No matter how much hype and anticipation that preceded it, True Detective season 2 seemed to succumb to the ol’ second album syndrome. Though it may have expanded the scope and character roster from the maiden outing, swapping a swampy, rural setting for the neon signs and dark underbelly of Los Angeles, its story simply didn’t emulate that of Rust Cohle and Marty Hart.
Questions arose thick and fast, with many fans – us included – wondering how one of television’s finest dramas had transformed into a mediocre procedural within the space of one season. And while it doesn’t necessarily answer all of those questions, Variety has posted a fascinating interview with series director Cary Fukunaga, who admitted that he “really wasn’t involved” in the sophomore season True Detective.
Listed as an executive producer on HBO’s drama, here’s what Fukunaga had to say about his involvement – or...
Questions arose thick and fast, with many fans – us included – wondering how one of television’s finest dramas had transformed into a mediocre procedural within the space of one season. And while it doesn’t necessarily answer all of those questions, Variety has posted a fascinating interview with series director Cary Fukunaga, who admitted that he “really wasn’t involved” in the sophomore season True Detective.
Listed as an executive producer on HBO’s drama, here’s what Fukunaga had to say about his involvement – or...
- 9/1/2015
- by Michael Briers
- We Got This Covered
Recently, CBS released the new,official synopsis/spoilers for their upcoming "Hawaii Five-o" episode 23 of season 5. The episode is entitled, "Mo'o 'olelo Pu" (Sharing Traditions)," and it turns out that we're going to see some very dangerous and dramatic stuff take place as Kono becomes a victim of extreme deadly weather, and more! In the new, 23rd episode press release: When Kono Takes A Solo Outrigger Trip Around The Hawaiian Islands In Honor Of Her Mother, She Hits A Patch Of Wild Weather And Must Fight To Stay Alive. Press release number 2: When Kono goes on a solo outrigger trip around the Hawaiian islands in honor of her mother, she is going to hit a patch of wild weather and must fight to stay alive. As Five-0 searches for Kono, they will investigate a man busted for cooking meth who claims he received a threat on his son's life...
- 4/24/2015
- by Andre Braddox
- OnTheFlix
Pioneering woman director Lois Weber socially conscious drama 'Shoes' among Library of Congress' Packard Theater movies (photo: Mary MacLaren in 'Shoes') In February 2015, National Film Registry titles will be showcased at the Library of Congress' Packard Campus Theater – aka the Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation – in Culpeper, Virginia. These range from pioneering woman director Lois Weber's socially conscious 1916 drama Shoes to Robert Zemeckis' 1985 blockbuster Back to the Future. Another Packard Theater highlight next month is Sam Peckinpah's ultra-violent Western The Wild Bunch (1969), starring William Holden and Ernest Borgnine. Also, Howard Hawks' "anti-High Noon" Western Rio Bravo (1959), toplining John Wayne and Dean Martin. And George Cukor's costly remake of A Star Is Born (1954), featuring Academy Award nominees Judy Garland and James Mason in the old Janet Gaynor and Fredric March roles. There's more: Jeff Bridges delivers a colorful performance in...
- 1/24/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Chicago – In our latest comedy/crime/cult classic edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Blu-ray, we have 5 Blu-rays up for grabs to the highly anticipated home entertainment release of “The Big Lebowski” starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Steve Buscemi! “The Big Lebowski” will be released on Blu-ray on Aug. 16, 2011.
“The Big Lebowski” also stars John Turturro, Tara Reid, David Huddleston, Philip Moon, Mark Pellegrino, Peter Stormare, Flea, Torsten Voges, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Jack Kehler from writers and directors Joel Coen and Ethan Coen.
To win your free “The Big Lebowski” Blu-ray courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, all you need to do is answer our question in this Web-based submission form. That’s it! Directions to enter this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup and win can be found beneath the graphic below.
The Blu-ray for “The Big Lebowski” with Jeff Bridges, John Goodman and Julianne Moore.
Image credit:...
“The Big Lebowski” also stars John Turturro, Tara Reid, David Huddleston, Philip Moon, Mark Pellegrino, Peter Stormare, Flea, Torsten Voges, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Jack Kehler from writers and directors Joel Coen and Ethan Coen.
To win your free “The Big Lebowski” Blu-ray courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, all you need to do is answer our question in this Web-based submission form. That’s it! Directions to enter this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup and win can be found beneath the graphic below.
The Blu-ray for “The Big Lebowski” with Jeff Bridges, John Goodman and Julianne Moore.
Image credit:...
- 8/8/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
All eyes might be on that resort town in the south of France, but we here at home can enjoy another bumper crop of releases comprising both arthouse excellence and blockbuster entertainment. Oh, and the Wayans brothers have a new movie out, too.
Download this in audio form (MP3: 09:25 minutes, 13 Mb) Subscribe to the In Theaters podcast: [Xml] [iTunes]
"The Boys: The Sherman Brothers Story"
The unsung heroes (no pun intended) of the Mouse House's most celebrated animated features, Oscar-winning composers Richard and Robert Sherman wrote the delightful ditties that were the core of hits like "The Jungle Book," "Mary Poppins" and Disney theme park rides like "It's a Small World." Co-directed by their writer/producer sons, this doc charts the Sherman brothers' ability to make beautiful music together even as their personal relationship was falling apart.
Opens in limited release.
"Burma VJ"
Danish helmer Anders Østergaard's award-winning activist...
Download this in audio form (MP3: 09:25 minutes, 13 Mb) Subscribe to the In Theaters podcast: [Xml] [iTunes]
"The Boys: The Sherman Brothers Story"
The unsung heroes (no pun intended) of the Mouse House's most celebrated animated features, Oscar-winning composers Richard and Robert Sherman wrote the delightful ditties that were the core of hits like "The Jungle Book," "Mary Poppins" and Disney theme park rides like "It's a Small World." Co-directed by their writer/producer sons, this doc charts the Sherman brothers' ability to make beautiful music together even as their personal relationship was falling apart.
Opens in limited release.
"Burma VJ"
Danish helmer Anders Østergaard's award-winning activist...
- 5/18/2009
- by Neil Pedley
- ifc.com
Ineptitude abounds in this ham-fisted "thirteen" wannabe. A borderline-exploitive look at a teen girl with a serious case of acting-out, "Close Call" bills itself as a breakthrough family drama about Korean-Americans. Artistically speaking, it's nothing of the sort, but it is a family project by Korean-Americans -- directed and scripted by Jimmy Lee, starring his daughter, Annie Lee, and co-produced by another daughter, Angie, who also has a supporting role. The involvement of Jeff Fahey, as a producer and cast member, won't boost the commercial prospects of the uninvolving and often laughable film, which opens Friday in Los Angeles.
The story begins with the apparent suicide of party girl Jenny (Annie Lee) and then reels back to explain what led her to that point, positing divorce and disconnection from Korean culture as the culprits. "Close Call" achieves realistic flashes of the underage demimonde of drugs and sex, and of the reckless adolescent dynamic of wanting to be both loved and left alone, but mostly the proceedings are implausible. The dialogue, whether pedantic or ridiculous, is invariably dull.
In what must be the least multicultural public high school in Los Angeles, Jenny eschews the (unseen) Asian nerds, choosing to hang with a bad-influence crowd led by a tough-chick drug dealer, who's really a deeply wounded foster child (Faleena Hopkins, delivering the only convincing performance). Jenny's materialistic mother (Christina Ma) is in utter denial over her increasingly frequent scrapes with school authorities and the law.
To the rescue is Jenny's more tradition-bound father (Philip Moon), summoned from Seoul by his friend and attorney (Fahey). These two characters sound unintended substance-abuse alarms of their own, played as they are with an eerie, Quaalude-infused lack of energy. Dad and daughter proceed to wrestle it out, the mild-mannered savior struggling to save his child from the evils of American life while she throws shrill tantrums.
Ostensibly a vehicle for Annie Lee, the film showcases her skimpily clad good looks more than her acting. Further hampering the melodramatics, helmer Jimmy Lee insists on repetitious, usually unnecessary flashbacks, while on-the-cheap location shooting in L.A.'s Koreatown provides little sense of place.
The story begins with the apparent suicide of party girl Jenny (Annie Lee) and then reels back to explain what led her to that point, positing divorce and disconnection from Korean culture as the culprits. "Close Call" achieves realistic flashes of the underage demimonde of drugs and sex, and of the reckless adolescent dynamic of wanting to be both loved and left alone, but mostly the proceedings are implausible. The dialogue, whether pedantic or ridiculous, is invariably dull.
In what must be the least multicultural public high school in Los Angeles, Jenny eschews the (unseen) Asian nerds, choosing to hang with a bad-influence crowd led by a tough-chick drug dealer, who's really a deeply wounded foster child (Faleena Hopkins, delivering the only convincing performance). Jenny's materialistic mother (Christina Ma) is in utter denial over her increasingly frequent scrapes with school authorities and the law.
To the rescue is Jenny's more tradition-bound father (Philip Moon), summoned from Seoul by his friend and attorney (Fahey). These two characters sound unintended substance-abuse alarms of their own, played as they are with an eerie, Quaalude-infused lack of energy. Dad and daughter proceed to wrestle it out, the mild-mannered savior struggling to save his child from the evils of American life while she throws shrill tantrums.
Ostensibly a vehicle for Annie Lee, the film showcases her skimpily clad good looks more than her acting. Further hampering the melodramatics, helmer Jimmy Lee insists on repetitious, usually unnecessary flashbacks, while on-the-cheap location shooting in L.A.'s Koreatown provides little sense of place.
Ineptitude abounds in this ham-fisted "thirteen" wannabe. A borderline-exploitive look at a teen girl with a serious case of acting-out, "Close Call" bills itself as a breakthrough family drama about Korean-Americans. Artistically speaking, it's nothing of the sort, but it is a family project by Korean-Americans -- directed and scripted by Jimmy Lee, starring his daughter, Annie Lee, and co-produced by another daughter, Angie, who also has a supporting role. The involvement of Jeff Fahey, as a producer and cast member, won't boost the commercial prospects of the uninvolving and often laughable film, which opens Friday in Los Angeles.
The story begins with the apparent suicide of party girl Jenny (Annie Lee) and then reels back to explain what led her to that point, positing divorce and disconnection from Korean culture as the culprits. "Close Call" achieves realistic flashes of the underage demimonde of drugs and sex, and of the reckless adolescent dynamic of wanting to be both loved and left alone, but mostly the proceedings are implausible. The dialogue, whether pedantic or ridiculous, is invariably dull.
In what must be the least multicultural public high school in Los Angeles, Jenny eschews the (unseen) Asian nerds, choosing to hang with a bad-influence crowd led by a tough-chick drug dealer, who's really a deeply wounded foster child (Faleena Hopkins, delivering the only convincing performance). Jenny's materialistic mother (Christina Ma) is in utter denial over her increasingly frequent scrapes with school authorities and the law.
To the rescue is Jenny's more tradition-bound father (Philip Moon), summoned from Seoul by his friend and attorney (Fahey). These two characters sound unintended substance-abuse alarms of their own, played as they are with an eerie, Quaalude-infused lack of energy. Dad and daughter proceed to wrestle it out, the mild-mannered savior struggling to save his child from the evils of American life while she throws shrill tantrums.
Ostensibly a vehicle for Annie Lee, the film showcases her skimpily clad good looks more than her acting. Further hampering the melodramatics, helmer Jimmy Lee insists on repetitious, usually unnecessary flashbacks, while on-the-cheap location shooting in L.A.'s Koreatown provides little sense of place.
The story begins with the apparent suicide of party girl Jenny (Annie Lee) and then reels back to explain what led her to that point, positing divorce and disconnection from Korean culture as the culprits. "Close Call" achieves realistic flashes of the underage demimonde of drugs and sex, and of the reckless adolescent dynamic of wanting to be both loved and left alone, but mostly the proceedings are implausible. The dialogue, whether pedantic or ridiculous, is invariably dull.
In what must be the least multicultural public high school in Los Angeles, Jenny eschews the (unseen) Asian nerds, choosing to hang with a bad-influence crowd led by a tough-chick drug dealer, who's really a deeply wounded foster child (Faleena Hopkins, delivering the only convincing performance). Jenny's materialistic mother (Christina Ma) is in utter denial over her increasingly frequent scrapes with school authorities and the law.
To the rescue is Jenny's more tradition-bound father (Philip Moon), summoned from Seoul by his friend and attorney (Fahey). These two characters sound unintended substance-abuse alarms of their own, played as they are with an eerie, Quaalude-infused lack of energy. Dad and daughter proceed to wrestle it out, the mild-mannered savior struggling to save his child from the evils of American life while she throws shrill tantrums.
Ostensibly a vehicle for Annie Lee, the film showcases her skimpily clad good looks more than her acting. Further hampering the melodramatics, helmer Jimmy Lee insists on repetitious, usually unnecessary flashbacks, while on-the-cheap location shooting in L.A.'s Koreatown provides little sense of place.
PARK CITY, Utah -- The Coens travel from Fargo to L.A. by way of Arizona in this cracked comedy about a deadbeat Los Angeleno that played to standing ovations in its sneak preview during the weekend at the Sundance Film Festival. Starring Jeff Bridges as an L.A. loafer named "The Dude" and featuring John Goodman and Steve Buscemi as his two Stooge-like sidekicks, "The Big Lebowski" is a deliriously fractured film, ambitiously packed with bowling, bimbos and other great inspirations of latter-day thought. Closest in style and temperament to "Raising Arizona", this Gramercy release should roll boxoffice strikes with select-siters and score some winning spares with mainstream viewers.
Too old to be a slacker, the Dude wiles away his days propped up in his tiny abode, knocking back White Russians and getting in the right frame of mind for his next bowling-league tournament. He's not exactly active and is greatly befuddled and upset when two brigands break into his dump, mistaking him for some big-shot named Lebowski, and take a warning piss on one of his rugs. It's the sort of occurrence that inspires the Dude to action. He seeks out Lebowski -- a wheelchair-bound, bitter rich guy -- trying to get restitution for his rug. Not surprisingly, Lebowski has little patience for the spaced-out Dude, but coincidentally, Lebowski's trophy wife has disappeared and he receives a ransom note. He enlists the Dude to make the drop; there's 20 grand in it for him.
It's a very straightforward assignment, and the Dude endeavors to fulfill. However, the Dude's utter lack of ambition troubles his bowling buddy (Goodman), a paranoid Vietnam vet with a talent for misreading situations. Naturally, they screw things up, and all sorts of berserkos are now on their tail. Worse, the bowling is not going well.
Usually, one would have to take public transit in L.A. to encounter the kind of dangerous weirdos and offramp losers the Coens have crammed into this delirious ditty. Every form of humanscrewup seems to make an appearance, from nihilists to neo-Nazis. Like the Dude's life, there's not a lot of sense to be made of it all -- which, of course, is the film's thematic game plan.
For those of you who forgot how good Bridges was in "The Fisher King", here is a reminder. As the gung-ho Nam veteran, Goodman's tenacious, tightly coiled demeanor is smartly explosive and very funny, while Buscemi as the third Stooge brings a fitting Larry-like befuddlement to the role. As the frisky trophy wife, Tara Reid is a killer bimbo.
As ever, it's the screwy textures, from Carter Burwell's blowsy music to costume designer Mary Zophres' wiggy duds, that make "The Big Lebowski" a richly rancid enjoyment. The raucously rattletrap musical selections add a fitting, pungent quality to this delirium. Praise to musical supervisor T-Bone Burnett for the screwy selections in this big laugher.
THE BIG LEBOWSKI
Gramercy Pictures
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment , a Working Title production
Credits: Producer: Ethan Coen; Director: Joel Coen; Screenwriters: Joel and Ethan Coen; Executive producers: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner; Co-producer: John Cameron; Director of photography: Roger Deakins; Production designer: Rick Heinrichs; Costume designer: Mary Zophres; Music: Carter Burwell; Musical archivist: T-Bone Burnett; Editors: Roderick Jaynes, Tricia Cooke; Supervising sound editor: Skip Lievsay; Casting: John Lyons. Cast: The Dude: Jeff Bridges; Walter Sobchak: John Goodman; Maude Lebowski: Julianne Moore; Donny: Steve Buscemi; The Big Lebowski: David Huddleston; Brandt: Philip Seymour Hoffman; Bunny Lebowski: Tara Reid; Treehorn Thugs: Philip Moon, Mark Pellegrino; Nihilists: Peter Stormare, Flea, Torsten Voges. MPAA rating: R. Running time -- 117 minutes. Color/stereo.
Too old to be a slacker, the Dude wiles away his days propped up in his tiny abode, knocking back White Russians and getting in the right frame of mind for his next bowling-league tournament. He's not exactly active and is greatly befuddled and upset when two brigands break into his dump, mistaking him for some big-shot named Lebowski, and take a warning piss on one of his rugs. It's the sort of occurrence that inspires the Dude to action. He seeks out Lebowski -- a wheelchair-bound, bitter rich guy -- trying to get restitution for his rug. Not surprisingly, Lebowski has little patience for the spaced-out Dude, but coincidentally, Lebowski's trophy wife has disappeared and he receives a ransom note. He enlists the Dude to make the drop; there's 20 grand in it for him.
It's a very straightforward assignment, and the Dude endeavors to fulfill. However, the Dude's utter lack of ambition troubles his bowling buddy (Goodman), a paranoid Vietnam vet with a talent for misreading situations. Naturally, they screw things up, and all sorts of berserkos are now on their tail. Worse, the bowling is not going well.
Usually, one would have to take public transit in L.A. to encounter the kind of dangerous weirdos and offramp losers the Coens have crammed into this delirious ditty. Every form of humanscrewup seems to make an appearance, from nihilists to neo-Nazis. Like the Dude's life, there's not a lot of sense to be made of it all -- which, of course, is the film's thematic game plan.
For those of you who forgot how good Bridges was in "The Fisher King", here is a reminder. As the gung-ho Nam veteran, Goodman's tenacious, tightly coiled demeanor is smartly explosive and very funny, while Buscemi as the third Stooge brings a fitting Larry-like befuddlement to the role. As the frisky trophy wife, Tara Reid is a killer bimbo.
As ever, it's the screwy textures, from Carter Burwell's blowsy music to costume designer Mary Zophres' wiggy duds, that make "The Big Lebowski" a richly rancid enjoyment. The raucously rattletrap musical selections add a fitting, pungent quality to this delirium. Praise to musical supervisor T-Bone Burnett for the screwy selections in this big laugher.
THE BIG LEBOWSKI
Gramercy Pictures
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment , a Working Title production
Credits: Producer: Ethan Coen; Director: Joel Coen; Screenwriters: Joel and Ethan Coen; Executive producers: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner; Co-producer: John Cameron; Director of photography: Roger Deakins; Production designer: Rick Heinrichs; Costume designer: Mary Zophres; Music: Carter Burwell; Musical archivist: T-Bone Burnett; Editors: Roderick Jaynes, Tricia Cooke; Supervising sound editor: Skip Lievsay; Casting: John Lyons. Cast: The Dude: Jeff Bridges; Walter Sobchak: John Goodman; Maude Lebowski: Julianne Moore; Donny: Steve Buscemi; The Big Lebowski: David Huddleston; Brandt: Philip Seymour Hoffman; Bunny Lebowski: Tara Reid; Treehorn Thugs: Philip Moon, Mark Pellegrino; Nihilists: Peter Stormare, Flea, Torsten Voges. MPAA rating: R. Running time -- 117 minutes. Color/stereo.
- 1/20/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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