In 1960, Kirk Douglas had helped to break the Hollywood Blacklist with "Spartacus" by publicly crediting then-blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo as the screenwriter. But in 1969, he found himself working with a director who had been anything but helpful to his Hollywood colleagues during the height of McCarthyism. Sadly, this team-up between Douglas and director Elia Kazan also had the unfortunate distinction of being one of the Greek-American filmmaker's most derided films.
"The Arrangement" currently has a 15% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which should tell you pretty much all you need to know about how this ill-fated drama was received upon release. The film is an adaptation of Kazan's own 1967 novel of the same name and follows LA advertising executive Evangelos Topouzoglou/Eddie Anderson (Douglas) as he endures a protracted nervous breakdown (which is what watching this incredible trailer feels like). Critics at the time were merciless with their condemnation of Kazan's film,...
"The Arrangement" currently has a 15% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which should tell you pretty much all you need to know about how this ill-fated drama was received upon release. The film is an adaptation of Kazan's own 1967 novel of the same name and follows LA advertising executive Evangelos Topouzoglou/Eddie Anderson (Douglas) as he endures a protracted nervous breakdown (which is what watching this incredible trailer feels like). Critics at the time were merciless with their condemnation of Kazan's film,...
- 6/9/2024
- by Joe Roberts
- Slash Film
It's odd to think of stars like Audrey Hepburn within a modern context. The Egot winner seems to belong so perfectly to a bygone era of Hollywood — one characterized by a kind of romanticism and graceful dignity that just doesn't map on to the age of streaming and ubiquitous "content." Of course, in reality the Hollywood of the mid-20th century was often anything but a halcyon dream, with the star system still very much in operation, shackling actors to their respective studios to be traded off and sold like commodities. Still, it's just plain weird to think about these titans of Hollywood in the context of, for instance, Rotten Tomatoes — the great arbiter of our contemporary collective taste in cinema.
Imagine, if you will, the career of this Unicef Goodwill Ambassador, fashion icon, and legendary starlet summed up in a list of cartoon splats and tomatoes. It doesn't feel quite right does it?...
Imagine, if you will, the career of this Unicef Goodwill Ambassador, fashion icon, and legendary starlet summed up in a list of cartoon splats and tomatoes. It doesn't feel quite right does it?...
- 5/23/2024
- by Joe Roberts
- Slash Film
The first three Star Wars films are often cited as some of the best Hollywood movies of all time, while The Phantom Menace received far less glowing reviews. George Lucas reacted to the critical trashing, saying the reviews for The Phantom Menace were identical to those for the previous Star Wars films. Fans should not take him at his word.
George Lucas defended a controversial character from ‘The Phantom Menace’
During a 1999 interview with Empire Magazine, Lucas shrugged off the negative reviews of The Phantom Menace. “The critics pretty much hated the first three movies; they said the dialogue is bad, the acting’s wooden, no story, too many special effects, it’s a children’s film,” he said.
“That same review got moved to Empire Strikes Back, that same review got moved to Return of the Jedi, and that is the review that is getting reprinted now. You’d think that after a while,...
George Lucas defended a controversial character from ‘The Phantom Menace’
During a 1999 interview with Empire Magazine, Lucas shrugged off the negative reviews of The Phantom Menace. “The critics pretty much hated the first three movies; they said the dialogue is bad, the acting’s wooden, no story, too many special effects, it’s a children’s film,” he said.
“That same review got moved to Empire Strikes Back, that same review got moved to Return of the Jedi, and that is the review that is getting reprinted now. You’d think that after a while,...
- 5/21/2024
- by Matthew Trzcinski
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
What's Daniel Day Lewis' best film? "Gangs of New York," perhaps? What about his Oscar-winning performance as the 16th President of the United States in "Lincoln?" Surely his efforts there should put Steven Spielberg's historical drama in the running for Lewis' finest work. Well, it's neither of these. Daniel Day Lewis' best film is, in fact, 1985's "A Room With a View," — at least according to Rotten Tomatoes.
The website that determined there to be only two perfect horror movies can also be consulted for its rankings of individual actors' filmographies. This has resulted in the definitely correct revelation that Sean Connery's finest film is "Darby O'Gill and the Little People." Now, it's Gene Hackman's turn to have a lifetime of acting ability summed up by a series of cartoon splats and tomatoes. What could possibly be at the top of this list? Well, my money was...
The website that determined there to be only two perfect horror movies can also be consulted for its rankings of individual actors' filmographies. This has resulted in the definitely correct revelation that Sean Connery's finest film is "Darby O'Gill and the Little People." Now, it's Gene Hackman's turn to have a lifetime of acting ability summed up by a series of cartoon splats and tomatoes. What could possibly be at the top of this list? Well, my money was...
- 5/20/2024
- by Joe Roberts
- Slash Film
“The last thing I hate is that life always forces us to keep moving forwards.”
In the aftermath of the New York Film Festival, reporter Vincent Canby wrote an article about the films of the festival he aptly named “Why Some Films Don't Travel Well”. Works such as Zhang Yimou's “Red Sorghum”, Andrei Konchalovsky's “Asya's Happiness” and Hou Hsiao-Hsien's “Daughter of the Nile” are mostly relevant thanks to their “sociology factor” Canby begins his article, an aspect that these works are and have been applauded for around the world while as films themselves they are not that interesting. Hou Hsiao-Hien, one of the most popular directors of Taiwanese New Cinema along with Edward Yang, was still trying to find a cinematic language for his films, one which strongly resembled the works of Yasujiro Ozu in terms of style and content, the sense of resignation, as he writes...
In the aftermath of the New York Film Festival, reporter Vincent Canby wrote an article about the films of the festival he aptly named “Why Some Films Don't Travel Well”. Works such as Zhang Yimou's “Red Sorghum”, Andrei Konchalovsky's “Asya's Happiness” and Hou Hsiao-Hsien's “Daughter of the Nile” are mostly relevant thanks to their “sociology factor” Canby begins his article, an aspect that these works are and have been applauded for around the world while as films themselves they are not that interesting. Hou Hsiao-Hien, one of the most popular directors of Taiwanese New Cinema along with Edward Yang, was still trying to find a cinematic language for his films, one which strongly resembled the works of Yasujiro Ozu in terms of style and content, the sense of resignation, as he writes...
- 2/13/2024
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
M3GAN (Universal Pictures), Taken 3 (20th Century Studios), Paddington 2 (Warner Bros.), Cloverfield (Paramount Pictures)Graphic: The A.V. Club (AP)
Historically and annually speaking, January is a bad month for Hollywood movies. It’s a “dump month,” that time of year when the major studios offload the projects in which they have no faith.
Historically and annually speaking, January is a bad month for Hollywood movies. It’s a “dump month,” that time of year when the major studios offload the projects in which they have no faith.
- 1/19/2024
- by A.V. Club Staff
- avclub.com
Few films have arrived in theaters saddled with more baggage than "Twilight Zone: The Movie." That the anthology film featuring segments from John Landis, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, and George Miller actually arrived in the first place was something of a surprise -- and for many in the entertainment industry, it wasn't a welcome one.
The production became a wholly avoidable tragedy on June 23, 1982, when a helicopter crashed on the set of Landis' segment, "Time Out," killing Vic Morrow and child actors Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen. The show does not always have to go on, but the movie was nevertheless completed and released (rather insensitively) on June 24, 1983, leading off with "Time Out". For some, it was like watching a snuff film.
How do you not let the realization that you're watching what might be a criminal production -- the National Transportation Safety Board had yet to finish their investigation,...
The production became a wholly avoidable tragedy on June 23, 1982, when a helicopter crashed on the set of Landis' segment, "Time Out," killing Vic Morrow and child actors Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen. The show does not always have to go on, but the movie was nevertheless completed and released (rather insensitively) on June 24, 1983, leading off with "Time Out". For some, it was like watching a snuff film.
How do you not let the realization that you're watching what might be a criminal production -- the National Transportation Safety Board had yet to finish their investigation,...
- 1/17/2024
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Richard Roundtree, the ultracool actor who helped open the door to a generation of Black filmmakers and performers with his portrayal of private eye John Shaft, “the cat that won’t cop out when there’s danger all about,” died Tuesday. He was 81.
Roundtree died at his home in Los Angeles of pancreatic cancer, his manager, Patrick McMinn, told The Hollywood Reporter.
He was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1993 and had a double mastectomy. “Breast cancer is not gender specific,” he said four years later. “And men have this cavalier attitude about health issues. I got such positive feedback because I spoke out about it, and it’s been quite a number of years now. I’m a survivor.”
Roundtree also portrayed the title character opposite Peter O’Toole as Robinson Crusoe in Man Friday, was featured as an army sergeant opposite Laurence Olivier as Gen. Douglas MacArthur in the Korean...
Roundtree died at his home in Los Angeles of pancreatic cancer, his manager, Patrick McMinn, told The Hollywood Reporter.
He was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1993 and had a double mastectomy. “Breast cancer is not gender specific,” he said four years later. “And men have this cavalier attitude about health issues. I got such positive feedback because I spoke out about it, and it’s been quite a number of years now. I’m a survivor.”
Roundtree also portrayed the title character opposite Peter O’Toole as Robinson Crusoe in Man Friday, was featured as an army sergeant opposite Laurence Olivier as Gen. Douglas MacArthur in the Korean...
- 10/25/2023
- by Chris Koseluk
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
One of the most beloved movies of 1983 is “The Big Chill,” starring Kevin Kline, Glenn Close, William Hurt and Meg Tilly. Written by Lawrence Kasdan and Barbara Benedek and directed by Kasdan, the film is an ensemble comedy-drama about a group of former college friends who reunite for a weekend after one of their college friends dies. Released 40 years ago on September 28, 1983, “The Big Chill” did well at the box office, making $56 million worldwide on a budget of just $8 million. The movie marked another financial triumph for director Kasdan, whose feature debut two years earlier, “Body Heat,” did well at the box office and with critics. Read on as Gold Derby celebrates “The Big Chill” 40th anniversary.
Critics for the most part gave positive notices to “The Big Chill,” including Richard Corliss in Time Magazine, who called it “funny and ferociously smart.” Vincent Canby in The New York Times said,...
Critics for the most part gave positive notices to “The Big Chill,” including Richard Corliss in Time Magazine, who called it “funny and ferociously smart.” Vincent Canby in The New York Times said,...
- 10/3/2023
- by Brian Rowe
- Gold Derby
The 61st New York Film Festival kicks off Sept. 29 with Todd Haynes’ drama “May December” starring Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman. Sofia Coppola’s well-received Venice hit “Priscilla” about Priscilla Presley is the fest’s Centerpiece. Michael Mann’s biopic “Ferrari” with Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz the closing night feature while Bradley Cooper’s portrait of composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein “Maestro,” which had a seven-minute standing ovation in Venice, is the festival’s spotlight gala. Other films screening include Yorgos Lanthimos “Poor Things,” which won the Golden Lion and best actress for Emma Stone at Venice, as well as Andrew Haigh’s “All of us Strangers” and Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest.”
A director came into his own 50 years ago at the New York Film Festival: Martin Scorsese. He’s of cinema’s greatest directors, who has made such landmark films as ‘Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull,” Goodfellas,...
A director came into his own 50 years ago at the New York Film Festival: Martin Scorsese. He’s of cinema’s greatest directors, who has made such landmark films as ‘Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull,” Goodfellas,...
- 9/28/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Screenwriter Bo Goldman, who won Oscars for his scripts to “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Melvin and Howard” and was among a select group of film scribes including Robert Towne and William Goldman considered to be among that generation’s best, died Tuesday in Helendale, Calif., his son-in-law, director Todd Field, confirmed to the New York Times. He was 90.
Goldman was also Oscar nominated for 1993’s “Scent of a Woman.”
The 1976 Oscar he shared with Lawrence Hauben for co-adapting Ken Kesey’s novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” was a particularly impressive achievement considering that “Cuckoo’s Nest” represented only Goldman’s second screenplay and the first to be produced. The win for adapted screenplay was part of a sweep for the film that also included victories for best picture, director, actor and actress. No movie had won those five awards since 1934’s “It’s a Wonderful...
Goldman was also Oscar nominated for 1993’s “Scent of a Woman.”
The 1976 Oscar he shared with Lawrence Hauben for co-adapting Ken Kesey’s novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” was a particularly impressive achievement considering that “Cuckoo’s Nest” represented only Goldman’s second screenplay and the first to be produced. The win for adapted screenplay was part of a sweep for the film that also included victories for best picture, director, actor and actress. No movie had won those five awards since 1934’s “It’s a Wonderful...
- 7/26/2023
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
No book could ever fully capture the beautiful, ugly, inexplicable madness that is the Cannes Film Festival — but that hasn’t stopped a handful from trying. Here are THR’s executive editor (awards) and resident film-book bibliophile’s picks for the five best.
1. Two Weeks in the Midday Sun: A Cannes Notebook, by Roger Ebert (1987)
This thin travelogue by the Chicago Sun-Times’ longtime film critic, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1975 and died in 2013, chronicles his experience covering the fest’s 1987 edition, having previously attended many times before. It breezily profiles true festival characters like the publicist Renee Furst, the schlock showman Menahem Golan and the gambler Billy “Silver Dollar” Baxter — all now gone — and charmingly illustrates how much some things have changed (journalists no longer file reports by telex when they can get around to it, but rather post multiple online dispatches daily) and others have not (the jetlag and lack of sleep,...
1. Two Weeks in the Midday Sun: A Cannes Notebook, by Roger Ebert (1987)
This thin travelogue by the Chicago Sun-Times’ longtime film critic, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1975 and died in 2013, chronicles his experience covering the fest’s 1987 edition, having previously attended many times before. It breezily profiles true festival characters like the publicist Renee Furst, the schlock showman Menahem Golan and the gambler Billy “Silver Dollar” Baxter — all now gone — and charmingly illustrates how much some things have changed (journalists no longer file reports by telex when they can get around to it, but rather post multiple online dispatches daily) and others have not (the jetlag and lack of sleep,...
- 5/19/2023
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
John Carpenter's "The Thing" may be widely regarded as a sci-fi horror masterpiece nowadays, but it suffered a gruesome reception when it was first released in the summer of 1982. Critics savaged it, citing everything from lack of characterization to excessive gore; Vincent Canby of the New York Times dismissed it as "instant junk" while Roger Ebert called it a "great barf-bag movie." Opinions of film critics don't always correlate with the tastes of the film-going public, of course, but audiences also stayed away in droves. While "The Thing" made a small profit, it was far from the box office hit that executives at Universal expected.
The frosty reception also brought Carpenter's excellent early run to an end, after "Assault on Precinct 13," "Halloween," "The Fog," and "Escape From New York" established him as a major genre filmmaker whose movies also made decent bank. Thankfully, "The Thing" didn't disappear without...
The frosty reception also brought Carpenter's excellent early run to an end, after "Assault on Precinct 13," "Halloween," "The Fog," and "Escape From New York" established him as a major genre filmmaker whose movies also made decent bank. Thankfully, "The Thing" didn't disappear without...
- 2/20/2023
- by Lee Adams
- Slash Film
The Great Italian Films of the 1970sThere was a certain type of great art film which was being made from 1968 through the 1970s which can never be approximated. Active and engaged filmmakers were consciously wakening out of the post-war amnesia and taking a perversely erotically charged political stand against the hypocrisy of the previous generation.
Italy was the hotbed of this examination of fascism coming out of World War II. Luchino Visconti’s The Damned (1969), Bertolucci’s The Conformist (1970), Pier Paolo Pasolini’s infamous Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975). Even the American musical, via Bob Fosse’s adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin Stories, Cabaret (1972) hinted at what the Italians went after with their full force of creative muscle.
Take Liliana Cavani’s The Night Porter (1974), set in Vienna in 1957, the film centers on the sadomasochistic relationship between a former Nazi concentration camp officer (Dirk Bogarde) and one of his inmates (Charlotte Rampling). Their sadomasochistic love is their only happiness and it paralyzes the former Nazis who have been reintegrated into polite society.
Universally reviled by U.S.’s top critics, Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times called it “as nasty as it is lubricious, a despicable attempt to titillate us by exploiting memories of persecution and suffering”. Vincent Canby, prominent critic for The New York Times, called it “romantic pornography” and “a piece of junk”. Pauline Kael wrote in The New Yorker, “Many of us can’t take more than a few hard-core porno movies, because the absence of any human esteem makes them depressing rather than sexy; The Night Porteroffers the same dehumanized view and is brazen enough to use the Second World War as an excuse.”
Susan Sontag’s essay Fascinating Facism for New York Review of Books (February 6, 1975) stated, “If the message of fascism has been neutralized by an aesthetic view of life, its trappings have been sexualized. This eroticization of fascism can be remarked in such enthralling and devout manifestations as Mishima’s Confessions of a Mask and Sun and Steel, and in films like Kenneth Anger’s Scorpio Rising and, more recently and far less interestingly, in Visconti’s The Damned and Cavani’s The Night Porter.”
However, its value was recognized by the executive producer Joseph E. Levine who quoted them on the posters of the U.S. theatrical release through his company Avco Embassy.
In a brilliant essay of the film by Kat Ellinger I quote:
Filmmakers were suddenly touching the untouchable, and it made certain people incredibly uncomfortable.”
Unlike Naziploitation, The Night Porter does nothing to cartoonise the Nazi officers that dominate the narrative. It isn’t a case of good versus evil, or that sadism is presented as a form of lasivious softcore pornography. Neither is the film a deliberate political treatise like the art films of Bertolucci, Visconti, or Pasolini. Its biggest transgression is that it humanises one of its main characters, Max (Dirk Bogarde), a former Nazi officer with a penchant for sadism, when he finds his ‘little girl’ again in the postwar period; a former concentration camp inmate Lucia (Charlotte Rampling) with whom he undertook a sadistic affair while she was incarcerated. On reuniting it is clear that their loved never died, so they continue, even though they know it will eventually contribute to their downfall and consequent death. Love in this realm is desperately profane, disgusting, something that should never be. And because of this it remains infinitely fascinating and uniquely humanistic.
Related in spirit was Bernardo Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris (1972), using sex to express the death of love and male causality, its own furor when it hit American cinemas still continues to court controversy; and Luchino Visconti’s The Innocent (1976), based upon the novel by the decadent writer Gabriele D’Annunzio, expressing the same but in a totally antithetical environment of the aristocracy. Bertolluci’s The Conformist(1970) twisted the repressed homosexual of its title into a sadomasochistic fascist.
One could say, as did Gabriel Jenkinson, “the dynamics of conformity present in the modern consumerist capitalist system result in repression, which in turn manifests as violent sadomasochism — and …if one does not actively rebel against this system, one is complicit in its proliferation.”
Parenthetically on the other side of the earth, in Japan, In the Realm of the Senses (1976) by Nagisa Ôshima about a woman whose affair with her master leads to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship also came out of Oshima’s early involvement with the student protest movement in Kyoto in ‘68 and out of his concern with the contradictions and tensions of postwar Japanese society in which he exposed contemporary Japanese materialism, while also examining what it means to be Japanese in the face of rapid industrialization and Westernization.
In 2020 Vincent Canby might have revisited The Night Porter and seen it in a different light. His 2020 review of Visconti’s last film, L’innocente (The Innocent), completed in 1976 shortly before his death was “among the most beautiful and severely disciplined films he has ever made.” It was also brazenly sadistic and sexy to a point that today would be labeled pornographic, and today could not be conceived of, much less made, diving, as it does, into sex, abortion, male domination and violence.
According to The World, public radio’s longest-running daily global news program, a co-production of Prx and Wgbh, in 2012:
British scientists have finally confirmed what women worldwide have been suspecting for centuries. It’s not religious principles that start wars. It’s not even civilization’s thirst for oil. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s the penis.
According to a study published this week in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society publication, the male sex drive is the cause of most conflicts in the world, from soccer hooliganism to religious wars, not to mention family disputes over the toilet seat being left up.
According to this story in The Telegraph, the scientists call it the “male warrior instinct” and claim men are programmed to be aggressive toward outsiders. It apparently used to be a handy instinct, back when you had to kill other suitors in order to gain more access to mates, but nowadays, this only works in some countries and a few US cities. For the rest of us, this unreformed sex drive only means ever-increasing defense budgets.
The magnitude of this discovery is so great, it’s difficult to estimate the potential ramifications.
At only eight inches on average (or that’s what we have been told), it’s smaller in size than most other controversial discoveries, yet — just like the atom — it has catastrophic consequences if in the hands of the wrong people.
And so these filmmakers show us the pathological drive of the unleashed male libido.
But times are different in the 21st century. These films could never be approximated by our Tik Tok generation where porn has created a quick witty and essentially violent vibrato of sexuality. These films of the late ‘60s and ‘70s took the libido at its rawest and showed its drive as an expression of political evil in very different types of stories.
And it might be worth noting that of all these films, the most reviled was written and directed by a woman and in most of the films, it is, in fact, a woman who proves the stronger of the two sexes and disarms the man. What remains viscerally true to this day is that that missile shaped 8 inch organ needs to be beaten into a plowshare.
SexFascismMoviesItalyInternational Film...
Italy was the hotbed of this examination of fascism coming out of World War II. Luchino Visconti’s The Damned (1969), Bertolucci’s The Conformist (1970), Pier Paolo Pasolini’s infamous Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975). Even the American musical, via Bob Fosse’s adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin Stories, Cabaret (1972) hinted at what the Italians went after with their full force of creative muscle.
Take Liliana Cavani’s The Night Porter (1974), set in Vienna in 1957, the film centers on the sadomasochistic relationship between a former Nazi concentration camp officer (Dirk Bogarde) and one of his inmates (Charlotte Rampling). Their sadomasochistic love is their only happiness and it paralyzes the former Nazis who have been reintegrated into polite society.
Universally reviled by U.S.’s top critics, Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times called it “as nasty as it is lubricious, a despicable attempt to titillate us by exploiting memories of persecution and suffering”. Vincent Canby, prominent critic for The New York Times, called it “romantic pornography” and “a piece of junk”. Pauline Kael wrote in The New Yorker, “Many of us can’t take more than a few hard-core porno movies, because the absence of any human esteem makes them depressing rather than sexy; The Night Porteroffers the same dehumanized view and is brazen enough to use the Second World War as an excuse.”
Susan Sontag’s essay Fascinating Facism for New York Review of Books (February 6, 1975) stated, “If the message of fascism has been neutralized by an aesthetic view of life, its trappings have been sexualized. This eroticization of fascism can be remarked in such enthralling and devout manifestations as Mishima’s Confessions of a Mask and Sun and Steel, and in films like Kenneth Anger’s Scorpio Rising and, more recently and far less interestingly, in Visconti’s The Damned and Cavani’s The Night Porter.”
However, its value was recognized by the executive producer Joseph E. Levine who quoted them on the posters of the U.S. theatrical release through his company Avco Embassy.
In a brilliant essay of the film by Kat Ellinger I quote:
Filmmakers were suddenly touching the untouchable, and it made certain people incredibly uncomfortable.”
Unlike Naziploitation, The Night Porter does nothing to cartoonise the Nazi officers that dominate the narrative. It isn’t a case of good versus evil, or that sadism is presented as a form of lasivious softcore pornography. Neither is the film a deliberate political treatise like the art films of Bertolucci, Visconti, or Pasolini. Its biggest transgression is that it humanises one of its main characters, Max (Dirk Bogarde), a former Nazi officer with a penchant for sadism, when he finds his ‘little girl’ again in the postwar period; a former concentration camp inmate Lucia (Charlotte Rampling) with whom he undertook a sadistic affair while she was incarcerated. On reuniting it is clear that their loved never died, so they continue, even though they know it will eventually contribute to their downfall and consequent death. Love in this realm is desperately profane, disgusting, something that should never be. And because of this it remains infinitely fascinating and uniquely humanistic.
Related in spirit was Bernardo Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris (1972), using sex to express the death of love and male causality, its own furor when it hit American cinemas still continues to court controversy; and Luchino Visconti’s The Innocent (1976), based upon the novel by the decadent writer Gabriele D’Annunzio, expressing the same but in a totally antithetical environment of the aristocracy. Bertolluci’s The Conformist(1970) twisted the repressed homosexual of its title into a sadomasochistic fascist.
One could say, as did Gabriel Jenkinson, “the dynamics of conformity present in the modern consumerist capitalist system result in repression, which in turn manifests as violent sadomasochism — and …if one does not actively rebel against this system, one is complicit in its proliferation.”
Parenthetically on the other side of the earth, in Japan, In the Realm of the Senses (1976) by Nagisa Ôshima about a woman whose affair with her master leads to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship also came out of Oshima’s early involvement with the student protest movement in Kyoto in ‘68 and out of his concern with the contradictions and tensions of postwar Japanese society in which he exposed contemporary Japanese materialism, while also examining what it means to be Japanese in the face of rapid industrialization and Westernization.
In 2020 Vincent Canby might have revisited The Night Porter and seen it in a different light. His 2020 review of Visconti’s last film, L’innocente (The Innocent), completed in 1976 shortly before his death was “among the most beautiful and severely disciplined films he has ever made.” It was also brazenly sadistic and sexy to a point that today would be labeled pornographic, and today could not be conceived of, much less made, diving, as it does, into sex, abortion, male domination and violence.
According to The World, public radio’s longest-running daily global news program, a co-production of Prx and Wgbh, in 2012:
British scientists have finally confirmed what women worldwide have been suspecting for centuries. It’s not religious principles that start wars. It’s not even civilization’s thirst for oil. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s the penis.
According to a study published this week in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society publication, the male sex drive is the cause of most conflicts in the world, from soccer hooliganism to religious wars, not to mention family disputes over the toilet seat being left up.
According to this story in The Telegraph, the scientists call it the “male warrior instinct” and claim men are programmed to be aggressive toward outsiders. It apparently used to be a handy instinct, back when you had to kill other suitors in order to gain more access to mates, but nowadays, this only works in some countries and a few US cities. For the rest of us, this unreformed sex drive only means ever-increasing defense budgets.
The magnitude of this discovery is so great, it’s difficult to estimate the potential ramifications.
At only eight inches on average (or that’s what we have been told), it’s smaller in size than most other controversial discoveries, yet — just like the atom — it has catastrophic consequences if in the hands of the wrong people.
And so these filmmakers show us the pathological drive of the unleashed male libido.
But times are different in the 21st century. These films could never be approximated by our Tik Tok generation where porn has created a quick witty and essentially violent vibrato of sexuality. These films of the late ‘60s and ‘70s took the libido at its rawest and showed its drive as an expression of political evil in very different types of stories.
And it might be worth noting that of all these films, the most reviled was written and directed by a woman and in most of the films, it is, in fact, a woman who proves the stronger of the two sexes and disarms the man. What remains viscerally true to this day is that that missile shaped 8 inch organ needs to be beaten into a plowshare.
SexFascismMoviesItalyInternational Film...
- 2/11/2023
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
Hugh Hudson, whose first feature directing effort Chariots of Fire won four Academy Awards including Best Picture, has died, according to a statement from his family obtained by the BBC. He was 86.
Hudson began his career making documentaries and television commercials, which he continued to do even after his big-screen breakthrough with Chariots of Fire. He worked alongside Alan Parker, Ridley Scott and Tony Scott for Ridley Scott Associates (Rsa). His first filmmaking job was as a second-unit director on Parker’s Midnight Express.
Vincent Canby wrote of Hudson’s Oscar-winning debut in 1981: “It’s to the credit of both Mr. Hudson and Mr. Welland [Colin Welland wrote the screenplay] that Chariots of Fire is simultaneously romantic and commonsensical, lyrical and comic. … It’s an exceptional film, about some exceptional people.”
Also deserving credit for the film’s lyricism was the late composer Vangelis, whom Puttnam had worked with...
Hudson began his career making documentaries and television commercials, which he continued to do even after his big-screen breakthrough with Chariots of Fire. He worked alongside Alan Parker, Ridley Scott and Tony Scott for Ridley Scott Associates (Rsa). His first filmmaking job was as a second-unit director on Parker’s Midnight Express.
Vincent Canby wrote of Hudson’s Oscar-winning debut in 1981: “It’s to the credit of both Mr. Hudson and Mr. Welland [Colin Welland wrote the screenplay] that Chariots of Fire is simultaneously romantic and commonsensical, lyrical and comic. … It’s an exceptional film, about some exceptional people.”
Also deserving credit for the film’s lyricism was the late composer Vangelis, whom Puttnam had worked with...
- 2/10/2023
- by Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
Science fiction is the exploration of our practical imaginations. Its stories can be fantastic, uplifting, and horrifying but they need to remain grounded in a scientifically applied reality -- a reality we already understand or one that's clearly explained. Without these rules governing our experiences, our exploration becomes untethered from reality and sails off into obscurity, and no CGI velociraptor, animatronic android, or puppet-like killer shrew is going to save it. Or can it? If Dr. Ian Malcolm were a film historian, his cinematic chaos theory would predict that over time, lovingly crafted cinema, like life, breaks free, expands to new territories, and crashes through barriers, painfully, maybe even dangerously.
In their era, masterpieces like "The Thing" may have been a little too much for audiences. Some critics struggled to see the beauty present in John Carpenter's classic beyond the gore and creatures. Over time, though, a cinematically enlightened...
In their era, masterpieces like "The Thing" may have been a little too much for audiences. Some critics struggled to see the beauty present in John Carpenter's classic beyond the gore and creatures. Over time, though, a cinematically enlightened...
- 1/14/2023
- by Brendan Knapp
- Slash Film
Neil Jimenez, who won three Indie Spirit Awards for writing River’s Edge and writing and co-directing The Waterdance, has died. He was 62. His sister, Kathleen Serio, said Jimenez died December 11 of heart failure in Arroyo Grande, CA.
Jimenez won his first Spirit Award in 1988 for his screenplay to River’s Edge, the Tim Hunter-directed thriller whose stacked cast included Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves, Ione Skye and Dennis Hopper. The 1986 pic about a group of California friends who get ensnarled in a murder and cover-up also won Best Feature at the Spirits that year and was a nominee for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.
The Sacramento native went on to pen or co-write the scripts for Where the River Runs Black (1986) and The Dark Wind (1991) and the story for Bette Midler period drama For the Boys (1991). Jimenez’s next project was The Waterdance, which starred Eric Stoltz as...
Jimenez won his first Spirit Award in 1988 for his screenplay to River’s Edge, the Tim Hunter-directed thriller whose stacked cast included Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves, Ione Skye and Dennis Hopper. The 1986 pic about a group of California friends who get ensnarled in a murder and cover-up also won Best Feature at the Spirits that year and was a nominee for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.
The Sacramento native went on to pen or co-write the scripts for Where the River Runs Black (1986) and The Dark Wind (1991) and the story for Bette Midler period drama For the Boys (1991). Jimenez’s next project was The Waterdance, which starred Eric Stoltz as...
- 12/30/2022
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
From the very beginning of his career, Harrison Ford viewed himself as an actor rather than a movie star –- sometimes to his detriment. He washed out of Columbia Pictures' New Talent Program in the 1960s after failing to impress in a few bit parts, and played against his rakish charm until he broke through as Han Solo in "Star Wars." Even after that, he sought out challenging roles in less commercial films before returning as the charismatic smuggler in "Star Wars: Episode V –- The Empire Strikes Back."
Ford played the matinee idol game pretty much by the book in the early 1980s, which, after the completion of the original "Star Wars" trilogy and his second go-round as Indiana Jones, earned him decidedly more leeway to take risks than he'd had in the past. He wasted no time by jumping into Peter Weir's "Witness," a masterfully rendered fish-out-of-water...
Ford played the matinee idol game pretty much by the book in the early 1980s, which, after the completion of the original "Star Wars" trilogy and his second go-round as Indiana Jones, earned him decidedly more leeway to take risks than he'd had in the past. He wasted no time by jumping into Peter Weir's "Witness," a masterfully rendered fish-out-of-water...
- 12/29/2022
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
British director Mike Hodges, known for directing “Get Carter,” “Croupier” and “Flash Gordon,” died in Dorset, England on Dec. 17. He was 90.
His death was announced by Mike Kaplan, longtime friend and producer of “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead.”
Hodges’ crime dramas came at the beginning of his career — “Get Carter” (1971) and “Pulp” (1972) — and the end — “Croupier” (1999) and “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” (2003). In addition to his crime dramas he was known for his campy, stylized take on “Flash Gordon.”
Andrew Sarris wrote in the Observer in 2000, “Director Mike Hodges has become one of the most under-appreciated and virtually unknown masters of the medium over the last 30 years” and “Mr. Hodges has been hailed by everyone from Martin Scorsese to Pauline Kael as a stylist of the first order.”
Hodges adapted “Get Carter” — one of the greatest British gangster movies of all time — himself from a novel by Ted Lewis.
His death was announced by Mike Kaplan, longtime friend and producer of “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead.”
Hodges’ crime dramas came at the beginning of his career — “Get Carter” (1971) and “Pulp” (1972) — and the end — “Croupier” (1999) and “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” (2003). In addition to his crime dramas he was known for his campy, stylized take on “Flash Gordon.”
Andrew Sarris wrote in the Observer in 2000, “Director Mike Hodges has become one of the most under-appreciated and virtually unknown masters of the medium over the last 30 years” and “Mr. Hodges has been hailed by everyone from Martin Scorsese to Pauline Kael as a stylist of the first order.”
Hodges adapted “Get Carter” — one of the greatest British gangster movies of all time — himself from a novel by Ted Lewis.
- 12/20/2022
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
Epic fantasy has been a popular genre in the movies for nearly a century. Classics like "The Wizard of Oz," "Jason and the Argonauts," and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" attracted hordes of moviegoers; they also won awards and drew rave reviews from critics. But not every fantasy film gets two thumbs up. For every "The Lord of the Rings," there's a "Hobbit"; for every "Labyrinth," an "Eragon."
And yet, some of these films might make you sit up and cheer anyway. It's not just the swords and sorcery that make them fun; it's the diverse and complex characters, the bizarre and creative creatures, and the wild and innovative settings. Many fantasy films were lambasted by reviewers when they were released, but if you sit down to watch them today, you'll have a fantastic time.
Don't believe me? These 14 epic fantasy movies were panned by professional commentators, but they're still a blast to watch.
And yet, some of these films might make you sit up and cheer anyway. It's not just the swords and sorcery that make them fun; it's the diverse and complex characters, the bizarre and creative creatures, and the wild and innovative settings. Many fantasy films were lambasted by reviewers when they were released, but if you sit down to watch them today, you'll have a fantastic time.
Don't believe me? These 14 epic fantasy movies were panned by professional commentators, but they're still a blast to watch.
- 12/14/2022
- by Brendan Knapp
- Slash Film
Legendary Hollywood men typically stick to specific archetypes when playing the romantic lead in their films. Where Humphrey Bogart was often coarse and cynical with a heart of gold, Cary Grant tended to be debonair and sharp-witted with a mischievous streak. At the peak of his movie stardom, Harrison Ford had a touch of both those gents. He was a cocky scoundrel who bore his skepticism like a shield yet would allow himself to be unguarded and even sweet in the right company. Ford was also just as foxy donning a fedora as he was rocking the adorkable getup of a mild-mannered professor.
After breaking out as the suave cosmic reprobate Han Solo in "Star Wars: A New Hope," Ford co-starred in Jeremy Paul Kagan's 1977 Vietnam War veteran drama, "Heroes" (a film he worked on prior to "A New Hope" reaching theaters), and Guy Hamilton's 1978 "Guns of Navarone" sequel,...
After breaking out as the suave cosmic reprobate Han Solo in "Star Wars: A New Hope," Ford co-starred in Jeremy Paul Kagan's 1977 Vietnam War veteran drama, "Heroes" (a film he worked on prior to "A New Hope" reaching theaters), and Guy Hamilton's 1978 "Guns of Navarone" sequel,...
- 12/6/2022
- by Sandy Schaefer
- Slash Film
Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker might've been the protagonist of George Lucas' "Star Wars," but Harrison Ford was its breakout star as the charming interstellar rapscallion Han Solo. He would've broken out eight years earlier in Jacques Demy's "Model Shop," but the genius head of Columbia Pictures at the time believed Ford had "no future" as a film actor. Having finally kicked down the door at the age of 35, Ford was determined to not get pigeonholed as his generation's Flash Gordon à la Buster Crabbe. So before "Star Wars" hit theaters on May 22, 1977, the actor chased down a supporting role in a small, independently produced film.
The film was Jeremy Kagan's "Heroes," a quiet drama about a Vietnam veteran (Henry Winkler) who escapes a mental hospital in New York City and sets out on a quest to start a worm farm in Northern California. Winkler is joined by...
The film was Jeremy Kagan's "Heroes," a quiet drama about a Vietnam veteran (Henry Winkler) who escapes a mental hospital in New York City and sets out on a quest to start a worm farm in Northern California. Winkler is joined by...
- 12/3/2022
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Christopher Walken always disagreed with the mostly negative critical response to 1980's "Heaven's Gate." He plays a supporting role in the legendary flop of a Western, giving one of his most subdued and haunting performances as the morally-conflicted cattle baron enforcer Nate Champion. Walken had only just won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in director Michael Cimino's previous film, "The Deer Hunter," when the pair reunited for "Heaven's Gate." He couldn't have known what he was getting into.
He stands by it, however. As he told IndieWire in 2012, Walken "always thought it was good" and that the hate it received was undeserved. To critics like Vincent Canby of the New York Times, the film was "an unqualified disaster," one with flimsy themes and shoddy craftsmanship unbecoming of a filmmaker with such strong ambition as Cimino. Stories of the movie's troubled production and massive budget had been public knowledge...
He stands by it, however. As he told IndieWire in 2012, Walken "always thought it was good" and that the hate it received was undeserved. To critics like Vincent Canby of the New York Times, the film was "an unqualified disaster," one with flimsy themes and shoddy craftsmanship unbecoming of a filmmaker with such strong ambition as Cimino. Stories of the movie's troubled production and massive budget had been public knowledge...
- 11/20/2022
- by Anthony Crislip
- Slash Film
One of the most high-profile releases in the fall of 1992 was Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of “Dracula,” starring Gary Oldman, Anthony Hopkins, Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves. It marked Coppola’s follow-up to the Oscar-nominated “The Godfather Part III” from 1990, and it was one of Hopkins’ first major projects after winning the Best Actor Academy Award for “The Silence of the Lambs.” Released on November 13, 1992, the horror flick took first place at the box office its opening weekend with 30 million, and it ultimately earned more than 80 million overall. Read on for our appreciation of “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” on its 30th anniversary.
Although the film wasn’t unanimously loved by critics, many of them were quick to sing the movie’s praises. Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times said, “The movie is an exercise in feverish excess, and for that if for little else, I enjoyed it.” Owen Gleiberman in Entertainment Weekly wrote,...
Although the film wasn’t unanimously loved by critics, many of them were quick to sing the movie’s praises. Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times said, “The movie is an exercise in feverish excess, and for that if for little else, I enjoyed it.” Owen Gleiberman in Entertainment Weekly wrote,...
- 11/13/2022
- by Brian Rowe
- Gold Derby
“Halloween Ends” just opened in theaters, while also being made available on Universal’s streaming platform Peacock, and the response has been divisive to say the least.
The third chapter of the new trilogy (once again directed by David Gordon Green and starring Jamie Lee Curtis) made 41.3 million at the box office opening weekend, a good number for sure but lower than the studio and box office prognosticators were predicting. Critically, the results were just as middling. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie pulled down a 41 critics score, with an audience score of 57. But “Halloween Ends” took chances; it’s not perfect but it’s more interesting and idiosyncratic than most run-of-the-mill horror fare.
Instead of the nonstop bloodbath of previous entry “Halloween Kills,” “Halloween Ends” takes a more nuanced, mature approach to the subject matter, investing time in the relationship between Laurie’s granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) and her new...
The third chapter of the new trilogy (once again directed by David Gordon Green and starring Jamie Lee Curtis) made 41.3 million at the box office opening weekend, a good number for sure but lower than the studio and box office prognosticators were predicting. Critically, the results were just as middling. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie pulled down a 41 critics score, with an audience score of 57. But “Halloween Ends” took chances; it’s not perfect but it’s more interesting and idiosyncratic than most run-of-the-mill horror fare.
Instead of the nonstop bloodbath of previous entry “Halloween Kills,” “Halloween Ends” takes a more nuanced, mature approach to the subject matter, investing time in the relationship between Laurie’s granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) and her new...
- 10/18/2022
- by Drew Taylor
- The Wrap
In a lot of ways, one of the reasons "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" remains such an enduring western is because it wasn't afraid to break some genre rules. Both screenwriter William Goldman and director George Roy Hill injected their own idiosyncrasies into this retelling of the two infamous outlaws. It's why the movie has just as many laughs as it does shootouts — fluctuating perfectly between slapstick and dryly delivered one-liners. Hill even went out of his way to remove some of its funnier moments after he decided the audience was laughing too much at a screening.
But such tonal shifts are exactly what makes "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" so unique and mold-breaking. Like the Burt Bacharach soundtracked bicycle montage scene in which he lulls away at "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" — which was actually written for the film. At worst jarringly anachronistic, the presence of...
But such tonal shifts are exactly what makes "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" so unique and mold-breaking. Like the Burt Bacharach soundtracked bicycle montage scene in which he lulls away at "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" — which was actually written for the film. At worst jarringly anachronistic, the presence of...
- 10/15/2022
- by Steven Ward
- Slash Film
George Romero has accrued well-earned praise over his 50-plus-year career. The "Godfather of the Dead" made a splash in 1968 with one of the first midnight movies, "The Night of the Living Dead," introducing audiences to the prototype for what we would recognize as the modern-day zombie: shuffling around, eating people, must be shot in the head, that sort of thing. His filmography is extensive enough to get its own Wikipedia page which includes further "Dead" movies over the decades – "Dawn of," "Day of," Land of," and the maligned "Diary of" — as well as the odd Dario Argento or Stephen King collaboration (as well as one that Could Have Been).
The latter worked with Romero over the years on the classic anthology "Creepshow" and in adapting his own 1989 novel "The Dark Half" for the big screen four years later. Among the accolades, the multi-hyphenate received over his career and prior to...
The latter worked with Romero over the years on the classic anthology "Creepshow" and in adapting his own 1989 novel "The Dark Half" for the big screen four years later. Among the accolades, the multi-hyphenate received over his career and prior to...
- 10/13/2022
- by Anya Stanley
- Slash Film
Cynics have tabbed them “The Doomsday Summits.” To believers, however, their mission is to re-energize the Oscars at a moment when award shows in general are in massive retreat.
“The show should represent an exciting battlefield where forces in our culture collide,” suggests a new book titled Oscar Wars: Gold, Sweat and Tears.
While the recent “collisions” have been studies in chaos, the ongoing meetings among the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences leaders, Oscar show producers and ABC/Disney continue to search for the keys to a renaissance. Or at least to survival. Bill Kramer, the new Academy CEO, regards himself as a consensus builder, not a collision builder.
By studying the traumas of the past, what can they learn about re-shaping the present? Viewership has been plummeting in recent years and telecast revenues (guesses put them at 120 million) are key to the survival of the Academy — its...
“The show should represent an exciting battlefield where forces in our culture collide,” suggests a new book titled Oscar Wars: Gold, Sweat and Tears.
While the recent “collisions” have been studies in chaos, the ongoing meetings among the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences leaders, Oscar show producers and ABC/Disney continue to search for the keys to a renaissance. Or at least to survival. Bill Kramer, the new Academy CEO, regards himself as a consensus builder, not a collision builder.
By studying the traumas of the past, what can they learn about re-shaping the present? Viewership has been plummeting in recent years and telecast revenues (guesses put them at 120 million) are key to the survival of the Academy — its...
- 10/6/2022
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
David Lynch has made a lot of great movies, but "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me," might be his best. It's a prequel to his hit TV show "Twin Peaks," one that follows Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) around throughout the final week of her life. After two seasons of hearing about Laura in the past tense, this movie reminded us of something most murder mystery shows tend to lose sight of: that the victim was a real person with a full life, not just a mystery to be solved. "Fire Walk With Me" is a sad, terrifying, deeply emotional film, one that gives Laura a voice for one of the few times in the series.
Unfortunately, the movie was both a financial and critical disappointment at the time. "Twin Peaks" fans who wanted a resolution to the second season's massive cliffhanger were disappointed that the movie didn't resolve any of that.
Unfortunately, the movie was both a financial and critical disappointment at the time. "Twin Peaks" fans who wanted a resolution to the second season's massive cliffhanger were disappointed that the movie didn't resolve any of that.
- 8/28/2022
- by Michael Boyle
- Slash Film
When John Carpenter’s The Thing hit theaters back in June 1982, the only thing scarier than the film were the reviews. Vincent Canby of The New York Times called it “instant junk” while Cinefantastique featured The Thing on one front cover alongside the question, “Is this the most hated movie of all time?”
Yet, if anything, the past 40 years has seen The Thing become one of the most beloved sci-fi horror movies of all time, influencing everything from Stranger Things to Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight. To paraphrase Die Hard 2, it was simply a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, with Carpenter’s sci-fi led gorefest arriving alongside Blade Runner on June 25 of its year, just a few weeks after the family friendly alien fun of E.T.
Thankfully, The Thing, also like Blade Runner, went on to enjoy a second life through...
Yet, if anything, the past 40 years has seen The Thing become one of the most beloved sci-fi horror movies of all time, influencing everything from Stranger Things to Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight. To paraphrase Die Hard 2, it was simply a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, with Carpenter’s sci-fi led gorefest arriving alongside Blade Runner on June 25 of its year, just a few weeks after the family friendly alien fun of E.T.
Thankfully, The Thing, also like Blade Runner, went on to enjoy a second life through...
- 6/24/2022
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Veteran actor Philip Baker Hall, who lent his gravitas to everything from “Seinfeld” to numerous Paul Thomas Anderson films including “Magnolia” and “Boogie Nights,” has died at age 90, his neighbor Sam Farmer said Monday.
“My neighbor, friend, and one of the wisest, most talented and kindest people I’ve ever met, Philip Baker Hall, died peacefully last night. He was surrounded by loved ones. The world has an empty space in it,” Farmer, a sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times tweeted.
Although Hall’s cause of death wasn’t announced, he suffered from emphysema and has been reliant on an oxygen tank, The Washington Post reported in 2017.
My neighbor, friend, and one of the wisest, most talented and kindest people I’ve ever met, Philip Baker Hall, died peacefully last night. He was surrounded by loved ones. The world has an empty space in it. pic.twitter.com/pBCaILjHPT
— Sam...
“My neighbor, friend, and one of the wisest, most talented and kindest people I’ve ever met, Philip Baker Hall, died peacefully last night. He was surrounded by loved ones. The world has an empty space in it,” Farmer, a sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times tweeted.
Although Hall’s cause of death wasn’t announced, he suffered from emphysema and has been reliant on an oxygen tank, The Washington Post reported in 2017.
My neighbor, friend, and one of the wisest, most talented and kindest people I’ve ever met, Philip Baker Hall, died peacefully last night. He was surrounded by loved ones. The world has an empty space in it. pic.twitter.com/pBCaILjHPT
— Sam...
- 6/13/2022
- by Sharon Knolle
- The Wrap
Ray Liotta, the acclaimed actor known for “Goodfellas,” “Field of Dreams” and many more roles, has died at 67, Variety has confirmed with his publicist. He died in his sleep while he was in the Dominican Republic shooting an upcoming film, “Dangerous Waters.”
Playing the real-life mobster Henry Hill, Liotta shot to stardom in Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas,” which revolutionized the gangster genre and received heaps of critical and commercial success. It’s widely considered one of the greatest films of all time, and it received six Academy Award nominations and one win after releasing in 1990.
Read more: Ray Liotta’s Career in Photos
Critic Vincent Canby wrote in the New York Times, “More than any earlier Scorsese film, ”Goodfellas” is memorable for the ensemble nature of the performances. Mr. De Niro, Mr. Liotta, Mr. Pesci and Mr. Sorvino shine together, though Mr. Pesci’s material is the flashiest. The movie...
Playing the real-life mobster Henry Hill, Liotta shot to stardom in Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas,” which revolutionized the gangster genre and received heaps of critical and commercial success. It’s widely considered one of the greatest films of all time, and it received six Academy Award nominations and one win after releasing in 1990.
Read more: Ray Liotta’s Career in Photos
Critic Vincent Canby wrote in the New York Times, “More than any earlier Scorsese film, ”Goodfellas” is memorable for the ensemble nature of the performances. Mr. De Niro, Mr. Liotta, Mr. Pesci and Mr. Sorvino shine together, though Mr. Pesci’s material is the flashiest. The movie...
- 5/26/2022
- by Jordan Moreau
- Variety Film + TV
One of many good things to be said about “Eo,” surely the wackiest movie in competition at Cannes this year, is that you would have no idea it was made by an 84-year-old filmmaker in only his fourth movie since the fall of the Soviet Union. A master of the aesthetically liberated New Polish Cinema — fellow alum include Krzysztof Kieślowski, Agnieszka Holland, and Krzysztof Zanussi — Jerzy Skolimowski last won plaudits on the Croisette in the late ’70s and early ’80s for a string of British-made dramas starring the likes of John Hurt and Jeremy Irons. Horror film “The Shout,” with Alan Bates, took the Grand Prix jury prize in 1978. “Moonlighting,” in 1982, won best screenplay here. New York Times critic Vincent Canby called it “one of the best films ever made about exile.”
“Eo” is not like any of those, even if it does have something to say about exile.
Told...
“Eo” is not like any of those, even if it does have something to say about exile.
Told...
- 5/20/2022
- by Adam Solomons
- Indiewire
Renee Daalder’s Cult Classic Comes To Blu-ray With Synapse Films’ Special Edition of Massacre At Central High, Available September 13 “A very good movie, a considerable filmmaking achievement.” – Roger Ebert, Sneak Previews “Witty, surprising, very entertaining.” – Vincent Canby, The New York Times Renee Daalder’s Massacre At Central High remains one of the premiere …
The post Massacre At Central High Is Back In Class This September! appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.
The post Massacre At Central High Is Back In Class This September! appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.
- 5/9/2022
- by Adrian Halen
- Horror News
In his first non-fiction book, literary-agent-turned-producer Charles Elton takes on a major topic: the first biography of “critically acclaimed then critically derided filmmaker Michael Cimino.” In “Cimino: The Deer Hunter, Heaven’s Gate, and The Price of a Vision,” Elton explores Cimino’s fraught legacy — including his two best known films, “The Deer Hunter” and “Heaven’s Gate” — and uses extensive interviews with Cimino’s peers, collaborators, enemies, and friends to explore and reevaluate a number of sprawling Hollywood myths.
In an excerpt below — available exclusively on IndieWire — Elton unpacks the real truth behind the persistent belief that Cimino’s epic (both in scale and in terms of financial failure) “Heaven’s Gate” led to the end of United Artists. The book is out today.
Michael Cimino’s epic Western, “Heaven’s Gate,” his first film since the Oscar-winning “The Deer Hunter,” was shown to the New York press on November 19, 1980. The next morning,...
In an excerpt below — available exclusively on IndieWire — Elton unpacks the real truth behind the persistent belief that Cimino’s epic (both in scale and in terms of financial failure) “Heaven’s Gate” led to the end of United Artists. The book is out today.
Michael Cimino’s epic Western, “Heaven’s Gate,” his first film since the Oscar-winning “The Deer Hunter,” was shown to the New York press on November 19, 1980. The next morning,...
- 3/29/2022
- by IndieWire Staff
- Indiewire
Jane Campion fought through tears last night accepting the Best Director award for The Power Of The Dog at the New York Film Critics Circle ceremony last night after a moving intro from Martin Scorsese.
He first met Campion in 1990 at the Venice premiere An Angel At My Table “and my admiration has only increased over the years. I wish she would make more pictures, but every one that you do get to make really counts,” he said. “It’s a precious thing to have an artistic voice as powerful as Jane’s developing over time.”
Scorsese is currently editing his own western crime drama, upcoming Killers of the Flower Moon. He said Campion’s The Power of the Dog, based on a 1967 novel written by Thomas Savage, turned the genre inside out. “What is strength and who is the strongest?” In Campion’s film, ‘there is a battle, right,...
He first met Campion in 1990 at the Venice premiere An Angel At My Table “and my admiration has only increased over the years. I wish she would make more pictures, but every one that you do get to make really counts,” he said. “It’s a precious thing to have an artistic voice as powerful as Jane’s developing over time.”
Scorsese is currently editing his own western crime drama, upcoming Killers of the Flower Moon. He said Campion’s The Power of the Dog, based on a 1967 novel written by Thomas Savage, turned the genre inside out. “What is strength and who is the strongest?” In Campion’s film, ‘there is a battle, right,...
- 3/17/2022
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
In the March 29, 1972 issue of weekly Variety, Paramount ran a 10-page ad for “The Godfather.” This was two weeks after it opened at five Manhattan theaters on March 15 (then unheard of for a top-tier release), and one week later added around 290 more in nearly every state. The ad listed each theater, the gross to date for each city, and noted that it broke gross records for the theaters, cities, and even the states.
In today’s dollars, “The Godfather” grossed nearly $740 million. That’s enough to make it #26 of all time, with “Gone With the Wind,” “Star Wars,” “The Sound of Music,” “Titanic,” “Avengers: Endame,” and now “Spider-Man: No Way Home selling more tickets. Even so: “The Godfather” may rank higher when it comes to influence. Here’s why.
Before it was an iconic film, “The Godfather” was a bestselling book. Mario Puzo’s 1969 novel sold over 9 million copies and...
In today’s dollars, “The Godfather” grossed nearly $740 million. That’s enough to make it #26 of all time, with “Gone With the Wind,” “Star Wars,” “The Sound of Music,” “Titanic,” “Avengers: Endame,” and now “Spider-Man: No Way Home selling more tickets. Even so: “The Godfather” may rank higher when it comes to influence. Here’s why.
Before it was an iconic film, “The Godfather” was a bestselling book. Mario Puzo’s 1969 novel sold over 9 million copies and...
- 3/17/2022
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
Miloš Forman's 1975 film "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is a harrowing tale of rebellion vs. conformity, maturity vs. immaturity, and the true nature of how we measure and treat mental illness. It's about the broken penal system, personal pain, trauma, authority, and freedom. It was viewed as a comedy upon its release: Vincent Canby of the New York Times called it a comedy that cannot support its tragic ending, and Roger Ebert, when he first reviewed the film, felt that the film's overall tone was too light to tackle some of its larger themes. Ebert eventually reassessed the film, including...
The post One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Ending Explained: Breaking Out of the System appeared first on /Film.
The post One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Ending Explained: Breaking Out of the System appeared first on /Film.
- 1/12/2022
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Jerome Hellman, the producer of landmark films such as Midnight Cowboy and Coming Home has died. The Oscar winner’s wife, Elizabeth Empleton Hellman, confirmed Hellman’s May 26 passing saying simply, “we will miss him terribly.” He was 92.
Hellman’s films helped define the “New Hollywood” of the 1970s. He tended to work repeatedly with a circle of top-notch collaborators and the films Hellman produced came from iconic directors such as John Schlesinger, Hal Ashby, George Roy Hill, Irvin Kershner and Peter Weir.
That Hellman would win Best Picture for Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy in 1970 was, at the very least, improbable. Hellman was going through a tough divorce. The film was based on a little-known novel. Schlesinger didn’t think Dustin Hoffman was right to play Ratso Rizzo. But Hellman fought for the Graduate actor. Also, the film was X-rated and dealt with homosexuality, prostitution and a gritty slice of...
Hellman’s films helped define the “New Hollywood” of the 1970s. He tended to work repeatedly with a circle of top-notch collaborators and the films Hellman produced came from iconic directors such as John Schlesinger, Hal Ashby, George Roy Hill, Irvin Kershner and Peter Weir.
That Hellman would win Best Picture for Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy in 1970 was, at the very least, improbable. Hellman was going through a tough divorce. The film was based on a little-known novel. Schlesinger didn’t think Dustin Hoffman was right to play Ratso Rizzo. But Hellman fought for the Graduate actor. Also, the film was X-rated and dealt with homosexuality, prostitution and a gritty slice of...
- 5/28/2021
- by Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
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By Fred Blosser
“Rosebud” (1975), Otto Preminger’s next-to-last film, has been released by Kino Lorber Studio Classics in a 2K Blu-ray restoration. In the political thriller, a terrorist cell kidnaps five teenaged girls from a luxury yacht, the “Rosebud” of the title. The kidnappers are members of Black September, an extremist Palestinian faction -- a reference that would have been better known by audiences then than now. Their reasons for seizing the young women become clearer as they open communications with the girls’ parents, an international power elite of politicians, industrialists, and financiers. Sending along a film of the five young women on the deck of the commandeered yacht, nude and shivering, the terrorists dictate that it be televised as a prelude to a series of demands that will demean Israel and it allies on the global stage. If the demands aren...
By Fred Blosser
“Rosebud” (1975), Otto Preminger’s next-to-last film, has been released by Kino Lorber Studio Classics in a 2K Blu-ray restoration. In the political thriller, a terrorist cell kidnaps five teenaged girls from a luxury yacht, the “Rosebud” of the title. The kidnappers are members of Black September, an extremist Palestinian faction -- a reference that would have been better known by audiences then than now. Their reasons for seizing the young women become clearer as they open communications with the girls’ parents, an international power elite of politicians, industrialists, and financiers. Sending along a film of the five young women on the deck of the commandeered yacht, nude and shivering, the terrorists dictate that it be televised as a prelude to a series of demands that will demean Israel and it allies on the global stage. If the demands aren...
- 4/21/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
One could have watched the Critics Choice Awards last Sunday and thought they were re-watching the Golden Globes. Same nominees, mostly the same winners, same sweatshirt for Jason Sudeikis. Wait … didn’t the professional entertainment judgers generally blast the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for, well, for being what and who they are?
What happened to early critics’ winners like “First Cow”? How quickly they forget and go with the flow. In fact, this is the time critics — respect or resent them — are currently getting a taste of their own.
Consider “Malcolm and Marie,” the controversial film from Sam Levinson starring John Thomas Washington and Zendaya. It is basically one long argument about whether “that white lady of the L.A. Times” wrote a positive or negative review of Washington’s character’s film, seen through the racial lens. Washington ends his screed by saying he hopes the writer gets “f...
What happened to early critics’ winners like “First Cow”? How quickly they forget and go with the flow. In fact, this is the time critics — respect or resent them — are currently getting a taste of their own.
Consider “Malcolm and Marie,” the controversial film from Sam Levinson starring John Thomas Washington and Zendaya. It is basically one long argument about whether “that white lady of the L.A. Times” wrote a positive or negative review of Washington’s character’s film, seen through the racial lens. Washington ends his screed by saying he hopes the writer gets “f...
- 3/13/2021
- by Michele Willens
- The Wrap
“I consider Shoah to be the greatest documentary about contemporary history ever made, bar none, and by far the greatest film I’ve ever seen about the Holocaust.”
– Marcel Ophuls
Ten years after IFC Films theatrically re-released the epic documentary, Shoah arrives on demand platforms in the United States & Canada in March 2021. Check out this new trailer:
Fc Films announced today that they will be digitally releasing Claude Lanzmann’s landmark Holocaust documentary Shoah on March 2, 2021, marking the first time that the film will be available to own digitally and for rent in the United States and Canada.
Twelve years in the making, Shoah is Lanzmann’s monumental epic on the Holocaust and features interviews with survivors, bystanders, and perpetrators in 14 countries. The film does not contain any historical footage but rather features interviews which seek to “reincarnate” the Jewish tragedy and also visits places where the crimes took place.
– Marcel Ophuls
Ten years after IFC Films theatrically re-released the epic documentary, Shoah arrives on demand platforms in the United States & Canada in March 2021. Check out this new trailer:
Fc Films announced today that they will be digitally releasing Claude Lanzmann’s landmark Holocaust documentary Shoah on March 2, 2021, marking the first time that the film will be available to own digitally and for rent in the United States and Canada.
Twelve years in the making, Shoah is Lanzmann’s monumental epic on the Holocaust and features interviews with survivors, bystanders, and perpetrators in 14 countries. The film does not contain any historical footage but rather features interviews which seek to “reincarnate” the Jewish tragedy and also visits places where the crimes took place.
- 1/27/2021
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Sophia Loren is generating red-hot Oscar buzz for her performance in Netflix’s Italian-language drama “The Life Ahead.” The screen legend has earned some of the best reviews of her seven-decade career for her heartbreaking performance as a former prostitute and Holocaust survivor who takes care of children of streetwalkers.
Loren made Oscar history 59 years ago when she became the first performer to receive an Academy Award for a foreign-language film. She took home Best Actress for Vittorio DeSica’s harrowing World War II drama “Two Women,” which was also in Italian. Loren, who also starred with Charlton Heston that year in the lavish epic “El Cid,” had very strong competition when the Oscar nominations were announced in the winter of 1962.
Natalie Wood, who had received a Supporting Actress nomination as a teenager for 1955’s “Rebel Without a Cause,” gave an extraordinary performance as a sensitive teenager living in Kansas...
Loren made Oscar history 59 years ago when she became the first performer to receive an Academy Award for a foreign-language film. She took home Best Actress for Vittorio DeSica’s harrowing World War II drama “Two Women,” which was also in Italian. Loren, who also starred with Charlton Heston that year in the lavish epic “El Cid,” had very strong competition when the Oscar nominations were announced in the winter of 1962.
Natalie Wood, who had received a Supporting Actress nomination as a teenager for 1955’s “Rebel Without a Cause,” gave an extraordinary performance as a sensitive teenager living in Kansas...
- 1/17/2021
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
On Aug. 11, 1943, Variety carried a story beginning “Angela Lansbury, 17-year-old English girl, is the colony’s latest Cinderella.” The story said she had gone from an unknown to movie star in only four days.
Since then, Lansbury has forged a career that defies all logic. She received supporting-actress Oscar nominations twice in her first two years of work. At age 41, she became a musical-comedy star with “Mame.” She became a TV star with “Murder, She Wrote” at age 59, an age when most actresses can’t find work. In the show’s 12-year run, she was one of the TV industry’s most powerful women. Maybe her biggest accomplishment: Though powerful women were sometimes maligned, it was thought you needed to be heartless to survive in showbiz, Lansbury has created a 77-year career and nobody has a bad word to say about her.
Lansbury, who turns 95 Friday, is best known for...
Since then, Lansbury has forged a career that defies all logic. She received supporting-actress Oscar nominations twice in her first two years of work. At age 41, she became a musical-comedy star with “Mame.” She became a TV star with “Murder, She Wrote” at age 59, an age when most actresses can’t find work. In the show’s 12-year run, she was one of the TV industry’s most powerful women. Maybe her biggest accomplishment: Though powerful women were sometimes maligned, it was thought you needed to be heartless to survive in showbiz, Lansbury has created a 77-year career and nobody has a bad word to say about her.
Lansbury, who turns 95 Friday, is best known for...
- 10/16/2020
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
“If all of the people who hate ‘Ishtar’ had seen it,” Elaine May famously said, “I would be a rich woman today.” On Wikipedia’s list of the biggest box-office disasters, with losses over $100 million (at current dollar values), “Ishtar” doesn’t even rate a mention. That’s because the movie lost about $91 million — more in the range of a box-office dud like “Cats.”
But to this day, Elaine May’s 1987 comedy adventure about two floundering singer/songwriters meandering around the Sahara — played by Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman — is considered one of Hollywood’s great box-office debacles, rivaled only by Michael Cimino’s studio-destroying “Heaven’s Gate,” with its loss of $126 million.
Here’s why “Ishtar” outlasted so many bigger money-losers as the poster child for a troubled belly-flop.
Media Coverage
From in front, “Ishtar” was a troubled production. One red flag went up when May (who directed the hit...
But to this day, Elaine May’s 1987 comedy adventure about two floundering singer/songwriters meandering around the Sahara — played by Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman — is considered one of Hollywood’s great box-office debacles, rivaled only by Michael Cimino’s studio-destroying “Heaven’s Gate,” with its loss of $126 million.
Here’s why “Ishtar” outlasted so many bigger money-losers as the poster child for a troubled belly-flop.
Media Coverage
From in front, “Ishtar” was a troubled production. One red flag went up when May (who directed the hit...
- 5/17/2020
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
A half century ago, the 42nd Academy Awards was at a cultural crossroads as the ’60s came to a close, judging by its list of nominees and winners plucked from the year 1969. The members finally decided to give one of Hollywood’s most enduring legends, John Wayne, a Best Actor prize — basically, a career achievement honor — for his role as cowboy Rooster Cogburn, an aging gun for hire, in “True Grit.”
For some reason, the Duke never was cited for any of his iconic frontier characters including Ethan Edwards in 1956’s “The Searchers” or as Davy Crockett in 1960’s “The Alamo” — although he did compete as a producer for the year’s Best Picture prize that year. Wayne’s only other nomination as a male lead was in the 1949 war epic “Sands of Iwo Jima.”
Meanwhile, a different kind of shoot-’em-up was also in the running in the form...
For some reason, the Duke never was cited for any of his iconic frontier characters including Ethan Edwards in 1956’s “The Searchers” or as Davy Crockett in 1960’s “The Alamo” — although he did compete as a producer for the year’s Best Picture prize that year. Wayne’s only other nomination as a male lead was in the 1949 war epic “Sands of Iwo Jima.”
Meanwhile, a different kind of shoot-’em-up was also in the running in the form...
- 12/5/2019
- by Susan Wloszczyna
- Gold Derby
Gremlins (1984)Towards the end of his latest book, Make My Day: Movie Culture in the Age of Reagan, film critic J. Hoberman highlights Charles Musser’s Politicking and Emergent Media: Us Presidential Elections of the 1890s, a historical study that demonstrated how “the candidate most adroit in deploying new communications technology almost always prevailed.” Extrapolating from this, Hoberman points out Roosevelt’s “successful use of radio,” Eisenhower’s “pioneering TV commercials,” and Kennedy’s victory over Nixon which was secured over televised debate—after which he moves on to Ronald Reagan, the book’s prime player. The final entry in the author’s “Found Illusions” trilogy, Make My Day completes the long-gestating historical project Hoberman started in 2003 with The Dream Life and extended with 2011’s An Army of Phantoms. Thus, it's both a culmination of the author’s considered, career-long engagement with American film culture, and a kind of corollary to Musser’s study,...
- 10/10/2019
- MUBI
Although we were inundated with hockey masks, knives, and axes in the early ‘80s, there were some horror filmmakers looking to do something against the grain; people like Sam Raimi conjuring undead demons in The Evil Dead (1981), or in the case of Douglas McKeown’s The Deadly Spawn (1983), giddily updating Monsters from Space to include voracious face ripping and gallons of the red stuff.
Upon release in April, Vincent Canby of the New York Times called The Deadly Spawn an “amateurish, resolutely unscary, low-budget horror film”, and while points one and three are objective statements, the middle depends on the viewer; if one has a fear of flesh-eating, three-headed, multi-fanged space visitors, this will do the trick.
Amateurish and low-budget go hand in hand; made for a little under $20,000 and filmed on weekends over the course of a year, The Deadly Spawn falters in some regards where others of its ilk normally do.
Upon release in April, Vincent Canby of the New York Times called The Deadly Spawn an “amateurish, resolutely unscary, low-budget horror film”, and while points one and three are objective statements, the middle depends on the viewer; if one has a fear of flesh-eating, three-headed, multi-fanged space visitors, this will do the trick.
Amateurish and low-budget go hand in hand; made for a little under $20,000 and filmed on weekends over the course of a year, The Deadly Spawn falters in some regards where others of its ilk normally do.
- 9/7/2019
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Sometimes it is right there in the title with genre fare, and sometimes it isn’t; Humanoids from the Deep (1980) is pretty straightforward and delivers on its promise; one could assume Killer Fish (1979) would be about nothing more than piranha gobbling up unsuspecting swimmers. One would be wrong though, because as the old saying goes, “there aren’t nearly enough jewel heists in aquatic monster movies”. Who said that? I did, just now, because I didn’t know this particular brand of cross-pollination existed before, but I’m sure glad it does (even if it’s a lonely field).
Released by Associated Film Distribution in the States, and co-produced by star Lee Majors and his wife Farrah Fawcett-Majors’ production company at the time, Fawcett-Majors Productions (with an assist from behemoth Itc), Killer Fish was unleashed in December Stateside before spawning to the rest of the world throughout 1980. Reviews were tepid...
Released by Associated Film Distribution in the States, and co-produced by star Lee Majors and his wife Farrah Fawcett-Majors’ production company at the time, Fawcett-Majors Productions (with an assist from behemoth Itc), Killer Fish was unleashed in December Stateside before spawning to the rest of the world throughout 1980. Reviews were tepid...
- 7/13/2019
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Writer-director Richard Curtis has reduced film audiences to tears for a generation, but this weekend when I left a screening of his new Beatles fantasy Yesterday, I noticed something was wrong: There was not a wet eye in the house. The film was entertaining, even funny here and there, but it was also a bit chilly.
I cite this not to pick on Curtis but to point up a question: Are audiences in general suffering from emotional deprivation? Critics puzzle over box office disappointments like Booksmart and Late Night or rave over TV shows like Euphoria or Gentleman Jack without noting their shared syndrome: an absence of empathy.
Curtis should understand this: He’s kept the tears flowing in Love Actually, the Bridget Jones movies, Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral. By contrast, the only current tear-generating movies are about canines, not humans (some exhibitors distribute towels at...
I cite this not to pick on Curtis but to point up a question: Are audiences in general suffering from emotional deprivation? Critics puzzle over box office disappointments like Booksmart and Late Night or rave over TV shows like Euphoria or Gentleman Jack without noting their shared syndrome: an absence of empathy.
Curtis should understand this: He’s kept the tears flowing in Love Actually, the Bridget Jones movies, Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral. By contrast, the only current tear-generating movies are about canines, not humans (some exhibitors distribute towels at...
- 7/1/2019
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
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