Josh Krasinski’s If leads the charge at the UK and Ireland box office in 650 cinemas for Paramount.
The family film about imaginary friends is Krasinski’s widest opening as a director following A Quiet Place Part II which arrived in 563 cinemas in 2021.
If includes an ensemble cast of A-listers, both on-screen and on voice duties, including Ryan Reynolds, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fiona Shaw, Steve Carrell, Matt Damon, Bradley Cooper and Emily Blunt. Cailey Fleming leads the cast as a girl who, having recently experienced a traumatic loss, begins seeing everyone’s imaginary friends.
Krasinski previously wrote and directed A Quiet Place...
The family film about imaginary friends is Krasinski’s widest opening as a director following A Quiet Place Part II which arrived in 563 cinemas in 2021.
If includes an ensemble cast of A-listers, both on-screen and on voice duties, including Ryan Reynolds, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fiona Shaw, Steve Carrell, Matt Damon, Bradley Cooper and Emily Blunt. Cailey Fleming leads the cast as a girl who, having recently experienced a traumatic loss, begins seeing everyone’s imaginary friends.
Krasinski previously wrote and directed A Quiet Place...
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Roberto Rossellini’s 1945 neorealist drama is unsparing in its depiction of the heavy price of both resistance and collaboration with the Nazi occupation
Roberto Rossellini’s 1945 film is a blazingly urgent and painful bulletin from the frontline of Italy’s historical agony: the Axis power that had belatedly turned against the Mussolini fascists only to be humiliatingly occupied by Nazi Germany on whose orders the dictator was reinstalled in the northern Salò puppet state, resplendent in contemptible impotence and pathos, with Rome at its defeated and compromised centre. It was a film that used the so-recently-devastated real streets and people of Rome on location for a project on which Rossellini started script work well before the end of the war, building on ideas by screenwriter Sergio Amidei with dialogue contribution by the young Federico Fellini.
Rome, Open City is revived as part of the BFI Southbank’s Chasing the Real season of Italian neorealism,...
Roberto Rossellini’s 1945 film is a blazingly urgent and painful bulletin from the frontline of Italy’s historical agony: the Axis power that had belatedly turned against the Mussolini fascists only to be humiliatingly occupied by Nazi Germany on whose orders the dictator was reinstalled in the northern Salò puppet state, resplendent in contemptible impotence and pathos, with Rome at its defeated and compromised centre. It was a film that used the so-recently-devastated real streets and people of Rome on location for a project on which Rossellini started script work well before the end of the war, building on ideas by screenwriter Sergio Amidei with dialogue contribution by the young Federico Fellini.
Rome, Open City is revived as part of the BFI Southbank’s Chasing the Real season of Italian neorealism,...
- 5/15/2024
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Disney’s “Kingdom of The Planet of the Apes” debuted atop the U.K. and Ireland box office with £3.8 million ($4.7 million), according to numbers from Comscore.
Universal’s “The Fall Guy” dropped down to second place with £948,970 and now has a running total of £6.7 million. In third place, in its third weekend, Warner Bros.’ “Challengers” collected £333,281 for a total of £4.7 million.
In fourth position, in its fifth weekend, Studiocanal’s “Back to Black” earned £211,408 for a total of £11.2 million. Rounding off the top five was Sony’s “Tarot,” which read the cards to the tune of £140,983 in its second weekend and now has a total of £923,013.
The only other debut in the Top 10 was Trafalgar Releasing’s opera recording “Madama Butterfly,” which bowed in ninth place with £96,727.
The mid-week releases coming up include Trafalgar’s “Transformers: 40th Anniversary Event,” where episodes of the animated 1984 series will be screened alongside original voice-over talent,...
Universal’s “The Fall Guy” dropped down to second place with £948,970 and now has a running total of £6.7 million. In third place, in its third weekend, Warner Bros.’ “Challengers” collected £333,281 for a total of £4.7 million.
In fourth position, in its fifth weekend, Studiocanal’s “Back to Black” earned £211,408 for a total of £11.2 million. Rounding off the top five was Sony’s “Tarot,” which read the cards to the tune of £140,983 in its second weekend and now has a total of £923,013.
The only other debut in the Top 10 was Trafalgar Releasing’s opera recording “Madama Butterfly,” which bowed in ninth place with £96,727.
The mid-week releases coming up include Trafalgar’s “Transformers: 40th Anniversary Event,” where episodes of the animated 1984 series will be screened alongside original voice-over talent,...
- 5/14/2024
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
‘There’s Still Tomorrow’: The Italian Box Office Success Sparking Discussion About Domestic Violence
There’s Still Tomorrow, the new film that has just passed Greta Gerwig’s Barbie to become the most-watched movie in Italy this year, opens on a domestic scene. Delia, played by actress-turned-director Paola Cortellesi, wakes up next to her husband, Ivano (Valerio Mastandrea). “Buongiorno!” she says, brightly. Without a word, he slaps her. Hard. Then, as the soundtrack swells with a 40s romantic tune, Delia gets up to start her day. Violent abuse, it appears, is as much a part of her routine as brushing her hair and getting dressed for work.
It’s a shocking scene. At first, it looks like There’s Still Tomorrow, shot in stark black-and-white, will be a tribute to Italian neo-realist classics like Bicycle Thieves and Rome Open City. But this is no kitchen sink social drama. First come the one-liners: “All the problems started when people stopped marrying their cousins!” Ivano’s father-in-law complains to Delia.
It’s a shocking scene. At first, it looks like There’s Still Tomorrow, shot in stark black-and-white, will be a tribute to Italian neo-realist classics like Bicycle Thieves and Rome Open City. But this is no kitchen sink social drama. First come the one-liners: “All the problems started when people stopped marrying their cousins!” Ivano’s father-in-law complains to Delia.
- 12/18/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A round up of stories from Locarno Film Festival.
As the first week of the Locarno Film Festival (August 3-13) comes to an end, here is the latest from the industry side of the event in Switzerland.
Six projects at Locarno Pitching Day
Feature films from Italy, Austria and Switzerland were among the projects pitched at the Ticino Film Commission’s Locarno Pitching Day held yesterday (August 8).
Staged in collaboration with Locarno Pro, the event was aimed at film industry professionals seeking co-production partners, distribution and financing for projects that are in development and could be further developed in the Swiss region.
As the first week of the Locarno Film Festival (August 3-13) comes to an end, here is the latest from the industry side of the event in Switzerland.
Six projects at Locarno Pitching Day
Feature films from Italy, Austria and Switzerland were among the projects pitched at the Ticino Film Commission’s Locarno Pitching Day held yesterday (August 8).
Staged in collaboration with Locarno Pro, the event was aimed at film industry professionals seeking co-production partners, distribution and financing for projects that are in development and could be further developed in the Swiss region.
- 8/9/2022
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
10 Swiss film festivals with international standing are joining forces on a symbolically significant screening series to be held in Locarno’s PalaCinema multipurpose venue which is also known as the Swiss lakeside town’s house of cinema.
The innovative initiative – which is being launched with a press conference on Saturday at the Locarno Film Festival – is the brainchild of Nadia Dresti, the Locarno fest’s grand dame, who recently joined the PalaCinema board.
The PalaCinema (pictured) houses the Locarno film festival offices, its film academy, the Cisa film school, the Ticino Film Commission, Swiss pubcaster Rsi, as well as several commercial cinemas and other screening venues.
“On the 75th anniversary of the Locarno festival we want to pay homage to all Swiss international film festivals, inviting their artistic directors to each talk about their vision for their respective festivals, and also to chose a film that represents this vision,” Dresti told Variety.
The innovative initiative – which is being launched with a press conference on Saturday at the Locarno Film Festival – is the brainchild of Nadia Dresti, the Locarno fest’s grand dame, who recently joined the PalaCinema board.
The PalaCinema (pictured) houses the Locarno film festival offices, its film academy, the Cisa film school, the Ticino Film Commission, Swiss pubcaster Rsi, as well as several commercial cinemas and other screening venues.
“On the 75th anniversary of the Locarno festival we want to pay homage to all Swiss international film festivals, inviting their artistic directors to each talk about their vision for their respective festivals, and also to chose a film that represents this vision,” Dresti told Variety.
- 8/6/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Moviegoing Memories is a series of short interviews with filmmakers about going to the movies. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's Lingui, the Sacred Bonds is Mubi Go's Film of the Week in the US for February 4, 2022.Notebook: How would you describe your movie in the least amount of words?Mahamet-saleh Haroun: The fight (or struggle) of a single mother to save her 15-year-old pregnant daughter and who does not want to keep this unwanted pregnancy.Notebook: Where and what is your favorite movie theater? Why is it your favorite?Haroun: My favorite cinéma theatre is Le Normandie in N'djaména, Chad. I love this cinema because it's where I felt my first emotions with my girlfriend when I was teen. First kisses, first caresses, first loves.Notebook: What is the most memorable movie screening of your life? Why is it memorable?Haroun: The most memorable screening of my life is Rome, Open City by Rosselini.
- 2/16/2022
- MUBI
Everything old is new again. Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed remake of “West Side Story” has garnered seven Oscar nominations. That haul is impressive but pales next to that of the 1961 original which reaped a whopping 11 bids. Not surprisingly, it was the big winner at the 34th annual Oscars. These took place at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on April 9, 1962 with Bob Hope hosting.
The Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins adaptation of the Leonard Bernstein–Stephen Sondheim landmark Broadway musical waltzed away with 10 wins including Best Picture, Director (shared for the first time) and for supporting players Rita Moreno and George Chakiris.
Robbins also received an honorary Oscar that night for his “brilliant achievement in the art of choreography on film.” Ironically, Robbins had received his walking papers from his directing duties 45 days into production. Wise told me in a 2002 L.A. Times interview that the production was behind schedule and over-budget.
The Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins adaptation of the Leonard Bernstein–Stephen Sondheim landmark Broadway musical waltzed away with 10 wins including Best Picture, Director (shared for the first time) and for supporting players Rita Moreno and George Chakiris.
Robbins also received an honorary Oscar that night for his “brilliant achievement in the art of choreography on film.” Ironically, Robbins had received his walking papers from his directing duties 45 days into production. Wise told me in a 2002 L.A. Times interview that the production was behind schedule and over-budget.
- 2/9/2022
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
The Chad-born, France-based Mahamat-Saleh Haroun debuted his latest drama, Lingui, The Sacred Bonds, in competition at the Cannes Film Festival last summer. A formally classical vision, his morality tale follows a mother and her pregnant daughter as they navigate their next steps in Chad, a country where abortion is both illegal and condemned by religion. With Lingui now opening in theaters this Friday, courtesy of Mubi, I spoke with Haroun about seven influential films, from silent classics to international landmarks.
As David Katz said in his Cannes review of Lingui, “In Chad, whose two main languages are Arabic and French, “lingui” is a distinct term meaning a ‘bond or connection’; the film’s alternate title gives it a more pious hue—the ‘sacred bonds.’ But what’s fascinating and most novel about African cinema great Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s new drama is the lack of an overtly religiose aura: the bonds...
As David Katz said in his Cannes review of Lingui, “In Chad, whose two main languages are Arabic and French, “lingui” is a distinct term meaning a ‘bond or connection’; the film’s alternate title gives it a more pious hue—the ‘sacred bonds.’ But what’s fascinating and most novel about African cinema great Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s new drama is the lack of an overtly religiose aura: the bonds...
- 2/3/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Every film presents unique production problems, and Searchlight’s “Nomadland” had a high degree of difficulty. Writer-director Chloé Zhao and her team wanted total authenticity as they filmed nomads who travel from job to job in the U.S. Southwest.
Production challenges included multiple locations, changeable weather, a small crew, a limited budget — and accommodating the nomads, who were playing versions of themselves, with no acting experience.
“We were there to follow them, and let them lead their lives,” says Peter Spears, one of the producers. “They didn’t all move together. Everyone had a different schedule. Some had family obligations or medical things to attend to; sometimes people would suddenly peel off to a job.”
Zhao — another of the film’s five producers — had written a tight narrative script, inspired by the nonfiction book by Jessica Bruder. The director and her team followed her script but with room for spontaneity.
Production challenges included multiple locations, changeable weather, a small crew, a limited budget — and accommodating the nomads, who were playing versions of themselves, with no acting experience.
“We were there to follow them, and let them lead their lives,” says Peter Spears, one of the producers. “They didn’t all move together. Everyone had a different schedule. Some had family obligations or medical things to attend to; sometimes people would suddenly peel off to a job.”
Zhao — another of the film’s five producers — had written a tight narrative script, inspired by the nonfiction book by Jessica Bruder. The director and her team followed her script but with room for spontaneity.
- 3/5/2021
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
Spain’s master filmmaker Pedro Almodovar’s first English-language film, “The Human Voice,” is akin to a Douglas Sirk fevered-dream. An unnamed woman (Oscar-winner Tilda Swinton) has been waiting for three days for a phone call from her long-time love who has left her for another so he would arrange a time for him to pick up his luggage and his dog. And then the phone rings. In less than 30 minutes, Swinton emotes every passion from joy to anger to suicidal despair during her photo call.
Critics were effusive in their praise at the Venice International Film Festival and New York Film Festival with Sony Pictures Classic picking up the live-action short film. “Despite its origins as a play. “The Human Voice” is well-suited to being filmed,” said Gary M. Kramer in Salon. “Swinton’s expressions, from a silent sigh in the opening moments, to her look of shock enhanced by her unkempt,...
Critics were effusive in their praise at the Venice International Film Festival and New York Film Festival with Sony Pictures Classic picking up the live-action short film. “Despite its origins as a play. “The Human Voice” is well-suited to being filmed,” said Gary M. Kramer in Salon. “Swinton’s expressions, from a silent sigh in the opening moments, to her look of shock enhanced by her unkempt,...
- 10/1/2020
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
In the history of civilization, no one has ever been consoled by the thought “Other people have had it worse than you.”
In 2020, the pandemic has been devastating, with deaths, illness, unemployment and economic turmoil. But as we observe the 75th anniversaries of V-e and V-j Day, it’s worth remembering that people during World War II experienced all these things and more — including widespread destruction of buildings, homes and even towns.
Variety in 1942 carried a story about Nazis destroying the Czech town of Lidice. During the war years, Variety reported on wholesale devastation to numerous places including the Republic of Formosa (Taiwan today) and Aachen (aka Aix la Chapelle) to name a few. And while we now complain that we can’t go to movie theaters, at least these venues still exist; on April 4, 1945, Variety said that the 400 pre-war cinemas in Berlin had been reduced to 31, with the rest bombed out.
In 2020, the pandemic has been devastating, with deaths, illness, unemployment and economic turmoil. But as we observe the 75th anniversaries of V-e and V-j Day, it’s worth remembering that people during World War II experienced all these things and more — including widespread destruction of buildings, homes and even towns.
Variety in 1942 carried a story about Nazis destroying the Czech town of Lidice. During the war years, Variety reported on wholesale devastation to numerous places including the Republic of Formosa (Taiwan today) and Aachen (aka Aix la Chapelle) to name a few. And while we now complain that we can’t go to movie theaters, at least these venues still exist; on April 4, 1945, Variety said that the 400 pre-war cinemas in Berlin had been reduced to 31, with the rest bombed out.
- 5/15/2020
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
Kantemir Balagov comes from Kabardino-Balkaria, a region in the Russian Caucasus that is very poor and has a high level of youth unemployment. Balagov studied under Russian director Alexander Sokurov for three years, and made his debut feature with “Closeness,” which was in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in 2017, and won the Fipresci prize. “Beanpole,” his second feature, plays in Un Certain Regard this year. Set in 1945 in Leningrad, which was devastated in World War II, the film centers on two young women, Iya and Masha, who are struggling to rebuild their lives.
What impact did Alexander Sokurov have on you as a filmmaker?
Other than giving me an understanding of the profession of the director, he helped me to achieve self-consciousness and taught me how to love literature. To me these two things are interconnected, because consciousness feeds on literature.
How do you describe your approach to directing?
I am...
What impact did Alexander Sokurov have on you as a filmmaker?
Other than giving me an understanding of the profession of the director, he helped me to achieve self-consciousness and taught me how to love literature. To me these two things are interconnected, because consciousness feeds on literature.
How do you describe your approach to directing?
I am...
- 5/16/2019
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
This article was originally produced as part of the Nyff Critics Academy.
“Lady Bird always said she lived on the wrong side of the tracks, I didn’t know there were actual tracks.” So says Danny (Lucas Hedges) almost flippantly in “Lady Bird.” In the film, class plays a large role in how the titular character interacts with everyone she comes in contact with. The movie is seemingly a coming of age story about a girl who’s simply trying to make her social ends meet as she transitions from high school to college, but that would almost be too superficial of a reading. “Lady Bird” and “The Florida Project” didn’t win any of the Oscars they were nominated for on Sunday, but their legacies are secure as part of a growing trend to break the mold of the old coming-of age model. In doing so, have become more...
“Lady Bird always said she lived on the wrong side of the tracks, I didn’t know there were actual tracks.” So says Danny (Lucas Hedges) almost flippantly in “Lady Bird.” In the film, class plays a large role in how the titular character interacts with everyone she comes in contact with. The movie is seemingly a coming of age story about a girl who’s simply trying to make her social ends meet as she transitions from high school to college, but that would almost be too superficial of a reading. “Lady Bird” and “The Florida Project” didn’t win any of the Oscars they were nominated for on Sunday, but their legacies are secure as part of a growing trend to break the mold of the old coming-of age model. In doing so, have become more...
- 3/9/2018
- by Benjamin Groff
- Indiewire
The Criterion Collection will venture to the Zone this July, and much more, as they’ve announced their new titles for the month. Andrei Tarkovsky‘s long-rumored sci-fi masterpiece Stalker will arrive with a new 2K restoration. The release will also include a new interview with author Geoff Dyer and newly translated English subtitles. Also arriving in July is Albert Brooks‘ satirical comedy Lost in America, featuring a new conversation with the director and Robert Weide, as well as interviews with the cast and crew.
One of the most notable releases of the month is Robert Bresson‘s masterful final film L’argent, which tracks a counterfeit bill through Paris, and the people it touches. Lastly, Roberto Rossellini‘s powerful War Trilogy is getting a much-deserved Blu-ray upgrade with new versions of Rome Open City, Paisan, and Germany Year Zero. Check out the high-resolution cover art below and full release details.
One of the most notable releases of the month is Robert Bresson‘s masterful final film L’argent, which tracks a counterfeit bill through Paris, and the people it touches. Lastly, Roberto Rossellini‘s powerful War Trilogy is getting a much-deserved Blu-ray upgrade with new versions of Rome Open City, Paisan, and Germany Year Zero. Check out the high-resolution cover art below and full release details.
- 4/17/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The new issue of Cinema Scope features articles on Harun Farocki, Xavier Dolan, David Lynch, Eugène Green and Michael Snow and interviews with Pedro Costa, Simone Rapisarda Casanova and Peter von Bagh and more. Also in today's roundup of news and views: Ignatiy Vishnevetsky on Dan Sallitt's The Unspeakable Act, Jordan Cronk on Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets, Howard Hampton on Eraserhead, David Cairns on Segundo de Chomón, Sierra Pettengill on Roberto Rossellini's Roma città aperta—and more. » - David Hudson...
- 9/21/2014
- Fandor: Keyframe
The new issue of Cinema Scope features articles on Harun Farocki, Xavier Dolan, David Lynch, Eugène Green and Michael Snow and interviews with Pedro Costa, Simone Rapisarda Casanova and Peter von Bagh and more. Also in today's roundup of news and views: Ignatiy Vishnevetsky on Dan Sallitt's The Unspeakable Act, Jordan Cronk on Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets, Howard Hampton on Eraserhead, David Cairns on Segundo de Chomón, Sierra Pettengill on Roberto Rossellini's Roma città aperta—and more. » - David Hudson...
- 9/21/2014
- Keyframe
Ömer Lütfi Akad, a pioneer of Turkish cinema who made over 40 films between 1948 and 1974 (and would carry on directing for television through 1979), died yesterday at the age of 95. Bilge Ebiri has essentially broken the news to the English-speaking world:
Along with Metin Erksan (director of the recently-restored Dry Summer), Akad was probably one of the two senior giants of Turkish cinema during a rather significant time — the period in the 1950s and 60s when the medium was moving away from the canned-theater efforts of early pioneers like Muhsin Ertugrul and starting to tackle more complicated material, against pretty much every odd in the universe. Neither society nor technology had yet caught up to the imaginations of these artists. The equipment was still ancient (the first Turkish film to edit together two separate audio tracks wouldn't come until 1978) and so was the political atmosphere: the country was at the time entering...
Along with Metin Erksan (director of the recently-restored Dry Summer), Akad was probably one of the two senior giants of Turkish cinema during a rather significant time — the period in the 1950s and 60s when the medium was moving away from the canned-theater efforts of early pioneers like Muhsin Ertugrul and starting to tackle more complicated material, against pretty much every odd in the universe. Neither society nor technology had yet caught up to the imaginations of these artists. The equipment was still ancient (the first Turkish film to edit together two separate audio tracks wouldn't come until 1978) and so was the political atmosphere: the country was at the time entering...
- 11/20/2011
- MUBI
"Idiom is an online magazine of artistic and cultural practice." And it now has a new film and electronic art editor. Tom McCormack introduces the new section, promising long-form work focusing on the "avant-garde and the art-house and the gallery" — and YouTube. What's more: "We'd like to get polemical. We want to get argumentative." Idiom Film launches with Michael Joshua Rowin on the collection of essays Optics Antics: The Cinema of Ken Jacobs, Colin Beckett on work by John Smith on DVD, Jonathon Kyle Sturgeon on Rossellini's Rome, Open City and Courtney Fiske on Sophie Fiennes's Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow.
How did I miss this breezy read in the New York Times last week? Elaine May: "The producers of Relatively Speaking (which opens at the Brooks Atkinson on Oct 20) have asked me to conduct an in-depth interview with Ethan Coen and Woody Allen, with whom it...
How did I miss this breezy read in the New York Times last week? Elaine May: "The producers of Relatively Speaking (which opens at the Brooks Atkinson on Oct 20) have asked me to conduct an in-depth interview with Ethan Coen and Woody Allen, with whom it...
- 10/18/2011
- MUBI
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
With a filmography boasting some of the most important and entertaining films of the last forty years, from Mean Streets and Taxi Driver to The Departed and Shutter Island, Martin Scorsese could be forgiven for resting on his laurels or at least taking a nice relaxing holiday. Yet this doesn’t seem to be in his make-up. A dedicated cinephile and music lover, the director has been an equally prolific documentarian over the years and the results are rarely less than spellbinding, with his chosen subject matter always deeply personal.
A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995) and My Voyage to Italy (1999) – which is released on DVD tomorrow – are among the best of these movies, with Marty himself narrating – passionately sharing his thoughts on the films which have inspired him in an accessible, unpretentious style. Aided by his own touching reminiscences as well as...
With a filmography boasting some of the most important and entertaining films of the last forty years, from Mean Streets and Taxi Driver to The Departed and Shutter Island, Martin Scorsese could be forgiven for resting on his laurels or at least taking a nice relaxing holiday. Yet this doesn’t seem to be in his make-up. A dedicated cinephile and music lover, the director has been an equally prolific documentarian over the years and the results are rarely less than spellbinding, with his chosen subject matter always deeply personal.
A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995) and My Voyage to Italy (1999) – which is released on DVD tomorrow – are among the best of these movies, with Marty himself narrating – passionately sharing his thoughts on the films which have inspired him in an accessible, unpretentious style. Aided by his own touching reminiscences as well as...
- 9/25/2011
- by Robert Beames
- Obsessed with Film
José Luis R. Cortés/Nypl Alexander Steele, Teju Cole, Kamala Nair, Rebecca Wolff and Amor Towles in Bryant Park
In a disorganized kind of chorus line, authors Teju Cole, Kamala Nair, Rebecca Wolff and Amor Towles strode into the “Reading Room,” a space defined by burgundy and white umbrellas under the London Plane trees of Bryant Park on 42nd Street. Each author was outfitted with a green table, matching high chair and microphone.
The four fiction novelists were there for...
In a disorganized kind of chorus line, authors Teju Cole, Kamala Nair, Rebecca Wolff and Amor Towles strode into the “Reading Room,” a space defined by burgundy and white umbrellas under the London Plane trees of Bryant Park on 42nd Street. Each author was outfitted with a green table, matching high chair and microphone.
The four fiction novelists were there for...
- 8/11/2011
- by Alexandra Cheney
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
Didn’t I just write one of these a week ago? Of course I did, because this is your destination for the best coverage of all the new titles Criterion puts up on their Hulu Plus page, and this week is no different. There’s fewer films (unless they decide to throw up another 30 when I least expect it) but in this case, less is more. And the lucky number is 13 this time. With worries of what the future for Hulu is, there are supposed talks that Google is definitely interested, which is interesting. Especially with their roll out of Google+ these past few days. If you like what you see, please sign up via this link. It does wonders for this article. But enough about that, you want to know about the movies. So let’s not make the good people wait.
The one that made my head explode was Godzilla,...
The one that made my head explode was Godzilla,...
- 7/4/2011
- by James McCormick
- CriterionCast
Updated.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder's newly restored Despair (1978) "was one of the hottest tickets in the Classics sidebar" in Cannes this year, notes Dennis Lim in his Los Angeles Times review of the new DVD out from Olive Films, which has also issued Fassbinder's I Only Want You to Love Me (1976). "The relative obscurity of Despair is surprising given its pedigree. It's based on a Vladimir Nabokov novel, adapted by Tom Stoppard, and starring the English actor Dirk Bogarde. Nabokov's story of a Russian émigré, written in the 30s, takes place in Prague. Fassbinder changed the setting to early-30s Berlin, teetering on the abyss of the Third Reich…. Despair is perhaps the most explicit elaboration of one of Fassbinder's recurring themes: the alienation of someone who not only 'stands outside himself,' as Hermann [Bogarde] puts it, but also wants to escape himself and indeed flee the trap of identity altogether.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder's newly restored Despair (1978) "was one of the hottest tickets in the Classics sidebar" in Cannes this year, notes Dennis Lim in his Los Angeles Times review of the new DVD out from Olive Films, which has also issued Fassbinder's I Only Want You to Love Me (1976). "The relative obscurity of Despair is surprising given its pedigree. It's based on a Vladimir Nabokov novel, adapted by Tom Stoppard, and starring the English actor Dirk Bogarde. Nabokov's story of a Russian émigré, written in the 30s, takes place in Prague. Fassbinder changed the setting to early-30s Berlin, teetering on the abyss of the Third Reich…. Despair is perhaps the most explicit elaboration of one of Fassbinder's recurring themes: the alienation of someone who not only 'stands outside himself,' as Hermann [Bogarde] puts it, but also wants to escape himself and indeed flee the trap of identity altogether.
- 6/14/2011
- MUBI
Edinburgh International Film Festival
It should be settling into senior citizenship, but the 65-year-old festival is reinventing itself this year. The programme has been mixed up by a host of guest curators – ranging from Gus Van Sant to Jim Jarmusch, and Mike Skinner to Apichatpong Weerasethakul. And as well as the usual core of new international features and documentaries, there are envelope-pushing new strands and events. Of the conventional features, highlights include Romain Gavras's awaited feature debut Our Day Will Come, a French skinhead tale that looks as confrontational as his music video work (which plays beforehand). David Hare presents his new MI5 thriller Page Eight, led by Bill Nighy (who'll also be giving an onstage interview); Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle buddy up in Irish cop comedy The Guard; and festival regular David McKenzie returns with apocalyptic art sci-fi Perfect Sense, starring Ewan McGregor and Eva Green.
The...
It should be settling into senior citizenship, but the 65-year-old festival is reinventing itself this year. The programme has been mixed up by a host of guest curators – ranging from Gus Van Sant to Jim Jarmusch, and Mike Skinner to Apichatpong Weerasethakul. And as well as the usual core of new international features and documentaries, there are envelope-pushing new strands and events. Of the conventional features, highlights include Romain Gavras's awaited feature debut Our Day Will Come, a French skinhead tale that looks as confrontational as his music video work (which plays beforehand). David Hare presents his new MI5 thriller Page Eight, led by Bill Nighy (who'll also be giving an onstage interview); Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle buddy up in Irish cop comedy The Guard; and festival regular David McKenzie returns with apocalyptic art sci-fi Perfect Sense, starring Ewan McGregor and Eva Green.
The...
- 6/10/2011
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Claude Lanzmann's Holocaust documentary, Shoah, was meant to be an 'incarnation of the truth'. His new film responds to a threat to that truth
Claude Lanzmann went to Iran recently. "As you know," the 85-year-old director, a Jewish Frenchman, tells me in his Paris office, "Ahmadinejad doesn't believe there was a Holocaust. The Iranians wanted me to prove to them on television that there was. They wanted to see the corpses."
What did he tell them? The director of the nine-and-a-half hour documentary Shoah (1985) about the mass murder of Jews in Nazi death camps swivels round in his chair and fixes me. "I told them there's not a single corpse in Shoah. The people who arrived at Treblinka, Belzec or Sobibor were killed within two or three hours and their corpses burned. The proof is not the corpses; the proof is the absence of corpses. There were special details...
Claude Lanzmann went to Iran recently. "As you know," the 85-year-old director, a Jewish Frenchman, tells me in his Paris office, "Ahmadinejad doesn't believe there was a Holocaust. The Iranians wanted me to prove to them on television that there was. They wanted to see the corpses."
What did he tell them? The director of the nine-and-a-half hour documentary Shoah (1985) about the mass murder of Jews in Nazi death camps swivels round in his chair and fixes me. "I told them there's not a single corpse in Shoah. The people who arrived at Treblinka, Belzec or Sobibor were killed within two or three hours and their corpses burned. The proof is not the corpses; the proof is the absence of corpses. There were special details...
- 6/9/2011
- by Stuart Jeffries
- The Guardian - Film News
10,000 tickets at £5 or less, 140 films, 20 cyclists powering the open air cinema, 10 acclaimed jurors, 6 screens, 5 prizes, outside bar and café, live music, barbeque, farmers market, 4 days. The inaugural Open City London Documentary Festival (Open City) launches 16 - 19 June at University College London venues and the Prince Charles cinema, as a public-minded celebration of the best in documentary filmmaking. London.s largest documentary festival is here! A diverse programme is organized into strands including Obsessions, Crime & Punishment, Science Fictions, World Visions and The City. The festival presents a variety of award winning masterpieces and UK premieres, workshops, live music, open-air cycle powered cinema, a farmer.s market, pig on a spit and much...
- 6/6/2011
- by Evrim Ersoy
- Monsters and Critics
A couple weekends ago, as part of my ongoing Criterion Reflections blogging project, I watched Il Generale Della Rovere, a 1959 film directed by Roberto Rossellini that marked one of the commercial and critical high points of his career, yielding his biggest box office results since his breakthrough Rome Open City and major festival hardware (Venice’s Golden Lion for Best Film that year, among others.) Perfectly in keeping with his restless, artistically ambitious yet self-deprecating character, Rossellini afterwards expressed a fair amount of ambivalence toward that film, despite its indisputable success. It wasn’t too much further along into his career that the great pioneer of Neorealism, after proving that he could crank out a hit movie if he really wanted to, finally turned his back on commercial aspirations, choosing instead to produce films on his own terms that attempted to elevate the consciousness and inform the intellect of his audience,...
- 5/25/2011
- by David Blakeslee
- CriterionCast
The Cinema de la Plage where screenings of classic films are held at 9:30 each night; click for a larger look
Photo: Brad Brevet I already mentioned how Warner Home Video would be releasing a *new* Stanley Kubrick Blu-ray collection, this time including high definition versions of Lolita and Barry Lyndon with previously released HD versions of Spartacus, Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut and a new 40th Anniversary Edition of A Clockwork Orange. That set hits Blu-ray on May 31, but Kubrick's now-40-year-old A Clockwork Orange will be hitting the Cannes Croisette a little bit earlier than that.
Another, late night look at the Cinema de la Plage; click for a larger look
Photo: Brad Brevet It had been previously announced, but yesterday the Cannes Film Festival made it official that A Clockwork Orange would be part of the...
Photo: Brad Brevet I already mentioned how Warner Home Video would be releasing a *new* Stanley Kubrick Blu-ray collection, this time including high definition versions of Lolita and Barry Lyndon with previously released HD versions of Spartacus, Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut and a new 40th Anniversary Edition of A Clockwork Orange. That set hits Blu-ray on May 31, but Kubrick's now-40-year-old A Clockwork Orange will be hitting the Cannes Croisette a little bit earlier than that.
Another, late night look at the Cinema de la Plage; click for a larger look
Photo: Brad Brevet It had been previously announced, but yesterday the Cannes Film Festival made it official that A Clockwork Orange would be part of the...
- 4/27/2011
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
The Cannes Film Festival's unveiled its Classics program today: "Fourteen films, five documentaries, surprises, a Masterclass (Malcolm McDowell), new or restored prints: The program is based on proposals from national archives, cinematheques, studios, producers and distributors. Rare classics to discover or re-discover, they will be presented in 35mm or high definition digital prints."
The Films
The first round of descriptions comes straight from the Festival.
A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la lune) by Georges Méliès (France, 1902, 16'). "The color version of Georges Méliès most famous film, A Trip to the Moon (1902) is visible again 109 years after its release: having been long considered lost, this version was found in 1993 in Barcelona. In 2010, a full restoration is initiated by Lobster Films, Gan Foundation for Cinema and Technicolor Foundation for Heritage Cinema. The digital tools of today allows them to re-assemble the fragments of 13 375 images from the film and restore them one by one.
The Films
The first round of descriptions comes straight from the Festival.
A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la lune) by Georges Méliès (France, 1902, 16'). "The color version of Georges Méliès most famous film, A Trip to the Moon (1902) is visible again 109 years after its release: having been long considered lost, this version was found in 1993 in Barcelona. In 2010, a full restoration is initiated by Lobster Films, Gan Foundation for Cinema and Technicolor Foundation for Heritage Cinema. The digital tools of today allows them to re-assemble the fragments of 13 375 images from the film and restore them one by one.
- 4/26/2011
- MUBI
Cannes Classics is a recent addition to the festival, and will enjoy its 8th instalment this year. Part of the line-up of this section of the fest is screened at Ceinema de la Plage, that’s right, on the beach. You’ve got to admit that it’s pretty cool – an open-aired screening of a classic film on the French Riviera, away from the exclusivity of the Palais, and able to be enjoyed by Panini-eating passers-by on the Croisette. There should be more of this at the festival, it’s good for the soul.
This year’s line-up of films includes work by Stanley Kubrick, Bernardo Bertolucci, Euzhan Palcy (currently being honored by MoMA in New York) and Jerry Schatzberg, whose photograph of Faye Dunaway is embedded into this year’s festival poster above.
Robert DeNiro and Jane Rosenthal will present a screening of “A Bronx Tale” to celebrate ten...
This year’s line-up of films includes work by Stanley Kubrick, Bernardo Bertolucci, Euzhan Palcy (currently being honored by MoMA in New York) and Jerry Schatzberg, whose photograph of Faye Dunaway is embedded into this year’s festival poster above.
Robert DeNiro and Jane Rosenthal will present a screening of “A Bronx Tale” to celebrate ten...
- 4/26/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Network
Cannes Classics is a recent addition to the festival, and will enjoy its 8th instalment this year. Part of the line-up of this section of the fest is screened at Ceinema de la Plage, that’s right, on the beach. You’ve got to admit that it’s pretty cool – an open-aired screening of a classic film on the French Riviera, away from the exclusivity of the Palais, and able to be enjoyed by Panini-eating passers-by on the Croisette. There should be more of this at the festival, it’s good for the soul.
This year’s line-up of films includes work by Stanley Kubrick, Bernardo Bertolucci, Euzhan Palcy (currently being honored by MoMA in New York) and Jerry Schatzberg, whose photograph of Faye Dunaway is embedded into this year’s festival poster above.
Robert DeNiro and Jane Rosenthal will present a screening of “A Bronx Tale” to celebrate ten...
This year’s line-up of films includes work by Stanley Kubrick, Bernardo Bertolucci, Euzhan Palcy (currently being honored by MoMA in New York) and Jerry Schatzberg, whose photograph of Faye Dunaway is embedded into this year’s festival poster above.
Robert DeNiro and Jane Rosenthal will present a screening of “A Bronx Tale” to celebrate ten...
- 4/26/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Magazine
Some of the finest directors have produced masterful triptychs. But do we really need a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean?
It currently seems the only three that interests Hollywood relates to dimensionality. The reverence once extended to the film trilogy is fast diminishing, and although third instalments are due for Transformers, Ong-Bak, Paranormal Activity, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Men in Black, Madagascar, Batman and Iron Man, only the first two have been announced as series finales.
Indeed, with Scre4m, Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides and Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World soon to be followed by fourth entries in the Austin Powers, Mission: Impossible, Underworld and Bourne franchises, the trilogy could soon go the way of the 2D movie, as the synergy-obsessed suits controlling the multi-media conglomerates now owning the major studios adhere to the maxim that familiarity breeds both content and profit.
It currently seems the only three that interests Hollywood relates to dimensionality. The reverence once extended to the film trilogy is fast diminishing, and although third instalments are due for Transformers, Ong-Bak, Paranormal Activity, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Men in Black, Madagascar, Batman and Iron Man, only the first two have been announced as series finales.
Indeed, with Scre4m, Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides and Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World soon to be followed by fourth entries in the Austin Powers, Mission: Impossible, Underworld and Bourne franchises, the trilogy could soon go the way of the 2D movie, as the synergy-obsessed suits controlling the multi-media conglomerates now owning the major studios adhere to the maxim that familiarity breeds both content and profit.
- 4/25/2011
- by David Parkinson
- The Guardian - Film News
Source: FilmShaft - Open City London Film Festival Announces Line-Up
The inaugural and prestigious Open City London Documentary Festival (Open City) launches 16 - 19 June at University College London venues and the Prince Charles cinema, as a public-minded celebration of the best in documentary filmmaking. With a diverse programme centered around Obsessions, Crime & Punishment and The City, the festival presents a variety of award winning masterpieces and UK premieres, training workshops, live music events, as well as open air performances and food stalls.
Pawel Pawlikowski, multi-bafta award winning director and Open City judge:
"It’s great to have a new festival in London bringing together practitioners and a broad public audience. At its best documentary film goes beyond the familiar and the cliché to reveal the mystery, the poetry, the ambiguity beneath."
The festival will open with the internationally acclaimed Position Among The Stars (The Darwin Theatre, Ucl, Thurs 16 June), the...
The inaugural and prestigious Open City London Documentary Festival (Open City) launches 16 - 19 June at University College London venues and the Prince Charles cinema, as a public-minded celebration of the best in documentary filmmaking. With a diverse programme centered around Obsessions, Crime & Punishment and The City, the festival presents a variety of award winning masterpieces and UK premieres, training workshops, live music events, as well as open air performances and food stalls.
Pawel Pawlikowski, multi-bafta award winning director and Open City judge:
"It’s great to have a new festival in London bringing together practitioners and a broad public audience. At its best documentary film goes beyond the familiar and the cliché to reveal the mystery, the poetry, the ambiguity beneath."
The festival will open with the internationally acclaimed Position Among The Stars (The Darwin Theatre, Ucl, Thurs 16 June), the...
- 4/22/2011
- by Martyn Conterio
- FilmShaft.com
Though real-life experience doesn’t always work out so convincingly, sometimes a cliche like “one good thing leads to another” actually does ring true. At least that was the case back on February 1 of this year, when I was catching up on one of my favorite blogs, Matthew Dessem’s The Criterion Contraption. One of the comments there caught my attention and led me to follow a link that landed me on one of the most unique and creative Criterion-related blogs I’ve found.
Criterion Affection offers a more visual than prosaic take on the various entries in the Criterion Collection, and I was quickly drawn in by the colorful renderings that artist Michele Rosenthal created for each film. Sensing a kindred spirit in her ambition to watch every Criterion release and leave behind some souvenir of the encounter (hers in pictures, mine in words), I just had to know...
Criterion Affection offers a more visual than prosaic take on the various entries in the Criterion Collection, and I was quickly drawn in by the colorful renderings that artist Michele Rosenthal created for each film. Sensing a kindred spirit in her ambition to watch every Criterion release and leave behind some souvenir of the encounter (hers in pictures, mine in words), I just had to know...
- 4/1/2011
- by David Blakeslee
- CriterionCast
Williams and MagnaniJose here, to continue celebrating the centennial of American playwright and icon Tennessee Williams.
Williams grew up watching movies. He was one of the major playwrights who learned his craft, not through Shakespeare and Moliere but through the works of De Mille and Chaplin. This can easily be seen in the way his works lack the naturalism of "the theater" and their reality is more grounded on high drama, film noir and even slapstick. You can almost picture the young Williams sitting inside a dark movie theater, enthralled by the images projected on the screen (makes a case for why some of his characters are usually described as "larger than life" huh?).
During one of his many movie adventures, Tennessee spotted Anna Magnani. I like to assume it was Rome, Open City, but of course am probably wrong.
He became so obsessed with the Italian diva that he...
Williams grew up watching movies. He was one of the major playwrights who learned his craft, not through Shakespeare and Moliere but through the works of De Mille and Chaplin. This can easily be seen in the way his works lack the naturalism of "the theater" and their reality is more grounded on high drama, film noir and even slapstick. You can almost picture the young Williams sitting inside a dark movie theater, enthralled by the images projected on the screen (makes a case for why some of his characters are usually described as "larger than life" huh?).
During one of his many movie adventures, Tennessee spotted Anna Magnani. I like to assume it was Rome, Open City, but of course am probably wrong.
He became so obsessed with the Italian diva that he...
- 3/26/2011
- by Jose
- FilmExperience
For any budding filmmakers or documentarians this is a very interesting new initiative launched on 11th March which deserves some coverage. MyStreet is a new, open competition asking filmmakers or just about anybody to make a 90 second to 9 minute short film about the street they live on.
Below is the full press release and link to the site. Interesting stuff, indeed.
MyStreet is a nationwide documentary filmmaking initiative launched by Open City London, open to anyone in the UK to make a short 90 second to 9 minute film about their “street”. It is a new online channel where these films can be viewed, telling the nation’s stories, street by street, creating a panoramic view of Britain. Mystreet is many things: your road, your corridor, your lift, your local pub or shop, your work or even your doorstep.
Whether you were filming the student tuition fee protests on you mobile phone,...
Below is the full press release and link to the site. Interesting stuff, indeed.
MyStreet is a nationwide documentary filmmaking initiative launched by Open City London, open to anyone in the UK to make a short 90 second to 9 minute film about their “street”. It is a new online channel where these films can be viewed, telling the nation’s stories, street by street, creating a panoramic view of Britain. Mystreet is many things: your road, your corridor, your lift, your local pub or shop, your work or even your doorstep.
Whether you were filming the student tuition fee protests on you mobile phone,...
- 3/15/2011
- by Martyn Conterio
- FilmShaft.com
Courtesy of Thomas Beller Bingham (left) and Beller, circa 1995
1.
A literary magazine’s relationship to time is a strange thing. A newspaper is pegged to news of the day; a weekly magazine can be dated by the content and style of the ads -– the more cutting edge the product (a computer, a car), the more absurd and enjoyable the ad in hindsight. A glossy magazine has the fashions of the day in the ads and in the photo shoots,...
1.
A literary magazine’s relationship to time is a strange thing. A newspaper is pegged to news of the day; a weekly magazine can be dated by the content and style of the ads -– the more cutting edge the product (a computer, a car), the more absurd and enjoyable the ad in hindsight. A glossy magazine has the fashions of the day in the ads and in the photo shoots,...
- 3/7/2011
- by Thomas Beller
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
Open City The last issue of the magazine
Open City is ceasing publishing after 20 years. The literary journal was founded in 1990 by Daniel Pinchbeck and Thomas Beller, and published works by Sam Lipsyte, David Berman, Ed Park and many other notables over its 30-issue run. Joanna Yas became the first full-time employee; a year later, in 1999, publisher and driving force Robert Bingham died and, shortly thereafter, Pinchbeck exited the magazine, leaving Yas and Beller as co-editors. Yas recalled for Speakeasy...
Open City is ceasing publishing after 20 years. The literary journal was founded in 1990 by Daniel Pinchbeck and Thomas Beller, and published works by Sam Lipsyte, David Berman, Ed Park and many other notables over its 30-issue run. Joanna Yas became the first full-time employee; a year later, in 1999, publisher and driving force Robert Bingham died and, shortly thereafter, Pinchbeck exited the magazine, leaving Yas and Beller as co-editors. Yas recalled for Speakeasy...
- 3/5/2011
- by WSJ Staff
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
"Apostle of degradation" Ingrid Bergman and co-star Bing Crosby in Leo McCarey's The Bells St. Mary's Natalie Portman's winning a Best Actress while both pregnant and unmarried has irked Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee. But Huckabee's criticism about the "glamorization" of Portman's out-of-wedlock pregnancy pales in comparison to the furor that greeted the announcement that Hollywood star Ingrid Bergman, then married to dentist Petter Lindström, was pregnant — and the father was Italian filmmaker Roberto Rossellini, internationally renowned for his neo-realist efforts Open City and Paisan, and married at the time to future film costume designer Marcella De Marchis. By the time the scandal erupted, Ingrid Bergman had already won a Best Actress Oscar — for a not very good performance as a woman whose husband (Charles Boyer) tries to drive her nuts in George Cukor's 1944 noirish melodrama Gaslight. Bergman had also been nominated for her Spanish revolutionary...
- 3/5/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Teju Cole’s first novella, “Every Day Is For The Thief,” chronicled a trip to Nigeria broken up with photos, garnering inevitable comparisons to German author W.G. Sebald. Even without the photos, Sebald’s influence can still be felt in Open City’s narrator, Julius, a Nigerian psychiatrist performing his Harlem residency. Julius muses about paintings or historical trivia far more often than he addresses what’s actually before him. Where Sebald forced readers to construct a narrative out of nothing more than thematic tissue, Cole eventually undermines Julius’ reticence with a twist that breaks through his chilly facade ...
- 3/3/2011
- avclub.com
Teju Cole's meditative novel about a Nigerian immigrant in New York is the best, and darkest, first novel of this early year, writes critic Taylor Antrim. Read it.
Want to write a breakout first novel? The conventional wisdom says ingratiate yourself (Everything Is Illuminated), grab the reader by the lapels (The Lovely Bones), or put on an antic show (Special Topics in Calamity Physics). Teju Cole's disquietingly powerful debut Open City does none of the above. It's light on plot. It's exquisitely written, but quiet; the sentences don't call attention to themselves. The narrator, a Nigerian psychiatry student, is emotionally distant, ruminative, and intellectual. His account of a year spent walking around New York, encountering immigrants of all kinds, listening to their stories and recalling his own African boyhood, achieves its resonance obliquely, through inference-meaning you have to pay attention. But Open City is worth the effort.
Related story on...
Want to write a breakout first novel? The conventional wisdom says ingratiate yourself (Everything Is Illuminated), grab the reader by the lapels (The Lovely Bones), or put on an antic show (Special Topics in Calamity Physics). Teju Cole's disquietingly powerful debut Open City does none of the above. It's light on plot. It's exquisitely written, but quiet; the sentences don't call attention to themselves. The narrator, a Nigerian psychiatry student, is emotionally distant, ruminative, and intellectual. His account of a year spent walking around New York, encountering immigrants of all kinds, listening to their stories and recalling his own African boyhood, achieves its resonance obliquely, through inference-meaning you have to pay attention. But Open City is worth the effort.
Related story on...
- 2/8/2011
- by Taylor Antrim
- The Daily Beast
How does world cinema get across the idea of a city as a character in its own right? Mr Horton has been taking a look...
In some of the most powerful drama told there is often a key player, a powerful character who not only provides context and history, but also a motivating factor for all the action. That character is, of course, the city.
Our urban metropolises are a relatively modern phenomenon, as modernisation has increasingly eroded the rural communities and driven millions into close contact with each other. Cinema is also a relatively modern phenomenon, and so it is natural that the two should have become intertwined.
The moving image is surely the only art form that can truly depict the city? Authors such as Charles Dickens may have given the city a voice, but film revealed its true nature, and through casting its eye over the sprawl,...
In some of the most powerful drama told there is often a key player, a powerful character who not only provides context and history, but also a motivating factor for all the action. That character is, of course, the city.
Our urban metropolises are a relatively modern phenomenon, as modernisation has increasingly eroded the rural communities and driven millions into close contact with each other. Cinema is also a relatively modern phenomenon, and so it is natural that the two should have become intertwined.
The moving image is surely the only art form that can truly depict the city? Authors such as Charles Dickens may have given the city a voice, but film revealed its true nature, and through casting its eye over the sprawl,...
- 2/2/2011
- Den of Geek
I have basically resigned myself to reviewing, watching and recommending Blu-rays whenever possible. I love the format and wish everyone could just magically adopt it so the prices would become more reasonable (a dream scenario I'm sure). I am always waiting and looking for deals when it comes to Blu-rays since most often the prices are simply too outrageous. As a matter of fact, while putting this piece together I only now bought myself copies of The African Queen and The Bridge on the River Kwai at Barnes and Noble as both were on sale and I had a 10% off coupon. The way I see it $39 isn't bad for the those two titles, especially when suggested retail is $75 before shipping.
So understand, I know when recommending this many titles at once I realize the possibility of you purchasing all of them is slim to none, but hopefully I may be...
So understand, I know when recommending this many titles at once I realize the possibility of you purchasing all of them is slim to none, but hopefully I may be...
- 12/30/2010
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Best Blu-Rays of 2010
After acquiring my Playstation 3 last summer, I’ve gone mad with Blu-Ray fever, and I spent most of 2010 attempting to make my Blu-Ray collection resemble the massive and unnecessary scale of my DVD stash. Though I do not have a multi-region player and thus this list will include only Regions A and 0 discs, I stand by my year-end picks of the most essential discs for a cinephile’s collection. Not all will give your home theater a workout, but most will, and they all demonstrate the capacity of the medium to not only give the best possible image but to retain film-like quality like never before. So, without further ado, here are the Blu-Rays, and a handful of DVDs, you need to own.
Best Blu-Rays of 2010
1. By Brakhage, Vols. I & II (Criterion)
A collection of a master’s work that displays its greatness as much by the...
After acquiring my Playstation 3 last summer, I’ve gone mad with Blu-Ray fever, and I spent most of 2010 attempting to make my Blu-Ray collection resemble the massive and unnecessary scale of my DVD stash. Though I do not have a multi-region player and thus this list will include only Regions A and 0 discs, I stand by my year-end picks of the most essential discs for a cinephile’s collection. Not all will give your home theater a workout, but most will, and they all demonstrate the capacity of the medium to not only give the best possible image but to retain film-like quality like never before. So, without further ado, here are the Blu-Rays, and a handful of DVDs, you need to own.
Best Blu-Rays of 2010
1. By Brakhage, Vols. I & II (Criterion)
A collection of a master’s work that displays its greatness as much by the...
- 12/28/2010
- by Aaron
Just the list, no snazzy extras? You've come to the right place
1) Apocalyse Now
2) North by Northwest
3) Once Upon a Time in the West
4) The Wild Bunch
5) Deliverance
6) City of God
7) Paths of Glory
8) Wages of Fear
9) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
10) The Thin Red Line
11) Raiders of the Lost Ark
12) Ran
13) Bullitt
14) Die Hard
15) The Adventures of Robin Hood
16) The Searchers
17) Goldfinger
18) The Last of the Mohicans
19) Full Metal Jacket
20) The Deer Hunter
21) Gladiator
22) Rome, Open City
23) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
24) Where Eagles Dare
25) The Incredibles
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds...
1) Apocalyse Now
2) North by Northwest
3) Once Upon a Time in the West
4) The Wild Bunch
5) Deliverance
6) City of God
7) Paths of Glory
8) Wages of Fear
9) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
10) The Thin Red Line
11) Raiders of the Lost Ark
12) Ran
13) Bullitt
14) Die Hard
15) The Adventures of Robin Hood
16) The Searchers
17) Goldfinger
18) The Last of the Mohicans
19) Full Metal Jacket
20) The Deer Hunter
21) Gladiator
22) Rome, Open City
23) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
24) Where Eagles Dare
25) The Incredibles
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds...
- 10/19/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
Criterion's December release announcement is brief, but sweet. David Cronenberg's Videodrome is coming to Blu-Ray while Guillermo Del Toro's Cronos will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray.
The Videodrome Blu-Ray seems to be sourced from same master as the 2004 Criterion DVD. Extras are largely same. Cronos is newly restored and packed with extras, including a previously unreleased short film called Geometria. Check the links in the calendar for full specifications.
Finally, as mentioned in the last Criterion Column, the DVD release of the America Lost and Found: The Bbs Story comes out on December 14th. The Blu-Ray will be released on November 23rd.
The Criterion Collection 2010 Release Calendar (January through December 2010, up-to-date as of September 16, 2010)
December 2010
David Cronenberg, Videodrome, Bd, 12/7/2010, Us & Canada
Guillermo del Toro, Cronos, 2-disc DVD & Bd, 12/7/2010, Us & Canada
November 2010
Charlie Chaplin, Modern Times, 2-dsc DVD & Bd, 11/16/10, Us & Canada
Charles Laughton, Night Of The Hunter, 2-disc DVD & 2-disc Bd,...
The Videodrome Blu-Ray seems to be sourced from same master as the 2004 Criterion DVD. Extras are largely same. Cronos is newly restored and packed with extras, including a previously unreleased short film called Geometria. Check the links in the calendar for full specifications.
Finally, as mentioned in the last Criterion Column, the DVD release of the America Lost and Found: The Bbs Story comes out on December 14th. The Blu-Ray will be released on November 23rd.
The Criterion Collection 2010 Release Calendar (January through December 2010, up-to-date as of September 16, 2010)
December 2010
David Cronenberg, Videodrome, Bd, 12/7/2010, Us & Canada
Guillermo del Toro, Cronos, 2-disc DVD & Bd, 12/7/2010, Us & Canada
November 2010
Charlie Chaplin, Modern Times, 2-dsc DVD & Bd, 11/16/10, Us & Canada
Charles Laughton, Night Of The Hunter, 2-disc DVD & 2-disc Bd,...
- 9/16/2010
- Screen Anarchy
Visconti's 1963 version of Giuseppe di Lampedusa's only novel is perhaps the only great movie based on a great book. Burt Lancaster, in his finest performance, brings gravitas and intelligence to its hero, Prince Salinas, the middle-aged Sicilian nobleman who confronts with stoic resignation the changing times of the Risorgimento in the 1860s. The music, the performances, the cinematography and the production design have all been praised over the years, but it is appropriate this time around to note the special contribution of its prolific screenwriter. One of Visconti's regular screenwriters, Suso Cecchi D'Amico died a month ago at the age of 96 after collaborating, credited and uncredited, on many of the best Italian films, from Rome, Open City via Roman Holiday to Salvatore Giuliano. She suggested dropping the novel's modern epilogue and persuaded Visconti to conclude with the extended society ball in Palermo, one of the most remarkable and influential sequences in movie history.
- 8/28/2010
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
[Update 8/27/10 - I went back to InstantWatcher.com to check on the status of upcoming expiring Criterion films, and it appears that this entire list has disappeared from their listings. I checked on a few of the titles, and it looks like their streaming end dates have been extended! I will be updating this post later, with the correct dates, but it looks like something happened between this post going up, and now.]
Some sad news to report, on the streaming side of things today. I just learned, via the excellent website InstantWatcher.com, that more than a few Criterion Collection films will be expiring from Netflix’s Watch Instantly service on September 22nd.
In total, 66 films from the Criterion Collection will be removed from the line-up, but don’t go canceling your account just yet. Over the past year, on several monthly occasions, a number of Criterion films were added, allowing viewers to stream some of the best titles that Criterion had at their disposal. Netflix has never claimed that everything on Watch Instantly would last forever, and there may be a number of reasons why these titles are going away. Some theories I’m kicking around:
Criterion and Netflix set up a deal, and that deal is coming to an end. Pretty simple. Criterion may be looking at moving more of these titles to Hulu,...
Some sad news to report, on the streaming side of things today. I just learned, via the excellent website InstantWatcher.com, that more than a few Criterion Collection films will be expiring from Netflix’s Watch Instantly service on September 22nd.
In total, 66 films from the Criterion Collection will be removed from the line-up, but don’t go canceling your account just yet. Over the past year, on several monthly occasions, a number of Criterion films were added, allowing viewers to stream some of the best titles that Criterion had at their disposal. Netflix has never claimed that everything on Watch Instantly would last forever, and there may be a number of reasons why these titles are going away. Some theories I’m kicking around:
Criterion and Netflix set up a deal, and that deal is coming to an end. Pretty simple. Criterion may be looking at moving more of these titles to Hulu,...
- 8/24/2010
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
In November, The Criterion Collection is set to release an eclectic mix of American classics with a bit of European transgression thrown in. A newly restored version of Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times is planned for DVD and Blu-Ray. Charles Laughton's stunning black-and-white noir/horror tale Night of the Hunter (1955) is also on the schedule for DVD and Blu-Ray. Lars Von Trier's Antichrist will invade home video players everywhere.
Those are great releases, but highlight of the November list is the America Lost and Found: The Bbs Story box set, which features 6 films from Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider's production company Bbs during the 60s-70s. Titles include: Head, Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Drive He Said, The Last Picture Show, and The King Of Marvin Gardens. Think about the scope of this release for a second. This is six films by Dennis Hopper, Henry Jaglom, Jack Nicholson Bob Rafelson,...
Those are great releases, but highlight of the November list is the America Lost and Found: The Bbs Story box set, which features 6 films from Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider's production company Bbs during the 60s-70s. Titles include: Head, Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Drive He Said, The Last Picture Show, and The King Of Marvin Gardens. Think about the scope of this release for a second. This is six films by Dennis Hopper, Henry Jaglom, Jack Nicholson Bob Rafelson,...
- 8/21/2010
- Screen Anarchy
Rome -- The Rome International Film Festival said Monday it would give its Marcus Aurelius career honor to prolific Italian screenwriter Suso Cecchi d'Amico, who died Saturday at the age of 96.
Cecchi d'Amico, the pseudonym for Giovanna Cecchi, worked with many of the most important directors of Italy's post-war era, including Michelangelo Antonioni, Mario Monicelli, Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio de Sica, Luchino Visconti and Franco Zeffirelli. Her list of more than 100 writing credits includes "Roma Citta Aperta" (Rome, Open City), "Ladri di biciclette" (Bicycle Thieves), and "Il Gatopardo" (The Leopard). She was nominated for an Oscar for her work on Monicelli's "Casanova '70."
The Rome festival said that Monicelli, still working at the end of 95, will accept the award on Cecchi d'Amico's behalf, with the late writer's three children expected to be on hand for the event.
The fifth edition of the festival will take place this year Oct. 28-Nov.
Cecchi d'Amico, the pseudonym for Giovanna Cecchi, worked with many of the most important directors of Italy's post-war era, including Michelangelo Antonioni, Mario Monicelli, Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio de Sica, Luchino Visconti and Franco Zeffirelli. Her list of more than 100 writing credits includes "Roma Citta Aperta" (Rome, Open City), "Ladri di biciclette" (Bicycle Thieves), and "Il Gatopardo" (The Leopard). She was nominated for an Oscar for her work on Monicelli's "Casanova '70."
The Rome festival said that Monicelli, still working at the end of 95, will accept the award on Cecchi d'Amico's behalf, with the late writer's three children expected to be on hand for the event.
The fifth edition of the festival will take place this year Oct. 28-Nov.
- 8/2/2010
- by By Eric J. Lyman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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