Brian McConnachie, the Emmy-winning writer with the offbeat sense of humor who worked on Sctv Network and Saturday Night Live and appeared in Caddyshack and several films for Woody Allen, has died. He was 81.
McConnachie died Friday of complications from Parkinson’s disease in Venice, Florida, Michael Gerber, editor and publisher of The American Bystander, told The Hollywood Reporter. The duo relaunched the humor magazine in 2015 after McConnachie — an original staff member at National Lampoon — originally got it going in 1981.
“Every day, on every page, he has been our North Star,” Gerber said in a statement. “From his days at National Lampoon, Brian was ‘every comedy writer’s favorite comedy writer,’ crafting an unmistakable one-of-a-kind laid-back eccentricity that inspired generations.
“He is the only person I know who wrote for the Holy Trinity of Seventies Comedy — National Lampoon, SNL and Sctv. This speaks to not only his writing talent, but...
McConnachie died Friday of complications from Parkinson’s disease in Venice, Florida, Michael Gerber, editor and publisher of The American Bystander, told The Hollywood Reporter. The duo relaunched the humor magazine in 2015 after McConnachie — an original staff member at National Lampoon — originally got it going in 1981.
“Every day, on every page, he has been our North Star,” Gerber said in a statement. “From his days at National Lampoon, Brian was ‘every comedy writer’s favorite comedy writer,’ crafting an unmistakable one-of-a-kind laid-back eccentricity that inspired generations.
“He is the only person I know who wrote for the Holy Trinity of Seventies Comedy — National Lampoon, SNL and Sctv. This speaks to not only his writing talent, but...
- 1/9/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Woody Allen is a four-time Academy Award winner who has proved incredibly prolific in his decades-long career, writing, directing, and oftentimes starring in nearly a film a year for over 50 years. But how many of those are classics? Let’s take a look back at 25 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.
After years as a joke writer and standup comic, Allen transitioned into filmmaking penning such screenplays as “What’s New Pussycat?” (1965) and starring in such titles as “Casino Royale” (1967). His first credit as a director was the comedically overdubbed Japanese spy thriller “What’s Up, Tiger Lily?” (1966).
The Woody Allen as we know him emerged in 1969 with the farcical mockumentary “Take the Money and Run” (1969), made when he was 34 years old. The success of that film led to a string of critically acclaimed absurdist comedies, including “Bananas” (1971) and “Sleeper” (1973).
He established himself as an important filmmaker with the romantic...
After years as a joke writer and standup comic, Allen transitioned into filmmaking penning such screenplays as “What’s New Pussycat?” (1965) and starring in such titles as “Casino Royale” (1967). His first credit as a director was the comedically overdubbed Japanese spy thriller “What’s Up, Tiger Lily?” (1966).
The Woody Allen as we know him emerged in 1969 with the farcical mockumentary “Take the Money and Run” (1969), made when he was 34 years old. The success of that film led to a string of critically acclaimed absurdist comedies, including “Bananas” (1971) and “Sleeper” (1973).
He established himself as an important filmmaker with the romantic...
- 11/25/2023
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Roxy Cinema
Woody Allen’s Husbands and Wives, Chinatown, The Third Man, and Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond all show on 35mm.
Anthology Film Archives
Five films by Robert Bresson screen in Essential Cinema this weekend.
Lincoln Center
NYFF Revivals closes with Un rêve plus long que la nuit on Sunday.
Museum of the Moving Image
Reverse Shot celebrates its 20th anniversary with a months-long programming run, continuing this weekend with Inside Llewyn Davis and Lake Mungo.
IFC Center
sex, lies, and videotape, The Holy Mountain, Being John Malkovich, Friday the 13th: Part VI, and Gregg Araki’s Nowhere play while Oldboy screens in a new restoration.
The post NYC Weekend Watch: Chinatown, Robert Bresson, Inside Llewyn Davis & More first appeared on The Film Stage.
Roxy Cinema
Woody Allen’s Husbands and Wives, Chinatown, The Third Man, and Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond all show on 35mm.
Anthology Film Archives
Five films by Robert Bresson screen in Essential Cinema this weekend.
Lincoln Center
NYFF Revivals closes with Un rêve plus long que la nuit on Sunday.
Museum of the Moving Image
Reverse Shot celebrates its 20th anniversary with a months-long programming run, continuing this weekend with Inside Llewyn Davis and Lake Mungo.
IFC Center
sex, lies, and videotape, The Holy Mountain, Being John Malkovich, Friday the 13th: Part VI, and Gregg Araki’s Nowhere play while Oldboy screens in a new restoration.
The post NYC Weekend Watch: Chinatown, Robert Bresson, Inside Llewyn Davis & More first appeared on The Film Stage.
- 10/13/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Let’s address the elephant in the room first: Woody Allen hasn’t made a great film in years. Opinions vary enormously, of course, on which one was the last top-notch effort: Some would go to bat for, say Blue Jasmine (2013), while others defend Match Point (2005). Many others reckon that Husbands and Wives (1992) was the last gasp of greatness before it all started going bumpily downhill.
And of course there are those, especially among younger filmgoers who didn’t grow up with Allen as a kind of mascot for American East Coast Jewish identity, who just don’t get what the fuss was ever about — and/or why the olds so want to defend someone who has been accused by his daughter Dylan Farrow of sexual abuse, even if charges were never brought against him.
Oh yeah, that’s another elephant, isn’t it?
That last controversy may not put...
And of course there are those, especially among younger filmgoers who didn’t grow up with Allen as a kind of mascot for American East Coast Jewish identity, who just don’t get what the fuss was ever about — and/or why the olds so want to defend someone who has been accused by his daughter Dylan Farrow of sexual abuse, even if charges were never brought against him.
Oh yeah, that’s another elephant, isn’t it?
That last controversy may not put...
- 9/4/2023
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Sydney Pollack was the Oscar winning filmmaker who could’ve branded himself as Hollywood’s favorite journeyman, crafting solid entertainments for over 40 years. But how many of his titles remain classics? Let’s take a look back at all 20 of his films as a director, ranked worst to best.
Born in 1934, Pollack got his start as an actor, studying under legendary New York teacher Sanford Meisner. He cut his teeth is television, appearing in such shows as “The Twilight Zone,” “Playhouse 90” and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” before transitioning into directing for the small screen. Even after making a name for himself behind the camera, he kept popping up onscreen, starring in “The Player” (1992), “Husbands and Wives” (1992), “Eyes Wide Shut” (1999), “Changing Lanes” (2002), “Michael Clayton” (2007) and his own “Tootsie” (1982), to name but a few.
It was this experience as a performer that made him a favorite with actors, including Robert Redford, with whom he made seven films.
Born in 1934, Pollack got his start as an actor, studying under legendary New York teacher Sanford Meisner. He cut his teeth is television, appearing in such shows as “The Twilight Zone,” “Playhouse 90” and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” before transitioning into directing for the small screen. Even after making a name for himself behind the camera, he kept popping up onscreen, starring in “The Player” (1992), “Husbands and Wives” (1992), “Eyes Wide Shut” (1999), “Changing Lanes” (2002), “Michael Clayton” (2007) and his own “Tootsie” (1982), to name but a few.
It was this experience as a performer that made him a favorite with actors, including Robert Redford, with whom he made seven films.
- 6/24/2023
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
After playing a married couple in 2014’s Neighbors and 2016’s Neighbors 2, Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne have once again reunited for Apple TV+ series Platonic — but this time, as friends.
The two star as platonic best friends who reconnect after a long period as they both teeter on mid-life crises, with the friendship becoming consuming and destabilizing their lives.
“It’s a weird blindspot where of course people are friends with men and women but why isn’t it ever celebrated or talked about, and is there a hangover of this sort of antiquated idea that you can or can’t be friends?” Byrne told The Hollywood Reporter at the show’s Los Angeles premiere on Wednesday of the lack of stories exploring non-romantic relationships between men and women. “I do think it’s generational. I think for the younger generation it’s a totally antiquated idea but I...
The two star as platonic best friends who reconnect after a long period as they both teeter on mid-life crises, with the friendship becoming consuming and destabilizing their lives.
“It’s a weird blindspot where of course people are friends with men and women but why isn’t it ever celebrated or talked about, and is there a hangover of this sort of antiquated idea that you can or can’t be friends?” Byrne told The Hollywood Reporter at the show’s Los Angeles premiere on Wednesday of the lack of stories exploring non-romantic relationships between men and women. “I do think it’s generational. I think for the younger generation it’s a totally antiquated idea but I...
- 5/11/2023
- by Kirsten Chuba
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Following her surprising (some thought shocking) Best Supporting Actress triumph at the Academy Awards in 1993 for her role in “My Cousin Vinny,” poor Marisa Tomei has been forced to endure a Mount Everest of disrespect. Her name has become literally Exhibit A for what’s wrong with he voting process, a punchline of outrage – the poster child of head-scratching awards season jokes. For years, she topped the list of “How the hell did this happen?” Oscar moments.
Forget the fact that in the years that followed her win, Tomei has generated another pair of supporting nominations – for “In the Bedroom” in 2002 (a Todd Field movie – hello) and “The Wrestler” in 2009. The presumption was that Tomei wasn’t nearly a talented enough actress to win, though they usually don’t find a whole lot of lousy performers generating three Oscar nominations. No matter. The prevailing wisdom was that she was a...
Forget the fact that in the years that followed her win, Tomei has generated another pair of supporting nominations – for “In the Bedroom” in 2002 (a Todd Field movie – hello) and “The Wrestler” in 2009. The presumption was that Tomei wasn’t nearly a talented enough actress to win, though they usually don’t find a whole lot of lousy performers generating three Oscar nominations. No matter. The prevailing wisdom was that she was a...
- 3/10/2023
- by Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
As we approach O-Day and the 95th Academy Awards on March 12, it’s always fun to go back and look at the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress categories and revel in some of the trivia and shockers that have gone down on the awards season’s biggest stage. This is the rare year when Meryl Streep isn’t in the running, as her 21 overall nominations in the acting categories are nearly double the number of her closest female pursuer, Katherine Hepburn, who has 12. However, Hepburn still holds the all-time Oscar record with four acting wins. Streep has a mere three.
Here are some other actress category factoids to chew on:
Should Cate Blanchett win Best Actress this year for her role in “Tar,” she would tie Streep, Ingrid Bergman and Frances McDormand for second place behind Hepburn among actresses with three triumphs apiece. All four of Hepburn’s wins...
Here are some other actress category factoids to chew on:
Should Cate Blanchett win Best Actress this year for her role in “Tar,” she would tie Streep, Ingrid Bergman and Frances McDormand for second place behind Hepburn among actresses with three triumphs apiece. All four of Hepburn’s wins...
- 2/28/2023
- by Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
Lukas Nathrath’s Generation Y drama “One Last Evening,” which has its world premiere in the Tiger Competition of International Film Festival Rotterdam, has debuted its trailer (below). The film was the winner of the First Look Award, part of the industry section of the Locarno Film Festival. Beta Cinema is handling international sales.
The film is set during the pandemic, and centers on a young couple who want a fresh start, moving from Hanover to Berlin. Lisa is an on-the-rise doctor bracing herself for a new position; Clemens is a talented but unsuccessful singer-songwriter crippled by self-doubt.
To say goodbye, they host a dinner party in their now empty flat. But good friends cancel — and uninvited guests show up. As the attendees start eyeing each other’s achievements, the evening slowly escalates, leading to an emotional crash that uncovers misunderstandings, rivalries, animosities and anxieties.
Sebastian Jakob Doppelbauer stars in the film,...
The film is set during the pandemic, and centers on a young couple who want a fresh start, moving from Hanover to Berlin. Lisa is an on-the-rise doctor bracing herself for a new position; Clemens is a talented but unsuccessful singer-songwriter crippled by self-doubt.
To say goodbye, they host a dinner party in their now empty flat. But good friends cancel — and uninvited guests show up. As the attendees start eyeing each other’s achievements, the evening slowly escalates, leading to an emotional crash that uncovers misunderstandings, rivalries, animosities and anxieties.
Sebastian Jakob Doppelbauer stars in the film,...
- 1/24/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Josh Olson shares his top 10 movies from his favorite movie year, 1992, with Joe Dante.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
Star Wars (1977)
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
After Dark, My Sweet (1990)
The Last Of The Mohicans (1992)
Thief (1981) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
Manhunter (1986) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
The Last Of The Mohicans (1936)
The Player (1992) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Popeye (1980)
Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson (1976) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Quintet (1979)
HealtH (1980)
Come Back To the Five And Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)
Secret Honor (1984)
The Graduate (1967) – Neil Labute’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Touch Of Evil (1958) – Howard Rodman’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Dead Alive a.k.a. Braindead (1992) – Mike Mendez’s trailer commentary
Meet The Feebles (1989) – Mike Mendez’s...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
Star Wars (1977)
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
After Dark, My Sweet (1990)
The Last Of The Mohicans (1992)
Thief (1981) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
Manhunter (1986) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
The Last Of The Mohicans (1936)
The Player (1992) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Popeye (1980)
Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson (1976) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Quintet (1979)
HealtH (1980)
Come Back To the Five And Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)
Secret Honor (1984)
The Graduate (1967) – Neil Labute’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Touch Of Evil (1958) – Howard Rodman’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Dead Alive a.k.a. Braindead (1992) – Mike Mendez’s trailer commentary
Meet The Feebles (1989) – Mike Mendez’s...
- 8/30/2022
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Caleb Landry Jones, Judy Davis, Essie Davis, and Anthony Lapaglia in Nitram will be In Theaters, on Digital Rental and AMC+March 30
Here’s the trailer:
Directed by Justin Kurzel (True History Of The Kelly Gang, Snowtown Murders, MacBeth) and written by Shaun Grant (True History Of The Kelly Gang, Berlin Syndrome), Nitram stars Caleb Landry Jones (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, Get Out, Heaven Knows What), Essie Davis (The Babadook, True History Of The Kelly Gang), Oscar Nominee Judy Davis (Husbands And Wives, Barton Fink, Naked Lunch), and Anthony Lapaglia (Empire Records, Without A Trace).
Nitram (Caleb Landry Jones) lives with his mother (Judy Davis) and father (Anthony Lapaglia) in suburban Australia in the Mid 1990s. He lives a life of isolation and frustration at never being able to fit in. That is until he unexpectedly finds a close friend in a reclusive heiress, Helen (Essie Davis). However, when...
Here’s the trailer:
Directed by Justin Kurzel (True History Of The Kelly Gang, Snowtown Murders, MacBeth) and written by Shaun Grant (True History Of The Kelly Gang, Berlin Syndrome), Nitram stars Caleb Landry Jones (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, Get Out, Heaven Knows What), Essie Davis (The Babadook, True History Of The Kelly Gang), Oscar Nominee Judy Davis (Husbands And Wives, Barton Fink, Naked Lunch), and Anthony Lapaglia (Empire Records, Without A Trace).
Nitram (Caleb Landry Jones) lives with his mother (Judy Davis) and father (Anthony Lapaglia) in suburban Australia in the Mid 1990s. He lives a life of isolation and frustration at never being able to fit in. That is until he unexpectedly finds a close friend in a reclusive heiress, Helen (Essie Davis). However, when...
- 2/10/2022
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Mort Rifkin, the ostensible novelist at the center of “Rifkin’s Festival,” has longterm writer’s block, and it’s hard to imagine that Woody Allen has ever empathized less with a character. Where Mort believes it’s futile to write if the finished work is not going to be on the level of Dostoevsky, the 84-year-old Allen continues churning out screenplays on an annual basis, unencumbered even by the increasingly distant memory of his own greatest work. His 49th feature, “Rifkin’s Festival” is the latest in a lengthy string of undistinguished bagatelles that might all be described as effortless, and not in an especially complimentary fashion.
Following Wallace Shawn and a typically jumbled grab-bag of fine actors as they mosey around the San Sebastián Film Festival — for which the film acts as an extended promo, duly opening this year’s edition — “Rifkin’s Festival” is a scenic summer-wind romcom that...
Following Wallace Shawn and a typically jumbled grab-bag of fine actors as they mosey around the San Sebastián Film Festival — for which the film acts as an extended promo, duly opening this year’s edition — “Rifkin’s Festival” is a scenic summer-wind romcom that...
- 9/18/2020
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Bruce Jay Friedman, an author, playwright and Oscar-nominated screenplay writer for Tom Hanks’s 1984 film Splash, died today in New York City. He was 90 and no cause of death was given by his son, Kipp Friedman.
In addition to screenplays, Friedman was known for his novels Stern and About Harry Towns, and the plays Scuba Duba and Streambath.
Friedman’s work was known for its wry humor and modern angst on such subjects as the transition to suburban life and the sex and drug adventures of a screenplay writer who had mixed feelings about his freedom to explore.
He authored more than a dozen books, including a comic take on bachelorhood that became the Steve Martin comedy The Lonely Guy.
Friedman also spent some time in front of the camera, appearing in Nora Ephron’s You’ve Got Mail and Woody Allen’s Husbands and Wives.
A literary lion of New York,...
In addition to screenplays, Friedman was known for his novels Stern and About Harry Towns, and the plays Scuba Duba and Streambath.
Friedman’s work was known for its wry humor and modern angst on such subjects as the transition to suburban life and the sex and drug adventures of a screenplay writer who had mixed feelings about his freedom to explore.
He authored more than a dozen books, including a comic take on bachelorhood that became the Steve Martin comedy The Lonely Guy.
Friedman also spent some time in front of the camera, appearing in Nora Ephron’s You’ve Got Mail and Woody Allen’s Husbands and Wives.
A literary lion of New York,...
- 6/4/2020
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Writer Bruce Jay Friedman, who received an Oscar nomination for the 1984 comedy “Splash,” died Wednesday at his home in Brooklyn. He was 90.
His death was confirmed by his son Josh, who told the New York Times that the cause had not been determined.
Friedman, a native of the Bronx, emerged in the 1960s as a novelist specializing in dark comedy centered on self-involved protagonists with “Stern” and “A Mother’s Kisses,” followed by the plays “Scuba Duba” and “Steambath.” His short story, “A Change of Plan,” was adapted by Neil Simon into the 1972 movie “The Heartbreak Kid,” starring Charles Grodin, Cybill Shepherd, Eddie Arnold and Jeannie Berlin, with Elaine May directing.
Friedman found box office success with his 1980 Richard Pryor-Gene Wilder prison comedy “Stir Crazy,” directed by Sidney Poitier. He wrote the first draft of “Splash,” the 1984 romantic comedy about a love affair between Tom Hanks’ character and...
His death was confirmed by his son Josh, who told the New York Times that the cause had not been determined.
Friedman, a native of the Bronx, emerged in the 1960s as a novelist specializing in dark comedy centered on self-involved protagonists with “Stern” and “A Mother’s Kisses,” followed by the plays “Scuba Duba” and “Steambath.” His short story, “A Change of Plan,” was adapted by Neil Simon into the 1972 movie “The Heartbreak Kid,” starring Charles Grodin, Cybill Shepherd, Eddie Arnold and Jeannie Berlin, with Elaine May directing.
Friedman found box office success with his 1980 Richard Pryor-Gene Wilder prison comedy “Stir Crazy,” directed by Sidney Poitier. He wrote the first draft of “Splash,” the 1984 romantic comedy about a love affair between Tom Hanks’ character and...
- 6/3/2020
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Sydney Pollack would’ve celebrated his 85th birthday on July 1, 2019. The Oscar winning filmmaker could’ve branded himself as Hollywood’s favorite journeyman, crafting solid entertainments for over 40 years. But how many of his titles remain classics? In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at all 20 of his films as a director, ranked worst to best.
Born in 1934, Pollack got his start as an actor, studying under legendary New York teacher Sanford Meisner. He cut his teeth is television, appearing in such shows as “The Twilight Zone,” “Playhouse 90” and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” before transitioning into directing for the small screen. Even after making a name for himself behind the camera, he kept popping up onscreen, starring in “The Player” (1992), “Husbands and Wives” (1992), “Eyes Wide Shut” (1999), “Changing Lanes” (2002), “Michael Clayton” (2007) and his own “Tootsie” (1982), to name but a few.
SEERobert Redford movies: 15 greatest films ranked from...
Born in 1934, Pollack got his start as an actor, studying under legendary New York teacher Sanford Meisner. He cut his teeth is television, appearing in such shows as “The Twilight Zone,” “Playhouse 90” and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” before transitioning into directing for the small screen. Even after making a name for himself behind the camera, he kept popping up onscreen, starring in “The Player” (1992), “Husbands and Wives” (1992), “Eyes Wide Shut” (1999), “Changing Lanes” (2002), “Michael Clayton” (2007) and his own “Tootsie” (1982), to name but a few.
SEERobert Redford movies: 15 greatest films ranked from...
- 7/1/2019
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Woody Allen celebrates his 83rd birthday on December 1, 2018. The four-time Academy Award winner has proved incredibly prolific in his decades-long career, writing, directing, and oftentimes starring in nearly a film a year for almost 50 years. But how many of those are classics? In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 25 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.
After years as a joke writer and standup comic, Allen transitioned into filmmaking penning such screenplays as “What’s New Pussycat?” (1965) and starring in such titles as “Casino Royale” (1967). His first credit as a director was the comedically overdubbed Japanese spy thriller “What’s Up, Tiger Lily?” (1966).
SEEOscar Best Picture Gallery: History of Every Academy Award-Winning Movie
The Woody Allen as we know him emerged in 1969 with the farcical mockumentary “Take the Money and Run” (1969), made when he was 34 years old. The success of that film led to...
After years as a joke writer and standup comic, Allen transitioned into filmmaking penning such screenplays as “What’s New Pussycat?” (1965) and starring in such titles as “Casino Royale” (1967). His first credit as a director was the comedically overdubbed Japanese spy thriller “What’s Up, Tiger Lily?” (1966).
SEEOscar Best Picture Gallery: History of Every Academy Award-Winning Movie
The Woody Allen as we know him emerged in 1969 with the farcical mockumentary “Take the Money and Run” (1969), made when he was 34 years old. The success of that film led to...
- 12/1/2018
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
In Nicole Holofcener’s sixth feature, adapted from Ted Thompson’s 2014 novel, a man’s midlife crisis is rendered with tragicomic sincerity
The women of writer-director Nicole Holofcener’s films have often been described as “dysfunctional” or “complicated”, the most rote of the catchwords used to suggest a kind of tough-as-nails realism. They are women, frequently single, sharp-tongued and exasperating, who evoke Henrik Ibsen’s groundbreaking Nordic anti-heroines, Nora Helmer and Hedda Gabler and Helene Alving, and the comic neuroses of Woody Allen, of whom Holofcener has been called the female counterpart. Like some, but not all, of Allen’s women – I’m thinking of Judy Davis in Husbands and Wives, Mia Farrow in The Purple Rose of Cairo and, of course, Diane Keaton in Annie Hall – Holofcener’s protagonists are flawed, wry, introspective and modern. They’re easy to love on-screen, if less so to the people they’re on-screen with.
The women of writer-director Nicole Holofcener’s films have often been described as “dysfunctional” or “complicated”, the most rote of the catchwords used to suggest a kind of tough-as-nails realism. They are women, frequently single, sharp-tongued and exasperating, who evoke Henrik Ibsen’s groundbreaking Nordic anti-heroines, Nora Helmer and Hedda Gabler and Helene Alving, and the comic neuroses of Woody Allen, of whom Holofcener has been called the female counterpart. Like some, but not all, of Allen’s women – I’m thinking of Judy Davis in Husbands and Wives, Mia Farrow in The Purple Rose of Cairo and, of course, Diane Keaton in Annie Hall – Holofcener’s protagonists are flawed, wry, introspective and modern. They’re easy to love on-screen, if less so to the people they’re on-screen with.
- 9/13/2018
- by Jake Nevins
- The Guardian - Film News
Growing up in the suburbs of Los Angeles provided fertile inspiration for Michelle Morgan, director of the recent iTunes New Filmmaker Spotlight “It Happened in L.A.” (Click here to watch the film)
“I’m born and raised in La, so it’s a world that I know pretty well,” she said. “I lived in the city when I was a child and then I spent most of my young-adult years in the suburbs, so the city was always this mythical thing to us in the suburbs.”
“It Happened in L.A.” follows thirtysomething Annette (Morgan), her boyfriend, Elliot (Jorma Taccone), and her Bff, Baker (Dree Hemingway), as they navigate the perils of the bleak dating scene in Los Angeles. Is there such a thing as a perfect couple, or is that an urban myth?
“It Happened in L.A.,” which was Morgan’s feature directorial debut, premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival...
“I’m born and raised in La, so it’s a world that I know pretty well,” she said. “I lived in the city when I was a child and then I spent most of my young-adult years in the suburbs, so the city was always this mythical thing to us in the suburbs.”
“It Happened in L.A.” follows thirtysomething Annette (Morgan), her boyfriend, Elliot (Jorma Taccone), and her Bff, Baker (Dree Hemingway), as they navigate the perils of the bleak dating scene in Los Angeles. Is there such a thing as a perfect couple, or is that an urban myth?
“It Happened in L.A.,” which was Morgan’s feature directorial debut, premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival...
- 12/13/2017
- by Indiewire Staff
- Indiewire
Woody Allen’s new movie, “Wonder Wheel,” doesn’t open until December, but he’s already at work on his next project starring Elle Fanning, Jude Law, Selena Gomez, Rebecca Hall, and Timothée Chalamet. The movie is reportedly called “A Rainy Day in New York,” and its story could end up resulting in another controversy for the director. Page Six reports the movie stars Law as a middle-aged married man who “makes a fool of himself over every ambitious starlet and model.” The 44-year-old character allegedly has a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old “concubine,” played by Fanning.
According to Page Six: “In the scene, the so-called concubine acknowledges her relationship with Law’s much-older character, but then protests that she is 21 years old. After a discussion about his infidelity, Fanning’s character then asks Law, ‘Were all these women for pleasure, or were you researching a project?'”
Read...
According to Page Six: “In the scene, the so-called concubine acknowledges her relationship with Law’s much-older character, but then protests that she is 21 years old. After a discussion about his infidelity, Fanning’s character then asks Law, ‘Were all these women for pleasure, or were you researching a project?'”
Read...
- 10/23/2017
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Carlo Di Palma and Woody AllenThe only thing more consistent than the quality of Carlo Di Palma’s cinematography is the routine variance of his work. Though his most prominent titles were primarily those done in collaboration with two key directors—Michelangelo Antonioni and Woody Allen—what he demonstrated over the course of his career, in these films and dozens more, revealed a remarkable exhibition of visual range. His decades-spanning career produced a gallery of fluctuating colors, lighting techniques, temperatures, movements, and tones. And more often than not, what he refined in this richly varying field proved to be a directly corresponding realization of profound psychological consequence.Born April 17, 1925 in Rome, the son of a camera repair man, Di Palma’s cinematic commencement went from focus operator on Neo-Realist essentials like Rome, Open City (1945) and Bicycle Thieves (1948) to serving various capacities on largely subpar Italian fare. A turning point came...
- 7/28/2017
- MUBI
Elle
Blu-ray
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
2017 / Color / 2.40:1 widescreen / Street Date March 14, 2017
Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Laurent Lafitte, Anne Consigny, Charles Berling.
Cinematography: Stéphane Fontaine
Film Editor: Job Ter Burg
Written by David Birke
Produced by Saïd Ben Saïd and Michel Merkt
Directed by Paul Verhoeven
Michèle Leblanc, glamorous entrepreneur of a successful video game company, is the calm at the center of many storms. Her son’s girlfriend has given birth to another man’s child, an employee is stalking her with anime porn and her botox-ridden mother is betrothed to a male prostitute.
In the face of all this outrageous fortune, Michèle remains cool, calm and collected, even in the aftermath of her own harrowing sexual assault.
Elle, the new film from the Dutch provocateur Paul Verhoeven, begins with that already infamous assault, our heroine struggling under the weight of her attacker while an unblinking cat perches nearby, watching.
Blu-ray
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
2017 / Color / 2.40:1 widescreen / Street Date March 14, 2017
Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Laurent Lafitte, Anne Consigny, Charles Berling.
Cinematography: Stéphane Fontaine
Film Editor: Job Ter Burg
Written by David Birke
Produced by Saïd Ben Saïd and Michel Merkt
Directed by Paul Verhoeven
Michèle Leblanc, glamorous entrepreneur of a successful video game company, is the calm at the center of many storms. Her son’s girlfriend has given birth to another man’s child, an employee is stalking her with anime porn and her botox-ridden mother is betrothed to a male prostitute.
In the face of all this outrageous fortune, Michèle remains cool, calm and collected, even in the aftermath of her own harrowing sexual assault.
Elle, the new film from the Dutch provocateur Paul Verhoeven, begins with that already infamous assault, our heroine struggling under the weight of her attacker while an unblinking cat perches nearby, watching.
- 3/27/2017
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Golden Exits. © Sean Price Williams“No soul or locale is too humble,” John Updike wrote, “to be the site of entertaining and instructive fiction.” Which is a good thing for Nick, the nominal hero of Alex Ross Perry’s new film Golden Exits. The mild, meek, nearly-fifty archivist, played with greying dignity by former Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz, lives a pinched and incapacious existence, toiling ten hours a day hunched behind the desk of a basement office only a few blocks away from his Brooklyn apartment. It’s a spartan, closed-loop life, and Nick thinks it’s “thrilling”—which it becomes for a time, when a 25-year-old assistant arrives from Australia and threatens to disrupt it. Golden Exits is about that threat. Or more precisely, it is a film about what happens when order and routine are besieged by the promise of change—when the life one has accepted is beleaguered by temptation,...
- 2/26/2017
- MUBI
You could excuse any husband and father of young twins (with December birthdays) for being a little behind schedule after Christmas.
After all, there were holiday parties to host, cards to send and then on Monday, Aunt Caroline’s birthday to celebrate.
Now it’s Princess Charlene’s turn to party, as she turns 39 on Wednesday — and with time counting down, Prince Albert tells People he has shopping on his agenda.
“Christmas was great,” he says. “The kids got a bunch of different toys — puzzles, a Playmobil house. I assembled that myself with help from my brother-in-law Sean. We screwed a few bolts in.
After all, there were holiday parties to host, cards to send and then on Monday, Aunt Caroline’s birthday to celebrate.
Now it’s Princess Charlene’s turn to party, as she turns 39 on Wednesday — and with time counting down, Prince Albert tells People he has shopping on his agenda.
“Christmas was great,” he says. “The kids got a bunch of different toys — puzzles, a Playmobil house. I assembled that myself with help from my brother-in-law Sean. We screwed a few bolts in.
- 1/25/2017
- by michelletauber2013
- PEOPLE.com
David O. Russell cringes at first when revisiting his 1996 film “Flirting with Disaster.”
“The first half, all I see is me as a beginning filmmaker,” Russell told the audience Friday night at AFI Fest’s 20th anniversary screening of the movie, sponsored by FilmStruck, Miramax, and IndieWire. “But the movie is like a runaway wagon, and it does just take off. It reminds me of the comedies that inspired me.”
Read More: AFI Fest 2016: 14 Movies We Can’t Wait to See at the Festival
Russell was joined by “Flirting” star Lily Tomlin, who said she joined the movie (Russell’s second) partly because she loved the director’s first film, “Spanking the Monkey.”
“When I read the [‘Flirting’] script, I laughed every time,” she said. “It was just so hilarious.”
Russell said “Flirting” was very much a movie of its time: “In the mid-’90s, sexual dysfunction and family dysfunction was all the rage.
“The first half, all I see is me as a beginning filmmaker,” Russell told the audience Friday night at AFI Fest’s 20th anniversary screening of the movie, sponsored by FilmStruck, Miramax, and IndieWire. “But the movie is like a runaway wagon, and it does just take off. It reminds me of the comedies that inspired me.”
Read More: AFI Fest 2016: 14 Movies We Can’t Wait to See at the Festival
Russell was joined by “Flirting” star Lily Tomlin, who said she joined the movie (Russell’s second) partly because she loved the director’s first film, “Spanking the Monkey.”
“When I read the [‘Flirting’] script, I laughed every time,” she said. “It was just so hilarious.”
Russell said “Flirting” was very much a movie of its time: “In the mid-’90s, sexual dysfunction and family dysfunction was all the rage.
- 11/12/2016
- by Michael Schneider
- Indiewire
Quincy Rose, the godson of Woody Allen and the offspring of the late Mickey Rose (an Allen collaborator on films such as Bananas and a writer for The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson), has just scribed, directed, produced, and edited his second feature film, Friends Effing Friends Effing Friends (Fefef) so roll out the red carpet and blow the horns. Such an amazing lack of talent has seldom been contained in a mere 117 minutes.
This is not to propose that Mr. Rose is totally bereft of any artistry. The trailer for his initial effort, Miles to Go (2012), in which he stars, displays an engagingly high-strung neuroticism in his Allenesque take on heterosexual relationships, and you can't help but wish he had cast himself as a lead in Fefef.
But before I decimate the theatrics and the writing, let's confront the plot. Two childhood buddies -- one circumcised, the other not...
This is not to propose that Mr. Rose is totally bereft of any artistry. The trailer for his initial effort, Miles to Go (2012), in which he stars, displays an engagingly high-strung neuroticism in his Allenesque take on heterosexual relationships, and you can't help but wish he had cast himself as a lead in Fefef.
But before I decimate the theatrics and the writing, let's confront the plot. Two childhood buddies -- one circumcised, the other not...
- 10/17/2016
- by Brandon Judell
- www.culturecatch.com
Illustration by Leah BravoFive years ago, a film came and went with little fanfare, except a spattering of positive reviews, making around $4 million worldwide on a budget of about $10 million: Take This Waltz. More people know it as a Leonard Cohen song, from which its title comes. More people know Leonard Cohen than the director Sarah Polley, but as of this cultural moment, more people might know the star, Michelle Williams, than Leonard Cohen, due to her other movies and a popular TV show. These jejune concerns amplify less than we know and more than we'll admit. Name recognition: these go into the common denominators decision people look for when they decide to fund a film, a book, a play. How will it sell? How will it fit? What can it capitalize on? How can we make something that will not make people think too much or depress them? We...
- 8/16/2016
- MUBI
This Friday, Café Society, the latest release from writer/director/comic godhead Woody Allen, waltzes into theaters — the 47th feature Allen has directed over a career spanning 50 years. (Yes, we're counting New York Stories.) He's had box-office successes and outright bombs, Oscar-winning masterpieces and critically panned duds. But regardless of his movies' receptions (and the reoccurring rumors about his personal life), he's managed to pump out a film a year with impressive regularity. Some key elements have stayed the same — once a jazz clarinet slinks onto the soundtrack, audiences know exactly who they're dealing with.
- 7/13/2016
- Rollingstone.com
This Friday, Café Society, the latest release from writer/director/comic godhead Woody Allen, waltzes into theaters — the 47th feature Allen has directed over a career spanning 50 years. (Yes, we're counting New York Stories.) He's had box-office successes and outright bombs, Oscar-winning masterpieces and critically panned duds. But regardless of his movies' receptions (and the reoccurring rumors about his personal life), he's managed to pump out a film a year with impressive regularity. Some key elements have stayed the same — once a jazz clarinet slinks onto the soundtrack, audiences know exactly who they're dealing with.
- 7/13/2016
- Rollingstone.com
Woody Allen finds a new muse every few films, and his latest belle du jour is Emma Stone, who anchors "Irrational Man," yet another one of his irreverent murder comedies. She plays Jill, the doting overachiever bewitched by Joaquin Phoenix as a philosophy professor with a PhD in misanthropy and a sagging beer belly. His existential crisis leads to another entanglement, with Parker Posey as a colleague bored in her marriage. Stone's character is way too young for Phoenix, who manages to transcend the Woody Allen stand-in character he has previously written for actors ranging from John Cusack (perhaps the best) and Jason Biggs (definitely the worst). Stone's committed performance, however, with the wide-eyed mischief of a silent film star, makes Jill much more than a dithering yo-yo. Jill gets to have more depth and agency than this character is usually assigned, from Juliette Lewis' frisky student in "Husbands and Wives...
- 7/14/2015
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Thompson on Hollywood
Liam Neeson’s career has come full circle.
After his acting debut in 1978, at a commanding 6’4” Neeson found a niche for himself in action flicks like Excalibur, Krull and even Darkman in 1990 before transitioning into the seriously dramatic roles he was synonymous with throughout most of the 90s and early 2000s: Husbands and Wives, Schindler’s List, Nell and even as Jean Valjean in the non-musical Les Miserables. Sure he dabbled in action and blockbusters along the way, but Neeson was reborn as the latest action hero in 2008 with his role in the sleeper hit Taken.
Spawning not one but two sequels, Taken launched the next chapter in the Irish actor’s career and leading to roles in The A-Team and Battleship. The actor returned to his father-on-a-mission role as Bryan Mills in Taken 3 once again this year. The film sees Mills chasing after the bad guy, except this time,...
After his acting debut in 1978, at a commanding 6’4” Neeson found a niche for himself in action flicks like Excalibur, Krull and even Darkman in 1990 before transitioning into the seriously dramatic roles he was synonymous with throughout most of the 90s and early 2000s: Husbands and Wives, Schindler’s List, Nell and even as Jean Valjean in the non-musical Les Miserables. Sure he dabbled in action and blockbusters along the way, but Neeson was reborn as the latest action hero in 2008 with his role in the sleeper hit Taken.
Spawning not one but two sequels, Taken launched the next chapter in the Irish actor’s career and leading to roles in The A-Team and Battleship. The actor returned to his father-on-a-mission role as Bryan Mills in Taken 3 once again this year. The film sees Mills chasing after the bad guy, except this time,...
- 6/7/2015
- by Rachel West and Amanda Wood
- Cineplex
The recently widowed Mrs. McDreamy is breaking her silence on her late TV husband's untimely death.
Ellen Pompeo, 45, who plays Meredith Shepard on the hit medical drama, took to Twitter on Monday to address her on-screen husband, Patrick Dempsey's, shocking departure from the ABC series on Thursday's episode.
Happy Monday! pic.twitter.com/dSnfKPLQl7
— Ellen Pompeo (@EllenPompeo) April 27, 2015
"I have always said what keeps me going is the fans. Knowing we move you and inspire you," Pompeo wrote in a post titled "Happy Monday."
"There are so many people out there who have suffered tremendous loss and tragedy. Husbands and wives of soldiers,...
Ellen Pompeo, 45, who plays Meredith Shepard on the hit medical drama, took to Twitter on Monday to address her on-screen husband, Patrick Dempsey's, shocking departure from the ABC series on Thursday's episode.
Happy Monday! pic.twitter.com/dSnfKPLQl7
— Ellen Pompeo (@EllenPompeo) April 27, 2015
"I have always said what keeps me going is the fans. Knowing we move you and inspire you," Pompeo wrote in a post titled "Happy Monday."
"There are so many people out there who have suffered tremendous loss and tragedy. Husbands and wives of soldiers,...
- 4/27/2015
- by Michael Miller, @write_miller
- People.com - TV Watch
While two of Hollywood's most popular action stars are duking it out in the box office, we thought it might be a good time for them to face off in the only thunderdome that really matters: Et's Celebrity Showdown.
Looking at seven unique criteria that weigh box-office earnings, critic's reviews and award season gold, Celebrity Showdown examines the anatomy of both stars' careers to show who's really the best.
News: Celebrity Showdown: Will Smith vs. Kevin Costner
So, will Chappie star Hugh Jackman (beloved for his many, many turns playing Wolverine in the X-Men franchise) be able to take down action veteran Liam Neeson (best known for the many films in which he's had to retrieve people who have been taken)? For fun, take a guess, then check out our totally scientific results.*
*Results not actually scientific.
Round 1 - Total Films
Hugh Jackman: 23
Liam Neeson: 60 (Win)
Round 2 - Highest Grossing Film
Hugh Jackman: $234.3 million...
Looking at seven unique criteria that weigh box-office earnings, critic's reviews and award season gold, Celebrity Showdown examines the anatomy of both stars' careers to show who's really the best.
News: Celebrity Showdown: Will Smith vs. Kevin Costner
So, will Chappie star Hugh Jackman (beloved for his many, many turns playing Wolverine in the X-Men franchise) be able to take down action veteran Liam Neeson (best known for the many films in which he's had to retrieve people who have been taken)? For fun, take a guess, then check out our totally scientific results.*
*Results not actually scientific.
Round 1 - Total Films
Hugh Jackman: 23
Liam Neeson: 60 (Win)
Round 2 - Highest Grossing Film
Hugh Jackman: $234.3 million...
- 3/16/2015
- Entertainment Tonight
History's "Vikings" returns on Thursday (February 19) night for the start of what looks to be its most ambitious season to date. When we left Travis Fimmel's Ragnar last season, he'd completed his ascension to king, but he still had lots of unfinished business, particularly Across the Pond with Linus Roache's King Ecbert. Season 3 finds Ragnar and friends holding things down at home, expanding their reach in England and, as series creator Michael Hirst has long teased, eying a raid on Paris. Hirst is always one of my favorite interview subjects, but I tend to only get through a third of my questions when I get 15 or 20 minutes on the phone with the erudite Englishman, so I made sure to get a solid half-hour-plus when we sat down last month during the Television Critics Association press tour. In the wide-ranging conversation, we discuss Ragnar's unease ruling position, the prophecy...
- 2/18/2015
- by Daniel Fienberg
- Hitfix
Everyone knows Woody Allen. At least, everyone thinks they know Woody Allen. His plumage is easily identifiable: horn-rimmed glasses, baggy suit, wispy hair, kvetching demeanor, ironic sense of humor, acute fear of death. As is his habitat: New York City, though recently he has flown as far afield as London, Barcelona, and Paris. His likes are well known: Bergman, Dostoevsky, New Orleans jazz. So too his dislikes: spiders, cars, nature, Wagner records, the entire city of Los Angeles. Whether or not these traits represent the true Allen, who’s to say? It is impossible to tell, with Allen, where cinema ends and life begins, an obfuscation he readily encourages. In the late nineteen-seventies, disillusioned with the comedic success he’d found making such films as Sleeper (1973), Love and Death (1975), and Annie Hall (1977), he turned for darker territory with Stardust Memories (1980), a film in which, none too surprisingly, he plays a...
- 1/24/2015
- by Graham Daseler
- The Moving Arts Journal
Luise Rainer dies at age 104: Rainer was first consecutive Oscar winner, first two-time winner in acting categories and oldest surviving winner (photo: MGM star Luise Rainer in the mid-'30s.) The first consecutive Academy Award winner, the first two-time winner in the acting categories, and, at age 104, the oldest surviving Oscar winner as well, Luise Rainer (Best Actress for The Great Ziegfeld, 1936, and The Good Earth, 1937) died at her London apartment on December 30 -- nearly two weeks before her 105th birthday. Below is an article originally posted in January 2014, at the time Rainer turned 104. I'll be sharing more Luise Rainer news later on Tuesday. January 17, 2014: Inevitably, the Transformers movies' director Michael Bay (who recently had an on-camera "meltdown" after a teleprompter stopped working at the Consumer Electronics Show) and the Transformers movies' star Shia Labeouf (who was recently accused of plagiarism) were mentioned -- or rather, blasted, in...
- 12/30/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Favorite Movie
-by Missi Pyle
I have seen The Princess Bride about 200 times. I remember I saw it in the theater as a Double Feature with my friend Christy Brown in the 8th grade. It was playing with Dirty Dancing randomly. And when both movies were over. My friend Christy was totally floored by Dirty Dancing and I thought she was an idiot. I was like - wait the Princess Bride is the Best Movie ever Made. And she was like - no- Dirty Dancing.
The friendship didn't last.
But I just kept watching that movie over and over. I think it's where I developed most of my sense of humor. I have gotten to meet several people from that movie: Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Wallace Shawn. I never know what to say. I just can't even handle it.
I know its a lot of people's favorite movie. I don't care.
-by Missi Pyle
I have seen The Princess Bride about 200 times. I remember I saw it in the theater as a Double Feature with my friend Christy Brown in the 8th grade. It was playing with Dirty Dancing randomly. And when both movies were over. My friend Christy was totally floored by Dirty Dancing and I thought she was an idiot. I was like - wait the Princess Bride is the Best Movie ever Made. And she was like - no- Dirty Dancing.
The friendship didn't last.
But I just kept watching that movie over and over. I think it's where I developed most of my sense of humor. I have gotten to meet several people from that movie: Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Wallace Shawn. I never know what to say. I just can't even handle it.
I know its a lot of people's favorite movie. I don't care.
- 12/15/2014
- by GUEST CONTRIBUTOR
- FilmExperience
Jason from Mnpp here wishing a happy Monday afternoon to everybody -- tis the time for our weekly fix of "Beauty vs Beast." Today's the 79th birthday of Woody Allen so I figured we'd dive into his back-catalog of rich characters for today's face-off, but where should we head? Villains in his films aren't easy to come by - I considered ScarJo vs Jonathan Rhys Meyers in Match Point but I haven't seen that film in too long; I briefly wandered towards the marital-bloodbath of Husbands and Wives but, well, let's leave Woody versus Mia off the table for the time being. No, it's his most recent success (I don't think anybody can consider Magic in the Moonlight a success) that I think gives us a good cloudy bout of good versus not-so-good to tango with.
poll by twiigs.com
Both ladies were Oscar nominated but only one stormed away...
poll by twiigs.com
Both ladies were Oscar nominated but only one stormed away...
- 12/1/2014
- by JA
- FilmExperience
[Youtube "-w7jyVHocTk"] Thirty years ago, the original version of "Do They Know It's Christmas" featured the likes of Phil Collins, Boy George and Duran Duran. The new video - filmed on Saturday in London - features a mainly new crop of stars including Chris Martin, Ed Sheeran, One Direction and Bono, who was also in the original Band Aid recording thirty years ago! While the faces have (largely) changed, the aim of the video remains the same: to raise awareness and some much-needed funds for a health crisis in Africa. The target for Band Aid 30 is the Ebola outbreak in West Africa...
- 11/17/2014
- by Phil Boucher
- PEOPLE.com
[Youtube "-w7jyVHocTk"] Thirty years ago, the original version of "Do They Know It's Christmas" featured the likes of Phil Collins, Boy George and Duran Duran. The new video - filmed on Saturday in London - features a mainly new crop of stars including Chris Martin, Ed Sheeran, One Direction and Bono, who was also in the original Band Aid recording thirty years ago! While the faces have (largely) changed, the aim of the video remains the same: to raise awareness and some much-needed funds for a health crisis in Africa. The target for Band Aid 30 is the Ebola outbreak in West Africa...
- 11/17/2014
- by Phil Boucher
- PEOPLE.com
There are so many coming-of-age stories every year that it's rare to see a mature love story. Even though Ira Sachs' "Love is Strange," which debuted at Sundance and landed a best feature nomination for the Gotham Awards, is about two gay men who get married, it's more about aging love. It's touching how much these people love each other. John Lithgow and Alfred Molina have both generated buzz in the early awards discussion. I spoke with Sachs and Lithgow at Sundance: "It's love at the end of your life," says writer-director Ira Sachs, who was inspired by not only Woody Allen's New York relationship movies "Husbands and Wives" and "Hannah and Her Sisters" but his mother and stepfather's marriage of over 40 years, and the long relationship between his Memphis great-uncle and his partner. "There's something imperfect and beautiful and I wanted to make a film about that.
- 10/23/2014
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Director Alex Ross Perry takes a chainsaw to the tweedy highbrow literary scene and the toxic men who inhabit it in Listen Up Philip. Philip Lewis Friedman (Jason Schwartzman) is one of those fully realized personalities. A successful novelist awaiting the publication of his second book, Philip is at turns cripplingly insecure and a megalomaniac who's unafraid to alienate and offend. In this exclusive clip, you'll see Philip meeting up with an ex early in the film. With the droll, unflinching narration (from Eric Bogosian), and bristly intelligent humor, it's an indicative sample of the belligerent arrogance Philip displays throughout...
- 10/17/2014
- by Lindsey Bahr
- EW - Inside Movies
Philip A. Dick: Perry’s Literary Minds Stuck In a Lonely Place
Following up his dark hearted homage to road trip cinema with 2011’s The Color Wheel, Alex Ross Perry’s third film, Listen Up Philip arrives with an equally unpleasant set of main characters as it explores the hyper intellectual worldview of self-important authors wallowing in their emotional ennui. But the self-involved narcissists occupying Perry’s arena also happen to be impressively fleshed out compelling characters that makes this triptych of their miserable emotional periods so engrossing. Sprawling, unkempt, and often unlikeable, it’s one of the most impressively written and astutely performed films you’ll see this year.
We meet Philip (Jason Schwartzman) as he meets up with an ex-girlfriend for lunch, basically to gloat over his looming success as an author, celebrating the publication of his first novel. An omniscient narrator (Eric Bogosnian) begins to guide us through Philip’s (and eventually,...
Following up his dark hearted homage to road trip cinema with 2011’s The Color Wheel, Alex Ross Perry’s third film, Listen Up Philip arrives with an equally unpleasant set of main characters as it explores the hyper intellectual worldview of self-important authors wallowing in their emotional ennui. But the self-involved narcissists occupying Perry’s arena also happen to be impressively fleshed out compelling characters that makes this triptych of their miserable emotional periods so engrossing. Sprawling, unkempt, and often unlikeable, it’s one of the most impressively written and astutely performed films you’ll see this year.
We meet Philip (Jason Schwartzman) as he meets up with an ex-girlfriend for lunch, basically to gloat over his looming success as an author, celebrating the publication of his first novel. An omniscient narrator (Eric Bogosnian) begins to guide us through Philip’s (and eventually,...
- 10/13/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
The first reviews for David Fincher's Gone Girl have arrived and for the most part they are positive. On the supportive side of things Variety calls it "surgically precise, grimly funny and entirely mesmerizing"; The Wrap says it will "plenty of loud shouts of applause, awed sounds of surprise, and shocked laughter, but what makes it worthy of them is all the hushed, uneasy conversations it's guaranteed to inspire in the long, unsettled silence to come after" and Vulture says it "is phenomenally gripping--although it does leave you queasy, uncertain what to take away on the subject of men, women, marriage, and the possibility of intimacy from the example of such prodigiously messed-up people..." Those not so supportive include Screen Daily calling it a "a standard police procedural that promptly loses momentum"; The Hollywood Reporter says it plays like Fincher's adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,...
- 9/22/2014
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Arrested Development: Glanz’s Debut an Affluent Vacuum
For the most part, it’s an ingenious trick to fabricate an aura of empathy around a pool of pretentious piranhas endlessly floundering about in the upper echelons of privilege and oblivion. To extend an invitation to witness purported romance amongst elitists garnished with nothing more than an immeasurable trust fund and the preened hue of an Ivy League education would seem nearly impossible to enjoy, and, thus, Peter Glanz’s directorial debut, The Longest Weekend is a generous case in point.
Despite a nicely chosen cast and a handful of flourishes borrowed from the works of cinematic masters, there’s little carbonation to this stale elixir that too often depends on cliché. Overreaching and stifled by its own unnegotiable parameters, this is a highly artificial portrait of all that it attempts to convey.
Now entering his fourth decade of life,...
For the most part, it’s an ingenious trick to fabricate an aura of empathy around a pool of pretentious piranhas endlessly floundering about in the upper echelons of privilege and oblivion. To extend an invitation to witness purported romance amongst elitists garnished with nothing more than an immeasurable trust fund and the preened hue of an Ivy League education would seem nearly impossible to enjoy, and, thus, Peter Glanz’s directorial debut, The Longest Weekend is a generous case in point.
Despite a nicely chosen cast and a handful of flourishes borrowed from the works of cinematic masters, there’s little carbonation to this stale elixir that too often depends on cliché. Overreaching and stifled by its own unnegotiable parameters, this is a highly artificial portrait of all that it attempts to convey.
Now entering his fourth decade of life,...
- 9/4/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
A discussion with writer/director Alex Ross Perry, stars Jason Schwartzman and Jonathan Pryce, and cinematographer Sean Price Williams was held on 12 August 2014. In the Concorso internazionale at the Locarno International Film Festival, "Listen Up Philip" was also in competition for the Pardo d’oro prize, the Golden Leopard. The film won the Concorso internazionale Special Jury Prize. On 13 August, it was announced that it will also screen in the New York Film Festival.
"Listen Up Philip" – the story
Philip awaits the publication of his sure-to-succeed second novel. He feels pushed out of his adopted home city by the constant crowds and noise, a deteriorating relationship with his photographer girlfriend Ashley, and his own indifference to promoting the novel. When Philip’s idol, Ike Zimmerman, offers his isolated summer home as a refuge, he finally gets the peace and quiet to focus on his favorite subject: himself.
I ask Alex Ross Perry about his decision to use extensive narration voiced by Eric Bogosian
The narration is a gimmick. We talked about Husbands and Wives pseudo-documentary style and I think a film can have a gimmick like that. It’s an interesting way to provide twice the amount of information. It’s not cheating, for example, to tell how long the characters have known each other, and to see how to give background information about the characters. I thought since it was a film about writers this was the film to do it. I think good writing is letting the situation play out naturally.
On Jonathan Pryce’s character Ike Zimmerman
Pryce: Ike Zimmerman -- he’s everything I want to be. He’s my fantasy world of someone who is nasty to people all the time. I like that he’s a cynic. I enjoyed playing a character who had no filter.
On Jason Schwartzman on his character Philip
Schwartzman: I didn’t see Philip as mean and there is something nice about saying what’s on your mind and it was one of the greatest experiences for that reason. On one hand they (Ike Zimmerman and Philip) speak their mind and they like to be around each other and on the other hand they don’t.
Why cast Jason Schwartzman as Philip?
Ross Perry: He was far and away the best person for the part. Everyone asked if I wrote this for him. I didn’t. I wish I had.
Schwartzman : We spent a month together in New York before the shoot, and we wrote every scene of the movie on notecards.
About the look of the film
Ross Perry: I fetishize the era I was born; I was born in 1984. I am fascinated with the years leading up to and when I was born and the years after that I don’t remember. The film is ostensibly set in the present, but there are no cellphones and computers. The storytelling and writing doesn’t necessitate anything modern.
Sean Price Williams: The phones, the light bulbs - everything looked ugly so it ends up looking like a period piece. We never talked about time. We knew we had more money and people working for us in this film, which was a new thing so we knew we’d have dolly shots and tracking. But then it became clear that it would be almost all handheld but we didn’t want it too unique. We just went ‘tight’; it’s very alive, we didn’t want it to be still. “Organic” is also a word we like use. It’s a little bumpy at times, and there are some soft shots. Alex always wanted to keep moving from room to room.
Ross Perry: I never wanted the actors to stand still. I wanted that New York energy. My experience in the 10 years I’ve been in New York is that one little book can change someone’s life even if no one reads it. New York has a productive energy, not a creative energy; that’s why the film escapes to Upstate for the second half.
Alex Ross Perry: We talked about Woody Allen’s Husbands and Wives, Sean Price Williams (cinematographer) and I studied the camerawork; it was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. That early 90s is the exact era we were interested in recreating and all our references for lighting and wardrobe.
I was influenced by Philip Roth, an author whose work I’m very fond of. I was influenced by his storytelling and narrative and the writing of fiction and blending of merciless comedy with comedy. The script structure was inspired by the William Gaddis novel The Recognitions about an art forger written in 1955-56; the main character disappears from the narrative for about 700 pages.
What happens at the end of the film?
Ross Perry: The three women in the end are all in a slightly better place. For Ike and Philip, I don’t know if things will be okay at the end of the film. I don’t know where Philip would be walking to. It’s not to say that it’s hopeful but that would require of me knowing if people could change. I don’t know what the answer to that is. I don’t see Ike and Philip as two people who could change. The way the film begins for Philip -- this is it for him. He is changing, but not in a way people feel good about, and by the end, he has embraced the way he is.
Award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker, Susan Kouguell presents international workshops and seminars on screenwriting and film. Author of Savvy Characters Sell Screenplays! and The Savvy Screenwriter, she is chairperson of Su-City Pictures East, LLC, a consulting company founded in 1990 where she works with over 1,000 writers, filmmakers, and executives worldwide. www.su-city-pictures.com, http://su-city-pictures.com/wpblog...
"Listen Up Philip" – the story
Philip awaits the publication of his sure-to-succeed second novel. He feels pushed out of his adopted home city by the constant crowds and noise, a deteriorating relationship with his photographer girlfriend Ashley, and his own indifference to promoting the novel. When Philip’s idol, Ike Zimmerman, offers his isolated summer home as a refuge, he finally gets the peace and quiet to focus on his favorite subject: himself.
I ask Alex Ross Perry about his decision to use extensive narration voiced by Eric Bogosian
The narration is a gimmick. We talked about Husbands and Wives pseudo-documentary style and I think a film can have a gimmick like that. It’s an interesting way to provide twice the amount of information. It’s not cheating, for example, to tell how long the characters have known each other, and to see how to give background information about the characters. I thought since it was a film about writers this was the film to do it. I think good writing is letting the situation play out naturally.
On Jonathan Pryce’s character Ike Zimmerman
Pryce: Ike Zimmerman -- he’s everything I want to be. He’s my fantasy world of someone who is nasty to people all the time. I like that he’s a cynic. I enjoyed playing a character who had no filter.
On Jason Schwartzman on his character Philip
Schwartzman: I didn’t see Philip as mean and there is something nice about saying what’s on your mind and it was one of the greatest experiences for that reason. On one hand they (Ike Zimmerman and Philip) speak their mind and they like to be around each other and on the other hand they don’t.
Why cast Jason Schwartzman as Philip?
Ross Perry: He was far and away the best person for the part. Everyone asked if I wrote this for him. I didn’t. I wish I had.
Schwartzman : We spent a month together in New York before the shoot, and we wrote every scene of the movie on notecards.
About the look of the film
Ross Perry: I fetishize the era I was born; I was born in 1984. I am fascinated with the years leading up to and when I was born and the years after that I don’t remember. The film is ostensibly set in the present, but there are no cellphones and computers. The storytelling and writing doesn’t necessitate anything modern.
Sean Price Williams: The phones, the light bulbs - everything looked ugly so it ends up looking like a period piece. We never talked about time. We knew we had more money and people working for us in this film, which was a new thing so we knew we’d have dolly shots and tracking. But then it became clear that it would be almost all handheld but we didn’t want it too unique. We just went ‘tight’; it’s very alive, we didn’t want it to be still. “Organic” is also a word we like use. It’s a little bumpy at times, and there are some soft shots. Alex always wanted to keep moving from room to room.
Ross Perry: I never wanted the actors to stand still. I wanted that New York energy. My experience in the 10 years I’ve been in New York is that one little book can change someone’s life even if no one reads it. New York has a productive energy, not a creative energy; that’s why the film escapes to Upstate for the second half.
Alex Ross Perry: We talked about Woody Allen’s Husbands and Wives, Sean Price Williams (cinematographer) and I studied the camerawork; it was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. That early 90s is the exact era we were interested in recreating and all our references for lighting and wardrobe.
I was influenced by Philip Roth, an author whose work I’m very fond of. I was influenced by his storytelling and narrative and the writing of fiction and blending of merciless comedy with comedy. The script structure was inspired by the William Gaddis novel The Recognitions about an art forger written in 1955-56; the main character disappears from the narrative for about 700 pages.
What happens at the end of the film?
Ross Perry: The three women in the end are all in a slightly better place. For Ike and Philip, I don’t know if things will be okay at the end of the film. I don’t know where Philip would be walking to. It’s not to say that it’s hopeful but that would require of me knowing if people could change. I don’t know what the answer to that is. I don’t see Ike and Philip as two people who could change. The way the film begins for Philip -- this is it for him. He is changing, but not in a way people feel good about, and by the end, he has embraced the way he is.
Award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker, Susan Kouguell presents international workshops and seminars on screenwriting and film. Author of Savvy Characters Sell Screenplays! and The Savvy Screenwriter, she is chairperson of Su-City Pictures East, LLC, a consulting company founded in 1990 where she works with over 1,000 writers, filmmakers, and executives worldwide. www.su-city-pictures.com, http://su-city-pictures.com/wpblog...
- 8/24/2014
- by Susan Kouguell
- Sydney's Buzz
Taken star to present new thriller A Walk Among the Tombstones.
Oscar-nominated actor Liam Neeson is to present crime drama A Walk Among the Tombstones at this year’s Zurich Film Festival (Sep 25 - Oct 5).
The film, written and directed by Scott Frank (Out of Sight), will screen as part of the festival’s gala premieres strand on Oct 3 at the Cinema Corso.
Based on Lawrence Block’s bestselling series of mystery novels, the films stars Neeson as Matt Scudder, an ex-nypd cop who now works as an unlicensed private investigator operating just outside the law.
When Scudder reluctantly agrees to help a heroin trafficker (Dan Stevens) hunt down the men who kidnapped and brutally murdered his wife, the Pi learns that this is not the first time these men have committed this sort of twisted crime. Scudder races to track them through the backstreets of New York City before they kill again.
The thriller...
Oscar-nominated actor Liam Neeson is to present crime drama A Walk Among the Tombstones at this year’s Zurich Film Festival (Sep 25 - Oct 5).
The film, written and directed by Scott Frank (Out of Sight), will screen as part of the festival’s gala premieres strand on Oct 3 at the Cinema Corso.
Based on Lawrence Block’s bestselling series of mystery novels, the films stars Neeson as Matt Scudder, an ex-nypd cop who now works as an unlicensed private investigator operating just outside the law.
When Scudder reluctantly agrees to help a heroin trafficker (Dan Stevens) hunt down the men who kidnapped and brutally murdered his wife, the Pi learns that this is not the first time these men have committed this sort of twisted crime. Scudder races to track them through the backstreets of New York City before they kill again.
The thriller...
- 8/21/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Today’s film is the 1991 short Revolver. The film is written and directed by Chester Dent, and stars Elaine Proctor and Liam Neeson. Over the course of an acting career spanning over 35 years, Neeson has made a name for himself in a variety of roles in movies such as Husbands and Wives, Schindler’s List, Rob Roy, Love Actually, Batman Begins, and Taken. His newest feature, titled Third Person, opened in limited release in American theatres this weekend. He can also be seen in theatres in the film A Million Ways To Die In the West.
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The post Sunday Shorts: ‘Revolver’, starring Liam Neeson appeared first on Sound On Sight.
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The post Sunday Shorts: ‘Revolver’, starring Liam Neeson appeared first on Sound On Sight.
- 6/22/2014
- by Deepayan Sengupta
- SoundOnSight
This fall Liam Hemsworth is set to hit theaters with the guaranteed blockbuster The Hunger Game: Mockingjay - Part 1. But he's already looking past the Hunger Games series with an eye to his homeland and an enchanting drama called The Dressmaker. Variety reports out of Cannes that Hemsworth has signed on to co-star in The Dressmaker opposite Academy Award winner Kate Winslet. Also joining the cast are Aussie actresses Judy Davis (Husbands and Wives), and The Great Gatsby co-stars Isla Fisher and Elizabeth Debicki. As you may have gathered, The Dressmaker will be an Australian production. Melbourne-born director Jocelyn Moorhouse will helm. Based on the Rosalie Ham novel of the same name, The Dressmaker centers on Tilly, a fiery woman with a dark past and a passion to win sweet revenge. Set in the 1950s, the film will follow Tilly's return to her rural Australian hometown after years away, following...
- 5/10/2014
- cinemablend.com
He worked along side Woody Allen on the set of "Husbands and Wives" when news broke about the infamous affair with Soon-Yi, and now Liam Neeson is ready to share details about that day.
In the April 2014 issue of GQ magazine, the "Taken" star chatted about his experience with the award-winning director and his struggles with alcohol after his wife Natasha Richardson passed away from a skiing accident in 2009.
Check out GossipCenter's recap of Mr. Neeson's interview below. For more, be sure to pay a visit to GQ!
On working with Woody:
"It was a good experience. Like Mr. Eastwood, he was great, just this... There was a lull; a quiet came over the set when he came on, and he would start: 'Okay, I see the camera here. Liam, I think you're coming down the stairs. I'm going to follow you. You see Judy [Davis], and...' 'Okay.' 'Okay,...
In the April 2014 issue of GQ magazine, the "Taken" star chatted about his experience with the award-winning director and his struggles with alcohol after his wife Natasha Richardson passed away from a skiing accident in 2009.
Check out GossipCenter's recap of Mr. Neeson's interview below. For more, be sure to pay a visit to GQ!
On working with Woody:
"It was a good experience. Like Mr. Eastwood, he was great, just this... There was a lull; a quiet came over the set when he came on, and he would start: 'Okay, I see the camera here. Liam, I think you're coming down the stairs. I'm going to follow you. You see Judy [Davis], and...' 'Okay.' 'Okay,...
- 3/27/2014
- GossipCenter
Awkward doesn't even begin to cover this. Liam Neeson was filming a sex scene for Woody Allen's 1992 movie Husbands and Wives when the director learned that his longtime partner Mia Farrow had discovered his nude photos of her then-20-year-old adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn, the Taken 2 actor reveals in the April issue of GQ magazine. "There was one incident -- people think I've made this up, but no. There's a scene where I'm going down on Judy Davis, right. Judy and I are in bed -- [...]...
- 3/27/2014
- Us Weekly
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