The health service is an election battleground, but on screen it has long united the nation through film and television’s ongoing love affair with the NHS
Britannia Hospital was not a hit. Released in 1982, the film was a grand slab of British oddity from director Lindsay Anderson, arriving after the boarding school revolt of If … and business-land romp O Lucky Man. The lead was the great comic actor Leonard Rossiter, star of TV’s Rising Damp, cast as the administrator of a chaotic NHS hospital preparing for a visit from royalty.
It’s a movie that feels like a panic attack – the staff mutiny at creeping privatisation, strange experiments take place behind closed doors. Often it seems about to implode as you watch, leaving just a cloud of strange-smelling smoke – but then, it is supposed to be a portrait of collapse. As per the title, the idea was that...
Britannia Hospital was not a hit. Released in 1982, the film was a grand slab of British oddity from director Lindsay Anderson, arriving after the boarding school revolt of If … and business-land romp O Lucky Man. The lead was the great comic actor Leonard Rossiter, star of TV’s Rising Damp, cast as the administrator of a chaotic NHS hospital preparing for a visit from royalty.
It’s a movie that feels like a panic attack – the staff mutiny at creeping privatisation, strange experiments take place behind closed doors. Often it seems about to implode as you watch, leaving just a cloud of strange-smelling smoke – but then, it is supposed to be a portrait of collapse. As per the title, the idea was that...
- 6/1/2017
- by Danny Leigh
- The Guardian - Film News
Ken McMullen directs this modern update of Shakespeare’s most famous play.
TrustNordisk has boarded sales for Ken McMullen’s Hamlet Revenant, which will star Mikkel Boe Folsgaard as a contemporary Hamlet and Maria Boda asOphelia, alongside an all-star cast including Ian McKellen, Gabriel Byrne, Connie Nielsen, Lambert Wilson, Dominique Pinon and Lex Shrapnel.
The film will begin shooting later this year.
France’s Albatros Films produces in co-production with Germany’s Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion, Italy’s Filmexport Group, Denmark’s SequoiaPictures and Zdf in co-operation with Arte with the support of ArtKoCo.
London-based Ken McMullen has credits including Arrows of Time, Partition, Lucky Man and Zina.
The screenplay by McMullen, adapted from Shakespeare’s most famous play, is set in present times and will “brings to the surface the violence anddestructive instincts that haunt the human psyche,” the filmmakers said. They added the film would have a “haunting and atmospheric visual aesthetic.”
Read more:
‘McKellen: Playing The Part...
TrustNordisk has boarded sales for Ken McMullen’s Hamlet Revenant, which will star Mikkel Boe Folsgaard as a contemporary Hamlet and Maria Boda asOphelia, alongside an all-star cast including Ian McKellen, Gabriel Byrne, Connie Nielsen, Lambert Wilson, Dominique Pinon and Lex Shrapnel.
The film will begin shooting later this year.
France’s Albatros Films produces in co-production with Germany’s Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion, Italy’s Filmexport Group, Denmark’s SequoiaPictures and Zdf in co-operation with Arte with the support of ArtKoCo.
London-based Ken McMullen has credits including Arrows of Time, Partition, Lucky Man and Zina.
The screenplay by McMullen, adapted from Shakespeare’s most famous play, is set in present times and will “brings to the surface the violence anddestructive instincts that haunt the human psyche,” the filmmakers said. They added the film would have a “haunting and atmospheric visual aesthetic.”
Read more:
‘McKellen: Playing The Part...
- 5/17/2017
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
Actor best known for appearances in the Lindsay Anderson films If …. and O Lucky Man!
Mary MacLeod, who has died aged 78, was a prolific character actor whose face was more familiar than her name. She left her most lasting impression in two of the establishment-baiting films of the director Lindsay Anderson.
First, she secured herself a place in screen history when she played the housemaster’s wife Mrs Kemp in the private school satire If …. (1968), starring Malcolm McDowell, in which she walked naked down a corridor and into the boys’ dormitory. It was only the second time that the British Board of Film Censors, as it was then named, had passed full-frontal female nudity (the first was in Blow-Up in 1966). The BBFC did a trade-off, agreeing to allow this in exchange for the deletion of male full-frontal nudity from a shower scene.
Continue reading...
Mary MacLeod, who has died aged 78, was a prolific character actor whose face was more familiar than her name. She left her most lasting impression in two of the establishment-baiting films of the director Lindsay Anderson.
First, she secured herself a place in screen history when she played the housemaster’s wife Mrs Kemp in the private school satire If …. (1968), starring Malcolm McDowell, in which she walked naked down a corridor and into the boys’ dormitory. It was only the second time that the British Board of Film Censors, as it was then named, had passed full-frontal female nudity (the first was in Blow-Up in 1966). The BBFC did a trade-off, agreeing to allow this in exchange for the deletion of male full-frontal nudity from a shower scene.
Continue reading...
- 6/13/2016
- by Anthony Hayward
- The Guardian - Film News
Vincent Price's diabolical surgeon produces a new breed of supermen, except that his latest 'composite' creation is also a serial-killing vampire. While the mayhem keeps the cops busy, the conspiracy spreads to a foreign dictatorship, where another composite is consolidating power through high-level murders. British agent Christopher Lee is ferreting out the conspiracy-- or is he part of it? Scream and Scream Again Blu-ray Twilight Time Limited Edition 1969 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 95 min. / Ship Date October 13, 2015 / available through Twilight Time Movies / 29.95 Starring Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Alfred Marks, Christopher Matthews, Judy Huxtable, Yutte Stensgaard, Anthony Newlands, Michael Gothard Cinematography John Coquillon Production Design Bill Constable Film Editor Peter Elliott Original Music David Whitaker Written by Christopher Wicking from a novel by Peter Saxon Produced by Louis M. Heyward, Max Rosenberg, Milton Subotsky Directed by Gordon Hessler
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Scream and Scream Again hangs in there as a genre curiosity,...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Scream and Scream Again hangs in there as a genre curiosity,...
- 11/3/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
All week our writers will debate: Which was the greatest film year of the past half century. Click here for a complete list of our essays. It’s perhaps a little quaint to choose a year that I wasn’t even alive during to represent the best year of cinema. I was not there to observe how any of these films conversed with the culture around them when they were first screened. So, although I am choosing the glorious year of 1973, I am choosing not just due to a perusal of top ten lists that year—but because the films that were released that year greatly influenced how I engage with movies now, in 2015. Films speak to more than just the audiences that watch them—they speak to each other. Filmmakers inspire each other. Allusions are made. A patchwork begins. These are the movies of our lives. Having grown up with cinema in the 90s,...
- 4/30/2015
- by Brian Formo
- Hitfix
You don't need to be an Old Etonian to identify with anti-hero schoolboy Mick Travis when he goes to war with the establishment
• Why I'd like to be … Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird
• Why I'd like to be … Julie Christie in Billy Liar
• Why I'd like to be … Patrick Fugit in Almost Famous
It is every unruly pupil's fantasy to run riot in the classroom and Mick Travis, the anti-hero in Lindsay Anderson's If …, takes schoolboy rebellion to the limit. This razor-sharp satire eviscerates the British establishment, and Malcolm McDowell relishes his role as the public-school refusenik at war with the society that created him. This was McDowell's debut, and his work with Anderson was to be his best. Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange made him a household name, but the rest of his career was spent playing minor-league heavies.
McDowell's roles in Anderson's loose trilogy comprising If …, O Lucky Man!
• Why I'd like to be … Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird
• Why I'd like to be … Julie Christie in Billy Liar
• Why I'd like to be … Patrick Fugit in Almost Famous
It is every unruly pupil's fantasy to run riot in the classroom and Mick Travis, the anti-hero in Lindsay Anderson's If …, takes schoolboy rebellion to the limit. This razor-sharp satire eviscerates the British establishment, and Malcolm McDowell relishes his role as the public-school refusenik at war with the society that created him. This was McDowell's debut, and his work with Anderson was to be his best. Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange made him a household name, but the rest of his career was spent playing minor-league heavies.
McDowell's roles in Anderson's loose trilogy comprising If …, O Lucky Man!
- 7/29/2014
- by John Keenan
- The Guardian - Film News
Richard Linklater's "Boyhood" is a masterpiece. Full stop. It's an effortless piece of humanist filmmaking we don't often see, particularly on these shores where the Hollywood machine has forever altered the concept of what a movie should be, where independent cinema is pushed to the fringes while soaring budget gambles dominate the status quo and the middle ground of American cinema is consistently eroded. "Boyhood" is, at last, I think, the film Linklater has been striving toward his whole career. It is his Truffaut film. When the director was making the press rounds last year for "Before Midnight," I sat down with him and star/co-writer Julie Delpy to discuss their journey with that story and those characters over the course of three films and 13 years. The expectation for more adventures in the life of Celine and Jesse had already set in, and Linklater joked that he would like...
- 7/9/2014
- by Kristopher Tapley
- Hitfix
There’s a fun little series on NPR, titled “Watch This,” which occasionally takes a look at the favorite films from filmmakers such as William Friedkin, Paul Feig, and Kevin Smith. The latest edition features “The Sopranos” creator David Chase and it’s filled with a lot of interesting choices. It’s always fascinating to learn more about what influences certain filmmakers and Chase’s list definitely reflects that. His list includes Stanley Kubrick's “Barry Lyndon,” Vittorio De Sica's “Bicycle Thieves,” Laurel and Hardy’s “Saps at Sea,” Powell and Pressburger’s “The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp” and “A Canterbury Tale” (check out our recent retrospective on the filmmakers), Lindsay Anderson’s “O Lucky Man!,” Luis Bunuel’s “Tristana” and “Viridana,” and Johnathan Demme’s “Something Wild” (the most contemporary picture of the bunch). David Chase cites “Barry Lyndon” as his favorite Kubrick movie, saying “What’s great about it,...
- 5/3/2013
- by Ken Guidry
- The Playlist
So David Mitchell's novel was filmable after all – but will you want to see it twice?
Dai Congrong's bestselling Chinese translation of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake and the film version of David Mitchell's 2004 Booker shortlisted novel, Cloud Atlas, both complex fictions about the cyclical nature of life, should warn us against calling anything unfilmable or untranslatable. They are not necessarily proof, however, that they're worth filming or translating.
In a charming introduction to the new paperback edition of his novel, Mitchell expresses his good fortune that it fell into such "capable hands" as Lana and Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer, the film's co-directors and adaptors. The Wachowskis love intricate narratives and the world of ideas; their Matrix trilogy has, I believe, been used in introductory philosophy courses at American colleges. Tykwer's Run Lola Run, a German action movie telling the same story thrice, with events taking different courses,...
Dai Congrong's bestselling Chinese translation of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake and the film version of David Mitchell's 2004 Booker shortlisted novel, Cloud Atlas, both complex fictions about the cyclical nature of life, should warn us against calling anything unfilmable or untranslatable. They are not necessarily proof, however, that they're worth filming or translating.
In a charming introduction to the new paperback edition of his novel, Mitchell expresses his good fortune that it fell into such "capable hands" as Lana and Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer, the film's co-directors and adaptors. The Wachowskis love intricate narratives and the world of ideas; their Matrix trilogy has, I believe, been used in introductory philosophy courses at American colleges. Tykwer's Run Lola Run, a German action movie telling the same story thrice, with events taking different courses,...
- 2/24/2013
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
The prime Mirren-ster dazzles in these clips from the actor's roster of memorable performances. Have we missed any?
A much-loved siren of stage and screen, Helen Mirren (star of Hitchcock, out this week) has spent a career avoiding pigeonholes and typecasting, and has turned in a number of hugely memorable performances in some classic films.
Here are five of our favourites, including suggestions from @guardianfilm Twitter followers @Alex_Neon_John, @circusthuppaki, @thefilmgoer, @DukesFPM @dbsweeney and @AnnaLikesThis. What scenes would you add to the list?
1. The Queen
In this Oscar-winning performance, Mirren's beleaguered monarch encounters a (highly symbolic) Highland stag. As suggested by @thefilmgoer: "The way she says 'Oh, you beauty!' humanises Elizabeth II more in three words than most portraits do in a thousand."
Watch the clip on YouTube
2. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover
Spoiler Warning: This is the final scene in Peter Greenaway's...
A much-loved siren of stage and screen, Helen Mirren (star of Hitchcock, out this week) has spent a career avoiding pigeonholes and typecasting, and has turned in a number of hugely memorable performances in some classic films.
Here are five of our favourites, including suggestions from @guardianfilm Twitter followers @Alex_Neon_John, @circusthuppaki, @thefilmgoer, @DukesFPM @dbsweeney and @AnnaLikesThis. What scenes would you add to the list?
1. The Queen
In this Oscar-winning performance, Mirren's beleaguered monarch encounters a (highly symbolic) Highland stag. As suggested by @thefilmgoer: "The way she says 'Oh, you beauty!' humanises Elizabeth II more in three words than most portraits do in a thousand."
Watch the clip on YouTube
2. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover
Spoiler Warning: This is the final scene in Peter Greenaway's...
- 2/8/2013
- by Adam Boult
- The Guardian - Film News
Malcolm McDowell has iconic characters and movies on his expansive resume, but he doesn't expect the younger co-stars he has now to know that.
"Oh, I think a couple of them do, but I never think about that," the veteran British actor legendary as "ultraviolence"-loving Alex in Stanley Kubrick's 1971 screen classic "A Clockwork Orange" tells Zap2it. "I always take them as I find them. And I usually tease them a lot."
McDowell has been doing much television work lately, as he'll show again in a return guest spot on CBS' "The Mentalist" Sunday, Nov. 18, and also as the leader of house-invading thieves in ABC Family's new tale "Home Alone: The Holiday Heist" Sunday, Nov. 25. He'll be back as a regular on TNT's "Franklin & Bash" when it starts Season 3 next year ("I'm really happy about that"), and he's also done series stints on "Heroes," "Entourage" and a reboot of "Fantasy Island.
"Oh, I think a couple of them do, but I never think about that," the veteran British actor legendary as "ultraviolence"-loving Alex in Stanley Kubrick's 1971 screen classic "A Clockwork Orange" tells Zap2it. "I always take them as I find them. And I usually tease them a lot."
McDowell has been doing much television work lately, as he'll show again in a return guest spot on CBS' "The Mentalist" Sunday, Nov. 18, and also as the leader of house-invading thieves in ABC Family's new tale "Home Alone: The Holiday Heist" Sunday, Nov. 25. He'll be back as a regular on TNT's "Franklin & Bash" when it starts Season 3 next year ("I'm really happy about that"), and he's also done series stints on "Heroes," "Entourage" and a reboot of "Fantasy Island.
- 11/5/2012
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
The sCare Foundation has announced that it will honor Malcolm McDowell with a Lifetime Achievement Award at its Halloween Benefit this weekend:
Los Angeles, CA — The sCare Foundation announced today it will honor legendary actor Malcolm McDowell (Rob Zombie’s Halloween, A Clockwork Orange) with the 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award at its 2nd Annual Halloween Benefit on October 28, 2012. The evening will be held at the Conga Room at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles, and will include great entertainment, a silent auction and plenty of exciting prizes. The evening will benefit the life-saving programs of the Hollywood Homeless Youth Project (http://hhyp.org/), as well as Safety Harbor Kids (http://www.safetyharborkids.org/).
“Malcolm is an amazing actor and true professional,” said sCare Foundation founder, Malek Akkad. “He’s always been an ardent supporter and we’re excited to be able to honor him in this way. Besides being one of our greatest actors,...
Los Angeles, CA — The sCare Foundation announced today it will honor legendary actor Malcolm McDowell (Rob Zombie’s Halloween, A Clockwork Orange) with the 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award at its 2nd Annual Halloween Benefit on October 28, 2012. The evening will be held at the Conga Room at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles, and will include great entertainment, a silent auction and plenty of exciting prizes. The evening will benefit the life-saving programs of the Hollywood Homeless Youth Project (http://hhyp.org/), as well as Safety Harbor Kids (http://www.safetyharborkids.org/).
“Malcolm is an amazing actor and true professional,” said sCare Foundation founder, Malek Akkad. “He’s always been an ardent supporter and we’re excited to be able to honor him in this way. Besides being one of our greatest actors,...
- 10/23/2012
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
The sCare Foundation announced today it will honor legendary actor Malcolm McDowell (Rob Zombie’s Halloween, A Clockwork Orange) with the 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award at its 2nd Annual Halloween Benefit on October 28, 2012.
The evening will be held at the Conga Room at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles, and will include great entertainment, a silent auction and plenty of exciting prizes. The evening will benefit the life-saving programs of the Hollywood Homeless Youth Partnership, as well as Safety Harbor Kids.
“Malcolm is an amazing actor and true professional,” said sCare Foundation founder, Malek Akkad. “He’s always been an ardent supporter and we’re excited to be able to honor him in this way. Besides being one of our greatest actors, he has always shown unwavering support to our cause, and his generosity and compassion truly appreciated.”
Malcolm McDowell is arguably among the most dynamic and inventive of world-class actors,...
The evening will be held at the Conga Room at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles, and will include great entertainment, a silent auction and plenty of exciting prizes. The evening will benefit the life-saving programs of the Hollywood Homeless Youth Partnership, as well as Safety Harbor Kids.
“Malcolm is an amazing actor and true professional,” said sCare Foundation founder, Malek Akkad. “He’s always been an ardent supporter and we’re excited to be able to honor him in this way. Besides being one of our greatest actors, he has always shown unwavering support to our cause, and his generosity and compassion truly appreciated.”
Malcolm McDowell is arguably among the most dynamic and inventive of world-class actors,...
- 10/23/2012
- by Uncle Creepy
- DreadCentral.com
With a little more than a month until the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympics, kids re-enacted the famous scene from Chariots of Fire on West Sands Beach in St Andrews, Scotland earlier today. On July 13th, audiences across the UK will have the opportunity to enjoy the Great British movie classic, Chariots Of Fire on the big screen as Twentieth Century Fox, in association with The Sun and BT and with the support of the BFI, release the internationally acclaimed, multi Oscar®-winning Olympic drama in a stunning digitally restored version.
Listen as past athletes from Great Britain talk about their Olympic moments.
Yesterday Variety reported on the Games of the XXX Olympiad.
Filmmaker Danny Boyle has unveiled details of the opening ceremony of the London Olympics, which will see the Olympic Stadium transformed into an idealized version of the British countryside.
Boyle, artistic director for the curtain raiser,...
Listen as past athletes from Great Britain talk about their Olympic moments.
Yesterday Variety reported on the Games of the XXX Olympiad.
Filmmaker Danny Boyle has unveiled details of the opening ceremony of the London Olympics, which will see the Olympic Stadium transformed into an idealized version of the British countryside.
Boyle, artistic director for the curtain raiser,...
- 6/13/2012
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
With the Olympics set to kickoff in less than 100 days, take a look at the new trailer for the forthcoming re-release of Chariots Of Fire – in UK cinemas July 13th. For the first time in a generation, audiences across the UK will have the opportunity to enjoy the Great British movie classic, Chariots Of Fire on the big screen as Twentieth Century Fox, in association with The Sun and BT and with the support of the BFI, release the internationally acclaimed, multi Oscar®-winning Olympic drama in a stunning digitally restored version.
An official part of the London 2012 Festival, Chariots Of Fire will help get this summer.s Olympic celebrations off to a flying start on July 10th, with the British Premiere for the film taking place simultaneously in London.s Leicester Square, at Edinburgh.s iconic Festival Theatre, and at selected locations across the country. The events will be...
An official part of the London 2012 Festival, Chariots Of Fire will help get this summer.s Olympic celebrations off to a flying start on July 10th, with the British Premiere for the film taking place simultaneously in London.s Leicester Square, at Edinburgh.s iconic Festival Theatre, and at selected locations across the country. The events will be...
- 4/19/2012
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Malcolm McDowell, wife Kelley Actor Malcolm McDowell, best known for his vicious psychopath in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, and wife Kelley attend the 2011 Governors Awards in the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland in Hollywood, on Saturday, November 12. [Photo: Matt Petit / ©A.M.P.A.S.] Actor James Earl Jones was a long-distance Honorary Oscar honoree; makeup artist Dick Smith (Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?, Taxi Driver), however, was present at the ceremony to receive his Honorary Oscar. Beloved star and TV talk show hostess Oprah Winfrey was the recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Among Malcolm McDowell other film credits are Lindsay Anderson's If… and O Lucky Man!, Stuart Rosenberg's Voyage of the Damned, and Tinto Brass' Caligula. Among McDowell's recent movies are In Good Company, Easy A, Suing the Devil, Vamps, and potential Best Picture Oscar contender The Artist.
- 11/18/2011
- by D. Zhea
- Alt Film Guide
Being a Christian in the 21st century is difficult at the best of times. Even without Mel Gibson constantly putting his foot in it, or Westboro Baptist Church spitting venom at the very people they are supposed to be helping, we have to contend with a media backlash whenever a seemingly ‘Christian’ film is released.
The problem seems to be that people don’t mind Christianity per se: if people are Bible-bashing in the streets, they can ignore them or talk back. What they resent, or appear to resent, are films with Christian undertones – allegories or parables which introduce Christian beliefs or ideas in a supposedly secular context. When The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe came out in 2005, The Guardian’s Polly Toynbee accused it of “invad[ing] children’s minds with Christian iconography… heavily laden with guilt, blame, sacrifice and a suffering that is dark with emotional sadism.” Ouch.
The problem seems to be that people don’t mind Christianity per se: if people are Bible-bashing in the streets, they can ignore them or talk back. What they resent, or appear to resent, are films with Christian undertones – allegories or parables which introduce Christian beliefs or ideas in a supposedly secular context. When The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe came out in 2005, The Guardian’s Polly Toynbee accused it of “invad[ing] children’s minds with Christian iconography… heavily laden with guilt, blame, sacrifice and a suffering that is dark with emotional sadism.” Ouch.
- 9/17/2011
- by Daniel Mumby
- Obsessed with Film
Despite being hidden underneath that iconic suit of armor, Jeremy Bulloch has carved out a comfortable piece of immortality as the man behind Boba Fett. The ruthless bounty hunter first appeared in cartoon form as the only watchable part of the "Star Wars Holiday Special" in 1978, followed by Bulloch's portrayal in both "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi."
Since biting the dust in the Great Pit of Carkoon, Boba Fett has lived on in endless merchandising and brought Bulloch the adulation of fans at conventions across the globe. Fett's cult status even inspired Bulloch's autobiography "Flying Solo: Tales of a Bounty Hunter," not to mention a song by Mc Chris.
In anticipation of the "Star Wars" saga's release on Blu-ray, we got an exclusive chat with the English gentleman about the enduring legacy of Boba Fett and the possibility of a future solo film.
Boba Fett is...
Since biting the dust in the Great Pit of Carkoon, Boba Fett has lived on in endless merchandising and brought Bulloch the adulation of fans at conventions across the globe. Fett's cult status even inspired Bulloch's autobiography "Flying Solo: Tales of a Bounty Hunter," not to mention a song by Mc Chris.
In anticipation of the "Star Wars" saga's release on Blu-ray, we got an exclusive chat with the English gentleman about the enduring legacy of Boba Fett and the possibility of a future solo film.
Boba Fett is...
- 9/15/2011
- by Max Evry
- NextMovie
DVD Playhouse—September 2011
By Allen Gardner
In A Better World (Sony) Winner of last year’s Best Foreign Film Oscar, this Danish export looks at two fractured families and the effect that the adult world dysfunction has on their two sons, who form an immediate and potentially deadly bond. Director Susanne Bier delivers another powerful work that maintains its drive during the films’ first 2/3, then falters somewhat during the last act. Still, well-worth seeing, and beautifully made. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Commentary by Bier and editor Pernille Bech Christensen; Interview with Bier. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-hd 5.1 surround.
X-men First Class (20th Century Fox) “Origins” film set in the early 1960s, traces the beginnings of Magento and Professor X (played ably here by Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy), and how the once-close friends and colleagues became bitter enemies. First half is slam-bang entertainment at its stylish best,...
By Allen Gardner
In A Better World (Sony) Winner of last year’s Best Foreign Film Oscar, this Danish export looks at two fractured families and the effect that the adult world dysfunction has on their two sons, who form an immediate and potentially deadly bond. Director Susanne Bier delivers another powerful work that maintains its drive during the films’ first 2/3, then falters somewhat during the last act. Still, well-worth seeing, and beautifully made. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Commentary by Bier and editor Pernille Bech Christensen; Interview with Bier. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-hd 5.1 surround.
X-men First Class (20th Century Fox) “Origins” film set in the early 1960s, traces the beginnings of Magento and Professor X (played ably here by Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy), and how the once-close friends and colleagues became bitter enemies. First half is slam-bang entertainment at its stylish best,...
- 9/11/2011
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
If.... Directed by: Lindsay Anderson Written by: David Sherwin Starring: Malcolm McDowell, David Wood, Richard Warwick, Robert Swann Lindsay Anderson's 1968 film If…. sets a counterculture revolution within the walls of an English public school, creating an allegorical fantasy which reflects the volatile atmosphere of the time. Featuring a pre-Clockwork Orange Malcolm McDowell, comparisons to Kubrick's masterpiece aren't totally misguided. Both films are populated with rebellious youths and flashes of ultra-violence, but Anderson's approach is a less austere look at aggression as a means of change rather than simply a way to curb boredom. The film begins with the start of the school year at an English school for boys. While the youngest kids (do they call them freshman in England?) attempt to navigate the halls of the school and acclimatize to the demands of their surroundings, Mick Travis (McDowell) returns for another year, lugging a giant suitcase and sporting...
- 8/31/2011
- by Jay C.
- FilmJunk
Chicago – Malcolm McDowell will probably be best remembered for his rebellious breakout as a young star, with his one-of-a-kind performances in “If…,” “A Clockwork Orange” and “O Lucky Man!,” but the distinct character actor has been working ever since.
McDowell exemplified the British rebel image of the late 1960s when he made his debut in “If…” (1968). The character of Mick Travis caught the attention of director Stanley Kubrick, who cast McDowell into his most memorable role, as Alex DeLarge in “A Clockwork Orange” (1971). McDowell then worked steadily throughout the 1970s, making such films as “Voyage of the Damned,” the infamous “Caligula” and “Time After Time.” He has since carved out a character role niche, playing mostly villainous types but also creating noteworthy characters like Dr. Tolian Soran in “Star Trek: Generations” (1994) and Terrence McQuewick in HBO’s “Entourage.”
Malcolm McDowell recently made an appearance in Chicago at the Flashback Weekend,...
McDowell exemplified the British rebel image of the late 1960s when he made his debut in “If…” (1968). The character of Mick Travis caught the attention of director Stanley Kubrick, who cast McDowell into his most memorable role, as Alex DeLarge in “A Clockwork Orange” (1971). McDowell then worked steadily throughout the 1970s, making such films as “Voyage of the Damned,” the infamous “Caligula” and “Time After Time.” He has since carved out a character role niche, playing mostly villainous types but also creating noteworthy characters like Dr. Tolian Soran in “Star Trek: Generations” (1994) and Terrence McQuewick in HBO’s “Entourage.”
Malcolm McDowell recently made an appearance in Chicago at the Flashback Weekend,...
- 8/24/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Beverly Hills, CA - The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences will celebrate the life and career of Malcolm McDowell with an onstage discussion and a 40th anniversary screening of a new digital restoration of .A Clockwork Orange. on Friday, September 16, at 7:30 p.m. at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The pre-screening discussion with McDowell will be led by Los Angeles Times writer Geoff Boucher.
After appearing on television and in bit parts with the Royal Shakespeare Company, McDowell burst onto the big screen in .If.,. Lindsay Anderson.s savage 1968 satire of British boarding school life. That performance caught the attention of Stanley Kubrick, who then chose McDowell to portray Alex DeLarge, the leader of a merry band of thugs who relish a bit of .ultra-violence,. in his adaptation of Anthony Burgess.s controversial novel A Clockwork Orange.
Kubrick.s film, which was rated X when...
After appearing on television and in bit parts with the Royal Shakespeare Company, McDowell burst onto the big screen in .If.,. Lindsay Anderson.s savage 1968 satire of British boarding school life. That performance caught the attention of Stanley Kubrick, who then chose McDowell to portray Alex DeLarge, the leader of a merry band of thugs who relish a bit of .ultra-violence,. in his adaptation of Anthony Burgess.s controversial novel A Clockwork Orange.
Kubrick.s film, which was rated X when...
- 8/17/2011
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Malcolm McDowell, 67, has been on the Pa circuit of late, scooping up award tributes and riding the PR swell for the 40th anniversary Blu-ray release of my favorite Stanley Kubrick film, 1971's A Clockwork Orange and Antoine de Gaudemar and Michel Ciment's doc Once Upon a Time… Clockwork Orange. They both screened at Cannes, where McDowell taught a master class. Video interview and trailers below. Still to come is yet another career achievement award on July 16 at the Maine International Film Festival, which will screen A Clockwork Orange, Lindsay Anderson's O Lucky Man!, 1991 Cannes Russian entry Assassin of the Tsar, and Mike Kaplan's 2007 Cannes doc of McDowell's one-man show about Anderson, Never Apologize. Here's Kaplan's 2007 Guardian feature on working with ...
- 7/6/2011
- Thompson on Hollywood
The Whales Of August (1987) will screen tonight at 7pm as part of the Vincentennial Vincent Price Film Festival at Brown Hall on the campus of Washington University. This will be followed by an on-stage interview with Victoria Price, authOr of ‘Vincent Price, a Daughter’s Biography’ and will moderated by David Del Valle. Mr Del Valle had interviewed Vincent Price in 1987 and that interview, ‘Vincent Price, the Sinister Image’ will screen after the live one with his daughter. Admission is free.
Some of the brightest stars of classical Hollywood illuminate The Whales Of August, a film version of David Berry’s play, which focuses on Libby Strong (Bette Davis) and Sarah Webber (Lillian Gish), widowed sisters vacationing on a Maine island for their 60th consecutive summer. Vincent Price co-stars as an aging Russian Lothario who seeks to romance Sarah, and Ann Sothern – who was nominated for an Oscar for her...
Some of the brightest stars of classical Hollywood illuminate The Whales Of August, a film version of David Berry’s play, which focuses on Libby Strong (Bette Davis) and Sarah Webber (Lillian Gish), widowed sisters vacationing on a Maine island for their 60th consecutive summer. Vincent Price co-stars as an aging Russian Lothario who seeks to romance Sarah, and Ann Sothern – who was nominated for an Oscar for her...
- 5/25/2011
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
“
Cover of A Clockwork Orange [Blu-ray
Warner Home Video is readying the Blu-ray debut of A Clockwork Orange, coming in late May, and released a new trailer for your entertainment.
Here’s the official release:
Burbank, Calif., March 31, 2011 – Stanley Kubrick was one of the great filmmakers of our time and his profound influence on motion pictures continues to this day. His 1971 film, A Clockwork Orange, starring Malcolm McDowell, portrayed an oppressive lawless society where man was reduced to little more than a machine. The film introduced into popular culture the concept of “ultra-violence,” as singing, tap-dancing, derby-topped hooligan Alex (McDowell) has a “good time” – at the tragic expense of others. His journey from amoral punk to brainwashed proper citizen and back again forms the dynamic arc of Kubrick’s future-shock vision of Anthony Burgess’ novel.
This was a powerful film made by a director at the height of his artistry and its impact generated worldwide controversy.
Cover of A Clockwork Orange [Blu-ray
Warner Home Video is readying the Blu-ray debut of A Clockwork Orange, coming in late May, and released a new trailer for your entertainment.
Here’s the official release:
Burbank, Calif., March 31, 2011 – Stanley Kubrick was one of the great filmmakers of our time and his profound influence on motion pictures continues to this day. His 1971 film, A Clockwork Orange, starring Malcolm McDowell, portrayed an oppressive lawless society where man was reduced to little more than a machine. The film introduced into popular culture the concept of “ultra-violence,” as singing, tap-dancing, derby-topped hooligan Alex (McDowell) has a “good time” – at the tragic expense of others. His journey from amoral punk to brainwashed proper citizen and back again forms the dynamic arc of Kubrick’s future-shock vision of Anthony Burgess’ novel.
This was a powerful film made by a director at the height of his artistry and its impact generated worldwide controversy.
- 4/27/2011
- by Robert Greenberger
- Comicmix.com
On May 31, Warner Home Video will release the DVD of the 2007 movie Never Apologize, a film of actor Malcolm McDowell’s (A Clockwork Orange) one-man stage show tribute to his great friend and mentor, British director Lindsay Anderson.
Malcolm McDowell salutes director Lindsay Anderson in Never Apologize.
McDowell worked with Anderson on a number of projects over the years, including the seminal British movies If… (1968), O Lucky Man (1973) and Britannia Hospital (1982), as well as such theatre plays as the West End production of Holiday in 1987.
In Never Apologize, directed by Mike Kaplan, McDowell delivers an oral history of his partnership with Anderson, which gives him an opportunity to flex his acting muscles (included are his amusing impersonations of Anderson as well as fellow actors Rachel Roberts, Arthur’s John Gielgud and even All About Eve’s Bette Davis) and create a ‘live biography’ of one of post-war Britain’s most important directors.
Malcolm McDowell salutes director Lindsay Anderson in Never Apologize.
McDowell worked with Anderson on a number of projects over the years, including the seminal British movies If… (1968), O Lucky Man (1973) and Britannia Hospital (1982), as well as such theatre plays as the West End production of Holiday in 1987.
In Never Apologize, directed by Mike Kaplan, McDowell delivers an oral history of his partnership with Anderson, which gives him an opportunity to flex his acting muscles (included are his amusing impersonations of Anderson as well as fellow actors Rachel Roberts, Arthur’s John Gielgud and even All About Eve’s Bette Davis) and create a ‘live biography’ of one of post-war Britain’s most important directors.
- 4/11/2011
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
A Clockwork Orange 40th Anniversary Edition On Blu-ray. May 31 Star Malcolm McDowell Feted Worldwide
Special Anniversary Screenings at Cannes Film Festival and New York.s The Museum of Modern Art
Stanley Kubrick was one of the great filmmakers of our time and his profound influence on motion pictures continues to this day. His 1971 film, A Clockwork Orange, starring Malcolm McDowell, portrayed an oppressive lawless society where man was reduced to little more than a machine. The film introduced into popular culture the concept of .ultra-violence,. as singing, tap-dancing, derby-topped hooligan Alex (McDowell) has a .good time. . at the tragic expense of others. His journey from amoral punk to brainwashed proper citizen and back again forms the dynamic arc of Kubrick.s future-shock vision of Anthony Burgess. novel.
This was a powerful film made by a director at the height of his artistry and its impact generated worldwide controversy. Forty years later,...
Special Anniversary Screenings at Cannes Film Festival and New York.s The Museum of Modern Art
Stanley Kubrick was one of the great filmmakers of our time and his profound influence on motion pictures continues to this day. His 1971 film, A Clockwork Orange, starring Malcolm McDowell, portrayed an oppressive lawless society where man was reduced to little more than a machine. The film introduced into popular culture the concept of .ultra-violence,. as singing, tap-dancing, derby-topped hooligan Alex (McDowell) has a .good time. . at the tragic expense of others. His journey from amoral punk to brainwashed proper citizen and back again forms the dynamic arc of Kubrick.s future-shock vision of Anthony Burgess. novel.
This was a powerful film made by a director at the height of his artistry and its impact generated worldwide controversy. Forty years later,...
- 3/31/2011
- by Melissa Howland
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Take snapshots of Britain's most adventurous film-makers in the latter part of their careers and the images are likely to be both surprising and disheartening. Lindsay Anderson, the director of This Sporting Life, If... and O Lucky Man!, was directing pop videos and making a film about Wham! in China. Ken Russell went from Women in Love and The Devils to collaborating with Cliff Richard. Charlie Chaplin ended up in retirement in Switzerland. The Boulting brothers, among the boldest young British directors in the 1940s, were directing sex comedies .
- 3/4/2011
- The Independent - Film
Actor with great stage presence who found his metier in comic and satirical roles
There was something extra-terrestrial about the character actor Graham Crowden, who has died aged 87 – a mix of the ethereal eccentricity of Ralph Richardson and the Scottish lunacy and skewiff authoritarianism of Alastair Sim. He specialised in portraying doctors, lawyers or teachers in a satirical way.
Crowden was a tall, red-haired, serious and sometimes professionally diffident man – he turned down the opportunity of succeeding Jon Pertwee as the fourth Doctor Who, remarking that working with a lot of Daleks did not sound like much fun. He had a tremendous stage presence, always moving with an emphatic, loping gait.
Despite his eminence in plays at the Royal Court and the National Theatre, where he introduced roles in works by Nf Simpson and Tom Stoppard, and in films directed by Lindsay Anderson, he did not become widely familiar until...
There was something extra-terrestrial about the character actor Graham Crowden, who has died aged 87 – a mix of the ethereal eccentricity of Ralph Richardson and the Scottish lunacy and skewiff authoritarianism of Alastair Sim. He specialised in portraying doctors, lawyers or teachers in a satirical way.
Crowden was a tall, red-haired, serious and sometimes professionally diffident man – he turned down the opportunity of succeeding Jon Pertwee as the fourth Doctor Who, remarking that working with a lot of Daleks did not sound like much fun. He had a tremendous stage presence, always moving with an emphatic, loping gait.
Despite his eminence in plays at the Royal Court and the National Theatre, where he introduced roles in works by Nf Simpson and Tom Stoppard, and in films directed by Lindsay Anderson, he did not become widely familiar until...
- 10/22/2010
- by Michael Coveney
- The Guardian - Film News
Chapter headings are a sure sign an English-language director wants to be taken seriously as an auteur
In The Brothers Bloom, writer-director Rian Johnson bends over backwards to let us know how literary he is; not just with that Joycean title, but with references to Melville (Herman, not Jean-Pierre, alas) and Greek mythology. And then there are the chapter headings, as in "Bloom meets Penelope", preceding a sequence in which, yes, Bloom meets Penelope. Hey, why just show when you can show and tell?
Melville's satirical allegory The Confidence Man, acknowledged by Johnson as an inspiration for his movie, contains some amusingly prolix chapter headings, though mercifully Johnson is content to play with snappier captions such as "The Set-Up", perhaps in deference to that other conman tale The Sting, in which the viewer is guided through each stage of the elaborate scam by headings such as "The Wire" or "The...
In The Brothers Bloom, writer-director Rian Johnson bends over backwards to let us know how literary he is; not just with that Joycean title, but with references to Melville (Herman, not Jean-Pierre, alas) and Greek mythology. And then there are the chapter headings, as in "Bloom meets Penelope", preceding a sequence in which, yes, Bloom meets Penelope. Hey, why just show when you can show and tell?
Melville's satirical allegory The Confidence Man, acknowledged by Johnson as an inspiration for his movie, contains some amusingly prolix chapter headings, though mercifully Johnson is content to play with snappier captions such as "The Set-Up", perhaps in deference to that other conman tale The Sting, in which the viewer is guided through each stage of the elaborate scam by headings such as "The Wire" or "The...
- 6/3/2010
- by Anne Billson
- The Guardian - Film News
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