The first Ron Perlman performance I saw was in HellBoy, and since that day, he has fascinated me as an actor. Sam Shepherd, actor-playwright, once said about Harry Dean Stanton, the great character actor, that he is one of those actors who knows his ‘face is a story.’ I would extend that compliment to Ron Perlman, whose entire body is a story in a sense. The long face, the heavy set, those intense beady eyes—his entire body lends itself to a mysterious subtext that the filmmaker might not even have hoped to communicate. Perlman has generally been seen as a force to be reckoned with, and indeed he is, but in The Baker, he gets to apply his craft to tell a touching story about a grandfather and granddaughter, bringing out a tender side of him. He doesn’t need to do much, as he does everything with just...
- 11/22/2023
- by Ayush Awasthi
- Film Fugitives
Close to 40 years after Wim Wenders won the Cannes Palme d’Or for Paris, Texas, its enigmatic ending continues to spark debate in cinephile circles.
Talking about his career in a Lumière Film Festival masterclass over the weekend, the German director stood by his decision to have Harry Dean Stanton’s reclusive character Travis drive off into night, leaving behind his reunited estranged wife and young son.
“I was very, very convinced that the ending of Paris, Texas was right. For me, it was an heroic act by Travis to leave the mother and son together,” said Wenders.
“He knew he had done so much harm that they were never going to make it as a family, while the son and the mother had a good chance of making a life together if he left.”
Wenders revealed he received pushback around the final scene, including from the U.S. distributor 20th Century Fox,...
Talking about his career in a Lumière Film Festival masterclass over the weekend, the German director stood by his decision to have Harry Dean Stanton’s reclusive character Travis drive off into night, leaving behind his reunited estranged wife and young son.
“I was very, very convinced that the ending of Paris, Texas was right. For me, it was an heroic act by Travis to leave the mother and son together,” said Wenders.
“He knew he had done so much harm that they were never going to make it as a family, while the son and the mother had a good chance of making a life together if he left.”
Wenders revealed he received pushback around the final scene, including from the U.S. distributor 20th Century Fox,...
- 10/23/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Bruce Willis became a household name in 1985 after starring in the TV show Moonlighting alongside Cybill Shepherd. Willis played investigator David Addison and Shepherd played former model Maddie Hayes. Why was Moonlighting canceled? Here’s what we know Willis and Shepherd’s show.
Bruce Willis’ movies and TV shows Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis | ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
One of Willis’ early acting roles was an appearance in a 1984 episode of Miami Vice titled “No Exit.” He played the character Tony Amato. Willis also spent some time off-Broadway, starring in Sam Shepherd’s Fool for Love. He starred in the hit series Moonlighting alongside actor Cybill Shepherd the following year. Willis remained on the series for 66 episodes until it ended in 1989.
In 1987, Willis had one of his first major film roles. He played Walter Davis in Blind Date alongside Kim Basinger. Willis established himself...
Bruce Willis’ movies and TV shows Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis | ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
One of Willis’ early acting roles was an appearance in a 1984 episode of Miami Vice titled “No Exit.” He played the character Tony Amato. Willis also spent some time off-Broadway, starring in Sam Shepherd’s Fool for Love. He starred in the hit series Moonlighting alongside actor Cybill Shepherd the following year. Willis remained on the series for 66 episodes until it ended in 1989.
In 1987, Willis had one of his first major film roles. He played Walter Davis in Blind Date alongside Kim Basinger. Willis established himself...
- 3/14/2023
- by Sheiresa Ngo
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
There are all other legends, and then there is Pam Grier. She became the first and greatest Black female action hero of the Seventies, in blaxploitation classics like Coffy and Foxy Brown. She reigns as one of the all-time iconic Hollywood stars, from her Quentin Tarantino collaboration Jackie Brown to her new TCM podcast and her excellent memoir Foxy.
Pam Grier spent an afternoon with Rolling Stone to talk about how she changed the game for Black women in the movies. She also had a lot to say about jamming with Jimi Hendrix,...
Pam Grier spent an afternoon with Rolling Stone to talk about how she changed the game for Black women in the movies. She also had a lot to say about jamming with Jimi Hendrix,...
- 12/27/2022
- by Rob Sheffield
- Rollingstone.com
Iranian actor Leila Hatami, best known outside her country for her role in Asghar Farhadi’s Oscar-winning “A Separation,” will soon be back on international movie screens in Iranian-British director Mehdi Norowzian’s metaphysical drama “A Time in Eternity” which recently wrapped in Iran.
“There isn’t one scene without me,” Hatami told Variety, speaking on the sidelines of the just concluded Venice Film Festival where she was a member of the main jury.
The London-based Norowzian, who was Oscar-nominated for his 1999 short “Killing Joe” and subsequently directed Joseph Fiennes, Elizabeth Shue, Dennis Hopper and Sam Shepherd in the 2002 drama “Leo,” has since become a prominent commercials director. Norowzian recently returned to Iran to shoot this film, which is his first feature after two decades.
In “Eternity,” Hatami plays Mariam, a woman who’s beloved husband Saeed has mysteriously gone missing, leaving her and her 12-year-old daughter in a state...
“There isn’t one scene without me,” Hatami told Variety, speaking on the sidelines of the just concluded Venice Film Festival where she was a member of the main jury.
The London-based Norowzian, who was Oscar-nominated for his 1999 short “Killing Joe” and subsequently directed Joseph Fiennes, Elizabeth Shue, Dennis Hopper and Sam Shepherd in the 2002 drama “Leo,” has since become a prominent commercials director. Norowzian recently returned to Iran to shoot this film, which is his first feature after two decades.
In “Eternity,” Hatami plays Mariam, a woman who’s beloved husband Saeed has mysteriously gone missing, leaving her and her 12-year-old daughter in a state...
- 9/12/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Iranian-British director and artist Mehdi Norowzian has just wrapped the Iran shoot of his new drama A Time In Eternity starring Venice 2022 jury member Leila Hatami, best known for her roles in A Separation, The Pig and Imagine.
The production marks the first feature in two decades for Norowzian, who was Oscar-nominated for his 1999 short film Killing Joe and shortly after directed Joseph Fiennes, Elizabeth Shue, Dennis Hopper and Sam Shepherd in the drama Leo.
In the interim, he built a career as a top commercials director, working closely with Ridley Scott’s Rsa Films under the banner of Joy@Rsa.
Hatami stars as a woman who is on a relentless and potentially futile quest to track down her missing husband. In the backdrop, the situation puts untold pressure on her relationship with her 12-year-old daughter, while she is also dealing with the unwanted attention of her amorous brother-in-law.
The production marks the first feature in two decades for Norowzian, who was Oscar-nominated for his 1999 short film Killing Joe and shortly after directed Joseph Fiennes, Elizabeth Shue, Dennis Hopper and Sam Shepherd in the drama Leo.
In the interim, he built a career as a top commercials director, working closely with Ridley Scott’s Rsa Films under the banner of Joy@Rsa.
Hatami stars as a woman who is on a relentless and potentially futile quest to track down her missing husband. In the backdrop, the situation puts untold pressure on her relationship with her 12-year-old daughter, while she is also dealing with the unwanted attention of her amorous brother-in-law.
- 9/7/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
A long-unseen landmark of British cinema has undergone a new 2K restoration and is ready to be embraced by audiences once more. Bronco Bullfrog, the feature debut of Barney Platts-Mills (who sadly passed away last fall), was a selection at Cannes Critics’ Week back in 1971 and got strong reviews upon its release, but sadly faded into obscurity for many decades until it got revived for a U.K. run about a decade ago. Now, undergoing a new 50th-anniversary restoration, it’s coming to U.S. theaters beginning at Film Forum on March 25th and we’re pleased to debut the exclusive trailer.
A largely improvised film led by non-professional actors, the film captures the “suedehead” subculture as we follow 17-year-old welder’s apprentice and petty thief Del (Del Walker), a product of London’s overcrowded East End slums, who relieves the boredom by helping his fresh-out-of-Borstal pal “Bronco Bullfrog” (Sam Shepherd...
A largely improvised film led by non-professional actors, the film captures the “suedehead” subculture as we follow 17-year-old welder’s apprentice and petty thief Del (Del Walker), a product of London’s overcrowded East End slums, who relieves the boredom by helping his fresh-out-of-Borstal pal “Bronco Bullfrog” (Sam Shepherd...
- 3/3/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
In June of 1965, two young saxophonists, Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp, gathered at New Jersey’s famed Van Gelder Studio as part of an 11-piece band convened by John Coltrane. At the time, Coltrane was leading his so-called classic quartet, one of the most celebrated bands in jazz, but he was looking toward a wilder, more expansive sound. And he’d enlisted a crew of hungry up-and-comers to help him get there. Joining fellow new faces like Marion Brown and John Tchicai on the date — the results of which came...
- 3/24/2021
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
Jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and electronic producer Floating Points (a.k.a. Sam Shepherd) have announced a new album, Promises, out March 26th via Luaka Bop. The album marks the first that Sanders, 80, has recorded in over a decade.
Sanders and Floating Points recorded the nine-part project with the London Symphony Orchestra, but have not yet shared a single from the piece, instead releasing a brief teaser clip on Tuesday that shows Sanders and Shepherd working together in the studio.
Promises will feature cover art designed by contemporary visual artist...
Sanders and Floating Points recorded the nine-part project with the London Symphony Orchestra, but have not yet shared a single from the piece, instead releasing a brief teaser clip on Tuesday that shows Sanders and Shepherd working together in the studio.
Promises will feature cover art designed by contemporary visual artist...
- 2/16/2021
- by Claire Shaffer
- Rollingstone.com
Even if you haven’t seen the 1983 film or read Tom Wolfe’s 1979 book of the same name, chances are you’ve already seen something exactly like “The Right Stuff.” In its retelling of the true story of “The Mercury 7” (i.e. the intrepid group of American astronauts vying to be the country’s first space travelers), this TV version of “The Right Stuff” never met a space story cliché it didn’t embrace with open arms. Its determined, talented men storm in and out of rooms, demanding answers and praise and cooperation. The series frequently evokes the specter of Russia beating America to the moon to everyone’s haunted horror, the score swelling dramatically to underline the severity of the situation. It pits the saintly John Glenn (Patrick J. Adams) against the cocky Alan Shepard (Jake McDorman) to exactly the effect you’d imagine. Everything about this “Right Stuff” is,...
- 10/9/2020
- by Caroline Framke
- Variety Film + TV
Joseph Baxter Aug 20, 2019
Stardust, a film that will depict David Bowie’s 1971 first American visit, sets actor/singer Johnny Flynn to play the legend.
The life of the late rock legend, David Bowie, is to become the dramatic centerpiece of a biopic titled Stardust. Tackling the task of portraying Bowie is Johnny Flynn, a musician who’s already banked quite the resume as an actor.
Stardust will chronicle a critical waypoint in the career of Bowie (born David Robert Jones), set in 1971 during the then-24-year-old's first trip to America. After Bowie made evolutionary leaps from early-1960s teen idol to "Space Oddity" in 1969 to Dylan-esque/Britpop hybrid on album Hunky Dory and a dark transition on The Man Who Sold the World, his first stateside sojourn yielded inspiration for his next creative step. There, he conceived the plan to parlay his onstage androgyny into the persona that we know as Ziggy Stardust,...
Stardust, a film that will depict David Bowie’s 1971 first American visit, sets actor/singer Johnny Flynn to play the legend.
The life of the late rock legend, David Bowie, is to become the dramatic centerpiece of a biopic titled Stardust. Tackling the task of portraying Bowie is Johnny Flynn, a musician who’s already banked quite the resume as an actor.
Stardust will chronicle a critical waypoint in the career of Bowie (born David Robert Jones), set in 1971 during the then-24-year-old's first trip to America. After Bowie made evolutionary leaps from early-1960s teen idol to "Space Oddity" in 1969 to Dylan-esque/Britpop hybrid on album Hunky Dory and a dark transition on The Man Who Sold the World, his first stateside sojourn yielded inspiration for his next creative step. There, he conceived the plan to parlay his onstage androgyny into the persona that we know as Ziggy Stardust,...
- 1/31/2019
- Den of Geek
Johnny Flynn (“Beast”) will play a young David Bowie in “Stardust,” a film about the rock star’s first visit to the U.S. in 1971.
Flynn is coming off a run in London’s West End, playing opposite Kit Harrington (“Game of Thrones”) in Sam Shepherd’s “True West.” In “Stardust” Jena Malone (“Vice”) will play his then wife Angie. Marc Maron (“Glow”) is also on board and will play his record company publicist.
Christopher Bell (“The Last Czars”) is writing the script and Gabriel Range (“I Am Slave”) will direct. Principal photography commences in June. London-based Salon Pictures is producing. Christopher Figg of Piccadilly Pictures is co-financing.
Flynn is coming off a run in London’s West End, playing opposite Kit Harrington (“Game of Thrones”) in Sam Shepherd’s “True West.” In “Stardust” Jena Malone (“Vice”) will play his then wife Angie. Marc Maron (“Glow”) is also on board and will play his record company publicist.
Christopher Bell (“The Last Czars”) is writing the script and Gabriel Range (“I Am Slave”) will direct. Principal photography commences in June. London-based Salon Pictures is producing. Christopher Figg of Piccadilly Pictures is co-financing.
- 1/31/2019
- by Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
‘Beast’ star will play a young Bowie during his first trip to the Us.
Beast star Johnny Flynn will play a young Davie Bowie in the upcoming UK feature film Stardust, opposite Jena Malone as Bowie’s wife Angie. Marc Maron, whose credits include Netflix’s Glow, will play Bowie’s record company publicist.
The Emmy award-winning filmmaker Gabriel Range, whose feature credits include I Am Slave and Death Of A President, is directing from a script written by Christopher Bell. It is being produced by Paul Van Carter and Nick Taussig of London-based Salon Pictures and is set to shoot,...
Beast star Johnny Flynn will play a young Davie Bowie in the upcoming UK feature film Stardust, opposite Jena Malone as Bowie’s wife Angie. Marc Maron, whose credits include Netflix’s Glow, will play Bowie’s record company publicist.
The Emmy award-winning filmmaker Gabriel Range, whose feature credits include I Am Slave and Death Of A President, is directing from a script written by Christopher Bell. It is being produced by Paul Van Carter and Nick Taussig of London-based Salon Pictures and is set to shoot,...
- 1/31/2019
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
As we’re now about halfway through the Broadway season, there are currently eight productions of plays set to open this spring. Could we be seeing any of them contend at this year’s Tony Awards? Below, we recap the plot of each play as well as the awards history of its author, cast, creative types, the opening, and (where applicable) closing dates.
“Choir Boy” (opens January 8; closes March 10)
In this new play by Oscar winner Tarell Alvin McCraney, the story centers on the Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys, which for a half a century has been dedicated to the education of strong, ethical black men. One talented student has been waiting for years to take his rightful place as the leader of the school’s legendary gospel choir. But can he make his way through the hallowed halls of this institution if he sings in his own key?...
“Choir Boy” (opens January 8; closes March 10)
In this new play by Oscar winner Tarell Alvin McCraney, the story centers on the Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys, which for a half a century has been dedicated to the education of strong, ethical black men. One talented student has been waiting for years to take his rightful place as the leader of the school’s legendary gospel choir. But can he make his way through the hallowed halls of this institution if he sings in his own key?...
- 1/29/2019
- by Jeffrey Kare
- Gold Derby
Starring “La casa de papel’s” Ursula Corberó, “The Tree of Blood,” the latest movie from Spain’s Julio Medem, is being brought onto the international market at Rome’s Mia market by FilmSharks Intl., which has acquired world sales rights.
FilmSharks Intl. will continue introducing the film to buyers at the American Film Market, which opens Oct. 31 in Santa Monica.
The deal was negotiated by FilmSharks Intl.’s Guido Rud and Sandra Tapia, Ignasi Estapé and Ibon Cormenzana at the film’s lead producer Arcadia Motion Pictures (Amp).
A romantic thriller which Diamond Films Spain will release in Spain on Nov. 1 on over 200 locations, said FilmSharks’ Guido Rud, “The Tree of Blood” (El Arbol de la Sangre) marks the latest movie from the Cormenzana-founded, and the ninth fiction feature of Medem, a director whose debut, 1991’s “Vacas,” helped bring down the flag on the modern Spanish cinema through...
FilmSharks Intl. will continue introducing the film to buyers at the American Film Market, which opens Oct. 31 in Santa Monica.
The deal was negotiated by FilmSharks Intl.’s Guido Rud and Sandra Tapia, Ignasi Estapé and Ibon Cormenzana at the film’s lead producer Arcadia Motion Pictures (Amp).
A romantic thriller which Diamond Films Spain will release in Spain on Nov. 1 on over 200 locations, said FilmSharks’ Guido Rud, “The Tree of Blood” (El Arbol de la Sangre) marks the latest movie from the Cormenzana-founded, and the ninth fiction feature of Medem, a director whose debut, 1991’s “Vacas,” helped bring down the flag on the modern Spanish cinema through...
- 10/21/2018
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Ethan Hawke is a notorious multi-tasker. He writes articles, books, and scripts — both “Before Sunset” and “Before Midnight” (with Julie Delpy and Richard Linklater) were nominated for Adapted Screenplay Oscars. He’s a gifted theater director (“A Lie of the Mind”), musician, and songwriter.
His day job has yielded a couple of Supporting Actor Oscar nominations (Antoine Fuqua’s “Training Day” and Linklater’s “Boyhood”). He can do everything from action westerns (“The Magnificent Seven” and the upcoming “The Kid”) to heist movies (Robert Budreau’s upcoming “Stockholm”) and sincere romance. And he’s having a good year: He’s in the running for a Best Actor nod for his performance as an angst-ridden priest in the Paul Schrader drama “First Reformed.”
Like fellow multi-taskers Mark Duplass, David Lowery, Amy Seimetz and Jeff Bridges, Hawke feeds his creative mojo with rich nutrients. That’s why, at age 47, he’s already...
His day job has yielded a couple of Supporting Actor Oscar nominations (Antoine Fuqua’s “Training Day” and Linklater’s “Boyhood”). He can do everything from action westerns (“The Magnificent Seven” and the upcoming “The Kid”) to heist movies (Robert Budreau’s upcoming “Stockholm”) and sincere romance. And he’s having a good year: He’s in the running for a Best Actor nod for his performance as an angst-ridden priest in the Paul Schrader drama “First Reformed.”
Like fellow multi-taskers Mark Duplass, David Lowery, Amy Seimetz and Jeff Bridges, Hawke feeds his creative mojo with rich nutrients. That’s why, at age 47, he’s already...
- 8/20/2018
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Ethan Hawke is a notorious multi-tasker. He writes articles, books, and scripts — both “Before Sunset” and “Before Midnight” (with Julie Delpy and Richard Linklater) were nominated for Adapted Screenplay Oscars. He’s a gifted theater director (“A Lie of the Mind”), musician, and songwriter.
His day job has yielded a couple of Supporting Actor Oscar nominations (Antoine Fuqua’s “Training Day” and Linklater’s “Boyhood”). He can do everything from action westerns (“The Magnificent Seven” and the upcoming “The Kid”) to heist movies (Robert Budreau’s upcoming “Stockholm”) and sincere romance. And he’s having a good year: He’s in the running for a Best Actor nod for his performance as an angst-ridden priest in the Paul Schrader drama “First Reformed.”
Like fellow multi-taskers Mark Duplass, David Lowery, Amy Seimetz and Jeff Bridges, Hawke feeds his creative mojo with rich nutrients. That’s why, at age 47, he’s already...
His day job has yielded a couple of Supporting Actor Oscar nominations (Antoine Fuqua’s “Training Day” and Linklater’s “Boyhood”). He can do everything from action westerns (“The Magnificent Seven” and the upcoming “The Kid”) to heist movies (Robert Budreau’s upcoming “Stockholm”) and sincere romance. And he’s having a good year: He’s in the running for a Best Actor nod for his performance as an angst-ridden priest in the Paul Schrader drama “First Reformed.”
Like fellow multi-taskers Mark Duplass, David Lowery, Amy Seimetz and Jeff Bridges, Hawke feeds his creative mojo with rich nutrients. That’s why, at age 47, he’s already...
- 8/20/2018
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
(Sigh) I’m starting to get annoyed by Jeff Nichols. I guess that opinion has been bubbling up in me over the years, but I don’t think I would’ve said something to that effect outright, for one reason or another until now, because, well, really he’s too talented to ignore, but now I feel like I’m just hitting a wall with him and this, latest combination of southern gothic meets sci-fi he’s put out, eh, it’s putting me off. “Midnight Special” Makes me wonder if these genres even belong together really.
Oh course, maybe it’s possible that I’ve just misread him over the years. I tend to consider him as a more melodramatic and introspective David Gordon Green-type director. His first film, ‘Shotgun Stories‘ had that kind of tone, and was a decent movie about rival half-brothers set in the backwoods of Arkansas,...
Oh course, maybe it’s possible that I’ve just misread him over the years. I tend to consider him as a more melodramatic and introspective David Gordon Green-type director. His first film, ‘Shotgun Stories‘ had that kind of tone, and was a decent movie about rival half-brothers set in the backwoods of Arkansas,...
- 12/20/2017
- by David Baruffi
- Age of the Nerd
The Guardian's season of British cult classics continues with a double helping of youth pop culture set in London in the 60s and 70s
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This week is pop culture week in our British cult classics series – well, sort of. Our double bill is a pair of films that turn fresh eyes on two different London youth tribes of the 60s and 70s: the black street soul of Notting Hill is celebrated in Isaac Julien's Young Soul Rebels, while the white working class suedehead world of Stratford is the focus of Barney Platts-Mills's Bronco Bullfrog. The former was a flagship production of the BFI Production Board, costing around £1.7m in 1990; Bronco was a rough-and-ready £18,000 shoot in 1970, taking off from Joan Littlewood's youth theatre workshops. But both show equal affection for their subjects, and from this distance are each a fantastically revealing...
Reading on mobile? Click here to view
This week is pop culture week in our British cult classics series – well, sort of. Our double bill is a pair of films that turn fresh eyes on two different London youth tribes of the 60s and 70s: the black street soul of Notting Hill is celebrated in Isaac Julien's Young Soul Rebels, while the white working class suedehead world of Stratford is the focus of Barney Platts-Mills's Bronco Bullfrog. The former was a flagship production of the BFI Production Board, costing around £1.7m in 1990; Bronco was a rough-and-ready £18,000 shoot in 1970, taking off from Joan Littlewood's youth theatre workshops. But both show equal affection for their subjects, and from this distance are each a fantastically revealing...
- 11/23/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
The 25-year-old writer-director Barney Platts-Mills made his promising debut with Bronco Bullfrog in 1969 at a time when British cinema, having abandoned realism for the seductive tinsel of Swinging London, was thrashing around in the doldrums following the withdrawal of American finance. Only Ken Loach with Kes and Platts-Mills with Bronco Bullfrog seemed to be looking at Harold Wilson's Britain and the dead-end lives of its teenagers.
Platts-Mills's low-budget, independent monochrome movie arose out of a project for East End kids at Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop and was semi-improvised by non-professional performers. At the centre is the 17-year-old apprentice welder Del, who disrupts the monotony of life with petty theft and fighting and hero-worships the eponymous borstal fugitive (Sam Shepherd). Just as he plans a railyard robbery with Bronco, he enters into a touching relationship with the 15-year-old Irene, whose father is serving time for armed robbery. Her mother...
Platts-Mills's low-budget, independent monochrome movie arose out of a project for East End kids at Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop and was semi-improvised by non-professional performers. At the centre is the 17-year-old apprentice welder Del, who disrupts the monotony of life with petty theft and fighting and hero-worships the eponymous borstal fugitive (Sam Shepherd). Just as he plans a railyard robbery with Bronco, he enters into a touching relationship with the 15-year-old Irene, whose father is serving time for armed robbery. Her mother...
- 6/12/2010
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Greenberg (15)
(Noah Baumbach, 2010, Us) Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig, Rhys Ifans, Jennifer Jason Leigh. 107 mins
Usually Ben Stiller is the guy you like in the movie, and the guy you laugh at. Here he's bravely subdued and unsympathetic – a self-absorbed slacker with extreme empathy issues – but you can still laugh at him. After a while, you might even like him. Drifting back to La, he picks at old relationship wounds and opens up fresh ones (with the winningly pathetic Gerwig) in a charming character study with indie values (and soundtrack) that under-achievers of a certain age will relate to.
Brooklyn's Finest (18)
(Antoine Fuqua, 2009, Us) Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke. 132 mins
Breaking news: law enforcement in the sketchier areas of New York is sometimes quite difficult. This three-pronged assault hammers the cliches home relentlessly, self-importantly detailing the trials of its compromised lawmen as if it's saying something new. Or something at all.
(Noah Baumbach, 2010, Us) Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig, Rhys Ifans, Jennifer Jason Leigh. 107 mins
Usually Ben Stiller is the guy you like in the movie, and the guy you laugh at. Here he's bravely subdued and unsympathetic – a self-absorbed slacker with extreme empathy issues – but you can still laugh at him. After a while, you might even like him. Drifting back to La, he picks at old relationship wounds and opens up fresh ones (with the winningly pathetic Gerwig) in a charming character study with indie values (and soundtrack) that under-achievers of a certain age will relate to.
Brooklyn's Finest (18)
(Antoine Fuqua, 2009, Us) Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke. 132 mins
Breaking news: law enforcement in the sketchier areas of New York is sometimes quite difficult. This three-pronged assault hammers the cliches home relentlessly, self-importantly detailing the trials of its compromised lawmen as if it's saying something new. Or something at all.
- 6/11/2010
- by The guide
- The Guardian - Film News
Thank you for Xan Brooks's kind mention of Bronco Bullfrog (The film the UK forgot, Film&Music, 4 June). But I obviously have to make an apology. It was heartening to read Sam Shepherd's story of the Princess Royal recognising her own mum in Mrs Shepherd's portrayal of working-class prejudice in the film, reminding one of a slightly better, more open society that we grew up in. I was shocked, however, to read the word I am reported to have used of Peter Hall. Perhaps I have little opinion of anyone working in commercial cinema, but Peter would be among the least of my bete noire, and I have to believe that I must have been quoting Joan Littlewood in using such an unattractive word about him.
Joan notoriously thought we were all aptly described with anatomical misnomers. It is galling though, both for her ghost and for myself, to be caught out like this.
Joan notoriously thought we were all aptly described with anatomical misnomers. It is galling though, both for her ghost and for myself, to be caught out like this.
- 6/7/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
Sir Patrick Stewart heads the jury at Edinburgh this year, with some strong British films in contention. Meanwhile, Madonna is to make a second foray into direction and lost gem Bronco Bullfrog is restored to its full youthful East End glory. By Jason Solomons
Tartan up the juries
Sir Patrick Stewart - we do not yet know if he will insist on using the full, grand title - is to head the Jury at the 64th Edinburgh international film festival. The actor, who can legitimately be called "Mr President" for the duration of the event, will sit in judgment over the prestigious Michael Powell award, given to the best British film at the festival. Competitors include: Paul Andrew Williams's Cherry Tree Lane (his searing debut London to Brighton premiered at the festival in 2006); Nick Moran's The Kid; Huge, the directing debut of comic actor Ben Miller; and Soulboy,...
Tartan up the juries
Sir Patrick Stewart - we do not yet know if he will insist on using the full, grand title - is to head the Jury at the 64th Edinburgh international film festival. The actor, who can legitimately be called "Mr President" for the duration of the event, will sit in judgment over the prestigious Michael Powell award, given to the best British film at the festival. Competitors include: Paul Andrew Williams's Cherry Tree Lane (his searing debut London to Brighton premiered at the festival in 2006); Nick Moran's The Kid; Huge, the directing debut of comic actor Ben Miller; and Soulboy,...
- 6/5/2010
- by Jason Solomons
- The Guardian - Film News
A rude, bracing slice of East End life that dropped off screens for decades, Bronco Bullfrog is finally back. Xan Brooks talks to the survivors of a British classic
One night in November 1970, Princess Anne tripped along to Oxford Circus for the London premiere of Three Sisters, a film starring and directed by Sir Laurence Olivier, who had recently been made a life peer in the birthday honours list. A pleasant evening lay in store – except that there, on the red carpet, the princess found herself face-to-face with the hoi polloi, the great unwashed. Some 200 members of the Beaumont youth club out in Leyton, east London, had shown up to jeer her. Some were reported to have chucked tomatoes at her head. These protesters did not think the princess should be on her way to see some stuffy Chekhov drama by a peer of the realm. They wanted her to...
One night in November 1970, Princess Anne tripped along to Oxford Circus for the London premiere of Three Sisters, a film starring and directed by Sir Laurence Olivier, who had recently been made a life peer in the birthday honours list. A pleasant evening lay in store – except that there, on the red carpet, the princess found herself face-to-face with the hoi polloi, the great unwashed. Some 200 members of the Beaumont youth club out in Leyton, east London, had shown up to jeer her. Some were reported to have chucked tomatoes at her head. These protesters did not think the princess should be on her way to see some stuffy Chekhov drama by a peer of the realm. They wanted her to...
- 6/3/2010
- by Xan Brooks
- The Guardian - Film News
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