Making Magic
To mark the 25th anniversary of the “Harry Potter” books being published in the U.S., the Empire State Building is set to be lit up in Hogwarts house colors at sunset on Wednesday, Sept. 27.
Viewers outside of New York can watch the building’s Tower Lights shine red for Gryffindor, yellow for Hufflepuff, blue for Ravenclaw and green for Slytherin on the Empire State’s live cam. For those in New York, there will be a magical pop-up cart on the 86th Floor Observation Deck where fans will be able to pick up free copies of the book and bottles of Butterbeer. Costumes and wizard robes are encouraged.
Crypto Scam
BBC One have set a documentary on alleged crypto-scammer Sam Bankman-Fried. Produced by Bitachon365 (“Secrets of Prince Andrew”), the 60-minute doc will air under the BBC’s “Panorama” strand on Sept. 25. A 90-minute cut will be available...
To mark the 25th anniversary of the “Harry Potter” books being published in the U.S., the Empire State Building is set to be lit up in Hogwarts house colors at sunset on Wednesday, Sept. 27.
Viewers outside of New York can watch the building’s Tower Lights shine red for Gryffindor, yellow for Hufflepuff, blue for Ravenclaw and green for Slytherin on the Empire State’s live cam. For those in New York, there will be a magical pop-up cart on the 86th Floor Observation Deck where fans will be able to pick up free copies of the book and bottles of Butterbeer. Costumes and wizard robes are encouraged.
Crypto Scam
BBC One have set a documentary on alleged crypto-scammer Sam Bankman-Fried. Produced by Bitachon365 (“Secrets of Prince Andrew”), the 60-minute doc will air under the BBC’s “Panorama” strand on Sept. 25. A 90-minute cut will be available...
- 9/22/2023
- by K.J. Yossman
- Variety Film + TV
In cinematic form, how do you tell history without archive footage? Occupied City shows how it can be done, and to what effect.
Steve McQueen’s audacious documentary, which premiered at Cannes on Wednesday in the festival’s Special Screenings section, undertakes a portrait of Amsterdam during the Dutch city’s occupation by the Nazis from 1940-45. But it does so without making use of a single frame of film or stills from the era itself – no German tanks rumbling over the thoroughfares, no jackbooted troops on patrol, no black-and-white imagery of terrified civilians running for safety.
Director Steve McQueen
The remarkably bold approach, instead, uses only scenes of Amsterdam today while a narrator (Melanie Hyams) recounts in almost clinical fashion what took place virtually door to door and street to street during the Nazi occupation. For instance, at the opulent Concertgebouw we learn the invaders took a shine to...
Steve McQueen’s audacious documentary, which premiered at Cannes on Wednesday in the festival’s Special Screenings section, undertakes a portrait of Amsterdam during the Dutch city’s occupation by the Nazis from 1940-45. But it does so without making use of a single frame of film or stills from the era itself – no German tanks rumbling over the thoroughfares, no jackbooted troops on patrol, no black-and-white imagery of terrified civilians running for safety.
Director Steve McQueen
The remarkably bold approach, instead, uses only scenes of Amsterdam today while a narrator (Melanie Hyams) recounts in almost clinical fashion what took place virtually door to door and street to street during the Nazi occupation. For instance, at the opulent Concertgebouw we learn the invaders took a shine to...
- 5/17/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Mercury Studios, the production company behind recent Abbey Road Studios doc “If These Walls Could Sing,” have unveiled their new feature, about composer Felix Mendelssohn’s genius sister Fanny.
Although Felix, who is best known for writing “The Wedding March,” is still world-renowned 175 years after his death, his sister Fanny was also a prolific musician, composing 450 works – including her own wedding music – before she died in her early 40s. “Fanny: The Other Mendelssohn” tells her story.
Sheila Hayman directs the doc, which also stars classical artist Isata Kanneh-Mason bringing Mendelssohn’s works to life. Filming has taken place in Berlin, New York, London, Oxford and Buckingham Palace, where Kanneh-Mason played Queen Victoria’s piano.
“Take a celebrated musical genius, some sibling rivalry, an unknown manuscript, a dash of sass and one sensational revelation and what have you got? ‘Fanny: The Other Mendelssohn,'” reads the logline.
Trapped by the social...
Although Felix, who is best known for writing “The Wedding March,” is still world-renowned 175 years after his death, his sister Fanny was also a prolific musician, composing 450 works – including her own wedding music – before she died in her early 40s. “Fanny: The Other Mendelssohn” tells her story.
Sheila Hayman directs the doc, which also stars classical artist Isata Kanneh-Mason bringing Mendelssohn’s works to life. Filming has taken place in Berlin, New York, London, Oxford and Buckingham Palace, where Kanneh-Mason played Queen Victoria’s piano.
“Take a celebrated musical genius, some sibling rivalry, an unknown manuscript, a dash of sass and one sensational revelation and what have you got? ‘Fanny: The Other Mendelssohn,'” reads the logline.
Trapped by the social...
- 3/8/2023
- by K.J. Yossman
- Variety Film + TV
Last year, when writing the prologue for the particular list, we mentioned that despite a number of great films, the industry seemed to have taken a step back as a whole. In 2022, it seems that the opposite is happening, as there are no definite masterpieces, but a lot of really good films, which could signify a step forward for the cinema of China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, even if a number of titles were pulled from international festivals, making their viewing quite difficult to happen. It is also quite interesting where Hong Kong cinema moves after the shattering changes of the last few years, with the first samples, however, seeming hopeful, at least as the beginning of something new.
Without further ado, here are the best Chinese Language films of 2022, in reverse order. Some films may have premiered in 2021, but since they mostly circulated in 2022, we decided to include them.
Without further ado, here are the best Chinese Language films of 2022, in reverse order. Some films may have premiered in 2021, but since they mostly circulated in 2022, we decided to include them.
- 12/28/2022
- by AMP Group
- AsianMoviePulse
Review by Roger Carpenter
Polish director Walerian Borowczyk, long a filmmaker of experimental shorts, became a beloved celebrity of the arthouse circuit with his first two films, Goto Island of Love and Blanche. He began to fall out of favor with that crowd after his next two films were deemed pornographic and in bad taste, those films being Immoral Tales and, perhaps his most notorious film, The Beast. Lensing each of these films in France, where he made his home, The Story of Sin was his triumphant return to his Polish homeland.
The Story of Sin tells the tale of Ewa (Grazyna Dlugolecka), a beautiful yet pious young woman who strives to maintain a life free of sin. Her aging father cannot find work so the family lets rooms to keep afloat. Enter Lukasz (Jerzy Zelnick), a handsome young man separated from his wife and in need of a room.
Polish director Walerian Borowczyk, long a filmmaker of experimental shorts, became a beloved celebrity of the arthouse circuit with his first two films, Goto Island of Love and Blanche. He began to fall out of favor with that crowd after his next two films were deemed pornographic and in bad taste, those films being Immoral Tales and, perhaps his most notorious film, The Beast. Lensing each of these films in France, where he made his home, The Story of Sin was his triumphant return to his Polish homeland.
The Story of Sin tells the tale of Ewa (Grazyna Dlugolecka), a beautiful yet pious young woman who strives to maintain a life free of sin. Her aging father cannot find work so the family lets rooms to keep afloat. Enter Lukasz (Jerzy Zelnick), a handsome young man separated from his wife and in need of a room.
- 8/11/2017
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The pomp and circumstance of Felix Mendelssohn’s “War March of the Priests,” as played on a grand pipe organ by a hooded figure seated in an opulent ballroom during the opening credits of The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), perfectly sets the tone and timbre of director Robert Fuest’s film, both with playful irreverence and an eloquently ominous aural shroud of dread. The events we’re about to see play out in the film will hardly be a righteous procession of missionary or military zeal, as Mendelssohn’s music was originally intended to evoke. Instead, as it rings and bellows forth from the ornate instrument in this eerie chamber, one which feels at once haunted and strangely festive, Mendelssohn’s fervor is immediately cast with the unmistakable sense of having been drawn forth from someplace much darker than one of heavenly inspiration.
The organ itself rises from the bowels of...
The organ itself rises from the bowels of...
- 4/23/2017
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
Mubi's retrospective The Many Sins of Walerian Borowczyk is showing February 12 - June 18, 2017 in the United States and in many other countries around the world.If you were making a period movie in the classic era, it need not noticeably be any more or less unreal than a conventional contemporary film: in both cases, almost everything would be shot in the studio and every prop or costume would be made specially or brought in from a prop store. Nothing would be real.By the sixties and seventies, this approach was becoming extinct and a new generation were making films on location, with natural light, natural actors, natural clothing. For a period movie, this meant finding locations that were largely unchanged since the period in question, and bringing to them appropriate props and costumes. A filmmaker might be tempted to focus more closely on these details in order to bring to...
- 2/14/2017
- MUBI
“Smiles Of A Chekhovian Night”
By Raymond Benson
Most cinephiles know that Woody Allen is a huge fan of Ingmar Bergman. Allen has paid homage to the Swedish master several times, and his 1982 work, A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy, is an example. It draws upon one of Bergman’s very few comedies, Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), which is also the basis of the Stephen Sondheim Broadway musical and later film, A Little Night Music.
Smiles takes place at the turn of the last century (1800s to 1900s) in a rural village in Sweden, and the story follows the bawdy escapades of several couples. Likewise, Allen’s Midsummer takes place in the same time period, although the story is transplanted to “the country” somewhere in New York state, and concerns an ensemble of six characters—three couples—who also embark on bawdy escapades.
Bergman’s original film, in turn,...
By Raymond Benson
Most cinephiles know that Woody Allen is a huge fan of Ingmar Bergman. Allen has paid homage to the Swedish master several times, and his 1982 work, A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy, is an example. It draws upon one of Bergman’s very few comedies, Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), which is also the basis of the Stephen Sondheim Broadway musical and later film, A Little Night Music.
Smiles takes place at the turn of the last century (1800s to 1900s) in a rural village in Sweden, and the story follows the bawdy escapades of several couples. Likewise, Allen’s Midsummer takes place in the same time period, although the story is transplanted to “the country” somewhere in New York state, and concerns an ensemble of six characters—three couples—who also embark on bawdy escapades.
Bergman’s original film, in turn,...
- 1/23/2017
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
It's just after 6 p.m. on a Friday, and Duff's – a noisy heavy-metal bar adorned with autographed memorabilia and jagged-looking instruments in Williamsburg, Brooklyn – has just opened its doors to the sober, work-weary masses. In the center of the room, a woman clad in a black dress and high heels is headbanging atop a carpet adorned with Iron Maiden's corpse-mascot Eddie. The music is "Bleed," an angular, machine-gun–like aural assault that's little over seven minutes long, by Swedish extreme-metal growlers Meshuggah. Bargoers sip their beer in the back,...
- 11/30/2016
- Rollingstone.com
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An early glimpse of a Star Wars: Rogue One official guide book provides all kinds of character information. Possible spoilers within...
Nb: The following contains potential spoilers for Star Wars: Rogue One.
The first trailer for this year's Star Wars: Rogue One revealed all kinds of story morsels, from the name of Felicity Jones' protagonist (that's Jyn Erso) to the presence of the Empire's four-legged At-ATs. But as you'd expect, the teaser was also designed to make us fill in lots of blanks - where's Mads Mikkelsen? Does that ice chamber contain Darth Vader?
We can't answer those questions here, but an early preview of an official guide book - the Rogue One Official Visual Story Guide, to be precise - reveals a wealth of small yet revealing details. Possibly published a little too soon on the website Edelweiss, the preview shows early...
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An early glimpse of a Star Wars: Rogue One official guide book provides all kinds of character information. Possible spoilers within...
Nb: The following contains potential spoilers for Star Wars: Rogue One.
The first trailer for this year's Star Wars: Rogue One revealed all kinds of story morsels, from the name of Felicity Jones' protagonist (that's Jyn Erso) to the presence of the Empire's four-legged At-ATs. But as you'd expect, the teaser was also designed to make us fill in lots of blanks - where's Mads Mikkelsen? Does that ice chamber contain Darth Vader?
We can't answer those questions here, but an early preview of an official guide book - the Rogue One Official Visual Story Guide, to be precise - reveals a wealth of small yet revealing details. Possibly published a little too soon on the website Edelweiss, the preview shows early...
- 5/17/2016
- Den of Geek
Summer's hottest days are still a month or two away, but streaming services are stockpiling material to keep us entertained indoors when it's scorching and sticky outside. May sees an influx of excellent Nineties movies, from the face-melting thrillers (literally) to political satires that seem more pertinent than ever. There'll be plenty of TV series to plow through, too, including the return of Netflix's addictive drama Bloodline and the long-awaited HBO Go debut of the channel's cult favorite Mr. Show. Here are our picks for the 10 best things to stream this month.
- 5/2/2016
- Rollingstone.com
Swiss cinema is to be put in the spotlight in Mexico and Brazil over the next two years.
At the Locarno Film Festival (Aug 5-15), Swiss Films’ MD Catherine Ann Berger revealed details to ScreenDaily about how Switzerland will be a guest country at next year’s Guadalajara Film Festival (March 4-13) against the backdrop of the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Mexico and Switzerland.
“To begin with, we will have a historical retrospective of Swiss cinema in the Cineteca in Mexico City this December, and then in March, there will be a programme in Guadalajara of Swiss films from the past two, three years,” Berger explained.
“In addition, there will be an industry dimension with co-production meetings and the opportunities for professionals from both countries to meet and discuss partnerships,” she added, pointing out that the focus in Mexico will be the first major project of its kind that she is preparing since coming to Swiss...
At the Locarno Film Festival (Aug 5-15), Swiss Films’ MD Catherine Ann Berger revealed details to ScreenDaily about how Switzerland will be a guest country at next year’s Guadalajara Film Festival (March 4-13) against the backdrop of the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Mexico and Switzerland.
“To begin with, we will have a historical retrospective of Swiss cinema in the Cineteca in Mexico City this December, and then in March, there will be a programme in Guadalajara of Swiss films from the past two, three years,” Berger explained.
“In addition, there will be an industry dimension with co-production meetings and the opportunities for professionals from both countries to meet and discuss partnerships,” she added, pointing out that the focus in Mexico will be the first major project of its kind that she is preparing since coming to Swiss...
- 8/12/2015
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
This past weekend, Sherlock Holmes fans from all over the world gathered in New York City to celebrate Holmes’ birthday at the annual Bsi Weekend, hosted in main part by The Baker Street Irregulars, a Sherlockian literary society founded by Christopher Morley in 1934. As a longtime Holmes fan myself, this was my third year attending, and, as before, I had a great time with Sherlockian friends old and new, discussing and honoring the great detective, his faithful chronicler Dr. Watson, and the peripheral cast of characters (including the original Bsi, Holmes’ group of street urchin informants) created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
I first attended the Bsi Weekend in January 2012 after organizing a Sherlock Holmes Night at The National Press Club and learning in the process about our local Sherlockian scion society, The Red Circle, and the Bsi Weekend celebrations. And in honor of the Bsi and Sherlock Holmes, today...
I first attended the Bsi Weekend in January 2012 after organizing a Sherlock Holmes Night at The National Press Club and learning in the process about our local Sherlockian scion society, The Red Circle, and the Bsi Weekend celebrations. And in honor of the Bsi and Sherlock Holmes, today...
- 1/13/2015
- by Emily S. Whitten
- Comicmix.com
David Cameron gave a mixtape to his fellow G8 leaders at their summit in June, and High Fidelity it is not.
The themes of the meeting in Northern Ireland were tax evasion and transparency, but the 10-song playlist had no clear unifying theme. In fact, the Telegraph reports that the songs were not selected by Cameron at all.
According to The Independent, the playlist was put together by BPI, the British record company trade association, as "a bespoke creation for the leaders."
The 10 songs constitute a smattering of the chart-topping adult contemporary fare Barack Obama or Vladimir Putin might have caught if they tuned into BBC Radio 2 while cruising around the Lough Erne Resort.
The Guardian called the mixtape an offering of "well-scrubbed young men and woman peddling polished but largely derivative takes on folk and soul, with a sideline in tastefully bleeping electronica."
The list includes "Tessellate" by Alt-j,...
The themes of the meeting in Northern Ireland were tax evasion and transparency, but the 10-song playlist had no clear unifying theme. In fact, the Telegraph reports that the songs were not selected by Cameron at all.
According to The Independent, the playlist was put together by BPI, the British record company trade association, as "a bespoke creation for the leaders."
The 10 songs constitute a smattering of the chart-topping adult contemporary fare Barack Obama or Vladimir Putin might have caught if they tuned into BBC Radio 2 while cruising around the Lough Erne Resort.
The Guardian called the mixtape an offering of "well-scrubbed young men and woman peddling polished but largely derivative takes on folk and soul, with a sideline in tastefully bleeping electronica."
The list includes "Tessellate" by Alt-j,...
- 7/31/2013
- by The Huffington Post
- Huffington Post
Janice Watson/Dagmar Pecková/Peter Auty/Peter Rose/London Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra/Neeme Järvi Antonin Dvořák: Stabat Mater, Op. 58 (Lpo) Dvořák’s Stabat Mater was born out of personal tragedy; its inspiration, if that is really the right word in the circumstances, was the death of all three of the composer’s children. This beautiful, heartfelt masterpiece is not heard as frequently in concert as it should be, but has been very well served on recordings.
Before Järvi’s arrived, I had three: the classic 1976 Deutsche Grammophon recording by Rafael Kubelik, Giuseppe Sinopoli’s lush 2000 concert recording (also on Dg), and Telarc’s last recording of the choral conductor par excellence, Robert Shaw. All are superb, but Järvi offers such a different yet compelling take on the piece that this recording, from an October 9, 2010 concert at London’s Royal Festival Hall, can also be highly recommended.
One thing that sets it apart is that,...
Before Järvi’s arrived, I had three: the classic 1976 Deutsche Grammophon recording by Rafael Kubelik, Giuseppe Sinopoli’s lush 2000 concert recording (also on Dg), and Telarc’s last recording of the choral conductor par excellence, Robert Shaw. All are superb, but Järvi offers such a different yet compelling take on the piece that this recording, from an October 9, 2010 concert at London’s Royal Festival Hall, can also be highly recommended.
One thing that sets it apart is that,...
- 8/1/2012
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
British director Peter Yates, who died on January 9 at the age of 81, created one of Hollywood’s best car chase scenes in the 1968 thriller Bullitt, tracking a showdown on the hilly streets of San Francisco between Steve McQueen behind the wheel of a Ford Mustang Gt and two bad guys in a Dodge Charger. But for a chase with just as much excitement and even more emotional tug, there’s nothing to match what Yates did in Breaking Away (1979), pitting a teen on a racing bike against a big rig on the roads around Bloomington, Ind. Come to think of it,...
- 1/10/2011
- by Lisa Schwarzbaum
- EW - Inside Movies
As much as I have been enjoying Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta, there’s something about New York’s Kleinfeld bridal salon that makes my heart thump to the beat of Felix Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March.” So I’m tickled as a bride on her big day that we’re getting a sixth season of the Tlc hit and EW Guilty Pleasures Reality TV showdown finalist. The 18-episode season is set to premiere in February, according to Variety.
News of the original SYttD’s renewal also accompanied the announcement of Say Yes to the Dress: Big Bliss, which will...
News of the original SYttD’s renewal also accompanied the announcement of Say Yes to the Dress: Big Bliss, which will...
- 8/31/2010
- by Sandra Gonzalez
- EW.com - PopWatch
As Andrew Grant, David Fear and I discussed in our podcast last October, Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín's Tony Manero was my favorite feature at the 2008 New York Film Festival, a marvelously unhinged study of pop-culture obsession in a suffocating environment (if I may crib myself). From All Movie Guide: As Augusto Pinochet holds Chile in the grip of dictatorship, a fifty year old man obsessed with John Travolta's character from Saturday Night Fever imitates his idol each weekend in a small bar on the outskirts of Santiago. Each weekend, Raúl Peralta (Alfredo Castro) and his friends—a devoted group of dancers—gather in a small bar and act out their favorite scenes from Saturday Night Fever. Raúl longs to become a showbiz superstar, and when the national television announces a Tony Manero impersonating contest it seems like he may finally have a shot at living his dreams. But...
- 7/2/2009
- GreenCine Daily
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