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In an interview conducted just a few hours before his murder, director Pier Paolo Pasolini remarked, "Maybe I'm wrong, but I'll keep saying we're all in danger." The words seemed more than fitting, as he had recently completed work on what was to be his final film, Salò, Or The 120 Days Of Sodom. It's been 50 years since Salò was released, and it still carries with it a fair amount of controversy and misinterpretation. Decried by some as being nothing but pornographic and vile to the senses, others look at Pasolini's vision as an allegory for power and consumerism.

Adapted from The 120 Days of Sodom, written by the Marquis de Sade and described by its author as the "most impure tale ever written," Salò transports de Sade's text to fascist-occupied Italy in the closing days of the Second World War. While the time period is different in Pasolini's adaptation, the themes...

Julian Schnabel is in Italy on the set of his star-studded crime mystery “In the Hand of Dante,” for which he and Louise Kugelberg, his wife and close creative collaborator, have been narratively and literally criss-crossing between the 14th and 21st centuries in locations including Sicily, Venice, Verona and Rome.

Besides the film’s previously announced leads — Oscar Isaac, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa and Gerard Butler — “Hand of Dante” will also see British musician and actor Benjamin Clementine (“Dune”) playing a quintessentially demonic character who seesaws between past and present. Clementine also contributes to the film’s score. Other A-list recruits comprise John Malkovich, Al Pacino and Louis Cancelmi (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) who plays both a present-day hitman named Lefty and nobleman Guido da Polenta, who was Dante’s benefactor.

Julian Schnabel, speaking to Variety on a spectacular Rome set – a palatial villa on a hill overlooking the...

In “Caligula: The Ultimate Cut,” absolute power corrupts absolutely, but even using absolutely all of the footage shot for the notorious production back in 1976 does not necessarily result in a better film. The most expensive independent film ever produced until that time, “Caligula” was conceived by late Penthouse founder Bob Guccione as a sexually explicit film that also featured real actors and high production values; hiring bestselling author Gore Vidal to write a script for Italian avant-garde director Tinto Brass (“Salon Kitty”), Guccione subsequently attracted such respected thespians as Malcolm McDowell, Peter O’Toole, John Gielgud and Helen Mirren to star. But after disputes between Brass and Vidal prompted the author to sue to remove his name from the film, Guccione commandeered final cut and inserted shots of graphic sex and violence, prompting cast and crew alike to disavow the film.

Devoting a substantial portion of his adult life to “Caligula...

Updated with latest: The Venice Film Festival began August 30 with opening-night movie Comandante, an Italian World War II drama, kicking off a lineup for the venerable fest’s 80th edition that includes world premieres of Michael Mann’s Ferrari, Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, David Fincher’s The Killer, Ava DuVernay’s Origins, and new films from lightning-rod directors Roman Polanski, Woody Allen and Luc Besson.

Deadline is on the ground to watch all the key films. Below is a compilation of our reviews from the fest, which last year awarded Laura Poitras’ documentary All The Beauty and the Bloodshed its Golden Lion for best film.

Click on the film titles below to read the reviews in full, and keep checking back as we add more movies throughout the fest, which runs through September 9.

Adagio

Section: Competition

Director: Stefano Sollima

Cast: Pierfrancesco Favino,...

"Comandante" is a new 'submarine' thriller, set during 'World War II', directed by Edoardo De Angelis, starring Pierfrancesco Favino, Johan Heldenbergh, Massimiliano Rossi, Johannes Wirix, Silvia D’Amico and Paolo Bonacelli, releasing in North America Spring 2024:

"...based on the real-life story of 'Salvatore Todaro', the naval officer and submariner who saved 26 Belgian merchant seamen during World War II, "Comandante', follows 'Salvatore Todaro', Captain of the 'Cappellini' who leads in his own way: the bow is reinforced with steel, in the off-chance an opportunity to ram a ship arises and his crew is armed with daggers, should an unlikely hand-to-hand battle occurs..."

Click the images to enlarge...

Croatia’s 4Film has joined France’s Ciné Sud Promotion and Italy’s Kineofilm on Italian director Rodolfo Bisatti’s next feature film, “On Life,” starring Andree Ruth Shammah and Paolo Bonacelli.

Bisatti, who co-wrote and helmed the acclaimed 2020 drama “To the Unknown God,” will direct “On Life” from a screenplay he his writing with actress-producer Laura Pellicciari.

The film, which is set to start shooting in northeastern Italy on Aug. 7, centers on an aging countess (Shammah) who sets up a new type of school with a group of disenfranchised yet gifted children in her spacious villa.

Palazzo Panigai-Ovio in Pordenone

The producers have found an ideal 17th-century villa — the Palazzo Panigai-Ovio — in the northeastern province of Pordenone, about 100 kilometers west of Trieste, where Kineofilm is based. Bisatti also plans to shoot outdoor scenes in nearby Veneto.

The film’s cast includes Valeria Cavalli and Pamela Villoresi as well as Pellicciari.

It’s yet another masterpiece from the Italian director Francesco Rosi, adapting a fiction novel about a political murder conspiracy that is altogether too much of a good fit for the troubled Italy of 1975. Crime star Lino Ventura is the incorruptible detective investigating a series of killings of high-level judges, who begins to intuit that his superiors want the murders to continue. Dark and moody, Rosi’s picture is impeccably directed for a kind of nagging, uneasy suspense, with frightening hints that Ventura is being drawn into a bigger, more sinister frame. With Charles Vanel, Max von Sydow and Fernando Rey, and music by Piero Piccioni. The insightful audio commentary is by Alex Cox. The original Italian title is even more blood-curdling: Cadaveri eccelenti.

Illustrious Corpses

Blu-ray

Kino Classics

1976 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 121 min. / Cadaveri eccellenti; The Context / Street Date September 28, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Lino Ventura, Tino Carraro, Marcel Bozzuffi,...

It’s a perfect movie for a dark time: Carlo Levi’s famed novel about a political undesirable became a major Italian miniseries by the great Francesco Rosi, starring the now-legendary Gian Maria Volontè. In Mussolini’s most popular years of make-Italy-great-again Fascism, a dissident is given an indefinite ‘time out,’ an exile to a small town in a corner of the country so remote and primitive that not even Christianity could fully change it. He expects nothing but receives revelations about his country, his life and one’s place in society. It’s meditative, it’s illuminating, it’s like a book one can’t put down. It’s also uncut, as opposed to the theatrical version that made a splash here in 1980, as simply Eboli.

Christ Stopped at Eboli

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 1043

1979 / Color / 1:33 flat / 220 150, 120 min. / Cristo si è fermato a Eboli / available through The Criterion Collection...

Top 100 horror movies of all time: Chicago Film Critics' choices (photo: Sigourney Weaver and Alien creature show us that life is less horrific if you don't hold grudges) See previous post: A look at the Chicago Film Critics Association's Scariest Movies Ever Made. Below is the list of the Chicago Film Critics's Top 100 Horror Movies of All Time, including their directors and key cast members. Note: this list was first published in October 2006. (See also: Fay Wray, Lee Patrick, and Mary Philbin among the "Top Ten Scream Queens.") 1. Psycho (1960) Alfred Hitchcock; with Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Martin Balsam. 2. The Exorcist (1973) William Friedkin; with Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Jason Miller, Max von Sydow (and the voice of Mercedes McCambridge). 3. Halloween (1978) John Carpenter; with Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Tony Moran. 4. Alien (1979) Ridley Scott; with Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt. 5. Night of the Living Dead (1968) George A. Romero; with Marilyn Eastman,...

With November Man out, excitement for Pierce Bosnan’s return to spying is at an all-time high for many James Bond fans. November Man, based on the seventh installment of Bill Granger’s book series called There Are No Spies, is about ex- CIA agent Peter Devereaux (Pierce Bosnan). While living a quiet life in Switzerland, Devereaux is ejected out of retirement for one last mission. Although the concept of the “one last mission/job” is not a new concept for Hollywood, it definitely has its place in cinema history, branching out to a wide range of reasons why our beloved characters are being pulled back into their past lives. From a retiree’s last gig, to the bad-boy-gone-good-and-then-bad-again mission, to the revenge premise, mythology of the ex-professional can surely delight and excite us to champion our heroes for one last fight. Here are scenes from ten incredible “one last job” films,...

Odd List Ryan Lambie Simon Brew 27 Feb 2014 - 05:54

Our series of lists devoted to underappreciated films brings us to the year 2010, and another 25 overlooked gems...

By 2010, Hollywood’s obsession with 3D movies was in full swing. James Cameron’s Avatar may have given audiences a taste of what the cutting edge of stereoscope could look like, but it has to be said that the movies ushered into cinemas in its wake were a decidedly mixed bunch. Toy Story 3's 3D was extraordinarily effective, yet Clash Of The Titans looked like a blurry mess. How To Train Your Dragon came to life in its flying sequences, but the less said about the horribly murky Last Airbender, the better.

Unless we’re mistaken, none of the movies on this list were shot or released in 3D, and few of them did particularly stellar business. A few got a certain amount of critical acclaim,...

One of the most polarizing films amongst his fans, The Stendhal Syndrome is Dario Argento’s first film shot in Italy after his foray in the United States with Trauma and Two Evil Eyes. Argento loosely adapts Graziella Magherini’s novel of the same name into a psychological thriller that is unlike anything else in his canon.

Asia Argento stars as Anna Manni, a police officer in Rome who is sent to Florence to investigate a series of rape/murders that have baffled the authorities. Following a tip, she goes to the Uffizi gallery in Florence where she succumbs to the titular syndrome, and hallucinates herself into a painting before passing out and hitting her head.

“The Stendhal Syndrome” is an actual medical condition named for the French writer Stendhal where people are afflicted with headaches, dizziness, hallucinations and fainting spells after being exposed to great works of art. After recovering from this episode,...

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom Directed by: Pier Paolo Pasolini Written by: Pier Paolo Pasolini Starring: Paolo Bonacelli, Giorgio Cataldi, Umberto P. Quintavalle This Christmas season, tell that special someone you love them with the gift that keeps on giving: Pier Paolo Pasolini's Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom on blu ray! If you're concerned the intense scenes of sexual sadism, torture, and murder are too much of a downer for the holidays, just remember that it's nothing more than a parable, intended to comment on fascism and mindless complacency under the rule of overzealous figures of authority. The film is based on The 120 Days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade with a loose Dante's Inferno structure applied overall, breaking the story down into four chapters: Anteinferno, The Circle of Manias, The Circle of Shit and The Circle of Blood. While the original book takes place in the 1700's,...

Rank the week of October 4th’s Blu-ray and DVD new releases against the best films of all-time: New Releases Fast Five

(Blu-ray & DVD | PG13 | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #803

Win Percentage: 57%

Times Ranked: 5781

Top-20 Rankings: 40

Directed By: Justin Lin

Starring: Dwayne Johnson • Vin Diesel • Paul Walker • Jordana Brewster • Elsa Pataky

Genres: Action • Action Thriller • Chase Movie • Crime • Drama • Thriller

Rank This Movie

Scream 4

(Blu-ray & DVD | R | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #1420

Win Percentage: 49%

Times Ranked: 6843

Top-20 Rankings: 26

Directed By: Wes Craven

Starring: Alison Brie • Neve Campbell • David Arquette • Hayden Panettiere • Courteney Cox

Genres: Horror • Mystery • Slasher Film • Thriller

Rank This Movie

Submarine

(Blu-ray & DVD | Nr | 2010)

Flickchart Ranking: #2772

Win Percentage: 60%

Times Ranked: 1079

Top-20 Rankings: 10

Directed By: Richard Ayoade

Starring: Craig Roberts • Yasmin Paige • Sally Hawkins • Paddy Considine • Noah Taylor

Genres: Comedy Drama • Coming-of-Age • Drama

Rank This Movie

Classics & Re-releases Salo, Or The 120 Days Of Sodom

(Criterion Blu-ray & DVD | Nr | 1976)

Flickchart Ranking: #4386

Win Percentage: 43%

Times Ranked:...

The American is a Marmite film, that I was told to expect to hate, by my own editor no less. Now, he knows my tastes mostly, thanks to endless conversations about movies and the industry that brings them to life, so his rather vocal assertion that I would definitely hate The American wasn’t exactly a heart-warming memory when the Blu-ray was delivered into my hands. Perhaps he would be wrong- perhaps this would be one of the odd occasions he called the play wrong, or maybe I was in for two very dull hours…

The American is claimed to be an action film with minimal action, and on the surface is shot in a preposterously pompous and extremely European arthouse manner, which is more ponderous than actually thought-provoking. Which is probably the exact review that Matt thought I was going to post. But that isn’t the tale of this review at all.

Chicago – A movie that comes closer to the lyrical and meditative style of Michelangelo Antonioni than any other in years, Anton Corbijn’s “The American,” now on Blu-ray and DVD, is a nearly-brilliant drama that found a respectable audience in theaters even if it wasn’t quite the right one.

Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0

Universal/Focus sold the film as an action-packed thriller, a variation on the Jason Bourne trilogy, and ended up with over $35 million, a number that would have been impossible if the movie has been presented as the philosophical art house gem that it truly is. Audiences in the multiplex may have been pissed that the film has more bare breasts than gun shots but the tragedy is that discerning movie goers may have written it off as escapist fare. It’s not. It’s complex, daring stuff with one of George Clooney’s best performances. Do yourself a...

George Clooney stars as an assassin in hiding. Contrary to the trailer, this is not a Bourne type thrill ride, but more of a slow burn about the pitfalls of such a profession. If you can put that miss-sell aside, you will find a well-acted film. Jack (George Clooney) is an assassin on the run from rival assassins. He ends up in Rome and contacts Pavel (Johan Leysen) who sends him to a remote Italian village. Jack goes to an adjacent village instead, poses as a photographer named Edward, and meets elderly priest Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli) - who sees the darkness in this new stranger and tries to get .Edward. to confess his troubles. Edward...

Hitting movie theaters this weekend:

Another Year (limited release) – Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen, Lesley Manville

Blue Valentine (limited release) – Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams

Movie of the Week

Another Year

The Stars: Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen, Lesley Manville

The Plot: A happily married couple is visited by some troubled friends.

The Buzz: Ever since Moulin Rouge, I’ve been a huge fan of Jim Broadbent, and have followed his career somewhat voraciously. Another Year marks a nice continuation in Broadbent’s ongoing partnership with director Mike Leigh (Topsy-Turvy, Vera Drake), and looks to be an excellent heartfelt drama dealing with the trials of aging.

I can’t say that I’m too familiar with the rest of the cast, but Broadbent and Leigh are both very well respected names, and it stands to reason that this pairing will likely lead to another winner — they’ve done it before, and they’ll do it again.

After the Holidays everyone likely has some Christmas money, gift cards or maybe you want to make an exchange. We have you covered with the new releases on Blu-ray and Netflix for the week of December 28th!

Blu-ray Releases:

And Soon The Darkness

Add to Queue Synopsis:

Stephanie (Amber Heard) and Ellie’s (Odette Yustman) vacation to an exotic village in Argentina is a perfect ‘girl’s getaway’ to bask in the sun, shop and flirt with the handsome locals. After a long night of bar-hopping, the girls get into an argument, and Stephanie heads out alone in the morning to cool off. But when she returns, Ellie has disappeared. Finding signs of a struggle, Stephanie fears the worst, and turns to the police for help. But the local authorities have their hands full already - with a string of unsolved kidnappings targeting young female tourists. Skeptical of the sheriff’s competency,...

The American

Directed by Anton Corbijn

Action fans and George Clooney enthusiasts might well be ill-prepared for The American, which, despite its marketing as a slam-bang thriller, is actually closer in spirit to Euro arthouse fare, and features Clooney in full-on “emptied out” mode. (It’s best described as a brooding drama slightly peppered with violence.) Anton Corbijn’s film, his follow-up to the lauded Ian Curtis biopic Control, is strongest when it avoids crowd-pleasing impulses to focus in on Clooney’s brooding performance and the unusually craftsmanlike nature of his work.

There lies another misdirection, as this is not a story about a hitman per se. Clooney essays “Jack” (or perhaps “Edward”; his true name is never identified), whose occupation – referred to in Martin Booth’s novel A Very Private Gentleman, the film’s source material, as a “shadow-dweller” – is to act as a hitman’s liaison who takes orders for,...

This is a competition for The American, directed by Anton Corbijn and starring George Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten, Paolo Bonacelli, Irina Björklund, Björn Granath, Johan Leysen, Filippo Timi and Samuli Vauramo. Academy Award winner George Clooney stars in the title role of this suspense thriller, filmed on location in Italy. Alone among assassins, Jack (played by Mr. Clooney) is a master craftsman. When a job in Sweden ends more harshly than expected for this American abroad, he vows to his contact Larry (Bruce Altman) that his next assignment will be his last. Jack reports to the Italian countryside, where he holes up in a small town and relishes being away from death for a spell.

This is the Pure Movies review for The American, directed by Anton Corbijn and starring George Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten, Paolo Bonacelli, Irina Björklund, Björn Granath, Johan Leysen, Filippo Timi and Samuli Vauramo. Written by Dan Higgins. This is a literary adaptation of Martin Booth’s A Very Private Gentleman and, as the title suggests, Clooney plays a character that is both enigmatic and elusive. In fact, he hardly talks. He has no women in his life and, from the opening scene, it is easy to see why this is the case. A priest attempts to befriend Jack (who now goes by Edward), while he finds company, solace and sex with a local prostitute called Clara. It is evident though that he is being tracked and his past seemingly instructs him to trust nobody and be suspicious of everyone, including people that he starts relationships with.

Unstoppable (12A)

(Tony Scott, 2010, Us) Denzel Washington, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson, Ethan Suplee, Kevin Dunn. 98 mins

This literally one-track action thriller is the perfect fit for Scott, Hollywood's master of manliness and heavy machinery. It's based on a true story that just happens to have a plot like a disaster movie: a massive, unmanned train carrying hazardous chemicals is hurtling towards populated areas; might the prickly railroad veteran and his rookie partner just be able to stop it? Everyone knows where it's going but it's got enough momentum to smash through to the finish, and the purity of the premise is a good fit with Scott's visual excess.

The American (15)

(Anton Corbijn, 2010, Us) George Clooney, Violante Placido, Paolo Bonacelli. 105 mins

Corbijn follows up Control with a sparse, existential hitman thriller in the Le Samourai/Day Of The Jackal mould, with Clooney in picturesque Italy. Apart from the classy visuals, it...

George Clooney stars in Anton Corbijn’s The American as hired assassin Jack, a man on the verge of retirement and in the midst of a unique type of mid-life crisis. Following an opening sequence in which Jack is attacked he hides in a remote Italian village informing his handler/boss/agent Pavel (Johan Leysen) that he wants to give up the assassin business for good. Offering Jack one last job where he doesn’t even have to kill, Pavel tasks him with building a custom rifle for another assassin, Mathilda (Thekla Reuten). Whilst building this rifle, something he does with great care and attention, he befriends a local priest (Paolo Bonacelli), begins a romantic affair with a local prostitute Clara (Violante Placido) and attempts to avoid various assassination attempts.

What could have easily been a throwaway action filled thriller is, in the hands of director Anton Corbijn, a calm...

George Clooney stars as a hitman lying low in Anton Corbijn's stylish but ultimately uninvolving second film. By Peter Bradshaw

Anton Corbijn's new film is an intelligent, beautifully photographed, if intensely self-conscious drama about an assassin's mid-life crisis. The movie is pitched at a low key: finely judged, but at times rather exasperatingly thoughtful and muted. It purrs evenly, like the engine of a luxury automobile, with a cool, sleek satisfaction at how stylish it is. That said, it is pretty stylish, and the remote, islanded sense of loneliness and tension is well managed: Frederick Forsyth with a dash of Graham Greene.

The star is George Clooney, who here withholds from his audience the warm and witty persona he normally projects, and presents us instead with an ice-cold hitman called Jack, whose career has just suffered the most calamitous reversal. At first, like a gnarled and careworn 007, Jack...

Anton Corbijn’s chilling, slow-burning thriller The American arrives in UK cinemas. And here’s why you should watch it…

Killing is a science, and assassination is an activity that is as much about planning and logistics as it is about the grim act itself. That’s the sentiment that lies at the heart of The American, Anton Corbijn’s slow-burning drama thriller.

Characters talk at length about the recoil of guns and the velocity of bullets, of sound suppression and the tolerances of tiny screws. Weapons are endlessly tested, fiddled with, re-adjusted and then tested again.

In two of The American’s most mesmerising scenes, George Clooney’s careworn assassin, Jack, snaps a sniper rifle together with infinite care, checking the action and movement of every individual part, before improvising his own makeshift silencer with the dexterity of a Swiss watchmaker.

Clooney’s Jack is a lonely, distant character who says little,...

George Clooney’s latest flick – The American – is released in the UK this Friday (26th November). It’s definitely one his best films for ages – and that’s saying something coming from his stellar CV. Directed by famous photographer and Control helmer Anton Corbijn, we’ve got three brand new clips to show you.

And if you’re based in the UK, why not enter our competition to get your hands on some quality merchandise for the movie’s release. Click on the link and maybe you’ll find yourself a winner! The American Competition.

Synopsis:

The suspense thriller The American stars Academy Award winner George Clooney in the title role for director Anton Corbijn (Control). The screenplay by Rowan Joffe is adapted from Martin Booth’s 1990 novel A Very Private Gentleman.

As an assassin, Jack (played by Mr. Clooney) is constantly on the move and always alone. After a...

   The same stillness and raw emotion exuded from Anton Corbijn's stellar debut film Control is in full view in the Clooney vehicle The American.

"Don't make any friends, you used to know that" says the handler Pavel (played heartlessly by Johan Leysen) to his employee, an assassin whose assumed identity is Jack (George Clooney) is told to retreat to a small Italian town after things go terribly wrong in Sweden, this is just the beginning as threats both external and otherwise pursue him. As he drives towards his inevitable fate, the grainy distance and shadows similar to that of a music video (Corbijn's speciality), but imbued with enough emotion and purpose that it fits together.

 

Jack is a cold, methodical killer. He has little qualm in shooting his lover, is loyal to his job and he deals with anything that comes his way with razor sharp precision. Jack is...

George Clooney's latest flick, The American, will march its way to DVD and Blu-ray on December 28, 2010. Synopsis: In the aftermath of a job gone awry, an American hitman retreats to the Italian countryside, where he befriends a local priest and strikes up an unexpected romance while awaiting the details of his next assignment. Jack (George Clooney) is lucky to be alive after his Swedish assignment went sour, and he knows that it's only a matter of time before his luck runs out. Not eager to tempt fate again, Jack arrives in a small Italian town and takes a job assembling a weapon for the mysterious Mathilde (Thekla Reuten). During this uncharacteristically peaceful interlude, Jack befriends kindly clergyman Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli), and connects with pretty local Clara (Violante Placido). But in the process of reaching out for a little human contact, Jack is making himself more vulnerable than ever.

This is the daily news vodcast from the London Film Festival on Pure Movies covering the gala premiere of The American, directed by Anton Corbijn and starring George Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten, Paolo Bonacelli, Irina Björklund, Björn Granath, Johan Leysen, Filippo Timi and Samuli Vauramo. This is a literary adaptation of Martin Booth’s A Very Private Gentleman and, as the title suggests, Clooney plays a character that is both enigmatic and elusive. In fact, he hardly talks. He has no women in his life and, from the opening scene, it is easy to see why this is the case. A priest attempts to befriend Jack (who now goes by Edward), while he finds company, solace and sex with a local prostitute called Clara. It is evident though that he is being tracked and his past seemingly instructs him to trust nobody and be suspicious of everyone, including people that he starts relationships with.

Malcolm McDowell, Caligula Penthouse founder Bob Guccione died of cancer on Oct. 20 at a hospital in Plano, Texas. He was 79. Best known for the explicit sexual content found in his magazine, a Playboy rival that began circulating in England in the mid-60s and in the United States near the end of the decade, Guccione (born in Brooklyn on Dec. 17, 1930) also produced the infamous Caligula (shot in 1976-77, released in 1979). Written by Gore Vidal and directed by Tinto Brass, Caligula starred Malcolm McDowell as the sociopathic Roman emperor, and featured Peter O'Toole, John Gielgud, Helen Mirren, and Paolo Bonacelli in supporting roles. But what initially was to have been a prestigious production eventually became something else altogether. Unhappy with Brass' handling of the material, Guccione decided to spice things up with the addition of several sexually explicit scenes (shot by himself and Giancarlo Lui), including a wild orgy [...]...

The American, Anton Corbijn's second feature, stars George Clooney in perhaps his least Clooney-esque appearance yet, as a gunsmith struggling to leave his murky past behind. An undeniable screen presence, the typical Clooney acting tics are left largely behind in his bleakest and possibly most affecting performance to date.

When Jack's attempt at a life outside crime in a peaceful Sweden retreat is abruptly terminated, he heads to the picturesque Italian village of Castel Del Monte to hide out. Once there, he accepts one last job to supply a mysterious female assassin, Mathilde (Thekla Reuten), with a custom-made weapon. Meanwhile, questioning his own empty existence he reluctantly strikes up relationships with Clara (Violante Placido), a local prostitute, and the friendly town priest (Paolo Bonacelli). Struggling to fight an ingrained sense of distrust, and constantly at pains to avoid detection, Jack's existential dilemmas form the core of Corbijn's stark and gripping movie.

This is a stylish vehicle for George Clooney as an ice-cold hitman, but it lacks thrills and spills

George Clooney returns, setting aside the warm and witty persona that his fans love, and giving them instead one of his darkest and most unsympathetic characters: an ice-cold professional killer marooned in loneliness and fear. The director is Anton Corbijn – the former photographer who made his brilliant feature debut with Control, a biopic of Joy Division's frontman, Ian Curtis – working from a screenplay by Rowan Joffe. It is adapted from the 1991 novel A Very Private Gentleman by Martin Booth, originally about a reserved Englishman abroad with a brutal and murderous secret.

The movie re-imagines this expatriate loner as an American. Clooney plays Jack, an assassin first seen hiding out with a beautiful companion in a Swedish forest cabin. This blissful scene is shattered by violence, and Jack demonstrates his utter ruthlessness both to his attackers,...

Movie Review: “The American”; Cast: George Clooney, Irina Björklund, Paolo Bonacelli, Giorgio Gobbi; Director: Anton Corbijn; Rating: **** – a sculpture in time.

Cinema, as Andrei Tarkovsky has elucidated, is a temporal medium, by which he meant that a filmmaker sculpts time through images to evoke emotions in the viewer. It is heartening to see a filmmaker get it right in his first attempt. “The American” is a film of quiet restraint meant to be watched for the beauty of its aesthetics.

Cinematic tension is not necessary in a fast-paced story and “The American” shows why. Jack (Clooney) is an assassin, who after a bid on his life, hides in a small town in Italy and.

Dutch director Anton Corbijn says his film .The American. can help boost tourism in Italy.s Abruzzo region which was hit by a natural calamity that caused multiple casualties last year. Major portions of the George Clooney-starrer were shot there.By Robin Bansal.I met with Clooney to finalise the plans (for him) to produce and star in the movie. I remember discussing our shared hope that filming .The American. would help boost the region.s economy, what with the money spent during production and the finished film encouraging tourism in the future,. Corbijn said in an e-mail interaction with Ians..The terrain is rugged and rocky. It.s not generally where tourists go. But it.s a wonderful area that needs preserving - beyond even the earthquake, oil drilling is harming the landscape.(But) the production firmed up its commitment to the region,. he added.Having already topped...

PVR Pictures is all set to release the George Clooney starrer The American on 1 October, 2010. The movie, directed by European Director Anton Corbijn, is a suspense thriller and also stars Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten and Paolo Bonacelli. The screenplay of The American is by Rowan Joffe and is an adaptation of Martin Booth’s 1990 novel, A Very Private Gentleman. PVR Pictures head - worldwide distribution Deepak Sharma said, “We are very excited to bring The American to Indian audiences. It is a fast-paced action thriller with a huge star cast ...

The American Directed by: Anton Corbijn Written by: Rowan Joffe (screenplay), Martin Booth (novel) Starring: George Clooney, Paolo Bonacelli, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten The American is defiantly quiet. When it began, the hum of the theater fan was louder than its ambience track. The audience shifted in their creaky chairs as the camera crawled toward a snow-covered cabin. The silence permitted me a unique opportunity to reflect on how loud movies have become. The comparative whisper of Anton Corbijn’s The American heralds a spy-thriller set so far apart from its Bourne brethren that it barely qualifies as a thriller at all. Certainly not the kind that a mainstream audience, baited with an intentionally misleading trailer, had come to see. That it stars George Clooney, one of the most trusted faces in Hollywood, only rubs salt in the wound. But if you don’t have the patience for it, it...

Predicted Weekend Box Office

1Resident Evil: Afterlife$30.1 million2The American$9.3 million3Takers$6.7 million4Machete$6.5 million5The Expendables$4.8 million6Going the Distance$3.6 million7The Last Exorcism$3.4 million8The Other Guys$3.2 million9Inception$2.9 million10Eat, Pray, Love$2.7 million#1#2#3#4#5#6#7#8#9#10

There were some big surprises at the box office last weekend as the George Clooney thriller The American did better than expected and beat out both Robert Rodriguez's Machete and the Drew Barrymore romantic comedy Going the Distance for the number one spot on the charts. But with the highly anticipated fourth chapter of the popular Resident Evil series, Resident Evil: Afterlife opening this weekend, Clooney and company may have their hands full defending their number one position.

Predicted to debut at number one this week is in fact the long awaited fourth chapter of the Resident Evil series, Resident Evil: Afterlife, based on the popular video game. Milla Jovovich (The Fifth Element...

The American

***1/2

Directed by: Anton Corbijn

Starring: George Clooney, Irina Bjorklund, Johan Leysen, Paolo Bonacelli, The American, Violante Placido

Focus Features

Release Date: September 4, 2010

The cold and austere snow covered landscape that is immediately placed before us in Anton Corbijn’s “The American” is an opening that grabs our attention and also becomes a metaphor for representing the inner-being of our ruthless and cold-blooded killer, Jack (George Clooney), or does he go by Edward? It is this kind of ambiguity, uncertainty of past events that makes the film an exquisite think-piece. It is a thriller but does not have the same mission other thrillers have. The American possesses a mission that is essential to existentialism: It desires to find the soul of an unbalanced man.

Clooney embodies the indistinct killer, urging even more so the film toward a more mysterious atmosphere. Clooney is situated in a role that requires him...

Rating: 2.5/5

Writers: Rowan Joffe (screenplay), Martin Booth (novel)

Director: Anton Corbijn

Cast: George Clooney, Thekla Reuten, Violante Placido, Paolo Bonacelli, Johan Leysen

Studio: Focus Features

There should be no simpler formula for box office gold and critical acclaim than George Clooney, plus vague spy occupation, multiplied by Italian countryside, divided by two equally dangerous women. But what happens when our own leading man wants nothing more than to get away from said “vague spy occupation,” and everything else is just distraction from the crushing emptiness that amounts to a life of pursuit that only ends with, well, no reward. What awaits someone who has spent their entire life on the fringes of society and law? The American is not a Bourne-born spy flick with Clooney stalking through dark alleys, gun in hand, ease oozing from his being. It is a film about process, and timing, and the hazy in-between that accompanies both of them.

Holiday Weekend Box Office

1The American$16.1 million2Machete$14.7 million3Takers$14.5 million4The Last Exorcism$9.5 million5Going the Distance$8.5 million6The Expendables$8.2 million7The Other Guys$6.6 million8Eat, Pray, Love$6.5 million9Inception$6 million10Nanny McPhee Returns$5 million#1#2#3#4#5#6#7#8#9#10

Last week's box office race came down to the wire with Takers and The Last Exorcism both fighting it out for number one. On Sunday it looked like the Eli Roth produced horror film had come out on top but by Monday morning the hip-hop heist film had won the weekend. Now with three highly anticipated new movies opening this Labor Day weekend, including director Robert Rodriguez's Machete, Going the Distance starring Drew Barrymore, and The American with Oscar winner George Clooney, it was inevitable that we would have a new box office champ.

Debuting at number one this week and doing better than expected is the new international espionage thriller starring Oscar...

Title: The American Directed By: Anton Corbijn Starring: George Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten, Paolo Bonacelli, Johan Leysen When someone sneezes during a movie and another theatergoer a few seats away actually says, “God bless you,” it’s never a good sign - for the movie. You know what else isn’t a good sign? The man scratching his head incessantly in front of me, the four people who walked out, the woman a few seats over constantly checking the time on her phone and the man next to me counting the remaining Twizzlers in the bag as though they’re the last pieces left on earth and he’s got to make them last, [...]...

George Clooney 'American' movie delivered a unique story & drama. Focus Features released their new action/drama,George Clooney branded flick "The American" into theaters this past Wednesday. I just got done watching it,and I think it brought a lot more drama than action to the table. Although,it did feature some action scenes, they didn't make up the brunt of this movie. It stars: George Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten,and Paolo Bonacelli "The American" revolved around character Jack/Edward (George Clooney) who is a hired assassin that retreats to Italy after a job in Sweden ends pretty ugly. His boss tells him to go there and wait for further instructions. Once Jack arrives in Italy, he sort of befriends a priest. Then eventually takes on another assignment to build a complex gun for a beautiful,mysterious contact named Mathilde (Thekla Reuten).

George Clooney does assassin work in 'The American' movie trailer. Focus Features released their new action/thriller,George Clooney branded flick "The American" into theaters two days ago,and the movie trailer (below), features George Clooney doing all kinds of crazy assassin work while constantly staying on the move. The movie stars: George Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten, and Paolo Bonacelli.

Predicted Weekend Box Office

1Machete$21.5 million2The American$19.1 million3Going the Distance$17.6 million4Takers$15.7 million5The Last Exorcism$12.1 million6The Expendables$7.3 million7Eat, Pray, Love$5.1 million8The Other Guys$4.9 million9Inception$4.1 million10Vampires Suck$2.1 million#1#2#3#4#5#6#7#8#9#10

It was a race to the finish line last week, as two new movies fought it out for number one at the box office. Sunday afternoon early predictions had the new horror film The Last Exorcism taking the number one spot with $20.3 million. But as of Monday morning, the clear winner for the weekend was the action-filled drama Takers, which earned $20.5 million. Both films will have their work cut out for them this weekend with three more new movies entering the box office charts, including director Robert Rodriguez's Machete, Going the Distance starring Drew Barrymore, and The American with Oscar winner George Clooney.

Predicted to debut at number one this week is the long-awaited...

Critics gave new George Clooney 'American' movie semi-positive reviews. Focus Features released their new action/thriller, George Clooney branded flick "The American" into theaters two days ago,and the top critics seemed pretty positive overall about the movie. However,there were some who didn't like it quite as much as others,throwing in a couple of Cs,along with D. The movie stars: George Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten, and Paolo Bonacelli. Wesley Morris at the Boston Globe gave it a C rating. He said, "The movie makes up for his lack of crispness with visual sharpness. " Roger Ebert at the Chicago Sun-Times gave it a great A rating. He said, "Here is a gripping film with the focus of a Japanese drama."...

The American

Starring George Clooney, Violante Placido, and Paolo Bonacelli

Directed by Anton Corbijn

Rated R

Some movies are slow because they're put together wrong or there simply isn't enough to sustain 100 minutes or whatever the length is. Other movies are designed to be slow because they're methodical, concerned with the details. The American is the second kind of movie, but it's easy to make a case that it's masquerading as the first.

Not much happens in Anton Corbijn's film, an adaptation of the 1990 Martin Booth novel A Very Private Gentleman. But this isn't about what happens on screen as much as what happens behind the eyes of Jack (George Clooney).

Well, we're introduced to him as Jack. He's in Sweden, but he can't stay there long. He makes a phone call when he gets to Rome and is told when he meets the voice on the other end...

Seen on: August 30, 2010

The players: Director: Anton Corbijn, Writer: Rowan Joffe, Cast: George Clooney, Thekla Reuten, Violante Placido, Paolo Bonacelli

Facts of interest: Anton Corbijn also directed "Control."

The plot: George Clooney plays an assassin heading to Italy to embark on his final mission before going into retirement.

Our thoughts: Anton Corbijn’s “The American” is by no means a fast-paced action thriller, and that’s totally okay as long as you have a thing for slow-moving dramas. In my book, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the movie’s pace, but where “The American” eventually starts loosing its appeal is in its rather predictable story. In other words, the payoff we get to watch is not exactly worth the wait.

George Clooney's characters tend to be drawn from one of three wells, and only one at a time: wacky, charming, or distracted. He's usually able to imbue any of these with some modicum of the charisma that's made him a movie star, and when that magnetism and chosen persona combine with the right filmmaker, the result can be wonderful: the grinning idiot of O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the sly con of Out of Sight, and the morally compromised soldier of Three Kings are as good examples as any. Yet it's usually the serious and distracted persona that gives Clooney the most trouble, or at least finds him furthest out on a limb with nothing supporting him but the director's whispered command to jump. The effortlessness he brings to other roles seems less accessible to him, as if he's suddenly all too aware of the fact that he has...

By Craig Younkin - September 2, 2010

They say that a great actor could make the phone book sound interesting. George Clooney is a mighty fine actor but all I could think of during “The American” is no matter how hard you try, a phone book is still a phone book. Standing as one of the slowest movies of the year, Clooney plays Jack, a contractor for assassins laying low in a small Italian town. He wants out of this isolating job but first must do one more by helping a female assassin (Thekla Reuten) secure a rifle. He also befriends an Italian priest (Paolo Bonacelli) and despite warnings to not get involved with anyone, also begins seeing a prostitute (Volante Placido). Clooney is good here but the performance doesn’t really call for much. This is a character who spends much of the movie trapped in his own loneliness, leaving George...