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Awards Season News

BAFTA Long List

The official longlist for this year’s BAFTAs have been announced with The King’s Speech, 127 Hours, Another Year, Black Swan, The Fighter and The Social Network amongst the leading contenders.

The Longlist comes together after the first round of voting by BAFTA members as they whittle down the 207 films entered this year.

The first round of voting reduces the list of eligible films to fifteen in each category.

The second round of votes, which opens today, will then reduce these fifteen contenders down to the five nominations in each category. (Just being on the longlist does not constitute a nomination).

Over 6300 BAFTA members vote in three rounds to decide the Longlist, Nominations and Winners.

All members vote in the first two rounds and in the final round, winners are voted for by specialist Chapters in all categories except for Best Film, the four performance categories and Film Not in the English Language, which are voted for by all members.

The full list of nominations will be announced on 18 January 2011.

LONGLIST

N.B. * Denotes Chapter selection from Round One

Best Film

  • 127 Hours
  • Another Year
  • Black Swan
  • The Fighter
  • The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  • Inception
  • The Kids Are All Right
  • The King’s Speech
  • Made In Dagenham
  • Shutter Island
  • The Social Network
  • The Town
  • Toy Story 3
  • True Grit
  • Winter’s Bone

Director

  • 127 Hours *
  • Alice In Wonderland
  • Another Year
  • Black Swan *
  • The Fighter
  • The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  • Inception *
  • The Kids Are All Right
  • The King’s Speech *
  • Made In Dagenham
  • Shutter Island
  • The Social Network *
  • The Town
  • Toy Story 3
  • True Grit

Leading Actor

  • Aaron Eckhart (Howie) – Rabbit Hole
  • Ben Affleck (Doug MacRay) – The Town
  • Colin Firth (King George VI) – The King’s Speech *
  • James Franco (Aron Ralston) – 127 Hours *
  • Javier Bardem (Uxbal) – Biutiful *
  • Jeff Bridges (Marshal Reuben J Cogburn) – True Grit *
  • Jesse Eisenberg (Mark Zuckerberg) – The Social Network *
  • Jim Broadbent (Tom) – Another Year
  • Johnny Depp (Mad Hatter) – Alice In Wonderland
  • Leonardo DiCaprio (Cobb) – Inception
  • Leonardo DiCaprio (Teddy Daniels) – Shutter Island
  • Mark Wahlberg (Micky Ward) – The Fighter
  • Paul Giamatti (Barney Panofsky) – Barney’s Version
  • Robert Duvall (Felix Bush) – Get Low
  • Ryan Gosling (Dean) – Blue Valentine

Leading Actress

  • Andrea Riseborough (Rose) – Brighton Rock
  • Annette Bening (Nic) – The Kids Are All Right *
  • Carey Mulligan (Kathy) – Never Let Me Go *
  • Gemma Arterton (Alice) – The Disappearance Of Alice Creed
  • Gemma Arterton (Tamara Drewe) – Tamara Drewe
  • Hailee Steinfeld (Mattie Ross) – True Grit
  • Jennifer Lawrence (Ree) – Winter’s Bone
  • Julianne Moore (Jules) – The Kids Are All Right *
  • Michelle Williams (Cindy) – Blue Valentine *
  • Natalie Portman (Nina Sayers / The Swan Queen) – Black Swan *
  • Nicole Kidman (Becca) – Rabbit Hole
  • Noomi Rapace (Lisbeth Salander) – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  • Rosamund Pike (Miriam Grant-Panofsky) – Barney’s Version
  • Sally Hawkins (Rita O’Grady) – Made In Dagenham
  • Tilda Swinton (Emma Recchi) – I Am Love

Supporting Actor

  • Andrew Garfield (Eduardo Saverin) – The Social Network *
  • Andrew Garfield (Tommy) – Never Let Me Go
  • Ben Kingsley (Dr Cawley) – Shutter Island
  • Bill Murray (Frank Quinn) – Get Low
  • Bob Hoskins (Albert) – Made In Dagenham*
  • Christian Bale (Dicky Eklund) – The Fighter *
  • Dustin Hoffman (Izzy Panofsky) – Barney’s Version
  • Geoffrey Rush (Lionel Logue) – The King’s Speech *
  • Guy Pearce (King Edward VIII) – The King’s Speech
  • Jeremy Renner (James Coughlin) – The Town
  • Justin Timberlake (Sean Parker) – The Social Network
  • Mark Ruffalo (Paul) – The Kids Are All Right *
  • Matt Damon (La Boeuf) – True Grit
  • Pete Postlethwaite (Fergus ‘Fergie’ Colm) – The Town
  • Vincent Cassel (Thomas Leroy / The Gentleman) – Black Swan

Supporting Actress

  • Amy Adams (Charlene Fleming) – The Fighter *
  • Barbara Hershey (Erica Sayers / The Queen) – Black Swan *
  • Ellen Page (Ariadne) – Inception
  • Geraldine James (Connie) – Made In Dagenham
  • Helena Bonham Carter (Queen Elizabeth) – The King’s Speech *
  • Helena Bonham Carter (Red Queen) – Alice In Wonderland
  • Lesley Manville (Mary) – Another Year *
  • Marion Cotillard (Mal) – Inception
  • Melissa Leo (Alice Ward) – The Fighter
  • Mila Kunis (Lily / The Black Swan) – Black Swan
  • Miranda Richardson (Barbara Castle) – Made In Dagenham *
  • Olivia Williams (Ruth Lang) – The Ghost
  • Rebecca Hall (Claire Keesey) – The Town
  • Rosamund Pike (Lisa Hopkins) – Made In Dagenham
  • Winona Ryder (Beth Macintyre / The Dying Swan) – Black Swan

Adapted Screenplay

  • 127 Hours *
  • Alice In Wonderland
  • Barney’s Version
  • Brighton Rock
  • Despicable Me
  • The Ghost
  • The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  • Never Let Me Go
  • Rabbit Hole
  • Shutter Island
  • The Social Network *
  • The Town
  • Toy Story 3 *
  • True Grit *
  • Winter’s Bone *

Original Screenplay

  • Another Year
  • Biutiful
  • Black Swan *
  • Blue Valentine
  • The Disappearance Of Alice Creed
  • The Fighter *
  • Four Lions
  • Get Low
  • Hereafter
  • I Am Love
  • Inception *
  • The Kids Are All Right *
  • The King’s Speech *
  • Made In Dagenham
  • Of Gods and Men

Make Up & Hair

  • 127 Hours
  • Alice In Wonderland *
  • Black Swan *
  • Brighton Rock
  • The Fighter
  • The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  • Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1 *
  • I Am Love
  • Inception
  • The King’s Speech *
  • Made In Dagenham *
  • Never Let Me Go
  • Shutter Island
  • The Social Network
  • True Grit

Editing

  • 127 Hours *
  • Alice In Wonderland
  • Black Swan *
  • The Fighter
  • The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  • Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
  • Inception *
  • The Kids Are All Right
  • The King’s Speech *
  • Made In Dagenham
  • Shutter Island
  • The Social Network *
  • The Town
  • Toy Story 3
  • True Grit

Special Visual Effects

  • 127 Hours
  • Alice In Wonderland *
  • Black Swan
  • Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader
  • Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1 *
  • Hereafter
  • How To Train Your Dragon
  • Inception *
  • Iron Man 2 *
  • Kick-Ass
  • The King’s Speech
  • Monsters
  • Shutter Island
  • Toy Story 3
  • Tron Legacy *

Costume Design

  • Alice In Wonderland *
  • Black Swan *
  • Brighton Rock
  • Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader
  • The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  • Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
  • I Am Love
  • Inception
  • Kick-Ass
  • The King’s Speech *
  • Made In Dagenham *
  • Never Let Me Go
  • Shutter Island
  • The Social Network
  • True Grit *

Sound

  • 127 Hours *
  • Alice In Wonderland
  • Black Swan *
  • Brighton Rock
  • The Fighter
  • The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  • Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
  • Inception *
  • The King’s Speech *
  • Made In Dagenham
  • Shutter Island
  • The Social Network
  • The Town
  • Toy Story 3 *
  • True Grit *

Production Design

  • 127 Hours
  • Alice In Wonderland *
  • Black Swan *
  • Brighton Rock
  • The Fighter
  • The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  • Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1 *
  • I Am Love
  • Inception *
  • The King’s Speech *
  • Made In Dagenham
  • Never Let Me Go
  • Shutter Island *
  • The Social Network
  • True Grit *

Cinematography

  • 127 Hours
  • Alice In Wonderland
  • Black Swan *
  • The Fighter
  • The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  • Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
  • I Am Love
  • Inception *
  • The King’s Speech *
  • Never Let Me Go
  • Shutter Island *
  • The Social Network
  • The Town
  • True Grit *
  • Winter’s Bone

Original Music

  • 127 Hours
  • Alice In Wonderland *
  • Biutiful
  • Brighton Rock
  • Despicable Me
  • The Ghost
  • The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  • Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
  • How To Train Your Dragon *
  • Inception *
  • The King’s Speech *
  • Made In Dagenham
  • Never Let Me Go
  • The Social Network *
  • The Town

Animated Film

  • Chico & Rita
  • Despicable Me *
  • How To Train Your Dragon *
  • Illusionist, The
  • Toy Story 3 *

Note: As there were ties in the Chapter vote in Production Design and Sound, seven and six achievements are flagged in these categories respectively

> BAFTA
> Awards season coverage at InContention and Awards Daily

Categories
Amusing News

Lost numbers come up in US lottery

Two people recenrly won the jackpot in the US Mega Millions multi-state lottery, with each winner receiving $190 million.

But the more interesting story was the fact that 26,000 people won $150 by playing the six lottery numbers from the TV show Lost.

If you aren’t familiar with the series – which involved a bunch of people stranded on a mysterious island – one of the main characters, Hugo “Hurley” Reyes (Jorge Garcia), won the lottery playing the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42.

The also appear throughout the series as a numerical easter egg: they add up to 108 (another recurring number in the series), the button in the hatch had to be pushed every 108 minutes and Hurley comes across them in documents on the island.

In the episode ‘Numbers’, we see the run of bad luck Hurley has after winning the lottery and Garcia recently blogged (jokingly) that the numbers were bad and posted a picture of a $100 and a $50 bill with the word “Cursed” stamped over them.

To add to the intrigue, all of this happened in the same week that two other Lost-style events occurred when thousands of fish died in South Carolina and dead birds fell from the sky in Arkansas.

ABC must be regretting that the show ended last year, as this would be great publicity if it was still on.

>LA Times on the story
> More on the mythology of Lost at Wikipedia

Categories
News Viral Video

The Man with the Golden Radio Voice

A reporter from the Columbus Dispatch in Ohio recently came across a homeless man named Ted Williams with an incredible voice for TV and radio.

The result, which feels like a real life remake of The Soloist, was this video in which Williams demonstrated his vocal skills and described how he fell on hard times.

It has since gone viral on YouTube and been picked up by mainstream media outlets.

A thread on Reddit has the latest details on the story:

So, a homeless guy down on his luck may find redemption thanks to the good will of people on the web.

Someone has got to snap up the rights and make this into a feel-good movie, right?

For the latest, check out the Reddit thread here or the latest stories on Google News.

UPDATE 05/01/10:

Here is his appearance on the Dave and Jimmy morning radio show on WNCI in Columbus:

The Early Show on CBS interviewed Ted Williams:The Cleveland Cavaliers have offered Ted a full-time job and a house.

> Columbus Dispatch
> CBS News on the story
> Doral Chenoweth on Vimeo

Categories
News

Pete Postlethwaite (1946-2011)

Actor Pete Postlethwaite died yesterday aged 64, after a prolonged battle with cancer.

A British stage and television veteran, he began his career at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre and went on to work at the Manchester Royal Exchange and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

His film career began with a supporting role in A Private Function (1984) and a memorable performance in Terence Davies’ Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988) which helped cement his reputation as a screen actor.

But it was his Oscar-nominated turn as Guiseppe Conlon in In the Name of the Father (1993) alongside Daniel Day Lewis that really established him as an actor in Hollywood.

The success of that film let to further roles in major Hollywood productions such as The Usual Suspects (1995), Romeo + Juliet (1996), Amistad (1997) and Jurassic Park: The Lost World (1997).

Movie Videos & Movie Scenes at MOVIECLIPS.com

Although never a leading man, it was a remarkable run of work for a veteran actor in his late 40s, and his reputation was further enhanced when Steven Spielberg proclaimed him as:

‘probably the best actor in the world today’

He continued to work in Britain, with roles in the BBC adaptation of Martin Chuzzlewit (1994) and as the passionate band conductor in Brassed Off (1996).

In the past decade the quality of films he cropped up in varied with parts in Æon Flux (2005), The Omen (2006) and Solomon Kane (2008) beneath his considerable talents, although a key role in The Constant Gardener (2005) was a highlight.

He also returned to the stage in 2008 for a production of King Lear at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre and the Young Vic, London.

Politically active, he marched against the Iraq war in 2003, supported the Make Poverty History campaign and also starred in a film about global warming, The Age of Stupid (2009).

In the last year he returned with two small but memorable roles in major Hollywood productions: he was the dying patriach in Inception (2010) and a creepy Boston gangster in The Town (2010).

Postlethwaite was previously diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1990 and continued to work in recent times despite receiving further treatment.

He lived in Shropshire and paid tribute to the staff at his local hospital, the Royal Shrewsbury, telling the Shropshire Star:

“They have been wonderful and I am grateful to them. I cannot thank them enough for everything that they have done for me.”

He is survived by his wife, Jacqui, his son Will and daughter, Lily.

> Pete Postlethwaite at the IMDb
> Obituaries at BBC News, The Guardian and New York Times
> Various links at The Daily MUBi

Categories
News

BBC Radio 4 Film Season

Radio 4 have announced details of their forthcoming film season which features various material from the BBC archives.

Running from January 14th-29th, there will be a range of programmes exploring the past, present and future of cinema.

Mohit Bakaya, Commissioning Editor, BBC Radio 4, says:

“Today people can watch films outdoors, in living rooms, in multiplexes, on phones, on planes, in cars… almost anywhere. And the digital revolution is changing how films are made and who the filmmakers are. Giving insight into this dynamic industry, Radio 4’s special season of programmes takes listeners to the heart of cinema and explores where our relationship with film is heading.”

The season includes programmes presented by historian and film critic David Thomson, broadcaster Francine Stock, artist filmmaker Isaac Julien, filmmaker Asif Kapadia, broadcaster Barry Norman, writer, journalist and broadcaster Matthew Sweet, with contributions from producer Sir David Puttnam, director Ken Loach and director Sam Mendes.

Radio 4’s The Film Programme and regular arts programme Front Row will also be supporting the season with special features on film.

To coincide with the season, the Radio 4 website has released over two hundred interviews with contemporary film stars, directors and producers broadcast on the network since 2002 via the Radio 4 Film Interview Collection.

Interviewees include: Ben Affleck, Clint Eastwood, Gwyneth Paltrow, Charlize Theron, the Coen Brothers, Helena Bonham Carter and Renee Zellweger.

In addition BBC Archive is also releasing a large collection of radio interviews with the stars of the ‘Golden Age’ of American cinema.

Hollywood Voices features broadcasts and unedited interviews with film stars of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, many of which are being made available in full for the first time.

This collection of interviews features Harold Lloyd, James Cagney, Debbie Reynolds and Rita Hayworth.

Further highlights include a ’round table’ with Charlie Chaplin; conversations with Buster Keaton and Louise Brooks on the early days of American cinema; a fiery exchange with Bette Davis; and an insight into the power of music courtesy of Alfred Hitchcock.

Two galleries of photos from the BBC stills library also provide a rare glimpse of Hollywood in and around the BBC from 1930-1970.

Film season programme information is as follows:

  • Going To The Flicks with Barry Norman on how the experience of going to the cinema in Britain has changed over the last century, as recalled through the voices of British cinema-goers. (Saturday 15th January, 8pm)
  • Acclaimed British director, Asif Kapadia, uncovers Exploding Cinema – a coalition of underground filmmakers who challenge listeners to rethink the ways they watch and rate film. (Sunday 16th January, 1.30pm).
  • In Brief Encounters, a series of 15 three-minute vignettes transport listeners to cinemas across the world to meet cinema owners, audiences and others whose lives revolve around film (Weekdays at 12.55pm, 4.55pm and within Front Row from 7.15pm starting Monday 17th January)
  • A ten-part narrative history film, Life At 24 Frames A Second, as interpreted by historian and film critic David Thomson; David takes listeners on a personal journey through how cinema has changed us. (Weekdays at 3.45pm from Monday 17th January)
  • Francine Stock presents a two-part series on Hollywood. In Hollywood: The Prequel, she examines this early example of globalisation, discovering exactly when and why it happened – despite the roots of many of Hollywood’s staple genres being found in Europe.
  • In Hollywood: The Sequel, Francine considers whether the digital revolution will impact the USA’s grip on the global market. (Tuesday 18th and 25th January, 9am)
  • Leading artist and filmmaker, Isaac Julien gives listeners an insider’s view to the approaches, issues, developments and setbacks facing leading artists working in film in Isaac Julien’s Guide to Artists Filmmaking. (Tuesday 18th January, 11:30am)
  • In the lead up to the film season, The Film Programme has looked at the growth in community cinema and the power of film to bring people together. In January, it features listeners’ film-viewing diaries and presenter Francine Stock will be tweeting about her film life during the season and beyond. In a special edition (Friday 21st January), Francine tries to set up her own pop up cinema event in Scotland. She enlists the help of experts but what she needs most is a director – will Ken Loach come to her rescue? (Fridays at 4.30pm and Sundays at 11pm)
  • In Pocket Cinema, Matthew Sweet looks at how the mobile phone is transforming the way people watch and make movies. The programme follows and features a specially commissioned ‘Pocket Film’ by British film director Gurinder Chadha which can be viewed on the Radio 4 website. (Sunday 23rd January, 1.30pm)
  • Radio 4’s Front Row will be running special features on film throughout the season – including an Oscar nominations special on Tuesday 25th January. (Weekdays at 7.15pm)
  • As the film season draws to a close, in a special Archive on 4, there’s another chance to hear highlights from the Brief Encounters series in Brief Encounters: A World View of Cinema. As well as an omnibus selection, listeners will hear from filmmakers and film experts who will be their guide to the global consumption of cinema. (Saturday 29th January, 8pm)

Exploding Cinema and Pocket Cinema will be part of The Radio 4 Choice podcast which can be downloaded here.

* N.B. It is worth noting that if you aren’t based in the UK, you will still be able to listen to these programmes as BBC Radio is available to international audiences *

> Radio 4 film season website
> BBC Archive’s Hollywood Voices

Categories
News

Jafar Pahani imprisoned in Iran

Iranian director Jafar Pahani has been imprisoned for 6 years and ‘silenced’ for 20.

Best known for films such as The Circle (2000), Crimson Gold (2003) and Offside (2006), he was a supporter of opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi in last year’s disputed presidential election in June 2009 and was arrested a month later.

After being released he showed public support for the Iranian Green Movement at the Montreal Film Festival, as chairman of the jury, in September 2009:

Earlier this year in February he was not allowed to travel to the 60th Berlin Film Festival and in March he was arrested again and taken to Evin Prison.

It has been reported that his arrest was triggered in part by the fact that he had planned to make a film about the 2009 election.

He had been scheduled to be on the jury at Cannes in May and in his absence Juliette Binoche garnered headlines by protesting his imprisonment when she won Best Actress for her role in Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy.

The director of that film, Abbas Kiarostami, is also Iranian and said at the festival:

“The fact that a filmmaker has been imprisoned is, in itself, intolerable”

Panahi worked for fellow Iranian Kiarostami as an assistant on Through the Olive Trees (1994) and a few years later they collaborated together on Crimson Gold.
Since his imprisonment, directors, actors and critics from around the world have continued to call for Panahi’s release.

The INSA news agency quoted his lawyer Farideh Gheyrat:

“Mr. Panahi has been sentenced to six years in jail for acting and propaganda against the system. He has also been banned from making films, writing any kind of scripts, traveling abroad and talking to local and foreign media for 20 years”.

There are 20 days to make an appeal.

Panahi has previously released a statement saying the charges against him are “a joke” and that his house was raided and his film collection seized after being deemed “obscene”.

A fellow Iranian film maker, Mohammad Rasoulof, who was arrested along with Panahi in March, has also been sentenced to six years in prison for “acting and propaganda against the system”.

The Iranian government have often accused Western governments and media of spreading propaganda against the Islamic Republic.

> Jafar Panahi at Wikipedia
> Various links on the story at MUBi

Categories
Awards Season News

SAG Nominations

The SAG nominations have been announced and Colin Firth, Jesse Eisenberg, Annette Benning, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale and Hailee Steinfeld are among the nominees.

Give or take a few actors here and there, this is likely to be the same group nominated for Oscar nominations in January.

The main surprises would appear to be the exclusion of Javier Bardem (Biutiful), Ryan Goslin (Blue Valentine) and Lesley Manville (Another Year).

If pushed for potential Oscar winners I’d still say that Colin Firth, Natalie Portman and Christian Bale are frontrunners, although Best Supporting Actress is hard to call at this point.

Here are the nominations in the film category:

Best Male Actor (Leading Role)

  • Jeff Bridges (True Grit)
  • Robert Duvall (Get Low)
  • Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network)
  • Colin Firth (The King’s Speech)
  • James Franco (127 Hours)

Best Female Actor (Leading Role)

  • Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right)
  • Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole)
  • Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone)
  • Natalie Portman (Black Swan)
  • Hilary Swank (Conviction)

Best Male Actor (Supporting Role)

  • Christian Bale (The Fighter)
  • John Hawkes (Winter’s Bone)
  • Jeremy Renner (The Town)
  • Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right)
  • Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech)

Best Female Actor (Supporting Role)

  • Amy Adams (The Fighter)
  • Helena Bonham-Carter (The King’s Speech)
  • Mila Kunis (Black Swan)
  • Melissa Leo (The Fighter)
  • Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit)

Best Ensemble (Cast)

  • Black Swan
  • The Fighter
  • The Kids Are All Rigth
  • The King’s Speech
  • The Social Network

Stunt Ensemble

  • Green Zone
  • Inception
  • Robin Hood

> Full list of nominations at the SAG Awards site
> Analysis from Scott Feinberg, In Contention and Awards Daily

Categories
Documentaries News

The Economist Film Project

The Economist have partnered with PBS for a film project in which they are seeking documentary submissions over the next year.

The aim is to eventualy showcase independent documentary films from around the world and eventually screen selected segments on PBS NewsHour through in 2011-2012.

They are looking for films that:

“…offer new ideas, perspectives, and insights that not only help make sense of the world, but also take a stand and provoke debate”.

The Project is open from January 10, 2011 and will continue monthly until January 2012.

Documentary shorts and feature-length films can be be submitted and winning films will get exposure through The Economist’s YouTube channel and Facebook page, and the PBS NewsHour website, YouTube and Hulu channels.

More details can be found at their website.

> The Economist
> PBS Newshour

Categories
News

Leslie Nielsen (1926-2010)

Veteran comedy actor Leslie Nielsen has died at the age of 84.

Most famous for his roles in the comedies Airplane! (1980) and The Naked Gun (1988), his career stretched back to the 1950s with roles in over 100 films and TV shows.

Nielsen was born in Regina, Saskatchewan in Canada in 1926 and became a radio announcer after serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force during WWII, before studying at Toronto’s Academy of Radio Arts, which was run by CBC commentator and future Bonanza star Lorne Greene.

After a few years in radio, he became an actor in New York and appeared in TV shows such as Tales From Tomorrow before making his film debut in Ransom! (1956).

But with the exception of his supporting roles in Forbidden Planet (1956) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972), much of his work during this period involved supporting parts (often as a heavy).

It was later in his career that he found fame when he was cast as a serious doctor in the classic Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker spoof Airplane! (1980).

Movie Videos & Movie Scenes at MOVIECLIPS.com

This led to the lead role of inept police lieutenant Frank Drebin on Z.A.Z.’s TV series Police Squad! (1982), which achieved
cult fame for its rapid rate of inventive gags and distinctive intros which killed off the guest star (which included Nielsen’s old teacher Lorne Greene in the pilot episode).

A groundbreaking show, it saw Nielsen receive an Emmy nomination for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series.

Despite being cancelled after 6 episodes, Paramount later revived the series as the hilarious spin off film The Naked Gun (1988) and its box office success led to two sequels.

This new found fame meant Nielsen was increasingly typecast in lesser spoofs although his turn as US President in Scary Movie 3 (2003) and Scary Movie 4 (2006) provided some good laughs at the expense of President Bush.

He died due to complications from pneumonia at a hospital near his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Nielsen married four times and is survived by his fourth wife Barbaree Earl and three daughters as well as his brother, Eric, who was deputy prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1986.

> Leslie Nielsen at IMDb and Wikipedia
> New York Times obituary

Categories
Lists News

Sight and Sound’s Top Films of 2010

Sight and Sound have selected their best films of 2010 and it has been topped by The Social Network.

They asked 85 critics from across the globe to select their five favourite films of the past year and the titles that appeared the most were then selected for this list which will appear in their January 2011 issue.

(Note that the list can be a little out of sync with US and foreign release dates).

The final selection has already reached the magazine subscribers, although it won’t be on the Sight and Sound website until December 7th.

Here is the list in full (with some ties):

1. The Social Network (Dir. David Fincher, USA)

2. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand)

3. Another Year (Dir. Mike Leigh, UK)

4. Carlos (Dir. Olivier Assayas, France/Germany)

5. The Arbor (Dir. Clio Barnard, UK)

=6. I Am Love (Dir. Luca Guadagnino, Italy)
=6. Winter’s Bone (Dir. Debra Granik, USA)

=8. The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu (Dir. Andrei Ujică, Romania)
=8. Film Socialisme (Dir. Jean-Luc Godard, France/Switzerland)
=8. Nostalgia for the Light (Dir. Patricio Guzmán, France/Germany/Chile)
=8. Poetry (Dir. Lee Chang-dong, South Korea)
=8. A Prophet (Dir. Jacques Audiard, France)

=13. Certified Copy (Dir. Abbas Kiarostami, France/Iran/Italy)
=13. Meek’s Cutoff (Dir. Kelly Reichardt, USA)

=15. Dogtooth (Dir. Giorgos Lanthimos, Greece)
=15. Enter the Void (Dir. Gaspar Noé, France/Germany/Italy)
=15. Mysteries of Lisbon (Dir. Raúl Ruiz, Portugal/Brazil/France)
=15. Of Gods and Men (Dir. Xavier Beauvois, France)

=19. Aurora (Dir. Cristi Puiu, Romania/Switzerland/Germany/France)
=19. Exit Through the Gift Shop (Dir. Banksy, UK/USA)
=19. Four Times (Dir. Michelangelo Frammartino, Italy/Switzerland/Germany)
=19. The Ghost Writer (Dir. Roman Polanski, France/Germany/United Kingdom)
=19. Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow (Dir. Sophie Fiennes, UK/France/Netherlands)

> Sight and Sound (follow them on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook)
> MUBi and InContention on this year’s list
> Wikipedia on 2010 in film

Categories
News

Dino De Laurentiis (1919-2010)

Veteran Italian film producer Dino De Laurentiis died in Beverly Hills yesterday at the age of 91.

In a prolific career where he produced nearly 150 films and worked with a dazzling array of directors, including Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, John Huston, Roberto Rossellini, Robert Altman, Sidney Lumet, David Cronenberg, Sidney Pollack and David Lynch.

After producing his first film L’ultimo Combattimento (1940) he formed his own company, the Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica, in 1946.

The early part of his career was notable for the Fellini classics La Strada (1954) and Nights of Cabiria (1956), which he produced alongside fellow Italian Carlo Ponti.

But by the 1960s he had moved firmly into the commercial realm, setting up his own studio complex Dinocitta, as a rival to the established Cinecitta studio in Rome.

However, a slump in the Italian film industry saw De Laurentiis move to Hollywood, where he embarked on a mixture of acclaimed films and big budget schlock.

Amongst the best films of this era were Serpico (1973), Three Days of the Condor (1975), The Shootist (1976) and The Serpent’s Egg (1977).

Death Wish (1973) remains controversial, although it was a commercial success but the ill-advised remake of King Kong (1976) and the lamentable Jaws cash-in Orca (1977) were low points.

In the 1980s he continued to mix commercial projects such as Flash Gordon (1980), Conan the Barbarian (1982) and Dune (1984) with more acclaimed films like Ragtime (1981), Blue Velvet (1986) and Manhunter (1986).

Although early to the Hannibal Lecter franchise with Manhunter (1986), he missed out on the box office and Oscar success of The Silence of the Lambs (1991).

He didn’t want to repeat the mistake and subsequently bought the rights to Hannibal (2001), Red Dragon (2002) and Hannibal Rising (2007), although they were a classic example of the law of diminishing returns.

In 2001 he received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

He was married to actress Silvana Mangano, with whom he had four children: Veronica, Raffaella, Federico and Francesca.

After divorcing in 1988, he later married movie producer Martha Schumacher in 1990, with whom he had two daughters, Carolyna and Dina.

> Dino De Laurentiis at the IMDb
> Various tributes and links at MUBi

Categories
Images In Production News

First images from Spielberg’s Tintin

Empire have posted the first images from the upcoming Tintin film directed by Steven Spielberg.

The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn is based on three of the stories by Hergé: The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure.

The story involves Tintin’s (Jamie Bell) first encounter with Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis) and a treasure hunt which involves an escaped prisoner, as well as Detectives Thompson and Thomson (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost).

A longtime Tintin fan, Spielberg filmed using motion capture 3-D cameras and the film is currently scheduled for release in late 2011.

> Empire’s Tintin page
> IMDb entry

Categories
Interesting News

Peter Jackson on The Hobbit dispute

Peter Jackson recently gave a lengthy interview about whether or not upcoming film version of The Hobbit will be filmed in New Zealand.

Speaking to TV New Zealand he gave his side of a dispute which involves local acting unions who threatened to boycott the production.

Guillermo del Toro was initially going to direct but left the project in May (due to delays caused by MGM’s financial situation) and Jackson replaced him in July.

Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, and Hugo Weaving, who all appeared in in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, will reprise their roles, even though the films are a prequel.

> Official blog for The Hobbit
> The Hobbit at the IMDb

Categories
News

Mark Zuckerberg on The Social Network

Mark Zuckerberg recently spoke to a group of budding entrepreneurs at Stanford University where he gave his opinions on The Social Network.

Although he initially said that he wouldn’t see the film, he relented and then booked out an entire cinema for the whole of Facebook to see it on the opening day of release.

So what did he think of Hollywood’s version of himself and the company he founded?

He was impressed with the costume department:

It is interesting what stuff they focused on getting right. Every single shirt or fleece in that movie is actually a shirt or fleece that I actually own.

But he was not happy with the opening sequence and the ‘framing’ of the story:

The whole framing of the movie, the way that it starts is that I’m with this girl who doesn’t exist in real life, who dumps me – which has happned in real life a lot.

And basically they frame it as if though the whole reason I invented Facebook and building something was that I wanted to get girls or get into to some social institution. The reality for people who know me is that I’ve been dating the same girl since before I started Facebook.

But I think its just such a big disconnect I think from the way people who make movies think about what we do in Silicon Valley, building stuff. They just can’t wrap their head around the idea that someone might build something because they like building things.

The geeky call to arms elicited some wildly enthusiastic applause from the audience.

Aaron Sorkin might disagree with this version of events as Zuckerberg did blog about a girl named Jessica Alona whilst he created the FaceMash (the hacking prank which led to TheFacebook) and this was incorporated into the film.

Below is the transcript which Sorkin based the scene on:

Mark Zuckerberg’s Online Diary

However, Sorkin changed Alona’s name to ‘Erica Albright’ (the character played by Rooney Mara) and has explained that he did this for a reason:

“There was nothing in the movie that was invented for the sake of making it sensational. There was nothing in the movie that was Hollywood-ized. There are a couple cases where when it didn’t matter at all, I conflated two characters. There are three cases where I changed a character’s name. One of those characters we never actually see; it’s an off-screen character. In the other two cases it’s just there was no need to embarrass this person more. You have the exact same movie and the exact same truth if you don’t do that. So don’t do that.”

So, whilst there almost certainly was a Jessica Alona, she remains an enigma and has never gone public or given an interview.

As for Zuckerberg’s claim that he was dating his current girlfriend before Facebook even started, that has been hotly disputed.

You can watch the full Stanford interview with Zuckerberg here:

Mark Zuckerberg at Startup School from Wade Roush on Vimeo.

> My review of The Social Network
> More on Facebook at Wikipedia
> /Film on the truth of The Social Network
> Business Insider on the leaked transcripts that revealed more about the early years at Facebook

Categories
News TV

The Banksy Simpsons Intro

Last night’s episode of The Simpsons (entitled ‘MoneyBART‘) aired with a surprisingly political intro directed by British street artist Banksy.

Along with references to himself it culminated in an extended sequence referencing reports that the show outsources much of its animation to a company in South Korea.

Although the show has mocked Fox in the past, according to Time magazine, Banksy admitted that the segment resulted in:

‘delays, disputes over broadcasting and even threats of a walk-out from the animation department’

I once asked Simpsons creator Matt Groening how the show got away with taking so many sly digs at their parent network and he said:

If you think of Fox as an Octupus, The Simpsons would be like one suction cup on one of the tentacles, …so it doesn’t really bother the rest of the octopus.

The fact that it’s one of the most successful shows in television history has also given them a degree of protection.

But even by their own standards, this intro was unusually punchy and also marked the first time an outside artist has contributed to the actual storyboard.

> More about Banksy at Wikipedia
> The Simpsons at the IMDb

Categories
Amusing News

Johnny Depp visits London school as Jack Sparrow

Johnny Depp recently visited a London school as his pirate alter-ego Jack Sparrow after a pupil wrote to him asking to stage a ‘mutiny’ against the teachers.

The actor is currently filming the new Pirates of the Caribbean film in Greenwich and he stopped by the school as Captain Jack Sparrow to address the pupils of the Meridian Primary School.

Nine-year-old pupil Beatrice Delap wrote the letter to Depp after learning he was filming nearby at the Old Naval College.

It said:

“Captain Jack Sparrow, at Meridian primary school we are a bunch of budding young pirates. Normally we’re a right handful but we’re having trouble mutinying against the teachers. We’d love it if you could come and help. From Beatrice Delap, aged nine, a budding pirate.”

Yesterday, the school called a special assembly at the end of the day, saying there had been ‘incidents’ in the playground.

Then Johnny Depp walked in dressed as Captain Jack to address the pupils, which someone filmed on a mobile phone:

Depp produced Beatrice’s letter and performed for 15 minutes but said a mutiny might be unwise as the police were outside.

> Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides at the IMDb
> BBC News report on the story

Categories
Box Office News

The Social Network tops the US box office

The Social Network topped the US box office this weekend, grossing an estimated $23 million on around 3,800 screens at 2,771 locations.

Over the last week, the big question was whether the subject matter (the founding and conflicts over Facebook) could appeal to older males and females.

Exit polls indicated 53% of the audience was female and 55% were over 25.

With great reviews and a lot of media buzz, this was a decent opening but perhaps a more interesting indicator will be how it holds next week.

> Box Office Mojo with more analysis
> Deadline Hollywood Daily report on the US opening

Categories
News

Tony Curtis (1925 – 2010)

The actor Tony Curtis has died from a heart attack at the age of 85.

He was best known for his roles in Hollywood classics such as Sweet Smell of Success (1957) and Some Like It Hot (1959), as well as performances in The Defiant Ones (1958), Spartacus (1960) and The Outsider (1961).

Born Bernard Schwartz in 1925 to Hungarian-Jewish immigrants in New York, his early life was beset by poverty and family problems (his mother and brother both suffered from schizophrenia).

After serving in the Navy during World War II, where he witnessed the official Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay, he enrolled in acting classes in New York and got a contract with Universal Studios in 1948.

In 1949 he dated Marilyn Monroe before marrying actress Janet Leigh, who he starred alongside in Houdini (1953), but his early years in Hollywood were marred by formulaic supporting roles, despite being an attractive star hugely popular with teens and fan-magazine readers.

His major career breakthrough came in 1957 as a Broadway press agent opposite Burt Lancaster’s Broadway columnist in Alexander Mackendrick’s Sweet Smell of Success.

Finally achieving the critical acclaim that had eluded him, he went on to star in The Vikings (1958) with Kirk Douglas and Stanley Kramer’s social drama The Defiant Ones (1958) alongside Sidney Poitier.

By 1959 he was a major star and that year saw his most famous role in Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot, a comedy which cast him and Jack Lemmon as struggling musicians forced to dress in drag whilst fleeing the mob.

His next films, Operation Petticoat (1959) and Spartacus (1960) cemented his success but this golden period was soured by the box office flop of The Outsider (1961) and his divorce from Janet Leigh in 1962, following an affair with the 17-year-old German actress Christine Kaufmann.

In retrospect his career never recovered, and the 1960s saw him appear in a succession of unsuccessful comedies such as Captain Newman M.D. (1963) and the widely panned Wild and Wonderful (1964).

By the late 1960s his career was in severe trouble and an attempt at a more serious role in The Boston Strangler (1968) earned some good reviews, despite being attracted controversy.

Some bizarrely titled failures followed with Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies (1969) and Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? (1970) before he came to Britain for the 1971 television series The Persuaders! alongside Roger Moore.

Although it never cracked the US market, it is still regularly repeated around the world.

The 1970s saw him crop up in a variety of guest appearances on TV shows, such as Vega$ and by the late 1970s he had seen his daughter Jamie Lee Curtis become a star with the low budget horror Halloween (1978).

His colourful private life had always kept him in the public eye and by the 1990s he was on his sixth marriage and published his autobiography in 1994, with a second volume in 2008.

Two years ago he gave a fascinating interview on the UK show Shrink Rap where he talked to Dr Pamela Connolly about his life in often searing personal detail, discussing his violent mother, his guilt over the death of his brother and his various relationships down the years.

UK viewers can watch it here.

> Tony Curtis at the IMDb
> Various tributes and retrospective links at MUBi
> Jeffrey Wells pays tribute to the actor he knew at Hollywood Elsewhere
> GQ interview from June 2010

Categories
News

Sally Menke (1953 – 2010)

Film editor Sally Menke passed away on Monday at the age of 56.

Best known for her longtime collaboration with Quentin Tarantino she worked on all of his features: Reservoir Dogs (1991), Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill Vol I & II (2003-04), Death Proof (2007) and Inglourious Basterds (2009).

For Pulp Fiction and Inglourious Basterds she received Oscar nominations.

Here is Tarantino talking about Menke on the DVD for Death Proof, which culminates in a blooper reel where the actors on set say hello to Sally between takes:

The tradition was continued for Inglourious Basterds:

Although the exact cause of death isn’t yet clear, she had gone hiking in Griffith Park, Los Angeles on Monday.

It was an unusually hot day when temperatures reached 113 degrees and her body was found in the park’s Bronson Canyon section.

The LA Times have more details on the circumstances of her death.

> Sally Menke at the IMDb
> Collection of tributes and links at MUBi
> Round table interview with Sally Menke on Movie City News alongside DP Christian Berger and editor Joan Sobel

Categories
News

Early reviews for The Social Network

The early reviews for The Social Network have been extremely positive with 100% scores so far on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic.

David Fincher’s new film about the founding of Facebook opens in the US next week and Sony has already started screening it for selected critics in order to build buzz.

Here are a selection of some of the reviews so far:

Continues Fincher’s fascinating transition from genre filmmaker extraordinaire to indelible chronicler of our times –
Justin Chang, Variety

A mesmerizing, bewildering and infuriating protagonist makes this movie about Facebook’s creation a must-see – Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter

On a first viewing, it seems almost indecently smart, funny and sexy. The second time around… half the time I sat there marveling at the similarities of the story, themes and structure to Citizen Kane. – Todd McCarthy, indieWIRE

It’s the finest film in many years to open the New York Film Festival – Lou Lumenick, New York Post

David Fincher’s The Social Network is Zodiac’s younger, geekier, greedier brother. That means it’s good, as in really good. It’s the strongest Best Picture contender I’ve seen so far this year – Jeffrey Wells, Hollywood Elsewhere

…the most culturally relevant film Scott Rudin has produced since 1998′s “The Truman Show.” But while that film was a potent forecast of where we were heading as an entertainment-hungry society, this one is no less significant for its depiction of the here and now. – Kris Tapley, In Contention

At the moment it has 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 100 score on Metacritic, but this will obviously change once more reviews are published.

I suspect there could be something of a traditional media backlash to the fervour of these early reactions, like there was for Inception earlier this year.

However, this is a good start for Sony and the team positioning this for a shot at the Oscars. The most interesting question is how much awareness there is amongst the broader public.

Amongst film and tech geeks on the web it is eagerly anticipated, but how many of Facebook’s estimated 500 million users are actually going to see this?

The marketing campaign has been slick and clever but it will be fascinating to see how mainstream this film actually goes.

Reportedly Mark Zuckerberg has seen it, even though he said he wouldn’t. But did he like it?

I somehow doubt it will end up on his list of favourite movies and TV shows.

> Official site
> Reviews of The Social Network at Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic

Categories
News

Peace Corps YouTube Contest

The National Peace Corps Association recently launched a video contest on YouTube to mark their upcoming 50th anniversary.

Called “My Piece of the Peace Corps,” the contest invites entrants to submit videos about how the Peace Corps, a Peace Corps Volunteer, or a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer changed their lives.

Winners will receive $500, $1,000, or a grand prize of $2,500.

Erica Burman, director of communications for the National Peace Corps Association has said:

“We expect the videos to be as diverse as the people who serve in the Peace Corps. A video could be about a high-school teacher whose stories from overseas inspired you, or a Volunteer whose service taught you new skills, or maybe a Returned Volunteer who continues to be a community leader here at home.

“Like the Peace Corps, YouTube has brought the world closer together. It’s only natural that we would use this new technology to showcase the ways that Peace Corps Volunteers and Returned Volunteers have affected tens of thousands of people around the world.”

The contest will culminate just in time for the celebrations at the University of Michigan in October where the idea of the Peace Corps first began fifty years ago.

Entrants have until September 30th to upload their videos to NPCA’s contest group on YouTube.

Submissions must be less than 120 seconds and cannot have been previously submitted to another contest.

For more information just visit: www.peacecorpsconnect.org/VideoContest

(N.B. This is an international competition and you do not need to have been a Peace Corps Volunteer to enter).

Categories
News Random

2001 Acid Trip

A screening of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey in Los Angeles on Friday night was interrupted by someone apparently having an acid trip during the climax.

Although it could be some kind of stunt, this video shot inside the Egyptian Theater makes for interesting viewing:

IndieWire’s Todd McCarthy was at the same screening and he reports the following:

The Ultimate Trip turned into a bad trip Friday night at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Boulevard when one member of the audience at a screening of the Academy’s 70mm vault print of “2001: A Space Odyssey” tried to recreate the late ‘60s a little too aggressively.

Toward the end of the film, when Keir Dullea’s Dr. Dave Bowman finds himself in an ornate bedroom after the trippy Stargate sequence, a voice started booming from the near-front center part of the nearly full house.

The words were disjointed and mostly incoherent but included phrases like “It’s time to sleep!” and “Stanely Kubrick!,” “Wait!,” “It’s time!” and so on. With the film continuing to unspool, there was enough light to see that the ranter was a big burly guy who had now stood up, was waving his arms abruptly and lurching about unpredictably.

Hoping the man would shut up and sit back down, the audience didn’t do much at first, but it was soon clear the guy was tripping big time and was not going to respond to polite admonitions.

Someone who seemed to know him tried to settle him but now the guy seemed provoked and was acting even more crazily.

After a couple of minutes the film was turned off, the lights came up and someone presumably connected to the Cinematheque came down and told the guy he had five seconds to clear out.

McCarthy’s opening line is referring to one of the posters from the original release, which had the tagline: “The Ultimate Trip”

> 2001: A Space Odyssey at the IMDb
> Video of Stanley Kubrick at the opening of 2001

Categories
News

Vue London Film Festival Competition

Vue Cinemas are offering three people the chance to be an official reporter for this year’s BFI London Film Festival.

If you are a budding critic or reporter then this could be a good opportunity to cover a film festival and get some experience of reviewing films.

The three winners will report back on the Festival as a guest Tweeter on Vue’s Twitter page and the prize includes: 4 days entrance to the festival, plus travel and accommodation expenses as outlined in the terms & conditions.

To be in with a chance of winning, you have to do the following:

  • Explain in up to 400 words why you want to be the official London Film Festival reviewer for Vue.
  • Write a Twitter-style 140-character film review.

To enter just click here.

> London Film Festival
> Vue’s Twitter Page

Categories
Festivals London Film Festival News

London Film Festival 2010 Lineup Announced

The full lineup for this year’s London Film Festival has been announced and the selection of films will feature feuding ballerinas, an unconventional speech therapist and an immoveable boulder.

It will open on October 13th with Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go and close just over two weeks later with Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours, but in between will also feature Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, Mike Leigh’s Another Year and Palme D’Or winner Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.

Here are some key films to look out for:

  • Never Let Me Go (Dir. Mark Romanek): The opening night film is a story of love and loss based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s best-selling novel starring Caerry Mulligan, Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley. Already heavily tipped as an Oscar contender.
  • The King’s Speech (Dir. Tom Hooper): The story of King George VI (Colin Firth) and an unconventional Australian speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush) who helped him overcome his stutter. Was very well recieved at Telluride recently and is already regarded as a strong Oscar contender.
  • Another Year (Dir. Mike Leigh): An ensemble drama set in London exploring the lives of a married couple (Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen) and their various familes and friends. Got a lot of critical buzz in Cannes back in May.
  • Black Swan (Dir. Darren Aronofsky): A psychological thriller set in the world of the New York Ballet about a dancer (Natalie Portman) who struggles to meet the demands placed upon her. Co-starring Barbara Hershey, Vincent Cassell and Mila Kunis, it premièred at the Venice film festival recently and is likely to get some awards recognition.
  • Biutiful (Dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu): A contemporary drama set in Barcelona’s underworld about a single father of two struggling to survive.
  • 127 Hours (Dir. Danny Boyle): The closing night film is a drama based on the real life story of mountain climber Aaron Rawlston (James Franco) who became trapped by a boulder in Utah back in 2003. It screened at Telluride recently and is expected to be an awards season contender.
  • The Kids Are Alright (Dir. Lisa Cholodenko): Family drama about a couple (Julianne Moore and Anette Benning) whose life becomes more complicated when their adopted children try to find their bilogical father (Mark Ruffalo).
  • Miral (Dir. Julian Schnabel): A drama examining one woman’s experience of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
  • Of Gods and Men (Dir. Xavier Beauvois): Lambert Wilson and Michel Lonsdale star in this in this drama set in a monastery in North Africa.
  • Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul): The unexpected winner of this year’s Palme d’Or involves a gathering of humans and ghosts around a dying man.

Other films of note looking out for in the Films on the Square section include:

  • The American (Dir. Anton Corbijn) which stars George Clooney as an enigmatic assassin in Italy
  • Carlos (Dir. Olivier Assayas): An epic biopic of infamous Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal
  • It’s Kind of a Funny Story (Dir. Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden) A coming of age tale about a troubled Brooklyn teenager (Keir Gilchrist)
  • Let Me In (Dir. Matt Reeves): The US remake of Let The Right One In, about the relationship between a young boy and a vampire;
  • Tabloid (Dir. Errol Morris): The latest documentary from Morris is the story of Joyce McKinney and the case of the ‘manacled Mormon’.

Following last year’s inaugural ceremony, the BFI London Film Festival Awards return for a second year to celebrate the finest films within the festival.

This year the awards will take place on October 27th at Jerwood Hall, LSO St Luke’s, before a panel of judges representing the international film community. (The full Awards shortlist will be announced on September 28th).

For a full list of films showing at the festival, including the New British Cinema, French Revolutions, Cinema Europa, World Cinema, Experimenta, Treasures from the Archives and Short Cuts and Animation strands go to the official LFF website.

You can download a calendar of events at the festival as a PDF file here.

The 54th BFI London Film Festival runs from October 13th until October 28th

> Official LFF site
> Coverage from last year’s festival

Categories
News TV

Michael Douglas on Letterman

Michael Douglas appeared on the David Letterman show last night and revealed that he is already undergoing treatment for throat cancer.

In a fairly dramatic and moving interview he said that although it was at an intense stage, the cancer hadn’t spread and he had something like an “eighty per cent” chance of eventual recovery:

“It’s a stage four [cancer], which is intense. You want to be at stage one. The big thing you’re worried about is it spreading. I am head and neck, …nothing’s gone down. The expectations are good.”

Watch an edited version of the interview here:

> Michael Douglas at Wikipedia
> The David Letterman Show

Categories
DVD & Blu-ray News

The Studio Canal Collection on Blu-ray

The latest batch of Blu-rays from The Studio Canal Collection, released on September 13th, feature The Third Man, Breathless, The Graduate, Delicatessen, Mulholland Drive and The Pianist.

For any self-respecting film fan these are nearly all essential purchases which range from milestones in post-war cinema to more modern classics.

All these titles are in 1080p, feature DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks and come with new cover art and liner notes and are released on September 13th.

Each title also comes with a lot of extras – some of which are new and exclusive to the Blu-ray versions – but I’ll review those later in individual posts on each title nearer the release date.

The Third Man (1949): One of the genuine landmarks of cinema, a tale of a writer (Joseph Cotten) visiting an elusive friend (Orson Welles) in post-war Vienna. It featured a bewildering array of talent behind and in front of the camera: Carol Reed directed from a script by Graham Greene, whilst Alexander Korda and David O’Selznick co-produced and aside from Welles and Cotten the cast features Trevor Howard and Allida Valli. Famous for its iconic set pieces – light illuminating a doorway, a dialogue on a enormous ferris wheel, a chase through the sewers and two funerals, it also has one of the most distinctive scores courtesy of Anton Karas’ zither. It also won the Palme D’Or at Cannes and the Oscar for Best Cinematography.

Breathless (1960): Perhaps the iconic film of the French New Wave, this tale of a small time crook (Jean-Paul Belmondo) who goes on the run after stealing a car and shooting a cop, sees him end up in Paris with an American girlfriend (Jean Seberg). With its loose narrative, location shooting, improvised dialogue, jump cuts, deliberately mismatched shots and literary references, it remains a landmark film. It gave French and European cinema a much needed shot of inspiration when it first came out in 1960, with audiences and critics responding to its energy and artistic verve. N.B. The Special Edition DVD release also comes out the same day as the Blu-ray.

The Graduate (1967): One of the iconic films of the late 1960s saw Dustin Hoffman play the eponymous graduate, a recent university graduate drifting aimlessly in life, who is seduced by an older woman, Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), only to fall in love with her daughter (Katharine Ross). Director Mike Nichols struck a chord with a younger generation of audiences by using techniques borrowed from the French New Wave to craft a witty tale of youthful alienation. Odd angles and unconventional editing were combined with a sharp script by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham (adapted from from Charles Webb’s novel) and the result was a huge hit, launching Hoffman’s career and also boosting Simon and Garfunkel whose music features heavily on the soundtrack.

Le Cercle Rouge (1970): A stylish French crime drama about two criminals (Alain Delon and Gian-Maria Volonté) who join forces with a corrupt ex-cop (Yves Montand) for a tricky heist becomes something much deeper in the hands of director Jean-Pierre Melville. Exploring the moralities of those breaking and enforcing the law, it features excellent performances from the leads, a wonderfully teasing narrative and some brilliantly executed set-pieces. It was heavily cut for its initial US release in 1970, but this id the fully restored version.

Delicatessen (1991): The wonderfully surreal debut of the Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, set in a post-apocalyptic world where food is scarce, is about an ex-clown (Dominique Pinon) who gets a job in an apartment building and then falls for the daughter of the building’s owner – an imposing and sinister butcher. Below them, down in the sewers, live some rebel vegetarians.

Mulholland Drive (2001): David Lynch’s neo-noir journey through the dark side of Hollywood is still as fresh, disturbing and trippy as it was when it first came out. The tale of a woman (Laura Elena Harring) who loses her memory in a car accident and the actress (Naomi Watts) who tries to help her out, it weaves a hypnotic spell as it unfolds in wildly unconventional ways. Featuring all manner of memorable characters including a director, a cowboy and a mysterious singer, it is one of those films which has inspired all manner of theories due to the hallucinogenic games Lynch plays with the audience.

The Pianist (2002): Roman Polanski won the Oscar for Best Director for this World War II drama about Polish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman, who escaped the Nazi death camps by hiding in the Warsaw ghetto. Played by Adrien Brody (who also won an Oscar for his performance) it is a gruelling tale of survival which features an interesting (and true life) twist. The gradual destruction of Warsaw provides a haunting backdrop to Szpilman’s story of survival is treated with a powerful blend of intelligence and emotion. Polanski’s own personal experiences during the war no doubt made the film a personal one and the craft, especially Pawel Edelman’s cinematography, is impeccable throughout.

Breathless: 50th Anniversary Special Edition is out on DVD and Blu-ray on September 13th

The Studio Canal Collection titles are also out in Blu-ray on September 13th

> Studio Canal Collection
> Best DVD and Blu-ray releases of 2009

Categories
London Film Festival News

Never Let Me Go to open the London Film Festival

Never Let Me Go will be the opening film at this year’s London Film Festival on October 13th.

Adaptated from Kazuo Ishiguro’s bestselling novel, it stars Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield and is directed by Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo).

Alex Garland (The Beach, 28 Days Later) wrote the screenplay and it is the story of three young adults and an English boarding school which hides a dark secret.

A co-production between DNA Films, Film4 and Fox Searchlight, it is likely to feature in the end of year BAFTA and Oscar nominations.

Sandra Hebron, the Festival’s Artistic Director has said:

‘It is a great pleasure to be able to open the festival with a film as accomplished and imaginative as NEVER LET ME GO. It combines impeccable film making, outstanding performances and a deeply moving story, and I couldn’t wish for a stronger or more appropriate opening night.’

On having the film’s European premiere at the Festival, Andrew Macdonald of DNA Films said:

‘We’re delighted that NEVER LET ME GO has been selected to open this year’s festival. It has been a privilege to be involved with bringing Kazuo Ishiguro’s remarkable novel to the screen, and to work with such an exceptional British cast. We look forward to unveiling the film in London.’

Director Mark Romanek also adds:

‘I think I can speak for the entire cast and crew when I say that we are deeply honored and excited to have been selected to open this year’s festival. For me personally, it seems the perfect way to celebrate the conclusion of an incredible filmmaking experience in the UK.’

The full programme for The 54th BFI London Film Festival will be announced on Wednesday 8th September and it will run from 13th-28th October 2010.

Fox Searchlight are seasoned pros when it comes to getting films attention in the awards season and the first trailer was an impressive first glimpse at what can be expected:

Never Let Me Go will be released in the UK on January 14th 2011.

> Official site
> Never Let Me Go at the IMDb
> BFI London Film Festival

Categories
blu-ray DVD & Blu-ray News

Apocalypse Now on Blu-ray

Details have been announced for the Blu-ray release of Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now in two different versions on October 19th.

Although this is the US release date, a UK and worldwide release should be confirmed relatively soon.

The epic about a US army captain (Martin Sheen) sent to assassinate a rogue colonel gone native deep in the jungle (Marlon Brando) is one of the great films of the 1970s and a vivid depiction of the insanity of the Vietnam War.

There will be a regular 2-disc set and a more comprehensive Full Disclosure edition which includes George Hickenlooper’s memorable making of documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (1991), which will also be in 1080p.

The package will include the original 1979 theatrical cut and the extended Apocalypse Now Redux version (released back in 2001) and both will be presented in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1.

For previous DVD releases cinematographer Vittorio Storaro made the curious decision to modify it to 2.00:1 (the Univisium format), which he thinks should be a universal ratio for all films.

But now audiences will be able to see the film in high definition as well as in its original theatrical aspect ratio for the first time.

The extras for the two editions break down like this:

2 FILM SET

  • Apocalypse Now – 1979 Cut
  • Apocalypse Now Redux
  • “A Conversation with Martin Sheen” interview by Francis Ford Coppola
  • “An Interview with John Milius” interview by Francis Ford Coppola
  • Complete Francis Ford Coppola interview with Roger Ebert at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival
  • Monkey Sampan “lost scene”
  • Additional Scenes
    • “Destruction of the Kurtz Compound” end credits with audio commentary by Francis Ford Coppola
    • “The Hollow Men,” video of Marlon Brando reading T.S. Eliot’s poem
  • Featurettes:
    • The Birth of 5.1 Sound
    • Ghost Helicopter Flyover sound effects demonstration
    • A Million Feet of Film: The Editing of Apocalypse Now
    • The Music of Apocalypse Now
    • Heard Any Good Movies Lately? The Sound Design of Apocalypse Now
    • The Final Mix
    • Apocalypse Then and Now
    • The Color Palette of Apocalypse Now
    • PBR Streetgang
    • The Color Palette of Apocalypse Now
    • The Synthesizer Soundtrack” article by music synthesizer inventor Bob Moog

FULL DISCLOSURE EDITION

Like the 2-Film Set above, plus the following:

  • Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse
  • Optional audio commentary with Eleanor and Francis Ford Coppola
  • 48-page collectible printed booklet with special note from Francis Ford Coppola, never-before-seen archives from the set, behind the scenes photos and more
  • John Milius Script Excerpt with Francis Ford Coppola Notes
  • Storyboard Gallery
  • Photo Gallery, including images from photographer Mary Ellen Mark
  • Marketing Archive

[Via IGN UK]

> Apocalypse Now at Wikipedia and IMDb
> Pre-order the Blu-ray of Apocalypse Now at Amazon UK

Categories
Interesting News

The National Archives Movie Podcast

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The National Archives in the UK have produced a podcast which sheds light on the history of British cinema.

Presented by Joseph Pugh, it is a recorded talk that explores some intriguing stories using documents from records in the archive.

Much of the hour long podcast is devoted to the silent era and it uncovers some interesting nuggets such as: the attempts by the Colonial Office to ban D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation; a groundbreaking British cartoon that was financed by the CIA; and the attempts in 1922 to ban a film called Cocaine.

Many of the films discussed are listed on Your Archives, a wiki where people can post more information, which is a commendable attempt to crowd source further research.

> Listen to the podcast
> The National Archives

Categories
News

And We Are Back

After some light posting during the recent World Cup, this site will now return to normal.

Categories
News

Back in July

I’m taking a bit of a break from this blog until early July, when normal service will resume.

Until then you can still find me on email or Twitter.

Categories
News

Guillermo del Toro is no longer directing The Hobbit

After numerous delays to the upcoming film of The Hobbit, director Guillermo del Toro has confirmed that he is departing the project.

In a nutshell, the ongoing financial problems at MGM – who share the rights with New Line/Warner Bros. – meant that the delays had become overwhelming and were preventing him from making other films.

He made the official announcement through the long-running Lord of the Rings fansite The One Ring:

In light of ongoing delays in the setting of a start date for filming “The Hobbit,” I am faced with the hardest decision of my life. After nearly two years of living, breathing and designing a world as rich as Tolkien’s Middle Earth, I must, with great regret, take leave from helming these wonderful pictures.

I remain grateful to Peter, Fran and Philippa Boyens, New Line and Warner Brothers and to all my crew in New Zealand. I’ve been privileged to work in one of the greatest countries on earth with some of the best people ever in our craft and my life will be forever changed.

The blessings have been plenty, but the mounting pressures of conflicting schedules have overwhelmed the time slot originally allocated for the project. Both as a co-writer and as a director, I wish the production nothing but the very best of luck and I will be first in line to see the finished product. I remain an ally to it and its makers, present and future, and fully support a smooth transition to a new director.

Producer Peter Jackson also said:

We feel very sad to see Guillermo leave the Hobbit, but he has kept us fully in the loop and we understand how the protracted development time on these two films, due to reasons beyond anyone’s control – has compromised his commitment to other long term projects…

The bottom line is that Guillermo just didn’t feel he could commit six years to living in New Zealand, exclusively making these films, when his original commitment was for three years. Guillermo is one of the most remarkable creative spirits I’ve ever encountered and it has been a complete joy working with him.

Guillermo’s strong vision is engrained [sic] into the scripts and designs of these two films, which are extremely fortunate to be blessed with his creative DNA. Guillermo is co-writing the Hobbit screenplays with Philippa Boyens, Fran Walsh and myself, and happily our writing partnership will continue for several more months, until the scripts are fine tuned and polished…

New Line and Warner Bros will sit down with us this week, to ensure a smooth and uneventful transition, as we secure a new director for the Hobbit. We do not anticipate any delay or disruption to ongoing pre-production work.

Back in 2008 I spoke with Del Toro and he seemed thrilled about tackling the project. You can listen to the interview here.

With MGM’s financial situation delaying this project as well as the latest Bond film, it would seem imperative that they get them sorted out as soon as possible.

> One Ring fansite
> The Hobbit at the IMDb

 

Categories
News

Dennis Hopper (1936–2010)

Matt Zoller Seitz recently posted this fine appreciation of the late Dennis Hopper.

Categories
blu-ray News

Donnie Darko on Blu-ray

Cult film Donnie Darko is getting a UK Blu-ray release from Metrodome on July 19th.

It will be a 2-disc version featuring the original feature as well as the expanded director’s cut, and comes with the following extras:

  • Feature commentary with director Richard Kelly
  • Feature commentary with cast & crew
  • Feature commentary with director Richard Kelly and Kevin Smith
  • They made me do it featurette
  • They made me do it too featurette
  • They made me do it art gallery
  • Production Diary – optional commentary by steven poster, director of photography
  • B-roll footage
  • Cast & crew interviews
  • Additional scenes: 20 scenes with optional commentary by richard kelly – deleted & Extended scenes from the original theatrical cut
  • Cunning visions informercials with optional commentary
  • The Philosophy of Time Travel
  • Original tv spots x 5
  • Original theatrical trailer
  • The director’s cut trailer

> Pre-order Donnie Darko from Amazon UK
> Donnie Darko at the IMDb

Categories
Interesting News

Write the Future

Nike have released this epic three-minute advert for the World Cup named ‘Write the Future‘, which stars Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney, Fabio Cannavaro, Franck Ribery, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott, Patrice Evra, Gerard Pique, Ronaldinho, Landon Donovan, Tim Howard and Thiago Silva.

Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu (21 Grams, Babel), it also features Roger Federer, Kobe Bryant and Homer Simpson and will be shown on TV for the first time tonight (May 22nd) during the Champions League Final between Bayern Munich and Inter.

Categories
Amusing News

New York Public Library call Improv Everywhere

For their latest prank, New York based troupe Improv Everywhere have re-enacted a scene from Ghostbusters at the New York Public Library.

According to the New York Times the library approached Improv Everywhere to stage the scene in order to raise awareness about its Don’t Close the Book campaign, as the library is facing budget cuts of around $37 million.

The group have a detailed behind-the-scenes report on how they prepared and executed it all.

Fans of the original film will note that the 1984 comedy features the library in its opening scenes:

The New York-based group specialises in “scenes of chaos and joy in public places” and in the last few years have staged similar performances such as Frozen Grand Central, the Food Court Musical, and the No Pants Subway Ride.

> Improv Everywhere
> Buy the book Improv Everywhere
> New York Public Library and the Don’t Close the Book campaign
> Improv Everywhere on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube

Categories
News TV

UK Election Live 2010

Categories
News

Regulators approve movie futures market

Yesterday U.S. regulators gave the go ahead for Cantor Futures Exchange, a market that will give speculators a way to bet on expected movie box office receipts.

The major Hollywood studios and cinema chains are staunchly opposed to the trading of movie futures contracts, calling it a form of legalized gambling.

The Motion Picture Association of America has said that they are:

“…united in our opposition to a risky online-wagering service that would be detrimental to the motion picture industry”.

I think they have a point.

Given the amount of people in the industry with access to sensitive information about various projects isn’t there a huge risk of insider trading?

Although studios have apparently already tightened up how tracking numbers (the data that essentially predicts how much a film is going to earn) are released, information will always find a way to get out.

There is a certain irony that this was approved just days after President Obama finally decided to clamp down on the casino-style capitalism of Wall Street banks that almost caused the global financial system to collapse.

Isn’t there a lesson to be learned from the Goldman Sachs story currently unfolding?

Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) has included a ban on movie futures trading in the financial reform bill that is set to be debated in a committee today (Wednesday).

Cantor Fitzgerald, the backer of the futures market, said in a statement it appreciated the “excellent work” of the commission, with a final decision expected in June.

My prediction? A major scandal, which is then swiftly adapted into a movie.

After all, this wouldn’t be the first time Hollywood has made a tale about the perils of insider-trading.

Categories
Box Office News

Kick-Ass disappoints at the US box office

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Despite an expensive marketing campaign and web-fuelled hype Kick-Ass under performed at the US box office this weekend.

There had been expectations that it would hit the Number 1 slot and could have a $30 million opening, but it failed to hit the top slot which was instead claimed by the DreamWorks animated film How To Train Your Dragon, which is in its fourth week of release.

* UPDATE 19/04/10: Variety are now reporting that Kick-Ass was the Number 1 film of the weekend as Lionsgate opened it early on Thursday and are counting those grosses in with their final figure. This allows them to claim the weekend, although the figures are so narrow I still think the studio are going to be disappointed with this opening. *

It is worth pointing out that Kick-Ass was an interesting case study as it was funded outside the studio system and was a rare example of a high profile indie film having a shot at making some decent cash.

Things looked promising as it was being released by Lionsgate (the only major distributor outside of the big six major studios) and they have a strong track record in releasing edgier films – like the Saw franchise – to a wide audience.

Kick-Ass seemed to be tailor made for them: it looked like a superhero movie; it had lots of carefully cultivated buzz on the geekier websites (AICN, CHUD); and it was a film that directly appealed to a hipper, younger audience.

This meant that Lionsgate felt they had a potential breakthrough hit on their hands and they spent heavily marketing the film. Some have speculated they acquired it for $25m and $40m on prints and advertising, including TV ads like this.

Going in to the weekend it had decent reviews (76 on Rotten Tomatoes, 67 on Metacritic), online buzz, awareness and it was on a load of screens with little in the way of serious rivals (the main one being the US remake of Death of a Funeral).

All this boded well and some Hollywood observers were even expecting it to make $30m.

By the end of the weekend it had only grossed $19.7m and had been (narrowly) beaten to the top slot by an animated film that had already been out for three weeks.

Why did it under perform?

My guess is that it played well to the male-skewing fanbase but just didn’t connect with the wider audience due to the violence, the in-your-face tone of the film and the fact that it was not a conventional super-hero movie at all.

Distributor Lionsgate’s exit polling indicated that 60 percent of those who saw Kick-Ass audience were male and 50 percent was under 25 years old.

In essence, the geeks raved and went to see it but the wider audience didn’t.

Given that the accepted formula for a film’s theatrical gross is to multiply the opening weekend figures by 2.5, this would suggest Kick-Ass is only going to gross around $65m.

This might seem a respectable number for an independent production but in order to greenlight a sequel and build a franchise, they’d be looking for a higher number.

Although the film had created levels of hysteria amongst fanboys not seen since Watchmen, it is a salutary reminder that creating a genuine mainstream hit outside the studio system remains difficult.

Categories
News

James Cameron vs Glenn Beck

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Director James Cameron had some strong words for Fox News host Glenn Beck yesterday calling him a “fu**ing a**hole” and a “madman”.

At a press event for the home entertainment launch of Avatar in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Cameron let rip when asked about Beck:

“Glenn Beck is a f***ing a**hole. I’ve met him. He called me the anti-Christ, and not about Avatar. He hadn’t even seen Avatar yet. I don’t know if he has seen it.”

The Hollywood Reporter has noted that Cameron’s beef with Beck goes back to 2007 when the talk show host was working for CNN and criticised the Cameron-produced documentary ‘The Lost Tomb of Jesus‘ by saying:

“Many people believe James Cameron officially has tossed his hat in the ring today and is officially running for anti-Christ.”

Cameron was less than thrilled with Beck’s comments:

“He’s dangerous because his ideas are poisonous. I couldn’t believe when he was on CNN. I thought, what happened to CNN? Who is this guy? Who is this madman? And then of course he wound up on Fox News, which is where he belongs, I guess.”

He later backtracked a little saying:

“You know what, he may or may not be an a**hole, but he certainly is dangerous, and I’d love to have a dialogue with him.”

Interestingly, both men have made a lot of money for Rupert Murdoch as Avatar was mostly funded and released by 20th Century Fox whilst Beck is one of the stars of Fox News.

In the same session Cameron also attacked climate change deniers:

“Anybody that is a global warming denier at this point in time has got their head so deeply up their ass I’m not sure they could hear me.”

The environmental themes of Avatar are forming a big part of its home video release, a point which Cameron was keen to emphasise:

“Look, at this point I’m less interested in making money for the movie and more interested in saving the world that my children are going to inhabit. How about that? I mean, look, I didn’t make this movie with these strong environmental anti-war themes in it to make friends on the right, you know.”

The DVD and Blu-ray release date for Avatar is April 22nd, which is also Earth Day.

> Avatar at the IMDb
> Find out more about James Cameron and Glenn Beck at Wikipedia
> Pre-order the Avatar Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon UK