This story was originally published in the March 12, 2015 issue of Rolling Stone.
“She’s coming out,” a choreographer says over a P.A. system, sounding tense. “Everyone get your horns and masks on.” A couple of nights before the Grammys, 22 shirtless, flawlessly fit male dancers, each equipped with a bejeweled face mask and hazardous-looking black bull’s horns, line up on a rehearsal-studio stage within Sony Pictures’ Culver City lot, awaiting inspection.
Madonna struts out of a dressing room far across the studio, dressed in a matador outfit, sans pants.
“She’s coming out,” a choreographer says over a P.A. system, sounding tense. “Everyone get your horns and masks on.” A couple of nights before the Grammys, 22 shirtless, flawlessly fit male dancers, each equipped with a bejeweled face mask and hazardous-looking black bull’s horns, line up on a rehearsal-studio stage within Sony Pictures’ Culver City lot, awaiting inspection.
Madonna struts out of a dressing room far across the studio, dressed in a matador outfit, sans pants.
- 7/27/2023
- by Brian Hiatt
- Rollingstone.com
(Welcome to Best Actor Ever, an ongoing series where we explore the careers and performances of the greatest performers to ever grace the screen.)
There is not an actor in the history of moving pictures who has been more egregiously taken for granted by her industry than Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Critics have always had her back. The New York Times' Janet Maslin got it from the jump when she singled Leigh out as "the only thing worth seeing" in her film debut "Eyes of a Stranger." The better-than-average 1981 slasher film set the tone for Leigh's career in that she plays a victim. Her character is a blind-deaf mute whose condition was brought on by being kidnapped and raped at an early age. The 19-year-old Leigh projects sweetness and innocence, but this young woman is all serrated edges. Because she isn't just a victim. She's a survivor.
Roger Ebert was also an early admirer of Leigh,...
There is not an actor in the history of moving pictures who has been more egregiously taken for granted by her industry than Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Critics have always had her back. The New York Times' Janet Maslin got it from the jump when she singled Leigh out as "the only thing worth seeing" in her film debut "Eyes of a Stranger." The better-than-average 1981 slasher film set the tone for Leigh's career in that she plays a victim. Her character is a blind-deaf mute whose condition was brought on by being kidnapped and raped at an early age. The 19-year-old Leigh projects sweetness and innocence, but this young woman is all serrated edges. Because she isn't just a victim. She's a survivor.
Roger Ebert was also an early admirer of Leigh,...
- 3/24/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Few filmmakers have blended art, religion, and science to a greater extent than Darren Aronofsky has. In the 25 years since his first film, “Pi,” was released, the director has carved out a niche for himself, telling stories about people obsessed with finding order in a chaotic universe. Sometimes those people are mathematicians, other times they’re saints, but they’re all chasing forbidden knowledge hidden in the universe.
With those themes in mind, Aronofsky recently sat down with Pioneer Works director of sciences Janna Levin for a conversation about the scientific influences on his work. The panel, which was part of the museum’s Science vs. Fiction series, touched on all eight of Aronofsky’s feature films.
The conversation began with a discussion about “Pi.” While the 1998 film — which is getting an IMAX re-release next month — is a considerably smaller affair than most of Aronofsky’s other films, it remains...
With those themes in mind, Aronofsky recently sat down with Pioneer Works director of sciences Janna Levin for a conversation about the scientific influences on his work. The panel, which was part of the museum’s Science vs. Fiction series, touched on all eight of Aronofsky’s feature films.
The conversation began with a discussion about “Pi.” While the 1998 film — which is getting an IMAX re-release next month — is a considerably smaller affair than most of Aronofsky’s other films, it remains...
- 2/24/2023
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Requiem for a Dream is a movie directed by Darren Aronofsky featuring Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Ellen Burstyn and Marlon Wayans. Based on the novel by Hubert Selby Jr.
A brutal movie, both because of the subject as well as the aesthetics, about the world of drugs.
This is a story about degradation which, led by the poetry of despair, has become (well deservedly) a cult movie.
Movie Review
This is a movie with a brutal potential for aesthetics: it moves and perverts and degrades and attracts, all in the whirlpool of emotions the characters experience who are submerged in the world of drugs. A misleading “hand camera” film that takes us through the stories of four characters in their four personal hells and the Requiem they all entone together with a social and systemic point of view, because the réquiem is also pertinent socially.
However, what we are interested...
A brutal movie, both because of the subject as well as the aesthetics, about the world of drugs.
This is a story about degradation which, led by the poetry of despair, has become (well deservedly) a cult movie.
Movie Review
This is a movie with a brutal potential for aesthetics: it moves and perverts and degrades and attracts, all in the whirlpool of emotions the characters experience who are submerged in the world of drugs. A misleading “hand camera” film that takes us through the stories of four characters in their four personal hells and the Requiem they all entone together with a social and systemic point of view, because the réquiem is also pertinent socially.
However, what we are interested...
- 1/16/2023
- by Martin Cid
- Martin Cid Magazine - Movies
Director Darren Aronofsky's "Requiem for a Dream" is one of the most stunning and heartbreaking films to ever depict the loneliness and depravity associated with addiction. Adapted from Hubert Selby Jr.'s 1978 novel, Aronofsky's sophomore feature film cemented the filmmaker's unique style, combining gorgeous cinematography, close-up shots, and a harrowing score that perfectly enhances the disturbing fate of its characters. And years later, that score still haunts us.
A frequent collaborator with Aronofsky, composer Clint Mansell was able to apply his own menacing and melodic motifs that launched a career full of equally haunting scores. And some of the sounds featured in the score are, well ... unlikely.
Hope Overture
Before launching his career as a Golden Globe and Grammy-nominated film composer, Clint Mansell was the lead singer and multi-instrumentalist of the English alt-rock band Pop Will Eat Itself, a group he formed when he was only 19. He sang vocals and supplied bass,...
A frequent collaborator with Aronofsky, composer Clint Mansell was able to apply his own menacing and melodic motifs that launched a career full of equally haunting scores. And some of the sounds featured in the score are, well ... unlikely.
Hope Overture
Before launching his career as a Golden Globe and Grammy-nominated film composer, Clint Mansell was the lead singer and multi-instrumentalist of the English alt-rock band Pop Will Eat Itself, a group he formed when he was only 19. He sang vocals and supplied bass,...
- 9/18/2022
- by Marisa Mirabal
- Slash Film
Anything can be an addiction. People sometimes casually throw around the word "addicted" when talking about shows they're hooked on and other likes and loves, but in "Requiem for a Dream," television is but one of many things that can be habit-forming for humans in all the wrong ways. Darren Aronofsky's 2000 film descends into a cacophony of cross-cutting and nightmarish images as its four central characters plunge deeper into addiction and self-destruction. The ending is an assault on the senses that leaves the viewer reeling, and 20-plus years have not diluted its power.
In the Catholic Church, a requiem is a Mass for the dead, with Mozart's "Requiem," as seen in "Amadeus," for instance, being the music that would accompany such a Mass. This frames the title of "Requiem for a Dream" as a more elegant spin on "Death of a Dream." Co-written by Aronofsky and Hubert Selby, Jr. and based on Selby's novel,...
In the Catholic Church, a requiem is a Mass for the dead, with Mozart's "Requiem," as seen in "Amadeus," for instance, being the music that would accompany such a Mass. This frames the title of "Requiem for a Dream" as a more elegant spin on "Death of a Dream." Co-written by Aronofsky and Hubert Selby, Jr. and based on Selby's novel,...
- 9/3/2022
- by Joshua Meyer
- Slash Film
Darren Aronofsky's "Requiem For A Dream" is an intense film that merited intense preparation on the part of its cast and crew. Adapted from a novel by Hubert Selby Jr., "Requiem for a Dream" tells the story of four people struggling with addiction and how it takes a toll on their hopes and dreams and lives in New York. Harry, Marion, and Tyrone, played by Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, and Marlon Wayans, respectively, have formed a heroin dependency, while Harry's mother, Sara (Ellen Burstyn in an Oscar-nominated role) develops an addiction to amphetamines as she seeks to suppress her appetite and fit into an old dress for a game show appearance.
Writing for The Evening Standard, Burstyn called "Requiem for a Dream" her "biggest challenge," one that was "harder than 'The Exorcist'" for her. In an oral history with Vulture looking back on the film 20 years after its release,...
Writing for The Evening Standard, Burstyn called "Requiem for a Dream" her "biggest challenge," one that was "harder than 'The Exorcist'" for her. In an oral history with Vulture looking back on the film 20 years after its release,...
- 8/28/2022
- by Joshua Meyer
- Slash Film
Before he was one of Hollywood's most daring, innovative filmmakers, Darren Aronofsky was just another aspiring director in film school. While in college, the ambitious Aronofsky fostered a relationship with author Hubert Selby, Jr, his literary hero. After adapting one of Selby's short stories in college, the director made his Hollywood debut with the 1998 film "Pi."
Aronofsky won the Best Director award at the Sundance Film Festival and returned to the work of Selby with his sophomore effort, "Requiem for A Dream." The film examines addiction through the eyes of four intertwined characters. Despite the success of "Pi," the depressing nature of his second film made securing financing a challenge.
The artistic Aronofsky was getting a crash course on the business side of Hollywood. After first being told he could make any movie he wanted, only one studio would agree to produce "Requiem for A Dream" -- but only if he put together the cast.
Aronofsky won the Best Director award at the Sundance Film Festival and returned to the work of Selby with his sophomore effort, "Requiem for A Dream." The film examines addiction through the eyes of four intertwined characters. Despite the success of "Pi," the depressing nature of his second film made securing financing a challenge.
The artistic Aronofsky was getting a crash course on the business side of Hollywood. After first being told he could make any movie he wanted, only one studio would agree to produce "Requiem for A Dream" -- but only if he put together the cast.
- 8/18/2022
- by Travis Yates
- Slash Film
Darren Aronofsky's 2000 addiction drama "Requiem for a Dream" is an aggressively devastating, forthrightly tragic scare film that long lingers in the consciousness. Based on the 1978 novel by Hubert Selby, Jr., "Requiem" bears all the emotional beats of ignorant "druggie" films of the 1930s ("Reefer Madness" and the like) with the added benefit of hypnotic, brilliant, cinematic style. As each of the characters descends deeper and deeper into self ruin at the hands of their drug thirst, we share their pain, feel their desperation, understand their loss. The world is only briefly bright at the times when the drugs are freshly consumed. All other times are devoted to seeking the high again once it wears off. As William S. Burroughs once said: "A junky runs on junk time. When his junk is cut off, the clock runs down and stops. All he can do is hang on and wait for non-junk time to start.
- 8/16/2022
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Suffice it to say that 2021 has been a big year for author Mike Thorn. February saw the publication of his debut novel, Shelter for the Damned, June witnessed the release of his revamped short story collection, Darkest Hours: Expanded Edition, and October set the stage for his third book of the year, Peel Back and See, featuring 16 new short stories lurking between the covers of what Thorn says could be his "bleakest book to date."
With the horror holiday shopping season upon us (it should be noted that Peel Back and See would fit very nicely in a stocking), we caught up with Thorn in a new Q&a feature to discuss the timely themes rippling through his latest short story collection, the collaborative joys of working with JournalStone on all three of his book releases this year, and some of his holiday horror movie recommendations to help get you...
With the horror holiday shopping season upon us (it should be noted that Peel Back and See would fit very nicely in a stocking), we caught up with Thorn in a new Q&a feature to discuss the timely themes rippling through his latest short story collection, the collaborative joys of working with JournalStone on all three of his book releases this year, and some of his holiday horror movie recommendations to help get you...
- 12/13/2021
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
"Requiem For a Dream" (2000) is not a movie for the faint of heart. The stylish-but-grim psychological drama bleakly portrays the horrors of drug addiction and its devastating effects on the human psyche. Directed by Darren Aronofsky and based on the novel by Hubert Selby Jr., the story follows lonely single mom Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn) who becomes addicted to diet pills, while her son Harry (Jared Leto), his girlfriend, Marion (Jennifer Connoly), and his friend Tyrone (Marlon Wayans) become heroin addicts.
The characters in "Requiem For a Dream" all have dreams of achieving bigger and better things, but as they become more...
The post Movies Like Requiem For a Dream You Really Need to See appeared first on /Film.
The characters in "Requiem For a Dream" all have dreams of achieving bigger and better things, but as they become more...
The post Movies Like Requiem For a Dream You Really Need to See appeared first on /Film.
- 11/18/2021
- by Layla Halfhill
- Slash Film
At first it seems like the perfect place to quietly enjoy a secluded smoke, but three teens soon discover that their supposed safe haven is actually something downright sinister in Shelter for the Damned, the debut novel from Mike Thorn (author of the short story collection Darkest Hours). With Shelter for the Damned out now from JournalStone, we caught up with Thorn in our latest Q&a feature to discuss the journey of writing his new book, the influences that inspired him along the way, and his upcoming releases that readers can look forward to from JournalStone.
Thanks for taking the time to answer questions for us, Mike, and congratulations on the forthcoming publication of your first novel, Shelter for the Damned! When did you first come up with the idea for this book?
Mike Thorn: Thank you so much for having me! I’ve always considered Daily Dead one...
Thanks for taking the time to answer questions for us, Mike, and congratulations on the forthcoming publication of your first novel, Shelter for the Damned! When did you first come up with the idea for this book?
Mike Thorn: Thank you so much for having me! I’ve always considered Daily Dead one...
- 2/26/2021
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
This month marks the 20th anniversary of the U.S. theatrical release of Requiem for a Dream, Darren Aronofsky’s visually dazzling and emotionally shattering adaptation of Hubert Selby Jr.’s novel about doomed addicts. When it came out in 2000, Requiem for a Dream more than delivered on the promise of Aronofsky’s 1998 debut feature Pi, taking that film’s ambitious experiments with subjective point of view to a whole new level; in Requiem, Aronofksy utilizes split screen, speeded up and slowed down motion, multiple exposures, impressionistic digital and practical special effects, unnatural lighting and clashing color temperatures, extreme focal lengths at either […]...
- 10/16/2020
- by Jim Hemphill
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
This month marks the 20th anniversary of the U.S. theatrical release of Requiem for a Dream, Darren Aronofsky’s visually dazzling and emotionally shattering adaptation of Hubert Selby Jr.’s novel about doomed addicts. When it came out in 2000, Requiem for a Dream more than delivered on the promise of Aronofsky’s 1998 debut feature Pi, taking that film’s ambitious experiments with subjective point of view to a whole new level; in Requiem, Aronofksy utilizes split screen, speeded up and slowed down motion, multiple exposures, impressionistic digital and practical special effects, unnatural lighting and clashing color temperatures, extreme focal lengths at either […]...
- 10/16/2020
- by Jim Hemphill
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Released 20 years ago this fall, Requiem for a Dream was one of the most unforgettable movies of the 2000s, regardless of how you may feel about it. Darren Aronofsky’s sophomore feature has now been restored in all of its traumatic glory, getting a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-Ray combo release on October 13. Following his debut Pi, Aronofsky brought Hubert Selby Jr. novel to vivid life in the story about four people whose lives become tragically intertwined through drug addition.
Starring Ellen Burstyn in a tour-de-force, Oscar-nominated performance, she plays Sara Goldfarb, a lonely widow who becomes addicted to diet pills after being tricked into thinking she will be appearing on a game show. Her son Harry (Jared Leto) and his girlfriend Marion (Jennifer Connelly) are struggling with heroin addiction and drug dealing, alongside their friend Tyrone (Marlon Wayans).
As one can see in the first trailer, Matthew Libatique’s cinematography...
Starring Ellen Burstyn in a tour-de-force, Oscar-nominated performance, she plays Sara Goldfarb, a lonely widow who becomes addicted to diet pills after being tricked into thinking she will be appearing on a game show. Her son Harry (Jared Leto) and his girlfriend Marion (Jennifer Connelly) are struggling with heroin addiction and drug dealing, alongside their friend Tyrone (Marlon Wayans).
As one can see in the first trailer, Matthew Libatique’s cinematography...
- 8/13/2020
- by Stephen Hladik
- The Film Stage
When Ben Barenholtz, 83, died Wednesday at his new home in Prague, we lost one of the giants of American independent cinema. This vital and genial man has left a legacy behind few can equal. Many in the film community remember him as an entrepreneur, champion of new talent, mentor, cinephile and filmmaker. (Check out his many Facebook tributes here.) Others shared their thoughts in emails to IndieWire throughout the day.
“Ben’s passing is the end of an era,” said John Turturro. “I knew Ben first as a theater owner of the Elgin, which I used to frequent as a young man. Then I worked with him as a producer of ‘Miller’s Crossing’ and ‘Barton Fink.’ He introduced me to so many talented people. His great eye, his sense of humor and mischievous rebellious outlook masked a complicated and difficult early life. He was one of a kind and...
“Ben’s passing is the end of an era,” said John Turturro. “I knew Ben first as a theater owner of the Elgin, which I used to frequent as a young man. Then I worked with him as a producer of ‘Miller’s Crossing’ and ‘Barton Fink.’ He introduced me to so many talented people. His great eye, his sense of humor and mischievous rebellious outlook masked a complicated and difficult early life. He was one of a kind and...
- 6/28/2019
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
In this edition of Canon Of Film, we celebrate the recent release of ‘Mother!‘ on home video by delving into Darren Aronofsky‘s masterpiece, ‘Requiem for a Dream‘. For the story behind the genesis of the Canon, you can click here.
Requiem For A Dream (2000)
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Screenplay: Hubert Selby Jr. and Darren Aronofsky based on the book by Hubert Selby Jr.
I saw a stat awhile ago, I don’t remember the exact numbers, but basically it said that most people are incorrect about what will make them happy. Happy. I suspect those are the same people that think happiness is a feeling that they need to achieve, or search for. The more I think about it, I believe more than anything, drug addicts have disillusioned themselves into believing such a feeling of happiness essentially exists. Happiness, pleasure, something along those lines, but whatever it is, the world...
Requiem For A Dream (2000)
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Screenplay: Hubert Selby Jr. and Darren Aronofsky based on the book by Hubert Selby Jr.
I saw a stat awhile ago, I don’t remember the exact numbers, but basically it said that most people are incorrect about what will make them happy. Happy. I suspect those are the same people that think happiness is a feeling that they need to achieve, or search for. The more I think about it, I believe more than anything, drug addicts have disillusioned themselves into believing such a feeling of happiness essentially exists. Happiness, pleasure, something along those lines, but whatever it is, the world...
- 12/27/2017
- by David Baruffi
- Age of the Nerd
Mubi is exclusively showing Diego Echeverria's Los Sures (1984) in a new restoration September 3 - October 2, 2016.Williamsburg Savings BankThomas Wolfe’s short story “Only The Dead Know Brooklyn” first appeared in the June 15 1935 issue of The New Yorker. The story attempts to render spoken dialect into prose: its opening sentence is “Dere’s no guy livin’ dat knows Brooklyn t’roo an’ t’roo, because it’d take a guy a lifetime just to find his way aroun’ duh goddam town.” Wolfe’s mode and the story’s appearance in The New Yorker (the 1930s New Yorker was a very different magazine than it is today) speak to a particular 20th-century perception of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, both within New York itself and as far as the rest of the United States, and the world, was concerned. Brooklyn’s myth was as New York’s cynosure of rough-hewn authenticity.
- 9/5/2016
- MUBI
It’s easy to forget that even the most talented filmmakers have to start somewhere – including Darren Aronofsky. The man behind the forthcoming biblical epic Noah has been making movies for years, and this short – an adaptation of Hubert Selby Jr.’s Fortune Cookie shot while he was at the American Film Institute – has now turned up online. It’s interesting to see this early effort from Aronofsky for a number of reasons. It showcases a young talent starting to find his cinematic voice, for starters, but it also is our first inkling of Aronofsky’s fascination with Selby Jr.’s work. The director would return to adapt the writer’s Requiem for a Dream years later. Like all student films, Fortune Cookie is a bit rough around...
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- 11/22/2013
- by Mike Bracken
- Movies.com
While we patiently await Darren Aronofsky's epic "Noah," let's take a trip back in time to an era when the director was still an untested indie filmmaker. He had made waves with his low-budget, paranoid thriller "Pi," and raised the stakes for his sophomore effort, "Requiem For A Dream." The adaptation of the Hubert Selby Jr. novel was a grim look at addiction, earning an Nc-17 rating for its tough content and graphic sex scene. But that couldn't stop the support for the film, which drew critical raves for its performances (earning Ellen Burstyn an Oscar nomination), Aronofsky's direction and the score by Clint Mansell, who at the time, was just working on his second film (his first was 'Pi'). And as he tells it, Aronofsky originally had a different vision for the soundtrack. Speaking during a masterclass at BFI London Film Festival, Mansell shared what the...
- 10/14/2013
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
The Panic in Needle Park
Written by Joan Dion and John Gregory Dunne; based on the book by James Mills
Directed by Jerry Schatzberg
USA, 1971
Al Pacino gives a riveting performance as Bobby, an energetic street hustler and heroin addict who forms a bizarre, yet accepting relationship with a homeless woman, Helen, played by Kitty Winn. The Panic in Needle Park is a gut-wrenching expose into the drug culture in New York City. American films of the late sixties, such as Easy Rider, Performance and The Trip, portrayed the edgy glamour and counter-culture boom of the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll revolution, but after the release of The Panic in Needle Park, filmmakers forecast the downward spiral of addiction. Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll transgressed into heroin, prostitution and jail. To this day, no other film has topped the realistic portrayal of the drug culture. Shot in a documentary-like fashion,...
Written by Joan Dion and John Gregory Dunne; based on the book by James Mills
Directed by Jerry Schatzberg
USA, 1971
Al Pacino gives a riveting performance as Bobby, an energetic street hustler and heroin addict who forms a bizarre, yet accepting relationship with a homeless woman, Helen, played by Kitty Winn. The Panic in Needle Park is a gut-wrenching expose into the drug culture in New York City. American films of the late sixties, such as Easy Rider, Performance and The Trip, portrayed the edgy glamour and counter-culture boom of the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll revolution, but after the release of The Panic in Needle Park, filmmakers forecast the downward spiral of addiction. Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll transgressed into heroin, prostitution and jail. To this day, no other film has topped the realistic portrayal of the drug culture. Shot in a documentary-like fashion,...
- 6/23/2013
- by Yale Freedman
- SoundOnSight
Before he taught Mickey Rourke how to wrestle or Natalie Portman how to Adagio, Darren Aronofsky was showing Jared Leto how to shoot up. Requiem For a Dream was the director’s second feature film – Pi came out in 1998 – and his position as an auteur began to grow from there. Some consider Requiem Aronofsky’s best film. Regardless if you find it engaging or grotesque, there’s no denying the man’s direction on the film is something to be appreciated. Even studied. So let’s take a few minutes and hear what Aronofsky had to say about Requiem For a Dream. There’s bound to be wonderful anecdotes about the director skipping with Marlon Wayans down the Coney Island boardwalk or buying ice cream in the Central Park with Jennifer Connelly. Surely this commentary can’t include anything too serious. The movie has a giant refrigerator that dances and sings. It...
- 2/24/2012
- by Jeremy Kirk
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Release Date: Oct. 11, 2011
Price: DVD $26.99, Blu-ray $30.49
Studio: Summit Entertainment
Jennifer Jason Leigh takes on the borough's meanest streets in Last Exit to Brooklyn.
Based on the controversial 1964 novel by Hubert Selby Jr. about the underbelly of the working class in Brooklyn in the 1950s, the gritty 1989 drama Last Exit to Brooklyn makes its Blu-ray debut, along with being re-issued on DVD for the first time in more than a decade.
Directed by Uli Edel (Body of Evidence), the film follows a group of disillusioned characters as they play out their dead-end existences of drugs, crime and violence in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. Set against a backdrop of union corruption, they must overcome or be defeated by their surroundings and, ultimately, themselves.
The movie features an ensemble cast that includes with Jennifer Jason Leigh (Greenberg), Stephen Baldwin (The Usual Suspects), Stephen Lang (Avatar), Sam Rockwell (Moon), Jerry Orbach (Dirty Dancing...
Price: DVD $26.99, Blu-ray $30.49
Studio: Summit Entertainment
Jennifer Jason Leigh takes on the borough's meanest streets in Last Exit to Brooklyn.
Based on the controversial 1964 novel by Hubert Selby Jr. about the underbelly of the working class in Brooklyn in the 1950s, the gritty 1989 drama Last Exit to Brooklyn makes its Blu-ray debut, along with being re-issued on DVD for the first time in more than a decade.
Directed by Uli Edel (Body of Evidence), the film follows a group of disillusioned characters as they play out their dead-end existences of drugs, crime and violence in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. Set against a backdrop of union corruption, they must overcome or be defeated by their surroundings and, ultimately, themselves.
The movie features an ensemble cast that includes with Jennifer Jason Leigh (Greenberg), Stephen Baldwin (The Usual Suspects), Stephen Lang (Avatar), Sam Rockwell (Moon), Jerry Orbach (Dirty Dancing...
- 8/24/2011
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
What’s a man to do after such a wonderfully intense year of having his film Black Swan be judged on numerous occasions/awards ceremonies and garnering just as many accolades? He is going to judge other films. Darren Aronofsky has been handpicked to be the president of the International Jury for the Competition at the 2011 Venice International Film Festival.
As many have cited, it is not Aronofsky’s first trip to the fest, it will be more of a journey come full circle as Black Swan premiered there last year as the opening film in competition. Another one of the director’s Oscar-winning films, The Wrestler, brought him to Venice in 2008 which led to it winning the fest’s coveted prize . Now on the other side of it, Aronofsky will be a working part of the festival that runs from August 31 to September 10, 2011. Skim the full press release from...
As many have cited, it is not Aronofsky’s first trip to the fest, it will be more of a journey come full circle as Black Swan premiered there last year as the opening film in competition. Another one of the director’s Oscar-winning films, The Wrestler, brought him to Venice in 2008 which led to it winning the fest’s coveted prize . Now on the other side of it, Aronofsky will be a working part of the festival that runs from August 31 to September 10, 2011. Skim the full press release from...
- 4/28/2011
- by Alan L
- SoundOnSight
Blu-ray Review
Twelve
Directed by: Joel Schumacher
Cast: Chace Crawford, Emma Roberts, Curtis Jackson, Rory Culkin, Kiefer Sutherland
Running Time: 1 hr 35 mins
Rating: R
Due Out: December 28, 2010
Plot: An intersecting tale mainly focused on drug dealer White Mike as he is torn between the mean streets of New York and the fabulous party lifestyle of the upper East side. Things start to change for White Mike with the introduction of a new drug, twelve.
Who’S It For? Fans of Gossip Girl are probably used to the crap that Chace Crawford puts out so they might not hate it, but this movie is mainly for fans of the cast more than anything else.
Movie:
Twelve is an interesting kind of movie. It doesn’t seem to have much to say other than a Mr. Garrison’s “Drugs are bad, mmkay?” occasionally and even that is a bit of a stretch.
Twelve
Directed by: Joel Schumacher
Cast: Chace Crawford, Emma Roberts, Curtis Jackson, Rory Culkin, Kiefer Sutherland
Running Time: 1 hr 35 mins
Rating: R
Due Out: December 28, 2010
Plot: An intersecting tale mainly focused on drug dealer White Mike as he is torn between the mean streets of New York and the fabulous party lifestyle of the upper East side. Things start to change for White Mike with the introduction of a new drug, twelve.
Who’S It For? Fans of Gossip Girl are probably used to the crap that Chace Crawford puts out so they might not hate it, but this movie is mainly for fans of the cast more than anything else.
Movie:
Twelve is an interesting kind of movie. It doesn’t seem to have much to say other than a Mr. Garrison’s “Drugs are bad, mmkay?” occasionally and even that is a bit of a stretch.
- 12/28/2010
- by Calhoun Kersten
- The Scorecard Review
Requiem for a Dream
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
Written by Hubert Selby Jr.
2000, USA
The apotheosis of Add. MTV-era filmmaking, Requiem for a Dream is designed to divide. Its mathematically precise editing and histrionic message-driving makes it perhaps the shrillest anti-drug movie of any age, yet its hyperbolic sense of terror and frenetic rhythms manage not to obscure its less obvious gifts. It announces its creator as a force to be reckoned with, even if some will rightly take issue with the film’s combustible content.
Presenting the addict’s progression as a seasonal process, Requiem is divided into “Spring,” “Summer,” “Fall,” and “Winter,” with each segment more perilous than the last. Our victims are young, handsome Harry Goldfarb (Jared Leto); his jittery mother Sara (a devastating Ellen Burstyn); his best friend Tyrone (Marlon Wayans in a rare dramatic role) and his loving girlfriend Marion (Jennifer Connelly). Harry and Tyrone...
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
Written by Hubert Selby Jr.
2000, USA
The apotheosis of Add. MTV-era filmmaking, Requiem for a Dream is designed to divide. Its mathematically precise editing and histrionic message-driving makes it perhaps the shrillest anti-drug movie of any age, yet its hyperbolic sense of terror and frenetic rhythms manage not to obscure its less obvious gifts. It announces its creator as a force to be reckoned with, even if some will rightly take issue with the film’s combustible content.
Presenting the addict’s progression as a seasonal process, Requiem is divided into “Spring,” “Summer,” “Fall,” and “Winter,” with each segment more perilous than the last. Our victims are young, handsome Harry Goldfarb (Jared Leto); his jittery mother Sara (a devastating Ellen Burstyn); his best friend Tyrone (Marlon Wayans in a rare dramatic role) and his loving girlfriend Marion (Jennifer Connelly). Harry and Tyrone...
- 12/1/2010
- by Simon Howell
- SoundOnSight
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Darren Aronofsky – he may look like an accountant, but you couldn’t call his career boring. First he unveils his debut picture, Pi, a sci-fi thriller made for sixty grand, and launches his career in auspicious style. He follows it up with one of 2000′s most hotly debated films, the Hubert Selby Jr. adaptation Requiem for a Dream, a hyper-stylized and brutally frank exploration of the power of addiction, which earns Ellen Burstyn a Best Actress nomination. Then things go slightly awry: he plans to get really ambitious with his tripartite sci-fi romance The Fountain, which was to star Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett as star-crossed lovers across three different planes of existence – until Pitt pulled out at the last minute to star in Troy instead, leaving frehsly built sets and a large crew in Australian dust. Undaunted, Aronofsky rewrote the film into a more modest...
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Darren Aronofsky – he may look like an accountant, but you couldn’t call his career boring. First he unveils his debut picture, Pi, a sci-fi thriller made for sixty grand, and launches his career in auspicious style. He follows it up with one of 2000′s most hotly debated films, the Hubert Selby Jr. adaptation Requiem for a Dream, a hyper-stylized and brutally frank exploration of the power of addiction, which earns Ellen Burstyn a Best Actress nomination. Then things go slightly awry: he plans to get really ambitious with his tripartite sci-fi romance The Fountain, which was to star Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett as star-crossed lovers across three different planes of existence – until Pitt pulled out at the last minute to star in Troy instead, leaving frehsly built sets and a large crew in Australian dust. Undaunted, Aronofsky rewrote the film into a more modest...
- 11/30/2010
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Fox Searchlight announced on Friday that Black Swan, starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel and Mila Kunis, will open in select theatres on December 1st and expand from there. It was previously announced that the film would open the 67th Venice International Film Festival.
Excerpts from the earlier press release:
Black Swan Directed By Darren Aronofsky
Starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel And Mila Kunis
Opening Film Of The 67Th Venice International Film Festival
.Black Swan, the highly anticipated new feature film by American filmmaker Darren Aronofsky (Golden Lion recipient in 2008 at the 65th Venice Film Festival for The Wrestler), will be the opening film . in competition – of the 67th Venice International Film Festival. A psychological thriller set in the world of New York City ballet, Black Swan stars Natalie Portman as Nina, a featured dancer who finds herself locked in a web of competitive intrigue with a new rival at the...
Excerpts from the earlier press release:
Black Swan Directed By Darren Aronofsky
Starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel And Mila Kunis
Opening Film Of The 67Th Venice International Film Festival
.Black Swan, the highly anticipated new feature film by American filmmaker Darren Aronofsky (Golden Lion recipient in 2008 at the 65th Venice Film Festival for The Wrestler), will be the opening film . in competition – of the 67th Venice International Film Festival. A psychological thriller set in the world of New York City ballet, Black Swan stars Natalie Portman as Nina, a featured dancer who finds herself locked in a web of competitive intrigue with a new rival at the...
- 7/30/2010
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Back in the days of Y2K, Darren Aronofsky had two choices. He could jump from Pi to the big leagues with Batman, or he could adapt and film Hubert Selby Jr.'s Requiem for a Dream with the writer himself. Most would have chosen the former and skyrocketed to fame or infamous nipples. Aronofsky, on the other hand, chose the latter and crafted one of the most harrowing dramas to hit the screen, and certainly the most challenging and worthy film on addiction, even if it exists outside the realms of mainstream love.
At its simplest, the film is the story of four good people whose lives are destroyed by addiction. But rather than offer a catchy Trainspotting look at drug use, or make his characters so loathsome that we don't care what happens to them, Aronofsky makes us feel the experience on every level. He pulls us into...
At its simplest, the film is the story of four good people whose lives are destroyed by addiction. But rather than offer a catchy Trainspotting look at drug use, or make his characters so loathsome that we don't care what happens to them, Aronofsky makes us feel the experience on every level. He pulls us into...
- 5/29/2010
- by Monika Bartyzel
- Cinematical
We are leaving Kubrick behind and fast approaching Hyams. If you get that reference, go grab yourself a cookie. It is time for us to reflect back on the decade that was. On January 1st, 2000, Disney released Fantasia 2000. On Wednesday, December 30th, 2009, The White Ribbon is set to bow. Between the release of these two films, thousands of films came and went, and some of them were far more memorable than others. It was a long trek getting this list together, but here are our collective top 100 films of the past decade.
Quick Year-to-Year by the Numbers:
2009 – 11
2008 – 11
2007 – 7
2006 – 14
2005 – 12
2004 – 8
2003 – 7
2002 – 12
2001 – 10
2000 – 8
100. Million Dollar Baby (2004) – Clint Eastwood
99. Juno (2007) – Jason Reitman
98. An Education (2009) – Lone Scherfig
97. Spider-man 2 (2004) – Sam Raimi
96. Munich (2005) – Steven Spielberg
95. The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004) – Wes Anderson
94. The King Of Kong (2007) – Seth Gordon
93. Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’S Stone (2001) – Chris Columbus
92. Clerks 2 (2006) – Kevin Smith
91. Femme Fatale (2002) – Brian De Palma
90. Tasogare Seibei...
Quick Year-to-Year by the Numbers:
2009 – 11
2008 – 11
2007 – 7
2006 – 14
2005 – 12
2004 – 8
2003 – 7
2002 – 12
2001 – 10
2000 – 8
100. Million Dollar Baby (2004) – Clint Eastwood
99. Juno (2007) – Jason Reitman
98. An Education (2009) – Lone Scherfig
97. Spider-man 2 (2004) – Sam Raimi
96. Munich (2005) – Steven Spielberg
95. The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004) – Wes Anderson
94. The King Of Kong (2007) – Seth Gordon
93. Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’S Stone (2001) – Chris Columbus
92. Clerks 2 (2006) – Kevin Smith
91. Femme Fatale (2002) – Brian De Palma
90. Tasogare Seibei...
- 12/29/2009
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
In my opinion Requiem for a Dream is one of those films you like, but aren't going to return to on a consistent basis primarily because doing so would lead you on your own spiral of depression. As a result, trying to decide whether you should buy it or not is a tough call and seeing how I didn't own it before receiving the Blu-ray for review doesn't make my recommendation -- one way or the other -- any easier. What I can say is after what I believe to be my third time seeing the movie, it holds up just as well as it did the first time around and this Blu-ray only makes it better. Requiem serves as a brutal look at addiction. Whether its drugs, television, sugar, or whatever vice you can think of, this film has addiction nailed to the wall and brings it to life using music,...
- 9/8/2009
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
By Aaron Hillis
Brooklyn-born auteur Darren Aronofsky turned mathematical patterns and theories into a brooding thriller (1998's "Pi"), injected us with a bravura adaptation of Hubert Selby Jr.'s reckless-addiction novel (2000's Oscar-nominated "Requiem for a Dream"), and raced against the clock of mortality in an ambitious love story spanning ten centuries (2006's unfairly maligned "The Fountain"). So what's a filmmaker's next move, having already zoomed a 26th century Hugh Jackman around the galaxy in an oversized soap bubble containing the Tree of Life?
Curiously, you resurrect Mickey Rourke's career. One of the most wildly anticipated films of 2008, Aronofsky's humanist drama "The Wrestler" will close this year's New York Film Festival. But even before it officially opens in December, the Oscar buzz for Rourke as past-his-prime wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson is already starting to be deafening (and rightly so). Shot with handheld verité techniques that put you right up in Rourke's fascinating mug,...
Brooklyn-born auteur Darren Aronofsky turned mathematical patterns and theories into a brooding thriller (1998's "Pi"), injected us with a bravura adaptation of Hubert Selby Jr.'s reckless-addiction novel (2000's Oscar-nominated "Requiem for a Dream"), and raced against the clock of mortality in an ambitious love story spanning ten centuries (2006's unfairly maligned "The Fountain"). So what's a filmmaker's next move, having already zoomed a 26th century Hugh Jackman around the galaxy in an oversized soap bubble containing the Tree of Life?
Curiously, you resurrect Mickey Rourke's career. One of the most wildly anticipated films of 2008, Aronofsky's humanist drama "The Wrestler" will close this year's New York Film Festival. But even before it officially opens in December, the Oscar buzz for Rourke as past-his-prime wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson is already starting to be deafening (and rightly so). Shot with handheld verité techniques that put you right up in Rourke's fascinating mug,...
- 10/9/2008
- by Aaron Hillis
- ifc.com
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