William Friedkin is gone, and he leaves us with one final film, the stirring, effective courtroom drama "The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial." Adapted by Friedkin from Herman Wouk's play, "The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial" runs the risk of being too stagey; too much like a play merely transported to the screen without anything cinematic to add. Thankfully, Friedkin knows exactly how to make the film bullet along, aided by snappy, quick-paced editing from Darrin Navarro.
Friedkin and cinematographer Michael Grady keep things seemingly simple — the bulk of the film is set in one courtroom. But the camera and its placement help set the stage, conveying so much by simply showcasing — or not showcasing — the actors and their surroundings. When Friedkin wants to convey the isolation of certain characters, he places them alone in the frame, cutting against wide shots that help situate us in a specific spot. As a result, the...
Friedkin and cinematographer Michael Grady keep things seemingly simple — the bulk of the film is set in one courtroom. But the camera and its placement help set the stage, conveying so much by simply showcasing — or not showcasing — the actors and their surroundings. When Friedkin wants to convey the isolation of certain characters, he places them alone in the frame, cutting against wide shots that help situate us in a specific spot. As a result, the...
- 10/5/2023
- by Chris Evangelista
- Slash Film
The modest aims of director William Friedkin’s final film, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, are evident from the start. The film is an adaptation of Herman Wouk’s 1954 two-act play of the same name, which the author adapted from his Pulitzer Prize-winning 1951 novel The Caine Mutiny. And both Wouk’s play and Friedkin’s film jettison the book’s maritime actions to focus solely on the military tribunal that results from it.
That means that nearly the entire film takes place within a small hearing room where military judges hear arguments for and against Lieutenant Stephen Maryk (Jake Lacy), who faces both discharge and imprisonment for usurping the command of Lt. Commander Phillip Queeg (Kiefer Sutherland) during a storm. Maryk and a handful shipmates argue that Queeg lost control of his senses and had to be displaced, but the burden of proof for upending the military’s fiercely maintained chain...
That means that nearly the entire film takes place within a small hearing room where military judges hear arguments for and against Lieutenant Stephen Maryk (Jake Lacy), who faces both discharge and imprisonment for usurping the command of Lt. Commander Phillip Queeg (Kiefer Sutherland) during a storm. Maryk and a handful shipmates argue that Queeg lost control of his senses and had to be displaced, but the burden of proof for upending the military’s fiercely maintained chain...
- 10/1/2023
- by Jake Cole
- Slant Magazine
The plan was for renowned director William Friedkin to be appearing at the Venice Film Festival presenting the out of competition World Premiere of his latest production, an adaptation of Herman Wouk’s 1954 play The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial. Unfortunately Friedkin died August 7th, but the show goes on anyway.
What Venice witnessed is a solid, no-frills, new film that Friedkin had said he always wanted to make. While it won’t stand on the same level of some of its director’s most vividly great achievements like his Oscar winning The French Connection, horror classic The Exorcist, or underrated (at the time at least) and ambitious Sorcerer, this version which he also adapted himself is a welcome addition to his filmography.
Often staged beginning on Broadway in 1954 with Henry Fonda and a star cast, it has gone through many other theatrical and television productions over the years, and of course...
What Venice witnessed is a solid, no-frills, new film that Friedkin had said he always wanted to make. While it won’t stand on the same level of some of its director’s most vividly great achievements like his Oscar winning The French Connection, horror classic The Exorcist, or underrated (at the time at least) and ambitious Sorcerer, this version which he also adapted himself is a welcome addition to his filmography.
Often staged beginning on Broadway in 1954 with Henry Fonda and a star cast, it has gone through many other theatrical and television productions over the years, and of course...
- 9/3/2023
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
“Mimi Leder can direct the shit out of anything.”
That’s Justin Theroux describing his showrunning director on “The Leftovers,” but it’s also as close as an opinion can come to being factual — and one supported by this critic. A helmer of giant blockbusters (like “Deep Impact”) and intimate dramas (like “The West Wing”), Leder expertly transformed Damon Lindelof’s wild words — “He has a lot of huevos,” Leder said — into a unique vision that brought them to life like no one else could. And she did it with incredible insight into everything from what makes each character tick to what the audience needed to see in order to access those characters.
Speaking to Indiewire shortly before starting production on Season 3, Leder dug into how the series developed over its first two seasons, what she brought to the table as a director and why one big scene didn’t...
That’s Justin Theroux describing his showrunning director on “The Leftovers,” but it’s also as close as an opinion can come to being factual — and one supported by this critic. A helmer of giant blockbusters (like “Deep Impact”) and intimate dramas (like “The West Wing”), Leder expertly transformed Damon Lindelof’s wild words — “He has a lot of huevos,” Leder said — into a unique vision that brought them to life like no one else could. And she did it with incredible insight into everything from what makes each character tick to what the audience needed to see in order to access those characters.
Speaking to Indiewire shortly before starting production on Season 3, Leder dug into how the series developed over its first two seasons, what she brought to the table as a director and why one big scene didn’t...
- 6/24/2016
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
‘The Leftovers’: An Oral History of the Finale’s Karaoke Scene, from Damon Lindelof & Justin Theroux
“One of the things I’m most proud of is the sequence with Kevin Garvey singing “Homeward Bound.” — Mimi Leder
“The karaoke scene was probably the most deeply uncomfortable scene I had to shoot.” — Justin Theroux
“If you try to explain to someone, ‘Here’s what happened in the finale of “The Leftovers,”‘ you sound insane.” — Damon Lindelof
[Spoilers for “The Leftovers” Season 2 are below.]
The second season of Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta’s magnificent exploration of belief, faith and family included its fair share of bold moments. Its opening sequence tracked a cave woman giving birth in rural Texas. Its first episode barely featured its main stars, shifting instead to a whole new family in a brand new location. And then came “International Assassin,” the season’s eighth episode that tracked Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux) into the afterlife; an afterlife set in a hotel where he donned a suit, became an assassin and had to...
“The karaoke scene was probably the most deeply uncomfortable scene I had to shoot.” — Justin Theroux
“If you try to explain to someone, ‘Here’s what happened in the finale of “The Leftovers,”‘ you sound insane.” — Damon Lindelof
[Spoilers for “The Leftovers” Season 2 are below.]
The second season of Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta’s magnificent exploration of belief, faith and family included its fair share of bold moments. Its opening sequence tracked a cave woman giving birth in rural Texas. Its first episode barely featured its main stars, shifting instead to a whole new family in a brand new location. And then came “International Assassin,” the season’s eighth episode that tracked Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux) into the afterlife; an afterlife set in a hotel where he donned a suit, became an assassin and had to...
- 6/20/2016
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
As Will Gluck's new film version of "Annie" opens, an adorable red-haired moppet stands in front of her class reading a plucky book report. As she finishes, her teacher rolls his eyes and calls on the next student, Annie B. With that very post-modern move, things are handed over to Quvenzhane Wallis, who approaches her first scene the way she approaches literally every single second of the film: big smile in place, bouncing rather than dancing, and sing-talking her way through songs that demand a much better singer. Harsh, perhaps, but from start to finish, "Annie" feels like a movie made by people who are deeply embarrassed to be working on a musical, and that's a problem. Wallis, who is an appealing young performer, simply doesn't have the chops for what has traditionally been one of the more demanding leads in a musical for a young performer, and Gluck,...
- 12/20/2014
- by Drew McWeeny
- Hitfix
Filming begins today on location in New York on Annie, starring Jamie Foxx, Quvenzhané Wallis, Rose Byrne, Bobby Cannavale, and Cameron Diaz. An Overbrook Entertainment / Marcy Media production, the film is scheduled to be released by Columbia Pictures on December 19, 2014. The film is set in the present day and will incorporate real New York locations.
A Broadway classic that has delighted audiences for generations comes to the big screen with a new, contemporary vision in Columbia Pictures’ musical comedy, Annie. Director/Producer/Screenwriter Will Gluck teams with producers James Lassiter, Will Smith & Jada Pinkett Smith, and Shawn “Jay Z” Carter, Jay Brown, and Tyran “Ty Ty” Smith with a modern telling that captures the magic of the classic characters and original show that won seven Tony Awards. Celia Costas serves as Executive Producer. Gluck is currently revising the film’s screenplay, which was written by Emma Thompson and rewritten by...
A Broadway classic that has delighted audiences for generations comes to the big screen with a new, contemporary vision in Columbia Pictures’ musical comedy, Annie. Director/Producer/Screenwriter Will Gluck teams with producers James Lassiter, Will Smith & Jada Pinkett Smith, and Shawn “Jay Z” Carter, Jay Brown, and Tyran “Ty Ty” Smith with a modern telling that captures the magic of the classic characters and original show that won seven Tony Awards. Celia Costas serves as Executive Producer. Gluck is currently revising the film’s screenplay, which was written by Emma Thompson and rewritten by...
- 9/24/2013
- by Kellvin Chavez
- LRMonline.com
I spent the night before I saw Stand Up Guys working, for about seven hours non-stop, on the massive bibliography for an upcoming film-based book I will soon be publishing. One effect of this monotonous academic endurance run was that I became extremely familiar with various citation forms for films, and spent much of the night pondering why writers are not commonly part of such reference formats. I fully appreciate the difficulty in pinpointing what, exactly, a film citation should look like, given that movies are rarely created with the level of authorial precision a book enjoys, but ignoring the writer seems, in most cases, like a fairly large gap in the cinematic equation.
Case in point: Stand Up Guys is a bad-to-mediocre movie filled with praise-worthy elements that fails almost entirely by virtue of its tedious screenplay. Al Pacino and Christopher Walken give excellent Al Pacino and Christopher Walken performances.
Case in point: Stand Up Guys is a bad-to-mediocre movie filled with praise-worthy elements that fails almost entirely by virtue of its tedious screenplay. Al Pacino and Christopher Walken give excellent Al Pacino and Christopher Walken performances.
- 1/31/2013
- by Jonathan R. Lack
- We Got This Covered
Gone does a few things well. For one, the movie is gorgeous to look at. The cinematography on display here by Michael Grady is top notch. Moss-grown forests have the deep, shadowy green hue that makes you feel as though you have entered somewhere primordial and ancient. Urban environments are frosted with day-old rain. There is real craftsmanship in the creation of these images.
Still, when a review begins with technical accolades you pretty much know what that says for the rest of the film, and Gone is no exception to this rule of inference. It’s not so much that the movie is bad. Heitor Dhalia‘s direction, while nothing groundbreaking, is competent and clear. The actors all commit to their roles, such as they are, and the story never plays dirty just to get an intriguing twist in. The problem is that the story, by Allison Burnett, is...
Still, when a review begins with technical accolades you pretty much know what that says for the rest of the film, and Gone is no exception to this rule of inference. It’s not so much that the movie is bad. Heitor Dhalia‘s direction, while nothing groundbreaking, is competent and clear. The actors all commit to their roles, such as they are, and the story never plays dirty just to get an intriguing twist in. The problem is that the story, by Allison Burnett, is...
- 2/27/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Against all odds and without much warning, George Tillman Jr.’s Faster comes to life with more than just gun shot shells and head wounds, but also style and even a bit of substance. And while the film does star Dwayne Johnson as Driver, a just-released ex-con out to avenge his brother’s murder 10 years earlier, the charismatic Samoan has about one line for every year his character was in prison. Tillman’s smart to rely on what Johnson’s good at – being present. The man could back down a brick wall.
Made up of scars and brooding stares, Driver says only what needs to be said. All of his victims do the explaining. And at the beginning of his rampage, he doesn’t do much listening. But as Faster gets slower, the architecture of each life he’s about to end over the last 10 years comes into focus, forcing...
Made up of scars and brooding stares, Driver says only what needs to be said. All of his victims do the explaining. And at the beginning of his rampage, he doesn’t do much listening. But as Faster gets slower, the architecture of each life he’s about to end over the last 10 years comes into focus, forcing...
- 11/26/2010
- by Dan Mecca
- The Film Stage
Release Date: Jan. 16 Director: George Tillman Jr.
Writers: Reggie Rock Bythewood and Cheo Hodari Coker
Cinematographer: Michael Grady
Starring: Jamal Woolard, Derek Luke, Angela Bassett, Anthony Mackie
Studio/Run Time: Fox Searchlight Pictures, 100 mins.
Despite how few truly great music biopics there are, it’s a genre that never seems to lag in terms of prolificacy. But it’s also notoriously difficult to do right, since getting the support of an artist’s fans almost certainly precludes telling a truly dramatic story, especially without reducing the entirety of an artist’s career to a small set of highs and lows. Notorious retells the story of Christopher Wallace, aka The Notorious B.I.G., in this typical fashion, though with perhaps a slight caveat. In the world of Notorious, everything Biggie did is a peak, leading to a film that his hero worshipers might enjoy, but one that ends up on the screen cold and flat.
Writers: Reggie Rock Bythewood and Cheo Hodari Coker
Cinematographer: Michael Grady
Starring: Jamal Woolard, Derek Luke, Angela Bassett, Anthony Mackie
Studio/Run Time: Fox Searchlight Pictures, 100 mins.
Despite how few truly great music biopics there are, it’s a genre that never seems to lag in terms of prolificacy. But it’s also notoriously difficult to do right, since getting the support of an artist’s fans almost certainly precludes telling a truly dramatic story, especially without reducing the entirety of an artist’s career to a small set of highs and lows. Notorious retells the story of Christopher Wallace, aka The Notorious B.I.G., in this typical fashion, though with perhaps a slight caveat. In the world of Notorious, everything Biggie did is a peak, leading to a film that his hero worshipers might enjoy, but one that ends up on the screen cold and flat.
- 1/16/2009
- Pastemagazine.com
Speed Racer Release Date: Jan. 16
Director: Thor Freudenthal
Writer: Jeff Lowell, Bob Schooley, Mark McCorkle
Cinematographer: Michael Grady
Starring: Emma Roberts, Jake T. Austin, Don Cheadle, Johnny Simmons, Kyla Pratt, Lisa Kudrow
Studio/Run Time: Paramount Pictures, 100 mins.
There are movies that work for children and there are movies that work for all ages, and while I, as a grownup, prefer the latter, I'll have to admit that the kids in my screening of Hotel for Dogs liked it just fine. It doesn't offer much to the bored chauffeur-parents sitting next to them, and it highlights, as children’s films often do, the rare abilities of the folks at Pixar to tell complex, engaging tales like Toy Story and Wall*E in a way that holds the interest of children and adults alike. But Hotel for Dogs is harmless fun, and, if nothing else, it offers an excuse to project...
Director: Thor Freudenthal
Writer: Jeff Lowell, Bob Schooley, Mark McCorkle
Cinematographer: Michael Grady
Starring: Emma Roberts, Jake T. Austin, Don Cheadle, Johnny Simmons, Kyla Pratt, Lisa Kudrow
Studio/Run Time: Paramount Pictures, 100 mins.
There are movies that work for children and there are movies that work for all ages, and while I, as a grownup, prefer the latter, I'll have to admit that the kids in my screening of Hotel for Dogs liked it just fine. It doesn't offer much to the bored chauffeur-parents sitting next to them, and it highlights, as children’s films often do, the rare abilities of the folks at Pixar to tell complex, engaging tales like Toy Story and Wall*E in a way that holds the interest of children and adults alike. But Hotel for Dogs is harmless fun, and, if nothing else, it offers an excuse to project...
- 1/16/2009
- Pastemagazine.com
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