the bad boy of many a mother’s dreams in the 1970s.
Let’s face it, they don’t make them like Shaw anymore. In its 1978 obit of the British actor, the Washington Post declared him as “one of the most forceful and successful character actors on the contemporary English-speaking screen.” He was also a true renaissance man having written five novels and three plays. He was writing his sixth novel when...
Let’s face it, they don’t make them like Shaw anymore. In its 1978 obit of the British actor, the Washington Post declared him as “one of the most forceful and successful character actors on the contemporary English-speaking screen.” He was also a true renaissance man having written five novels and three plays. He was writing his sixth novel when...
- 12/27/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Clockwise from top left: Moon (courtesy Liberty Films UK), Die Hard (courtesy 20th Century Studios), The Iron Giant (courtesy Warner Bros.), The Truman Show (courtesy Paramount Pictures)Graphic: The A.V. Club
YouTube offers a veritable treasure trove of free movies ready to watch at your convenience. Comedies, dramas, hidden gems,...
YouTube offers a veritable treasure trove of free movies ready to watch at your convenience. Comedies, dramas, hidden gems,...
- 12/11/2023
- by Ian Spelling
- avclub.com
"From Here to Eternity" is the 1953 Oscar winning feature, directed by Fred Zinnemann, based on the 1951 novel by James Jones, following three US Army soldiers, played by Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift and Frank Sinatra, stationed on Hawaii in the months leading up to the attack on 'Pearl Harbor', December 7, 1941, with the film selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant":
"...in Hawaii in the months preceding the Japanese attack on 'Pearl Harbor', 'Pvt. Robert E. Lee Prewitt' (Clift) reports for his new assignment as an infantryman. At his previous Post, Prewitt was a bugler and his unit's top boxer. But after a man died in the ring, Prewitt wants nothing to do with the sport.
"Trouble is, his new company commander, 'Captain Dana Holmes' (Philip Ober) has a championship boxing team and Prewitt's refusal to...
"...in Hawaii in the months preceding the Japanese attack on 'Pearl Harbor', 'Pvt. Robert E. Lee Prewitt' (Clift) reports for his new assignment as an infantryman. At his previous Post, Prewitt was a bugler and his unit's top boxer. But after a man died in the ring, Prewitt wants nothing to do with the sport.
"Trouble is, his new company commander, 'Captain Dana Holmes' (Philip Ober) has a championship boxing team and Prewitt's refusal to...
- 12/7/2023
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
The New York Film Critics Circle has significantly boosted the Oscar prospects for Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” by anointing the Western epic best film and naming Lily Gladstone best actress.
The film, distributed by Apple Original Films in partnership with Paramount Pictures (overseeing theatrical distribution), marks the streaming service’s inaugural win from the NYFCC.
NYFCC’s winner for best film has typically had a strong correlation with the Academy Awards’ best picture prize. Since the expansion to 10 nominees in 2009, only “Carol” (2015) and “First Cow” (2020) have missed out on a best picture nom. The latter was the first film in the organization’s long history to fail to garner a single Oscar nom. Since 1935, NYFCC and the Academy have matched 43% of the time.
Scorsese claimed his third top prize from the NYFCC, following “Goodfellas” (1990) and “The Irishman” (2019). His achievement places him among a select few directors...
The film, distributed by Apple Original Films in partnership with Paramount Pictures (overseeing theatrical distribution), marks the streaming service’s inaugural win from the NYFCC.
NYFCC’s winner for best film has typically had a strong correlation with the Academy Awards’ best picture prize. Since the expansion to 10 nominees in 2009, only “Carol” (2015) and “First Cow” (2020) have missed out on a best picture nom. The latter was the first film in the organization’s long history to fail to garner a single Oscar nom. Since 1935, NYFCC and the Academy have matched 43% of the time.
Scorsese claimed his third top prize from the NYFCC, following “Goodfellas” (1990) and “The Irishman” (2019). His achievement places him among a select few directors...
- 11/30/2023
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Oscar-winning actress Grace Kelly made just a handful of movies before transforming from a Hollywood princess into a real life one following her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956. Let’s take a look back in the photo gallery above of all 11 of her films, ranked worst to best.
Kelly got her start performing onstage and in television before being drafted by Hollywood to appear in Henry Hathaway‘s ripped-from-the-headlines nail-biter “Fourteen Hours” (1951) when she was just 22-years-old. The next year found her starring as the concerned wife to an imperiled town marshal (Gary Cooper) in Fred Zinnemann‘s landmark western “High Noon” (1952).
She got her first Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress for John Ford‘s adventure yarn “Mogambo” (1953), playing one of two love interests (along with Ava Gardner) to big game hunter Clark Gable. The next year, Kelly upset frontrunner Judy Garland, who made a massive comeback...
Kelly got her start performing onstage and in television before being drafted by Hollywood to appear in Henry Hathaway‘s ripped-from-the-headlines nail-biter “Fourteen Hours” (1951) when she was just 22-years-old. The next year found her starring as the concerned wife to an imperiled town marshal (Gary Cooper) in Fred Zinnemann‘s landmark western “High Noon” (1952).
She got her first Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress for John Ford‘s adventure yarn “Mogambo” (1953), playing one of two love interests (along with Ava Gardner) to big game hunter Clark Gable. The next year, Kelly upset frontrunner Judy Garland, who made a massive comeback...
- 11/3/2023
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Clockwise from top left: The Wicker Man (Warner Bros.), Vanilla Sky (Paramont), Oldboy (FilmDistrict), The Toy (Columbia)Image: AVClub
In Hollywood, it often seems that the sincerest form of flattery is to remake a foreign film. Domestic versions of international hits are a long-running thing in a town where familiarity assumes success,...
In Hollywood, it often seems that the sincerest form of flattery is to remake a foreign film. Domestic versions of international hits are a long-running thing in a town where familiarity assumes success,...
- 11/1/2023
- by Ian Spelling
- avclub.com
Burt Lancaster was an Oscar-winning actor who appeared in dozens of movies until his death in 1994. But which titles are among his finest? Let’s take a look back at 20 of Lancaster’s greatest films, ranked worst to best.
Born in 1913, Lancaster got into acting after performing as an acrobat in the circus. He made his movie debut in 1946 with a leading role in the quintessential noir thriller “The Killers” (1946). He earned his first Oscar nomination as Best Actor for Fred Zinnemann‘s wartime drama “From Here to Eternity” (1953), winning the prize just seven years later for playing a fast-talking preacher in “Elmer Gantry” (1960). Lancaster would compete twice more in the category (“Birdman of Alcatraz” in 1962 and “Atlantic City” in 1981).
In the 1950s, the actor decided to chart his own career by forming the production company Hecht-Hill-Lancaster, which churned out a number of successful titles including the Best Picture-winning “Marty...
Born in 1913, Lancaster got into acting after performing as an acrobat in the circus. He made his movie debut in 1946 with a leading role in the quintessential noir thriller “The Killers” (1946). He earned his first Oscar nomination as Best Actor for Fred Zinnemann‘s wartime drama “From Here to Eternity” (1953), winning the prize just seven years later for playing a fast-talking preacher in “Elmer Gantry” (1960). Lancaster would compete twice more in the category (“Birdman of Alcatraz” in 1962 and “Atlantic City” in 1981).
In the 1950s, the actor decided to chart his own career by forming the production company Hecht-Hill-Lancaster, which churned out a number of successful titles including the Best Picture-winning “Marty...
- 10/28/2023
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Back in 1992 Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson — who had met the University of Texas in Dallas and were roomies — decided to make a movie. But after spending $10,000 and shooting 13 minutes of the crime caper comedy “Bottle Rocket,” they ran out of money. Eventually, the short and the full script made its way to Oscar-winning writer/director/producer James L. Brooks. It just so happened that Columbia had a deal with Brooks to finance a low-budget film selected by the filmmaker. And in 1996, the feature-length version of “Bottle Rocket” was released with Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson and James Caan. Though the film didn’t set the box office on fire, critics realized Anderson was a new and exciting cinematic voice.
Anderson has made 11 feature films — his latest “Asteroid City” came out earlier this year — and has been nominated seven times for an Oscar including three for screenplay, two for animated features,...
Anderson has made 11 feature films — his latest “Asteroid City” came out earlier this year — and has been nominated seven times for an Oscar including three for screenplay, two for animated features,...
- 10/6/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Vanessa Redgrave To Be Feted At European Film Awards
Vanessa Redgrave will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 36th European Film Awards this December. Across six decades, the actress has ratcheted up more than 150 film and TV credits. Having first achieved fame as Rosalind in a 1961 a televized Royal Shakespeare Company performance of As You Like It, she broke out in cinema in Karel Reisz’s 1966 comedy Morgan: A Suitable Case For Treatment. Redgrave won Best Actress in Cannes for the role and was also Bafta and Oscar nominated. Other key early credits include Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow Up, Reisz’s Isadora, Charles Jarrott’s Mary, Queen Of Scots, for which she won a Special David at the Italian David di Donatello Awards; Fred Zinnemann’s Julia, for which she won an Oscar and James Ivory’s The Bostonians and Howards End and James Gray’s Little Odessa.
Vanessa Redgrave will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 36th European Film Awards this December. Across six decades, the actress has ratcheted up more than 150 film and TV credits. Having first achieved fame as Rosalind in a 1961 a televized Royal Shakespeare Company performance of As You Like It, she broke out in cinema in Karel Reisz’s 1966 comedy Morgan: A Suitable Case For Treatment. Redgrave won Best Actress in Cannes for the role and was also Bafta and Oscar nominated. Other key early credits include Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow Up, Reisz’s Isadora, Charles Jarrott’s Mary, Queen Of Scots, for which she won a Special David at the Italian David di Donatello Awards; Fred Zinnemann’s Julia, for which she won an Oscar and James Ivory’s The Bostonians and Howards End and James Gray’s Little Odessa.
- 9/20/2023
- by Jesse Whittock and Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Award
British actor Vanessa Redgrave will receive the European Lifetime Achievement award for her outstanding body of work at the European Film Awards.
Hailing from an illustrious family of actors, Redgrave’s first lead in “Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment” (1966), by Karel Reisz, won her best actress at Cannes and scored BAFTA and Oscar nominations. She returned to Cannes in the following year as Jane, the mysterious woman in the park in “Blow Up” by Michelangelo Antonioni.
More Oscar nominations followed – in 1969 for her performance as Isadora Duncan in “Isadora” by Reisz, which again won her best actress at Cannes, and in 1972 for “Mary, Queen of Scots, by Charles Jarrott – which won her a special David at Italy’s David di Donatello Awards. Her performance in Fred Zinnemann’s “Julia” (1978) won her an Oscar, and she scored further nominations for James Ivory’s “The Bostonians” (1985) and “Howards End” (1993). In...
British actor Vanessa Redgrave will receive the European Lifetime Achievement award for her outstanding body of work at the European Film Awards.
Hailing from an illustrious family of actors, Redgrave’s first lead in “Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment” (1966), by Karel Reisz, won her best actress at Cannes and scored BAFTA and Oscar nominations. She returned to Cannes in the following year as Jane, the mysterious woman in the park in “Blow Up” by Michelangelo Antonioni.
More Oscar nominations followed – in 1969 for her performance as Isadora Duncan in “Isadora” by Reisz, which again won her best actress at Cannes, and in 1972 for “Mary, Queen of Scots, by Charles Jarrott – which won her a special David at Italy’s David di Donatello Awards. Her performance in Fred Zinnemann’s “Julia” (1978) won her an Oscar, and she scored further nominations for James Ivory’s “The Bostonians” (1985) and “Howards End” (1993). In...
- 9/20/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Award will be presented at European Film Awards in Berlin on December 9.
The European Film Academy is to present Dame Vanessa Redgrave with its European Lifetime Achievement Award at the 36th European Film Awards in Berlin on December 9.
Redgrave’s first lead film role was in Morgan: A Suitable Case For Treatment (1966) by Karel Reisz which won her the best actress award in Cannes saw her nominated both the BAFTAs and the Oscars.
Redgrave returned to Cannes the following year as Jane, the mysterious woman in the park in Blow Up by Michelangelo Antonioni.
She won best actress again at...
The European Film Academy is to present Dame Vanessa Redgrave with its European Lifetime Achievement Award at the 36th European Film Awards in Berlin on December 9.
Redgrave’s first lead film role was in Morgan: A Suitable Case For Treatment (1966) by Karel Reisz which won her the best actress award in Cannes saw her nominated both the BAFTAs and the Oscars.
Redgrave returned to Cannes the following year as Jane, the mysterious woman in the park in Blow Up by Michelangelo Antonioni.
She won best actress again at...
- 9/20/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Oscar-winning actress and longtime activist Vanessa Redgrave will be honored this year with the European Film Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Redgrave will receive the honor at the 36th European Film Awards in Berlin on Dec. 9.
An acting icon who has deftly straddled theater, film and television in a career that has spanned more than six decades, Redgrave first made her name on the stage as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before breaking into film work in 1966 with Karel Reisz’ Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment. The role, which won her the best actress prize in Cannes, launched her international career. A multitude of acting prizes have followed since including another best actress prize in Cannes, two Emmys, a Tony, two Golden Globes and two BAFTAs.
She has been nominated for an Academy Award six times — for performances in Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment (1966), Isadora (1968), Mary, Queen of Scots...
An acting icon who has deftly straddled theater, film and television in a career that has spanned more than six decades, Redgrave first made her name on the stage as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before breaking into film work in 1966 with Karel Reisz’ Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment. The role, which won her the best actress prize in Cannes, launched her international career. A multitude of acting prizes have followed since including another best actress prize in Cannes, two Emmys, a Tony, two Golden Globes and two BAFTAs.
She has been nominated for an Academy Award six times — for performances in Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment (1966), Isadora (1968), Mary, Queen of Scots...
- 9/20/2023
- by Scott Roxborough and Abid Rahman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Martin Scorsese is one of the greatest movie makers of all time, with titles such as “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull,” “Goodfellas,” and “The Irishman.” The Academy Awards think that highly of him, too. Scorsese has reaped nine Best Director nominations. That tally ties him with Steven Spielberg. Here’s the breakdown of Best Director bids for both of them:
Scorsese:
“Raging Bull” in 1981 — lost to Robert Redford for “Ordinary People.” “The Last Temptation of Christ” in 1989 — lost to Barry Levinson for “Rain Man.” “Goodfellas” in 1991 — lost to Kevin Costner for “Dances With Wolves.” “Gangs of New York” in 2003 — lost to Roman Polanski for “The Pianist.” “The Aviator” in 2005 — lost to Clint Eastwood for “Million Dollar Baby.” “The Departed” in 2007 — Won. “Hugo” in 2012 — lost to Michel Hazanavicius for “The Artist.” “The Wolf of Wall Street” in 2014 — lost to Alfonso Cuarón for “Gravity.” “The Irishman” in 2020 — lost to Bong Joon Ho for “Parasite.
Scorsese:
“Raging Bull” in 1981 — lost to Robert Redford for “Ordinary People.” “The Last Temptation of Christ” in 1989 — lost to Barry Levinson for “Rain Man.” “Goodfellas” in 1991 — lost to Kevin Costner for “Dances With Wolves.” “Gangs of New York” in 2003 — lost to Roman Polanski for “The Pianist.” “The Aviator” in 2005 — lost to Clint Eastwood for “Million Dollar Baby.” “The Departed” in 2007 — Won. “Hugo” in 2012 — lost to Michel Hazanavicius for “The Artist.” “The Wolf of Wall Street” in 2014 — lost to Alfonso Cuarón for “Gravity.” “The Irishman” in 2020 — lost to Bong Joon Ho for “Parasite.
- 9/13/2023
- by Jacob Sarkisian
- Gold Derby
It's hard to believe it's been 70 years since Fred Zinneman's "From Here to Eternity" came out. Not that we were all there of course, but time has been really kind to the all-star, Best Picture-winning drama. Unlike many of the rah-rah war films emerging from America during and post-World War II, "From Here to Eternity" argues not that war is hell — since most of the movie takes place during peace time — but that men, even in the army, are subconsciously determined to make life hell whether there's a war on or not.
Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster, and Frank Sinatra star as soldiers stationed in Hawaii immediately prior to World War II, whose stubborn pride and barely contained insecurities lead directly to many avoidable tragedies. Clift plays Private Prewitt, a formerly promising boxer who refuses to box again after accidentally blinding a fellow soldier, and endures criminal abuse just because...
Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster, and Frank Sinatra star as soldiers stationed in Hawaii immediately prior to World War II, whose stubborn pride and barely contained insecurities lead directly to many avoidable tragedies. Clift plays Private Prewitt, a formerly promising boxer who refuses to box again after accidentally blinding a fellow soldier, and endures criminal abuse just because...
- 8/6/2023
- by William Bibbiani
- Slash Film
Fred Zinnemann’s sturdy adaptation of James Jones’s army melodrama remains an underrated slice of homoerotic, bittersweet war-is-hell film-making
Seventy years ago, in the midst of mass critical adulation and storming box office for From Here to Eternity, the Guardian published one of the film’s few tepid reviews. “No doubt no army in a free country was at its best in pre-war years,” wrote the paper’s unnamed film critic, “but surely no unit of the American Army was quite so corrupt as this account would have us believe.” The acting and directing were “first-class”, the critic acknowledged; the film itself “[defied] credibility”.
Viewed in 2023, Fred Zinnemann’s big, muscular melodrama of Hawaiian barracks life in the months leading up to the bombing of Pearl Harbor has inevitably dated a bit – though perhaps not as much as the Guardian’s concern that it did the US army a bit dirty.
Seventy years ago, in the midst of mass critical adulation and storming box office for From Here to Eternity, the Guardian published one of the film’s few tepid reviews. “No doubt no army in a free country was at its best in pre-war years,” wrote the paper’s unnamed film critic, “but surely no unit of the American Army was quite so corrupt as this account would have us believe.” The acting and directing were “first-class”, the critic acknowledged; the film itself “[defied] credibility”.
Viewed in 2023, Fred Zinnemann’s big, muscular melodrama of Hawaiian barracks life in the months leading up to the bombing of Pearl Harbor has inevitably dated a bit – though perhaps not as much as the Guardian’s concern that it did the US army a bit dirty.
- 8/5/2023
- by Guy Lodge
- The Guardian - Film News
The racism in Carl Franklin’s One False Move suggests a festering pool of standing water just waiting to be disturbed. Dale Dixon (Bill Paxton), the police chief of Star City, Arkansas, casually utters the n-word while having a peaceful meal with his colleagues, one of whom is Black. Lila Walker (Cynda Williams), the mixed-race outlaw trying to avoid capture in order to see her son again, understands American inequality all too well: “Looking guilty is being guilty, for Black people,” she tells her brother. Having recently shot a white Texas state trooper in the head at point blank range, the irony of her statement is hard to miss. But that doesn’t mean she’s wrong.
Released days after the 1992 Los Angeles riots, One False Move offers a particularly prescient reflection of regional division and segregation. It sees violence as the common denominator between blue and red states, a...
Released days after the 1992 Los Angeles riots, One False Move offers a particularly prescient reflection of regional division and segregation. It sees violence as the common denominator between blue and red states, a...
- 7/18/2023
- by Glenn Heath Jr.
- Slant Magazine
If one must ascribe a theme to the Michel Hazanavicius project, it might be documenting the progression of film history: The Artist the silent era, Redoubtable the new wave, and now Final Cut the dreaded hyper-capitalist streaming era. Considering his 2014 Cannes completion entry and Fred Zinnemann remake The Search, likely one of the most-forgotten works of recent times, seemingly killed all his Hollywood crossover potential in one fell swoop, there’s likely some bitterness about being the rare French Academy Award winner still at the mercy of ever-changing markets.
Having (admittedly) never seen Shin’ichirō Ueda’s One Cut of the Dead I’m unsure to what degree his remake, Final Cut, is riffing or reinventing the basic premise, but it’s not hard to detect some personal angle when a seeming Hazanivicius stand-in, fading French director Remi (Romain Duris), serves as the lead. An opportunity for the helmer comes when...
Having (admittedly) never seen Shin’ichirō Ueda’s One Cut of the Dead I’m unsure to what degree his remake, Final Cut, is riffing or reinventing the basic premise, but it’s not hard to detect some personal angle when a seeming Hazanivicius stand-in, fading French director Remi (Romain Duris), serves as the lead. An opportunity for the helmer comes when...
- 7/14/2023
- by Ethan Vestby
- The Film Stage
Christian Petzold, the director of the well-timed summer movie Afire with Anne-Katrin Titze: “I’m really sure that we don’t have summer movies. The Americans have summer movies, the French have summer movies.”
Christian Petzold’s slow-burning Afire, shot by Hans Fromm, stars Paula Beer, Thomas Schubert, Langston Uibel, Enno Trebs, and Matthias Brandt.
Nadja (Paula Beer) with Devid (Enno Trebs), Felix (Langston Uibel), and Leon (Thomas Schubert) in Afire
A scene in Leo McCarey’s An Affair To Remember (with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr); Sophie Calle’s Voir La Mer and Hiroshi Sugimoto’s photographs; Astrid Lindgren; a Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre touch; Uwe Johnson’s Mutmassungen über Jakob and Margarethe von Trotta’s Jahrestage series; Johan Wolfgang von Goethe; a Nanni Moretti quote; meeting Paul Dano’s Wildlife cinematographer Diego García (Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Cemetery Of Splendor) in Tel Aviv; Billy Wilder, Fred Zinnemann, Curt Siodmak, Robert Siodmak,...
Christian Petzold’s slow-burning Afire, shot by Hans Fromm, stars Paula Beer, Thomas Schubert, Langston Uibel, Enno Trebs, and Matthias Brandt.
Nadja (Paula Beer) with Devid (Enno Trebs), Felix (Langston Uibel), and Leon (Thomas Schubert) in Afire
A scene in Leo McCarey’s An Affair To Remember (with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr); Sophie Calle’s Voir La Mer and Hiroshi Sugimoto’s photographs; Astrid Lindgren; a Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre touch; Uwe Johnson’s Mutmassungen über Jakob and Margarethe von Trotta’s Jahrestage series; Johan Wolfgang von Goethe; a Nanni Moretti quote; meeting Paul Dano’s Wildlife cinematographer Diego García (Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Cemetery Of Splendor) in Tel Aviv; Billy Wilder, Fred Zinnemann, Curt Siodmak, Robert Siodmak,...
- 7/2/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Billy Wilder was the six-time Oscar winner who left behind a series of classically quotable features from Hollywood’s Golden Age, crafting sharp witted and darkly cynical stories that blended comedy and pathos in equal measure. Let’s take a look back at 25 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.
Wilder was born to a family of Austrian Jews in 1906. After working as a journalist, he developed an interest in filmmaking and collaborated on the silent feature “People on Sunday” (1929) with fellow rookies Fred Zinnemann, Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer. With the rise of Adolph Hitler, Wilder fled to Paris, where he co-directed the feature “Mauvaise Graine” (1934). Tragically, his mother, stepfather and grandmother all died in the Holocaust.
After moving to Hollywood, Wilder enjoyed a successful career as a screenwriter, earning Oscar nominations for penning 1939’s “Ninotchka” and 1941’s “Hold Back the Dawn” and “Ball of Fire.” He...
Wilder was born to a family of Austrian Jews in 1906. After working as a journalist, he developed an interest in filmmaking and collaborated on the silent feature “People on Sunday” (1929) with fellow rookies Fred Zinnemann, Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer. With the rise of Adolph Hitler, Wilder fled to Paris, where he co-directed the feature “Mauvaise Graine” (1934). Tragically, his mother, stepfather and grandmother all died in the Holocaust.
After moving to Hollywood, Wilder enjoyed a successful career as a screenwriter, earning Oscar nominations for penning 1939’s “Ninotchka” and 1941’s “Hold Back the Dawn” and “Ball of Fire.” He...
- 6/17/2023
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Exclusive: Hot on the heels of Charles III coronation, Mike Medavoy and Keith Chapman are boarding the producing team for the Charles I & II historical epic, The Thorn in the Crown.
The Thorn in the Crown, by scribes Pascal Mercay and Morgan Smallbone, tells the story of John Cooke, a humble lawyer and prototype of the modern-day human rights campaigner, who in 1649 London accepted the unprecedented and perilous brief to prosecute King Charles I for treason. All but lost to history, this remarkable figure has been plucked from obscurity and pieced together alongside renowned,
revered, and reviled historical figures, King Charles I, Oliver Cromwell & King Charles II. In 1660, that same crown which was recently bestowed on the head of King Charles III, was newly forged to rest on the head of his namesake, King Charles II. Eleven years earlier in 1649, Charles II’s father, King Charles I, was executed and...
The Thorn in the Crown, by scribes Pascal Mercay and Morgan Smallbone, tells the story of John Cooke, a humble lawyer and prototype of the modern-day human rights campaigner, who in 1649 London accepted the unprecedented and perilous brief to prosecute King Charles I for treason. All but lost to history, this remarkable figure has been plucked from obscurity and pieced together alongside renowned,
revered, and reviled historical figures, King Charles I, Oliver Cromwell & King Charles II. In 1660, that same crown which was recently bestowed on the head of King Charles III, was newly forged to rest on the head of his namesake, King Charles II. Eleven years earlier in 1649, Charles II’s father, King Charles I, was executed and...
- 5/15/2023
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Netflix is taking a swing at another film classic, rebooting the Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1953 French adventure thriller The Wages of Fear.
Julien Leclercq, a French action director whose credits include 2010’s hijacking thriller The Assault, 2021’s Sentinelle starring Olga Kurylenko, and the Netflix crime series Ganglands, will adapt the original film, together with his Ganglands co-writer Hamid Hlioua.
Franck Gastambide, Alban Lenoir, Ana Girardot and Sofiane Zermani have signed on to star in the new, currently untitled, remake, which will roll out on Netflix worldwide next year.
“To reunite this cast for the reboot of such a film, for a worldwide broadcast with Netflix, forces me to put all my heart and guts into it,” said Leclercq. “The ambition is huge.”
Leclercq and Julien Madon will produce the film for Netflix via Labyrinthe Films and TF1 Studio.
Poster for the original ‘Wages of Fear’ (1953)
Clouzot and directed and co-wrote the...
Julien Leclercq, a French action director whose credits include 2010’s hijacking thriller The Assault, 2021’s Sentinelle starring Olga Kurylenko, and the Netflix crime series Ganglands, will adapt the original film, together with his Ganglands co-writer Hamid Hlioua.
Franck Gastambide, Alban Lenoir, Ana Girardot and Sofiane Zermani have signed on to star in the new, currently untitled, remake, which will roll out on Netflix worldwide next year.
“To reunite this cast for the reboot of such a film, for a worldwide broadcast with Netflix, forces me to put all my heart and guts into it,” said Leclercq. “The ambition is huge.”
Leclercq and Julien Madon will produce the film for Netflix via Labyrinthe Films and TF1 Studio.
Poster for the original ‘Wages of Fear’ (1953)
Clouzot and directed and co-wrote the...
- 4/11/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
After giving everyone a case of the chills because of his performance as Charlie Cullen in The Good Nurse, Eddie Redmayne is ready to kill again. Redmayne will star in The Day of the Jackal series, a new project destined for Peacock and Sky. The concept is a reimagining of the 1973 film adaptation from Universal Pictures. In The Day of the Jackal, Redmayne plays the Jackal, a professional assassin hired by a French paramilitary dissident to kill French President Charles de Gaulle in 1962.
Inspired by Frederick Forsyth’s novel of the same name (and Universal’s film adaptation), the new version brings the character and story to a contemporary setting, letting our corrupt geo-political landscape loose in a world of deception, lies, cover-ups, and death. In addition to telling an intriguing tale of careful murder, The Day of the Jackal series will meditate on the concept of an anti-hero.
Ronan Bennett...
Inspired by Frederick Forsyth’s novel of the same name (and Universal’s film adaptation), the new version brings the character and story to a contemporary setting, letting our corrupt geo-political landscape loose in a world of deception, lies, cover-ups, and death. In addition to telling an intriguing tale of careful murder, The Day of the Jackal series will meditate on the concept of an anti-hero.
Ronan Bennett...
- 3/21/2023
- by Steve Seigh
- JoBlo.com
Each year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences attempts to award Oscars to the “best” film or artist in each category that year, and each year it fails at least a few times.
There is always room for disagreement on what constitutes “best”: how can we possibly compare Toy Story 3, Inception and The King’s Speech? And yet voters did just that in 2010.
It is similarly impossible to nail down all the egregious choices in academy history, but here are a few of the most glaring errors, with just days to go until the 2023 ceremony. Starting with the granddaddy of them all...
How Green Was My Valley
Beat: Citizen Kane to Best Picture, Best Director and Best Cinematography in 1941
It takes a bit of searching these days to find someone who has a) seen John Ford’s Welsh melodrama How Green Was My Valley and b...
There is always room for disagreement on what constitutes “best”: how can we possibly compare Toy Story 3, Inception and The King’s Speech? And yet voters did just that in 2010.
It is similarly impossible to nail down all the egregious choices in academy history, but here are a few of the most glaring errors, with just days to go until the 2023 ceremony. Starting with the granddaddy of them all...
How Green Was My Valley
Beat: Citizen Kane to Best Picture, Best Director and Best Cinematography in 1941
It takes a bit of searching these days to find someone who has a) seen John Ford’s Welsh melodrama How Green Was My Valley and b...
- 3/9/2023
- by Helen O'Hara
- The Independent - Film
Zia Mohyeddin, the British-Pakistani actor known for his parts in ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ and ‘Immaculate Conception’, and the stage version of ‘A Passage to India’, died on Monday in a Karachi hospital, ‘Variety’ reports. Mohyeddin, who was 91, was ill and on life support, his family said. His death was condoled by top members of Pakistan’s political establishment, including President Arif Ali, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and his predecessor, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Imran Khan.
Mohyeddin was born in Lyallpur (now Faisalabad), British India, in 1931. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London in the early 1950s.
After theatre roles in ‘Long Day’s Journey into Night’ and ‘Julius Caesar’, Mohyeddin in 1960 made his West End debut in ‘A Passage to India’, where he originated the role of Dr Aziz.
The actor featured in David Lean’s ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ (1962), playing the role of Arab guide Tafas. Roles in...
Mohyeddin was born in Lyallpur (now Faisalabad), British India, in 1931. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London in the early 1950s.
After theatre roles in ‘Long Day’s Journey into Night’ and ‘Julius Caesar’, Mohyeddin in 1960 made his West End debut in ‘A Passage to India’, where he originated the role of Dr Aziz.
The actor featured in David Lean’s ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ (1962), playing the role of Arab guide Tafas. Roles in...
- 2/13/2023
- by News Bureau
- GlamSham
Zia Mohyeddin, a British-Pakistani actor known for films “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Immaculate Conception” and the stage version of “A Passage to India,” died on Monday in Karachi. He was 91.
Mohyeddin was ill and was on life support in a Karachi hospital, his family said.
Mohyeddin was born in Lylallpur (now Faisalabad), British India, in 1931. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London in the early 1950s. After theater roles in “Long Day’s Journey into Night” and “Julius Caesar,” Mohyeddin made his West End debut in “A Passage to India” in 1960, where he originated the role of Dr. Aziz.
The actor featured in David Lean’s “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962), playing the role of Arab guide Tafas. Roles in Alexander Mackendrick’s “Sammy Going South” (1963), Fred Zinnemann’s “Behold a Pale Horse” (1964), Basil Dearden’s “Khartoum” (1966), Ralph Thomas’ “Deadlier Than the Male” (1966), Tony Richardson’s “The Sailor from...
Mohyeddin was ill and was on life support in a Karachi hospital, his family said.
Mohyeddin was born in Lylallpur (now Faisalabad), British India, in 1931. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London in the early 1950s. After theater roles in “Long Day’s Journey into Night” and “Julius Caesar,” Mohyeddin made his West End debut in “A Passage to India” in 1960, where he originated the role of Dr. Aziz.
The actor featured in David Lean’s “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962), playing the role of Arab guide Tafas. Roles in Alexander Mackendrick’s “Sammy Going South” (1963), Fred Zinnemann’s “Behold a Pale Horse” (1964), Basil Dearden’s “Khartoum” (1966), Ralph Thomas’ “Deadlier Than the Male” (1966), Tony Richardson’s “The Sailor from...
- 2/13/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Quentin Tarantino crowned Sergio Corbucci as the second-best director of Italian westerns, but our vote goes to Sergio Sollima — this is the most satisfying Spaghetti oater outside of the Leone corral. In his first starring role, Lee Van Cleef is lawman Jonathan Corbett, who pursues Tomas Milian’s killer into Mexico for an American millionaire. Political screenwriter Franco Solinas helped cook up the story, which pitches frontier ethics against ‘establishment’ corruption. The two-disc special edition presents the show in 4 versions, if we count a clever English-Italian language hybrid.
The Big Gundown
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1967 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 110, 90, 95 min. / La resa dei conti / Street Date February 13, 2023 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £22.99
Starring: Lee Van Cleef, Tomas Milian, Walter Barnes, Nieves Navarro, Gérard Herter, Manolita Barroso, Robert Camardiel, Ángel del Pozo, Luisa Rivelli, Luis Barboo, Benito Stefanelli.
Cinematography: Carlo Carlini
Set decorators: Carlo Leva, Carlo Simi, Nicola Tamburo
Costumes: Carlo...
The Big Gundown
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1967 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 110, 90, 95 min. / La resa dei conti / Street Date February 13, 2023 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £22.99
Starring: Lee Van Cleef, Tomas Milian, Walter Barnes, Nieves Navarro, Gérard Herter, Manolita Barroso, Robert Camardiel, Ángel del Pozo, Luisa Rivelli, Luis Barboo, Benito Stefanelli.
Cinematography: Carlo Carlini
Set decorators: Carlo Leva, Carlo Simi, Nicola Tamburo
Costumes: Carlo...
- 2/7/2023
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Each year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences attempts to award Oscars to the “best” film or artist in each category that year, and each year it fails at least a few times.
There is always room for disagreement on what constitutes “best”: how can we possibly compare Toy Story 3, Inception and The King’s Speech? And yet voters did just that in 2010.
It is similarly impossible to nail down all the egregious choices in academy history, but here are a few of the most glaring errors. Starting with the granddaddy of them all...
How Green Was My Valley
Beat: Citizen Kane to Best Picture, Best Director and Best Cinematography in 1941
It takes a bit of searching these days to find someone who has a) seen John Ford’s Welsh melodrama How Green Was My Valley and b) did not do so out of a morbid curiosity...
There is always room for disagreement on what constitutes “best”: how can we possibly compare Toy Story 3, Inception and The King’s Speech? And yet voters did just that in 2010.
It is similarly impossible to nail down all the egregious choices in academy history, but here are a few of the most glaring errors. Starting with the granddaddy of them all...
How Green Was My Valley
Beat: Citizen Kane to Best Picture, Best Director and Best Cinematography in 1941
It takes a bit of searching these days to find someone who has a) seen John Ford’s Welsh melodrama How Green Was My Valley and b) did not do so out of a morbid curiosity...
- 1/30/2023
- by Helen O'Hara
- The Independent - Film
The year 1953 surely left even the most devoted Oscar fans scratching their heads. One of the biggest upsets ever for Best Picture, some shocking snubs and all major awards going to different films led to some baffling anomalies at the 25th Academy Awards ceremony on March 19, 1953. This was also the year that the film industry finally capitulated to its rival source of entertainment, television, and for the first time broadcast the lavish ceremony live for viewers at home – so perhaps they wanted to dazzle and stun. Let’s flashback to the Oscars from 70 years ago.
With the cameras switching back and forth between Bob Hope hosting in Los Angeles and Conrad Nagel hosting in New York, the event attracted the largest single television audience to date in that medium’s young history. Five films were nominated for Best Picture, including the expected winner “High Noon,” plus “The Quiet Man,” “Moulin Rouge” and “Ivanhoe.
With the cameras switching back and forth between Bob Hope hosting in Los Angeles and Conrad Nagel hosting in New York, the event attracted the largest single television audience to date in that medium’s young history. Five films were nominated for Best Picture, including the expected winner “High Noon,” plus “The Quiet Man,” “Moulin Rouge” and “Ivanhoe.
- 1/26/2023
- by Susan Pennington
- Gold Derby
What was the movie Steven Spielberg saw as a child that inspired him to become one of the most successful, influential, and acclaimed filmmakers? According to his semi-autobiographical new film “The Fabelmans,” his cinematic alter-ego Sammy becomes obsessed with movies after his parents take him to the see Cecil B. DeMille’s 1952 circus epic “The Greatest Show on Earth.”
“The Greatest Show on Earth,” which not only won the Oscar for Best Picture and story, was the box office champ of the year earning 14 million domestically and 36 million worldwide. Critics were not so kind to his cotton-candy colored melodrama set under the big top at Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Films in Review declared “Mr. DeMille is so accomplished a showman that one is astonished he did not just photograph a circus performance without the synthetic story he injected here. After all, the Ringling Brothers-Barnum and Bailey Circus is a wonder in itself.
“The Greatest Show on Earth,” which not only won the Oscar for Best Picture and story, was the box office champ of the year earning 14 million domestically and 36 million worldwide. Critics were not so kind to his cotton-candy colored melodrama set under the big top at Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Films in Review declared “Mr. DeMille is so accomplished a showman that one is astonished he did not just photograph a circus performance without the synthetic story he injected here. After all, the Ringling Brothers-Barnum and Bailey Circus is a wonder in itself.
- 1/18/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Director John Sturges’ final feature is a handsome production that fumbles and stumbles in unexpected ways. Michael Caine and especially Donald Sutherland lead an impossible commando mission to kidnap Winston Churchill right from English soil. Tom Mankiewicz’s dialogue is witty but the tone is all over the place. We don’t know whether it’s the script, the direction or the editing that muffs so many potential bravura moments. On the other hand, every scene with Sutherland and Jenny Agutter is gold. [Imprint] gives us both a theatrical cut and a more satisfying extended cut.
The Eagle Has Landed
Region Free Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 193
1976 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 135 + 151 min. / Street Date December 28, 2023 / Available from / au 69.95
Starring: Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland, Robert Duvall, Jenny Agutter, Donald Pleasence, Anthony Quayle, Jean Marsh, Sven-Bertil Taube, John Standing, Judy Geeson, Treat Williams, Larry Hagman, Joachim Hansen, David Gilliam, Siegfried Rauch, Wolf Kahler, Roy Marsden, Ferdy Mayne.
The Eagle Has Landed
Region Free Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 193
1976 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 135 + 151 min. / Street Date December 28, 2023 / Available from / au 69.95
Starring: Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland, Robert Duvall, Jenny Agutter, Donald Pleasence, Anthony Quayle, Jean Marsh, Sven-Bertil Taube, John Standing, Judy Geeson, Treat Williams, Larry Hagman, Joachim Hansen, David Gilliam, Siegfried Rauch, Wolf Kahler, Roy Marsden, Ferdy Mayne.
- 1/7/2023
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Western films have been a staple of American cinema for practically as long as movies have been made.
Movies in the Western genre are set in the American West, typically between the 1850s to the end of the 19th century. While it has been a stable genre — no pun intended! — it has also been the starting ground for several hybrid genres like Western comedies, Western musicals and horror Westerns.
No other genre’s history goes back quite as far as that of Westerns. According to documentarian David Gregory, “It has been estimated that up to 40 percent of all films made before 1960 were Westerns.”
Although the category reached its greatest popularity in the early and middle decades of the 20th century, with several becoming cult classics, films continued to be made even through droughts for Westerns in the late ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s. Actors have also made their name starring in Western films,...
Movies in the Western genre are set in the American West, typically between the 1850s to the end of the 19th century. While it has been a stable genre — no pun intended! — it has also been the starting ground for several hybrid genres like Western comedies, Western musicals and horror Westerns.
No other genre’s history goes back quite as far as that of Westerns. According to documentarian David Gregory, “It has been estimated that up to 40 percent of all films made before 1960 were Westerns.”
Although the category reached its greatest popularity in the early and middle decades of the 20th century, with several becoming cult classics, films continued to be made even through droughts for Westerns in the late ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s. Actors have also made their name starring in Western films,...
- 1/1/2023
- by Carly Thomas
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
What will be your first movie of 2023? If you’re reading this it’s likely you put some (let’s be honest: too much) thought into what commences the cinematic year. The Criterion Channel’s January lineup will put some good things front and center: they’re launching a 20-film cinema verité series that highlights all major figures of the form; an eight-film Mike Leigh retrospective that focuses on his little-seen, lesser-discussed BBC features produced between 1973 and 1984; a series on Abbas Kiarostami’s studies of childhood; and because you’ve either seen Eo or have it marked to watch, Jerzy Skolimowski’s three most-acclaimed films should be of equal note.
Another 2022 favorite, Il Buco, will have its streaming premiere alongside Kamikaze Hearts, the Depardieu-led Cyrano de Bergerac, and the recent restoration of Lodge Kerrigan’s Keane. The sole Criterion Edition for this month is 3 Women, while some notable recent documentaries—The American Sector,...
Another 2022 favorite, Il Buco, will have its streaming premiere alongside Kamikaze Hearts, the Depardieu-led Cyrano de Bergerac, and the recent restoration of Lodge Kerrigan’s Keane. The sole Criterion Edition for this month is 3 Women, while some notable recent documentaries—The American Sector,...
- 12/20/2022
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
British film industry veteran Sir Sydney Samuelson has died. He was 97.
Samuelson died from old age on December 14. A statement from the British Film Institute said he was “surrounded by his loving family.”
Samuelson was born on December 7, 1925. He came from a UK film industry family. His father, George ‘Bertie’ Samuelson, was a producer of silent films, making more than 100 movies from 1910 onwards; his mother Marjorie ran a draper’s shop in Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex.
Samuelson entered the film business in 1939 at the age of 14 in the projection box of the Luxor Cinema in Lancing, West Sussex, going on to work as a relief operator in several cinemas in the Midlands for ABC cinemas. He then trained as a Film Editor with Gaumont British Newsreel in London.
He was later a cinematographer and worked on many shows for the BBC and independent television companies on a range of productions, including Queen Elizabeth II...
Samuelson died from old age on December 14. A statement from the British Film Institute said he was “surrounded by his loving family.”
Samuelson was born on December 7, 1925. He came from a UK film industry family. His father, George ‘Bertie’ Samuelson, was a producer of silent films, making more than 100 movies from 1910 onwards; his mother Marjorie ran a draper’s shop in Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex.
Samuelson entered the film business in 1939 at the age of 14 in the projection box of the Luxor Cinema in Lancing, West Sussex, going on to work as a relief operator in several cinemas in the Midlands for ABC cinemas. He then trained as a Film Editor with Gaumont British Newsreel in London.
He was later a cinematographer and worked on many shows for the BBC and independent television companies on a range of productions, including Queen Elizabeth II...
- 12/16/2022
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
British film industry pioneer Sydney Samuelson, who served as the first British film commissioner and was a BAFTA leader, died Dec. 14. He was 97.
Samuelson joined the business in 1939 aged 14 in the projection box of the Luxor Cinema in Lancing, West Sussex, going on to work as a relief operator in several cinemas in the Midlands for ABC cinemas. He then trained as a film editor with Gaumont British Newsreel in London.
In 1943, he signed up to be a flight navigator for the Raf, and when de-mobbed in 1947 he joined the film unit of the British Colonial Office as a trainee cameraman. He met his wife Doris at a film club screening of “Pride and Prejudice” in 1946. They were married for 72 years, until her death in April, 2022.
Together, along with Samuelson’s brothers, they formed Samuelson Film Service, which made available the high quality equipment with 24-hour complete service across camera,...
Samuelson joined the business in 1939 aged 14 in the projection box of the Luxor Cinema in Lancing, West Sussex, going on to work as a relief operator in several cinemas in the Midlands for ABC cinemas. He then trained as a film editor with Gaumont British Newsreel in London.
In 1943, he signed up to be a flight navigator for the Raf, and when de-mobbed in 1947 he joined the film unit of the British Colonial Office as a trainee cameraman. He met his wife Doris at a film club screening of “Pride and Prejudice” in 1946. They were married for 72 years, until her death in April, 2022.
Together, along with Samuelson’s brothers, they formed Samuelson Film Service, which made available the high quality equipment with 24-hour complete service across camera,...
- 12/16/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
As one of Britain's most respected actors, John Hurt made an impression in even the smallest of roles. With his magnificent voice and distinctive appearance, he shone in every film in which he appeared, whether he was the lead or just making a cameo appearance. Even when he was the star, he invariably seemed more like part of the ensemble than a star in his own right like Sean Connery or Michael Caine. Perhaps this was due to his consummate professionalism and his ability to disappear into his roles. You never got the sense that he had much of an ego or, at the very least, cared less about personal vanity than making his characters feel authentic.
Below are just a handful of his finest film performances, ranked, although he had such a varied career that we could easily have made this a list of 20 best films and included his...
Below are just a handful of his finest film performances, ranked, although he had such a varied career that we could easily have made this a list of 20 best films and included his...
- 12/12/2022
- by Nick Bartlett
- Slash Film
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.