When promoting Saving Private Ryan, Steven Spielberg claimed that every war movie is an anti-war movie. I think this is doubly true when it comes to genre cinema. After all, what better way to immerse audiences in the horrors of war than by telling a story specifically designed to scare them?
Hell, sometimes the war itself doesn’t even need to happen onscreen, like in the case of 1954’s Godzilla – one of the all-time best commentaries on nuclear warfare. And with Takashi Yamazaki returning the radioactive dinosaur to his post-war roots in Godzilla Minus One, we’ve decided to come up with a list recommending six more war-time horror movies for fans of historical terror.
While not all of the films on this list take place during a war, they all incorporate warfare and its consequences into their stories. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your...
Hell, sometimes the war itself doesn’t even need to happen onscreen, like in the case of 1954’s Godzilla – one of the all-time best commentaries on nuclear warfare. And with Takashi Yamazaki returning the radioactive dinosaur to his post-war roots in Godzilla Minus One, we’ve decided to come up with a list recommending six more war-time horror movies for fans of historical terror.
While not all of the films on this list take place during a war, they all incorporate warfare and its consequences into their stories. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your...
- 12/1/2023
- by Luiz H. C.
- bloody-disgusting.com
In the article series Sound and Vision we take a look at music videos from notable directors. This week we take a look at two music videos by John Maybury. John Maybury is an actor's director. He might have started out as an avant-garde filmmaker and peer of Derek Jarman, his strongest feat as a director is the performance he gets out of his actors. Take for instance his film, Love is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon, about the painter Francis Bacon. It's a film that is full of painterly mise and scene, off kilter camera angles and strong editing choices, but the core is a harrowing performance of Daniel Craig in a star making turn, and a never-better Derek...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 10/30/2023
- Screen Anarchy
Luca Guadagnino will next direct the William S. Burroughs adaptation “Queer” with Daniel Craig playing the renowned counterculture author’s alter ego, an outcast American expat who lives in Mexico, and “Outer Banks” star Drew Starkey starring as a younger man with whom he becomes madly infatuated.
“Queer” will also topline Lesley Manville (“The Crown”), frequent Wes Anderson collaborator Jason Schwartzman; and Henry Zaga (“The New Mutants”), according to inside sources.
The boldly ambitious indie film is set to start shooting this month at Rome’s refurbished Cinecittà Studios where the Mexico City-set movie will be filmed in its entirety.
Lorenzo Mieli’s Fremantle-owned Italian company The Apartment – the internationally expanding shingle behind Guadagnino’s “Bones and All” and Sofia Coppola’s upcoming “Priscilla” – is lead producing “Queer” in tandem with Guadagnino’s own Frenesy Film. Fremantle North America is also on board.
American playwright Justin Kuritzkes, who penned...
“Queer” will also topline Lesley Manville (“The Crown”), frequent Wes Anderson collaborator Jason Schwartzman; and Henry Zaga (“The New Mutants”), according to inside sources.
The boldly ambitious indie film is set to start shooting this month at Rome’s refurbished Cinecittà Studios where the Mexico City-set movie will be filmed in its entirety.
Lorenzo Mieli’s Fremantle-owned Italian company The Apartment – the internationally expanding shingle behind Guadagnino’s “Bones and All” and Sofia Coppola’s upcoming “Priscilla” – is lead producing “Queer” in tandem with Guadagnino’s own Frenesy Film. Fremantle North America is also on board.
American playwright Justin Kuritzkes, who penned...
- 4/21/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The festival returns to its August slot for the first since 2008.
Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff), which is running fully in person from August 12-20 following last year’s hybrid event, has outlined plans for five new strands, plus a new competitive section.
It is the first edition under the leadership of creative director Kristy Matheson.
It also marks the return to the August slot for the festival for the first time since 2008. That year John Maybury’s The Edge Of Love was the opening film and Hannah McGill was the artistic director.
Fourteen years later and the programme consists...
Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff), which is running fully in person from August 12-20 following last year’s hybrid event, has outlined plans for five new strands, plus a new competitive section.
It is the first edition under the leadership of creative director Kristy Matheson.
It also marks the return to the August slot for the festival for the first time since 2008. That year John Maybury’s The Edge Of Love was the opening film and Hannah McGill was the artistic director.
Fourteen years later and the programme consists...
- 6/29/2022
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Album covers used to be mythically important — they could etch the image of a musician forever in your mind’s eye. In “Nothing Compares,” Kathryn Ferguson’s incisive and poignant documentary about the life and career of Sinéad O’Connor, we see the image that was chosen in 1987 for the cover of O’Connor’s first album, “The Lion and the Cobra,” made when she was 20 years old and pregnant: an extraordinary photograph of Sinéad in mid-scream. Talk about mythology! That’s how the album was released in Europe, but for us benighted souls in America, the image was deemed to edgy. It was replaced by that demure shot of Sinéad staring downward.
Sinéad O’Connor was far from the first pop star to scream (you can go back to the earliest rockers) or to scream in rage. But as “Nothing Compares” shows you, and — this was her artistry — she was going to make it beautiful.
Sinéad O’Connor was far from the first pop star to scream (you can go back to the earliest rockers) or to scream in rage. But as “Nothing Compares” shows you, and — this was her artistry — she was going to make it beautiful.
- 1/22/2022
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
As much as we adore and revere the theatrical experience, as theater chains prep to reopen amidst a virus that is spreading rapidly in certain areas of the country, one is far better off staying at home and enjoying films from around the world. There’s no better place to do that than The Criterion Channel, and now they’ve unveiled their July lineup.
Coming to the channel next month are retrospectives dedicated to the stellar early films of Atom Egoyan, works by Miranda July, films featuring Ryuichi Sakamoto scores, Olympic films (including their recent release Tokyo Olympiad), plus Kelly Reichardt’s masterful Certain Women, Med Hondo’s Soleil Ô (coming soon to disc with Scorsese’s next World Cinema Project release), Lizzie Borden’s Born in Flames, Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation, and much more.
See the lineup below and explore more on their platform. One can also see our weekly streaming picks here.
Coming to the channel next month are retrospectives dedicated to the stellar early films of Atom Egoyan, works by Miranda July, films featuring Ryuichi Sakamoto scores, Olympic films (including their recent release Tokyo Olympiad), plus Kelly Reichardt’s masterful Certain Women, Med Hondo’s Soleil Ô (coming soon to disc with Scorsese’s next World Cinema Project release), Lizzie Borden’s Born in Flames, Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation, and much more.
See the lineup below and explore more on their platform. One can also see our weekly streaming picks here.
- 6/26/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Part of our on-going series, Notebook Soundtrack Mixes.Ryuichi Sakamoto can be found at home in a vast array of places. There is always a grounding within his music wherever you are in the world or, in his movie soundtracks, with whatever character you are following on screen. Subtle hints of Sakamoto’s signature sound always bubble to the surface. The notion of Eastern and Western sound distinctions do not matter to Sakamoto; instead, the play and fusion between these differing worlds and sounds has always been of more interest, to Sakamoto it’s all about the emotion produced—a universality that eventually moves the sound beyond place. The musician and composer needs no introduction. He is the master of so many musical universes: The Sakamoto whose work with Ymo and solo experimental productions shaped the future sounds of what would become electro and hip hop, an early pioneer of electronic music.
- 5/11/2020
- MUBI
Granted, The Berlinale and Efm seem like a thousand years ago, but look, what have we got to look forward to? Not much right now, as everything is being cancelled, so let’s talk about the past Berlinale.
I was just going through my Berlin trades and just discovered that Ben Gibson, all of our favorite leftist renegade, crazy but good educator, producer of I don’t know how many films.”
That the trade press could write such reports about a friend to hang out with at parties at least, without first fact checking and interviewing their longtime colleague/ friend Ben or an actual witness is reprehensible because with a care–less stroke of their pen, they seem to have blocked any academic institution from ever interviewing Ben again. At first Google, the Screen article will appear. The article was next picked up by Variety who later corrected the reported...
I was just going through my Berlin trades and just discovered that Ben Gibson, all of our favorite leftist renegade, crazy but good educator, producer of I don’t know how many films.”
That the trade press could write such reports about a friend to hang out with at parties at least, without first fact checking and interviewing their longtime colleague/ friend Ben or an actual witness is reprehensible because with a care–less stroke of their pen, they seem to have blocked any academic institution from ever interviewing Ben again. At first Google, the Screen article will appear. The article was next picked up by Variety who later corrected the reported...
- 3/17/2020
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The Museum of Modern Art tribute to the career of Daniel Craig has been cut short by the coronavirus pandemic Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
The Museum of Modern Art announced that it will be closed at least until March 30, cancelling their tribute to Daniel Craig which would have started today, March 14.
They Will Take My Island, Atom Egoyan’s collaboration with composer Mary Kouyoumdjian and projection artist Laurie Olinder on Arshile Gorky, which was scheduled for March 27 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art has been cancelled because the museum, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, is undergoing a thorough cleaning.
IFC Center announced it was closing today through March 31, where Kleber Mendonça Filho...
The Museum of Modern Art announced that it will be closed at least until March 30, cancelling their tribute to Daniel Craig which would have started today, March 14.
They Will Take My Island, Atom Egoyan’s collaboration with composer Mary Kouyoumdjian and projection artist Laurie Olinder on Arshile Gorky, which was scheduled for March 27 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art has been cancelled because the museum, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, is undergoing a thorough cleaning.
IFC Center announced it was closing today through March 31, where Kleber Mendonça Filho...
- 3/14/2020
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Before Daniel Craig hangs up his license to kill, the Museum of Modern Art will offer up a film series tribute to the actor’s big screen career. The program, which will run from March 3 to 22, comes on the eve of Craig’s final appearance as James Bond in “No Time to Die.”
“I couldn’t ever imagine being put in a museum, but what an honor and a thrill to be shown at MoMA,” noted Craig.
The film series will trace Craig’s evolution from European arthouse regular to A-list superstar. It will include notable early turns by Craig in the likes of John Maybury’s “Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon” (1998), Roger Mitchell’s “The Mother” (2003) and “Enduring Love” (2004), and Matthew Vaughn’s “Layer Cake,” the stylish crime thriller that helped the actor land the 007 franchise.
Craig will be in attendance for the...
“I couldn’t ever imagine being put in a museum, but what an honor and a thrill to be shown at MoMA,” noted Craig.
The film series will trace Craig’s evolution from European arthouse regular to A-list superstar. It will include notable early turns by Craig in the likes of John Maybury’s “Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon” (1998), Roger Mitchell’s “The Mother” (2003) and “Enduring Love” (2004), and Matthew Vaughn’s “Layer Cake,” the stylish crime thriller that helped the actor land the 007 franchise.
Craig will be in attendance for the...
- 2/7/2020
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
“Real Life Rock Top Ten” is a monthly column by cultural critic and Rs contributing editor Greil Marcus.
1. “Lana Del Rey and Jack Antonoff Debuting New Country Song at the Ally Coalition Talent Show” (YouTube): From December — and can this performance really have had less than 9,000 views? There’s no title: With Antonoff strumming an acoustic guitar, then hinting at a figure, the song refers to Hank Williams in its first verse, but that’s as close to what’s sold as country as it gets. In the melody as it slowly takes shape,...
1. “Lana Del Rey and Jack Antonoff Debuting New Country Song at the Ally Coalition Talent Show” (YouTube): From December — and can this performance really have had less than 9,000 views? There’s no title: With Antonoff strumming an acoustic guitar, then hinting at a figure, the song refers to Hank Williams in its first verse, but that’s as close to what’s sold as country as it gets. In the melody as it slowly takes shape,...
- 4/25/2019
- by Greil Marcus
- Rollingstone.com
Sinéad O’Connor achieved pop culture immortality with a soulful cover of “Nothing Compares 2 U” that built on the pain and vulnerability of Prince’s original, but the tears shed in the iconic video weren’t just for show. The ethereal voice and wounded eyes masked a past marred by child abuse, incarcerations, and tragedy, and those inner demons followed her through the gilded door of fame and haunt her to this day.
They ultimately led her to a New Jersey Travelodge, where she lived a solitary existence away from family in her native Ireland, whom she claims couldn’t cope with her mental illnesses.
They ultimately led her to a New Jersey Travelodge, where she lived a solitary existence away from family in her native Ireland, whom she claims couldn’t cope with her mental illnesses.
- 8/10/2017
- by Jordan Runtagh
- PEOPLE.com
Neves will join in time for the European Film Market at the Berlinale (Feb 11-19).
Sofia Neves has joined international sales and film financing outfit WestEnd Films as its new director of sales.
Neves previously worked with WestEnd’s managing directors Schoukroun and Maya Amsellem during her time at Capitol Films.
She began her career with producer Paulo Branco before joining Capitol, run by Jane Barclay and Sharon Harel, in 2005.
Neves then moved to HanWay Films, run by Jeremy Thomas and Tim Haslam, in 2008 as the company’s director of sales and distribution.
Throughout her career she has handled titles including Nick Cassavettes’ Alpha Dog, Sidney Lumet’s Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead, Robert Altman’s A Prairie Home Companion, John Maybury’s The Edge Of Love, Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Nowhere Boy, and Steve McQueen’s Shame
WestEnd’s managing director Maya Amsellem said of the appointment: “We’re delighted to welcome Sofia to the...
Sofia Neves has joined international sales and film financing outfit WestEnd Films as its new director of sales.
Neves previously worked with WestEnd’s managing directors Schoukroun and Maya Amsellem during her time at Capitol Films.
She began her career with producer Paulo Branco before joining Capitol, run by Jane Barclay and Sharon Harel, in 2005.
Neves then moved to HanWay Films, run by Jeremy Thomas and Tim Haslam, in 2008 as the company’s director of sales and distribution.
Throughout her career she has handled titles including Nick Cassavettes’ Alpha Dog, Sidney Lumet’s Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead, Robert Altman’s A Prairie Home Companion, John Maybury’s The Edge Of Love, Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Nowhere Boy, and Steve McQueen’s Shame
WestEnd’s managing director Maya Amsellem said of the appointment: “We’re delighted to welcome Sofia to the...
- 1/14/2016
- ScreenDaily
Ben Gibson, the departing Director of the London Film School, has been appointed to a new senior role at Aftrs, the Australian Film Television & Radio School, as Director, Degree Programs. He will start work in Sydney in September.
Gibson will play a key leadership role in ensuring the successful delivery and development of a new three-year Aftrs Bachelor of Arts (Screen) degree and Aftrs Screen and Screen Business Masters degrees, which are being restructured and relaunched for 2015.
“Ben is eminently qualified for this pivotal new role at Aftrs, and I’m thrilled that he could be persuaded to bring his considerable skills, experience and academic rigor to Australia. His 14 years as Director of the very successful London Film School are notable for his work in building up the school’s reputation in the UK and abroad and expanding and accrediting its prestigious postgraduate degrees. Ben has also been a very successful and original independent producer and production executive, and has previously worked in distribution and exhibition, so he comes with a deep knowledge of the international screen industry at all levels,” said Sandra Levy, CEO of the Aftrs.
Prior to joining the London Film School in 2001, Gibson worked as a film distributor and independent producer, and as Head of Production at the British Film Institute from 1988 to 1998. His production and executive production credits include Terence Davies' " The Long Day Closes," Derek Jarman's "Wittgenstein," John Maybury's "Love is the Devil," Carine Adler's "Under the Skin"and Jasmin Dizdar's "Beautiful People," as well as 20 other low budget features and many shorts by UK directors including Patrick Keiller, Gurinder Chadha, Lynne Ramsay, Richard Kwietniowski and Andrew Kotting. As a partner in distributors The Other Cinema/Metro Pictures he acquired and promoted films by Pedro Almodovar, Chris Marker, Chantal Akerman and Jean-Luc Godard as well as opening the West End’s Metro Cinema in 1986. He has also been a theater director, a repertory film programmer and a film critic and journalist. He leaves Lfs at the end of July.
Ben Gibson said: “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to contribute to Sandra Levy’s vision of Aftrs as a complete screen school -- and to get the chance to work in the Australian film industry, one I’ve hugely admired and followed -- so far from a great distance. Aftrs offers a special combination of good things: self-confidence, an extraordinary heritage, great creative ambition, exceptional resources, a wide educational scope and a central mission in a dynamic and productive screen industry. It’s rightly considered to be one of the great film schools of the world. I can’t wait to join the team and get started there.”
Gibson’s final year at Lfs has been attended by great creative success. The school won 35 festival prizes and mentions in 2013-14, including a BAFTA nomination. Ms Levy pointed out that this year’s Palme d'Or for Best Short Film at the Cannes Film Festival was won by Leidi, the Lfs graduation film of Simón Mesa Soto. Also at Cannes, amongst seven graduates featured in the 2014 selection, "The Salt of the Earth," co-directed by Lfs graduate Juliano Ribeiro Salgado with Wim Wenders, was awarded the Un Certain Regard’s Special Jury Prize.
Director Mike Leigh, Chair of Governors at the London Film School, in announcing Ben’s departure earlier this year, said: “Ben Gibson has led Lfs from strength to strength over his fourteen years of outstanding service, and we will be sad to see him go.”
Aftrs is Australia’s national screen arts and broadcasting school and has been named as one of the Top 20 film schools in the world by industry journal, The Hollywood Reporter. As an elite specialist institution, Aftrs provides excellence in education through its practice based model, and aspires to deliver a dynamic educational offering that prepares the most talented and creative students – novice, experienced, fully fledged professional specialists – to be platform agnostic, creative and resilient in an industry subject to constant changes in knowledge and technology. The new BA Screen is a 3-year program offering a strong base in the understanding of story and screen history alongside a comprehensive introduction to the skills of screen production.
Gibson will play a key leadership role in ensuring the successful delivery and development of a new three-year Aftrs Bachelor of Arts (Screen) degree and Aftrs Screen and Screen Business Masters degrees, which are being restructured and relaunched for 2015.
“Ben is eminently qualified for this pivotal new role at Aftrs, and I’m thrilled that he could be persuaded to bring his considerable skills, experience and academic rigor to Australia. His 14 years as Director of the very successful London Film School are notable for his work in building up the school’s reputation in the UK and abroad and expanding and accrediting its prestigious postgraduate degrees. Ben has also been a very successful and original independent producer and production executive, and has previously worked in distribution and exhibition, so he comes with a deep knowledge of the international screen industry at all levels,” said Sandra Levy, CEO of the Aftrs.
Prior to joining the London Film School in 2001, Gibson worked as a film distributor and independent producer, and as Head of Production at the British Film Institute from 1988 to 1998. His production and executive production credits include Terence Davies' " The Long Day Closes," Derek Jarman's "Wittgenstein," John Maybury's "Love is the Devil," Carine Adler's "Under the Skin"and Jasmin Dizdar's "Beautiful People," as well as 20 other low budget features and many shorts by UK directors including Patrick Keiller, Gurinder Chadha, Lynne Ramsay, Richard Kwietniowski and Andrew Kotting. As a partner in distributors The Other Cinema/Metro Pictures he acquired and promoted films by Pedro Almodovar, Chris Marker, Chantal Akerman and Jean-Luc Godard as well as opening the West End’s Metro Cinema in 1986. He has also been a theater director, a repertory film programmer and a film critic and journalist. He leaves Lfs at the end of July.
Ben Gibson said: “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to contribute to Sandra Levy’s vision of Aftrs as a complete screen school -- and to get the chance to work in the Australian film industry, one I’ve hugely admired and followed -- so far from a great distance. Aftrs offers a special combination of good things: self-confidence, an extraordinary heritage, great creative ambition, exceptional resources, a wide educational scope and a central mission in a dynamic and productive screen industry. It’s rightly considered to be one of the great film schools of the world. I can’t wait to join the team and get started there.”
Gibson’s final year at Lfs has been attended by great creative success. The school won 35 festival prizes and mentions in 2013-14, including a BAFTA nomination. Ms Levy pointed out that this year’s Palme d'Or for Best Short Film at the Cannes Film Festival was won by Leidi, the Lfs graduation film of Simón Mesa Soto. Also at Cannes, amongst seven graduates featured in the 2014 selection, "The Salt of the Earth," co-directed by Lfs graduate Juliano Ribeiro Salgado with Wim Wenders, was awarded the Un Certain Regard’s Special Jury Prize.
Director Mike Leigh, Chair of Governors at the London Film School, in announcing Ben’s departure earlier this year, said: “Ben Gibson has led Lfs from strength to strength over his fourteen years of outstanding service, and we will be sad to see him go.”
Aftrs is Australia’s national screen arts and broadcasting school and has been named as one of the Top 20 film schools in the world by industry journal, The Hollywood Reporter. As an elite specialist institution, Aftrs provides excellence in education through its practice based model, and aspires to deliver a dynamic educational offering that prepares the most talented and creative students – novice, experienced, fully fledged professional specialists – to be platform agnostic, creative and resilient in an industry subject to constant changes in knowledge and technology. The new BA Screen is a 3-year program offering a strong base in the understanding of story and screen history alongside a comprehensive introduction to the skills of screen production.
- 7/15/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Outgoing director of the London Film School to join Australian Film School.
Ben Gibson, the departing director of the London Film School, has been appointed to a new senior role at Aftrs, the Australian Film Television & Radio School, as director, degree programs. He will start work in Sydney in September.
Gibson will play a key leadership role in ensuring the successful delivery and development of a new three-year Aftrs Bachelor of Arts (Screen) degree and Aftrs Screen and Screen Business Masters degrees, which are being restructured and relaunched for 2015.
Prior to joining the Lfs in 2001, Gibson worked as a film distributor and independent producer, and as head of production at the British Film Institute (BFI) from 1988 to 1998.
His production and executive production credits include Terence Davies’ The Long Day Closes, Derek Jarman’s Wittgenstein, John Maybury’s Love is the Devil, Carine Adler’s Under the Skin and Jasmin Dizdar’s Beautiful People, as well as...
Ben Gibson, the departing director of the London Film School, has been appointed to a new senior role at Aftrs, the Australian Film Television & Radio School, as director, degree programs. He will start work in Sydney in September.
Gibson will play a key leadership role in ensuring the successful delivery and development of a new three-year Aftrs Bachelor of Arts (Screen) degree and Aftrs Screen and Screen Business Masters degrees, which are being restructured and relaunched for 2015.
Prior to joining the Lfs in 2001, Gibson worked as a film distributor and independent producer, and as head of production at the British Film Institute (BFI) from 1988 to 1998.
His production and executive production credits include Terence Davies’ The Long Day Closes, Derek Jarman’s Wittgenstein, John Maybury’s Love is the Devil, Carine Adler’s Under the Skin and Jasmin Dizdar’s Beautiful People, as well as...
- 7/3/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Odd List Ryan Lambie Simon Brew 16 Jan 2014 - 06:20
Another 25 unsung greats come under the spotlight, as we provide our pick of the underappreciated films of 2005...
It's underappreciated films time again, and this week, we delve deep into the year 2005 - a collection of months dominated by the likes of Star Wars: Episode III, another Harry Potter, Steven Spielberg's War Of The Worlds, Peter Jackson's King Kong, and CG family movie Madagascar.
It was also the year Pierce Brosnan formally bowed out of his role as James Bond, and Martin Scorsese's The Aviator was hyped to win the director his first Oscar, but didn't. Still, the contents of this list received nothing like the acclaim of The Aviator, nor the financial pickings of a Star Wars or Harry Potter. As ever, we've focused on 25 films which we think deserve a bit more love.
So with apologies to...
Another 25 unsung greats come under the spotlight, as we provide our pick of the underappreciated films of 2005...
It's underappreciated films time again, and this week, we delve deep into the year 2005 - a collection of months dominated by the likes of Star Wars: Episode III, another Harry Potter, Steven Spielberg's War Of The Worlds, Peter Jackson's King Kong, and CG family movie Madagascar.
It was also the year Pierce Brosnan formally bowed out of his role as James Bond, and Martin Scorsese's The Aviator was hyped to win the director his first Oscar, but didn't. Still, the contents of this list received nothing like the acclaim of The Aviator, nor the financial pickings of a Star Wars or Harry Potter. As ever, we've focused on 25 films which we think deserve a bit more love.
So with apologies to...
- 1/15/2014
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Exclusive: Mike Leigh praises London Film School director Ben Gibson for “outstanding” service.
London Film School director Ben Gibson has stepped down from the post he held for 14 years.
The Lfs board is now looking to appoint a new director who will likely assume the role from next autumn.
Gibson will remain active at the school until the transition to the new director.
Gibson has been instrumental in raising the profile of the Lfs in the UK and abroad and has also overseen the school’s long-gestating transition from Covent Garden to the Barbican.
In December 2013, the school announced its first major funding towards the transfer, with a move planned for 2016, the same year the school celebrates its 60th birthday.
Gibson told ScreenDaily: “It has been an engrossing pleasure to lead this dynamic and important institution since 2000. Lfs is a wonderful place to work and learn, and the privilege of teaching and supporting talented, collaborative and clear-eyed...
London Film School director Ben Gibson has stepped down from the post he held for 14 years.
The Lfs board is now looking to appoint a new director who will likely assume the role from next autumn.
Gibson will remain active at the school until the transition to the new director.
Gibson has been instrumental in raising the profile of the Lfs in the UK and abroad and has also overseen the school’s long-gestating transition from Covent Garden to the Barbican.
In December 2013, the school announced its first major funding towards the transfer, with a move planned for 2016, the same year the school celebrates its 60th birthday.
Gibson told ScreenDaily: “It has been an engrossing pleasure to lead this dynamic and important institution since 2000. Lfs is a wonderful place to work and learn, and the privilege of teaching and supporting talented, collaborative and clear-eyed...
- 1/14/2014
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
The fourth annual London Underground Film Festival is the first edition of the fest to be run by new caretakers Daniel Fawcett and Clara Pais, two accomplished filmmakers. The festival will run November 14-17 at the legendary avant-garde media center, the Horse Hospital.
Fawcett and Pais have programmed a bold fest, which begins on the 14th with the London-based documentary Grasp the Nettle by Dean Puckett. The film follows the challenges faced by a group of land rights activists fighting for a piece of disused land in West London. Also on opening night is Randy Moore’s Escape From Tomorrow, which was filmed surreptitiously at Disneyland; and Táu by Daniel Castro Zimbrón.
Other films screening at the fest include the award winning doc A Body Without Organs, directed by Steven Graves; Alex Munt’s Warhol homage Poor Little Rich Girls (After Warhol); Irene Lusztig’s history of childbirth, The Motherhood...
Fawcett and Pais have programmed a bold fest, which begins on the 14th with the London-based documentary Grasp the Nettle by Dean Puckett. The film follows the challenges faced by a group of land rights activists fighting for a piece of disused land in West London. Also on opening night is Randy Moore’s Escape From Tomorrow, which was filmed surreptitiously at Disneyland; and Táu by Daniel Castro Zimbrón.
Other films screening at the fest include the award winning doc A Body Without Organs, directed by Steven Graves; Alex Munt’s Warhol homage Poor Little Rich Girls (After Warhol); Irene Lusztig’s history of childbirth, The Motherhood...
- 11/13/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The Comedian | Byzantium | The Big Wedding | Populaire | The Purge | Blood | Everybody Has A Plan | No One Lives | Man To Man | Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani
The Comedian
(15) (Tom Shkolnik, 2012, UK) Edward Hogg, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett. 79 mins
There's an uncanny degree of naturalism to this downbeat sketch of a lost London soul, confused over his sexuality, his faltering stand-up career and his place in life. It was made with a Dogme-like set of rules encouraging spontaneous improvisation in real locales. The result is somewhere between Mike Leigh and mumblecore, a meandering slice of life that often hits the truth.
Byzantium
(15) (Neil Jordan, 2013, UK/Us/Ire) Gemma Arterton, Saoirse Ronan, Sam Riley. 118 mins
There might be little left to say about vampires, but genre veteran Jordan has a better right (and better actors) than most to say it. This tale of two 200-year-old women hiding out in a coastal town is more mature and less gory than most offerings.
The Comedian
(15) (Tom Shkolnik, 2012, UK) Edward Hogg, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett. 79 mins
There's an uncanny degree of naturalism to this downbeat sketch of a lost London soul, confused over his sexuality, his faltering stand-up career and his place in life. It was made with a Dogme-like set of rules encouraging spontaneous improvisation in real locales. The result is somewhere between Mike Leigh and mumblecore, a meandering slice of life that often hits the truth.
Byzantium
(15) (Neil Jordan, 2013, UK/Us/Ire) Gemma Arterton, Saoirse Ronan, Sam Riley. 118 mins
There might be little left to say about vampires, but genre veteran Jordan has a better right (and better actors) than most to say it. This tale of two 200-year-old women hiding out in a coastal town is more mature and less gory than most offerings.
- 6/1/2013
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
The Comedian | Byzantium | The Big Wedding | Populaire | The Purge | Blood | Everybody Has A Plan | No One Lives | Man To Man | Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani
The Comedian (15)
(Tom Shkolnik, 2012, UK) Edward Hogg, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett. 79 mins
There's an uncanny degree of naturalism to this downbeat sketch of a lost London soul, confused over his sexuality, his faltering stand-up career and his place in life. It was made with a Dogme-like set of rules encouraging spontaneous improvisation in real locales. The result is somewhere between Mike Leigh and mumblecore, a meandering slice of life that often hits the truth.
Byzantium (15)
(Neil Jordan, 2013, UK/Us/Ire) Gemma Arterton, Saoirse Ronan, Sam Riley. 118 mins
There might be little left to say about vampires, but genre veteran Jordan has a better right (and better actors) than most to say it. This tale of two 200-year-old women hiding out in a coastal town is more mature and less gory than most offerings.
The Comedian (15)
(Tom Shkolnik, 2012, UK) Edward Hogg, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett. 79 mins
There's an uncanny degree of naturalism to this downbeat sketch of a lost London soul, confused over his sexuality, his faltering stand-up career and his place in life. It was made with a Dogme-like set of rules encouraging spontaneous improvisation in real locales. The result is somewhere between Mike Leigh and mumblecore, a meandering slice of life that often hits the truth.
Byzantium (15)
(Neil Jordan, 2013, UK/Us/Ire) Gemma Arterton, Saoirse Ronan, Sam Riley. 118 mins
There might be little left to say about vampires, but genre veteran Jordan has a better right (and better actors) than most to say it. This tale of two 200-year-old women hiding out in a coastal town is more mature and less gory than most offerings.
- 5/31/2013
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Suggest a perfect pair of films for our season of cult classics
For the next few weeks, we'll be giving you the chance to watch a number of British cult classics on guardian.co.uk.
We kick off the series today with a double bill of Love Is the Devil, John Maybury's 1988 study of Francis Bacon, and Derek Jarman's 1986 film Caravaggio (both films can be watched here), while on the Guardian film blog Andrew Pulver looks at both productions and explains how they complement each other.
We'll be unveiling another two films next Friday – but before then, we'd like to hear from you. Which cult British films would make a perfect double bill? Let us know your suggestions below – we may feature the best over the next few weeks.
Adam Boult
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of...
For the next few weeks, we'll be giving you the chance to watch a number of British cult classics on guardian.co.uk.
We kick off the series today with a double bill of Love Is the Devil, John Maybury's 1988 study of Francis Bacon, and Derek Jarman's 1986 film Caravaggio (both films can be watched here), while on the Guardian film blog Andrew Pulver looks at both productions and explains how they complement each other.
We'll be unveiling another two films next Friday – but before then, we'd like to hear from you. Which cult British films would make a perfect double bill? Let us know your suggestions below – we may feature the best over the next few weeks.
Adam Boult
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of...
- 11/9/2012
- by Adam Boult
- The Guardian - Film News
Our season of British cult classics gets off to an arty start with a duo of films about Francis Bacon and Caravaggio
Love Is the Devil, the 1998 film directed by John Maybury, is many things: the first serious cinematic study of the life and art of painter Francis Bacon, a tour de force performance by Derek Jacobi, an unholy convocation of YBAs (including Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas and Angus Fairhurst) filling in as background extras; and perhaps, most remarkably in hindsight, an early sighting of 007 himself, Daniel Craig. Craig is rather brilliant in Love Is the Devil, playing the troubled George Dyer, Bacon's petty-criminal lover, who met the artist after crashing through his roof while attempting a break-in, and who killed himself in 1971. You can't say Craig doesn't go all the way for his art: the film includes a jaw-dropping scene of him in the bath, entirely in the altogether.
Love Is the Devil, the 1998 film directed by John Maybury, is many things: the first serious cinematic study of the life and art of painter Francis Bacon, a tour de force performance by Derek Jacobi, an unholy convocation of YBAs (including Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas and Angus Fairhurst) filling in as background extras; and perhaps, most remarkably in hindsight, an early sighting of 007 himself, Daniel Craig. Craig is rather brilliant in Love Is the Devil, playing the troubled George Dyer, Bacon's petty-criminal lover, who met the artist after crashing through his roof while attempting a break-in, and who killed himself in 1971. You can't say Craig doesn't go all the way for his art: the film includes a jaw-dropping scene of him in the bath, entirely in the altogether.
- 11/9/2012
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
On its release in 1998, the Guardian hailed John Maybury's biopic of Francis Bacon as a 'brilliantly sustained imagining'. Read Richard Williams' full review below
I came out of John Maybury's Love Is the Devil, which is rather coyly subtitled "Study for a portrait of Francis Bacon", feeling I'd never seen a film that makes such direct and illuminating connection with the eye of an artist. On the other hand, I didn't know Francis Bacon, so I can't tell whether the story Maybury tells us is true, in the literal sense. That bothers me. But if you want a brilliantly sustained imagining of how, according to some of the best available evidence, Bacon saw his world, and how he rendered that vision on to canvas, then Love Is the Devil is a very remarkable film indeed.
Their first encounter is handled with deft humour. When Dyer falls through the skylight,...
I came out of John Maybury's Love Is the Devil, which is rather coyly subtitled "Study for a portrait of Francis Bacon", feeling I'd never seen a film that makes such direct and illuminating connection with the eye of an artist. On the other hand, I didn't know Francis Bacon, so I can't tell whether the story Maybury tells us is true, in the literal sense. That bothers me. But if you want a brilliantly sustained imagining of how, according to some of the best available evidence, Bacon saw his world, and how he rendered that vision on to canvas, then Love Is the Devil is a very remarkable film indeed.
Their first encounter is handled with deft humour. When Dyer falls through the skylight,...
- 11/9/2012
- by Richard Williams
- The Guardian - Film News
The Guardian's art critic Adrian Searle gave his opinion of the film shortly after its release: he was impressed by the accuracy of Jacobi's performance, if not by the insertion of YBAs into the pub scenes …
The painter Francis Bacon, who turned down both the Order of Merit and the Companion of Honour, is crouched over the bed in nothing but his underpants. He waits. His lover, a Kray gang hanger-on called George Dyer, stands over him, a cigarette in his mouth, a belt twisted in his fist.
This is a scene from John Maybury's Love Is the Devil, subtitled "Study for a portrait of Francis Bacon" starring Derek Jacobi as the painter, and Daniel Craig as Dyer, Bacon's lover, tormentor, victim and model. In the film, Dyer, a hapless East End burglar, introduces himself by crashing through the skylight of Bacon's tiny South Kensington studio, while attempting a burglary.
The painter Francis Bacon, who turned down both the Order of Merit and the Companion of Honour, is crouched over the bed in nothing but his underpants. He waits. His lover, a Kray gang hanger-on called George Dyer, stands over him, a cigarette in his mouth, a belt twisted in his fist.
This is a scene from John Maybury's Love Is the Devil, subtitled "Study for a portrait of Francis Bacon" starring Derek Jacobi as the painter, and Daniel Craig as Dyer, Bacon's lover, tormentor, victim and model. In the film, Dyer, a hapless East End burglar, introduces himself by crashing through the skylight of Bacon's tiny South Kensington studio, while attempting a burglary.
- 11/9/2012
- by Adrian Searle
- The Guardian - Film News
One of the most exciting talents to emerge out of the U.K. in the last decade or so is Andrea Arnold. The former television presenter won an Oscar for her short film "Wasp" in 2005, and made her feature debut the following year with the powerful, gritty thriller "Red Road." 2009 saw her follow it up with "Fish Tank," another kitchen-sink type film showcasing some incredible performances, gathering even more acclaim, and allowing the director to make inroads internationally. Her choice of a third film raised some eyebrows, however: Arnold was selected to helm a long-in-the-works film version of Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights." The film had been in development for years: Natalie Portman was originally attached to a version helmed by John Maybury ("Love is the Devil") before Abbie Cornish stepped in, with Michael Fassbender set to play the key role of Heathcliff, while another about face in 2009 saw Peter Webber.
- 10/3/2012
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
Rupert Everett returns to dish the dirt in his second fearless and witty account of life with the A-list crowd
As sexist old Samuel Johnson said of a woman preaching, when an actor writes a book "it is not well done, but you are surprised to find it done at all". These are adults who spend their whole lives raiding dressing up boxes and speaking the words of others for a living, after all. Rupert Everett, like Richard E Grant and Kathy Burke, is the exception that proves the rule; he really can write, as his 2006 bestseller Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins – which took a bejewelled hatpin to the blow-up egos of co-stars Madonna and Sharon Stone, among others – proved. But despite reviews that, above the sound of easily impressed critics noisily wetting themselves, could be heard comparing him to Evelyn Waugh, Noël Coward and Lord Byron, the question...
As sexist old Samuel Johnson said of a woman preaching, when an actor writes a book "it is not well done, but you are surprised to find it done at all". These are adults who spend their whole lives raiding dressing up boxes and speaking the words of others for a living, after all. Rupert Everett, like Richard E Grant and Kathy Burke, is the exception that proves the rule; he really can write, as his 2006 bestseller Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins – which took a bejewelled hatpin to the blow-up egos of co-stars Madonna and Sharon Stone, among others – proved. But despite reviews that, above the sound of easily impressed critics noisily wetting themselves, could be heard comparing him to Evelyn Waugh, Noël Coward and Lord Byron, the question...
- 9/20/2012
- by Julie Burchill
- The Guardian - Film News
There are as many adaptations and variations on Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights" as there are theories about how Heathcliff gains his wealth and maturity before enacting his revenge. Thankfully, for Brontë-philes, that is still up for debate in "Fish Tank" director Andrea Arnold's adaptation of the Brit-Lit classic that tracks the mournful love triangle of Catherine, Heathcliff and Edgar over the years in the north of England at the titular farmhouse. This adaptation spent a while in development , being tossed from John Maybury (“The Edge of Love”) to Peter Webber (“Girl With The Pearl Earring”), until it came to her attention. The Playlist sat down with Arnold at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival the day after the first major snowstorm of the fest and discussed why she doesn't storyboard, her use of Mumford & Sons over the credits and why she chose to focus on the first half of the book (you can read our.
- 1/23/2012
- The Playlist
In part one of our interview with The Borgias' David Oakes we talked about what audiences could expect for Juan in the show's upcoming second season. In part two of our interview we discuss with Oakes the other Borgia show, what it's like working with Jeremy Irons, cast pranks and Juan Borgia, the musical.
So how much did you know about the real Juan Borgia before you took the role?
Not much and the funny thing is there's not much really known about him. He died very young and under mysterious circumstances. I did as much research as I could but I think the great thing about having a character that is a historic character but doesn't have too much mentioned about it is that you can make greater artistic choices. I think that if you're Cesare or Lucrezia or Pope Alexander than you have a certain restriction to the deity historical precedent.
So how much did you know about the real Juan Borgia before you took the role?
Not much and the funny thing is there's not much really known about him. He died very young and under mysterious circumstances. I did as much research as I could but I think the great thing about having a character that is a historic character but doesn't have too much mentioned about it is that you can make greater artistic choices. I think that if you're Cesare or Lucrezia or Pope Alexander than you have a certain restriction to the deity historical precedent.
- 12/30/2011
- by Morgan Glennon
- Aol TV.
Peter Sarsgaard also in talks to appear in project based on biography of Deep Throat actor who became anti-porn activist
Amanda Seyfried is in talks to star as Linda Lovelace in one of two competing projects about the infamous star of 1970s porn film Deep Throat, according to the Hollywood Reporter. If all goes to plan, she will appear opposite Peter Sarsgaard, who is in negotiations to play Lovelace's husband, Chuck Traynor.
The Seyfried project, with which James Franco and Kate Hudson were previously linked, is titled Lovelace and is based on The Complete Linda Lovelace, a biography by Eric Danville, published in 2001. It is not to be confused with Inferno: a Linda Lovelace Story, which was once due to star Lindsay Lohan in the title role and now has Malin Akerman and Matt Dillon on board.
One of the first pornographic films to feature a plot, character development and reasonably high production standards,...
Amanda Seyfried is in talks to star as Linda Lovelace in one of two competing projects about the infamous star of 1970s porn film Deep Throat, according to the Hollywood Reporter. If all goes to plan, she will appear opposite Peter Sarsgaard, who is in negotiations to play Lovelace's husband, Chuck Traynor.
The Seyfried project, with which James Franco and Kate Hudson were previously linked, is titled Lovelace and is based on The Complete Linda Lovelace, a biography by Eric Danville, published in 2001. It is not to be confused with Inferno: a Linda Lovelace Story, which was once due to star Lindsay Lohan in the title role and now has Malin Akerman and Matt Dillon on board.
One of the first pornographic films to feature a plot, character development and reasonably high production standards,...
- 11/2/2011
- by Ben Child
- The Guardian - Film News
Cave of Forgotten Dreams; The Ward; Last Night; Viva Riva!; Green Lantern
News that maverick Bavarian director Werner Herzog has been cast as the villain in the forthcoming Tom Cruise thriller One Shot should come as no surprise to anyone who recognised the source of Hugo Weaving's devilishly accented performance in Captain America. There is something about Herzog's deadpan voice that suggests awesome, infinite, unworldly powers just waiting to be unleashed. It's a quality that he uses brilliantly in the documentaries that have become his signature works, enabling him to speak merrily of the "ecstatic truth" of art and the attendant "chaos, disharmony and murder" of the cosmos with a blend of quasi-religious import and pathos. When the day of reckoning comes, I half expect to hear Herzog's voice calmly separating the damned from the redeemed, the strangely comedic sound of a divinity that shapes our ends…
In Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010, Revolver,...
News that maverick Bavarian director Werner Herzog has been cast as the villain in the forthcoming Tom Cruise thriller One Shot should come as no surprise to anyone who recognised the source of Hugo Weaving's devilishly accented performance in Captain America. There is something about Herzog's deadpan voice that suggests awesome, infinite, unworldly powers just waiting to be unleashed. It's a quality that he uses brilliantly in the documentaries that have become his signature works, enabling him to speak merrily of the "ecstatic truth" of art and the attendant "chaos, disharmony and murder" of the cosmos with a blend of quasi-religious import and pathos. When the day of reckoning comes, I half expect to hear Herzog's voice calmly separating the damned from the redeemed, the strangely comedic sound of a divinity that shapes our ends…
In Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010, Revolver,...
- 10/15/2011
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
Your Weekly Source for the Newest Releases to Blu-Ray Tuesday, October 4th, 2011
‘Twas The Night Before Christmas: 2-Disc Deluxe Edition (1974)
Synopsis: For some unexplained reason, letters to Santa Claus are being returned to the children of Junctionville. It seems some resident has angered St. Nick by calling him “a fraudulent myth!” Skeptical Albert Mouse has to be brought to his senses “and let up a little on the wonder why.” How Albert is persuaded to change his tune paves the way for Santa’s jolly return to town – and the joyous finale of the animated fable inspired by Clement Moore’s poem and produced by the merrymaking conjures of Rankin/bass studios. The voice talents of Joel grey, Tammy Grimes, John McGiver and George Gobel make this festive fable even more fun. (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features:
Tba
The 12 Dogs Of Christmas (2005)
Synopsis: A girl who uses dogs to...
‘Twas The Night Before Christmas: 2-Disc Deluxe Edition (1974)
Synopsis: For some unexplained reason, letters to Santa Claus are being returned to the children of Junctionville. It seems some resident has angered St. Nick by calling him “a fraudulent myth!” Skeptical Albert Mouse has to be brought to his senses “and let up a little on the wonder why.” How Albert is persuaded to change his tune paves the way for Santa’s jolly return to town – and the joyous finale of the animated fable inspired by Clement Moore’s poem and produced by the merrymaking conjures of Rankin/bass studios. The voice talents of Joel grey, Tammy Grimes, John McGiver and George Gobel make this festive fable even more fun. (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features:
Tba
The 12 Dogs Of Christmas (2005)
Synopsis: A girl who uses dogs to...
- 10/3/2011
- by Travis Keune
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
"Full credit to director Andrea Arnold for taking such a bold and distinctive approach to Emily Brontë's account of sweeping passion on the Yorkshire moors," writes the Guardian's Xan Brooks. "Her line in creative vandalism rips off the layers of fluffy chiffon that have adhered to the tale through the course of numerous stage and screen adaptations. It pushes the story all the way back to its original 1847 incarnation and then beyond, up-river, into primordial sludge. What comes back is a beautiful rough beast of a movie, a costume drama like no other. This might not be warm, or even approachable, but it is never less than bullishly impressive."
"You call tell almost immediately that this Wuthering Heights is a film by Andrea Arnold, the writer-director of Red Road and Fish Tank," writes Time Out London's Dave Calhoun. "This might be the British filmmaker's first literary adaptation, but all her trademarks are there,...
"You call tell almost immediately that this Wuthering Heights is a film by Andrea Arnold, the writer-director of Red Road and Fish Tank," writes Time Out London's Dave Calhoun. "This might be the British filmmaker's first literary adaptation, but all her trademarks are there,...
- 9/7/2011
- MUBI
Release Date: Oct. 4, 2011
Price: Blu-ray $39.95
Studio: Criterion
The extremes of Fascism are disurbingly explored in Pasolini's 1975 Salò.
The notorious final movie from Italy’s controversial filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini (La Rabbia), 1975’s Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, has been described by critics as nauseating, shocking, depraved and pornographic, but many also consider it to be a masterpiece.
Pasolini’s transposition of the Marquis de Sade’s 18th century opus of torture and degradation to Fascist Italy remains one of the poet/novelist/filmmaker’s most passionately debated works.
Presented in Italian with English subtitles, the drama-thriller focuses on four wealthy and corrupt fascist libertines who kidnap a group of teenage boys and girls and subject them to four months of extreme violence, sadism and sexual and mental torture following the fall of Mussolini’s Italy in 1944.
Criterion’s Blu-ray of the movie offers a high definition digital restoration with...
Price: Blu-ray $39.95
Studio: Criterion
The extremes of Fascism are disurbingly explored in Pasolini's 1975 Salò.
The notorious final movie from Italy’s controversial filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini (La Rabbia), 1975’s Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, has been described by critics as nauseating, shocking, depraved and pornographic, but many also consider it to be a masterpiece.
Pasolini’s transposition of the Marquis de Sade’s 18th century opus of torture and degradation to Fascist Italy remains one of the poet/novelist/filmmaker’s most passionately debated works.
Presented in Italian with English subtitles, the drama-thriller focuses on four wealthy and corrupt fascist libertines who kidnap a group of teenage boys and girls and subject them to four months of extreme violence, sadism and sexual and mental torture following the fall of Mussolini’s Italy in 1944.
Criterion’s Blu-ray of the movie offers a high definition digital restoration with...
- 8/10/2011
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
John Maybury's 2008 romance has Dylan Thomas's wife-swapping and drunkenly brawling private life only half right
The Edge of Love (2008)
Director: John Maybury
Entertainment grade: C
History grade: C+
Dylan Thomas's poetry was first published in the 1930s, when he was still a teenager. His deep, sonorous voice and beautiful language made him a celebrity on the wireless; his most famous work – Under Milk Wood – was written for radio.
Romance
The Edge of Love focuses on the relationships between Dylan Thomas (Matthew Rhys), his wife Caitlin MacNamara (Sienna Miller), Thomas's childhood friend Vera Phillips (Keira Knightley) and her soldier husband William Killick (Cillian Murphy). The film claims these two couples were entwined in a messy love quadrilateral.
In real life, Thomas served as best man to the Killicks, and Vera was close to Caitlin, but there is scant evidence for any affairs. There are hardly any mentions of...
The Edge of Love (2008)
Director: John Maybury
Entertainment grade: C
History grade: C+
Dylan Thomas's poetry was first published in the 1930s, when he was still a teenager. His deep, sonorous voice and beautiful language made him a celebrity on the wireless; his most famous work – Under Milk Wood – was written for radio.
Romance
The Edge of Love focuses on the relationships between Dylan Thomas (Matthew Rhys), his wife Caitlin MacNamara (Sienna Miller), Thomas's childhood friend Vera Phillips (Keira Knightley) and her soldier husband William Killick (Cillian Murphy). The film claims these two couples were entwined in a messy love quadrilateral.
In real life, Thomas served as best man to the Killicks, and Vera was close to Caitlin, but there is scant evidence for any affairs. There are hardly any mentions of...
- 8/4/2011
- by Alex von Tunzelmann
- The Guardian - Film News
Criterion is releasing one of cinema’s most controversial films in director Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Sodom, or The 120 Days of Sodom. The 1975 film is an adaptation of a Marquis de Sade story. The film is set in the Republic of Salò, the Fascist-occupied portion of Italy in 1944, with four segments loosely parallel to Dante’s Inferno: the Anteinferno, the Circle of Manias, the Circle of Shit, and the Circle of Blood.
Four men of power, the Duke, the Bishop, the Magistrate, and the President, agree to marry each other’s daughters as the first step in a debauched ritual. With the aid of several collaborator young men, they kidnap eighteen young men and women (nine of each sex), and take them to a palace near Marzabotto. Accompanying them are four middle-aged prostitutes, also collaborators, whose function in the debauchery will be to recount erotically arousing stories for the men of power,...
Four men of power, the Duke, the Bishop, the Magistrate, and the President, agree to marry each other’s daughters as the first step in a debauched ritual. With the aid of several collaborator young men, they kidnap eighteen young men and women (nine of each sex), and take them to a palace near Marzabotto. Accompanying them are four middle-aged prostitutes, also collaborators, whose function in the debauchery will be to recount erotically arousing stories for the men of power,...
- 7/16/2011
- by Jon Peters
- Killer Films
Sienna Miller has had an interesting, if not entirely satisfying, career so far. Having been dismissed by many as yet another model-turned-actress after early roles in "Alfie" and "Layer Cake," she proved to be a far more interesting proposition, with an excellent performance in a terrible film, "Factory Girl." She's since proved that wasn't a fluke, with strong work on stage in "As You Like It" and "After Miss Julie," and two very good performances in Steve Buscemi's "Interview" and John Maybury's "The Edge Of Love", stealing the show from Keira Knightley in the latter. Unfortunately, despite being linked to…...
- 1/6/2011
- The Playlist
Update: Poster removed at the request of HanWay Films. Presumably one of the final leaks of material from the recent American Film Market: a promo poster and synopsis has been unveiled for Andrea Arnold's upcoming adaptation of Emily Brontë's classic novel "Wuthering Heights." The project is based on a script by Olivia Hetreed ("Girl with a Pearl Earring") and has seen a revolving door of talent attached or linked including directors Peter Webber and John Maybury along with thesps Michael Fassbender, Natalie Portman, Abbie Cornish, Ed Westwick and Gemma Arterton. Arnold herself signed up to helm earlier this year as…...
- 11/16/2010
- The Playlist
Keira Knightley hasn’t got the best range in the world, has she? The actress at least chooses what she does carefully, but her range, to quote Dorothy Parker, runs the whole gamut from A to B. She does several shades of middle class and posh birds (Mark Kermode famously calls her Ikea Knightley). I did think she was pitch perfect in Never Let Me Go – just I thought she was excellent in John Maybury’s The Jacket.
One of her latest, Last Night, stars Sam Worthington and Eva Mendes and is currently floating about without a distributor since Miramax, who bought it, has closed shop. Massy Tadjedin’s film sounds a bit like a young person’s Eyes Wide Shut dealing as it does with infidelity – whether imaged or not.
A new trailer is currently doing the rounds. See what you think? Lo-fi indie goodness or bland rubbish starring one too many good-looking people?...
One of her latest, Last Night, stars Sam Worthington and Eva Mendes and is currently floating about without a distributor since Miramax, who bought it, has closed shop. Massy Tadjedin’s film sounds a bit like a young person’s Eyes Wide Shut dealing as it does with infidelity – whether imaged or not.
A new trailer is currently doing the rounds. See what you think? Lo-fi indie goodness or bland rubbish starring one too many good-looking people?...
- 11/9/2010
- by Martyn Conterio
- FilmShaft.com
What's cool about Pitchfork's best 50 videos countdown from the 90's are seeing how some of the least obvious names cut their teeth on music videos -- some became full fledged members of the filmmaking community, while some are still in the cross over stages. What is most odd about the list is how Chris Cunningham, who along with Spike Jonze (see Weezer video below) and Michel Gondry dominated the music video scene, never made the jump into feature film. While you've got Jonathan Glazer, Mike Mills and Mark Romanek with more than one mention, and together, Jonze and Gondry are mentioned a dozen times, I've decided to point out those who have made a feature film among the 50 list. Check them out after the jump - Yo La Tengo: "Sugarcube" Phil Morrison blasted onto the scene with indie gem Junebug, but hasn't made anything since. Blur: "Coffee + TV" Garth Jennings...
- 8/24/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
RopeOfSilicon have posted the official first image from Massy Tadjedin’s Last Night.
Selected to close this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Last Night stars Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington, Eva Mendes and Guillaume Canet.
Last Night was written and directed by Tadjedin and is her first foray into feature film directing Tadjedin, having achieved writing credits on John Maybury’s The Jacket and Mehdi Norowzian’s Leo previously.
Synopsis: Michael and Joanna Reed (Worthington and Knightley), a happily married Manhattan couple, but after attending one of Michael’s business parties Joanna notices a curious moment between him and his co-worker, Laura (Mendes). Nothing specific can be made of the incident, but each are soon tempted to stray, as the Michael goes on a business trip with Laura while Joanna has an encounter with a past love (Canet).
Check out the first look image below, featuring Knightley and Canet:
Last...
Selected to close this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Last Night stars Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington, Eva Mendes and Guillaume Canet.
Last Night was written and directed by Tadjedin and is her first foray into feature film directing Tadjedin, having achieved writing credits on John Maybury’s The Jacket and Mehdi Norowzian’s Leo previously.
Synopsis: Michael and Joanna Reed (Worthington and Knightley), a happily married Manhattan couple, but after attending one of Michael’s business parties Joanna notices a curious moment between him and his co-worker, Laura (Mendes). Nothing specific can be made of the incident, but each are soon tempted to stray, as the Michael goes on a business trip with Laura while Joanna has an encounter with a past love (Canet).
Check out the first look image below, featuring Knightley and Canet:
Last...
- 8/19/2010
- by Jamie Neish
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Guillaume Canet and Keira Knightley in Last Night
Photo: Miramax Above is your first official look at Massy Tadjedin's Last Night which stars Keira Knightly, Eva Mendes, Guillaume Canet and Sam Worthington and will be the closing night film at this year's Toronto International Film Festival.
The film centers on Michael and Joanna Reed (Worthington and Knightley), a happily married Manhattan couple, but after attending one of Michael's business parties Joanna notices a curious moment between him and his co-worker, Laura (Mendes). Nothing specific can be made of the incident, but each are soon tempted to stray, as the Michael goes on a business trip with Laura while Joanna has an encounter with a past love (Canet).
Last Night serves as Tadjedin's directorial debut working from her own script. Previously she wrote the screenplay for the rather weak sci-fi film The Jacket, which also starred Knightley opposite Adrien Brody and directed by John Maybury.
Photo: Miramax Above is your first official look at Massy Tadjedin's Last Night which stars Keira Knightly, Eva Mendes, Guillaume Canet and Sam Worthington and will be the closing night film at this year's Toronto International Film Festival.
The film centers on Michael and Joanna Reed (Worthington and Knightley), a happily married Manhattan couple, but after attending one of Michael's business parties Joanna notices a curious moment between him and his co-worker, Laura (Mendes). Nothing specific can be made of the incident, but each are soon tempted to stray, as the Michael goes on a business trip with Laura while Joanna has an encounter with a past love (Canet).
Last Night serves as Tadjedin's directorial debut working from her own script. Previously she wrote the screenplay for the rather weak sci-fi film The Jacket, which also starred Knightley opposite Adrien Brody and directed by John Maybury.
- 8/19/2010
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Actress has been to three other facilities before her latest court-ordered stay.
By Gil Kaufman
Lindsay Lohan appears in court
Photo: Pool/ Getty Images
When troubled actress Lindsay Lohan exited the Century Regional Detention Facility in the early hours of Monday (August 2) morning, she was shuttled directly to a place she's quite familiar with: rehab.
Though the "Mean Girls" star only served 13 of the 90 days in jail she was sentenced to in connection with a probation violation from a 2007 DUI conviction, she will have to serve the entire 90 days of court-mandated rehab at a UCLA Hospital-affiliated facility in order to complete her sentence. Since her struggles with substance abuse first surfaced more than four years ago, the 24-year-old actress has made several attempts to get clean.
A short time after rumors began to emerged of problems on the set of her 2006 movie "Georgia Rule," Lohan checked into the Wonderland Center...
By Gil Kaufman
Lindsay Lohan appears in court
Photo: Pool/ Getty Images
When troubled actress Lindsay Lohan exited the Century Regional Detention Facility in the early hours of Monday (August 2) morning, she was shuttled directly to a place she's quite familiar with: rehab.
Though the "Mean Girls" star only served 13 of the 90 days in jail she was sentenced to in connection with a probation violation from a 2007 DUI conviction, she will have to serve the entire 90 days of court-mandated rehab at a UCLA Hospital-affiliated facility in order to complete her sentence. Since her struggles with substance abuse first surfaced more than four years ago, the 24-year-old actress has made several attempts to get clean.
A short time after rumors began to emerged of problems on the set of her 2006 movie "Georgia Rule," Lohan checked into the Wonderland Center...
- 8/2/2010
- MTV Music News
From Martin Scorsese to Peter Doig, film-makers, photographers and artists explain how Caravaggio's prophetically cinematic paintings inspired them
David Lachapelle – Photographer and film director
Caravaggio is often called the most modern of the old masters – there's a newness, a contemporary feel to his work that painting prior to him just didn't have. It's like when [fashion designer Alexander] McQueen came on the scene, everything else [in the fashion world] suddenly looked old. Caravaggio used light like a photographer and his pictures are cropped like photographs. One that sticks in my mind is Boy Bitten By a Lizard. That's a beautiful example of the one-source light that we identify Caravaggio with, that he pioneered, but it's also a wonderful captured moment, this boy's sort of feminine reaction to the lizard's bite. It's a photograph before photography.
The flower in the boy's hair and the blouse coming off his shoulders I think signify that the boy is a male prostitute.
David Lachapelle – Photographer and film director
Caravaggio is often called the most modern of the old masters – there's a newness, a contemporary feel to his work that painting prior to him just didn't have. It's like when [fashion designer Alexander] McQueen came on the scene, everything else [in the fashion world] suddenly looked old. Caravaggio used light like a photographer and his pictures are cropped like photographs. One that sticks in my mind is Boy Bitten By a Lizard. That's a beautiful example of the one-source light that we identify Caravaggio with, that he pioneered, but it's also a wonderful captured moment, this boy's sort of feminine reaction to the lizard's bite. It's a photograph before photography.
The flower in the boy's hair and the blouse coming off his shoulders I think signify that the boy is a male prostitute.
- 7/24/2010
- by Imogen Carter
- The Guardian - Film News
So, Robert Pattinson isn’t fit to play Kurt Cobain. I agree. On the other hand, I believe that Pattinson would be perfect for the role of Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. The anti-Pattinson, anti-Twilight crowd can laugh as much as they want. But nobody broods better than Robert Pattinson, and Emily Brontë’s Heathcliff is the broodingest of all brooding literature heroes. (Okay, so Pattinson is brooding above on the cover of the Italian Vanity Fair, but so what? One broods where one can.) I’m assuming there’s absolutely no chance whatsoever that Andrea Arnold (replacing Peter Webber who had replaced John Maybury), currently working on another film adaptation of Brontë’s doomed love tale, will even consider Pattinson for the role of [...]...
- 4/17/2010
- by Joan Lister
- Alt Film Guide
What I love about this new poster for Luca Guadagnino’s I Am Love (Io sono l'amore) is not just its gorgeous typography, but also how it celebrates its lead actress, the incomparable Tilda Swinton. In the film, which premiered at Venice and Sundance and opens in the U.S. in June, Swinton plays a Russian woman married into a rich Milanese family who embarks upon a tempestuous affair with her son’s business partner. In the UK quad poster Swinton’s co-stars (including Barry Lyndon’s Marisa Berenson) have been turned into grey statues, like characters in a Roy Andersson film, while Swinton is suitably vivid in pink.
Ever since she pirouetted to the wails of Diamanda Galas, tearing furiously at her wedding dress and running with scissors, in Derek Jarman’s masterpiece The Last of England (1988), Swinton has been a constantly arresting presence in film. Furiously intelligent and a restlessly curious human being,...
Ever since she pirouetted to the wails of Diamanda Galas, tearing furiously at her wedding dress and running with scissors, in Derek Jarman’s masterpiece The Last of England (1988), Swinton has been a constantly arresting presence in film. Furiously intelligent and a restlessly curious human being,...
- 2/26/2010
- MUBI
Indie auteur Andrea Arnold has already made a name for herself with just two features under her belt, both of them-- Fish Tank and Red Road-- taking dark psychological looks at modern women in potentially perilous circumstances. You'd think she would stick to her path of writing and directing her own films, but Arnold has thrown in a curveball-- Variety is reporting that she'll be directing an adaptation of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. The movie has gone through a revolving door of cast and director changes over the past few years, with Natalie Portman and Gemma Arterton both at one point attached to play the lead character, and directors Peter Webber and John Maybury both signing on before bailing. No actors are currently attached, but given the rave reviews that both Katie Jarvis and Michael Fassbender received for their Fish Tank performances, I imagine there will be people...
- 1/20/2010
- cinemablend.com
The Brontë family is coming back to movie screens in a big way. There's the new version of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, to be directed by Sin Nombre's Cary Fukunaga. And now a long in development revamp of Wuthering Heights, the only novel by Charlotte's sister Emily Brontë, has its own director. Andrea Arnold, currently getting attention for her Cannes hit Fish Tank (see the new trailer here) has signed on to direct the film. As Variety reports, Arnold is the third director to come on board in the past year. John Maybury was first to come and go, then Peter Webber was briefly on board earlier this winter. Olivia Hetreed's script remains the blueprint for the film. There is no cast at this point, though several actresses have circled or been attached to the project. Natalie Portman, Abbie Cornish and Gemma Arterton have all been associated...
- 1/20/2010
- by Russ Fischer
- Slash Film
There's surprising -- and dare I say it, awesome -- news in Brontë land! John Maybury was tapped to helm Wuthering Heights a year ago, and he left last summer after Natalie Portman danced in and out of the production. Then Peter Webber came along in December, just to leave a month later and make way for this great nugget of news -- Variety reports that Andrea Arnold is the new director.
Yes, the woman behind the achingly chilling Red Road, who is currently making waves with her latest feature, Fish Tank. This is the first feature that she hasn't written, and more importantly -- her first classic and period piece. But it might not be so surprising once you learn that it's something of a passion project. Producer Robert Bernstein says: "Andrea has previously said that the only book she would ever depict would be Wuthering Heights because of the passionate,...
Yes, the woman behind the achingly chilling Red Road, who is currently making waves with her latest feature, Fish Tank. This is the first feature that she hasn't written, and more importantly -- her first classic and period piece. But it might not be so surprising once you learn that it's something of a passion project. Producer Robert Bernstein says: "Andrea has previously said that the only book she would ever depict would be Wuthering Heights because of the passionate,...
- 1/20/2010
- by Monika Bartyzel
- Cinematical
Red Road and Fish Tank director steps in to replace Peter Webber on new film of Emily Brontë's gothic romance
Andrea Arnold, the Oscar-winning British film-maker behind Red Road and Fish Tank, is stepping in to direct the new film adaptation of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, Variety reports.
Arnold will direct from Olivia Hetreed's adaptation of the novel – a first for the director, who wrote the hard-hitting scripts for both her acclaimed feature films.
Explaining the hiring yesterday, producer Robert Bernstein said: "Andrea has previously said that the only book she would ever direct would be Wuthering Heights, because of the passionate, impossible love story at its centre and its elements of class divide," he said. "It's a very lucky coincidence for us that we've found each other."
Arnold, who won an Academy Award for best live-action short for her film Wasp in 2005, takes over from Peter Webber,...
Andrea Arnold, the Oscar-winning British film-maker behind Red Road and Fish Tank, is stepping in to direct the new film adaptation of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, Variety reports.
Arnold will direct from Olivia Hetreed's adaptation of the novel – a first for the director, who wrote the hard-hitting scripts for both her acclaimed feature films.
Explaining the hiring yesterday, producer Robert Bernstein said: "Andrea has previously said that the only book she would ever direct would be Wuthering Heights, because of the passionate, impossible love story at its centre and its elements of class divide," he said. "It's a very lucky coincidence for us that we've found each other."
Arnold, who won an Academy Award for best live-action short for her film Wasp in 2005, takes over from Peter Webber,...
- 1/20/2010
- by Ben Child
- The Guardian - Film News
The latest cinematic version of Emily Bronte's classic tome Wuthering Heights has had a hell of a time finding a Cathy or a director. But now it has one of them at least: Fish Tank's Andrea Arnold has signed to call the shots.The team at Ecosse Films must be wiping their collective brows and crossing their collective fingers that she sticks around longer than John Maybury and Peter Webber, who both flirted with the idea of the directing job, but ultimately vacated the chair.And with Arnold in place, the movie might finally lock down a cast, since seemingly every suitable actress, including Natalie Portman, Abbie Cornish and Gemma Arterton have been attached to the role of doomed lover Cathy at one point or another.Olivia Hetreed has adapted the novel, which sees a damaged romance play out between the moody Heathcliff and the passionate Cathy, even...
- 1/20/2010
- EmpireOnline
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