In his latest podcast/interview, host and screenwriter Stuart Wright talks to John Maxwell about his debut novel Water Street and “3 Films That Have Impacted Everything In Your Adult Life,” which includes:
Midnight Cowboy (1969) The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1966) The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp (1943)
“3 Films That Have Impacted Everything In Your Adult Life” is about those films that made you fall in love with film. The guest selects their trio of movies and we talk for 5 minutes, against the clock. When the alarm goes off for five minutes we move on to the next film.
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Midnight Cowboy (1969) The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1966) The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp (1943)
“3 Films That Have Impacted Everything In Your Adult Life” is about those films that made you fall in love with film. The guest selects their trio of movies and we talk for 5 minutes, against the clock. When the alarm goes off for five minutes we move on to the next film.
Powered by RedCircle...
- 3/29/2024
- by Stuart Wright
- Nerdly
One of cinema's most prolific and cherished character actors has died just short of his 89th birthday. M. Emmet Walsh, memorable in so many films including Blade Runner, Blood Simple and more recently, Knives Out, was 88 when he died on Tuesday.
Born in 1935 in Ogdensburg, New York, Walsh was raised in Vermont. He kicked off his acting career in typical fashion, with guest roles in TV series in the 1960s and 70s, but unlike some of his peers, he continued to juggle big and small screen gigs throughout his life. He had a personal credo about the work: "I approach each job thinking it might be my last, so it better be the best work possible. I want to be remembered as a working actor. I’m being paid for what I’d do for nothing."
Cinematically, he got his start via uncredited roles in the likes of Midnight Cowboy,...
Born in 1935 in Ogdensburg, New York, Walsh was raised in Vermont. He kicked off his acting career in typical fashion, with guest roles in TV series in the 1960s and 70s, but unlike some of his peers, he continued to juggle big and small screen gigs throughout his life. He had a personal credo about the work: "I approach each job thinking it might be my last, so it better be the best work possible. I want to be remembered as a working actor. I’m being paid for what I’d do for nothing."
Cinematically, he got his start via uncredited roles in the likes of Midnight Cowboy,...
- 3/21/2024
- by James White
- Empire - Movies
M. Emmet Walsh is dead at the age of 88, his manager Sandy Joseph told IndieWire. The grizzled character actor appeared in Hollywood movies across 55 years and was one of the most recognizable “oh yeah, that guy!” performers in the industry. Even just by saying “grizzled character actor” you probably pictured him, even if you didn’t know his name.
Walsh had bit parts in “Midnight Cowboy,” “Little Big Man,” “Serpico,” “What’s Up, Doc?” and “The Gambler” at the start of his career. But it’s two films from the early 1980s that put him on the map and truly lodged him in the consciousness of cinephiles: “Blade Runner” and “Blood Simple.” In Ridley Scott’s film he played Capt. Bryant, who sends Harrison Ford’s Decker on his quest to terminate the escaped, murderous replicants. Or “retire” them, rather. That’s the kind of euphemism Walsh, in his rumpled way,...
Walsh had bit parts in “Midnight Cowboy,” “Little Big Man,” “Serpico,” “What’s Up, Doc?” and “The Gambler” at the start of his career. But it’s two films from the early 1980s that put him on the map and truly lodged him in the consciousness of cinephiles: “Blade Runner” and “Blood Simple.” In Ridley Scott’s film he played Capt. Bryant, who sends Harrison Ford’s Decker on his quest to terminate the escaped, murderous replicants. Or “retire” them, rather. That’s the kind of euphemism Walsh, in his rumpled way,...
- 3/20/2024
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
Very sad news today as it’s been reported that M. Emmet Walsh has died at the age of 88. No matter the size of the role, the prolific character actor always made a unique impression throughout his long career, which spanned six decades.
M. Emmet Walsh is best known for playing Bryant in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, the captain of the Los Angeles Police Department who tasks Deckard with tracking down the replicants at the beginning of the film. He told THR that the cast and crew weren’t quite sure what the make of the movie when they first saw it. “I don’t know if I really understood what in the hell it was all about,” Walsh said. “We all sat there and it ended. And nothing. We didn’t know what to say or to think or do! We didn’t know what in the hell we had done!
M. Emmet Walsh is best known for playing Bryant in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, the captain of the Los Angeles Police Department who tasks Deckard with tracking down the replicants at the beginning of the film. He told THR that the cast and crew weren’t quite sure what the make of the movie when they first saw it. “I don’t know if I really understood what in the hell it was all about,” Walsh said. “We all sat there and it ended. And nothing. We didn’t know what to say or to think or do! We didn’t know what in the hell we had done!
- 3/20/2024
- by Kevin Fraser
- JoBlo.com
It’s Cape Fear meets ‘The Burbs in director John Schlesinger’s Pacific Heights. Although you might be fooled by Hanz Zimmer’s score, which sounds a lot more like you’re watching Sexy Beetlejuice than a ’90s thriller. This is pure irony, of course, considering the film stars Beetlejuice himself, Michael Keaton, as a conman who is six feet from the edge and thinking maybe doing murder isn’t so far down.
For those of you arguing silently in your heads that Pacific Heights is not a horror movie, let me go ahead and agree with you. It’s a pure thriller. But imagine this for a moment; imagine somewhere out there is a fresh-off Batman Michael Keaton, sitting in a dark room twirling both a razor blade and a large cockroach through his fingers like some sort of emo fidget spinner, plotting you and your significant other’s demise.
For those of you arguing silently in your heads that Pacific Heights is not a horror movie, let me go ahead and agree with you. It’s a pure thriller. But imagine this for a moment; imagine somewhere out there is a fresh-off Batman Michael Keaton, sitting in a dark room twirling both a razor blade and a large cockroach through his fingers like some sort of emo fidget spinner, plotting you and your significant other’s demise.
- 3/12/2024
- by Mike Holtz
- bloody-disgusting.com
In one of Charles Addams' original Addams Family comic strips for the New Yorker, we see Gomez, the family patriarch, perched by a large window in his sepulchral home, looking out the window. His children and wife are standing near him. Outside the window, an apocalyptic storm is raging. A tree has been stripped of its leaves and a home across the street appears to be blowing over. "Just the kind of day that makes you feel good to be alive!" Gomez comments.
Barry Sonnenfeld's 1991 film version of "The Addams Family" captures that outsider spirit. This iteration of the Addams Family values the gloom that most people eschew, presenting Gomez (Raul Julia) and Morticia (Anjelica Houston) as horny, enthused monsters who you kind of fall in love with.
The plot of the movie is somewhat plain: a scheming a-hole finds someone who looks exactly like the long-lost Fester Addams...
Barry Sonnenfeld's 1991 film version of "The Addams Family" captures that outsider spirit. This iteration of the Addams Family values the gloom that most people eschew, presenting Gomez (Raul Julia) and Morticia (Anjelica Houston) as horny, enthused monsters who you kind of fall in love with.
The plot of the movie is somewhat plain: a scheming a-hole finds someone who looks exactly like the long-lost Fester Addams...
- 3/10/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
“That movie was the President’s idea, not mine, but it was a demand, not a suggestion.”
The speaker was Jack Warner in a 1947 foreshadowing of his Donald Trumpian style. I recalled his remarks this week as I drove onto the Warner Bros lot, the fabled arena where Warner long reigned.
In his heyday, Warner was a Trump pre-clone in terms of temperament and rhetoric – a man who boasted about his mental acuity yet, to Hollywood’s power players, seemed occasionally unhinged.
I was visiting Warner Bros this week to spend some time with David Zaslav, a figure who, in temperament and politics, is the mirror opposite of Warner but whose empire is nonetheless a product of Warner’s erratic vision. Some believe that Zaslav’s studio – Hollywood in general – might still glean some insight from its founder’s idiosyncrasies.
A career maverick, Warner promoted gangster movies like Public Enemy...
The speaker was Jack Warner in a 1947 foreshadowing of his Donald Trumpian style. I recalled his remarks this week as I drove onto the Warner Bros lot, the fabled arena where Warner long reigned.
In his heyday, Warner was a Trump pre-clone in terms of temperament and rhetoric – a man who boasted about his mental acuity yet, to Hollywood’s power players, seemed occasionally unhinged.
I was visiting Warner Bros this week to spend some time with David Zaslav, a figure who, in temperament and politics, is the mirror opposite of Warner but whose empire is nonetheless a product of Warner’s erratic vision. Some believe that Zaslav’s studio – Hollywood in general – might still glean some insight from its founder’s idiosyncrasies.
A career maverick, Warner promoted gangster movies like Public Enemy...
- 3/7/2024
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
1
Maestro opens with an extravagant shot that starts on a young Leonard Bernstein (Bradley Cooper) as he’s awakened with the news of his big break, filling in for the conductor of the New York Philharmonic. What thunderous score do we hear as L.B. rips open the curtains, grabs his robe, runs down the hall and, magically, steps into a balcony box inside Carnegie Hall?
A. “Symphonic Suite” from On the Waterfront
B. “Prologue” from West Side Story
C. “I Get Carried Away” from On the Town
D. “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys
↓ Jump to Answer
2
Filmmaker Takashi Yamazaki, who brought back Japan’s famous monster franchise with Godzilla Minus One, is the first director to be nominated for a visual effects award.
A. True
B. False
↓ Jump to Answer
3
We may never know if Sandra Hüller’s character in Anatomy of a Fall killed...
Maestro opens with an extravagant shot that starts on a young Leonard Bernstein (Bradley Cooper) as he’s awakened with the news of his big break, filling in for the conductor of the New York Philharmonic. What thunderous score do we hear as L.B. rips open the curtains, grabs his robe, runs down the hall and, magically, steps into a balcony box inside Carnegie Hall?
A. “Symphonic Suite” from On the Waterfront
B. “Prologue” from West Side Story
C. “I Get Carried Away” from On the Town
D. “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys
↓ Jump to Answer
2
Filmmaker Takashi Yamazaki, who brought back Japan’s famous monster franchise with Godzilla Minus One, is the first director to be nominated for a visual effects award.
A. True
B. False
↓ Jump to Answer
3
We may never know if Sandra Hüller’s character in Anatomy of a Fall killed...
- 2/26/2024
- by Craigh Barboza
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Martin Scorsese was at the Berlinale this week for the first time in a decade. His presence to collect an honorary Golden Bear was a reminder of the festival’s glories of yesteryear.
In decades past, Scorsese touched down in Berlin with major works such as Raging Bull (1981), Cape Fear (1992); Gangs of New York (2003 ), Shine a Light (2008) and Shutter Island (2010). It feels a long time since the event — traditionally one of the world’s great cinema showcases — has attracted such movies. In recent years the studio splashes have dried up.
So have memorable movies from A-list arthouse filmmakers. Scorsese this week sang the praises of the event for the encouragement it had given him as an emerging filmmaker. Citing Brian de Palma’s Silver Bear win for his second film Greetings in 1969, Scorsese said the prize had marked a turning point for unknown, independent American directors such as himself, de Palma,...
In decades past, Scorsese touched down in Berlin with major works such as Raging Bull (1981), Cape Fear (1992); Gangs of New York (2003 ), Shine a Light (2008) and Shutter Island (2010). It feels a long time since the event — traditionally one of the world’s great cinema showcases — has attracted such movies. In recent years the studio splashes have dried up.
So have memorable movies from A-list arthouse filmmakers. Scorsese this week sang the praises of the event for the encouragement it had given him as an emerging filmmaker. Citing Brian de Palma’s Silver Bear win for his second film Greetings in 1969, Scorsese said the prize had marked a turning point for unknown, independent American directors such as himself, de Palma,...
- 2/23/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow and Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
The New Hollywood revolution was raging in 1971, and studios were rapidly transitioning from old-school leadership to boat-rocking up-and-comers who seemed to have the pulse of the Baby Boomer-driven counterculture. The age of star-studded mega-musicals and old-fashioned oaters was over; movies didn't necessarily need a serrated edge to slash into the zeitgeist, but even a weepie like Arthur Hiller's "Love Story" boasted a lived-in verisimilitude. These films, shorn of backlot artifice, were happening in the real world.
Young moviegoers weren't the only ones craving authenticity. John Schlesinger's "Midnight Cowboy" couldn't have been voted Best Picture of 1969 without significant support from gray-haired Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members. This was a film that plunged viewers into the seamiest iteration of New York City ever captured by a studio movie, that dealt with issues of sex work and homosexuality so unflinchingly that the MPAA (now known as MPA) gave it an X-rating.
Young moviegoers weren't the only ones craving authenticity. John Schlesinger's "Midnight Cowboy" couldn't have been voted Best Picture of 1969 without significant support from gray-haired Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members. This was a film that plunged viewers into the seamiest iteration of New York City ever captured by a studio movie, that dealt with issues of sex work and homosexuality so unflinchingly that the MPAA (now known as MPA) gave it an X-rating.
- 2/16/2024
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Chicago – The seemingly middle-of-the-road character actor Bob Balaban has more to his legacy than just a ton of appearances from the 1960s to present in classic films and TV. His Chicago family were pioneers in film exhibition and the movie executive suite during the studio system in the early days of the history of film. It is in his DNA.
The amazing story of Chicago’s Balaban family began soon after they emigrated from Russia. His uncles formed a coalition with Sam Katz to build theaters. The Balaban & Katz brand meant the highest quality movie palaces eventually, the ultimate in the early 20th Century movie experience before television … two prominent theaters still standing are the city-symbolic Chicago Theatre and the still-closed-but-still-standing Uptown Theatre. Bob was born in Chicago, and his father built his favorite theatre icon (as told in the Podtalk below). For the final flourish, his uncle Barney Balaban...
The amazing story of Chicago’s Balaban family began soon after they emigrated from Russia. His uncles formed a coalition with Sam Katz to build theaters. The Balaban & Katz brand meant the highest quality movie palaces eventually, the ultimate in the early 20th Century movie experience before television … two prominent theaters still standing are the city-symbolic Chicago Theatre and the still-closed-but-still-standing Uptown Theatre. Bob was born in Chicago, and his father built his favorite theatre icon (as told in the Podtalk below). For the final flourish, his uncle Barney Balaban...
- 1/9/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
The name’s warning. Trigger warning. The British Film Institute is catching major flak for tacking on a disclaimer ahead of a collection of movies screening this season, including two James Bond pictures.
As per The Guardian, the London-based organization is including the following text ahead of their retrospective on composer John Barry, of course, best known for composing nearly half of the James Bond films: “Please note that many of these films contain language, images or other content that reflect views prevalent in its time, but will cause offence today (as they did then). The titles are included here for historical, cultural or aesthetic reasons, and these views are in no way endorsed by the BFI or its partners.” The notes with You Only Live Twice also state that the movie “contains outdated racial stereotypes.“
One has to question the necessity of a trigger warning here, especially from a...
As per The Guardian, the London-based organization is including the following text ahead of their retrospective on composer John Barry, of course, best known for composing nearly half of the James Bond films: “Please note that many of these films contain language, images or other content that reflect views prevalent in its time, but will cause offence today (as they did then). The titles are included here for historical, cultural or aesthetic reasons, and these views are in no way endorsed by the BFI or its partners.” The notes with You Only Live Twice also state that the movie “contains outdated racial stereotypes.“
One has to question the necessity of a trigger warning here, especially from a...
- 1/6/2024
- by Mathew Plale
- JoBlo.com
A season dedicated to composer John Barry, including two James Bond films, has received trigger warnings from the BFI. More here.
The BFI has unveiled a new season celebrating the work of composer John Barry. Titled John Barry: Soundtracking Bond and Beyond, the season includes two Bond films, Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice as well as films such as Midnight Cowboy and The Ipcress File.
The season has earned itself a trigger warning from the BFI, as reported by The Guardian. The blanket warning for all films reads: “Please note that many of these films contain language, images or other content that reflect views prevalent in its time, but will cause offence today (as they did then). The titles are included here for historical, cultural or aesthetic reasons and these views are in no way endorsed by the BFI or its partners.”
Programme notes for 1967’s You Only Live Twice...
The BFI has unveiled a new season celebrating the work of composer John Barry. Titled John Barry: Soundtracking Bond and Beyond, the season includes two Bond films, Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice as well as films such as Midnight Cowboy and The Ipcress File.
The season has earned itself a trigger warning from the BFI, as reported by The Guardian. The blanket warning for all films reads: “Please note that many of these films contain language, images or other content that reflect views prevalent in its time, but will cause offence today (as they did then). The titles are included here for historical, cultural or aesthetic reasons and these views are in no way endorsed by the BFI or its partners.”
Programme notes for 1967’s You Only Live Twice...
- 1/5/2024
- by Maria Lattila
- Film Stories
A new season celebrating John Barry’s film soundtracks come loaded with offence warnings that don’t seem that necessary
• BFI season gives James Bond films trigger warnings
Culture warriors have heard a safety-catch being clicked firmly into place at London’s BFI Southbank for a forthcoming season of 60s movies – variously naughty, groovy and gritty – scored by the great composer John Barry: Soundtracking Bond and Beyond. The “Beyond” part means classics such as The Ipcress File and Midnight Cowboy, but obviously 007’s exploits are the main event.
And there’s a prominent warning: “Please note that many of these films contain languages, image and other content that reflect views prevalent in its time, but will cause offence today (as they did then).”
Those last four words will be savoured by historians of offence management: the additional pre-emptive assertion that some of this was iffy then, offensiveness is not relative and that was no excuse.
• BFI season gives James Bond films trigger warnings
Culture warriors have heard a safety-catch being clicked firmly into place at London’s BFI Southbank for a forthcoming season of 60s movies – variously naughty, groovy and gritty – scored by the great composer John Barry: Soundtracking Bond and Beyond. The “Beyond” part means classics such as The Ipcress File and Midnight Cowboy, but obviously 007’s exploits are the main event.
And there’s a prominent warning: “Please note that many of these films contain languages, image and other content that reflect views prevalent in its time, but will cause offence today (as they did then).”
Those last four words will be savoured by historians of offence management: the additional pre-emptive assertion that some of this was iffy then, offensiveness is not relative and that was no excuse.
- 1/4/2024
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Nothing defined New Hollywood quite like "The Graduate," and for very good reason. The film was chock full of innovation, from the salacious script to the ground-breaking cinematography, but the movie might be best remembered for its incredible cast. The coming-of-age classic features career-defining performances from Anne Bancroft, already a huge star at the time, and Dustin Hoffman, the best actor ever, in one of the first major roles of his long and storied career.
The 1967 film follows Ben, a recent college graduate (as the film's title implies) with an uncertain future and a community of expectant WASPs to answer to. In his summertime languor, he finds his way into the waiting arms of Mrs. Robinson, a middle-aged family friend who persistently pursues our passive hero into his sexual awakening.
Quite a lot of time has passed since 1967. The world is almost unrecognizable now, and yet, today's 20-somethings can still...
The 1967 film follows Ben, a recent college graduate (as the film's title implies) with an uncertain future and a community of expectant WASPs to answer to. In his summertime languor, he finds his way into the waiting arms of Mrs. Robinson, a middle-aged family friend who persistently pursues our passive hero into his sexual awakening.
Quite a lot of time has passed since 1967. The world is almost unrecognizable now, and yet, today's 20-somethings can still...
- 12/25/2023
- by Shae Sennett
- Slash Film
Updated 12/22/2023 with details on shortlisted A Still Small Voice. Updated with quotes, 1:37 Pm: American Symphony, the Obamas-executive produced documentary about Grammy-winning musician Jon Batiste, scored a remarkable hat trick today as the Oscar shortlists were revealed, but a couple of documentary icons were left on the bench.
In more headlines from the announcement, a beloved documentary filmmaker who died unexpectedly in August earned a place on the nonfiction feature shortlist. And the film about cherished actor Michael J. Fox, directed by Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim, made the list. Two films earned double recognition – making shortlists for doc feature and International Feature Film. [See full shortlists for doc feature and doc short below].
Suleika Jouad and Jon Batiste in ‘American Symphony’
The most eye-popping takeaway is the recognition for American Symphony, the Netflix film directed by Oscar nominee Matthew Heineman and produced by Higher Ground, the production company of former President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. It made the...
In more headlines from the announcement, a beloved documentary filmmaker who died unexpectedly in August earned a place on the nonfiction feature shortlist. And the film about cherished actor Michael J. Fox, directed by Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim, made the list. Two films earned double recognition – making shortlists for doc feature and International Feature Film. [See full shortlists for doc feature and doc short below].
Suleika Jouad and Jon Batiste in ‘American Symphony’
The most eye-popping takeaway is the recognition for American Symphony, the Netflix film directed by Oscar nominee Matthew Heineman and produced by Higher Ground, the production company of former President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. It made the...
- 12/21/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Jennifer Starzyk admits that she knew next to nothing about professional wrestling or the real-life family the film depicts before she signed on to design the costumes for the A24 release “The Iron Claw.” She was surprised at what she discovered. “What I found out is it was live theater,” she observes. “It’s these insanely athletic, talented people that not only need to be completely strong and inhuman with strength, but there’s choreography, there’s costumes, there’s showmanship. I mean, it was just the most exciting thing to get into. It was such a gift…There’s just so many nuances in our movie with patriarchy and brotherhood and striving and where it gets you in life. Wrestling is its own thing as an ancient sport, and it’s very masculine. But there’s dress-up involved.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
That dress-up part is where Starzyk comes in.
That dress-up part is where Starzyk comes in.
- 12/14/2023
- by Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
Adapted from Nathanael West’s scabrously funny 1939 novel, The Day of the Locust reunites the creative triumvirate of producer Jerome Hellman, director John Schlesinger, and screenwriter Waldo Salt, who had previously teamed up for Midnight Cowboy. Superficially, the two films would seem to be quite different. One is a contemporary tale shot documentary-style on the mean streets of late-’60s New York. The other is an exquisitely detailed period piece filmed largely on Paramount soundstages in L.A. Midnight Cowboy favors gritty realism, while The Day of the Locust descends into a kind of deranged surrealism. But the films are linked since they both focus on loners and outcasts, salaciously prod the seedy underbelly of their milieus, and expose the unforgiving flipside of the American Dream.
The biggest difference between the two films is that Midnight Cowboy mitigates its ultimately tragic denouement with a certain tenderness between its damaged protagonists.
The biggest difference between the two films is that Midnight Cowboy mitigates its ultimately tragic denouement with a certain tenderness between its damaged protagonists.
- 12/12/2023
- by Budd Wilkins
- Slant Magazine
“Why is this like a dark secret? It’s just a movie.”
Ryan O’Neal, who died this week at 82, was a smart, good-natured man who was bemused by the contradictions of Hollywood. As he nervously awaited the release of Love Story five decades ago, he respected its shroud of silence but also was perplexed by it.
“Love Story is on its own blacklist, but I don’t get why,” he observed.
The movie, of course, was the surprise hit of its year, but even the bestseller on which it was based had suddenly appeared on the “don’t talk” list.
Why the mystery?
Related: Remembering Ryan O’Neal: A Film & TV Career In Photos
Hollywood circa 1970 was a small town compared with the Amazon-and-Apple world of this moment, and Love Story had been preordained as an embarrassment. Every studio had rejected the screenplay, and seemingly every “money” actor had turned down the lead.
Ryan O’Neal, who died this week at 82, was a smart, good-natured man who was bemused by the contradictions of Hollywood. As he nervously awaited the release of Love Story five decades ago, he respected its shroud of silence but also was perplexed by it.
“Love Story is on its own blacklist, but I don’t get why,” he observed.
The movie, of course, was the surprise hit of its year, but even the bestseller on which it was based had suddenly appeared on the “don’t talk” list.
Why the mystery?
Related: Remembering Ryan O’Neal: A Film & TV Career In Photos
Hollywood circa 1970 was a small town compared with the Amazon-and-Apple world of this moment, and Love Story had been preordained as an embarrassment. Every studio had rejected the screenplay, and seemingly every “money” actor had turned down the lead.
- 12/11/2023
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
Aka Mr. Chow
(HBO Documentary Films)
This portrait directed by Nick Hooker follows the life and career of painter turned restaurateur Michael Chow, the owner of the Mr Chow restaurant chain, as he returns to the art world with his first solo show in nearly 60 years.
American Symphony
(Netflix)
Matthew Heineman switches gears from following the front lines of the Mexican drug war (the Oscar-nominated Cartel Land) and the early days of the Covid crisis in New York City (The First Wave), this time helming an intimate profile of Late Night With Stephen Colbert bandleader Jon Batiste as he balances an incredible year of professional success while aiding his wife, writer Suleika Jaouad, through her battle with a rare form of cancer.
Anonymous Sister
(Long Shot Factory/Gravitas Ventures)
Emmy Award-winning director Jamie Boyle chronicles her family’s collision with the opioid epidemic. The film, currently holding a 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes,...
(HBO Documentary Films)
This portrait directed by Nick Hooker follows the life and career of painter turned restaurateur Michael Chow, the owner of the Mr Chow restaurant chain, as he returns to the art world with his first solo show in nearly 60 years.
American Symphony
(Netflix)
Matthew Heineman switches gears from following the front lines of the Mexican drug war (the Oscar-nominated Cartel Land) and the early days of the Covid crisis in New York City (The First Wave), this time helming an intimate profile of Late Night With Stephen Colbert bandleader Jon Batiste as he balances an incredible year of professional success while aiding his wife, writer Suleika Jaouad, through her battle with a rare form of cancer.
Anonymous Sister
(Long Shot Factory/Gravitas Ventures)
Emmy Award-winning director Jamie Boyle chronicles her family’s collision with the opioid epidemic. The film, currently holding a 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes,...
- 12/8/2023
- by Tyler Coates and Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Nicolas Cage does not use the word “masterpiece” lightly. In fact, he tells us that he has never utilized that term before while describing one of his own films. Yet when he sat in a screening room with his manager to watch the first cut of Dream Scenario, a new startlingly original dark comedy he stars in, the actors was absolutely floored and called it a masterpiece on the spot. Also to his satisfaction, more folks are coming around to his point-of-view on this surrealist film from writer-director Kristoffer Borgli.
“The reason why I say it’s a masterpiece is because of its originality,” Cage explains. “I think Kristoffer did something here which is extremely unlike anything else that I’ve ever seen…. It coalesced in such a way where I felt it was a very pure expression [of the artist].”
It’s obviously a wonderful reaction for Cage, as is the reception...
“The reason why I say it’s a masterpiece is because of its originality,” Cage explains. “I think Kristoffer did something here which is extremely unlike anything else that I’ve ever seen…. It coalesced in such a way where I felt it was a very pure expression [of the artist].”
It’s obviously a wonderful reaction for Cage, as is the reception...
- 12/6/2023
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
In his latest podcast/interview, host and screenwriter Stuart Wright talks about the new comedy/drama Mind-Set, starring Steve Oram, Ellis Cahill & Peter Bankole, with the writer/director Mikey Murray and “3 Films That Have Impacted Everything In Your Adult Life” which includes:
Taxi Driver (1976) Midnight Cowboy (1969) Festen (1998)
“3 Films That Have Impacted Everything In Your Adult Life” is about those films that made you fall in love with film. The guest selects their trio of movies and we talk for 5 minutes, against the clock. When the alarm goes off for five minutes we move on to the next film.
Powered by RedCircle...
Taxi Driver (1976) Midnight Cowboy (1969) Festen (1998)
“3 Films That Have Impacted Everything In Your Adult Life” is about those films that made you fall in love with film. The guest selects their trio of movies and we talk for 5 minutes, against the clock. When the alarm goes off for five minutes we move on to the next film.
Powered by RedCircle...
- 11/7/2023
- by Stuart Wright
- Nerdly
Exclusive: Peacock is touting the success of The Continental: From the World of John Wick.
The Lionsgate-produced series premiered its first episode on September 22, only to become Peacock’s biggest original launch of the year, meaning that the episode reached more accounts in its first weekend than any other original offering, according to NBCUniversal.
Following the release of the remaining two episodes, The Continental now ranks among the top five Peacock originals of all time in terms of reach, joining the ranks of Bel-Air, The Best Man: The Final Chapters, Poker Face, and Based on a True Story.
Based on the current top five, it appears Peacock is finding success with both existing IP as well as original concepts.
Of course, The Continental falls under the former, as it explores the origin behind the iconic hotel-for-assassins that is at the center of the John Wick universe. Though its already a billion-dollar franchise,...
The Lionsgate-produced series premiered its first episode on September 22, only to become Peacock’s biggest original launch of the year, meaning that the episode reached more accounts in its first weekend than any other original offering, according to NBCUniversal.
Following the release of the remaining two episodes, The Continental now ranks among the top five Peacock originals of all time in terms of reach, joining the ranks of Bel-Air, The Best Man: The Final Chapters, Poker Face, and Based on a True Story.
Based on the current top five, it appears Peacock is finding success with both existing IP as well as original concepts.
Of course, The Continental falls under the former, as it explores the origin behind the iconic hotel-for-assassins that is at the center of the John Wick universe. Though its already a billion-dollar franchise,...
- 10/13/2023
- by Katie Campione
- Deadline Film + TV
Above: first US teaser poster for Poor Things. Design by Vasilis Marmatakis.I don’t know whether it’s because of the power of Yorgos Lanthimos, or the popularity of Emma Stone, or the sheer genius of designer Vasilis Marmatakis, or a combination of all of them, but three out of the four most liked posters on my Movie Poster of the Day Instagram over the past six months have all been posters for Lanthimos’s latest, Poor Things. The teaser above is now the most liked poster ever on my feed.Breaking up the Poor Things monopoly at number two is Polish designer Maks Bereski’s fan-art design for Ridley Scott’s yet-to-be-released Napoleon, which also went through the roof with over 4,000 likes when I posted it in June in conjunction with my article on Bereski and his favorite movie posters. Instagram likes are a fickle thing but it...
- 10/12/2023
- MUBI
This new "Futurama" season has been anything but shy about satirizing hot topics in 2020s culture. The latest one? "Cancelation," or powerful people being ostracized/held accountable for misuses of authority. The episode's title is the blunt: "Zapp Gets Canceled."
Zapp Brannigan (Billy West) is a starship captain in the Democratic Order of Planets (Doop). Befitting the "Star Trek" parody, the pitch for his character is, "What if William Shatner was captain of the USS Enterprise?" On top of being a glory hog, Zapp is lecherous, misogynistic, bloodthirsty, incompetent, pretentious, and abusive to his subordinates (West has noticed similarities between Zapp and a certain other blond narcissist).
If any character on "Futurama" was going to be canceled, then no one is more deserving of it than Zapp. In this episode, his mistreated second-in-command Kif Kroker (Maurice Lamarche) grows a backbone and gets Zapp court-martialed. Thus, he loses his captaincy while attending sensitivity training.
Zapp Brannigan (Billy West) is a starship captain in the Democratic Order of Planets (Doop). Befitting the "Star Trek" parody, the pitch for his character is, "What if William Shatner was captain of the USS Enterprise?" On top of being a glory hog, Zapp is lecherous, misogynistic, bloodthirsty, incompetent, pretentious, and abusive to his subordinates (West has noticed similarities between Zapp and a certain other blond narcissist).
If any character on "Futurama" was going to be canceled, then no one is more deserving of it than Zapp. In this episode, his mistreated second-in-command Kif Kroker (Maurice Lamarche) grows a backbone and gets Zapp court-martialed. Thus, he loses his captaincy while attending sensitivity training.
- 9/11/2023
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
The Adults (Dustin Guy Defa)
Six years after directing his last feature, Dustin Guy Defa returns with The Adults, a film of complicated shared histories and gradually revealing inner lives. With his relatively sprawling Person to Person, Defa followed a wide array of characters over five interweaving storylines. This time he focuses on one family and, closer still, on an unmistakable feeling: that of moving out and growing up, only to return home and realize all that delicately assembled adulthood was merely a façade. Playing out across a leafy town in upstate New York, The Adults follows a trio of siblings as they reunite: the brother who went away and the sisters who did not. – Rory O. (full review)
Where to Stream:...
The Adults (Dustin Guy Defa)
Six years after directing his last feature, Dustin Guy Defa returns with The Adults, a film of complicated shared histories and gradually revealing inner lives. With his relatively sprawling Person to Person, Defa followed a wide array of characters over five interweaving storylines. This time he focuses on one family and, closer still, on an unmistakable feeling: that of moving out and growing up, only to return home and realize all that delicately assembled adulthood was merely a façade. Playing out across a leafy town in upstate New York, The Adults follows a trio of siblings as they reunite: the brother who went away and the sisters who did not. – Rory O. (full review)
Where to Stream:...
- 9/8/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Nancy Buirski, a PGA Award winner who produced the 2016 film Loving that was inspired by her documentary, directed several films including last year’s Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy and founded the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, died August 29. Her company Augusta Films announced the news but did not provide details.
Buirski began her career as photographer and photo editor for The New York Times and in 1998 founded the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, which she would lead for a decade. Her first directing job was on The Loving Story (2011), a documentary about Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple who married in 1958 without knowing their union was illegal in Virginia, where they lived and went on to face an ultimately successful legal journey that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967 as Loving v Virginia.
The film was shortlisted for...
Buirski began her career as photographer and photo editor for The New York Times and in 1998 founded the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, which she would lead for a decade. Her first directing job was on The Loving Story (2011), a documentary about Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple who married in 1958 without knowing their union was illegal in Virginia, where they lived and went on to face an ultimately successful legal journey that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967 as Loving v Virginia.
The film was shortlisted for...
- 8/31/2023
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
With festivals beckoning and box office wobbling, this obnoxious question looms ever larger: What’s next?
The strikes will end and a new season will begin but where’s that next cycle of movies and streaming content that represent groundbreaking ideas? Where will they come from?
A quick survey of past groundbreakers poses some answers, all of them disturbing.
Breakthrough movies of years past have represented the unpredictable product of corporate guile (The Avengers), artistic monomania (Avatar) or accidents of history (Barbie).
Some hits invaded the zeitgeist because they were relentlessly defiant (Midnight Cowboy) or simply inevitable (Harry Potter). Ironically, some of Hollywood’s most culturally ambitious movies were distributed at moments when films were being largely ignored by the filmgoing public – Doctor Zhivago (1965) or Lawrence of Arabia (1962).
Cinema, as with every form of pop culture, has gone through cycles of bold innovation as well as pervasive failure. Hollywood, circa the early 1960s,...
The strikes will end and a new season will begin but where’s that next cycle of movies and streaming content that represent groundbreaking ideas? Where will they come from?
A quick survey of past groundbreakers poses some answers, all of them disturbing.
Breakthrough movies of years past have represented the unpredictable product of corporate guile (The Avengers), artistic monomania (Avatar) or accidents of history (Barbie).
Some hits invaded the zeitgeist because they were relentlessly defiant (Midnight Cowboy) or simply inevitable (Harry Potter). Ironically, some of Hollywood’s most culturally ambitious movies were distributed at moments when films were being largely ignored by the filmgoing public – Doctor Zhivago (1965) or Lawrence of Arabia (1962).
Cinema, as with every form of pop culture, has gone through cycles of bold innovation as well as pervasive failure. Hollywood, circa the early 1960s,...
- 8/24/2023
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
“I wanted to tell stories about people who I wanted to watch on screen,” says Susan Seidelman, the director behind a number of landmark ‘80s films that range from the fearless punk drama “Smithereens” to the Madonna-led classic “Desperately Seeking Susan.” It was never much of a mystery as to who those people were: Over the course of a career that would continue to shape American culture for the rest of the 20th century and beyond (later credits include the pilot for “Sex and the City”), Seidelman has consistently focused her sharp lens on the changing place of women in American society, and the work she made in the 1980s helped fundamentally reshape our national self-image in ways that are still being felt today.
Seidelman came to the cinema after studying fashion at Drexel University, where a film appreciation class had reawakened the fierce love for genre films that...
Seidelman came to the cinema after studying fashion at Drexel University, where a film appreciation class had reawakened the fierce love for genre films that...
- 8/14/2023
- by Marya E. Gates
- Indiewire
Ridley Scott sets are a place where movie magic happens. They're where Thelma & Louise hold hands as they face the end of the road, aliens burst from the chests of unsuspecting astronauts, and stars like Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal come together for the long-awaited sequel to a Best Picture winner like "Gladiator." On-set spontaneity has always been a great part of some of the best movies ever made, but it's also something that can cross a line. In Scott's latest project, Empire reports that two of the lead actors toed that line well by surprising the cast, crew, and one another with a spontaneous jolt of a moment -- one that was secretly discussed beforehand.
Before Scott's "Gladiator" sequel finally comes to fruition in 2024, the filmmaker is set to release another historical epic. "Napoleon" stars "Beau is Afraid" actor Joaquin Phoenix as the titular French emperor, with "The Crown...
Before Scott's "Gladiator" sequel finally comes to fruition in 2024, the filmmaker is set to release another historical epic. "Napoleon" stars "Beau is Afraid" actor Joaquin Phoenix as the titular French emperor, with "The Crown...
- 8/4/2023
- by Valerie Ettenhofer
- Slash Film
The following article is written by Michael Lee Nirenberg, author of the forthcoming oral history Cinematic Immunity.
In light of recent labor actions by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA that have shut down commercial film and television for the foreseeable future, it’s a prime opportunity to share an excerpt from my forthcoming oral-history book, Cinematic Immunity. The 1990 Producer Lockout is a lesser-known chapter in the tense history of Hollywood’s labor relations. Personally, I only know about it from having worked with people who survived it. During the 2007 writer’s strike I was a rookie movie-tv scenic artist in United Scenic Artists Local 829. I got my union card earlier that year and was getting a crash course in organized labor.
During the 1990 negotiations with IATSE (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees) the studios were pushing what was called the Hollywood Basic contract onto New York unions. They used this contract on the West Coast,...
In light of recent labor actions by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA that have shut down commercial film and television for the foreseeable future, it’s a prime opportunity to share an excerpt from my forthcoming oral-history book, Cinematic Immunity. The 1990 Producer Lockout is a lesser-known chapter in the tense history of Hollywood’s labor relations. Personally, I only know about it from having worked with people who survived it. During the 2007 writer’s strike I was a rookie movie-tv scenic artist in United Scenic Artists Local 829. I got my union card earlier that year and was getting a crash course in organized labor.
During the 1990 negotiations with IATSE (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees) the studios were pushing what was called the Hollywood Basic contract onto New York unions. They used this contract on the West Coast,...
- 8/1/2023
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Long ago, the 1950s ended and Disney never really got over it.
With the right kind of eyes, a casual viewer can look at the early days of Walt Disney Studios as their heyday. Walt himself was still alive and using his aggressive business acumen to produce visually innovative and award-winning animated shorts that were helping put the studio on the map. Without the Silly Symphonies, animation would not be the same. Warner Bros. outstripped Disney's fare with their cheekier, funnier shorts in the 1940s and 1950s, but the folks at Warner's Termite Terrace were very open about the fact that Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes were ripping off Disney's Silly Symphonies name. Disney Animation broke onto the scene in 1937 with the release of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," still celebrated as one of the best of all animated films to this day.
The reason early Disney was...
With the right kind of eyes, a casual viewer can look at the early days of Walt Disney Studios as their heyday. Walt himself was still alive and using his aggressive business acumen to produce visually innovative and award-winning animated shorts that were helping put the studio on the map. Without the Silly Symphonies, animation would not be the same. Warner Bros. outstripped Disney's fare with their cheekier, funnier shorts in the 1940s and 1950s, but the folks at Warner's Termite Terrace were very open about the fact that Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes were ripping off Disney's Silly Symphonies name. Disney Animation broke onto the scene in 1937 with the release of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," still celebrated as one of the best of all animated films to this day.
The reason early Disney was...
- 7/24/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
In one of the most touching scenes in “Barbie,” the title character, played by Margot Robbie, has a conversation on the bench with an old lady on a bench in the real world.
We won’t spoil what they discussed, but we will reveal who plays the unnamed character: Ann Roth.
Roth is the costume designer for the Greta Gerwig film, a five-time Academy Award nominee for costume design and two-time winner (“The English Patient” in 1996 and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” in 2020).
The 91-year-old designer’s career has spanned six decades. Other notable projects she’s worked on include “Midnight Cowboy,” “9 to 5,” “Sabrina” and “The Hours.” While this is Roth’s first film with Gerwig, she previously collaborated with Gerwig’s partner Noah Baumbach on “Margot at the Wedding,” “While We’re Young” and “White Noise.”
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Gerwig revealed that some executives sought to...
We won’t spoil what they discussed, but we will reveal who plays the unnamed character: Ann Roth.
Roth is the costume designer for the Greta Gerwig film, a five-time Academy Award nominee for costume design and two-time winner (“The English Patient” in 1996 and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” in 2020).
The 91-year-old designer’s career has spanned six decades. Other notable projects she’s worked on include “Midnight Cowboy,” “9 to 5,” “Sabrina” and “The Hours.” While this is Roth’s first film with Gerwig, she previously collaborated with Gerwig’s partner Noah Baumbach on “Margot at the Wedding,” “While We’re Young” and “White Noise.”
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Gerwig revealed that some executives sought to...
- 7/23/2023
- by Lawrence Yee
- The Wrap
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Museum of Modern Art
Films by Olivier Assayas, Jacques Rivette, Park Chan-wook, and Bong Joon-ho screen on 35mm as part of “Views from the Vault.”
IFC Center
A series on sex scenes brings Crash, Cruising, Don’t Look Now, Persona and more; Twilight and A Nightmare on Elm Street have late showings, while The Wicker Man plays in a new restoration.
Anthology Film Archives
Films by Nagisa Ōshima, including the David Bowie-led Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, are subject of a retrospective that has its final weekend.
Roxy Cinema
35mm prints of Jackass Number Two, Go, and Tokyo Drift screen, while the restoration of Raging Bull and Juliet Berto’s Neige plays.
Film at Lincoln Center
The Mother and the Whore continues in a 4K restoration.
Film Forum
A massive Billy Wilder retrospective is underway; Godard’s Contempt and Midnight Cowboy play in 4K restorations.
Museum of Modern Art
Films by Olivier Assayas, Jacques Rivette, Park Chan-wook, and Bong Joon-ho screen on 35mm as part of “Views from the Vault.”
IFC Center
A series on sex scenes brings Crash, Cruising, Don’t Look Now, Persona and more; Twilight and A Nightmare on Elm Street have late showings, while The Wicker Man plays in a new restoration.
Anthology Film Archives
Films by Nagisa Ōshima, including the David Bowie-led Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, are subject of a retrospective that has its final weekend.
Roxy Cinema
35mm prints of Jackass Number Two, Go, and Tokyo Drift screen, while the restoration of Raging Bull and Juliet Berto’s Neige plays.
Film at Lincoln Center
The Mother and the Whore continues in a 4K restoration.
Film Forum
A massive Billy Wilder retrospective is underway; Godard’s Contempt and Midnight Cowboy play in 4K restorations.
- 7/21/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
“To survive in Hollywood, all you need is an occasional miracle.”
An amateur philosopher named Ronald Reagan once directed those words to me, referring to the unexpected labor crisis of 1960. Hollywood’s actors had shocked their industry by voting to strike and now looked to their leader, Reagan, then president of SAG, to advance a solution.
Reagan was far from a resolute figure at the time. He had won his following as a crusading liberal Democrat but had now decided he was a Republican. A true believer, Reagan nonetheless forged ahead, soon finding his instant miracle and taking bows for putting the industry back to work (more on that below).
Hollywood today is looking for another Reagan miracle even though neither the industry’s structure nor its economics makes much sense to its audience or the stock market. Indeed, if Reagan was surprised in 1960 he would be even more bewildered at this moment when,...
An amateur philosopher named Ronald Reagan once directed those words to me, referring to the unexpected labor crisis of 1960. Hollywood’s actors had shocked their industry by voting to strike and now looked to their leader, Reagan, then president of SAG, to advance a solution.
Reagan was far from a resolute figure at the time. He had won his following as a crusading liberal Democrat but had now decided he was a Republican. A true believer, Reagan nonetheless forged ahead, soon finding his instant miracle and taking bows for putting the industry back to work (more on that below).
Hollywood today is looking for another Reagan miracle even though neither the industry’s structure nor its economics makes much sense to its audience or the stock market. Indeed, if Reagan was surprised in 1960 he would be even more bewildered at this moment when,...
- 7/20/2023
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Museum of Modern Art
Films by Jacques Rivette, Jane Campion, Harmony Korine, and John Waters screen in “Views from the Vault.”
Film Forum
A massive Billy Wilder retrospective is underway; Godard’s Contempt and Midnight Cowboy play in 4K restorations.
Roxy Cinema
35mm prints of Donnie Darko, Manhattan, and Preminger’s Laura screen.
Anthology Film Archives
Eight films by Nagisa Ōshima, one of the greatest Japanese directors, are subject of a retrospective while Sunrise plays in Essential Cinema.
Museum of the Moving Image
A summer movie series includes Purple Rain and Do the Right Thing, while a print of The Royal Tenenbaums screens on Saturday.
Film at Lincoln Center
As The Mother and the Whore continues in a 4K restoration.
IFC Center
The David Lynch and Studio Ghibli retrospectives continue while Scary Movie, Raising Arizona, and A Nightmare on Elm Street have late showings.
Museum of Modern Art
Films by Jacques Rivette, Jane Campion, Harmony Korine, and John Waters screen in “Views from the Vault.”
Film Forum
A massive Billy Wilder retrospective is underway; Godard’s Contempt and Midnight Cowboy play in 4K restorations.
Roxy Cinema
35mm prints of Donnie Darko, Manhattan, and Preminger’s Laura screen.
Anthology Film Archives
Eight films by Nagisa Ōshima, one of the greatest Japanese directors, are subject of a retrospective while Sunrise plays in Essential Cinema.
Museum of the Moving Image
A summer movie series includes Purple Rain and Do the Right Thing, while a print of The Royal Tenenbaums screens on Saturday.
Film at Lincoln Center
As The Mother and the Whore continues in a 4K restoration.
IFC Center
The David Lynch and Studio Ghibli retrospectives continue while Scary Movie, Raising Arizona, and A Nightmare on Elm Street have late showings.
- 7/14/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Joe Buck (Jon Voight) with Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman) in John Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy
In the second instalment with Nancy Buirski on Desperate Souls, Dark City And The Legend Of Midnight Cowboy (special advisor Martin Scorsese) we discuss Jon Voight as Joe Buck with the little girl reading a Wonder Woman comic, Jennifer Salt’s Crazy Annie and Sylvia Miles’s Cass in Midnight Cowboy. John Schlesinger with Dp Adam Holender showing New York the way it really was, a Roberta Flack song and William Wyler’s adaption of Lilian Hellman’s The Children’s Hour, starring Shirley MacLaine and Audrey Hepburn, Nancy’s longtime cinematographer Rex Miller, Far From The Madding Crowd and Vietnam, Brian De Palma on Dennis Hopper and the “international invasion”, and screenwriter Waldo Salt also came up.
Nancy Buirski on Crazy Annie (Jennifer Salt) with Joe Buck (Jon Voight): “Many of the women in...
In the second instalment with Nancy Buirski on Desperate Souls, Dark City And The Legend Of Midnight Cowboy (special advisor Martin Scorsese) we discuss Jon Voight as Joe Buck with the little girl reading a Wonder Woman comic, Jennifer Salt’s Crazy Annie and Sylvia Miles’s Cass in Midnight Cowboy. John Schlesinger with Dp Adam Holender showing New York the way it really was, a Roberta Flack song and William Wyler’s adaption of Lilian Hellman’s The Children’s Hour, starring Shirley MacLaine and Audrey Hepburn, Nancy’s longtime cinematographer Rex Miller, Far From The Madding Crowd and Vietnam, Brian De Palma on Dennis Hopper and the “international invasion”, and screenwriter Waldo Salt also came up.
Nancy Buirski on Crazy Annie (Jennifer Salt) with Joe Buck (Jon Voight): “Many of the women in...
- 7/13/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Exclusive: Vince Vaughn (Bad Monkey) will topline Nonnas, an original comedy that Stephen Chbosky (Wonder) has been tapped to direct for Fifth Season (80 for Brady), 1Community (Just Mercy) and Madison Wells (The Eyes of Tammy Faye).
Among those joining Vaughn in the film, which wrapped production last month in New Jersey, are Academy Award winner Susan Sarandon (Blue Beetle) and Academy Award nominees Lorraine Bracco (Goodfellas), Talia Shire (Megalopolis) and Brenda Vaccaro (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood). Others in the cast include Emmy nominee Linda Cardellini (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3), Emmy winner Drea De Matteo (The Sopranos), Joe Manganiello (The Kill Room), Michael Rispoli (Power Book III: Raising Kanan) and Campbell Scott (Jurassic World Dominion).
Written by Liz Maccie, Nonnas is based on the true story of Brooklyn native Joe Scaravella (Vaughn), who, after losing his beloved mother, realizes he’s wasted...
Among those joining Vaughn in the film, which wrapped production last month in New Jersey, are Academy Award winner Susan Sarandon (Blue Beetle) and Academy Award nominees Lorraine Bracco (Goodfellas), Talia Shire (Megalopolis) and Brenda Vaccaro (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood). Others in the cast include Emmy nominee Linda Cardellini (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3), Emmy winner Drea De Matteo (The Sopranos), Joe Manganiello (The Kill Room), Michael Rispoli (Power Book III: Raising Kanan) and Campbell Scott (Jurassic World Dominion).
Written by Liz Maccie, Nonnas is based on the true story of Brooklyn native Joe Scaravella (Vaughn), who, after losing his beloved mother, realizes he’s wasted...
- 7/10/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
When Midnight Cowboy came out in 1969, Miami Herald critic John Huddy heralded its arrival with a string of superlatives: “Staggering, shattering, heartbreaking, hilarious, tragic, raw and absurd.”
Over the years, the ranks of its admirers has only grown, among them documentary filmmaker Nancy Buirski.
“I remember feeling that it was a really radical film,” recalls Buirski, who first saw Midnight Cowboy sometime after its original release. “It felt different from anything I had seen… It was like a gut punch.”
Director Nancy Buirski
Buirski’s documentary Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy, now playing in limited release in New York, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Detroit and other cities, digs into the loam that produced such a bleak yet beautiful flower of a film. Midnight Cowboy hit theaters the same year as Hello, Dolly! and Paint Your Wagon but unlike those celluloid larks, John Schlesinger’s film...
Over the years, the ranks of its admirers has only grown, among them documentary filmmaker Nancy Buirski.
“I remember feeling that it was a really radical film,” recalls Buirski, who first saw Midnight Cowboy sometime after its original release. “It felt different from anything I had seen… It was like a gut punch.”
Director Nancy Buirski
Buirski’s documentary Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy, now playing in limited release in New York, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Detroit and other cities, digs into the loam that produced such a bleak yet beautiful flower of a film. Midnight Cowboy hit theaters the same year as Hello, Dolly! and Paint Your Wagon but unlike those celluloid larks, John Schlesinger’s film...
- 6/30/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Film Forum
Godard’s Contempt and Midnight Cowboy play in 4K restorations.
Museum of the Moving Image
E.T., Roger Rabbit, and An American Werewolf in London play on 35mm in a summer movie series, while a print of The Royal Tenenbaums screens on Sunday; The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms also shows.
Bam
A series of recent restorations brings films by Claire Denis, Orson Welles, Hou Hsiao-hsien, and the Three Colors trilogy.
Film at Lincoln Center
The Mother and the Whore begins a run in its 4K restoration; Friday plays for free (when else) Friday night in Damrosch Park.
Museum of Modern Art
Prints from the 20th Century Fox vault begin playing in a new series.
Roxy Cinema
35mm prints of Manhattan, A Dirty Shame, Uncle Sam, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show screen, while Fassbeinder’s Whity also plays.
IFC...
Film Forum
Godard’s Contempt and Midnight Cowboy play in 4K restorations.
Museum of the Moving Image
E.T., Roger Rabbit, and An American Werewolf in London play on 35mm in a summer movie series, while a print of The Royal Tenenbaums screens on Sunday; The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms also shows.
Bam
A series of recent restorations brings films by Claire Denis, Orson Welles, Hou Hsiao-hsien, and the Three Colors trilogy.
Film at Lincoln Center
The Mother and the Whore begins a run in its 4K restoration; Friday plays for free (when else) Friday night in Damrosch Park.
Museum of Modern Art
Prints from the 20th Century Fox vault begin playing in a new series.
Roxy Cinema
35mm prints of Manhattan, A Dirty Shame, Uncle Sam, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show screen, while Fassbeinder’s Whity also plays.
IFC...
- 6/30/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Footage of late Sixties New York City seamlessly sways into Dustin Hoffman’s Ratso Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy stealing a handful of plum tomatoes and a coconut from a fruit stand with help from his new sidekick Joe Buck (Jon Voight). “These Eyes” sing Guess Who, and Lucy Sante comments that the film “could be an advertisement for anti-glamour and yet by doing this it manages to express the zeitgeist.”
Nancy Buirski’s masterful Desperate Souls, Dark City And The Legend Of Midnight Cowboy, edited with Anthony Ripoli is much more than a documentary on John Schlesinger’s multiple Oscar-winning film. Based on James Leo Herlihy’s novel, adapted by Waldo Salt, shot by Adam Holender, with costumes by Ann Roth, Midnight Cowboy features an impressive supporting cast, including Sylvia Miles, Brenda Vaccaro, Jennifer Salt, and...
Nancy Buirski’s masterful Desperate Souls, Dark City And The Legend Of Midnight Cowboy, edited with Anthony Ripoli is much more than a documentary on John Schlesinger’s multiple Oscar-winning film. Based on James Leo Herlihy’s novel, adapted by Waldo Salt, shot by Adam Holender, with costumes by Ann Roth, Midnight Cowboy features an impressive supporting cast, including Sylvia Miles, Brenda Vaccaro, Jennifer Salt, and...
- 6/29/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Desperate Souls, Dark City and The Legend Of Midnight Cowboy director Nancy Buirski on Joe Buck and Ratso Rizzo: “They become appealing because of these wonderful performances by Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman.”
Nancy Buirski’s masterpiece is much more than a documentary on John Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy, screenplay by Waldo Salt, shot by Adam Holender, costumes by Ann Roth, and starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman with Sylvia Miles, Brenda Vaccaro, Jennifer Salt, and Bob Balaban. Desperate Souls, Dark City And The Legend Of Midnight Cowboy, edited by Anthony Ripoli, features on-camera interviews shot by Rex Miller with Lucy Sante, Brian De Palma, Edmund White, Michael Childers, Charles Kaiser, Jim Hoberman, Ian Buruma, Voight, Vaccaro, Balaban, Holender, and Jennifer Salt.
Brenda Vaccaro with John Schlesinger: “Ann Roth saved my life,” says Vaccaro, “by putting me in that fur coat.”
The evocative, wide-ranging, and evermore timely documentary drops us...
Nancy Buirski’s masterpiece is much more than a documentary on John Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy, screenplay by Waldo Salt, shot by Adam Holender, costumes by Ann Roth, and starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman with Sylvia Miles, Brenda Vaccaro, Jennifer Salt, and Bob Balaban. Desperate Souls, Dark City And The Legend Of Midnight Cowboy, edited by Anthony Ripoli, features on-camera interviews shot by Rex Miller with Lucy Sante, Brian De Palma, Edmund White, Michael Childers, Charles Kaiser, Jim Hoberman, Ian Buruma, Voight, Vaccaro, Balaban, Holender, and Jennifer Salt.
Brenda Vaccaro with John Schlesinger: “Ann Roth saved my life,” says Vaccaro, “by putting me in that fur coat.”
The evocative, wide-ranging, and evermore timely documentary drops us...
- 6/26/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
A movie, good, bad or indifferent, is always “about” something. But some movies are about more things than others, and as you watch “Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy,” Nancy Buirski’s rapt, incisive, and beautifully exploratory making-of-a-movie documentary, what comes into focus is that “Midnight Cowboy” was about so many things that audiences could sink into the film as if it were a piece of their own lives.
The movie was about loneliness. It was about dreams, sunny yet broken. It was about gay male sexuality and the shock of really seeing it, for the first time, in a major motion picture. It was about the crush and alienation of New York City: the godless concrete carnival wasteland, which had never been captured onscreen with the telephoto authenticity it had here. The movie was also about the larger sexual revolution — what the scuzziness of “free love” really looked like,...
The movie was about loneliness. It was about dreams, sunny yet broken. It was about gay male sexuality and the shock of really seeing it, for the first time, in a major motion picture. It was about the crush and alienation of New York City: the godless concrete carnival wasteland, which had never been captured onscreen with the telephoto authenticity it had here. The movie was also about the larger sexual revolution — what the scuzziness of “free love” really looked like,...
- 6/23/2023
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy professes to be something more than just a documentary about the making of Midnight Cowboy: an extremely ambitious film attempting to navigate the impact and cultural presence of John Schlesinger’s masterpiece while also exploring the history of American queer cinema, the death of the Western in the mainstream, and the counter-culture of the ’60s transforming into the nihilism of the 1970s. Packing so much information and so many perspectives into 101 minutes occasionally comes across as overstuffed. But Desperate Souls’ sheer enthusiasm for Midnight Cowboy and the cultural period is infectious, a vibe that compensates for certain faults holding it back from becoming a truly great documentary.
While structurally ambitious in its approach to montage, the precise cutting is flawed and fragmented. Transitions between interviews and archival footage are often awkward and lackluster, and editing plays slightly rushed during...
While structurally ambitious in its approach to montage, the precise cutting is flawed and fragmented. Transitions between interviews and archival footage are often awkward and lackluster, and editing plays slightly rushed during...
- 6/23/2023
- by Logan Kenny
- The Film Stage
By Glenn Charlie Dunks
“When in doubt, make a western.” – John Ford.
This quote stuck out to me in the opening of The Taking, the latest film about film from Swiss director Alexandre O. Philippe. Like ford, director John Schlesinger made a western himself after an early-career stumble. The films of John Ford and Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy aren’t linked too much; at least not on the surface. But with two new documentaries, they are given visual deep-dives that tie them together as logical ends of a spectrum that used images to sell America as a hard land or hard men.
Both Philippe’s The Taking and Nancy Buirski’s Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy err on the side of cinematic essays than traditional behind-the-scenes making-of documentaries. Each offer their subjects’ take on the (quote unquote) western as both of their time and in many ways timeless.
“When in doubt, make a western.” – John Ford.
This quote stuck out to me in the opening of The Taking, the latest film about film from Swiss director Alexandre O. Philippe. Like ford, director John Schlesinger made a western himself after an early-career stumble. The films of John Ford and Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy aren’t linked too much; at least not on the surface. But with two new documentaries, they are given visual deep-dives that tie them together as logical ends of a spectrum that used images to sell America as a hard land or hard men.
Both Philippe’s The Taking and Nancy Buirski’s Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy err on the side of cinematic essays than traditional behind-the-scenes making-of documentaries. Each offer their subjects’ take on the (quote unquote) western as both of their time and in many ways timeless.
- 6/17/2023
- by Glenn Dunks
- FilmExperience
This month sees the theatrical release of the documentary about Midnight Cowboy that made the festival circuit last year. At the same time, a new doc about another controversial gay-themed movie has its world premiere at Tribeca. Chasing Chasing Amy will also close next month’s Outfest in Los Angeles. This picture has a backstory as fascinating as the tale told in Kevin Smith’s 1997 romantic dramedy, Chasing Amy.
Filmmaker Sav Rodgers, a transgender man, recounts his own obsession with Kevin Smith’s movie, which played a crucial role in his coming out and later transitioning. Rodgers grew up in Kansas and, like many gay teenagers, felt like a freak and outsider in a conservative community. When he saw Chasing Amy on video, it was his first exposure to a proud lesbian character (played by Joey Lauren Adams), who eventually has a love affair with a male comic book artist...
Filmmaker Sav Rodgers, a transgender man, recounts his own obsession with Kevin Smith’s movie, which played a crucial role in his coming out and later transitioning. Rodgers grew up in Kansas and, like many gay teenagers, felt like a freak and outsider in a conservative community. When he saw Chasing Amy on video, it was his first exposure to a proud lesbian character (played by Joey Lauren Adams), who eventually has a love affair with a male comic book artist...
- 6/9/2023
- by Stephen Farber
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The new documentary feature "Desperate Souls, Dark City And The Legend Of Midnight Cowboy", directed by Nancy Buirski , "...is not a documentary about the making of 'Midnight Cowboy'. It is about the deeply gifted and flawed people behind a dark and difficult masterpiece...", releasing June 23, 2023 in theaters:
".... a half century after its release, 'Midnight Cowboy' remains one of the most original and groundbreaking movies of the modern era.
"With performances from Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman as two loners who join forces out of desperation, blacklist survivor Waldo Salt's screenplay and John Schlesinger's direction...
"...the 1969 film became the only X- rated film to ever win the 'Academy Award' for 'Best Picture'.
"Its vivid and compassionate depiction of a more realistic, unsanitized New York City and its inhabitants...
"...paved the way for a generation’s worth of gritty movies with complex characters and adult themes.
".... a half century after its release, 'Midnight Cowboy' remains one of the most original and groundbreaking movies of the modern era.
"With performances from Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman as two loners who join forces out of desperation, blacklist survivor Waldo Salt's screenplay and John Schlesinger's direction...
"...the 1969 film became the only X- rated film to ever win the 'Academy Award' for 'Best Picture'.
"Its vivid and compassionate depiction of a more realistic, unsanitized New York City and its inhabitants...
"...paved the way for a generation’s worth of gritty movies with complex characters and adult themes.
- 5/31/2023
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
Marlene Clark, an actor who appeared on “Sanford and Son,” the horror movie “Ganja & Hess” and several other films of the ’60s and ’70s, died on May 18. She was 85.
Clark starred in several films ahead of landing her breakout role as Lamont Lawson’s (played by Demond Wilson) wife Janet in “Sanford and Son.” She later starred in the 1973 horror movie “Ganja & Hess” alongside Duane Jones.
Clark was born and raised in Harlem, N.Y., and spent time in West Virginia during her summers. She returned to New York after attending Morristown Jr. College in Tennessee and enrolled in City College. While at school, Clark participated in school plays, igniting her interest in the acting world.
Clark later moved to Los Angeles with her then-husband Billy Dee Williams. She began her career in entertainment as a fashion model before landing her first role in the 1968 film “For Love of Ivy.
Clark starred in several films ahead of landing her breakout role as Lamont Lawson’s (played by Demond Wilson) wife Janet in “Sanford and Son.” She later starred in the 1973 horror movie “Ganja & Hess” alongside Duane Jones.
Clark was born and raised in Harlem, N.Y., and spent time in West Virginia during her summers. She returned to New York after attending Morristown Jr. College in Tennessee and enrolled in City College. While at school, Clark participated in school plays, igniting her interest in the acting world.
Clark later moved to Los Angeles with her then-husband Billy Dee Williams. She began her career in entertainment as a fashion model before landing her first role in the 1968 film “For Love of Ivy.
- 5/30/2023
- by McKinley Franklin
- Variety Film + TV
Marlene Clark, the statuesque actress who portrayed Lamont’s fiancée on Sanford and Son and stood out in such 1970s’ films as Ganja & Hess, Switchblade Sisters and Slaughter, has died. She was 85.
Clark died May 18 in her home in Los Angeles, her family announced. No cause of death was revealed.
Clark also starred as a reptilian seductress in Roger Corman’s Night of the Cobra Woman (1972) and as one of the suspected werewolves in the British horror film The Beast Must Die (1974), and she was an early victim in the Larry Hagman-directed Beware! The Blob (1972).
Clark played John Saxon‘s secretary in Enter the Dragon (1973), starring Bruce Lee, and her big-screen body of work also included Black Mamba (1974), Newman’s Law (1974), Lord Shango (1975) and The Baron (1977), where she appeared opposite her Beast Must Die onscreen husband, Calvin Lockhart.
In the surreal Ganja & Hess (1973), directed by Bill Gunn,...
Clark died May 18 in her home in Los Angeles, her family announced. No cause of death was revealed.
Clark also starred as a reptilian seductress in Roger Corman’s Night of the Cobra Woman (1972) and as one of the suspected werewolves in the British horror film The Beast Must Die (1974), and she was an early victim in the Larry Hagman-directed Beware! The Blob (1972).
Clark played John Saxon‘s secretary in Enter the Dragon (1973), starring Bruce Lee, and her big-screen body of work also included Black Mamba (1974), Newman’s Law (1974), Lord Shango (1975) and The Baron (1977), where she appeared opposite her Beast Must Die onscreen husband, Calvin Lockhart.
In the surreal Ganja & Hess (1973), directed by Bill Gunn,...
- 5/26/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
With incredible performances in films like Midnight Cowboy, Coming Home, Deliverance and Runaway Train, Jon Voight has earned himself a spot in the acting Pantheon. At 84, he has never stopped working. Seven seasons of Ray Donovan being a recent highlight. On this episode, he talks about how he “starts slow” when developing an approach to a character, letting “things drop into my psyche.” He pinpoints directorial characteristics of John Schlesinger (director of Midnight Cowboy) that worked well for him, details a scrappy fight scene with Jonathan Rhys Myers on his latest film Mercy, reminisces about working with Cassavetes on Love […]
The post “I Think That’s Why I’m an Actor—I’m a Daydreamer”: Jon Voight first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “I Think That’s Why I’m an Actor—I’m a Daydreamer”: Jon Voight first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 5/16/2023
- by Peter Rinaldi
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
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