When pondering the Revolutionary War, specific inflection points come to mind. The Boston Massacre of 1770, Paul Revere’s midnight warning in 1775 and the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 are often the main topics of conversation. However, much more went on during the nearly two-decade-long battle that led to the 13 colonies’ independence from England. Adapted from Pulitzer Prize-winner Stacy Schiff’s novel, “A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America,” Apple TV+’s “Franklin” recounts inventor Benjamin Franklin’s eight-year mission in France where he schemed and plotted to foster a Franco-American alliance. What should be a sparkling recounting of a pivotal moment in U.S. history is flattened, becoming a mind-numbing and belabored affair of wig-wearing men shouting at each other in dark rooms.
Created by Kirk Ellis and Howard Korder, the series opens in December 1776. Though the Declaration of Independence had been signed three months prior,...
Created by Kirk Ellis and Howard Korder, the series opens in December 1776. Though the Declaration of Independence had been signed three months prior,...
- 4/12/2024
- by Aramide Tinubu
- Variety Film + TV
Apple TV+’s “Franklin,” which stars Michael Douglas, has its world premiere at series festival Canneseries on April 10 in Cannes, France. The show is produced by ITV Studios America and Apple Studios. Variety spoke to Philippe Maigret, president and managing director, ITV Studios America, who is an executive producer on the period drama.
“Franklin’s” journey to the screen began when producer Tony Krantz optioned Stacy Schiff’s book “A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America.” Starting in December 1776, “A Great Improvisation” follows Benjamin Franklin, best known as an inventor, as he travels from Britain’s colonies in America on a secret mission to enlist France’s support in the War of Independence, which the Americans are losing.
In 2017, Krantz, who had a first-look deal with ITV Studios America through his company Flame Ventures, suggested that Maigret read the book. “We immediately realized we shared the same...
“Franklin’s” journey to the screen began when producer Tony Krantz optioned Stacy Schiff’s book “A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America.” Starting in December 1776, “A Great Improvisation” follows Benjamin Franklin, best known as an inventor, as he travels from Britain’s colonies in America on a secret mission to enlist France’s support in the War of Independence, which the Americans are losing.
In 2017, Krantz, who had a first-look deal with ITV Studios America through his company Flame Ventures, suggested that Maigret read the book. “We immediately realized we shared the same...
- 4/9/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
A compelling monologue — as in a monologue that compels you to truly listen without interruption or distraction — is one of the trickiest high-wire writing acts there is. Giving a monologue shape and depth requires skill and a fine-tuned ear for the way a character talks and thinks. Making sure it has its own arc of a beginning, middle and end is crucial, and much harder to pull off than it seems. And there are real reasons why monologues that extend beyond a page or two tend to belong more to the stage than the screen. Monologues are inherently melodramatic to the point that they can strain credulity, giving them a theatrical bent that often feels more at home in a literal theater than inside a filmed story.
“Solos,” Amazon Prime’s starry new anthology series from creator Dan Weil, pushes the conceit of a monologue past its limit in 7 self-consciously staged chapters.
“Solos,” Amazon Prime’s starry new anthology series from creator Dan Weil, pushes the conceit of a monologue past its limit in 7 self-consciously staged chapters.
- 5/21/2021
- by Caroline Framke
- Variety Film + TV
There's a new exclusive clip from "Defiance" starring Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, Alexa Davalos, George MacKay, Allan Corduner, Mark Feuerstein. The Edward Zwick ("The Last Samurai," "Blood Diamond") is adapted by Clayton Frohman and Zwick from the Nechama Tec book "Defiance: the Bielski Partisans"). This war drama opens on December 31st in limited areas then expands on January 16th. Check it out over here! What's this all about? Based on an extraordinary true story, Defiance is an epic tale of family, honor, vengeance and salvation in World War II. The year is 1941 and the Jews of Eastern Europe are being massacred by the thousands. Managing to escape certain death, three brothers take refuge in the dense surrounding woods they have known since childhood. There they begin their desperate battle against the Nazis. Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell star as brothers who turn a primitive struggle...
- 12/12/2008
- Upcoming-Movies.com
We host the second trailer and offer a new poster for Paramount Pictures' "Defiance," starring Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, Alexa Davalos, George MacKay, Allan Corduner and Mark Feuerstein. Edward Zwick ("The Blood Diamond," "The Last Samurai," "I Am Sam," "The Siege") directs and adapts alongside Clayton Frohman based on the book "Defiance: The Bielski Partisans" written by Nechama Tec. The Bielski brothers consisted of Tuvia, Aharon, Asael and Alexander Zisel "Zuz." The film sees release on December 31st in limited areas in the U.S. It later moves to the U.K on January 9th before expanding in the U.S. on January 16th next year. The New Poster: What's this all about? Based on an extraordinary true story, Defiance is an epic tale of family, honor, vengeance and salvation in World War II. The year is 1941 and the Jews of Eastern Europe are being massacred by the thousands.
- 11/2/2008
- Upcoming-Movies.com
We have the second trailer for Paramount Vantage's "Defiance" war drama directed by Edward Zwick who adapts the book "Defiance: the Bielski Partisans" by Nechama Tec alongside Clayton Frohman. Zwick also produces with Peter Jan Brugge this touching actioner. Seeing release on December 12th, the film stars Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, Alexa Davalos, Allan Corduner and Mark Feuerstein. Craig is up next in the eagerly anticipated "Quantum of Solace" Bond flick due in U.S. theatres November 14th. Zwick is known for his work behind the wheel of acclaimed films such as 2003's "The Last Samurai" as well as the Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Hounsou starrer "Blood Diamond." What's this all about? Based on an extraordinary true story, Defiance is an epic tale of family, honor, vengeance and salvation in World War II. The year is 1941 and the Jews of Eastern Europe are being massacred by the thousands.
- 10/16/2008
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Hollywood has refined and redefined the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table so many times over the generations that one would imagine this war horse craves retirement from the world of remakes. Then along comes King Arthur to completely revitalize the legend. Like Spider-Man 2, this is a smart action movie, allowing its impressive sets, costumes, effects and battles to serve as handmaidens to story and character. Screenwriter David Franzoni supplies a much more historically plausible tale than previous forays into Camelot, while director Antoine Fuqua brings the gritty naturalism of Training Day to this story of men -- and one woman -- at war.
The film should attract a wide demographic, for despite male orientation there is enough of the romance and legend of Arthur to interest women of all ages. A PG-13 rating positions King Arthur to be the most successful Arthurian film at the boxoffice yet.
The Jerry Bruckheimer production plunges us into an early Dark Ages of furious violence. Battles are fought with vastly different weaponry -- highly accurate archery, heavy swords and spears, balls of fire, axes, shields, hefty body armor and body-paint camouflage. It's a savage, intolerant time where religion is a tool for subjugation, yet concepts of justice and heroism do flourish.
Franzoni's historical revisionism moves the tale back to 452 A.D. The Roman Empire is waning. Barbarians threaten frontier outposts, successfully skirmishing against Roman troops eager to return home and the Empire's mercenary cavalry made up of Samaritan warriors, who came from the area now know as the republic of Georgia. One such unit in Britain fights under the command of Roman officer Lucius Artorius Castus, or Arthur (Clive Owen).
These knights, a sort of Dirty Half-Dozen, include the level-headed Lancelot (Ioan Gruffudd), strongman/family man Bors (Ray Winstone), young and passionate Galahad (Hugh Dancy), stolid traditionalist Dagonet (Ray Stevenson), inveterate fighter Gawain (Joel Edgerton) and moody and elusive Tristan (Mads Mikkelsen), whose main companion is a hawk.
On the day the knights' 15 years of service to Rome supposedly expires, the group of weary fighters is ordered on a virtual suicide mission. They must journey north of Hadrian's wall, the great dividing line that protects southern Britain from northern barbarians to rescue a Roman nobleman and his family. (Why a Roman would be living in hostile terrain is a mystery.) This means venturing into woods filled with their traditional enemy, heavily tattooed guerrilla fighters known as the Woads led by the mysterious shaman Merlin (Stephen Dillane). Much worse, they will probably confront the invading Saxons led by Cerdic (Stellan Skarsgard) and Cynric (Til Schweiger), who mean to take over Britain once the Romans decamp.
It is on this mission that Arthur not only meets his Guinevere (Keira Knightley) and learns that the privilege of being a subject of the Roman Empire can mean slavery to many, but he also discovers his soul. As he joins forces with Merlin to take a stand against the Saxons -- early practitioners of "ethnic cleansing" -- he shocks himself with the realization that he is more a Briton than a Roman.
"I belong to this land. Where do you belong, Arthur?" demands Guinevere. His Rome no longer exists except in his mind. Corrupt and dissolving, Rome has fallen to totalitarian instincts and decadence. So Arthur quickly reinvents himself as a freedom fighter who will stand by the British people to turn back the Saxon hordes. (The notion of Arthur as a freedom fighter rings false historically because 1,000 years of feudalism lie ahead for the British people.)
In most epics, we barely meet characters before they are off and running. Here, carefully written dialogue scenes (a few a tad pedantic), all wonderfully played by the excellent cast, establish characters and situations before battles rage.
Owen is very much associated with contemporary roles, so it's initially a jolt to see him in fifth century armor. But this is very much a contemporary take on the Dark Ages, and he is most effective playing against the usual heroic gallantry one associates with King Arthur. Instead, we get a conflicted leader, struggling to find the right path through an unknown ethical battlefield.
Gruffudd's Lancelot is less a son to Arthur than alter ego and his conscience. He is ever on hand to point out Arthur's dilemmas and urge pragmatic solutions. Knightley's Guinevere is, admittedly, a male fantasy figure. A damsel in distress when first we meet her, she suddenly transforms into a warrior princess, possessing furious guerrilla fighting skills and outfitted most fetchingly in a skimpy leather get-up, armbands and henna-like body makeup more at home at a fetish club than in hand-to-hand combat with men in full body armor. But Knightley is sexually alive in every scene, even when lying in filth in a dungeon, and gives the film an eroticism it would otherwise lack.
The villains are terrific. Skarsgard's bearded Saxon leader, looking like a foul priest, is cruel and sadistic but with high intelligence and a zeal to encounter the great Arthur. Schweiger is pure Teutonic evil, his eagerness to kill almost comical.
Fuqua encourages most of his male warriors to play their parts with a heavy-limbed lassitude, reminding us that these guys have lived on battlefields for years. His battle scenes are brilliantly staged so we can quickly surmise the strategies that will win the day and feel the ruthlessness of fighting in close quarters. One especially dramatic encounter on dangerously thin ice in a mountain passage is one of the great cinematic fight scenes of all times.
Slawomir Idziak's moody, elegant cinematography of a wintry Britain -- actually Ireland -- sets a somber, tense tone where enemies lurk in the mist and behind every bush. Hans Zimmer's fulsome orchestral score nourishes the accelerating dramatic stakes. Dan Weil's sets are notably rustic, but costumes and hairdos supply a touch of glamour. After all, King Arthur and his knights still have a reputation to maintain.
KING ARTHUR
Buena Vista Pictures
Touchstone Pictures/Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Credits:
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Writer: David Franzoni
Producer: Jerry Bruckheimer
Executive producers: Mike Stenson, Chad Oman, Ned Dowd
Director of photography: Slawomir Idziak
Production designer: Dan Weil
Music: Hans Zimmer
Costume designer: Penny Rose
Editors: Conrad Buff, Jamie Pearson
Cast:
Arthur: Clive Owen
Lancelot: Ioan Gruffudd
Tristan: Mads Mikkelsen
Gawain: Joel Edgerton
Galahad: Hugh Dancy
Bors: Ray Winstone
Dagonet: Ray Stevenson
Guinevere: Keira Knightley
Merlin: Stephen Dillane
Cerdic: Stellan Skarsgard
Cynric: Til Schweiger
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 126 minutes...
The film should attract a wide demographic, for despite male orientation there is enough of the romance and legend of Arthur to interest women of all ages. A PG-13 rating positions King Arthur to be the most successful Arthurian film at the boxoffice yet.
The Jerry Bruckheimer production plunges us into an early Dark Ages of furious violence. Battles are fought with vastly different weaponry -- highly accurate archery, heavy swords and spears, balls of fire, axes, shields, hefty body armor and body-paint camouflage. It's a savage, intolerant time where religion is a tool for subjugation, yet concepts of justice and heroism do flourish.
Franzoni's historical revisionism moves the tale back to 452 A.D. The Roman Empire is waning. Barbarians threaten frontier outposts, successfully skirmishing against Roman troops eager to return home and the Empire's mercenary cavalry made up of Samaritan warriors, who came from the area now know as the republic of Georgia. One such unit in Britain fights under the command of Roman officer Lucius Artorius Castus, or Arthur (Clive Owen).
These knights, a sort of Dirty Half-Dozen, include the level-headed Lancelot (Ioan Gruffudd), strongman/family man Bors (Ray Winstone), young and passionate Galahad (Hugh Dancy), stolid traditionalist Dagonet (Ray Stevenson), inveterate fighter Gawain (Joel Edgerton) and moody and elusive Tristan (Mads Mikkelsen), whose main companion is a hawk.
On the day the knights' 15 years of service to Rome supposedly expires, the group of weary fighters is ordered on a virtual suicide mission. They must journey north of Hadrian's wall, the great dividing line that protects southern Britain from northern barbarians to rescue a Roman nobleman and his family. (Why a Roman would be living in hostile terrain is a mystery.) This means venturing into woods filled with their traditional enemy, heavily tattooed guerrilla fighters known as the Woads led by the mysterious shaman Merlin (Stephen Dillane). Much worse, they will probably confront the invading Saxons led by Cerdic (Stellan Skarsgard) and Cynric (Til Schweiger), who mean to take over Britain once the Romans decamp.
It is on this mission that Arthur not only meets his Guinevere (Keira Knightley) and learns that the privilege of being a subject of the Roman Empire can mean slavery to many, but he also discovers his soul. As he joins forces with Merlin to take a stand against the Saxons -- early practitioners of "ethnic cleansing" -- he shocks himself with the realization that he is more a Briton than a Roman.
"I belong to this land. Where do you belong, Arthur?" demands Guinevere. His Rome no longer exists except in his mind. Corrupt and dissolving, Rome has fallen to totalitarian instincts and decadence. So Arthur quickly reinvents himself as a freedom fighter who will stand by the British people to turn back the Saxon hordes. (The notion of Arthur as a freedom fighter rings false historically because 1,000 years of feudalism lie ahead for the British people.)
In most epics, we barely meet characters before they are off and running. Here, carefully written dialogue scenes (a few a tad pedantic), all wonderfully played by the excellent cast, establish characters and situations before battles rage.
Owen is very much associated with contemporary roles, so it's initially a jolt to see him in fifth century armor. But this is very much a contemporary take on the Dark Ages, and he is most effective playing against the usual heroic gallantry one associates with King Arthur. Instead, we get a conflicted leader, struggling to find the right path through an unknown ethical battlefield.
Gruffudd's Lancelot is less a son to Arthur than alter ego and his conscience. He is ever on hand to point out Arthur's dilemmas and urge pragmatic solutions. Knightley's Guinevere is, admittedly, a male fantasy figure. A damsel in distress when first we meet her, she suddenly transforms into a warrior princess, possessing furious guerrilla fighting skills and outfitted most fetchingly in a skimpy leather get-up, armbands and henna-like body makeup more at home at a fetish club than in hand-to-hand combat with men in full body armor. But Knightley is sexually alive in every scene, even when lying in filth in a dungeon, and gives the film an eroticism it would otherwise lack.
The villains are terrific. Skarsgard's bearded Saxon leader, looking like a foul priest, is cruel and sadistic but with high intelligence and a zeal to encounter the great Arthur. Schweiger is pure Teutonic evil, his eagerness to kill almost comical.
Fuqua encourages most of his male warriors to play their parts with a heavy-limbed lassitude, reminding us that these guys have lived on battlefields for years. His battle scenes are brilliantly staged so we can quickly surmise the strategies that will win the day and feel the ruthlessness of fighting in close quarters. One especially dramatic encounter on dangerously thin ice in a mountain passage is one of the great cinematic fight scenes of all times.
Slawomir Idziak's moody, elegant cinematography of a wintry Britain -- actually Ireland -- sets a somber, tense tone where enemies lurk in the mist and behind every bush. Hans Zimmer's fulsome orchestral score nourishes the accelerating dramatic stakes. Dan Weil's sets are notably rustic, but costumes and hairdos supply a touch of glamour. After all, King Arthur and his knights still have a reputation to maintain.
KING ARTHUR
Buena Vista Pictures
Touchstone Pictures/Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Credits:
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Writer: David Franzoni
Producer: Jerry Bruckheimer
Executive producers: Mike Stenson, Chad Oman, Ned Dowd
Director of photography: Slawomir Idziak
Production designer: Dan Weil
Music: Hans Zimmer
Costume designer: Penny Rose
Editors: Conrad Buff, Jamie Pearson
Cast:
Arthur: Clive Owen
Lancelot: Ioan Gruffudd
Tristan: Mads Mikkelsen
Gawain: Joel Edgerton
Galahad: Hugh Dancy
Bors: Ray Winstone
Dagonet: Ray Stevenson
Guinevere: Keira Knightley
Merlin: Stephen Dillane
Cerdic: Stellan Skarsgard
Cynric: Til Schweiger
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 126 minutes...
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