Wayne Wang’s Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart, the filmmaker’s follow-up to his existential noir riff Chan Is Missing, again focuses explicitly on the Chinese American community in San Francisco. But where his debut feature found its protagonists constantly scrambling about the city, Dim Sum is set almost exclusively within, or just outside, the domestic space. Echoes of Ozu Yasujirō, specifically Late Spring, ring throughout Wang’s melodrama, whose tender, empathetic, and often funny examination of a loving, codependent mother-daughter relationship is reminiscent of Ryū Chishū and Haru Setsuko’s characters’ in Ozu’s masterwork.
Dim Sum, too, is a film of extended silences and often mundane conversations, and of emotions coursing beneath placid surfaces across settings where old customs collide with new ones. Wang makes evocative use of Ozu’s signature pillow shots throughout, reflecting elements of a Chinese community through shots of Chinatown and its...
Dim Sum, too, is a film of extended silences and often mundane conversations, and of emotions coursing beneath placid surfaces across settings where old customs collide with new ones. Wang makes evocative use of Ozu’s signature pillow shots throughout, reflecting elements of a Chinese community through shots of Chinatown and its...
- 8/17/2023
- by Derek Smith
- Slant Magazine
Meltdown: Three Mile Island Trailer — Margaret Drain, Chana Gazit, and David Steward‘s Meltdown: Three Mile Island (2022) TV mini-series trailer has been released by Netflix. The Meltdown: Three Mile Island trailer stars Richard Parks. Crew Chana Gazit wrote the screenplay for Meltdown: Three Mile Island. Todd Boekelheide created the music for the film. Meltdown: [...]
Continue reading: Meltdown: Three Mile Island (2022) TV Mini-series Trailer: The Near Catastrophe at Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant Doc...
Continue reading: Meltdown: Three Mile Island (2022) TV Mini-series Trailer: The Near Catastrophe at Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant Doc...
- 4/23/2022
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
Two years ago, siblings Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell shared in four Grammy wins for the album “When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” (Album of the Year; Best Pop Vocal Album) and its single “Bad Guy” (Record of the Year; Song of the Year). Now, they have concurrently earned their first Oscar nominations for co-writing the song “No Time to Die” for the James Bond film of the same name. If they prevail later this month, they will become the fourth brother-sister pair to both be honored by the academy and the first to win for the same film.
The first brother-sister Oscar champs and first sibling winners overall were Douglas Shearer and Norma Shearer. In 1930, he triumphed in the Best Sound category for “The Big House” while she took the Best Actress prize for “The Divorcee.” They were followed by Lionel Barrymore and Ethel Barrymore, who respectively...
The first brother-sister Oscar champs and first sibling winners overall were Douglas Shearer and Norma Shearer. In 1930, he triumphed in the Best Sound category for “The Big House” while she took the Best Actress prize for “The Divorcee.” They were followed by Lionel Barrymore and Ethel Barrymore, who respectively...
- 3/16/2022
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
At this point, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ governors election looks more like a round-up than a race; more than 180 members have declared their interest in filling 17 contested spots on the 54-member Board of Governors.
Voting in the run-off round starts on Monday and ends May 18. That will narrow the present field to a maximum of four nominees per branch in the final round, which follows.
For now, there are on average about 11 candidates in the running for each slot. In the casting directors and costume design branches, only three members have declared for each slot. But not so in the actors branch, where 17 members — including Brie Larson, Jacki Weaver and Meg Ryan — are vying for the spot being vacated by termed-out Tom Hanks; or the producers, executives, and public relations branches, all of which have a bumper crop of candidates. Marvin Levy, currently a governor in the public relations branch,...
Voting in the run-off round starts on Monday and ends May 18. That will narrow the present field to a maximum of four nominees per branch in the final round, which follows.
For now, there are on average about 11 candidates in the running for each slot. In the casting directors and costume design branches, only three members have declared for each slot. But not so in the actors branch, where 17 members — including Brie Larson, Jacki Weaver and Meg Ryan — are vying for the spot being vacated by termed-out Tom Hanks; or the producers, executives, and public relations branches, all of which have a bumper crop of candidates. Marvin Levy, currently a governor in the public relations branch,...
- 5/11/2018
- by Michael Cieply
- Deadline Film + TV
Independent artists Kris Bowers, Germaine Franco, Danielle Eva Schwob and Jeremy Turner are among the select few for this summer’s Music and Sound Design Labs held at Skywalker Ranch in northern California.
This is the third year that Skywalker Ranch will host the Music and Sound Design Labs, a joint initiative between the Sundance Institute’s Film Music Program and Feature Film and the Film Music Program and Documentary Film Program.
The Music and Sound Design Labs provide workshops and creative exercises for composers, directors and sound designers to collaborate on the process of designing a soundtrack for film.
“This year’s fellows include an outstanding group of composers whose work will deepen and enrich the experience of the diverse personal stories being told by these fiction and documentary filmmakers,” said Sundance Institute Film Music Program director Peter Golub.
“Skywalker Sound is the perfect space for composers, filmmakers and sound designers to come together to explore...
This is the third year that Skywalker Ranch will host the Music and Sound Design Labs, a joint initiative between the Sundance Institute’s Film Music Program and Feature Film and the Film Music Program and Documentary Film Program.
The Music and Sound Design Labs provide workshops and creative exercises for composers, directors and sound designers to collaborate on the process of designing a soundtrack for film.
“This year’s fellows include an outstanding group of composers whose work will deepen and enrich the experience of the diverse personal stories being told by these fiction and documentary filmmakers,” said Sundance Institute Film Music Program director Peter Golub.
“Skywalker Sound is the perfect space for composers, filmmakers and sound designers to come together to explore...
- 6/30/2015
- ScreenDaily
The independent narrative and documentary directors and composers headed for the Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound's Music and Sound Design Labs have been revealed. The Labs will take place at Skywalker Ranch in northern California. These labs offer a space for composers, directors and sound designers to collaborate on a film soundtrack, in a workshop setting under the guidance of top film composers and film music professionals as Creative Advisors. The Music and Sound Design Lab for narrative features goes down July 7 through 21, with the Lab for documentaries to follow on July 22 through 30. Creative Advisors this year include composers Jeff Beal, Todd Boekelheide, George S. Clinton, John Frizzell, Harry Gregson-Williams, Laura Karpman, and Anton Sanko; sound designers Chris Barnett, Pete Horner, Dennis Leonard, Tim Nielsen, Gary Rydstrom, Kent Sparling, and Randy Thom; Bmi Vice President, Doreen Ringer Ross; re-recording mixers Erik Foreman, Zach Martin and Brandon...
- 6/30/2015
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Thompson on Hollywood
Take a look at the end credits of any given Sundance preemed title, and you’ll more than likely find the name of Michelle Satter in the “special thanks” portion. Just how all encompassing is the Sundance Institute support in helping spread filmmaker’s wings? With a whopping fifteen yearly labs, it goes without saying, that there are many folks that got a leg up thanks to Satter and co.
Fittingly and not surprisingly, the month of September is when the festival portion (programming) gets into high gear, and it’s also when the 2014 Sundance Institute Music & Sound Design Labs (Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound) help out with the docu branch. Now in its second year, lucky folks Marc Silver, Mike Day, Anna Sandilands and Ewan McNicol, Bill Ross and Turner Ross (see pic of duo above) are being paired with some audibly cool folk.
Here is the press release...
Fittingly and not surprisingly, the month of September is when the festival portion (programming) gets into high gear, and it’s also when the 2014 Sundance Institute Music & Sound Design Labs (Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound) help out with the docu branch. Now in its second year, lucky folks Marc Silver, Mike Day, Anna Sandilands and Ewan McNicol, Bill Ross and Turner Ross (see pic of duo above) are being paired with some audibly cool folk.
Here is the press release...
- 8/20/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
The Sundance Institute will conduct 15 labs this year with the goal of helping emerging talent to improve their storytelling skills. The Institute and Skywalker Sound have chosen the filmmakers and composers for their second documentary music and sound design lab at Skywalker Sound in Northern California to be held this September. These residential Sundance labs collectively represent 20 weeks of residency support and mentorship for promising new independent film and theatre projects and artists from the United States and around the world. At the Music and Sound Design Lab, a joint initiative of the Institute’s Film Music Program and Documentary Film Program, composers, sound designers and directors will learn how to collaborate on designing a film soundtrack via workshops and creative exercises, under the tutelage of experienced film composers and music professionals. Creative Advisors this year include: composers Todd Boekelheide and Miriam Cutler; re-recording mixer...
- 8/20/2014
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound have announced the directors and composers selected for the second of two Sundance Institute Music and Sound Design Labs at Skywalker Sound.
The second Music and Sound Design Labs will take place at the Skywalker Ranch in northern California and is one of 15 residential Labs Sundance Institute will host this year.
The Lab is a joint initiative of the Institute’s Film Music Program and Documentary Film Program in which composers, sound designers and directors explore the collaborative process of designing a soundtrack for film.
Fellows also participate in workshops and creative exercises under the guidance of creative advisors including composers Todd Boekelheide and Miriam Cutler, re-recording mixer Lora Hirschberg and editor Vivien Hillgrove.
The Composers Lab for narrative films took place in July and was hosted by the Film Music Program and Feature Film Program.
In addition to the Music and Sound Design Labs, the Institute...
The second Music and Sound Design Labs will take place at the Skywalker Ranch in northern California and is one of 15 residential Labs Sundance Institute will host this year.
The Lab is a joint initiative of the Institute’s Film Music Program and Documentary Film Program in which composers, sound designers and directors explore the collaborative process of designing a soundtrack for film.
Fellows also participate in workshops and creative exercises under the guidance of creative advisors including composers Todd Boekelheide and Miriam Cutler, re-recording mixer Lora Hirschberg and editor Vivien Hillgrove.
The Composers Lab for narrative films took place in July and was hosted by the Film Music Program and Feature Film Program.
In addition to the Music and Sound Design Labs, the Institute...
- 8/20/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound have announced the directors and composers selected for the second of two Sundance Institute Music and Sound Design Labs at Skywalker Sound.
The second Music and Sound Design Labs will take place at the Skywalker Ranch in northern California and is one of 15 residential Labs Sundance Institute will host this year.
The Lab is a joint initiative of the Institute’s Film Music Program and Documentary Film Program in which composers, sound designers and directors explore the collaborative process of designing a soundtrack for film.
Fellows also participate in workshops and creative exercises under the guidance of creative advisors including composers Todd Boekelheide and Miriam Cutler, re-recording mixer Lora Hirschberg and editor Vivien Hillgrove.
The Composers Lab for narrative films took place in July and was hosted by the Film Music Program and Feature Film Program.
In addition to the Music and Sound Design Labs, the Institute...
The second Music and Sound Design Labs will take place at the Skywalker Ranch in northern California and is one of 15 residential Labs Sundance Institute will host this year.
The Lab is a joint initiative of the Institute’s Film Music Program and Documentary Film Program in which composers, sound designers and directors explore the collaborative process of designing a soundtrack for film.
Fellows also participate in workshops and creative exercises under the guidance of creative advisors including composers Todd Boekelheide and Miriam Cutler, re-recording mixer Lora Hirschberg and editor Vivien Hillgrove.
The Composers Lab for narrative films took place in July and was hosted by the Film Music Program and Feature Film Program.
In addition to the Music and Sound Design Labs, the Institute...
- 8/20/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Los Angeles, home of the most ambitious and successful environmental movements, will see eight free screenings of “A Fierce Green Fire” in late September and early October
The timing couldn’t be better for seeing A Fierce Green Fire: The Battle for a Living Planet -- the first big-picture exploration of the environmental movement, fifty years of activism from conservation to climate change. From Fukushima to fracking, Keystone Xl to climate change, the world has never been more in need of a reminder that people can, and have, solved huge environmental problems.
And what better place to show this landmark film than Los Angeles, home to some of the most ambitious, innovative and successful environmental efforts in the country. From saving Mono Lake and healing Santa Monica Bay, to leading efforts to reduce smog that changed the entire automobile industry and pioneering climate legislation, no region in America has had a more distinct record of environmental success.
Directed and written by Mark Kitchell, Academy-Award nominated director of Berkeley in the Sixties, and narrated by Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Ashley Judd, Van Jones and Isabel Allende, A Fierce Green Fire premiered at Sundance Film Festival. It chronicles the largest movement of the 20th century and one of the keys to the 21st. It brings together all the major parts of environmentalism and connects them. It focuses on activism, people fighting to save their homes, their lives, the future – and succeeding against all odds.
The film unfolds in five acts, each with a central story and character:
• David Brower and the Sierra Club’s battle to halt dams in the Grand Canyon • Lois Gibbs and the Love Canal residents’ struggle against 20,000 tons of toxic chemicals • Paul Watson and Greenpeace’s campaigns to save whales and baby harp seals • Chico Mendes and Brazilian rubber tappers’ fight to save the Amazon rainforest • Bill McKibben and the 25-year effort to address the impossible issue – climate change
Surrounding these main stories are strands like environmental justice, going back to the land, and movements of the global south such as Wangari Maathai in Kenya. Vivid archival film brings it all back and insightful interviews with activists shed light on what it all means. The film offers a deeper view of environmentalism as civilizational change, bringing our industrial society into sustainable balance with nature. It’s the battle for a living planet.
The film arrives at a moment of promise: 25 years after Dr. James Hansen first warned of global warming; 8 years after Katrina; 3 years after the Gulf oil disaster; 2 years after meltdown at Fukushima and first stopping the Keystone Pipeline; and 1 year since the wake-up call that was Hurricane Sandy, the capper to the hottest year on record. 2013 may be the year that grassroots pressure finally forces action to halt climate change. A Fierce Green Fire gives us reason to believe.
All of the Southland screenings are free and (except UCLA) open to the public. Each will be followed by a discussion featuring local environmental leaders and the filmmaker. Below is a list of screenings and participants.
The Big Four:
Wednesday, September 25, at 7 pm Santa Monica Public Library, 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA Panel discussion: Matthew King, Heal the Bay; Robert Gottlieb, renowned author of “Forcing the Spring” and professor at Occidental College
Friday, September 27, at 5:30 pm West Hollywood Public Library, 8272 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA Panel Discussion: Angelo Logan, East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice; Juana Torres, Sierra Club; Michele Prichard, Liberty Hill Foundation’s Common Agenda
Thursday, October 3, 6 pm Pasadena Central Public Library Auditorium, 285 East Walnut Street Pasadena, CA Speaker: Shannon Biggs of Global Exchange on fracking coming to California
Friday, October 4, at 6 pm G2 Gallery, 1503 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, CA Panel Discussion: Bill Gallegos, Communities for a Better Environment; Michele Prichard, Liberty Hill Foundation’s Common Agenda (opening of G2’s Green Earth Film Fest -- space is limited, so RSVP: theG2Gallery.com)
Three area colleges and an arts center in Long Beach:
Pitzer College, Robert Redford Conservancy -- Monday, September 30 in Claremont, CA UCLA Institute of Environmental Sciences -- Wednesday, October 2 (campus community only) Csu Long Beach, Multicultural Center -- Thursday, September 26, noon CALBArts, Bungalow Art Center, 729 Pine, Long Beach -- Friday, September 27th, 7pm
About The Film
Early Praise for A Fierce Green Fire:
"The material is vast and it’s an incredibly dynamic film. It’s shaping up to be the documentary of record on the environmental movement." - Cara Mertes, former director of Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program
"Winningly spans the broad scope of environmental history… connecting its origins with the variety of issues still challenging society today." - Justin Lowe, The Hollywood Reporter
"Rarely do environmental-themed films come with the ambitious scope of ‘A Fierce Green Fire’… which aims at nothing less than the history of environmentalism itself." - Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times
"The most ambitious environmental documentary since 'An Inconvenient Truth' tries to make the case that we just might win." - Michael Roberts, Outside Magazine
"The film left me emotionally drained and profoundly hopeful." -Bruce Barcott, On Earth Magazine
"Brilliant! Should be assigned viewing for all of us, especially those political leaders currently manning the helm of spaceship earth." - Jay Meehan, Park Record
About The Principals And People Featured In The Film
Director/Producer/Writer Mark Kitchell’s Berkeley in the Sixties – one of the defining films about the protest movements that shook America during the 1960s – received the Sundance Audience Award and was nominated for an Academy Award. Executive Producer Marc Weiss is the creator and former Executive Producer of P.O.V., the award-winning series now in its 26th season on PBS. Interviews were shot by Vicente Franco. It was edited by Ken Schneider, Veronica Selver, Jon Beckhardt and Gary Weimberg. Original music is by George Michalski and Dave Denny, Garth Stevenson, Randall Wallace and Todd Boekelheide. Narrators include: Robert Redford; Ashley Judd; activist Van Jones; author Isabel Allende; and Meryl Streep.
Featured In The Film Are:
The incomparable Lois Gibbs, leader of Love Canal; Paul “I work for whales” Watson; Bill McKibben, author and founder of 350.org; Paul Hawken and Stewart Brand, alternative ecology visionaries; Martin Litton, at 92 thundering, “If you haven’t got any hatred in your heart, what are you living on?”; Carl Pope and John Adams, longtime heads of the Sierra Club and Nrdc; and Bob Bullard, who closes the film on a universal note: “There’s no Hispanic air. There’s no African-American air. There’s air! And if you breathe air – and most people I know do breathe air – then I would consider you an environmentalist.”...
The timing couldn’t be better for seeing A Fierce Green Fire: The Battle for a Living Planet -- the first big-picture exploration of the environmental movement, fifty years of activism from conservation to climate change. From Fukushima to fracking, Keystone Xl to climate change, the world has never been more in need of a reminder that people can, and have, solved huge environmental problems.
And what better place to show this landmark film than Los Angeles, home to some of the most ambitious, innovative and successful environmental efforts in the country. From saving Mono Lake and healing Santa Monica Bay, to leading efforts to reduce smog that changed the entire automobile industry and pioneering climate legislation, no region in America has had a more distinct record of environmental success.
Directed and written by Mark Kitchell, Academy-Award nominated director of Berkeley in the Sixties, and narrated by Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Ashley Judd, Van Jones and Isabel Allende, A Fierce Green Fire premiered at Sundance Film Festival. It chronicles the largest movement of the 20th century and one of the keys to the 21st. It brings together all the major parts of environmentalism and connects them. It focuses on activism, people fighting to save their homes, their lives, the future – and succeeding against all odds.
The film unfolds in five acts, each with a central story and character:
• David Brower and the Sierra Club’s battle to halt dams in the Grand Canyon • Lois Gibbs and the Love Canal residents’ struggle against 20,000 tons of toxic chemicals • Paul Watson and Greenpeace’s campaigns to save whales and baby harp seals • Chico Mendes and Brazilian rubber tappers’ fight to save the Amazon rainforest • Bill McKibben and the 25-year effort to address the impossible issue – climate change
Surrounding these main stories are strands like environmental justice, going back to the land, and movements of the global south such as Wangari Maathai in Kenya. Vivid archival film brings it all back and insightful interviews with activists shed light on what it all means. The film offers a deeper view of environmentalism as civilizational change, bringing our industrial society into sustainable balance with nature. It’s the battle for a living planet.
The film arrives at a moment of promise: 25 years after Dr. James Hansen first warned of global warming; 8 years after Katrina; 3 years after the Gulf oil disaster; 2 years after meltdown at Fukushima and first stopping the Keystone Pipeline; and 1 year since the wake-up call that was Hurricane Sandy, the capper to the hottest year on record. 2013 may be the year that grassroots pressure finally forces action to halt climate change. A Fierce Green Fire gives us reason to believe.
All of the Southland screenings are free and (except UCLA) open to the public. Each will be followed by a discussion featuring local environmental leaders and the filmmaker. Below is a list of screenings and participants.
The Big Four:
Wednesday, September 25, at 7 pm Santa Monica Public Library, 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA Panel discussion: Matthew King, Heal the Bay; Robert Gottlieb, renowned author of “Forcing the Spring” and professor at Occidental College
Friday, September 27, at 5:30 pm West Hollywood Public Library, 8272 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA Panel Discussion: Angelo Logan, East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice; Juana Torres, Sierra Club; Michele Prichard, Liberty Hill Foundation’s Common Agenda
Thursday, October 3, 6 pm Pasadena Central Public Library Auditorium, 285 East Walnut Street Pasadena, CA Speaker: Shannon Biggs of Global Exchange on fracking coming to California
Friday, October 4, at 6 pm G2 Gallery, 1503 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, CA Panel Discussion: Bill Gallegos, Communities for a Better Environment; Michele Prichard, Liberty Hill Foundation’s Common Agenda (opening of G2’s Green Earth Film Fest -- space is limited, so RSVP: theG2Gallery.com)
Three area colleges and an arts center in Long Beach:
Pitzer College, Robert Redford Conservancy -- Monday, September 30 in Claremont, CA UCLA Institute of Environmental Sciences -- Wednesday, October 2 (campus community only) Csu Long Beach, Multicultural Center -- Thursday, September 26, noon CALBArts, Bungalow Art Center, 729 Pine, Long Beach -- Friday, September 27th, 7pm
About The Film
Early Praise for A Fierce Green Fire:
"The material is vast and it’s an incredibly dynamic film. It’s shaping up to be the documentary of record on the environmental movement." - Cara Mertes, former director of Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program
"Winningly spans the broad scope of environmental history… connecting its origins with the variety of issues still challenging society today." - Justin Lowe, The Hollywood Reporter
"Rarely do environmental-themed films come with the ambitious scope of ‘A Fierce Green Fire’… which aims at nothing less than the history of environmentalism itself." - Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times
"The most ambitious environmental documentary since 'An Inconvenient Truth' tries to make the case that we just might win." - Michael Roberts, Outside Magazine
"The film left me emotionally drained and profoundly hopeful." -Bruce Barcott, On Earth Magazine
"Brilliant! Should be assigned viewing for all of us, especially those political leaders currently manning the helm of spaceship earth." - Jay Meehan, Park Record
About The Principals And People Featured In The Film
Director/Producer/Writer Mark Kitchell’s Berkeley in the Sixties – one of the defining films about the protest movements that shook America during the 1960s – received the Sundance Audience Award and was nominated for an Academy Award. Executive Producer Marc Weiss is the creator and former Executive Producer of P.O.V., the award-winning series now in its 26th season on PBS. Interviews were shot by Vicente Franco. It was edited by Ken Schneider, Veronica Selver, Jon Beckhardt and Gary Weimberg. Original music is by George Michalski and Dave Denny, Garth Stevenson, Randall Wallace and Todd Boekelheide. Narrators include: Robert Redford; Ashley Judd; activist Van Jones; author Isabel Allende; and Meryl Streep.
Featured In The Film Are:
The incomparable Lois Gibbs, leader of Love Canal; Paul “I work for whales” Watson; Bill McKibben, author and founder of 350.org; Paul Hawken and Stewart Brand, alternative ecology visionaries; Martin Litton, at 92 thundering, “If you haven’t got any hatred in your heart, what are you living on?”; Carl Pope and John Adams, longtime heads of the Sierra Club and Nrdc; and Bob Bullard, who closes the film on a universal note: “There’s no Hispanic air. There’s no African-American air. There’s air! And if you breathe air – and most people I know do breathe air – then I would consider you an environmentalist.”...
- 9/28/2013
- by Peter Belsito
- Sydney's Buzz
The Sundance Institute pairs together four documentary projects and composers to participate in the tenth annual Composers + Documentary Lab, which takes place at their Utah resort October 26 - November 1. The Lab, which focuses on the role of music and sound design in docs, is part of the Institute’s Documentary Film Program and Fund (Dfp) and Film Music Program. Among this year's advisors are Rob Epstein ("Howl," "Celluloid Closet"), Vivien Hillgrove ("In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee") and Dfp Director Cara Mertes, as well as music editor Adam Smalley and composers Todd Boekelheide ("Blessed is the Match"), Miriam Cutler and Film Music Program Director Peter Golub ("Wordplay," "These Amazing Shadows"). Director of the Film Music Program Peter Golub says: “Composers for documentaries face unique challenges yet there are few opportunities for them to work with documentarians and focus specifically on...
- 10/19/2012
- by Sophia Savage
- Thompson on Hollywood
CANNES -- Good popcorn movies, commercial cinema, are hard to create. There’s no formula, no sure thing, and William Goldman’s dictum that "nobody knows anything" still proves the most golden of all the nonrules in Hollywood moviemaking.
An affectionate, comprehensive overview of Hollywood’s blockbusters and bombs, "Boffo!: Tinseltown’s Bombs and Blockbusters" encapsulates that mythical lightning in a bottle that miraculously strikes within the most unlikely projects and implodes other "sure things." Mixing a superb collection of clips from such blockbusters as The Godfather, Jaws, Driving Miss Daisy and Titanic as well as such mega-bombs as Howard the Duck and The Bonfire of the Vanities, Boffo illuminates that one contradictory reality of Hollywood moviemaking: The trouble with moviemaking is that it is a business, but the trouble with it as a business is that it is also an art.
Amplified by an array of eclectic insights from all the right suspects, "Boffo!" should delight serious cineastes as well as entertain popcorn-munching casual viewers. Best yet, you don’t have to understand Variety-ese or have read a boxoffice report to appreciate the anecdotal movie wisdom imparted here under the entertaining guidance of director Bill Couturie.
The smartly selected clips are marvelously orchestrated and intercut with a wide range of industry players, including executive types, actors, filmmakers and hyphenates, Tom Rothman, Sherry Lansing, Peter Guber, Charlize Theron, David Brown, Robert Evans, Pierce Brosnan, Morgan Freeman, Richard Dreyfuss, George Clooney, Brian Grazer and Jodie Foster among them.
Buttressed by an industry-savvy script from Peter Bart and Couturie, "Boffo!" is a wide-eyed squint at the thinking, dreaming and naysaying that make up the crazy alchemy of moviemaking.
While the film basically goes as far back as The Godfather, it raises vexing questions in this day in which everything seems to be created sequel: What stories to tell with the new technology? In its paradoxical wisdom, "Boffo!" shows the true magic of Jaws was in Steven Spielberg’s making do without a working shark — having the shark looming offscreen was the key to the film’s power. Now, the shark is the technology. And, the new hit-makers will, like Spielberg, have to learn to keep it in its place.
Boffo! Tinseltown’s Bombs and Blockbusters
HBO Documentary Films
A Film by Bill Couturie
Director: Bill Couturie; Screenwriters: Peter Bart, Bill Couturie; Suggested by the book "Boffo: How I Learned to Love the Blockbuster and Fear the Bomb" by: Peter Bart; Producers: Anne Sandkuhler, Bill Couturie; Executive producers: Peter Bart, Charlie Koones, Sheila Nevins; Supervising producer: John Hoffman; Co-producer: Timothy M. Gray; Associate producer: Alexis Ercoli; Director of photography: Stephen Lighthill; Composer: Todd Boekelheide.
Featuring: Peter Bogdanovich, Pierce Brosnan, David Brown, George Clooney, Danny DeVito, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Evans, Jodie Foster, Morgan Freeman, Brian Grazer, Peter Guber, Alan Horn, Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz, Sherry Lansing, Penny Marshall, Sydney Pollack, Tom Rothman, John Singleton, Charlize Theron, Nia Vardalos, Richard Zanuck.
No MPAA rating, running time 80 minutes.
An affectionate, comprehensive overview of Hollywood’s blockbusters and bombs, "Boffo!: Tinseltown’s Bombs and Blockbusters" encapsulates that mythical lightning in a bottle that miraculously strikes within the most unlikely projects and implodes other "sure things." Mixing a superb collection of clips from such blockbusters as The Godfather, Jaws, Driving Miss Daisy and Titanic as well as such mega-bombs as Howard the Duck and The Bonfire of the Vanities, Boffo illuminates that one contradictory reality of Hollywood moviemaking: The trouble with moviemaking is that it is a business, but the trouble with it as a business is that it is also an art.
Amplified by an array of eclectic insights from all the right suspects, "Boffo!" should delight serious cineastes as well as entertain popcorn-munching casual viewers. Best yet, you don’t have to understand Variety-ese or have read a boxoffice report to appreciate the anecdotal movie wisdom imparted here under the entertaining guidance of director Bill Couturie.
The smartly selected clips are marvelously orchestrated and intercut with a wide range of industry players, including executive types, actors, filmmakers and hyphenates, Tom Rothman, Sherry Lansing, Peter Guber, Charlize Theron, David Brown, Robert Evans, Pierce Brosnan, Morgan Freeman, Richard Dreyfuss, George Clooney, Brian Grazer and Jodie Foster among them.
Buttressed by an industry-savvy script from Peter Bart and Couturie, "Boffo!" is a wide-eyed squint at the thinking, dreaming and naysaying that make up the crazy alchemy of moviemaking.
While the film basically goes as far back as The Godfather, it raises vexing questions in this day in which everything seems to be created sequel: What stories to tell with the new technology? In its paradoxical wisdom, "Boffo!" shows the true magic of Jaws was in Steven Spielberg’s making do without a working shark — having the shark looming offscreen was the key to the film’s power. Now, the shark is the technology. And, the new hit-makers will, like Spielberg, have to learn to keep it in its place.
Boffo! Tinseltown’s Bombs and Blockbusters
HBO Documentary Films
A Film by Bill Couturie
Director: Bill Couturie; Screenwriters: Peter Bart, Bill Couturie; Suggested by the book "Boffo: How I Learned to Love the Blockbuster and Fear the Bomb" by: Peter Bart; Producers: Anne Sandkuhler, Bill Couturie; Executive producers: Peter Bart, Charlie Koones, Sheila Nevins; Supervising producer: John Hoffman; Co-producer: Timothy M. Gray; Associate producer: Alexis Ercoli; Director of photography: Stephen Lighthill; Composer: Todd Boekelheide.
Featuring: Peter Bogdanovich, Pierce Brosnan, David Brown, George Clooney, Danny DeVito, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Evans, Jodie Foster, Morgan Freeman, Brian Grazer, Peter Guber, Alan Horn, Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz, Sherry Lansing, Penny Marshall, Sydney Pollack, Tom Rothman, John Singleton, Charlize Theron, Nia Vardalos, Richard Zanuck.
No MPAA rating, running time 80 minutes.
- 5/20/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Honest and realistic, not compromising but not always engrossing in the process, debut filmmaker Tony Barbieri's "One" is a subdued blue-collar drama about friendship, loyalty and trying to turn one's life around.
Well-received at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, "One" is a sure bet with critics and aficionados of truly adult movies -- the Bay Area filmmaker cites Bernardo Bertolucci and Krzysztof Kieslowski as primary influences.
Occasionally a commercially successful film ("Sling Blade", "The Apostle") eschews the contrived rhythms, conflicts and emotions of the majority of features. "One", produced by Barbieri's wife Wendy Cary, is almost in that league, and a savvy distributor could find it a classy, select-site asset over time.
Set in contemporary San Francisco and co-written by Jason Cairns, one of the lead actors, Barbieri's semiautobiographical film is somber and most of the characters are cold and distant from one another. The visual style, with static shots and fly-on-the-wall compositions, takes getting used to but has its rewards.
Nick Kane Picoy) is a garbage man who played minor-league baseball and now lives at home with his critical, belligerent father (Paul Herman). A loner with no ambitions, Nick goes through inner turmoil when he's accused of squandering his gifts as an athlete because of a bad attitude.
The film opens with Nick picking up longtime friend Charlie (Cairns), who has just been released from prison for helping his grandfather commit suicide. Charlie, who wants to become a teacher, is Nick's polar opposite but also haunted by his mistakes and threatened by his role in past events.
Charlie wants to rebuild his life, and he moves into Nick's house. He starts working with Nick and tells his matter-of-fact parole officer (Muhammed Hasan) about his ambitions. Soon he's delivering medical supplies to disabled children and meets attractive Sarah (Autumn MacIntosh).
While Nick is eventually inspired to seek out his old coach and revive his baseball career, Charlie moves out and falls in love with Sarah. Although Charlie's criminal record presents seemingly unsurmountable problems and Nick in turn moving in with him is straining their friendship, things are looking up when the film opts for a downbeat ending.
The low-key, organic charisma of the fine cast is a crucial element, but overall, "One" is a well-realized cinematic journey into the sad lives of two young men with great potential and talents they come to desperately not want to waste.
ONE
Two Nine Prods.
in association with 3 Ring Circus
Director: Tony Barbieri
Screenwriters: Tony Barbieri, Jason Cairns
Producer: Wendy Cary
Executive producers: Jeffrey Boortz,
John Sideropoulos, Johnny Wow
Director of photography: Matthew Irving
Editor: Jeffrey Stephens
Music: Todd Boekelheide
Production designer: Wendy Cary
Casting: Malia Levine
Color/stereo
Cast:
Nick: Kane Picoy
Charlie: Jason Cairns
Sarah: Autumn MacIntosh
Ted: Paul Herman
Dan: Muhammed Hasan
Running time -- 86 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Well-received at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, "One" is a sure bet with critics and aficionados of truly adult movies -- the Bay Area filmmaker cites Bernardo Bertolucci and Krzysztof Kieslowski as primary influences.
Occasionally a commercially successful film ("Sling Blade", "The Apostle") eschews the contrived rhythms, conflicts and emotions of the majority of features. "One", produced by Barbieri's wife Wendy Cary, is almost in that league, and a savvy distributor could find it a classy, select-site asset over time.
Set in contemporary San Francisco and co-written by Jason Cairns, one of the lead actors, Barbieri's semiautobiographical film is somber and most of the characters are cold and distant from one another. The visual style, with static shots and fly-on-the-wall compositions, takes getting used to but has its rewards.
Nick Kane Picoy) is a garbage man who played minor-league baseball and now lives at home with his critical, belligerent father (Paul Herman). A loner with no ambitions, Nick goes through inner turmoil when he's accused of squandering his gifts as an athlete because of a bad attitude.
The film opens with Nick picking up longtime friend Charlie (Cairns), who has just been released from prison for helping his grandfather commit suicide. Charlie, who wants to become a teacher, is Nick's polar opposite but also haunted by his mistakes and threatened by his role in past events.
Charlie wants to rebuild his life, and he moves into Nick's house. He starts working with Nick and tells his matter-of-fact parole officer (Muhammed Hasan) about his ambitions. Soon he's delivering medical supplies to disabled children and meets attractive Sarah (Autumn MacIntosh).
While Nick is eventually inspired to seek out his old coach and revive his baseball career, Charlie moves out and falls in love with Sarah. Although Charlie's criminal record presents seemingly unsurmountable problems and Nick in turn moving in with him is straining their friendship, things are looking up when the film opts for a downbeat ending.
The low-key, organic charisma of the fine cast is a crucial element, but overall, "One" is a well-realized cinematic journey into the sad lives of two young men with great potential and talents they come to desperately not want to waste.
ONE
Two Nine Prods.
in association with 3 Ring Circus
Director: Tony Barbieri
Screenwriters: Tony Barbieri, Jason Cairns
Producer: Wendy Cary
Executive producers: Jeffrey Boortz,
John Sideropoulos, Johnny Wow
Director of photography: Matthew Irving
Editor: Jeffrey Stephens
Music: Todd Boekelheide
Production designer: Wendy Cary
Casting: Malia Levine
Color/stereo
Cast:
Nick: Kane Picoy
Charlie: Jason Cairns
Sarah: Autumn MacIntosh
Ted: Paul Herman
Dan: Muhammed Hasan
Running time -- 86 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 2/26/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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